USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 65
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Mr. Griswold was twice married :- First, to Ruth Sylvester, at Westmoreland, New Hampshire, about 1820, and who died ehild- less at Dansville, New York, in 1847; second, to Sarah M. Wood- coek, daughter of Nathan and Abigail (Crossett) Woodeoek, of Willing, Allegany county, New York, who is still surviving, and resides, at the age of eighty-four, with her youngest son at Corona, California. Seven children resulted from the latter marriage- Ruth Maria, Abigail Susanna, Louisa Lavina, Hubbard Gardner, Laura Relief, Ellsworth Grant and Willard Everett. Of these, Louisa and Ellsworth died when young, and Abigail died, unmar- ried, but a short time after the death of her father. The oldest daughter, Ruth Maria, born September 19, 1849, married, first, Philip J. Green, of South Dansville, Steuben county, New York, who owned and operated the stone grist mill in that village for some years prior to his death December 16, 1883. Two children resulted from this marriage-Ruth Mary, born November 11, 1870, who died in infancy, and Floyd Griswold, born August 20, 1878, who is a practicing attorney in the City of Hornell, and married, June 28, 1905, Bessie Louise Denny, of Rochester, New York. In 1885 Ruth M. Green was married to Peter P. Pealer, of South Dansville, who, following a term as member of the New York as- sembly in 1890-1, and subsequent service as special land agent of the state, has since been engaged in the governmental serviee at Washington, where Mrs. Pcaler has become prominent in various women's patriotie societies, being the present national registrar of the Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, past regis-
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trar general and present genealogist of the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution, past president of the Woman's National Press Association, and past secretary general of the National Auxiliary United Spanish War Veterans, besides having filled important offices in other societies.
Hubbard Gardner Griswold, the oldest son of Hubbard Gris- wold, was born March 21, 1857, married Clara Mitchell, of Ossian, Allegany county, New York, and resides at Hornell. Laura Relief, born July 21, 1860, married Henry Judson Haynes, of Canaseraga, New York, who now, with their two sons, Sterling Judson and Leon Hubbard, reside at Los Angeles, California. Willard Everett, born February 13, 1867, is unmarried, and, with his mother, re- sides at Corona, California.
In his ninety-fifth year, one year prior to his death, Hubbard Griswold made a final visit to his old home in Walpole. His health and vigor, up to the occurrence of the accident that resulted in his death, were excellent. He read without glasses, was active physical- ly, maintained an intelligent interest in politics and public affairs, and, save for the accident that brought his life to a close, seemed destined to complete a full century.
HALLETT HOME, FOUNDED BY THE FATHER OF THE "UNION PACIFIC."
On July 27, 1864, Samuel Hallett was shot and instantly killed by Oliver Talcott at Wyandotte, Kansas. Mr. Hallett was a native of Steuben county ; he had made a name for himself in his native state, and was succeeding to national prominence when his promis- ing career was cut short by an assassin's bullet. At his death he was a resident of the little hamlet of Wayne, nestling among the hills above Lake Keuka in the north cxtreme of Steuben, adjacent to Schuyler and Yates counties. So prominent and beloved was Mr. Hallett and his family in Wayne and vicinity, and so romantic in his family's history were the years following his death, that the anniversary recalls again the story, which has grown almost legen- dary in Wayne. Coupled, too, with the fact, that the remains of Mr. Hallett are now in process of removal from the crypt wherein they have for years reposed upon the Hallett estate, to the modest village cemetery, licenses a brief summary of the history of this prominent son of Steuben, who loved Wayne and its people, even as they loved him.
Samuel Hallett was born in Canisteo, Steuben county, the son of poor parents. At the age of eighteen years he had earned his way into the Albany Normal School from which he was graduated at the age of twenty-two years. His schooling at Albany was gained by stage driving on the fast coach lines then traveling many parts of the country.
It was while a student at the Albany Normal that Mr. Hallett met Ann Eliza, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew MeDowell, of Wayne, Steuben county. Following a courtship of several years they were married, and for several years were engaged as teachers in the public schools, at one time teaching in Bath. But Mr. Hal- lett soon proved himself possessed of executive abilities fitted for weightier projects than teaching. He branched forth as a con- tractor and put through several large municipal contracts, and
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then succeeded to a sudden prominence by being one of the three men successively to develop the present deep-sea diving bell, an invention from which he reaped large pecuniary gains and laid the foundation of his later large fortune.
Ever attracted by the beauties of Wayne, where Mrs. Hallett was born, as Fortune smiled generously upon Mr. Hallett, his mind turned again and again to this quaint rural hamlet, finally ending in his decision to make it the family home. He purchased a large tract of land, which he laid out as a beautiful country estate. The property included a private racing course and a hunt- ing preserve, while the house upon the estate was admitted for many years to be the most elaborate between Geneva and Bath. Here lie settled with his family several years before his death.
Mr. Hallett was ill content to surround himself and family with the beauties and comforts they so lavishly enjoyed, unless sharing a meed of his fortune with his neighbors, all early friends of his wife. At the time of his death Mr. Hallett had already pre- liminary plans under way for the institution and endowment at Wayne of a free seminary for the education of indigent young people. His plans saw Wayne opened for railroad facilities and he planned the bailiwick of one of the large villages of Northern Steuben.
During these years the Hallett home was the Mecca of celeb- rities among men of letters, statesmen and social favorites. The stately old home echoed the presence of the chivalry of the Atlantic coast. Here came numerous characters prominent in one way and another in the world's affairs. Madame de Cheau, daughter of an exiled king of France; Governor Hunt, of New York; former Governor Barrows, of Tennessee; James Gordon Bennett, since editor of the New York Herald, then a lad in his 'teens; Belle Z. Spencer, a prominent writer of fiction and others were common visitors to this then stately home.
Mr. Hallett became prominently interested in the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad which spans the vast western prairies, climbs and tunnels the vast mountain ranges and penetrates to the extreme of the Golden West. The road's construction was regarded as an almost unprecedented feat of engineering and accorded a keen skepticism. Mr. Hallett was a prominent adviser of President Lincoln during the early stages of the Union Pacific's construction, and was in charge of a complete division at the time of his death. Talcott, the assassin, was employed as a sub-contractor. Angered because certain of his work was repudiated by his superiors, Tal- cott rode into Wyandotte on the day of the tragedy and shot Hal- lett as he left his hotel. Hallett fell dead, and Talcott rode away to freedom, as he was never captured. It is told, however, that Talcott mistook Hallett for another person, and that Hallett's assassination was all a mistake.
Mr. Hallett was brought home to Wayne for burial, and an added air of mystery was given the tragedy by reports which gained currency that Hallett was not dead at all, but that a wax image was brought to Wayne and buried in an effort to defraud the insurance companies of the large policies which he carried. These reports were proved, however, to be without foundation. When Mrs. Hallett, who was in Europe at the time of the tragedy,
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reached home, she caused her husband's body to be disinterred from the village cemetery, and buried within private grounds upon the Hallett estate. There she caused a costly monument to be erected, and for many years, despite severity of the weather, she paid a daily visit to his resting place. Mrs. Hallett later em- braced spiritualism. She was bedridden several years prior to her death, and her once brilliant mind was much shattered from the sudden sorrow that had afflicted her.
The Hallett fortune, deprived of the wisdom of its guiding mind, was much dissipated, and of the family of several children, all save one, a son, Irving, who resides in Colorado, have died. The dreams of Mr. Hallett for the upbuilding of Wayne and for the betterment of its people passed as vanish the colorings of the rain- bow. But his memory still lives among the older residents of Wayne, and by them is passed on to their posterity. The Hallett place is regarded by the present generation with a feeling akin to awe, and many timid youngsters passing the place at nightfall experience that "ghostly creepiness of the spine" which Wash- ington Irving accredits to Ichabod Crane, the school-master of "Sleepy Hollow."
Lake Home, the palatial residence of the Halletts, overlook- ing Lake Waneta, and in its day recognized as one of the most charming country estates in Western New York, has, like its orig- inal owners, sunken gradually to decay. To a person unfamiliar with its former history, its past grandeur appeals, as well as its silent yet evident story of sorrowing past.
Another Wayne, Steuben county landmark: This was the traveller's home of General Keman, Chas. O'Connor, Oliver Phelps, Thomas Morris, John Hornby and others.
THE "MILL AT THE NARROWS," HOWARD.
This was the first mill where grain was ground between Cold Springs and Dansville, or Dykes settlement. It was built by Will- iam Goff, who did most of the work alone; he quarried and dressed both the upper and nether stones from the ledges on Five. Mile creek and hauled them on a sled about eight miles. The irons came from a mill, below Canisteo, that burned a year or so before.
The ancestors of William Goff can be clearly traced back to the regicide, William Goffe, of South Hadley, Massachusetts, where he lived in retirement and later died in concealment. He was a general in Cromwell's army and served with distinction. After the arrest of King Charles I, of England, he was one of the judges who presided at the trial of that monarch, by which the king was found guilty, condemned to death and was by his judges sentenced to be beheaded. After the death of the Lord Protector, and the return and accession of Charles II to the throne of England, all who par- ticipated in the overthrow and death of the First Charles, werc compelled to leave England and live in obscurity elsewhere. Goffe, one of the regicide judges, sought the solitude of the mountains and caves of central Massachusetts. He had a numerous progeny of whom some settled in West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and in the valley of the Hudson, New York. Many dropped the final "e" of the English spelling, except some in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
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William Goff, the pioneer and benefactor of the town of Howard, was born in Clanrock, Columbia county, New York, in 1780. He married Harriet Hamilton in 1802; moved to Otsego Lake, New York; thence emigrated with two ox-teams, following the Susquehanna river to the Indian Arrow and its junction with the Tioga (now Chemung river) then up that stream to Painted Post and thence up the Conhocton to Bath. At Kennedy's Corners, now Kanona, he left his teams, family and fellow-travellers, and explored the country, north, west and south, finding land and water power on the stream since called Goff's creek that pleased him. Here was a stream of considerable size rushing rapidly through a narrow defile, where he could establish himself and build mills, his ambition. He lost no time in making purchase of the land and water power, and as soon as he had built a small house for his family he erected saw, grist, carding and fulling mills and a distillery. This was in 1812. These industries made this a noted locality, settlers came in rapidly and a postoffice was established.
From a near-by clay bank and marl pit, Mr. Goff, with his boys and hired men, put up a brick kiln, and manufactured ex- cellent brick, with which he built (for those days) a large and commodious house, where he and his family lived. "The Old House at Home," with the singing of the machinery of the mills, and the music of falling water, made it the dearest spot on earth. In due time the children who survived, six boys and two girls, married and went to distant homes of their own, between the Atlantic and the Mississippi. All are now dead. They were respected people, occupying prominent positions among their fellow-people of intelligence and enterprise. The grandchildren have, in their various avocations of usefulness, done no discredit to their worthy grandparents.
The erection of this first gristmill by William Goff, was not the only benefit derived from his determination to settle at this locality. Both his and his good wife's hospitality to the settlers, and to those who came from a long distance to this mill, was well known to all the country about. From this mill thousands of pounds of flour and corn meal were distributed to the poor and needy, without the least expectation of reward or pay. During the cold summer of 1816, when all crops failed and want and hunger stared the inhabitants in the face, William Goff left his home with what means he could raise, and letters of prominent people com- mending his credit, honesty and ability to pay, went east, pur- chased wheat and corn, and on his return to his mill had it ground, distributed to a hungry people, with no recompense, except a promise to pay from the next crops, if they had a surplus after providing for the wants of their families. There was much sick- ness caused by this shortage of crops and Mrs. Goff, during his absence, mounted her horse, after generously supplying herself with home remedies and medicines, delicacies and food for the sick, and started on her mission of mercy with healing on her wings. She was noted as an excellent nurse, well versed in the treatment of all the sickness and diseases of her locality, and such was the confidence of the people of all classes-especially the women and children-that a visit from "Aunt Harriet" was a sure rem- edy for any complaint. No stranger was ever denied shelter and
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suceor at the home of William Goff. The brick house, the only one between Crooked Lake and Olean Point, was a harbor of refuge-an isle of safety. Both of these good people were worthy believers in and earnest devotees of the doctrine of Universal Salva- tion. John Murray, Delphus Skinner, Pitt Morse and other bur- den-bearers and heralds of this liberal sect frequently found shelter, sustenance, good cheer and warm welcome in the old brick house. It is one of the historie houses of the county, but all is now possessed by the stranger.
On an elevation to the eastward a beautiful quiet spot- "Where early birds the morn awake, and the mournful ditty of the whip-poor-will tells us toil is over"-was selected by these pioneers as a place of final rest for all, a "God's Acre" where the rude fore- fathers of the valley sleep.
OTHER HOMES AND MEMORIES.
Many other noted historic houses and their occupants, if time permitted, would be referred to and described with some par- ticularity ; among these are the residenee of Dr. Warren Patchen in Wayland; the Hooker homestead in Cohoeton, where the first marriage in that town was solemnized, and the residence of Gen- eral Otto F. Marshall in Wheeler, where stands a mammoth wil- low tree, grown from a riding whip broken from a sapling in Pleasant valley by Miss Marshall to urge her horse to greater activity and which, upon alighting, she trust into the soft ground at home. Its great spreading branches shaded this home as long as an occupant remained and added beauty to this home of refine- ment and culture, an attraction to the traveller.
In the same town, farther up the murmuring stream, was the Wheeler homestead, founded by Capt. Silas Wheeler, a Revolu- tionary veteran, who was with General Montgomery and saw him fall at Quebec in 1775. Here too, lived his son, Hon. Grattan H. Wheeler, a member of the twenty-second congress. With their progeny they are now sleeping in the quiet cemetery in the valley below.
The MeKay house, on the Soldiers Home premises, was in its days of splendor an object of interest to the passer-by, because of its resemblance to Ashland, the home of Henry Clay, at Lexing- ton, Kentucky.
The Springfield house, built by Colonel Williamson on the banks of Lake Salubria, now Lake Williamson, once the home of the unrivalled Madam Thornton, has been described.
The Bartles Place, in Frederickston (now Bradford), was a noted home in a region of adventure and romanee. It is regretted that we cannot tarry here to tell the story of Waughneitta.
At Painted Post the houses of the Envins were famous for the ability, refinement, bravery and stubbornness of its inmates. Some gave up their lives at their country's command; others as leaders of men.
Col. Eleazar Lindsley, the first settler of the town that bears his name, located there and build a large house. He came in 1790, died in 1794, and is buried there. After his death his widow kept a tavern in this house-the first and principal one between Will- iamsport and Bath. Here was born Eliza Mulford, a grand-
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daughter of Colonel Lindsley, said to be the first white female child born in Steuben county.
In the town of Canisteo are several ancient historic houses still stand. Below the village of Canisteo and in the river valley, lived Hon. Jeremiah Baker, born there in 1791, and said to be the first native white male child of Steuben county. He was a member of the assembly in 1835, and was near one hundred years old when he died.
In the Bennett's creek valley, south of the village of Canisteo, is the old house of Joshua Stephens. The town was largely settled by members of the family. Joshua Stephens was born in 1793 and was a son of Rev. Jedediah Stephens. He was married to Rhoda Stephens in 1811, and in 1815 they settled on the farm of two hun- dred acres where the family or descendants now live. At that time Indian wigwams were scattered over the farm and savages were his neighbors. Other white men were unfriendly to them, burned their wigwams, and tried to drive them away. Mistaking Joshua Stephens for one of their persecutors, they resolved to shoot him. On September 20, 1825, he was hunting for his oxen in the woods, did not return and was found dead shot by two rifle balls found in his body. The affair created intense excitement throughout the county and two Indians, who were called Curley Eye and Sundown, were arrested, indicted and tried for the offense, but were acquitted.
The affair aroused the genius of the local poets as follows:
[Poem composed by Mrs. Purdy, on the death of Joshua Stephens, who was shot by two Indians named Sundown and Curley Eye, in the woods near his house, Sept. 20, 1825.]
In a seat of retirement of friendship and love
And every choice blessing that is sent from above,
A pair had resided for a number of years,-
Were scarce interrupted by sorrow or tears.
O'er Canisteo's mountains young Stephens did go, He feared not the dangers of storms nor of snow; The wolf and the deer before him did fall,
With a wife of his bosom he shared it all.
But, envy and malice, two monsters appeared,
To blast their enjoyment in their early years, The fierce native red men, they thirsted for blood,
And they murdered poor Stephens as he strode through the woods.
On that fatal morning his prospects were bright; His wife and his children were all his delight. When Sol had retired to the Western main,
By a hall from a rifle, unarmed, he was slain.
The trees in the forest, in mournful attire, Waft the dewdrops of Autumn as he does expire. The rain was falling, so drenching and cold;
This was a sad sight for his friends to behold.
In searching next morning, his corpse, it was found; He reached the road, and there layed on the ground. His spirit ascended the tall, aged pine, And left its dark mansion for a Happier Clime.
Oh, had he been fighting in Liberties cause, Defending himself, or supporting our Laws. But, to fall undefended, a mark for their rage! Which adds to my bosom, there's none can assuage.
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Or, had he on a sick bed resigned his breath, Or sung on my bosom in the slumbers of Death; But, wounded and bleeding, he called for relief, And dies unassisted, which adds to my grief.
With bosom's surcharge with bitterest woe They breathe their complaints, while the tears they do flow. His venerable father! His grief is supreme; How shocking to Nature, how affecting the scene.
Two unhappy wretches are now bound in chains, Confined in our Prison, and there must remain; Subjected themselves to our vigorous Laws, To live by our mercies, or die in the cause.
The Disposer of All Things ordered it best- We humbly submit, and we hope for the best. The ways of the Almighty resume not to scan; The more perfect study of mankind-is Man!
* From Squawky Hill two Indians came, To Bennett's Creek to hunt for game; The Indians' names we can't deny, Were Sundown and George Curleyeye.
Come solemn muse assist my song, In pensive notes to move along; To sing of Stevens-lately fell- And all our sorrows strive to tell.
He went from home one afternoon, His oxen in the woods to find; The Indian shot him in the side, Which caused his death can't be denied.
What consolation t'would have been, To have had a friend along with him; To have heard him bid this world adieu, And every creature that he knew.
T'was the next morning he was found, Lying near the road upon the ground; Beheld poor Joshua slim and tall, And in him lay a savage ball.
His widow's sighs, her heart doth rend, I've lost my kindest earthly friend; The best of husbands from me torn, In fruitless grief I will sit and mourn.
His children cry, our parents gone, And unto us will ne'er return; Alas! alas! what shall we do, Our thoughts on him augment our woe.
His feeble Father raised his moan, To think the Indians killed his son; Where shall I look, my hopes have fled, To rest with him among the dead.
His neighbors all in grief complain, O, how shall we our loss sustain ; His peaceful labours now are o'er, His kind advice we'll have no more.
* Squawky Hill is about two mlles from Mt. Morris, New York. There was a large Indian settlement there in 1825.
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His townsmen all bid him adieu,
And mourn that him no more they'll view; The object of their confidence,
Resigning him to providence.
His children of the martial band, Will need the guidance of his hand; l'o fit them for our land defense, And drive the bold invaders hence.
Come friends and masons drop a tear, V'er a departed brother's bier; For he is sitting now in the lodge above,
in the midst of bliss and eternal love.
The town of Caton in the southeastern corner of Steuben- county, is township No. 1 in the first range of townships.
In 1804 Richard Caton of Tioga Point, Pennsylvania, had contracted with Robert Troup as the agent of the Countess of Bath, the wife of Sir James Pulteney for the sale to and purchase by him of four thousand acres of the best land in that township, which contained front twenty to twenty-five thousand acres of land. Richard Caton who owned land at Tioga Point, becoming in straightened circumstances, applied to Charles Carroll of Carroll- ton, Maryland, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, for a loan, offering to mortgage to him his Tioga Point land, and to assign to him his contract for the purchase of land in township No. I. All papers and the money to be loaned were placed in the hands of a mutual friend for delivery and payment, but Carroll was not fully satisfied with the contract with Colonel Troup, be- cause the Countess of Bath had died without issue and intestate; and Colonel Troup claimed the legal title for the Countess of Bath, to all lands in America (the Pulteney estate), being vested in Sir John Lowther Johnston, her next of kin and only heir. After taking the opinion of the best English and American lawyers upon the question, and the adoption and satisfaction by Sir John Low- ther Johnston of the late Countess' contract, the title was found to be good and sufficient, and the transaction between Richard ('aton and Charles Carroll of Carrollton was completed. The pay- ment of the loan was met by Mr. Caton, and his interest in the township was unimpaired. Mr. Carroll was only an equitable owner; never had the legal title. The only condition he asked was that the name of the town be changed to Caton; it had been pre- viously called Hornby, after the first postmaster.
A NOVEL "LOCK-UP."
Along the border of the south town of the county that abutted. the state of Pennsylvania, much disorder prevailed. People living near the state line were annoyed by the loss of property, par- ticularly horses and sheep. These would be run over the state line into Pennsylvania and secreted in the uninhabited section; if found no criminal proceedings could be had without going to the trouble and expense of requisition and extradition proceedings, so that wrongdoers usually escaped capture and punishment. Sympa- thizers and persons sharing in the loot frequently kept these ma- rauders informed where they could steal animals, and would also watch for the approach of persons suspected to be constables or
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deputy sheriffs, and being given the alarm the thieves would quick- ly get over the state line and into temporary safety.
About 1850 Oliver Allen was the sheriff of Steuben county. He very well knew the character of the infested districts and the persons who were aiding and informing the raiders. His deputies did not or would not do anything to relieve the complaints of the vietims. The locality ealled the "Lion's Den" in this county but near the state line was said to be a favorite hiding place for these thieves. Sheriff Allen resolved to investigate, and arming himself with several pairs of hand euffs and shackles, he set out one after- noon in a one-horse wagon for that locality. Arriving at his destination, he learned from reliable scouts that two men who had been indicted for stealing horses were in the neighborhood, and were to stay until the ehanee was good to rob or steal again. One was found to be asleep in a barn, not dreaming of any trouble. The sheriff, by patient waiting and watching, found his man and slipped the hand euffs onto his wrists. The fellow asserted his innocence but the sheriff led him into an orchard, took one of the manaeles off and pushed his prisoner against the tree. The officer then drew the free hand of the man around the tree, and elasped the other hand cuff on to the wrist, and so had him embracing a good-sized apple tree, his wrists fastened together with the hand euffs. The fellow begged and yelled, but the sheriff improvised a gag out of a eorn eob and a stout cotton pocket handkerchief, and thus stopped his noise. Then shaekeling his feet around the same friendly tree, he started for the other fellow. He found him in bed upstairs in a log house. Gaining adinission on pretense that he was a doctor who had lost his way, the sheriff called to the man to come down the ladder. Coming down feet foremost the second thief was easily seeured- in the same manner as the first. By a preconcerted signal a farmer from the neighborhood eame with a team and wagon. The prisoners were released from the apple-tree lock-ups, and loaded into the wagon. That night they slept in the jail at Bath and later in the Auburn State Prison. The vicinity of the "Lion's Den" was free from the state-line thieves for a long time after Sheriff Allen's raid.
Now, it is not so difficult to have requisition proceedings as formerly. Then, too, railroads, telephones and telegraph lines make the arrest and convietion of offenders much less difficult. All of the modern innovations tend to protect the people from the law- less and improve the reputation of the county for good order and moral advancement. The character and improvement of the county must depend upon the enterprise, intelligence and good conduet of the inhabitants at large-not upon the people and residents of the villages.
Of course, two cities, both of the third class, are within the county, which should, for the sake of economy and safety, have re- mained villages. A recent act of the legislature, for eertain high- way improvements classes villages and third class cities together. The following cut from "Fire and Water Engineering" of recent is- sue, is inserted to eurb the vanity and extravagance of the "little" city mentioned; and others whom it may concern :
Hornell is one of the thrifty little "southern tier" cities of New York state which has shown some growth during the past ten
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years, having a population at the present time approximating 14,- 000. Its manufacturing interests are varied, but small; one of the railroads maintains extensive repair shops there. The city lies in the valley of the Canisteo river and covers an area of two and one- quarter miles; elevations above mean sea level range from 1,135 to 1,270 feet.
RETROSPECT.
Robert Morris conveyed nine hundred thousand acres of land, ceded by Massachusetts to New York, to the son of Sir James John- stone, who, on his marriage with Mrs. Pulteney, niece of the Earl of Bath, and daughter of General Pulteney, assumed the name of Pulteney, and thereafter was known as Sir William Pulteney. He directed his agent, Captain Charles Williamson, to personally visit and explore this vast purchase of wild forest land, and commence operations for the settlement and sale of this tract.
In the summer of 1792, Captain Williamson came from North- umberland, Pennsylvania, and traveled north towards the Genesee river. This was the beginning of wonderful changes in the Painted Post country. As Williamson journeyed up the valley of the Con- hccton he was impressed with the beauty of the intersection of a broad valley extending north to Lake Keuka. It was near the central part of the tract he was exploring on the Conhoeton river, and afforded abundant water power. The location bore a strik- ing resemblance to that beautiful valley in England, where the river Avon winds so gracefully around the base of a hill and en- eireles a charming plateau, upon which has stood sinee early Eng- land, the ancient city of Bath, the subject of song and story. It was the seat of the Pulteney family. These vivid resemblances and impressions determined Williamson to make this place his embryo capital of the domain, named in honor of his patron's only daughter, Henrietta Laura Pulteney, who was created Baroness Bath, County of Somerset, July 26, 1792. She was created Coun- tess of Bath, October 26, 1803. The Countess warmly appreciated Captain Williamson's delicate compliment paid to her. She and her family never tired of hearing and reading descriptions of its beautiful location, romantic, picturesque and rugged surroundings, and the beautiful lake just down the valley to the north. She always manifested an carnest desire to visit her namesake. It is said her picture was painted for presentation.
Sir William Pulteney died in 1805, leaving Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Countess of Bath, his only heir. She married Sir James Murray, who assumed the name of Pulteney and died, without issue. August 14, 1808. The Pulteney estate descended to Sir John Lowther Johnston, of Scotland, her eonsin and heir-at-law.
Many towns and eities in the United States are called Bath, but not from the impulse that actuated Captain Williamson.
The city of Bath in Somersetshire, England, gave a great historical pageant from July 19 to 24, 1909. It sent invitations to each danghter of Bath in the United States, requesting that each send a young lady to represent her home town at the pageant. At the request of citizens, Mayor A. E. MeCall, of Bath. New York, designated and aceredited Miss Eva Heineman as its representative at the pageant in England. There were twelve representatives
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from the United States. All were clad in silvery gowns, draped the same as the Goddess of Liberty; each carried the coat-of-arms and motto of her state and each recited a short appropriate verse. The American representatives were given many receptions and fetes and a special banquet was given in their honor. The rep- resentative of the namesake of the Countess of Bath conferred by Captain Williamson, was the recipient of many attentions from the Pulteney lineage.
What a flood of events have occurred from the founding of Williamson's selection to the pageant of the ancient Bath on the Avon. The struggles of that period are ended. Men and women are better. Nature alone remains unaltered. The hills and valleys are more beautiful to eyes first opened among them, but upon whatever seenes they now dwell fond memory will always turn to the attractions of dear old Bath-the beginning and ending hereof.
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