USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families > Part 1
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HISTORY
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OF
ONTARIO COUNTY
NEW YORK
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND FAMILY SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE PROMINENT MEN AND FAMILIES
EDITED BY GEORGE S. CONOVER
COMPILED BY
LEWIS CASS ALDRICH
RARY DRESS
SYRACUSE, N. Y .: D. MASON & CO., PUBLISHERS 1893
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PREFACE.
S AMUEL JOHNSON said : " He who hath much to do will do something wrong, and of that wrong must suffer the consequences." Possibly that observation might be applied to this work, for in the preparation of an elaborate history of Ontario county some things have been said that may be error, while there may have been left unsaid many things which should have been narrated.
Ontario county has a rich and interesting early history, there having been enacted within its boundaries a series of events that were not com- mon to the State. During the period that covered the years extending from the French and English War down to and including the War of 1812-15 the region of Western New York was the seat of operations and events of national importance and bearing, and while some of these occurrences have found their way into history, many of them have been passed over as of no special value to the general reader.
History is a statement of fact, clearly and concisely written, without inferences or personal opinions. One of the most satisfactory features of such a work, both to the writer and the reader, is accuracy of state- meits and dates of occurring events. In this the historian always largely depends upon the official records of the county ; the absence of luch records places him in the somewhat embarassing position of being compelled to omit certain important facts. But the kind and ever-ready assistance of people whose word and memory are almost equal to any records are often available when documentary evidence is unobtainable.
12
PREFACE.
But it is not the purpose of the writer of this work to in any manner apologize for what has been done, but rather to explain the measures used in accomplishing what has been done, and in acknowledging in a general way the assistance he has received in the preparation of the work which is now presented to the reader. For a period of nearly twenty years the editor has been diligently engaged in searching out and collecting facts relating to the early history of Ontario county, and has been enabled to obtain a vast amount of information, including a very large number of original documents or copies thereof, all of which material has been freely used in the compilation and editing of this work. And here it may be said, publicly and without reserve, that the compiler has received at the hands of the people and the custo. dians of records all the assistance that could be desired to enable him to make the work as complete, thorough, and reliable as possible.
But it is to the generous people of the towns of Ontario county, who by their hearty support have made the publication of this work success- ful, that the publishers and cditor acknowledge a special indebtedness. That support, freely given, made the work possible, and in return the publishers confidently believe that they have prepared for the county an authentic and reliable and therefore valuable record.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
European Discoveries and Early Occupations -Scandinavians Discover Iceland and Greenland -- Columbus's Tropical Discoveries -- Early Voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot -- Jacques Cartier Sails up the St. Lawrence -- Champlain Founds the Colony in New France -- Visits the Iroquois Country -- Henry Hudson at New York and Albany -- English Colonies Founded in Virginia and Massachusetts -- Each Power Claims the Territory 17
CHAPTER II.
Claims to Pre-Historic Occupation -- The First Occupants of the Region -- The American Indian - - The Iroquois Confederacy -- Its Organization and System . of Government -- The Five and Six Nations -- Final Downfall of the Confed- eracy . 23
CHAPTER III.
The Sencca Indians, the Original Occupants of Ontario County -- Their Origin -- The French First Visit the Senecas -- Beginning of Hostilities -- Seneca Villages and their Location -- Missionaries among the Indians -- Results of their Labors 35
CHAPTER IV.
The Seneca Indians - Continuation of the Preceding Chapter -- English Colonists Incite the Iroquois against the French - The Latter Retaliate -- Courcelles's Expedition -- Denonville Invades the Seneca Country and Destroys the Vil- lages -- Their Subsequent Building Up -- Names and New Locations. 42
CHAPTER V.
Freich and English Rivalry - The Iroquois Destroy Montreal -- The Treaty at Ryswick -- Queen Anne's War -- The Five Nations Become the Six Nations -- Joncaire's Trading Post -- Events Preceding the French and English War -- Attitude of the Iroquois -- Influence of Sir William Johnson -- The Senecas Remain Neutral, but Favor the French - - Final Overthrow of French Power in America
50
14
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
Pontiac's War -- Devil's Hole and Black Rock -- Sir William Johnson Concludes a Peace with the Senecas - Treaty at Fort Niagara -- Events Preceding the Revolution - Outbreak of the War -- The Senecas Serve the King -- Kanade- saga Becomes Headquarters for Tories -- Butler's Buildings -- Indian Outrages on the Frontier -- The Principal Actors -- Sullivan Ordered to Invade the In- dian Country -- Destruction of the Villages and Crops -- The Senecas Flee to Fort Niagara -- Details of the Invasion of Ontario County --- Close of the Revolution
5.9
CHAPTER VII.
Condition of the Six Nations at the Close of the Revolution - Their Treatment by the State Government - Treaty at Fort Stanwix - Land Grants Sought to be Secured - Operations of the New York Genesee Land Company and the Niagara Genesee Land Company - The Long Leases - How Obtained - Controversy Between New York and Massachusetts - Its Settlement - An- nulled by the State - The New State Project - Its Promoters - How Re- garded in Ontario County.
74
CHAPTER VIII.
The Phelps and Gorham Purchase - Rev. Samuel Kirkland Superintends the Pur- chase of the Indian Titles - Treaty at Buffalo Creek - Mr. Phelps Secures the Influence of Certain Lessees- The Purchase and Its Approval - The Proprietors Fail in Their Payments - Sale to Robert Morris - The London Associates - The Pre-emption Line - Error and Fraud Charged - The Re- survey - Charles Williamson
85
CHAPTER IX.
A Brief Chapter Devoted to the Settlement by the Society of Friends in what is now Yates County -- An Outline History of the Society and of its Remarkable Leader, Jemima Wilkinson, alias "The Friend " - Early Grist-Mills. . .... 102
CHAPTER X.
Original County Organizations -- Albany County -- Tryon County Formed -- Name Changed to Montgomery -- Ontario County Created -- Its Extent and Popu- lation -- The First County Officers -- The County Seat -- The County Build. ings - Civil Divisions of Ontario County -- Subsequent County Erections which Took Lands of Original Ontario - Formation of the Towns now Com. prising Ontario County - The County Civil List. 107
15
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
Early Settlement in Ontario County - Character of the Pioneers - Yankees, English, Scotch and Irish - Disturbances on the Frontier - British Soldiers Still Occupy Forts on the United States Side of the Treaty Line - The Sim- coe Scare - Their Withdrawal in 1796 - Events Preceding the War of 1812-15 - Political Sentiment in Ontario County -- " War" and "Peace " Meetings -- The Outbreak, the Struggle and Final Peace -- Population of the County at Different Periods 121
CHAPTER XII.
ONTARIO COUNTY IN THE REBELLION, 1861-65 136
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BENCII AND BAR OF ONTARIO COUNTY
154
CHAPTER XIV.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF ONTARIO COUNTY
179
CHAPTER XV.
IHISTORY OF TIIE TOWN AND VILLAGE OF CANANDAIGUA 198
CHAPTER XVI.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN AND VILLAGE OF GENEVA 253
CHAPTER XVII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MANCHESTER
328
CHAPTER XVIII.
IIISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PHELPS
.349
CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF VICTOR
365
CHAPTER XX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF NAPLES ..... . 377
CHAPTER XXI.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FARMINGTON .387
16
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXII.
IIISTORY OF THE TOWN OF GORIIAM .. 395
CHAPTER XXIII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF EAST BLOOMFIELD .402
CHAPTER XXIV.
IHISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SENECA .412
CHAPTER XXV.
IHISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HOPEWELL 42I
CHAPTER XXVI.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BRISTOL .430
CHAPTER XXVII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SOUTH BRISTOL.
438
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WEST BLOOMFIELD 443
CHAPTER XXIX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF RICHMOND . . . . . . . 451
CHAPTER XXX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CANADICE
.457
CHAPTER XXXI.
BIOGRAPHICAL. 464
PART II.
FAMILY SKETCHES
-378
INDEX 379
INDEX TO FAMILY SKETCHES 388
HISTORY
OF
ONTARIO COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
European Discoveries and Early Occupations-Scandinavians Discover Iceland and Greenland-Columbus's Tropical Discoveries-Early Voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot-Jacques Cartier Sails up the St. Lawrence-Champlain Founds the Colony in New France-Visits the Iroquois Country-Henry Hudson at New York and Albany -English Colonies founded in Virginia and Massachusetts-Each Power Claims the Territory.
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F COUR hundred years ago the first Spanish adventurers landed on the American continent. In 1492 the Genoese, Christopher Columbus, set out on a voyage of exploration under the patronage of the Spanish power, and in that and the two succeeding years made his tropical dis- coveries. However, the first Europeans to visit America were Scan- dinavians, who colonized Iceland in 875, Greenland 983, and about the year 1000 had pushed their explorations as far south as the present State of Massachusetts ; but under their discoveries there was not made any attempt at colonization on the continent. In 1497, five years after Columbus made his first American discoveries, the Venetian sailor, John Cabot, was commissioned by Henry VII of England to voyage to the new territory and take possession of it in the name of the crown. He discovered Newfoundland and portions adjacent. In 1500 the coast of Labrador and the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence were explored by two Portuguese brothers named Cortereal. Eight years
3
18
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
later Thomas Aubert discovered the St. Lawrence, and in 1512 Ponce de Leon discovered Florida. Magellan, the Portuguese navigator, passed through the straits which now bear his name in 1519, and was the first to circumnavigate the globe. In 1534 Jacques Cartier ex- plored the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, and five years later De Soto explored Florida. In 1578 an English navigator named Drake discovered Upper California. Thus we observe that not a century had passed after the discovery by Columbus before the different maritime powers of Europe were in active competition for the rich prizes sup- posed to exist in the new world.
Subsequently events fully demonstrated the accuracy of the con- clusions of foreign powers, for no grander country in all respects ever awaited the advance of civilization and enlightenment. With climate diversified between the widest extremes; with many of the longest rivers of the globe intersecting and draining its territory and forming natural commercial highways; with a system of lakes so grand as to entitle them to the name of inland seas; with mountains, hills and valleys laden with the richest minerals and almost exhaustless fuel ; and with scenery unsurpassed for grandeur, it needed only the coming of the Caucasian to transform a continent of wilderness, inhabited by savages, into the free, enlightened republic which is to day the wonder and admiration of the civilized world.
While the Spaniards were pushing their acquisitions in the south, the French had gained a foothold in the northern part of the continent. Here the cod-fisheries of Newfoundland and the prospect of a more valuable trade in furs opened as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. In 1518 Baron Livy settled in Newfoundland, and in 1524 Francis I of France sent thither Jean Verrazzani, a noted Florentine mariner, on a voyage of exploration. He sailed along the coast more than two thousand miles and is supposed to have entered the harbor of New York, where he remained fifteen days. It is believed that his crew were the first Europeans to land on the soil of the State of New York. This navigator proceeded north as far as Labrador and gave to the whole region the name of "New France," thus opening the way for future contests between France and England. In 1534 the same French king sent Jacques Cartier, a St. Malo pilot, to the new country.
19
DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION OF AMERICA.
He made two voyages and ascended the St. Lawrence River as far as Montreal (Hochelaga). As he sailed up the river on St. Lawrence Day (August 10) he applied to the river the name of the saint whose name is perpetuated by that day. In the following year Cartier again sailed from France with a fleet which bore many of the nobility, and who departed for the new country filled with high hopes and bearing the blessings of the church ; they were to begin the colonization of New France. They ascended the river as far as the Isle of Orleans, from whence Cartier visited the Indian town of Hochelaga, and to which he gave the name of Mont Royal, the beautiful and opulent Montreal of modern times. The explorer was warmly greeted by the Indians, who tendered him the utmost homage and hospitality. The Frenchmen passed the following winter at the Isle of Orleans, suffering much from the rigors of the climate, and, having taken formal posses- sion of the country, they abandoned their colonization scheme early in the following season and returned to France. As a beginning of the long list of needless and disgraceful betrayals, treacheries and other abuses to which the too confiding natives were subjected by the differ- ent European nations, Cartier inveigled into his vessel the Indian chieftain Donnegana, who had been his generous host, and bore him with several others into hopeless captivity and final death.
The failure of this colonization movement and the severity of the northern winters prevented further attempts in the same direction for several years, but in 1540 Cartier was sent back with Jean Francis de Robarval, a gentleman of Picardy, who was appointed lieutenant-general over the "New countries of Canada, Hochelaga and Saguenay.". His commission conferred power over a vast territory with plenary powers of vice-royalty. Robarval made a second visit in 1543, and in company with the pilot, Jean Alphonse, took possession of Cape Breton, and afterward began a settlement at Quebec. However, in colonization Robarval was no more successful than had been his predecessor, and for half a century afterward nothing was accomplished in that direction. In 1598 another unsuccessful attempt was made to colonize New France, by pouring out upon the country convicts from the French prisons ; but it was finally left to private enterprise, stimulated by the hope of gain from the fur trade, to make the first successful effort toward the
20
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
permanent occupation of the country. About the year 1600 Chauvin obtained a broad patent for lands in America, which formed the basis of a trade monopoly, and repeated and prosperous voyages were made, the success of which stimulated others to enter the same field. In 1603 Aylmer de Chastes and a party of Rouen merchants organized a com- pany, the existence of which becomes of historic importance to this work, as it introduces into the field Samuel de Champlain, discoverer of the lake which bears his name, and the real founder of New France, which included within its asserted limits all that now comprises Ontario county. In 1608 Champlain made a permanent settlement at Quebec, and afterward founded Montreal, from which points the French fur traders and missionaries found easy access to Lake Ontario and even up Lake Erie many years before the occupation of this region by the whites.
In 1609 Champlain, accompanied by a party of faithful Canadian In- dians, made a voyage up Lake Champlain for the purpose of exploration and to extend the dominion of France, and as well to learn something of the characteristics of the Iroquois Indians, whose power as a nation and whose valor as warriors were made known to him by his attendants. The exploring party encountered a few Mohawk Indians near the pres- ent site of Ticonderoga, and there was signalized the first hostile meet- ing between the civilized white man and the untutored Indian. Cham- plain with his arquebus, which he had loaded with four balls, fired up- on the unsuspecting Mohawks, killing two and wounding a third.
A few weeks after the battle between Champlain and the Indians, Henry Hudson, an intrepid English navigator, then in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, moored his vessel (Half Moon) in the waters of the great river that now bears his name; this was on the 3d of September, 1609. He met and entertained the natives, and was hospitably received by them, but before his departure he conferred up- on them knowledge of the effects of intoxicating liquor, an experience perhaps more disastrous in its results than that conferred by Champlain with his new and murderous fire-arm. Hudson ascended the river to a point within a hundred miles of that reached by Champlain on the St. Lawrence and the lake, returned to Europe and, through the informa- tion he had gained, afterward established a Dutch colony for which a
21
DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION OF AMERICA.
charter was granted in 1614, naming the region "New Netherland." In 1623 it was made a province or county of Holland. In 1614 the Dutch built a fort on Manhattan Island, and one in the following year on or near the site of Albany, but the territory included within the Dutch patent extended indefinitely westward over the territory of this part of the present State which was then occupied and controlled exclusively by the Indians, and to which was given the name " Terra Incognito." In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was formed and took possession of "New Amsterdam " under the charter granted. For fifteen years they remained at peace with the natives, but the harsh and unwise ad- ministration of William Kieft, who was appointed director-general in September, 1637, provoked the Indians to hostilities and opened a war which continued with but little interruption during the remainder of the Dutch occupancy, and often endangered the very existence of the colo- ny. Under the discoveries by Hudson the Dutch laid claim to the ter- ritory of the present State of New York and extending westward indefi- nitely.
Meanwhile, in 1607, the English had made their first permanent set- tlement at Jamestown, Va., and in 1610 planted a second colony at Plymouth, Mass. These two colonies were destined to become the successful rivals of all others, of whatever nationalit , in the strife that finally left them masters of the country.
On the discoveries and colonization efforts we have briefly noted it will be seen that three great European powers laid claim to the territory of the State of New York. England, by reason of the discovery of Cabot, who sailed under letters patent from Henry VII, and on the 24th of June struck the sterile coast of Labrador, and that made in the fol- lowing year by his son Sebastian, who explored the coast from New Foundland to Florida, claiming a territory eleven degrees in width and extending westward indefinitely. France claimed the territory by rea son of the discoveries of Verrazzani, and Holland by reason of the dis- coveries of Hudson, the latter claiming the country from Cape Cod to the southern shores of Delaware Bay. As we have stated the Dutch became for the time being the possessors of the region of which we write. Thus, during the early years of the seventeenth century, there were three distinct streams of emigration, with three attendant claims
22
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
of sovereignty, converging toward the original Ontario county. For the time being the French had the best opportunity, the Dutch the next, while the English, the ultimate masters of the soil, were apparently third in the race.
In 1623 permanent Dutch emigration, as distinguished from mere fur-trading expeditions, first began upon the Hudson, and the first governor was sent thither by the Batavian Republic. In 1625 a few Jesuits arrived on the banks of the St. Lawrence, the advance guard of a host of representatives of that remarkable order, which was in time to crowd out almost all Catholic missionaries from Canada and the whole lake region, and substantially monopolize the ground to them- selves. In 1626 Father De La Roche Daillon, a Recollect missionary, visited the Indians of the Neuter Nation, and passed the winter preach- ing the Gospel among them, but did not venture into the territory of the Iroquois, who were then at deadly enmity with the French on ac- count of Champlain's murderous attack upon the Mohawks several years before. In 1627 Cardinal Richelieu organized the company of New France, otherwise known as the Company of a Hundred Partners. The three chief objects of this association were to extend the fur trade, to convert the Indians to Christianity, and to discover a new route to China by way of the great lakes of North America. The company succeeded in extending the fur trade, but not to any extent in convert- ing the Indians, nor in going to China by way of the lakes. Champ- lain was governor of the province and colony, and the first two years of his rule were unfortunate in the extreme. British men-of-war captured his supplies by sea; the Iroquois warriors invaded Canada and tomahawked his hunters; and in 1629 an English fleet sailed up the St. Lawrence and captured Quebec. However, peace was soon after concluded between England and France, and Champlain resumed his gubernatorial powers. Following this the Jesuit missionaries, fired with zeal and valor, traversed the wilderness, holding up the cross be- fore the bewildered pagans. They met with much better success among the Huron, Eries and Neuter Nation Indians than with the Iroquois, and soon had flourishing stations as far west as Lake Huron. They next visited the Kahquahs, whom they reported as possessing eighteen villages, but met with very little encouragement among them.
23
INDIAN OCCUPATION.
The latter were a tribe of Indians residing on the shores of Lake Erie in part in the present county of Erie. The Eries inhabited the borders of the lake which still bears their name, while the Neuter Nation was between them and the fierce warriors of the Iroquois Confederacy.
Having frequently referred to the Indian occupants of the region, the first inhabitants of the soil of the present State of New York of which we have any reliable record, we may now briefly turn from the subject of European discovery and occupation and furnish an account of the savages who played so prominent a part in the early history of our county and State.
CHAPTER II.
Claims to Pre-historic Occupation - The First Occupants of the Region - The Ameri- can Indian - The Iroquois Confederacy - Its Organization and System of Govern- ment - The Five and Six Nations - Final Downfall of the Confederacy.
M ANY well informed persons of Ontario county believe that this region of the State has produced unmistakable evidences of pre- historic occupation ; that there have been discovered certain relics and implements of peculiar manufacture, the like of which are now unknown. It is claimed that these evidences must have been left by a race of peo- ple different from the Indians, the period of whose occupation long an- tedated the coming of the ancestors of the famed Iroquois. This claim is undoubtedly a mistaken one, for recent investigators have shown to us that there has been no possession by any race that cannot be readily reconciled with the theory of continuous Indian occupation. It is un- doubtedly true that there have been found tools and utensils which were never in common use among the Indians, but the reader will re- member that the Jesuit fathers traversed this region more than a century before any settlement was made by what we call our own people; and it will be remembered, too, that the crude and to us unaccountable im- plements were then in the hands of comparative ancients, and were the product of a period in which was known but little of mechanical arts, as we see and understand and use them at the present time. As early
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