| Notes |
On the 1850 Census of Oswegatchie, Saint Lawrence, New York are:
Andrew Backus, Aged 63, Male, Farmer, Born England
Mary Backus, Aged 52, Female, Born England
David Backus, Aged 13, Male, Born New York
Jedediah Backus, Aged 11, Male, Born New York
From "Howells - Young - Hubbard - Carpenter" Rootsweb file, owned by James W. Howells
The English Forefathers of the Local Backus Descendants were the Brothers, Joseph, 1770-1834 and Andrew, 1786-1855. This record was compiled by Mrs. Grant Crysler. It appears she stopped updating the history approx mid 1950s. Additions have been included where known. (wb)
Descendants of Andrew Backus and second wife, Mary
Of the 5 children born to Andrew and his two wives, there are no records to prove which children were the result of his first marriage and which were of his second marriage except the case of David, the last child. There were 5 belonging to Andrew.
THOMAS Backus, oldest son of Andrew, did not go to Rossie to live. He and his wife, Ann Barnard, a native of England, settled in Heuvelton. Their home was on Washington Street where Chester Backus now lives. He conducted a grocery store in the building where Oscar Martin has a barbershop. He was a regular attendant at the Methodist Church Services and it was noticed he always took a fresh chew of tobacco before entering the church. Friends often wondered what became of the surplus "juice" as he could not spit while in church. When asked, his reply was very simple. "I never put anything in my mouth that isn't good enough to swallow."
Thomas was born in 1818 and died May 21, 1896. His wife, Ann, was born 1819 and died Nov. 18, 1901. They had five children, namely: Charles, Levi, Laura, Mary and Isaac.
Charles, 1840-1913, never married. He was a Civil War veteran and is buried with his parents in Hillcrest Cemetery. Charles worked for his father in the grocery business.
Levi married Aletha Elsie Barker of Rossie. He had a blacksmith shop in Rossie at one time but moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Their 3 sons were: William (killed by a train), Henry, the victim of train robbers, and Fred.
Laura, daughter of Thomas, married Dorr Stone, a farmer. They had 3 children; a son and twin girls. The son, Charles, married Minnie Thompson for his first wife. Belle Risley and Beatrice Childs are daughters. For the second wife he married Ina Gutterson. George Stone of Kendrew is their son. One of the twin daughters born to Laura and Dorr Stone died in infancy; the other, Gertrude Stone Puffer, passed away in 1951.
Mary, 1849-1881, died at the age of 31 and is buried in the family lot in Hillcrest Cemetery.
Isaac, 1852-1914, married Maria Rossand. They had 5 children, namely: Lena, Inez, Ceylon, Lula and Grace. Lena married Allen Spicer--there were children. Inez married George Cleland--there were 5 children. A son, Elmer and his wife, lived with Inez and one daughter, Leola. Her other daughters are Myrtle Bill, Hazel Hynes, and Mildred Pierce.
RUTH, the only daughter of Andrew Backus, was born in England and married Samuel Miller, also born in England. They settled in Heuvelton, where a son, Frank, was born in 1860. On Nov.7, 1878, Frank Miller married Ann Smithers and in 1948 celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary at the home of their daughter, Florence Hartman, Rochester, NY. Another daughter, Jessie Boice, lives in Rochester, too. Among their 23 descendants are 3 great, great, grandchildren.
GEORGE, 3rd child of Andrew Backus, was born in England. Early in life he located in Rossie where he had a general store and served as postmaster. He was twice married. His first wife was Ann Raby. There were 5 children by this marriage and 5 by the second marriage to Margaret McCready. George died in 1889. The first wife died in 1863, aged 34 years. The 10 children were: Silas, Esther, Willet, David, Emma, James, Anne, Carrie, Norman, and Morgan.
Silas, a carpenter, married Katherine Brown. Their 6 children were: George W., L. D. Backus, Raymond, Carrie, Alice and Margaret. George W. is a retired station agent at Canton, NY., L. D. lives in Chicago, Illinois; Raymond, 1890-1951, was the father of 5 children. One son, Raymond Jr. lives in Watertown, NY. Carrie married C. S. Felt of Hammond, NY. Alice married Roland Lunderman of Hammond and Margaret married Ralph Hazen of Watertown.
Esther Backus Ormiston had a son, Charles (deceased) whose daughter, Mrs. Emerson Bothwell, lives in Ogdensburg, NY.
Willet died in Park City, Utah, in 1886 when 23 years of age. Death caused by a snowslide.
David (deceased) married Margaret Webster of Rossie. At this writing she resides at Gouverneur and is 82 years old.
Emma, buried in Rossie Cemetery, died in infancy.
James is living in Gouverneur at this writing. He was formerly employed by G.L.F. Store.
Anne became the wife of Frank Gallagher. They had 4 children. She makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Simonds at Auburn, NY. Her other children are deceased.
Carrie died in 1887, aged 4 years.
Norman and Morgan, the youngest sons, left no records and nothing is known of them or any descendants.
JEDIAH, 4th child of Andrew Backus, was named in Andrew's will but little is known of him or his family. He lived in South Edwards and it is reported a William Backus from there was killed in the Civil War. It seems likely he was a son of Jediah Backus. (Also believed to be the cousin that Alta Ann married...(wb) (From the ages on the 1850 census, David was 2 years older than Jediah - hb)
DAVID, 5th child of Andrew and Mary (Andrew's second wife), settled at Chippewa Bay, NY. David's first wife was Louisa Smithers of Heuvelton. She died Sept 25, 1872, age 33 years, leaving 2 small children, Wesley and Minnie. David's second wife, was Mary Perrin. They moved to North Dakota.
Wesley, son of David and Louisa, married Hannah Smith. They had six children. The first two boys died young; the 3rd child, William, 1881-1951, married Lena Truber in 1904. They had a daughter Erdine who married Morris Felt. William had a grocery store in Hammond, NY. Iva, Wesley's 4th child, married Fred Bolte and lives in Sterling, Ont., Canada. 5th child, Ina is a widow (Mrs. Jeffers) lives in New Haven, Connecticut. She has a daughter, Eileen Durand. The 6th child, Frank, died in infancy. Wesley died in Lakeland, Florida, Jan. 12, 1926. He is buried in Hammond Cemetery. Minnie Backus Coons, second child of David and Louisa, died about 1917. She is buried beside her brother, Wesley, in Hammond Cemetery. It is known she was twice married but no records are available concerning her husbands or any children.
These early settlers were pioneer people who with grit and determination made for themselves homes in a new land, and reared large families. Their log cabins soon gave way to substantial homes for they were skillful builders. Uneducated, perhaps by present standards. We find an occasional "X" among their signatures. Here and there an old grandmother, not to be outdone by the modern generation, enjoyed the proverbial clay pipe. They were honest, hardworking people and when their adopted country needed them, the sons unhesitatingly answered the call.
Besides the ten Backus soldiers already mentioned, there were 4 others of that name from St. Lawrence County in the Civil War. These were Henry Backus, Company B, enlisted at Hammond and may have been the son of Levi. A second John Backus, of Company A, has a daughter, Effie Backus Davis, living on the Fullerville Road, near Gouverneur, who states that her grandfather was Peter Backus whose ancestors came from Holland. When arriving here the family lived near Black Lake. We find a Lucius Backus owned land there in 1826. We are not sure to which family he belonged.
The other soldiers were Erastus Backus, Jr. who later became sheriff of St. Lawrence County, and Sylvannus Backus. These two were sons of Erastus Backus of Russell, NY., whose ancestors came to America in 1637. In this family we find such names as Eunice Backus Adrain; Foster Backus, lawyer and one time Dist. Attorney of Kings County, NY, and Jennie Backus, the first wife of Cyrus Clark.
Among the present generation are Goldie Backus Forbes, the last of the Russell family; Roscoe Backus, St. Lawrence University graduate who began his teaching career in Rensselaer Falls, NY, in 1910. Fred Backus, veteran of World War II, who now lives in Denver, Colorado.
It was at the time of the Civil War that the spelling of the name was changed from the old English name of Backhouse, which is found in all early records, to that of Backus. One wonders if John, son of Andrew and Mary, received his name from the grandfather in England. It was the custom of the John Backus families to give their children the names of kings, queens or Bible names. Thus we find Richard, a brother, and Anne (Mrs. John Rudock) and Ruth (Mrs. Christopher Bellaby) children of Joseph and Hannah who remained in England. The original John Backhouse, yeoman of Lancashire, was a Quaker.
Besides local records, two of the references used in collecting the foregoing facts are "The New England Ancestors of Dana Converse Backus" by Mary Neilson in the Ogdensburg Library and "The Descendants of John Backhouse, Yeoman of MossSide, near Yealand, Redman, Lancashire" by Joseph Foster, in New York City Public Library.
This history has been typed into a computer by Beverly Backus and would welcome any changes or additions to this copy..
11104 Farmwood Drive
Raleigh, North Carolina 27613
Alien Reports, Bk.1
Andrew Backhouse - no children listed, born England, age 44, farmer, place of intended residence - Oswegatchie, emigrated from England, arrived in US in 1822
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Rainham Builders
Abt 1786 - 1855 (~ 69 years)