BIOGRAPHY: William B. Deshong, Cayuga co., New York

transcribed and submitted by: Ann Anderson (ann.g.anderson at gmail.com)

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
THIS VOLUME CONTAINS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE LEADING CITIZENS OF CAYUGA
COUNTY NEW YORK
BOSTON
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY
1894

WILLIAM B. DESHONG, a representative agriculturist of this part of the county,
is a well-known resident of the town of Ledyard, where his fine and
well-appointed farm gives substantial evidence of the excellent care and
skill with which it is managed, presenting a beautiful picture of quiet
country life, the abode of taste and refinement as well as of thrift and
plenty. Mr. DeShong is a native of Cayuga County, having first opened his
eyes to the beauty of this world on the 19th of May, 1842, in the town of
Ledyard,  being a son of Valencourt DeShong and a grandson of Henry G.
DeShong, who was a pioneer merchant of the village of Levanna.

Henry G. DeShong was born in New Jersey in the year I 776, and spent the first
few years of his existence in the State of his nativity. When a young man, he
entered upon a mercantile career, his first place of business being in the
city of Philadelphia, where he remained but a few years before coming to New
York State. Coming directly to Cayuga County, he opened a grocery store in
Levanna, and, subsequently buying land in the town of Ledyard, carried on
farming in conjunction with his mercantile business, being for many years
closely identified with the industrial interests of the town and village. He
married Rachel Dills, of Pennsylvania, whose only child afterward became the
wife of William Crise. After the death of Rachel he married her sister, Sally
Dills; and both spent their declining years on the parental homestead.

Valencourt DeShong was born during the residence of his parents in
Pennsylvania, being a babe of three months when they brought him on horseback
to this county. He was reared to manhood on his father's farm, attending
school whenever opportunity offered, and assisting on the homestead at other
times. Being industrious and economical, he began in early life to accumulate
money, and invest it in land, his first purchase being one hundred and sixty
acres; and to this he gradually added until at the time of his death, in 1882,
he was the owner of nine hundred acres of as choice land as could be found in
the county. He was thoroughly skilled in all matters pertaining to the
cultivation of the soil, and, being a business man of rare ability, made an
unquestioned success in his agricultural labors, and was ranked among the
foremost farmers of this region, where his long and active life of
seventy-four years was spent. He married Maria L. Van Buskirk, of
Pennsylvania, who bore him three children — Sarah, Henry B., and William B.
Sarah married Dr. N. B. Van Buskirk, of whom a sketch is given in another
part of this biographical work. Henry B. married Eliza Crise, a daughter of
Henry G. and Ellen (Dills) Crise, a sketch of whom may be found elsewhere in
this volume.

William B. DeShong received his preliminary education in the district schools
of Ledyard, supplementing that by study at the academy in Aurora, and during
the days of his youth and young manhood was practically educated in the work
of general husbandry. At that time the toils of the field were arduous and
almost endless, the labor-saving machinery of to-day being unknown; and to
successfully manage a large farm required incessant industry, energetic
perseverance, and good judgment. Mr. DeShong proved himself possessed of all
these, and, when called upon to take charge of the parental homestead, met
with excellent results in his operations, adding many and substantial
improvements. From the thrifty appearance of his farm it is evident that he
takes pride in his business, his land being finely improved and under a good
state  of  cultivation, and well  supplied with all the accessories of a
first-class estate, having a good set of farm buildings and an ample supply of
modern machinery to facilitate the otherwise slow and tedious work of the
farmer.

The marriage of Mr. DeShong and Miss Carrie E. Lawrence was solemnized in
1881, Mrs. DeShong being a daughter of Horace B. and Mary A. Lawrence and a
grand-daughter of Dr. Asahel Lawrence, who was a graduate of Amherst College.
Dr. Lawrence came to this county from Hartford, Conn., and settled in what is
now the village of Cayuga in the year 1800. He followed Indian trails in his
practice, which extended as far west as Rochester. He was the physician for
the Cayugas, and always a warm friend of the tribe. His wife, Grace Dana
Lawrence, belonged to the distinguished Dana family of New York City, and was
highly educated. Mrs. DeShong is a woman of culture and refinement, whom it is
a pleasure to meet in social circles. She was graduated at the Friends'
Academy of Union Springs, and afterwards for fourteen years was a valued
teacher in the high school of that village. Into their pleasant household one
son has been born, Claude V., an intelligent and active lad of eleven years.
In politics Mr. DeShong has always been identified with the Republican party,
and cast his first presidential vote in 1864 for Abraham Lincoln. He is in all
respects a worthy representative of the enterprise, industry, and intelligence
of this county, and is a true and loyal citizen and a valued member of
society.