USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chautauqua County, N.Y., for 1873-4 > Part 19
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tains five churches, (Baptist, Episcopal, Free Methodist, M. E. and Presbyterian-old school-and a Congregational Society without an edifice,) two newspaper offices, ( Fredonia Censor and Advertiser and Union,) two banks, two hotels and several manu- facturing establishments, principally wagons and carriages, rashes, doors and blinds and pumps .* The village is well laid out, handsomely shaded, is lighted by natural gas which is emitted in sufficient quantity to supply the whole village, t and
the State, induced by the intensly bitter feeling which was manifested by the repre- sentation in the local board, involving the temporary suspension of the school, passed an act abolishing all boards consisting of more than thirteen members. This school was the only one affected by the act and. it is believed, was the only one embraced in its design. In the fall term of 1869, Rev. J. W. Armstrong under- took the arduous and responsible task of appointing a new faculty and restoring to a healthy condition the chaotic elements he found governing the school. By judicious management he has succeeded in harmonizing the conflicting opinions which gave rise to the disturbances, which may be referred principally, perhaps whol- ly. to religious prejudices, and the school is now in a prosperous condition and doing a noble work. The faculty connected with the school numbers sixteen. The routine of studies embraces primary, junior, senior and academic practicing schools in ad- dition to the Normal department. The number of Normal students during the year 1-72. was 350. The present building will accommodate 700 pupils. It is built substan- tially of brick and is an imposing structure. The interior of the building consists of a basement, containg the furnace rooms, gymnasium, accommo- dations for the janitor's family and accessory rooms: the ground floor. containing at the north end the junior room, with its accessory rooms. at the south end, the senior room. with its accessory rooms, between them the prim- ary rooms, and the chapel, which projects from the rear and is capable of seating Nw persons: the first floor. containing; at the north end the normal room, with its arcessories, at the south end the academic room, with its accessories, and in the center rooms for the family of the principal: and the upper floor, containing the libraries, with 3,000 volumes. and rooms for classes in drawing. The cabinet con- sists of a fine selection for class purposes, imported from Germany and valued at 9000, to which it is proposed to add an amount of equal value during the present summer. (1973) and a general collection, small and unarranged, valued at $200. The philosophical, chemical and and astromonical apparatus are valued at $2.500. The Fredit Jeremy was merged in the Normal School at the opening of the latter and how forms the academic department in it. The Normal building and grounds, val- und at 897.500, together with furniture valued at $4,200, and library and apparatus valued at $5.430, making a total value of $108. 130. were presented by the village to the State for the purpose of establishing a Normal School. The State guarantees to maintain in the School an academic department and keep it free to all persons re- siding in the village.
* The principal manufacturing establishments are those of Taylor, Day & Co .. who give employment to about seventy men and manufacture 1.200 to 1.500 road and busi- ness wagons per annum: Mullett, Green & Bissell and Herman & Reuther, who give employment to about 25 men. and manufacture about 150 carriages and buggies per annum: and Henry C. Lake, who is just completing a building and putting in machinery for the manufacture of the Globe force pump, on which he now gives employment to about fifty men. He expects to manufacture about 2,500 pumps the present year ( 1873.)
t The use of natural gas at Fredonia was begun in 1821, when experiments were made to determine its illuminating value and it was introduced into a few of the miblic places, among which was the hotel which then occupied the site of the Taylor House, and which was thus illuminated when Lafayette passed through the village. The gas used at that time was the first used in the United States, and the gas works established here were the first in this country. The spring first discovered and from which gas was first used is located on the north bank of Canadaway Creek, at the bridge crossing that stream on Main street in the village of Fredonia. The gas escaped at various places in the immediate vicinity, but when the well was sunk it was drawn to it. The gas from this well, which was sufficient for about thirty burners, Was used alone until h54, when another well was sunk on the creek, in the north-west [ art of the village, by Preston Barmore, the shaft being thirty feet deep, six feet in dieter at the top and fourteen feet at the bottom, with two vertical borings, one of lin) and the other of 150 feet depth. In the fall of 1858, Elias Forbes, the present president of the gas company, purchased a half interest in the well, and that fall a company was formed, and during the remainder of that and the following year. the gas in suficient quantity to supply about 2, 00 cubic feet per day was conducted to the
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is supplied with good water from a spring in the north-east part of the corporation. The water is collected in a reservoir and conducted through mains in ample quantity for fire and domestic purposes. Two handsome parks which were donated by the Holland Land Co. adorn the center of the village, front- ing on Main street and divided by Temple street. Each is or. namented with tastily laid out walks, fine shade trees and a beautiful fountain, the water for which isdrawn from the reser- voir which supplies the village. The fire department consists of an engine company, (Fredonia No. 1,) supplied with a hand engine and about 1400 feet of hose. The village is a station on the D. A. V. & P. R. R.
Forest Lodge No. 166 F. & A. M. meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
Fredonia Royal Arch Chapter No. 76, meets the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.
Fredonia Council R. & S. M. meets the first Friday of each month.
Fredonia Eastern Star Lodge of Adoption meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month.
Champion Lodge No. 601 I. O. of G. T. meets every Monday evening.
Fredonia Temple of Honor meets every Wednesday evening.
Fredonia Lodge No. 338 I. O. of G. T. was organized Nov. S. 18:2. It consists of fifteen members who hold meetings every Friday evening.
Fredonia Cornet Band was organized in the winter of 1808-9. R. T. Tunsdall is the leader.
village through three miles of mains, and supplied directly from the well to tie stores of the village. During the latter year (1853) the company put in a gas receiver or holder of 12.000 cubic feet capacity, and supplied private houses. In the fall of 1871, Alvah Colburn made a boring for gas near his mill, with a view to supplyins fuel for generating stram therefor; but the supply was inadequate for that purple . though it was evolved in considerable quantity. He therefore purchased the Bar- more interest in the gas company and connected his well, which is 1,200 feet deep. wil: the company's receiver, since which time the supply of gas has been ample for t! - demands of the village. Previous to the opening of Colburn's well the supply of was not sufficient to meet the demand for it during the winter, and the deficiency w ... made up by gas manufactured from coal. Prof. Hadley's experiments show that the consumption of natural gas as compared with that manufactured from coal, thrones burners of equal capacity and in equal times. is less than one-half, with a greater caud." power. He shows that a burner which consumed six feet of coal gas in one hour. with an illuminating power equal to fourteen sperm candles, six to the pound. Pen- sumed of the natural gas a fraction less than three feet, with an illuminating pow. ! of a little more than sixteen sperin candles, The natural gas also possesses a great! diffusive power. and one who has been accustomed to the use of coal gas. finding " ditlieuit to read ordinary print without being in close proxfinity to the light, isaston- ished at the facility with which he can rend in any part of an ordinary sized dw.i. ling loom under the light from the natural gas. Thus Fredonia is supplied with s good and cheap light, as the price corresponds with that of other places of way greater size.
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LAONA, (p. v.) situated on Canadaway Creek, near the east line, is a station on the D. A. V. & P. R. R. and contains one hotel, five stores, one flouring mill, two shoe shops, two Macksmith shops, a carriage shop, cheese factory, in which the milk of 400 cows is used, a steam tannery, which gives employment to ten or twelve men, a paper mill, in which eight persons are employed, and 175 tons of printing paper made an- irually, and had in 1870, a population of 218.
SHUMLA is a hamlet on Canadaway Creek, near the east line. BRIGHAM is a hamlet in the south part.
Settlement was commenced at Fredonia in 1804, by David Eason and Thomas Mcclintock, from Pennsylvania. The lat- ter contracted two and one-hall sections in the west part of the present corporation limits in 1803, and this sale, it is believed, is the first in this county recorded upon the books of the Hol- land Land Co .* He kept the first inn in the town. Among others who settled this and the following year (1804 and '5) were Low Minegar, Judge Zattu Cushing,f Hezekiah Barker
* Statement of Ex-Lient. Gov. Geo. W. Patterson, of Westfield.
+ Judge Zattu Cushing, son of Nathaniel and Lydia Cushing, was born at Plymouth Rock, Mass .. in 1770. and was one of a family of thirteen children. During the Revo- Iition his father converted his large real estate into Continental money, the depre- riation of which reduced him to poverty. Zattu. in consequence. received only such scholastic advantages as the district schools of that period afforded, though he was carefully nurtured in those sterling qualities which grace true manhood. He was apprenticed to a ship carpenter and. after learning his trade, worked at it some i.me in Boston harbor: but disliking that occupation he resolved to try farming aud removed to Saratoga county, in this State, where he took up a piece of land. Asick- ness there of several months so reduced his means that when he recovered he had lit nothing but an ax, and with that upon his shoulder he went on foot to Paris Hill. Oneida county, where, in company with a Mr. Cowan, he took up a farm in the wilderness. They did their own cooking and washing two years, and having no tran. exchanged works with a neighbor who had, by which means they cleared their lands and prepared them for crops. In 1735, he married, at Ballston, Saratoga conaty. Miss Rachel Buckingham, with whom he became acquainted during his brief r sidence in that county. In 1799 he was employed to go to Presque Isle mow Erie, Pa .. ' to superintend the building of the ship Good Intent, which he claimed was the first built upon Lake Erie, and which was lost with all on board, on the Canada shore, in 1-95. On his return home be spent the first night upon the lot on which he : ibsequently settled, and which he then resolved to make his home as soon as the lands came into market. In February, 1805, he came with bis family and goods to this vicinity. with two sleds. each drawn by a yoke of oxen. He also brought with Lim four cows, a barrel of salt, half a bushel of apple seeds, and two men to assist in chopping. From BaCalo they journeyed by the lake, upon the ice. intending to go on snor- before dark. " but night and a terrible tempest came unexpectedly upon (nom." The holes in the ice made it dangerous to proceed, so they undertook to sind the night upon the sleighs where they were. with the oxen so plated as to I reak of the wind as much as possible. The Judge had with him an old fashioned dinner horn, upon which he blew at intervals, hoping to attract the attention of s. the settler, and not in vain. for it was heard and heeded by two men, who came with lanterns about one o'clock in the morning and piloted thom ashore near Eighteen Mile Creek. Before daylight the ice was so much broken up that escape t'en would have been impossible. On arriving he was disappointed to find that the It hy had selected had been taken by Thomas MeClintock. "He got an article of the farm subsequently occupied by Sammel Marsh and built a log house, occupying in the meantime an unduished shanty erected the previous year by Low Minecar. There was neither the r. door. nor thinking between the logs, but it promised im- to date partial shelter from the deep snow and cold of that season. His cuttle subsisted upon browse, as no other food was obtainable. In the fall of IST he sold it - farm, on which he had cleared ilfty acres. to Mr. Marsh, and bought of MeClin-
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and Samuel Geer. Barker made the first considerable clearing within the village corporation in 1807, on the site of the Acad. emy. In 1808, Israel Lewis and Samuel Geer, in the employ of Mr. Barker, chopped and logged the common, which he after- wards donated to the village. In 1806, J. P. Bellows, Oliver Woodcock, Philo Orton, Daniel G. Gould and others came in. Woodcock came from Sangerfield, Queida county, in company with the families of Richard Williams and James Morgan. 1 little daughter of Mr. Woodcock's was killed in October of that year by the fall of a tree, while engaged in picking nuts in a clearing, where a man was chopping. This was the first death which occurred in the town, and the first interment made in the old cemetery: The first school in the town was taught that winter by Mrs. Woodcock, at the request of the neighbors. She had sixteen pupils. Orton was a native of Tyrringham. Mass .. but removed here from Augusta, Oneida county. He was the first supervisor of Pomfret, and held that office from 1808 to 1819. Ou the organization of the county he was ap- pointed Associate Judge, which office he filled with ability and general acceptance many years. Gould settled near Fre- donia on the 18th of June, and died at Forestville, aged Số years. Elijah Risley and John L. Bartoo came in 1807. Ris- ley came in the spring of that year from Cazenovia, Madison county. with his family of wife and seven children, and good- conveyed by an ox team, and settled at Fredonia. His first lez hut stood upon the site of a frame house subsequently built by Rev. Samuel Sweezy, a Presbyterian clergyman, and afterward known as the Berry house. In 1808, he opened a store, which was the first in the county. Bartoo came from Oneida county. Ile was a millwright and built the first saw and grist mills in tre town, at Fredonia, for Hezekiah Barker, the same year. 11 .. also built the first carding mill in the county. Dr. Squire
took the one he had in view when he arrived, paying $100 for the privilege. Ite a sisted of 57 acres, and he went immediately to Batavia and paid the whole purch .... price-$1,302.50-receiving his deed Nov. 7. 1807. Upon the erection of the county !! ios, Mr. Cushing represented it as Associate Judge, the courts then being heit a" Buffalo; and when its organization was completed in 1811. he was appointed Fir -: Judge. During the war of 15W he did much by voice and example to allay the ! . .. and anxieties of the settlers, and participated as a private in the battle at Both. . In August. 18!d. his wife died, and in the fall of 1817 he married Miss Eunice Eller. kin, of Burlington. Otsego county. In 199 he retired from the bench, with a ! reputation for ability and integrity. In 196. he. in company with Joseph Spr ... and others, built a boat for the Erie Canal, which was named The Fredonia E. "ir. He worked upon it with great zeal and animation, and with the same di carpenter's tools which had been laid by for thirty years. It was towed by "ah dred yoke of oxen" to Dankirk, and loaded with the first wheat sent from t. county to the New York market. The consignors were Todd & Douglass. of Fr .. dvala. Judge Cushing was a man of exemplary piety and rare benevolence. W .... his benefactions to religious and educational interests were munificent. they w. Lot contined to these, but were extended as benigni atly to the needy settlers, I .. BY of whom had occasion to revere his memory. He died January 13. 1539. after years of patient suff ring .- A Memoir of Judge Lattu Cushing, by O. W. Johnson. Es. " Fredonia, delivered before the Nientipe and Historical Association of Fredonia, Jas.
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White, the first regularly licensed physician in the county, settled at Fredonia in the summer of 1809, and for half a cen- tury practiced his profession here. He was born at Guilford, Vt .. Nov. 20, 1785. Feb. 9, 1811, he was appointed the first Surrogate of the county, and held that office until 1818. He was elected a Member of Assembly in the interest of the anti- Masonic party in 1830, '31 and 32. He died of pleurisy, after a short illness, at Fredonia, April 2, 1859. Leverett Barker came in 1809, and in 1811 he established the first tannery in the county at Fredonia. Among the first who settled at Laona was Dr. Cooley, who located on the farm known as the Hezekiah Bull farm. He built a saw-mill at an early day, and Jater sold to Thomas Bull, who built the first grist mill there. Oliver Cleland, of Berlin, Ohio, came to this county with three brothers, all of whom are still living. and settled at Fredonia March 11, 1811. He served under Col. James MoMahan in the war of 1812, and assisted in repelling a party of the enemy who attempted to capture the corn designed for the command to which he belonged, at the mouth of Canadaway Creek. He is now eighty years old.
The Baptists, through the instrumentality of Judge Cushing, were the first to in- augurare religious services. The first meeting was held in November, 186. and was attended by nine persons-five males and four females. This movement led to the organization of the Arst religious society in the town and the second in the county, in 1508.
Frezonic Baptist Church, the first in the town, was organized as the First Bogat Court of Ponga, with sixteen members. Oct. 20, 1808. by a council consisting of Revs. Joy Handy. Joel Butler and Hezekiah Eastman, which convened in Judge Cnsbing's barn, which was for many years the most spacious edifice in town. The name exchanged May 25. 1:59. The first church edifice (the first in the county.) was muth din 1212; the present one, upon the site of the first, in 1852-3, at a cost of Siento Sleeve about one half the present value of Church property. It was de li- cat: d July 7. 7853. and will spat 600 to >>>) persons. The first pastor was Rev. Joy Handy: the present one-the seventeenth in number-is Rev. Lester Williams, jr. It Las a membership of 269 .*
The Presbyterian Church, at Fredonia, was organized with twelve members. Sept. 20. 18:0. by Rev. John Spencer. The first pastor was Rey. D. D. Gregory: the present one is Rev. A. L. Benton. The church edifice was erected in 1936, and will seat i'll persons. A new one is about to be built, at a cost of 525,000. The Church property is valued at $10.000.t
Trinity Church of Fredmain (Episcopal) was organized with about six members. Ang. 1, 18:2, br a public meeting, over which Gen. Elijah Risley presided. The first rector was Rev. David Brown ; the present one is Rev. W. O. Jarvis. The Society numbers 185 members.#
The Methodist Protestant Church, at Fredonia, was organized with fifteen members. in 1-20 by Rev. O. C. Payne, the first and present pastor. The church edith . will Seat about 500 persons, and was freeted in 1883. at a cost of $2.000. There are forty members, and three have gone from this Church into the ministry. The Church property is valued at $3. 000.s
The M. E. Church of Fredinin consists of 175 members. The church edifice was erected about five years since. It cost $30,00) and will sent to persons. The pastor is Rev. A. N. Craft. The Church property is valued at $31,0000.
* Information furnished by A. Z. Mia lison, clark.
+ Information furnished by Rev. A. L. Benton, the pastor.
+ Information furnished by Rev. W. O. Jarvis, the rector. § Information furnished by Rev. O. C. Payne, the pastor.
" Information furnished by Rev. A. N. Craft, the pastor.
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PORTLAND was formed from Chautauqua, April 9. 1813 .* Ripley was taken off March 1, 1817, and a part of Westfield, March 19, 1829. It lies upon Lake Erie, a little west of the center of the north border, and contains 20,510 acres. Upon the lake and back from it for two or three miles the surface is rolling; but the central and western parts are broken and hilly. Numerous small streams, none of them im- portant, flow into the lake. The soil is a clay and sandy loam, and that upon the lake slope is admirably adapted to grap culture, to which it is largely devoted. The manufacture of wine from grapes forms an important feature in the industrial pursuits of the inhabitants.
The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern R. R. extends through the north border of the town ; and the Buffalo, Corry & Pitts- burgh R. R. passes in a circuitous course from Brocton. its northern terminusand point of intersection with the L. S. & M. S. R. R., through the central and south-western part of the town. The population of the town in 1870 was 1,887, of whom 1,693 were native, 194 foreign, and all, except two, white.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained eleven school districts and employed twelve teachers. The number of children of school age was 570; the number at- tending school, 484; the average attendance, 256; the amount expended for school purposes, $3,903.80 ; and the value of school honses and sites, $10,950.
BROCTON, (p. o.) in the north-east part of the town, contains two churches, one hotel, six stores, two wagon shops, one tau- nery, one grist mill, two cooper shops, two blacksmith shops, two cabinet shops, a millinery establishment, an extensive wine cellar,t and a population of about 500. The depot of the same
* The first town meeting was held at the house of Jonathan Cass, in the village . ? Westfield. in April, 1814, and Thomas Prendergast was elected Supervisor : A . Hall. Tien Clerk : Jonathan Cass. Oliver Stetson and David Eaton. . issues: Jul Post. Win. Bell and James Parker, Commissioners of Highways; Samuel Dicke .a. Collector ; Robert Dickson, Jabez Hulburt and David Eaton, Commissioners NTools: Elijah Hayden, Amos Atwater and James Parker, Inspectors of Site's Samuel Dickson and Asa Hall, Constubles; James Montgomery and John Brewer. Oreixears of the Poor.
+ The Lake shore Vineyards, owned by Ryckman. Day & Co. were established ! ! 1859, by Ryckman. Haywood & Fay, and a building 30 by 50 feet, two stories bei." and one and one-half above ground, was erected for manufacturing and st. r.r .: wine. In 1885 the business was sold to individuals who organized a company under the title of the Lake Shore Wine Co., and in 1866 erected an addition, 40 by To top !. two stories above and two below ground. each ten fect. to increase their facilities for manufacturing and storing. In IN the Company sold to the present proppit is. They bay all the grapes used, principally from the vicinity of Brocton, though they lay under contribution the whole section of country between Silver Creekan Isat dusky, Ohio, including about 1.500 geres devoted to grape culture. They asi ward of zutons of grapes and make about 15, 0 gallons of wine per annum. It's 1- the Catawba. Diana, Delaware, Iona. Isabella and Concord grape extensively. but principally the former. The finest grapes for the purpose are obtained tra Ohio. They have storage facilities for about $0,000 gallons, the two lower stories of their building being used for storage purposes and the two upper ones for mabu- facturing.
MOTT BROTHERS !
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name is about one mile distant, at the junction of the L. S. & M. S. and B. C. & P. railroads.
CENTERVILLE (Portland p. o.) is situated a little north of the center, and contains three churches, (Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian,) and had, in 1870, a population of 141.
SALEM-ON-ERIE, in the north-east part, is the home of a society established in 1861, at Wassaic, Dutchess county, by Rev. Thomas L. Harris, formerly a Universalist minister in New York city, and removed to this locality in 1867. They assume no name, but are known to others as the " Harris Com- munity." They own about 2,000 acres of land, and are exten- sively engaged in the culture of grapes, and the manufacture of wine. They have a wine press and wine cellars, a green- house for the sale of plants, a hotel, restaurant and other prop- erty. They have a unity of interests, though the marriage relations are held sacred ; and although they are united on a religious basis, no conformity to a religious creed is exacted. Their religious views, though not confined to, are strongly tinctured with those of Swedenborg, but extended and divested of apparent crudities in the Swedenborgian faith. While hold- ing to the belief in spiritual translation and the possibility of communication between the worlds of spirit and matter, they reject and condemn the phenomenal phase of spiritualism. They consecrate their lives to high and holy purposes, and strive to subordinate self and selfish interests to promote the general welfare. It is difficult-impossible -- to convey an ad- equate conception of their religious views and purposes in life with the aid of a definitive sentence to which the scope of this work limits us ; hence, one who would know them as they are must study the works defining their position, and become fa- miliar with their life practices by intercourse with them. For this reason, and for the purpose of evading the frivolous in- quiries of the curious, they are very reticent upon religious subjects, preferring generally to allow the visitor to form his own conclusions rather than attempt a definition which might only mislead or convey but a vague idea of their life purposes.
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