USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 14
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While Mr. Phelps was preparing the way for the new settle- ments in the lake country, exploring the adjacent country and ar- ranging for opening his primitive land office, New England enter- prise was emigrating to western New York. Emigrants from those states journeyed by the Connecticut and other rivers to the sea; thence up the Hudson river, and the Mohawk, through Wood creek, Oneida lake and river, and up the Seneca outlet to Seneca lake. Pennsylvania emigrants were building and launching barges and canoes on the Susquehanna and navigating that river and its northwest branches-the Chemung, Cohocton, Canisteo and Tioga. All were destined for new homes in the fertile lands of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. To them the land office at Canandaigua was a place of importance; here the initial business for their ventures must be transacted.
STEUBEN COUNTY FIRST SETTLED.
The first settlement in Steuben county was made near Gibson- then in the town of Painted Post, now in the town of Corning-in 1789, by Frederick Calkins, who may be said to be the first farmer in the county. He felled the first tree and made the first clearing for a farm. Mr. Calkins was a native of Vermont. His original farm is now in the city of Corning.
William Harris, an Indian trader, came to what is now Painted Post, at the junction of the Colocton river with the Tioga, three
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years earlier, but he cannot be regarded as a settler, as his business was trading with the Indians. This locality was a central point and well situated for his business. The same year with Calkins, but later, came William Harris, Eli and Eldad Mead, George Goodhue. Mead came from Pennsylvania, Goodhue from Massachusetts.
The oldest deed in Steuben county was made by Oliver Phelps to Col. Arthur Erwin. Dated July 18, 1789, it conveyed township two of range two, of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, containing 22,040 acres, being six miles square and known by the name of Painted Post, the consideration being one thousand four hundred pounds, lawful money of the state of New York. It was recorded in Albany, February 9, 1792, and in the Steuben county clerk's of- fice, June 4, 1870, seventy-eight years later.
Colonel Arthur Erwin was a resident of Bucks county, Penn- sylvania. After the above purchase, he started for his home, intend- ing to return with his family. On reaching Tioga Point, Pennsyl- vania, where he had possessions, he stopped at the house of his agent, Daniel McDuffee, where he was shot dead by an aggrieved tenant.
On August 18, 1789, Oliver Phelps conveyed to Solomon Ben- net and his associates, twelve in all, for the consideration of two thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds and thirteen shillings, lawful money of the state of New York, two townships of land, each to be six miles long north and south, and five and one-half miles from east to west, lying in the county of Ontario, New York, to be located in such manner as to take in part or all of the old Canisteo flats, and not to disarrange the adjacent towns. This was before the tract was run into townships, so the number of ranges and townships was not specified. The lands in this deed are described as lying in the district of Erwin, in the county of Ontario, state of New York, and known by the name of the old Canisteo Castle. After the survey was completed and corrected, this purchase became township three, fifth range, now the town of Canisteo, and township four, sixth range, now the city of Hornell and the town of Hornells- ville.
Ontario county was formed from Montgomery county, January 27,1789.
Montgomery county, formerly Tryon county in the province of New York, was formed from Albany county March 12, 1772, and embraced all of the land in the then province (now state) west of the Delaware river. It was named from William Tryon, Colonial governor, and afterwards, during the Revolutionary war, one of the most cruel and unrelenting officers of the British army. The patriotic inhabitants of the county demanded that it should no longer bear the detested name, and it was accordingly changed, in honorable memory of Gen. Richard Montgomery, of the American army.
In June, 1790, Mr. Phelps conveyed to Colonel Eleazar Lindsley township one, range two, six miles square, now the town of Lindsley. The consideration was said to be sixpence an acre.
By a deed dated September 5, 1789, Oliver Phelps conveyed to Prince Bryant township three, range two, the whole of said town- ship for the consideration of one thousand pounds, New York cur- rency. This is the town of Campbell.
On November 18, 1790, Oliver Phelps and wife and Nathaniel
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Gorham and wife conveyed to Robert Morris all of the land of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, including the land in what is now Steuben county, excepting what they had before sold, as above stated. From that time the title of Phelps and Gorham to this pur- chase disappeared.
An English association composed of Sir William Pulteney and others, before named, was organized to purchase large tracts of land in America, and for that end negotiated with Robert Morris for the purchase of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, then owned by Mr. Morris. But because, under the law then in the state of New York, aliens could not take or hold property in this state, therefore it was arranged that Mr. Morris should convey by his deed the said property to Charles Williamson. The latter had come to the United States for that purpose and become a citizen, and thereby could take the title to this land, which he did under a secret trust. This deed was dated April 11, 1792, for the consideration of thirty thousand pounds sterling. In April, 1798, by a law of the state of New York, aliens of all classes were empowered to purchase, hold, convey and devise land in common with all citizens. Under that statute Charles Williamson and wife, on October 21, 1801, conveyed all of the said land to Sir William Pulteney. By various devises, conveyances, passes and contracts this land became the possessions of the royalty and peerage of England, among whom were the Countess of Bath, Earl of Craven, Viscount Andover, Ernest Augustus and Duke of Cumberland. The latter, while he was such owner and possessor, became King of Hanover. He was the fifth son of George III. of England. Upon the death of William IV. of England in 1837, who was King of Great Britain and Hanover, Victoria then became queen of Great Britain, but, by reason of the Salic law, was ineligible to the throne of Hanover. The Duke of Cumberland, being the next in succession, was crowned its king.
These aristocratic owners had but little sympathy or sentiment in common with the hardy pioneers who were seeking homes in this region. The success of the Revolution was not their desire, and so far as they could, they would have recolonized the whole territory and reinstated the extortions and limitations that led to and culmi- nated in American independence. All this was in a great measure changed by the broad-minded, intelligent and liberal policy of the agents and middlemen of these proprietors, who came here to man- age the affairs of both the owners and settlers.
COL. CHARLES WILLIAMSON.
First and foremost of these was Colonel Charles Williamson. Hon. Guy H. McMaster, of cherished memory, in his pioneer his- tory of Steuben county, published more than half a century ago, says: "He was a man of talent, hope, energy and versatility ; gen- erous, brave of spirit, swift and impetuous of action ; of unquestion- able discretion in business ; a lover of sport and excitement and well calculated by his temperament and genius to lead the proposed en- terprise."
Charles Williamson was so intimately connected with the early settlement, organization and wise policy in shaping the future of Steuben county that an extended notice of the life and character of this man, and the views of his contemporaries, mainly arranged
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and presented by James McCall, Esq., of Bath, New York, is de- servingly here inserted: Charles Williamson, the son of Alexander and Christian Williamson, was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, July 12, 1757. His father was a landed proprietor. He entered the military service of Great Britain in 1775 and later became a captain. He was assigned to duty in the war of the revolt of the American colonies. While on his way to his assignment the vessel which carried hini was captured by a French privateer and taken to Boston. While here he boarded in the family of one Newell, of Roxbury, with whose daughter, Abigail, he promptly fell in love, and while she was nursing him through a sickness they were married (in 1781). She was his senior by one year. Mr. Williamson went to Scotland with his wife in 1790. The captain had studiously observed the prospects and opportunities then afforded in the United States and on his return to Europe his information respecting affairs in America was sought by the capitalists of Europe, especially as to the opportunities for land investments in the vast unsettled regions of the new re- public. His social and intellectual acquirements attracted the at- tention of William Pitt, then prime minister of Great Britain, and Patrick Colquhoun, sheriff of Westminster, and their acquaintance ripened into an intimacy which continued until the death of all.
When Robert Morris sold, on contract, to an association consist- ing of Pulteney, Hornby and Colquhoun the tract of land in western New York known as the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, they turned at once to Captain Williamson as the man to carry out the scheme of settling the country and disposing of their purchase in small par- cels. Williamson accepted the appointment of agent of the associa- tion; went to Scotland and arranged his own affairs and selected a party of brave, ambitious and intelligent young Scotchmen to assist him in the new enterprise. Among them were John Johnson and Charles Cameron, whose uncle, Mr. Stewart, had smoothed the family frowns that greeted Williamson and his Yankee wife, and claimed his nephew's preferment as a reward.
Late in the fall of 1791, Williamson, with his wife, children and assistants, sailed for America. At Philadelphia he first made the acquaintance of Robert Morris. He appeared before the su- preme court of Pennsylvania on January 9, 1792, when he took the oath of allegiance, renounced his British connection and became a citizen of the United States.
To obtain an idea of the work before him and the lands of which he was about to take possession, he went to Albany and, by way of the Mohawk valley, into western New York. He made this description of the route he travelled and its condition: "The road as far as Whitetown had been made passable for wagons, but from that to the Genesee was little better than an Indian path, sufficiently opened to allow a sledge to pass, and some impassable streams bridged. At Whitestown I was obliged to change my carriage, the Albany driver getting alarmed for himself and horses when he found for the next one hundred miles we were not only obliged to take provisions for ourselves, but for our horses, and blankets for our beds. On leaving Whitestown we found only a few straggling huts scattered along the path, from ten to twenty miles from each other, and they affording nothing but the conveniency of fires and a kind of shelter from the snow." Hastily exploring the northern part of
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his territory, he selected a town site at the junction of the Canase- raga creek and the Genesee river, to be called Williamsburg-prob- ably in honor of both Pulteney and Hornby. It is a strange situa- tion that Williamsburg, the first selection for a town of the English land owners and speculators, which in the early years of settlement seriously threatened to rival Bath and existed about thirty years, is now reduced to a few foundations and ancient cellars, and a few scraggy apple trees. Bath became and is a growing town of wealth, beauty and promise, and has passed its centennial.
Returning to Philadelphia, Williamson, on the 11th day of April, 1792, received in his own name from Robert Morris and wife a deed of the land known as the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, the consideration named therein being seventy-five thousand pounds sterling. After consultation with Morris and others, it was con- cluded that the most feasible route to his lands was from the south. Northumberland, Pennsylvania, then the largest settlement near the state line, was made the base of operations for this new route, and Williamson moved his family there preparatory to the work. He became convinced from the study and examination of the course of the principal streams, the scanty information derived from the maps of the route of Sullivan's expedition and the prosperity of the towns and counties of Pennsylvania that it would be advantageous to his new country to find, if possible, a route for a southern communication. He was discouraged by every person of whom he inquired for infor- mation relative to such a route, but to satisfy himself determined in person to explore the country. So in June, 1792, he left the west branch of the Susquehanna river, entered the wilderness, took a northerly course, and after a laborious trip over the mountains for ten days came to the Cowanesque creek. Continuing thence in a northerly course six days longer he and his party pitched their tents at the junction of the Canaseraga creek with the Genesee river-the site of Williamsburg, and 170 miles from his starting place. He concluded that a satisfactory route could be made and he resolved that a road following his journey was necessary and could be made practicable. His determination and vigor were further demonstrated by the fact that in November of that year he had thirty miles of this road made and in use, and the whole was made passable for wagons in August of the next year. It is said while looking out this route and building the road he became impressed with the beautiful location and superior advantages of the site of the village of Bath, at the head of a broad valley opening to the head of Crooked lake, now Lake Keuka. Until the first of the year he was busy in Northumberland, along the line of his new road and in different parts of his Genesee tract. In January, 1793, he went to Philadel- phia and New York. Here, in February, a courier from the wil- derness brought him news of a mutiny-we call it a "strike" in these later days-among the Germans employed on the new road. He hur- ried back to Northumberland and went on to the Lycoming creek, the place of disturbance, to confer with one Berezy, who had charge of the one hundred and twenty Germans. Colquhoun, without consult- ing Williamson, had arranged with this same Berezy to collect a colony of steady German farmers to be settled in the Genesee coun- try, whither they were to be carried free and where they were to be supplied with twenty-five-acre farms at reduced rates. When the
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greater number of them arrived in Philadelphia instead of New York, where it was agreed to land them, they proved to be a motley crowd of loafers and malcontents, which poverty, laziness and neces- sity had gathered together in the pestilential port of Hamburg. Robert Morris advised that the only way out of the dilemma was to use them in cutting the road to their future settlement. They were lazy and mutinous on the way; they were shiftless, ungrateful, gormandizing deadbeats while they remained at Williamsburg, and in a year or so all straggled over into Canada, on the invitation of Governor Simcoe, of that province. This was the poorest under- taking the Pulteney estate had made up to that time.
In his letter of November 2, 1793, Williamson washes his hands of the whole business, and says he has expended eight thousand pounds currency- about twenty-one thousand dollars-since they landed. Many pages of his account books are filled with items of drafts drawn on him by "Berezee," and the entries for moneys paid out between July 21, 1792, and March 26, 1793, for the Germans who came through Northumberland show an outlay of $13,241.60; while the second party, who landed in New York and went by way of the Hudson river and the Mohawk valley, are charged during the same time with $10,570.60. The trial of the rioters and strikers in Canandaigua, in September, 1793, cost more money, and other ex- penses and litigation followed.
FOUNDING OF BATH.
The exploration of the route of, and the building of the new road led Mr. Williamson to change his plans. He discovered that the southern and southeastern part of his tract was rough and hilly, much of it timbered with pitch-pine and scrub-oaks and by no means to be compared with the rich bottoms of the Genesee or the smooth slopes surrounding the lakes. It was then apparent to him that if he put upon the market the best lands first the poor and broken lands would remain on his hands unsold for a long time. He also saw that this forbidding part of the country had some ad- vantages over the other. It was nearer the southern settlements ; the streams would afford better means of communication to markets for the productions of the land; it was more healthy and abounded in more and purer streams. So he resolved to make the site of Bath his headquarters and chief settlement in their midst, saying: "As nature has done so much for the northern plains, I will do some- thing for the southern mountains." To him the location bore a striking resemblance to that beautiful valley in England where the Avon winds gracefully around the base of a hill and encircles a charming plateau, upon which has stood for centuries the ancient and renowned city of Bath-the seat of the Pulteney family. This fact led him to adopt the name for his embryo forest city. It was also a delicate compliment to the chief proprietor of the territory, his patron, and also a compliment to his charming daughter, Lady Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Countess of Bath.
The great road-"The Williamson Road"-having been finished as far as the point selected for the new town, in March, 1793, as soon as navigation was opened Captain Williamson organized a party of thirty woodsmen, surveyors and settlers to proceed at once to clear the ground and lay the foundation of his new town and
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settlement on the site previously selected by him. He placed the same in charge of his faithful henchman, Charles Cameron, who pushed out with the party in two Durham boats, which have been aptly termed the "Mayflower" and "Speedwell," laden with tools, provisions and necessaries, and made his way up the Susquehanna river to Tioga Point. The party poled up the stream or, when the current was swift, were warped up by the passengers and crew, pro- ceeding up the Chemung river to the mouth of the Conhocton; and thence up that stream to Bath, landing near the present station of the Lackawanna Railroad, south of Pulteney square.
Patrick Colquhoun, who had the management of the associa- tion at home, when advised by Mr. Williamson of the change of his residence and place of business from Williamsburg to Bath, wrote to Williamson: "I am glad you are so much pleased with your new town of Bath. I hope it may prove a healthy spot, for on this much depends. It is certainly a position infinitely more convenient than Williamsburg, and, on this account, I am glad you mean to fix your residence there."
Charles Cameron reached Bath on April 15, 1793, and William- son returned from Canandaigua and Williamsburg, two days later, to give his personal attention to the foundation of his forest city. He then suffered some of the privations and hardships of the wilder- ness. He would lay in his hut with his feet to the fire, and when the cold chill of the ague came on, call to some one to lay close to his back to keep him warm. In July his wife and two children joined him at Bath and brought cheer to his home in the midst of stumps and rattlesnakes. Mrs. Williamson deserves praise in thus helping. her husband in his enterprise. Presumably he had her bring the family into the heart of the woods to induce other fami- lies to do the same. He must have had little time for the fireside of his family, for in the following September he was compelled to go to Canandaigua to attend the trial of his German rioters, and after that to the cattle fair and races at Williamsburg; for which he gave one fifty-pound purse, besides subscribing two pounds to another and spending fifteen pounds in entertaining those in at- tendance. The next year he was appointed a judge of the court of common pleas and general sessions of Ontario county; thereupon he invested in one hundred quills, foolscap and queen's folio, be- sides a dozen spelling books. His judicial labors were not onerous; probably were chiefly confined to taking acknowledgments and ad- ministering oaths.
Early in 1794 Captain Williamson turned his attention to the northern boundary of his domain and began a settlement at Sodus, on the south shore of Lake Ontario, planning for the building there of mills, a storehouse, a tavern and a wharf. While his stout woods- men were cutting down and preparing timber for his town by the lake side and the captain, with all the celerity of horseflesh, was busy all over the territory planning settlements and projecting roads, bridges and other improvements, a real war cloud loomed over his possessions and caused much alarm. The Indians in western New York were sullen and displeased with the rapid intrusion of white settlers upon their old hunting grounds. The British au- thorities in Canada had not lost hope by reason of the termination of the Revolutionary war, in favor of the Americans, but expected
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to renew the conflict and invade New York. The British still held possession of the important posts of Niagara, Oswego and La Pres- entation, on the St. Lawrence river (now Ogdensburg, New York). The treaty of peace with England had stipulated for the surrender of these posts. Colonel Simcoe, the governor of Canada, held pos- session of these places and looked with an evil eye on Williamson's operations and activities at Sodus. At length he dispatched the commander of his garrison at Oswego to Sodus to demand the sur- render of that place, and threatened to send Williamson in irons to England for his temerity in refusing to comply with his demands. Captain Williamson replied that he was a citizen of the United States; that his operations were in the United States and that he would defend his rights with all the resources under his control and those which the government of his country could supply. In vigor- ons and forcible language he declined the governor's demand. The whole country was greatly aroused, and a messenger was at once sent to Governor Clinton, of New York, informing him of the situa- tion and that the sovereignty of the state was denied. Clinton's Scotch-Irish blood was up. He immediately issued orders to Colonel Gansvoort to prepare immediately for defense and he commissioned Captain Williamson to build suitable blockhonses at Sodus and at Bath. Williamson acted with alacrity, calling at once for proposals to prepare the timber and build these blockhonses. Young MeClure, the master builder for the tract, thirsting for a desire to get an early blow at the bloody prelatists who had so bitterly persecuted his covenanting ancestors, dropped the tools of his craft, girded.on a rusty sword, recruited a company and commenced drilling them without delay. The United States government also took the situa- tion in hand. In the meantime General (Mad-Anthony) Wayne, commanding the American army in the Northwest territory, at the battle of Fallen Timbers, on the Maumee river, had taught the Indians of the whole country and their British allies and friends a lesson that resulted in the absolute submission of the whole race. Governor Simcoe thereupon abandoned his extravagant pretensions, withdrew his demands and was compelled by his government to tender the most humiliating apologies. So this war hawk disap- peared.
In June, 1795, for many days at his home in Bath, Captain Williamson most sumptuously entertained the Duke de la Roche- foucault de Liancourt, a French exile, and several of his compan- ions. The leading guest thus describes the Williamson household and the daily life of its master: "It is but doing him common justice to say that in him are united all the civility, good nature and cheerfulness which a liberal education, united with a proper knowl- edge of the world, can impart. We spent a number of days at his house, from an early hour until late at night, without our feeling ourselves otherwise than at home. Perhaps it is the fairest enloginm we can pass on his free and easy urbanity to say that during all of the time of our stay he seemed as much at his ease as if we had not been present. He transacted all of his business in our pres- ence and was actively employed all day long. We were present at his receiving persons of different ranks and descriptions, with whom the apartments he allots to visitors is generally crowded. He re- ceived them all with the same civility, attention, cheerfulness and Vol. 1-7
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