USA > New York > Allegany County > Gazetteer and business directory of Allegany County, N. Y. for 1875 > Part 3
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ALLEGANY COUNTY.
chase was extinguished by a treaty held at Buffalo Creek in 1788; and the title to that part embraced in the residue of the county, with the exception of the Caneadea Reservation, was extinguished by a treaty held at "Big Tree," (Geneseo,) in 1797. The Caneadea Reservation contains sixteen square miles and hes upon both sides of the Genesee, mainly in the town of Hume, but partially in Caneadea and Granger. This was ceded to the whites at a treaty held in 1825, when the Jast Indian title affecting lands in this county was extinguished. In 1828 it was surveyed into lots of suitable size for farms, by Joseph Jones, a Quaker. The Indians did not leave the Reservation till about 1830. Their principal village was in Caneadea, on the east side of the river.
The eastern tier of towns in this county was included in Phelps and Gorham's Purchase; the two western tiers, in the Holland Purchase ; and the two intermediate ones in the Morris Reserve. John B. Church, of New York, became the owner of 100,000 acres of the latter tract, which was bid in for him by his son Philip at a sheriff's sale held at Canandaigua in 1800, on foreclosure of mortgage held by the elder Church to secure 880,000 loaned by his agent, Gen. Alexander Hamilton, to Robert Morris. The late Judge Philip Church, of Belvidere, eldest son of John P. Church, and pioneer settler of Angelica, subsequently acquired a half interest in this tract, and mainly through his instrumentality the early settlements and improve- ments in that vicinity were stimulated and fostered. The Church tract is in the shape of a rectangle, being twenty-six miles in length from north to south, and six miles in width. It lies upon the Genesee, and upon the transit line of the Hol- land Company which forms its western boundary, and com- menees at a point on the latter about eight miles north of the Pennsylvania line. It is thus described on a map of the tract made in 1804 :-
"The Land is of an excellent quality, and theCountry, from the purity and abundance of the streams with which it is watered, is remarkably healthy. Produce can be transported from within sixteen miles of the Tract, down the Susquehanna in Arks to Baltimore, at two shillings per Bushel.
" A Town called Angelica is laid out near the centre of the Tract with four Lots in the middle of it, upon which Church and Schools are to be erected; for the building and supporting of which 200 Acres are reserved near the Town; and as the settlement advances, 200 Aeres on the North and 200 Acres on the South part of the Tract will be appropriated for a like purpose.
"The proposed State Road from Catskill to Presque-Isle and New Con- necticut is already opened as far as this Tract, upon which a settlement was first commenced in March, 1804, since when a store has been estab- lished near the centre of the Tract, & a Grist and Saw-Mill erected.
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ALLEGANY COUNTY.
" The Lands will be sold at a moderate price on the following terms, which are calculated particularly to accommodate Actual Settlers :-
" Those purchasing 100 Acres and under to pay 1-20th cash, 1-20th in two years, without any interest, and the remainder in seven equal annual payments, with interest
" From 100 to 200-1-10th cash, and the remainder in nine equal annual payments, with interest.
" From 200 to 300-1-4th cash, and the remainder in three equal annual payments, with interest.
"Froni 300 to 400-1-3d cash, and the remainder in two equal annual payments, with interest.
"As an assistance to settlers in building good Houses, Boards will be sold to them at a low price for their Notes, payable in 9 Months.
"(Shares of the Kingston Turnpike will be taken in payment for Land at par.)
" For further particulars apply to the subscriber, residing at Angelica, who is proprietor of part of the Tract, & duly authorized to dispose of the remainder.
" PHILIP CHURCH,
" Or to his Agent,
"EVERT VAN WICKLE "
The settlement of the county was commenced as early as 1795, in the spring of which year Nathaniel Dyke, a Revolu- tionary hero, located in the present town of Wellsville. In 1796 Rev. Andrew Gray, a clergyman of the Reformed Dutch Church, Wm. Gray, Joseph A. Rathbun, and Benjamin Vandemark settled in the town of Almond and commenced improvements. These are believed to be, and doubtless were, the first settlers in the county. The next year Major Moses Van Campen and Captain Matthew McHenry joined them ; and these were fol- lowed soon after by Walter, Joseph and Samuel Karr, Silas Ferry, Stephen Major, Benjamin Van Campen, brother of Moses Van Campen, Joseph Coleman and George Lockhart. These were all from Pennsylvania, and were followed at a little later day by many others from the same locality. Some of them brought their effects in a flat-bottomed scow from the place of their removal on the Susquehanna up that river and its tributaries, the Chemung and Canisteo, to the site of Hornells- ville. Soon after the settlement in Almond was commenced, a settlement was begun in Andover by Stephen Cole and James Dykes.
In 1801 steps looking to the settlement of the Church Tract were taken by Judge Philip Church, who, in company with Evert Van Wickle, his local agent and surveyor, and John Gibson, John Lewis and Stephen Price, as assistants, undertook a journey into the wilderness for the purpose of exploring the country embraced in his recent purchase. On the arrival of the party at the settlement in Almond, Major Van Campen, who was familiar with the country, was readily induced to join the expedition. A pretty thorough examination of the tract
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ALLEGANY COUNTY.
was made, notwithstanding the almost constant rains and swelled streams the party encountered. Having arrived at the northwest corner of the tract, the party disbanded, and, with the exception of Judge Church and Major Van Campen, who continued their journey to Niagara Falls, returned to their homes. On his return to Lyons, Judge Church arranged with Mr. Van Wickle to go on to the lands and commence surveys and improvements at Angelica, which he had previously selected as the site for a village. The erection of a grist mill, calculated for one run of stones, and a saw mill was soon com- menced, the latter being completed and put in operation in 1802, and the former in 1803. A framed house for Mr. Van Wiekle, a small log land office, and a few shanties for dwellings were also erected. A tavern was opened by Joseph Taylor in 1802, and in the same year Judge Church opened a small store, which was managed by the late John Gibson, who accompanied him in his primitive exploration, and for many years continued to reside in the vicinity of Angelica. But it is not our purpose to give, in this connection, a detailed account of the various settlements subsequently made, as that will be done more fully under the respective towns. It isdesigned to refer here only in a very general way, and without amplification, to the early settle- ments and the more prominent incidents connected therewith.
The difficulties which the early settlers had to encounter, and which largely tended to retard the growth of this new country, are so tersely described by Turner in his "Pioneer History of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase," that we are constrained to quote therefrom. He says :-
" No new country has probably ever been opened for sale and settle- ment, that had as rugged features, as much of difficulty to overcome, as the territory which comprises the county of Allegany. Heavily timbered throughout, with the exception of small spots upon the river, it was many years before the roots were out so as to admit of easy cultivation. The new settlements in all early years were extremely isolated. The wide forests of the Holland Purchase bordering upon them, had been but little broken into, as late as 1809 or '10, and after that for many years, settle- ment upon them advanced but slowly. When the settlers began to have anything to dispose of, they had no market but such as involved a ruinous cost of transportation, over long woods' roads, and up and down steep hills. The very earliest years, however, were far more prosperous than a long period that succeeded. Black salts, pot and pearl ashes, and grain could be taken to Hornellsville, and from thence go to Baltimore, where it would command cash. This made for a few years, pretty brisk times; but the navigation was precarious, and at best, had in each season but a short duration; and soon came on European wars, the embargo to bear especially heavy upon the enterprise and prosperity that had begun to dawn in the secluded backwoods. Pine lumber was good for nothing, beyond the home uses of the new settlers. It was too far from the navigable waters of the Allegany, even if there had been roads; and too far from the northern older settlements, to allow any considerable market in that direc-
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ALLEGANY COUNTY.
tion. The best of pine trees, instead of being any help to the new settler, was a great hindrance, for they constitute the most difficult clearing of new lands that is encountered. The first considerable market for the pine lumber of Allegany, was at Mt. Morris and Dansville, after the completion of the Genesee Valley canal to those points.
" Independent of other hindrances to prosperity-or especially to agri- cultural improvement-two prominent ones have existed :- The moun- tains, the valleys and the streams had attractions for the hunter, the trap- per and the fisherman, and slow progress in felling the forest, neglected fields and dilapidated log tenements were the consequences. The free use of whiskey in all the new settlements of the Genesee country, was a curse and a blight, the consequences of which-the manner that it retarded prosperity and improvement-the strong men that it made weak-the woe and sorrow that it carried to the log cabins of the wilderness-would form a theme that might be regarded as an innovation here; but elsewhere, in its appopriate place, would ' point a moral,' though it would not 'adorn a tale.' Especially was this an evil where men were attracted by the causes that have been named from legitimate pursuits. The other local hindrance succeeded when lumbering became a sufficient object to draw men away from agricultural improvements.
" Soon after 1507, a serious embarrassment was added to other difficul- ties upon the Church tract, which constituted nearly all the settled por- tions of Allegany. John B. Church, who was then residing in New York, became embarrassed, principally in consequence of French spoliations upon American commerce; having made large ventures as an underwriter. The title of one-half of the 100,000 acre tract, was in his son, Philip Church, but there had been no division; a mixed interest was assigned to trustees, for the benefit of his creditors, and there was no final division and settlement till 1815. In all this time there was a distrust of title, which hindered settlement and created an unsettled state of things, as the sanie cause always will.
" The war of 1812 prostrated all of enterprise and progress in all the newly settled portions of the Genesee country, where they had no surplus produce, were consumers instead of producers. The new settlements of Allegany furnished their full quota of men for the frontier, drawn from fee- ble settlements, where they could be least well spared ; some were left upon battle fields, died in hospitals, or returned to die of disease contracted upon the frontier. Peace had but just been concluded, when the cold and untoward season of 1816 came upon them, its biting frosts upon hill and valley destroying all their hopes of sustenance, creating distress and want, driving, in many instances, men to the game in the forest, the fish in the streams, and wild roots and herbs, as the only resources to ward off a famine. Independent of their own sufferings and privations, they had quartered upon them the poor Indians of Cancadea, who were reduced to the extremity of want. Then came propitious seasons, life and activity; for a few years a tide of emigration flowed through their midst, on their way to Olean, and down the Allegany, creating a home market for their produce. This lasted, gradually declining, until the Erie canal had reached its western terminus, when emigration was entirely diverted, and the main roads and public houses were deserted. The Erie canal so diffusive in its benefits, stimulating to life and activity, in all other locali- ties of western New [York, ] but came to crush the hopes and depress the energies of the people of Allegany and Cattaraugus. Recovering from its first effects, gradually and remotely its benefits began to reach then, even before the construction of the Valley canal.
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ALLEGANY COUNTY.
" It is after almost a half century's struggle, but for Allegany the ‘better time' has come. The whistle of the steam cars are startling the deer that yet linger in her forests ; the echoes of the boatman's horn, ere these im- perfect annals will issue from the press, will be sounding along the valley of the upper Genesee ; the dark forests are rapidly disappearing; the neat framed house is taking the place of the moss covered log cabin; all is put- ting on the appearance of renewed enterprise and rapid progress Long almost a 'terra incognita ' [to] her near neighbors on the ' northern plains,' her soil, her climate, pure water and pure atmosphere, [are] beginning to be appreciated; and she will soon occupy a better relative position in the empire region of the Empire State."
From the Allegany County Advocate of April 16, 1869, we ex- tract the following additional reference to the hardships, priva- tions and pecuniary embarrassments with which the early set- tlers in this locality had to contend. The writer, after referring to the diversion of immigration on the opening of the Erie Canal and its sequent blighting effect upon the industries of this locality, continues :-
"This, added to the financial crisis of 1818 and 1819, together with the cold seasons and failure of crops, created alarming and almost unendur- able distress among the settlers, and for a time brought settlement to a stand. At this time there were few farms in Allegany and Cattaraugus, that could be sold for one quarter of the cost of improvements, above the original price of the land. Very many of the settlers abandoned the idea of paying for their land, and stopped improvements. Some left the country, and more would have done so, could they have sold their improvements for enough to pay the necessary expenses of emigration. In 1822 the Holland Land Company reduced the price of lands, and began to pay lib- eral prices for cattle; which soon changed the gloomy prospects of the settlers, and adversity gave way to prosperity and hope.'
The opening of the Genesee Valley Canal and the construc- tion of the Erie R. R. through the county gave a new impetus to its growth and prosperity, by making accessible ready and profitable markets for the valuable products of its rich pine forests. With the development of the lumbering business a new era dawned upon the settlements. Saw mills sprang into existence and rapidly depleted the magnificent forests which had so long possessed little or no commercial value. Im- migrants were again attracted to this locality and the settle- ments were largely augmented by this influx. New industries resulted from these accretions and infused a spirit of vital activ- ity and substantial prosperity through all the avenues of trade. With the depletion of the forests attention has been directed to tillage, and a higher order of agriculture has been evolved. Agriculture is rapidly merging into dairying, to which business the soil of the county is admirably adapted. The good times anticipated and predicted by the earlier settlers are happily real- ized by the present generation. The rude cabins of an early day with their crude appliances have given way to the comfort-
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ALLEGANY COUNTY.
able, and not unfrequently, palatial residences of the present day; the uncouth and fatiguing conveyances, drawn by clumsy oxen over rough, ungraded roads, and often through forests des- titute of roads of any kind, and without even the poor guide afforded by blazed trees, have been superseded by rapid, commo- dious and elegant vehicles; and the slow and uncertain means of communication, by the splendid achievements of the electric telegraph and our well appointed and admirably conducted mail system. Excellent schools and liberal churches are now acces- sible to every village and hamlet ; while in larger villages are educational institutions qualified to fit the student for any vo- cation in life. Then was conspicuously prevalent the need of everything to be done; now there is evidence of something accomplished.
Owing to the insufficiency of data at command, we are unable to give as full and concise a history of the part taken by Alle- gany county in the war of the Rebellion as we should like to do. Enough is determined, however, to warrant the assertion that she was not behind her sister counties in the performance of her duty, and that when the future historian shall be enabled to do her justice, her record in that eventful period will be a noble one-worthy the devotion of the illustrous sons whose lives she sacrificed on the altar of liberty. By order of July 2, 1862, the volunteers enlisted in this county were organized at Portage, where the 136th Infantry regiment was formed that year. Besides this, portions of the 23d, 27th, 64th, 85th, 93d, 130th, 160th, 189th and 194th infantry ; 5th, 6th and 19th cavalry ; and 2d mounted rifles were raised in this county.
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ALFRED.
GAZETTEER OF TOWNS.
ALFRED was formed from Angelica, March 11, 1808, and a part of Angelica was annexed in 1816. Almond and Independence were taken off March 16, 1821 ; a part of West Almond, April 15, 1833 ; and a part of Ward, Nov. 21, 1856. The first town meeting was held at the house of Benjamin Van Campen, on the first Tuesday in April, 1808, and the following named officers were elected : - Joseph Karr, Supervisor ; Joseph A. Rathbun, Town Clerk ; John Pottman, Silas Ferry and Wheeler IIinman, Assessors ; Samuel Karr, Collector ; Roswell Haskin and Walter Karr, Overseers of the Poor ; Elihu Knight, Benjamin Van Campen and Wm. Gray, Commissioners of High- ways ; Miles Oakley, Senr., John McIntosh and James Ayres, Constables ; Micah Haskin, Charles W. Clark, Philip Doderer and Miles Oakley, Senr., Overseers of Highways ; Benjamin Van Campen, Pound Master ; Ardon Cobb, Stephen Major and Phineas Stevens, Fence Viewers. A bounty of $4 for every wolf killed was voted.
The town lies near the center of the east border of the county, and contains 19,200 acres. Its surface is broken by irregular hills, separated by deep, narrow valleys, and their highest sum- mits are 500 to 800 feet above the streams. It is drained by Whitney Valley Creek in the north, and by Dykes Creek in the south. The soil is a clayey and shaly loan upon the hills, and a gravelly loam in the valleys. It is well adapted to grazing, and the farmers are mostly engaged in dairying. The morality of the people is marked, and we are advised that no license for the sale of intoxicating liquors has been granted in the town for over thirty years.
The Erie Railroad enters the town in the northeast corner, and extending in a south-westerly direction, leaves it near the center of the south border.
The population of the town in 1870 was 1,555; of whom 1,499 were native, 56, foreign and all, except nine, white.
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ALFRED.
ALFRED CENTER (p. v.) is situated on Whitney Valley Creek, a little north of the center of the town, and is distant two miles from Alfred, the nearest railroad station. It contains one church, Alfred University and Academy, a print- ing office, ( The Sabbath Recorder, published weekly by the Amer- ican Tract Society,) ten stores of various kinds, one hotel, a photograph gallery, a steam saw mill and cheese-box factory, a sash, door and blind factory, two wagon shops, two blacksmith shops, an undertaking establishment, and about five hundred inhabitants.
Alfred University was founded in December, 1836. It has two general departments-an academic and a collegiate-each having a male and female department, with equal powers and privileges. The academic department was incorporated in 1842, and received under the visitation of the Regents Jan. 31, 1843. It was incorporated as a University March 28, 1857, and organized as such April 15, 1857. It has eighteen professors and instructors, and 179 male and 184 female students. The value of the buildings and grounds is $63,500 ; of library, cabi- net and apparatus, $13,500; and of other college property, $80,000. It has an income of $11,273.86, and is under the care of the Seventh Day Baptists .*
ALFRED, (p.v.,) (formerly known as Bakers Bridge,) is sitnatel on Whitney Valley Creek, and on the Erie Railroad, in the north-east part of the town, and contains one church, (Seventh Day Baptist,) four stores of various kinds, one hotel, a black- smith shop, shoe shop, some twenty-five dwellings, aud about 110 inhabitants.
Settlement was commenced in May, 1807, by Judge Clark Crandall, from Petersburgh, Rensselaer Co., and Nathan Green, from Brookfield, Madison Co., who located at or in the vicinity of Alfred, the former on lot 8. Crandall was Associate County Judge. He was the first member of the State Legislature from this town, and one of the first in the county. He built the first court house at Angelica. Green was a single man. Shortly after, and probably the same year, came Edward and Caleb Green, brothers of Nathan, who came also from Brookfield, and settled between Alfred and Alfred Center. They were both drowned a few years after in the Canisteo River. Edward Green built the first framed house in the town about 1809. Wm. Saunders, from Berlin, Rensselaer Co., located about the same year about half a mile south of Alfred Center. He served as a soldier till the close of the war of 1812,
* Gazetteer of the State of New York, by Franklin B. Hough, A. M., M.D., 1872, and the University Catalogue, 1869.
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ALFRED.
but lived only some two weeks after his return home. James Fisk, from Brookfield, Madison Co, came in 1808 and took up a farm within the limits of the village of Alfred Center. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was taken sick in 1814, came home, and died in a few days. John Teater, from Oneida Co., settled the same year a little east of Alfred Center. He kept the first hotel in town in 1818. His daughter, Nancy, taught the first school in 1814. Luke Green, from Brookfield, Madison Co., a soldier in the war of 1812, settled between Alfred and Alfred Center in 1809. His wife is still living in the town at the advanced age of nearly 92 years. A daughter, (Mrs. Phebe Crandall,) aged 70 years, is living in the town of Alma. But few settlements appear to have been made from this period until after the close of the war of 1812. David Sat- terlee, from Berlin, Rensselaer Co., located between Alfred and Alfred Center in 1813; and settlements were made in 1814 by Richard Hull, Abel Burdick, Stephen Coon and his son Stephen Coon Jr., Jesse Whitford and James C. Burdick. Hull came from Berlin, Rensselaer County, and settled in the eastern part of the town. He was one of the early preachers of the town. His son, Rev. N. V. Hull, has been pastor of the First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Alfred Center for the last twenty-eight years, and is now editor of The Sabbath Recorder. Burdick was from Brookfield, Madison Co. He settled in the northern part of the town. The Coons came from Rensse- laer Co. and settled in the central part. Whitford came from Brookfield, Madison Co., and located in the southeast part, on lot 35, where he lived the remainder of his life. Bur- dick was also from Brookfield. He settled in the eastern part, on lot 25, where he remained till his death, and where one of his sons still lives. Elias Burdick, from Rhode Island, settled in the western part about the same year (1814). In 1815 settle- ments were made by Freeborn Hamilton, a soldier of the war of 1812, who took up 100 acres of land near Alfred, on which he remained till his death ; by Elias Smith, who located with his wife, five sons, two daughters and a daughter-in-law, a little west of the center, on lot 21, and whose son, Elias Jr., also set- tled at the same time and place, where they remained till death ; by George Green, who located on lot 20; by Gideon L. Spicer, who settled at Alfred Center ; by Nathan Lanphear, who took up a farm in the southern part, put up part of a log house, and, in consequence of an accident by which he cnt his foot while engaged on same, returned to Berlin, Rensselaer Co., whence he came, and where he remained two years, after which he moved on his farm, where he is still living ; and by Amos Bur- dick Jr., who located in the south-eastern part, on lot 43, on
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