Archibald Falconer

Genealogy

"History of the Town of Stamford", completed by Charles D. Griffin about 1880

Archibald Falconer Gilbert, Eldest Son of Benjamin.

He was born in Stamford, N. Y.; was educated at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and at Amherst College, where he graduated, 1850. He married, April 15, 1850, Lydia Eliza Howe, born Aug. 22, 1823, daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth (Wetherbee) Howe, of Marlboro, Mass. She was at one time a pupil of Mary Lyon at Mount Holyoke Seminary; 1850-1854, A.F. Gilbert was principal of a young ladies' seminary, Mercersburg, Pa.; 1854-1860, principal and proprietor of the Stamford (N.Y.) Seminary; 1860 until his death in 1866, he was an ordained minister of the Reformed Dutch Church of Prattsville, Greene County, N.Y., a church that was founded in 1804.

Biographical Record of the Alumni of Amherst College During Its First Half Century, 1821-1871, William Lewis Montague, J.E. Williams, 1883, 480 pages, Amherst, 1883

Studying theology with Rev. Dr. Creigh...Died from brain fever at Prattsville, New York, 16 June, 1866.

ARCHIBALD F. GILBERT was born in Stamford and chose a different vocation from the other male members of his father's family, and after going through the courses of study in Amherst College, studied for and became a minister in the Presbyterian denomination. Some years after he was the principal of the Stamford Seminary. It was while principal of the Seminary that a circumstance took place that illustrates his profanity.

On Saturdays there was no school, and one Saturday he was at a farmer's barn in the village for a load of hay. As he was fixing a heavy chain around the tongue of the sleigh to have it ready for binding, he pinched his fingers badly and cried out "Oh!" and giving them a rub with the other hand, said in a low voice: "I'd rather be in the school-room." It would become others to be profane only in the same way. From Stamford he went to Prattsville as pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, where he remained till the sixteenth of June, 1866, when his years were numbered and were only 41. He was a good speaker and in his sermons were no narcotics, and therefore there were no sleepers in his audience.

Description of Stamford and the Gilbert homestead

Eliza Howe Gilbert, “prepared by Eliza Howe Gilbert,” ‘’A record of the Benjamin Gilbert branch of the Gilbert family in America (1620-1920) Also the genealogy of the Falconer family, of Nairnshire, Scotland, (1720-1920), to which belonged Benjamin Gilbert's wife, Mary Falconer,’’ Johnson City Publishing Company October, 1920

A Family Letter to my cousins, big and little:

A summer spent in Stamford with Jack and Martha, two of the youngest members of the Gilbert family, great-greatgrandchildren of our grandfather, Benjamin Gilbert, recalled to my mind a request of one of our young relatives and her husband, that I write out for them and their children what I know about the family history. This I am glad to do, both in honor of our grandparents and for the information of those of you who did not know them.

For the facts concerning the five generations preceding Benjamin's father, Jesse Gilbert, we are indebted to Miss Julia Annette Gilbert of Albany, N. Y., who sent them to us, the result of long, careful research by her father, Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, a grandson of Jesse's brother Josiah; and also to our kinsman Harold S. Gilbert of Portland, Oregon, who has completed a larger genealogy of the family. The history of Jesse, especially of his military service, is recorded, together with its sources, in Chapter II of this publication.

Our record of grandmother's family goes back only to her grand-father, William Falconer of Nairnshire, Scotland. Her father, Archibald Falconer, came to America about 1792 and settled in New York City, where his daughter Mary was born in 1801. From 1808 till his death in 1842, he was a farmer in Stamford, Delaware county, New York, owning land in Stamford Township, over the mountain, not far from the Jesse Gilbert farm.

From all I can learn, the Falconers were substantial Christian people of strong character. One might infer this from knowing grandmother's ideals and influence. I was eleven years old when she died and I remember her well, as gentle and affectionate, though not demonstrative. With all her gentleness, however, she was firm in the management of her children and her household, but in a way that inspired in them all respect and affection for her. I have never known anyone to whom could be more aptly applied that description of a worthy woman, as found in Proverbs 31:10-31.

Her death came suddenly in her sixty-fourth year. It was in 1864, at the end of a beautiful October day. She had retired a little earlier than usual, after reading her nightly portion in the big-print Bible, and then, falling asleep almost at once, she passed away peacefully in her sleep. I saw grandfather last when I was sixteen, but he seemed sad, never again the same after "Mother's" death, though he was deeply devoted to his daughter Eliza (Mrs. David Kennedy) and her family, with whom he made his home till his own end came, in 1872 [10].

He was a man of strong personal opinions on religious and political questions, and in the remote mountain community in which he lived, he stood for higher education, for religious character, and for the general uplift of community and country. Because of the superior educational advantages offered by the older towns of Massachusetts, he took his family to Amherst, Mass., about 1840, and resided there several years. Upon returning to Stamford he, together with several of his fellow towns men, was prominent in founding the first seminary in Stamford, the forerunner of the present academy there.

How interested he and grandmother would be in you and your children! How much you would have enjoyed visiting at the farm! It was surrounded by mountains and was just beyond the woods along the west side of the road that is now called Mountain street and leads to the township and to the top of Mt. Utsayantha. We would drive up the long, steep road from the village, letting the horses rest now and then at the "thank-you-marms," till finally, at the last ridge, we'd pass through the big gates of the private drive and be at grandfather's. Then what warm welcome and good cheer!

There were plenty of interests for everyone, old or young; but what interested us most, as children, what now, after nearly sixty years we remember vividly, were the wonderfully good caraway cookies, the delicious maple sugar, the big shining pails of warm foaming milk; and, outside, the flowers and the fruit trees and the long watering trough with its ceaselessly flowing stream of sparkling spring water, where it was fine fun to splash and to sail our make-believe boats. Even yet I can picture to myself the cows, down the lane, coming trailing home after the tinkling bell of the leader and with our play-fellow, Carlo, self-important, bringing up the rear, while beyond, under the sunset sky, was a background of mountains, their sides checkered with vari-colored fields.

Now, all our people are gone from the farm on the mountains! It was sold, long ago, to strangers and the house has been replaced by one more modern.

In this, the first published record of our family, the half-tone cuts have been contributed by our cousin, F. Newell Gilbert of Binghamton, N.Y. The work has been compiled with much pleasure and in the hope that it may serve to draw together in friendly interest all Benjamin Gilbert's descendants. The omissions and any possible mistakes, much to be regretted, must be left to you to supply or correct, as you have opportunity.

Sincerely, Eliza Howe Gilbert. September, 1920.

Falconer Genealogy [59] Genealogy of the Falconer Family of Nairnshire, Scotland

Chapter XII. The grandparents of Mary (Falconer) Gilbert and their descendants:

'William Falconer (1720-"after 1778"), a farmer, Geddes Mills, Nairnshire. ‘Elspeth (Miller) Falconer (1723-1778).

They are buried in a churchyard in Auldearn, Nainshire. Children:

1. ‘John Falconer' who left home when a young man, and in time became a merchant in Cheapside, London. He died in London before 1850, unmarried.

1. ‘Mary Falconer' who died in 1826; she was the wife of William Roy. Children:
   1. William Roy, who married a daughter of James Falconer, Nairn. Children:
      1. Ann Roy, married to Ritchie of Nairn.
      2. James Roy
      3. Mary Roy
      4. Elizabeth Falconer
      5. Alexander Falconer, who, in 1832, was a student at the Academy of Nairn, "at Latin and Greek," and said to have "talents above mediocrity, to be steady and persevering and to have every prospect of doing well"; and
      6. William.

1. 1. Alexander, who married his cousin, Elspeth Campbell.
   2. Archibald.
   3. John, who married a daughter of Hugh Grant, a farmer in Nairn.

1. ‘Margaret Falconer who died some time between 1832 and 1836; wife of ‘Colin Campbell (1750-1835), "a farmer and miller of Rait." Children:
   1. ‘Archibald Campbell' who became a lawyer and was, at one time, of the firm of McAndrew and Campbell, of Inverness, a partnership which was dissolved in 1836. He was never married.
   2. Charles Campbell, who, in 1832, lived in Dalmes (?) and had a large family, "but none of them had received an education which would enable them to earn a livelihood except by hard labor."
   3. Elspeth Campbell, [60} referred to above, wife of her cousin, Alexander Roy.
   4. Lilley, married to Alexander Rose; her address, in 1832, was Red River Settlement, Hudson Bay.
   5. William Campbell, who, in 1832, was living in Rait and had a large family, several of whom were grown. His second son went south, near Perth, and married there.
   6. Alexander Campbell, who died at Glasgow in 1832.

1. Jean Falconer, who was still living in 1836; wife of Hugh Campbell, a farmer of Nairn, said not to be related to Colin Campbell, the husband of Margaret Falconer. Children:
   1. William Campbell, in 42nd Regiment, stationed (1827) at Gibraltar, where he afterwards died.
   2. Hugh Campbell Jr., who died unmarried.
   3. Donald Falconer, who went to Raleigh, N. Carolina.

1. James Falconer, who came to America, where his uncle, Archibald Falconer, aided him to secure education for the ministry. In about 1843 he was in Newburgh, Orange County, N.Y.; later he was in Howard, Steuben County, N.Y.; according to one account, he went, finally, as a missionary to Zanzibar, where he was killed by the, natives; but another report states that he died in Addison, N.Y., and left a wife and one or more children; that one of the children, probably the eldest, was named Hugh.
   1. John Falconer, a ship carpenter in Nairn. He left a family of four sons and three daughters, the eldest son, Hugh Rose Campbell of Nairn in 1901, No. 3 Bath street.
   2. Archibald Falconer, born in Scotland, 1760; died in America at Stamford, N. Y., Dec. 7, 1842; he married in Scotland, Elspeth Russell (1766-July 25, 1841), daughter of William Russell, who, in 1800, was in Blackhellak, Scotland. Children:

1. William Falconer (born in Scotland, Oct. 15, 1791; died in New York City, Aug. 12, 1827, leaving four children:
   1. Archibald Falconer, who died in San Francisco in 1852.
   2. Eliza Falconer.
   3. [63] Mary Falconer.
   4. Catherine Falconer, who died unmarried, in Elizabethtown, N. J., December, 1856. In 1852 she was preceptress in the Stamford Seminary.
2. Elspeth Falconer, born and died in New York (1795-1796).

1. Archibald Falconer (1797- 1831), who married Eliza Borland (?). He was a merchant in Philadelphia and had acquired considerable property, much of it real estate, in New York City. In accordance with his will, his estate was not settled until after the death of his widow, when, as stipulated, it was to have been divided between his sisters and various philanthropic institutions. But his sisters having died, their shares were distributed among their children. Archibald Falconer died Feb. 13, 1831, at Rio Janeiro, S. America, while on a sea voyage undertaken for his health.

1. Jane Falconer (1799 (?)- about 1860), married to Isaac Maynard, Bovina, Delaware county New York Children:
   1. ‘Elisha Maynard';
   2. ‘Archibald Maynard';
   3. Elspeth Maynard
   4. Esther Maynard and
   5. Isaac Horton Maynard, who was born in Bovina, N.Y., April 9, 1838; was prepared for college at Stamford Seminary, by its Principal, his cousin, Archibald Falconer Gilbert; he graduated from Amherst College, 1862, the valedictorian of his class. His public career: 1875 and 1876, member of New York State Assembly from Delaware County. 1877-1883, County Judge of Delaware County. 1884-1885, Deputy Attorney General, New York State. 1885-1887, Second Comptroller of United States Treasury. 1887-1888, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. [64] 1889, Statutory Revision Commissioner of New York State. 1892-1896, Judge of Court of Appeals.
      Judge Maynard married, June 28, 1871, Margaret Maxwell Marvine, who was born, Aug. 9, 1840, daughter of Charles Augustus and Frances (Foote) Marvine of Delhi, N.Y.; he died in Albany, June 12, 1896. Child: —
      1. Frances Maynard, was born in Stamford, N.Y., Dec. 3, 1876. and was married in New York City, Feb. 26, 1902, to David Ford of Rome, Floyd county Georgia. Children:
         1. Isaac Maynard Ford, born, New York, Oct. 23, 1907;
         2. Louisa Ford, born, Stamford, N.Y., July 11, 1909;
         3. Lucy Ford, born, New York, Oct. 20, 1915.

1. Mary Falconer (1801-1864), born in New York City; died in Stamford, N. Y.; she was married to Benjamin Gilbert of Stamford, N. Y. Children:
   1. Archibald Falconer Gilbert (1825-1866)
   2. Jesse Gilbert (2nd.), (1826-1863)
   3. Francis Russell Gilbert, (1830-1897)
   4. William Falconer Gilbert, (1833-1905)
   5. Sarah Elspeth Gilbert, (1835-1911)
   6. Don Alonzo Gilbert, (1838- 1902)
   7. Eliza Belle Gilbert, (1842-1915. See Record of Gilbert Family, Chapter I and Chapters V-XI.)

The data concerning the Falconer Family, we have obtained from the following sources:

• 1. Letters written to Archibald Falconer of Stamford, N. Y.; March 1, 1827, by Hugh Campbell, signed "brother," really brother-in-law, Nairn; April 3, 1832, from Geddes Mills, Nairnshire, by William Roy, nephew: Dec. 28, 1832, and Aug. 1, 1836, from Inverness, by Archibald Campbell, nephew.
• 2. Facts related by grandmother and other relatives and acquaintances in America.
• 3. Answers given by descendants of the above writers to my special inquiries, by letters to them in 1889 and 1890, and in person on a trip to. Scotland in 1901.

"It was through the interest of Mr. F. Russell Gilbert of New York City that we learned of the larger genealogy of the Gilbert Family soon to be issued by Mr. Harold S. Gilbert of Portland, Oregon, to whom we have referred elsewhere.”