A history of Livingston County, New York : from its earliest traditions, to its part in the war for our Union : with an account of the Seneca nation of Indians, and biographical sketches of earliest settlers and prominent public men, Part 49

Author: Doty, Lockwood L. (Lockwood Lyon), 1827-1873; Duganne, A. J. H. (Augustine Joseph Hickey), 1823-1884
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Geneseo [N.Y.] : Edward L. Doty
Number of Pages: 762


USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York : from its earliest traditions, to its part in the war for our Union : with an account of the Seneca nation of Indians, and biographical sketches of earliest settlers and prominent public men > Part 49


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51


648


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


Schuyler Thompson, Nathaniel Coe, Reuben Pierce and Daniel Ashley. In October, 1823, Elijah Bennett, a member of the society, was ordained to the ministry and became pastor of the church. His compensation was very meagre, and he was often obliged to depend upon the labor of his hands to procure support. The church minutes, July 3d, 1825, contain this record : " Voted to give Elder Messenger $50 for half of the time, to be paid in produce by the first of the ensuing Fubruary." In 1826 Elder Bennett's pay was raised to $100 annually, for half of the time. The society was incorporated in October, 1827, when "John Waite, Silas Warren and Daniel Ashley were chosen trustees. They at once purchased a site on which was erected what was considered a commodious church edifice, of wood. The rapid growth of the member- ship eventually required a larger building, however, and in 1840 the spacious brick edifice now in use was erected. The wooden building was purchased by the Nunda Literary Institute, and used for educational purposes until its destruction by fire.


The Presbyterian church was organized at about the same time as the Baptist church, and the Methodist society was formed in 1844.


The first frame house erected in the town of Nunda was by George W. Merrick. Another frame house was erected soon after. A squatter named Bata, was perhaps the first settler within the corporate limits of the village of Nunda. He came here in 1815 or 1816. He cleared a small plot of ground, set out some fruit trees, and started other improvements. When John McSweeney, the agent of the Tiernan tract, arrived, Bata was driven off. McSweeney was a native of Ire- land. He became dissatisfied with the new country, and at the first town meeting held in Pike, petitioned for an appropriation to enable him to return to Ire-


649


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


land. The first frame house in the village of Nunda was erected in 1824 by Asa Heath, and the next one by Alanson Hubbell. Heath came from Washington county and settled in Nunda in 1820. A part of the house he built is still standing. The village of Nunda was incorporated April 26th, 1839.


OSSIAN.


Area, 25,086 acres ; population in 1875, 1,144. Boundaries : on the north by West Sparta ; east by North Dansville and Dansville, Steuben county ; south by Burns ( Allegany county ) ; west by Grove ( Alle- gany county ) and Nunda.


Ossian was taken from Angelica on the 11th of March, 1808, and remained a part of Allegany county until 1857, when it was annexed to Livingston county. Angelica was then the shire town of Allegany county, distant twenty miles from Ossian over rugged road- ways ; and though Geneseo is equally distant, even by the ordinary wagon roads, it is more easily reached. The surface of the town is broken and hilly through- out, yet while the summits of the greater hills rise to a height of 600 to 800 feet above the grass-covered valleys, but a small proportion of the land is unsuited to tillage. About half the area of the town is uncul- tivated, the forests in some parts, for a hundred acres together, remaining in their primeval condition. The soil in the valleys is a gravelly loam, that on the hills a sandy loam, with some clay in the eastern part. In the north-west part is a small gas spring. Sugar Creek flows through the town, near the center. Ossian Cen-


650


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


ter is a small settlement, containing eighteen or twenty houses. West View, a smaller settlement, contains about a dozen houses and a saw mill.


The first settlement was made in 1804 by Judge Richard W. Porter and his brother James Porter, of New Jersey. James Haynes and James Croghan set- tled here about the year 1806, and Jacob Clendenin in 1807. Orrison Cleveland, William and John Gould, and Heman Orton came about the year 1810. Luther Bisbee was an early settler in the north-west corner of the town. The first child born was Abraham Porter in 1805 ; the first marriage that of John Gelson and Betsey Shay, in 1816 ; the first death that of John Turner, killed by the falling of a tree in 1807. The first school in the town was taught in 1813 and 1814 by a Mr. Weston.


In 1817 Oliver Stacey opened the first inn, and Dan- iel Canfield the first store in 1824. The first saw-mill was built by Nathaniel Porter in 1806 or the following year, and the first grist-mill by John Smith in 1826.


There are two churches in the town, Presbyterian and Methodist. The first church, the Presbyterian, was organized Sept. 29, 1818, by the Rev. Robert Hubbard. In 1825 it numbered 49 members, and in 1832 it had 63 members. The Rev. Mr. Hubbard was the first preacher, but enjoyed only occasional preaching from him, as he had two extended congre- gations.


"The town of Ossian* was one of the early sales of Phelps and Gorham to Jeremiah Wadsworth, who sold it to Robert Troup. It was included in agencies of James Wadsworth, under whose auspices its sale and settlement commenced. A saw-mill was built there in 1806. Frederick Covert, Wm. Boyle, Samuel


* Turner's Phelps and Gorham Purchase.


651


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


M'Crea, Richard Porter, Joshua Carpenter, Elijah Belknap, James Rooker, Wm. Lemen, James Greg- ory, and James Boylan, had become purchasers, and it is presumed most of them settlers in 1807. Mr. Wadsworth advertised that he would exchange lands in Troupton for improved farms in New England. He said :- ' The township is situated on the Canase- raga, about twelve miles above its confluence with the Genesee river ; ten miles from Arkport. There is an excellent wagon road from Geneseo, through Sparta, to Troupton. A road has been made from the village, through Troupton, to Angelica.' In December of the same year, Mr. Wadsworth writes to Mr. Troup that he had supplied a new settler in the township, ( Mr. Carpenter,) with a pot ash kettle, and adds :- 'you cannot imagine what a help two or three pot ash kettles are, in a new township, to the settlers.' "'


PORTAGE.


Area, 15,585 acres ; population in 1875, 1,172. Boundaries : on the north by Mount Morris ; east by Nunda ; south by Granger (Allegany county) ; west by Pike (Wyoming county).


Portage lies in the extreme south-western part of the county, and is one of its later acquisitions, having been annexed to Livingston from Allegany in 1846. It was formed from the town of Nunda March 8th, 1827. The name was derived from the portage or carrying-place around the falls of the Genesee, which flows along its western border. The surface is quite hilly, in some parts rising to a height of several hun- dred feet above the general level of the locality. Near


652


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


Portageville the hills attain a height of 200 feet above the railroad. The scenery in the vicinity of the river is picturesque and grand. The river after leaping over the Upper and Middle Falls, flows through a deep chasm, whose rocky sides rise quite perpendicu- larly to a height of from one to two hundred feet. Here, also, the Genesee Valley Canal crawls along the mountain side, and feels its way to the aqueduct crossing the river above the railroad, while the old railroad bridge, probably the largest wooden bridge in the world, and a wonderful example of the engi- neering skill of man, spanned the river at this point, and was for years the object of pilgrimages from all parts of the country. It was destroyed by fire in 1875, but has been replaced by an iron bridge as wonderful in construction, and as worthy of a long journey to see, as its famous predecessor.


The soil of the town is a clay loam in the eastern part, and a sandy loam in the western portion. Oak- land, Hunt's Hollow and Portage Station are small villages, the latter a railroad station on the Erie Rail- way.


Jacob Shaver, so far as can be learned, was the first settler in Portage, coming here in 1810. He settled on lot 150, where he made a clearing, and built a log house. Ephraim Kingsley and Seth Sherwood fol- lowed him in 1811. Other early settlers were Prosper and Abijah Adams, Enoch Halliday, Walter Bennett, Russell[Messenger (who gave the name to Messenger Hollow), Nathaniel B. Nichols, Asahel Fitch, Elias Hill, Joseph Dixon, Solomon Williams, George Wil- mer, Stephen Spencer, Willis Robinson, Allen Miller, Elias Moses, Horace Miller, Thomas Alcott, Joseph and Thomas T. Bennett, Benjamin Fordyce, Horton Fordyce, Reuben Weed, Cyrus Allen, Wm. Dake, Nathaniel and Charles Coe.


653


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


In 1816, Colonel George Williams, as sub-agent of Pultney estate under Mr. Greig, came to Portage and under his enterprise and skilful management, the lands were brought into market and rapidly sold to settlers. Col. Williams, who was a son of Dr. Wil- liam A. Williams of Canandaigua, continued as agent for the sale of these lands for many years, and such was his liberal and considerate manner of dealing with the settlers, and yet the conscientious regard he manifested for the interests of his superiors, that he was held in high esteem, and retained through life the confidence and respect of those having dealings with him.


Sanford Hunt emigrated from Green county to Liv- ingston county in December, 1818, with his wife and seven children. Mrs. Hunt was a native of Coventry, Tolland Co., Connecticut. Her maiden name was Fanny Rose, and she was a niece of the lamented Na- than Hall of Revolutionary memory, and daughter of a surgeon in the Continental army. The little house- hold had tarried at Sonyea for two or three months, and reached Portage in January, 1819. On their way to Portage, Mr. Samuel R. Hunt says : "In coming in from the direction of Mount Morris, we passed much of the way over corduroy roads, and through the six-mile woods between the present river and State roads, across the White Woman's tract. We came out upon an old clearing east, called the Shaver place -now John Angel's farm. Fording the creek twice we came to anchor as far south as the road was opened. There was not a bridge across the creek from source to mouth, though one was built the following spring. There were but three families south of here, by way of the State road, in eleven miles-that is, to the junc- tion with the Dansville road. These were George Gearhart and a son-in-law, John Growlin and Andrew


654


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


Smith. Here were also Henry Bennett, Nathaniel B. Nichols and Walter Bennett, his partner (who built a saw-mill the year before), Enoch Miller, Henry Devoe, Elder Elijah Bennett and several single men. Deacon William Town and Henry Root lived near, and last, though not least, Elias Alvord, potash boiler."


On the west was Ephraim Kingsley, on the Nash farm. Mr. Hunt says : "He first took up the farm in 1816, and set, I think, the first apple orchard on the Cottinger tract, unless it be a few trees on the Shaver place. Solomon Williams set a good orchard, and did more to introduce good fruit, apples especi- ally, than any farmer I know of. He went to Utica, Chenango, and afterward to Canandaigua, for grafts, and by saving some and discarding others he left, per- haps, the best and most profitable varieties in the county. South of him was Warren Carpenter, on the Short Tract road. West, Samuel Fuller, a Revolu- tionary pensioner from Rhode Island."


Turner says of Sanford Hunt: "He had come to the then new region, with a large family, after busi- ness reverses, which had left him little but a manly fortitude and spirit of perseverence, to rely upon. He engaged in farming, merchandizing in a small way, (his goods principally obtained in Geneseo) erected mills, an ashery ; was a valuable acquisition to the new country ; retrieved his broken fortunes ; and what was a moral triumph, of far more consequence, reared and educated a family of sons and daughters who have proved worthy of such a father, (and such a mother it might well be added)." Hunt's Hollow is so called from the fact of his residence there. He left five sons, among whom were Samuel R. and Horace Hunt of Hunt's Hollow, and Washington Hunt, Governor of the State in the years 1851 and 1852. The future Governor laid the foundation of his edu-


655


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


cation in the common district schools of Portage, after which he was a student in the Geneseo Academy, paying his way by doing manual labor morning and evening. He afterward entered the store of Bissell & Olmsted, of Geneseo, and when Mr. Bissell removed to Lockport, he followed him thither, at the age of 17 years. There his progress and advancement were rapid, until he had attained the highest position in the State.


In 1817 Prosper Adams opened the first tavern in Portage, and Sanford Hunt started the first store in 1819. The first saw-mill was built in 1816, and the first grist-mill in 1817, by Russell Messenger.


The first religious organization was the Presbyterian church, at Hunt's Hollow, about the year 1820. The town now contains four churches, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal and Baptist.


SPARTA.


Area, 17,243 acres; population in 1875, 1,141. Boundaries : on the north by Conesus ; east by Spring- water; south by North Dansville ; west by West Sparta.


The town of Sparta was formed in January, 1789, and it originally embraced the towns of Sparta, West Sparta, Groveland and North Dansville, together with a portion of Springwater. Groveland was formed in 1812. A part of Springwater was taken from Sparta in 1816 ; and in 1846 Sparta was divided and the three towns formed first above named. A portion of Grove- land was annexed in 1856. The surface of the town is


656


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


quite hilly, in some parts the summits being 800 to 1,000 feet high. On the hills the soil is a gravelly loam, while in the valleys it is a sandy, gravelly loam, with some mixture of clay. The Canaseraga creek flows along the western border.


The most important village in the town is Scotts- burgh, named after Matthew and William Scott, early settlers. It is situated in the northern part of the town, and contains two churches, several stores, a tavern, grist and saw-mill, and about forty houses. North Sparta, Sparta and Reed's Corners are small hamlets.


The map of Sparta has been more frequently changed than that of any other town in the county. The territory of the original town of Sparta extended from Livonia south to the Allegany county line, and west from Naples, Ontario county, to the Genesee river.


The first settlement was made at Scottsburgh about 1794, by Jesse Collar, from Pennsylvania, and for a number of years the place was called Collartown. Other early settlers were Darling Havens, John Nib- lack, John Smith, Asa Simmons, Robert Wilson and Thomas Hovey, who came previous to 1798, Peter Rob- erts in 1799. Nearly all the earlier settlers were from Pennsylvania. Thomas Bohanan taught the first school. Darling Havens came from Sussex county, New Jersey, where he was born, in 1794, locating ata place in the Canaseraga valley ever since known as Havens' Tavern. He kept the first tavern in Sparta. He died April 2d, 1814. His son, Isaac Havens, came with him to Sparta, and lived on the same farm until his death in June, 1856. The first grist-mill was built in 1810 by William D. McNair. The first town meeting for the town of Sparta was held at Williamsburgh on the first Tuesday of April, 1796. William Harris was


657


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


chosen Supervisor, and William Lemen Town Clerk. In 1797 the town meeting was held at the same place, Lemen's tavern, Williamsburgh ; in 1798 it was held at James Clark's house ; in 1799 at the house of Cap- tain Henry Magee. At this meeting the sum of $80 was voted for town expenses for the ensuing year.


Philip Gilman and Joshua Carpenter came to Sparta about the year 1802, from Pennsylvania. Both were Revolutionary soldiers, and drew pensions until their deaths.


The first religious society in the town was that of the Methodist church. Elder John B. Hudson visited Sparta East Hill in the fall of 1805. He says that from Groveland he "passed on to Sparta East Hill, where was another little company of Methodists. All of our members and most of the people here had em- igrated from Pennsylvania." The town now contains six churches.


Alexander Fullerton* was an early settler in Sparta. He was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch parents. While residing in Pennsylvania he was made a captain in the militia. This so pleased the parents, whose respect for military rank was very great, that he was treated with peculiar respect by them. This anecdote is related : The parents kept a tavern, and when a traveller would inquire the price of a dinner he would be answered thus: "Octeen pence by yoursel', but twa shillings if you eat with my son, for he has the best the hoose affords and an onion to relish it with." The same love of military display descended to General W. S. Fullerton, who, for many years, was prominently connected with the militia service of the State.


The early preacher of Sparta was the Rev. Andrew


* Father of General William S. Fullerton.


658


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


Gray, the remembrance of whom lingered tenderly in the minds of the pioneers long after he had passed away. His life was a chequered one in many respects. He was born in the County Down, Ireland, Jan. 1st, 1757. Migrating to America he took part in the Rev- olutionary War, at the age of seventeen. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Long Island by the Hessians, and in an altercation between two of these hirelings, each of whom claimed Gray as his prisoner, the latter nearly lost his life. After suffering inde- scribable horrors for several months, he escaped to the American lines, and afterward took part in some of the hardest fought battles of the war. When the long struggle ended he studied for the ministry, hiring out by the day to earn the means with which to secure an education. He preached his first sermon in 1793, in Low Dutch. In 1795, in company with Major Van Campen and Mr. McHenry he came to Allegany county, N. Y., where the three purchased a large tract of land, and moved here with his family in the following year. The title proving defective he lost largely. He preached in Allegany about twelve years, preaching in Dansville, Almond and Angelica. In 1806 or 1807 he moved to Sparta, where he preached to two congregations, one in Sparta, and one in what is now Groveland. In December, 1807, he was author- ized by the New York Missionary Society to proceed to the Tuscarora Indian village and confer with the chiefs and members of the tribes, on the subject of their connection with that society. After holding the council with the Tuscaroras he was accepted by them as a missionary, and removed with his family to the Tuscarora village. His labors were blest, and many of the Indians were converted. He was greatly har- rassed by the war of 1815, and on the 18th of Decem- ber, 1814, when Lewiston was burnt, he was obliged


659


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


to flee. He left the table spread and the tea poured out. He lost his household property and library, for which no restitution was ever made. He returned to Sparta, where he remained until his death, in 1839, "much and justly lamented." The funeral proces- sion, a very long one, was headed by two venerable Revolutionary soldiers, Captain Perine and Major VanCampen.


A person of no small note came to Sparta at an early day. This was General Daniel Shays, the in- citer of the outbreak known as "Shay's Rebellion," which occurred soon after the close of the Revolution- ary War, and threatened for a time the peace of the eastern part of the Union. Shays came to Sparta in the company of Jonathan Weston, a school teacher, who had been on a visit to Cayuga county. He is described as having been a short, stout, talkative old gentleman, whose quick and sprightly manner struck the observer at once. William Scott, who visited him here, in company with young Millard Filmore, says : "I can recollect that both Filmore and I were much disappointed in his personal appearance. By no means commanding in person, his dress was quite or- dinary and there was nothing to mark him as one to take the lead, and we wondered how the talkative old gentleman had become so prominent." Shays squat- ted on a lot near Hungerford's, where he lived three years. He then married the widow of the senior Darling Havens, who was then living with two un- married sons about a mile east of Scottsburgh. Here Shays lived several years, until, obtaining a pension, he bought twelve acres of land near Scottsburgh and built a log house and frame barn. He resided here until his death. The barn is still standing. In his latter years he drank pretty freely, but would never associate with low company. He prided himself in


660


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY


setting a good table and entertaining friends. His death occurred Sept. 29th, 1825, at the age of 84 years. He was buried in the town of Conesus, a mile north of Scottsburgh, and no stone marks his grave.


The first newspapers circulated in Sparta, and the first in the county, were the Repository and the Mes- senger, both of which were printed in Canandiagua, and delivered by post-riders. A postoffice was estab- lished in the town in 1814, with Samuel Stillwell as postmaster.


A great deal of whiskey was used in early days, although there was comparatively little drunkenness. Perhaps this was because the liquor was home made, and unadulterated with the vile poisons that are found in liquors of the present day. William Magee says : "There was a great deal of liquor used in those days. They had their bees to put up log cabins, log barns, and also their logging bees ; and to take it all in all, it required a great deal of liquor." The town of Sparta then embracing its largest territory, had eight stills in operation, from about 1796 to 1810. These were owned by William Lemen, William Magee, Alexander Mc- Donald, Hector Mckay, Nicholas Beach, John Hy- land, James Rodman and James Scott.


In June, 1806, James Scott * left Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, with his family of ten children, in a long covered wagon drawn by four horses and a yoke of oxen, reaching Sparta on the first day of July. From Dansville they had to cut a road most of the way to their new home, and settled in the woods on lands now owned by Peter Swick and heirs of L. Doud. There was then no wagon road in any direc- tion. An Indian path ran from Conesus to Hemlock valley, and nothing more. To the eastward stretched


* Father of the Hon. William Scott of Scottsburgh.


661


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


an unbroken wilderness to Naples, a distance of 18 miles. In what is now the town of Springwater there was not a stick cut nor line drawn. A good many Indians roamed through the woods ; and bears, wolves, panthers and deer, almost by the hundred, made their presence known. Two years before bringing his fam- ily, Mr. Scott had visited Sparta on horseback with his wife for the purpose of prospecting. The country suited him and in the fall two of his sons and one daughter, came out, erected a log cabin and cleared off a piece of ground which they sowed to wheat. The next summer another son came out and drove a cow. All returned to Pennsylvania in the fall and came back with the family the following year.


" The Sabbath following our arrival in Sparta," says William Scott, "my father, one of the girls and four of us boys attended meeting at the house of George Mitchell, a log house standing two and one- half miles south of what is now Scottsburg, and six miles south of Conesus lake, where Samuel Emmet, a Methodist minister, preached to a congregation of about twenty-five or thirty persons. I had heard the good man preach in Pennsylvania, and meeting him here renewed agreeable associations to us all."


" The season was one of great scarcity of flour here. But having learned the fact before leaving Pennsylva- nia, we brought a sufficient supply to last until new wheat could be harvested, of which there proved to be a bountiful crop." The first town meeting attended by the Scotts after their arrival in Sparta, was held in 1807, in the present town of Groveland, at the house of Christian Roup, a log house standing less than a mile south of Groveland Center. Here they met John Smith, Joseph Richardson, Robert Burns, John Hunt, Andrew Culbertson, William and Daniel Kelly, Sam- uel Stillwell, James Rosebrugh, Thomas Begole, Wil- liam Doty, and others.


662


HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.


James Scott was a native of the County Antrim, Ireland, though his parents were born in Scotland. The family sailed for America on the 21st of August, 1773, and reached New York on the 16th of October. They settled at Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. At the breaking out of the Revolution James Scott joined the patriot forces, serving under Colonel Stroud, whose regiment was detached from field service and detailed to protect the frontier from the incursions of the In- dians, so frequent after the massacre of Wyoming. "My mother was staying with some friends in Phila- delphia at the time of the battles of Brandywine and Germantown and heard the sound of the cannon all day, and after the battles, so disastrous to the colon- ists, saw the British march into the city with colors flying, and take possession, though they did not seem disposed to disturb quiet citizens." Mr. Scott was married about the year 1780 to a daughter of John Smith, who had come from Londonderry, Ireland, at the same time with the Scotts. Mr. Scott lived at Mount Bethel until 1794, when he removed to North- umberland county, where he remained until his removal to Sparta. "My parents hearing much said about the Genesee country, resolved to see it for them- selves. They set out on horseback in the summer of 1804, and after a journey of five days reached Sparta. The same distance can now be made in half a day. A location was made, they returned, and at once pre- pared to take up their abode in the newer land of promise, where they continued to reside until their death." Mr. Scott died in 1840, at the ripe age of 84, his wife surviving him eleven years. It was truthfully said of him that he was never heard to utter one vul- gar or profane word. He was an even-tempered, patient, firm, and warm-hearted man, and was univer- sally respected.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.