USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 42
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On the actual outbreak of the war, Mr. Wadsworth was foremost among those who tendered their services to the government, and he gave the national cause a hearty, earnest and patriotic support. When, early in April, 1861, Washington was surrounded with enemies, and communication with the East was cut off by hostile movements in Maryland, and the de- struction of railroad bridges between Philadelphia and Baltimore, he chartered a vessel at New York, loaded it with supplies at his own expense, and per- sonally conducted it to Annapolis for the benefit of
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the Union troops stationed there. This thoughtful and opportune act was characteristic of this earnest and generous patriot.
Afterward he was in Washington, where he was often in consultation with Gen. Scott, and the govern- ment, as to proposed measures for the protection of the Capitol, and for active operations in the field, and his wise counsels were invaluable in this perilous hour. In May the Governor of New York commissioned him as Major-General of the volunteer force called for from this State. The United States government, however, did not ratify appointments of general offi- cers made by governors of states, and in June he took the place of volunteer aid on the staff of Gen. Mc- Dowell. He was in the battle of Bull Run, in which he bore a conspicuous part. He had a horse shot un- der him, and in the disastrous retreat he seized the colors of one of the regiments and rallied the men to the support of "the glorious old flag." He was particularly commended in the official report of Gen. McDowell for the humanity and bravery displayed on this field. The report says : "Major Wadsworth stayed at Fair- fax Court House till late in the morning (after retreat of Union army) to see that the stragglers, and weary and worn-out soldiers, were not left behind," and again, "the latter [Gen. W.], who does me the honor to be on my personal staff, had a horse shot under him in the hottest of the fight." On the 9th of Au- gust, 1861, he was commissioned a Brigadier-General, and was assigned to a command in Mcclellan's army before Washington. After a winter of comparative inactivity General Wadsworth was appointed in March, 1862, Military Governor of Washington City. The position was one of great responsibility, and the duties arduous and unpleasant. They required the tact and wisdom of a statesman, the promptness, de-
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cision and unquestioned authority of a soldier, yet he administered them in such a manner as to command the confidence and respect of the government, as well as of the people.
While still holding this position, General Wads- worth was, in 1862, nominated by the Republicans of New York as their candidate for Governor, his oppo- ponent being Horatio Seymour. Upon the news of the nomination reaching Washington he was waited upon by a body of citizens, and in a speech in reply to their congratulations he said, "The earnest men who have brought me forward as their standard bearer, are assured that I think as they think, that I feel as they feel on this great question. They do not wish, they do not intend to survive the dismemberment of their beloved country." "It would be criminal folly in the government," he continued, "if it had over- looked one great element of Southern society, which may be, and will be, as we use it, an element of weak- ness or strength-to have overlooked or forgotten that we are fighting against an aristocracy supported by slavery ; and it would have been worse than folly to suppose that we could suppress the rebellion and yet save that aristocracy. A year and a half of bitter ex- perience has taught us that we cannot do it ; that we should fail in our purpose if we attempted it-aye, fail ignobly and deservedly. * * We have got to conquer it or be conquered by it. This struggle is already far advanced. It is near its end. If we would save ourselves we must cast off this devil who has disgraced and dishonored us from the hour of our birth. We want peace, but we want a country more. We want an honorable, a permanent, a solid peace. When we have achieved that we shall commence again a career of prosperity-prosperity the like of which we have never known before and the world has never
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before witnessed. We shall spring, as it were by one bound, to be the mightiest, freest and the happiest people on the face of the earth."
General Wadsworth, however, was not destined to be Governor. The State took one of those great polit- ical changes to which it is so often subject, and his opponent was chosen, without, however, detracting from his personal popularity, or the esteem of his friends.
In December, 1862, in answer to his repeated re- quests, he was called into active service in the field, and assumed command of the First Division of Rey- nolds' First Corps. During the winter the army was inactive, but General Wadsworth found ample em- ployment in looking after the welfare of the men in his command-a duty which he performed with religi- ous faithfulness. A soldier who served under him says :
"And we can testify from observation, to his faith- fulness, his skill, his courage. He was always to be found, too, at his post. When his regiments were on picket, he visited them often ; when his brigade was on drill or on duty, he always was in command, aided by his son, and when a regiment chased the enemy, and when the brigade went on foraging expeditions, or reconnoitered in force, with the design of making an attack, he was invariably with them, taking the lead, even pioneering the way, running hair-breadth escapes, and always escaping. We have known him to visit the sentinels at night, and two o'clock in the morning, lantern in hand, to inspect the entire camps, looking in at every tent to see if the men had room and were comfortable."
During the year 1863 General Wadsworth was con- stantly in the field, and in the battles of Chancellors- ville, and Gettysburgh, he took part in the hardest
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fighting ; and occupied a prominent position. After the battle of Gettysburgh he was relieved from com- mand and sent on a tour of inspection on the Missis- sippi, ."to report on the condition of the camps of the freedmen and other matters regarding the liberated slaves." Just before starting on this expedition he had an interview with the paymaster from whom he had drawn his pay from the time of his entry into the service, to whom he said, " While I am in the service I shall be paid only by you; and my reason for that is, that I wish my account with the government to be kept by one paymaster only, for it is my purpose, at the close of the war, to call on you for an accurate statement of all the money I have received from the United States. The amount, whatever it is, I shall give to some permanent institution founded for the relief of disabled soldiers. This is the least invidious way in which I can refuse pay for fighting for my country in her hour of danger."
After his return to Washington General Wadsworth was employed, early in 1864, as a commissioner for the exchange of prisoners. Shortly afterward, how- ever, he again entered the field, and was attached to Gen. Warren's corps, the command of the Fourth division, which included the remnant of his old divis- ion in Reynolds' corps, being assigned to him. The corps crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of May, 1864, and on the following day was in the Wilderness, en- gaged in a fierce conflict with the enemy. On the 6th the fighting was renewed, and Wadsworth's division was repeatedly called upon to repel the assaults and charges of the enemy upon it. The fighting was severe, and General Wadsworth had two horses shot under him in the morning. The battle was renewed in the afternoon by the assault of Longstreet upon a part of Wadsworth's division, and in opposing it,
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Wadsworth had a horse shot under him, and was himself struck in the head by a shot which mortally wounded him. He was taken up insensible by the Confederates, who had possession of the field, and conveyed to one of their neighboring hospitals, where he died two days afterward. Patrick McCracken, a resident in the vicinity, enclosed his body in a cofin and buried him in his family burying-ground, whence it was taken a few days afterward and conveyed to Washington, and thence, by way of New York, to his old home in Geneseo. Everywhere on the route the greatest respect was shown the remains, and the deepest grief was manifested at his untimely and tragic fate. The burial, in his family lot in Geneseo was without disply, but marked by every demonstra- tion of respect. The entire village was draped in mourning, and the citizens attended with heavy and saddened hearts the last rites over the body of a man for whom they entertained the profoundest respect.
"It was not merely that he sacrificed his bodily life from his convictions of duty, and from his love of .country-the poorest soldier who fell in the ranks has made that costly sacrifice ; but that, holding as he did ample possessions, linking rich meadows with flour- ishing towns, and spread over many fertile fields, he rejected the allurements that might have appealed irresistibly to such as he. He felt that life was more than abundant opportunities for enjoyment and ease. He felt that his life was in devotion to principle, and that it was bound up with the destiny of the nation. Thus, those lands so marvelously rich by nature, so marvelously rich in fortune, will be richer now in history, and the beautiful valley of the Genesee will perennially blossom with the memory of JAMES S. WADSWORTH."*
* Address by Rev. E. H. Chapin, D. D., on presentation of flags to Mili- stary Bureau, July 4th, 1865.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
JOHN YOUNG.
Few men have ever occupied a more prominent position in county and State politics than the subject of this sketch, and none more than he earned a high and honorable position through personal efforts, un- aided by favoring circumstances. John Young was a native of Vermont, where he was born in 1802, but while he was yet in his boyhood his father, Thomas Young, removed to the town of Conesus, in this county, where he was for some years the keeper of a public-house, and afterward a tiller of the soil. Mr. Young was considered rather eccentric in character, but was possessed of more than ordinary good sense and judgment, and was enterprising and persevering to a remarkable degree. Mrs. Young was an amiable woman, of great intelligence, and of many virtues, and both she and her husband were respected and esteemed in the community in which they lived. The circumstances of the family, however, were humble, and although John was their only son, and they were not inclined to deny him any advantages, they were not able to give him the liberal education he desired. The boy was given the best education the common schools of his town afforded, and self-reliant and hope- ful, he was sent forth into the world, with his father's blessing, "to carve out a destiny for himself."
The profession which he early chose for himself was that of the law, but his humble circumstances seemed to interpose almost insurmountable obstacles. "Hav- ing once determined on his course, however, no obsta- cles were allowed to interfere with, or to prevent, the accomplishment of his desires. Before him was the goal on which his thoughts were fixed ; all his ener- gies were directed toward the attainment of his wishes ; and the difficulties that occasionally sprung up in his path, only sharpened the zest and increased the eager
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ness with which he prosecuted his preliminary stud- ies."*
In 1833 Mr. Young commenced the study of law in the office of Augustus A. Bennett, of East Avon. No better opportunity could have been desired than this. Mr. Bennett was one of the ablest members of the bar in the county, and study under him could not fail to be of immense advantage to the young student. While pursuing this course Mr. Young, unwilling to burden his father, supported himself by teaching school and occasional practice in justice's courts. He finished his studies with Ambrose Bennett, of Geneseo, a prominent lawyer and politician, and was admitted in 1829 to practice in the Supreme Court, having pre- viously been recognized as an attorney of the Living- ston Common Pleas. Having thus successfully at- tained the object for which he had so long labored, Mr. Young opened an office at Geneseo, and entered upon a professional career that was highly flattering. "Possessing remarkable shrewdness and perseverance, a thorough knowledge of human nature, good com- mon sense, -native talents above mediocrity, devel- oped and invigorated by the experience to which the character of a self-made man must always be sub- jected-together with integrity, fidelity and industry, he was well fitted to encounter the difficulties and embarrassments incident to a professional career, and to achieve the triumphs which await desert like that which he exhibited." Mr. Young early took a place in the front rank of the legal profession, and retained it through life. A few years before his election to the office of Governor he formed a partnership with gene- ral James Wood, which continued until Mr. Young's death.
* Jenkins' Lives of the Governors.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The political career of John Young has already. been so closely followed in these pages that it is scarcely necessary to repeat the details here. Some points in his life, it may be proper, however, to treat more fully than has been done in the general history.
Mr. Young took an active interest in politics early in life and his early associations and education inclin- ing that way, he acted with the Democratic party when he first became a voter. He was the candidate of this party for county clerk in 1828, but was defeated, He afterward acted with the anti-masonic party, until it was merged into the Whig party, when he became an ardent and earnest supporter of the principles of that organization. He held several minor town offices, and in 1831 was sent to the Assembly by the anti- masons. Here he at once took a high position, and acquitted himself creditably on all occasions. In 1836 he was chosen Representative in Congress, vice Philo C. Fuller, resigned, and served in the session of 1836-7. In 1840 he was again chosen to this office by a very large majority, which result was attributed "in a good degree, to his own personal exertions in supporting and defending the principles and the can- didates of his party in Livingston county." In the House he was distinguished for his labors on com- mittees, his sagacious advice in relation to party policy, and his ardent support of Whig principles and meas- ures.
In 1844 Mr. Young was again called from retire- ment by his political friends and sent to the Assem- bly. His brilliant record there has been mentioned in previous pages, and the consequent triumph of the Whigs in making him Governor, noted. His admin- istration of the duties of this office was marked by firmness, independence, great consideration for the public welfare, and executive ability of a rare type.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY. .
His cutting rebuke, "I am Governor," to one who sought to influence his action, shows the high motives which governed his official conduct.
In July, 1849, Ex-Gov. Young entered upon the duties of United States Assistant Treasurer at New York, to which position he had been appointed by the new Whig administration, and continued there until his death, April 23d, 1852. His health for some years had been delicate, and the progress of his dis- ease-consumption-was such that for some months his friends were prepared for the final issue of the struggle against the insidious marches of this dreaded foe of human life. Nevertheless he was himself hope- ful, and did not seem to realize how near death was. Yet when the last hour came, he sank peacefully and trustfully into the sleep that knows no waking.
Mr. Young was married in 1833, to Ellen Harris, daughter of Campbell Harris, of York. His wife and five children survived him, and all of the children are still living.
It is risking little in saying that Mr. Young died when only entering upon the brightest portion of his life, and that, had he lived, other and greater honors would have been showered upon him by an admiring and trusting people.
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GROVELAND.
Area, 24,769 acres; population in 1875, 1,373; boundaries : on the north by Geneseo ; east by Con- esus ; south by West Sparta ; west by Mount Morris.
An elevated table land, occupying the center of the County, constitutes three-fourths of the territory of
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the town of Groveland. On its westerly side the township slopes down toward the Canaseraga creek, whone flats comprise the remaining fourth part of the area. In June, 1812, the Legislature enacted "that from and after the first Monday of April next, all that part of the town of Sparta in the county of Ontario, comprehending township eight, in the seventh range, and the west half of township eight, in the sixth range of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, be and is hereby erected into a separate town by the name of Grove- land, and that the first town meeting be held at the dwelling house now occupied by William Doty in said town." Its population at this time was quite sparse, and thinly scattered over the township, but the lands were soon taken up and occupied by actual settlers. The pioneers found the surface of the town everywhere diversified with clusters of fine trees, free from undergrowth, with intervals of natural openings. The fires periodically kindled by the Indians had de- stroyed the leaves and bushes, and in a great measure the fallen and decaying wood, so that it presented the appearance of a succession of groves, and when the town was credted the early settlers had the good taste to petition that it be called by the appropriate name · of Groveland.
Samuel Magee says : "What is now called Grove- land hill was at first considered very poor land. Many portions were scatteringly covered with chestnut and the different kinds of oak, and some places were des- titute of timber altogether. The openings grew up to a tall red grass, which was generally burnt over every fall by the Indians. In some parts of the timbered lands would be found an undergrowth of whortleberry and other bushes ; and take it all in all, the land was considered poor. Consequently there were few settlers on the hill until the introduction of clover and plas-
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ter. Then the land seemed to come right up. Grove- land farmers could thus raise as big crops as we of the valley, and their wheat was of better quality-the berry was larger and more plump."
The principal streams are the Canaseraga and Cash- aqua creeks. From the nature of both soil and topog- raphy some of the rivulets have worn through the strata, forming broad chasms and waterfalls of striking beauty. Of this class may be mentioned the brook that crosses the " upper road," near the residence of William A. Mills, and flowing westward enters the Canaseraga below the Hermitage burial ground. Half a mile above the latter spot on this stream is a thicket of several acres in extent, hemming in a chasm 350 feet across. The banks here rise perpendicular to a height of 175 feet. The stream above the fall has worn its way down through a narrow channel, and leaps down a cascade of 75 feet perpendicular fall. A mile above, on the margin of this stream, is a sweet sulphur spring, whose waters are collected into a small basin cut into the slate rock. Years ago this spring was held to possess peculiar efficacy in rheu- matic complaints.
The soil of the uplands is especially adapted to wheat ; the flats to corn and grazing. The farms are generally cultivated with care, and the crops are ex- ceptionably certain and bountiful. "You cannot brush together better farmers in Western New York than are to be found in Groveland," says an agriculturist from another part of the county.
The earliest settlement of the town was made at Williamsburgh. One of the first acts of Captain Wil- liamson, after his selection as agent of the English company represented by Sir William Pultney, was the establishment of several villages or settlements in the new territory, and conspicuous among these was
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Williamsburgh, which was established in 1792, taking its name from Sir William Pultney.
The settlement of the Genesee country, though be- gun in 1789 by Phelps and Gorham, progressed but slowly, so great were the natural impediments. There were no roads, the only access being by Indian paths, the nearest settlement was a hundred miles distant, and a great forest at the east, west and south hemmed in their purchase, while at the north lay Lake Onta- rio, with no facilities for its navigation. A sale of their property having been effected, however, by Phelps and Gorham, to the English company. Wil- liamson no sooner landed at Baltimore and entered the Genesee country than he was impressed with the idea "that this new country, situated immediately north of the centre of Pennsylvania and Maryland, must reap great advantage from opening a communi- cation therewith across the Allegany mountains," especially as it was from that direction that he looked for a large part of his immigration. Hence his first step toward improvement was to examine in person a feasible route hitherward. He set out on this expe- dition on the 3d of June, 1792, and met with such success that by November of that year thirty miles of the road were sufficiently completed to admit of the passage of wagons, and by August of the following year the road was completed to Williamsburgh, a dis -. tance of 170 miles.
Starting at Williamsport, this road ran up the Lycoming to the mouth of Trout Run, thence over Laurel Hill and through the wilderness, striking the Tioga at Blossburg, then called Peter's Camp, and following the latter stream to the mouth of the Canis- teo, thence to Painted Post and up the valley of the. Cohocton, through Bath to the head of navigation of that stream. Thence the road ran through the present.
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town of Wayland, and passed the head of Spring- water valley about six miles south of Hemlock lake, thence over the hills to the inlet of Conesus lake, which valley it crossed about one mile below the present village of Scottsburg. Continuing westward along the southerly base of Groveland hill, it passed through the farms now owned by John Gamble, the widow Hyland and Jacob Bean, and intersected the present Dansville and Geneseo road about 100 rods north of Zahner's mill, thence along this road to Wil- liamsburgh. Such was the route of the Williamson or old Bath road. Many of the early settlers in the Genesee country came hither over it, and for years the southern mail passed to and fro by this notable high- way. Some traces of it can yet be seen. In the woods half a mile east of Scottsburg, on the farm now owned by Samuel Scott, it crossed a gully, and its deeply worn course is there plainly visible.
Work on this road had already begun, when in 1793, a colony of Germans sent out by Pultney and his associates under a personage of their nationality . named William Berezy, "an itinerant picture mer- chant of a good deal of tact and gentlemanly address," who had won the confidence of Mr. Colquhoun in London, reached Philadelphia. The number, it would appear, consisted of eighty families, for whose pas- sage to this country arrangements had been made early in the previous year. Pultney and his associ- ates designed selecting poor but industrious Saxons, "discreet farmers," as Colquhoun expressed it, and, as Captain Williamson had written his principals that women were wanted in the Genesee country, Berezy was asked to increase the number of that sex, "but," wrote Colquhoun, "they should all understand the dairy and the rural work in which the servants of farmers are employed in the country, such as making
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butter and cheese, and spinning and weaving in the winter." These colonists were to bring their own physician and clergyman, and Williamson was directed to take measures for rendering everything as comfortable as possible for them when they should . arrive. Every detail for their comfort on shipboard was the subject of careful provision months before they set out. Clean beds were provided, "the ticks and blankets of which were to be carried up to the Genesee country to be used there," wholesome food, ample in quantity, pure water, and suitable space in the vessel had been arranged for. It was hoped this forethought would secure a superior class of emigrants, but never were great expectations more sorely disap- pointed. Instead of skilled agriculturists, "they proved," says Thomas Morris, "to be vagabonds of the worst description, collected together out of the streets of Hamburg and other cities, and totally un- used to any rural occupation,"- "idlers, indifferent mechanics, broken-down gamblers and players," says another account, and the females were equally unfit for pioneer life. On their arrival in port Williamson thought they might be profitably employed on their way hither in cutting out the proposed road. But their quality was soon shown. Totally unused to the axe, the greater number persisted in cutting down trees with the cross-cut saw. While thus employed several fatal accidents occurred, and where they used the axe an old gentleman who came over the road in an early day says "the trees looked as if they had been gnawed down by beavers." Williamson, out of patience with their awkwardness, directed them to come at once to Williamsburgh. Here he had pur- chased for them a large field of ripening wheat on the flats adjoining the river, which they were told to har- vest for their own use. But this, like all other labor,
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