USA > New York > Erie County > Centennial history of Erie County, New York : being its annals from the earliest recorded events to the hundredth year of American independence > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
107
PROPOSED SCHOOL HOUSE.
addition in a note to Mr. Ellicott, which the author of the His- tory of the Holland Purchase mistakenly supposes to refer to the birth of Harry B. Ransom, who was a year and a half older. Thus, as far as known, Mr. and Mrs. Asa Ransom made all three of the first contributions to the white population of Erie county.
However, there were some older children at the little settle- ment which the Holland Company had named " New Amster- dam," but which the inhabitants insisted on calling " Buffalo." Though there were but very few families, and the village was not yet surveyed so that lots could be bought, yet the people felt a laudable desire for educational privileges, and in August Joseph R. Palmer, brother of the tavern-keeper, applied to Mr. Ellicott on behalf of the inhabitants for the privilege of erecting a school-house on the company's land.
He said the New York Missionary Society offered to furnish a school-master clear of expense, except boarding, and urged an immediate answer on the ground that the inhabitants had the timber "ready to hew out." Timber "ready to hew out " was a very common article on the Holland Purchase at that time, and its possession did not argue much of an advance in the construction of a building.
It shows how little root the company's name of "New Am- sterdam " took among the people that, although Mr. Richards was asking a favor of the company's agent, yet he dated his letter at " Buffalo."
Mr. Ellicott went thither a few days later, and laid off a lot for school purposes. No deed was given, however, and it does not appear that any school-house was built for several years after. Part of the time the log house formerly occupied by Middaugh was used as a school house.
In the summer of 1801, the surveyor, John Thompson, put up a saw-mill at what is now Williamsville. He does not, however, seem to have done much with it, and perhaps did not get it into opération. If he did, it was soon abandoned. The same year he built a block-house for a dwelling. It was afterwards clap- boarded, and a larger frame structure erected beside it, of which it formed the wing. The whole is still standing, a venerable brown edifice, known as the " Evans house," and the wing is un- questionably the oldest building in Erie county.
IOS
CHAPIN'S PROJECT.
Only just three quarters of a century since it was built, and yet, in this county of more than two hundred thousand inhabi- tants, it seems a very marvel of antiquity.
In the autumn of this year Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, a physician some thirty years old, then residing in Oneida county, came to Buffalo, and was so well pleased with the location that, on his return, he got forty substantial citizens to associate themselves with him, for the purpose of buying the whole township at the mouth of Buffalo creek. As Ellicott, however, had already fixed on that as "the favorite spot " for building a city, the an- bitious project of Dr. Chapin was promptly rejected.
By November, 1801, township 12, range 5, (Newstcad,) was ready for sale, and on the third of that month Asa Chapman made the first contract for land in that town, covering lot 10, in section S, at $2.75 per acre. If he settled there he remained but a short time, as not long after he was living near Buffalo.
The same mouth, Peter Vandeventer took four lots in sec- tions Eight and Nine, on which he settled almost immediately afterwards, and which was long known as the "Old Vandeventer Place." Timothy Jayne was another purchaser in Newstead that year. Otis Ingalls was already there, and probably Orlando Hopkins and David Cully came that year, though one account postpones their purchases till 1802.
The last month of ISO1 witnessed the first appointment of a white official of any description, resident within the present county of Erie. In that month the pioneer silversmith, tavern- keeper and father, Asa Ransom, was commissioned a justice of the peace by Governor George Clinton, the necessary document being transmitted by De Witt Clinton, nephew and private sec- retary of the governor.
109
FORMATION OF GENESEE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XV.
1802 AND 1803.
Formation of Genesee County. - An Exciting Scene .- Red Jacket's Plea. - First Town Meeting .- Primitive Balloting .- The Big Tree Road .- Buffalo Sur- veyed .- Original Street Names .- Ellicott's Grand Design .-- Dr. Chapin. -- Erastus Granger .- Conjockety's Exploit .- The Pioneer of the South Towns. -A Hard Trip .- Snow Shoes.
Up to this time Ontario county had retained its original boundaries, including all that part of the State west of Sencca lake, except that Steuben county had been taken off. The Holland Purchase was a part of the town of Northampton.
In the spring of 1802, Mr. Ellicott, by earnest personal solici- tation at Albany, procured the passage of an act creating the county of Genesee, comprising the whole of the State west of the river of that name and of a line running south from the " Great Forks." By the same act Northampton was divided into four towns, one of which, Batavia, consisted of the whole Holland Purchase and the State reservation along the Niagara.
The county seat was established at Batavia, where Mr. Elli- cott had already laid out a village site, and whither he trans- ferred his head-quarters that same spring. The new county was not to be organized by the appointment of officers until the next year.
In July an event occurred in Buffalo, which probably shook the nerves of its people more than any other occurrence before the war of 1812. John Palmer, the innkeeper, was sitting on a bench in front of his house one evening, in company with one William Ward and another man, when a young Seneca warrior, called by the whites " Stiff-armed George," approached, and en- deavored to stab Palmer. It is said that no provocation was given, but perhaps there had been some previous difficulty be- tween them.
Failing to injure Palmer, who evaded the attack, the infuri- ated savage turned upon Ward, and stabbed him in the neck,
1IO
EXCITING EVENTS.
though not fatally. An alarm was raised, the whites hurried to the spot, and at length secured the assassin, but not until he had inflicted three wounds on one of their number, named John Hewitt, killing him almost instantly. The Indian himself was also wounded.
Different and contradictory statements have been published regarding this affair, but the culprit was probably sent off that night to Fort Niagara, and taken in charge by Major Moses Porter, who was then in command. The next day fifty or sixty warriors appeared in Buffalo, armed and painted, threatening if "Stiff-armed George" was executed to put all the whites to death. Finding where some of his blood had been spilled in securing him, they held a grand pow-wow over it, howling fiercely. brandishing their weapons, and frightening half out of their wits all but the boldest of the settlers.
So great was the dismay that it is said some left the settle- ment, though where they could go for safety it would be diffi- cult to say. Benjamin Barton, Jr., then sheriff of Ontario coun- ty, (Genesee not being organized,) was in the vicinity or arrived soon afterwards. He proposed to serve a criminal precept on the Indian and take him to Canandaigua jail. This his breth- ren fiercely opposed. They said that the young warrior was drunk when the offense was committed, and should not, therefore, be punished as if he had been sober. Even this the whites de- nied, claiming that he was entirely sober when he committed the crime, though of course it would make no difference in law.
Finally Barton and some of the chiefs went to Fort Niagara to consult with Major Porter. Arriving there they still persisted that their brother should not be taken like a thief to Canandai- gua jail, and probably Barton was not desirous of the job of escorting him through the wilderness.
They pledged their words as chiefs that he should appear at Canandaigua for trial on the appointed day, and the story is that on these pledges he was allowed to depart, and that he ap- peared punctually on the day set. Certain it is that he was duly tried at the Canandaigua Oyer and Terminer, the next February.
Red Jacket addressed the jury through an interpreter, plead- ing the drunkenness of the culprit as an excuse, and descanting
III
PROGRESS IN CLARENCE.
eloquently on the many murders of Indians by white men, for which no punishment had ever been meted out. Nevertheless, "Stiff-armed George" was convicted. He was, however, par- doncd on condition of his leaving the State, by Gov. Clinton, who probably thought it would be better to wait till the country was more thickly settled before beginning to hang Indians, if it could possibly be avoided.
During 1802, emigration began to come in quite freely. The list of land-owners in what is now Clarence was increased by the names of Gardner Spooner, Abraham Shopc, John Warren, Frederick Buck, John Gardner, Resolved G. Wheeler, William Updegraff, Edward Carney and Elias Ransom. Most of these located permanently in that town, among them Abraham Shope, a Pennsylvania German, who had been waiting in Canada a year or two for the Holland Purchase to be opened for sale. His son Abraham, then three years old, who still survives in a remarka- bly robust old age, says. he can barely remember of living in a tent in the woods that summer, before the family moved into the log house which his father had erected.
The same year land in township Twelve, range Five, (Newstead,) was charged to John Hill, Samuel Hill, William Deshay and others, most of whom soon became permanent residents.
All the persons thus far named settled either on or close to the old "Buffalo road," laid out by "White Chief," which was the only line of communication with the outside world.
Peter Vandeventer this year built him a log cabin, cleared up half an acre of land, ("just enough" as another old settler said "to keep the trees from falling on his house,") and opened a tavern, the first in Newstcad.
At that little log tavern, on the first day of March, 1803, oc- curred the first town-meeting on the Holland Purchase. Al- though it was a hundred miles to the farthest corner of the town of Batavia, yet the settlements were almost all on or near the "Buffalo road," the farthest being at New Amsterdam, twen- ty-two miles west, and at the East Transit, twenty-four miles east. Vandeventer's was evidently selected as a central location.
A very interesting account of this, the first political transac- tion in Eric county, was furnished to the Buffalo Historical Society by the late Amzi Wright, of Attica, who was present.
112
A PRIMITIVE WAY OF VOTING.
There was a general turn-out of voters, apparently stimulated by rivalry between the eastern and western parts of the town. The little tavern was soon overrun, and the polls were opened out of doors by Enos Kellogg, one of the commissioners to or- ganize the town. He announced that Peter Vandeventer, the landlord, and Jotham Bemis, of Batavia village, were candidates for supervisor.
The worthy commissioner then proceeded to take the vote by a method which, though it amounted to a "division of the house," was in some of its details quite peculiar. He placed the two candidates side by side in the middle of the road, facing southward, Vandeventer on the right and Bemis on the left.
"Now," said he, "all you that are in favor of Peter Vandeven- ter for supervisor of the town of Batavia take your places in line on his right, and you that are in favor of Jotham Bemis take your places on his left."
The voters obeyed Mr. Kellogg's directions, Bemis' line stretching out along the road to Batavia, and Vandeventer's toward Buffalo. The commissioner then counted them, finding seventy-four on Vandeventer's right, and seventy on Bemis' left. Peter Vandeventer was then declared duly elected. A primitive method truly, but there was a poor chance for fraudulent voting.
The men from east of Vandeventer's, who were considered as Batavians, then gathered in one cluster, and those from the west, who passed as Buffalonians, in another, and counted up the absentees. As in those times everybody knew everybody else within ten miles of him, this was not difficult.
It was found that but four were absent, Batavia way, and but five from the Buffalo crowd. So the whole number of voters on the Holland Purchase on the Ist day of March, 18o3, was one hundred and fifty-three, of whom a hundred and forty-four were present at town-meeting. Certainly a most creditable exhibition of attention to political duty. There were probably two or three voters in the vicinity of Fort Niagara who did not attend, but these, although in the town of Batavia, were not on the Holland Purchase.
The other officers were afterwards elected by the uplifted hand. The following is the complete list :
Supervisor, Peter Vandeventer ; Town Clerk, David Cully ;
113
THE BIG TREE ROAD.
Assessors, Enos Kellogg, Asa Ransom, Alexander Rea, Isaac Sutherland, and Suffrenus (or Sylvanus) Maybec ; Overseers of the Poor, David Cully and Benjamin Porter ; Collector, Abel Rowe ; Constables, John Mudge, Levi Felton, Rufus Hart, Abel Rowe, Seymour Kellogg and Hugh Howell; Overseers of High- ways, (pathmasters,) Martin Middaugh, Timothy S. Hopkins, Orlando Hopkins, Benjamin Morgan, Rufus Hart, Lovell Churchill, Jabez Warren, William Blackman, Samuel Clark, Gidcon Dunham, Jonathan Willard, Thomas Layton, Hugh Howell, Benjamin Porter, and William Walsworth.
Of these Vandeventer, Cully, Ransom, Maybe, Felton, Timo- thy and Orlando Hopkins, and Middaugh, and perhaps others, were residents of Erie county.
At this town-meeting, as at most others in Western New York at that time, one of the most important subjects which claimed the attention of the sovereigns was the wolf-question. An ordinance was passed offering a bounty of five dollars for wolf-scalps, "whelps half price," while half a dollar each was the reward for slaughtered foxes and wild cats.
The first State election on the Holland Purchase was also held at Vandeventer's in April following, (in which month elec- tions were then held,) and in that short time the increase of population had been such that a hundred and eighty-nine votes were cast for member of assembly,
In June, 1803, Jabez Warren, by contract with Ellicott, sur- veyed the "Middle road" from near Genesco to Lake Erie. After- wards, during the same summer, he cut it out. It ran nearly duc west over hill and dale, keeping a mile south of the south line of the reservation, occasionally diverging a little in case of some extraordinary obstacle.
It was called the "Middle road" by the company, but as it started from the Big Tree reservation-that is, the one belong- ing to the band of Indians of which "Big Trec " was chief-it was almost universally called the "Big Tree road " by the in- habitants.
Mr. Warren received $2.50 per mile for surveying it, and $10.00 for cutting it out. The latter seems astonishingly cheap, but " cutting out" a road on the Holland Purchase meant merely cutting away the underbrush and small trees from a
114
BUFFALO SURVEYED.
space a rod wide, leaving the large trees standing, making a track barely passable for a wagon.
This year, too, the first ship was built in the county by Ameri- cans. It was the schooner "Contractor," built by a company having the contracts for supplying the western military posts, under the superintendence of Captain William Lee, who sailed the schooner for six years.
In this year the village of New Amsterdam was surveyed, (though not completed ready for sale,) by William Peacock. It gives a most vivid idea of what remarkable changes may occur in a single life to learn that the man who did that work in 1803, who ran the very first street-line in the city of Buffalo, is still liv- ing. From a very early period Mr. Peacock has been a citizen of Chautauqua county, of which he has been a judge, and now re- sides at Mayville, at the age of ninety-six. His life completely spans the space between the forest and the emporium.
As laid out, the village extended on the west to the State reservation before described : north to an east and west line nearly coincident with Virginia street, and east to a north and south line running along or very close to the present Jefferson street. Near the creek the reservation was for a short distance the southeast boundary of the village.
About an eighth of this tract was cut up into "inner lots," generally about four rods and a half wide, intended for commer- cial purposes, while the rest were divided into " outer lots " of several acres each, suited for suburban residences.
The inner-lot tract was bounded west and southwest by the State reservation and the Terrace, south by Little Buffalo creek, (now Hamburg street canal,) east by Ellicott street, (except where outer lot 104 came to Main street.) and north by Chip- pewa street.
In these descriptions I have used the present names of streets in order to give a clearer idea of the localities. Originally, how- ever, the names were almost all different. Ellicott determined to compliment his employers of the Holland Company to the best of his ability, and also the Iroquois preoccupants of the land.
Main street, as far up as Church, was called Willink avenue, while above Church it was Van Staphorst avenue. Niagara
115
STREET NAMES.
street was Schimmelpenninck avenue, Erie strect Vollenhoven avenue, Court street Cazenove avenue, Church street Stadnitzki avenue, and Genesee street Busti avenue. Signor Paul Busti, Ellicott's immediate superior, and his predecessor, Theophilus Cazenove, were both doubly honored, as, in addition to their re- spective avenues, the Terrace above Erie street was called Busti terrace, and below it Cazenove terracc. (Ellicott also pro- posed to call the village of Batavia "Bustiville," but the general agent himself forbade this as "too ferocious.")
The Indians were as amply honored as the Hollanders, though in their case the designations were taken from tribes in- stead of individuals. What is now Ellicott street was then Oncida street. Washington street was Onondaga, Pearl was Cayuga, Franklin was Tuscarora, while Morgan street rejoiced in the terrible designation of Missisauga.
Delaware, Huron, Mohawk, Eagle, Swan and Seneca streets received their present names, but Exchange was then called Crow street, in honor of John Crow, who had taken the place of John Palmer as the only hotel-keeper. His tavern, part log and and part frame, was just east of the site of the Mansion House.
In its numerous diagonal strects, all radiating from a common point, Buffalo bears a strong resemblance to Washington, which Ellicott had helped his brother to survey, and it is to be pre- sumed the later plan was adopted from the former one, whether originating with Joseph Ellicott or his brother Andrew.
North Division and South Division streets had no existence in the original plan. Between Swan and Eagle, fronting on Main and running back about a mile, was "Outer Lot 104," contain- ing one hundred acres. This Mr. Ellicott reserved for himself. He evidently intended to be the principal personage in the city he was designing.
Neither Onondaga nor Oneida street was allowed to cross the sacred soil of Lot 104, though both were laid out north of it, and Oneida south. Even the grand Willink-Van Staphorst ave- nue deviated from its course for the benefit of Lot 104. At the intersection of Stadnitzki avenue, the great central street de- scribed a small semi-circle, with a radius of several rods, curving to the westward over the open ground before "the churches," leaving Lot 104 with something like a bay-window on its front.
116
ELLICOTT'S GRAND DESIGN.
Here Mr. Ellicott intended to erect a palatial residence, in the center of the city he had founded, with broad vistas open- ing before it in every possible direction.
Up Van Staphorst avenue to the suburban hillside on the north, up Schimmelpenninck avenue to the elegant residences which were to cluster around Niagara square, along Stadnitzki avenue to the State reservation, down Willink avenue to the harbor, and especially down Vollenhoven avenue to the lake, the eye of the magnate of New Amsterdam was to roam at will, seeing everywhere the prosperity of the city which owed its cx- istence to his sagacity.
If a somewhat selfish, it was certainly a magnificent conception. It is said, also, to have been his declared intention, after occu- pying it during his life, to devise the whole to the city for a per- manent park and museum. The circumstances which prevented the realization of this idea will be mentioned in due time.
David Reese, a blacksmith long well known by the early res- idents, came to Buffalo in 1803, and John Despar, a French baker, about the same time.
A much more important acquisition was Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, who, though he had failed in his attempt to become the princi- pal owner of Buffalo, manifested his faith in the location, in 1803, by moving thither with his family. Being unable to obtain a house, he took them over the river, where they remained two years before one was secured. Meanwhile the doctor prac- ticed on both sides, being, so far as known, the first physician who did practice in Erie county.
For twelve years no man exercised a greater influence in the village of Buffalo than Dr. Chapin ; perhaps none as great. He was of that type which naturally succeeds in a new country ; bold, resolute and energetic to the last degree, generous and free-hearted with his fellows, but often reckless alike of the con- ventionalities of society and of the consequences of his acts. Self-confident and self-willed, he was always sure he was right, and was consequently always ready to go ahead. Like most men of that stamp, he had many warm friends and some bitter enemies, but through all the vicissitudes of his career he re- tained the confidence of a majority of his neighbors and acquaintances.
II7
CHAPIN AND GRANGER.
On his arrival in Buffalo he was a robust, broad-shouldercd man of thirty, recently married, overflowing with physical and mental vigor. In his politics, as in everything else, he was a violent partisan, and his Federalism was of the most rampant description.
Another important arrival of that year was an equally decided if not so violent a Democrat-or Republican, for the anti-federal of that day was called by both names. This was Erastus Gran- ger, a young widower from New England, and a cousin of Gid- eon Granger, then postmaster-general under President Jefferson. He was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs, and soon afterwards postmaster, and appears to have been intrusted with the management of the politics of this section on behalf of the administration.
Though New Amsterdam was not yet ready for sale, the ad- joining land in that township was, and among the purchasers in it I find the names of Cyrenius Chapin, William Desha, Samuel Tupper, Joseph Wells and James S. Young. The prices ranged from $3.50 to $5.00 per acre.
At this period a Major Perry had made an opening at the point where Main street crosses Scajaquada (or Conjockety) creek. Near its mouth was the Indian family of Conjockety. An anecdote related to me by Mr. William Hodge shows that, whatever jests may be passed upon the "noble red man," he certainly does sometimes display great coolness and courage.
On arising one winter morning, Major Perry found that one of his hogs had been killed, and either eaten or carried off. Seeing the snow around well marked with panther's tracks, he of course concluded that one of those animals had been the de- stroyer. He sent for Philip Conjockety, whom I suppose to have been a son of old "Skendyoughwatti," mentioned by Mr. Kirkland. Conjockety came and took the trail.
For awhile he supposed that there was but one animal, so closely did the footsteps follow each other, but at length he saw where two panthers had gone, one on each side of a tree. This rather startled him, but he concluded to go forward. Shortly afterwards he came upon one of the marauders, seated among the topmost branches of a tree, eating a piece of the captured hog. Lifting his rifle, Conjockety shot the animal dead.
IIS
CONJOCKETY'S EXPLOIT.
The other was not then in sight, but the Indian instantly re- loaded and stepped cautiously forward. In a moment more he was confronted by the angry beast, on the point of springing upon him. Again taking rapid aim, he fired as the panther was in the very act of leaping, and the next instant the slain animal fell at the feet of the intrepid hunter.
"Ugh!" exclaimed Conjockety, as he recounted the tale, " some scare me !"
Of course the Indian told his own story, but he had the two panthers to show for it.
In township 12, range 7, (Amherst.) sales were made that fail to Samuel Kelsy, Henry Lake, Benjamin Gardner, William Lewis and others, the price being put as high as $3.25 and $3.50 per acre. Settlements commenced immediately after- wards.
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.