My Genealogy Hound

LAWRENCE EUGENE SHATTUCK. One of the pioneers of Chautauqua county, who spent his mature life here and gave most valuable aid in reclaiming its fertile lands from the wilds of nature was Lawrence Eugene Shattuck, who was the son of Pliny and Dolly (Rice) Shattuck, born in the State of Massachusetts, July 20, 1810, and died at his home in Cherry Creek, January 20, 1890, aged seventy-three years and six months. The Shattucks were for several generations natives and residents of New England.

Pliny Shattuck was born in Massachusetts, and after marrying Dolly Rice, in 1820 moved to Virginia; he was a blacksmith by trade, and followed that business in the Old Dominion, where he remained for four years and came to Sinclairville, and worked at blacksmithing, where he lived for eight years and then came to Cherry Creek, at which place he made his home until his death. By his union with Dolly Rice Mr. Shattuck became the father of eight children, as follows: Jerome B., Dolly H., Oliver, Frederick, Lucy, Eugene, Harriet and Philemon. Five of these are yet living.

Lawrence Eugene Shattuck was sixteen years of age when his father came to Cherry Creek and located upon a wild farm about one mile west of the village, where his father built a blacksmith shop and carried on the trade. The other members of the family cleared up a small farm and tilled the soil, while L. E. Shattuck worked in the shop with his father, and, having learned the trade, succeeded to his father’s business when the latter died. He was the only blacksmith for some distance around that could shoe oxen, and had all the work that he could do, but as he became older he found the work uncongenial, and gradually lessened his business until some years before his death he discontinued it entirely.

On April 13, 1836, Mr. Shattuck married Amy Angeline Ames, a stirring, energetic young lady, who was born at Trenton, Oneida county, New York, February 26, 1817. Their union was blessed with five children, two sons and three daughters: L. E. Jr., born April 11, 1838; Lydia, born September 7, 1839; Amy A., born February 10, 1843; Jerome B., born May 27, 1847; and Rosella, born November 12, 1851.

The old gentleman’s farm was located at four corners of the road one mile west of Cherry Creek village, and the place is still known as Shattuck Corners.

Amy Angeline Ames was a daughter of Amos Ames, who was born in Vermont, and married Lydia Franklin. She was the daughter of Stephen Franklin, and the latter was a great-grandson of the renowned philanthropist and American statesman, Benjamin Franklin. Stephen Franklin married Rachel Carpenter, whose father came from England. Mr. Franklin was a minister of the Gospel, an earnest, devout and self-sacrificing preacher, whose thought was not of dollars but the faithful service of his Master. He became the father of five children, three sons and two daughters: John, Ebenezer, Eleazer, Hester and Lydia. The latter, the mother of Mrs. Shattuck, died May 15, 1830, after which Mr. Ames married Mrs. Phoebe Burnett. He was a farmer and cleared one hundred acres of land on the banks of West Canada Creek, in Oneida county, just two miles below Trenton Falls, and, building a commodious house, he kept a hotel for a number of years. His children by his first wife were Lydia F., Luther Loren and Amy Angeline, and to his last wife was born one son, who did not reach manhood. Amos Ames died May 27, 1847, the same day that Mrs. Shattuck’s youngest son was born.

Mrs. Amy Ames Shattuck has always been characterized by energy, good judgment and force of character. While she was yet a young girl, becoming dissatisfied with the arbitrary actions of her step-mother, she left her father’s home and supported herself until she was married. While yet very young she spent three years in succession spinning wool for Pliny Shattuck and for a number of succeeding years she did this and other service. The winter following her marriage, after having spent the summer in preparing household linen and other necessary comforts, she put what goods she could command in boxes and barrels, and took them to the canal where she shipped them, by way of Rochester and Buffalo, to Chautauqua county. During the journey she met a Mr. Beverly, who was going to the same place with his family, and he assisted her in hiring teams at Buffalo to convey them to their new home, where, after a tiresome journey, she arrived, and the following spring herself and husband began keeping house, at that time a lonely place in the woods, one half mile from the nearest neighbor. Mr. Shattuck and his sons, who are now gray-haired old men, have always said that their success in life was entirely due to the advice, counsel and encouragement received from their wife and mother.

The oldest son is L. E. Shattuck, Jr., now living at Stanbury, Missouri, where he is a sheep and cattle breeder, and is well known in that line all over the United States and Canada; the youngest son, J. B. Shattuck, is a successful farmer living in the town of Cherry Creek, this county. It is to such mothers as Mrs. Shattuck that the county of Chautauqua owes its development and the United States of America its greatness.