GREAT VALLEY — Town Historian Marilyn Eddy Siperek and genealogist Dawn Westfall have been busier than ever these days, researching and finishing up family ancestry information for a number of people who will be awarded Pioneer Certificates when the town kicks off its 200th birthday on April 15.
On that day, four levels of Pioneer Certificates will be awarded: Founding Father, settled in 1840 or before; Early Settler, 1880 or before; Early Resident, 1920 or before; and Indigenous families living in the town prior to that.
Robert “Bob” Patterson of Kill Buck has an ancestor who is categorized as a Founding Father of Great Valley. He is a descendant of Captain Nathan H. Howe, who came to the town in the early 1800s.
Patterson is the nephew of the late Roberta Stone, former Great Valley town historian. His father was Otis Patterson, brother to Roberta. He adamantly said Kill Buck is two words, which was a stickler to his late aunt.
“Everybody knew my aunt Roberta and everybody knew my dad, Otis, too. He was called the unofficial mayor of Kill Buck,” he said. “Dad was big at Fentier Village; he was an entertainer and a showman.”
Information sent from Shirley Rogers, another of Howe’s descendants, says Captain Nathan Howe was born in Herkimer, Hillsborough County, N.H. in 1772, and his wife, Mary Wait, was born in the same year in Braintree, Worcester County, Mass. The couple came to Kill Buck in the Town of Great Valley in the early 1800s and raised a family of 10. Their children were Martha, Nathan Jr., Mary (Polly), John Wait, Horace, Diantha Howe, Lucy Howe, Charlotte, Daniel Haven, Daniel Whit and Otis.
According to Westfall, his daughter, Charlotte, married Robert Patterson. On the New York state 1865 census, Captain Howe is listed as residing with his daughter, Charlotte. He died in 1845 and is buried in Kill Buck cemetery, along with his wife.
Additional information from Rogers says Capt. Howe was commissioned Captain of the 71st Infantry March 2, 1814. In September 1934, the United States Department of War furnished the following data: “Captain Howe served in the War of 1812 as a lieutenant and captain of the 71st Regiment, in the New York Militia, and ended June 24, 1813.
The records also show that Captain Howe served in the war as lieutenant in Captain Jedediah Noble’s Company and Regiment in the New York Militia from Sept. 9, 1813 to Nov. 4, 1813.
An excerpt from the Historical Gazetteer and Biographical Memorial of Cattaraugus County, N.Y. says, Nathan Howe Jr., the son of Capt. Howe, was born in New Hampshire in 1797 and came to Great Valley with his father when a small boy where the family settled at Kill Buck. Nathan Jr. married Nancy, daughter of Philip Mudge who was also of Great Valley, about 1822 and moved to Humphrey where he was the first settler on what is known as Howe Hill. Howe was a strong anti-slavery man and was active in the operations of the underground railroad.
The first store kept at Kill Buck was by Daniel and Horace Howe on the west side of the creek, in 1834, according to “The History of Cattaraugus County, N.Y.,” published by Everts in 1879.
For more information about the Town of Great Valley’s ancestry, contact Siperek at 945-3161 or msiperek@aol.com. Follow Great Valley’s Bicentennial events on Facebook at “Great Valley, NY History.”
(Contact reporter Deb Everts at salpressdeb@gmail.com.)
