USA > New York > Monroe County > Gazetteer and business directory of Monroe County, N.Y. for 1869-70 > Part 11
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When the news of the fall of Fort Sumter and the call of the President for 75,000 men reached Monroe County and was published in the newspapers of Rochester, on Monday, April 15, 1861, every loyal heart beat with emotion and re-
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MONROE COUNTY.
solved that the insult to the flag should be avenged at what- ever cost of life and treasure. The City Council of Roche -- ter unanimously pledged their support to the Nation's cause. and appropriated $10,000 to defray immediate contingent expenses and also fitted up a building for barracks. A pub- lic meeting was held at which addresses were made and re -. olutions adopted, and within one week not less than one thousand men had volunteered to serve their country in put- ting down the Rebellion. A subscription was started for the benefit of the families of volunteers, which in a few days amounted to over $40,000. Prof. Isaac F. Quinby, of the Rochester University, a graduate of West Point, entered at once upon the work of organizing a regiment. On the 3d of May nine companies from this County left for Elmira, where they were united with one company from Livingston County, forming the Thirteenth New York Volunteers. A beautiful stand of colors was presented by the ladies of the County. and on the 29th of May they departed for Washington under command of Isaac F. Quinby, Colonel; Carl Stephan, Lieu- tenant Colonel, and Oliver K. Terry, Major. This regiment. with the Twelyth N. Y., passed through Baltimore on the 30th, being the first volunteers that reached that city after the attack on the Massachusetts Sixth. The regiment was in the battle of Bull Run, and out of 600 engaged, lost twelve killed, twenty-six wounded, and twenty-seven missing. We have not space to follow the regiment in all its campaigns during the two years of its service, nor have we the data to show how many from this County volunteered in the service of our country during the war. Let it suffice to say that Monroe County promptly responded to the various calls and was not behind the foremost in furnishing men and means to sustain the Government until the Stars and Stripes floated triumphantly from every fortress and from every State in our Union.
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GAZETTEER OF TOWNS.
GAZETTEER OF TOWNS.
BRIGHTON was formed from Smallwood, March 25, 1814. The original town of which this was a part was or- ganized April 6, 1806, under the name of Boyle, and em- braced the six towns in the north-east part of the County. Penfield was taken off in 1810 and Perinton in 1812. In 1812 or 1813 the name was changed to Smallwood, and in March, 1814, it was divided into two parts, one taking the name of Brighton and the other of Pittsford. A part of Rochester was taken off in 1834 and Irondequoit in 1839. It is an interior town, lying upon the east bank of the Gen- esee, a little east of the center of the County. Its surface is gently rolling and inclines gradually towards the north. The deep valley of Irondequoit Bay is on the north-east border. Its streams are small brooks flowing into the Genesee and Irondequoit. The soil is a sandy loam in the east and a clay loam upon the river. Near the center are extensive beds of gypsum, formerly yielding a large amount of that article. Gardening is extensively carried on and vegetables to a large amount are furnished for the Rochester market. Several ex- tensive nurseries are located in this town.
Brighton, (p. v.) situated in the north-east part of the town, contains a church, a hotel and about 30 houses. It is a station on the canal and the N. Y. C. R. R., where the two branches from the east unite.
The Glen & Hall Manufacturing Company have exten- sive works near this village for the manufacture of thrashing machines, horse powers and grain drills.
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Samuel A. Heart has an extensive steam saw mill for the manufacture of all kinds of lumber.
West Brighton, (p. v.) is near the Genesee River, south of Rochester, and contains two hotels, a wagon shop, two black- smith shops and about twenty houses. Near this place are located the Monroe County Penitentiary, Alms House, In- sane Asylum, Mount Hope Cemetery and several manufac- tories. The Monroe County Fair Ground of twenty acres is located in this vicinity.
The large Glue and Neats Foot Oil Manufactory of Loder & Chapin is located on the Genesee River, about a mile above Rochester.
The first settlement was made by John Lusk, of Massa- chusetts, who purchased 1500 acres at the head of Ironde- quoit Bay and came on in 1789 and made a beginning, but did not remove his family to this place until the spring of 1790. The township was Number 13 of the 7th Range, and was sold to Gen. Hyde, Prosper Polly, Enos Stone, Job Gil- bert and Joseph Chaplin.
It is probable that Mr. Lusk was one of the original pur- chasers. He, with his son Stephen and his hired man Seely Peet, came to Schenectady, where they put a small stock of provisions upon a bateau in charge of Mr. Lusk, while the son and hired man came by land, driving some cattle. They followed the Indian trail via Onondaga Hollow and Skaneat- eles, some of the way having little more than blazed trees tor a guide. They crossed Cayuga Lake on a raft, their cat- tle swimming. At Canandaigua Mr. Lusk joined them, and constructing an ox sled they made their own road to their place of destination. They erected a log cabin, cleared twelve acres which they sowed to wheat, procured from Ebe- nezer Allan upon the Shaeffer farm. While here they saw none of their own race except the surveyors of the township. In the spring of 1790 Mr. Lusk moved his family from Mas- sachusetts, coming all the way from Schenectady to the head of Irondequoit Bay by water. His sons, Stephen and Eras- tus, came on foot, with Enos Stone and others.
Orange Stone, a son of one of the original proprietors of the township, with his family. Joel Scudder and family, Chauncey and Calvin Hyde and Timothy Allyn were among the other settlers who came in 1790. Mr. Allyn erected a log cabin on a traet of 500 acres, on the creek which bears his name, and lived alone during the summer, when he sold
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out and left. Orange Stone located a little east of Brighton village.
Several of these settlers, with others in other towns, united together and started a drove of cattle and hogs to this new country. Stephen Lusk, Jacob Lobdell and Adams were the drivers. From Utica they traveled about twenty- five miles a day, camping at night. They crossed Cayuga Lake on Durham boats, the passage requiring four days. Their provisions fell short, and from Thursday morning un- til Sunday night they were without food. They were nearly famished on their arrival at Geneva, where their wants were supplied.
Oliver Culver, from Orwell, Vt., and Samuel Spafford, were early settlers of the town. They came out on foot in March, 1796. At Irondequoit Landing they found Asa Dun- bar, a mulatto, with his family, the only occupants of the place. They remained here several weeks, when a large company, consisting of the proprietors of the newly pur- chased Connecticut lands in Ohio, with their surveyors and two families, came up the lake in five boats, on their way to survey the land and commence a settlement. Culver and Spafford joined the expedition. The party landed upon the present site of Cleveland. Mr. Culver was migrating back and forth for several years, but at length became a perma- nent resident of Brighton. In 1798 Judge John Tryon, of Lebanon Springs, became the owner of a tract of land about three miles above the Bay, where he erected a store and warehouse and called the place "Tryon's Town." Augustus Griswold, the agent of the proprietors, cam'e on with five sleigh loads of goods, and in the fall a boat load was brought from Schenectady, the freight upon which was three dollars for 112 pounds. Asa Dayton kept an inn at this place about the same time, and Stephen Lusk started the tanning and shoe making business soon after. The store at this place doing business under the firm name of Tryon & Adams, was the first one west of Canandaigua. A large part of its busi- ness consisted of barter for furs and peltry with the Indians, and white trappers and hunters. An ashery and a distillery were added to the store soon after. For several years there was quite a thriving village at this place, but the shipping business finally went to the mouth of the Genesee, rival stores sprung up in other places, and in 1810 Mr. Griswold left, and a few years later there remained scarcely a trace of the
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"City of Tryon." For several years it was supposed that this would be the great commercial point of this region. In 1802 a log school house was erected, and a Mr. Turner, who had been a clerk in Tryon & Adams' store, became the first teacher. Ira West was the first merchant and Silas Losea, the first blacksmith. John and Solomon Hatch and Oliver Culver built the first saw mill, on Allyn's Creek, in 1806. About the same time Oliver Culver, Orange Stone, George Dailey, Samuel Spafford and Miles Northup cut out a road two rods wide from Orange Stone's to the river, a distance of four miles. In 1811 Mr. Culver built the schooner Clu- rissa, of 47 tons, and drew it to the landing with twenty-six yoke of oxen. He afterwards built three other schooners and put them upon the lake. In 1822 he built a packet boat at Brighton, the first built as far west as that, and the fourth one that was built on the canal. Rev. Solomon Allen, of Northampton, Mass., preached the first sermon and was the first settled minister.
The population of the town in 1865 was 3,590; its area is 14,218 acres.
It contains nine school districts, employing eleven teachers. The number of the school population is 1,292; the number attending school, 770; the average attendance, 300, and the amount expended for school purposes during the year ending September 30, 18GS, was $3,540.10.
CIHELI was formed from Riga, February 22, 1822. Itis an interior town situated upon the west bank of Genesee River, south-west of the center of the County. The surface is level or gently rolling and inclines slightly towards the east. Black Creek flows east through the town near the cen- ter. The soil is a clay loam mixed with sand. South of Black Creek are several peculiar gravelly knolls, one of which, called " Dumpling Hill," is near the river.
Chili, (p. v.) in the north part, contains a church and about 20 dwellings.
North Chili (p. v.) is a station on the N. Y. C. R. R. and contains a church, a hotel and about 25 or 30 houses. A fine building for the public school has recently been erected.
Clifton, (p. v.) in the south-west part, contains a church, a saw and grist mill, a store, several mechanic shops and about 40 dwellings.
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South Chili is a hamlet in the southern part.
The first settlement was made in the east part of the town in 1792, by Joseph Morgan. Andrew Wortman came in 1794, and Stephen Peabody and Col. Josiah Fish and his son Libbeus, from Vermont, came in 1795. Morgan's farm joined Shaeffer's. Mr. Peabody erected a distillery on the Morgan farm a few years afterwards. Col. Fish purchased a farm at the mouth of Black Creek in 1795, and erected a log cabin which he employed the Indians to cover with bark. In April, 1796, he came on with his family. His cabin was a sorry place for a family, being nothing more than a piece of bare earth inclosed by logs and covered with bark. There was neither door, floor, window or chimney, but these were soon constructed after the most approved pioneer style. Among the other early settlers were Jacob Widener and his sons Jacob, Abraham, William and Peter; Joseph Carey, Lemuel and Joseph Wood, Samuel Scott, Joshua Howell, Benj. Bowen, John Kimball, and families named Sottle, Dil- lingham and Franklin, all settling previous to 1800.
The first birth in the town was that of a child of Joseph Wood, in 1799. The first death occurred in the family of Joseph Morgan. James Chapman kept the first store, in 1807, and Joseph Carey built the first mill.
The population of the town in 1865 was 2,242; its area is 20,774 acres.
There are eleven school districts, employing the same num- ber of teachers. The number of the school population is 646; the number attending school, 489 ; the average attend- ance, 205, and the amount expended for school purposes dur- ing the year ending September 30th, 186S, was $4,062.56.
CLARKSON, named from Gen. Clarkson, an exten- sive landholder, who gave 100 acres to the town, was formed from Murray, Orleans Co., April 2, 1819. Union (now Hamlin) was taken off in 1852. It lies on the west border of the County, north of the center. Its surface is level with slight undulations in the south. It is drained in the north- east by Salmon and Little Salmon Crecks. The soil is a sandy loam mixed with clay.
Clarkson, (p. v.) in the south part of the town, contains two churches, a hotel, several stores and mechanic shops and about 300 inhabitants.
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East Clarkson, (p. v.) in the south-east corner, contains a church and about 20 houses.
West Clarkson, in the west part of the town, contains about 30 houses.
The first settlement was made at Clarkson in 1S09, by James Sayres, Moody Truman and Elijah Blodgett. David Forsyth and Deacon Joel Palmer, from Connecticut, came in about the same time. In 1810 Eldridge, John and Isaac Farwell came in and settled a short distance west of Clark- son village. Doctor Abiel Baldwin, from Saratoga, located in the town in 1811.
The first male child born was a son of Mrs. Clarkson : the first female child born was Betsey Palmer, in 1812. Char- lotte Cummings taught the first school, in 1812. The first store was kept by Henry McCall about the year 1810.
The population of the town in 1865 was 1,843; its area is 20,774 acres.
There are ten school districts, employing eleven teachers. The number of the school population is 644; the number at- tending school, 477; the average attendance, 204, and the amount expended for school purposes during the year ending September 30, 1868, was $3,188.92.
GATES, named in honor of Gen. Horatio Gates, was formed March 30, 1802, as Northampton. Its name was changed June 10, 1812. Parma and Riga were taken off in 1808, and Greece in 1822. It is near the geographical cen- ter of the County. The surface is undulating with a gentle inclination towards the north. Genesee River forms a part of the boundary on the south-east corner. It is drained by several small streams. The soil is a fine quality of cal- careous loam, intermixed with clay. The people are en- gaged extensively in agriculture, raising a large amount of fruit and vegetables for the Rochester market.
Gates is a post office about a mile north of Gates Center.
Gates Center contains about a dozen houses with a black- smith and wagon shop.
Cold Water (p. o.) is a station on the N. Y. C. R. R. West Gates is a hamlet.
The east part of Gates is quite thickly settled and is des- tined ere long, to become a part of the city of Rochester.
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An effort was made during the last session of the Legislature to annex it, but failed. The population is from 800 to 1,000. There is a German Catholic Church and a school in connec- tion with it.
The first settlement was made in 1809, by Isaac Dean, from Vermont. John Sickles and Augustus B. Shaw came in the same year. Among the other early settlers were Ezra Mason, Richard, Paul, Philip, Lisle and Lowell Thomas, all of whom came into the town in 1817, or previous to that time. William Williams settled here in 1819.
The first child born in the town was a daughter of Ezra Mason, in 1818. Ira West kept the first store and Isaac Dean erected the first mill.
As that part of Rochester west of the river originally be- longed to Gates, the early. settlements of the town are now included in that city.
Some of the other settlers whose names have not been men- tioned are Joshua Beaman, who settled on the farm he now occupies in 1811 ; he is now 74 years of age. Charles Graves came into the town the same year.
The population of the town in 1865 was 2,783; its area is 13,329 acres.
There are nine school districts, employing the same num- ber of teachers. The number of the school population is 1,- 191 ; the number attending school, 616; the average attend- ance, 238, and the amount expended for school purposes dur- ing the year ending September 30, 1868, was 82,259.64.
GREECE was formed from Gates, March 22, 1822. It lies near the center, on the north border of the County. Genesee River forms its east boundary and Lake Ontario the north. The surface is gently rolling with a slight inclination towards the lake. It is drained by several small streams which flow into the bays that indent the shore. There are six of these bays, and their names, beginning at the west, are Braddocks Bav, and Cranberry, Long, Buck, Round and Little Ponds. They are of little importance in a commercial view on account of the changing sandbars at their mouths. The soil of the town is a clay loam with large tracts of drift sand along the lake shore.
Charlotte, (p. v.) in the north-east corner, near the mouth of the river, is a U. S. port of entry in the Genesee District, and the lake port for Rochester, seven miles above. It con-
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tains two churches, a light house, a ship yard, a steam mill for sawing and dressing lumber, a large establishment for the manufacture of iron and a population of about 500. The Royal Mail Line of Steamers, running from Montreal to Hamilton, stop at this place. Steamers also run from this place to Colborne, Coburg, Port Hope and other Canadian ports.
West Greece, (p. v.) on the line of Parma, contains two churches, a store, a hotel and about 30 dwellings.
North Greece (p. v.) contains a church, a hotel, a carriage shop and about 20 dwellings.
South Greece (p. v.) contains a church, a store, a wire weaving establishment and about 25 dwellings.
Greece (p. v.) contains a church, a hotel, a carriage shop and 20 houses.
Hanford's Landing, (p. v.) in the south-east corner, at the head of navigation on Genesee River, contains two hotels, several mechanic shops and 25 dwellings.
Greece Center and Read's Corners are hamlets.
The first settlement was made at the mouth of the Gen- esee, by William Hencher and family, in 1792. Mr. Hen- cher was a native of Brookfield, Mass. He was engaged in "Shay's Rebellion," and took refuge from the authorities in the wilds of Western New York. Hle first located at New- town Point, but in 1791, with his son William, he went to the mouth of the Genesee River, where he found Walker, the Ranger, living in a log hut on the east side of the river. Having decided to settle at the mouth of the river he erected a log cabin on the west side, cut wild grass at Long Pond for the stock which they intended to bring on, and returned for the family, having in the meantime laid in a stock of fe- ver and ague which lasted most of the following winter. In February, 1792, upon ox sleds, he and his family started for their new home. They came via Seneca Lake and Catha- rine's Town to Irondequoit, where the road terminated. From this point they cut their own road to the Genesee Falls, and thence down the river on the east side to Walker's, where the family remained until the last of March, when they crossed over and took possession of the first house erected upon the lake shore between the Genesee and Fort Niagara. The family consisted of the parents, one son and seven
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daughters. Mr. Hencher cleared a few acres and soon com- menced a brisk traffic with boatmen, emigrants and Indians, who frequented this region. He carried on quite an exten- sive trade in fish and other articles, upon which he made large profits. He purchased 600 acres of land which he paid for twice, the first title proving defective, and supported a large family. Some of the hogs brought here by Mr. Hen- cher became wild and were a match for all other animals wild or tame that inhabited the country. One boar became so powerful that he was alone more than a match for a bear or for all the dogs in the settlement. Dens of rattle snakes were all along the banks of the river below the Falls. In the spring, when warm weather first commenced, they would come out and lie in the sun so torpid that multitudes of them could be killed in a very few hours. They would go upon their summer rambles and return on the approach of cold weather. On one occasion several settlers assembled to- gether and went up the river on a hunt, killing 300 rattle- snakes in one day.
John Love settled here in 1793. Messrs. Hencher and Love, on one occasion, went to Shaeffer's, near Scottsville, and purchased some corn, took it to the old Allan mill, ground it themselves, carried it on their backs to a point a short distance above Hanford's Landing, where they made ropes of bark and let it down into a canoe. Game was very abundant. Braddock's Bay was a famous place for trapping otter, mink and muskrats, while geese and ducks were so abundant that their eggs could be procured in any desirable quantity.
Zadoc Granger and Gideon King settled at the Lower Falls in 1796. The place was formerly called King's Land- ing, now Hanford's Landing. In 1796-7 there was quite an accession to the population, consisting of Eli Granger, Thom- as King, Simon King, Elijah Kent, Frederic Bushnell and Samuel Latta. In 1799 Eli Granger and Abner Migells built a schooner at the Landing; it was the first merchant vessel built by Americans on Lake Ontario. Frederic Hanford kept the first store in 1810, it was the first one on the river between Avon and the lake. Silas (). Smith opened a store at the Landing the same year, but in 1813 removed to the village of Rochester, which was just attracting the attention of settlers.
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In 1810 DeWitt Clinton passed through this town, with others, looking for a route for a canal. He says in his jour- nal : "We dined and slept at Hanford's tavern, who is also a merchant and carries on a considerable trade with Canada. There is a great trade between this country and Montreal in staves, potash and flour." He says the exports this season (1810) were 1,000 barrels of flour, 1,000 barrels of pork, 1,000 barrels of potash and over 100,000 staves.
In 1798 Bradford and Moses King, Dr. Stone, --- Gra- ham, and four brothers by the name of Rowe, settled in the neighborhood. The country was very sickly, and many deaths occurred. Asa Rowe died soon after coming in and his brothers were so sick at the time as to be unable to go for help to lay him out and bury him until he had been dead twenty-four hours. After recovering from their sickness they returned to Oneida County. The first settlers procured their first boards by repairing the old Allan saw mill at the Falls, but within a few years Nathaniel Jones built a saw mill on a small stream that flows into the river near the Landing. Dr. Zacheus Colby and Dr. Sylvester Atchinson were early physicians in this town. The first marriage was that of Thomas Lee and a daughter of William Hencher.
The Atchinsons, from Connecticut, settled at Braddock's Bay at a very early period. Bezaleel, Stephen and John, were there as early as March, 1796. They came from Na- ples, via Canawagus, crossing the river on the ice. At the Allan mill they found a hunter whom they hired to pilot them to the Bay, not having the benefit of marked trees. They were three days in making their journey. On their arrival they made a shelter of the boards from their sleds and some blankets, in which they lived six weeks until they could build a log cabin without boards, nails or glass. They started from Naples with four oxen, lost one on the way and two soon after their arrival, leaving only one ox for all their team work. With this ox they logged eight acres and pre- pared it for summer crops. Michael Beach had settled there the previous year. George Goodhue, Silas Leonard, Timo- thy Madden and their families, settled in the town within a few years after the. Atchinsons. Mr. Leonard went to the salt works in Onondaga Co. the next winter to chop, and was killed by the fall of a tree. Jonathan Leonard, his son, af- terwards married a daughter of William Hencher. Like other early settlers in this region they suffered greatly from
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sickness. Money was scarce and nothing but cattle could be sold for cash. Mrs. Bezaleel Atchinson lived eight months without seeing a white woman. Indians often came to the Bay to hunt, trap and pick cranberries. Salmon were abun- dant and large quantities of them could be taken in a short time. Beavers were here when the settlement commenced but soon disappeared.
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