USA > New York > Steuben County > Wayland > Directory of the Village of Wayland, N.Y, 1901 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
At the close of the Revolution the tide of settlement which the war had temporarially checked again set in, and for the protection of the settlers, the governments of the United States and the state of New York took steps to treat with the natives for their lands. A company of speculators endeavored to forestall these efforts by securing in ad- vance leases of territory from the In- dians, and succeeded in obtaining from the Six Nations a lease for nine hundred and ninety-nine years to all their lands in New York state for twenty thousand dollars, and an annual rental of two thousand dollars, the Indians reserving fishing and hunting privileges. In face of strong oppostion represented by an active lobby, Gov. George Clinton was able to counteract this proceeding, and prevent the consumation of a scheme which it is said to have veiled, to annex the western end of this state to Canada and recover it to English rule.
The charter granted to the Massa- chusetts Bay company by the English crown in 1691 included all lands be- tween Long Island Sound and the mouth of the Penobscot river, and from the At- lantic Ocean to to the Pacific, while the grant by Charles I to his son, Duke of York, in 1663 entended indefinitely westward from a line running north from the Atlantic Ocean to the Canada bor- der, and twenty miles east of the Hudson river. These conflicting boundaries caused considerable friction between the
colonies, and at one time almost resulted in a clash at arms. In 1786 representa- tives of these two states met at Hart- ford, Conn., and made a compromise whereby Massachusetts relinquished to New York her claim to the "right and title of government, sovereignty and jurisdiction" to lands in this state, and New York ceded to her the pre-emp- tion right to all lands west of a line to be run due north from the eighty-second mile stone in the north boundary of Pennsylvania, excepting a narrow strip along the Niagara river. This pre-emp- tion line began at the south-east corner of Steuben county and ran to Sodus Bay, and the compromise placed the site of Wayland at the disposal of Mass- achusetts.
Soon after this cession the Phelps and Gorham company purchased of Massa- chusetts all the lands thus acquired in Western New York, amounting to about six million acres, for which they were to pay three hundred thousand dollars in Massachusetts script, then worth about fifty cents on the dollar, and extinguish the Indian title. Oliver Phelps, one of the company, visited the Senecas, and after several days' parley with the chiefs at Buffalo Creek, succeeded in purchas- ing about two million six hundred thou- sand acres, the purchase price being five thousand dollars, and five hundred dollars annually thereafter forever. The described boundaries as taken from the old deed in the Land Office at Bath are:
"Beginning on the boundary line of the state of Pennsylvania, in parallel 42ยบ at a point 82 miles west from the north- east corner of Pennsylvania on the Del- aware river, as said line has been run and marked by the commissioners of the states of New York and Pennsyl- vania, and from said point, or place of
4
48
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
beginning, running west upon said line to a meridian which will pass through that corner or point of land made by the confluence of the Kanahasgueaicon (Canaseraga) creek with the waters of the Genisee river ; thence north along said meridian to the corner or point last mentioned ; thence northwardly along the waters of the said Genisee to a point two miles north of Kanawageras village, as called ; thence running in a direction due west, twelve miles ; thence in a direction northwardly, so as to be twelve miles distant from the most west- wardly bounds of said Genisee river, to the shore of the Ontario lake ; thence eastwardly along the shores of the said lake to a meridian which will pass through the first point, or place of be- ginning, aforementioned ; thence south along said meridian to the first point, or place of beginning aforementioned."
This deed is signed by fifty-nine chiefs and warriors viz ; Mohawks 3 ; Oneidas 3 ; Onondagas 8 ; Cayugas 23 ; Senecas 22, and by seven squaws, or "governesses," for the Indians respected a dower right of their wives in their
real-estate, and it is attested by the bold signature of John Hancock, then gover- nor of Massachusetts. By the terms of this deed Wayland became the property of the Phelps and Gorham company. Being unable to deal farther with the Indians the company surrendered the balance of the territory back to the state of Massachusetts, which relieved them of two-thirds of the contract price, and what they actually became possessed of cost them, aside from the annuity, about four cents per acre, which is doubtless all it was then worth.
On Nov. 17, 1790, Phelps and Gor- ham sold their purchase, excepting tracts previously taken up by settlers, to Robert Morris, the former Secretary of the Continental Treasury, for thirty thou- sand pounds New York state currency. He in turn sold to Sir William Pulteney, of England, and others the following year. It is to the Pulteney estate that we trace the deeds of our homes.
49
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
CHAPTER II.
ERECTION OF STEUBEN COUNTY. COLO-
NEL WILLIAMSON. EFFORTS AT SETTLEMENT.
Western New York was simultaneous- ly invaded by the army of migration from two directions, New England's contingent coming by way of the Mo- hawk, and that from Pennsylvania by the Susquehanna and Chemung, and the first Indian traders, those heralds of advancing civilization, appeared the same year, 1786, at Onondaga and at Painted Post.
The Hudson river country and Long Island had early been divided into coun- ties by the English, but at this time the territory west of Rome was almost terra incognita, and was called "Indian coun- try," and was included in the one town of Whitestown. To accommodate the scattered settlers elections were opened at Cayuga Ferry, adjourned to Onon- daga and then to Whitestown. At an early town meeting James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, the grandsire of Congress- man Wadsworth, was elected one of the pathmasters of this wilderness town ex- tending over half the state.
In 1789 all that part of the state west of the old pre-emption line was organized as Ontario county, and seven years later, 1796, Steuben county was created, being the twenty-fourth county in the state in order of erection. At that time it had about one thousand inhabi- tants, and was divided into six towns : Bath, Dansville, Canisteo, Painted Post, Middletown and Fredericktown-the names of but three of which have en-
dured. The town of Dansville con- tained the present towns of Dansville, Fremont, Wayland and parts of Cohoc- ton and Howard.
A glance at the early maps-maps imperfectly drawn, and of a period when natural waterways were the only commercial avenues-shows that, ex- cepting the St. Lawrence and Great Lake system, the Susquehanna with the Chemung, the Canisteo and Conhocton rivers, navigable for hundreds of miles inland and penetrating to the very door of the Genesee country, famed for its fertility, and to the confines of the un- known west, with its boundless possibil- ities, was the route that would become the great continental highway, and a city built at its headwaters would grow opulent from tolls on limitless products seeking the world's markets. The dream of Colonel Williamson and his principals that the village of Bath was destined to become the entrepot of the great west, visionary as it seems to people familiar with railroads, was not without reason in their time. The effort and ability spent in launching the "boom" and hastening its development exhibited a genius unsurpassed in more recent times by the builders of our western towns.
Sir William Pulteney and his company having purchased the Phelps and Gor- ham tract deeded it to Colonel Charles Williamson, who had become a natural- ized citizen of the United States (1) and held the estate in trust for the company until the laws permitted aliens to own real estate.
Of Colonel Williamson, Judge Mc- Master says in his History :
(1) Colonel Williamson's oath with his naturalization papers was as follows: "I, Charles Williamson, gentleman, being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, do say that I will support the Constitution of the United States. CHARLES WILLIAMSON."
"Done in open Court at Philadelphia, June 9, 1792.
J. Yeates, Justice Supreme Court."
50
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
"He was a man of spirit, energy and ability. Prepossessing in person, free and frank in manner, generous and friendly in disposition, he is remembered to this day as a "fine fellow" by the farmers who were once young pioneers, and opened his roads and hewed his forests. A keen follower of sports, a lover of the horse, the rifle and the hound, he was accounted a man by the rudest foresters. High-bred, intelligent, of engaging address, and readily adapt- ing himself to the circumstances of all men, he was equally welcome to the cabin of the woodsman or the table of the Peer ; and whether discussing a horse race with Canisteo, a school pro- ject with Prattsburg, or the philosophy of over-shot wheels with Bartle's Hol- low, he was entirely at home, and pro- nounced opinions which were listened to with respect. His hale, prompt, manly greeting won for him the good will of the settler, and gave him influ- ence at the occasional assemblies of the citizens.
*
"He had a gallant and impetuous way of doing what was to be done. Where he was everything was kept stirring. The ordinary routine of a land agent's life had no charms for him. To sit in a drowsy office the live-long day, among quills and maps and ledgers, hearing complaints of failing crops, sickness and hard times, pestered with petitions for making new roads and mending bridges was unendurable. He must ride through the woods, talk with the settlers, awaken the aliens, show his lands to strangers, entertain gentlemen from abroad.
* *
"He was dark of feature, tall, slender, and erect of figure. His habits were active, and he pleased the foresters by vaulting lightly to his saddle and scour- ing the roads at full gallop."
Colonel Williamson arrived at Balti- more in 1791, and after some time de- voted to interesting southern settlers in his scheme of development, set out the
following winter for his new domain, traveling by way of the Hudson and Mohawk, thence by Indian trails to the Genesee country, and then back to Northumberland on the Susquehanna at the mouth of the West Branch, where he made his first headquarters for colo- nization and improvements. The fol- lowing summer he built a wagon road over the mountains-a seemingly impossible undertaking-connecting Northumberland with Dansville. This road, known in this locality as the "old Bath road," came up the Conhocton valley to North Cohocton, thence through the south-east corner of the town of Springwater, down the east hill, across the upper end of the valley and up west hill near where the cemetery is now. The exact date of the construc- tion of the road from North Cohocton, through Wayland, to Dansville cannot be determined. It was, however, of early date, and a "Williamson" road, and was mainly for winter travel, being too wet in the summer. In 1802 John Frazer's maternal grandfather came over it with his family. He drove a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen with a horse as leader. Passing Bivins's where he was unable to procure feed, he tried to make Dansville, but was stalled at "four mile tree,"-near the Yochem place. One of tlie party rode the horse to Dansville, and the next day brought assistance to the family who had camped there over night.
Bath was selected by the management as the site of the "Babylon of the West," and every effort was made to attract settlers and artisans. Saw mills were started, houses built, roads opened, the rivers cleared of drift-wood-the Con- hocton being declared navigable to
51
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
twenty-two mile inn, or what is now North Cohocton-a race track was laid out where famous horses from the east and the south were entered, and a thea- ter opened with a company of actors from Philadelphia.
But ten years of stupendous effort, aided by a prodigal use of money, could not make the stubborn glebe of Steuben compete with the fertile fields of the Genesee, and settlers were not attracted. The commerce with the west did not develop in a measure com- mensurate with the company's expecta- tions or expenses. Colonel Williamson was recalled and the dream of Bath's glory faded away.
In a speech made in 1851, William H. Seward, then United States Senator, referred to this air-castle as follows :
"There is a town in the interior of the state, far away in what was lately known as the secluded part of it, Bath by name. * *
* Of this town I with to speak. It is a beautiful but quiet one, situated in the delightful val- ley and on the banks of the Conhocton, a tributary of the Susquehanna. But those who know it well have remarked
that it has a broad and magnificent plan imperfectly filled out. There are houses on corners, designating streets and avenues, without inhabitants. In short it was laid out for a great city, but has long since renounced all ambitious pre- tentions. You do not know how this happened. Well, the state librarian can give you a small duodecimo volume, published in the year 1800, containing an account of a journey performed by an English gentleman in the short space of six weeks, from the city of New York all the way to Niagara Falls. That traveler visited Bath, then in the day- spring of its growth, and he recorded of it that it was destined to be the greatest commercial metropolis of New York. The Hudson was only a short arm of the sea. It did not penetrate far enough to take a hold of the trade of the coun- try. Bath was to receive all of it that could be diverted from the channel of the St. Lawrence and the market of Quebec, and send it down through the Conhocton and Susquehanna to Chesa- peake Bay. Had that calculation been realized, Bath would have been a city like Albany, and New York would have been a city over which the President could have had but little ambition to preside."
52
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
CHAPTER III.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN WAYLAND.
When Robert Morris made the sale of the Phelps and Gorham tract to the Pulteney company he was required to file a survey of the lands deeded. Though Mr. Phelps had made an effort in this direction the results were unsat- isfactory, and Mr. Morris, therefore, se- cured the services of Joseph and Benja- min Ellicott, brothers, who had recently
cipally on great lot number 92, which extends from the junction of Filmore and Sullivan streets, near the cemetery, on the north, to the center of Mill street on the south, and from Granger Place east to the intersection of St. John and Naples streets on the west.
The earliest record of settlement within the present limits of the town of Wayland is the sale of this entire lot, No. 92, to Christopher Zimmerman on March 27, 1807. Many histories have confused these early facts, some claiming
LASER MOUSE
BRYANT HOUSE AND PATCHIN BLOCK CORNERS BEFORE 1883.
completed the survey for the prospec- tive city of Washington. On this work they used a transit for the first time in this country, the instrument having just been invented in Germany, and they also developed the method, which has since been employed throughout the western states, of dividing the territory into ranges and townships, each town- ship to be, where ever possible, six miles square. By this system Wayland village is in Range V, Township VI, and prin-
prior settlements in other sections of the town, and all of them crediting this first purchase to Adam Zimmerman who subsequently acquired lands south of this tract. It is, therefore, worthy of special notice that the first land within the town to attract settlement was the present site of the village, and that the first man in Wayland's chronology was Christopher and not Adam.
Mr. Zimmerman had emigrated hither from Pennsylvania, and was of the pro-
53
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
verbially thrifty Dutch stock of that state, his wife being a most valuable partner in business matters as well as home economics. He built his house about where the Bryant Hotel now stands, and set out the apple orchard which was removed to make room for the Bryant and Kimmel stores in 1883. Some years later he sold his land con- tract and moved to a farm near Carney Hollow.
Circumstances suggest that at the time of his settlement here, though he may have been the monarch of all he surveyed and possessed of a large de- gree of the liberty for which the land had become famous, the social functions were restricted and life was devoid of the zest it has obtained since residents have been surrounded by faulty neigh- bors. Of neighbors, faulty or other- wise, there were Seth Knowles and his brother-in law, who built a house near the head of Hemlock lake in 1807, and were the first settlers in Springwater valley. At twenty-two mile inn (North Cohocton) was Bivin's Tavern. At Co- hocton, McMaster's History says : "In
1806 Levi Chamberlain, of Herkimer county, settled on the Davis farm, near Liberty Corners. His household con- sisted of a cow and a dog. All his property, besides his axe, was contained in a small pack. For his cow the ac- comodations were rather rude. When milking time arrived the settler resorted to the strange expedient of driving the beast "a straddle of a' log" and milking into a notch cut with his axc. Into this he crumbled his bread and ate therefrom with a wooden spoon." Far- ther away toward the south were other settlers, and the town of Dansville-in- cluding almost one-sixth of the county
-had polled as high as twenty-four votes at general election. That the settlers did not regard distances in the light in which they are viewed by a generation dependant upon trolley cars is illustrated by the statement that Mrs. Zimmerman frequently, after "doing up her work," walked to Bath by way of North Co- hocton (there was then no road to Co- hocton) for a day's visit and walked back in the evening.
Daniel P. Faulkner was the first sup- ervisor of the town, elected in 1799. He was familiarly known as "Captain Dan," and it is from him that Dansville takes its name. One of the first deeds recorded conveys to him the undivided three-fourths part of the north-west corner of Township VI, Range V, con- taining about six thousand acres, less seven hundred previously deedcd to other persons. It is amusing to note that this deed is from Charles William- son, "gentleman," to Daniel Faulkner, "farmer," and that deeds following are from Danicl Faulkner, "gentleman," to the grantee as "farmer."
The Bowles and Miller families came to the eastern part of the town, from what is now the town of Howard, about 1808, though they had previously pros- pected their lands, and had reported discovering "thousands of acres of level land." They were permitted by the land office to stake out their purchases as they chose, which explains why the lines of their farms do not coincide with the lines of the survey. Mr. Bowen settled in 1808 on the farm north of the village, now owned by Peter Yohan, and Mr. Hume came the same year.
Thomas Begole took out the contract to his land west of the village in May 1809. He had come into this country
54
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
as a clerk for the Faulkners, which po- sition he held for several years. His house, which he conducted as a tavern, stood where Edward Kausch now lives. He had a post office established at his house, which was known locally as "Be- gole's," and his influence with the land agents secured the building of the cor- duroy road, portions of which may yet be seen, through the swamp now owned by Messrs. Millen, connecting his office with the postoffice at Patchin's Mills, from which the mail was also delivered
man's house. The original Hicks house was of logs, the present building having replaced it. The wood-shed addition to the present structure was the third school building in the village, and was moved from the south-east corner of Naples and Lincoln streets to make place for the building now on that site, which was the fourth and last school house before the one now in use. The western half of the Zimmerman pur- chase passed to Constant Cook, then a resident of Cohocton, and who subse-
T. MILLEN & SONS PORTLAND CEMENT FACTORY.
by post-horses to the offices at Bowles' Corners, Shannon's-in Springwater-and Loon Lake. Mr. Begole died in 1854, and is buried beside his wife in the vil- lage cemetery. One son lived on the farm for a number of years, and another son, James H., settled in the village and became identified with its business.
The year 1810 brought Stephen Hicks, who purchased the east half of the Zimmerman tract, and lived on Fast Naples street opposite Mrs. A. Milli-
quently, with the Hon. John Magee, projected the Buffalo, Corning and New York railroad from Corning to Buffalo by way of Avon and Attica, which now forms the Rochester and Buffalo divis- ions of the Erie. Mr. Cook came to Steuben from Warren, Herkimer county -the same town that had sent the Hess family hither-and he became one of the wealthiest men that this county has produced. This year, 1810, was also the date of David Frazer's settlement
55
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
on the farm now occupied by his son, John Frazer. About this time George Karacher bought the north half of great lot number 73, his land extending from Mill street to O. D. Cole's residence, and from Main street to the eastern side of the Little Lake. His daughter, Sal- lie, died in 1816, and was interred in the old cemetery on Naples street at the corner of St. John street. Mr. Karacher died in 1822. One son, Solo- mon Karacher, was an early proprietor of the farm now owned by Andrew Granger, another son, Martin, lived on the farm now owned by Peter Yohan, his house being about opposite the home of A. B. Adams, and a third son, George, was a resident for many years. Prior to 18 16 the grandparents of George Marts were living in a house that stood on the farm afterward owned by Levi Rosen- krans, and near the location of the home of W. W. Clark. Daniel Marts was born there in that year, and "rocked in a sap trough while his mother cradled grain."
In 181 1 the first school was organized. The building was of logs and stood near the county line road. Thomas Wilbur was the teacher, and the entire absence of birch in that neighborhood is testi- mony to the efficiency of his instruc- tion. Pupils came from Springwater valley and from a distance of miles in other directions. Captain Bowles being a student after he had married his wife, the exigencies of pioneer life having deprived him of an opportunity to be- come acquainted with the three "R's" in younger days. This first building was burned, and in 1824 the second school building stood on the present site of the cemetery and was presided over by Mary Ann Blake, a sister of
the late Dr. Blake of Dansville. John Frazer is perhaps the oldest living alum- nus of this second school. Carver Har- rington, late of Springwater, was a teacher of this school during the later '20's.
The following extracts from the origi- nal records of the town have a curious appearance in a book that later tells of men sent to war to suppress such traffic : MANUMISSION FROM SLAVERY.
"Know all men by these presents, I, Nathaniel Rochester, of the town of Dansville in the county of Steuben, and state of New York, have, and by these presents do, manumit and make free from slavery, my negro slave named Benjamin, about sixteen years old, and my negro slave named Casandra, about fourteen years old. In testimony where- of, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty-ninth day of January, 18II,
"N. Rochester." (seal)
The amount of the financial sacrifice in this humanitarian act of Mr. Roches- ter may be estimated from the following :
SALE OF BLACK GIRL.
"Know all men by these presents, that I, Ann Faulkner, of the town of Bath, in the county of Steuben, and state of New York, for and in consider- ation of the sum of twenty dollars, to me in hand paid by James Faulkner Junior of the same place, the receipt of which is hereby confessed and acknowl- edged, do transfer and set over all my right, title and interest and claim and demand of a little negro girl named Julia, born of my slave named Ann, in the month of September, one thousand eight hundred and eight, in the town of Geneseo, county of Ontario, and state as aforcsaid, to the said James Faulkner, his heirs and assigns, to have and to hold for his own proper use, benefit and behoof, the said James Faulkner to comply with the laws of the state of New York concerning children born of
56
HISTORY OF WAYLAND, N. Y.
slaves subsequent to the year of our Lord 1790.
as witness my hand and seal.
"Dated at Bath Nov. the ninth, one thousand eight hundred and eleven.
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.