Gazetteer and biographical record of Genesee County, N.Y., 1788-1890, Part 2

Author: Beers, F. W. (Frederick W.), ed. 1n; Vose, J.W., and Co
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : J.W. Vose & Co.
Number of Pages: 920

USA > New York > Genesee County > Gazetteer and biographical record of Genesee County, N.Y., 1788-1890 > Part 2

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).

One of the highest of the arts of war shown by the Five Nations was the placing of the Mohawks at the east door of their " Long House," as their name Ho-de-no-saw- nee implied, and the Senecas at the west-the two strongest tribes of the confederacy.

Indian burial-grounds .- The following is a copy of a letter written July 26, 1845, by D. E. Walker, who was a teacher of a select school in Batavia from about 1840 to 1848. This letter was written to Mr. School- craft, author of Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois :

"MR. SCHOOLCRAFT, Dear Sir : I have visited the mound on Dr. Nolton's farm (about one and a half miles up Tonnawanda Creek). I think it about 50 yards from the creek, and elevated some eight feet above the general level of the ground. A similar one is found about two miles south of this, upon high ground, of circular form, and has a radius of about one rod. They were discovered about 30 or 40 years since. Noth- ing has been discovered in them save human bones.

" On some two miles beyond the second was discovered a burial-ground. At that place were ploughed up shell, bone, or quill beads. Near this place was found a brown earthen pot, standing between the roots of a large tree (maple, I think), and with a small sapling grown into it some six inches in diameter. Beads of shell, bone, or porcupine quill have often been found. . There is also a ridge at the termination of high ground. I say ridge ; it appeared to me a regular fortification. It is, I should judge, from 30 to 45 feet in length. It would appear that the ground was dug down from some distance back and wheeled (?) to the termination of high ground, until a bank is thrown up to a height of some 15 or 20 feet. This ridge some think to be natural; others, from the fact that a smooth stone about the size of a pestle was found in it, think it to be artificial. : All I could learn (and I rode about seven miles out of my way to con-

GENESEE COUNTY.

verse with an old inhabitant) was that this pestle was found in the ridge, and within three or four feet of the surface. We may perhaps infer something from the size of an under- jaw found here, which is said to have been so large as to much more than equal that of the largest face in the country.

Respectfully,

"D. E. WALKER."

Ancient works .- This county is peculiarly noted for its ancient earth- works, which remain the most perfect of any in the State. Oakfield township, just west of Caryville, has an enclosure upon which the eye of the white man may gaze and well wonder to what manner of people the architects belonged. It is situated on the western slope of one of those billowy hills so common there, and is washed on the north by a stream making a high bank, showing an artificial grade. The trench surround- ing the works is yet in places visible, showing a vast work and no un- common engineering skill. Ancient lodges have been traceable to those who visited it years ago, and the usual supply of broken pottery. It has gateways plainly visible, and was no doubt the stronghold of the ancient Senecas when the Eries, Miamas, etc., from the southwest, invaded their territory. The " bone fort," a large enclosure a mile or more northeast of the first, was also built up in the customs of the past, and by some ab- original tenants of this territory. Since the settlement of the county by the whites the remains of these enclosures have gradually disappeared ; at the present time but little remains to mark the spot of the " bone fort," while during the first years of the present century the enclosure con- tained a mound of bones six feet high, and 30 feet broad at its base.

At Le Roy, three miles north of the village, is other evidence of note. The work occupies a high bank, or table-land, bounded by Fordham's Brook and Allen's Creek, which effect a junction here. The peninsula is now high and with steep banks by the long action of the streams upon the strata of lime and sandstone. The fortification is about 1,300 feet from north to south, and 2,000 feet across its broadest part, narrowing to 1,000 at its neck connecting it with the general table-land. There is a trace of an embankment and ditch about 1,500 feet in length across the broad part, east and west, and either are two or three feet in height or depth. Skeletons and pottery used to be found here; also pipes, beads, arrowheads, etc. Heaps of small stones were discovered in the enclosure, which seemed to indicate they were used by the ancients as missiles of protection. Nothing definite can be concluded as to the ar- chitects of these different forts, whether the Senecas, or another tribe be- fore their occupation of the soil, were the builders. In 1788 Rev. Sam- uel Kirkland, missionary to the Seneca Indians, visited these forts or en-

I 5

INDIAN ANTIQUITIES.

closures, and has left a description of the very perfect condition in which he found them at that date. But no historian has gleaned any, evidence from the traditions of the Senecas that the race found here were the builders.

Antiquities of Batavia.1-Prior to the advent of Joseph Ellicott, and the survey of the Holland Land Company, what is now Batavia was nothing but a favorite stopping-place and large camp-ground of the Senecas, sit- uated on the Wa-a-gwen-ne-go, or great Indian trail, traversing the State from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The locality of this camping-place was on the north side of the Ta-na-wun-da (swift water) Ga-hun-da (creek), and in immediate proximity to the bridge at the head of Walnut street. It occupied a space of some two or three acres, extending from the court-house to the old land office. Its area was a grassy plat devoid of trees, and contained a large natural spring opposite the land office, which is still in use. In the Indian dialect this camp- ground was called De on-go-wah (the grand hearing-place)

The trail mentioned above was a well-beaten or deeply-trodden path through the forest, about one foot wide, and worn from three to six inches in depth. Crossing the Gen-nis-ye-ho (beautiful valley), near Avon, it continued west until it reached the old Roswell Graham farm, about two miles east of the court-house. There, to avoid the Mount Lucy ponds and marsh in that vicinity, it bore off in a southwesterly direction, across the county fair grounds, Levi Otis's farm, etc., and came out on the east bank of the creek near the residence of A. S. Pratt, and within a few rods of the " great bend of the Tonawanda Creek." Circling this bend, and continuing on high ground, it nearly followed the line of what is now part of Jackson and Chestnut streets; then near the banks of the creek via the camp-ground, to where the State arsenal now stands. Here the trail bore off northwest, through the oak openings, to the village of Caryville. In addition to this a summer trail, or cut off, was likewise in use when the state of the ground would permit, viz., from the Graham farm, following our present Main street, to the camp-ground and spring. Why is this place called "the bend ?" The Tonawanda Creek is a very tortuous stream. Between the villages of Batavia and Alexander, by the highway, is eight miles ; but were a person to follow the meanderings of the creek he would travel nearly 23 miles. Flowing from the south, in a circuitous direction, the stream reaches its extreme easternmost point within the limits of the village plat. Here a large bend, or turn, occurs,

1 By David Seaver.

GENESEE COUNTY.

and thereafter a westerly course is pursued. This, also, is the greatest or longest bend during the entire length of the creek. Hence the " bend" was designated for this locality, as is noticed elsewhere.

GENESEE COUNTY, 1795-1800.

T HE following extracts are from the pen of the versatile writer, David Seaver, of New York city, (to whom we are indebted for favors,) contributing to the columns of The Spirit of the Times in 1874; and referring to a work to which he had access, describing the journey of one Rochefoucauld Liancourt, a Frenchman, in 1795, from Philadelphia to Niagara Falls, through Western New York, says, after en- countering the celebrated chief Red Jacket:

" The road from Ontario to Canawago (Canawaugus) is a good one for this country, but as usual it leads through the midst of the woods, and within a space of 12 miles we saw only one habitation. In this journey we discovered two Indians lying under a tree ; though we had seen a considerable number of them, yet this meeting had for us an attraction of novelty, as we found them in a state of intoxication which scarcely manifested the least symptoms of life. One wore around his neck a long and heavy silver chain, from which a large medallion was suspended ; on one side whereof was the image of George Washington, and on the other the motto of Louis XIV., nec pluribus impar, with the figure of the sun, which was usually displayed with it in the French army. This Indian, no doubt, was his excellency in a ditch, out of which we made repeated efforts to drag him, but in vain.

" Canawago is a small town, the inhabitants few, but Mr. Berry keeps there one of the best inns we have seen for some time.

" Wednesday, June 17th, 1795. After remaining half a day at Canawago, we at length set out to traverse the desarts, as they are called. A journey through uninter- rupted forests offers but little matter for speculation or remark ; the woods are in gen- eral not close, but stand on fruitful soil. The route is a footpath, tolerably good upon the whole, but in some places very miry; winding through the forests over a level ground that rises but seldom into gentle swells. After a ride of 12 hours, in which we have crossed several large creeks (Oatka and Black), we arrived at Big Plains (Oak- field), which is 38 miles distant from Canawago. We breakfasted at Buttermilk Fall (Le Roy), and dined on the bank of the Tonawaugo (Batavia), and for both these meals our appetites were so keen that perhaps we never ate anything with a better relish."

Liancourt next describes his visit to the tribe of Indians settled at Ton- awaugo. In another article to the Batavia Spirit of the Times Mr. Sea- ver gives extracts from a work of John Maule, published in London, wherein the author gives his experiences of a visit in 1800, following nearly the same route taken by Liancourt in 1795. The author (Maule) was an English gentleman. In August, 1800, Mr. Maule spent several days in the locality of Genesee Falls (now Rochester). He speaks of In-

· GENESEE COUNTY, 1795-1800.

dian Allan's mill at that point, and mentions Colonel Fish (grandfather of the late Eli H. Fish, of Batavia), who at that time was the only resi- dent. Upon leaving the falls he proceeded to the Indian village of Can- awaugus (then a mile or so west of what is now Avon), where he found the chief ruler to be Hot Bread, or Ga-kwa da, who was a warrior be- tween 60 or 70 years of age, and sported a beard two inches long. His mother was the royal princess Can-a-wau-gus, from whom the village was named. "She can be proved to be at least 120 years old, and yet is able to walk about and plant her own maize." "She lives surrounded by 40 of her children, grandchildren, etc., and some of the latter old enough to be grandparents."

August 20, 1800, he proceeded on his journey, " accompanied by Hot Bread, who was mounted on a nag, whose ears were rimmed and tipped with silver." After passing Peterson's Big Spring (Caledonia) he arrived at Ganson's (LeRoy), 297 miles, at II A. M., and the following entry is made:

" When my friend L. passed this place last year, Ganson's was a solitary house in the wilderness, but it is now in the midst of a flourishing township, in which 21 families are already settled. A new tavern and a number of dwelling houses are building. Two hundred and ninety-eight miles ; recross Allen's Creek ; the bed a flat limestone rock, 15 or 20 rods wide, with three or four inches of water ; a handsome bridge was building This creek is the western terminus of Capt. Williamson's purchase (Pultney tract). A very handsome road four rods wide has been cut, and the whole distance from Gen- esee River to Ganson's being 12 miles in nearly a straight line. I now entered into what is called the Wilderness, but at 2 P. M. reached the Holland Company's store- house and Frederick Walther's tavern (Stafford),' 304} miles.

" The Holland Company consists of a number of merchants and others, principally residents in Holland, who purchased a very large tract of land of Mr. Morris. This territory, for such it may be called, is on the east bounded by Williamson's purchase, and on the west by Lake Erie and Niagara River. No part of the land is, I believe, yet settled, but at present under survey for that purpose. One of the principal surveyors and his gang were at the tavern, and fully occupied the lodging hut ; this, with the ad- ditional circumstance of there being no hay for my horses, and no other feed than oats, cut green in the straw, induced me to give up the design of sleeping here this night, but rather to push on to the next station. At 4 P. M. we left Walther's, and at 309 miles (Batavia) fell in with the Tonawautee Creek, sluggish, shallow, and broad At 6} P. M. we reached Garret Davis's tavern, 316 miles (Winan's farm near Dunham's. Corners), near a small run of good water. This is one of those three stations which the Holland Company has this year established for the accommodation of travelers, who hitherto have been obliged to sleep in the woods. Davis first began to ply his axe in January last ; he has now a good log house, a field of green oats, sown 18th of June (the only feed I could get for my horses), and a very excellent garden, the most productive of any of its size I have seen since leaving New York. He had also cleared a pretty exten- sive field for wheat. On this land the logs were now burning, and I passed a greater part

GENESEE COUNTY.

of the night in making up the fires. This employment I preferred to harbouring with a number of strangers, one of whom was sick and not expected to live till morning. This, however, was only the fearful conjecture of Davis. I got some maple sugar for my tea, and Mr. and Mrs. Davis paid me every possible attention, but I cannot praise them for neatness. Perhaps I ought not to expect it when the peculiarity of the situation and a large family of children are taken into account. From Allen's Creek to Walther's was excellent lands, but miserable roads, at times impassable. and the wagoner would take his axe to cut a new passage. From Walther's to Davis's the road is better. At Da- vis's the woods are composed of small tall, saplings, closely crowded. This morning we experienced a very keen frost with a bright sun, and so late as II A. M. I stood in the sun to warm myself, my hands being benumbed with the cold. Very scorching sun in the afternoon after leaving Walther's, and troublesome flies and mosquitoes.

" Thursday, August 21, 1800. Start at daylight, 318 miles ; we leave the thick woods and enter upon the Big Plains. These plains (Oakfield) are open groves of oak, in a light shallow soil on limestone. . These plains are many miles in extent, and it struck me I had seen park grounds in England much like them. At 321 miles the oaks are smaller and more compact, and at 322 miles we enter woods of beech and maple. At 7} A. M. we reached the Indian town of Tonawautee, 330 miles. This settlement is on the west bank of the creek, which I now crossed for the second time. It bore, however, a different character here than at 319 miles (Batavia), being clear and rapid.

" Left Tonawautee and passed through open plains of oak with less of tamarisk and more grass to 334 miles, where I fell in with the old road. At 10} A. M. reached Asa Ransom's station, distance 344 miles (Clarence, Erie County). I was here greatly sur- prised with an excellent breakfast of tender chicken and good loaf-sugar for my tea. Ransom, like Davis, sat down in the woods in January; he has 150 acres, ten acres cleared and in oats. The Holland Company has laid out a new road from Ganson's to Buffalo Creek, which passes to the south of Davis's station, but falls in with the present road at Ransom's, and this new road will make a difference of 10 miles in 42. Ransom informed me that by an account, he had kept, no less than 155 families with their wagons have passed his house this summer, emigrating from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Canada. Sixteen wagons passed in one day."

TITLE TO THE LANDS.

IN a satisfactory manner every shade of the title to the territory of Genesee County has been given in the general history preceding ; but a few words of summary will here place the link in the chain of 4 facts. 1

There are no lands in the State of New York that has or can have better title to the soil than has the Holland Purchase and Morris Re- serve, of which Genesee County is a part. In 1697 a memorial by com- missioners of trade and plantations relative to the right of the Crown to the sovereignty of the Five Nations says :

" Those nations by many acts, acknowledgments, submissions, leagues, and agree- ments had been united to, or depended on, the colony of New York."

TITLE TO THE LANDS.

In 1684, when De la Barre, governor of Canada, commenced an inva- sion of the territory of the Five Nations, Governor Dongan, of New York, warned the French official that the Indians were the subjects of the King of England, who had sent the Duke of York arms to be set up in every one of the Indians' castles as far as O-ney-gra (Niagara). This was done and the French governor retired. Charles II. granted the province of New York to the Duke of York after the submission and sub- jection of the Indians therein - when they were lawful subjects. This was the foundation of the claim of sovereignty over the Indians.

In 1768 the proper State authorities agreed that a line running north along the eastern borders of Broome and Chenango counties, to a point seven miles west of Rome, should be a boundary line over which the white man should not settle without the consent of the Indian.

In the Revolution the Iroquois espoused the cause of the mother country, - employed by the British to help subdue the revolting provin- ces, - and most cruelly did they wage their savage warfare against the people of their own State who had so often protected them. At the close of the war, when England quit-claimed all her right and title to the colonies, the territory belonged to the United States, and the Iroquois could and should have been dispossessed of all their rights in New York ; but the proper legal authorities ceded to them all that portion of the State west of the preemption line except the mile-strip along Niagara River. Afterwards Phelps and Gorham and Robert Morris purchased the lands, obtaining the title from the Indians, also by deed; Robert Morris and wife sold to the Holland Land Company, to the Connecticut School Fund, to Cragie, and others; and these became the grantors of the settlers. The wars, encroachments, and full particulars of the title as related in the general history will be read with additional interest after this summary.

Previously we have shown the foundation of the English claim to the sovereignty of the entire territory of the Six Nations, or Iroquois, and how they maintained and repeatedly asserted it up to the time of the Rev- olution. The first compromise to be recorded between the whites of the province of New York and the Iroquois was in 1768. The encroachments of the settlers upon their hunting-grounds in Central New York caused uneasiness to the Indians, to allay which a council was held that year at Fort Stanwix (now Rome, N. Y.) to agree upon a line west of which set- tlements were not to be permitted. The line defined was along the east- ern boundary of Broome and Chenango counties, and the Indians agreed

GENESEE COUNTY.

to surrender to the United States all captives and relinquish all claims to the country lying west of a line starting four miles east of the mouth of Niagara River, following the river by a line four miles east, southerly to Buffalo Creek, thence to the Pennsylvania line, thence to the Ohio River.

The Iroquois, during the Revolution, were more or less the allies of the English,-opposed to the colonies,-and when the struggle ceased were left at the mercy of the United States. In justice, after their hostility, they had forfeited all rights to their territory in New York and could have been driven out; but the magnanimity of the government was shown when, in 1784,-16 years after the other council,-a proper council met at Stanwix (Rome) and recognized the ownership of the Indians to the western part of the State of New York-all the territory between the line mentioned on the east and the line four miles from Niagara River ; and it is well to mention here that this last line was afterwards made one mile from the river.

The charters given by the Crown to its favorite individuals, and to companies in general terms and from imperfect, unknown ideas of the extent of the territory, often conveyed parts of the same, laying the foun- dation for conflicting claims. For instance, the grant of the province of New York to the Duke of York-mentioned in former pages-extended to the Connecticut River, covering a portion of Massachusetts ; also in the charter to the Plymouth Company was a portion of the same terri- tory, and both charters covered territory extending indefinitely west- ward.

In 1781 New York relinquished to the United States her claim to all territory west of the western boundaries of the State; and Massachusetts in 1785 relinquished her claim to the same western lands, contenting her- self with claiming that part of New York west of the so-called preëmp- tion line. This preemption line was to be run for the purpose, was to begin on the Pennsylvania line and run due north to Lake Ontario, and is easily found now upon any correct map of the State as forming the east boundary line of Steuben County, running north through Schuyler, through the east edge of Yates, through the foot of Seneca Lake, form- ing the eastern boundary of Ontario, and through Wayne County to the lake.

New York asserted her claim to this same tract, west of preemption line, and in December, 1786, commissioners from the two States met at Hartford to settle this difference; it was agreed that the ownership of the lands in dispute be with Massachusetts, the sovereignty with New York,

TITLE TO THE LANDS.

and that the Indians hold and possess it as long as they chose. The first right to purchase this land of the Indians was given to Massachusetts ; hence this east boundary line was called "preemption line." New York retained the right to the ownership of the one-mile strip along the Niag- ara River.

In 1788 Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, citizens of that State, bargained with the State of Massachusetts for its preemption right to all lands west of the preemption line, for $1,000,000, to which the pur- chasers must extinguish the Indian title ; they were to pay the amount in three annual payments, in certain securities of the State, then worth about one-fifth its face value. In July, 1788, Mr. Phelps met the Indians in council at Buffalo and purchased their interest in 2,600,000 acres, as estimated, for $5,000 down and a perpetual annuity of $500. The boundary of the tract which the Indians relinquished to Phelps and Gor- ham was as follows: on the east by the preemption line, north by Lake Ontario, south by the State of Pennsylvania, and west by a line that should commence in the north line of Pennsylvania due south of the con- fluence of Canaseraga Creek with the Genesee River, thence north on that line to the confluence, thence northerly along the Genesee River to a point two miles north of Canawagus (Avon), thence due west 12 miles, thence northerly 12 miles from the river to the lake. On the 21st of November, following, the tract above described was deeded to Phelps and Gorham, and has been since known as "the Phelps and Gorham pur- chase."

A land office for the sale of townships and tracts had been opened at Canandaigua, and sales were brisk; many townships were settled in 1788, and the influx of colonies in 1789 and 1790 to this then wilderness region, as given by Turner in his History of the Holland Purchase, forms a re- markable page of history.

We hear of the " Pultney estate " lands intermingled ; let us explain it. On November 18, 1790, Phelps and Gorham sold to Robert Morris (the financier of the Revolution) the residue of their purchase unsold, amount- ing to about 1,200,000 acres, reserving two townships; for this Mr. Mor- ris paid £30,000 New York currency, and at once sold the same to Sir William Pultney, John Hornly, and another for £35,000 sterling. These lands were scattered over the original Phelps and Gorham purchase, and the reader will see why the " Pultney estate " had its land offices.

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.

Gazetteer and biographical record of Genesee County, N.Y., 1788-1890, Part 2

Author: Beers, F. W. (Frederick W.), ed. 1n; Vose, J.W., and Co Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : J.W. Vose & Co. Number of Pages: 920

Author: Beers, F. W. (Frederick W.), ed. 1n; Vose, J.W., and Co
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : J.W. Vose & Co.
Number of Pages: 920