USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume I > Part 30
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District No. 7, a joint district in Farmington and Macedon, had among its early settlers, Asa Smith, father of Gideon Smith, who survives at the advanced age of ninety years and is a resident of the district at the present time, and Samuel Everett, whose descendants have resided in the district until the past year or two.
District No. 8 had for its pioneer settlers John Pound and Elijah, his brother, from New Jersey, who settled upon and cleared the land now owned by Albon G. Sheldon, Sr., and James Hoag, who settled here and carried on a shoe shop.
Among the pioneers in District No. 9 was Job Howland, who located here in 1790 and within a short time built a saw mill on
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Black brook. In this district were planted some of the first orchards in the town. The first white settler in this section was Major Smith, who had a good orchard as early as 1800. In 1803, Smith sold to Benjamin Hance, from Maryland, who brought some slaves with him.
The pioneer settlers in District No. 10 were Peter Pratt and Lawrence McLouth, an old time pedagogue, who had served as a sergeant in the Revolutionary war. Percy Antisdale was also a Revolutionary soldier.
District No. 11 was settled by Moses Power in 1798. This district compared with others in the town was late of settlement.
District No. 12, known as New Salem, or "Pumpkin Hook," is Farmington's primary settlement, made by Nathan Comstock and his sons, Otis and Darius, heretofore mentioned. Theirs was the first white men's cabin in town. Besides those mentioned, four other sons came west with Mr. Comstock: Nathan, Jr., Jared, Joseph, and John. Jared settled back in the field and built a house, which was standing but a few years ago on the farm now owned by Andrew Bowe. Isaac Hathaway, Jr., son of pioneer Isaac, settled on the farm now occupied by his grandson, Frederick Hath- away, and was engaged in piling brush in one of the fields at the time of the eclipse in 1806. Otis Hathaway, Isaac's brother, was the founder of New Salem and built the first store buildings there. Other interesting facts in connection with the history of this dis- trict have been mentioned previously and we pass to the early settlement of District No. 13.
The pioneer settler in District No. 13 was Dr. Stephen Aldrich. He was the first physician in the town and settled on the farm now known as the Isaac Cotton farm. Gideon Herendeen was also an early settler in this district, owning and residing on the farm now belonging to John A. Scribner. Others were Turner Aldrich, who held office as early as 1797, and Ebenezer Horton, an eccentric character who claimed control of the weather. Manufacturing was carried on quite extensively in this district in early days. Talcott and Batty built an ashery near the site of the present school house in 1817. Previous to that, about 1815, Reuben Hayt built a small tannery. A tavern was kept at Stevenson's corners in those early days by John Sheffield. A part of the original building is now standing and is at present owned by Myron G. Cotton. Isaac and Richard Colvin had a hattery in this locality, and not far from the
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THE TOWN OF FARMINGTON.
school, presumably where John A. Scribner's orchard now stands, Augustus Bingham erected a blacksmith shop. The timbers of this shop are in a good state of preservation, having been moved across the road to the farm of A. H. Stevenson, where they were remod- eled into a corn-crib, which is now in useful condition.
In closing this brief history of the town of Farmington, it would be but fitting to mention our soldier heroes of the great Rebellion. Eighty-six soldiers enlisted from old Farmington. Many of these have answered to their last roll call, and gone to their long home. Others are scattered east and west, north and south. Those resid- ing in the town at the present time are James A. Young, Ambrose A. Young, Edward Cotton, John Nussbaumer, William Stevenson, Horace Sheffer, Henry J. Whipple, Charles Joslin, Sylvester Gard- ner, Daniel W. Bronk, and George Bortel.
The first census of the town was taken in 1830 and the popu- lation at that time was 1,773; in 1840 it was 2,122; in 1860, 1,858; in 1870, 1,896; in 1880, 1,978; in 1890, 1,703; in 1900, 1,607; in 1910, 1,568.
The first supervisor of the town was Jared Comstock; the first town clerk was Isaac Hathaway. They were elected in the spring of 1797.
The present town officers follow: Supervisor, Joseph W. Tuttle; town clerk, Frank O. Power; justices of the peace, Edwin J. Gardner, A. B. Katkamier, Henry C. Osborn, H. H. Collins ; assessors, John A. Scribner, Lewis F. Allen, Louis H. McLouth ; highway commissioner, Charles H. Gardner; overseer of poor, Thomas R. Baker; collector, Fred Robbins; constables, Henry J. Whipple, George Whittaker; school directors, Levi A. Redfield, George Loomis; truant officer, Norman Norris. The resident physician is Dr. O. J. Mason.
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
NO. XXVIII.
THE TOWN OF GENEVA.
The Youngest and the Smallest Town in Ontario County-Nurser- ies, Fruit Growing, and General Farming, Its Only Industries -Descendants of the Pioneers now Prominent Citizens- "Kashong" on Seneca Lake, the Gateway for the First White Settlers.
BY SIDNEY B. REED.
The township of Geneva was created by a resolution of the Ontario county board of supervisors, adopted October 11, 1872, dividing the town of Seneca, and giving the new town the follow- ing boundaries : "All that part of the town of Seneca lying east of the west line of the first tier of township lots, next west of the old Preemption line."
This included the then village of Geneva, and the original form of the new town was continued until January 1st, 1898, when an act of the State Legislature, passed in May, 1897, incorporating the city of Geneva, became effective. The city boundary was extended beyond the bounds of the village, taking in several hun- dred acres of farm land. The city and town still have the same boundaries, though nearly every year the city's common council makes an effort to have the charter amended, so as to take a con- siderable part of the town's valuable farm land into the city.
The smallest town in the county, having but eighteen square miles of area, Geneva carries the highest per acre assessed valua- tion. Adjoining the city of Geneva as it does, there is not a ham- let, a store, postoffice, or church in the town. Nurseries, fruit growing, and general farming are the only industries.
Many of the prominent families of the town are descendants of the settlers of more than a hundred years ago. William Ansley came from Pennsylvania and located in Geneva in 1786. The third
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THE TOWN OF GENEVA.
and fourth generation of his descendants now live where he settled. George Wilkie came from Scotland, early in the last century, and was the ancestor of a number of the most successful citizens. John Scoon, also from Scotland, came to the village of Geneva in 1800, and later lived and died in the town. A number of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are permanently located here.
In 1788, Jerome Loomis located in the northwestern part of the town, coming here from Connecticut, a veteran of the Revolu- tionary war. His son, Henry H. Loomis, now past ninety years of age, is an active citizen of Geneva city. George Bennett early located in the northern part of the town .. His son, Horace D., a former supervisor, though more than four score years of age, is an active and influential resident on a farm near where he was born.
Seneca lake borders the town for more than seven miles on the east. A branch of the New York Central railroad, from Lyons to Corning, parallels the lake. At the mouth of Kashong creek, very near the line between Ontario and Yates counties, a point of land projects into the lake, occupied by about twenty summer cottages. This colony is named Kashong, as is the railroad station close by.
The following sketch of Kashong is taken from S. C. Cleve+ land's "History of Yates County": "The first white settlers at this place were the French traders, De Bartzch and Poudre. Kas- hong was the gateway by which settlers entered that part of the country. It was known for many years as 'Ben Barton's Landing.' It was a beautiful spot, where a fine Indian village had been destroyed by Sullivan's men. Some of the Indian apple trees, it is said, remained over fifty years after the first settlement of the country.
"Major Barton, who was interested in the Niagara Lessee Company, and agent for the same, bought of Dominick De Bartzch a farm of seven hundred acres at Kashong. He resided here about twenty years, and married a daughter of James Latta, an early settler of the town of Seneca. From 1802 to 1806, he was sheriff of Ontario county, by appointment of Governor George Clinton, and was a man of high consideration in the country. About 1796 or 1797, he commenced the erection of a large square two-story frame house. Owing to adverse circumstances, one of which was the failure of the contractor, he lost three hundred dollars, a large sum at that time. Another was that his lumber, after being well dried and fit for use, caught fire in the kiln and was destroyed.
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HISTORY OF' ONTARIO COUNTY.
These retarded the work for many years. At length it was com- pleted, and the event was celebrated by the most rousing house warming the new country ever saw."
This house now stands about an eighth of a mile south of the county line, almost exactly as it was built.
The first election for the town, after the incorporation of the city, was held in November, 1897, when the following officers were elected: Samuel McBlain, supervisor; James W. Holland, town' clerk; Charles W. Smith, justice of peace; William A. Merritt, justice of peace; Chauncey Sheffield, commissioner of highways; George W. Black, collector; G. Grove Long, constable. Mr. McBlain served one term as supervisor, and was succeeded by Robert Bilsborrow, who died during his first term. Horace D. Bennett was appointed for the unexpired term and was reelected. Sidney B. Reed was the next incumbent, and is now serving his fourth term as supervisor, and the fourth year as chairman of the county board.
The present officers of the town are: E. L. Holcomb, town clerk; Willard G. McKelvie, justice of peace; E. G. Nellis, justice of peace; George McBlain, town superintendent; Leo De Melle, constable ; Sam H. Morrison, constable; Herbert H. Wyatt, collec- tor.
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VILLAGE AND CITY OF GENEVA.
XXIX
VILLAGE AND CITY OF GENEVA.
Its Origin, Its Development, and Its First Hundred Years of Corporate Life - Its Early Coign of Vantage - Circum- stances of Settlement-Pioneer Families-Unique Character- istics-Chronicle of Happenings-Incorporation as City- Centennial Celebration.
COMPILED FROM MATERIALS FURNISHED BY CHARLES DELAMATER VAIL, L. H. D., BY WHOM ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED, ALSO REVISED AND CORRECTED BY HIM.
As a bit of earth, Geneva, as seen today, has much to plume itself upon, but in the early days the coign of vantage of Geneva as a place was not so much its beautiful surroundings as the fact that it shared with Bath the honor of being the gateway to the Genesee country, and by the Genesee country is meant here not merely the geographical valley of the Genesee river, but, in a larger, freer sense then current, the entire portion of the Empire State from Seneca lake to lake Erie, a country which, coming suddenly to the attention of the world through Sullivan's Raid in 1779, at once dazzled its imagination as a new earthly paradise and to this day remains a magnet of undiminished attraction-a country to which, if traditions may be believed, no less a one than Washington once made a flying visit with his friend, Colonel William Fitzhugh, to verify its charm-a legend worthy to be true even if it be not so.
As already stated, the early coign of vantage of Geneva was that it shared with Bath the honor of being the gateway to the Genesee country, but happily for Geneva and unhappily for Bath, it was not a case of sharing equally. To the coveted Genesee country, there were, it is true, in the early time but two approaches from the seaboard, one from the Hudson river by waterways to Geneva, the other from the Chesapeake bay by waterways to Bath ; but since to the bulk of the seaboard population sighing for new demesnes the
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
approach from the Hudson river was the more convenient, it resulted that practically Geneva was the gateway to the Genesee country, and, further, that as between Bath and Geneva the star of empire never took its way beyond Geneva.
Fortunate in its geographical situation and surroundings, Geneva was equally fortunate in the exceptional character of its early settlers as a body-a peculiarity for good which came not to Geneva only, but in differing degrees to all the old towns of the Genesee country. The circumstances attending the settlement of the Genesee country were unusual, indeed were entirely unique. It was not a case of scattering and squatter settlement, hap-hazard, on lands owned by the State, without any attempt whatever at sifting or selection ; contrariwise, it was a case of organized settlement under great proprietaries, to whom the character as well as the number of the settlers mattered, and to whom at the same time rapidity of settlement was a consideration of moment.
It must be remembered that, while by the celebrated conven- tion of December 16, 1786, held at Hartford, Connecticut, by the State of New York and Massachusetts, to settle their rival terri- torial claims under their Colonial charters, the rights of sovereignty over that portion of the State of New York west of the meridian of the eighty-second milestone in the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania, i. e., over the Genesee country, was reserved to the State of New York, the fee simple, together with the right of pre-emption or first purchase from the native Indians of the soil of the same, was given to the State of Massachusetts : and that subsequently the State of Massachusetts, not caring to interest itself as proprietary in any plans for disposing of the lands of the Genesee country to actual settlers, sold its pre-emption rights, April 1, 1788, to two of its citizens, Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, representing an association. This passed the lands of Western New York from State proprietaryship to the proprietary- ship of private individuals and the advantages that naturally follow private ownership and management.
The intimate particulars of the creation of the Phelps and Gorham proprietaryship over the Genesee country, and how two years later, in 1790 and 1791. this proprietaryship passed to Robert Morris, and how, April 11, 1792, that portion of this proprietaryship lying between Seneca lake and the Genesee river passed under the
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name of the "Genesee tract" to Sir William Pulteney and the Pulteney Associates, it is not pertinent to recount in this connection ; nor is it pertinent to pass in review the various proprietaryships which later arose in the western half of the Genesee country, by purchase from Robert Morris or from the Morris estate. It is perti- nent, however, or at least it will gratify a laudable curiosity, to fix the first cost of the territory which today constitutes the city of Geneva, being twenty-four hundred acres more or less. To Massa- chusetts, for the right of pre-emption of the lands of the Genesee country, Phelps and Gorham paid, or contracted to pay, one million dollars, being an average per acre of about twelve cents; and to the native Indians, in satisfaction of their claims on the "Genesee tract" in which Geneva is located, twelve thousand dollars, being an average per acre of about half a cent. If these figures are correct, the first cost of the territory now included in the city of Geneva was but three hundred dollars !
The First Settlers.
The first proprietaries, Phelps and Gorham, 1788-1790, did not content themselves with efforts to secure acceptable settlers from the eastern portion of New York State only, or from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the States geographically nearest, but being Massa- chusetts men made special efforts to secure settlers from Massachu- setts and from New England generally, and the roll of early settlers in the "Genesee tract" shows many names from that portion of our country. But the proprietaryship of Phelps and Gorham, two years, was too short for any particularly significant results to be accom- plished. Of these first proprietaries, however, Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, it will ever be the historian's privilege and duty to record that both were men of elevated character and marked intelligence, and in particular of Mr. Phelps that in all business matters he was conspicuously remarkable for capacity, energy, and shrewdness, and that throughout the territory embraced in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase his memory has been cherished with profound respect, and that the system of land survey into townships and ranges, organized by him in Canandaigua in 1789, was after- ward, with slight modification, adopted by the United States Government.
Under the next proprietary, Robert Morris, 1790-1792, no special efforts at actual settlement within the "Genesee tract" seem
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
to have been made, as Mr. Morris had apparently purchased the great domain for speculative purposes only, but though during this proprietaryship the work of settlement was not pushed, it did not by any means cease, settlers continuing to come from geographical sections brought into touch with the "Genesee tract" by Phelps and Gorham.
When, however, in 1792 Sir William Pulteney, representing the Pulteney Associates, became proprietary of the "Genesee tract," a new and memorable chapter began in the settlement of the country which had so recently been thrown open to the knowledge of the world. There appeared on the scene, as the agent of Sir William Pulteney and the Pulteney Associates, Captain Charles Williamson, a Scotchman by birth, an Englishman by adoption, an American by naturalization, a Bostonian by marriage, but above all a man of genius, a man of extraordinary energy and resource, peculiarly fitted to promote large enterprises, even if he was to an extent over-sanguine of results and prodigal in expenditures to achieve the determined end. Immediately, by advertisements, by publica- tions, by personal visits to important centers, and by correspond- ence, Captain Williamson with masterly tact concentrated atten- tion abroad as well as at home on the new paradise. Especially he utilized with great success the interest in the Genesee country which had been kindled by the very laudatory reports of that country which had been spreading in every direction since the return of Sullivan's army from its triumphant but devastating raid through the land of the Senecas to the Genesee river, in 1779. In no long time it resulted that on both sides of the Atlantic and on this side in Maryland and Virginia, as well as in the Eastern States, well-to-do families became interested, and soon the "Genesee tract" was invaded, so to speak, by ladies and gentlemen, many of whom came with their servants and slaves. But the invaders were resolute men and high spirited women, and the terrors and hardships of subduing a wilderness did not affright them or drive them back. They came into the wilderness to make it blossom like the rose and they stayed and triumphed.
A Social Center.
But more remarkable even than the presence of a certain number of families of culture and prominence in Geneva at its very beginning, is the extent to which Geneva became and still
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VILLAGE AND CITY OF GENEVA.
is a center for families of that class, and the cumulative effect it has had in lifting the tone of the whole place, and in making Geneva a cultured home of industry and order and prosperity, as well as of letters and the gentle arts. When passing in review the century of events in Geneva, one is struck with the high character of the things attempted and achieved by its professional men, its business men, and its captains of industry.
Quite as striking as the number of Geneva's families of culture and prominence, is the extent to which in the history of Geneva they have been constant and continuing forces. It is to be regretted that a table prepared to illustrate this peculiarity and to exhibit the historic families of Geneva, in groups as determined by birth and marriage combined, is too long to be incorporated in this historic sketch, but a few words by way of summary may be allowed. Altogether there is a total of twenty-eight groups, with one hundred and fifty-two families, not counting any family twice, the various Roses, for example, who are related, counting as only one family. Of these groups, eight began before 1800, four between 1800 and 1810, three between 1810 and 1820, four between 1820 and 1830, four between 1830 and 1840; the remainder, excluding the present generation (five), at various dates between 1840 and 1870. The largest of the groups is the Lawson group, beginning 1796 with Jacob W. Hallett and including twenty-one different families, among which are, for example, the familiar names of Rose, Nicholas, Dox, Bogert, Gallagher, Mellen, Cammann, Patterson. Besides the historic families in groups, one finds also about the same number of prominent single or unrelated families, the grouped and ungrouped families making a total that is certainly remarkable in, any place the size of Geneva.
Religious Characteristics.
The religious characteristics presented by Geneva are quite as remarkable as its social characteristics. In the earliest period, strange as it may seem, the Episcopalians in numbers and influence practically balanced the Presbyterians -- a phenomenon not paral- leled probably in any other part of the country, but explicable by reference to the sources whence the original population of Geneva was drawn. Again, and this coincidence should be writ large, for it is quite as striking as the fact just noted, Geneva is relatively the strongest center in the United States of both the Episcopalians and
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
the Presbyterians. And last of all, but perhaps more remarkable and more complimentary to Geneva than either of the two facts already mentioned, the total membership of the Christian bodies in Geneva compared with the total population shows as large a percentage as is shown anywhere else in our country and possibly larger.
A unique characteristic remains to be noticed. Years and years ago Geneva was conspicuous for its large number of retired clergy- men, also its large number of unmarried women and a Geneva wit won immortality by this epigram: "Ah! Yes, Geneva is equally the saints' retreat and the old maids' paradise!" This epigram is introduced not in the way of veiled disparagement of a certain class of Geneva's clergy and a certain class of Geneva's women, but to give a legitimate occasion for emphasizing the fact that in the long history of Geneva nothing is lovelier than the shining record of its unmarried women, not only in acts of Christian charity and benefi- cence, but in lives of high and noble example, and nothing more wholesome or gratifying than the quiet but elevated influence of its retired clergy.
Chronicle of Geneva.
I come now to the chronicle of Geneva. The events before 1800 are, in a way, but a prelude to the events after 1800, and are comprised in two formative periods, a shorter and a longer, both full-charged with occurrences of moment, but each subject to a domination entirely different from the other. The shorter period embraces the years from 1787 to 1792 inclusive.
Period 1787 to 1792.
The story of the civic life of Geneva opens in June, 1787, with "a solitary log house, and that not finished, inhabited by one Jennings." This house, soon enlarged by Jennings, Elark Jennings, into a tavern and presumably the first tavern within Geneva's borders, stood a little south of what is now the junction of Washington and Exchange streets, on what was then the Indian trail leading south- ward to Kashong from round the lake, the trail breaking over the top of the shore-bank at or about the spot where now stands Trinity church. Within a year several huts or log houses, bark- covered, arose along this street or trail, among them one bark- covered structure, more ambitious than the rest, the framed tavern
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and trading establishment erected by the so-called Lessee company in the summer or early autumn of 1787 and occupied by Dr. Caleb Benton as representative of that company. This straggling line of bark-covered structures, overtopped by the lake-bank, formed the distant prospect of Geneva for the first wayfarers from the east into the Genesee country, a contrast to the distant prospect of the beauti- ful and busy Geneva of the Twentieth century.
As the gateway of the Genesee country, and to an extent identical geographically with Kanadesaga, the famous but fallen capital of the Senecas, and at the same time as the headquarters of the Lessee company, i. e., the New York Genesee Land Company, a company organized early in the first year of Geneva, 1787, Geneva had, of course, from the beginning a floating population of varying numbers, a population made up mostly of explorers, land speculators, Indian traders, and of pioneers passing through to the westward; but, along with these and such as these, there were those who had come to Geneva to become permanent settlers, or who, arriving there, had found it to their interest to become such. The number of permanent settlers in Geneva during the shorter formative period grew, but not rapidly, for in 1790, Geneva is spoken of as a place of only ten or twelve families.
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