- http://files.usgwarchives.net/ny/madison/bios/1894/hall-frederickc.txt
Frederick C. Hall, Lebanon, Madison Co., NY
FREDERICK C. HALL, a veteran of the late war, residing in Lebanon, was born in Madison, Madison County, N.Y., June 11, 1827. His father, William Hall, and his grandfather, George Hall, Jr., were natives of Portsmouth, R. I., where they lived on a plantation of three hundred acres purchased at an early date by Colonel George Hall, great-grandfather of Frederick, a native of England, and an ex-officer of the English army. Coming to America and taking up his abode in this Quaker settlement, many of his neighbors being of that faith, Colonel Hall became a member of the Society of Friends. George Hall, Jr., died at the Portsmouth homestead, at the age of eighty-four. His wife, Charity Fish, of Newport, R.I., died four years later, at the same age.
William Hall, son of George Hall, Jr., was born March 28, 1767. He married first Mary Durfee, by whom he had ten children. She died January 26, 1816. His second wife, Mary Harrington, was born in Cherry Valley, Otsego County, N.Y., in December, 1793, and died January 26, 1838. She was the mother of five children. It is a remarkable fact that these fifteen children of one father all married and had families of their own. William Hall made his first visit to New York in 1797, and bought a tract of timber land in what is now the town of Madison, then a wilderness, the price of land in this yet unorganized county being from two dollars and a half to five dollars per acre. In the autumn Mr. Hall returned to Portsmouth, travelling back and forth several times. In the course of five years he cleared twenty acres and built a log house. The family removal to the new home took place in 1802, wife and children journeying in a wagon drawn by a single horse, the household goods and other movables being brought in a cart to which were yoked a pair of oxen and two cows. Industrious and thrifty, William Hall worked at his own profitable trade, - boot and shoe making, - learned in Rhode Island, and hired men to clear his land, which soon came to be an excellent farm. Surviving his second wife fifteen years, he died at his son Frederick's home in Waterville, in 1853, aged eighty-six years. He was a consistent member of the Society of Friends.
The death of the second Mrs. William Hall, in 1838, brought great changes to the household. Frederick, then in his eleventh year, went to live with his step-grandmother Durfee. At the age of sixteen he was sent to Waterville to learn harness-making. After two years of apprentice work in this place he served six months at Richfield and six months at Utica. He then followed the trade one year at Binghamton, another at Owego, Tioga County, and next, after a short time at Waterville, went to North Brookfield, and became a carriage-trimmer. In this occupation he continued until his enlistment in August, 1864, in Company I, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York Volunteer Infantry. He went with the regiment to Charleston, S.C., and was in all its campaigns until his discharge at Charleston, July 10, 1865. Being at this time sick in a hospital, he remained there some weeks. On his return home he resumed his old trade, continuing at it until a recent date. In 1869 he bought his present farm, the birthplace and home of his wife, Hannah M. Hatch, whom he married in 1851.
Ira B. Hatch, the father of Mrs. Hall, was born in Egremont, Mass., in 1790, the son of Benjamin Hatch, a native of the same place, who served seven years in the War of the Revolution, and who emigrated to Lebanon with his family in 1802. Here he died in 1854 in his one hundredth year. His wife's maiden name was Christina Pierce. Ira, a lad of twelve years, accompanied his father to Lebanon, and, succeeding him in the owner-ship of the home farm, resided upon it until his death. Mrs. Hall's mother, Polly Sharp before her marriage, was born in the town of Greene, Chenango County, N.Y., a daughter of Hendrick Sharp, a pioneer in that town. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have five children living, - Edward, Frederick, Julia, Lucia, and Thomas. Mr. Hall is a birthright member of the Society of Friends, and in his daily life illustrates the well-known virtues of the disciples of George Fox. Mrs. Hall is of the Presbyterian faith.
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1827 - 1905 (78 years)
