USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 20
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The new negotiators went directly to business, and a basis was soon fixed. But just as this point was reached an incident occurred which threatened the success of the treaty. Young King, a descendant of Old Smoke, the most powerful and wisest sachem of his time, appeared upon the scene for the first time, and so great was the influence which his birth had given him, that the Indians declined to proceed fur- ther until all that had been done should be submitted to him. The Secretary was directed to read the jour- nal and speeches, and to explain the offer and its effect. This being done, he, after much deliberation, announced his disapproval, and it was only after long reasoning with him, that his consent to the sale of the lands was gained.
Four or five days were now spent in fixing the limits
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of the reservations. Mr. Morris says the difficulty was not a small one. The Indians wanted them fixed by natural boundaries, such as the course of streams, but this mode was inadmissible from the fact that so little was known of the quantity of land it would give them, and for the sake of certainty it was finally set- tled that they should be marked by square miles. At the first meeting held to allot to each village its pro- portionate part, "the utmost jealousy was found to exist among several of the chiefs." The importance of the chief is measured, in large degree, by the num- ber of his followers, and that number is limited by the extent of the land annexed to the chief' s residence. Hence the struggle on the part of each sachem and chief warrior, both to increase his own bounds and to lessen those of a rival. The contest was more violent between Red Jacket and Cornplanter than any others, the former wanting the principal reservation at Buffalo creek, and the latter at his residence on the Alleghany river. They were only brought to terms by being assured that where reservations were of an unneces- sary size, a deduction from the amount of the purchase money offered would be made.
Joseph Ellicott was present and laid down the ex- tent of each reservation,* showing the map and
* The following were the reservations agreed upon. The list appears in one of the manuscript volumes of the O'Rielly Collection in the N. Y. His- torical Society in the handwriting of Joseph Ellicott, and bears date of Sept. 16, 1797. I reproduce the orthography :
No. 1. At Kannawaugus, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
2. At Big Tree, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
3. At Little Beard's town, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
4. At Squawkie Hill, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
5. At Gardeaw, Jeneseo River, 2 square miles.
6. At Ka-oun-de-ou, Jeneseo River, 16 square miles.
7. At Allegenny River, 42 square miles.
8. At Kattaraugus, about 42 square miles.
9. At Buffalo and Tannawants Creeks, 200 square miles.
In all containing about 200,000 acres.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
affording answers to every inquiry of the eager chief- tains. By the 15th, the details had all been agreed upon, the deed was drawn up and was produced for signature .* Previous to subscribing, it was distinctly read and its import clearly explained to the Indians. Colonel Wadsworth then asked them if they under- stood it perfectly. If not he said it should be ex- plained to them again. They replied that it was unnecessary, as they fully comprehended it, and that its terms were, in every respect, agreeable to them. They were then requested to sign it. Red Jacket here rose in behalf of Ebenezer Allan's daughter Polly, who wished to be informed of the situation of the land given by the Indians to Allan and his children. Mr. Morris replied that his father had already paid Allan for it and was now paying the nation for it again. To this Polly replied, "No, Mr. Morris, it was only the improvements my father sold." Morris answered, "The papers in my hands will prove the contrary." Turning to Colonel Wadsworth she said, "I forbid the commissioners buying my lands given me by the Indians." Wadsworth told her that she had bad advisers, and that although he had nothing to do with her business, yet if she desired it, he would examine her claim and give her a proper certificate if she would call on him in the morning. As Robert Morris had duly purchased the land in question and taken a war- ranty deed, it is presumed she was content to say no more about the matter. Mary Jemison now demanded that her interests should be duly guarded. She had secured a generous gift from the Indians at Gardow, and in fixing the limit of the reservation she objected to having it laid down in square miles, "stating that
* The deed bears date Sept. 15, 1797. See parchment copy, duly authenti- cated, in State Library. Also Appendix to Vol. VII, United States Statutes at Large.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
she bad various improved places, one of which was a patch of corn, another of potatoes and another of beans. She then named certain boundaries, to which Mr. Morris, in consequence of the impatience of the commissioners, hastily assented under the impression that the grant would not exceed 150 acres. When afterwards the survey came to be made, Mary's farm was found to contain 30,000 acres of land of excellent quality."
Red Jacket, who had acted a double part through- out, came privately to Mr. Morris on the night previous to the signing of the treaty and asked that a place be reserved near the top of the parchment for his signa- ture after the others had signed. He had pretended to oppose the cession, he said, and to be consistent he could not publicly afix his name, but would do so before it went to the President, for it would not answer to have the treaty sent off to Philadelphia without his formal approval to it, as General Washington might think he had lost his rank and influence with the Senecas.
The consideration paid to the Indians doubtless exceeded the expectations of Robert Morris, who had fixed the price in his own mind at $75,000. He had directed his representatives at the treaty to conduct everything on the basis of a "liberal economy." He had himself provided two pipes of wine, which he dispatched overland from Philadelphia to Geneseo by wagons. The presents distributed, a list of which I am enabled to furnish,* and the rations supplied,
* The following were provided as presents :
1,500 Rations of beef, one day, at five dolls. por hundred, 75 dolla.
1,500 3 of flour at 2} dolls. per hundred, 38
Do of whiskey, 25 gallona, at 1} dolls., 37
Do tobacco, 5
For thirty days would be
4,650
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
added more than $15,000 to the purchase cost.
No sooner was the Indian title extinguished than preparation was made for careful surveys of the whole tract. Joseph Ellicott, a gentleman eminently qual- ified professionally and otherwise to superintend the work, had been commissioned in July preceding the treaty by the company's agent to send forward sup- plies of provisions during the fall for his surveying parties, and was prepared in the spring of 1798 to run the principal lines. David Rittenhouse, the eminent American philosopher, had personally attended to the preparation of the compass and other instruments for use in the survey. It had been decided to divide each township of six miles square into sixteen subdivisions to be called sections, and the latter into twelve lots each, three-fourths of a mile long and one-fourth of a mile in width and containing about 120 acres ; but the surveyors soon found that the location of the larger streams and other causes would render this course
750 3 ft. blankets at $2 each, 1,500
750 24 ft. " " S
.
1,125 2,625
150 pieces blue strouding, 24 yds. in piece, at $1, 3,600 -
100 " green legging stuff, of 18 yds. in piece, twilled, ¿ wide, at 68., - 1,350
200 com. calico at 48, 14 yds. per piece, . 1,370
50 60 com. Holland at 48., 24 yds. per piece, 600
500 Butcher or scalping knives,
35
50 Bags vermillion, 100
300 1b. Powder, 600
800 1b. Load, 50
100 Small brass kettles of 4 to 6 qta., 100
50 Brass kettles of 12 qts., 100
100 Black silk handkerchiefs, 80
Presents for the chiefs in broadcloth, red or green, of good
quality,
100
Dolls. . 15,360
Several cows were also given to the squaws.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
impracticable. The plan was therefore early aban- doned, and the lots were laid out into farms of three hundred and sixty acres each, as nearly as was prac- ticable.
This done the Holland Company lost no time in developing the rich country which had come into their possession. Roads were constructed, mills were erected, and encouragement offered to actual settlers by a fair adjustment of terms of payment. The investment of the Holland Company in Western New York proved more fortunate for the development of the region than for the capitalists themselves, for it is understood that when the affairs of the association were finally settled, their investment had paid them a profit of no more than five per cent.
The conduct of the several great purchasers was eminently wise, and Turner justly concludes that Western New York "could have hardly fallen into better hands. Both the English and the Dutch com- panies, under whose auspices as proprietors, three- fourths of the whole State west of Seneca lake was settled, were composed of capitalists who made investments of large amounts of money in the infancy of the Republic, when its stability was by no means a settled point. They were satisfied with reasonable returns for their vast outlays, and patient under the delays of payment, as all must concede. Their cor- respondence reveals no disposition to oppress the settlers, or wish to have their business conducted in any other than a fair, honest or liberal manner."
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CHAPTER IX.
SETTLEMENTS COMMENCED -BRITISH INTERFERENCE.
It was fortunate for this county that the earliest settlers here represented the enterprise, the culture and refinement, as well as the patriotism of the three States of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland, coupled with the proverbial independence, religious spirit and forecast of the Scotch emigrants. The Wadsworth brothers, and the Finleys, Jones, Fitz- hughs, Carrolls and Rochesters, and the Scotchmen of Caledonia, may be mentioned as types of those who were first to establish their homes in this. new country. Ireland, Germany and England were soon represented, and every Atlantic State added its quota to the daily growing settlements within the boundaries now prescribed to this prosperous shire.
Captain Williamson, speaking of the settlement of this region attempted by Oliver Phelps in 1789, says it "was attended with great, almost insurmountable, difficulties. There was no access to the country but by Indian paths, and the nearest settlement was above one hundred miles distant. The Alleghany moun- tains, then never passed, lay on the south, and Lake Ontario on the north, while to the west was one bound- less forest. By the census of 1790, there were only
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960 souls, including travellers and surveyors with their attendants, within the bounds" of the State west of the pre-emption line .*
The large share which James Wadsworth had in developing the Genesee country will be recognized by all. He was graduated at Yale College at the age of twenty. About that period his father died. He went to Montreal and taught school a year, and then re- turned to the paternal home at Hartford, Connecticut. An uncle had administered upon the estate, and the property, about $45,000 in all, (and at that time a large sum,) was divided equally among the three brothers, himself, William, and a third who remained in Connecticut. On his way home from Montreal James had seen some very fine land on the Onion river in Vermont, and made up his mind that he would go back there and make an investment, but his uncle, Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, who had taken an inter- est in the Phelps and Gorham purchase, offered his nephews James and William one-half of his interest, or about one-twentieth of the reserved portion, at cost, and proposed to the former to give him the agency of the other half if he would remove to the Genesee. To this the brothers assented. It had been agreed that any co-proprietor who would settle on the lands might locate one thousand acres at the cost price, which was eight cents per acre. Phelps and Gorham had availed themselves of this provision in 1789 and located at Canandaigua. The Wadsworth brothers, the succeed- ing year, took their two thousand acres at Geneseo, at a cost of one hundred and sixty dollars. In the spring of 1790 they purchased a new and substantial ox cart and three pairs of oxen, and after many farewells William, with two or three hired men and Jenny, a
* See Williamson's Letters to a Friend. Doc. Hist. N. Y.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
favorite colored slave belonging to the family, started across the country for Albany, while James went to New York to purchase an outfit for the new settlement, including - small quantity of "store-goods" and household furniture. He then took passage on board a sloop for Albany. The trip up the Hudson occupied a week. Mr. Wadsworth had for a fellow passenger at this time John Jacob Astor, who was making his first trip to Canada and the North-west to purchase furs. The acquaintance then formed between these two remarkable men, ripened into intimacy and con- tinued through life. At Albany Mr. Wadsworth found his brother with the men and team, ready to take the supplies to Schenectady, where they pur chased a boat. This the men poled up the Mohawk to Little Falls, whither William had preceded the water party overland, ready to draw the boat and its cargo around the falls. Another day's poling brought the boat to Rome, where they found two log houses, though there was but one as yet at Utica. Another portage by the ox team and cart brought them over to Wood creek ; and when William saw all on board the boat at that point he started through the woods with his slow-moving team for Canandaigua, following the trail traveled by Phelps and Gorham's party the pre- ceding year. West of Whitestown the road, little more than an Indian path, was full of impediments. Fallen trees had to be removed, the approaches to small streams often to be laid with logs, and standing timber to be cut away before the cart could proceed. So well, however, was the work done that the road- way thus improvised was used for some time, and to this day William Wadsworth enjoys the credit of opening the first road through the wilderness between Whitestown and Canandaigua.
" Arriving at Cayuga lake, there was no ferry scow,
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and the party chartered two Indian canoes which they lashed together, and making a deck of poles, suc- ceeded in crossing. Between Whitesboro and Canan- daigua their average progress was twelve miles a day .* On reaching Canandaigua William expected to find his brother and the boat, but was disappointed. In going down Wood creek the party had run the boat upon a snag, and it was there held fast for three days and until overtaken by Augustus Porter, the brother of General Porter. He took a part of Mr. Wads- worth's cargo on his boat, and so far reduced the burthen that little trouble was now experienced in getting it again afloat. The two parties now started in company down the creek into Oneida lake, thence through the lake and river to the Oswego river, and up the latter stream to the outlet of Cayuga lake, thence to Mud creek. Passing up Mud creek to the ·outlet of Canandaigua lake, they then found their way to the lake, and the cabin of Phelps and Gorham at Canandaigua. William had reached that hospit- able roof several days before the arrival of the boat, and becoming very anxious about his brother, fearing that he had been killed by the Indians, had gone down the outlet several miles and taken his position in the top of a tree which leaned over the stream. He saw them a long distance below, and joyfully wel- comed them as they came under his lofty perch. Stowing a part of their supplies at Canandaigua and learning that there was a fine tract of unoccupied land on the Genesee near Big Tree, they started for that point, following Sullivan's route a portion of the way, and camping the first night at Pitt's flats, and the second night a little east of the foot of Conesus lake. The next morning William, keeping charge of the ox
* Turner's Phelps and Gorham's Purchase.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
team, set out for the spot that had been described to them for a home, by the Indian trail leading to the Oneida village, while James, with a part of the men, shouldered axes and started on foot for the same place, through the woods by the Big Tree trail. Reaching a point on the western edge of the table land west of the present village of Geneseo, he began cutting down trees for a log cabin. The location of this cabin was about 105 rods west of the Mt. Morris road and 40 rods south of the lane leading from the Park to the "Home Farm" boarding house. Mr. James Wads- worth marked the spot by erecting there a small stone house now used in connection with the " Home Farm."
William, getting lost in a swamp two miles north- east of the present village of Geneseo, tied his cattle to saplings and there passed the night. This delay causing some anxiety, James got on their track the next morning, and finding the bewildered party, con- ducted them to the spot selected by him for the cabin, where they arrived on the 10th of June, 1790. The party slept in the cart and upon the ground for two or three nights until their hut was ready to afford them shelter. The unwonted sound of axes brought to their camp Lemuel Jennings, the only white man in that vicinity who had preceded them, who had erected a cabin and was herding some cattle on the flats in their neighborhood for Oliver Phelps .*
The Wadsworth brothers followed their first pur- chase of 2,000 acres at Geneseo for eight cents per acre, by a second of 4,000 acres the same season at fifty cents an acre, which was the price fixed by the company for the land in the vicinity of Geneseo. A
* James returned to Canandaigua on the first day of their arrival, and on his way back was benighted, but was guided to his home by a light held by Jenny, the colored woman, for William, who was hewing some planks for the cabin.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
portion of the latter purchase was situated on the out- let of Conesus lake, where they had oncamped the second night out of Canandaigua, and where they subsequently built a grist-mill.
In August, 1790, General Amos Hall, who had been appointed to take the census of Ontario county, then embracing the whole of the Genesee country, reported the population embraced within the present limits of Lima, at four families, comprising 23 persons ; Sparta, one family of five persons; Geneseo, eight families, embracing 34 persons; Avon, ten families, 66 persons ; Caledonia, ten families, 44 persons ; Leicester, or "Indian lands," as it was designated in the return, four families of whites, 17 persons.
In September of the same year the new settlers had their first experience with fever and ague. The Wadsworth household, with the exception of the negro woman Jenny, were all brought down with it.
The brothers Horatio and John H. Jones had pre- ceded the Wadsworths a few weeks. On the arrival of the latter they were occupying an Indian cabin at Little Beardstown, while a cabin they had begun the year before was being completed. "They had come from Geneva by way of Canandaigua and Avon with a cart, Horatio's wife and three children, household furniture and some hired men. Their cart was the first wheeled vehicle that passed over that route. From Avon they had no track, but picked their way along the ridges and open grounds. Besides Horatio Jones's family, there were in August, 1790, west of the river in what was then called the 'Indian lands,' the fam- ilies of William Ewing, Nathan Fowler and Jeremiah Gregory."
Immediately after the Revolution all that part of the State lying west of a line running north and south and passing through the center of the present county
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of Schoharie, was called Montgomery county, and the town of Whitestown embraced all that region west of Utica. In 1789 the county of Ontario was formed from the western part of Montgomery, but, notwith- standing this, town elections, for the town of Whites- town, continued to be held in all this region until 1791. At the election held in the latter year, Trueworthy Cook of Pompey, in the present county of Onondaga, Jeremiah Gould of Salina, and James Wadsworth of Geneseo, were chosen pathmasters. The district of the latter embraced the territory west of Cayuga lake, covering an area large enough for a State.
Ontario county was at first divided into districts, the second district, Genesee or Geneseo, "embracing all west of the east line of the present towns of Pitts- ford, Mendon, Richmond." The first town meeting for this district was held on the 5th of April, 1791, at Canawaugus.
Captain John Ganson, an officer of the Revolution, was elected supervisor ; David Bullen town clerk. The assessors chosen were Deacon Gad Wadsworth, a Revolutionary soldier from Connecticut, Israel Stone of Stonetown (now Pittsford), General William Wads- worth of Geneseo, General Amos Hall of West Bloomfield, an officer of two wars, and Nathan Perry of Hartford, now Avon. The constables were Jasper Marvin and Norris Humphrey.
Roads opened slowly and settlements made small progress west of the river. Thomas Morris says that in 1791, and for several years thereafter, there was only an Indian path leading from Canandaigua to the Niagara river, and there was not a habitation of any kind between the Genesee river and Fort Niagara.
The Revolution had left the Indians broken in strength, and the growing power of the government held them under restraint ; but it was well known that
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influences unfriendly to the Republic were at work among the western tribes, and to some extent among the natives occupying the villages along the Genesee, although the latter claimed to be friendly and gener- ally deported themselves properly. The apprehension of an Indian war deterred settlers from crossing to the western side of the river." In the latter part of the summer of 1791, James Wadsworth went on horse- back to Niagara for the purpose of informing himself as to the prospect of an Indian war. To a friend he wrote on his return : "You will not suppose that we are under much fears from the Indians when I tell you that I started from the Genesee river without company, and reached Niagara in two days without difficulty. But, sir, it was a most solitary ride. I had an excel- lent dinner with Colonel Butler at Niagara. We were. served with apples, chestnuts, hazelnuts and walnuts, but what surprised me most, was to see a plate of malacatoon peaches as good as I ever ate."
The summer of 1792 witnessed a large addition to the population of the Genesee country. In July of that year the Albany Gazettet says : "We are
* There are two sides to most public questions, and it cannot be denied that the Indians had many provocations, which artful men could use to influ- ence them. In the summer of 1790 two of the Senecas of Little Beardstown, minor chiefs, were murdered on Pine creek, in Pennsylvania. A reward was offered by the Governor of that State for the apprehension of the murderers. Little Beard and Red Jacket, in a letter of thanks to the Executive, " hoped that the murderers might be taken and that they might see them executed, for it is natural to look for revenge of innocent blood. You must not think hard if we speak rash. The words come from a wounded heart as you have stuck the hatchet in our head, and we can't be reconciled until you come and pull it out. We are sorry to tell you that you have killed eleven of us since peace, and we never said anything until the other day when in liquor."
The letter is dated at "Geneseo River and Flats, August 12, 1790," and Signed Little Beard (of Beaver Tribe); Sangoyeawatau (Red Jacket), Gisse- Maske (of Wolf Tribe) and Caunhesongo.
+ Albany Gazette of July 9, 1792.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
assured of the rapid increase of settlements there, encouraged by the situation, climate and soil-equal in goodness to any part of the United States-and that the fever and ague, which it is common to sup- pose is epidemical there, has scarcely been known the present season. The Indians are very friendly, attending solely to their domestic concerns, and grad- ually acquiring civilized habits." The population had so far increased that at the fall election in that year the canvass for governor was quite animated. The candidates were George Clinton, the incumbent, and John Jay, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The poll of the town of Canandaigua stood three to one for Jay ; and it is said that the complexion of the vote in Geneseo, where fifty ballots were cast, was the same, but owing to the fact that the tally list was transmitted to Albany without being signed by the inspectors, the returns were rejected. The result in the State was rendered so close by the rejection of Geneseo and certain other towns in the State, and the irregularities were so great, that the courts, after a heated controversy by the partisan press, were called upon to decide the question. The office was awarded to Clinton, against the earnest protest of Jay's friends.
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