USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
(14) Deed from Masterton Ure and John Gordon, dated January 1, 1851, conveying all the interest of Gordon in the estates to Craven, Oswald and Estcourt as co-trustees with Ure. Recorded in Steuben County Clerk's office, November 12, 1853, in Book 69 of Deeds, at page 49, etc.
(15) Deed and Release of trust from Masterton Ure to Craven, Alexan- der Oswald and Edmund Bucknall Estcourt, dated April 4, 1859. Acknowl- edged before George M. Dallas, United States Minister at London, April 5, 1859. Recorded in Steuben County Clerk's office, October 15, 1859, in Book 88 of Deeds, at page 539, etc.
(16) Proof of the death of Craven on August 24, 1866, by exemplified copy of Commission and evidence, taken and executed by F. H. Morse, Consul of the United States at the City of London, England, on the 15th day of June, 1867, with certificate of Hon. Henry E. Davies, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, dated, July 15, 1867; pursuant to the laws of the State of New York, Chapter 161, Laws of 1860.
(17) Deed and Release of trust from Alexander Oswald and Edmund Bucknall Estcourt to Henry C. Howard (commonly called Viscount Andover ), George C. K. Johnstone, Henry Chaplin and James R. Farquharson, dated, November 12, 1867. Recorded in Steuben County Clerk's office May 2, 1870, in Book 128 of Deeds, at page 188, etc.
(18) Power of Attorney from Henry C. Howard (commonly called Vis- count Andover), George C. K. Johnstone, Henry Chaplin and James R. Far- quharson to Benjamin F. Young, dated April 11, 1868, and recorded in Steu- ben County Clerk's office, in Liber C, of Miscellaneous Records, page 455, etc., on May 2, 1870.
(19) Power of Attorney from The Pulteney Estate to Henry J. Wyn- koop, dated June 29, 1883. Recorded in Steuben County Clerk's office, August 19, 1898, in Book 256, of Deeds, at page 306. Benjamin F. Young died August 16, 1898.
(20) Deed from the Pulteney Estate to Frederick Y. Wynkoop, dated, December 23, 1903. Recorded in Steuben County Clerk's office, December 24, 1903, in Book 283 of Deeds, at page 328. Consideration $100,000.00. Con- veys all the land and property of Grantors in Steuben County, New York.
(21) Deed from Frederick Y. Wynkoop ( unmarried) to Henry J. Wyn- koop and William H. Nichols, dated December 23, 1903. Recorded in Steu- ben County Clerk's office, December 24, 1903, in Book 283 of Deeds, at page 337. Consideration $100,000.00. Conveys same land and property last above mentioned.
Many questions involving the validity of this title have arisen; many inspired by the selfish motives of evil disposed, cowardly and ill-designing persons. Into these schemes many honest, frugal, in- dustrious and well-meaning people were also cajoled into sympathy, and so apparently swelled the numbers of the insurgents. Costly and annoying litigation followed; sheriffs and their officers were forcibly resisted, and on one occasion a shot fired from ambush killed the horse driven by the sheriff on the public highway. This guer- rilla mode of resistance prevailed until the title of the English peo- ple to this land was fully sustained by repeated decisions of the New York court of appeals in the following, among other cases: Duke of Cumberland vs. Graves (7 New York Court of Appeals Reports, page 305) ; The People vs. Snyder (41 New York Court of Appeals Reports, page 397) ; Henry C. Howard, et al. vs. George K. Moot (64 New York Court of Appeals Reports, page 262).
So it has come to pass that all of the land in Steuben county, wholly within and an important section of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, after one hundred and twenty-five years of toil in home-
83
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
making, and in rest and mutual enjoyment, charitable and pleasant memories, leaving only a remnant of its former wide domain, has passed from its former royal and titled owners to the equality- loving denizens of Steuben county, its royal and titled aristocracy-' the Common People. Even the surviving buildings in the village of Bath are theirs. The "Land Office"-regarded by the settlers of a generation and more ago as an ogre, whose promises and predic- tions, like Cassandra's, were never realized, and considered the breeding and nesting-place of all evils for the poor settler-is now under the control of devoted charitable women and employed for the alleviation of the pains and sorrows of our humanity; it is the Hotel Dieu, and Jacques Cartier's consecrations of nearly four cen- turies old are here dispensed.
CHAPTER V.
OLD ONTARIO COUNTY.
STEUBEN COUNTY; FIRST TRADER-LAND TITLES IN MILITARY TRACT-COMFORT TYLER, THE PIONEER-THE COLONY OF "FRIENDS"-FIRST SETTLEMENT OF GENESEE COUNTRY-COL. CHARLES WILLIAMSON-FOUNDING OF BATH-WILLIAMSON LAKE AND ROAD- RETIRES AS ENGLISH AGENT-WILLIAMSON'S LAST YEARS-ORIGIN OF COLORED POPULATION-THE CHARM- ING AND STERLING "MADAM"-STEUBEN AS ONTARIO COUNTY- THE PICKERING TREATY-TWO TOWNS EMBRACED THE COUN- TY-A NEW COUNTY REQUIRED.
After the close of the French war, and the surrender and eession by France to England of all of the territory and possessions in North America of the former, enterprising and adventurous resi- dents of the English colonies on the Atlantic seaboard turned their attention to the west, mainly as trappers and fur hunters. French dominion had passed, and its influence with the Indians of the whole continent was rapidly waning. One cause of hindrance and danger, therefore, ceased to terrify or retard these expeditions and travels, which were the means of making known the rich and fertile country of the Genesee.
The breaking out of the Revolutionary war interfered with, and in a large measure suspended, these enterprises, while General Sulli- van's campaign against the Six Nations and its accomplishments gave new and greater impetus to them. As soon as the conflicting claims of Massachusetts and New York had been satisfactorily set- tled, emigration began to this new, rich and undeveloped country.
The woodsmen, fur hunters and pioneer farmers-always the advance force of civilization-began to move upon the wilderness of the Genesee country and western New York, after the conclusion of the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain. The progress of this emigration was up the valley of the Mohawk, by the great trail from Albany to Niagara; up the valleys of the Susquehanna and its northwestern tributaries, following the Indian trails, which were, in turn, followed by the railroads. Contempo- rary efforts in this direction were made along the streams, reached by rude craft for navigation.
85
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
THE COUNTY'S FIRST TRADER.
The first Indian trader in Steuben county was William Harris, at Painted Post, in 1786. In the same year the first Indian trader. at Onondaga was Ephraim Webster. Harris found his way from Pennsylvania to the junction of the Tioga and Cohocton rivers, by the Susquehanna. Webster found his way from New England to Onondaga lake by the Mohawk river and the Niagara trail. These were the forerunners of two advancing armies of civilization coming into this new country from different directions, and by routes en- tirely separate, traversing localities but little known to either.
LAND TITLES IN "MILITARY TRACT."
In 1779 and 1780, New York had enlisted, for three years (unless sooner discharged), two regiments for the protection of her frontiers, to be paid and clothed at the expense of the United States. The state pledged to them a liberal bounty in land, and to redeem this pledge as soon as the Indian titles were extinguished. The surveyor general was instructed to survey these bounty lands and prepare them for the location of the warrants. This survey was completed in 1790. It embraced 2,800,000 acres, in 600-acre- lots, and comprised all the territory within the present counties of Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga and Seneca, and parts of the counties of Oswego, Tompkins and Wayne. Simeon DeWitt, who was the surveyor general, gave names to the different towns by shaking his classical pepper box over the whole of this territory.
By this action a large territory adjoining, the Phelps and Gor- ham Purchase was about being settled at the same time that sales, settlements and preparation for settlement began west of Seneca lake and the preemption line, as last established. In the Military Tract, land titles and ownership were in dispute, emigrants pushing on farther, where no such embarrassments existed. Speculation and fraud commenced as patents were issued to the soldiers, and by the time that settlements were well under way there were but few of these titles which were not contested. All sorts of reasons and causes were assigned, and the busy intriguers were always willing to take these titles upon their own terms. In addition to other questions of title, the wives of these soldiers claimed dower interest in the land allotted to their husbands. Land titles to the whole of this Military Tract were not fully quieted in 1800, when a committee of the state legislature fully investigated the whole subject and reported the titles unassailable. The report of the committee was fully ap- proved and confirmed by both branches of the legislature.
In 1784, a number of settlers, of whom Hugh White was the most prominent, moved beyond the settlements on the Mohawk and founded and organized what is now Whitestown. It included an indefinite amount of territory extending westward. The first court A house of Herkimer county was erected here in 1793.
COMFORT TYLER, THE PIONEER.
The same year that Hugh White settled at Whitestown, James Dean located at or near the present city of Rome. In 1788, Asa Danforth and Comfort Tyler located in Onondaga valley. They came by water, landing at the mouth of Onondaga creek, and were the earliest pioneers of this whole region. Major Danforth kept
86
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
a log tavern and the comforts found there were far superior to all the camps and places of rest east as far as German Flats. The name of Comfort Tyler has been mentioned and should receive further mention. He was with General James Clinton in the estab- lishment of the boundary line between the states of New York and Pennsylvania. He chopped down the first tree and assisted in the manufacture of the first salt; built the first piece of turnpike, and constructed the first stump mortar, with tree-spring pestle, in the Onondaga country. He held, with credit, many important public offices in the county and was one of the original projectors and pro- moters of the Cayuga bridge, which for a great number of years was considered one of the greatest public improvements of the state and was taken as the dividing line between the eastern and western sections of the state.
In a political sense the strength and standing of candidates of any party, in either section, was always taken into consideration in estimating his probable success; but this has long since disappeared. The Bronx is now the line of division in such matters.
Tyler was a member of the legislature of New York in 1799 and was the chief originator of and mover in the improvement of the Cayuga marshes. Indians were his first neighbors. They had great respect for him, because he could be a gentleman and at the same time a laboring man. While he was a member of the legis- lature, he made the acquaintance of Aaron Burr. A charter hav- ing been granted for building the Cayuga bridge, Colonel Burr and General Swartout subscribed for the whole of the stock. At that time Burr had other business connections in this region.
Out of this business and transaction was subsequently devel- oped the intercourse of Aaron Burr with the people of western New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, many of whom were attracted by and drawn into the great trans-Mississippi and southwestern expedi- tion, for the founding of new empire. Comfort Tyler and Israel Smith were commissioners of the expedition. They went down the Ohio river, landing at Blennerhassett's Island, a rendezvous of the expedition. Tyler purchased supplies and shipped them to Natchez. The affair aroused great excitement. It was alleged that the object of Burr was to invade Mexico, and there set up a new government. The Federal government interfered, and Burr was arrested, tried in the United States court and acquitted. Colonel Tyler was ar- rested, but never tried. His fortune became much impaired. A few years later he removed to Montezuma, New York, and still later built the first canal boat, which appeared decked in flying colors and took part in the opening of the Erie canal. In the war of. 1812 he was a commissary-general to the Northern army on the Niagara frontier. He died at his home in 1827.
Immediately following Danforth and Tyler came John L. Hardenburg, who located at the place now occupied by the city of Auburn, then and for years following called Hardenburg's Corners. James Bennett and Jolin Harris settled on opposite banks of Cayuga lake, and established a ferry there. These were the greater part of the settlements west of the Mohawk valley. About this time settle- ment of the Genesce country began in earnest; before, it had been temporarily visited and occupied by Indian traders, fur hunters and trappers. In 1788, Major Danforth and his wife had no neigh-
87
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
bors nearer than ten miles. It is said Mrs. Danforth saw no white woman during the first eight months after the fixing upon their new home.
These incidents and happenings are mentioned, not because they immediately relate to the county of Steuben, but to impress upon the younger class and to recall the contrast of those days with the advantages of the present time. Now the time for travel and communication is shortened from days to hours and minutes.
In 1788 all the country west of Utica was the town of Whites- town and included within its jurisdiction all of the territory and inhabitants in the Genesee country. The first town meeting was held in the barn of Daniel White of that town, who was a son of the pioneer settler, Hugh White. At this meeting Jedediah San- ger, for whom the town of Sangerfield is named, was elected the first supervisor. At the town meeting held in this town of Whites- town two years later, Cook of Pompey, Gould of Salina, and James Wadsworth of Geneseo were chosen pathmasters; their duties could not have been more than the supervision of Indian trails. As Mr. Wadsworth had a few months previous done something at road- making, his experience in this line suggested his competency for the position. In Clark's "History of Onondaga" it is stated: "The first road attempted to be made in this country was in 1790, under the directions of the Wadsworths, from the settlement at Whites- town to Canandaigua, through a country then but very little ex- plored and quite a wilderness."
The first general election for Whitestown, as required by law, continued three days. The polls were opened at Cayuga Ferry, ad- journed to Onondaga, and closed at Whitestown, ninety miles from the place of the opening. At that time the advent of emigrants into western New York had just commenced. At Geneva there was. a collection of buildings occupied by Indian traders and a few gen- uine settlers.
THE COLONY OF "FRIENDS."
The early history of this region is intimately associated with the history of the "Friends," a religious sect founded by Jemima Wilkinson. This singular woman took the name of the "Univer- sal Friend," and was regarded by her followers as a prophet. Among these were persons of wealth, respectability and influence. At a general meeting of the sect in Connecticut in 1786 it was resolved to emigrate to some unsettled region and found a colony where its followers might live in peace and in the undisturbed enjoyment of their religious opinions. Three of their number were delegated to seek out a proper location. They proceeded to Pennsylvania, went up the Susquehanna river, and followed the route of General Sulli- van to Seneca lake, where they finally determined to locate. In June, 1787, a party of about fifty Friends set out for this land of promise by way of the Mohawk valley. They settled about one mile south of the present village of Dresden, Yates county, New York. This location was fixed upon by reason of its close proximity to the fine waterfalls at the outlet of Lake Keuka. During the fall they prepared the land, and the following season sowed it with winter wheat, which they harvested in 1789. This was the first wheat crop raised in western New York. In 1789 they purchased of the state fourteen thousand acres of land, lying between Seneca lake and the
88
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Preemption line. The same year they bought all the land lying between the west branch of Lake Keuka and its main body, which they called Jerusalem. It is now a town of the same name, in Yates county, containing about thirty thousand acres.
In 1789 Jemima, with a large number of her followers, came to this territory. The first frame house west of Cayuga lake was built here on a farm of one thousand acres. This extraordinary woman exerted a strong influence over her followers, who gratui- tously planted, hoed and harvested her corn ; sowed and reaped her wheat, and cut and gathered her hay, always taking care to be of no trouble or expense to the Friend upon these occasions. She was the daughter of Jeremiah Wilkinson, a Rhode Island farmer, and was one of a family of twelve children, having only slight advantages for education. In her twentieth year she had a severe attack of fever and for some time her life was despaired of. Upon her re- covery she claimed she had been raised from the dead; that her carnal existence was ended, and henceforth her life was to be spirit- ual and divine; that, also, she was endowed with the power of prophecy. Soon after, she commenced travelling, exhorting and preaching, and succeeded in converting many persons, among whom were a number of New England farmers and business men of sub- stance, prominence and influence.
This description of Jemima Wilkinson appeared in the New Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine of March, 1787: "She is about the middle size of women, not genteel in her person, rather awkward in her carriage; her complexion good ; her eyes remarkably black and brilliant; her hair black and waving, with beautiful ring- lets on her neck and shoulders. Her features are regular and the whole of her face is thought by many to be perfectly beautiful. As she is not to be supposed to be of either sex, this neutrality is mani- fested in her personal appearance. She wears no cap, letting her hair hang down, as has been described. She wears her neckcloth like a man; her chemise is buttoned around her neck and wrists. Her outside garment is a robe, under which it is said she wears an expensive dress, the fashion of which is made to correspond to that of a man or a woman. Her understanding is not deficient, except- ing touching her religious fanaticisms. She is very illiterate, yet her niemiory is very great. She is artful in discovering inany cir- cumstances which fall out among her disciples. On all occasions she requires the most extraordinary attentions that can be bestowed upon her; one or more of her disciples usually attend upon her and perform the most menial services. Her pronunciation is after the peculiar dialect of the most illiterate country people of New Eng- land. Her preaching has very little connection and is very lengthy. When she first arose from her bed of sickness she assumed that there was once such a person as Jemima Wilkinson, but she died and went to heaven ; after which the Divine Spirit reanimated that same body-that it arose from the dead. Now this Divine Inhabitant is Christ Jesus, our Lord, the Friend to all mankind, who gives His Name to the body to which He is united; and therefore body and spirit conjointly is the Universal Friend. She assumed to have two witnesses, corresponding in all respects to those prophesied in Chap- ter XI of Revelations, verses 3-13. These witnesses were James Parker and Sarah Richards. During her whole life she never
89
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
yielded, or in any degree lessened the pretensions which she at first made, and her whole career had the merit of consistency and hon- esty."
Among the principal peculiar tenets of the sect was the strict enforcement of the Shaker doctrine of celibacy, as indispensable to a pure life. The meetings were conducted after the manner of the Quakers, the whole congregation often sitting in perfect silence for an hour or more.
The Friend travelled about the country where her believers were located, always attended by her witnesses, who rode with her in an elegant chaise for that day, and attended by a postillion, driver and coachman. This old carriage was at the centennial of the town of Bath, Steuben county, in June, 1893. It was driven by a stage driver of the early days and a former sheriff of Steuben county, Lewis D. Fay.
Jemima's principal article of doctrine was faith. On all occa- sions and opportunities she exhorted her followers to make that the cardinal principle of life; that those who did so, did not require demonstration to be convinced, that scoffers and unbelievers were not welcome. She was adroit and calculating in her methods and announced on one occasion that she would walk on the water of Crooked lake. She fixed on a day and a place in the town of Jerus- alem, then in Steuben county, on the shore of this lake. At the time and place her followers appeared in large numbers. The Friend, after a long and tiresome exhortation, announced that she was prepared to keep her appointment. She asked if there was any one present who doubted her ability to do as announced; the re- sponse was a loud and unanimous No. After admiringly praising their steadfast belief, saying the act, on her part, would be an insult to her audience, she dismissed it with her blessing.
On another occasion she addressed, through an interpreter, a band of Oneida Indians, who had encamped near her settlement on their way to a treaty, endcavoring to convince them that she was Christ. They listened to her with apparent faithful attention. When- she had concluded, one of the chiefs arose and delivered a short address to his countrymen. She requested to have it inter- preted to her ; the Indian contemptuously replied, in broken English, that if she was the character she assumed to be, she would have understood the poor Indian, as well as anyone else. Her sect, be- cause of the strict adhesion to the principle of celibacy, could not legitimately increase in number, while death continued to decimate its numbers. She died at her home, then in Steuben county, in July, 1819. This peculiar sect gradually disappeared, finally as- similating with the surrounding inhabitants. The followers of the Universal Friend were generally honest, industrious and law-abiding people, except for accusations of blasphemy brought without results.
The Genesee country has been unusually productive of religious freak doctrines. Besides Jemima Wilkinson, with her pretensions of prophecy and immortality, here first appeared Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon, the foundation of the Latter Day Saints, as well as the "Rochester Knockings" of the Fox sisters, assuming to be communications from the dead, which laid the foundation of modern spiritualism; these, with many other new movements which have attracted and are attracting the attention and study of a mul-
90
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
titude of honest and intelligent people, had their origin in this region.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF GENESEE COUNTRY.
The first settlement of the Genesee country was made on the site of the Indian village of Kanadesaga, now the city of Geneva, in 1787. It was attended with great difficulties, as there were noth- ing but Indian trails and paths for roads, and the whole country was one boundless wild, except where some squatter had settled upon an Indian clearing and made a little better improvement than that of the former occupants. The country began in earnest to attract the attention of the ever restless Yankee who wants to go west. As yet, there was no land office, or place where arrangements could be made for the securing or purchase of some selected locality; for that rea- son the settlement was occupied by squatters, awaiting the oppor- tunity to secure their titles.
The first attempt to open a land office was made by Oliver Phelps, in 1789. He left Albany on the 15th of February of that year and went on a sled as far as Whitestown, on the Mohawk river ; whence he was obliged to travel on horseback. He found only a few straggling huts and shanties on the way and these were from ten to fifteen miles apart ; only affording him a shelter from the snow, and a chance to build a fire and prepare a meal from the supplies which he carried. He reached Geneva at the close of the third day from Whitestown. From Geneva to Canandaigua he found only two habi- tations. At Canandaigua he found two small frame houses and a few shanties. Between Canandaigua and the Genesee river two families resided on the trail. Where the trail or path crossed the Genesee river was an Indian store for the purchase of peltries and wild meat, and here was a rude tavern; there were no other indi- cations of a white settlement.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.