Harwood Family
History from Rutland County, Vermont to Orleans County, New York, and then to
Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois:
Chauncy Harwood
was born February 16, 1795 at Pittsford, Rutland County, Vermont. He died May
8, 1860 at the Village of Holley, Town of Murray, Orleans County, New York and
is buried at the Hillside Cemetery, Clarendon, Orleans County, New York.
Chauncy was a son
of Deacon Simon Harwood who was born August 23, 1766 and died in Pittsford,
Rutland County, Vermont on March 3, 1816. There is a Simeon Harwood shown on
page 42 of the 1790 Vermont Census of Rutland County as living in that county
but I believe Simon and Simeon are the same person.
In addition, that
1790 Vermont Census of Rutland County shows Eleazer Harwood and his family
also living there. Eleazer Harwood was the father of Deacon Simon Harwood.
Eleazer was born September 28, 1737 in Grafton, Franklin County, Massachusetts
and died May 19, 1807 in Pittsford, Rutland County, Vermont. His wife was
Elizabeth Montague who was born October 4, 1744 in Sunderland, Franklin
County, Massachusetts and died May 14, 1824 in Pittsford, Rutland County,
Vermont. Elizabeth married Eleazer Harwood on May 28, 1761 in Sunderland,
Franklin County, Massachusetts.
Chauncy Harwood’s
mother was Ruth Hall who is reported to have been born February 28, 1768 in
Wallingsford, New Haven County, Connecticut. She is reported to have died
October 8, 1838 in Dowagic, Michigan.
On May 2, 1820,
Chauncy married Lovicy Bogue another Rutland County, Vermont native at
Chittenden, Rutland County, Vermont. Lovicy Bogue was born May 12, 1799 in
Chittenden, Rutlund County, Vermont. She died May 9, 1858 in the Village of
Holley, Town of Murray, Orleans County, New York. She too is buried at the
Hillside Cemetery, Clarendon, Orleans County, New York.
Lovicy’s father
was Jeffrey Amherst Bogue who was born August 21, 1759 in Farmington, Hartford
County, Connecticut and fought in the American Revolution between April 25,
1777 and January 1, 1778 in Kimball's Company (See Connecticut Revolutionary
Soldiers., page 232). A Jeffrey Bogue is shown on page 37 of the 1790 Vermont
Census for Rutland County as living there. Jeffrey Amherst Bogue died in
Pittsford, Rutland County, Vermont on August 30, 1828. This census also shows
Samuel and Oliver Bogue and their families living in Rutland County, Vermont
in 1790.
Jeffrey Bogue
married Freedom Brainard on June 4, 1788 at Pittsford, Rutland County Vermont.
She is reported to have been born on March 21, 1775 and to have died on August
31, 1850.
As a young man,
Chauncy Harwood went to New York from Vermont and located on the present site
of Rochester, New York, traveling the entire distance on foot from Chittenden,
Vermont through dense forests. Orleans County is located at nearly the
northwest corner of the State of New York and boarders on Lake Ontario. It is
now part of the Rochester, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Upon his arrival
at the area of Rochester, Chauncy bought a tract of 100 acres of land on which
he built a woolen mill, just below the fall on the Genessee River. I infer
that he may have known about the business of milling from work along those
same lines in Rutland County, Vermont. While operating that mill his health
failed and he removed to the area of the Village of Holley in Orleans County,
New York, where he purchased property and erected another woolen mill, which
was liberally patronized by the early settlers. He was a staunch supporter of
the Whig party and a Deacon in the Presbyterian Church.
In the September
1850 United States Census of the Town of Murray, County of Orleans the family
of Chauncy Harwood was living in dwelling number 220. Chauncy Harwood is
identified as a farmer with real property valued at $5,400. At this time
western New York was apparently an extremely important farming area and
shipped wheat and fruit products to the Midwest which was still not sustaining
itself through its own farming operations.
Living with
Chauncy in September 1850 were his wife (shown as Lovejoy) and the following
children: Corinthia age twenty-nine (29), Daniel B. age eighteen (18),
identified as a farmer, Highland (sic Hiland) age nineteen (19) shown as a
farmer, Thomas age eleven (11) and [Freedom] Augusta age nine (9). It appears
that the next dwelling house was occupied by Chauncy's brother Lemuel
(probably Samuel) and his family. I presume that Samuel was a descendant of
Eleazar Harwood of Rutland County, Vermont mentioned above.
Chauncy and
Lovicy had ten children between 1821 and 1840. Beginning with their son Thomas
Fitch Harwood in about 1858, four of their ten children (Thomas Fitch, Dwight,
Daniel and Freedom Augusta) relocated to Bloomington, Illinois where they
became prominent citizens.
About the time of
Lovicy’s death her son Thomas Fitch Harwood arrived in Bloomington, McLean
County, Illinois which is located in the central part of Illinois about 120
miles southwest of Chicago. At the time Bloomington, Illinois was a prosperous
relatively new community and situated on five different railroad lines which
gave it many advantages. In 1857, Illinois State Normal University had been
opened in the adjacent town of Normal, Illinois and the two communities also
offered excellent educational opportunities.
I am not sure
what attracted Thomas Fitch Harwood to Bloomington. I note that two of
Lovicy’s other sons, Simon and Jeffrey Amherst, were identified in both New
York and U.S censuses as being involved in the produce business in Holley, New
York. If they were in a wholesale produce business then it may be that grocers
in Central Illinois were buying produce such as wheat and fruit from produce
houses in Orleans County and that Thomas Fitch Harwood became aware of
Bloomington through such a business connection. However, he may have known
someone else who had previously come to this community or have simply followed
the railroad line here.
In any event,
Thomas Fitch Harwood is reported to have left Holley, New York at the age of
twenty [i.e., about 1858, the time of his mother’s death] and he came to
Bloomington where he established himself in the hardware business on Center
Street. I note that the 1855 New York State Census does report Thomas Fitch
Harwood as a resident of Murray, Orleans County, New York. His hardware
business in Bloomington was located very close to the grocery business of
Parke & Hoopes.
Benjamin Hoopes
was one of the principals of that grocery business and Benjamin Hoopes later
married Freedom Augusta Harwood, Thomas’ younger sister, at the Village of
Holley, Town of Murray, Orleans County, New York on October 12, 1862. I assume
that Benjamin Hoopes came to know Freedom Augusta through one or more of her
brothers because his own roots were in West Chester, Chester County,
Pennsylvania and he would have no other apparent way of knowing his future
wife.
It is clear that
Thomas Fitch Harwood did not totally cut his ties with Orleans County because
in 1862 he married Miss Marrietta Keys a native of the Village of Holley, Town
of Murray, Orleans County, N.Y. She was a daughter of H. N. Keys of Holley.
Four children were born of this union.
Thomas Fitch Harwood was a Republican and served for one term as an Alderman
of the First Ward in Bloomington, Illinois. He was a stock-holder and Vice
President of the Citizens Light Company of Bloomington for many years and was
interested in the Third National Bank. In 1870, Thomas Fitch Harwood sold out
his hardware business to his brothers Dwight and Daniel and embarked in the
lumber trade under the firm name of T. F. Harwood & Co. This was later
changed to T. F. Harwood & Sons when his son Willis S. Harwood (b. November 3,
1862) joined him in that business. Mr. Harwood was connected with this lumber
business until his death, which occurred in December 17, 1891 at Bloomington,
Illinois.
Freedom Augusta
Harwood was the youngest of the ten children of Chauncy and Lovicy. She was
born October 25, 1840 in Rochester, Orleans County, New York. She died
February 25, 1905 in Bloomington, Illinois and is burried at Evergreen
Cemetery in Bloomington.
As reported
above, Freedom's mother Lovicy died in 1858 when Freedom was only seventeen
years old. Her father Chauncy then died on May 8, 1860 (before the 1860 United
States Census was taken). After the death of her parents Freedom was
apparently living with a brother, Jeffrey Amherst Harwood and Rowena,
Jeffrey's wife. The 1860 United States Census for Murray, Orleans County, New
York shows F. Augusta Harwood living in dwelling number 532 with Jeffrey
Harwood age thirty-five (35) and Rowena Harwood age twenty-three (23).
Jeffrey Amherst
Harwood was an older brother of Freedom Augusta and in the 1860 United States
Census he is reported to be a produce dealer with real property valued at
$2,000 and personal property valued at $500. That census reports that all of
the Harwoods were born in New York. Jeffrey Amherst Harwood died on March 10,
1890 at Plainfield, Michigan but he too is buried at the Hillside Cemetery,
Clarendon, Orleans County, New York.
In about 1861
Freedom Augusta's older brother Daniel Harwood also came to Bloomington,
Illinois from Holley, New York. He undoubtedly had heard good things about
business prospects in this area from his brother Thomas Fitch. Daniel married
a woman named Frances Powers in Bloomington, Illinois on September 18, 1861.
This too provided a link to Bloomington for Freedom Augusta. At some point
Freedom Augusta's brother Dwight Harwood came to Bloomington because by 1870
Dwight was the President of the Bloomington Stove Works and together with
Daniel Harwood bought out the hardware business of Thomas Fitch Harwood that
same year.
The 1870 United
States Census shows that Benjamin Hoopes was living in dwelling number 475 in
the City of Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois. He was a grocer. He had real
property reportedly valued at $15,000 and personal property valued at $10,000.
Living with him at that residence were [Freedom] Augusta, age twenty-nine (29)
who was Keeping House, their son Albert H., age six (6), Martha J. Hoopes who
was Ben’s mother and who was age sixty-eight (68) and shown as having no
occupation, a younger sister of Benjamin Hoopes, Rebecca Galliner, age forty
(40) shown as a Librarian, Ellen Sinner, age twenty-two (22) shown as a
domestic servant, Bessie Carwell, age eleven (11) shown as At School and Edwin
Donnan, aged sixteen (16) shown as a Hostler. I know nothing about these last
two individuals.
I refrain here
from following the Harwood line farther at this time.
Mark T. Dunn
Dunn, Willard, Arkell & Bugg
1001 North Main Street
Bloomington, IL 61702-3488
(309) - 828-6241
Fax (309) - 828-8321
mtd@dunnlaw.com
dunnlaw@aol.com