USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 23
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The triumphant success of Bartles' arks, was an event that created as much excitement and sensation as the record-breaking trip of an ocean greyhound, or the aerial flight of Curtiss from Albany to New York.
The navigation of the streams of the Painted Post country by rafts and arks has long ago disappeared while Mud lake and Bartles' shipyards are things of the distant past. Mud lake and creek have failed since the clearing away of the heavy forests, and the produce of the country found markets by canals and later by railroads.
That part of the present town of Reading, Schuyler county, lying west of the Pre-emption line, was taken from the town of Wayne, formerly Frederickstown, April 17, 1854. Reading was formed as a town of Steuben county February 17, 1806, and so remained until the organization of Schuyler county April 17, 1854. Judge John Dow, from Connecticut, settled in the town in 1790, locating near the present site of Reading center. Judge Dow, in 1852, and while Reading was in Steuben county, in an interview with Hon. Guy H. McMaster, of Bath, said: "I think it was in the fall of 1791, I went to view land in township No. 5, second range (now Wayne). At that time two families only were there Henry Mapes and Zebulon Huff. I went to the same place again in 1794 and learned that Solomon Wixon with a large family, two of the name of Silsbee, two or three Sanfords, and others, had settled there.
"I left Connecticut and came to the head of Seneca lake in April, 1789, and staid there, and at the Friends' settlement, until late in the fall; then, after being away a few months, returned to the head of Seneca lake in March, 1790, and have continued to reside there, and at the place where I now reside, until the present
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time. The Friends (Jemima Wilkinson's followers) made their set- tlement in 1:88 and 1789, but between them and the head of the lake, a distance of twenty miles, it was not settled until the time above mentioned (1798).
"I saw Caleb Gardner in 1789, who said he lived at Big Flats. and I understood from him that others had settled there. In the spring of 1790, 1 saw Colonel Erwin at Chemung, who with one or two men were driving some cattle to his son's at Painted Post. The lands along each side of Catherine valley were not settled, I think, until 1798 or 1799."
Judge Dow was followed to his place of settlement by David Culver in 1800. Other early settlers who came to the towns of Reading and Starkey, within the following four years, were Will- iam Eddy, Abner Hurd, Reuben Henderson, Andrew Booth, Samuel Gustin, John Bruce and Samuel Shoemaker. In the years 1806 and 1807, John Roberts, James Roberts, Daniel Shannon, Caleb Fulker- son, Richard Lanning, George Plumer and Andrew McDowell, set- tled in the town.
David Culver kept the first inn and Eliadia Parker built the first saw-mill.
The first school was taught by Ira Parker, at the Centre.
The first church was formed by Rev. John Goff, a Baptist minister, in 1810, at Reading Centre.
The first marriage was that of Elisha Culver and Susan Divine, and the first birth that of Minor Culver.
SETTLEMENT OF TYRONE.
The town of Tyrone was a part of Steuben county, until it was taken to make the now county of Schuyler, April 17, 1854. It was originally a part of the old town of Frederickstown; then was included in the town of Wayne, from which it was taken April 16, 1822. General William Kernan from County Cavan, Ireland, was the first settler in Tyrone; he came in 1800. He settled upon a tract of four thousand acres, which had been purchased of Low and Harrison by Thomas O'Connor of County Roscommon, Ireland. Mr. O'Connor proposed to settle a colony of his countrymen on this tract, and lived on this tract for a time in a log house on the hill, adjoining Lake Wanetta, then called Little lake. He was a widower, and his son and daughter accompanied him to his residence in this wilderness. The son, then about nine years of age, returned to New York and afterwards became Hon. Charles O'Connor-until his death among the most learned and eminent members of the American bar. A large number of Irish immigrants settled on the O'Connor tract, but after a few seasons of unsatisfactory efforts, abandoned their improvements; being discouraged at the labor of clearing, and trying to cultivate the land, and discontented by the want of the religious advantages and consolations afforded by the church of their faith, the Roman Catholic. General Kernan alone remained of his countrymen on this tract until his death. His son, the Hon. Francis Kernan, was born in Tyrone, January 14, 1816; was liberally educated and became one of the most eminent lawyers in the state of New York. He resided most of his man- hood at the city of Utica; was a representative in the thirty-eighth Congress from the Oneida district; was a United States senator
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from New York for six years from January 1st, 1875; and was the candidate of the Democratic party for governor of New York, in 18:2, but was defeated by General John A. Dix.
Other early settlers of the town of Tyrone, who came in 1800, and located in the village, were Benjamin Sackett, Abram Fleet, Gersham Bennett, Abram Bennett and Captain Josiah Bennett.
Simon Fleet was the first child born in the town.
The first school was taught by Hugh Jameson.
The first tavern was kept by Captain Williams and Thomas O'Connor opened the first store.
Roscommon was a small early hamlet of this town, named from the native county of the sturdy and industrious Irish immi- grants and pioneers of what was then Frederickstown. A post- office was established here and it was a point of some importance on the post road from Bath to Geneva. The hamlet, the name and the postoffice have become extinct.
Lake Waneta, a crystal tear from the clouds, lies on the pres- ent dividing line between the counties of Steuben and Schuyler between the towns of Wayne and Tyrone, and the scene of brave and romantic Indian legends, is a fitting and admirable memorial, to the brave men whose names encircle it.
Here the shores of the Crystal Gem, the most beautiful of the lacustrine region of the Empire state, are unvexed by the discordant sounds of the locomotive whistle, or the noise and danger of rail- road traffic, resting in the quiet of rural sights and sounds. It lies three hundred feet higher than Lake Keuka, two miles distant, and its waters discharge into the ocean through the river and gulf of St. Lawrence, under the cold, inhospitable and foggy banks of Labrador.
And Lake Wanetta of greater altitude, but a close neighbor, is separated by a thin water shed, a section of the vertebrae of the continent, which sends its waters musically rejoicing to the sea under sunny skies. Where else could the names of these immortal patriots and noblemen be more fittingly commemorated than by the shores of this beautiful lake, made romantic and lovable by its Indian legends, which might be given to the reader ; but grander and more enduring than all elsc, besides, is the living and eternal monu- ment to the glorious lives of Schuyler, Steuben and Wayne.
CHAPTER VIII.
COURTS AND COURT HOUSES.
BATH AS THE SHIRE TOWN-THE SIX ORIGINAL TOWNS-COUNTY DIVIDED INTO TWO JURY DISTRICTS-HORNELLSVILLE PROTESTS -THREE JURY DISTRICTS-COURT TERMS -- THIRD COURT HOUSE AT HORNELLSVILLE.
The topography of Steuben county, is such that communication between its remote towns was always attended with difficult and laborious journeyings. The principal and important streams divided the county from north to south through two valleys nearly parallel, until they unite and form the Chemung river, near the southern border of the county. The valley of the Cohocton is at least forty- five miles long, that of the Canisteo is fifty miles; between these valleys is a range of hills varying in altitude from seven hun- dred to two thousand two hundred feet; so that the residents of the western and southern towns had but little actual personal knowledge of the inhabitants of the eastern and northern towns, and the nature and characteristics of the territory; this was and is true of the towns of the county in general.
BATH AS THE SHIRE TOWN.
Bath was made the county seat of the county at the time of the organization in 1796, and there the county buildings were located, the courts and all county business being held and transacted there. The Board of Supervisors convened at that place for the considera- tion of county affairs and the discharge of the business of its mem- bers. Jurors, suitors and witnesses were required to attend the ses- sion and sittings of the courts of record of the county,-all involving large expense to the taxpayers, and individual sacrifice of time and money for all persons required to attend. The salaries and expenses of officers charged with the proper execution of the public business were large and burdensome. The county at its organization was about fifty miles square ; it is now about forty by thirty-seven miles. The question of a division of the original county and the forma- tion of a new one has been much agitated, and but for the veto by the governor of a bill that had passed both the houses of the legis- lature, the project would have been accomplished. It was alleged, at the time, that this veto was to pay a political debt.
The main line of the New York and Erie Railroad was opened and operated through Steuben county in 1852. Two years later
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what is now the Buffalo division of the Erie Railroad (from Hor- nell to Buffalo) was opened. In 1852 the Rochester division of the Erie Railroad was opened to Corning, traversing the entire length of the valley of the Cohocton river. My means of these great im- provements and inovations upon the primitive ways, routes and travel, old localities and centers of trade and business lost their prestige and importance; new centers of trade, travel and business became flourishing and attracted energy and capital. A new era was inaugurated. The conservatives who were not mindful of the dawn of progressive times were allowed to dream of their own im- portance, unmindful of the causes and events which seduced the bor- der towns from Steuben county to counties that offered and gave
Court House, Bath.
greater facilities for economy in time and money for the transaction 1 of public business and the discharge of private duties.
THE SIX ORIGINAL TOWNS.
When the county of Steuben was erected, it was divided into six towns, named: Bath, Canisteo, Dansville, Frederickstown, Mid- dletown and Painted Post. The town of Bath originally comprised all of the territory now contained in the towns of Bath, Urbana, Wheeler, Prattsburg, Pulteney and Avoca, and parts of Cohocton and Howard. The town of Dansville contained all that is now com- prised in the towns of Dansville, Fremont and Wayland, and parts of Cohocton and Howard, in Steuben county ; the town of North Dansville, parts of West Sparta, Ossian and Nunda, in Livingston county, and Burns in Allegany county ; Frederickstown, the towns of Tyrone, Reading and Orange, in Schuyler county, Barrington, Starkey and part of Jerusalem, in Yates county, and Wayne and Bradford in Steuben county; Middletown, the present towns of Addison, Rathbone, Cameron, Thurston, Tuscarora, Woodhull, Troupsburg and Jasper ; Canisteo, all of the present towns of Canis- teo, Greenwood, Hartsville, West Union, Hornellsville and the city
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of Hornell, in the county of Steuben, and the town of Almond and parts of the towns of Alfred and Andover, in Allegany county, and the town of Painted Post contained all of the towns of Hornby, Campbell, Erwin, Caton, Lindley, Corning and the city of Corning in Steuben county, and the town of Independence and part of An- dover in Allegany county.
The towns of the seventh range of townships of Phelps and Gor- ham's purchase and of the Pulteney estate were annexed to Allegany county March 11, 1808. The fork or peninsula between the main body of Keuka lake and its west branch, part of the town of Je- rusalem, was annexed to Ontario county February 25, 1814, and later became part of Yates county, with the towns of Barrington and Starkey, in 1823-4. Since 1854 Steuben county has comprised thirty- two towns, namely: Addison, Avoca, Bath, Bradford, Campbell, Cameron, Canisteo, Caton, Cohoeton, Corning, Dansville, Erwin, Fremont, Greenwood, Hartsville, Hornby, Hornellsville, Howard, Jasper, Lindley, Prattsburg, Pulteney, Rathbone, Thurston, Troups- burg, Tuscarora, Urbana, Wayne, Wayland, West Union, Wheeler and Woodhull-and the two cities of Corning and Hornell.
In April, 1888, the city of Hornell was created from a part of the town of Hornellsville and in 1890 the city of Corning was or- ganized from the town of Corning, so that there are now thirty-two towns and two cities. Each city has three supervisors and each town elects one, so that the Board of Supervisors of the county has thirty- eight members.
The county of Steuben, since all reductions from its original boundaries, now has a surface area and population larger than one or more states of the American Union. The members of its. Board of Supervisors exceed in number the members of the upper branch of the legislature of those states.
COUNTY DIVIDED INTO TWO JURY DISTRICTS.
The opening and operation of railroads and other means of communication and transportation tended to change the centers of population and business. The rapid growth of improvement and population in the towns along the valley of the Chemung, Tioga and Canisteo rivers created dissatisfaction by reason of the enormous expense and loss of time and great annoyance consequent upon at- tending at Bath for the transaction of court and county business in- duced frequent agitation of the propositions advanced for a division of the county ; several attempts were made, bills introduced, and legislatures memorialized to that end, hut the jealousy of the locali- ties aspiring to the honor and advantage of shire town for the pro- posed new counties defeated the movement, and Bath remained se- cure in its selfish enjoyment. Then a movement was organized for a division of the county into two jury districts, the erection of a courthouse and the holding of courts in the new district. It did not require a prophet's vision to foresee that the old shire town would have to fight to retain its ancient enjoyment and hold its primacy. Ambitious Addison, crafty Corning and belligerent Canisteo were agreed and united.
The conflict was not long delayed. On July 19, 1853, the legis- lature of the state passed and the governor approved Chapter 578, entitled "An act to divide the county of Steuben into two jury dis-
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tricts and to provide for holding courts in and for said county alter- nately in each of said districts."
This act provided for the appointment of commissioners to select a site for the location of a courthouse and jail in one of the following named towns, which formed the new southern jury dis- trict, to-wit: Addison, Cameron, Campbell, Canisteo, Caton, Erwin, Greenwood, Hartsville, Hornby, Jasper, Lindley, Corning, Thurs- ton, Troupsburg, West Union and Woodhull.
The act further provided that until such selection for the site and the erection thereon of the court house in said district, the courts to be held in said southern jury district should be held in the town and village of Addison; and in pursuance thereof one or more
Court House, Corning.
terms of the courts were actually held at Jones' Hall, Addison. The village was elated over the event; the joy and anticipation of its citi- zens knew no limit. But a change was soon to come over their ex- pectations. Political and diplomatie Corning awaited the appoint- ment of the commissioners to be named by Governor Horatio Sey- mour to locate the county buildings for the new district. The com- missioners were appointed; the village and town of Corning was selected for the site for the county buildings in the southern district ; the court house was built and the first of said courts was held in it in the fall of 1854, wholly at the expense of the county at large, and a new one was afterward built at a larger expense. Great was the disappointment, chagrin and anger of Addison over the outcome of the project.
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In 1854 Governor Seymour was a candidate for reelection, Myron H. Clark being his principal opponent. Seymour was de- feated, and Clark was elected by a majority of 309, owing to the resentment of the voters of Addison; it was at that time alleged, because of the selection and determination of the commissioners in this court house matter. It was asserted that Governor Seymour re- ceived at this election less than a score of votes in the town of Addison. Two years before, Seymour's majority was 22,593 over his principal opponent, and his majority over the combined votes of his two opponents (Washington Hunt and Minthorne Tompkins) was 3,357.
HORNELLSVILLE PROTESTS.
The people of Hornellsville and adjacent towns were not satis- fied with the situation after the erection of the southern jury dis- trict. The court house at Corning was and is forty-two miles away ; the court house at Bath twenty-two miles distant, involving the clinibing over the high hills of the town of Howard, which form the divide between the Cohocton and Canisteo rivers. Corning is reached by railroad from the towns in the Canisteo valley and con- tiguous towns. This frequently made necessary travel with animals or on foot for a distance of from five miles to twenty-five miles. Bath could be reached by railroad by traveling sixty miles, changing cars at Corning and seldom making connections, which necessitated the paying of hotel bills from extortionate taverns, usually resulting from the unaccommodating management of the railroad. The jour- ney to and from the county seat involved two days each way, if any business was to be transacted. The inhabitants of Hornellsville and its immediate surroundings, the most populous and thriving part of the county for many years, sought relief from the intolerable situation. They were supplicants for relief at nearly every session of the state legislature, so that every effort in that direction was regarded by the more fortunately situated inhabitants of the entire state as a huge annual joke on a deserving section, which was butting its head against the stone wall of the interests of scheming, trading politicians and weak-kneed sycophants.
The legislature having, in later years, given to the boards of supervisors of the several counties of the state authority "to make one or more jury districts, and to make such regulations in respect to the holding of the terms of courts as shall be necessary by reason of such change," this enactment can now be found in the county law. (Consolidated Laws of the State of New York, Chap. 11, Ar- ticle 3, Section 13, Subdivision 14.).
THREE JURY DISTRICTS.
The power to grant relief for the supplication of the people was removed from Albany to an authority nearer to the people inter- ested, many of the members of the board of supervisors being in- formed of the annoying isolations; being desirous of further official favors; avoiding the resentment born of a denial for relief, and, being nearer to the people and locations interested, were more in sympathy with the citizens of the county than the members of the legislature generally. Upon petitions for rearranging and de- fining the jury districts of the county, the board of supervisors enacted that "Steuben county be and the same is hereby divided into
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three jury districts; that the said First Jury District shall com- prise the towns of Avoca, Bath, Bradford, Cohocton, Prattsburg, Pulteney, Urbana, Wayland, Wayne and Wheeler; that the said Second Jury district shall comprise the towns of Addison, Caton, Corning, Erwin, Hornby, Campbell, Lindley, Rathbone, Thurston, Tuscarora, Woodhull and the city of Corning; that the said Third Jury district shall comprise the towns of Canisteo, Cameron, Dans- ville, Fremont, Greenwood, Hartsville, Hornellsville, Howard, Jas- per, Troupsburg, West Union and the city of Hornellsville; that this act shall take effect on the first day of July, 1905." This act re- ceived the affirmative votes of thirty-seven members; the board was composed of thirty-eight members.
COURT TERMS.
The legislature of 1902, by Chapter 110, enacted that terms of the Steuben county court be held in the city of Hornellsville. In pursuance thereof a trial term of said court, with a jury, was held at its city hall in the month of October of that year, and court has been so held in each month of October since. The first term was held by Hon. William W. Clark, then county judge. Terms of the county court for the hearing of motions, appeals and trials without a jury have always been held at Hornell on the fourth Thursday of January, March, April, June, July, November and December of each year. Trial terms of the county court since 1902 have been held with a jury at Corning in February of each year, and at Bath in May of each year. Special terms were and are now held in Corning on the fourth Friday in January, March, April, June, July, November and December in each year, and at the village of Bath on the fourth Monday of March, July and November. Surro- gate's courts have been held in Addison, Corning and Hornell for twenty years, and are now held, once in each month, except August, which is the vacation month for all the courts of record in this state.
Section 238 of the Code of Civil Procedure declared that trial terms of the supreme court must be at the place designated by the statute for holding the county court. The provision was reenacted in February, 1909, and is now of the judiciary law, being found in Section 152, Chapter 30, of the Consolidated Laws of the State of New York. In obedience to this enactment a trial term of the su- preme court of the state of New York, with a grand and trial jury, was held at the city hall, Hornellsville, on the first Tuesday of Sep- tember, 1905 and 1906, by Justice James A. Robson, of Canan- daigua, New York. The accommodations afforded by the Hornells- ville city hall were not sufficient to accommodate the court and juries ; for that reason the justices of this court, notwithstanding the express command of the statute, declined to further appoint or hold terms therein until sufficient accommodations were provided ; therefore, no terms of the supreme court were held in Hornellsville in 1907 and 1908, but were held in the village of Bath, as in the years preceding 1905.
In order to secure the holding of terms of the supreme court at Hornell a suitable court house was required in that city; then Steuben county would have three county court houses, which was an anomaly in this state. No other county had more than two, and in
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the popular opinion that was one too many. For more than half a century Hornellsville and the adjacent towns had struggled for relief from the situation. The legislature had been memorialized for the passage of an act either to divide the county, or to create a third jury district and a court house therein to be built by the county, but none of these efforts materialized. The county's board of supervisors had been supplicated to endorse and recommend such legislation, but in vain, because those towns in the eastern and southern sections of the county were bitterly opposed to being taxed for the building of a court house in Hornellsville. Upon two occa- sions such an act, notwithstanding the most strenuous opposition from Bath and other towns in the Cohocton valley and towns east, was passed by both branches of the legislature, through the most per- sistent attention and effort of the supporters of the project. The first act was vetoed by the then governor-as was at the time said, to produce harmony in his political party. By this act the proposed new county was to be called Kent, in honor of New York's great chancellor. The second act, which succeeded in passing both the assembly and senate, was called Lincoln county, in honor of the great American liberator and martyred president. This act failed to receive the approval of the governor, without assigning any reason. It is presumed he had none. These abortive efforts and failures discouraged further unity and vigor of action for the time.
The surrogate's court is the most popular, and of the largest and most far-reaching jurisdiction of any of the state benches. The grim messenger, death, initiates its proceedings. All are subject to its mandates and decrees, and must attend its sittings, where and when required. It is safe to assert that seven-tenths of all of the property in the state is held, and since its organization, has been affected by proceedings in this court. It is always open.
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