USA > New York > Cattaraugus County > Dayton > Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York : comprising the villages of Cottage, Wesley, Markham, Dayton, South Dayton, and Fair Plain > Part 1
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Gc 974.701 C29s 1462242
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 7108
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historicalbiogra00shul_0
DAYTON
Faithfully Yours,
Chase Shults
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
OF THE TOWNSHIP OF
DAYTON,
CATTARAUGUS COUNTY,
NEW YORK.
Comprising the Villages of Cottage, Wesley, Mark- ham, Dayton, South Dayton and Fair Plain.
A Complete History of the Town from its Origin, with Views of Business Places and Residences, together with Photos of Prominent Citizens of various Professions and Occupations, Past and Present.
EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY CHAS. J. SHULTS.
" True History Mirrors the Past and Reflects the Future." " Biography is the most universally pleasant of all reading." -Carlyle.
EMBELLISHED WITH OVER THREE HUNDRED PICTURES.
APRIL, 1901.
COPYRIGHTED, APRIL, 1901, BY CHAS. J. SHULTS.
THE HAUSAUER PRESS
CAXTON BLDG., BUFFALO. N.Y.
1462242
INTRODUCTION.
T HE AUTHOR of this work takes pleasure in presenting it to the public, believing that artistically, historically and biographically it is much the superior of anything heretofore offered the public of the town of which it treats. The mechanical workmanship is so far beyond anything heretofore at- tempted in a work of this kind that no comparison is possible. We have paid particular attention to everything pertaining to the town and its people from the origin to the present. We have been pleasur- ably surprised by the prompt and liberal manner in which the citizens of the town have assisted us in obtaining the information it contains, and we trust that our work will meet with entire approval.
Our engravings, it will be noticed, are photographic reproductions made by the superior half-tone process, consequently the likenesses presented are accurate and correct. The residences portrayed are ele- gant specimens of Dayton's homes ; and many old-time pictures here shown would soon have been faded and gone and have remained to memory alone. While it is impossible to do justice to all and every- thing. yet we have, to the best of our ability, made a fair presen- tation of Dayton's historical associations, its industries, its churches, schools, business places, and business men, its representative citizens and their families. The old and well-thumbed histories we have pa- tiently sifted, and in many instances corrected, and herein assay to give the very cream of them all, adding much fresh and interesting in- formation gleaned from the early pioneers and their descendants. It gives us pleasure to acknowledge our personal obligations to such well- posted men as Hon. N. M. Allen and I. R. Leonard, Esq., and others, who have assisted cheerfully in our " labor of love." We believe that Mr. Allen's articles, " His Recollections of Men He Has Known," will be perused with interest and greatly appreciated. Our biographies are in the main correct. We have exercised great care in securing names and dates, and have submitted almost all of the manuscript for correction. Doubtless some errors will appear for which we trust we will be pardoned by reason of the difficulties with which we have had to contend. Remember that nothing is perfect, that it is human to err, while to forgive is divine. Upon the whole we have received very hearty co-operation, and we feel a just pride in the results of our labors. Our only wish is that the book will give pleasure to the present generation, and to the generations to come ; that it may prove a nucleus and an incentive to future writers who will be better able to do full justice to the subject and leave our work to receive that favor which earnest endeavor ever wins from a discriminating public.
CHAS. J. SHULTS.
Y millero
THE WORK OF AN EXTINCT PEOPLE.
" Time was when clothing sumptuous or for use, Save their own painted skins, our sires had none."
N DAYTON, as in nearly every other part of Western New York, there exists evidences of a very ancient occupation of the hills and valleys by a people other than the native Indians, who held possession at the time when the first white settler came. These evidences are found chiefly in curious excavations, inounds, and other forms of earthworks. The great age of these structures was proved not only by their general appearance of antiquity, but more decidedly by the fact that in many instances, trees of the largest size were found growing on the embankments. Besides these ancient earthworks other evi- dences have been found, in the form of weapons and implements of stone, amulets and other ornaments of copper and stone fireplaces or hearths, sunk in the earth (often found covered with charcoal) which may have been at some time enclosed with dwellings and council houses. The first settlers also found in the midst of the forests, open glades, which had at some day, been made clear by fire, which may have been done solely for purposes of cultivation, but it is more probable that these places were kept clear by annual burnings, in order to stimulate the growth of sweet and tender herbage, and thereby to entice the deer, the elk, and other game to come and feed upon the luxuriant pasturage, when they might, more easily, be made the prey of the hunter. These openings however, as well as the stone implements, so frequently found, may have been the work of the last native occupants. By the processes of agriculture, continued for many a century, and by various other means, many of the earthen mounds and parapets above mentioned, have been so far leveled that their outlines are now barely descernable, and many have become wholly obliterated, which, when the country was first open for settlement, stood out bold, massive, and clearly defined. In the thirteenth annual report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York is found an account of ancient monuments in Western New York, comprising the results of explorations by T. Napoleon Cheney, Civil Engineer, etc., 1859. This paper mentions, among numerous other works, certain curious excavations which we give in part verbatim :
"In the township of Leon, Lot 49, occur three remarkable excavations,
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SUPERVISOR OF DAYTON.
rectangular in form. One of them has a circumferance of 112 rods, and an elevation from the interior surface of some twenty feet. And nearly in the center there is a well or reservoir, in the form of a semi-circle, ten feet across by about six in depth. Similar depressions are elsewhere observed, and are believed to owe their peculiar formation to the drift. The principal fact which would indicate that these had been secondarily adopted by the Indians for security or defense is furnished by the numerous remains of ancient art and workmanship, traces of fire-places, and so forth, which have been discovered here. Traces of ancient cultivation also yet remained." Pits of from four to six feet in breadth and from three to five feet in depth have been observed in various places in the Conewango Swamp. In one place are the remains of a sepuchral mound in a circular forni 120 ft. in circumference, with an elevation of ten feet. This tumulum when explored was found to contain several skeletons which were no doubt, those of some distinguished warriors, whose acts of heroism might have been connected with the decline and fall of that powerful race of men. About two miles south of the Village of Rutledge, on lot No. 45, near the residence of N. E. G. Cowen, there was discovered by the first pioneers of this section a sepuchral mound, nearly circular in form and having an entire circumferance of 170 ft. The height of the mound was about twelve feet. Mr. Cheney spoke of this work as "having some appearance of being constructed with the ditch or vallum outside of the mound, as in the Druid Barrows, but perhaps more accurately belongs to the class composed of several stages, as the Trocalli of the valley of Annhuac." At the time of its discovery the site was surrounded by the primitive forest, and upon the tumulus there were growing several large trees, among them being a hemlock, two feet in diameter, and a maple and a beech, each eighteen inches in diameter. Within the mound there were discovered nine human skeletons, which had been buried in a sitting posture, and at regular intervals of space, in the form of a circle, and facing towards a common center. There was some slight appearance that a frame work had enclosed the dead at the time of the interment. The skeletons were so far decayed as to crumble upon exposure to the atmosphere, but were all of a very large size. There were also found there several interesting relics of ancient art, among them being very perfect arrow and spear heads, a small triangular perforated stone, of which the surface was painted and glazed, chisels, amulets, and other articles of quite elaborate workmanship, which were thought by some to resemble the Mexican and Peruvian antiquities. In the neighborhood of this mound there have been noticed several ancient hearths. One of these, of considerable extent, was found in excavating for the foundations of Mr. Cowen's house. Near Point Peter, on the Cattaraugus Creek, in the Town of Persia, is a plateau on which there was formerly visable the remains of an ancient earthwork, consisting of a ditch and parapet, enclosing (according to the best information and authority) about three fourths of an acre of land. An opening was observed in the wall opposite the stream, showing that, if the earthwork was intended for defense, that the attack was expected from the direction of the stream. Old residents recollect that the form of the enclosure was between a circle and a square, and that the shape could be easily traced
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as the wall stood between three and four feet in height, but at the present time it is nearly obliterated and can hardly be seen at all. The same writer (always enthusiastic and imaginative in his searches for relics) states that terra cotta specimens were disclosed in one of the mounds near the Cattaraugus Creek, and adds that among them were some specimens of pottery, composed of pounded quartz mixed with clay and quite hard. These articles are quaintly figured and bear some resemblance to those found on the Colorado Chiquito.
In regard to the origin of these and the multitude of similar relics which have been discovered in this section, many theories have been advanced, some apparently reasonable and others entirely absurd. As to the earthworks which have been discovered, some writers believe them to have been built by the French, while others ascribe them to the Spaniards. But these theories of their European origin are satisfactorily rebutted by the number and extent of the remains; by their evident antiquity. Many of them having, from every appearance, been erected long before the discovery of America. By their form, which is entirely different from any form of European fortification, ancient or modern, and by the great peculiarities of form and size of the skeletons found in the tumuli.
This much, and no more, may be set down as reasonably certain, that these earthworks were made by a people who preceded those found here by the first European visitors. But whether they were Axtec, Toltec, Phoenician, or Egyptian origin, or whether they were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel as some have supposed, is a question which will probably never be solved. The imagination, unrestrained by facts, may roam at will in the realm of ingenious speculation, but the subject is one of pure conjecture.
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SIMEON BUNCE,
DAYTON'S FIRST SETTLER.
THE INDIANS.
ROM the veiled mystery of an extinct people we turn to the story of the later aboriginal peoples whose occupancy preceded that of the white settler through this section. The earliest mention which we find in written annals of the Indian tribes or nations inhabiting this section, occurs in a letter written under date of May 19, 1641, which describes the extent and domain of their territory. Concerning the Indian occupation of the country lying between the bend of the Genesee river and Chautauqua Lake, during the century and a quarter following the year 1650 very little can be told by any degree of certainty. At the time of the exploration of this region by the French in about 1780 there was found but one Indian Village. This was on the Conewango, in the present town of Carrol, Chautauqua County. Eighteen years later the Quaker missionaries found Indian Villages on the Allegany, in the present town of South Valley and in the town of Cold Spring. History says these Seneca hamlets, were but the southwestern outposts, the principal part of their population being in the valley of the Genesee. In 1779 General Sullivan swept through the valleys and over the rolling plateaus, applying the ax and torch, soon transforming the beautiful region, from the character of a garden to a scene of sickening desolation. Forty Indian towns, the largest containing 128 houses, were destroyed; corn, gathered and ungathered, to the amount of 160,000 bushels shared the same fate. Fruit trees were cut down and the Indians were hunted like wild beasts, and neither house nor fruit tree remained in the country. The Indians fled before the invader. Their first place of refuge was in the vicinity of the fort at Niagara, but the ultimate results of the destruction of their villages along the Genesee was a considerable migration to the valleys of the Allegany river, the Cattaraugus and the Conewango creeks; and from this time until that of the advent of white settlers was the period of the most numerous Seneca occupancy of the lands in this locality. But even during this period, the Indian population of these hills, valleys and forests was sparse and scattered, and was never composed of what might be termed the chivalry of the Seneca Nation. And here they made no history. On these hills and along these valleys they hunted and fished and prosecuted their rude agriculture. They projected no aggressive expeditions, made no memorable treaties, and displayed none of the qualities which in the ancient days made Indian nations and individuals famous. Their numbers are now thinned and the few whose spirits have not gone to their happy hunting grounds, live in quiet upon the reservations assigned to them.
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EARLY LAND TITLES.
N THE year 1663, Charles I, King of England, granted to the Duke of York and Albany the province of New York, then including what is now the state of New Jersey; extending thence north to the French possessions in Canada and Westward indefinitely. The eastern boundary was not clearly defined. As this grant included a portion of the immense territory, which many years before had been granted by James I of England to the Plymouth Company, under the general designation of New England, there very naturally followed disagreements and disputes between the two colonies, each of which laid claim to the jurisdiction and the right of pre-emption over and in the same territory, embracing many millions of acres of the best portions of the present Empire State. This conflict of jurisdiction remained unsettled for more than a century, and resulted in frequent acts of violence, armed collisions, and bloodshed, which occurred principally during the third quarter of the 18th century. In the year 1781 the State of New York ceded to the United States all its jurisdictional and proprietary rights and claims to this territory. All similar rights and claims as to this territory were ceded by Massachusetts to the United States in 1785. By these acts the controversies were narrowed to the limits of the two states, and it was finally settled amicably by a commission of ten persons. The pre-emption right, that is to say, the right of fee and ownership (subject to the aboriginal title) to the entire tract west of the line running north from the 82nd milestone, comprehending seven millions of acres, was in April, 1788, sold by Massachusetts to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham for the sum of one million dollars. Less than three cents an acre was paid for all that fertile tract of land then known under the general appelation of the Genesee County, and comprising what is now Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, Allegany, Livingston, Monroe, Yates, Steuben, and the greater part of Wayne County, being largely made up of lands, unexcelled in quality by any on the globe. In the summer of 1788, Mr. Phelps made a treaty with the Indians, by which they sold for $5,250, and a promised annuity of $5,000, this tract. The territory to which the Indian claim was thus extinguished by Phelps and Gorham, was fully conveyed and forever quitclaimed to them by the state of Massachusetts, Nov. 21, 1788, and their title thus made perfect and complete. Owing to the adoption of the Federal constitution and the war of the Revolution, they were unable to meet their payments. Being driven to extremities, they negotiated with Robert Morris of Philadelphia, and on Nov. 8, 1790, they conveyed to
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him, for the consideration of eight pence an acre, 1,204,000 acres, being all the unsold portion except two townships which they reserved of the 2,225,000 acres which they had purchased of the Iroquois. They had already sold about fifty townships to settlers and they hoped by the avails of these, and of the sale to Morris, to be able to make their immediate payment to Massachusetts, and to save the remaining portion of their original purchase. In this however, they were unsuccessful and were finally compelled to accede to a compromise, which they did Nov. 10, 1781, by the terms of which Massachusetts relinquished two-thirds of the contract price, in consideration
JOSEPH ELLICOTT,
" THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL."
that Phelps and Gorham should surrender all lands in the State of New York to which the aboriginal title then remained unextinguished. Thus Massachusetts resumed the right of pre-emption to the lands of Western New York. Two months after the surrender of their contract by Phelps and Gorham, all the lands which they had relinquished to Massachusetts were sold by that state to Robert Morris and were conveyed to him May 11, 1791, by five different deeds. The fourth tract, portions of which fell within this region was known as the Holland Purchase and was conveyed January 31, 1799. The Holland Land Company consisted of Wilhem Willink, Jan
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Willink, Wilhem Willink, Jr., Jan Willink, Jr., Jacob Van Staphorst, Nicholas Hubbard, Christina Van Eeghen, Isaac Tenlate, Christina Coster, and Jan Stadnitiski. Their title was confirmed to them by deeds from Thomas L. Ogden, executed in February 1801, covering the four tracts of the purchase; these several releases from Ogden being for the purpose of reinstating the title from the effects of Sheriff's sales, made by virtue of judgments against Robert Morris. It is saddening to know that actual want ever came to Robert Morris, a man to whom the government of the United States, owed its existence. At the time when his interest in the lands was sold by Mr. Morris to the agents of the Holland Land Co., the aboriginal title to all of them was still existing and undisturbed. A treaty was had, Sept. 15, 1797, by which the Indians sold their title to the entire Holland Purchase, except small reservations, for the sum of $100,000 which was to be invested in the stock of the U. S. Bank, and held in the name of the President of the United States for the use and benefit of their nation. This release by the Indians perfected the Company's title, and removed the last obstacle to the occupation and settlement of the lands.
Theophilus Cazenove was chosen Agent General by the Holland proprietors, his headquarters being in Philadelphia. In July, 1797, he employed Joseph Ellicott, as the Company's chief surveyor, who lost no time in surveying and laying out the companies possessions. Fifteen surveyors worked under the supervision of Mr. Ellicott. The plan of the survey contemplated the division of the purchase into ranges, extending across its entire breadth from north to south and to be as nearly as possible of the uniform width of six miles, these ranges to be crossed as nearly as possible by paralells at right angles, the same distance apart, thus subdividing them into square townships, measuring six miles on each side. This plan was generally adhered to except in some few cases. The work of surveying and sub-dividing the tract into ranges and townships was completed in 1799, but the sub-divisions into lots were not all made until about 1808.
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ERECTION OF THE TOWN OF DAYTON.
ATTARAUGUS County was erected by an act of the Legislature, March 11, 1808. The same act erected its entire territory into a town to be called Olean. For a few years its limits remained undisturbed and Olean remained the only Town in the County. By an act of the Legislature passed June 16, 1812, the town was divided, and a new town erected which was called Ischua. Another town was formed of the western portions of Ischua and Olean by an act passed April 13, 1814, and that town was called Perry. The location and extent of these three towns was as follows: The town of Olean included in addition to its present territory all that of the towns of Portville, Allegany, Hinsdale, Ischua, Humphrey, Great Valley, and Carrolton. Included in Ischua were the present towns of Ellicottville, Franklinville, Lyndon, Farmersville, Machias, Yorkshire, Freedom, a small part of East Otto and a part of Ashford. The town of Perry embraced the remainder of the County. These three towns remained unchanged until after the organization of the County in 1818. The sub-division and changes pertaining to Dayton we copy verbatim from Legislative enactments :
Chapter 124, Laws of 1818.
AN ACT to divide the town of Perry in the County of Cattaraugus.
Passed April 10, 1818.
§ I. Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly.
That from and after the first day of March next, all that part of the Town of Perry in the County of Cattaraugus lying south of the east and west line running through said Town, between the fourth and fifth tier of Townships in the Holland Land Company's purchase, be and is hereby erected into a separate town by the name of Little Valley, and the first town meeting shall be held at the dwelling house of Jarred Benedict on the first Tuesday of March next.
S II. AND BE IT FUTHER ENACTED. That all the remaining part of the town of Perry, shall remain a separate Town by the name of Perrysburg and the first Town meeting shall be held at the dwelling house of Simon Waterman on the first Tuesday of March next.
S III. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That as soon as may be after the first Tuesday of April next, the Supervisors and overseers of the poor of the aforesaid Towns, shall by notice to be given for that purpose by the Supervisors thereof, meet together and apportion the poor maintained by said Town of Perry and the poor money belonging to the same previous to the division thereof, agreeable to the last tax list, and that each Town shall forever thereafter maintain its own poor.
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Chapter 10, Laws of 1835.
AN ACT to divide the Town of Perrysburg in the County of Cattaraugus. Passed February 7, 1835.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :
§ I. From and after the passage of this act, all that part of the Town of Perrysburg in the County of Cattaraugus lying in the fifth and sixth Townships of the eighth range of Townships according to the Holland Land Company's survey, shall be erected into a separate town by the name of Persia; and the first Town meeting shall be held at the house of Z. A. Macumber, lately occupied by H. A. Chase, on the first Tuesday of March next.
§ II. All that part of Perrysburg aforesaid, lying in the fifth Town and ninth range of Townships, according to the Holland Land Company's survey, shall be and remain a separate Town by the name of Dayton, the first Town meeting shall be held at the school house near Ralph Johnson's on the first Tuesday of March next.
S III. All the remaining part of the said Town of Perrysburg being in the sixth Town and ninth range of Townships aforesaid, shall be and remain a separate Town by the name of Perrysburg; the first Town meeting shall be held at the house of William Cooper on the first Tuesday of March next.
S IV. The justices of the peace who may be residents of any of the aforesaid towns shall be justices of the peace thereof for the term for which they shall have been elected, and all vacancies in the office of justice of the peace in the aforesaid towns, shall be filled at the first town meeting therein respectively.
S V. After the present year, the town meetings in the said several towns shall be held on the first Tuesday of March, unless the time for holding such town meetings shall be altered according to law.
S VI. This act shall take effect immediately after its passage.
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