Bouton-Boughton Family

1856 and returned to New York. That year he trav- eled much in the west, and in the autumn arrived at Omaha, Neb., settled there, and remained there till late in the year 1859. At this time he visited Wil- mington, and was induced to go into business there again. He was meeting with great success when the civil war broke out and ne was obliged to leave there secretly because of his loyaltv to the Union, and his property was confiscated by the Confederate govern- ment. He then came north by the way of Washing- ton, gave valuable information to the government, received the thanks of Secretary Salmon P. Chase, and returned to New York again without fortune. With friends he then engaged in the petroleum oil speculation. In the spring of 1870 he resettled in Omaha, where he now, 1887, resides. In 1837 Mr. Gwyer was author of a pamphlet on the cotton manufactories of New England and con- tended that they were no better than negro slavery. In North Carolina, there being no postoflRce nearer than ten miles from the place he had chosen to settle in, he made immediate application to Government for a postoffice, which was soon granted and he was appointed postmaster. He held the office four years, and by his business and enterprise the place rapidly grew to a town. It was named Magnolia, of which he may well be called the founder. In 1858 he was a member of the territorial legislature of Nebraska, the author of numerous statutes, was appointed at a mass meeting of the citizens of Omaha, a committee to memorialize Congress on the subject of a conti- nental railroad to the Pacific ocean. This was so thoroughly done the memorial was sent to every member of Congress and to the governors of all the States. It was commended by public men and the press, as an able memorial, and it did much to influ- ence the legislation which culminated in the construc- tion of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads. In 1859 he was an alderman of the city of Omaha, in 1873 a member of the Nebraska State Senate, was elected president of that body, ex officio lieutenant-governor, and for a time acting governor of the State ; became in 1875 editor of the Omaha Republican^ the leading republican paper in the State, was, 1876, member of the Constitutional Convention, and as chairman of the committee on engrossed bilis^ BOUTON-BOUGHTON FAMILY. lOS received the thanks of the convention. In 1880 was vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, mem- ber of the Board of Education, and has held other honorable positions. Children of William A. and Sarah A. Hall Gwyer. 11 OS 1.103 William A. Gwyer, Jr., b. Magnolia, N. C, Sept. 7, 1847. Graduate of law department Columbia College, Washington, D. C, is in the treasury department at Washington. 1.104 Idolyn Gwyer, b. Wilmington, N. C, Dec. 28, 1854, m. July 2, 1878, Willis M. Yates, of Omaha, b. Maryland, they have five children and reside Omaha. 1.105 Gwyndaline Gwyer, b. Oct. 16, 1858, Omaha. 1.106 Sarah Etta Gwyer, b. Nov. 5, 1861, South Nor- walk, Conn. 1.107 ii. Mary A. Gwyer (dau. of Christopher and Mary Bouton Banta Gwyer), b. N. Y. city May 9, 1823, m. Dec. 15, 1842, Daniel Townsend, b. N. Y. city Aug. 3, 1817. Children of Daniel and Mary A. 6(wyer Townsend. 1107 1.108 Charles R. Townsend, b. N. Y. city Sept. 25, 1843, m. Frances A. Scofield, of Norwalk, Conn., Jan. 13, 1873, no children, res. -at Norwalk. 1.109 Mary H. Townsend, b. Norwalk Oct. 6, 1848, m. Samuel G. Mitchell, of Noi-walk, April 11, 1S71, he d. at Norwalk Jan. 28, 1885, leaving five children. 1.110 Emma L. Townsend, b. Norwalk, May 15, 1851, m. Charles N. Smith, of Norwalk, Dec. 17, 1872, three children, res. Norwalk. 1.111 Ella Gwter Townsend, b. Norwalk, April 14, 1857, d. at Norwalk May 24, 1867. 8«1 (xiii.) Anna Bouton (dau. of William and Sarah Benedict Bouton), b. Norwalk June 21, 1796; united with the • first Congregational church at Norwalk March 4, 1810; m. Dec. 15, 1819, Horatio N. Downs, he d. Aug. 7, 1830, at tlie age of thirty- two years. They resided at Norwalk, Conn.^ She d. August 13, 1887. The following obituaiy appeared in one of the city papers : *' Mrs. Anna Downs, residing on West street, near the place of her birth, died on Saturday morning at the great age of ninety one years and two months. The funeral took place on 104 BOUTON-BOUGHTON FAMILY. Monday afternoon at the house of Mr. Asahel Dickerman. The Rev. H. N. Dunning, her former Eastor, delivered an excellent address founded on luke ii. 25-41, and gave a very interesting sketch of the life of deceased. He descril)ed her as being of Huguenot extraction and having been a faithful member of the Congregational church for seventy- seven years. Her husband was a hat manufacturer sixty years and more ago, on the shore where the steamboat dock is now located. She had been a widow fifty-seven years and was the last of a family of fourteen children." Chlidron of Horatio N. and Anna Bouton Downs. 861 1.112 i. Harriet Newell Downs, b. Jan. 25, 1821, died Jan. 8, 1822. 1.113 ii. Charles Algernon Dow^ns, b. May 21, 1823, m. Helen K. Seymour, of Lanesboro, Mass. He entered Dartmouth college, and graduated at New York university and at Union Theological seminary, New York. Was settled pastor of the Congregational church for twenty-five years at Lebanon, N. H. Was elected by that town to the House of Repre- sentatives of the Legislature of New Hampshire. Elected two terms (four years) State superintendent of public schools of the State, and for twelve years past has followed civil engineering and is author of a history of the town of Lebanon, N. H. Having taken a great interest in collecting mineral specimens he is said to have the finest cabinet in the State of New Hampshire. He, with his sons, have given much attention also to ornithology as well as mineralogy, spending about six months of each year in the Adirondacks, in pursuit of their favorite science. Ch. of Charles A. and Helen K. Seymour DownSf of Lebanon^ N. H. 1.114 i. Charles Algernon Downs, Jr., b. Mar. 31, 1853. 1.115 ii. Anna Katrina Downs, b. Sept. 20, 1854, m. Dan- iel Durkee, 1880, res. Cal. 1.116 iii. Eugene Seymour Dow^ns, b. Feb. 7, 1856, m. Alice May Manchester, 1880, res. Lebanon, N. H. 1.117 iv. Allen Burritt Downs, b. July D, 1862, res. Leb- anon, N. H. ,i(fes- NATHANIEL BOUTON. D.D. Concord, N. H. BOUTON-BOUGHTON FAMILY. 105 1.118 iii. Harriet Angenora Downs (dau. of Horatio N. and Ann Bouton Downs), b. Jan. 18, 1826, m. Sept. 24, 1848, Asahel Dickerman, of Jewett, N. Y., and settled at Norwalk. Children of Asahel and Harriet Angenora Downs Dickerman « 1.119 i. Nelson Dickerman, b. Nov. 4, 1849. m. Sept. 12, 1878, Emma, dau. of Dea. Stephen G. Ferris, of city of South Norwalk. Child of Nelson and Emma Dickerman. 1,119* Gracie E. Dickerman, b. Sept. 27, 1879. 1.120 ii. Harriet L. Dickerman, b. Mar. 11, 1851, d. June 11, 1856. 1.121 iii. Cornelia W. Dickerman, b. Feb. 20, 1852, m. March 11, 1882, James Porter Bennett, and settled at Boston, where he died Nov., 1882. 1.122 iv. Henry B. Dickerman, b. Mar. 9, 1854, d. April 29, 1861. 1.123 V. Anna L. Dickerman, b. June 3, 1856, graduate of Tilden seminary, N. H. 1.124 vi. Frank A. Dickerman, b. May 11, 1861. 1.125 vii. Harriet Winona Dickerman, b. May 25, 1866, graduate of Vermont academy. 1.126 iv. Cornelia Marion Downs, (dau. of Horatio N. and Ann Bouton Downs), b. April 15, 1826, m. Jas. M. Eeed, of Norwalk, Nov., 1844; she died Feb. 7, 1846, leaving one child. Child of James M. and Cornelia M. Downs Reed. , James Marion Reed ; he died Nov. 7, 1846, aged nine months. Children of William (son of Joseph) and Sarah Benedict Bonton. 862 Nathaniel Bouton (son of William and Sarah Benedict Bouton), was bom at Norwalk, Conn., June 20, 1799. On the authority of an Autobiography published by his son, John Bell Bouton, of the Journal of Commerce^ New York, it is learned that Nathaniel Bouton, the subject of this record, attended school at Noi^walk, and at the age of nine years was so proficient in the rudimentary branches that the teacher frequently sent other scholars to him to be assisted in their studies. As grammar and geography were not at that time taught in the district schools, he studied the rudiments of English grammar, with but little, if any. 106 BOUTON-BOUGHTON FAMILY. more assistance than that obtained from a book called ''Murray's Abridgement." Between the ages of thirteen and fourteen he began to think of learning a trade. An advertisement appearing in his father's newspaper, Bepubli- can Farmer, of Bridgeport, for a boy to learn the printing business, he at once resolv^ to ask his father to allow him to go and learn that trade, to which he readily consented, and the lad was regularly apprenticed by his father to Stiles Nichols, proprietor of the Aepublican Farmer^ for seven years. A strong attachment mutually grew up between employer and employee, and soon not only his hands but his mental capacities were called into exercise in the work of conducting the paper. During the spring of 1815, spe- cial religious services were held in Briageport, at which, with many others of about his age, he attended, and became deeply impressed with the subject of religion ; and on the morning of June 20,1815, his sixteenth birthday, he resolved to give himself, without reserve, to the service of God ; and pursuing that purpose until the first sabbath in December, 3815, he with ninety -eight others, were received into the First Congregational church in Bridgeport, Rev. Elijah Waterman, pastor. * During the year that followed a desire came upon him to preach the gospel, and consequent upon that a college edu- cation, and, here again the thought of four years of appren- ticeship to be completed, presented to his mind a difficulty, the only solution of whicn, that seemed practicable was, to purchase his unexpired time of his employer, which was done for $175.00 ; his father raising the amount by the sale of some land and the help of a friend ; thus securing a release and a cancellation of the indentures.