-C^^v-) 
 
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TR ED EGAR 
 
CHARLES WILLIAMSON 
 
CHARLES WILLIAMSON. 
 
 [Frofitis/'icie 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 t A REVIEW OF HIS LIFE 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 Rev. WILLIAM MAIN, Perth 
 
 From the Official Records of the Centennial Celebration of Bath, U.S., iSgj 
 
 PERTH 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION BY 
 
 COWAN & CO., LIMITED 
 
 1899 
 
^00 Cp e- I 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 HIS narrative of the life and work of Charles 
 Williamson in relation to the County of 
 Steuben and the Village of Bath, N.Y., 
 has been compiled chiefly from the " Official 
 Records of the Centennial Celebration of Bath, 1893." 
 In that volume the article on Charles Williamson, by 
 James M'Call, Esq., and the Historical Address, by the 
 Hon. Ansel J. M'Call, have been the principal sources 
 of information. 
 
 In addition, mention must be made of an apprecia- 
 tive Reminiscence of Charles Williamson which appeared 
 in the Bath Plaindealer on March 7, 1885, and extracts 
 from Mr. Turner's " History of the Phelps and Gorham 
 Purchase," which have been made available. 
 
 Other items of information not thus obtained have 
 been derived from old letters and papers which need not 
 be more particularly enumerated. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAMSON 
 
 THE PHELPS AND GORHAM PURCHASE 
 
 VILLAGE OF BATH IN I 804 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 to face p. 16 
 
 81 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE — MILITARY EXPERIENCE — A 
 PRISONER OF WAR — MARRIAGE — SOJOURN IN SCOT- 
 LAND — FRIENDSHIP WITH WILLIAM PITT AND 
 PATRICK COLQUHOUN — APPOINTED AGENT OF THE 
 GENESEE TRACT ----- 
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 THE GENESEE TRACT ----- 
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 EXPLORING THE TRACT — WILLIAMSBURG— THE SITE OF 
 
 BATH — ROADMAKING — TROUBLE WITH GERMAN 
 
 LABOURERS — THE WILLIAMSON ROAD 
 ix 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 CLEARING THE GROUND — DANGERS AND HARDSHIPS — 
 DEATH OF CHRISTINA WILLIAMSON— ARRIVAL OF 
 SETTLERS — FORMATION OF THE TOWN - - 33 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 WILLIAMSON APPOINTED JUDGE OF THE COUNTY OF 
 ONTARIO— EARLY POSTAL SYSTEM— GENEVA— THE 
 SETTLEMENT AT SODUS, AND CONFLICT WITH THE 
 BRITISH AUTHORITIES — FINAL SUBMISSION AND 
 PACIFICATION OF THE INDIANS — WILLIAMSON'S 
 HOSPITALITY ----- 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 VISIT OF THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT — EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM HIS JOURNAL - - - - 64 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE STEUBEN COUNTY — DIVISION OF TOWNS: BATH 
 THE CAPITAL — THE FIRST NEWSPAPER — RELIGION 
 — THE FIRST SCHOOL — THE BATH RACES — PRO- 
 GRESS OF SPECULATION — COMPLETION OF TOWN 
 ORGANISATION— COURTHOUSE, JAIL, AND THEATRE 
 
Contents 
 
 — SETTLEMENT OF PERTHSHIRE EMIGRANTS AT BIG 
 SPRINGS OR CALEDONIA— METHOD OF ALLOTMENT 74 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WILLIAMSON'S PAMPHLET ON THE GENESEE COUNTRY- 
 NAVIGATION OF THE RIVERS — RAFTS AND ARK- 
 BUILDING — COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS — THE MAN- 
 SION OF SPRINGFIELD . ... 94 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 DISAGREEMENT OF WILLIAMSON WITH HIS PRINCIPALS — 
 RESIGNATION OF THE AGENCY— RESIDENCE AT 
 SPRINGFIELD — THE THORNTONS - - - 106 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 WILLIAMSON'S RETURN TO SCOTLAND— DIPLOMATIC SER- 
 VICE UNDER THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT — HIS 
 DEATH — TESTIMONIES TO HIS CHARACTER — HIS 
 DESCENDANTS - - - - - IIS 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF BATH - - - 124 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION - - - - I3I 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 THE SODUS SETTLEMENT DISPUTE— LETTERS ON THE 
 CRISIS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON AND 
 SECRETARY RANDOLPH - - - - 151 
 
CHARLES WILLIAMSON 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 ORE than a hundred years ago the spot 
 on which the fair and prosperous town of 
 Bath, New York, now stands, was the 
 undisturbed abode of the fierce wolf and 
 the prowHng panther, the croaking raven and the dreary 
 owl, the crawling serpent and other myriad denizens of 
 Nature in her wildest state. The broad valley was 
 covered with a dark and dense forest of oak and pine, 
 unbroken in every direction. "The hill-tops were 
 crowned with magnificent white pines, dark and sombre, 
 adding at least a hundred feet to their apparent eleva- 
 tion." The native Indians, to whom the forests were 
 as highways, had penetrated into that wild domain, 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 but the foot of the white man had never trod the 
 wilderness way, and no human settlement was there. 
 
 To-day all this is changed. The pioneers of civili- 
 sation have long since cut their way through the pathless 
 forest. The ringing axe has cleared the broad valley 
 of its oaks and pines. The denizens of the forest have 
 been exterminated. The crowning glory of the hill-tops 
 is gone. And where Nature reigned in wild uncon- 
 quered splendour the strong hand of civilisation has 
 produced an ordered beauty. The wiMerness and tl.e 
 solitary place have- given place to rich harvest fields ; 
 the pathless forest has become a town of broad streets 
 and spacious squares, with highways leading to other 
 centres of civilised life and activity ; where once the 
 tall trees waved, churches and schools and stately 
 mansions now stand; the busy hum of industry ascends 
 where once only the sounds peculiar to Nature's solitude 
 might have been heard ; and men ot intelli ct, energy, 
 and skill, with fair women and merry children, live and 
 rejoice there in the prosperity that has crowned the 
 arduous, patient, and heroic labours of the man who 
 laid the foundation of it all. 
 
 The name which must for all time be pre-emintntly 
 identified with this stupendous change is that of 
 
Introduction 
 
 Charles Williamson, a Scotsman of keen insight and 
 profound wisdom, of indomitable courage and untiring 
 energy, who first saw the possibilities latent there, and 
 strove with conspicuous success to make the possibilities 
 actual. 
 
 The purpose of the following pages is to give the 
 story of the pre - eminent part played by this man of 
 outstanding qualities in the opening of a trackless 
 forest to the foot of civilisation, and in the making of 
 a town which still delights to do his memory honour 
 as that of one to whom, under Providence, it chiefly 
 owes its present fair and prosperous state. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE — MILITARY EXPERIENCE A PRISONER 
 
 OF WAR MARRIAGE — SOJOURN IN SCOTLAND — FRIEND- 
 SHIP WITH WILLIAM PITT AND PATRICK COLQUHOUN 
 
 APPOINTED AGENT OF THE GENESEE TRACT 
 
 HARLES WILLIAMSON, to whose 
 active and adventurous life, not only Bath 
 owes its foundation, but all the fair 
 region of Western New York is indebted 
 for its rapid development and wonderful improvement, 
 was born in Edinburgh, on the 12th July, 1757. 
 He was the eldest of the three sons of Alexander 
 Williamson, of Balgray, Dumfriesshire. Of the events 
 of his early life there is no record, but doubtless the 
 years of boyhood and youth were spent in the acquisi- 
 tion of an education in accordance with the station 
 into which he had been born — an education of charac- 
 teristic Scottish thoroughness, which developed the keen 
 intellectual faculties for which he was so distinguished 
 
Military Experience 
 
 in later days. No other circumstances, also, than 
 those of that early time could have been better adapted 
 for the life of energy and physical endurance which 
 was afterwards to be his destiny. The free and open 
 air existence which was characteristic of the son of a 
 country gentleman was an invaluable training for one 
 who was to be first a loyal soldier of his country and 
 afterwards an intrepid pioneer amid the wastes of the 
 Wild West. 
 
 Of the three sons of Alexander Williamson, two 
 were destined for the army, and on the 8th March, 
 1775, at the age of eighteen, Charles was gazetted as 
 ensign by purchase to the 25th Regiment of Foot. 
 The 25th Regiment was known as the Edinburgh Regi- 
 ment, and was commanded at that time by Lord George 
 Henry Lennox. On June 4th, 1777, W^illiamson was 
 promoted to the rank of lieutenant, a year later he became 
 captain-lieutenant, and on January 17th, 1781, he was 
 gazetted as captain^ — the familiar title by which he was 
 afterwards known. The war of the Revolution which 
 finally achieved the independence of America was 
 then at its height. In 1778 France and Spain 
 had leagued themselves with America against England, 
 and France held the sea. The 25th Regiment was 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 despatched on active service to America, and while 
 Captain Williamson, in company with a brother officer, 
 was on his way from England to join his corps the ship 
 in which he sailed was attacked by a French privateer 
 near the American coast. Captain Williamson joined 
 the sailors in defending the ship and was severely 
 wounded, but all resistance was in vain. The vessel 
 was captured, and Williamson, with the others on 
 board, was seized as a prisoner of war. They were 
 brought into Newburyport and thence transferred to the 
 depot at Boston. There, in that city of learning and 
 culture. Captain Williamson, as a prisoner on parole, 
 found a home in the house of Mr. Newell, whose 
 daughter, Abigail, proved an accomplished companion 
 and a tender nurse. For it happened that the captain 
 fell ill, and Abigail, forgetting the antagonism of the 
 nations at the sight of need, devoted herself so 
 thoroughly to nursing the invalid that each grew to 
 love the other's presence. Consequently when towards 
 the end of 1781 an exchange of prisoners had 
 been arranged and Captain Williamson, with liberty 
 regained, resolved to set out for New York on his 
 way to Scotland, Abigail Newell consented to ac- 
 company him, and at New London, Conn., on 
 
 6 
 
Sojourn in Scotland 
 
 December 2, 1781, they were married by a justice of 
 the peace. 
 
 Immediately thereafter the young couple set sail 
 for Scotland, where they remained for several years, 
 Williamson having retired on half-pay. Their home was 
 on a small family property near Dollar, Clackmannan- 
 shire, and there they lived for some time in the un- 
 eventful quiet of the home-life. 
 
 Again there is no definite record of the captain's ex- 
 periences during the ten years that followed his return 
 to Scotland. But from a passport which has been pre- 
 served and is now in the library at Bath, it appears 
 that in 1784 he travelled in Germany, and in the same 
 year he visited Constantinople, and made an overland 
 journey from Constantinople towards Semlin in Hungary, 
 of which a descriptive account is given in an interesting 
 journal written by himself and still preserved. 
 
 In 1787 he was again in Scotland, and lived at 
 Balgray, his father's estate in Dumfriesshire, with his 
 wife and one or two children, for two or three years. 
 On September 17, 1790, he was elected a burgess of 
 
 Lochmaben. 
 
 About this time the attention of the capitalists of 
 Europe was being attracted from the crowded land 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 ownership of the old world to the opportunities in the 
 vast unsettled regions of the new. They placed their 
 hope in the great, unopened resources of the wild lands 
 of the West, and began those enterprises which have 
 been the means of increasing so largely the world's 
 prosperity and wealth. 
 
 During his first sojourn in America, Captain William- 
 son had not been unobservant of the hopeful condition 
 of that country of embryonic greatness. He had re- 
 turned to Scotland with his mind well furnished with 
 information regarding the latent resources of America, 
 and with fixed opinions on what might be achieved by 
 the wisely ordered labours of bands of brave and ener- 
 getic settlers. To him, therefore, the great capitalists 
 of England turned as one who could speak with author- 
 ity on their contemplated pioneering enterprises, and 
 they eagerly sought his opinion and drew upon his 
 stock of information. 
 
 His intellectual and fine social qualities attracted 
 especially the attention of William Pitt, then Prime 
 Minister of England, and Patrick Colquhoun, Sheriff 
 of Westminster ; and his acquaintance with those men 
 of influence and power ripened into an intimacy which 
 remained unbroken till death severed the ties of friend- 
 
Agent of the Genesee Tract 
 
 ship. When, therefore, about this time, Franklin, the 
 agent of Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, 
 sold by contract to an " Association," consisting of 
 William Pulteney, William Hornby, and Patrick Col- 
 quhoun, the tract of land in Western New York, consist- 
 ing of over 2,000,000 acres, or 3500 square miles, 
 stretching from the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario, 
 and from Seneca lake to the Genesee river, they turned 
 at once to Captain Williamson as the man to carry out 
 the scheme of settling the country and disposing of 
 their purchase in allotments. 
 
 It required little persuasion to induce Williamson to 
 accept the appointment of agent of the syndicate. His 
 own desires made the opportunity thus afforded for 
 pioneering work attractive, and the task was one for 
 which he was peculiarly fitted. His education and 
 physical training, his experience of military discipline, 
 his courageous spirit and strength of endurance, his 
 knowledge of men widened and deepened by travel, 
 his business acumen and diplomacy, tact and courtesy, 
 and an enthusiasm which was inspiring, all combined 
 to mark him off as the one man who could successfully 
 carry out the great enterprise with which he was now 
 to be implicitly entrusted. 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 Having resolved to undertake the work, with charac- 
 teristic energy he lost no time in beginning it. Repairing 
 to Scotland, he settled his own affairs, selected a party 
 of brave, ambitious, and intelligent Scotsmen to assist him 
 in his new field ; and with these, among whom were John 
 Johnson and Charles Cameron, and with his wife and chil- 
 dren, bade farewell to his native land, and in the autumn of 
 1791 sailed for Norfolk, a city and seaport of Virginia. 
 
 There were no great steamships in those days as 
 there are now, when the thousands of miles across the 
 vast ocean can be traversed in a few brief days. Then 
 the ocean journey had to be accomplished by the slower 
 and less certain sailing vessel. And so it happened 
 that the month of December had brought the year near 
 its close before he landed at the port of destination. 
 Thence he travelled by packet to Baltimore, where he 
 provided quarters for his family for the winter, while he 
 himself proceeded to Philadelphia, and, on the 9th 
 January, 1792, appeared before the Supreme Court of 
 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and legally qualified 
 himself to hold and dispose of land by taking the 
 required oath of allegiance, and becoming a citizen of 
 the United States. 
 
 Here, with his back turned upon the old world, 
 
Agent of the Genesee Tract 
 
 and his face, bright with hopefulness, set steadfastly 
 towards the new, let us leave him for a space to take 
 a brief review of the previous transactions, already only 
 hinted at, which led to his advent on the scene of his 
 future labours. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE GENESEE TRACT 
 
 EFORE the War of the Revolution the 
 colonies of North America derived their 
 political existence from Royal charters, 
 which gave them grants of territory of 
 uncertain extent and indefinite boundaries, sometimes 
 overlapping and covering the same domain. As a 
 consequence many serious controversies, sometimes 
 threatening to result in open hostilities, arose between 
 the colonies about their respective rights. When the 
 war broke out necessity demanded that these disputes 
 should be forgotten in a federation for the attaining of 
 a greater and more important end. But as soon as 
 peace was declared, independence established, and 
 measures taken for a more perfect union, the old 
 differences broke out again and clamoured for settle- 
 ment. It was insisted that the glorious result was 
 
The Genesee Tract 
 
 due to the joint efforts of the whole confederation, and 
 that, as a consequence, the unoccupied and disputed 
 territories should become the property of the National 
 Government, to be disposed of for their joint benefit. 
 
 The dispute, out of which arose the later circum- 
 stances with which we are immediately concerned, lay 
 between the States of Massachusets and New York. 
 Massachusets claimed certain lands within the bounds of 
 the State of New York, and, failing otherwise to arrange 
 their differences, a Commission was mutually appointed 
 in 1786 to endeavour to effect a compromise. The 
 Commission met at Hartford in November of the same 
 year, and as the result of their labours a compromise 
 was arrived at, which required each State to make 
 certain sacrifices and to agree to certain provisions, but 
 through which all questions relating to the right of 
 jurisdiction and the claim of property received their 
 quietus. 
 
 " By the settlement thus effected. New York re- 
 tained the right of government, sovereignty, and 
 jurisdiction over all the lands in dispute, and to 
 Massachusets was ceded the rights of soil or pre- 
 emption of the soil from the sole occupants, the 
 
 Seneca Indians, of 240,000 acres between the Owega 
 
 13 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 and Chenango Rivers, commonly known as the Boston 
 ten townships ; and also of all the lands in New York 
 west of a line beginning at the eighty-second milestone 
 on the north boundary of Pennsylvania (now the south- 
 east corner of Steuben county), and running on a meridian 
 line due north to Lake Ontario, excepting one mile in 
 width on the Niagara River." 
 
 The tract of country with which Captain Williamson 
 afterwards had to deal lay within the latter territory thus 
 defined. 
 
 The settlement, in respect of material possessions, 
 was greatly in favour of Massachusets ; but New York 
 made the sacrifice involved, and the dispute being ended, 
 each State settled down to its own development. 
 
 It soon became apparent that New York State, in 
 spite of her denudation, was destined to attain the proud 
 distinction of being the Empire State of the Union. 
 The industrious representatives of two nations — the 
 Dutch and the Scotch — combined by their skill and 
 thrift to achieve this greatness for the place of their 
 adoption. The increasing prosperity of the State, attracted 
 people from all quarters to share it ; and some of the best 
 men of Massachusets, seeing in the sister State better 
 opportunities and more hopeful possibilities than in their 
 
The Genesee Tract 
 
 own, migrated there. Accordingly, if Massachusets by 
 the compromise agreement had gained largely in material 
 possessions, on the other hand she lost more largely by 
 the defection of the men who alone could develop the 
 resources of these possessions. Her rights in the 
 extensive lands were useless to her save for their intrinsic 
 value as subjects of sale, whereby her heavy pecuniary 
 indebtedness might be liquidated. She therefore set 
 about disposing of those which she had gained by the 
 settlement. First the ten townships were sold to a Boston 
 company, and afterwards on the ist April, 1788, she 
 contracted to sell to Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps 
 her rights in the second tract of country which had been 
 assigned to her. 
 
 The sale having been effected, Gorham and Phelps 
 at once opened negotiations with the Seneca Indians, 
 and at a council held at Buffalo Creek a treaty was 
 concluded on the 8th July, 1788, by which they obtained 
 title to the eastern portion of the tract, estimated to 
 contain over 2,200,000 acres, agreeing to pay therefor 
 5,000 dollars down and an annuity of 500 dollars. 
 
 This tract, running from the Pennsylvania line on 
 
 the south to Lake Ontario on the north, and from the 
 
 Seneca Lake on the east to the Genesee River on the 
 
 15 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 west, became known as the Genesee Tract, and Included 
 
 what is now Steuben county, so named after Baron von 
 
 Steuben, a distinguished general in the American War 
 
 of Independence. Phelps and Gorham at once caused 
 
 the tract to be divided into ranges of townships six miles 
 
 square, and, opening an office at Canandaigua, began the 
 
 sale of their purchase. But the lands were far removed 
 
 from the centres of civilisation, and the difficulty of 
 
 reaching these centres was increased by the want of 
 
 high-roads of communication, while the navigation of the 
 
 rivers was generally difficult and at some points almost 
 
 impossible. As a consequence sales were slow, and 
 
 this fact, added to a rise in the value of securities in 
 
 which payment was to be made, involved the proprietors 
 
 in financial difficulties. They appealed for help to the 
 
 great financier of the Revolution, Robert Morris, already 
 
 mentioned, who responded by purchasing from them their 
 
 unsold lands, except two townships which were reserved, 
 
 and assuming their obligations. Morris at once caused 
 
 the lands to be ofiered for sale in London. An English 
 
 syndicate was formed, consisting of William Pulteney, 
 
 William Hornby, and Patrick Colquhoun, who contracted 
 
 with Morris for the purchase of the lands for the sum 
 
 of ^75,000; and thus the territory which had been in 
 
 16 
 
The Phelps and Gorham Purchase. 
 
 VTo 
 
The Genesee Tract 
 
 part the cause of so much dispute between two sister 
 States, and of embarrassment to its subsequent owners, 
 became the possession of English capitalists, who, because 
 they were fortunate enough to find the right man to 
 work it for them, made it yield a rich return. 
 
 It was impossible at this time for aliens legally to 
 hold title to land in the State of New York. Accordingly, 
 in appointing an agent the syndicate had not only to 
 consider his fitness to carry out the pioneering work 
 which their enterprise necessitated, but also his commercial 
 ability and integrity, which would justify them in reposing 
 in him the trust of taking over the lands absolutely in 
 his own name, and thereafter of conveying such lands as 
 they deemed it advisable to sell. It was a great trust, 
 but the history of the next few years shows how 
 thoroughly Captain Williamson proved himself worthy 
 of his patrons' confidence. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 EXPLORING THE TRACT — WILLIAMSBURG — THE SITE OF BATH 
 
 ROADMAKING TROUBLE WITH GERMAN LABOURERS 
 
 THE WILLIAMSON ROAD 
 
 ^"TMl AVING legally qualified himself to hold and 
 '^ dispose of land in the State of New York, 
 Williamson entered into direct communi- 
 cation with Morris, whom he probably met 
 at Philadelphia, for the conclusion of the contract. But 
 before completing the negotiations, and with the view of 
 obtaining some idea of the lands of the purchase and his 
 subsequent task, he made a journey of examination by 
 way of Albany and the Mohawk Valley to the Genesee 
 country. From his own pen we have the following 
 graphic description of the condition of the route he 
 travelled : — " The road, as far as Whitestown, had been 
 made passable for waggons, but from that to the Genesee 
 was little better than an Indian path, sufficiently opened 
 
Exploring the Tract 
 
 to allow a sledge to pass, and some impassable streams 
 bridged. At Whitestown I was obliged to change my 
 carriage, the Albany driver getting alarmed for himself 
 and horses when he found that for the next one hundred 
 miles we were not only obliged to take provisions for 
 ourselves, but for our horses, and blankets for our beds. 
 On leaving Whitestown we found only a few straggling 
 huts, scattered along the path, from ten to twenty miles 
 from each other, and they affording nothing but the 
 conveniency of and a kind of shelter from the snow." 
 Passing through the northern portion of the territory 
 he reached the confluence of the Canaseraga and Genesee 
 Rivers, and there fixed upon a site on which to build a 
 town, to be called Williamsburg in honour of two of his 
 patrons, William Pulteney and William Hornby. His 
 preliminary exploration convinced him of the beauty and 
 richness of the country and satisfied him as to its value, 
 and returning to Philadelphia he received on nth April, 
 1792, in his own name from Robert Morris and his wife, 
 in pursuance of the agreement, a deed of the lands there- 
 after known as the Estate of the English Association, 
 
 The purchase having been completed, he proceeded 
 without loss of time to begin the work of opening up the 
 
 country. As Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey were 
 
 19 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 well-populated and more contiguous to his purchase than 
 New England, he saw the necessity of opening a more 
 direct communication to the Genesee from those States. 
 Accordingly, he made Northumberland, Pennsylvania, a 
 large settlement at the junction of the north and west 
 branches of the Susquehanna, the base of his operations, 
 and moved his family to this frontier town. On the 3rd 
 June, 1792, with a small party of surveyors and woodsmen 
 he set out to explore a route to the Genesee River. He 
 proceeded with his party up the west branch of the 
 Susquehanna to the mouth of the Lycoming, and then 
 entered the wilderness, taking a northerly course. In 
 his own narrative he says : " Sensible of the advantages 
 this new country would reap from a communication with 
 Pennsylvania, my first object was to trace out the 
 possibility of opening a communication across the Allegany 
 Mountains. Discouraged by every person I inquired of 
 for information relative to the route, I determined to 
 explore the country myself. After a laborious exertion 
 of ten days I came to the Cowanesque Creek, when I 
 first perceived that I was in the county of Ontario. The 
 route, though very mountainous, was not impracticable for 
 a waggon road. Proceeding thence towards the north- 
 north-west, after six days more travelling I and my party 
 
Exploring the Tract 
 
 pitched our tents on an Indian clearing at the junction 
 of the Caneseraga and Genesee Rivers, near where 
 Williamsburg had been located." By this route he was 
 satisfied that a good highway was practicable, the distance 
 being less than one hundred and seventy miles, and 
 shorter by one hundred from the west branch of the 
 Susquehanna ; and so he resolved at once to open a 
 waggon road through the wilderness. 
 
 The exploration of this route led also to a 
 change in his plans. He discovered that the south- 
 east portion of the tract was rough and hilly, much of 
 it timbered with pitch-pine and scrub-oaks, and by no 
 means to be compared with the rich bottoms of the 
 Genesee on the smooth slopes surrounding the Lakes. 
 It was at once apparent to him that if he put upon the 
 market the best lands first, the poor and broken lands 
 would remain on his hands for a long time. He also 
 saw that the forbidding part of the country had some 
 advantages ; it was nearer the southern settlements, 
 more healthful, and abounded in purer streams ; so he 
 resolved to make his headquarters and chief settlement 
 in their midst, saying, " As Nature has done so much 
 for the northern plains, I will do something for the 
 southern mountains." 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 As he proceeded through the valley of the 
 Conhocton, he was struck with the beauty of the 
 intersection made by a broad valley extending north 
 to Lake Keuka ; the Seneca Indians had given it the 
 name of Dona-ta-gwenda (an opening within an opening). 
 As it was near the centre of the southern part of the 
 tract, and at the head of navigation on the Conhocton 
 River, with its abundant water-power, he determined to 
 locate there his chief town, and the headquarters for 
 the sale of his lands. The site bore a striking resem- 
 blance to that beautiful valley in England where the 
 Avon winds gracefully around the base of a hill and 
 encircles a charming plateau upon which has stood for 
 centuries the ancient city of Bath, in the English county 
 of Somerset. This resemblance, together with the 
 fact that about the same time the only daughter of 
 Williamson's patron, William Pulteney, was created 
 Baroness Bath, suggested the name which from its 
 foundation has been applied to the settlement which 
 was there planted in the forest — the town of Bath. 
 
 The first work of the pioneer was the construction 
 of a highway through the wilderness in the line of his 
 survey. For help in the work of opening up that part 
 of the road which lay within the State of Pennsylvania, 
 
Roadmaking 
 
 Captain Williamson applied to the Governor of the 
 
 State. It was a moderate and reasonable request, and 
 
 one which it might have been expected would at once 
 
 have been granted in consideration of the connection 
 
 which would thus be effected between the State and 
 
 the latent resources of the new country. But the 
 
 application was refused, and it would seem that there 
 
 was even some difficulty in getting the consent of the 
 
 State to build the road without her assistance, for 
 
 Williamson has been considered fortunate in obtaining 
 
 this permission. Thus thrown upon his own resources, 
 
 the intrepid pioneer, far from being discouraged, was 
 
 stimulated to increased energy and endeavour. If 
 
 Pennsylvania would not help him he must do the work 
 
 himself, and he was not the man to shrink from the 
 
 entire task. Collecting a number of stout Pennsylvania 
 
 woodsmen, the arduous labour of constructing the road 
 
 which should join the Genesee country to the civilisation 
 
 of the south at once began. This band was under the 
 
 charge of two overseers, Hammond and Brown, and its 
 
 work went steadily on. In addition there were at first 
 
 no fewer than one hundred and twenty Germans employed 
 
 in the same labour, but the Germans proved a source 
 
 of trouble and annoyance. Their presence on the field 
 
 23 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 of operations was due to an action of Patrick Colquhoun 
 who, without consulting Wilhamson, had arranged with 
 one Berezy to collect a colony of steady German farmers 
 to be settled in the Genesee country, whither they were 
 to be carried free, and where they were to be supplied 
 with twenty-five acre farms at reduced rates. But when 
 the greater number of them arrived in Philadelphia, 
 instead of New York, where it was agreed to land them, 
 they proved to be a motley crowd of loafers and mal- 
 contents which poverty, laziness, and necessity had 
 gathered together in Hamburg. They were entirely 
 unsuited for the purpose of the agreement, and Robert 
 Morris concluded that the only way out of the difficulty 
 was to use them in cutting the road to the future 
 settlement. 
 
 In spite of every difficulty and hindrance the road- 
 making made rapid progress. Early in November, 
 1792, thirty miles of it, sufficiently wide for waggons, 
 had been opened, and by the end of the year the work- 
 ing party had completed it to Dansville, Livingston 
 County. 
 
 While the workmen laboured, Williamson was busy 
 
 superintending the progress of the work, and exploring 
 
 other parts of the Genesee tract. In January, 1793, 
 
 24 
 
The German Labourers 
 
 he went to Philadelphia and to New York, where he 
 remained until February 6th. But on that date a hurried 
 courier from the busy scenes in the midst of the 
 wilderness brought him word that the trouble with 
 the Germans, which had begun with their coming, had 
 reached a crisis. From the first they had been lazy and 
 shiftless, ungrateful for the means of livelihood that had 
 been placed to their hand, concerned only for their own 
 eating and drinking, yet unwilling to work for the 
 same. They fiddled and danced and drank whisky ; 
 and even a clergyman who had come with them proved 
 a bad specimen of his cloth. It transpired that Berezy 
 had not only deceived Colquhoun, but had also deceived 
 his emigrants. To swell his numbers, and gratify his 
 ambition to be the head of a colony, he had held out 
 to them the most attractive promises ; had assured them 
 that, his patrons being rich, they should want for no- 
 thing, and that, as they were to be the founders of a 
 city, they could each choose such employment as was 
 best suited to their tastes and habits. That they were 
 to dig and delve in the dirty earth was not in the bond 
 according to their understanding. When they dis- 
 covered by experience the real state of affairs and the 
 actual work which they were expected to perform, 
 
 25 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 universal discontent speedily followed and mutterings of 
 rebellion were soon heard. Berezy in many ways nursed 
 the mutinous spirit. By indulgence and other artful 
 devices he obtained complete control of the colonists, 
 and finally set himself above Captain Williamson, claiming 
 to have brought his authority directly from headquarters 
 in London. A store had been established at Williamsburg 
 under the care of John Johnstone, and Berezy and the 
 Germans used its goods and provisions lavishly ; and, in 
 addition, Berezy contracted debts for supplies, assuming 
 that he was acting for the Association and not under 
 the authority of Williamson. 
 
 The discontent and disaffection of the German emi- 
 grants had at last broken out into open mutiny which, 
 apart from the safety of those who were unfortunately 
 associated with them, threatened the success of the 
 operations. Williamson returned in haste to Northum- 
 berland, and thence, accompanied by his friend Thomas 
 Morris, went on to the scene of operations to confer 
 with Berezy, who had been the means of importing and 
 encouraging the mutinous crew. He had a house at 
 Williamsburg, then occupied by James Miller, where he 
 kept a desk containing all his papers that had reference 
 
 to that locality ; and there he and his friend took up 
 
 26 
 
The German Labourers 
 
 their quarters. Sending for Berezy he had an interview 
 with him, which ended by his displacing him as an 
 agent and forbidding him to exercise any authority over 
 the Germans. Then, calHng the Germans together, he 
 informed them of their new relations, and proposed 
 measures of further assistance to them, conditional upon 
 their going to work and trying to help themselves. At 
 first they were disposed to listen to his proposals, but 
 the superior influence of Berezy prevailed, and further 
 mutiny and riot succeeded. On the Sunday afterwards, 
 Williamson says, " Berezy and the minister were all 
 day pow-wowing in every house in the settlement. 
 Monday came, and Williamson found his quarters be- 
 sieged. The Germans had collected in a body, and, 
 under the influence of Berezy, were making extravagant 
 demands as to the terms of peace and their continuance 
 in the colony. Captain Williamson retreated into the 
 house with his friends, Morris and Johnstone and 
 several others — in all a force vastly inferior to the 
 refractory colonists. " Driven into a corner between 
 two writing-desks," says Williamson, " 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 
 
 27 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 could equal my situation but some of the Parisian 
 
 scenes, and I was for an hour and a half in this 
 
 situation, every instant expecting to be torn in 
 
 pieces." 
 
 Berezy, finding that the storm he had raised had 
 
 become too violent, quelled it ; but rapine took the 
 
 place of personal assault. The cattle on the premises 
 
 were driven off, or killed to furnish a feast for a general 
 
 carousal. The mutiny and plundering lasted for several 
 
 days, there being no authority or superior force to quell 
 
 it. At one time the physician of the colony who, though 
 
 a German, had taken sides with Captain Williamson, 
 
 became the object of the fiercest resentment. He was 
 
 seized, and in attempting to rescue him Morris and 
 
 Johnstone were assaulted and their lives placed in 
 
 jeopardy, though finally they made their escape. Present 
 
 in all the affray was Richard Cuyler, then acting as 
 
 Captain Williamson's clerk. He was despatched to 
 
 Albany with a requisition to Governor George Clinton 
 
 for a force sufficient to quell the riot and apprehend the 
 
 rioters. Berezy, with a few of the Germans, departed 
 
 for Philadelphia, for the double purpose of escaping 
 
 arrest and enlisting Robert Morris on their side. 
 
 Governor Clinton issued an order to Judah Colt, who 
 
 28 
 
The German Labourers 
 
 had been appointed sheriff of the new county of Ontario, 
 
 commanding him to summon a posse for the arrest of 
 
 the rioters. A posse equal in numbers with the German 
 
 colonists was no easy matter to secure at that early 
 
 period of settlement ; but, fortunately, some boats' crews 
 
 and new settlers had just arrived at Bath. They made 
 
 a forced march through the woods and, joined by others, 
 
 succeeded in arresting those who had been foremost in 
 
 the riot. They were taken to Canandaigua, and light 
 
 fines imposed, the principal object being the assertion of 
 
 the supremacy of the laws. Unable to pay the fines 
 
 they were hired out to new settlers in Canandaigua and 
 
 the vicinity to earn the money. Berezy going from 
 
 Philadelphia to New York put the Germans and himself 
 
 under the auspices of a German benevolent association, 
 
 who had made arrangements with Governor Simcoe for 
 
 settling emigrants in the township of Markham at what 
 
 is now Toronto. 
 
 Thus ended the trouble with the German emigrants. 
 
 Their unfortunate importation resulted in a dead loss ; 
 
 for when, in a letter of date November 2, 1793, 
 
 Williamson washed his hands of the whole business, he 
 
 stated that he had expended some ;^8,ooo on them 
 
 since they landed, for which there was little to show 
 
 29 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 in return. The trial of the rioters cost more money, 
 and, being followed by certain processes of litigation, 
 the costs largely increased the amount of unproductive 
 expenditure. 
 
 Amid all the worry and trouble involved by this 
 irritating experience, progress in the work of road- 
 making was being constantly reported, and in August, 
 1793, it was completed to Williamsburg. It was a 
 triumph of skill and energy, patience and perseverance, 
 endurance and courage ; and no one can justly withhold 
 the meed of praise from him who, with his stout band 
 of pioneers, independent of State aid, without an inhabi- 
 tant to furnish encouragement and labour, devoid of 
 many of the materials of construction, and often without 
 sure supplies of food, cast up a highway in the wilderness, 
 by means of which the wilderness itself was transformed 
 into well-ordered and prosperous abodes of civilisation. 
 It has ever since been known as the Williamson Road, 
 and was subsequently adopted as the post route. 
 
 This road was but the first of many others which 
 
 proved the most successful means of opening and starting 
 
 the settlements. Captain Williamson was quick to see 
 
 the value of the construction of roads. He said that 
 
 fifty families settled on the State Road in the space of 
 
 3° 
 
The Williamson Road 
 
 four months after it was opened, and he and his com- 
 pany constructed many roads, thus opening the lands 
 for sale to the early settlers as a matter of public 
 policy. 
 
 The great road having been finished as far as was 
 necessary for the point selected for the new town, Captain 
 Williamson, as soon as navigation was opened in March, 
 1793, organised a party of thirty woodsmen, surveyors, 
 and settlers to proceed at once to the site previously 
 selected by him, in order to clear the ground and lay 
 the foundations of his new town and settlement. The 
 party was placed in charge of his faithful assistant, Charles 
 Cameron, who had accompanied him from Scotland. 
 They set out in two Durham boats laden with tools, 
 provisions, and other necessaries, and made their way 
 up the north branch of the Susquehanna to Tioga Point. 
 The boats carried from five to eight tons, and were 
 poled up the stream, or where there was a strong 
 current or rift, were cordelled or warped up by the 
 passengers and crew by means of long ropes. From 
 the Point the navigation was more difficult. It was 
 found impossible to manage both boats, and accordingly 
 Cameron left one of them at the Point, with much of 
 
 the freight, in charge of a few men, and proceeded 
 
 31 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 with the other up the Chemung and Conhocton. With 
 much difficulty, and after overcoming many obstructions 
 caused by rocks and fallen trees, they at last, on April 
 15, made a safe landing on the banks of the Conhocton 
 at the chosen site, near the present location of the 
 Delaware and Lackawanna depot, and a little more 
 than thirty rods from what is now known as Pulteney 
 Square in Bath. 
 
 And there their hazardous journey ended. There 
 lay the scene of the heavy toil which should first clear 
 the forest of its giant trees and tangled underwood, and 
 then build a city which should furnish homes and happi- 
 ness for themselves and those who have now entered 
 into their labours. 
 
 32 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 CLEARING THE GROUND DANGERS AND HARDSHIPS DEATH 
 
 OF CHRISTINA WILLIAMSON ARRIVAL OF SETTLERS — • 
 
 FORMATION OF THE TOWN 
 
 ITH a Stern task before them, involving the 
 
 most arduous toils and many privations, the 
 
 pioneers bravely settled to their work. 
 
 Two days after Cameron and his party 
 
 had reached the site ot Bath, Captain Williamson arrived. 
 
 Finding it necessary, however, to visit other portions of 
 
 the tract, he went on to Canandaigua and Williamsburg, 
 
 but, after a brief absence, returned to give his personal 
 
 attention to the foundation of his forest city. To Cameron 
 
 and his party was given the work of clearing the ground 
 
 and making rustic cabins in which to shelter themselves, 
 
 and afterwards of erecting a log building on what is now 
 
 the south side of Pulteney Square, of sufficient capacity 
 
 for the accommodation of Captain Williamson's family 
 
 33 c 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 and the transaction of his official business. To Thomas 
 Rees, jr., the surveyor, and his staff of assistants, was 
 assigned the task of planning the town, locating the 
 streets and squares, and numbering the lots ; and thus 
 divided, the labour was performed with marvellous 
 celerity. 
 
 The once solitary place was now the scene of busy 
 life. The workers worked with a willing cheerfulness. 
 The giant pines fell beneath their resounding strokes, 
 and the forest became a plain. The ox - teams carried 
 the timber to the builders, in the place of trees log- 
 houses were erected, and the hand of the indefatigable 
 toiler transformed the wilderness into the abode of 
 civilisation. Amid the throng of his busy workmen the 
 inspiring presence of Charles Williamson was always 
 prominent. All the operations received his personal 
 superintendence, and at his word of cheer and encourage- 
 ment the weary forgot their weariness, the willing worker 
 became more willing, and the faint - hearted plucked up 
 courage to face the hardships and dangers with which 
 the work was attended. 
 
 And, in truth, they needed all the encouragement 
 
 which even Williamson could give. The dangers that 
 
 threatened them came not only from the hazardous nature 
 
 34 
 
Dangers and Hardships 
 
 of the task in which they were engaged, but also from 
 the possibiHty of attacks upon them by the Indians, who 
 had made the unbroken forest lands their hunting-ground, 
 and who, when the clearing of the trees began, must 
 have felt that their preserves were being rudely invaded. 
 That the natural anxiety on this account was removed, 
 and that no attack was made, was entirely due to the 
 consummate tact and courtesy of Captain Williamson. 
 It was his first care to cultivate a friendly feeling and 
 relationship with the North American Indians. He strove 
 to show that he and his band had come, not as enemies, 
 but as friends, and he succeeded in inspiring the Indians 
 with confidence in him by his trust in them. An inter- 
 esting little incident in illustration of this, though it 
 belongs to a slightly later date, may here be mentioned. 
 When his little daughter was born, the Indians heard 
 of it, and reported the event to their squaws. The Indian 
 women, eager to see a white baby, persuaded a chief 
 and some of his followers to go to Williamson's house 
 and ask if they might take the baby to one of their 
 wigwams, which was pitched at no great distance from 
 the settlement. It was a hard thing to ask, and one 
 which tried to the utmost the faith of Williamson in his 
 
 dusky friends. But he resolved to make the risk in 
 
 35 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 order to prove his confidence, and, the consent of the 
 mother having been obtained, the baby, well wrapped 
 up, was entrusted to the chief. The confidence was not 
 misplaced, for a few hours later the child, who must 
 have created an excited interest in the native camp, 
 was brought safely back and restored to the arms of 
 her mother. 
 
 Acts of faith and friendship like this must have 
 gone far to cement the relationship which Williamson 
 desired to effect. But this relationship could not be 
 attained at once, and it is little wonder if, in addition 
 to the other dangers and hardships which they were 
 daily called upon to face, the pioneers at first toiled 
 on with much apprehension from the Indians, which 
 kept them continually on their guard. 
 
 The hardships and privations arising from their 
 
 physical conditions were such as were trying to the 
 
 most dauntless spirits. They were far removed from the 
 
 haunts of civilisation, and the sense of their isolation 
 
 must have weighed upon them with depressing effect. 
 
 The labour of clearing away the forest and subduing 
 
 the soil was heavy, and taxed their energies to the 
 
 utmost. Every day fresh obstacles, unknown and hardly 
 
 understood by those who have not experienced them, 
 
 36 
 
Dangers and Hardships 
 
 demanded their best skill and most steadfast courage 
 
 in the task of overcoming. In addition, their food 
 
 supplies were short, and it was difficult to add to them. 
 
 There was indeed an abundance of game in the forest, 
 
 and of fish in the river, but the workmen were too busy 
 
 to take them. Whisky was plentiful ; but their fare, 
 
 which consisted chiefly of pork, flour, and corn-meal, 
 
 was coarse in quality and deficient in quantity. The 
 
 meagreness of the necessaries of life told upon them 
 
 heavily. Charles Cameron, in 1848, in referring to the 
 
 expedition, said : " We suffered from hunger and 
 
 sickness a great deal. I am now the only survivor of 
 
 those merry Scotch and Irish boys who used to be so 
 
 happy together." Turner, in his history of the Phelps 
 
 and Gorham purchase, states: "These pioneers had a 
 
 distinct view of the elephant. Provisions failed, and 
 
 they were at one time three days without food ; as they 
 
 cleared away the forest, the fever and ague, as it was 
 
 wont to do, walked into the opening, and the new-comers 
 
 were soon freezing, shaking, and then burning with 
 
 fever in their hastily-constructed cabins." Williamson 
 
 was far from being exempt from these sufferings. He 
 
 bore his share of them with hardihood, and his example 
 
 stimulated the others. Turner, quoting an unknown 
 
 37 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 authority, says : " He would lie in his hut with his feet 
 to the fire, and, when the cold chills of ague came on, 
 call for someone to lie close to his back to keep him 
 warm." Yet though suffering acutely his first thought 
 was never for himself, but always for others ; and, as 
 has been said, his bright, cheering presence passed from 
 man to man, and imparted the needful inspiration in 
 those hard times. 
 
 But if those trials and hardships were at first 
 depressing and discouraging, when met in the brave 
 spirit which Williamson inculcated by word and act, 
 they reacted with moral compensation on the character 
 of the pioneers. Adversity, when rightly regarded, 
 received, and used, ever becomes an instrument for good 
 in the lives of men. And in the case of these men 
 their dangers tended to produce an alert and resourceful 
 character. The hardships and obstacles that had to 
 be met and conquered inspired self-confidence, and 
 made them — through stern discipline — braver, hardier, 
 and more enterprising. And those hardships and dangers 
 being common to all, there sprang up among them a 
 strong feeling of sympathy and brotherhood which knit 
 them together in a mutual helpfulness, which had not 
 been attained so largely in any other way 
 
Dangers and Hardships 
 
 Thus disciplined and cheered, the pioneers made 
 rapid progress with their work. The huts of the work- 
 men, and Williamson's house and office, were first erected. 
 Then on the north side of what is now Morris Street 
 a log structure was built as an hotel for John Metcalf, 
 where after the labours of the day the workers gathered 
 to recount their experiences, and spend the evening in 
 brotherly fellowship. On the Conhocton River a site 
 was secured by James Henderson, the mill-wright, who, 
 with his staff of workmen, began at once to build a 
 saw-mill to furnish boards for floors, doors, and roofs, 
 for the structures that were to be put up. It was the 
 first saw-mill in the town, and was completed on the 
 25 th August. 
 
 In addition to the dangers and hardships that were 
 peculiar to all, Williamson had to overcome an antagon- 
 ism directed against himself. He was a foreigner, and 
 had held a commission in the British Army, with whom 
 a large portion of American settlers had just been con- 
 tending on hard-fought battlefields. Arms had, indeed, 
 been grounded, but feelings of resentment and prejudice 
 were rife. The possession of Fort Niagara and Oswego, 
 the British claims on the territory of Western New 
 
 York, and their tampering with the Western Indians, 
 
 39 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 served to keep alive those feelings. Although Captain 
 Williamson had, from the time he landed in America, 
 given the strongest evidence that he intended to merge 
 himself with the disenthralled colonies and to throw off 
 all allegiance to Great Britain, still he encountered 
 jealousy and distrust. In recapitulating to Sir William 
 Pulteney, toward the close of the agency, the difficulties 
 he had encountered, he makes the following remarks : 
 " Even previous to 1 794 there was a strong predisposi- 
 tion against everything that was British. This was 
 more particularly the case in those parts of the back 
 country adjacent to the British settlements, and where, 
 from the influence of the British Government with the 
 Indians, there was too much reason to fear that hostilities 
 would be directed against their infant settlements. Their 
 jealousies met me in a hundred mortifying instances, 
 and they were with difficulty prevented from having 
 the most disagreeable effects both to me and every old 
 countryman in the settlements. To such an extent was 
 this carried that every road I talked of was said to be 
 for the purpose of admitting the Indians and British ; 
 every set of arms I procured — though really to enable 
 the settlers to defend themselves against the Indians 
 
 — was said to be for supplying the expected enemy ; 
 
 40 
 
Dangers and Hardships 
 
 and the very grass seed I bought, for the purpose of 
 supplying the farmers, was seized as gunpowder going 
 to the enemies of the country." He also alleges that 
 these distrusts and opposition to his movements were en- 
 hanced by influential individuals who were interested in 
 the sale of wild lands in other localities. All this, 
 however, gradually wore off, and he won the favour of 
 those who had at first distrusted him. 
 
 About the loth July, Captain Williamson's wife 
 and two children arrived in Bath from Northumberland, 
 and were duly installed in the home that had been 
 prepared for them. The arrival of his family was an 
 important event in the history of the settlement. He 
 caused them to come in order that others should see 
 that they also might bring their families there before 
 the stumps were finally cleared away, and while the 
 rattlesnakes still abounded ; and Mrs. Williamson de- 
 serves praise for thus helping her husband in his enter- 
 prise by his characteristic method of example. The 
 example was followed, for in his own narrative the 
 captain states that before the winter set in no fewer 
 than fifteen families had settled in the town. Besides 
 his own, the only families that are now known to have 
 been livincr there at that time were those of Metcalf, 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 Doyle, Dunn, Corbett, Turner, Aulls, Paul, and a German 
 family named Gottlieb. 
 
 Previous to this, Williamson had advised Patrick 
 Colquhoun, who had the management of the affairs of 
 the syndicate, of the name and location of the town ; 
 and in a letter, dated June 15, 1793, Colquhoun expressed 
 his approval. " I am glad," he wrote, " you are so 
 much pleased with your new town of Bath. I hope 
 it may prove a healthy spot, for on this much depends. 
 It is certainly a position infinitely more convenient than 
 Williamsburg, and on this account I am glad you mean 
 to fix your residence there." 
 
 On the 27th September the shadow of death 
 
 darkened the home of the Williamsons ; for on that 
 
 date their eldest daughter, Christina, died at the early 
 
 age of eight years, and the little domestic circle was 
 
 broken. It was a pathetic coincidence that the man 
 
 who first brought his family to establish the city of the 
 
 living, should also be called upon to found there, through 
 
 this painful bereavement, the city of the dead. " Not 
 
 one of the great pines was cut," we are told, " in the 
 
 plot which was thus early selected for a burial place, 
 
 and we may see the little company of perhaps a dozen 
 
 persons carrying a little coffin into the forest, and 
 
 42 
 
Death of Christina Williamson 
 
 without a clergyman to lead the service, amid their 
 
 tears depositing the remains of the loved child in the 
 
 first grave opened for a white person in the new town." 
 
 The cemetery thus opened contemporaneously with the 
 
 founding of Bath is situated in Steuben Street, and a 
 
 well-preserved stone marks that little grave now a 
 
 century old. 
 
 On the first day of January, 1794, Henry M'Elwee, 
 
 a young Scoto- Irishman, arrived at Bath, and his account 
 
 of his coming, and the condition in which he found the 
 
 settlement is interesting. "I only found," he says, "a 
 
 few shanties in the woods. Williamson had his house 
 
 near the site of the present land office, and the Metcalfs 
 
 kept a log tavern upon Morris Street, nearly opposite 
 
 the Mansion House. I went to the tavern, and asked 
 
 for supper and lodging ; they said they could give me 
 
 neither, for their house was full. I could get nothing 
 
 to eat. An old Dutchman was sitting there who 
 
 offered me food and lodging, and we went up through 
 
 the woods to where St. Patrick Square now is. There 
 
 the Dutchman had a little log-house ; there was no 
 
 floor to it. I made a supper of mush and milk, and 
 
 laid down by the fire and slept soundly." M'Elwee 
 
 was enlisted in the work of the settlement, and in the 
 
 43 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 spring of the year, under the direction of Williamson, 
 
 he made the first substantial clearings, consisting of 
 
 the site of Pulteney Square, and four acres behind the 
 
 agent's house for a garden, for the cultivation of which 
 
 Captain Williamson imported a gardener from England. 
 
 The trees on the square were carefully chopped close 
 
 to the ground. A single pine was left standing in 
 
 front of the agency-house for a " Liberty Tree." It 
 
 was trimmed so as to leave a tuft on the top, and it 
 
 bade defiance to the elements until after 1820, when it 
 
 was blown down. 
 
 In the spring of 1794, George M'Clure, another 
 
 Scoto- Irishman, in company with his uncle, John Moore, 
 
 from Northumberland, after various adventures, reached 
 
 the new town. "We put up," he says, "at the only 
 
 house of entertainment in the village — if it could be 
 
 called a house. Its construction was of pitch-pine logs, 
 
 in two apartments, one storey high, kept by a kind 
 
 and obliging family of the name of Metcalf. This house 
 
 was the only one in town, except a similar one for the 
 
 temporary abode of Captain Williamson, which answered 
 
 the purpose of parlour, dining - room, and land office. 
 
 There were besides some shanties for mechanics and 
 
 labourers. I called on Captain Williamson, and intro- 
 
 44 
 
Arrival of Settlers 
 
 duced myself as a mechanic. I told him that I had 
 seen his advertisement, and in pursuance of his invita- 
 tion had come to ask employment. ' Very well,' said he, 
 ' young man, you shall not be disappointed.' He told 
 me I should have the whole of his work if I could 
 procure as many hands as were necessary. We entered 
 into an agreement. He asked me when I should be 
 ready to commence business. I replied, as soon as I 
 could return to Northumberland, engage some hands, 
 and send my tools and baggage up the north branch 
 to Tioga Point, that being then the head of boat navi- 
 gation." As agreed, M'Clure went back, shipped his 
 baggage and tools, and forthwith returned to Bath on 
 foot, procured his effects at Tioga Point, boated them 
 up, and commenced with a will to build up the town. 
 
 Those men were but samples of a large number 
 of settlers who, in 1794, found their way to Bath and 
 helped to make it. Williamson welcomed them, and 
 apportioned their lots. The town began to assume an 
 ordered shape, and streets and squares made the wilder- 
 ness a thing of the past. Out of compliment to his 
 friends and patrons, the captain named the principal 
 street running east and west, Morris ; the public square, 
 
 Pulteney ; the broad street parallel to it, with a similar 
 
 45 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 square, St. Patrick ; the street between them, Steuben ; 
 and that connecting them, Liberty — names which they 
 have ever since borne, except St. Patrick, which a few 
 years ago was changed to Washington. 
 
 The idea from the first was to provide for the 
 growth of an important city ; and although afterwards 
 the failure of the Conhocton's water supply, the building 
 of the Erie Canal, and the invention of the steam 
 locomotive, seriously interfered to destroy commercial 
 relations with Baltimore, and the dream of Williamson 
 has never been fully realised, yet the town has developed 
 to an extent which justifies the pride of its inhabitants, 
 and the associations that cluster around its beginning 
 and continued progress are such as may be remembered 
 with orratitude and interest. 
 
 46 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 WILLIAMSON APPOINTED JUDGE OF THE COUNTY OF ONTARIO 
 
 EARLY POSTAL SYSTEM GENEVA THE SETTLEMENT 
 
 AT SODUS, AND CONFLICT WITH THE BRITISH AUTHORI- 
 TIES — FINAL SUBMISSION AND PACIFICATION OF THE 
 
 INDIANS — Williamson's hospitality 
 
 ARLY in the history of the settlement, 
 Williamson entertained political aspira- 
 tions which prompted him to seek elec- 
 tion as a member of the Legislative 
 Counsel of New York. But these aspirations were for 
 the time set aside in deference to the advice of Robert 
 Morris. " My own opinion is," wrote Morris to William- 
 son in April, 1793, " that you and Tom (the son of 
 Morris) might be better employed than you would be in 
 going as members of the Assembly. He is too young, 
 and you ought always to be at the receipt of customs 
 
 in Ontario County for the sale of lands. ... 1 think 
 
 47 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 you can't be judge and representative." In the next 
 year, however, Thomas Morris represented Ontario 
 County in the Legislature, and Captain Williamson was 
 appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and 
 General Sessions of the same county. 
 
 As yet there were no towns with prescribed bound- 
 aries in the county. The Act of the Legislature erecting 
 the county of Ontario provided that the Justices of the 
 Sessions should proceed to divide the new county into 
 two or more districts for town purposes. They had, in 
 1791, made the "District of the Painted Post," which 
 embraced the entire territory of the present county of 
 Steuben. 
 
 All the settlers at that time were located on the 
 Chemung, Tioga, and Canisteo Rivers. In 1793, Jedediah 
 Stephens, of Canisteo, was elected Supervisor of the dis- 
 trict. At the January session, 1794, through the influence 
 of Captain Williamson, a new district was made, em- 
 bracing all the territory west of the second range, under 
 the name of Williamson. This appears by the adjust- 
 ment of certain accounts between the district of Erwin, 
 or Painted Post, and the district of Williamson, made 
 by Eli Mead and Eleazer Lindsley, of the first part, 
 and by Jedediah Stephens and George Harnell, of the 
 
Early Postal System 
 
 other, on April, 1794, recorded in the minutes of the 
 district of Painted Post. There is no record of this 
 division to be found in the Clerk's office of Ontario 
 County. Bath was included in the new district ; but 
 when and where its town meetings were held is not now 
 known. 
 
 Up to this time there were few post-roads or post- 
 offices in the country. The nearest place for deposit 
 of letters on the south was at Northumberland, one 
 hundred and forty miles distant. To meet the want, 
 Captain Williamson employed his own post - riders to 
 journey to and from that place, and they made the trip 
 once a fortnight. Thomas Corbett rode to the Block 
 House and exchanged packages with Alexander Smith, 
 of Lycoming, who filled the route from that place to 
 Northumberland. Charles Cameron was the local dis- 
 tributor of letters at Bath until his removal to Sodus, 
 when William Kersey performed the duties until the 
 Government office was established on January i, 1801, 
 with Dugald Cameron as postmaster. 
 
 In the spring of 1794 W^illiamson began to develop a 
 
 settlement at what became known as Geneva. The 
 
 settlement was established at a point which made it the 
 
 door or gateway to the Genesee country ; it was ncces- 
 
 49 D 
 
Charles Wiiliamson 
 
 sary, therefore, to make it as attractive as possible. 
 
 The principal building erected was the Geneva Hotel. 
 
 It was completed in December, and opened with a 
 
 grand ball. The hotel was talked of far and wide as 
 
 a wonderful enterprise, and its reputation ran high. 
 
 Even after a lapse of fifty years, when fine hotels had 
 
 arisen in all the principal towns and villages of the 
 
 Genesee Tract, it was said of the old Williamson Hotel, 
 
 as it was called, that in its fine location, with its large 
 
 open park in front, it was ranked as one of the first 
 
 class. How great, then, must have been its comparative 
 
 magnificence when it had no competitors in all the 
 
 region west of Utica, save perhaps three or four 
 
 moderate-sized framed taverns, and when log taverns 
 
 were generally the order of the day. In proposing the 
 
 erection of such a house to his principals, Williamson 
 
 uro-ed that, as it would stand at the doorway or entrance 
 
 to the Genesee country, it should be respectable, and so 
 
 designed as to make a favourable impression ; and that 
 
 such a house, where all the comforts of a good English 
 
 inn could be realised, would invite respectable people to 
 
 the country. As the landlord of the new hotel 
 
 Williamson appointed Thomas Powell, whom he had 
 
 known in London in connection with the celebrated 
 
 5° 
 
G 
 
 eneva 
 
 " Thatched Cottage, the resort of statesmen, politicians, 
 and wits." Mr. Powell became at an early stage proprietor. 
 After keeping the hotel for many years, he removed to 
 Schenectady, and was succeeded by his brother William 
 Powell. 
 
 Although Captain Williamson's house was at Bath, 
 a large proportion of his time was spent at Geneva 
 attending to matters connected with the Northern 
 division of the purchase. The company that he drew 
 around him made a very considerable business for the 
 new hotel, and it was the early home of the young men 
 without families located at Geneva, and the principal 
 stopping-place for emigrants, who could afford the com- 
 forts of a good inn. Under the auspices of Reed and 
 Ryckmann, Joseph Annin, and Benjamin Barton, a 
 small village plot had been surveyed ; but this was 
 superseded under Captain Williamson's instructions by 
 a new, enlarged survey generally as now indicated, 
 except that Williamson's plan contemplated the building 
 up of the whole town fronting the Lake, and the making 
 of the space betwef^n the main street and the Lake into 
 terraced parks and gardens. Geneva is now, though 
 beautiful in all its appointments, more upon the utilitarian 
 
 order than Captain Williamson intended. He had seen 
 
 5' 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 the original in his travels on the Continent, and, associat- 
 ing Seneca Lake with Lake Leman, had in view an 
 imitation in a wilderness of the new world. In reference 
 to this as well as other of his projections, his ardent and 
 sanguine temperament led him to suppose that villages 
 and village improvements could to a considerable extent 
 precede a general cultivation of the soil. Experience 
 has shown that they must follow by slow steps after it. 
 Early in 1794 Williamson also began a settle- 
 ment at Sodus, on the shore of Lake Ontario. 
 He also had roads cut from Palmyra and Phelpstown 
 to get access to the spot from those points. It was his 
 first appearance in the Lake Ontario region, and his 
 presence there, with his surveyors, roadmakers, builders, 
 and all the retinue necessary to carry out his plans, 
 created a new era in the district, and inspired new hopes 
 in the scattered backwood settlers. It had looked, before 
 he came, as if for long years no one would be bold enough 
 to penetrate the dark, heavy forests that in a wide belt 
 were stretched along the shores of the Lake. No hopes 
 had been entertained of realising for years any better 
 facilities for transportation to market than were afforded 
 by Ganargua Creek, the outlet of Canandaigua Lake 
 and Clyde River. But Williamson changed all this. 
 
Settlement at Sodus 
 
 He preceded his enterprise by a written announcement 
 of the plan of operations. According to the plan, he 
 contemplated the survey of a '' town between Salmon 
 Creek and Great Sodus Bay, and a spacious street with 
 a large square in the centre, between the Falls on 
 Salmon Creek and the anchorage in the Bay, and the 
 building of mills at the Falls on Salmon Creek." He 
 adds : — '' As the harbour of Great Sodus is acknowledged 
 to be the finest on Lake Ontario, this town, in the 
 convenience of the mills and extensive fisheries, will 
 command advantages unknown to the country, inde- 
 pendent of the navigation of the Great Lake and the 
 St. Lawrence." The town was surveyed by Joseph 
 Colt according to the plan. The in-lots contained a 
 quarter of an acre and the out-lots ten acres. The 
 whole was upon a scale of magnificence, ill-suited to 
 that primitive period, and yet perhaps justified by the 
 splendid prospects, and more than all, by the capacious 
 and beautiful bay — the best natural harbour upon the 
 whole chain of lakes — a view of which even now excites 
 surprise that it has not long since realised all the 
 sanguine expectations of Captain Williamson. 
 
 The in-lots in the new town were ofifered for one 
 
 hundred dollars, and the out-lots for four dollars per 
 
 53 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 acre ; the farm-lands in all the neighbourhood were 
 disposed of at one dollar fifty cents per acre. Mills 
 were erected at the Falls on Salmon Creek, a pleasure 
 boat was placed on the Bay, and several other improve- 
 ments were made. On roads, surveys, buildings, etc., 
 over $20,000 were expended in the first two years. 
 
 The first difficulty encountered in the work of establish- 
 ing the settlement was the fever and ague — that early 
 incubus that brooded over all the pioneering enterprises. 
 When the sick season came, agents, mechanics and labourers 
 could work ortly on "well days," and Captain Williamson 
 soon began to realise that there was something besides 
 the romantic and the beautiful about the " Bay of 
 Naples " he had found hid away in the forests of the 
 Genesee country. 
 
 Another and still more serious difficulty was en- 
 countered in the action of the British authorities in 
 Canada, who made the settlement at Sodus the occasion 
 of a controversy which at first threatened the outbreak 
 of another war. The representatives of the British 
 Government in Canada had not entirely lost hope of 
 renewing the Revolutionary struggle, and invading New 
 York. They held their posts at Niagara and Oswego, 
 
 together with many other forts which the treaty of peace 
 
 54 
 
The British Authorities 
 
 required them to surrender. They regarded with strong 
 disfavour the presence and work of Williamson and his 
 band of pioneers ; and when the new settlement at 
 Sodus was established, they determined that a check 
 must be put to the movement. Accordingly, by the 
 order of Colonel Simcoe, the Canadian Governor, 
 Lieutenant Sheaffe, commanding at Fort Oswego, was 
 despatched to Sodus on i6th August, 1794, and, in the 
 absence of Williamson, left a protest against the prose- 
 cution of the new settlement, and appointed a meeting 
 to take place ten days later. At the time the protest 
 was lodged Williamson was busy with the superintend- 
 ence of the forest clearing and the erection of new 
 buildings, and his time and energy were fully employed 
 by the constant demands made upon him by the increas- 
 ing progress of the settlement work. But he resolved 
 to keep the appointment, impervious to the fear of 
 intimidation ; and a fine example of dauntless courage 
 and unswerving determination he presented as, with a 
 brace of loaded pistols on his table, he received Lieu 
 tenant Sheaffe in the log cabin, when that officer arrived 
 with great military display. The meeting between 
 Captain Williamson and Lieutenant Sheaffe, however, was 
 
 friendly enough. They had known each other before, 
 
 55 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 and while in the same service had marched through some 
 parts of England together. The heutenant handed to 
 Captain WilHamson the protest. 
 
 " I am commissioned by Governor Simcoe," said 
 he, " to deliver this protest, and require an answer." 
 
 "I am a citizen of the United States," replied 
 Williamson, "and under their authority and protection 
 I possess these lands. I know no right that His Britannic 
 Majesty, or Governor Simcoe, has to interfere or 
 molest me. The only allegiance I owe to any power 
 on earth is to the United States ; and so far from 
 being intimidated by threats from people I have no 
 connection with, I shall proceed with my improvements ; 
 and nothing but superior force shall make me abandon 
 the place. Is the protest of Governor Simcoe intended 
 to apply to Sodus exclusively ? " 
 
 " By no means," replied Sheaffe. " It is intended 
 to embrace all the Indian lands purchased since the 
 peace of 1783." 
 
 "And what," inquired Williamson, "are Governor Sim- 
 coe's intentions, supposing that the protest is disregarded.''" 
 
 " I am merely the official bearer of the papers," 
 
 said Sheaffe ; " but I have a further message to deliver 
 
 from Governor Simcoe, which is, that he reprobates 
 
 56 
 
The British Authorities 
 
 your conduct exceedingly for endeavouring to obtain 
 flour from Upper Canada, and, should he permit it, it 
 would be acknowledging the right of the United States 
 to these Indian lands." 
 
 The gauntlet having been thus thrown down, 
 matters looked serious. Williamson immediately dis- 
 patched messages to General Knox, the secretary for 
 war, and to Governor Chirton at Washington informing 
 them that the sovereignty of New York was denied. 
 
 In these letters he detailed all that had transpired, 
 suggested some measures for protection, and gave 
 assurances that the mandate of Governor Simcoe would 
 be disregarded. In the letter to General Knox he says: 
 " It is pretty well ascertained that for some time past 
 quantities of military stores and ammunition have been 
 forwarded to Oswego. This makes me think it not 
 improbable that Lieutenant Sheaffe will attempt a forcible 
 possession of Sodus on his return. I shall, however, 
 without relaxing, go on with my business there until 
 driven off by a superior force. It is needless for me to 
 trouble you with any comments on this unparalleled piece 
 of insolence and gross insult to the Government of the 
 United States." At the same time he sent a letter detail- 
 ing the insolence of Simcoe to William Pultcney to be 
 
 57 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 shown to William Pitt, the British Prime Minister. In 
 this letter he said : " I shall make no further com- 
 ment on this business than to observe that, anything 
 short of actual hostilities, it completes the unequalled 
 insolent conduct of Mr. Simcoe towards this Government. 
 Mr. Simcoe's personal attack on myself and you I treat 
 with the scorn it deserves, but I beg leave to give you 
 a sketch of his political conduct. On his first arrival 
 in this country, by deep-laid schemes he has prevented 
 every possibility of an accommodation between this 
 country and the hostile Indians ; and this summer by 
 his intrigues he has drawn several tribes of friendly 
 Indians from the territory of the United States to the 
 British side of the lines, and left nothing undone to 
 induce the Six Nations, our neighbours, to take up 
 the hatchet the moment he gives the word. You must 
 be acquainted with his marching a body of armed troops 
 to, and erecting a fort at the Rapids of the Miami, seventy 
 miles within the territory of the United States ; but 
 this being an extensive wilderness, his action seemed 
 of less importance. Not content with this, he has 
 now interfered with our settlements in a manner so unlike 
 the dignity of a great nation that it must astonish you. 
 If it is the intention of the British ministry, by low and 
 
The British Authorities 
 
 underhand schemes, to keep alive a harassing war against 
 helpless women and children, or by murders on this 
 frontier to add to the list of murders already committed 
 through the influence of their servants here, and to 
 treat this government with the most unwarrantable 
 insolence and contempt, I allow Mr. Simcoe is the most 
 industrious and faithful servant the British Government 
 ever had. But if it is their intention to cultivate a 
 friendly intercourse with this country, it never can take 
 place while such is the conduct of their Governor here. 
 For my own part, I think it would be doing the Govern- 
 ment of Great Britain a most essential service, should 
 their intentions towards this country be friendly, to 
 show to their Ministry the conduct of Governor Simcoe ; 
 and I write this letter that you may show it to Mr. 
 Dundas or Mr. Pitt, if you think proper. Their know- 
 ledge of me, I am convinced, will give it sufficient weight. 
 If these transactions are in consequence of orders from 
 Great Britain, and if their views are hostile, there is 
 nothing further to be said." 
 
 Meantime, Governor Chirton, stirred to the hottest 
 resentment by the unwarrantable interference that had 
 been displayed, issued orders to Colonel Ganesvoort to 
 
 prepare immediately for the defence of the new settle- 
 
 59 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 ments. The colonel commissioned Captain Williamson 
 to build a suitable block-house in Bath, as well as at 
 Sodus, for protection. Williamson promptly proceeded 
 to execute the order, and called for proposals to prepare 
 the timber and prosecute the work. His call was re- 
 sponded to with enthusiasm. The whole district was 
 aroused; and the young mechanic, George M'Clure, 
 eager for the fray, dropped the implements of peace, 
 girded on a rusty sword, recruited a company, and 
 commenced drilling them at once. 
 
 War seemed inevitable, and the Government of the 
 United States took the matter in hand.^ But the letter 
 of Williamson to Pulteney, which had been laid before 
 Pitt, must have been productive of good. Diplomatic 
 negotiations were opened ; the British relinquished their 
 arrogant demands, afforded adequate apologies, and the 
 threatened storm blew over. The old swords were 
 turned into plough-shares ; the timber for the block- 
 house was used for better purposes ; and the stockades 
 for Pulteney Square made capital fence-posts. Thus 
 through the invincible courage of Williamson, his prompt 
 statesmanship, and the influence of his friendship with 
 William Pitt, a danger which threatened the very 
 
 ^ See Letters in the Appendix. 
 60 
 
Pacification of the Indians 
 
 existence of the settlements he had striven so hard to 
 
 establish was happily averted. 
 
 The interference of the British-Canadian authorities, 
 
 though prompted by the desire for the aggrandisement 
 
 of their own empire, was made ostensibly in defence 
 
 of the interests of the Indians whose once unmolested 
 
 hunting-grounds had been invaded, and were being 
 
 rapidly abolished by the intrusion of the settlers. In 
 
 spite of the tact and courtesy of Williamson, it was but 
 
 natural that the Indians should resent the sweeping 
 
 changes of the white man in the place where they had 
 
 once held undisputed sway. Danger to the work of 
 
 settlement was always to be anticipated from this source, 
 
 and every means was taken to avert it. In July, 1794, 
 
 Williamson was at Whitestown in attendance before 
 
 the Commissioners, who were endeavouring to conclude 
 
 a treaty with the Indians ; but it was not until Wayne's 
 
 great victory over the Western Indians in August that 
 
 safety was secured by the absolute submission of the 
 
 whole race. Later in the year Colonel Pickering 
 
 held a treaty with the Six Nations at Canandaigua, 
 
 settled all differences with them, and buried the hatchet 
 
 for ever. William Savary, a Quaker minister from 
 
 Philadelphia, selected by the Indians to look after their 
 
 61 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 interests, attended the conference. In going and return- 
 ing lie passed over the WilHamson road as far as Blood's 
 Corner. He reports in his journal that there was not 
 a settler between Atlanta and Bath, and that Corbett's 
 tavern at Mud Creek was the only house between Bath 
 and Painted Post ; and he relates that Captain Williamson 
 entertained him right royally at his mansion for a night 
 on his way home, but makes no mention of the growth 
 or size of the town. 
 
 Peace having been secured where war was threat- 
 ened, and all apprehension from Indian raids having 
 been allayed, the way was opened to prosecute the 
 work of settlement without interruption. Strangers 
 came pouring in from far and near, and Williamson, 
 though anxious to welcome and entertain them all, was 
 sometimes hard pressed in the effort to fulfil his own 
 desire. M'Clure relates that the captain told him one 
 day that he expected much company shortly, but had 
 not room to entertain them. "He asked me how long 
 it would take to erect and complete a house forty by 
 sixteen feet, a storey and a half in height, all material 
 delivered, no plastering, all ceiled. I replied, ' Three 
 days.' He said, ' Do it' Working night and day, 
 
 the work was completed to his satisfaction in forty- 
 
 63 
 
Williamson's Hospitality 
 
 eight hours. He paid me four hundred dollars for the 
 job." 
 
 This is but one example of how Williamson, with 
 characteristic hospitality, strove to entertain all who 
 made their way to his rising town. He lavished his 
 hospitality without respect of persons ; and the prince 
 and the peasant, the hunter and the lawyer, the rough 
 backwoodsman and the metropolitan gentleman, were 
 equally welcome to his bountiful board. 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 VISIT OF THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT — EXTRACTS 
 FROM HIS JOURNAL 
 
 MONG those who visited the settlement 
 and enjoyed the hospitality of Williamson 
 was the Duke de la Rochefoucault, a dis- 
 tinguished French exile, who, with several 
 travelling companions, arrived at Bath in June, 1795, 
 and was sumptuously entertained for several days. In 
 the journal of the duke an interesting account is given 
 of the history of the purchase and allotment of the 
 Genesee Tract, and it is especially valuable as furnish- 
 ing a graphic description by an eye - witness of the 
 condition of the settlement, Williamson's management 
 and methods of work, and the habits of his private life. 
 The duke and his companions made their way to 
 Bath from Painted Post by the undulating road cut 
 straight throuo-h the midst of forests, which the captain's 
 
 64 
 
Duke de la Rochefoucault 
 
 pioneers had constructed. On their arrival they found 
 that Captain Williamson had gone to Canandaigua tc 
 preside as a Judge at the Sessions, but that he was 
 expected to return in two days. It was a matter of 
 some importance to them to meet him, and accordingly 
 they resolved to make an excursion to the small lakes, 
 and return to Bath in three days, when they would be 
 sure to find the captain at home. 
 
 During this excursion the duke learned much of 
 the nature and history of the tract of country which 
 Williamson had laboured to open up, and the informa- 
 tion thus acquired is set forth at some length in the 
 pages of his journal. 
 
 Finding Williamson at Friendsmill, they returned 
 with him to Bath, and inspected the new town, with 
 the help of the captain's personal attendance. 
 
 " At Bath," writes the duke, " we were led by a 
 train of reflections to observe how much the success of 
 a settlement depends on the activity, judicious manage- 
 ment, incessant application, and steady prosecution of a 
 well - concerted plan ; success, indeed, must necessarily 
 crown not only this sort of an undertaking, but all others 
 when thus planned and executed." 
 
 In the management of the sales of land, he points 
 65 E 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 out, everything centred round Williamson. He was the 
 " sole creator, director, and mainspring of every active 
 purchase and sale made and negotiated. Land which 
 was first sold for one dollar per acre, in two years' 
 time was sold for three ; and the produce of about 800,000 
 acres disposed of in this way by Captain Williamson 
 has not only refunded the purchase money and the whole 
 amount of the expenses incurred, but also, by his own 
 confession, yielded a net profit of ^50,000. 
 
 " Captain Williamson," the duke continues, " con- 
 stantly resides in the centre of his settlements, which 
 circumstance gives him a very superior advantage over 
 all the great landowners, private speculators, and trading 
 companies who reside in towns. He frequently concludes 
 a contract and removes long difficulty in the course of 
 a few minutes' conversation, so that the purchaser, pleased 
 with the soil, the trifling purchase money, and the good 
 reception he has received from the captain, imparts his 
 satisfaction to the whole neighbourhood, and generally 
 brings along with his own family some new settlers. 
 
 " Captain Williamson's land is free from all dispute 
 
 or question concerning his right of occupancy ; his claims 
 
 are strictly legal, and all his land properly ascertained 
 
 and marked out. The purchasers can, therefore, with 
 
 66 
 
Duke de la Rochefoucault 
 
 entire security, extend their operations over every part 
 of their settlement. This is an important additional 
 advantage to the sale and purchase of land, which is 
 too little attended to by those who are engaged in 
 speculations of this nature. 
 
 " His land is always sold with a proviso that a 
 number of acres be equal to the number of families 
 which shall come to settle within eighteen months ; 
 they who buy small shares of from 500 to 1000 acres 
 are bound only to promise one family ; and if he should 
 sell again before the expiration of eighteen months, the 
 new purchaser is rendered liable to the original contract, 
 for the captain is sensible that it is in his interest to 
 act uniformly in a mild, just, and condescending manner. 
 
 " Such families as are extremely poor the captain 
 supplies with a cow, an ox, or some house to live in ; 
 but this generosity he exercises with great prudence and 
 discretion. 
 
 " Captain Williamson never establishes a settlement 
 without having previously made such arrangements as 
 shall secure a regular supply of provisions to the in- 
 habitants. His own stores he never opens, unless it 
 should happen that settlers, from want of prudence or 
 
 propriety, are exposed to want. Were he to open them 
 67 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 before, the industry of the inhabitants would be quickly 
 relaxed, which, in all new settlements, it is highly neces- 
 sary to foster and stimulate. 
 
 " He encourages every new settlement by taking 
 himself a share of it. When five or six new settlers 
 have formed the project of building their houses to- 
 gether, he always adds a superior one to them at his 
 own expense. This expense, which at first seems to 
 carry with it an air of generosity, is really founded on 
 the soundest policy. The share on which Williamson 
 builds generally acquires ten times its former value. A 
 purchaser or tenant soon appears, and the different houses 
 and mills which he has erected have, without exception, 
 produced two or three times as much as they cost. 
 
 " In addition to these prominent traits of his man- 
 agement, he employs all the various means which the 
 peculiarity of situation in other circumstances may offer. 
 Independently of the medical stores, which he keeps in 
 all the chief places of his settlements, he encourages, by 
 his liberality, races and all other games and pastimes of 
 young people. He is attempting also to establish horse- 
 racing, with a view to improve the breed of horses, and 
 keeps himself a set of beautiful stallions. 
 
 " Captain Williamson has now nearly put the finish- 
 
Duke de la Rochefoucault 
 
 ing stroke to the great undertaking. Next autumn he 
 proposes to sail for England, and return the following 
 spring with a choice assemblage of horses, cattle, and 
 sheep of the best breeds he can obtain, and a collection 
 of models of all implements of agriculture, the materials 
 of which are so nicely calculated and so well made in 
 that country. 
 
 " Captain Williamson will not only procure to his 
 extensive possessions singular advantages over those of 
 other landowners, but also become the benefactor of 
 America at large, whose agriculture he cannot fail to 
 improve. 
 
 " What I have related on this head is not merely 
 the result of what we heard from the captain himself 
 during our stay at Bath, but it tallies correctly with the 
 information we afterwards collected at Genesee. 
 
 " Captain Williamson is universally respected and 
 beloved. How glorious is his career ! How enviable 
 his destination ! How much more important than that 
 of a dissipated courtier or a mercenary stock-jobber ! " 
 
 In the course of his inspection the duke found a 
 school in process of building at Bath. It was William- 
 son's intention to endow the school with some hundred 
 
 acres of land, and to take upon himself the maintenance 
 
 69 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 of the schoolmaster until the money paid for the instruc- 
 tion of the children should be sufficient for his support. 
 A session-house and prison were also being put up, and 
 a new inn was being built which, in addition to other 
 conveniences, should contain a ball-room. Near Bath, 
 on the other side of the Conhocton, were erected a 
 corn -mill and two saw -mills, worked by the great 
 quantity of water at hand, and capable of considerable 
 enlargement ; while a bridge was being constructed across 
 the river for the purpose of opening a free and un- 
 interrupted communication with the country on the other 
 side. 
 
 After speaking of the farms in the neighbourhood 
 of Bath, and the establishment of other settlements, and 
 relating briefly the threatening conflict with Governor 
 Simcoe, which ended so fortunately, the Duke passes 
 from the public to the private life of Williamson. 
 
 "I have spoken," he says, "of Captain Williamson 
 
 merely in his public character, as the founder of the 
 
 most extensive settlement which methinks has been 
 
 formed in America. I shall now follow him into his 
 
 private life, where his hospitality and other social 
 
 qualities render him equally conspicuous and amiable. 
 
 It is but doing him justice to say that in him are 
 
 70 
 
Duke de la Rochefoucault 
 
 united all the civility and good nature and cheerfulness 
 which a liberal education, united to a proper knowledge 
 of the world, can impart. We spent four days at his 
 home, from an early hour in the morning until late at 
 night, without ever feeling ourselves otherwise than at 
 home. Perhaps it is the fairest eulogium we can pass 
 on his free and easy certainty to say that all the time 
 of our stay he seemed as much at his ease as if we 
 had not been present. He transacted all his business 
 in our presence, and was actively employed all the day 
 long. We were present at his receiving persons of 
 different ranks and descriptions, with whom the apart- 
 ment he allots to business is generally crowded. He 
 receives them all with the same civility, attention, cheer- 
 fulness, and good nature. They come to him prepossessed 
 with a certain confidence in him, and they are never 
 dissatisfied. He is at all times ready to converse with 
 any who have business to transact with him. He will 
 break off his conversation with his friends or get up 
 from his dinner for the sake of dispatching those who 
 wish to speak to him. From this constant readiness to 
 receive all who have business with him, should any con- 
 clude that he is influenced by a thirst for gain, this 
 
 surmise would be contradicted by the unanimous testi- 
 
 71 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 mony of all who have had dealings with him ; but were 
 it ever so undeniable that money is his leading and 
 sole object, it is highly desirable that all who are swayed 
 by the same passion would gratify it in the same just, 
 honourable, and useful manner. 
 
 "Though we slept at the inn, we spent the whole 
 day from morning to night with Williamson, where we 
 enjoyed tranquillity more than in the noisy inn, which 
 is always crowded with travellers. The habitation of 
 the captain consists of several small houses formed of 
 trunks of trees and joiner's work, which at present makes 
 a very irregular whole, but which he intends soon to 
 improve. His way of living is simple, neat, and good. 
 Every day he has a joint of fresh meat, vegetables, and 
 wine. We met with no circumstances of pomp or luxury, 
 but found ease, good manners, and plenty in the use- 
 ful yet comfortable mansion in which the captain 
 lives. 
 
 " Our first intention was to have stayed at Captain 
 Williamson's only one day ; but, in compliance with his 
 wish, we added another, and necessity compelled us to 
 stay a third. When on the point of setting out I per- 
 ceived that my horse was lame, and though we were 
 
 assured that he might make the journey without the 
 
 72 
 
Duke de la Rochefoucault 
 
 least inconvenience, yet Captain Williamson obligingly 
 insisted on our staying a day longer. 
 
 " Mrs. Williamson, whom we had not seen for the 
 first two days, made her appearance on the third at 
 dinner. To judge from her deportment, timidity had 
 till then deprived us of her company. She is a native 
 of Boston, and became acquainted there with the captain, 
 who in the contest with Great Britain had resided at 
 Boston as a prisoner of war. She is yet but a young 
 woman, of fair complexion, civil, though of few words, 
 and the mother of two lovely children, one of whom, a 
 girl three years old, is the finest and handsomest I ever 
 saw." 
 
 After the polished manner of his race, the duke did 
 not fail to make his opinion of their children known to 
 the parents, and thus further ingratiated himself into 
 their favour. So, on a footing of perfect friendship, and 
 with promises on both sides of correspondence and mutual 
 help, the duke and his companions brought their inter- 
 esting and prolonged visit to Williamson to a reluctant 
 end. 
 
 73 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE STEUBEN COUNTY DIVISION OF TOWNS: BATH THE 
 
 CAPITAL THE FIRST NEWSPAPER — RELIGION THE 
 
 FIRST SCHOOL — THE BATH RACES PROGRESS OF 
 
 SPECULATION COMPLETION OF TOWN ORGANISATION 
 
 COURTHOUSE, JAIL, AND THEATRE SETTLEMENT OF 
 
 PERTHSHIRE EMIGRANTS AT BIG SPRINGS OR CALEDONIA 
 — METHOD OF ALLOTMENT 
 
 N March, 1796, through the influence of 
 Colonel Benjamin Walker, a close and 
 intimate friend of Williamson, the south 
 part of the County of Ontario was dis- 
 joined and created into a separate county under the 
 name of Steuben. The name was derived from Baron 
 Friedrich von Steuben, a German officer who had dis- 
 tinguished himself under Fredrick the Great, and who 
 had later offered his services to the Americans in the 
 War of Independence. In this war, while he maintained 
 
 his distinguished conduct in several well-fought battles, 
 
 74 
 
The Steuben County 
 
 his principal service lay in the thorough drill and discipline 
 which he introduced into the American army. He 
 sacrificed a great part of his own property for the 
 maintenance of the soldiers and officers under him, and 
 when after the war he was rewarded with a pension 
 of 2,500 dollars, and several grants of lands, he gave 
 most of these away to poor soldiers. He died on 28th 
 November, 1794 ; and Colonel Walker, who had been 
 his aide-de-camp, and who had been left as his residuary 
 legatee, recognised the desirability of perpetuating his 
 substantial service by some perpetual memorial. Accord- 
 ingly, that part of the County of Ontario in which the 
 Genesee Tract was situated was erected into the County 
 of Steuben, and was provided for in the Act of Erection 
 as follows : — 
 
 "That it shall and may be lawful to and for the 
 Justices of the Court of General Sessions for the said 
 County of Steuben, or a majority of them, at any 
 General Sessions of the Peace, to divide the county 
 into as many towns as they shall deem necessary, and 
 that the said Justices, at any such General Sessions, 
 shall fi.x and direct the place or places, in each of said 
 towns so made at which the first town meeting for 
 electing town officers shall be held, and all future meet- 
 
 75 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 ings in any such town shall be held at such place as a 
 majority of the inhabitants thereof sh:ill by open vote 
 at any town meeting appoint." 
 
 The county officers were appointed by the Gover- 
 nor, viz., Charles Williamson, first judge ; William 
 Kersey, Abraham Bradley, and Eleazer Lindsley, 
 judges ; Stephen Ross, surrogate ; George D. Cooper, 
 county clerk ; William Dunn, sheriff All of them 
 were duly qualified except Charles Williamson. 
 
 On June 21, 1796, in pursuance of the Act, the 
 Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the 
 Peace met in the land office at Bath. William Kersey 
 presided, assisted by Judges Bradley and Lindsley, 
 and some of the Justices of the Peace in Commission, 
 and an order was made and entered that the said 
 Justices report upon the erection and division of towns 
 at the next October term of the Court. At that term 
 the minutes show that all the Justices of the Peace of 
 the county were present, and it is presumed that they 
 then and there performed their duty, but no report can 
 be found. But the Albany Gazette contains the follow- 
 ing statement : — " Agreeably to a provision in the law 
 erecting a part of Ontario into a new county by the 
 
 name of Steuben, the Court of Sessions have divided 
 
 76 
 
Division of Towns 
 
 that county into the six following towns : — viz., Bath, 
 Painted Post, Frederichstown (afterwards Wayne), Middle- 
 town (afterwards Addison), Canisteo and Dansville." 
 
 Bath, which was made the capital town of Steuben 
 County, was bounded on the north by the county line, 
 east by Lake Keuka and Frederichstown, south by 
 Painted Post and Middletown, and west by Dansville, 
 as subsequent records, and the exercise of municipal 
 jurisdiction, show. 
 
 After the erection of the county, and the division 
 of its towns, Williamson was elected its representative 
 member to the Legislative Assembly of New York, and 
 held the appointment for four successive terms. But 
 his energies were still chiefly directed to the develop- 
 ment of the town of Bath. He determined to make it 
 worthy of its title of the capital town of the county. 
 To this end he resolved, in the first place, to establish 
 a newspaper. William Kersey, the newly-appointed 
 judge, an attach^ of the land office, was dispatched, in 
 the spring of 1796, to Pennsylvania to procure the 
 necessary material. From York, Pa., on April i8th, 
 Kersey wrote the captain : " The printing press is not 
 yet completed, but the workmen tell me they will have 
 
 it done in a few days." James Edie, of Northumber- 
 
 n 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 land, a practical printer, was engaged to bring on the 
 
 press and material. This he did early in the summer, 
 
 and formed for the purpose of publication a partnership 
 
 with Kersey. They set up their press in a log building 
 
 on the south-west corner of St. Patrick Square, where 
 
 General Averell's residence now stands. There, on 
 
 October 19, 1796, was issued the first number of the 
 
 " Bath Gazette and Genesee Advertiser, published by 
 
 William Kersey and James Edie, Bath, Steuben, N.Y." 
 
 at the price of two dollars per annum. This was the 
 
 first newspaper printed in the State west of Oneida 
 
 County. It was printed as a small folio sheet, fifteen 
 
 inches by nine, with three broad columns, and was 
 
 fairly done. According to Turner, it was still published 
 
 in 1799. It was probably discontinued in 1800, on 
 
 the retirement of Captain Williamson from the agency, 
 
 and what became of the press is not known. 
 
 That great influence in civilisation — the Printing 
 
 Press — was thus established ; and one might have 
 
 thought that at least side by side with it there should 
 
 have sprung up the institution of religion which in the 
 
 history of the Old World had done so much for the 
 
 life and progress of mankind. But this was not so. 
 
 At the outset of the settlement no zeal for religion 
 
 78 
 
Religion 
 
 seems to have mingled with the pioneering enthusiasm 
 of the settlers ; or, at least, the sentiment of religion 
 did not find expression in church buildings or ecclesiasti- 
 cal forms. "The village fathers," it has been pithily 
 said, " had been forward to provide a hippodrome and 
 an opera house for the people, but to make ready a 
 place for the worship of God did not seem to occur to 
 them as a part of their duty. This task, as usual, 
 devolved upon the mothers of the village." But it is 
 easy at this late date, from our advanced Church pro- 
 gress and missionary development, to look back to 
 those early settlers, and sharply criticise their apparent 
 lack. Let us first be sure, however, that we are criticis- 
 ing them with a legitimate standard. More than a 
 hundred years ago the missionary agencies of the 
 Church, with which Christendom is so familiar to-day, 
 did not exist. There was no organised society, whose 
 treasury could be drawn upon for funds to carry the 
 Gospel into the wilderness which Williamson was so 
 steadily opening up. The Church, through lack of 
 resources, was compelled to leave the new district 
 severely alone. The pioneers themselves were at first 
 too hard pressed to be able to provide the necessary 
 
 ordinances, and the stern task of subduing a pathless 
 
 79 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 forest demanded all their time and energy, and left 
 them unable of themselves to organise and develop the 
 religious life of the community. In modern times, and 
 in places where civilisation, as the result of a process of 
 many centuries, seems to have reached its heights, it 
 requires a special class of men banded together in a 
 distinct profession to sustain the ordinances and work of 
 religion ; and there are places in our own land in these 
 days where, without help which is independent of the 
 population, the Church and clergy would have no exist- 
 ence. Is it any wonder, therefore, that those early 
 settlers, amid circumstances of primitive civilisation which 
 taxed them to the utmost, found it impossible to add 
 religion in the form of church life to their other manifold 
 labours ? Williamson's task was not that of a missionary. 
 His work was to open up highways through the tractless 
 country and establish settlements, by which the missionary, 
 with others, might follow, and where he might establish 
 his calling. What were considered the best means to 
 this end were employed, and special work was left to 
 those who were specially qualified to perform it. 
 
 It would be unfair, however, to conclude from the 
 absence of formal church life that those men who first 
 cleared the way for the splendid progress that followed 
 

 Village OF Bath in 1804. 
 
 -IjOR house, formerly printing office of tlie 
 
 Bath (tazMe. 
 -Kull'6 Tavern. 
 -Log llOUSG. 
 -Helm's residence. 
 -Frame house, afterward? occupied b.v i!ev. 
 
 .1. Niles. 
 "■Log house. 
 
 -H. A. 'I'ownsend's house. 
 -McClure's house and .store. 
 -Grocery. 
 -Court Ho\ise. 
 -Turner's house. 
 
 12-rJonalhan T. Haight, lawyer. 
 
 l:J^ Log house. ' 
 
 14— PuTteney Land Agent's residence. 
 
 !.'■;— Land office. 
 
 Iti— i^iberty tree {blown down in 18<!5), 
 
 !T-Bath .Jail. 
 
 !8— School house. 
 
 lii— O. Cameron's house. 
 
 2()T-Metca!f's Tavern. 
 
 2!— Rlaclcsmitli sliop. 
 
 2-,'-r:TheHlre. 
 
 23— He!m's grist and saw mills. 
 
 [To face p. 8 1. 
 
The First School 
 
 were entirely destitute of religion. They had all come 
 from countries where religion was a power ; and if the 
 form was absent, the spirit of religion remained to 
 influence their life. There is nothing to show that the 
 moral condition of the community was in any way worse, 
 during the ten years that elapsed before the first religious 
 meeting was established, than that of any other community 
 where religion, both in form and in spirit, is largely in 
 evidence. 
 
 For the end that Captain Williamson had in view 
 a school for the education of the youth of the new town 
 was an absolute necessity. In the journal of the Duke 
 de la Rochefoucault reference has already been found 
 to the building of a school, and to Williamson's intention 
 to maintain the schoolmaster until a sufficient maintenance 
 should be otherwise provided. This school, a frame 
 building on the north-west corner of Pulteney Square, 
 was completed in 1796. In the picture of the village 
 of Bath in 1804, made from the personal recollections 
 of Colonel W^. H. Bull, the site on which this school 
 was located can be noted. One Robert Hunter was the 
 first schoolmaster whom Williamson appointed, and who 
 appears to have arrived early in the history of the settle- 
 ment, and to have begun work before the schoolhouse 
 
 81 r 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 was provided. This fact is authenticated by Charles 
 WilHamson's cash-book, which is now in the possession 
 of the Hon. A. J. M'Call, of Bath. In this cash-book 
 are found the following entries : — 
 
 " 1793. June 1;^. To cash advanced Mr. Hunter as 
 schoolmaster at Bath, $20. 
 
 "1794, February 7. Robert Hunter, on acct. of 
 salary, $1.61. 
 
 "1794, April 23. I doz. spelling-books and J ream 
 cartridge paper, i shilling, i penny." 
 
 It was at this school that Colonel Bull received his 
 preliminary education in 1805, when one Dixon was the 
 schoolmaster. The schoolhouse was removed when the 
 old stone jail was built in 1808. 
 
 In the same year (1796) which saw the institution 
 of the first newspaper and the erection of the school- 
 house, Williamson developed the races which he had 
 instituted in the previous year to commemorate the 
 success which had attended the sales of land, and the 
 consequent increase in emigration. A racecourse of 
 regulation standard had been carefully cleared and graded 
 east of May Street. It was a half-mile track. He now 
 directed his men to put the racecourse in thorough 
 
 order, and caused an attractive advertisement to be 
 
 82 
 
The Bath Races 
 
 published in the New York and Pennsylvania newspapers, 
 announcing that a fair and races would be held at Bath 
 on the 20th September. When they took place, it is 
 said that not less than two thousand persons were 
 gathered in the new capital to witness them. 
 
 Judge G. H. M 'Master, in his history, has given 
 this graphic account of the event ; " On the day and 
 at the place appointed for the race in the proclamation, 
 sportsmen from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore 
 were in attendance. The high blades of Virginia and 
 Maryland, the fast boys of Jersey, the wise jockeys of 
 Long Island, men of Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Canada, 
 settlers, choppers, gamesters, and hunters, to the number 
 of fifteen hundred or two thousand, met on the pine 
 plains to see the horses run — a number as great, con- 
 sidering the condition of the region where they met, as 
 now assembles at State fairs and mass meetings. The 
 races passed off brilliantly. Captain Williamson, himself 
 a sportsman of spirit and discretion, entered a Southern 
 mare, Virginia Nell. High Sheriff Dunn entered Silk 
 Stocking, a New Jersey horse — quadrupeds of renown 
 even at the present day. Money was plenty and the 
 betting lively. The ladies of the two dignitaries who 
 
 owned the rival animals bet each three hundred dollars 
 
 83 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 and a pipe of wine on the horses of their lords, or, as 
 otherwise related, poured seven hundred dollars into 
 the apron of a third lady, who was stakeholder. Silk 
 Stocking was victorious." 
 
 It is a characteristic of the typical Briton that 
 wherever his lot is cast he proceeds, if possible, to hold 
 races for the perpetuation of the national pastime. Troops 
 on a campaign of war have been known, in spite of 
 adverse circumstances and in face of danger, to indulge 
 in the excitement of a well-run race, and camels have 
 been pressed into the service when horses were scarce. 
 The national love of horse-racing in a multitude so largely 
 composed of men of the Old Country may well account 
 for the success which attended the races thus instituted 
 and held by Williamson. It might be questioned, how- 
 ever, if, in the face of the necessity of so much constant 
 and arduous labour, which made inevitable the neglect 
 of the organisation of better things, it was fitting that 
 time and money should thus be expended. But William- 
 son, keen sportsman and lover of horses though he was, 
 was not the man to waste time, money, or energy in the 
 indulgence of a pleasure which ended with itself. Of 
 an intensely practical nature and far - seeing policy, he 
 
 recognised that events of this kind, which gathered 
 
 84 
 
Progress of Speculation 
 
 together a great multitude from far and near, would 
 attract a larger attention to his lands and town. He 
 was anxious to make rapid and profitable sales of the 
 land in his charge ; and he knew that it was necessary 
 to create some excitement which would bring strangers 
 to look at them. And so, in pursuance of the task 
 which he had undertaken when he became the agent of 
 the "Association," he set up these races as an attraction 
 that, when men saw the advantages on the spot, they 
 might be induced to emigrate to the new district. 
 
 With every effort thus put forward to secure settlers, 
 the town of Bath steadily grew. Weld, an English 
 traveller, who visited the town in the later part of 
 1796, wrote : " Bath is a post and principal town in the 
 western part of the State 'of New York. Though laid 
 out only three years ago, yet it contains about thirty 
 houses, and is increasing very fast. Among the houses 
 are several stores and shops well furnished with goods, 
 and a tavern that would not be thought meanly of in 
 any part of America. The town of Bath stands on a 
 plain, surrounded on three sides by hills of moderate 
 height. The plain is almost wholly divested of trees, 
 but the hills are still uncleared, and have a very pleasing 
 appearance from the town. At the foot of the hills 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 runs a stream of pure water over a bed of gravel, which 
 is called Conhocton Creek. There is a very consider- 
 able fall in the Creek just above the town, which affords 
 the finest seats for mills possible, and extensive saw and 
 flour mills have already been erected upon it." 
 
 The efforts which Williamson put forth, and the 
 attractions and advantages which he held out, soon raised 
 speculation in the new country to a fever - heat. The 
 traveller just quoted gives the following letter in 
 illustration : 
 
 " To the Printers of the ' Wilkes- Barre Gazette.' 
 
 " Gentlemen, — It is painful to reflect that specula- 
 tion has raged to such a degree of late that honest 
 industry, and all the humble virtues that walk in her 
 train, are discouraged and rendered unfashionable. It is 
 to be lamented, too, that dissipation is sooner introduced 
 in new settlements than industry and labour. 
 
 " I have been led to these reflections by conversing 
 
 with my son, who has just returned from the Lakes of 
 
 Genesee, though he has neither been to the one nor 
 
 the other ; in short, he has been to Bath — the celebrated 
 
 Bath — and has returned both a speculator and a gentle- 
 
 86 
 
Progress of Speculation 
 
 man, having spent his money, swapped away my horse, 
 
 caught the fever and ague, and, what is infinitely worse, 
 
 that horrid disorder which some call the terraphobia. 
 
 We can hear nothing from the poor creature (in his 
 
 ravings) but of the captain, Billy (meaning Williamson 
 
 and William Dunn), of ranges, townships, numbers, 
 
 thousands, hundreds, acres, Bath, fairs, races, heats, bets, 
 
 purses. Silk Stockings, fortunes, fevers, agues, etc. My 
 
 son has a part of a township for sale, and it is diverting 
 
 enough to hear him narrate its pedigree, qualities, and 
 
 situation. In fine, it lies near Bath, and the captain 
 
 himself once owned and for a long time reserved it. It 
 
 cost my son but five dollars an acre ; he was offered 
 
 six and a-half a minute after purchase, but he is positively 
 
 determined to have eight, besides some precious preserves. 
 
 One thing is very much in my son's favour — he has six 
 
 years' credit. Another thing is still more so — he is not 
 
 worth a sou, nor ever will be at this rate. 
 
 " Previous to his late excursion he had worked 
 
 well, and was contented at home on my farm, but now 
 
 work is out of the question with him. There is no 
 
 managing my boy at home ; these golden dreams still 
 
 beckon him to Bath, where, he says, no one need work 
 
 or starve ; where, though a man may have the ague 
 
 87 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 nine months in the year, he may console himself in 
 spending the other three fashionably at the races. 
 
 "A Farmer. 
 "Hanover, October 5, 1796." 
 
 The farmer evidently writes under strong feeling, 
 and from a conservative standpoint. Speculation was 
 to him a deadly sin. But his amusing letter is interesting 
 as indicating the progress of speculation in the Genesee 
 Tract, whereby Williamson's trust was being so admirably 
 fulfilled. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1797 the town organi- 
 sation was completed, and preparations were made for 
 the annual town meeting. The meeting was held at 
 Metcalfs hostelry on 4th April for the purpose of 
 electing town officers. Charles Cameron was elected 
 supervisor, and James Edie town-clerk ; and in addition 
 there were appointed commissioners of highways, con- 
 stables, overseers of the poor, overseers of the highways, 
 fence inspectors, assessors, pound - masters, and com- 
 missioners of schools. Charles Williamson was elected 
 a commissioner of schools. 
 
 The supervisor elected at that meeting having re- 
 signed, a special town meeting was held on 19th June 
 
Courthouse and Jail 
 
 of the same year, and George M'Clure was elected to 
 fill the vacancy. The number of road districts was seven, 
 and two hundred and thirty -five persons were assessed 
 for highway purposes. 
 
 The wolf and the panther were still in the land, and 
 the night-time was made hideous by their frightful howls. 
 It was found necessary to guard carefully against these 
 dangerous neisfhbours, and efforts were also made to 
 exterminate them. A number of ordinances was passed 
 with regard to fences, estrays, etc., and, in addition to 
 what was given by the State, a bounty of twenty shillings 
 was given for every wolf or panther killed within the 
 town. The process of extermination, however, was 
 naturally long ; and as late as 1828 there are records 
 showing that ten dollars were given as the bounty for 
 the scalp of a full-grown wolf 
 
 The year 1797 also witnessed the completed erection 
 of the courthouse and jail. The courthouse was a modern 
 structure, a storey and a half high, with a portico, flanked 
 by wings, and located on the east side of Pulteney Square. 
 It was a neat and commodious structure, well fitted for 
 the purposes for which it was intended. The jail was 
 constructed of squared timber, and was erected in Steuben 
 Street, not far from the schoolhouse. 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 A theatre also was b'ciilt as an attraction to the new 
 town. It stood at the junction of Steuben and Morris 
 Streets, and was made ready for use at the end of the year. 
 
 The population of the town increased and its appear- 
 ance improved. A splendid regiment of militia was 
 organised in the county, and in 1797 Williamson was 
 commissioned by the Governor of the State of New York 
 as a " lieutenant-colonel commanding a regiment of militia 
 in the county of Steuben." 
 
 In 1798 a party of emigrants from Perthshire, Scotland, 
 emigrated to America. They landed at New York, 
 travelled westward as far as Johnstown, Montgomery 
 County, and halted there to determine on some permanent 
 location. Captain Williamson, hearing of the arrival of 
 his countrymen, made a journey to see them. He found 
 them poor in purse, with nothing to pay for lands, and 
 with but little even for their present subsistence. But 
 they came from the 
 
 " Land of the forest and the rock, 
 Of dark blue lake and mighty river, 
 Of mountains reared aloft to mock 
 The storm's career, the lightning's shock," 
 
 They were rich in courage, in a spirit of perseverance, 
 
 90 
 
Perthshire Emigrants 
 
 in habits of industry, and in all the elements that life 
 in the wilderness and success required. Captain William- 
 son proved himself to them not only a patron but a 
 benefactor. He offered them a favourable location in 
 the neighbourhood of the " Big Springs," gave them 
 land at three dollars per acre, payable in wheat at six 
 shillings a bushel, and furnished them with provisions 
 until they should be able to help themselves. Four of 
 their number were sent out to view the lands. They 
 were more than pleased with the allotment Williamson 
 had made, and on their return met him on his way from 
 Geneva to Canandaigua. He drew up a writing on 
 the road, and the bargain was closed. In March, 1799. 
 the Scottish adventurers journeyed from Johnstown to 
 the " Big Springs." This had been the name of the 
 locality as far back as the time of the first English 
 occupation of Niagara ; but in honour of the new settlers 
 Williamson gave it the new name of Caledonia. 
 
 The Springs being on the great trail from Tioga Point 
 to Fort Niagara had long been a favourite camping 
 ground ; and, previous to the advent of the Scotsmen, 
 Fuller and Peterson had become squatters there, built 
 log-houses, and entertained travellers. This furnished 
 the Scottish setders a temporary shelter. John Smith, 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 one of Captain Williamson's surveyors, soon arrived 
 and surveyed their lands, so planning the surveys that 
 each allotment would have a front upon the streams. 
 Log-houses were soon erected in the primitive manner, 
 small patches of summer crops planted, and the new 
 settlers were soon under way, though struggling with 
 stinted means against all the hardships and privations 
 of backwoods' life. On their arrival Captain Williamson 
 had promptly given orders to Alexander Macdonald, 
 his agent and clerk at Williamsburg, to supply some 
 provisions. Wheat was procured at Dansville and ground 
 at Wadsworth's Mill at Conesus, and pork was obtained 
 at the store at Williamsburg. Captain Williamson also 
 furnished them with some cows, and, in addition to other 
 encouragements, donated one hundred and fifty acres 
 for a "glebe," and fifty acres for school purposes. He 
 erected at the Springs a grist and sawmill, which was 
 completed in about three years. 
 
 The general method which Captain Williamson adopted 
 
 in his dealings with settlers consisted in granting land 
 
 in small portions and on long credit to individuals who 
 
 would immediately improve it ; and in large portions 
 
 and on shorter credit to others who purchased on specula- 
 
 92 
 
Method of Allotment 
 
 tion. The lands in both cases were mortgaged for 
 the purchase money. Thus, were the money not paid 
 at the appointed time, it was impossible for him to 
 be a loser, as the lands in such a case returned to him ; 
 and if they happened to be at all improved, as they 
 frequently were, he became a considerable gainer even 
 by having them returned on his hands. Moreover, if 
 a poor man, willing to settle on his land, had not sufficient 
 money to build a house and to go on with the necessary 
 improvements, Williamson at once supplied him with 
 what money he wanted for that purpose, or sent his 
 own workmen to build a house, at the same time taking 
 the man's note, at three, four, or five years, for the cost 
 of the house and appurtenances, with interest. If the man 
 proved unable to pay at the appointed time, the house, 
 mortgaged like the lands, reverted to the original pro- 
 prietor, and the money arising from its sale, together with 
 the sale of the farm adjoining was, on account of im- 
 provements, generally found to be in excess of the 
 amount promised in payment of the same. It was seldom, 
 however, that a man, if at all industrious, failed in the 
 payment of his liabilities at the appointed time. The 
 granting of land on such easy terms could not and did not 
 
 fail to attract to the country a large number of speculators. 
 
 93 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Williamson's pamphlet on the genesee country — 
 navigation of the rivers — rafts and ark-building 
 commercial prospects the mansion of spring- 
 FIELD 
 
 N the opening up of the tract of country 
 with which he had been entrusted, it was 
 apparent to WilHamson from the first that 
 much depended on the concentration of 
 the townships. The advantages of concentration had 
 been already seen in the case of some French settle- 
 ments on the St. Lawrence, in Canada, where farms 
 were laid out with narrow river fronts, and the houses 
 built within a short distance of each other. Following 
 this example, Colonel Williamson, in his letters, urged 
 the advantages to be secured, in the settlement of all 
 new countries, by having the farms so located that the 
 
 dwellings would not be far separated. Unfortunately, 
 
 94 
 
Williamson's Pamphlet 
 
 however, in many instances this method was not followed ; 
 in some it was found impracticable under the existino- 
 conditions ; and accordingly many settlers commenced 
 their clearings and erected their log- houses miles away 
 from their nearest neighbours. In spite of this disadvan- 
 tage, however, the work of establishing settlements went 
 steadily forward. 
 
 Williamson, as has been already seen, spared no 
 effort to induce emigration to the country. His races 
 and brilliant assemblies were all means to this one end ; 
 and in 1798 he enlisted the printing press into his service, 
 and in an interestingly written pamphlet entitled " A 
 Description of the Genesee Country : its Rapidly Pro- 
 gressive Population and Improvements," illustrated with 
 valuable maps, he gave an enthusiastic account of the 
 many attractions offered by the new settlements. In the 
 course of this pamphlet of thirty-seven pages, written as 
 a series of letters, he says : 
 
 " The rapid progress of this new country in every 
 comfort and convenience has not only caused the emi- 
 gration of vast numbers of substantial farmers, but also 
 men of liberal education, who find here a society not 
 inferior to that in the oldest country settlements in 
 
 America. The schools are far from being indifferent, 
 
 95 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 and even the foundations for public libraries are already- 
 laid. The gendeman fond of a rural life or the amuse- 
 ments of the field may here gratify himself ; he may 
 find a situation for a country seat that will please the 
 most romantic fancy ; the excellence of the climate and 
 soil will afford him every certainty for a great return for 
 his trouble and expense as a farmer, and with little care 
 his garden may equal any gentleman's in England. 
 Indeed, with the advantages of the soil and climate, the 
 great variety of situations can only be equalled in the 
 finest parts of England. 
 
 " You will find that the climate of the Genesee 
 country not only forms a very interesting part of its 
 advantages, but also of its natural history ; those parching 
 heats that, on the south side of the Allegany mountains, 
 seem to dry up every particle of nourishment from the 
 plants, are never known in this country ; in almost every 
 instance a hot day is succeeded by a plentiful shower, 
 which preserves throughout the summer a constant 
 verdure, and affords to us the finest pastures and meadows 
 on the continent ; the nights are proportionally cool, and 
 a traveller from the sea-coast is surprised to find in the 
 dog-days a couple of blankets a comfortable covering. 
 
 The frosts have never been so severe as to stop the 
 
 96 
 
Williamson's Pamphlet 
 
 operation of the mills, provided very trifling precaution 
 is used. So remarkable was this circumstance in 1 797, 
 that a number of sleds came from Pennsylvania to the 
 Bath mills, a distance of seventy miles. All this is owing 
 to the relative situation of the Genesee country. It is 
 bounded on the north and west by great bodies of water 
 which do not freeze, and in this direction there is not 
 one mountain. The northerly and westerly winds which 
 scourge the coast of America by blowing over the 
 Allegany mountains, covered with snow late in the spring 
 and early in the fall, are tempered by passing over these 
 waters ; and these mountains to the south of us do, at 
 the same time, prevent the destructive effects of the 
 southerly breeze in winter, which, by suddenly thawing 
 the frozen wheat fields, would destroy thousands of bushels. 
 While the Lakes and Allegany mountains are in existence, 
 so long will the inhabitants of the Genesee country be 
 blessed with their pleasant, temperate climate. 
 
 " The town of Bath has this season increased con- 
 siderably, and much improvement has been made on the 
 different roads leading to it. The opening of a market 
 to Baltimore for our lumber and fat cattle has also 
 raised a spirit amongst the inhabitants to improve the 
 
 navigation of the Conhocton. A handsome courthouse 
 97 G 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 and a very secure and convenient gaol are added to the 
 number of our buildings ; the printer of the Batli Gazette 
 dispenses weekly not less than five hundred papers ; and 
 the inhabitants of the town have recently encouraged a 
 clergyman to settle amongst them." 
 
 These extracts give us a clear idea of the condition 
 of the town and country at that date ; and, in addition 
 to the advantages mentioned by Williamson in his 
 pamphlet, another was added in the following year. 
 Until then letters were carried to Northumberland — the 
 nearest place on the south for their deposit — by the 
 primitive method already described. Post - riders rode 
 to and from that place, making the trip once a fortnight. 
 But in 1799 Williamson improved on this by establish- 
 incr the first mail-coaches in America, which ran between 
 New York and Geneva, Ontario County, and a more 
 satisfactory mail system was thus begun. 
 
 In Williamson's pamphlet on the Genesee country 
 reference is made to the opening of a market to Balti- 
 more by means of the navigation of the Conhocton 
 River. The navigation of the river for this purpose 
 was for some time an absorbing question. The roads, 
 as might be expected in that early period, were difficult 
 for the conveyance of the heavy produce which the 
 
Navigation of the River 
 
 newly-opened country yielded, and no other channel of 
 
 transportation than that of the natural waterways was 
 
 regarded with favour. Accordingly, great efforts were 
 
 made to remove obstructions from the smaller affluents 
 
 of the great rivers, so that navigation would be open 
 
 from the interior to the sea. It was found that in the 
 
 spring and fall the Conhocton River from Bath might, 
 
 with little labour, be made fairly navigable for rafts, 
 
 boats, and other craft ; and it was resolved to transport 
 
 by this means all the products of the north-western part 
 
 of the country (chiefly consisting of lumber and grain) 
 
 to the great marts of Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 
 
 the spring of 1 798 two rafts of boards were started from 
 
 Mud Creek, and in a very brief time and at a very 
 
 small cost were landed safely in Baltimore. This settled 
 
 the question of navigation for that species of craft ; and, 
 
 as the navigation was gradually improved, the inhabitants 
 
 found an open and easy water highway for the carriage 
 
 of their goods to the most profitable markets. 
 
 In the year 1800 an advance was made on the species 
 
 of raft that was first used. In March of that year an 
 
 ark eighty feet long by twenty wide was built at White's 
 
 sawmill, and when completed was loaded with wheat and 
 
 lumber, and launched on the river for Baltimore, where 
 
 99 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 it duly arrived in safety with its freight. Two others 
 with a similar cargo followed a month later from Bartles' 
 Mills, on Mud Creek, and met with similar success. 
 They were the first ventures of the kind, and created 
 quite a sensation in the country. The arks were the 
 invention of a Mr. Kryder, who, in 1792, built one at 
 Standing Stone, on the Juniata, loaded it with wheat 
 and whisky, and ran it down the Susquehanna to Balti- 
 more. The important part which the ark played in the 
 commerce of the Genesee country in the early years of 
 its history makes a description of the construction of the 
 craft of some interest. "A frame was made of three sticks 
 of square timber, eight by twelve inches ; the two outside 
 timbers, fifty-five feet long, were placed eight feet from 
 the centre stick, which was seventy-five feet long. These 
 were securely framed together by means of shorter ties, 
 or girths, mortised into them. At the bow and stern a 
 similar timber extended from the ends of the outside 
 pieces, uniting at the end of the centre piece, so as to 
 make the extremities sharp enough to aid in giving 
 direction to its movements, and to meet with less resist- 
 ance. This frame was then completely planked, and 
 caulked as tightly as possible. It was then turned over, 
 
 the planked side being under, and the whole shoved into 
 100 
 
Ark-Building 
 
 the water. Studs or studding four or five feet long and 
 five feet apart were mortised into the outside timber, and 
 planked up on the outside. The inside was ceiled, so 
 as to make a tight rectangular box or hold. In the solid 
 posts, at the terminal points, was firmly embedded a stout 
 wooden pin to hold the oars, which directed the course 
 of the craft, but did not propel it. The oars were made 
 from small, straight white pines, light, dry, and tapering, 
 some thirty feet in length and eight inches in diameter 
 at the butt, in which was cut a gain for about five feet 
 to receive the blade. This was made from a plank 
 about fifteen feet long and eighteen or twenty inches in 
 width, sawed for the purpose, tapering, being about two 
 and a half inches thick at one end, an inch at the other, 
 rounded at the thinner end, and fastened securely in its 
 place in the oar - stems with wooden pins. At a point 
 where the oar balanced a hole was bored and a slot 
 made to give play vertically to the oar when it was 
 placed on the oar -pin, and so balanced that the blade 
 would just dip lightly in the water. The small end of 
 the oar was whittled down to a convenient size so that 
 it could be readily grasped by the hand. The ark, except 
 at the bow and stern, and a small space in the centre 
 where the cabin was built, was securely covered with 
 
 lOI 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 boards, as well to protect the cargo as to furnish a smooth 
 walk for the oarsman." 
 
 The rafting and the ark - building were a source of 
 great elation to Colonel Williamson. The industry of 
 the country was thereby increased, and Bath itself, as the 
 head of navigation and the shipping point to market for 
 grain, lumbers, and other products, became more cele- 
 brated. The place became a busy scene of exportation. 
 Storehouses were built at convenient sites for the storage 
 of cargo. During the winter loaded sleighs came crowd- 
 ing in from Geneva and Genesee with produce to be stored 
 and afterwards shipped. When the spring freshets came 
 the arks were floated to the storehouses, the grain was 
 poured into them in bulk, and the arks thus freighted 
 set out on their voyage to reach the markets. Their 
 course was down the Conhocton and Chemung to the 
 Susquehanna, then down the Susquehanna to tide-water. 
 They did not always reach their destination. Unfitted 
 to cope adequately with the many difficulties that attended 
 the navigation of the rivers, about one in ten emptied 
 its contents into the water as it was dashed upon some 
 unknown obstruction, or was stranded. Yet despite 
 difficulty and loss, thousands upon thousands of bushels 
 of grain found their way to market through this precarious 
 
Commercial Prospects 
 
 channel. The expectations of the future of Bath became 
 rosy in the light of all this commercial prosperity. 
 Williamson's sanguine temperament overflowed with 
 bright anticipations of its growth and greatness, and he 
 believed that it was bound to become the great commercial 
 metropolis of South-Western New York. What it might 
 have developed into, had the condition of things that then 
 obtained continued, would probably have been in the 
 line of Williamson's bright dreams of future greatness ; 
 but it was not to be. Twenty-five years later, the Erie 
 Canal, proposed in 1808 and started in 181 1, was com- 
 pleted and opened ; and the Crooked Lake Canal Com- 
 pany, connecting the Lakes Keuka and Seneca, made 
 the head of Lake Keuka, eight miles from Bath, the head 
 canal navigation for that part of Western New York. 
 This era of transportation by canal largely superseded 
 that of the ark and raft on the rivers, and the Erie 
 Canal did the carrying trade of the country in 1833, 
 when the whistle of the locomotive was first heard in 
 the land. 
 
 In the midst of all his judicial, legislative, military, 
 and commercial duties, Colonel Williamson turned his 
 versatile talents to the art of architecture, and in 1799 
 beg-an to build on the farm of Springfield, near Lake 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 Salubria, a large mansion house, which he destined for 
 his future residence, in place of the earlier house which 
 had been built for him in the town of Bath. When 
 finished it was the largest private dwelling in Western 
 New York, and was so constructed that hospitality 
 might be dispensed in it on a princely scale. Although 
 necessarily built of wood, its spacious apartments, broad 
 halls, and grand assembly room, with their high ceil- 
 ings and heavy mouldings, all finished and furnished 
 exquisitely after the latest fashion, gave it a character 
 of magnificence which was universally admired. It was 
 flanked by two wings, each as large as an ordinary 
 dwelling-house, set off with piazzas and porticoes. Maude, 
 who visited Williamson in 1800, describes it with ap- 
 proval. "The plan," he says, "is original, Captain 
 Williamson being his own architect. I have seen no 
 plans for country dwelling-houses that I would more 
 readily adopt than Captain Williamson's. This is a 
 single house with two stories and wings. The Americans 
 have a great antipathy to wings; they invariably hold to the 
 solid column, the cellar kitchen, and the dormer windows." 
 The grounds of the mansion, in keeping with the building, 
 were artistically laid out, and graced with ornamental trees 
 
 and shrubs, and the then rare Lombardy poplars. 
 
 104 
 
Mansion of Springfield 
 
 On its completion, in 1801, it was placed in charge 
 of Major Presley Thornton, a kinsman of Washington, 
 and an officer in the Revolution, who had just come 
 from Virginia with a young wife of rare wit and beauty, 
 long known as " The Madame," because of her grace- 
 ful and commanding ways. On account of circumstances 
 now to be explained, the intention of Williamson to 
 use the house as a permanent abode was departed 
 from. But it served him as a temporary home during 
 the two years that elapsed between its completion and 
 his return to Scotland. There for a time he maintained 
 an elaborate establishment, and dispensed hospitality 
 with a generous hand, attracting, by his brilliant as- 
 semblies, all the beauty and aristocracy of the Genesee 
 country and the valley of the Susquehanna. 
 
 los 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 DISAGREEMENT OF WILLIAMSON WITH HIS PRINCIPALS RE- 
 SIGNATION OF THE AGENCY — RESIDENCE AT SPRING- 
 FIELD THE THORNTONS 
 
 HE manifold labours in which Williamson 
 engaged, the advantages he created or 
 developed, and the improvements he 
 effected, necessarily involved the expendi- 
 ture of a considerable amount of money. We have 
 seen how he caused the forest to be cleared, organised 
 settlements, improved the navigation, built houses, a 
 hotel, a gaol, a courthouse and a school, erected mills, 
 and a theatre, and other structures that were demanded 
 by the needs of a new town which he desired to make 
 worthy of the position that had been assigned to it. 
 In addition, he threw across the Conhocton the first 
 river bridge constructed in the country, placed boats on 
 
 Lake Ontario, and built, or contributed to the building 
 106 
 
Disagreement of Williamson 
 
 of, roads which were essential to the complete opening 
 up of the country to the march of civilisation. The roads 
 with which his name is associated are : — The State 
 Road, from Fort Schuyler to Geneva, the Niagara 
 Road, one from Lyons to Palmyra, one from Hopeton 
 to Townsends, one from Seneca Falls to Lyons Mills, 
 and another from Cushong to Hopeton. 
 
 His principals, far removed from the scene of 
 actions, and knowing, therefore, imperfectly the exigen- 
 cies of the circumstances, could not understand the 
 laying out of so much capital. They erroneously con- 
 sidered the expenditure excessive, and declined to ad- 
 vance any more money. 
 
 About this time the Legislature of New York 
 passed an Act authorising aliens for three years to take 
 the title to real estate. The dissatisfaction of the princi- 
 pals prompted them to take advantage of this Act, and 
 they decided to assume the titles in their own names, 
 and place a new agent in charge. 
 
 Accordingly, there was an accounting and appraisal. 
 Williamson assigned to his principals $551,699.78 worth 
 of bonds, mortgages, and notes, and on March 31, 
 1 80 1, conveyed to them the unsold lands, which were 
 valued at $3,547,494.58. Besides the original purchase 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 he conveyed over 5,000 acres of land just west of the 
 Genesee, the Cottinger tract in the Morris Reserve, 600 
 acres in the Mihtary tract, and thousands of acres in 
 Otsego, Kerkimer, Chenango, CHnton, Albany, and 
 Montgomery counties. Under his administration he had 
 expended, in purchasing lands, making improvements, 
 and other expenses, $1,374,470.10; he had received 
 for lands sold, $147,974.83 ; and besides this there was 
 an indebtedness outstanding of about $300,000, the most 
 of which was the unpaid purchase price of land out- 
 side of the original purchase. As a matter of fact, the 
 result of the accounting showed a much better con- 
 dition of affairs than had been anticipated ; and the 
 stewardship of Williamson is best justified by the fact 
 that the Pulteney Estate found it necessary to spend 
 but little afterwards, and has ever since kept up the 
 sale of lands at continually advancing prices. 
 
 Through all the transaction Colonel Williamson's 
 integrity came forth clear and unbroken. The English 
 Syndicate far from having cause for dissatisfaction owed 
 him a deep debt of gratitude for his devotion to his 
 trust and for many shrewd financial moves. A large part 
 of his payments he made in drafts ; and at times when 
 
 his principals were slow in remitting funds he raised 
 
 108 
 
Resignation of the Agency 
 
 money by drawing on Morris, or some other friend at 
 a distance, and hazarding the loss of three or four per 
 cent, interest and twenty per cent, damages for non- 
 acceptance, in the hope of getting money to meet it by 
 the time the draft should be presented. 
 
 Colonel Williamson resigned his trust, and Colonel 
 Robert Troup was appointed his successor in the agency. 
 
 To surrender a mission at the very time when it is 
 
 about to be crowned by a successful issue ; to give up the 
 
 cherished work of years at the very moment of fruition, 
 
 and to see others entering into one's labours is a trial 
 
 not easy to bear. Colonel Williamson found it a hard 
 
 experience, and his disappointment was keen. It is 
 
 probable that after the accounting and the satisfactory 
 
 result of it, the attitude of the Syndicate towards him 
 
 became once more favourable. Sir William Pulteney, 
 
 who held the major part of the shares, seems to have 
 
 been the cause of the upturning ; and a few years later, 
 
 on October lo, 1804, he wrote thus to Dr. Roneayre from 
 
 Weymouth : " I am much obliged to you for sending 
 
 me that part of Mr. Troup's letter which relates to Mr. 
 
 Williamson. He supposes that I have instigated some 
 
 persons to resentment against him, which I can assure 
 
 you is not the fact. I disapproved of the large sums 
 109 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 Mr. Williamson had drawn for, but I never entertained 
 any doubts of his integrity, ability, or good intentions, 
 and I shall certainly be very glad to see him when he 
 comes over. Some persons in America, he says, had 
 impressed him in a belief that he had everything 
 to apprehend from me, if he came to England, 
 than which nothing could be more untrue, and I can in 
 no way account for it. I feel myself much obliged to 
 Mr. Troup for the letter he took the trouble to write 
 me on my affairs, and the interest he takes in Mr. 
 Williamson is very satisfactory to me." 
 
 But if the disappointment to Williamson was keen, 
 the blow to Bath caused by his resignation was severe. 
 The event was deplored by all the settlers in the country. 
 No man was more greatly loved and respected. At the 
 very time when circumstances compelled him to with- 
 draw from his trust he was engaged in furthering the 
 cause of education and in pushing forward improvements 
 that promised benefit to struggling humanity. When he 
 gave up the agency many of the things which he had 
 been instrumental in beginning collapsed. The Bath 
 Gazette suspended publication ; the theatrical company 
 disbanded, and the old theatre fell into ruins ; and the 
 
 famous race-course, for a time, was abandoned, and pines 
 no 
 
Residence at Springfield 
 
 and scrub oaks covered the track. Many of his old 
 friends and associates migrated from the country and 
 sought homes in other places. 
 
 The resignation of the agency, however, did not by 
 any means deprive Williamson of his resources. Apart 
 from the income derived from his late office, he was in 
 possession of several farms, village property in Geneva 
 and Bath, wild lands, mortgages, and much personal 
 estate. He owned the whole of Bluff point, and once 
 contemplated the erection of a magnificent castle on its 
 towering heights. There is a legend among the oldest 
 residenters of Bath that he was wont to ride on horse- 
 back along the west shore of Keuka Lake almost as 
 far as Gibson, and then swim his steed bearing him on 
 its back across the lake to his commanding domain. 
 
 After his withdrawal from the agency Williamson 
 
 retired to his mansion at Springfield, in which he had 
 
 put Major Thornton and his charming wife. Williamson's 
 
 wife was in Albany much of this time ; and it would seem 
 
 from several letters written about this date that his 
 
 domestic relations were somewhat strained, probably 
 
 owing to the difference of temperament and breeding 
 
 of himself and his wife. 
 
 During the next two years he busied himself with 
 III 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 his personal affairs, and for pleasure or business was a 
 frequent visitor at New Yorlv and the large cities of the 
 country. On one occasion he made the journey between 
 New York and Bath within a week. He was, as we 
 have seen, fond of entertaining and attending social 
 gatherings. He joined the Free Masons ; and his 
 personal account book shows that on November i6, 
 1802, prior to a visit to England, he gave a supper to 
 the Lodge of Masons at Metcalfs Inn, at an expense of 
 $45*24. In the same year he gave $500 to Canandaigua 
 Academy, and paid $8' 14 as his taxes in the town of 
 Bath. 
 
 The Thorntons, who were associated with Williamson 
 in his residence at Springfield, retained the mansion until 
 1806, when Major Thornton died. The mansion with its 
 appurtenances fell into other hands. The purchaser failed 
 and it fell to his creditors, and soon the famous mansion, 
 with its garden and walks showed signs of decay and 
 became a picture of desolation. About the year i860 
 the ruins were taken down to give place to a farmhouse 
 which at the present time occupies the site. 
 
 Major Thornton had brought with him a few slaves 
 as household servants. He was followed next year by 
 Captain William Helm, a wealthy planter from Virginia, 
 
The Thorntons 
 
 with his family and a retinue of about forty slaves. Cap- 
 tain Helm purchased a number of farms and set his 
 negroes to cultivate them. He built a fine mansion on 
 the present site of the First National Bank, and lived 
 there in great splendour. He purchased and rebuilt the 
 old grist mill erected by Williamson near the bridge, 
 and engaged John Richardson as miller, who ground the 
 first superfine flour. On the death of his wife he married 
 the widow of Major Thornton, a woman of strong in- 
 dividuality, grace, and attractiveness, who for a time 
 reigned as queen of fashionable society in Bath. Captain 
 Helm entered into large speculations. His money soon 
 gave out and his enterprises failed. Some of his slaves 
 ran away ; some were seized by the sheriff and sold to 
 satisfy his creditors, and finally his whole estate vanished. 
 He fell into intemperate habits and his wife left him; and 
 in 1826 he died in poverty in the village of Bath, cared 
 for only by one of his former slaves. His widow, or 
 Madam Thornton, to give her the old name under which 
 she was always spoken of, who through severe experiences 
 passed from being the owner of many slaves and much 
 property and the leader of society to real poverty and 
 need, bore her great reverse of fortune with singular 
 
 patience and fortitude. " The nearest to complaint which 
 
 113 H 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 I can recall," says the Rev. Dr. Miller, " was once her 
 saying, ' I should be very content while I stayed here 
 were I sure of the same fare my old servants always had 
 in my kitchen. ' " Latterly she removed to Ogdensburg 
 and died there, supported by a simple faith in Christ as 
 the Resurrection and the Life. 
 
 114 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Williamson's return to Scotland — diplomatic service 
 under the british government his death testi- 
 monies to his character — his descendants 
 
 ILLIAMSON, in 1801, had sent his only 
 surviving daughter, aged eight years, to 
 relations in Scotland to be educated. At 
 the beginning of 1803 he himself sailed 
 for Falmouth, England, and spent the summer in his 
 native country. Old friends of his own and of his family, 
 who held influential positions under Government, brought 
 him into prominent notice, and he had offers of employ- 
 ment in the British Diplomatic Service. A diplomatic 
 appointment at Constantinople he declined ; but he seems 
 to have resolved to accept other offers ; and, probably 
 for the purpose of disposing of his lands and property, 
 
 and thus freeing himself from his ties in America, he 
 "5 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 returned to Bath within a year. During the next three 
 years he made frequent journeys between England and 
 America ; but at the end of 1806, after the death of 
 Major Thornton, he left the Genesee country for the 
 last time. 
 
 His departure was hastened by his being summoned 
 by the English Government to undertake a special com- 
 mission. On his arrival, he was despatched to Egypt to 
 investigate the condition of affairs in that country, over 
 which Great Britain finally established her protectorate. 
 His report was so carefully and justly drawn that he was 
 publicly thanked in the House of Commons ; and, not- 
 withstanding that it ran counter to his interests, its truth- 
 fulness was acknowledged by the Pasha of Egypt, who 
 presented him with a jewelled sword. 
 
 In 1808 he was sent by Mr. Pitt with sealed orders 
 
 to Lord Collingwood, who was then lying off Cadiz ; 
 
 thence he was sent on some Governmental mission to 
 
 Cuba. Whatever was the nature of the mission on which 
 
 he was engaged he performed it with his accustomed 
 
 wisdom, tact, and delicacy. Again he won the approval 
 
 of the English Ministry, and was on his way home under 
 
 promise of receiving the appointment of Governor of one 
 
 of our dependencies as the reward of his work, when he 
 116 
 
His Death 
 
 was struck down with yellow fever, and died at sea in 
 the fifty-first year of his age. 
 
 Thus passed away one of the most laborious, earnest, 
 and companionable of men, at the very time when, having 
 accomplished one great task as a pioneer and town-maker, 
 he had begun to give further evidence of the almost 
 inexhaustible versatility of his gifts by a special aptitude 
 for the more delicate office of the diplomat. What he 
 might have become had Providence willed to spare him 
 longer to the service of his country, it is perhaps difficult 
 to form any estimate ; but he had qualifications which 
 might have found a fitting sphere in some high office of 
 State, in which his richly endowed personality would 
 have proved itself an inspiration and a national blessing. 
 
 His friend. Colonel Walker, on hearing of his death 
 thus wrote to Mr. William Ellis, Edinburgh : " An extract 
 sent me from an English newspaper announces the death 
 of my friend Colonel Williamson, as having happened on 
 his passage from Havannah to England. It is an event 
 which will be most sincerely lamented by numerous 
 acquaintances in this country who esteemed and loved 
 him." 
 
 After his death it was said of him by George M'Clure, 
 
 who had known him intimately in the early days of Bath : 
 117 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 "He was a perfect gentleman, high-souled and honour- 
 able, generous and humane, obliging and courteous to all, 
 whether rich or poor." 
 
 Turner, who studied and wrote the early history of 
 the Phelps and Gorham purchase, thus estimated the 
 character of Williamson: "Well educated, possessing 
 more than ordinary social qualities, with a mind improved 
 by travel and association with the best classes of Europe, 
 his society was sought after by the many educated and 
 intelligent men who came to this region in the earliest 
 settlement ; and he knew well how to adapt himself to 
 circumstances, and to all classes that went to make up 
 the aggregate of the early adventurers. Changing his 
 habits of life with great ease and facility, he was at 
 home in every primitive cabin — a welcome, cheerful, and 
 contented guest, with words of encouragement for those 
 who were sinking under the hardships of pioneer life, 
 and often ready with substantial aid to relieve their 
 necessities." 
 
 In 1830 the Penn Yan Democrat said of him : "Colonel 
 Williamson was a gentleman of great worth and enter- 
 prise, and his memory will be cherished by the early 
 settlers of this country with every demonstration of respect 
 to which the character of a great and good man is entitled. 
 
Testimonies to His Character 
 
 Under his agency the settlers experienced the benefits 
 of a liberal and enlightened policy. He was not restrained 
 by those narrow views which covetousness creates in 
 sordid and avaricious men. The rapid settlement and 
 development of the country under his direction was beheld 
 with wonder and admiration. Mills were erected, roads 
 constructed, and every avenue to market opened of which 
 the nature of the country admitted. These, with many 
 other improvements, are both an evidence of his zeal for 
 the prosperity of the settlers, of his unwearied exertions 
 to increase the value of the property confided to his care, 
 and form a striking feature in the history of his adminis- 
 tration. No wilderness ever disappeared and became the 
 abode of a numerous population in so short a period as 
 did this under his agency. Oppressing the settlers by 
 exacting the performance of hard and ill-judged contracts, 
 or driving them to despair by incessant demands of com- 
 pound interest, formed no part of his system. The 
 remuneration of the proprietors from the future ability 
 of the settlers to pay was the leading feature of his 
 policy." 
 
 In a later history of Steuben County, published in 
 1853, G. H. M'Master says : "Captain Williamson was 
 
 a man of talent, hope, energy, and versatility, generous, 
 119 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 brave of spirit, swift and impetuous of action, of un- 
 questionable discretion in business, a lover of sport and 
 excitement, and well calculated by his temperament and 
 genius to lead the enterprise which had been assigned to 
 his undertaking." 
 
 Testimony other than the most favourable there could 
 be none. As no man in the Genesee Tract ever 
 despatched so much and so varied work, or did so much 
 to develop the country, so no one was held in higher 
 honour or the more profoundly respected and admired. 
 Bath still clings to his memory as one of its dearest 
 possessions, a perennial source of inspiration to those 
 who now enjoy the fruit of his labours to maintain un- 
 tarnished the inheritance he bequeathed, and to further 
 the progress of the civilisation which he introduced. 
 
 Colonel Williamson had two brothers — John Hope, 
 a captain in the British Army, and David Robertson, 
 who afterwards became a Judge of the Court of Session 
 under the title of Lord Balgray. 
 
 Lord Balgray married his cousin, Williamina Boyd, 
 who was heiress of her uncle. General Robertson, from 
 whom she inherited the estate of Lawers, in Perth- 
 shire, Scotland. 
 
 Mrs. Williamson, the Colonel's wife, continued to 
 
 120 
 
His Descendants 
 
 reside in Geneva, Ontario, after her husband's departure 
 from the country and subsequent death, and died there 
 on August 2 1 St, 1824. 
 
 Colonel Williamson had three children, (i) Christina, 
 who was born on November ist, 1786, and died at Bath, 
 on September 27th, 1793; (2) Ann, born about 1792, 
 married, in 18 10, to David S. Buchanan, Esquire of 
 Cunninghamhead in Ayrshire, and died after 1826 ; 
 and (3) Charles Alexander, who was born on Novem- 
 ber 1 2th, 1794. 
 
 Charles Alexander lived with his mother in Geneva, 
 Ontario, until he was about fourteen years of age, when 
 he was sent to Scotland for his education, and was 
 boarded with a Doctor Fleming in Edinburgh, in 1808. 
 About the year 1828 he married Miss Catharine Clark, 
 of New York, and resided for some time afterwards at 
 Geneva. In the following year he brought his wife to 
 Scotland to visit his relations. Her beauty and amiable 
 character soon won for herself the affection of her hus- 
 band's family, and the remembrance of her still lingers 
 lovingly in the hearts of those who knew her. 
 
 Mrs. Charles A. Williamson had an only brother, 
 Bayard Clark, who was in the diplomatic service, and 
 a charming sister, Isabella, who married Mr. Cochrane, 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 a gentleman of Nova Scotia. These seem to have been 
 the only remaining members of the Clark family, and 
 they had much monied interest in the Docks of New 
 York. 
 
 About 1836, Charles Alexander Williamson removed 
 his family to Scotland, and made his home there. In the 
 height of the gold fever of 1849 he returned again to 
 America, landed at St. Louis, and started for Cali- 
 fornia. But before his operations could be proceeded 
 with, he was taken suddenly ill of cholera at Fort 
 Leavenworth, on the Rocky Mountains, and died there 
 in May of the same year. He was nursed by Red 
 Indians, who sent his watch and last letter to Scotland. 
 He had left his wife in a delicate state of health in 
 Edinburgh, where she died contemporaneously with her 
 husband, and it is said that they were buried at the 
 same time, the husband at Fort Leavenworth, the wife 
 at Monzievaird, in Perthshire. Many years afterwards 
 the body of Charles Alexander Williamson was brought 
 home by his son and, with tender, filial affection, laid 
 at rest in the quiet churchyard of Monzievaird, by the 
 side of his wife Catherine. 
 
 They had five daughters and a son born to them. 
 Their son, David Robertson, was born in Geneva, on 
 
His Descendants 
 
 February 13th, 1830. He married Selina Maria, daughter 
 of the first Baron Tredegar, and they have one son, 
 Charles David Robertson. 
 
 David Robertson Williamson resides at Lawers, 
 Perthshire, Scotland, where he owns and occupies the 
 Robertson estate. 
 
 123 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF BATH 
 
 HE history of Bath, subsequent to the 
 labours of Williamson, and owing to the 
 splendid foundation of future progress 
 which he laid, is, with a single outstand- 
 ing exception, a history of almost unbroken prosperity. 
 It would be outside the purpose of this book to give 
 a detailed record of how, during the first hundred years 
 of its existence, it reached its present flourishing con- 
 dition ; but the following notes on its progress may 
 serve to indicate some of the landmarks of its history. 
 
 During the commercial depression which was felt 
 in other places of America in the first ten years of the 
 nineteenth century, Bath was able to maintain itself 
 against retrogression, owing to the large amount of 
 
 business transacted at the Land Office, the long and 
 124 
 
The Subsequent History of Bath 
 
 frequent sessions of the Courts, and the better cultiva- 
 tion and improvement of the lands in its immediate 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 From William Howell, who came to Bath in 1811, 
 we learn that in that year the only streets in Bath 
 were Morris, Liberty, and West Steuben, from Pulteney 
 Square to its junction with Morris Street. In those 
 streets there were some fifty or sixty houses, besides 
 buildings of a public character, such as the court-house 
 and gaol, the theatre and school. There was also a 
 bridge across the river, and near it were a grist-mill 
 and distillery, and saw-mills for the timber trade. 
 This was practically the state of the village as William- 
 son left it, and, small though the place was, it repre- 
 sented even then a marvellous transformation from the 
 time, eighteen years before, when Williamson first began 
 his labours on the unbroken forest. 
 
 In 182 1 the progress of civilisation was marked by 
 the establishment of a half-weekly stage between Bath 
 and Owego. The stage was a two-seated lumber 
 waggon drawn by two horses, and was the only public 
 conveyance to and from Bath until 1825, when a mag- 
 nificent four-horse Tray coach was started to run daily 
 
 to Owego, Rochester, and Angelica. This mode of 
 125 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 conveyance was a great advance, for by it passengers 
 could reach New York in three days and three nights, 
 instead of in more than seven days by the old con- 
 veyances. 
 
 The stage-coaches, in course of time, were super- 
 seded by the packet boats, which ran night and day, 
 served meals on board, had berths, and made better 
 time; but in 1833 these were in turn superseded by the 
 railways, which largely annihilated distance by reducing 
 the time of travelling to a minimum. 
 
 The first brick house in the village and county 
 was built by Colonel Bull, in the summer of 1824. 
 In the next year the first block of brick stores were 
 erected on the east side of Liberty Street; and in 1827 
 the old wooden court-house, erected by Colonel William- 
 son on the east side of Pulteney Square, was taken down 
 and replaced by a large two-storey one of brick. 
 
 The Steuben County Bank was incorporated on 
 March 9, 1832, under a charter running thirty years, 
 with a capital of $150,000. 
 
 In 1836 a spirit of speculation similar to that of 
 
 1796-97 prevailed throughout the country. Buffalo was 
 
 the centre of it nearest to Bath. Many of the citizens of 
 
 Bath caught the fever of excitement, and migrated. Some 
 126 
 
The Subsequent History of Bath 
 
 took up their residence in Buffalo, and remained long 
 enough to reap a profit ; but those who were left in Bath 
 suffered sorely from the depopulation. For several years 
 afterwards the village felt the effects, and few, if any, improve- 
 ments were made. It was the one break in the line of the 
 prosperity of Bath, An act incorporating the village had 
 been adopted in 1816, but apparently no steps had been 
 taken to complete the organisation. Now, in the hope of 
 checking the decadence, a new act of incorporation was 
 obtained from the Legislature in May 6, 1836. The 
 revival of prosperity took some time, but the efforts then 
 made were largely successful, and by the charter obtained 
 in that period of depression, as amended from time to time, 
 the village is still governed. 
 
 The canals which were opened to the north diverted 
 the currents of trade from Bath, and destroyed the antici- 
 pations which Williamson and others had entertained of 
 the greater growth of the town as a commercial centre. 
 When the Erie railway was in progress the people revived 
 their hopes, and looked to it as the means whereby those 
 former expectations might be realised. But, unfortunately, 
 the line was diverted to the Canisteo valley, Bath was set 
 aside, and the greater benefits that otherwise would have 
 
 been hers passed to Corning and Hornellsville. 
 127 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 In 1 84 1 the town still bore evidence of the period of 
 depression through which it had passed. " The public 
 squares and streets were open pastures, ungraded, unen- 
 closed, and unadorned. There was not a shade tree, 
 except a few scraggy Lombardy poplars on the south- 
 west corner of Pulteney Square. That now beautiful 
 piece of ground was then rough and uneven ; well-trod 
 paths crossed it in every direction ; vagrant cows grazed 
 on it ; ' mendicant swine ' rooted and wallowed in soft 
 places, and squawking geese pastured there. It also 
 served as a parade ground for the militia at their annual 
 trainings. Caravans and circuses pitched their tents 
 where the ground was smooth enough to admit of it. 
 There were no side-walks. The streets were as uneven 
 as a rail-fence, intersected by mud-holes, and bordered by 
 ponds. Such was the state of the village in 1841." 
 
 But about that time several country villages in the 
 
 States began to beautify their public grounds and streets 
 
 by grading and planting shade-trees. A movement was 
 
 set afoot for the much-needed improvement of Bath. But 
 
 the movement was opposed by a number of the older 
 
 citizens on the ground of expense. It was taken up 
 
 enthusiastically, however, by the bachelors of the town, 
 
 who secured a majority on the Board of Trustees, and in a 
 128 
 
The Subsequent History of Bath 
 
 short time a great change for the better was made in the 
 condition of things. The streets were repaired and im- 
 proved, two beautiful parks were laid out, the avenues and 
 streets were embellished with a magnificent border of 
 shade-trees, and Bath was made worthy of its traditions. 
 
 From that time its continued prosperity was secure ; 
 and, as the years passed by, greater and lasting improve- 
 ments were effected. The old primitive style of buildings 
 gradually disappeared ; and to-day Bath is rich in elegant 
 residences and large business facilities, a superior educa- 
 tional institution, and a valuable free library ; religion is 
 represented by six handsome churches, and charity has 
 erected a home for orphans, and an extensive home for 
 soldiers. The members of the medical profession who now 
 practise there are men distinguished for their skill and for 
 their devotion to a great science which seeks both to cure 
 and prevent the ills of humanity. No other village in the 
 State of New York can claim as her sons so many lawyers 
 who have been eminent for their ability on the Bench and 
 at the Bar. Her clergy are esteemed for their piety and 
 faithfulness ; and the local press is well represented by four 
 newspapers of established reputation. 
 
 If Bath has not quite realised all that Williamson 
 
 hoped for it, it has, nevertheless, attained to a worthy 
 129 I 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 condition of which its citizens are justly proud. It has a 
 noble history, a prosperous present, and a hopeful future. 
 Looking back on the record of a hundred years, It was a 
 proud boast to be able to say, as was said of it in the 
 Centennial Oration, that it is a record " of public order, of 
 reverence for law, of sincere regard for the institutions of 
 religion, of devotion to the duties of citizenship, of a pure 
 and healthy social life." And the crown of Williamson's 
 labours is indicated by the testimony that Bath, erected on 
 the forest clearing which he laid bare, and which owes to 
 his wisdom and foresight the foundation of its subsequent 
 prosperity, "is now a beautiful town, a suburb of great 
 cities, sharing with them most of the good they possess, 
 but exempt from most that is bad, sure to continue the 
 seat of county dignity so long as the State and its county 
 system shall remain." 
 
 130 
 
.A<«^!»_• , ' . -^i' 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 
 
 T the Annual Dinner of the local Board of 
 Trade Mr. Anthony L. Underhill, referring 
 in a speech to the approaching centenary 
 of Bath, made the first public appeal to 
 the citizens for a suitable recognition of this important 
 event in the history of the village. The idea thus 
 suggested bore fruit. On August i, 1S92, a " Round 
 Robin," numerously signed by leading citizens under the 
 inspiration of General William W. Averell, was sent to 
 the Hon. Ansel J. M'Call, requesting him, as pre- 
 eminently the most fitted for the purpose, to prepare as 
 a necessity to a fitting celebration of the event an historic 
 sketch of the first hundred years of Bath and Steuben 
 County. Judge M'Call returned a favourable answer to 
 
 the request. 
 
 131 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 At first nothing more than this historical monograph 
 was contemplated, but the centennial spirit so grew and 
 enthusiasm for the occasion so increased that it was finally 
 resolved that an effort should be made to hold a public 
 celebration of the one hundredth anniversay of the settle- 
 ment of the village. For this purpose a meeting of the 
 citizens of Bath was called for Friday evening, January 13, 
 1893, at which a committee was appointed to carry the 
 project into effect. The Committee energetically took 
 the matter in hand ; the dates for the celebration were 
 fixed for the 4th, 6th, and 7th June, and an official 
 programme of events was prepared. 
 
 Meanwhile a deputation from Bath, consisting of 
 James M'Call, Esq., and James Robie Kingsley, Esq., 
 arrived at Lawers, Perthshire, Scotland, to acknowledge, 
 in presence of Colonel David R. Williamson of Lawers, 
 the national services to America rendered by his grand- 
 father. As the result of that visit Col. D. R. Williamson 
 sent as a gift to the Trustees of Bath an oil painting of 
 Charles Williamson, copied from a miniature in his 
 possession, which the visitors had seen. It was resolved 
 that the formal presentation of this portrait should form 
 a prominent feature of the centennial celebration. 
 
 Preparations for the occasion were elaborately made. 
 132 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 Every building within the corporation limits had some 
 sort of holiday token upon it. Flags and bunting were 
 everywhere. Enthusiasm was unstinted. A committee 
 of ladies arranged for a Loan Exhibition of valuable 
 curios and relics, and designed a centennial spoon, bearing 
 an accurate likeness of the Countess of Bath, as a souvenir 
 of the festival. From far and near the children of Bath 
 came by hundreds to the home of their earlier days to 
 commemorate the energy and chivalry of Charles William- 
 son and join in the general rejoicing ; and with ideal 
 weather and under the most favourable circumstances 
 the celebration was signalised with the greatest suc- 
 cess. 
 
 The celebration began on Sunday, 4th June, with 
 appropriate religious services and historical sermons in 
 the local churches at 10.30 a.m., and a united religious 
 service in the Casino at 7.30 p.m., at which an address 
 was delivered by Prof Miller, LL.D., on "The Church 
 in the Community." 
 
 On Monday, 5th June, in anticipation of the presenta- 
 tion of the portrait of Charles Williamson, the following 
 petition of the Board of Trustees was presented to the 
 
 County Court : — 
 
 133 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 "In the matter of the application of the Board of 
 Trustees of the Village of Bath to hang the 
 portrait of 
 
 Captain Charles Williamson 
 in the Court-House at the village of Bath, 
 The petition of the Board of Trustees of the village 
 of Bath, N.Y., respectfully shows: 
 
 That David Robertson Williamson, of Crieff, Scot- 
 land, has presented to the Board of Trustees of the 
 village of Bath a portrait of his grandfather, Captain 
 Charles Williamson, the founder of the village of Bath. 
 Your petitioners further show that they are about 
 to accept said portrait on the part of said village, and 
 that your petitioners are desirous of securing a suitable 
 place to hang the same, and therefore pray that the same 
 may be permitted to be hung in the Court- Room of the 
 Court-House of the village of Bath. 
 
 Dated, Bath, N.Y., June 5th, 1893. 
 (Signed) Thomas Shannon, 
 
 Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the 
 Village of Bath, N. Y. " 
 
 The answer to the petition was in the following 
 
 terms : 
 
 134 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 "At a term of the County Court, held at the Court- 
 House in the Village of Bath, N.Y., on the 5th 
 day of June, 1893. 
 
 Present — 
 Hon. Harlo Hakes, County Judge. 
 In the matter of the application of the Board of 
 Trustees of the Village of Bath, to hang the 
 portrait of 
 
 Captain Charles Williamson 
 in the Court-House in the Village of Bath. 
 
 Whereas a petition of the Board of Trustees of the 
 Village of Bath, showing that a portrait of Capt. Charles 
 Williamson has been presented by his grandson, David 
 Robertson Williamson, of Crieff, Scotland, and praying 
 for leave to hang the said portrait in the Court- House 
 at Bath, having been presented to this Court, and, 
 
 Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was the 
 founder of the Village of Bath, and did more to accom- 
 plish the settlement of Western New York and of the 
 County of Steuben than any other person, and. 
 
 Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was the first 
 
 Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and General 
 
 Sessions of the County of Ontario, from which the County 
 135 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 of Steuben was set off, to which office he was appointed by 
 Governor George CHnton in 1794, and, 
 
 Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson built the first 
 Court-House in Steuben County, which Court-House was 
 erected upon the site of the present one in the Village 
 of Bath, and stood until 1826, and. 
 
 Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was the first 
 Member of Assembly from Steuben County and served 
 four successive terms, and, 
 
 Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was a Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel in the Militia of the State of New York, 
 
 Now, therefore, on motion of Lucius A. Waldo, of 
 Counsel for the Board of Trustees of the Village of Bath, 
 it is ordered that said Board of Trustees be permitted to 
 hang said portrait of Capt. Charles Williamson in the 
 Court-Room of the Court-House In the Village of Bath, 
 as long as said Board of Trustees or its successors in 
 office may desire. 
 
 (Signed) Harlo Hakes, 
 
 Steuben County Judge. 
 
 Entered June 5th, 1893. 
 
 (A Copy.) 
 
 J. A. Con RAY, 
 
 Dep.-Clerk." 
 136 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 On Tuesday, June 6th, the second day of the cele- 
 bration, a meeting was held in the Casino at two p.m., at 
 which, after prayer, an Address of Welcome was given by 
 Reuben E. Robie, Esq., the President ; a Centennial 
 Poem was read by Zenas L. Parker ; a Sketch of the 
 Life and Work of Charles Williamson was given by 
 James M'Call, Esq. ; and a History of Bath for Fifty 
 Years by the Hon. Ansel J. M'Call. In the same place, 
 at 7.30 p..m, a Symposium was held, at which Reminis- 
 cences were given by several distinguished sons of Bath, 
 and for which interesting papers were prepared on the 
 Schools, Physicians, Lawyers, Editors, and Soldiers of 
 the Village. 
 
 Wednesday, June 7th, was the crowning day of the 
 fete. It had been arranged that the portrait of Charles 
 Williamson should be presented in presence of the great 
 assembly in the morning, and that a Grand Parade of the 
 Fire Department, Civic Societies, and General Trades 
 should take place in the afternoon. 
 
 At sunrise a Salute of Cannon and Bells was per- 
 formed. The Exercises of the morning took place on the 
 Fair Grounds, there being no building in the village of 
 sufficient capacity to accommodate the thousands of citizens 
 
 and strangers who were present to participate in them. 
 137 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 At ten o'clock a Procession, numbering more than a 
 thousand, of the children of all the Schools of the town was 
 mustered under the direction of Clarence Willis, Esq., and, 
 headed by five bands, marched in procession to the Grounds, 
 where they completely filled the Grand Stand. 
 
 At 10.30 a.m. the proceedings at the Fair Grounds 
 began. After prayer by the Chaplain — Rev. M. A. 
 Preston — the children united in singing the following 
 song, which had been specially written for the occasion 
 by General Averell, the Chairman of the Centennial 
 Committee : — 
 
 Where pioneers undaunted 
 Left homes and kindred dear, 
 Sought wilds with danger haunted. 
 Now happy roof-trees rear, 
 Our homes beloved are here. 
 
 Where perils aye beset them. 
 And toils untried, severe, 
 Shall we for aye forgot them ? 
 Not while our homes are here, 
 Our homes beloved are here. 
 
 Their legends shall not perish, 
 Of trials, want, and care. 
 Their relics proudly cherish, 
 And keep like jewels rare, 
 In homes beloved while here. 
 138 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 And as each generation 
 Shall pass with smile or tear, 
 Let every consecration 
 Exalt the pioneer 
 In homes beloved then here. 
 
 Letters of apology for absence from the Authorities of 
 State and Nation were then read by the Secretary ; after 
 which Mr. Robie, the President of the proceedings, in a 
 few graceful words, introduced Mr. James M'Call to pre- 
 sent, on behalf of Colonel David R. Williamson, to the 
 village of Bath the portrait of its noted founder. 
 
 Mr. M'Call, in making the presentation, gave the 
 following interesting speech : — 
 
 " Go back to 1793, June 7. It is Friday. The busy 
 villagers are still discussing the news of the second inaugu- 
 ration of George Washington, the coalition formed by Pitt 
 against France, and the violent death meted out to Louis 
 XVI. by the French Revolutionists, accounts of which are 
 contained in a well-thumbed New York newspaper brought 
 in last evening by Benjamin Patterson. From the broad- 
 mouthed chimney of the small log-house, which dots the 
 little clearing south of Pulteney Square, rises a curling 
 blue column of smoke delicately outlined against the dark 
 green background of South Hill. The sun cannot yet 
 
 shoot his rays into the clearing, and the odour of pine and 
 139 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 fir sweetens the air. The rough-hewn door of that log 
 building opens, and out of it walks a tall, slender man of 
 thirty-five. He is erect, and has the manly bearing of a 
 soldier and the carriage of a courtier. Beneath a broad- 
 brimmed felt hat looks out a smooth-shaven countenance 
 that would remind you of Robert Burns. Upon his brow 
 is the mark of Scottish frankness, Scottish vigour, and 
 Scottish grit. Across his features is the play of humour 
 and the smile of gentility. Clad in a cutaway coat, velvet 
 waistcoat, buckskin knee-breeches, and high-topped boots, 
 whip in hand, he strides towards the well-groomed bay 
 mare which, saddled and bridled, stands in charge of 
 faithful Michael. With the grace and agility of a cavalier 
 he vaults lightly into the saddle, and, casting an eagle eye 
 over the busy woodsmen and builders, gallops off through 
 the cuttings of Morris Street for Canandaigua. 
 
 " That man is the Pole Star of the great Genesee 
 country. It is his head that has planned the development of 
 this new region. It is in pursuance of his orders that these 
 men are labouring in this clearing ; others checking the 
 Conhocton with a dam two miles above ; those working in 
 that highway between Dansville and Williamsburgh ; and 
 others still building Durham boats at Northumberland. 
 
 To him apply all strangers searching for new homes ; 
 140 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 upon him are poured the complaints of those whose lack of 
 thrift and hatred of work have led to bad harvests ; in him 
 is to be found the sympathy of a fellow-Scotsman and the 
 generosity of a comrade in the British service ; and upon 
 him depends the success of all industrial improvements and 
 all social gatherings. He must be in New York or Albany 
 this week buying new supplies or settling with his banker ; 
 next week he must be in Bath entertaining some English 
 traveller or French exile ; the week after he must go to 
 Williamsburgh to parley with the Indians or remonstrate 
 with the Germans ; and before the month is out he must 
 inspect the improvements on his farm at Geneva, and 
 write long letters to his principals in England. To suc- 
 cessfully accomplish all this required a man of wonderful 
 versatility and endurance. Such this young man we have 
 just seen dashing through the woods proved himself 
 to be. 
 
 "His position as agent, with the fullest of powers, 
 was indeed unique and important ; his opportunities for 
 experiments with men and nature were many, and his 
 manner of life exceedingly fascinating. 
 
 " Jerome has wrought on canvas a wonderful picture 
 of Napoleon standing alone in the African desert and 
 contemplating the herculean labour represented in the 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 Sphinx and the Pyramid of Cheops. And it has been 
 said that he who makes two blades of grass grow where 
 one grew is mightier than the conqueror of armies. Have 
 you ever thought what a stupendous work it was to 
 transform Western New York from a dense forest into 
 fertile farms ? 
 
 " This same young man sternly braved the dangers 
 and stoutly bore the toils that he might lay the foundation 
 of this pyramid of industry. Ere this you must have 
 guessed the name of this ' Baron of the Backwoods.' It 
 is Captain Charles Williamson, and his features are now 
 before you. 
 
 "As a matter of explanation and a condensation of 
 the remarks of yesterday, 1 will simply add that Colonel 
 Charles Williamson had two children who survived him — 
 Charles A. and Ann. Charles A. Williamson resided in 
 this country for a long time, and married a Miss Clark, 
 of Rochester. They had several children, the oldest of 
 whom is David Robertson Williamson, of Crieff, Scotland. 
 
 " In the foot-hills of the Scottish Highlands, in that 
 
 fair county of Perth, where the broad and fertile valley 
 
 of the Earn leads from Crieff to the gray-topped mountain 
 
 of Ben Vorlich, which looks down into the clear waters 
 
 of Loch Earn, stands Lawers House, a handsome white 
 
 142 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 building, the ancient seat of the Robertson family. Set 
 in a background of beeches and oaks, which fill to the 
 top the sloping hillside, the ancestral home looks to the 
 southward down a broad avenue of greensward bordered 
 by stately oaks, and extending unbroken across the valley. 
 From the hospitable porch we see sleek cattle grazing 
 in the meadows, swans are floating;" in the curling-pond 
 below, a small lodge is to the left, a handsome little 
 family house to the right, trim hedges of thorn, a few 
 maples whose seed came from the Genesee valley, pretty 
 driveways which circle through the grounds, a neat chapel 
 in the distance, while a clock in the quaint belfry at the 
 western extremity of the big house marks the hour of 
 day. That is now the home of David Robertson 
 Williamson, Esq. He is a worthy scion of a most dis- 
 tinguished grandfather — a leading gentleman of his county, 
 foremost in every industrial enterprise, honoured and 
 revered by the country wide, a good shot, and an expert 
 horseman. When I saw him last October he appeared 
 greatly interested in hearing of the present condition of 
 Steuben, and pleased to learn that his grandfather and 
 himself were not forgotten in the land of his birth. 
 
 " In this little pocket memorandum, which has bravely 
 
 stood the ravages of ninety years, is a short entry made 
 143 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 in the small handwriting of Charles Williamson just as 
 he was about to sail for England. It reads: 'Jny. 5, 
 1803. Paid Mr. Robinson for my miniature, S30. Paid 
 for setting same, $30.' That miniature was a farewell 
 gift to his charming friend, Madam Thornton, and 
 remained in her possession in this village until 18 10, 
 when she kindly presented it to his daughter, Ann, in 
 Scotland ; and the country for which he had done so 
 much, and to which he had given the best years of his 
 life, was left without an image of his kindly face. That 
 miniature now hangs among the ancestral portraits in 
 the grand staircase of Lawers House, and opposite is a 
 large bust portrait in oil, painted probably about 1790. 
 We endeavoured to obtain a photograph of this, and the 
 genial Mr. Williamson promised to assist us. Imagine 
 my surprise when, after some correspondence, the follow- 
 ing letter, teeming with the politeness and generosity of 
 the writer, was received : — 
 
 '"Lawers, Perthshire, Scotland, 
 
 Tregedar Lawers, Crieff, N.B., 
 1st May, 1893. 
 ":To James M'Call, Esq., Bath, U.S.A. 
 
 " ' My Dear Sir, — I send from this place to-morrow, 
 
 as my gift to the trustees of the village of Bath, an oil- 
 144 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 painting copied from the portrait of my grandfather, 
 Colonel Charles Williamson. The said painting I hope 
 the trustees will place in the Free Library or the Court- 
 house, or in any similar building that the trustees may 
 consider suitable. I may remind you that you saw the 
 original portrait of my grandfather within Lawers House. 
 And I pointed out to you the valuable sword presented 
 to my grandfather by the Pasha of Egypt of that day 
 for the important service given ; and for the satisfactory 
 political results following my grandfather's mission to 
 Egypt he received the thanks of England's House of 
 Commons. My grandfather had the reputation in this 
 country of being a brave and chivalrous soldier ; his 
 regiment was the 25th (and one of his great-grandsons 
 is now an officer in that regiment, and was wounded in 
 the last Egyptian war). 
 
 " ' My grandfather was last sent on a commission 
 by the British Government to report of the state of 
 Havana, and, while returning to England, he was smitten 
 with yellow fever, and died at sea, a.d. 1808. My grand- 
 father was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 12, 1757. 
 I showed you my grandfather's watch, which I generally 
 wear. I will look over some of my grandfather's papers, 
 
 and, if I find memoranda of interest, I will send you copies 
 145 "^ 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 of the same. I have before me a work of two volumes, 
 ' Travels through North America,' by the Duke de la 
 Rochefoucault. In that work my grandfather is most 
 honourably mentioned, published a.d. 1799. Of my grand- 
 father's life in America you know probably more than 
 I do. In answer to your complimentary suggestion in 
 letter, 21st March, 1893, V^^^ must excuse me saying any- 
 thing about myself — I am, very truly yours, 
 
 " ' (Signed) David R. Williamson.' 
 
 " Would that the distinguished donor were stand- 
 ing in my place to charm you with his manners, as 
 I know he would, and to observe the widespread feel- 
 ing of gratitude which I am sure is welling up in your 
 breasts, to be thus honoured by his gift. I confidently 
 trust that you will treasure it as a precious souvenir, 
 and place it in some safe depository, where the men, 
 women, and children of this generation, and those that 
 come after, can look upon those manly features and 
 draw inspiration, energy, and reverence from that good 
 face. 
 
 " Without further remarks, I therefore have the 
 
 honour, on behalf of David Robertson Williamson, Esq., 
 146 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 to present to the Trustees of the village of Bath, the 
 portrait of its founder, its citizen, and its friend." 
 
 Mr. Byron L. Smith, who accepted the gift on 
 behalf of the corporate authorities of the village, said : 
 
 " It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the 
 Trustees of this village, and on behalf of the citizens 
 of Bath, to accept from Mr. M'Call, the representative 
 of David Robertson Williamson, this splendid painting 
 and memorial of his ancestor, and the founder of this 
 village. Captain Charles Williamson. 
 
 " We have assembled here to-day to commemorate 
 his work and its results, and to hear from others fitting 
 tribute in historical detail to the fruits of his great 
 undertaking, and to listen to a recital of the perils he 
 encountered and the difficulties he overcame. Sur- 
 rounded by the monuments of a new civilisation, the 
 wide streets, the brick blocks, the comfortable dwellings 
 of our citizens, it is hard to conceive the courage and 
 powers of endurance which the founding of a settlement 
 in the heart of a wilderness required a hundred years ago. 
 
 " The example set by the man whose lineaments 
 
 are traced upon this picture may well encourage us all 
 
 to beautify, to build up, and make more prosperous this 
 
 village of Bath. We accept this friendly gift in the 
 147 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 same warm spirit with which it is tendered to us. We 
 honour the ancestor, and extend most hearty greetings 
 to his generous descendant who has so kindly remem- 
 bered us on this occasion." 
 
 The gift thus received is kept as a treasured pos- 
 session, as the following minute of a meeting of the 
 Board of Trustees clearly shows : — 
 
 " At a Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees 
 
 of the Village of Bath, N.Y., held in the 
 
 office of the Village Clerk, on the 23rd day 
 
 of August, 1893. Present — Talcott W. Gould, 
 
 President ; B. L. Smith, Trustee; E. E. Aber, 
 
 ditto; O. W. Sutton, ditto: W. H. Phillips, 
 
 ditto : 
 
 It was resolved on the motion of Trustee Smith : 
 
 Whereas Colonel Charles Williamson is entitled to 
 
 credit for the beautiful location of Bath village, and 
 
 also for the early development of Western New 
 
 York: 
 
 Therefore be it resolved that we will always treasure 
 
 the splendid gift with deep feelings of reverence, not 
 
 only for the founder of our village, but also for his 
 
 grandson ; and that as a further token of our esteem 
 
 148 
 
The Centennial Celebration 
 
 the said painting of Colonel Charles Williamson be 
 hung in the Court- House of the said village. 
 
 (Signed) T. W. Gould, President. 
 
 Thomas Shannon, Clerk." 
 
 Following the interesting ceremony of the presenta- 
 tion of the portrait, a Centennial Oration was delivered 
 by the Hon. Sherman S. Rogers. At the close of Mr. 
 Roger's oration, the Rev. Benjamin S. Sanderson rose 
 and said : 
 
 •' It is to be regretted that in the selection of names 
 for the various landmarks of our beautiful village that 
 of our founder should have been passed over. I am 
 authorised, by the General Committee of the Centennial, 
 to propose the following resolution, as the formal close 
 of our public literary exercises : 
 
 " Resolved, That, in grateful recognition of the well- 
 planned labours of Colonel Charles Williamson, the name of 
 Lake Salubria be hereby changed to Lake Williamson." 
 
 The resolution was received with hearty applause, 
 
 and was unanimously carried ; and with the Parade m 
 
 the afternoon, and an Old Time Reception in the 
 
 evening, the celebration of the First Centennial of Bath 
 
 came to an end. 
 
 149 
 
Charles Williamson 
 
 It was a fitting tribute to one whom the people of 
 Bath have great cause to honour ; and the tribute was the 
 expression of a deep-seated and lasting sentiment. The 
 legacy which the past has transmitted to the present can 
 never exhaust the gratitude of those who now enjoy the 
 ripened fruit of the toils and sacrifices of the men who 
 transformed the wilderness into the home of civilisation. 
 And of these men the highest niche in the temple of 
 honour and fame erected in the grateful hearts of the 
 people of Bath must be assigned to Charles Williamson, 
 the able administrator and wise leader, the fearless pioneer 
 and patient worker, the man of superlative gifts and graces, 
 whose example of integrity and dauntless endeavour must 
 ever be an inspiration to those who know the record of 
 his work and worth, and whose best memorial is to be 
 found in that which he has done : 
 
 " Si monumentum quseris, circumsplce." 
 
 150 
 

 APPENDIX 
 
 THE SODUS SETTLEMENT DISPUTE — ^LETTERS ON THE CRISIS 
 BY PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON AND SECRETARY 
 RANDOLPH 
 
 HE following letters are interesting not only 
 on account of the high standing of their 
 writers, but also as supplementing the 
 information given in Chapter V. regarding 
 the British encroachments. 
 
 President ^Washington thus wrote to Mr. Jay, the 
 American Minister in London : 
 
 "August 30, 1794. 
 
 " As you will receive letters from the Secretary of 
 
 State's Office giving an official account of the public 
 
 occurrences as they have arisen and advanced, it is 
 
 unnecessary for me to retouch any of them ; and yet I 
 
 cannot restrain myself from making some observations 
 
 on the most recent of them, the communication of which 
 
 was received this morning only. I mean the protest 
 
 151 
 
Appendix 
 
 of the Governor of Upper Canada, delivered by Lieu- 
 tenant Sheaffe, against our occupying lands far from 
 any of the posts which long ago they ought to have 
 surrendered, and far within the known and until now 
 the acknowledged limits of the United States. 
 
 " On this irregular and high-handed proceeding of 
 Mr. Simcoe, which is no longer masked, I would rather 
 hear what the Ministry of Great Britain will say than 
 pronounce my own sentiments thereon. But can that 
 Government, or will it attempt to, after this official act 
 of their Governor, hold out ideas of friendly intentions 
 towards the United States, and suffer such conduct to 
 pass with impunity? 
 
 " This may be considered as the most open and daring 
 
 act of the British Agents in America, though it is not 
 
 the most hostile and cruel ; for there does not remain 
 
 a doubt in the mind of any well-informed person in this 
 
 country, not shut against conviction, that all the difficulties 
 
 we encounter with the Indians, their hostilities, the 
 
 murders of the helpless women and children along our 
 
 frontiers, result from the conduct of agents of Great 
 
 Britain in this country. In vain is it, then, for its 
 
 Administration in Britain to disavow having given orders 
 
 which will warrant such conduct, whilst their agents go 
 
 152 
 
Appendix 
 
 unpunished, while we have a thousand corroboratincr 
 circumstances, and indeed as many evidences, some of 
 which cannot be brought forward, to prove that they 
 are seducing from our alliances, and endeavouring to 
 remove over the line, tribes that have hitherto been 
 kept in peace and friendship with us at a heavy expense, 
 and who have no causes of complaint except pretended 
 ones of their own creating ; whilst they keep in a state 
 of irritation the tribes that are hostile to us, and are 
 instigating those who know little of us as we of them 
 to unite in the war against us ; and whilst it is an 
 undeniable fact that they are furnishing the whole with 
 arms, ammunition, clothing, and even provisions to carry 
 on the war. I might go further, and, if they are not 
 much belied, add, men also in disguise. 
 
 " Can it be expected, I ask, so long as these things 
 are known in the United States, or at least firmly 
 believed, and suffered with impunity by Great Britain, 
 that there ever will or can be any cordiality between 
 the two countries? I answer, NO. And I will under- 
 take, without the gift of prophecy, to predict that it will 
 be impossible to keep this country in a state of amity 
 with Great Britain long if these posts are not surrendered. 
 
 A knowledge of these being my sentiments would have 
 153 
 
Appendix 
 
 but little weight, I am persuaded, with the British 
 Administration or perhaps with the nation in effecting 
 the measures ; but both may rest satisfied that, if they 
 want to be at peace with this country, and to enjoy the 
 benefits of its trade, to give up the posts is the only 
 road to it. If they are withheld, and if the consequences 
 we feel at present continue, war will be inevitable." 
 
 Secretary Randolph thus wrote to the Honourable 
 George Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of His 
 Britannic Majesty : 
 
 " Philadelphia, 
 "is/ September, 1794. 
 
 "Sir, — If on the information upon which my letter 
 of the 20th May was founded any considerable doubt 
 has remained of Governor Simcoe's invasion, your long 
 silence without a refutation of it, and our more recent 
 intelligence forbid us to question its truth. It is supported 
 by the respectable opinions, which have been since 
 transmitted to the Executive, that, in the late attack 
 on Fort Recovery, British officers and British soldiers 
 were on the very ground aiding our Indian enemies. 
 
 " But, Sir, as if the Governor of Upper Canada 
 
 was resolved to destroy every possibility of disbelieving 
 
 154 
 
Appendix 
 
 his hostile views, he has sent to the Great Sodus — a 
 settlement begun on a bay of the same name on Lake 
 Ontario — a command to Captain Williamson, who derives 
 a title from the State of New York, to desist from his 
 enterprise. This mandate was borne by a Lieutenant 
 Sheaffe under a military escort, and in its tone corresponds 
 with the form of its delivery, being one generally of a 
 military and hostile nature. It was in the following terms : 
 
 " ' I am commanded to declare that, during the 
 inexecution of the treaty ot peace between Great Britain 
 and the United States, and until the existing differences 
 respecting it shall be mutually and finally adjusted, taking 
 possession of any part of the Indian territory, either for 
 the purposes of war or sovereignty, is held to be a direct 
 violation of His Britannic Majesty's rights as they 
 unquestionably existed before the treaty, and has an 
 immediate tendency to interrupt, and, in its progress, 
 to destroy that good understanding which has hitherto 
 subsisted between His Britannic Majesty and the United 
 States of America. I therefore require you to desist from 
 any such aggression. . . R. H . Sheafke, 
 
 " ' Lieu. Qr.-Mr.-Genl. Dept. of His 
 
 " ' Britannic Majesty s Service." 
 155 
 
Appendix 
 
 " Captain Williamson being from home, a letter 
 was written to him by Lieutenant Sheaffe in the following 
 words : 
 
 " ' SODUS, 
 
 " ' August 1 6, 1794. 
 
 " ' Sir, — Having a special commission and instructions 
 for that purpose from the Lieutenant-Governor of His 
 Britannic Majesty's Province of Upper Canada, I have 
 come here to demand by what authority an establishment 
 has been ordered at this place, and to require that such 
 a design be immediately relinquished for the reasons 
 stated in the written declarations accompanying this letter, 
 for the receipt of which protest I have taken an acknow- 
 ledgment of your agent, Mr. Little. I regret exceedingly 
 in my private as well as public character that I have not 
 the satisfaction of seeing you here ; but I hope on my 
 return, which will be about a week hence, to be more 
 fortunate. I am. Sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 " ' R. H. Sheaffe, 
 " 'Lt., ^th Regt., Q.-M.-G. D: 
 
 " The position of Sodus is represented to be seventy 
 
 miles within the territorial line of the United States, 
 156 
 
Appendix 
 
 about twenty from Oswego, and about one hundred from 
 Niagara. 
 
 " For the present all causes of discontent not 
 connected with our western territory shall be laid aside ; 
 and even among these shall not be revived the root of 
 our complaints — the detention of the posts. But while 
 peace is sought by us through every channel which honour 
 permits, the Governor of Upper Canada is accumulating 
 irritation upon irritation. He commenced his operations 
 of enmity at the rapids of the Miami. He next associated 
 British with Indian force to assault our fort. He now 
 threatens us, if we fell our own trees and build houses 
 on our own lands. To what length may not Governor 
 Simcoe go ? Where is the limit to the sentiment which 
 gave birth to these instructions ? Where is the limit 
 of the principle which Governor Simcoe avows? 
 
 " The treaty and all its appendages we have submitted 
 
 to fair discussion more than two years ago. To the letter 
 
 of my predecessor, of the 29th May, 1792, you have 
 
 not been pleased to make a reply, except that on the 
 
 20th June, 1793, the 22nd Nov., 1793, and the 21st 
 
 February, [794, you wrote that no instructions had arrived 
 
 from your Court. To say the best of this suspension, 
 
 it certainly cannot warrant any new encroachments, 
 157 
 
Appendix 
 
 howsoever it may recommend to us forbearance under 
 the old. 
 
 " It is not for the Governors of His Britannic Majesty 
 to interfere with the measures of the United States 
 towards the Indians within their territory. You cannot, 
 Sir, be insensible that it has grown into a maxim that 
 the affairs of the Indians within the boundaries of any 
 nation exclusively belong to that nation. But Governor 
 Simcoe, disregarding this right of the United States, 
 extends the line of usurpation in which he marches by 
 referring to the ancient and extinguished rights of His 
 Britannic Majesty. For, if the existing condition of the 
 treaty keeps them alive on the southern side of Lake 
 Ontario, the Ohio itself will not stop their career. 
 
 " You will pardon me, Sir, if, under those excuses 
 of Governor Simcoe, I am not discouraged by your 
 having formerly disclaimed a control over, and a responsi- 
 bility for, the Governors of His Britannic Majesty, from 
 resorting to you on this occasion. You are addressed 
 from a hope that, if he will not be restrained by your 
 remonstrances, he may at least be apprised through 
 you of the consequences of self-defence. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, etc., 
 
 " Edm. Randolph." 
 158 
 
Appendix 
 
 To this letter of Secretary Randolph, Mr. Hammond 
 replied, under date New York, September 3, 1794, 
 that he should transmit copies of Mr. Randolph's letter 
 by the earliest opportunity to General Simcoe and His 
 Majesty's Ministers in England. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by Cowan if Co., Ltd.. Perth. 
 
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