.0" V ^ * • • « a° A ,4°* (P-^. 0' 'bV c ^. A* <•■ > " O *o ♦ * * 'o. * » A , " o Q~ " - -.0 ^ ^ ^V « ^ *bv» :^ i\° *° ^ o .0 ^ <^ - AV *^k / V v % ^ o .-ft * \ v s .. ^V THE HISTORY OF CANANDA1GUA. «-/ AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, J-uLLy- 4= 3 1876. BY J. ALBERT GRANGER, Esq. CANANDAIGUA, N. Y. PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE ONTARIO REPOSITORY AND MESSENGER. 1876. Canandaigua, July 6th, 1876. Mr. J. Albert Granger: Sir: The wish has been expressed by very many of our citizens, that you would prepare and furnish for publication in pamphlet form, the Address which you deliv- ered at our Centennial anniversary, making such corrections and additions to it as you may deem necessary and of interest to the inhabitants of this old and cherished spot — " Canandarque." TIIOS S. BEALS. M. H. CLARK, H. F. BENNETT, and others. t'.WAXD.Uu'jA, July 9th, 1876. Tho's S. Beals, Hon. M. H. Clark, II. P. Bennett, and others. Gentlemen: I am in the receipt of yours of the 6th hist, In reply 1 would say that the manuscript is at your service for such disposition as you may see fit to make of it. I refrain from making any important additions to it, save the correction of some errors which its hasty preparation rendered unavoidable, adding in its publica- tion only that portion which the brief space allotted to its reading compelled me to omit, The field is so broad, and the materials so abundant, while my recorded facts are so scanty, that I would not feel justified in letting it go out as a History at ail, were it not that those interested in the subject — and there must be many — are to lie so soon supplied by a " History of the County," collated and prepared by abler hands than mine. Yours very truly. .1. ALBERT GRANGER. HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. BY J. ALBERT GRANGER, Esq. 'Read at tne Centennial Celebration, July &, ?876\ It \v;is only an ox carl — rough andstrong; achieved for themselves a more remarkable It was only a May day in 1789; It was only civil organization, and acquired a greater home they were leaving, and it was only fame than any others. During the time Israel Chapin, Daniel Gates, Frederick of European colonization they stood for Saxton and a few others, whose figures nearly two centuries, unharmed, against were fading in the forest, but all there was all the blighting effects of war, foreign in- of Canandaigua was then being jolted into tercourse and the still more fatal encroach- the wilderness. There was, and had been ments of an advancing border population, for several centuries, a Canandaigua— Gan- and when they did yield, it was only to undagwa then, a flourishing, populous In- the blandishments of peace and peaceful dian village, the second principal town of arts. the Six Nations ; but our Canandaigua, our At the time of the Dutch discovery in "Chosen Spot" was only now in swad- 1609, the Iroquois were in possession of dling clothes, and lifted up her voice in the the same territories which General Chapin wilderness as she was rudely and yet ten- found them holding nearly two hundred derly borne through the forest, where the years later. Their government had stood rustle of the leaf and the crackle of the unshaken all that time, and they had so brush told other tales than those prospered in all the march of Indian ad- the breezes bore, to be laid and nourished, vancement that they ruled supreme; were reared, guarded and defended, not only be respected and feared from the British pos- side, but from the council fires of the Sen- sessions to the Gulf, and carried their war ecas. pa.ities from the coast beyond the Missis- These men were hersponsors — Templars, sippi. Originally there were but five na- valiantly pledging their lives iu her de- tions in their Confederacy — the Mohawks, fence. Reaching Schenactady they went the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, out from under the then last roof into an and the Senecas— but a band of Tuscaroras unbroken wilderness. Boating their way emigrated from the South and were adopt- along the Mohawk; around the leaping ed into their League, making the sixth.— cataract at Little Falls; across our inland Their government was representative and lakes; up small rivers and smaller creeks, elective. Their League was established on and out upon our own lake, they landed, the principle of Family Relationship, con- after weeks of toil and hardship, at the stituting, as the word Iroquois signifies, foot of what is now Main-street, and put one Long House; each nation being one their infant child in bed— a " Sleeping fire under the same roof. The nations Beauty " in a " Chosen Spot." bore the same relation to the League which The Six Nations, as a people, in this lat- our States do to the Union. They had one ter day, are but little known to us. Cer- supreme Sachem. Each nation, according tainly neither they, nor their government to its numbers, furnished four, six, and are appreciated, if known at all. Except- eight others, which title and office were ihg the Indians of Mexico and Peru, the hereditary. Iroquois— as the six nations were called— After these came a larger number of 4 HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. July 4. chiefs who were yearly elected, and after The fort was built by the Spaniards as a these the war chiefs. We see in this our defence against the Indians, intending. President, Senators and Representatives, had gold been found, to make it a perma- as well as army. But they had another net garrison for present occupancy and bond of union which bound them more future operations. closely together than anything we can During the Revolutionary war, the Six boast. When a people have long remain- Nations were, as a League, neutral; but ed in a tribal state, it becomes difficult to very many, and some of them their most remove the clannish traces which grow so powerful chiefs, took up the hatchet in fa- strong with years ; among the Greeks this vor of the mother country and showed never wholly disappeared. The Iroquois, their zeal by massacres whose stories thrill while they rested the League itself upon us yet. Indeed so much inflamed had all the nations, sought to interweave the race their passions become by the deeds of some into one political family. Each nation, of their number, that they all became therefore, was divided into six tribes, more than troublesome to the general gov- which were named after some animal ; one eminent, and it was necessary to strike a of these tribes was sent to live with one of blow at them which should effectually each of the other nations, retaining only hold them in restraint. By an act of Con- one-sixth of their original nation, but re- gress in 1778, Gen. Washington was au- ceiving in turn from each of the others a thorized to dispatch an army into this re- tribe from it corresponding in name to that gion. On the 22d of August, 1779, Gen. tribe of their own nation already retained. Sullivan formed a junction with Gen. .las. The Seneca nation, as an example, hav- Clinton, and with an army of 5,000, took ing sent off to other nations those of their the forest for the lodges of the Senecas. own number, according as they were of The Indians were 1,600 strong, but more the "Deer," "Turtle," or other tribe, re- than counterbalanced the disparity of num- ceived from each of the others those who bers by their knowledge of the country were of the "Wolf" tribe, and so, keep- and the advantages the forest gave them ing their number full, all being of one in their manner of fighting. The first tribe, but only one-sixth of them Senecas, stand was made at Newtown, now Elrnira, had within themselves a sure preventive of but, although the Indians were under internal dissensions. Brant, and the Hangers under Butler, they How long Canandaigua had been the were easily driven from their defences. — principal town of the Senecas, it is impos- Sullivan followed up his advantage and sible to say. The village of Victor was drove them straight before him. Down burned by the French in 1687, and at that the east shore of our lake; across its foot, time this place had long been the larg- humanely regardless of the squaws and est of all the Indian villages. children, who, for safe keeping were hid At the eastern terminus of Gibson-street, den on the island; straight through to within but a few rods of where to-day we Conesus lake, burning all the lodges and have trod, there stand the remains of an corn fields of the savages, came the army, old fort, the voiceless witness of a time we and rested only when it had fully dispers- know nothing of. A legend of the Sene- ed their foe, leaving them with famine cas, according to an address of DeWitt staring them in the face. So severe a les- Clinton delivered in 1811, in the city of son disheartened the natives. Their homes New York, attributes it to a Spanish ar- and fields were gone. The old places were my, who were the first Europeans seen by never to be to them what they had been them; the French next; then the Dutch, before; and while they made peace with and finally the English. This army, says the white man, there was enmity in their the legend, landed at Oswego in search of hearts. They were wholly restless, going gold, penetrated this western country and off in bands, and leaving the ashes of their returned to the South by way of the Ohio, village here to be for ever scattered. 1876. HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. 5 Peace had not done for them what it through Seneca Lake to Lake Ontario, re- was to do, and they stubbornly refused to serving only a strip of land along the Nia yield up any of their old time customs. — gara River one mile wide. This tract con- Buildtng new lodges away from the old, taiued some six millions of acres, and in they prepared to return to that life which 1788 was contracted by the State of Massa- the events of the Revolution had interrupt- chusetts to Nathaniel Gorham of Charles- ed. It was just at this point then, where town, and Oliver Phelps of Granville, in faded these olden memories and budded that State, for the sum of one million dol- new hopes; when civilization commenced lars. In Juhy of the same year these gen- to swiuo- wide of barbarism; when these tlemen purchased the Indian title to some Six Nations, from the Mohawk to the Sen 2,000,000 acres, bounded west by a point ecas, were filled with burning hatred of in the north line of Pennsylvania, due the whites, jealous of their encroachments south of a point of land made by the con- and doubly watchful of their hunting fluence of Canasaraga Creek and Genesee ^rounds, that our infant Canandaigua River; thence north to the corner or point awakened from her first sleep here, and at such confluence : thence northwardly a- cried out, " Peace on earth, good will to long the waters of the River to a point two man." miles north of Canewagus village; thence In the year 1620, James I., King of Great due west twelve miles; thence northwardly Britain, granted to the Plymouth Company so as to be twelve miles distant from the a tract of land called New England, extend- western boundaries of the river to the shore ing several degrees of latitude north and of Lake Ontario, leaving the eastern boun- south, andreaching from theto Atlanticthe daries as originally iixed. This tract, and Pacific coast. Charlesl., some twenty years this only, is the Phelps and Gorham pur- later, granted to the Duke of York and Al- chase. bany, the Province of New York, then in- Canandaigua now commenced to grow, eluding New Jersey. This tract extended She could nearly stand alone. In the sum- froni a line twenty miles east of the Hudson mer of 1789 Augustus Porter came on as River westward rather indefinitely, and from surveyor with Hugh Maxwell, and found the Atlantic Ocean north to the south line of four houses already erected, one being near Canada, then a French Proviuce. From the old outlet at the Lake; another on what this collision of description each of the is now the site of the First National Bank; colonies laid claim to the jurisdiction, as a third in the corner of the Phelps lot near well as the pre-emption right of the same the square; and one further up Main-st.— land, but in the year 1781, New York, and In 1790, the first census was taken. That in 1785 Massachusetts ceded to the United of the county was 1081— of the town 106— States all the territory lying west of a me- embraced in eighteen families. Settlers ridian line run south from the westerly steadily came in. The Genesee country bend of Lake Ontario. There were then prospered beyond precedent in spite of the left 19,000 square miles of disputed terri- difficulties of getting here, the fevers inci- tory, but on the 16th day of December, dent to a new country and the hostile In- 1786, this dispute was settled by a Board dians. This prosperity was much increas- of Commissioners convened at Hartford, ed subsequently by the Pickering Treaty Connecticut, by the stipulations of which with the Indians, which was made in 1794, Massachusetts ceded to New York all her by which through concessions on the part claims to the territory lying west of the of the United States, as well as the Indians, east line of the State of New York, and, a better feeling was maintained and friend- in turn, New York ceded to Massachusetts liness more universal. The first name we the fee of the land, subject to the title of find for all New York west of Albany was the natives, of all that part lying west of a that bestowed by the Dutch in 1638:— " Ter- line beginning at a fixed point in the north to Incognita"— The Unknown Land. It line of Pennsylvania, running due north was next called Albany county. In 1772, 6 HISTORY OF CANANDAIGFA. July 4, Tryon county, named after the then Eng- jury trial. A Grand Jury was empannel- lish Governor, was set off, embracing all of ed and one indictment found. The next the territory west of a line that would pass session of the Court was in June, '95, Peter through the centre of Schoharie county. B. Porter, Nathaniel W. Howell, Stephen After the Revolution this name was chang- Ross, and Thomas Munneford were admit- ed to Montgomery. In 1788 all west of ted to practice. The first jury trial west of Utica was called Whitestown. The first Herkimer county was held at this Court, town meeting ever held in the then Mont- the case being the trial of an indictment gomery county, was held in the barn of for stealing a cow bell. John Wickham Capt. Daniel White, in April, 1789, Jede- was District Attorney, but the prosecution diah Sanger being elected Supervisor. In was conducted by N. W. Howell; the de- 1791, James Wadsworth was elected the fence by Vincent Mathews and Peter B. first Path Master west of Cayuga Lake. — Porter. It could have been little more than the su- Gen [srae] n ,. iriiri first n . 1)resente( i this pervision of the Indian trails, but the warn- D istri ct in the Legislature, and Robert ing out to work the roads must have been Morris first in Congress. Luther Cole car- something of a task. In these elections ried the mail in his pocket from liere to the polls were opened at Cayuga Ferry, Whitestown; Phiueas Bates took the same adjourned to Onondaga and closed at west to Fort j>yT iagani The nrst birtll was Whitestown! Herkimer county was taken that of , iver Phe i ps Rice . the first death off Montgomery in '91, and embraced all tbat of Caleb Walker: Both occurred in west of the lines of that county. 17u0 The firgt stQre wag opened by Sanl . As the foot of our lake was a central uel Gardner; the first school taught by spot, Mr. Phelps determined to make it Major Wallis in '92. The first religious the centre of future operations, and accord- service held here was the Episcopal Burial ingly a store-house was erected. The next Service, read at Walker's funeral. How- step was to make roads; men were there- evei '> in this same y ear > thl ' record tells us fore employed who underbrushed and regular meetings were held in Mr. Pheips cleared out a road from here to Geneva.— burn, services being read by John Call;— Then a wagon road to Manchester was cut ringing by Mr. Sanborn. Prayers were o- through. People could now move in more fitted as there was no one to make them. easily, and in the fall of '92 there were tkir- The nrs1 wn eat was raised on a farm tv families here, Venison in the woods and trough w hich Gibson street now runs, by Bsh in the lake were plenty; black-ber- Abner Barlow, and taken by him to Utica lies, rasp-berries, wild plums and crab to mill. Dr. Williams sell led as physician apples were to be had in their season.— bere in '98; William Antis came through The first currants served were by Mrs. from Penn - and set U P :l g un sho P. which Sanborn, at a Tea Party in '94, and the e- at tnat time was fl^te as needful as stated vent was marked as an era in the history preaching. Some trade for furs sprang up. of the town. In this same year Ananias Explorers and traders of all nations pene- Miller built a mill at Mud Creek. In '95 trated to th e settlement; and in their trad- the sale of several slaves is noted. ing, not only with the settlers, but with the Indians, there had grown the need of The Court of Common Pleas and Grand ;m organization of the town . T he follow- Sessions was held at the house of Nathan- | is(lil ,. rllv from the flrst record: lei Sanborn, in November, '94, Timothy Hosmer and Charles Williamson being pre- " Canandarquay Records —1791. siding Judges; Enos Boughton associate At a Town .Meeting held at Canandar- or side Justice. The Attorneys were quay in the County of Ontario, on the flrst Thomas .Morris, John Wickham, James Tuesday in April, 1791, the meeting being Wadsworth, and Vincent Mathews. There opened and superintended by Gen. Israel were some suits on the calendar, but no Chapin, these several persons were elected 1856, HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. 7 into office:— Israel Chapin, Supervisor, and Moses Atwater, William A. Williams James D. Fish, Town Clerk. and Joel Prescott. In '99, diplomas of Assessors— John Call, Enos Boughton, Johu Ra 3 r > Samuel Dungan, David Fair- Seth Reed, Nathan Comstock, James Aus- child and Arnold Willis are recorded.— tin, Arnold Potter, Nathaniel Justin. Thomas Cloudesley is made Deputy Clerk Assessors-Phineus Bates, John Cod- in this 3™r : in 1801, Augustus Porter is ,. o , made Deputy; in 180-1, Sylvester Tiffany -Overseers of Poor-Israel Chapin, Na- as County Clerk, makes Dudley Saltonstall thaniel Gorham Deputy; Thomas Morris appoints John Commissioners of Highways-Othniel Gr ^ Ms lawful attorney; Phiheas Bates Taylor, Joseph Smith, Benjamin Wells. tls Sher f 1S succeeded by James K. Guern- Constables-Nathaniel Sanborn, Jared **; *? 1808 / i bte l )hen BaLes > as Sheriff . D .. T,. . d:„„„» makes Nathaniel Allen Deputy; In lsio, Boughton, Phmeas Pierce. ,_ TT „ . ■, , , . J Myron Hollj r is clerk, and a village library Overseers of Highways and Fence View- isst:|rted; in lgll> Jam .. R Mower is ers-James Latta, Joshua Whitney, John 01erk> and DanM D Baxaaxd D t Swift, Daniel Gates, Jabez French, Gama- ghortly after the organization of th( . liel Wilder, Abner Barlow, Isaac Hathway, towa> th& question of education became an Hezekiah Boughton, Eber Norton, William important one; therefore, on the 28th day Gooding, John D. Robinson. Moses At- (jf j anuaiy> 1791> Nathaniel Gorham and water was Justice of the Peace, and ad- ()Uver phelpg haying by deed couveyed ministered the oath to Supervisor Chapin : Q>m af . res of laud in ^ County of Qnta Voted that all swine at two years old and rio .< to establish and support aQ Academy upwards, shall be yoked with good and or Sem inary of learning, on the 12th of sufficient yokes. Also voted, that Thirty February> i 795j the Canandaigua Academy Shillings be paid for each wolf scalp was incorporat ed. «. A subscription was brought into the settlement. Ear marks uccordiugly opeued for the aew Academy, for swine are carefully noted in the old wWch paper bearg the Qames of foriy per . book, and I take personal pride in record- SQns The i ist was hea ded by Oliver Phelps ing the fact that both Elijah and Eliliu who subscribed 6<000 acres of land. 4.000 Granger slit the left ear instead of the right, for himself and 3)00 for his friend. Mr. showing thereby great confidence in each Gorham . Arnold Potter subscribed 200 other, and unanimity in the family. Gen. acres of , aud; Nathaniel Gorham 100 Chapin was Supervisor until '95, when he poundS) Charles Williamson 500 pounds, was succeeded by Abner Barlow. In 1708 Thomas Morris the lega] mteres , on , 000 a large party of emigrants arrived and set- pounds> Joseph Hill m>m> &c> making tied close at hand. It consisted of the the wbole am0lmt subscribed 0,800 acres families of Benjamin Barney, Richard Da- of land> 800 p undsy the legal interest on ker and Vincent Grant, coming from Or- i )30 pounds, $860,00 of currency. Con- ange county, with six or seven teams, and vert i ng the iand into money at 20 cents per quite a retinue of foot attendants. They acre> t he price then, the subscriptions a- were twenty-six days on the road, and prac- mounted to something near $6,000. " t iced a species of traveling economy which TJie arst building, then simply a ground was a novelty even in the devices of pio- floor; the second story being entirely unlin- neer times. The milk of their cows was ished; was crec ted, and since that time, put into chums in their wagons, and the under Dudley Saltonstall, lehabod Spen- ups and downs of the road did the churn- cer> Thomas Beals, Henry Howe and oth ln £' ers, the Academy lias prospered equal in From a book of miscellaneous records in the rank of smaller colleges, sending out '97, we find that Peter B. Porter, as Coun- yearly into the sterner walks of life those ty Clerk, records the medical diplomas of who remember the institution in recalling Daniel Goodwin, Ralph Wilcox, Jeremiah their happiest days. 8 HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. July 4 At a Town Meeting held in '98, it was vo- '90, and situated where Atwater Hall now ted that a good and sufficient Pound be stands. A part of it now exists, being erected at the north east corner of the moved to Gorham-street. Mr. Sanborn Square; also that $500 be raised by tax to also before 1800, built on the lot known as defray the expenses of the District. the Sibley place, now owned by Mr, Wil- Starting from the square, roads were laid cox. There was also a Dudley tavern on out, Main street first; then East ond West Main-st., nearly at the lake, which was streets; then the one through the Square, one of the oldest. Another, kept by a it being on the Indian trail to Buffalo. Mr. Doty, being the frame house opposite It is curious to follow on the old maps the foundry, and the old barracks. The the Indian trails which show how ready high grade of the two houses next south was the knowledge the Indians possessed of the foundry is made by the earthen of the easiest and best way to get from one wall around these barracks. Freeman At- point to another; and it is a singular fact water kept a noted tavern, being the same that the track of the N. Y. Central Rail- building now known as the Ontario House, way, and all its branches, follow almost Church's tavern on Main street was also without divergence the Indian trails from built prior to 1800. Bates' tavern, kept Albany to Buffalo. by Phineas P. Bates, on the spot where The first church organization in this Mr. Perry's nurseries now are, was contin- place was that of St. Matthews, established ued as such from before 1800 until about in February, '99. A meeting was called at 1820, and was the fashionable hotel and the house of Nathaniel Sanborn; Ezra boarding house of the village all that time. Piatt was called to the chair, and the fol- Blossom's Hotel was built about 1814, by lowing officers elected: Ezra Piatt and Belah D.Coe, and kept first by one Mills, Joseph Colt, wardens; John Clark, Au- and then by Coe, until it passed into the gustus Porter, John Hecox, Nathaniel hands of Col. William Blossom, and under Sanborn, Benjamin Wells, James Field, him was noted for good cheer all over the Moses Atwater and Aaron Flint, Vestry- country. This hotel was burned on the men. The Rev. Philander Chase, after- 2.xl December, 1851. ward Bishop, then in deacon's orders, off! In February, 1852, John Greig, Francis dated as Rector for several years. As St. Granger, Henry B. Gibson, John A. Gran- Johns Church in after years, it was under ger, Mark i.1. feibley, Leander M. Drury, the ministry of Rev. Henry Onderdoak. and Gideon Granger, entered into an ar- The First Congregational Church was rangement with Thomas Beals and John organized in February of the same year; Benham, the owners of the land, to erect a Rev. Timothy Field pastor; Othniel Tay- new hotel. These latter gentlemen put in lor, Thaddeus Chapin, Dudley Saltonstall, the land at $7,000, and the former subscri- Seth Holcomb, Abuer Barlow and Phineas bed the sum of .$20,000. This falling far Bates, trustees. short of the amount found necessary, they The Methodist Episcopal Church was increased their subscriptions to $48,000 — erected some years after on Chapel-street, making the cost of the building and and mauy years ago moved to the spot it grounds $55,000. A further subscription now occupies. of $15,000 was made by John Greig, H. Having the various organizations, both B. Gibson, and Francis Granger for furni- civil and religious, which would tend ture; and in the summer of 1853, the Can- to strengthen the growth of the village, andaigua Hotel was opened once more, un- numerous visitors, travelers and prospec- der John Thomas, landlord, tive settlers were constantly arriving, which The first jail was a log house standing- made places of public entertainment nee- Justin front of what is now Tony's coal essary, Taverns they were called, and did yard. About 1800, a more substantial jail a thriving business. The first undoubtedly was built on the ground now covered by was thai of Mr. Sanborn, built, at or before the Webster House, and as a hotel and jail 1876. HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. 9 in one was kept by Elijah Tillotson as held in the back room during the time the landlord and sheriff. This was succeeded Academy was being repaired in 1836, and by the new and present jail in 1815. for many years Willson and Lester had The old jail was thereafter used as a tav their office in the south front. Mr. Beals ern until that and the adjoining property paid $100 for the building, being determin- was bought by Thomas Beals, who in ed, to use his own words, "to preserve it 1827-8 built what was known as the Frank- in its integrity— codfish and all." lin House. This house was burned in About this time there were two small 1860, and the Webster House immediately brick buildings standing just south of At- erected. water Hall — one a Surrogate's, the other „ „ ., , T ., the County Clerk's office. These were sold Of stores, there were several. Luther J ., . , , , . . >. by Charles Coy, supervisor, at the same Cole kept a large crockery store in the / , . , n -r. ., i. , , .. , . .',, . ^ • , time as the sale or the Star Building, to house owned by the late Albert Daniels, . , ,, . rp, r , , , n Joshua Tracy, for $200, and the material on Main-street. The Gorham house, on ,.,.,,. , m ™ £ „ , -, ,. . . used in building the 1 racy Block, the corner of Gorham and Main-sts., was ■ ° . ... , , n . ,. A Of the houses which stand as they stood built as a store and dwelling combined, . • ,,..,.. . , , TT , in 1800, there are but few left. The old the north half being occupied by Lncler- „ . _ . , .„ „ c , , , Chapin House on Coy-street, is almost cut hill & Seymour for a number of years. * J . off from its ancient lights by new dwell- John A. Stevens had a printing office at ings and gtoreg . the Cleveland house on the corner of Chapel street, and just be- Chapel . stre et; the Jackson house on Main, low Caleb Putnam had a large leather buiU firgt for a tavern; the bouge now store. Thomas Beals built and kept a dry Qwned T R StarkSj algo bum for & goods store on the spot where he continued tavem and the Antig houge QQ Bristol _ business during his life as a merchant, ^^ gtand almogt alone amQng ug as and from the year 1882, as a banker. He ^^ of ^ ^ centmy died in 1864, and was succeeded in busi- Thc ^^ nQW Qwned by R Q Ty](jr uess and in the ownership of the property wag thfl firgt regidence of John Greig> and by his son Thomas S. Beals. stood immediately fa front of Mg present Ebenezer Hale had his si ore just north mans i on; was moved about the year 1835 of Bristol street. Abijah Peters was the to Gibson street . and f or a num ber of years first tailor. Henry Howard had a store just was the Episcopal Rectory. The house of south of where the Methodist church now Judge Taylor was built at an early day by stands, and was afterwards burned out.— Thomas Morris, and was at one time occu- A Scotchman by the name of Grant had a pied by Louis Philippe. The John Mosher flourishing brewery east of the bridge at houge wag built and occupied by Myron the lake; and an old Indian house, stand- jjolley. A. D. Paul's house on Main-st., ing where Mrs. McCormick's ice houses was the first brick building erected in this now are, was for years, and especially du- vi]lage and was built by j ames Sibley ring the war of 1812, a thriving bakery. Early in Jan . y> 1796, Charles William- The building known as the " Star Build- son had obtained from Pennsylvania, a ing" was built in 1794, the timber being second-hand newspaper office, and, under scored by Capt. Hickox. It stood on the the editorship of William Kersey and east side of the Square, where it remained James Edie, commenced the issue of the as the Court House until the building of Bath Gazette and Genesee Advertiser.— the brick Court House, which we now use This was the first newspaper in western as the Town House, when it was moved New York. In the same year he induced across the street, and was used as Post Of- one Lucius Carey to establish a paper in fice and Town Hall until about 1859, when Geneva, called the Ontario Gazette and it was bought by Thomas Beals, cut in two Genesee Advertiser. The paper was con and moved to the place it now occupies.— tinued about eighteen months in Geneva, The school sessions of the Academy were and was then removed to Canandaigua and 10 HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. July 4, continued its issue until 1802, when it was The Ontario Bank was organized in 18- sold fco Nathaniel W. Howell. In 1803, 13, under Nathaniel Gorham, President. Mr. Carey was succeeded in the editorship and William Kibbe, Cashier, which. under by James K. Could & Russel E. Post, and Mr. Kibbe and then for yens under the the paper was called the " Western Repos management of Henry B. Gibson, was a itory." In 1804, this partnership was dis- power throughout the State. The Utica solved by the retiring of Mr. Post, who Branch Bank was afterwards established, was succeeded by James D. Bemis. Mr. and continued in successful business un- Gould died in 1808, and under Mr. Bemis der Win. B. Welles and H. K. Sanger for the paper, then called the Ontario Reposi- a number of years. Ebenezer Hale got tory, was issued without interruption for the first discount given at the Ontario twenty-one years. Mr. Bemis was followed Bank, the money being used in the build- by Chauncey Morse and Samuel Ward. — ing of the house lately taken down to make This paper is still regularly published, be- room for the Congregational chapel. ing the oldest paper, living, in western n the 30th of April 1830, the Ontario New York. Savings Bank was incorporated, N. W. In 1803, Sylvester Tiffany established in Howell, II. F. Penfield, John Greig, Jared this village the Ontario Freeman. John A. Willson, Wm. B. Welles, John C. Spencer. Stevens was the successor of Mr. Tiffany, Oliver Phelps. Phineas P. Bates and Wal- and in 1806 commenced the publication of tgr Hubbell corporators. Two years later. the Ontario Messenger, which continued a Thomas Beals became Treasurer, and un- most prosperous career until 1862, when it f ] , r h ; s judicious oversight the bank pros- was consolidated with the Repository, pere( j and grew uutil l855j when it was by the present editor and publisher. WO und up, and Mr. Beals continued the since which time the Repository & Me- banking business in a private capacity un- senger, together with the "Ontario Conn- til his death in 1864. We all know and ty Times " established in 1853, and the f ee ] tne substantial good our village has "Ontario County Journal" first published rece i ve d from the success of these men. some two years since, weekly lay before ii »i •*. t +■ „+ ;„ tu„ ,.,.,"i „r^..i,i lu 1825 the Ontario Female Seminary us all the items of tact in the real world ■ J -. ,.,, „ ,. t . . .. v . , commenced its career of usefulness, which and many of those of fiction m the political, . ,. ., , t ., . continued without interruption lor nearly according as the good of the country re- . _ TT - , i: tilty years. Io Hannah I pham belongs quires. , ,. , . , , , , ,'. ,„ . , the tame whien so long attended this We were now growing stronger, and , ?,-,,■, . A . ,.. . , ' , , 01A school. Her memorv today dwells pleas- the population steadily increased. In 1810 , . , • ' . -i i-o t .onn •. .,•.,> i .oon antly in countless homes. Coming to this it was l,lo3; In 1800 it was 4,680; In 1830 , * , ,. . . , & , - ,,., t io(,. •* tr i—n t io-a place so long ago, living with us here so it was 0,162; In 1840 it was 5,bo2; In 1850 ' ,.,,,-,.,,, ,,,,., T iann ■<. 1 n nnn many years, which she so tail lit u ! lv devot - it was 6,143; In I860 it was nearly 7,000, , , , . ,. , . . ,. ..,, . . t „ ,. t , .. ed to the education of Christian women, she and in 1875, in spite of all the ravages oi . . „ nnn passed the evening OI her days nitheouiel war, it was ,.,99. ' , , ,-,',,, T . tl ,. 10 .,. t , oi I he home her own industry had earned. Just previous to the war of 1812, the .,, , . , , ..^ i j • r and when night came she closed the door Mate Arsenal was built, on land given for • . ... i at . , . ' , ,,,„. on earth and rested, tor her " lips were that purpose by Moses At water; 1,000 j; , c iii- iof\o touched with the live coal Irom oil the al stand oi arms were ordered here in 1808, , , ,, ,i •,, tar." and her peace was won. and when the war came there was a will ' ' ing hand for every musket. With the growth of the village, travel In 1815 the village was incorporated and had become very brisk; throng]) stage placed under the control of a Board of routes had been established from Albany Trustees, consisting of N. YV. Howell, to Buffalo, and coaches came and went President; .1 ames Smedley, Thaddeus ( 'liti- ful1 - In 1810 > tbe $rs1 sta S e route froln pin, Moses Atwater and Phineas P. Bates, Albany west was laid out. Canondaigua Trustees. was the end of the road. In 18,16 an op- 1876. HISTORY OF CAN ANDAIGUA., 11 position line was established by S&nme[ they stood, growing as with one body — Greenleaf and others. Before this new waxing strong as with one pulse. line the time table was as follows: Leave Incomplete and unworthy would' be a New York Monday evening, and arrive at history of Canandaigua, did we fail to lin- Albany the next noon ; then to Schenecta- ger about these foot-prints in the sand made dy and sleep; Wednesday to LFtica and by the feet of those who never more may sleep; then to Skaneateles for over night; walk these streets, nor give nor take a and Friday P. M. reach Oanaddaigua, greeting. where the stage remained until the follow- Oliver Phelps was born in Windsor, ing Monday. Conn., in the year 1749, and received so From 1816 to 1840, Mr. Greenleaf as one much of an education as the limited oppor- of the company, had about 400 stage.-, on tunities of the time afforded. He was a the road, and 'from here to Geneva, had stirring, active and energetic man and pat- sixteen (16) four horse teams constantly in riot. Being engaged in the Revolutionary harness. The opposition line shortened outbreak at Lexington, he was afterwards up this time somewhat, so that these sta Commissary in the army, and was actively ges took passengers safely to Albany in employed during the entire war. It was two and a half days, and could regularly m this way that he became intimately ac- land you in New York in four, provided quainted with Robert Morris, and through there were no detentions. llim was attracted by the beauties of this „,. ., . , , 100 „ western country, which resulted in the The railways constructed here in lboo- J 40, superseded the yellow thorough-braced „ ' " , , , , "'- I,! The village grew and prospered, and coach, and carry thousands through our . , ... : i ■ ' ., ^ . ,. . , , , ,.",. with such prosperity came to him the first limits to where there was one in the olden T , , . „ f, „ . , . Judgeship of the county; then a seat in days. But they lack the busy air the _, , . . „ . ., . , , , , , , . ,.,,.,. Congress, but neither of these honorable coaches had, and their whistle .shriek is . . , ■ , , . „ ,, „ ... „ , . ... positions changed him from the faithful, but a poor substitute ior the horn, which ... , , . ... , quiet citizen, and as such he will ever lie lew ol us rememoer. , . remembered. The plank road to Palmyra, built in '46, Nathaniel Goiuiam, the associate of became a smooth road to penury, and with M] . phe , ps in th(1 p UrchaBe> was never in theElmira and Niagara Falls Railways this place, but was represented in all his proved of no benefit to the stock-holders. interests Dy h j s son> Nathaniel Goriiam. The first steamer, "Lady of the Lake," j r> w ho in 1789, being then in his 26th was not a profitable investment. She has year> came on herej an( j i n the full strength been followed, however, by four others, f practical intelligence and vigorous man- which have finally demonstrated the fact hood, co-operated with Mr. Phelps in the that bread pays when "cast upon the wa- development of their large; possessions.— fers -" Mr. Gorham died in October, 1826, and it As in a stream, the barriers removed, the was fitly said of him at the time, " in him first Avaves of the freed current roll the we have lost a friend indeed; we know not highest, so in the tide of emigration, the that he had an enemy; we are sure he was early comers here were men of sturdy, an enemy to none." sterling worth. There was too much dan- It is a matter of deep regret that in the ger in their lives for littleness: too much record of Gen. Israel Chapin so few spe- to be done for intrigue; no time for schem ciflc items are to be found, for no one — not ing, nor hearts for fraud; but knit and even the purchasers themselves— was more bound so closely to each other by kindred directly identified with the settlement of cares and hopes and common interest, western New York than he. His position that the pleasure lay in giving comfort to and character were such that perhaps that each other and in defrauding none. Shoul- fact alone made no one think a biographer der to shoulder, weeks, months and years or eulogist necessary. We only find that, 12 HISTORY OF CANANDAIGl A. Jury 4, horn in Hatfield, Mass., in 1741, he be- family to a township near, EJraifa. While came at the first Revolutionary outbreak, he and his father were assisting some new a Captain in the earliest militia organiza- comers in their approach to the settlement, tions of his native ^late, rising to the rank they were surprised and captured by Indi of Colonel, and, at the close of the war ans. The father was retained in captivity was serving as Brigadier General. Coming about five years, but the son was not re- to this place alone in 1789, he removed his stored to his people until the treaty at Fort family here in 1790; was made General Stanwix, during which time he had nearly Agent among the Six Nations by Gen. forgotten his own language, but in place Knox, Secretary of War, and thereafter had acquired that of the Indians so entire- was the main dependence of the settlement ly that after the Pickering Treat}' he was for preserving peace, not only between the made, at their request, Indian Agent for white and red man, but among the Indians the Indians, and was in frequent confer- themselves, a task which the introduction ence here with Gen. Chapin, who was ln- of "fire water " made extremely difficult dian Agent for the Government. By the and hazardous. At the Pickering Treaty wise and just management, by these two in 1794 General Chapin contracted a dis- agents, of all the delicate questions which ease which ended with his death the fol- arose between the white and red men, all lowing year. At his burial, which was at- trouble was avoided, however imminent it tended by all who could get here, Red may have been at times; and Mr. Parrish Jacket, unable even as an Indian to re- lived and died respected and beloved by strain his tears, said: — both races. Indeed by the Indians theni- " Brothers! We have lost a good friend, selves his memory has been handed down The Six Nations weep with the United to the few Iroquois left, who yearly visit States. The chain of friendship which he his descendants as though with a right to made between us and our white brothers, sit at his fireside, we must ever keep bright, In May, 1796, Nathaniel W. Howell, "Brothers! It is a custom among us bringing his library in his saddle bags, rode when a great chief dies to drop a belt up this street and first saw his future home, where he has sat. We have lost so many Born in 1770; graduated from Princton in warriors that our belts are few, but we 1787; teaching school for three years, he give you the blackened wampum. studied law with .Judge Hoffman in the " Brothers! It is another custom with city of New York, and was licensed to our people to visit the sleeping ground of practice in 1794. He established himself our dead, and cover it with leaves and in Tioga county in 1795, but being called (lowers. This we will do for him, for we by his professional duties to this place, he loved him." was so much inspired with its beauty of And thai was the first Decoration Day location and the fair promise of what was in Canandaigua. yet to be, that he determined to settle here, Jasper Parrish undoubtedly endured becoming at once the counsel and attorney more hardship and dangers than any of of Charles Williamson, the agent of the the early settlers here, but these very trials Pulteney estate, then residing at Bath, at made him the more useful to his fellow that time in this county. From 1799 to townsmen, rendering him even of greater 1802, he was Attorney-General for the five service to them than Gen. Chapin himself, western counties of this state; was elected His long captivity among the Indians ena to the Legislature, and in '13-'14 to Con- bled him not only to master their language gress. In 1819 he was appointed County and dialects, but as intimately to learn Judge, which office he held for thirteen all their customs as any one of them- years. selves. He was born in Windham, Conn., Intimately associated with Judge How- in March, 1767, and as a child had been kll, first as student, then partner, always taken by his father with the rest of the as friend, was John Gkkio. Their lives 1876. HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. 13 here among us lay nearly together— nor in gaed in business connected with the Phelps death were they long divided. Mr. Greig and Gorham purchase. He was an advo- was born at Moffat, Scotland, August 6, cate for internal improvement, and gave 1776. His father was a writer to the Sig- a large tract of land for the Erie ca- net, and factor or agent to Lord Hopetown; nal. A most fluent writer and of distin- himself educated at the Edinburgh Univer- guished talents. He died in 1822." sit \, he came to New York in December, Henry B. Gibson, whose name for 1799, and to Canandaigua in 1800. Retir- years was but another word for unshaken ing from the partnership with Judge How- and unshakable integrity and business abil- ell, he became an agent of many foreign ity, came to this place in 1821, being call- capitalists, and, by a most judicious man- ed here by the stock-holders of the Ontario agement of their business, materially in- Bank, the affairs of which institution creased the value of their interests, and were in considerable trouble at that time, laid the foundation of his own abundant Previous to this, leaving his native fortune. His marriage with the daughter place, Reading, Penn., he had at one time of Capt. Israel Chapin, a son of the Gener- been the senior partner of the firm of Gib- al, in 1806, bound him forever with the son & Sherman in New York City; at an - interests and prosperity of the village, other attached to a bank in Utica; and at which was always most liberally cared for the time of his leaving the city, was in the until his death on the 9th of April, 1858. Manhattan Bank. It did not require a Among the earliest comers to this place lengthened period for Mr. Gibson to in- was Thomas Beals, whose lojig life of still new strength and vigor into the feeble business activity left so many monuments life of his charge here, which healthy tone to his worth, that his memory is of the passed out into all the affairs of the com- freshest in our minds. Born in Boston, he munity, and revived into increasing ac- came to this place in 1803. At the early tivity the business relations and combina- age of 20, teaching in the Academy he gave tions of the village, until this place became shape and aim to a future of prosperity to noted throughout the state for its wealth the institution, which has been most fully and prosperity. To him do we owe this, realized. Attaching himself, in the course and we sorely realized it at his death. of a few years to the Savings Bank, he Canandaigua ought to, and I am sure was forever after most intimately identifi- does, love the memory of William Wood. ed with the business prosperity of the vil- Others perhaps gave her a name and exist lage, and as much as any other expended ence, but he, in his quaint odd way, was time and money in the embellishment and ever adding some touch of beauty or charm decoration of our streets. He gave his of shape to her comeliness, which we see personal attention to the building of our to-day turn where we will. The witnesses Alms and County House, and in a silent of what he was to her and us, are hanging way, peculiarly his own, did kindly acts in our Court House ; along our streets ; in for the needy poor and destitute. our Jail and County House; and, better As facts of history at all times, and just- still, in the hearts of the poor. Grateful ly, outweigh personal modesty, it is proper flowers for the sick, food for the hungry, that the name of Gideon Granger should warmth for the poor, came from uuder the till its place ia our memory. I quote di- old blue cloak, beneath which beat a heart rectly from the record: " Gideon Gran- as gentle and as loving as a woman's. The ger was born in Suffield, Conn., in 1767; very stones of the street he washed that and graduated at Yale College in 1787. He they might look better to us; and the trees studied law and rose to eminence in his for his sake to-day give us shade. That profession; was appointed Postmaster- man is happy indeed, and worthy indeed, General in 1801, which position he held where even the stones praise him and the until 1814. In that year he moved to Can- trees rock prouder in his honor, andaigua, where he was professionally en- William Wood was born in Charles- 14 HISTORY OF OANANDAKU A. July 4 town, Mass., in 1777, and there received a er Peter B., earning not less his spotles^ liberal education. At 20 he went to Liv- record here, but so much surpassing it by erpool, attached to a mercantile house. — his future daring and ability, that we for- Business complications compelled his re- get what he was to us in his splendid ser-. turn after a brief absence, when lie first vices lo the nation. visited this place, which became his home Further down in time we come to men in 1826. He employed himself in the es- whose names arestm more f re slily spoken; tablishing of libraries for young men. The whose faces we have , ived t() gee , The number of these cannot now be ascertain- grass which here is wom so smooth by ed, but he said himself: " In 1819, I com- bu8y feet> in but a step to yonder yard> menced gathering books for the Merchants swaya in a mournfu i mono tone above the and Mechanics' Library in Boston; then in ]nen who knew these streets Sf) vve]1 _ New York, Albany and Philadelphia; af- Jared Willson with his wealth of humor, forwards by correspondence in New Or- his mind so ful] f everything attractive; leans. I also sent libraries to Louisville, m ark H . Sibley, warm to evervkinde.no Cincinnati and Wheeling. I have had tion> carrying the same great force of ar the pleasure to establish libraries all the gument in other walks beside the lawyers: way from New Orleans to Montreal." He Alvah Worden, keen and critical in next introduced them on vessels on the every nice distinction, as close and sure in Hudson; then on our merchantmen, and every earnest friendship as in legal points ; finally on our ships of war, the " Frank- Walter Hubbell, hiding mines of hard lin " taking the first library of about 2,50(J earned loVe beneath a perfect piety. The volumes. The Mercantile Library of the brothers Granger, who knew them best, city of New York is a child of his, and to- loved most. day has over 150,000 volumes. A , „„„ * „ ., f . , , J As one by one these forest elms and By his advice our broad sidewalks were oaks they loved have fallen, these men laid out, and our shade trees planted. — have fallen too. The lines which mark Lawns and winding paths were marked our gardens and our lawns, to them were and trimmed out into shape; all which all unknown, or only blazed upon the rag would tend to the future beauty of our ged bark of trees; our roads and walks homes was suggested to us, and even some- were trails which reached out into bound- imes done without our knowledge. He less solitude or led from one small clearing lived not really when he lived, nor died to another; our Sunday bells had never when he was dead, but labored hard for startled echos from the woods; undreamed years he could not see, and seasons with of was the roll of a train or shriek of a him absent. There is no need of epitaph steamer; and yet alone, in all this mighty from us, nor chiseled urn nor marble, wilderness, they reached a greatness which His memory freshens with the leaves he it is our aim not to excel, but gain, and loved; grows brighter with their turning, left behind them names and fame so dear There is no winter in his memory, for the and treasured that where the limit of their snows press gently on the good old man, symmetry began and where left off, we do whose record is as spotless as their white- not try to know. ness, and hearts are warm toward him. A . , , . . . _ , . As an industrious maiden, our ( anandai- These men were not alone in all their gua was never remarkable. She was now labors, nor on them alone did every honor grown to be very pleasing to the eye, and fall. Thomas Morris came to share the very kind at heart, but there were lacking one, and worthily wore the other. Auous- the physical att ibutesin the shape of pow jus Porter surveyed and resurve3 r cd this er, mines and minerals, which were essen- wilderness, enduring from his very occupa- tial to the establishing of those industries, tion, weariness and danger which few, which, had the case been different, would even of his friends, suspected. His broth- have caused a more rapid growth. Large 1876. HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. 15 fortunes have been made here under her than our's wull yearly fling some fragrance very eye, it is true, but they are the excep- on the mound, if only daisies or a clover tion, and it shows what a gentle, impartial top, to mark the spot where the Red Hand mother she has been, that wealth has been stopped them and kept them from their so evenly distributed among lier children, Home. and envy never in her household: Her la- Other sons she had, our older brothers, bors have been rather devoted to doing so worthy of our love, well nigh all passed good, and so she caused it that from out away. We know the names they bore, one household, from beside one tire, as the and hear the names they left, but only Senecas would have said, came both Brig- rarely can we mark a halting tread which ham Hall for the insane and the Asylum tells us one is here. For like that old oak for the Orphans, and we know how Can- yonder, which knew them well, they're andaigua bowed her head in anguish when almost gone and only here and there a leaf the frenzied hand of madness left only one still clings along the parent stem. Long beside that fire, and she a mourner. The years ago, when they and it were in their Asylum for the insane w;?s founded by Dr. prime, it cast a friendly shade upon their George Cook, and incorporated in 1859, gatherings. But now it only stretches and has ever since afforded home and palsied arms above us here, and throws kindness to those so sorely afflicted. The naught but a benison from off its wasted Ontario County Orphan Asylum, incorpo- lingers. rated under special act of '63, has prosper- This is but a fragment of the history of ed beyond the hopes of any of its found- our mother — too poorly rendered at the ers; full to overflowing with those who best, and full of faults— but not from want need its help, and well nijh as full of those of any love to her. She came a little who offer it thing, in far off years, and, cradled first Since 1860, the history of our mother upon our lake, she turned her feeble steps Canandaigua, already mature and mairon- toward the north. Groping her way through ly. is too fresh in our minds to need more forest shades, she grew and strength- than passing mention. From 106 in 1790, ened daily, until, still pressing on, she she has become 7,799. From $500 taxes, pushed the trees aside and left our streets she this year levied $20,775, and last year in all their beauty. She set up hearth more. From land at 18c an acre, she stones here and there, and they in turn holds it cheap at $'200; from venison in the reared others. She beckoned to her kins- j woods, "the cattle on a thousand hills" men at the east, and they came on and I. are her's; from maize and corn for home, made their fires here. She grew to woman- she flings her seeds out from her generous hood, and stood erect in all the symmetry hands as though to plant a universe; of her fair proportions. She reached out from calling help to Macedonia, from further in the forest, and blessed the seed Macedonia she goes out and gives her thou- with bounteous harvests, waving her yel- sands to the needy. low hair in the summer's breeze in exulta- There came a time when she was old, tion at her victory. She's now grown old, although she's older now, when Sumter's but never locks of gray will frost her gun awoke her from her sleep, and then brow, save when the winter's breath shall she raised her bands and said: " My chil- chill Ante blood — nor feebleness show in dren, go!" And you, her sons, went (nil. her tread save when she holds some wan- Some who went are here to-day, and some derer. Year after year when she shall see . The flowers are hardly withered a tired child of hers lie down to take a yet which you, -with pious care have laid dreamless sleep — as all must do as time upon a comrade's grave, and when those goes on — she takes I lie weary son within leaves do fade, their perfume seeks the her arms, and holds him there forever. — skies. And some there were who fell and We all have loved ones pillowed there to- lie, we know not where. A Gentler Hand day. And when our own time comes and 16 HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. .July 4, we, worn with our marching through the found, a sleep of rest, a rest of perfect dust and heat of time, fall from the ranks, peace, once more upon the bosom of our to leave our sons advancing still, then we Mother, in turn will find, as surely as our father's THE HISTORY OF CANANDAIGUA. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, Jixl^r 4 3 1876. BY J. ALBERT GRANGER, Esq. CANANDAIGUA, N. Y. PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE ONTARIO REPOSITORY AM.) MESSENGER. 1876. V v Y * ° - ^ aP - ° ^ A * o N o -^ C> \> V A\°* O «V A v , i . . , ^ ' ,«* o * V A * °- c\ A <. *o.A 0^ o *'..** A ^0* A. A ^o b ^ *V >" V-0 ^^a a- ° ^ >s*aik' "V v^ b £■ \.a^ :' ; * .V rO 1 A +. £p ,-S >bv v , * ** ,£. .^ K m ^ v> ^ ■^ V a* y*M.