My Genealogy Hound

EMERY W. FENTON, the senior member of the well-known firm, Fenton, Robertson & Co., of Jamestown, is a son of William H. and Hannah (Tracy) Fenton, and was born in the village of Fluvanna, Chautauqua county, New York, March 23, 1836. The family on either side were natives of New England for some generations. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Fenton, came to Jamestown in 1811, and being a potter by trade, he established a kiln and pottery between what is now First and Second Streets, and manufactured all kinds of earthenware. His wife was Lois Hurd, and she bore him nine children. Jacob Fenton died in 1822. Elias Tracy (maternal grandfather) was a native of Vermont, and came to this State, locating on the Conewago flats, in 1814, where he followed farming until he died. William H. Fenton was born in New England in 1796, and came to Jamestown when sixteen years of age, and entered the earthenware manufacturing house with his father. They worked together until the old gentleman’s death in 1822, when William H. Fenton continued the business alone until 1826, and then took Samuel Whittemoro as a partner. They moved their business to Fluvanna. This partnership remained effective until 1839, when they dissolved, and W. H. Fenton moved back to Jamestown, and shortly after was elected justice of the peace, a position that he held for fifty years. The old gentleman is still living, hale and hearty, and although ninety-five years of age is as enthusiastic a republican as can be found in the county of Chautauqua. Prior to the inception of this party he was a whig. Mr. Fenton is a member of the Congregational church, being the oldest member in the State. In 1816 he married Hannah Tracy, who bore him fourteen children, eight of whom are still living: Erasmus D. is living in Minnesota; Elias J. is a farmer in Iowa; Harriet is the wife of John Harvey, of Iowa; Carlos lives in Austin, Minn.; Merriette is Mrs. Charles Jeffords, and resides in Jamestown; Dana is engaged in the lumber business here; and Emily H. married James Smith, and lives in this city.

Emery W. Fenton spent his boyhood days at Fluvanna and Jamestown, and attended the public schools and academy at the latter place. He began to work in a pail factory when about eighteen years of age, and followed that line of business for a number of years, but at present is engaged in the furniture manufacturing, being the senior member of the firm of Fenton, Robertson & Co., of Jamestown. Their factory employs from fifty to seventy-five men, and the output of the factory is about fifty thousand dollars per year. The plant is equipped with all modern improvements, and is one of the business enterprises to which Jamestown’s citizens may point with pride.

In 1861 E. W. Fenton married Louise Myers, a daughter of Peter Myers, of Frewsburg, N. Y., and has two daughters living: Lulu E., born August 10, 1868; and Grace J., born May 5, 1871. Both of these young ladies were educated at the Jamestown high-school, and are charming entertainers.

Emery W. Fenton is a democrat, and belongs to Jamestown lodge, No. 13, A. O. U. W., and to the Equitable Aid Union. He has been throughout his life a straightforward and thoroughgoing man, and by his earnest will and untiring industry has risen to opulence. He is a good citizen and successful business man.