USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume I > Part 24
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The first town meeting in Canandarguaw, as the town clerk of the time wrote it, was held on the first Tuesday in April, 1791, and was "opened and superintended" by Israel Chapin, Esquire. The officers elected were as follows: supervisor, Israel Chapin ; town clerk, James D. Fish; assessors, John Call, Enos Boughton, Seth Reed, Nathan Comstock, James Austin, Arnold Potter, and Nathaniel Norton; collectors, Phineas Bates and John Codding; overseers of the poor, Israel Chapin and Nathaniel Gorham; com- missioners of highways, Othniel Taylor, Joseph Smith, Benjamin Wells; constables, Nathaniel Sanborn, Jared Boughton, and Phin- eas Pierce; overseers of highways, James Latta; Joshua Whitney, John Swift, Daniel Gates, Jabez French, Gamaliel Wilder, Abner Barlow, Isaac Hathaway, Hezekiah Boughton, Eber Norton, Wil- liam Gooding, and John D. Robinson.
In April, 1792, the second town meeting was "opened and inspected" by Israel Chapin and Moses Atwater respectively, and Israel Chapin was re-elected supervisor, as he continued to be until the year of his death, 1795.
The supervisors of the town of Canandaigua from its organ- ization to the present time have been as follows: Israel Chapin, 1791-95; Abner Barlow, 1796-99; Augustus Porter, 1800-1; Nathaniel Gorham, 1802-3; (no record of 1804 and 1805) ; Timothy Burt, 1806-7; Hugh Jameson, 1808; Ebenezer F. Norton, 1809; Hugh Jameson, 1810-11; Nathaniel Gorham, 1812; Reuben Hart, 1813; Phineas P. Bates, 1814; Eliphalet Taylor, 1815-16; John A. Stevens, 1817; Nathaniel Gorham, 1818; Lott Rew, 1819; Harvey Sanders, 1820; Phineas P. Bates, 1821; Francis Granger, 1822-25 ; Oliver Phelps, 1826-31; Phineas P. Bates, 1832; Oliver Phelps, 1833 ; Phineas P. Bates, 1834-36; Russell B. Johnson, 1837; Charles Shepard, 1838-42; William W. Gorham, 1843-47; Jabez H. Metcalf. 1848; Gideon Granger, 1849-51; Henry W. Taylor, 1852; Zebina Lucas, 1853-54; Ebenezer Hale, 1855; Evander Sly, 1856; Charles Shepard, 1857; Charles Coy, 1858-61; Jacob J. Mattison, 1862: George Cook, 1863; John Callister, 1864; J. Harvey Mason, 1865- 67; Gustavus R. Fox, 1868; Frank O. Chamberlain, 1869-70; Charles E. Shepard, 1871-73; Frank O. Chamberlain, 1874; James S. Hickox, 1875; John B. Robertson, 1876-78; William L. Park- hurst, 1879-81 ; Thomas H. Cost, 1882; Rollin L. Beecher, 1883-84;
262
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Marion P. Worthy, 1885; Mattison L. Parkhurst, 1886; Joel M. Howey, 1887; George B. Sackett, 1888; Frederick W. Bryan, 1889; Charles C. Sackett, 1890-92; Frank O. Sisson, 1893; Charles C. Sackett, 1894-95; Henry C. Sutherland, 1896-98; Ira P. Cribb, 1899-1905; Ralph M. Simmons, 1906-09; Elmer Lucas, 1910-11.
Early History of Township No. 9.
BY ROBERT M. MOJANNETT.
In giving a condensed sketch of the early history of township No. 9, as originally surveyed for Phelps and Gorham, and now embraced in the town of Canandaigua, it seems best to begin with Cheshire, the only village and the commercial center of the district.
Cheshire was first known as Rowley's School House, from an early school building erected on the lands of John Rowley, the first settler on the site of the village, in 1795. His was the first house erected. The next to come were two young men, soldiers of the Revolution, Peter Atwell and Epaphratus Nott, who purchased land and established homes here. Levi Beebe, Milton Gillett, William Bacon, Jonathan Mack, and Stephen Ward were later settlers in the neighborhood. Mark Doolittle and Selma Hotchkiss were also early settlers near the farm of Frank Odell. Jonathan Beebe opened the first store in 1812, in the house on the corner opposite the residence of Austin Huntley, now occupied by Peter Ginther.
In 1815, others moved in, among them Daniel Hotchkiss, Joseph Tyrrill, and Amanda Hitchcock. Jesse and David Parshall and Joseph Shomaker were residents of the lake shore, near the white school house. Lacy Shomaker, of Academy, was a son of Joseph Shomaker. A tavern was opened by a Mr. Stiles at Tichenor point, on the lake shore. In 1806, Arsino Beebe came from Vermont with his family, one of whom was the late Mrs. Chamberlain of Cheshire. John Rowley built a saw mill in 1814. Israel Parshall and Lorenzo Tillotson were early merchants, as were also Hanaan Cooley and Ralph Huntley. The first blacksmith was John Adams. The first tavern was opened by Joseph Israel, in 1818. In the early school days, Jonathan Beebe was the only teacher for years. Levi Beebe, born in 1806, was one of the first children to be born. One of the first burials was that of Rebecca Dodge.
263
THE TOWN OF CANANDAIGUA.
The first settled minister was Thomas Tuttle, and he was succeeded by Abel Haskell. The first Baptist society in the town of Canandaigua was organized in this district in 1800, at the house of Lemuel Castle. The sermon was preached by Elder Case. Among the members were Hugh Jameson, Lemuel Castle, John Rowley, Solomon Goold, Charity Castle, David Hurd, Jennette Jameson, and John Freeman and wife. There was only occasional preaching until 1804, when Elder Silas Barnes was engaged to preach for one year for the generous salary of $75, this amount to be raised by assessment as other taxes; and a resolution allowed sisters to vote at church meetings. The society was without a church edifice until 1832, when a house of worship was erected on the hill on the farm of the late Zebina Lucas, Esq., next to N. B. Weaver's south line. Elder Eli Haskell was the pastor then and preached there for nearly thirty years. After his death the society declined and the building was finally sold and the frame used for a barn west of Cheshire.
A second Baptist society was organized in Cheshire in 1840. The first board of trustees was: Amasa Salisbury, Justus Rose, Lester Hunt, O. B. Morse, Elias Huntley, William B. Prouty, and Moses Ward. The various denominations united in building the first house of worship. This served until 1870, when was erected the edifice, now utilized as a Union church, in which Sunday services are regularly maintained without denominational bias or support. The old building was sold to Mr. C. H. Wilbur and is now known as Lincoln hall.
In 1834 Jabez Prichard built a "corncracker" and carding mill on the creek south of the village.
At Menteth point, in 1800, lived one Whiting Truman, who erected a mill in the gully-the only mill in the town to which the settlers (sometimes the women) went on horseback with grists- frequently going long distances in many cases.
On the hill above the residence of Mrs. Durand, a log school house was built at an early day. This was used for a time for religious services. It is worthy of note that the first Methodist society in the town of Canandaigua was organized in that school district (No. 18) in 1796. As organized, the society numbered among its members Roswell Root and wife, Sarah Moore, Ambrose Phelps and wife. Levi Rowley and wife, Talcott Reed and wife. Giles Hecox and wife, David and Jesse Parshall and their wives,
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Eliza Holcomb, Aaron Spencer and wife, and Isaac and Jesse Van Orman. In 1811 a house of worship was erected, and was known as No. 9 meeting house. It was a popular place of worship for many years. In 1873 it was taken away. Services in Canan- daigua had then become much more attractive.
It is evident from the foregoing that No. 9 took a prominent - part in early days in the making of the history of the township of Canandaigua.
The Academy Tract.
In 1804, three thousand acres of the south end of township No. 9 was given by Oliver Phelps to aid Canandaigua Academy, hence the name Academy tract. It extends from the lake to the Bristol town line at the top of the hill on the west, and from the north line of South Bristol to the road leading up the hill just south of the long iron bridge that spans the Haskell gully, thence directly east to the lake. It was thought of little value, as the timber was stunted and the land covered with an undergrowth of huckleberry bushes. It was surveyed into lots of one hundred and fifty acres and these lots again divided in halves, so that each settler had seventy-five acres. The land was thought to be very poor and settlers were looked upon as of the same character. When one of them appeared upon the streets of Canandaigua, it was customary for the residents of that village to say "Here comes one of those poor Academites."
The first settlement was in 1810 at Bell's point, now the property of General Reynolds, by a Mr. Eaton. Three years later fourteen families had settled on the tract; John Penoyer, James Courier, William Warren, Jonathan Crooker, Solomon Riggs, Widow Holmes, Elias Bascom, the Bullards, I. Dickenson, and Robert McGee. Soon a school house was built of pine logs, hewed inside and out, and pointed with lime morter outside and in, and it had twelve windows of glass. This house was used for meetings until a church was erected in 1832. In 1820 there were about forty families settled on the tract and there were but two frame dwellings. In 1825 Jasper Housel located on what was deemed the poorest lot, near the center of the tract. When cleared, a crop of seven hundred and fifty bushels of wheat was raised in a single harvest, besides other crops. This is now a principal part of Frank Housel's farm.
265
THE TOWN OF CANANDAIGUA.
And now the formerly despised Academy tract is as valuable and productive as any farm land in the town.
There were strenuous times in those early days to obtain a little money. Huckleberries, in their season, were a money crop and whole families were engaged in gathering the fruit. The late Alvin Penoyer used to tell that when he was a boy the family had one day gathered a fine quantity of berries, and he had loaded them in the ox cart to carry to market, when the oxen became unruly, ran away and scattered the entire load.
266
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
XXV
THE VILLAGE OF CANANDAIGUA.
Located at "Ye Outlet of the Kennadarqua Lake"-The First Settle- ment-Incorporation of the Village-Its Hotels, Cemeteries, Churches, Schools, Newspapers, Libraries, Hospitals, Railroads, and Public Improvements-Lake and Business Interests- Municipal Organization.
BY CHARLES F. MILLIKEN.
We have seen how the settlement which was thereafter destined to be known as the village of Canandaigua came into existence, how by a fortuitous circumstance which deprived Geneva of the advan- tage it was made the headquarters of the Phelps and Gorham Company, and how it became the natural business and social center of that community of eastern enterprise and eastern culture which the emigrants from Massachusetts essayed to set up in the Genesee country or the Great Western Wilderness, as it was variously described by the travelers and prospectors of the time. Let us now look more particularly into the beginnings of the settlement and its early development and trace as well as we may in the space allotted to the subject the growth of the village, not into the metropolis which its founders planned, but into the Canandaigua of our love- the "clean, cool, comfortable, captivating, Canandaigua," of this year of grace, 1911.
The Massachusetts purchasers had appointed William Walker of Lenox, Massachusetts, to act as their business agent in disposing of the lands to settlers. Mr. Walker, who was born July 3, 1751, and who must therefore have been thirty-seven years of age when he made his entry on the Purchase, had been a Revolutionary soldier and was recognized as a man of sturdy worth. In commissioning him to establish headquarters and begin the work for which he had been engaged, Oliver Phelps clearly indicated that it had been the
267
THE VILLAGE OF CANANDAIGUA.
intention of the associates to establish these headquarters at the site of the old Indian capital, Kanadesaga, near the foot of Seneca lake, and he was instructed in a letter dated August 21, 1788, in view of the report that the survey had run the Preemption line west of that site, "to make the most thorough and exact inquiry to find whether that place falls within our purchase." In a letter of a later date, October 3, Mr. Phelps advised Mr. Walker, in order to avoid conflict with the Yorkers, to make "Ye Outlet of the Kennadarqua Lake" his headquarters. Agent Walker under date of October 5, 1788, reported to the effect that as in his judgment nothing was to be gained by having the Preemption line run again, he had selected, west of "Canandarqua Creek," "a beautiful situation and good ground for a town plot." So the site of the village of Canandaigua was determined.
There was apparently an effort made to give the name of "Walkersburgh" to the new settlement, as a letter written by Caleb Benton to Mr. Walker and dated Geneva, October 14, 1788, was directed to "Walkersburgh, alias Canandaque." Fortunately this attempt failed and the euphonious name which the Indians had given the nearby lake, Canandaigua, or Kanandarque, or as other- wise variously spelled by the early writers, was wisely adopted by those who had the say and it has happily been handed down to us without further attempt to displace it with one that might perpetuate the name of an individual, however worthy and however honorable, or by one of that medley of classical names with which Western New York was at one time so liberally sprinkled. Fortunate it would have been if the name Kanadesaga had been similarly preserved in the naming of a city that was to be at the foot of Seneca lake.
Agent Walker at once took steps to provide for the erection of a building on the site thus selected, to be used as his dwelling and as a land office. The contract for this building, which was erected on lot No. 1, east side of Main street, south of the square, and which was the first to be erected on the site of Canandaigua, will be read with interest:
Memorandum of an agreement between William Walker on the one part and John D. Robinson the other part, Witnesseth, that the said Robinson doth agree to Build for the said Walker a house at Canadauque of the Same Dimen- sions, and in the same manner as the house now building by Captain Bartles at Geneva, with this Variation, viz: he is to build but one Chimney and is not to lay either of the floors, or make the Doors or Window Shets, he is to board
268
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
himself, and procure all the materials except nails, the building is to be com- pleted every way as well as the said Bartles, there is to be a twelve square, seven by nine Glass Window frame in the front and rear of each room, the work is to be completed this fall, for which the said Walker doth agree to pay the said Robinson forty pounds. N. York Currency in the following man- ner, viz: in provisions Sufficient for him the said Robinson's self and hands, while building said house, and the remainder in a Lot of Land in No. Eleven, first range, to be valued according to Quality and Situation, reckoning the whole Township at two Shillings per acre, and if the said Lot should be found to exceed the Remainder of the said forty pounds, said Walker agrees to take his pay in Said Robinsons Labour after the first day of June next, when the said Walker may demand it, witness our hands interchangeably Signed this twenty-Eighth Day of October, in the year of our Lord 1788
Witnesses Present, Wm. Walker, John Dk'r Robison, Ezekiel Scott, Enos Boughton.
November 17th, 1788.
Rec'd of William Walker five pounds, One Shilling and six pence in part pay for the within house.
John Dk'r Robison.
Houses of similar dimensions were built the same season for James D. Fish, on the lot afterward owned by James G. Smedley, and for Joseph Smith on the east side of lower Main street. The latter was the first actual settler on the site, moving into his new dwelling early in the spring of 1789 while snow was on the ground and setting out at once to make preparations for entertaining the pioneers whom he had foresight to see would soon flock to the settle- ment. General Israel Chapin and his party reached the village early in May and the active work of building and settlement continued. By the time another winter had come around the deputy marshal of the State reported that there were eighteen families in the village, including seventy-eight males, twenty females, and one slave.
The heads of families were listed as follows :
Gorham, Nathaniel, Jr. Clark, John
Brainard, Daniel
Sanbourne, Nathaniel
Dudley, Martin
Holcomb, Seth
Fellows, John
Bates, Phineas Brocklebank, James
Smith, Joseph Walker, Caleb
Castle, Lemuel
Fish, James D.
Colt, Judah, Esqr. Wells, Benjamin
Chapin, Genl. Israel
Barlow, Abner
Freeman, John
Immediately following the decision to make Canandaigua the headquarters of the Purchase, and the plotting of the tract was under way, Judge Phelps had the village location surveyed and
THE VILLAGE OF CANANDAIGUA.
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Canandaigua. Lahe
360 Pods wide here
FIRST PLOTTING OF VILLAGE OF CANANDAIGUA-1789. Dotted line probably indicates the Indian trail which extended west from Kanadesaga to Canandaigua and the Genesee-the trail which Sullivan followed in his expedition of 1779.
Plott of a town on City at the Late being in the Town Y: 10 3? wide tuning Ileth 25 Deg" Mest. the Main is & Gods wide the other 6 2ods wide aff the other sheet Each Lot 16 rods by 10 and
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270
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
lotted. In the instructions to Agent Walker concerning the laying out of the location first selected at Kanadesaga, Phelps and Gorham had directed that "the most suitable place within the Township and as near the Harbour as will be convenient for a town plot" be laid out into lots, and had specified that "the streets are to be wide and regular," and when Mr. Walker, having satisfied himself that Kanadesaga was not within the Purchase, had located the proposed settlement at the foot of Canandaigua lake, he was careful to observe these directions of the proprietors, a fact to which the Canandaigua of the present day owes much of its beauty of situation, and the width and regularity of its streets.
Among the papers of Agent Walker, which are in the custody of his great grandson, Mr. Robert C. Rockwell, of Lenox, Massachu- setts, is a preliminary sketch of a "Plan of Town Plot, Canadarqua." Another more careful map of a "Plott of a Town or City on the North end of Canandarqua Lake, being in the town No. 10, Third range. Main Street 6 rods wide, runing North 25 deg's west -the streets parrellel to the Main is 4 rods wide, the other Main street at rite angle, 6 rods wide-all the other streets East and Westward 3 rods wd. Each Lot. 16 rods by 10, and Contains one Acre." The total number of lots laid out and numbered on this plotting is two hundred and eighty. This plotting is reproduced herewith under permission of Mr. Rockwell, by whom the original is carefully preserved. Another of the Walker papers is endorsed "Draught of the Proprietors." It contains a "List of the City Lots," with the names and the numbers of the lots drawn by each. Gen'l Chapin, Capt. Bacon, Mr. Chaplin, Mr. Hamilton, Gen'1 Ashley, and Mr. Lee, Major Judd, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Sedgwick, Mr. Strong, John Lowel, James Parker, Mr. Corbet, John Williams & Saxton, and Saml. Phillips, Esq., each drew two lots; William Walker, Esq., Judge Sullivan, Thompson J. Skinner, and Colo. Butler, each had four lots; Samuel Street had thirty lots, and Phelps and Gorham one hundred sixty-six lots. "Voted that the Main street be widened Two rods by carrying all the Lots on the west side 2 Rods further to the westward." Another map is entitled "A Plot of 2nd Allotment in Town No. 10 in 3rd Range, Each lot con- taining 20 acres," the most of the lots being 80 by 40 rods.
271
THE VILLAGE OF CANANDAIGUA.
Early Views of the Village.
The hard conditions of life in the new settlement did not discourage the pioneers. They were optimists. In 1795, Dudley Saltonstall wrote back to his father in Connecticut that "Canan- daigua, named from a lake at the bottom of which it stands, contains sixty houses, more elegant in their structure than those of any village I know in Connecticut, Litchfield excepted. * * This country is no longer a wilderness ; here are good inhabitants-far better than those in New London-and fine farms, the cleared parts of which are clothed with the most luxuriant herbage."
Duke Liancourt, in writing of his rambles through the Genesee country in June, 1795, described the Canandaigua of that date as follows: "The houses, although built of wood, are much better than any of that description I have hitherto seen. They consist mostly of joiner's work, and are prettily painted. In front of some of them are small courts, surrounded with neat railings. There are two Inns in the town, and several shops, where commodities are sold, and shoes and other articles made. The price of land here is three dollars per acre without the town, and fifteen dollars within." Speaking of a visit to "Mr. Chipping" (Chapin), he says he found him surrounded by a dozen Seneca Indians (among whom was Red Jacket), who had come to partake of his whiskey and meat."
Some of the travelers who passed this way were not so favor- ably impressed. "The settlement of this Town" (Canandaigua), says Mr. Spafford in his Gazetteer. "commenced in 1790, and in 1797 I found it but feeble, contending with innumerable embarrassments and difficulties. The spring of that year was uncommonly wet and cold. Besides a good deal of sickness, mud knee-deep, musquetoes and gnats so thick that you could hardly breathe without swallow- ing them, rattle-snakes, and the ten thousand discouragements every where incident to new settlements, surrounded by all these, in June of that year, I saw, with wonder, that these people. all Yankees, from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont, were perfectly undismayed, 'looking forward in hope,' 'sure and stedfast.' They talked to me of what the country would be, by and by, as if it were history, and I received it as all fable. In order to see the whole 'power of the county,' a Militia Muster of all the men capable of bearing arms, I waited a day or two, and attended 'the training.' Major Wadsworth was the commanding officer, and, including the
272
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
men who had guns, and who had not, the boys, women, and children, it was supposed that near 200 persons were collected. This training, one of the first, was held at Capt. Pitts's, on the Honeoye, and lasted all day and all night."
Time demonstrated that the pioneers' confidence in the future of Canandaigua was well founded, as the same writer made haste to acknowledge. In 1824, Mr. Spafford reported that "in point of beauty and elegance of position, as well as in the style of its build- ings, Canandaigua is excelled by no place of the same extent in the United States. It contains about 350 houses and stores, and 2000 inhabitants."
The Square and Streets.
The village square as originally laid out was quartered by Main and Cross streets and contained six acres of land. Its south line was what is now the north face of the Hubbell block ; on its east line the Canandaigua hotel now fronts; its north line was what is now the north line of the street known as Atwater place. Court street and Atwater place, therefore, both occupy land and the New York Central railroad tracks occupy land originally included in the square. The property was conveyed by Phelps and Gorham in 1800, for a consideration of $1.00, to the county of Ontario, it being provided in the deed that nothing but a court house should be built in the northeast corner, that the southeast corner should be devoted exclusively to park purposes, and that that portion lying west of Main street should be occupied only by buildings used by the county, excepting that no building should be erected that would obstruct the light or obscure the view of the school house then standing thereon.
The extension of the square to the north, on the east side of Main street, where the present court house stands, came into possession of the county at the time of the erection of that building in 1857, the conveyance having been from Samuel Brush, for a consideration of $6,000. The deed provided that no building should ever be erected on the land therein conveyed, within twenty feet of Gorham street.
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