USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > Address on the early reminiscences of western New York and lake region of country : delivered before the Young Men's Association of Buffalo, February 16, 1848 > Part 4
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
"That all the lands, situate, lying and being in the County of Tryon, bounded on the North by lake Ontario, the Onondaga river, and the Oneida lake; on the West by a line drawn from the mouth of the Great Sodus or Assorodus Creek, through the most westerly inclination of the Seneca lake ; on the South by an east and west line drawn through the most southerly inclination of the Seneca lake ; and on the East by a line drawn from the mnost westerly bounds of the Oneida or Tuscarora country, on the Oneida lake, through the most westerly inclination of the west bounds of the Oneida or Tuscarora country ; shall be, and the same is hereby declared to be set apart, &c., &c."
It is a little surprising that the name of Tuscarora should have been applied to any part of our State. This tribe of Indians were comparatively new comers in the State, were but few in numbers, having been nearly destroyed in their wars with the whites in North Carolina ; from whence they emigrated in 1712, into the western part of New York. They were kindly received by the five nations of Iroquois, and admitted as a distinct nation into the confederacy afterwards known as the Six Nations. Their first settlement was with the Oneidas. At the time of the last great sale in 1797, of the extreme western part of New York by the Indians to Robert Morris, amongst other places reserved by the Indians, a sinall tract of land, known as the Tuscarora reser- vation, a few miles from Lewistown, in Niagara County, was one. Here the whole tribe congregated ; subsequently the Holland Land Company donated them two square miles ; and in 1804, they purchased from the Company upwards of four thousand acres more.
The following short historical sketch, will shew why they left North Carolina :--
"In 1710, a large number of German emigrants arrived in this country, and settled in North Carolina. Two years after their arrival, the Tuscaroras, Corees, and other tribes of Indians, formed a deep conspiracy for the extermination of the English settlers. Having fortified the chief town in the Tuscarora nation, for the security of their own families, the different tribes met at this place, to the number of 1200 warriors, and laid. the horrible plot, which was concerted and executed with stability and great secresy From this place of rendezvous they sent out small parties, which entered the settlements by different roads, under the mask of friendship. When the night agreed on had arrived, they entered the houses of the settlers, and demanded provisions ; and feigning displeasure, fell upon them, and murdered men, women, and children, without distinc- tion. About Roanoke, 137 persons perished in the massacre. A few persons escaping, gave the alarm to their neighbors the next morning, and thus prevented the entire destruction of the colony.
"Governor Craven, of South Carolina, as soon as he heard of this massacre, imme- diately sent Col. Barnwell, with 600 militia and 300 friendly Indians, against these savages. Marching through a hideous wilderness, Barnwell came up with the enemy, and attacked them with great effect. In this action he killed 300 Indians, and took about 100 prisoners. The survivors fled to their fortified town, where Col. Barnwell surrounded them, killed a great number, and compelled the remainder to sue for peace. It is estimated that in this expedition nearly a thousand of the Tuscaroras were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners."-Holmes' Annals.
43
log cabin in which I was born. He commenced in 1796 or 1797, the erection of a large square two story frame house, and from its peculiar and favorable locality and beautiful site, on the travelled road from Geneva to Bath, in Steuben county, supposed it might be wanted in time for a tavern, and had a large ball room made in it. Owing to adverse circumstances, one of which was the failure of the contractor, he lost three hundred dollars, a large sum at that time. Another was, that his lumber after being well dried and fit for use, caught fire in the kiln and was destroyed. These retarded its completion for several years. At length it was finished, and being the only house for several miles around of a suitable size for the purpose, the master workman and his joiners, together with some other young men in the neighborhood, were desirous of having a house warming and spinning bee. That year he had grown an extraordinary crop of flax, and the young men said if he would let them have the frolic, they would hackle and dress the flax, get the fiddlers, collect the girls, and do all they could to lighten the burthen on him. He gave his permission-they turned in, dressed the flax, and then making up seventy-two half pound bunches, put them in bags and scattered them round the country for several miles, amongst the girls, as cards of invita- tion.
In those days, there were no pianos and guitars in the country, and the girls made music on spining wheels, and the notes they practised upon were flax and wool. The flax was to be spun into threads of a certain number, and on the evening of the party, cach girl was to bring her skein of thread. Those who lived on roads leading direct, came in wagons. Others, who lived in the woods, where some of the prettiest girls were found, mounted a horse behind a young man, with a blanket to sit upon, dressed in their every day apparel, with woolen stockings and strong shoes on. They
44
would dash through the woods on some trail, through brooks. and over every obstacle in their way, carrying their ball-dress and skein of thread in a bundle, in their hand. A few minutes at the toilet put them in a condition for the ball-room. Others, living only a mile or two away, thought it no great task to come on foot. In the ball-room, their rosy cheeks. their sparkling eyes and blooming health, gave pleasure to all who beheld them ; and their vigorous systems, strengthened by hard daily labor, enabled them to dance and enjoy it, and with life and spirit would they skip through the dance, like the young fawns of their own woods. The supper was prepared by my mother, and well, too, from the products of the farm. and with the addition of coffee, tea, sugar and some light wine, was all that was necessary or desired. Information reaching Geneva, of the party, about thirty of the elite of that place came down and joined heartily in the pleasures going on. As no barn could hold the horses, they were picketed around the wagons and fences, and plenty of hay spread before them. As daylight began to appear, the girls would doff their ball dresses, and having again donned the homespun. disappear for their homes in the woods.
In 1789, Ontario was set off from Montgomery as a county. It embraced all the territory lying between the Seneca Lake on the East, Lake Erie on the West, Lake Ontario on the North, and Pennsylvania on the South, and is now subdivided into fourteen counties, which are :- Steuben, Ontario, Yates. Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauque, Erie, Niagara, Orleans. Wyoming, Genesee, Livingston, Monroc and Wayne.
In 1801, and for two or three years, my father was the Sheriff of Ontario County, embracing all the territory now included in the last named thirteen counties.
The first town meeting was held at Canandaigua, in the spring of 1790. That year the State road from Utica to
45
.
Canandaigua was opened, the State gave a township of land towards the expense, and a large number of men were set to work, but before it was done the number increased to two or three hundred, by cmigrants coming on with teams, who could go no further than the road was opened, and turned in and helped cut their way through.
On the Ist of July, 1790, the first census under the' Con- stitution of the United States was taken. General Amos HIall, of Bloomfield, was the Marshal for taking the census in Western New York. Ontario County then contained the following number of families and persons, and the townships in which they resided. This table was made in 1820; some of the townships may have received other names since that time, and some that had none then have since received names :
In 1790 there were, in
Fam.
Per.
Township No. 2,
Range 1,
now Painted Post,
10
59
do.
7,
do.
1,
Milo, .
11
65
do.
8 ,
do.
1,
Benton,
3
25
do.
9,
do.
1,
Seneca,
10
60
do.
10,
do.
1,
do.
Geneva,
8
55
do.
11,
do.
1,
Phelps, .
2
11
do.
8,
do.
2,
Middlesex,
7
38
do.
10,
do.
2,
N. Gorham,
6
14
do.
11,
do. do.
3,
W.
do.
12
55
do.
10,
do.
3,
Canandaigua, .18
4
14
do.
8,
do.
4,
S. Bristol,
4
20
do.
9,
do.
4,
N. do.
3
13
do.
10,
do.
4,
E. Bloomfield,
10
65
do.
10,
do.
5,
W.
do.
7
26
do.
11
do.
4,
Victor, ..
4
20
do.
9,
do.
5,
Richmond,
1
2
do.
11,
do.
5,
Mendon,
2
10
do.
12,
do.
5,
Pittsford,
8
28
do.
13,
do.
5.
Brighton,
4
20
do.
10,
do.
6.
Lima,
4
23
do.
11,
6,
Rush,
9
56
do.
12,
do.
7,
Sparta, .
1
5
do.
9,
do.
7,
Geneseo,
8
34
do.
1,
do.
2,
Erwin,
11
59
do.
2,
do.
2,
do.
3,
do.
5,
Canisteo, 10
50
do.
4,
do.
6, 5
Wayne,
1
9
do.
do.
2,
Avon, ..
10
66
do.
10,
do.
7,
Caledonia, 10
44
4
17
Indian Lands-Leicester,
.
105
1081
2,
E. Farmington,
2
4
do.
11,
106
do.
12,
do.
3,
W. Palmyra,
1
8
do.
7,
do. do.
6.
Henrietta,
46
The same district of country now contains over eight hun- dred thousand inhabitants.
I was born in 1795, and I do not believe there are fifty persons in this country who are as old as I am, and are natives of the old county of Ontario. I have witnessed great changes in the country' during my short life ; I have followed settle- ments and civilization from the banks of the Seneca Lake to the Mississippi, which it has overleaped. It is pursuing its course westward to the shore of the great Pacific Ocean.
In a recent conversation with Judge Porter, he informed me that he came to Canandaigua in 1789, with two Schenec- tady boats, each one capable of carrying fourteen barrels, and four men to man cach one, to get them around the different falls and rapids which obstructed the navigation in those days. These boats they succeeded in getting to Canandaigua, to shew that the thing could be done. Afterwards they stopped five or six miles down the outlet, at a place now called Man- chester, where the railroad crosses the stream.
Near Fort Stanwix (now Rome,) a saw-mill was built on Wood creek, the dam of which threw back the water and formed a large pond. The small boats used in 1789, and afterwards until the canal and locks were built connecting the Mohawk and Wood Creek, were hauled over ; and when three or four were ready, the gate of the dam was then opened and the water rushing in raised the creek so that boats starting with the high flood reached Oneida Lake with much ease. In 1792, in going down this creek, he overtook a party who had left in the former flood, but too late to get through, and there first saw the late Mr. James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, up to his knees in the water, getting his boat afloat.
The first American vessel built on Lake Erie, was construct- ed at Four Mile Creek near Erie, Pa., in 1797, and was ealled the Washington. She navigated the Lake that season,
----
47
and was then sold to a man in Canada, who took her round the portage to Queenstown, from whence she sailed for Kingston, but was never heard of after leaving the Niagara river .*
The first American vessel built on Lake Ontario, was at Hanford's landing, three miles below Rochester, in 1798, by Eli Granger, (of thirty tons burthen,) and was called the Jemima. From this time to the commencement of the war of 1812, I have the names of a great many vessels that were on the lakes, with the history of many of them. Many were lost by storms, and several were captured by the British, during the war, and burnt ; so that at the time that peace was restored, very few vessels were on the lakes, except such as had been used by the Government during the war.
In 1816, the steam boat Ontario was built by Eli Lusher and his associates, at Sackets Harbor, on Lake Ontario ; and the steam boat Walk-in-the-water, for Gilbert and J. B. Stewart and others, at Black Rock, in 1818. This was the first use ยท of steam on these lakes.
In 1796, the only white persons living on the Western Reserve, in Ohio, consisted of a French family at Sandusky bay. And in 1811, after a very tempestuous passage (in the schooner Catharine, afterwards the Somers, in Commodore Perry's fleet,) of nineteen days over the lake, when I first landed on the Peninsular point in that bay, there was no person living where the city of Sandusky now stands-the
*The American settlements at Erie, commenced in 1795. Capt. William Lee, in a small sail and row boat carried up that summer the family of Col. Reed, grandfather of Gen. Charles M. Reed. Several families commenced settling the place that season ; during the same time, the town was laid out by a party of surveyors under the protec- tion of a company of Pennsylvania Militia, commanded by General Irvin of Carlisle .- Col. Reed, entertained in his marquee, his house not being ready to occupy, Judah Colt, Joshua Fairbanks and Augustus Porter, Esqrs., who visited him that summer.
In December, 1796, Gen. Wayne, commander in Chief of the American Ariny, when returning from Detroit, was attacked with a fit of the gout and died at this place. He was buried near the spot where the old block house stands, on the bank of the Lake. In 1809, his remains were taken up and removed by his son to Chester, in Pennsylva- nia, and deposited in St. David's Church yard.
48
only building in it was a log hut, where an old Indian had, or did then live, called " OGONSE," and this was the name of the place.
I was then in the employ of my brother-in-law, Captain Sheldon Thompson, now of this city, bound south of the Sciota river, with a quantity of goods and salt, to purchase hogs, which were to be killed and packed on the Peninsula, near the lake. No large vessels had, at that time, been known to enter that bay, and Captain Tucker did not venture to make the attempt, as the weather was cold and stormy, with some snow flying-it being the last days of October. IIe ran his vessel as near the shore as was prudent, and landed the loading on the beach, from whence it was rolled far enough back, to be out of the reach of the swells of the lake.
The few people residing on the Peninsula, in four or five log buildings, were suffering from the effects of the fever and ague, and had a most ghastly appearance. They had but few comforts and none of the luxuries of life. At that time they were without flour and tea. They made bread from corn meal ; the corn on the ear was first put into a large kettle and boiled until it had swelled out and softened the kernels, and was then grated. The graters were made by breaking a tin lantern to pieces and nailing them on a board. Sage was used for tea. Meat was plenty ; all it required to get this, was to shoot down a hog; there were many running in the woods, fat from the quantities of mast they fed upon. I soon improved the living by getting out some tea and sugar, and taking some powder and shot, soon killed ducks (the bay was then full of them,) enough daily, to supply the family where I stopped, as long as I remained with them.
Capt. Thompson soon joined me at this place ; he came up the lake on horseback. From the place where the goods
49
were landed on the beach, we conveyed them in a boat to Lower Sandusky. Here the United States had a factory or trading house for distributing to the Indians their annuities ; it was then under the charge of Judge Samuel Tupper, who afterwards resided and died in this city. This trading estab- lishment was enclosed by picket work, and afterwards formed Fort Stephenson, where Colonel Croghan severely defeated the British and Indians in 1813. A few white squatters lived around here, who subsisted principally on corn and game in the woods, and fish caught in the Sandusky river. We had left a number of men on the Peninsula, to put up log buildings for slaughtering, smoking and packing the pork and hams, and coopers to manufacture the barrels. These men I brought up the lake in the vessel with me.
At Lower Sandusky we fortunately met with four large wagons, drawn by four horses each, from the Mad River country. These, I believe, were the first that had ever come through. They were hired to convey our goods through to Delaware, where we intended to stop.
The road to Tymoctec Creek, 31 or 32 miles, through thick woods, had just been opened and there was no house the whole distance. Three miles beyond Tymoctee was a cluster of log huts called Negro town, inhabited by Indians, except an old Negro called "Tom," and his family, and a white man named Wright, who was married to old Tom's daughter. He was a silversmith, and made silver work for the Indians. Here commeneed the openings or prairies, which continued to the little Sciota river. These openings had clusters of bushes and trees that appeared like and were called islands. Near one of these I was shown the spot where Colonel Crawford was said to have been defeated, and the tree was pointed out to me under which he was taken prisoner. He was burned to death at the Indian town on
D
50
the Tymoctee, four or five miles westerly from Negro town. Three or four miles from Negro town we came to two log buildings where an old Indian named Winne Hankie, a kind and hospitable old man, lived. From this until I passed the Little Sciota, I found no building or human being.
The river fortunately was low enough for the wagons to ford it with their loading, without being under the necessity of building rafts or floats to carry them over. We now enter- ed thick woods, the road being very bad, and in four or five miles came to a small Welch settlement in the township of Radnor. From this place we soon reached Delaware. The country was heavily timbered allround for many miles and the settlements were in detachments in different parts. Columbus was not yet established as the seat of the State Government.
After putting up our goods in an unfinished brick building, built for a dwelling house, Mr. Thompson went into the several settlements and employed agents to buy hogs and corn to fat- ten them. In payment the agents drew orders on me at the store. The hogs were very wild in the woods and quite fat from the nuts and the acorns which they found. After buying them we put them into pens and fed them six or eight weeks to harden the meat. When in a proper condition nearly two hundred were brought in at a time from the different agencies to Delaware, and put together in a lot of two or three acres. Before starting the drove for the Lake shore, the drivers, who well understood the character of Ohio hogs in those days, would arm themselves with strong clubs and go into the lot and drive them round as hard as they could to tire them down so that they would drive well. With all this precaution we lost a number from each drove. They would break out and run through the woods faster than man or horse could pursue. During the winter we drove eight or nine hundred. As there were no settlements on the road to get corn to feed them, we
51
had to send wagons along carrying it with them. Mr. Thompson went himself with two droves. That winter was colder than usual, and a good deal of snow fell. . In crossing the plains, where the cold was most severely felt, the drivers at night would make up log fires, and after eating their supper, roll themselves up in a blanket, lie down before the fires and go to sleep. The great heat from the fire and the warmth of their heads, which, getting into the snow while asleep, caused it to melt ; many of the drivers wore cues or long hair; this would settle in the snow, and towards daylight, after the fires began to go out, a cold blast of wind coming over the plains would freeze the snow and their hair in it, and they had to be chopped loose before they could get up.
I remained in Delaware until the last of April, 1812. I left that place with four large teams carrying property we had purchased, and eight or ten cows which I had to drive, with an old crippled negro for an assistant. While with the wagons our provisions were carried in them. On reaching Negro town I found the Tymoctee creek too high' for the wagons to cross, much rain having fallen. After waiting two days for the water to fall, without success, and directing the wagons to follow as soon as they could, the old negro and myself took each a loaf of bread and a piece of pork, which we put into a blanket and carried on our backs, and thus started with the cows for Lower Sandusky. I got two Indians to aid us in swimming the cows across and then carry us over in a canoe. The cows went very slowly, and night soon overtook us in the wilderness. We stopped, made a fire by flint and steel, and ate our supper, and then laid down to sleep, the cows feeding close around us. It was a long time before we could get to sleep, the woods seemed full of wolves which kept up a terrible howling and not far away. I had a small horn of powder, but no gun, and the negro said it wouldl.
52
keep the wolves off, if we should scatter some gunpowder around and flash it, and that the smell of it would frighten them away. We did so, but it did not start them nor stop their noise, they kept it up until near daylight ; when the wild turkeys began to gobble in the woods, and they made nearly as much noise. In the morning we collected. our cows and started, and after traveling two days and lying in the woods two nights we got through. On the way we had to wade a good many streams, the water coming up to our middle. I caught a bad cold, and was nearly exhausted. At Sandusky they gave me a sweating. I was laid on the floor with a large blanket fastened down at the corners over me, given plenty of hot herb tea to drink, hot stones were put under the blanket and a large quantity of clothing over me. The perspiration ran most profusely from me, and I thought I should drown. I hallooed to get up, but more hot drink and more hot stones , were applied. After several hours I was let up, free from pain and as well as ever.
A boat was sent up from the Lake for me and the property I had with me. When we started to go down the river, only 36 miles, we expected to get through that night, and carried only one day's provision with us. On getting to the head of the bay, a hard north wind was blowing, and we could not cross over that day nor during the night. We ate up for supper all we had, and next morning began to be hungry, the wind still continuing to blow too strong for us to start. I had a fish hook and with some twine made a line, got some bait and tried to catch some fish ; I caught a few small perch and one large " sheep's head." These we dressed and cooked on coals, and tried to eat without bread or salt. The perch went well, but the more we broiled the sheep's head the tougher it became. We could not master it. This was the first as well
53
as the last time I ever attempted to cook and eat a "sheep's head."
On the way down the Sandusky river, I passed two or three hundred newly made Indian bark canoes, they were collecting to go to Malden to sell their services or make pretence of doing so, to the British, preparatory to the war which was then close at hand.
I waited on the Peninsula three or four weeks for the vessel to come up to carry away our pork &c. In the meantime we built a log block-house for the settlers to protect themselves in from the Indians. After the declaration of war the people removed, and the Indians burnt down the block house.
When the vessel arrived, she was brought into the bay near Bull's Island. We boated the pork to her until she was nearly full, and then took her over the bar outside, and boated the remainder to her. We started with a fair wind, ran over the Lake finely, and " came to" under the lee of Bird Island, at the entrance into the Niagara River. I found a regiment of volunteers at Black Rock. The same afternoon when I arrived at Black Rock, I started on foot for Lewiston, and in a few days war was declared.
In 1807, the village of Lewiston contained two small frame and five or six log houses. The ground on either side of Main street, for a short distance, was cleared and fenced in, and corn and other grain grown upon it. There were many old, dry trees standing, and thick woods bounded it on the north and south sides.
In 1800 the second consus was taken, and in apportioning the members of Assembly amongst the several counties, by an act passed in the Legislature, April 3, 1801, Ontario and Steuben counties, (the latter one having been set off from the
51
former in 1796,) were to have two members, being one half the number that Erie County now has.
In May, 1807, I crossed the ferry at Avon, on the Gen- essee River, with a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen and a horse, with a driver. After passing the flats, about two miles from the river, there was a small cluster of Indian buildings called Can-ne-wagus. From this place I recollect but one log building until reaching the small Scotch settlement of Caledo- nia. In 1811 there was at this place a wood-colored house without porch or steeple to denote its use .- This was the Scotch Presbyterian Meeting House, and is said to be the first building erected, or exclusively used for Divine Worship, in the State of New York, on or west of the Genessee River. The term "exclusively" may give this building the seniority, but as carly as 1807 I attended Divine Service in a very convenient frame building, painted and with a cupola on it, erected for a school and meeting house in the Indian village of Tuscarora .* At this time the Rev. Mr. Holmes, a Baptist clergyman, preached in it. Ifis son, Philip, afterwards married Sylvia, the daughter of the late Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, of this city.
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.