Gazetteer and biographical record of Genesee County, N.Y., 1788-1890, Part 51

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 51

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).

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D. Tompkins, then the presiding judge, when McLean was convicted and expiared his offence upon the gallows.

There was at a somewhat later period another influx of immigrants. Jeremiah Hascall emigrated from Connecticut, and settled here in 1805, upon the farm east of the village, now known as "Dreamland," and owned and occupied by S. C. Wells. He had four sons, Jeremiah, Amasa, John, and Augustus P. (noticed more at length in “ Bench and Bar "), and two daughters. Gen. Milo Hascall, now of Indiana, was a son of Amasa, a graduate of West Point, and a distinguished officer in in the late war. Herbert, a son of Augustus P., was also a graduate of West Point, and gallantly served in the civil war.

Major Simon Pierson, subsequently an officer in the War of 1812, came in 1808 and settled near Fort Hill, where he explored and exhumed the mysteries of the fort, which brought to light many Indian relics, found often below the largest trees, showing that it was of remote antiquity when " live " Indians occupied it as a fort. He died in 1864. He was in direct line of descent from Rev. Abraham Pierson, the first president of Yale College. Many of these relics are in the possession of Mr. Huftelen, a fancy florist of the town, and of F. C. Lathrop. The first blacksmith was Mr. Brown, opposite the Sheldon farm. There was, a lit- tle later, the advent of John Gilbert, also a blacksmith and axemaker, who settled upon the hill on West Main street. His son became in after life a distinguished portrait painter, whose work ranked high with artists, and who was settled in Rochester. It was with this blacksmith that the late Thomas C. Ladd came to serve as an apprentice, and learned his. trade and settled here. His hospital for disabled and broken down vehi- cles was a conspicuous ornament for the east end of the village. But not- withstanding those standing monuments of "incapables " he was a good and faithful poormaster, and served the public and the poor in that ca- pacity for many years to the satisfaction of both. George W. Blodgett was the pioneer saddler and harnessmaker, and settled the tract now occu- pied by his daughter, Mrs. J. R. Anderson. Levi Farnham established the the first clothing business, and Thaddeus Keyes was the first tanner. Capt. Isaac Marsh built the first saw-mill. His son removed to Roches- ter and acquired eminence as a physician, especially as an oculist. In 1806 William Whiting came from Canandaigua and located on Main street, on the tract now occupied by a block of stores and the present Lampson House. About the same period Isaac Perry bought on the hill, which he sold to Jason Munn. John Hay was a pioneer stone ma- son, and evidences of his labor exist in the present stone structures (stuc- coed) : one, the first building west of the Oatka. north side of Main street, formerly occupied by John Champion, Sr., and one by Daniel Foster as a shoe store. He also built the first Episcopal Church. William Olmsted emigrated from Williamstown, Mass., in 1806. He married a widow Pierson, whose maiden name was Cynthia Franklin, said to have been related to the philosopher and patriot, Benjamin Franklin. Her first

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marriage was to John Pierson, who came in 1806 with what was called the Bergen colony, consisting of the Wards, Wilcoxes, Kelseys, Halls, Parmelees, and others. John Pierson died in 1812 from exposure on the frontier at the beginning of the war. The widow afterwards mar- ried Col. William Olmsted and died on his farm near Fort Hill, in her 89th year. His only surviving children are John R., a lawyer of this village, who married Elizabeth, the daughter of Oliver Allen, of Mum- ford ; and Charles and Egbert, residents upon the old homestead.

There was quite an accession of immigrants to the settlement from 1808 to the close of the war, but which space will allow of but casual mention. The names of many of them, during the earlier as well as the later period, will be found on another page. They will be found to cover what was then a single township ; but since the division a portion of the names will appear in what is now the towns of Pavilion, Bergen, and Stafford.

There was soon after the close of the war among the settlers in the town Dea. Clark Selden, upon the farm still occupied by his descendants. His sons that survived him were Edmond (since deceased), Stephen M., and Richard L. The latter has been conspicuous as a useful and efficient officer in the town in various capacities. He served for a time with great acceptability in the office of school commissioner, and for repeated terms has been elected as its supervisor, where he served with ability and with the single aim of the interest of the town.

Libbeus Graves at about this time opened the farm afterwards sold by him to Isaac Crocker, three miles south and now in Pavilion. Mr. Crocker was from Colchester, Conn., and was a first-class farmer and highly esteemed as a citizen. His son. J. Lyman Crocker, who survives him, is an antiquarian, and zealous and industrious in preserving the rec- ords and traditions of our early settlement, and to whom the present writer is much indebted.

In general it may be remarked of the early settlers, although in scat- tered communities and miles apart, they were all neighbors, and in social intercourse all on the same footing, and were never wanting in acts of mutual kindness and hospitality. While the luxuries of modern life were few, the comforts were not wanting, and the average happiness of the rising community, it may be reasonably supposed, would compare favor- ably with the older portions of the East. It was, however, no asylum for drones or tramps (of which even the name was then unknown) to doze, and repose, and depredate.

The experience of Captain Daniel Ward, on his first advent to the settlement in 1810, was so similar to that of most of the earlier settlers of the period that it might, as an illustration, be briefly stated. Mr. Ward with his family came from Keene, N. H. His journey, with all his household effects, was with an ox team. His point of location was on the farm, about 140 acres (three miles southeast of the village), on which he continued to reside until his decease in 1856, and which in his

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hands was converted from a wilderness into one of the finest farms in the county. What it was when he reached it is described by a descendant :

" The South Woods, so-called, was an almost impenetrable forest, and it was with great difficulty that a loaded team could be driven through it ; starting in the morning from Davis's tavern, in the settlement, they made slow progress, often stopping to clear logs out of the road, or pry up a wagon out of the mud, and they came to the end of their journey at 10 o'clock at night, consuming the whole day in traversing a distance of three miles, which was characteristic of the condition of the paths (so-called roads) at that time. Here the only improvement upon the place was a log house, without roof or floor, and one acre chopped ready for logging. In this skeleton of a house was spent the first night, the stars of heaven looking down upon them, their only canopy. The captain's first income was from the ashes sold from their log heap, and was 75 cents, as he often said, "the best and most prized of any money that I ever had.' It may be remarked that at this period the only products that brought in money were black salts and potash, which were transported to Eastern markets via Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence, and Montreal. Capt. Ward was a man of the strictest integrity, was highly esteemed for his Christian virtues, and lived to enjoy an ample reward for his persever- ance and toil, not only by the acquisition of a competence, but the satisfaction of con- verting the wilderness into one of the finest and most productive farms in the country."

Capt. Ward died on his place in 1856 at the age of 74 years.

Capt. John Ganson, Sr., died in 1813, at the home of his son John, Jr., at the age of 63 years, leaving three sons and a daughter before men- tioned. The following quaint epitaph. was at the time engraved upon his tombstone (transported from Albany), now in Maplewood Cemetery, where his remains have been removed :

"In trackless climes he bent his weary way, Where perils prowled, and wild beasts lurked for prey ;

By perseverance and industrious toil Laid low the forests and made the desert smile, Till low in death he laid his weary head- Beloved while living, and revered now dead."

His grandson, Dr. Holton Ganson, by a provision in his will, caused a beautiful monument to be erected to his memory in the Machpelah Ceme- tery. James, the eldest of the Captain's sons, figured conspicuously in the early settlement. He married Luseba Scott, a daughter of the Isaac Scott before mentioned, and by her he was the father of nine children, six sons (John S., Joseph, Hiram, Corneal, Cornelius, and William) and three daughters. The widow survived to her 85th year. She removed to Buffalo, and died at the home of her eldest son, John S. Ganson, a prominent banker of that city. The sons were active business men in their respective callings, and none of his children now survive.

In 1819 he built and kept the present Eagle (on the site of the old) Hotel on Main street, from brick furnished by Uni Hurlburt, the first brickmaker. The tavern on this site had been previously kept by Auntie Wemple, who afterwards kept a boarding house in the dwelling occupied by A. O. Comstock. He also built a tavern on the corner of Main and North streets, now the residence of Mrs. R. L. Sampson, and sold it to Mr Hosmer, of Avon. He was during his life a prominent and active politician, and became conspicuous as one of the defendants in the Masonic trials for the abduction of Morgan, in 1826, in which trial

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he was acquitted. He subsequently removed to Jackson, Mich., and died at an advanced age.

John Ganson, Jr., the keeper of the Ganson tavern, married, in 1808, Lucy, a daughter of David Anderson, who had the year previous come into the settlement from Northampton, Mass., and who made his first home in Middlebury. He afterwards settled here on what was known as the Deming farm. Deacon Anderson was of Scotch descent, of the true "Kirk and Covenant stamp," and brought his influence and example to tell largely upon the new community. He conducted the first religi- ous services held in Middlebury,-then in a barn,-and the settlers for miles around would gather in to hear the good Deacon exhort, and sing, and pray. He was one of the nine who, in 1812, organized the First Presbyterian Church Society in this village. The Deacon was the father of the late Dea. Seneca Anderson, of Le Roy, who was the father of the Rev. Dr. Galusha Anderson, who holds a distinguished place in the Bap- tist denomination. Deacon Anderson subsequently removed to Chau- tauqua County, where he died at an advanced age, always respected for his exemplary Christian character and great moral worth. John Ganson, Jr., died in 1819, at the age of 43, leaving a widow and three sons, Hol- ton. James, and John, whom she survived to see arrive at men's estate and occupy honorable places in the world. The widow married, in 1821, Israel Rathbone, a former resident and merchant of Lewiston, N. Y. Dr Holton Ganson became a leading practitioner in Batavia, of whom a fuller notice will be found under the head of physicians of the county. James M. Ganson was, until his decease, the president of one of the leading banks of Buffalo. He died in that city in 1883.

Of the youngest son, John, it will not be out of place to speak more at length, as he in after life became a public man of position and influence in the State. At the age of 17 he entered Harvard University, where he graduated at the age of 22, and commenced his law studies in the law office of Mark H. Sibley, in Canandaigua. Soon after his admission to the bar he removed to Buffalo and entered upon the practice of the law, and rose rapidly in his profession, and as an industrious, conscientious, and able lawyer attained the first rank among his compeers. Mr. Gan- son was elected State Senator in 1861 and again in 1873. He was elected to the 68th Congress in 1863, where he became conspicuous among the few who placed their country before party. Although a Democrat he supported with ability every war measure of President Lin- coln's, even his Emancipation Proclamation, and in all of his votes was for a vigorous prosecution of the war until the Rebellion was suppressed and the Union restored. At the time of his death he had been promi- nently named as the Democratic candidate for governor, a nomination which he would doubtless have received, possibly followed by higher honors, had he lived. Mr. Ganson died suddenly in September, 1874, from a paralytic stroke which he received while trying a case in the court-house at Buffalo. His wife, the daughter of the Hon. Mark H. Sibley, of Canandaigua, and a daughter Emily survived him.

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The only remaining son of John Ganson, Jr., was Benjamin, who took part in the War of 1812. On his decease he left a son Chandler, also a daughter who married the late Col. J. W. Shedd, neither of whom now survive. The only living representative here of Captain Ganson, Sr., is a daughter, Mrs. Luseba Ballard, the mother of Randolph Ballard, Esq., a lawyer in the village.

Game, etc .- The country abounded in game. The deer was at their very doors. The more dreaded bear was a frequent but not so welcome a visitor. It is related that on an occasion soon after the removal of Joseph Annin from East to West Main street, to his store (burnt in the great fire of 1854), that a bear with two cubs made an unceremonious call. A clerk seized a musket, pursued the intruders, and brought back with him a cub which he had shot down in the encounter. It is not recorded whether these grizzly customers returned for another charge.

More destructive and a greater enemy to the settler was the large number of wolves which abounded. Their hides were quite a source of income to the hunter. A bounty of $1 per hide was first offered, which was increased until it reached, in 1810, $10 per hide, such was the havoc of the wolves among the herds. Among the pestilential intruders, into even the cabins and cellars of the settlers, was the rattle snake. An innocuous instance is given of one of the intruders which shows that, as venomous as it is, it has the power to charm. It was in the family of a Mr. Douglass, whose little daughter, accustomed to go out in the field to play, was on one occasion forbidden by her mother, but who yielded to the importunity of the child, who said she had a kitten she wished to play with. The mother's curiosity induced her to watch the child, when to her alarm and horror she saw a " rattler " partaking of milk from the same dish with the daughter. The little one was cautiously called away and the species of a " pet kitten " quietly disposed of.

The following is a list, as accurate as we are able to make it, of the early settlers of Le Roy, up to 1820:

Alexander Anderson, Joseph Austin, David Anderson, Joel Butler, Thankful Buell, Edmund Beach, Jonas Bartlett, Christopher Cadman, Joseph Cook, Amasa Clapp (lot 141), Lee Comstock, Augustus H. Ely, Henry Goodenow, Ezekiel Hall, Israel Herrick, William Holbrook, John Hoy, Asenath Judd, George Laramy, Moses McCollum, Alfred Morehouse, Zalmon Owen, David W. Parmalee, Ebenezer Parmalee, Russel Pierson, Daniel Pierson. Elias Peck, Martha Richardson, Heman J. Redfield, James Roberts, Thomas Severance, Thomas Studley, Stephen Stillwell, Samuel Skinner, Orange Scott, Capt. William Thomas, Joy Ward, Benjamin Webb, Auntie Wemple, Jonathan Wright, Daniel Woodward. In 1797, Charles Wilbur. In 1798, Daniel Buell, Hinds Chamber- lin, John Ganson. In 1799. Gen. Daniel Davis, Gilbert Hall, Joseph Hewitt, Philemon Nettleton. In 1800, Jesse Beach, Philip Beach, Capt. Jotham Curtis, Gardner Carver, Col. Norton S. Davis, David Le Barron, Francis Le Barron. In 1801, Dudley Salton- stall, Richard M. Stoddard. In 1802. Phineas Bates (justice), Asher Bates, S. Bates, David Davis, Cyrus Douglass, Dr. David Fairchild, Jabez Fox, E. Green, Amos Hall, Friend Hall, Chapman Hawley (fiddler), Nathan Harvey, A. McPherson, Abel Nettleton, Ezra Platt, Lyman Prindle,

Scofield, Amzi Stoughton, Richard Waite, Stephen A. Wolcott. In 1803, Capt. James Austin (first miller), Dr. William Coe, Calvin Davis, Samuel Davis, James Davis, Jr., Thaddeus Keyes, John McPherson, Aaron Scribner, Samuel B. Walley, Daniel White, David White. In 1804, G. Fox, Allen and Alex-

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ander McPherson. In 1805, Gideon Fordham, John Franklin, Jeremiah Hascall, Jacob McCollum, Robert Nesbit, Dr. Ella Smith, Capt. David Scott. In 1806, Asa Buell. Moses Lilly, Col. William Olmsted, Isaac Perry, John Pierson, William Whiting, George A. Tiffany. In 1807, G. W. Blodgett (harnessmaker), David Emmons, Jason Munn, Philo Pierson, Simon Pierson (author). In 1808, Abram Butterfield, Ithamar Coe. John Elliott. Dr. Fred Fitch, Dr. Benjamin Hill, Capt. Theo. Joy, H. Johnson, Silas Lawrence, D. P. Mirl, Hugh Murphy, Maj. Simon Pierson, R. Sinclair, Stephen P. Wilcox, Maj. Nathan Wilcox. In 1809, Harry and Timothy Backus. James Goble, Ebenezer Niles. In 1810, Salmon Butler, Chester Barrows. Willis Buell, Ward Beckley, Jacob Coe, Silas Fordham, William Harris, Seth Harris. Martin Kelsey, Uriah Kelsey, James McPherson, Jr., Capt. Isaac Marsh, Graham Newell, Stephen Olmsted (taught school at Fort Hill), Elias Parmalee, Harvey Prindle, Dr. Chauncey P. Smith. Dr. William Sheldon, Thaddeus Stanley, Alanson Stanley, J. Harlow Stanley, Thomas Tufts, Thomas Warner, Chester Waite, Capt. John Webb, Washington Weld. In 1811, Joseph Annin, Abraham Buck- ley, Nathan Bannister, Joseph Curtis, Levi Farnham, Julius Griswold, Samuel Gilbert, Ebenezer Lawrence, Pliny Sanderson, Elisha Stanley, Dea. John Thwing, Stephen Taylor, Stephen Walkley. In 1812, Azor Curtis, F. Campbell, Martin O. Coe, David Gustin, Ebbe Hull, Abner Hull, Daniel Huggins, C. Kelsey, Lyman Mills. William Morgan, Preserved Richmond, Rufus Robertson, G. Terry. Zalmon Turrell, Charles Warren, Elijah Warner, Daniel Waite, J. Wheeler. In 1813, L. Fowler, John Lent, Henry Prindle, Orange Risdon, Moses Todd, Benoni Webb. In 1814. Levi Beardsley, William Le Roy Bishop, Manley Colton, Paul E. Day, John Gilbert. P. McVane, Abel Noyes, John Richards, Elisha Severance, A. Williams. In 1815, Jeremiah Buell, James Ballard. James Campbell, John Deming, Daniel Foster. Timothy Fitch, W. G. Gustin, Harry Holmes, Timothy Hatch, Joseph Keeney, Marshfield Parsons, Joseph Tompkins. In 1816, Versal Bannister, Isaac Crocker, Elijah Crocker, Jacob Gallup, Daniel Harris, Timothy Judd, Harry Lathrop, Solomon Root, Dea Clark Selden, Elliott L. Stanley, Joel White, Parker Weld. In 1817, C. Butler, Nathaniel Farnham, E. Hart. Uni Hurlburt, A. Perry. In 1818, Samuel Bishop, Silas Jones, Miles P. Lampson, Thomas C. Ladd, Charles Morgan S. Tiffany, Levi Ward, Jr. In 1819, Dr. S. O. Almy, Albert Hill. In 1820, S. M. Gates, Daniel Le Barron.

LE ROY village was incorporated in May, 1834. The first meeting was held to take action on incorporation at the Eagle Hotel, Theodore Dwight, proprietor ; Hinds Chamberlin presided Seth M. Gates was acting clerk. They adjourned to July 12th, when an election was held and the following trustees chosen: Joshua Lathrop, John Lent, Rufus Robertson, Theodore Dwight, and Dennis Blakely. S. M. Gates was chosen clerk, H. J. Red- field, treasurer. The trustees for 1890 are Isaac G. Mason, George M. Howe, Reuben Glass, Frank E. Gooding, and Thomas B. Tuttle. S. D. Gilbert is clerk, and John Wiss, treasurer.

Postoffices .- A word may be added of the early postoffices and post- masters. Previous to 1804 there was no mail service in the settlement, and no postoffice nearer than Canandaigua, and letters and papers were sent and delivered by private hands. Asher Bates was the first post- master. R. M. Stoddard succeeded in 1808; James Ganson in 1809; and he by Samuel Deveaux, who held the office until 1815. Mr. De- veaux was in trade with Rufus Robertson. Their place of business was on the corner of Main and Lake streets. He removed from here in 1815 to Niagara Falls, where he accumulated a large estate, the whole of which he devised for the foundation and support of the present Deveaux College, at the Falls, under the trusteeship of the Episcopal Church of the diocese. Hon. H. J. Redfield was his successor, and held it until his removal to Batavia.

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The Erie Canal .- This was finally accomplished and the first boat launched on the first day of October, 1825. It was a memorable day for the State and Nation. It was literally " a dayspring from on high " which had visited the people, giving life and light to a vast country virtu- ally shut out from commercial intercourse with Eastern markets. Before this great event from 25 to 35 cents per bushel was all that wheat would command to the producer here, and transportation to Eastern markets was so slow and costly that it was practically excluded. The ordinary mode was, as has been said, by " big teams," made up from five to seven horses, and a night and day line, which in the round trip occupied from three to four weeks. The old State road, built in 1820, was the principal thoroughfare. The teamsters were a hardy race, and camped and lived in their " schooners," and knew the route as " seamen know the sea." No wonder that the opening of the Erie Canal was an auspicious day for this secluded garden of the West. It was a literal "boom." The cannon on the morn of its opening, beginning at Black Rock, commenced the boom, which, planted along the line, continued the joyful sound until its last echo was lost at the ocean tide, which evermore was to be enriched by the commerce which it brought to its bosom. It was during this revival season from 1826 on, and for a few years following, that many business firms were established in the place, of which but brief notices can here be made A half a century ago there were in active business the following, in their several branches, in Le Roy, and others are necessarily omitted.

Merchants .- Of the early merchants R. M. Stoddard was the first to introduce a few goods, but no regular store was opened in the settlement until 1806. George F. Tiffany was the first regular merchant. He com- menced trade on the east side of the Oatka, near or on the present uni- versity grounds. Philo Pierson was also an early merchant, on the cor- ner of Main and North streets. He died in 1820, leaving five children. His widow afterwards married Capt. Hatch, one of the first wardens of St. Mark's Church. Daniel, his second son, married a daughter of Joshua Lathrop, and moved to Cincinnati, where he died about 1888. He was a very prominent lumber merchant, noted for great business capacity and integrity. His widow still resides there. About the same time a store was opened by David Emmons. It was but a short time after that Capt. Theodore Joy settled and entered into trade, and became the most noted of the early merchants. It was the day of " big teams," and was the only mode of land transportation between the East and this outlying West. Turner says of him that thus early his teams were known on the whole route to Albany. He built here the first brick store, a part of the present dwelling of the late C. B. Thomson, on the corner of East Main and Church streets. He subsequently removed to Albany, where he be- came prominent in the transportation business, and was succeeded by Lay & Co. (Hart & Lay), whose large and conspicuous sign upon the side of the building remained long after it was disused as a store. M. & B. Murphy built a store near the corner of East Main and Wolcott

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streets, and became among the early merchants. James Annin came into the town from West Bloomfield in 1811, and commenced trade near the same locality, but these latter merchants removed their business to the west side of Main street when it was discovered that business was to abandon the east and center upon the west side of the Oatka. Mr. Annin continued in the mercantile trade until his decease. His place of business was on the north side of West Main street, on the site of the present store of S. Loucks. He was a veritable Isaak Walton in his skill and taste in capturing the trout of the " Big Springs." Those who have belief in heredity will find it illustrated in his descendants, particularly in that skillful angler, his son James, and in his grandson James, Jr., who holds domain and dispenses the "beauties" to grateful guests at the world-noted springs. The game was not quite so abundant and tame as in 1803 if we credit what Mr. Mckay says of them :

" They [the trout] were frequently so tame we caught them with our hands as they lay under the cedar trees. There would be occasionally one weighing three pounds."

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Gazetteer and biographical record of Genesee County, N.Y., 1788-1890, Part 51

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