Jane Bennett Collection of Scottsville (N. Y.) Ephemera

Phillip Garbutt was born to Zachariah Garbutt and his wife in England on November 30, 1788, one of six children. The family emigrated to the United States in 1798, settling in the town of Seneca in modern Ontario County, New York. Phillip's older brother John settled on Oatka Creek in Wheatland, New York, in 1804; the rest of the family soon followed him west to this area. With his brothers, Phillip served in the War of 1812 in Captain Nathaniel Weed's Company of Colonel Jasper Ward's Regiment. At an uncertain time (after 1811), Phillip came to own the grist mill built by Peter Sheffer on Oatka Creek. He also owned a successful dry goods store, along with operating a gypsum mine and mill, all in the hamlet of Garbutt. Later, he also operated a dry goods store in the village of Mumford. Unfortunately, these business ventures eventually failed and Phillip Garbutt moved to Ohio for a few years at the end of his life. He married Nancy Sheffer (the first white woman born west of the Genesee River) around 1816. They had five children together: Shepard, Phebe, John W., Philip and Anna N. Phillip Garbutt died on September 12, 1865, and was buried in the Garbuttsville cemetery at Garbutt, New York.