A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York, Part 36

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1102

USA > New York > Allegany County > A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York > Part 36

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place and it is known by railroad men as Dike. A band accompanied the ex- cursionists, arriving on the ground shortly before 12 o'clock. Two thous- and people, many coming in carriages, gathered about the old cellar, the only thing left of the pioneer's buildings except one stick of timber of the old milldam near by. In the pioneer burying-ground, just a little distance away on a gentle elevation, repose the remains of the pioneers Dike and Cole and their families, the graves marked by rude rough stones show the beginning of settlement a century ago.

After a prayer by the Rev. Dr. E. A. Leeper, Hon. O. A. Fuller made this address:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- The committee having in charge our Centennial Celebration, have thought it right and proper that we should meet here on the very spot where the first white settler carved out for himself and family a home, and where the first step was taken to- wards that purer, higher and grander civilization that has made our county such that every per- son dwelling within her borders is proud of her civilization, proud of the record she has made during the one hundred years past and gone, and proud to meet together in her first Centennial Celebration, and celebrate that record. We meet here to-day to pay our tribute to the memory of the first white settler, Nathanael Dike. I want to say to each and every one of you, that we are commemorating the memory of no ordinary man. Nathanael Dike was a patriot from boy- hood until his death. He loved freedom and hated oppression ; he loved liberty and was op- posed to serfdom with his whole soul, and it was no wonder that, although a student of Yale College at the time when the little band of colonies declared was against old England on account of her cruel oppressions, he then threw off his studentship, buckled on his sword and . left the halls of Yale College. He enlisted in the Union cause and fought for liberty ; and as we follow him through these seven long, cruel, bitter years, we find him being promoted for gallant conduct on the battle field until he was an officer on Gen. Warren's staff ; remaining there until that brave general fell mortally wounded at Bunker Hill, and was then transferred to the staff of Gen. Washington, and remained with that brave and noble General until peace had been declared and our independence won. It seemed strange to me at first as it will no doubt to you, that one occupying the high position in society that he occupied ; one that had endeared himself to every person in the then young nation, and could have had and held al- most any political position in the gift of the people, should have left that which was most near and dear to him, and sought a home in the wilderness of Western New York; yet when we remember the spirit that Nathanael Dike was made of ; when we remember that nothing but patriotism beat within his breast ; when were member that it had been the dream of his life to see a great nation builded up with a Government for the People, of the People and by the Peo- ple, and remembering that he knew that in no way could such a nation and government be builded but by advancing civilization, and so when we remember that none but the brave and heroic could or would have been our first pioneersthen, we can account for Nathanael Dike leav- ing his home which was in Connecticut and first settling in the Mohawk Valley. Staying there until he saw the seed of a purer civilization taking root, he left and went to Turtle Point, Pa. Next we find him coming up through the Canisteo Valley ; past where the city of Hornellsville now stands, on over into what is now Karr Valley, and then over the mountainous hills from Karr Valley until he struck Elm Valley coming down through that valley until he reached this spot where the valleys come together reaching here in the spring of 1795, and saying: " Here

I will make a home for myself and family." Could he have found a more lovely spot ? I leave the answer to you. Nathanael Dike was a great man in more than one way. He was a genius. He was a great mechanic and builded himself the first saw and grist mill built within the bor- ders of our county, and in a few years built the first tannery. Go to yonder cemetery and you will there find and learn the genial, sympathetic and loving nature of the man. You will see

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there gravestones made by him from the common flat stones of our fields and the inscriptions thereon made by him with rude implements and yet works of art, and those inscriptions are plain, although almost 100 years have gone, as they were the day they were inscribed thereon. All done by him as I am told without pay, for the early settlers who were less fortunate than himself. That reminds me how much more friendly toward one another and how much more they stood ready to help and assist each other in those days than we are to-day. We, stand- ing here, can hardly realize what it meant to be the first settlers of our country. The pri- vations, the sufferings and the dangers that they passed through can only be told to us in story. The nearest white settlement to this place at the time he located in this spot was nearly 30 miles, being near where Canisteo stands to-day and an unbroken wilderness on every side. The wild beasts of the forest had not then been subdued, and what was worse the savages were roaming up and down our valleys burning, plundering, murdering at the midnight hour, sparing neither women or children. Such scenes were of frequent occurrence, and it needed just such brave and noble men as Nathanael Dike, Moses Van Campen, Patterson Coe and others to settle such a wilderness as this county was at that time, and when I think over and study the characters of those noble pioneers it seems to me that God in his infinite mercy raised up those grand men to lead us to a purer, nobler and grander civilization, just as he raised them up in olden times to lead the children of Israel out of bondage to the promised land. We owe a debt of gratitude to the memory of the first settlers of our county which we can never repay. It was their patriotism, loyalty and love of country that enabled your county and mine in the dark spring time of 1861 to send as brave and noble men as ever went forth to battle and to die as was sent from any county within our great Empire State or within the county of any state in our great nation, and more of them according to her population than any other county, and it is one of the brightest and noblest pages in our county's history, and one that will grow brighter and brighter as the years roll around. And we also owe to them the grand educational system that we now have where the poor can be educated without cost or price. And as we go from this spot sacred to Alleganians let each and every one cherish more fondly the memory of those brave men and noble women who were the first settlers of our county. And let us here and now firmly resolve to emulate the noble examples of their lives by being kinder to each other. Ever ready to assist, to lift up rather than pull down. Willing that oth- ers should succeed as well as ourselves. Ever ready to stretch forth a ready hand to a needy brother. Willing, eager to help and assist those less fortunate than ourselves. If we will but do this, how much better society will be, and the future generation that is soon to follow in your and my place will cherish our memory as we cherish the memory of those whose lives we this day commemorate.

Gen. Alexander S. Diven of Elmira, 86 years old, formerly an Alleganian and a lawyer of great eminence, district attorney of Allegany county from 1836 to 1841, was introduced and made a short speech. The exercises at Elm Valley were concluded by the introduction to the assemblage of four of the direct descendants of Nathanael Dike. They were Dr. J. M. Dike, of York, Livingston county, great-great-grandson, his two little daughters, Lulu and Mabel, and R. A. Dike, his brother. At Wellsville the childrens' parade formed at the Union School grounds Main St., at 1:45 P. M., but made but a short march on account of an approaching thunderstorm, and was discontinued at Baldwin's theater. Hardly were the people seated when down came the rain in a drenching shower accompanied by heavy thunder and vivid lightning. The storm soon ceased and the afternoons exercises began with a chorus, " America," by the school children. Gen. A. S. Diven was then called to preside over the centennial exercises. This he did in a

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very felicitous manner. Rev. E. A. Rice invoked the divine blessing and was followed by this eloquent address of welcome by Hon. Wm. F. Jones:

CITIZENS OF ALLEGANY :- It has been the practice of people, in all ages, to signalize im portant or decisive events in some enduring and impressive manner. We immortalize the valor and the deeds of men in busts of marble or statues of bronze. In monuments of granite we commemorate the conquests of armies and the majesty of empires ; but the achievements of Industry, the conquests of Science and the majesty of Labor we embalm and immortalize in History. In oriental lands are temples, obelisks and pyramids, so ancient that the events they once commemorated have passed into oblivion. They stand there in their majestic grandeur, solitary and forsaken. On this new continent our monuments are new, and the lessons they perpetuate are the stories of yesterday. Bunker Hill has only passed its one hundred and twentieth anniversary, the Washington Monument was but recently completed, and the jewelled crowns that blaze on Gettysburg are but the creations of our own generation. All these may pass into decay, but History endures. While language lasts her light illuminates the world. Then let us do homage to History. We bring to her this tribute of our county. We gather the gems of a century, gleaned from the path of our progress, and cast them at her feet. With speech and parade, with joy and ceremonial display we commit them to her care. We cele- brate an interesting event. We celebrate the achievements of a century, and these are the con- tributions we bring to History.

When it was first decided that we should hold this celebration, the question arose as to the locality where it should occur, and there were many claimants for the honor. Important settlements were made in various parts of the county during the first decade of the century, and many of the early settlers were men of social distinction, men of culture, of refined charac- ter, representing both wealth and enterprise. They embraced an array of names of which the county has always been proud. Among them were men whose lives and acts were honorably identified with its early developement and civic history. They represented the highest type of social and political citizenship. It was felt by many that some locality should be selected which best represented these early influences. But, as is usual in such instances, there was vigorous competition when placed on that basis. At this juncture Wellsville came forward, with her usual modesty (a merit which has always been conspicuous in her), and offered her solution. She pointed to the historic fact, and made the undisputed claim, that it was within the limits of her township that Nathanael Dike, pioneer of all our settlers, on one bright day in June, 1795, pitched his tent upon the bank of the little stream that now bears his name, and there built his home and his family altar ; that there he opened up the first settlement within the territory since erected into our county ; that it was he, who, with axe of steel and arm of iron, smote the first tree that fell in this wooded wilderness ; that his sturdy blows, echoing through the forests, were heard within the confines of civilization.

These blows rang out over the lake country ; they echoed down the valley of the Mohawk ; they were heard on the banks of the Hudson ; they thundered among the rocks of New England ; they were reechoed from the land of Penn. They aroused the spirit of adventure, and migration from all those regions followed so rapidly in the track of the first settler that, in less than eleven years from the time when the first smoke rose from Dike's humble cabin, a new county was born to the Empire State. What place then more fit for these memorial rites than the banks of that same historic stream, and the place where its waters join the Genesee? This solution seemed very satisfactory, and to WELLSVILLE was accorded the honor of holding this first centennial. The place is ap- propriate, the day auspicious, and you are here, invited guests, a happy concourse, to join in these festivities. Wellsville accepts the honor with pride and pleasure. She has kindly dele- gated me to extend to you her cordial greeting. She welcomes you with open arms. She re- joices with you over the wonderful achievements of the county during the century just closed. She shares with you the patriotic pride which every citizen feels who contemplates the progress

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she has made, and the high position she has attained, in the grand family of counties. She is your co-worker in this enterprise. She co-operates with her sister townships and with sister villages in spreading this banquet. She gives her service to distribute the feast. She tenders to you the freedom of her town. She opens her heart to you as well as her homes and in her name I bid you a CORDIAL WELCOME. We have much to celebrate.

Allegany is fortunate in the period covering her communal existence. It has been coequal and contemporary with the most glorious era of the world's history. She has become an hon- ored part of the grandest state in this grand republic. She has participated in its proud developement. She has borne her burden and shared the glory of the commonwealth in its victorious march. What stirring memories move us as we run backward through these years ! How imagination riots among these fields of her romantic history ! On themes so grand and so instructive I would gladly dwell, but the place assigned me here forbids. The occasion in- vites other thoughts also. It recalls the perils and the trials of the early settler. It excites our sympathy for his privations, and arouses our admiration for his heroic endurance. See the obstacles that opposed him. Take with me one look, a single backward glance. Let your eyes run to the remotest margin of the century just closed. Along that distant horizon you see a trackless wilderness. It covers all the ten hundred and thirty-three square miles of our territory. Wave on wave of wooded height stretch to the utmost line of vision. Not a high- way, not a home, not a habitation of civilized man! Forests illimitable, dark and dense, shut the sunlight from brook and glen. They mantle all the heights. They darken all the vales. Great pines stand ward and sentinel upon the rugged hills, and over stream and river wave their giant arms. Through what ages unknown to us have they not stood there, challenging the encroachment of man ! What human heroism can conquer this wilderness ?

A century is gone! One hundred years ! How brief the period compared with all the ages preceding, a mote upon a boundless sea, a single sand upon its shore ! And yet in this brief period what marvelous transformations appear! The wilderness is changed to wealth. A county is developed, rich in people, rich in every resource. How changed the land appears ! What scenes of pastoral beauty greet your eyes ! How the fertile fields stretch away on every view ! What peaceful, prosperous homes abound ! Here indeed is a young empire. See what thriving villages dot the land ! How the towering church spires glow ! Religion has joined her hand with honest enterprise. God and Happiness reign here. See her magnificent schools, her Academic halls, her grand University, a seat of learning, fit to grace the richest state. See the multitude of ardent youth who crowd their portals. Surely cultured life is here. Behold her industries! Visit her marts of trade, inventory every enterprise, sum up the grand accumulations of her wealth, and then take account of those greater riches, those which exist in the quality of her people. How many have attained distinction ! What shining lights grace Bench and Bar, Pulpit and Profession, Learning and Art, Trade and Commerce ! And then what hosts her records bear, who, in dreary camp, on weary march, on fiery battle-fields have shed renown and glory on her name. Here indeed are men, men fit to constitute a state, ' Men who their duties know, and knowing, dare maintain." Here also " Sovereign Law sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill.". I love the GREAT GRAND COUNTY. I love her bright green fields. I love the music of her streams. I love her grand old hills. She gave me welcome in my youth, I give her blessings in my age.

This day the MOTHER COUNTY meets her family in happy reunion. To her side she calls her faithful children, and, lo, they come, a happy multitude. Here are her cultured daughters, here her stalwart sons. Here is farmer, laborer, artisan. Here are teachers of schools, pro- fessors of colleges, merchants, doctors, lawyers, legislators, priests and judges ; all have come to lay their tribute at the feet of the foster mother. Some come bearing garnered wealth, some honor-crowned, some laurel-wreathed, but all with loyal hands and loyal hearts. Here

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also is the remnant of her veterans ! Pride of the maternal heart ! Best beloved of all her sons !

Once more they come with martial tread, With form erect but silvered head ; With face of bronze and heart of steel, As when the mother made appeal. Beneath the banner they unfold, Their names, their deeds, are writ in gold.

Citizens, soldiers, friends. In the name of the Mother County, in the name of our Civic Authorities, in the name of the Centennial Committee, once more I salute you, I bid you hail ! "all hail and welcome."

Mr. John S. Minard of Fillmore was then introduced and read the His- torical Sketch. As Mr. Minard has covered the same ground more fully in the chapters of this work containing the general history of the county, it is not necessary to introduce it here. It was listened to with interest and at- tention and was generously applauded. Mrs. L. A. Platts of Alfred next read a very finely-prepared paper upon " Woman's Share in Our History." Prof. D. A. Blakeslee, a former Alleganian, next followed with an address on " Our Schools," which was listened to with marked attention. The Cen- tennial Hymn, composed by an Alleganian. set to music by another Allega- nian, was then sung by a double quartette:

CENTENNIAL HYMN.

From willing hearts, with willing tongue, We pour, to-day, our grateful praise ; A hundred circling years have flung Rich blessings o'er our lengthening ways.

For Thou, who led'st Thy chosen race From bondage to the promised land, Didst lead our fathers to this place, And shield them with Thy potent hand.

Through dangers, hardships, dire distress, They wrested triumph from their foes ;

Till Allegany's wilderness Rejoiced and blossomed as the rose.

Each waving field and flock-crowned hill, Each peak and glen and forest dome, Each laughing stream and busy rill Shed blessings on our every home.

For these the bidding of Thy words Our grateful tribute here we pay To Thee, Jehovah, sovereign Lord, On this a century's birthday.

We thank Thee, Lord, for land made free, For homes of comfort, church and school, May this, our golden jubilee, Proclaim anew the golden rule.

Bear them along, ye friendly gales- The hallelujahs that we sing ; Till Allegany's hills and vales Shall with the echoing praises ring.

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A. W. Litchard, president of the Allegany County Farmers' Club, then read a paper on "Our Agricultural Resources." This was a very able and appropriate paper, and appears as a separate chapter in this book.

In the evening Chairman Church introduced I. W. Near of Hornellsville as presiding officer, and, after a few remarks from him on assuming the chair, the program was continued with an able address on the " Bench and Bar," by Frank S. Smith, Esq., of Angelica. It evinced much research and great care in arrangement, was exhaustive, comprehensive, entertaining and instructive. It should be published in pamphlet form. A stereopticon entertainment, regarded as one of the leading features, had been extensively advertised to be given during the evening, but the lateness of the hour at which the exercises were commenced, and the time devoted to the " Bench and Bar "; "The Press," by L. G. Raymond of the Allegany County Repub- lican of Angelica; "Trade, Commerce and Manufactures," by S. P. Morse of Friendship; the W. C. T. U. by Miss Mary E. Bowler of Little Genesee, so filled the time as to preclude anything like justice being done to this part of the entertainment. On account of the lateness of the hour Judge S. M. Norton refused to read his paper on "Civic Societies," and for this he was greatly applauded. A goodly number of the stereopticon views were how- ever rapidly shown, accompanied by very brief explanations from J. S. Minard. Prof. Place of Alfred University had prepared over 100 slides or views, many of them from photographs taken expressly by John S. Minard. to fully illustrate the progress of our county from the Seneca Indian occu- pation. Portraits of Red Jacket, Cornplanter, Joseph Brant, Blacksnake, pictures of the " old council house " at Caneadea, of the "White House," (the Church mansion,) the Van Wickle (now J. S. Rockwell) house at Angelica where the first courts in the county were held, present and former county buildings, prominent pioneers, etc., constituted the collection.

SECOND DAY .- Thursday morning at 10:30, Chairman F. B. Church called the people, who had filled Baldwin's theater to overflowing, to order, and called upon Judge S. M. Norton to preside. Judge Norton made some happy remarks, eulogized the pioneer academies and spoke eloquently of the grand work Alfred University had accomplished, of its many graduates who had achieved success, of its honored instructors, particularly Presi- dents Kenyon and Allen, and stated that it gave him great pleasure to intro- duce Madame Alberti of New York City, a daughter of President Allen, who stood in the front rank of elocutionists, who would read the Centennial poem, written by a former Alleganian, Hon. Hanford L. Gordon of Los Angeles, Cal.

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CENTENNIAL POEM.

Ho ! From the land of palms and orange-bloom,

I greet you, rugged Allegany hills. Among your mumuring pines my life began. And there my childhood found a cabin home. Ho! From the land of snow-capped mountain-peaks, And valleys green with fig and lemon tree ;

Where the great ocean roars and beats and breaks,

I greet you, gently gliding Genesee. One hundred years ! and what are these to thee ?

Men come and go like bubbles on the sea ; Men come and go ; but what are they to thee ?

One hundred years, one hundred years ago, Your rugged hills were clad in fir and pine ; Where graze the bleating lambs and lowing kine The savage chased the deer with bended bow. The wolf's long howl, the panther's piercing scream,

Alone the silence of the forest broke.

Where now the spires of town and village gleam, Up from the Indian's wigwam curled the smoke ; Where puffing iron steeds by hill and dale Fly harnessed to their trains of palace cars, Crouching for game, or in his tribal wars, The stealthy savage trod the forest trail.

One hundred years ! Behold, some magic hand Hath swept the forests from your rolling hills. Your babbling brooks have shrunk to murmuring rills, For ruthless axemen have laid bare the land. The frontier then was at Niagara's brink, And all beyond was unpathed wilderness, Save where the Canadian in his Indian dress Pushed out to trade for beaver and for mink. Hardy the hands and stout the hearts of men Who clove a pathway through your forests then. Stout hearts and brawny arms of pioneers That hewed their cabins from the wilderness, Nor murmured at hard toil and sore distress While planting well the seeds of future years.

From pomp and palace sweet contentment flies, And seeks admission at the cabin door. Happy the pioneers-albeit poor ; They studied the ways of nature and were wise. He is the least in want who wants the least ;

The sombre woods were stocked with noble game, So wild the browsing deer that they were tame, And woods and waters furnished forth a feast. Where now on gentle slope and grassy mead The whinnying colts and sleek, fat cattle feed. Where throng the busy, babbling multitude, The hardy settler's rude log cabin stood.

Little knew he of pomp and luxury ; His stumpy clearing, tilled with toil and care, Furnished his bare-foot cubs with wholesome fare. The frugal house-wife, busy as a bee, Spun flax and wool, and wove the homespun good That clothed her sturdy lord and numerous brood. Happy the monarch of that stumpy field !

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A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York, Part 36

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co. Number of Pages: 1102

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1102