Family/Spouse: FOSTER, Charles R. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Daniel + Margaret. Margaret was born about 1874; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Bailey + DELOZIER, Ordelia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Niagara Gazette - 11/16/1966

NIAGARA COUNTY has
been the nome of several men,
the true story of whose exploits
r e a ds
l i k e a b e s t
seller fiction
story. Some
philos o p h e r
once said that
"Truth is of.
ten„ stranger
than fiction."
This s t a t e ment
is amply
justified by the
following stories
: of three
Lockport men
which Appeared
in this column in 1953 but
are well worth repeating now,
13 years later.
Before there was any Lockport,
a man by the name of
"" Peter De Lozier settled on the
Lewiston Road on Chestnut
Ridge as we now call our end
of it. He had been a sailor
r in the U.S. Navy during the
attack on.the Barbary Pirates
in 1803. He was on the frigate
Philadelphia which ran upon
a rock near Tripoli. She was
obliged to "strike her colors"
and her officers and crew
were made prisoners and held
in 'a Tripolitan dungeon for
30 months.
After Peter left the Navy,
he came to this area and
when Lockport was settled,
he worked in the village as
a cabinet maker. His shop
was on what is now Richmond
Avenue, a short distance east
of Church Street. He was an
impulsive man and of a roving
disposition, prone to leave
home suddenly without notice
to his wife, Lucy. He finally
left home in this manner and
returned to seafaring.
Some years later he died
in Norwich, Conn. His'wife,
Lucy, continued to live here
until her death in 1874. Their
daughter, Ordelia. had married
Bailey H. Whitcher in
1825, He continued the cabinetmaking
business of Peter De
Lozier.
BAILEY H. WHITCHER had
a son, Daniel R. Whitcher who
had an unusually adventurous
life. He was born in Lockport
in 1830 and when IB years old
was driving a team of mules
on the canal. At Albany he,
with another boy, took a boat
to New York City and went
to a Sailors' Boarding House
for the. night. Before morning,
they were "shanghied"
onto a whaler bound for the
South Atlantic.
The whaler stopped at the
Island of St. Helena where
Napoleon formerly had lived
in exile. The two bays escaped
from the whaler and crawled
up the rocky slopes of this
mountainous island and kept
out of sight until the ship had
sailed away. Then they contacted
American authorities
on the island and asked for
help. -
They were told that the U.S.
was at war with Mexico and
advised to enlist' in the Navy.
They sailed around Cape Horn
to the California Coast and
enlisted in Commodore Stockton's
fleet. At the end of the
war they were sent by way
of the old French Railroad
across the Isthmus of Panama
and then up the Atlantic Coast
to Brooklyn where they were
discharged.
° ° °
,DANIEL WHITCHER arrived
back in Lockport in
1850. One might think this
was adventure enough for one
lifetime, but it was not so for
Daniel. The DeLozier blood in
his veins apparently was so
predominant that he looked
for "more worlds to conquer."
He enlisted in the "Lockport
Light Dragoons," a State
Military unit. In 1854 the roving
spirit moved him to enlist
in the U.S. Army. During
this enlistment his regiment
was sent to Oregon in connection-
with the f a m o us
"Fifty-four-forty or f i g h t"
argument with England in
1856. Here he was promoted
to sergeant. His regiment Was
next assigned to fight the
western Indians. One time ita
Indian arrow parsed through
his sleeve but did not touch
his arm. In 1859 he was
honorably discharged.
He returned to Lockport
but only for a short time. In
1859 or 1860 he had a job in
ajumber camp, in the "North
Woods'* of Michigan. The next
year he returned to Lockport
again.
"° * *
IN APRIL 1861 he enlisted
in Company A, 28th Regiment,
made up entirely of Niagara
County men and commanded
first by Capt. Elliot Cook, a
local gunmaker. Shortly after
Cook was promoted to major
and Benjamin Flagler became
captain. This company, with
several others from Niagara
and Orleans Counties, camped
and drilled on the old Fairgrounds
in Lockport for some
weeks before leaving for the
rendezvous of all the companies
of the 28th in Albany.
Daniel Whitcher was first
lieutenant of Company A. In
1862 he resigned from the
28th, apparently having en-,
listed, as many of the volunteers
did, for-three-or. six,
months. He then returned to
his job in the Michigan woods
but patriotism and adventure
again beckoned and he reenlisted
in September 4863, in
the Michigan Light Artillery
and was appointed Brevet
Captain. In the Battle of
Bentonville, he was wounded
but not seriously.
In July 1865 he was "mustered
out" in Detroit and evidently
he had seen enough
adventure. From this year
until 1891 his name is not in
the Lockport directory and I
am informed that he married
and lived in Michigan during
Hhis period. From 1891 until
his death in 1914 he resided
with his wife and two childen
in Lockport.

Peter + Lucy. Lucy died in 1874 in Lockport, Niagara County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]