USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Ellicott > The early history of the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, N.Y. > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01178 3856
har Pag retus 1
C
THE
EARLY HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF ELLICOTT,
CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
COMPILED LARGELY FROM THE
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
OF THE AUTHOR,
BY
GILBERT W. HAZELTINE, M. D.
JAMESTOWN, N. Y : JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY, 1887.
.
TO MRS. MARY NORTON PRENDERGAST. THIS VOLUME SPEAKS OF THE BRAVE, HEROIC, AND SELF-SACRIFICING EARLY SETTLERS OF THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT, WHO SHARED THE TOILS OF THE WILDERNESS WITH THOSE NOBLE AND GENEROUS FOUNDERS OF JAMESTOWN, JAMES AND AGNES THOMPSON PRENDERGAST,
THE PARENTS OF THAT EQUALLY NOBLE AND GENEROUS SON, ALEXANDER THOMPSON PRENDERGAST,
YOUR LATE HUSBAND, SO SUDDENLY TAKEN AWAY, AND OF YOUR ONLY SON, SO GREATLY BELOVED, AND SO DEEPLY MOURNED BY THE CITIZENS OF JAMESTOWN; THE LATE HON. JAMES PRENDERGAST,
TAKEN IN THE FLOWER OF HIS MANHOOD, THE LAST OF HIS FAMILY. TO YOU, THE LOVING WIFE, THE AFFECTIONATE MOTHER AND GENEROUS FRIEND, THE GRIEF STRICKEN WATCHER AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, WHERE ALL OF YOUR IDOLS LIE BURIED, I RESPECT- FULLY DEDICATE THIS VOLUME. THE AUTHOR.
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PREFACE.
What is the ratio justifica of this book ? Simply this. Our friends desired us to write it, and we wrote it ; the Jour- nal Printing Company printed it, and Merz put on the covers. It is a home made book for home use ; and the critics, if any, we expect to be to the manor born.
Our friends will justify themselves by saying,-"we de- sired to rescue the memory of our grandfathers and our grandmothers, and our parents, from the deep pall of obliv- ion which was fast settling down upon them,-and the history of their homes in the wilderness, in which they labored so hard to secure blessings which we alone have lived to reap and to enjoy. The hardy, generous, and in many instances gifted men and women, who lived and labored in what are now our busy streets, have left enduring monuments of their united labor, but the records of their individual selves, have been meagre and unsatisfactory. The records imprinted on the memories of a few yet living-whose boyhood days were spent in Jamestown, before it had become an incorporated village, have been found, of all remaining sources of informa- tion, the most reliable and satisfactory. There are still living here a number of persons who became citizens from 1825 to 1835, whose memory of events has yielded material assistance by sustaining and strengthening the memory of the writer,- by what they themselves knew of, and had frequently heard related, of the early settlers. As the years roll on, their deeds would soon have been forgotten, if the extended sketches we have caused to be made by one who was an on- looker, had not been written and givento the world." "This is the answer you elicit from our friends.
vi
PREFACE.
It has been our attempt to record the names and the deeds of the fathers, surrounded by all that constituted their homes -as we once saw them, and as, to-day, they are vividly de- picted in our memory. We have labored to place before you, their children and successors-pictures of their persons,- their homes,-and their surroundings in the long ago when Jamestown was a hamlet in the wilderness-when the Pearl City was the Rapids-when instead of the busy hum of a hundred factories and a thousand industries, and a city of comfortable homes and palace residences there were a few lowly dwellings, and the hum was of the saw mill and the busy boatman by day, and the howl of the wolf or the scream of the wild cat in the Big Fly, by night. The homes, the industries, the scenes here depicted, were to our noble but humble-minded fathers the all of human life-they bounded the horizon of their being-they were the environ- ments of their existence. Memory had embalmed them in the hearts of their children, now few remaining, old and fast passing away. What is known of these Pioneers among the children's children, the present generation, is weak and shad- owy, and is yearly becoming more and more dim, and at the end of another decade-even within that short period-folk lore would have claimed the little remaining of the memory of the early settlers. We interpose this feeble book to prevent such a disaster. We present it as a rough monument to their memories-their homes-their deeds-their lives.
Although conscious that we have used every effort, which could be reasonably expected, to accurately describe the scenes and events herein depicted, yet the invariable ex- perience of others should teach us not to claim entire exemp- tion from those errors and imperfections always found in works of biography and history. History has been defined " An approximation towards truth." We cannot believe that this definition even approximates to a true one,- nevertheless it may embody a shadow of a truth, for every thing human is marked by imperfections.
vii
PREFACE.
We are sorry to admit that the reader will find in this book a number of typographical crrors, largely from the mis- placing of types by the compositor. Two of us read the proofs. We were not expert proof readers, but we were of the opinion that if we were careful we would be able to correct all mis- takes, and are now, when it is too late to rectify them, not only mortified but astounded that we have overlooked so many. We have prepared a table of errata-but believing that such tables are seldom consulted by the reader we have concluded to omit it. We also discover the following errors of importance, which we trust that each one who purchases the book will correct before he attempts to read it. By so doing, they may save themselves the display of unnecessary temper, and confer a great favor on the author and pub- lisher.
On page 13, eighth line from the bottom, please note that A. T. Prendergast was born in 1809-not in 1807. Com- positor says he cannot tell our 7 from our 9, and places the blame on our penmanship.
On page 116, eleventh line from the top, the sense is de- stroyed until you have manufactured that period after Dix into a comma.
On page 131, eighth line from top, if you will convert that now into a not-the sentence will convey to you just the opposite meaning.
On page 227 we speak of Lient. Rinaldo Jones and Rich- ard Jones as the sons of Ellick and Louisa (Walkup) Jones. They were the sons of Ellick and Harriet (De Jean) Jones.
On page 401, we state that Wm. Landon married Jane Palmiter. That won't do; it is not true. Broadhead married Jane, and Landon married her cousin, Hannah Spencer.
On page 427 the compositor makes us state that Robert Miles "was a Frewsburg man." How it was possible to con- vert Sugar Grove into Frewsburg we cannot say, but we long ago found out that the types and the Devil can do whatever they undertake. Robert Miles lived near Sugar Grove, on the flat this side, which for many years after his death was the
viii
PREFACE.
home of his son Frederick Miles. Robert Miles died there in the year 1810.
On page 413-Types make the statement that Rev. Ab- ner Barlow married Polly Strunk in the year 1723. The reader will please shorten the time one hundred years and change that 7 into an 8-1823.
On page 441 Joseph appears where it should be Jasper.
With these corrections we believe the most critical reader will find our statements truthful, at least in all matters of im- portance.
The sources from which we have compiled this vol- ume are, first and most important, our own recollections, which seemingly to us, are as vivid as when the events trans- pired ; and these for the most part strengthened by the recol- lections of others. Of those things bevond our remembrance the historic memorandums of our father, Dr. Laban Hazel- tine, and of Abner Hazeltine, who were on lookers and par- ticipants in the affairs of Ellicott from 1814 and '15 up to the times of their death-and of papers relating to the early trans- actions in this locality, and which for many years have been in our possession. Many of these early papers, some of which date back to 1812, relate to transactions not always creditable. From them another, unacquainted with those early days, might conscientiously write a history which would differ ma- terially from the one we here present, and to the serious in- jury of otherwise worthy early settlers of this country. Before this book is given to the public, we shall do ourself the honor of placing those old papers where Alexander placed the notes -and thus blot out the last evidence of transactions which belong not to history, and should have been forgotten long ago.
We acknowledge having received important material assistance in aid of publishing this volume-and as further contributions are still hoped for, and as a few have desired that their names should not be mentioned here, it has been concluded best to make these acknowledgments at some future
1X
PREFACE.
time, after all contributions in aid of the undertaking have been received.
We are indebted to N. Brown for a chapter on Ohio river trade from flat boats, of which, if not the originator he has become the "autocrat." And to Elijah Bishop, for a val- uable contribution to our early history of the Methodist Epis- copal church; and what is more, for his constant verbal addi- tions to our items of early history, gleaned from his own historical scraps and memorandums, which are a large and valuable collection, and which we trust Mr. Bishop will place at the disposal of the Prendergast Library for future use. Mr. Bishop spent much time and labor in preparing an article for our newspaper series, on the history of temperance societies, which we have been compelled to omit from this volume. To Judge Marvin we are indebted for constant advice, which we have followed in preparing this volume. He has constantly kept before us that the principal men, active in the settle- ment and building up of Jamestown, were noble, self- sacrific- ing men, and that there was so much that was good and generous and noble to be written of them, that their few faults and mistakes were not worthy, for the most part, even of mention. We most heartily thank him for the advice and encouragement he has so heartily given.
In our own opinion anecdotes relating to the early settlers of the country are exceedingly valuable, in illustrating the condition of the country and its inhabitants, in those early days. We have considered them useful in aiding us to shade up the pictures we haveattempted to draw of the country in its wilderness days, and therefore have introduced them freely. Another one has said to us: " You have treated your subject philosophically, poetically, ethically, satirically, critically, metaphysically and humorously, and at times sen- tentiously, and you ought to be satisfied." We hope each one will find something that will accord with his taste. Such as it is, we send it forth to them for whom it was written-hope- ing they will find therein much to commend and but little to condemn.
x
CONTENTS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE PRENDERGAST FAMILY.
Remarks on Early and Local History .- Travels of the Prender- gasts from Pittstown, N. Y., to Tennessee, and from Thence to Chautauqua Co .- Black Tom .- Thomas Prendergast Buys a Farm .- The Family Winter in Canada .- Their Purchase of Lands on Chautauqua Lake .- The Stray Horses and James Prendergast's Search for Them .- Sees the Rapids, and Visits Kiantone .- James Returns to Pittstown in 1806 .- Agnes Thompson .- Marries in the Spring of 1807 .- His Brother Mathew Buys Land for Him in 1808 .- Alexander Born in February, 1809 .- James Prendergast again Visits Chautauqua in 1809 with John Blowers .- Visits the Rapids with William Bemus .- His Ride and His Reflections on the Lake and Outlet .- Emigrates with His Family to Chautau- qua in 1810 .- Moves into his Log House at the Rapids in 1811 .- Burning of the House and Mills. - Wm. Forbes and aNew House .- Dr. Laban Hazeltine .- The Blowers House. Page 1
CHAPTER II. ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY, ETC.
The Labor Question, Socialism and Anarchy .- First Town Meeting in the County .- Division into Chautauqua and Pomfret .- Some Early Settlers in the North and West Parts of the County .- First County Officers .- Building and Burn- ing of Prendergast's Mills,-Joseph Ellicott .- Town of Elli- cott Organized in 1812 .- Coming in of the Early Settlers .- Brown buys Fish Hooks and . Loses his Dog .- Cotton Fac-
xi
CONTENTS.
tory .- Darius and John Dexter .- Slippery Rock and Dex- terville -Benjamin Ross .- Stealing Lumber .- Work's First Grist Mill .- Big John Bale .- The Burial of the Sprake Child .- The Rapids Caused by a Natural Dam .- Chautau- qua Lake and Outlet a Highway in the Last Century .- Cornplanter Goes to Du Quesne .- Jadauquah, the Indian Name for Chautauqua .- William Bemus Page
19
CHAPTER III.
EARLY MEANS OF TRAVELING.
The Early Settlers the Descendents of the Puritans .- The First Court .- The First Case Tried .- Capt. Jack .- Joseph Akin. -The Durham Boatmen .- First Town Meeting in 1813 at Akin's .- Village of Stillwater .- The First Roads .- James- town Located in a Swamp .- Early Topography .- Early Fishing .- Roads Leading From Jamestown .- A. F. Allen as Pathmaster .- Sarcasm of History .- Early Navigation .- Miles' Road and Canoe -Durham Boats .- Horse Boat .- Schooner Mink .- Capt. Carpenter -First Mail Coach .- Boys as Passengers .- First Steamboat .- Plumb and his Friends Take a Ride .- Other Early Steamboats .- The Firing of a Canon Astonishes the Native Boys. Page 47
CHAPTER IV.
SOME EARLY INDUSTRIES.
Present Utility and Future Destiny -Judge Prendergast's Yard. -Allen's Wagons and Cow Yard .- Barrett and Barker Meet With a Mishap and are Avenged .- How the Village was Named .- The Junto .- Cloth Dressing and Cloth Manufac- turing .- Daniel Hazeltine .- Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Kinney .- Edwin Hazeltine .- Henry C. Arnold .- George Caskey .- D. H. Grandin .- Manufacture of Hats .- Pier, Freeman, Sayles, Strickland, Rice, Barker and other Hatters .- Furs and Pelt- ries .- A Bear Steals Johnson's Hcg, which Rice and Hazel- tine did not Kill .- General Harvey's Chubby .- His Capture and his Escape .- Farrett Climbs a Tree .- Tiffany Informns Harvey how to Make a Bear Squeal .- Military Tactics .- Three Bears Killed and One Taken Prisoner. Page 79
xii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY INDUSTRIES.
Rapid Advance of Arts and Sciences .- Tanning. - Barrett, Bar- ker, Grout, Stevens, Kellogg, Havens, Ransom, Foote, Fen- ton, Hutton, Bradley and others .- He Fell into the Lime Vat and was Mad .- Asheries. - Scofield, the Pearler, makes a Cross Gun .- Boys Cheat in Trade -Gen. Harvey makes Steel Bows, and Freeman makes a Speech .- Chipmunks Be- come Scarce .- Boys Cheat in Game and their Mothers Stop their Grub. - Logging Bees. - Manufacturing Black Salts. - Pottery -Fenton .- Whittemore .- Whittemore Trades Milk Pans for a Calf .- Axe Helves and Ox Yokes -Elvin Hunt. -Joseph Smiley .- Jeremiah Griffith and Family Move into the County .- A Canoe Journey to Franklin .- Swaps Maple Sugar for Corn .- Saddles and Harness .- Knights .- Silas Shearman Covers a Ball .- John P. Shearman .- Dan. S. Williams Gives a Young Doctor a Horse Page 109
CHAPTER VI.
EARLY INDUSTRIES-CONTINUED.
Memory .- Dr. Foote Purchases the Reserved Section .- A Notch ou Fourth Street .- Blacksmiths. - Daniels, Campbell. Port- man, T. W. and C. R. Harvey, Lyman Crane .- Other Blacksmiths .- Necessity of, in a New Country .- Scythe Snaths, etc .- Garfield, Wood, Cobb, Broadhead, Breed, Denslow and others .- Chair Making -Palmiter, Cunning- ham, Morgan, Bell, Flints, Warner and others .- Cabinet Ware .- Keyes, Breeds. Todd .- Obituary of John C. Breed. -The Keyes Family. - Mill Wrights .- Elijah Bishop .- Crippen Sleeps when the House is Burning. - Phetteplace .- Ben. Nichols .- Fanning Mills .- Walter Stevens, Reynolds. - Wagons. - Welch, Burlin, Forbes, Warner, Allen. - Tailors .- Dinnin, Harrington, Johnson, Mason .- Shoe Mak- ers .- Chestnuts .- Strap Oil and Crates .- The Crate Law .- Shearman, Carey, Merrill, Arnold, Hazzard, Curtis, Wood. - Carpenters. - Coopers. - Shingle Weaving .- Axes and Edge Tools .-- Gunsmithing .- Machine Shops Page 133
CHAPTER VII.
NATHAN BROWN'S CONTRIBUTION.
The Sash Factory .- Pail Factory .- Their Origin and their Own-
xiii
CONTENTS.
ers .- Mr. Brown's Trips on the Ohio River, and the Sale of Jamestown Manufactures from Flat Boats. Page 185
CHAPTER VIII. HOTELS AND DISTILLERIES.
Hotels Precede Civilization .- The Fenton Tavern .- A View of Jamestown from .- Indian Burying Ground .- Digging the Factory Race .- A New Kind of Forgery .- Building of Tav- erns in 1815 .- The Allen Tavern .- The Ballard .- The Kid- der .-- The First Dance in Jamestown .- The Blind Horse .- Allen and his Clerk from Wadsbery .- Solomon Jones Rents the Allen 'lavern .-- The Cass Tavern .- The Drunken Squire. -The Effigy .- Wm Hall Buys the Kidder Frame .- W. D. Shaw Buys the Jones Tavern. -- Big Fires on Main Street .- Allen House -Bale Stabs Nat Smith .- Seneca Two Kettles Cuts the Dog's Tail Too Short .-- Nicknames .- Van Velsor Triangie .-- Ellick Jones and Family .- First Meat Market - Willard Rice's Temperance House .- The Writing Master Marries the Landlord's Danghter .- Industry and Wealth. - The Old Distilleries .- A Literal Laying Out. Page 20€
CHAPTER IX. THE EARLY NEWSPAPERS.
Newspapers the American College .- The Newspaper the Teacher of Evils .-- Early Newspapers,-Jamestown Journal .- Adol- phus Fletcher .- The First Issue .- J. W. Fletcher, Frank Palmer, Coleman E. Bishop and cther Publishers and Ed- itors of the Journal .- Daily Journal .- Chautauqua Repub- lican .- Morgan Bate :.- Lewis C. Todd .- Liberty Star .- Northern Citizen. - Henry A Smith. - Undercurrent. - Asaph Rhodes. - The Chautauqua Democrat - A. B. Fletcher. Page 235
CHAPTER X
Boyhood Memories-Dr. Laban Hazeltine -- His Visit in 1814. -- Comes with Ilis Family in 1815. - Incidents of the Journey .-- Indigenous Medicines .-- His Family .- Anecdotes. -- Other Early Physicians .- Early Pharmacies .- First Drug Stores. Page 250
CHAPTER XI.
Allegory of Human Life .- Inns of Court .- Volunteers in 1861 .- Early Patriots .- Early Lawyers .-- S. A. Brown, Abner IIa-
xiv
CONTENTS.
zeltine, Joseph Waite, Franklin H. Waite, Geo. W. Tew, Richard P. Marvin, Abner Lewis, E. F. Warren, Lorenzo Morris, Madison Burnell, Orsell Cook. Page 279
CHAPTER XII.
Organization of the Early Churches .- Church Quarrels and Di- visions .- Mormonism in Jamestown .-- Abolitionism ..... Page 311
CHAPTER XIII.
The Bad School Districts .- Leg School Houses .- First Schools in Jamestown -Thomas Walkup and the Bird Nest Rob- bers .- The Pine Street School House .- Early Teachers .- Juty Smith .- Old Put Takes a Ride .- The Academy .- Its Teachers and its Pupils -The Jamestown Academy .- The Quaker School. Page 350
CHAPTER XIV:
Early Merchants -J. & M. Prendergast, Richard Hiller, Silas Tiffany, Jehial Tiffany, Samuel Barrett, J. E. Budlong, Henry Baker, Alviu Plumb, Elisha Hall, William H. Tew. Page 370
CHAPTER XV.
William Forbes .- Gen. Horace Allen .- Jesse Smith. - Phineas Palmiter, Sen .-- Cyrus Fish .-- Milton Sherwin. -- Abram Winsor .-- S. B. Winsor .- Augustus Moon .-- Amos Fergu- son .-- The Strunks .-- Simmons .- Judson Southland .-- Uriah Bentley .- Woodward. -- Halliday .-- Aaron Forbes .-- Russel D. and Warner D. Shaw -- Oliver Shearman .-- Joseph and Eliakim Garfield .- Elisha Ailen .-- A. F. Allen .- Dascum Allen .-- Solomon Jones, Jr .- English Families .-- Swedes. -- Carroll. -- Geo. W. Fenton .- John Frew .- Myers -- John Russell. - John Owen .- Kiantone .- Joseph Akin -Benj. Jones. - Ebenezer Cheney .- Nelson E. Cheney. - James Hall. -- Wm. Sears .- Ebenezer Davis .- Samuel Halı .-- Cha- pin Hall .- Jasper Marsh .- Ezbai Kidder .- Poland .- Dr. Kennedy. - Erastus Marvin .- Robert Falconer .- Nathaniel Fenton .-- Elias Tracy Page 395
CHAPTER XVI.
Chautauqua Bank .-- Arad Joy .- A. D. and T. W. Patchin .-- Robert Newland. - The Museum Society. - Fourth of
XV
CONTENTS.
July, 1860. -- Wm. Broadhead. -- Early Burials .- Ceme- teries. Page 453
CHAPTER XVII.
Semi Centennial of the Chautauqua Co. Agricultural Society .- Origin of Marvin Park .- Dedication of the Log Hcuse to the Early Settlers .- Chautauqua Undivided Now and For- ever .- Addresses of Dr. G. W. Hazeltine and of Judge R .. P. Marvin .- Centennial in 1936. Page 476
MEMORIALS OF
PAGE
Gov. Reuben Eaton Fenton
498
John Adams Hall
508
Gen. Thomas W. Harvey
516
Alexander T. Prendergast
525
Hon. James Prendergast. 536
Conclu sion. 549
1
CHAPTER I.
REMARKS ON LOCAL AND UPON EARLY HISTORY .- THE SETTLEMENT OF THE PRENDERGAST FAMILY IN CHAU- TAUQUA .- JAMES PRENDERGAST FINDS THE HORSES. -MARRIES IN 1807 .- SKETCH OF AGNES (THOMPSON) PRENDERGAST .- BIRTH OF ALEXANDER .- SETTLE- MENT AT THE RAPIDS IN 1810.
I T has been frequently stated that one of the most difficult and thankless of tasks is to write a local his- tory, and that the difficulty and thanklessness are in "inverse ratio," to the size of the locality, and the number of inhabitants. This statement must be cor- rect. In giving the history of a large extent of coun- try,or of a nation,or of great events, the people in masses are spoken of ; but in a small town or village, each in- dividual rises into importance, and those for whom the work was produced are extremely liable to be dissatis- fied and condemn the whole, because especial friends are not given a more prominent place.
These pages are largely the author's own recollec- tions strengthened by the recollections of others whom he has consulted, and by the statements contained in
2
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
pages of manuscript written by, and historie records made by his father, the late Dr. Laban Hazeltine.
The task was undertaken at the urgent solicitation of many, who desired the facts herein contained to be preserved. The papers from which this volume is partly compiled were first given to the public through the columns of the Jamestown Journal, and by the yet more urgent solicitation of those for whom they were prepared are now gathered into this volume.
It is not expected that the facts herein contained will be of equal interest to all who are now the resi- dents of the locations mentioned. They were gathered for the descendants of those who subdued the wilder- ness that once covered these fair fields ; who endured the trials and privations of pioneer life, and who founded the surrounding villages, and reared the first rude structures of our beautiful city, in which so many within a few short years have made their homes. To the descendants of these hardy pioncers this volume will prove a choice legacy ; they will read the most trivial anecdote, or the most unimportant circumstance, with an interest that the new comer can not be expected to entertain, for on every page, in all of its words, it speaks of grand-fathers and grand-mothers whom they vene- rate. And yet to those who have lately taken up their residence in this active little city or have become own- ers of farms reclaimed from a primeval forest by those of whom we herein speak, should feel a slight interest in knowing who first claimed as home the places they now occupy.
The title of this book, " Early History of the Town of Ellicott," awakens thoughts to be mentioned. Seventy-five years ago a dense forest, the growth of
3
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
ages, enshrouded these beautiful fields and these busy marts of trade. We herein speak of a few occurrences during those years ; of the subduing of the wilderness, and of the making of this locality a fitting resting place for the arts of civilized life.
This country was not entirely unknown to civi- lized man during the last century, for how many cen- turies previous to that, this was the happy, joyful home of civilized or uncivilized man we know not ; for even here are the works of the Mound builder, and the evi- dences of that former civilization, of which all history is silent. What we do know of these head waters of the Ohio during the 17th and 18th centuries, either traditional or historical, would make a volume much larger and to many of greater interest than this. Many of the most interesting facts, not only of science but of history, are those of which we are profoundly ignorant.
We can truthfully say of this whole country that the spirit of civilization has conquered an empire in a region that had been divested of a former power and importance. We find ourselves on all sides surrounded by dumb yet eloquent chronicles of a former age and civilization. We are taught the general fact, but noth- ing of the people and their condition. The crumbling gigantic ruins of Central America teach us as clearly as those of ancient Egypt and of Greece of an ad- vanced civilization ; but no more clearly than do the more humble mounds and relics in our own county. We are prone to speak of ourselves as the inhabitants of a new world ; and yet we on all sides find the most sure and unanswerable evidences that we live in one that is old. We clear away the forests and speak fa- miliarly of subduing a " virgin soil," and yet the plow
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