In the early morning, Wednesday, January 7th, at his residence in the town and near the village of Victor, passed away Azariah Bickford at the advanced age of 84 years. Mr. Bickford was born in the town of Skowegan on the banks of the Kennebec in Maine, May 8, 1796. At the early age of twenty he came to East Bloomfield and in the year 1838 removed to Victor. During all these years of his residence here he has received and maintained the unqualified distinction of being an exemplary citizen, just in all transactions and fearless in the discharge of every duty. In religious matters he was particularly zealous—not in a narrow, selfish spirit, but rather of a broad conservative character, proclaiming by acts of charity and gifts of money the sincerity of his professions. For half a century he was closely identified with the Universalist church and while his health permitted a regular attendant at its services. The Society's becoming edifice in that village, built in 1856, to a large extent reached its completion through his instrumentality. Politically Mr. Bickford was a Democrat of the unflinching, sterling type—a standard that young men delighted to follow. Three times married, he was in December, a year since, left a widower. A large and respectable family have grown up about the old homestead and gone away to fill responsible positions in the world. There are now remaining Lyman, a prominent citizen and extensive manufacturer at Macedon, N.Y.; Homer, at the same place; Marcus, living at Iowa City, Ia.; Harlow, at Belle Plaine, in the same state; Albert, in Chicago, and Frank, who was called home to care for his father. But one daughter remains, Delia, the wife of Hon. Myron H. Peck, of Batavia, N.Y.

Rochester Daily Union, Rochester NY, Thu. 8 Jan 1880


A Memorial Held in St. Paul's Universalist Church, Victor, N. Y.
Azariah Bickford was born on May 8th, 1796, in the town of Skowhegan, Somersett [Somerset] county, on the banks of the Kennebeck river in the State of Maine. He was one of a family of eight sons and two daughters. His father was a farmer in very humble circumstances. At the age of sixteen years Azariah came to Salem, in the state of Massachusetts, where he learned the trade of a blacksmith. In the year 1816, he came to our neighboring village of East Bloomfield, and engaged to Bain Bradley as a journeyman blacksmith. I do not know how long he labored in that capacity, probably but a short time. He afterward opened a shop on his own account in the old stone building on the south side of Main street, east of the four corners in that village a little way below the stores. To the blacksmithing he added the foundry business. In the year 1819, he married Philena Perkins, daughter of Joseph Perkins, then occupying the farm now owned and occupied by Hiram Ladd. He was now twenty-three years old, the head of a family and owner of a flourishing business. Both he and his wife had been reared in the most rigid school of Presbyterianism. Having sold out his business at East Bloomfield and purchased the farm now owned and occupied by Hermon Boughton in the village of Victor, N. Y., Mr. Bickford removed there in the spring of 1838. There he continued to live to the time of his death, engaged in farming at which he was very successful. So lived Azariah Bickford to round out four score years. One day the sad news came to us that father Bickford had been stricken with paralysis. Four years he lingered between life and death, existing all a blank, then, on the 6th day of January, 1880, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years, death came to his relief. Friends and neighbors bore his remains to the cemetery on yonder hill and gently laid them to rest.

Victor Herald, July 6, 1895