John Wilcox is the eleventh generation of his family in America. His great-great grandfather Stephen Wilcox came from Halifax, Vermont, in 1812, and settled on the homestead in Smithfield Township.
Stephen was a soldier in the War of 1812. He married Polly Allen on December 1, 1814. On June 5, 1828, their fifth child, Elliot, was born, and this was John’s great grandfather. Elliot married twice. His first marriage was to Minerva Gates, and the couple had four children.
After Minerva’s death, Elliot married Tirzah Seymour, and they had eleven children. (John is a descendent from the second marriage.) Elliot cleared and improved more of the land that Stephen had settled on. John’s grandfather, Harry Beecher, was the second of the eleven children of Elliot’s marriage to Tirzah. Harry married Delia Butters, and they had 13 children, with John’s father, J. Francis Wilcox, the eighth of the 13 children. J. Francis married Lula Coakley in 1934.
The couple had six children: Margaret, Margie, Betty, John, Joyce and Teressa. John was born on January 12, 1939, and being the only boy, John’s siblings said that he was spoiled. The family lived on a farm that John’s father had rented in the East Smithfield area. John remembers when his father used horses to farm and also when his father bought his first milking machine (in 1945); first car (a Nash, in 1948) and first tractor (a Massey Ferguson 33 in 1950). After hearing that Prof Croman had a farm for sale on the road leading to Mt. Pisgah, outside of East Troy, Francis bought the farm. On this farm, J. Francis and Lula raised their family.
John spent his first three years of school at East Smithfield, and after the family moved to the farm, his next three years were spent at the old East Troy School, with his final six years of school spent in Troy.
After graduating in 1956, John worked on construction and then on to Cary, Illinois, where he attended Otto Schering College. Upon graduation, John was employed by Curtis Breeding Service as a technician. In 1966, John became a full time farmer after renting a farm near East Troy, from Leone Rockwell. In 1967, he also rented the Richard Van Noy farm that bordered his father’s farm. After his father retired, in 1977, John purchased the family farm, which became known as Pisgah View Farm.
Francis and Lula moved from the farm to Athens. Francis found out that he was not made for retirement and began working at the Athens school cafeteria and continued to work there until he reached the age of 83.
John worked the farm, milking sixteen cows and taking care of four heifers and also did artificial insemination. For 30 years, John was the Director of the State Dairy Herd Improvement Association at State College. Later, this organization merged into Dairy One at Ithaca, New York.
However, John was not all work and no play. He enjoyed square dancing, and it was at a dance held at Big Pond, where he met Shelia Jenkins. They began dating, and on May 7, 1966, the couple were married.
Sheila was born July 1,1943, to John and Eva Jenkins. Eva’s mother’s was Fanny Spencer Gordon, and John’s father was Justin Jenkins. Sheila’s ancestors came from Wales. Justin Jenkins was born in 1873 and died in 1920. Justin’s wife, Mabel, was born in 1882 and died in 1920. Mabel’s parents were J.P. and L.M. Myrick, of which little is known.
John and Eva Jenkins had two children (both girls). The older girl, Phyllis, married Maurice (Buzz) Kendall, and Sheila married John Wilcox.
In 1929, John started working for Warner Production Company of NY, NY. In 1948, John formed his own company, in which he did the buying and selling of chickens and eggs.
John drove a pickup truck around the Bradford County area buying chickens, which he took home and kept in a small barn behind the family’s home.
When the flock was large enough, John crated the birds and loaded them on a large truck, and, in the middle of the night, he drove to New Jersey and New York City where he sold the chickens. John also collected eggs in the same manner and made deliveries to the same areas.
Sheila’s mother, Eva, was an excellent seamstress, and according to Sheila, Eva could do everything, including crocheting, knitting and needle point. She made whatever was needed for the home and family.
Sheila remembers going to nursery school held at Drusilla Young’s home, and later attending school in Troy. Her father believed that his girls should work and when old enough Sheila had a summer job in the bookkeeping department at the First National Bank of Troy. She continued working there every summer until graduating in 1961.
Sheila went on to Mansfield College, where she completed her education in three and a half years, graduating in December of 1964. Sheila had been teaching fourth grade classes in Sayre when she received a letter from Harry Crumbling, requesting that Sheila come to work for the Troy School District. She accepted and began teaching fourth grade at the Springfield School.
After two years, Sheila resigned, and she and John began raising a family; however, Sheila substituted for the next 17 years.
In 1985, Sheila went back to Mansfield University for her Master’s Degree as a reading specialist. She then worked with the second grade children at the W. R. Croman School and third grade children at the East Troy School.
John proudly mentioned that while going to college and teaching, Sheila was raising their children; doing the household chores and having meals ready for the family. John also mentioned that many a night Sheila studied until the wee small hours of the morning.
John and Sheila had six children: Melissa, Jonathan, Peter, Jason, Jennifer and Brian. Their six children went to ten different colleges and universities. Melissa (Dairy Princess in 1985) is employed at Future Community Support Services Inc., in Towanda; Jonathan is the Justice of the Peace, in Troy; Peter is a pharmacist in Clinton, NY; Jason, who lives on the farm, is following in his father’s footsteps and also has a rental business (tents, tables and chairs); Brian is a biology teacher at Athens High School and Jennifer works at Spire Nursery School at the Fellowship Church, in Troy, and also working on her Master’s Degree.
After I asked John if he could remember anything unusual that happened on the farm, he stated that the strangest story he had ever heard about the farmers in the area occurred in 1835.
John, who is quite the history buff, related this story: “In 1835, Leon Ballard and a few of his neighbors were combining oats when they saw a thunderstorm heading their way. Leon mentioned that they better head for the barn until the storm passed, and they did.
While standing inside the barn and looking out at the storm, Thaddeus Spencer came walking down the road. Leon called out to Thaddeus that he better come into the barn until the storm passes. Thaddeus declined. The men then asked Thaddeus where he was going in such a hurry, and Thaddeus replied, “I’m going to hell.” Thaddeus didn’t heed their warning and had gone only a short distance when a bolt of lightning struck and killed him. Thaddeus is buried in the Ballard Century Farm Cemetery.
I’m sure there would be enough history between the Wilcox and Jenkins families for several more articles ….. and Sheila and John thought they had nothing much to say.