USA > New York > A history of the purchase and settlement of western New York : and of the rise, progress and present state of the Presbyterian Church in that section > Part 12
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FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES.
Presbytery of Columbia, that of Newark, of Susquehannah, and a number of others, received churches on the same principle. Annual reports from these churches, were received by the Presbyteries, as from the other churches under their care. Their records were sent up annually for review and correction. They contributed equally with other churches to the necessary expenses and other funds of the Presbyterian church. In the administration of the discipline of the church, the forms of process contained in the Book of Discipline were observed, and appeals from the sentence of the church went to the higher judicatories in the same manner as from other churches. They received their pastors through the action of the Presbytery in accordance with the rules contained in the form of government of the Presbyterian church, and the relation between the church and their pastor was regulated entirely by these rules. These churches, as has been already observed, differed in no respect from strictly Presbyterian churches, except that their sessions were composed of all the male members of the church of suitable age, to act in the concerns of the church, instead of a bench of elders chosen for this express purpose, and set apart by certain religious rites,
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CHAPTER VIII.
Territory West of the Genesee River. Phelps and Gorham's Purchase; the Mill Seat ; the Triangle; the Connecticut Tract; the Cottinger Tract; the Church Tract ; the Patterson Tract; the Starrett Tract. The Holland Purchase. Rapid Settlement of the Country. Peter Shaffer and Scottsville. Infidel Club. Ganson's Settlement. Almond. Rev. Andrew Gray. Organization of a Church. Settle- ment of Angelica. Town of' Northampton divided. County of Genesee erected. Other Civil Divisions. Rev. David Perry, the first Missionary to this Region. " Father Spencer," his Labors, Character, Death, Monument. Church of Bergen, Riga. Rev. Allen Hollister. Church of Warsaw, Attica. Rev. Silas Hubbard. Church of Ogden, Fredonia, Buffalo, Lewiston, Hamburgh. The War with Great Britain, its effects on the Holland Purchase. Rev. Samuel Parker. Rev. Robert Hubbard. Church of Almond, Angelica. Mr. Hubbard ordained and installed ; his Labors, Character, and Death.
IT is now time that we direct our attention to that portion of West- · ern New York which is situated on the west side of the Genesee river. A comparatively small share of this territory was included in Phelps and Gorham's Purchase of the Seneca Indians. The boundaries of this tract may be said to commence on the Genesee river, at a point two miles north of the place where formerly stood the Indian village of Canawagus, and to proceed on a direct west line from that point, a distance of twelve miles : thence in a north- easterly direction, parallel to Lake Ontario : thence by the shore of the lake to the mouth of the river : and thence up the river to the place of beginning. It is said that the Indians, after having con- cluded to make a sale of land to Mr. Phelps, expressed a decided indisposition to suffer him to extend his purchase any further than the river. Mr. Phelps pleaded for a sufficient territory to enable him to erect a mill, urging its importance to the Indians themselves. On their agreeing to his proposition, he described the territory above designated as a suitable quantity to constitute a mill-yard, and fur- nish the timber necessary for the supply of the saw-mill. From this circumstance, the tract which now comprises the towns of Chili, Riga, Gates, Ogden, Greene, and Parma, was frequently spoken of as " the Mill Seat." The Indian title to this territory was extinguished several years before the purchase of Robert Mor- ris of the other lands of the Indians west of the Genesee river, and some settlements were made on it, particularly near the mouth of the Genesee river, at a very early period. Almost all the settle- ments west of the river at the commencement of the present cen- tury, were on this tract. The number of families, however, was small, and it is not known that at that period any stated religious worship in any place was maintained.
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THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.
In a former chapter, we have narrated the sale of the land lying west of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase to Robert Morris, by the State of Massachusetts, and the subsequent extinction of the Indian title, by a treaty made with the Indians at Big Tree, in 1791, as also the sale of the principal part of this acquired territory by Mr. Morris to the Holland Land Company. Between the Holland Land Company's Purchase, and Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, lay a tract of about 300,000 acres, extending from the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario. This tract at the south end was twelve miles in width : at the north end it was considerably less, owing to the irregularity of the west line of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase. This tract was sold by Mr. Morris, in separate parcels, to different pur- chasers. West of that part of Phelps and Gorham's purchase on the west side of the Genesee river, lay a tract which from its form was denominated the Triangle, including the towns of Bergen, Sweden, Clarkson, and part of Leroy and some others. This tract was bounded on the east by Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, and on the west by a meridian drawn from the south-west corner of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase to Lake Ontario. It extended northwardly to the Lake. This tract was sold to Mr. Le Roy, of the city of New York, from whom the village of Leroy derived its name. Between the Tri- angle and the Holland Purchase, was a tract of about six miles in width, which came into the possession of the State of Connecticut, and on this account was denominated the Connecticut Tract. These two tracts extended south, as the writer believes, to the south line of the town of Leroy. South of these tracts, and Phelps and Gorham's Pur- chase, lay what was denominated the Cragie Tract, and soutli of this, the Cottinger Tract, concerning which the writer has obtained no very definite information. South of the Cottinger Tract lay the Church Tract, a territory containing 100,000 acres, sold by Mr. Morris to John B. Church, of the city of New York. South of this, was a tract of 9000 acres sold to Mr. Patterson, of the city of Bal- timore, and adjoining this was a tract of 3500 acres, sold to Mr. Starrett, also of Baltimore. This tract adjoined the State of Penn- sylvania. All these tracts, together with the Holland Purchase, were in due time prepared by surveys into convenient lots, to be sold to actual settlers, and at different points the settlement speedily commenced, and progressed with great rapidity. As the first prin- cipal road which was made passable through this region, was that which leads from Avon on the Genesee river, through Leroy and Batavia to Buffalo, it was natural that the first settlements should be made on that road, and up and down the Genesee river.
We have already noticed the Scotch settlement of Caledonia, with the organization of a church and the settlement of a pastor, Rev. Alexander Denoon. Peter Shaffer settled in 1788 at the place where the village of Scottsville now stands. He was the first set- tler on the Genesee river, and probably, with the exception of his own family, lived without any society for several years. About
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WESTERN NEW YORK.
1796, some German families from Pennsylvania moved into his neighborhood, and shortly after, others from England and Scotland, and a very few from the Eastern States. A correspondent ob- serves that the region was for years noted for its irreligion ; that it was said for a considerable time that the Sabbath had not found its way west of the Genesee river ; that an infidel club was early formed, composed mainly of Englishmen and Scotchmen, that had a circulating library composed of the works of Voltaire, Volney, Hume, Payne, and others of a similar character. No church of the Presbyterian or Congregational order existed in this place till March, 1822. At Ganson's settlement (now Leroy), the Ganson family located themselves on the rise of ground at the east end of the present village, perhaps as early as 1796 or '97, and a settle- ment existed there in 1802 of some sixteen or eighteen families. The author visited the place in that year, and preached a sermon, which was then a circumstance of very rare occurrence among them. There was then but one male professor of religion in the settlement, a Mr. Carver. He had some time previous to this set up public worship on the Sabbath, but through discouragement had relinquished it. At this period, few, if any white settlers had locat- ed themselves west of Leroy, with the exception of a few families on the Niagara river. About this time, however, settlers began to come in, and population rapidly increased. The Holland Land Company's office was located at Batavia, a circumstance which would naturally have an influence in bringing in inhabitants into that village.
At a considerable distance in a southern direction, a settlement was commenced in 1796, at a place which now constitutes the town of Almond, in the county of Alleghany, by Rev. Andrew Gray, William Gray, Joseph Rathbone, and a Mr. Van de Mark. The next year Moses Van Campen (now generally known as Major Van Campen) and Capt. M'Henry joined them. These were fol- lowed, in a short time, by Walter Karr, Joseph Karr, Samuel Karr, Silas Ferry, Stephen Major, Benjamin Van Campen, Joseph Coleman, and George Lockhart. These were all from Pennsyl- vania. Some of them brought their effects from the place of their removal on the Susquehannah river, in a flat-bottomed scow, up the Susquehannah, the Chemung, and Canisteo rivers, to the place where the village of Hornellsville now stands. Several of these people were professors of religion. Mr. Gray was a clergyman of the Reformed Dutch Church. Public worship was immediately set up, and a church was soon organized of the Reformed Dutch order, and for several years Mr. Gray was their preacher. But eventually Mr. Gray removed from them, and the church fell into decay, and in a short time became extinct. Major Van Campen removed to Angelica in 1805. The settlement of this place had commenced. two years previous, by William Hedding and a Mr.
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THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.
Chamberlain. Evert Van Wickle, Esq., moved in 1804. He was agent for Mr. Church, the proprietor of the tract in which Angelica is comprised. The settlement at Almond was within the bounds of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase. The settlement at Angelica may be considered as the commencement of the settlement of the Church Tract.
Until the year 1802, the whole of Western New York which lay west of a line formed by the west boundary of Phelps' and Gor- ham's Purchase, from the Pennsylvania line to the intersection of that boundary with the Genesee river, and from thence continued down the river to its mouth, was comprehended in one town, named Northampton. The town meeting was held at the lower falls of the Genesee river, where the principal part of the inhabit- ants resided. On the 30th day of March, 1802, an act of the Legislature was passed, declaring this territory to be a county by the name of Genesee, and dividing the town of Northampton into four towns. The Holland Purchase was constituted a town by the name of Batavia. The northern part of the remaining territory remained the town of Northampton, and extended from Lake On- tario south to a line formed by the south boundary of that part of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase which lies west of the Genesee river, and continuing that line in a due west direction to the east boundary of the Holland Purchase. The town of Southampton lay contiguous to this, between the same parallels, and extended south to a line drawn due west from the north-west corner of town- ship No. 9, in the seventh range of townships in Phelps and Gor- ham's Purchase, this line continuing west to the boundary of the Holland Purchase. All the territory south of this, between the same parallels to the Pennsylvania line, constituted the town of Leicester. This latter town, in February, 1805, was divided, and the town of Angelica set off from it to include all that part which lies south of a line drawn parallel with the southern boundary of the State, distant thirty-four miles from said boundary.
Feb. 8th, 1810, the town of Buffalo was set off from Clarence, including all that part of the State which lies west of the west transit line. The town of Buffalo, at its first organization, must have contained an area of about 300,000 acres. The transit lines were meridian lines, run by a transit instrument, by which the Hol- land Purchase was divided into four separate parcels. These lines were sixteen miles distant from each other. This arrangement of the towns is evidence that the population of the country, at that period, must have been very sparse. In 1806, the county of Alle- ghany was separated from the county of Genesee, embracing also on its east line one tier of townships from the west point of Steu- ben. In 1808, the county of Genesee was further dismembered, and the counties of Cattaraugus, Niagara, and Chautauque were or- ganized from it. These counties, in the year 1810, according to
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WESTERN NEW YORK.
the census of the United States, contained an aggregate population of 25,240 souls, of whom 12,588 were in the county of Genesee, and 8,791 in the county of Niagara. At this period, Batavia and Buffalo were small villages. Rochester, and the country around it, were a wilderness. In 1812, this village was laid out into lots for settlements, when not more than two or three log-houses ex- isted there. In 1813, one of the great Pagan festivals was held on this ground, and the sacrifice of a white dog took place, on the spot where the Bethel church has since been erected.
The region of country west of the Genesee river, was at an early period visited by missionaries from various societies. The first missionary who crossed the Genesee river on missionary employ- ment, it is to be believed, was Rev. David Perry of Richmond, Massachusetts. He was in the employ of the Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society in the summer of 1800, for a period of three months, and penetrated the wilderness as far as Ganson's settlement, where he preached and performed other missionary labor. Here he found one male professor of religion, and through his influence public worship was commenced on the Sabbath, but it continued but a short time. But the most distinguished missionary who operated on this ground was Rev. John Spencer-generally on account of his age and acceptability -- familiarly called " Father Spencer." He was a native of the State of Connecticut, and brought up to manual labor ; possessing no more than an ordinary school education in his youth. In the Revolutionary war he served as a soldier in the army. After the close of the war, he removed with his family to the town of Worcester in the county of Otsego. The writer believes that he here sustained the office of deacon in the Congregational church in that place ; and, as the church was with- out a pastor, was the principal leader in the public worship of the Sabbath, and in conference meetings at other times. He possessed a clear, discriminating mind, a good measure of ready utterance, connected with correct theological views, and rational and fervent · piety. He was plain in his manners, and unassuming ; diligent in his business, and at the same time, in a great measure, indifferent to the things of the world. Contemplating the moral desolations around him, the extent of the harvest, and the paucity of laborers, he felt a strong desire to become a minister of the gospel of salva- tion. Communicating his feeling to some of the ministers of his acquaintance, he was encouraged by them, and assisted in a short course of preparation for licensure. In the month of October, 1800, he was licensed to preach the gospel, by the Northern Associated Presbytery, and one year afterwards, by the same body, was ordained to the ministerial office. For two or three years he exercised his ministry in the county of Greene, afterwards in the county of Oneida. In the spring of 1809 he removed with his family to Canadawa (now the town of Sheridan), in the county of Chautauque.
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THE HOLLAND PURCIIASE.
At this period, the writer, who was personally acquainted with him, believes that he must have been more than fifty years of age. He is supposed to have been the first minister of the Congregational order who settled in that region. He was for several years a mis- sionary in the employ of the Connecticut Missionary Society ; his field of labor, the Holland Purchase. In this employment he was eminently faithful, and for this species of ministerial service, he possessed some important qualifications. His field of labor was large ; the country new ; the roads rough and often miry ; distance between settlements frequently considerable ; and accommodations for his entertainment plain and sometimes scanty. But none of these things moved Father Spencer. He disregarded outward cir- cumstances, and went on unmoved in his work. He possessed an easiness of address, connected with plainness of manner, but far removed from vulgarity, which made him a favorite with the uneducated in the wilderness, while the fund of good sense which he possessed, and manifest honesty of purpose in the work in which he was engaged, rendered him acceptable to the educated and refined part of community. As a missionary, it is believed that he was highly useful in forming and sustaining the churches on the Holland Purchase. He died in 1826, but his memorial is with the churches, and will long remain precious in their recollection. A monument with the following inscription marks his grave in the burying ground of the church of Sheridan :-
" This stone is consecrated to the memory of Rev. John Spencer, many years a Missionary of the Connecticut Missionary Society. He was the first gospel minister, who traversed the wilderness, then called the Holland Purchase, and was the instrument under God in forming most of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches which existed in this region when he rested from his labors-1826. Aged, 68 years.
" He trod a useful but laborious path to immortality, in the ardent and unremitted exercise of doing good.
" The Association of Western New York, grateful to his memory, have erected this monument, hoping that it may prompt the beholder to imitate his self-denying labors .- 1838."
Many other missionaries were employed on this field of labor, generally, however, for short periods ; and for a number of years, this part of Western New York was almost entirely dependent upon the different missionary organizations for the ministerial labor which it enjoyed.
Of the churches to which this history relates, the next to Cale- donia in date of organization, as the writer believes, was the Con- gregational church formed on the Triangle, now the church of Bergen. Some of the early settlers on this tract were professors of religion from Guilford in the State of Connecticut, and its vicinity. Among them was the venerable Deacon Levi Ward, a man of
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WESTERN NEW YORK.
eminent piety, who with his sons, also professors of religion, and their families, located here. Soon after their arrival public worship was set up, and not long after. the church was organized. This must have been in 1807 or 1808. From this church after a short pe- riod was formed the church of Riga. Over these two churches Rev. Allan Hollister was ordained and installed pastor, in the year 1811 or 1812. He continued not long in this station, and was removed by death. The first organization of a church on the Holland Pur- chase was that of Warsaw. The date of its organization is not known to the writer. Over this church, on the twenty-seventh day of October, 1813, Rev. Silas Hubbard was installed pastor, by a committee of the Presbytery of Geneva. A church was formed in Attica soon after the formation of the one in Warsaw. The church of Ogden, originally denominated Parma, consisting of ten members, was organized Nov. 4th, 1811, by Rev. Reuben Parmele. This church was originally Congregational in its form of government. The church of Fredonia, originally called the first Presbyterian church of Pomfret, was organized by Rev. John Spencer, Sept. 29th, 1810. The number of members at the organization was twelve. For several years this church enjoyed the ministry of Mr. Spencer a part of the time. The first Presbyterian church of Buffalo was organized, Feb. 2d, 1812, by Rev. Thaddeus Osgood. The number of its members was twenty-nine. Its members became dispersed by the war with Great Britain, and the burning of Buffalo; but after the conclusion of the war reorganized, and have been prosperous. The churches of Lewiston and Hamburgh were among the first organizations in that region ; but the date of their organization is not known to the writer. In the year 1814, Rev. Chester Colton was engaged sixteen weeks on the Holland Purchase, as a missionary in the service of the Connecticut Missionary So- ciety. He notices in his report, that there were on the Holland Purchase, thirteen Congregational churches, of which ten were small, but sound in the faith, and greatly desirous of enjoying the stated preaching and ordinances of the Gospel ; and that there was but one Congregational minister who had the pastoral care of a church in all that extensive tract of country.
The war between the United States and Great Britain com- menced in June, 1812, and continued till 1815. The effects of this were most disastrous, especially in a religious point of view, to this part of Western New York. It was a frontier country, but sparsely populated, and was exposed to the incursions of British troops, accompanied by savage Indians. This circumstance was calculated to produce terror in many minds. As a natural conse- quence immigration almost wholly ceased. Many who had settled in the country, especially those who were in the more exposed places, removed to a distance from the seat of war; and of those who remained, frequent alarms greatly deranged their business.
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THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.
The excitement naturally produced by proximity to scenes of martial conflict, and the spirit which war necessarily engenders, are most unfavorable to the growth of piety in the hearts of Chris- tians, or a serious attention to the concerns of salvation on the part of impenitent sinners. The marching of troops upon the Sabbath. and other circumstances of Sabbath desecration, necessarily, or at least, usually, connected with a state of warfare and the presence of armies, have a most deleterious influence on religious improve- ment, and the quiet observance of Christian ordinances. Those who compose an army are, for the most part, exceedingly depraved characters, whose intercourse is corrupting. Near the close of the year 1813, Fort Niagara was taken by the British troops; the villages of Lewiston, Youngstown, Manchester, Indian Tuscarora, Black Rock, and Buffalo, were burnt, and the whole Niagara frontier desolated. These circumstances were exceedingly unpropitious to the advancement of the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. The trustees of the Missionary Society of Connecticut, in their report to the Society for the year 1813, state that Rev. John Spencer labored the whole year as a missionary, chiefly on the Holland Purchase ; that from midsummer 1812, until the following winter, universal and distressing agitations of that border, rendered his prospects of usefulness more discouraging and gloomy. In the succeeding winter, spring, and summer, however, meetings were better attended ; the attention to preaching, and the anxiety mani- fested for more evangelical instruction was increasing ; though no special revival had been enjoyed within the circle of his labors. In the report for 1814, they say, "Through the whole of the year 1814, Rev. John Spencer was employed in missionary service on the Holland Purchase, but in consequence of the operations of the war with Great Britain, which in a particular manner affected that part of the State, his labors and usefulness were greatly impeded."
In the county of Alleghany we have spoken of the settlement of Almond and Angelica. These are supposed to have been the ear- liest settlements in that county. Notice has been made of Rev. An- drew Gray and the Reformed Dutch church organized by him in Almond, which in a short time became extinct. These places, with the region around them, received a share of attention from different Missionary Societies. In 1808, Rev. Samuel Parker, then a licensed preacher of the gospel, under a commission from the Massachusetts Missionary Society, visited these settlements, and spent a little sea- son with them. His visits were repeated in 1810 and 1811, and his labors, it is believed, were instrumental in preparing the way for the organization of churches in those places. In 1810 they were visited by Rev. Robert Hubbard, then a licentiate preacher, from the same society. In the following year Mr. Hubbard was employed for a season by the Genesee Missionary Society, and a part of his time was expended in these places. His labors were ac-
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