USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 22
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
Cryder creek, the principal stream in the town, rises in Steu- ben county, flows through the town in a southwesterly direction, and empties into the Genesee river, just below Genesee Forks, near the one hundred and twenty-seventh milestone on the line between New York and Pennsylvania.
OSSIAN TOWN SETTLED.
As stated, the remainder of the seventh range of townships taken from the county of Steuben and annexed to the county of Allegany was, by the said act of annexation, called the towns of Ossian and Nunda. In 1805 the first settlement in the former, on Canaseraga creek, was made by Moses and Jeremiah Gregory, Samuel Rodbourn and John Gaddis.
The same year William Hopkins came from Pennsylvania and settled in the South valley, one mile south of the present village of Canaseraga. Samnel Boylan came from New Jersey, in 1806, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, now a part of that vil- lage, being accompanied by his son, James H. Boylan, then nine years old. They made the journey on foot, carrying on their backs all their food except what they could get from the woods or the streams.
152
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
In 1806 also came Thomas Quick, Daniel Abbott and a brother, Elias Van Scoter and William Carroll, all from Pennsylvania, who settled in South and DeWitt valleys, later called Burns village. Carroll was more than an ordinary man. Possessing all the experi- ences of a hard life, he had been a sailor in his early life and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He held a number of prominent local offices in Burns, and was noted for his integrity and good judgment.
Burns village was an important trading place until the opening of what is now the Buffalo division of the Erie Railroad, more than a mile away. Col. Ira Davenport, a distinguished citizen and rich man of Steuben county, was in business at DeWitt valley, and later, during his early life in Burns. Among other early settlers were Nathaniel Summers, William Crooks and James Fry.
The first child born in the town was Lewis W. Carroll, on Au- gust 1, 1807.
Samuel Carter, an early emigrant, built the first stone house. It is said that his sons drew the stone for this house the winter be- fore, working steadily and wading through snow barefooted.
The remainder of the seventh range, while it was part of Steu- ben county, now Ossian, and parts of the towns of Nunda and West Sparta, in Livingston county, were settled in 1804, by Richard N. Porter, James Haynes, James Croghan; by Jacob Clendenin and William Gould, in 1806, and by Herman Orton and John Gould about 1808, in Ossian, and James Scott and William Adams in Nunda. Settlements were commenced in the south part of West Sparta in 1795; by Jeremiah Gregory and William Stevens in 1796; Benjamin Wilcox in 1798; Samuel McNair in 1804, and Joseph Brooks in 1807.
The first child born in Ossian was Abraham Porter in 1805.
The first death was that of John Turner, killed by the fall of a tree in 1807.
The first saw mill was built by Nathaniel Porter in 1808.
THE GODLY ELDER GRAY.
To reverend and revered Andrew Gray, an early preacher in the seventh range of townships and a good and useful man, beloved by all, whose memory is still fragrant in the whole of this annexed territory, a more extended and worthy notice is due. He was born in the County Down, Ireland, January 1, 1757. His parents fled from Holland to escape religious persecutions. In many respects his life was one of changing incidents, and unexpected dangers. Emigrating to America, he took an active part in the American war for independence. When only seventeen years old he participated in and was taken prisoner at the battle of Fort Greene, Long Island, by two Hessian soldiers serving as hirelings in the British army, and in a quarrel between his two captors, each of whom claimed the young captive as his prisoner, he nearly lost his life. After suf- fering untold and indescribable horrors for several months in the Jersey prison ship, he escaped to the American lines by jumping into the water and swimming to the shore. Afterwards he took part in some of the hardest-fought battles of the war, serving under General Greene and General DeKalb in the Carolinas and Virginia. When the war was over Gray studied for the ministry, working at
153
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
all kinds of severe labor, to acquire the money which he frugally used to gain an education. He was licensed to preach by the classis of Esopus in 1792, and delivered his first sermon in 1793, in the Low Dutch language. In 1795, in company with Major Van Campen, Mathew McHenry and Samuel Karr, he came to Karr Valley creek, in the seventh range, now the town of Almond, Allegany county. These three purchased a large tract of land and moved there and settled with their families the following year. He preached in Al- mond, Angelica and other parts of Allegany county; also in Dans- ville, Nunda, Sparta, Groveland and in Steuben county. In 1807, the New York Missionary Society appointed him a missionary to the Tuscarora Indian village in Niagara county, where he removed with his family. His labors were rewarded and blessed by many Indian converts, and the marked improvement of the conduct and character of these people; but he was greatly harassed and his work impeded by the War of 1812. On the 18th of December, 1814, when Lewiston was burned by the British, the entire surrounding country was greatly alarmed and panic stricken. In consequence, with his family and neighbors, he hastily fled. He left his table spread and food prepared for the midday meal, and his house- hold goods and other property, with his library, were lost to him, for which no compensation was ever made. Without means, he returned to the seventh range, the scene of his early active and beneficent labors. He died at Sparta, in 1839, much and justly mourned throughout all the localities he had blessed with his good works. He was beloved by all; disliked by none. At his meetings, unbelievers "who came to scoff, remained to pray." Good Shepherd ! You have well earned your crown of palm. His funeral was largely attended from all of his fields of labors. The funeral procession was an unusually long one; many veterans attended, and it was led by two venerable and distinguished Revolutionary soldiers, Major Van Campen and Captain Perine. Elder Gray was the preacher for, all of the countryside. . As his labors extended into the Steuben county of his time, he preached in Dansville.
CAPTAIN "DAN" AND DANSVILLE.
The limits of Steuben county were again reduced by the legis- lature of New York in 1822, by which act territory three miles square was taken from the northwest corner of the town of Dansville (one of the original towns of Steuben county) and annexed to the town of Sparta, Livingston county. This part embraced the village of Dansville, which contained all the inhabitants of the town at that time, and thereby becomes pertinent to this history.
Captain Daniel P. Faulkner was one of the earliest and most active settlers. He was familiarly known as "Captain Dan," and the original town and village were called Dansville in his honor. With him, in 1796, came Samuel and James Faulkner and Nathaniel and William Porter, all from Pennsylvania. Jacob Welch, Jacob Martz. Conrad Martz, George Shirley and Frederick Barnhart also arrived from Pennsylvania during the following year.
The first marriage was that of William McCartney and Mary McCurdy. These were evidently Scotch people ; probably progenitors of some of the hardy and industrious Scotch residents who so promi- nently added to the wealth and prosperity of that village.
154
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Canaseraga creek rises a few miles south of Dansville village and flows through it, over a succession of cascades within a distance of a few miles, affording power enough to drive mills and factories and for all other purposes. Across the village and town flows Mill creek, another rapid and permanent stream and the outlet of a small lake several miles away, which affords like advantages.
These streams were very early utilized for mills. David Scholl erected the first saw mill, in 1795, and the first grist mill, in 1796. In some instances patrons came to these mills from a distance of fifty miles. These natural advantages gave the locality an advan- tage over most other towns in Steuben county, and its water power was retained and improved until its annexation to the county of Livingston and even after.
Samuel Faulkner kept the first inn, in 1796, and Daniel P. Faulkner ("Captain Dan") opened the first store, in 1797. Thomas McLain taught the first school, in 1798. Rev. Andrew Gray preached here in 1799.
The first actual settlement in this territory was made, in the fall of 1795, by Amariah Hammond and Cornelius McCoy, of Pennsyl- vania. They cut the first bushes and undergrowth and chopped down the first trees. Mr. Hammond came on horseback and, being pleased with the site and prospects of the place, spent several davs in examining the country round about. He explored "Poag's Hole" and the "Black Glen" and was surprised and attracted by their wild, curious and interesting formations. For two nights he slept on the ground under the low-spreading branches of a small pine tree, this locality subsequently becoming a part of his farm. Except here and there an open spot, red with strawberries (prophetic of the future fruit production of the place) the ground was densely cov- ered with an undergrowth of hazel, blackthorn and wild cherry, interlaced with grape vines loaded with fruit. During the first winter a log house was built by Mr. Hammond for his future home, on the ground he had selected. The next spring he brought his wife and child, on horseback, from Bath to their future home. The household goods, farming utensils and what other property he had ' were drawn by two yoke of oxen on a sled. The little party spent the first night of the journey at Bloods, now Atlanta ; the next even- ing they spent in their new home. The load of household goods and utensils not arriving, Mr. Hammond went on his trail back about three miles, where he found the oxen so tired out that it became necessary to halt there for the night. Mrs. Hammond spent that night alone in the new house. Soon after dark the wolves gathered about the house and kept up their howling for hours, and she was so frightened that she could not sleep.
In the autumn of the first year of the settlement, James McCurdy and Cornelius McCoy chopped trees and made logs enough to build a house eighteen by fourteen feet on the ground and twelve feet higli; this was thought, by these pioneers of Steuben county, to be a very large house. On raising, or "rolling up" day, neighbors came from Post-town (as the place of the "meeting of the waters, at the head of the Chemung river, was then called) ; from Canisteo, Bath and Big Tree (now Geneseo) ; the "Old White Woman's" sons and other Indians from Squakie Hill, now Mount Morris; and from Williamsburg. The building was rolled up, ridge pole and rafters
155
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
put in place, and the roof of basswood bark added-in one day. Two windows, on opposite sides of the log house, and a front door made of staves split from chestnut logs and afterward painted red on the outside, were other features of this, one of the noted buildings of the neighborhood.
Captain Dan Faulkner, the principal pioneer of this northern town of Steuben county, was a man of great energy and enterprise, and several families came with him. He assisted in building the first saw mill and brought the first load of goods from Albany by sleigh. He recruited the first military company and was commis- sioned captain by the governor of the state.
Another early settler was Colonel Nathaniel Rochester.
The milling and manufacturing facilities possessed by Dansville made it a prosperous place from the beginning and attracted trade from a long distance. The War of 1812 was supplied in part by men from this town and from other parts of Steuben county. They served principally in the campaign on the Niagara frontier and shared in its fortunes-principally failures resulting from the incom- petency of commanding officers, not from unwillingness of the men to meet the foe.
Dansville, until it was taken from Steuben county, was pros- perous, growing more rapidly than any other section of the county. One of its citizens, Hon. James Faulkner, was judge of the county for ten years. Its topographical situation was unfavorable to its remaining in Steuben county. It was situated in a deep valley, with no way to reach any other part of the county, except by climbing hills from five hundred to eight hundred feet high. Thirty-five miles from Bath, the county seat, its lines of travel were naturally down the valleys of the Canaseraga creek and the Genesee river. The county seat at Geneseo, Livingston county, twenty miles distant, was more natural and accessible than Bath. Everything conspired to its separation from Steuben and annexation to Livingston county. At that time it was the most prosperous and promising town of Steuben county. Many important events of Indian and pioneer history of the Phelps and Gorham purchase transpired in this town.
The Genesee valley canal was finished and opened to Dansville in 1840, and the village then became the principal market and shipping place for a large extent of country in western New York and adjoining territory in Pennsylvania. The construction and operation of trunk lines of railroads through the same territory has changed the market places. The Genesee valley canal was aban- doned forty years later, and busy and thriving towns were thereby converted into quiet and indolent rural localities.
For many years spirited efforts were made by the inhabitants of the unannexed part of the town of Dansville to retain that name for the then recent postoffice, established in the part of the town re- maining in Steuben county. In 1824, upon a petition of the inhab- itants of the village of South Dansville, in the old county, the name of the Dansville postoffice was changed to South Sparta, and the name of Dansville postoffice was transferred to South Dansville. As these names remained for some time, the result was confusion in the deliv- ery of business letters, which were intended for the Livingston county village, but which, of course, went to the Steuben county hamlet. The situation became so intolerable that, as a means of
156
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
relief, all of the residents of Dansville in Livingston county, whose letters had gone to Steuben county, wrote letters to the postinaster general complaining of the embarrassments and explaining the cause. The result was that the name of the postoffice was restored to Dans- ville, and the office in Steuben county became again South Dansville. Not content with success so far, an attempt was made to call the name of the town Dansville, and the Steuben county town South Dansville, but the people in Steuben county most interested vigor- ously remonstrated ; so the result was a compromise. The Steuben county town retained the name of Dansville and the Livingston county town was called North Dansville, as at present.
LOSSES OF COUNTY TERRITORY.
Steuben county, as heretofore stated, was bounded on the north by Ontario county, now the north boundary of the towns of Wayland, Cohocton, Prattsburg and Pulteney, in this county, and extending this line east across both branches of Crooked lake and the peninsula between the north boundary line of the town of Barrington and a part of Starkey, in Yates county, to the Pre-emption line. On Feb- ruary 25, 1814, by an act of the legislature of the state, the promon- tory extending to the south of this line, between the two branches of Crooked or Keuka lakes, and known as Bluff Point, was taken from Steuben county and annexed to the town of Jerusalem, then a part of Ontario county. It is now in Yates county. It was organized as a town of Ontario county, in January, 1789. The first settlers were Jemima Wilkinson, the "Universal Friend," as she was called, with a large retinue of followers, among whom were Thomas Hatha- way, Daniel Brown, Sarah Richards, Isaac Kinney, Solomon Ingra- ham, Samuel Doolittle and William Sandford. All were of her fam- ily, came from Rhode Island and lived with Jemima in the house previously built for her. It was the first frame house built west of Seneca lake. David Wagner afterwards built a large frame house on the highest place on this promontory, which commanded an ex- tensive view of both shores of the lake, and of the ranges of hills beyond the Cohocton river. It was standing for more than sixty years after, and was visited by many because of the magnificent views which it afforded. Jemima Wilkinson died in 1819, five years after the separation from Steuben county, and her sect and teachings did not long survive.
TOWN OF BARRINGTON.
The county of Yates was, by an act of the legislature, organized February 5, 1823. Steuben county was further reduced by the legislative act of April 6, 1824, when a part of the town of Wayne was taken and the town of Barrington, Yates county, formed there- from. It was early formed as Fredericktown, named for Frederick Bartles, an early settler. Its name was changed in 1808, in honor of General Anthony Wayne. Zephaniah Hoff, Henry Mapes, Walter Jennings and Solomon Wixon settled in this town, in 1791, and John Holdrige, Elijah Reynolds and Ephraim Tyler in the following year.
The first birth was that of Elizabeth Wixon, on November 6, 1793 ; the first marriage that of Ephraim Sanford, Jr., and Julia Hoff.
157
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Rev. Ephraim Sanford, a Baptist, was one of the first settlers, and for many years was the only clergyman in the town.
James Silsbee kept the first store, and Enos Silsbee was the first inn-keeper.
The first school was taught by Nathaniel Frisbee, in 1797. Jacob Teeples settled in the town in 1800, and between that year and 1810 came Thomas Bronson from Connecticut, William Cool- baugh from New Jersey, and Jonathan Davis, William Ovenshire, Oliver Parker, Mathew Knapp, Joseph Fenton, John Kriss and Henry Spry.
A. C. West taught a school in the town in 1810.
Jacob Teeples kept the first tavern, in 1804. It was on the Bath road.
Elijah Townsend was the first merchant in the northern part of the town.
John Carr built the first grist-mill, and William Cummins the first saw-mill.
Rev. James Osgood, a Baptist clergyman, was an early travel- ing clergyman, preaching in schoolhouses, barns, groves and in private houses.
The foregoing events transpired, while the present town of Barrington was part of Steuben county, and up to that time are properly inserted in this history of Steuben county.
READING EVENTS AND PEOPLE.
The town of Starkey was taken, under the act of the legislature of New York of April 6, 1824, from the town of Wayne, Steuben county, and was annexed to and remains a part of Yates county. On February 17, 1806, the town of Reading was formed from Fred- erickstown (now Wayne, Steuben county), and thereupon Reading became a town of Steuben county: thereafter, at the time before mentioned, Starkey was formed from the town of Reading, from territory which at that time was part of the town of Wayne, which originally comprised townships 4, 5 and 6, first range of the Pul- teney Purchase, and half of townships 4 and 5 in the second range of the same purchase. It furnished. territory for the erection of several new towns in three different counties-Steuben, Yates and Schuyler. Settlement began in Starkey in 1800-William Eddy, Archibald Ellis, Mathew Royce, Abner Hurd, Timothy Hurd and Peter Gustin being its first settlers.
Andrew Harrison was the first taven keeper and Harvey Smith the first storekeeper in 1809.
Timothy Hurd built and run the first saw-mill in 1807.
The first school was taught by Rhoda Royce in 1809.
Mr. Cook, a clergyman, conducted religious services in several places in this town, in 1808, and the following year came Elder John Goff. A Baptist clergyman formed the first church organiza- tion in 1809.
John Dow (sometimes called "Judge"), from Connecticut, claimed to be the first settler.
The first marriage was that of Elisha Culver and Susan Divine in 1808, and the first death was that of Minor Culver in the fol- lowing year.
Ira Parker was one of the first school masters. He severely
158
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
but successfully maintained order under the "Blue Beech" discipline, both in and out of school. He was held in esteem for the thorough progress made by his pupils in their studies, by which they became useful members of the communities in after life.
TOWN OF ORANGE.
By an act of the legislature of April 17, 1854, Steuben county was again dismembered, and its territory given to a new county then organized under the name of Schuyler county; this was a tardy recognition of the great services rendered by General Philip Schuyler to the state of New York and to the United States. The towns thus taken from Steuben county were Orange, Reading (west of the Pre-emption line) and Tyrone. Orange was originally formed from Wayne, February 12, 1813, as the town of Jersey, but it afterwards received its present name. A part of Hornby, Steuben county, was annexed April 11, 1842, and a part of Bradford, same county, was annexed to the town of Orange, by the act already mentioned, which created Schuyler county.
In 1799 the first settlement was made in this town by Abraham Rozenback and Samnel Scomp, near Monterey. Henry Switzer came in 1802 and David Hewitt, from Rensselaer county, New York, settled at Monterey in 1811. Abner Hurd, Brigham Young (the Mormon prophet), Samuel Chapman, William Wilkins, William Dewitt, Andrew Fort, Daniel Curtiss and Jedediah Miller settled in this town in 1811.
Elsie Switzer was the first child born in the town.
The first school was taught by Daniel McDougal in 1819.
Thomas Hurd kept the first tavern in 1816, and Walter Hurd the first store, both at Monterey in the same year.
The first church-Methodist Episcopal-was formed by Rev. Peregrine Hallett.
BARTLES AND HIS ARKS.
To the foot of Mud Lake-now called Lake Lamoka-Frederick Bartles, a German, emigrated with his family from New Jersey, settling at the outlet of this lake, just within this town (then in the town of Frederickstown). Bartles built a dam across the outlet, mak- ing a large mill pond which covered abont one thousand acres and was filled with all sorts of fish inhabiting the streams of this region. Here, in 1795, he built a grist-mill and a saw-mill, the place being known throughout the country as Bartles' Hollow, and Bartles' Mills. These mills were erected under the patronage of Colonel Williamson, the agent of the Pulteney estate, and the settlement was then considered a place of great importance.
Bartles was appointed a justice of the peace. He possessed a pleasant and inexhaustible fund of humorous and interesting an- ecdotes. His dialect was a mixture of Dutch and English and was of itself very amusing. Squire Bartles had great expectations for the future of his location. "Hope told a flattering tale" to him. He thought the commerce of Mud lake would warrant a town of considerable size; that the latter would become the me- tropolis of the Phelps and Gorham purchase. In the speculating and inflated summer of 1796, the proprietor was offered enormous prices for his location, or parts of it, but he declined all offers. In 1798, Squire Bartles rafted one hundred thousand feet of pine
159
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
boards from his mills to Baltimore, by way of Mud creek, the Cohocton, Chemung and Susquehanna rivers. The voyage was a success and the entire venture profitable. This enterprise was 60 successful that Bartles encouraged by the energy and ambition of residents of the Canisteo valley at Canisteo Castle, Hulbert's settle- ment and Tuscarora, as well as by the progress of Patterson, Sweeney, McElwee and George W. Taylor, in the Cohocton valley, built two arks at his mills and loaded them with lumber, grain and cattle.
An account was made of the affair by Bartles which was of so much importance that a minute was filed and entered in the county clerk's office, as follows: "This fourth day of April, A. D. 1800, there was built at and started from the mills of Frederick Bartles, on the outlet of Mud lake in Frederickstown, two arks of the follow- ing dimensions: One built by Col. Charles Williamson, of Bath, seventy-two feet long and fifteen feet wide; the other, built by Nathan Harvey, seventy-one feet long and fifteen feet wide. They were floated down the Cohocton river-after coming down Mud creek without accident-to Painted Post and thence to Baltimore. These arks are the first built in Steuben county, except one built at White's saw-mill on the Cohocton river, five miles below Bath, by Patterson, Sweeney and others from Pennsylvania, which was seventy feet long and fifteen feet wide, was finished and started about the 20th of March, the same year. This minute is entered to show at a future day the first commencement of embarkation, in this, as is hoped, useful invention."
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.