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F
?
7
CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT
FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY
HENRY WILLIAMS SAGEV.-Vf /-	*
HI8TOEY
OF
Livingston County,
NEW YORK:
FROM ITS
EARLIEST TRADITIONS, TO ITS PART IN THE
WAR EOR OUR UNION:
WITH AN
Recount of the Seneca Nation of Indians,
AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF
EARLIEST SETTLERS AND PROMINENT PUBLIC MEN:
BY
LOCKWOOD L. DOTY.
Illustrated by Portraits on Steel, and Engravings on Wood*
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED
A Biographical Introduction, by A. J. H. Ddganne.
GENESEO:
EDWARD E. DOTY.
1876.
\A- ^o\is
Entered according to Act of Congress, m the year 1876, by
EDWARD E. DOTY,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
J. W. CLEMENT. -	-	-	- PRINTER,
OENESEO, N. Y.BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
BY A. J. H. DUGANNE.
When Elias Harrison, great-grandfather of Lock-
wood Lyon Doty, had served through an apprentice-
ship to his “Uncle Corsen,” he bought a Bible and
“ Westminister confession of faith.” This record was
made, in a manuscript book, by John Harrison, son
of Elias, who closes an account of trials and hard-
ships passed, by the following words : “I ought to
thank, before mortal man, my Heavenly Father and
His Beloved Son, my dear Redeemer, for their loving
kindness and tender mercies through sickness, and in
preserving me from death.”
Words are impressions for the future; and the
children, who have read that old manuscript, repro-
duce those impressions in life after life. When Lock-
wood L. Doty read those words in his grandfather,
John Harrison’s book, they became more than passing
impressions on his brain. They made lines of thought
in his mind ; guide-lines on the way he walked as a
man and a Christian.
We need not, in the manner of biographers, dwell
upon the early years or childhood of this good citizen,IV
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
this earnest laborer in all worthy work which his hand
and heart shared earnestly, through manhood and
maturity. But, from many kindly tributes of memory,
which friends and kindred brought, like flowers, to
decorate his quiet grave, I take the following note of
a juvenile episode:
“ In the family life, where little things are counted great, where the
records of thoughts and sayings and doings of children, precocious in their
wisdom, or profoundly suggestive in their simple innocence, are treasured by
their elders, the story is still told, illustrative of Lockwood’s persistent en-
deavor to accomplish his own wishes. He had been allowed the free use of
an axe, which he had named his “ dull axe.” The implement having been
sharpened, and so rendered dangerous as a plaything, he was denied the fur-
ther use of it. Coming to his mother, one day, he said: “ Mother, will you
let me take my axe ? She answered, “ No, my child, I cannot.” “ But,
why? ”	“ You know, Lockwood, the axe has been sharpened, and it is not
safe or proper for you to use it.” Again he urged, “But I want my ‘dull
axe.’” Again the denial; again and still again the same demand; and
again the same firm answer, “ My boy, you cannot have it;” until, at length,
after repeated efforts, he gave up the battle, and retired from the field.”
This persistency of purpose in what he believed to-
be a legitimate pursuit, became moulded into the char-
acter of Lockwood L. Doty, and sustained his life of
effort until all effort succumbed to that final “ cannot”
which ends the pleadings and purposes of all, under
the sheltering bosom of our mother—Nature. For
those who knew the man, that earnest longing of the
child possesses interest; as the rays of a bright dawn-
ing, in promise of a brilliant day. For, if the feet of
this obedient son, this good husband, this provident
father, were not led out, as they might have been, to
brilliant fields of courage and patriotism—as a de-
fender of his country in her momentous struggle for
assured liberty—we know that his example of de-
voted sympathy with our soldiers “at the front;”
not less than his active labors in semi-military posi-
tions, faithfully held under successive Governors of
our State ; and his later arduous work under the Pen-BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
V
sion Bureau in New York ; shows such a bright and
busy life, of patriotic effort, that it is no marvel he
should win the praise of statesmen divided by politics
and the esteem of soldiers transiently separated by
sectional strife. Col. Doty’s military commission was
no less a brevet of honor because it certified his merits
and fidelity as a staff officer, on duty at the capital of
our State, than it would have been if Gen’l Grant had
signed it, as commander-in-chief of our army and
navy. Because the work of Col. Doty, as Private
Secretary of Maj. Gen’l Morgan, in the most difficult
years of our war for the Union ; and his subsequent
work as Chief of the Bureau of Military Record, and
his “aid and comfort” of our New York soldiers;
here, there and everywhere, as duty called him under
three Governors of the State; were so marked and
effective, in their earnestness and discreet persistency,
as to make his name a synonym of official integrity.
Do I praise him too much ? Not, I think, in the
candid appreciation of citizens, who knew him, as I
knew him, or, who, not having my near occasions for
learning his inner nature, were yet cognizant of his
untiring method in duty and his help of others in their
duty, whenever possible. My relations with him were
more than business relations, and he was accustomed
to open his confidence to me in many ways ; so that I
learned to value him because his nature was warm and
zealous; to rely upon him, because he loved the
truth; and to sympathize with him, because he viewed
with charity the faults of other men. I speak in terms
•of praise consistent with my knowledge of a co-laborer
in some ways of work ; of a dear friend during the life
■of days our ties of thought and action were measured
by ; and of an ardent patriot, as all who knew his
motives and his aims must unite in bearing witness..
That Col. Doty was the depositary of official trustvi
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
under successive Governors, and won the esteem of a
Democratic State administration, as he gained the
respect of Republican officials, shows clearly, in con-
nection with his known firmness of personal and
political character, that he possessed rare qualities as
a man, not less than as a working man. He might
honestly differ with a superior in office, as to political,
right; but as to his own duty, in the office he held,
his path was never obscured by passing exhalations
from the dust of party success, so long as he could,
labor for the cause of his country and the good of her
defenders. And, above all transient shadows of error
or enmity cast about the course of differing State ad-
ministrations, we may now do manly justice to the
clear-minded discrimination—not only of Governor
Morgan, who called the subject of this notice to posi-
tions of usefulness during our civil strife—but of his
Democratic successor, Governor Seymour, who con-
tinued the faithful Secretary in place ; and, finally, to
Governor Fenton, who, from his nature, placed firm
reliance upon one who ever served him, as he served
the State, with a single eye to official duty.
Governors pass away ; but their record, like all im-
prints of life, whether high or low, remain, to director
to repel the feet Of those who must walk, in turn, the
quicksands of official tenure. And the archives of
our commonwealth contain no fairer pages, of trust
reposed and borne, than those which certify the high-
toned official connection between Governors Morgan,
Seymour and Fenton, and their honored subordinate,
Lockwood L. Doty.
But yet, Colonel Doty did not attain honorable po-
sitions, without an old-fashioned “apprenticeship” to
his trade, as a worker ; like that which his great
grandfather Elias Harrison “finished,”, by that
purchase of “a Bible and Westminster Confession off
Faith.”BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION,
vii
Work underlies all worthy success. While Mr.
Doty laboriously performed the duties which, being
well done, exalted him, from year to year, we have
seen many place-holders rise to high office, and leave
it both with riches and notoriety. But, if we weigh
the “hollow brass” of such “successful” men, with
that solid gold of good repute, which Colonel Doty
left, as a legacy to his children, we shall realize the
intrinsic worth of a virtuous man’s life, in comparison
with the surface-gilding of station without merit, and
wealth that no honest labor earned, and which re-
warded no good citizenship.
When the child, Lockwood, was “booked” for his
first “ school,” there was a conflict between his boy-
ish will, and obedience to his mother; with a lingering
hope that his kind father might interpose, to permit a
longer indulgence of “ home,” without the dreaded
discipline of learning.
That intelligent memory which preserved a note of
his “ dull axe,” recalls the little fellow—
“ With shining, morning face, creeping, like snail,
Unwillingly to school,”—
in the same way, probably, that Shakspeare imagined
of his “school-boy” in the “Seven Ages.”
Being duly equipped, and with his mother’s kiss still warm upon his cheek,
he started reluctantly for school. This was his first step in the pursuit of
knowledge, as laid down by rule. Going but a little way, he came back
again, begging most earnestly for an interview with his father. The
mother, knowing the soft heart of the father, and how readily he would yield
to the boy’s entreaties to remain at home, and realizing how pernicious such
a course would be, denied the request, though urged with tears; and the lad
was again started for school. Again he returned with the same burden,
“ One minute let me see my father, only one minute.” The same resolute
“No! my child.” Another departure, another return; until, at last, the
mother, her heart full of sympathy for the child, took his hand within her
own, and, leading him for a mile, nearly to the door of that temple of knowl-
edge, again left him, and turned her steps homeward. Not far, however,
before little footsteps followed fast, and the same pleading voice: “ Just one
minute with my father. Then the mother, with her heart almost overflow-viii
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
ing, must present “ school *’ and implicit obedience, or an alternative of per-
sonal chastisement. The little fellow yielded; the struggle was ended. And
however reluctantly he entered upon the life of a scholar, he afterwards took
up the work and walked in the way of a student, with earnestness and
patience that were not without their reward.
Education is culture ; and school lessons are seeds
for future fruitage ; yet it is true, not seldom, that
cultured minds do not always bespeak genial disposi-
tions ; and that the tutelage of an academy may be like
that of a dancing-school, productive of exterior graces,
with no depth of intellect, and no refinement of heart,
beneath their superficial gloss. Happily for himself
and for others, in after life, the nature of Lockwood
L. Doty was that of a gentleman ; and he became dis-
tinguished in business, a£ well as socially, for urbani-
ty of manner, and courtesy of action, such as we sel-
dom meet with ; gracefully blended, in all walks of
life, with firm decision on points of morality or where
principles were at stake. No man in official relations
was more remarkable for strict business regularity,
and prompt activity where duty called ; and no official
ever bore himself with more uniform politeness, toward
all who approached him properly, whatever their sta-
tion or exterior. Colonel Doty’s example might be
followed by many men in places of transient authori-
ty, who assume to be masters instead of servants, in
public business. But a gentleman, no less than a
“poet,” must be “ born,” not “made.” No tailor’s
padding or laundress’s starch can make a figure of
buckram answer for a man. Nature makes men ;
and real gentility comes from the heart.
Young Lockwood’s application in school years, as
one of his near friends writes, “ fitted him for all the
ordinary duties and relations of life, and made attain-
ments of no mean order in the higher walks of litera-
ture. By his own effort, he mastered Greek, sufficient
to read the New Testament in that language.”BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
IX
In the discipline of school, he attained, however,
that government of himself which was necessary to
restrain the persistency of purpose that sometimes
leads to obstinacy of will. He always cherished a
love of truth ; and that love kept him from the sin-
uous courses of mere political expediency. Well
would it be for our commonwealth and for the repub-
lic, if officials generally followed those straight lines
along which this meritorious public servant wisely
walked ; wisely, not only for his personal well-being
in life, and for the example he gave to others ; but
wisely for the memory he leaves to his children, as an
assurance to them that if they do their duty as pri-
vate citizens toward their fellow men, or as public
men towards their fellow citizens, the approval of fu-
ture years will come ; as surely as future censure must
condemn all looseness in moral principle, all mere self
seeking in political practice.
After leaving school, the young man entered as a
law-student, the office of Mr. John Young in Gene-
seo, and in 1847, when Mr. Young was made Gov-
ernor of the State of New York, his law-student fol-
lowed him to Albany, and was appointed to a posi-
tion in the office of Canal Appraiser; whence he was
promoted, in the first year of Governor Young’s ad-
ministration, to the responsible post of Deputy State
Treasurer, under Alvaii Hunt. By this time, his
character became so marked for adherence to princi-
ple and application to duty, in all positions he held,
that private, as well as public, business men, were
mindful of his value; and when a consolidation of
several railroad lines, to form the “ New York Central
Railroad Company,” was determined upon, Mr.
Erastus Corning, President of the Company, in-
vited Mr. Doty to conduct the clerical work rendered
necessary. After satisfactorily performing this ser-X
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
vice, he returned to Albany, and was re-appointed
Deputy Treasurer under Mr. Spaulding of Buffalo.
He continued in that State office, under Mr. Stephen
Clark, until that noted business man became Presi-
dent of the “La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad
Company when his deputy received the appoint-
ment of Secretary and Treasurer of the road.
Here, in the face of responsibilities and complica-
tions of a great enterprise—nearly destroyed under
corrupt official managment, and a venal State Legis-
lature—Lockwood L. Doty found himself obliged to
choose between negligence of duty, in easy compli-
ance with shifts and subterfuges such as had demoral-
ized the Company, or, on the other hand, a refusal to
become involved in such dishonest practice, s Out of
respect to President Clark, and to second the en-
deavors of that gentleman to restore financial sound-
ness to the enterprise, he devoted his customary
energy and intelligence to its affairs ; until, to seduce
him from strict duty, a large sum of money was prof-
fered to him, after the fashion which had already
tempted and ruined many public men and officials in-
trusted with public affairs in Wisconsin. Their in-
sulting, though covert, attempt, to make him an in-
strument of fraud, in the issue of illegal bonds, de-
cided Mr. Doty’s course at once. He resigned con-
nection with the “ La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad
Company,” and returned to his native State.
Governor E. D. Morgan then appointed Mr. Doty
Chief Clerk in the Executive Department, No choice
could have been more pleasing to friends of an honest
administration, as was indicated by numerous ex-
pressions of approval in journals of the day.
About this period Mr. Doty employed all the hours
he could spare from business, in his task of collecting
material, from all accessible sources, for the “HistoryBIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.	xi
op Livingston County,” which is now printed, years
after the faithful hand that prepared its details, ceased
to labor, and the eyes that sought clear light for its
pages, were closed upon earthly scenes.
And here it is proper to remark—what is strictly
true—that no historic basis was ever built with more
care, upon facts, than the foundation of this modest
chronicle of a New York county, from its early pio-
neer life, to its place among the most prosperous
shires of our State. Whatever Livingston County
has become, in peaceful and worthy rivalship with her
sister counties, of those lovely regions watered by
Genesee river, is the product of that pioneer life which,
though in conflict, at times, with wildness in abori-
ginal man and animal, was ever in harmony with
Nature’s thrift and quiet. Like her noble river, which
out of rocks and fastnesses, descends through green
meadows, brown glens, purple orchards, and silvery
wheat fields, blessing and blest, the rural life of Liv-
ingston County flows on now, as it flowed in colonial
days, only leaping at intervals, to agitation, in the
spirit of manhood springing toward righteous liberty ;.
as those “Falls of the Genesee,” always true to Na-
ture, flash out their waters in the spirit of freedom.
Whatever could throw intelligent light upon the
primitive social condition of this portion of our com-
monwealth—second to no other in the worth of its
inhabitants, whether weighted by money or mind,—
Col. Doty, in his thorough research, collected together,
as materials for his book. To say that he was pains-
taking, is to say little ; he was indefatigable. He ran-
sacked libraries, and corresponded with men and
women of Livingston County antecedents; tracing
their whereabouts, out of the county, as well as in,
and often to remote towns in our Republic. If he
heard of an old resident, possessed of records or remi-Xii	BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
niscences, he hastened to obtain data from such
sources. If a centennial relic of some Indian tribe
was to be “ interviewed,” he journeyed to make that
aboriginal acquaintance. Seeking “ light,” as I have
said, he was eager to find breath anywhere, to enliven
whatever old brands of tradition might be buried
under ashes of council fires on the site of perished
wigwams, or of watch fires, once blazing on fields of
fight in revolutionary days. Such a delver after
“facts” was fitted to write a history ; and, although
his term of mortal years could not witness the publi-
cation of these annals, his busy life yet gave him op-
portunities of personal supervision; so that nearly
half the work was printed under his eye; while other
completed chapters, and numberless notes—ample for
a volume thrice the bulk of this in ordinary hands—
left comparatively a light task for that discriminating
literary citizen of Lima who has wrought all detached
leaves into concluding chapters of this comprehensive
“History of Livingston County.”
When Governor Morgan entered his second term of
office, Mr. Doty became his Private Secretary. It was
the most trying period of that vital struggle in which
our people were engaged, with the resolution to make
“all free ” in the bonds of Union and “ all united ” in
the freedom of manhood. If his appointment to an
arduous clerical situation, as Chief Executive Clerk,
had been hailed by the press as eminently “fit to be
made,” our journals no less cordially approved Gov.
Morgan’s judgment in calling Mr. Doty to confiden-
tial relations with himself in a time of momentous in-
terest to all citizens. The Albany Argus, of opposing
politics, testified to the Secretary’s merits as “a mod-
est and unassuming gentleman, of undoubted qualifi-
cations for the position;” and, in a concurrence of
editorial opinion respecting the appointment, political
differences seemed to be forgotten.BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
Xlll
In his new relation, Mr. Doty continued to deserve
appreciation. Entering upon his trust in November,
1860, he familiarized himself with its executive busi-
ness before President Lincoln’s call to arms, following
the capture of Fort Sumter in April, 1861. The news
of that capture reached Albany on Sunday morning,
April 14th, and a meeting was convened that Sabbath
afternoon, in the Governor’s room ; at which were pre-
sent Gov. Morgan and other State officers, the Speaker
of the Assembly, and members of military and finance-
committees of the legislature. That evening a bill
was drafted, providing for an enrollment of thirty
thousand State volunteers, and an appropriation of
three million dollars for their equipment. Twenty-
four hours afterwards, the bill was passed, with an
amendment establishing the “ State Military Board
New York State legislation actually anticipating
President Lincoln’s call for twenty-five thousand
militia in loyal States. Then began, and continued
without cessation, an unexampled press of official
labor for Governor Morgan and his Private Secretary.
From all points came telegrams, letters, suggestions,
good or worthless, applications for authority to re-
cruit, tenders of “material aid,” timid whispers of
apprehension, manly voices of “ aid and comfort.” It
was the Private Secretary’s duty to take note of all,
to be mindful of all, to answer here, to consult there;
in a word to be the Governor’s ear, and oftentimes his
tongue; and to do all with tact, forbearance, modesty,
and timely reticence. That Mr. Doty accomplished
his work, not only in accord with Governor Morgan
and the “State Military Board,” but to the satisfac-
tion of persons brought in contact with him from all
parts of the State, is a matter of official history during
that term of anxiety and toil.
Thirteen thousand two hundred and eighty militiaxiv
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
were asked for, as the quota of New York State under
that first requisition for troops. Twenty thousand
men responded in regimental organization. Ten days
after the fall of Sumter, thirty thousand New York
volunteers were authorized, and in thirty days from
that cannonading call out of Charleston harbor, thirty-
eight (38) regiments of our State troops were under
orders.
It is easy to write the figures, not difficult to imagine
the importance, of such swift results, following loyal
effort throughout our commonwealth. But the work
at headquarters, necessary to accomplish the bare offi-
cial impulsion toward those results, from day to day,
is not to be pictured, and hardly to be fancied. I
allude to it, because Col. Doty’s position as Private
Secretary of Governor Morgan, who was commissioned
by the National Government as a Major General of
Volunteers, placed him in the very vortex of conver-
ging demands and interests, centering in the Exec-
utive Chamber at a crisis when—to quote from a Re-
port of his, years afterwards—•“ multitudinous messa-
ges of alarm and counsel kept the electric wires in
constant action, throbbings of the great heart of the
people, spontaneous, irrepressible.”
During Governor Morgan’s eventful second term,
Colonel Doty remained the active amanuensis, in
voluminous correspondence, and the' “ready refer-
ence,” in matters of immediate moment. His unflag-
ging zeal, as a “ worker,” and affability as a medium
of intercourse between citizens and their Chief Magis-
trate, and between State volunteers and their Com-
mander-in-Chief, on duty at Albany, made his name
familiar; and, at the Governor’s home, as in his
“military family,” he enjoyed the pleasant relations
which his due respect for authority, and his own self-
respect, conjointly deserved. He has spoken to me,BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
XV
with emotion, of the matronly kindness extended to
him, through years, by Governor Morgan’s estimable
wife; within whose elegant domestic circle at Washing-
ton, during her husband’s service as U. S. Senator
from our State, he continued to be welcomed, as the
Senator’s Private Secretary.
But his Governorship, which brought Gov. Morgan
into vital connection with our imperilled National
Government, was calculated to try, as by fire, the
metal of public servants and distinguish pure ore from
dross. If Edwin D. Morgan passed the crucible
without a stain upon his record, as Governor or Sen-
ator, not less did his Private Secretary, Lockwood L.
Doty, come out of the furnace without “ the smell of
fire upon his garments.” Governor Morgan survives ;
and he may be called to more exalted dignities than
have yet been conferred upon him by his countrymen;
his faithful coadjutor has passed to the hope of higher
and eternal recompense for deeds done. May the
clear name for official honor enjoyed by him, who still
dwells with us, and the bright memory left by him
who has passed to another life, be influences of good
in all our places of official trust and distinction.
The close of Governor Morgan’s four years saw a
revulsion in the political affairs of our State, through
the election of Horatio Seymour, but the change did
not affect Colonel Doty’s valued service, nor the esti-
mate of it by statesmen of varying politics. Colonel
Doty’s hard work, however, began to affect his con-
stitution ; and symptoms of the disease which ulti-
mately became fatal, began to alarm his family and
friends. He was not a man to yield, in flesh or spirit,
while life subsisted ; but successive attacks of hemor-
rhage, prostrating him for weeks, made rest necessary.
Under his physician’s advice, a change of climate, was
advisable ; and he was tendered the position of Amer-XVI
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
ican Consul at Nassau, N. P.—then a most important
point, because of its use as a rendezvous for Confed-
erate cruisers and blockade runners. Increased pecu-
niary compensation was thus assured to him, in a
climate where healthful air, and needed quiet, might
recuperate his jaded system. But he declined the
consulate, and remained, a while, Private Secretary
under Governor Seymour’s administration. Certainly,
as Col. Doty gratefully acknowledged, no higher com-
pliment could be paid to his worth than Gov. Sey-
mour’s wish to retain him in the position he had held
with Governor Morgan. For a time, to facilitate pub-
lic business, Col. Doty continued to act as Private
Secretary under Governor Seymour; and, meanwhile,
a special and congenial position had been made for
him by legislative act, in the providing for a “Bureau
of Military Record.” “The best man to be at the
head of such a Bureau,” Governor Morgan had said
to Governor Seymour, before the latter entered upon
office, “is Col. Doty; but you can’t appoint him.”
To which pleasant reminder of party demands, Gov.
Seymour answered—“ That is so, but you can appoint
him before your term expires, and I will keep him.”
So the “Bureau of Military Record” became, with
new and manifold duties, the only “change” for
health Col. Doty was to enjoy : while the salary set
apart for “Chief of Bureau” did not reach the pay
of a volunteer officer holding rank as Colonel.
But, though prudent and careful as a business man,
for his family wants, Col. Doty was not covetous of
high rank or of undue emoluments; so often the quest
of undeserving public men. More than once, in
youth and in mature years, he sought to leave the ex-
acting toils of office for pursuits of business life more
in accord with his love of home and children. But
he was to “die in harness;” to be remembered forBIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
XVII
undeviating integrity in public service, more than for
success in amassing private gains; and to leave to
those dependent upon him a modest competence and
the rich bequest of a good name ; inheritance far more
to be prized, after a father s death, than the millions
left with no record upon them but the career of a “ suc-
cessful ” business man.
Throughout Governor Seymour’s term, Col. Doty
occupied his busy mind and hands in what was to
him a “ labor of love gathering data concerning our
State Volunteers, and statistics regarding the patriotic
co-operation of New York civilians in cities, towns
and villages of our commonwealth. To his quick dis-
cernment, wide correspondence, and characteristic
“persistency” of work and research, our military
archives are largely indebted; and, although that of-
fice of value and necessity created by the foresight of
Governor Morgan, and sustained by Governor Sey-
mour, was not retained by Col. Doty to the day of his
death—as it ought to have been—the fault lay not in
his own decrease of interest in its objects or means,
but in the unwise action of a subsequent legislature,
and in the mistaken views of other officials who sur-
mised a conflict between the powers and duties of a
simple Statistical Bureau and the authority pertaining
to members of the Governor’s Military Staff. I make
passing mention of this matter, because no one knew
better than myself, his successor as Chief of Bureau
the motive which impelled Col. Doty to tender his
resignation of an office originally designed for his ten-
ure and made important, from its beginning, through
his zeal and application.
The assumption of a conflict, between that Bureau
and the Adjutant General’s department—an assump-
tion without foundation—led to a change in its rela-
tions, by constituting the Chief a Staff officer and axviii
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
clause in the bill ranked the Chief of Bureau as Brig-
adier General; but that provision was subsequently
erased. When the bill passed, Col. Doty tendered his
resignation. Yet he had, during his incumbency,
matured comprehensive plans of search, of collection,
of preservation, and of record, in the aggregation of
data for our State Military History; data easily ac-
cessible in those years ; valuable as adjuncts to gen-
eral history, and priceless as memorials of patriotic
service for numberless households within our State
borders. Two years after Col. Doty left it, the Bu-
reau ceased to be an office of independent work, and
was attached to the Adjutant General’s department.
Lockwood L. Doty should have been permitted to
continue, as he so earnestly began, his ‘ ‘ labor of love ’ ’
in that Military Bureau. Under his administration
of it, more than one hundred and twenty connected
regimental narratives, reciting the part taken by New
York State troops in the War for our Union, were put
in manuscript order, together with, at least, one hun-
dred thousand military notices of private soldiers;
full histories of the first thirty-eight regiments organ-
ized in our State; and a mass of data concerning
regiments, batteries, companies, ships and gunboats ;
wherever New York soldiers and sailors represented
their State in defense of the Republic; while frag-
mentary statistics, letters and notes, contributed by
volunteers “at the front,” on land or wave, and by
volunteers returned, after peace, to their homes were
filed ; and facts regarding the work of towns through-
out the State, in mustering and organizing their
quotas, furnished verifications of that vast pouring
forth of private liberality, in those years of patriotic
Will and Effort, which saw successive volunteeer
levies in the State of New York swell to a quarter of a
million of men, and the flow of her treasure for sol-BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
xix
dier’s needs, aggregate to the enormous sum of one
hundred and twenty million dollars—contributed by
towns and counties, and from private means of civil-
ians, men, women and children.
That an official, of the high reputation won in all
stations by Lockwood L. Doty, should have been en-
vironed by circumstance, which impelled him to re-
sign his office, while its work was uppermost in his
devoted mind, presents one of those illustrations of
false views which originated the remark, not always
true, that “Republics are ungrateful.”
Republics are not ungrateful. The people, in a
commonwealth, left to themselves, will be true to
themselves. If no untoward dictation had been
brought to bear upon the Bureau of Military Record,
it would now be a valued depository of statistics re-
garding State action in the war, completing its work
in a noble “ Hall of Recordthe gift of patriotism ;
wherein our children and children’s children, might
pause reverently amidst our thousand regimental flags.
And under Providence, I may add, the gentle face,
the graceful head of Lockwood L. Doty might be, at
this day, still bending over his “ labor of love as
Chief of a Bureau founded to be his field of work, so
long as God might spare him in the service of our
State.
Returning to Geneseo, Col. Doty hoped to remain
in his native county as a private citizen, but more
promising health afterwards induced him to accept
the position of Deputy Collector of Customs in New
York City ; which he held, however, but a short
time ; resigning it, to become again the Private Secre-
tary of his friend Ex-Governor Morgan, then repre-
senting New York State in the U. S. Senate. He
remained at Washington until the Senator finished
his official term.XX
BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
In 1869, Col. Doty was appointed, by President
Grant, -Assessor of Internal Revenue, for the Sixth
District in New York City!; but once more, the warn
ings of overwork and failing health counselled a re-
turn to his home, and he resigned office to seek the
quiet of Geneseo. Purchasing the “ Livingston Re-
publican, ” he entered upon the editorial field in a
spirit which promised, with business success, an en-
couraging avocation for the future. He likewise
began to print the first pages of his history ; dividing
busy days, between proof reading and writing on this
work, and his journalistic duties. I recall, in mem-
ory, that sanguine entry of the honest public servant
on his task of making an honest political newspaper.
Had he seen the way clear, Livingston County Re-
publicans would have had an able and candid expo-
nent of their views, while Democrats might have
found nothing in his editorial course but fair and
open dealing. In 1869, he was elected a member of
the Republican State Committee, and chosen Secre-
tary of that body ; which again involved him in State
affairs. At this juncture, Ex-Senator Morgan, hav-
ing become interested as a banker in the “ New Or-
leans, Mobile and Chatanooga Rail Road,” invited
him to become its Treasurer ; and he disposed of his
publishing establishment, in order to accept the post
of a financial officer ; but left the company after a few
months of connection with it. Senator Morgan and *
other friends, were, at that time, desirous of placing so
experienced and reliable a man at the head of a spe-
cial banking house, to be organized under his knowl-
edge of financial operations. But his apprehensions
of enterprises in which large investments might be
staked, in view of reliable management, dissuaded
him from accepting monetary responsibilities, even at
an assured and liberal salary as the President of aBIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
XXI
T>ank. He turned again to the work in which he had
formerly been so zealous—the service of Soldiers—and
entered on the double duty involved by consolidation
of two Pension offices in New York City, under his
direction, in April, 1871, as “ Pension Agent,” by ap-
pointment of President Grant.
There can be no more exacting post, if its duty be
performed, than the Pension Agency of New York
City, under existing laws. Col. Doty sacrificed him-
self, to accomplish its labors, through personal and
untiring effort. No one, who rejnembers his presence
in that dark, damp basement of the Custom House,
used for audit and payment of Pension claims; no
one, who saw his slight form bowed daily, ’over the
books he kept in all cases himself, could help the
mental conviction that those protracted labors in an
unhealthy atmosphere, were accelerating causes of
the disease, which struck him down at his last post of
service. Col. Doty became disabled in that service,
and died from his disability, with no less title to the
name of ‘6 Veteran ” than those soldiers and sailors
whose certificates he audited with kindly smiles, and
whose complaints he ever sought to answer by what-
soever help his own authority could assure them.
Lockwood L. Doty was born in Groveland, Living-
ston county, May 15th, 1827. He married, in his 25th
year, on the 19th ol March, 1852 ; and his death took
place at Jersey City, January 18th, 1873. The pul-
monary disease, to which his active life succumbed,
prostrated him about three months before the final
hour ; and his spirit departed, at that hour, so softly
"that its passing away, amid watching friends, was
scarcely perceived. Though sadly anticipated by
those who knew of his declining health, and the suffer-
ings he had long borne, at intervals, the report of his
decease fell suddenly upon that wide circle of acquaint-XXii	BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
ances who knew him only as a public man, in the
prime, as it seemed, of his natural life. A general
feeling of earnest regret was manifested in many
notices of his demise which appeared in the public
press. We might fill pages with those expressions of
respect for the dead, and sympathy for the living, who
deplored the loss of husband, father and brother. But
where all united in deep commiseration, no single
tribute of memory need be recalled, beyond the quo-
tations with which I conclude these notes of a good
man’s life, and which are added because they relate to
fruits more grateful than the returns of public office
and to influences more endearing than popular plaud-
its, merited though they be.
The “ Methodist Sunday School Union,’' of Albany,
of which Mr. Doty had been a former member, adopted
minutes from which we extract the following:
“ Especially do we remember him as a most earnest worker in the labor or
the Sunday School. Ho took an active part in the organization of West
Mission Sunday School, and was an indefatigable laborer both in Hudson
Avenue and Washington Avenue church schools. His cheerful presence
carried with it everywhere the heartiest encouragement. No one could fall
out by the way, while he was assisting; for he made toil a pleasure, and the
severest work, in the way of duty, a delight.”
Colonel Doty’s remains were conveyed by special
car from Jersey City to Geneseo, where the last offices
of affection and respect found place, at their burial
from the Methodist Episcopal church, where “ a large
concourse of people assembled, and deep gloom over-
hung the community.”
From the eloquent funeral discourse of Rev. G. W.
Paddock we make our concluding extract:
M We now go to pay our last tribute of love and esteem to Lockwood
Lyon Doty, our friend and brother beloved, who is now with the “blessed
dead.” We know he wrought well. Perhaps no higher eulogium can be
spoken than that ‘ He was a Christian gentleman.’ In all the relations of life
a true man and worthy of imitation. A faithful, affectionate husband, a
tender, indulgent father, a filial, warm-hearted brother, an incorruptible pol-BIOGRAPHIC INTRODUCTION.
XXII1
itician, an honest man, a true, humble Christian. In his death the govern-
ment has lost a most valuable, trustworthy servant, society one of its bright-
est ornaments, the poor and unfortunate a sympathizer and helper, this
church a worthy and honored member, his wife a true husband, his children
a noble father, his family at large a worthy representative, who has never
brought dishonor on the family name, and who has left a legacy of priceless
value in his inspiring example, blameless life and Christian death. All may
learn that a man may maintain a character unsullied, through all the tempta-
tions and corruptions of political and public life; may keep the flame of piety
glowing, and die the death of the righteous.”
Lockwood L. Doty is at rest—after his life-long
work ; but his example, abiding with us, as a
*• Memory of the just,
Smells sweet, and blossoms in the dust.”
Peace be his, forever, in Heaven ! as he loved “peace
on Earth,” with his fellow-men, and sought fraternity
in all good deeds. May his devotion to right—cher-
ished by his children—and may his unselfish manhood
—imitated by his fellow-men—remain his worthy
IN MEMOEIAM.
No head more gentle ever bowed o’er toil;
No neck more yielding bent to duty’s yoke.
No lure could tempt him, no seduction soil;
Because his heart went with the word he spoke;
And God still guided him on manhood’s way!
Well said wise Shakspeare—“To thyselt be true;
And it shall follow, as the night to day,
Thou can’st not then be false to any man! ”
And thus, in oneness with his Nature’s plan,
He wrought whate’er his hand might find to do—
With all his strength, his heart, his mind, his will!
God rest him! May his sweet example still
Stir, like the air of Liberty, which waves
Our starry flags, and wooes our soldiers’ graves IEDITORIAL CARD.
Sixteen years ago the History which is now offered
to the public was first projected by its lamented
author, and the expectation was that the work of
preparation would occupy only a short time—but a
few years at the most. As it progressed, however, it
grew in interest and importance. New facts came to
light, and the field of inquiry and research was ex-
tended, until at last what was designed for publication
in a few months, became the author’s life-work.
Those who knew Mr. Doty are aware of the devotion
with which he pursued his favorite and self-imposed
task. They remember how enthusiastic he grew in
searching out new facts ; how patiently he pored
over musty and voluminous documents, or gathered
from the lips of the few surviving pioneers their stories
of early times and attendant hardships, and how, in
time, this work came to be a labor of love. None will
ever know how great was the care bestowed upon this
work by its author, but it should remain a lasting
memorial of tireless patience and devotion.
At the time of Mr. Doty’s death, two hundred pages
of the history had been printed, and materials gath-
ered and partially arranged for much of the remaining
portion. These materials were put into my hands
with the request that I prepare them for the press.
How well this work has been done, the reader must
judge for himself. It has been my endeavor, however,
to carry out the author’s original plan, so far as was
possible, and, wherever practicable, to use his own
language. So rigidly has this determination been ad-
hered to, that, with the exception of a portion of the
chapter on the War of 1812, and other portions here-XXVI
EDITORIAL CARD.
inafter mentioned, the entire History is substantially
and in fact, the work of Mr. Doty.
It is proper to state, however, that that part of the
work comprised in pages 337 to 469, inclusive, embrac-
ing a history of the county from 1821 to 1860, together
with a brief reference to .Livingston’s part in the War
of the Rebellion, I have written myself, Mr. Doty
having done nothing on this portion of the History.
This explanation is due to him as well as to myself, as
it would be manifestly unjust to hold him responsible
for any faults that may exist in these chapters. The
same remarks will apply to the biographical sketches
of James Wadsworth, General James S. Wadsworth
and John Young, which have been carefully prepared,
but under some disadvantages.
The Town Sketches are, what the title implies, sim-
ply historical sketches, not complete histories. They
are intended to give a general view of the commence-
ment and growth of settlements in the several towns,
together with brief biographical sketches of some of
the more prominent of the early settlers. In this
connection it may be well to state that the difficulty
has been to decide, not what to put in, but what to
leave out of the History, as, with the materials in
hand, these personal sketches might have been multi-
plied indefinitely, had not the limits of the work forbid.
In conclusion I may state, without any impropriety,
that the public are indebted to the deceased author’s
brother, Edward E. Doty, for the publication of the
History. He has expended his time and money liber-
ally in this work, and his energy and perseverance
have overcome the numerous serious obstacles which
blocked the way to success. Through these efforts
the History of Livingston County is now in the hands
of the people, by whom, it is sincerely hoped, it may
be kindly received.
Lima, N. Y., May, 1876.
A. Tiffany Norton.PREFACE.
“A dozen years more and a faithful history of Liv-
ingston County cannot be written.” “And where-
fore?” “ Simply because the end of another decade
will find most of our pioneers gathered to their fathers,
and no effort is making to preserve their recollections,
which will have passed into oblivion.”
To this conversation, occurring just before the Re-
bellion, between two citizens of the County long well
known but now no more, the writer was a listener, and
is constrained to own that since then, as day by day
the roll of those from whom the annalist could best
draw his materials has been abridged, the assertion has
returned in augmenting force. A history was at the
time suggested, and he who ventures this volume was
asked to undertake its preparation. The request was
more than once repeated, but accident rather than
design finally determined h itn to attempt it.
A word of apology may be indulged. The writer’s
portfolio has been enriched with many a local tradi-
tion and interesting relation, which will be found but
dull as rendered in these pages. “ But you must re-
member,” as Frank Osbaldistone is made to say, “ that
the tale told by one friend and listened to by another,
loses half its charm when committed to paper.” •2
PREFACE.
To gather and digest the materials of a county his-
tory, which must in great degree be drawn from
original sources, and to harmonize the all but endless
discordances of fact, is no ordinary task. To go
further and attempt anything so ambitious as a picture
of early days, is doubly hazardous, for in the public’s
eye a truth left out, or a part over-colored on such a
page, is an offence little short of the unpardonable
one. In surrendering to the fascination that attaches
to the story of pioneer life, the writer is liable to lose
sight of those examples of fortitude and self-denial
which are the most profitable lessons afforded by the
record of early times. Another danger besets the
writer: Pioneer days are now just far enough re-
moved from the passing hour, and just sufficiently
tinged with romance, to tempt him to draw upon
fancy in making up his relation. But the veracious
annalist may give way to no such allurements. He
must allow the early indwellers of the region to ap-
pear in their own garb, to speak and act for them-
selves, and to use their own phraseology; they must
be permitted “to show us over their houses, to seat
us at their tables, to rummage their old-fashioned
wardrobes, and to explain the uses of their primitive
furniture.” For the reader wants the homely truth.
A county history in our State, considering the rela-
tions which its territorial divisions bear to each other
and to the subject in hand, seems better designed for
grouping the series of facts presented in these pages,
than either a larger or smaller territory would afford
The division now known as the county was originally
that portion of the English island governed by an
Earl or Count; hence the name. Its origin is popu-
larly ascribed to the great and good King Alfred, who
introduced so many useful reforms. The designation
of Shire, as Perthshire, or the County of Perth, wasPREFACE.
3
also used, and its principal bailiff, known as shire-
reeve, is now shortened into sheriff. In Louisiana,
counties go by the name of Parishes. In New Eng-
land, the town is the political unit, and the county
has an importance little more than nominal; while in
the Southern States the county is practically the unit,
and towns have scarcely a recognized existence. In
the State of New York, however, the town and county
have each their importance ; wre may therefore present
herein an account of both.
The relation that follows is brought down to the
opening of the Rebellion. To embrace the subsequent
period would be to encroach upon a domain belonging
rightfully to officers and soldiers who took part in the
war, and who may be presumed to prefer one of their
own number as the annalist of events so intimately
associated with themselves and their fallen compan-
ions.
The volume which now goes before the public is a
simple record, woven from such materials as could be
gathered after no little labor, though in a manner
somewhat too desultory. Fidelity to truth, and jus-
tice to the character of individuals, particularly to
the generation that planted the germ and that which
nurtured its early growth, have been conscientiously
sought. The spirit in which nearly all have aided in
supplying material is gratefully acknowledged. An
enumeration alone would fill a space too great for the
limits of a preface. The names of the following must,
however, be given: Hon. William Scott, of Sparta,
Samuel Magee, Hiram Boyd, Colonel Lyman, Colonel*
George Smith, Wm. H. C. Hosmer. Newspapers
published in localities favoring the settlements in this
region, such as those of Albany and Philadelphia,
have afforded no little aid, as also have local journals,
of which nearly continuous series haye been examined;4
PREFACE.
while much of interest has been gleaned from old let-
ters, yet fresh and vivacious, though the writers have
long since passed away.
Prom the State Library at Albany and the State
Department at Washington have been obtained inval-
uable facts. To Colonel Ely S. Parker, late of General
Grant’s military staff, and Mr. N. T. Strong, themselves
conspicuous among the red men; and to the Hon.
Lewis H. Morgan, O. H. Marshall, Esquire, and the
Rev. Asher Wright, is the writer indebted for facts re-
lating to the Indians, obtained mainly in a visit to the
Cattaraugus Reservation in 1866. There was also
found the venerable Philip Kenjockety, whose recol-
lections of Sullivan’s expedition in 1779, have proved
of great service.
The drawings were mainly the work of Fred. T.
Vance, and are faithful representations of points of
local and historic interest.
Duties of an exacting nature have, from time to
time, delayed the completion of the work which now,
with no little of misgiving, is committed to the favor
of a community that will value it for the local annals
herein recorded and preserved, with this single remark,
the writer would gladly have afforded a more enter-
taining work had it been in his power to do so.
LOCKWOOD L. DOTY.CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
A Noble Amphitheatre—u Pleasant Valley”—Canaseraga Creek—Conesus
Lake—Mineral Springs—Wheat Crop—The “ Long House ”—Old Time
Memories—Omens and Dreams—Aboriginal Legends—The Jesuits—
Sullivan’s Officers................................9—18.
CHAPTER II.
INDIAN OCCUPANCY.
The Seneca Nation—Oneidas and Tuscaroras—Ancient Aborigines—The
Iroquois—Hiawatha—An Indian Congress—Red Jacket, Cornplanter—
Big Kettle—Tribal Clans—David Cusick—Flying Head—Lake Serpent
and Giants—The Kah-kwas—Another Monster—The Indian Lovers—
Hurons—A Female Chief—Indian Battle—An Earthquake—Fate of the
Kah-kwas—The Iroquois Dominant........................19—36.
CHAPTER III.
THE SENECAS.
The “ Door-keepers ”—The “ War-post ”—Witchcraft—Indian Life—Indian
Sports—The Hunting Season—Hunting Fields—Indian Roguery—
Squaw and Papoose—Yankee John—“Big Injun me”—Medical Men—
Indian Religion—New Year’s Festival—A Masquerade—Burning the
Dog—Parallel with Jewish Rites—A New Religion—“ Handsome Lake ”
—Indian Trails—Strength of the Senecas—-Big Tree Village—Cattarau-
gus Reservation—The Truth of History..................37—66.
CHAPTER IV.
ABORIGINAL TOWNS—DEFENSIVE WORKS.
Ponchet’s Map—Indian Earthworks—Relics and Remains—-Mounds in
Groveland and Dansville—Seneca Towns—Burial places—De Nonville—
Indian Ghosts — Tuscarora Burial-place — Monture’s Grave—Little
Beardstown—Skeletons—Squakie Hill—John Jemison’s Ghost—Cap-
tives—A Chiefs Remains—Big Kettle's Town—Blue Board—Oneida
Swimmers — Boyd and Murphy—Indian Lodges—“ Let the Dead
Rest.”................................................67—103.CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
INDIAN NOTABLES.
Red Jacket—Indian Eloquence—Salt in Tea—Cornplanter—Henry O’Bale—
A Sensible Duel—The “Peace Prophet”—Little Beard—Tall Chief—
Straight-back—Big Tree—Black Chief—An Indian Princess—Jack
Berry—Captain Pollard—Hot Bread—Half Town—Sharp Shins—
Tommy Infant — John Monture — Gnawwa—Mary Jemison—White
Woman’s Tombstone—Thomas Jemison—Philip Kenjockety—Old Can-
ne-hoot.............................................104—137.
CHAPTER VI.
JESUIT MISSIONS—DE NONVILLE’S EXPEDITION.
Father Chaumonot—Father Fremin—Marquis de Nonville—Governor Dou-
gan—French and Indian War—A Battle on the Genesee—Disasters of
the French..........................................138—150.
CHAPTER VII.
SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION.
British Indians—War against the Senecas—Gov. George Clinton—Van
Schaick’s Expedition—Sullivan in command—Troops Without Pay—
Surprise of Indians at Round Hill—Gen. Clinton—March of the Army
—Country Laid Wa°te—Washington’s Policy—A White Waif—Lieut.
Thomas Boyd—Timothy Murphy—“False Faces”—Council of War—
Sullivan’s Antecede .ts—Go on with the Ceremonies—Progress of the
Army—The Ambuscade—Torture of Boyd and Parker—Indian Villages
Destroyed—Results of the Expedition.....................151—206.
CHAPTER VIII.
AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
Attention drawn to Genesee Country—White Prisoners Among the Indians
Early Claimants of the Territory—Royal Grants—Virginia Company—
Claims of Massachusetts and New York—Phelps and Gorham Purchase
—First Land Office—Purchase by Robert Morris—Sir William Pultney
and Associates—Charles Williamson—Holland Company—Big Tree
Treaty................................................. 207—238,
CHAPTER IX.
SETTLEMENTS COMMENCED—BRITISH INTERFERENCE.
Character of the Early Settlers—Difficulties Met—James and William
Wadsworth—Early Elections—Postal Facilities—Some Early Settlers—
Marquis de Talleyrand—Williamsburgh Fair—Division of the State
Proposed—British Interference—Hostile Indians—War Imminent—
Wayne’s Victory—Peace Restored—A Prospecting Party... .239—262..
CHAPTER X.
PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENTS—RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES.
Missionaries in the Genesee Country—Visits of Louis Phillipe and the Duke*
de Liancourt—Primitive Habitations—A Recluse—James Wadsworth
in Europe—Williamsburgh and Hermitage—Settlers in Sparta—Elec-
tions—A Rare Tea-Party—Caledonia Settled.. ..........263—279.CONTENTS.
7
CHAPTER XL
PIONEER ELECTIONS—SCARCITY OF FOOD—RAPID GROWTH OF THE SETTLE-
MENTS.
Pioneers Neglect to Vote—State Road Improvement Company—Elections
and Results—The Indians—Effect of Civilization Upon Them -The
Settlements rapidly Increasing—Indian Thievery—“ Genesee Fever
Eclipse of the Sun—Consternation Among the Indians—A Famine—
Post-Roads and Offices—Stage of Settlement in 1806—Transportation
Facilities—The Ark—Squatters—A Pioneer Race—Some New Comers—
A Cold Season..........................................280—304.
CHAPTER XII.
WAR OF 1812.
Warm Support by Livingston—General William Wadsworth—Other Volun-
teers—Queenstown Heights—Smith’s Fiasco—Unjust Criticisms—The
Cold Plague—Its Fearful Ravages—Events of 1813-14—Volunteer
Companies from the County—Burning of Buffalo—End of the War—
Beneficial Results—Growth of the Settlements—First Paper in the
County—River Boating—Minor Incidents..................305—336.
CHAPTER XIII.
ERECTION OF THE COUNTY.
Statistics of County—Old County of Ontario—Movement for Division—Op-
position—Plans of Division Proposed—Reasons for New County-
Crowded Courts, Hard Times, Remote Settlements—New Counties
Formed—The Name of Livingston—County Seat Chosen—Public Build-
ings Erected—First Courts—County Seals--A Buck Without a Tail.
.........................•...........................337—357.
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY BANKING PROJECTS—GENESEE VALLEY CANAL.'
Petitions for Banks—-Pioneer Stages—River Navigation—Better Shipping
Facilities Needed—A Canal Proposed—Public Meetings—The Genesee
Valley Canal—Other Projects—Pioneer Elections—Livingston County
High School—Post-riders—Daily Stages—Amusements—County Bible
Society—Steamboating on the Genesee—Mastodons Found—Elections—
Governor Clinton Visits the County....................358—383.
CHAPTER XV.
ANTI-MASONRY—NEW COUNTY PROJECT.
Abduction of Morgan—Popular Feeling—Public Meetings—Committees of
Investigation—Rise and Progress of Anti-Masonic Party—Elections
Carried by Anti-Masons--Local Nominations—Commercial Enterprise—
County Farm Bought—Alms-house Established—New County Proposed
—Great opposition—No “Cutting or Carving”—Livingzton County
Bank—End of Third Decade—Pioneer Newspapers...........384—402.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE DECADE FROM 1830 to 1840.
A Railroad Proposed—Legislative Memorial—Rochester and Dansville Rail-
road-Rejoicing Over Passage of Bill—Failure of the Project—Election
Results—Newspaper Ventures and Failures—Presidential Election of
1840—“ Tippecanoe and Tyler Too ’’--Log Cabins and Great Excitement
—The County Twenty Years Old..........................403—417.8
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE DECADE FROM 1840 TO 1850.
The Massacre of Boyd and Parker—Place of Ambuscade—Relics Found-
Removal of Remains to Rochester—The Ceremonies—Great Concourse
of People—Shall these Remains be Re-interred in the County ?—County
Agricultural Society—Elections—Presidential Contest of 1844—State
Election of 1846—John Young for Governor—His Popularity in Living-
ston—Railroad Projects—Plank-Roads and Telegraphs—Three Roads
Commenced—Success and Failure--Local Elections—Journalistic His-
tory-Condition of County in 1850........................418—444.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE DECADE FROM 1850 TO 1860.
New Alms-house—Military Encampments—New Banks—Portage Riot—
Elections—Cattle Breeders’ Association—New County Proposed—First
Whig Defeat—Political Disorganization—Confusion of Parties—Know-
Nothings—Republican Party—Presidential Contest of 1856—Local Elec-
tions—Genesee Valley Railroad Finished—The Weevil—County Officers
Chosen—Importance of the County at this Period—Presidential Election
of I860.................................................445—469.
CHAPTER XIX.
LIVINGSTON’S PART IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
The People Ever Loyal—Fort Sumter Fired Upon—The People Aroused—
Party Lines Obliterated—Men United—Prompt Response to Call for
Troops — Aid Funds — Sanitary Commissions — Bounties—Companies
Raised—Camp Union—Wadsworth Guards—Camp at Portage—The 130th
and 136th Regiments—Other Enlistments—The Close......410—483.
TOWN SKETCHES.
Avon...........................................................   485
Caledonia........................................................498
Conesus.........................................................  511
Geneseo.......................................................... 519
Groveland.......................................................  555
Leicester...............;........................................ 573
Lima............................................................. 600
Livonia.......................................................... 606
Mount Morris...................................................   619
North Dansville.................................................  632
Nunda............................................................ 643
Ossian ........................................................   649
Portage......................................................     651
Sparta........................................................... 655
Springwater.... ................................................  667
West Sparta.......................................................673
York..............................................................679^%XAO'JVe^-
■*/INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Midway between lake Ontario and the Pennsylva-
nia border, and centrally between Seneca lake and the
Niagara river, in the heart of the fertile region known
as the Genesee country, lies the beautiful agricultural
County of LiviNosfbN.
Watered by the chief river of Western New York,
whose broad deep basin forms the widely-famed val-
ley that bears the river’s name, and furrowed by a
tributary whose extent is mainly within the county,
its surface—also indented by two picturesque lakes—
presents a topography of diversified outline; the bold
acclivities of the river highlands Tising with grand
effect in the south-western border, and offering fine
contrast to the less striking rural scenery.
The boundaries of the county, defined by statute
more than by natural limits, are, nevertheless, marked
in their general contour, except at the north, by an
elliptical rim, consisting of continuous ridges of hills,
which, converging at the south, form a noble amphi-
theatre, in whose bosom nestles the most populous
though in geographical extent the smallest township
of the shire; while from fruitful valleys, watered by
a hundred rivulets that seam its sides, the central
township rises like a vast mound to the height of full
three hundred feet.* While the configurations are
* The town of Groveland. Dansville lies within the amphitheatre of hills.10
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
quite varied, every part of the territory is, with rare
exceptions, adapted to tillage ; and not only are the
leading physical features attractive to the eye, but the
organic remains, and peculiar geological formation of
the section, open to the student of nature’s works a
field of no ordinary interest.
The Genesee river,' which cuts the county into un-
equal parts, breaks through the mountain-like barrier
at the south-west, and, flowing, with its deep channel,
for ten miles or more along the western border, at
length enters Livingston county, foaming over a suc-
cession of cataracts. Sweeping northward between
high and precipitous banks, for a dozen miles, amid
scenery of great variety, its waters abruptly Mave the
narrow chasm worn by centuries^of attrition, to glide
through this “ Pleasant Valley,” as, long ago, the red
man named it. Embowered in groves, or studded
with stately elms and oaks, that grow upon its grassy
margins, the river loiters for mile on mile, drifting
from side to side of the rich and smiling landscape
whose broad expanse of grain-field and meadow, dot-
ted with country homes, spreads like a vast park over
the wide alluvial flat or plain known as the Genesee
Valley, until reaching the north-westerly border, its
channel crosses into Monroe county. In pioneer days,
this was the market highway for products of the lum-
ber forest and the farm; but now that the woods which
lined its terraced slopes for leagues on either side are
cut down, a thousand little streams that fed it from
the wilderness have disappeared; and to-day the £C riv-
er runs with narrowed bounds,” and with tew or pre-
carious facilities for internal commerce, even if the
canal and railway did not afford more speedy and cer-
tain modes of transit.
Canaseraga creek, the river’s principal branch, and
in former times, doubtless, its continuation from theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
11
point of confluence, is a sluggish., sinuous stream,
having its source in Steuben county. Flowing in at
the south-westerly quarter, it trends northwardly
through a flat several hundred yards in width, its tur-
bid waters entering the river near the center of the
county. The summits of the two ranges of hills,
nearly uniform in height, that mark its course, stretch
miles away from each other, and, with the river valley,
form a “ Y”-shaped indentation; the creek giving the
right arm, and the river the stem and left arm.
Conesus lake is situated in the interior of the coun-
ty ; and Hemlock lake lies partly within and along its
eastern border. The dark waters and precipitous
shores of the latter, in whose solitary nooks more than
one hermit is said to have found a retreat in early
days, give it much of the character of the lakes of
Scotland ; while the less marked elevations that hem
in the waters of the Conesus, fringed as they are and
diversified with cultivated farms, constitute it one of
the most agreeable of rural pictures. Romance, too,,
has lent her charms to the shores and waters of this
lake;* and near its head, in Revolutionary times, en-
camped the colonial army under Sullivan; while
within rifle-shot of its banks was enacted the bloody
episode of that enterprise, the fatal ambuscade laid
by the Senecas for Boyd’s scouting party.
The noted mineral springs of Avon, (venerated Qa-
nowagas of the Indian medicine-man,) the springs
of Caledonia, remarkable for the volume of their wa-
ters, and the interesting streams which mark the gen-
eral landscape, claim notice in these pages.
Of wTorks of enterprise, the county has its share.
* Its story of love and war has been woven into poetic numbers by Hos-
mer, who has fixed the scene of a portion of his Yonnondio on the western
shore of the Conesus, in verse as applicable to its native theme as that of
Sir Walter Scott, in “Marmion,” or the “Lady of the Lake.”12
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The Genesee Yalley canal passes through its territory,
following the general course of the river from Roches-
ter, and crossing to the easterly side of that stream at
Mt. Morris, whence it runs south-easterly four or five
miles to the Cushaqua creek, where it branches, the
one line continuing in the same line of direction to
Dansville, while the other, or canal proper, diverges
toward the south-west quarter of the county, and again
crosses the river, entering Wyoming county, and
reaches the upper waters of the Genesee several miles
above. Our grand system of magnetic telegraphs
connects the principal villages of this county with all
parts of the business world; while a net-work of rail-
ways already embraces the Genesee valley line, which
links Mt. Morris with Rochester, following the general
course of the river on the easterly side. The Buffalo
and New York road enters at the north-westerly cor-
ner, and connects at Avon with the northern branch
of the Erie railway, which latter passes, by a winding
course, first eastward and then southward, through
the easterly range of towns; and the Canandaigua
and Niagara Falls line runs across the northernmost
town, west and east.
In extent of territory the county does not rank
among the larger ones of the state, but stands scarce-
ly second to any in productive wealth; its wheat crop,
—unsurpassed in quality,—alone constituting a fifth
part of all that is grown in the commonwealth. And
if its annals do not cover so broad a page as older
counties may boast, they yet embrace no little belong-
ing to history, while its Indian traditions, especially,
add value to our country’s aboriginal lore.
To certain localities, though by far too few, we shall
find yet clinging the Indian names, often disguised,
Ibut not wholly lost, thus fixing the sites of ancient
aboriginal villages. For it must be recollected thatHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
13
during many ages this region, in the expressive lan-
guage of the natives, formed the Upper or Western
door of the typical Long-house or federation qf the
Five nations of Indians, and, for generations unnum-
bered, comprised the favorite hunting-grounds of the
principal villages of the Senecas, the most powerful
and warlike of the tribes forming the great Iroquois
League. At just what period the solitude of the
noble forest which had covered this territory from the
beginning of time, was invaded by these children of
nature, cannot now be determined; but, the region
once known, its rare natural advantages were fitted to
attract and retain a people whose strength could pre-
serve to them its permanent occupancy. Indeed, their
traditions, often more extravagant than an oriental
tale, declare that the Senecas established their homes
here at a date more remote than our own Christian
era. What people preceded them is a question left
wholly to conjecture, since all authentic history of this
region must begin with the arrival of the Dutch in
New York, early in the seventeenth century. Prior
to the settlement of Manhattan island, nothing was
definitely known by Europeans of the Senecas as a
separate nation; and not until the period of the Jesuit
missions among this aboriginal family, a little more
than two hundred years ago, was there any precise in-
formation gathered relative to their position in the
League.
Though reliable annals extend over two centuries,
it is with a period embraced within living memory
that this work will mainly deal. Step by step, after
the Revolution, as settlements increased, will the for-
tunes of the pioneers and their descendants be fol-
lowed. Nor can the history be complete without a*
brief portrayal of their customs and merry-makings,
as well as the hardships and enterprise of that early14
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
day, with some account of their journeyings hither-
ward, along nnbeaten roads, over extemporized bridg-
es, and through shifting fords, while yet a great wil-
derness lay between their new homes and the east-
ern settlements. The habits of every day life will be
introduced, and something of political reminiscences,
of militia musters and general trainings, not omitting
reference to educational, and to moral and religious
movements of early days. It is not the province of the
simple chronicler to enter the domain of sentiment, or
invoke" the imagery with which fancy vivifies the Past;
and yet a glimpse of matters of ordinary life, even
but a soore and ten years ago, reveals something of
the golden haze of perspective, investing them with
more than every-day interest. It is the lapse of time
and change, measured by the march of steam, and
electricity, that already softens the generation that
preceded us into comparative remoteness, awakening
tender associations in our minds at the mention of the
old-fashioned fire-place, heaped with glowing logs, that
cheered long winter evenings with its warmth and its
welcome. Deep-rooted were the friendships formed
about its ample hearth-stone, and they grow dearer
with each passing*year, to the county’s wandering
children. The log-house has disappeared, but how
often come back the happy memories of its homely
comfort, and what household traditions cluster around
it that must be quite unknown to more modern and
far richer mansions. Every season of the old time
counted its joys. How we cherish the recollection of
rainy days spent in the pine-scented family garret,
among smoke-brown letters and forgotten newspapers,
and manifold odds and ends, in broken chest and
home-spun tow-bag. The great masters of harmony
never arranged music so grateful as the sound of au-
tumn rain pattering upon the low-browed cottage roof,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
15
and lulling the sense to sleep with its monotonous
melody. And the glory of the already ancient stage-
coach, so imposing in its entry, as driver and four-in-
hand, in full career, dashed up to the tavern door, is
gone with the last echo of the shrill post-horn. The
spinning-wheel forgets its hum, and the flail has dis-
appeared with the log-barn and straw-thatched shed.
Many are the changes of a single life time; but if
we miss the picturesque, we find the loss replaced by
gain, in broader privileges and wider opportunities.
A step beyond the actual, and we enter the domain
of popular credulity. Half a century ago, the no-
tions of our forefathers, in common with their genera-
tion, were tinged with that superstition which credits
the existence of a race of supernatural beings peopling
the recesses of forests ; of witches who haunted those.
persons whom their capricious natures led them to an-
noy ; or who, gipsey-like, told fortunes, made and
dissolved matches, interfered with household affairs,
and discovered stolen property. Omens, too, were
observed, dreams were not unheeded, and many a
farmer plowed, planted and gathered, according to
the aspects of the moon, while few domestic animals
were held as free from direct planetary influences.
A view of the Genesee Country, prior to its occu-
pancy by the whites, will be found interesting. Little
enough is, indeed, known, and even that little, derived
mainly from tradition, is obscured by the uncertainties
that characterize Indian legends, especially in dates;
but wholly to reject the account would be to drive an
inquirer to mere speculation, whose conclusions must,
at least, be equally wide of truth. Sketches of the
more noted warriors, sachems and wise men who have
resided here, and an outline of their relentless feuds,
with some reference to the state-craft and sagacity of
the Indians, will be presented. The aboriginal na-16
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
tives, in their myths, peopled many parts of the vast
wilderness stretching westward far beyond the Miss-
issippi, and eastward to the ocean, with strange mon-
sters, and their stories of this region are replete with
accounts of winged heads, the feats of prodigious ser-
pents, and the calamitous visits of giants, unearthly
in size and formidable in power, who came eastward
from the regions of the setting-sun.
Our account will not be wanting in the interest that
attaches to aboriginal antiquities; for the remains of
several ancient mounds of undoubted military origin,
links in that chain of ancient defensive works which,
according to recent researches, extended from the
shores of lake Erie to the lakes of central New York,
have been found here. Natural history, too, has been
illustrated by the discovery, in two or three places
within the county, of the remains of that huge fossil
animal known as the mastodon.
We shall note how the French, in Canada, obtaining
their earliest knowledge of this section from the Jesuit
missionaries, endeavored to get possession of it; and
how a formidable expedition, under the Marquis De
Nonville, dispatched hither with the design of con-
quest, miscarried, as did all similar efforts of the
French. The Jesuit missionaries, first among Euro-
peans to seek these wilds, established missions in the
neighborhood of the Genesee river, nurturing them in
that spirit of self-sacrifice peculiar to their order, with
the hope of planting here the standard of their faith,
and enlarging the jurisdiction of the Romish See.
But these efforts proved abortive, for here, as else-
where in the New World, their creed found no perma-
nent lodgment. From the letters of these religionists
to the general of their order in Rome, we catch defi-
nite views, during the period embraced between the
years 1636 and 1687, of the homes of the Senecas.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
17
Thenceforward, nearly a hundred years, this region
affords little to arrest the historian; but afterwards
something like a connected account will be possible.
The expedition of General Sullivan to the country
of the Senecas, in the fifth year of the Revolution-
ary war, was charged by Washington with the de-
struction of the Indian villages on the Genesee, as a
penalty for a long series of bloody wrongs perpetrated
by the savages upon the whites. As a measure of
future security to the settlements, it fully accomplish-
ed its object; this attained, red men and white alike
briefly quit the region; the former, save as a broken
remnant, never to return.
Reference will be made to the part taken by our
citizens in the war of 1812 ; and to the reasons which,
a few years later, controlled them in asking for the.
erection of the county: an event that occurred at a pe-
riod of great derangement in the public finances, when
communities were suffering from the effects of the un-
wise monetary policy of our second war with Great
Britain.
Several of Sullivan’s officers and soldiers, allured
by the natural advantages of this region, led hither,
soon after the Revolution, a tide of emigration to occu-
py the district then so recently wrested from the con-
quered tribes. The settlement grew with unexampled
rapidity. The forests disappeared as though de-
voured, giving place to cultivated fields and incipient
villages, and before the present century opened, the
smoke of the pioneers’ cabins might be seen drifting
over widely-separated valleys and hill-sides. In or-
der to show whence the early settlers mainly came,
the origin of families will be traced, where practicable,
and the fact will everywhere appear that our pioneers
were, to a marked extent, actors in the war for In-
dependence, mingled with families of refinement and18	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
culture from the south and east, who early stereotyped
the features of society here, and lent elevation to the
aims of enterprise. Wholesome influences, thus early
imparted, still operate with augmenting force. The
people of this county have always been zealous pat-
rons of education, foremost among the friends of po-
litical and intellectual advancement, and staunch sup-
porters of the moral and religious movements of the
century. Of their patriotism, that rich fruit of all
virtues, the record of the great Rebellion affords a
thousand evidences, though its sacrifices are as yet too
recent, and its wounds too fresh, to be dwelt upon
now, even if the theme demanded no worthier pen
than that which indites these pages.
Biographical sketches claim their place in this work;
since actors in historic events, aud men who have en-
joyed the highest honors of the state and nation, as
well as those of less note who impressed their individ-
uality upon the times, have lived here, or, dying, have
left their mortal frames to rest in our green and quiet
church-yard.*
CHAPTER II.
INDIAN OCCUPANCY.
The Seneca nation of Indians were found occupy-
ing the region between the Genesee river and Cayuga
lake, when it first became known to the whites.* At
what period their abode became fixed here is a ques-
tion not easily solved, since it is to incidental facts
and traditions we are to look for light upon this sub-
ject, and these afford but uncertain data.
The country between the Genesee and the Niagara
rivers, when first visited by Europeans, was nominally
held by the Kaii-kwas, or Neutral Nation of Indians,
though their villages were situated mainly along the
latter river and extended nearly to the eastern shore of
lake Huron, their hunting-grounds, however, included,
as they claimed, the broad belt of debatable land that
lay along the Genesee. In this doubtful frontier, in-
roads were frequently made by the Senecas, and con-
flicts between these two hostile tribes often took place.
Soon after our knowledge of them begins, the Kah-
kwas, as we shall see, were conquered by the Senecas,
and were either driven southward or exterminated.
* The Dutch arrived at New York (by them called New Amsterdam) in
1609, and soon acquired some knowledge of the Western Indians, among
others of the Nun^do-wahf-o-no^ to whom they gave the name of Senecas;
but so unsettled was the orthography of the latter word, that the Colonial
documents of our state give it in no less than 63 different ways.#
20	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
At the opening of the Revolutionary war, a small
band of Oneidas, and also a band of Tuscaroras,
adhering to the British cause, (though these two tribes
mainly espoused the Colonial side,) left their eastern
villages and removed to the Genesee, where each es-
tablished a town; and a few of the Kah-kwas, de-
scendants of those who had been adopted into the
Seneca nation when their tribal organization was bro-
ken up, were found residing with the latter by the
pioneers.
Of the races that preceded the Senecas and Kah-
kwas we have little information, and even that little is
derived mainly from local antiquities. This evidence,
fragmentary at best, shows that, in the far off past, na-
tions unlike the red aborigines have arisen, flourish-
ed here, and disappeared. The story is one of miss-
ing links and replete with mystery. Morgan says
that the remains of Indian art here met with are of
two kinds, and ascribable to widely-different periods.
The former belong to the ante-Columbian, or era of
Mound-Builders, whose defensive works, mounds, or
sacred enclosures are scattered so profusely through-
out the west; the latter include the remains of fugi-
tive races who, after the extermination of the Mound-
Builders, displaced each other in quick succession,
until the period of the Iroquois commenced. *
The Senecas, first known to the whites as a part of
the Five nations, have a history of their own, inde-
pendent of their connection with their associate na-
* It was the opinion of Governor DeWitt Clinton, that previous to the oc-
cupation of this region by the progenitors of the Iroquois, it was inhabited
by a race of men much more populous and much further advanced in civili-
zation than they. Marshall, however, whose judgment is entitled to great
weight, is not satisfied with the evidence so far produced of the existence in
thi3 vicinity of a race preceding the Indian. He thinks the ancient fortifica-
tions, tumuli, and artificial structures that abound in western New York, can
all be referred to a more modern race than the Mound-Builders.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	21
tions, and, consequently, earlier than the League of
the Iroquois. This fact is found in certain special
features of their system of consanguinity and affinity,
wherein they differ from the Mohawks, Onondagas,
Oneidas and Cayugas, and in which they agree with
the Tuscaroras and Wyandots or ancient Hurons,
tending to show that they and the two latter formed
one people later in time than the separation of the na-
tions from the common stem.* It is most likely, how-
ever, that the Senecas were then north of the chain of
lakes.
The Iroquois call themselves Ho-de^-no-sau-nee, or
People of the Long House. Their league, formed
about the year 1450, f embraced at first the Mohawks,
Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. After-
wards the Tuscaroras were admitted into the federa-
tion, constituting the sixth nation.:): Their territory
then extended from the Hudson to the Genesee river.
Their legends say that the league was advised by
Hiawatha, the tutelar patron of the Iroquois, on the
occasion of a threatened invasion of their country
by a ferocious band of warriors from north of the
great lakes. Ruin seemed inevitable, and in their ex-
tremity they appealed to Hiawatha. He urged the
people to waste their efforts no longer in a desultory
war, but to call a general council of the tribes. The
meeting accordingly took place on the northern bank
* The Seneca child belongs to the mother’s tribe, not to the father’s. If
the mother is of the clan of the Heron, her children also are Herons; and
they call, not only their female parent, mother, but likewise call her sisters,
mother, either “great” or “little” mother, as the sisters chance to be older
or younger than the real mother.
\ The Five nations were called Maquas by the Butch; Iroquois by the
French; Minges and Confederates by the English. They were sometimes
called AganuscMoni, or People of the Long Cabin.
% Of these, the Mohawks, Onondagas and Senecas are called Fathers; the
Cayugas and Oneidas are called Sons, and in their great councils are always
thus respectively addressed.22	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTO N COUNTY.
of Onondaga lake. Here, referring to the pressing
danger, Hiawatha said: “To oppose these northern
hordes singly by tribes, often at variance with each
other, is idle; bnt by uniting in a band of brother-
hood, we may hope to succeed.” Appealing to the
tribes in turn, he said to the Senecas: “ You, who live
in the open country and possess much wisdom, shall
be the fifth nation, because you best understand the
art of raising corn and beans and making cabins.”
Then addressing all, he concluded: “Unite the Five
nations in a common interest, and no foe shall disturb
or subdue us ; the Great Spirit will then smile upon
us, and we shall be free, prosperous and happy. But
if we remain as now, we shall be subject to his frown;
we shall be enslaved, perhaps annihilated, our war-
riors will perish in the war-storm, and our names be
forgotten in the dance and song.” His advice pre-
vailed, and the plan of union was adopted. His great
mission on earth accomplished, Hiawatha went down
to the water, seated himself in his mystic canoe, and,
to the cadence of music from an unseen source, was
wafted to the skies.45'
The Iroquois owe their origin as a separate people,
if not indeed their martial glory, to the encroachments
of a neighboring nation more powerful than they.
Originally inclined to tillage more than to arms, they
resided upon the northern bank of the St. Lawrence,
in the vicinity of Montreal. Here, as one nation, they
lived in subjection to the Adirondacks. But provoked
* Longfellow lays the scene of his beautiful Indian Edda, The Song of
Hiawatha, among the Ojibways, on the southern shore of lake Superior, in
the region between the Pictured Rocks and the Grand Sable. In this poem
the great bard has preserved the traditions prevalent among the North Amer-
ican Indians respecting this “child of wonder.”
Street, in his noble epic of Frontenac, has preserved*, especially in the
notes, no little of interest connected with Hiawatha, whom he makes a mute,
communicating with the tribes by signs, through a fellow-spirit.
#HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	23
by some infringement of rights, their latent spirit was
aroused, and they struck for independent possession
of the country. Failing in this, they were forced to
quit Canada, and finally found their way into central
and , western New York, where, on the banks of its
fair lakes and rivers, they at length laid the founda-
tions of a power compared with which that of every
other Indian nation falls far short.
It is said that the Iroquois had planned a mighty
confederacy, and it is argued with reason, that had
the arrival of the Europeans been delayed a century,
the League would have absorbed all the tribes between
the St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico ; indeed the
whole continent would have been at their mercy.
In principal the league was not unlike the plan of
our own federal government. It guaranteed the inde-
pendence of each tribe, while recognizing the due
powers of the confederation; at the same time person-
al rights were held in especial esteem.
The aboriginal congress consisted of fifty sachems,
of whom the Senecas had eight. This body usually
met at the council-house of the Onondagas, the cen-
tral nation, where all questions affecting the confed-
eracy were deliberated upon and decided. The busi-
ness of this rude parliament was conducted with be-
coming dignity. The reason and judgment of these
grave sachems, rather than their passions, were ap-
pealed to; and it is said to have been a breach of
decorum for a sachem in the great council to reply to
a speech on the day of its delivery. Unanimity was a
requisite, indeed no question could be decided with-
out the concurrence of every member. The authority
of these wise men consisted in the nation’s good opin-
ion of their courage, wisdom and integrity. They
served without badge of office, and without pay, find-
ing their reward alone in the veneration of their peo-24
HISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
pie, whose interests they unceasingly watched. In-
deed, public opinion nowhere exercised a more pow-
erful influence than among the Iroquois, whose ablest
men shared with the humblest in the common dread
of the people’s frown.
Subordinate to the sachems was an order of chiefs
famous for courage and eloquence, among whom may
be named Red Jacket, Cornplanter and Big Kettle,
whose reasoning moved the councils, or whose burn-
ing words hurried the braves on to the war-path. No
trait of the Iroquois is more to be commended than
the regard they paid to woman. The sex were often
represented in councils by orators known as Squaws’
men. Red Jacket himself won no little reputation in
that capacity. The Indian woman could thus oppose
a war, or aid in bringing about peace. In the sale of
the soil they claimed a special right to interfere, for,
they urged, “the land belongs to the warriors who
defend, and to the women who till it.” The Iroquois
squaw labored in the field, but so did females,, even
the daughters of princes, in the primitive ages. Re-
bekah, the mother of Israel, first appears in biblical
history as a drawer of water; and the sweet and pious
Ruth won the love of the rich and powerful Boaz, as
a gleaner of the harvest.
Though broken in power in our Revolutionary war,
the Iroquois confederacy remained a distinct people
long after the eastern and southern tribes had lost
their standing; yet the excellence of their system has
served only to delay their complete subversion to the
whites, and their gradual extinction as a separate peo-
ple. From fifteen thousand souls, they are now re-
duced to a fourth of that number, and yet, with a per-
sistency that must gain them at least poetic honors,
they still preserve their ancient congress, and their25
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
several national divisions, and keep intact their tribal
clans or organizations.*
At a general council of sachems and wise men, held
at the Cattaraugus reservation in the fall of 1862, the
elder portion wanted to return to ancient usages, urg-
ing that the league had fallen from its high estate by
too readily admitting the customs of the pale face and
the religion of the Bible. The younger men, on the
other hand, advanced their ground, and showed a de-
sire for even greater innovations. The end is sure,
and, sooner or later, that marvel of pagan wisdom,
the Confederacy of the Five Nations, must, even in
name, disappear from living institutions.
Our scanty information about the early occupants
of this region, forces us to complete the page of abor-
iginal story from traditions. We turn therefore to
the narrative of the Indian Cusick, and to similar
sources, f In an account thus derived, dates must be
wholly wanting in accuracy. As an instance, Cusick
says the final-troubles between the Senecas and the
Eries took place about the time of the arrival of Col-
umbus, wjien in truth they did not occur until a hun-
dred and sixty years later.
We pass over Cusick’s account of the origin of the
Great Island which we call North America, the fabu-
lous rise of the Indian Confederacy, six centuries be-'
fore the Christian era, as he says, and other portions
of the curious recital, and come down to the period
* These clans are, the Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Beer, Snipe, Heron, and
Hawk—eight in all. An Indian and squaw of the same clan might not mar-
ry—as in theory they were brother and sister—but must seek mates from
another clan (though not necessarily of another tribe) than their own.
Each clan posesses its totem or symbol, which is a rude picture of a hawk,
turtle, or other appropriate emblem.	^
f The narrative, to which we are indebted for data here, is by David Cu-
sick, a Tuscarora Indian whose ancestors came from Horth Carolina and set-
tled near Lewiston, N. Y. See Schooler, Arch, of Abor. KnowL, Yol. Y.
226	HISTORY OF LIVISrOSTOST COUNTY.
of the allotment of homes to the tribes. The Senecas
were directed to settle on a* knoll south of Canandai-
gua lake, near the present village of Naples. Indeed,
some traditions hold that they sprang from this knoll,
hence their name, Nun'-do-wahAo, which, in their
tongue, signifies the Great Hill People.
An agent of the Superior Power was sent to instruct
them in the duties of life; seeds were given, with di-
rections for their use, and dogs, to aid in taking game.
Tillages sprang up, and prosperity abounded, but the
Divine agent having returned to the heavens, monsters
of singular forms invaded the country from time to
time, and devoured many persons.
The monsters of the Indian were no borrowed prod-
igies, but the creation of his own untutored imagina-
tion, or natural beings invested by his fancy with su-
pernatural attributes. The Flying-Head, a strange
creature which, their legends say, invaded the homes
of the Iroquois after night-fall to devour the inmates,
until the villagers were compelled to build huts so
fashioned as to exclude it, has no prototype. This
bodiless hobgoblin, whose features were those of a
man, with head, mane, and two hairy legs like the
lion’s, appears to have had a dread of fire, for its dis-
appearance is ascribed to that cause. An old woman,
parching acorns in her lodge one night, was visited
by a Flying-Head. But on observing the burning
fruit which the squaw appeared to be eating, the Head
sunk into the earth, and with it vanished a legion of
its fellows, to the great relief of the Indians, who held
them in deadly fear.*
jfljk	, .
IBItlil	* The engraving presents Cusick’s
notion of the monster. The draw-
SpiffSf ing is from a copy of the rare pam-
phlet edition of .Cusick’s narrative,..
SSI® f°r which I am indebted to Mr. Mar-
JPP*' shall. The Indian name of the Fly-
. ing-Head was Ko-nea-rau-neh-neKHISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	,27
A great lake serpent traversed the trails from Gen-
esee river to Canandaigua lake, stopping intercourse,
and compelling tke villages to fortify against it. La-
ter came £ ‘ Stonish Giants, ’ ’ a cannibal race from beyond
tke Mississippi, wko derived tkeir name from tke prac-
tice of polling in tke eartk until tkeir bodies became
encrusted with sand and gravel, which rendered them
impenetrable to arrows. Warriors gathered to drive
them away, but they overran the country of the Sen-
ecas and others, and destroyed the people of' several
towns. The Holder of the Heavens now returned.
By a.stratagem he induced the giants to enter a deep
hollow, and as they there lay sleeping, he hurled
down upon theni a mass of rocks which crushed to:
death all save one, who sought asylum in the regions-
of the north. A snake of great size, having a human-
head, soon after appeared in the principal pathway
leading eastward from the sulphur springs at Avon.
This too was destroyed by a band of braves, selected,
for their prowess, after a conflict, in which was ex-
hibited, if we credit tradition, something more than,
mortal valor.
A thousand years before the arrival of Columbus,
the Senecas were at war with the Kah-kwas. Battle-
succeeded battle, and the Senecas were at length re-
pulsed with severe loss. Tidings of their disaster soon-
reached the great Atotarho,* a war chief highly vener-
ated by the league, whose seat was at Onondaga, and
he sent an army to their relief. Thus strengthened,
they assumed the offensive and drove the enemy into
their forts, which, at the end of a long siege, were sur-
rendered, the principal chief put to death. The
remnant of the tribe became incorporated with that of
the conquerors. The latter now established their
* Or, more correctly, perhaps, To-do-da-ho.H8	tHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COITNTY-
dominion in. the country of the Kah-kwas, and for a
tune, in that remote age, the Senecas held the south-
ern shores of lake Ontario westward to Oak Orchard
creek.
Grave discords appear to have occurred in the
league about this period, incited by Atotarho, whose
power is symbolized by a body covered with black
snakes, and whose dishes and spoons were of the
skulls of enemies. His claim to a first rank among
native dignitaries, was in the end admitted by the
several nations, and the title borne by him still re-
mains hereditary in the Onondagas.
Two centuries later, a certain youth living near the
original seat of the Seneca council-fire, while in the
bushes one day, caught a two-headed snake, which
he carried to his mother’s hut. It was quite small,
very beautiful, and appeared to be harmless. He fed
it on bird’s flesh, but its growth was so rapid that the
hunters had soon to unite in supplying its ever-in-
creasing appetite. Their supplies however were un-
equal to satisfy its voracious cravings, and it took to
roaming through the forest and down into the lake, in
quest of food. At length it went to the hill-top and
there became inspired with ill-will toward, its early
friend, now a warrior. In dismay the young man re-
moved to a distant village, and thus escaped the fate
<that was soon to befall his tribesmen. Game grew
scarce before the serpent, and not only dreading evil
from its wicked disposition but fearing lest its en-
ormous appetite would reduce the tribe to starvation,
the wise men resolved, in council, to put the monster
So death. The hour of daylight one morning, was
.fixed upon for the work. But just as day was break-
ing, so runs the legend, the serpent descended with
great noise to the fort wherein the villagers took refuge
itt night, in security from a race of giants with whomHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
29'
they were at war. * So great had became the monster’s
size that, after encircling the fortification, its head and
tail are said to have met at the gate-way, and its huge
jaws lay distended at the very entrance, thus cutting
off all exit. The inmates were paralyzed with fear,
and did nothing for several days. Finally, driven by
hunger, and sickened by the fetid odor exhaled from
the serpent’s body, they made efforts to climb over it,
but all, save a young warrior and his sister, were de-
voured in the attempt. The young warrior, following
the directions given in a dream, succeeded in piercing
the serpent’s vitals at a particular spot in the huge
body, with a golden arrow delivered to him in a cloud.
In its deatli-throes the monster plunged down the ac-
clivity, uprooting trees by its weight, and disappeared
beneath the waters of the lake, its course thitherward
being marked by a trail of human heads disgorged,
at each bound, and, for generations afterwards, In-
dians say, the beach about the spot was whitened with
skeletons of its victims, f The Seneca council-fire was
* The giants were called Jo-gali-uh. I am, to some extent, indebted to Mr: -
Jno. M. Bradford’s version of this tradition.
f Hosmer, following Horatio Jones’s version of the legend, says the pair”
whose lives were saved, were lovers:
-----“ remained at last
“ Two lovers only of that mighty throng
To chant with feeble voice a nation’s funeral song.
Hi	:jc	%	:jc	^	*	Hi
----“ Ou-wee-ne-you cried,
Dropping a golden shaft—“ and pierce the foe
Under the rounded scales that wall his side!”
❖	❖	*	^	^	Hi
“Flame-hued and hissing played its nimble tongue-
Between thick, ghastly rows of pointed bone:—
Hi	Hi	H«	Hi	H:	Hi	Hi
“A twanging sound! and on its errand sped
The messenger of vengeance.
;£ Down the steep hill, outstretched and dead, he rolled,
Disgorging human heads in his descent;
And far the beach with spots of foam besprent,30
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
now removed to a spot near Geneva, and afterwards
to a mountain ridge west of the G enesee, not unlikely
to Squakie Hill, as thought by some.
Four centuries before the • advent of Columbus, the
Hurons began hostilities against the Five Nations.
From these, as from all other contests with western
tribes, the Senecas mainly suffered. In one most san-
guinary conflict the enemy were repulsed, but at a
great sacrifice of lives to the Senecas, and runners
were hurried out along the Genesee for re-inforce-
ments. A brief delay followed, when the fighting was
resumed, the enemy being now routed and driven from
the field. Though successful in the end, this war
forms a bloody epoch in the traditions of the Senecas.
Notwithstanding their ill fortune, the Ivah-kwas ap-
pear to have regained power ; for, fifty years later, they
once more held the country between the Genesee and
the Niagara rivers, and were governed by a female
chief named Ya^-go-waMie-a, whose seat of power
was at Kienuka, a town situated on a slope of the
mountain ridge near the present site of Lewiston. In her
keeping was the symbolic house of peace. She re-
ceived chiefs of other tribes, formed treaties, and made
alliances. The fiercest strife was hushed in her pres-
ence, and warriors, whose nations were at feud, were
bound to stay their quarrel while under her roof.
Tradition concedes to her much wisdom, and relates
how she long enjoyed peculiar influence, which, how-
ever, in a moment of passion, she forfeited. Two
Senecas had been received at her castle, and while
there smoking the pipe of peace, were, in flagrant con-
tempt of comity permitted to be murdered for an alleged
outrage upon a subject of hers in a distant village.
When the huge carcass disappeared for aye
In depths from whence it rose to curse the beams of day.”
Genundewah, p. 175.HISTORY OF LIVIYGSTOY COUNTY.
31
The rash act was followed by instant orders to her
warriors to cross the Genesee and fall at once upon
the Seneca villages, overpowering, if possible, the
new-made enemy before-^p-ey became fully aware of
her perfidy.
While these measures were being hastened, a woman
of the Kah-kwas, friendly to the Senecas, secretly
made her way with the information to the war-chief
of the latter nation at Canandaigua, who received it
in great'surprise. As no time was left him for pro-
curing aid from the outlying bands of his own tribe,
much less from allies, he drew fifteen hundred war-
riors from the nearest towns, placed them in two
divisions under different chiefs, and set out to meet
the Kah-kwas. Halting near the fort at Gah-nyuh-sas, *
( Conesus,) the women, children and old men who had
followed with supplies, were allowed to come up, and
left here for safety.
The enemy had already crossed the river in large
numbers, as runners, momently arriving, reported.
The two divisions of the Senecas were accordingly
moved forward and placed in ambush on either side
of the pathway, while one of their number, disguised
as a bear, was sent along the trail as a decoy. This
the Kah-kwas soon met,but, suspecting nothing, chased
the false bear into the midst of the hidden braves.
Like a whirlwind the Senecas now fell upon them,
their terrific yells, the din of war clubs and clash of
spears adding to the confusion. A wild scene en-
sued. The disorder of the Kah-kwas was temporary
however, and the conflict quickly became one of
varying fortunes, but the enemy’s weight of numbers
pushed the first division back upon the second, when
* Cusick gives the orthography, Kaw-nes-ats. The Indian fort wa3 near
Bosley’s mill; the more modern Indian village was located half a mile south
of Conesus lake, on the flat between the inlet and Henderson’s creek.32
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the Senecas, inspired by the impending danger, were
seized with a war frenzy, and at length drove the en-
emy from the field. The latter fled across the Genesee,
leaving six hundred of thair dead behind. The Sen-
eca chief, declining to pur^e, returned with his forces
to Canandaigua, where he celebrated the victory with
savage parade. Tradition fixes the place of this battle
in the vicinity of Geneseo, and Schoolcraft, satisfied
of the correctness of the location, calls it the Great
Battle of Geneseo.*
Before setting out to beat off the invaders, the Sen-
eca chieftain had despatched runners to the central
fire at Onondaga, with an account of the situation,
and the great battle-chief of the league, Sliorihowane,
was soon on the war-path with a large force for sup-
port of the Senecas. Though learning the issue of the
conflict, he yet resolved farther to punish the Kah-
kwas by capturing their principal fort and extinguish-
ing their council-fire, f It is said that his united force
numbered five thousand warriors. Flushed with re-
cent victory, they marched rapidly toward the Gene-
see, crossed over and made for the fort, which they
attacked with great energy. The enemy, fully pre-
pared, delivered a cloud of arrows in return, one of
which early in the siege struck the war-chief, whose
death soon followed. The body enfolded in panther
skins was carried across the Genesee, and there
buried with befitting honors. $ The siege, meanwhile,
* Cusick, General Ely Parker, Schoolcraft and other authorities, agree in
locating the battle-ground at Geneseo. Colonel Hosmer thinks the battle
occurred further to the east.
f The fort was called Kau-quat-kay, and was on Eighteen-mile creek, in
Erie County.
\ Some years ago the remains of a giant Indian were found not far from
Long Point on the Groveland side of Conesus lake. The head lay in a turtle-
shell, and by the side were found implements of war and other evidences of
a noted burial. For some reason that has now escaped me, I have associatedHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	33
was zealously pressed, and the queen at length yielded
and sued for peace, when hostilities ceased, and the
Kah-kwas were left in possession of their country.
Just prior to the arrival of Columbus, the shock of
an earthquake was felt, and comets and other omens
of the heavens were observed. The meaning of these
occurrences was not then divined, but a prophet soon
appeared, who foretold the coming of a strange race
from beyond the great waters. He announced that
the expected strangers designed driving the Indians
from their hunting-grounds and wresting away their
homes, and he threatened the Great Spirit5 s wrath upon
any who should listen to the pale-faces. To add to
these perturbations, another war broke out between
the tribes, west of the Genesee and the Five Nations,
the weight of which, as usual, fell heavily upon the
Senecas. Long and bloody conflicts ensued, and,
while hostilities were yet in progress, the great event
foretold by the prophet—that most pregnant fact of all
Indian history, the arrival of Columbus—was heralded
by the fleetest of foot along the myriad pathways of
the continent. The imagination alone can picture the
bewildering effect of the tidings. Wonder, awe, doubt
and fear, each in turn, must have moved them, but
though hushed for a moment by this event, the de-
cisive struggle between the warring tribes went for-
ward. The cause of this contest was so slight that
tradition says it originated in a breach of faith on the
part of the Kah-kwas at a game of ball to which they
had challenged the Senecas. Careful writers, how-
ever, deriving their data from other sources than tra-
dition, place this war at a much later period, and
allege that it grew out of matters connected with the
settlement of Canada by the French, which produced
tliis grave with the great war-chieftain referred to in the text, though most
likely without much reason.34	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON’ COUNTY.
quarrels in tlie great Indian family. In tliese the
Wyandots adhered to the French side, and the Five
Nations to that of the Dutch and English. The Al-
gonquins made common cause with the French and
their allies the Wyandots. The Kah-kwas had al-
ready formed an alliance with the Mississaugas, an
Algonquin tribe residing west and north of lake
Ontario. The Kah-kwas were related both to the Wy-
andots and Five Nations. Their country lay between
that of the Canadian and western tribes and that of the
Iroquois; hence, from choice not only, but from mo-
tives of prudence as well, they desired now to observe
that policy of neutrality from practicing which, as a
rule, they derived their designation of the Neutral
Nation. The situation was one of extreme delicacy,
and their state craft proved unequal to the occasion ;
for, in attempting to please both belligerents, both be-
came offended. The Iroquois, or, more properly, the
Senecas, turned upon them in fury, but were met by
a nation worthy their best courage. If we may credit
tradition, the conflict lasted through twenty bloody
moons, ending about the year 1651 in the decisive over-
throw of the Kah-kwas, or, to give their Indian desig-
nation, the Attiouandaronk, whose name, as a separate
people, now disappears from the roll of tribes.
According to the early Jesuits, the Kah-kwas excelled
the Hurons in stature, strength, and symmetry, and
wore their dress with a superior grace. “They re-
garded their dead with peculiar veneration. Once in
every ten years the survivers of each family gathered
the remains of their deceased ancestors from the plat-
forms on which they had been deposited, and buried
them in heaps with many superstitious ceremonies.
This was called the feast ‘of the dead.’ Many of the
mounds thus raised may still be seen.”* This prac-
* Marshall's Niagara Frontier.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON- COUNTY.
35
tice, it may be remarked, was anciently observed by
other tribes also. The skeletons of a family were often
preserved from generation to generation in bark huts
built beside the former cabin of the deceased. In
seasons of public insecurity, the bones from many
family depositories would be consigned to a common
resting-place.
In 1655, the Eries, who had often opposed the Sen-
ecas upon the hostile field, were also overthrown by
the latter. The country west of the Genesee was now
conquered. But ‘4 for more than a century this beau-
tiful region was abandoned to the undisturbed domin-
ion of nature, save when traversed by the warrior on
his predatory errand, or the hunter in pursuit of game.
A dense and unexplored wilderness extended from
the Genesee to the Niagara, with but here and there an
interval, where the oak openings let in the sunlight,
or the prairie lured the deer and the elk to crop its
luxuriant herbage.? 5 *
We have thus briefly traced some of the leading fea-
tures of Indian tradition bearing upon this locality.
Our knowledge of the aborigines is still in part de-
pendent upon tradition or subject of.conjecture only..
But, from stray threads of fact and story, consistent
theories have been framed, while research among tu-
muli and other traces of Indian occupancy, and the
ever-busy study of still living representatives of this
strange people, serve to make their character better
known, besides casting light upon their origin . Quit-
ting the domain of tradition, we shall find that the
veritable history of this region extends only two hun-
dred and fifty years into the abyss of the past. In
1614 the Dutch planted a trading post on the island
immediately below the site of Albany. Here they
* Marshall’s Niagara Frontier.36
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
acquired a knowledge of the Five Nations, and, for a
period of nearly fifty years, the friendliest relations
existed between the two races. The English at length
succeeded both to the territory and to this good un-
derstanding, and, with singular fidelity, the covenant-
chain was mutually preserved down to the opening of
the Revolution, upwards of a century and a half, a
fact that went far toward predisposing the Iroquois to
take the British side in that struggle, as we well know
they did, with most bloody effect.
/CHAPTER III.
THE SENECAS.
Tlie Indians residing along the river were known to
the Jesuits as the Senecas of the Je-nis^-hi-yuh,* and
were noted for their thrift and good husbandry, ‘ using
the word for squaw-labor,’ as well as for their warlike
deeds. The corn grown by them was of a superior
quality. In destroying their crops General Sullivan’s
soldiers found ears of this grain full twenty-two inches
in length ; and the first sweet corn ever seen in New
England was carried thither, it is said, in a soldier’s
knapsack from Beardstown in 1779. Squashes, beans
and melons were also raised in great abundance. Or-
chards of apple and peach trees, produced from seeds
or sprouts, grew near every village, their location be-
ing still marked, here and there, by an apple tree; and
sometimes a small group remains, which escaped de-
struction from Sullivan’s soldiers. Pears, too, had
been introduced, and there was no lack of wild fruits,
such as plums, grapes, and cranberries. Tobacco was
successfully raised by the Indians here. Indeed, the
natives considered the quality of this article produced
by our rich warm valley soil so fine that they gave it
* Or Jo-nis-hi-yuh, or Chenussio, as written by the Jesuits. The word is
also given Cenosio, Ghinossia, and Jenesio, in Col. Docs, of N. Y. The Sene-
cas were sometimes called Ohenessios, Tsinusios, Tsinontouans, or Sinnodovmne.
See Appendix for pronunciation of Indian names.38
HISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
a name signifying “the only tobacco.”* Indian cul-
tivation, however, embraced but a very !im?fed share
of the territory, for beyond an occasional spot on the
river flats, tilled by squaws, this region remained es-
sentially a wilderness until the advent of the whites.
The Senecas were not only the most populous na-
tion of the league, but were foremost on the war-path
and first in warlike deeds. They gloried in their na-
tional title of Ilo-nan-ne-ho'-ont, or “the door-keep-
ers,” for, as guardians of the upper entrance, they
stood interposed as a living barrier between the hostile
nations of the west and the eastern tribes of the con-
federacy. And in later times they proved a safe-
guard to the whites from incursions of the French and
allies of the latter. The Seneca's not only defended
the Western door, but often, on their own account,
carried their arms into the country of the southern
and western nations, while “other tribes sat smoking
in quiet on their mats.” The league held that any
warrior was at liberty to form a party, place himself
at its head, and make war on his own account against
foreign tribes, west or south.
A band of braves on the war-path presented nothing
of display. Moving silently, in single file, they
threaded the all but limitless forests. Each carried a
little sack of parched corn, and usually a pouch of
smoked venison. In expeditions of danger, at a dis-
tance from home, if this supply gave out, a tightening
of the waist belt would often serve instead of the
scanty supper. In later times the flint and steel, with
a handful of dried leaves, would produce a fire in some
* Morgan mentions a similar fact. Three several experiments in tobacco-
raising have been made in this county: First, by the Indians, as mentioned
above; next, by the pioneers, about the 3Tear 1795; and third, the present
experiment, for it is now being raised to considerable extent here. The soil
of our fertile bottoms and sandy uplands seems well adapted to the produc-
tion of this great narcotic.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY".
39
well-hidden spot, where, for a night, with feet to the
smouldering embers, nnwatched by sentinel, the party
would commit themselves to brief slumber. In 1680,
the Senecas with six hundred warriors, invaded the
country of the Illinois on the Mississippi."' School-
craft says of the Senecas and other members of the
league, that they roved at will from Lake Champlain
to the Illinois, and extended their conquests along
the Ohio into the region of Kentucky. At different
periods they made inroads into the Carolinas and else-
where at the south, their courage and skill securing
success in all quarters. The chronicles of no age af-
ford examples excelling the fortitude with which those
Iroquois braves suffered the tortures inflicted by their
captors. “ When taken in battle they asked nothing
and expected nothing. The whole history of martyr-
dom may be challenged for a parallel to the almost
superhuman courage and constancy exhibited by the
Iroquois captain put to the torture at Fort Frontenac. ’ ’ f
The captive warrior would often sing his song of defi-
ance on being led with blackened face from the “ cabin
of death, ”+ — as the dark hut was called where the
doomed were kept while preparations for torture were
proceeding — and boast, in the very teeth of his re-
morseless captors, while the fatal flames were crisping
his flesh, of how many of their numbers he had slain,
and how many scalps had been scored to him on the
war-post.
* Street thus refers to this expedition (the Tortoise, the Wolf\ and the Bear
being used iigurately for dans of the Iroquois.)
“ By the far Mississippi the Illini shrank,
When the trail of the tortoise was seen at the bank,
On the hills of New England the Pequot turned pale,
When the howl of the wolf swelled at night on the gale.
And the Cherokee shook in his green smiling bowers,
When the foot of the bear stamped his carpet of flowers.”
f He was a Seneca. The account is given by Charlevoix.
% By some tribes called the “lodge of judgment.”40	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Mary Jemison said that to commemorate great
events and to preserve the chronology of them, the
war chief in each tribe kept a war-post, a peeled stick
of timber ten or twelve feet high erected in the town.
For a campaign the chief made a perpendicular red
mark about three inches long and half an inch wide ;
on the opposite side of this, for a scalp, they made a
red cross, thus X5 on another side, for a prisoner
taken alive, they make a red cross in this manner ><,
with a head or dot.”* These hieroglyphics enabled
them to represent with no little certainty the facts they
wished to record.
The Senecas shared fully in the superstitions com-
mon to their race. Belief in witchcraft prevailed, and
omens had no little influence in shaping their action
both in peace and war. On the gravest occasion a
dream would secure listeners and its teachings seldom
went unheeded. At a New Year’s festival in Squakie
Hill, after the sacrificial dog was killed, an old Indian
who lived on the flats below told the following dream
at the council-house, the whole village giving their
undivided attention : “I had got ready with my two
sons the previous evening,” said he, “to attend the
festival, but before starting I fell asleep and dreamed
that we had set out. Everything appeared strange
along the path. Squakie Hill seemed thrice its usual
height and looked as if covered with a deep snow,
although there was very little. I stopped a moment
when two winged men flew by us, one of whom alight-
ed on a tree near by. I was frightened and asked
‘ what means this V ^We are devils,’ said they, ‘ and
are come because Indians are bad men and get drunk.’
They told me that unless I stopped whiskey and be-
came good, they would have me. The figure in the
* See Mary Jemison’s life. Her husband, Hiakatoo, had a war post on
which were recorded his military and other exploits.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
41
changed to a great negro, and taking his seat upon a
limb, turned toward me with a horrible grin, thrust-
ing at me a pole six feet long, on which was hung a
dead Indian by the feet. The face of the corpse was
very ghastly and its mouth widely stretched. The
devil remarked that all who quarreled or got drunk
would be treated in the like horrid manner. The
body of the dead Indian fwas then whirled at me.
The shock awoke me.” Instead of a lecture on in-
temperance, a vice to which the tribe were greatly
addicted, the old Indian wisely chose to enforce the
moral by availing himself of the regard held by his
race for the supernatural. The dream seemed strong-
ly to impress his audience.
To form a correct notion of the every-day life of the
Seneca, we must penetrate into his domestic condition.
We shall find him hospitable at his home, however re-
lentless he proved on the war-path. His hut was
always open, and if a family or company of several
strangers came from a distance, it was not unusual to
give up to them the best lodge in the village during
their stay. In times of scarcity—and, owing to their
improvidence, such times often came—thdy shared
with each other even to the last morsel. Indeed, in-
dividual starvation was unknown, and, save where a
whole tribe was brought to famine, none suffered for
want of food.
Their lodges in ancient days were of poles covered
with bark or skins in form of the cone-shaped wig-
wam, but when the axe came into use they built of
poles or small logs in the style of a square or oblong
hut. In general the size was ten feet by twelve within
the walls, and about seven feet high at the sides. The
door was invariably at the end. The roof was steep
and covered with chestnut tree, hemlock or cucumber-
wood bark, in broad folds, tied to the roof-poles with42	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
strands of the inner bark of the hickory. Two courses
thus laid on would cover the one side of the roof, and
a broad piece placed lengthwise at the ridge made all
tight there. The fire was built on the ground, in the
centre, for there were no floors, the smoke finding vent
through an opening in the roof. Neither tables nor
chairs were provided within, but along each side, and
across the end opposite the door, a rude wooden bunk,
raised a foot or more, and about three feet in width,
covered with bark and skins, served instead of stools
and beds. Four or five feet higher was a shelf, on
which were thrown provisions and domestic utensils.
A village comprised from five to fifty huts, seldom
more than the latter number, and, as the Indian dug
no wells, were located near copious springs, or in later
times on the banks of considerable streams.
The simple culinary art required a kettle for meats
and vegetables, one or more wooden platters, and three
or four hunting-knives to a household. Wild game
was often spitted on a stick before the fire, and the
loaf of pounded corn and beans was roasted in the
ashes under the embers. The Indian woman’s cook-
ery offered few temptations to the white man’s palate.
Her loaf was kneaded with unwashed hands, in a bark
tray none too tidy, and her meats were prepared with-
out attention to the care which civilization demands.
The Indian trail over Groveland hill ran near the foot of
a long meadow of John Harrison’s, where a fine spring
of water often beguiled the natives to stop and cook their
game. On one occasion they made a feast there of
corn and venison boiled together. The deer was skin-
ned, cut up and cast into the brass kettle, flesh, bones,
entrails and all. Mr. Harrison, who was at work near
by, was urged by the Indians to partake of their pot-
tage, but as he had seen it prepared, his appetite
rebelled, and he declined, with thanks. A pioneer, onHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
48
another occasion, was invited to eat hominy with a
strolling band of Senecas, who had already been some
time at their meal. There was but one spoon to the
party, and that had been used by each in turn. The
chief took the spoon and, alter wiping it upon the sole
of his moccasin, passed it to the guest, who, though
welcome, feasted with long teeth.
To us the Indian’s home would not have been a
place of comfort. Its single room, noxious with
smoke, and the members of the household lounging
here and there upon the ground, admitted neither of
neatness or privacy, nor of delicacy. On poles, well
varnished with soot, in the upper portion of the liut,
(if indeed the dusky atmosphere had permitted that
part to be seen) might be noticed a motley collection of
clothing, corn, skins of animals, and dried pumpkins
and squashes, intermingled with weapons and orna-
ments. The huts were without windows, for the In-
dian knew little of the thousand nameless comforts
which make our homes so grateful, but, being un-
known, were unmissed by him. The Seneca here
passed his winters in contentment. His wants were
few, his food was ample in quantity and, to him, pal-
atable in kind; and, if his hut was uncleanly, it may
yet have been preferable to the abodes of squalor in
which many of the vicious and wretched of our great
cities pass their lives. The squaw, who had planted,
hoed and harvested the com, prepared it for the win-
ter’s meal and cheerfully served it to her not exacting
husband. And he was a happy man. Though taci-
turn in public, he was not unsocial within his own
domicil, where his neighbors often met to smoke his
tobacco, laugh at his jest, not the most refined, and
listen to his stories of war and the chase.
The Senecas were willing to have schools established
for the education of their children. Accordingly, in44
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
December, 1815, the Presbyterian Synod of Geneva
located one at Squakie Hill, in a building provided
through the efforts of the Reverend Daniel Butrick,
and placed Jerediah Horsford in charge. The class
averaged about twenty pupils, who proved attentive
to rules and learned readily. The parents took kindly
to the Ga-ya'-dos-hah sha-go'-yas-da-ni—meaning
“he teaches them books”—as they called the school-
master, and passed many hours in the class-room, cu-
rious spectators of proceedings so novel to them.
Indian sports consisted of foot-races, ball-playing,
pitching of quoits, and shooting with the bow and
arrow. Dancing, too, was greatly enjoyed by both
sexes. Foot-racing was also a favorite pastime, and
some of the Indian runners boasted that they could
out-travel the horse in a long journey. Horatio Jones
jvas heard to say that he had known an Indian to
strike a deer’s trail in the morning and run the animal
down before night. Morgan says that “in preparing
to carry messages they denuded themselves entirely,
with the exceptioh of the breech-cloth and belt. They
were usually sent out in pairs, and, took their way
through the forest, one behind the other, in perfect
silence.” “A trained runner would traverse a hun-
dred miles a day. But three days were necessary, it
is said, to convey intelligence from Buffalo to Albany.
During the war of 1812, a runner left Tonawanda at
daylight in the summer season, for Avon, a distance
of forty miles upon the trail, delivered his message,
and returned to Tonawanda again about noon the same
day.”
Ball was usually played by a dozen or more quick-
footed Indians. The ball once tossed up was to be
kept up with bats, the longer the period the more suc-
cessful the game. In the fall of 1799 a number of
gentlemen of the city of New York, while spending aHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
45
few days in Geneseo, subscribed a small fund, and in-
vited the Indians of one of the neighboring villages
to come over and play a game of ball. About three
hundred responded, from whom a party of the more
skillful was selected. The sport proved exciting both
to players and spectators, and became so spirited that
the most athletic batsmen were obliged to lie down
now and then for short respites.
In autumn, after the crops were secured, the Indian’s
season of hunting begun. Men, women and children
prepared for these occasions with alacrity. A stick
leaned against the door from the outside was sufficient
to secure their homes from intrusion during their ab-
sence. Camping from place to place in chosen spots,
for a week or more at a time, the hunters would follow
the game during the day, and the evening would be
spent in dancing and eating, and in drinking too,
when spirits were procurable. A grassy plot near
William Magee’s distillery, in Sparta, was a station to
which they were partial. Here, after a day’s chase,
the Indians would despatch a brass-kettle of whiskey,
and then form a ring for dancing. Both sexes and all
ages joined in singing, as, hand in hand, they moved
around in a circle, one of their number keeping time
with a stick upon the emptied brass-kettle. A dry
bladder, containing a few kernels of corn or beans, or
a gourd rattle, would also be shaken by one of the
dancers as an accompaniment. Whites persons were al-
ways welcome spectators of these merry-makings.
The inlet of Hemlock lake on the Springwater side,
about the season of the falling leaves, was a favorite
haunt of the natives, for trout fishing ; and hither with
her tribe, from year to year, came a female known as
the handsome squaw, whose grace of person and free-
dom of motion are recollected by men now living.
Indeed, we still hear old persons speak of the sprightly46
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ways and gentle wildness of Indian girls; and, were
we seeking incidents of a romantic nature in this con-
nection, enough might be gathered for an entertaining
chapter. Near Scottsburg, also, under a clump of
wild plum trees growing near the present grist mill,
the Indians were in the habit of encamping, to hunt
and fish in the neighborhood ; while at Caledonia
spring the whole tribe annually gathered, to renew
their friendships and to enjoy the fine fishing afforded
by its noted waters. A spot near the head of Conesus
lake and many other hunting-seats were also used.
But the day of the hunter in this region is well-nigh
passed away. Half a century ago his efforts were
richly rewarded. The woods abounded with deer and
rabbits, the openings with wood-cock, and the air
with pigeons in their season ; while wild-geese, ducks,
and other water-fowl, swarmed the shores of the lakes
and rivers. Bears, panthers and wolves, as well as
foxes and wild cats, were so common that pioneer mer-
chants drove a thrifty trade in exchanging goods for
scalps of these destructive animals, to be redeemed, in
turn, by the authorities, at fixed bounties.
Intercourse between the natives and the white set-
tlers was marked by good nature. The Indians were
generally truthful and honest; though, after taverns
and stores begun to multiply, the younger class,
tempted by the novelty, fell into the habit of lounging
and were now and then caught in petty thefts. Col-
onel Lyman, an early merchant of Moscow, says that
while out of his store for a moment one day, Cayuga
Tom, an overgrown young Indian, took down a pair
of stockings from a cross-pole and stuck them under
his belt. The articles being at once missed, Colonel
Lyman said, “Tom, you stole those stockings, now
you can take a round flogging, or go to jail.”—
iC Well,” grunted the native ; and drawing his blanketHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
47
closely about him, he bent forward his shoulders, in-
viting the blows. A rawhide was applied with so
much vigor as to bring the blood at every stroke.
When the punishment ended, Tom straightened up
and remarked, with the utmost good nature, “all set-
tled now,” and handed back the stockings. In un-
loading some potash one afternoon, Colonel Lyman
dropped his hat, nearly a new one. His brother, who
noticed him going bareheaded, said, “If you can’t
find your own hat, there lies a first-rate one on the
counter inside, which I have just taken of an Indian
in pawn.” The hat proved to be the Colonel’s own,
which the cunning native had managed to pick up un-
seen and to dispose of. The whites often bartered with
the Indians for splint baskets, which were ornamented
with high colored paints, splint brooms, willow-ware,
moccasins, venison, berries and fish. The native was
never wanting in shrewdness when conducting a trade.
An Indian fisherman, in offering Deacon Stanley a
string of fine brook trout, was asked, “What’s your
price?” “One shilling, one fish,” was the answer.
* ‘ But there is a little one! a shilling for that ? ”	“ Oh
yes, just as hard to catch him as big one,” was quickly
rejoined.
The squaw usually had charge of the luggage, which
she carried upon her back, fastened by the burden
strap or tump-line, a broad band of finely-braided
bark, suspended from the forehead, crossed at the
shoulders, and fastened to a little belt behind. The
usual small trading parties consisted of an Indian and
his family, but sometimes two or three families united
and drove a shaggy pony before a wagon on which
was piled their wares, the tratfickers trudging along on
foot. The men commonly wore the native costume,
especially the inevitable blanket with its smoky smell.
The squaws, always bareheaded, wore cloth petticoats,48
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
often of fine texture, leggings of the same, and deer-
skin moccasins, neatly worked with colored beads and
shells. The little pappoose, bound to its light frame,
was borne upon the mother’s back, its arms pinioned,
and its little copper visage often exposed to the sun.
This baby-frame of strong, light wood, was a couple
of feet in length and about fifteen inches wide at the
shoulders, the whole surlhounted by a hoop, placed
just above the head, upon which a curtain or vail was
then placed, to screen the child’s face, and from which
also hung some jingling ornament to attract the little
one. The frame served the infant abroad and at home.
While the mother looked after her domestic affairs in
the cabin, it hung from a peg so arranged that, on pass-
ing, a touch from her hand would set it swinging. In
the field, suspended from a limb, it was secure from
snakes and other forest dangers, and the wind, by giv-
ing it motion, would lull the little occupant to sleep.
Schoolcraft says that moss was placed between the
heels of female infants, to make them in-toed; in males
the adjustment of the moss was designed to produce
a perfectly straight position of the foot.
It was not an uncommon thing for the first settlers
to awake far in the night and find their floors covered
with Indians who had thus snatched a few hours rest,
quitting before morning as quietly as . they came. A
piece of venison or other article would often be left by
these uninVited lodgers in requital. The early settlers
profited by the native’s knowledge of the forest. The
pioneer who had lost his way in the woods, as not un-
frequently happened, was fortunate if he chanced to
meet an Indian, for the latter’s sense of location seemed
unerring. It mattered not how far astray the bewildered
traveler might be, the native would never leave him
with verbal directions merely, but, acting the part of
guide, would pilot the traveler safely back into theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
49
proper path. Colonel George Smith says the Indians
would go to any new and. strange location, pitch their
wigwams and chase deer in all directions, the weather
being ever so stormy or cloudy, and, at the proper time,
would steer as direct for their camp as could a survey-
or with his compass.
The Indians did not at once learn to curb their pro-
pensity to use weapons for settling disputes or for
obtaining what they desired, and the pioneers saw
many examples of their impatient tempers. When
in liquor they were easily exasperated, when the
whites sometimes came in for a share of blows, though
seldom with fatal results. But a knife or axe would
be drawn on small provocation. An Indian, named
Yankee John, came to the house of William Fuller-
ton, in Sparta, one winter evening, with a deer upon
his shoulder.* He was cold and demanded liquor,
though he had evidently been drinking. This denied,
he became saucy, and at length drew his knife, in a
threatening way, upon Fullefton. The latter’s Scotch
blood was stirred. Stepping to the stairway he took
down from its wooden hook, a heavy black horse-whip
and gave the Indian a fearful welting. Mrs. Fullerton
begged for mercy to the native, who by this time, was
quite satisfied to give up the whiskey, and to spend
the remainder of the night in quiet, sleeping from
choice as he did upon the pioneer’s hearth-stone, after
partaking of a generous meal, before a well-kept fire of
smouldering logs. Colonel Stanley saw much of the
Indians while clerk for Allen Ayrault. He relates
that a young Indian, who had been drinking, came
* “ Yankee John ” was a large Indian, who had a halt in his gait. White
hunting one day he was pursued bj a bear. Attempting escape, he started
up a tree but Bruin, too quick for him, pulled the Indian back, crushed hie
leg, and would have made short, work with him had not the redman’s long
kniftf speedily settled the bear’s accounts.50
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
into the store one night, picked up a silk handkerchief
and placed it under his belt. The act was observed,
and the clerk, though alone, demanded the property,
which was refused. A scuffle followed, the handker-
chief was recovered, and the young thief ordered to
quit the store, but he declined to go. Stanley stepped
toward him, when the Indian drew a knife with serious
intent. Stanley picked up an axe-helve, knocked the
knife from the Indian’s hand, and the two clinched.
The Indian, though the larger, was slightly intoxicated,
and Stanley managed to hustle him to the doorway,
elevated fully three feet from the ground, when, exert-
ing all his strength, he thrust out his antagonist, who
fell upon the frozen earth, with a groan, and lay for
sometime quite stunned by the fall. Stanley lost no
time in closing the store that night.
Surviving pioneers recollect many odd customs of
the Indians. Colonel George Smith witnessed the fob
lowing ceremony over a young native: He was first
made dead drunk. A “ shavety-knife ” or razor, was
sought for among the neighboring whites, but none
being at hand, a hunting knife was sharpened.—
Placing a chip under the subject’s right ear, a slit par-
allel with the outer edge of that member, was cut all
the way around, leaving a rim somewhat thicker than
a pipe-stem still attached at each end. The other ear
was treated in the same manner, and both were bound
up in sheet lead. When the Indian became sobered
he sat up, felt of his ears, and finding that all was
right, raised his hands in great delight and cried out,
“ ga-ya'-dos-hah] sha-go-yas-da-ni Geh-sa'-no-wa-nah
nuh,”* meaning, “now I am a great name; no longer
boy “Big Injun me !”
♦The latter Indian word waa often pronounced, Shinne-wanna. But I
have followed the orthography of Rev. Asher Wright, missionary at Cattar-
augus Reservation, who has reduced the Seneca language to a written system.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
51
The curative means of the Indians consisted of roots
and herbs. Dancing and singing were often resorted
to; and, in extreme cases, witchcraft was employed;
for the older natives still held to the belief that disease
was the result of sorcery. Indian medicine men might
often be seen in the woods gathering their stores of
simples. Tall Chief and John jemison were noted
for their skill in medicines, especially in applying
remedies for the rattle-snake’s bite, the ingredients of
which they steadily refused to name, though they
would go far and near to relieve a white patient.
Mr. Horsford witnessed a dance designed to restore an
Indian seriously indisposed. Three natives, with false
faces, each wearing a deer-skin wrapped around the
shoulders and another about the waist, entered the
hut. They at once began a slow dance, passing, at
each round, between the fire and the patient, who,
quite naked, was seated upon the hearth. On step-
ping by the fire, two of the dancers would gather up
ashes and scatter over the sick man, while the third
shook a turtle-shell rattle at him, and then darted
to the sides of the room and shook it about the walls
and over the bed. The ceremonies continued several
minutes, when the dancers took off their masks and,
without a word, left the house. The squaw of the
household then brought in food, which had been pre-
pared for the occasion, and distributed it to the guests.
The Senecas believed in a Great Spirit, whom they
feared, and in an evil spirit whom they hated, but
whose power they held as scarcely inferior to that of
the other. After death, the good were to go directly to
pleasant hunting-grounds, where game would be always
abundant; the bad, to a place of temporary punishment,
whence, in due time, they also were to be permitted to
enter the happy home. The journey after death was
one of considerable length. Hence, a dish of food52	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
t
and a wooden spoon were buried with the corpse, and
the guB, tomahawk, and scalping-knife of the warrior
were placed by his side in the grave. The Indian’s
heaven was designed for his race alone, though an ex-
ception was made in favor of Washington in reward
for his acts of kindness toward the red man.
Aboriginal belief that the soul survives the body rest-
ed on traditions like this: * In ancient times a war broke
out between two tribes. On one side the forces were
jointly led by a great warrior and a noted hunter.
The latter had killed much game for the skins, the re-
mains being left for beasts and birds of prey.—
The battle was going against his side, and he saw that
to save his own life he must quit the field. As he
turned, the body of a great tree lay across his path.
He came up to it when a heavy blow felled him. On
recovering, he found, strangely enough, that he could
as easily pass through as over the obstruction. Reach-
ing home, his friends would not talk with him; indeed,
they seemed quite unaware of his presence. It now
occurred to him that he too had been killed and was
present in spirit only, human eyes not seeing him.
He returned to the place of conflict, and there, sure
enough, lay his mortal part quite dead and its scalp
gone. A pigeon-hawk, flying by, recognized the dis-
embodied hunter and gratefully offered to recover his
scalp, so, stretching away in its flight to the retiring
victors, he plucked it from the bloody pole. The
other birds had meantime prepared a medicine which
soon united the scalp to the head, wrhen bears and
wolves gathered around and joined in the dance
The hunter got well and lived many years, his expe-
rience strengthening their religious faith and teaching
them how to use the remedies so strangely acquired,
* Mr. Horsford had this tradition from the lips of an aged Seneca.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
53
which, to this day are among the most efficacious known
to the Indians.
The Senecas recognized a variety of subordinate
spirits. Medicine, water, trees, their three favorite
vegetables—com, beans and squash—and other mate-
rial objects, had each its tutelar deity. They observ-
ed six periodical festivals: the maple, the planting,
the green-corn, the berry, the harvest, and, crowning
all, the New Year’s jubilee, at which the white dog
was sacrificed. The Great Spirit was thus thanked
for blessing their labors and thus invoked for future
favors. Their thanksgiving did not assume the char-
acter of prayer. Indeed, they did not appear to com-
prehend the nature and design of prayer, since sins of
the heart were not contemplated by their system,
which considered only the outward act.
The New Year’s festival at Squakie Hill, in 1816,
opened on the morning of the 7th of February.* A
white dog was brought to the council-house and stran-
gled, care being taken not to break its bones or shed
its blood, and hanged to a post. Its body was then
striped with red paint, and five strings of purple beads
were fastened about the neck. A stem of hedge-hog
quills was attached to the body, from which hung a
clump of feathers, a rag filled with something like
fine tobacco being placed under them. To each leg
was tied a bunch of feathers with red and yellow rib-
bons. The day was spent in short speeches and
dream-telling. Near night, two Indians, with black-
ened faces, appeared in bear skins, with long braids of
corn husks about their ankles and heads. Keeping
time to a dolorous song, they begun a tour of the vil-
* Hon. Jerediah Horsford was present at this festival and noted the cere-
monies from day to day in his diary. To this I am indebted for data. Gov-
ernor Geo. W. Patterson attended the festival three years later, at the same
place, in company with several young men of Groveland, and has given me
valuable faots.54
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
lage. Entering a house, they would pound the benches
and sides and then proceed to the next, and so on
throughout the village.
The discharge of three guns opened the second day’s
proceedings, when five Indians appeared with long
wooden shovels, and began to scatter fire and ashes
until the council-house became filled with dust and
smoke. This ceremony was repeated at each house
several times during the day, but to a different tune at
each round.
Speeches, exciting levity, and dreams, occupied the
third morning. About noon the fire-shovelling was
repeated with increased vigor. This over, the cloth-
ing of the actors and others was changed, their heads
were adorned with feathers and their faces with paint.
A number of squaws in calico short gowns and blue
broadcloth petticoats, ornamented with bead-work and
a profusion of silver brooches, joined in the dance,
which, beginning at the council-house, was repeated
at every hut several times during the day. A species
of gambling with a wooden dish and six wooden balls
and a like number of white beans, was practiced from
house to house. In the evening a party of dancers
would enter a dwelling, and soon a person dressed in
bear-skin and false face, woulci come in, when the dan-
cers, as if afraid, beat a retreat to the next house.
The fourth day was devoted to ceremonies in which
false faces and dancing held the principal place.
The maskers re-appeared on the fifth day. They
approached every person for a trifling gift. An apple,
a plug of tobacco, or a few pennies, was enough,
in default of which the party refusing was often
roughly handled. Two Indians, disguised as bears,
came next. On their entering a house the inmates
would at once quit it, when the mock bears pre-
tended a disposition to tear everything in piecesHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	55
or to overturn whatever fell in their way. A number
of Indians followed them, flashing guns, as though
forcibly to drive out the simulated bears Next* in
order was a game of ball upon the ice, played with
great life by a party of seven on each side. Many a
hard fall occurred, which always drew forth shouts of
laughter. Three Indians then appeared in deer-skins
and rags, one of whom, personating the evil one, had
his clothing literally torn from his body by his com-
panions, who quickly covered him with skins, and then
led him from hut to hut. In each hut he would lie down
and roll along the ground, tumble into the fire, paw
out the ashes and scatter it about the room, all the
while groaning and making great ado. A dancing
group next entered the council-house, with paiqted
faces, attired in skins, with feathers around their heads
and with deer’s hoofs or pieces of tin fastened about
their legs. A large Indian, with bow and arrows, soon
came in, bringing three lads. The four enacted a rude
diama of hunter and dogs. The boys got down on
hands and knees, barking, growling and snapping at
whatever came in their way, as they passed from door
to door, demanding bread for the final feast, which two
girls gathered into baskets.
On the morning of the sixth day, seven lads, one of
whom was covered with wolf-skins and used two
short sticks for fore-legs, went from house to house.
The dwellers brought out corn and placed it in a
basket carried by an aged female. Next followed a
dance at the council-house. “The female dancers,”
says [an eye witness, ‘ ‘ were the most graceful, and, I
may add, the most modest. I ever saw tripping the
fantastic toe upon the bare ground.” An old squaw-
stepped into the ring with a live pig under her arm.
She would strike it upon the head, when the dancers56
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
would spat their hands and sing. * About noon prep-
arations were made for burning the white dog, which
was taken down and laid upon a small pile of dry
wood, ornaments and all. An Indian gave three yells.
The wood was then placed around and over the dog.
When old and young had gathered quite near Jim
Washington, a favorite speaker, he applied the fire, and,
as it begun to burn, he walked around inside the cir-
cle, occasionally throwing pulverized mint into the
flames, all the while talking as if to some invisible
being. The spectators appeared quite solemn, and at
length joined in singing. When the pile was partly
consumed Jim stopped. After a moment’s pause,
he put a question which met with loud response from
the circle, and then all dispersed.
A general feast was now prepared at the council-
house. Two brass kettles, filled with squash, corn,
beans, pumpkins and venison, which had been boiling
for hours over fires in the centre of the room, were
placed on the ground, and the contents dipped away
in calabashes and eaten with spoons, or from wooden
sticks, with the bread gathered the day before. The
evening was devoted to dancing, in which all joined.
At length, one after another withdrew, and by ten
o ’clock the council-house was empty and silent. The
ceremonial part of the festival was over, and though
the seventh and last day was to follow, it was mainly
spent in petty gambling and feats of strength.
The burning of the dog was designed to appease the
Great Spirit’s wrath. So were the burnt sacrifices of
ancient Hebrews. The ceremonies at the huts were in-
tended to scare away bad spirits, which, as was
imagined, had become secreted in the crevices. The
Jews had professional exorcisers, who also professed to
♦ M Qui8-quis ” meaning pigs, swino, was a word constantly repeated.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
57
drive away evil spirits ; while with the smoke of the
burning mint these heathen red men believed their
thanksgivings and petitions would ascend to the Source
of all good. None but a white dog, the emblem of
purity, could be used. The same caution was observed
in selecting the sacrificial heifer by the Chosen People.
Other parallels might be noted, and the inquirer is
tempted to ask why the days of their celebration
should correspond with the sacred seven of the Jews.
Is it a coincidence simply ? or does it aid, with other
facts of a similar nature, in solving the origin of the
aborigines ?
Late in the last century a new religion was announced
by a native of Canawaugus, the Indian village located
near Avon. The prophet of this new faith was a half
brother of Cornplanter, named Ga-ne-o-di-yo, or
‘ ‘ Handsome Lake. ’ ’ Its effect was greatly to mitigate
intemperance, a vice then fatally prevalent among the
natives. The early life Of the prophet had been one
of idleness ; but, in lighting his pipe one day after a
debauch, he fell back upon his mat, where, for many
hours, he lay as dead. Pour beautiful young men
from heaven, angels, he called them, appeared, he said,
who told him the Great Spirit was angry with the In-
dians because of their habits of drunkenness, falsehood
and theft. They conducted him to the open gates of
Paradise, where, for several hours, he witnessed scenes
glorious beyond conception. A command was there
given him to proclaim what he had seen and heard.
On recovering, he entered upon his mission with the
zeal of a crusader. * Ungifted as a speaker, he called
four young men possessed of superior parts for mis-
sionary work, to whom he committed the heavenly
* I am indebted to Morgan and to Nathaniel T. Strong, Esq., himself a
Seneca, for data here. The father of Mr. Strong was one of the four cho-
sen missionaries, and, like the son, was a man of superior abilities.
468	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
precepts. Through them, and by his own personal
intercourse, he incited young and old to better
courses. His labors were crowned with abundant
success.
It has been urged that Handsome Lake was inspired
to the work by Cornplanter, rather than from a higher
source, that crafty chieftain designing thereby to pre-
serve for his kinsman the high position in councils so
long held by himself. But this is quite improbable,
for Cornplanter was at no pains to conceal his doubts
as to the truth of the revelation, especially after the
following incident. He had a beloved daughter who
fell very sick. His anxiety on her account induced
him to appeal to the prophet. The latter, in turn, in-
quired of the four angels, if the girl would get well.
They answered, she would, and continued to give like
assurances until she died. Cornplanter then said that
the revelation was but a pretense, and Handsome Lake
became so incensed that he left the reservation of his
half brother and went to Tonawanda. It is certain
that Handsome Lake chose a course which quickly
checked the sad inroads made by rum among the
Iroquois. He was aware from experience of the
strength of appetite for fire-water, and knew that, sin-
gle-handed, he could accomplish little against the
formidable evil; hence he sought the powerful agency
of superstition. His name is justly venerated among
his people, who call him the Peace Prophet, in dis-
tinction to the noted brother of Tecumseh, who is
known as the War Prophet. At his death, in 1815, his
grandson, So-se-ha-wa, or Johnson, who was also bom
near Avon, succeeded him as a teacher and expounder,
and, like the uncle, exerted a great and salutary in-
fluence among the Indians.
Trails, or foot-paths, connected the Indian villages
and distant places. Portions of these forest highwaysHI8TORYOF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
59
can yet be traced at certain points in the county,
though the latter were generally cross-trails intersect-
ing the great central pathway, which, starting at
Albany and following a well-chosen route, terminated
on Main street in the modern city of Buffalo. Mor-
gan says, “This trail ran through the overhanging
forest for almost its entire length. It was usually
from twelve to eighteen inches wide, and deeply worn
in the ground, varying in this respect from three to six
and even twelve inches, depending upon the firmness
of the soil. The large trees on each side were fre-
quently marked with the hatchet. This well-beaten
foot path, which no runner or band of warriors could
mistake, had doubtless been trodden by successive
generations from century to century.” “It proved,
on the survey of the country, so judiciously selected,
that the great turnpike was laid out mainly on the
line of this trail, from one extremity of the State to
the other.”
From Canandaigua were two trails. The one, after
crossing the outlet of Honeoye lake and going over
the hill in sight of Hemlock lake, came out upon the
Conesus, near its southern end, when, following its
shore to the foot and fording the outlet, the path pro-
ceeded west, and, passing over the site of Geneseo, led
into Beardstown. The other, or main trail, leaving
Canandaigua, passed over the site of West Bloomfield,
through the Honeoye outlet, to the site of Lima,
thence, westward, passing the site of Avon, crossing
the river a few rods above the bridge, and entering the
village of Canawaugus, about a mile above the ford.
Pursuing then a north-west direction, it led to the Cal-
donia cold spring.
“ From Rochester there were two trails up the Gen-
esee, one upon each side. That upon the west side,
following the bank of the river,” “passed into the60
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Indian village of Ca-na-wau-gus. From thence the
trail pursued the winding of the river to O-ha-gi, a
Tuscarora village on the flat, between two and three
miles below Cuylerville. It next led to the Seneca
village of Big Tree.” Turning the bend, the trail en-
tered Beardstown, and thence led to Squakie Hill.
Leaving the latter village, it continued up the river,
crossing the outlet of Silver lake, and, entering Gar-
do w, followed on over the site of Portage, and
thence to Caneadea, last Seneca village on the Gen-
esee.
The east side trail started from the ford near the
aqueduct, at Rochester, arid turning a little back from
the river, crossed Mount Hope. “It followed the
windings of the river up to Mount Morris. From
this place ran two trails up the Canaseraga creek,
one upon each side. They led into the small Indian
village of Ga-nos'-ga-go, upon the site of Dansville at
the head of the valley.”
Branches, intersecting these main pathways at ford-
ing places, connected the smaller villages. Of this
class was the trail leading from the Indian town on
Conesus inlet, westward over the hill, passing the bat-
tle-ground of Boyd’s scouting party, thence through
Groveland, by way of Williamsburgh to Beardstown.
Over this, Sullivan’s army marched on its way to the
Seneca settlements.
In numbers the Senecas exceeded any other nation
of the league. In 1650, the period of their highest
prosperity, they numbered as reckoned ten thousand.
Thence forward their strength gradually diminished.
A few years later the Jesuits reported the fighting men
at one thousand. In out Revolution they were able
to furnish four hundred warriors to the British. Their
own estimates are much larger. According to a
tradition, they once took a census of their nation. AHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	61
kernel of white flint corn, dropped by each into a
husk basket, assumed to hold a dozen quarts, was
thereby filled. This would indicate a population of
nearly eighteen thousand.
The Indian title to Squakie Hill, and to other reser-
vations on the river, was extinguished by the treaty of
1825. In the ensuing year most of the Senecas left
the county. A few families lingered another twelve-
month, but their homes had passed into strangers’
hands, and they, too, followed to the Buffalo and
other new reservations. Indeed, coincident with the
advent of the whites, began the exodus, for, by 1816
there were not more than four hundred Indians within
the limits of the present county, all of whom lived on
the westerly side of the river. Canawaugus, at the lat-
ter date, contained about ninety souls, of whom several
were descendants of Cornplanter. The Big Tree vil-
lage numbered less than a score, consisting in most
part of John Monture ’s family ; a little knot still re-
mained at Beardstown; Squakie Hill had a population
of eighty; and at •Q-ardow lived Mary Jemison, some
of her descendants, and a few others, about four score
in all. These constituted the remnant of that aborig-
inal host which long had peopled this region and
throughout the Genesee valley held undisputed sway.*
“ Realm of the Senecas 1 no more
In shadow lies the ‘Pleasant Yale;’
Gone are the Chiefs who ruled of yore,
Like chaff before the rushing gale.
Their rivers run with narrowed bounds,
Cleared are their broad, old hunting grounds,
And on their ancient battle fields
The greensward to the plowman yields;
Like mocking echoes of the hill
Their fame resounded and grew still,
And on green ridge and level plain
Their hearths will never smoke again.”
[Prom Proem to Hosmer’b Yonnondio.]62	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The Senecas now number about thirty-five hundred •
souls, of whom nearly one-half reside on the Catarau-
gus reservation.* * * § They receive a liberal annuity from
the General Government and a small one from the
State ;f and share in the common school moneys, six
hundred of their children being regular attendants at
schools.^
The Cattaraugus reservation embraces near twenty-
two thousand acres of excellent farming land. § Many
of the farms are well cultivated, and attention to the
demands of agriculture is quite general. The Iro-
quois agricultural society, formed in 1860, was at first
opposed by the elder portion of the natives, but it has
grown into favor with all classes, its exhibitions now
comparing favorably with those of average county
fairs. We attended the meeting of 1865, and saw
many proofs of the growing thrift and industry of the
Indians.! Competition was open to all of “Iroquois
lineage and their descendants.” Of the three vegeta-
* In 1867 the Senecas were distributed as follows:
At the Cattaraugus reservation,	1,434
Alleghany	“	913
Tonawanda	“	641
South of Kansas,	160
There are a small number intermixed with the Shawnees in Kansas, and a
few live on the Grand River in Canada.
f The General Government pays the Senecas annually about $14,700, and
the State of New York $500, the latter being interest reserved by them on
the sale of Grand Island in the Niagara river.
X In 1865 the Senecas reported over 1,100 children between the ages of 5
and 21. The sum of $3,000 is annually distributed to them from the com-
mon school moneys of the State.
§ There are 21,680 acres in the reservation, mostly under improvement,
situated on both sides of Cattaraugus creek, in the towns of Perrysburgh,
Cattaraugus Co., Collins, Erie Co., and Hanover, Chautauqua Co.
| ItB meetings are held at Versailles, 25 miles from Buffalo. I visited the
Pair in company with O. H. Marshall, Esq. We spent the night with the
missionary, Rev. Asher Wright, whose zealous labors have been erowned
with fruits and whose thorough knowledge of the Seneca tongue has served
me essentially.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
63
bles long reckoned by them as of most value—com,
beans and squash—and also potatoes—there were
many samples, some of which were superior to any
we had ever seen. Wheat and other grains, hogs, a
few sheep, horses and horned cattle, were likewise em-
braced in the display, as also were specimens of bead
and needlework, and other articles of female hand-
icraft. Foot-races, a war-dance, and occasional exhi-
bitions of horsemanship, took place during the day.
A band of instrumental music, composed of native
players, enlivened the proceedings. But the people
themselves afforded us the most interesting study.
Some, whose names were quite familiar to early settlers
in the Genesee country, were there, and many other
well-known Indians were represented in their descend-
ants. Thomas Jemison, tall, dignified and just
beginning to show in his athletic frame the evidences
of his three-score years and ten, a man of no ordinary
character, was busy with his entries of stock and
grains. Grand-children of Tall Chief, relatives of Big
Kettle, of Red Jacket and others of note, were among
the exhibitors, and a grandson of Governor Black-
snake, who led the Senecas at Wyoming, was chief
police officer of the ground. Physically, no deterior-
ation could be observed. The men were generally
fine, stalwart fellows, and the females were not wanting
in comeliness, Few of the older Indians talked Eng-
lish with freedom, some of them not understanding
itj at all. Th$ styles of apparel were various, often
picturesque; the bare-headed squaw of patriarchal
years, appearing in ornamented kilt and leggings;
women wearing men’s hats, otherwise in native cos-
tume ; young maidens, decked out, if not in the latest,
yet in the gayest fashions of their white sisters, and
not a few dressed with excellent taste, while all con-
ducted with propriety. Native family names, such as64
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Two Guns, Blinkey, Jacket, Silver-keels, and Ghastly-
Darkness, appeared among the officers, judges or ex-
hibitors.
The reservation is governed by a president and a
congress elected annually by native voters under au-
thority of an act of the Legislature of the State.
Society there is orderly and the laws are enforced
without difficulty. The late James Wadsworth, who
had unusual opportunity to judge of the Seneca’s
aptitude for improvement, “entertained a confident
opinion that the red man is as susceptible of civiliza-
tion as the white man.” His plan was to deal with
the natives individually and not by tribes. “Set apart
a tract of country, say fifty miles square, at Green
Bay. Grant this in fee simple to the Indians who still
linger with the white population in the eastern and
middle States. Divide this territory into townships,
and the townships into lots—give them a territorial
government and a code of laws adapted to the first
stages of civilization ; give them the power of making
their own laws after a certain period ; give them the
right of sending immediately a delegate to Congress—
I beg you not to be startled,” continued Mr. Wads-
worth, “there are many Indian chiefs who would not
disgrace the floor of Congress.”* The observation
and experience of forty subsequent years demonstrates
this to be the best, perhaps the only mode of meeting
the Indian question.
Whatever may betide the experiments of the age
for civilizing these interesting people, the duty which
history owes them remains unfulfilled. In common
with the other aboriginal nations, the Senecas have
been belied. Neither they nor other tribes were the
natural enemies of the whites. In this the early nav-
* See Mr. Wadsworth’s letter of Dec. 1827, to Daniel Webster “ On Colo*
nization of the Indiansin appendix.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
65
igators and writers all concur. Before the era of
systematic wrongs, they were hospitable and kind,
and disposed to preserve the friendliest relations with
the pale faces. Indeed, history records how, during a
hundred and fifty years, the Iroquois scrupulously
observed their engagements with the Dutch and Eng-
lish. But the American people have permitted the
Indian to be grossly defrauded. Not content to divide
with him his ancient patrimony of a continent, pioneer
traders have been allowed to wrest away his hunting-
grounds and invade his burial-places; and, to crown
injustice, a horde of subtle knaves, in the official
guise of commissioners, superintendents and agents,
have pursued the Indian into his far-western retreats,
to cajole from him his paltry annuities and to wheedle
away his newer reservations. No skilled advocate
has appeared for him, no medium has offered through
which he could present in array to mankind the mer-
ciless impositions practiced upon him ; and for many
a dark year, no friendly voice, save that of the orators
of his own race, whose heathen speech, fell upon deaf
ears, was raised in his defence.
It was a dictate of policy, during the Revolution,
to paint the Indian as black as possible in crimes and
cruelty, and to hold him often responsible for deeds of
which it might easily be shown the British were alone
guilty. Since then, the prejudice has been adroitly
fostered by those whose selfish ends it subserved.
That the Indian committed excesses and barbarities, it
would be vain either to deny or to palliate. But how
far he was justified in waging the only system of war-
fare known to his race, as a measure of retaliation, it
is for the moralist to say. If the whole story were
told, if the Indian could tell his side, how then would
stand the record ? The lion in the fable disputes with
the man as to which was the braver and stronger of00	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the two. The latter exultingly points to a marble
statue of a man strangling a lion, in proof of the su-
periority of his kind. “That,” answered the lion,
“ is your version of the story ; let us be the sculptors,
and we will reverse the positions ; the lion will then
stand over the man.” Is not the moral applicable
here ?CHAPTER IV.
ABORIGINAL TOWN’S. DEFENSIVE WORKS.
The charts of Western New York, prior to 175Q,
afford little or no definite information respecting the
Genesee country.
Pouchot’s Map,
prepared about
the year 1758,* a
portion of which
is here given, was
perhaps the first
attempt made to
fix the location of
Seneca towns, and
even this, as will
be seen, gives the
position of very
few. History,
however, more
than two centur-
ies earlier, had
shed a glimmer of
light upon this
region. Scarcely
*M. Pouchot writes under date of April 14, 1758, that he handed to the
Marquis de Vaudreuil a Map, (of which the above is a small part,) and a Me-
moir on the subject of the French and English Frontiers in America.68
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
two score years had passed away after the advent of
Columbus, when James Cartier, while exploring the
gulf of St. Lawrence, in 1535, was informed by the
savages living on its borders, “that, after ascending
many leagues among rapids and waterfalls, he would
reach a lake (Ontario) one hundred and fifty leagues
long and forty or fifty broad, at the western extremity
of which the waters were wholesome and the winters
mild, and that a river (the Genesee) emptied into* it
from the south, which had its source in the country of
the Iroquois. * This, it may be safe to assume, is the
first mention in print of the region of the Genesee.
Next, Lescarbot, using the information gained by Car-
tier from the lips of the Indians of Canada, in 1535,
says: “a little further west (of the Oswego river) at
the southern bend of the said lake (Ontario) there is
another river (the Genesee) which comes from the
country of the Iroquois. ”f Though scanty enough,
these two references form the sum of direct historical
mention of the Genesee river and of the Indians in its
neighborhood, prior to the seventeenth century, so far
as we have been able to learn.
The original village of the Senecas, according to all
tradition, was situated on a knoll, Genundewah, near
the village of Naples, as has been noted. After the
extinguishment of the council-fire at that ancient hill-
home by a great serpent, in a manner so strange as
that given in their traditions, villages sprung up
elsewhere. Much obscurity rests about this partic-
ular era. The remains of a series of earthworks or
rude fortified towns have been found extending from
the county of St. Lawrence, by way of JefiFersdh,
Wayne, Ontario and Livingston, to Lake Erie, through
Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties upon a general
* Marshall’s Niagara Frontier.
f Lescarbot, Paris Ed., 1609, p. 381.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
69
line parallel to lake Ontario. It is estimated that
more than two hundred of them must have originally
existed. They were especially numerous in this re-
gion.
Squier,'* whose extensive researches among aborig-
inal remains in Central America and elsewhere, fitted
him for the task of careful inquiry, visited this county
and other portions of the State a score of years ago.
His object was to determine if these enclosures had a
common origin with the vast system of earth-works of
the Mississippi valley, whose construction in a remote
age, is assigned to the mysterious Mound-Builders.
But they proved to be wanting in the regularity of out-
line of those unique western structures. The builders,
he says, instead of planning them upon geometrical
principles, like those of the west, regulated their forms
entirely by the nature of the ground upon which they
were built. The pottery and other relics found scat-
tered among their ruins are “ absolutely identical with
those which mark the sites of towns and forts known
to have been occupied by the Indians within the his-
torical period	and, instead of placing their construc-
tion back in the ages of the misty past, it may be
referred to the period succeeding the discovery of
America or not long anterior to that event.
The Senecas, quite likely, on being driven from Gre-
nundewah, took the precaution to provide their new
habitations with defenses against unfriendly tribes of
the west and north ; for they were then in their weak-
est condition, and had most need of such security as
their simple art of defense might afford. Earth walls
would, without doubt, be first suggested as the means
of local protection against assaults by hostile neigh-
bors. These earth-works generally c; occupy high and
* Hod. E. G. Squier. See Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. II.70	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
commanding sites near the bluff edges of those broad
terraces by which the country rises from the level of
the lakes. When met with upon lower grounds, it is
usually upon some dry knoll or little hill, or where
banks of streams serve to lend strength to the posi-
tion. A few have been found upon slight elevations
in the midst of swamps, where dense forests and al-
most impassable marshes protected them from discov-
ery and attack. In nearly all cases they are placed
in close proximity to some unfailing supply of water,
near copious springs or running streams. Gateways
opening toward these are always to be observed, and
in some cases guarded passages are visible.”*
In preparing to construct these defenses (Cusick
says) “they set fire against several trees required to
make a fort; the stone axes were then used to rub off
the coals so as to burn quicker. When the tree
burned down they put fire to it in places about three
paces apart and burnt it off in half a day. The logs
were then collected at a place where they set them up
around according to the bigness of the fort, and the
earth heaped on both sides. ’ ’ Embankments were dis-
pensed with after the introduction of the spade and
other European implements enabled the Indians to
plant their pickets more firmly in the ground.
Traces of long occupancy are found in all these
works. Relics of art, such as clay pipes, metal orna-
ments, earthen jars of clay tempered with pounded
quartz and glass, or with fine sand, and covered with
rude ornaments, stone hammers, and even parched
com which, by lapse of time had become carbonized,
were discovered by Squier and others in caches or
“ wells.” The latter, designed for the deposit of com
and other stores, “have been found six or eight feet in
* Squier in Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. IL, p. 12.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY'.
71
depth, usually located on the most elevated spot within
the infclosure.” Fragments of bones, charcoal and
ashes and other evidences of occupancy, are always
to be met with.
Many of these works, traced by the pioneers, were
covered with heavy forests, and, in several instances,
trees from one to three feet in thickness were observ-
ed by Squier growing upon the embankments, and
in the trenches. This would carry back the date of
their construction several hundred years.
The inclosures, though usually varying from one to
four acres in area, ruins of much greater extent have
been found. The larger ones were designed for
permanent occupancy, the smaller, for temporary pro-
tection—“the citadels in which the builders sought
safety for their old men, women and children in case
of alarm or attack,” or when the braves were absent
on the war-path. The embankments were seldom
more than four feet in height. The spot selected was
generally convenient to fishing-places and hunting-
grounds, and contiguous to ft1 rtile bottoms. Indeed,
all indications render it probable that the occupants
were fixed and agricultural in their habits
The remains of nearly a score of these earth-works
have been traced within this county, the largest of
which, and, in truth the largest of any thus far met
with in the State,
Is located in the
town of Livonia
^.on the farm of
James Haydock.
v^It is three miles
north-east of the
|| centre on the Lima
^ road, and covers
an area of sixteen72
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
acres. It occupied the “ summit of a commanding
hill a position well chosen for defence. Twenty years
ago, where the lines of entrenchments were crossed by
fences and thus preserved from the encroachments of
the plow, the embankment and ditch were distinctly
visible. General Adams, who had often been over the
ground before the removal of the forest, states that
the ditch was then breast high.”* Caches were laid
open and many fragments of pottery picked up within
the inclosure. The gateway opened toward the spring
as shown in the engraving, and some indications
existed of parallel embankments extending in that
direction. Colonel George Smith, who was familiar
with the works seventy years ago, is of opinion that
the eastern ditch was straight rather than elliptical as
in the preceding engraving, and ran due north and
south, or nearly so. Within the fort, the ground was
then smooth and was covered by a growth of small
timber. A steep bank bounded the fort on the west,
while on the north and south the ground sloped grad-
ually away. From the western boundary of the fort
to the present highway and beyond, the whole surface
was a gentle descent. From the bottom of the ditch,
in which stood several oaks, to the top of the bank
was about live feet.
Another work of similar character was situated on
the farm of General Robert Adams, two miles north-
east of Livonia centre occupying 6 4 a beautiful broad
swell of land not commanded by any adjacent heights,
upon the west side of a fine copious spring for which
the Indians constructed a large basin of loose stones.
Upon a little elevation to the left, as also in the forest
to the northward, are extensive cemeteries.” The
* The diagram on preceding page is from actual measurements, after one
made by Mr. Squier, who was aided in tracing the outline by Mr. Haydoclc who
himself had been familiar with the ruins before they became greatly impaired.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	73
area of the work was nearly ten acres, and the earth
walls were quite distinct in 1847.
Two and a half miles south-east of the head of
Hemlock lake, in the town of Springwater, a mound
of similar character, though much smaller in size,
was known to the pioneers in early days. Its precise
location I have been unable to ascertain.
The names of the various places already described
have passed into oblivion. We are a little more for-
tunate as respects another work of the same class
at no great distance from those mentioned. It was
SITE OF FORTIFIED TOWN NEAR BOSLEY’S MILLS.
located about thirty rods north-east of Bosley’s mills
near the outlet of Conesus lake, and in the field now
bounded by the Avon road and the highway leading
due north from the latter.* The aboriginal name,
Grah'-nyuh-sasf clings to the ruins of this inclosure,
though it is generally called “ Fort-hill.” A tradition
*The farm on which it is-located is owned by General Wadsworth and is ,
occupied by Mr. Austin Miller.
f The more modern village, near the head of the lake, bears the same.*
name. But, singularly enough, an entire different meaning is attache^ $0 th$
word.	5.74
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
still extant, already given in connection with the Bat-
tle of Geneseo, peoples it with the women and old
men of the Senecas. Upon a knoll of two or three
acres, along the westerly side of which ran a small
stream, there existed, within the memory of men yet
living, a line of embankments, two or three feet in
height, the whole being covered, at the advent of the
whites, with a low under-growth of wild plum, hazel
and other bushes, but no large trees. A fine spring
which supplied the occupants, continued to be used
by the early settlers for many years. John Bosley
came into the country in 1792.* The same year he
planted this lot with corn and potatoes. A grist mill
was soon erected on the site of the present mills. The
excavations therefor revealed tomahawks and axes,
and other iron relics were found within the ruins in
sufficient quantities to iron the mill. Jarvis Ray-
mond, who occupied the farm, picked up a rust-eaten
gun barrel here. Thirty-five years ago, during the
construction of Olmsted’s mill, a thigh-bone, two in-
ches longer than that of the tallest man of the day,
was exhumed within the inclosure, and a shin-bone of
unusual size was also found. Large beads of green
glass, coal ashes and burnt bones, a brass kettle, an
iron pot, and flint arrow-heads in great numbers, have
also been discovered. Skulls, to the number of two
score or more, were found at one time, and under a
stump well-nigh two feet through, which stood near the
crest of the hill, a skeleton was revealed some years
ago. Grotesque ornaments, ivory or bone and metal-
lic crosses and an urn of graceful form have likewise
been gathered from the ruins of this work.
Near the westerly bank of the Genesee, on the open
*Mr. Daniel Bosley is confident that John Bosley came into the country
in 1*792 or 1793.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
75
flat of the Canawaugus reservation, might be seen as
late as 1798, the embankment of an old fort which
included very nearly two acres. “ It corresponded in
situation and appearance with many others which I
have seen in this part of the country,” said Judge
Porter, who surveyed the Indian reservations, “and
which seemed to bear a high antiquity.” This inclos-
ure wras located not far from the old Indian orchard,
across the river in a south-west direction from the
village of Avon.
When Horatio Jones came into the country there
was a “ Fort’- of this description located on the flats
near the river and distant about thirty rods north of
the residence of the late Colonel William Jones. The
highway running eastward to the river and which it
strikes opposite Williamsburg, passes a few steps to the
south of the inclosure. Before the land was placed
under cultivation the embankments were two or three
feet high and had every appearance common to this
class of earthworks. The lot in which it was situated
has been frequently plowed, yet the outline can still
be traced and relics of the stronghold may now be
gathered thereabouts. The tract of land on which it
is situated is still called Fort Farm.
On the farm of Andrew McCurdy, half a mile west
of the village of Dansville, across the Canaseraga
creek and a few rods south of the Ossian road, is
another work of this character. Its site, a bluff at
the foot of which runs the Canaseraga, overlooks the
fertile valley to the eastward and is commanded by no
neighboring height. To the north of the inclosure a
rapid stream takes its way through a gorge about
fifty feet in depth, which, after running parallel to the
creek for a short distance, bends abruptly to the right,
as in the engraving, and enters the Canaseraga. Near
the confluence of these streams the enclosure was sit-76
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
uated. The sharp acclivities which
form the banks, protected it on the
north, east and west, while on the south
side it was guarded by an earth wall
and ditch (from two and a half to three feet deep),
that were still quite distinct as late as the year 1859,
when the field was plowed for the first time. Under
a large oak stump, presenting 214 annual growths, as
counted by Professor Brown, which stood in the bot-
tom of the ditch near the north-east corner, were found
parts of three or four dark earthen jars, which, on
analysis, yielded animal oil, indicating their original
use to have been that of cooking vessels. Ashes and
burnt bones of men and animals indiscriminately
mixed, and, in one place, human skeletons entire or
nearly so, an earthen pipe, a stone pestle and a deer’s
horn curiously carved, were found within the inclosure.
Sixty years ago, a circular mound, composed in
part of black earth and cinders, about thirty feet in
diameter and from four to five feet in height, stood a
few rods east of the Havens tavern house, in the highway
leading to Groveland The mound was quite entire in
1806, when the family of James Scott came into the
country, and excited considerable attention. Its origin
was ascribed to the aborigines, and early settlers
classed it among the fortified towns. The northerly
side of the mound extended to the fence, the track-
way making a detour around its southerly side.. A
score of years later the road was widened and the
mound was thus brought near to the centre of the high-
way. Thirty or forty feet to the eastward was a deep
hole into which, from year to year, portions of the
mound was thrown, as it would be plowed and scraped
away, until finally leveled with the surrounding sur-
face.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
77
A mound similar to the last, though not so large,
was to be seen half a century ago near the highway
leading from Scottsburg to Dansville. Its location
was on the liill-side about mid way between the two
places, and lay partly on the farm of James McWhor-
ter. Upon a side-hill field of the farm of the late
Henry Driesbach, two miles north of Dansville, was
to be seen, in an early day, a succession of holes in two
rows parallel to each other and regularly arranged.
Their excavation is also naturally referred to the red
man, and, with plausibility, to the era of fortified
places.
In the wood lot, on Mr. Brimmer’s “Sweet Briar”
farm, twenty rods to the west of thekhigliway leading
from Geneseo to Mt. Morris, and a score of rods south
of the road running to the Jones bridge, is a small
aboriginal inclosure embracing 2 acres. Its outlines
are still quite distinct. It was, most likely, used as a
temporary abode by the ancient builders while they
were cultivating, from year to year, a favorable spot
on the productive flats just below.
Seneca towns separate themselves into five eras.
First, was the original home of the tribe, Genunde-
wah; next came the intrenched habitations to which
we have just referred. Following these were the four
villages destroyed by DeNonville in 1687; succeeding
the latter, were the numerous towns established be-
tween that date and 1779, all of which, with possibly
one or two exceptions, were burned by General Sulli-
van ; and, lastly, the five or six new villages which
grew up on the return of the remnants of the Indians
to the Genesee from Niagara, near the close of the Bev-
olution. The older towns were confined to the east-
erly side of the river, while the later ones were located
on the westerly side of that stream, usually at or near
a bend in its channel. It must be borne in mind that78
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Indian towns liad not the definiteness of limit known
to modern incorporated villages. They were nowhere
marked by metes and bounds. A head man would
select a spot which united beauty of location, conven-
ience to good water and other advantages, and would
there erect his hut. Any member of his tribe who
liked the site was at liberty to build there a cabin, and
call the place home. If the chief was popular a town
would be the result. Sometimes a solitary hut only
would be found, as was the case between Beardstown
and Big Tree, where a log-house was standing when the
pioneers arrived. It was called O-noh'-sa-de-gah, or
“burnt house.” To this rude domicil General John
A. Granger took his bride, and there resided while
his frame house was building.* Some confusion has
arisen respecting certain villages, from the custom of
the Indians to change from time to time both location
and designation. The more ancient towns were loca-
ted at a distance from the river or other body of water
navigable by canoes, for, until the nation became
strong, it would have been unwise thus to expose
their families to chance parties of enemies, drifting
noiselessly down upon their settlements.
The four villages destroyed by DeNonville were Gan-
na-ga-ro,f or St. James, as called by the Jesuit mis-
sioneries, located on Boughton hill; Chi'-nos-hah'-geh,
or St. Michael, situated on Mud Creek in East Bloom-
field, near the old stage road crossing; To-ti-ak-to, or
Conception, in the north-eastern bend of the Honeoye
outlet; and Gan-nou-na-ta, at the source of the Little
Conesus or Gore Brook, in the town of Avon. The
latter town is better known by its Seneca name, Dyu-
doo-sot, signifying, “at the spring,” and is the only
*The frame house is now owned by Anthony M. Wooster, Esq.
fThe names are given in the Mohawk dialect.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
79
one with which these pages have to 'do. The three
others lay in Ontario county.
Dyu-do'o-sotV" was situated on the Douglass farm
in Avon, a few rods from the line between the latter
town and Lima, and two miles north of Livonia Sta-
tion. f John Blacksmith, the venerable Seneca sachem,
whose recollections have usefully served the cause of
aboriginal history, hunted in his youth over this sec-
tion of country, and thus acquired an intimate knowl-
edge of old Indian localities. He described the loca-
tion of the town so accurately, that Marshall, while
on a visit to Avon Springs a year or two afterwards,
drove without difficulty directly to the site, and there
found indubitable evidences of former Indian occu-
pancy. The spring which had supplied the village,,
and originated its name, still poured forth a copious
stream, and though the plough had nearly leveled the
surface, the soil was yet loaded with beads, fragments
of pottery, charcoal, and other signs of an extensive
settlement of Indians. Hard by was their ancient burial
place, still preserved fi:om desecration by its use for
the white man’s cemetery; thus mingling in death
the dust of two antagonist races that destiny seems
to have forbidden to live and flourish together. J;
♦Pronounced as though written De-o-dou-sote, literally a at the spring.” 0*
H. Marshall, Esq., in a letter to me respecting this village, refers to the
puzzling orthography of Indian proper names when conveyed through dif-
ferent languages. The name of Dyu-do o-sot, for instance, is given by
DeNonville, as Gannounnata; in the proces verbal of taking possession of
the village by the French, it is written Gannoudata; Belmont, in his his-
tory, calls it Ounenaba; Greenhalgh, in his journal, (167^7,) gives it Keint-he;
La Hontan calls it Danoncaritaoni; and Ackes Cornelius Viele writes it
Kaunonada.
fJohn Caton and John Clary now own the farm.
\1 visited the spot in August, 1869. One of the owners of the farm, Mr.
Caton, was at the moment, engaged in harvesting barley in the field, con-
taining about 20 acres, where the grave-yard was located. He said that
stone-hammers, axes and beads, are from time to time found in ploughing.
The grave-yard, a small one, is no longer much used, and is grown rp with80
HISTORY OF LIVIKG-STOX OOITXTY.
DeNonville, after destroying the three other ancient
towns, lay at Dyu-do o-sot with his army, on the 21st
of Jnly, 1687, through ^the day. He calls it a small
village, distant two leagues from To-ti-ak-to, and
remarks, that one would hardly credit the quantity
of old and new corn found by him in store there, all
of which perished by fire,* * as likewise did a “vast
quantity of hogs.” As he entered this village, he
found the symbol of British sovereignty, the coat of
arms of England, placed there three years before by
Governor Dongan, though the arms were ante-dated
as of 1683. While DeNonville lay here, a Huron, be-
longing to his force, brought in the scalps of a Seneca
man and woman, whom he had found in an excursion
to the eastward. The Huron, in reporting, speaks of the
“multitude of paths by which the enemy had fled.”
In 1677, Greenhalgh counted the houses in the four
Seneca towns. Dyu-do o-sot was found to contain
twenty-four, + Influenced by a superstition, never a
solitary hut was rebuilt, but the Senecas sought now
the banks of the Genesee, along which they reared
their villages, and for ninety years remained undis-
puted masters of the region.
On the western shore of the Genesee nearly opposite
shrubbery. Members of the Chappel and Whaley families, and a few oth-
ers, repose there over the dust of the long-forgotten Seneca warrior and
councilor.
* On the basis afforded by DeNouville, the corn destroyed at Dyu-do o-sot
was not less than a quarter of a million bushels. He says, “ we had the
curiosity to estimate the whole quantity, green as well as ripe corn, which
we have destroyed in the four villages,” and wo foutid that it would
amount to 350,000 minots of green, and 50,000 minots of old corn.” He
adds “ there was no less corn in (Dyu-do o-sot or) Gannonata than at any of
the other villages.” A minot is a French measure of three bushels, making
the total of corn destroyed by the Expedition, 1,200,000 bushels! ” [See note
to Marshall’s trans. p. 37.
f Grreenlialgh says “ Keint-he * * * contains about 24 houses, well fur-
nished with corn.” [See Col. Docs. N. Y., Vol. III.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
81
the sulphur springs at Avon, lay Can-a-wau-gus, * the
northernmost of the river towns. Its site was a few
rods south of the old toll-bridge, on land now owned by
heirs of Simon McKenzie. Both the great central trail
between the Hudson and the Niagara rivers, and the
principal pathway leading from the falls at Rochester
to the homes of tribesmen on the upper Genesee,
passed through it. The population of Canawaugus
at the period of its greatest importance, has been esti-
mated at one thousand souls, f It ^ ras the birth-place
of Cornplanter, and of his scarcely less noted half-bro-
ther, Handsome Lake, the Peace Prophet. Here, the
latter received his revelation, and here often came the
wise men of the Senecas to counsel with these and other
noted residents. The Indian medicine-man often re-
sorted to the healing-waters of the neighboring spring,
making his temporary home at this village, which thus
acquired consequence in the minds of the natives. Their
burial-place, situated a score of rods to the north of
the town, has often yielded up its bones to the plow-
man, and relics such as stone-hammers, flint arrow
heads, iron axes and other aboriginal weapons, have,
from time to time been found in the vicinity. ‘£ Often, ’ ’
says Colonel Hosmer, “ I pay visits to the old Indian
orchard, lying two miles away, as the crow flies, in a
south-west direction from the old bridge. Two apple-
trees have been spared by the axe, and I regret to say
that their wind-bowed and mossy trunks will soon
share the fate of the race who planted them. The
early settlers of Avon discovered peach-trees growing
* Ca-no-wa-gas, also Cla-no-wa-gas, literally—“ stinking wateror, “ it
has the smell of the scum.” I have followed Col. Hosmer’s orthography of
the name in the text.
f So says Col. Hosmer. Previous thereto, according to tradition, the pop-
ulation was much greater. He adds, “ My cousin James Hosmer, now (1869)
over 70, thinks in his boyhood the Canawaugus Indians numbered only 5 or
600.” These estimates appear quite too large to me.82.
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
in the forest, on the site of an ancient corn-field of the-
Indians, the fruit of which was of good flavor. Many
years since the council house at Canawaugus was stand-
ing. When last visited by me, a quarter of a century
ago, it was in a state of decay—the roof, overlaid with
bark, was falling in, and the storms had partly beaten
down the walls. The building was low and about ’
sixty feet in length. In the centre of the roof, which
was bark bent to a rounded form over the ridge pole,
was an open place for the escape of smoke, when the
elders of the tribe convened.”
Mrs. Berry* was heard to say that in old times
there was an Indian village on the east side of the river,
not far from the red bridge (built in 1817); and that
many huts were burned on that side of the river by
a scouting party from Sullivan’s army.
Dyu'-ne-ga-nooh', f was situated near the north-
western margin of the great spring at Caledonia. To
the east and south of the Indian town lay oak-open-
ings, where the Senecas pastured their rough-coated
ponies. To the south-west, a grove of wild plum-
trees and grape-vines, on forest-grown trellises, opened
before the natives, supplying them with fruit, while
the waters of the spring afforded trout and other fine
fish in abundance. Standing near the westerly bor-
der of the spring, was the fatal post to which the con-
demned prisoner was fastened for torture; and hither,
from other Seneca towns, were brought captives of
consequence, the prisoners of state. Horatio Jones
pointed out to John McKay, the precise spot where-
the post stood, as the two strolled one evening along
the Spring creek. ‘ ‘ John, ’ ’ said the former, ‘ ‘ do you
* Wife of the Indian trader, Gilbert R. Berry.
fit is often written De-oo-ne-gau-no, and means, ‘‘clear cold water.”
Gan-t-o-de-ya, was the name given by the Senecas to the Caledonia spring*
and signifies, “clear small lake.”IMSTOiry OF LIV IXOSTON COUNTY.
83
ever see ghosts after night-fall -wandering through,
these woods ? If Indian hunters are to be credited,
sights are often seen here that would make your hair
rise.'5 The Indian burial-place was located about
twenty rods north-east of the spring, where, in digging
wells and cellars, bones in abundance have been dis-
interred. A venerable lady, yet-living,* while in pur-
suit of her cows in an early day, passing near the
burial-place observed a grass-grown hillock by the
foot-path • Thrusting in her walking-stick, she dis-
turbed a quantity of bones from their slight covering,
doubtless those of poor captives who had suffered tor-
ture at the stake. Articles of pottery, bearing curious
devices, copper kettles similar in style to those in use
among Spanish colonists, and rudely-formed hatchets
and arrow-heads, have been met with here. Long
after the permanent occupancy of the village ceased,
it continued to be a noted stopping-place for bands of
natives and parties of pioneers, or travelers passing to
and fro along the central trail leading from Albany to
Niagara river. Turner cites the remark of an old
Canadian emigrant, who, after the Revolution, often
passed over this route. He said that camping here
was so frequent that the fires of one party would be
burning when another arrived. At this village rested
for a few hours the fugitive families from Beardstown
as they fled before Sullivan ; and here too halted, next
day, the force under Butler as it retreated' toward
Niagara. In 1796, a detachment of regulars on their
way up lake Ontario to take possession of Port Niag-
ara in batteaux, were driven by stress of weather from,
the lake to the mouth of the Gfenesee. They came
thence to the mouth of Allen’s Creek and quartered
on the farm of Peter Shaeffer. When theyjbroke up
* Mrs. John MoKav.•'84
HISTORY Of LIVIXGSTON' COIJHTY.
their quarters there, Mr. Shaeffer piloted them to Cal-
edonia springs where they bivouacked for the night.*
The village of the Tuscarora Indians, O-ha-gi, f lay
; a mile north of the Big Tree town on the same side of the
river. Its site was a gentle swell of land rising west-
ward from a marshy flat, some thirty rods south of
Spencer’s warehouse. The canal passes through the
-old Indian town, on the easterly border of which are
yet standing two apple-trees planted by thy natives.
A spring of slightly brackish water which supplied
the village, and around which the houses clustered,
is still in use. Generals Poor and Maxwell, under
orders from Sullivan, destroyed the town in 1779, and
SITE OP TUSCARORA BURIAL PLACE NEAR MAJOR SPENCER’S.
it was never rebuilt. Richard Osbon, whose farm
lies just south of the site, came to this country in
1806. He says that plain traces of several huts were
* Turner s, Phelps Jc Gorham's Pur.—p. 409.
A few steps south of the canal culvert. Mr. Wright thinks the true
orthography may be Dyu-hah-gaih, meaning “ the current bites the bank/*
tor, “ eats it away.’*HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	85
yet to be seen, but the land is now under cultivation
and all external evidences of aboriginal occupancy
have disappeared. The Indian burial-place which lay
to the north-east of the village, from which it was
divided by a little stream, is well represented in the
engraving. Two or three great oaks stood, until re-
cently, among, the graves. In the season of fall-
shooting, pigeons, in gr^at numbers, flocked to these
trees, attracted by the peculiar water of the spring, a
fact well known to hunters, who seldom went away
from the spot with empty game bags. Within thirty
years the Indian graves, scattered here and there,
indicated by slight grassy knolls, could be distinctly
traced. Major Spencer protected the spot with much
care, the plow not being suffered to invadp the red-'
man’s resting-place. Some years ago it became nec-
essary to cut a ditch along the northern edge of the
old burial ground. Major Spencer visited the spot
while the work was going on, and seeing one of the
workmen opening his tools over the graves, he said
with emphasis to the ditcher, “Hi, hi, you are stand-
ing on the bones of Indians! have a care, sir, have a
care ! ”	;/
Ga'-on-do-wa-nuli, located on the westerly side of the
river near the great bend, was long known as the vil-
lage of the wise and influential Seneca chieftain, Big
Tree.* A mile above, on the, opposite side of the
river, stood the great oak, and directly to the east,
distant two miles, is the present village of Gfeneseo.—
The reservation embraced two square miles, uniting
with that of Beardstown on the south. The village
occupied an area of about thirty acres, divided by a
Small brook, now dry, the present highway leading
* Ga-on-do-wornuh, was located on the farm of Eason'P. Slocum, in Leices-
ter. The name signifies 14 Big Tree’s” village, but the tree is supposed to
he lying prostrate.86	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
to Cuylerville, crossing the bed of the stream at right
angles. Two apple-trees, planted by the Indians are still
in bearing. They stand across the gully at the north-
east, and point the spot where the7orchard, was loca-
ted. Before the canal was dug, Colonel Lyman occu-
pied a store-house on the river just east of Big Tree
village. The river for some distance is very crooked
here. In an air line North’s mill is but a mile and a
half below, but measured by the river’s channel, it is
quite seven miles. The graves of John Monture, and
four other Indians occupy a spot never yet plowed,
represented by the turfy hillock in the engraving,
SITE OF BIG TREE VILLAGE, MONTURE’S GRAVE 1ST FOREGROUND.
a couple of rods east of the highway. Sugar maple
trees were plentiful about Big Tree village while the
Indians occupied it, and in the sugar season the Sen-
ecas from other towns were in the habit of visiting their
tribesmen here. In 1820 the village had become re-
duced to eight or nine bark-roofed huts, and was
among the last of the towns west of the river to be
vacated. * Descendants of its former occupants still
venerate its site. Two or three years ago a band ofHISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
87
Senecas visited the spot, and spent some hours in
mourning over the graves. Their lamentations were
plainly heard by Mr. Slocum’s family, who resided a
half a mile distant.
Dyu-non-dah-ga'-eeh* or Beardstown, long held the
principal rank among the Seneca villages. When
Mary Jemison reached there in 1761, she found the
Beardstown warriors preparing to assist the French
in retaking Fort Niagara, whence they soon returned
in triumph, bringing white prisoners and driving a
number of oxen, the first neat cattle, by the way, ever
brought to the Genesee flats. Against this town
Washington especially directed the expedition under
Sullivan in 1779. The tribal council-fire lay else-
where, but here lived the noted chieftain Little Beard,
and about him had gathered the wise and brave of his
tribesmen. Here were planned their forays and here
they met for consultation, and, whenever the Senecas
were summoned to the war-path, the Beardstown
braves were always among the foremost. Quartered
for security, at this village for months, perhaps for
years, after the Revolution begun, were families from
Nunda and other outlying towns, while their natu-
ral protectors were absent harassing the eastern set-
tlements ; and from this spot went out Brant and the
Butlers to the massacre of Wyoming, and to engage
in other bloody work. From this spot, too, in the
rain of an autumn day, fled the panic-stricken women,
children and old men of the Senecas, and others who
had sought its asylum, to escape the ‘ ‘Yankee army”
when it broke camp at Conesus Lake. Sullivan calls
Beardstown the capital of the western Indians, and
adds, “we reached the castle or village, which con-
* Or “ steep hill creek.” or where the hill is (or lies) upon it.” The
Indian, Wra. Jones, said that Beardstown. was called Ga-nah-da-ont-hwa h
The place is often ealled Little Beardstown.88
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
sisted of one hundred and twenty-eight houses, most-
ly very large and elegant. The town was beautifully
situated, almost encircled with a clear flat which ex-
tends for a number of miles where the most extensive
fields of com were, and every kind of vegetable that
can be conceived.” The diaries of other expedition-
ary officers dilate upon the beauty and relative impor-
tance of the village. It occupied the eastern part of
the site of Cuylerville, extending eastward toward the
river for several rods beyond the canal. Russel Beebe,
while in the employ of Oliver Phelps, cleared the land
on which Beardstown was situated. He found the
ruins of many huts, and here and there a straggling
house near the river, showing that at one time the vil-
lage extended well in that direction. The Indian
orchard stood near John Perkins’s barn, on the road
from Cuylerville to the bridge, and a single apple-tree,
which survived the destruction by Sullivan’s soldiers
may still be seen there. When planted, this tree was
close to the ferry, as the river then ran. In excavating
for the canal a few Indian bones were discovered, and
several years ago Jacob Clute, on preparing to build
a brick blacksmith shop near the distillery, dug up
the skeletons of half a dozen natives. Tomahawks and
knives, stone arrow-heads and other relics, are still
found about the old village. The Indian burial-
ground was situated a mile south of Cuylerville, on
the farm of Hiram Jones, where a partial examination
of the mounds, near forty years ago, discovered a
large quantity of human bones Soon after the death
of Little Beard, the families began to leave the village
for Tonawanda, the number of occupants gradually
lessening until Beardstown was depopulated, although
the Indian title to the reservation was still unextinguish-
ed.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
89
De-yu'-it-ga'-oh,* known to the whites as Squakie
Hill, was situated on the westerly side of the river,
opposite Mount Morris, and not far from the brow of
the northern bluff terminating with the narrows of the
Genesee. It had ready access to the river, between
which and the hill, lay a broad flat, whose exhaustless
soil, even under the scanty tillage of the Indians,
yielded them corn and other vegetables in profusion.
The reservation embraced two square miles. By 1816
its population had become reduced to about eighty
souls occupying a dozen bark-roofed houses of small
logs, scattered here and there as best suited the own-
er Js notion, though all clustered about the council
house. The latter, located on a level spot of two or
three acres west of the present highway and a few
rods north of Mr. Raymond’s house, was a log building
about 25 feet by 40. Inside, a row of rough seats ex-
tended around the walls for spectators, the center being
reserved for the council-fire. The burial-place lay to
the north-west of the village, a few rods beyond th.e
marsh or flat. Bones and weapons are yet fonpds
and a few years since a silver ear-ring wras picked up,
on the old burial-ground site. There were two houses ,
half way between the village and the corn grounds,
and at the latter place each family had a smaller hut
in which they often lodged while planting and har-
vesting their crops. Few traces remain of Indian oc-
cupancy at Squakie Hill. A part of Thomas Jem-
ison’s log house, located east of the highway, is yet
standing and is still occupied as a dwelling. The or-
chard to the south of the Jemison house, contains;
several apple trees planted by the Senecas, as likewise
* ]^eaning, “ where the valley begins to expand or widen out.” John
Shanks and other Indians say that Squakie Hill was also called Ga-nah-dae
ont-hwah, which means, “ the hemlock was poured outt” meaning the fine ,
leaves.90
IHSTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
were a number of the venerable trees still standing oil
the flats to the east of Squakie Hill, and on the hill
to the south, overlooking the guard-lock.
A knoll just across the stream, south of the cheese-
factory and east of the highway, near Mr. Wil-
lard’s house, was the spot where John Jemison was
killed. The Senecas believed that this medicine man’s
ghost haunted the place. “Friehds,” said the Tall
Chief, “you have killed an Indian in time of peace and
made the wind hear his groans and the earth drink
his blood. If you go into the woods to live alone,
the ghost of Jemison will follow you, crying, Blood!
blood ! and will give you no peace.”*
Samuel Magee was at the village in 1802. Before
entering, he met a score of bareheaded squaws, each
shouldering a hoe, on their way to the corn-patch,
under the lead of one of their number, who, according
to the habit, usually laid out the day’s work. On
reaching the village Magee found a number of young
Indians playing ball, an older set were pitching quoits,
and a group of venerable natives were gravely watch-
ing the games. The shouting and boisterous laughing
of the players obliged Magee to dismount, to the great
mirth of- the Indians, and to lead his scared horse
through the town. Squakie Hill kept its population
longer than any of the other river villages, and was
the scene of their farewell dance, when the natives were
about to quit the Genesee country.
O'-non-da'-ohf was located near the modern village
of Nunda, though Thomas Jemison thinks a couple of
miles nearer the river than the latter town. In this
other Indians agree, but the precise spot is not de-
* Hosmer’s notes.
f Meaning “ where many hills come together,” It will be observed that
the Gilbert Narrative gives the orthography Nundovj, It is also given in
early documents Nundey.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
91
termined. Philip Kenjockety told me, at Versailles,
that a large spring of very cold water supplied the
village, and as he recollected O'-non-da'-oh in early
youth, quite a hundred years ago, it was larger than
Beardstown then was. Previous to the battle of Fort
Stanwix the warriors of O'-non-da'-oh and other Seneca
villages had been invited by the British to come and
see them whip the Yankees. The Indians were not
asked to take part in the fight but to sit down and
smoke their pipes and and look on. “Our Indians,”
said Mary Jemison, “went to a man, but instead of
taking the part of spectators were forced to fight for
their lives, and, in the end, were completely beaten,
and that with great loss in killed and wounded.”*
O'-non-da'-oh shared in the disaster, losing among
others its chieftain, Hoh-sque-sah-oh.f His death was
much deplored. • The distress following their losses
begot a feeling of insecurity and when the warriors
again took the war-path the families composing the
town removed to Beardstown. Kenjockety, who dim-
ly recollected the exodus, followed with his parents.
We find the village again occupied in 1780. In the
spring of that year Joseph Gilbert, a Quaker, with
his parents and family, had been taken captives by
a band of Senecas and Mohawks in Northumber-
land county, Pennsylvania, and carried, with another
pioneer, named Thomas Peart, to Caracadera where
they were treated somewhat roughly. Gilbert was
soon separated from Peart “and removed to Nundow,
almost seven miles distant, where, soon after his arrival
the chief himself brought Joseph some hominy and
otherwise treated him with much civility and kindness
* The Beardstown Indians had 36 killed and a number wounded, it is
not known just how many were lost by the O-non-da-oh village.
f Signifying “ a roan who carries a tomahawk.”92
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
intending to adopt him into his family.7 5 * For several
weeks hevresided with the chief, whose wigwam was
was superior to the huts of the other Indians. He
was then taken back to Caracadera, his weakness of
body, from scanty nourishment being so great that he
was two days in accomplishing the journey of seven
miles.
Peart was also taken to Nundow where he spent the
fall and winter. Gilbert occasionally visited him
there. Gilbert finally escaped to Niagara, and Peart
was carried to the same place by his Indian mother,
where the two captives rejoined their friends.
Ga-da'-ohf was situated on the Genesee river,,
near the great land slide. The reservation originally
embraced 28 square miles, lying on both sides of the
river, the village being on the westerly shore. On the
return of the Senecas to the Genesee, after Sullivan7 s
invasion. Mary Jemison went with others to Beards-
town. Food was scarce there, and the weather by this
time had become cold and stormy. As the houses
had all been burned, she resolved to look out for her-
self elsewhere. Taking two of her children upon her
back and the three others following, she travelled on
foot to Gardow flats. ‘/At that time, two negroes,
*44 Having passed through many difficulties and hardships, they were
brought to a place or town called Caracadera, where they received the insults
of the Indian women and children, whose husbands or parents had fallen in
their hostile excursions, Here Joseph Gilbert was separated from Thomas
Peart, and removed to an Indian town called Nundow, about seven miles
distant. Soon after his arrival here the King himself brought Joseph some
hommony, and otherwise treated him with much civility and kindness; with
intention to adopt him into the family, in the place of one of his sons who
was slain when General Sullivan drove them from their habitations along
the Susquehanna. For several weeks he resided in the family of the Kingj
or Indian Chief, whose wigwam was superior to the huts of the other In-
dians.” (Vide narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Benjamin Gilbert
and his family—Phil. 1848, p. 92, 98.)
f The Senecas name was Kau-iam, meaning “down and up,” or a valley and
hillside, in a word a “ bluff.” The word is now usually spelled Gardow.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
93
who had run away from their masters, were the only
inhabitants of those flats. They lived-in a small cabin
.and had planted and raised a large field of corn, as
yet unharvested. They were in want of help to secure
their crop, and I hired to them. I have laughed a
thousand times to myself when I have thought of the
good old negro who, fearing that I should be injured
by the Indians, stood by me constantly with a loaded
gun, and thereby lost as much labor of his own as he
received from me.”* She thus secured a supply of
samp and cakes for the fearfully cold winter that fol-
lowed. Deciding to take up her residence here, she
occupied a part of the negroes’ cabin and the next
season built a hut for herself. The lands at Gardow
subsequently became hers by formal grant at the Big-
Tree treaty of 1797. f She remained here until 1831,
when she removed to the Buffalo reservation.
Ga-nos'-ga-go occupied the site of the village of
Dansville. It was a small Seneca town, of compara-
tively modern date, and for some cause had ceased to
be occupied as a winter village at the advent of the early
pioneers, though “fifteen or twenty huts were stand-
ing when white settlements commenced, and several
Indian families lingered for some years in the neigh-
borhood. Main street cuts through the Indian
burial ground, which covered two or three acres in-
cluding the site of the Lutheran church. In sinking
wells in the vicinity, a number of Indian relics and
skeletons were exhumed, and about sixteen years ago
workmen engaged in digging a cellar, near the south-
* Life of Mary Jemison.
f It was granted to her by the Indians in consideration of their regard for
her. She gradually sold off portions, and finally parted with the remainder,
consisting of 2 sq. m., to Micah Brooks.
X Conrad Welch’s recollections. See Turner’s Phelps & Gorham, p. 359.
The meaning of the Indian word Ga-nos-ga-go is, “ among the milk-
'weeds.”94
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
erly part of this burial ground, came upon two
skeletons of giant-sized Indians, which lay side by
side. They had evidently long reposed there, some
favoring element in the soil having preserved them
beyond the ordinary limit.
In a battle that took place between the Canisteo
Indians and the Senecas, on a hill three miles to the
north-east, a noted chief of the Senecas was killed.
To mark the spot where he fell, an excavation, several
rods in extent, shaped like a man with arms extended,
was made by his tribesmen.* An Indian trail led by
this novel memorial and the natives in passing were in
the habit of clearing therefrom, with tender regard,
the leaves and brush which the winds had drifted into
it. The chief’s remains were brought to Ga-nos'-ga-
go for burial and, singularly enough, now lie under-
neath the altar of the Lutheran church, a Christian
memorial to a pagan warrior. A rude monument,
consisting of a pile of small stones brought hither,
one by one, by the Indians, from a hill a mile distant,
was worked by the white man’s hands into the church
foundation walls. The Indian trail, which led from
the Genesee to the Canisteo river and thence to eastern
Pennsylvania, may yet in places be traced, especially
at a point half way up Big Hill, where the path inter-
sects the highway leading from Dansville to Hornells-
ville ; and for many miles below the latter place its
deeply worn course is yet plainly visible. Ga-nos'-
ga-go was established after DeNonville’s invasion of
1689. In Pouchot ’ s map, as will be seen, it appears
under the name of Ka-nons-ke-gon, a Frenchman ’ s
mode of indicating in writing the Indian spoken name.
The two trails, passing up either side of the Cana-
* The spot cannot be found, though some of the early tattlers were heard
to speak of the excavation which they had teen.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
95
seraga connected the village with the towns along the
river.
Sho-no'-jo-waah-geh,* occupied both sides of Da-
mon ’ s creek, which runs on the northerly edge of the
village of Mount Morris. The residence of the late
Judge Hastings occupies a portion of the site. The
name signifies Big Kettle ’ s town * and is derived from
the circumstance of General Mills bringing a copper
still or kettle into the place to put into a distillery.
In opening Grove street, hatchets, knives, and beads
were discovered in considerable quantities. Samuel
Magee, who visited the Indian village in 1795, found
the town quite compact, and the natives, who were en-
joying themselves upon the green, very civil. Magee,
then a pioneer youth, and until then holding the red-
man in no little fear, lost his dread and grew fond of
their company. When Jesse Stanley came to Mount
Morris in 1811, an Indian mound, nearly a hundred
feet in diameter and from 8 to 10 feet high, covered the
site of the late General Mills’ residence. The mound
had long been crowned by a great tree, which had re-
cently fallen under the axe, the stump remaining,
though much weather-beaten. Deacon Stanley was
told that when freshly cut it disclosed a hundred and
thirty concentric circles or yearly growths. About
the year 1820, the mound was removed, and, in its re-
moval, arrow-heads, a brass kettle and knives were
thrown out. A number of skeletons were also disin-
terred. Among the bones was a human skeleton of
enormous size, the jaw-bone of which was so large
that Adam Holtslander placed it, mask-like, over his
own chin and jaw, although he was the largest man
in the settlement, and his face was in proportion to
* Literally, Sho-noh-jo-woah, Big Kettle, and gt\ the location or town of
hence “ the town of Big Kettle.” Morgan says that the famous Seneca or-
ator, Big Kettle, once resided here, but this, I am satisfied, is an error.96
■HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the rest of his body. Metal, in the form of rude
medals, a pipe, and other articles, were picked out
of the earth thrown from the excavation. Sho-noh-
jo-waah-geh was generally called Allen’s Hill by
the whites; and the flats directly to the east, culti-
vated by the Indians, they called Allen’s flats deriving
the name from Ebenezer Allan, or Indian Allan, as
he was generally called, the Blue Beard of pioneer
history. This notorious character had acquired own-
ership of a large tract of land where Mount Morris
now stands, occupying for residence, and also for bus-
iness purposes, a long log house that stood within
the bounds of Judge Hastings’ grounds.
Gah'-nyuh-sas, or Conesus, was a small Seneca town,
situated half a mile south of the head of Conesus
lake, on the flat between Henderson’s creek and the
inlet, though nearer the former than the latter stream.
Sullivan ’ s invading army breakfasted at this village
on the morning of the 13th of September, 1779, and
there spent the earlier half of that day. They found
it to consist of twenty-five houses, and the surround-
ing bottom lands covered with patches of corn, ripen-
ing melons, and squash and beans. Close at hand
was an orchard of apple and peach trees. The army,
with the exception of the light corps, which encamped
a mile in advance, had bivouacked on Richardson’s
farm at a late hour the previous evening. After
marching all the afternoon through drizzling rain and
over muddy paths, a scanty supper and short supply
of water, added to damp garments, had not rendered
the night one of comfort, and the men were glad
enough to move forward at early dawn to a spot which,
like this, promised bountiful rations of seasonable
vegetables, good water and an opportunity to dry
their clothing by the heat of the burning cabins of the
little town. Arms were also to be examined and pre-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
97
pared for use against the enemy who were expected
to be found gathered in force near their villages,
which lay at no great distance beyond the brow of the
wooded hills that were in full sight to the westward
of Gah-nyuh-sas. Sullivan says in his report, “Here
we found some large cornfields, which part of the army
destroyed while the other part were employed in
building the bridge” across the inlet. The town
“had lately been under the command of a boM and
enterprising negro named Captain Sunfish,” (as Ser-
geant-Major Grant, who accompanied the expedition
states in his diary,) and showed traces of recent occu-
pancy. When the army broke camp to move over
the temporary bridge, cabins, crops and orchards had
disappeared. The destruction of every species of
property had been effected under the eye of Sullivan
himself and was complete. The Indian village was
never rebuilt. The Senecas have a tradition that a
fort belonging to their tribe, once occupied the site of
this town, but I am satisfied that this has reference
to the fortified place near Bosley’s Mills. Its name is
derived from the abundance of sheep-berries which
formerly grew on the western border of the lake. *
Pouchot gives the name Oniotade.
Dyu-hah-gaihf was the village of the Oneida In-
dians. It will be recollected that the Oneidas, as a
tribe, took sides with the colonists in the Revolution-
ary struggle. A few families, however, clung to the
* See appendix to Marshall’s Expedition of DeNonviUe. Sullivan gives the
orthography of Conesus thus—Kaneghsaws; Col. Hubley spells i% Kanaghsas
and Major Norris, of the New Hampshire regiment, gives it Kaneysas or
Yucksca. The name is also said to be derived from the old scoop-net-fishing-
ground at the outlet of the lake, but this would apply to the old fortified
place near Bosley’s or Olmsted’s Mills.
f Meaning “ the stream or current devours it,” that is, the bank. There
is some uncertainty as to the correctness of this name when applied to this vil-
lage, though I am assured it was so called.98
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
British cause. Of the latter, a portion removed to the
Genesee, retreating thence to Niagara at the approach
of Sullivan. When the Senecas returned, a remnant
of the Oneidas, consisting of 15 or 20 families, also
came back and established their homes on the easterly
side of the river, a mile below North’s mill. Near
the site of their village, the river banks are quite bold.
The Oneida youth were expert swimmers and often
astonished the pioneers by their daring leaps into the
water. Charles Shackleton said they could dive as
deep and stay as long beneath the surface as a fish.
The spot became quite noted as a bathing-place, and,
on a warm afternoon, the river was frequently alive
with their black heads. The whites were on good
terms with them, and often visited the ground to play
ball with the natives. The Senecas of the upper vil-
lages imagined that the Oneida town harbored two or
three witches, and about the year 1800, one of the sus-
pected squaws was secured and taken to Beardstown,
where, it is said, she was burned. This village was
the occasional residence of two or three of the more
noted Seneca wise men. It was among the first to be
abandoned after the treaties.
Jo-nis-hi-yuh* must have been located near the
modern village of Geneseo. Our information respect-
ing it is quite too vague to satisfy the geographer, but
varying traditions unite in ‘fixing its site in proximity
to the Mammoth Spring, as it is sometimes called, east
of Temple Hill street. General Ely Parker, whose
intimate, acquaintance with Seneca legends has, in
* The Jesuits call it Ghenussio. The full name in Seneca is De-gah-chi-nos-
hi-yooh, meaning Beautiful Valley, and was named, according to some, from an
exclamation made after the first Big Tree treaty wag concluded, as they rose
to depart. John Shanks says that this particular name belonged to a place
six miles from the village of Geneseo. Geneseo was known to the Indians
in later times as Oh-ha-daih, or “ burnt trees,” that is, girdled trees.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUJfTY.
99
many ways, served the historian, refers to a tradition
which confers upon this town the distinction of hold-
ing, for a brief period, the council-fire of the Senecas.
Pouchot’s map locates the town and gives the name
as Sonnechio.* The Seneca name signifies “ the beau-
tiful valley,” and had reference to the immediate
country looking westward, rather than to the particu-
lar spot. In this sense I conceive that no designation
could be more appropriate. Sullivan makes no refer-
ence to this village in his report, although Pouchot
makes special mention of it a score of years earlier.
It should be remarked, however, that Sullivan crossed
the river four miles higher up, near Hampton, the res-
idence of the late Colonel Fitzhugh ; hence he might
easily have been ignorant of its existence even if it
were then occupied. It is quite likely, however, that
it had ceased to be used as a winter abode and
was held, if at all, as a hunting lodge or temporary
autumn home for roving bands. It was near this vil-
lage that both Schoolcraft and Cusick fix the place of
the bloody battle between the Kah-kwas, who had
been sent into the Seneca country by their female
chief, and the latter tribe.
Gaw-she-gweh-oh f was located at the confluence of
the creek and river, near Allen’s tavern or Williams-
burg, on the farm of Colonel Abell. A small grove,
standing between the site of the old tavern and the
Fitzhugh mansion, marked, as is believed, the location
* Pronounced as if written Son-ne-she-o, or Shon-ne-she-o. The name ap-
appears in the Colonial Documents of the State in a great variety of ways..
f Samuel Magee gave the name as Utahuian. An old Seneca, Samuel Wil-
son, who was raised on the Genesee and is yet (1869) living, says Gaw-she-
gweh means a spear, and that O-she-gwch-ont means rattlesnake. When the
place was first occupied by the Indians, the point, at the* confluence of the
Genesee and the Canaseraga creek, abounded with rattlesnakes. They would
lay curled up on the point, basking on sun-shiny days, from which fact the
town took its name.100
XIIsfOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of this village. Colonel William Jones recollected vis-
iting the spot when about ten years of age, and could
then trace the remains of eight or ten Indian huts.
It was here that Boyd and Murphy, with a little scout-
ing-party, spent the latter part of the Sunday night
previous to the ambuscade next day near the head of
Conesus lake ; and it was at this village, that Murphy
shot and scalped the young Seneca brave, whose com-
panion, taking the alarm, was enabled to escape to
Beardstown, carrying the intelligence that the Yan-
kees were reconnoitering so close at hand ; a fact which
induced Boyd to attempt the fatal experiment of re-
turning to the army by daylight though forests
swarming with the enemy. It was here, too, that Sul-
livan, with his staff-officers and the larger part of his
army, spent the night of the 13th of September, 1779,
whence they departed next day to destroy Beardstown
and other native villages along the line of the river.
Samuel Magee said that from the town square, as
originally laid out, to the river, was a bout eighty rods,
and that, about half way between the square and
river, was quite a large Indian burial ground. In
1806 a number of the Indian graves were opened and
rifled of brass-kettles, tomahawks, and other property
usually buried with the dead. The perpetrators es-
caped, though some effort was made to detect them.
Agriculture has long claimed the spot, and the surface
now presents no evidence of aboriginal occupancy,
though occasionally articles of Indian handiwork are
found in breaking up the soil.
Sga-his-ga-aah was a modern Seneca town occupy-
ing the site of the present village of Lima. The name
signifies, “ it was a long creek,'5 and had reference to
the stream which flows at the foot of the ridge where-
on the Indian town was located and which leads toHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
XV-
one of the tributaries of Honeoye creek.* The im-
portance of Sga-his-ga-aah consisted mainly in its
convenience as a halting-place between the Indian
village at Caledonia spring and that which lay near
Geneva, on the line of the great central trail connect-
ing the Hudson and the Niagara rivers. The village
had entirely disappeared in 1797, when Matthew War-
ner came to the Genesee country. A dozen years ago
Franklin Carter found traces of live lodges, in plow-
ing his orchard lot, situated on the easterly slope of
the ridge. The lodges appeared to have stood a
couple of rods apart, fronting on a straight line.f
Evidences of a large aboriginal population here have,
from time to time, appeared. The Indian burial
ground, must have been quite extensive, as we may
judge by the portions of it that have been disturbed
by the plow and spade. Miles Bristol, in the first two
years plowing of his orchard lot in early days, found
Indian axes in such quantities that their sale more
than covered the cost of tillage; and William A. Bris-
tol has, on different occasions, found in the same lot,
situated upon this ridge back of his residence, a num-
ber of Indian skulls and bones ; full fifty brass kettles,
the bottoms of which were generally rusted out ;
pipes, with the bowls ornamented by such devices
as the human face and the heads of deer and other
* This ridge runs east and west, parallel with Main street. The central
portion of the Indian town was a few rods south of the American Hotel,
fThe precise spot, where the remains of these lodges was found, is about
twenty-five rods to the rear of the American Hotel. Morgan, in his “ League
of the Iroquois,” gives an engraving of an Indian pipe found at Lima. It
was of black pottery, well finished, and nearly as hard as marble. Col.
Geo. Smith was in Lima in 1798. There "were then traces of an old fortifi-
cation on the ridge where the Indian village had been located, the west end of
the ditch crossing the present highway on the ridge, a short distance west
of the centre of the modern village, .and remained visible for some years
after 1798.102
HISTORY OF LIYINGSTOH COUNTY.
animals ; beads and arrow-heads, and several quarts
of parched corn and beans. Many years ago, when the
yard in front of the Presbyterian church was graded,
Indian skeletons were discovered by the hundred, as
reported by those who then saw them. Ten or twelve
years since an excavation was made at the corner of
Main and Rochester streets, which exposed the bones
of a number of aborigines and articles usually found
buried with them. The spot originally belonged to
the church lot, and it is a coincidence worthy of men-
tion that the Indian burial grounds at Dansville and
two or three other places in the county, are occu-
pied by Christian churches as cemeteries for white
men. Another, though smaller Indian burial ground
is known to exist about one mile north of the village
of Lima, where hatchets, knives and other weapons
are occasionally found side by side with skeletons.
In 1822 citizens discovered remains of Indians here, in
a sitting posture, with earthen pots in their laps filled
with corn and bones of squirrels. About the same
period large trees, which grew over Indian graves,
were cut away. Sullivan makes no mention of Sga-
his-ga-aah, and, most likely, he was unaware of such
a town, which, if then a winter habitation, had already
been deserted for safety, the families probably unit-
ing with those of Beardstown or Canawaugus as was
the case with many Seneca towns lying east of the
river.
Ga-non'-da-seeh was a favorite place of resort for
the Indians in the season of pigeon-shooting. The
name signifies “New Town,” and was located near
the modern hamlet of Moscow, though never used for
winter occupancy.
The site of Deo-wes-ta is known to the whites as
Portageville. It lay upon the neck of land on the
easterly side of the river between Portageville and theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
103
lower falls.
At or near the site of the present village of East
Avon, was located a modern Seneca town called Gah-
ni'-gah-dot, which signifies “the pestle stands there.”
It would be quite impossible to embrace, in a single
chapter, every spot associated with Indian occupan-
cy, for there is scarcely any portion of the county
where traces of aboriginal villages or burial places of
the red-men, have not been found. Oftentimes these
consist of mounds of inconsiderable extent, or are the
remains of temporary villages only. I have sought
to preserve, with some particularity, a record of the
places which belong to history. An instance of the
many minor relics of Indian abode is found near the
village of Geneseo. Within a narrow circuit a mile
west of the village, three small mounds may yet be
traced, one of which occurs about forty rods south-
west of the Big-tree farm. This is three feet in height
and near twenty-five feet across ; underneath a great
oak, close by the dairy-house on Mr. Wadsworth’s
dairy-farm, is a second, somewhat smaller in diameter,
and about half as high as the former ; and, near the
Jones bridge, on the easterly side of the river, is a
third. When the railroad was being constructed, the
skeletons of four Indians were exhumed from the lat-
ter. These spots are venerated by the Senecas, who,
up to a recent day, were in the habit of visiting them
and spending hours in mourning over the ashes of
their dead there buried. General James S. Wads-
worth met every suggestion to have the mounds level-
ed, with a peremptory refusal, ‘ ‘ Let the dead rest, ’ ’ he
would say, and the same regard continues to be ob-
served. Strangely, indeed, is the dust of the red man
and the white being mingled in our midst.CHAPTER V.
INDIAN NOTABLES.
Many leading names among the sachems, warriors
and wise men of the Senecas are more or less intimately
associated with this region, and other persons, well
known to the pioneers, whose career was identified
with the Indians here, claim mention in these pages.
Red Jacket, Sa-go-ye-wat-hah,* lived, fora time, on
the Ewing place, just south of Fall Brook and half a
mile east of the Genesee. His relations with tribes-
men along the river were intimate and his visits here
frequent and prolonged. His sagacity and wisdom are
as well known as his great oratorical gifts. In these
respects, this noted chieftain had no superior among
the best of his race. He was not a warrior, though he
led a company of Senecas against the British in the
war of 1812 ; but he was a negotiator, the diplomat of
his nation. Toward the close of life he became intem-
perate. On one occasion, the government having
business with the Indians, sent an agent to Buffalo,
who there met Red Jacket as the representative of the
Senecas. The day fixed upon came, but the chief
failed to put in an appearance. Horatio Jones, who
* Red Jacket’s Indian name signifies, ‘‘ He keeps them awake,” in allusion
to his stirring eloquence. His Yankee name was thus obtained: In his
younger days he was very swift of foot, and was often suffered by British
officers engaged in the trader service, to carry messages of importance. One
of these, as a reward, gave him a richly embroidered scarlet jacket which
he wore with great pride. When the first one was worn out another -was
given him, and, as he always appeared thus arrayed, the name followed
quite naturally.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
105
was to act as interpreter, after a long search, found
him in a low tavern quite drank. The porter, who
was about shutting up the house for the night, was
preparing to put him out of doors when Jones inter-
posed. As soon as the effects of the liquor were slept
off, the chief wanted more, but was denied. He was
reminded of his neglect of the public business, and of
the regret liis course must cause the President. Red
Jacket’s under lip dropped for a moment, a peculiar-
ity of his when annoyed ; then, raising himself in his
stately way, lie said, with a motion of his hand as if
to wave off the reproach, “all will blow over, I
guess.” In a quarrel at Canandaigua in early days,
an Indian killed a white man. A rising young lawyer,
whose subsequent business career was a distinguished
one, conducted the prosecution, Red Jacket the de-
fence. In his appeal to the jury, the orator of nature
rose to high eloquence, and, though speaking through
an interpreter, jury, court, and spectators were all won
to his cause. Captain Jones said it was quite impossi-
ble for him to preserve the full force and beauty of this
address. The opposing advocate never again appeared
at the bar, for, said he, “if a heathen red-skin’s voice
can so bewitch men’s reason, what call is there for
either argument or law.” Red Jacket obstinately re-
fused to use the English language, and was a pagan in
religion, manifesting, through life, an unyielding hos-
tility to the efforts of missionaries to christianize his
people. Thatcher says a young clergyman once made
a zealous effort to enlighten the chief in spiritual mat-
ters. He listened attentively. When it came his turn,
he said, “ If you white people murdered the Saviour,
make it up for yourselves. We had nothing to do
with it. Had he come among us we should have treated
him better.” He retained his prejudice against the
Christian religion down to a short time before his death,106	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
when, it is believed, his views underwent a radical
change, and he died in the faith and was buried with
Christian rites. Dining one day at Horatio Jones ’ s,
Red Jacket emptied a cup of salt into his tea, mistak-
ing it for sugar. The mistake passed without remark,
though not unnoticed by the guests. The chief, how-
ever, coolly stirred the beverage until the salt was
dissolved and then swallowed the whole in his own
imperturable way, giving not the least sign that it was
otherwise than palatable. Red Jacket was not suffi-
ciently identified with this region to justify a formal
sketch of him here, but it will not be out of place to
refer to the fate that awaited his bones. At death, his
remains were buried in the Indian grounds on Buffalo
creek, a simple marble slab marking the spot. By de-
grees, relic hunters had clipped away the memorial
stone until little or nothing remained to indicate the
resting place of the famous chieftain. At length an
unauthorized person of his own race* exhumed his
bones and carried them to Buffalo. A Seneca, who
chanced then to be in the city, took possession and car-
ried them to the Cattaraugus reservation to a female
relative of Red Jacket’s, who placed them in a pine
chest under her bed. Thus far the friends have de-
clined to surrender them to the Buffalo Historical
Society, who have secured a spot in the beautiful
cemetery near that city for the interment of several
noted Senecas, and design, when all are gathered, to
erect an elegant memorial over their remains, f
* George Copway, an Indian, who lectured through the country a few
years ago.
f The money has been raised and the Society only await the action of the
friends of Red Jacket. The remains of Major Jack Berry, Captain Pollard,
Big Kettle and certain other Senecas, will be transferred to the spot for rein-
terment. In a visit to Cattaraugus reservation in August, 1869,1 saw Daniel
Two-Guns, a venerable Seneca, who is the step-son of Red Jacket. He
said, through an interpreter, that just before Red Jacicet’s death, the latter
requested Two-Guns to take charge of his remains, which he did as above
stated. I asked where the bones then were. “ That must remain a secret,’'
said Two-Guns. Red Jacket died January 20, 1832.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
107
Cornplanter, Ga-yant-hwah-geh, * was a leading chief-
tain and one of the wisest and best of Seneca notables.
As a councilor, indeed, none of his race was better
esteemed. Canawaugus, near Avon, had the honor of
being his birth-place; though, in after years, he usually
resided on the Alleghany river, yet he remained closely
identified through life, by consanguinity and other-
wise, with the Indians of the Genesee. He was partly
white. The Indian boys early took notice that his
skin was more fair than theirs. He named the matter
to his mother, who told him that his father was a white
trader named Abell, or O ’ Bale, who lived near Albany, f
After growing up, he sought out his father and made
himself known. The father gave him victuals to eat
at his house, but “ no provisions on the way home.”
4 He gave me neither kettle nor gun, nor did he tell me
that the United States were about to rebel against
Great Britain,” said the much offended half-blood. %
Cornplanter was among the first to adopt the white
man’s costume, and in latter years, might easily have
been mistaken for a well-to-do farmer. He was of me-
dium height, inclining to corpulency, though late in
life he became quite thin in person; was easy in man-
ners and correct in morals. His face was expressive
and his eye dark and penetrating. He ranked above
Red Jacket as a warrior and was little inferior to him
as an orator. He was at Braddock’s defeat, where
Washington, then a colonial major, first distinguished
himself. He took part against the colonies in the Rev-
olution, and, after the close of the war down to
* Meaning “ in. or at the planted field.”
f Old John O’Ball, or O’Bale, in his younger days, frequently passed
through the Indian settlements, and in one of his excursions had become
enamoured with a squaw, by whom he had a son that was called Corn-
planter.—Life of Mary Jemison.
X Cornplanter’s letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, in 1822.108
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Wayne’s victory in 1794, liis attitude was at times
quite equivocal. He held the original papers and
treaties of the Senecas, which he often carried about
with him in a pair of saddle-bags, to silence disputes
or to assert the rights of his people. On one occasion
Red Jacket was boasting of what he had said at cer-
tain treaties, when Cornplanter quietly added, “Yes,
but we told you what to say.” He was a man singu-
larly upright in all relations. Horatio Jones said,
4 4 he was one of the best of men to have on your side,
and there you would be sure to find him if he thought
yours the right side, but it was deucedly unlucky if
he thought you wrong.” He was much older than
Red Jacket and looked, with pardonable jealousy,
upon that rising young orator.
Henry O ’Bale, Gras-so-wah-doh, * was a son of Corn-
planter and was also born at Canawaugus. He was
generally addressed as Major O ’Bale. In person he
was a portly and fine looking, and his manners were
not without polish. He was placed at school in New.
Jersey by Benjamin Bouton, and graduated at Dart-
mouth college. He was somewhat boastful of his
courage. In early times, while at the Mansion house
in Avon, some question arose one day between him and
Doctor Ensworth. O ’Bale was told that nothing short
of a duel would adjust the matter. The ground was
paced off, and principals and seconds took their places.
Word was given and O’Bale fired. The Doctor re-
served his charge and walking close up to his opponent
fired point blank at his heart. O’Bale, supposing
himself shot, fell into the arms of his second, but
recovered on learning that the pistols had been loaded
with blank charges, a fact of which the Doctor had
been duly apprised. While not wanting in honesty,
* Meaning “Wampum memorial belt.” He was also called Gah-soh-yo-wa.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
109
0 ’ Bale’s business transactions were not always marked
by tliat scrupulous promptitude so agreeable to early
merchants. Colonel Lyman had trusted O’Bale for
goods and went down to Canawaugus to remind him
that the debt was past due. “Oh, yes,” said the
Major, “I will pay you at once. Mr. Hosmer owes
me. You know him of course, and I’ll goto him and
get the money.” He went, but forgot to return, and,
after two or three similar attempts, the debt was carried
to loss account. Of his advantages of parentage and
education the Major did not fully avail himself. He
was fond of the Genesee country and was one of the
last of the natives to quit this region.
Handsome Lake, Ga-nyu-da-i-yuh, the Peace Proph-
et, was a half-brother of Cornplanter, as already stated.*
He stood high with his people both as a medicine-man
and a spiritual guide. Mr. Horsford was told of a
young Indian girl of Squakie Hill, who was cured by
him of a dangerous illness. All remedies failing, the
friends despatched a runner to the Prophet, with the
clothes of the afflicted squaw. He took them, laid a
handful of tobacco upon the fire, and, as it burned,
offered an address to the Great Spirit. After a mo-
ment’s silence he observed, looking at the clothes,
“This affliction is a punishment to her for wickedly
drowning a nest of young robins, and, a few hours later,
for repeating the offence. Two young deer must be
killed—a yearling buck and yearling doe—the whole
of both must be boiled at once and the entire village
be called to the feast, and then to dance.” Some days
were spent in finding the deer, when the directions of
the Prophet were complied with, and the girl recovered
at once. In person the Prophet was of medium size,
* The Indian name means “beautiful lake.” The name of this Prophet of
^modern paganism is sometimes written Ga-ne-o-di-yo. ^110
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of goodly presence, and of modest and quiet demeanor.
Little Beard, Si-gwa-ah-doh-gwih, * resided at the
town to which he gave his name. He was noted both as
a warrior and councilor, and for great firmness and zeal,
and, though not an orator, was a fluent talker. Phys-
ically, he was a favorable specimen of the Indian chief-
tain, rather below the medium size, yet straight and
firm. In faith a pagan, he always awarded respectful
attention to the views of Christian teachers. Border
annals show how fierce his nature was, yet, after the
Revolution, he proved friendly to the pioneers and was
esteemed by them for his good faith. No Indian was
better informed, none more sociable than he, and with
none could an hour be more profitably spent.
He conversed with good sense on the events of the col-
onial wars, and the future of his race, and though it is
a fact well established that he not only consented to
the death of the scouts, Boyd and Parker, and quite
likely suggested the exquisite tortures to which these
devoted soldiers were subjected, yet, it must be recol-
lected, he was chief of the village menaced by Sulli-
van’s army. Moreover, he took these two men in the
act of securing information that would enable the
American General to march directly to the destruc-
tion of his peoples’ homes, possibly to put to death
any of them who chanced to fall into his hands, facts
which serve to mitigate, perhaps, though by no means
to excuse this act of almost unparalleled barbarity.
In a drunken quarrel at the old Stimson tavern in
Leicester, in 1806, Little Beard was thrown from the
outer door, and, falling upon the steps, received an in-
jury from which, as he was advanced in years, he
shortly died. The great eclipse, which occurred soon
after his death, filled the Indians with superstitious*
* Meaning “ Spea£ hanging down,” compounded of Gak-si-gwaah, spear,
and Oh-saah-doh, it hangs down.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Ill
fears. The manner of his taking off could not but give
him offence, the natives thought, and they imagined he
was about to darken the sun, so that their corn could
not grow. The hunters assembled and shot arrows and
bullets at the obscured luminary, while others screamed,
shouted, and drummed, until the brightness was fully
restored.
Tall Chief, A-wa-nis-ha-dek-hah,* lived alternately
at Squakie Hill and at a group of five huts known as
Tall Chiefs Village, located across the river, on Mur-
ray- s hill, near Mt. Morris. The spring whence he got
his supply of water, is in use and still bears his name,
and a bed of tansey, planted by him, still flourishes
near the site of his lodge. Tall Chief was favored by
nature with more than ordinary grace of person. He
is said to have resembled Henry Clay in demeanor.
Straight as an arrow and quite senatorial in de-
portment, he was always cool and self-possessed. An
Indian of his village had killed a companion. Be-
lieving that Tall Chief could aid in securing the guilty
man, the authorities at once informed him of the deed,
but he did nothing. They at length urged him to
act. 4'Yes,” said he, “may be, bime-by, somebody
ketch um, kill urn, may be, can’t say.” But he per-
performed better than he promised, and the culprit
was duly secured and handed over. Tall Chief’s
name appears to the Big Tree treaty, and is otherwise
associated with the business affairs of his nation.
The pioneers recollect him with peculiar interest. His
habits, some of them at least, showed the freedom of
forest birth. Colonel Lyman, having an errand with
him one warm day, called at his hut. The squaws of
his household were found sitting on the ground,
enjoying the shade of a great tree. On asking for
''‘Meaning, “Burning day.” Also spelled thus: Ou-nea-shat-ai-lcau.112
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the chief they pointed to another tree, near at hand,
where he was seen lying upon his back quite naked,
barring a cloth about the loins. The visitor was
graciously received, though the chief did not offer to
rise. After the object of the call was effected, he
politely invited the Colonel to remain for a visit. The
females exhibited no surprise, though the visitor was
inclined to regard the chief’s attitude as somewhat odd
for a personage of his consequence. Tall Chief dined
with Washington on the occasion of a visit of a depu-
tation of his nation, sent to smoke the peace pipe with
the President, After a ceremonious dinner a big pipe
was lighted and Washington tried unsuccessfully to
draw the smoke through the long stem. He handed
it to Horatio Jones, who succeeded better. The Presi-
dent then took a whiff, and passed the pipe to Tall
Chief, to whom he paid marked attention, and then to
each in turn. The dignified Seneca was always proud
of referring to this occasion. He possessed the secret
Indian remedy for the rattle-snake’s bite, and was
often sent for, far and near, to apply it, and usually
with signal success. In 1828, Tall Chief removed to
Tonawanda, where he died not long afterward.
Straight-back, so named because of his erect walk
and stately manner, was a son of Tall Chief, and
seems to have acquired no little of the respect held by
the whites for his father. William Tall Chief,'* was
another son. Both were born at Squakie Hill. His
personal appearance was quite striking, of “splendid
physique,” says one who knew him. He was a man
of integrity, but more noted as a hunter than a coun-
cilor. In 1846, William went to Kansas with a pa.rty
*His Indian name was Ho-is-da-geh-tliet, meaning, “lie carries the medal,”
a name giVen him on account of the pride ho took in wearing a medal. I
saw his wido# and her grown-up family in 1865, and readily own that the
grace of their male progenitors had been transmitted.HISTORY OF LIVIHGSTOjN' COUNTY.
113
of Senecas, to settle upon the lands there set apart for
the New York Indians. On their way thither, several
of the band contracted ship-fever on board a Missouri
river steam boat, and nearly fifty fell victims to the
disease. Dissatisfied with the country, William set
out to return, but died on the way, of consumption
and was buried at Beaver, Ohio. No stone marks his
resting-place. We, saw his widow, who was a grand-
daughter of the White woman, and her grown-up
children, in the fall of 1865. They were possessed of
striking personal appearance and seemed greatly in-
terested in hearing about the former home of their
relatives on the Genesee, recollecting much that
had been told them of early days hereabouts. The
beauty of Conesus lake, and the fertility of the Mount
Morris flats, were facts that seemed to dwell most
freshly in their memories.
Big Tree, Ga-on-dah-go-waah/ * was a useful friend
of the American cause in the Revolution, and a lead-
ing adviser in all treaties and councils of the Senecas.
He resided many years at Big Tree village,! which
took his name. In person he was grave and dignified.
In the summer of 1778, Washington sent Big Tree to
the towns of his tribe along the Genesee, in the hope
that his personal influence and eloquence might win
the Senecas to the cause of the colonies. He found
the villages of Kanadaseaga! and Little Beardstown,
“crowded with warriors from remote tribes. The
Senecas at first seemed inclined to hearken to his
wishes, but learning by a spy that the Americans were
about to invade their country, all flew to arms, and
Big Tree put himself at their head, 6 determined,’ as
* Sometimes called Great Tree. The name signifies “ Large tree, lying
down.”
f On the farm of Eason P.. Slocum, in Leicester.
t The Indian village situated near Geneva.114
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
he said, ‘ to chastise an enemy that would presume to
encroach upon his people’s territory.’ ” His mission
proving unsuccessful, he returned to the continental
army. At a meeting of the commissioners of Indian
affairs held in Albany in March, 1787, Big Tree and
four other Indian chiefs represented that nation, and,
in the same year, his name was affixed to the famous
John Livingston lease, a document forming a part of
a grand scheme to secure all the Indian lands in the
state. The constitution of 1777 forbade the sale of
Indian lands, but by securing a lease for nine hundred
and ninety-nine years, as was the purpose of the con-
trivers, the inhibition was to be avoided. The lessees,
known by their title of The New York Genesee Com-
pany of Adventurers, numbered eighty persons, among
whom were several members of the legislature, county
officers and leading citizens. Their plan, though long
maturing, was doomed to total failure, and the project
holds no enviable place in history.* Little Beard and
Hot Bread were also signers of the lease, as indeed
were many others of the Iroquois leaders. The legis-
lature must needs pass upon the lease. But here its
design was readily penetrated and its summary re-
jection followed. John Livingston himself, and two
other partners in the company, held seats in the
*It is quite likely the movers in this scheme had something in view
beyond the possession of the land. In November, 1^93, James Wadsworth
and Oliver Phelps each received a circular letter, signed by John Livingston
and Dr.Caleb Benton, as officers of a convention purporting to have been held
at Geneva, proposing a plan of organizing the counties of Otsego, Tioga,
Herkimer and Ontario, then comprising the whole of central and western
New York, into an independent State. But this daring attempt at revolu-
tion was met in the true spirit of patriotism. A meeting was held at Can-
andaigua to denounce it. As it found little or no favor it was abandoned.
(See Turner’s, Phelps', & Gorham's and Hough’s Indian Treaties, for a full
account.HISTORY OF LIVINUSTON COUNTY.
115
Assembly, and one had a seat in the Senate.* In 1788
Big Tree was invited by Governor Clinton to attend a
council at Fort Stanwix, and in the following year, he,
together with Brant, Little Beard and Hot Bread
addressed a letter to the Governor, forcibly presenting
their grievances. In December, 1790, a large depu-
tation, consisting, among others, of Big Tree, Corn-
planter and Half Town, visited Washington, at Phil-
adelphia, and presented him with an address which
has been preserved as a fine specimen of Indian
eloquence.! In 1791 the legislature of Pennsylvania
granted to Big Tree a patent to an island in the Alle-
ghany river for a home, but his death occurred before
he took formal possession of it. He lamented the dis-
aster to St. Clair’s army in the Miami expedition, and
especially, the brutal treatment received by General
Richard Butler, who was scalped and tomahawked
while he lay wounded and bleeding. The Senecas
hereabouts never forgave the deed, and Big Tree was
heard to say that “he would have two Miami scalps
in revenge for this cowardly act.” While in Phila-
delphia, in 1792, with a large delegation of chiefs and
warriors of the Six nations, he fell sick at his lodgings
and died after a few hours illness, of surfeit, a victim,
says Turner, to the excessive hospitality extended to
the delegation, and was buried the following Sunday
with something like public honors. 4:
A son of Big Tree was quite noted as a runner and
* The Legislature afterwards granted the company a tract ten miles square
in Clinton Co., in lieu of their great expectations. The lease bore date Nov.
30, im.
f It opens thus: “ Father, the voice of the Seneca nation speaks to you,
the great councilor in whose heart the wise men of all the thirteen fires
(or states) have placed their wisdom. It may be very small in your eyes
and we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention, for we are able to
speak of things which to us are very great.
^Big Tree was buried April 22, 1792.116
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON • COUNTY.
wrestler. Colonel William Jones often wrestled with
him, and being somewhat younger and less muscular,
generally found himself undermost at the end of the
scuffle. At one of the early-day gatherings, the Indian,
as usual, challenged him. This time Jones managed
to throw the native, who was greatly offended, and
jumping up, drew from his belt a little tomahawk
which he usually carried. This he raised and aimed
at his antagonist. The by-standers were excited, but
Jones, who remained cool, taunted him with coward-
ice for threatening to strike an unarmed man who had
always till now been unlucky in these bouts. The
Indian save that he was wrong, and, dropping his.
weapon, stepped forward to Jones and grasped him
by the hand. The two continued attached friends,
though neither ever renewed the challenge.
Black Chief, Tha-on-dah-diis,* resided at Squakie
Hill where he died. His swarthy complexion pro-
cured him his English name. He signalized himself
in war as well as in peace, and enjoyed, in a large
degree, the confidence and respect of his people. He
had four sons of giant size, one of whom was called
Jim Washington. JJlack Chief is recollected by the
younger portion of early settlers as sedate and taci-
turn. “All my ideas of savage barbarity,” says one,
“ were expressed in a single look of his.” He had an
only daughter, whose generous nature and unusual
grace of person made her a great favorite. After her
father’s death the tribe paid her peculiar honor. The
Squakie Hill Indians held to a superstition that dur-
ing her life-time, the Iroquois would regain their
ancient place among the nations ; hence, no kindness
toward her was omitted. Her path was often literally
strewn with flowers, and the finest venison and rarest
* Meaning, “ Long tree, or log.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
117
fruits found their way to lier hut. A pestilence
passed over the villages, and many died, but so long
as she remained unharmed, the natives could bear
their personal afflictions with resignation. The plague
at length died away, and general health returned.
But now, she sickened, and, although the wisest med-
icine men, even the Prophet himself, exerted their
best powers, she died. The light that had been so
beautiful in their eyes went out. Grief, for many days
filled the villages, and all that affection could suggest
was done to indicate their sorrow. Her remains were
carried to a platform in a fine grove and placed in a
sitting posture. The rose and myrtle were scattered
about the funeral couch, and corn in the ear, mint and
costly furs, were hung around the lifeless form or
decorated her place of burial. Fires were lighted at
night and watchers relieved each other at all hours.
When it was no longer possible to keep her from
interment, she was buried with every mark of regret.
The quick fancy of ths Indians seems to have invested
this girl with more than mortal purity and sweetness.
Jack Berry, or Major Berry, as he was usually
called, lived at Squakie Hill until he removed to the
Buffalo reservation. His father was a white trader
residing near Avon, and the Major was in the habit
of referring to his white relatives as father, uncle, or
cousin, as the case might be. He spoke the English
language- fluently, and often acted as interpreter
for Red Jacket, on one occasion accompanying that
chieftain to Washington in this capacity. He had a
peculiar way of prefacing and clinching every sentence
of the great orator’s speeches, thus, “Jacket says,”
then, interpreting his words he would end with, “that’s
what Jacket says.” He was somewhat consequential
and proud of his importance among the Indians, but
proved, on many occasions, a useful friend of the118
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
whites. It is said he dropped a hint to Horatio Jones
just before the latter ran the gauntlet as a prisoner at
Portage Falls, a hint which saved him many a blow
from the savages’ clubs. In person he was rather
short and thick set. His house at Squakie Hill had a
chimney and floor, conveniences possessed by but one
other, and the wife of Thomas Jemison, the senior,
bought the house of Berry when he went to Buffalo.
He was somewhat given to his cups but under all cir-
cumstances preserved his self-respect. *
Captain Pollard, Gra-on-do-wah-neh, f lived at Big
Tree village. His mother was a Seneca squaw, and
his father an English trader, whose name he took, and
identified it with Indian affairs and their domestic
matters of this region. He had great weight in coun-
cils. His judgment was sound and his oratorical
powers scarcely inferior to the best of his race. He
was pitted against Bed Jacket in a memorable trial in
Buffalo, in which Tommy Jimmey was charged with
killing a squaw; and, judging from the effect upon
the Indians assembled, was more successful than Red
Jacket. “He was one of the most honest, pure-
minded, worthy men I ever knew, white or red,” says
Hon. Orlando Allen.J Horatio Jones said, “morally
speaking, Pollard was as good a man as any white
minister that ever lived.” Some thirty-five years ago
Thomas Jemison was in Washington with a party of
of natives. Pollard and Captain Jones were both
there. The latter, one night at the hotel, said to
Pollard, “lout ran you, I think, some years ago.”
“Oh, yes,” responded the chief, good naturedly,
1 ‘ but I have often wanted to try it over again, and
you were never quite ready. ’ ’ Captain Jones laughed
* He died in the winter of 1838-9, most probably.
f Meaning, “Big Tree.”
X In a letter to the author.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
119
and said no more. In person lie was square built and
above the medium size, dignified in manner and of
agreeable countenance. He was, in faith, a Christian,
and a most devoted and exemplary one, and was
solicitous of being buried according to Christian
rites.'" In the summer of 1834, when Black Hawk
and the War Prophet and other Sac and Fox Indians,
were returning from their tour through the States and
about to be released by the government, they stopped
a day or two in Buffalo. Arrangements were made
for their meeting the Indians on the reservation at the
Seneca council house. Young and old gathered to
witness the interview. Captain Pollard, who was
familiar with the “ Black Hawk war,” made the
speech, ‘ £ one of the most appropriate and telling ones
I ever heard,” says Orlando Allen, “not a Senator in
Congress would have done it better.” f Both Black
Hawk and the Prophet replied, and owned that they
had had enough of fighting the United States.
Hot Bread, O-ah-gwa-dai'-ya, % was one of the lead-
ing wise men at Canawaugus. He was quite gifted as a
speaker and stood well with his brother chieftains and
tribesmen. In person he was rather short, and his
complexion more than usually dark. Hot Bread
signed the letter of the 30th of July, 1789, to Governor
Clinton, a document likely enough prompted by per-
sons interested in the Livingston lease, and marked
by more of spirit than courtesy. Brant, Big Tree, and
Little Beard, besides several other leading Indians,
also signed it. The letter claimed that the state had
not observed treaty stipulations, and that the money
* He arranged with Hon. Orlando Allen for such articles as were neces-
sary for decent Christian burial. A handsome coffin was provided. He
died in the winter or spring of 1838.
f Hon. Orlando Allen in a letter to the author.
JMeaning, “Hot Bread.” (See Niles’ Reg. Vol. XXVIII, 18, 28.)120
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
due the Indians, had not been fairly divided; and
they objected to having the State surveyor mark out
the lands, even threatening the State authorities,
though somewhat obscurely. Hot Bread was indo-
lent, and his appetite voracious. Bed Jacket once
said of him, “Hot Bread, waugh! big man here,”
pointing to the stomach, “but very small here,”
bringing the palm of his hand with emphasis across
the forehead. He died at Canawaugus, as Angus
McKenzie thinks, of small pox. Many others of the
natives died the same year of that disease. The num
ber included Corn-Tassel. Indeed, but few of the
Indians recovered. About the year 1815 a disturb-
ance took place between the Indians and whites at
Caledonia Springs. Hot Bread figured prominently
in this. Some offence was taken, and the Indians
rallied in their war paint and made an attack upon
the settlers. The fracas was quelled at last without
serious results. Hot Bread was one of the leaders
of the anti-Christian party among the Senecas, and
his name appears in the memorial addressed < to
the Governor of Hew York, in respect to the “Black
coats,” as the Indians usually designated clergymen.
This unique paper closes thus: ‘ We ask our brothers
not to force a strange religion upon us. We ask to
be let alone, and, like the white people, to worship
the Great Spirit as we think it best. We shall then
be happy in filling the little space in life which is
left us, and shall go down to our fathers in peace.”
Half Town, Ga-ji-ot,* lived at Big Tree, His name
appears to the Livingston lease, and to the noted
address to President Washington, f He possessed a
* Meaning “ Stopper in the hole,” and applies equally to a cork in a bot-
tle, and to a rock in the mouth of a bear’s den, shutting him in. Half Town
sometimes signed his name Achiout.
f Particularly referred to in. the f^ketch of the Chief Big 'Tree.HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
121
strong mind and was a wise councilor. His demeanor
was grave. In complexion lie was quite dark. In
person, he was rather below the medium height.
Though the Senecas fought against the colonies in the
Revolutionary war, the remnant of their warriors took
the American side in 1812. Two years before hostili-
ties opened, Red Jacket informed our government that
Tecumseh and other native leaders in the territories,
were trying to draw the Senecas into a great western
combination then forming against the whites. The
Senecas promptly volunteered their services, but their
aid was declined by our authorities from motives of
policy. The action of the British officers in taking
possession of Grand Island in the Niagara river, a
territory of peculiar interest to the Senecas, was too
much for the pride of the race; and Red Jacket,
Farmer’s Brother, Half Town, and other chiefs, called
a council, to which the American agent was invited.
Red Jacket here presented the reasons why his nation
insisted on taking up arms on the side of the States.
These were so cogent that the President concluded
to accept their offer, and General Porter volunteered
to lead them. The Indians bore themselves with Sig-
nal bravery and humanity throughout the war. A
body of them took part in the action near Fort George,
in August, 1812, in which the enemy were routed and
a number of British Indians were taken prisoners.
Captain Half Town, Red Jacket, Farmer’s Brother,
and other chiefs, all took active parts and were in a
number of sharply contested engagements. As a
manager of moneys belonging to his nation, Half
Town was at one time advised to place certain funds
in a bank, at interest. He did not readily comprehend
how money could grow, as it was not placed in the
earth like com, but locked up in an iron chest. Once
made aware of the operation, however, he became122	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
keenly alive to its advantages. Certain of these
moneys were invested in stock of the United States
Bank when that institution failed, and, of course,
dividends then ceased. The Seneca sachems and
warriors addressed a letter to Mr. Eustis, Secretary
of war, on the subject. The letter was laid before
Congress, and was so just and forcible in terms, that
eight thousand dollars was promptly voted in lieu of
the dividend. Half Town was at Fort Harmer in 1789,
where, with twenty-three other chiefs he executed a
treaty with the commissioners, General St. Clair,
Oliver Wolcott and Arthur Lee. Big Tree was also
numbered among the signers. Pennsylvania, in 1791,
granted eight hundred dollars to Cornplanter, Half
Town, and Big Tree, in trust for the Senecas. An
Indian war was then feared; settlers were intruding
upon their lands, and otherwise exciting their enmity,
and every movement of the natives was regarded with
suspicion. Half Town was the ‘ ‘ white man’s friend, ’ ’
and kept the neighboring garrisons of Venango and
vicinity informed of every movement of the hostile
bands, which, for a long time, hovered about; and, but
for the vigilance of himself and other friendly chiefs,
much evil would have resulted to the whites. Corn-
planter and Half Town kept a hundred warriors under
arms, and their runners were out constantly, watching
the movements of war parties until the danger was
over. Colonel William Jones, who was personally
acquainted with Half Town, thought he died at the
Big Tree village.
Sharp Shins, Haah-tha-o,* was a small Indian with
diminutive legs, thin features and a squeaking voice,
but possessed of a gentlemanly demeanor, and though
sometimes violent in temper, was generally reckoned
* Meaning “he climbs,” aa e. g. a ladder or tree.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY'.
123
among the leading men of his people. In early life
he was a noted runner for a long race. In 1815 Col-
onel Wadsworth, of Durham, made a visit to his
relatives, the Wadsworth brothers, at Geneseo. Col-
onel Wadsworth was greatly respected by the Indians,
with whom he had transacted much public business,
and, in his honor, James Wadsworth invited several
chiefs to dinner at his house. Captain Horatio Jones
came as interpreter. The Indians were dressed with
care and conducted themselves with great propriety.
They smoked in a friendly way, and talked freely of
their past history and of the future of their race.
Sharp Shins took a leading part in the conversation,
and Colonel Lyman, who was there, recollects that
his views were notably sensible and made a decided
impression upon all present. Turner says, on one
occasion, Sharp Shins commenced the play of throw-
ing tomahawks at Horatio Jones. It soon became
earnest. Jones threw them back with such effect as to
endanger the Indian’s life and render his recovery quite
doubtful. He however got well, and was afterwards
careful how he provoked the Yankee warrior. Thomas
Jemison describes, with much humor, the experience
of Sharp Shins in breaking a pair of unruly steers,
especially his earnest advice to them in a set Indian
speech.
Tommy Infant lived at Canawaugus. In person he
was above the ordinary size, though rather fine-look-
ing, and appeared like an over-grown youth. Hence
his name. He was good natured, and many anecdotes
are related of his awkward size. Being in Avon, late
one evening, he took the liberty to enter a vacant
house through a door accidentally left open, and
lay down for the night. The owner happened to come
along and saw the prostrate Indian, and, in much sur-
prise, asked: “Who’s here?” “Oh, it’s no Dutch-124
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
man,” said the six-footer native in his ludicrous way,
“It’s me, little baby, Tommy Infant.” A merchant
in York owed him for some peltry. Tommy called
two or three times, but the trader was in no hurry to
pay him. After sitting two or three hours one day,
without making any demand or saying a word, Tom-
my, as he got up to go, turned around and said to the
merchant, “ I sue somebody, may be—don’t know.”
He sued the merchant.
John Montour, Do-noh-do-ga, * was of mixed blood,
a descendant of Queen Catherine, a half-blood of great
beauty, whose father was said to have been a French
governor of Canada, and whose mother was a squaw.
Catherine became the wife of a noted chief, and
allied herself with the Cayugas, establishing a
village at the head of Seneca Lake.f Here John was
living at the opening of the Revolution. He removed
to the Genesee country, and after the peace of 1783,
settled at Big Tree village. He appears in the Gilbert
narrative as one of the leaders of a band of natives,
who, in the spring of 1780, took several prisoners in
eastern Pennsylvania, among them the Gilbert family;
and it would seem that his zeal kept him on the
war-path during the whole struggle with the Colonies.
He was acting with the force under Butler, between the
Genesee and Conesus Lake, when Sullivan lay at the
inlet, and retreated to Fort Niagara when the Ameri-
can army advanced toward the river towns. While at
Fort Niagara, it is said the British gave the Indians
some flour that contained a poisonous element. Many
* Meaning “Between burs,” It might also be translated “Between the
combs.” The English name is spelled also Monture.
f At Catherine’s Town, or Grus-he-o-gwah-geh, named after Queen Catherine*
as she is generally called. This noted aboriginal village was burned by
Sullivan. The towns of Catherine and Montour, in Schuyler county*
perpetuate the name of Queen Catherine,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
125
died. Montour lived, but the poison resulted in an
ulceration of his upper lip, which was quite eaten
away, leaving both teeth and jaw exposed. This
gave him a fierce look though he was quiet and good
natured. “At first thought,” a pioneer adds, “one
would be led to expect him to take a scalp at a
moment’s notice.” He was sometimes called “No-
nose,” and an impression prevails that a cancer ate
away his lip. He knew something of medicine, and,
with remedies self-applied, had stopped the progress
of the ulcer. His imperfect lip made it difficult for
him to drink. Once, Colonel Lyman met him at the
river in mid-summer. Montour was thirsty and lay
down on the bank to quench his thirst. He drank
and drank, got up and lay down again, and drank as
though he would never get his fill. As he rose, he
said, “Lyman, the river is very low, very dry time.”
“Low,” said the Colonel, “.you have drunk all the
water.” The Indian laughed heartily. His probity
was well known. Coming into Colonel Lyman’s store
one day, Montour saw a pair of shag mittens hanging
overhead. “Ah, Lyman,” said he, “those are mine.”
“But stop”—the merchant was about to take them
down—“ let me describe mine first. I was at a cer-
tain place, a little drunk, staggered and fell, the hand
covered by this mitten struck a burning log, which
scorched it in such a part. Pull them down and see.”
The Indian got the mittens. A quarrel had long
existed .between Quawwa and Montour. The latter
was quite athletic and very active, and always came
out best, but in 1830 the pair got into a brawl at
Squakie Hill. Montour had been drinking and Quaw-
wa proved too much for him. He was knocked down,
and carried insensible to Big Tree. Here Doetor
Bissell attended him, but he died in a week’s time.
He was buried in a blue broadcloth coat, white collar126	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and silk cravat. His rifle, a noted pieee, his toma-
hawk, belt and several other articles, lie beside him.
His grave is a couple of rods east of the road, marked
by a grassy hillock which the plow has never dis-
turbed. * Four other natives—Stump-foot’s wife,
Westfall, and two others—sleep beside him. It is
recollected that Montour’s wife was an estimable
woman, and that his two children, Judy and Bill,
possessed more than ordinary comeliness of person.
Quawwa, whose Indian name was Deo-dyah-do-oh-
hoh, and whose correct English name was James
Brewer, disappeared as soon as he learned that Mon-
tour was fatally injured. Horatio Jones and Jellis
Clute entered complaint, and an officer was sent to the
Buffalo reservation in search of him. The officer was
advised to call on Thomas Jemison and Kennedy,
who would assist him. They took hold promptly,
and found the fugitive at his sister’s, aiding her in
making maple sugar. He was brought to Moscow
and examined before a justice of the peace, and com-
mitted to jail. As he was. leaving for Geneseo his
squaw, standing near Lyman’s store, called out to
him very piteously, ‘£ Quawwa!”—“ Quawwa!” and
kept it up long after he had disappeared from sight.
He was indicted for murder and tried at the March
term of 1831, Judge Addison Gardiner presiding;
convicted of manslaughter in the second degree, and
sentenced to four years in Auburn prison, f He was
troubled with the King’s evil or scrofula. .The dis-
ease developed very rapidly after his incarceration.
His death was regarded as imminent, and, on the
* See engraving on page 86.
f Geo. Hosmer and Orlando Hastings appeared for the people; Judge
Mason and A. A. Bennett, for prisoner. Horatio Jones was the sworn in-
terpreter. Widow Bough-head, widow Johnny Johns, and Tom Cayuga
were among the Indian witnesses.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
127
representation of friends, Governor Throop pardoned,
him ont in February, 1882. He was taken to Buffalo
reservation, where he died in two or three days.
Quawwa had many friends among the whites,
especially among the younger men, who regarded him
as faithful to the last degree. Captain Jones and
Jellis Clute, although they entered the formal com-
plaint, became bail for Quawwa’s appearance at the
trial, the Captain adding “I have no fear but that
Quawwa will be on hand just as he promises, even
though his own neck’s in danger,” and he was not
disappointed.
De-gi-wa-nahs, * or Mary Jemison, more commonly
known as the White Woman, was born of Irish
parents, about the year 1748, on the ocean voyage to
this country. Her father, Thomas Jemison, a man of
godly character, settled in a wilderness portion of
Pennsylvania. The French and Indian wars com-
pelled him to seek a less exposed spot, and he
removed to Marsh creek. One fine day, in the spring
of 1755, Mary was sent to a neighbor’s for a horse. On
her way thither she appears to have had a present-
iment. A white sheet seemed to descend and catch
her up and save her from a danger that impended over
others. Returning early the next morning, she found
her father shaving an axe-helve near the door. Her
two elder brothers were at the bam, and her mother
and three children and a soldier’s wife, who was on a
visit with her three children, were in the house pre-
paring breakfast. On Mary’s arrival, the soldier took
the horse to bring a bag of grain, but in a short time
the discharge of guns alarmed the household, and,
the man and horse were presently seen lying dead near
* Meaning 11 Two females let words fall.” Her Indian name is often given
thus, De-he-iva-mis. Her mother’s maiden name was Jane Irwin.128	HISTORY OF LIYIHO^TON COUNTY.
the door. A band of six Shawnee Indians and four
Frenchmen soon entered the house, made captives
of all,* and hastened the breakfastless group with
blows, into the woods. The father lost heart at the
outset, but the mother preserved a cheerful spirit and
spoke words of hope to the forlorn family. Mary’s
shoes, and those of the soldier’s son, were soon
removed and replaced with moccasins. From this'
the mother concluded that the others would be put to
death, and addressed words of advice, never to be
forgotten, to her poor child. In an hour’s time Mary
was torn from her mother and carried into the bushes
with the boy, who begged her to attempt escape with
him, but she refused, as she knew the etfort would be
fruitless. Mary never more saw aught of them save
the bloody scalps of her parents. The band went
down the Ohio, where Mary was adopted by two
sisters who had lost a brother in the war. The
ceremony so frightened the little captive that, for a
time, she was deprived of speech. Her clothing, tom
to rags in the journey, was thrown into the river and
replaced with Indian raiment. Light work was
assigned her and she was treated with great kindness.
She sought to repeat, in secret, the prayers taught by
her mother, but, by degrees, these, with her English
tongue, faded from her memory. Many years passed
happily away, when a young Delaware, of goodly
person and approved courage, named She-nin-jee,
came to the village and her foster sisters told her she
must marry him. A child was born to her “at the
time that the kernels of corn first appear on the cob,”
but it lived only two days. Its loss occasioned the
keenest grief to the youthful mother. Sickness, which
* The two boys, who were at the barn, escaped into Virginia, as Mary
learned after the Revolutionary war.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
129
proved well-nigh fatal to the young captive, followed,
but “ by the time the corn was ripe,” she recovered.
Two years later, she became the mother of a son,
whom, in honor of her father, she named Thomas
Jemison. Her Indian mother lived on the Genesee,
and hither, with her foster sisters, she now repaired.
Her husband was to pass the winter down the river
in fur hunting, and join her in the spring. Various
mishaps attended the journey hitherward, but, late in
, the fall, they arrived at Beardstown, where a friendly
welcome awaited the white girl from her Indian
mother, whose friendship never relaxed. But her
husband did not return, and at length the news was
brought that She-nin-jee had sickened and died.
About this period the British authorities offered a
bounty for the surrender of prisoners taken during
the French war. A Dutchman, who often visited the
Indian villages, proposed to Mary to carry her to
Niagara, but she had now become attached to the
Indians, and she knew nothing of the whereabouts of
her relatives, if, indeed, any survived. So she deter-
mined not to go. The Dutchman, with the bounty in
view, sought to take her by force. While in her
corn-patch one day, she saw him running toward her.
Dropping her hoe, she made for the village at full
speed, and escaped him. Some months later, the
principal Chief of the village, resolved to carry Mary
to Niagara. Her Indian brother determined that she *
should not go against ’her will, and high words
ensued. He told the Chief that she should die by his
hand sooner than be surrendered. Mary’s sisters, in
great consternation, hid her and her child in some
high weeds that grew near by, agreeing that if the
decision should be unfavorable, the fact should be
indicated by placing a small cake on the door-step of
her hut. A few hours after, Mary crept to the place,130
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and, to her great distress, found the cake. Creeping
back, she placed her three year old boy on her back
and ran for a certain spring, as agreed, which she
reached, greatly exhausted.* Here she remained,
anxious and fearful, until the Chief started for
Niagara, when her Indian brother sought her and
brought her to the village where she was received with
joy. Soon after this she married Hio-ka-too, who
was a warrior of note. By him she had four daughters
and two sons, all of whom she named after her rela-
tives. The girls were called Jane, Nancy, Betsey
and Polly, and the boys John and Jesse. Jane died
just before the Big Tree treaty, aged 29 years. The
other daughters married and had families. More
than a dozen years of peace had come and gone after
her second marriage, when quiet was" rudely broken
by the Indians taking up arms for the British in the
war of the Revolution. Mary’s hut became the stop-
ping place of Butler and Brant whenever they
chanced at Beardstown. She often pounded com
from sun-set to sun-rise for her warrior guests. When
the Beardstown families retreated before Sullivan,
Mary, with her children, accompanied them to Fort
Niagara, and was among the first to return to the
Genesee. But destitution prevailed at Beardstown.
She, therefore, took her children, one afternoon, and,
on foot, went to Gardow, where she engaged to two
negroes, who alone occupied the place, to husk their
corn on shares. After the war was over she was again
offered her liberty. Thomas was anxious for her to
accept it, but she had Indian children. Should she
have the fortune to find her relatives, they might be
received with coldness ; hence she resolved to spend
her days among the Senecas. At the Big Tree treaty
* The spring is located on the farm of Hon. John H. Jones, in Leicester.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
131
tlie Indians set apart a large tract of land at Gardow,
for Mary. Red Jacket opposed the grant with great
earnestness, and, even after it was made, he delayed
moneys due her. Family troubles gathered around
her. Thomas and John had long disagreed. The
former charged the latter with practicing witchcraft.
He married two wives, and this greatly offended
Thomas, who urged that bigamy was a violation of
wholesome laws. Early in July, 1811, Thomas, who
had been drinking, came to his mother’s house in her
absence, and there found John, whom he began to
pound. The latter, in a moment of anger, seized
Thomas, dragged him to the door and killed him by
a blow of his tomahawk. Grief overwhelmed the
mother. The chiefs met, heard the case, and
acquitted the murderer. In November of the same
year, Hio-ka-too died of consumption at the age of
more than a hundred years, during fifty of which he
had lived with Mary. He was a leading warrior,
taking part in the expedition to Wyoming, and was
noted for strength, and, in his younger days, for fleet-
ness. In May following, John’s hands were again
imbrued in a brother’s blood. This time Jesse, the
youngest and favorite^son, was the victim. The two,
with a brother-in-law, had spent the day in sliding a
quantity of boards into the river for a raft. Some
difficulty arose between John and a workman. Both
had been drinking. Jesse had started homeward.
His brother’s delay caused him to turn back, and he
too became involved in the quarrel. John threw
him, and, drawing his knife, plunged it several times
into his heart. Either stab would have been fatal.
The mother never recovered from the shock. A rude
inquest was held, and John escaped punishment. He
continued to reside at Gardow, devoting himself to
the practice of medicine, in which he had skill. Five132
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
years after Jesse’s death, he was sent for to a distant
Seneca village. During his absence, the great land slide
occurred, near his house. On his return he became
impressed with the belief that it was ominous of his
end. He told his sisters he should live but a few
days. A week or two later, in visiting Squakie Hill,
he quarrelled with two Indians, who followed him a
short distance, dragged him from his horse into the
bushes, and dashed his brains out with a stone. He
was essentially a man of violence. Turner mentions
seeing him on his way to the Buffalo reservation, at
the head of a small band of Senecas, to kill the black-
smith Reese, who had cut off Young King’s arm with
a scythe in an altercation. Jemison was armed with
a war club and tomahawk, his face covered with red
paint; and long bunches of horse hair dyed red, hung
from his arms. Under the advice of friends, Mary
procured the passage of an enabling act, and sold a
portion of her great landed reserve; and, in 1823, she
parted with all save a tract two miles long and one
mile wide, lying on the river. This she continued to
occupy until her removal to the Buffalo reservation,
where, after a life of vicissitudes, her death occurred
in September, 1833. She was held in high esteem by
the Indians, for during a large portion of her life she
formed the principal medium of communication
between the whites and the Senecas. According to
Indian ideas she always conducted herself virtuously,
and was discreet in the observance of native customs.
The late Elder John Wiley, of Springwater, spent a
day with her shortly before she left Gardow. He
found her lively and intelligent. UI have seldom
seen an old lady so smart and active, or one whose
eyes were so bright,” said he. She was small in per-
son, her eyes were blue, and her hair was then quite
gray. She never spoke the Indian language withHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
133
entire fluency. The use of the English tongue was
so far recovered by her, that she conversed, with
much freedom with Yankees as she always styled
the whites. She died oh the Buffalo reservation near
where Little Johnson then lived.* John A. Ken-
nedy, f who visited the Seneca burial place on the
Buffalo Reservation in 1840, and saw the grave of
Mary Jemison, was there again in 1848, when every
external vestige of it had disappeared. The grounds
had been plowed over and the field was then planted
to corn. “The grave-yard I saw in 1840,” continues
Mr. Kennedy, “suggested to my mind that the Mound
Builders kept burying their dead on the same spot,
one tier above another. It was about half an acre in
size, quadrangular, on a level plain, and was four and
a half to five feet high, the four sides sloping outward
at the bottom. Except where graves were raised it
was perfectly level on top ; the grass grew on the sides
as though they had been sodded. There were probably
a dozen tomb-stones on it, one of which was the White
Woman’s. The theory I formed was that it began to
be used while on a level with the surrounding ground
and when the area was filled up, earth enough was
brought to make another story of graves, and so on,
one story above another, until the mound was com-
pleted, diminishing toward the top as the work of
inhuming mortality proceeded.:):
* The Indian name of her eldest son, Thomas, was Yah-do-an-gweh; of
John, Gen-yah-neh-gweh; and ot Jesse, Gash-ye-un-dwe-geh.
f Late Superintendent of metropolitan police, Kew York. .
% Mr. Kennedy gives this as the outline of the general burial place alluded
to in the text:
The White Woman’s tomb-stone bore the following inscription :
“In memory of Mary Jemison, daughter of Thomas Jemison and Jane184
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Thomas Jemison, So-sun-do-waah, or Buffalo Tom,
as he is called on the reservation, was a native of
Squakie Hill, where he resided until 1828, in a
house yet standing. His step-father told him he was
born between Christmas and New Year’s, and was
nearly two years old at the treaty of 1797. His father
was Thomas, the eldest child of the White Woman
by Sheninjee, her "first husband, and his mother was
Sally, the daughter of Indian Allan. He went to the
Buffalo reservation in 1828 and to the Cattaraugus
reservation in 1846, where he bought a farm of Hank
Johnson, as he was generally called, a white man
who was taken prisoner in the Revolution and mar-
ried a Delaware woman. At Johnson’s death the
property reverted to the Seneca nation; hence Jemison
lost his rights, and returned to Buffalo, where he
opened a tavern on the reservation. After remaining
away fourteen years, he went back to the Cattaraugus
reservation, where he has a fine farm which he culti-
vates with exemplary industry and success. He has
several houses and lots in the city of Buffalo. His
eldest son graduated at the State Normal school in
Albany, and married a white wife, and his eldest
daughter has a white husband. Jemison himself has
all a white man’s notions of thrift and economy. He
recollects, with great interest, the years he spent at
Squakie Hill. His memory is remarkably clear and
his form erect, although his age is now nearly
seventy-five. In appearance he strongly resembles
Thurlow Weed. “His word,” says Governor Patter-
Irwin. Born on the ocean between Ireland and Philadelphia in 1742 or B ;
taken captive at Marsh creek, Pa., in 1755, carried down the Ohio, adopted
into an Indian family. In 1759 removed to G-enesee river; was naturalised
in 1817. Removed to this place (Buffalo reservation) in 1831, and having
survived two husbands and five children, leaving three still alive, she died
■September 19, 1833, aged about 91 years, having a few weeks before ex-
pressed a hope of pardon through Jesus Christ.”HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
135
son, “was as good as any white man’s note in the
valley. If hfe bought property on credit, it would be
paid for the day it fell due, without grace.” His
English is as pure as any Yankee farmer’s.
Philip Kenjockety, Ska-dyoh-gwa-dih, * was the
last survivor of the Genesee river Indians, whose per-
sonal recollections extended back to the invasion of
General Sullivan. His grandfather was a member of
the almost mythological race, the Kah-kwas, and was
adopted into the Senecas. His father acquired influ-
ence among the latter nation and became a chief, and
it was through his representation that the Senecas
were induced to settle upon the banks of the Niagara
river, when driven from^ the Genesee. Philip’s
parents were residing at the Nunda village when the
war of the Revolution broke out, and when the resi-
dents of that village removed to Beardstown, Philip’s
family went also. I saw him at the Cattaraugus res-
ervation in the fall of 1865. He then claimed to be
one hundred and twenty years old. He had come
down to the mission-house at my request to give his
recollections of the Genesee country. For a person
of his age he possessed great vigor of body. His
mind was clear and his memory proved to be marvel-
ously correct. When the subject of Sullivan’s expe-
dition to this region in 1779, was mentioned, he
seemed to forget his age and everything else in the
interest revived by the associations of that period.
“Yes, he recollected the Wah-ston-yans,” (that is
* The changes in Kenjockety’s name afford an instance of the difficulties
attending Indian biography. 0. H. Marshall, says, that when a youth, he
was called Ji-ya-go-waah, meaning “large dog.” After the war of 1812,
another name was conferred upon him, as is customary among the Indians,
to wit: Gat-go-wah-dah, that is “dressed deer skins,” from the fact that
Philip, being a good hunter, kept himself supplied with deer skin sometime
after the rest of his tribe were unable to obtain it. Ska-dyoh-gwa-dih means
“ Beyond the multitude.”136
HISTOBT OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
“ Bostonians,” as the colonial or Yankee troops were
called by the Senecas) ‘£ He was large boy then, large
enough to shoot small birds with a gun. The Yan-
kees got as far as Conesus lake, all was consternation
at Beardstown; it rained; the warriors went out;
the air grew heavy with rumors; even the birds
brought tidings of the enemy’s doings.”* After our
interview, as he was bidding good bye, he took the
hand of my son, and pointing to the clasped fingers,
said, through the interpreter, “this bridges be-
tween three generations, between that long past and
the generation under the new order.” He described
the face of the country in this region with great
accuracy and added essential facts to its history. He
died on the first of April, f866, aged fully a hundred
and ten years. The Academy of Art in Buffalo has
preserved a fine portrait in oil of the venerable Kah-
kwa, the last of his generation.
There were a number of Indians of lesser note, who,
forty years ago, were well known to the settlers.
Among these were Blinkey, a red man of much
shrewdness, who had lost an eye, and thus secured
an expressive name; Canaday, the brother of Blinkey,
a fine looking Seneca, whose hut stood near the high-
way leading to High-banks, on the north side of the
river, at Squakie Hill; and Big Peg, who usually lived
at Big Tree village. The latter possessed much good
sense, was a speaker, and had no little force of char-
acter. Accident secured him his name, as it often
secures the names of other personages of more conse-
quence. Green Blanket lived at Little Beardstown,
and acquired his title from always wearing a blanket
of a particular color, to which he was very partial.
* I have incorporated his recollections in the chapter on Sullivan’s Expe-
dition.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
137
Of the leading warriors of the Senecas of this
region, whose fame rests mainly on tradition, a sketch
will scarcely he expected here, especially as Colonel
Hosmer has so felicitously preserved their deeds in
verse. The renowned chieftain, Old Can-ne-hoot, led
the Senecas against the Marquis De Nonville, and,
for the purposes of fiction, the poet has allowed him
to die on the field of battle after the conflict.* Con-
esus, whose romantic career has been so well given in
Hosmer’s Legends of the Senecas, is another. His
name was a terror to the Chippewas, and often, with
his band of braves, he chased the Adirondacks to
their mountain lodges. A small island near Avon,
formed by the sweeping bend of the Genesee, was the
home of this warrior chief, who, often in the dim and
shadowy past, “belted for the fight” with western
tribes, f	The list might easily be extended, but the
limit I had assigned to Indian history is already more
than reached.
* Yonnondio.	“ Old Can-ke-hoot arose at last,
And back his shaggy mantle cast—
“ While proud as became a king,
Presiding in monarchal state,
His glance surveyed the tawny ring
Of counsellors that round him sate.
“ His eloquence of look and word
Dark depths of every heart had stirred;
And ’twas no time in dull debate
For other tongues of war to prate.”
f The poet thus speaks of the chieftain’s wood-embowered island home,
near Avon:
“Yon aged group of maples * * * *
Long, long ago Conesus made
His dwelling in their graceful shade.
“ His tribe could many a chieftain boast,
Far-famed for deeds, but loved him most :
Hot by hereditary right
Rank did he win above them all,
Rut forced his way by skill in fight,
And wisdom in the council-hall.”
10CHAPTER VI.
JESUIT MISSIONS—DE NONVILLE’S EXPEDITION.
The Jesuits, true to their zealous spirit, were first
among religious societies to establish missions in the
Seneca villages. In 1616, Le Caron, a missionary
of the order of Franciscans, passed through what is
now known as the Genesee country, and other portions
of the territory occupied by the Iroquois, but made
no attempt to propagate his faith. A score of years
later these inland tribes of aborigines became known,
by personal intercourse, to the Jesuits, who, as early
as 1635, make particular mention of the Senecas.
In August, 1656, Father Chaumonot left the Onon-
daga lodges to establish the mission of St.
Michael, or Gan-na-go-rae, in the present town of East
Bloomfield. When the Father arrived at the village
the chiefs assembled a council to receive him and hear
his message. He told them that his church intended
to establish a mission in their country. He then gave
them some presents. The way thus opened, he said,
writes Marshall: “I offer myself as a guarantee of
the truths which I utter, and if my life is deemed
insufficient, I offer you, in addition, the lives of all
the French I have left at Onondaga. Do you distrust
these living presents ? Will you be so simple as toHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
189
believe that we have left our native country, the finest
in the world, to come so far, and to suffer so much, in
order to bring to you a lie?” They were moved by
this appeal, and the council, after solemn deliberation,
resolved to receive the missionaries, and allow the
Senecas to be instructed in their mysteries. The
Jesuit visited the other villages with similar success,
in one of which he found the principal sachem of the
nation (Ga-no-ga-i-da-wi) bedridden with disease.
Him he converted to the faith, and the distinguished
chief, having subsequently recovered, became a pow-
erful friend of the French and Jesuits. The name
which he bore, and by which he is always mentioned
by the French, is the title of a sachemship, still pre-
served among the Senecas, and which belongs to a
chief now residing among the Tonawandas.
In 1668 came Father Fremin to St. Michael’s, ,to
minister regularly at this most prosperous of the
Iroquois missions. The field of his labors, however,
embraced at least three of the four Seneca villages of
that day, one of which was Dyu-do o-sot, situated near
East Avon ,A contagious fever broke out among the
natives soon after his advent among them, and much
of the good missionary’s time was spent in respond-
ing to the physical needs of the sick. His skill in
the treatment of disease not only tended to mitigate
the ravages of the fever—of which one hundred and
fifty died in the four villages—but secured the favor
of the natives as well. De Nonville mentions the fact
that Fathers Fremin and Gamier had been stationary
missionaries for twenty years at the four Seneca
villages destroyed by him, prior to his invasion in
1687. The two other Seneca missions were called La
Conception and St. James. Dablon, rector of the
college of Quebec, and Superior of the Jesuit mis-
sions in New France or Canada, says, in 1672, that140
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the Fathers count two or three thousand souls at
these three stations.
Father Fremin addressed letters to the general of
the order of the Jesuits at Rome, giving an account
of the progress of spiritual things among the rude
converts here, thus opening communication between
this land of forest and wigwam and that ecclesiastical
centre which, for so many centuries, swayed the polit-
ical, as it sought to sway the religious destinies of the
civilized world. Gamier writes to Dablon in July,
1672, of the Senecas, who had threatened his life.
He says their minds being ill-disposed, the devil uses
every occasion to make them speak against the faith
and those who preach it. An old man, he adds, who,
some years before, came from the country of the Cay-
ugas, a pragmatical fellow of big words, does what
he likes with the Senecas, and passes among them for
a prodigy of talent, has persuaded some of them that
our religion causes them to die, and cites instances.
Breviaries, ink horns and manuscripts were consid-
ered as so many instruments of sorcery, and their
prayers as magical incantations. A niece of one of
the chiefs was sickly, and the chief was suspicious
that the missionary, who spent much time in the rude
chapel, was plotting with some demon for the death
of the girl.
Bishop Kip says, “there is no page in our country’s
history more touching and romantic than that which
records the labors and sufferings of the Jesuit mission-
aries. In these western wilds they were the earliest
pioneers of civilization and faith. The wild hunter
or the adventurous traveller, who, penetrating the for-
ests, came to new and strange tribes, often found that,
years before, the disciples of Loyola had preceded him
in the wilderness. Traditions of the ‘Black robes’
still lingered among the Indians. On some moss-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
141
grown trees they pointed out the traces of their work,
and in wonder he deciphered, carved side by side on
its trunk, the emblem of our salvation and the lilies
of the Bourbons. 5 ’
Without arms or other compulsory means, but
simply by kindness, the Jesuits sought to secure the
desired end. Music, knowledge of the healing art,
assimilation to the peculiarities of the strange people
among whom they labored, and curiosity, too, had its
influence. Father Fremin says : “I neither see, nor
hear, nor speak to any but the Indians. My food is
very simple and light. I have never been able to con-
form my taste to the meal or the smoked fish of the
savages, and my nourishment is only composed of
corn which they pound, and of which I make each
day a kind of hominy, which I boil in water.55
Sometimes he was compelled to live on acorns.
Father Fenelon, afterward famous as the Archbishop
of Cambray, and author of Telemachus, was engaged
for a short period at St. Michaels.
One of the good Father’s letters to Rome gives this
incident: “A woman being surprised by the falling
sickness, cast herself into the middle of a large fire.
Before they could extricate her she was so badly burnt
that the bones of her hands and her arms fell from her
one after the other. As I was not then in the village,
a young Frenchman whom I have with me, and who
performs worthily the functions of Dogique, hastened
to her, and finding her in possession of her senses,
spoke to her of Grod and His salvation, instructed her,
caused her to perform all the religious offices necessary
upon such an occasion, and baptised her. The poor
creature passed the eight or ten days of life which
remained to her in prayer. This was her only con-
solation in her grievous sufferings. In an entire
hopelessness of all human succor, she suffered with142
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
admirable patience in the faith of eternal life. Such
works of grace make the most sensible impression in
these barbarous regions, and greatly assuage the
anxieties, the fatigues and the afflictions of a mission-
ary.”
Though wedded to the interests of their order, the
missionaries were not unmindful of the spirit of con-
quest then prevalent in their beloved France. Indeed,
it has been said that the Seneca missions were sug-
gested by the Grand Monarch, Louis XIV. himself,
the splendor of whose reign encouraged adventurous
spirits to undertake distant enterprises, prompted by
a desire to add to the glory of that proud ruler. Cer-
tain it is that to the missionaries were the French
indebted for their knowledge of the Genesee country.
The conlmand of Lake Ontario, and control of a
certain valuable fur trade, were, late in the seventeenth
century, matters of contention between the French-
and English; and especially were the rich lands of
western Hew York a coveted object by the French
Canadian authorities. M. de La Bar, an infirm old
man, had long held the office of Governor-general of
those provinces, but, being signally over-matched by
the shrewd and eloquent Seneca Garangula, in an
expedition he had undertaken against the Iroquois,
his government recalled him in 1685, and, in his stead,
appointed the Marquis De Nonville, a colonel in the
French dragoons, an officer equally esteemed for his
valor, wisdom and piety.
The Iroquois had of late grown defiant toward Can-
ada, and the new governor, to curb their pride,
resolved upon an expedition to destroy the villages
and fields of the Senecas, then located near the Gen-
esee, and to construct a fort at the mouth of the
Niagara, which, in connection with Fort Cadaracqui,
would not only hold that warlike tribe in check, butHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
143
protect, as well, the savage allies of the French, who,
in small detachments, could then make predatory war
upon the Senecas, distance hitherto and want of a
place of refuge having prevented them from doing, as
well as to accomplish other favorite objects of French
desire.
The watchful Iroquois, penetrating these hostile
designs, lost no time in notifying Colonel Dongan, the
English governor of New York. The latter at once
informed De Nonville that the Indians were persuaded
an attack was meditated against them; and that, as
they were subjects of the crown of England, any
injury done them would be an open infraction of the
peace existing between their two kings. De Nonville
replied, that the Iroquois feared because they deserved
the chastisement; that the provisions collecting were
necessary for the large garrison at Fort Cadaracqui,
and that England’s pretensions to the Indian lands
were baseless.
Dongan seems to have taken no measures to avert
the blow; and as it could not be known upon which
tribe the evil would fall, due provision could not well
be made for protection. The Senecas were destined
to feel its exclusive force. The first open act of hos-
tility was the seizure of some Iroquois chief, who had
been lured within French power, near Kingston, Can-
ada, by the Jesuit Father Lamberville, under the pre-
text of preventing them from conveying intelligence
to their tribes.
De Nonville’s plans were wisely made, his army
was commanded by able officers; and so perfectly
were his orders obeyed, that his own army and the
reinforcements from Niagara, which he had directed
to meet him, arrived simultaneously at the outlet of
Irondequoit bay, a coincidence considered ominous of
success by his savage allies.144
HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
On the afternoon of the 12th of July, 1687, the army
set out from Irondequoit bay for the four villages of
the Senecas, guided thitherward by the trail along the
eastern side of the river, and carrying thirteen days
provisions. They numbered two thousand French
regulars and militia and nine hundred and eighty-
three Indians. Advancing in three columns through
the oak openings, after a nine miles march they
encamped for the night. Next morning they moved
early, with the design of approaching as near as pos-
sible the Indian village which held the tribal tire,
before the enemy could seize upon two difficult defiles
necessary to be crossed, but which were undefended.
The heat was sultry, and the men were fatigued.
There yet remained a third defile near the entrance of
the village,- where it was intended to halt for the night,
and the army still advanced. The scouts discovered
the fresh trail of the enemy, and warned the troops to
keep together. About three o’clock in the afternoon
three companies of the French, together with the
French Indians, fell into an ambuscade prepared by
the Senecas, who were posted in the vicinity of the
third defile. A smart but brief action ensued, with
heavy firing on both sides. The Senecas were in turn
thrown into confusion, and most of them flung away
their guns and clothing and escaped to a dense woods
and across a brook bordered by thickets. Ignorance
of the paths and fatigue of the army, left the invaders
in no condition for immediate pursuit. The Senecas
had eight hundred men under arms in the action and
in the village close at hand. They left twenty-seven
dead on the field, and had a much larger number
wounded, judging from the traces of blood. The
French had about half the number killed and
wounded. The battle occurred a short distance west
of the present village of Victor, near the northeasternHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
145
edge of a large swamp, on the northerly side of a
stream now called Great Brook.
Some writers claim that the action took place on the
eastern bank of the Genesee, near the modern village
of West Avon. Be Witt Clinton located the battle
ground on a farm purchased by Judge Porter in 1795,
situated about six miles northeast of Avon, and half
a mile east of Honeoye Falls. On plowing this land,
three hundred hatchets, gun-barrels and locks, lead,
and pieces of brass kettles, weighing upward of one
thousand pounds, were there found, being more than
sufficient in value to pay for clearing it. Beds of
ashes and small mounds of black earth, formed from
chips, were also dug up. On the first settlement of
this country unmistakable evidences of its having been
the site of'a large Indian village were numerous. So
uneven was the ground, occasioned by the numberless
graves, that the pioneers were compelled to level it
with spades before teams could pass over it. But John
Blacksmith, who, in his youth had hunted over the
country embraced within the limits of Monroe, Living-
ston and Ontario counties, and thus acquired an
intimate knowledge of the old Indian localities, on
attentively examining a map of the country overrun
by the French, on which lakes, rivers and creeks were
correctly delineated, placed his finger on a point a
short distance west of the village of Victor, as the
place of conflict.
After the battle, the troops being fatigued, the night
was spent on the spot where the ambuscade occurred.
The following morning it rained heavily, but slackened
about noon, when the army set out in battle array to
find the enemy. Moving forward, they found that the
old village had been burned, and the entrenchments
of the new village deserted, Encamping on the height
near the plain, nothing more for the day was done146
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
beyond protecting themselves from the severe rain
which had again set in.
On the 15th the savages brought in two old men,
whom the enemy, in their retreat, had left in the
woods. Two or three women came to surrender them-
selves, and informed us, says the Marquis, that for
the space of four days all the old men, women and
children had been fleeing in great haste, being able to
carry with them only the best of their effects. Their
flight was toward the Cayugas. One of the old men,
who had been of note in the village, and was father
or uncle of the chief, told us the ambuscade consisted
of two hundred and twenty men, stationed on the
hill-side, to attack us in the rear, and of five hundred
and thirty in front. The former force directed a part
of their efforts against our rear battalion, where they
did not expect such strong resistance, as those bat-
talions drove them back more rapidly than they came.
In addition to the above, there were also about three
hundred in their fort, situated on a very advantageous
height, into which they all pretend to withdraw,
having carried there a quantity of Indian corn. There
were none but Senecas. After obtaining from the
aged Seneca all the information he could impart,
Father Bruyas, a Jesuit priest, baptised him. The
French Indians then desired to burn the old man,
but, on the solicitation of the white French, “they
contented themselves with knocking him on the head
with a tomahawk.”
The first act of the day was to burn the fort. It
was eight hundred paces in circumference, flanked by
an intrenchment, advanced for the purpose of com-
munication with a spring on the declivity of a hill, it
being the only one where water could be obtained.
The remainder of the day was employed in destroying,
Indian corn, beans and other produce.HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
147
This fort, although the plow has leveled its trenches,,
and nearly obliterated the evidences of its former
occupancy, is still an object of much interest. The
same solitary spring referred to by De Nonville, yet
oozes from the declivity of the hill. Its site has long
been known as Fort Hill among the inhabitants in the
vicinity. Its summit is perfectly level, embracing an
area of about forty acres. Marshall, to whom history
is indebted for a clear and reliable account of the
expedition, has preserved, in an interesting paper,
facts to which we are here indebted.
On the afternoon of the 16th, the camp was moved
to approach those places where there was corn to
destroy. A party of our savages, says De Nonville,
arrived in the evening with considerable booty, which
they had captured in the great village of Totiakton,
four leagues distant. That village was found aban-
doned by the enemy, who, in returning, had set it on
fire, but only three or four cabins were consumed.
The 17th, continues the Marquis, was occupied in
destroying the grain of the small village of St. Mich-
ael, or Gonnogarae, distant a short league from the
large village, and prosecuted the work the 18th, after
having moved camp in order to approach those
fields which were concealed and scattered in the
recesses of the forest. On the night of 19th, had a slight
alarm, from a shot fired by a sentinel at an Illinois
woman, a captive for nine years among the Senecas.
She escaped from the enemy, and was wounded in the
thigh. She said the Senecas had fled to the Ononda-
gas, and that forty were killed, and fifty or more
severely wounded in the late attack. The morning of
19th, camp was moved to near village of St. James, or
Gannagaro, after having destroyed a great quantity of
fine large corn, beans and other vegetables, of which
there remained not a single field; “and, after having.148
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTOH COITHTY.
burned so large a quantity of old corn that I dare
not tell the amount, and encamped before Totiakto,
called the Great village, or village of Conception, dis-
tant four leagues from the former. We found there
a still greater number of cultivated fields, with which
to occupy ourselves for many days. Three captives
arrived this day—a young girl and two women of the
Illinois natives.” In the sanguinary wars which long
raged between the Senecas and Illinois, many persons
had been taken by the former, who profited by their
recent defeat to escape, though it should appear that
many of the prisoners had been put to death by the
Senecas.
4 4 The 20th we occupied ourselves in cutting down and
destroying the new corn, and burning the old. On the
21st we went to the small village of Gannounata,* dis-
tant two leagues from the larger, where we caused the
destruction, the same day, of all the old and new corn,
although the quantity was no less than in the other
villages. It was at the entrance to this village that we
found the arms of England, which the Sieur Dongan,
Governor of New York, had placed there, contrary
to all right and reason, in the year 1684, having ante-
dated the arms as of the year 1683; although it is
beyond question that we first discovered and took
possession of that country, and for twenty consecu-
tive years have had Father Fremin, Gamier and
others as stationary missionaries in all their villages.
One would hardly credit the quantity of grain which
we found in store in this place and destroyed by fire.
“This same day a Huron came in with two scalps of
a man and woman, whom he had knocked on the
head, having found them near the Cayugas. He had
noticed a multitude of paths by which the enemy fled.
* Or Dyu-do o-sot, on the little Conesus, near East Avon.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
149
We .left the above-mentioned village on 22d, to
return to Totiakto, to continue there the devastation
we had commenced. Notwithstanding the bad
weather and incessant rain, we continued all day to
make diligent preparations for a departure, which
was the more urgent, because the sickness increased
in the army,” occasioned by the great number of hogs
killed by the French army, and our food and fresh
provisions diminished rapidly.
On 28d a large detachment of almost all the army,
was sent to complete the destruction of all the corn
still standing in the distant woods. By noon the corn
was all destroyed. “We had curiosity to estimate the
whole quantity, green as well as ripe, which we have
destroyed in the four Seneca villages, which we found
would amount to 1,050,000 bushels of green, and
150,000 bushels of old corn, by which we could esti-
mate the multitude of people in these four villages.
‘ ‘ Having nothing further to accomplish, and seeing
no enemy, we left camp on afternoon of the 2Sd of
July, to rejoin our beatteaux, advancing only two
leagues. We reached beatteaux on the 24th.
“On 26th we set out for Niagara, resolved to garrison
that port as a protection for all our savage allies,
and thus afford them the means of continuing in small
detachments the war against the enemy, whom they
have not been able to harrass, being too distant from
them, and having no place of refuge. Although only
thirty leagues from Irondequoit Bay to Niagara, con-
trary winds so delayed that it took four days and a
half to accomplish the distance, arriving on the morn-
ing of 30th, and immediately set to work choosing a
place and collecting stakes for construction of a fort.”
By the 2d of August the temporary fort was com-
pleted, and the militia set out at noon for their quarters
at Montreal. The following day De Nonville em-150
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
barked to join the militia, and reached Montreal on
13th of August, leaving the regular troops to complete
some details, with orders that M. de Troyes, a veteran
officer, captain of one of the companies, should winter
there with one hundred men. A sickness, caused by
climate and unwholesome food, soon after broke out
in the garrison, by which nearly all perished,
including the commander. For so closely were
they besieged by the Iroquois that they were unable
to supply themselves with fresh provisions. The for-
tress was soon after abandoned and destroyed, much
to De Nonville’s regret.
“The French gained little honor and no advantage in
their expedition. Their inefficiency disgusted their
Indian allies, one of whom, an Ottawa, said they were
only fit to make war on Indian corn and bark canoes.”
Such is the just conclusion of Marshall.
The Jesuit missionaries retired with the French
army, and their missions among the Senecas were
never revived.CHAPTER VII.
sullivan’s expedition.
The Western Expedition under General Sullivan,
was the leading military event of the Revolution in
1779. It constituted the principal exception to Wash-
ington’s defensive policy of that year; and its
influence upon the after settlement of this region gives
the enterprise the importance of an epoch in our local
history. While therefore, we briefly present its gen-
eral features, attention may properly be claimed to
full details of the operations and results of the
expedition in the Genesee country.
The measure, too long delayed, was provoked by
the insolence of the Senecas and other Indian tribes,
and their sanguinary allies, the tories. With the
exception of a portion of the Oneidas and a few of the
Mohawks, it will be recollected that the Six Nations
were all in arms against the colonists, and to the last-
ing disgrace of the cabinet of Lord North, they were
urged on by British emissaries to the commission of
atrocities which have no parallel in modem history.
Their remarkable organization and great numbers
enabled them to keep the borders in a continual state
of alarm, as well as to inflict upon the inhabitants a
long series of injuries. The cry for protection against152
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
these predatory wrongs had gone up to the Continen-
tal Congress from many a hardy frontier-man, who
found himself threatened with dangers through hourly
multiplying savageries. The settlers besought their
Government to interpose its power and secure them
protection for their homes and families against the
inroads of a barbarous foe emboldened by the long
impunity that had attended his successive deeds of
rapine. But delay followed delay as the aspect of
public affairs became less threatening, and Congress
busied itself with other subjects than those of Indian
atrocities which had grown unhappily too familiar.
They indeed appeared content to resolve, to rescind,
to postpone all decision. Meanwhile the western
forest poured forth its savage hordes, and their
spreading ravages compelled the border population to
invoke aid from a nearer power. Their appeal,
unheard at Philadelphia, found its way to Pough-
keepsie, then temporarily the state capital, where it
awakened an interest beseeming its importance. The
Legislature of New York at once initiated a remedy,
and made it practical by enacting a law which directed
the Governor to draw from the militia of the State a
certain quota, and send them against the Senecas.
Thus it was that the first step was taken in the famous
expedition of 1779. Formal notice of this action was
at once transmitted to Congress, and, on the morning
of the first of April, the letter of the Legislature of
New York, bearing date the thirtieth of March, was
laid before that august body. This letter referred in
forcible terms to the Indian ravages on the great fron-
tier, and the distresses they had occasioned; to the
extreme difficulty, as well as the large expense, of
covering the extended border by military posts; and
closed by declaring that an expedition against the
Senecas would be the cheapest and most practicableHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
153
mode of defending tlie households and settlements
suffering from exposure, and that the Legislature had
empowered the Governor to raise a thousand men by
drafts from the State militia for that object.
For months before, at intervals, the subject of
Indian outrages had been considered in Congress. In
truth, twice in the previous year that body had
resolved to fit out an expedition against the Senecas
and other western tribes. In October preceding, the
subject had been referred to Governor George Clinton
and Generals Schuyler and Hand, who conceived it
too late in the season to prepare for an enterprise of
such magnitude. The massacre of Wyoming had,
indeed, called forth special resolutions. But other
.matters were suffered to interfere, and no action
resulted from such well worded sympathy. Now,
however, New York, a leading member of the Feder-
ation, had taken a decisive step toward protecting the
outlying districts; and Congress, feeling the justice
of the demand, listened to the communication with an
attention which presaged good result. Bold George
Clinton was Governor of New York. He had held a
seat in the Continental Congress, and its members
were aware that he would yield to no tardy policy,
indeed, he intended to conduct the expedition in per-
son. And the Legislature, It was known, contained
members equally earnest, who, when once enlisted in
such a work, would be content with nothing savoring
of procrastination.
The Congress, therefore, without further delay,
applauded the “ spirited exertions of the New York
Legislature to facilitate such enterprise,” and directed
that the State’s militia contingent raised for this pur-
pose, be allowed rations and continental pay. Proper
measures were also taken to collect an army of ample
strength to effect the object. Washington, no doubt,154
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
was quite ready to approve this action. He had
passed the previous winter in Philadelphia, where
Congress was sitting, to deliberate with the Board of
war about the campaign of 1779, and especially to
urge action in respect to Indian outrages along the
frontier. Correspondence with General Hand, who
ppears to have devoted particular attention to the
subject of a western expedition, shows that he had
been carefully examining the routes best to be taken
and securing information having particular regard
to the distance and face of the country, and kind of
navigation. But the result of these deliberations
could not have been encouraging to the chief at that
session: for our continental council did not partake
. of his anxiety in respect to the situation of public
affairs. To him the period was a momentous one.
The country, exhausted by years of war, needed rest.
Bread was scarce, wages were high, and employment
abundant, while the pay of the soldier was small and
uncertain, and the terms of many were about expir-
ing. The army, indeed, had begun to melt away.
The alliance with France had produced a baneful
feeling of security, which, it appeared to him, was
paralyzing the energies of the country. England, it
was thought, would now be too much occupied in
securing her position in Europe to increase her force,
or extend her operations in America. Many, there-
fore, considered the war as virtually at an end, and
were unwilling to make the sacrifices or supply the
means necessary for important military operations.
“Dissensions and party feuds were breaking out in
Congress, owing to the relaxation of that external
pressure of a common and imminent danger which
had heretofore produced a unity of sentiment and
action.” Congress had, in fact, greatly deteriorated
“ since the commencement of the war. Many of thoseHISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	155
whose names had been as watchwords at the declara-
tion of independence, had withdrawn from the
national councils, occupied either by their individual
affairs, or by the affairs of their individual States.”*
Never too sanguine, Washington was now beguiled
into no feeling of security; but the country was lan-
guid and exhausted, and had need of rest, and, all
things considered, he deemed it wise to allow “Amer-
ica a breathing time.” He therefore assented to a
defensive policy for the approaching campaign, with
the single exception of this western expedition against
the Indians.
He held that Indian warfare, to be effective, should
not be merely defensive, but that we must make “war
• upon them in their own style; penetrate their country,
lay waste their villages and settlements, and, at the
same time, destroy the British post at Niagara, that
nestling place of tories and refugees.” This policy
prevailed, and the campaign, now finally decided
upon, was set on foot at once. It consisted of, first,
an expedition from Fort Schuyler, under Colonel
Yan Schaick, with six hundred men, who, on the 19th
of April, surprised and destroyed the Indian villages
of Onondaga, and got back to camp without loss.
The principal expedition of the campaign, however,
was that to western New York, under General Sulli-
van. Washington had devoted much thought as to
the best route by which to reach the Indian settle-
ments, and his leading officers were consulted, as we
have seen. General Schuyler, more familiar with the
country than others, believed that the most eligible
course would be to ascend the Mohawk river, and
continue thence westward to the Seneca villages, and,
if practicable, to Niagara. There were difficulties,
* Irving’s Washington.156
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
however, in this plan, and, upon the whole, the line
adopted was doubtless the best. It was Washington’s-
original design that General Brodhead, who left Pitts-
burg in August of that year, with six hundred men,
and destroyed several Indian towns on the Alleghany*
and other tributaries of the Ohio, should form a junc-
tion with Sullivan; but this part of the campaign was
afterward abandoned.
The command of the expedition had been tendered
by Washington to General Gates; but that officer,
ever jealous of the Commander-in-chief, declined the
service, in a cold, and uncourteous letter. The
leadership was then offered to General Sullivan, who
accepted and entered with alacrity upon the honorable
• and responsible duty.
The headquarters of the force was first established,
at Easton, Pennsylvania, from which point a general
order, for the arrangement and marching of the army,,
was issued on the 24th of May. In the latter part of
June, the troops moved to Wyoming, then recently the
scene of that bloody massacre which had so shocked
the sensibilities of Christendom. By the last of July,
three thousand troops were assembled at Wyoming,
and at one o’clock on the afternoon of the 31st of that
month, the army commenced its march for Tioga, by
way of the western branch of the Susquehanna river,
the stores and artillery being conveyed up that stream
in a hundred and fifty boats.*
This expedition, so fruitful in good results, was
* The army, as it now moved out, was composed as follows:
Gen. Hand’s Brigade—Hubley’s and the German Regiment, and Schott’s and
Spaulding’s Independent Corps, compose Light Corps.
Gen. Maxwell’s Brigade—Dayton’s, Shreeve’s, Olden’s, Spence’s regiments.
Gen. Poor’s Brigade—Cilley’s, Reed’s, Scammel’s, Cortlandt’s regiments.
Total fit for duty July 22: Brig. Generals, 3; Colonels, 7; Lt. Colonels,
6; Majors, 8; Captains, 48; Chaplains, 3; Surgeons, 10; Drum Majors, 8 'T
Fife Majors, 3; drummers and fifers, 131; rank and file, 2,312.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
157
attended with more than its share of painful incident
in each step of formation and earlier movements. At
the outset, the officers of a Jersey regiment hesitated
to obey marching orders. Washington received the
intelligence of their wavering “with infinite concern,”
and declared that nothing had happened in the course
of the war which gave him so much pain as their
action. He was fully sensible of the justice of their
demands. He was aware that they had appealed,
without effect, to the Legislature of their State on the
subject of the arrearages of their pay; that they had
urged the starving condition of their families, and the
burthen of accumulating debt; that their appeal had
been slighted, and that they had obtained no satisfac-
tion whatever. They next remonstrated. “ Our pay,”
said they, “is only nominal, not real. Four months
pay of a private soldier will not procure his wretched
■wife and children a single bushel of wheat! The
situation of your officers is worse. The pay of a
colonel of your regiments will not purchase oats for
his horse, nor will his whole day’s pay procure him a
sin^fe dinner.” The remonstrance closed by urging
that unless immediate relief was afforded they would
Tbe under the necessity of quitting the service, and,
unless provision for arrears was made in three days,
they must be considered as having resigned. The
emergency was serious. The cause of complaint was
wide-spread and well founded; and had not Wash-
ington now exerted his powerful influence as well with
the civil authorities as with the army, the expedition
might have failed at this stage. But he succeeded in
securing attention to the appeal. The memorial was
withdrawn and the pay sent to the regiments, who
promptly took their places in the brigade to vindicate
anew throughout the campaign, their reputation, won
on many a battle-field, for unflinching valor.158
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
It is said that Sullivan’s requisitions embraced many
articles deemed extravagant by the Board of war.
Among other things a large number of eggs were
called for, while the quantity of rifle powder was
greater, the board thought, than could in any event
be necessary. It is certain that Congress received the
requisitions with disfavor, and tardily granted orders
for such supplies as by them were regarded essen-
tial. All this tended to delay the movement, and give
publicity to what it had been designed to keep secret.
Washington meantime grew anxious, and urged that
success depended upon celerity. The commissariat,
even at last, was but illy supplied either in quantity
or quality. On reaching Wyoming not a pound of
salted meat remaining was fit to eat, and in other
departments contractors had equally wronged the
public service. Sullivan says that more than a third
of his men were without a shirt to their backs. Many
of the cattle furnished him were too poor to walk and
some were even unable to stand. Of the fourteen’
hundred horses provided, full fifty were worn out
and unable to travel further than a single day’s
march beyond the Chemung river, where they were
abandoned and ordered shot. The Indians afterwards
gathered the heads of these slaughtered animals and
arranged them beside the trail. From this circum-
stance the locality derived its present name of Horse-
heads.
On the 11th of August the army arrived at Tioga.
A mile above the junction of the Tioga and Susque-
hanna rivers they approach each other to within a few
rods. “Here a fort was built called Fort Sullivan,
while the army, somewhat fatigued, lay on what
might almost be called an island below,” awaiting the
arrival of Clinton’s division. The water of the Sus-
quehanna, through which the troops had to pass, wasHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
159
up to their arm-pits, and to preserve the ammunition
dry, they hung their cartouch-boxes upon their bayo-
nets, carried high above their heads. From this
point Sullivan detailed General Poor .with a detach-
ment of seven hundred men, to meet Clinton. The
precaution proved a wise one, for, after traversing
thirty miles or more of wilderness, the detail came
upon a body of Indians lying in ambush beside a
well-beaten trail at Round Hill, near Choconut creek,
awaiting the coming of Clinton. The Indians were
surprised, and being driven down the bank and dis-
persed, the detachment moved on and soon after came
up with Clinton’s division. After a brief halt the
latter’s march southward was resumed.
The advent of Clinton’s army into the region of
Otsego lake with a well-appointed force, was an event
so unexpected to the Indians and so formidable in
character, that a wide-spread terror seized their fam-
ilies and they fled in large numbers across the
country, first, to near Newtown, and, after the battle
of the latter place, to the homes of the Senecas on the
Genesee, where, remote from white settlements, they
fancied themselves secure, little suspecting the blow,
now preparing through the agency of this very force,
to fall upon those distant towns. %
* In 1860, Judge Avery, of Flint, Michigan, saw, on the Grand river, in
Canada, a venerable squaw, (nearly a hundred years old,) of the Nanticoke
tribe, named Way-way, who was born at Choconut, and resided near that
place at the time Clinton’s army was on its way to form a junction with
Sullivan. She recollected perfectly the dismay occasioned by that event,
and also the flight with her people to the Genesee to seek safety, and when
driven from the Seneca villages along the latter river by Sullivan, the con-
tinued flight with others, to Niagara. On the return of peace, Way-way and
her mother, (she lost her father in the Newtown battle) came back with
others, and settled near Owego, where they recovered their kettles and other
valuables left buried when they fled westward. Judge Avery, to whom I
am much indebted for facts, has used his interesting pen with marked suc-
cess in rescuing many a fugitive leaf of early history from destruction.160
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
At ten o’clock on Sunday morning, the 22d of
August, General Clinton appeared with his division,
in two hundred and ten boats. Salvos of artillery
announced their arrival. The light corps was drawn
up, Colonel Proctor’s music was advanced to the
front, and, while drums were beating and fifes play-
ing, the division floated past the light corps to the
camp of the main army. The force, with this addition,
now numbered about five thousand men.
Clinton’s division, consisting of sixteen hundred
men, had come from the valley of the Mohawk by
way of Otsego lake, and the easterly bank of the
Susquehanna. As he neared Sullivan he despatched
a small detachment under command of Lieutenant
Boyd, whose untimely fate a few days later near Con-
esus lake, gives a tragic coloring to the expedition’s
history, to announce his coming, which arrived at
the general head-quarters in a soaking rain.
The baggage was now got ready for the march.
Several tents were cut up and a considerable force was
detailed for work through the day and night to make
up this material into flour sacks convenient for trans-
porting on horse-back.
Having attained a comparatively open country the
line of march was arranged in the following order:
Gen. Hand’s brigade, in front, in eight columns;
Gen. Poor’s brigade on the right, in eight columns,
flanked by a strong body of light troops ; Gen. Max-
well’s brigade on the left in eight columns, flanked by
light troops; Gen. Clinton’s brigade, in eight col-
umns, in the rear; Col. Proctor’s artillery in the
centre, flanked on the right and left by double files of
pack-horses, which separated his command from
Poor’s and Maxwell’s brigades; Major Parr, with the
riflemen, disposed considerably in front of the whole,
with orders to reconoitre all suspicious places previ-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
161
oustotlie arrival of tlie army. Colonel Cortland’s
regiment was added to Clinton’s division, Olden’s to
Poor’s brigade, and Butler’s regiment and Major
Parr’s corps to Hand’s brigade.
On the 26th of August the signal-gun was fired, and
the whole army took up its line of march. A great
and unknown wilderness—formidable obstacles to the
movement of an army—spread before them.- Un-
bridged creeks and rivers were to be forded, mountain
defiles to be threaded, and morasses to be crossed.
The maps of the country were full of errors, while the
guides, even the best that could be procured, were so
little acquainted with the route that they “ could not
conduct a party out of the Indian path by day nor in
it by night.” General Hand had been informed that
the region between the Chemung river and the Gen-
esee, was in great part particularly low, wet, and
swampy, and could be travelled only with difficulty,
and so informed Washington in March, yet nothing,
as we know, could well be further from the truth. A
wily foe, perfectly familiar with every pass, and at
home on every trail, hovered always upon their flanks.
Pioneers moved invariably in advance, and riflemen
were disposed in front to reconnoitre suspicious
places, and thus to prevent surprise. But while these
precautions were taken to guard against disaster, con-
fidence and good nature prevailed throughout the
ranks, and neither officers nor men were unmindful of
the demands of the palate. Besides the usual sup-
plies, the Commander carried dried tongues and other
articles of like character ; and a number of live cattle
were driven along to supply them with fresh meat.
The general officers were entertained at Sullivan’s
table, where, with characteristic freedom, he criticised
the Congress, and particularly the Board of war.
This impolitic course, though evincing independence,162	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
was cause of much after controversy and personal
embroilment.	✓
Six light brass field-pieces and two howitzers were
carried by the artillery. The morning and evening
guns were always fired, even in the deepest recesses
of the forest; and much as Sullivan was criticised,
even on the floor of Congress, for thus notifying the
Indians of his progress and whereabouts, he never
justified his course as he might have done, by quoting
his orders from the Commander-in-chief himself.
These orders, in the handwriting of Hamilton, and
bearing Washington’s autograph signature are still in
existence.
Sullivan was familiar with Indian warfare, and was
well aware of the terror which the discharge of cannon
occasioned in the Indian mind. The peace of New
England had in a measure been preserved by provid-
ing a “big gun” for exposed settlements, to be now
and then fired from the little garrison house. Indeed,
the shaking of a linstock by a woman over an unload-
ed cannon, proved enough on a notable occasion to
hold at bay a band of savages. As the expedition
was no longer a secret he determined to make the
most of this feeling of dread on the part of the red-
man. In his special orders of the 31st of May,
Washington said, “the immediate objects (of the
expedition) are the total destruction and devastation
of their settlements and the capture of as many
prisoners of every age and sex as possible.” Wash-
ington had hoped to keep the route of the army a
secret, but the fact had transpired, hence, as the
natives, encumbered by little or no baggage, and
familiar with the country, could easily keep out of
the way of an army whose progress at best must be
necessarily slow, it at once became clear that his
attention must be confined to the principal object, thatHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	163
of destruction to their settlements, since he could
take no prisoners, and even if he had been able to
do so, no suitable provisions could be made for their
support or transportation. The morning and evening
guns afforded little information as to the army’s
whereabouts, for the Indian runners were constantly
watching its progress and reporting its movements to
the retreating chieftains.
Washington was well aware of the effect of dash
and clamor, and he particularly suggested that when
going to attack the Indians, ‘ ‘ it should be done with
as much impetuosity, shouting, and noise as possi-
ble,” and that it should be “impressed upon the
minds of the men whenever they have an opportu-
nity, to rush on with the war-whoop and fixed
bayonet. Nothing will disconcert and terrify *the
Indians more than this.”
On Sunday, the 29th of August, the expedition
arrived at Newtown, near the present city of Elmira.
The Indians and Tories, one thousand strong, under
the Butlers and Brant, were here found entrenched
behind well constructed earth-works, a short distance
below the modern city, at a point wisely chosen for
defence. Sullivan at once began to engage them, by
opening his field-pieces upon their defences—mean-
time detaching General Hand’s light troops to the
left and Poor to the right around the mountain, the
latter to fall upon their left flank, and thus cut off
their retreat in that direction. Poor was obliged,
however, to march over a mile in full view of the
enemy, who readily penetrated his design. They
observed, too, that when he opened signal fire other
movements were making to surround them; and see-
ing that opposition was useless, they delayed no
longer, but sounding the wild retreating whoop, at
once quitted their works and betook themselves to164
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
precipitate flight, the artillery’s well-directed cannon-
ade serving, meantime, to quicken their motions.
The engagement lasted two hours. Sullivan had
seven men killed and about thirty wounded. The
enemy suffered more seriously, and were pushed so
closely that in their retreat Walter Butler’s commis-
sion, and the warrant of another tory officer, together
with several orderly books, fell into our hands. The
defeat proved decisive. The leaders could not, during
the whole progress of the expedition, again bring the
savages face to face with the army marching to invade
their homes, and though ever on the watch to embar-
rass its movements and to strike a stealthy blow, they
were obliged constantly to retreat,—slowly and sul-
lenly,—before the steadily advancing expedition.
After the war, Brant told General Peter B. Porter,
that Red Jacket, whose great influence was first fully
exerted in connection with this expedition, sought to
perplex the Indians by holding private councils with
the young chiefs, and more timid sachems, to induce
them to sue for peace, even on humiliating terms.
Colonel Stone says, that at one time Red Jacket so far
succeeded in his plan as to send secretly a runner into
Sullivan’s camp to make known the divisions existing
among the Indians, and to advise the General to
dispatch a flag of truce with certain propositions
calculated to increase these divisions and to secure a
peace dishonorable to them. Brant was privately
informed of these proceedings, but fearful to disclose
them, detailed two confidential warriors to waylay
and kill the bearer of the flag of truce before he should
reach the Indian camp.
The little Indian village of Newtown was laid in
ashes, and the surrounding crops of com and beans
were also destroyed. From this point, on the night
succeeding the battle, General Sullivan sent back toHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
165
Pennsylvania his heavy artillery, retaining only four
brass three pounders, and a small howitzer. Having
loaded the necessary ammunition on horse-back, and
being otherwise ready, the army resumed the march
early next morning for Catherine’s Town, the home of
the half-blood Queen Catherine Montour, which lay
on a creek about three miles from Seneca lake,
encamping at night-fall within thirteen miles of that
village. The next day a road was opened for the
artillery, through a hemlock swamp, nine miles in
extent. Over this, as well as through several danger-
ous defiles, the army was now to pass. It had also
to ford a swift running river which in many places
was considerably broad and waist deep, while its
course was so serpentine that it had to be crossed
seven or eight times in the day’s march. Sullivan
was cautioned by his scouts against entering the
swamp until daylight, and Clinton, who brought up
the rear and was much fatigued, on reaching its
entrance at night-fall, was so strongly assured that
the lives of his horses and cattle, if not of his men,
would be risked if he tried to go through before
morning, that he did not attempt the task till the next
day. Sullivan, however, pressed on, determined to
cross that night. Flanking parties were accordingly
sent forward, and other precautions taken against
surprise ; but such was the boldness of the hills and
so narrow were the defiles, that a score or two of
Indians might easily have obstructed the progress of
the troops and thrown the army into confusion. The
night was intensely dark, and as the men slowly
groped their way, often sinking deep in the treacher-
ous ground, they became weary and scattered, and
not a few lay down here and there on the pathway for
the night, unable to go farther. The situation was
one of no little peril; but fully alive to its demands166
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the General encouraged his army forward, and by
midnight had the satisfaction of reaching the already
deserted town. The Indian scouts had keenly watched
the army until evening, but having no thought that
they would continue the march in a night so dark,
over a route presenting so many difficulties, and to
so late an hour, they made their way to the town at
dusk where, roasting their com, they passed the
evening in busily planning for the next day, while
the resolute commander of the invading forces was
pushing forward his troops, amid difficulties whose
daring character, singularly enough, secured him
from the dangers, incident to the movement. Such a
stroke was characteristic of Sullivan. Washington,
well aware of his intrepidity and dauntless courage,
had selected him as chief officer of the expedition,
which involved risks like this, risks for which he had
a relish. Though when the troops had safely accomp-
lished that night’s march, Sullivan, it is said, declared
he would not repeat it for the honor of a command.
Several of the cattle had been killed, and a number of
pack horses lost in the mazes of the swamp. The
men, however, all arrived safely, those who had drop-
ped out coming in with Clinton in the morning. The
army halted here until the second day to rest from
the unusual fatigues. Catherine’s Town, it was found,
consisted of thirty houses, several of which were
quite good. These were destroyed together with the
orchards and growing crops of corn, beans and other
vegetables.
An incident here occurred which proves the absence
of personal hatred on the part of the army, however
ready they were to destroy the towns and crops of
the Indians, as a military necessity. An old Cayuga
squaw, of great age, had been left in Catherine’s Town
by the Indians, in their precipitate flight, and wasHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
167
found in the neighboring woods. The soldiers at once
provided for her present wants, and treated her with
kindness during their stay. Before leaving, the town
having meanwhile been burnt, they erected a hut for
the old woman, and gathered a quantity of wood for
her use. They also left her a supply of provisions,
which she was found using on the army’s return.
Such unexpected usage, drew grateful tears from her
venerable eyes, and made her quite communicative.
She assured the officers that the squaws generally
were anxious for the Indians to remain in their vil-
lages, and make peace with the Yankees.
On the 30th of August, Sullivan addressed an order
to the army in which, reflecting severely on the
colonial authorities for neglect in furnishing supplies
of food and horses, he requested the officers to ascer-
tain if the troops were willing to draw half rations of
flour, meat and salt, until the leading purpose of the
expedition should be accomplished. The necessity of
this measure, so essential to success, since the supplies,
never sufficient in quantity, were now much reduced
by loss in various ways, was fully appreciated, aad
the suggestion was received with cheers by the whole
army, resolved as they were to execute the orders of
Congress for the devastation of the Indian country at
any personal sacrifice. But they really suffered noth-
ing from hunger, since vegetables, common to the
country through which they were passing, were found
in profusion, and their wants were thus supplied from
day to day by the several localities. Hominy or
paune, made from corn, the camp-kettles serving as
graters, was especially palatable, but caused bowel
complaints to such an extent that its use was discontin-
ued for a time. On the 8th of September, a captain
and fifty men were detached with all the sick and
lame, and ordered to return to the garrison at Tioga.168	HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTV.
The work of destruction to Indian property was
pursued relentlessly, and desolation marked the
army’s route. Grains and crops were destroyed.
Orchards of apple, pear and peach trees, raised in
most instances from the seeds and stones, under advice
of the Jesuit missionaries, met the fate common to
other species of property. In one place fifteen hun-
dred peach trees, bending under the ripened fruit, were
cut down. This is much to be regretted. Indeed,
the Indians themselves, in their incursions upon the
white settlements, were in the habit of sparing fruit
trees, the growth of many years ; and some of the
officers desired Sullivan to mitigate his orders in this
regard, but his instructions from Washington were
specific and he insisted that they should be literally
carried out. This was effectually done. “The blow
must be sure and fatal,” said Sullivan, “otherwise
the Indians will derive confidence from our ineffectual
attempts and become more insolent than before.”
Washington’s specific orders were thus stated:
“The immediate objects (of the expedition) are the
total destruction and devastation of their settlements.
* * * It will be essential to ruin their crops now
in the ground and prevent their planting more. * *
I would recommend that some post in the centre of
the Indian country should be occupied with all expe-
dition with a sufficient quantity of provisions, whence
parties should be detached to lay waste all the
settlements around, with instructions to do it in the
most effectual manner, that the country may not be
merely overrun but destroyed. * * * After you
have thoroughly completed the destruction of their
settlements, if the Indians show a disposition for
peace, I would have you encourage it. * ^ * But
you will not by any means listen to overtures of peaceHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
169
before the tojal destruction of their settlements is
effected.”
Between Cayuga and Seneca lakes the enemy fled
so suddenly before the army that the advance guard
occasionally found kettles of corn boiling over the
fire. At the Indian village of Kanadaseago. just west
of Geneva, a fine white child, ai>out three years old
was discovered by the army. It was entirely alone,
nearly famished and quite naked, the only article on
its person being a string of glass beads about its neck.
When first seen it was playing at the door of a hut
with a number of small sticks. On being spoken to
it replied “ Sago,” (“How are you?”) and used a few
other Indian words. It evidently was of Dutch par-
entage, and probably had been captured the year
before, on the Pennsylvania border.* A number of
deer and bear skins were also found at the place,
showing that the enemy had quit in haste.
On the morning of Saturday, the 11th of September,
the army resumed its march at six o’clock, moving
for a mile, through a thicket and swamp, before the
main path was gained. The infantry, owing to this
cause, was considerably dispersed, and the movement
forward was thus delayed. After marching three
* Gen. Sullivan took no small interest in the little fellow’s welfare during
the return march. It was placed in a rough pannier or basket across a
horse, balanced by an equal weight of baggage on the opposite side. On
one occasion in crossing a stream, much swollen by a storm, the water was
ireely spattered over it. Observing this, Sullivan rode up, and taking out
his handkerchief carefully dried the child’s face. Captain Machin, of the
Engineer party, became the child’s godfather, and had it christened Thomas
Machin. An excellent milch cow, which accompanied the expedition from
first to last, and which on the return of the army to Tioga point, was care-
fully returned with the officer’s horses to Wyoming, afforded nourishment
for the little stranger. After the return of the army the child was taken to
Major Logan’s house at New Windsor, near Newburgh, where it soon
caught the small-pox and died. Its birth-place, and parentage remain, alike
unknown.170
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
miles, the foremost ranks reached a spot of rising
ground. The rich country through which they were
about to pass could be seen stretching for miles to the
westward—a broken forest, mainly of oak and hick-
ory, with intervals of broken fields covered here and
there with remarkably high wild grass. At one
o’clock they descended to a beautiful valley, and,
after a march of thirteen hours, encamped at Honeoye,
an Indian town, situated on a fine plain, half a mile
from the lake. Tliis consisted of twelve houses of
hewn logs. Around it were several large cornfields,
and orchards of apples and other fruit trees. There
was left at this point a garrison of fifty men, under
Captain Cumming, of the Second Jersey Regiment,
together with such soldiers as were not able to march.
The garrison was directed to remain at this temporary
post, and guard, until the army’s return, the extra
stores of ammunition and flour which otherwise would
encumber the movement forward, now to become more
active. Captain Cumming at once set about Erecting
a small fort at Honeoye, the works consisting of bags
of flour with abatis of apple-trees. A three-pounder
field-piece, and some of Colonel Proctor’s artillery,
were also left here, and were duly disposed within the
works.
At Honeoye, Sullivan was informed by two prison-
ers that the Indians, a few rangers, and some British
soldiers, had labored diligently during the previous
season about the Genesee river, in planting crops to
serve for their support while they were marauding
along the frontier. These men had acted under the
immediate orders of Walter Butler, who had passed
several months of the summer along the Genesee,
making his head-quarters at the cabin of Mary Jemi-
son, the White Woman. Here he was supplied with
port wine by the barrel, and amused his leisure hoursHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
171
in fishing and hunting. The information communi-
cated to the army gave additional stimulus, and de-
termined men and officers alike to make clean work
when they should reach the richer planting grounds
near the river.
On Sunday morning, the 12th of September, it rained
heavily, and the army did not move until nearly noon.
A defile which they had to cross, prevented the usual
order of march, and otherwise retarded movements.
After traveling five miles they came to Hemlock Lake,
which was forded at the mouth, where the water was
knee-deep and about ten yards over. Soon they as-
cended an acclivity. Before them now lay a broad
country in full view, covered generally with a large
growth of oak and walnut. Moving forward, they,
by turns, crossed tracts of marsh and alluvium, suit-
able, as the farmer-soldiers saw, for the finest
meadows. The traveling, however, was indifferent,
and the army moved slowly. By night-fall, General
Hand’s light corps, having the advance, arrived
within half a mile of the little Indian town of Conesus
(Gah-nyuh-sas.) It was designed in the morning that
the army should pass the night in this village, but
the main forces, delayed by the morning rain and
other impediments of the roads, were still a full mile
in the rear ; and, without attempting to enter the
Indian town, they all encamped for the night. Gen-
eral Hand’s corps was ordered to remain on what is
now Dr. McMillan’s farm. The particular spot, then
heavily wooded, proved to be “ exceedingly ill-calcu-
lated for that purpose, no water being nearer than half
a mile.”
It was now Sunday evening, and after the; light
corps had encamped, Sullivan ordered Lieutenant
Thomas Boyd, of the rifle corps, to report at his head-
quarters for special duty. This brave and tried young172
HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
officer was directed to take three or four riflemen, a
guide, and the Indian chief Hanyerry, and reconnoitre
the principal Seneca village on the Genesee river, in
order, if possible, to effect its surprise. Major Adam
Hoops, third aide-de-camp on Sullivan’s staff, was
present in the General’s tent, and heard the instruc-
tions to Boyd. These were verbal, of course, but
quite specific. “The country before us,” said Major
Hoops, “was unknown. We had heard of an Indian
castle on the Genesee, which, by our reckoning,
might be a few miles ahead of us.” Sullivan calls
this castle, or village, the capital of the Indian coun-
try ; and toward it Boyd was to take his course. On
leaving his commander’s tent, he proceeded at once
carefully to select his scouting party. Instead, how-
ever, of the smaller number, he took twenty-three
soldiers who volunteered from the rifle corps, and
three from Colonel Butler’s Schoharie regiment, thus
making the party in all to consist of twenty-six men,
a force by no means as likely to effect the purpose as
that which he had been directed to take with him.
“Too few,” says Minor, “if battle were intended;
too many, if secrecy and celerity were prime requis-
ites of the enterprise.” Hanyerry (or Han Yost)
acted as guide. Timothy Murphy, a private soldier,
of marvelous coolness and boldness, famous alike as
a border fighter and scout, whom Boyd found at a camp
fire, filling the eager ears of his fellow-soldiers with
stories of his Indian hand-to-hand fights, was also a
member of the party. They set out early in the eve-
ning. The service was full of danger, the path was
wholly new to them; but aware that time was essen-
tial, they proceeded actively, though with caution,
along the trail leading westward from Conesus lake,
up the steep activity, and over the Groveland hills.
Doubtless before quitting the summit for the mazes of."HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
173
the dark and fruitless forest, the little band lingered
a moment along the damp trail to catch another sight,
to most of them a last one, of the camp fires glimmer-
ing far over the marshy plain.
Early on Monday morning, the 13th of September,
the army marched from their evening’s bivouac at the
False Faces,* as it afterwards was called, on the farm
now owned by Lemuel B. Richardson, near Conesus
Centre, westward a mile to the Indian village of Cone-
sus, where they made camp and breakfasted. This
Indian town was situated on what is now known as
Henderson’s flats, near the head of the lake. “Here
we found,” says General Sullivan, “some large corn-
fields, which part of the army destroyed, while the
other part were employed in building a bridge over an
unfordable creek between this and Genesee.” This
unfordable creek was the inlet of Conesus lake. The
margins of this stream fronting the Indian village,
now so well cultivated, were then a quagmire, and
impassable for horses. Accordingly a strong cover-
ing party was detailed early in the morning to con-
struct a log bridge over the inlet, and corduroy the
approaches. The point selected was about four rods
below the present bridge, over which passes the
highway across the flat leading from Conesus Centre
to the Lakeville road. The remains of this rude struc-
ture, composed of trunks of elm and white wood,
were plainly visible in 1806, when James Scott came
* The spot where the army encamped is now embraced in a nine acre
held, situated three quarters of a mile south-west of Conesus Centre and
fifty rods east of Mr. Richardson’s residence. For many years after the
country was settled there stood in this field on either side of the Indian
path, two oak trees upon which had been cut in the bark, the rude represen-
tation of the human face; about this spot Sullivan’s camp was formed. The
locality was long known as the “False faces,” and from the circumstance
mentioned, the place took its name. Lemuel Richardson, who afterwards
“took up” this farm, was a Revolutionary soldier and accompanied the ex-
pedition into this region in 1*779.174
HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
into this region ; and the abutments, stringers, and
some few of the logs that constituted the track-way,
could still be seen as late as 1813, and were removed,
for the most part, in June of that year, for the pur-
pose of repairing the more modern bridge and its
approaches, and because it had become an obstruction
to the highway. John White, of Groveland, then
lived in that road district, and assisted in its removal.
A tradition is extant that the army, in crossing here
on their way to the Indian village on the Genesee,
threw a three-pounder brass cannon into the stream,
because of their inability to transport it further. But
Sullivan makes no mention of the loss of a field-piece
here, although his official report is quite particular,
especially in reference to ordnance and ammunition.
It seems most unlikely that so formidable a weapon,
intended for use in this region, would be abandoned
at this stage of the expedition, after surmounting
more serious obstacles, especially as the army, hav-
ing little to fear from the enemy, moved leisurely
across the bridge. Moreover, had the piece proved,
burdensome, it could easily have been sent back to
Honeoye during the morning, while the army lay
inactive here, where Captain Cumming would have
welcomed it as additional armament to his little fort.
So strong, however, is the popular belief in this story
that, when in April, 1865, the rebels evacuated Rich-
mond, and the whole country was alive with excite-
ment, a rumor reached Scottsburg, and traveled along
the line of the inlet, that this abandoned cannon had
been recovered, and was being fired in honor of the
great event of the day. Firing was certainly heard
in the direction of the lake, and scores of people
flocked thither to see the old gun, and listen to its
brazen voice ; but they reached the spot to learn that.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
175
the sound proceeded from a blacksmith’s anvil, im-
provised for the occasion.
Noon was advancing, and yet the scouting party
had not returned from its hazardous mission, though
two of the little band despatched by Boyd, had
returned in the morning, bringing a brief report to
the General. * A council of officers, it is said, was
now summoned at Sullivan’s tent, which occupied the
present site of the old negro fisherman’s, Harkless
Williams’ house. This assembly was striking. The
leading personage, Major-General John Sullivan,
commander of the expedition, was a man of dauntless
resolution and genuine revolutionary fire. One of the
very first to strike for the cause of liberty, he held
throughout the great struggle a conspicuous place ;
and after the war, in all measures tending to secure
the adoption of the Federal constitution, and the paci-
fication of the country, took an earnest and often
important part. Three times its chief Magistrate, he
continued to enjoy other high civil dignities in his
native State, down to the close of a life far more use-
ful than the historian has yet accorded it to be ;
though Webster, at Bunker Hill monument, in
addressing Lafayette, refers to him as an immediate
companion in arms of the immortal Frenchmen, and
groups him with Washington, Gates and Lincoln, f
He was an attached friend of John Adams, and
enjoyed the intimate companionship of Lafayette. At
* Sullivan’s report says two; Major Hubley says, “ Four men of Lieut.
Boyd’s party this morning (Monday, Sept. 13) returned, bringing informa-
tion of the town of G-aghsuginlahenv (which they took for Genesee) being
abandoned;” Major Norris’s diary says, “After sunrise Boyd sent four
men to report to Gen. Sullivan what he had discovered.”
f “ Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. We give them this day
to Warren and his associates* On other occasions they have been given to
your more immediate companions in arms, to Washington, to Greene, to
Sullivan, to Lincoln.”— Webster's Bunker Hill Oration.176
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the moment appointed, for the meeting, he enters the
tent from a tour of personal inspection of the camp.
His bearing is dignified, and the expression worn on
his sunburnt face is grave and even anxious ; for the
expedition is now on the very threshold of its final
work. His piercing eye moves from one to another;
for he would gather the present feeling of each officer.
Amiable in personal intercourse, he salutes, as he
takes his camp-stool, the officers severally with
warmth and native kindness. Forty years of age,
erect in stature, five feet nine inches in height, his
chest full, already inclining to corpulency, his eyes
keen and dark, his hair black and curly, he presents
a form and demeanor that challenge respect. The
business of the council at once begins : for Sullivan is
always impatient of delay. As the conference pro-
ceeds, we may glance at his career. Born at Somers-
worth, then a part of Dover, New Hampshire,* on
the 17th of February, 1740, he passed his early years
on his father’s farm. After reading law in the office
of Judge Livermore, of the supreme court of his native
State, he was admitted to practice, and for several
years before the war, was a leading member of the
New Hampshire bar. He early showed a military
* The State of Maine is uniformly given as General Sullivan’s birth place;
but this is an error. When in 1787 he was a candidate for President of New
Hampshire, as the office of governor was then called, for a second term, the
opposition endeavored to prejudice hi3 cause by urging that he was a
foreigner—a native, not of New Hampshire but of Maine, and therefore not
deserving of support, for, it was asked, “ Are there not New Hampshire
men competent to fill her Gubernatorial chair ?” But the story availed his
opponents nothing, for his father and mother, then both living, set the fiction
at rest by asserting that Somersworth was in truth his birth-place—a fact
which the people were thus made to believe—and they honored him with a
re-election in 178*7 and again in 1789.
The General’s brother, James Sullivan, Governor ot Massachusetts, was a
native of Berwick, Maine, where he was born after the parents removed
from New Hampshire.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
177
taste, and received, in 1772, a provincial commission
as major of militia. His father, the humble founder
of one of the most distinguished of New England fam-
ilies—a family that has furnished two governors,
several high military and along list of civilian officers,
was a school-master, of Irish birth ; still retaining the
family name of O’Sullivan,* possessed of a good edu-
cation, a warm heart, and small earthly possessions.
Deriving his mental activity and warmth of tempera-
ment from an Irish ancestry, Sullivan inherited, no
doubt, from the same source, a jealousy of Great
Britain. Not unfamiliar with political science, and
alive to the bearings of public questions, the people
turned to him at the first mutterings of that storm
which culminated in the Revolution ; and in 1774 he
and Nathaniel Folsom were appointed delegates from
New Hampshire to the first continental Congress. In
December of that year, he, John Langdon, and Cap-
tain Thomas Pickering, “led a force against Fort
William and Mary, near Portsmouth, took possession
of one hundred barrels of gunpowder (afterwards used
at the battle of Bunker Hill,) fifteen cannon, and all
the small-arms and other stores, and carried them up
into the country; concealing a portion of them under
the pulpit of the Durham meeting-house. This was
the first act of armed hostility committed in the colo-
nies. ”f
In June, 1775, he was appointed one of the eight
brigadier-generals, and was assigned to a command
* The Irish prefix, O’, was omitted by his children, however. The father
lived to be more than a hundred years old, and was in the habit of visiting
the General every year on horseback, from Maine.
f This bold act was “ consumated by the seizure of the King’s property
and the disarming and imprisonment of his soldiers; and this, too, at a time
when the universal language held in public was that of peace and antici-
pated reconciliation. It was not until four months afterwards that the first
■blood was shed at Lexington.”178
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
on Winter Hill, at the siege of Boston. Despatched
soon after with reinforcements to the northern army
in Canada, he displayed great military skill and reso-
lution in the retreat. Commissioned as maj or-general,
“he served under Putnam on Long Island, and by a
combat of two hours in the woods, aided by Stirling’s
vigorous defence on the right, contributed to the pre-
servation of the American army. He was taken
prisoner, but being exchanged for General Prescott,
was with Washington at Westchester during the
autumn. After General Lee’s capture, Sullivan took
command of his division, and led the right at Trenton
on Christmas night, 1776.” He commanded the right
wing at Brandywine, and defeated the British left at
Germantown, driving them two miles. In 1778, he
personally directed the siege of Newport, but not
receiving the expected aid from the French fleet, the
siege was'abandoned. In 1779, he was assigned, as
we have seen, to conduct this expedition.
Seeing that “matters were drawing to a happy
conclusion,” he resigned his commission on the 9th
of November, 1779, much against the wishes of Wash-
ington. The expedition, though conducted with emi-
nent success, was keenly criticised in Congress, where
political animosity must thus early be gratified, and
he felt that certain members, especially of the Board
of War, who appear to have blamed him for disasters
which were inevitable, had deeply wronged him. His
health, too, impaired by rough service and a bilious
disorder that had seized him at the commencement
and continued during the whole of the march, and his
private affairs needed attention. Like other officers
of the Revolution, hia support had been drawn mainly
from private means ; but his personal concerns, less
favorably situated than many, had become greatly
embarrassed. On quitting the army, he resumed hisHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
179
profession; but the task of righting finances, shattered
by long neglect, proved too great, and he died, as for
years he had lived, surrounded by importunate credit-
ors. Even death did not close the rugged chapter of
a life of rugged fortunes. Under an old provincial
statute, a debtor’s corpse might be attached and held
from burial until redeemed, Availing of this on the
day of the funeral, Sullivan’s creditors sent an officer
to execute the infamous law on his remains. Closing
the house, the relatives despatched a messenger for
General Cilley, a former comrade in arms, who resided
a short distance away. On arriving, the old soldier
directed the doors to be opened, and the services to
proceed. Said he, ‘ ‘ the funeral of this dear general
must not be interrupted.” He then drew from his
coat two horseman’s pistols, carried by him through
the Revolution, and, as he cocked them, added “Go
on with the ceremonies.” Prayer was offered, and
the remains were placed on a bier ; the bearers took
it up and proceeded to the grave, General Cilley,
pistol in hand, following close after. The rites were
completed without interference from creditor or civil
officer; Cilley then turned sorrowfully away, mounted
his horse, and rode slowly homeward.
Brigadier-general James Clinton, the officer next
in rapk on this occasion, was of that honorable family
which gave two generals to the Revolution, two
governors to Hew York, and, we had almost said, two
vice-Presidents to the Republic.* Born in Ulster
* G-eorge Clinton, brother of the G-eneral, was Yice-President of the
United States during the second term of Jefferson. In 1812, DeWitt Clin-
ton, his nephew, was favored with the nomination of the Republican mem-
bers of the New York Legislature, for the Presidency. The Pederalists
made no nomination, and indirectly gave him their support. He received
89 electoral votes, while Mr. Madison received 128, and was thus re-elected.
Before the amendment to the Constitution in 1803, the person, after the
choice of the President, receiving the greatest number of electoral votes was180
IIISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
county, New York, three years earlier than Sullivan,
his father was likewise an Irishman, and, on the
mother’s paternal side, was related to an officer in
Cromwell’s army. After receiving a liberal education,
he served as a captain in the French war under
Bradstreet, and, at twenty, took a gallant part in the
capture of Fort Frontenac. Seven years later, he
held command of the regiments raised to protect
the frontiers of Ulster and Orange counties against
Indian incursions. In 1775, with the rank of colonel,
he went with the chivalric Montgomery to Canada.
In 1777, promoted to brigadier-general, he, with his
brother, Governor George Clinton, was in command
of Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery, just below
West Point. On the 6th of October, the Fort was
stormed by the British with 3,000 meir, as a diver-
sion in favor of Burgoyne, who was moving down
from the upper Hudson, and who, a few days later,
lost the field of Saratoga, that decisive battle of the
Revolution. After a gallant resistance, the garrison
of only 500 men were overpowered, but succeeded in
making their escape. Clinton, the last to leave the
works, was pursued, fired at, and his attending ser-
vant killed. Still flying, he was severely wounded
by a bayonet, but escaped on horseback; yet pur-
sued, he dismounted, and slid down a precipice a
hundred feet to the creek ; whence, covered with
blood, he made his way home, a few miles distant.
He was stationed at West Point during the greater
part of 1778, engaged in throwing the great chain
across the Hudson, to prevent the ascent of the ene-
my’s ships. He was in charge of the northern depart-
ment during most of the war, and was present at the
Vice-President. Had this provision been continued nine years longer
DeWitt Clinton would have been Vice-President, as he stood next highest
tto Madison in that canvass.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
181
capture of Cornwallis. In 1779, lie was directed to
co-operate with Sullivan in this expedition. In order
to effect the junction, his force of 1,600 men was con-
veyed up the Mohawk in beatteaux, about fifty miles
above Schenectady, thence across to Ostego lake, a
source of the Susquehanna river. Cooper, our great
novelist, has invested the fair region through which
he passed, with romantic interest, and has seen in
Clinton’s expedient of damming the outlet of that
beautiful sheet to collect its waters, then tear away
the obstruction in order to create an artificial current
for floating his boats to the place of meeting with Sul-
livan, an episode of romantic interest. Clinton’s
appearance at this council is deferential, yet soldier-
like. He has well endured the fatigues of the great
march, for his constitution is like iron. His nature
is affectionate and mild, but at the mention of danger
ahead, he is roused to interest. His counsel is wise,
and is received with the attention dne to so experi-
enced an officer.*
Brigadier-general Edward Hand, the leader of the
vanguard, was a native of Clyduff, Ireland, where he
was born on the last day of December, 1744. At
twenty-eight, he entered the British army as ensign
in the Royal Irish Foot, then on duty in this country.
After serving two years, he settled in Pennsylvania.
But his retirement was brief; for, at the beginning of
the Revolution, he entered the continental service as a
lieutenant-colonel. Made colonel of a rifle regiment
in the spring of 1776, he was engaged in the battle of
Long Island in the same year, and shared in the
retreat from Brooklyn. He was also in the battle of
* General Clinton was the father of Governor DeWitt Clinton. He made
his last appearance in arms on the evacuation of the city of 23 ew York by
the .British, He held civil positions after the war, and died at Little Britain,,
in Orange county, greatly loved and honored, in December, 1812.182
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Trenton in the following December. He commanded
at Pittsburg during the succeeding summer and fall.
In October, 1778, he was on duty at Albany, in com-
mand of the northern department, and in April follow-
ing was appointed brigadier-general, and assigned to
command of the light corps in this expedition. In
the previous autumn, Washington had called his par-
ticular attention to the subject of such an undertaking,
and asked him to consult General Schuyler as to its
practicability. The correspondence reveals the de-
.gree of confidence reposed in his judgment. After-
wards, in September, 1780, Washington, recognising
his standing, placed him on the board of general offi-
cers convened in the old Dutch church at Tappan, for
the trial of Major Andre, the famous British spy.
Lord Stirling, Lafayette, Baron Steuben, Knox, Stark,
and other distinguished officers, to the number of
fourteen, composed that tribunal. In the same year
he succeeded Scammel as adjutant-general of the
army, and held that important post until the war
closed.* In character, he was bold and chivalric.
His love for horses, especially for his fine roan
charger, an animal remarkable for lofty carriage and
spirit, which he had brought on this expedition,
though he generally rode an active gray, gained him
no little notoriety, as also did his excellent horseman-
ship. His military knowledge was valuable and
extensive, and his general reading considerable. In
this expedition he had exhibited ability and zeal, and,
doubtless, at the council, his opinions were heard with
attention.
* Gen. Hand died at Rockford, Lancaster county, Penn., on the 3d of Sep-
tember, 1802, aged 58 years. Judge James L. Campbell, of Cherry Yalley,
had a lively recollection of General Hand’s being entertained with Washing-
ton at his father’s, Col. Samuel Campbell’s house, in Cherry Yalley, in 1783.
On this occasion Governor George Clinton, General Humphrey, Colonel Mar-
unus Willet and other officers, were also presentHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
188
Brigadier-general William Maxwell, in command
of the New Jersey brigade, was also present at the
consultation. He was commissioned a general officer
in October, 1776, having entered the continental ser-
vice as colonel of a New Jersey regiment, and served
under Montgomery in the Canada campaign of that
year. He commanded the Jersey brigade at the
battle of Brandywine, and also at Germantown. His
caustic letter to the governor and legislature of New
Jersey in respect to arrearages of pay due his officers
and men, on the eve of leaving for the rendezvous of
Wyoming, exhibits the positive side of his character,
and shows his regard for the soldiers’ welfare ; while
his selection, by Lord Stirling, as the army lay at
White Plains, to accompany his lady and daughter
to the British lines, and the “great politeness” with
which, in the words of the Countess of Stirling, he
received them on their return, proves him to have
been a gentlemen of refinement and courtesy, f
Brigadier-general Enoch Poor was also at this
council-board. His brigade was ordered from Con-
necticut, where it lay unemployed at the time. He
entered the continental service in command of the
New Hampshire regiment. John Poore, the ancestor
of the family, came from Wiltshire, England, in 1635,
and settled in Massachusetts. The General was
descended from lieutenant Daniel, of the colonial mil-
itia, who died at Andover, in 1713. General Poor
served under Lafayette, and gained that distinguished
officer’s respect and affection. During Lafayette’s
last visit to this country, he gave as a toast on one
occasion, “ Light Infantry Poor and Yorktown Scam-
meland when shown the grave of Poor, he was
much affected, and turning away, said, “Ah! that
f General Maxwell resigned his commission on the 23d of June, 1180, and
-retired from the service.184
HISTOEY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
was one one of my Generals.” He survived this
expedition only a year, dying on the eighth of Sep-
tember, 1780, aged forty-four years. He died from
the effect of a wound received in a duel with a
French officer, the difficulty growing out of a contro-
versy on the subject of State policy. So beloved was
he by the soldiery, that it was deemed unwise to allow
the real cause of his death to transpire, for fear of
serious results; hence the army was permitted to
believe that he died of bilious fever, and this error has.
remained uncorrected until now. He sleeps far away
from his native hills, in the grave-yard of the Protest-
ant Dutch church at Hackensack, New Jersey.
There, underneath a willow, rests a horizontal stone
which marks the grave of this gallant officer.* The
army lay at Kinerhamach, near the bouhdary between
this State and New Jersey, at his death. His coffin,
draped with the national banner, was borne to the
grave by officers of rank; and a long line of soldiers,
both foot and horse, swelled the funeral procession,
which extended from the upper end of the town to
the church. Washington and Lafayette took part in
the rites. Two field-pieces, drawn by artillery horses,
followed the hearse, but were not discharged on
account of the enemy’s vicinity.
Other officers were present at this council. Colonel
William Butler, whose regiment, stationed at Scho-
harie when ordered on this expedition, and which
numbered on its rolls the names of Lieutenant Boyd,
Timothy Murphy, and others of the scouting party,
was doubtless there. The Connecticut missionary,
Samuel Kirkland, who, a dozen years before, had
* The inscription on the tombstone reads as follows: “In memory of the
Hon. Brigadier-general Enoch Poor, of the State of New Hampshire, who-
departed this life on the 8th of September, 1*780, aged 44.”—Barber & Howe's-
Hist. Coll, of Hew Jersey.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	185
♦
been successfully employed among the Senecas in this
region, and now serving as brigade chaplain, as well
as guide and interpreter, was probably present. This
good man was of Scotch descent, and had come to this
region under the auspices of the society for the pro-
pagation of the gospel among the Six Nations. No
account of the proceedings on this occasion has come
down to us. We only know that Sullivan expressed
anxiety at the prolonged delay of the scouting party;
and, most likely, he produced and read the instruc-
tions of Washington, which were drawn up by Hamil-
ton, and bore the signatures of those two immortal
men. They direct the total destruction of the prop-
erty of the Indians. Certainly, before many hours
had elapsed, these orders, in their fullest extent, were
carried into literal execution.
When the council broke up, the army still lay en-
camped in full view before its commanders. The sur-
roundings were picturesque. Five thousand soldiers
had improvised their camp upon the plain and its im-
mediate hillsides; their white tents contrasting vividly
with the autumnal tint of woodland foliage. Anon,
the drum-beat and sentry-call emphasised, at intervals,
the undertone of warlike preparation. The resound-
ing echoes, as the forest-trees gave way for the bridge,
and the fruit-trees, loaded with apples and peaches,
fell before ringing axe-strokes; the rustling of crisp
corn, trampled under heedless feet; all lent their busy
music to the scene which had heretofore been the do-
main of solitude and silence. The situation of the army
was in itself novel. Its arms, now carried far into the
heart of this remote and barbarous country, were
unsupported from behind through hundreds of miles
of forest wilderness, stretching eastward back to the
main force under Washington. Before these martial
pioneers all was unknown. Nothing, indeed, was felt186	HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
*
to be certain save the resolute purpose of every soldier
to waste the hostile soil, and to extinguish the last
vestige of Indian occupancy.
While the army lay here, a bewildered pig ma^de its
way into the camp. Entering first the quarters of a
French subaltern, it was ejected with more haste than
ceremony. It next rushed into the tent of a tall Dutch
lieutenant named Teunis Yan Wagner, who summari-
ly ended its raids by converting its carcass into pork.
This latter was news too good for. keeping, and soon
reached the French officer's ears, who lost no time in
demanding of his more thoughtful Teutonic neighbor
a share of the prize, on the plea of discovery. “But,”
replied the latter, “a man of no more sense than to
turn such a ‘gentleman’ out of his tent, shal lhave no
part of its effects.” Thus the Frenchman lost his
roast, and the idlers about the camp enjoyed a passing
laugh at the good-natured logic.
SULLIVAN’S ROUTE, AS TRACED ON A SOLDIER’S
POWDER HORN.*
Early on Monday morning, Mr. Lodge, the surveyor,
* I am indebted to Mr. Benson J. Lossing for the drawing for this engrav-
ing. It was taken by him from the powder-horn now in his possession,
which belonged to a soldier in Sullivan’s army. Captain Salmon said that
similar tracings, on several powder-horns, were finished by the soldiery
while the army lay at Conesus lake.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
187
began to run his chain upward along the rise just west
of the inlet. A picket-guard was here posted. As-
cending the hill, outside the line of sentinels, the sur-
veyor was proceeding with his work, making notes in
his field-book, when he was fired upon by an Indian
who had crept up to him. Leaving his jacob-staff stand-
ing, Mr. Lodge made quickly for the nearest sentinel,
the Indian, tomahawk in hand, close upon him all the
way. The sentinel, still unperceived by the pursuing
enemy, raised his gun and shot the savage, bringing
him down. The alarm was at once given, and the
whole picket guard, strongly supported, immediately
advanced to the top of the hill. No enemies, howev-
er, were in sight, although evidences of their recent
presence were apparent in a line of packs, a hundred
blankets or more, and a large number of hats lying
along the brow of the hill. Simultaneously with the
attack upon the surveyor, a corporal at the extreme
verge of the picket line received a wound, causing
his death next day. The sentinel, a mere lad, whose
coolness saved the surveyor’s life, and whose mod-
esty had made him quite a favorite, was a recruit in
the Jersey line. The general sent for him, applauded
his presence of mind, and, subsequently, after the
return of the army, ordered a sun! of money to be
paid to him in reward for his soldierly deed.
While the American army lay encamped almost un-
disturbed, the devoted Indian villages of Beardstown,
Canaseraga, Big Tree, Canawaugus, and other towns
on the river, were scenes of consternation. In Octo-
ber, 1865,1 visited the Cattaraugus Indian reservation,
near Buffalo, for the purpose of consulting Philip
Kenjockety, a representative of the almost extinct
tribe of the Kah-kwas. His parents resided with the
Senecas on the Genesee during the early years of our
Revolution. In 1779, they were living at Beardstown,188
HISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
as has been stated in a previous page ; and Philip re-
collected, with marvelous distinctness, these episodes
of Sullivan’s invasion. To the Indians residing on
the Genesee river, and perhaps to the Six Nations gen-
erally, the American troops were known as Yankees,
or, more familiarly, as “Bostonians” (Wah-stoh-nah-
yans), and were looked upon, especially by the women
and children, with great dread. The whole popula-
tion of the Seneca villages became speedily aware that
the army was forcing its way through the wilderness
to destroy their homes and possessions. The corn,
that year, was remembered to have been a great crop,
and they were just engaged in gathering it when the
army reached Conesus lake. Every day or two, dur-
ing the progress of our forces, ’the arrival of messen-
gers and wounded braves announced that the Yankees
were drawing near. One of these runners had been
taken prisoner by the invaders, but managed to escape.
His relation was full of detail, and gave great alarm.
The air seemed to grow heavy with omens, and the
very birds gave signs of approaching evil. A small
party of young warriors from Beardstown met the ad-
vance force of our army on a hillside, not many miles
from the Genesee, and one of them, a favorite of the
village, was wounded, but his companions conveyed
him to his home. Skirmishes of this kind were fre-
quent, and the wounded Indians managed to get back
to their lodges, only to add to the general gloom. Af-
ter Sullivan reached Conesus lake, a young Indian
named Sah-nah-dah-yah, who could neither run nor
walk well, because of a previous wound received in
one of these skirmishes, said he must again go out to
fight the Yankees. His orphan sisters begged him to
remain with them. One of them clung about his per-
son to keep him back, but he pushed her aside and
left the hut. Arriving just at day-break in the littleHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
189
Indian village where Boyd’s scouting party had passed
the night, he was discovered by Murphy, and sank
under his death-dealing rifle. His moccasins, worked
with a sister’s care, were transferred to Murphy’s feet,
and his scalp soon hung from Murphy’s belt.
Though the commotion in the Indian villages in-
creased with the march of our men, none fled until, on
the evening that witnessed the enemy’s arrival near
the lake, a “noise like thunder” was heard in that
direction. An old warrior said to the wondering vil-
lage that this was the echo of the Yankee’s big guns
—those terrible engines which embodied, to Indian
superstition, all the dread mysteries of hostile “med-
icine men.” On hearing this portentious word, the
women set up a wail, the children bawled out a wild
accompaniment, and the excitement grew every mo-
ment greater. By laying the ear to the ground the In-
dians could hear the tread of the troops in Sullivan’s
camp. The day was misty and rainy by turns, but
preparations for quitting their villages went actively
forward, and in a brief space the few horses that could
be collected were ready to begin the long journey to
Fort Niagara, whither the families were told to direct
their pilgrimage. Soon after their departure, the
shrill notes of a bugle, belonging, perhaps, to Boyd’s
party, were borne to them upon the night air, creating
intense alarm among the fugutives. Kenj ockety recol-
lected that the Indians were followed next day for
some distance by a small body of Yankees, but that
they were protected by a detachment of British troops
dressed in green uniforms.
Boyd’s scouting party, on leaving the army, had
pressed forward for nearly half a mile along the base
of the hill, then, turning to the left, marched actively
up the acclivity. A mile and a half above where the
army lay, the trail they were following divided, one190
HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
path, leading to Canaseraga, in the direction of Wil-
liamsburgh, the other to Beardstown. Boyd chose the
former; his guides, unacquainted with the country,
mistaking this for the proper path. On reaching the
little village of Canaseraga, situated near Colonel
Abell’s residence, they found it deserted, although
fires were still alive in the huts. The night was far
advanced, and the party, quite weary, encamped, for
a few hours, intending to ascertain at early morning
the location of the capital town, the object of their
quest.
It was not yet break of day on Monday morning,
the fifteenth of September—a day so fatal to most of
the little party—when Boyd, accompanied by Murphy,
stole away from their companions, apd entered the
village near at hand. They here discovered two In-
dians coming out of a hut, one of whom was the
wounded young warrior mentioned above, the other
an uncle of the sachem Soh-nah-so-wah. A ball from
Murphy’s rifle quickly sealed the fate of the former,
and the latter fled. Murphy, as was his custom, took
off the slain Indian’s scalp—his three and thirtieth
trophy. The flying Indian, Boyd was well aware,
would at once make known his visit to the enemy,
and thus defeat his purpose. He therefore resolved
to rejoin the army without delay. On going back to
his party, he despatched two messengers to Sullivan
with a report of operations. They were directed also
to inform the general that the scouts would return
immediately. The messengers reached the camp early
in the morning. The scouting party prepared to
retrace their steps also. Hanyerry recommended his
leader to follow a different trail, but Boyd unwisely
disregarded the advice of his faithful and intelligent
guide. The most jealous caution was observed on
the return march. “With Hanyerry in the front,HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
191
and Murphy in the rear, their eagle eyes fixed on each
moving leaf and waving bough, they marched forward
slowly and with the utmost caution. Five weary miles
had they thus travelled the dangerous route, and
were about to descend the hill at whose base the army
lay. ” * “ Less than two miles intervened between them
and the camp, and the party were beginning to breathe
freely, when they were surprised by five hundred In-
dians, under Brant, and five hundred Royalists, un-
Butler, f The enemy were secreted in a ravine.” The
party had taken to a small grove of trees when the
firing began. A moment was thus secured for reflec-
tion. The lieutenant saw at once that the only chance
of escape for his little party was the hazardous one of
gathering all into a compact force, and breaking
through the enemy’s lines. After a few encouraging
words, he led forward his men for the attempt.
“In the first onset, not one of Boyd’s men fell,
while his fire told fearfully upon the enemy. A sec-
ond and third attempt to break the enemy’s lines was
made, and seventeen of the Americans had fallen.”
The firing was so close, before the brave party was
destroyed, that the powder from the enemy’s muskets
was driven into their flesh. Though a majority lay
dead, yet “at the third onset of the Americans, fhe
enemy’s line was broken through, and Murphy, tum-
bling a huge warrior in the dust who obstructed his
passage—even to the merriment of his dusky compan-
ions—led forward the little band. Boyd, justly sup-
posing if any one escaped with life it would be Mur-
phy, determined to follow him ; but not being so fast
a runner, he was soon taken, and with him one of his
* Treat’s Oration.
f This number is believed to be too large. Six hundred in all, is, perhaps,
nearer the truth. ELenjockety thought there could not have been as many
as the latter number.192
HISTOEY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
men named Parker.”* Sullivan says that Boyd was
shot through the body during the melee. If so, his
inability to escape is thus accounted for.
“Murphy, as he found the path unobstructed, ex-
claimed of himself, in hearing of the enemy, ‘Clear
again, Tim., by-----,’ while shaking his fist at the
same time at his pursuers. ”f He now pressed for-
ward in the direction of the army, and soon ob-
served that he was pursued only by two Indians, a
tall and a short one. As they neared him, from time
to time, he pointed toward them with his well-known
but (now) unloaded rifle, and they, at every menace,
slackened their pace. His moccasins, borrowed in
the morning from the dead Indian, were growing too
tight for comfort, and while under full headway, he
opened his pocket knife and cut away the thongs
which bound them about his feet and ankles, the
blade accidentally entering and severely wounding
his flesh. “ Shortly after, he reached a swale, where,
his feet becoming entangled in the long grass and
rank weeds, he fell. The spot proved favorable for
concealment, and he did not immediately rise. His
pursuers soon broke over a knoll so as to gain a
view of the grass plot, and not discovering him,
although he did them, they altered their [course.”
“Murphy now loaded his rifle and cautiously pro-
ceeded on his way to the camp. He well knew his
fate if taken prisoner, with the Indian’s scalp in his
pocket, and moccasins on his feet. Again setting
forward, he soon found himself headed by an In-
dian.” The discovery was instant and mutual, and
each took to a tree. After dodging one another for
some time, Murphy drew his ramrod, placed his hat
upon it, and quietly pushed it a few inches beyond
* Captain John Salmon’s account, *
f Mr. Treat’s Oration.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
193
the tree. The Indian, supposing it contained a head,
fired a ball through it. The hat dropped, and run-
ning up to scalp his man, the savage received the
bullet of Murphy’s rifle through his breast, and as he
fell dead, exclaimed, “O-Wah.”*
* Murphy’s life deserves a book to give his exploits at full length. The
Schoharie valley is full of traditions of his bravery and daring. It would
be difficult to magnify his astonishing skill with the rifle, or his courage and
address as a border fighter. Some years ago the author visited his grave,
located on the farm he had owned near Middleburgh. The Onistegrawa moun-
tain, whose sides often echoed back the sharp ring of his death-dealing rifle,
looks down upon his humble resting place. His simple tomb-stone bears
this inscription :
“ Here, too, this warrior sire with honor rests,
Who braved in freedom’s cause his valiant breast,
Sprang from his half-drawn furrow as the cry
Of threatened liberty came thrilling by.”
“ Lo, here he rests, who every danger braved,
Marked and honored, ’mid the soil he saved.”
He died June 21, 1818, aged 61 years.
“After the battle of Monmouth, in 1118, Morgan’s riflemen were sent to
protect the settlements near Schoharie. Among those whose term of ser-
vice had expired before the autumn of ’19, was the bold Virginian, Timothy
Murphy. Instead of returning home, he enlisted in the militia, and continued
to wage a desultory war against the savages then hovering over the Mo-
hawk settlements. By his fearless intrepidity, his swiftness of foot, his
promptness for every hazardous enterprise, he was, though a mere private,
entrusted with the management of every scouting party sent out. He
always carried a favorite double rifle, an object of the greatest terror to the
Indians, who for a long time were awe-struck at its two successive discharg-
es. In the hands of so skillful a marksman, the greatest execution always
followed its unerring aim. He had been several times surprised by small
Indian parties; but, with remarkable good fortune, had as often escaped.
When the savages had learned the mystery of his double rifle, knowing that
he must re-load after the second discharge, they were careful not to expose
themselves until he had twice fired. Once, when separated from his troops,
he was surrounded by a large party of savages. Instantly he struck down
the nearest foe, and fled at his utmost speed. Being hard pushed by one
runner, whom alone he had not outstripped in the flight, he suddenly turned
and shot him on the spot. Stopping to strip his fallen pursuer, he saw
another close upon him. He seized the rifle of the dead Indian, and brought194
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
While this tragedy was transpiring almost within
rifle shot, the army, ignorant of the cause of delay,
was uneasily watching for the return of the scouting
party. As hour followed hour, and still they came
not, vague fears of evil began to be entertained. Sul-
livan had carefully estimated the time necessary for
their return march, and again called up and ques-
tioned the two messengers who had arrived in the
morningifrom Boyd, anxiously looking meanwhile for
his brave lieutenant, or further tidings from him. The
first hint of the danger reached Sullivan through the
party still engaged at the bridge, and was, no doubt,
brought by Murphy, who preceded the others. From
this source the general was informed that Boyd and
most of his detachment had been surrounded a short
distance beyond the hill in overwhelming numbers by
the enemy, who had been discovering themselves be-
fore him for some miles; that his men had killed two,
and were pursuing the rest, when they were ambus-
caded ; that the supporting party, sent to secure
Boyd’s flanks, had escaped, but that Boyd himself,
with fourteen of his men, and the Oneida chief, had
down his victim. The savages, supposing all danger now passed, rushed
heedlessly on with yells of frantic rage. When nearly exhausted, he again
turned, and, with the undischarged barrel, fired, and the third pursuer fell.
With savage wonder, the other Indians were riveted to the spot; and, ex-
claiming that 1 he could fire all day without re-loading,’ gave over the pur-
suit. From that hour, Murphy was regarded by the savages as possessing a
charmed life. When Clinton passed along the Mohawk, on his way to Tioga
Point, he again joined his rifle corps, to share the dangers of the march into
the wilderness.”—Treat's Oration.
Murphy was a member of Captain Michael Simpson’s rifle company, in
Col. Butler’s regiment. Lieut. Boyd was also an officer of this company.
John Salmon, late of G-roveland, likewise served in the same company. In
the autumn of It 18, after the battle of Monmouth, Morgan’s riflemen, to
which Simpson’s company belonged, marched to Schoharie to go into winter
quarters. It was here that the orders to proceed to the Indian country
found them the following spring.HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
195
been completely encircled. “To arms!” was imme-
diately sounded. All the light <troops of the army,
and the flanking division, were at once detached and
hurried forward. But relief was then too late ; for,
after destroying our scouting party, the enemy lost
no time in vanishing into the great forest. They left
behind them, however, a wagon-load of packs, blank-
ets, hats, and provisions, thrown off at the opening of
the fight, to enable them to act with more vigor. An
Indian corpse was also found, accidently left among
the fallen Americans.
The enemy’s force was commanded on this occasion
by Walter Butler. Hunted at length to their homes,
and too much weakened for offensive measures, they
yet could harass the march of the invader. Accord-
ingly, the day before, they had left Beardstown under
their skilled leader, for the purpose of annoying our
approaching army, as best they might, and after
reconnoitering, had chosen a favorable spot crossed
by the pathway leading to the Indian villages, and
over which the patriot army must necessarily march.
Butler’s original purpose was to attack the army near
the inlet as they crossed the swamp. But the sol-
dierly dispositions made by Sullivan, and his con-
stant preparation, did not favor this plan. Butler
was therefore compelled to remain inactive with his
force, and to witness, hour by hour, as he did, from
his hiding-place near the brow of the hill, the pro-
gress of the work on the bridge, and the measures
preparing for the destruction of the Indian villages.
His latter well-conceived design was also frustated
by the appearance of Boyd’s party in the rear.
Always on the alert, the savages were doubly watch-
ful now that their powerful enemy lay within cannon
shot below, and cautiously as the scouting party
advanced, their coming was known in time to make196
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
simple dispositions. Nothing, therefore, but swift
destruction awaited our little band. For the fierce
warriors at once spread themselves out in a great
circle, and then forming smaller circles within, so
that when the devoted scouts entered at the opening
left by the Indians on the path, and that opening had
closed behind Boyd’s band, they were absolutely sur-
rounded, and their doom fixed. The brave fellows,
finding that escape was impossible, resolved, doubt-
less, to die a soldier’s death on the field, rather than
be taken captive and suffer inevitable torture. Hence
they asked no quarter, as we know, but fought un-
flinchingly to the death. The contest embraced all
the elements of sublime heroism; but narrowed down
to an ambuscade, it has escaped the attention which
dauntless courage so well merits. Like bravery, ex-
hibited on a broader and more conspicuous theatre,
would have won for the actors a place in heroic his-
tory, and their individual names, now forgotten, might
have been preserved and honored in song and story.
Murphy, a private named McDonald, Garret Put-
man, of Fort Hunter, afterwards in command *of a
spirited company of rangers in the Mohawk valley,
and a French Canadian, regained the American camp.
‘ ‘ The two latter secreted themselves early in the fight
under a fallen tree around which was growing a quan-
tity of thrifty nettles, and thus escaped observation,
although several Indians passed over the log in pur-
suit of Murphy.”
John Putman, a cousin of Garret’s, above named,
also from the vicinity of Fort Hunter, lost his life in
this affair. “At his burial it was found that he had
been shot while in the act of firing, as a ball and sev-
eral buck-shot had entered the right arm-pit without
injuring the arm.” A soldier named Benjamin Cus-
tin, who belonged to the troops from Schoharie, at-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	197
tempted to follow Murphy, but was also overtaken
and slain, after he had killed his first antagonist in a
hand-to-hand encounter. “Poor Hanyerry, who had
performed prodigies of valor in the conflict of Oris-
kany, and who had rendered the American cause
much real service, fell in this ambuscade, and was
found literally hacked to pieces.”*
Boyd and Private Parker were hurried forward, im-
mediately after the affair, with the retiring enemy to
the vicinity of Beardstown. On finding himself a
prisoner, the lieutenant “obtained an interview with
Brant, who, as well as Boyd, was a freemason. After
the magic signs of brotherhood were exchanged, Brant
assured him that he should not be injured.” “But
Brant, not long after, being called off on some enter-
prise, the prisoners were left in charge of one of the
Butlers, who, placing the prisoners on their knees before
him, a warrior on each side firmly grasping their arms,
a third at their backs with tomahawks raised, began to
interrogate them about the purposes of General Sulli-
van, threatening them with savage tortures if true and
ready answers were not given. Boyd, believing the
assurances of Brant ample for his safety, and too
high-minded in any situation to betray his country,
refused, as did Parker, to reply” to questions touch-
ing the more immediate purposes of the army. The
more than savage Butler was true to his threat; and
when the prisoners peremptorily refused to answer, he
handed them over to Little Beard and his warriors,
who were already full of vindictiveness. The prison-
ers were seized, stripped, and bound to trees; then
commenced a series of horrid cruelties, directed espe-
cially toward Boyd. When all was ready, Little
Beard lifted his hatchet, stained with recent bloodr.
* Mr. Treat’s Oration.198
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and with steady aim sent it whistling through the air.
In an instant it quivered within a hair’s thickness of
the lieutenant’s devoted head. The younger Indians
were now permitted to follow the chief’s example, and
from right, front, and left, their bright tomahawks
cleave the air, and tremble about the unflinching
persons of the victims. Wearied at length of this
work, a single blow severed Parker’s head from his
body, and mercifully ended his misery. Poor Boyd,
however, was reserved for a worse fate. An incision
was made in his abdomen, and a severed intestine was
fastened to a tree. He was then scourged with prickly-
ash boughs, and compelled to move around until the
pain became so exquisite that he could go no further.*
Again pinioned, his mouth was enlarged with a knife,
his nails dug out, his tongue cut away, his ears sev-
ered from the head, his nose hewn off and thrust into
his mouth, his eyes dug out, and the flesh cut from
his shoulders, and, when sinking in death, after these
enormities, he was decapitated and his disfigured head
raised by the frenzied savages upon a sharpened pole.
Thus fell a brave young soldier, whose life possesses
more than ordinary material for a romance, f
* “If I mistake not,” says Treat’s published oration, “ it was Judge Jones
who informed m8 that when his father, the late Captain Horatio Jones, visit-
ed the spot a few years afterwards, he found the intestines still wound
around the tree.”
f Lieut. Boyd was a native of Northumberland Co., Pa. He was of
ordinary height, and was a strongly-built, fine-looking young man: very
sociable and agreeable in his manners, qualities which gained him many
friends in Schoharie. While there he paid his addresses to Miss Cornelia, a
daughter of Bartholomew Becker. After his death she gave birth to a
daughter, of which he was the reputed father. When the troops under Col.
Butler were preparing to leave Schoharie, Miss Becker, in a state of mind
bordering on madness, approached her lover, caught hold of his arm, and in
tears besought him by the most tender entreaties to marry her before he left
Schoharie. He endeavored to put her off with promises; but doubting his
intentions, she told him “ if he went off without marrying her, she hoped heHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
199
A burying party was ordered out by General Hand,
on bis reaching the place of the ambuscade, and a few
feet from the fatal spot were interred the remains of
six of those who had there fallen. The bodies of the
others, scattered through the woods, were not now
found, but were subsequently placed in a second grave
located near the former one.
On the return of General Hand’s corps from this
duty, the whole army was ordered to take up the line
of march westward over the trail traversed by Boyd,
for the Indian towns on the Genesee, “through the
finest country I almost ever saw,” says Colonel Hub-
ley, in his diary. The pack horses, loaded with the
stores, were moved to the bridge, already guarded by
the artillery, to take their turn. The forces then ad-
vanced in regular order, and filed past. As the gen-
eral and his staff passed over, they were saluted, the
guard gathering so closely about that one of the aid-
de-camps was jostled against the edge of an axe tied
upon a pack horse, and wounded. Before dusk they
arrived within sight of “the small castle,” or Seneca
village, situated near Williamsburgh, on the farm now
would he cut in pieces by the Indians. In the midst of this unpleasant scene,
Col, Butler rode up and reprimanded Boyd for his delay, as the troops were
ready to march; and the latter, mortified at being seen by his commander
thus importuned by a girl, drew his sword and threatened to stab her if she did
not instantly leave him,”—Simms' History of Schoharie, p. 300.
Boyd was born in 1151. His father and only sister died before the Revo-
lution. His mother sent her three sons into the field, with the parting in-
junction, says Major Yan Campen, “never to disgrace their swords by any
act of cowardice, or disgrace them by a moment’s fear or reluctance when
called to the defence of home and freedom.” Lieut. Wm. Boyd, the second
son of Mrs. Boyd, fell at Brandywine, in 11 IT. Lieut. Thomas, the young-
est, was at the surrender of Burgoyne and at the battle of Monmouth, before
joining Sullivan. He went to Schoharie in the autumn of 1118, under Major
Posey, whose command consisted, as is believed, of three companies of Mor-
gan’s celebrated rifle corps, under Captains Long, Pear, and Simpson. Boyd
belonged to the latter company.200
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
occupied by Colonel Abell. A portion of the army,,
under Clinton, encamped near Fall Brook.
The Indians having thrown themselves into a wood
on the opposite side of the river, seemingly determined,
to fight, the infantry and artillery were pushed to the
front. Maxwell’s brigade, with the left flanking di-
vision, were directed to gain the enemy’s right, and
Poor’s brigade to move round to their left, while the
right flanking division and two regiments from Clin-
ton’s brigade, moved to Poor’s right flank. The in-
fantry were prepared to rush on in front, supported by
the remainder of Clinton’s brigade. Thus disposed,
the army moved forward and took possession of the
town without opposition, the enemy retreating across
Canaseraga creek, through a thicket where it was im-
possible for the army to follow. Word was now
passed to encamp for the night.
On the morning of Tuesday, the 14th, parties were
ordered out to destroy the corn, found in great plenty
about Canaseraga, which they did by plucking the
ears and throwing them into the river. About eleven,
o’ clock, after having fired all the huts in the village,
the army resumed march for Little Beardstown. After
crossing Canaseraga creek at the fording place, near
the site of Colonel Fitzhugh’s residence, they moved
through a small grove, and then over a “considerable
swamp, and formed on a plain on the other side, the
most extensive I ever saw,” says Colonel Hubley,
“containing not less than six thousand acres of the
richest soil that can be conceived, not having a bush
standing, but filled with grass considerably higher
than a man. We moved up this plain for about three
miles, in our regular line of march, a beautiful sight,
indeed, as a view of the whole could be had at one
look, and then came to the Genesee river, at the ford-
ing place,” (about a mile north of the present villageHIST0BY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
201
of Mount Morris) “which we crossed, being about
forty yards over, and near middle deep, and then
ascended a rising ground, which afforded a prospect
so beautiful that to attempt a comparison, would be
doing injury, as we had a view as far as the eyes could
carry us of another plain besides the one we crossed,
through which the river formed a most graceful wind-
ing, and, at intervals, cataracts, which rolled from the
rocks and emptied into the river.” The army itself
presented a novel appearance as it moved in regular
order through the rank grass, which reached a height
of from five to eight feet, and grew so thick that
motion was slow. Often nothing could be seen but
the guns of the soldiers above the grass. Passing next
over a rougher section, the advance troops arrived at
the “capital town,” or Little Beard’s village, which
was much the largest Indian town met with in the
whole route. Here they encamped. The fires iu
some of the Indian huts were yet fresh. Sullivan
says of it: “We reached the Castle, which consisted
of one hundred and twenty-eight houses, mostly very
large and elegant. The place was beautifully situated,
almost encircled with a cleared flat which extended
for a number of miles, where the most extensive fields
of corn were, and every kind of vegetable that can be
conceived.”
. Just before quartering here, Paul Sanborn, after-
wards for many years a resident of Conesus, then a
private soldier, on the extreme right of Clinton’s '
brigade, was moving with his detachment, and, as it
wheeled quickly around in the direction of the village,
discovered the headless corpse of Boyd. The blood
was yet oozing from it, so recently had the body been
freed from its tormentors. Leaping over this, Sanborn
alighted beside that of Parker’s, as it lay in the long
grass. At once making known his discovery, the202	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
remains were placed under guard of Captain Michael
^ Simpson’s rifle company, to which both Boyd and
Parker belonged, and at evening the .mutilated bodies^
and disfigured heads ofxthese heroic men were buried
with military honors, under a wild plum tree, which
grew near the junction of two small streams, formally
named at a great meeting in Cuylerville in 1841, as
Boyd’s* creek, and Parker’s creek. The heads of
these two men were at once recognized by their com-
panions, to whom Boyd’s features were so familiar,
and Parker’s was identified, beyond doubt, from a
scar on his face and his broken front teeth. Major
Parr, who commanded the rifle battalion to which
Boyd’s company belonged, was present at the burial;
and John Salmon, late of Groveland, then a private in
Captain Simpson’s company, assisted on the occasion.*
BURIAL PLACE OP BOYD AND PARKER.
On Wednesday morning the army set to the work
of destroying the orchards (one of which, it is asserted,
* A rude mound now marks the spot of the burial, which is close by the
present bridge across Beards creek', on the road from Geneseo to Cuylerville.
An engraving of the mound appears on this page.
Beard’s creek is formed by the two streams, Boyd’s creek and Parker’s-
creek, referred to above. The Cuylerville grist-mill stands a few rods south-
west of the mound.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
203
contained 1,600 trees,) the crops of corn, beans, pota-
toes and other vegetables. The corn was collected and
burned in kilns. It is said that ears were here found
measuring 22 inches in length. Colonel Hubley says
the crops “ were in quantity immense, and in goodness
unequalled by any I ever saw. Agreeable to a mod-
erate calculation, there was not less than 200 acres,
the whole of which was pulled up and piled in large
heaps, mixed with dry wood taken from the houses,
and consumed to ashes.”
While the main army were thus engaged, Poor and
Maxwell proceeded to Canawaugus and destroyed that
town. Returning, they also destroyed Big Tree village.
“By three o’clock in the afternoon,” says Col.
Hubley, “ the work was finished, the total ruin of the
Indian settlements and the destruction of their crops,
was completed.” General Sullivan here issued an
order during the day, announcing to the “brave and
resolute army,” that the immediate object of the expe-
dition was secured, acknowledging his obligation alike
to officers and soldiers, whose virtues and fortitude
had enabled him to effect so much, and assuring them
that “he would not fail to inform America at large
how much they stand indebted to them.” The order
closed by directing that “the army will this day com-
mence its march for Tioga.” Eighteen days had now
elapsed since it left Newtown on its way thither, during
which time forty Indian towns, large and small, had
been destroyed, together with 160,000 bushels of com
and a “vast quantity of vegetables of every kind.”
Before quitting this spot, a woman with a child
seven or eight months old, both nearly starved, came
within the lines. She had been captured at Wyoming
the year previous. She stated that the enemy had
evacuated the town two days before; that Butler, at
the same time, went off with a party of Indians and204	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
rangers “to get a shot at the Yankees,” and that the
women had been fretting continually, and were con-
stantly begging the warriors to sue for peace.
A few of the leading Indians lingered near their
beautiful homes while the work of destruction was in
progress. President Dwight relates an incident in
this connection. The Seneca chief Big Tree, whom
he describes as a man of lofty character and dignified
deportment, had strenuously urged his countrymen
to observe a strict neutrality, but without success.
This chieftain stood, with others, on an elevated spot
and saw his own possessions destroyed. “You see
how the Americans treat their friends,” said some of
those around him, favorable to Great Britain. “ What
I see,” calmly replied the chief, “is only the common
fortune of war. It cannot be supposed that the
Americans can distinguish my property from yours,
who are their enemies.”
The Indian warriors and their allies, together with
150 British regulars from Niagara by whom they had
been re-enforced on the eve of quitting the Genesee,
fled to Port Niagara, which they reached on the 18th
of September. Meantime the Indian women, children
and old men were flocking thither from their burning
towns, and as the plain far and near became covered
with knots of fugitives, it strikingly resembled, says
an eye witness, the diversified landscape formed by
/groups returning from an English fair.*
Temporary homes, in a few days, were provided
elsewhere for these refugees, but as they still expected
that British arms would triumph and their homes
would be restored, they refused to quit the protection
offered by the Fort. Indeed, the Senecas were now
urged to make their future, dwelling place in Canada,
-* Ketehum’s Buffalo, Yol. II, Appendix, p. 339.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
205
but they continued to remain here until the following
Spring, when the larger remnant of the tribe settled
near Buffalo creek.
Scanty supplies awaited the fugitive Indians at
Niagara, and the winter was remarkably cold, the
snow very deep, and multitudes of deer and other
animals perished from starvation. The refugees, fed
on salted provisions, a diet so new to them caused
scurvy, of which they died in great numbers.
The army retraced its course to Conesus, where a
halt was made on Wednesday night. The return
march was resumed next morning, and continued
without special incident to Easton, Pennsylvania,
where the troops went into temporary quarters.
The intelligence of the success of the expedition
preceded the army, and everywhere it was received
with tokens of gratitude. Congratulatory addresses
were voted by corporations to officers and men ; mil-
itary bodies complimented them ; and the Continental
Congress, on motion of Elbridge Gerry, resolved that
its thanks “be given to his excellency General Wash-
ington, for directing, and to Major General Sullivan,
and the brave officers and soldiers under his command,
for effectually executing an important expedition
against such of the Indian nations as, encouraged by
the councils and conducted by the officers of his
Britannic Majesty, have perfidiously waged an unpro-
voked and cruel war against the United States, laid
waste many of their defenceless towns, and with
savage barbarity, slaughtered the inhabitants thereof.77
It was further resolved, 4 ‘ that it will be proper to set
apart the second Thursday in December next, as a day
of General Thanksgiving in these United States, and
that a committee of four be appointed to prepare a
recommendation to the said United States, for this
purpose.77 The proclamation, in fitting language,206
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
owns the hand of Providence, in ‘ ‘ that He had gone
out with those who went out into the wilderness against
the savage tribes”; and we may well believe that the
hearts of the colonists fully responded, and that they
cordially united in the ceremonies of the day thus set
apart.
Our whole army was greatly impressed with the
beauty of this country and the fertility of its soil;
and the attention of settlers was directed hitherward
by the glowing descriptions brought home by the
soldiers. That restlessness which follows all great
wars, was particularly notable after the Revolution,
making the period a favorable one for emigration;
and a decade had not passed away before a number of
privates and officers who had formed a part of Sulli-
van’s army, and others, attracted by their accounts,
removed hither, or were preparing to make this region
their future home. Thus did the Indian campaign of
1779 directly tend to the settlement of the Genesee
country ; while the bloody wrongs inflicted by its
aboriginal lords resulted in their expulsion therefrom,
and their speedy downfall as a separate nation.
In the spring of 1780 several Seneca families came
back, and temporarily settled in the neighborhood of
their former villages on the Genesee; but the greater
portion of them never returned. The precaution had
been taken by the natives prior to Sullivan’s arrival,
to bury a quantity of corn, beans, and other seeds,
first placing them in mats of black ash bark, then con-
cealing them in a “cache,” or trench dug in the earth,
covering the whole with sand and litter. The army
did not find this buried grain, and it was withdrawn
by the Indians from its hiding-places on their return,
and used by them for the Spring’s planting.CHAPTER VIII.
AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
The soldiers of the Revolution were quite ready at
the close of the great struggle, to return to the pur-
suits of peaceful industry. The fertile region which
stretches beyond Seneca Lake, and as far westward as
the Genesee river, had especially attracted the atten-
tion alike of officers and rank and file of Sullivan’s
army, and the valleys and hillsides so precipitately
abandoned by the fugitive red men, were by another
decade, to count among their permanent occupants
some of those who had first seen them under con-
ditions far less pacific.
Years, however, before the continental army had
penetrated to these remote homes of the Indians, the
country along the Genesee had been made familiar to
the eyes of many a score of white prisoners, brought
hither by that horde of dusky prowlers who, for
nearly a quarter of a century embracing that period of
disquiet along the border which ended only with the
colonial war, lost no opportunity of harassing the
frontier settlements, and whose predatory enterprises
lay so little under the restraints of regular warfare.
During the French war, as well as during that of
the Revolution, prisoners taken by the Senecas and
■other tribes allied with them, were brought to these208
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
western fastnesses, whose remote situation afforded
them immunity, to be detained in the capacity of
artisans or laborers, or surrendered to their friends on
the payment of fixed bounties. When permanent
peace at length released all, those who were then,
remaining in captivity were prepared to impart useful
information respecting the country to the vanguard of
the pioneers.
In 1765 there were twenty-four white prisoners
“ among the Ohenesseo (Geneseo) Indians.”* A year
later, Sarah Carter, a young white girl taken captive
in Pennsylvania, reported that there were “forty
Yankee prisoners among the Geneseo Indians, one of
whom was a large, lusty negro” blacksmith then
working at his trade for the natives. He had already
bought the time of a young Connecticut girl for five
pounds currency, and had otherwise befriended those
who had fallen into the hands of the natives. Squash-
Cutter and Long Coat, two chiefs of the Delaware
tribe who lived much among the Senecas at that period,
employed themselves in bringing in captives to the
towns on the Genesee and selling their time to the
Indians, all of whom were exchanged or released
before Mary Jemison, Captain Horatio Jones, Joseph
Stpith and other whites found enforced homes in this
region.
New England and Pennsylvania did most toward
peopling the Genesee country. The capitalists of
Connecticut and Massachusetts were first to risk their
means in the inviting lands which peace had thrown
open to enterprise. But before any title could be
given, an important question of jurisdiction, involving
a history of England’s grants, had to be settled.
* See MSS. papers of Sir William Johnson in the State Library. The Sen-
ecas are generally mentioned in those valuable papers as the Oienesseo or
Genesee Indians.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
209
From about 1680 to 1759 Western New York was
claimed by France as a part of the province of New
France or Canada. By virtue of the discovery of
the Hudson River by Hendrick Hudson, Holland,
under whose auspices he sailed, claimed the territory
immediately watered by the North Hiver and an
indefinite breadth to the east, west and south, to which
she gave the designation of New Netherland. This
vague claim embraced Western New York.
At the close of the Revolution, this part of the
State was claimed by two commonwealths. Before
the Colonial struggle, both Massachusetts and New
York, under color of their respective royal English
grants, had contended for its ownership, and peace
was fib sooner restored than the contest between them
for this tempting domain was revived.
In the Congressional library at Washington are two
venerable folios in manuscript, containing the transac-
tions from day to day, as well as the chief speeches
and debates, of the Virginia Company of London,
from April 1619 to June 1624. These books have come
down from Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton,
president and treasurer of the Company, whose name
is conspicuous in English annals, through many a
famous owner, and their origin, relating as it does, to
the first title of this region derived from the English
crown, and connected as it is with the controversy
between the two States, becomes a matter of interest
to us. The patent of that notable company was sealed
by James I on the 6th of April, 1606, on petition of
Richard Hackluyt and other “firm and hearty lovers
of colonization,” who had humbly asked the privilege
of establishing “a colony of sundry persons of our
people in that part of America commonly called Vir-
ginia, between the 34th and 45th degrees of north
latitude,” and stretching from the Atlantic to the210
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Pacific. The associates under the charter secured,
Sir Thomas Grates and other “adventurers of the city
of London,” called the First Colony, were authorized
to plant between latitude 34 and 41; while Raleigh
Gilbert and his associates, of the English town of
Plymouth, constituting the Second or Plymouth Col-
ony, might plant between the 38th and 45th degrees,
their grant covering the whole vast belt of territory
extending “throughout the main land from sea to
sea/’ and including, of course, all of Western New
York.* The Virginia Company did not prosper. In
the hope of improving its condition, the directors
secured a more specific charter, with enlarged privi-
leges. But the change proved a snare. James was
at the time ambitious of a Spanish match for his son
Charles, while Gondonar, the astute minister of Spain,
feared that the great Virginia Company intended to
take possession of the colonies and mines established
by Spaniards in the New World. The latter, there-
fore, lent his powerful influence to those members of
the Court who sought the overthrow of the Company,
and to conciliate the Spanish minister, as well as to
gratify the Lord Treasurer, the Earl of Essex, and his
party, the King lent a willing ear to the movement to
destroy the Company. A pretext was soon found,
and in 1624 the Lord Chief Justice declared the char-
ter null and void. This strange act of the most
unkingly of kings, was but one in that category of
monstrous assumptions of the crown at this “period
of vast contest and dispute,” which hastened the
* See manuscript charter in Virginia Records, 1621-25, Library of Con-
gress ; also History of the Virginia Company of London, by Edward D. NeilL
The associates named of the First Colony were Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George
Somers, Richard Hackluyt, and Edward-Maria Wingfield; and of the Second
(or Plymouth) Colony, Thomas Hanham, Raleigh Gilbert, William Packer
and George Popham.HISTRY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
211
■decisive struggle of the seventeenth century between
the sovereign and parliament.* The rapacious oppo-
nents of the Company had, with the sanction of James
no doubt, for some time been eagerly seeking to
obtain its records. To prevent interpolation, should
they, in a contest so unequal, fall into the unfriendly
■hands of Warwick a*d his partisans (as they did,)
the original records were secretly copied and carefully
authenticated. The two manuscript volumes before
referred to, written in the peculiar hand of the times
“on a kind of elephant paper,” which, after two hun-
dred and fifty years, have found a repository in our
national archives and on soil so directly affected by
the charter, constitute the duplicates produced under
conditions so befitting the period in which they had
their origin. They afford conclusive evidence of the
upright conduct of the Company, and dispel all
charges of false faith made by the Spanish party, as
it was called, at the English Court. As the originals
were taken possession of by that arbitrary body, the
celebrated “ Star Chamber,” and never restored, these
are perhaps the only records now extant of the Com-
pany.
That little band of God-fearing men, the Puritans
or Pilgrims, were settled at Leyden in 1617. After
much thought they decided to emigrate to America
and live as a distinct body under the government of
* Macaulay is fond of contrasting that monarch, son of the celebrated
Mary, Queen of Scots, with the strong-minded, high spirited and courageous
English sovereigns, whose princely bearing had, for two hundred years, made
the throne one of venerable associations. He says: It was no lighc thing
that royalty should (as in the case of James) be exhibited to the world stam-
mering, slobbering, exhibiting unmanly fears, trembling at a drawn sword,
and talking in a style alternately ©f a buffoon and a pedagogue,” and he
refers with great asperity to the King’s extravagant claim that Parliament
had no more right to inquire what he might lawfully do, than what the Deity
anight lawfully do.212
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Virginia, if permitted here to exercise the freedom of
their religions opinions. A patent, whose privileges
were as ample as the Virginia Company had authority^
to confer, was secured, and the pilgrims set sail from:
Delft Haven on the 6th of September, 1620, in the
Mayflower, intending to locate near the Hudson river.
Accident, however, carried th<*r little vessel to the
barren head-lands since so well known as Plymouth
Rock, far to the northward of the bounds of their
charter, which thus became “void and useless.” In
the following Spring a grant was secured from the
Plymouth Company of the territory on which they
had unintentionally settle 1. The colony grew, and in
1628 Charles I issued a charter for its government
under the title of the province of Massachusetts Bay.*'
A half century later this patent was vacated, but
renewed in 1691 by William and Mary, who expressly
recognized the western boundary, as had each of the*
other patents, as extending from ocean to ocean.
In 1663, Charles II conferred upon his brother,
then Duke of York and Albany, (afterward King-
James II,) all land lying between the Delaware river
and the Hudson, and northwards to the bounds of
Canada. This royal donation embraced the present
State of New Jersey, (which subsequently became the
property of Berkley and Castaret,) and also New
York, which uniformly claimed, under the somewhat
vague designation in the charter, the whole area of
our present State, and as far eastward as the Connect-
icut river. Massachusetts, on the other hand, claimed
to the Hudson, and likewise the western half of the
territory of New York, and westward to the Pacific,
* In 1628, the Council of Plymouth (or Plymouth Company) transferred toi
Sir Henry Roswell and his associates, constituting the Massachusetts Bayr
Company, a part of their immense grant, extending, from the Atlantic to the-
Pacific.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
213
tinder the old charter of James I to the Council of
Plymouth. The charters of these two leading prov-
inces, covering in large part the same territory, led to
controversies as settlements expanded, both as to the
right of property and the right of jurisdiction. And
as each assumed to make grants to settlers in the
debatable region, especially in that portion which lay
between the Hudson and the Connecticut, and, to
some extent, in that lying westward beyond the country
of the Mohawks, angry dissensions and bloodshed
followed upon the disorders occasioned by intrusions
upon lands held under color of one or the other of the
opposing interests. As early as 1767, commissioners
were appointed by the two provinces, who met at New
Haven, and after several days spent in discussion,
“with grief found themselves obliged to return to
their principals, leaving the controversy unsettled.*
The Revolution, whose common danger hushed all
minor disputes, soon came, but on the return of peace,
the questions were reopened. The legislature of this
State regarded the claim on the part of Massachusetts
an ungracious one. The two States had fought and
acted side by side during the Revolutionary struggle;
“and after all the severe calamities by which these
States hath been distressed in the progress of vindic-
tive war,” said they, “ we flattered ourselves that the
period was at length arrived when we should have an
opportunity to repair our misfortunes without envy or
interruption.” Agents, however, wrere appointed by
the two States to settle their respective rights. They
met, consulted and separated, after uniting in a request
* See Case of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New York, respecting
the Boundary Lines, Lieut.-Gov. Hutchinson and two others appeared for
Massachusetts, and Robert R. Livingston and two others for New York, At
subsequent conventions between the two States, John Hancock and other
eminent men took part.214
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
for the friendly interposition of Congress, under the*
terms of the old articles of confederation. Governor
George Clinton called an extra session of the legisla-
ture, which convened in October, 1784. Referring to
the controversy he says: ‘‘Since the close of your
last session the legislature of Massachusetts have
thought fit to set up a claim to land lying somewhere
within the ancient jurisdiction of this State, the pre-
cise location being left in obscurity. They have
requested Congress to appoint a Federal court to
inquire and determine such claims.” It was not,
however, until the joint commission of the two States
had concluded its labors at Hartford, on the 16th of
December, 1786, that a compact was formed for the
permanent settlement of the questions so long in issue*.
By this, Massachusetts ceded to New York all claim
and title to the government, sovereignty and jurisdic-
tion of the lands and territory in controversy, and
New York released to the former State and to her
grantees, the right of pre-emption of the soil from the
native Indians, and all title and property in that por-
tion of this State lying w~est of the old “pre-emption
line,” which commences at the southeast corner of
Steuben county and extending northward through
Seneca lake, terminates at Sodus Bay, embracing an
area of about six millions of acres of the fairest portion
of the State.*
On the first of April, 1788, Massachusetts accepted
the proposals of an association of gentlemen of capi-
tal, represented by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel
Gorham, for the purchase of its pre-emptive right to
the whole section, for three hundred thousand pounds
* The release to Massachusetts also embraced 230,400 acres between the
rivers Owego and Chenango, known as the Massachusetts Ten Townships, in/
Chenango county.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
215
in the consolidated securities of that State, worth then
about two shillings in the pound* These funds at once
advanced, and Phelps and Gorham failed to meet their
engagements. In February, 1790, they offered to sur-
render all but that one-third of their great purchase
lying between Seneca lake and the Genesee river, to
which, in July, 1788, they had secured by treaty at
Canandaigua, a release of the Indian claims, for the
consideration of two thousand one hundred pounds,
New York currency. This offer was formally acceded
to by Massachusetts in June of the same year, and
the consideration therefor was reduced to thirty-one
thousand pounds. The portion retained by them
embraced all lands lying between the pre-emption line
and a line drawn from a point on the Pennsylvania
boundary south of the confluence of Canaseraga creek
with the waters of the Genesee river, thence north-
westwardly along the Genesee to a point two miles
north of the Canawaugus Indian village, thence due
west twelve miles distant from the most westward
bend of the river, to Lake Ontario.* On the 21st of
* The Indian deed signed at this treaty affords the following description of
the tract:	“ Beginning in the northern boundary line of the State of Penn-
sylvania, in the parallel of the 42d degree north, at a point distant 82 miles
from the northeast corner of Pennsylvania or Delaware river, thence running
west upon said line to a meridian passing through the point of land made by
the confluence of the Shanahasgreaikonreclie (Canaseraga) creek with the
waters of the Genesee river, thence north along the said meridian to the
point last mentioned, thence northwardly along the waters of the Genesee
river to a point two miles north of Shanawageras (Canawaugus) village,
thence due west 12 miles, thence in a direction northwardly so as to be 12
miles distant from the most westward bend of the Genesee river to Lake
Ontario, thence eastwardly along the said lake to a meridian which will pass
through the place of beginning, and thence south along the said meridian to
the place of beginning.” The deed was witnessed by the Rev. Samuel Kirk-
ham and others, and was approved by him under authority of a resolution of
the legislature of Massachusetts, appointing him to superintend and approve
the purchase.216
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
November of the latter year, this tract was confirmed
to Phelps and Gorham by an act of the legislature of
Massachusetts. A survey of the tract showed that it
exceeded, both in quantity and value, one-third of
the whole territory. For this difference the purchasers
duly accounted. With the exception of the parts that
had already been sold and two townships reserved by
them, Phelps and Gorham sold the whole of this one-
third part of the original purchase to Robert Morris,
and conveyed the same to him by deed bearing date
the 18th of November, 1790. The quantity of land is
described in the title to be 2,100,000 acres.*
In 1789 Mr. Phelps opened at Canandaigua, the first
regular land office for the sale of unoccupied lands to
settlers ever established in America. The system he
adopted for the survey of his lands by townships and
ranges, was, with slight modifications, adopted by
the government for the survey of all the new lands in
the United States. .These “ranges” were six miles in
width, running north and south through the whole
purchase, and numbered from east to west. The
ranges, in turn, were subdivided by parallel lines, six
miles apart, running east and west, denominated
“townships,” which were numbered from south to
north. The ranges were seven in number, each
embracing fourteen townships. The latter were mostly
subdivided into lots of 160 acres each, for the accom-
modation of actual settlers.
Settlements did not immediately follow’the purchase
by Phelps and Gorham. Indeed, it was not until
1792, when, by the opening of roads eastward and
♦The whole transaction in relation to the Phelps and Gorham purchase
was finally settled by an indenture entered into between them and Massachu-
setts, bearing date March 10, 1191, in pursuance of which the balance due
from Phelps and Gorham, in respect to their retained portion of the entire
territory, was paid on the 6th of April, 1813.BRIG-- GBR JAMES S. WADSWORTH.HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON' COUNTY.
217
southward, access was facilitated to the new land of
promise, that the tide of emigration thitherward began.
In the disposition of their lands, Phelps and Gor-
ham accommodated their terms to the circumstances
of purchasers. Several of their contracts drawn in
January, 1789, contained the provision, “We engage
to receive the one-half of each obligation in good
merchantable ox or cow beef at the market cash price*
or in West India goods at cash rates, provided, how-
ever, that so far as we receive in those articles, ten per
centum is to be added to the debt due to us.”
The two-thirds of the territory relinquished by
Phelps and Gorham, reverted to Massachusetts, and
were resold by that State on the 12th of March, 1791*
to Samuel Ogden, who represented Robert Morris, the
eminent financier of the Revolution, the friend of
Washington and a signer of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Morris’s attention had early been drawn
to the Genesee country, and he eagerly availed himself
of the opportunity now afforded to secure the reverted
lands. In January, 1791, he had written to Ogden*
who was then in Boston, “to make the purchase at
any terms.” A few days later he wrote him again:
“I consider the purchase of such magnitude that I
shall never forgive myself if I let it pass by me at
anything less than the limits which I have fixed, and
you may depend that if I get it, I will make a greater
fortune out of it in a short time than any other person
can now believe.” An expectation, it may be added,
that was far from being realized.
On the 11th of May, 1791, Ogden having assigned
his interest to Morris, a committee on behalf of the
legislature confirmed the latter’s title by granting him
five several deeds of conveyance for as many separate
parcels of land, the first embracing about five hundred
thousand acres, afterwards known as the Morris218
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
reserve, and the four others, the lands subsequently
sold by Morris to the Holland Land Company.*
Morris thus secured the exclusive power to extinguish
the Indian claim.f The quantity of land conveyed
was about four million acres; the consideration, one
hundred thousand pounds Massachusetts currency,
and the area “all the territory within the State of New
York lying west of the meridian line commencing on
the north bounds of Pennsylvania, at a point distant
twelve miles west from the south-west corner of
Phelps and Gorham’s purchase and thence extending
north to the boundary line of the United States in
Lake Ontario, excepting only the reserved strip of
land one mile in width, along the Niagara river, and
with this exception, Robert Morris became seized of
the pre-emptive title to the whole of this territory,”
relinquished to Massachusetts with the exceptions
already noted.
That portion of this purchase lying east of the river
soon passed out of the hands of Mr. Morris. Agencies
had been established by him at the principal capitals
of Europe for the sale of these lands, the value of
which the owner himself, though holding them in high
estimation, had essentially underrated. Just as he
* The deeds were deposited in the hands of Nathaniel Appleton and two
others, and were delivered to Morris on payment of the purchase money.
A sixth deed was granted under authority of a joint resolution of the
legislature of Massachusetts, adopted June 20th, 1792, covering the undi-
vided sixtieth part of the lands embraced in the above deed, and reserved by
each of them, caused by a contract made by Phelps and Gorham for the sale
of l-60th of the entire territory to John Butler, who subsequently assigned
to Robert Morris, and the latter was thus enabled to acquire title to the
■whole directly from the State of Massachusetts.
j Without any stipulation on this’subject the grant of the pre-emptive title
would have carried with it a right to the soil, subject to the possession of the
Indians, with the eoct'A rive power to extinguish their claim. See Johnson v.
McIntosh, S Wheaton': Reps., p. 564.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
219
became fully aware of their great importance, and
"before he could communicate with his foreign corres-
pondents on the subject, William Temple Franklin, a
grandson of Dr. Franklin, had sold them in England
in 1792 to an association composed of Sir William
Pultney, au eminent British statesman, who, it would
appear, was able to devote little personal attention to
the affairs of the company,* John Hornby, once gov-
ernor of Bombay, India, a retired capitalist of
London, and Patrick Colquhoun, a philanthropic
Scotchman of large means, and at the time High
Sheriff of Westminster, England, upon whom the
details of settling the purchase and disposing of the
land principally devolved, a duty he performed with
so much acceptance to his associates, and with such
enlightened liberality as to gain the respect of the
settlers, f
The associates now required an agent who should
proceed at once to the new purchase and personally
superintend their interests. At this time Charles Wil-
liamson, a Scotch gentleman who had spent several
years in America, had come to London, where he was
honored with the friendship of William Pitt and other
leading men of the English capital. He had held a
captain’s commission in the British service, and being
ordered to this country with his regiment during the
Revolution, their vessel was captured by a French
privateer. Williamson was brought to Boston and
there held a prisoner of war until the close of the
* Sir William’s family name was Johnstone. He was one of a family of
.fourteen children. His father was Sir James Johnstone. Sir William mar-
:ried Miss Pultney, niece of the Earl of Bath, and took his wife’s family name
in 1767. The village of Bath, in this State, was so named out of compliment,
by Williamson.
f A tablet has been placed in the Court House at Canandaigua to hig
memory.	.220
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
struggle. Opportunity had been afforded him to
become acquainted with the quality of our new lands
of which he readily availed himself, and as he was
quite willing to accept the offer of the associates to
manage their estates, he was engaged for the term of
seven years. He possessed qualities which peculiarly
fitted him for the position, and the appointment proved
a fortunate one.* He enjoyed the confidence of his
principals, their material resources were ample, and
his zeal was fully equal to the task before him. On
reaching Philadelphia he made the acquaintance of
Robert Morris. After securing all the information
about the Genesee country within reach, he made up
his mind that a road must be opened to the purchase.
He was told that this could not be done, but with his
usual indomitable energy he marked out and opened
a road from Ross Farm, (now Williamsport) to the
confluence of the Canaseraga creek and the Genesee
river, where, in 1792 he established his first settlement,
Williamsburgh. The associates being aliens, could
not take the title, and as a first step Williamson was
naturalized in Philadelphia on the 9th of January,
1792, and on the 11th of April of the same year the
title of the estate was made over to him. On the 31st
ot March, 1801, Williamson conveyed the lands to Sir
William Pultney.f
* Captain Williamson was a native ot Balgray, Scotland, his father being
Secretary of the Scottish Earl of Hopeton. Two friends, both Scotchmen,
John Johnstone and Chas. Cameron, accompanied him to this country. Wil-
liamBon was a member of Assembly from Ontario and Steuben from 1*796 to
1800, and was also first judge of Steuben Common Pleas from 1*796 to 1803
continuously. He returned to Scotland, and died on or about the 31st of
December, 1807, on the passage from Havana to England.
f The title of the Pultney estate has been the subject of frequent litigation
during the iast half century, in which attempt* have been made to overthrow
the title derived through Williamson on the ground of his alleged alienage.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
221
Captain Williamson’s energy and hopefulness ani-
mated all who came within the range of his personal
influence, while his enterprise anticipated and supplied
whatever became necessary to promote the prosperity
of the rising towns. He is represented as a jolly
Scotchman, a gentleman of liberal education, of fine
social qualities, fond of his flagon of wine and a good
story, of fine horses and herds of sleek cattle. He
had seen service in Europe and was a man of the
world. He possessed great activity, was upright and
liberal in his dealings with the pioneers, and was
always ready to impart information to any who sought
homes in the Genesee country. “He frequently con-
cludes a contract and removes every difficulty in the
course of a few minutes’ conversation. ” By his wisely
directed enterprise he gave a great impulse not only
to the settlements which he lost no time in establish-
ing at Bath, Williamsburgh, Geneva and Sodus, on the
great tract belonging to his principals, but to the
Genesee country at large. *
Having thus disposed of that portion of his pur-
chase lying east of the Genesee river, Mr. Morris was
not long in finding purchasers for the lands west of
the river in the Holland Land Company, an association
or on the ground that the Indian title had never been extinguished to the
lands in question, though each time with marked want of success.
“ The whole question was carefully examined and the validity of the title
distinctly affirmed in the case of the Duke of Cumberland vs. Graves,” by the
Court of Appeals of the State of New York (3 Selden, 305, Thomas A. John-
son, J.).
.. * His domestic life was happy. His wife was a Boston lady, “ timid even
to bashfulness,” with whom he became acquainted while a prisoner of war in
that city. The Duke de Liancourt, who visited Williamson in 1795, says of
this lady: “ She is yet but a young woman, of fine complexion, civil, though
of but few words, and mother of two lovely children; one of them, a girl
three years old, is the finest and handsomest child I ever saw,” and no flat-
tery was more grateful to him than the praise of his two beautiful children.222	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
consisting of five capitalists of Amsterdam, Holland.*
The consideration was fifty-five thousand pounds
sterling, of which sum £37,400 were withheld until
the Indian title was extinguished in 1797, at the Big-
Tree treaty. As the purchasers were aliens they could
not take the title in their own names, and the deeds
were therefore made to parties in trust for them.f
* The names of the actual original proprietors were Wilhelm Willink,
Nicolas Yan Staphoist, Pieter Yan Eeghen, Hendrick Yollenhoven and
Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninek, composing the “ Holland Land Company.”
f Deeds from Robert Morris and Mary his wife, to the trustees of the pro-
prietors, were as follows:
I.	Bears date Dec. 24, 1192, and conveys two tracts of one million and
half a million respectively, amounting to lj million acres, to Herman LeRoy
and John Lincklaen in trust.
II.	Bears date Feb. 27, 1793, and conveys one million acres to LeRoyr
Lincklaen and Gerrit Boon, in trust.
III.	Bears date July 20, 1793, and conveys 800,000 acres to LeRoy,
Lincklaen and Boon, in trust.
IY. Bears date July 20, 1793, and conveys 300,000 acres to LeRoy, Wil-
liam Bayard and Matthew Clarkson, in trust.
After the Big Tree treaty of Sept. 15, 1797, by which the claims of the-
Indians to the above lands were released to Robert Morris, he made a confir-
mation to his grantees.
Concurrently with the execution of this conveyance by Morris, articles of
agreement were entered into by which, among other things, a right was
reserved to the grantees to elect, within a certain period, to convert the pur-
chase into a loan, m which case the conveyance was to inure by way of
mortgage to secure the repayment of the purchase money. The grantees
choosing to hold the lands as a purchase, declared no election to hold them
otherwise; but it was nevertheless contended by Morris and those claiming
under him, that the whole transaction was to be considered as a loan, and
that a right still existed in Morris or his assigns which a court of chancery
would enforce. This question was put at rest by the conveyance of the 10th
of Feb., 1801, from T. L. Ogden and Governeur Morris.
For more than half his life the late Gov. Seward was the principal agent
and attorney, and removed from Auburn to Westfield to superintend the dis-
posal of the company's lands. On his voluntary retiracy from the agency,
he was succeeded by the Hon. Geo. W. Patterson, ex-Lieut. Governor, wha
is now acting for them, though the title to the vast estate is now almost
entirely in other hands.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
223
Though the property was controlled by the associates,
they issued stock called “American Land Scrip,”
which was held all over Holland. The attitude of the
Indians, the Senecas included, at the period of the
purchase and down to the success of Wayne’s expe-
dition against the western tribes was so unfriendly
that public policy rendered any negotiation for secur-
ing their interest in these lands improper. But the
decisive victory of that resolute officer humbled their
pride and enabled Morris to hold a treaty at Geneseo
in 1797. Morris had stipulated with the Holland Com-
pany to extinguish the title of the natives at his own
expense, and the Company, accordingly, retained
£35,000 sterling of the purchase money until this was
done. In the summer of 1797 arrangements were
made for this treaty.* President Washington, who
was fully aware of the forbearance of Mr. Morris, was
ready to fnrther the business by naming commission-
ers to superintend the treaty in behalf of the United.
States in conformity with law. Captain Bruff, who
held command of the garrison at Port Niagara, had
held a conference with the Senecas, and had presented!
them with a flag. In their answer to Captain Bruff s
speech on this occasion, they called Robert Morris the
“big eater with the big belly,” and asked that ho
might not come to devour their lands. Washington
told Mr. Morris that he should feel it his duty to send
Captain Bruff’s letter, together with the accompany-
ing speeches of the Indians, to the Senate with the
nominations, and that such was then the desire to
conciliate the Six Nations that he did not believe the
Senate would confirm any nomination contrary to
their wishes. The Senate, however, confirmed the
nominations, but with the understanding that he was
not to act in the premises until the Indians themselves
requested a treaty. To Thomas Morris, a son of the224
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
distinguished purchaser, fell the tedious part of
securing the consent of the Indians, who feared that
by asking for the treaty they would commit them-
selves to the sale of their lands. Their consent was
at length obtained, but the commissioner, Isaac Smith
of New Jersey, now found that duties of a judicial
character to which he had meantime been appointed,
would prevent his acceptance, and Col. Jeremiah
Wadsworth of Connecticut was appointed to superin-
tend the treaty in conformity with law. Massachusetts
was represented by General William Shepard. Gene-
seo, or Big Tree as it was then called, was fixed upon
as the place for holding the treaty, in some respects
the most important negotiation that has occurred
between the whites and the Senecas. The latter were
to then consider the question o‘f forever relinquishing
their broad hunting-grounds and their most revered
burial-places in this State; “ territory lying between
the Genesee river and Lake Erie and between the
Pennsylvania border and Lake Ontario.”
Thomas Morris, who represented his father, reached
Geneseo on the 22d of August, 1797. The treaty had
been appointed for the 20th, and the Indians, already
collected in large numbers, had been waiting two days.
“Not the Senecas exclusively, but groups from other
tribes, had come in to be fed from the stores of the
commissioners, and so greatly hungered were the
natives that they were ravenous for food. Several of
the oxen first killed for them were devoured raw,
reeking in the blood.” On the morning following,
Morris called them together and alter a speech of
welcome, apologized for the non-arrival of the commis-
sioners who had been delayed by bad weather. The
unfinished residence of James and William Wads-
worth, at Geneseo, was hired for the accommodation
of the commissioners and officers, and the representa-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
225
tives of the Holland Land Company.* A large
temporary council house, the exact site of which it is
difficult to determine, was at once prepared for the
occasion. Overhead it was covered with boughs and
branches of trees, to shelter the assemblage from the
sun. An elevated bench was provided for the com-
missioners and other benches for spectators. Many
of the notables of the Senecas were present and took
part in the discussions that ensued.
It was obvious from the outset that a number of
white men, who spoke a little of the native tongue and
whose offers of employment had been declined by
Morris, would attempt to persuade the Indians to
reject all offers made them, with a view to securing
their own terms. The natives were in a mood to be
influenced in this direction, for, with few exceptions,
they were, said General Knox, greatly tenacious of
their lands. To these venal white men Thomas Morris
referred in his address. Cornplanter, who was dis-
posed to treat the whole subject fairly, immediately
arose and expressed his satisfaction at being informed
that the mischief-makers were known and would be
properly dealt with.
Late in the afternoon of the 26tli of August, the
commissioners arrived. They found the Indians
engaged in receiving their annual presents from the
United States, under direction of Capt. Chapin. The
following day was the Sabbath, and intelligence hav-
♦James Wadsworth was in Europe at the time. Those attending the
treaty from a distance besides the two commissioners and Mr. Morris, were
Capt. Chapin, the Super intendent of Indian Affairs, the interpreter, and,
•occasionally, Capt. Williamson, James Rees, who acted as Secretary, William
Bayard of New York, agent of the Holland Land Company, and two young
gentlemen from Holland by the name of Yan Staphoist, who were nearly
related to the gentlemen of the same name who were the principal members
of the Holland Company.—See Thomas Morris1 Bee. in MSS., K 7. Hist. Soc,226
HISTOBY OF -LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ing reached the Senecas of the death of the daughter'
of Capt. Chapin, whom they greatly respected, they
appointed a council for condolence with him, to which
all the gentlemen from a distance were invited.
At one o’ clock on the afternoon of Monday the 28th,
the council formally opened. It fell to Cornplanter
to speak first. Turning to Thomas Morris he briefly
addressed him, acknowledging the speech of invita-
tion conveyed through Horatio Jones and Jasper
Parrish, regretted that the commissioners had been
delayed, and closed by returning the string of wam-
pum which had reached him with the invitation. The
commissioners then presented their credentials and!
Colonel Wadsworth delivered his speech, assuring the
Indians of his purpose watchfully to observe the pro-
ceedings in their interest. He was followed by General
Shepard. Mr. Morris then rose and said that his
father was unable to be present, but that Captain
Williamson and he had been duly appointed to repre-
sent him, and, as instructed, he would now submit
Robert Morris’s speech and a belt of wampum, which
were laid upon the table. This closed the business
for that sitting, and the council-fire was covered for
the day.
The council did not assemble until late in the after-
noon of the following day. Meantime the Indians
were consulting among themselves on the speeches
already delivered, agreeing, as was their habit, ini
private on the measures to be adopted, the arguments
to be used in support, and fixing upon the speakers
to present them, before meeting the white people in
the more public council. On re-assembling Red Jacket
thanked the Great Spirit for his care of the dignitaries^
and after a few general observations turned to Thomas
Morris and said, “It appears to us as though some-
thing is kept back. From the candor and veracityBISTORT OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
227
promised by you we hope that all will be laid before
the Indians fairly.” On being assured of this, the
chief observed that as the sun was nearly down it
would be well to wait until the next day.
On the morning of the 30th Mr. Morris presented
at length the objects of the treaty. A few minutes of
silence followed his taking his seat, when one of the
chiefs said if Mr. Morris had nothing to add it was
their wish to be left to their own private deliberations.
Five or six days followed without a public session,
the interval being spent by the Indians in considering
the speech of Mr. Morris. Whiskey had now found
its way to the Indians, and was interfering with the
business that had called the council together. Far-
mer’s Brother reported that several, among them Red
Jacket, had been drinking and were quarrelsome.
The chief, under advice, seized the offending barrel of
spirits and knocked in the head, but not in time to
prevent a general fight, the pulling of hair and biting
each other like dogs.
On the 2d of September the sachems asked that the
council-fire be uncovered. Farmer’s Brother arose
and stated that it was their intention to answer Mr.
Morris’s speech. Red Jacket followed in a short
address whose drift was unfavorable to the object of
the treaty. He referred in glowing terms to the im-
portance which the possession of their fine lands had
given the Senecas among other nations of Indians.
Said he: “It raises us in our own estimation. It
creates in our bosoms a proud feeling which elevates
us as a nation. Observe the difference between the
estimation in which a Seneca and an Oneida are held.
We are courted, while the Oneidas are considered a
degraded people, fit only to make brooms and baskets.
Why this difference ? It is because the Senecas are
known as the proprietors of a broad domain, while228	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the Oneidas are cooped up in a narrow space.” Mr.
Morris parried this thrust with much address, and
endeavored to convince Red Jacket that he was mis-
taken in this, referring to the treatment received by
some of their chiefs when on a mission of peace with
Colonel Pickering and others to the country of the
hostile Indians at the West in 1793, who expressed
little regard for the Seneca chiefs and refused to hold
communication with them. Red Jacket promptly
answered, admitting the fact, but imputing the dis-
courtesy to their going thither in bad company. ‘£ Had
we gone alone,” said he, “and on our own business,
our reception would have been such as Senecas have
a right to expect; but when we interfered in the dis-
putes of the United States, and accompanied its
representatives, we forfeited all claims to such a
reception,” adding that the experience to which allu-
sion had been made would warn them thereafter to
confine themselves to their own affairs.
In the evening, a private conference was held with
the principal sachems, at which Mr. Morris offered
the Indians $100,000 for their lands, a sum, he said,
which placed in the Bank of the United States, would
bring them $6,000 a year interest. This offer they
requested him to state in the public council. The
following day Red Jacket communicated through a
private medium that his speech did not express his
own sentiments, but was made to please some of his
people, and added that on the next occasion he should
be less harsh. The assurance was not made good,
however, for at the open council in the afternoon,
referring to the former greatness of the Six Nations,
the crafty chief covertly warned those who favored
the sale, by alluding to the fact that their forefathers,
who had parted with lands, had eaten up the proceeds
and all was gone. He then referred to the plan pro-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
229
posed of investing the money, and asked that the
proposition might be put in writing. Mr. Morris
assented, explaining, at the same time, the operation
of an investment. The idea was altogether new to the
natives, who being unable as yet, to count beyond a
hundred, it became difficult to make them comprehend
how money could increase without being planted in
the ground, or how great a sum $100,000 was. To
aid their comprehension, he told them it would fill a
certain number of kegs of a given size, and would
require thirty horses to draw the silver hither from
Philadelphia. The speech was well received, and
with it closed the business of the day. The Indians
spent the following day consulting together. A. num-
ber of white men unfriendly to Mr. Morris, were
observed to be busy among them. Hints were thrown
out, and some of the sachems became reserved and
mysterious.
On the 6th, in council, Little Beard, the chief war-
rior of the Senecas, spoke, addressing himself more
especially to his own people. It would appear that
this notable was the leader of those who were opposed
to the sale. He therefore favored placing the negotia-
tions in the hands of the ablest and shrewdest of the
sachems, presuming that they would be more likely
than those of less experience, to defeat the purpose of
the treaty. He began by observing that it was the
custom among* their forefathers to refer all business
relating to the nation’s welfare, except war, to the
sachems, “and, therefore,” he continued, “the belt
of wampum delivered me by Cornplanter, I shall
return to him and let the whole business be transacted
by the sachems. Whatever they determine upon, all
the warriors will agree to.” He sat down and Red
Jacket rose slowly. Surveying the assemblage for a
moment, he said the Indians did not want to sell their230	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
lands though they had assented reluctantly to holding
the treaty. There were expenses attending the con-
vention, he continued, and his people were ready to
offer Mr. Morris a single township on the Pennsyl-
vania border at one dollar per acre. This land placed
in market would sell, he said, for an advance sufficient
to cover the expenses.
The negotiations had progressed slowly, and both
Colonel Wadsworth and Mr. Bayard had grown im-
patient of further delay. The former was an old man,
afflicted with gout and far from home; the latter
wanted to see the lands of his principals freed from
Indian occupancy, but as a large portion of the pur-
chase money had been withheld by them, it mattered
less to him if the demand of the natives should prove
unreasonable. Mr. Morris, however, had cogent
reasons for securing an Indian deed at a fair equiva-
lent. The splendid fortune of his father, placed
wholly at the disposal of the Continental authorities
in the darkest hours of the infant [Republic, had suf-
fered greatly by the depreciation of the public credit.
His flattery of retrieving a share of these losses
through the purchase of this vast body of land had
not been realized, and the fear now was that its inop-
portune sale, should the Indians prove exacting,
might involve him in actual loss. He had hoped the
Senecas would be content with $75,000, but $100,000
did not satisfy them. Mr. Morris, who better under-
stood the Indian character than the commissioners,
knew that anything like the appearance of haste
would defeat their purpose, and especially he felt that
farther delay was indispensable to counteract the
impression that had been made on the Indians by the
more recent speeches of their warriors. But so fixed
were the two commissioners in their purpose of bring-
ing the proceedings to a close, that they insisted thatHISTORY OF*LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
231
when Red Jacket should make the above proposition,
—of which they had been previously advised,—Morris
•ought boldly to reject it, and thus bring the natives to
consider his offer, otherwise they would go home. To
this Morris could only consent. No sooner, therefore,
than the famous Seneca had sat down, than Mr. Mor-
ris told him the proposal did not merit a moment’s
consideration ; that if they had no more reasonable
offer to make the sooner the conference ended the
better. Red Jacket sprang to his feet, and in great
passion said, “ We have now reached a point to which
I wanted to bring you. You told us when we first
met that we were free either to sell or retain our lands.
I repeat, we will not part with them. Here is my
hand on it,” thrusting his arm across the table. “Let
us shake hands and part friends. I now cover up
■this council-fire.” All was now tumult. “The
whooping and yelling of the Indians,” says Mr. Mor-
ris, ‘ ‘ was such that persons less accustomed to them
would have imagined that they intended to tomahawk
all the whites. One of their drunken warriors, in a
most violent and abusive speech, asked me how I
dared to come among them to cheat them out of their
lands.”
The result was a bitter disappointment to Bayard,
and Mr. Morris was vexed at the miscarriage of their
plans. He had hopes, however, of bringing on the
business anew, if both Bayard and Colonel Wads-
worth would engage not to interfere, either by advice
or otherwise. To this both readily agreed. The fol-
lowing day when Parmer’s Brother called to express
'the hope that previous friendships would not be less-
♦ened by the failure of the treaty, Morris reminded him
that Indian usage gave to him who lighted a council-
fire the right to cover it up. Hence as he had himself
Mndled this one, Red Jacket had no warrant for232
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
declaring it extinguished; and urged that it was yet
burning. To this, after a few minutes reflection, the
chief assented. Negotiations with the sachems hav-
ing failed, custom justified an attempt to secure the
approval of the warriors who defended the lands and
the women who cultivated them, who were entitled to
take the business in their own hands when dissatisfied
with the management of the sachems. Accordingly,
after a few days spent in examining the accounts for
supplies, paying for provisions consumed and collect-
ing the cattle not slaughtered, he invited the chief
women and some of the warriors to meet him, renew-
ing to them his offer. He assured them of his readi-
ness to concede such reservations as were required for
their actual occupancy, and showed them how much
good the money would do toward relieving the women
of drudgery. He also stated that he had brought
some presents from Philadelphia for them, to be dis-
tributed, however, only in the event of effecting a pur-
chase of their lands, but as he had no cause of com-
plaint against the women, their portion of the gifts
would now be divided among them, and in a few hours
silver brooches glittered and glass beads sparkled upon
hundreds of the dusky daughters of the forest, while
all were more or less fantastically arrayed in shawls
and printed India goods.
Some days were spent in rude festivities, alternated,
by serious consultations. A thrifty pig, well soaped,,
was let loose upon the green, and a dollar and the-
porker were offered to the one who should catch and:
hold him by the caudal extremity. A thousand fail-
ures and many a break-neck fall was the consequence,
but all tended to restore good humor and bring all;
sides together. The women and warriors collected
together in little knots and were obviously discussing
the sale. At length Mr. Morris received a request t6HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	233
call the council together for negotiation. Colonel
Stone says that Cornplanter, being the principal war-
chief, opened the proceedings. He said the women
and warriors had seen with regret the misconduct of
their sachems, and did not hesitate to declare the con-
duct of Mr. Morris as having been too hasty. Far-
mer’s Brother, on the part of the sachems, stated that
these proceedings of the women and warriors were, in
view of what had occurred, in perfect accordance with
their usages. From the moment this new stage was
reached, Cornplanter became the principal speaker,
and Red Jacket withdrew, no longer attending the
meetings, but procuring some liquor remained drunk
until the terms were agreed upon. Mary Jemison took
a part in the deliberations, both in and out of the
council-house, urging her claims for an allotment of
lands in a manner that was more pertinacious than
dignified. Red Jacket was opposed to recognizing
her, but he was not present. The others were desirous
of giving her a small reservation.
The new negotiators went directly to business, and
a basis was soon fixed. But just as this point was
reached an incident occurred which threatened the
success of the treaty. Young King, a descendant of
Old Smoke, the most powerful and wisest sachem of
his time, appeared upon the scene for the first time,
and so great was the influence which his birth had
given him, that the Indians declined to proceed fur-
ther until all that had been done should be submitted
to him. The Secretary was directed to read the jour-
nal and speeches, and to explain the offer and its
effect. This being done, he, after much deliberation,
announced his disapproval, and it was only after long
reasoning with him, that his consent to the sale of the
lands was gained.
Four or five days were now spent in fixing the limits234
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of the reservations. Mr. Morris says the difficulty
was not a small one. The Indians wanted them fixed
by natural boundaries, such as the course of streams,
but this mode was inadmissible from the fact that so
little was known of the quantity of land it would give
them, and for the sake of certainty it was finally set-
tled that they should be marked by square miles. At
the first meeting held to allot to each village its pro-
portionate part, “the utmost jealousy was found to
exist among several of the chiefs.” The importance
of the chief is measured, in large degree, by the num-
ber of his followers, and that number is limited by
the extent of the land annexed to the chief s residence.
Hence the struggle on the part of each sachem and
chief warrior, both to increase his own bounds and to
lessen those of a rival. The contest was more violent
between Red Jacket and Cornplanter than any others,
the former wanting the principal reservation at Buffalo
creek, and the latter at his residence on the Alleghany
river. They were only brought to terms by being
assured that where reservations were of an unneces-
saiy size, a deduction from the amount of the purchase
money offered would be made.
Joseph Ellicott was present and laid down the ex-
tent of each reservation,* showing the map and
* The following were the reservations agreed upon. The list appears in
one of the manuscript volumes of the O’Rielly Collection in the N. Y. His-
torical Society in the handwriting of Joseph Ellicott, and bears date of Sept
16,1791. I reproduce the orthography:
No. 1. At Kannawaugus, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
2.	At Big Tree, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
3.	At Little Beard’s town, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
4.	At Squawkie Hill, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
5.	At Gardeaw, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
6.	At Ka-oun-de-ou, Jeneseo River, 16 square miles.
7.	At Allegenny River, 42 square miles.
8.	At Kattaraugus, about 42 square miles.
9.	At Buffalo and Tannawanta Creeks, 200 square miles.
In all containing about 200,000 acres.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNT*.	235
affording answers to every inquiry of the eager chief-
tains. By the 15th, the details had all been agreed
upon, the deed was drawn up and was produced for
signature.* Previous to subscribing, it was distinctly
read and its import clearly explained to the Indians.
Colonel Wadsworth then asked them if they under-
stood it perfectly. If not he said it should be ex-
plained to them again. They replied that it was
unnecessary, as they fully comprehended it, and that
its terms were, in every respect, agreeable to them.
They were then requested to sign it. Red Jacket here
rose in behalf of Ebenezer Allan’s daughter Polly,
who wished to be informed of the situation of the land
given by the Indians to Allan and his children. Mr.
Morris replied that his father had already paid Allan
for it and was now paying the nation for it again. To
this Polly replied, “No, Mr. Morris, it was only the
improvements my father sold.’7 Morris answered,
“The papers in my hands will prove the contrary.”
Turning to Colonel Wadsworth she said, “I forbid
the commissioners buying my lands given me by the
Indians.” Wadsworth told her that she had bad
advisers, and that although he had nothing to do with
her business, yet if she desired it, he would examine
her claim and give her a proper certificate if she would
call on him in the morning. As Robert Morris had
duly purchased the land in question and taken a war-
ranty deed, it is presumed she was content to say no
more about the matter. Mary Jemison now demanded
that her interests should be duly guarded. She had
secured a generous gift from the Indians at Gardow,
and in fixing the limit of the reservation she objected
to having it laid down in square miles, “stating that
* The deed bears date Sept. 15, 3 *797. See parchment copy, duly authenti-
cated, in State Library. Also Appendix to Vol. YII, United States Statutes
at Large.236
HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
she had various improved places, one of which was a
patch of corn, another of potatoes and another of
beans. She then named certain boundaries, to which
Mr. Morris, in consequence of the impatience of the
commissioners, hastily assented under the impression
that the grant would not exceed 150 acres. When
afterwards the survey came to be made, Mary’s farm
was found to contain 30,000 acres of land of excellent
quality.”
Red Jacket, who had acted a double part through-
out, came privately to Mr. Morris on the night previous
to the signing of the treaty and asked that a place be
reserved near the top of the parchment for his signa-
ture after the others had signed. He had pretended
to oppose the cession, he said, and to be consistent he
could not publicly affix his name, but would do so
before it went to the President, for it would not answer
to have the treaty sent off to Philadelphia without his
formal approval to it, as General Washington might
think he had lost his rank and influence with the
Senecas. ”
The consideration paid to the Indians doubtless
exceeded the expectations of Robert Morris, who had
fixed the price in his own mind at $75,000. He had
directed his representatives at the treaty to conduct
everything on the basis of a “liberal economy.” He
had himself provided two pipes of wine, which he
dispatched overland from Philadelphia to Geneseo
by wagons. The presents distributed, a list of which
I am enabled to furnish,* and the rations supplied,
* The following were provided as presents:
1.500	Rations of beef, one	day,	at	five	dolls,	per hundred,	75 dolls.
1.500	“ of flour at 2J	dolls,	per	hundred,	38
Do “ of whiskey, 25 gallons, at 1J dolls.,	-	37
Do “ tobacco,............................... 5
For thirty days would be..................................4,650HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON GOHNTY.
237
added more than $15,000 to the purchase cost.
No sooner was the Indian title extinguished than
preparation was made for careful surreys of the whole
tract. Joseph Ellicott, a gentleman eminently qual-
ified professionally and otherwise to superintend the
work, had been commissioned in July preceding the
treaty by the company’s agent to send forward sup-
plies of provisions during the fall for his surveying
parties, and was prepared in the spring of 1798 to run
the principal lines. David Kittenhouse, the eminent
American philosopher, had personally attended to the
preparation of the compass and other instruments for
use in the survey. It had been decided to divide each
township of six miles square into sixteen subdivisions
to be called sections, and the latter into twelve lots
each, three-fourths of a mile long and one-fourth of a
mile in width and containing about 120 acres; but the
surveyors soon found that the location of the larger
streams and other causes would render this course
750 3 ft. blankets at $2 each,.......................1,500
750 ft. “	“ 1J u................................ 1,125 2,625
150 pieces blue strouding, 24 yds. in piece, at $1,	-	-	-	3,600
100	“ green legging stuff, of 18 yds. in piece, twilled,
} wide, at 6s.,...................................1,350
200	“ com. calico at 4s., 14 yds. per piece, ...	- 1,370
50	“ com. Holland at 4s., 24 yds. per piece, - - -	-	600
500 Butcher or scalping knives,......................................35
50 Bags vermillion, ---------	-	100
300 lb. Powder,.................................................... 600
800 lb. Lead,........................................................50
100 Small brass kettles of 4 to 6 qts.,.............................100
50 Brass kettles of 12 qts.,........................................100
100 Black silk handkerchiefs,............................... -	80
Presents for the chiefs in broadcloth, red or green, of good
quality, ........	.	100
Several cows were also given to the squaws.
Dolls. 15,360238
HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
impracticable. The plan was therefore early aban-
doned, and the lots were laid out into farms of three
hundred and sixty acres each, as nearly as was prac-
ticable.
This done the Holland Company lost no time in
developing the rich country which had come into
their possession. Roads were constructed, mills were
erected, and encouragement offered to actual settlers
by a fair adjustment of terms of payment. The
investment of the Holland Company in Western New
York proved more fortunate for the development of
the region than for the capitalists themselves, for it is
understood that when the affairs of the association
were finally settled, their investment had paid them a
profit of no more than five per cent.
The conduct of the several great purchasers was
eminently wise, and Turner justly concludes that
Western New York “could have hardly fallen into
better hands. Both the English and the Dutch com-
panies, under whose auspices as proprietors, three-
fourths of the whole State west of Seneca lake was
settled, were composed of capitalists who made
investments of large amounts of money in the infancy
of the Republic, when its stability was by no means a
settled point. They were satisfied with reasonable
returns for their vast outlays, and patient under the
delays of payment, as all must concede. Their cor-
respondence reveals no disposition to oppress the
settlers, or wish to have their business conducted in
any other than a fair, honest or liberal manner.”CHAPTER IX.
SETTLEMENTS COMMENCED—BRITISH INTERFERENCE.
It was fortunate for this county that the earliest
settlers here represented the enterprise, the culture
and refinement, as well as the patriotism of the three
States of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland,
coupled with the proverbial independence, religious
spirit and forecast of the Scotch emigrants. The
Wadsworth brothers, and the Finleys, Jones, Fitz-
hughs, Carrolls and Rochesters, and the Scotchmen
of Caledonia, may be mentioned as types of those
who were first to establish their homes in this new
country. Ireland, Germany and England were soon
represented, and every Atlantic State added its quota
to the daily growing settlements within the boundaries
now prescribed to this prosperous shire.
Captain Williamson, speaking of the settlement of
this region attempted by Oliver Phelps in 1789, says
it “was attended with great, almost insurmountable,
difficulties. There was no access to the country but
by Indian paths, and the nearest settlement was above
one hundred miles distant. The Alleghany moun-
tains, then never passed, lay on the south, and Lake
Ontario on the north, while to the west was one bound-
less forest. By the census of 1790, there were only240
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
960 souls, including travellers and surveyors with
their attendants, within the bounds ” of the State west
of the pre-emption line.*
The large share which James Wadsworth had in
developing the Genesee country will be recognized by
all. He was graduated at Yale College at the age of
twenty. About that period his father died. He went
to Montreal and taught school a year, and then re-
turned to the paternal home at Hartford, Connecticut.
An uncle had administered upon the estate, and the
property, about $45,000 in all, (and at that time a
large sum,) was divided equally among the three
brothers, himself, William, and a third who remained
in Connecticut. On his way home from Montreal
James had seen some very line land on the Onion
river in Vermont, and made up his mind that he would
go back there and make an investment, but his uncle,
Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, who had taken an inter-
est in the Phelps and Gorham purchase, offered his
nephews James and William one-half of his interest, or
about one-twentieth of the reserved portion* at cost,
and proposed to the former to give him the agency of
the other half if he would remove to the Genesee. To
this the brothers assented. It had been agreed that
any co-proprietor who would settle on the lands might
locate one thousand acres at the cost price, which was
eight cents per acre. Phelps and Gorham had availed
themselves of this provision in 1789 and located at
Canandaigua. The Wadsworth brothers, the succeed-
ing year, took their two thousand acres at Geneseo, at
a cost of one hundred and sixty dollars. In the spring
of 1790 they purchased a new and substantial ox cart
and three pairs of oxen, and after many farewells
William, with two or three hired men and Jenny, a
* See Williamson’s Letters to a Friend. Doct Hist. K Y.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	241
favorite colored slave belonging to the family, started
across the country for Albany, while James went to
New York to purchase an outfit for the new settlement,
including a small quantity of “store-goods” and
household furniture. He then took passage on board
a sloop for Albany. The trip up the Hudson occupied
a week. Mr. Wadsworth had for a fellow passenger
at this time John Jacob Astor, who was making his
first trip to Canada and the North-west to purchase
furs. The acquaintance then formed between these
two remarkable men, ripened into intimacy and con-
tinued through life. At Albany Mr. Wadsworth
found his brother with the men and team, ready to
take the supplies to Schenectady, where they pur
chased a boat. This the men poled up the Mohawk
to Little Falls, whither William had preceded the
water party overland, ready to draw the boat and its
cargo around the falls. Another day’s poling brought
the boat to Rome, where they found two log houses,
though there was but one as yet at Utica. Another
portage by the ox team and cart brought them over to
Wood creek ; and when William saw all on board the
boat at that point he started through the woods with
his slow-moving team for Canandaigua, following the
trail traveled by Phelps and Gorham’s party the pre-
ceding year. West of Whitestown the road, little
more than an Indian path, was full of impediments.
Fallen trees had to be removed, the approaches to
small streams often to be laid with logs, and standing
timber to be cut away before the cart could proceed.
So well, however, was the work done that the road-
way thus improvised was used for some time, and tp
this day William Wadsworth enjoys the credit of
opening the first road through the wilderness between
Whitestown and Canandaigua.
“Arriving at Cayuga lake, there wa,s no ferry scow,242
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and the party chartered two Indian canoes which they
lashed together, and making a deck of poles, suc-
ceeded in crossing. Between Wkitesboro and Canan-
daigua their average progress was twelve miles a day.*
On reaching Canandaigua William expected to find
his brother and the boat, but was disappointed. In
going down Wood creek the party had run the boat
upon a snag, and it was there held fast for three days
and until overtaken by Augustus Porter, the brother
of General Porter. He took a part of Mr. Wads-
worth’s cargo on his boat, and so far reduced the
burthen that little trouble was now experienced in
getting it again afloat. The two parties now started
in company down the creek into Oneida lake, thence
through the lake and river to the Oswego river, and
up the latter stream to the outlet of Cayuga lake,
thence to Mud creek. Passing up Mud creek to the
outlet of Canandaigua lake, they then found their
way to the lake, and the cabin of Phelps and Gorham
at Canandaigua. William had reached that hospit-
able roof several days before the arrival of the boat,
and becoming very anxious about his brother, fearing
that he had been killed by the Indians, had gone
down the outlet several miles and taken his position
in the top of a tree’which leaned over the stream. He
saw them a long distance below, and joyfully wel-
comed them as they came under his lofty perch.
Stowing a part of their supplies at Canandaigua and
learning that there was a fine tract of unoccupied land
on the Genesee near Big Tree, they started for that
point, following Sullivan’s route a portion of the way,
and camping the first night at Pitt’s flats, and the
second night a little east of the foot of Conesus lake.
The next morning William, keeping charge of the ox
* Turner’s Phelps and Gorham's Purchase.HISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	243
team, set out for the spot that had been described to
them for a home, by the Indian trail leading to the
Oneida village, while James, with a part of the men,
shouldered axes and started on foot for the same place,
through the woods by the Big Tree trail. Reaching
a point on the western edge of the table land west of
the present village of Geneseo,, he began cutting down
trees for a log cabin. The location of this cabin was
about 105 rods west of the Mt. Morris road and 40
rods south of the lane leading from the Park to the
“Home Farm” boardinghouse. Mr. James Wads-
worth marked the spot by erecting there a small stone
house now used in connection with the ‘ ‘ Home Farm.”
William, getting lost in a swamp two miles north-
east of the present village of Geneseo, tied his cattle
to saplings and there passed the night. This delay
causing some anxiety, James got on their track the
next morning, and finding the bewildered party, con-
ducted them to the spot selected by him for the cabin,
where they arrived on the 10th of June, 1790. The
party slept in the cart and upon the ground for two
or three nights until their hut was ready to afford
them shelter. The unwonted sound of axes brought
to their camp Lemuel Jennings, the only white man
in that vicinity who had preceded them, who had
erected a cabin and was herding some cattle on the
flats in their neighborhood for Oliver Phelps.*
The Wadsworth brothers followed their first pur-
chase of 2,000 acres at Geneseo for eight cents per
acre, by a second of 4,000 acres the same season at
fifty cents an acre, which was the price fixed by the
company for the land in the vicinity of Geneseo. A
* James returned to Canandaigua on the first day of their arrival, and on
his way back was benighted, but was guided to his home by a light held by
Jenny, the colored woman, for William, who was hewing some planks for
the cabin.244	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
portion of the latter purchase was situated on the out-
let of Conesus lake, where they had encamped the
second night out of Canandaigua, and where they
subsequently built a grist-mill.
In August, 1790, General Amos Hall, who had been
appointed to take the census of Ontario county, then
embracing the whole of the Genesee country, reported
the population embraced within the present limits of
Lima, at four families, comprising 23 persons; Sparta,
one family of five persons; Geneseo, eight families,
embracing 34 persons; Avon, ten families, 66 persons;
Caledonia, ten families, 44 persons; Leicester, or
“Indianlands,” as it was designated in the return,
four families of whites, 17 persons.
In September of the same year the new settlers had
their first experience with fever and ague. The
Wadsworth household, with the exception of the
negro woman Jenny, were all brought down with it.
The brothers Horatio and John H. Jones had pre-
ceded the Wadsworths a few weeks. On the arrival
of the latter they were occupying an Indian cabin at
Little Beardstown, while a cabin they had begun the
year before was being completed. ‘ ‘ They had come
from Geneva by way of Canandaigua and Avon with
a cart, Horatio’s wife and three children, household
furniture and some hired men. Their cart was the
first wheeled vehicle that passed over that route. From
Avon they had no track, but picked their way along
the ridges and open grounds. Besides Horatio Jones’ s
family, there were in August, 1790, west of the river
in what was then called the * Indian lands,’ the fam-
ilies of William Ewing, Nathan Fowler and Jeremiah
Gregory.”
Immediately after the Revolution all that part of
the State lying west of a line running north and south
and passing through the center of the present countyHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
245
of Schoharie, was called Montgomery county, and the
town of Whitestown embraced all that region west of
Utica. In 1789 the county of Ontario was formed
from the western part of Montgomery, but, notwith-
standing this, town elections, for the town of Whites-
town, continued to be held in all this region until 1791.
At the election held in the latter year, Trueworthy
Cook of Pompey, in the present county of Onondaga,
Jeremiah Gould of Salina, and James Wadsworth of
Geneseo, were chosen pathmasters. The district of
the latter embraced the territory west of Cayuga lake,
covering an area large enough for a State.
Ontario county was at first divided into districts,
the second district, Genesee or Geneseo, “embracing
all west of the east line of the present towns of Pitts-
ford, Mendon, Richmond.” The first town meeting
for this district was held on the 5th of April, 1791, at
Canawaugus.
Captain John Ganson, an officer of the Revolution,
was elected supervisor; David Bullen town clerk.
The assessors chosen were Deacon Gad Wadsworth,
a Revolutionary soldier from Connecticut, Israel Stone
of Stonetown (now Pittsford), General William Wads-
worth of Geneseo, General Amos Hall of West
Bloomfield, an officer of two wars, and Nathan Perry
of Hartford, now Avon. The constables were Jasper
Marvin and Norris Humphrey.
Roads opened slowly and settlements made small
progress west of the river. Thomas Morris says that
in 1791, and for several years thereafter, there was
only an Indian path leading from Canandaigua to the
Niagara river, and there was not a habitation of any
kind between the Genesee river and Port Niagara.
The Revolution had left the Indians broken in
strength, and the growing power of the government
held them under restraint; but it was well known that246	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON , COUNTY.
influences unfriendly to the. Kepublic were at work
among the western tribes, and to some extent among
the natives occupying the villages along the Genesee,
although the latter claimed to be friendly and gener-
ally deported themselves properly. The apprehension
of an Indian war deterred settlers from crossing to the
western side of the river.* In the latter part of the
summer of 1791, James Wadsworth went on horse-
back to Niagara for the purpose of informing himself
as to the prospect of an Indian war. To a friend he
wrote on his return: “You will not suppose that we
are under much fears from the Indians when I tell you
that I started from the Genesee river without company,
and reached Niagara in two days without difficulty.
But, sir, it was a most solitary ride. I had an excel-
lent dinner with Colonel Butler at Niagara. We were
served with apples, chestnuts, hazelnuts and walnuts,
but what surprised me most, was to see a plate of
malacatoon peaches as good as I ever ate.”
The summer of 1792 witnessed a large addition to
the population of the Genesee, country. In July of
that year the Albany Gazettef says: “We are
* There are two sides to most public questions, and it cannot be denied
that the Indians had many provocations, which artful men could use to influ-
ence them. In the summer of 1190 two of the Senecas of Little Beardstown,
minor chiefs, were murdered on Pine creek, in Pennsylvania. A reward was
offered by the Governor of that State for the apprehension of the murderers.
Little Beard and Red Jacket, in a letter of thanks to the Executive, “ hoped
that the murderers might be taken and that they might see them executed,
for it is natural to look for revenge of innocent blood. You must not think
hard if we speak rash. The words come from a wounded heart as you have
stuck the hatchet m our head, and we can’t be reconciled until you come and
pull it out. We are sorry to tell you that you have killed eleven of us since
peace, and we never said anything until the other day when in liquor.”
The letter is dated at “ Geneseo River and Mats, August 12, 1190,” and
signed Little Beard (of Beaver Tribe); Sangoyeawatau (Red Jacket), Gisse-
haske (of Wolf Tribe) and Caunhesongo.
f Albany Gazette of July 9, 1192.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
24?
assured of the rapid increase of settlements there,
encouraged by the situation, climate and soil—equal
in goodness to any part of the United States—and
that the fever and ague, which it is common to sup-
pose is epidemical there, has scarcely been known
the present season. The Indians are very friendly,
•attending solely to their domestic concerns, and grad-
ually acquiring civilized habits.” The population
had so far increased that at the fall election in that
year the canvass for governor was quite animated.
The candidates were George Clinton, the incumbent,
and John Jay, the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States. The poll of the town of
Canandaigua stood three to one for Jay; and it is said
that the complexion of the vote in Geneseo, where
fifty ballots were cast, was the same, but owing to the
fact that the tally list was transmitted to Albany
without being signed by the inspectors, the returns
were rejected. The result in the State was rendered
so close by the rejection of Geneseo and certain other
towns in the State, tand the irregularities were so
great, that the courts, after a heated controversy by
the partisan press, were called upon to decide the
question. The office was awarded to Clinton, against
the earnest protest of Jay’s friends.
Postal facilities, as yet, were meagre indeed. Twice
a month a mail was carried on horseback between
Albany and Whitestown. In July, 1792, “several
patriotic gentlemen of the Genesee country established
a post to meet the one from Albanytat Whitestown,
which once a month will pass through Geneva, Can-
andaigua and Canawaugus to Williamsburgh on the
Genesee river.”* In September of that year, the
♦Albany Gazette, July 9, 1792. The proprietor of the Gazette took charge
of packages intended for the Genesee country free of expense.248	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Postmaster General, Timothy Pickering, advertised
for proposals for the extension of the post road from
Canajoharie to Whitestown and thence to Canandai-
gua.
Eastern newspapers, as early as 1792, contained
advertisements of Genesee lands. Captain William-
son, in August of that year, published an answer “to
numerous applications for farms.” He says,* “to
those who wish to make actual settlements on his
lands, that he has surveyors employed in laying off
some hundred thousand acres which will be ready to
be viewed by the 10th of September. It will be neces-
sary for persons to receive instructions from Mr.
Williamson at Williamsburgh. The price fixed on
the land is one dollar per acre.”
In the fall of 1792, William McCartney bought a
farm of 320 acres in the southerly part of what is now
the town of Sparta, near the Steuben county line, and
was the first white settler in that region. Indeed, for
more than a year there was not a white man within
ten miles of him. Mr. McCartney was born in Bar-
locks, Dnmfrieshire, Scotland, on the 2d of April,
1770. He came to America in the year 1791, in com-
pany with Andrew Smith, the latter settling at Bath,
while the former, as stated, settled in Sparta. With
little or no assistance he set to work to clear his
purchase of the dense growth of oak, walnut and
underwood with which he found it covered, and was
the first to raise a crop of grain at the head waters of
the Canaseraga. In the summer of 1796 he married a
sister of James McCurdy, who resided within the
limits of the present village of Dansville. Mr. Me-
* Albany Gazette, Aug. 16,1792. James Abeel, in the Gazette of Aug. 20,
advertises “ 13,000 acres of most excellent land in Phelps and Grorham’s
purchase in the Genesee country.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
249
Oartney was mild and frank yet firm, in his dealings
with his fellow men, and the pioneers speak of him
as a man of strong good sense, and qualified not
•only to manage his own interests with wisdom
but to administer in public affairs with great success;
and the local records show that, continuously, for
more than a third of a century, he was called by the
almost unanimous voice of his neighbors and towns-
men to hold office. In 1796 he was made a commis-
sioner of public roads, and directed the laying out
and establishing of the highways of Sparta. This
burthensome position he held for a number of years,
as well as that of town clerk and commissioner of
schools down to 1806, when he was made supervisor,
to which office he was re-elected for twelve successive
years. In 1817 he was sent to the Assembly, to which
body he was re-elected the following year. In 1819
he was again made supervisor and held the office con-
tinuously until his death which occurred in 1831.*
The same sterling business qualities that enabled him
to lay the foundation ©f a competency, he carried into
the discharge of his official duties, and in the board of
supervisors, where he so long held a seat, composed
of such men as Colonel Fitzliugh and General William
Wadsworth, Mr. McCartney was notably one of the
leading men.
In 1793 Thomas Morris and Oliver Phelps each
built a small frame house at Canandaigua, and, when
completed, these were the only two frame houses west
of Whitestown in the present county of Oneida.
By January, 1793, letters and newspapers were con-
veyed by stated private posts, though at infrequent
intervals, through all the Genesee settlements and as
far west as Canandaigua. Writing to his father on
* He died on the 9th of Feb., 1831, and was buried in the cemetery near
the South Sparta meeting house.250
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the 4th of February, 1793, Thomas Morris says, “ our
post goes (east) once a fortnight,” and speaks of the
great mildness of the passing winter and of the influx
of settlers. In May of that year Moses Beal com-
menced running a weekly stage from Albany through
Schenectady to Johnstown and Canajoharie, “at three
cents a mile for passengers and fourteen pounds of
baggage gratis.” And the same month a stage was
established between Canajoharie and Whitestown to
connect with Beal’s stage. This essentially increased
the postal facilities of the pioneers of the Genesee.
The institutions of society came slowly. Up to the
month of June, 1793, owing to neglect to appoint
judges, no courts had ever been held in Ontario county,
then embracing the country west of Seneca lake,
although the county had been organized upward of
four years. The first Circuit Court and court of Oyer
and Terminer was held at “Patterson’s Tavern,” in
Geneva, on the 9th of June, 1793, the presiding judge
being John Sloss Hobart, one of the three judges
appointed in 1777, on the organization of the judiciary.
A grand jury was empanneled and charged, but no
indictments were found. The first court of Common
Pleas and General Sessions was held at the house of
Nathaniel Sanborn in Canandaigua on the 4th of No-
vember, 1794. The presiding judge was Timothy
Hosmer, with Charles Williamson and Enos Boughton
as associates. At this term, James Wadsworth,
Thomas Morris, John Wickham and Vincent Mat-
thews appeared as attorneys.
In the autumn of 1793 the Marquis de Talleyrand,
the famous French statesman, was piloted through the
wilds of the Genesee by Benjamin Patterson, who,
until recently, resided in Steuben county. The Mar-
quis was then an exile and had leisure to inspect the
natural features of this valley. Standing on the bluffHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	251
near the dam at Mt. Morris, he said, after admiring for
an hour the scenery spread out before him to the
eastward, “ Tt is the fairest landscape that the human
eye ever looked upon.”
The Albany Gazette of the 15th of July, 1793, con-
tains this advertisement: “ Williamsburgh Fair and
Genesee Races. There will be held at Williamsburgh,
at the great Forks of the Genesee river, an annual fair
for the sale and purchase of cattle, horses and sheep,
to commence on Monday, the 23d of September and
continue on Tuesday. It is expected at this fair that
a number of fat bullocks and working oxen of the best
New England breeds, with which the country is well
supplied, will be shown. As the situation of Wil-
liamsburgh lays convenient for the Niagara market, it
is also expected that both horses and young cattle will
meet with ready sale at high prices, the demand from
Upper Canada being considerable. On Wednesday
there will be run for over the race-ground a purse of
fifty pounds, and also a subscription purse. On Thurs-
day there will be a run for the sweepstakes, and races
for small prizes. On Friday there will be shooting
matches and foot-races. As this meeting will be held
in the centre of a country abounding in provisions,
strangers will find no difficulty in providing themselves
and horses, and pains will be taken to afford them
every possible accommodation. Particular conve-
nience will be made for such horses as are brought to
compete for the different prizes. The horses must be
regularly entered and carry weight according to the
established rules at the races in the Low Countries.”
The following year, (1794) fourteen horses were
entered for the fifty pound purse, and cattle were
driven from all the adjacent country to the show. The
fair and races continued for several years to be highly
successful, while the sales of stock were quite large.252
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The exhibitions were held on the flats lying between
the present highway and the Canaseraga creek, west
of the residence of the late Colonel Abell.
In 1793 the small-pox, a disease of which the Indians
had justly a great dread, broke out among the Senecas
on the Genesee. The Indian agent at Canandaigua,
General Chapin, employed male nurses to go to Little
Beardstown and other villages and take general charge
of the sick. The papers of the agency contain the
account of “ Solomon Jennings for thirty-nine days
nursing the Indians with the small-pox at Genesee
river, seven pounds, sixteen shillings.” The General
Government employed and paid blacksmiths for the
Indians, as well, and Chapin’s papers contain the
account of George Jones, rendered in November, 1793,
for fifteen months’ services as blacksmith for the Sen-
ecas at Genesee river, tools and sundry supplies, one
hundred and twelve pounds.
The new stage lines appear to have promoted postal
facilities but little at first, for in February, 1794, the
Albany Gazette, expressing regret at the deficiency of
mail communication between Albany and the Genesee
river, says, “ a respectable if not a major part of the
letters and papers brought in the mail to the post-
office in this city are destined further westward, but
for want of regular conveyance are rendered useless
from the length of time elapsing before they can reach
the place of destination.”* * It appears that there was
a sort of provisional post-office at Williamsburgh in
1793, for Timothy Pickering, writing to Gen. Chapin
from Detroit in August, 1793, says, “The enclosed
* Timothy Pickering, Postmaster General, writes to Gen. Chapm, under
date of June 3d, 1794, “The postroad is extended by law to Canandaigua.
*	*	* The post will not be riding till September. *	*	* I shall
order the mail once in two weeks from Whitestown to Canandaigua.”—See
Chapin’s MSS. papers, N, Y. Hist. Soc.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
263
letter I request you to forward to Philadelphia, either
by forwarding it to the postoffice at Williamsburgh,
or let it be carried by an Indian runner to the postoffice
at Whitestown,” and the same year the Secretary of
War directs Gen. Chapin, “You should write me
weekly by Captain Williamson’s post.”
In 1793 a plan was developed to divide this State,
and erect the western half into a separate common-
wealth. The crafty managers in the Livingston lease
were doubtless at the bottom of this project. Failing
to receive the approval of the legislature to their con-
tract for the Indian lands, these men proposed, it
would appear, to accomplish their design in this
revolutionary manner. A variety of reasons, though
not the real ones, were assigned for this step. James
Wadsworth and other large land-owners were invited
to take part in the movement. But it received no
countenance from him nor from others in this region.
The adjournment of the November term of the court
of Common Pleas and General Sessions, of Ontario in
1794, was chosen as the occasion for a meeting to
declare the popular opposition to the measure. The
attendance was large. Timothy Hosmer, first judge
of the county presided, and a series of resolutions
were adopted setting forth that certain restless and
turbulent characters from the eastern district of this
State, evilly disposed towards the welfare of the coun-
try, had for some time past endeavored to stir up '
sedition among its peaceable inhabitants and excite
them to acts both treasonable and improper, in pro-
posing that the counties of Ontario, Otsego, and a
part of Tioga and Herkimer, should immediately
shake off all dependence from the State of New York,
and support their independence by force of arms if
need be; that the passions of the dishonest and dis-
orderly, the ambitious and timid, had been flattered254	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
to expect that laws would be passed by the proposed
State for screening individuals from the payment of
their just debts for six years; that all Indian lands
and all public lands should become a prey to the
rapacity of their hungry followers; and have engaged
to sustain their measure with armed troops, collected
from "Vermont and elsewhere. Referring to the
threats of the revolutionists, the resolutions say,
“We have nothing to fear from any banditti they can
collect for forcing us into measures we heartily disap •
prove,” and that sensible of the many advantages
they derive from their connection with one of the most
respectable States in the Union, and desirous of con-
tinuation of same, highly resent the ill-timed and
improper attempt made by the characters above
alluded to, to disturb their peace. The proposed
State could not defray the necessary expenses of the
most moderate State government, and it would be
unjust to raise enormous taxes for such an object on
uncultivated lands, and they recommended that the
Geneva meeting, appointed to be held on the 25th of
November, be not attended, as it was called by stran-
gers to the county, f
The meeting expected, after such a public declara-
tion, that the State administration would take the
most vigorous measures to suppress any attempt that
might be made to destroy the peace and quiet of the
county.
Judge Cooper, in his charge to the grand jury of
Otsego county, referred to this meeting and endorsed
its action. Other officials and other public meetings
discountenanced it, and the project however formid-
able at one time it appeared, seems never to have been
revived.
The loss of the colonies was accepted with ill grace
by the British authorities in America. The treaty ofHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
255
1783 had, indeed, ended the war, but a spirit of hos-
tility remained, and under one pretext or another the
forts at Oswego and Niagara and other military posts
on the western lakes continued to be occupied by
British garrisons; and British officers affected to claim
the territory of Western New York, the valleys of
the western lakes and the region of the Mississippi,
and every art was employed by them to keep alive the
prejudices of the Indians and to incite them to un-
friendly acts. The growth of the settlements along
the Genesee was an especial cause of jealousy, both to
the British and the Indians, though they did not ven-
ture directly to interfere. But when, in 1794, Charles
Williamson began a settlement at Sodus Bay, the
authorities of Canada‘resolved to put a stop to it.
Lord Dorchester, then Governor-General of Canada,
held a talk with the Indians, in which he artfully
sought to provoke them to a hostile course, and found
them disposed to second his measures. An alliance
was formed, it is said, and a concerted movement
agreed upon, having for its object the repossession of
Western New York. Presents were freely distributed,
“the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs,” says
Col. Hosmer, “ being profuse of costly presents to his
fierce allies; and broadcloths, blankets and silver
ornaments were tauntingly exhibited to the white
settlers of Avon and vicinity by the young braves of
Canawaugus,” who had received them of the Canadian
authorities. There was good ground for believing, as
our government did, that the Ministry of Great Britain
entertained the idea of making war upon us. As a
first step the Deputy Governor, Simcoe, dispatched
Lieut. Sheaffe* of the British army to Williamson
* Better known afterward aa Major General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe. He
•commanded at the battle of Queenstown, after Brodie’s death, and was other-
wise conspicuous during the war of 1812.256	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
with a formal protest against the further prosecution
of the settlement at Sodus Bay, and all other settle-
ments in Western New York, during the inexecution
of the treaty. Williamson happened to be at Bath at
the time, and Sheaffe informed his agent, a Mr. Moffat,
of the nature of his mission, and stated that he would
return in ten days. Williamson was sent lor, and.
Thomas Morris met the British officer and conducted
him to Williamson, who stood beside a table on which
lay a brace of loaded pistols. The meeting was friendly
and even cordial, for the two gentlemen had known
each other years before, when both were in the English
service. The protest was delivered and read, and
Williamson desired the Lieutenant to inform his prin-
cipal that no attention could be paid to the missive,
but that the settlements there and elsewhere would be
proceeded with all the same.
News of this proceeding on the part of the British
authorities was not slow in spreading through the
Genesee settlements. Its abrupt nature, and the
morose and quarrelsome temper of the Indians who
swarmed the forests, and had become “rude and saucy
to the white settlers,” says George Hosmer, “and
would impudently enter their houses, take the pre-
pared food from the tables, and commit other offences,”
and who were known as ready and willing allies of
the authorities across the border, caused no little
anxiety and alarm among the pioneers, who were des-
titute of arms and ammunition, and were scattered,
over a large territory, remote from assistance. A few
sold out their betterments at a loss, and returned to-
the East. But the insolence of the demand excited
the spirit of the settlers, many of whom had but
recently laid down their arms, and many were the
offers of personal service to repel any attempt to take'
Captain Williamson prisoner and send him in irons to*HTSTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
257
England, as had been threatened. A letter written at
this period expresses the feeling of the sturdy settlers.
“We are prepared to give a cordial and warm recep-
tion to our Canada friends, and shall not fail to
persuade them to make six foot locations in the rich
soil of the Great Sodus and along the Genesee should
they come over with guns loaded and pointed.”
The Lieutenant no sooner left than Captain William-
son despatched an express rider to President W ash-
ington, and another to Governor George Clinton,
advising them of the peremptory character of Simcoe’s
order and of his own purpose to resist any attempt to
interfere with the settlements. He requested that arms
might be furnished and authority given to collect and
organize the militia and volunteers. Governor Clinton
was found at his home in Little Britain near New-
burgh. The independence of the act stirred the stern
old patriot and he lost no time in directing that the
arms that had been assigned to the militia of the
western frontier and the quota for Ontario county
should be immediately forwarded; “For,” said he in
his order, “the principle set up in Governor Simcoe’s
protest cannot for a moment be tolerated, and if any
attempt should be made on the part of the British to
carry it into execution, face must meet face. To
this end, exert every means to keep the militia of
your division in the most perfect readiness for actual
service.” A law had recently passed the legislature
authorizing the erection of fortifications on the north-
ern and western frontiers, and commissioners were
selected to carry it into execution. They decided to
establish block houses at Fort Stanwix, at Onondaga
Salt Springs, Canandaigua, Canawaugus, and at Bath.
The Albany Gazette of the 11th of September, 1794,
says, “ Several of the block-houses and pickets on the
western frontier are already completed, and all of258	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
them are in great forwardness. Each will be furnished
with a piece of cannon and all necessary ammunition,
and seven hundred stand of arms for use of inhabit-
ants of the frontier are on their way.”
“ While all this was progressing,” says Turner, “ in
four days after the affair at Sodus, in fact, before Gov.
Simcoe would have had time to execute his threats,
the great measure of deliverance for the Genesee
country and the few scattered border settlers of the
west, had been consummated. ‘Mad Anthony’*—
(and there had been ‘method in his madness,’)—had
met the confederated bands of the hostile Indians of
the West, and almost under the walls of a fortress of
their British allies, achieved a signal victory { Those
upon whom Gov. Simcoe was relying for aid, (for it is
evident that he looked to a descent of the western
Indians upon the Genesee country in case the war was
renewed,)—were humbled and suing for peace. This
alone would have averted his worst intentions, and
added to this was the consideration that Mr. Jay had
sailed for London on the 12th of May, clothed with
ample power from our government to arrange all mat-
ters of dispute.”
“Those familiar with the history of our whole
country in the earliest years of its separation from
England, are aware how important was the well
planned and successful expedition of General Wayne.
Important in its immediate consequences—the putting
an end to protracted, harassing Indian treaties, and
the founding of that great empire of wealth, prosper-
ity and unparalleled progress, our Western States.
But few can now realize its local consequence, in the
Genesee country. It gave security where there was
little of it before, inspired hope and confidence with
* General Anthony Wayne, of Revolutionary fame.HISTORY OB’ LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	259
those who were half determined to retrace the weary
steps that had brought them into the wilderness, for
they felt that if war was to be added to all the suffer-
ings and privations they were encountering, it were
better to abandon the field, if not forever, to a period
more propitious. The news of Wayne’s victory was
communicated by Brant to Glen. Chapin, and it circu-
lated briskly among the backswoods settlements.
Here and there was seen small gatherings of pioneer
settlers, congratulating each other upon the event,
and taking fresh courage to grapple with the hard-
ships of pioneer life. All was confirmed, when in a
few days, the Senecas were seen coming back, upon
their war path, humbled, quaking with fear at the
mere recollection of the terrible onslaught that Mad
Anthony had made upon the dusky legions that had
gathered to oppose him, and uttering imprecations
against those who had lured them from home to take
part in the contest and then remained far away from
danger, or shut themselves up in a strong fortress, but
spectators in a conflict in which they and their con-
federates were falling like autumn leaves in a shower
of hail.”
Col. Hosmer says, “Tidings of Wayne’s victory
came like a reprieve after sentence of death, a sky-
lark’s call after a raven’s croak.” The Indians were
thoroughly subdued, and chagrined by their terrible
reverses and the bad faith of their Canadian allies,
they determined to settle down quietly in their vil-
lages, and renew their amicable relations with their
white neighbors. The British, also, bound by the
terms of the Jay treaty, ceased from troubling, and
the Grenesee settlements were finally permitted to pro-
gress in peace.
Early in September, 1794, Daniel Kelly, John Jones
and John Harrison, all of whom were afterward260
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
notable formers of Groveland, and all became deacons
in the same church, left their Pennsylvania home, on
the north branch of the Susquehahnah, for a visit to
the Genesee country by way of the Williamson road,
“which was without bridges over creeks, or crossways
in bad places, the underbrush and logs being removed
a rod wide,” says Mr. Harrison. William Ryans was
also of the party. They had two horses between the
four, riding and walking in couples by turns. The
party on horseback would trot on for ahead, and
hitching the horses beside the road, would start for-
ward on foot, leaving their companions to come up
and resume the saddle. A journey of eight days
brought them to Williamsburgh, where, on the 13th
of September, 1794, they put up at William Lemon’s
tavern, a small frame house, and the first frame house
built in the town of Groveland. Ryans was displeased
with the country, and home-sick, and started back
the following morning, taking with him one of the
horses. The three others went to Geneseo to purchase
lands of the Wadsworths, who were then laying the
cellar wall of their homestead. James Wadsworth at
once saw that they were good judges of farming lands,
and advised them to look at some lots lying along the
road leading to the foot of Conesus lake, describing
the lands minutely to them, and specifying particular
parcels on either side of the highway. They at once
took the path up the hill, over the route now traversed
by South street, just as a cold, drizzling rain began
to fall. Daniel Kelly selected a lot of over a hundred
acres on which the present graveyard is located, and
John Harrison selected the farm lying directly east of
it, across the main road. This done they went down to
Peter Steel’s tavern, a little log cabin situated in Upper
Lakeville where Robert Masten’s house now stands,
for dinner. They reached there drenched to the skin,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
261
and John Harrison no sooner got to the fire than a
chill seized him, which was so severe that it drove him
almost into the heap of smouldering coals. The first
salutation that met his ear was the unwelcome remark
of an old root doctor from a neighboring settlement,
“You’ve got the ager, stranger, fast enough.” After
an hour spent here, they returned to Geneseo. Kelly
paid earnest money, but Mr. Harrison was sick and
far from home, and it was therefore concluded that he
had better not part with the little money he had. It
was agreed, however, that he and Kelly should return
by the first of the following May to complete the pur-
chase of the lands selected by them.* They then went
to Lemon’s tavern for the night. Harrison’s ague
came on again, and a daughter of John Ewart, who
resided at Williamsburgh, was also down with it.
The party were ready by daylight to return to Penn-
sylvania, and Mr. Harrison, sick as hd was, decided
to return with them. They had now but one horse,
and as Mr. Harrison was weak, he took the saddle.
In going down the hill leading to the inlet of Hemlock
lake, Harrison began to shake, and calling to his com-
panions to secure the horse, he threw himself off and
started forward on a run, “shaking and stooping,”
he says, “as if I had my back broken. My compan-
ions laughed at my odd motions, but I felt too wretched
to notice their jokes. Still, I liked the new country
as well as my companions who had escaped that abom-
ination of new settlements, the fever and ague, and
we all three came back and located the following May,
a step I have never regretted.” Mr. Harrison says
that Williamsburgh, at this, his first visit, contained,
* They did not get back, however, until the 12th of May, and Mr. Wads-
worth had by that time sold the lot selected by John Harrison. The latter
then purchased in Groveland. Ezra Gray occupied a part of Mr. Harrison’s
first purchase.262	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
besides the frame tavern and a house occupied by
John Ewart, some five or six log houses built by Cap-
tain Williamson. On their way home they met per-
sons going toward the village they had just left, with
cattle tQ exhibit at the approaching fair, and heard
frequent mention of the races soon to come off, at
which fourteen speed horses were entered for the fifty
pound purse.CHAPTER X.
PROGRESS OP THE SETTLEMENTS—RELIGIOUS PRIVI-
LEGES.
While full heed was given to the material interests
of the new settlements, the attention of religions
societies was also drawn to the spiritual demands of
the frontier. The legislature of Connecticut, at its
session in October, 1792, passed an act enjoining con-
tributions from all the churches of that State on the
first Sabbath in the month of May, annually, for three
years, to support missionaries and promote Christian
knowledge in the northern and western frontier settle-
ments, “where the ordinances of the gospel are not
established and in places destitute of the stated means
of grace.” The moneys thus raised were placed in
the hands of the good and wise Jonathan Edwards
and two associates.* Eight missionaries were sent
out by them in the summer of 1794, one of whom, the
Rev. Aaron Kinne, proceeded on horseback by way
of Catskill westward, passing through Geneva, where
he preached to a large audience, to the Genesee river.
He preached at Canawaugus, Big Tree, Williamsburgh
* The organization was denominated the u Missionary Society of Connect-
icut/’ and was the first organization of the kind in the United States. Its
meetings were held at the State House in Hartford.264	HISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and other settlements, traveling more than thirteen
hundred miles and preaching more than four score
sermons, beside administering the sacrament. His
hearers often came eight or ten miles to listen to him.
The following year he again visited these places.
When he reached a settlement it “ seemed a day of
gladness.” Many with open arms embraced him, and
often with the remark, “We are glad you have come
back. We have not heard a sermon since you were
with us last year.” He found the people possessed
of but limited school privileges, and generally observed
a great scarcity of books, especially of a religious
character.
In July, 1795, the Rev. Daniel Thatcher, a mission-
ary, under the auspices of the Presbyterian General
Assembly, organized a church at Lima,* and one in
Geneseo, which subsequently removed to and still
remains at Lakeville. Neither of these societies were
immediately prosperous. That at Lima continued
feeble until 1799, when it was reorganized as a Congre-
gational society; and that at Geneseo, irregularly
supplied and destitute of stated public worship,
remained ineffective for some years and untif its
removal to its present location.
The missionaries seemed reluctant to cross the river.
Society there, for several years, paid little regard to
the demands of the church, or, indeed, to the mere
ordinary restraints of order, and it was a common
remark, current enough until the Scotch settlement
was formed at Caledonia, that “Sabbath day never
crossed the Genesee river.”
In 1802, the Hampshire Missionary Society of Mas-
sachusetts sent out missionaries to the new settlements.
These also visited the Indian villages along the Gene-
* Then called Charlestown.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	265
see river. The Society represent that they had been
favored with liberal subscriptions by the public for
the expenses of ministers and for the purchase of
bibles and other religious writings to be distributed
among the settlers. The letter of introduction from
the trustees of the Society to the missionaries is writ-
ten in liberality of spirit. They were enj oined to avoid
mere doctrinal disputations, and not to complain of
the unavoidable hardships, incident to a new country,
which they were voluntarily undertaking.
The broad forests and fine natural scenery of West-
ern New York, and a desire, perhaps, to see the Indian
in his native haunts, appear to have possessed a fasci-
nation for European travellers. The visit of Talley-
rand has already been mentioned. Louis Phillipe,
afterward Citizen King of France, tarried many days
along the streams and among the habitations of the
early settlers, and in J une, 1795, the Duke de Lian-
court, “ one of the most eminent noblemen of France,”
says General King, passed through the Genesee valley,
visiting every settlement and spending several weeks
with Captain Williamson, Mr. Wadsworth and others.
He was accompanied by a young Englishman, three
or four servants, and a favorite dog named Cartouche,
who made a good meal of one of black Jenny’s fine
chickens at Geneseo, greatly to her disgust. The
Duke was a close observer, and has left an interesting
record of what he saw. He liked Captain Williamson,
who explained to him that after spending six months
in visiting and surveying the estate of his principals,
he concluded to establish several settlements rather
than one capital colony. The most eligible spots were
therefore fixed upon, and Bath, Williamsburgh,*
* A full account of this now extinct village will be found in the sketch of
•the town of Groveland.266
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Geneva and Great Sodus were begun. By the sum-
mer of 1796 three wheat and seven saw-mills had been
erected, and the eight hundred thousand acres that
had been disposed of at an average value of three
dollars per acre, had refunded the whole purchase
money and other expenses incurred, and left a net
profit of fifty thousand pounds sterling. The Duke
says that Williamson personally directed everything,
and was attentive to all who had business with him.
Contracts were promptly concluded, and new settlers
were treated with marked consideration. The titles*
secured from him were perfect; and the terms, which,
were reasonable and easy, were that all who purchased
land of him were expected to clear a certain number
of acres and place a family upon the farm within
eighteen months ; half the purchase money to be paid
at the end of three years, and the remainder at the
end of six years. No settler was allowed to want.
Occasionally a poor family was supplied with a cow,
and where a willing farmer was found struggling, with
a yoke of oxen, and even a house to shelter him where
adversity rendered such an act a matter of humanity.
Williamson was everywhere. No detail was too
insignificant for his personal attention, and no com-
plaint was too trivial. His manner was mild and just,
and his policy is commended in fitting terms by the
titled Frenchman.
De Liancourt brought a letter of introduction from
General Chapin to William Wadsworth, whom they
found at Geneseo preparing to leave the next morning
for Canandaigua, where he was to meet his militia
command for a general muster. Of the ride to Gene-
seo the Duke says, that 4‘along the whole route from
Canandaigua to Geneseo, the woods, beautiful to the
eye, are not so crowded with trees as on the other side
(of Canandaigua). Several parts of the forest haveHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
267
been burnt over by the Indians.” The Duke was
invited to spend the night at Mr. Wadsworth’s house,
and as there was no tavern then in Geneseo, he
accepted. It was then eight o’clock in the evening
and Mr. Wadsworth was just mounting his horse to
visit a friend. The Duke describes Wadsworth’s dom-
icile as a “small log house as dirty as any I have ever
seen.” Stores of all kinds, meats, vegetables and
live poultry were crowded in and about the house,
and the Frenchman’s olfactories were offended by the
odors, and he was not overpleased with the beds. But
so hearty a welcome was extended to him that he
could overlook what his fastidious taste did not
approve, and he was well pleased with the rough
courtesy and bluff manner of his host. The Duke
rose early in the morning to see Mr. Wadsworth, then
a captain, before he set out for the muster. He found
him undergoing the operation of hair-dressing at the
hands of his negro woman Jenny. An Indian came
in and bought a barrel of whiskey of him, and two
persons from Williamsburgh were negotiating the
purchase of some lands of him while his hair was
receiving the final touches. Orders were given to the
domestics and to his man of business, and a pressing
request was made of the Duke to pass several days
under his roof, all in the space of a few minutes.
When the Captain’s fine horse was brought to the
door he grasped the Duke’s hand, mounted his black
•charger, and galloped away. “After the Captain
left,”.says the Duke, “his nephew, a youth of about
fifteen years of age, conducted us to the flats which
border the river.”
On the flats, three miles from Mr. Wadsworth’s res-
idence, the Duke found a recluse named De Boni,
whose character and history greatly interested him.
Hermit-like, De Boni occupied a log hut, twelve feet268	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
square, built by himself and a faithful mulatto servant
named Joseph. Twenty acres of land supplied them
with grains and garden vegetables, and an occasional
day’s labor of Joseph secured them milk and eggs of
their neighbors. De Boni was a Frenchman, a native
of Alsace, born of parents of wealth and position.
A quarrel with a neighboring land proprietor led to a
duel in which his antagonist, a gentleman of greater
age than himself and a man of consequence, was
wounded. The dread of a lettre de cachet induced
Mm to quit his native country and find his way to
San Domingo, where he enlisted as a private soldier.
Opportunity soon afforded a discharge and his ability
and attainments as a civil engineer secured him a sit-
uation in the government of the island. He also
became a planter and was enjoying a good income
when civil dissensions suddenly broke out, and he
was forced to quit the island. He came to America
with little money and few effects. At Hartford he
met Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, who, commisser-
ating his condition, offered him the land he was found
occupying, and aided him in securing a small sum of
money. The Duke’s party, now increased by the
addition of two countrymen, sent word to De Boni
that the party would dine with him the next day.
The hermit expressed much satisfaction on their
arrival, and though habitually peevish, exerted him-
self to make their visit agreeable. They found him a
man of forty years of age, and of easy and agreeable ‘
manners. His reading had been extensive, his under-
standing was sound and his conversation entertaining.
His nature was over sensitive, and his misfortunes had
quite soured his temper and made him a misanthrope ;
and even the sprightly conversation of his country-
men did not dispel, except at intervals, the settled
gloom that overhung his spirits, nor prevent occasionalHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
269
bitter references to mankind, whom, in the gross, he
appeared deeply to hate. He spoke kindly of Joseph,
a busy and cheerful fellow, who stood in the relation
of a friend rather than of a servant, and dwelt upon
his capacity as a husbandman, gardener and cook,
and of the shrewdness with which he managed to
secure the assistance of farmers and their teams to
cultivate his land. Of the Indians occupying a small
village located near his domicile, he spoke kindly.
Their freedom from the restraints of society, and their
dislike of the encroachments of the whites, seemed
to agree with his own singular mood, and he reasoned
acutely in favor of that form of society which gives
back to the whole all property and dispenses with all
law. Two of the party passed the night with him,
and at parting he expressed his thanks for the atten-
tion that had been shown him.
On their return the party were made acquainted
with many facts relating to the progress of the settle-
ments. Day laborers were then scarce and readily
commanded one dollar a day. Merchandise was
brought by Mr. Wadsworth from Connecticut, to sup-
ply his store, in wagons drawn by oxen, and the cost
of transportation was met by fa ttening and selling the
oxen at Niagara for beef at enhanced prices. Land
was worth from $2 to $2.50 per acre, and under the
contracts the purchase money all fell due in four
years, the interest running from the date of the con-
tract.
The Duke and his party quit G-eneseo on the morn-
ing of the 16th of June, 1795, for Niagara. He says
the road from Geneseo to Canandaigua “is a good
one for this country. As usual it leads through the
midst of woods. Within the space of twelve miles we
saw only one habitation.” Of Canawaugus he says,
“The inhabitants here are yet but few, but among270	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
them is one of the best inns we have seen fqr some
time past. Mr. Berry keeps it, a good civil man,”
but of whose sobriety he does not speak so flatter-
ingly.
The Duke makes particular reference to the oak
openings along the road. These singular tracts,
entirely free of timber and showing signs of former
cultivation, as well as the open flats of the Genesee,
“ Where ten thousand acres might be found in one
body, encumbered with not even a bush, but covered
with grass so high that the largest bullock, at thirty
feet from the path, would be completely hid from
view,”* excited much speculation in early days. The
first settlers supposed that the openings were poor
lands, and it was only when compelled to test their
quality that they discovered, to their agreeable sur-
prise, that the soil was of great excellence, and lands
which could have been bought for a quarter of a
dollar an acre suddenly advanced to ten dollars.
In May, 1796, Charles Williamson was placed in
nomination for the Assembly, the district embracing
the counties of Ontario and Steuben, which then in-
cluded all this region, and out of 638 votes cast he
received all but eleven cast for his opponent. Lemuel
Chipman was elected to the Assembly on the same
ticket. The returns from the town of Sparta, which
had cast its suffrages for him, were sent to Albany
signed only by the clerk of the poll, and not by the
inspectors. The vote of the town was therefore
rejected and lost. Captain Williamson secured useful
legislation for this region, and lost no opportunity
for making the advantages of the Genesee country
known to his colleagues and others. Other efficient
influences were also at work to bring the region to the
* Williamson’s Letters to a Friend.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
271
attention of capitalists. James Wadsworth was in
London in the spring of 1796, negotiating for the sale
of Genesee lands. He writes in May, ;£ My letters and
friends have introduced me to an extensive acquaint-
ance and a number of capitalists. I think I may be
justified in saying that I have been able to inspire
greater confidence in American new lands among gen-
tlemen of property and respectability here than any
who have preceeded me on similar business.” He
found an earnest coadjutor in Sir William Pultney,
with whom he was on terms of social intimacy. An
observer, writing from Ontario county a few years
later, says, “No land agent in the Genesee country is
so successful as James Wadsworth. He sells three
times as much as any one else.” With the increasing
sales of land and growing immigration, the roads
began to improve. In September, 1796, Thomas Mor-
ris, writing to his father, says, ‘ ‘ from Bath to the Gen-
esee river the road is very practicable for wagons to
travel, although at this season it is not always good.”
Williamson had procured legislation on the subject of
public highways, and the Indians, who had previously
opposed the cutting of a road through their lands
from Canandaigua to Niagara, agreed in a conference
held in October, 1796, at which Cornplanter was a
principal speaker, to grant the privilege.*
In the Spring of 1796 William Magee f came to
Sparta with his family, and settled in the Canaseraga
valley, on what is now known as the Ward farm. He
had selected the land the previous year, and engaged
his brother Henry, who was then residing on Captain
♦See Albany Gazette of Oet. 17, 1796.
f William Magee was a native of Ireland, which country he left in 1784,
and landed at Philadelphia the same year. From there he went to Green-
wich, New Jersey, where in 1788 he married Hannah Quick, who was of
Low Dutch descent. From thence he came to the Genesee country.272
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
John Smith’s farm,* to put up a log cabin against the
arrival of himself and family. He left New Jersey in
September, 1795, but floods in the Susquehanna
detained him several months and it was not until May
that he was enabled to place his little family on a flat
boat and make the slow journey up the river. Prom
Hornellsville to Sparta they came by wagons laden
with household effects, a pair of copper stills and seed,
passing over the site of Dansville, where not a build-
ing of any description had as yet been erected, f The
house then building, about seventy rods east of the
Canaseraga, was not yet done, on their arrival and
the family took temporary shelter in an Indian hut
near by. The country was indeed new. The nearest
neighbor north was Henry Magee, distant, by way of
the road which then ran on the flats near the swamp,
three miles, and as the gullies were yet unspanned by
bridges and the steep places unleveled, locomotion
was not very speedy. To the south the nearest neigh-
bor was Darling Havens, who was keeping tavern in
a log cabin three miles away. Groveland hill did not
count a single settler. The road, a path by way of
Havens’ tavern, led to the Williamson grist-mill and
saw-mill, the latter standing a few rods below the
former, near Dansville; and the only settler on the
road between the tavern and the mill was Captain
John Clark, who then lived near the old Driesbach
tavern stand. The site of Dansville was a dense
thicket of pine underbrush with here and there a
* Now owned and occupied by Ozro Clark.
fit was an entire wilderness. I mean where the village now stands.
South of the village nearly a- mile there was one log cabin owned and occu-
pied by Neal McCay, and one other cabin occupied by Amariah Hammond,
north of the present village, near the Indian trail that passed through the
place. He came into the place the same year that my father came into
Sparta, 1796.—Sam'l Magee's MSS. EecoUections.HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	273
stately pine tree. A mere wagon-track led to the mill,
and to right and left “the pine bnsh was so thick that
a person could not possibly see one rod into it on
either side.”* Both flat and hillside were a dense
wilderness.
About a mile north of Henry Magee’s house, on the
main road, was a small collection of settlers called
Hermitage. Residing there were Captain John Smith,
a surveyor of some note, and a brother, George Smith,
Alexander McDonald, a distiller, James Butler, an
Irish boot and shoe maker, Scotch John Smith, Joseph
Roberts and several sons all young men grown, Hec-
tor McKay, Robert Wilson, James Templeton, a tailor,
Nicholas Beach and Levi Dunn.
In 1798 Thomas Howey opened a blacksmith’s shop
at Hermitage. At that time there was no other black-
smith in the town of Sparta, and yet he had not busi-
ness enough to employ him more than half the time.
The other part of his time he employed in farming.
He was a thick, pussey person, not well suited to
horseback riding, and consequently one day, when
his family stood in need of some flour, he consulted
with a fellow countryman James Butler, residing near
the site of Driesbach’s tavern, who advised him to
make an Irish slide-car, as being better suited to
travelling the Indian path,—for there was no road.
Butler gave him a description and he went to work
and made himself one which was pronounced all right.
Taking an early start, he got along all right until he
reached James Rodman’s distillery. The latter
treated him to a little of hfe good whiskey, after
which he went on to the mill, got his grist, loaded up
his slide-car and came back as far as Rodman’s. Here
several liberal potations of whiskey on an empty
♦ Samuel Magee s MSS. RecoUections.374
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
stomach rendered it necessary for him to take passage
on the slide-car himself. After going about two miles
he broke down. Being in no condition to place his
grist on his horse, he concluded to place it on the side
of the path and make his way back to Rodman’s,
which he did and remained there all night. Repair-
ing his car the following morning, he returned to his
grist, only to find that meantime a drove of wild hogs
had discovered it, torn the bags into shreds and eaten
up the flour. How could he explain the loss to his
wife ? A broken cog on the mill wheel was charged
with the delay, and for a time the excuse passed cur-
rent, but finally his wife and the neighbors got hold of
the secret, and Howey never heard the last of it.
Williamsburgh contained three frame buildings at
this time, and several log houses, perhaps twelve in
all, mostly built by Captain Williamson. The inhab-
itants were Captain Starr, the tavern-keeper, Samuel
Ewin, John Ewart, William Harris, Green Smith,
Thomas and William Lemen, distillers, and Matthias
Lemen, a tanner and currier. “The first sermon we
listened to after our arrival,” says Samuel Magee,
“ was in what was known as Williamson’s big barn at
Hermitage, some two hundred feet long, say some of
the early settlers, built to accommodate horses that
came to the races, since owned and used by Judge ■
Carroll. Rev. Samuel Mills preached to an attentive
congregation.” Here and there was an Indian who
had come stealthily in and taken a seat as far as pos-
sible out of view, where he watched the exercises with
curious attention, slmuel Mills resided one mile
south of Williamsburgh on the east bank of the
Canaseraga. His sons, all men grown and residing
with him, were Samuel, Jr., Alexander, Lewis, Philo
and William A. In the summer he held service in the
Williamson barn, and in the winter at private houses.HTSTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
275
In 1797 the State took the road from Port Schuyler
to Geneva under its patronage. A lottery had been
granted by the legislature for opening and improving
certain great highways of the State, and among the
number was this road. The inhabitants on the line of
the road voluntarily subscribed four thousand days’
work to put it into condition, and the commissioners
“were enabled to complete the road of near one hun-
dred miles, opening it 64 feet wide and paving with
logs and gravel the moist parts,” “and what in the
month of June, 1797, was little better than an Indian
path, was so far improved that a stage started from
Fort Schuyler on the 30th of September and arrived
at the hotel in Geneva in the afternoon of the third
day with four passengers,”* and stages then ran
weekly from Canandaigua to Albany. The new road
so quickened travel that within the space of five weeks
in the following winter, five hundred sleighs with fam-
ilies passed through Geneva.
In 1798 there was quite an addition to the population
of Old Sparta from Pennsylvania, James Rosebrugh,
William McNair and his three sons James, Andrew
and Robert, three other sons by a former wife, John,
Hugh and William R., the latter unmarried, with
James and Samuel Culbertson and John Niblack.
The next year came Jesse Collar and two sons, young
men, who settled at Collartown, now called Scotts-
burgh. Philip Gilman and a large family of boys
also arrived soon after and located near James Hen-
derson’s, within one mile of Collartown and near the
head of Conesus lake. The same year Charles Carroll
of Bellevue, and his brother Daniel, visited the Gene-
see country, crossing the mountains on horseback, a
servant accompanying them with a led pack mule with

* Williamson’s Letters to a Friend.376
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
provisions. They spent several weeks in ‘ c reconn ott-
ering the countiy but my uncle thought the prospect
too discouraging,” says Judge Carroll, “and they
returned without purchasing.”
A weekly line of stages was established the same
year between old Fort Schuyler and Geneva by John
House and Thomas Powell.*
At the election of Governor in May, 1798, Pittstown,
Geneseo and other towns constituting the present
county gave 562 votes for Jay and 79 for Livingston.
At this time the town of Sparta embraced the terri-
tory of the present towns of Sparta, West Sparta,
Groveland, Conesus and Springwater, and though the'
population was sparse, there were no less than eight
grain distilleries in the town.f The means of transpor-
tation would not admit of sending grain to market in its
natural condition, but as a barrel of whisky occupied
far less space, this mode was resorted to. Rye was
principally used for stilling, which was generally done
in the winter season when the still slops were fed to
stock. It is not to be presumed that with such facili-
ties for imbibing, there would be much check
upon appetites, and many are the incidents relating
to the results of insobriety among the early settlers.
A pioneer who lived near the river would now and
then take a drop too much, to the great annoyance of
his high-spirited wife. She had tried several expedi-
ents to break him of the habit but without effect. So
one night as he was returning late and much the worse
* The geography of the new country was as yet imperfectly understood.
The Albany Gazette, the best informed of the Eastern papers, in referring to
an advertisement in its columns, says that 114000 acres of land offered for
sale in township T, range 6 (in Steuben county) adjoining the settlement o
Daniel Faulkner at Dansville, near Williamsburgh.”
f Distilleries:. Wm. Lemen, ¥m. Magee, Alexander McDonald, Hector
McKay, Nicholas Beach, John Hyland, James Hodman, James Scott.
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	277
for new whisky, she stepped suddenly before him in
the road wrapped in a white sheet. This brought him
to a full halt. “ Who are ye, anyway ? ” said he. The
spectre gave no answer. “Who are ye?” Still there
was no answer. “If you’re a good spirit you’ll do
me no harm, so no fear on that score. If you’re the
devil, as I suspect, I’ve married into your family and
as you’re too much of a gentleman to injure a relative,
I fear no danger from that quarter, so I pass.” The
ghost retired discomfited, and the bibulous wayfarer
trudged home.
The first school house built in Old Sparta was a log
hut of small size erected at Hermitage in the fall of
1798, and opened the following May with a man
named Blanchard as teacher, and a do.zen or fifteen
scholars, gathered from a long distance, Samuel
Magee, then a lad, coming two and one-half miles
through a dense wilderness. “As there were others
who had quite as far to come,” said he, “I did not
complain. Ditworth’s spelling book was then in use.
In the winter the school was well attended. I have
known many a young man and woman in the winter
schools twenty-five years old and upwards, and very
poor scholars at that.”
The residents of Hermitage did their trading at
Geneseo, where the current price of a barrel of salt,
all of which was brought by teams from the Onon-
daga salt works, was five dollars. Tea was so great a
rarity that the wife of Judge Rosebrugh, on receiving
a small quantity as a present a few months after com-
ing to Sparta, invited several of the settlers to her
house to enjoy it with her family. The men left their
plows and in their shirt-sleeves, their coats on their
arms, started on foot, while their wives mounted horses
and threaded their way over Indian trails to the hos-
pitable roof. The story runs that the guests came near278
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
having the opportunity of testing the quality of the
novel plant as an article of food rather than of drink.
Its preparation having been left to a domestic better
skilled in “greens” than in bohea, as “store-tea”
was then called, Mrs. Rosebrugh by accident over-
heard one of the children of the household asking the
girl “why she put so much bohea into the kettle,”
and, on looking, found a good part of her present
ready for stewing.
In the latter part of the summer of 1798 the Senecas
got the impression that the government was not going
to pay them the interest on the hundred thousand
dollars paid them by Robert Morris. Their chiefs
earnestly besought the Indian agent and other leading
whites to see to it that their people were not disap-
pointed in receiving their money. “We expect,”
said they, “that an annuity of $6,000 will be ready
for us at the falling of the leaves.” General Chapin
wrote the Secretary of War, “I hope, sir, this busi-
ness may be attended to, and that the money may be
sent in dollars, as no other money can be divided
among them to their satisfaction. To have it sent in
silver dollars may occasion more expense, yet such,
at the time the agreement was concluded, was the
understanding of all parties.”
The French Revolution caused much alarm among
the neighboring governments of Europe, and to none
more than to England. In 1797 there was great fear
of an invasion, and the British parliament in that
year laid upon every estate the obligation of raising a
certain number of fencibles. The Scottish Earl of
Broadalbin, in carrying out this requisition, directed
that every person on his broad earldom who had two
sons, must place one of them in the Fencibles or leave
his estates. The measure was unpopular in Scotland,
and availing themselves 'of the alternative, a numberHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	279^
of young men sailed from Greenock in March, 1798,
and after a passage of six weeks, landed at New York.
Captain Williamson was apprised of the arrival of so
desirable a party of colonists of his countrymen, and
lost no time in inviting them to locate on his lands.
They decided, however, to have a committee of their
number examine the lands, which, having reported
favorably, in March, 1799, a party of twenty-three of
them, one-third of whom were females, set out on foot
from Johnstown, Montgomery county, for the present
town of Caledonia. After a journey of ten days,
they reached their destination. The land was laid off
into small farms which were assigned by casting lots.
The whole party set to work to build a loghouse for
each family, and beyond a trifling expenditure for
nails for the doors and for fastening the clapboards
upon the gables, their domiciles were completed with-
out the use of money. All about them the country
was a wilderness, full of Indians and alive with deer,
wolves and rattle-snakes. “A man,” says John Mc-
Yean, “might travel twenty miles north or south
from the settlement, and not see one house except an
Indian hut.” Fever and ague made its appearance,
and one by one it attacked the new comers, but they
soon recovered.*
* In Williamson’s Letters to a Friend he says, “ The plan of this settlement
occupies about 10,000 acres, distributed in the following manner :
For the Ministry *.....................................100 acres.
“ Schools, about...................................-60“
Ten gentlemen, 500 acres each......................... 5,000	“
Ten farmers, 100	“	“	..................... 1,000 “
Forty “	78	“	“.............................3,120 “
For the Village, 60 lots of 12 acres each, -	-	-	720 10,000,CHAPTER XI.
PIONEER ELECTIONS — SCARCITY OF FOOD — RAPID
GROWTH OF THE SETTLEMENTS.
The pre-occupied farmers of the new settlements
found little leisure for politics. In an address of a
committee of Federalists, of which Judge Porter was
secretary, to the people of the old county of Ontario,
“it was regretted that the inhabitants of this county
have, in former elections, betrayed so much remissness
and neglect in giving their votes that not more than
one-third of the electors have voted,” and so modest
were candidates here that, says the address, “it is to
be remarked that members of Congress from the
Western district ( embracing the counties of Onondaga,
Cayuga and others,) have uniformly been elected from
counties east of this.* A convention followed at Can-
andaigua in March, which nominated Thomas Morris
for Congress and two Federal candidates for the
Assembly, of whom the latter were elected.
In 1800 Charles Carroll of Bellevue, Maryland,
induced his friends and neighbors, Colonel William
Fitzhugh and Colonel Nathaniel Rochester to visit the
Genesee country in quest of a town site contiguous to
a water power. They came on horseback by way of
* See Albany Gazette of Feb. 1800.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
281
Bath, over the Williamson road, accompanied by a
servant and a led mule. Captain Williamson advised
them to go to the Falls, as the present city of Roches-
ter was then called, where they bought of Indian
Allen one hundred acres embracing a mill site at the
edge of the fall, and also a tract in the center of the
present city, on the west side of the river, of the Pult-
ney estate. Returning up the valley, Carroll and
Fitzhugh purchased 12,000 acres in Sparta and Grove-
land, on which they subsequently resided, and
Rochester purchased seven hundred acres in the latter
town. Their families had been intimate in Maryland,
and in this new country they proposed to continue
this intimacy and friendship. They returned to Mary-
land, and in 1807 sent out an agent named Begole to
take charge of their lands.*
At the legislative session of 1800 an act was passed
for improving the State road from Utica to Geneva
and incorporating a turnpike road company. The
capital stock was fixed at 2,200 shares'at $50 per share.
The commissioners under the act were Charles Wil-
liamson, Benjamin Walker, Jedediah Sanger and
Israel Chapin. Books were opened for subscriptions
to the stock at Geneva, Canandaigua, Utica and Al-
bany. The prospectus estimated that there could
annually be drawn from Onondaga, Cayuga, Ontario
and Steuben, upward of 500,000 bushels of wheat,
with a due proportion of other produce, and it con-
cluded as follows: “Travellers all agree that the
settlement and improvement of these counties have
been more rapid and prosperous than that of any
other tract of country of the same surface was ever
known to be. Spirit of emigration still in its infancy,
•owing to the extreme difficulty of passing to and from
* Begole settled at Hermitage and became the father of a large family.282
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
it as the present state of the roads for nine months in
the year renders it almost impracticable to travel it
even on horseback.”
At the election for State Senator in 1800, Sparta
gave 37 votes for Jedediah Sanger, Hartford 71 for the
same candidate, Pittstown 69; Charlestown gave 94
for Nathaniel King and 22 for Jedediah Sanger, and
Geneseo gave 75 for Sanger.
The fall of 1801 proved to be quite sickly. The
weather was uncommonly wet, and billions fever was
very prevalent, though not of a very fatal type. In-
deed, agues and other bilious complaints were com-
mon prior to 1804. Maple sugar making was common
among farmers at this period, from five hundred to
one thousand pounds was often made in a season by
a single farmer. The soil produced abundantly, and
bountiful harvests rewarded the labors of the husband-
man.
At the State election in May, 1801, the candidates
for Governor were Stephen Yan Rensselaer and George
Clinton, and the vote in the towns embraced in the
present limits of Livingston county, stood as follows:
Charlestown gave Yan Rensselaer 51 votes and Clinton
63 ; Sparta, 10 for Yan Rensselaer and 29 for Clinton ;
Geneseo, 22 for Yan Rensselaer, 63 for Clinton; Pitts-
town, 81 for Yan Rensselaer, 27 for Clinton ; North-
ampton, 78 for Yan Rensselaer, 10 for Clinton; Hart-
ford, 41 for Yan Rensselaer, 25 for Clinton; giving
Stephen Yan Rensselaer a majority of 66 in the county.
Governor Clinton was elected, however, by a majority
of 3,965.
The census of Ontario county, taken this year,
showed 1,691 electors possessing a freehold of £100
value, 247 electors possessing a freehold of £20 value,
and 923 electors who rented tenements of forty shil-
lings annual value. Sixteen hundred and thirty-fourHISTORY OB' LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
283
freeholders was the ratio to one Senator, and 860
electors to one member of assembly.
The Indians, who had now experienced the advan-
tages of machinery, were no longer content to hew
the material for their houses with the axe, nor pound
their corn and other grains in the mortar. They
wanted saw-mills and flouring mills. At a council
held in May, 1801, after deciding to annex the prop-
erty of Squawkie Hill and Little Beardstown reserva-
tions to Buffalo Creek, and Big Tree to Tonawanda,
they authorized their head men to negotiate for the
disposal of Canawaugus reservation to secure means
to erect a gri§t and saw-mill, in case the land would
amount to their cost. Soon after this their chiefs
began to advise them to dispose of the other reserva-
tions along the Genesee, remarking that “ our great
reason for this exchange is that there are bad Indians
living on these lands, and by placing them more com-
pact, will be the means of keeping them in better
order,” and they applied directly to Captain William-
son and Thomas Morris to aid them in exchanging
their lands for other property.
The observation of the Indians had advanced them
another step, toward civilization. At a council held
near Geneseo in November, 1801, at which the prin-
cipal chiefs of the Senecas, and representatives of the
Onondagas, Cayugas and Delawares took part, Red
Jacket, speaking for his people, said, “We have
assembled at this time to receive our annuities. We
have been treated fairly, but we wish next year that
fine broadcloths be omitted and coarser woolen cloths
be sent in their place, that a small portion may be
divided to all, for our old men, women and children
are now looking to you for something to screen them
from the cold winter blasts and snows. At this sea-
son, too, our young men betake themselves to the284
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
forest to procure game. They want more powder and
lead. We no longer find our game at our doors, but
are obliged to go to a great distance for it, and even
then find it scarce to what it used to be. The white
people are scattered so thickly over the country that
* the deer have almost fled from us, and we find our-
selves obliged to pursue some other mode of getting
our living. So all our villages have determined to
take to husbandry, and we have concluded to accept
the proposition of President Washington when he
told us we must learn the customs of the white people,
and he would provide us oxen to plow the ground and
relieve our women from digging; with cows which
our girls could learn to milk and to make butter and
cheese; and with farming utensils and spinning wheels.
He told us we must make use of beef instead of moose
and elk meat, swine instead of bears, she^p in place
of deer. Brothers! we desire you to make known to
the President who is in the place of General Wash-
ington [John Adams] that we agree to accept his offer,
for we find ourselves in a situation which we believe
our forefathers never thought of.”
A gentleman travelling through this region in June,
1802, writes to the Albany Gazette that “the spirit of
improvement which pervades all parts of this State
the present season has no example in our history,
Turnpike roads are now progressing with spirit in all
directions. A chain of them stretch the whole extent
of the route from Schenectady to Canandaigua, a dis-
tance of 193 miles, which, it is expected, will be com-
pleted by the middle of October.” Writing in the
latter month on the subject, the Gazette says, “on
the great turnpike much work has been performed,
and although not finished, the road in its whole
extent has received most valuable repairs.” Pro-
posals were also made to the energetic commission-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	285
ers to carry the turnpike to Presque Isle, Niagara
Falls.
In the same year James Wadsworth offered to set
apart one thousand acres of land adjoining the river
to encourage an English settlement, and adds, ‘ ‘ I am
disposed to offer substantial encouragement to the first
English families who remove into this town.”
At the Senatorial election in May, i803, Ontario
county gave 808 votes for Hyde, the Democratic can-
didate, and 1,059 for Matthews, the Federal candidate,
showing a large increase in the aggregate vote in the
county.
In October of this year the Holland Land Co.
advertised three millions of acres of land for sale.
By 1803 there were about thirty families settled in
Geneseo. In April, 1803, James Wadsworth had
fixed th^price of the bottom lands adjoining the
river at $4 to $5 per acre, according to quality and
situation, and offered five thousand acres of these
lands for sale.
In 1803 Ontario county elected three Federal mem-
bers of the Assembly, Nathaniel W. Howell, B. P.
Wisner and Amos Hall, over their Democratic com-
petitors, Daniel Chapin, John Swift and E. Patterson,
by an average majority of 350. At the State election
in May, 1804, Ontario county gave 792 votes for Lewis
for Governor, and 1178 for Aaron Burr. The number
of Votes for assemblyman in May, 1804, in Hartford
(Avon), was 134; Geneseo, 118; Sparta, 95; Leicester,
81; Southampton, 114.
The summer of 1804 proved to be one of great scar-
city. James Wadsworth, writing on the 19th of July
of that year, says, “So great a scarcity of provisions
has never been experienced in this country.” The
growing crop, however, proved a good one, and in
November of that year a wagon lQad of Genesee wheat286
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
was carried to Albany from Bloomfield, 220 miles.
The quantity was one hundred bushels, and was drawn
by four yokes of oxen. It was purchased at Bloom-
field for five shillings per bushel, and sold in Albany
for seven shillings and three pence, the net proceeds
of the load being not less than $100. The journey,
notwithstanding the badness of the roads at that sea-
son, was performed in twenty days. This was the
first venture of the kind yet undertaken, of transport-
ing by land grain from so great a distance and was
only justified by the exceptionably high price then
ruling in the Eastern market.* A team with an ordi-
nary load, could make the trip over the turnpike from
the Genesee to Albany and return, in a fortnight.
The price of unimproved lands in 1804, east of the
Genesee; ranged from $2 to $4 per acre, and for farms
of one hundred acres, of which twenty to tMrty were
improved, with log house and barn, would sell for
from $6 to $20 per acre; west of the river the best
unimproved lands sold for $1.50 to $2.50 per acre.
Among the annoyances to which the pioneer farmer
was subjected, not the least was the depredations of
the Indians. The misappropriation did not always
arise, perhaps, from deliberate intent to commit a
larceny, but it required some time for the native to
become accustomed to the white man’s notion of the
rights of property. It was not an uncommon thing
for a farmer to find an Indian astride a horse for which
he had spent days in search of, and the coolness with
which the native would listen to the reprimand was
often as provoking as the loss of time occasioned by
the search. Saddles, hogs, meat and wearing apparel
were not infrequently taken. It was no satisfaction
to obtain a judgment for costs against an Indian, for
* Albany Gazette, Nor. 22, *1804.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
287
the officer could seldom find anything to levy upon.
Farmers, therefore, resorted to General Chapin, the
Indian agent, who at the annual payment of annuities,
would deduct properly authenticated accounts against
the Indians, and thus compel their chiefs to put a
check upon the lawlessness of their followers.* The
case, however, had two sides. The policy of the.gov-
ernment toward the Indians was not fully defined,
General Knox, in writing to General Chapin, calling
it “helter-skelter conduct,” and often the wrong-doing
was traceable to the practice of dealing out whiskey
and rum to the Indians, often by direct order of the
government agent; f and sometimes the misdeeds of
the uncivilized red man were committed to retaliate
for the thieving of the whites upon them. The latter
class of petty evils was so serious that the Indian
agent was supplied with an annual allowance for pay-
ing the Indians for articles taken from them by the
whites.
In January, 1805, the weather was exceedingly cold.
On the 5th of that month John Kennedy, of Sparta,
* I give below specimens of these accounts ;
“Rec’d of Isr’l Chapin Thirty Dollars in full ol shirts, vest, &c., stolen
from me in June last by the Indians of Squaka Hill.
Canandaigua, 3 Ap’l, 1801.	¥m. Wadsworth.”
“Geneseo, 23d September, 1199.
Israel Chapin, Esq., Indian Agent,
To John Bosley, Dr.
Eor 650 (six hundred and fifty) pounds of Pork, being hogs killed by the
Indians (of Squaka Hill) as acknowledged by them in the presence of Mr
Parrish and Capt. Jones,
Dolls. 40 Cents 62.”
(This bill is receipted by James Bosley for $20.)
fin the Spring of 1192 Israel Chapin, Indian Agent at Canandaigua, sup-
plied to Parmer’s Brother and party, on their return from Philadelphia, 240
lbs. beef, 300 lbs. flour, 100 lbs. pork, and 10 gallons of whiskey.
In October of the same year, General Chapin delivered 4J gallons of whis-
key for the purpose of enabling Red Jacket’s family to build a house.288
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
perished on the road as he was returning from mill..
His team was near him when found. Two men were
frozen in Livonia, and others died from the same
cause.
The year 1805 proved to be one of prosperity to this
region. James Wadsworth says, “people here are-
very healthy, and everybody who minds his business;
is growing rich. ’ ’ Farmers had come in in abundance,
but there was as yet much lack of persons of other
occupations. In September of this year, James
Wadsworth writes, “ there is not a good tanner within
25 miles of the Genesee river.”
In the month of January, 1805, the same gentleman
was interesting himself in the establishment of postal
facilities. On the 5th of this month he wrote to Post-
master General Granger on this subject, and said,
there being then no postoffice at Geneseo, “We at
present sometimes send our letters to Canandaigua,
distance 30 miles, and sometimes to Hartford, distance-
10 miles. As the postmaster at the latter place—Mr.
Hosmer—is not a little careless, we are subjected to
many inconveniences.” * * ' * “By establishing
a P. O. at this place you will very much accommodate
this and the neighboring towns. I imagine that the
receipts of the office will more than pay the expense
of transporting and returning the mail once a week
from Hartford to this place.”
Mr. Wadsworth was in the habit of offering, in
early days, to exchange new Genesee lands for old
Connecticut and other eastern lands. On the 1st of
August, 1805, he writes Samuel Finley, “I am desir-
ous of encouraging the most respectable settlement
from Marlborough to this town. I have determined
to offer two important farms, together with a new farm
of 100 acres, to three respectable families of Marlbo-
rough or the adjoining towns. You are thereforeIITSTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
289
authorized to offer these three farms to three inhabi-
tants of industry and established and approved
principles, in exchange for their farms, subject to this
condition, that their farms shall be appraised by Esq.
Joel Foote.” Mr. Wadsworth also authorized a friend
to advance $15 to each of two good men of Berkshire
county, to come and view the Genesee country. He
took great pains to diffuse accurate information as to
climate, crops and lands, and also worked indefatiga-
bly to stimulate the growth and prosperity of the
settlements. In August, 1805, Mr. Wadsworth writes,
“ I am resolved on making the experiment this fall of
sending mule colts to the Genesee river,” and ordered
the purchase of one hundred.
A feeling of prosperity was experienced by many
of the settlers. Mr. Wadsworth wrote in August of
this year, “I feel myself rich in Genesee lands, and
rich in the faith that in a few years they will command
$20 to $30 per acre.”
The fever common to the early settlers, known as
the “Genesee fever,” still made its appearance, and
nearly all the first settlers were attacked by it. It was
of a low typhoid type and proved fatal in several
instances. In others it left the constitution perma-
nently impaired. Notwithstanding this the currents
were setting strong in the direction of the Genesee
country. Pittstown was receiving accessions from
the prudent and industrious class of New England
agriculturists; indeed, all parts of the country were
receiving additions. In December, 1805, Mr. Wads-
worth writes, “such is the prodigious influx of settlers
to the Genesee river, that provisions will be very
scarce next summer.”
A total eclipse of the sun occurred near mid-day on
Monday, June 16, 1806. This noted event is vividly
recollected by persons yet living in our county.390
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The centre of the eclipse passed over Lake Erie, the
Genesee country and Albany, and thence outward
into the Atlantic ocean, to the southward of Nova
Scotia. The atmosphere during the forenoon had
been perfectly clear, and the sun was very bright
until fifty minutes past nine, when a little dark spot
became visible about 45° to right of Zenith. Shades
increased, and at a quarter past ten o’clock stars were
seen, and the atmosphere began to assume a pale and
gloomy hue. At a quarter after eleven the sun was
wholly obscured. It now appeared like a black globe
with a light behind. The darkness, which equalled a
deep twilight, lasted three minutes. Business was
suspended, many stars were seen, fowls went to roost,
birds were mute except the whip-poor-will, whose
notes partially cheered the gloom, and an occasional
bat flitted from its hiding place. The dew fell, the
thermometer dropped a half dozen degrees, a certain
chilliness was felt, and nature everywhere seemed to
have taken on a sober aspect. At about 18 minutes
past 11 o’clock a bright little spot showed itself to the
left of the sun’s nadir similar to the focus of a glass
when refracting the sun’s rays, and as this increased,
a change, how pleasing can scarcely be conceived,
took place in the complexion of things, and at about
forty minutes past twelve the sun again shone forth in
full splendor. Such a spectacle is so rare that it is
not a matter of surprise that the Indians, who look
with peculiar horror upon celestial phenomena, so
unusual an event should seem an omen of fearful
import. On this occasion they were filled with alarm.
John Hunt, one of the pioneer settlers in the town of
Groveland, says that Dan McKay, an Indian trader
residing in Geneseo, was at Caneadea on the morning
of the eclipse, and taking his watch out, he told the
Indians that at such an hour the sun would be totallyHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
291
obscured. As the sky was perfectly clear, and their
untutored minds knew nothing of science, they
refused to credit his statement, and went so far as to
wager ten dollars with him that the event he assumed
to foretell would not come to pass. Having thus
staked’ his money on the certainty of the eclipse’s
occurring, he put out his horse and waited the event.
As the hour approached and the sky became overcast,
the countenances of the poor Indians were also over-
cast, and there was depicted thereon the greatest anx-
iety and consternation, and they ran to and fro in the
most abject terror. The eclipse, however, was soon
over with, and as the sun again poured down its flood
of light, the spirits of the Indians rose, and they
resumed their wonted composure. They paid their
lost bet like fnen, and McKay started home ten dol-
lars the richer for having possessed a little more
education than his dusky customers.
In 1806 three Clintonian members of assembly were
elected by the counties of Ontario and Genesee, which
then voted together.
The spring of 1806 was one of famine. James Wads-
worth, under date of May 23d, says: “There is
literally a famine in this land of milk and honey. A
severe drought last summer cut off about half the
crop of corn. The farmers, they hardly knew how
themselves, consumed their hay by the month of
March, and have been compelled to feed out their
grain to keep their cattle alive during a long, back-
ward spring. They now find themselves destitute of
bread to support their families. Six or eight families
of the town of Southampton have applied to the over-
seer of the poor for assistance. I am supporting three
or four families, and expect to be called on by more
soon. My brother has been compelled to turn forty
fat oxen from our stables, to preserve the grain they292
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
were consuming for poor families wlio have not the
means of subsistence:”
A writer to a friend at the East, in May, 1806, says :
“ On my arrival I found upwards of thirty (30) fami-
lies at Mount Morris ready to go to work. Some of
them have handsome properties.” The settlements
were still sparse, however. Richard Osborn, who set-
tled in Leicester in 1806, says there was then but one
house between Tuscarora, afterward the residence of
Major Spencer, and Caledoni^ springs. Where is
now Vermont street in Conesus, there was then no
road &nd no settler, nor was there for several years
thereafter. Reverend Andrew Gray, a pioneer clergy-
man of the Presbyterian church, was preaching in
Sparta in 1806, though he subsequently accepted a
missionary appointment among the Indians near Lew-
iston, and did not return to Sparta until after Buffalo
was burnt. In 1806 the road from Bath through
Dansville and Williamsburgh to Avon, was by law
declared a post road. In the fall of 1806 the Post-
master General, Gideon Granger, established a
postoffice at Geneseo, and provided a mail to Avon
once a fortnight, the whole service to cost $26 a year,
and, says a letter of that day, “ it accommodates us
perfectly.” A gentleman writing from Geneseo this
same fall, says, “you are mistaken in supposing that
in coming to this country you come to a desert, you
will find better roads here than in Haddam, * and you
will find most of the people who have been here two
or three years, enjoying the comforts of civilized life.”
In June, 1806, James Scott left Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, with his family consisting of
his wife and ten children,! in a large covered wagon
* Connecticut.
f One of whom is the Hon. ¥m. Scott of Scottsburgh. The names of theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
293
drawn by four horses and a yoke of oxen, reaching
Sparta on the 1st of July. From Dansville they were
obliged to cut a road most of the way to their new
home. They settled in the woods on the farm now
owned by Peter Swick. There was no wagon road in
any direction, except the one they had just opened.
An Indian path ran from Conesus to Hemlock valley,
and nothing more. To the eastward stretched an
unbroken wilderness to Naples, a distance of eighteen
miles. In the territory now constituting the town of
Springwater there was not a stick cut nor line drawn.
A good many Indians roamed through the woods, and
bears, wolves and deer, by the score, made their pres-
ence known, while panthers were far more common
than welcome. Two years before bringing his family,
Mr. Scott, who was an Irishman by birth, and a
soldier in our Revolutionary army from love for his
adopted country, had visited Sparta on horseback, in
’company with his wife, for the purpose of prospect-
ing. The country suited the couple and in the fall
two sons and one daughter came out, erected a log
cabin, cleared off a piece of ground and sowed it with
wheat. The next summer another sor came out and
drove a cow. All went back to Pennsylvania in the
fall and returned with the'family. “The Sabbath
following our arrival in Sparta,” says Esquire Scott,
“my father, one of the girls and four of us boys
attended meeting at the house of George Mitchell, a
log domicile two and one-half miles south of Scotts-
burgh, where Samuel Emmett, a Methodist minister,
preached a sermon to a congregation of twenty-five or
thirt O lsons, who had gathered from a circuit of two
or th ee miles. His text was Ecclesiastes X, 1. I had
heaid the good man preach in Pennsylvania five years
children were Matthew, Anna, James, John, William, Charles, Jane, Thomas,
Isabella and Sarnie294
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
before, and seeing him here renewed agreeable associ-
ations. His voice was loud enough to lift the bark
roof from the low-browed house, and he had all the
earnestness of early Methodism. There was much
shouting, and some of his hearers fell with “the pow-
ers,” as it was called. The Doxology was sung but
no benediction was said except ‘ meetin’s over.’ The
season was one of great scarcity, especially of wheat.
We had learned this before quitting Pennsylvania,
and had brought sufficient to last until our ripening
crop, and a bountiful one it proved to be, could be
harvested. Four of us brothers, of whom I was
youngest, went over to Groveland hill to help in har-
vest. We worked for the brothers Hugh, Abraham
and John Harrison, William and Daniel Kelly, and
Thomas Baily; William Magee on the Canaseraga
flats, Jacob Snyder, who had a crop at Hermitage,
but had moved to Henderson's flats before it ripened,
and Thomas Begole,* agent for the Maryland Com*
pany. In the fall we all went to Mount Morris flats
and husked corn for Captain William A. Mills. Each
hand of us got two bushels of corn in the ear for a
day’s work, and a brother, with the two horses and
wagon, got six bushels a day. By this means we
secured a supply of corn for the winter. There were
then but few inhabitants in the village of Mount Mor-
ris or Allen’s Hill. Captain Mills was keeping tavern
in a log cabin, and there were perhaps a dozen other
log houses, occupied by the widow Baldwin, Deacon
Stanley, Adam Holtslander, and Grice Holland. A
Mr. Hampton lived in a log house on what is now
called the Colonel Fitzhugh place, and Joseph Rich-
* Charles Carroll, ¥m. Fitzhugh and Col. Rochester’s purchase was then
so called. A part of Thomas Begole’s house is still standing near the late
residence of Edward P. Fuller.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
295
ardson kept a store and tavern at Williamsburgh. I
recollect seeing two sons of Mary Jemison at Mount
Morris. There were but few inhabitants at Geneseo,
then generally called Big Tree. I remember the two
Wadsworth brothers, (who had a store there in charge
of William H. Spencer, either as partner or clerk ),
Colonel Lawrence, a Mr. Coates, Charles Colt and
' John Peirce. I know of none now who lived there at
that time.
At Dansville I recollect David Shull, owner of the
Williamson Mill, Samuel Culbertson (with whom I
learned my trade as cloth-dresser, a good man) Peter
La Flesh, Neal McCoy, Jared Irwin, the first post-
master, Matthew Patterson, David, James and Mat-
thew Porter, Peter and Jacob Welch, Jonathan Stout,
John Metcalf, Amariah and Lazarus Hammond, Owen
Wilkinson, William Perine and Isaac Yandeventer.
The first town meeting we attended in Sparta was in
1807, and was held in the present town of Groveland,
then forming a part of Sparta, at the tavern of Chris-
tian Roup, a log house standing nearly a mile south
of the Presbyterian church. I recollect seeing at the
polls Captain John Smith, Joseph Richardson, Rob-
ert Burns, John Hunt, Andrew Culbertson, William
and Daniel Kelly, Samuel Stillwell, James Rosebrugh,
William McCartney, Alexander Fullerton, James
Scott, the McNair brothers, Thomas Begole and Wil-
liam Doty. It was an orderly gathering, but little of
political excitement.”
The first settlements in this section, as in all new
countries, in early days, were located near navigable
streams; and the little produce that found its way to
market was either floated down the Susquehanna and
Delaware rivers to Philadelphia and Baltimore, (the
latter then affording the best market,) in arks, during
the short season of three or four weeks of high water296	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
in the Spring, or to Montreal by the Genesee and Lake
Ontario. The latter was the shorter route, but was
attended with delays and expense of portage around
the falls at Rochester and below. The cost of sending
a barrel of potash from the mouth of the Genesee
across the lake to Montreal, in 1807, was one dollar,
a sum which, measured by the price of grains at the
place of production, was several times in excess of
the present rate. Though in 1807, James Wadsworth
says that the road from Geneseo to Canandaigua was
excellent, yet the wagonways were impassable for
loads in the spring and fall, and so imperfectly were
they yet bridged and graded that, except in midwinter,
transportation overland was quite out of the question.
It must be recollected that the streams, seventy years
ago, averaged twice their present size. The clearing
of the lands has greatly diminished their power of
absorption, and aged Indians point to tracts of farm-
ing lands which were known to them in their child-
hood as marshes and swamps. The commissioners
appointed by the State to consider the feasibility of a
canal from Lake Ontario to tide-water, reported as
late as 1816 that the cost of transporting a ton of mer-
chandise from Buffalo to Albany was one hundred
dollars, and the time required twenty days. As
experience has shown that ..wheat will not bear profit-
able carriage over ordinary highways beyond two
hundred and fifty miles, it was not until the comple-
tion of the Erie canal, which at once reduced the cost
of freightage to one-tenth, and subsequently to one-
thirtieth of overland charges, that our agricultural
interests were fully developed. To the ark, however,
the pioneer farmers were greatly indebted, in trans-
porting their marketable products, and they often
referred to it with satisfaction. It was invented by a
Mr. Kayder, residing on the Juneata river. The high(2
^nJHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	297
prices of both, flour and lumber at Baltimore, and the
plentifulness of both articles in the new settlements,
induced him to try the experiment of preparing along,
flat float of timber, such as he supposed would suit
the purpose of city builders, to be broken up and sold
for lumber, after discharging cargo. A temporary
house or covering was placed over the cargo, which
often consisted of five hundred barrels of flour. Four
or five men could navigate it at the rate of eighty
miles a day.*
In 1807 Portage contained only two houses, both of
logs. No one lived at Nunda at that time, but there
was a store at Hunt’s Hollow, kept by Mr. Hunt; the
settlement also contained three dwelling houses.
In April, 1807, Ontario and Genesee elected one
Federal and two Clintonian members of the Assembly,
and the vote on governor in Ontario county stood,
Lewis, 1462; Tompkins, 1240. The votes of the town
of Avon were rejected in consequence of the inspec-
tors having held the election for four days. The can-
vass showed 156 votes for Lewis and 42 for Tompkins.
Taking the whole of what is now Livingston county
together, the votes were divided almost equally
between Tompkins and Lewis.
The months of January and February, 1807, “were
remarkably hard ones. The snow was very deep, and
steady cold weather prevailed. The smaller streams
were frozen and the inhabitants of Sparta were com-
pelled to go long distances to mill.” The mill at Her-
* In speaking of markets	at Bath	in 1198, Captain Williamson gives the	
following prices:			
Wheat per bushel,	$1.00	Oxen, per yoke, -	$10.
Eye per “	- .15	Cows, each	- 15.
Oats and Corn “	- .50	An ox cart -	30.
Barley per “ -	- .10	A Log house 20x20 - -	- 50.
		“ “ “ 2 rooms	100.298
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
mitage had been neglected and the water had frozen
np. Samuel Magee was started to Bosley’s mill with
an ox sled, with a grist for his father, one for Robert
Burns, and one or two others. Starting long before
daylight on a Monday morning, he found the weather
bitter cold. Riding and walking by turns, he reached
the mill, and was informed by Mr. Bosley that the
water was frozen up hard and had been for several
days, and the latter added, “I have more grain in the
mill waiting its turn than I could grind in a month if
I could begin to-morrow.” “The building, as I saw
for myself,” says Mr. Magee, “was full upstairs and
down, and with no prospect of a thaw, so I started for
home.” Reaching Moses Gibson’s tavern, at the foot
of Conesus lake, Gibson advised him to go to Hender-
son’s mill, on the outlet of Honeoye lake, seventeen
miles distant. He remained over night, and starting
early the next morning, reached the mill without
meeting a single team, and passing but two houses in
the whole distance. He found a large number of grists
ahead of him, but had the promise of getting his
grinding done in the night time. But his grist was
not reached until Saturday night, and he started for
home early Sunday morning, by way of the foot of
Hemlock lake. On reaching Scottsburgh the snow
had left him, and he took his grist home on the hind
wheels of Jacob Collar’s wagon, reaching his home at
10 o’clock Sunday night, having spent eight days in
securing a single grist.
In 1808 the Tuscarora lands, as they were then
called, but since known as Major Spencer’s farm, were
occupied by squatters, who gave great annoyance to
land-owners. The locality soon acquired a name
more expressive than classical, “Buggarsburgh,” and
was held in dread by neighboring farmers. The deni-
zens of this unthrifty neighborhood so frequently vis-HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
299
ited the sheep-folds on Wadsworth’s flats, that the
path thitherward became well-trodden, and was used
for years afterward, while their visits were always
sure to subtract a unit from the sum of the fine flocks
kept there. The squatters were dreaded by the whole
surrounding country, but finally a Philadelphian,
named Jacobs, bought the land and succeeded in
clearing it of its lawless occupants. Among the num-
ber was a former stage-driver, who had a worn-out
horse whose legs were ill-mated, and when it dropped
its foot, seemed to step clear over back on its fetlocks.
Being at Geneseo on some public day, his horse became
the butt of the crowd. After a good deal of fun at
his expense, he offered to bet a hundred dollars that
Dobbin could travel one hundred miles in twenty-four
successive hours. The wager was taken, and it was
agreed that he should go five miles north on the road
to Avon, and return, making ten miles each round
trip, and make ten trips. The owner toed the mark
when time was called, and actually made nine trips,
or ninety miles, with two hours and a half to spare,
when the parties who had taken the bet were glad to
buy off.
The election of 1808 brought out a larger vote than
usual, and resulted in 383 votes being cast for the
Federal candidate for Senator, and 470 for the Demo-
cratic candidate.* The vote of Lima, however, was
rejected, owing to the fact that the returns, while
declaring that “the poll was closed according to law,”
* The vote stood as follows:	Federal.	Democratic.
Sparta,		18	126
Avon,		118	38
Livonia,		32	22
Lima,		82	69
Geneseo,		88	76
Caledonia,		19	42
Leicester,		26	91300
HISTORY OF LIVIN'G-STON COUNTY.
and gave the number of votes for each candidate, did
not designate the office!
A division of the great territory of Ontario county
was early agitated by the settlers along the river, who
found it irksome to attend the courts and examine the
records at Canandaigua. In February, 1808, a pro-
ject was started to erect a new county, with the
county seat at Avon, and a subscription paper was
circulated to raise money to build a court house at
that place. It had the countenance of Geneseo and
the surrounding country, but was successfully
opposed by Canandaigua.
The credit system, in business transactions, pre-
vailed to a very large extent in the new settlements,
and was productive, as it always is, of great evils. In
August, 1808, Mr. Wadsworth wrote to Major Spen-
cer that he was trusting a great deal, and urged him
to restrict his credits more.
At the election of 1809 the town of Sparta cast 198
votes for Assemblyman, of which the Democratic can-
didates each received 168, and the Federal candidates
30. Avon gave the Federal candidates 139, and the
Democratic, 60; Livonia gave the Federalists 76, and
the Democrats 50 ; Lima cast 103 votes for the Feder-
alists, and 19 for the Democrats; Geneseo gave the
Federalists’89, and the Democrats 73; Caledonia gave
45 votes for the Federalists, and 106 for the Demo-
crats ; and Leicester cast 27 votes for the Federalists,
and 21 for the Democrats. In 1809 Ontario county
gave a Federal majority of 107. The previous year it
gave 470 Democratic majority.
A writer for an Eastern paper, in May, 1809, says,
* ‘ we have had a very severe winter. The oldest
Indian does not recollect a winter equally severe.”
In the summer of 1809, Asa Nowlen was advised to
come to the Genesee country and open a blacksmith’sHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
301
shop. He was assured that a shop could be built for
him in ten days. Iron, he was told, was easily pro-
curable from Pennsylvania, eighty miles distant.
Nowlen had heard that the new country was unhealthy,
and James Wadsworth assured him that “there was
just as much foundation, and no more, for hanging
witches in Boston a hundred years before as there is
now for the report that our water is bad, and that the
inhabitants are all subject to the fever and ague.”
In the fall of 1809, General William Wadsworth
visited Chancellor Livingston at his residence at Clare-
mont on the Hudson, with a view to making himself
acquainted with the qualities of the Merino breed of
sheep, and the best manner of rearing them. He also
ordered fruit trees from Prince’s Garden, on Long
Island, for his orchard.
In 1810 Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, of Hagars-
town, Maryland, came to Dansville with a view of
locating. He had visited the place ten years before in
company with Charles Carroll and Colonel William
Fitzhugh. He purchased a mill seat and a residence
of Jacob Opp, and in 1811 brought his family, consist-
ing of his wife and several children. He erected a
paper mill, which he sold in 1814 to the Rev. Dr.
Endress. Robert Marr, of Franklin county, Penn-
sylvania, was employed as foreman. Under his con-
tract, Marr was to commence on the 1st of October,
1810.* After remaining in Dansville two or three
years, Colonel Rochester purchased a farm in Bloom-
field and removed thither, where he remained until
1817, when he removed to Rochester.
In 1810 the Democrats carried the election in Onta-
* Marr brought with him from Chambersburg, Pa., Horace Hill and
another man named Dugan, who were the first paper makers employed in
the mill. Thomas H. Rochester, aged 13, John 'Ward and Wm. Street were
apprentices.—(Letter of Thomas H. Rochester to the Hon. 1m. Scott)302
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
rio county, which elected five Democrats to the
Assembly ; and Genesee county, which then sent but
one member, also elected a Democrat. These two
counties embraced the territory of this county. Peter
B. Porter, a Democrat, was elected to Congress from
the district composed of Ontario and Genesee coun-
ties. The same year the vote for governor in the
towns comprising the present county, stood, 343 for
Tompkins and 326 for Platt. In the previous year, at
the election for State senator, the vote of the county
was equally divided between Phelps and Swift, the
opposing candidates.
Enterprise marked the progress of the settlements.
The farmers had as yet formed no agricultural socie-
ties, but they never met without comparing views and
exchanging suggestions. “ Agriculture might be ren-
dered doubly productive,” writes a farmer from this
region in 1810. “We want some prominent character
to give it a new direction, to lead into new channels.
But who shall do it ? Our great men have other fish
to fry. Our papers are filled with comments on Euro-
pean politics, on orders in council and royal decrees,
which our farmers do not nor will they ever under-
stand, and it would be no-service to them if they did.”
This impatience was generally felt, and prompted
farmers to improvement in their stock and to better
modes of planting. In that year a dairyman was
brought from Orange county and placed on Wads-
worth’ s home farm, fruit trees were ordered from Long
Island, and experiments were made with different
grains and utensils.
The dirt roads, owing to the character of the soil
and the imperfect manner in which they were laid out
and worked, were always an impediment. When the
ground was soft, the wagon-way was sure to be cut*
up and rendered next to impassable by the narrow-HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON' COUNTY.
303
tired wheels in common nse. To remedy this the
great Western Turnpike Company, in the summer of
1810, determined “ that all wagons passing over their
road, the wheel tires of which are six inches broad
or upwards, shall be exempted from paying toll at
any of its gates for the period of two years.”* Every
teamster was thus prompted to provide himself with
broad-tired wagons. John White, of Groveland, has
seen ten horses on a wide-tire wagon, which would
exactly track with the narrow tire wheels, and would
completely fill up and smooth over the ruts made by
the ordinary vehicle.
The months of January and February, 1812, were
exceedingly cold, “ a tremendous winter,” as a letter
dated the latter part of March of that year, says.
“ The ground is now covered with snow, and we are
obliged to give out grain. The wintering of our stock
will cost us half as much as it is worth, and my
brother has had the blues for six months.” The win-
ter had set in with unusual severity, and proved to be
the coldest of any then yet experienced. A month
later the same writer says: “Our section of the
country is very flourishing. Wheat and all kinds of
produce command money, and settlers are flocking
to the Genesee river from all quarters. The embargo
renders business dull, but almost any tradesman, with
or without a family, would find constant employment
in our little village (Geneseo). A good shoe and boot
maker and tailor would make property fast. Farm
hands command from ten to twelve dollars per
month.”
Merchandise had uniformly been brought up the
Susquehanna, and thence overland from Elmira to
Dansville. But in the fall of 1812 George Smith
* Albany Gazette July 9, 1810.304	HI6TOKY OS' LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
brought the last load of goods by that route in a cov-
ered wagon, drawn by six horses.
The year 1812 added little to the population of this
region, notwithstanding the promise of the early
season. “ The war is a complete damper to all sales
of new land. I have not filled out a dozen land con-
tracts this season,” says the principal land owner of
this section, ‘ ‘ indeed, more settlers have gone out than
have come into the Genesee country.”CHAPTER XII.
WAR OF 1812.
The war of 1812, though favored by the great body
of the people, embracing the Democratic party and
many of the opposition, was nevertheless opposed by
an influential though small minority of the Pederals.
The Eastern States, with the exception of Vermont
and a large part of Hew York and New Jersey, were
opposed to it. Pennsylvania and the South and South-
west favored it.
The district composing the county of Livingston,
was largely Democratic, and gave the war a cordial
support. Major General William Wadsworth, com-
manding the militia of the division which embraced
the county, promptly offered his services and they
were as promptly accepted. Colonel Lawrence, of
Geneseo, also volunteered, and was followed by a
large part of his command.
War was declared on the 18th of June, 1812,*
and on the morning of the 13th of October of the
same year, about 230 men, under command of Colonel
Solomon Van Rensselaer, crossed the Niagara rivei;
from Lewiston to drive the British from Queenstown
Heights. Colonel Van Rensselaer was severely
* The war ended Feb. 15,1815.306
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
wounded before the little force moved from the Canada
shore. Though General Wadsworth was charged with
the duty of superintending the moving of the troops,
and was entitled by his rank to command the force,
he promptly requested Captains Wool and Ogilvie,
officers of the regular army, who had seen service, to
direct the movements, and they resolutely pushed up
the hill, assaulted the entrenchments and drove the
enemy out. As the Americans entered the works,
General Brock came up from the direction of Fort
George, with a force double their number, and
attempted to drive them out. The battery that had
just been taken by our troops, was so efficiently
worked, however, that the British were driven back
in confusion, and General Brock, among others, was
killed. Reinforcements were at once ordered from
Lewiston, but the reluctance of the undisciplined
militia, fully 1,500 in number, to cross the river and
take part in defending the heights, (on the general
plea that they had volunteered to defend the “lines,”
and not to invade foreign territory,) so delayed the
work of preparation that an additional force of regu-
lar soldiers of the enemy, sent from Fort George,
under General Sheaffe, arrived, and the Indians also
collected from Chippewa, and by the middle of the
afternoon, after an obstinate fight, had re-taken the
entrenchments and either killed or made prisoners all
who had so gallantly and successfully stormed the
heights in the morning. Had our forces been sus-
tained as they should have been, by their companions
who stood passive on the opposite side of the river, they
^night have held the advantage so brilliantly won.
General Yan Rensselaer, who had crossed to the
American side to urge the militia to cross, on finding
that they would not do so, despatched a letter to Gen-
eral Wadsworth, who was in command, informingHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
307
him of the predicament, and leaving the course to be
pursued to his judgment, assuring him that if he
thought best to retreat, that boats would be furnished
and fire opened on the pursuers ; indeed, every meas-
ure would be taken to render the retreat as safe as
possible. The note, however, reached General Wads-
worth too late. He was already engaged with Gen-
eral Sheaffe when the despatch was placed in his
hands.*
The indisposition of the militia to respond to the
call of their officers so displeased General Van Rens-
selaer that he quit the service and returned to Albany.
He was succeeded by General Alexander Smyth, who
“took command of the American forces on the fron-
tier.” The surrender at Queenstown had depressed
the spirits of the army as well as of the whole country.
On taking command General Smyth planned a descent
upon Canada. Many of the New York militia had
shown an unwillingness to cross the Niagara river,
and, to stimulate their patriotism and encourage en-
listments, for a “month’s duty,” he issued, on the
10th of November, 1812, a flaming proclamation from
his “Camp near Buffalo.” In view of the utter fail-
ure of this enterprise, and of his total want of military
skill, the manifesto reads like the vaporings of a mas-
ter of comedy. The call, addressed “To the Men of
New York,” opens with a brief review of military
* General Yan Rensselaer says of General Wadsworth, in his account of
the battle of Queenstown, “ General Wadsworth, a brave and meritorious
officer, was requested to superintend the moving of the troopsand in his
letter of resignation he mentions as distinguished in this battle, General
Wadsworth and his aid, Major Spencer.
In the battle of Queenstown, when the ammunition ran low, Major Spencer,
(Wm. H. Spencer,) serving as aid to General Wadsworth, got off his horse,
ran along among the wounded and dead, gathered the cartridges from their
pouches into his hat, and distributed them to the advancing soldiers with the
encouraging injunction, “ Here, boys, are more balls. Now give it to ’em! ”#08
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
operations, followed by a sharp criticism of the course
of his predecessors in command. It continued thus:
“In a few days the troops under my command will
plant the American standard in Canada. They are
men accustomed to obedience, silence and steadiness.
They will conquer or they will die.” Referring to the
“ruthless deeds” of the officers of the British King,
he proceeds, ‘ ‘ Where I command, the vanquished and
the peaceful man, the child, the maid, and the matron,
shall be secure from wrong.” “The present is the
hour of renown. * * * You desire your share of
fame? Then seize the present moment. If you do
not you will regret it. Advance, then, to our aid. I
will wait for you a few days.” “ Come in companies,
half companies, pairs or singly. I will organize you
for a short tour. Ride to this place, if the distance is
far, and send back your horses.”
This call was promptly responded to in Western
New York. A company of about thirty was raised
in the village of Dansville, under command of Wil-
liam B. Rochester as captain. Sparta and Groveland
united in raising a company of about the same num-
ber. James Rosebrugh was captain and Timothy
Kennedy lieutenant. When they were ready to march
the weather was cold, and the frozen ground was cov-
ered with snow. The volunteers marched on foot to
Buffalo, where they were at once mustered in as
infantry. Soon after, on a cold winter night, the army
was marched down to the river at Black Rock, and
placed in boats, which lay in large numbers under the
shore. After some hours’ delay, expecting any mo-
ment to receive orders to move across and support the
advance force that had already been sent over, the
sound of a bugle was heard from the Canada side of
the river, followed soon after with the announcement
that the expedition, of which so much had been prom-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	309
ised, had been abandoned. Smyth himself remained
on the American side. Orders shortly came that the
volunteers should return to their homes, and the reg-
ulars to winter quarters. General Porter, who
strenuously urged that the army should cross over,
published Smyth as a coward. The army was indig-
nant, and the country felt disgraced. Smyth, who
was promptly relieved of his command by the Gov-
ernment without trial, and excluded from the regular
army, made his way to his home in Virginia on horse-
back, accompanied by his aid, to escape being mobbed
by the soldiers and populace. An officer who had
served with him met him on the road near Geneseo,
and says, “Smyth looked as if the d---1 had sent
his compliments to the braggart. He travelled under
the constant apprehension of being attacked.” In
passing the Benway farm in Groveland, he sighted a
hawk on a tree several rods from the road, and, pull-
ing a pistol from its holster, brought down the game
without stopping his horse. He spent the night at
Stout’s tavern in Dansville, where he had an oppor-
tunity to observe many a silent evidence of the popu-
lar prejudice against him.
These two failures caused much depression of spirits
throughout the country, and also a long and bitter
discussion. The militia were much blamed by some
for not promptly crossing the river and aiding Gene-
ral Wadsworth in the battle of Queenstown. But
while some condemned them without measure, others
justified their course. General Wadsworth himself,
though blaming them for not performing their duty,
was prompt to clefend them against the wholesale
aspersions of Eastern journals. In a letter to General
Van Rensselaer he wrote, “I do not now say where
the regulars or militia were who were not there to be
counted off and afterward surrendered. It is clear310
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
they were not where they ought to have been. It is
Major Spencer’s, as it is my opinion, that the whole
force surrendered by me, or, rather, which was em-
bodied, did not exceed, including officers, 400 men.
I am conscious that on the 13th and on every other
day during the campaign, I did, or endeavored to do
my duty. With this I shall rest satisfied, however
editors may estimate my services. I am aware the
militia have faults, but they have merit too, and of
that merit they ought not to be deprived unless it is
intended to render them useless in future.”*
General Wadsworth was made prisoner at Queens-
town and placed on parole. He went to Geneseo, and
while there, and before his exchange, General Smyth’s
fiasco occurred. He was impatient to return to the
service. He writes in December, while still on parole,
that “the epidemic, which originated on the lines, has
been spread through the country by the returning
volunteers, and is proving fatal to many of the inhab-
itants. I am not well and not without apprehension
that the epidemic may lay claim to me, but not, I
hope, until I* am exchanged and can see General
Smyth punished for his impudence and folly.”
Turner, in his “Phelps and Gorham Purchase,”
says: “ All the long delay of action, all the waste of
time and neglect of opportunities that the militia had
witnessed; and lastly, the errors of the commanding
General in reference to the crossing place and the
* Accompanying the letter were certificates from Colonel (Winfield) Scott
and Lieutenant Israel Turner, 13th U. S. Inf. The former certifies that the
number of troops under his command, formed in two divisions in the 13th,
did not exceed 130, exclusive of (11) officers, at the time the retreat was
ordered. There were 253 militia infantry and rifles embodied. These certif-
icates General Wadsworth requested General Yan Rensselaer not to publish,
adding, “ Too much has already been published. We did not lug politics into
the camp, and I do not see why we should bo lugged into the political discus
sions of the day.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
311
inadequate preparations for crossing, did not dampen
the ardor or patriotism of the men of Western New
York. In fact, we have it upon the authority of
General Van Kensselaer himself that he brought on
the conflict because the temper of these men would
not brook further delay.” * * * * “They soon
realized the fatal omission to supply boats for cross-
ing, and this, in itself, was a most untoward beginning
of the day’s work.” And after graphically portray-
ing the scenes of that attempt to cross the river under
a heavy fire, he says, “ It is amid the. clash, the smoke,
the excitement of battle, that courage rises and enner-
vates; it sinks even with the brave, when they are
surrounded by the dead and the dying, and are in a
state of inaction. Still the militia pressed forward
and endeavored to cross. When they refused to do
so it was under the deliberate conviction, induced by
all they had seen of that fatal morning’s work, that
all was lost; that with the vastly inadequate means of
crossing a sufficient force could not be landed at one
time, to insure a eonquest, and only enough for suc-
cessive sacrifices. In no case, in all the annals of
battles, have undisciplined militia continued to stand
firm, and press on when there was so much to discour-
age; so little to hope for.” * * * * “Too long
have the surviving men of Western New York, and
the memories of the dead, been allowed to rest under
censures mainly undeserved.” * * * “Those of
them who crossed the river and bravely fought, have
had but little credit for it,” and “who gallantly
strived for laurels in a conflict so illy arranged and
provided for.”
From about the 1st of December, 1812, to the mid-
dle of March, 1813, a disease, spoken of by General
Wadsworth in the letter just quoted, and known to
physicians as typhoid pneumonia, prevailed in West-312
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ern New York as an epidemic, and malignant in form.
The late Dr. Lyman N. Cook, of Dansville, who had
good opportunity, professionally, for judging of its
severity, says: “I doubt its ever having been more
malignant or fatal at any time or place. The cold
chill, which suddenly came on, was of such severity
and duration that it was generally denominated the
‘Cold Plague,’ and many cases terminated fatally
without reaction being restored. The fatality was
about the same as in cholera—one in three—but as
fatal cases leave a. stronger and more lasting impres-
sion on the mind than cases of recovery, I presume
the rate of mortality is generally believed to have
been greater.” Such, indeed, is the impression.
The pioneers refer to the “epidemic” as usually
proving fatal. There is scarcely a burying ground
in the country that is not strewn with the graves
of its victims. The disease originated in the Brit-
ish army in Canada, and passed into the Amer-
ican army in camp on the Niagara frontier.
Hospital accommodations were then so poor that
where patients were in a condition to be removed, they
were allowed to return to their homes, and while the
medical profession did not hold that the disease was
contagious, yet, as it broke out in the settlements so
soon after its appearance in the army and the return
of the sick soldiers, the conviction fastened itself upon
the minds of the pioneers that it was communicated
in this way, which is probably true. It rapidly spread
over the United States, arriving in Florida in about
three years. This disease, which “has repeatedly
prevailed in different portions of the United States, as
an epidemic, often of wide extent, and, in its earlier
visitations producing an amount of mortality truly
appalling,” is described as “a state of congestion or
inflammation, more or less intense, of the lungs,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	313
accompanied by that impairment of the sensorial pow-
ers and morbid condition of the circulation and of the
organism generally, which characterize the more grave
forms of typhus fever. Instances are known in which
the patient was found dead, or died within three or
four hours after being apparently well.* Of the
cough, which usually came on within the first twenty -
four hours, and the “remarkable pink-colored suffu-
sion of the whole face,” (common symptoms of the
disease) an early settler says: “ Swollen-faced, rose
colored patients would be found barking in every
house throughout the settlement—calomel and hem-
lock for sweating, the usual remedies, were in constant
demand. Some got well, but many died. Though
long years have passed away since the horrors of the
epidemic were a present thing, yet the general features
of the disease are so clearly fixed in my recollection
that I feel safe in asserting that the spotted'fever,
which has so recently prevailed in this region, is iden-
tical with epidemic or cold plague.” In this view
some medical authorities concur, though it is authori-
tatively held that the two diseases are totally different.
One is inflammation of the lungs; the other inflam-
mation of the covering of the brain and spinal cord,
the only resemblance being that both are epidemic.
On the 27th of May, 1813, Fort George, which stood
on the Canada side of the Niagara river, opposite
Fort Niagara, was taken by the Americans. On the
night fof the 6th of June following, the British fell
upon the American camp, but were repulsed. At this
time the army was 6,000 strong, under command of
Generals Lewis, Chandler, Boyd and Winder, who
were with their brigades, and Colonels Scott and Me-
* Watson’s Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic, p, 602.
Prof. Samuel Henry Dickson calls the disease, Pneumonia Typhoides.314
HISTORV OB' LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Comb with their regiments, while Commodore Chaun-
cey, Capt. Perry and other naval officers were present.
The capture of Port George was the first extensive
military operation of the war.
After the capture of Fort George, General Dear-
born, commanding the American army, landed, and
the next day ordered the British General Vincent and
his flying troops to be pursued, when it was too late.
Generals Winder and Chandler were sent in pursuit,
but were assaulted at Forty Mile Creek on the 3d of
June by Lieutenant Colonel Harvey, and both Generals
were taken. As soon as Dearborn was informed of this
disaster he sent forward General Morgan Lewis with
more troops to join Colonel James Burn and bring
Vincent to action, which Lewis was well disposed to
do. Delays occurred, and at last, on the 23d of June,
the final mishap of our campaign in Canada that sum-
mer occurred. Colonel Charles Boerstler, then lately
promoted to the command of the 14th Regt. of Infan-
try, was permitted to take 600 men to a considerable
distance, contrary to obvious injunctions of prudence,
600 men out of reach of support, to destroy a British
lodgment. On the 24th of June he arrived to within
a short distance of the Beaver Dams, and seventeen
miles from Dearborn at Fort George, when, as he was
about to attack a stone house in which Colonel Bishopp
was entrenched, he was suddenly beset by between
500 and 600 Indians on one side, and a small party of
English under Lieutenant Fitz Gibbon on the other.
After a long fight, Boerstler, alarmed by the threats
of the savages, and deluded by offers of capitulation,
out of reach of succor, and with only a hopeless strug-
gle before him, surrendered his whole command with
tears in his eyes.
Congress had been in session a month when this
event occurred, the climax of continual tidings ofHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
315
mismanagement. Such was the feeling of impatience
aroused by these disasters that a committee of Con-
gress waited on President Madison with the request
that General Dearborn be removed from a command
which so far had been so unfortunate. The President
assented to this request, and another geneial was
appointed to the command of the American forces.
In September, 1813, the independent artillery com-
pany of Geneseo, under command of Captain John
Peirce, about 60 strong, volunteered for three months'
service. When the order came to move, private John
Haynes of Lakeville was engaged in clearing a piece
of new ground; the other members were likewise
engaged in their ordinary avocations. They were sent
to Lewiston heights and there assigned to guard duty
in Major General Wadsworth’s division. They took
out a brass six pounder. All the members, save one
who came from Groveland, were from the village and
town of Geneseo. Their lieutenant was John Gray.
Their first term of service was without special incident,
save that in common with other militiamen they
refused to cross the Niagara river. Captain Peirce
had been placed in charge of a battalion, and the men,
after the end of their term, without being formally
mustered out, returned to their homes.
In September, 1814, the company again volunteered
as minute men, and were ordered to the Canada fron-
tier and there detailed for garrison duty at Fort
George, near Lewiston. When the British crossed
the river to retake Fort Niagara, a band of Indians
and a company of British regulars attempted to cap-
ture this company. Unable to withstand the attack
of this force, which proved to be much greater than
their own, the men were ordered to save themselves.
Each therefore made his best speed. Looking around
soon after starting, private Haynes saw the enemy316	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
close upon their rear, and the men striking back with
their swords. A private soldier named Jones, and
another named Hubbard, were never heard of after
this retreat. In the same melee private Timothy
Orton was killed by the roadside a hundred yards
east of Lewiston village. Mr. Haynes had been
ordered by the lieutenant commanding to get away as
best he could, but, encumbered with knapsack, sword
and musket, he could not readily mount his horse.
“Hand me your musket,” said the officer. This done,
Haynes mounted, and as he did so the cannon passed
him, the horses being pushed to the top of their speed.
In crossing a ditch one of the horses stumbled, and a
few feet farther up, being forced up the steep bank,
they both fell. Some one called out, ‘ ‘ For God’s sake,
go, they are coming! ” He looked back and saw the
enemy in full force close upon them ; so severing the
traces he left the cannon and brought off the horses.
A few days after Orton’s death his father and
Esquire Fay went out after his remains. He had been
buried, but the man who performed this act, at once
pointed out the grave, for he immediately recognized
a strong family likeness between father and son, and
he had also remarked a conspicuous scar on the face
of the corpse, made by the kick of a horse, thus leav-
ing no doubt as to its identity. The remains were
reinterred near Lakeville* a fortnight after the death,
in presence of hundreds of sympathising friends and
neighbors.
The company took part in the battles of Lundy’s
Lane and Bridgewater, and fifty who were ordered to
Fort Erie, participated in the battle of Chippewa, in
the sortie at Fort Erie,—one of the most splendid
* He lies in the burial ground on the hill, a mile north of Upper Lakeville,
beside the highway leading from Geneseo. The grave is marked by a stone
with this simple inscription: “ Timothy Orton, Died Dec. 19, 1813.”HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
317
achievements of the war,—and in the action that pre-
ceded the blowing up of that fort. On the evening
preceding the sortie, General Porter came into the
fort to obtain re-inforcements for the party about to
storm the enemy’s works, which were situated in the
swamp near at hand. A muster of the garrison was
accordingly ordered. Of the company about 80 were
present. Stirring speeches were made, and the Gene-
rals said that the British entrenchments were soon to
be stormed and they were short of men to carry mus-
kets. All who had nerve enough for the duty were
therefore asked to volunteer. Although the dragoons
were not required to carry muskets, 21 of the com-
pany stepped forward. Dr. D. H. Bissell and Judge
Gilles were among the first to do so ; and in the order
of march, these two men continued on the right of
the line, up to the enemy’s breastworks. The force
marched from the fort to a large oak tree and there
halted a moment. One of the Generals here asked if
any one present had a full canteen of spirits. Dr.
Bissell offered his. Each general and staff officer took
a drink, and returned it nearly empty. Five minutes
later they were engaged in a deadly conflict with the
enemy.
In December, 1813, General Lewis having replaced
General Dearborn as commander of the American
forces, left Colonel Scott in charge of Fort George, at
that time our only foothold in that part of Canada,
after nearly two years’ fighting. Eager to share the
honors of the capture of Montreal, Scott, as permit-
ted, left the fort under the command of General Mc-
Clure of the New York militia, and joined the force
organizing for the Montreal campaign. After Scott’s
departure, the British Lieut. General Drummond
resolved, with 1,200 men, to retake Fort George. Mc-
Clure proved no match for Drummond in spirit, if in318
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
force, or for Colonel Murray who brought on the
English advance. After a vaporing proclamation to
the Canadians, as if they were a conquered people,
the General, on the defeat of one of his scouting par-
ties, called a council of war which resolved to aban-
don the fort as untenable, although Scott left it well
provided with artillery and amunition, with open com-
munication to one side of the river, and complete for
resistance. The fort was abandoned and dismantled,
and McClure, not satisfied with simply abandoning a
good position, set fire to the flourishing village of
Newark, destroying one hundred and fifty houses and
turning more than four hundred women and children
out of doors. On crossing the river he saw from Fort
Niagara these people taking shelter from the wintry
blasts at Queenstown, opposite, and fired red-hot shot
at that place to deprive them of shelter there also.
This barbarous conduct inflamed the enemy, and
gathered a force of British and Indians, and making
due preparations, they attacked Fort Niagara, which,
after a feeble resistance of the garrison, surrendered
at discretion. Thenceforward, until the close of the
war, the British held this fort. After capturing it,
which event occurred oh the 19th of December, 1813,
they, in retaliation for the burning of Newark, laid
Youngstown, Lewiston, Manchester (now Niagara
Falls), and the Tuscarora Indian village in ashes. On
the 30th of December, the little villages of Black Rock
and Buffalo * were destroyed in like manner. With
* When the news that Buffalo was burned reached Conesus, through Cap-
tain Tyler of Livonia, (who was killed in the war,) two brothers, Joseph
Richardson, a cripple, and Jonathan, resolved to take their teams and convey
soldiers to the lines. Joseph was killed at Black Rock by a ball which
passed through his heart. The friends sent to Buffalo for his remains and
they were buried in Livonia. Jonathan was taken prisoner, carried to Mon-
treal and Halifax, and after six months reached home. On his way to Mon-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	319
Fort Niagara, the British captured 300 men, an im-
mense quantity of commissarat stores, 3,000 stands of
arms, several pieces of ordnance and a large number
of rifles. Sixty-five of our men were put to death
with the bayonet, and the British had reason to feel
that they had amply revenged McClure’s cruel course.
Turner, in speaking of this event, says: “ The citi-
zens commenced their flight soon after the first repulse
of our troops at Black Bock; but few lingered until
after daylight. After putting in requisition all the
available means of conveyance—even to the last yoke
of oxen and sled—many of the women and children
were under the necessity of fleeing on foot, wading in
the snow at an inclement season, illy prepared for the
vicissitudes they encountered. In all the distance
from Buffalo to Batavia, during the day, there was
upon the road an almost unbroken procession of citi-
zens, panic stricken soldiers, pressing on in the retreat
as if they were hotly pursued ; and the wounded and
sick, in sleighs or upon litters. Other avenues of
flight, especially the south road, through what is now
Aurora, Sheldon, Warsaw, &c., to the Genesee river,
presented similar scenes. The taverns were soon
exhausted of their means of feeding the hungry
throng, private houses yielded to the importunities of
the famishing stinted supplies of provisions that had
been stored for the winter’s use. From the start upon
the frontier, the first and second day, the throngs were
constantly increasing by the addition of families along
the roads that would hastily pile a few of their house-
hold goods upon sleighs, horse and hand sleds, and
join in the flight. After the first day’s flight, those
who were considerate enough to realize that they were
treal he was urged forward, on the march, at the point of the bayonet.
While in prison he was nearly starved to death. Joseph Bichardson, Jr.,
son of the Joseph named above, made his escape before Buffalo was taken.320
HI8T0BY OB LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
out of danger, would take quiet possession of de-
serted houses without the formality of a lease. Upon
the old Buffalo road, Batavia was the first stopping
place, and the small village was soon filled to over-
flowing; private houses, offices, out-houses, were
thrown open to shelter the wearied and suffering who
had been driven from the frontier. As a measure of
precaution, the books and papers of the Holland
Company’s Land Office, were removed over the river to
Lima.” ****** “West of a north and
south line that would pass through the village of Le
Roy, more than one-half of the entire population had
been driven from their homes by the enemy, or had
left them in fear of extended invasion. Entire back-
woods neighborhoods were deserted, hundreds of log
cabins were desolate, and the signs and sounds of life
were mostly the deserted cattle and sheep, lowing and
bleating, famishing for the lack of fodder there were
none left to deal out to them. Between the boundary
that has been named and the Genesee river, there had
been less of flight; the tide flowing eastward had been
partially arrested; many wishing to stop as near their
deserted homes as their ideas of safety would allow,
found friendly shelter for the winter among those who
remained undisturbed. The largest portion of the
refugees, however, were hospitably provided for east
of the Genesee river.”
In the spring of 1814, Captain Enos Stone of Roch-
ester, Lieutenant Claudius Y. Boughton of Pittsford
and Abell Parkhurst of Lima, ensign, raised a com-
pany of cavalry for short service. Governor Tomp-
kins had received permission from President Madison
to organize a few thousand six months men, and this
company was accepted under that authority. The
enlistment roll was opened in March and the company
was full in April. The men were drawn mainly fromHISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
321
Lima, Bloomfield and Pittsford, with a few from Lei-
cester. They rendezvoused at Rochester and were
there mustered into Porter’s Volunteer Dragoon?.
This force was ordered to the mouth of the Genesee
river, where a command of 2,500 men was collected
and stationed along the side-hill facing the lake, to
prevent the British troops from moving up the river,
as they were then threatening to do. Scarcely had
the dragoons reached Charlotte before several of the
enemy’s vessels entered the harbor and commenced
throwing shot and shell into our lines. Temporary
earthworks were thrown up and fire opened on the
ships, which soon hauled away.
Soon after this affair, General Porter and several of
his officers, among whom was Dr. Bissell, now of Gen-
eseo, took a trip on horseback through Ontario and
Cayuga counties for the sake of drill and to encourage
enlistments. At Aurora, Gfeneral Porter, Colonel
Stone and Captain Boughton plunged into the lake,
and the company officers rode in after them and mis-
chieveously crowded them farther from shore, to the
great merriment of the male spectators, but to the
annoyance of their superiors and the consternation of
the ladies who had assembled.
Captain Stone, soon after entering the service, was
promoted to a colonelcy, and Lieutenant Boughton
took command of the company. Colonel Stone was
afterwards suspended from command, for permitting,
as officer of the day, his soldiers to burn the village of
St. Davids, opposite Lewiston, in retaliation of some
feuds between them and the Canadians. He was
indignantly disarmed by the commanding officer and
discharged, and while on his way home from the army,
died at Le Roy of a broken heart. He felt that he
had been greatly wronged, and doubtless was innocent
of any intentional impropriety. The burning of this322	HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
village occurred just after the Ibattle of Chippewa had
been won, and while General Brown was resting in
doubt whether to attack Fort George, or to follow up
and attack Biall. It was the only wrong of the cam-
paign, and was promptly punished, though a worthy
officer suffered disgrace thereby.
Captain Boughton afterward resided in Victor,
Ontario county, and represented that county in the
Assembly. Lieutenant Parkhurst died in Lima about
the year 1832.
The company entered the service 162 strong, and
when mustered out numbered only 48 men. The oth-
ers had either been killed in battle, died of wounds
or camp disease, or been taken prisoners. But very
few had deserted.
On tlie 15th of July, 1814, General Porter, with his
brigade of volunteers, Major Wood of the Engineers,
and Captain Ritchie with two pieces of artillery, drove
in the British pickets at Fort George and formed the
brigade within a mile of the fort, in full view of the
enemy, with little opposition. Colonel Wilcocke with
his American Canadians, Captains Hall, Harding
and Freeman, of the New York Volunteers, and a
company of Indian warriors, advanced under cover
of a copse of trees to within musket shot of the fort,
and gave Major Wood, with hardly any loss, an op-
portunity to examine the works; only a few of Cap-
tain Boughton’s New York Cavalry being surprised
and captured.
After the battle of Lundy’s Lane, which occurred
on the 25th of July, in which the British General
Drummond was so badly worsted, a whole week
elapsed before he was able to move forward. On the
3d of August he stationed 4,000 troops two miles east
of Fort Erie, with a wood between 'the fort and his
encampment. Finding the fort too strong for assault,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
323
he determined to besiege it. The following day he
made an unsuccessful attempt on the American mag-
azines, which General Brown had transferred to Buf-
falo, prudently guarded by Major Morgan, with part
of the rifle regiment taken from Fort Erie.	m-
During several days Drummond was busy with
preparations to take Fort Erie, while Gaines, who had
command of the fort, was equally active in prepara-
tions for defense. Both sides were reinforced, and at
sunrise of August 13th, Drummond’s arrangements
being completed, the engagement commenced with a
severe cannonading. About sunset of the 14th a
British shell burst in the magazine of the battery com-
manded by Captain Williams, and blew it up with a
tremendous explosion, but without doing any material
damage.
At 2 o’clock on the morning of the 15th, the British
troops, in three columns of about 1,500 men each,
moved in obscurity and silence to the assault. Their
watchward was “steel,” and General Drummond's
written orders of attack recommended a free use of
the bayonet. Afterward, when the two armies were
in deadly conflict, his voice was often heard shouting,
with profane brutality, to give the “ damned Yankees
no quarter.” Several instances of revolting cruelty
on the part of the British soldiers occurred. To
repulse Drummond’s attack, the American forces had
been well disposed. General Gaines’ position was on
the margin of the lake, where the Niagara river
empties into it. The ground was a level plain, a few
feet above the water, and was strengthened by breast-
works in front, entrenchments and batteries. Fort
Erie, small and unfinished, was defended by Captain
Williams, supported by Major Trimble’s infantry.
General Porter, with his brigade of New York and
Pennsylvania volunteers, occupied the center. The324	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
left was defended by Major McRae, with the 9th Regi-
ment under Captain Foster, and New York and Penn-
sylvania volunteers under Captains Boughton and
Harding. The fight continued until nearly dawn,
■^hen the enemy fled in complete disorder and dismay,
and our victory was a decided and glorious one.
During the month following this engagement, very
little was done by either army: At the end of that
time General Brown, who had again assumed com-
mand of the American forces, determined upon a
sortie from Fort Erie. The British army, consisting
of three infantry brigades of 1,200 or 1,500 men each,
besides artillery, were encamped in a field surrounded
by woods, nearly two miles from their batteries and
entrenchments, in order to avoid the American fire.
A brigade of infantry attended the artillerists when at
work. Two batteries were completed, and a third was
in rapid course of construction, all mounted with
heavy guns, one of them a 68 pounder, and all well
supplied with ammunition. These works General
Brown determined to attack. For seven days pre-
ceding the sortie there was a continual equinoctial
storm of rain, which did not, however, prevent fre-
quent skirmishes, and favored many desertions from
the English camp. General Brown decided to attack
the enemy’s works by day, as being then least guarded,
and an attack least expected. He had made himself
carefully acquainted with the topography of the
vicinity, and had had his soldiers cut roads through
the woods, unperceived, close to the enemy. Colonel
Jessup, with the 25th Regiment, remained in charge
of the fort, and soon after noon of the 17th of Sep-
tember, the men were'paraded and got ready for the
attack. The left column, destined for Drummond’s
right, was placed under General Porter, to penetrate
circuitously between the British batteries and camp,HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	325
thus to surprise and overpower the one-third at work
before the other two-thirds off duty in camp could
come to their help. Of Porter’s three columns, Colo-
nel Gibson, with two hundred of his rifle regiment and
some Indians, led the advance. Lieutenant Colonel
Wood, with 400 infantry headed by Major Brooke of
the 23d, with that and the 1st regiments, had the
right, supported by 500 militia of the regiments of
Colonels Dobbin, McBumey and Fleming, which force
was to attack the batteries. The rain fell in torrents,
hence the free use of firearms was rendered impossible.
Porter led his column close up to the enemy’s entrench-
ments, turned their right without being perceived by
their pickets, and soon carried by storm battery No. 3,
together with a strong blockhouse.
In half an hour after the first shot, the three batter-
ies and two blockhouses were taken, the magazine
blown up, all the guns rendered useless, and every
object of the sortie accomplished, with considerable
loss, indeed, but with a success beyond General
Brown’s most sanguine expectations.
^he Americans retired with 385 prisoners, many of
them officers, and the total British loss was reckoned
at 1,000. General Brown’s loss was about half that
number. Owing to the rain, which, as has been
remarked, prevented the free use of rifles and muskets,
the most of the battle was fought hand to hand.
This sortie was by far the most splendid achieve-
ment of the campaign, whether we consider th| bold-
ness of the conception, the excellence of the plan, or
the ability with which it was executed. To General
Brown the whole credit is due, although he had the
enthusiastic support of Porter and several of the
younger field officers. Brown was advised not to
make the sortie, and at a council of officers held the
evening before, they decided against it, but he did not326	HISTOET OF LIVINGSTON COUNTV.
give up. In Ms emphatic manner he said, “ As sure
as there is a God in heaven, the enemy shall be
attacked in his works, and beaten too, so soon as all
the volunteers shall have passed over.”
General Izard joined Brown and Gaines in October,
1814. At Washington and everywhere the belief pre-
vailed that Izard would capture Drummond. On the
18th of October, 900 men of Izard’s second brigade,
under Colonel Bissell, the 5th Infantry under Colonel
Pickney, a battalion of the 14th under Major Barnard,
the 15th under Major Griedage, the 16th under Colonel
Pearce, with rifle companies commanded by Captains
Irvin and Darman, and a small body of dragoons,
were sent to Cook’s mill, twelve miles north of Chip-
pewa, to capture some flour there. The next day the
Marquis of Tweedale, with a select corps of 1,200 men
from the British entrenchments, attacked Bissell, who
defeated and put them to precipitate flight in great
confusion.
The Americans abandoned and destroyed Fort Erie
November 5th, 1814, and crossing the river, went into
winter quarters at Buffalo, Black Bock and Batavia.
On the 15th of February, 1815, the war ended, and
the settlers were once more permitted to lay down
their arms and return to their homes, and the peaceful
avocations of their rural life. It will be noticed that
no attempt has been made, in this chapter, to give a
detailed account of this struggle, and nothing has been
said of the operations our armies in other parts of the
country than the Niagara frontier, the writer’s aim
being simply to give some account of those military
operations in which the settlers of the Genesee coun-
try were directly interested, and in which they partic-
ipated. The complete history of the war has already
been written by historians with whose works the
reader is presumably familiar, and it is neither withinHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	327
the province of this work or the desire of the writer to
again review it. Conscious that the details of this
disjointed narative are very meager, enough has been
told to show that the early settlers of this region
responded readily when their country was in danger,
as they and their fathers had done in the Revolution-
ary war; and it is seen that the service they were called
upon to perform, was of the most arduous and dan-
gerous character. In it some gave their all, their
lives, while others returned to their homes, to enjoy
for many years, the fruits of their dearly bought vic-
tory. And some we still have with us, aged but hon-
ored and useful citizens, to whom it is a pleasure to
listen as they recount the trials and sufferings, the
reverses and victories of this second war with Great
Britain.
The result of this struggle was highly beneficial to
the Genesee country. Many of the difficulties with
which the early settlers had had to contend were
removed, and life and property became more secure.
The jurisdictional limits of Great Britain were defined
and established, and thenceforth there was no inter-
ference with the,progress of the settlements, as there
had been previously with Sodus and other places.
Little mention has been made here of individual
settlers who participated in the war, but the names of
others will appear in the town sketches. Livingston
furnished her full quota of troops when men were
needed, and her record is one of which we have just
reason to be proud. It is said that one town alone
(Avon) lost more men in defense of the frontier than
the entire county of Niagara. Of the patriotic devo-
tion of the early settlers, no more need be said than
this.
After the close of the war the tide of emigration set
strongly in the direction of the Genesee country, and328
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the growth of the settlements was exceedingly rapid.
The “cold summer” of 1816, indeed, acted as a check
for a time, but subsequent favorable seasons, with
their abundant crops, gave a new impulse to emigra-
tion, and in spite of the great drawback of a lack of
markets for their surplus grain, settlers came in a
steady stream. The wild forests disappeared, well-
tilled fields began to dot the landscape, and flourish-
ing villages sprang up here and there, where a few
years previous only dense forests, with the red men
as their only inhabitants, had existed.
About the 1st of October, 1814, Jerediah Horsford
settled in Mount Morris. This good old man who has
but recently (1875) passed away, was bora in the town
of Charlotte, Chittendon county, Vermont, on the 8th
of March, 1791. His parents lived in a sparsely settled
part of the State, and all about them was a dense for-
est. At the age of 6 years he was sent to the district
school, two miles distant. The following winter a
school was opened about sixty rods from his father’s
house, but it was not intended by his parents that he
should attend, and it had not, probably, occurred to
them that he could go, during the winter season, when
the groundjwas covered with snow, as he had not, up
to that period of his life, known the luxury of shoes.
But he urged his parents to allow him to attend school,
and actually did, for several winters, attend the school
barefooted. His method of surmounting this diffi-
culty was both original and ingenious. Procuring a
thick pine board, large enough for him to place both
feet upon it, he heated it thoroughly before the fire.
Taking this in his hand he would start at the top of
his speed through the snow, until his feet began to
suffer from cold. He would then stop, stand upon
the board until his feet were warmed, and then start
again, and after two or three such stoppages wouldHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
329
reach the coveted goal. It may be imagined that one
who evinced such zeal and determination in his efforts
to acquire an education, would make the most of his
opportunities. This was true of young Horsford,
who, although working on his father’s farm every
summer, and often! in winter being required to assist
in chopping and preparing the year’s supply of wood,
kept up his studies, and made such good progress
that at the age of 18 he was employed at $10 a month
to teach a district school, a vocation he pursued for
four consecutive winters. With the opening of his
first school he united with a dozen young men in his
native village in the formation of a debating society,
which for several years held its regular meetings and
proved an efficient aid to Horsford in his intellectual,
advancement.
In the spring of 1814 Mr. Horsford resolved to seek
his fortune in a new country at the west. With this
object in view he gathered together all the little prop -
erty he was worth, consisting of an old horse and a
very cheap lumber wagon and single harness, all
worth about $70, and $200 in cash, and on the 29th of
March started for the Genesee Yalley. He located at
Mount Morris, and commenced farming, a pursuit he
followed until late in life. In 1816 he was married to
Maria C. Norton, daughter of Ebenezer Norton of
Goshen, Conn. Soon after settling here he was hon-
ored by Governor DeWitt Clinton with a lieutenant’s
commission in the militia. ■ This was soon followed
by a captain’s commission which he held for six years,
when he was promoted to a colonelcy. Holding this
commission for two years he asked for and obtained
an honorable discharge.
In the spring of 1817 Mr. Horsford removed to Mos-
cow where he opened a public house. This business
he followed for twelve years, using and dealing in330
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
intoxicating liquors, as was the universal custom in
those days. Mature reflection upon the subject, how-
ever, convinced him that the traffic in alcoholic drinks
was immoral in tendency, productive of a vast amount
of suffering in the community, and, in fact, wrong.
He therefore abandoned the liquor business, but kept
his house open for a few months, until, finding that
he could not make any profit except by selling liquor,
he took down his sign, fully determined never there-
after to engage in business which could not be carried
on without the aid of intoxicating drinks.
“ When I commenced business in Moscow,” says
Mr. Horsford, ‘ ‘ the travel on the east and west road
through the place had become very considerable,
especially in the winter season, when emigrants from
the east were in great numbers passing to the west
and southwest.’ ’ At this time there were three public
houses in Moscow, each of which was doing a fair
business. Mr. Horsford says that “in those days it
was the custom, and the practice was almost universal,
with families that were moving, to take their own beds
and provisions along with them, cook and eat at pub-
lic houses as they could, and spread their beds, which
were not always any too clean, on the floor at night,
when they usually seemed to rest quite soundly.
This practice was by no means confined to low life.
I will cite one instance of the opposite extreme. At
the close of the administration of John Quincy Adams,
Peter B. Porter, his Secretary of War, on retiring
from office at Washington, came across the country
from Philadelphia, on his way home, in a heavy lum-
ber wagon, described at that time as a ‘ Pennsylvania
wagon,’ drawn by two heavy horses. Mr. Porter, his
wife, children, servant girl and teamster all passed a
night at my house. At the usual hour for retiring
beds were brought in from the. wagon and spread onHTSTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
331
the floor for Mrs. Porter, the children and domestic.
Mrs. Porter, in consequence of her position, was asked
and even urged to let the younger portion of the fam-
ily occupy the beds on the floor, and herself retire
with her husband. This proposition she very respect-
fully declined, saying she had slept on the floor every
night since leaving Washington and preferred to do
so until she should reach her own home at Black
Eock. It was not unusual to have four or five beds
spread on the floor at the same time, and occupied by
families moving.”
During the winter of 1814-15 Mr. Horsford taught
the district school at Hunt’s Corners, in the town of
Grroveland ; in the summer of 1815 the district school
at Mount Morris ; and during the winter of 1815-16
he taught an Indian school at Squaukie Hill, under an
engagement with the Synod of Geneva. At this time
the number of Indians, young and old, residing at
this place, was about eighty.
The “cold summer” of 1816, before alluded to, was
a time of great calamity. Save for the loss of life,
Turner says it was as severe in its effects as the war.
He says, “June frosts almost entirely destroyed the
summer crops ; in the forepart of the month pools of
water were covered with ice. Upon one occasion,
especially, in a forenoon, after the sun had'dissipated
the frosts, the fields and gardens looked like prairies
that have been scorched with fire. Summer crops,
other than the hardier grains, were crisped and black-
ened ; the hopes and dependence of the people were
destroyed. The wheat harvest was mostly protracted
until September, previous to which, in all the more
recently settled towns and neighborhoods, there was
much suffering for food. Wheat was from $2 to $3
per bushel before harvest, and in the absence of sum-
mer crops, the price but slightly declined after harvest.332
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The inhabitants of nearly all the Holland Purchase,
and all of Allegany depended upon the older settle-
ments in Ontario for bread. The Indians upon the
Genesee river had a small surplus of corn of the crop
of 1815, which the white inhabitants bought, paying
as high as $2 per bushel. In the new settlements
wheat and rye was shelled out while in the milk,
boiled and eaten as a substitute for bread; while in
many instances, the occupants of log cabins in the
wilderness, subsisted for months and weeks upon wild
roots, herbs and milk. The season of 1816 was the
climax of cold seasons; that of 1817—the commence-
ment of a series of fruitful ones; of plenty, and
would have been of prosperity if there had been re-
munerating markets for produce.”
The condition of Western New York in 1817 is well
described by Franklin Cowdery, in the Cuylerville
Telegraph of March 18th, 1848, of which journal he
was then the publisher, in an article entitled “Forty
Years a Typo.” ' He says: “Western New York, in
1817, was verdant and woody, and roads and bridges
not much for accommodation. The ice in the winter
and a rope ferry in the summer were the substitutes
for a bridge over the Genesee river between Moscow
and Geneseo. The only paper mill was Dr. James
Faulkner’s at Dansville, a place of hardly tenements
enough to entitle it to the name of a village. Mt.
Morris had a tavern, a few mechanics, and a small
store kept by Allen Ayrault. Hon John H. Jones, of
Leicester, kept an inn and was first judge of Genesee
Co.
“Moscow square, covered with bushes, had been
just laid out and a few small frame erections put up,
and two or three tenements removed there from Lei-
cester, about a mile, standing. An academy, in a
rough looking cabin of two rooms, male and femaleHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
333
departments, with perhaps a dozen or fifteen students
in all, was kept by Ogden M. Willey, and Miss Sarah
H. Raymond of Connecticut. A low brick school-
room, at the east end of the square, was the meeting
house on Sundays. A blacksmith shop, a tavern, a
store, and a printing office, made up the rest of the
village. Deputy Sheriff Jenkins kept the inn, N.
Ayrault, P. M., the store, and Richard Stevens was
the blacksmith. There was a Dr. Palmer, lawyer
Baldwin, and a justice who had been a minister, Rev.
Silas Hubbard ; and there was a hatter, Homer Sher-
wood, and a tanner and shoemaker, Abijah Warren.”
In a subsequent article Mr. Cowdery adds: “There
were other inhabitants at the beginning of Moscow,
not in mind at the setting up ot our preceding chap-
ter, namely, Benjamin Perry, tanner and shoemaker,
successor to A. Warren ; Moses Ball, cabinet maker;
Theodore Thompson, grocer; Levi Street, stage pro-
prietor and eventually inn-keeper; Peter Palmer,
Sen., a cooper and natural poet, and Widow Dutton,
one of whose daughters is the lady of Dr. Bissell,
Canal Commissioner.”
The printing office referred to by Mr. Cowdery, be-
longed to Hezekiah Ripley, who had in January, 1817,
established the first paper published in the county,
and two or three weeks later employed Cowdery as a
“typo.” It seems incredible now that the thinly
settled Genesee country at that time could have had
any need of a public journal, or the ability to sup-
port one, yet this newspaper venture in the wilderness
seems to have at least maintained its existence, though
subscribers must have been few and far between, and
advertisers even more rare phenomena. The paper
was started under the name of “Genesee Farmer.”
Afterward Mr. Cowdery was admitted to the concern
as a partner, the paper enlarged and its title changed334
HISTOBY OB LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
to “Moscow Advertiser and Genesee Parmer.” In a
few months the partnership was dissolved, and Rip-
ley, again sole proprietor, dropped the last half of
the title. James Percival became proprietor January
8th, 1824, and moving the office to Geneseo July 16th,
1824, changed the name of the paper to “TheLiving-
ston Register.”
On the 15th of July, 1819, William Burbank adver-
tised in the “Moscow Advertiser” that he had taken
the stand at the river, between Geneseo and Moscow,
‘1 which he is fitting up for the accommodation of
travellers.” *	*	*	“ He also assures travellers
that no exertions shall be wanting to give them a safe
and expeditious conveyance across the river. A new
boat will be immediately built, when he will be able
to ferry any teams that shall travel our roads.”
In the same paper as the above, of date March 11,
1819, under the head of Assembly proceedings it is
stated that “the bill to divide the towns of Livonia
and Groveland, in the county of Ontario, was rejected
in committee of the whole, for want of sufficient notice
of the application.”
Another notice in the same number of this pioneer
journal serves to show where the early settlers found
their most remunerative market. William H. Spen-
cer announces that “any person living the west side
the Genesee river, who contemplates sending pork,
flour or ashes, to the Montreal market the present or
ensuing season, can be accommodated with storage,
and have their property forwarded if desired. Ware-
house Point is about four miles below Moscow. The
advantages of the place for storing property is, that
it saves 12 or 15 miles boating, that would be required,
was the landing to be at the Ferry-place, between
Geneseo and Moscow.”
A large share of the advertising patronage of thisHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	335
paper was from those who offered ‘ ‘ one cent reward
and no charges paid,” for runaway indentured appren-
tices, and those who advertised thefts and trespasses
on their wood lands.
In August, 1819, the Advertiser announced that a
new post office had been established at York, and
Moses Hayden, Esq., appointed postmaster. “This
office is on the new mail-route from this village to
Rochester.”
At an early day the staple product of the Genesee
valley was wheat, and the principal income was that
derived from its sale for shipment to Baltimore or
Montreal. In 1820 eight or ten boats were employed
on the river in transporting the crops of the county
purchased at Geneseo, Mount Morris and Canawaugus.
A portion of the crops of the valley was sent to Ark-
port, and thence in arks or flat boats to Baltimore,
which afforded a good market. Produce intended for
Montreal market was sent down the river to Rochester.
The large farmers sometimes marketed their own
wheat, a course not unattended with expense. One of
them relates his experience thus: His wheat was
ground at Wadsworth’s mill, near Geneseo. He then
drew it to Avon, paid storage there, paid freight down
the river and storage above the falls at Rochester,
freight to Carthage (below Rochester) and storage
there, freight to Ogdensburgh and storage there,
freight to Montreal and storage there, commission for
selling, and “cooperage everywhere” on the line.
After paying for a draft on Hew York he had eighteen
pence per bushel left for his wheat, without counting
the cost and labor of transportation to Wadsworth’s
mill, and thence to Avon bridge.
Such were some of the difficulties which the early
settlers had to meet, but after years brought the canals,
the network of railroads, and shipping facilities such336
HISTOKY OF UIVINGSTON COUNTY.
as these pioneers never imagined possible. Time has
worked wonders, in no part of the country more than
in this, and the busy, wealthy and prosperous county
bears little resemblance to the sparsely settled and
isolated Genesee country of fifty years ago.CHAPTER XIII.
ERECTION OF THE COUNTY.
The county of Livingston* was erected from parts
of the counties of Ontario and Genesee, by act of the
legislature, on the 23d of February, 1821. It is
divided into seventeen towns, Avon, Caledonia, Cone-
sus, Geneseo, Groveland, Leicester, Lima, Livonia,
Mount Morris, North Dansville, Nunda, Ossian, Por-
tage, Sparta, Springwater, West Sparta, and York.
It is situated between the parallels of 42° 33' and
43° O' north latitude; and 0' 37' and 1° 8' of longitude
west of Washington. Geneseo, its capitol town,
located near the center, is two hundred and ten miles
in a direct line west of Albany, and sixty-one miles
east of Buffalo, twenty-eight miles south of Rochester,
and sixty-three miles north of the Pennsylvania bor-
der. It is the third county in the middle range east
of Lake Erie. Its extreme length from north to south
is thirty-seven miles ; and its greatest width east and
west is thirty miles. It is bounded on the north by
* There are six counties in the United States bearing the name of Living-
ston, namely; I, That in the State of New York to which this histoiy
relates; II, a parish in S. E. Louisiana; III, a Co. in western Kentucky,
organized in 1198; IY, a S. E. Co. of Michigan; Y, a N. E. Co. of Illinois-
YI, a N. W. Co. of Missouri.338
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the county of Monroe, on the east by Ontario and
Steuben, on the south by Steuben and Allegany, and
on the west by Genesee and Wyoming. Its general
form is that of an imperfect square. Its area is 655
square miles, or 419,200 acres. Its population at the
census of 1875 was 38,564; when organized in 1821 it
had a population of about 19,800 souls. Its greatest
population, according to the census, was in 1840, at
which time, by including the town of Ossian, since
then annexed, it numbered 43,436 inhabitants. As in
most rural districts in the State, so here, there is a
constant tendency among its people to emigrate to the
west, or to concentrate in the great cities, the former
being more particularly true of this county.
When erected, the county contained twelve towns.
Of these, eight, Avon, Freeport (Conesus), Geneseo,
Groveland, Lima, Livonia, Sparta and Springwater,
embracing about two-thirds of the territory and a like
share of the population, were taken from Ontario;
and four, Caledonia, Leicester, Mount Morris and
York, embracing the remaining third of the area and
population, were taken from Genesee. In February,
1822, the north-west part of the town of Dansville, in
Steuben county, was annexed to Sparta. In March,
1825, Freeport was changed in name to Bowersville,
and in April of the same year the latter was changed
to Conesus, which it still retains. In May, 1846, the
towns of Nunda and Portage were added from Alle-
gany ; and in March, 1857, Ossian was annexed from
the same county. In February, 1846, Sparta was
divided, and three towns, Sparta, West Sparta and
North Dansville, erected therefrom.
The county originated in the conviction that such a
change would essentially forward the administration
of justice, and otherwise promote the convenience of
the body of the people. The boundaries of the coun-HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
339
ties of Ontario and Genesee, at the time of the division,
embraced an area of not less than thirty-seven hun-
dred square miles, an extent of country nearly three
times as great as the whole state of Rhode Island.
The same territory now forms the counties of Ontario,
Genesee, Monroe, Livingston, Yates, Orleans, Wyo-
ming, and part of Wayne. Nor were the two old
counties unimportant in point of population or
wealth. One hundred and sixty thousand souls, or
more than a tenth of the whole population of the
State at that time, had already made their homes there,
and immigration was daily adding to their numbers;
while the valuation of their real and personal estate
was fifteen and one-half millions ot dollars, or one-
seventieth of the aggregate valuation of the common-
wealth.
The movement for division was sharply contested
from the outset, for, though the active opposition to
the measure was in a minority, it was a minority of
no little strength. Favoring division, however, was a
party of more than equal zeal, who appealed to the
daily experience of the pioneers, and cited the bene-
fits that had resulted from sub-dividing the original
counties. Indeed, there were those among the popu-
lation, men by no means venerable in years, who
could remember all the subdivisions that had occurred.
The original counties of the province of New York
were formed, as it will be remembered, in 1683, and
for nearly' a century the old county of Albany
embraced all the vast territory of the present State,
lying north of Ulster county and west of the Hudson
river, including, of course, the whole of th^tenesee
country. But the progress of settlement at length
broke in on those long established boundaries, and in
1772, Tryon county, named after one of the British
governors, was taken from Albany. It included all340
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of the then province of New York lying west of Scho-
harie creek. In 1784, Tryon was changed in name to
Montgomery, in honor of the Jieroic general who fell
at Quebec. Montgomery had five subdivisions, one of
which, Kingsland, covered most of the western settle-
ments. Ontario was taken from Montgomery in 1789,
and included the whole area to which the pre-emptive
right had been ceded to Massachusetts, and most of
which, being afterward sold by that State to Phelps
and Gorham, subsequently passed into the possession
of the Holland Land Company and the Pultney estate.
Hence Ontario county, when organized, covered the
whole territory embraced within the bounds of the
State west of the pre-emptive line,* and which now
forms twelve counties and part of a thirteenth, f Thus
at successive periods, as will be observed, the county
of Livingston has been a part of Albany, Tryon,
Montgomery, Ontario and Genesee, and portions of it
of Steuben and Allegany counties.
The large territory of the two counties of Ontario
and Genesee, imposed unequal burthens on the towns.
The more distant ones were put to an undue share of
* The pre-emptive line is situated a mile east of Geneva.
f The territory then forming Ontario county was commonly known as the
“Genesee Country,” although that title was occasionally applied. From
Ontario have been formed the following counties: Steuben, (1196); Gene-
see, (1802); Allegany (1806); Cattaraugus, (1808 ); Chautauqua, (1808);
Niagara, (1808); Erie, (1821); Monroe, (1821); Livingston, (1821);
Tates, (1823); Orleans, (1824); Wyoming, (1841); Wayne,'in part, (1823);
in all, thirteen counties, excepting a part of one. Oliver Phelps was appointed
first judge, on the organization of the county in 1189, and General Vincent
Matthews^jas the first lawyer admitted m the court which then held juris-
diction over that vast region. The Genesee river became the boundary line
betwen Ontario and Genesee on the erection of the latter county, and so
continued until the erection of Monroe and Livingston counties. The ground
now covered by the city of Rochester, lying on both sides of the river, was
then divided between two counties until the erection of Monroe.—Albany
Argus.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY. *	341
expense and loss of time in the transaction of busi-
ness at the respective county seats. The rapid growth
of the Genesee country, then regarded as next to
incredible, rendered frequent transfers of land neces-
sary, and a more ready access to the county records
became each day a matter of greater moment. Litiga-
tion, of which all new countries have their full share,
compelled the frequent attendance of jurors and wit-
nesses, as well as suitors. These were drawn from
their distant fields and workshops and compelled to
submit to the tedious delays attending over-crowded
courts, at serious cost of time and money.
We of this age of turnpikes and railroads, of daily
mails and proximity to records of land titles, and
especially of adequate court facilities, are little likely
to realize the extent of the evils experienced half a
century ago. Then highways newly laid out and
indifferent at best, were next to impassible in seasons
of mud and ruts ;* the temporary bridges, (and
indeed, there were few others,) were often carried
away by floods, while the snows frequently laid an
embargo on winter travel. Instead of forty-three post-
offices within the bounds of this county, there were
then but ten. The mails, infrequent, for even Avon
boasted of but three a week, and transported princi-
pally in sulkies and on horseback, were tardy and
irregular. Where at present a business visit to the
county seat is the work of a single day, then, from
portions of the old counties, it was the labor of three
or four days. Now, as the population has become
measurably fixed and suitably provided with courts,
* Col. Lyman says that he once had a team gone three months to Albany,
and at one place, the teamster said, he did his best to get on for three days,
staying three nights at the same place. “ Indeed, between Canandaigua and
Geneva I have seen forty horses to one heavy wagon, who did their best but
could not move it but a few rods at a pull.”342
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY,
the transaction of legal business is a matter of some
certainty ; then, as court facilities did not keep pace
with the fast increasing causes, business fell into
arrears, and all was involved in uncertainty,—all save
the certainty of heavy expenses and constant delays,
and, further, as Canandaigua and Batavia, the shire-
towns, were not the natural centres of business of the
territory embraced within this county, the people were
not attracted thither for trade, nor did the principal
avenues of trafic always lead toward those towns,
hence they were forced away from the points where
they were in the habit of transacting business.
Although the subject of a division of the county
had been much discussed, it was not until 1820 that it
came formally before the legislature. At the session
of that year the standing committee on the erection of
towns and counties, in the Assembly, to whom a large
number of petitions for the new county were referred,
advised that since “the various interests should be
better understood and the opinions of the inhabitants
be more definitely expressed before the Legislature
could act intelligently upon the subject, and as little
injury could be produced thereby, that the question
be postponed until a future session,” adding, “we
are sensible that some of the towns are at an incon-
venient distance from the seat of justice, and have
claims upon the Legislature for better accommoda-
tions.” To this the Assembly agreed.
Through the summer of 1820 the matter was much
canvassed. Meetings were held and petitions were
circulated by the multitude, increasing, it is said,
“ with fearful rapidity.” In December, 1820, a notice
appeared in the Moscow Advertiser, and also in the
Albany Argus, stating that the subscribers, Charles
Colt, William Finley, John Peirce, David Warner,
and their associates, intended to apply to the Legisla-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
343
tore at its next session for the erection of a new
county, to comprise the towns subsequently erected
into Livingston. The friends of the proposed county
of Monroe were also moving.
The majority of the people along the river, and
those residing in towns contiguous to it, favored this
division, while the northern part of Livonia, East
Avon and Lima objected, and the more distant sec-
tions vehemently opposed any change. A remon-
strance from Le Eoy, Batavia, and the western parts
of Genesee, signed by six hundred and fifty persons,
opposed division on the ground that “no county ought
to be erected composed of territory lying on both sides
of the Genesee river, as it would subject half the
inhabitants to great inconvenience and expense; and
that the division would only promote the interests of a
few lawyers, merchants and tavern keepers residing
at the new county seats.” Three hundred remon-
strants, inhabitants of Canandaigua, Gorham and
Naples, objected to any division of Ontario county,
alleging that the “ arguments advanced by the advo-
cates of the several petitions, being, in our opinion,
alike fanciful and fallacious, it is equal matter of sur-
prise that there should be one as that there are seven
applications for new counties,” as was really the case.
Division, they held, would destroy the symmetry of
the old county and uselessly multiply offices and ex-
penses. “At present,” say they, “county charges
fall lightly on individuals, and the times, financially,
are unpropitious.” More than this, they insisted that
the effects of the Erie canal were “yet to be expe-
rienced, and the results of this great work might
easily render a division unwise.” They also urged
that the extensive range from which to select men of
integrity and talents, which division would circum-
scribe, secured able men on the bench, in the legisla-344
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
tore and for other public stations. This argument
was most pertinent just then for John C. Spencer, the
distinguished statesman, and Myron Holly, scarcely
less honored, as well as other men of no little note,
were at that time members of the Assembly from that
county, or occupying other places of trust.
The period was one of great pecuniary distress.
The war of 1812, but five years closed, had caused a
suspension of the banks and completely deranged the
business of the country. The debt it had created,
together with the unpaid liabilities of the Revolution,
the debt contracted for the purchase of Louisiana, and
other items of international obligations, brought the
public debt up to over ninety millions of dollars, a
sum then deemed so formidable as to raise a doubt of
the nation’s ability to pay it. At the same time “ the
whole paper system, after a vast expansion, suddenly
collapsed, spreading desolation over the land, and
carrying ruin to debtors. The years 1819 and ’20
were a period of gloom and agony. No money, either
gold or silver; no paper convertible into specie; no
measure or standard of value left remaining. The
local banks (all but those of New England), after a
brief resumption of specie payments again sunk into
a state of suspension.” “No price for property or
produce. No sales but those of the Sheriff and the
Marshal. No purchasers at execution sales. No sale
for the product of the farm —no sound of the hammer,
but that of the auctioneer, knocking down prop-
erty. Stop laws—property laws—replevin laws—
stay laws—loan office laws—the intervention of
the legislature between the creditor and the
debtor; this was the business of legislation in three •
fourths of the States of the Union—of all south
and west of New England. No medium of exchange
but depreciated paper; no change even, but little bitsHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	345
of foul paper, marked so many cents, and signed by
some tradesman, barber or innkeeper; exchanges
deranged to the extent of fifty or one hundred per
cent. Distress, the universal cry of the people:
Relief, the universal demand thundered at the doors
of all legislatures, state and federal.”*
The people in this section, mainly engaged in agri-
culture, and still largely in debt for their farms, expe-
rienced the full weight of these evils. Their lands, as
yet but partially cleared, were but measurably pro-
ductive, and as they had been contracted for in more
favorable times at prices ranging from five to ten dol-
lars an acre, the large arrearages of purchase money,
now excessive, were bearing heavily, indeed ruinously,
upon purchasers. Hence, in many instances they
were driven to the alternative of obtaining a reduction
or of giving up their “ betterments,” as their improve-
ments were called, and commencing anew. In Cone-
sus, a committee consisting of Elder Hudson and Ruel
Blake, were sent, with this object in view, to confer
with the agents of the Pultney estate of whom the
lands in that town were principally obtained. They
were met, in proper spirit, by Robert Throup, the
agent of that great property, and such was the influ-
ence of these good men and the wisdom of the agent
that the contract price on many lots was reduced one-
half, while at the same time the price of grain in pay-
ment of obligations was increased by the latter.
A few prices of those times will serve to give an
idea of the prevailing market rates. Wheat, deliv-
ered at what is now Littleville, was sold at thirty-one
cents a bushel to pay taxes. Oats were worth less
than a shilling a bushel, and butter six cents a pound.
Instead of trading by the use of money, the people
* Benton’s “ Thirty Years in the United States Senate ”346
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
were obliged to resort to barter. Eight bushels of
wheat would buy but a barrel of salt or a pair of cow-
hide boots, while under this mode of exchange, a good
cow was valued at ten dollars, a yoke of working
oxen at thirty dollars, a horse fifty, pork two dollars
the hundred, while Indian corn seems to have had no
market value whatever. And yet the people were
clamorous for a new county, although it involved a
large expense for the erection of county buildings and
the salaries of officers. That such, under the cir-
cumstances, was their desire, is sufficient proof of the
necessity of the measure.
The advocates of division were met by an opposition
but little inferior to themselves in earnestness, which
did not stop with remonstrating, but sought to remove
the causes of complaint. Every facility was to be
afforded by courts and county clerks. An instance
may be given in the action of Judge Howell of Onta-
rio county, then recently appointed, who opened his
first term by sunrise and continued the sessions day
after day, until late in the night, giving scarcely time
for meals or sleep. “ He run his court by steam.”
The calendar was exhausted; it could not be other-
wise. The people of Canandaigua were in raptures.
They boasted that a week’s term was sufficient to dis-
pose of all business before the court, and insisted that
the evils complained of were but temporary. The
remedy, however, came too late. The people were
determined to have a new county, and the only ques-
tion that now remained was as to the manner of divis-
ion. Here differences of opinion prevailed. Three
plans, zealously urged by their respective friends,
were proposed.
The first was the Avon or “long county” project,
designed to embrace in one substantially both Monroe
and Livingston, with the county seat at Avon. ItsHISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
347
friends are represented in the petition deposited in the
State Library, by eight hundred and fifty names,
mainly from Avon, Caledonia and York.
A second plan, strongly urged from the south, pro-
posed two counties, omiting from the southerly one
the towns of Sparta, Ossian, Nunda and Portage,
giving the whole of Caledonia to Monroe, and embrac-
ing Castile, Perry and Covington on the south. This
would have brought the then thriving village Moscow
at the centre, with the avowed object of making that
the county seat. A prominent citizen of Moscow was.
sfent to Albany for the purpose of urging this view
upon the Legislature.
The third and successful plan was to form the two*
counties, Monroe and Livingston, from territory
depending chiefly upon the river for a market, and to
make Eochester, then a small village, one of the
county seats ; and a majority of those endorsing this
plan favored Geneseo as the other. The friends of
this mode of division were represented at Albany by
Colonel Nathaniel Eochester and Judge Carroll, who,,
as well as their constituents, acted in harmony
throughout.
The subject was now transferred to Albany. The
numerous petitions and the remonstrances were refer-
red, on Friday, the 26th of January, 1821, to a select
committee of the Senate, of which Senator Charles E.
Dudley, a name now and for all time to be associated
with the progress of astronomic science, was chair-
man. In due time the committee reported “ that the
convenience and interest of the inhabitants of those
portions of the counties of Ontario and Genesee
included in the application, will be much advanced
by the erection of a new county.” Leave being given,
Mr. Dudley brought in a bill entitled “An act to erect
a new county by^he name of Livingston, out of parts348
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of the counties of Ontario and Genesee, and for other
purposes,” and it was read twice by unanimous con-
sent. On the third of February the bill was examined
in committee of the whole, Senator Bouck, at a later
day Governor, in the chair. It passed the Senate two
days afterward, and on the 21st the Assembly concur-
red without opposition. The bill then went to the
Council of Revision, a body wisely designed as a
protection against hasty and unadvised legislation,
and unwisely abolished before the following session
by a change in the constitution. On the 23d of Feb;
ruary, 1821, the Council, composed of the Governor,
the Chancellor and two judges of the Supreme Court,
“resolved that it does not appear improper to the
Council that this bill should become a law of the
State.” To this, in the volume, of original laws
deposited in the State Department, is affixed the sig-
nature of Governor DeWitt Clinton. It stands as
chapter fifty-eight of the laws of that year, and imme-
diately preceeding it is the act erecting the county of
Monroe.
The county was appropriately named in honor of
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, the most useful as
he was the most conspicuous of the early friends of
agriculture in this country. Eminent as a jurist and
a statesman, a signer of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, the devoted friend and patron of Robert Fulton,
a man who faithfully loved and served his country in
its period of supreme peril, he was, in a word, a type
of that best product of the human race, a patriot
statesman of the Revolutionary period.
For more than two hundred years the Livingstons
filled the highest offices in Scotland. As is well known,
James Livingston was appointed to the Regency of
the Kingdom during the minority of King James I.
The proud title of Earl was borne by fnany of the fam-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
349
ily. The fair and unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots was
born in Linlithgrow Castle, of which Lord Livingston
was hereditary governor, and during the invasion of
that country by Somerset, Mary was again placed
under his protection.
Five days after the erection of the county, the
Council of appointment issued general commissions to
Gideon T. Jenkins as Sheriff, James Ganson as Clerk,
James Rosebrugh as Surrogate, and George Hosmer
as District Attorney. A month later Moses Hayden
was commissioned as first Judge.
The act designated three commissioners, Dr. Gama-
liel H. Barstow, afterwards State Treasurer, Archibald
S. Clark, and Nathaniel Garrow, to designate the
place and fix the site for the court house and jail.
They were directed to meet at the public house of
James Ganson, in Avon, thence to proceed to perform
the imposed duty.
It is easy to believe that an advantage so tempting
to a new town as the county seat, was not to gained
without rivalry, and such was the case. Several can-
didates for the honor now appeared. Williamsburgh,
the pioneer settlement, urged its claim. Avon, too,
again entered the lists, although far too one side. But
the latter objection was sought to be counteracted by
the prejudice, amounting almost to gross injustice,
then existing against the southern part of the county,
whose resources, from being later settled than the
northern portion, were as yet imperfectly developed,
and less understood. The people on the line of the
great State Road leading from Albany, by way of
Canandaigua, to Buffalo, then the principal thorough-
fare for emigrants, effected to regard the south towns
as still a wild, even a sterile region, more suitable for
hunting than for tillage. At a meeting in Lima, a
leading member *of the county bar, in advocating the350
HISTOBY OB LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
claims of Avon, urged that although the latter village
was not the centre of the territory it was the centre
of the new county’s wealth. Said he: “The county
seat should be here, as we shall now be required to
pay all the taxes, for the southern towns are so poor
that they produce nothing but buckwheat and pine
shingles.” This sneer was not forgotten ; the name
“Buckwheat” clung to the speaker to the end of his
days. A Lima gentleman, at the same meeting, said
they “ might set it down as a settled question that the
people of Lima would never agree to go one step
south and be compelled to associate with the buck-
wheat growers and shingle makers of Sparta and
Springwater.”
Next to Geneseo in point of general favor for the
location of the shire town, stood, perhaps, the little
hamlet of Lower Lakeville. At a public meeting held
there about this time, a majority of the leading men
present, representing Lima, Groveland, Conesus and
other t*wns, favored its selection for this purpose.
But other influences finally prevailed. The Commis-
sioners in due time decided in favor of Geneseo, and
not without good reason. The village was situated
near the geographical centre of the county, and was
the place of the largest commercial resort. The sur-
plus produce of an extensive district here found an
outlet by way of the river. Indeed, this village soon
became a point at which more wheat was sold than
at any other inland market in the state, and at prices
ranging as high and sometimes even higher than at
Rochester. In population it then numbered fully five
hundred, and far and near, by way of eminence, it
was usually called “the village,” and otherwise
familliarly spoken of as “Big-tree.”
At the time of which we write, the teeming mart of
Dansville, although an enterprising town, had notHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	351
attained its present leading relative position; nor had
the fair village of Mount Morris then developed, to
any. considerable extent, its importance as a commer-
cial centre; neither did Lima, then boasting of. but
half a dozen houses, give promise of reaching the
eminence it has since occupied as a seat of learning.
Had any one of these facts been otherwise, the man-
ner of territorial division might have been essentially
different. Indeed, the weight of influence, since, at
different times, brought to bear from some of these
quarters, and especially from the southerly portion of
the county, for effecting a removal of the county seat
or to establish a half-shire, has been very great, and
on several occasions one of these objects has been
nearly effected.
The law required that before the site became fixed,
a suitable lot for the court-house and jail should be
duly conveyed to the supervisors. Prisoners were to
be confined at Canandaigua until, in the opinion of
the Sheriff, the proposed jail was so far completed as
to be safe to receive them; and, in the cautious lan-
guage of the day, the act declared that when the
prisoners should then be brought to Geneseo, “such
removal shall not be considered an escape/’ The
supervisors were required to determine, at their first
annual meeting, what sum it was proper to raise for
providing a court-house.
The act also appointed General William Wadsworth,
Daniel H. Fitzhugh and William Markham, commis-
sioners to superintend the construction of the public
buildings, with ample authority to that end. These
gentlemen duly qualified and entered upon their
duties with characteristic energy.
Until the court-house should be ready, it was pro-
vided that the courts should be held in the brick
academy building in Geneseo, a two-story edifice then352
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
standing on the present site of the district school-
house on Center street.
The county was entitled to elect one member of
Assembly. The privilege of electing two was‘con-
ferred in 1822. George Smith was the first member of
Assembly.
By a supplemental act, passed also at the session
of 1821, the supervisors and county treasurers of the
counties of Ontario and Genesee, and the supervisors
and county clerks of Monroe and Livingston, were
required to equitably apportion all debts and effects
as well as moneys belonging to the former counties,
among the several counties.
After Geneseo was decided upon as the shire town,
two sites were proposed for the county buildings.
One of these was the public square or park at the
south end of the village ; the other, where the build-
ings now stand. The land, about four acres and a
quarter, was given by William and James Wadsworth
and duly conveyed to the supervisors to be used as a
public Square or promenade and for a site for the court
house and jail.* In this they but carried out a pur-
pose previously formed by them, which was to give a
lot for the public buildings, whether they should be
located in Geneseo or Avon.
The first annual meeting of the Supervisors was
held in October, 1821. The Board was composed of
members who would do honor to any legislative body.
They were: From Avon, Thomas Wiard ; Caledonia,
Robert McKay ; Freeport, Davenport Alger; Geneseo,
William H. Spencer; Groveland, William Fitzhugh;
* Deed in trust from William and James Wadsworth to supervisors of
Livingston county, dated July 14,1821, recorded July 15, in book I of Deeds,
at page 61. Consideration, one dollar. Conveys 2 47*100 acres to be used
as a public square and promenade; also 1 79-100 acres for a site for court-
house and jail.^n9diyJ.A-D'2feill
//HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
353
Leicester, Jellis Clute ; Lima, Manassah Leach; Livo-
nia, Ichabod A. Holden; Mount Morris, William A.
Mills; Sparta, William McCartney; Springwater,
Alvah Southworth; York, Titus Goodman.
William Fitzhugh of Groveland was chosen chair-
man, and Ogden M. Willey of Geneseo, was made
clerk.* Orlando Hastings was elected County Treas-
urer.
Among the first resolutions adopted was one author-
izing a bounty of five dollars a head for the destruc-
tion of wolves, and two dollars a head for each wolf’s
whelp killed during the ensuing year. Leicester, it
was voted, should be permitted to pay a bounty of
one dollar for the destruction of each wild-cat. What
would be thought now of the necessity for such reso-
lutions ?
The bill for the personal expenses and services of
the commissioners to locate the site of the county
buildings, was presented and ordered paid.f
On the subject of the public buildings the Board
determined that nine thousand dollars should “be
raised and levied on the freeholders and inhabitants
of the county for the purpose of erecting and finishing
a court-house and jail.” Of this sum three thousand
dollars were ordered raised the ensuing year.
In December the Board formally expressed the
opinion that the public buildings “should be of a
size calculated for a county whose population was fast
increasing, that they should be of the best material,
and be constructed in the most faithful manner,” and
as the first sum named was found to be insufficient,
they resolved to ask the legislature for authority to
* This model officer and good citizen held the position of clerk to the Su-
pervisors for thirty yeaYs, to the general acceptance of the public.
f Amounting to $114.00.354	HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
raise two thousand dollars more the ensuing year.
This was accordingly done, the power was granted,
the farther sum raised, and the buildings completed.*
In February, 1822, Major Spencer and Orlando
Hastings were appointed to examine the accounts
opened under the act, by the treasurers of Ontario
and Genesee, with Livingston, and to do whatever
was necessary to effect a settlement. The matter was
afterward placed wholly in the hands of Mr. Hastings.
The journals of the Board appear to furnish no record
of the final adjustment of these accounts, f
The court-house was ready for the courts in May,
18284 In October the bonds executed by the Com-
missioners for superintending the building of the
court-house and jail were ordered to be delivered
up, and “the thanks of the Board were presented
to the Commissioners for their faithful services ren-
* The valuation of the real and personal estate of the county in 1821 was
$2,117,901.25, as appears by a table compiled from assessors' returns that
year.
f From the book of Supervisors’ records of Genesee county, the following
transcript has been furnished by Mr. Woodward, the County Treasurer:
“ 1822, January 13.
Resolved, That the moneys now in the hands of the treasurer of the
county of Ontario be apportioned as follows:
	Aggregate valuation. •	Aggregate of money divided.
To the county of Monroe,	$1,098,127	$348.78
do Livingston,	1,375,469	436.86
do Ontario,	6,304.185	2,002.31
	8,ITT,781	2,787.95."
Mr. Woodward says: “ I find that subsequently, in the record of proceed-
ings, that the accounts of the treasurer were settled and adjusted. Hence I
conclude the moneys were duly paid over, although no specific mention is
made of the payment.”
X Homer Sherwood, of Geneseo, had the contract for building the court-
house.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY. .	355
dered the county in erecting the public build-
ings.”*
It was now formally resolved “that the keys of the
court-house be delivered to Chauncey Morse, and that
he have liberty to open it for public worship and to
show the interior to any gentleman who may wish to
view it; and that he deliver the keys to the Sheriff to
open the house for county purposes.” A committee
was appointed to deliver the keys and a copy of the
foregoing resolution.
With equal formality was it resolved that the Sheriff
be requested to “take charge of the irons belonging
to the county and keep the same subject to the order
of the Board.”
The first Court of General Sessions, indeed the first
court of record held in the county, convened at the
Brick Academy on the last Tuesday of May, 1821.
There were present Moses Hayden, first judge, Mat-
thew Warner, Jeremiah Riggs and Leman Gibbs,
judges. After prayer by the Rev. Mr. Bull, the court
was opened by the usual proclamation. The follow-
ing grand jurors were then sworn: William Janes,
foreman, Robert McKay, James Smith, Asa Nowlen,
Josiah Watrous, Francis Stevens, William Warner,
Ichabod A. Holden, Ruel Blake, William A. Mills,
Ebenezer Damon, P. P. Peck, Joseph A. Lawrence,
William Crossett, William Carnahan, James McNair,
John Culver, Erastus Wilcox, John Hunt, Daniel H.
* The official record says: “ The Board of Supervisors at a meeting held
Peb. 19, 1824, adopted the following resolution: Whereas, The Board of
Supervisors of Livingston County believe that General ¥m. Wadsworth for
his gratuitous exertions in superintending the erection and finishing of the
public buildings of the County, merits their individual approbation, There-
fore,
Resolved, Unanimously, that the thanks of this Board, in behalf of the
county, be rendered him for those exertions, ”366
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Fitzhugh, Thomas Sherwood, Ebenezer Rogers and
Gad Chamberlin.
The first indictment and trial was the case of The
People vs. Mary DeGraw, for assault and battery with
intent to murder. On the trial of the case the jury
returned a verdict of guilty of an assault and battery,
and not guilty of the rest of the charges in the indict-
ment.
The first commitment appears to have been that of
May Brown, convicted at this term and sentenced to
the Ontario county jail for thirty days.
The first term of the Court of Common Pleas was
also held on the last Tuesday of May, 1821. Among
the attorneys who presented licenses and were admit-
ted to practice in this court at this time, were Samuel
Miles Hopkins, George Hosmer, Felix Tracy, John
Dickson, Orlando Hastings, Charles H. Carroll, Wil-
lard H. Smith, Augustus A. Bennett, Ogden M. Wil-
ley, Hezekiah D. Mason, and Melancthon W. Brown.
On motion, Mark H. Sibley, was also admitted to
practice as above. The first trial held in this court
was the case of Alfred Birge, Appellee, vs. Joel Bard-
well, Appellant. O. Hastings appeared as attorney
for the appellee, and A. A. Bennett attorney for appel-
lant. The jury was composed of the following mem-
bers: James Richmond, LeRoy Buckley, Federal
Blakesley, Roger Wattles, T. H. Gilbert, Joseph
White, Jehiel Kelsey, John Salmon, Geo. Whitmore,
David A. Miller, Riley Scoville, Andrew Stilwell.
During the judge’s maiden address to the grand
jury, the door opposite the bench opened, and a dis-
tinguished member of the bar, “standing six feet
eight and well proportioned,” entered the room.
Though his bearing would have done credit to a Bay-
ard, yet he could not resist a mischievous wink to the
Judge. The latter could not help seeing it, as it wasHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	357
intended for him alone, and it was too much for him
under the novel circumstances. He hesitated a mo-
ment, broke, and was forced to abruptly descend from
the heights of his eloquence. But right keenly did
he scold the wicked joker for the prank he had played
him, after the ermine was put off for the day.
In 1823 the May term of the Common Pleas, Charles
H. Carroll, first judge presiding, having opened in
due form, adjourned to the new court-house.* Here,
after being duly convened, the first term was opened
by a court as dignified, surrounded by a bar as able
and accomplished, and by jurors as honest and intel-
ligent as any new county, scarcely twenty years
emerged from the wilderness, ever boasted.
The county was now fully provided with the neces-
sary buildings and machinery, and it has since fully
maintained its standing among the other divisions of
the State.
Incidents connected with its organization have been
preserved. Among these was one in reference to the
design for the county seal. The dominant party at
that time was called the ‘ ‘ Bucktail.” The first County
Clerk was of that party, and in ordering the seal he
chose for the design a buck with large horns and a
long, bushy tail, longer than the law of nature justi-
fied. This caudal grace was long ago curtailed, how-
ever ; indeed, the design itself was soon superseded,
the seal now bearing simply the name of the county
between a larger and a smaller circle.f
* On convening in the new court-house George Hosmer was appointed Dis-
trict Attorney, and Samuel Stevens, Crier. The first trial held in the new
court-house was the suit of Driesbach and Scholl, Executors, Appelles, vs.
Samuel Culbertson, Appellant.
f The kindness of the County Clerk, Mr. Baker, has placed the three seals
of the county in my hands. The design on the first is a deer, it is true, but
alas for the truth of the anecdote, with the smallest fraction of a tail—some
anti-Bucktail, no doubt, having deprived the noble buck of his political sym-
bol. The second differs only in the style of lettering from the present one.CHAPTER XIV.
EABLY BANKING PEOJECTS—GENESEE VALLEY CANAL.
The growing communities, with their rapidly in-
creasing business transactions felt very seriously the
want of banking facilities, and as early as 1823 an
attempt was made to establish a bank at Geneseo. A
petition was presented in the Assembly March 4th of
that year, for the privilege of opening a bank at that
place, which was signed by the judges and supervis-
ors of the county. It was referred to the committee
on banking, and, apparently, was never reported by
that committee, for in the Livingston Register of
March 2d, 1825, the following notice appears:
“Notice is hereby given that an application will be
made to the next legislature of the State of New
York, for an act of incorporation for a bank, with the
usual privileges of banking, by the name and style of
the Livingston County Bank, with a capital of one
hundred thousand dollars, to be located in the village
of Geneseo.”
The notice is signed by William H. Spencer and
Homer Sherwood, and is dated Dec. 20th, 1824. This
movement was probably also unsuccessful, for a simi-
lar notice subsequently appeared in the Register
dated Nov. 15, 1825, and signed by John H. Jones,.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
359
Moses Hayden, Edward Bissell and Philo C. Fuller.
It asked for a charter for a bank with a capital of
$250,000, “and with liberty to increase the stock to
$400,000.” All these efforts, however, proved alike
futile, and it was not until 1830, as will subsequently
appear, that the citizens of the county succeeded in
securing the measure they so much desired.
In 1823 P. R. Bowman was running a line of stages
from Canandaigua to Warsaw by way of Moscow. In
the Livingston Gazette of July 3d of that year he
gives notice that thereafter he “would continue his
line once in each week. He will leave Moscow on
Saturday afternoon immediately after his arrival from
Canandaigua, and return from W arsaw on Monday
evening, and on Tuesday morning start again for Can-
andaigua.” Between Moscow and Canandaigua the
stages were run twice each week, passing through
Geneseo, Livonia, Richmond and Bristol. In con-
nection with this line stages were run from Canandai-
gua to Palmyra, 'and (via Geneva) to Lyons, connect-
ing with the Erie canal.
The same paper contains the notice of Jedediah
Richardson, Hiram Jones and Nehemiah Westbrook,
announcing that their new boat “Independence”
would commence running on the river, between Bab-
cock’s Ferry and Rochester, and make regular trips
once in two weeks, carrying freight down or up “ on
the most reasonable terms.”
Notwithstanding such enterprises, the greatest draw-
back to the growth and prosperity of the county, as of
nearly all Western New York, was the lack of prompt,
reliable and cheap transportation for the products
of its rich fields. The nearest markets, or the most
remunerative ones, were Baltimore and Montreal; and
from this county the only routes were navigable
streams and the broad expanse of Lake Ontario, —the360
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
former tortuous ways, full of impediments, subject to
floods and drouth, and incapable of being navigated
except by flat boats and rafts, floating with the cur-
rent if passing down, laboriously poled along if pass-
ing up the streams. Added to these difficulties were
numerous portages or carrying places, to avoid water-
falls and rapids, or in passing from one stream to
another. The opening of the Erie canal somewhat
improved this state of affairs, as it brought nearer the
markets of Albany and New York, yet it only did so
to a moderate degree, for the nearest point on that
great artificial waterway was comparatively a long
distance from the farming communities of Livingston.
It can be readily imagined, therefore, that transporta-
tion charges were excessively great, and that the pro-
duce of the fertile lands of the settlers found a slow
and unremunerative market. Some prices have
already been given in this work, and instances show-
ing the result of attempts to carry the surplus grain
to market,—attempts which generally left the margin
on the wrong side of the ledger. The attention of the
people was thus early directed toward measures for
improving communication with the Eastern markets,
and the Erie canal having just been completed, and
having already given promise of fulfilling the highest
anticipations of its wise projectors, it was natural that
a similar work should be proposed to meet the neces-
sities of commerce in this and adjoining counties.
A call appeared in the Livingston Register of June
15, 1825, for a public meeting to be held at the house
of Col. John Peirce, in the village of Geneseo, on the
28th of June, of the citizens of Monroe, Livingston,
Allegany, Cattaraugus and Steuben counties “who
feel interested in the formation of a canal from Roch-
ester along the valley of the Genesee and Canaseraga,
and of a canal from Genesee river to some point of the
fHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
361
Allegany river.” The meeting was “for the purpose
of devising means to collect and convey to the Canal
Commissioners and to the State government, the nec-
essary information as to the practicability and vast
importance of the above canal routes.” The call was
signed by Phillip Church, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Wil-
liam H. Spencer, Ira West, Jonathan Child and He-
man Norton.
At this meeting a committee was appointed “to
obtain information respecting the practicability of
making a canal” as proposed, and subsequently this
committee was notified to meet at Geneseo on the first
Tuesday of September, to commence the active dis-
charge of its duties. A bill had been introduced in
the Assembly the previous spring, authorising a sur-
vey for this proposed canal, but it failed to become a
law. Five years later the question was still being
agitated by the people of the Valley, their eflfo ts thus
far having met with but little success. A large and
enthusiastic meeting of citizens of Sparta and adjoin-
ing towns, friendly to the Genesee Valley Canal, was
held in Dansville July 24th, 1830. Resolutions were
adopted claiming that the region through which it
was proposed to run the canal “as equal if not supe-
rior to any which for a length of time have been pre-
sented to the public, and especially so as it has been
satisfactorily ascertained that by a canal connecting
the waters of the Allegany river with the great Erie
canal, a complete water communication will be
effected between the two great commercial cities of
New York and New Orleans.” A meeting of like
character had been previously held at Angelica, and
subsequently, on the 26th of August, 1830, a delegate
convent ion of conspicuous men from all the counties
effected by the proposed measure, was held at Gene-
.seo, for the purpose of securing a survey of the route.362
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Again, in 1833 we find a call for a meeting to be field
in Geneseo Nov. 20tfi, of “the inhabitants of the
counties more directly interested in tfie construction
of a canal from Rochester to Olean, with a branch to
Dansville village,” “for tfie purpose of taking into
consideration tfie proper measures to be adopted in
relation to that object.” Tfie call was signed by H.
D. Mason, William Finley, Allen Ayrault, Daniel H.
Fitzfiugh, Robert Dixon, D. H. Bissell, Russell Aus-
tin, S. G. Grover, John Cutler, Donald McDonald,
Charles Colt, Leman Gibbs, James Wadsworth, P. C.
Fuller, J. Young, William H. Stanley, Donald Fra-
ser, Jr., William A. Mills, James McCurdy, Tabor
Ward, Jotfiam Clark, E. Hill, C. R. Bond and James
S. Wadsworth.
Other meetings were held in various places, but it
was not until 1834 that the preliminary surveys for
tfie canal were made, although the subject was con-
stantly discussed in the public prints and by individ-
uals. Meanwhile the necessity of some better means
of transportation had been yearly becoming greater,
and the people had become clamorous for this improve-
ment. The trade with Rochester, which had become
thus early an important commercial center, was car-
ried on principally by the river. Lumber was floated
down during the spring and fall freshets, “and the
passage was considered short if made in two days.
Our merchants brought their goods by the same chan-
nel, but requiring from four to five days to run up.”*
Such means of transportation, while answering the
needs of the country when first settled, were wholly
inadequate to the then present demands of their in-
land commerce, and no effort was spared to enforce
this fact upon the attention of the Canal Commission-
* Mount Morris Union and Constitution.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
363
ers and the legislature. This demand of the people
of the Yalley was, therefore, at length heeded, and a
survey made as stated, in 1834.
The total cost of the canal, as estimated by the
chief engineer, F. C. Mills, after making this survey,
was $2,002,285. Subsequent surveys and examina-
tions, together with a change in the plans of many of
the structures, increased this estimate to $4,750,125.79,
and reviewing this estimate again, he made it $4,900,-
122.44, but included in this $197,099 for reservoirs for
supplying the summit level with water. Its actual
cost when completed, however, was about $6,000,000,
or more than three times the first estimates of the
engineer.
DAM ACROSS THE EIVEE AT MOUNT MORRIS.
So expeditiously was the project pushed, after the
preliminary steps had been taken by the State author-
ities, that about 30 miles of the line had been put
under contract in 1837, and 50 miles in 1838. The
remainder of the work was let in the following year. It
was originally intended to be 123 miles long, including
((navigable and unnavigable feeders,” but the canal
tself is only 118 miles in length. Its general course is
a south-westerly one from Rochester, through Monroe,364
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Livingston, Wyoming, Allegany and Cattaraugus
counties, (passing through the towns of York, Leices-
ter, Mount Morris, Nundaand Portage), following the
valley of the Genesee river to Squaukie Hill, at
Mount Morris, where it crosses the river and follows
the Cashaqua valley to a point beyond Nunda, when
it again seeks the river, which it re-crosses at Portage-
ville. Thence it descends to Olean. The peculiar
character of some parts of the country traversed by
this artificial waterway necessitated some very expen-
sive work. The plans first proposed included 115
locks (besides several guard locks), one tunnel of 1082
feet in length near Portageville, 15 aqueducts, 8 dams,
134 culverts, 103 highway bridges, several tow-path
bridges, 130 farm bridges, and a number of bulkheads,
waste-weirs, etc. Alterations in the plans changed
these figures some what, but not materially, except in
the abandonment of the tunnel project.
The greatest engineering difficulties were encoun-
tered, and the heaviest proportionate expense incurred
on that portion between Nunda and Portageville.
Here there is a cutting through the ridge, dividing the
valley of the Cashaqua from the Genesee valley, 73
feet deep, and a series of locks, about 17 in number,
which are required to reach the summit level, 982 feet
above the level of the Erie canal. Besides these ex-
tensive works, the highest skill of the engineers was
required to carry the canal around the high, moun-
tainous hills overhanging the river,—and the attempt
to do this seemed several times a futile one. “The
canal having been brought from the deep cut across
the Cashaqua ridge almost to the verge of the perpen-
dicular cliffs impending over the river, takes thence
the ascending course of the stream. Approaching to
within about two miles of Portageville, the mountain
increases rapidly in height,” and the excavation be-HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	365
comes very deep, in some places 50 or 60 feet, through
solid rock. Here it was proposed to cut a tunnel
through the mountain, and work was commenced
upon it and continued until the most stupendous diffi-
culties compelled the engineers to abandon the work.
The length of the tunnel was to have been 1082 feet,
its height 27 feet, and width 20 feet, piercing the tow-
ering mountain from side to side. This work was
deemed necessary on account of the treacherous char-
acter of the sliding shelves of the hill, but the same
cause which led to the tunneling of the hill finally
forced the engineers to abandon this project and con-
struct the canal around the side of the hill. A writer
for an Eastern paper,* who visited the work while it
was in progress, describes it as follows: “Great em-
barrassment has already been experienced and heavy
expenses incurred in consequence of these slides, both
above and below the tunnel,” and, speaking of the
tunnel itself, “since the excavation has been com-
menced, such is the character of the rock, thrown
together, apparently, by Nature in loose masses and
blocks, that it now appears that the entire roof and
sides of the tunnel will require arching with solid
mason work. Indeed, temporary arches of wood
have been found necessary during the progress of
almost every successive yard of the work. It is by
far the greatest undertaking of tl\e kind that has been
attempted in our country.” Of the engineer he says:
“If he shall at last accomplish the work of pinning,
as it were, the canal to the slippery shelf of sand
which overhangs the gulf, we shall have something
worth while to show to engineers of the old world.”
After nearly a quarter of a million of dollars had
been expended on the tunnel it was abandoned. It
* William L. Stone.866
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
can be seen, in a ruined condition, in passing over the
line of the canal,—a dark, half-mined cavern in the
crumbling rock, and the lasting depository of the
people’s money, squandered in a foolish struggle with
Nature. But though baffled here, the engineer did
succeed in pinning the canal to the treacherous side
of the towering mountain, and his work is well worth
a long visit to see. The hill rises quite abruptly to
the height of several hundred feet. A long distance
below, in a chasm with almost perpendicular sides, is
the Genesee, encircling the base of the hill and hurry-
ing along over the rapids or madly leaping down the
upper and middle falls, Half way up the precipitous
LOWER FALLS AT PORTAGE.
side of the mountain is the canal, cut into its side,
and overhanging the raging torrent below. A narrow
strip of land alone serves as a tow-path, from which
the descent is almost perpendicular to the river. The
canal winds around the hill in this manner, passesHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
367
under the famous Portage Bridge, and a short distance
above crosses the river by means of a wooden aque-
duct. Work upon the canal was prosecuted vigor-
ously, except on the upper sections,* and in 1840
thirty-seven miles, from Rochester to Mount Morris,
were completed. The line from Mount Morris to the
Shaker settlement, four miles, and the Dansville
branch, eleven miles, was completed in 1841; from
the Shakers to Oramel, thirty-six miles, in 1851 ; from
Oramel to Belfast, two miles, in 1853 ; from Belfast to
Rockville, three miles, in 1854 ; and from Rockville to
Olean basin, twenty-four miles, in 1856.
The completion of the canal to Mount Morris in
1840, and to Dansville in 1841, was hailed with dem-
onstrations of the greatest joy by the people of the
valley. Early in the summer of 1840 a meeting was
held in Rochester to make arrangements for a suitable
celebration, and in the fall of that year, in accordance
with the previous arrangement, the letting of the
water into the canal was observed, with appropriate
ceremonies. In 1841, when the canal was opened to
Dansville, the State scow went through from Roches-
ter. with a numerous delegation on board, and a six-
pounder cannon from which a salute was fired at
every village on the route.
In 1857 the legislature authorized the extension of
the Genesee Valley Canal from Olean to Mill Grove
pond (which connects with the Allegany river), a dis-
tance of six and one-half miles. The engineer’s esti-
mate of the cost of this work was $88,500.
* Work on these sections was suspended by act of the legislature March
29, 1842, but was subsequently resumed. The enormous cost of the canal
above the original estimates of the engineer proved a great hindrance to the
rapid progress of the work, and there is reason to suppose that had the
State known how great the cost was really to be, it would never have author-
ized the construction of the canal.368
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The canal, however, was not the only measure of
relief proposed by the people of the Yalley. Other
plans for providing suitable means of transportation
were suggested, the most important of which was the
improvement of the Genesee river. There were those
who believed this a better plan than that of construct'
ing a canal, and until the latter measure was sanc-
tioned by the legislature, and work upon it com'
menced, they urged their views with great zeal and
pertinacity. In 1836 “the inhabitants of Livingston
county friendly to improving the navigation of the
Genesee river, from Rochester to Geneseo, or to some-
point above, as may be found practicable,” were
invited to meet at the Court House in Geneseo on the
16th of December. “A general attendance is re-
quested,” said the call, “as it is wished to have an
interchange of views in relation to applying to the
legislative for a modification of the law for construct-
ing the Genesee Yalley Canal, so far as to leave it
discretionary with the Canal Commissioners to substi-
tute the river in place of a canal along its banks.”
The meeting was held and was largely attended by
citizens of York, Avon and Geneseo, the southern
towns being evidently opposed to the measure. Cur-
tiss Hawley of Avon was made chairman, and Benja-
min F. Angel of Geneseo secretary. George Hosmer
presented a series of resolutions, which, after approv-
ing speeches by those present, were adopted. These
resolutions commended the wise policy which had for
years characterized State counsels, by which the ben-
efits of legislation had been extended to all parts of
the State, and especially the aid which had been
given in opening avenues of trade and commerce, “a
policy which has advanced us to a proud and com-
manding eminence among our sister confederates, and
justly entitled New York to the appellation of theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
369
Empire State.5’ It was also declared that those com-
posing this gathering were in favor of a water commu-
nication between the Allegany river and the Erie
canal at Rochester, and that they were friendly to the
proposed canal, but that they at the same time be-
lieved that if a portion of the Genesee river could be
improved and used advantageously as a canal, “ at a
saving of more than a quarter of a million of dollars
to the State, and at the same time render greater facil-
ities to trade at a period of interrupted navigation in
the spring and fall, when a canal, supplied with water
from the summit level of the Genesee Yalley canal,
would be locked with ice,” it should command the
serious and candid consideration of the public. The
resolutions concluded by urging a modification of the
act authorizing the construction of the canal so as to
allow the Canal Commissioners to inquire into the ex-
pediency of substituting such portions of the river as
might prove desirable, in place of the canal, and a
committee consisting of Calvin H. Bryan, George
Hosmer, Allen Ayrault, Charles Colt, Joseph B.
Bloss and Elias Clark, was appointed to present these
views to the legislature.
The project, however, does not seem to have had
the support of the public, or at least of the people
inhabiting the towns south of Geneseo, on the pro-
posed route of the canal. Hence the movers in the
enterprise were unsuccessful, and it was early aban-
doned.*
About this time, also, the question of improving
the Allegany river from Olean to Pittsburg was seri-
ously discussed, the object being to make a continu-
* At this early period railways were too much in their infancy to be re-
garded with much favor, but at this meeting Mr. Bryan and Mr. Hosmer, in
their addresses, suggested that the time might come when a railway along
the valley of the Genesee would supersede any other mode of transportation.370
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
oils water connection, via the Genesee Yalley canal,
Allegany and Ohio rivers, between the Erie canal at
Rochester and the river towns on the Mississippi. A
number of meetings in behalf of this object were held
in the county, and the subject was urged upon the
attention of Congress.
In 1857 the legislature authorized the extension of
the canal to Mill Grove pond, about six miles beyond
Olean, and a small amount of work was done on this
improvement, when the work was suspended, and has
not since been resumed. In 1858 a new project was
broached, that of extending the canal beyond the
Allegany river to certain creeks flowing through rich
iron and coal regions. The estimated cost of this im-
provement was $110,000, while incalculable benefits
were expected to be derived from it. It was an unfa-
vorable time, however, to urge the State to engage in
any new enterprises of this character, and when the
commonwealth had recovered sufficiently from the
financial crisis of 1857 to warrant it in making any
such vast expenditure of public funds as this and
other contemplated measures for internal improve-
ment would have demanded, the war came on and
monopolized its energies and resources. Now it is
seriously proposed to abandon this canal, as being a
useless and costly burden to the State. It is strongly
urged, and with much truth, that the canal has sur-
vived its usefulness, and might better be abandoned
than sustained in navigable order at such cost. It is
true that the tolls received have never paid the cost of
the ordinary repairs and running expenses, much less
any interest on the cost of its construction, yet it has
been of inestimable value to the whole Yalley which
it traverses, and though now, in these days of rail-
roads and fast freight lines, it is comparatively use-
less, it has paid indirectly many times its cost. It isHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
371
’scarcely possible to estimate the influence it had in
developing the resources of this part of the State, but
a little reflection will convince any one that to a very
large degree our remarkable growth and prosperity
are due to the facilities afforded by the Genesee Yalley
Canal, and that the State was wise in constructing it.
In 1826, after an exciting contest, William H. Spen
cer and James Faulkner were chosen Assemblymen
by large majorities, while Ethan B. Allen was elected
Senator. Levi Hovey having been elected County
Clerk, John H. Jones, who had recently held the same
office in Genesee county, was recommended by the
Republicans to fill the vacancy as Judge of the courts
of Livingston county. The appointment, however,
was given to Willard H. Smith of Caledonia., who
served in this capacity with great acceptability until
1882.
On the evening of the 30th of May, 1826, a meeting
of a number of the prominent citizens of the county
was held at the Court House in the village of Geneseo,
to take steps for the establishment of a school on the
monitorial plan, “ sufficiently extensive to teach 600
scholars, particularly in the higher branches of sci-
ence.” Articles of association, previously drawn up,
were adopted, and a committee consisting of George
Hosmer, Charles H. Carroll, James Faulkner and
Philo (J. Fuller, was appointed to solicit subscriptions
in aid of this object. In August of the same year a
committee advertised for proposals for the erection of
buildings for the “Livingston County High School.”
The specifications called for an academic building, of
brick, 65 by 33 feet, three stories high, and a brick or
frame boarding house, of about the same proportions.
These buildings were completed in due season, and
constitute the property of the present Geneseo Acad-
emy, In 1827 the legislature incorporated the Living-372	HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ston County High School Association, with the follow-
ing incorporate members: William Wadsworth,
James Wadsworth, William Fitzhugh, Daniel H.
Fitzhugh, John H. Jones, Charles H. Carroll, George
Hosmer, James Faulkner, William H. Spencer, Philo
C. Fuller, John Colt, Henry P. North, Leman Gibbs,
Orlando Hastings, Augustus A. Bennett, William
Finley, Moses Hayden and Jeremiah Briggs. The
school remained under the control of a stock associ-
ation until 1849, when it passed under the control of
the Synod of Buffalo, and became a school under
Presbyterian control, but not especially a sectarian
institution. For nearly half a century it remained
one of the most useful and prosperous, as it is one of
the oldest, academies of the State. Its graduates
have been numbered by thousands, and students from
every clime have laid the foundations of their educa-
tion within its walls. It is a source of deep regret
that in 1875 the Academy was closed, with no pros-
pect of its immediate re-opening.
The post-rider in early days was an important per-
sonage. His visits were eagerly watched for, and
none were more warmly received in the settlements
than he, whose coming brought tidings from absent
friends, or news of the great world’s doings. Besides
delivering the letters and papers coming through the
mails he made it a part of his business to supply
newspapers to the people on his route, in much the
same manner as the business is done by newsdealers
at the present day, buying his papers of the publish-
ers and furnishing them to regular customers at a
certain rate per annum. As in more modern times,
payments were not always made with as much prompt-
ness as they should have been, and the post-rider was
often compelled to issue touching appeals to the delin-
quent customers to pay him. William Hutchins givesHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
873
notice, over date of Dec. 10, 1823, “to all those who
have received of him the Livingston Gazette, printed
at Moscow, that a collection must be made in order to
enable him to pay the printer.” He very kindly
offers, however, to receive grain in payment for news-
papers, if delivered by the 15th of January at Gaines-
ville, China, Springville, Collins, or at Walnut Creek
Mills.
In the fall of 1824 the mail stage between Geneseo
and Rochester run three times a week each way, leav-
ing the former place Sundays, Tuesdays and Thurs-
days, at half past six o’clock in the morning. In
April, 1825, E. Fisk advertises that the “ Rochester
stage will in future leave Geneseo every morning at
half past five o’clock,” and the common wagons be-
fore in use were exchanged for “elegant coaches.”
In December of the same year the stage was adver-
tised to leave Geneseo for Dansville, Bath and Olean
Sundays and Wednesdays, on the arrival of the
Rochester stage. The line to Rochester intersected the
east and west line at Avon, thus giving a daily com-
munication with Rochester, Canandaigua and Batavia,
and points farther east and west. “For this accom-
modation the public are indebted to the enterprise of
Mr. E. Fisk, whose perseverance has, from the use of
a common wagon which lately passed between this
place and Rochester once a week, established a daily
line of elegant coaches.”
As early as Jan. 8th, 1824 formal application was
made to the legislature by residents of Nunda, “ That
six miles of the north part” of that town, in the
county of Allegany, might be erected into a separate
town and annexed to the county of Livingston. Some
years later this prayer of the people of Nunda was
substantially granted.
The people of the young and growing county weie374
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
not allowed to suffer for the want of amusements.
Traveling shows early found their way hither, and
the public journals contained frequent flaming an-
nouncements. The Register of June 17, 1824, adver-
tised a new museum of wax figures as ‘ ‘ now open at
the house of C. Watson in Moscow for a few days
only.” The collection embraced noted personages,
the “ Sleeping Beauty,” and views of celebrated
places. “The decorations and dresses are made in
that style of elegance that will insure gratification to
the observer. The museum will be open from 9
o’clock in the morning till 10 o’clock in the evening.
Music on an elegant organ !” Unless the making of
wax figures has since become a lost art, and the spec-
imens to-day but inferior imitations of those then
shown to the public, it is not to be presumed that the
exhibition was a very meritorious one. Perhaps as
fascinating, far more terrible, finally, was the show of
the snake charmer, who about this time visited Gene-
seo and surrounding towns. Allowing the repulsive
reptiles to crawl freely about his person, he attracted
curious crowds wherever he went. He was frequently
warned of the danger he run in allowing the reptiles
to touch his person, but he only laughed at the fears
of his spectators. One unlucky day, however, while
exhibiting his snakes in Conesus, one of the reptiles
in crawling across his face, bit him on the lip. Every
thing was done by the kind hearted people that was
possible, but he was soon beyond human aid, and
died in the most terrible agony.
There were very few Indians within the limits of the
new county at the time of its erection. An informant
states that there could not have been more than eighty
or one hundred at this time, including young and old,
male and female remnants of the Senecas. The resi-
dent of these people was at Squaukie Hill. SoonHISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
375
after the sale of their lands in 1825 they began to
leave, going to the western reservations, and in a few
years none were left. The Indians of Allen’s Hill,
Little Beardstown and other villages had gone some
years before. Civilization had done but little for these
dusky natives. With rare exceptions they continued
to live in their old huts, with fires in the centre, and
nothing but skins and blankets for beds. The women
also continued to the last the laborers of the tribe,
while the men spent their time in hunting, fishing, and
the idle amusements of their villages.
On the 28th of January, 1824, a meeting of inhabi-
tants of the County was held at the Court House in
Geneseo, lor the purpose of forming a county Bible
society, auxiliary to the American Bible Society. The
history of one of the oldest and most useful civic
organizations of Livingston County dates from this
meeting. The meeting was well attended, and an
organization effected. -4s officers for the ensuing year,
the following were chosen : President, James Wads-
worth ; Vice Presidents, Charles H. Carroll and Jere-
miah Riggs; Treasurer, Orlando Hastings; Corres-
ponding Secretary, Rev. Norris Bull; Recording
Secretary, Augustus A. Bennett; Directors : Willard
H. Smith, Caledonia ; George Hosmer, Avon ; Orrin
Gilbert, Lima ; William Janes, York ; Eben E. Buell,
Geneseo ; Leman Gibbs, Livonia ; Dr. Asa R. Palmer,
Leicester; James Rosebrugh, Groveland; Samuel
Chapin, Jr., Freeport (Conesus); Jonathan Beach,
Mount Morris ; William McCartney, Sparta; Alvah
Southworth, Springwater. The society has had a
continued existence to the present day, and in its
peculiar field no organization has done greater or more
efficient work. The Bibles distributed by it are num-
bered by thousands, and on several occasions the
whole county has been canvassed, and a copy of this376
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
precious book placed in every home where one was
found wanting, often “without money and without
price.”
The cause of the Greeks in 1824 excited the liveliest
interest in Livingston County, as it did throughout the
country, and our liberty-loving people were not slow
in showing their sympathy and extending substantial
aid to the struggling Greeks. For this purpose a
county meeting was held at Geneseo on New Year’s
day, 1824, at which Judge Jones of Leicester presided.
A series of resolutions expressive of the sentiments
of the citizens were submitted by William H. Spencer,
Calvin H. Bryan and Orlando Hastings, which were
heartily endorsed. A committee was also appointed
to receive and forward to New York such contribu-
tions as might be placed in their hands, while com-
mittees to solicit and receive contributions were
appointed for each town in the county. In this way
liberal contributions were secured, and substantial aid
given to the cause in which the Greeks were engaged. *
A local paper announces as “commercial enter-
prise,” under date of May 27, 1824, the passage by
Geneseo, on the river, of the canal-boat “Hazard,”
from Nunda, on her way to Albany, loaded with pine
lumber, ashes, etc. The boat was owned by Sanford
Hunt of the former place. Shipments were often
made in this way down the river, until the completion
of the Genesee Valley Canal. At one time an attempt
was made to introduce steamboats on the river, and
steamboat navigation companies were organized, but
the attempt was not successful, although trips were
made several seasons by small steamboats. The fol-
lowing announcement appears in the Livingston Jour-
nal of July 28th, 1824: “We can congratulate the
public upon the arrival of the steamboat ‘Erie Canal,’
Captain Bottle, at our village last evening. A moreHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	377
welcome arrival, and one which throws the smiles of
a bland and hearty cheerfulness among our villagers
could not well have happened.”
The same paper contains a communication from
Avon commencing as follows:
“ Cheer up you lusty gallants,
With music sound the drum,
For we’ve descry’d a steamboat
On the Genesee hath come.”
The writer follows this ryming effusion with a
detailed account of the arrival of the boat at Avon on
the 26th, from Utica. “ This being the first time the
river has been navigated by steam, drew together a
numerous multitude, all eager to catch a glimpse of
the novel stranger who had come in such a questiona-
ble manner among us.” A company of gentlemen
immediately assembled on board the boat “to honor
its arrival and greet the commander with a cordial
welcome.” Toasts were drank, accompanied with
music on board and the roar of cannon on shore. The
genius of Fulton, the steamboat itself, its gallant cap-
tain, the Genesee and the beautiful scenery on its
shores, the arrival of the boat, and the great promise
of the future, dating from this opening of steam navi-
gation, all received due attention from the toasters,
and each sentiment was lustily cheered by the multi-
tude who had gathered to see the wonderful sight.
“ As the last gun was fired, the boat was gotten under
way, and moved up the river toward Geneseo, the
place of her destination, at the rate of about six miles
per hour.”
At Geneseo the boat met with much the same greet-
ing. On the day following her arrival a large com-
pany of ladies and gentlemen went on board, and
Captain Bottle gave them an excursion up the river,
returning in the evening. The boat was about 77 feet
long, with a breadth of beam equal to that of the378
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTT.
largest canal packet, and drew about 11 inches of
water, exclusive of her keel. Where no obstructions
existed the boat made about four miles per hour up
stream. Captain Bottle stated at that time that a suc-
cessful steamboat navigation might be prosecuted from
Rochester to Geneseo. and even a few miles above, if
the obstructions impeding the passage were removed.
The channel was in some places filled with fallen trees
and snags, which often detained the boat for hours.
The editor of the Register concurred with Captain
Bottle in the opinion “ that nothing is wanting but an
alteration in the Feeder at Rochester, and a cleaning
out of the rubbish in the river, to make this one of the
most easily navigable streams in the State,” and
favored an appropriation by the legislature to effect
this object.
The next attempt at steam navigation on the river
was by the “Genesee,” a rear-wheeled steamboat
owned by a stock company, Major W. H. Spencer
and other citizens of the county being interested in
the enterprise. It plied between Rochester and Gene-
seo, its landing at Rochester being at the head of the
Feeder, and at Geneseo a little below North’s Mill.
Its carrying capacity was not very great. It was
intended for passengers and for towing river boats, of
which it could tow about three at a time. The speed
of the “Genesee” was greater than that of its prede-
cessor, it sometimes making ten or elven miles an
hour. It would leave the Geneseo landing at 5 o’clock
in the morning, and reach Rochester by 10 or 11
o’clock that forenoon. Returning, it would leave
Rochester at 4 o’clock P. M., reaching Geneseo at 10
or 11 o’clock in the evening,—distance by the river,
65 miles. If it brought up a tow it might be detained
two or three hours or more. There were berths for
the hands, but none for passengers. The “Genesee,”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
379
however, was not a success, and after running two
seasons the enterprise was abandoned. During the
first season the boat was commanded by Captain Wil-
liam W. Weed, and Captain John Dallson commanded
it the second season.
On the 12th of August, 1825, as a Mr. Adams of the
village of Geneseo was opening a drain to conduct
the water from the marshy spot on which the two
springs are located which supply the village with
water, “ he came in contact with a substance between
two and three feet below the surface of the earth, so
peculiar in its appearance and delicate in texture, that
he was induced to make a critical examination of it,
and found it to be a bony substance very much resem-
bling in appearance that of ivory. After removing
the earth he found it to be of a spiral form, measuring
five feet in length, and seven inches in diameter at its
base, gradually diminishing in size to an obtuse point.
The figure of the substance so nearly resembled the
tusk of an elephant that he concluded it must have
its fellow, so he renewed the search and soon found it
situated about three feet from the first, and precisely
resembling it in every respect, their points lying in
opposite directions.* He soon found eight of the
teeth, “four of which were evidently the back teeth
of each side of the jaws, they being fitted to each
other, and two belonging to the upper and two to the
lower jaw, all precisely alike as to figure and dimen-
sions, their transverse diameter being three inches and
their horizontal diameter six inches, one of which
weighed 3J pounds without the process that enters the
jaw, that being totally destroyed in all of them.
These teeth were marked upon their grinding surface
by four rows of studded, blunt points, elevated an
* Livingston Register, -Aug. 17,1825380	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
inch. The four remaining teeth were of less size, and
their grinding surface perfectly smooth. The enamel
of all the teeth is sound and perfect.”
The discovery of these mastodon remains caused no
little excitement in the village. The citizens, believ-
ing that with proper care the whole skeleton might be
obtained, volunteered to remove a sufficient area of
surface to effect this object. As anticipated, the bones
of the body and extremities were found, but so much
decayed that it was impossible to raise any of the
more important ones entire. Traces, however, were
left, by which their size and figure were ascertained.
“ The lower bone of the hind leg measured three feet
in length from the knee joint to the ankle. The thigh
bone, from joint to neck, was also three feet in length,
and eighteen inches at its smallest circumference.”
The length of the animal, measuring from the centre
between the base of the two tusks to the exterior point
of the pelvis, was estimated at twenty feet, and the
height at twelve feet. ‘ ‘ The animal could not have
been old, as eight molar teeth were found—old animals
have only one molar on either side of each jaw.”*
The bones were placed in the cabinet of the Buffalo
Natural Historical Society.
A similar discovery was made about the year 1835,
in straightening the road from Scottsburgh to Conesus
lake. In digging the ditch on the east side of the
road, where it ran through a swamp of five or six
acres, near the inlet of the lake and about thirty rods
to the west, the remains of a mastodon were found,
about three feet below the surface. Eight teeth were
found, four of which had blunt points, and weighing
about two pounds each. The shoulder blades, pieces
of the ribs and some joints of the backbone were also
* Silliman's Journal, Yol. 12, p. 380,1st Series.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
381
found. Some of these bones are now in the Le Roy
Female Seminary.*
In November, 1824, Livingston county gave 849
majority for DeWitt Clinton for Governor, over Sam-
uel Young. Every town in the county except Grove-
land gave a majority for Clinton. In 1820 Governor
Clinton had proposed in the State Senate that the
federal constitution be amended so that presidential
electors should be chosen by the people in districts.
Following up the idea, he recommended in his speech
at the opening of the extra session in November, 1820,
that a State law be passed providing for the election
of the electors by the people on a general ticket. This
proposed change was the great theme of discussion
in the fall of 1823, and throughout the following year.
Originally agitated by the “Bucktails,” all the Clin-
tonians joined them in favoring the bill. The advo-
cacy of this measure added to Clinton’s popularity
with the people, but the moving cause of his triumph-
ant election may with safety be attributed to the action
of the legislature in the spring of 1824, in removing
him from the office of Canal Commissioner. This was
done by the “Bucktails,” his political enemies, yet
though it was but following out the policy he had
himself always pursued, it seemed to the people “like
striking a fallen enemy.” His work in behalf of the
people, especially in developing the resources of the
State, were not forgotten, and rallying to his support
they carried him into office with a majority of over
sixteen thousand. In this contest, as has been shown,
Livingston stood firmly by the “ people’s candidate,”
and contributed largely to his successful canvass.
* Within the last two years several bones of a mastodon were discovered
on the borders of the county near Dansville, some eight feet below the sur-
face, a portion of which are now in the possession of Professor Allen of the
State Normal School at Geneseo.382	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Warmly supporting Clinton, the people also strongly
favored his proposed change in the manner of choos-
ing electors, and looked with suspicion on all who
did not hold the same views. During the sitting of
the January Common Pleas, and while the electoral
bill was pending in the legislature, John Yan Fossen,
with a view of getting up a general meeting of the
electors of this county, without reference to party, to
give expression to the views of the people on this
subject, presented a paper to Judge Carroll, then First
Judge of the county, who was also Republican can-
didate for Congress, while he was at dinner with about
fifty others at Amos Adams’ tavern in Geneseo. The
Judge declined to sign the paper, believing that Van
Fossen had some ulterior purpose. Yan Fossen at
once caused to be struck off hand-bills which he cir-
culated slyly in Monroe county, stating that Judge
Carroll was opposed to any change in the existing
mode of appointing presidential electors. Judge Car-
roll, when apprised of this fact, publicly denied the
assertion. His opponent, Moses Hayden, was also
compelled by public opinion to define his position on
this question, and his letter caused considerable dis-
cussion, although he warmly favored Clinton’s meas-
ure. At the election Mr. Hayden was successful in
securing a re-election.
In the summer of 1826 Governor Clinton, accom-
panied by his son Col. Clinton, and Gen. Beck, visited
the Genesee Valley. Accepting the statement of the
opposition organ as true, his reception was not a warm
one. “His Excellency’s visit at this place was re-
markable for nothing but its silence; his friends, we
think, were hardly civil to him,”*
In 1826 Charles H. Carroll was the Republican can-
* Livingston Register, July 25, 1826.HISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
383
didate for State Senator, his opponent being his old
foe, Mr. Van Fossen. The result was somewhat of a
surprise, a canvass of the votes showing that Judge
Carroll had a majority of about 600, in a district
which in 1824 had given Mr. Clinton a majority of
between 5,000 and 6,000. The Register, then the
“Bucktail” organ at Geneseo, commenting on this
result, said: “Notwithstanding, the little regency
editor of the Journal, in his simpering tone proclaims
that ‘in this Senate District Charles H. Carroll, the
Bucktail candidate, has been elected by a small ma-
jority.’ It is true that it is not 6,000, neither is it
reduced to the sickly number of nine; but is respect-
able in a district where the political parties claim to
be nearly equally divided, and one that the friends of
Judge Carroll feel not inclined to find fault with—and
why need his enemies.”CHAPTER XV.
ANTI-MASONRY—NEW COUNTY PROJECT.
An event occurred in the fall of 1826, in the neigh-
boring county of Genesee, that filled the people with
alarm and terror, and aroused them to a fever heat of
excitement. A wide-spread effect was produced upon
the then existing political parties, and a new organiza-
tion sprang into existence, which rapidly increased in
numbers, and for a time exerted a powerful influence
over the political affairs of the State.
This occurrence was the abduction and supposed
murder of William Morgan, a royal arch free mason,
a printer by trade, then living at Batavia. As the
whole subject has been fully discussed by other
writers, only enough of the details will be given here
to explain the course of the people of this county,
especially in their political action. Morgan, it ap-
pears, unable to earn a livelihood by his trade, deter-
mined to publish for his pecuniary benefit, a pamphlet
containing an expose of the secrets of masonry. While
at work setting the type for this pamphlet, his inten-
tion was discovered by some of his fellow masons,
and communicated by them, as subsequent events
seemed to show, to the members of the order, far and
wide.
A warrant was issued by Jeffrey Chipman, a JusticeHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	385
of the Peace in Canandaigua, on the 11th of Septem-
ber, 1826, for the arrest of Morgan on a charge of
stealing a shirt and cravat, and Mr. Cheesebrough,
master of a masonic lodge at Canandaigua (who pro-
cured the warrant), together with two or three other
masons, went to Batavia with it. Causing Morgan to
be arrested, they hurried him in a close coach to Can-
andaigua, where he was brought before Justice Chip-
man, but was discharged, as the Justice believed him
guiltless of the charge preferred. He was immediately
re-arrested on a small debt due Aaron Ashley, which
Cheesebrough claimed had been assigned to him.
Judgment was rendered against Morgan for two dol-
lars, and an execution being issued he was committed
to close confinement in the Canandaigua jail. During
the night of the 12th he was discharged from custody,
but was immediately seized by a party of unknown
persons, and rapidly and secretly conveyed to the
Niagara river, where he was left confined in the old
magazine of Fort Niagara, in charge of Colonel King
and Elisha Adams. On the 29th of September he dis-
appeared, and nothing was ever afterward heard of
him.*
The people of Batavia had been for some time aware
that Morgan was regarded with suspicion by the
masons, as they had made several ineffectual attempts
to suppress the forthcoming work. When it became
known, therefore, that Morgan had been forcibly seized
after his discharge from custody, and had mysteriously
disappeared, they determined to investigate the case
and vindicate the majesty of outraged law. At a
public meeting held in Batavia, a committee was ap-
* As to Ms ultimate fate later disclosures seem to leave no doubt. A party
of men chosen by lot, met under cover of darkness, and conveying him to,
the middle of the Niagara river, consigned him to its waters, firmly bound
and weighted with stones.386	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
pointed which instituted a strict investigation, without,
however, being able at that time to discover any traces
of the missing man beyond the fact that his abductors
had conveyed him rapidly toward Rochester. These
facts being reported, the community became convinced
that a great crime had been committed, and the dread-
ful suspicion prevailed that Morgan’s life had been
sacrificed by his abductors. Then the whole western
part of the State was aroused, and alarm, indignation,
and a deep determination to probe the mystery to the
bottom prevailed among all classes of people. Meet-
ings were held in nearly every town, at which was
condemned in the severest terms the outrage which
had been perpetrated, and steps taken to ferret out
and bring to justice the impious hands that had thus
stained themselves with human blood. The evident
deliberation with which the abduction had been com-
mitted, the large number of agents employed, and the
secresy with which all the movements had been con-
ducted, pointed to a well-organized and wide-spread
conspiracy to put Morgan out of the way, and indi-
cated that in thus ignoring the laws and outraging the
sentiment of the peaceful community, a large organi-
zation had been interested. This was enough to fill
the community with alarm, but when was added to
this evident strength of the abductors the mystery
which surrounded the occurrence—itself an element
that seldom fails to inspire terror—it may be readily
believed that not only indignation but the greatest
alarm filled the hearts of the people.
The committee before spoken of continued its inves-
tigations, but at first with little success. “They
could trace him [Morgan] as far as Rochester, and it
was a long time before the clue was found by which
he was finally traced to Fort Niagara. The very
difficulties interposed to the investigation increasedHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
387
the excitement in the public mind. There were some
who early implicated the whole masonic fraternity in
the guilt of the transaction. This, however, was not
at first the general public sentiment; but when, as the
investigation proceeded, it was found that all those
implicated in the transaction were masons; that with
scarce an exception no mason aided in the investiga-
tion ; that the whole crime was made a matter of ridi-
cule by the masons; and even justified by them
openly and publicly; that the power of the laws was
defied by them, and the committees taunted with their
inability to bring the criminals to punishment before
tribunals where judges, sheriffs, jurors and witnesses
were masons; that witnesses were mysteriously
spirited away, and the committees themselves person-
ally villified and abused for acts which deserved com-
mendation, the impression spread rapidly and seized
a strong hold upon the popular judgment, that the
masonic institution was in fact responsible for this
daring crime.”*
It is proper to say, however, in this connection, that
this extract is from the pen of one who was a promi-
nent anti-mason, and who took a leading part in the
investigation. Therefore it is probable that his pic-
ture of the opposition met with by the committees in
their investigations is highly colored and overdrawn.
Many engaged in these investigations, and the warfare
•on masonry through honest abhorance of the crime
that had been committed, and a firm belief that all
secret societies were inimical to the spirit of our insti-
tutions. Others, however, seized upon the oppor-
tunity to advance their own political ends, and some
who were loud in their denunciation of masonry, and
zealous to an excessive degree in the prosecution of
* Hammond’s History of Political Parties.388
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
those suspected of complicity in Morgan’s abduction,
would have been as ready, had the popular current
been setting that way, to applaud the dark deed and
extol the shining virtues of the masonic order. It was
certainly the case that the abduction and murder of
Morgan found, many to condemn it among masons
themselves, while, as must be admitted, a few of the
order approved and defended it.
The effect of this event on the then existing political
parties was very great, although for a year or two it
was not sensibly felt outside of the counties of Gene-
see, Monroe, Livingston, Orleans and Niagara.
The rise and progress of the anti-masonic party was
briefly epitomized at one of its later conventions, as
follows: “The abduction of Mr. Morgan called forth
the first general expression of popular opinion against
secret societies. That event occurred at Batavia Sept.
11th, 1826. A considerable period elapsed before the
people in the immediate vicinity of that outrage
became sensible of the fact that freemasonry had com-
manded and justified the high-handed conspiracy;
and a still longer period transpired before the iniquit-
ous oaths and obligations of the order became gene-
rally known. But finding themselves at length
unable to ferret out the conspirators, and becoming
acquainted with the alarming principles, in accordance
with which their fellow citizen had been bereft of lib-
erty and life ; a determination was made by the peo-
ple, in a few of the towns in the counties of Genesee,
Monroe and Niagara, by the exercise of the right of
suffrage, to effect the abolition of the institution in
whose name and service the daring deed was commit-
ted. In the spring of 1827, a few scattering demon-
strations of this determination were made at the town
meetings. In the fall of 1827, the question was for
the first time brought distinctly and with concert toHISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
389
the polls, in the counties of Genesee, Monroe, Living-
ston, Orleans and Niagara, in each of which counties
the anti-masonic ticket prevailed, and the territory
including them became thenceforth known in masonic
language as the ‘ infected district.’ In the summer of
1828 a convention of seceding masons was held at
LeRoy, in the county of Genesee, by whom the truth
of the revelations of free-masonry made by Morgan
was affirmed, and a farther revelation was made by
many of the higher degrees. In the fall of 1828 the
memorable presidential canvass absorbed almost the
entire public attention, without the limits of the
counties above mentioned and the counties adjacent.
Nevertheless, anti-masonry, in defiance of and in
opposition to both of the political parties, deposited
in the ballot boxes 33,000 votes. In the month of Feb-
ruary, 1829, a State convention was held at Albany,
in which forty-two counties were represented, and by
which the first national convention was recommended.
As yet neither of the political parties had openly
declared itself in opposition to anti-masonry, and in
many parts of the State both had vied in caressing it.”
In this county action was early taken to express the
sentiment of the community. A call appeared in the
local journals for a meeting to be held at the Court
House in Geneseo on the 12th day of January, 1827,
“for the purpose of expressing their sentiments in
regard to the outrage committed upon William Mor-
gan, and of adopting such measures as may be deemed
advisable to discover his fate, and to prevent a recur-
rence of such detestable transactions.” The call was
signed by C. H. Bryan, P. C. Fuller, J. Wright, R.
Austin, E. N. Buell, S. F. Butler, Charles Colt,
Campbell Harris, and J. Percival. At this meeting
Judge Jones (a prominent free-mason), was made
chairman, and Philo C. Fuller secretary. Mr. Bryan390	HISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
gave a brief review of the transaction which had given
occasion for this meeting, and referred to the fact that
there was no statutory prohibition of the kidnapping
of white persons, although there was a statute to pre-
vent the abduction of people of color. Several affida-
vits relating to various facts connected with the
abduction, and a report of the recent trial at Canan-
daigua of persons implicated in it, were read, and a
committee consisting of P. C. Fuller, C. H. Bryan,
J. Clute, H. D. Mason and J. Almy, was appointed
to report resolutions for the consideration of the
meeting. The resolutions thus reported and adopted
condemned in the severest terms the kidnapping of
Morgan, “a procedure so obviously repugnant, not
only to the laws of the land, but to the first principles
of civil liberty,”—“we view the transaction as one
calculated to excite alarm—one which no considera-
tion can justify; and one which as intelligent and
watchful citizens, we are bound to reprobate in decided
terms.” A suggestion was made that a law should
be passed forbidding “the kidnapping of free white
citizens,” and a committee, consisting of the chair-
man, secretary, and Mr. Clute, was appointed to
“correspond with other committees in neighboring
counties, and to receive contributions to be used in
endeavoring to discover the fate of Morgan, and in
detecting and bringing his abductors to condign pun-
ishment ; and that a contribution for these purposes
be taken up at this meeting.”
The people of the several towns followed the exam-
ple thus set by this county gathering, and meetings
were held in a large number of places. A local jour-
nal* gives an account of a large meeting held in
Sparta on the 17th of March, 1827, to give expression
* Livingston Register.HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
391
to the sentiments of that community. Benjamin
Roberts presided, and William D. McNair officiated
as secretary. The resolutions passed expressed in
ringing tones the abhorrence with which the people
viewed the outrage. “The history of the last six
months,” the resolutions read, “has disclosed facts
♦ which make every individual tremble for his own
safety; our liberties have been invaded,—the majesty
of our laws has been trampled upon with impunity—
our citizens have been arrested, robbed, kidnapped,
and murdered without the shadow of a crime, or any
legal pretense whatever.” The press, it was averred,
had been generally silenced, free-masonry had become
a stepping-stone to office, “and the principal posts of
honor, trust or profit, from the President of the Uni-
ted States, down to the petty magistrates of our towns
and villages, are generally held by masons.” The
meeting pledged itself to oppose the election of any
one to any office of honor or trust who was a member
of the order of free-masonry, and appointed Russell
Day, Hiram Kellogg, S. W. Smith, James McNair
and Benjamin Wheeler a committee of vigilance and
correspondence for the town of Sparta.
These accounts serve to show how thoroughly the
people were aroused, and the deep, earnest and deter-
mined spirit with which they entered upon this war-
fare on an institution they deemed so dangerous to
individual liberty and popular government. The
most intense feeling was generated, and probably no
question of public interest in this country ever more
thoroughly engaged the attention of the people, was
made the theme of more earnest discussion, or gave
rise to a warmer political canvass than this popular
uprising against masonry.
In the elections of 1827, however, the influence of
this opposition was but little felt The forces were392	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
but gathering then, that afterward for several years
controlled the politics of the “infected district,” and
exerted a powerful influence in State councils. Never-
theless, it behooved candidates for office, even at this
time, that they be able to show a clear record on this
question, and probably the election of Calvin H.
Bryan to the Assembly in November, 1827, was due
to the fact that he was not only a Jackson man, but
also a decided anti-mason. At the same time William
Janes, another vehement opposer of masonry, was
also elected to the Assembly, the majority of both
himself and his colleague being about 500.
At the spring elections of 1828 the anti-masons were
largely in the ascendancy, the issue being for the first
time brought directly before the people. A newspa-
per of that day said of the result: “Intelligence
received from the several towns in this county, of the
result of the late town elections, furnishes the best evi-
dence that anti-masonry still flows in a ‘ natural and
healthful channel,’ notwithstanding the great exertions
made use of by royal arch politicians to direct its
course.” The anti-masons elected the whole, or the
greater part, of their tickets in nine out of the twelve
towns comprising the county. In Grroveland, Leices-
ter and Lima the masons elected their candidates for
the office of Supervisor by small majorities.
In the spring of 1828, Charles H. Carroll, who was
then one of the Senators from this district, resigned
his seat for the purpose of devoting his whole time to
his private affairs. He had served during 1827 and
the winter session of 1828, with great acceptability to
his constituents and credit to himself, but his large
personal interests demanded that he should forego,
for a time at least, any further political honors. In
his letter of resignation to the Hon. Peter R. Living-
ston, President, pro tern. of the Senate, he said:HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
393
“ The unusual time occupied by the sessions of our
legislature for the last two years, compel me to tender
you the resignation of my seat in the Senate of this
State. In years of ordinary legislation it would have
afforded me much satisfaction to have served my con-
stituents the four years for which they elected me.
My own affairs, however, oblige me to resign this
honor for the residue of the term ; and to do it at this
time that my place may be supplied at the ensuing
election, and my constituents saved the expense of a
special one. ” The resignation was accepted, although
it was said that “ his retirement at this time is a source
of regret to his friends, while the public will lose the
services of a worthy and useful legislator.”
It becoming necessary to supply the vacancy caused
by Judge Carroll’s resignation at the November elec-
tion, an anti-masonic convention was held at Rush
Oct. 20th, 1828, which nominated James Wadsworth
for this position. Mr. Wadsworth, however, although
a decided anti-mason, declined to be a candidate. He
was absent from home when the convention met, but
William Wadsworth, his brother, on learning of the
action taken, addressed a letter to the anti-masonic
central committee of Livingston county, in which he
said: “ This nomination was contrary to his [James’]
wishes and his express declarations will appear from
the following letter from him addressed and read to
the convention. I am induced to ask a publication
of this letter from a thorough conviction that my
brother will not in any event suffer himself to be con-
sidered a candidate. His absence will prevent his
declining publicly in time to permit another nomina-
tion. Under these circumstances, as it is the unques-
tionable right of Livingston county, I take the liberty
to suggest to you gentlemen the propriety of recom-
mending some other person without loss of time.”394	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Following out this suggestion, a meeting of anti-
masonic electors of the county was held in Geneseo
on the evening of the 20th. James Percival acted as
chairman, and Philo C. Fuller as secretary, and a
resolution was unanimously adopted that Moses Hay-
den of York be recommended to the electors of the
district as a candidate for the office of Senator.
Meanwhile an anti-masonic State convention had
been held at Utica on the 4th of August, which had
nominated for Governor, Francis Granger of Ontario,
and for Lieut.-Governor, John Crary of Washington*
In this convention James Wadsworth’s name had
been frequently mentioned in connection with the
nomination for Governor. “ Great unanimity of sen-
timent prevailed among the members of this body,
although met from remote parts of the State. But
two candidates for Governor were mentioned on the
first attempt to obtain the mind of the delegates, when
each one named the individual of his choice. These
two were James Wadsworth and Francis Granger,
Esquires. As no member present was able to apswer
for the acceptance of the former gentleman, his name
was reluctantly withdrawn by his friends, yet not-
withstanding the propriety of unanimity at the final
balloting, some few could not be prevailed upon to
relinquish what they deemed a fit opportunity of ex-
pressing their preference for a man who is so eminently
qualified to discharge the duties of the high and im-
portant office for which he had been named by those
who knew his worth, and are acquainted with his
sentiments on the particular subject which then en-
gaged the attention of the convention.” Mr. Gran-
ger, however, declined the nomination for political
reasons, although he was a decided anti-mason, and
Solomon Southwick of Albany was substituted. Anti-
masonic nominations had also been made for all theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
395
offices to be filled at the coming election. These were
as follows: For Congress, Timothy Childs; State
Senators, George H. Boughton, Moses Hayden; As-
sembly, Philo C. Fuller, Titus Goodman, Jr.; Sheriff,
Bussell Austin; County Clerk, Chauncey B. Bond.
Each of the other political parties also had a full
ticket in the field, and the canvass was one of the
most closely contested political campaigns ever wit-
nessed in the county. Much feeling was engendered,
and the discussion was heated and bitter. All oppo-
sition to the new political movement was, however,
useless. The people, regardless of all former political
ties, of the ridicule of their opponents, the reasoning
and entreaties of politicians or the unconcern of the
two great parties, were deeply in earnest in their de-
termination to crush out, by the power of the ballot,
what they conceived to be the great wrong of the age,
freemasonry. The result was astonishing to party
leaders, and even to the people themselves. A canvass
of the votes cast at the election showed that South-
wick for Governor had received 1963 votes, to 1257 for
Yan Buren (Jackson candidate), and 867 for Thomp-
son (Adams man), while the anti-masonic candidates
for Congressman, State Senators, Assemblymen, Sher-
iff and Clerk were elected by overwhelming majorities.
This was the first great triumph of the anti-masonic
party, to which it added others in successive 'years
until it was finally wholly absorbed by the Whig
party about the year 1832.
Early in the spring of 1827 the citizens of Mount
Morris commenced an important public work, which
has since added largely to the commercial importance
and prosperity of that beautiful village. This was
the construction of the race-way extending along the
hillside, below the village, from the Genesee river to a
point near the center of the village, from whence its396	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
waters are again returned to the river by means of a
small stream emptying into the Canaseraga creek.
The plan proposed embraced a strong timber dam at
the river to raise the water to the proper level to carry
it through the race-way, and a lock and apron to
facilitate the passage of boats. The work was done
for the purpose of providing an extensive water-power,
which it has answered admirably, a large number of
flouring mills, saw-mills, wood and iron working es-
tablishments, etc., being driven by the power which
it furnishes. The present dam is substantially built
of stone, and maintains the level requisite both to
supply the race-way and the canal which here crosses
the river..
The board of supervisors gave notice in December,
1828, that “a farm is wanted for the accommodation
of the poor of the county. It must be within six
miles of the Court House in the village of Geneseo,
and must contain about one hundred acres of land;
the land must be of good quality, well timbered, and
well supplied with good water. Any person having
a farm for sale that will answer the purpose for which
it is wanted, is requested to deliver a particular de-
scription of the same to William H. Spencer, before
the 15th of December ensuing, stating the quality and
quantity of land, how much is in timber, what kind
of timber,” etc., and “the ready cash price asked for
the farm.”
At the November session of the board in the follow-
ing year, the Superintendents of the Poor reported
that they had purchased, under direction of the board,
“a. farm one mile and a half from the village of Gen-
eseo ; containing about 136 acres, for the sum of $5,-
440, payable in annual installments.” The Superin-
tendents erected an addition to the dwelling house
already on the premises, 48 feet in length by 36 feet inHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
397
width, and two stories higji. Other improvements
were made, and on the 10th of June, 1829, they com-
menced to receive paupers into the house; receiving
up to Nov. 7th of that year thirty-four persons, of
whom twenty were males and fourteen females.
Quite a formidable movement was made in 1830 for
the erection of a new county, out of portions of Alle-
gany, Genesee, and “so much of Mount Morris in
Livingston county, as would lie south of a continua-
tion of the north line of the town of Sparta to the
Genesee river.” The project appears to have origin-
ated in Allegany county, and was there pushed with
remarkable pertinacity. Outside of that county, how-
ever, few were found to favor it. At a meeting of the
citizens of that portion of Mount Morris which it was
proposed to include in the new shire, it appearing “by
the legislative reports that petitions purporting to be
‘ from Allegany, Genesee and Livingston ’ have actu-
ally been presented in furtherance of the said appli-
cation,” a protest was entered against this or any
other project that contemplated the separation of all
or any part of said town from the county to which it
is now attached. The people said that while they
conceded the right of their neighbors to “cut and
carve” up their own county to suit their local or per-
sonal interests, they were “ constrained to express the
belief that the people of this section are unanimously
opposed to the extension of the ‘gerrymandering sys-
tem’ to this town or county.”
A large meeting of citizens of the whole town was
held in the village of Mount Morris Jan. 11th, 1831,
for the purpose of taking steps to oppose the efforts of
those wife were seeking a division of the town. Wil-
liam A. Mills was called to the chair, and W. H.
Stanley acted as secretary. A committee consisting
of William A. Mills, W. H. Stanley, Moses Marvin,398
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Humphrey Hunt and James Miller, was appointed to
report resolutions expresfive of the sentiments of the
meeting. In the resolutions thus adopted the citizens
said, “While we are willing our more prosperous
brethren of Allegany and Genesee should impose on
themselves any amount of taxes which they may de-
sire, for their own exclusive convenience, we have not
sufficient disinterested benevolence to induce us to
‘ go over and help ’ them; nor can we think it a gen-
erous attempt on their part, without consulting our
feelings, to force us into a measure which we can have
no possible interest to advance.” And a local jour-
nal, in commenting on this action, expressed the prev-
alent feeling in saying that it was “sincerely to be
hoped that, the wishes of the inhabitants of Mount
Morris would not be unheeded,” while it was kind
enough to say of the instigators of the new county
movement that in advocating a division they were
“suspected of being influenced more by considera-
tions of private interest than by a proper regard for
the good of the public.” Owing, probably, to the
determined and persistent opposition which it met,
the new county project failed of success, and the peo-
ple of the county were not called upon to discuss the
question for several years.
Up to this time all efforts to secure the establish-
ment of a bank in the county had proved futile,
although such a monetary institution was imperatively
demanded by the commercial necessities of the com-
munity. Avon had made several attempts to secure
a bank charter, and so also had Geneseo, Mount Mor-
ris and York, but at this time the legislature was
chary of its favors in this direction, and thq desire of
the people was ungratified. At the session of the
legislature. of 1830, however, the bill to incorporate
the Livingston County Bank was passed, and theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
399
long wished for measure was secured. Naturally the
people of the county were much elated, and especially
so as this was the only charter west of Syracuse
granted at this session. In May of the same year the
commissioners appointed to distribute the stock of the
bank announced that the subscription books would
be opened in Geneseo May 31st, at the house of C.
Hamilton, and that a payment of $1 on each share of
$25 was required by the act of incorporation. The
notice was signed by William H. Spencer, Allen
Ayrault, W. H. Smith, D. H. Fitzhugh and William
Lyman.' Such was the public desire for the bank,
and the confidence felt in its financial success, that in
three days the entire capital stock, $100,000, was sub-
scribed and the payment of $1 per share made. On
the 25th of June the stockholders met for the purpose
of completing the organization, when the following
gentlemen were elected directors for the ensuing year:
John Greig, H. B. Gibson, Nathaniel W. Howell,
Abraham M. Schermerhorn, James K. Guernsey,
Charles H. Carroll, Hezekiah D. Mason, Felix Tracy,
Owen P. Olmsted, Eli Hill, William Lyman, William
H. Stanley and Allen Ayrault. Subsequently Allen
Ayrault was chosen President, Watts Sherman* cash-
ier. Eben N. Buell, James Percival and David C.
Stewart were appointed inspectors of the next elec-
tion.
Work was immediately commenced on a new bank-
ing house, and in the Register of Sept. 8, 1830, we
find the following reference to the bank and its build-
ing : “ The capital stock of this bank ($100,000) was
promptly paid in on the 1st inst. and everything is
now in readiness for the transaction of business. A
* Afterward a member of the well known firm of Duncan, Sherman & Co.,
Bankers, New York,400
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
very neat banking bouse, well calculated both for
convenience and security, has been erected since the
first of June. The building is of brick, situated
about the centre of the village ; and will, as we under-
stand, be completed in a few days ; until which time
the business of the bank will be transacted in an
office appropriate for this purpose.” The same paper
indulges in a congratulatory strain over this event. It
says: “Thus have the untired exertions of the inhab-
itants of this place been rewarded with success. Their
perseverance for the last six years has resulte'd in the
establishment of an institution which has long been
needed, and the lack of which has placed this section
of the country under some disadvantages which we
hope will now be no more felt. We confidently look
forward to the fulfillment of all the predictions we
have heretofore made in relation to the benefits to be
derived from this bank, and have still good reason to
believe that with proper management, such as it will
undoubtedly receive, that both stock holders and
those who have occasion to transact business with the
bank will find an ample reciprocity of benefit and
favor.”*
The end of the century’s third decade found the
county, in the ninth year of its existence, in a highly
prosperous condition. Its population had increased
from 19,800 in 1821 to 27,719 in 1830, its territory was
dotted with numerous enterprising and growing
* The expectations of the editor were fully realized. During the twenty*
iive years of its existence as a corporation it paid in dividends to its stock-
holders, $319,500, and then returned to them every cent of the capital
stock. An eminent banker, speaking of its management, wrote: “ In refer-
ence to the closing of the operations of the Livingston County Bank, after
its existence of a quarter of a century under your management—a Bank
managed better as well for the good of the country, as for the benefit of the
stockholders, I do not think exists, or has existed in the country.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
401
villages, and its active population was rapidly devel-
oping the resources of this rich and fertile region.
As a fitting close to this period of our history, a
brief sketch of the pioneer press of the county will
be interesting. The first newspaper printed in the
county, the “Moscow Advertiser and Genesee
Farmer,” has already been mentioned in a previous
chapter. Mr. Percival, after his purchase of the
office and its removal to Geneseo, gave his paper an
enlarged form, new type and other marked improve-
ments, and espoused the Bucktail cause. The Liv-
ingston Journal, started in Geneseo in 1822 by Chauncy
Morse, represented the Clintonian and “ National
Republican” party. The Morgan excitement brought
a change in parties, however, and the Register became
the organ of the anti-masonic party and afterward
that of the Whigs, while the Journal became the
Jackson organ, to which party it remained attached
until it was discontinued in 1834. In 1829 the Regis-
ter changed hands, Anson M. Weed and Allen War-
ner becoming the proprietors. The Journal also
changed owners during this period. Ashel Harvey
was for a short time associated with Mr. Morse in the
publication of the paper, and both of these gentle-
men were succeeded in 1829 by Levi Hovey. Both of
these early newspapers were small sheets, well filled
with foreign news but almost wholly devoid of local
intelligence. They were fair specimens, however, of
the weekly county papers of that period, and in some
respects were ably conducted. It was the day of
party organs, and as such they were successful jour-
nals, and were liberally sustained, considering the
early period of their existence.
Moses Hayden, while serving his second year in the
Senate, sickened and died Feb. 14, 1830. His death
was a surprise to his constituents, and caused a feel-402
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ing of deep and wide-spread regret. His public ser-
vices had been rendered with marked ability and a
sincere purpose to secure the public good, while his
private character was one of singular purity and integ-
rity. He consequently enjoined the confidence and
esteem not only of his own party, but of the people
generally, and his unexpected death was the cause of
sincere sorrow. His remains were brought from
Albany in May of the same year, and re-interred near
his late residence in York. Philo C. Fuller was
chosen to fill the vacancy in the Senate caused by Mr.
Hayden’s death.CHAPTER XVI.
THE DECADE FROM 1830 TO 1840.
Notwithstanding the fact that the question of a
canal along the valley of the Genesee to Olean had
now been before the people for fully six years, and
the measure urged year after year with great deter-
mination upon the attention of the legislature, nothing
had as yet been done by that body to further this
object. Discouraged by their attempts to secure the
needed measure, the people of this and Monroe coun-
ties turned their attention to other plans for improv-
ing the transportation facilities of the valley.
About this period the attention of the country was
directed to the subject of railroads, which were then
just coming into use, and the people of the Valley
naturally concluded that a railroad would solve the
difficulties under which they labored.
On the 15th of November, 1831, a meeting of citi-
zens of this county was held at C. Hamilton’s house
in Geneseo, for the purpose of taking measures to
call a general meeting of the inhabitants of the coun-
ties of Monroe, Livingston, Genesee, Allegany and
Steuben, who felt an interest in the construction of
the “Rochester and Dansville Railroad,” along the404
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
valley of the Genesee river and Canaseraga creek.
Charles H. Carroll acted as chairman of this meeting,
and Allen Ayrault secretary. The object of the meet-
ing having been stated, it was announced that a notice
had been given that an application would be made to
the legislature for a charter for this road, with a capi-
tal of $300,000. It was therefore resolved that a call
be issued for a general meeting to be held in Geneseo
on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 1831, and all residents of the
counties previously named, who were interested in
this project, were invited to attend. The committee
appointed to carry this into effect consisted of Charles
H. Carroll, Allen Ayrault, C. H. Bryan, D. Firman,
James Proudfit, Asa Arnold, William A. Mills, H.
Jones, Jr., D. H. Fitzhugh, Smith Parmalee, James
McCurdy, F. Blakesley, Robert Dixon, S. C. Grover,
J. Clark and John Young.
Preliminary meetings were also held in Dansville
and other places to promote this object, which were
participated in by leading citizens. On the 29th inst.
the general meeting was held in Geneseo, and proved
a large and enthusiastic gathering. All sections were
represented, and a great unanimity of sentiment pre-
vailed. In the preamble adopted appears' this:
“ Whereas we have repeatedly and in vain petitioned
to the legislature of this State for the improvement of
our natural means of intercommunication by the con-
struction of a canal from Rochester to Olean up the
valley of the Genesee river: and whereas, within a
few years the science of the construction of railroads
and the machinery employed thereon has been so
much improved as to exceed the most sanguine expec-
tation of power and speed in its adaptation to the
transportation of passengers and produce; and
whereas in this latitude the railroad has a decided
advantage over the canal system by extending itsHTSTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
405
benefits and facilities throughout the whole year.”
Hezekiah D. Mason, Allen Ayrault, C. H. Bryan,
Felix Tracy, William A. Mills and James Faulkner
were made a committee to circulate a petition for sig-
natures, praying the legislature to incorporate the
company.
In the memorial to the legislature on this subject, it
was urged that the face of the country over which the
projected railroad would pass, was well adapted to
its construction. From Rochester to the mouth of
Canaseraga creek, about thirty miles, the rise was
stated at 45 feet; and from the latter point to Dans-
ville, a distance of about eighteen miles, the rise was
160 feet; a total rise of 205 feet in torty-eight miles.
Referring to the extent of the traffic over the water
and land routes at this time, the memorial said: “ The
surplus products of the Genesee and Canaseraga val-
leys and southern country, pass to Rochester down
the Genesee valley. The amount of tonage up and
down the valley in the last year is 16,846 tons. This
appears upon and is taken from the books of the for-
warding merchants. Not included in this statement
are the articles of oats, barley, beer, butter, cheese,
lard, pork unpacked, tar, peltry, salt and lumber, and
a great variety of other products that never find their
way to the storehouse of the merchant. There are in
the immediate vicinity of Dansville fifty-six saw-mills
surrounded by immense forests of white and yellow
pine. The joint product of these mills at a low esti-
mate is 5,000,000 feet.” *	*	*	“ Present price of
transportation from Dansville to Rochester, loads fur-
nishished both ways, is $4 a ton. From Geneseo by
water, twenty shillings. A trip on railroad from
Dansville to Rochester and return could be made in
nine hours; from Geneseo in six hours.”
The Village Chronicle of Dansville gives an account406
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of a meeting held in that village Jan. 7th, 1832, in
furtherance of the projected railroad, at which
addresses were made by Judge Carroll, James Faulk-
ner and others. The members of Congress of the
26th, 27th and 28th districts were requested by this
meeting to use their influence to secure the appoint-
ment of some member of the corps of topographical
engineers to make a survey from Lake Ontario to the
head waters of the Susquehanna river, through the
valleys of Genesee and Canaseraga.
These united and persistent efforts were speedily
crowned with success. The bill incorporating the
railroad company passed the Senate Feb. 23d, 1832,
by a unanimous vote, and in the latter part of March
it was passed by the Assembly. This successful issue
was the signal for joyful outbreaks throughout the
Valley. Public meetings were held, congratulatory
addresses delivered, and in other ways the people tes-
tified to the general good feeling. The Village Chron-
icle of March 29, 1832, thus notices the reception of
the news at Dansville: “The cheering intelligence
that the bill incorporating the Dansville and Roches-
ter Railroad company had passed the Assembly, and
only wanted the signature of the Governor to become
a law, was received in this village on Monday evening
last, about 8 o’clock, and as a demonstration of the
joy with which it was hailed by our citizens in the
short space of half an hour, every house and shop in
the village was handsomely illuminated, which to-
gether with the skyrockets, fire-balls, bonfires, etc.,
that were flying in all directions, presented a beautiful
scene.”
Surveys for the proposed road were commenced in
July, 1832, by Mr. Almy of Geneseo, and Nov. 20th
the stock books of the company were opened at the
Eagle tavern in Rochester, and Hamilton’s tavern inHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	407
Geneseo, for the purpose of receiving subscriptions.
A portion of the stock was taken during the three
days the books were kept open at this time, but in
the following year the directors were compelled to
give notice that the subscription to the stock of the
company not having been filled, the books would
again be opened at the Eagle tavern in Rochester on
the 9th of September. The persons signing this notice
were Elisha Johnson, Charles H. Carroll, A. M. Scher-
merhom, W. H. Spencer, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, James
Faulkner and William Lyman.
Unfortunately, however, this constitutes the most
part of the history of the Rochester and Dansville
railroad. Like all similar enterprises it met with de-
lays, disappointments and embarrassments, and the
enterprise was finally wholly abandoned. Subse-
quently the Genesee Talley Railroad company built a
line from Rochester to Avon, finishing it in 1854; the
Avon, Geneseo and Mount Morris Railroad company
extended the line to Mount Morris, opening the road
to the public in 1859 ; and forty years after Dansville
celebrated the chartering of her railroad company, the
cars entered that village for the first time in the fall of
1871, the line having been extended by the Erie and
Genesee Valley Railroad company from Mount Mor-
ris. The entire line from Rochester to Dansville is
now under lease to and operated by the Erie Railway
company.
In addition to this railroad enterprise, a charter
was granted in 1832 for a railroad from Geneseo to
Pittsford, but nothing was done to build the road.
The general election of 1830 resulted in the election
of the entire anti-masonic ticket. The Senators
chosen were Philo C. Fuller and Trumbull Carey; for
the Assembly, Jerediah Horsford and James Percival.
Calvin H. Bryan was a candidate for Member of Con-408
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
gress for the Twenty-seventh district, but was de-
feated by Frederick Whittlesey of Rochester, who
filled the position during the years 1831 to 1835 inclu-
sive, the congressional district at that time embracing
Livingston and Monroe counties.
The town elections of 1831 resulted very favorably
to anti-masonry. But three towns elected opposition
tickets. Groveland, Mount Morris and Lima. The
anti-masonic organ in commenting on this result said,
“the elections demonstrated that anti-masonry not
only holds strong in this county, but that it is contin-
ually increasing in strength. In several towns the
fraternity, although they put in requisition their ut-
most endeavors, were unable to get up any opposi.
tion.”	■
In March, 1832, Willard H. Smith] was appointed
by the Governor and Senate First Judge of the county
courts of this county* succeeding Hezekiah D. Mason,
who had served since 1829. At the same time Samuel
W. Spencer was appointed in the same manner as
Surrogate, to succeed James Rosebrugh, who had
filled the office since the organization of the county in
1821.
By the act of June 29, 1832, Livingston and Alle-
gany were made the Thirtieth Congressional district,
and the first Representative chosen was Philo C. Ful-
ler of Geneseo, who served from Dec. 2,1833, to Sept.
2, 1836, when he resigned and was succeeded by John
Young of Geneseo. Mr. Young was succeeded by
Luther C. Peck of Allegany, whose service covered
the years 1837 to 1841 inclusive, when John Young
was again returned and served one term.
The history of the county press of this period is
one of frequent change and vicissitude. The Village
Chronicle was established in Dansville in 1830 by
David Mitchell and Benjamin C. Dennison. Its firstHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
409
editorial says, “The Chronicle will be subservient to
no political party or association of men, but devoted
to whatever will conduce to the general good of soci-
ety. It will be a faithful chronicler of the times—a
brief history of passing events—a valuable domestic
paper ; and such an one as may be advantageously
introduced into every family.” Upon its espousing
the anti-masonic cause, Mr. Dennison severed his con-
nection with the paper April 12th, 1831, and removed
to Ceneseo. The paper was continued by Mitchell,
who in a short time changed the name to the Village
Record. It was soon after this discontinued. On the
removal of Mr. Dennison to Greneseo he became the
proprietor of the Journal, its name now changed to
the Courier. In 1832 the paper was published by
Evans & Woodruff, and in the fall of that year Henry
F. Evans became the sole proprietor. The paper met
with the usual fate of such enterprises, and ceased to
exist in 1834.
Meantime the Register, the opposition journal, was
also experiencing many changes. Mr. Percival had
sold the establishment in 1829 to Anson M. Weed and
Allen Warner, as previously stated, but the death of
Mr. Weed in 1831 dissolved the partnership, and Mr.
Percival again became the publisher. In 1832 Elias
Clark bought the office and published the Register
until 1834, when he disposed of the establishment to
William H. Kelsey and Richard M. Miel, Mr. Kelsey
retiring in the following year, and Mr. Miel became
the sole proprietor. Although the “Register” had
been the organ of the Whig party, it received but an
indifferent support, and Mr. Miel after consultation
with some leading Democratic politicians of the
county resolved to turn his paper over to the support
of that party and its candidates. This was done in
an able editorial which produced a great sensation at410
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the time, as it was believed several prominent Whigs
were in the secret, and they found it necessary to
disclaim publicly any connection with the change.
After a precarious existence of several years, during
which the Register was successively published by D.
S. Curtiss, Hugh Harding and John Kempshall, it
was discontinued by the latter at the close of the “ Tip-
pecanoe” campaign in 1840. The materials of the
office were sold to Peter Lawrence and removed to
Perry.
The sudden change of front by the Register, and its
desertion of the Whig party, was the cause of a good
deal of indignation, and the leading Whigs of the
county were determined that its place should be filled.
To this end David Mitchell and William H. Kelsey
purchased the materials of the defunct Journal estab-
lishment just before the election of 1835, and com-
menced the publication of the Livingston Democrat.
Mr. Mitchell soon retired from the paper, and Mr.
Kelsey continued it alone until the spring of 1837,
when it was compelled to succumb to unfavorable cir-
cumstances. Such failures were enough to dishearten
most men, but the sturdy Whigs of Livingston were
men of great determination, and devotion to the prin-
ciples of their party. Besides, the opposition had an
organ in the Register, and their pride would not per-
mit the Whigs to be behind in this respect. Measures
were accordingly taken to establish a new organ, on a
firm basis and with an experienced printer at its head.
To this end negotiations were opened with Samuel P.
Allen, then a young printer, who had learned his
trade in the Register office under Mr. Warner, and
his uncle Mr. Percival. In reference to these negoti-
ations Mr. Allen says: “During the summer of that
year [1837], I was called upon at Mount Morris by
some of the members of the Whig Central Committee,HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
411
and urged to undertake the publication of a Whig
journal at Geneseo. The committee consisted of Wil-
liam H. Spencer, Charles Colt, John Young, Elias
Clark and Gurdon Nowlen. *	*	* The late Wil-
liam W. Weed was also active in the enterprise, and
by personal efforts, probably accomplished as much
as any other gentleman in securing the necessary
funds to purchase a new press, etc.” The negotia-
tions with Mi;. Allen were successful, and early in
September, 1837, with a one-horse lumber wagon, he
proceeded to Buffalo “with the old type of the Jour-
nal-Democrat establishment, and with a small amount
of funds furnished by the committee, exchanged for
new type at the foundry of Mr. Nathan Lyman—the
journey occupying three days. Meantime a new
Washington press had arrived from New York, and
the first number of the Livingston Republican was
issued on the 19th of September, 1837.” The office
was the property of the Whig central committee, Mr.
Allen acting only as editor and publisher, but he says,
in the letter from which we have quoted, “in March,
1844, such had been the success of the enterprise, that
I was able to purchase the establishment, for which
four hundred dollars was paid. The great Clay cam-
paign of that year probably furnished the Whig com-
mittee an opportunity to ‘invest’ these funds ! ”
The election of 1831 resulted in the choice of George
W. Patterson and John Young as Members of Assem-
bly, and in 1833 the county was represented by George
W. Patterson and Samuel W. Smith. The election in
the fall of 1833 resulted in the choice for this office of
Salmon G. Grover and Tabor Ward. Again in 1834
Mr. Patterson became the choice of the electors for
this position, his colleague being Hollom Hutchinson.
At the same time Elias Clark was chosen County Clerk
—the Whigs carrying the elections.412	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
In 1835 the elections resulted in another sweeping
Whig victory, the Assemblymen chosen being Charles
H. Carroll and George W. Patterson. On the 20th of
January, 1836, Calvin H. Bryan was appointed Dis-
trict Attorney by the Court of General Sessions, but
was superseded May 30th of the same year by A. A
Bennett. The election of this year resulted in the
choice of George W. Patterson and William Scott As-
semblymen, who served two successive terms. In
1838 Mr. Patterson was again re-electee!, his colleague
being Elias Clark. At the session of 1839 Mr. Patter-
son was chosen Speaker and filled the position two
successive terms with great credit to himself and honor
to his constituents.
Elias Clark was succeeded as County Clerk by
William H. Stanley, who was elected in 1837. In
1840 Samuel P. Allen was chosen to fill the office.
George Hastings superseded A. A. Bennett as District
Attorney, May 27th, 1839, while the Sheriffs of the
county during the period covered by this chapter had
been Augustus Gibbs, elected in 1831; Josiah Wen-
dell, 1834; William W. Weed, 1837, and James
Brewer, 1840.
Until the adoption of the new constitution in 1846,
Surrogates were appointed by the Governor and Sen-
ate, for the term of four years. On the 23d of March,
1836, Benjamin F. Angel was appointed Surrogate,
and held the office until April 22d, 1840, when he was
superseded by William H. Kelsey, who in turn was
superseded by Mr. Angel in 1844, upon the advent to
power in the State of a Democratic administration.
The office of Supreme Court Commissioner—an officer
to perform the duties of a Judge of the Supreme
Court at Chambers, was conferred upon Mr. Angel at
the same time, and held by him until the new consti-
tution went into effect in 1847.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	418
Applications to the legislature for charters and
legislative aid to various enterprises, were of frequent
occurrence at this time. In 1836 notices appeared
that applications would be made for charters for banks
at Avon, Dansville and York Centre, and the villages
of Avon and York Centre wanted to be incorporated,
while the people of Dansville asked for an act to
incorporate the Dansville Academy, and the directors
of the Livingston County Bank desired to increase
their capital stock to $250,000.
In 1837 an act was passed incorporating the Geneseo
Hydraulic Company. It was the design of this com-
pany to provide a great water power, by proper dams
and other works on the Genesee river. The passage
of the bill was hailed with the greatest demonstrations
of joy on the part of the people of Geneseo, but it
does not appear that the company ever commenced
work. It is certain, at least, that the1 wild expecta-
tions of the people were never realized.
The presidential campaign of 1840 was > memorable
one, and holds its place in history as one of the most
spirited and closely contested political campaigns the
country has ever witnessed. The Whig party came
early into the field with its standard bearers, William
Henry Harrison for President, and John Tyler for
Yice President. The Democratic party nominated
for re-election President Martin Tan Buren and Yice
President Richard M. Johnson.
It was a period of great financial distress. In 1837
had occurred the disastrous financial panic, when
bank after bank suspended specie payments, enter-
prise was crippled, the business of the country to a
large degree suspended, and thousands of laborers
thrown out of employment. The government, which
a few months before had had a surplus of forty mil-
lions of dollars, found itself in this crisis unable to414
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
meet its daily obligations, and an extra session of
Congress was rendered necessary to extricate it from
its difficulties. In 1840 the financial distress had been
but little relieved, and the people generally attributed
this to the attempts of the government to regulate the
currency. Under the generally accepted rule that the
party in power is responsible for all existing evils, the
Democratic party was held responsible for this wide-
spread distress and business stagnation, and its nom-
inees were thus rendered unpopular. This tendency
of popular judgment has ever been a marked feature
of our political system, and while it may, and un-
doubtedly does, sometimes do injustice to party lead-
ers and organizations, it also acts as a wholesome
check upon the abuse of power or the neglect of man-
ifest public duty.
Some peculiar features marked the campaign of
1840. General Harrison, the Whig candidate for
President, had served in the campaign of 1811 against
the Indians, and at the battle of Tippecanoe had won
great military honors. His admirers now took advan-
tage of this, and “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” be-
came the Whig watchword. Another peculiarity
arose from the fact that some injudicious opponents
had taunted General Harrison with having lived in a*
log cabin and used hard cider as a beverage. “ Hence
the term ‘ log cabin ’ was seized upon and became the-
great talismanic word of the party, the effect of which,
all the arts of the ‘little magician’ were insufficient to-
counteract. Miniature log cabins were a part of the-
paraphernalia got up to give effect to the mass meet-
ings, which were not unfrequently measured by acres.
These rude structures, decorated with ‘ coon skins, *
were also erected of sufficient dimensions for the ac-
commodation of the local assemblages. There was
scarcely a city or village which was not adorned withHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	415
an edifice of this description. And the number was
‘legion’ of those who traced their conversion to the
‘new light’ emitted from these political forums.”
Like their brethren in other parts of the country,,
the Whigs of Livingston had their log cabins and hard
cider, much to the amusement of their opponents,
who derided them unmercifully. The Whigs of Gen-
eseo erected a cabin near the centre of the village in
the latter part of August, and it afforded a place for
numerous gatherings during the campaign. It was
not a sightly structure, however, and many were the
derisive laughs enjoyed by the Democrats at its rough
appearance and uncouth shape. The Register for
Sept. 1st, under the head of “village improvements,”'
announces the completion of the log cabin, which had.
been built in one week. It considered the architecture
unique, and compared the cornice in front, which had
no posts to sustain it, to ‘ ‘ Federal Tippecanoe Whig-
gery,” which, it said, “is destitute of props, posts or
supports, that can save it from the fate that awaits it.”
Dansville also had her log cabin, erected in one
day, at a grand mass meeting of Whigs, and although
threatened with destruction by the Democrats, it
served its purpose in the campaign, and was the scene
of a number of exciting and enthusiastic political bar-
becues.
After a canvass which will long be remembered, the
two great parties met at the polls and measured their
relative strength. The result proved an overwhelm-
ing Whig victory, the party electing its candidates
for the Presidency and Vice Presidency, gaining a
large majority in Congress, and sweeping everything
before it on its local tickets. In Livingston county it
achieved a signal victory. The entire Whig ticket
was elected. The Register, the organ of the Democ-t
racy, discouraged by this result, and its resources416
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
exhausted in attempts to maintain an existence, grace-
fully yielded to the inevitable and suspended publica-
tion. The county officers chosen at this election were
Samuel P. Allen, County Clerk; James Brewer,
Sheriff; Augustus Gibbs and Reuben P. Wisner,
Members of Assembly. John Young was also chosen
Member of Congress, and John Wheeler Presidential
Elector.
The county had now nearly reached the twentieth
year of its separate existence, and was prosperous to
a degree exceeding the highest expectations of those
who had favored its erection. The population at this
time had reached 37,777, an increase of about 8,767 in
ten years. The assessed valuation of real estate was
$10,477,692; of personal estate, $768,432 ; aggregate
valuation, $11,246,124.
The development of the manufacturing interests of
the county had kept pace with her agricultural pro-
gress, and among the principal manufacturing estab-
lishments were one woolen mill, six iron establish-
ments, four paper mills, twenty tanneries, one brewery,
sixty nine saw-mills, thirty grist-mills, sixteen fulling
mills, fifteen carding mills, and one oil mill.
Of banking establishments the county had two.
The Livingston County Bank, at Geneseo, with a cap-
ital of $100,000, and its report for 1839 showed loans
and discounts to the amount of $217,844, dividends in
that year, $14,000, and surplus, or profits on hand,
$37,762. Allen Ayrault was President, and Ephraim
Cone Cashier. The Bank of Dansville was a banking
association, located at-Dansville. Its capital was
$150,300 at this time, and the amount of its circula-
tion $124,000.
Two villages in the county were incorporated, Gene-
seo and Mount Morris, the former in 1832, the latter
in 1835. But Dansville, Moscow, Avon, York, LimaHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	417
and Livonia were flourishing villages, Dansville, at
least, having a larger population than either of the
incorporated villages. The number of postoffices in
the county was thirty.
Three newspapers were at this time making their
weekly visits to the people. These were the Living-
ston Republican and Livingston Register,* published
at Geneseo, and the Spectator, published at Mount
Morris by Hugh Harding.
Two incorporated academies furnished educational
facilities, in addition to the excellent district schools.
These were the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima,
with an average attendance per term of 180 pupils,
and the Livingston County High School, with an aver-
age attendance of 88 pupils per term. There were
also several unincorporated academies which enjoyed
a high reputation as institutions of learning. Among
these were the academies at Moscow and West Avon.
A daily line of stages gave comparatively easy com-
munication with all points, and carried the mails with
regularity and despatch. A line run from Rochester
to Bath, accommodating all the principal places in
this county, and making connection with a Philadel-
phia and Washington line, and also with lines run-
ning to Buffalo, Lewiston, Utica and Albany ; while
the Genesee Yalley Canal, now completed to Mount
Morris, and rapidly approaching a finished state on
its upper sections, afforded ample and cheap facilities
for transporting the abundant products of the Yalley.
* Suspended after the Presidential election of 1840.
#CHAPTER XVII.
THE DECADE FROM 1840 TO 1850.
The ambuscade by which a brave scouting party
Bent out from Sullivan’s army of invasion in 1779,
was ruthlessly destroyed by the savages, has been
described in a previous chapter. The ambuscade
occurred on the farm now owned by James Boyd,
situated just below the graveyard near John Gray’s
residence in Groveland, and a few rods south of the
public road. The spot where the remains were inter-
red may still be identified, though the field is under
cultivation. Until recently the deeply worn trail
traversed by Boyd’s scouting party and over which
the army passed, might easily be traced through the
wood lot near by ; and even now, for quite a distance
between this spot and the lake, the Indian path is
used as a private roadway.
The fallen soldiers were buried in two graves near
together, the larger of which was located between
three huge oaks whose stumps were standing thirty
years ago. Captain Salmon, who now sleeps in the
grave-yard close at hand, lived for many years but a
mile distant and frequently visited the spot in com-
pany with men yet living. He never was weary of
pointing out the place of conflict, nor of identifying
with soldierly reverence the burial place. The earth
over the graves, while yet the virgin soil thereaboutsHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTS.
419
lay undisturbed, bad settled about two feet, and
bushes has been thrown into the depression. Thus it
remained for some years until the brush was removed
by a tenant, who plowed over the spot and gradu-
ally levelled it up even with the surrounding surface.
While the country was yet new and farmers allowed
their cattle and horses to roam at large, John Harri-
son, of Gfroveland, one morning in crossing Deacon
Carpenter’s farm, just north of the site of this ambus-
cade, in search of his stock, stumbled upon a human
skull which lay beside a decaying log. This doubt-
less belonged to one who had been wounded in the
fight and had crawled off in that direction to die. A
scalping knife also, possibly the property of the
Indian killed by Murphy while effecting his escape,
was found a little way eastward of the graves. A
number of other relics have been picked up from time
to time, though few are preserved.* For many years
* The engraving on this page shows the scalping-knife alluded to above ;
an axe dug up about forty rods east of the spot where the military bridge
was built across the inlet; and a pair of huge bullet moulds, now greatly
rust-eaten, capable of running a dozen balls at once, found near Sullivan’s
camping-ground at Conesus.
The knife is the property of Mr. James Boyd, on the farm; the axe was
presented to the author by Mr. Granger Griswold of Conesus—the notch
near the eye-hole was made by taking out a piece of steel for ornamenting a420	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
it was the practice of Groveland boys, on their way
to the lake for fishing, when their route lay by this
spot, to seek among] the soldier bones, then quite
freely scattered over the surface, for such pieces as
they best liked for cane tops. Military buttons, too,
were now and then picked up and applied to the same
fanciful purpose until the hand of the curious and
the corrosion of time together had removed the more
Open evidences of the burial-place, so that when in
1841, the general exhumation occurred, it was only
after digging over a considerable space that the exact
location of the two graves was ascertained. Mingled
with the bones and dust thrown up on that occasion
were found four pewter buttons of a particular pat-
tern, bearing on the face in large letters, the initials
“U. S. A.” These were at once recognized by Paul
Sanborn and Lemuel Richardson, and one or two
other Revolutionary soldiers present, as the kind worn
by the Riflemen, to which corps Boyd’s party
belonged. The identity of the remains, consisting of
bones more or less decayed, of teeth, and we believe,
some portions of military clothing, was thus fully
established.
At a county celebration held in Geneseo on the 4th
of July, 1841, it was decided that on the next national
anniversary day the work of erecting a monument in
honor of Boyd and Parker, and those who fell in
Groveland, should be commenced ; but further action
did not take place. The citizens of Rochester in lay-
ing out the beautiful cemetery grounds of Mount
cane made from the wood of Big Tree for Thurlow Weed; the bullet*
moulds were presented by the late James T. Norton of Geneseo.
There was found on Mr. Richardson’s farm, on the spot where the army
lay encamped for the night, a gun-barrel; and Mr. Richardson some years
ago plowed up two horse-shoes, of great size, much eaten by the rust,
Drhich doubtless belonged to the army horses.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
421
Hope a short time previous to this date, had assigned
an elevated spot therein, called by them Revolutionary
Hill, for the interment of all soldiers who had died or
should die in Western New York. A request was
accordingly made to the citizens of Livingston County
to deliver up the remains of their heroic dead for that
purpose. By a portion of our people this request
was favorably entertained, while others preferred that
the venerated relics should remain where they had
been placed by their soldier companions.
To decide the question a county meeting was con-
vened at the Court House in Geneseo on the 14th of
August. A committee here selected reported through
Allen Ayrault, favoring the removal, and advising
that the remains be delivered to the Rochester author-
ities at Cuylerville ; and thirteen leading citizens were
designated to carry out this conclusion.* Two days
afterward several of these gentlemen proceeded to
Groveland where they obtained the bones there buried.
A delegation also visited the grave of Boyd and Par-
ker near Cuylerville. This was found to be partly
overgrown with the roots of wild plum trees. The
bones were disinterred in the presence of a score of
well-known citizens. A physician presentf carefully
examined and pronounced them human remains, and
from the position in which they were found, no reas-
onable doubt could be entertained that these were the
relics of our ill-fated scouts, the victims of savage
torture.
This preliminary action aroused enthusiasm and
touched the popular heart; and the spirit in which
* These were Calvin H. Bryan, Wm. T. Cuyler, Daniel H. Bissel, Reuben
Sleeper, John Henderson, Horatio Jones, John R, Murray, Jr., Allen Ayrault,
Samuel Treat, Jr., Edward R. Hammatt, William W. Weed, William H. Stan-
ley and Daniel P. Bissell.
f Dr. Garlock.422
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the after ceremonies were conducted redounds to the
lasting credit of the counties of Livingston and Mon-
roe. Scottsville, Gfeneseo and other corporations took
formal action on the subject. Mount Morris provided
a breakfast for the military and civic delegations from
[Rochester. Official bodies also took action. The
State Senate, then in session at Buffalo as a court of
correction of errors, were invited to participate. In
reply they “resolved, that the Senate duly appreciate
and fully approve of this patriotic movement of their
fellow citizens, but that public duties now resting
upon them forbid their joining therein.”
The municipal authorities and military companies
of Rochester left that city in a flotilla of five canal
boats on the evening of the 19th of August.* Bon-
fires were kindled at the principal villages along the
route, and crowds of people at each stopping place
testified the public reverence for the memory of those
whose deeds were about to be so conspicuously hon-
ored. At Scottsville Captain Elnathan Perry, of
Rush, one of Sullivan’s men and a fellow soldier of
Boyd, joined the party.
On reaching Cuylerville a procession was formed
and proceeded to Boyd and Parker’s grave. The
bones of these men had been already placed in an urn,
and the relics from Groveland had just arrived in a
sarcophagus under escort of a procession of citizens of
the county, formed at Geneseo, nearly a mile in length.
While the two cavalcades halted a few rods from each
* Three of these boats were gratuitously furnished by Col. John Allen, of
the old Clinton Line of canal boats; a fourth was provided in an equally
liberal spirit by Sidney Allen, of Rochester; the fifth boat was the regular
packet.
The military corps of Rochester which on this occasion responded, con-
sisted of Williams’ Light Infantry; Union Grays ; City Cadets; Rochester
Artillery; and German Grenadiers. Their movements were directed by
Col. Amos Sawyer, who had been selected commandant for the occasion.HISTORY OB’ LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	433
other, and the Rochester military companies were
drawn up on two sides of the passage-way, the com-
mittee of arrangements and the survivors present of
Sullivan’s army ascended to the summit of the mound
raised over the grave of Boyd and Parker, the band,
meantime playing a dirge. The urn was next raised,
borne to the hearse, and placed in the sarcophagus by
Major Van Campen. The two processions then united,
and, to the sound of muffled drums, moved slowly
toward a beautiful grove on Cuyler's farm near by,
where a platform had been erected for the ceremonies.
An audience of 5,000 persons had here gathered from
the surrounding country, and everything evinced the
deep feeling which the occasion excited. The vener-
able Major Moses Van Campen of Dansville, now
about eighty years old, an officer of the Revolution,
a schoolmate and companion-in-arms of Boyd, pre-
sided. Paul Sanborn, who discovered the headless
remains of two of the martyrs, (almost four-score) oc-
cupied a seat on the platform; as likewise did Lemuel
Richardson and Captain Perry. Other Revolutionary
soldiers took part. An eloquent oration, replete with
special historic interest, was delivered by Judge Sam-
uel Treat, and at its close the president of the day
formally surrendered the relics to the Rochester au-
thorities, and an hour before sunset the military corps,
charged with their custody, started northward. The
arrival of the remains at Rochester the next morning
was announced by the firing of cannon, and a great
multitude of spectators lined the banks and landings.
At ten o’clock, amid the tolling of bells and the
echo of minute guns, the cavalcade moved toward Mt.
Hope. In the escort were Governor Seward and mil-
itary staff, several noted army officers, the Vice Chan-
cellor and other prominent men, the city officials,
committees, and civic and fire companies. Arrived434	HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
at Revolutionary Hill, Governor Seward made a short
address. Referring to those whose ashes were about
to be deposited, he said : ‘ ‘ God forgive the man who
does not feel his blood grow warmer at the recollec-
tion of the daring, the devotion, the patriotism, of
those who thus acted and thus fell.” After formally
dedicating the grounds to their peculiar use, the Rev.
Elisha Tucker read the funeral service of the Episco-
pal church. The last solemn acts of sepulture were
thus performed in the presence of high officers of the
State, and other honored functionaries and a great
concourse of the people.
Though these rites evince the reverence in ■which
the patriot dead were held, yet a just feeling would
dictate that their remains should' have been allowed
to sleep, uncoffined, in the rude graves beneath the
sod moistened by their life-blood, where they had
been placed two-thirds of a century before. And re-
spect to their remains demands that they should yet
be brought back and re-interred in the spot made
doubly interesting from being the extremest point
westward at which fighting took place in New York
during the Revolutionary war, a spot which marks an
event that has greatly influenced the personal fortunes
of all who claim nativity in this county. Let then
these rapidly wasting ashes, now suffering from
neglect, be brought back and be replaced in the mar-
tial grave which they found in the bosom of our noble
forest, thereby consecrating the broad acres to free-
dom, and making the whole county a grand mauso-
leum of her patriots.
Let us raise a fitting memorial to “ mark the spot
which must forever be dear to us and to our posterity,
that whosoever in all coming time shall turn his eye
hither, may behold that the place is not undistin-
guished.”HISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
425
James Boyd, who owns the farm where the fighting:
occurred, and who worthily wears the name though'
he shares not the blood of the principal martyr of the-
ambuscade, generously offers to devote the ground
whence these bones were removed, for their re-burial-
The place in which Boyd and Parker found a grave,,
already marked by a rude mound near what was
Beardstown Indian village, might easily be beautified-
This generation has nobly preserved from successful
rebellion the nation to which the Revolution gave
being. What more appropriate then, than to fulfill
the obligations which we imposed upon ourselves, on
the anniversary of Independence in 1841, by conse-
crating some future Fourth of July to the re-burial of
these Revolutionary dead whose graves were the first
patriotic landmarks of Livingston county.*
The Livingston County Agricultural Society was
formed in 1841, at a meeting held for that purpose in,
Geneseo on the 1st of July. Representatives were
present from all parts of the county, and considerable
interest was manifested. A constitution was adopted,,
and the following officers chosen : President, William
A. Mills; Vice Presidents, Holloway Long, James S-
Wadsworth, Daniel H. Fitzhugh; Recording Secre-
tary, C. H. Bryan; Corresponding Secretary, C. R.
Bond; Treasurer, Allen Ayrault; Managers, M.
Brooks, Mount Morris; S. W. Smith, Sparta; C. H.
Carroll, Groveland; W. H. Spencer, York; W. W-
Wadsworth, Geneseo; W. W. Wooster,. Leicester;
Hector Hitchcock, Conesus ; Edward A. Leroy, Cale-
* It is proper to state that for this account of the ceremonies attendant
upon the removal of these soldier remains to Rochester, I am indebted to
Col. L. L. Doty’s MSS., and the suggestion there made as to their re-burial in
Livingston county comes from his patriotic pen. Why not adopt it ? and
what more fitting time for this sacred and patriotic duty than this, the cen-
tennial year of our national existence f—The Editor.426
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
donia ; Asahel Warner, Lima; H. S. Tyler, Spring-
water ; Leman Gibbs, Livonia; John E. Tompkins,
Avon.
This society has continued in existence to the present
day, and its annual fairs have become noted for their
fine exhibition of choice blooded cattle and sheep.
As a stock-raising county, Livingston ranks among
the first in the State, and her blooded stock, thanks
to the efforts of the Carrolls, Wadsworths, Fitzhughs,
Spencers, Ayrault, Brooks, Barber, Sherman, Peck
and others, have acquired a national reputation.
In 1841 Gardner Arnold and Chester Bradley were
elected to the Assembly, and were succeeded in 1842
by Daniel H. Fitzhugh and Daniel D. Spencer. James
Faulkner was at the same time (1841) chosen Senator,
who served during the years 1842 to 1845 inclusive.
In the same year (1842) Charles H. Carroll was elected
Member of Congress. At the fall election of 1843 the
Whig party was again triumphant. The county
officers chosen were William H. Whiting, County
Clerk; William H. Scott, Sheriff; Gardner Arnold
and Daniel D. Spencer, Assemblymen.
On the 3d of March, 1844, the State government
having in the meantime again passed into Democratic
hands, Benjamin F. Angel was appointed Surrogate,
to succeed William H. Kelsey, who had, in 1840,
superseded Mr. Angel in this office. In this position
Mr. Angel remained until 1847, discharging its duties
with great ability and perfect satisfaction to his con-
stituents, when by the adoption of the new constitu-
tion, the office was united with that of County Judge.
The same year Mr. Angel received the appointment of
Supreme Court Commissioner, an important office
under the old constitution having concurrent juris-
diction with that of a judge of the Supreme Court of
the State, at chambers. Calvin H. Bryan, who set-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
427
tied in Geneseo the year the county was erected, and
who had always occupied a leading position as a law-
yer and politician, was appointed by the Governor and
Senate a Canal Appraiser for the State, and Daniel
H. Bissell of the town of Leicester, was elected Canal
Commissioner. These responsible places of trust
were worthily filled, and reflected honor upon
these respected citizens and upon the county.
But little less exciting than the “Log Cabin” con-
flict of 1840, was the presidential campaign of 1844.
The leading and absorbing question of this contest
was the annexation of Texas, a measure which the
Democratic party North and South earnestly advoca-
ted, while the Whigs as vigorously opposed it. It
involved the slavery question, which added to the
warmth and bitterness of the canvass. The South was
unanimously in favor of annexation because the new
territory offered a rich field for the extension of her
peculiar institution; the anti-slavery men of the
North, for the same reason, gave the measure their
unqualified disapproval. To add to the intensity of
the feeling a new element, the Anti-Slavery party,
made its appearance,—for the first time in a presiden-
tial election—nominating James G. Birney as its can-
didate for the presidency. The candidates of the
Democratic party were James K. Polk for President
and George M. Dallas for Vice President. The Whigs
supported Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen.
In this county the Whigs supported John Young and
Harlow Wells for the Assembly.
As'the canvass progressed it became an exceedingly
warm one, especially in this county, which possessed
more than the usual number of leaders prominent in
State and national politics. On the Whig side we
recognize the names of Young, Carroll, Wood, Colt,
Kelsey and others equally prominent, while among428
HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Democratic leaders were James S. Wadsworth, Ben-
jamin F. Angel, Calvin H. Bryan, Daniel H. Bissell,
George Hastings and others. All were firm partisans,
energetic workers, and men of wide-felt influence.
Thus the local canvass was given an interest it would,
not otherwise have possessed, since these leaders had
reputations as well as views and principles to sustain ;
while the nearly equally balanced power of the two
parties in the nation rendered the issue doubtful, and
furnished an incentive for each to put forth its great-
est strength. But the victory wras not for the Whigs.
A variety of causes combined to weaken their strength,
and the election resulted in the triumph of Mr. Polk
by an overwhelming popular vote, and also the suc-
cess of the Democratic State ticket. “ Never had the
Democratic party achieved a greater triumph than in
the election of 1844. Both of the great parties of the
country had put forth their entire strength in the con-
test; the-interest excited was intense and universal,
and the result decisive. The Whig party was entirely
prostrated, and apparently discouraged. The Demo-
cratic party of the State never held so strong a posi-
tion. The severity of the contest with the Whigs had
restored its ancient discipline,” *	*	*	“and the
utmost enthusiasm animated its masses.” Not so in
Livingston county, however. “ Its firm adhesion to
the Whig cause has in times past been proverbial,”
and on this occasion it firmly stood by its Whig prin-
ciples. The candidates of that party were elected by
the usual majorities, but it was a hard-earned victory,
and the opposition had the satisfaction of knowing
that every inch of the ground had been contested
with unflinching courage and indomitable will.
At the election of 1845 John Young and William
S. Fullerton were the Whig candidates for the Assem-
bly. Speaking of these nominations a Whig organHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	429
said: “This unflinching, unwavering Whig strong-
hold has prepared herself for the battle, and Locofo-
coism always feels her blows when they fall.” The
opposing candidates were David McDonald of York
and Ira Merrill of Avon, both worthy citizens. The
Whig candidate for Senator was Lorenzo Dana; his
opponent, Thomas J. Wheeler of Cattaraugus. At
this election, also, the question of a convention to
revise the constitution was voted upon. The cam-
paign was a closely contested one, but the Whig party
was triumphant in the county. The Senate district
was largely Democratic, however, and Thomas J.
Wheeler was chosen Senator.
The people having declared in favor of a constitu-
tional convention, an election was held April 28th,
1846, to choose delegates. The nominees of the Whig
party in this county were Allen Ayrault and William
H. Spencer. The opposing candidates were Willard
H. Smith and Hector Hitchcock. Probably no local
canvass was ever more vigorously prosecuted, or the
occasion of more bitterness of feeling. There was but
little opposition to Mr. Spencer, but with Mr. Ayrault
the case was different. His position as the President
of the Livingston County Bank had made for him
enemies as well as friends; the former class including
not only those whom the bank had refused to accom-
modate, but a large number who entertained a preju-
dice against all banking institutions. Taking advan-
tage of this, a desperate effort was made to elect the
Democratic nominees. The Whigs were well organ-
ized and disciplined, however, and their strength was
too great to be overcome. The Whig candidates were
elected by a majority of about 970, only two towns,
Caledonia and North Dansville, giving Democratic
majorities. The Whig organ at the county seat * was
♦Livingston Republican, May 6, 1846.430	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
pleased to say of the result: “It gives us sincere
gratification to announce the result of the election in
this county. Under all circumstances it is the most
overwhelming defeat our opponents have ever encoun-
tered, and one which, if repeated, would almost
annihilate them as a party in Old Livingston.”
The town of Xu rid a and that part of Portage lying
east of the Genesee river, forming a part of Allegany
county, were annexed to Livingston county, by an
act of the Legislature passed in April, 1846t The
town of Sparta was also divided, and the towns of
North Dansville, Sparta and West Sparta formed from
it. This gave the county sixteen towns. The annex-
ation of Nun da and Portage added a rich and flour-
ishing territory. “ The two new towns were the best
part of Allegany county, and will make a rich addi-
tion to Livingston. Besides their fame for raising
excellent wheat, they are equally distinguished for
rolling up plump Whig majorities.”*
The gubernatorial election of 1846 possesses more
than ordinary interest to the resident of this county,
since it elevated to the highest office in the State one
of the leading citizens of Livingston. This was John
Young, of Geneseo, an able member of the bar, and a
prominent politician. Mr. Young, as a member of
the legislature, as well as by his congressional servi-
ces, had acquired a brilliant reputation, and was
looked upon as one of the ablest and most trustworthy
leaders of the Whig party. His prominent position
in the Assembly of 1845, where he strenuously advo-
cated the holding of a convention to revise the consti-
tution, added to his already favorable record, attracted
to him the attention of the whole State. Mr. Young
had early avowed himself in favor of this measure,
* Livingston Republican,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
431
but many of the leading Whigs then in the legislature
viewed it with indifference, or were openly opposed to
it. By his arguments and persuasive powers he
brought nearly all of them to the adoption of his
views, and under his leadership they gave the meas-
ure a warm support. The Democracy were divided
on this question, and no honorable means were lost
by Mr. Young and his friends to widen the breach.
During the progress of the convention bill he made a
number of speeches in reply to Horatio Seymour,
then the Speaker of the Assembly and the leader of
the conservative Democrats, which won him high
praise from his party, and made him its leader in the-
Assembly.
It was while the recollection of this brilliant success
was still fresh in the minds of the people, that the
Whig State convention was held at Utica Sept. 23d,
1846. “It was well understood that Mr. Filmore did
not desire to be again a candidate for Governor, and
the name of Mr. Young was often mentioned in con-
nection with that office, long before the assembling of
the Whig State convention.’ * On the meeting of the
convention, Mr. Fillmore was warmly supported by
his friends, notwithstanding his reluctance to appear
as a candidate, and two of the three informal ballots
that were taken gave him a large majority over Mr.
Young. On the third ballot Mr. Young received 76
votes to 45 for Mr. Fillmore. After this ballot the
convention adjourned to the court-house, where, after
effecting a permanent organization, Mr. Babcock, of
Erie, arose and in a very commendable speech with-
drew Mr. Fillmore’s name as a candidate, and moved
that the nomination of John Young as the Whig can-
didate for Governor be made unanimous. The motion
* Jenkins’ Lives of the Governors of New York.432
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and again
and again was responded to with rapturous applause.
Hamilton Fish, of New York, was then nominated for
lieutenant Governor, and nominations were also
made for the minor offices.
The Democratic party renominated Silas Wright
and Addison Gardner, then Governor and Lieuten-
ant Governor, while the Abolitionists and the new
Native American party, which first appeared in 1848,
each made separate nominations. The anti-renters
endorsed the nominations of Youngs and Gardiner.
The nomination of Mr. Young was received with
■every demonstration of joy by the people of Living-
ston county. A special express from Eochester
brought the news to Geneseo on the evening of the
23d, and “one universal shout of approbation rent
the air, which was repeated and re-echoed long and
loud in cheers and huzzas, such as are made only in
the height of unbounded joy.” The intelligence
spread rapidly through the village, and in a very
short time a large crowd assembled at the American
Hotel, where an impromptu meeting was held. Ogden
M. Willey was made chairman, and J. M. Campbell
secretary. A committee consisting of W. J. Hamil-
ton, Judge Endress and J. M. Campbell was appoint-
ed to wait upon Mr. Young and inform him of his
nomination. These gentlemen soon returned and
reported that “Mr. Young was found enjoying a fine
.flow of spirits, and received the announcement of the
■committee in the spirit of a true Whig. Mr. Young
^requested the committee to present to it his accept-
ance of the nomination, and his kindest regards for
their renewed demonstrations of friendship and par-
tiality toward him.” Upon receiving this report the
meeting adjourned to the front of Mr. Youngs’ house,
where the firing of cannon and the shouts of the peo-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
433
pie rent the air “ after the most approved example of
?44.” After this demonstration the procession moved
down the street, made light as noon-day by the numer-
ous bon-fires, to the Eagle Tavern. “The Whig
houses were opened for the night, and for once the
quiet village of Geneseo gave free reins to the expres-
sion and demonstration of joy.'55.
The Whig local nominations were early made as fol-
lows : For Congress, Robert L. Rose of Ontario ;
Senator, Samuel H. P. Hall of Broome ; Sheriff, Wil-
liam Scott; County Clerk, William H. Whiting, re-
nominated ; Members ot Assembly, William S. Fuller-
ton, Andrew Sill. The Democratic nominations were,
for Congress, Peter Mitchel; Senator, William M.
Hawley; Assembly, Napoleon B. Jones, Morgan
Hammond; Sheriff, Ira Godfrey; County Clerk,
George A. Fuller.
The campaign was a warm one, both parties labor-
ing hard to secure success. In the State, however, a
variety of causes weakened the Democratic party,
while the Whig strength in the county was too great
to leave any hope of their defeat. Nevertheless, the
result of the election was a surprise to both parties.
Mr. Young was chosen Governor by a majority ex-
ceeding eleven thousand, and the Whigs secured the
legislature and twenty-two of the thirty-four Con-
gressmen. Mr. Fish, the Whig "candidate for Lieu-
tenant Governor, was defeated, however, by Judge
Gardner, the Democratic candidate thus demonstrating
that the Anti-Rent organization at that election held
the balance of power in the State. The result in
Livingston County was particularly gratifying to Mr.
Youngs’ friends. His majority was 1,450, while Mr.
Fillmore’s majority in 1844 had been only 1,029. The
* Livingston Republican.434
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
majority for Mr. Young in the “Old Eighth” district
was nearly eleven thousand, an increase of nearly
three thousand over that of 1844. This flattering vote
shows in what estimation Mr. Young was held by
those who knew him best, and justified the claim
made for him, that he was a man of the people.
Intelligence of the success of the Whig cause was
not long in reaching the towns of this county, and
was the signal for general rejoicing. The special ex-
press from Rochester arrived in Geneseo on the eve-
ning of the 4th of November, and announced the
election of Mr. Young, which was “ truly acceptable
to a large number of people from various parts of the
county who were present. A procession was formed,
on the spur of the moment, which moved amid the
roar of cannon, and the blazing of bonfires, to the
residence of Mr. Young. He was called out and con-
gratulated upon his triumphant election, in an
eloquent and appropriate speech by Hon. C. H. Car-
roll. Mr. Young replied by making a few but very
eloquent remarks. The crowd then gave three times
three for Young and Fish, after the most approved
examples of ’40 and ’44. Other speeches full of spirit
and animation were made by A. Ayrault, Esq.; B. F.
Harwood, Esq.; A. A. Hendee, Esq., and Mr. Kersh-
ner. The firing of cannon and other rejoicings were
kept up until a late hour, and the ‘home of Mr. Young’
presented a scene of joyful enthusiasm which was em-
phatically gratifying to every true Whig heart.”*
The Attica and Hornellsville railroad project engag-
ed a large share of public attention in 1846 and the
following year. This road was intenden to run be-
tween the two places named, and to make a connec-
tion with the New York and Erie railroad (now the
* Livingston Republican, Nov. 10, 1846.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
435
Erie Railway) then in course of construction. Two
routes were proposed, one through the counties of
Wyoming and Allegany; the other known as the
Northern or Valley route, traversing the western and
southern portions of Livingston county. Allegany
favored the former, and Livingston, for equally obvi-
ous reasons, the latter route ; and, although the Val-
ley route was the longer one of the two, yet such was
the earnestness and determination with which its
friends urged its adoption, that they nearly succeeded
in their efforts. Public meetings were held in vari-
ous places, and liberal subscriptions made to the
stock of the company. At a meeting held in Mount
Morris Feb. 20th, 1846, $20,000 were subscribed, con-
ditionally, within an hour after the books were opened,
but the liberal subscriptions and untiring energy of
the friends of the Southern route, coupled with the
fact that that was the shortest one, combined to defeat
the Livingston project, and the former route was
selected, with the crossing at Portage.
Contemporaneous with this railroad movement, was
one in behalf of a plank-road from Rochester to some
point in Allegany or Steuben county, passing through
Avon, Geneseo, Mount Morris and Dansville. A
meeting to further this object was held in Geneseo
Jan. 25th, 1847, of which Allen Ayrault, of Geneseo,
was chairman, and Amos Dann, of Avon, and Isaac
L. Endress, of Dansville, secretaries. The object of
the meeting was explained by B. F. Angel, of Gene-
seo, and papers were read showing the estimated cost
of the work. A committee consisting of Mr. B. F.
Angel and James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, Asa Now-
len, of Avon, G. T. Olyphant, of Mount Morris, and
S. W. Smith, of Dansville, was appointed to co-ope-
rate with the citizens of Rochester and other places on
the line of the proposed road, in furthering the enter-436	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
prise. A few years later it was partially successful,
as will subsequently appear.
In 1849 the people were agitating the question of
locating the New York and Erie railroad through the
Cohocton instead of the Canisteo valley, and a public
meeting, favorable to this action, was held in Geneseo
August 11th. At this meeting James S. Wadsworth,
Allen Ayrault, John Yernam, Philip Woodruff, Les-
ter Bradner, W. T. Cuyler, Hiram Boyd, Jerediah
Horsford, W. S. Fullerton, B. F. Angel, Luther C.
Peck, Charles Colt, Andrew Sill, C. H. Bryan, H. G.
Dyer and George Pratt were appointed “a corres-
ponding and business committee to carry into effect
the object of this meeting.” A meeting in behalf of
the same object was held in Dansville on the 8th of
August. In 1850 this project was modified to a propo-
sition to construct another line of road from Corning
“through the Cohocton valley to Rochester. A meet-
ing was held in Bath Jan. 10, 1850, to consider this
question, which recommended that a general meeting
be held in Geneseo on the 24th of January, “ of those
interested in the entire proposed route.” In accord-
ance with this recommendation the meeting was held
in Geneseo, and called together a large number of the
enterprising men of Western New York* Delegations
were present from Buffalo, Attica, Batavia, Mount
Morris, Dansville, and all parts of Steuben county.
“The convention was addressed by several gentlemen
from abroad, well versed in the conduction of railroad
matters, and many encouraging inducements were
held out. Among them was an offer from three exten-
sive iron manufacturers to furnish the amount of iron
necessary for the construction of the road, and take
stock in payment.”
During the summer of this year an engineer was
employed to make the preliminary surveys. The cit-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
437
izens of Steuben county, with commendable enter-
prise, proposed to build on their own responsibility,
the road from Corning to Bath, a distance of eighteen
miles. From that point the engineer reported two
feasible routes to the Genesee river.
The first of these, called the Honeoye route, was
described as follows: “Commences at Blood’s Cor-
ners, north, near Naples, along west bank of Hunt’s
Hollow and Honeoye lake to Richmond Centre, cross-
ing the outlet of Hemlock lake at Frost’s Hollow,
thence, one mile east of Lima, one mile west from
Honeoye Falls, to the village of West Rush, crossing
the Genesee river on Judge Sibley’s farm, about four-
teen miles south of Rochester, thence up Dugan’s
creek to Caledonia village, passing on the south side
of the State road, through Le Roy, Stafford and Ba-
tavia—thence direct to Buffalo.” The distance by
this route was 134 miles.
The Conesus route run “from Blood’s Corners west
six miles to Tuttle’s Inn (six miles east of Dansville),
thence along the west bank of the Springwater valley,
through Conesus Center, along the east bank of Cone-
sus lake to Lakeville at its foot (six miles east of
Geneseo), thence down the outlet through Littleville
and Avon Spring, crossing the Genesee river north of
the bridge at Avon—thence up White Creek to inter-
sect with Honeoye line at Caledonia village.” The
length of this route was 132 miles, a trifle less than
that of the Honeoye line.
Another railroad was projected in 1851, “the Gen-
esee Yalley line,” which was designed to extend from
Rochester to Pittsburgh, passing through the towns of
Avon, Geneseo, Groveland, Mount Morris, Nunda and
Portage.
Here, then, were railroad and plank-road enter-
prises enough to engage the entire attention of the438
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
people, and with so many to divide attention and re-
sources, it is surprising that any were successful.
Added to these was a proposed telegraph line through
the Genesee valley, which was receiving great encour-
agement, and was soon afterwards constructed.
The Buffalo and Cohocton road was early put under
contract, the Conesus route having been selected, and
Buffalo, instead of Rochester, fixed upon as the west-
ern terminus. The company met with less delay and
embarrassment than usually fall to the lot of such
enterprises, and in July, 1853, regular trains were
running between Caledonia and Corning ; the remain-
der of the road was completed soon after.
The Attica and Hornellsville railroad was so far
completed that trains were running in January, 1852,
between Portage and Hornellsville, and thus the
county had now, crossing its borders, two railroads in
actual operation.
The Genesee Valley Railroad, unlike the Cohocton
road, furnishes a long history of delays, failures,
embarrassments and disappointments. The line was
put under contract from Rochester to Mount Morris in
1852 and 1853, and work on the road from the former
place to Avon was prosecuted with reasonable vigor.
South of Avon, however, but little was done beyond a
small amount of grading, and the people along the
line early began to have fears that the enterprise
would prove a failure. Indeed, it was plainly evident
that the company directors viewed with indifference
the completion of the road beyond Avon, and was ex-
pending its energies in completing the northern por-
tion. The company did, however, make a contract in
1854 for the completion of the road from Avon to
Mount Morris, and it was proposed to issue bonds to
the amount of $300,000 to meet this expense. The
directors were suddenly stopped, however, by an in-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
439
junction procured by two or three stockholders resid-
ing in Geneseo and Mount Morris, restraining them
from issuing the bonds. This proved the death blow
to the enterprise, so far as the southern portion of the
line was concerned. The line from Avon to Roches-
ter was completed, and regular trains running in
October, 1854.
The Genesee Yalley Telegraph line was completed
and in operation in the summer of 1851, the line
extending from Rochester to Dansvllle, and the plank
road from Piffardinia to Mount Morris, via Geneseo,
was finished in the fall of the same year. Both were
constructed and owned by stock companies, and each
proved a fairly remunerative investment.
The previous political record of this chapter ended
with 1846. In the following year, the new constitution
having gone into effect, an election was held in June
to fill the offices of the Court of Appeals and Supreme
Court, and also to choose a County Judge, District
Attorney, and a Sessions Justice. The Whig nomi-
nees in this county were elected. Scott Lord, for
County Judge, receiving a majority of 34 over Judge
W. H. Smith, the then incumbent; and A. A. Hen-
dee, for District Attorney, a majority over R. P.
Wisner of 502.
At the election in the fall of this year the Whig
State and County nominees were elected by large
majorities. Allen Ayrault, of Geneseo, was chosen
Senator, and Gurdon Nowlen, of Geneseo, and
Nathaniel Coe of Nunda, Assemblymen. Mr. Ayrault
served as Senator during the session of 1848, and
resigned June 2d. The vacancy was filled at the fall
election of 1848 by the choice of Charles Colt, of
Geneseo, who served during the years 1849 to 1851,
inclusive.
The presidential election of 1848, although an im-440
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
portant one, was not a very exciting campaign. The
Democratic party nominated Lewis Cass for President,
and William O. Butler for Vice President. The nom-
inees of the Whig party were General Zacharia Tay-
lor and Millard Fillmore. The Free Soil party also
entered the field with a ticket composed of Martin
Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams. The elec-
tion resulted in the triumph of the Whig cause, in
the nation and State, and Livingston shared largely
in the honors of the occasion. The Vice President
elect had spent a portion of his boyhood days here,
and the Lieutenant Governor of the State, George W.
Patterson of Chautauqua, had for a long term of years
been one of its most prominent citizens. The local
officers chosen were Charles Colt, Senator; Archibald
H. McLean and Phillip Woodruff, Assemblymen;
Chauncey Metcalf, County Treasurer; Ogden M.
Willey, William J. Hamilton and James H. Vail,
Superintendents of the Poor.
The fall election of 1849 resulted in th'e choice of
Harvey Hill for Sheriff, Israel D. Root County Clerk,
and the re-election of Mr. McLean and Mr. Woodruff
to the Assembly.
In the summer of 1849 Ex-Governor Young was
appointed Assistant Treasurer of the United States at
New York, and entered upon the discharge of his
duties in July of that year. The bondsmen of Mr.
Young were Allen Ayrault and James S. Wadsworth,
of Geneseo, of whom the New York Express said:
“ The security is ample. Mr. A. was lately a State
Senator, and is an honorable Whig. Mr. W. is a
Democrat, whose friendship outweighs all political
prejudices.” Mr. Young remained in this position
until his early and lamented death on the 23d of April,
1852.
In 1850 the Whigs elected the following officers:HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	441
Congressman, Jerediah Horsford ; District Attorney,
William H. Kelsey; Superintendent of the Poor,
James H. Vail; besides their candidates for the minor
offices, Alvin Chamberlin and Orrin D. Lake were
chosen Assemblymen.
The review of the newspaper history of this period
is of special interest. In a previous chapter this his-
tory was brought down to 1840. In 1846 Mr. S. P.
Allen sold the Livingston Republican establishment,
at Gfeneseo, to John M. Campbell, who took possession
Sept. 1, 1846. On the 10th of September, 1847, Mr.
Campbell transferred his interest to Joseph Kershner,
then a prominent lawyer at Geneseo, who wore the
editorial harness until the 5th of July of the following
year, when he gave place to Charles E. Bronson.
During the period from 1846 to 1849, the paper met
with many reverses and vicissitudes, and proved an
unsuccessful financial venture. On the 27th of De-
cember, 1849, the paper passed into the hands of
James T. Norton, who published it with marked suc-
cess until his death in 1865. It is now published by
James W. Clement. In 1843 the Geneseo Democrat
was started by Gilbert P. Shankland. After a check-
ered existence, it was removed to Nunda in 1847, and
in the following year was discontinued.
The Western New York was established in Dans-
ville Jan. 13th, 1841, by George W. Stevens. The
name was soon changed to the Dansville Whig, with
Mr. Stevens as the publisher. He was succeeded by
Charles W. Dibble, who published the paper about
one year, when it again passed into the hands of Mr.
Stevens. In 1848 the name was changed to the Dans-
ville Courier. In 1849 it was published by H. D.
Smead, under the name of the Dansville Democrat,
and subsequently the paper passed into the hand.s of
George A. Sanders. This gentleman moved the office442
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
to Geneseo in 1855, and issued the first number of the
Geneseo Democrat April 4th, 1855. In 1857 the paper
was discontinued. In 1848 Richardson & Co. started
the Dansville Chronicle, which was suspended in
1851. The Dansville Herald was started in 1850 by
E. C. Daugherty & Co., and was afterward published
by H. L. & L. H. Rann, and George A. Sanders. The
Herald was subsequently purchased by Messrs. Rob-
bins & Poore, and the name changed to the Dansville
Express, which is now published by F. J. Robbins.
In 1858 the Sentinel was established by H. C. Page.
The Daily Times was started in 1859, by W. J. LaRue,
and in June of the same year was changed to the
Daily Register, with Mr. LaRue as publisher and H.
C. Page editor. It suspended in 1860.
The Dansville Advertiser was started August 2d,
1860, by A. O. Bunnell, by whom it is still published.
The Mount Morris Spectator was started in that vil-
lage in 1834. In 1843 Geo. B. Phelps commenced the
publication of the Livingston County Whig. In
about six months it passed into the hands of James
T. Norton who had been its printer under Mr. Phelps.
In 1846 Mr. Norton published in connection with it a
daily edition, giving the latest news each morning “by
canal packet.” The daily, was continued but three
months, and then was discontinued as an unprofitable
venture. On the 2d of February, 1848, Mr. Norton
and Mr. Hugh Harding, the publisher of the Specta-
tor, united their publications under the name of the
Livingston Union, with Harding & Norton as publish-
ers. Mr. Norton retired in 1849 to assume charge of
the Livingston Republican of Geneseo. The former
journal is now published as the Union and Constitu-
tion, by William Harding, a son of one of its founders.
The Nunda Gazette was started in 1841, Ira G. Wis-
ner publisher. In about one year it was removed toHISTORY OF I^IVTNGSTON COUNTY.	443
Mount Morris, where it was published until 1843 as
the Genesee Talley Recorder. The Democrat was the
next newspaper venture in Nunda. It was started in
1848 by Milo D. Chamberlain, but was soon discon-
tinued. In 1850 the Telegraph was started by Charles
Atwood, and lived about a year. In January, 1852,
N. T. Hackstaff commenced the publication of the
Times. A fire in July of the same year brought this
venture to an untimely end. The Nunda News was
established in 1859 by Chauncey K. Sanders, who still
remains its publisher.
The Cuylerville Telegraph was started in 1847, in
that then thriving canal village, by Franklin Cowdery,
who years before had worked in the first printing
office established in the county. In 1848 Peter Law-
rence became the proprietor, and soon after the paper
was discontinued.
In Lima but one newspaper venture had been made
during the period covered by this history. The
Weekly Visitor was started in 1853 by A. H. Tilton
and M. C. Miller. Subsequently it was published by
Raymond & Graham, and by S. M. Raymond alone
under the name of the Genesee Valley Gazette. In
1856 the paper suspended publication.
At the end of the year 1850 the County had reached
the thirtieth year • since its organization, and the
heighth of its prosperity. Its population, as shown
by the census of 1850, was 40,875 ; or, including Os-
sian, which was afterward annexed, 42,144. This was
more than double the population of the county when
formed, and larger by nearly three thousand than it
was ten years later. This falling off is explained by
the fact that, like all eastern sections, Livingston
county supplied a large number of those who swelled
the tide of emigration to the great West, and settled444	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COtJNTT.
those now thriving States with a sober, industrious
and progressive people.
The Genesee Valley Canal was now in full opera-
tion, several railroad enterprises gave promise of
speedy success, and telegraph and plank-roads lines
were in process of construction The well-directed
efforts of the people in industrial pursuits were uni-
formly rewarded with success, and on all sides peace
and prosperity prevailed.
Such was the condition of the county at the end of
the century’s fifth decade, and there was but little in-
dication of the coming storm, which ten years later
broke upon the country, rousing Livingston, as well as
other sections, to deeds of patriotic valor.CHAPTER XVIII.
THE DECADE PROM 1850 TO 1860.
The county alms-house, originally a private dwell-
ing-house, was early found too small to accommodate
the large class of persons who sought its shelter.
When purchased by the county, the building was modi-
fied and somewhat enlarged, but even with these im-
provements it was inadaquate to the purpose, and it
was found impossible to properly care for its inmates in
accordance with the ordinary requirements of sanitary
laws. It thus became necessary to provide new and
larger quarters, and for this purpose the question was
first considered at the annual meeting of the board of
supervisors in 1849. The result of these deliberations
was that the board appropriated the sum of $6,000 for
the purpose of erecting a new building, and appointed
as a building committee, Allen Ayrault, William J.
Hamilton and Russell Austin, who were also directed
to sell the old building. The committee immediately
entered upon the discharge of its duties, and early in
the following year had decided upon the plans of the
building. The contract for its construction was then
made with S. A. Hooper, of Geneseo, who pushed the
work with such vigor that it was completed about tbe
first of December, 1850, and the inmates were moved
from the old house to the new and more comfortable
edifice before the vigorous winter had fully set iQ-446	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The committee, in making their report to the board of
supervisors, announced that they had exceeded the
appropriation by $250.94, although, as they said, they
were “aware of the caution of the supervisors, and of
their instructions extended to us [them] not to exceed
the sum of $6,000.” “But,” added the committee,
“it may not be improper for us to say, that we are
satisfied the building in some respects has cost Mr.
Hooper, the builder, more money than the contract
price, and while the consideration of an allowance to
him by us is inadmissible, we understand Mr. Hooper
intends applying to your board for relief, and in view
of his great economy and fidelity in the execution of
his job, we cannot forbear expressing the hope that
his application will meet with favor.” Mr. Hooper
did apply for relief, which was granted to the amount
of $1,101.46, making the total cost of the new alms-
house, exclusive of heating apparatus and furniture,
$7,356.40.
The building is situated on the north side of the
road leading from Geneseo to Lakeville, about a mile
east of the former village. It has a front of 108 feet,
and a depth of 36 feet, with two wings each 53 feet
in depth. The building is three stories high, without
including the basement, and the internal arrangement
has been found well adapted to the purpose for which
it was designed. Recently an insane asylum has been
completed, at a cost of about $20,000, adjacent to the
alms-house, which for its convenient arrangement
and relative cost, will compare favorably with any in
the State.
The old building and eighteen acres of land on the
south side of the road were sold at auction, on the
13th of December, 1850, to Dr. D. H. Bissell, of Gren-
eseo, for the sum of $2,001.
The 58th Regiment, N. Y. S. M., had an encamp-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	447
meat at Mount Morris commencing Aug. 25th, 3 850,
and continuing one week, which attracted thousands
of people from all parts of the country “ to witness
.the parades, reviews, etc., of the citizen soldiery of
Old Livingston.” The camp was located on a rising
piece of ground near the village, and eight compa-
nies had their quarters there in tents. These compa-
nies were as follows : Rochester Union Grays, Mount
Morris Union Blues, Canaseraga Light Infantry, a
company from Springwater, one from Livonia, one
from Conesus, Groveland and Sparta, one from Avon
and Lima, and the Big Tree Artillery from Geneseo.
The encampment was under the command of Col.
James Wood, Jr., Colonel of the 58th Regiment. A
newspaper account of this encampment says:
“Thursday was the great day of the week. The
troops were reviewed by Generals Crouch and Fuller-
ton, attended by a large and brilliant staff, and the
affair passed off alike creditable to all. The grounds
adjoining were densly covered with thousands of in-
terested and pleased spectators of all ages and sexes.
On Saturday afternoon the troops struck their tents
and at about three o’clock departed for their respec-
tive homes well pleased with their sojourn of a week
at ‘Camp Livingston.’ To Col. Wood and his staff,
much credit is due for the regularity, order and deco-
rum with which the camp was conducted. The gen-
tlemanly deportment and soldier-like bearing of all
connected with it, was the subject of general remark,
and reflected high honor upon the Regiment.”
On the 25th of August of the following year the
regiment went into camp at Geneseo, on grounds at
the head of North street—a spot afterwards made
memorable as the site of Camp Wadsworth, where,
when the more serious business of actual war stared
citizens and soldiers in the face, the Wadsworth448
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Guards (104th Regt. N. Y. Y.) were recruited for ser-
vice in the field. Seven companies belonging to the
58th Regiment attended this encampment, and four
Rochester companies, belonging to Major Swan’s bat-
talion, were also present. The companies were
reviewed on Tuesday, the 26th inst., by Brig. Gen. W.
S. Fullerton, and on Wednesday by Major-General
Wool and staff, of the U. S. Army, who spoke of the
troops in the highest terms, and pronounced them in
point of discipline and thoroughness of drill, “ su-
perior to any he has witnessed in any agricultural
county in the State.”
Another encampment was held in Avon in 1855,
under the command of Colonel Yan Yalkenburgh of
Rath. This was the last military “ training ” of this
character held in the county.
In December, 1850, Philo C. Fuller of Geneseo was
appointed Comptroller of the State, vice Washington
Runt, who had been chosen Governor at the preced-
ing election. This appointment gave great satisfaction,
not only to the Whigs but to all his fellow-citizens of
Livingston County, without regard to party. His
administration of the duties of his office was an able
and conscientious one, and he retired at the end of
the year 1852 with the good opinion of all parties.
A favorite mode of traveling between Mount Morris
and Rochester at this time was by the Genesee Yalley
Canal. R. Shackleton was running a daily line of
packets between those places in 1851, as he had done
for several years, and other persons were engaged in
the same business. The packets were well built and
comfortable boats, fitted with many conveniences, and
afforded decidedly the most pleasant means of travel
known until the advent of the modern railway sleep-
ing coach.
Early in 1851 steps were taken for the organizationHTSTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
449
of another bank at Greneseo, under the name of the
Genesee Yalley Bank. The charter of the old Liv-
ingston County Bank had but a few years more to run,
while the banking capital of the county was wholly
inadequate to meet the wants of its business men.
There was thus a good field for a new monied institu-
tion, and the enterprise was pushed with such zeal
that the capital was all subscribed within a few days,
and at a meeting held April 21st, 1851, James S.
Wadsworth, D. H. Fitzhugh, Alvenus Cone, Henry
Chamberlain, D. H. Abell, Charles Colt, D. H.
Bissell, Peter Miller and William Cushing were
chosen directors. Mr. Wadsworth was made Pres-
ident of the bank, and William H. Whiting ap-
pointed Cashier. The local journal, in announcing
the organization of the bank said: “The institution
commences operations under the most auspicious and
flattering circumstances.” The bank was ready for
business May 23d, 1851, and entered upon a career
that has since proved uniformly successful and pros-
perous, and ranking it as one of the most carefully
managed institutions in the State.
The Portage riot, an affair which at one time prom-
ised most serious results, and occasioned considerable
excitement throughout the county, occurred early in
July, 1851. A large number of the laborers engaged
on the section of the New York and Erie Railroad
running through Portage struck for higher wages, and
as is generally the case, not only refused to work
themselves, but would not permit others to do so. So
annoying were the strikers in their efforts to prevent
others from working, a requisition was made, on the
7th of July, on the civic authorities of this and Wy-
oming counties, and six or eight officers repaired to
the scene of the strike. A desperate encounter en-
sued between the officers and the disaffected work-450
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
men, in which a number of the latter were shot,
two, at least, fatally. Among the officers present
were Constable Holland of Mount Morris, and Deputy
Sheriff William Doty of Geneseo, who took an active
and brave part in the encounter. On the same day a
requisition was made on Captain Hamilton of Gene-
seo, for the services of the Big Tree Artillery, and
that organization started for the scene of conflict, ar-
riving there about 4 o’clock A. M., of Tuesday, the
8thinst. The sight of the militia cowed the rioters,
and without any serious opposition twenty of their
number were arrested, twelve of whom were confined
in the jail at Geneseo, and the others taken to Wy-
oming county. Some of these were afterward released,
while the principal offenders were properly punished.
At the fall election of 1851, Scott Lord was re-
elected County Judge; John White, Jr., County
Treasurer; William J. Hamilton, Superintendent of
the Poor; Alvin Chamberlain and Orrin D. Lake,
Assemblymen; and Myron H. Clark, Senator; all
being nominees of the Whig party. Their Democratic
opponents were George Hosmer for County Judge;
Daniel H. Bissell, County Treasurer; Lucius War-
ner, Superintendent of the Poor; Lewis E. Smith and
Hector Hitchcock, Assemblymen. The Whig major-
ity at this election ranged from 1,289 to 1,760.
On the 12th of December, 1851, Harvey Hill, then
Sheriff of the county, died after a short illness, and
Norman Chappell, of Avon, wss appointed to fill the
vacancy. Of Mr. Hill it was said that ‘c he was a good
officer; active, efficient and trusty.”
The presidential campaign of 1852 was a warmly
contested political battle. A desperate effort was
made by the Democratic party to regain its lost power,
and Hunkers, Barn-burners and all other factions laid
aside their differences for awhile and united in the en-HISTORY OF- LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
451
deavor to recover the old footing. The "Whigs too,
ignoring for a time the factional quarrels which had
weakened them, united upon a common platform to
repel the assaults of their foes. The nominees of the
Democratic party were Franklin Pierce for President,
and William R. King for Yice President. The Whigs
nominated for these offices General Winfield Scott and
William A. Graham, while the Anti-Slavery party
supported John P. Hale and George W. Julian.
Nationally the Democrats were successful, as they
were also in the State, electing their candidates by an
overwhelming majority. Livingston county yet re-
mained firm in its adhesion to Whig principles, how-
ever, and gave the nominees of that party for county
officers a heavy majority. The officers chosen were
William Scott, Sheriff; James S. Orton, County
Clerk ; Jacob B. Hall, Superintendent of the Poor :
Amos A. Hendee and Abram Lozier, Assemblymen.
The Whig candidate for Congress, William Irvine, of
Steuben, was defeated by George Hastings, of Living-
ston, the Democratic candidate. The Whig nominee
for Presidential Elector, Samuel W. Smith, of Living-
ston, was also defeated.
In the spring of 1853 the people of Mount Morris
organized a bank, with a capital of $130,000, under
the name of the Genesee River Bank. The directors
chosen were John R. Murray, R. P. Wisner, Calvin
Norton, Jesse Peterson, Henry Swan, John Yernam,
Allen Ayrault, H. P. Mills, R. Sleeper, William
Whitmore, and Lyman Turner. John Yernam was
chosen President. The bank commenced business in
November, 1853, and like the other chartered banks
of the county it has been uniformly successful.
At the fall election of this year the Whig nominees
were James Wood, Jr., for District Attorney ; James
H. Yail, Superintendent of the Poor ; Amos A. Hen-452	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
dee and Abram Lozier, Members of Assembly; Myron
H. Clark, Senator. George Wilson of Canandaigua
was an independent candidate for this office. The
Democracy presented two tickets for popular ap-
proval. The Hards nominated John A* VanDerlip
for District Attorney; Morton Reed, Superintendent
of the Poor; Leman Gibbs and Hector Hitchcock,
Members of Assembly. The Softs nominated Samuel
H. Northrop, Samuel Finley, Leman Gibbs and Wil-
liam N. Alward for the several offices in the order
named. The election resulted in the triumph of the
Whig candidates, with the exception of Assemblyman
in the first district, Mr. Hendee being defeated by
Judge Gibbs.
In May, 1853, Benjamin F. Angel, of. Geneseo, was
appointed Consul to Honolulu, Sandwich Islands,
and in the latter part of June sailed for that port.
The Senate failed to confirm his nomination, and after
discharging the duties of the office for eighteen months
he was succeeded by Darius A. Ogden, of Penn Yan.
Mr. Angel went from Honolulu to China, on a com-
mission from the United States Government, to exam-
ine into and if practicable negotiate the settlement of
a troublesome controversy between the Chinese custom
authorities and the American merchants in China,
growing out of the unjust and arbitrary imposition of
exorbitant export duties, when it was claimed that the
Chinese authorities utterly failed to protect our com-
merce on the coast and in Chinese waters against the
depredations of Chinese pirates. In this mission Mr.
Angel was entirely successful, and he returned to the
United States by way of the East Indies, Egypt and
Europe in the fall of 1855.
Reference has already been made to the fine stock
of the Genesee Yalley. In 1853 an important step
was taken, having for its object the further improve-HISTORY ofr LIYINGSTOk COUNTY.	458
inent of the large herds of the Talley. For this pur-
pose a meeting was held at the close of the Annual
Fair on the 29th of Sept. 1853, which appointed a
committee to mature a plan of organization, and to
call a future meeting. In accordance with this ar-
rangement a meeting was held at the American Hotel
in Geneseo on the 22d of Oct. following, of which C.
R. Bond was chairman and S. L. Fuller Secretary.
The deliberations of this meeting resulted in the for-
mation of the “Livingston County Association for the
Importation and Improvement of Stock,” with a cap-
ital of $8,000, to be increased to $12,000 if deemed nec-
essary. Any person was permitted to become a
member on the payment of fifty dollars. The officers
chosen were: President, Jas. S. Wadsworth; Secre-
tary, Daniel H. Fitzhugh; Treasurer, Allen Ayrault;
Directors, Charles H. Carroll, Aaron Barber, Wm. A.
Mills, Robert Rome; Geo. W. Root, Richard Peck.
Agents were to be sent to Europe to select and pur-
chase stock from the celebrated herds of the Old
World, and these animals were to be sold at public
auction, under the conditions that the purchasers
should retain them in the county for at least three
years from the time of sale, and that the stockholders
of the company should have preference in the Use Of
the animals, upon complying with the owners’ terms.
The amount of stock was early taken by the pro-
gressive farmers of Livingston, and in December
David Brooks of Avon aUd Samuel L. Fuller of Con-
esus were selected to proceed to Europe and purchase
the stock. These gentlemen sailed Jan. 21st, 1854,
and early in the spring returned with selections, from
the best foreign herds. The company suffered the
loss of some animals, however, and when the sale whs
held June 27th, 1854, but twelve animals were sold.
The highest price paid was $1,075 for the bull Usurper,454	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
by C. H. Carroll, and the lowest $350 for the heifer
Damsel. The average price was nearly $600 per head.
The purchasers were Homer Sackett and others, Cale-
donia ; C. H. Carroll, Groveland ; J. S. Wadsworth,
Geneseo ; Richard Peck, Lima; N. Chappell, Avon ;
D. H. Albertson, Avon ; and D. H. McHardy, Avon.
This importation resulted in a small loss to the Asso-
ciation, owing to the death of several animals, but
that it proved largely remunerative to the stock breed-
ers of the county is shown by the fine herds which
now graze in its rich fields, and which, it is no exag-
geration to say, have a national reputation. In this
respect Livingston has for years occupied a leading
position among the stock-raising counties of the State.
Late in the year 1858 a movement was set on foot tor
the formation of a new county, from parts of Living-
ston, Ontario, Steuben and Allegany. Dansville was
proposed as the county seat. The plan contemplated
subtracting from Livingston’s fair proportions the
towns of Springwater, Sparta, Dansville, West Sparta,
Nunda and Portage. Naples and Canadice were to
be taken from Ontario, Cohocton, Way land and South
Dansville from Steuben, and Burns and Ossian from
Allegany. The project was the subject of considera-
ble discussion, and was urged with great zeal upon
the attention of the legislature. It does not seem to
have received a very general support from the south-
ern towns, however, and was early abandoned. As a
sort of compensating measure, a bill was introduced
in the Assembly in March, 1854, dividing the county
into two jury districts, making Dansville a shire town,
and providing for the erection of a jail in that place.
The bill failed to pass, however, and the question of
division has several times since agitated the people of
the county, but without any great strength being
developed in its favor.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
455
The Whigs entered the fall political campaign of
1854 with Myron H. Clark as their candidate for Gov-
ernor, and Henry J. Raymond for Lieutenant Gov-
ernor, while on the county ticket were John White, Jr.,
for County Treasurer ; Lyman Turner, Superintend-
ent of the Poor; David H. Abell and John S. Wiley
for the Assembly. William H. Kelsey was the Whig
nominee for Congress. The Democrats put in nomi-
nation the following county ticket: County Treasurer,
Chauncey R. Bond; Superintendent of the Poor,
Ebenezer Leach ; Members of Assembly, Lyman Odell,
McNiel Seymour. The temperance men also made an
independent nomination for the Assembly, supporting
John B. Crosby and Sidney Sweet.
For the first time in many years the Whig party of
Livingston met with defeat. The proud boast of the
Whigs that this county, no matter what might befal
the party elsewhere, always “stood firm and immov-
able,” and that “her unwavering host could not be
moved from the path of duty and right,” had become
an idle one, and defeat sat upon the banners where so
often victory had perched. The Democrats elected
their candidates for the Assembly and for Superin-
tendent of the Poor, while the Whigs secured the
remaining offices. Mr. Kelsey, the whig candidate
for Congress was elected by a majority of about 6,000,
he having secured the votes of those calling them-
selves Americans, at this time a party without a
definite organization.
The country at this time was in a condition of
political chaos. Old parties were losing their strength,
and party cohesiveness was fast disappearing. The
discussion of the slavery question, and the growing
power of the foreign elements infused into our national
life, forced new issues upon the people, and gave rise
to new organizations. The Democratic party, notwith-456
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON' COUNTY.
standing its numerous factions and its manifest mis-
takes, managed to preserve its party organization, and
to a great degree its former strength. The Whigs,
however, were less fortunate. After the fall election
of 1854 Mr. Greeley declared that the Whig party
was dead, and the little it had achieved in this elec-
tion seemed, certainly, to justify his 'assertion. To
add to the political confusion, a new party made its
appearance, whose influence, although exerted some-
what secretly at first, was strangely powerful. Other
organizations seemed to waver before it, and proclaim-
ing high purposes, appealing to the patriotism of men,
their religious and social prejudices and passions,
many men of sound judgment and unquestioned in-
tegrity were drawn into its ranks, which swelled until
the party wielded a powerful influence in political
affairs.
In this county the influence of the wide-spread dis-
organization in the political parties was first felt at the
special election held for this Senatorial district Jan.
30th, 1855, to fill the vacancy caused by the election
of Myron H. Clark Governor of the State. The
Whig nominating convention met at Lima Jan. 22d,
when a resolution was adopted “ that the members of
this convention approve of the nomination by the
Peoples’ convention, of Hon. Charles Loomis, as this
day made at Canandaigua.” This action proved un-
satisfactory to a large number of the Whigs, especially
in this county, and William H. Goodwin was also,
nominated. The election resulted in the triumph'of
the anti-fusionists, or American party, Mr. Goodwin’s
majority being over 2,000.
The spring town meetings of this year were also
carried by the Americans, against a fusion of all other
elements. In but one or two towns were regular Whig
or Democratic nominations made.HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	457
The first county convention of the American party
was held in Geneseo July 9th, 1855. S. J. Crooks of
Nunda called the convention to order, and permanent
officers were chosen as follows : Chairman, Lyman
Odell; Secretaries, H. L. Janes and James Faulkner,
Jr. A committee was appointed to report resolutions
expressive of the views of the convention, consisting
of S. J. Crooks, W. A. Mills, J. Kershner, John
Shepard, L. Williams, Jr., J. Faulkner, Jr., J. S.
Wiley, Robert Grant, L. Odell, R. Olney, N. Chap-
pell, B. Payne, Scott Lord, H. McCartney, A. C.
Campbell, A. Conkey and Francis Hull. The resolu-
tions reported approved the declarations of the na-
tional American party—“ hostility to public and party
corruption, and the means by which the leaders of
party have hitherto forced upon us our rulers and our
political creed—a determined resistance to the aggres-
sive policy of the papal church—the right of every
man to the uncontrolled and peaceful enjoyment of
his religious opinions and worship, yet asserting that
Christianity is an element of our political system, and!
that the Holy Bible is the repository of all civil and
religious freedom, and therefore condemning every
attempt to exclude it from the schools.”
Meanwhile elements opposed to the Democratic
party on account of its attitude on the slavery ques-
tion, and to the American party because of its secret
and proscriptive character, were crystalizing to form
the Republican party, which a few years later was
destined to enter upon a long career of success and
power.
In the midst of this political confusion came the fall
election of 1855. The American party in this county
supported Sidney Sweet for Senator; Scott Lord for
County Judge; Hugh McCartney for Sheriff; James
T. Norton for County Clerk; Harvey Armstrong for458	HISTOET OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Superintendent of the Poor ; Lyman Odell and Sam-
uel J. Crooks for Members of Assembly. Opposed
to these men was the Republican or fusion ticket, as
follows: Senator, John Wiley; Sheriff, John N.
Hurlburt; County Judge, George Hastings; County
Clerk, Charles Root; Superintendent of the Poor,
Lyman Turner: Members of Assembly, John H.
Jones, Alonzo Bradner. The Democrats made an in-
dependent nomination of Chauncey Loomis for Sher-
iff, and the temperance people supported John B.
Crosby for the Assembly in the first district.
The campaign was a lamentably bitter one, and one
■of the most closely contested political battles ever
fought in the county. The result was a decided vic-
tory for neither party, although in the State the
Americans had a large majority, The American can-
didates for Sheriff, Member of Assembly in the first
district, and also the nominee of that party for Sena-
tor, were elected, and a majority of about 450 given
for the American State ticket. The other offices were,
however, secured by the fusion candidates, by small
majorities.
Following this was the presidential election of 1856,
when three great parties marshalled their forces and
contended for the mastery. The Democrats entered
the field with James Buchanan and John C. Brecken-
ridge as their nominees for President and Vice Presi-
dent. The Republicans presented the names of John
C. Fremont and William L. Dayton for these offices,
and the American party supported Millard Fillmore
and Andrew J. Donelson. The county nominations
of the Republican party were Amos A. Hendee for
District Attorney; Chauncey R. Bond, County Treas-
. urer ;* Daniel H. Bissell, Coroner ; David Gray, Ses-
* The defalcation of John White, Jr., and his removal from the office of
bounty Treasurer, having left a vacancj to be Sllod at this election.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY;
469
sions Justice; Lyman Hawes and Alfred Bell, Mem-
bers of Assembly. William H. Kelsey was nominated
for Congress, James S. Wadsworth, Presidential
Elector at large, and Isaac L. Endress, elector for this
county. The Americans nominated Scott Lord for
District Attorney; Edward R. Hammatt, County
Treasurer ; Orson Walbridge, Sessions Justice ; Wil-
liam H. Thomas, Coroner; Alvin Chamberlain and
Orville Tousey, Members of Assembly. Samuel
Hallett of Steuben was the American nominee for
Congress. The Democratic nominations were, for
District Attorney, John A. VanDerlip ; County Treas-
urer, Walter E. Lauderdale ; Coroner, Arnold Cray;
Sessions Justice, Clark B. Adams; Congress, Benja-
min P. Angel; Assembly, John H. Jones, Utley
Spencer.
The Democrats achieved a national victory, but in
Livingston county the new Republican party devel-
oped a strength which neither its friends nor its oppo-
nents supposed it to possess, and the election resulted
in an overwhelming victory for its nominees. The
Republican vote polled nearly equalled the combined
vote of the two opposing parties, and gave it the as-
cendancy which it maintained for a long period there-
after.
In 1857 the Republicans were again successful, but
lost the Assemblyman in the first district. The offi-
cers elected were John B. Halsted, Senator; John H.
Jones and Alfred Bell, Assemblymen; Levi P. Gro-
ver and Harvey Parley, School Commissioners.
In July, 1857, Benjamin F. Angel, of Geneseo, who
had twice before been honored with foreign appoint-
ments by the administration, was appointed Minister
Resident to Sweden. The people of Geneseo where
his residence had been from early boyhood, and where
he occupied a prominent position as a lawyer and po-460	HI8TOBT OF LIVINGSTON COUNTV.
litical leader, improved the occasion to show their
respect and esteem for him, by inviting him to a pub-
lic entertainment, to be given in his honor. The
invitation was signed by all the leading citizens of
Geneseo, without regard to party, but Mr. Angel was
compelled to decline it on account of his early de-
parture. He remained at Stockholm until the change
of administration in 1861.
The Genesee Yalley Railroad was now open from
Rochester to Avon, but all efforts to complete it to
Mount Morris had proved unsuccessful. * It had early
become evident that the directors of the company did
not intend, or did not have the ability, to complete
the road ; and the feeling was very general that the
former was the true solution of the question. There
had been much in the management of the company’s
affairs to create suspicion and distrust, and to justify
the dissatisfaction which existed among the people,
which were not allayed when the company attempted
to enforce the collection of subscriptions against citi-
zens of Geneseo and Mount Morris, without giving
any • assurance that this portion of the road would
ever be completed. The people of Geneseo were also
displeased with the location of the road, through that
town, the line of which, against their earnest protest,
had been run along the lower plateau, nearly half a
mile below the village, when surveys had shown an
equally practicable route along the upper plateau,
and much nearer the business center.
The question of the completion of the road re-
mained in a state of vexatious uncertainty until the
fall of 1855, when a meeting was held at Rochester,
•omposed largely of representatives from this county,
* The original intention had been to extend it to Pittsburgh, but this idea
was entertained only for a short time.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
461
to consider the question of completing the long de-
layed enterprise. It had been proposed that a com-
pany be formed to complete the road from Avon to
Mount Morris, and then to lease it of the Genesee
Yalley company. In furtherance of this plan a com-
mittee consisting of three Rochester gentlemen, and
John R. Murray and Lester Phelps of Mount Morris,
was appointed to solicit subscriptions. The latter
gentleman stated that his town had already subscribed
$80,000 for this object, and Geneseo would take $20,-
000 more. The road-bed was already partially graded,
$100,000 having been expended by the old company
on this part of the line, and it was believed that $200,-
000 would complete it. On the 21st of June of the
following year another meeting was held at Geneseo,
at which it was stated that the Rochester and Genesee
Valley Railroad Company had offered to release all
its right and title in and to the line south of Avon to
any company that would complete the road from Avon
to Mount Morris. Accepting this proposition, steps
were immediately taken to form a new company, and
George S. Whitney, William T. Cuyler, William M.
Bond, C. H. Carroll andH. P. North were appointed
a committee to solicit subscriptions to the stock. An
organization was effected at this meeting by choosing
as directors John R. Murray, Allen Ayrault, H. P.
Nbrtli, Hiram P. Mills, C. H. Carroll, W. C. Hawley,
J. S. Wadsworth, Charles Jones, William A. Rey-
nolds, John Fowler, William T. Cuyler, R. P. Wis-
ner and William Kidd. At a subsequent meeting
Henry P. North was made President of the company,
and Richard P. Fitzhugh and B. R. Hammatt were
added to the board of directors, in place of Mr. Rey-
nolds and Mr. Ayrault.
The most untiring efforts were now made to secure
subscription to the stock along the whole line of the462
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
road, and many were so desirous of seeing it com-
pleted that they took more stock than they were able,
or should have been required to hold. Two promi-
nent citizens, now in mind, in this manner opened the
way tor a series of financial reverses that have swept
away a fine property, and left them in straightened
circumstances. Republics may be ungrateful, but it
little behooves the people of the Valley to treat lightly
the claims to lasting honor and gratitude of such men,
who have helped to make it a rich and prosperous
community.
Such was the success of the company in securing
subscriptions that in October, 1856, a contract was
made with George W. and George B. Phelps for the
completion of the road by the 1st of September of the
following year. Work was immediately commenced
by these energetic contractors, and pushed forward
with all possible dispatch. In the calculations made,
however, the financial crisis of 1857 did not enter as a
factor, and consequently when that period was reached
and all public or private enterprises were seriously
embarrassed or wholly suspended, this one proved no
exception. Unable to provide the contractors with
the means to prosecute the work, the directors were
compelled to suspend operations, but early in 1858
they were resumed again, through the earnest and
indefatigable efforts of the officers of the company.
On New Year’s day, 1859, the first train entered Gen-
eseo, and soon after the road was completed to Mount
Mofris. Regular trains commenced running in April,
1859.
Thus was brought to a successful issue one of the
most important enterprises of the Genesee Valley.
For years it was a “child of sorrow,” meeting with
reverses and misfortunes enough to have filled the
bravest hearts with dismay. But at last, through theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
463
indomitable will and the energy of its projectors, the
road was finished and opened to the public. The re-
sult should prove a suggestive lesson to the promoters
of later but equally unfortunate railway projects.
In 1857 was experienced one of those strange storms
of financial disasters which sweep over the country at
well defined intervals, carrying ruin to business men,
crippling and retarding enterprise, and throwing help-
less upon the world thousands of laboring men with-
out work or the means of livelihood. Yet in this
county its effects would have been comparatively
lightly felt had it not been immediately preceded by
another calamity of equal magnitude, the almost total
failure of the wheat crop. For many years the grain
raised on the fertile hills and in the fruitful valleys of
the Genesee had borne the highest price in the market,
and the flour merchant who could ticket his cargoes
with the magic word “Genesee,” was sure of a sale,
even in very dull markets, at by far the best rates.
The tables of the wealthy were deemed lacking in an
important particular, if unsupplied with bread made
from the celebrated “ Genesee wheat,” and far and
wide it was eagerly sought for by those who could
appreciate its worth. But in 1855 a terrible enemy to
this great staple, the so-called weevil, made its appear-
ance, and its ravages caused the almost total failure
of the crop. Hundreds of fields of bright, waving
grain, fell a sacrifice to its remorseless onslaught, and
where thousands of bushels of wheat had been har-
vested before, only a few hundreds rewarded, the
husbandman for his labor now, while many fields
proved a total loss. This great failure of the princi-
pal crop, coupled with the stringency of the times,
caused a financial distress unknown for years, and a
large number of business failures followed. The
banking institutions pf the county, however, remained464
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
firm during the general crash throughout the country,
and not only bravely weathered the storm, maintain-
ing their integrity while hundreds of other banks
went down, leaving their promises to pay, worthless
as rags in the people’s hands, but extended sub-
stantial aid to the entire business community. The
ravages of the weevil continued for several seasons,
but not to so serious a degree as at first. Neverthe-
less, it was years before the county again reached its
former importance as a wheat-growing district, and
never since has its wheat filled the place in the mar-
kets of the world it once occupied.
At the fall election of 1858 the Republicans sup-
ported John N. Hurlburt for Sheriff; Charles Root
for County Clerk; S. N. Chamberlain for Sessions
Justice; Lyman Turner for Superintendent of the
Poor; C. R. Blackall for Coroner; Samuel L. Puller
and John Wiley for the Assembly. William Irvine
was the nominee for Congress. The Americans also
presented a ticket for popular approval, although
their strength had greatly diminished, and this was
destined to be their last appearance as a party organ-
ization. The American nominees were George P. Coe,
Sheriff; County Clerk, Matthew Porter, Jr.; Sessions
Justice, William Houghton; Superintendent of the
Poor, Peter Miller; Coroner, James E. Jenks; Assem-
bly, Lyman Odell, Samuel Skinner; Congress, Gold-
smith Denniston of Steuben. The Democratic party
entered the field with the following ticket: Sheriff, Wil-
bur Watson; County Clerk, Charles L. Bingham;
Sessions Justice, Utley Spencer; Superintendent of
the Poor, George Mercer ; Coroner, Arnold Gray; As-
sembly, John H. Jones and David D. McNair. The
Democratic nominee for Congress was George B.
Bradley.
The election resulted in sweeping Republican vie-HTSTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
465
tories throughout the State. In the county the Re-
publcan majorities ranged from 1,000 to 1,400, and
every nominee of that party was elected.
For the first time since the disintegration of the old
Whig party, the fall election of 1859 found party
lines clearly defined, and the contest between two
great organizations. The American party had dis-
solved, and its members found places in the ranks of
the other two parties, the accessions from this source
of the Republican party being the greatest, on account
of its position on the slavery question, which had
become the leading and all-absorbing issue.
The Republicans of Livingston supported the fol-
lowing ticket at this election: County Judge, Sidney
Ward ; District Attorney, Gershom Bulkley; County
Treasurer, Chauncey R. Bond *; Sessions Justice,
Charles H. Randall; Coroners, William Nisbit and
Zara H. Blake ; Assembly, Samuel L. Fuller and John
Wiley ; Senator, D. H. Abell. The Democratic nomi-
nees were, George Hastings, County Judge ; Adoniram
J. Abbott, District Attorney; George Mercer, County
Treasurer; Utley Spencer, Sessions Justice; William
H. Bennett and Arnold Gray, CoToners; James G.
Clark and Joseph W. Smith, Assetnblyihen; Senator,
Linus W. Thayer. But little interest was manifested
in this election, except in the strife to secure the office
of County Judge. The friends of Mr. Hastings made
an unusual and successful effort in his behalf, and he
was re-elected ; his majority, however, being only 94.
The rest of the Republican ticket was elected by large
majorities.
The allotted period to be covered by this history has
* While holding this office, Mr. Bond died June 2, 1860. The vacancy
thus caused was filled by the appointment of James T. Norton to the office.
At the fall election of 1860, Mr. Norton was elected for three years, and re-
tired at the end of that time having declined a re-election.466
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
now been nearly all brought under review, and-a brief
comparative view of the county, showing its growth,
material progress and importance may not be out of
place.
The census of 1860 showed the population of Living-
ston county to be 39,546, and the assessed valuation of
real and personal estate, in that year, was $14,306,555 ;
for causes already named, the showing of population
not being as favorable as that of 1850. The wealth of
the county, as shown in the tables of assessed valua-
tion, makes a more favorable exhibit, the increase
since 1821 amounting to $12,128,654, or nearly six fold.
When organized the county had twelve towns. The
division of Sparta into the towns of North Dansville,
Sparta and West Sparta, increased the number to
fourteen, while the annexation, from Allegany, of the
towns of Nunda and Portage in 1846, and Ossian in
1857, brought the number of towns up to seventeen,
and added a rich and flourishing territory. All build-
ings necessary for the transaction of public business,
the safe keeping of important records, or the care or
confinement of its unfortunate and vicious classes,
had been provided, equalling in size, convenience or
cost, those of any rural county in the State.
Internal improvements had kept pace with the
county’s growing strength. The Cohocton Yalley
railroad skirted its eastern border, the Genesee Yalley
Canal wound along its western boundary, while mid-
way between them was the newly completed Avon,
Geneseo and Mount Morris railroad, connecting at the
former place with the vast network of railroads ex-
tending over the country. The educational progress
of the county also furnished a proud record. The
Genesee College and Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at
Lima, Geneseo Academy, and the academies of Avon,
Moscow and Dansville, together with the excellentHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
467
schools, public and private, of other towns, had a
wide reputation, and some of them, especially the
three first named, were filled with students from all
parts of the globe. Added to these was the Atheneum
(Wadsworth) Library at Geneseo, with its thousands
of volumes, free to all residents of the county. Nor
were the institutions of religion neglected. The
churches of the several denominations throughout the
county were beautiful, commodious and costly edi-
fices, and the people generally a church-going and
Grod-fearing community.
In worldy affairs the inhabitants of the county were
also prosperous and happy. The country had in a
great measure recovered from the effects of the finan-
cial reverses of 1857, the crops were uniformly good,
manufacturing and commercial interests were thriving,
and a bright, peaceful and prosperous future seemed
dawning on the people.
Just as this period had been reached, occurred the
ever memorable presidential campaign of 1860. It is
unnecessary to recount here the many exciting inci-
dents of that period, which are still fresh in the public
mind, and will remain so, long after the recollection
of subsequent campaigns becomes a dim and shadowy
picture of the past. In its furor and excitement, its
campaign songs and partisan bands of uniformed men;
in the intensity and bitterness of the feelings it engen-
dered ; even more in its after results ; it stands out as
one of the most important epochs in our national
history.
The Republicans early entered the field with Abra-
ham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin as their national
standard bearers. The Democratic party, less fortu-
nate in uniting its forces, presented two tickets for
public approval. The regular nominees of the party
were Stephen A. Douglass and Herschell V. Johnson ;468	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the candidates of the “Seceders’ convention” were
John C. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane. A fourth
party, calling itself the Constitutional Union party,
put up John Bell for President and Edward Everett
for Vice President.
Passing over the State nominations of these con-
testing parties, we come to those of more immediate
interest, the county nominations. The Republican
party supported the following ticket: Congressman,
Robert B. Yan Yalkenburgh; County Treasurer,
James T. Norton ; Sessions Justice, Charles H. Ran-
dall ; Coroners, J. B. Patterson and Loren J. Ames ;
Assemblymen, Matthew Wiard and George Hyland;
School Commissioners, Franklin B. Francis and Har-
vey Farley. The Republican nominee for Presiden-
tial Elector was James S. Wadsworth. The nominees
of the Democratic party were for Congressman, Charles
C. B. Walker ; County Treasurer, Hezekiah Allen ;
Sessions Justice, Utley Spencer; Coroners, George
H. Bennett, Zara W. Joslyn; Assemblymen, David
H. Albertson, David Davidson ; School Commission-
ers, Daniel Bigelow, Samuel D. Faulkner.
The canvass in this county was conducted with the
same feeling and earnestness which everywhere
marked it. Wigwams sprang up here and there;
lofty poles flung to the breeze the banners of the con-
tending parties; bands of “Little Giants” and
“Wide Awakes” almost daily paraded the streets,
or lit up the dark night with their smoking torches ;
and frequent political gatherings were addressed by
the chosen orators of the opposing factions. It was
the campaign of 1840 repeated with variations; the
days of “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” revived.
At last the decisive day came when the parties met
at the polls to declare their political preferences, and
when the smoke of battle rolled away, it was foundHISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
469
that the Republican party had achieved a great and
unparalleled victory. Like the whirlwind it had
swept everything before it in the North, and state
after state had rolled up majorities before unknown.
In Livingston county the entire Republican ticket was
elected, the majority on the electoral ticket being
1917, and on the county ticket averaging over 1800,—
a result that was astonishing to men of all parties.CHAPTER XIX.
Livingston’s part in the war op the rebellion.
Whatever else may be recorded on the page of his-
tory, the brave valor and unflattering patriotism of a
people should have a prominent place, and be written
in characters as lasting as the eternal hills. It is
with this fact in view that some attempt is here made
to give an account of Livingston’s part in the War of
the Rebellion, and of her contributions of men and
money in support of the general government, when
foes assailed it, and the national life was in danger.
The people of this county have ever been notable
for their loyalty and patriotism. Many of its earliest
settlers, when they penetrated the forests of this then
vast wilderness, were fresh from the toils, privations
and bloody battles of the Revolutionary struggle;
and a few years later, when the British foe again in-
vaded our shores, no people responded more readily
to the call of the government for help, endured the
privations and dangers of war more cheerfully, or
rendered greater service in repelling the enemy than
the loyal citizens of Livingston. Love of country was
with them a strong passion. Some of their best blood
had been given in its defense, and their sturdy, hon-
est, fearless character made them warmly devoted to
the principles of civil and religious liberty upon
which the government was founded.
Thus, when intelligence came that the Southern
people had risen in open rebellion, their patriotic zeal
was aroused to the highest pitch, and an earnest reso-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
471
lution found unanimous expression that the govern-
ment should be sustained, and the Nation’s life
preserved, cost what it might.
It is not so long ago but that many still remember
the intense excitement that prevailed when news came
of the firing upon Fort Sumpter. The national em-
blem had been insulted, the federal authority defied,
the safety of the Union was threatened! The dark
cloud that had long been overhanging the nation had
burst, the storm was upon it, and people awoke from
fanciful security to find themselves involved in all the
horrors of civil war. Then it was that the people of
Livingston county, in common with the whole loyal
North, rose up in their patriotic strength and asserted
their determination to defend the government they
had founded and cherished, against the traitorous
hands that were raised to destroy it. The valleys
reverberated with the patriotic songs of loyal men ;
the Spartan hills echoed back the sound ; and from
near and far came ever-increasing evidence that when
the princples of free government were assailed Old
Livingston would be among the first to tender its ser-
vices for protection and defense. It was no time now
for partisan feeling, or for luke-warm measures. A
graver duty presented itself, and with party lines
obliterated, partisan differences forgotten, the people
united upon the common platform of “The Union,
Now and Forever,” and sung in unison the patriotic
lines,
“ Our Country! right or wrong—
What manly heart can doubt
That thus should swell the patriot song,
Thus ring the patriot shout ?
Be but the foe arrayed,
And war's wild trumpet blown,—
Cold were his heart who has not made
His country’s cause his own! ”472	HISTORY OB’ LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Under the calls of President Lincoln for troops,
Livingston county was among the first to make en-
listments. Union meetings were everywhere held,
and prominent men of all parties united in addressing
them and in securing volunteers. Before the smoke
had scarcely cleared away from Sumpter’s ruined
walls, a large number had enrolled themselves under
the Union banner, and were forming themselves rap-
idly into companies. Nor did the people forget, in
this hour, the duty which they owed to the families of
those who enlisted to fight their battles for them.
Relief funds were raised in the several towns, and the
brave soldier, when he went to the battle’s front, had
the satisfaction of knowing that those dependent upon
him would be well cared for by those who had under-
taken this patriotic duty. Loyal men gave freely and
cheerfully to this holy cause, and these funds were
swelled to most generous proportions. Unfortunately
their aggregate amount cannot be sta'ed, but it is cer-
tainly safe to say that the contributions made in this
way were not less than $50,000.
Later, when the Sanitary Commission had been or-
ganized, liberal aid was constantly given this impor-
tant branch of the service by the county, and no little
credit is due the loyal wives, mothers and sisters who
worked with a devotion worthy of this noble cause, to
render it efficient in field and hospital.
And later still, when the long struggle had drawn
heavily upon the home circles, the Union arms had
suffered repeated reverses, and even strong men were
filled with doubts and fears; when this dark hour
had come and enlistments were slow, the county came
nobly to the rescue and offered liberal bounties to re-
cruits, counting no cost too great that would save
the Nation, or preserve the honor of Old Livingston.
The money thus paid amounted to the vast sum ofHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
473
Twelve Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars, or
nearly one-tenth of the total assessed valuation of the
county.
As early as June, 1861, the county had furnished
five companies of volunteers, without including a large
number, probably enough to have formed another
company, who had enlisted at Rochester and other
places. These five companies were raised in the towns
of Dansville, Geneseo, Lima, Mount Morris and
Nunda, and were officered as follows: Dansville com-
pany, Carl Stephan, Captain ; George Hyland, Jr.,
1st Lieutenant; Ralph T. Wood, 2d Lieutenant.
Geneseo company, Wilson B. Warford, Captain;
Moses Church, 1st Lieu ten tant; John Gummer, 2d
Lieutenant. Lima company, James Perkins, Cap-
tain ; Philo D. Phillips, 1st Lieutenant; H. Seymour
Hall, 2d Lieutenant. Mount Morris company, Charles
E. Martin, Captain ; Joseph H. Bodine, 1st Lieuten-
ant; Oscar H. Phillips, 2d Lieutenant. Nunda com-
pany, James M. McNair, Captain ; George T. Hamil-
ton, 1st Lieutenant; Henry G. King, 2d Lieutenant.
All of these companies rendezvoused at Elmira, but,
perhaps unfortunately, they were assigned to different
regiments.
The Dansville volunteers were made Company B of
the 13th Regiment, N. Y. Y. I. and in the organiza-
tion of the regiment Captain Stephan was made Lieu-
tenant Colonel, and George Hyland, Jr., became Cap-
tain of the company. The 13th Regiment was raised
in Rochester in April, 1861, by Colonel Isaac F.
Quimby, and was the first to pass through Baltimore
after the memorable attack by the mob of that city on
the 6th Massachusetts (April 19th, 1861). It partic-
ipated in the first battle of Bull Run, Siege of York-
town, battles of Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville,
Gaines’ Mills, Turkey Bend, Malvern Hill, 2d Bull474	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Run, Antietam, Shepardstown and Fredericksburgli.
The regiment was mustered out May 14, 1863, having
served two years. Throughout its term of service the
“Old 13th” was distinguished for its gallantry and
bravery, and won a record for meritorious service
which will ever be a source of just pride to its living
veterans.
The lama and Mount Morris companies were made
a part of the 27th Regiment, N. Y. Y. I., the former
as Company G, and the latter as Company H. This
regiment was formed at Elmira from companies
recruited in Rochester, Binghamton, Lyons, Angelica
and this county, with Colonel Slocum, afterward made
a Major-General, in command. It took part in the
battles of 1st Bull Run, Mechanicsville, West Point,
Gaines’ Mills, Goldborough’s Farm, Chickahominy,
White Oak Creek, Malvern Hill, Crampton Pass, An-
tietam, and the first and second battles of Fredericks-
burgh. It was mustered out May 31st, 1863, after
serving the two years for which it was enlisted. The
list of engagements in which this regiment participa-
ted shows that it shared in some of the hardest fight-
ing of the war, and it was distinguished for signal
bravery and conduct becoming the true soldier of the
Union.
The Geneseo and Nunda companies were assigned
to the 33d Regiment, N. Y. V. I., the former as Com-
pany E. and the latter as Company F. This regiment
was composed of two companies from Seneca Falls,
and one each from Palmyra, Waterloo, Canandaigua,
Geneseo, Nunda, Buffalo, Geneva and Penn Yan.
The organization of the regiment was effected May
21st, 1861, with Robert F. Taylor as Colonel. On the
8th of July the regiment left for the front, and during
its term of service participated in the battles of York-
town, Malvern Hill, Fair Oaks, Williamsburg, Lee’sHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	4t5
Mills, 2d Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburgh,
and many minor engagements and desperate skirm-
ishes. The regiment was mustered out June 2d, 1863,
and accompanying the order for this purpose was an
address from General Sedgwick, in which he said :
“ The General commanding the corps congratulates
the officers and men of the Thirty-third New York
Volunteers upon their honorable return to civil life.
They have enjoyed the respect and confidence of their
companions and commanders; they have illustrated
their term of service by gallant deeds, and have won
for themselves a reputation not surpassed in the Army
of the Potomac, and have nobly earned the gratitude
of the Republic.”
The 8th N. Y. Cavalry numbered among its mem-
bers many brave and gallant troopers from the differ-
ent towns in this county, and in August, 1862, James
McNair received a commission as Captain and re-
cruited a large number of men in Groveland and the
towns adjoining, who formed the nucleus of Company
L of this regiment. Almost its first service won for
the regiment a fame which to the close of the war was
never diminished. When General Miles surrendered
Harper’s Ferry, this regiment not only cut its way out,
but passing entirely through Lee’s army, captured
Longstreet’s wagon train, and was safe inside the
Union lines when the morning dawned. The regi-
ment took part in the following engagements, which
are engraved on a shield attached to its regimental
flag-staff: Winchester, Harper’s Ferry, Antietam,
Snicker’s Gap, Phillimont, Union, Upperville, Bar-
ber’s Cross Roads, Amisville No. 1, Amisville No. 2,
Freeman’s Ford, Beverly Ford, Middleburg, Gettys-
burg, Williamsport, Boonsboro No. l,|Boonsboro No.
2, Funkstown, Falling Waters, Chester Gap, Brandy
Plains No. 1, Brandy Plains No. 2, Culpepper, Rac-476
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
coon Ford, Jack’s Shop, Germania Ford, Stevens-
burgh, Brandy Plains No. 3, Oak Hill, Bealton Sta-
tion, Muddy Run, Locust Grove, Barnett’s Ford,
Craig’s Church, Yellow Tavern, Richmond Defenses,.
Meadow Bridge, Hawes’ Shop, White Oak Swamp,
Malvern Hill 2d, 1STottaway C. H., Roanoke Station,
Stony Creek, Winchester 2d, Summit Point, Kearney-
ville, Opequan, Front Royal, Milford, Fisherville,
Tour’s Brook, Cedar Creek, Middle Road, Lacey
Springs, Waynesboro, Five Forks, Namazine Church,
Sailor’s Creek, Appomattox, Lee’s Surrender. Six-
teen officers were killed under the flag of this regi-
ment, of whom two were from this county, Major
James McNair, killed at Nottaway C. H., June 23d,
1864, and Captain H. C. Cutler, killed at Beverly Ford,
June 9th, 1863. Captain Andrew Kuder and 1st
Lieutenant Charles A. Goheen returned with the regi-
ment, and were mustered out at the close of the war.
In the summer of 1861, while General Wadsworth
was on a flying visit to Geneseo he stated to promi-
nent gentlemen that the war was to be a long one, and
he was extremely anxious that Livingston should do
her whole duty. To accomplish this he proposed that
a regiment should be raised in the county, and asked
Col. John Rorbach to allow him to present the latter’s
name to the Governor for a commission to recruit such
a regiment. After some hesitation Col. Rorbach con-
sented, and in a short time he received a commission
to recruit and organize a regiment for the service. The
experiment seemed a hazardous one, inasmuch as the
county had already furnished recruits enough at least
for a regiment, but earnest men had hold of the meas-
ure, and it was bound to succeed. It was also pro-
posed to call the new regiment the “Wadsworth
Guards,” in honor of the brave officer who had first
proposed its organization, and who had already re-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
477
fleeted such honor on his native county by his daring
bravery and self-sacrificing patriotism.
Colonel Rorbach found, after some weeks’ hard
work, that it would be impossible to organize a regi-
ment without having a local depot to which he could
send his recruits as fast as they were secured. He
asked the State government, therefore, to establish a
military depot at Genesee, and an order to this effect
was issued. The “ old camp ground ” at the head of
North street having been selected as the site of the
military depot, barracks were immediately con-
structed, and the work of recruiting was again entered
upon with new vigor. The men, as fast as they were
enlisted, were sent to this depot, which was called
Camp Union. The energetic commander of the post,
seconded by his able assistants, pushed the work of
enlisting men so vigorously that the minimum number
was secured, and the regiment mustered into the ser-
vice Jan. 24th, 1862. In the following month the
Wadsworth Guards, as they were called, received
marching orders, on the 26th of February, 1862,
they departed for the seat of war. At Albany
three companies were added to the regiment from
Troy, to make its complement of ten, and an organiza-
tion was perfected as the 104th Regiment, N. Y. V. I.,
with the following officers:
Colonel—John Rorbach.
Lieutenant Colonel—R. Wells Kenyon.
Major—Lewis C. Skinner.
Adjutant—Fred. T. Vance.
Quarter Master—Henry V. Colt.
Surgeon—Enos G. Chase.
Assistant Surgeon—Douglas S. Landon.
Chaplain—Daniel Russell.478
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Co.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
K
Captains.
Henry G. Tulhill.
Luhman H. Day.
Stephen L. Wing.
Zopher Simpson.
Hugh C. Lattimore.
Gilbert G. Pray.
Jas. A. Gault.
Jas. H. Selleck.
John Kelly.
John C. Thompson.
1st Lieutenants.
Albert S. Haver.
Henry A. Wiley.
Henry Runyan.
Jacob H. Stull.
William T. Lozier.
Luman F. Dow.
John P. Rudd.
E. B. Wheeler.
William R. Cross.
John H. Miller.
2d Lieutenants.
Reuben R. Weed.
Homer Stull.
Nelson J. Wing.
George H. Starr.
Wm. L. Trembly.
Wm. J. Hemstreet.
John R. Strang.
Thos. Johnston.
Chas. W. Fishtr.
William C. Wilson.
The first seven companies named were recruited
principally in this county; the others were those
added at Albany. The regiment was soon engaged in
active service, and under the successive commands of
Colonels Rorbach, Lewis C. Skinner, Gilbert G. Pray
and John R. Strang, it participated in some of the
hardest fought battles of the war. It seemed to be its
fate, from the start, to be in the thickest of every fight
and to suffer terrible losses. At the battle of the sec-
ond Bull Run the regiment lost 94 officers and enlist-
ed men ; at Antietam 76; at Fredericksburgh 58; at
Gettysburg 219; and had only 315 men on its rolls
Jan. 1st, 1864, out of 917 originally mustered into the
service. It also participated in the battles of
Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thorough-
fare Gap, South Mountain, Chancellorsville, Mine Run,
The Wilderness, Chantilly, North Anna, Spottsylva-
nia, Bethesda Church, Weldon Railroad and Peters-
burgh. In July, 1862, F. DeW. Ward, D. D., of
Geneseo, joined the regiment as Chaplain, and served
in this capacity until November 25th, 1863, a period
of one and one-fourth years. The regiment was mus-
tered out in 1865, having served its term of three
years, won a proud record for bravery and faithful-
ness to duty, and nobly asserted its right to bear the
name of that brave patriot, James S. Wadsworth.
In the summer of 1862, a call having been made for
300,000 more troops, the State government made each
Senatorial district a regimental district, with a mili-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
479'
tary camp in each one, at some designated point.
The counties of Livingston, Wyoming and Alle-
gany, composing the 30th district, were thus made a
regimental district, with the camp at Geneseo. On
the meeting of the Senatorial committee, however, a
resolution was adopted requesting the Governor to
change the location of the camp to Portage. This was
accordingly done, and persons having been authorized
to enlist recruits, the work of filling the district’s
quota commenced. So rapidly did this proceed that
recruits came flocking into the Portage camp before
the barracks were erected for their accommodation,,
and early in August a sufficient number of men had
enrolled themselves in the three counties, to form a
full regiment, and the 130th Regiment, N. Y. V. I.,
was organized and mustered into service Sept. 3d,
1862. It was composed of four companies from Liv-
ingston, three from Wyoming and three from Alle-
gany. The organization was completed by the elec-
tion of the following officers:
Colonel—William S. Fullerton.
Lieutenant-Colonel—Thomas J. Thorp.
Major—Rufus Scott.
Adjutant—George R. Cowee.
Quarter-Master—A. B. Lawrence.
Surgeon—B. T. Kneeland.
Co.
A
B
c
D
E
E
G
H
I
K
Captains.
J. E. Bills.
Howard M. Smith.
R. P. Taylor.
Jacob W. Knapp.
Wheeler Hakes.
Jeremiah Hatch.
Alanson. B. Cornell.
Joel Wakeman.
James Lemen.
Andrew J. Leach.
1st Lieutenants.
J. P. Robinson.
S. Herbert Lancey.
O. R. Cook.
Leonard Wilkins.
S. F. Randolph.
S. A. Farman.
C. L. Brundage.
Ira Sayles.
R. A. Britton.
Jas. 0. Slayton.
2d Lieutenants.
C. L. Daily.
Saul C. Culbertson..
S. Y. Waldo.
Jared M. Bills.
Elias Harton, Jr.
A. K. Thorp.
G-. Wiley Wells.
E.	S. Osgood.
F.	S. Adams.
Edmund Hartman.
The regiment was ordered to Fortress Monroe, and
formed a part of the Seventh Army Corps. It was
changed to the 19th N. Y. Cavalry, Aug. 11th, 1863,480
HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and from the 10th of September, 1863, was known as
the First New York Dragoons. The regiment was
•commanded successively by Colonels Fullerton,*
Alfred Gibbs and Thomas J. Thorp, and participated
in the battles of Deserted House, Blackwater, Siege
of Suffolk, Manassas Plains, Culpepper, Todd’s Tav-
ern, Yellow Tavern, Meadow Bridge, Old Church,
Ha we’s Shop, Coal Harbor, Darbytown, Kearneyville,
Trevillian Station, Newtown, Cedar Creek, Smithfield,
and several other engagements. It was mustered out
in 1865, having done service for the Union that has
won for its members the highest honor, and the endur-
ing gratitude of the people.
Just here let it be recorded that Livingston was the
first county to furnish its quota for this regiment,
having responded with alacrity and cheerfulness to
the call for help which came from an imperilled gov-
ernment, and it was said on this occasion with just
pride that “the patriotic fervor of her sons continues
unabated, and their response to the call for men is
still answered by hundreds who unreluctantly sacri-
fice the comfort, happiness and allurements of home,
for the stern experience of the camp.” When the
130th Regiment was organized, two or three hundred
more men had been enlisted than were required to fill
it to the maximum number. The Senatorial commit-
tee immediately authorized Colonel James Wood, Jr.,
of G-eneseo, to recruit and organize another regiment,
and enlistments continued with unabated zeal. War
meetings were held throughout the county, patriotic
citizens made substantial additions to the national and
State bounties, and towns vied with each other in
friendly rivalry, in filling their quotas. It was a time
of intense feeling ; of earnest devoted patriotism. Col-
* Resigned before the regiment left the State.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
481
onel Wood’s authority was granted in August. In one
month all the men for the regiment were in camp at
Portage, and there was a surplus of nearly four hun-
dred recruits in the district. The regiment was mus-
tered into the service September 20th, 1862, as the
130th Regiment, N. Y. Y. I., with the following
officers:
Colonel—James Wood, Jr.
Lieutenant Colonel—Lester B. Faulkner.
Major—David C. Hartshorn.
Adjutant—Campbell H. Young.
Quarter-Master—John T. Wright.
Surgeon—B. L. Hovey.
1st Asst. Surgeon—E. Amsden.
2d Assistant Surgeon—C. F. Warner.
Quarter-Master Sergeant—Richard W. Barney.
Commissary Sergeant—J. S. Galen tine.
Co.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
K
Captains.
A. T. Cole.
Edward H. Pratt.
A. A. Hoyt.
A. Harrington.
H. B. Jenks.
J. H. Burgess.
Sidney Ward.
E. H. Jeffres.
H. L. Arnold.
A. F, Davis.
1st Lieutenants.
M. M. Lovden.
John J. Bailey.
Wells Hendershott.
Myron E. Bartlette.
Jas. G. Cameron.
John Galbraith.
Orange Sackett, Jr.
Edward Madden.
Frank Collins.
Geo. H, Eldredge.
2d Lieutenants.
John W. Webster.
Nicholas Y. Mundy.
Emerson J. Hoyt.
Russell G. Dudley.
Seth P. Buell.
Chas. H. Wisner.
Kidder M. Scott,
Anson B. Hall.
Geo. M. Reed.
Geo. Y. Boss.
The regiment was composed of five companies from
Livingston, three from Wyoming, and two from Alle-
gany. It left Camp Williams (Portage) October 2d,
1862, and proceeding directly to Washington, was
soon after seeing actual service in the field. It was
assigned to the Eleventh Corps under General Sigel,
where it remained until April 14th, 1864, when it be-
came a part of the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, Twentieth
Corps. The regiment was successively under the
command of Colonels Wood,* Lieutenant-Colonel
* Promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1864, and to the rank
of Major General in 1865.482
HISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON COUNT!.
L. B. Faulkner and Lieutenant-Colonel H. L. Arnold,
and took an important part in the battles of Chancel-
lorsville, Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga,
Missionary Ridge, Knoxville, Buzzard’s Roost Gap,
Resaca, Cassville, Dallas, Gilgal Church, Kulp’s
Farm, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Turner’s
Ferry, Atlanta, Milledgeville, Savannah, Charleston,
Averysburgh, Bentonville, Goldsboro and Raleigh.
The Regiment was mustered out June 13th, I860, hav-
ing won the commendation of commanders, an endur-
ing fame, and the deepest gratitude of the people.
Throughout the struggle its members had been brave,
unflinching soldiers, and in every battle had entered
the thickest of the fight with a gallant bravery that
earned them great distinction.
Besides those in these organizations, many recruits
were furnished by the county for other regiments.
Among these were the 14th Heavy Artillery, the 24th
Artillery (of which Lee’s Battery was a part) Harris’
Cavalry, and regiments from other States. Others,
again, entered the Navy, and won enviable records
there. The total number who entered the Union ser-
vice in other regiments other than those raised in the
county is unknown, but it was certainly several hun-
dred.
Such, in brief is the war record of Livingston, and
imperfect and incomplete as it is, it yet reveals a spirit
of the truest loyalty in the people of the county, and
presents an example of labor and sacrifice, of bravery
and patriotism, which the nation well may emulate.
The people gave freely of men and money, and in the
darkest hours of the struggle they never faltered.
Even when their loved sons fell like forest leaves before
the rude blast, they did not waver, but closing up
the fearful breach with others as dearly beloved, they
watched with aching but brave hearts, for the finalHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
483
issue of the strife. And when it came, they deemed
the victory a glorious one, though it had cost thou-
sands of lives and millions of treasure; though there
was scarcely a home "that was not mourning the loss
of father, brother or lover, and tears and sorrow
attested the horrible havoc of war.TOWN SKETCHES
AVON.
Area, 24,891 acres; population in 1875, 3,325;
Boundaries: North by Monroe county; east by Lima;
south by Livonia and Geneseo ; west by the Genesee
river, which separates it from York and Caledonia.
In area and productive wealth Avon ranks among
the leading towns of the county. It was formed from
the original District of Geneseo in January, 1789, and
embraced townships ten and eleven of the seventh
range, under the name of Hartford. This designation
was derived from the city of the same name in Con-
necticut, and was suggested by Dr. Timothy Hosmer,
one of the first proprietors of the township and a
native of that State. In 1808 its name was changed
to Avon, from a town in Connecticut in the vicinity of
the city of Hartford. In 1818 the town of Rush was
set off from Avon.
About one thousand acres of the territory of the
town consist of river flats; the remainder is upland,
comprising a series of terraced hills, generally run-
ning in the direction of the river, with intervals of
broad sweeps of undulating ground. Deming hill, in
the southern part of the town, rises to the height of
about 150 feet above the alluvial meadows skirting the486	FISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON OOFNTY.
river. The soil of the flats is unsurpassed in fertility;
that of the uplands is a substratum of sand intermixed
with gravel, and in some parts with clay, and is
especially adapted to the growth of wheat. The farms
are under a high state of cultivation, and are princi-
pally owned by their occupants. The forests have
generally been cut away, but selected shade trees in
profusion have been spared by the axe, adding great
beauty both to the farming lands and the several
hamlets.
The Genesee river flows along the whole western
border of the town; and the outlet of Conesus lake
traverses its south-western corner. The Little Conesus,
a considerable stream which drains a large swamp in
the town of Lima, crosses the southerly portion of
the town and empties into Conesus outlet below Little-
ville.
The first permanent settlement in the town was
made by Gilbert R,. Berry in the spring of 1789. He
located less than a rifle-shot south of the old red
bridge, where he opened a log tavern. In that day
there were few white men within a day’s ride. Berry
had brought together the material for his rude log
house, when a lucky circumstance enabled him to
raise it without calling the Indians to his assistance.
The late Judge Hopkins of Niagara county happened
to be returning from a hunting expedition to Canada
with several companions, and stopped at Canawaugus
for a few hours’ rest. Here they found the pioneer
just as he was about sending out for his dusky neigh-
bors. They saw Berry’s strait and fell to and aided
in lifting the remaining heavy logs to their places,
thus securing him a domicil. Berry was of Irish ex-
traction. He came hither from Albany, where he had
been bred to mercantile pursuits. “His wife,” says
Colonel Hosmer, “ was a grand-daughter of the Hen-HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	487
drick Wemple, historically known as the interpreter
of General Herkimer in his interview with Brant at
Unadilla previous to the mournful meeting at Oris-
kany. Berry resided for a time at Geneva, but push-
ing westward to near Canawaugus, he not only opened
a tavern and store there, but established trading-posts
at Big Tree, and at the mouth of the river, carrying
on a brisk business with trappers and hunters; and
his pack-horses, laden with furs, were often seen
threading the main trail to and from Albany. He
acted as General Chapin’s local Indian agent, corres-
ponding with his principal and with the post at Buf-
falo, not by telegraph, but by means of old Sharp
Shins, the Indian Runner. At his death, which oc-
curred in 1797, while he was yet a young man, his
widow assumed charge of the tavern, which became
the favorite stopping-place of land agents, surveyors,
explorers, Scotch emigrants and pioneer settlers.”
The rope ferry across the river at Canawaugus, early
established by her husband, also fell under her
charge. The more notable Indians were partial to
“Widow Berry’s tavern,” and Te-neh’-anah (which
Seneca name expresses her reluctance to sell spirits to
the Indians in the absence of her husband) was greatly
esteemed by them. Turner says : “Widely known
in early days was the comfortable resting-place that
she provided for man and beast; and in her primitive
tavern some of the best wives and mothers of the
Genesee country were reared.”
In 1790 Dr. Timothy Hosmer and Major Isaiah
Thompson, of Farmington, Connecticut, visited the
Genesee country and purchased the township on
behalf of five Connecticut men, of whom they were
two. “The price paid,” says Colonel Hosmer,
“was eighteen pence, New England currency, per
acre, then a high rate in consequence of the open flats.488
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Of the five grantees only Major Thompson and Dr.
Hosmer became residents here. The latter had been
surgeon of the Sixth Connecticut regiment and served
through the war of the Revolution. His diploma of
membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by
Washington as its President, and General Knox as
Secretary, is an eloquent attestation of his long term
of service.”* “Partly from love of adventure, partly
to escape professional practice requiring constant toil,
he emigrated from his pleasant New England home to
this realm of unbounded forest. He passed the sum-
mer of 1790 in exploring the country, returned home
in the fall, and in the following year, accompanied by
his sons Frederick and Algernon Sydney, began the
work of settlement by erecting a log dwelling near the
present residence of his nephew, James Hosmer. In
1792 his family joined him, and being the only phy-
sician within call of the datched settlements, he re-
lieved the sick, prompted by a spirit of benevolence
rather than professional gain. His good humor and
encouraging w'ords cheered the desponding settlers
wrestling with disease and the fearful privations of
the wilderness. The red man appreciated his skill
and named him At-ta-gus, or “healer of diseases.”
“When Ontario county was organized Dr. Hosmer
became one of its judges and succeeded Oliver Phelps
as First Judge. The latter office he held until sixty
years of age, the constitutional limitation. He pos-
sessed a fine literary taste, and his well-selected libra-
ry of medical and miscellaneous works was an anom-
aly in the backwoods. His correspondence reveals
* “ His dress-sword, a sharp blade, inclosed in a silver-mounted black
leathern sheath, is now in possession of a grandson, at Meadville, Pa. On
Hr. Hosmer devolved the duty of laying finger on Andre’s pulse after the
execution of that noted British spy, and reporting him dead to the officers of
the Court martial.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	489
varied reading and mental culture. He had acquired
high professional reputation in the army, and at one
time was transferred from the Connecticut line to the
staff of the Commander-in-chief.
“He was a gentleman of the old school, scrupulous-
ly clean and neat in his attire, with a portly frame
and erect military carriage. His hair was ribbon-
tied, and carefully powdered by his black body-ser-
vant ‘ Boston.’ His breeches of soft and nicely
dressed deerskin, were fastened at the knees by silver
buckles. He was courtly in his manners to all, but
especially marked for chivalric courtesy to women.
When passing a lady acquaintance in the street, he
would bow with uncovered head though rain were
falling, and the poorest, the most unfortunate of the
sex ever found in him a ready champion and defender.
He died in November, 1815, aged 70 years.” He
sleeps in the village cemetery, where a plain and sub-
stantial headstone marks the spot.
* “ Major Thompson was a cavalry officer of merit
during the Revolutionary struggle. His intrepid
conduct in battle commanded the respect of his supe-
riors.” “He died the first season after his arrival in
the Genesee country, of bilious fever. His grave,
with its enclosure of pickets, arrested the attention of
passers-by in my boyhood, situated not far from two
oaks, survivors of forests, that grace the grounds of
‘Rose Lawn,’ a bow-shot from the railroad depot.”
No trace now remains, however, of the resting place
of this veteran of the first great national struggle.
“ The next settler of consequence in Avon was Cap-
tain John Ganson, an officer of Sullivan’s expedition.
Under his supervision a ‘ tub-mill ’ was built on the
beautiful stream that, following its natural channel,
emptied into the river on the Markham farm, and is490
HISTOET OF LIVINGSTON" COUNTY.
now lost in the reedy embrace of Horse-Shoe pond.*
To this tub-mill no doubt was attached a hand seive
of splinters being substituted therefor. It was a busy
place in the olden time, and grists to be ground were
brought through heavily timbered woods from Bough-
ton’s hill and other sequestered clearings many a mile
distant. The stones of this primitive mill were taken
from native quarries near by, and ingeniously fash-
ioned on the spot. No trace of this curious structure
now remains. ”
“A second growth of forest conceales the old track
that led to its mossy door-way, and with diminished
volume flows on the singing waters of a stream which
turned this first mill that made flour in the valley
of the Genesee.” “The title of Captain Gfanson
proving defective to the fine tract here selected by him,
he purchased the famous tavern stand so long associ-
ated with his name near Le Roy.”
Another name occurring frequently in early remi-
niscences of Avon is that of Colonel William Mark>
ham. Colonel Hosmer says of him: He was one of
old Ontario’s first representatives in the Assembly.
He came into the Genesee country with Captain John
Smith of Hermitage, and explored the wilderness in
1'788, accompanied by chain-bearers and surveyors ;
surveyed the first line run from Canandaigua to the
Genesee river; and years afterward was one of the
commissioners designated to locate the county seat.
I knew him in my tender years, and no portrait in
memory’s hall is painted in more vivid lines than his
patriarchial face and silvery hair. Hospitable to
strangers, kind to the poor, public spirited as a citi-
* The tub-mill stood on a stream that crosses the road south of the Sack-
ott place, on the Rochester road, and distant from the highway about 25
rods in an easterly directionHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
491
zen, he is ever mentioned in terms of commendation
by surviving pioneers.”
“A mile or more south of this old worthy’s home-
stead was the residence of Jehiel Kelsey,—an honest
man. A son of the Green Mountain State, and trained
in a rugged school, he was a leading spirit in the
march of improvement.”
Thomas Wiard was a native of Wolcott, Connecti-
cut. In 1804 he emigrated with his family to the Gen-
esee country and settled in the village of Geneseo,
occupying a little log house which he built on the
spot until recently occupied by the two small brown
houses on Main Street, opposite the Genesee Yalley
Bank. In 1805 he removed to a farm half a mile from
the village of East Avon, where he continued to re-
side up to the time of his death. He took an active
part in public affairs, was prominent in local politics
and especially active in the memorable contest that
terminated in the elevation of the younger Adams to
the Presidency. He held the office of Justice of the
Peace for many years, and was nine times elected
Supervisor of the town. He was a man of very pos-
itive character, and of the strictest integrity in all
relations, public and private.
One family name among the pioneers of Avon, that
of the Whalley brothers, calls up an eventful page of
English history. In the latter part of the tumultuous
reign of king Charles I, Richard Whalley appears
among the notable actors in public affairs, sustaining,
with his great leader, Cromwell, the cause of the com-
monwealth against that of the recreant King and his
vain-glorious cavaliers. Whalley’s was one of the
five regiments selected to guard the city of London.
A few months later Whalley sat as one of the judges
of that historic body, the High Court of Justice, to
try the King. The trial was a speedy one, the King492
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
was beheaded, and Cromwell was not long in reaching
the great office of Lord Protector for which nature had
so perfectly fitted him.
When Charles II came to the throne the vindictive
cavaliers clamored for the death of the judges, or reg-
icides as they were then called. Some gave them-
selves up, only to fall victims, suffering the penalty
of death after the mockery of a trial; others, know-
ing too well the rancor of those surrounding the King,
hid themselves or fled beyond the sea and were finally
outlawed. Whalley and Goff came to America, where
they remained in voluntary seclusion to the end of
their days. Descendants of this man Richard Whal-
ley were among the pioneers of Avon, and did much
to reclaim the waste places.
The first school-house in the town was built of un-
hewn logs a few rods north of Zion church. There,
on Sabbath days, Judge Hosmer read the beautiful
and impressive service of the Episcopal church to a
body of devout listeners. These were the_ first relig-
ious services held in the town.
The first saw-mill in Avon was erected by Judge
Hosmer on Conesus outlet at Littleville in 1796. It
was situated directly opposite the Glen Avon mill, on
the south side.
In 1818 the town contained 5 saw-mills, one grist-
mill, 6 distilleries and one carding and cloth dressing
establishment. There were 76 looms in families, the
yearly product of which was 21,825 yards of woolen,
linen and cotton cloths.
“Thefamous Hosmer stand,” says Colonel Hosmer,
‘ ‘was built by James Wadsworth and was first occupied
by Nathan Perry as lessee. Soon after Finley and
Lovejoy became proprietors. At the death of one of
the partners, the brothers Algernon Sydney and Wil-
liam T. Hosmer, purchased the property. The hostHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
493
and hostess who gave the place its enviable reputation,
however, were Timothy Hosmer and lady. ‘ Jo-win-
sta-ga,’ ‘Big Fire,’ was the apt name by which my
beloved uncle was known to the Senecas, referring to
the capacious hearth, with its immense back-log and
formidable fore-stick, on which were high piled the
flaming faggots in winter. The roar of the chimney,
‘the wind-pipe of grateful hospitality,’ was sweeter
than the music of summer birds to the chilled Indian
and belated traveler. Generals Jacob Brown, Scott,
Ripley, Hall and their military found rest and refresh-
ment under its ample roof, and Joseph Bonaparte,
ex-King of Spain, Louis Phillipe, Commodore Perry,
the exiled hero of Hohenlinden, General Moreau, and
Marshal Grouchy, the marplot of the|Waterloo cam-
paign, were among the distinguished names inscribed
on its moth-eaten register.”
“The first town election for Avon was held at the
house of Peter Shaefer. The vote was taken by Gad
Wadsworth.” At the election for Governor in April,
1800, George Clinton received 25 votes and his oppo-
nent, Stephen Yan Rensselaer, received 41 votes. In
1803 the board of excise of the town granted licenses
to Polly Berry, Joseph Pearson, John Pearson and
Benjamin Pearson.
‘ ‘ Captain Asa Nowlen was a native of New London,
Connecticut. In youth and early manhood he followed
a sea-faring life and rose, step by step, to the com-
mand of a merchantman. He was a thorough seaman
and intrepid officer, acquainted with nautical tactics,
and with every rope and bolt of a ship. In our quasi
war with France, he was taken by an armed cruiser
with a valuable cargo on board the prize and suffered
with fellow captives the horrors of long imprisonment
in the West Indies. His life was colored with the
hues of romance. Far and wide in the days of the494
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Old Line lie was known, as a stage proprietor and mail
contractor, and became, at a later period, the pur-
chaser of Avon Springs. To the frank bearing of a
bluff sailor he united the liberal soul. He was truly
a remarkable man. When too infirm to walk tho
tramp of his old horse ' Pomp,’ a general favorite like
his master, announced that the captain was abroad on
some enterprise for the public good or errand of mercy.
In business affairs he was marked by enlarged views
and keen, intelligent foresight. A vein of native
humor enriched his playful discourses. Among my
boyhood’s pleasant memories are the sea-songs he
sung so well. He played a prominent part in the
great masonic excitement.”
Avon took a prominent part in the second war with
Great Britain, and her record is a proud one. Colo-
nel Hosmer, from whom I have already largely quo-
ted says : “With pride permit me to mention as a
bright page in the annals of my native town that in
our war with Great Britain Avon lost more men in de-
fense of our invaded frontier than the county of Ni-
agara. Black Rock will ever be associated with the
heroic name of my townsman Colonel Samuel Blakes-
ley, who led the ‘ Silver Grays.’ Their gallant con-
duct extorted praise from foes, being mentioned in
General Drummond’s official report. After a vain at-
tempt on a wounded horse to rally the fugitives, the
late George Hosmer, who was aid to General Hall,,
rode side by side with Colonel Seymour Boughton
from a lost field. In breaking through the Indian
lines, the latter was killed by a pipe tomahawk that
smote him fatally on the temple. Captain Ezekial
Wadsworth, brother of Richard, late proprietor of our
mineral spring, behaved with signal intrepidity and
was one of the last to leave the field of Black Rock.
George Hosmer was a native of Farmington, Con-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	495
necticut, and was 12 years old when his father re-
moved to Avon. He pursued his early studies under
the tuition of the Rev. Ebenezer Johnson of Lima.
In 1799 he entered the law office of Nathaniel W.
Howell of Canandaigua, and in 1802 was admitted to
practice, opening his office in Avon. He was then the
only lawyer west of Canandaigua. His family had
signaled themselves in the legal profession. A great
uncle, Titus Hosmer, was one of the signers of the
Articles of Confederation and was a member of the
First Congress, and at the time of his death was a
judge of the Maratime Court of Appeals of the Uni-
ted States.
George Hosmer was more than ordinarily gifted as
an advocate, and as his loyalty to a client could never
be doubted, his professional business was quite large.
Heman J. Redfield says: “I was the attorney for
the plaintiff in an action founded upon a note. A
jury had been empanneled, and I had stated the case
to them. Turning to my papers for the note it was
not to be found. I had left it in my office in Le Roy.
I intimated to Mr. Hosmer, who was the attorney for
the defendant, that I supposed I must submit to a
non-suit. He instantly rose and, addressing the court,
said, ‘ 1 scorn to take advantage of my friend under
such circumstances : let a juror be withdrawn and let
the panel be discharged.’ ”
He was not only associated in all the important
trials of this portion of the State, but was in the habit
of attending the courts from Albany to Buffalo. On
the organization of the county he was appointed Dis-
trict Attorney, and held the office until January 27th,
1824, when he was succeeded by Orlando Hastings.
On the 29th of May of the same year he again as-
sumed the duties of the office. He was also a member
of the Assembly in 1824. Here he distinguished him-496
HISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
self by his readiness in debate, felicitous choice of
words, impressive delivery and earnestness of purpose.
Indeed, he possessed, in an eminent degree, the requi-
sites of an orator. A retentive memory, brilliant im-
agination, with an exhaustless wardrobe of imagery,
impassioned manner and a powerful voice, melodious
in its inflections. His miscellaneous reading was ex-
tensive, and he had at his tongue’s end the rarest and
richest utterances of the poets, ancient and modern.
In 1812 he served on the frontier as the aid of Major
General Amos Hall. In his official report of the battle
of Black Rock, General Hall bears this testimony to
the meritorious services of Mr. Hosmer. He says:
“To my two aids-de-camp, Majors George Hosmer
and Norton, I cannot withhold my warmest thanks for
their cool, deliberate bravery and the alacrity with
which they executed my orders from the first move-
ment of the troops in the morning to the close of the
day.”
Mr. Hosmer died at Chicago in March, 1861, while
on a visit to his daughter, in the eightieth year of his
age. His large circle of friends was wholly unpre-
pared for the sorrowful intelligence. He had retired
at night in his usual health, after spending a cheerful
evening, in the family circle. Soon after lying down
his little grand-daughter noticed that he breathed with
difficulty and alarmed her father, John Sears, who, on
entering the room was requested by Mr. Hosmer to
raise his head from the pillow. Scarcely was this
done when in a clear and audible voice he said, “ This
is the last of me,” and expired.
Avon was a favorite region for the Indians, drawn
thither by the natural beauty of its groves and forests,
as well as by the healing properties of its mineral
springs. In’ more modern times their village lay on
the western side of the river, but it was the water ofHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
497
the springs that gave it name—Can-no-wau-gus—
foetid water.
Colonel Hosmer is of the opinion, as I have else-
where stated, that one of the decisive battles between
the French under De Nonville, and the Senecas under
old Cannehoot, a name made classical by his exalted
muse, took place near the eastern bank of the river,
not far from the railroad bridge crossing the Genesee.
In cutting through the sandy knolls ‘at this spot,
workmen flung to the surface arms, fragments of green
uniforms and skeletons that crumbled on exposure to
the air, obviously the remains of a hurried military
burial.*
In the extreme northeast part of the town, on the
old Hurlbut farm, the site of an Indian village was
plainly discoverable, and curious implements are still
found there. When first plowed burnt corn, bone
crosses, lance-heads of horn, and other articles were
found.
In 1820 the number of scholars in the town entitled
to public money was 654. The vote on the constitu-
tion of 1821 was as follows : yes, 265 ; no, 35.
The healing quality of the springs was known to the
Indians long before any authentic account of this re-
gion had been gathered by the whites, and frequent
visits to the “fetid” waters were paid by the red men.
Later, when the country had become settled by white
men, the latter also made excursions to the healing
waters, but without finding the excellent accommoda-
tions for guests now afforded by the widely known
hostelries of the village. William Scott, of Scotts-
* “ Not far from this spot,” says Colonel Hosmer, “ when for the first time
the virgin soil was upturned by the plow, my father picked up a French
coteau de chasse, with the arms of France upon the blade. Military buttons,
Jesuit crosses and other similar mementoes are often picked up here after a
rain.”498
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
burgh, writing of a visit he made at an early day to the
springs, says, “With my wife and some friends I
visited the springs in the woods, and where the upper
spring now is for a number of rods around was a per-
fect bog filled with logs and brush. By stepping from
log to log I managed to make my way to near the
center of the marsh, and found a place where I could
lie down and get my face near the sparkling fluid,
which I did and took my first drink of Avon water.”
The principal spring “ occurs in a valley which runs
nearly north and south,” and distant about half a
mile from the river. An extensive marsh years ago
covered the site' of the bath-house and pleasure
grounds adjacent.
CALEDONIA.
Area, 26,199 acres; population in 1875, 1,981;
Boundaries: North by Wheatland (Monroe Co.); east
by Rush (Monroe Co.); south by Avon and York;
west by LeRoy (Genesee county).
As an agricultural town, Caledonia is found in the
front rank of her sister towns, and latterly is gaining
prominence in mercantile and manufacturing enter-
prises. Northampton, from which Caledonia was
formed, was made a town in 1797. On the 30th of
March, 1802, three towns were set olf from North-
hampton, and named Batavia, Leicester and South-
hampton. The Caledonia settlement then lay in the
town of Southampton, and it was not long before the
name of the town was changed by vote to Caledonia.
This was done April 4th, 1806.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
499
The surface of the town is moderately uneven, ex-
cept in the northern part, where it is quite uneven
and broken. The (xenesee river runs along its east-
ern border, while Allan’s creek winds across it. Cal-
edonia Spring, in the northern part, covers an area of
about six acres. There are ten or twelve springs in
all, lying near together. The water, which is very
cold, and yet never freezes in winter, commences to
rise in October, and continues rising until April;
keeps two months even ; and then commence lower-
ing until October. The outlet forms a good water
power a few rods north of the spring, which drives a
grist-mill, saw-mill and machine shop. The body of
water formed by the springs is one of the finest trout
ponds in America. A species of insect which breeds
about the springs feeds the trout, which are raised
here in large numbers.
About the year 1798 one L. Peterson, a Dane, be-
came a squatter near the big spring, and there built a
little log house which he opened as a tavern. This
man was, as near as I can learn, the first white settler
in this place. An Englishman named Burks settled
here soon after, and David Fuller came in 1798. The
Senecas had a village at Caledonia Spring, which was
the general rendezvous of the tribe during the fishing
season.
Captain Williamson early conceived the notion of
planting a colony of Scotch people here. “His plan,”
says Dr. McLaren, “like almost the plans he cher-
ished, was somewhat magnificent, and bore the traces
of his old country aristocratic prejudices.” One
hundred acres were to be appropriated as a glebe lot
for the support of the minister, and about sixty acres
for the school. Provision was made for ten gentle-
men, each of whom was to have a farm of 500 acres.
There were to be ten farmers holding 100 acres each,500
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and forty holding 78 acres. A village was projected
containing sixty lots of 12 acres each. It was ex-
pected that Caledonia would become one of the most
important places in this part of the country. Though
the good Captain’s expectations were not realized, yet
it was so far carried out that his countrymen settled
here, and they and their descendants have continued
to occupy this fine town. Of the causes which led
the Scotch to quit their birth- places, endeared to them
by centuries of tradition, and bid good-bye to crag
and glen and loch, to find a home in this far-off region,
we are informed that there were two. The great land
holders of the Highlands of Scotland began to turn
their attention more largely to sheep-raising, the small
farms were thrown together into great sheep farms,
and the number of the tenantry was thus largely
diminished. Many families were thus thrown out of
the homes they had occupied for generations, and
hundreds were driven thus to find new homes here.
But another cause also contributed to this result. The
British government was then engaged in war with
Prance, and the most strenuous efforts were necessary
to keep the ranks full. Impressment was resorted to,
especially to fill the Highland regiments, and the
constant fear of being thus forced into the army sent
many young men out of the country. Dr. W. T. Mc-
Laren related a case in point: “One day a Highland
farmer, on his return from market, informed his wife
with great concern, that he had seen a recruiting offi-
cer at the market town, and that, as he had heard, it
was his intention on the next day to visit their neigh-
borhood in search of men. As they had a son of suit-
able size and age for the army, they feared he would
be laid hold of as a recruit. They immediately de-
cided to send him at once to America. With such sor-
row as only parents under these circumstances can feel,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	501
they gathered his little all together, and giving him their
blessing, with many tears, bade him farewell, and
long before the gray light of morning had revealed
the rugged profile of the eastern mountains he was
far on his way to Greenoch and the land of the West.
His parents, his home among the heather-clad hills he
never saw again. His days were spent here where he
became an elder in the A. R. church. He died here,
and on the tombstone you may read the name of
William Frazer.”
The first company of settlers in Caledonia belonged
chiefly to Perthshire. They left their homes in the
spring of 1798, and sailing from Greenoch about the
1st of March, they reached New York about the last
of April. Delaying as little as possible they went by
boat to Albany, and thence on foot to Johnstown,
where many of them had friends residing. Here they
would have settled, but their scanty means had been
exhausted by their long journey, and for a while mat-
ters looked dark indeed to them. “But Providence, ’ ’
says Dr. McLaren, “ soon opened up the way before
them.”
“ As soon as Mr. Williamson heard of their arrival
in Johnstown he made a journey to see them, and, if
possible, to induce them to locate in his projected
township at the Big Spring. He found them poor in
purse, with nothing to pay for lands, and but little
even for present subsistence. He held out every in-
ducement to take up their residence on his estate,
offering them lands at three dollars an acre, payable
as they were able, in wheat, at seventy-five cents per
bushel. He engaged to furnish them with provisions
until they could help themselves, and promised them
a lot of two acres near the spring as a site for a meet-
ing-house, a hundred and fifty acres to aid in support-
ing a minister, and fifty acres for school purposes.502
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
He would moreover lend them what money they might
need in moving from Johnstown to their farms.
“ These proposals of Captain Williamson were as
attractive as they were reasonable, but before the peo-
ple would answer them they, with characteristic pru-
dence asked time to reflect upon them. To satisfy
themselves that the offered lands were safe from the
much dreaded Indians, and suitable for farming pur-
poses, they sent five of their number to view them.
These five, Malcolm and James McLaren, Hugh Mc-
Dermid, Donald McPherson and John McVean made
the journey, more than two hundred miles, on foot,
following the road which had, by extraordinary exer-
tions, been opened the year before from Port Schuyler
(Utica) to the Genesee river. Before entering Geneva,
where they expected to meet Captain Williamson,
they stopped under the shade of a bridge that crossed
the outlet of the lake, and there using their pocket
knives as razors, and in other rude and primitive
ways, made their toilet. They were highly pleased
with the lands that had been offered them. On their
return' they met Mr. Williamson on the way from
Geneva to Canandaigua and signified to him their ac-
ceptance of his proposals. The papers requisite to the
bargain were drawn up on the road. On returning to
Johnstown they made the hearts of their companions
glad by their report. In March of the following year
(1799) while there was yet sleighing, a part of the com-
pany, consisting of about twenty persons, came up to
their new homes, the remainder following them in the
succeeding spring. John McYean says they found
here a public house, kept by a Mr. Fowler.
Among the first comers were Peter Campbell, Mal-
com and James McLaren, and John MchTaughton,
with their wives, and Donald McYean, a single man.
Peter Campbell settled near the springs, and when theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
503
church was formed he took an active part in its affairs,
and was made an elder. His hospitality and kindli-
ness to the new comers in after years were unbounded,
and as long as he lived the poor found in him a liberal
and helping friend. Malcolm McLaren very soon died,
and was buried in the lot upon -w hich Mr. Denoon’s
church was afterward built. His was the first death
in the settlement. John McNaughton located on
Allen’s creek. His house, also, was one where the
latch-string was never drawn. Donald Me Yean set-
tled south of the springs, on what was called the
Leicester road.
In planning the survey of the land, Mr. Williamson
endeavored so to arrange it that as many lots as pos-
sible should have a front upon the streams. These
lots were generally chosen first; and it was not until
these were all taken up that the settlers began to lo-
cate upon the uplands. The result proved, however,
that the first comers had chosen the poorest land.
Yery shortly after the first settlers came in, during
the same spring, Mr. Williamson began the erection
of a mill. It was built under the superintendence of
Jonathan Baker, and was finished in about three
years. It had but one run of stones, which were
brought from Albany at an expense of $35 for trans-
portation. It stood just at the outlet of the Big
Spring, not far from where John McKay’s saw-mill
now stands. After a number of years its stones were
taken out, and it was turned into a woolen factory.
Until this mill was finished the grain used by the peo-
ple was ground generally at the Messrs. Wadsworths’
mill on the outlet of Conesus lake.
The support of the first settlers, until they were
able to raise their own supply, was furnished them by
Mr. Williamson from his store at Williamsburgh.
Alexander McDonald, his agent and clerk there, had504
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
orders to provide them with cows and provisions, and
in fact everything that they required, taking only
their notes in payment.
Among the many privations endured by the first
settlers, that which they felt most severely was the
want of church privileges and the preaching of the
gospel. There were among them many truly godly
people who had hungered for the bread of life. Hence
the question of having a church was soon agitated,
and as early as 1802, on the 15th day of November, a
meeting of the people “was held at the house of
Peter Campbell in order to incorporate and establish
themselves into a religious society conformable to an
act of the Legislature of the State of New York.”
Alexander McDonald and John McNaughton presid-
ed. “It was unanimously voted that the name or title
of the society shall be the ‘Caledonia Presbyterian
Religious Society.’ Thomas Irvine, Duncan McPher-
son, Peter Campbell, John Christy and Peter Anderson
were elected trustees.” Caledonia was the name
given by Mr. Williamson to the settlement; but the
township in which it was situated was still called
Northampton. At this period the nearest post-office
was at Canandaigua.
There came in now a very important company of
settlers from Inverness Shire, Scotland. They started
from their Highland homes in July, 1803, and were a
week in reaching Grreenock. There being at that time
little trade with America, they were obliged to remain
there five weeks waiting for an American ship, then
in port, to get ready for sea. This was the “Trapper,”
Captain William Taylor. After a voyage of a little
more than six weeks, they arrived in New York.
They found that city desolate and almost deserted, in
consequence of the yellow fever, which had made
great havoc that season. After a delay of two daysHISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
505
they succeeded in hiring a sloop to convey them up
to Albany. Like the first company, they too made
Johnstown their stopping place, where they remained
for a time.
Not finding anyplace that suited them, they turned
faces to the Genesee country. Arrived here they
were treated with great hospitality and kindness by
those who were already settled. In the spring of
1804 they located on, what was called the “forty
thousand acre tract,” immediately sout of the Pul-
teney lands and belonging to the Holland Company.
The name Inverness, then given to the district where
they took up their residence, was long retained by it.
They paid from $3.50 to $3.75 per acre for their lands.
The houses of the first settlers were generally of
very rude construction. Bark served the purpose of
shingles, the floor, if there was one, was made of
slabs split off from logs, rudely smoothed with the
axe. Doors were made of the same material. As
soon, however, as John McKay had finished his saw-
mill in 1804, a very marked improvement took place
in the houses.
The want of a school was very soon felt in the set-
tlement. The people accordingly met together and
resolved to establish one. The school-house was built
of logs, in the year 1803, as nearly as can be learned.
It stood on the Allen’s creek road, about a quarter of
a mile west of John A. McVean’s corner, a point
which was then very nearly in the center of the settle-
ment. This was the first school-house west of the
Genesee river. Alexander McDonald was the first
teacher.
In this log school-house the early settlers met regu-
larly on Sabbath days for religious worship. Prayers
were made, portions of scripture read, and sometimes
commented on. There was among them a man by the506	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
name of Peter Farquharson, who had enjoyed con-
siderable advantages in the old country, and had even
made some progress in classical knowledge. When
he was present he was generally called on to read a
sermon out of some approved volume. Occasionally
they were favored with the presence of a minister. It
was here that the church was first organized by the
Rev. Jedediah Chapman of Geneva. This occurred
in March, 1805. As part of the organization proceed-
ings, three elders were chosen, two of whom were to
officiate as deacons. It is believed these were Donald
McKenzie, Duncan McPherson and Donald Anderson.
The church thus organized was taken under the care
of the Presbytery of Geneva. It was occasionally
supplied by Mr. Chapman, and by the Rev. Mr.
Lindsley of Big Tree, now Geneseo.
Mr. Williamson, it will be remembered, had prom-
ised the people who settled here on the lands for which
he was agent, that he would grant them two hundred
acres for church and school purposes. The deed,
however, could not be made out until there was a re-
ligious society legally constituted. But before that
event took place, in 1802, Mr. Williamson had ceased
to be the agent of the Land Company. Colonel
Throup, his successor, though bound, of course, to
fulfill all his engagements, seemed unwilling to give
the society the promised deed, and it was not until
1805, after repeated solicitations by letters and by
messengers, that he did so. When the deed came
from Geneva, a meeting of the society was called at
the house of James McLaren, to receive it. It was
first resolved to deposit the deed in the hands of Peter
Farquharson. By a second resolution “all persons
were excluded from having any interest or property
in the Donation Land, except such as lived on the
Pulteney lands. ’ ’ This resolution was directed againstHISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
507
the new comers from Inverness, who had the year be-
fore bought on the Forty Thousand acre tract.
“Against such unprecedented proceedings, which had
a tendency to tarnish the Christian religion and dis-
member societies and congregations/’ Peter Campbell
and Alex. McDonald “protested.” Here was the be-
ginning of the Strife that for so many years agitated
the settlement. The Donation Land, intended to be
so useful, resulted* for a time at least in very great
injury. The church became divided into two factions,
and a long series of quarrels ensued, resulting some-
times in violence, often in bitter words and bad feel-
ing throughout the settlement. It was not until ten
or twelve years had elapsed that the2 controversy was
ended by an equitable division of the property be-
tween the two societies into which the original church
had beoome divided.
Beside the two hundred acres given to the society—
they lay on the south side of Allen creek, and included
what is called “the old burying ground”—a lot of
two acres lying in the village laid out near the springs
was granted as the site of a church and manse. Upon
this lot, in 1805, the people built a log meeting-house,
thirty feet by forty. In this work, though they were
already, as we have seen, alienated from one another,
the people from Inverness and those from Perthshire
labored harmoniously together. This primitive church
stood not far from the site of the house now occupied
by Mr. Hatch, its gable ends facing east and west.
Alexander Denoon was secured as minister.
At the town meeting held in April, 1805, the sum of
$100 was voted tor bounty on wolves, and the bounty
for every wolf killed within the limits of the town was
fixed at $5.
In the spring of 1807 an event occurred that tilled
the infant settlement with horror, and made a deep508
HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
impression on many. A number of men were engaged
in laying out a road in the neighborhood of Duncan
McColl’s. Some trifling dispute arose between James
McLean, a very bad tempered man, and William Orr.
McLean grew very much enraged, and all at once
raised his axe and cleft Orr’s skull, killing him almost
instantly. Archibald McLaughlin came up a moment
after, and stooping down to look at the murdered man,
exclaimed in a tone of reproach, “Oh,Lachlin, Lachlin,
and what have yo.u done now ! ” W ithout any further
provocation he raised his axe again, and striking Mc-
Laughlin on the shoulder, cut him down to the very
heart. Donald McColl, then a boy about 16 years old,
with great boldness and dexterity, jerked the axe off
McLean’s shoulder and hid it in a thick jungle of
hazel bushes. He then fled, as for his life, to the vil-
lage. McLean pursued him until he found he could
not overtake, him, and then he hid himself. Mean-
while Donald McColl reached the village frightened
almost out of his senses, and gave the alarm. The
whole settlement was roused to arrest the murderer.
By hiding himself in hollow logs and in the woods he
succeeded in escaping to Canandaigua, where he was
suspected and arrested. He was afterward convicted
and executed at Batavia.
About this time there grew up quite a little village
about the springs. John McKay’s saw mill, and his
grist mill, to which people sometimes came even from
the neighborhood of Buffalo, brought considerable
business to the place. In 1805 John Cameron came in
from Geneva and opened a store in connection with a
tavern. Up to that time the settlers had been obliged
to purchase the few things they bought either at Wil-
liamsburgh or Canandaigua. Three or four years later
Colonel Robert McKay started another store, which
was extensively patronized.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
509
On the 12th of May, 1808, the excise commissioners
of the town licensed nine persons to keep an inn or
tavern in the town of Caledonia.
The year 1810 was memorable as the one in which a
stage commenced running through the place, convey-
ing the mail. This stage started from Canandaigua on
Monday morning at 6 o’clock, and passing through
this place, Batavia and Buffalo, reached Niagara on
Thursday at 3 o’clock in the morning. The fare was
six cents per mile. Six years afterward a tri weekly
stage run west as far as Batavia. Thence to Buffalo
an open wagon went whenever there were passengers.
On the breaking out of the war of 1812 the Scotch
people of Caledonia showed considerable enthusiasm.
A company was raised among them, and under the
command of Robert McKay volunteered its services
on the frontier. It was actively engaged both that and
the following years. In 1813 Captain McKay was
promoted to the rank of Colonel, and William Duer
succeeded him in the command. While serving at
Black Rock under Colonel Blakeslee, Colonel McKay
and several others were taken prisoners and carried to
Montreal, where, after a time, they were exchanged.
During the whole course of the war the settlers here
showed themselves strongly attached to the interests
of their adopted country.
During the war the village of Caledonia was a favor-
ite stopping-place for the soldiers and sailors passing
to and fro between the seaboard and the lakes. On
one occasion a party of about five hundred sailors,
who had been drafted to man Commodore Perry’s
fleet on Lake Erie, stopped for a few hours at noon on
their way west. They were transported by a train of
between seventy and one hundred great wagons. At
that time all the land between the main street in the
village and the shore of the springs was open. There510	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
they were turned out to cook their dinner. Near by
there was a field of potatoes, belonging to Robert Mc-
Kay. As soon as the sailors discovered it they began
to dig the potatoes to cook for their dinner. Mr. Mc-
Kay was, of course, greatly incensed, and sternly
ordered the trespassers off, but they did not notice
him except to laugh and joke at his expense. He
and several of his friends then armed themselves and
entered the field, determined to defend property, even
at the expense of life. A fight was imminent when
the commanding officers, who were enjoying them-
selves in Mr. Cameron’s tavern, were sent for, who
soon allayed the disturbance. In the course of the
afternoon the detachment moved on to the west, and
spent the night near Batavia. The next day they
reached Buffalo and were immediately put on board
the fleet. Before the next morning they had secured
prizes near Fort Erie valued at $200,000.
At about the same time the people were very much
annoyed by a squadron of dragoons which passed
twice through the place. Nothing was secure from
their depredations. When word was brought to the
village that they were returning from the west, every
one made haste to shut up his fowls and lock all his
doors, taking care to hide away all articles of any
value. They wheeled into the open space before the
spring for a halt, and after they had tethered and
cared for their horses, they began to scatter for plun-
der. A party entered John Cameron’s store and there,
despite all the fefforts of those who were employed to
protect the goods, they appropriated everything they
could lay their hands on. One of the party, having
asked to look at buckskin gloves, a package was
shown him, and in less than five minutes, during
which time the utmost confusion and noise prevailed,
every pair was gone, safely stowed away in a dragoon’s
pouch.HTSTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	511
Detachments escorting British prisoners, and carry-
ing wounded and dead Americans eastward, often
passed through the village.
William Armstrong was one of the most influential
of the early settlers. He was a native of Falkirk,
and came here, it is believed, in 1807. Being a Low-
lander he was regarded by his clannish Highland
neighbors as a speckled bird, and they were not dis-
posed to respect him much at first. By his generous
liberality, however, to all who were straitened, his
strong common sense, and especially by his deep and
consistent piety, he won very soon a position of great
esteem and influence among them. He died in 1829,
after a lingering and painful illness. His loss was
very greatly felt in the settlement.
Judge Willard H. Smith was another man who ex-
erted a large influence over the infant settlement, and
added greatly to its growth and prosperity. He was
born at Chesterfield, Cheshire county, New Hampshire.
When six years of age his father removed to Hamshire
county, Massachusetts, where Judge Smith was edu-
cated. On the 11th of January, 1814, he removed to
Caledonia, where he opened a law-office. In 1832 he
became County Judge, and presided for nearly six-
teen years, during which time several suits of great
importance were tried before him. He was a lawyer
of great ability, a judicial officer who was prompt, firm
and incorruptible, and a citizen who was always held
in great esteem by his neighbors and acquaintances.
CONESUS.
Area, 19,996 acres; population in 1875, 1,377;
boundaries: on the north by Livonia; east by Cana-512	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
dice (Ontario Co.) ; south by Sparta and Springwater ;
west by Groveland.
Conesus lies upon the eastern border of the county.
Its general surface is more elevated than any other
town of the eastern range. The town of Conesus was
organized in 1819. On the 13th of April of that year
the Legislature enacted that “all that part of town-
ship eight, in the sixth range of townships (then) in-
cluded in the towns of Livonia and G-roveland, except
that part of township eight lying on the east side of
Hemlock lake and adjoining the town of Richmond,
shall be, and the same is hereby erected into a sepa-
rate town by the name of Freeport,” and the same
act appointed the first town meeting to be held at the
dwelling-house of Enoch Squibble, near the head of
Conesus lake. On the 26th of March, 1824, the Legis-
lature changed the name of the town to Bowersville,
and on the 15th of April of the following year the
present name was adopted by authority of the Legis-
lature.
The name of Freeport was derived, it is said, from
the following circumstance: A squatter who had
been a sailor, settled on a particular lot near the brow
of the western hill. After fencing it in and making
some improvements he was forcibly driven off by the
owner. The ejection provoked the landless pioneer,
who, at some pains, published his version of the story,
urging that however ready other sections might be to
welcome immigrants, this particular region was no
“free-port.” This name, for want of a better, clung
to the locality, and when the town was set off it re-
tained the designation.
Bowersville was derived from Henry Bowers, a
large land-owner and early settler. Conesus, it is
scarcely necessary to say, is the Indian name of the
lake along which the town lies.CONESTTS LAKE. LOOKING NORTH EROM THE HEADHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
513
The township was early laid out by Henry Bowers
into lots numbered from 1 to 139. Five of these lots,
comprising 814 acres, were set apart for the benefit of
Canandaigua Academy, of which institution Mr.
Bowers was a liberal patron. On the re-survey of the
township it was found that the first five lots of the
series were situated in Hemlock lake.
The surface of the town is rolling, though marked
in some parts by abrupt hills which slope down on
the east and west to the two lakes. The soil is some-
what more clayey than the general average of the
County, though portions of it are equal to the best
upland anywhere found for winter wheat. The tim-
ber is principally oak, walnut and chestnut on the
upland; and ash, pine, elm and swamp-oak in the
valleys and low lands. The Marrowback hills, which
rise in places to the height of many hundred feet, run
through .the eastern part of the town, their general
course being nearly parallel with Hemlock lake. The
Calaboge valley extends from near the centre of the
town into Springwater. Turkey hill runs along the
western border of the town, keeping the direction of
Conesus lake. This range of hills took name from
the levies occasionally made upon the poultry yards
in the valley, by a few families given to petty pillage
who lived upon this hill. McMillan Grully or Mill
Creek, terminates near the shore of Conesus lake. Its
steep sides are, in some places, from 60 to 100 feet in
height. The roadway passes near the edge of the
gully. Some years ago a resident of the town named
Hamilton was thrown from his wagon at the most pre-
cipitous point, while under the influence of liquor,
and falling to the bottom of the gully, was killed.
Purchase Valley, on Lot No. 41, is marked by equally
precipitous banks. Specimens of bituminous slate
are found in the rock composing the walls. During614
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the War of 1812 a drafted soldier from Conesus de-
serted from the army, then lying near Buffalo, and
took refuge in this gully, then so thickly wooded
along its margin as to be almost inaccessible. The
period was mid-winter, and as he was aware that a
reward had been offered for his arrest, he kept closely
concealed during the day-time in a nest he had formed
for himself among the upper branches of a venerable
hemlock tree, closely surrounded by smaller trees.
At night he was in the habit of visiting a neighboring
log hut for his food. Officers scoured the gully sev-
eral times, but did not succeed in discovering his
hiding-place.
John, James, Samuel and Matthew McNinch were
among the early settlers, as were Francis, Joseph,
John and Elijah Richardson. The first saw-mill was
erected on Mill creek, near the Centre, in 1793, by
James Henderson and Jacob Dunham. Eleven hands
raised the mill, five of whom came from Dansville and
six from Lima.
The earliest settler of the town was James Hender-
son, who removed from Pennsylvania in 1794, and
located on lot 49, near the head of Conesus lake.
Hugh McKay came in 1796, and got out the logs for a
house. The following year he invited the Indians
from Squakie Hill to come and help him raise the
house. Jacob Dunham also came in 1795, and the
following year Jesse Collar located on lot 109. The
Indians were very friendly, and readily sold them
corn for bread and seed. The corn was fitted for the
table by pounding it in a hole burned into the top of
a stump, and then sifted through a sieve of bark
splints.
Jacob Collar was born in Sussex county, New Jer-
sey, Feb. 25th, 1770. In the spring of 1796, in com-
pany with his father, Jesse Collar, he settled in Con-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
515
esus, on lot 109. The same year Hugh Harrison of
Groveland was married to Phebe Collar, the first wed-
ding in Conesus. When Mr. Collar removed from
New Jersey, he loaded his effects into two large Jersey
wagons, one of which wg,s drawn by three horses, and
the other by an ox team. The journey was made in
twenty-eight days. A portion of the way they were
compelled to cut a path through what was known as
the beech woods, some days making not more than
half a dozen miles. When night came on, bark and
boughs would be collected and piled about a dry log
and the whole set on fire, affording an opportunity for
cooking their food and drying their clothing. On
reaching Conesus they set about erecting a log house.
The land was so thickly wooded that it was not found
necessary to draw the logs to erect the house ; enough
were felled on the site. Darling and Isaac Havens of
Sparta and the Culbertson brothers of Groveland came
and helped to raise the house. For some time after
the family settled in Conesus there was no road for
wagons. In going to Dansville on horseback, the way
was marked by “blazed ” trees to the foot of Bowers’
hill.
It is stated that when Mr. Henderson made his set-
tlement in the town he, inadvertently probably, in-
truded upon some land which the Indians had some
years before cleared and planted with apple trees.
This caused a good deal of ill feeling among the In-
dians, and in order to live in peace with them, Mr.
Henderson made it a custom, for years, of making
annual presents to the Indians of such articles as
would please their fancy.
About the year 1800 a singular man settled in the
town, on lot 19, on the west side of Hemlock lake.
His retiring disposition and isolated, lonely life won
for him the title of the “ Hermit.” His real name was516
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Meloy, and he gained his livelihood by hunting and
fishing. A story is told of his encounter with a bear
in Hemlock lake early one morning. The bear upset
the boat, and afterward tried to mount it. Meloy
would strike him with the oar, and the bear would
strike back with his paw. Finally, after a desperate
struggle, the bear was drowned.
James McNinch, another old settler, came to Cone-
sus in 1807, and settled on lot 111. During the sum-
mer and fall he built a log house, leaving it to be
completed at odd spells. In place of a door, which
Mr. McNinch had not had time to make, Mrs. Mc-
Ninch hung up a bed blanket. One evening Mr.
McNinch was absent, and his sister came to spend the
night. Yenison had been cooked in the fore part of
the evening, and about 9 o’clock the wolves, scenting
the meat, began to collect about the house. They
grew bolder by degrees until they threatened to come
into the house. The two women managed to get a
horse which had been hitched a short distance away,
and fastened him to the door-post. Whenever the
wolves attempted to get into the house the horse would
kick and fight them, and with this and the aid of
bright lights they were enabled to keep the hungry
wolves at bay until help came.
The first school in the town was opened in the win-
ter of 1810 in a small log house near the residence of
James D. Alger, with Mary Howe as teacher. It is
recollected that greased paper was used in the win-
dows, instead of glass.
Mrs. Lucy Patterson, whose father settled in the
present town of Lima in 1802, and removed to Conesus
in 1806, says the nearest grist-mill at this time was at
the present village of Hemlock Lake, while the near-
est store was Grurnsey’s, at Lima, where the people
generally did their trading. Mrs. Patterson alsoHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
517
says: “When we came into this place our nearest
place where meeting for worship was held was in a
frame school house on what was then called Buell
Hill, about one mile south on the road leading from
Livonia Center to the village of Hemlock Lake.”
Here service was held by the Presbyterians. About
1810 a number of Methodist families began to settle in
the town, and meetings for worship were frequently
held at private houses. Families of the Baptist per-
suasion also began to come in, who likewise met for
devotional exercises. A Baptist clergyman named
Ingraham, who lived in Conesus in 1808, preached oc-
casionally. He is said to have been the first clergy-
man who settled in the town, and the Rev. John Hud-
son, a Methodist, who settled here about the year
1815, the next. About the year 1816 the Methodist
Episcopal Society was organized in Conesus Center,
and Mr. Hudson became the pastor of the church. In
1818 a society of the Christian order was organized,
near Foot’s Corners, but it existed for only a few
years.
On the 16th and 17th of April, 1817, snow fell to
the depth of two feet by actual measurement, and on
the 10th of May in the following year snow fell to the
depth of nine inches. On the 19th of April, 1820,
Jotham and Thomas Clark crossed Conesus lake on
the ice. On the 13th of July, 1816 a severe frost de-
stroyed most of the corn and injured the potato crop.
On the 10th of September of the same year another
frost destroyed the remainder of the crops. Potatoes
that year were worth $1 a bushel, and corn $1.25.
Marrow back hill suffered greatly. Nathaniel Cole
said that many families actually came near starving.
For himself, he was obliged to go to the woods, cut
timber and burn log heaps so that he might get ashes
to sell, to supply his family with the necessaries of
life.5L8
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Bears and deer were so plenty as to be troublesome.
As late as 1816 farmers found it necessary to watch
their wheat crops in the early morning, to prevent the
deer from nipping off the growing blades, and bears
were so bold as to render it somewhat dangerous to
travel about the woods without a dog or gun. Wolves
were very plenty. James McNinch was burning a
coal pit, occupying a shanty at night. During the
afternoon he had killed a deer and carried the choicest
parts to his cabin. The wolves scented the blood and
at night gathered about the shanty. McNinch was
compelled to set fire to a pile of wood near the door
and use his gun to keep them from breaking in.
In common with other new settlements, Conesus
felt the scarcity of money in early days. Even in
matrimonial matters the local magistrates were called
upon to take trade in place of cash. A young broom-
maker traveled several miles on foot with his betrothed,
one winter afternoon, to have Davenport Alger marry
them. Calling the justice aside he offered him two
well finished splint brooms if he would perform the
ceremony. The offer was declined, and the couple
trudged off to find another justice. They met Esquire
Blake on horseback. The rueful story of the would-
be bridegroom carried the point; the magistrate
jumped off his horse, united the pair, shouldered his
brooms and resumed his journey.
In 1818 Andrew and Gardner Arnold established a
store at Conesus Center, and the following year Har-
vey May opened a store at what is now called Foot’s
Corners. Hosea Gilbert built the first woolen factory
in 1819.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
519
GENESEO.
Area, 26,937 acres; population in 1875, 3,118 ;
boundaries : north by Avon ; east by Livonia and
Conesus lake; south by Groveland; west by York
and Leicester, from which it is separated by the Gen-
esee river.
The town of Geneseo was formed in 1789, by the
Court of General Sessions of Ontario county. Its name
is of Indian origin. It lies centrally between the
eastern and western boundaries of the county, and
north of the center, measuring from south to north.
In extent of territory it is, with two exceptions, larger
than any other town in the county. Its surface, ter-
raced and furrowed by valleys, is generally rolling.
On the east it descends abruptly, in some places three
hundred feet, to Conesus lake, and on the west toward
the Genesee river the declivity is equally steep. The
Genesee flats extend the whole length of the town
from south to north, having an average width of half
a mile.
Though irregular in its western outline, the town is
nearly square, the four sides facing the cardinal points
of the compass. Considerable streams cross its sur-
face, running both eastwardly and westwardly. Con-
esus outlet, the largest, flows toward the river through
the extreme north-eastern corner, and then bending
westerly re-enters the town. After describing a half
circle it again flows northward beyond the boundary
of the town. Fall Brook, next in size, rises in the
southeastern part of the town, and running westerly
empties into the river near Cuylerville bridge. In the
northern part of the town Jay cox creek, nearly as
large as Fall Brook, and flowing in the same general
direction, also empties into the river. Several smaller520	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
streams drain other portions of the town into the lake
or river.
The soil of the town, of clay or clayey loam, is
strong and very productive. Wheat of excellent
quality is produced in large quantities, while live
stock of superior quality is raised by the farmers gen-
erally.
The Indians, during their occupancy of the Genesee
country, had several small villages near the river
within the present limits of the town, the most con-
siderable of these being Big Tree and Canaseraga. The
celebrated chieftain Red Jacket resided for a time in
the town on Ewing’s farm.
“ Big Tree,” a designation rather vaguely given to
that part of the town embracing the village and im-
mediately west of it, derived its name from a great
oak which stood on the bank of the river west of the
Wadsworth dairy farm. For years the spring and fall
freshets continued to wear away the earth beneath
this immense oak, and a few years ago this venerable
forest king fell into the river. Happily its trunk,
which measured many feet in diameter at the butt,
has been preserved, and may now be seen in the vil-
lage.
On Fall brook, near the highway leading to Mount
Morris, is a perpendicular cascade of nearly ninety
feet. In the spring and fall the floods dash over the
shelf in considerable volume, but for the greater part
of the year only a slender thread of water finds its way
down the rocky wall. Tradition has long been busy
with this romantic spot, and superstition has peopled
its groves and recesses with beings of another world.
It is said that an Indian girl, the favorite daughter of
a chieftain of a neighboring village, being urged to
marry whom she did not love, threw herself over the
fatal rocks. The natives say that often at twilight,TITSTORY OF LIVIXGSTOX COUNTY.	521
and always amid the bowlings of autumn tempests,
the plaintive tones of her voice could be heard.
It is popularly held that in Sullivan’s expedition a
band of Seneca Indians were surrounded and driven
over the falls by the advance guard of Clinton’s divi-
sion. But as no reference is made to such an occur-
rence in Sullivan’s minute report, the story is clearly
without foundation, even if it were not inconsistent,
and, indeed, improbable.
Another version refers the
occurrence to a period near-
ly a century anterior to the
latter date, connecting it
with the French invasion,
under De Nonville, in 1684,
of the Seneca villages in
the Genesee country. It is
likely that the tale has its
origin in the destruction of
a small band of De Non-
ville’s army, which the In-
dians, familiar as they were	BR00IC’ geneseo.
with the locality so close to their homes, were enabled
to entrap and destroy.
For many years after the town became settled several
large trees standing near the falls bore numerous
bullet marks, a fact that gave rise to a report that a
battle had been fought here. A more reasonable ex-
planation, however, is afforded in the fact that during
the winter of 1813-14 a regiment of Pennsylvania
troops was quartered on Judge Carroll’s farm, and
detatchments were in the habit of visiting the falls for
game and for rifle-practice.
On the 5th of April, 1791, a town meeting was held
at Canawaugus for the “ district of Geneseo, in the
county of Ontario.” John Ganson was chosen super-522	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
visor, and David Bullen town clerk. William Wads-
worth was elected an assessor; Jasper Marvin a,
constable ; Darling Havens a pound keeper; and
Lemuel B. Jennings a pathmaster. It was voted that
swine might run at large if sufficiently yoked. At
the succeeding annual town meeting Colonel Thomas
Lee was made supervisor, and it was voted to allow
four dollars for every wolf killed in the district. The
meeting adjourned to the first Tuesday in April follow-
ing to the house of Abner Mighells, in Miles’ Gore,
now the . town of Lima. - At the latter meeting the
bounty on wolves was raised to five dollars. In 1793
four tavern licenses and thirteen retailers’ licenses
were granted by the commissioners of excise, at the
rate of two pounds each. Thirty-five pounds were
realized from this source, and paid over to the poor-
masters.
The town meeting of 1797 was held at the house of
William Wadsworth. It was here voted that a town
house be built on the town square, “ on a lot south of
the new house of David Benton.”* The building
committee were William Wadsworth, Horatio Jones,
Alexander Ewing, John Barsley,f and John M. Miner,
and the sum of two hundred dollars was ordered col-
lected the current year for building the house. In
1805 a special town meeting voted ‘ ‘ that it is expedi-
ent to remove the town house to Meeting-House Hill,
nigh the burying ground, and to repair the same for
* It was ordered that the house be built 32 feet long, 22 wide, and with IS
feet posts.
f John Barsley owned a lot through which Centre street now runs.
When the street was laid out he was disinclined to allow his lot to be used
for the improvement. Finally, however, he consented to sell on condition
that the authorities would accept from him a receipt which should read in
payment for the property “ from the first to the second coming of Christ.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	523
a meeting-house, the expense of moving and repair’
ing the same to be done by voluntary subscriptions.”
At the town meeting of 1798 held at the house of
William and James Wadsworth, it was voted that
“we are well satisfied with ” the manner in which
the money had been expended and the town house
built.
The town assessment roll of real and personal estate
for the year 1805 showed an aggregate of $142,503.
After the town house was removed to the top of the
hill near the burying ground, the Presbyterian con-
gregation held services in it for a number of years.
They had no pastor, but a suitable person was selected
to read a sermon, and some one of the good deacons
conducted the devotional exercises.
In these early days the town meetings and elections
were conducted with much warmth, but externals in
all respects were carefully regarded. Private resi-
dences, the town house, meeting house, or the court
house, were the places selected for the public busi-
ness. The town officers were chosen from the ablest
and most reputable citizens. Major General William
Wadsworth held the office of Supervisor for twenty-
one years. Colonel Lawrence, who led the regiment
which volunteered in this locality in the war of 1812,
Judge Finley, Major Spencer, John Young, Charles
Colt and Allen Ayrault, severally held the same office.
The lesser places were equally well filled. Phlo C.
Fuller was town clerk in 1823. Sheriff Carnahan held
the same office, and Ogden M. Willey, an accom-
plished register and scribe, held it for fifteen success-
ive years. In 1816 James Wadsworth was elected a
•commissioner of common schools, and two years later
was made town inspector of schools.
All the business of the town was brought before
these annual spring meetings, and transacted in the524 nr story of livingston county.
spirit of a pure democracy. The common interest
was fully recognized. Moneys for general objects
were voted ; wolf and panther bounties were author-
ized ; dogs, “over one in each family” were taxed ;
steelyards and measures purchased ; and overseers of
highways were instructed to destroy “Canada burs,”
burdocks, and noxious weeds. Indeed, these stated
gatherings were incipient agricultural societies, at
which the success and failure of various modes of
farming, and the general experience of the previous
year was discussed with practical reference to the im-
mediate future.
The town expenses, in early times, were very mode-
rate. In 1798 the sum of twenty dollars was deemed
COURT-HOUSE, JAIL AND CLERK’S OFFICE, GENESEO—
TAKEN SOME YEARS AGO.
sufficient to defray the expenses of the town for the
current year. Four years before, when wolf bounties
stood at five dollars the head, fifty pounds was con-
sidered a suitable appropriation for all town purposes.
The town’s accounts were then yet kept in pounds,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	525
shillings and pence. Indeed Mr. Wadsworth so kept
his own accounts down to the year 1838.
Idle persons, and those who had no visible means of
support, met with little favor from the enterprising
population of the town in early days. In the winter
of 1806 a native of Connecticut, “ living a pauper on
the town of Geneseo,” was called before two justices
of the peace to give an account of himself. Their
court was held at Mrs. Catherine Faulkner’s tavern,
which stood a few rods south of the Presbyterian
church on Main street.* These magistrates learned
from the pauper that “he had no property to support
him except perhaps fifteen bushels of rye,” and he
was forthwith notified by the justices to remove with
his family from the town to the place of his last legal
settlement, which was New Haven, within nine days’
time. He chose, however, to disobey their mandate,
for it appears from the record that he “absconded
and left his said wife in a state of sickness upon the
town unable to be removed, and also his son, scarce
three years old.” One of the justices, a month later,
finding that the wife’s health was “now in such a sit-
uation that her neighbors say she may be removed
without danger,” notified her accordingly, and she
too, left the town.
Connecticut furnished a majority of the early set-
tlers of the town. Lemuel B. Jennings was the pio-
neer. As early as 1788 he made a beginning in the
woods on his location, now the farm of ft. A. Knee-
land, Esq., two miles south of the village. Mr. Jen-
nings came from Connecticut. He was a man of more
than usual force of character, though somewhat eccen-
tric in his habits. Not unfrequently he came to town
* Mrs. Catherine Faulkner was the mother of Judge James Faulkner of
Dansville.526	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
without his hat; and though ordinarily quite grave
he now and then indulged in a jest. While the Liv-
ingston County Bank building was being erected he
was one day standing against the wall, already breast
high. Looking from one workman to another he
said, “ I’m glad we are to have a bank. For many
years poor men have not been able to get money
enough to pay their debts, but now we shall have just
what we want of it. Hurry it up, boys.” Many now
living will recollect Mr. Jennings’ stalwart form, and
his family of eight giant-like sons. Nor will they
have forgotten his great, lonely, weather-beaten frame
house—one of the first of the change from the era of
log huts—perched upon its rough stone foundation.
This building, broadside to the road, flanked by tall
Lombardy poplars, with the ashery and distillery in
the background, together formed a marked feature in
the neighboring landscape.
Captain Elisha Noble was one of the earliest settlers,
coming here from Connecticut. He was an active and
enterprizing citizen. His brother, Russell Noble, also
came at an early day, and was widely known in the
settlements as the left-handed fiddler. A natural im-
pulse seemed to direct him to the frolics and gather-
ings of the early days, where he, with his fiddle
snugly stowed away in its green bag under his arm,
was always a welcome addition.
“Russell Noble ! at the bare mention of his name
there are surviving pioneers who will be reminded of
their younger days, and their enjoyments ; and if
there is ‘ music in their souls ’ —as there was wont to
be with most of them,—they will almost fancy they
hear the notes of his old violin! A fiddler was no
obscure person in those early days; and Noble had
no competition—for he was the pioneer fiddler;—heHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
527
and his old violin mark the advent of music on the
Holland Purchase. Compared with his,
“---Italian trills were tame.”
In these primitive times, in sleigh or ox sled ride, at
recreations that followed log-house raisings, logging
bees, road cuttings, at Christmas and New Year’s frol-
ics ; far and wide, in the early sparse settlements,
Noble and his fiddle formed an accustomed and nec-
essary part. It was to be hoped that his reputation
as a fiddler would have remained unquestioned, but
recently a facetious gatherer-up of reminiscences has
ventured to slur it, by intimating that he used to have
no more ‘ regard for time than he had for eternity.’ ”
Two miles northwest of Geneseo was the settlement
still called the Seven Nations. When the County was
erected it consisted of ten or fifteen families, who
came hither from Lewiston and Buffalo, when those
places were burnt, during the last war with Great
Britain. The name appears to have been derived
from the miscellaneous character of the inhabitants.
Here William W. Wadsworth established an indus-
trial school, which was continued, however, only a
few years. He projected a large building, but com-
pleted only a portion of it.
A mile north of the village of Geneseo, a half cen-
tury ago, was a road running west to the river from
the Avon road, near Mr. Morrison’s residence. Along
this road, on either side, were a dozen or more log
houses. This settlement was known as Slieborough.
The roads through this district in spring and fall were
often almost impassable, the soil being a heavy clay,
which, after the rainy season had begun, became deep,
stiff and wax-like mud.
..On the 10th of June, 1790, came James and William
Wadsworth, from Durham, Connecticut. Their loca-
tion here was an event of consequence, and their influ-528
HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTT.
ence was at once and widely felt. Possessing sagacity
as well as enterprise, they foresaw the future import-
ance of the Genesee country. Lands were purchased
by them at merely nominal prices, and they soon set
about inviting emigration and began to develop the
latent excellence of this great agricultural region.
Temple Hill was early selected by James Wads-
worth for an academy site, and in 1827 the present
academy buildings were completed. A fine natu-
ral grove of oak and maple is in front of these edifices,
while twenty rods to the east is the village cemetery,
now neatly laid out in lots and walks, and carefully
kept in order. This cemetery is rendered interesting
as being the last resting-place of Major General Wil-
liam Wadsworth, of the war of 1812, General James
S. Wadsworth, Governor John Young, Major Wil-
liam H. Spencer, Calvin H. Bryan, and other public
men. These grounds were set apart as a bnrial place
very soon after the town was first settled.
Across the road, to the north, and distant but a few
rods, is a fine natural fountain called Mammoth spring
from the fact that several bones and teeth of a masto-
don were exhumed here in 1825. James S. Wads-
worth carried the water in log pipes to Main street,*
where a reservoir was constructed. Iron pipes were
afterward substituted, and the village has now a per-
fect system of water works, supplied by this spring.
Near the spring is said to have been fought one of the
noted Indian battles between the Senecas and Eriee
for the mastery of the country along the Genesee
river.
In the War of 1812, while the battle of Lundy’s
* This important work was performed by Mr. Wadsworth at his own ex*
pense, the cost being paid from moneys he had won in the election of Mr.
Polk to the Presidency over Henry Glay in 1844HISTOBY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	529
Lane was in progress, much anxiety was felt by the
citizens, who, though no telegraphs or railroads ex-
isted, had been apprised that a battle was about to be
fought. A number of men from the town were en-
gaged, it was thought. The firing was distinctly
heard, it is said, by placing the ear to the ground.
The town house, a wooden structure, as we have
seen, of two stories, stood just south of the present
academy buildings. The common school house stood
on the southwest corner of the burying ground.
In 1813 there were not more than thirty houses in
the village. Main street, North and South streets
were located about where they now are. Two consid-
erable gullies crossed Main street; the one nearly op-
posite Concert Hall, the other just south of the
machine shop. The road leading down the hill near
the Court House, instead of running at right angles
with Main street, bore to the north-west in the direc-
tion of Shackleton’s ferry, which crossed the river
where the bridge now stands.
The bridges on Main street across the gullies were
merely of a temporary character, and neither conve-
nient nor safe. Mr. Jacob Hall recollects an anecdote
illustrative of the frail character of the south bridge.
He had bought an ill-broken cow of a Groveland cus-
tomer, and while milking her one evening she man-
aged to get her head through a length of picket fence
ten feet long, and lifting it from its fastenings she
made her way into the street and down toward the
bridge. Her bellowing called out the villagers, who
were greatly amused by the odd spectacle. The fence
was pretty well balanced on her neck, but so heavy
that every few steps the cow would tip forward, tail
in air, bellow, come down upon her knees, and then
righting herself, get up and go on again. Reaching
the bridge she was unable to clear the railing, and the530	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
fence struck the railing and corner post. The post
broke off, and down into the gully went railing, post,
cow, fence and all. Soon emerging, however, the cow
came up without the fence, and took to the hill up
South street, where she was soon overtaken. Mr.
Hall drove her down what is now Temple Hill street,
then simply a bridle path, and on his way down
North street sold her to Ben. Fox, a colored man,
from whom the street took its sobriquet of “Nigger
street.”
When Colonel, afterward General, Winfield Scott
marched his regiment through the village in 1813, they
came down South street and through Main street to a
lane running east, up which they marched to the lot
now occupied by Mrs. C. H. Bryan’s residence, where
they encamped. There was then no Center or Second
streets.
Colonel Lawrence resided in the house recently oc-
cupied by the Hon. Scott Lord. Standing just above
it was a log house in which Colonel Lawrence’s sister
lived, and just below was his blacksmith shop. The
residence of the Wadsworth brothers stood where the
family mansion now stands. In the northeast corner
of the house was their business office. The square or
common was situated where the park now is, and con-
tained about fifteen acres of land. On the south
side of this stood Wadsworth and Spencer’s old store
house, a log building then used as a temporary ware-
room. Near where the Presbyterian church now
stands was then a great frame house, occupied as a
dwelling and office by Samuel Miles Hopkins. This
building, many years ago, was removed to the rear of
Olmsted & Bishop’s store on Main street, and used as
a livery stable. Near the site of Concert Hall, and
close by the gully, stood a frame school house.
On the American Hotel site stood Pierce’s tavern, a. HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	531
low, one story building with broad side to the street.
It had been painted yellow, but sadly needed another
coat. The tavern consisted of a small bar-room, sit-
ting-room and kitchen, with a small stoop on the
north end. Captain Pierce sold the stand to Orlando
Hastings, who built the attic for the use of Comet
Lodge and Billings Chapter of Free and Accepted
Masons, and it was occupied by them until the occur-
rence of the Morgan affair. Major Npwlen soon be-
came proprietor and Comfort Hamilton succeeded
Captain Pierce as landlord, and kept the house for a
number of years, to the general acceptance of the
travelling public.
Near the site of the Genesee Yalley National Bank
stood Captain Asa Nowlan’s blacksmith shop, and
just north of it was his dwelling-house. These build-
ings occupied a front of twelve rods, and the lot ex-
tended back several rods. For this land Captain
Nowlan paid thirty- seven dollars and a half. Captain
John Pierce’s store, a small yellow structure, occupied
the site of Cone’s Banking Office. Beyond this was a
frame building kept as a tavern by Amos Adams.*
On North street was a small frame house owned by
Ben. Fox, the negro.
Two years before, (in 1811) the town of Geneseo
contained one meeting-house, six school houses, and
two infantry companies.
A local historian, writing of the religious history of
Geneseo, says: “Those who came in at this timef
were many of them from Pennsylvania, following the
road which I have before referred to as opened up by
Capt. Williamson, mostly Presbyterian families, and
descendants of the Scotch-Irish; bringing with them
* This building was afterward removed to North street, where it is still
used as a dwelling house.
tiwi.532
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
those strong Calvanistic sentiments in which they had
been educated, and warmly attached to the Presbyte-
rian form of government. Hence it was very natural
that the first religious society formed within the town
should be Presbyterian.”
Such a church was organized in 1795, by the Rev.
Samuel Thatcher, a missionary of the General Assem-
bly. The first elders were Daniel Kelly, James
Haynes, and , John Ewart. For a number of years
meetings were held at private houses, sometimes at
Mr. Ewart’s, sometimes at a house near Bosley’s
Mill, or at Smith’s, on what is now known as the
Field’s farm, on the lower Dansville road. When
the town house was built, services were held in that,
and after the building was moved to Temple Hill, it
was repaired and passed under control of the society.
The writer previously quoted* says : “Near it, just
on the edge of the burying ground, was a school-
house, in which Rev. Mr. Butrick held the first Sun-
day School in the town, holding it with a little incon-
gruity on Saturday afternoon, the exercises being
mostly the recitation of the catechism. This school-
house was afterwards moved on to the Weeks’ farm,
and now forms part of the house occupied by Le-
ander Armstrong.”
Other settlers coming in who were Congregational-
ists, the little church was divided and a Congregational
society was organized May 5th, 1810. It remained a
Congregational church until 1884, when it changed to
a Presbyterian church, and is now known as the
Second Presbyterian Church of Geneseo. The edifice
on Main street was erected for this society in 1817.
The Presbyterian church—the first one—after the
church division, held their meetings in the eastern part
* Rev. Geo. P. Folsom.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
533
of the town, at a school-house in winter and in a large
barn in the summer, until the erection of their church
building in 1826. Its title still remains, First Presby-
terian Church of Geneseo, although its edifice is in the
village of Lakeville.
“ The Geneseo Gospel Society, the society of the
Second Presbyterian church, was organized and legal-
ly incorporated Sept. 11th, 1815, by the election of
Joseph W. Lawrence, Samuel Finley, Isaac Smith,
Wm. H. Spencer, Samuel Loomis and Timothy P.
Kneeland, as trustees.” One of their first acts was
the raising of forty dollars to repair the town house.
In 1816 Mr. Wadsworth deeded to the Geneseo Gos-
pel Society the 100 acres of land they now own, two
miles south-east of the village. This was in accord-
ance with a promise made by several of the large
land-owners, of cessions of land to the first regularly
incorporated religious societies which should be or-
ganized in the several towns. Its present name is
“ The First Presbyterian Church of the village of Gen-
eseo.”
The first pastor of the Second Presbyterian church
was the Rev. Abraham Foreman, who was installed
July 12, 1817, and dismissed Nov. 17, 1819. The
next pastor was the Rev. Norris Bull, D. D., who was
installed June 19, 1822, and dismissed July 3, 1832.
“'Very early Geneseo was a preaching station of
the Genesee Conference, formed in 1810. In 1807,
Father Hudson came here to reside, and thus speaks
of the place and his labors:	1 The village consisted of
a few scattered dwellings. Our little society then
assembled in a small school-house.’ ”
St. Michael’s Episcopal church was organized at
the house of Mr. Ebenezer Belden, May 17th, 1823.
The wardens first chosen were Colonel William
Fitzhugh and David Warner. The vestrymen were534
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Samuel W. Spencer, C. H. Bryan, Eli Hill, David A.
Miller, Chauncey Morse and Marius Willet.
PHILO C. FULLER.
A young New England lawyer, destined to exert
a wide influence in politics as well as upon the
business interests of Livingston county, fixed his
home in Greneseo soon after the war of 1812. It was
Mr. Philo C. Fuller, who had been invited hither by
James Wadsworth.
An incident which took place on his arrival at his
new residence exemplified Mr. Fuller’s excellent dis-
position. The Avon mail-wagon, on the evening of
April 19,1815, (says an early settler,) set down a large,
gentlemanly person of some nine and twenty years
at Peirce’s stage house. There were no hotel registers
in those days, or the little log and frame hostelry at
“Big Tree” kept none. Colonel Peirce met his guest
at the door, received his name, made ready his supper
and gave him a room. The prompt, half-military way
in which the guest answered his landlord’s customary
questions, encouraged an onlooker—some weather-
beaten soldier, who had come several miles on foot
through the mud, to ask aid in making up his claim
for military services—and he ventured to consult the
new comer upon his business. The veteran was needy,
and Mr. Fuller was chilled, hungry and wearied out;
but the lawyer at once took the proffered bundle of
papers, and, with the aid of the soldier’s verbal state-
ments, soon set his claims in order. The poor fellow
would have gladly emptied his pocket in payment for
such unexpected assistance, but Mr. Fuller would ac-
cept nothing beyond the very audible thanks of his
grateful client. The stranger’s manner, as well as the
service itself, attracted the attention of a host of towns,
people collected near. “ And I made up my mind,”HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
535
says the relator, “that the Squire (Mr. Wadsworth)
had made no mistake this time in his choice of a con-
fidential clerk.” Years afterwards in referring to his
first impressions, Mr. Fuller said, “I well remember
my surprise at the inferior appearance of the village
and also at the excellency of the supper given me by
Mr. Peirce. It was neat, palatable, and very speedy
and tastefully gotten up.”
Mr. Fuller was a native of New Marlboro, Berkshire
county, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 13th
of August, 1787. He traced his family to Dr. Samuel
Fuller, who came over in the May Flower, and who
practiced as a physician in the colony of Plymouth.
Mr. Fuller often referred to the exemplary lives of his
immediate relatives, especially those in Connecticut,
whose daily walk and conversation conformed to the
rigid Puritan model. His father, Samuel Fuller, died
in May, 1792, after which the youth lived with his
grand-parents and his treatment by them was of the
kindest and tenderest character. He was fond of
books and loved penmanship, an art in which he
greatly excelled through life. He was even at that
early age a good speller. In the winter of 1803-4 he
commenced a course of private instruction under
“Parson Catlin, the Presbyterian clergyman, who
was critical in English and superb in latin.” Spending
afterwards a couple of years in teaching a district
school, he concluded to go to Virginia. Accordingly,
early in the fall of 1800, he left New York on a schooner
bound for Richmond. He reached the latter city an
entire stranger, and without a line of introduction
to anybody. Accidentally meeting a merchant who had
recently given up business, he engaged to close the
affairs of the concern, a task he so successfully accom-
plished that the merchant urged him to become his
partner in the lumber trade. But this was not to his1)36	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
taste, and he soon found employment as a teacher in
the family of Mr. Burke, then a State Senator from
King and Queen county. Here he had the use of a
fine library and other advantages afforded by the
liberal means of his patron. The following autumn
found him at his mother’s who had removed to Wol-
cott, near Sodus Bay, New York. In January, 1809,
he returned to Massachusetts to begin the study of
law. Making his way himself, he found it necessary
to take a district school in Florida, Orange County,
New York. Soon after the close of the term Mr. Ful-
ler entered Judge Gilbert’s law school, at Hebran,
Connecticut. In February, 1813, he was admitted to
the bar after a severe examination, and with his
diploma in his pocket Mr. Fuller visited his friend
Hr. Seward, who advised him to enter the office of an
eminent lawyer in Newburgh to gain experience in
practice. At the latter village he happened to take
board at the same house with a recruiting officer, Cap-
tain Machin. The war with England was the topic
then uppermost, and was discussed with all its bear-
ings at the table of his landlady. Mr. Fuller’s beau-
tiful penmanship, and his skill in preparing papers
had induced Machin to employ him from time to time
in making up returns and putting in form various
official reports. After a few days Machin offered to
procure him a lieutenant’s commission if he would
enter the service. Military life had no great attrac-
tion for Mr. Fuller, but after short reflection he en-
listed and his. squad started for the cantonment at
Greenbush, opposite Albany. Captain Earned, the
commanding officer of the post, had already been
made aware of Mr. Fuller’s qualifications for office
duties, and on reaching the station he was informed
that the military store-keeper at Albany desired his
services as a clerk, and in half an hour’s time he wasHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
537
installed in that capacity in Gray street, at a good
salary. Here he remained until the close of the war,
a period of eighteen months, devoting himself with
great zeal to the varied and responsible duties of his
new position.
The close of the war found Mr. Fuller preparing to
remove to Ohio, for the practice of his profession.
About this time James Wadsworth was returning
from Hew York. Stopping at Albany he met a friend
whom he informed that he wanted a confidential
clerk. This friend advised him to tender the place to
Mr. Fuller. This after a short conversation with the
young lawyer he did, and offered him at the same
time what was then a large salary. The flattering pro-
posal was however declined, but was renewed with
the proviso that if after a few weeks spent at Geneseo
the position should not be found agreeable to him, Mr.
Fuller would be sent to Ohio at Mr. Wadsworth’s ex-
pense, and this was agreed to. Leaving Albany in
the Western stage, then a long covered wagon which
was entered from the front, and much the worse for
the great wear and rough usage incident to the war
then just closed, he reached the Genesee river at Avon
after a passage of five days and four nights’ continu-
ous riding. A few hours more brought him to his
future home. The morning after his arrival he entered
Mr. Wadsworth’s office, which then occupied the
north-east corner of the dwelling-house. A common
picket fence separated the yard from the road, then
little traveled. The grounds about the mansion were
not yet laid out, and there was little in the appear-
ance of the surroundings to indicate the residence of
a man of wealth. The nature of Mr. Fuller’s duties
were briefly explained to him, and before the close of
the first day he had settled down to their discharge.
His legal acquirements, coupled with superior busi-038	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ness tact, and a knowledge of men, were readily
brought to bear in the extensive affairs of his new em-
ployer. In after years Mr. Wadsworth remarked that
when Mr. Fuller had been in the office an hour he felt
that the flattering opinion he had formed of the new
clerk in Albany was more than justified. In April,
1817, Mr. Fuller married Mary Nowlen, daughter of
Captain Nowlen of Geneseo, who had died a few
months before. Mrs. Fuller was more than an ordin-
ary woman. Her house was a social centre, and nota-
ble for its refined and cordial hospitality. During the
long and by no means unfrequent absences of her
husband at Albany and Washington on public busi-
ness, she remained in Geneseo in charge of the house-
hold, devoting a Christian mother’s care to the educa-
tion of her sons. She had experienced something of
the privations of pioneer life, and had thus gained
that added virtue of self-reliance which shines forth
so beautifully in the characters of the matrons of those
early times. The first district school, conducted in a
log house whose floor and roof were of split plank,
opened in the town of York, had been taught by her
while the country was yet so new that the school-
house was reached by the Indian trail only, and the
river was crossed by fording.*
Mr. Fuller continued in the employment of the
Wadsworths until the fall of 1828, when he was
elected to the Assembly. A re-election followed, and
from that time down to the period of his final retire-
ment, he was almost continuously in public life. In
the spring of 1830 Judge Hayden, who had been re-
turned to the Senate from the old eighth district, hav-
ing died in February while in office, Mr. Fuller was
* Mrs. Fuller died at Conesus, Nov 28, 1850. To her husband her loss
was irreparable.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	539
chosen to fill the vacancy thus created, and served
during the sessions of 1831 and 1832. In the fall of
the latter year he was elected to Congress, where he
continued until near the close of a second term. His
letters to trusted friends while in Washington, while
exhibiting more than ordinary power of expression,
.are replete with pungent criticism of public men and
measures, and exhibit a thorough acquaintance with
the spirit and tendencies of southern leaders in Con-
gress. The arrogance and assumption of the slave-
holding class were most distateful to him. Resigning
in September, 1836, he removed with his family to
Adrian, Michigan, to assume the management of a
bank in that place. In 1840 he was elected to the
lower house of the legislature of Michigan, and was
chosen speaker of that body. A year later Francis
Granger, then Postmaster-General, tendered Mr.
Fuller the position of Assistant in his department.
At the solicitations of political Mends he accepted.
Unable however to concur in the policy of President
Tyler, he resigned at the end of twelve months.
While in Washington he was nominated by the Whigs
of Michigan as their candidate for Governor, and al-
though his party was in the minority he made a
strong though unsuccessful canvass. In the following
year he returned to this county, to reside on his large
farm in Conesus, where he remained until the fall of
1850 when, on the elevation of Washington Hunt to
the gubernatorial chair, he was appointed to succeed
him as comptroller of the State. It is seldom that a
new incumbent of that responsible and perplexing
office so readily mastered its intricacies as did Mr.
Fuller, or so wisely administer our complex finances.
His experience in accounts suggested improvements
in the mode of arranging and keeping the records of
payments and rules for auditing claims, and the more540	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
important ones have been permanently adopted and.
continue to do their part in protecting the public
treasury from particular forms of imposition. At the
close of the term he returned to his estate in Conesus,*
where, dividing his time between farm and books, and
in the society of his family and attached friends he
spent the remainder of a useful life, which terminated
on the 16th of August, 1855. In person, Mr. Fuller
was but an inch short of six feet, of good presence
and dignified bearing. In his latter years he be-
came quite stout. His complexion was fair, and his
fine blue eyes, which fairly set out of his head, illu-
minated the whole face. His neighbors and constitu-
ents held him in high estimation, and it is certain he
never did any act to forfeit the confidence of those
who trusted him. The. years sppnt by him among
public men gave him ease of bearing in society. Mr.
Fuller made little pretension as a speaker, though lie
expressed himself with fluency on any question. His*
judgment of men was excellent. His loyalty to friends,
and to any cause he espoused, was a marked quality
of his character. In the many heated political con-
tests in which he took part through a long career, he
was always a wise and trusted leader, and his mind
was so well poised that his judgment was little influ-
enced by clamor or prejudice.
JAMES WADSWORTH.
Among the early settlers there were none who ex-
erted a more marked influence in shaping the future
of the Genesee valley than the Wadsworth brothers,
and of these, James, the elder, stands the most prom-
inent, as the friend and patron of agricultural pur-
suits, and the educational advancement of the people.
James Wadsworth was born in Durham, Connecticut,
April 20th, 1768. Of his father we have but little?HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
541
account, save that he was possessed of a fortune that
was considered quite large in those days. When
twenty years of age he was graduated by Yale Col-
lege, and his father having in the meantime died, the
estate was settled by an uncle, as detailed in a pre-
vious chapter, and himself and brother set out for the
wilderness of Western New York.
The personal address and business tact of these
men, especially of James, were widely felt at this
time, when large land-owners were seeking to divert
emigration to their broad domain, and no little credit
is due them for the rapid progress of the settlements.
In 1796 James Wadsworth was requested to undertake
a mission to England, for the purpose of inducing;
capitalists to become interested in the lands of West-
ern New York. There he was introduced to people
in high circles, and his address and personal influence
won for him connections that ultimately proved of
great advantage. His mission was eminently success-
ful, although the benefits derived from it were indi-
rect. The settlements grew with astonishing rapidity,
the possessions of the Wadsworths, under their wise
and liberal management, increased steadily, and in a
few years they were recognized as among the wealthi-
est men of the State. The death of General William
Wadsworth March 18th, 1833, without family, left
James the sole proprietor of this large domain, and
this “ was probably the only instance since the break-
ing out of the Revolutionary contest, of the invest-
ment of a fortune accumulated by the industry of a
whole life, in agricultural property. In most, if not
all, of the other cases in which fortune has been de-
rived from the purchase and sale of land, it has been
changed in its investment from the tillable soil to city
lots or moneyed securities.” *	*	* “The estate
of the Wadsworths, reserved in compliance with the642
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
principle originally adopted, that their capital should
not be withdrawn from the region in which it was ac-
cumulated, was partly held in their own hands, partly
leased, and partly cultivated upon shares. The Home
farm, cultivated under their own immediate direction,
comprises upwards of two thousand acres, of which
more than half is a rich alluvial ‘flat’ of the Genesee
river.”
In the year 1804 Mr. Wadsworth married Naomi
Wolcott, of East Windsor, Connecticut. Mrs. Wads-
worth was a woman of cultivated taste, rare judgment
and a disposition congenial to that of her husband,
and those who enjoyed her acquaintance speak of her
in the highest terms.
As men view these things, the life of James Wads-
worth was an uneventful one. He steadily and per-
sistently declined public office, yet he was continually
engaged in measures for the public good. He sought
a quiet, unobtrusive life, and was averse to all ostenta-
tious display, yet his acts of charity and liberal efforts
in behalf of those around him were continuous and
won for him the profound respect of his fellow-men.
A special cause, which found in him a life-long and
generous supporter, was the education of the people,
and if not the father of the common school system of
the State, much of its efficiency and usefulness is due
to his untiring efforts in its behalf. This was the great
object of his life, and he devoted his time, his ener-
gies, and his rare intellectual powers to measures
which should place within the reach of the masses a
sound and liberal education. To him credit is due
for the existence of the present district school libraries.
This measure he urged upon the attention of the legis-
lature in 1886, and yielding to his suggestions, a law
was enacted authorizing the inhabitants of each school
district to appropriate a sum not exceeding $20 for theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
543
first or $10 for each succeeding year, to purchase
school libraries. Two years later, when the United
States Deposit Fund was received by the State, he
urged that a certain portion of the income from this
fund should annually be used for library purposes,
and in 1838 he employed a clergyman at his own ex-
pense to present his views to the legislative committee,
and to collate facts bearing on the question for its in-
formation. These efforts proved successful, and at
the session of that year an annual appropriation of
$55,000 was made for this object, which still continues
in force.
Mr. Wadsworth did not stop here, however, but de-
voted himself to the task of securing the publication
of suitable works for these libraries, and in many cases
bore no inconsiderable share of the expense, and also
assuming the payment of the sums required from the
districts in his own locality, under the law of 1835,
which sums were never repaid to him. He was also
deeply interested in the subject of agricultural chem-
istry, then a comparatively unknown branch of
science, and spent large sums in procuring the publi-
cation of elementary works and tracts on this subject,
for free distribution among the people.
His interest in providing reading for the people
was also manifested in another way. He was one of
the first, if not the very first, to urge upon Mr. Astor
the establishment of the magnificent library in Hew
York which now bears his name, and it may be readily
believed that the life-long friendship which existed
between these men gave Mr. Wadsworth considerable
influence over Mr. Astor, which led him to the estab-
lishment of that lasting monument to his liberality
and public spirit.
The crowning act of Mr. Wadsworth’s life was the
establishment at Geneseo of the Athenaeum (now called544
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Wadsworth) Library, with a permanent endowment
for its support and improvement. This library, which
now comprises over eight thousand volumes, placed
in a large and handsome brick building, is free to all
inhabitants of the county, and the benefits it has
already conferred and will confer in time to come are
scarcely to be estimated.
In 1843 Mr. Wadsworth’s health began to decline,
and he became sensible that his end was near. He
preserved his usual cheerfulness however, and faced
death with equanimity and fortitude. Yielding to
the importunities of his family and friends he tried a
change of climate, although himself aware that all
efforts to arrest the progress of his disorder would
prove fruitless. Returning in a short time to Geneseo,
he died June 7th, 1844, aged 77 years. This event
was the cause of unfeigned sorrow in Geneseo, and
among all who had known him, but it was said of him
that “he died as he had lived, calm, dignified and
collected, with an unshaken reliance on the justice
and goodness of his Heavenly Father.”
In all his intercourse with his fellow-men Mr.
Wadsworth was kind and courteous. “To an habit-
ual dignity never lost sight of, Mr. Wadsworth added
a courtesy of manner that rendered his society inter-
esting in the highest degree. His coversational pow-
ers were uncommonly great. He never trifled, he was
never dull. A temper naturally quick, he had sub-
jected to absolute control,—and his life has been a
continual testimonial of inflexible perseverance.” As
compared with his brother William he was the most
intellectual man. William was possessed of indom-
itable will and perseverance,—a practical, go-ahead,
business man. The two together were symmetrical in
character,—“James to counsel and plan, William to
execute ; James inside, William outside.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
545
GENERAL JAMES S. WADSWORTH.
James Samuel Wadsworth, the eldest son of James
Wadsworth, was born in Geneseo, October 31, 1809.
His boyhood was spent in his native village, in fitting
himself for the college course which his father de-
signed he should pursue, and his education was com-
pleted at Harvard University and Yale College.* On
the 11th of May, 1834, he married Mary Craig Whar-
ton, daughter of John Wharton of Philadelphia.
After the death of his father in 1844 the care of the
vast family estates devolved upon him, and occupied
most of his time. Resembling his father in many
resnects, he proved a careful business manager, a kind,
forbearing landlord, and a man of prudence and fore-
thought. The patrimonial estate comprised extensive
farms in the valley of the Genesee, in several adjoin-
ing counties of Western New York, and in a number
of the Western States, besides city property in Buffalo,
New York and other places. The landed property
was occupied principally by tenants, and the rents
rarely exceeded four or five per cent, of the valuation
of the lands. Tenants were required to pay all taxes,
a plan which gave them an interest in all public
affairs, and placed them on the side of the landlord.
As a proof of Mr. Wadsworth’s fairness in dealing
with his tenantry, the fact is cited that there has never
been the slightest appearance of organized opposition
or other difficulty on their part, and as a class they
could not be better disposed. They were among the
best of farmers, and the opportunities given them were
so favorable, that many who are now in comfortable
* He subsequently studied law with Daniel Webster, and afterward in the
office of McKeon & Deniston, at Albany, and in 1833 was admitted to the
bar. He never engaged in practice, however, but his legal training was of
great advantage to him in after life.646
HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
if not wealthy circumstances, laid the foundations
of their accumulations as “Wadsworth tenants.”
In years of bad crops Mr. Wadsworth was easy and
liberal in his terms. For some years the weevil proved
very destructive to the wheat crop, and some were
unable to pay him the full rent. He refused to allow
them to fall into arrears, but permitted them to pay
what they could, and cancelled the indebtedness on
these terms. His business affairs were conducted with
system, regularity and promptness, and although a
bold operator, he was prudent and far-seeing. He
was conspicuously engaged in railroad, banking and
other enterprises, and was regarded as a wise and
practical business man. In the winter of 1861 he was
a member of the Peace Congress or Convention, this
being the only office, with the exception of Regent of
the University, and Presidential Elector, held by him
until the breaking out of the war. Like his father he
was averse to all show and ostentation, and repeatedly
declined public offices when tendered him by an ad-
miring public, twice refusing the nomination for Gov-
ernor of his State. As a member of the Peace Con-
gress he was earnest in his efforts to close the widening
breach between the two sections, but stood firmly op-
posed to all compromise with the slave power.
On the actual outbreak of the war, Mr. Wadsworth
was foremost among those who tendered their services
to the government, and he gave the national cause a
hearty, earnest and patriotic support. When, early
in April, 1861, Washington was surrounded with
enemies, and communication with the East was cut
off by hostile movements in Maryland, and the de-
struction of railroad bridges between Philadelphia
and Baltimore, he chartered a vessel at New York,
loaded it with supplies at his own expense, and per-
sonally conducted it to Annapolis for the benefit ofHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
547
the Union troops stationed there. This thoughtful
and opportune act was characteristic of this earnest
and generous patriot.
Afterward he was in Washington, where he was
often in consultation with Gen. Scott, and the govern-
ment, as to proposed measures for the protection of
the Capitol, and for active operations in the field, and
his wise counsels were invaluable in this perilous hour.
In May the Governor of New York commissioned
him as Major-General of the volunteer force called
for from this State. The United States government,
however, did not ratify appointments of general offi-
cers made by governors of states, and in June he took
the place of volunteer aid on the staff of Gen. Mc-
Dowell. He was in the battle of Bull Run, in which
he bore a conspicuous part. He had a horse shot un-
der him, and in the disastrous retreat he seized the
colors of one of the regiments and rallied the men to the
support of “the glorious old flag.” He was particularly
commended in the official report of Gen. McDowell
for the humanity and bravery displayed on this field.
The report says: “Major Wadsworth stayed at Fair-
fax Court House till late in the morning (after retreat
of Union army) to see that the stragglers, and weary
and worn-out soldiers, were not left behind,” and
again, “ the latter [Gen. W.], who does me the honor
to be on my personal staff, had a horse shot under
him in the hottest of the fight.” On the 9th of Au-
gust, 1861, he was commissioned a Brigadier-General,
and was assigned to a command in McClellan’s army
before Washington. After a winter of comparative
inactivity General Wadsworth was appointed In
March, 1862, Military Governor of Washington City.
The position was one of great responsibility, and the
duties arduous and unpleasant. They required the
tact and wisdom of a statesman, the promptness, de-548
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
cision and unquestioned authority of a soldier, yet he
administered them in such a manner as to command
the confidence and respect of the government, as well
as of the people.
While still holding this position, General Wads-
worth was, in 1862, nominated by the Republicans of
New York as their candidate for Governor, his oppo-
ponent being Horatio Seymour.. Upon the news of
the nomination reaching Washington he was waited
upon by a body of citizens, and in a speech in reply
to their congratulations he said, “The earnest men
who have brought me forward as their standard bearer,
are assured that I think as they think, that I feel as
they feel on this great question. They do not wish,
they do not intend to survive the dismemberment of
their beloved country.” “It would be criminal folly
in the government,” he continued, “if it had over-
looked one great element of Southern society, which
may be, and will be, as we use it, an element of weak-
ness or strength—to have overlooked or forgotten that
we are fighting against an aristocracy supported by
slavery; and it would have been worse than folly to
suppose that we could suppress the rebellion and yet
save that aristocracy. A year and a half of bitter ex-
perience has taught us that we cannot do it; that we
should fail in our purpose if we attempted it—aye,
fell ignobly and deservedly. *	* We have got
to conquer it or be conquered by it. This struggle is
already far advanced. It is near its end. If we would
save ourselves we must cast off this devil who has
disgraced and dishonored us from the hour of our
birth. We want peace, but we want a country more.
We want an honorable, a permanent, a solid peace.
When we have achieved that we shall commence again
a career of prosperity—prosperity the like of which
we have never known before and the world has neverHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
549
before witnessed. We shall spring, as it were by one
bound, to be the mightiest, freest and the happiest
people on the face of the earth.”
General Wadsworth, however, was not destined to
be Governor. The State took one of those great polit-
ical changes to which it is so often subject, and his
opponent was chosen, without, however, detracting
from his personal popularity, or the esteem of his
friends.
In December, 1862, in answer to his repeated re-
quests, he was called into active service in the held,
and assumed command of the First Division of Rey-
nolds’ First Corps. During the winter the army was
inactive, but General Wadsworth found ample em-
ployment in looking after the welfare of the men in
his command—a duty which he performed with religi-
ous faithfulness. A soldier who served under him
says:
“And we can testify from observation, to his faith-
fulness, his skill, his courage. He was always to be
found, too, at his post. When his regiments were on
picket, he visited them often ; when his brigade was
on drill or on duty, he always was in command, aided
by his son, and when a regiment chased the enemy,
and when the brigade went on foraging expeditions,
or reconnoitered in force, with the design of making
an attack, he was invariably with them, taking the
lead, even pioneering the way, running hair-breadth
escapes, and always escaping. We have known him
to visit the sentinels at night, and two o’clock in the
morning, lantern in hand, to inspect the entire camps,
looking in at every tent to see if the men had room
and were comfortable.”
During the year 1863 General Wadsworth was con-
stantly in the field, and in the battles of Chancellors-
ville, and Gettysburgh, he took part in the hardest560
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
fighting ; and occupied a prominent position. After
the battle of Gettysburgh he was relieved from com-
mand and sent on a tour of inspection on the Missis-
sippi, “to report on the condition of the camps of
the freedmen and other matters regarding the liberated
slaves.” Just before starting on this expedition he
had an interview with the paymaster from whom he
had drawn his pay from the time of his entry into the
service, to whom he said, “ While I am in the service
I shall be paid only by you; and my reason for that
is, that I wish my account with the government to be
kept by one paymaster only, for it is my purpose, at
the close of the war, to call on you for an accurate
statement of all the money I have received from the
United States. The amount, whatever it is, I shall
give to some permanent institution founded for the
relief of disabled soldiers. This is the least invidious
way in which I can refuse pay for fighting for my
country in her hour of danger.”
After his return to Washington General Wadsworth
was employed, early in 1864, as a commissioner for
the exchange of prisoners. Shortly afterward, how-
ever, he again entered the field, and was attached to
Gen. Warren’s corps, the command of the Fourth
division, which included the remnant of his old divis-
ion in Reynolds’ corps, being assigned to him. The
corps crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of May, 1864,
and on the following day was in the Wilderness, en-
gaged in a fierce conflict with the enemy. On the 6th
the fighting was renewed, and Wadsworth’s division
was repeatedly called upon to repel the assaults and
charges of the enemy upon it. The fighting was
severe, and General Wadsworth had two horses shot
under him in the morning. The battle was renewed
in the afternoon by the assault of Longstreet upon a
part of Wadsworth’s division, and in opposing it,HTSTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
551
Wadsworth had a horse shot under him, and was
himself struck in the head by a shot which mortally
wounded him. He was taken up insensible by the
Confederates, who had possession of the field, and
conveyed to one of their neighboring hospitals, where
he died two days afterward. Patrick McCracken, a
resident in the vicinity, enclosed his body in a coffin
and buried him in his family burying-ground, whence
it was taken a few days afterward and conveyed to
Washington, and thence, by way of New York, to
his old home in Geneseo. Everywhere on the route
the greatest respect was shown the remains, and the
deepest grief was manifested at his untimely and
tragic fate. The burial, in his family lot in Gfeneseo
was without disply, but marked by every demonstra-
tion of respect. The entire village was draped in
mourning, and the citizens attended with heavy and
saddened hearts the last rites over the body of a man
for whom they entertained the profoundest respect.
“ It was not merely that he sacrificed his bodily life
from his convictions of duty, and from his love of
country—the poorest soldier who fell in the ranks has
made that costly sacrifice ; but that, holding as he did
ample possessions, linking rich meadows with flour-
ishing towns, and spread over many fertile fields, he
rejected the allurements that might have appealed
irresistibly to such as he. He felt that life was more
than abundant opportunities for enjoyment and ease.
He felt that Ms life was in devotion to principle, and
that it was bound up with the destiny of the nation.
Thus, those lands so marvelously rich by nature, so
marvelously rich in fortune, will be richer now in
history, and the beautiful valley of the Genesee will
perennially blossom with the memory of James S.
Wadswobth.”*
* Address by Rev. E. H. Chapin, D. D., on presentation of flags to Mili-
tary Bureau, July 4th, 1865.552
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
JOHN YOUNG.
Few men have ever occupied a more prominent
position in county and State politics than the subject
of this sketch, and none more than he earned a high
and honorable position through personal efforts, un-
aided by favoring circumstances. John Young was a
native of "Vermont, where he was born in 1802, but
while he was yet in his boyhood his father, Thomas
Young, removed to the town of Conesus, in this
county, where he was for some years the keeper of a
public-house, and afterward a tiller of the soil. Mr.
Young was considered rather eccentric in character,
but was possessed of more than ordinary good sense
and judgment, and was enterprising and persevering
to a remarkable degree. Mrs. Young was an amiable
woman, of great intelligence, and of many virtues,
and both she and her husband were respected and
esteemed in the community in which they lived. The
circumstances of the family, however, were humble,
and although John was their only son, and they were
not inclined to deny him any advantages, they were
not able to give him the liberal education he desired.
The boy was given the best education the common
schools of his town afforded, and self-reliant and hope-
ful, he was sent forth into the world, with his father’s
blessing, “ to carve out a destiny for himself.”
The profession which he early chose for himself was
that of the law, but his humble circumstances seemed
to interpose almost insurmountable obstacles. “ Hav-
ing once determined on his course, however, no obsta-
cles were allowed to interfere with, or to prevent, the
accomplishment of his desires. Before him was the
goal on which his thoughts were fixed; all his ener-
gies were directed toward the attainment of his wishes ;
and the difficulties that occasionally sprung up in hie
path, only sharpened the zest and increased the eagerHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
553
ness with which he prosecuted his preliminary stud-
ies.”*
In 1833 Mr. Young commenced the study of law in
the office of Augustus A. Bennett, of East Avon. No
better opportunity could have been desired than this.
Mr. Bennett was one of the ablest members of the bar
in the county, and study under him could not fail to
be of immense advantage to the young student.
While pursuing this course Mr. Young, unwilling to
burden his father, supported himself by teaching
school and occasional practice in justice’s courts. He
finished his studies with Ambrose Bennett, of Geneseo,
a prominent lawyer and politician, and was admitted
in 1829 to practice in the Supreme Court, having pre-
viously been recognized as an attorney of the Living-
ston Common Pleas. Having thus successfully at-
tained the object for which he had so long labored,
Mr. Young opened an office at Geneseo, and entered
upon a professional career that was highly flattering.
“Possessing remarkable shrewdness and perseverance,
a thorough knowledge of human nature, good com-
mon sense,—native talents above mediocrity, devel-
oped and invigorated by the experience to which
the character of a self-made man must always be sub-
jected—together with integrity, fidelity and industry,
he was well fitted to encounter the difficulties and
embarrassments incident to a professional career, and
to achieve the triumphs which await desert like that
which he exhibited.” Mr. Young early took a place
in the front rank of the legal profession, and retained
it through life. A few years before his election to the
office of Governor he formed a partnership with gene-
ral James Wood, which continued until Mr. Young’s
death.
* Jenkins’ Lives of the Governors.554
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The political career of John Young has already
Ibeen so closely followed in these pages that it is
scarcely necessary to repeat the details here. Some
points in his life, it may be proper, however, to treat
more fully than has been done in the general history.
Mr. Young took an active interest in politics early
in life and his early associations and education inclin-
ing that way, he acted with the Democratic party
when he first became a voter. He was the candidate
of this party for county clerk in 1828, but was defeated.
He afterward acted with the anti-masonic party, until
it was merged into the Whig party, when he became
an ardent and earnest supporter of the principles of
that organization. He held several minor town offices,
and in 1831 was sent to the Assembly by the anti-
masons. Here he at once took a high position, and
acquitted himself creditably on all occasions. In
1836 he was chosen Representative in Congress, vice
Philo C. Fuller, resigned, and served in the session of
1836-7. In 1840 he was again chosen to this office
by a very large majority, which result was attributed
•“ in a good degree, to his own personal exertions in
supporting and defending the principles and the can-
didates of his party in Livingston county. ” In the
House he was distinguished for his labors on com-
mittees, his sagacious advice in relation to party policy,
and "his ardent support of Whig principles and meas-
ures.
In 1844 Mr. Young was again called from retire-
ment by his political friends and sent to the Assem-
bly. His brilliant record there has been mentioned
in previous pages, and the consequent triumph of the
Whigs in making him Governor, noted. His admin-
istration of the duties of this office was marked by
firmness, independence, great consideration for the
public welfare, and executive ability of a rare type.& ]jj, fj\,O'Tfv lll ■
t, /HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
555
His catting rebuke, “lam Governor,” to one who
sought to influence his action, shows the high motives
which governed his official conduct.
In July, 1849, Ex-Gov. Young entered upon the
duties of United States Assistant Treasurer at Hew
York, to which position he had been appointed by
the new Whig administration, and continued there
until his death, April 23d, 1852. His health for some
years had been delicate, and the progress of his dis-
ease—consumption—was such that for some months
his Mends were prepared for the final issue of the
straggle against the insidious marches of this dreaded,
foe of human life. Nevertheless he was himself hope-
ful, and did not seem to realize how near death was.
Yet when the last hour came, he sank peacefully and
trustfully into the sleep that knows no waking.
Mr. Young was married in 1833, to Ellen Harris,
daughter of Campbell Harris, of York. His wife and
five children survived him, and all of the children are;
still living.
It is risking little in saying that Mr. Young died
when only entering upon the brightest portion of his
life, and that, had he lived, other and greater honors
would have been showered upon him by an admiring,
and trusting people.
GROYELAND.
Area, 24,769 acres; population in 1875, 1,373;
boundaries: on the north by Geneseo; east by Con-
esus; south by West Sparta; west by Mount Morris.
An elevated table land, occupying the center of the
County, constitutes three-fourths of the territory of556
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the town of Groveland. On its westerly side the
township slopes down toward the Canaseraga creek,
whose flats comprise the remaining fourth part of the
area. In June, 1812, the Legislature enacted “that
from and after the first Monday of April next, all that
part of the town of Sparta in the county of Ontario,
comprehending township eight, in the seventh range,
and the west half of township eight, in the sixth range
of Phelps and Gorham’s purchase, be and is hereby
erected into a separate town by the name of Grove-
land, and that the first town meeting be held at the
dwelling house now occupied by William Doty in
said town.” Its population’at this time was quite
sparse, and thinly scattered over the township, but
the lands were soon taken up and occupied by actual
settlers. The pioneers found the surface of the town
everywhere diversified with clusters of fine trees, free
from undergrowth, with intervals of natural openings.
The fires periodically kindled by the Indians had de-
stroyed the leaves and bushes, and in a great measure
the fallen and decaying wood, so that it presented the
appearance of a succession of groves, and when the
town was credted the early settlers had the good taste
to petition that it be called by the appropriate name
of Groveland.
Samuel Magee says:	“ What is now called Grove-
land hill was at first considered very poor land. Many
portions were scatteringly covered with chestnut and
the different kinds of oak, and some places were des-
titute of timber altogether. The openings grew up to
a tall red grass, which was generally burnt over every
fall by the Indians. In some parts of the timbered
lands would be found an undergrowth of whortleberry
and other bushes; and take it all in all, the land was
considered poor. Consequently there were few settlers
on the hill until the introduction of clover and plas-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
557
ter. Then the land seemed to come right up. Grove-
land farmers could thus raise as big crops as we of
the valley, and their wheat was of better quality—the
berry was larger and more plump.”
The principal streams are the Canaseraga and Cash-
aqua creeks. From the nature of both soil and topog-
raphy some of the rivulets have worn through the
strata, forming broad chasms and waterfalls of striking
beauty. Of this class may be mentioned the brook
that crosses the “upper road,” near the residence of
William A. Mills, and flowing westward enters the
Canaseraga below the Hermitage burial ground. Half
a mile above the latter spot on this stream is a thicket
of several acres in extent, hemming in a chasm 350
feet across. The banks here rise perpendicular to a
height of 175 feet. The stream above the fall has
worn its way down through a narrow channel, and
leaps down a cascade of 75 feet perpendicular fall. A
mile above, on the margin of this stream, is a sweet
sulphur spring, whose waters are collected into a
small basin cut into the slate rock. Years ago this
spring was held to possess peculiar efficacy in rheu-
matic complaints.
The soil of the uplands is especially adapted to
wheat; the flats to corn and grazing. The farms are
generally cultivated with care, and the crops are ex-
ceptionably certain and bountiful. “You cannot brush
together better farmers in Western New York than
are to be found in Groveland,” says an agriculturist
from another part of the county.
The earliest settlement of the town was made at
Williamsburgh. One of the first acts of Captain Wil-
liamson, after his selection as agent of the English
company represented by Sir William Pultney, was
the establishment of several villages or settlements in
the new territory, and conspicuous among these was558
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Williamsburgh, which was established in 1792, taking
its name from Sir William Pultney.
The settlement of the Genesee country, though be-
gun in 1789 by Phelps and Gorham, progressed but
slowly, so great were the natural impediments. There
were no roads, the only access being by Indian paths,
the nearest settlement was a hundred miles distant,
and a great forest at the east, west and south hemmed
in their purchase, while at the Dorth lay Lake Onta-
rio, with no facilities for its navigation. A sale of
their property having been effected, however, by
Phelps and Gorham, to the English company. Wil-
liamson no sooner landed at Baltimore and entered
the Genesee country than he was impressed with the
idea “that this new country, situated immediately
north of the centre of Pennsylvania and Maryland,
must reap great advantage from opening a communi-
cation therewith across the Allegany mountains,”
especially as it was from that direction that he looked
for a large part of his immigration. Hence his first
step toward improvement was to examine in person a
feasible route hitherward. He set out on this expe-
dition on the 3d of June, 1792, and met with such
success that by November of that year thirty miles of
the road were sufficiently completed to admit of the
passage of wagons, and by August of the following
year the road was completed to Williamsburgh, a dis-
tance of 170 miles.
Starting at Williamsport, this road ran up the
Lycoming to the mouth of Trout Run, thence over
Laurel Hill and through the wilderness, striking the
Tioga at Blossburg, then called Peter’s Camp, and
following the latter stream to the mouth of the Canis-
teo, thence to Painted Post and up the valley of the
Cohocton, through Bath to the head of navigation of
that stream. Thence the road ran through the presentHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
559
town of Wayland, and passed the head of Spring-
water valley about six miles south of Hemlock lake,
thence over the hills to the inlet of Conesus lake,
which valley it crossed about one mile below the
present village of Scottsburg. Continuing westward
along the southerly base of Groveland hill, it passed
through the farms now owned by John Gamble, the
widow Hyland and Jacob Bean, and intersected the
present Dansville and Geneseo road about 100 rods
north of Zahner’s mill, thence along this road to Wil-
liamsburgh. Such was the route of the Williamson
or old Bath road. Many of the early settlers in the
Genesee country came hither over it, and for years the
southern mail passed to and fro by this notable high-
way. Some traces of it can yet be seen. In the woods
half a mile east of Scottsburg, on the farm now owned
by Samuel Scott, it crossed a gully, and its deeply
worn course is there plainly visible.
Work on this road had already begun, when in
1793, a colony of Germans sent out by Pultney and
his associates under a personage of their nationality
named William Berezy, “an itinerant picture mer-
chant of a good deal of tact and gentlemanly address,”
who had won the confidence of Mr. Colqulionn in
London, reached Philadelphia. The number, it would
appear, consisted of eighty families, for whose pas-
sage to this country arrangements had been made
early in the previous year. Pultney and his associ-
ates designed selecting poor but industrious Saxons,
“discreet farmers,” as Colquhoun expressed it, and,
as Captain Williamson had written his principals that
women were wanted in the Genesee country, Berezy
was asked to increase the number of that sex, “but,”
wrote Colquhoun, “they should all understand the
dairy and the rural work in which the servants of
farmers are employed in the country, such as making560
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
butter and cheese, and spinning and weaving in the
winter.” These colonists were to bring their own
physician and clergyman, and Williamson was
directed to take measures for rendering everything as
comfortable as possible for them when they should
arrive. Every detail for their comfort on shipboard
was the subject of careful provision months before
they set out. Clean beds were provided, “the ticks
and blankets of which were to be carried up to the
Genesee country to be used there,” wholesome food,
ample in quantity, pure water, and suitable space in
the vessel had been arranged for. It was hoped this
forethought would secure a superior class of emigrants,
but never were great expectations more sorely disap-
pointed. Instead of skilled agriculturists, “they
proved,” says Thomas Morris, “to be vagabonds of
the worst description, collected together out of the
streets of Hamburg and other cities, and totally un-
used to any rural occupation,” —“idlers, indifferent
mechanics, broken-down gamblers and players,” says
another account, and the females were equally unfit
for pioneer life. On their arrival in port Williamson
thought they might be profitably employed on their
way hither in cutting out the proposed road. But
their quality was soon shown. Totally unused to the
axe, the greater number persisted in cutting down
trees with the cross-cut saw. While thus employed
several fatal accidents occurred, and where they used
the axe an old gentleman who came over the road in
an early day says “ the trees looked as if they had
been gnawed down by beavers.” Williamson, out of
patience with their awkwardness, directed them to
come at once to Williamsburgh. Here he had pur-
chased for them a large field of ripening wheat on the
flats adjoining the river, which they were told to har-
vest for their own use. But this, like all other labor,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
561
they refused to perform, insisting on being fed and
maintained in idleness. Under the pretense that they
were authorized by the associates, they contracted
debts, extending their patronage to the Wadsworth’s
at Geneseo. They denied the authority of any one to
direct them, and in the absence of Williamson they
became unmanageable. John Johnson, his agent at
Williamsburgh, fearing violence, sent to Canandaigua,
begging Thomas Morris, who spoke German, to hasten
to his assistance. On his arrival Morris expostulated
with Berezy but without effect. Williamson was ex-
pected back, and the Germans resolved to hang him
on a tree they had selected near at hand for the pur-
pose. Disappointed at his non-arrival, they assem-
bled around Johnson’s house and threatened violence
to him. Morris tried to dissuade them but they rushed
toward him and but for his timely escape would have
suffered in the agent’s stead. Williamson at length
came. “ Sunday intervened, but Berezy and the
minister were all day pow-wowing in every house in
the settlement.” On Monday Williamson found him-
self with his friends Morris, Johnson and several
others, in all a force much inferior to their opponents,
besieged by the refractory Germans, who had col-
lected in a body, and under the influence of Berezy
were making extravagant demands as conditions of
peace and their continuance in the colony. “ Driven
into a corner between two writing desks,” says Wil-
liamson, “I had luckily some of my own people
near me, who were able to keep the most savage and
daring of the Germans off, though the cry was to lay
hold of me. Nothing could equal my situation but
some of the Parisian scenes. For an hour and a half
I was in this situation, every instant expecting to be
torn in pieces.” Berezy himself now became alarmed
for the consequences of the outbreak, and tried to562
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
quiet his countrymen ; but the more reckless of them
turned to plunder. The cattle were driven off or
killed, and all kinds of property was rendered inse-
cure, as well as the personal safety of the citizens.
Warrants were at once sued out, and with the assist-
ance of some boats’ crews and new settlers who were
hurried from Bath, pending the return of Richard
Cuyler, clerk of Williamson, who had been despatched
to Albany with a requisition upon Governor George
Clinton for a force sufficient to quell the riot, several
were apprehended, and carried to Canandaigua and
tried on indictments for assault and battery and riot,
and convicted of both. The proceedings ‘ ‘ terrified
and humbled them,” and they were let off with small
fines under promise of leaving the country. This
they did after those who had been fined earned the
money of farmers in the vicinity, having already
agreed to go to Canada, where Governor Simcoe had
assigned them a tract of land for a colony.
The site of Williamsburgh was on the road between
Geneseo and Mount Morris, and is now marked by
the residence of the late D. H. Abell. It comprised a
tavern stand, one or two stores and a number of dwell-
ings, the entire village covering about 30 acres. On
the flats adjoining the river was also the celebrated
race course, where the first fairs and races ever held
in the Genesee country came off, as described in an
earlier part of this work. These fairs drew together
a large concourse of people, some coming hundreds
of miles to attend them, while from the Niagara fron-
tier came many cattle dealers to purchase for the Can-
adian trade the fat, sleek cattle they were sure to find
on exhibition. The tavern was a frame building
erected for that purpose by Captain Williamson, and
stood on the south-west part of the town square,
which was situated about 80 rods east of the river.HISTORY OR LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	563
The main building was about 30 feet square, and two
stories high, a large wing extending from the rear of
the principal building. In the second story of the
latter was a good sized ball-room, in which, as early
as 1800 was kept a dancing school. The first landlord
was Captain Elijah Starr, who was scceeded by Wil-
liam Lemen. The first town meeting of the town of
Sparta was held in this house on the first Tuesday of
April, 1796. William Perine succeeded Lemen and
kept the tavern two years. Thomas Hummer suc-
ceeded him and the latter, it would seem, was the
first tavern keeper who had a license. William Magee
purchased the tavern, the town square and village lots,
amounting in all to some 30 acres, of the Geneva land
office, and shortly after sold the property to Joseph
Engle. The. latter kept the tavern two years, and fail-
ing to make the payments, Magee took the property
back in 1806 and kept the tavern one year. The prop-
erty soon passed into the hands of Major Carroll, and
the tavern was closed. Not many years afterward it
took fire and burned down.
A recent writer* says thatWilliamsburgh contained
a good hotel building, a dry goods store, a distillery,
blacksmith shop, grocery, a grain warehouse and
about forty dwellings. The distillery stood in the
ravine just north of the present farm buildings of the
Abell estate, while across the way, opposite these
farm buildings, stood the old tavern. The same
writer says : “ Church services were occasionally held
in a portion of the warehouse, the Rev. Samuel J.
Mills, a Presbyterian minister, holding the religious
services. He was the pioneer minister in the valley,
south of Avon ; preaching here and there as his ser-
vices were required or accepted, and often in the open
* M. H. Mills of Mount Morris, in the Enterprise of Dec. 22, 1875.664	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
air *	* He is represented to have been a devout
and sincere man, simple and plain in his manners, and
much esteemed by the frontier settlers of that remote
period. He resided near the village of Williamsburgh.
A few old apple trees, standing to the left of the road
just after crossing the Canaseraga creek bridge, going
from Mount Morris to Geneseo, on lands now owned
and occupied by Dr. Fitzhugh, mark the site of his
ancient home. His house burned down. He took the
‘ Genesee fever ’ and died. Through the kind offices
of James Wadsworth, Senior, (one of the original
proprietors of the Wadsworth estate) his remains
were buried in ‘ Big Tree ’ (Geneseo) cemetery;
whether on his lot, or what precise part of the grounds,
the writer is unable to state. Although the immedi-
ate resting-place of his mortal remains may be un-
known, yet his memory lives, and is inscribed upon
the page of history. *	*	* The early preacher
of the evangelical truths of the Bible in the Genesee
valley, Christianity owes to his memory a debt.”
Among the early settlers of Williamsburgh was
Alexander McDonald, who brought with him some
goods to trade with the Indians, mostly woolen cloths
and blankets, and thus gave rise to the belief that he
was the first storekeeper. He never replenished his
stock, however, and only stayed in the village a short
time when he removed to Hermitage, where he engaged
in farming and also established a distillery.
Joseph Richardson located in Williamsburgh in
1805, and established a store, continuing in this busi-
ness a number of years. Samuel Magee says that in
1807 Richardson enlarged his business by keeping a
tavern and by carrying on a distillery, all three
branches of business at the same time. “The first
year he kept his store in the old tavern house, and in
the year 1806 moved his stock of goods into the build-
ing now occupied by Colonel Abell.”HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
665
The first school in the town of Groveland was taught
at Williamsburgh about the year 1793 by Samuel
Murphy. The first mill was built for Captain Wil-
liamson by Charles Scholl on lot 58 in 1797.
Williamson’s expectations in regard to Williams-
burgh were very great. He believed that here was to
be the great commercial centre of Western New York,
and had visions of a thriving, busy, populous town
that should rival all others in importance. He painted
its future with glowing enthusiasm. Writing to a
friend he said, “ the progress of the settlement is so
rapid that you and myself may see the day when we
can apply these lines to the Genesee country:
‘ Here happy millions their own lands possess,
No tyrant awes them, nor no lords oppress.’ ”
At another time he writes: “On the Genesee river a
great many farms are laying out, sixty-five miles from
its mouth is a town marked out by the name of Wil-
liamsburgh, and will, in all probability, be a place of
much trade; in the present situation of things, it is
remote, when considered in a commercial point of
view; but, should the fort of Oswego be given up,
and the lock navigation be completed, there will not
he a carrying place between New York and Williams -
burgh.”
But Williamsburgh’s greatness soon passed away.
Geneseo and Mount Morris grew apace, and other vil-
lages sprang up in various places, but Williamsburgh’s
glory waned. Its decline seems to have commenced
about 1807, and in, a few years only a few old build-
ings remained. To-day, we believe, not one remains
to mark the site of this ancient village.
William McNair was among the earliest settlers of
the town. He came to Williamsburgh June 10th,
1798, with his wife and sons, James H., William and
Charles. James H. McNair, who moved to Sonyea566
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
the same year, with his father’s family, says there was
no permanent settlement of Indians at that place. He
plowed np a sandstone anvil and some Indian uten-
Bils. The Indians retained a white man there as a
prisoner, during the Revolutionary war, to mend their
guns.
Samuel Magee, who came in 1796, says that Hermi-
tage, about a mile north of Henry Magee’s farm, on
the main road, was a small collection of houses where
were then residing Captain John Smith, surveyor ; his
brother George Smith ; Alexander McDonald, a dis-
tiller ; Thomas Hovey, blacksmith; James Butler,
boot and shoemaker; Scotch John Smith, Joseph
Roberts and family of grown up sons, Hector McKay,
Robert Wilson, a tailor named Templeton, Nicholas
Beade and Levi Dunn.
One of the earliest settlers and most prominent and
influential citizens of the town of G'roveland was Judge
James Rosebrugh. Judge Rosebrugh was a native of
Mansfield, New Jersey, where he was born on the
24th of April, 1767. He was the son of the Rev. John
Rosebrugh, a sturdy Scotch Presbyterian minister,
who, when Washington with his “dispirited and
broken forces, was retreating through New Jersey be-
fore the superior army of the British,” called upon
his people to take arms, and not content with this,
shouldered his musket, and refusing to take the com-
mand, went with them to the field of strife. Being
compelled, by reason of his age and the fatigue of the
march to halt at a tavern while the army passed on, a
party of Hessians came up and' wantonly murdered
the aged minister in cold blood.
Judge Rosebrugh exhibited much of the same un-
flinching patriotism. It was long remembered of him
by pioneers that close upon that series of disasters to
our arms along the Niagara frontier which marked theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
567
opening year of the War of 1812, and appealed so
eloquently to the patriotism of the settlers of the Gen-
esee country, he was among the first to volunteer.
Raising a company of his neighbors as minute men,
they marched to the sorely threatened border and there
served out the term of their enlistment.
Judge Rosebrugh removed to Western New York
in 1795, his family then consisting of a wife and one
child. The little household reached Sonyea on the
4th of July of that year, and here was born his eldest
son, the first white child in that settlement. He sub-
sequently removed to Groveland hill and settled soon
after on the farm which he occupied until his death in
November, 1850. His first log cabin home was en-
bosomed in an almost limitless wilderness, and In-
dians far more frequently crossed his threshold than
whites. Wild animals were plentiful, and wolves,
bears and panthers were often met with. Not long
after settling in Groveland Mrs. Rosebrugh made a
visit to a neighbor, two or three miles distant, by way
of the trail below, on horseback. Returning just be-
fore evening, when half way home her ears were
greeted with a piercing scream from the bushes near
the path. It was like a child’s cry of distress, though
louder than a score of infant voices. Her horse knew
the sound and seemed incapable of motion, so great
was its terror. But she, with great presence of mind,
struck the faithful animal a telling blow, and it
bounded forward at the top of its speed, the panther
leaping after at a great pace and following to within a
few feet of the door.
In the spring of 1814 Judge Rosebrugh was elected
to the Assembly, taking his seat in September of that
year. The session was charged with legislation in
support of the war, and proved an important one.
William C. Bouck, Samuel Young and other notable568
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
men were his fellow members. He was re-elected in
1816 and also in 1818, serving through four sessions.
In 1820 he was chosen over John Van Fossen to the
convention which framed the second constitution of
the State, after a spirited canvass, marked by many
incidents of local interest. The judge was naturally
reserved in demeanor, but always relished a joke.
"While in the Assembly he was placed on a joint com-
mittee of the two houses to arrange the interior of
"the then new capitol. Mr. Van Buren, then in the
Senate, and a member of the same committee, had
urged a particular plan for fixing the ladies’ gallery
in the Assembly chamber, and was more tenacious,
the Judge thought, than became a Senator in a matter
effecting the lower house. So taking up a slip of
paper he penned two or three verses, humorously re-
ferring to the known partiality of the future President
for the ladies, so pertinent to the occasion that the ac-
complished sage of Lindenwald was laughed out of
his plan. The Judge’s pen was more than once em-
ployed in a facetious way. The subjects of his harm-
less satire, however, had their good natured revenge.
On one occasion he had prepared a speech on a party
question with some care, a fact known to certain of
the opposition. Opportunity did not offer for its de-
livery, and yet, next morning, carrier-boys were sent
out in all directions with a blank sheet bearing the
flaming title, “ Speech of the Hon. Mr. Rosebrugh of
Ontario.” Copies were left at the doors of members
of his party and hawked through the streets. The
joke was the town talk for the day, and by none was
it enjoyed more than by the Judge himself.
On the erection of Livingston county in February,
1821, he was appointed Surrogate, and held the office
until March, 1832. Many of the wills of the early
settlers were proven by him and appear in the officialHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	569
folios recorded in his own hand. His office duties
were performed at his residence in Groveland with the
exception of stated days at the county seat.
Judge Rosebrugh received many marks of th,e con-
fidence of his immediate neighbors. Among other
town offices he was several times chosen. Supervisor,
and often acted as umpire in the adjustment of local
disputes. He was a liberal supporter of religious
work, and in the latter years of his life was a member
of the First Presbyterian church of Groveland. He
sleeps in the gully school-house cemetery, a few rods
only from the farm which he subdued from the wilder-
ness and long and profitably cultivated. ...
CHARLES H. CARROLL.	r
No citizen of Groveland ever commanded a larger
share of public confidence and esteem than Charles
H. Carroll, who became a resident of the town in 1815.
Charles Hobart Carroll was a son of Charles Carroll
of Bellevue, and was born at the ancestral seat, Belle-
vue, Hagerstown, Md., on the 4th of May, 1794.. He
was reared in affluence and luxury. His parents were
models of the old-fashioned gentry, owning large
numbers of slaves and living in a generous, open-
hearted manner. At the age of 18 young Carroll
graduated at St. Mary’s College, Baltimore, with high
honors. The second war with Great Britain was now
in progress, and soon after quitting college he volun-
teered into the service, serving through 1813 and 1814.
In June, 1815, lie removed with his parents to the
Genesee country, settling in Williamsburgh, where he
continued to reside until his death. Soon after locat-
ing in Groveland he.went to Litchfield, Mass., to read
law, and in 1819 was admitted to the bar., In the.fall
of 1820 he married Alida, daughter of Jeremiah Van
Rensselaer of Utica. His popular qualities and his.570	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
aptitude for public place had attracted the attention
of the intelligent settlers to him, and in 1821 when
the towns comprising the new county of Livingston
required an agent to visit Albany to present their
claims, the choice fell upon him. After several weeks’
zealous labors with the legislature he was enabled to
return to his gratified constituency bearing a certified
copy of the law erecting the new shire.
In February, 1823, he was appointed First Judge
of the county and held the office for over six years.
Before the close of his judicial term he was elected to
the State Senate from the old eighth district, serving
two years in that capacity. Illness of himself and
wife prevented his acceptance of the nomination for a
second term which was urged upon him. In 1826 he
built a beautiful home known as the Hermitage,,
where he always entertained in the most generous,
genial manner, and his home was always made cheer-
ful and happy surrounded by a large family.
Judge Carroll served in the Assembly in 1836, and
in 1840 was elected to Congress, serving two con-
secutive terms in that body. He also filled various-
town and other offices in the gift of the people.
His great farm was a pattern of agricultural well-
being. He greatly enjoyed superintending his ‘‘ large
estate, in developing its agricultural resources and in
improving the breed of horses and cattle. In this he
rendered a great service to his section of country.”
He acted as agent for the sale of large tracts of land
lying in Mount Morris and Nunda. While he
guarded with the strictest fidelity and watchfulness
the interests of the owners, he was ever the protector
of those who found themselves unable to fulfill
promptly their contracts. During the sale of the
entire tract he never commenced legal proceedings,
against a purchaser.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	571
No public enterprise, no movement having for its
object, the improvement of community and the ad-
vancement of the public good, ever found Judge
Carroll a looker-on simply. A public meeting never
seemed more complete than when he occupied the
presiding officer’s chair, “an able and dignified
officer.” In politics, in education, in the prosperity
of religious movements he took a deep interest, and
his views on all public question's were broad and lib-
eral. “ In the councils of the Episcopal church, both
diocesian and general, he was an earnest, liberal and
systematic supporter, and his cheerfulness, deep faith,
sound, consistent church views and never failing lib-
erality to the poor and needy, made him beloved in
all the circles of life.” He died July 22d, 1865, and
society lost and mourned for one of its truest friends.
“Iremember with great pleasure and profit, ” says
an esteemed friend, “his eloquence, his geniality,
his fund of information and humor, his liberality,
his quick response to all calls of charity and for all
public improvements, his noble gifts of time as well
as money, his unbounded hospitality; but far beyond
all these, he left on me the unvaried and constant
impression that he was a Christian.”
Daniel Kelly settled in Groveland in 1799, on the
farm on which he continued to reside until his death,
a period of 62 years. Few men. in the town of Grove-
land exerted so large an influence as he. He was a
man of strong nature, well settled in his convictions,
frank in his expression, and always ready to give a
reason for his faith. His ancestors, who fled from the
north of Ireland on account of religious persecution,
settled in Pennsylvania. Daniel Kelly was born in572	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Tinnicum, in that State, Nov. 10th, 1782. In 1797 his
father, with a family of eight children removed to-
Lakeville in this county, where the elder Kelly died
in 1834. In 1807 Mr. Kelly married Mary Ann Roup,
daughter of Christian Roup. Major Kelly held the
office of Supervisor of his town for many years, and.
in the board of supervisors his practical wisdom and.
thorough knowledge of public business gave him a
commanding position.
Another early settler was John Hunt, who came
here in 1800. He settled first on the farm afterward
owned by Samuel Culbertson, and later owned the
present homestead of John White. In 1810 he settled
at what is still known as Hunt’s Corners, where, in
1814 he opened a tavern, which he kept for about six
years. At that time there were two other taverns in
the town, William Doty’s, to the south, and Joseph
Richardson’s at Williamsburgh.
Michael Johnson located in Groveland in the spring
of 1806. He was a native of the north of Ireland, of
Scotch-Irish parentage, whose ancestors took part in
the memorable siege of Londonderry. From this
place Michael Johnson sailed in the spring of 1804,
landing in New York the last of July of that year.
He reached the home of his relative, William Crossett,*
in Geneseo, in the fall. Mr. Johnson built a log
cabin in Groveland, on the farm which continued to
be his residence until his death in June, 1835. He
was a man of decided convictions, great industry, and
as a citizen was one of the most respected and influ-
ential in Groveland. He was one of the deacons of
the Presbyterian church on its foundation, and con-
tinued in this relation until his death.
* Father of John Crossett.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
573
LEICESTER.
Area, 20,300 acres; population in 1875, 1,662.
Boundaries: north by York; east by Geneseo and
Groveland ; south by Mt. Morris ; west by Castile,
Perry, and Covington, (Wyoming county).
Leicester was formed at the same time with Genesee
county from Ontario county, and comprised four
towns, viz: Leicester, Batavia, North Hampton and
South Hampton, by an act of the Legislature on the
30th day of March, 1802. Its name, first written Les-
ter, after Lester Phelps, a son of Oliver Phelps, who
was a partner of Nathaniel Gorham, was changed in
February 1805, to its present orthography. On its
first formation Leicester included the present town of
Mt. Morris, a part of York, and an essential portion
of the county of Wyoming. The principal villages
of the Senacas lay in this town, Little Beardstown,
Squakie Hill and Big Tree, whose chieftains could
call the whole warlike tribe upon the battle-trail;
and, if we may credit the tales of captives, something
of sylven state was observed by the dignitaries of
these castle-towns, as old writers call them, whose
vaguely defined sites are now devoted to the ordinary
purposes of agriculture by the thrifty farmers of Lei-
cester. The narative of the captivity of the Gilbert
family of Quakers, who were brought to the country
of the Senecas in 1780, and whose enforced stay here
for a short period forms a part of that account, makes
mention of their formal reception at Big Tree village
by the Indian wife of the chief Warrior.* “ On reach-
ing the Genesee river,” says the narrative “Captain
Rowland Montour’s wife came to meet us. She was
* The Gilberts were captured in Northumberland Co., Pa. Tho Montours,
John and Rowland, aided in their capture.574
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the daughter of Siangorotchti, king ot the Senecas.
This princess was attended by the Captain’s brother,
John Montour, and another Indian, and also by a
white prisoner who had been taken at Wyoming. She
was attired altogether in Indian costume, and was
shining with gold lace and silver baubles. Her attend-
ants brought us what we much needed, a supply of
provisions. After the customary salutations, Captain
Montour informed his wife that Rebecca Gilbert was
her daughter and that she must not be induced by
any consideration to part with her. The princess
took from her own finger a silver ring and placed it
on Rebecca’s. By this ceremony she adopted the
white girl into her household, and the latter was con-
ducted to her future hut in the retinue of the forest
princess.
Brant, the Butlers, Red Jacket, who was a states-
man but never a war chief of the Eastern and West-
ern tribes, the Johnsons and other British officers
were familiar with the pathways that traversed these
forests and the red man’s villages that dotted this
township. Here all the wise men of the league col-
lected to plan their predatory campaigns, and to cele-
brate their successful forays, and the very soil though
long ago disturbed by the white man’s plow continues
to be held in special veneration by the descendants of
the former occupants here, and if we might adopt the
grotesque fancies of the natives, these hills and val-
leys yet faintly echo the exultant shouts of their
braves, and the voices of their wild orgies that diver-
sified the times of old. The general surface of the
town formes a terraced slope declining riverward, the
portion of its territory to the Eastward running down
to and embracing the flats. Of the soil of the fruit-
ful bottoms it is unnecessary to speak. The upland
is especially adapted to the culture of wheat, and theHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON- COUNTY.
575
product of this cereal reaches 62,450 bushels annually.
Within a few years past no little attention has been
given to dairying, and with marked success.
Leicester was the first of the towns west of the river
in which a permanent settlement was made. Soon
after the close of the Revolution, Horatio Jones, whose
years of captivity here had made him familiar with
this region and therefore fully aware of its great ex-
cellence for agricultural purposes, prepared to settle
on the flats. The Indians becoming informed of this,
and pleased to have one to whom they were partial
for a neighbor, gave to him and Joseph Smith, a fellow
captive jointly, a tract of land six miles square.
The south-east corner of this tract was at a point
near the junction of the Canaseraga creek with the
Genesee river. On the westerly side, running thence
six miles to the west, the same to the north and thence
an equal distance eastward to the river. On the older
maps this grant is laid down as the “ Smith and Jones
tract.” But at a council of the Senecas held some
years later these limits were reduced and a portion of
the grant re-called. Smith soon traded off his share,
and Horatio Jones, by some misrepresentation was
constrained to part with the principal portion of his,
and the tract mainly passed into the hands of Oliver
Phelps and Daniel Penfield. Jones still retained a
section almost baronial in extent, and in 1789. his
brothers John H. and George came hither with a view
to beginning settlement. Reaching the fiats in July,
they cut about nine acres of grass, starting in at a
point a few rods south of the present bridge over
Beard’s creek, near the Cuylerville flouring mill, and
stacked the hay on the pioneer meadow. The same
fall they plowed and sowed to wheat the ground they
had previously mowed, and this nine acres it is be-676	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
lieved was the first crop of this grain • planted west of
the Genesee river.*
Horatio Jones was yet at Geneva, though busied in
getting ready to remove to the Genesee. At the for-
mer place on the 17th of December, 1786, William
Whitemore Jones, his eldest son and first white child
born west of Utica, saw the light of day. A few years
since opportunity was afforded me to spend several
hours with this gentleman, so familiar in early days
with all the noted Senecas, and who saw them in their
villages along the Genesee before innovations had
modified the habits or feelings of the race. His recol-
lections had the clearness of a written record, and his
estimate of the various notables of the tribe expressed
in language as terse and incisive as a sachem’s, seemed
to me to be eminently just. Age, though he then
might be called venerable in years, had not bowed
him a whit, and in reviewing early pioneer days, a
subject to which I specially asked his attention, he
displayed a vigor and vivacity that would not be ex-
pected in one at his period of life. Though choosing
the quiet of a farmer’s life and disinclined to take
part in public matters, Mr. Jones through many years
exerted no little influence upon community, and it
falls to me as an annalist, to say with no little pride,
in speaking of him, the first born of twenty counties,
that he possessed more than ordinary strength of mind
and force of character, and may well claim attention
in a local work aside from the fact of birth-right.f
In November, 1787, at Geneva was born Mary, the
daughter of Joseph Smith, the first female child born
* The clevis and pin used on the plow on this occasion are still in the pos-
session of Col. ¥m. W. Jones’s family.
f Mr. Jones was strongly inclined to military matters. He held a Colonel’s
commission at one time. Several references will be made in these pages to-
his personal qualities and his bouts with the Indians.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	577
west of Utica. Two years later her parents removed
to Leicester.*
Joseph Smith was for a number of years promi-
nently connected with the early settlement of Leices-
ter. He was a native of Massachusetts, and fully
in sympathy with the spirit prevailing in that
colony. Soon after the opening of the Revolution he
entered the army, and was taken prisoner by the
Senecas in one of their incursions in that direction,
and brought to the Genesee, where he was held until
the close of the war. He had been associated with
Capt. Jones during the years of their captivity, and
at the return of peace the two removed to the foot of
Seneca Lake, where they became Indian traders.
Smith soon after located at Canandaigua, and after
the Indians made the grant to him and his associate,
Smith removed to Big Tree. He had acquired great
familiarity with the Seneca tongue, and was frequently
employed as an interpreter. His open-hearted and
obliging nature led him to indorse for friends and the
lands he had received from the Indians were parted
with mainly to meet the obligations of others. His
death, which occurred at Moscow, was occasioned by
injury received by him in a game of ball between
Indians and whites at Old Leicester. On the birth of
his eldest son, Capt. Jones was presented with a bark
cradle by the Indians, but not content with this, he
determined to construct one more in conformity with
the white man’s notions. Boards were nowhere to be
had. Recollecting, however, that a deserted boat lay
near the shore of the Seneca river, at a spot three or
four miles distant from his house, he started through
the snow one afternoon, knocked the boat apart, and
* Mary Smith married Justin Dutton who died at Moscow in 1815. Sbe
now resides with her son-in-law, Dr. D. P. Bissell in Utica.578	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY:
shouldering several pieces of its water-soaked sides,
returned to his domicil. Prom this rough material
he constructed a cradle that yet remains in the family
after doing duty for three generations. In June,
1790, Capt. Jones and family started for the Genesee
flats. His household consisted of himself, his wife,
three sons,—William W., George and Hiram, and a
young girl, Sally Griffith, who subsequently married
Benjamin Squire of Geneseo. On crossing the river
near Flint creek, by fording, they found ready for
their occupancy a log hut, located near the wheatfield
that had belonged to the Indians. Here in May, 1791,
was born James Jones, the first birth in Leicester.*
Mrs. Jones died in June, 1792, and hers was the first
death that occurred in the town. Many of the Indian
huts were yet standing and settlers were coming in
and putting up log structures. As yet, however,
there was no frame building of any kind in the town,
but in the fall of 1796, Horatio Jones erected a frame
barn, a little to the west of Jones’s Bridge, where it
still stands, and soon after he built a frame distillery
at the Port farm, as it is called, being the same farm
that was occupied by Colonel Jones.
Settlement clustered about the site of the future
hamlet of Old Leicester, as it is yet familiarly called.
The natural beauty of the spot drew the pioneers
thitherward, and roads began to radiate therefrom.
One ran in the direction of Batavia and thence to
Lewiston ; another directly west to the town of Shel-
don, twenty-five miles distant. And still another in
a southwesterly direction to the Alleghany river ; all
quite primitive but still passable in ordinary seasons.
A highway was also opened to the eastward, and in
♦James Jones entered the war of 1812, and with his brother George was
taken prisoner in 1813. Both were tomahawked by their captors, a band of
Indians, in a dispute about a division of prisoners.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	579
1804 Daniel Curtis established a ferry aeross the Gen-
esee at the place now spanned by Jones’ bridge. The
road continued thence to Geneseo.
The free habits of the first settlers called for a num-
ber of taverns. The supply, it should seem, must
have been quite equal to the demand, although the
Indians, both those still residing here and the roving
bands which periodically visited this section, soon
became among the most reliable of patrons. The
whites drank too, and observed the Sabbath with a
respect quite equaled by the red men. “ Whiskey
and Sabbath desecration were then and there notori-
ously prevalent,” says Elder Hudson. Leonard
Stimpson appears to have been the pioneer inn-keeper.
In 1797 he established a public house near the river
bank, sixty or eighty rods north of the present site of
Jones’ Bridge. Six years later he built a frame tavern
house on the site of Charles Jones’ residence, which
became incorporated into the latter, in reconstructing
the house some years later. Soon after Stimpson
opened the first tavern, one Joseph Simonds opened
a less pretentious house, a “ Shanty for the sale of
cakes and beer on the spot afterward occupied by the
Pine Tavern.” Francis Richardson about the same
time opened a public house in a little log building
which stood near the roadside, on the farm now owned
by Hiram Crosby. James Forbes soon after opened
one on the Moscow and Geneseo road, near the ferry,
and a Mr. Whitmore opened one at Jones’ Bridge.
None of these houses, however, appear to have been
licensed. Indeed, the local records preserve no min-
ute of any regular license until one that was granted
to Leonard Stimpson in May, 1803.
Many stories are told of the mischievous propensi-
ties of the loungers about Old Leicester. Stimpson’s
tavern was their favorite resort. Here they met nightly580	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
to raffle, drink, and often to fight. Few travellers
stopped at the place without haying a horseshoe
pulled off, harness cut, a linch-pin drawn or some
article taken.
Old Leicester village grew apace, and by 1812 there
was quite a little settlement there. Samuel Miles
Hopkins, though residing in Geneseo, had purchased
property at this place, and was aiding in the growth
of the hamlet. He had prepared a plan and collected
materials for a large public house there, indeed he had
actually begun the work. But taking some offence,
he sent for Captain John Smith of Groveland, a sur-
veyor of some note, and set to work at once to lay
out the rival village of Moscow, the land at that point
already belonging to him.
A spacious square in the centre of the plot, since
essentially encroached upon, was first staked off, and
then the extensive limits of the prospective rural
metropolis were run, and the lots laid off. The first
building reared within the bounds of Moscow was a
barn for Jessie Wadams, and in 1814, the latter gentle-
man opened the first public house in the village. Gid-
eon T. Jenkins, afterwards the first Sheriff of the
county, soon after succeeded to the stand which has
since been converted into a dwelling house and is now
occupied by Horatio Jones. Soon after Mr. Jenkins
became proprietor, Joseph White opened a second pub-
lic house, and not long afterward Homer Sherwood
erected a third, which soon passed into the hands
of Jerediah Horsford. Several residents of Old Lei-
cester removed to Moscow, and in half a dozen
years the latter place had reached about the
present population. The site of Moscow when
first laid out was covered with scattering pines,
interspersed with a short growth of white oak and an
undergrowth of bear-berry and whortle-berry bushes.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
581
Public houses now abounded, and distilleries were to
be found at almost every crossroad. Churches, too,
began to be erected, but as yet no educational institu-
tion beyond the log school house, and even the latter
were few and far between, until in 1815 the Moscow
Academy was projected and its construction pressed
to early completion. The edifice was a frame building
forty feet by twenty-four, and three stories high, front-
ing on the square. An engraving of the building ap-
pears on this page.
MOSCOW ACADEMY.
The Academy opened under flattering auspices. It
was almost the first school of academic grade in west-
ern New York, and drew scholars from Buffalo, Can-
andaigua, and other distant places, as well as receiving
good encouragement from its immediate region. Og-
den M. Willey was the first principal, assisted by Miss
Abby and her sister. The character of the members
of the professions associated with Moscow has always
been highly honorable. Samuel Miles Hopkins, Felix
Tracy, John Baldwin, H.D. Marvin and Fred eric Wicker
were among its lawyers, and William C. Dwight, Asa
R. Palmer, D. H. Bissell, D. P. Bissell and W. H. Sel-
lew were among the physicians. John Baldwin was
the first to establish a law office at the village. He582
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
came there from East Bloomfield in 1814, and Dr.
Asa R. Palmer was the first physician. In June,
1817, a Presbyterian Society was organized at Moscow,
and the Reverend Abraham Forman of Geneseo, sup-
plied the pulpit. The services were held in the lec-
ture room of the Academy building, and although
the eccentricities of the pastor were often the talk of
the town, yet his ability and zeal crowded the room,
and it soon became necessary to fit up the whole of
the lower floor of the Academy for the purposes of
worship.* Mr. Forman was called to the pastorate
of the Geneseo church and the society was for a year
or two without stated preaching.
In June, 1820, Samuel T. Mills was installed over
the society and remained until October, 1826. Six
months later the Rev. Amos P. Brown assumed pas-
toral relations and continued until the fall of 1829.
Several changes of pastors followed, the society mean-
time increasing in numbers, and in 1832 a church
edifice of wood was erected at a cost of $3,000. A half
dozen years after its completion a portion of the so-
ciety seceded and built another church. In 1844 the
divided society was reunited under the Rev. John W.
McDonald, who was unanimously called to minister
to the united church in the old edifice. Since that
period the Presbyterian church of Moscow has had a
liberal support and has been prosperous.
In 1829, the Methodist Society, which had previ-
ously held its meetings in private houses and school
houses, built a frame church.
* Ashael Hunger, Abijah C. Warren and Asa R. Palmer, were the first
elders of the society. In addition to these three men, the following persons
comp osed the society, as first organized: Ashel Munger, Jr., Hinman A
Boland, Eunice Munger, Amanda Munger and Bethsheba Warren. Felix
Tracy and Samuel M. Hopkins soon after united with the church and became
active as members.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
583
The Baptist church edifice was erected in 1844, and
had for its first pastor Elder Taylor. In 1815 Nicholas
Ayrault opened a store at Moscow, the first established
there. His stock consisted of a general assortment of
merchandise and groceries. Soon afterwards William
Robb opened another store in a building that had
been moved to Moscow, from the present farm of
George Lane, where it had been occupied as a public
house by Dennison Foster. Allen Ayrault, who had
removed to Moscow from Mt. Morris, succeeded to
the business of Mr. Robb, and remained as the suc-
cessful proprietor of the store for two or three years,
when he removed to Geneseo. William Lyman, an-
other early merchant of this place, came to Geneseo
from East Haddam, Connecticut, in Sept., 1814, and
went into the office of Jas. Wadsworth, where he re-
mained a few months. He then clerked for Spencer
& Co., until August, 1816, when he bought some
goods of his employers and went to Sparta, and there
remained until Nov. 1818, and on the sixth day of
that month received his first stock of goods at Moscow
from Albany by teams. A wool-carding and cloth-
dressing establishment was quite early opened by
Peter Roberts and Samuel Crossman, on the branch
of Beard’s creek north of the present residence of
Lewis Newman. The first upland farm cleared and
cultivated in the town was that of Josiah Risden, now
occupied by David Bailey, lying a little to the north
of Cuylerville. In September, 1825, an Indian treaty
was held at Moscow in the Academy. It was a quiet
affair, and the place selected probably on account of
its freedom from excitement or interruption. Not
more than one hundred persons were present at any
time. Major Carroll of Groveland, Judge Howell of
Canandaigua, and Nathaniel Gorham, attended on the
part of the United States. Jasper Parrish and Horatio584
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
Jone3 acted as official interpreters. A large number
of Seneca chiefs were present, and took part. Mary
Jemison was also there, and formally sold her Gar-
deau reservation to Henry B. Gibson, Micah Brooks
and Jellis Clute.
The first saw mill in the town was built by Ebenezer
Allen, at Gibsonville in 1792. The first grist mill was
built on the south branch of Beard’s creek, at Rice’s
Ralls, in 1797, by Phelps and Gorham, and was
burned down in 1817. It was rebuilt, and stood some
years thereafter, but was finally taken down. The
first newspaper published in the town (and it was also
the first that was published in the county) was started
at Moscow in 1817 by Hezekiah Ripley.
Gibsonville lies in the south-western part of the
town, on the outlet of Silver Lake. It was named for
Henry B. Gibson of Canandaigua, and was first set-
settled by Ebenezer Allen in 1792, but after remaining
a short time he parted with his interest there, and re-
moved to Rochester. Its water power is used for a
paper mill and a saw mill, and it contains about a
score of houses. Cuylerville lies on the canal in the
eastern part of the town and takes its name from
Colonel Cuyler. It sprung into existence on the com-
pletion of the Genesee Valley Canal, and soon became
a favorite market for wheat and other agricultural
products, and was incorporated in 1848 as a village.
The construction of railroads has. seriously interfered
with the business of the canal and Cuylerville has
suffered from this cause. It occupies a part of the
site of the most important of all the Seneca villages,
Little Beardstown. It has one church, Associated
Reformed, built in 1845, a large grist mill and a dis-
tillery. To the west of Cuylerville, some half a mile,
stood the first residence of Colonel Cuyler, known as
Woodville, erected by Samuel Miles Hopkins, inHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
1814. In the beautiful grove contiguous to the house
was held the celebration in 1843, over the remains of
Boyd and Parker and their compatriots. The house
was burned in February, 1860. The changes in the
channel of the Genesee river are notable. It was
within the memory of Little Beard that the bed of the
river was at one time within a few rods of Charles
Jones’s old farmhouse, a half mile distant from its
present bed. In 1820-22, the channel was so near the
store-house then standing north of Jeff. Wetherfield’s
house that wheat could be spouted into boats lying in
the river, now distant thirty rods. Jones’ s Bridge was
the first bridge built over the river south of Avon. It
was built of wood in 1816, was carried away in the
spring of 1831, and was rebuilt in 1832-3. The Mount
Morris bridge was built in 1830, was carried away in
1832, and rebuilt in 1834. The Cuylerville bridge
was erected in 1852.
HORATIO JONES.
Captain Horatio Jones was born December 17th,
1763, near Downingtown, Chester county, Pa. His
grandfather, an Episcopal clergyman named Charles
Jones, emigrated from the city of London while yet a
young man and settled in Philadelphia. When the
subject of this sketch was about six years of age, his
father, William Jones, removed to Baltimore Co.,
Md., where John H. Jones was born. His father was
an armorer, and designed to bring him up to the same
employment, but the Revolutionary war was in pro-
gress when he reached an age at which the stirring
events of that period had stronger attractions than the
forge and hammer for one of his adventurous spirit,
and before his size would permit his enlistment he
became attached to a company of Rangers or “ minute
men.” Like all frontier boys of that day he was a
skilled marksman, a qualification, added to a hardy586
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
frame, which even at so early an age, enabled him to
count the privations of the colonial service as of small
moment, and made him a welcome addition to the
slowly wasting battalions at that period of the strug-
gle, and in May, 1780, at seventeen, he enlisted in the
Bedford Rangers, commanded by Captain Dunlap.
The company was ordered to a neighboring fort, there
to be reinforced, for duty along the western frontier.
The garrison, however, was found so weak that it
could spare no soldiers, and Capt. Dunlap, prompted
by his men who were eager for active work, concluded
to follow out the original purpose by marching his
small force at once into the Indian country. He had
reached the wilderness at the head of the Juniata and
was crossing the stream early one morning when he
was surrounded and surprised by a body of Indians,
who fired upon the company, killing nine men and
taking eight prisoners. Among the latter were the
Captain and Jones. At the first alarm, Jones took to
the bank and entered the woods at the top of his
speed. Two Indians followed. Though his gun had
been wet while fording the stream and could not be
fired, the natives were ignorant of the fact, and when
they approached too closely he would turn, point it
at them, and they would drop on their knees. He
would then start on again, and the race would be re-
sumed. After running some two miles, his foot caught
in some undergrowth and he fell. The Indians were
at his side in a moment, and he surrendered. Return-
ing to the place of ambuscade, the prisoners were
placed together, the Indians divided, a part before,,
and a part taking position behind the captives, and
started rapidly northward through the vast stretch of
unbroken forest toward the country of the Senecas.
For the first two days they were without food. On
the third, the entrails of a bear were apportioned to-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	587
Jones. Captain Dunlap, showing exhaustion, was
silently despatched from behind with a tomahawk,
and as he fell his face was carefully turned skyward
that his spirit might ascend to the white man’s happy
hunting grounds, as the other prisoners were given to
understand. On the fourth day a hunting party
brought in a fine deer. The Indians pointed toward
it. Mistaking their gestures for an invitation to help
himself to the venison, Jones ran to the spot with the
alacrity of a hungry man. The Indians suspecting
that he was trying to escape and unwilling to lose one
who had already gained their favor, made after him.
Stopping when he reached the game, the natives came
up, laid him on his back, tied arms and legs each to a
tree, and further secured his limbs by driving pronged
sticks over them, and in this condition, with his face
upturned to a pelting rain, kept him all night. He
endured the punishment without complaint, a fact
which pleased the Indians so much that that day he
was relieved of the luggage that had previously been
committed to his shoulders. In turn, however, he
divided the burthen of an overloaded fellow captive,
older and feebler than himself. Arriving at the Indian
village of Caneadea, he was informed that at a coun-
cil held to decide his case, the Great Spirit had inter-
posed in his behalf, and his life was to be spared on
condition of his reaching a certain wigwam, located
about eighty rods distant, and which was pointed out
to him from a height near the village. The old and
young Indians, the squaws and children of the vil-
lage and neighborhood, lined the way thither. Jack
Berry, as he was afterwards called was present and
motioned to him to start without a moment’s delay.
He saw the wisdom of the friendly advice and set out
at once. Hatchets, arrows, clubs, knives, and every
.conceivable native weapon, was hurled at him by the588	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
shouting and yelling Indians, as he made for the*
house of refuge. With no little address he managed
to dodge the more dangerous missiles and reached the
goal with few bruises, amid the hearty cheers of the
excited crowd, and was at once adopted into a family,
one of whose sons was killed in an expedition shortly
previous, under the name of Ta-e da-ogua. While
running the gauntlet, one tomahawk whistled past
him, just grazing his head. It had been thrown by
one of the warriors that took him prisoner, as he
afterwards learned. Readily adapting himself to the
situation, he assumed their dress, acquired their lan-
guage, and set about repairing their implements of
war and the chase. His stout arm won respect at
once. Although surrounded by savages, he never
allowed an insult to go unresented. If hatchets were
thrown at him by the mischief-loving, he returned,
them with usury. At dinner one day, a young brave,,
fond of amusing himself at the expense of others,
offended him in some way. Jones stepped to a suc-
cotash kettle, seized a boiling squash, gave chase, and
overtaking the festive Indian, thrust the hot vegetable
between his hunting-shirt and bare back, then resumed
his meal. At another time a party had dug up some
saplings, and as they passed him bearing them on
their shoulders, one of the Indians purposely stuck a
mass of roots into Jones’ face. As quick as thought
his right hand was brought across the native’s nose,
breaking in the bridge and giving him a disfigured
nasal organ the rest of his days. Possessed of un-
common mental vigor, and of more than ordinary
penetration, he was cool, fearless and ready of re-
sources, traits which the natives esteemed. To this
may be added that he was strong of body and fleet of
limb, and was always ready to try speed or strength
with the best of them. Their implicit confidence in.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
589
him, acquired during the years of his captivity, was
retained through life, and proved valuable to the gov-
ernment in the treaties with the northern and western
tribes in which he participated, and his residence down
to the period of his death, continued a favorite stop-
ping place for the natives who visited him almost daily.
His judgment was so much respected by the Senecas
that he was often chosen as arbiter to settle disputes
among them ; and his knowledge of the Seneca tongue
was so accurate that he became their principal inter-
preter. Red Jacket preferred him as translator of
his speeches, on important occasions, as his style,,
which was chaste, graphic and energetic, suited the
qualities so marked in that great orator’s efforts, ac-
curately preserving not only the substance but
the most felicitous expressions. He was commis-
sioned by President Washington as official inter-
preter, and was employed on several occasions to ac-
company delegations of sachems and warriors to and!
from the seat of Government. In a notable speech of
Farmer’s Brother, at a council in November, 1798, the
Indians asked the legislature of this State to permit
them to grant Captain Jones and Jasper Parrish
a tract of two miles square of land, lying on Niagara
river, three miles below Black Rock, as a substantial
mark of their regard.* The speech referred to was r
“As the whirlwind was so directed as to throw into
our arms two of your children, we adopted them into
our families and made them our children. We loved
them and nourished them. They lived with us many
years. They then left ue. We wished them to return
and promised to give each of them a tract of land,
and now we wish to fulfill the promise we made them
* By the laws of the State no transfers of Indian lands could be made to
private individuals without permission of the Legislature.590	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and reward them for their services.” Subsequently
he acquired a large body of land on the Genesee flats.
At one period of his captivity he became dissatisfied,
and resolved to return home. Leaving his adopted
father’s wigwam before daylight one morning, he
travelled for hours southward. Night came on and
he began to reflect that his youthful associates,
and perhaps his relatives too, would be scattered
and gone, and the first streak of light the next
morning witnessed him retracing his steps. He
resumed his abode with the Senecas, who never
suspected him of having attempted escape, where he
remained until peace brought about a general ex-
change, a period of five years. Soon after the close
of the war he removed to Seneca Lake, where his
brother John joined him in October, 1788. He was
married in the year 1784, to Sarah Whitmore, herself
a prisoner from the valley of the Wyoming, by whom
he had four children. He was twice married, his last
wife dj ing in 1844. In the spring of 1790 Captain
Jones removed to the Genesee country. Here he died
on the 18th of August, 1836, retaining his well-pre-
served faculties to the last. He lies buried in the
Geneseo cemetery. In person he was strong and com-
pactly built. His height was under, rather than over,
the ordinary size. In early life his weight did not ex-
ceed 180, but in his latter years, he became quite cor-
pulent. His eyes were grey and his hair light inclin-
ing to auburn. Major Yan Campen often visited
Capt. Jones. On such occasions their experience dur-
ing the Revolution, often formed the interesting sub-
ject of conversation. The Major had twice been made
a prisoner by the Indians.
Before the country was settled Capt. Jones was
chosen as the agent of the Government to carry the
money to be paid to the Indians at Buffalo throughHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
591
the woods. It was a large amount, and in specie.
Armed with a tomahawk and scalping-knife, he put
the money on the back of a powerful mare, a favorite,
fast traveler, and mounted, leaving these directions,
“If I am murdered at my camp you will find the
money twenty rods north-west of where I sleep.” He
traveled by the Indian trail till night compelled him
to camp in a bark hut on a branch of Tonawanda
creek. After securing his treasure, he built a fire, ate
his supper, turned his mare loose, and adjusting his
saddle for a pillow, lay down to sleep. He had slept
a few hours when he was awakened by dreaming that
a little Indian had come to him, and told him in In-
dian, that if he remained where he was,' his bones
would lie in a pile. So vivid was the impression that
he got up and looked about on every side. His mare
seemed frightened, and was disposed to hover about
the fire rather than to seek food. He laid down, and
soon fell asleep, but before long the same Indian
seemed to come to him on the same errand. He arose
the second time, looked around, and observed the
same uneasines on the part of his mare, but neither
seeing nor hearing anything uncommon, he lay down
and slept. Again the Indian came with the same
errand. Horses accustomed to running in the woods,
when alarmed will whistle very shrilly, unlike anything
that is observed in our educated animals. As he awoke
the third time, his mare gave him that somewhat start-
ling monition, and he was thoroughly awake in a mo-
ment. He knew that his journey and the object of it
was well understood. So looking to his arms,he dressed
and caught his horse, placed his money on horse-back
and mounted, just as the first streaks of daylight began
to appear. He had accomplished about a quarter of a
mile when he heard a rustling in the bushes close by
the side of the path. He gave the mare a touch, and692	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
she sprang past the noise, leaving the path clear to &
man who came out of the brush just behind her with
a good sized club in his hands. “You stir early,”
said the slayer. “Yes,” was the response. As the
mare had already struck a sharp gait Jones thought
it was as well not to check her. A little farther on he
found a bright fire burning, and a large kettle over
and another man not far off. Putting that and that
together, he thought that kettle was intended for the
accommodation of his bones. This impression was
strengthened the next day by hearing that a man by
the name of Street, who had been to Buffalo and sold
his cattle, and was returning with the proceeds, when
he arrived at about this place had been accosted by
two men who asked him to get off and drink, and
doing so, and after taking a sup of whisky stooping
to|drink from the spring, they knocked him on the
head and took his plunder. The spring was called
“Murder Spring” afterwards.
GEORGE W. PATTERSON.
Mr. Patterson was the youngest of three New-Eng-
land brothers who settled in Livingston County soon
after the close of the war of 1812.* They were men of
sterling worth, broad and liberal in sentiment, and bore
their full part in moulding and directing the social
and political tendencies of society in those early days,
as well as in promoting the material enterprises of the
settlers who so rapidly changed our western wilds into
well cultivated farms. Mr. Patterson was born at
Londonderry, New Hampshire, on the 11th day of
November, 1799. A noted ancestor of his, John Pat-
terson, removed from Argyleshire, Scotland, about
the year 1600 to the parish of Priestlandin the county
of Antrim, Ireland, where he purchased a large landed
estate of the Lord Antrim who became so distinguishedHTSTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
593
a partisan of the Stuarts. A descendant of this John
Patterson in the fourth generation, Peter by name,
emigrated from Ireland, in 1737, to Londonderry, New
Hampshire, and soon after married Grisey Wilson,
whose grandfather had taken part in the noted siege
of Londonderry, a fact that quite likely determined
the name of their New England home. Peter had
three sons, Robert, Thomas and John, the second of
whom married Elizabeth Wallace. Five daughters
and seven sons were born to them, of whom Peter was
the eldest and the subject of our sketch the youngest.
The maternal grandfather, James Wallace, came from
the county of Antrim, Ireland, to the New Hampshire
settlement, where he married Mary Wilson, of whom
this incident is related: The vessel on which her
parents hadj&ken passage for this country, was cap-
tured in mid-ocean by a pirate, and while a prisoner
the mother gave premature birth to this child. In a
capricious moment the pirate captain offered to release
both crew and passengers, on condition that the
parents of the newly-born child would call it Mary,
after his wife. They assented, and after making the
infant presents of jewelry and a piece of rich brocade
silk, the pirate released the captives who were no
doubt ready enough to part company with so romantic
a godfather.
The brocade, it may be added, became the wedding-
gown of the grown-up Mary.* The father of the
future Lieutenant-Governor was a farmer in comfort-
able circumstances, who duly valued education. The
son was therefore afforded such advantages as were
offered by the common school and a neighboring
academy, and at eighteen the father proposed to him,
* Gov. Patterson has a part of the brocade wedding-dress in his posses-
sion.594
HISTOEY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
first, that he might go through college, or second, he
might take a certain hundred and twenty acres of
land near the homestead and make a farmer of him-
self. Both offers were declined, for withjnative inde-
pendence he had already determined to swim with-
out corks. He reasoned that the four years spent in
college would subtract too large a sum from his early
lifetime, and as to the land, New Hampshire farming
as then conducted, seemed to him a pursuit well cal-
culated to make a poor man of him to the end of his
days. Neither proposition being accepted, his father
was content to let him try the experiment of striking
out for himself, and lived to see him a prosperous
man of business, honored by his adopted State in her
councils, and advanced to the second office in rank
in the commonw ealth. On his eighte^th birthday
Mr. Patterson engaged to teach a district school in
Pelham, near his home, for the winter ; and on the 2d
of- June following, the winter’s wages in his pocket,
and accompanied by his brother William, and Wil-
liam D. Barnett, now of Attica, he left New Hamp-
shire for Western New York. A journey of three
weeks brought them to the Genesee country. Mr.
Patterson’s first home was in the family of Daniel
Kelly of Groveland, and “ a better one no young man
will ever find outside of his father’s house.” Yankee
observation soon suggested to him that the great har-
vests of the finest wheat of the continent, being gath-
ered when he reached this region, needed some better
machinery for winnowing it than any then in use, and
his first step was to open a shop for the manufacture
of fanning-mills on the present Benway farm in
Groveland, then owned by William Doty. This mod-
est shop of logs stood near a small pond north of the
house, which still goes by the name of Patterson
pond. To be nearer his work he became a boarder atHISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
595
Doty’s tavern, “ where he had a good time generally
with the sons of the landlord, two of whom were older
and five younger than himself.” And here at night,
his day’s work done and well done he would meet a
knot of the pioneers, men older than himself, who
were in the habit of collecting about the broad and
cheerful fireside of the log hostelry. The new comer
was a favorite at once. No one could tell a more
pithy story, and his trenchant discussion of politics,
then running high, was listened to with satisfaction
by those of his way of thinking, and with marked re-
spect by his opponents. The latter were not the men
to let an error of fact or argument go unchallenged,
and Mr. Patterson here strengthened himself for de-
bates in more notable assemblies. He spent but a
year here. His brother William had settled near
Havens’ tavern, and in the spring of 1818, he there
joined him, remaining until 1822, when he removed
to Ripley, Chautauqua county, where he stayed until
the fall of 1824, and then came back to Livingston
county and purchased and occupied the farm now
owned by William Elliott in Leicester. The manu-
facture of fanning-mills continued to occupy his time
until his removal to Westfield in 1841. How much
of the superior market quality of Genesee wheat was
due to the facilities his fanning-mill afforded in pre-
paring it for eastern markets, it might be difficult to
show, but it is certain that a very large part of the
crops of this famous wheat growing section was fitted
for market for many years by the use of ‘ ‘ Patterson’s ”
or “Patterson & Dickey’s” machines. Indeed, for
almost a generation, no other fanning mill was used.
In the spring of 1821, Mr. Patterson had a quantity
of wheat in store at Almond, where it could not be
sold for ready money. The cost of transporting it to
Rochester, then the nearest cash market, was threem
HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
shillings a bushel, and once there it was worth but
two shillings and sixpence. Instead, therefore, of
sending it to the Rochester market with the certainty
of a sixpence margin on the wrong side, he exchanged
it for boards on the Allegany river at Olean. Seven
bushels of wheat at Almond for one thousand feet of
boards at Olean, and on the opening of navigation he
became a raftsman for one trip only, floating down the
Alleghany and the Ohio rivers on board his raft in
quest of a market. He tiold at Cincinnati, and with-
out assistance took the boards from the water and
piled them on shore, receiving seven dollars a thou-
sand in Miami Exporting Company’s paper, a wild
cat currency, worth on that particular day sixty cents
on the dollar, the next day but fifty, and continued to
rapidly depreciate until it became entirely worthless.
On reaching home, his neighbors were anxious to
know how he had made out. He had but one answer
for all, “ I have saved—myself.” The “West ” was
just now opening, and the great stories of. its oppor-
tunities were finding their way back to the settle--
ments along the Genesee. As he was on the road to
the newer region of promise he determined to see for
himself. So investing the meagre proceeds of his
lumber in a horse, saddle and bridle, he “ set out to
find a better country than Livingston county,” travel-
ling through Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, return-
ing to Cincinnati after a month’s absence. In going
from Brookville, Indiana, to Fort Harrison, on the
Wabash, by way of Indianapolis, he was compelled,
for want of better accommodations, to sleep in the
woods several nights, and to follow blazed trees for
forty miles through the wilderness, by day, to reach
the site of the present city of Indianapolis. On arriv-
ing there he found the surveyors running out city
lots, and quartered in a small log shanty, then theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	597
•
only hotel in the prospective capitol. From Cincin-
nati he returned by way of Chillicothe, Cleveland,
Erie and Buffalo, the latter place being then a village
of seven hundred inhabitants. The Erie Canal was
“staked out,” but not a shovelfull of earth had been
removed from its bed in that (now) city. At that
time there was but one steamboat on Lake Erie (The
Walk-in-the-Water), and three small ones on the Ohio
river above the falls, and not a single Post-coach at
any point in the United States, west of Buffalo. The
mails, yet few and far between, were carried on horse-
back or on foot. Railroads were not yet bom, or
telegraphs thought of. After making this tour he re-
turned to Livingston county, concluding that “the
people of Livingston county might travel through the
States, north of Carolina, and as far west as Kansas,
and would find no spot equal to the Valley of the
Genesee.”
Mr. Patterson for many years took an active part in
politics, displaying the same zeal and conscience in
that relation as in business affairs. His fidelity in
every position, and his practical wisdom, secured him
the unwavering support of an intelligent constituency
through more than a quarter of a century, and until
business engagements not only, but inclination, in-
duced him to retire to private life. His first office was
that of Commissioner of highways of Leicester, and
when the position of justice of the peace became elect-
ive, he was chosen to that office and retained it by re-
election until he removed to Chautauqua county. He
was eight times elected to the Assembly from Living-
ston county, and was twice made speaker of that
body while representing this county.* He took a
* He was elected by the Whigs to the Assembly in 1832-33-35-36-37-38
-39 and 40.598	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
«
prominent part in the memorable presidential cam-
paign of 1840, and at the great mass meeting held in
Geneseo in the autumn of that year, among the most
noticeable features of the day was the farmer’s dinner
of pork and beans, hard cider and corn bread, given
out in the Leicester carry-all. Mr. Patterson had
been speaking, and coming down from the speaker’s
stand—the roof of the log cabin—at precisely twelve
o’clock, he mounted the wagon, took out a great tin
horn, and in true farmer fashion called his tribesmen
together, and amid a tumult of applause sat down
with them to the substantial fare spread upon a bark
table.
He was elected Lieutenant-Governor in 1848 on the
Whig ticket, headed by Hamilton Pish, and presided
over the sessions of 1849 and 1850 with remarkable
dignity and fairness. His name has been repeatedly
mentioned with the office of Governor, but never at
his instance. Indeed it may be said with entire truth
that office has uniformly sought him. He has never
been a seeker after place. His sterling integrity, ma-
ture judgment, and withal his manliness of character,
have long given him a high place among public men,
and first and last have distinguished him many times
as the fit man to act for the State on commissions and
special service. Two or three instances may be given.
The question of selecting a proper quarantine station
at the port of New York, for the protection of the in-
habitants of the metropolis and of the whole country
'from imported diseases, had long perplexed the Legis-
lature and the executive authorities. To.reach a so-
lution of a question so important, a commission of
eminent men were named of which Mr. Patterson was
one, and after a careful examination they presented a
plan which, while it avoided the local prejudices oc-
casioned by-the situation of so formidable a pest-house,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	599
reached the end in view in a practical way. Another
subject of the first importance to the commerce of the
port was referred to a commission of which he was a
member. Several years ago encroachments of a seri-
ous nature threatened with danger the harbor of New
York. Not only were the piers run far out into the
North river, but structures had been commenced which
were essentially changing the channel and threat-
ened to lessen the capacity of the grand road-stead.
The records were overhauled, the public archives ex-
amined, to ascertain the original boundaries of the
State. The exterior lines were then laid down and
the report of the commission was adopted and con-
firmed, and remains the authority on the subject. The
threatened evil was thereby averted. It will be recol-
lected that in obedience to public sentiment the Legis-
lature in 1860 appropriated a large sum of money to
be expended in Kansas for the starving and suffering
colonists of that much afflicted territory, while it was
passing through its ordeal of trial. The proper ex-
penditure of the grant was a delicate and difficult
task, but the commission of which Mr. Patterson was
one of the most active members, were eminently suc-
cessful in meeting the needs of the settlers, while do-
ing nothing to merit the adverse criticism of excited
partizans. In all the varied duties committed to Gov-
ernor Patterson through a long public career, no
breath has ever been raised against his integrity; no
act has lessened the confidence of attached friends,
and while enjoying many marks of general regard, he
has never seemed more gratified than when, his duties
ended, he might return to his home and to the import-
ant business charge committed to him by the Holland
Land Company in superintending their landed inter-
ests, in which trust he succeeded Governor Seward
when the latter was elected Governor. In February,600
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
1825, he married Hannah Whiting Dickey, daughter
of John Dickey of Leicester. He has two children.
In person Mr. Patterson is but' one inch short of six
feet in height, and his weight of two hundred and
twenty-five pounds is not at the expense of his activ-
ity or disproportioned to his well-knit frame.
LIMA.
Area, 19,607 acres ; population in 1875, 2,921.
Boundaries: on the north by Rush and Mendon
(Monroe county); east by West Bloomfield (Ontario
county) ; south by Livonia ; west by Avon.
Lima is the extreme northeastern town of the coun-
ty, and was one of the earliest settled. Being situated
on the great route between the eastern and western
portions of the State, over which traveled a constant
stream of emigration, it early attracted settlers, and
became a well known place. The surface of the town
is undulating and hilly, and is drained by Honeoye
creek and its branches, the former furnishing excel-
lent water power to the scores of mills and factories
which line its banks, beyond the limits of the town.
The soil in the southeastern part of the town is clay
and clayey loam ; in the southwest sandy and gravel-
ly loam. The farms are under a high state of cultiva-
tion, the farm buildings and fixtures of the best char-
acter, and thrift and prosperty are apparent on every
hand. In these respects Lima will compare favorably
with any town in the county, while her people, as a
class, are intelligent, enterprising and industrious.
Lima village is near the center of the town, andHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
601
ranks as one of the most beautiful villages in the
county. The old State road forms its Main street,
along which, in early days, was a large number of
inns, for the accommodation of the emigrants and
teamsters who were passing through. The village
long went by the name of the “Brick School house
Corner.” It contains four churches, and the Genesee
Wesleyan Seminary. The buildings of this institution
are located on a beautiful eminence in the northwest
part of the village, and from almost any direction are
plainly visible to the traveller long before he reaches
the village. The Seminary was founded in 1830 by
the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. It was opened for pupils in 1832. The first
building erected at a cost of $20,000, was destroyed by
fire in May, 1842. The present building was immedi-
ately erected, at a cost of $24,000. It is of brick, four
stories in height, with a Yront of 136 feet, to the south,
while wings extending back give east and west fronts
of 96 feet. In 1849 Genesee College was founded, and
.another large building, known as College Hall, was
built. This was one of the most flourishing colleges
in the country, but a few years ago it was abandoned,
and the Syracuse University founded. The Seminary,
which had been previous to this time one of the
largest and most successful academies in the State,
and one which sent out more students than any simi-
lar institution in Western New York, received a se-
rious blow by this abandonment of the College, but
within the past year it has entered upon a new career
of prosperity and usefulness. The college property,
consisting of buildings, a farm of seventy acres, a cash
endowment of $54,000, besides libraries, philosophi-
cal apparatus, etc., have, by legislative act, been
transferred to the Seminary, thus placing it on a sound
financial basis. In addition to this, $15,000 have just602	HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
been expended in modernizing and improving the
buildings, which now equal those of any similar
school in Western New York.
Paul Davison and Jonathan Gould are credited with
being the first settlers in Lima, their arrival here oc-
curring in 1788. Turner says that if his information
in this respect is correct, “this was the first advent of
an household west of the Adams' settlement, in
Bloomfield.” These men came from the valley of the
Susquehannah in search of a new home in the Gene-
see country. “Passing the last white habitation at
Geneva, they pursued the Indian trail to the present
town of Lima ; where, finding a location to suit them,
they erected a cabin and commenced making an open-
in g in the forest. Going to the Indian lands at Cana-
waugus, they planted and raised a patch of corn and
potatoes. Their location was about one mile south of
the Indian trail, near the westline of the town. After
some improvements upon their cabin, such as the lux.
ury of a bark roof, and a hewed plank floor, and
gathering the small crop they had raised upon Indian
lands, they returned to the Susquehannah, and in the
spring of 1789, Mr. Davison, with his family, consist-
ing of his wife and her mother, and two children,
came to make his permanent home in the wilderness.
He was accompanied by Asahel Burchard. The fam-
ily and household implements were conveyed in an ox
cart, Mr. Davison and his companion sleeping under
the cart, and the family in the cart, during the whole
journey.* In 1790 Mrs. Abbott, Mrs. Davison’s
mother, died, this being the first death in the town,
and the second in the Genesee country. The first
birth was that of a daughter of Mr. Davison. In 1790
Dr. John Miner and Abner Miles (or Migells, as some
* Turner’s Phelps and Gorham Purchase.HIST0BY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	603
of the records have it), settled in Lima, and Miles be-
coming the owner of a large tract of land in the shape
of a gore, the town was called “Mile’s Gore.” The
town was formed Jan. 27th, 1789, as Charleston, but
it retained its local appellation for some years. In
April, 1808, the name was changed to Lima.
Steven Tinker and Solomon Hovey, of Massachu-
setts, settled in Lima in 1791; and Colonel Thomas
Lee, Willard and Amasa Humphrey, Reuben and
Gideon Thayer, Colonel David Morgan, Zebulon
Moses, Asahel, William, and Daniel H. Warner, all
from Massachusetts, came previous to 1795.
The first school was taught by John Sabin in 1792,
and in 1793 Reuben Thayer opened the first inn. The
year following Tryon & Adams established a store in
Lima, the first in the place, and one of the first in the
whole Genesee country. Zebulon Norton built the first
grist-mill in the town, on the Honeoye creek, about
three miles north of the village of Lima, in 1794, and in
1796 Reuben Thayer built the first saw-mill. The first
religious society, the Presbyterian, was organized by
the Rev. Daniel Thatcher, in 1795. There are now
five churches in the town, four of which, at least, have
elegant and costly houses of worship.
Among other early settlers were Miles Bristol,
Wheelock Wood, and James K. Guernsey, the latter
long the leading merchant of the town.
The first town meeting for Charleston was held at
the house of Reuben Thayer on the 4th of April,
1797, nine years after the town was formed. At this
meeting Solomon Hovey was chosen Supervisor,
James Davis Town Clerk, Joseph Arther and Willard
Humphrey Assessors, Mr. (probably John) Minor
Justice, Elijah Morgan, Nathaniel Munger and J.
Gold, Road Commissioners, and Joseph Arther and
William Williams Poormasters.604
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Colonel George Smith came to Lima in March, 1798,
He found there, in addition to those already men-
tioned, Phineas Burchard, Joel Roberts, Jonathan
Gould, Jedediah Commins, Christopher Lee, James
Sterling, John and David B. Morgan, Jonah Moses,
Nathaniel Manger and Samuel Carr.
Adolphus Watkins came to Lima in 1799, from
Ashford, Winford county, Connecticut, where he was
born in 1783. He says: “I came from Albany to
Utica, Canandaigua, and along the State road to this
place. There were a few log houses here then.
Where Rochester street is now, used to be a muddy
lane leading to a grist-mill in Honeoye. There was
no road going to the south, except one about a mile
west of here, leading about a mile and a half south,,
where it stopped. This was Charleston then and a
wilderness. Reuben Thayer built a house here
before I came, and it still stands. I came with my
uncle Jonathan Gould, driving two cows out here.
He had been here some time before. My uncle took
up a half mile square, and I lived with him a few
years and then went to work as a carpenter and joiner,
and mill-wright. There was one run of stone at
Honeoye. The land was heavily timbered with black
walnut, white and black oak, elm, cherry, basswood
and other kinds.” The Indians from Canawaugus
swarmed around here then, but were not troublesome.
Mr. Watkins has seen whole tribes filing past on their
way west. Game was plenty, deer, bears and wolves
being often killed. Occasionally a panther was slain,
though not often. In the War of 1812 Mr. Watkins
took part, volunteering three different times. Cap-
tain William Batin raised a company here, and Mr.
Watkins joined it, for service on the frontier. This
company went first Sept. 26th, 1812, but reached
Buffalo too late to participate in the fighting. TheHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
605
only one now living who was here when Mr. Watkins
came to Lima, is Luther Moses. Mr. Watkins himself
although ninety-three years old, retains his faculties
to a remarkable degree, and his remembrance of the
early days is as clear and distinct as though the
events were but of yesterday’s occurrence.
Miles Bristol early made Lima his home, where
William A. Bristol (now living) was born in 1805.
Mr. Bristol still resides on a portion of the farm
owned by his father, on which many Indian relics
(mentioned in a previous chapter) have been found.
He says there were many Indians about here when
he was a boy, and that he has seen forty Indians
sleeping on the cellar floor of his father’s house at one
time. They were quiet, peaceable, and readily recip-
rocated any favors shown them.
Considerable excitement was caused in Lima in
1811 by a conjuror who made half a dozen of the citi-
zens of the town believe that buried treasures were to
be found in subterranean vaults, nearly half a mile
west of Norton’s mill. These deluded persons com-
menced digging industriously, while a large party of
the curious and unbelieving surrounded them. An
excavation had been made some twelve feet square
and fourteen feet deep when our informant saw it.
He had some brass beads which he would slyly drop
into the excavation, and the men, finding them would
become excited and work with increased vigor. The
conjuror was present with his divining rod, and
would go round making a circle. No one was per-
mitted to cross this circle, else the charm would be
broken and the conjuror be compelled to re-establish
the circle by going around again. It is needless to
say that no treasure was found, but the people of
Lima have learned that their greatest treasure is to be
obtained in thoroughly digging over the rich fields of
her valuable farms.606
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
It has already been mentioned that Lima, being
upon the old State road, was an important point in
early days. Especially was this the case during the
second war with Great Britain, when troops were con-
stantly passing through the town to and from the
frontier, and after its close, when the tide of emigra-
tion which set in sent a constant stream of emigrants
through the place. Inns were opened all along the
route, those in the town of Lima being so numerous
within the distance of two miles that they were scarcely
a stone’s throw apart. One of these old hostelries still
stands, a dingy, venerable old building, about a mile
west of the village of Lima. It is known as the “Yel-
low Wasp,” and is occupied as a residence by Mr.
Thomas P. Bishop. During the War of 1812 it was a
flourishing inn, and famous for its social gatherings.
At one of these country dances, so runs the story, a
dispute arose between the civilian guests and some
soldiers who had come from their winter quarters near
Avon to attend the ball. The soldiers attempted to
mount to the ball-room, upon which the civilians
poured down the stairway upon their heads a barrel
of beans, and finally succeeded in expelling them
from the house. The soldiers retaliated by firing sev-
eral shots into the house. The affair created consider-
able excitement in the neighborhood for several days,
and was the cause of several personal encounters, but
it ended without serious results.
LIVONIA. .
Area, 22,811 acres; population in 1875, 2,898
boundaries: on the north by Lima; east by Rich-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
607
mond (Ontario county); south by Conesus ; west by
Geneseo.
Livonia lies upon the border of the county. It was
erected on the 12th of February, 1808, from Pittstown,
now Richmond, Ontario county. In 1819 a part of its
original territory was taken off to form the town of
Conesus.
Its name, derived from a Russian province, was
proposed by Col. George Smith, at a meeting of citi-
zens called to petition the Legislature for the erection
of the town. The surface of the southern half of the
town is moderately hilly, that of the northern half un-
dulating, and the whole, with trifling exceptions, is
arrable. Conesus lake lies upon its western border,
and Hemlock lake upon the eastern border. The
town is drained by the outlets of these two lakes, and
by the outlet of Lake Canadice. The soil in the val-
leys of these streams is a clayey loam, that of the up-
lands a sandy and gravelly loam, resting on a sub-
stratum of lime-stone, and the whole is peculiarly
well adapted to the growth of winter wheat, of which
grain it produces in proportion to area as large a num-
ber of bushels as any town in the county. The first
settler in the town was Solomon Woodruff, who in the
year 1789, located on lot number 32. He removed
from-Litchfield, Connecticut, alone on foot, with his
gun, axe and a pack upon his back. After making a
clearing, he built him a log cabin and returned for his
wife, bringing their effects to their new home with an
ox team, the journey occupying three weeks. In
February, 1794, Mr. Woodruff opened a tavern in his
log dwelling house. The same year was born to him
a son,—Philip Woodruff, long a leading member .of
the county bar, the first white child whose birth oc-
curred in the town. In 1794, Mr. Higby and Peter
Riggs settled in Livonia; two years later Philip Short608
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
located near Hemlock lake. David Benton and John
Walcot, from Connecticut, came in 1798. Ruel Blake,
Thomas Grant, Nathan Woodrutf and George Smith,
became residents in 1801.
The substantial character of the pioneers of Livo-
nia, and the natural advantages of the town, early
gained for it the favorable opinion of the neighboring
settlements. In December, 1805, James Wadsworth
writes to an eastern correspondent:	“ The settlers of
Pittstown (Livonia) are mostly from New England,
prudent and industrious, and will in time pay for their
lands. ’ ’ The prediction was fully verified. The favor-
able terms granted to the first purchasers enabled
them promptly to meet their engagements ; indeed the
demand for their products from immigration alone,
afforded them the means of meeting their installments
as they fell due.
The ample water power afforded by the considerable
streams of the town was early utilized. . In 1795 Mr.
Higby built a saw-mill on the outlet of Hemlock lake,
and in 1798 Seth Simonds, of Bristol, erected a grist-
mill for Thomas Morris, of Canandaigua, on the same
stream.
The new settlement had been favored with good
health, and it was not until the fall of 1797 that the
pioneers were called to mourn the first death in the
town, that of a child of Mr. Higby. “Our grief was
genuine,” says an early settler, “and as we lowered
the rude little coffin into the earth, it is safe to say
that there was not a dry eye amongst us.” A colony
composed mainly of Eastern people, would not be
long without a district school, and in the winter of
1798 and 9, a little log house at the centre was opened
for a winter term to the children and young peo-
ple. Dorias Peck was the teacher. In 1801, David
Benton erected a frame house, the first in theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COtJNTT.	609
town. The carpenter work was done by Col. George
Smith and John Walcot. The house is still stand-
ing. In 1808 Isaac Bishop opened a store and made
an ashery. The heavy growth of forest trees, and
the dense underwood, afforded favorable covers for
wild game. Wolves, and bears too, were often seen,
and the depredations of
the latter were quite an-
noying. Sheep, and even
swine needed to be housed
near the dwellings of the
settlers. An incident of
1805, occurring on the farm
of Mr. Richardson, near
the site of South Livonia,
is related. While chopping near his hog-pen early one
morning, Mr. Richardson heard an unusual disturb-
ance in the inclosure. Slipping quickly to the pen he
saw an enormous bear attempting to drag a large hog
over the side. Lifting his axe he jumped into the pen.
The bear dodged his blows, and he was obliged to-call
a fellow-workman before the hungry brute could be
driven off and made to retreat into the rank weeds.
With the aid of a neighbor a dead-fall was set for the
bear. On visiting this trap the next morning the bait
was gone, but the weight, in its fall, had caught the
bear by one of its fore paws, which, in its struggles,
had been torn off, and the victim got away minus the
paw. The Indians roamed over every portion of the
town and have left visible traces in several parts of
their occupancy. As already shown, remains of the
most extensive of those rude fortifications yet found
in the State, whose origin remains a matter of so much
question, are found in the town.
The first town meeting was held at the house of
Solomon Woodruff. Lyman Cook was chosen super-
PRIMITIYE SCHOOL-HOUSE.610
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
visor, Theodore Hinman, town clerk, and John War-
ner, Matthew Armstrong and George Smith, assessors.
Jacksonville, at one time a promising hamlet, located
on the outlet of Hemlock lake, a mile or so north of
Slab City, has gone to decay. It contained Rt one
time a grist-mill, distillery, cloth-dressing works, one
store and several dwelling houses. The place was
regularly laid out and the village lots duly numbered.
A single dwelling house only remains, occupied by
the former proprietor of the cloth-dressing works.*
The first Universalist Society was organized in
1831. The first trustees were Robt. Adams, John
Parrel and George Smith. The Mennonite Society
was organized in 1827. There are in all, ten churches
in town. In the northwest part of the town is situated
the little hamlet of Lakeville, on the outlet ofCone-
sus Lake, and near by but lower on the stream, is
Millville, taking its name from a large grist-mill first
erected by Mr. John Bosley some time before 1800,
and burned down. It was next erected by Edmund
Bosley in 1822, and was again burned. The last
time it was rebuilt by Lucien P. Olmsted & Co. in
1835, and is now owned by Clark & Sons. The first
settler here was John Bosley who came before 1800.
He purchased about four hundred acres, mostly of
the Wadsworth’s, for which he paid from two and
a half to three dollars an acre. Thirty rods north-
westerly of the mill is a spot known as Fort Hill,
which derives its* name from some breast-works that
were plainly seen when Mr. Bosley came to this
place. He plowed it and planted it to corn and
potatoes the first year of his residence. There was
a small undergrowth of bushes on it, which he grub-
* A map of the village plot appears among the records of the County
Clerk’s office, drawn by E. Caulkins, Jr.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	611
bed out and cleared away, and in doing so found
axes, tomahawks, a gunbarrel, a large number of
beads, some of extraordinary size, skulls, thigh bones
and other relics of its former occupants, the Indians.
Some wild plum trees, which bore excellent fruit,
were also standing for many years after Mr. Bosley
came. A plaster mill, run by wind, was built on the
hill south of the grist mill, and a deposit of plaster
was claimed to be found and the mill did quite a bus-
iness, but it was discovered that the plaster was not
plaster, and the mill was abandoned. Mr. Aug. Por-
ter, who was a surveyor for Phelps and Gorham, re-
ceived the town of Livonia for his services, at the rate
ot one shilling per acre, and sold it for one shilling
and six pence, and regarded it a great bargain.
Solomon Woodruff, one of the first settlers, was
born in South Farms, Connecticut, and came to Li-
vonia in 1792, and settled on a farm one mile south of
the Centre. His nearest neighbor at that time was
Mr. Pitts, at the foot of Honeoye Lake. He purchas-
ed his farm of General Fellows, a large land owner at
four shillings per acre. The first year he cut the tim-
ber on one and a half acres, and burnt the brush, and
without removing the logs planted it to potatoes, and
with the avails of this crop paid for his farm of one
hundred and fifty acres. He returned to Connecticut
in the fall, and in February, 1793, with his wife and
two children, and his household effects on a sled
drawn by a pair of three year old steers, started again
for his home in Livonia, and was twenty six days on
the journey to the house of George Goodwin, in what
is now the town of Bristol, Ontario county, where his
youngest child died, after which event he and his
family pursued their journey and arrived safely at his
house, a log one which he had, with the help of a
neighbor by the name of Farnam, rolled up previous612
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
to his departure to Connecticut. The nearest grist
mill was six miles east of Canandaigua, and to this
Mr. Woodruff often went with his oxen and the grist
on the yoke between them, as he had no wagon, and
there was hardly a road for one. At this time the In-
dians were quite troublesome, and on one occasion
when Mr. Woodruff was absent, they came to the
number of thirty and demanded the bark which cov-
ered the corncrib to make a covering for their huts,
and upon being refused by Mrs. Woodruff, they came
into the house, intoxicated, and remained the entire
night, threatening the lives of herself and child. The
next year, in the fall, a party of Indians came by Mr.
Woodruff’s, and one of them snatched up this same
child and started off at full speed, but fortunately his
course lay up a steep hill which somewhat arrested
his flight. Luckily, a man who worked for Mr.
Woodruff met him and relieved the child from its
perilous situation. The next summer there was a
great treaty had some place west of his house and
eleven hundred Indians passed his place in Indian
file and the train was over one mile in length.
About the same time an Indian runner was sent out
from Buffalo to go to Canandaigua, and reached Mr.
Woodruff’s house at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, seven-
ty-five miles distant from Buffalo. He halted a few
moments, took a drink of water, and started again,
and reached Canandaigua before sunset, a total distance
of one hundred miles. When Sullivan’s army passed
near the foot of Hemlock Lake, they cut down an orch-
ard of apple trees. They afterwards sprouted up, and
Mr. Woodruff cut some and stuck them into a potato
and planted them, and one of the trees is now stand-
ing, a venerable relic of his labor, bearing the best of
native winter fruit.
George Smith was born in Dorset, Vermont, on theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
618
3d of March, 1779, while his parents were moving
from Scituate, Rhode Island, to the former state, in
which they continued to reside until 1798. His ances-
tors were of Rhode Island. His father, Oziel Smith,
removed to Livonia, where he died in September,
1818, at the age of 78 years. His mother’s maiden
name was Margaret Walton.* In the winter of
1798, George engaged with Joel Roberts, of Lima,
to drive a team of two yoke of oxen and a horse from
Rutland, Vt., to the Genesee country, heavily loaded
with plow irons, chains and other agricultural imple-
ments. The journey was made in twenty four days.
He remained in Lima until the spring of 1801, when he
removed to Livonia with John Walcot, to work at the
carpenter and joiner trade, and mill-wright business.
Their first job was the erection of the first framed
house built in the town of Livonia. This house in its
original form is still standing. In 1803 he worked a
season on the old court house now standing in Bata-
via, and in the fall of the same year he erected a saw
mill for the Holland Land Company at the Oak Orch-
ard falls, now Medina. At that time the Ridge road was
not cut out. The nearest inhabited house stood on
the old Queenstown road, nine miles distant. In Jan-
uary, 1807, he married Sally Woodruff, f In the March
following he commenced house-keeping in a log
house on the farm on which he has continued to
reside to the present time. On the formation of the
town, Colonel Smith was elected assessor, and was
elected supervisor in 1820, and several times there-
*She died in Clarendon, Yt., on the 10th of June, 1793, at the age of 39
years.
f Daughter of Nathan Woodruff of Litchfield, Ct. She died February 17th,
1835, at the age of 51 years. He re-married Dec. 23d, 1843, to widow He-
lena M. Stout, of East Bloomfield, who died March 6th, 1845, at the age of
51 years*614
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
after. He was appointed justice of tlie peace in 1819,
and held the office about eight years. Immediately
after the Declaration of war in 1812, he was commis-
sioned as Major in Colonel Peter Allen’s Regiment of
Militia, and was ordered to the Niagara frontier. The
regiment was first quartered at Five mile Meadows,
and afterwards at Lewiston. When the order came
on the 12th of October to attack Qeeenstown, the
Major was detached and ordered to take charge of the
boats and transportation. After the repulse of the
troops under YanRensselaer, in the first movement,
Major Mullany was ordered across with a hundred
men. But the firing upon the boats in the first attempt,
had demoralized the boatmen and they ran away.
The soldiers however supplied their places, though
lacking skill to manage the boats in the swift current,
they were carried half a mile below the point of at-
tack, and when they reached the shore were fired
upon by the enemy, who left the heights and came
down in such force as to make prisoners of the battal-
ion with the exception of Major Mullany, Doctor
Lawton of Philadelphia, and one other, who put off
in a boat, and thongh exposed to a general fire from
the British lines, they succeeded in making good
their escape, their boat so badly riddled on reaching
the American side that it was in a sinking condition.
Meantime Captain, afterwards General Wool, was
crossing the river with his forces, and stormed and
took the heights. As soon as the American forces
had reached the other side, General Wadsworth, with
a small force under orders took boats for the purpose
of supporting the movement, and to take command of
the attacking party. He directed Smith to raise the
flag of his regiment, and to join his force. He
promptly stepped in to one of the boats and unfurled
the colors, though the enemy paid their respects to theHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	615
party with a twenty-four pounder planted over the
river. He had the honor of planting this flag
on the British battery. Major Smith was sent
out under Colonel, afterwards General Winfield
Scott, to drive the Indians who were firing upon
the heights, from a piece of woods. On the re-
return Major Smith passed an old soldier of
the Revolution, then serving in Col. Stranahan’s
regiment, who was trying to scalp an Indian. On
being ordered to desist, he replied that it had cost him
a great deal of trouble to kill the Indian, for they had
been dodging each other’s shots for some time, and
insisted that he might be permitted to preserve some
remembrance of the red-skin. If not allowed the
scalp he would content himself with the Indian’s
blanket, two good yards of blue broad-cloth, and
stripping it from the body of his fallen antagonist, he
deftly thrust the prize into his knapsack. After the
hights were retaken by the British and our troops
made prisoners, they were taken to Fort George, and
at the end of a week were released on parole. Major
Smith was a prisoner and was included in the parole.
In 1817 he was appointed Colonel of the 94th Regi-
ment of militia, and served two or three years in that
capacity. On the organization of the county in 1821,
he was elected to the Assembly, being the first repre-
sentative from the new county, and the last under the
first constitution.
In 1823 he was re-elected to the Assembly having
for a colleague George Hosmer, of Avon. In person
he lacked but half an inch of six feet; weight 170 ;
form masculine, complexion dark, and health good.
LEMAN GIBBS.
Leman Gibbs was a native of Litchfield, Connecti-
cut, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1788.616
HISTORY 01' LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
His parents, Eldad and Ester Riggs Gibbs, were sub-
stantial Connecticut people, of limited means, who in
1801 concluded to cast their lot in the Genesee coun-
try, whither so many from their native state had pre-
ceeded them. In the latter part of the winter of that
year, the parents, with Leman, then their only child,
and Jeremiah Riggs, started from Litchfield by way
of Albany in a sleigh. Before reaching Livonia they
were compelled to substitute a wheeled vehicle. This
was after a few days changed again for a sleigh, and
near Canandaigua the load became stuck fast in the
mud. Detaching the horses, Mrs. Gibbs mounted one
and with the youth behind her, she followed her hus-
band, who on foot, made his way along the Indian
trail, by Pitt’s Settlement to Solomon Woodruff’s,
the first settler in Livonia. The family settled about
a mile north of the Centre. Although too young to
render much aid in preparing the new home he yet
took hold manfully, and thus early formed the habit
peculiar to him in after life, of bearing his full share
in every labor and duty. The country about their
forest home was absolutely wild. Judge Gibbs said
the “tameness of deer and birds was shocking.”
While out gathering berries one day with his mother,
a beautiful fawn, quite likely chased by dogs, ran to
him for protection and was taken to the house. Edu-
cational opportunities in a neighborhood so sparsely
settled, were scarce. Indeed no school was kept
within reach. He however went to Bloomfield, where
he spent two or three winters with the Rev. Dr.
Hotchkiss, where he prosecuted the more useful
studies with much zeal. At the age of eighteen he
engaged to teach school, following the work during
each successive winter for several years. His fond-
ness for music had made him proficient in the art, and
he opened a singing school. The early settlers wereHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
617
accustomed to introduce the popular songs of the day
at the frequent social gatherings, and here Judge
Gibbs was always foremost. His uncle, Jeremiah
Riggs, was quite gifted in making impromptu coup-
lets on some familiar theme, a verse of which he
would “line,” and Judge Gibbs was as apt in wed-
ding them to music, and these impoverished efforts
were the source of special delight to the little assem-
blages. The hospital house of Eldad Gibbs was
always open to new comers, and many were the good-
natured practical jokes played by the circle of young
men who often gathered there, upon any pretentious
night. A gentleman from an eastern city on a pros-
pecting tour, had sought and obtaind permission to
spend Saturday and Sunday in this household. Be-
fore going to church, he asked if he could be shaved.
“Certainly,” answered one of the youngsters. The
preparations were made and one-half of his face was
carefully shaven and the back of the razor carefully
rubbed over the other side. A home-made pomade
of bear’s-grease was then deftly applied to one side
of his head, while the opposite side was left to
luxuriate in its native harshness. Looking-glasses
were not common in those days, and the city gentle-
man was not aware until he reached the next settle-
ment, why his appearance had attracted so much
attention at the log church.
It was but natural that Judge Gibbs should hold
office. His excellent good sense, and his honest
worthiness, commended him to the suffrages of his
neighbors, and, without any effort or volition on his
part, he was called to public stations as soon as he
was old enough to take office, and was continuously
in office until his failing strength compelled him to
give up all public employment. He was first elected
constable, and was then appointed deputy sheriff,618	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
when the county still belonged to Ontario. He held
the office of justice of the peace for nearly thirty-five
years, and on the erection of Livingston county was
appointed side judge, and occupied a place on the
bench until the present constitution substituted the
office of sessions justice, for which latter he was at
once designated. He was several times elected super-
visor. His early official duties were performed while
the law of imprisonment for debt was in force. In its
most favorable aspect, this law operated harshly, and
in a new community, where credit is a necessity and
money scarce, instances were constantly presented of
great hardship and cruelty. Judge Gibbs was a man
of too tender sensibility to draw the head of a pioneer
family to prison, or to deprive a family of their last
cow, and while he often mitigated the severity of the
law to the deserving, he was now and then imposed
upon by the professions of some worthless fellow, and
between the two he became so involved by being
obliged to pay debts contracted by others, but for
which, and of tenderness in executing the law, he had
rendered himself liable that at one time all his worldy
possessions were advertised for sale, and it was only
by the timely help of friends that he was enabled to
stay the sale and to get clear of his embarrassments ;
and it required the labor of many years to recover
from the effects of this trouble.
He served as Member of Assembly in 1854, and
after the close of the session was appointed a commis-
sioner to examine the public account. His practical
good sense was shown in the report made by himself
and his fellow commissioners, in which several incip-
ient abuses were pointed out and checked by subse-
quent legislation. Judge Gibbs had a fondness for
military matters. Entering the militia as a musician
he passed through the several grades to that of Briga-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
619
•dier General, from which he resigned. While holding
the rank of sergeant he was promoted above a supe-
rior. The jealousy of the latter led to a misunder-
standing, and finally to a challenge to fight a duel.
Mutual friends stepped in and the difficulty was ami-
cably settled. In his own town he stood as a sort of
common peacemaker and arbitrator and had much to
do in quieting neighborhood difficulties. He was a
firm and consistent Christian for many years, and not
only by precept but by example, did he let his light
shine. His form was robust, and he lacked but' an
inch of six feet in hight, was of dark complexion, and
healthy constitution.
MOUNT MORRIS.
Area, 28,545 acres; population in 1875, 3,817.
Bounded on the north by Leicester; east by Grove-
land and West Sparta; south by Nunda and Portage;
west by Castile (Wyoming County).
Mount Morris is one of the larger towns and lies on
the western border of the county. It takes its name
from Robert Morris of Revolutionary memory, who
in the spring of 1792, purchased the great farm of
Ebenezer Allen, which embraced the village site and
many a broad acre of the flats. The town was formed
from Leicester, by an act of the Legislature on the
17th of April 1818. Its surface is greatly diversified.
On the eastward between Canaseraga creek and the
foot of the table lands spreads a broad alluvial plain
of unsurpassed fertility, two miles in width. The
ground then rises abruptly to the first terrace, along620
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
the edge of which runs the Genesee Yalley Canal,
traversing the town from north to south. Stretching
riverward with a uniform grade the western border at-
tains an altitude of several hundred feet above the
flats. The territory of the town is singularly free of
waste lands, as scarce an acre can be found that is not
already under cultivation or capable of a high degree
of culture. The farms are to an exceptionally large
extent, the property of actual occupants, and the
farm houses and buildings which exceed in number
those of any other town in the county, rate above the
average in quality, a fair index of the thrift and com-
fort that generally abounds. Nature, too, has be-
stowed her favors liberally. The scenery from every
point of the extended plateau is rich and varied, a vast
park-like landscape, picturesque in its highlands and
bottoms, and diversified by the winding river and sin-
uous creek. The uplands bordering the flats in the
neighborhood of the river were a favorite haunt of the
Indians, and also of the fort-builders as has already
been shown. Though the principal villages of the
Senecas in later times were located on the western
side of the Genesee, yet there was a considerable town
known as Big Kettle’s village, near Mount Morris.
No sooner was the Genesee country opened to settle-
ment than the advantages of this region attracted cap-
italists from New England and Pennsylvania. Eben-
ezer Allen, the “ Blue Beard ” of the border, had se-
cured a large donation in lands from the Indians and
had opened a store near Damon’s Run in 1790, first
exhibiting his wares under the great council Elm. He
replenished his stock in Philadelphia, and took every
occasion afforded by his visits to that city, to make
known the advantages of this locality. That city
was then the seat of the general government, and
Colonel Trumbull, an officer of the personal staff ofHISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
621
Washington, whose artist brush has preserved some
of the most interesting subjects of Revolutionary his-
tory, formed the half romantic notion of establishing
his home in these beautiful wilds.* He purchased a
section of land, planted an orchard, made some pre
paration for building a residence near the site of the
late Judge Hastings’ house, and changed the name of
the spot to Richmond Hill. For some reason the pur-
pose was abandoned by him and the property passed
from Allen into the hands of Robert Morris, who it is
quite certain designed making the place his home.
Its name was changed to its present designation.
Ebenezer Allen was the pioneer of the whites. He
settled first near Mt. Morris in 1785. His career, the
more notable portion of which is associated with the
town, forms a curious episode in early annals. He
was one of those daring characters, without conscience
or patriotism, who thrive best in troublous times. A
native of Hew Jersey, he took the tory side in the
Revolution, and was forced to quit his home, finding
an asylum toward the close of the struggle among the
Indians along the Genesee, where he worked Mary
Jemison’s land until the return of peace. He de-
feated soon after, by a characteristic trick, a plan of
the frontier Indians and British to renew the border
troubles. Just before an expedition was to start he
procured a belt of wampum and carried it as a token
of peace to the nearest American fort. The act was
wholly unauthorized, but so sacred a thing was the
wampum, that the Indians determined to bury the
hatchet, resolving, however, to puniim Allen for the
cheat. He was pursued for months but eluded their
* Trumbull painted the historic pictures of the signing of the Declaration
of Independence, the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and Washington resign-
ing his commission.622
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
clutches by hiding in the woods and fastnesses. * When
pursuit ceased, Hi-a-ka-too replaced his tattered gar-
ments, and Allen settled down near Mt. Morris, mar-
rying a squaw named Sally. The following spring he
purchased at Philadelphia a boat-load of goods, which
were brought to Mt. Morris by way of Cohocton, and
bartered for ginseng and furs. After harvesting a
large crop of corn and wheat he took up a farm near
Scottsville at the mouth of a creek that bears his name.
The next season Phelps and Gorham gave him a hun-
dred acres of land on the west side of the river where
Rochester now stands, on consideration that he would
build a grist and saw-mill there, f In 1791 he asked
the Senecas to grant a portion, of the Genesee flats to
his daughters Mary and Chloe, born of his Indian
wife Kycudanent or Sally. The Indians disliked him,
and showed no haste to comply, but he made a feast
at which more whiskey than meat was served, and
thus secured a deed of four square miles, including
the site of Mt. Morris, which took the name of Allen’s
Hill, and the adjacent flats to the east4 Thither he
returned in the summer of 1792, built a house and
planted a crop. Agriculture alone did not suffice him,
and he prepared to add a store-house to his log man-
sion. The Indians warned him that timber collected
* He was subsequently taken prisoner by tbe Indians, carried to Canada,
tried and acquitted. See Turner’s Holland Purchase, p. 298.
f He built the mills, and in 1792 assigned his interest in the tract to Benj.
Barton for 200 “ pounds N, T. currency.” In 1802 the tract was purchased
by Col. ¥m. Fitzhugh, Col. Rochester and Charles Carroll.
X The deed providi|phat Allen should have care of the land until his
daughters were married or became of age, and out of its proceeds he should
cause the girls to be instructed in reading and writing, sewing and other
useful arts, according to the customs of the white people. ‘‘ Sally, the
mother, was to have comfortable maintainance during her natural life or re-
mained unjoined to another man.”—Turner's Holland Purchase, p. 301.
The daughters were fine looking girls, and were educated in Philadelphia.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	623
for such a purpose would go into the Genesee. He
persisted, however, and the Senecas, when all was got
together, headed by Jim Washington and Kennedy,
took the timber, carried it to the river and threw it in,
and saw it float away. But Allen got out more, built
a saw-mill at Gfibsonville to supply lumber, and erected
a store-house where Judge Hastings’ residence now
stands. By this time he had taken several wives, red,
black and white, and scarcely had he settled in his
new quarters before another, Millie Gregory,* was
added to his rude harem.
In one of his yearly visits to Philadelphia he met
Robert Morris, to whom he gave a glowing account of
the Genesee country. “Hemp grows like young wil-
lows,” said he, “and the forest trees about this city
are no larger than the branches of trees in my neigh-
borhood.” As settlers increased Allen grew uneasy,
and in 1797, Governor Simcoe of Canada having
granted him lands on the Thames river, he removed
thither after selling the tract on the Genesee to Robert
Morris, who changed the name to Mt. Morris. Allen’s
life closed in 1814, in Canada, after a checkered career.
Many crimes, most of which grew out of his sensual
nature, have been imputed to Allen, and appears to
rest upon creditable authority. His moral character
certainly appears to great disadvantage. “ He mur-
dered those for whom he professed most friendship,
and out of sheer love of blood, would beat out the
* Or McGregor, daughter of a white settler at Sonyea. Two men were
hired to drown her, taking her in a canoe they ran over the rapids at Roch-
ester “ swimming ashore themselves, but leaving her to go over the main
tails.” She, however, disappointed them by saving herself and soon ap-
pearing in the presence of her faithless lord at the mouth nf the river, a
dripping nymph. She followed him to Canada, and became one of his new
household and became the mother of six children.—Turner’s Phelps and
Gorham Purchase, p. 406.624
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
brains of infants when on the war-path.” Altogether
he holds a most unenviable place in pioneer annals.*
The first Baptist minister who preached in Mt.
Morris was the Rev. Samuel Mills, father of General
William A. Mills. The first Presbyterian minister
was the Rev. Robert Hubbard. The preachers who
most frequently visited Mt. Morris were from among
the Methodists, among whom occur the names of
Jesse Lee and John B. Hudson. Before 1810 a small
Methodist class was formed in this settlement, which
soon disappeared from deaths, removals, and other
causes, and yet the place was visited at stated times
by preachers of this order. About the year 1813, Rev.
Daniel D. Butterick came to this section with the de-
sign of laboring as a missionary among the Indians
near the village, if the way seemed open. He made
some efforts for them, but for some reason soon aban-
doned his plan and spent his days as a missionary
among the Cherokees. It was in the year 1814 that
the Presbyterian church of Mt. Morris was organized.
On the 29th of April of that year the following four-
teen individuals met in the school house and were
formed into a church: Jesse' Stanley, Jonathan
Beach, Luther Parker, Enos Baldwin, Abraham
Camp, Luman Stanley, Russel Sheldon, Almira Hop-
kins, Lucy Beach, Martha Parker, Sarah Baldwin,
Mary Camp, Patty M. Stanley and Clarissa Sheldon.
In 1831, the present Methodist society of Mt. Morris
was organized. The Protestant Episcopal Church of
Mt. Morris was organized in the spring of 1833. In
1839 the Baptist society was constituted. The school
house was for a long time the only public room for
holding religious services. Allen Ayrault, Wm. A.
Mills and Jesse Stanley assisted in putting seats in
* Historical sermon of Rev, Mr. Chichester.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
625
this school house, for the purpose of holding meet-
ings about the year 1815. They were constructed with
high wooden backs, and ‘‘they felt prouder,” said
Mr. Ayrault, ‘ ‘ with the accommodations thus afforded
than many would at the completion of the most costly
church edifice.” The first Presbyterian church was
dedicated January, 1832. It stood where now is the
orchard of Dr. Branch, back of his residence. Ten
years afterwards it was removed a few rods to the
south, fronting State street, and enlarged by an addi-
tion of twenty-five feet in length, which made its
dimensions eighty-four by forty-four feet. September
29th, 1852, it was destroyed by fire. The dimensions
of the new brick edifice are eighty by fifty-two feet.
The lot was the gift of John R. Murray, Esq. The
Methodist Episcopal church was dedicated January
1st, 1833. A few months later the society of the
Protestant Episcopal church dedicated their house of
worship. In 1840 the Baptist society dedicated their
house of worship.
GENERAL WILLIAM At MILLS.
Among the earliest settlers of Mt. Morris was Major-
General William A. Mills, who was born May 27th,
1777, in the town of New Bedford, Westchester
County, New York. His father the Rev. Samuel I.
Mills, was a Presbyterian minister, and a graduate of
Yale College—a native of Derby, Connecticut. Gen.
Mills located at Mount Morris in 1794, at seventeen
years of age. His capital consisted of good health, a
common suit of clothes, a five franc silver piece in his
pocket, and an axe on his shoulder. He put up a
small cabin on the high table land overlooking the
flats, at the north end of the present village, where he
lived several years, keeping bachelor’s hall, on most
friendly terms with his neighbors the Indians, and626
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
cultivating land on the flats in common with them,
raising Indian corn and stock. He learned to speak
the Indian language fluently, and ere long had so
worked into the good will and friendship of the In-
dians that he gained their entire confidence and be-
came their advisor and counsel in their dealings with
white people in that locality, and was also their arbi-
trator not unfrequently to settle matters of dispute
arising among themselves. He was a personal and
warm friend of “Tall Chief,” the head of the Seneca
tribe at Allan’s Hill and Squakie Hill, and was also
well acquainted and on friendly terms with “Red
Jacket,” chief of the Senecas near Buffalo. Mary
Jemison the “ White Woman,” was a frequent visitor
at his house, living only five miles distant at Gar-
deau. His Indian name was Sa-nem-ge-wa,. or “Big
Kettle,” meaning in our language generous. From
his long residence among the Indians he became much
attached to them, and they to him. He never deceived
or cheated them in all his dealings with them; the re-
sult was he had their entire confidence, and never lost
it. In after years ^hen the Indians had by treaty
given up their lands about Mount Morris and moved
to the Indian reservation near Buffalo, when passing
backward and forward through the country, as they
frequently did, they always made it a point to stay
over night with Sa-nem-ge-wa. Even to this day,
among the older Indians on the reservation west of
Buffalo, the name of Sa-nem-ge-wa is still familiar,
but they have lost the tradition and only know that
it relates to some great and good white man, the In-
dian’s friend, who has long since gone to the happy
hunting grounds and is there waiting for them to
come. The only white man at Mt. Morris when Gen-
eral Mills located there was Clark Cleveland, a mason
by trade, intemperate and dissolute in his habits.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
627
Indian Allan had been there, but at this time was liv-
ing with the Indians west of the Genesee river at
Beardstown. General Mills built the first house
erected by a white man in the village. It stood near-
ly opposite the residence of the late Daniel A. Miller
on Stanley street. It was a block house, made by
flatting sticks of timber on both sides for the walls,
the roof being made of staves or long shingles split
from oak logs.* General Mills was married March
30th, 1803, to Miss Susanah H. Harris, at her father’s
house at Tioga Point, Pa. Miss Harris came to Mt.
Morris in 1802, all the way on horseback from her
home, to visit her brother and his family who had
located there. While there she became acquainted
with young Mills, who soon followed her home and
they were married. She was a most excellent Christian
woman, and was highly esteemed by all who knew
her not only for her social qualities but for her kind-
ness of heart and liberality to the poor and needy.
She died in April, 1840. Previous to his marriage
General Mills had constructed a substantial log house
on the high elevation of ground overlooking the flats,
in which he reared a large family and there resided
until the fall of 1838, when he moved into his elegant
brick mansion which he had just completed, and
which is now the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Dr.
Branch. He continued cultivating the land on the
flats in common with his Indian neighbors, raising
grain and stock, and also added to it the distilling
business until the lands came into market, which was
fourteen years from the time he first settled in Mt.
Morris. During this time many of the settlers who
came and located there, finding the fever and ague
* Gen. Mills sold this house before occupying it as was his intention, to a
settler by the name of Baldwin, but soon bought it back again.628
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
prevalent, from which all suffered more or less in that
locality, were discouraged and moved away to other
sections of the country, but the subject of this sketch,
not daunted, and with a resolution and fixedness of
purpose which knew no defeat, remained with the
firm determination to become the owner some day of
at least a portion of the rich alluvial bottom lands
which he had so long cultivated. His first purchase
was twenty acres on the flats, for which he paid fifty
dollars in silver per acre. This was the lowest priced
land he ever bought on the Genesee flats, although the
general received opinion always has been that he got
his lands for little or nothing. They were reserved
lands and always considered valuable, and when
brought into market, sold for the extraordinary high
price above stated. In his later purchases he paid as
high as $80 per acre. At the same time the uplands
could be bought for from ten to fifteen dollars an acre.
General Mills was at the time of his death a large land
holder, owning about eight hundred acres of the most
choice land in the Genesee Talley. Considering the
fact that he commenced without capital, paid such
prices, and made his money substantially from the
soil to pay for them, shows a degree of success,
seldom if ever equaled in any new country.
He was the first Justice of the Peace, and
Supervisor of the town of Mt. Morris for twenty
years in succession. He was prominently connected
with all the measures of public utility which effected
this section, and especially his locality, from the time
•he settled in Mt. Morris in 1794 to the time of his
death in 1844. He was one of the commissioners to
petition the Legislature to authorize the construction
of a dam across the Genesee river at Mt. Morris and
to excavate a canal or race from the river to the vil-
lage, a distance of a mile. This enterprise secured toHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
629
the village of Mt. Morris a good water-power, which
materially aided the growth and prosperity of the
place, and is to-day of great value to the village.*
Previous to this the nearest grist-mill was twenty
miles distant, at which place the grinding for his dis-
tillery was done. General Mills organized the first
militia company in Livingston CQunty, and was elected
Captain. In the war of 1812 he went to the frontier,
where he remained until the war closed, rendering his
country valuable service. Report reached Mt. Morris
that he was killed on the frontier. Some of his neigh-
bors got together and called on Mrs. Mills to sympa-
thize with her, and also to inform her they had agreed
to start the next morning for the frontier, in pursuit
of his dead body. Adam Hostlander, John Eagle,
Mr. Stanley, Lewis Baldwin and Arzel Powell were
foremost in this pursuit.
During that night General Mills reached his home,
to the great surpr :se of his family and neighbors. He
soon after fell sick with the Genesee or spotted fever
brought on by fatigue and hardship on the frontier,
from which he barely survived, after six weeks con-
finement to his bed. He was always ready to assist
the poor and needy and never turned such away
empty-handed or disappointed. He was the standing
“aid” for all the early settlers in the town of Mt.
Morris who bought land and moved on to it, and could
* My informant assures me he well remembers the morning this work was
commenced and the first shovel-full of earth cast. The village people and
laborers, amounting perhaps to 100 persons, assembled at the foot of the
hill, on the line of the work just north of the present wagon-road bridge
across the race, as you go north to the Genesee river. It was here the first
ground was broken. The men were all drawn up in line, appropriate re-
marks were made by Deacon Stanley and General Mills, the latter excavating
the first shovel-full of earth, Deacon Stanley the next, after which wine and
liquor was drank, and the work of furnishing Mt. Morris with water-power
thus inaugurated.630
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
not pay for it. He never allowed one such to lose his
land. He was on those early settlers’ paper to the
average amount of $12,000 for nearly twenty years.
He never lost but $250 in consequence. In no in-
stance can it be said of him that he ever charged any-
thing for his services, and the responsibility incurred
in their behalf, or that he would allow them to pay
him anything for these valuable services, extending
through many years. The result was that there was
scarcely a farmer in town but that sooner or later be-
came under obligations to General Mills. In the sum-
mer of 1816, the crops in Allegany County were
almost entirely destroyed by frost especially on the
Short Tract, and at Caneadea. In the winter follow-
ing there was a famine in these neighborhoods.
Teams and sleighs were sent down to Mt. Morris for
wheat and corn. The settlers who came down
brought no money to pay for their supplies for
the best reason in the world, they had none
nor could raise none in their neighborhood to bring.
They called on General Mills and laid their case be-
fore him, and the condition of their people at home,
and said if he would let them have what they wanted
he should some day be paid amply therefor. Though
strangers to him he listened to their tale of suffering,
and literally filled their sleighs with corn and other
grain and pork, and sent them home rejoicing. The
following summer in harvest time, fourteen of the
residents of Caneadea and Short Tract came to Mt.
Morris and worked for him, thus paying him in full
for his generous act in providing food for their starving
people the winter previous. His military career was
quite as successful as his financial. As before stated,
he organized the first militia company in what is now
Livingston county,' and from this small beginning rose
to the rank of Major-General .of the militia of theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	631
State. The district which he had command of was
large, embracing Allegany, Genesee, Livingston,
Wyoming, Monroe, Ontario and Steuben counties. He
used to hold his fall meetings and parades at the prin-
cipal villages in the different counties, and some of
the leading men of Western New York were at times
on his staff. On these occasions Gen. Mills always
rode a stylish bred bay horse, which he purchased of
Major Carroll for one hundred and ten dollars in sil-
ver, which at that time was considered a great price.*
General Mills lived in Mt. Morris half a century;
his death occurring April 6th, 1844. His age was 67.
He died suddenly after dinner, from disease of the
heart, while taking his customary nap. His family
consisted at his death of nine children. He was a
man of many virtues, retaining the love and confi-
dence of a great circle of acquaintances down to the
close of a long and useful life. His youngest son, Dr.
Myrofi H. Mills, served in the Mexican war on the
staff of a distinguished officer of the army, and at the
close of the war Secretary Marcy personally tendered
him an appointment in the regular service as a mark
of his appreciation of the Doctor’s professional ser-
vice. Dr. Mills has been a successful contractor on
the public works, and after acquiring a competency
has settled on the family domain near his birth-place,
a spot endeared by many associations.
Deacon Jesse Stanley came here about the year 1809,
from Goshen, Connecticut. He was a sterling man, of
unwearied industry, and unusual buoyancy of spirits.
* This horse was General Scott’s saddle horse which he rode on the fron-
tier in the War of 1812, and was ever afterward known as the “ Scott horse v
by all the early residents of the town of Mt. Morris and Livingston county.632
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
He died in June, 1845, aged eighty-seven years. His
sons Oliver and Lumen accompanied him here. The
former died in October, 1851, aged seventy-four, the
latter in October, 1839, aged sixty years. He was
truly one of the pioneers of Mount Morris.
NORTH DANSVILLE.
Area, 5,349 acres; population in 1875, 4,084;
boundaries: on the north by Sparta; east by Way-
land ; south by Dansville (Steuben county); west by
West Sparta and Ossian.
North Dansville was formed from Sparta on the
27th of February, 1846. Three years later an addi-
tional portion of Sparta was transferred to its territory,
making it about three miles square, but still leaving
it one of the smallest, if not the very smallest, of the
towns in the State. It has, however, the largest pop-
ulation of any town in the county. The surface of
the town consists mainly of the fine flats which lie
between East and West hills, the summits of which
rise to the height of six or eight hundred feet. The
soil upon the slopes is a clayey and gravelly loam,
well suited to the culture of grapes and other fruits.
The deep sandy alluvium of the bottoms is peculiarly
fitted for horticultural purposes, and for nursery gar-
dening, to which uses it is largely devoted.
Canaseraga creek, which rises a few miles to the
southward, flows through the northwestern portion of
the town, and presents a succession of cascades with-
in the distance of a couple of miles, affording “power
enough,” says a local authority, “to drive all theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
633
mills of Lowell, and so permanent in its supply as to
be little affected by the dryest weather.” Across the
southern end of the town runs Mill creek, a consider-
able stream, on which are situated a number of mills.
The village of Dansville, the largest in the county,
was incorporated on the 7th of May, 1845. Its name
was derived from Daniel P. Faulkner, an early set-
tler, popularly known as “Captain Dan,” hence
Dansville or village. It lies near the head of Canase-
raga creek, and the head of the valley. The branch,
or southerly stem of the Genesee Valley Canal, ter-
minates here. The construction of a slip immediately
above lock number eight, with a basin located near
the centre of the village, were the subject of animated
local discussion, leading almost to bloodshed, but
were completed at a cost of about six thousand dol-
lars to the citizens of Dansville. Although fairly en-
titled to the name, Dansville has not been suffered to
possess it without a sharp struggle. More than two
score years ago the name of Dansville, as applied to
the post-office, was for months the subject of a heated
contest between neighboring villages in Livingston
and Steuben counties. In 1824 the representative in
Congress from the Steuben district, on the petition of
the inhabitants of the village of South Dansville, in
the latter county, had the name of the Dansville post-
office changed to South Sparta, and transferred the
former designation to South Dansville post-office. The
result was that many important business letters in-
tended for patrons of the old office found their way to
the Steuben office under its new name. Finally, all
who had letters that had gone to South Dansville,
each separately wrote a letter to the Post-Master Gen-
eral, and requested him to change the name of the
office back to Dansville, and the one in Steuben county
back to South Dansville, which he did, and this post-634
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
office has been called Dansville since. When this
quarter town was constituted a town by itself (having
been taken from Sparta), the attempt was made by
our Member of Assembly, General Fullerton, to call
this quarter town “Dansville,” and the remaining por-
tion in Steuben county “ South Dansville.” The Steu-
ben delegation opposed the measure, and Gen. Fuller-
ton not being willing to take the responsibility of giv-
ing a new name to an old place called this quarter
town North Dansville, its present name. Settlement at
Dansville was began in the autumn of 1795 by Ama-
riah Hammond and Cornelius McCoy of Pennsylvania,
who “ cut the first bushes and felled the first trees.”
Mr. Hammond came on horseback, and being pleased
with the future site of Dansville, spent two days in
examining the country about the source of the Cana-
seraga. He relates that he slept two nights under a
pine tree, on the farm which he subsequently owned.
With the exception of here and there an open space,
red with strawberries, the ground was densely covered
with an undergrowth of hazel and black thorn. The
bushes were interlaced with grape vines loaded with
fruit. During the first winter, Mr. Hammond built a
log house, and in the following April he brought his
wife and child from Bath bn horseback to their new
home. The household goods and farming utensils
were transported by two yoke of oxen and a sled.
The little party spent the first night near the present
village of Blood’s, and on the next evening took sup-
per in their log mansion. The load of household
goods not coming up, Mr. Hammond sought and
found it about three miles back, the oxen so weary
that it became necessary to halt there for the night.
Mrs. Hammond spent the intervening period alone.
Soon after nightfall the wolves gathered about the
house and kept up their howling for hours, and sheHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
635
became so terrified that she did not attempt to sleep.
Some months after, James McCurdy arrived and took,
up the farm which he continued to occupy until his
death. In the fall of the first year his step-father Mr.
McCoy, and himself, made out to chop enough logs to
build a cabin eighteen feet by fourteen, which they
considered a very large house. On raising-day some
came from Geneseo, then called “ Big Tree,” and also
the Old White Woman’s sons and other Indians from
Allan’s Hill, now Mt. Morris, some from Post-town,,
or Painted Post, and some from Bath. The building
was laid up and the roof covered with basswood bark
in one day.*
Captain Dan. Faulkner, one of the pioneers, seems
to have been a man of great enterprise. He brought
several families with him, assisted in erecting the first
saw mill, brought the first load of dry goods by sleigh
from Albany, and formed the first militia company,
a troop of grenadiers, and secured the necessary
equipments for them from the Governor. Another
early settler was Colonel Nathaniel Rochester.
Wm. Scott of Scottsburgh says : “In the spring of
18111 entered into co-partnership with Peter Lafiesh
in the carding and cloth-dressing business at Dans-
ville. Mr. Lafiesh was a practical carder as well as
cabinet maker. I accordingly contracted with Wil-
liam Bushnell of East Bloomfield, to furnish the
machinery for four hundred dollars, a quarter down,
the remainder in three annual payments. But my
partner could not meet his share of the first install-
ment, and I was greatly embarrassed. This was my
first business venture on my own account, and I could
not endure the thought of failure. Colonel Rochester
had come to Dansville the summer before, and waa
* See McCurdy’s letter in Clark’s Miniature of Dansville village.636
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
living at Stout’s tavern, with his family. It occurred
to me that he might be disposed to come to my relief,
so I called at his room, introduced myself, and made
known my strait. After many and close inquiries as
to my knowledge of the business, he proposed, much
to my relief, to become a partner in the business.
The machinery came and we opened the shop in a
building belonging to the old grist-mill property,
which Colonel Rochester had purchased ot David
Sholl at the upper end of the village. Although over
half a century has passed away since I formed his ac-
quaintance, I hold the memory of Col. Rochester in
unabated respect, and his assistance every way so
timely, with undiminished gratitude. About this
time Colonel Rochester was making a visit every few
weeks to the “ Palls,” as Rochester was yet called, to
superintend the laying out of village lots. On my
way home from a collecting tour I met him returning
from one of these trips, at Begole’s Tavern, a little log
house standing about fifty rods northeast of the resi-
dence of the late Judge Carroll. I see him now, riding
up to the door, seated firmly on a small bay pacing
mare, and carrying his surveyor’s chain and compass
strapped to the saddle. After a well cooked supper
to which our sharp appetites did full justice, we were
shown to a room in the garret containing but one bed.
As neither objected, we occupied it together, though
it was long before sleep visited us, for Col. Rochester
was full of the flattering prospects at the Falls. 4 The
place must become an important business point,’ said
he, and he expressed regret that he had spent so much
time and means in Dansville, instead of going to the
Falls at once, adding, 6 If I had just made over to you
by gift a deed of all my property at Dansville, and
gone direct to the Falls, I should have been the gainer.
Dansville will be a fine village, but the Falls, sir, isHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
637
capable of great things.’ I reminded him that he had
established a successful paper-mill and other ma-
chinery at Dansville, and had otherwise aided in giv-
ing an impulse to the business of that already thrifty
town. ‘Yes,’ said he, ‘but I am past the age for
building up two towns.’ During the conversation I
remarked that the name the ‘Falls,’ was good enough
then, but added, ‘of course you will find a more fit-
ting one as the place increases.’ ‘Ah,’ said he, ‘I
have already thought of that, and have decided to
give it my family name,’ and that was the first time I
ever heard the word Rochester applied to the present
prosperous city. Col. Rochester was a fine type of
the true southern gentleman. His manner was com-
manding. He was then venerable in years, though,
his step was firm. He was tall, perhaps quite six
feet high, stooped a little and always walked with a
cane. He was dignified and affable in ordinary inter-
course, though somewhat austere to strangers, but at
home in his own family circle, the excellencies of his
fine character were all brought out. I never knew a
more kindly or devoted husband and father. In the
fall of 1812, not wishing to work at my trade the ap-
proaching winter, I engaged with Jared Irwin* to
assist him about the store and tavern until spring.
His store and John Metcalfs were then the only ones
in Dansville. Their goods were purchased in Phila-
delphia, and brought over land by way ot Sunbury to
the Susquehanna, thence in boats to Newtown, (now
Elmira). Mr. Irwin that year, had made his pur-
chases early for the winter trade, selecting for those
days a fine assortment, and as everything was ad-
vancing in price under stimulus of the war, was
anticipating handsome returns. When the goods
* First Postmaster at Dansville.638	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
reached Newtown, Mr. Irwin sent George Smith, of
Hermitage, for them, with his great broad-tire wagon,
surmounted by its towcloth covering, and drawn by
six horses. After some days, word reached us that
Smith’s wagon, laden down with the stock, in cross-
ing the Canisteo river had been upset into the stream.
Hands were at once sent to the spot to aid in saving
the merchandise, but when it reached Dansville, tea,
powder, coffee, cloths, laces, in a word, the whole
purchase was found to be soaked thoroughly, and
either worthless or badly damaged. The mishap so
worried Mr. Irwin that he soon fell victim to the epi-
demic or “war fever,” a virulent disease then raging
all over the country. Mr. Irwin’s family desiring the
Rev. Mr. Lindsley of Geneseo, to preach the funeral
sermon, I was sent on horseback to invite him to per-
form the service. Passing over Groveland hill I stop-
ped %at Doty’s tavern, a small log house (still stand-
ing on the Benway farm though changed in location),
with a large open fireplace at the end. In this, as I
entered, was blazing a heap of logs, whose cheer and
warmth was grateful to my chilled body. ’ Squire
Doty, a spare, quick-motioned, middle-sized man,
made room for me in the circle gathered about the
fire, earnestly discussing the war. A few bottles were
fenced off in the corner of the room. The house was
two stories high, rude in appearance, but within
cheery and orderly, and the table abounded with
good fare. A person entering that house would readi-
ly discover that Squire Doty and lady were persons
endowed with minds of no common cast. I there met
William B. Rochester and his sister Kitty, who were
returning from the Falls in a sleigh. The snow had
left them, and it was arranged that the brother should
go forward with the horse and harness, the sister to
remain until my return and ride behind me on myHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
639
horse to Dansville, a charge which honored me as
much as though the young lady had been a princess.
Of the business men of Dansville in 1807, I recollect
John Metcalf and Jared Irwin, merchants; the
latter also kept a tavern as did Jonathan Barnhart;
also, Jonathan Stout, tailor, Isaac Vanderventer, tan-
ner, Growen Wilkinson, Amariah Hammond, Jacob
Welch, Jas. McCurdy, farmers, Peter Laflesh, cabi-
net maker, and Daniel Sholl, who owned the grist
mill, built by Charles Williamson at an early day.
There was at that time, neither church nor school
house within the village limits. A poorly built log
school house* stood a mile north of Barnhart’s tavern
where service was held on Sabbath and singing school
once a week. The Rev. Andrew Gray usually
preached, sometimes Mr. Parker, a missionary from
Connecticut. Peter Laflesh led the singing, Mrs.
Wilkinson, mother of John Wilkinson, was a leading
voice in the primitive choir.”
Joshua Shepard, who came to Dansville in 1813,
was born in Plainfield, Connecticut, in 1779. He com-
menced life as a carpenter, and worked at Canandai-
gua and in the neighborhood until the War of 1812,
when he was trading near the lines and fearing an in-
vasion from Canada, came to Dansville, where he en-
gaged in Merchandizing. Ho was very successful as
a merchant, always prompt in collecting and prompt
in paying. The usual credit then was for one year,
but he insisted on payment spring and fall, and full
payment in the winter. Almost all the business was
barter, money being very scarce. Wheat was very
low, and was sent to Montreal. It was worth only
two shillings and sixpence store pay, and on one ship-
* This school house stood west of the road and near where now stands a
large barn of William Hartman’s.640
HISTOKY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ment he only realized seventeen cents per bushel.
The woolen, paper, flouring, clover-seed, and lumber
mills of which Dansville then had a number, he fur-
nished with goods on credit. He was aiso engaged
with Lester Bradner in a distillery. He usually went
to New York city in the winter-time all the way in a
cutter. Mr. Shepard did all he could to promote the
public welfare, and was always prominent in good
works, and when the first house of worship was
erected, he not only gave the land but assisted largely
in paying for the building. In February, 1808, Dr.
Philip Scholl fixed his residence in Dansville. He
was a native of Moore township, Northampton County,
Pennsylvania. When he arrived at Dansville the
village contained about a score of houses. He pur-
chased a lot on the corner of Main and Exchange
streets, and cleared a spot for a house. A day or two
was spent in grubbing out the stumps of saplings and
bushes before the cellar could be excavated. Dr.
Scholl soon became the owner of the flouring mill, and
operated it for several years, attending meanwhile to
his professional duties. He soon came to a good un-
derstanding with the Indians, who were in the habit
of visiting the upper portion of the mill-race in small
fishing parties, and they seldom went away without a
little bag of corn meal. A daughter of Dr. Scholl,*
says: “ On our reaching here, and for some time after-
wards, there was a miserable common school kept in
a temporary log school-house north of the village,
which likewise answered for a place for occasional re-
ligious services, and for public meetings. There was
not yet a professing Christian here. Occasionally a
circuit preacher or missionary came through, and in
half an hour the building would be filled with people
* Mrs. Wm. H. Pickell of Dansville.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
641
Little idea can now be formed of the roughness of the
early settlers generally. Of course we had but little
in the way of cultivated fruits and butcher’s meat,
but plenty of wild grapes, wild plums, and crab
apples, and a ready supply of venison and small
game.” Dr. Scholl was a man of much energy of
character. In person he was stout and thick-set, and
was predisposed to apoplexy, of which he suddenly
died in 1821, on a visit to his former home, where he
lies buried in the old Stone Church grave-yard, near
Kreidersville, Pa.
As early as 1807, as has already been seen, services
were irregularly held in a tumble-down building a
mile north of the village by a Presbyterian minister,
but it was not until the twenty-fifth of March, 1825,
that the Presbytery of Bath organized a church at
Dansville. “The church then organized,” says Cal-
vin E. Clark, “consisted of a small colony of nine
members from the first Presbyterian church of Sparta,
and two from the Presbyterian church in Buffalo,
making eleven in all, which was placed under the
care of the Rev. Robert Hubbard as stated supply.
Additions were gradually made to this feeble society
until the summer of 1827, when the church united
with the Presbytery of Ontario, having at this time
forty-six members. After the erection of a new
school house, which occupied the site of the present
Episcopal church, the society met in that on the Sab-
bath, but it soon became too small for their increasing
numbers. At this time Joshua Shepard very kindly
and liberally donated a lot on Main Street and one
thousand dollars to erect a church, which offer was
accepted by the society and a building was put up
and finished at a cost of thirty-five hundred dollars.
It was opened and dedicated to divine service in 1831,
but before it was finished the generous donor was642
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
called to mingle in other scenes, and was not permit-
ted to see or enjoy the fruits of his liberality. In 1840
a division in the church took place and two Presby-
terian congregations, known as first and second Pres-
byterian, was the result. This state of things lasted
until 1861, when they were united by the action of the
Ontario Presbytery.
In the fall of 1818, Merritt Brown and wife came to
Dansville. They were Methodists, and they found
here but one person of that persuasion, though there
were some Methodist families at West Sparta, six
miles distant, where there was occasionally preaching
by circuit preachers. After Mr. Brown located here,
occasional service was held at his house, by the Rev.
Thomas Magee and Elder Nash. The following year
the Rev. Micah Seager and Elder Chester B. Adgate
were appointed to the circuit, the latter remaining two
years, and through the agency of their zealous minis-
trations a revival took place. In 1821 the Rev. James
Gilmore was appointed to the circuit, and was suc-
ceeded by Elder Prindle. By this time several Meth-
odist families had moved in, and a class was formed.
Ephraim Walker was the leader. The members were
ElizaWalker, Samuel Smith and wife,Thomas McWhor-
ter and wife, George and Mark Morrison, and widow
Morrison. On the first Sabbath in January, 1825, the
Rev. Gideon Stoddard held the first quarterly meet-
ing in Dansville, followed by a protracted effort, and
revival which lasted two or three years. In 1829 the
first Methodist church, a structure thirty by forty-
eight feet, was erected in Dansville. It occupied the
site on which the present Methodist church stands.
The Rev. Robert Parker and the Rev. Thomas Carl-
ton were the first pastors. The first trustees were
Merritt Brown, William Curtice and Benjamin Pick-
ett. In the spring of 1858 a Seminary was establishedHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
643
here tinder control of the Methodist denomination, at
a cost of $15,000. There are in this town six other
churches, none however established at an early day.
One of the most extensive and probably the only ex-
clusively water cure establishment in the United
States is located in Dansville. In May, 1855, Mr. Da-
vid J. Wood, long a prominent merchant in Dansville,
died under circumstances that created some suspicion
of foul play in the minds of those whose relations
were intimate with the family. The wife and two
children were absent at the time of Mr. Wood’s
death, but returned in a couple of days thereafter. In
a fortnight or so the three were taken sick, the symp-
toms resembling those of Mr. Wood. Mrs. Wood
died. The children recovered after several weeks’
sickness, and on settling up the estate it was found
that they were penniless, although Mr. Wood, on his
death-bed, declared that he was worth several thous-
and dollars. The bodies of husband and wife were
exhumed and the contents of their stomachs submit-
ted to an experienced chemist for analysis, who found
traces of poison. Suspicion was at once directed to
the brother of Mr. Wood. He was arrested and after
a long and exciting trial was found guilty and hung
at Geneseo on the 9th of July, 1858.
NUNDA.
Area, 22,291 acres; population in 1875, 2,703.
Boundaries: on the north by Mount Morris ; east by
Ossian ; south by Grove (Allegany county); west by
Portage.644
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Nunda is one of the extreme south-western towns
of the county. Its surface is quite hilly, the highest
point, near its center, being about 1200 feet above the
canal at Nunda village. The soil, a sandy loam,
with gravel and clay intermixed, is well adapted to
the diversified needs of the farming community, and
especially so for the raising of wheat, of which staple
this town was once one of the most abundant pro-
ducers. Cashaqua creek, in the northwestern part,
is the principal stream. The Genesee Valley Canal
traverses the northwestern corner of the town, and
commences here the immense rise it is necessary for
it to make to surmount to the summit level at Port-
age. The deep cutting of the canal, its numerous
locks and picturesque scenery in this and the town of
Portage, are worthy of frequent visits from tourists and
sight-seers. Indeed the scenery about here is beauti-
ful, in some instances grand, and attract many
summer pleasure-seekers to the vicinity.
Nunda was formed from the town of Angelica, Al-
legany county, March 11th, 1808. Its people early
manifested a desire to annex the town to this county,
and measures were takpn to effect this object soon
after the county was organized. They were not suc-
cessful, however, and it was not until 1846 that Nunda
was taken from Allegany and annexed to Livingston.
Nunda village, situated in the northwestern part of
the town, is a flourishing place, having a large num-
ber of business places, and a few manufacturing
establishments. The streets and private residences
are very attractive, the well-shaded thoroughfares and
the tasteful architecture of the dwellings making it
one of the most beautiful villages in the county. It
contains six churches, and an academy, the building
of which is one of the best and costliest school edi-
fices in the county. The Nunda Literary Institute,HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
645
opened in 1845, was also in its day a noted and flour-
ishing educational institution. Its building was
burned in June, 1859.
Nunda Station, on the Erie Railway, is in the
southwest part of the town, and a busy place. At
present it is the nearest railroad station for the in-
habitants of the town, and is an important shipping
point. East Hill in the southeast part of the town, is
a small hamlet. Coopersville, in the northern part,
contains a grist-mill and a few houses.
The Tuscarora tract, which embraced the town of
Nunda and a portion of Mount Morris was at a very
early day the property of Luke Tiernan, of Baltimore.
It was late in coming into market, and the rich lands
were seized by squatters, whose only title was that
given by possession. They spent their time in hunt-
ing, fishing and trapping, paying little attention to
the cultivation of the soil. They were of no practical
benefit in developing the resources and promoting the
growth of the town, and rather hindered than en-
couraged emigration. Mr. Tiernan sent an agent, one
McSweeney, to protect his interests, but not under-
standing the nature of the men he had to deal with,
he was beset with troubles. The squatters had an
able and shrewd advocate in a Joseph Dixon, who
defended them against all suits for trespass, and
caused the agent much vexation. On the advent of
settlers, the squatters removed to other places, where
the annoyances of civilized life would not trouble
them.
In 1806 Phineas Bates and Beela Elderkin located
near the present village of Nunda, being the first per-
manent settlers of the town. Other early settlers
were David Corey and brother, Reuben Sweet and
Peleg, his brother, Gideon Powell, Abner Tuttle,646
HISTOBY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
William P. Wilcox, John H. Townser, and James
Paine.
Alan son Hubbell opened an inn at what is now the
village, in 1820. The first store was kept near the
centre, by Wm. P. Wilcox, at this time. Willoughby
Lovell built the first saw-mill in 1818, and the first
grist-mill was erected in 1828 by Samuel Swain and
Lindsey Joslyn.
In 1820 the Hon. Charles Carroll had charge of the
sale of lands in this vicinity, and became soon after
the proprietor of the site of the present village of
Nunda, which he laid out in 1824. In addition to
those already mentioned, Elijah Bennett, William and
Jacob Devon, were among the early settlers. Hiram
Grover was an early merchant, James Heath an inn-
keeper, Drs. Wright and Gilmore, physicians. Wil-
liam Hammond was also an early settler, and a prom-
inent and influential citizen.
In 1806 or 1807 James Scott and two or three other
farmers went up the Cashaqua valley, with a view to
locating, but these close observing farmers saw that
the hazel bushes had hanging on them dead hazel-
nuts, and concluding that it must be frosty there, did
not buy any lands. They spent the night in a partly
built hut or log house, between Brushville and Nunda
village. There was then but one occupied house be-
tween these two places, and that was occupied by a
squatter named Kingsley. Brushville was covered
with low brush, no trees of large growth being found
there.
Azel Pitch, Russell Messenger, Abijah Adams and
Zaphen Strong settled in the town in 1816, and in
1817 George W. Merrick came. The same spring the
families of John and Jacob Passage, Abraham Acker,
John White, Schuyler Thompson and Henry Root
settled in Nunda, which then embraced a territory asHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
647
large as a modern county. Mr. Merrick was a native
of Wilmington, Tolland Co., Conn., where he was
born in February, 179.3. He was six times elected
Supervisor, and was for sixteen years Justice of the
Peace. While in Jefferson Co., N. Y., Mr. Merrick
read an account in some newspaper that a man named
Barnard, of Nunda, with five others, went into the
woods one Sunday morning, chopped the logs and
laid up a log cabin as high as the chamber floor, and
one log above, before sunset. On reaching Nunda
Merrick purchased the claim on which the cabin was
standing, fifty acres of land and improvements, for
forty dollars in gold. The “improvements” were
the log cabin mentioned, which was twelve feet square,
and one-half acre of land cleared and sowed to tur-
nips. He at once raised the logs five feet higher, and
put on a roof of shingles of his own make, without
using a nail. Five hundred feet of boards were all he
could procure anywhere for finishing purposes.
An eccentric pioneer says that at this time a bird
familiar to all the early settlers used to say, £ £ Work
or die.” Later, when people were prosperous, lived
in larger houses, and more in the style of the present
day, it changed its refrain to ££ Cheat and lie.”
One of the first, if not the very first of the religious
organizations of Nunda was that of the Baptist soci-
ety. On the 21st of May, 1819, twelve individuals,
members of other churches of that denomination, who
had removed hither, organized the Baptist church of
Nunda. They received the right hand of fellowship
as a church from Elder Samuel Messenger, pastor of
a neighboring church, who preached for them half
the time that year. During the first three years, 47
members were added to the original number. Among
the active and liberal members of the church in early
days may be mentioned Deacon Rawson, Deacon648
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Schuyler Thompson, Nathaniel Coe, Reuben Pierce
and Daniel Ashley. In October, 1823, Elijah Bennett,
a member of the society, was ordained to the ministry
aijd became pastor of the church. His compensation
was very meagre, and he was often obliged to depend
upon the labor of his hands to procure support. The
church minutes, July 3d, 1825, contain this record:
“Voted to give Elder Messenger $50 for half of the
time, to be paid in produce by the first of the ensuing
Fubruary.” In 1826 Elder Bennett’s pay was raised
to $100 annually, for half of the time. The society
was incorporated in October, 1827, when “John
Waite, Silas Warren and Daniel Ashley were chosen
trustees. They at once purchased a site on which was
erected what was considered a commodious church
edifice, of wood. The rapid growth of the member-
ship eventually required a larger building, however,
and in 1840 the spacious brick edifice now in use was
erected. The wooden building was purchased by the
Nunda Literary Institute, and used for educational
purposes until its destruction by fire.
The Presbyterian church was organized at about the
same time as the Baptist church, and the Methodist
society was formed in 1844.
The first frame house erected in the town of Nunda
was by George W. Merrick. Another frame house
was erected soon after. A squatter named Bata, was
perhaps the first settler within the corporate limits of
the village of Nunda. He came here in 1815 or 1816.
He cleared a small plot of ground, set out some fruit
trees, and started other improvements. When John
McSweeney^fttejiigent of the Tiernan tract, arrived,
Bata was driven off. McSweeney was a native of Ire-
land. He became dissatisfied with the new country,
and at the first town meeting held in Pike, petitioned
for an appropriation to enable him to return to Ire-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	649
land. The first frame house in the village of Nunda
was erected in 1824 by Asa Heath, and the next one
by Alanson Hubbell. Heath came from Washington'
county and settled in Nunda in 1820. A part of the
house he built is still standing. The village of Nunda
was incorporated April 26th, 1839.
OSSIAN.
Area, 25,086 acres; population in 1875, 1,144.
Boundaries: on the north by West Sparta; east by
North Dansville and Dansville, Steuben county ; south
by Burns (Allegany county); west by Grove (Alle-
gany county) and Nunda.
Ossian was taken from Angelica on the 11th of
March, 1808, and remained a part of Allegany county
until 1857, when it was annexed to Livingston county.
Angelica was then the shire town of Allegany county,
distant twenty miles from Ossian over rugged road-
ways ; and though Geneseo is equally distant, even
by the ordinary wagon roads, it is more easily reached.
The surface of the town is broken and hilly through-
out, yet while the summits of the greater hills rise to
a height of 600 to 800 feet above the grass-covered
valleys, but a small proportion of the land is unsuited
to tillage. About half the area of the town is uncul-
tivated, the forests in some parts, for a hundred acres
together, remaining in their pwm^Jkcondition. The
soil in the valleys is a gravelly loam, that on the hills
a sandy loam, with some clay in the eastern part. In
the north-west part is a small gas spring. Sugar Creek
flows through the town, near the center. Ossian Cen-650
HISTORY 01' LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ter is a small settlement, containing eighteen or twenty
houses. West View, a smaller settlement, contains
about a dozen houses and a saw mill.
The first settlement was made in 1804 by Judge
Richard W. Porter and his brother James Porter, of
New Jersey. James Haynes and James Croghan set-
tled here about the year 1806, and Jacob Clendenin in
1807. Orrison Cleveland, William and John Gould,
and Heman Orton came about the year 1810. Luther
Bisbee was an early settler in the north-west corner of
the town. The first child born was Abraham Porter
in 1805; the first marriage that of John Gelson and
Betsey Shay, in 1816 ; the first death that of John
Turner, killed by the falling of a tree in 1807. The
first school in the town was taught in 1813 and 1814
by a Mr. Weston.
In 1817 Oliver Stacey opened the first inn, and Dan-
iel Canfield the first store in 1824. The first saw-mill
was built by Nathaniel Porter in 1806 or the following
year, and the first grist-mill by John Smith in 1826.
There are two churches in the town, Presbyterian
and Methodist. The first church, the Presbyterian,
was organized Sept. 29, 1818, by the Rev. Robert
Hubbard. In 1825 it numbered 49 members, and
in 1832 it had 63 members. The Rev. Mr. Hubbard
was the first preacher, but enjoyed only occasional
preaching from him, as he had two extended congre-
gations.
“The town of Ossian* was one of the early sales of
Phelps and Gorham to Jeremiah Wadsworth, who
sold it to Robert Troup. It was included in agencies
of James Wadsworth, under whose auspices its sale
and settlement commenced. A saw-mill was built
there in 1806. Frederick Covert, Wm. Boyle, Samuel
* Turner’s Phelps and Gorham Purchase.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
651
M’Crea, Richard Porter, Joshua Carpenter, Elijah
Belknap, James Rooker, Wm. Lemen, James Greg-
ory, and James Boylan, had become purchasers, and
it is presumed most of them settlers in 1807. Mr.
Wadsworth advertised that he would exchange lands
in Troupton for improved farms in New England.
He said :—‘ The township is situated on the Canase-
raga, about twelve miles above its confluence with the
Genesee river ; ten miles from Arkport. There is an
excellent wagon road from Geneseo, through Sparta,
to Troupton. A road has been made from the village,
through Troupton, to Angelica.’ In December of the
same year, Mr. Wadsworth writes to Mr. Troup that
he had supplied a new settler in the township, (Mr.
Carpenter,) with a pot ash kettle, and adds:—‘you
cannot imagine what a help two or three pot ash
kettles are, in a new towhship, to the settlers.’ ”
PORTAGE.
Area, 15,585 acres; population in 1875, 1,172.
Boundaries : on the north by Mount Morris ; east by
Nunda; south by Granger (Allegany county); west
by Pike (Wyoming county).
Portage lies in the extreme south-western part of
the county, and is one of its later acquisitions, having
been annexed to Livingston from Allegany in 1846.
It was formed from the town of Nunda March 8th,
1827. The name was derived from the portage or
carrying-place around the falls of the Genesee, which
flows along its western border. The surface is quite
hilly, in some parts rising to a height of several hun-
dred feet above the general level of the locality. Near652
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNT*.
Portageville the hills attain a height of 200 feet above
the railroad. The scenery in the vicinity of the river
is picturesque and grand. The river after leaping
over the Upper and Middle Falls, flows through a
deep chasm, whose rocky sides rise quite perpendicu-
larly to a height of from one to two hundred feet.
Here, also, the Genesee Valley Canal crawls along the
mountain side, and feels its way to the aqueduct
crossing the river above the railroad, while the old
railroad bridge, probably the largest wooden bridge
in the world, and a wonderful example of the engi-
neering skill of man, spanned the river at this point,
and was for years the object of pilgrimages from all
parts of the country. It was destroyed by fire in
1875, but has been replaced by an iron bridge as
wonderful in construction, and as worthy of a long
journey to see, as its famous predecessor.
The soil of the town is a clay loam in the eastern
part, and a sandy loam in the western portion. Oak-
land, Hunt’s Hollow and Portage Station are small
villages, the latter a railroad station on the Erie Rail-
way.
Jacob Shaver, so far as can be learned, was the first
settler in Portage, coming here in 1810. He settled
on lot 150, where he made a clearing, and built a log
house. Ephraim Kingsley and Seth Sherwood fol-
lowed*him in 1811. Other early settlers were Prosper
and Abijah Adams, Enoch Halliday, Walter Bennett,
RussellfMessenger (who gave the name to Messenger
Hollow), Nathaniel B. Nichols, Asahel Fitch, Elias
Hill, Joseph Dixon, Solomon Williams, George Wil-
mer, Stephen Spencer, Willis Robinson, Allen Miller,
Elias Moses, Horace Miller, Thomas Alcott, Joseph
and Thomas T. Bennett, Benjamin Fordyce, Horton
Fordyce, Reuben Weed, Cyrus Allen, Wm. Dake,
Nathaniel and Charles Coe.HISTOBY OB LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
658
In 1816, Colonel George Williams, as sub-agent of
Pultney estate under Mr. Greig, came to Portage and
under his enterprise and skilful management, the
lands were brought into market and rapidly sold to
settlers. Col. Williams, who was a son of Dr. Wil-
liam A. Williams of Canandaigua, continued as agent
for the sale of these lands for many years, and such
was his liberal and considerate manner of dealing
with the settlers, and yet the conscientious regard he
manifested for the interests of his superiors, that he
was held in high esteem, and retained through life the
confidence and respect of those having dealings with
him.
Sanford Hunt emigrated from Green county to Liv-
ingston county in December, 1818, with his wife and
seven children. Mrs. Hunt was a native of Coventry,
Tolland Co., Connecticut. Her maiden name was
Fanny Rose, and she was a niece of the lamented Na-
than Hall of Revolutionary memory, and daughter of
a surgeon in the Continental army. The little house-
hold had tarried at Sonyea for two or three months,
and reached Portage in January, 1819. On their way
to Portage, Mr. Samuel R. Hunt says: “In coming
in from the direction of Mount Morris, we passed
much of the way over corduroy roads, and through
the six-mile woods between the present river and State
roads, across the White Woman’s tract. We came
out upon an old clearing east, called the Shaver place
—now John Angel’s farm. Fording the creek twice
we came to anchor as far south as the road was opened.
There was not a bridge across the creek from source to
mouth, though one was built the following spring.
There were but three families south of here, by way
of the State road, in eleven miles—that is, to the junc-
tion with the Dansville road. These were George
Gearhart and a son-in-law, John Growlin and Andrew654
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Smith. Here were also Henry Bennett, Nathaniel B.
Nichols and Walter Bennett, his partner (who built a
saw-mill the year before), Enoch Miller, Henry Devoe,
Elder Elijah Bennett and several single men. Deacon
William Town and Henry Root lived near, and last,
though not least, Elias Alvord, potash boiler.”
On the west was Ephraim Kingsley, on the Nash
farm. Mr. Hunt says :	“ He first took up the farm
in 1816, and set, I think, the first apple orchard on
the Cottinger tract, unless it be a few trees on the
Shaver place. Solomon Williams set a good orchard,
and did more to introduce good fruit, apples especi-
ally, than any farmer I know of. He went to Utica,
Chenango, and afterward to Canandaigua, for grafts,
and by saving some and discarding others he left, per-
haps, the best and most profitable varieties in the
county. South of him was Warren Carpenter, on the
Short Tract road. West, Samuel Fuller, a Revolu-
tionary pensioner from Rhode Island.”
Turner says of Sanford Hunt: “He had come to
the then new region, with a large family, after busi-
ness reverses, which had left him little but a manly
fortitude and spirit of perseverence, to rely upon. He
engaged in farming, merchandizing in a small way,
(his goods principally obtained in Geneseo) erected
mills, an ashery ; was a valuable acquisition to the
new country; retrieved his broken fortunes; and
what was a moral triumph, of far more consequence,
reared and educated a family of sons and daughters
who have proved worthy of such a father, (and such a
mother it might well be added).” Hunt’s Hollow is so
called from the fact of his residence there. He left
five sons, among whom were Samuel R. and Horace
Hunt of Hunt’s Hollow, and Washington Hunt,
Governor of the State in the years 1851 and 1852.
The future Governor laid the foundation of his edu-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	655
cation in the common district schools of Portage, after
which he was a student in the Geneseo Academy,
paying his way by doing manual labor morning and.
evening. He afterward entered the store of Bissell &
Olmsted, of Geneseo, and when Mr. Bissell removed
to Lockport, he followed him thither, at the age of 17
years. There his progress and. advancement were
rapid, until he had attained the highest position in the
State.
In 1817 Prosper Adams opened the first tavern in
Portage, and Sanford Hunt started the first store in
1819. The first saw-mill was built in 1816, and the
first grist-mill in 1817, by Russell Messenger.
The first religious organization was the Presbyterian
church, at Hunt’s Hollow, about the year 1820. The
town now contains four churches, Presbyterian,
Methodist, Episcopal and Baptist.
SPARTA.
Area, 17,243 acres; population in 1875, 1,141.
Boundaries: on the north by Conesus ; east by Spring-
water; south by North Dansville; west by West
Sparta.
The town of Sparta was formed in January, 1789,
and it originally embraced the towns of Sparta, West
Sparta, Groveland and North Dansville, together
with a portion of Springwater. Groveland was formed
in 1812. A part of Springwater was taken from Sparta
in 1816 ; and in 1846 Sparta was divided and the three
towns formed first above named. A portion of Grove-
land was annexed in 1856. The surface of the town is656
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
quite hilly, in some parts the summits being 800 to
1,000 feet high. On the hills the soil is a gravelly
loam, while in the valleys it is a sandy, gravelly loam,
with some mixture of clay. The Canaseraga creek
flows along the western border.
The most important village in the town is Scotts-
burgh, named after Matthew and William Scott, early
settlers. It is situated in the northern part of the
town, and contains two churches, several stores, a
tavern, grist and saw-mill, and about forty houses.
North Sparta, Sparta and Reed’s Corners are small
hamlets.
The map of Sparta has been more frequently
changed than that of any other town in the county.
The territory of the original town of Sparta extended
from Livonia south to the Allegany county line, and
west from Naples, Ontario county, to the Genesee
river.
The first settlement was made at Scottsburgh about
1794, by Jesse Collar, from Pennsylvania, and for a
number of years the place was called Collartown.
Other early settlers were Darling Havens, John Nib-
lack, John Smith, Asa Simmons, Robert Wilson and
Thomas Hovey, who came previous to 1798, Peter Rob-
erts in 1799. Nearly all the earlier settlers were from
Pennsylvania. Thomas Bohanan taught the first
school. Darling Havens came from Sussex county,
New Jersey, where he was born, in 1794, locating ata
place in the Canaseraga valley ever since known as
Havens’Tavern. He kept the first tavern in Sparta. He
died April 2d, 1814. His son, Isaac Havens, came with
him to Sparta, and lived on the same farm until his
death in June, 1856. The first grist-mill was built in
1810 by William D. McNair. The first town meeting
for the town of Sparta was held at Williamsburgh on
the first Tuesday of April, 1796. William Harris wasHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
657
chosen Supervisor, and William Lemen Town Clerk.
In 1797 the town meeting was held at the same place,
Lemen’s tavern, Williamsburgh ; in 1798 it was held
at James Clark’s house; in 1799 at the house of Cap-
tain Henry Magee. At this meeting the sum of $80
was voted for town expenses for the ensuing year.
Philip Gilman and Joshua Carpenter came to Sparta
about the year 1802, from Pennsylvania. Both were
Revolutionary soldiers, and drew pensions until their
deaths.
The first religious society in the town was that of
the Methodist church. Elder John B. Hudson visited
Sparta East Hill in the fall of 1805. He says that
from Groveland he “passed on to Sparta East Hill,
where was another little company of Methodists. All
of our members and most of the people here had em-
igrated from Pennsylvania.” The town now contains
six churches.
Alexander Fullerton* was an early settler in Sparta.
He was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, of
Scotch parents. While residing in Pennsylvania he
was made a captain in the militia. This so pleased
the parents, whose respect for military rank was very
great, that he was treated with peculiar respect by
them. This anecdote is related: The parents kept a
tavern, and when a traveller would inquire the price
of a dinner he would be answered thus: “Octeen
pence byyoursel’, but twa shillings if you eat with
my son, for he has the best the hoose affords and an
onion to relish it with.” The same love of military
display descended to General W. S. Fullerton, who,
for many years, was prominently connected with the
militia service of the State.
The early preacher of Sparta was the Rev. Andrew
* Father of General William S. Fullertoa658
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Gray, the remembrance of whom lingered tenderly in
the minds of the pioneers long after he had passed
away. His life was a, chequered one in many respects.
He was born in the County Down, Ireland, Jan. 1st,
1757. Migrating to America he took part in the Rev-
olutionary War, at the age of seventeen. He was
taken prisoner at the battle of Long Island by the
Hessians, and in an altercation between two of these
hirelings, each of whom claimed Gray as his prisoner,
the latter nearly lost his life. After suffering inde-
scribable horrors for several months, he escaped to the
American lines, and afterward took part in some of
the hardest fought battles of the war. When the long
struggle ended he studied for the ministry, hiring
out by the day to earn the means with which to secure
an education. He preached his first sermon in 1798,
in Low Dutch. In 1795, in company with Major Yan
Campen and Mr. McHenry he came to Allegany
county, N. Y., where the three purchased a large
tract of land, and moved here with his family in the
following year. The title proving defective he lost
largely. He preached in Allegany about twelve years,
preaching in Dansville, Almond and Angelica. In
1806 or 1807 he moved to Sparta, where he preached
to two congregations, one in Sparta, and one in what
is now Groveland. In December, 1807, he was author-
ized by the New York Missionary Society to proceed
to the Tuscarora Indian village and confer with the
chiefs and members of the tribes, on the subject of
their connection with that society. After holding the
council with the Tuscaroras he*was accepted by them
as a missionary, and removed with his family to the
Tuscarora village. His labors were blest, and many
of the Indians were converted. He was greatly har-
rassed by the war of 1815, and on the 18th of Decem-
ber, 1814, when Lewiston was burnt, he was obligedHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	659
to flee. He left the table spread and the tea poured
out. He lost his household property and library, for
which no restitution was ever made. He returned to
Sparta, where he remained until his death, in 1839,
“much and justly lamented.” The funeral proces-
sion, a very long one, was headed by two venerable
Revolutionary soldiers, Captain Perine and Major
YanCampen.
A person of no small note came to Sparta at an
early day. This was General Daniel Shays, the in-
citer of the outbreak known as “Shay’s Rebellion,”
which occurred soon after the close of the Revolution-
ary War, and threatened for a time the peace of the
eastern part of the Union. Shays came to Sparta in
the company of Jonathan Weston, a schoolteacher,
who had been on a visit to Cayuga county. He is
described as having been a short, stout, talkative old
gentleman, whose quick and sprightly manner struck
the observer at once. William Scott, who visited him
here, in company with young Millard Filmore, says:
“I can recollect that both Filmore and I were much
disappointed in his personal appearance. By no
means commanding in person, his dress was quite or-
dinary and there was nothing to mark him as one to
take the lead, and we wondered how the talkative old
gentleman had become so prominent.” Shays squat-
ted on a lot near Hungerford’s, where he lived three
years. He then married the widow of the senior
Darling Havens, who was then living with two un-
married sons about a mile east of Scottsburgh. Here
Shays lived several years, until, obtaining a pension,
he bought twelve acres of land near Scottsburgh and
built a log house and frame barn. He resided here
until his death. The barn is still standing. In his
latter years he drank pretty freely, but would never
associate with low company. He prided himself in660
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
setting a good table and entertaining friends. His
death occurred Sept. 29th, 1825, at the age of 84 years.
He was buried in the town of Conesus, a mile north
of Scottsburgli, and no stone marks his grave.
The first newspapers circulated in Sparta, and the
first in the county, were the Repository and the Mes-
senger, both of which were printed in Canandiagua,
and delivered by post-riders. A postoffice was estab-
lished in the town in 1814, with Samuel Stillwell as
postmaster.
A great deal of whiskey was used in early days,
although there was comparatively little drunkenness.
Perhaps this was because the liquor was home made,
and unadulterated with the vile poisons that are found
in liquors of the present day. William Magee says :
“There was a great deal of liquor used in those days.
They had their bees to put up log cabins, log barns,
and also their logging bees; and to take it all in all, it
required a great deal of liquor.” The town of Sparta
then embracing its largest territory, had eight stills in
operation, from about 1796 to 1810. These were owned
by William Lemen, William Magee, Alexander Mc-
Donald, Hector McKay, Nicholas Beach, John Hy-
land, James Rodman and James Scott.
In June, 1806, James Scott* left Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, with his family of ten children,
in a long covered wagon drawn by four horses and a
yoke of oxen, reaching Sparta on the first day of
July. From Dansville they had to cut a road most of
the way to their new home, and settled in the woods
on lands now owned by Peter Swick and heirs of L.
Doud. There was then no wagon road in any direc-
tion. An Indian path ran from Conesus to Hemlock
valley, and nothing more. To the eastward stretched
* Father of the Hon. William Scott of Scottsburgh.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
661
an unbroken wilderness to Naples, a distance of 18
miles. In what is now the town of Springwater there
was not a stick cut nor line drawn. A good many
Indians roamed through the woods ; and bears, wolves,
panthers and deer, almost by the hundred, made their
presence known. Two years before bringing his fam-
ily, Mr. Scott had visited Sparta on horseback with
his wife for the purpose of prospecting. The country
suited him and in the fall two of his sons and one
daughter, came out, erected a log cabin and cleared
off a piece of ground which they sowed to wheat.
The next summer another son came out and drove a
cow. All returned to Pennsylvania in the fall and
came back with the family the following year.
“ The Sabbath following our arrival in Sparta,”
says W illiam Scott, ‘1 my father, one of the girls and
four of us boys attended meeting at the house of
George Mitchell, a log house standing two and one-
half miles south of what is now Scottsburg, and six
miles south of Conesus lake, where Samuel Emmet, a
Methodist minister, preached to a congregation of
about twenty-five or thirty persons. I had heard the
good man preach in Pennsylvania, and meeting him
here renewed agreeable associations to us all.”
“The season was one of great scarcity of flour here.
But having learned the fact before leaving Pennsylva-
nia, we brought a sufficient supply to last until new
wheat could be harvested, of which there proved to
be a bountiful crop.” The first town meeting attended
by the Scotts after their arrival in Sparta, was held in
1807, in the present town of Groveland, at the house
of Christian Roup, a log house standing less than a
mile south of Groveland Center. Here they met John
Smith, Joseph Richardson, Robert Burns, John Hunt,
Andrew Culbertson, William and Daniel Kelly, Sam-
uel Stillwell, James Rosebrugh, Thomas Begole, Wil-
liam Doty, and others.662
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
James Scott was a native of the County Antrim,
Ireland, though his parents were born in Scotland.
The family sailed for America on the 21st of August,
1773, and reached New York on the 16th of October.
They settled at Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. At the
breaking out of the Revolution James Scott joined
the patriot forces, serving under Colonel Stroud, whose
regiment was detached from field service and detailed
to protect the frontier from the incursions of the In-
dians, so frequent after the massacre of Wyoming.
“My mother was staying with some friends in Phila-
delphia at the time of the battles of Brandywine and
Germantown and heard the sound of the cannon all
day, and after the battles, so disastrous to the colon-
ists, saw the British march into the city with colors
flying, and take possession, though they did not seem
disposed to disturb quiet citizens.” Mr. Scott was
married about the year 1780 to a daughter of John
Smith, who had come from Londonderry, Ireland, at
the same time with the Scotts. Mr. Scott lived at
Mount Bethel until 1794, when he removed to North-
umberland county, where he remained until his
removal to Sparta. “My parents hearing much said
about the Genesee country, resolved to see it for them-
selves. They set out on horseback in the summer of
1804, and after a journey of five days reached Sparta.
The same distance can now be made in half a day. A
location was made, they returned, and at once pre-
pared to take up their abode in the newer land of
promise, where they continued to reside until their
death.” Mr. Scott died in 1840, at the ripe age of 84,
his wife surviving him eleven years. It was truthfully
said of him that he was never heard to utter one vul-
gar or profane word. He was an even-tempered,
patient, firm, and warm-hearted man, and was univer-
sally respected.HTSTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
663
William Scott, upon whose recollections large drafts
have been made in this work, and who is yet living, a
hale, hearty old man, commenced his business life as
a wool-carder and cloth-dresser. He says: “In Au-
gust, 1807, Samuel Culbertson came to my father’s to
get a boy for a fortnight to assist in his carding shop
at Dansville, and it was concluded that I should go
and remain with him through the carding season. I,
however, stayed with him through that year and the
two following ones, and felt competent at the end of
that time to take charge myself of a wool-carding and
cloth-dressing shop.”
In May, 1810, Mr. Scott hired out to Ichabod A.
Holden and Russell Gilbert, who had a carding and
cloth-dressing establishment two miles north of Hem-
lock lake, at a place now called Jacksonville. His
wages were $18 per month. “In the fall I hired to a
man of the name of Plumb, at Horton’s Mills, now
Mendon, at $18 per month. Elder Weeks owned the
works. After cloth-dressing was over at that place I
returned to Holden & Gilbert’s in Livonia and worked
for them until the first of April. I had agreed with
Mr. Laflesh to purchase a carding machine and set up
the business in Dansville, in company with him, he
being a carder as well as cabinet-maker. So I agreed
with William Brisband of East Bloomfield to furnish
one for $400, one-fourth to be paid down and the re-
mainder in three equal annual instalments. When the
time came for setting up the machine, Laflesh could
not pay his part of the first payment, which put me to
much embarrassment, it being my first effort to set up
business for myself.” Mr. Scott saw Colonel Nathan-
iel Rochester, as is stated in the sketch of Dansville,
and formed a partnership, which helped him out of
his difficulty.
Afterward Mr. Scott was foreman in the wool-1564	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
carding and cloth-dressing establishment which Ben-
jamin Hungerford started in what is now the town of
West Sparta in 1814, where he remained for some
time. “ I engaged with Judge Hurlburt, of Arkport,
to take charge of his carding and cloth-dressing
works through the season, at $85 per month. The
following year I took the works on shares. I doubt
not the good influence surrounding me during the
two years I resided in the Judge’s family had a favor-
able influence over me during my subsequent life.
The Judge had settled in Arkport in 1795.”
“ Having settled up my business at Arkport I re-
turned to Sparta, making up my mind to settle there
for life, in the spring of 1819. I commenced building
a house at Collartown, or Scottsburgh, which I com-
pleted in the autumn of the same year. That house is
now owned and occupied as a hotel by Captain Dar-
ling Havens,* a worthy representative of a family of
hotel-keepers, who, for three quarters of a century
have made the name a favorite one with the travelling
public.”
Mr. Scott was married Feb. 9th, 1820, to Phebe
Woodruff, daughter of Isaac Woodruff of Livonia.
In the spring of 1821 he opened the public house at
Scottsburgh, and continued in that business until the
completion of his new house in 1826. The following
year he sold the tavern stand to Dr. E. Wright, and
moved to his new residence. He was elected a Jus-
tice of the Peace in 1835, and filled the oflxce for
twelve consecutive years. The little stone building in
which he held court was often the scene of sharp en-
counters between members of the bar. Mr. Harwood,
of Dansville, and Philip Woodruff, of Scottsburgh,
were often pitted against each other. Harwood was
* He lias since died.HISTORY OS' LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
665
always plausible with witnesses and . skillful in pre-
senting the strongest points of his case, and so court-
eous that he usually had some advantage over his
opponent. Woodruff was much more thoroughly
versed in the law, was a man of keen discernment,
and possessed a high sense of honor. He was very
successful in his practice and always true to his
clients and friends.
In 1836 Mr. Scott was elected to the Assembly and
was re-elected the following year. In 1847 he was
elected Sessions Justice, under the new constitution,
occupying the bench with Judge Lord, County Judge,
and John H. Jones of Leicester, associate Sessions
Justice. In 1856, Mrs. Scott died, “a bereavement
that fell like a blight upon my pathway,” says Mr.
Scott, who, in a retrospective letter, written after hav-
ing passed man’s allotted time—three score years and
ten—says: “ Many a heartfelt enjoyment has been
shared by me in former days with near and dear
friends. And, calmly turning from the Past, with its
teeming memories, to the Future, with all its tran-
scendent interests, with that eye of Faith which sees
more and more clearly as life advances, I may be per-
mitted to say that I derive assured consolation for
anything that may be denied here by bereavements,
in the hope of a perpetual re-union of friends in a
happy Immortality.”
In the fall of 1818 Mr. Scott went on horseback from
Sparta, by way of Dansville, Painted Post and New-
town to Meansville, now Towanda, Pa., to order mill-
stones for the first grist-mill built in Scottsburgh.
The stone was quarried in the mountain above. He
ordered the stones, for which he paid $60, and the fol-
lowing winter a team was sent for them, the transpor-
tation charges amounting to $80. Mr. Scott thinks the
“ runner” of these two stones is nowin Zehner’s mill.666
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
About the middle of June, 1813, it commenced rain-
ing and continued for three or four days, when just
at evening, on the 19th of that month, the rain began
to fall in torrents, increasing in volume until the flood
threatened to wash away every structure on the
mountain streams of Sparta. Benjamin Hungerford,
of West Sparta Hill, had but just completed a new
saw-mill on Duncan’s creek, and placed a new set of
machinery in the old carding shop, when the storm
came and swept machines, structures and all away.
Colonel Rochester’s saw-mill dam on the East Dans-
ville creek, which supplied water for himself and for
Scott’s carding mill, was also carried out. But the
most notable loss was that of William D. McNair’s
grist-mill, which stood on Stony Brook, a few rods
east of the highway leading from Dansville to Haven’s
tavern. The building was strongly built of stone on
a solid foundation, and so confident was the proprie-
tor of its security, even on such a night, that becom-
ing alarmed, as the storm increased, for the safety of
the log house in which he was living, he moved his
household effects into the mill, and his family to the
miller’s house. Scarcely had they reached the latter
place than a loud crash announced the total destruc-
tion of the stone mill, with all its machinery and stores
of grain and goods.
Seldom has such a storm been witnessed in this
country, and the popular notion was that a cloud had
“burst.” The flood washed mill-stones many rods
from their place, and buried them so deeply in the
sand and gravel that only after the washings of lesser
floods for many years afterwards, were they discov-
ered. It may be stated, as a curious fact, that the log
house above alluded to survived the storm and still
stands.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
667
SPRINGWATER.
Area: 32,562 acres; population in 1875, 2,129.
Boundaries: north by Conesus and Canadice (Ontario
Co.); east by Naples, (Ontario Co.); south by Way-
land and Cohocton, (Steuben Co.); west by Sparta.
Springwater is the largest town, and forms the
south-eastern corner of the county, its eastern half
extending six miles beyond the general eastern line of
Livingston. It was erected on the 17th of April, 1816,
and was formed from Sparta and Naples, both towns
then belonging to Ontario County. Its name was de-
rived from the abundance and excellence of the
springs which everywhere break out along the bottom
of the hilly grounds, and was chosen at a meeting of
the inhabitants called to petition for its erection.
Other names were suggested but Seth Knowles said
that none were so suitable and expressive as that they
selected. The soil of the town is a sandy and gravelly
loam, plentifully interspersed here and there with
clay. Its surface is somewhat broken, and is more
hilly than any other town in the eastern half of the
county, and both from soil and topography, it is bet-
ter suited for grazing purposes than for grain. The
inlet of Hemlock lake, which flows northward through
the western portion of the town, is the principal
stream. Cohocton river has its source in the north*
eastern part of the town, and passes thence south-
ward into Steuben county. The Pultney estate em-
braced a portion of Springwater, and several sharply
litigated suits have grown out of the peculiar charac-
ter of the title to that property in the town.
On an elevated hill, not far from the head of the
lake, were found many years ago remains of the Port-
builders, over whose history yet broods so much of
uncertainty, showing that the locality whose natural668	HISTOEY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
beauty has so much in it to attract, was known to, and
appreciated by the aboriginal races ages ago. The
first settler in Spring water Yalley, then called Hem-
lock Valley, was Seth Knowles, a native of Connecti-
cut, who settled on lot 18, in 1807. His house, a small
log tenement, stood a mile above the lake on the east
side of the valley. The spot is not far from John
Jennings’ dwelling house. The next settler was Sam-
uel Hines, * who located here in 1808. He built a saw
mill the following year, three miles above the lake,
which subsequently became the property of Farnum
and Tyler. Hugh Wilson, who came from Northum-
berland, Pa., built the pioneer grist-mill in 1813, at
the foot of the hill where the road from Scottsburg
enters the valley. It occupied nearly the present site
of Charles Brewer’s mill. It was a frame building,
about twenty-two by thirty, two stories high, and had
two run of stones. Elder John Wiley, who settled in
Springwater on the 14th of March, 1815, found thirty
families in the town. He crossed Hemlock lake on the
ice, returning from the war then just closed, and on
reaching the western side, learned that peace between
England and America had been declared. The for-
rests, he says, were yet in a state of nature, with only
here and there a small patch of clearing. The hamlet
of Springwater then contained one frame dwelling
house, built by Samuel Story on the premises subse-
quently owned by Harvey S. Tyler, a frame barn
built by Mr. Watkins, of Naples, and now owned by
heirs of Edward Withington, and a little frame
“ seven by nine ” store, erected by Hosea H. Grover,
who kept the first store, built the first ashery, and
made the first barrel of potash. There were also
* Another account claims Phineas Gilbert as the second settler. It is said
that he removed to Springwater in 1806, and settled on the lot afterward
owned by Dr. John B. Norton, about 100 rods north of Gilbert’s house.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
669
three frame saw-mills and a frame grist-mill, besides
four or five log houses. There was then but one school
house in the town, a “small log structure ” said Mr.
Wiley, “which stood in my dooryard and which in
after years I tore down.” “Grover,” he says, “ex-
changed goods for shingles, boards, maple-sugar and
black salts or potash, articles then reckoned as lawful
currency for we had no other medium. The war had
left us without money. Shingles rated at twenty
shillings, and boards at seven dollars per thousand,
while common shirting was worth half a dollar a yard,
plug and pig-tail tobacco from fifty to sixty cents a
pound, and salt five dollars a barrel, and very hard
to get even at that. We were shut up in this then re-
mote region. Horses weres carce enough. I think
there were but three in town. Mr. Goodrich pf East
Hill told me he supplied his large family with pota-
toes all one season by bringing a bushel and a half at
a time from Richmond, a dozen miles away, on his
back, and Sylvester Capron said that for the first year
he carried the flour of a bushel and a half of wheat
on his back from Reed’s Mill, in Richmond, a like
distance. Harvey S. Tyler, then about eighteen years
of age, was the first school teacher I knew, though I
believe that Jas. Blake had kept a school the previous
winter in the log school house. David Henry, who
some years afterwards removed to Michigan, was the
first physician that settled in Springwater. On reach
ing the Valley I found Elder John Cole, a Baptist
minister, there. He was the first clergyman who set-
tled in the town. Of the Methodist Society, Phineas
Gilbert, a native of Massachusetts, who located in
Springwater in 1810, was the class leader when I
reached there. The society then consisted of half a
dozen persons. The Methodist circuit then embraced
Bloomfield and Springwater, or Hemlock Valley as670
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
our place was then called, and was supplied by the
Rev. Elisha House, a man of superior parts, assisted
by James S. Lent, a son-in-law of Lemuel Jennings, of
Geneseo. The first quarterly meeting ever held in
the town was under charge of Abner Chase, Presiding
Elder of Ontario district, in 1820 or 21, in the bam of
Jonathan Lawrence, who was then the class leader.
The barn stood on the premises now owned by Addi-
son Marvin. The society met at private houses until
the school house accommodated it better. There was
no Presbyterian society, nor any member of that
church in the town when I reached there. In a year
or so, Mrs. Lucy Chamberlain, my grandmother, who
had been a member of the Presbyterian church at
Dalton, Mass., for fifty-one years, came here to reside
with her daughter, Mrs. Lawrence, wife of Jonathan
Lawrence. The old lady took a letter from the Rev.
Mr. Jennings, of Dalton, on leaving there, but told
him she had learned that there was no Presbyterian
congregation at Springwater, and that she would
unite with the Methodists, which she did. The Rev.
Mr. Bell, a Presbyterian Missionary, preached a ser-
mon in the house of Dr. David Henry in 1816, the
first sermon preached by a Presbyterian minister in
the town I think.
The first distillery in the town was built by Alvah
Southworth, on premises then owned by Jonathan
Lawrence. It was a frame building, about twenty by
thirty feet. About twenty gallons a day was distilled
from rye and corn, thus making a home market for
these grains. The spirit was sold at the still, and car-
ried away by farmers in jugs and bottles, and occa-
sionally in kegs.
‘ ‘ The first wool-carding and cloth-dressing establish-
ment was erected by Edward Walker in 1821, onprem-
ises now owned by William Brewer. It was a frameHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
671
building, about twenty-two by thirty, two stories high,
the cloth-dressing part below and the carding above.
The new settlement was generally blessed with good
health, but in the winter of 1813-14, as I was told, the
epidemic, or cold ‘ plague,’ visited the valley. One
of the earliest settlers named Farnam, and his wife,
both died, and were both buried in one grave. An
incident of the winter of 1816 cast a shadow over our
new settlement. A Mr. Goodrich, a shingle maker,
living on' West Hill, on the farm now owned by Nehe-
miah Osborn, had been busy shaving shingles all the
morning, and in the afternoon both he and his wife
had been called away to a neighbor’s, leaving the two
children, aged two and five years, alone at home. By
some means the shavings took fire, and when the
parents started back they saw their house a mass of
flames. Of course assistance, even if it could have
been had, was then useless, and both children were
burned to a crisp, and the house and contents com-
pletely destroyed. The year I came to Springwater,
1815,1 presume there was not more than one hundred,
certainly not to exceed two hundred bushels of winter
wheat raised in the town. In three years the annual
production was increased ten-fold. In 1816 I paid for
one bushel of wheat at Hugh Wilson’s mill, to Joseph
Cady, the sum of three dollars, then a common price
scarce as money was, and it was very scarce. I was
then boarding with ’ Squire Southworth. I went down
to breakfast one morning, and was informed that there
was no wheat bread nor any wheat flour in the house.
I sent my brother with a horse to Pitts’ mill, Rich-
mond, a distance of twelve miles, where he procured
two bushels of wheat as a favor. He rode a horse. I
was present at the first town meeting. Politics entered
little into the contest for the office of supervisor, we
looked alone to the qualifications of the candidates.672
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
There was Oliver Jennings on one side, and Samuel
Story on the other. Jennings was declared elected by
a majority of one. The friends of Story, because of
some alleged informality, claimed the election for their
man. They went to Canandaigua, got the first elec-
tion set aside and a new one ordered. We tried it
over again, and Jennings was elected the second time
by one majority. John Culver, appointed by the Gov-
ernor, was the first justice of the peace in town.
After enduring the inconvenience of being without a
post-office as long as possible we at last succeeded in
getting a mail and post-office. Alvah Southworth was
the first Post-Master. On the arrival of the first mail,
so great was the satisfaction of all that the farmers
and everybody came down to the village to satisfy
themselves that there was no delusion about it.”
The few Presbyterian families among the first set-
tlers were occasionally visited by a minister of that
denomination. It was not, however, until fourteen
years after the settlement of the town, that a church
was formed. It consisted of twelve members, and was
formed on the 10th of February, 1821. The Rev.
Lyman Barrett, of Naples, preached the first sermon,
and continued to supply the pulpit occasionally for
the next five years. After him the Rev. James
Cahoun performed similar service for about three
years. The Rev. Seymour Thompson was stated sup-
ply for nearly three years. The Rev. Daniel B.
Woods was ordained and installed pastor Sept. 19th,
1889, and was dismissed from his pastoral charge
August 25th, 1841. The Rev. William Hunter suc-
ceeded Mr. Woods in October of the same year, and
was ordained and installed Sept. 25th, 1844. He still
retains his relation to the church. The house of wor-
ship was dedicated December 31, 1840.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
673
WEST SPARTA.
Area, 19,820 acres; population in 1875, 1,208.
Boundaries: on the north by Groveland; east by
Sparta ; south by Ossian ; west by Mount Morris.
West Sparta was formed on the division of the old
town of Sparta, Feb. 27th, 1846. Its surface is quite
hilly, and some of the highest summits are 500 to 700
feet above the valleys. The soil is a clay loam in the
northern part, and a sandy loam in the southern por-
tion of the town. Canaseraga creek flows along the
eastern border, and Butler Brook, a small stream, in
the southern part, in which is a perpendicular fall of
about 60 feet. In the northeastern part of the town is
a large marsh known as Canaseraga swamp.
The town contains no large village, but has four
small hamlets, Kysorville, Union Corners, Beyersville
and Woodville. There are four churches in the town
Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist and Chris-
tian. The first church organization was the Baptist.
Settlement was commenced in the south part of the
town in 1795 by Jeremiah Gregory. Other early set-,
tiers were William Stevens, who came in 1796, Abel
Wilsey in 1797, Benjamin Wilcox in 1798, and Sam-
uel McNair in 1804.
Ebenezer McMaster opened the first tavern kept in
the town in 1820, at Kysorville. Three years later
the first store was started by Jonathan Russell at
Union Corners. Samuel Stoner built the first grist-
mill in 1823.
In 1814 Benjamin Hungerford established the first
wool-carding and cloth-dressing mill in West Sparta.
Mr. Hungerford had removed to Sparta from Cayuga
county. Returning homeward in the fall of 1814 from
his usual fall visit to the east for the purchase of dye-
stuffs, he called upon an old neighbor, Nathaniel Fill-674	HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
more, a small farmer living near Skaneateles lake.
While there he expressed a wish that Mr. Fillmore’s
son, Millard Fillmore,* then a lad of fourteen, should
return to Sparta with him, and learn the cloth-dress-
ing trade. The war then in progress had stirred the
patriotism of the youth of the country, as well as
those of maturer years, and young Fillmore had been
urgent to go as a substitute for some drafted man.
Quite likely with a view to directing his son’s atten-
tion from a project so unsuitable in one so young, the
father had inspired Mr. Hungerford to make the re-
quest. At all events the proposition was received so
favorably that the son was constrained to assent. This
required some resolution, as he had never before been
out of sight of home. The distance was a hundred
weary miles through woods and new settlements. Mr.
Hungerford had a poor team and a large load, and
the road was much of the way very bad. Asa conse-
quence young Fillmore walked a greater part of the
journey, suffering not a little from sore feet and stiff-
ened limbs. As he neared his new home nothing
struck him with so much surprise as the contrast be-
tween the vegetation in Cayuga and the exhuberant
vegetation of the Canaseraga valley. The change
seemed extraordinary to him.
“ I met young Fillmore,” says William Scott, “ the
morning after his arrival for the first, and at once took
a liking to him. He was dressed in a suit of home-
spun sheep’s gray coat and trousers, wool hat and
stout cowhide boots, but his appearance was very
tidy. His light hair was long, his face was round
and chubby, and his demeanor was that of a bright,
intelligent, good-natured lad, quite sedate, rather
* Millard Fillmore was born in Locke, now Summer Hill, Cayuga county,
in 1800.HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
675
slow in his motions, with an air of thoughtfulness that
gained my respect. I may safely say, for I have it
from his own lips, that he then had no expectation of
anything beyond the acquirement of a good trade and
pursuing it through life.” He came with the under-
standing that he was to remain four months, and then,
if both employed and employer were satisfied, further
arrangements were to be made. Perhaps he expected
too much here. At any rate the treatment he re-
ceived was very galling to his feelings. His experi-
ence during the few months he spent in Sparta im-
planted “ ‘ a deep sympathy,’ as he himself remarks,
‘ for the youngest apprentice in every establishment,
‘ even to the printer’s devil.’ ” Instead of being set to
work at his trade, he was required to chop wood and
to do all manner of chores, and on manifesting sur-
prise, was met with the answer “’that such was the
usage of the trade:” He bore it all until coming into
the shop a little before dark one evening, after chop-
ping in the woods, he was ordered by Mr. Hunger-
ford to go up on the hill and cut some wood for the
shop fire. As he quit the door he let drop the re-
mark that “he had not come there expecting to give
his time to such work. ” He went up the hill, mounted
a log and began chopping. In a few minutes Mr.
Hungerford appeared, his face flushed and manner
excited. Ashe came up he said, “Do you think
yourself abused because you have to chop wood V
“ Yes, I do,” was the reply, ‘ for I could learn to use
the axe at home. I came here to learn a trade. I
am not satisfied and don’t think my father will be.”
He was angry, and perhaps was not quite respectful
in his language. At all events, he was charged with
impudence and threatened with chastisement. Upon
this he raised his axe and told Mr. Hungerford he
attempted to punish him he would knock him down.676
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The latter stood a moment, then turned and walked
off. This brought matters to a crisis, so the next day
he was asked if he wished to go home. He replied:
“I came on trial for four months, and if I can be em-
ployed in learning the trade I am willing to stay. If
not I wish to go home.” He remained, and from that
time the duties assigned him were made more satis-
factory. The fare provided by the household was
somewhat simpler in character than either young
Fillmore or the other hands had been accustomed to,
but having resolved to stay his full time of four
months, unless driven off by ill-usage, he made small
complaint on that score.
Mr. Fillmore says, “ I met here in the person of the
foreman, William Scott, a man who seemed born for
another destiny. In him I found a friend and also a
congenial companion, so far as such a boy could be a
companion of a man ten years his senior. I then
formed for him a friendship which I still cherish with
grateful recollections. His was the only society I en-
joyed. I scarcely visited a neighbor, indeed only one
or two were near enough to be accessible to me. I
neither saw book or newspaper to my recollection. I
attended no church, and think there was none in that
vicinity then.”
Young Fillmore had one holiday while here. The
carding works were stopped on New Year’s day, and
all hands went down to a log house occupied by Rob-
ert Duncan, on Duncan’s now Bradner’s creek, where
they saw the usual rough sports of early days.
Raffling, turkey-shooting, wrestling, jumping and
other athletic displays, and a good deal of whiskey
drinking occupied the time. He recollects being
ushered into a room almost stifling with its fumes of
ajrahol and tobacco-smoke. In one corner, on a
tfflRe, stood a live turkey, surrounded by a compactHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
677
crowd of men highly excited over a raffle for the fowl,
whose nominal value was fixed at four shillings.
Twelve cents were placed in a hat, and each person
taking a risk gave it a shake and then emptied the
contents out on the table three times, and he who
turned up the most heads in the three throws won the
turkey. Instead, however, of taking the turkey, the
lucky one pocketed the four shillings and the raffle
proceeded, game following game through the whole
evening. Fillmore was urged to take a chance. He
did so once, and won the turkey, received its value,
and has never gambled a cent since. The weather of
that New Year’s day was most unseasonably warm,
the afternoon was showery, and the evening set in
with violent rain, thunder and lightning. The party
remained at Duncan’s until midnight and then started
homeward. The path led them a mile through a
dense pine forest, running in many places near the
precipitous bank of the little stream on which the
cloth-dressing works were located. The underbrush
had been partly cleared away, and the larger trees on
the route were blazed as a guide. The men had no
lantern, but carried, instead, a pine-knot torch. They
had notgone far when the torch became extinguished,
and Fillmore, being the youngest, was sent back to
relight it. Being detained a little, he found when he
got back that his companions had gone on. Starting
forward, he was soon overtaken by a sudden deluge
of rain, accompanied by peal upon peal of the most
deafening thunder, and lightning so vivid that he was
completely blinded. His light went out, and he was
left in utter darkness. He could hear the roar of the
little stream just beneath him, and after a few mo-
ments could occasionally catch a glimpse of the edge
•of the precipitous bank. This was a dangerous pre-
dicament for the future President. The dark pine678
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
forest absorbed any chance ray of light, and holding
his hand before him, he could not perceive the faintest
shadow of it. He was too near the edge of the stream
to venture forward. The pelting rain had drenched
him to the skin, and he did not fancy staying out all
night, so lifting up his voice to its loudest pitch, he
had the great good fortune, after many efforts, to
make his companions hear, just as they turned into
the yard at home.
Soon after this incident young Fillmore was sent on
foot to Dansville for some medicine. The two or three
inches of snow on the ground entirely obscured the
path, and losing his way he reached the village by a
circuitous route. By the time his purchases were
made the sun was nearly down, and he was advised
to return by a more direct though less frequented path
than that usually traveled, through the scrubby pine
lands. On striking the path he followed the steps of
some one who had preceeded him until just after dark,
when, to his surprise, he came to the Canaseraga
creek, which was full of floating ice and snow, and
could not be crossed. There had once been a bridge
at this spot,* but all had disappeared except the cob-
ble-stone abutments on either side of the stream, and
a single string-piece, connecting the two. "Wolves, at
this time, were very plentiful, and as he stood debat-
ing how best to effect a crossing, he heard the howl-
ing of a pack of these animals behind him, and, as he
readily fancied, on his track. The waters of the
creek, already swollen, were rising fast, as he ob-
served by the crackling of the ice. He saw but one
mode ot placing the Canaseraga between himself and
the wolves, so mounting the stone abutment he
* This bridge was built by Captain Williamson, at what is now Commons-
ville. Between that point and Hungerford’s there was then but one house,
that of James Duncan.HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	679
climbed to the string-piece, and getting astride,
hitched himself across, just as two or three of the
wolves put in an appearance at the spot where he had
so lately been anxiously studying the situation. As
he had no means of defense, and the wolves seemed
hungry, he lost no time in setting out for his employ-
er’s house, still nearly two miles distant.
At the conclusion of the cloth-dressing season, his
four months’ probation being ended, Filmore con-
cluded to return to his father’s ; and about the mid-
dle of January, 1815, shouldering a small knapsack,
afoot and alone, he left Sparta West Hill for his home
in Cayuga county, there to enter upon a career which
has become a part of our national history. It was not
until the fall of 1860 that Mr. Fillmore was enabled to
revisit the spot, although he had often expressed a
desire to do so. In the latter year, in company with
William Scott, he went to the site of the old mill and
spent several hours about the spot. The structure
was gone, and the site was overgrown with bushes.
The place recalled many recollections of his early
and humble occupation.
YORK.
Area: 29,689 acres; population in 1875, 2,483.
Boundaries: on the north by Caledonia; east by
A\ on and Geneseo ; south by Leicester; west by
Padllion and Covington.
York, which ranks among the larger towns, lies up-
on the western border of the county. It was formed
by special act of the Legislature, on the 26th of March,680
HISTOBY OB LIVINGSTON COUNT*;
1819, from Caledonia and Leicester. In 1823, a small
portion of Covington was annexed to York in order
to straighten the town lines. The act erecting the
town directed “that the first town-meeting should be
held at the house of Nathan Russ, inn-keeper.” This
election, which was well attended “ brought together ”
says one who was present, “a goodly number of sub-
stantial and intelligent young men who had never be-
fore taken part in public affairs. William Jones was
chosen supervisor. The name of the town was
selected at a meeting of citizens, called to urge the
passage of the bill for the erectioa of the town, then
before the Legislature, and was designed as a compli-
ment to Joseph York, Member of Assembly from St.
Lawrence county, who had favorably reported the bill
from the committee of which he was chairman. The
following incident is related of this meeting. Several
persons had favored the name of Philadelphia. A
physician who was present, referring to the sparse
population said, “to call the proposed town by so big
a name is like calling Trip, Bose—a large name for a
small dog. I had rather call it ‘ Yate,’ after Long’s
spaniel,” alluding to a dog of that name which had
been given to Colonel Long by a New York gentleman,
and which just then put in an appearance. Some op-
position was manifested to the formation of the new
town, but Judge Hayden, who was sent to Albany by
the meeting, was able to successfully meet the objec-
tions that had been raised and to procure prompt and
favorable action upon the subject. The surface of the
town rises gradually from the river for a mile or more,
when it becomes comparatively level, though diversi-
fied by gentle undulations whose general inclination
is to the east. Brown’s creek flows eastward through
the central part of the town, and Calder Creek, some-
what smaller than the former, runs through the north-HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
681
ern portion. Both streams empty into the Genesee
river. The soil in the southern and central parts of
the town is a clay loam ; that of the northeastern por-
tion is a sandy and gravelly loam, the whole being es-
pecially adapted to the culture of winter wheat, of
which staple an enormous quantity is annually raised,
as is also hay and orchard fruits. Greigsville in the
south part of the town, contains one church and
twenty-two houses. Piffardinia, in the south-east
part of the town derived its name from David Piffard,
a prominent citizen of this hamlet. It is situated on
the Genesee Valley Canal and contained one church,
twenty-three houses, a steam saw-mill, warehouses,
stores, etc.
York Centre is situated near the geographical cen-
tre of the town. There are four churches in the
village, several stores, a hotel, formerly a furnace, and
was once a very busy and thriving village.
Fowlerville, in the north-east part of the town, was
named for Wells Fowler, the first settler. It contains
two churches, several stores, a hotel, and is a neatly
kept little village. An extensive machine shop for
the manufacture of agricultural implements gives an
employment to a large number of hands, and turns
out many thousand dollars’ worth of work annually.
There are in town nine churches, designated as fol-
lows : Two Presbyterian, two Methodist, one Bap-
tist, one Congregationalist, one Associated Pres-
byterian, one Associated Reform Presbyterian, and
one reform Presbyterian. In 1830 The York Sci-
entific and Literary Institute was opened at York
Centre, under the charge of Professor Pendleton.
The attendance of students at the opening was
from forty to fifty. The course of study embraced
the languages, mathematics and the English branch-
es. It was not properly sustained and was dis-682
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
continued after a year. Settlement was begun in the
town in 1800, by several Scotch families, among whom
were Donald and John McKenzie, Angus McBean,
John and Alexander Frazer, Archibald Gillis and
John McCall. These families formed a part of the
colony of settlers that emigrated from Scotland and
located in Caledonia, the same year. John Clunas
and John and David Mart were early settlers. The
latter in later years kept a public house at the Centre.
Ralph Brown, who located here in 1808, purchased
and owned the land where the village of York now
stands. He built a small log house, and before it was
fully completed, he opened it for the accommodation
of the traveling public. John Russ and his cousin,
John Darling, both from Vermont, settled here in
September, 1809. They went to work and raised the
body of a log house. The structure was speedily
completed with the exception of a door. As there
were no boards to be had, they concluded to postpone
its occupancy that fall, especially as the prospect of
opening a bachelor’s hall was agreeable to neither of
them, and returned to the east for the winter. While
erecting the house these two young men boarded a
couple of months with Ralph Brown, then the only
white man at the Centre. Mr. Brown had opened his
house as a pioneer tavern. A single fact will show
the primitive character of the establishment. Mr.
Russ says that Mr. Brown had but two knives and
tw o forks in his house. When these happened to be
in use, a guest or boarder would draw out a pocket
knife, if he had one, or be supplied with a hickory
stick. Mr. Russ and his cousin John Darling each
brought a sister from Vermont when they returned in
the spring, the journey occupying three weeks. The
ox-cart, their only conveyance, was freighted with
household goods and farming implements. Mr. Russ'HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.	683
was Justice of the Peace in York for many years, and
held several commissions in the militia. In 1809
James Calder came and located in the north part of
the town. The following year Oliver Stone settled
a mile from the Centre. He brought the first
wagon that had appeared in the settlement. Dr. Ben-
jamin Wood of Vermont, who came in 1811, was the
first physician who settled in the town. The first
birth that occurred in town was that of Angus Mc-
Kenzie, who, as has been claimed, was the first white
child born in the Genesee country west of the river.
In 1817 Nathan Russ opened an inn at the Centre.
The year before Chandler Pierson had opened a store
there, and a year or two later, Peck & Goodman
opened another in a log house at the Centre. Ralph
Brown built the first grist-mill and was ready for busi-
ness in 1818. It stood on the creek within the limits
of the village. Roswell Stocking had erected a black-
smith shop about this time. Another early settler was
Holloway Long, who came to York in 1818, from Shel-
burn, Franklin county, his birth-place. His wife ac-
companied him. Their goods were brought by a
team consisting of a yoke of oxen and a span of
horses. The family started in a cutter in which they
made a part of their journey. The snow then failed
them and wheels were substituted. The little group
were protected from the inclement weather by a piece
of tow-cloth, that had been spun and woven by Mrs.
Long. The cutter contained their provisions and
cooking utensils, for which they found frequent use
on the route. The family were nine days on the road,
the team with the goods being twenty-eight days
making the journey. Temporary shelter was provi-
ded for the family on their arrival, and Mr. Long
went to work at once to erect a log house. In a few
days it was up and occupied, though not very com*684	HISTORY OP LIVINGSTON COUNTY.'
fortable until the opening of spring enabled him to
chink it. Mr. Long settled on the “ Forty Thousand
Acre Tract,” and on his arrival found four or five
families occupying temporary quarters on the tract.
The locality was then called “Caledonia South
Woods.” The Indians roamed over the town, and in
a day’s walk more red men than whites were to be
met with. The Indians were peaceably disposed.
Mr. Long took up the farm at $14 an acre, on which
he continued to reside until his death.
He gives an account of the organization of the York
Artillery, a company of great local celebrity in its
day. Accidentally discovering one day that he was
familiar with military tactics his neighbors met in the
evening, a militia company was organized, and Mr.
Long was elected Captain of the “ York Artillery.” A
cannon was promptly furnished by the State authori-
ties, and a small armory was erected. The company
continued in existence for several years, and afforded
much social enjoyment as well as an opportunity for
instruction in the manual of arms. On the breaking
out of the war of 1812, the company was ordered to
the frontier where they remained a couple of weeks.
On several other occasions during the progress of hos-
tilities the company was ordered out. It also stood
the draft twice. In 1814, when the attack on Fort
Erie was imminent the company was called upon
again to proceed to the Niagara River. A detatch-
ment of the company crossed the river and took part
in the siege. Elder Josiah Goddard a native of Con-
way, Massachusetts, was in York in 1818. His meet-
ings were the only one held for many years. He
sometimes preached in Col. Long’s house. At a later
period service was occasionally held by Rev. Mr.
Denoon from Caledonia, half the day in Gaelic aDd
half the day ip English. In 1812 or a year later theHISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
085
Associated Reform Presbyterian Church at York Cen-
ter, “ The Log Church ” as it was called, was the first
building used for worship.