Risley Family Association at 2022 Reunion in front of Historic New Jersey Risley Homestead.
The Risley Family Association will hold its biennial family reunion from Aug. 16 to 17 at the Clarion Hotel Conference Center in Dunkirk.
They will be visiting sites in Fredonia where the first Risleys settled in Chautauqua County. The family is descended from Richard Risley Sr., an English immigrant to Boston, Mass., by 1635 and an original founder of Hartford, Conn. Some of his Connecticut descendants moved on to New Jersey and New York and finally to every state in the country.
Besides Risley, some descendants adopted the Wrisley and Rizley spelling of the surname. Richard Risley’s great-great grandson Elijah Risley Sr., an original resident of Fredonia, was a Revolutionary War Veteran and is buried in Pioneer Cemetery in Fredonia.
Elijah Sr. and his sons Horace and Elijah Jr. purchased land in Fredonia in 1806 and moved their families there in 1807. Elijah Sr. built a sawmill, grist mill, and a bridge over Canadaway Creek. He planted apple and peach orchards and one of his yellow fall apples became known as the Risley apple.
He was a founding member of Fredonia’s Trinity Episcopal Church. Elijah Risley Jr. established the first store in Fredonia, became a General in the New York militia, and served as Chautauqua County sheriff. Elijah Jr. along with his brothers William, and Levi started the Risley packet seed company in 1833.
They became quite wealthy and were each able to build a Greek Revival mansion in the 1840s. Levi’s home was destroyed by fire in 1878 but the other two homes are still standing on Risley Street in Fredonia.
The Risley Family Association (RFA) was founded in 1889. The first annual reunion was held at Madison Lake, New York in 1889. “The Risley Family History” was published in 1909 by Edwin Hills Risley of Utica. Edwin was a founder of the RFA and among its first presidents.
The RFA went inactive about 1930 but was revived in 1978 by professional genealogist Roy Goold and his mother Verna Goold of Brockport.
Roy was the great-grandson of David Romine Risley who helped found the RFA in 1889. Annual RFA family reunions were held from 1978 to 2003 including one at the White Inn in Fredonia, New York in 1982. The RFA went inactive again from 2009 to about 2015 when it was revived a third time. In 2019 the first biennial RFA reunion of the current era was held in East Hartford, Connecticut.
Due to the large number of Risley descendants who moved to New York, a majority of reunions have been held there in the past but this is only the second time it has been held in Chautauqua County.
Members are looking forward to reconnecting with their Risley cousins from throughout the United States and visiting Risley historic sites in the area. If you think you might be a Risley descendant or would like further information, go to https://risley.family/ or contact them by email at risleyfamilyassociation@gmail.com