# Allegany County, New York Allegany County lies in the southern tier of New York, a region of wooded hills and creek valleys that opened to settlement in the early nineteenth century. For the families gathered here, it was a first American foothold — the place where children were born, farms were cleared, and, for some, where the graves still stand near the Pennsylvania line. ## The Lanphere Family at Almond and Alfred George W. Lanphere was in Alfred by 1810 and settled in the county's northern townships in the years that followed, with his residence recorded at Almond and the surrounding area through 1830. He and his wife, Hannah Haskins, both New England natives, raised their family in these hills. Their children arrived in the years around 1812 to 1819: John was born at Almond in August 1812, Lois in April 1813, Nimrod in April 1817, and the twins Esther and James both in the autumn of 1819. Hannah Lanphere was born about 1815. These were the years of raw settlement in the southern tier — land to be cleared, log houses to be built, and long distances between neighbors. The Lanpheres worked their way through it as a family, and their children carried the household's momentum into the next generation. In 1835 George and Hannah left the northern townships and moved south into Ceres, crossing into the country that straddles the New York–Pennsylvania border. There they made improvements on a farm and lived out their lives. George died on 2 October 1849 and Hannah on 17 April 1869; both were buried in the Wells Cemetery at Little Genesee. ## Ceres and Little Genesee Ceres and neighboring Little Genesee became a gathering point for the family in the middle decades of the century. Esther Lanphere married Clark Stillman Wells at Little Genesee on 28 June 1839; both were later buried there. Her brother Nimrod married Sally Sarah Grow at Ceres on 2 June 1840, joining the Lanphere and Grow families, and the couple raised a large family — George Washington, Albert Leroy, Hyalmer Delos, Benjamin, Rosalthea, and many more. The Grows had come to the region in the same years. George W. Grow's residence was recorded at Almond in 1837, and his children James R. Grow (born February 1827), Celania (born 1832), Martha Peabody Grow (born 1833 at Ceres), and Sally were part of the same close web of border families. West Almond saw the birth of Martha Lanphere in 1834. Little Genesee's Wells Cemetery holds George W. Lanphere, Hannah Haskins, Esther Lanphere, and Clark Stillman Wells — a family reunited in the ground where they had settled last. ## Genesee and Ceres in the Later Century The town of Genesee, in the county's southwest corner, drew several of these families through the second half of the century. Russell Cooper lived there across the census years of 1850, 1855, and 1860, alongside Julia A. Main. Esther Lanphere and Clark Stillman Wells were both recorded at Genesee in 1855. In later years Ann Hornblower, Ruth Adalaide "Addie" Cooper, and Charles Albertus Warner all made their homes in Genesee, with Addie and Charles still there in 1910. Ceres remained a family center. Ruth Adalaide "Addie" Cooper lived at Ceres in 1880 and died at Ceres on 5 October 1913; Charles Albertus Warner, who lived there in 1880, died there just months earlier, on 19 March 1913. The Ceres burying ground holds Omer Cooper, Artemus Cooper, Harriet "Fann" Fitch, and Charles Albertus Warner. The Cooper family had come early — Ira, Cyrus, and Russell arriving by the early 1830s — and their descendants Eveline, Adelaide, and Oscar carried the name forward through the county and beyond. ## Andover, Caneadea, and the Eastern Towns Other family members settled through the county's eastern and central towns. Eveline "Eva" Cooper and John Calvin Dyer both lived at Andover across the years from 1865 through 1900, and both were buried there; Eva had earlier lived at Independence in 1860, and both spent time at Whitesville. Ruth Adalaide Cooper also lived at Andover in 1865. At Caneadea in the Genesee River valley, Lucy Eleanore Strong made her home through 1870 and 1880; she was buried in the Bellville Cemetery. Harley Hillman died at Caneadea on 29 January 1878. Friendship held Hanna Haskins, John Lamphere, and Ruth Jane Gilbert in 1850. Sophia Ann Mead was born at Bolivar in 1822. In the town of Granger, Thadeus Fitch was recorded in 1840, and Oscar D. Fitch was born there on 14 March 1827. ## A Region on the Border For these families, Allegany County was both a beginning and a threshold. The Lanpheres and Grows came from New England, cleared land in the northern townships, then drifted south toward Ceres and the Pennsylvania line — a movement so seamless that the family's story spans both sides of the border, with sons Nimrod's boys George and Albert going off to the Civil War from the Pennsylvania town that shared the Ceres name. The county's cemeteries at Little Genesee, Ceres, and Bellville hold the older generation, while the younger scattered outward to South Dakota, Oregon, and New Jersey. What remained fixed was this stretch of southern-tier hill country, where the family first took root in American soil.