Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Simon Willard Oley was born September 19, 1854, in the town of Rush, Monroe county, N. Y. He received his elementary education in one of those little country schoolhouses where there are many children, and only one teacher to hear recitations from thirty to forty classes every day. Being brought up on a farm he early un- derstood what work was, and at the age of four- teen he was doing the regular work of a man. Having a love for study, he now attended school as he was able, which was only during the four- months winter term, walking nearly two miles to and from school. By the kindness of the teach- ers he took up studies that were not in the regu- lar school curriculum, and thus he and his brother and sister became students of algebra, philosophy, physiology, etc. In mathematics he always stood at the head of his classes. At the age of sixteen he was obliged to give up attend- ing school even in the winters, and worked upon the farm, little thinking that he would ever be called upon to use his modest education in teach- ing others. But in the fall of 1874, while in the apple orchard picking apples, he was waited upon by the trustee of an adjoining school district, who urged him to get a license from the school commissioner and teach his school for him the following winter. The trustee said that he knew there was no doubt as to Oley's ability to teach the school, for he had heard that he was a good student, and our subject accordingly took the school and had a very successful term, the fol- lowing winter teaching again, in a neighboring district. This gave him an impetus to further study, and the following winter of 1876-77 found him and his brother as students in the Geneseo State Normal at Geneseo, Livingston Co., N. Y. In June, 1876, he visited the Philadelphia Cen- tennial Exhibition, with his sister, spending three weeks there and in Washington, and while on this trip they were many times amused by being taken by the porters and trainmen for a young bride and groom on their wedding trip. Oley graduated at the Geneseo Normal in the full classical course in 1879. He then became principal of the Henrietta (N. Y.) Academy dur- ing the years of 1879-80; was principal of the Parma (N. Y.) Union Free School, in 1881; and was principal of the Wayland fN. Y.) Union Free School for the two years following, while there making the acquaintance of Miss Fannie Weld Bennett, who taught with him and whom he afterward married. He also taught as first Eng- lish teacher in the German-American Institute in Second avenue. New York City, for one year, during which time he commenced the study of medicine, attending the college and clinics Sat- urdays and holidays. In October, 1884, he en- tered the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, and took the full course. In February, 1885, he became a private tutor in the family of Col. Hiram Crosby, at Throgg's Neck, Westchester Co., N. Y., which incum- bency he filled six months, keeping up his study of medicine, as he had a great deal of time on his hands. In October, 1885, he entered the Homeopathic Medical College, New York, from which institution he graduated April 15, 1886. Soon afterward Dr. Oley located in Lambert- ville, N. J., and although he was a perfect stranger there and had no introduction he en- gaged in practice successfully for three years, making a living from the first month. On May I, 1889, he removed thence to Danbury, Conn., where he has since remained, making a specialty of treating diseases of the eye, ear and throat, in connection with general and family practice, and has proved remarkably successful. On December 31, 1885, Dr. Oley was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Weld Bennett, daughter of Chauncey and Lovina M. (Atwell) Bennett, of Wayland, Steuben county, N. Y., and one child, Willard Simon Van Ant Wer Pen Oley, born September 23. 1887, has blessed this union. Dr. and Mrs. Oley are members of the Episcopal Church at Danbury, of which he is a vestryman. Politically he is a Republican. So- cially he is a member of the F. & A. M., Union Lodge, No. 40; of the I. O. O. F., Progressive Lodge, No. 18, and of the Echo Rebekahs; of the Royal Arcanum, in which he has passed all the chairs, and is now a member of the Grand Council, and of the Loyal Additional Benefit Association, No. 54, of Danbury. The Doctor is practically a self-made man, having by industry earned the means whereby '.'AoyyA l^fM ,:.;■! ;ii,,V , -< \ 1 banni: ' mt'o-. -illU Ml. i' ;mv,' , . r , 'A , . ;■ ( J '■ •■ ;jirf ;>• I h, <r'- ■ (., , •r.,-.f ..,-!, 20 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. his college and other expenses incident to his study for the profession were defrayed. About the years 1881-82-83 he and his brother rented the estate of Gen. William Wadsworth, a farm of 375 acres in Rush, Monroe county, N. Y., and during those years realized, by assiduous labor, a handsome sum of money. At the pres- ent time Dr. Oley enjoys one of the largest practices in the city of Danbury. Fannie Weld (I?ennettj Oley was born July 30, 1854, in Steuben county, N. Y. , daughter of Chauncey and Lovina Marilla (Atwellj i^ennett. Her grandparents, Chauncey and Sallie Bennett, lived in Lennox, Mass., removing thence to Rochester, N. Y. , where Chauncey Bennett, Jr., was born July 20. 1798, the seventh son in a family of ten children. Here all the family were sick, and becoming weary of the place — which then consisted of only a few houses, the land so low and swampy that nearly every one living there was ill with malaria — they moved back to Massa- chusetts. Some time later they again moved to New York State, settling at Cohocton, Steuben county. When Chauncey Bennett, Jr., became old enough to make a start for himself he located in Wayland, Steuben county. Here he married Sallie Griffeth, who was born February 20, 1800, and died May 31, 1 85 i . Their union was blessed with five children, viz.: Cynthia A., born Feb- ruary 14, ,1823; James G., born August 16, 1825; Dan C. ; Guy B., born December 29, 1830; and Philo F. , born December 14, 1840, all of whom except Guy Bennett are still living. On October 12, 185 1, Chauncey Bennett married, for his second wife, Lovina Marilla Atwell, who was born September 16, 1823, and died July 5, 1862; her parents were Chauncey and Polly (Bush) Atwell. They had four children: Fannie Weld, born July 31, 1854, married Dr. S. W. Oley on December 31, 1885. Byron Atwell, born December 8, 1855, was married in 1881 to Lois Post, of Wayland, Steuben county, and to them was born one daughter, Myrtle; his wile passed away in 1888. William Henry, born July 18, 1857, was married in 1880, in Michi- gan, to Delia Granger, who died in January, 1896; they had four children — Mable, Fannie, Maud and LaVern. John A., born June 11, 1 861, married Lyda Granger, of Wayland, in 1885; they have no children. Mrs. Fannie Oley's maternal great-grandfa- ther, Conrad Bush, was born in Methinhime, Holland, Oct. 29, 1753, and died in Pompey, N. Y., Dec. 19, 1854, at the great age of loi years. He came to this country about 1 770. Conrad Bush was a Revolutionary soldier, serving in the war for seven years, as was recorded at Albany, N. Y., under Lieut. Col. Johe Van Rensselar, Col. John Ivinnickerbocher, and, part of the time, under Captain Doughty. He applied for a pension June 7, 1828, and drew a pension as a matross in the New York State troops. Conrad Bush married Mary Watson, who was born in Ulster county, N. Y., December 18, 1766; she died December 3, 1848. They had two daughters, one of whom, Pol- ly Bush, was Mrs. Fannie Oley's grandmother, she having married Chauncey Atwell about 1809. They had seven children: (i) Myron Atwell, born in 1811, died April 24, 1883. (2) John Atwell was born August 16, 181 3. (3J Susan Atwell, born in i8i5,died November 28, 1894. About 1838 she married Abram DuBois, and they had one child, Abram C. DuBois. (4) Jacob Atwell, born January 9, 1817, married Mary Tates, Sep- tember 9, 1855, and died April 16, 1873. They had three children — Ellen Jane, William Hen- ry and Charles Francis. (5) Conrad Atwell, born February 20, 18 19, married Safronia Leg- gettMay3[, 1845, and by her had three children — Alan Nelson, Martha Wilson and Herman Howe. For his second wife he married Mrs. David Fish. (6) William Atwell married and had four children, Melissa, Mary, Henrietta and Henry, all of whom are now deceased. (7) Lov- ina Marilla Atwell, born September 16, 1823, died July 5, 1862. HON. JOHN D. NASH, a well-known re- tired merchant of Titicus, Ridgefield town- ship, is a man whose ability and sterling quali- ties of character have won for him wide popu- larity, and the following history will be of general interest. The Nash family has for several generations held a prominent place in this section, its mem- bers showing the qualities of leadership in var- ious lines of effort. From all information ob- tainable the ancestor of the subject of this sketch was Edward Nash, who was born in Lan- caster, England, in 1592, and is supposed to have died there. Edward Nash (2) emigrated to America, and, as appears in reliable record, set- tled in Norwalk, Conn., in 165 i. where he lived the remainder of his life. He had a son John, born late in the year 1652, who married Mary, daughter of Thomas Barlow, of Fairfield, Conn. They died in 171 1 and 171 3, respectively, leaving among other children John, born December 25, 1688, who married May 19, 1709, Abag^il, daughter of Ebenezer Blakely, of New Haven, Conn. He lived in Norwalk, and died there in 1769, leaving ten children. The one which di- rectly concerns our subject was Abraham, the COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 21