AMOS F. BREWSTER
Amos F. Brewster only son of justice and Polly (Foster) Brewster, was born at Blackman's Corners in the town of Verona, Oneida county, October 4, 1821, and died there August 29, 1895. His family was of New England ancestry, though of mingled Scotch and Welsh origin, and its members for many generations represented the best elements of citizenship and patriotism. Mr Brewster inherited all the sterling characteristics of his ancestors, and exemplified in his life the attributes which distinguish the successful man. His father was one of the earliest settlers of Verona, while his mother's father, Hosea Foster, was one of the first comers to Blackman's Corners. Both families, therefore, were prominently identified with the pioneer settlement of the town, and did heroic work in converting it from a wilderness into
a fruitful section. With their few neighbors they suffered from all the privations of frontier life, yet they carefully planted the standard of civilization and left an heritage rich in its simplicity.
Mr. Brewster was educated in the district schools of his native town. Born and reared to agricultural pursuits he was a life long farmer, and by thrift and industry accumulated a competency. For four years he resided in Wisconsin, but with this exception he spent his entire career in Verona, where he was well known and respected as a substantial enterprising citizen. Returning from the West he built, on a part of his father's homestead, the house where he lived and died, and which is now occupied by his widow. Hd [sic]took a lively interest in local affairs and in all matters affecting the general prosperity, but he gave himself wholly to his farm, an occupation for which he had a natural taste, and which he honored by his advanced methods. December 18, 1844, Mr. Brewster married Lydia A., daughter of Nathan Lewis, of Verona, and they had five children: Susan E. (Mrs. Lester E. Betson), of Rome; Jennie A. (Mrs Merritt Knight), of Lee Center, Oneida county, who has one son, Newton W., a student at Cazenovia Seminary; Julia E. (Mrs. David F. Broughton), of Little Falls, N. Y., whose children are Reba B., William, Clarence, and Julia; Lydia C.; and A. Foster, who married Julia E. Burleigh, of Verona.
[Nathan Lewis, father of Mrs. Lydia A. Brewster, was born in Grafton, Conn., in 1775, received a common school education. and was a life-long farmer. He came to the town of Verona when a young man, among the pioneers, and died in 1846. He married Hannah Gray, of Verona; who died in 1850. They had twelve children: Heaverland, Andrew R., Benjamin G., David A., James O. Susan, Maria, Eliza, Delia J., Sylvia, Lydia A. (Mrs. Amos F. Brewster), and Minerva. Mr. Lewis has a number of descendants living in the county.]
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