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 36
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In 1834 the first daily newspaper was issued in the county, under the name of the Buffalo Daily Star. It was Democratic in politics ; so the proprietors of the Patriot, the chief opposi- tion organ, followed suite, on the first day of the next year, with a daily called the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. The Star was soon united to the Republican, and with it in due time transformed into the Courier. In 1835 the Aurora Standard was established by A. M. Clapp at that village, where it was published for three years.
In 1834 the first work was done on Grand Island by legal owners of the soil. Lewis F. Allen, on behalf of a Boston com- pany, had bought all the lands purchased by Leggett, Smith and others, at the time of the "Ararat" excitement, amounting to about 16,000 acres. The principal object was to cut the white-oak ship-timber with which the island abounded, and send it to Bos- ton. A steam-mill and several houses were erected opposite Tonawanda. About the same time Mr. Allen found Noah's old corner-stone in the possession of General Porter, who had taken charge of it at Noah's request, after it had stood for two or three years behind St. Paul's church. Mr. A. persuaded the general
403
NOAH'S CORNER-STONE.
to let him have it, took it to "White Haven," as he called his little settlement, erected a brick monument six feet square and fourteen feet high, and set the historic stone in a niche on its river front. Nearly all who saw it supposed that Major Noah went through the ceremony of founding his city there, and placed the stone where it was so plainly to be seen-though, in fact, the redoubtable "Judge of Israel " never set foot on Grand Island. The monument remained standing some fifteen years, when, having become dilapidated, it was taken down. The "corner-stone " was removed to various places on the island, but was finally secured by Mr. Allen and presented to the Buffalo Historical Society, in whose rooms it now stands, side by side with the monument of Red Jacket. In view of Noah's idea that the Indians were descended from the lost tribes of Israel, there is a peculiar and poetic fitness in the juxtaposition of the two memorials.
As I have said, a slight advance of prices began to be ob- served in 1833. They increased through 1834, and in 1835 the great speculation was under full headway. It of course ran highest in Buffalo, but was strongly felt throughout the county. All up the lakes, too, wherever there was a possibility of a har- bor, and sometimes where there was not even a possibility, a city was laid out, a magnificent name was given it, and its pro- prietors became Rothschilds and Astors-on paper. That there was some ground for the advance in Buffalo is shown by the fact that the population had increased from 8,653 in 1830, to 15,661 in 1835, or more than eighty-one per cent. The popula- tion of the whole county in 1835 was 57,594, to 35,719 in 1830, an increase of over sixty-one per cent.
The Buffalonians, however, had not quite forgotten everything else in their desire to make money. It was just at the close of 1835 that the Young Men's Association of that city was organ- ized, though it was not chartered till eight years later. Begin- ning with few members, a diminutive library and an infinitesimal treasury, it has ever since grown with the city's growth, exercis- ing each year a wider influence for intellectual improvement. Church-building, too, had gone on apace, and there were thirteen houses of worship in the youthful city, in place of the six of three years before. One of these was Presbyterian, one Con-
404
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.
gregational, one Methodist, one Episcopal, one Baptist, one Universalist, one Reformed Methodist, one Unitarian, one Ger- man Lutheran, one German Evangelical, one Bethel chapel, and two Roman Catholic. By this time the little village of Collins Center had advanced so that the Methodists built a church there.
In that year, too, the first anti-slavery society in the county was organized at Griffin's Mills. Judge Mills, of Clarence, Judge Freeman, of Alden, Judge Phelps, of Aurora, George W. John- son, Abner Bryant, and Daniel Bowen, of Buffalo, and Asa Warren, of Eden, were among the leading members, and the work then commenced was continued by yearly meetings and discussions till the abolition of slavery.
405
THE FLUSH TIMES.
CHAPTER XXXV.
SPECULATION AND HARD TIMES.
A Rapid Advance .- A Princely Bargainer .- The King of Speculators .- His Down- fall .- The Method of his Forgeries .- Politics and Business .- Opposing the Holland Company. - An Agrarian Convention.
Early in 1836 the flame of speculation blazed up with redoub- led energy. I cannot better illustrate the extraordinary state of affairs existing at that time than by repeating an anecdote, re- lated by the late James L. Barton.
In 1815 he had bought two lots at Black Rock for two hun- dred and fifty dollars; one of two-thirds of an acre, between Niagara street and the river, and one of five acres, about half a mile distant. For a long time there was but a slight advance in the price. In the fall of 1835, however, land rose rapidly, and Mr. B. began to think that those lots might perhaps bring him three thousand dollars.
In the forepart of February, 1836, he left Buffalo, and did not return till the 20th of April. He knew that land was up, and was determined to ask a round price for his lots. As he was passing down Main street, the morning after his arrival, some one met him and inquired :
"How much will you take for those Black Rock lots of yours ? "
" Six thousand dollars," was the prompt reply of Mr. Barton. The man hesitated and Barton passed on. A few minutes later he was accosted by another gentleman with the same query :
" What is your price for those Black Rock lots ?"
" Seven thousand five hundred dollars," answered Barton.
"I guess I'll take them-let you know to-morrow," said his interlocutor. A little farther down the street a third man stop- ped him, and as they shook hands said :
"Glad to see you ; what will you take for your lots down at Black Rock ?"
406
A RAPID ADVANCE.
"I have just offered them to Mr. - for seven thousand five hundred dollars," replied Barton ; "he said he would let me know to-morrow."
" If he doesn't take them, I will," quickly exclaimed the anx- ious speculator.
By this time Mr. Barton's ideas of the value of his property had become very much elevated. He had gone but a few rods farther when he heard a shout, and a man came rushing across the street, exclaiming as he came up :
"I say, Barton, what is your price for those lots of yours at the Rock ?"
" Twenty thousand dollars," immediately replied the excited land-owner.
" What are your terms ?"
" Ten per cent. down and the rest in four annual payments ? "
" Make it six payments and I will take them," said the other. Barton assented, they walked into an office, the two thousand dollars was paid over, and the next day the deed and the bond and mortgage were exchanged.
Mr. Barton does not state whether he ever received the eighteen thousand dollars secured by bond and mortgage. If he did, he was more fortunate than most of those who sold land on credit in that era.
And it was almost entirely on credit that sales were made. Notwithstanding the cheapness of paper money, bonds and mort- gages were still cheaper. Mr. Barton received a larger cash per- centage than was usually paid.
There was no such thing as land clear of incumbrance. Second and third mortgages were common. Hon. George R. Babcock relates that nearly the whole of outer lot No. I, extend- ing from Main street to the first angle of the Terrace, and thence southwestwardly to the dock, was sold for a great sum, and the only money used was the seventy-five cents paid to Mr. B., as commissioner of deeds, for acknowledging the papers.
The late Guy H. Salisbury, in a sketch of those times, de- clared that everybody was so intent on the subject of buying and selling land, that physicians, when asked how their medi- cine was to be taken, replied :
"One-fourth down and the rest in three annual installments."
407
A PRINCELY PURCHASER.
One Patrick Smith, a saddler, being asked by an old customer when he could do a piece of work, replied with dignity :
"My man, I don't do any more business now ; I've bought a lot."
All was excitement. Men of sagacity bought of unknown persons, without knowledge of title or incumbrances. Men of no means built blocks on credit, gave mortgages, and sold out with no security against those incumbrances.
Of the financial magnates of the day, Col. Alanson Palmer was one of the first. Perhaps he ranked as the second greatest man in Buffalo. No one bought or sold with more royal disre- gard of trifles than he. Seated at table, with a friend, where the champagne passed freely, Palmer suddenly exclaimed :
"I'll give you a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for every- thing you have, except your wife, babies, and household furniture. "Done," replied the other.
The bargain was carried out, a small amount was paid down, and the inevitable bond and mortgage were given to secure the remainder.
This princely purchaser spent some of his later years in the poor-house, and died not long since in an insane asylum.
But Benjamin Rathbun was unquestionably the great man of Buffalo, in those halcyon days. Having begun as a hotel-keeper previous to 1825, he had eminently succeeded in that vocation, and had made the name of "Rathbun's Eagle" synonymous with comfort and good cheer.
When the flush times came on he plunged into business and speculation, with a boldness and an apparent success which made him the envy of thousands. He built the American hotel. He built and managed a grand store on the east side of Main street. He entered into contracts of every description, and gave em- ployment to thousands of workmen. He bought and sold land, not only in Buffalo but throughout this whole section of the country.
His ideas were of the grandest kind. He laid the foundation of an immense hotel and exchange, opposite "the churches," which was designed to occupy the whole square between Main, North Division, South Division and Washington streets. The rotunda was to be two hundred and sixty feet high!
408
BENJAMIN RATHBUN.
Although prices began to drag in the summer of 1836, yet Rathbun still urged forward his gigantic projects. He bought land and laid out a grand city at Niagara Falls, and advertised an auction of lots to come off on the second of August, to ex- tend as many days as might be necessary.
On the appointed day a great number of bidders, from all parts of the compass, were present. During the forenoon the bidding was spirited and sales were numerous. At the dinner table Rathbun sat opposite Mr. G. R. Babcock, the junior mem- ber of the law-firm of Potter & Babcock, who, like almost every- body else, combined the land business with that of their regular profession.
"I observed, Mr. Babcock,"said Rathbun, "that you made no bids this forenoon."
"No," replied the young man, "the lots sold were not in what I thought the most desirable locality."
"Ah, well," said the great speculator, "come with me after dinner and show me some lots you would like to buy, and I will have them put up."
Accordingly, after dinner the two strolled out over the ground of the future city, and Rathbun appeared to be in the best of spirits. He chatted, laughed, told stories, discoursed of his plans, and seemed to look forward to a future as prosperous as his past was supposed to have been.
As they returned to the hotel, Mr. Babcock observed a car- riage at the door. Some one called to Mr. Rathbun to "hurry up." He did so, entered the carriage with one or two others, and drove off toward Buffalo.
Yet, while he was thus jesting with his companion and talking of his future achievements, he knew that his forgeries to a large amount had been discovered, that the country was flooded with his forged paper, and that the gentlemen with whom he rode off had got everything arranged for him to make an assignment of all his property.
On his arrival at Buffalo he was arrested. The forgeries had been discovered in Philadelphia by David E. Evans, whose name Rathbun had forged as endorser on notes to a large amount, which he had deposited as security in a bank in that city. Returning to Buffalo, Evans confronted Rathbun, who
409
MODE OF FORGERY.
confessed that this was but a tithe of the spurious paper he had set afloat. An assignment was arranged, but in the meantime Rathbun allowed the sale at the Falls to take place, and kept up appearances to the very last.
The arrest of Rathbun hastened, so far as Buffalo and vicin- ity was concerned, the financial catastrophe impending over the whole country. Work was stopped on all his numerous enter- prises. The workmen clamored for their pay, and almost broke out into mob violence. The assignees paid them off, though it required nearly all the assets of the estate. The millionaires of the day turned pale with consternation. If Rathbun had failed, who was safe? His forgeries amounted to enormous sums. It was found that he had been committing them for several years, taking up the old notes as they became due, with money ob- tained by means of new ones, also forged.
His brother, Colonel Lyman Rathbun, and his nephew, Rath- bun Allen, were implicated with him, and the latter turned State's evidence. He was the one who actually wrote the forged names, under the direction of his uncle. The method of oper- ation was as follows : First, they obtained the actual signature of some responsible man, as an endorser for a small amount. A small lamp was then placed in a common candle-box, over which was laid a large window-glass. On this glass was placed the note having the genuine signature, with another for a large amount on top of it. The strong light from below, shining through the thin paper used for notes, brought the lower signa- ture into plain view, and the forger was thus enabled to follow it closely on the paper above. An expert would perhaps have detected the difference, but to the ordinary observer the simili- tude seemed complete.
These facts, however, did not all come out till the next sum- mer, when Benjamin Rathbun was brought to trial at Batavia, convicted, and sent to the State prison for five years. He served his time, and afterwards regained some of his former prosperity, at his old business of hotel-keeping, in New York city.
Amid the general dismay, the Presidential election probably drew less attention than any other that ever occurred in the county. While Van Buren was elected President, and Marcy
27
410
POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL.
governor, Erie county as usual went heavily for the opposition, which had now assumed the name of the Whig party through- out the country. Anti-masonry had ceased to exist as a polit- ical organization, or as a source of present excitement, but its results were seen in the large Whig majorities which Western New York gave throughout the existence of that party. Ma- sonry, too, was utterly extinct in this section, and any attempt to revive it at that time would undoubtedly have caused a re- newal of the old excitement. Millard Fillmore, after his two years retirement, was again elected to Congress. The increase of population shown, by the census of 1835, entitled Erie county to three members of assembly, the persons chosen being Squire S. Case of Buffalo, Benjamin O. Bivins of Clarence, and Dr. Elisha Smith, who had for seven years been supervisor of Ham- burg. George P. Barker was appointed district-attorney, and Samuel Caldwell surrogate. Judge Samuel Wilkeson was chosen mayor of Buffalo.
The following is a full list of the supervisors for the year : Alden, Moses Case; Amherst, John Hutchinson; Aurora, Law- rence J. Woodruff ; Buffalo, James L. Barton ; Boston, Thomas Twining, Jr .; Collins, Ralph Plumb; Concord, Oliver Needham ; Colden, William Lewis; Evans, Aaron Salisbury ; Eden, Har- vey Caryl; Hamburg, Elisha Smith; Clarence, Levi H. Good- rich ; Holland, Isaac Humphrey ; Lancaster, Albert E. Terry ; Sardinia, Matthew R. Olin ; Wales, Nathan M. Mann.
Tonawanda is not represented in the above list, though that town was formed from Buffalo April 16th, 1836, comprising the present towns of Tonawanda and Grand Island.
The year closed in gloom and anxiety, thoughi the depression had not yet reached its lowest point. Nevertheless, it was dur- ing this year that the first railroad was completed in Erie county, that from Buffalo to Niagara Falls.
Steadily prices went down, down, down, all through 1837. Throughout the country, failure, bankruptcy and disaster were the order of the day. As speculation had probably reached its climax in Buffalo, so there the universal reaction was most strongly felt. Fortunes disappeared almost in a night. Mort- gages were foreclosed on every hand, and property which but yes- terday had been sold for thirty, forty, fifty dollars per foot would
41I
THE HOLLAND COMPANY.
now hardly bring as many per acre. Banks failed everywhere, and the wretched paper moncy of the country became more worthless than before.
Even in the country towns the reaction, though of course less than in the city, produced great distress, and some who had deemed themselves rich suffered for the necessaries of life.
In the course of 1837, matters probably got about as bad as they could be, so that after that they did not grow any worse ; but it was several years before there was any sensible recovery from the "Hard Times," as that era was universally called. Unquestionably the designation was a correct one ; for never has the country, and especially this part of it, known so disas- trous a financial crisis. The "hard times " inaugurated in the fall of 1873 were mere child's play in comparison.
Even before the crash there had been a steadily growing op- position to the Holland Company, throughout the Holland Pur- chase, and an increasing desire, on the part of the possessors of lands not paid for, to lighten what they felt to be an intolerable burden, the long arrears of interest then due. When to these was added the weight of universal hard times, the discontent rose to still greater heights.
Meetings were held in many towns, denouncing the company, demanding a modification of terms, requesting the legislature to interfere, and asking the attorney-general to contest the com- pany's title. In February, 1837, there assembled at Aurora a meeting at which the counties of Erie, Genesee, Niagara and Chautauqua were represented, and which boldly assumed the name of an " Agrarian Convention." Dyre Tillinghast, of Buf- falo, was president ; Charles Richardson, of Java, Genesee county, (now Wyoming,) and Hawxhurst Addington, of Aurora, were vice-presidents ; and A. M. Clapp, of Aurora, and H. N. A. Holmes, of Wales, were secretaries. Resolutions were passed denouncing the "Judases " who sided with the company, and requesting the attorney-general to contest its title.
In some localities the people did not confine themselves to reso- lutions. Without any very decided acts of violence, they made every agent of the company who came among them feel that there was danger in the air. Whenever an attempt was made to take possession of a place of which its holder was in arrears,
412
A GERMAN NEWSPAPER.
armed men gathered on the hillsides, threatening notices were sent, and a state of terror was kept up until the company's rep- resentatives became demoralized and abandoned the field.
There was no chance for contesting the company's original title, and the legislature refused to interfere. In most of the towns the settlers, in the course of many weary years, paid up and took deeds of their lands. In a few localities, however, they made so stubborn a resistance, and the company was so long in enforcing its claims, that many of the occupants acquired a title by " adverse possession," which the courts sustained.
By 1837 the German population had increased so that it would support a German newspaper, and, notwithstanding the hard times, a weekly was established by George Zahm, called "Der Weltbürger," It still exists as the "Buffalo Demokrat und Weltbürger.'
Notwithstanding the "hard times," a company was chartered to build a macadam road from Buffalo to Williamsville, and ac- tually did build it within a year or two afterwards. This was nearly, or quite, the first successful attempt to replace one of our time-honored mud roads by a track passable at all seasons.
The supervisors of 1837 were Moses Case of Alden, John Hutchinson of Amherst, Lawrence J. Woodruff of Aurora, James L. Barton of Buffalo, Amos Wright of Clarence, Oliver Need- ham of Concord, William Lewis of Colden, Harvey Caryl of Eden, Aaron Salisbury of Evans, Isaac Humphrey of Holland, John Boyer of Lancaster, Cyrus Hopkins of Newstead, Mat- thew R. Olin of Sardinia, William Williams of Tonawanda, and Nathan M. Mann of Wales.
In the fall of that year William A. Mosely, of Buffalo, was elected State senator in place of Albert H. Tracy, who then finally retired from public life, at the early age of forty-four, after a twenty-years career of remarkable brilliancy. The as- semblymen then chosen were Lewis F. Allen of Buffalo, Cyre- nius Wilber, of Alden and Asa Warren of Eden. At the same time Charles P. Person, of Aurora, was elected sheriff, and Cy- rus K. Anderson, of Buffalo, county clerk. James Stryker was appointed first judge of the Common Pleas, and Henry W. Rogers district-attorney. Josiah Trowbridge was mayor of Buffalo.
413
OUTBREAKS IN CANADA.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE PATRIOT WAR, ETC.
Outbreaks in Canada .- American Sympathy .- Navy Island .- The Destruction of the Caroline .- Intense Excitement .- Conflicting Rumors. - The Militia Called Out. - Arrival of Scott .- Scott and the British Schooners. - Navy Is- land Abandoned. - Stealing Cannon. - Expedition up the Lake .- Worth and the Volunteers. - A Mild Winter .- Encampment on the Ice .- A Hemlock Track to Canada .- Chapin's Death .- A Raid by Sympathizers .- The Last Camp. - Buffalo Public Schools .- A Political Revulsion .- An Unsavory Treaty. -- Cheektowaga .- Brant .- Black Rock. - Many-term Supervisors. - The Harrison Campaign.
As the winter of 1837-8 approached, the people of Erie county, with those of the rest of the northern frontier, were at least fur- nished with something else than their own misfortunes to talk about.
For several years there had been a growing discontent in the Canadian provinces with the government of Great Britain. Among the French population of Lower Canada it was quite strong, and at length it broke out in armed rebellion, which was only suppressed at considerable cost of blood and treasure.
After the outbreak there was put down, there were some small uprisings in Upper Canada. But, whatever political opposition there might have been in that section to the home government, there was little disposition to seek the arbitrament of battle, and very few appeared in arms.
What there were sought a position close to the American line in order that they might receive all possible aid from their sym- pathizers on this side. For it was impossible that anything in the shape of a revolt against British power, whatever the cause, or whatever its strength, should not awaken interest and sym- pathy on the part of Americans. The two contests in which we had been engaged with that country, and the fact that we owed our national existence to a successful revolt against monarchical government, combined to produce such a result. Secret lodges of "hunters," as they were called, were formed along
414
OCCUPATION OF NAVY ISLAND).
the frontier for the purpose of affording aid to the "patriots," which was the designation generally given to the insurgents, and some armed men crossed the line.
William Lyon Mackenzie, an ex-member of the provincial parliament, and the leader of the rebellion in Upper Canada, after a slight and unsuccessful outbreak north of Toronto, fled to Buffalo in the forepart of December, 1837. Meetings were held, and addresses made by Mackenzie, by one T. J. Suther- land, who was called general, and by several Buffalonians. About the middle of the month there was still greater excitement along the Niagara frontier, for it was Icarned that the main force of the "patriots" had established themselves on Navy island. This was closer to American territory than any other British soil in this vicinity. Between it and Grand Island the channel is less than a quarter of a mile wide, and it was besides convenient of access from the old landing-place at Schlosser.
There were perhaps three or four hundred men on the island. Of these a considerable proportion were Americans, and their commander was General Rensselaer Van Rensselaer, who, I am informed, was a son of the gallant Colonel Solomon Van Rens- selaer, who was wounded on Queenston Heights.
Days passed on. The people were all in a fever to do some- thing for the " patriots." The United States marshal appointed thirty deputies from among the most prominent citizens of Buf- falo, to prevent violations of neutrality. The winter was one of unexampled mildness, and vessels still continued to run on both lake and river. On the 29th of December the little steamer Caroline, belonging to William Wells, Esq., of Buffalo, went down to Navy island, the intention being that she should run back and forth between the camp of the insurgents and Schlos- ser, carrying men and supplies. After discharging freight at the island, she made two trips to and from Schlosser, that after- noon, and then tied to the wharf at the latter place.
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