USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume I > Part 37
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THE TOWN OF HOPEWELL.
ern portion of the town of Hopewell, leading from Littleville to Orleans, is virtually on the line of this old trail, and was surveyed in 1792.
It is a singular fact that today this fine water power afforded by the Canandaigua outlet in the town of Hopewell, which was so much prized by the early settlers, is of no account, and it moves not a single wheel within the area once noisy with the hum of machinery in mills and factories at what is now Chapin, Higby's, and other points on the stream, with the single exception of the turbines of the Ontario Light and Traction Company, at Little- ville.
This great change has been brought about by the necessities of the county seat, Canandaigua, in the disposal of its sewage and for other purposes. That the rapid growth and enterprise of Canandaigua has worked to the disadvantage of the town of Hope- well, has been remarked by other historians, and the fact of its slow growth and lack of enterprise is patent to every citizen of the town. Canandaigua, busy. beautiful, and full of business enterprise, is fast assuming the dignity of a city, while Hopewell that lies so near has a smaller population than it had in even 1830, and, with not a single growing village within its borders, or the starting of a single new business enterprise, has been given over to the slow and uneventful course of an agricultural community, whose whole life and ultimate destiny as a constituent part of Ontario county rest with the tillers of the soil. If they are wise to their opportunities at this day and age, if they adopt more new and improved methods of farming as the researches of science have demonstrated by actual tests to be an advance over the older methods, if they cultivate a spirit of local pride in beautifying their home surroundings, in assisting kind Nature to spread a mantle of rural contentment and rest over the many charming homes within their borders, Hopewell need not envy her more populous neighbors with their growing towns and evidences of business thrift, for the basis of her present and future prosperity is founded in the soil itself, and her citizens are co-workers in the "oldest and noblest pursuit of man." Cities and towns may spread out and assume grand proportions, but agriculture is after all the true source of all wealth, and the fruits of the farmers' toil must ever sustain the people of the earth.
During the Indian occupancy of Ontario county, that portion embraced in the present town of Hopewell was a favorite home and
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
residence for a long time of the proud Senecas, who were our immediate predecessors on this soil. This is proven by the numerous evidences of that occupancy that still remain. In the southern part of the town, near the old trail leading to Seneca lake, the large and important town or "castle" of Onnaghee was for a long time the home of a numerous population, and the many relics found there prove that it occupied no small importance in the Indian history of the period. Just what time it was founded, or how long it was occupied, is a matter of doubt among investigators, but if we carefully study cotemporaneous Indian history, we can determine pretty closely the time of its occupancy. We know from well authenticated records that Denonville, the French Governor of Canada, made his famous invasion into the Senecas' territory in July, 1687 ; that during that invasion his army destroyed, notwith- standing the Senecas' brave resistance, their main capital, Ganna- gora, on Boughton Hill in the present town of Victor, also Gannogarae, about four miles south, in what is now the town of East Bloomfield, the large town of Totiakton on the bend of the Honeoye creek in the present town of Mendon, Monroe county The towns destroyed by Denonville in 1687, we have good reason to believe, were never again permanently occupied by the Senecas. In their retreat it is not likely that the Senecas went farther than the foot of Canandaigua lake, where in a short time they were joined by their fellow tribesmen, the Cayugas, and thus reinforced. they kept up such a galling pursuit of the French that Denonville was glad to beat a hasty and inglorious retreat to his boats, which he had left under a strong guard at Irondequoit bay. Then after embarking his motley army of regulars, volunteers, and Indians on the bosom of Old Ontario, he voyaged to the mouth of the Niagara, when, leaving a small force in the fort at that point, he returned to the settlements on the St. Lawrence, thus ending his inglorious raid into the Senecas' country.
If we make allowance for the unsettled condition of the Senecas after this invasion, the loss of their crops, and the destruction of their towns, and the length of time required by them to again start new communities for mutual defense and benefit, on sites favorable by nature for the homes of a numerous population, it would seem that the castle of Onnaghee must have been founded soon after 1700, or perhaps 1710, and it was at that time regarded as the "fartherest castle of the nation," a place of great importance in the Indian
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THE TOWN OF HOPEWELL.
history of the time. There were other localities in the town occupied by the Senecas for longer or shorter periods, but the limits of this brief sketch will not permit of extended notice. Certain it is, that the fertile soil, the wide level fields, the heavy forests, the pure water, the abundance of game on the hills and fish in the streams, of the territory now embraced in the town of Hopewell, were powerful inducements to the red men to found their homes and villages on its soil.
The strong Jesuit influence which that order exerted over the Senecas prior to the expedition of Denonville in 1687, and the missions which they founded at Gannagora, Gannogarae, Totiak- ton, and other places, seems never to have been renewed to any very appreciable extent in the villages afterwards founded in the eastern part of Ontario county. The castle of Onnaghee in the town of Hopewell was never a mission, yet quite a number of Jesuit relics, such as seal rings, brass crosses, etc., have been found there, indicating that quite a few of its people still adhered to the teachings of the missionaries and the stately religion which they represented.
The town of Hopewell has ever been abreast of the times as to the importance of mental and moral training, and from the early pioneer advent to the present, has sustained her schools and churches with a laudable zeal. The daily lives of her citizens prove that they believe fully in their importance as ruling factors for good in the community. That patriotism and love of country was also fostered in the home and in public, is proven by the fact that when the armed hosts of Britain invaded our shores in 1812, not only did her young men buckle on the armor of defense, but many old men and middle-aged stepped forward as volunteers to serve their country, under the lead of the brave General Peter B. Porter and others. Their deeds of arms along the Niagara frontier are still remembered with pride by their descendants, and attested by the written praise of those under whom they served as citizen soldiers.
Again, at a later period, in 1861, when the dark clouds of the war of the Rebellion rolled over the land, Hopewell, in common with all the other towns of Ontario county received a call for help. and she responded by sending more than ten per cent. of her able bodied young men to join the Union armies on the plains of the South.
In the early days of the town, before the railways leading from
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
the West to the East had adopted the plan of transporting live stock by rail, the main roads of Hopewell were the favorite routes over which immense droves of cattle, sheep, and hogs were driven by western drovers, enroute to the markets of New York and Boston. The favor thus shown by the hardy, honest men who traversed this region with their flocks and herds was partly owing to the abundant forage always obtainable along the way, but more perhaps on account of the famous taverns or stopping places that were, in those days of stage coaches and drovers, such a marked feature of our Western New York communities. Among those in the town which at that time enjoyed a fame that has been perpetuated and rendered almost historic, were the famous hostelries of Samuel House and old Jackson Hanna, located on the road called "Broadway," leading from the present hamlet of Chapin to Orleans, in the town of Phelps. "Old Sam House," as he was known the country over, was a natural born innkeeper, a boniface who gave a smile of welcome to every. wayfarer that came his way, whose fund of good humor and jokes never ran dry, whose table was always laden with the best that could be obtained, and whose large, old fashioned bar, open as the generous countenance of its genial proprietor, was stocked with the purest wines, liquors, and everything that went with the generous hospitality of those grand old days. This famous old inn, still standing and almost unchanged by the hand of Time, was an ideal drovers' home, a place whose broad pastures and whose cool shades along the banks of Fall brook that here in a graceful curve from the South cross the road, invited rest for the tired beasts from the plains of Ohio and Illinois, while the men of the outfit, resting from their long journey, were made to feel at home, and dreaded the day of their departure from the happy retreat.
This famous old inn has a still greater honor to its credit, as the scene of those grand balls, celebrated throughout the county, in the old ball room that extended the whole length of the house, at which great functions, the wealth, the chivalry, and the beauty of our pioneer ancestry, tripped the "light fantastic" to the exhilarat- ing strains of that grand old fiddler. Macauley, while the banquet spread in the spacious dining rooms, under the skillful supervision of mine host and his worthy wife, for the gay dancers, was one that for its excellence was one to be long remembered by all who partook. As we look upon the old house today, as we recall its past history, what scenes rise before us! Could that venerable ball room
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THE TOWN OF HOPEWELL.
but speak, what tales could it unfold, what pictures of the past, when in the bloom of youth and beauty beneath its arched ceiling,
"Soft eyes looked love, to eyes that spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell."
Almost of equal fame was that other well known stopping place, about two miles farther west on the same street, the old Jack Hanna place, as it was familiarly called. And who that has resided long in the town of Hopewell, but has heard of Uncle Jack Hanna, has seen the fine farm that was so long his home when living, or the grand old house that in the early days sheltered within its hospitable walls so many who traveled for business or pleasure this portion of our State? For years it was kept as a public inn and was a most welcome stopping place for drovers with large herds of cattle, hogs, and sheep, the broad fields affording ample sustenance for the animals, while the owners themselves partook of the excellent fare provided by the worthy landlord and his noble wife.
But these old homesteads, with their many associations, have all changed, their former owners sleep beneath the grass grown mounds of the rural cemeteries, and their story as related to our pioneer days exists only in the meager sketch of some local historian. But that they once lived in our midst, that they strove to improve and benefit by their labors this community, are facts most amply proven by past records, and the dim remembrance of many whose frosted hair mark them of brief continuance on earth. All honor to the memory of those noble men and women who occupied so wide a place on the public stage at that time.
Hence we perceive, on carefully examining the history of the town of Hopewell, its career as a constituent portion of the county of Ontario has been, notwithstanding the slight credit awarded it by some former historians, a most honorable one, and while it has been the theater of no spectacular progress, or remarkable advance along various lines, it certainly has held its own, has paid its honest debts, and has contributed its full share towards the public burdens imposed upon it by the demands of the county and State. Its citizens have been loyal and true, and in peace and war have striven to uphold the honor of their country and its flag. That its future may prove as prosperous as its past, and that peace and plenty may crown the labors of its sons and daughters forever, is the earnest wish of the author of this humble sketch of its history.
406
HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
XXXII.
THE TOWN OF MANCHESTER.
Originally a Part of the Town of Farmington-Became a Separate Civil Division in the Year 1821-Earlier Town Meetings- Patriotism of Its Citizens in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War-The Birthplace of Mormon- ism-Villages of Clifton Springs, Shortsville, and Manchester.
BY DR. JOHN H. PRATT.
Originally Manchester was geographically known as Township 12, Range 2, being at that time part of the town or "district" of Farmington. Later, in the year 1821, March 31, a township was set off and called Burt. This was changed to Manchester on April 16, 1822. The land was purchased by Phelps and Gorham of the Old Bay State at the nominal sum of four cents per acre. They paid for it in Colonial securities, which were worth about one-half of their par value, making the real cost something less than two cents per acre.
The second road to be built on the Phelps and Gorham Pur- chase was surveyed in 1785 and was opened for travel in the year 1788, extending from Canandaigua to Manchester village, the latter place being the head of navigation for flat boats on the Canandaigua outiet. It was natural that the first settlements should be made along this route. Accordingly we find that in 1793, Joab Gillett, Stephen Jared, and Joel Phelps were the first white men to settle here. Jared and Phelps remained only a short time, so to Joab Gillett belongs the honor of being the first true pioneer of the town of Manchester. The first log house was built by him near the site of the present Baptist church. Here in the following year was celebrated the first marriage, his daughter, Ruth, becoming the wife of Sharon Booth, the second permanent settler.
The third and last person to arrive in 1794 was Deacon John
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THE TOWN OF MANCHESTER.
McLouth. He was connected with the early religious movements. of the town and in his barn was held the very first religious meet- ings. He is also credited with erecting and operating the first cider mill.
Soon other settlers found their way to this forest home. From the year 1794 to 1800 we find many familiar names that have helped to make the history of Ontario county. Among the best known are Nathan Pierce, John McLouth, John VanFleet, Sharon Booth, Benjamin Barney, Jedediah Dewey, William Mitchell, Peleg Red- field, Hooker and Joseph Sawyer, Ebenezer Pratt, John Lamunion, Gilbert Howland, Elihu Osgood, William Stafford, Thomas Harrington, Jeremiah Hart, Jacob Rice, Ananias Wells, Luke Phelps, and Bezaliel Coats.
Among the well known families that located permanently in the early part of the twentieth century, we find the names of the Grangers, Shekels, Throops, Bushes.
The first supervisor was Joshua VanFleet. He also was a member of the Legislature from Ontario county, in 1812 and again in 1814. Owing to the fact that Manchester and Farmington were one township for several years and that they held their town meet- ings together, naturally the very early officers fell to the honor of being recorded in the archives of Farmington. In 1801 Man- chester and Farmington held their joint meeting at the home of William Clarke, but it was at this meeting that it was "voted that our town meetings from this time forward, to be held at the school house near Nathan Pierce's." This change held good only for the years 1802 and 1803, and in 1804 the first town meeting in either town or village which was ever held within the limits of Man- chester was held at the home of Ebenezer Pratt. Its stay there was a brief one, for in 1806 it was again held in the Pierce neighborhood, at the old Squires house, instead of the school house. This unsettled town meeting again found its way back to the house of Ebenezer Pratt and there it remained for a term of years. It was opened there in 1815 and then adjourned to a shop owned by M. and R. Buck. This shop continued to be the political headquarters for a space of three years, when the Pratt influence again manifested itself and Ebenezer's tavern was once again the spot where our pioneer suffragists were wont to congregate. In 1818 the meeting was held at Nathan Barlow's store.
In the succeeding year, 1819, the voters, it would seem, must
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
have been somewhat fastidious as to where they should exercise their right of suffrage, for we read "at the annual town meeting, held in the village of Manchester the sixth day of April, 1819, it was opened at the store where the town meeting was held last year, and adjourned to the chamber in the hotel, and opened and adjourned down into the lower room, and there opened, and the following persons were chosen," etc.
The electors first assembled at the hotel in Manchester village in 1820, when "it was voted that the town meeting adjourn forth- with, to meet at the woolen manufactory in said town." The last town meeting of the joint district, held in 1821, went through the same programme of assembling at the hotel and adjourning to the woolen factory.
The question of dividing the town had been under consider- ation by the settlers for some years previous. to this. These questions always cause difference of opinion and this one proved no exception to the rule. There arose parties for and against the pro- posed division, and at the town meeting in 1816 the proposition was brought to a vote, for the minutes of the meeting read that "a vote was taken to divide the town of Farmington on the center line between the two elevens running north and south, and was negatived." Those in favor of the scheme, however, constantly agitated the question of separation, and in 1817 it was again sub- mitted to a vote, "on the motion of Mr. Elias Deming." It is recorded that the electors present, acting on this motion, "went out of the house and divided themselves into two divisions, whereupon it was decided against the division by a large majority."
Again in 1818, an attempt was evidently made to divide the town, for we find this clause in the records, "and a notification for a division of the town was read," but there is no record that it came to a vote at this meeting. Possibly the adherents of the division became discouraged, for they made no effort to bring the much disputed question up at the meeting in 1819.
But the proposition continued to grow in popular favor, for it appears that early in the year 1820, it became necessary to call a special town meeting for another consideration of the subject.
This meeting was held at the hotel in Manchester on the 15th day of January, 1820, and the vote was taken by ballot and again resulted adversely to the scheme. But it had evidently developed considerable strength and its advocates brought the matter of its
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THE TOWN OF MANCHESTER.
adoption up again at the regular town meeting in April, 1820, when it was again voted on and again defeated.
So many defeats evidently lent zest to the situation, and to conquer became the fixed determination of the advocates of division. Accordingly they applied to the Legislature and on the 31st of March, 1821, an act was passed by that body entitled "An act to divide the town of Farmington, in the County of Ontario." After designating the dividing line, it was enacted that the territory lying to the east of the same "Be, and it hereby is, erected into a separate town by the name of Burt; and the first town meeting in said town so erected shall be held at the district school house in said town, near David Howland's dwelling house."
The fact that this act had become a law was not communicated to the electors of the old town at the time of the town meeting in April, for the minutes of said meeting state that they voted to adjourn and that the meeting should "be held at the hotel in the village of Manchester, in the ensuing year."
As another historian has written, "by this brilliant piece of political strategy, i. e., the secret invoking of legislative aid, did Mr. Deming and his allies secure the ends for which they had labored so long and diligently."
The new township was called Burt, after a member of the Legislature, not, however, a representative of Ontario county, and he was probably instrumental in securing the passage of the bill. This name failed to please the citizens, however, and aroused a bone of contention, so they again applied to the Legislature, and on April 16, 1822, it was enacted, "that from and after the passing of this act, the town of Burt, in the County of Ontario, shall be called and known by the name of Manchester."
As the statute had designated, the one and only town meeting of the town of Burt was held at the school house near David How- land's. At the same place. in 1823, the first town meeting of the town of Manchester convened. Here again it would have met in 1824, but according to the record the school house was not inhabitable, for it reads :
"Manchester, 6tlı April, 1824.
"The annual town meeting in and for the town of Manchester, was opened agreeable to adjournment on the rewins of the old school hous, and for want of shelter was adjourned to Peter Williams' Barn."
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
The following year, 1825, the town meeting took place at "The new dwelling house of Joshua K. King," known as the King tavern, located on the road that the State surveyed in 1814 from Phelps to Victor, a building that is still standing just east of the "Poplar Corners."
The next year, 1826, the meeting was taken to the house of John Coon, where after its many wanderings in various parts of the town it came to stay, until an act of the Legislature "shattered into pieces," as has been written, "the old town meeting of former times, and spread the fragments thereof over the villages of Manchester, Clifton Springs, and Port Gibson, thus covering them over with that mantle of fadeless glory, the luster of which has, we fear, departed from Coonsville forever."
At the first town meeting of Burt or Manchester, the names of the principal officers elected were as follows: Supervisor, Joshua Van Fleet; clerk, Gahazi Granger; assessors, Thomas Kingsley, David Howland, and Peter Mitchell; collector, William Popple ; commissioners of highways, Jacob Cost, Carlos Harmon, and Nicholas Howland ; overseers of the poor, Titus Bement and James Harland; constables, William Popple, Robert Spear and John Schutt; commissioners of common schools, Addison N. Buck, Azel Throop, and George Redfield ; inspectors of common schools, Carlos Harmon, Peter Mitchell, and Leonard Short.
David Howland held the office of supervisor in 1823, '24, '25, and in 1826 was succeeded by Peter Mitchell, Esq. During these same years, including 1826, Mr. Granger was continually re-elected as town clerk. At this time the assessors of the town were Peter Mitchell, who held the office for three years in succession, Robert McCollum who served one year, Nicholas Howland four years, Jacob Cost three years, and Nathan Pierce one year. William Popple was elected collector in 1823, and in 1825 this office was held by Gilbert V. Crane. The following two years, 1824-'26, this honor fell to John Schutt. John Pratt served as overseer of the poor for two years in this time, and Titus Bement for two years. Jedediah Dewey and Nathan Pierce also served for the same length of time.
During the twenty-five years of the political period of the old town of Farmington, what is now the town of Manchester supplied the greater share of the officers. It gave town clerk for sixteen years, commissioners of highways for fourteen years, assessors for twelve years, with the exception of an interregnum of one year,
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poormaster for thirteen years, and other officers for less time. The fact that these men retained office from year to year is evidence of the satisfactory service they gave to the community at large.
We may well be proud of the forefathers who fought for American Independence, and Manchester has to its credit a goodly list of those patriots. Among them are the following names : Nathan Pierce, Joshua Van Fleet, Peleg Redfield, Samuel Rush, Thomas Sawyer, Joab Gillett, Ebenezer Pratt, Israel Harrington, and Nicholas Chrysler. It has been impossible to ascertain the rank of each one, with the exception of Nathan Pierce, who was captain of a company.
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