USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 7
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Late in the last century a new religion was announced by a native of Canawaugus, the Indian village located near Avon. The prophet of this new faith was a half brother of Cornplanter, named Ga-ne-o-di-yo, or "Handsome Lake." Its effect was greatly to mitigate intemperance, a vice then fatally prevalent among the natives. The early life of the prophet had been one of idleness ; but, in lighting his pipe one day after a debauch, he fell back upon his mat, where, for many hours, he lay as dead. Four beautiful young men from heaven, angels, he called them, appeared, he said, who told him the Great Spirit was angry with the In- dians because of their habits of drunkenness, falsehood and theft. They conducted him to the open gates of Paradise, where, for several hours, he witnessed scenes glorious beyond conception. A command was there given him to proclaim what he had seen and heard. On recovering, he entered upon his mission with the zeal of a crusader .* Ungifted as a speaker, he called four young men possessed of superior parts for mis- sionary work, to whom he committed the heavenly
* I am indebted to Morgan and to Nathaniel T. Strong, Esq., himself a Seneca, for data here. The father of Mr. Strong was one of the four cho- sen missionaries, and, like the son, was a man of superior abilities.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
precepts. Through them, and by his own personal intercourse, he incited young and old to better courses. His labors were crowned with abundant success.
It has been urged that Handsome Lake was inspired to the work by Cornplanter, rather than from a higher source, that crafty chieftain designing thereby to pre- serve for his kinsman the high position in councils so long held by himself. But this is quite improbable, for Cornplanter was at no pains to conceal his doubts as to the truth of the revelation, especially after the following incident. He had a beloved daughter who fell very sick. His anxiety on her account induced him to appeal to the prophet. The latter, in turn, in- quired of the four angels, if the girl would get well. They answered, she would, and continued to give like assurances until she died. Cornplanter then said that the revelation was but a pretense, and Handsome Lake became so incensed that he left the reservation of his half brother and went to Tonawanda. It is certain that Handsome Lake chose a course which quickly checked the sad inroads made by rum among the Iroquois. He was aware from experience of the strength of appetite for fire-water, and knew that, sin- gle-handed, he could accomplish little against the formidable evil ; hence he sought the powerful agency of superstition. His name is justly venerated among his people, who call him the Peace Prophet, in dis- tinction to the noted brother of Tecumseh, who is known as the War Prophet. At his death, in 1815, his grandson, So-se-ha-wa, or Johnson, who was also born near Avon, succeeded him asa teacher and expounder, and, like the uncle, exerted a great and salutary in- fluence among the Indians.
Trails, or foot-paths, connected the Indian villages and distant places. Portions of these forest highways
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can yet be traced at certain points in the county, though the latter were generally cross-trails intersect- ing the great central pathway, which, starting at. Albany and following a well-chosen route, terminated on Main street in the modern city of Buffalo. Mor- gan says, "This trail ran through the overhanging forest for almost its entire length. It was usually from twelve to eighteen inches wide, and deeply worn in the ground, varying in this respect from three to six and even twelve inches, depending upon the firmness of the soil. The large trees on each side were fre- quently marked with the hatchet. This well-beaten foot path, which no runner or band of warriors could mistake, had doubtless been trodden by successive generations from century to century." "It proved, on the survey of the country, so judiciously selected, that the great turnpike was laid out mainly on the line of this trail, from one extremity of the State to the other."
From Canandaigua were two trails. The one, after crossing the outlet of Honeoye lake and going over the hill in sight of Hemlock lake, came out upon the Conesus, near its southern end, when, following its shore to the foot and fording the outlet, the path pro- ceeded west, and, passing over the site of Geneseo, led into Beardstown. The other, or main trail, leaving Canandaigua, passed over the site of West Bloomfield, through the Honeoye outlet, to the site of Lima, thence, westward, passing the site of Avon, crossing the river a few rods above the bridge, and entering the village of Canawaugus, about a mile above the ford. Pursuing then a north-west direction, it led to the Cal- donia cold spring.
"From Rochester there were two trails up the Gen- esee, one upon each side. That upon the west side, following the bank of the river," "passed into the
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Indian village of Ca-na-wau-gus. From thence the trail pursued the winding of the river to O-ha-gi, a Tuscarora village on the flat, between two and three . miles below Cuylerville. It next led to the Seneca village of Big Tree." Turning the bend, the trail en- tered Beardstown, and thence led to Squakie Hill. Leaving the latter village, it continued up the river, crossing the outlet of Silver lake, and, entering Gar- dow, followed on over the site of Portage, and thence to Caneadea, last Seneca village on the Gen- esee.
The east side trail started from the ford near the aqueduct, at Rochester, and turning a little back from the river, crossed Mount Hope. "It followed the windings of the river up to Mount Morris. From this place ran two trails up the Canaseraga creek, one upon each side. They led into the small Indian village of Ga-nos'-ga-go, upon the site of Dansville at the head of the valley." :
Branches, intersecting these main pathways at ford- ing places, connected the smaller villages. Of this class was the trail leading from the Indian town on Conesus inlet, westward over the hill, passing the bat- tle-ground of Boyd's scouting party, thence through Groveland, by way of Williamsburgh to Beardstown. Over this, Sullivan's army marched on its way to the Seneca settlements.
In numbers the Senecas exceeded any other nation of the league. In 1650, the period of their highest prosperity, they numbered as reckoned ten thousand. Thence forward their strength gradually diminished. A few years later the Jesuits reported the fighting men at one thousand. In our Revolution they were able to furnish four hundred warriors to the British. Their own estimates are much larger. According to a tradition, they once took a census of their nation. A
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kernel of white flint corn, dropped by each into a husk basket, assumed to hold a dozen quarts, was thereby filled. This would indicate a population of nearly eighteen thousand.
The Indian title to Squakie Hill, and to other reser- vations on the river, was extinguished by the treaty of 1825. In the ensuing year most of the Senecas left the county. A few families lingered another twelve- month, but their homes had passed into strangers' hands, and they, too, followed to the Buffalo and other new reservations. Indeed, coincident with the advent of the whites, began the exodus, for, by 1816 there were not more than four hundred Indians within the limits of the present county, all of whom lived on the westerly side of the river. Canawaugus, at the lat- ter date, contained about ninety souls, of whom several were descendants of Cornplanter. The Big Tree vil- lage numbered less than a score, consisting in most part of John Monture's family ; a little knot still re- mained at Beardstown ; Squakie Hill had a population of eighty ; and at Gardow lived Mary Jemison, some of her descendants, and a few others, about four score in all. These constituted the remnant of that aborig- inal host which long had peopled this region and throughout the Genesee valley held undisputed sway .*
" Realm of the Senecas ! no more In shadow lies the ' Pleasant Vale;' Gone are the Chiefs who ruled of yore, Like chaff before the rushing gale. Their rivers run with narrowed bounds,
Cleared are their broad, old hunting grounds, And on their ancient battle fields The greensward to the plowman yields ; Like mocking echoes of the hill Their fame resounded and grew still, And on green ridge and level plain Their hearths will never smoke again."
[FROM PROEM TO HOSMER's YONNONDIO. ]
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The Senecas now number about thirty-five hundred souls, of whom nearly one-half reside on the Catarau- gus reservation .* They receive a liberal annuity from the General Government and a small one from the State ;t and share in the common school moneys, six hundred of their children being regular attendants at schools .;
The Cattaraugus reservation embraces near twenty- two thousand acres of excellent farming land. § Many of the farms are well cultivated, and attention to the demands of agriculture is quite general. The Iro- quois agricultural society, formed in 1860, was at first opposed by the elder portion of the natives, but it has grown into favor with all classes, its exhibitions now comparing favorably with those of average county fairs. We attended the meeting of 1865, and saw many proofs of the growing thrift and industry of the Indians .! Competition was open to all of "Iroquois lineage and their descendants." Of the three vegeta-
* In 1867 the Senecas were distributed as follows:
As the Cattaraugus reservation, 1.434
Alleghany = 913
Tonawanda 641 South of Kansas, 160
There are a small number intermixed with the Shawnees in Kansas, and a fow live on the Grand River in Canada.
t The General Government pays the Senecas annually about $14,700, and the State of New York $500, the latter being interest reserved by them on the sale of Grand Island in the Niagara river.
# In 1865 the Senecas reported over 1,100 children between the ages of 5 and 21. The sum of $8,000 is annually distributod to them from the com- mon school moneys of the State.
§ There are 21,680 acres in the reservation, mostly under improvement, situated on both sides of Cattaraugus creek, in the towns of Perrysburgh, Cattaraugus Co., Collins, Erie Co., and Hanover, Chautauqua Co.
| Its meetings are held at Versailles, 25 miles from Buffalo. I visited the Fair in company with O. H. Marshall, Esq. We spent the night with the missionary, Rev. Asher Wright, whose zealous labors have been erowned with fruits and whoso thorough knowledge of the Seneca tongue has served me essentially.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
bles long reckoned by them as of most value-corn, beans and squash-and also potatoes-there were many samples, some of which were superior to any we had ever seen. Wheat and other grains, hogs, a few sheep, horses and horned cattle, were likewise em- braced in the display, as also were specimens of bead and needlework, and other articles of female hand- icraft. Foot-races, a war-dance, and occasional exhi- bitions of horsemanship, took place during the day. A band of instrumental music, composed of native players, enlivened the proceedings. But the people themselves afforded us the most interesting study. Some, whose names were quite familiar to early settlers in the Genesee country, were there, and many other well-known Indians were represented in their descend- ants. Thomas Jemison, tall, dignified and just beginning to show in his athletic frame the evidences of his three-score years and ten, a man of no ordinary character, was busy with his entries of stock and grains. Grand-children of Tall Chief, relatives of Big Kettle, of Red Jacket and others of note, were among the exhibitors, and a grandson of Governor Black- snake, who led the Senecas at Wyoming, was chief police officer of the ground. Physically, no deterior- ation could be observed. The men were generally fine, stalwart fellows, and the females were not wanting in comeliness, Few of the older Indians talked Eng- lish with freedom, some of them not understanding itj at all. The styles of apparel were various, often picturesque ; the bare-headed squaw of patriarchal years, appearing in ornamented kilt and leggings ; women wearing men's hats, otherwise in native cos- tume; young maidens, decked out, if not in the latest, yet in the gayest fashions of their white sisters, and not a few dressed with excellent taste, while all con- ducted with propriety. Native family names, such as
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Two Guns, Blinkey, Jacket, Silver-heels, and Ghastly- Darkness, appeared among the officers, judges or ex- hibitors.
The reservation is governed by a president and a congress elected annually by native voters under au- thority of an act of the Legislature of the State. Society there is orderly and the laws are enforced without difficulty. The late James Wadsworth, who had unusual opportunity to judge of the Seneca's aptitude for improvement, "entertained a confident opinion that the red man is as susceptible of civiliza- tion as the white man." His plan was to deal with the natives individually and not by tribes. "Set apart a tract of country, say fifty miles square, at Green Bay. Grant this in fee simple to the Indians who still linger with the white population in the eastern and middle States. Divide this territory into townships, and the townships into lots give them a territorial government and a code of laws adapted to the first stages of civilization ; give them the power of making their own laws after a certain period ; give them the right of sending immediately a delegate to Congress- I beg you not to be startled," continued Mr. Wads- worth, "there are many Indian chiefs who would not disgrace the floor of Congress."* The observation and experience of forty subsequent years demonstrates this to be the best, perhaps the only mode of meeting the Indian question.
Whatever may betide the experiments of the age for civilizing these interesting people, the duty which history owes them remains unfulfilled. In common with the other aboriginal nations, the Senecas have been belied. Neither they nor other tribes were the natural enemies of the whites. In this the early nav-
* See Mr. Wadsworth's letter of Dec. 1827, to Daniel Webster " On Colo- nisation of the Indians," in appendix.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
igators and writers all concur. Before the era of systematic wrongs, they were hospitable and kind, and disposed to preserve the friendliest relations with the pale faces. Indeed, history records how, during a hundred and fifty years, the Iroquois scrupulously observed their engagements with the Dutch and Eng- lish. But the American people have permitted the Indian to be grossly defrauded. Not content to divide with him his ancient patrimony of a continent, pioneer traders have been allowed to wrest away his hunting- grounds and invade his burial-places ; and, to crown injustice, a horde of subtle knaves, in the official guise of commissioners, superintendents and agents, have pursued the Indian into his far-western retreats, to cajole from him his paltry annuities and to wheedle away his newer reservations. No skilled advocate has appeared for him, no medium has offered through which he could present in array to mankind the mer- ciless impositions practiced upon him ; and for many a dark year, no friendly voice, save that of the orators. of his own race, whose heathen speech fell upon deaf ears, was raised in his defence.
It was a dictate of policy, during the Revolution, to paint the Indian as black as possible in crimes and cruelty, and to hold him often responsible for deeds of which it might easily be shown the British were alone guilty. Since then, the prejudice has been adroitly fostered by those whose selfish ends it subserved. That the Indian committed excesses and barbarities, it would be vain either to deny or to palliate. But how far he was justified in waging the only system of war- fare known to his race, as a measure of retaliation, it is for the moralist to say. If the whole story were told, if the Indian could tell his side, how then would stand the record ? The lion in the fable disputes with the man as to which was the braver and stronger of
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the two. The latter exultingly points to a marble statue of a man strangling a lion, in proof of the su- periority of his kind. "That," answered the lion, "is your version of the story ; let us be the sculptors, and we will reverse the positions ; the lion will then stand over the man." Is not the moral applicable here ?
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CHAPTER IV.
ABORIGINAL TOWNS. DEFENSIVE WORKS.
The charts of Western New York, prior to 1750, afford little or no definite information respecting the LAC . ONTARIO. Genesee country. BAYE Pouchot's Map, prepared about the year 1758, * a CRANDE R.AU BRIS LES & CHUTES portion of which is here given, was perhaps the first KANDAGEN CASCONCHAGON RIOS AOSEN attempt made to fix the location of Seneca towns, and even this, as will KAMENTAGE. be seen, gives the OMIOTADE position of very C-KANONSKEGON FAIS DES SONNONTÓINS few. History, however, more ¿ VBANONINA than two centur- KAGUEN THEAGEEN KNACTO ies earlier, had shed a glimmer of R. DE KANESTIO light upon this ROMAN TIMAILS. region. Scarcely
* M. Pouchot writes under date of April 14, 1758, that he handed to the Marquis de Vaudreuil a Map, (of which the above is a small part,) and a Mo- moir on the subject of the French and English Frontiers in America.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
two score years had passed away after the advent of Columbus, when James Cartier, while exploring the gulf of St. Lawrence, in 1535, was informed by the savages living on its borders, "that, after ascending many leagues among rapids and waterfalls, he would reach a lake (Ontario) one hundred and fifty leagues long and forty or fifty broad, at the western extremity of which the waters were wholesome and the winters mild, and that a river (the Genesee) emptied into it from the south, which had its source in the country of the Iroquois." This, it may be safe to assume, is the first mention in print of the region of the Genesee. Next, Lescarbot, using the information gained by Car- tier from the lips of the Indians of Canada, in 1535, says: "a little further west (of the Oswego river) at the southern bend of the said lake (Ontario) there is another river (the Genesee) which comes from the country of the Iroquois."t Though scanty enough, these two references form the sum of direct historical mention of the Genesee river and of the Indians in its neighborhood, prior to the seventeenth century, so far as we have been able to learn.
The original village of the Senecas, according to all tradition, was situated on a knoll, Genundewah, near the village of Naples, as has been noted. After the extinguishment of the council-fire at that ancient hill- home by a great serpent, in a manner so strange as that given in their traditions, villages sprung up elsewhere. Much obscurity rests about this partic- ular era. The remains of a series of earthworks or rude fortified towns have been found extending from the county of St. Lawrence, by way of Jefferson, Wayne, Ontario and Livingston, to Lake Erie, through Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties upon a general
* Marshall's Niagara Frontier.
+ Lescarbot, Paris Ed., 1609, p. 381.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
line parallel to lake Ontario. It is estimated that more than two hundred of them must have originally existed. They were especially numerous in this re- gion.
Squier,* whose extensive researches among aborig- inal remains in Central America and elsewhere, fitted him for the task of careful inquiry, visited this county and other portions of the State a score of years ago. His object was to determine if these enclosures had a common origin with the vast system of earth-works of the Mississippi valley, whose construction in a remote age, is assigned to the mysterious Mound-Builders. But they proved to be wanting in the regularity of out- line of those unique western structures. The builders, he says, instead of planning them upon geometrical principles, like those of the west, regulated their forms entirely by the nature of the ground upon which they were built. The pottery and other relics found scat- tered among their ruins are " absolutely identical with those which mark the sites of towns and forts known to have been occupied by the Indians within the his- torical period ;" and, instead of placing their construc- tion back in the ages of the misty past, it may be referred to the period succeeding the discovery of America or not long anterior to that event.
The Senecas, quite likely, on being driven from Ge- nundewah, took the precaution to provide their new habitations with defenses against unfriendly tribes of the west and north ; for they were then in their weak - est condition, and had most need of such security as their simple art of defense might afford. Earth walls would, without doubt, be first suggested as the means of local protection against assaults by hostile neigh- bors. These earth-works generally " occupy high and
* Hon. E. G. Squier. Sec Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. II.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
commanding sites near the bluff edges of those broad terraces by which the country rises from the level of the lakes. When met with upon lower grounds, it is usually upon some dry knoll or little hill, or where banks of streams serve to lend strength to the posi- tion. A few have been found upon slight elevations in the midst of swamps, where dense forests and al- most impassable marshes protected them from discov- ery and attack. In nearly all cases they are placed in close proximity to some unfailing supply of water, near copious springs or running streams. Gateways opening toward these are always to be observed, and in some cases guarded passages are visible."*
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In preparing to construct these defenses (Cusick says) "they set fire against several trees required to make a fort; the stone axes were then used to rub off the coals so as to burn quicker. When the tree burned down they put fire to it in places about three paces apart and burnt it off in half a day. The logs were then collected at a place where they set them up around according to the bigness of the fort, and the earth heaped on both sides." Embankments were dis- pensed with after the introduction of the spade and other European implements enabled the Indians to plant their pickets more firmly in the ground.
. Traces of long occupancy are found in all these works. Relics of art, such as clay pipes, metal orna- ments, earthen jars of clay tempered with pounded quartz and glass, or with fine sand, and covered with rude ornaments, stone hammers, and even parched corn which, by lapse of time had become carbonized, were discovered by Squier and others in caches or "wells." The latter, designed for the deposit of corn and other stores, "have been found six or eight feet in
* Squier in Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. II., p. 12.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
depth, usually located on the most elevated spot within the inclosure." Fragments of bones, charcoal and ashes and other evidences of occupancy, are always to be met with.
Many of these works, traced by the pioneers, were covered with heavy forests, and, in several instances, trees from one to three feet in thickness were observ- ed by Squier growing upon the embankments, and in the trenches. This would carry back the date of their construction several hundred years.
. The inclosures, though usually varying from one to four acres in area, ruins of much greater extent have been found. The larger ones were designed for permanent occupancy, the smaller, for temporary pro- tection-"the citadels in which the builders sought safety for their old men, women and children in case of alarm or attack," or when the braves were absent on the war-path. The embankments were seldom more than four feet in height. The spot selected was generally convenient to fishing-places and hunting- grounds, and contiguous to fertile bottoms. Indeed, all indications render it probable that the occupants were fixed and agricultural in their habits
The remains of nearly a score of these earth-works have been traced within this county, the largest of which, and, in truth the largest of any thus far met NOAD FROM LIMA TO LIVONIA. with in the State, is located in the town of Livonia on the farm of Arca 16 Acres. James Haydock. It is three miles north-east of the centre on the Lima road, and covers an area of sixteen
SCH! 700 DE.ElINCH
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
acres. It occupied the "summit of a commanding hill a position well chosen for defence. Twenty years ago, where the lines of entrenchments were crossed by fences and thus preserved from the encroachments of the plow, the embankment and ditch were distinctly visible. General Adams, who had often been over the ground before the removal of the forest, states that the ditch was then breast high."* Caches were laid open and many fragments of pottery picked up within the inclosure. The gateway opened toward the spring as shown in the engraving, and some indications existed of parallel embankments extending in that direction. Colonel George Smith, who was familiar with the works seventy years ago, is of opinion that the eastern ditch was straight rather than elliptical as in the preceding engraving, and ran due north and south, or nearly so. Within the fort, the ground was then smooth and was covered by a growth of small timber. A steep bank bounded the fort on the west, while on the north and south the ground sloped grad- ually away. From the western boundary of the fort to the present highway and beyond, the whole surface was a gentle descent. From the bottom of the ditch, in which stood several oaks, to the top of the bank was about five feet.
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