USA > New York > Allegany County > Gazetteer and business directory of Allegany County, N. Y. for 1875 > Part 5
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ALMA-ALMOND.
town was that of John Bagley, in 1838. The first school was taught by Clarinda Kent, in 1839. The first store was kept by Samuel J. Peet, in 1844. The first saw mill was erected by John W. Post, in 1843.
The first religious services were conducted by Rev. Reuben Kent, in 1839; and the first religious association was formed by the Methodists in 1850.
The "Seventh Day Adventist" Church, situated on Niles Hill, was organized with thirty-two members, by Rev. N. ruller, August 10, 1862, in which year was erected, at a cost of $900, their house of worship, which will seat 200 persons. The Society consists of forty-nine members; and its property is valued at $1,000. " This denomination never locates pastors at any stated place." [Information furnished by Mr. D. C. Phillips.
ALMOND was formed from Alfred, March 16, 1821. A part of Birdsall was taken off May 4, 1829, and a part of West Almond, April 15. 1833. It lies upon the east border of the county, north of the center, and contains 27,374 acres. The surface is hilly and is separated into several distinct ridges by the deep valleys of Canisteo River and Karr Valley, McHenry Valley and Whitney Valley creeks, which are the principal streams, and flow in an easterly direction. The highest sum- inits are 500 to 800 feet above the valleys. Sulphur springs and quarries of good building stone are found in various local- ities. The soil is a gravelly and clayey loam, well adapted to grazing. Dairying and stock raising are the chief pursuits of the farmers.
The Erie Railroad crosses the south-east corner of the town. The population of the town in 1870 was 1686; of whom 1642 were native, 44, foreign and all, except eight, white.
ALMOND, (p. v.) situated in the south-east part of the town, on Karr Valley Creek, and adjacent to the Erie R. R., contains three churches, (M. E., Baptist and Presb.) seven stores of various kinds, two hotels, a boot and shoe manufactory, a wheel horse rake manufactory, three grist mills, two harness shops, two wagon shops, two paint shops, four blacksmith shops and about 500 inhabitants. The village lies upon the line of Steuben Co., a small portion of the northern part projecting into that county.
NORTHI ALMOND VALLEY, (p. o.) situated on Canisteo River, in the north-east part, is a hamlet.
Settlement was commenced in the spring of 1796, by Rev. Andrew Gray and Win. Gray, the former of whom located in. the western part of the town, on Karr Valley Creek, and the latter in the south-west part, on McHenry Valley Creek. They were followed a few days later by Joseph A. Rathbun, who came
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with his family, consisting of his wife, (Priscilla) daughter (Martha) and two sons, (Lazarus S. and John,) and settled on a farin adjoining that of Andrew Gray on the west. Rathbun taught the first school in town, in a log school house on the hill south of Karr Valley, in December, 1802. The building was covered with bark. The seats consisted of basswood planks split from the logs, hewed and laid upon blocks of wood, and were without backs. Benjamin Vandemark, Matthew Mc- Henry and Joseph Coleman, settled in the town the same year, the former in the south-west part, in McHenry Valley, and the latter two in the western part, in Karr Valley. All six came from Pennsylvania, the Grays, Rathbun (the latter formerly from Coun.) and Vandemark from Luzerne Co. Lazarus S.
Rathbun, son of Joseph A. Rathbun, is still living on the farm his father took up. He was about six years of age when his father came, and is the only one of the first settlers now living. He affirms that he never went to school more than about three months in his life. He learned to write by the fire-place, with a pointed stick. At an early day he had made such progress in learning as fitted him for teaching. Later he be- came a justice of the peace, an office he held for many years ; was one of the first supervisors of the town; and in 1824 and '25 he was a member of the State Legislature. Henry MeHenry, brother of Matthew McHenry, who was also from Luzerne Co., Pa., settled in the MeHlenry Valley in 1797. His son, Wm .. who was born in 1799, was the first white child born in the town. Obediah Ayers settled in the McHenry Valley about the same time that Henry MeHlenry did. He came from near Wilkesbarre, Pa. Major Moses Van Campen and his brother Benjamin came from near Nanticoke, Pa., in 1797, or about that year. Moses settled in the MeHenry Valley and Benjamin in the Karr Valley. Moses Van Campen accompanied Judge Philip Church, late of Belvidere, on an exploring expedition to the Church Tract, in 1801, as previously stated, and in 1805 removed to the town of Angelica.
We extract from Stone's History of Wyoming the following allusion to Van Campen at a time prior to his settlement in this county :-
" Among the names most intimately connected with the history of Wyoming during the period under review, is that of Moses Van Campen. Major Van Campen, -for such was his legitimate title in the service before the close of the contest,-first served as a private in the year, 1777, upon Grand Island, situated in the west branch of the Susquehanna. In the following year he was commissioned a lieutenant, and stationed in the valley of the Susquehanna, between Northumberland and Wyoming, where he erected a small fort for the protection of the scattered settlers of the neighborhood, the inhabitants of which in seasons of alarm took
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refuge within its walls. Before his little defence had been completed, it was gallantly and successfully defended against two successive attacks by strong bodies of Indiane, whose tomahawks were nevertheless bathed in the blood of several families upon that section of the border.
" When, in the year 1779, General Sullivan ascended the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers in his march into the Indian country to avenge the butcheries of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, lieutenant Van Campen was advanced to the post of quarter-master; but being a man of approved courage and activity, well skilled in the subtleties of Indian warfare, his duties were by no means confined to the commissariat. Previous to the battle of Newtown, in which the Indians under Brant, and the American loyalists of Sir John Johnson and Col. John Butier were signally defeated by the united forces of Sullivan and Clinton, Major Van Campen was sent forward, under the disguise of an Indian warrior,-dressed, painted and plumed,-to ascertain the numbers and condition of the enemy, -a task which he executed with complete success. Passing their outposts in the night, he entered their camp, visited their fires, and computed, with suffi- cient accuracy, the number of the warriors slumbering around them. In the attack upon a division of the enemy, preceding the main battle, by the brigade of General Hand, Major Van Campen was in the advance, con- tributing actively to the success of that brilliant affair.
" At the close of Sullivan's campaign, a severe attack of billions fever compelled Major Van Campen to retire from the service, and return to the residence of his father, in the vicinity of his former station below Wyoming, upon the Susquehanna. The savages had been so effectually subdued by the operations of Sullivan, that apprehensions of farther out- rages upon the border were measurably allayed, and the scattered inhabit- ants were preparing to resume their field labors in the spring of the fol- lowing year with comparative unconcern. Toward the close of March, Major Van Campen left the fort with his father and a brother, to work upon the farm, accompanied also by an uncle and his son, a lad of twelve years of age, and a man named Peter Pence-the uncle having a farm to attend in the same vicinity.
"Suddenly, on the 30th of March, while in the field, the Major and his father were attacked by a party of ten Indians, who stole so warily upon them that flight was impossible. The uncle had already been killed upon his own plantation ; the lad and Pence being now in company, bound prisoners. The Major's father was thrust through the lungs in the first onset, and his throat instantly cut. The lad, his brother, was likewise struck down with a tomahawk, scalped, and his body cast into a fire blaz- ing near by. As the warrior who had slain the elder Van Campen drew the spear from his body, he made a lunge at the Major, already engaged apparently in a death struggle with another Indian; but not poising his weapon with skill, a slight flesh wound only was inflicted, while the barb became entangled in the clothes of the intended victim. Sated, for the time, with blood, after a brief struggle the savages contented themselves with making the Major a prisoner, and with his youthful cousin, and the man Pence, he was marched away in the direction of the 'Six Nations'
* country. * * Encamping at night, after building their fires, the prisoners were bound and well secured, the Indians sleeping five upon either side of them. On the second day of their march, while yet in the Wyoming region, they found one Abraham Pike, with his wife and child. Placing the mark of prisoners upon the latter two, they were suffered to ' go'; but Pike was taken away, and at night they were all bound and guarded as before. Reflecting that they had probably been spared
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by their captors to grace a war feast on returning to their villages, in the course of which they would be put to death by torture, Van Campen began now to meditate an escape-a feat, he was well aware, only to be achieved by putting the Indians to death. The daring suggestion was cautiously imparted to his fellow prisoners on the third day of their cap- tivity; but it was not until the fourth that a reluctant assent was obtained from his associates, Pence and Pike-the lad being too young for a com- batant. The sleep of the Indians, it is well known, is very deep and heavy; and Van Campen's proposal was that on the next night, after wait- ing until their grim guardians were in a profound slumber, they should contrive to extricate themselves in some way from the cords with which they were bound, and in the next place cautiously disarm the Indians. This effected, Van Campen intended that himself, Pence and Pike, armed with tomahawks, should each, by as many blows, dispatch three of the sleepers before any of them should have time to arouse for resistance. Nine of them being thus disposed of and the tenth unarmed, the three could have nothing serious to apprehend from him.
" But although the project was obviously well conceived, neither Pence nor Pike would agree to the details beyond the disarming. That object attained they proposed that one of their number should be stationed with the firearms of the Indians, to be removed a few paces from the camp, which should be used with the best possible effect, while the other two were to attack with tomahawks, and ply them as briskly and fatally as possible during the confusion which would ensue on the first discharge of a musket. In this hazardous deviation from his plan Van Campen was obliged to acquiesce; and the duty of firing the muskets, from a point of comparative safety, was assigned to Pence.
"Encamping as usual at dark, the Indians were remarkably diligent and attentive in providing an abundance of fuel for the night; and a roar- ing fire having been built, they all lay down to sleep-the prisoners being carefully bound as before. Providence, however, favored the design of escape, for one of the Indians, while adjusting himself for the night, dropped his knife, without perceiving it, close by Van Campen's feet. Of course the latter failed not to nvail himself of this important weapon; and at midnight, perceiving that the warriors were all in a profound slumber, the Major arose, and with the knife quietly severed the cords upon his own limbs and those of his fellow-prisoners. He was himself to strike the three Indians upon the right wing, and Pike the two upon the left, while Pence should do such execution as he could with the guns. Just as they were about to strike, the two warriors allotted to Pike awoke; where- upon, like a coward, as he proved to be, he again laid down in his place, as though all was well. Not so Van Campen, who saw that in an instant more all would be lost. Quick as lightning, therefore, he darted upon the two awaking savages, and planting his tomahawk deep into their heads, left them quivering in death. Three more blows, equally well directed, with the rapidity of thought, ended the lives of the three as allotted to him at first. Pence fired at the same instant, with wonderful judgment and accuracy-killing four of the remaining five. One only was left-a stalwart savage named Mohawk, who sprang to his feet with the discharge of the guns, and uttering the war-whoop darted to take possession of them. Van Campen sprang after him to defeat his purpose, aiming a blow at his head with a tomahawk, but missing, struck him in the shoulder, or rather in the back of his neck. The Indian pitched forward and fell. Van Campen's foot slipping at the same instant, he also fell by his side. They clinched, and a struggle of several moments ensued, during which the Major endeavored to dispatch him with his own knife. Mohawk, how-
-
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ever, succeeded in disengaging himself, and springing to his feet. plunged into the woods and fled. The transaction was one of surprising bravery, -of darkness and of blood. Yet it was not unrelieved by an incident, or rather side-act, of a ludicrous character; for while Van Campen and Mo- huk lay struggling. grasped in each other's arms upon the ground as in the hug of death, Pike was attempting to pray, and Pence stood swearing at him for his cowardice.
"The victory, however, was complete. Nine of the ten warriors lay before them dead; and it only remainded for the victors to secure the spoils, and wend their way back to Wyoming before Mohawk should be able to return upon them with reinforcements. Having secured the arms, blankets, and supplies of the dead, taken their scalps, and recovered also those of his father, his uncle, and his brother, Van Campen caused a rude raft to be constructed-for the brave action I have recorded occurred upon the bank of the Susquchanna not far from Tioga-upon which he embarked with his little party, and in due season they all reached their homes in safety. *
" The Indian, Mohawk, recovered from his wound, and in process of time, by the removal of Van Campen to the neighborhood of his village, they became acquainted. The effect of the wound was such as to contract, or perhaps to destroy, some of the muscles of Mohawk's neck, by reason of which he could never carry his head erect afterward. He was for a time shy of seeing Major Van Campen; but finding that the latter cher- ished no hostility toward him, he subsequently became his frequent visitor."
Asking the reader's indulgence for this diversion, we resume our history of the early settlements. Philip Dodderer settled in the western part of the town, in Karr Valley, about 1797 or '98. He came from the same place as the MeHenry's. Enos Seaward settled in the south-east part, in Whitney Valley, about 1798 or '9. Roswell, Micah and David Haskins settled in the same locality about the same time. Joseph and Walter Karr, brothers, and Stephen Major, their brother-in-law, came in from Luzerne Co., Pa., in June, 1800, and took up adjacent farms in Karr Valley, a little sonth of the center of the town. They jointly cleared about six acres on Joseph's farm, on which they sowed wheat in the fall, and put up a log house, when the Karrs returned to their former home, where they remained till spring, leaving Major and his wife in the log house during the winter. The following spring they returned to their new homes in Almond with their families, accompanied by George Lockhart, from the same county, who also located in Karr Valley. Lockhart was a single man; but he married the danghter of Major Moses Van Campen about 1807, and settled in 1808 on the farm he took up three years previously, and on which he spent the rest of his life. Solomon Doud was the first settler in the " North Valley." He probably came about the beginning of the present century. Miles and Jeremiah Oakley and Joseph Baldwin settled in the same locality not far from 1800. Other early settlers in the North Valley were Calkins, Milo and Tru-
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m'ın Hayes, sons of B. Hayes, Elihu Knight, Wheeler Hinman, Ardon Cobb, John Bunnell, John Brown, Lemuel Granger, Bartlett Dake, Lewis Moffit, Lawrence Clark, Alex., Solomon and Benj. Head and a family named Miles. Phineas Stevens was the first settler in the village of Almond. He came from Rome, Oneida Co., about 1804. Tarball Whitney, from Hunt- ington township, Luzerne Co., Pa., came in June, 1806, and settled in the south-east part of the town, on the farm now ocen- pied by one of his sons, where he lived the rest of his life. Silas Stillman settled in the south-east part about 1809. He was from Rensselaer Co., and had previously lived about two years in the town of Alfred, whence he removed to this town. Asa Clark, an early settler at Almond village, built the first grist mill in town, in the southern part of that village, in 1818. It stood on the site of Halsey's mill. Silas and Joseph C. Ferry were early settlers in Karr Valley-near the beginning of the present century. John Van Vechten, from Montgomery Co., settled in the eastern part of the town in 1816; and Jerry, his brother, from the same county, settled in the same locality in 1820. The first marriage in town was that of Peter Putnam and Polly Waters, in 1801. The first death was that of Matthew McHenry, son of Matthew McHenry, in 1801. The first inn was kept in Karr Valley, in 1805, by Benjamin Van Campen. The first saw mill was built at the north end of Almond village, by Milo Stevens. The first store was kept in the southern part of the same village, by Wm. R. Rodgers & Co., about 1820. The first framed house was built by Rev. Andrew Gray on the farm he took up. Dr. Davison was the first settled physician and the first postmaster in town. The office was established in 1813 or '14, and was located in the northern part of Almond village.
The first religious services were conducted at Karr Valley, by Rev. Andrew Gray, a clergyman of the Reformed Dutch Church, at his own house, May 1, 1797; and the first Church, of the same denomination, was organized by him the same year. Mr. Gray officiated as clergyman for several years; and during his pastorate the Church enjoyed a good degree of prosperity; but after his removal it "fell into decay, and in a short time beenme extinct." Mr. Gray also ministered to the neighboring settle- ments. He was described by Judge Philip Church as " a broad-shouldered man, of extraordinary muscular power." The Judge said, "I remember his getting so carnest on one occasion, [while preaching at Angelica,] in enforcing religious precepts upon his backwoods congregation, that in his gestures he knocked our store desk to pieces, that we gave him for a pulpit."*
The First Presbyterian Church of Almond, at Almond village, was organ- ized with twenty-seven members, by Rev. John Niles of Bath, May 5,
*Hotchkin's History of Western New York, p. 90; and Turner's Pioneer History of Phelps & Gorham's Purchase, p. 453.
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1812. It was denominated the Church of Alfred, the name being changed to that of Almond on the division of the town. The first church edifice was erected in 1815, and was rebuilt in 1834, 1851, and 1873. The present house will seat 300 persons. Its original cost was $2,500. The first pastor was Rev. Robert Hubbard; the present one is Rev. Joel Wakeman, D. D. The Society consists of 145 members. Its property is valued at $8,000. [Information obtained from Hotelkin's " History of Western New York" and from Rev. Joel Wakeman, D. D., the pastor.
The First Baptist Church of Almond, at Almond village, was organized with thirty-four members, in 1826, by Elder Richard Hunt, the first pastor. The church edifice, which will seat 500 persons, was erected in 1835. The present pastor is Elder Sweeny. [Information furnished by Mr. C. R Brink.
The First M. E. Church of Almond, at Almond village, was organized as early as 1848; for Hotchkin speaks of it in that year as being " small and weak" and without an "appropriate house of worship." Their house of worship, which will seat 300 persons, was erected in 1863, at a cost of $2,200, the present value of Church property. The pastor is Rev. - West.
AMITY was formed from Angelica and Scio, Feb. 22, 1830. A part of Ward was taken off Nov. 21, 1856. It is an interior town, lying a little south of the center of the county, and con- tains 21,960 acres. The surface is hilly and broken, the summits of the hills rising 500 to 800 feet above the valleys. The Gene- see River crosses the town diagonally, through near the central part, and receives as tributaries Van Campens Creek* from the west and Philips Creek from the east. The valleys of these streams are narrow and are bordered by steep hillsides. The soil is principally a clayey and sandy loam.
The Erie R. R. extends through the town, along the Genesee, which it crosses at Philipsville, to Belvidere, where it deflects to the west. On the opening of this road through the town in 1851, Judge Philip Church presented for Belvidere station a flag representing an engine drawing a large cannon and sheaves of wheat in an open car ; an Indian in ambush, with surprised look, his bow and arrow apparently falling from his grasp ; and a startled deer running away with fright. Beneath this design was the following inscription :-
"BELVIDERE STATION. " ENERGY AND SKILL.
"Where the fierce redman trod his pathless way,
In search precarious, daily food to slay ; Or hid in ambush, sprung upon his foe, Striking unseen the unsuspected blow;
Now steam, resistless, spreads his fiery wings; Where want depresses, wished-for plenty springs; Or ponderous weapons to our border draws; Or writes on ocean waves Columbia's laws. Boast not proud white man in arts of peace and war, Look up to Heaven and see how small you are !"
*This name was given during the primitive advent of Mr. Church, in honor of his woods' companion, Mr. Van Campen. Pioneer History of Phelps and Gorham's Pur- chuxe, p. 454.
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The line of the proposed Rochester, Nunda and Pennsylvania R. R. enters the north-west corner of the town, and connects with the Erie road at Belvidere.
The population of the town in 1870 was 2087 ; of whom 1948 were native, 139, foreign and all, except five, white.
PHILIPSVILLE, (Belmont p. o.) is situated on the Genesee River and the Erie R. R., a little north-west of the center of the town. It was incorporated as a village Feb. 21, 1853. The population in 1870 was 795. It contains besides the clerk's office and conrt-house, six churches, (Baptist, Presbyterian, M. E., Free Methodist, Episcopal and Roman Catholic,) two school houses, a bank, a printing office, ( The Alleganian, a Re- publican Journal, published by B. D. Southworth,) three hotels, a butter pail manufactory, a mower and reaper manufactory, two flouring mills, one saw mill, one cabinet shop, one shingle mill, three dry goods stores, five groceries, one jewelry shop, two hardware stores, one cider mill, two wagon shops, two paint shops, one billiard room, and one restaurant.
Belmont Lodge No. 474, F. A. M., meets on the evening of the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Belmont Lodge 1. 0. O. F. meets every Tuesday night.
BELVIDERE, (p. o.) situated near the mouth of Van Campens Creek and on the Erie R. R., in the north-west corner of the town, contains one church, (Episcopal) three stores, two hotels, a boarding house, cheese factory, saw and stave mill and two wagon and blacksmith shops.
W. f. J. Duke's saw and stave mill, situated at Belvidere, annu- ally manufactures about 200,000 feet of lumber and 600,000 staves.
Dean's steam saw, shingle and lath mills, located on Philips Creek, cut annually about one million feet of lumber, one and one-half million shingles and one-half million lath.
Settlement was commenced in 1804, by John T. Hyde, who located near Belvidere. Stephen Rogers came from Burlington, Otsego Co., this same year, and purchased a farm on Genesee River, in the south part of the town, which he occupied till 18:3. In this year also was built, upon grounds selected a year or two previously, the temporary residence of Judge Philip Church, which was known as the " white house," from the fact that it was then " the only painted structure in Western New York." Judge Church selected these grounds, says Turner, in his Pioneer History of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, " by climb- ing tall pine trees upon the highlands." They are thus de- seribed by a writer in the Angelica Reporter of Jan. 22, 1861 :-
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"In this selection he manifested shrewdness and sound judgment. Were the selection to be made now, with all the advantages of an open country spread out before him, he could not, in any particular, have im- proved upon the selection then made. The 2000 acres set aside, is the finest land in the whole tract, and the situation of the house is incom- parably the finest in the whole country. The wonder is, that he should so readily have made such a strikingly favorable selection in the inter- minable woods, when the sight was so circumscribed, and when he could only form his judgment from a knowledge of the general conformation of the country, obtained by personal explorations. This place he named ' Belvidere.'"
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