My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES H. EVERTS, attorney and counselor-at-law, and one of the influential citizens of Watkins, was born in the town of Dix, Schuyler County, October 4, 1835, being the son of Alanson G. and Anna (Levitt) Everts. The family of which he is an honored representative has for three generations been closely identified with the growth and development of this section of the state. The first of the name to come hither was his great-grandfather, Daniel Everts. He and Reuben Smith left Salisbury, Conn., for the western country, and arrived at Hector June 1, 1793. They remained that season, putting in crops of corn and wheat, and after harvest returned to Connecticut. In the spring of 1794 Daniel Everts, with his wife and eight children, and Reuben Smith, with his wife and five children, returned to Hector. The great-grandfather’s family comprised the following children: Aranthus, Charles, Polly, Daniel, John, Asena and Abram. Aranthus Everts, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a Colonel in the War of 1812, and raised a regiment, which went on foot through the unbroken wilderness from Hector to Buffalo. He had command of a fort when a flag of truce was sent to him, and a demand to surrender was refused. The General in command sent word, “I want you to understand that we will take our breakfast in this fort tomorrow morning.” Colonel Everts replied, “If you undertake it you will get your supper in hell.” The Everts family originated in Wales, but has been associated with American history from an early period in the settlement of the country.

Aranthus Everts married Margaret Mathews, daughter of Courtright Mathews. Their son, Alanson G. Everts, was united in marriage with Anna Levitt, and their family consisted of five sons and two daughters, of whom Charles H. is next to the youngest. He passed the days of his boyhood in his native town, gaining the rudiments of his education in the primary schools, and later became a student in Alfred University, where he remained for a time. Afterward he taught school, in which way he gained the means that enabled him to prosecute his legal studies. He commenced the study of law with Marcus Crawford, of Havana, and gained a thorough knowledge of Coke, Blackstone and Kent, and was admitted to the Bar in 1857. Later he took a two-years course at the Albany Law School, from which institution he was graduated November 26, 1858, with the degree of LL- B.

Opening an office in Havana, Mr. Everts continued the practice of his profession there for three years. Thence, in 1861, he went to Farmer, Seneca County, where he remained for two years. In 1865 he came to Watkins, opened an office and commenced a general practice, which he has continued to the present, being now one of the oldest members of the Schuyler County Bar. In politics he is a Democrat, and during the entire period of his connection with that party he has stood by it, in cloud and sunshine, with unshaken fidelity. In 1888, when Grover Cleveland was a candidate, he was a Presidential Elector. During campaigns, his services are especially valuable, as he takes an active part in both local and national elections, and he is now Chairman of the Democratic County Committee.

January 15, 1861, Mr. Everts married Miss Eliza A., daughter of Job Banker, of Hector. They are the parents of one son and two daughters: Josiah B., a young man of ability, now serving as Justice of the Peace, and also as a court reporter; Mary E., the wife of Frank Hill, of Elmira, N. Y.; and Hanna M., the wife of L. H. Chase, of Watkins, N. Y. Mr. Everts is domestic in his tastes, and his friends are always hospitably welcomed to his pleasant home. He was fortunate in securing in his wife a companion fully suited to his qualities of mind and character. To a large degree is it due to her ready sympathy and mental capacity that he has been enabled to make for himself a noble record as a citizen and as an attorney.