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 17
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There were carly friends of education at Springville. Mr. Smith says that Anna Richmond taught the first school in the summer of 1810, with only fourteen scholars, just north of the site of the village, in a log barn, in which a floor had been put made of basswood puncheons.
In February, 1810, Samuel Tucker, brother of Abram, the pioneer in North Collins of the previous year, moved into that town, following the Indian trail by way of Water Valley and Eden Center. It was the first team that passed over that trail. His provisions consisted principally of a barrel of flour and a barrel of pork ; these he rolled down some of the steepest hills, as he could manage them better by hand than on the sled.
He settled a mile and a half south of North Collins village (Kerr's Corners). There he built a log house ; that was a mat- ter of course, but a piece of his furniture was entirely unique. Having no table he left a stump, nicely squared off, standing in the middle of his house, and this was the family table. His first wheat for seed was only procured by trading off a log- chain, and it was two years before the light shone through a glass window on his peculiar table.
Enos Southwick came with his family the same year, and Abram Tucker admitted them to the shelter of his hospitable mansion. In that little bark-covered cabin, was born in August, 1810, George Tucker, the first white child in the towns of Col- lins and North Collins, and in September following, George Southwick, the second native of the same district. If there had been a stump in that house it would have been rather crowded. For these last facts I am indebted to Mr. George Southwick, of Gowanda, who ought to know as to their correctness.
188
" THE HILL DIFFICULTY."
Among other settlers before the war, in North Collins, were Henry Tucker, Benjamin Leggett, Levi Woodward, Stephen White, Stephen Twining, Gideon Lapham, Noah Tripp, Abra- ham Gifford, Orrin Brayman, Jonathan Southwick, Hugh Mc- Millan, and Lilly Stafford. For most of these names I am in- debted to Humphrey Smith, Esq., of North Collins, though not arriving himself till just after the war, learned who were there before, and whose extraordinary memory has been of much assistance to me.
In the spring or summer of 1810, Turner Aldrich and his family came up the Cattaraugus creek from the lake beach, and let their wagons down the "breakers" into the Gowanda flats by means of ropes hitched to the hind axle and payed out from around trees. They located on the site of Gowanda, and were the first family in Collins, except those near Taylor's Hollow.
In the spring of that same year, however, Stephen Wilber. Stephen Peters and Joshua Palmerton came in, built a cabin and went to keeping bachelor's hall about a mile west of the site of Collins Center, where they had all bought lands. In the fall Wilber went back to Cayuga county.
In March, ISHI, he returned with his family, accompanied by quite a colony, consisting of Allen King and wife, Luke Cran- dall and wife, Arnold King, John King, and Henry Palmerton.
The Crandalls had come from Vermont, and when they started for the Holland Purchase Mrs. C.'s father, in accordance with olden custom, presented her with a bottle of rum, directing her not to uncork it until they reached "The Hill Difficulty;" re- ferring to Pilgrim's Progress. They came into Collins from the east and at what is now known as Woodward's Hollow they had to chain the sleds to trees to get down safely. At the foot of the ascent on the other side Mrs. Crandall said :
"Here is 'The Hill Difficulty,' let us drink," and opened her bottle, presenting it first to Mrs. Wilber. Any one who has been at that place will appreciate her remark.
After their arrival Mr. Wilber improvised a vehicle by falling a small tree, using the body for a tongue and the branches for runners. This was the only carriage that could be navigated among the numerous fallen trees. Men used to fasten a bag of corn to the cross-piece, and spend three days going to Yaw's
189
CONCORD AND SARDINIA.
mill in Boston. When there was not time for this they would use one of the stump-mortars, or "plumping-mills," before described.
During the period before the war, besides those mentioned, there were purchases and probably settlements made by Seth Blossom, George Morris, Ethan Howard, Abraham Lapham, Ira Lapham, and Silas Howard. Smith Bartlett came but a little later.
Samuel Burgess, Harry Sears and others bought near Spring- ville in 1811, while Benjamin Fay located at Townsend Hill. In fact immigrants into Concord became so numerous that Rufus Eaton thought it necessary to build a saw-mill in 1811 or 1812.
New settlers were also numerous in Sardinia in 1811 and the beginning of 1812. Among them were Horace Rider, Henry Godfrey, Randall Walker, Benjamin Wilson, Daniel Hall, Giles Briggs, John Cook, Henry Bowen, Smithfield Ballard and Francis Easton.
Elihu Rice also moved there at that period, and according to his son's recollection brought a small stock of goods, which he sold in his log dwelling-house. This was quite a common way of improvising a store in those days.
Ezra Nott, the first pioncer of the town, married just before the war, and brought in his bride, who survives in a pleasant old age at Sardinia village. She says they went to housekeeping in a cabin "with no doors and very little floor."
Sumner Warren, a younger brother of William, also located in town before the war, and built a saw-mill on Mill brook, near the mouth. Mrs. Nott relates how his mother came to visit him, on horseback, from Aurora. There was no road south of the Humphrey settlement in Holland. Threading her way among the gulfs south of Holland village, she emerged on the level land of Sardinia. But, having occupied more time than shc intended, night came upon her and she was unable to determine her course.
Finding it useless to attempt farther progress, she tied her horse to a sapling, took off the saddle, and coolly laid down and waited till morning. The wolves occasionally howled in the distance, but were either not numerous enough or not hungry to venture near. How much she slept I cannot say.
190
HOLLAND, COLDEN, ETC.
Among the new settlers in Holland at this time was Joseph Cooper, who located on the farm where his son Samuel, then a boy, still resides. At that time the latter says there was no road farther south than his father's place.
A Baptist church was organized in Boston in ISII. Mr. Tru- man Cary states that Rev. Cyrus Andrews, a Baptist minister, came there the same year and preached ten years. Doubtless, however, he officiated in other places also, for I do not think there was a church in the county able to support a settled minis- ter. Clark Carr, also a Baptist minister, settled near the Concord line before the war, and preached much of the time throughout his life. John Twining, Lemuel Parmely, and Dorastus and Edward Hatch were among the new comers to Boston. The last named person, then twenty-two years old, still survives, being the earliest settler in Boston who was twenty-one years old when he came. Richard Sweet and one or two others joined Buffum's little colony in Colden.
There was also considerable emigration to Eden that year, Among the new settlers were Levi Bunting, Samuel Webster. Joseph Thorne, James Paxon, John Welch, Josiah Gail and James Pound.
Another was John Hill, who located at Eden Center, where he was the first settler and where three of his sons, still reside. They inform me that their father brought a flock of a dozen or two sheep all the way from Otsego county. On arriving at Tubbs' Hollow, the night before reaching their destination. the wolves got among the sheep and killed every one with a single exception ; the one that wore the bell.
It did not follow from the extent of the slaughter that there were many animals engaged in it. A single wolf has been known to kill six or eight sheep out of a flock in the same raid; merely sucking the blood of each and then leaving it to chase the others.
Numerous settlers, too, sought the handsome level lands of Evans. James Ayer located on the lake shore in ISII, where his son now resides. The latter informs me that when they came Gideon Dudley was at Evans Center, David Corbin and Timothy Dustin near there, and a Mr. Pike near the stream now called Pike creek. A Mr. Palmer was then keeping tavern
191
BEARS AND HEDGEHOGS.
at the mouth of the Eighteen-Mile. Hezekiah Dibble also canie before the war, becoming an influential citizen.
Among the new comers in Hamburg were Ira Fisk, Boroman Salisbury, Henry Clark, Shubael Sherman and Ebenezer Inger- soll, while in East Hamburg there were Pardon Pierce, James Paxson, Joseph Hawkins and others. Dr. William Warriner was a physician in Hamburg at this time, and Obadiah Baker had a grist-mill on Smoke's creek, near Potter's Corners. Early in the spring of 1812 Daniel Sumner made the first settlement on Chestnut Ridge, locating just south of the farm now occu- pied by his step-son, S. V. R. Graves, Esq., then a small boy.
Here, as elsewhere, the bears and wolves were abundant, and one or two anecdotes related by Mr. G. show the extreme af- fection of the former for pork.
On one occasion a bear came close to the house, seized a shote weighing a hundred pounds, and made off with it. Coming to a seven-rail fence, the apparently clumsy animal scrambled over it, bearing the porker in her mouth something as a cat does a kitten, and leaving no trace behind save the marks of her claws on the top rail.
Another bear attacked an old sow in a shanty close to the residence of Amos Colvin, in the Newton neighborhood. The old man ran out and found the two animals under a work-bench, and no amount of beating could make the bear let go her hold. Having some powder, but no ball nor shot, Colvin broke off a piece of the bail of a kettle, loaded his gun with it, and actually killed the stubborn invader with this primitive ammunition.
Another animal, which has disappeared since then, was the hedgehog. This black and "fretful" little animal was then common, especially among the chestnuts of that region, and many an unsophisticated young dog has returned home sore and bleeding from the wounds inflicted by his apparently insignifi- cant antagonist. Although the casting of their quills is a fable, yet they could really use them with great efficiency as simple defensive weapons, and experienced canines usually declined the unequal contest.
By the spring of 1811 the township now called Aurora had increased in population (including among the new comers of that year the Staffords, who settled " Staffordshire," Moses Thomp-
192
AURORA, WALES, ETC.
son, Russell Darling, Amos Underhill and others,) so that it was thought it might support a store. Accordingly John Ad- ams and Daniel Hascall purchased a little stock of goods in Buffalo, put up a counter in the log house belonging to one of them, near what is now Blakeley's Corners, and indulged in the dignity of merchandising for about six months, and then sus- pended. They were evidently ahead of their age.
Dr. John Watson was the first medical practitioner in Aurora. His younger brother, Ira G., also located there just before the war. They were the only physicians in the whole southeast part of the county.
Though there were no " settled" ministers, yet Elder Samuel Gail, then living in Aurora, and licensed by the Methodist Church, frequently preached in houses or barns, or under the canopy of heaven, according to circumstances. The occasional preaching then begun by the youthful minister was continued for nearly sixty years, until " Elder Gail" was one of the best- known men in the south part of Erie county.
Wales began to increase more rapidly than before; Varnum, Kenyon, Eli Weed, Jr., Nathan Mann and others being among the new comers of ISI1, and in the succeeding winter young James Wood taught the first school in town.
Isaac Hall also came that year, locating at what has since been known as " Hall's Hollow," or "Wales Center," where he soon built a saw-mill and grist-mill, the first in Wales, and also opened a tavern. His son, P. M. Hall, mentions Alvin Burt, Benjamin Earl and others, as in town when he came.
Up to this time inhabitants of the "Cayuga Creek " settle- ment had been obliged to patronize the grist-mill at Clarence Hollow, or the one at Aurora. Water sometimes failed at the former, and the road to the latter was difficult to travel or even to discover.
Mr. Clark, to whom I am indebted for so many reminiscences of those times, says that his father and two others once started on horseback for Stephens' Mill, with seven bushels of grain in all, designing to follow the "Ransom road," since called the "Girdled road," which crossed the reservation, striking the Big Tree road about a quarter of a mile west of the site of Aurora Academy. They were unable to keep the track, however, and
193
BUFFALO BUSINESS.
after many wanderings struck the road from Aurora to Buffalo, which they mistakenly followed toward the latter place till they reached the Indian village. The "Ransom road " was evidently a very blind guide.
Such troubles came to an end in 1811, when Ahaz Allen built a grist-mill at what is now Lancaster village. Its dam was the first on Cayuga creek, and after the race was shut, the first night, nine hundred and fifty-five fish-suckers, mullet, mus- calonge, etc .- were caught in it.
The supervisor of Clarence for 1811 was Samuel Hill, Jr., and in 1812 James Cronk, both residing in the present territory of Newstead.
Tonawanda could not boast of a tavern until 1811, when one was opened by Henry Anguish.
Buffalo gained several important accessions to its business and social circles, during the period under consideration.
Grosvenor & Heacock established themselves as merchants on Main street. The senior member of the firm was Abel M. Grosvenor, a portly and pleasant middle-aged gentleman, who died during the war. The junior partner, Reuben B. Heacock, long one of the best-known citizens of Buffalo, was then a tall, slender young man of twenty-two, with keen features and Roman nose, manifesting his intense energy in every movement as he strode through the streets of the nascent emporium.
Messrs. Stocking & Bull, in 1811, built the first hat-factory in Buffalo, on Onondaga (Washington) street, near the corner of Swan. Mr. Stocking devoted himself with especial earnestness to the support of public worship and Sunday-schools, seconding the efforts of Deacon Callender and Gen. Elijah Holt, the latter of whom came about the same time.
Charles Townsend and George Coit, two young men of Con- necticut, also came to Buffalo at this time, and established the long-celebrated firm of Townsend & Coit. They were reputed wealthy when they came, (something very unusual for Buffalo- nians of that era,) and it is asserted that they brought with them, via Oswego and Lewiston, twenty tons of goods.
Heman B. Potter was a young lawyer who began, in 1811, a legal career which continued in Buffalo for nearly half a century. A man of medium size, regular features and calm demcanor,
194
" THE BRICK TAVERN ON THE HILL."
Mr. Potter was less self-assertive than the majority of successful pioneers, yet he remained so long in active life that he was, more than any other one man, the connecting link between the forest- shaded hamlet and the swarming metropolis.
In ISHI William Hodge built a large brick hotel where is now the corner of Main and Utica streets. It was nearly if not quite the first of that material in the county, and was soon widely known as the " brick tavern on the hill." Mr. H. had also be- come the proprietor of the first nursery in the county, and had first started the manufacture of fanning-mills. It is a good illustration of pioneer energy that, in order to learn how to make the screens, Mr. Hodge went on foot to a place near Utica, paid a man to teach him the desired secret, and then re- turned on foot to Buffalo to put it in use.
In the forepart of this year the President, being authorized by Congress, located the port of entry for the district of Buffalo Creek at Black Rock, from the first of April to the first of De- cember in each year, and at "Buffaloe" the rest of the time. It is difficult to see why the office should have been moved twice a year merely to make "Buffaloe " a port of entry during the four months when there were no entries.
The year ISII was also marked by the establishment of Mr. Jabez B. Hyde as the first school-teacher among the Senecas. He was sent by the New York Missionary Society. A minister of the gospel was sent at the same time, but was rejected by the chiefs, while the teacher was invited to remain.
But the most important event in the eye of the historian was the establishment of the first newspaper in Erie county, the Buffalo Gazette ; the initial number of which was issued on the third day of October, ISII, by Messrs Smith H. and Hezekiah A. Salisbury. The former was the editor.
For the time previous to its appearance the student of local history must depend on the memory of a few aged persons, eked out by a very small number of scattering records. But, fortunately, a tolerably complete file of the Gazette has been preserved through all the vicissitudes of sixty-five years, and is now in the possession of the Young Men's Association of Buf- falo. By carefully studying its columns, especially the adver- tisements, one can form a very fair idea of the progress of the
195
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER.
county. The first number has been stolen from the files; the second, dated October 10th, 1811, remains, the earliest specimen of Eric county journalism.
A rough-looking little sheet was this pioncer newspaper of Erie county, printed on coarse, brownish paper, each of the four pages being about twelve inches by twenty. Its price was $2.50 per year if left weekly at doors ; $2.00 if taken at the office or sent by mail.
The price seems large for a sheet of those dimensions, but the advertising rates were certainly low enough. A " square" was inserted three weeks for $1.00, and twenty-five cents was charged for each subsequent insertion.
There must have been a large mail business done in this vicinity, or a very slow delivery; as the first number of the Gazette contained an advertisement of a hundred and fifty- seven letters remaining in the post-office at Buffalo Creek. Five of them were directed to women, whose names I give as speci- mens of the feminine nomenclature of that day: Susan Daven- port, Sarah Goosbeck, Susannah McConnel, Nancy Tuck, Lu- cinda Olmsted. Not one ending in "ie !"
With their printing office the Salisburys carried on the first Buffalo book-store, and kept a catalogue of their books con- stantly displayed in their paper. It may give an idea of the literary taste of that era to observe that one of those lists con- tains the names of seventeen books on law, fourteen on medicine, fifty-four on religious subjects, fifty-four on history, poetry and philosophy, and only eleven novels !
One of the first numbers chronicles the arrival of the schooner Salina, Daniel Robbins master, with a cargo of "Furr" esti- mated at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars-an estimate which I fear did not hold out. "Furr " was the invariable spell- ing of the covering of the beaver and otter, while a wielder of the needle was sometimes denominated a "tailor," and some- times a "taylor."
Militia affairs evidently received considerable attention, as the only advertisement of blanks was one of "Sergeants' Warrants, Captains' Orders to Sergeants, Notices to Warn Men to Parade," &c., &c. Captains were numerous, and were not always blessed with high scholastic acquirements, as is shown by the following
196
BUFFALO VS. BUFFALO-E.
communication from one gallant chieftain to another, which somehow found its way into the Gazette, minus the names:
Willink, November the IO, ISII. "Capt -. Sir this day Mr. --- inform mee that he was not able to do militerry duty, and wish you not to flect a fine on him ef I had a non his sttuation i shod not returned him this is from yr. frend. . Capt.
"Willink," gives but a slight idea of the locality, as the whole south part of the county was still called by that name.
Municipal towns were so large that survey townships were frequently used for description, Thus Daniel Wood advertised a watch left at his house "in the 6th Town, Sth Range ;" that is in the present town of Collins.
Buffalo, which had originally been spelled by every one with a final "e," had latterly, in accordance with the growing distaste for superfluous letters, been frequently used without it, but the older form was still common. Editor Salisbury set himself to complete the reformation, always omitting the "e " himself, and ridiculing its use by others. He declared that it made a word of four syllables, " Buf-fa-lo-e." Said he :
" Buf, there's your Buf ; fa, there's your Buffa ; lo, there's your Buffalo ; e, there's your Buffalo-e."
In the Gazette of the 29th of December, 1811, he published a report of a supposed lawsuit in the "Court of People's Bench of Buffalo-e," in which "Ety Mol O Gist" was plaintiff, and "General Opinion " was defendant. The following is an extract from the proceedings :
" This was an action brought before the court for the purloin- ing the fifth letter of the alphabet, and clapping it on the end of the name Buffalo. The plaintiff now proceeded, after some pertinent remarks to the court, in which he pointed out the enormity of the offense of General Opinion, to call his witnesses. Several dictionaries were brought forth and exam- ined, who testified, from Dr. Johnson down to Noah Webster, that there was no such character as "e" in the town of Buffalo.
"General Use, who was subpoenaed by both parties, was qual- ified. He said he did not hesitate to state to the court that he had been in the constant practice of dating his notes, receipts, and memoranda with "Buffaloe," but that since the establish- ment of a public paper he should accommodate it to his con- science to cut it short and dock off the final 'e.'"
197
SCARCITY OF LOCAL ITEMS.
The editor's efforts accelerated the popular tendency, and the "e" was soon generally abandoned, though for many years a few conservative gentlemen continued to date their letters at " Buffaloe."
In one of the first numbers of the Gazette was an advertise- ment stating that the new sloop "Friends' Goodwill, of Black Rock," would carry passengers to Detroit for twelve dollars each, and goods for a dollar and a half a barrel.
It should be stated that the only way in which any idea of the condition of the village or county can be gained from the Gazette is by examining the advertisements ; for it is very plain that the local reporter was then an unknown functionary, and the voice of the interviewer was never heard in the land.
Number after number of the Gazette appeared without a sin- gle local item. Except during the war, such items were exces- sively rare through all the first years of Buffalo journalism, and even when events of decided importance forced recognition they were dismissed with the briefest possible notice.
Editorials, also, were extremely rare, though not so much so as locals.
Nor, although the paper was small, could the paucity of edi- torial and local matter be attributed chiefly to that cause ; for considerable space was devoted to distant, and especially to foreign, news, and unimportant proclamations of European po- tentates were frequently published entire, while not a word was to be seen about anything occurring within two hundred miles of Buffalo.
It is plain that both the reporter who knows everything and the editor who has an opinion about everything remained long undeveloped on the shores of Lake Erie.
In one respect, however, the publishers showed a praiseworthy desire to furnish their readers, especially of the fairer sex, with interesting intelligence; under the proper head there were always several notices of marriage. But as a week frequently passed without a wedding in the vicinity, the columns of the exchanges were apparently ransacked for hymeneal intelligence. The Gazette of December 17, 1811, contains notices of one marriage in Ontario county, one in Oneida county, two in Connecticut and one in Montreal.
198
ABUNDANCE OF MARRIAGE NOTICES.
The selection was usually induced by some peculiarity in name or age, but instead of noticing it among the news items or com- icalities, the oddity was transferred to the regular hymeneal list of Niagara county. Readers in those days might do without their daily murder, but marriages they must have.
On one occasion they were amply supplied without resorting to Connecticut or Montreal. The Gazette of Dec. II, ISII, records the marriage "on Wednesday evening last," in the town of Willink, of Mr. Edward Paine to Miss Phebe Turner, of Mr. Levi Blake to Miss Polly Sanford, and of Mr. Thomas Holmes to Miss Martha Sanford.
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