BIO: Rich Family; Buffalo, Erie co., NY.

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MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY NEW YORK
VOLUME I, BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL, ILLUSTRATED, PUB. 1906-8

GEN. GAIUS BARRETT RICH, former President of the Buffalo Commercial Bank, and
for many years President of THE Bank of Attica, has long occupied a leading
place amnong the financiers of Western New York.

The Rich family, long numbered among the leaders in Buffalo's business and
social circles, are purely English in origin. Among their ancestors are
counted Richard Rich, Lord Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry the
Eighth, Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, and Robert and Henry Rich, Earls of
Holland, all sprung from one common stock.

The American branch of the family traces its lineage back to Massachusetts,
where the name first appears in 1625, this being the year of the earliest
settlement of the family, on Cape Cod, in the town of Eastham. Here lived
Thomas Rich, who married Mary Taylor at Springfield, Mass., March 29, 1696.
They resided in Brookfield, Mass., where were born to them four children, of
whom the eldest, Thomas, married Ruth Nichols in that part of the town now
called Warren but incorporated as Western. This Thomas Rich, the second of the
name, was a deacon in the Congregational Church and a man of substance in the
community. To this day the legal title to the village common of Brookfield
belongs by des cent to his heirs, barring the possibility that the claim may
be outlawed by lapse of time. Thomas Rich was the father of six children. of
whom the second son was Solomon, born August 2, 1726, and whose house in
Brookfield still stands as an interesting memorial of Colonial days. At
Western, in September, 1753, Solomon Rich married Phoebe Weeks. There were
eight childremi of this marriage, of whom the fifth child and the second son
was Solomon, born November 23, 1766. This Solomon Rich married Sophronia
Barrett, thus bringing into the family a name which has been handed down to
the present generation. About 1800 Solomon Rich removed to the northern part
of the State of New York, and settled at De Kalb, St. Lawrence Co. His
children were three, Gaius Barrett, born September 26, 1190; George II., born
in 1802, and Sophronia, born in 1816.

GAIUS BARRETT RICH, grandfather of Gen. Rich, about the year 1806 removed from
Richville, near De Kaib, N. Y., to Rome in this State.. Thence he went to
Rochester, where he built the first frame house in that city. Later he removed
to Attica, and in 1842 to Buffalo. Gaius Barrett Rich was the founder of the
Bank of Attica, in both its Attica and Buffalo branches. October 14, 1816, he
married Alpha Salisbury at Western, Oneida County, N. Y. He died in Buffalo,
October 25, 1861. His wife survived him several years, dying Feb. 15, 1868.
The children of their marriage were seven: Jane Antoinette, Sarah Randolph,
Andrew Jackson, Harriett Rockwell, Frances, Edward Salisbury and Martha
Sophronia. Andrew Jackson Rich, the eldest son, was the father of Gen. G.
Barrett Rich.

ANDREW JACKSON RICH was born in Attica, N. Y., September 21, 1823. In the
spring of 1841 he came to Buffalo, entering the dry goods store of Marvin &
Bennett. The following year he left their employ and entered the Bank of
Attica. Here he served first as clerk, later as cashier, and on the death of
his father succeeded the latter as President, an office which he administered
with signal ability till his death, which took place in New York City,
December 15, 1810. Mr. Rich was married in Buffalo, August 12, 1846, to Mary
Winslow Townsend. The children of this marriage were Charles Townsend, born
November 23, 1841; Gaius Barrett, born May 5, 1849; Alfred Stone, born
December 10, 1851, and Andrew Jerome, born July 26, 1854. Alfred Stone died
September 12, 1853. Charles Townsend died May 1, 1818.

Gaius Barrett Rich, the second of the name, was the second son of Andrew J.
Rich, and was born in Buffalo, May 5, 1849. His early education was gained in
this city, where he graduated, June 28, 1867, from the old Buffalo Classical
School. The years 1863 and 1867 were spent in foreign tours and study, Mr.
Rich's journeyings including not only Europe but Egypt and the Holy Land.

On his return from his second European tour, the young man resolved to obtain
a knowledge of banking in all its details and entered the Bank of Attica as a
messenger. He exhibited great natural aptitude for the business and during
several years successively filled different offices in the institution. At the
annual meeting of the Board of Directors in • July, 1879, Mr. Rich was elected
President, thus becoming the head of the old. est bank in Western New York. In
this capacity he succeeded, with a few years' interregnum, his father, Andrew
J. Rich.

Thenceforward for many years, Gen. Rich's business career was identified with
the prosperity of the Bank of Attica, and of its Buffalo successor, the
Commercial Bank, as well as with other important banking enterprises. He was
one of the incorporators of the Commonwealth Trust Company, of which he has
ever since been a director, and is also a prominent trustee of the Erie County
Savings Bank. In 1892, when the Bank of Attica was succeeded by the Buffalo
Commercial Bank, Gen. Rich was elected President of the latter, and continued
in that office till his retirement in 1896. Since that date he has found ample
occupation in attending to his numerous and extensive banking and investment
interests.

On the 1st of November, 1871, began Gen. Rich's connection with the National
Guard of the State of New York, he at that time entering the Thirty-first
Brigade as First Lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp. June 15, 1872, he was
commissioned Captain and Quartermaster, and March 21, 1873, was made Major and
Engineer, August 4, 1875, he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel and Ordnance
Officer of the Eighth Division, being made an officer of the staff of General
Rogers; and on the 1st of January, 1883, was appointed by Governor Cleveland,
Brigadier General and Paymaster General, which important and responsible
commission he continued to hold till January 1st, 1886, serving on the staffs
of both Governor Cleveland and Governor Hill.

For many years Gen. Rich was a member of the Executive Committee of the
Buffalo Public Library, and has held numerous positions of trust and
responsibility on the various committees. He.is also a life member of the Y.
M. C. A., and a trustee of the North Presbyterian Church. Since 1871 he has
been a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which order he has held many high
positions. He is a Mason of the 32d Degree, and is connected with Ancient
Landmarks Lodge, 441. Gen. Rich is also a member of the Society of Colonial
Wars, the Sons of the American Revolution, and of the Buffalo Club, of. which
organization he was President during the Pan-American year, which was a
notable epoch in the club’s history.

On the 1st of October, 1873, Gen. Rich married Cornelia Perrine, daughter of
the late Henry E. Perrine, a prominent Buffalonian who died in 1901. Their
children were Gaius Barrett and Harold Perrine, the latter of whom died in
1894, at the age of 16.

GAIUS BARRETT RICH, the only surviving son of Gen. Rich, was born August 11th,
1873. He received a thorough education, graduating froni Yale University in
the Class of '97. Mr. Rich's business interests are identified with the
Frontier Telephone Company. He has served five years in the Sixty-Fifth
Regiment, National Guard, rising to the rank of First Lieutenant of Company A,
with which he served in the Spanish-American War, being for six months in the
United States service at Camp Alger, Va.

October 1st, 1900, Mr. Rich married Grace E. Danforth, daughter of the late
Frederick L. Danforth, the well-known President of the Commercial Bank, and a
sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this volume. The children of Mr. and
Mrs. Rich are Gaius Barrett, fourth of the name, Danforth Rich and Harold
Perrine.
-    Mr. Rich belongs to the United Spanish War Veterans, and is a member of
the University Club, and the Buffalo Canoe
Club. He is also a Mason, being connected with. Ancient Landmarks Lodge 441,
F. & A. M.