Thomas Hallett was born in Canisteo, this county, April 19, 1830. His great-grandfather, Nathan Hallett, with his family, settled near the centre of the town of Canisteo about 1800, and, although not the first to settle here, is numbered among the pioneers of the town. The Hallett Family is of Irish descent, and the ancestors of the family are supposed to have come from the north of Ireland.

Not long after their settlement in Canisteo the parents died. His grandfather, Nathan Hallett, Jr., came with his parents to the valley from Groton, Tompkins Co., N.Y. where they had resided; reared a family of seven sons and one daughter,--John, Nathan, Samuel, Elijah, Isaac, Moses, James E., and Mrs. Thomas Hadley. Of these children only the youngest son, James E. survives, and resides in Canisteo.

His father, Moses Hallett, a native of Tompkins County, where the family resided prior to settling in this valley, was born May 8, 1796; married Nancy Fulton, of Canisteo, born 1800, and now living. Of this union were born seven children,--Mrs. James Atherton, Andrew S., Samuel, Thomas, John, Mrs. Giles Morgan, and James, --all living except Samuel.

Mr. Hallett, senior, was a farmer by occupation, was in politics, formerly a Whig, and as a member of that party was active and ever interested in all local elections and appointments, and in local and State legislation. 

Highly esteemed for his worth as a citizen of his town, for some twenty-five years he officiated as justice of the peace, and his counsel in cases of arbitration and as a jurist were always given to avoid litigation and promote harmony in the neighborhood. He was also town clerk for several years, and in all his public relations was known as a man of strict integrity. He died March, 1866.

Thomas Hallett, son of Moses and Nancy Hallett, spent his minority at home on the farm, and since besides farming, has engaged in lumbering, and for some fifteen years rafted lumber down the Susquehanna to southern ports. For two years he resided in Kansas, acting as assistant superintendent of the Union Pacific Railroad. On Nov. 5, 1851, he married Sylvia, daughter of Absalom Travis, of Canisteo. Her grandfather, Amasa Travis, was one of the early settlers of the town and her Grandmother Travis still survives at the age of ninety-five.

Their children are Perry J. Hallett, son of the law-firm of Burrell & Hallett, of Canisteo, admitted to the bar June, 1877; and Thomas R. land Alida M., both deceased. In politics, Mr. Hallett is a Republican. As the result of his industry and self-exertion, may be seen on another page of this work as a view of his residence, showing one of the finest farm locations in the Canisteo Valley.

*The above information was obtained from the History of Steuben County, New York Clayton (1879).