Stories in Stones: Stories from Oneida County, NY Cemeteries

     Benjamin Allen was born Jul 22, 1818 in Selston, Nottinghamshire, England. When he was 12 his family came to America. The ship they were coming over in was wrecked off the coast of Massachusetts near Martha's Vineyard. They came to Utica shortly after. They brought a farm on Deerfield Hill which they farmed for a couple of years before coming back to Utica.     Benjamin Allen learned the trade of stone cutting. He cut stone on the enlargement of the Erie Canal from Cohoes to Lockport.     1845 was an important year for Benjamin Allen. He got married to a woman by the name of Ann. He also started a business for contracting for the construction of plank and stone sidewalks. Later he was joined in the business by his sons W. Fred and George.      Benjamin Allen was also director of the Second National Bank for 12 years. He was the first Republican nominee for the Assembly from this district (which he lost) and tried agai...

       Louis E. Marquisee was born in the Welsh Bush Rd near Utica. He graduated from UFA. He and his brothers operated Millinery and Cloak Businesses in Utica and Syracuse. Louis and his brother Ammis ran the the store in Syracuse they named Marquisee Brothers and Co. while their half brothers ran Williams Brothers and Co in Utica. From 1869 to his death he mostly lived in Syracuse.     For the last 20 years of his life Louis E. Marquisee was a florist. He originated a variety of Carnation he named the Marquis which became very popular throughout the land.     Louis E. Marquisee was a gifted writer of poetry as well as a cultured elocutionist.      In 1869 Louis E. Marquisee married Josephine Eaton and they had a daughter Anita who became an accomplished violinist.     Louis E. Marquisee passed away on Nov 24, 1908 in Syracuse. His three half brothers also died that same year. He is buried at Forest Hi...

       Col George Young was born April 2, 1825 in Hessen-On- the Rhine, Germany. He came to America in 1848 and first settled in Little Falls. He worked as a baker. He married Barbara Brench (who passed away in Aug 1866).    George Young c ame to Utica in 1850 and worked for Pomeroy and Benedict. Later he opened his own bakery on Mohawk St. When he only operated a few years. He then entered the business of Luke Wilkins on Bleecker St. Until the 1860's when he and John Hahn brought Mr. Wilkins out. Col Young brought Mr. Hahn out . In 1868 he married Helen Dyme.     Col. George Young served as 5th Ward supervisor 1864-65. He helped raise volunteers for the Civil War. He was School Commissioner 1882-1888. He was a Mason (Knight's Templar Order).      Col. George Young passed away on May 19, 1892 and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery. 

       William H. Tutton was born on December 17, 1831 in Bristol, England. He learned the trade of carriage painter. He came to Utica in 1851 where he became a collector for the Utica Gazette . In June 1855 he became a collector for the Utica Herald . In 1857 entered into an arrangement by which he was entrusted with the management of the circulation of the newspaper. He married Lena Eagers of Brooklyn. He passed away on December 4, 1883 in the Park Avenue Hotel in New York City. He is buried in Plot 32B Lot 1743 of Forest Hill Cemetery.

       Asaph D. Mather was born to Joshua and Cornelia Mather on March 16, 1823 in Schuyler NY. He left home at 21 and purchased a farm in Jefferson County, NY. He lived there for a year and came to Utica where in 1847 he formed a grocery business at the corner of Genesee and Bleecker Streets with his brother. They lived and ate there.       When the Civil War broke out Asaph D. Mather started making investments in Real Estate. Before the war ended he was wealthy. In 1866 he abandoned the grocery and in the same spot he started the private banking house of A.D. Mather and Co. At the time of his death on Apr 8, 1880, he perhaps was the largest owner of improved real estate in Utica. He is buried in Sec 37 Lot 1723 of Forest Hill Cemetery.    

       Charles Wells Wicks was born in Paris Hill to Charles Chidsey and Nancy Bicknell Wicks on December 16, 1861. In 1879 he graduated from Sauquoit Academy. He came to Utica that fall where he was employed in the wholesale grocery of Head and Winston for two years. He later worked a short while at Austin Nichols and Co in New York City.     In 1881, Charles W. Wicks started working at Roberts, Butler and Company ( a clothing company). After working in stock for two years he became a traveling salesman. When J. Milton Butler (who became head of the company after James Roberts passed away) died 1895 Mr. Wicks and his brother Russell H. took the business over and it became Roberts, Wicks and Company.        Charles resigned from Roberts, Wicks and Company in 1904 and went into the retail business with George H. Greenman on Franklin Square the firm was named Wicks and Greenman. In 1909 they sold it to the Talbot company of Bosto...

       Daniel C. Dye was born June 23, 1860 to Amassa and Caroline Hutchinson Dye in Rockwood, NY. H e studied medicine there. He graduated from the Department of Medicine and surgery of the University of Michigan in 1885.      The following fall Dr. Dye came to Utica. He also practiced in Cleveland, NY. He was house physician at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica from 1879 to July 1892. From July 1892 to until he retired in 1931 he was on the surgical staff of the Hospital. He was a member of the Oneida County Medical Society he was elected president of the society in 1896.     Other societies and associations Dr. Dye was a member of were: State Medical Society; Utica Medical Library Association; Utica Medical Club (which he helped organize); Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. For a number of years he was one of the ward physicians of Utica. Two different times (1908-09 and 1912-13) he was one of the school physi...