The Redfield Family of Smethport, Pennsylvania

This family is supposed to be of English origin. It is hardly possible to doubt this; yet the name is very rare in England, almost non-existent. In 1860 it was stated that no Redfield appeared in the directories of London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh nor Glasgow. Similar names are found, though rarely, in old English records, and arms have been granted to a few persons with possibly related names. In America, also, there is an obscurity about the name in the early days, where it seems to have been changed in the second generation from Redfin, almost as uncommon in England as Redfield, to Redfield, the evidence being conjectural, but strong, from the early records. The following account cannot be in all points guaranteed with the same confidence as is possible in some families, but is probably correct, and accords with the records so far as they carry the matter.

(I) William Redfin

William Redfin, the founder of this family, died about May, 1662. He was probably one of the early immigrants from England to Massachusetts. By 1639 he occupied a house and four acres of land on the south side of the Charles river, about six miles from Boston. He sold this place in September, 1646, and from that time his name disappears from the Massachusetts records. With some of his neighbors he probably joined the stream of migration to Pequot, now New London, Connecticut. The first certain evidence of his presence there is on May 29, 1654, at which time he had already built a house. The change of name to Redfield seems to have begun at New London, about the time of his death. He married Rebecca —–, who survived him. Children:

1. Lydia Redfin, married (first) January 10, 1655-56, Thomas Bayley, (second) in 1676, William Thorne.
2. Rebecca Redfin, died August 16, 1670; married, December 12, 1661, Thomas Roach.
3. James Redfield, of whom further.
4. Judith Redfin, died April 30, 1678; married, June 17, 1667, Alexander Pygan.

(II) James Redfield

James Redfield, son of William and Rebecca Redfin, was born, it is supposed, about 1646, and was living in 1719. In 1662 he bound himself for five years to learn the trade of tanning. About a year before the expiration of his time his master removed and he became free. For a short time he lived at New London. In 1671 he was an inhabitant of Martha’s Vineyard, and five years later was living at Saybrook, where he remained at least ten years. By 1693 he removed to Fairfield, Connecticut. He married (first) at New Haven, in May, 1669, Elizabeth, daughter of Jeremy How, who was born in 1645, (second) at Fairfield, Deborah, daughter of John Sturgis. The order of his children is not quite certain, nor is it in every case certain by which wife. Children:

1. Elizabeth Redfield, born May 31, 1670
2. Sarah Redfield, married Daniel Frost
3. Theophilus Redfield, of whom further
4. Margaret Redfield, baptized October 7, 1694
5. James Redfield, baptized October 25, 1696, died in 1743, probably thrice married.

(III) Sergeant Theophilus Redfield

Sergeant Theophilus Redfield, son of James Redfield, was born about 1682, died February 14, 1759. He was a joiner. He probably settled, soon after coming of age, at Killingworth, Connecticut, in the part now called Clinton. About 1718 he moved to North Killingworth, now Killingworth. He is called Sergeant Redfield. He married, December 24, 1706, Priscilla, daughter of Daniel and Lydia Greenel, who was born about 1689, died January 12, 1770. Every one of his children had a family. Children:

1. Daniel Redfield, born September 22, 1707, died January 11, 1758; married Elizabeth —–.
2. Elizabeth Redfield, born May 8, 1709, died in 1742; married, February 3, 1731-32, Josiah Hull.
3. Richard Redfield, of whom further.
4. Ebenezer Redfield, born December 3, 1713, died January 4, 1766; married, November 30, 1741, Hannah Colton.
5. Lydia Redfield, born February 9, 1715-16, died December 16, 1784; married (first) February 21, 1737, Joseph Hodgkin, (second) November 15, 1753, Levi Leete.
6. Theophilus Redfield, born September 6, 1718, died January 30, 17—; married (first) September 4, 1740, Mary Buell, (second) in December, 1749, Martha Gray.
7. Priscilla Redfield, born July 20, 1720, died January 12, 1770; married, October 15, 1740, Joseph Bradley.
8. Peleg Redfield, born April 2, 1723, died December 5, 1760; married, April 25, 1744, Sarah Dudley.
9. George Redfield, born November 7, 1725, died May 30, 1812; married (first) in 1750, Trial Ward, (second) January 8, 1767, Abigail Stone.
10. William Redfield, born December 5, 1727, died in July, 1813; married, January 8, 1755, Elizabeth Starr.
11. Josiah Redfield, born September 6, 1730, died August 6, 1802; married, December 8, 1757, Sarah Parmelee.
12. Jane Redfield, born June 24, 1733, died May 24, 1762; married, January, 1753, Samuel Crane.
13. James Redfield, born March 29, 1735, died April 3, 1788; married Sarah Grinnell.

(IV) Richard Redfield

Richard, son of Sergeant Theophilus and Priscilla (Greenel) Redfield, was born June 18, 1711, died February 2, 1771. His home was at Killingworth, and he was a sea captain. He recognized the church covenant in 1725. He married (first) June 21, 1735, Mary, daughter of George and Esther Chatfield, (second) —– Wilcox. Children: the first four by first wife; the remaining two by second wife:

1. Eliphalet Redfield, born July 24, 1736; married, June 15, 1757, Anna Strmuanl.
2. Priscilla Redfield, born March 12, 1739; married, October 10, 1759, Rufus Hardy.
3. Reuben Redfield, born June 21, 1742, died young.
4. Abigail Redfield, born September 21, 1743, died December 25, 1779; married William Pendleton.
5. Reuben Redfield, of whom further.
6. Richard Redfield, born April 6, 1768, died March 26, 1851; married (first) Phebe Loper, (second) Lucy Brown.

(V) Reuben Redfield

Reuben, son of Richard Redfield, was born at Killingworth, January 8, 1766, died at Eden, Erie county, New York, January 8, 1835. He lived at Highgate, Vermont, on the international boundary, and in several other places in that vicinity, and removed to Eden about 1832. He married, at Castleton, Vermont, about 1788, Elizabeth Jocelyn, who died February 4, 1829. Children:

1. Hervey Redfield, died young.
2. Harriet Redfield, died in March, 1854; married William Reynolds.
3. Almeria Redfield, married Elias Isham.
4. Alzira Redfield, born in 1798, died August 3, 1851; married, in 1821, John Jaquays.
5. William Villeroy Redfield, married, March 22, 1821, Delana Barr.
6. Elizabeth Jocelyn Redfield, born November 21, 1802, died July 25, 1840; married, April 1, 1823, John Proper.
7. Lucy Redfield, died young.
8. Horner Johnson Redfield, married, September 17, 1844, Ruth Merrill.
9. Horace Linzy Redfield, of whom further.

(VI) Horace Linzy Redfield

Horace Linzy, son of Reuben and Elizabeth (Jocelyn) Redfield, was born at Highgate, Vermont, December 23, 1809, died at Eden, December 23, 1849. Eden was his home and he was a physician there. He married, April 28, 1838, Clarissa Jane, daughter of Edwin and Mary W. Forbes, born at Erie, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1816, died in Washington, D. C. For a time after her husband’s death she lived at Jasper, Marion county, Tennessee. Children:

1. Edwin Forbes Linzy Redfield, born April 22, 1842, died in Texas; lived south; served in the Confederate army; married and had children:
   1. Henry L. Redfield, residing in Dallas, Texas.
   2. Maud Redfield, residing in Dallas, Texas.
2. Horace Victor Eugene Redfield, of whom further.
3. Caroline Clarissa Redfield, born December 15, 1849, died January 11, 1850.

(VII) Horace Victor Eugene Redfield

Horace Victor Eugene, son of Horace Linzy and Clarissa Jane (Forbes) Redfield, was born at Eden, December 23, 1845, died in Washington, D. C., November 17, 1881. He was a newspaper correspondent; at one time being the Washington correspondent for the Cincinnati Commercial. For a time he lived at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and there was an alderman. He was a Republican. Both he and his wife were communicants of the Episcopal church. He married Jeanette, daughter of Byron D. and Harriet (Holmes) Hamlin, who was born at Smethport, McKean county, Pennsylvania. Children:

1. Harriet Forbes Redfield, born at Smethport, August 4, 1874; married Mellville Gillett (see Gillett V).
2. Horace Hamlin Redfield, of whom further.
3. Scott Forrest Redfield, born in Washington, October 5, 1879; married Caroline Larned, of Syracuse, New York; he is a publisher, and their residence is at Smethport; children:
   1. Scott Forrest Redfield, born May 31, 1908
   2. Janet Redfield, born August 29, 1910.

(VIII) Horace Hamlin Redfield

Horace Hamlin, son of Horace Victor Eugene and Jeanette (Hamlin) Redfield, was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, January 10, 1878. His schooling was begun at Smethport and afterwards continued at Augusta, Georgia. From the public school he was sent to St. John’s Military School, Manlius, New York, and thence to Hobart College, which he left, however, in 1898. From 1900 to 1907 he was in the hardware business at Smethport. Having sold this business to Daly & Garlick he went into banking at Eldred, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. But he has retained his residence at Smethport to the present day. He is president of the First National Bank at Eldred; director in the Hamlin Bank & Trust Company, Smethport, and the First National Bank at Bradford, Pennsylvania; a member of the advisory board of the First Mortgage, Guarantee & Trust Company, Philadelphia; and formerly was a director of the Grange National Bank, Smethport. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to Coudersport Consistory; Zem Zem Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Erie, Pennsylvania; McKean Lodge, No. 388, Free and Accepted Masons; Phoenix Chapter, No. 15, Eastern Star. His clubs are the Central, Smethport; the Bradford and the Country Club, Bradford. Mr. Redfield is a Republican. For five years he has been school director of the borough of Smethport, and has served one term as councilman in that borough. At this time he is a candidate for the Pennsylvania assembly. He is a communicant of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Smethport.

He married, October 10, 1900, Grace Emily, daughter of Frederick A. and Emily Leona (Huenerfeld) McCoy, who was born at Ellicottville, New York, April 1, 1878. She is a graduate of the Smethport high school, in the class of 1895. She is a member of Smethport Chapter, No. 15, Eastern Star. In connection with St. Luke’s Church, of which she is a communicant, she is a member of St. Christopher’s Guild. Her father is a druggist at Smethport, son of Stephen and Eliza McCoy. Emily Leona, born at Ellicottville, February 3, 1855, was the daughter of Peter Joseph and Emily (Riggs) Huenerfeld. Peter J. Huenerfeld was born at Cochem, Prussia, September 18, 1818, son of Paul and Mary (Gillis) Huenerfeld. Emily Riggs, daughter of John and Melenza (Litchfield) Riggs, was born at North Adams, Massachusetts, March 26, 1827. Children of Peter Joseph and Emily (Riggs) Huenerfeld, all born at Ellicottville:

1. Louise Huenerfeld, born April 21, 1849; married H. B. Drown.
2. Jeanette Huenerfeld, born October 12, 1852; married C. B. Greene.
3. Emily Leona Huenerfeld, mentioned above.
4. Mary Huenerfeld, born October 21, 1858; married R. V. Hixson.

Children of Horace Hamlin and Grace Emily (McCoy) Redfield:

1. Hamlin Delano Redfield, born at Smethport, January 17, 1902.
2. Robert Horace Redfield, born at Smethport, March 12, 1905.
3. Louise Redfield, born at Smethport, March 16, 1909.

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content has been preserved.