USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 9
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SITE OF BIG TREE VILLAGE, MONTURE'S GRAVE IN FOREGROUND.
a couple of rods east of the highway. Sugar maple trees were plentiful about Big Tree village while the Indians occupied it, and in the sugar season the Sen- ecas from other towns were in the habit of visiting their tribesmen here. In 1820 the village had become re- duced to eight or nine bark-roofed huts, and was among the last of the towns west of the river to be vacated. Descendants of its former occupants still venerate its site. Two or three years ago a band of
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Senecas visited the spot, and spent some hours in mourning over the graves. Their lamentations were plainly heard by Mr. Slocum's family, who resided a half a mile distant.
Dyu-non-dah-ga'-eeh * or Beardstown, long held the principal rank among the Seneca villages. When Mary Jemison reached there in 1761, she found the Beardstown warriors preparing to assist the French in retaking Fort Niagara, whence they soon returned in triumph, bringing white prisoners and driving a number of oxen, the first neat cattle, by the way, ever brought to the Genesee flats. Against this town Washington especially directed the expedition under Sullivan in 1779. The tribal council-fire lay else- where, but here lived the noted chieftain Little Beard, and about him had gathered the wise and brave of his tribesmen. Here were planned their forays and here they met for consultation, and, whenever the Senecas were summoned to the war-path, the Beardstown braves were always among the foremost. Quartered for security, at this village for months, perhaps for years, after the Revolution begun, were families from Nunda and other outlying towns, while their natu- ral protectors were absent harassing the eastern set- tlements ; and from this spot went out Brant and the Butlers to the massacre of Wyoming, and to engage in other bloody work. From this spot, too, in the rain of an autumn day, fled the panic-stricken women, children and old men of the Senecas, and others who had sought its asylum, to escape the "Yankee army" when it broke camp at Conesus Lake. Sullivan calls Beardstown the capital of the western Indians, and adds, "we reached the castle or village, which con-
* Or "steep hill creek," or " where the hill is (or lies) upon it." The Indian, Wm. Jones, said that Beardstown was called Ga-nah-da-ont-hira he The place is often called Little Beardstown.
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sisted of one hundred and twenty-eight houses, most- ly very large and elegant. The town was beautifully situated, almost encircled with a clear flat which ex- tends for a number of miles where the most extensive fields of corn were, and every kind of vegetable that can be conceived." The diaries of other expedition- ary officers dilate upon the beauty and relative impor- tance of the village. It occupied the eastern part of the site of Cuylerville, extending eastward toward the river for several rods beyond the canal. Russel Beebe, while in the employ of Oliver Phelps, cleared the land on which Beardstown was situated. He found the ruins of many huts, and here and there a straggling house near the river, showing that at one time the vil- lage extended well in that direction. The Indian orchard stood near John Perkins's barn, on the road from Cuylerville to the bridge, and a single apple-tree, which survived the destruction by Sullivan's soldiers may still be seen there. When planted, this tree was close to the ferry, as the river then ran. In excavating for the canal a few Indian bones were discovered, and several years ago Jacob Clute, on preparing to build a brick blacksmith shop near the distillery, dug up the skeletons of half a dozen natives. Tomahawks and knives, stone arrow-heads and other relics, are still found about the old village. The Indian burial- ground was situated a mile south of Cuylerville, on the farm of Hiram Jones, where a partial examination of the mounds, near forty years ago, discovered a large quantity of human bones Soon after the death of Little Beard, the families began to leave the village for Tonawanda, the number of occupants gradually lessening until Beardstown was depopulated, although the Indian title to the reservation was still unextinguish- ed.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
De-yu'-it-ga'-oh,* known to the whites as Squakie Hill, was situated on the westerly side of the river, opposite Mount Morris, and not far from the brow of the northern bluff terminating with the narrows of the Genesee. It had ready access to the river, between which and the hill, lay a broad flat, whose exhaustless soil, even under the scanty tillage of the Indians, yielded them corn and other vegetables in profusion. The reservation embraced two square miles. By 1816 its population had become reduced to about eighty souls occupying a dozen bark-roofed houses of small logs, scattered here and there as best suited the own- er's notion, though all clustered about the council house. The latter, located on a level spot of two or three acres west of the present highway and a few rods north of Mr. Raymond's house, was a log building abont 25 feet by 40. Inside, a row of rough seats ex- tended around the walls for spectators, the center being reserved for the council-fire. The burial-place lay to the north-west of the village, a few rods beyond the marsh or flat. Bones and weapons are yet found,. and a few years since a silver ear-ring was picked up on the old burial-ground site. There were two houses half way between the village and the corn grounds, and at the latter place each family had a smaller hut in which they often lodged while planting and har- vesting their crops. Few traces remain of Indian oc- cupancy at Squakie Hill. A part of Thomas Jem- ison's log house, located east of the highway, is yet standing and is still occupied as a dwelling. The or- chard to the south of the Jemison house, contains several apple trees planted by the Senecas, as likewise
* Meaning, "where the valley begins to expand or widen out." John Shanks and other Indians say that Squakie Hill was also called Ga-nah-dae ont-hwah, which means, " the hemlock was poured out," meaning the fine leaves.
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were a number of the venerable trees still standing on the flats to the east of Squakie Hill, and on the hill to the south, overlooking the guard-lock.
A knoll just across the stream, south of the cheese- factory and east of the highway, near Mr. Wil- lard's house, was the spot where John Jemison was killed. The Senecas believed that this medicine man's ghost haunted the place. "Friends," said the Tall Chief, "you have killed an Indian in time of peace and made the wind hear his groans and the earth drink his blood. If you go into the woods to live alone, the ghost of Jemison will follow you, crying, Blood ! blood ! and will give you no peace."*
Samuel Magee was at the village in 1802. Before entering, he met a score of bareheaded squaws, each shouldering a hoe, on their way to the corn-patch, under the lead of one of their number, who, according to the habit, usually laid out the day's work. On reaching the village Magee found a number of young Indians playing ball, an older set were pitching quoits, and a group of venerable natives were gravely watch- ing the games. The shouting and boisterous laughing of the players obliged Magee to dismount, to the great mirth of the Indians, and to lead his scared horse through the town. Squakie Hill kept its population longer than any of the other river villages, and was the scene of their farewell dance, when the natives were about to quit the Genesee country.
O'-non-da'-oht was located near the modern village of Nunda, though Thomas Jemison thinks a couple of miles nearer the river than the latter town. In this other Indians agree, but the precise spot is not de-
* Hosmer's notes.
+ Meaning "where many hills come together." It will be observed that the Gilbert Narrative gives the orthography Nundow, It is also given in early documents Nundey.
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termined. Philip Kenjockety told me, at Versailles, that a large spring of very cold water supplied the village, and as he recollected O'-non-da'-oh in early youth, quite a hundred years ago, it was larger than Beardstown then was. Previous to the battle of Fort Stanwix the warriors of O'-non-da'-oh and other Seneca villages had been invited by the British to come and see them whip the Yankees. The Indians were not asked to take part in the fight but to sit down and smoke their pipes and and look on. "Our Indians," said Mary Jemison, "went to a man, but instead of taking the part of spectators were forced to fight for their lives, and, in the end, were completely beaten, and that with great loss in killed and wounded."* O'-non-da'-oh shared in the disaster, losing among others its chieftain, Hoh-sque-sah-oh.t His death was much deplored. The distress following their losses begot a feeling of insecurity and when the warriors again took the war-path the families composing the town removed to Beardstown. Kenjockety, who dim- ly recollected the exodus, followed with his parents. We find the village again occupied in 1780. In the spring of that year Joseph Gilbert, a Quaker, with his parents and family, had been taken captives by a band of Senecas and Mohawks in Northumber- 'land county, Pennsylvania, and carried, with another pioneer, named Thomas Peart, to Caracadera where they were treated somewhat roughly. Gilbert was soon separated from Peart "and removed to Nundow,' almost seven miles distant, where, soon after his arrival the chief himself brought Joseph some hominy and otherwise treated, him with much civility and kind ness. - :19 The Beardstown Indians had 36 killed and. a number wounded. not known just how many were lost by the O-non-da oh village. bi Signifying " a man who carries a tomahawk."
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intending to adopt him into his family."* For several weeks he resided with the chief, whose wigwam was was superior to the huts of the other Indians. He was then taken back to Caracadera, his weakness of body, from scanty nourishment being so great that he was two days in accomplishing the journey of seven miles.
Peart was also taken to Nundow where he spent the fall and winter. Gilbert occasionally visited him there. Gilbert finally escaped to Niagara, and Peart was carried to the same place by his Indian mother, where the two captives rejoined their friends.
Ga-da'-oht was situated on the Genesee river, near the great land slide. The reservation originally embraced 28 square miles, lying on both sides of the river, the village being on the westerly shore. On the . return of the Senecas to the Genesee, after Sullivan's invasion. Mary Jemison went with others to Beards- town. Food was scarce there, and the weather by this time had become cold and stormy. As the houses had all been burned, she resolved to look out for her- self elsewhere. Taking two of her children upon her back and the three others following, she travelled on foot to Gardow flats. "At that time, two negroes,
*"Having passed through many difficulties and hardships, they were brought to a place or town called Caracadera, where they received the ins ults of the Indian women and children, whose husbands or parents had fallen in their hostile excursions, Here Joseph Gilbert was separated from Thomas Peart, and removed to an Indian town called Nundow, about seven miles distant. Soon after his arrival here the King himself brought Joseph some hommony, and otherwise treated him with much civility and kindness; with intention to adopt him into the family, in the place of one of his sons who was slain whon General Sullivan drove them from their habitations along the Susquehanna. For several weeks ho resided in the family of the King, or Indian Chief, whose wigwam was superior to the huts of the other In -. dians." (Vide narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Benjamin Gilbert and his family-Phil. 1848, p. 92, 98.)
t The Senecas name was Kau-tam, meaning "down and up," or a valley and hillside, in a word a "bluff." The word is now usually spelled Gardow.
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who had run away from their masters, were the only inhabitants of those flats. They lived in a small cabin and had planted and raised a large field of corn, as yet unharvested. They were in want of help to secure their crop, and I hired to them. I have laughed a thousand times to myself when I have thought of the good old negro who, fearing that I should be injured by the Indians, stood by me constantly with a loaded gun, and thereby lost as much labor of his own as he received from me."* She thus secured a supply of samp and cakes for the fearfully cold winter that fol- lowed. Deciding to take up her residence here, she occupied a part of the negrges',gabin and the next season built a hut for herself , The lands at Gardow subsequently became hers by formal, grant at the Big Tree treaty of 1797.+ She remained here until 1831, when she removed to the Buffalo reservation.
Ga-nos'-ga-go occupied the site of the village of Dansville. It was a small Seneca town, of compara- tively modern date, and for some cause had ceased to be occupied as a winter village at theadvent of the early pioneers, though "fifteen or twenty huts were stand- ing when white settlements commenced, and several Indian families lingered for some years in the neigh- borhood."# Main street cuts through the Indian burial ground, which covered two or three acres in- cluding the site of the Lutheran church. In sinking wells in the vicinity, a number of Indian relics and skeletons were exhumed, and about sixteen years ago workmen engaged in digging a cellar, near the south-
* Life of Mary Jemison.
+ It was granted to her by the Indians in consideration of their regard for her. She gradually sold off portions, and finally parted with the remainder, consisting of 2 sq. m., to Micah Brooks.
# Conrad Welch's recollections. See Turner's Phelps & Gorham, p. 359. The meaning of the Indian word Ga-nos-ga-go is, " among the milk- weeds."
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erly part of this burial ground, came upon two skeletons of giant-sized Indians, which lay side by side. They had evidently long reposed there, some favoring element in the soil having preserved them beyond the ordinary limit.
In a battle that took place between the Canisteo Indians and the Senecas, on a hill three miles to the north-east, a noted chief of the Senecas was killed. To mark the spot where he fell, an excavation, several rods in extent, shaped like a man with arms extended, was made by his tribesmen .* An Indian trail led by this novel memorial and the natives in passing were in the habit of clearing therefrom, with tender regard, the leaves and brush which the winds had drifted into it. The chief's remains were brought to Ga-nos'-ga- go for burial and, singularly enough, now lie under- neath the altar of the Lutheran church, a christian memorial to a pagan warrior. A rude monument, consisting of a pile of small stones brought hither, one by one, by the Indians, from a hill a mile distant, was worked by the white man 's hands into the church foundation walls. The Indian trail, which led from the Genesee to the Canisteo river and thence to eastern Pennsylvania, may yet in places be traced, especially at a point half way up Big Hill, where the path inter- sects the highway leading from Dansville to Hornells- ville ; and for many miles below the latter place its deeply worn course is yet plainly visible. Ga-nos'- ga-go was established after De Nonville's invasion of 1689. In Pouchot's map, as will be seen, it appears under the name of Ka-nons-ke-gon, a Frenchman's mode of indicating in writing the Indian spoken name. The two trails, passing up either side of the Cana-
* The spot cannot be found, though some of the early settlers were heard to speak of the excavation which they had seen.
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seraga connected the village with the towns along the river.
Sho-no'-jo-waah-geh,* occupied both sides of Da- mon's creek, which runs on the northerly edge of the village of Mount Morris. The residence of the late Judge Hastings occupies a portion of the site. The name signifies Big Kettle's town * and is derived from the circumstance of General Mills bringing a copper still or kettle into the place to put into a distillery. In opening Grove street, hatchets, knives, and beads were discovered in considerable quantities. Samuel Magee, who visited the Indian village in 1795, found the town quite compact, and the natives, who were en- joying themselves upon the green, very civil. Magee, then a pioneer youth, and until then holding the red- man in no little fear, lost his dread and grew fond of their company. When Jesse Stanley came to Mount Morris in 1811, an Indian mound, nearly a hundred feet in diameter and from 8 to 10 feet high, covered the site of the late General Mills' residence. The mound had long been crowned by a great tree, which had re- cently fallen under the axe, the stump remaining, though much weather-beaten. Deacon Stanley was told that when freshly cut it disclosed a hundred and thirty concentric circles or yearly growths. About the year 1820, the mound was removed, and, in its re- moval, arrow-heads, a brass kettle and knives were thrown out. A number of skeletons were also disin- terred. Among the bones was a human skeleton of enormous size, the jaw-bone of which was so large that Adam Holtslander placed it, mask-like, over his own chin and jaw, although he was the largest man in the settlement, and his face was in proportion to
* Literally, Sho-noh-jo-woah, Big Kettle, and geh, the location or town of hence "the town of Big Kettle." Morgan says that the famous Seneca or- stor, Big Kettle, once resided here, but this, I am satisfied, is an error.
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the rest of his body. Metal, in the form of rude medals, a pipe, and other articles, were picked out of the earth thrown from the excavation. Sho-noh- jo-waah-geh was generally called Allen's Hill by the whites ; and the flats directly to the east, culti- vated by the Indians, they called Allen 's flats deriving the name from Ebenezer Allan, or Indian Allan, as he was generally called, the Blue Beard of pioneer history. This notorious character had acquired own- ership of a large tract of land where Mount Morris now stands, occupying for residence, and also for bus- iness purposes, a long log house that stood within the bounds of Judge Hastings' grounds.
Gah'-nyuh-sas, or Conesus, was a small Seneca town, situated half a mile south of the head of Conesus lake, on the flat between Henderson's creek and the inlet, though nearer the former than the latter stream. Sullivan's invading army breakfasted at this village on the morning of the 13th of September, 1779, and there spent the earlier half of that day. They found it to consist of twenty-five houses, and the surround- ing bottom lands covered with patches of corn, ripen- ing melons, and squash and beans. Close at hand was an orchard of apple and peach trees. The army, with the exception of the light corps, which encamped a mile in advance, had bivouacked on Richardson 's farm at a late hour the previous evening. After marching all the afternoon through drizzling rain and over muddy paths, a scanty supper and short supply of water, added to damp garments, had not rendered the night one of comfort, and the men were glad enough to move forward at early dawn to a spot which, like this, promised bountiful rations of seasonable vegetables, good water and an opportunity to dry their clothing by the heat of the burning cabins of the little town. Arms were also to be examined and pre-
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pared for use against the enemy who were expected to be found gathered in force near their villages, which lay at no great distance beyond the brow of the wooded hills that were in full sight to the westward of Gah-nyuh-sas. Sullivan says in his report, " Here we found some large cornfields, which part of the army destroyed while the other part were employed in building the bridge" across the inlet. The town "had lately been under the command of a bold and enterprising negro named Captain Sunfish," (as Ser- geant-Major Grant, who accompanied the expedition states in his diary,) and showed traces of recent occu- pancy. When the army broke camp to move over the temporary bridge, cabins, crops and orchards had disappeared. The destruction of every species of property had been effected under the eye of Sullivan himself and was complete. The Indian village was never rebuilt. The Senecas have a tradition that a fort belonging to their tribe, once occupied the site of this town, but I am satisfied that this has reference to the fortified place near Bosley's Mills. Its name is derived from the abundance of sheep-berries which formerly grew on the western border of the lake. * Pouchot gives the name Oniotade.
Dyu-hah-gaiht was the village of the Oneida In- dians. It will be recollected that the Oneidas, as a tribe, took sides with the colonists in the Revolution- ary struggle. A few families, however, clung to the
* See appendix to Marshall's Expedition of DeNonville. Sullivan gives the orthography of Conesus thus-Kaneghsaws ; Col. Hubley spells it Kanaghsas and Major Norris, of the New Hampshire regiment, gives it Kaneysas or Yucksea. The name is also said to be derived from the old scoop-net-fishing- ground at the outlet of the lake, but this would apply to the old fortified place near Bosley's or Olmsted's Mills.
+ Meaning " the stream or current devours it," that is, the bank. There is some uncertainty as to the correctness of this name when applied to this vil- lage, though I am assured it was so called,
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British cause. Of the latter, a portion removed to the Genesee, retreating thence to Niagara at the approach of Sullivan. When the Senecas returned, a remnant of the Oneidas, consisting of 15 or 20 families, also came back and established their homes on the easterly side of the river, a mile below North 's mill. Near the site of their village, the river banks are quite bold. The Oneida youth were expert swimmers and often astonished the pioneers by their daring leaps into the water. Charles Shackleton said they could dive as deep and stay as long beneath the surface as a fish. The spot became quite noted as a bathing-place, and, on a warm afternoon, the river was frequently alive with their black heads, The whites were on good terms with them, and often visited the ground to play ball with the natives. The Senecas of the upper vil- lages imagined that the Oneida town harbored two or three witches, and about the year 1800, one of the sus- pected squaws was secured and taken to Beardstown, where, it is said, she was burned. This village was the occasional residence of two or three of the more noted Seneca wise men. It was among the first to be abandoned after the treaties.
Jo-nis-hi-yuh * must have been located near the modern village of Geneseo. Our information respect- ing it is quite too vague to satisfy the geographer, but varying traditions unite in fixing its site in proximity to the Mammoth Spring, as it is sometimes called, east of Temple Hill street. General Ely Parker, whose intimate acquaintance with Seneca legends has, in
* The Jesuits call it Chenussio. The full name in Seneca is De-gah-chi-nos- hi-yooh, meaning Beautiful Valley, and was named, according to some, from an exclamation made after the first Big Tree treaty was concluded, as they rose to depart. John Shanks says that this particular name belonged to a place six miles from the village of Geneseo. Geneseo was known to the Indians in later times as Oh-ha-dath, or "burnt trees," that is, girdled trees.
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many ways, served the historian, refers to a tradition which confers upon this town the distinction of hold- ing, for a brief period, the council-fire of the Senecas. Pouchot's map locates the town and gives the name as Sonnechio." The Seneca name signifies " the beau- tiful valley," and had reference to the immediate country looking westward, rather than to the particu- lar spot. In this sense I conceive that no designation could be more appropriate. Sullivan makes no refer- ence to this village in his report, although Pouchot makes special mention of it a score of years earlier. It should be remarked, however, that Sullivan crossed the river four miles higher up, near Hampton, the res- idence of the late Colonel Fitzhugh ; hence he might easily have been ignorant of its existence even if it were then occupied. It is quite likely, however, that it had ceased to be used as a winter abode and was held, if at all, as a hunting lodge or temporary autumn home for roving bands. It was near this vil- lage that both Schoolcraft and Cusick fix the place of the bloody battle between the Kah-kwas, who had been sent into the Seneca country by their female chief, and the latter tribe.
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