USA > New York > Livingston County > Nunda > Centennial history of the town of Nunda : with a preliminary recital of the winning of western New York, from the fort builders age to the last conquest by our Revolutionary forefathers > Part 15
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Aaron Fuller, grandfather of our townsman Willis Fuller was drowned in the Genesee River. Dr. C. C. Chafee, a medical celebrity, came from Pike to Nunda, and had for two years medical classes, and did wonderful things, raised the dead, for example, generally within 24 hours after burial.
The population of the town reached its greatest numerical strength in 1840. over 2,000 and has since gradually declined. Its Academy and wooden mills, while they lasted, were the chief agencies of prosperity.
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CHAPTER VIII.
HUME-NUNDA, FROM MARCH 17, 18OS, TO MARCH 6, 1818-HUME-PIKE, FROM MARCH 6, 1818, TO MARCH 20, 1822-TOWNSHIP 6, RANGE I.
ROGER MILLS, SR.
T HIS part of Nunda has its own story of pioneer pluck and enterprise. Its first settler was a man with brains in his hat. He came to Town- ship 7 and stayed a while, then went further down the stream in the search of the best water power available He was planning for other wheels besides those in his head. He came from Montgomery County and he meant to build mills. His name was no misnomer, he built mills and they were called Mills' Mills. He had a large family of boys, or rather young men. It is said he hired Christopher Olen and paid him $1.oo to pilot him through the Wiscoy Val- ley, that he might select a mill site. The upper one of the five falls that gave this plunging stream its Indian name, "Wis"-five-and "Coy or Koya", Creek, or Five fall Creek, satisfied his desire for settlement and his became the first family' to settle in this Genesee River town. The water power is great in this town, its streams are large and strong and this has led to many small settlements in- stead of one large one. At one time Hume, Fillmore, Rossburgh, Wiscoy, and Mills Mills had post offices.
(Augustus Porter in 1798 after the Treaty at Big Tree ran the boundary lines of the Caneadea Indian Reservation, which forms a large portion of the town of Hume, and in 1805 William Peacock subdivided most of the town not included in the Reservation into lots, and made no mention of any white man in this township.)
Roger Mills made a dam and erected a saw mill, the first recorded in Nunda, in 1807, to which those from above the mill, even as far as Arcade, came for lumber. Elisha Johnson, who subdivided the Cottinger Tract in 1807, re- ports this saw mill in operation. Mr. Mills built a gristmill in 1808, the verv first in the town. The castings and stones were brought from Albany on sleighs, the winter of 1807 and 8 by George Mills and Zech. Keyes. White men and Indians ( from the Reservation) came fromn Geneseo, and from Can- eadea to help raise this mill. No event of the year, excepting the organization of the town, was so important. Pounding corn in a mortar became a neglected or "a lost art." The wild wood paths, only wide enough to allow the passage of "a drag." some brought grists from 40 miles away. The Indians brought their grists to this Tes-e-o-na, but the Kan-is-te-o-ni, or Saw Mill, they failed to utilize.
The first store was also at Mills Mills, and Elisha Mills was the first mer- chant in 1809, the very first one in the entire town of Nunda. The first inn was kept by George Mills in 1815. The Mills family were energetic and just the ones to inaugurate needed improvements. Roger Mills, Sr., died in 1811 and Roger Mills, Jr., became a settler at Mills Mills. Soon after. Caroline Russell, daughter of Samuel and Parmelia Russell of Montgomery County, taught the first school, in a barn belonging to the Mills family which is still doing duty, not as a school house but as a stable on the Philo Mills place. The mill also, for 80 years, was in possession of this family. It had served as mill, dwelling house,
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inn. and store, all at the same time, for people came so far to mill, that they had to remain over night and were fed at the family table, and slept on beds of grain bags. Roger Mills, Jr., built an addition to the mill, and lived there until he built a good farm house in which the late Philo Mills, one of "God's good men." was born, lived 80 years, and died in the very same room where he was born, in 1&)2. Goodwin Mills was said to have been born in the old mill. George Mills was frozen to death and was buried in the orchard.
After the war of 1812-14. Leonard Smith sold army clothing in the mill. Joshua Skiff from Otsego County. s. in 1809, bought Lot 38, that had been booked to Roger Mills, giving him $5.00 to give over his claim, and commenced clearing a field for wheat. At a "raising" he had in the fall there were present eleven men and two women. The Skiff family, judging by the highway records of Nunda, were public spirited and popular. Joshua held many of the principal town offices. He was often town clerk, and for his day a good penman.
Thomas Pyre was the pioneer blacksmith.
A carding mill was added in 1816 to the other industries of the town by Roger Mills and Bailey Clough, below the grist mill. that was of great benefit to the knitters and weavers found in all the best homes, and this preceded the one at Oakland or even at Hunt's Hollow. Machinery for dressing cloth was added and the cloth dressed at Mills Mills made the homespun "sheeps' gray" so common for several decades throughout all this vicinity. ( The writer remem- bers distinctly his first suit of black homespun ( for Sunday use only ) that he possessed during the Mexican War, and though but ten years of age, he felt al- most big enough to enlist ).
Other settlers of Hume-Nunda were Peltiah and Rufus Mills, brothers of Elisha and George, and half brother to Roger, Jr., whose mother was a cousin to Noah Webster, the lexicographer. Roger. Sr., was the father of nine chil- dren and Roger, Jr., of thirteen. Samuel Goodwin, born November 22, 1811, Philo, born March 21, 1813, and Marvin. May 13, 1817, were citizens of Nunda by birthright. At least 100 "Millses" have been born in what is now the town of Hume. Marvin survived all who were born before him. M. W. Skiff. born in 1810, is believed to be the first white child born in the township.
Other pioneer settlers were Moses Robinson ( Lot 32) and his brother Aaron, Hubbard Fuller. (s 1812), Luther Couch (s 1814), a pioneer teacher. taught near Fullers, and married his daughter Sylvia. He was an excellent fariner, but in 1844 or 5. he joined the Fourierite Association, sold his farm, and invested all in the "Mixville Association," became its president, but lost nearly all he possessed when it closed its affairs in disastrous failure. He died a few years afterward.
Aaron Robinson added a tannery to the business enterprises of the town and engaged in, the boot and shoe business. employing several workmen. In 1815 there were less than 20 families in town.
Edward James and John Dowd settled in 1815. paying $4.50 an acre for their lands, the largest price so far paid by any. The property is still in the possession of this family.
Charles Trall settled 1815 on Lot 7. His sons were Rhyla and Laman. Every pioneer town had its famous hunter or trapper. Trall seems to have lost no time in establishing his championship as a trapper. The next day after his
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arrival, he caught a wolf and soon afterward helped to kill two bears caught in his traps. He had to divide honors, however, with one Damon who caught bears, wolves and other wild beasts.
Raising cattle for the Philadelphia market and selling them to the agents of the Holland Co. in payment for lands when money was scarce, helped to pay for the low priced lands. Even before this was possible the enterprising citi- zens killed, and received through barter with the Indians, venison, peltries and other things marketable, and hiring the best team in the settlement sent them in winter to Philadelphia or to Albany. Not a very handy market, but one that would pay fair prices.
Sylvester Hammond from Middlebury, became the pioneer of Hume Vil- lage in 1820, after it had ceased to be a part of Nunda. William D. Ham- mond his son, of Hume, came to Nunda in 1831 or 2, and became a prominent citizen, store builder and Justice of the Peace.
CHAPTER IX.
PIONEER DAYS-OUR SECOND TOWN OF NUNDA, 1818 TO 1827.
"O memory! thou midway world Twixt earth and paradise Where things decayed, and loved, and lost In dreamy shadows rise And, freed from all that's earthly vile Seem hallowed, pure and bright, Like scenes in some enchanted isle, All bathed in liquid light." Abraham Lincoln-Our Pioneer President.
H ON. CHARLES H. CARROLL, our second land agent, made a map of settlement of lands of the Tuscarora tract forming one half of the town of Nunda. Fortunately our principal surveyor, Munson O. Barker, who had the good fortune to be born in Nunda 85 years ago, has this identical map. It furnishes a list of the settlers as he found them in 1820, and of those to whom he sold lands. Unfortunately the lots are not numbered so their location is somewhat indefinite. Mr. Barker has also furnished the writer with a more modern map of the Wells tract, on which he was born. In this the lots are numbered. Of these people on the Wells tract more of their posterity remain with us. Highlanders cling to their mountain heights with greater tenacity than the possessors of the richer valley lands. The advancing prices of lands in the valley were temptations that prompted frequent changes. This year, 1818, the Genesee river was declared by legislation a public highway from its confluence with the Canaseraga to the Pennsylvania line, except between the upper and lower falls at Portage. Tree tops or other impediments were not to be thrown into it. canoe navigation being essential to settlement.
The first town meeting was held at the tavern of Prosper Adams on Oak Hill and the post office also was changed to this place. It is unnecessary to say that from 1818 to 1827, Portage-Nunda was "it," but with ( wisdom ) acquired by- experience she shared hier political plums with her neighbors in the valley.
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THE WARRENS
Noah Warren, veteran, was born August, 1793, and died February 15, 1881 ; his wife Ursula died March 22, 1871, aged 79 years, their children were: Por- ter, born December 11, 1818. who has lived in Nunda since 1819, no other per- son so long ; * Jefferson, born 1819: * Esther married *Samuel Doane; * Goram, veteran Civil War; Lyman, a lifelong resident, married Sarah Greenwood. Children of *William Warren brother of Noah were: Jonas, Samuel, Maria married Abner Reed; Lydia, married *Russell Smith ; * Sarah, married *Louis Angles who died February, 1905. aged 85 years. Other brothers of Noah were: Luther, who had four daughters. * Wright who had five daughters. *Silas, veteran, War of 1812, first pioneer carpenter of Nunda had six children. Ren- ben, Fayette, Washington and Wellington, twins, Leland and William. Other grandchildren of Noah Warren are children of Porter and Maria Fuller War- ren: Edwin, married Charlotte Swartz: Emma died, aged 16 years ; Julia, inarried Frank Parker; Cora, married Christopher, - married Eg- bert Bartholomew. Children of Lyman and Sarah Warren: * Eva and Emma, twins, married Fred Reed and James H. Baker, respectively ; married
Meyers; Harry, married Martha Skillen; Frank De Witt, superin- tendent of schools at Ilion, N. Y .; Sally Warren married Deacon Schuyler Thompson, a pioneer of 1816. and one of the founders of the Baptist Church in 1819; children, Marlow, Valoris. Luther, Lorina, Susan, Eliza Jane.
All the historical sketches of the town say they were unable to locate Schuyler Thompson, and yet he lived most of the time on one of the Cooper farms, now owned by H. Milton Coats, son of Milton H. Coats, who lived there till he died of old age, one mile from our village. Deacon Thompson, a promi- nent church worker, could not be located, when all the Warrens were his kin- dred, and could have furnished all the information required. The family moved away about the time Samuel Cooper came to Nunda, 1840. Such instances prove the necessity for town histories. in order that county histories may be correct.
NOAH WARREN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF PIONEER DAYS IN NUNDA, GIVEN IN 1776 TO C. K. SANDERS
"I hear the tread of pioneers, Of nations yet to be The first low wash of waves, where soon Shall roll a human sea."
Noah Warren was born in the town of Fitzwilliam, N. H., July 27th, 1793, and at the time of our Nation's Centennial was 83 years of age. When a child his father moved to Cheshire, Mass., where he kept a store and tavern, and died there, when Noah was seven years of age. In August, 1817, he was married to Miss Ursula Cole of Washington, Mass., who died at Nunda, May 22nd, 1871, aged 70 years.
Previous to his marriage in the year 1816, he came to Nunda, from Cherry Valley, Otsego County. N. Y. About this time he heard of the famous Genesee country, a terni then applied to all Western New York, and concluded there must be some better place for farming than his hilly, sterile locality in Massachusetts,
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so he left Cherry Valley on horseback in search of a more desirable country than any he had yet seen. He was fourteen days reaching Nunda, where he selected the farm, afterwards owned and occupied by Abraham Burgess, but owing to some faw in the Articles of Agreement, he did not retain possession of it. but for a few years.
He returned to Massachusetts, and was married the following year. On April 10, 1819, he again arrived at Nunda, being three weeks on the "overland route" to Nunda. This time he brought his family with him. Porter Warren. his son, still living, was at this time six months old.
He stayed the first night after his arrival, with George Patterson, Sr., a bachelor, who lived in a little log shanty in Oakland, or Messenger's Hollow, as it was then called. The hut was so low that it was impossible for a tall man to stand upright in it. Here Patterson lived, cooked his own meals, did his own washing, mending and sewing. It is related of this somewhat eccentric man, that when he needed a new pair of pantaloons, he would spread out the buck- skin on the floor, sit down upon it, and with his hunting knife, mark out the outlines and cut them out.
The pioneers Mr. Warren speaks of in those first years were Mr. James Paine, Peleg and Reuben Sweet, Abner Tuthill, George W. Merrick, Wm. P. Wilcox (at the corners now known as Guy's Corners ), and John P. Townsend. Mr. Wilcox had a store, kept a few dry goods and notions, but no groceries or provisions. The store was on the corner opposite to the Hotel, long known as Guy's Corners, where Jacob Guy was for many years proprietor. It was ex- pected that the corners would be the future village of this present town.
Mr. Warren first settled a little south of what was known as the "Corners." his brothers Luther and Wright, and his mother. He located one hundred acres on what was known as the "Norton tract," cleared up about fifty of it. and lived there until 1823, when he moved to where he resided until his death. having purchased sixty acres on the Tuscarora Tract, the Lewis-Ensworth's and Tuttle's of to-day have since owned it. It is located on the "State Road" near the hill south of Nunda Village. At that time he could have purchased land, where the village of Nunda now stands, for one dollar less an acre than where he bought. The timber on his farm was so much larger than that a mile farther south that he supposed like many others, that where the timber was large the ground was strong.
There was a loghouse where the Livingston Block now stands, and plenty of huckleberries could be picked on Main Street, and that was all the signs of life in what is now Nunda village. (This was in 1816.)
Mr. Warren is the only one that mentions a house where the Livingston House was afterwards built on the former site of the once famous Eagle Tav- ern, built in 1832.
The first winter spent in Nunda, the Warren's saw pretty hard times. He had cleared some of his land and soweds wheat and raked it in among the stumps, as all pioneers had to do. Though richer than his neighbors in stock, for he had two cows and a team of horses, these had to be fed, so he had to go to Mt. Morris and purchase straw of Gen. Mills to feed them. There were two or three stores at Mt. Morris then, but like that of William P. Wilcox they did not deal in provisions, for these he had to go to Moscow where Allen
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Ayrault then had the principal store in this seetion. Game was quite abundant, especially deer. Wolves were too eommon, though not abundant, however, they destroyed fourteen of his first floek of sleep. Sometimes they would make night hideous, and then everything had to be looked after until morning.
When Mr. Warren first moved onto his farm on the Tuscarora Traet. he built a log house which served him for many years. He afterwards built a frame house where he lived with his youngest son, Lyman. He often drew his wheat to Geneseo and sold it for fifty cents, or to Rochester for seventy-five eents a bushiel. James Harvey Rawson was his nearest neighbor. In 1824, Mr. War- ren and others ( George W. Merrick, William P. Wilcox, John H. Townsend, James H. Rawson, N. Clough ). eleared the State Road from Wileox Corners to the town line, ehopping down the trees, carrying off the brush and making it a passably good road for those days. They all eamped out one night in the woods, and the next day finished the road to Mt. Morris line. See page 114.
The Indians were not very troublesome, though there were at this time a great many here. They often called and generally asked for bread or salt. They were peaceable and quiet, and they gave the settlers no trouble. Mr. Warren often visited Mary Jemison, the "old white woman" and knew her sons, Thomas and James. He erossed the river at Gardeau the day after the great landslide. It was a sight then well worth seeing. The Indians were very much frightened. They thought the Great Spirit was about to summon them to the "Happy Hunting grounds." and it was a long time before they were quieted.
Mr. Warren attended the first funeral, in what is now the Town of Nunda, Cornelius Bulson, who was at work for Mr ( William) Richardson, was killed by the falling of a tree in March, 1820 About 10 o'clock the aeeident oceurred. He lived several hours. He was taken to the home of George W. Merriek. and the fleetest horse in the settlement was sent to Hunt's Hollow for Dr. Amos P. Parmalee, but life was extinet before he arrived. The funeral was held next day, and the services consisted of reading a chapter from the Bible and a prayer
by one of the neighbors. Nearly everyone who lived in the section was present The burial was on the farm. afterwards owned by Mr. Partridge ( the grand- sire of Mervin Aylor, who now resides there). It was a sad company who gathered and departed from that first funeral in our present town of Nunda. A rude fenee that onee surrounded the grave for many years, no longer exists, and the location is now forgotten. His military eareer of Mr. W., is given in the Department of this History entitled "Patriots of Nunda," in the chapter "Pio- neer Patriots of 1812."
Mr. Noah Warren saw the village of Nunda with its one loghouse change to a settlement of from six to ten loghouses ; saw the first frame building go up. it is said in 1824: saw the Genesee Valley eanal surveyeed and dug, given up for years, saw its first boat the "Statescow" pass through the village one Sunday morning, lived to see it complete its work a quarter of a century afterward, lived to see the first worktrain 'on the Railroad that took its place: patronized the first sehool that was built in the present village in 1822, saw three sueeessive academies come and go: worshiped in a barn, still in existence, in the twenties. saw all the churches ever built in the village reach completion, nine in number, all still standing, except the First Baptist which was burned in 1859: lived to see the days of the Civil War, when in a single battle more lives were lost and
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more men lost to the service than fell in the eight years of the Revolution and the War in which he took part in 1812-14. He has left sons, one of whom served in the Civil War ( Goram), and one who has the honor of being the old- est living son of a pioneer, who also saw Nunda while it was still a huckleberry patch, and who is probably the oldest person who attended the school. The late Moses Barron, who taught in the McSweeney log schoolhouse in the win- ter of 1824-5 was the teacher.
A SNAKE STORY
A man by the name of Pepper, settled on the farm he sold to Seth Barker, and had this experience. After cutting down a big tree he was tired and lay down in the shade of the felled tree to rest, but fell asleep, and when he awoke he found lying by his side a huge rattlesnake. He got up carefully and with his axe despatched the snake, but supposing himself the possessor of a colony of these reptiles resolved to sell out to the first person willing to buy. Mr. Barker who bought at a bargain this property did not find the place pre-empted by rattlers.
THE LOWELLS OF NUNDA AND GROVE
are descendants of Percival Lowell, who came to Massachusetts in Colonial days. Percival was alike patriot and poet, and the Hon. James Russell Lowell, one of his posterity of 2,250 Lowells is the great figure head of the family.
A FUNERAL "ELEGIE"
( Written many years since) On the Death of the Memorable and truly Honorable John Winthrope, Esq.
You English Mattachusians all
Forbear sometime from sieeping
Let everyone both great and small
Prepare themselves for weeping.
For he is gone that was our friend
This tyrant Death has wrought his end
Who was the very chief among The chiefest of our peers.
Who hath in peace maintained us long
The space of nineteen years,
And now he's breathless, lifeless, dead,
Cold earth has now become his bed.
The Jews for their Moses weep,
Who was their Gubernator. Let us for Winthrope do the like, Who was our Conservator.
With lines of gold in marble stone
With pens of steel engrave his name.
Oh let the Muses everyone
In prose and verse extol his fame.
Exceeding far those Ancient Sages
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That ruled Greeks in former ages.
O frightful Death, and also eruel Thou hast quite slain New England's Jewel.
Show us vile tyrant if thou ean Tell where to find out such a man ? Methinks, I hear a spirit breathe Non est inventus here beneath.
He was ( we surely may say this) Rara avis in terris.
Let Winthrope's name still famous be With us and our posterity.
Well we are glad he wrote, and glad that so many of his posterity found their way to the Keshaqua Valley, that wonderful vestibule to Nature's Para- dise, the Genesee Valley.
Percival I., was a better man of business than poet, and as such his descend- ants here, have been eonspieuous. The military achievements of the family re- quire many pages of history to register even the names of this patriotic as weil as poetic family.
Two hundred and fifty-nine of the name of Lowell that are found on the Revolutionary rolls of Massachusetts and Maine, 157 in New Hampshire, with 123 found elsewhere. It seems that England might better have given Percival a peerage and kept him from furnishing a half regiment of rebels to fight for the cause of Freedom. The Lowell genealogy elaims a full regiment of Lowells in the Civil War.
The Lowells of Nunda, Portage and Grove displayed the same patriotism and therefore win from the admiring author unusual spaee. Even the elergy- men among them believed they were serving the Prince of Peace. when they enlisted to preserve the unity and integrity of this nation.
THE PIONEERS AND HOW THEY CAME TO DALTON
The elder Lowells, three in number, came from the east. They and their wives were on horseback. They stopped at Syraeuse and again at Roehester, where there was but one loghouse. Thinking the place was not healthful they eame on and settled near Dalton, giving the name Lowell's Corners to their set- tlement.
The third generation of the Gideon Lowell family were doubly connected with the Elias Rawson family, so we will call them the Lowell-Rawson braneh of the family. The family eame from Madison, N. Y.
A son of Moses, brother of Gideon, married a daughter of David Baldwin. a Revolutionary soldier, and an early pioneer of our present township, so we will call the Moses Junior branch of the family, the Lowell-Baldwin Branch.
Both branches of the family repeat eertain family names, Moses, Gideon. David, Daniel. Mariam. Ebenezer, that we are forced to traee them baek to Moses, the pioneer that we call Moses I, genealogieally the patriareh of the Lowells in Nunda.
I. Moses Loweli was born in Amesbury. Mass., in 1736, and married Mariam Knowlton. He served, with three of his sons, in the Revolutionary
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War (his two eldest sons, Thomas and Jonathan, remained in the East). His sons who came with him were Gideon and Moses, Jr. He was a shipwright by trade, but became a farmer. He died in Grove.
II. Gideon, settled in 1818. said to have been, when a boy, in the battle of Bunker Hill, and when older an enlisted soldier, born Standish, Maine, Sep- tember 12, 1761. married Mrs. Elizabeth Beal Cookson, a widow with two sons. named Samuel and John Cookson. He located in Nunda, on the Partridge-Aylor farm in 1818. His sons were: Willoughby, Asa, Ebenezer and David ; his daughters, Melissa and Mariam.
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