USA > New York > Orleans County > Gazetteer and business directory of Orleans County, N.Y. for 1869 > Part 12
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The first birth was that of Samuel Crippen, Jr., in 1810, and the first marriage that of Cyrus Daniels and Elizabeth Freeman, July 4, 1812. The first inn was kept by William Sibley in 1811, and the first store by William Perry in 1815, Orin Gleason taught the first school, in the winter of 1813 and '14. The first saw mill was built in 1813 by Henry Drake, and the first grist mill by Jonathan Gates, in 1822. Daniel Pratt was the first Town Clerk.
Walter Fairfield, whose name has already been mentioned as one of the first settlers, came from Pittsford, Vt., and located on lot No. 5, in the Second Range, where his son now resides. He paid $2.50 per acre for his land. From the time of his arrival in 1810 until 1813, he says their provisions were chiefly fish, potatoes and turnips. The expense of going to mill was so great, the grist would not pay expenses ..
The first church organized in the town was of the Baptist de- nomination, in 1816.
Eleazer McCarty settled about two miles west of Graines village, in 1810. In 1812 he raised a military company, and in Deceni- ber, on learning that the British had burned Lewiston, Youngstown and other places, rallied his men with all possible dispatch and marched to the front. John Proctor was the only man in the neighborhood who had a horse, and William Burlingame went in the night to get him to go to Murray and notify the people of the
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anticipated British raid. McCarty and his company remained on duty about three weeks and returned to their homes.
The population of Gaines in 1865 was 2,355, and its area 21,149 acres.
There are twelve school districts, employing fourteen teachers. The number of the school population is 781; number enrolled in the schools, 670 ; the average attendance, 337, and the amount ex- pended for school purposes during the year ending September 30, 1868, $3,907.58.
KENDALL, named in honor of Amos Kendall, Postmaster General, was taken from Murray, April 7, 1837. It is situated upon the lake shore, in the east part of the County, and is crossed by Bald Eagle Creek, near the center, and Sandy Creek in the south-east part. Near the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek, the lake has encroached upon the land to some extent, and whole fields have been washed away. The surface is level and the soil for the most part is a sandy loam, with a strip of clay across the south part. There are several salt springs in the town.
Kendall, (p. v.,) situated about a while east of the center of the town, contains four churches, viz., Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Universalist ; a school house, three stores, a number of me- chavic shops of various kinds and about 200 inhabitants. A Lodge of Good Templars was organized in February, 1868, and is now in a very flourishing condition, numbering about one hundred members.
West Kendall, (p. v.,) situated about a mile west of the center, contains a Methodist church, a wagon shop, a blacksmith shop, a grocery and about fifteen dwellings.
Kendall Mills (p. v.,) is in the south-east part, partly in Union, Monroe County.
East Kendall is a post office near the center of the east border.
The first settlement was commenced in 1812, by Samuel Bates, from Chittenden County, Vermont. Benjamin Morse, Alvin Manly, Amos Randall, David Jones and Nathaniel Brown, located in the town in 1815. Mr. Morse located on lot 122, and still re- sides upon the same farm, at the age of eighty-two years.
Mr. Manly came from Massachusetts with three others, and, af- ter remaining awhile, returned to his native State. In February, Isis, with his brother, Mr. Twitchell and Nathaniel Brown, with their families, he started with three yoke of oxen and a covered waron for this new settlement. Their journey over mountains, covered with ice and snow, and across rivers unbridged, was per- formed in twenty-two days. It is not easy for us at this day, who can travel the same distance in as many hours, in good warm cars,
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to realize the hardships endured. On their arrival they moved into a little shanty and called it home. Potatoes were $1.00 a bushel, wheat $2.50 and pork twenty-five cents a pound, with no money in circulation.
Felix Auger was from Vermont, and settled on lot 144, and Amos Randall, from the same State, located on lot 123. Rev. Stephen Randall, from Williston, Vt., located on lot 135 in 1816, and conducted the first religious services held in the town. Ansel and George Balcom located on lot 159 in 1816; Reuben Rablee and Osmon Spicer located on lot 119, the former in 1819 and the latter in 1822. Robert, Caleb and James M. Clark formed a set- tlement in 1816, which was called Clark's Settlement. John H. Thomas settled on lot 107 in 1818, and Alanson Soule, from Greene County, on lot 47, the same year.
The first birth was that of Bartlett B. Morse, in Nov., 1815; the first marriage was that of James Aiken and Esther A. Bates, March 2, 1817; and the first death that of a son of George Balcom, in 1816. The first store was kept by Hiram Thompson in 1823, and the first inn by Lyman Spicer the same year. The first saw mill was built by Ammon Auger and Ebenezer Boyden, in 1819, and the first school was taught by Gerdon Balcom the same year.
David Jones located on lot 145 in 1815. He was from Wales; came to America in 1801 and settled in New Jersey, where he re- mained until 1808, when he removed to Ontario County. John Farnsworth took up lot 130, in 1815; he was from Franklin County, Vermont. In 1816 Stephen Bliss and James Weed came in; the former settled on lot 129 and the latter on lot 117. Ethan Graham settled on lot 33 in 1817. Zebulon Rice came from Wind- sor County, Vermont, and located on lot 68 in December, 1815.
Robert Clark came with his father, William Clark, in 1817, and located at Clark's Settlement, where three brothers of his father had previously settled. He says :
" When my father arrived there was not a pound of flour or pork in the Settlement except what he brought with him, and the next day the pork, flour and whisky were divided among the neighbors. One reason for the entire destitution among the settlers was the an- ticipation of my father's arrival, for they all knew that he would bring a temporary supply. The settlers in anticipation of our ar- rival had peeled elm bark, in the month of June previous, sufficient for the roof of a house, and on our arrival they commenced cutting logs for a house and cleared a spot large enough to set it, and in a few days it was raised and finished in pioneer style."
The floor of this cabin was of split basswood, hewn on one side, as was the custom in those days. It covered about two-thirds the surface, the remainder was for fire-place and hearth. The door was a bed blanket and the light came through the cracks between
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the logs, thus doing away with the necessity of windows. An open place in the roof let out the smoke, and the fire-place occupied !! entire end of the house; the hearth was the earth. Soon after a door was made and temporary windows. The cracks were ti !!... i and plastered on the outside with mud. Provisions gave ont again and the unripe wheat was hulled and eaten in milk. T .. . gun secured a little venison, which was a luxury in the way of meat. When the wheat was harvested it must be carried to Rochester to mill. The following account is in his own language :
"I started with a team (oxen of course) with a grist of about twelve bushels, which was all the oxen could draw with the neces- sary fodder and my own provisions. I staid at Murray Four Corners (now Clarkson) the first night, and the next day, a little before night, I arrived in Rochester, chained the oxen to the wagon and fed them for the night. I slept in the mill, upon the bags, un. til the grist was ground, about daylight. After feeding my team and eating my venison, I started for home, which I reached about sundown the third day out. The next morning I guess all the neighbors had short-cake for breakfast."
This sketch gives an idea of the hardships and privations of the pioneers generally of this region.
The population of Kendall in 1865 was 1,873, and its area 20,- 306 acres.
The number of school districts in which there are school houses in this town is ten, employing eleven teachers; the number of children of school age is 491; number attending school, 381; average attendance, 171; amount expended for school purposes the last year was $2,585.33.
MURRAY was formed from Northampton, (now Gates, Mon- roe Co.,) April 8, 1808. Sweden was taken off in 1813; Clarkson in 1819, and Kendall in 1837. It lies upon the east bordes of the County, between Kendall and Clarendon, and is crossed by Saudy Creek, two branches of which unite in the north part of Murray. The channel of this stream has been worn by the action of the wa- ter to the depth of seventy or seventy-five feet, in some places, below the surface of the land. . The embankment over which the New York Central R. R. crosses the gulf is one of the largest on the line of the road. The surface of the town is generally level, except in the south-west part, where it is rolling. The soil generally is a sandy loam, but in some places clayey. Two sulphur springs and several salt springs are near Holley; from the latter salt was for. merly manufactured, but the works were closed after the opening of the Erie Canal. The Medina sand-stone approaches near the sur- face, and quarries have been opened near Hulberton, from which valuable building stone has been obtained.
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Ilolley, (p. v.) named in honor of Myron Holley, one of the first canal commissioners, was incorporated September 3, 1850, and is a station on the Canal and Railroad, in the south-east part of the town. It contains three churches, viz., Baptist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic; à union school, a newspaper office, a bank, a hotel, a foundry, a grist-mill, a stave, barrel and shingle factory, several stores and mechanic shops and a population of about 500.
IIulberton, .(p. o.) in the central part of the town, contains one Methodist church, a. hotel, a store, two groceries and about thirty dwellings.
. Sandy Creek, (Murray p. o.) in the north part, contains a hotel, a store, a grist-mill and about forty inhabitants.
Hindsburgh, (p. v.) in the west part, on the canal, contains a store, a grocery aud about twenty dwellings.
Brockville is a hamlet and
Murray Depot is a station on the railroad.
The first settlement of this town was commenced in 1809, or previous to that, by Epaphras Mattison. Daniel Wait, Joshua Rock- wood and Peleg Sisson were among the other early settlers.
The first birth in the town was that of Betsey Mattison in 1811; the first marriage, that of Zimri Perigo and Leucetta Spatford, January 17, 1815, and the first death, that of Mrs. Daniel Reed, in 1814. Epaphras Mattison kept the first inn, in 1809, and Isaac Leach the first store, in 1815 ; Perry & Luce built the first grist- mill, in 1816; and Fanny Furguson taught the first school, in the summer of 1814. Judson Downs came to Murray in 1818. Ile was an officer of the State Militia and had served as a volunteer in the war of 1812-15. On the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, he became thoroughly aroused, and though sixty-four years old, raised a company of Cavalry and took the field. He served in Maryland and in the vicinity of Washington, shunning no dangers, hardships or fatigue. At length his health failed and he was com- pelled to resign. Ile died in 1864. Those who knew Major Downs say he was always prompt and ready to do what duty required. When constable he was always intrusted with as much business as he could do, and in every position to which he was called, sustained himself with honor.
Aretas Pierce came to Murray in 1815, and located about two miles north of Farwell's Mills; he was then a boy of sixteen. He says, "We lived for two weeks in a house built for a school house, and during that time built a log house two miles north of Farwell's Mills. Our post-office was at Clarkson, and postage was twenty- five cents." "The year 1816 was known as the cold season ; they were obliged to go to Palmyra and pay $1.25 per bushel for rye,
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and $25 per barrel for pork. In June, 1817, Mr. Pierce says his father went to Vermont with a team to move a family to this place. During the father's absence his family got out of provisions and had no means of procuring any. They had cows and a good supply of milk when they could be found. When the wheat had become suf- ficiently mature it was rubbed out by hand or spreal upon a cloth and thrashed out upon the floor, and then boiled and eaten in milk. The sufferings of the early settlers were very great.
Artemas Daggett came in the spring and took up a lot northt of Pierce's. John Hallock and Samuel Miller came in the same year. Miller had a wife and two small children and was very poor .- Daggett hired Miller to chop for him for one dollar a day and board himself. All he had to eat most of the time was corn meal and water, but he did not complain or even tell of his destitution.
Ebenezer Fox settled about one and a half miles east of Murray Depot. He had a wife and five children, and for several weeks all they had to eat was what they could pick up in the woods, and the best they could find was the inside bark of the beech tree. Mrs. Fox had a young babe, and her next oldest being in feeble health, she nursed both to keep them from starving. Ashes were the chief resource for money in this as well as in other parts of the County. They were carried to Clarkson and Gaines, where they were sold for three dollars per hundred.
John Hallock settled near where the railroad crosses the high- way. He was out in the woods, west of his house, one day, when he discovered an old bear and two cubs. Desiring to capture the young ones he armed himself with a club and " went for them," catched them by the hind legs and started for home. Being sus- pended so suddenly and unceremoniously, they naturally yelle.l and made a great ado, which called their mother to the rescue. Hallock continued on his course until he was pursued too closely by the enraged bear, then dropped the cubs and charged upon her with his club. Seeing her cubs released she started off, calling them to follow, and when at a safe distance Hallock again seized the cubs and again ran towards home; this was continued again and again, until he secured his prize. " He was a large, tall and strong man, and when excited, was the worst looking man I ever saw," says my informant. It was said that his look's were what saved him in this encounter.
The population of Murray in 1865 was 2,616, and its area 18,451 acres.
The number of school districts is twelve, employing thirteen teachers. The number of children of school age is 895; number attending school, 647; average attendance 320, and the amount
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expended for school purposes for the year ending September 30, 1868, was $4,857.96.
RIDGEWAY, named from the Ridge Road, which passes east and west through it on the Lake Ridge, was formed from Ba- tavia, (Genesee Co.) June 8, 1812. Gaines was taken off in 1816, Shelby in 1818, and Yates and a part of Carlton in 1822. It lies upon the west border of the County, between Yates and Shelby, and is drained by Johnson's and Oak Orchard Creeks and their tributaries. At Medina is a beautiful cascade, about thirty feet high, and at Oak Orchard, where the stream crosses the Lake Ridge, is another fall of less hight. There is another fall at Jeddo, where the creek of the same name crosses the Lake Ridge. The surface is generally level and the soil is a sandy loam. Several salt springs are found in this town from which salt was manufac- tured as early as 1805. The works were erected by the Holland Company, about one and a half miles north of Medina, and two roads were opened about the same time, one south to the Old Buffalo Road and the other east to the. Oak Orchard Road, called the Salt Works Road. In and near the village of Medina are ex- tensive quarries from which building and flagging stone are ob- tained in large quantities and sent to Rochester, Buffalo and other places on the canal. The upper layers cleave off in smooth slabs, from two to five inches thick. The succeeding layers are thicker, some of them, in the lower strata, several feet.
Medina, (p. v.,) situated upon the south border of the town, partly in Shelby, was incorporated March 30, 1832. It is an im- portant station upon the canal and railroad, and contains five churches, viz., Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Roman Catholic; a union school, three hotels, four grist and flour- ing mills, three foundries and machine shops, three steam stave and heading mills, a sash, blind and planing mill, a linseed oil mill, gas works, a turning shop, a newspaper office and about 3,500 iu- habitants. The village is regularly laid out and the streets are shaded by beautiful rows of trees. There are several very fine business blocks, of Medina sandstone, which would be an ornament to any town and are not surpassed in this County.
The first Trustees of the village, elected May 1st, 1832, were Justus Ingersoll, Asahel Woodruff, Nathan Sawyer, James E. Evans and Halsted H. Parker.
The Public School is under the management of a Board of Edu- cation, consisting of nine members. The course of study embraces six grades, including the higher mathematics and languages.
Ridgeway Corners (p. v.,) contains a Universalist church, a hotel, a store and about 150 inhabitants.
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Jeddo, (p. v.,) in the west part of the town, contains a saw mill, a grist mill, two blacksmiths shops, a wagon shop, a cooper shop, a shoe store and about thirty houses.
Oak Orchard (p. o.,) is a hamlet and contains one store. There is a Baptist church in the south-west part of the town.
Knowlesville, (p. v.,) on the Erie Canal, in the east part of the town, contains three churches, several mills and manufactories, and is a flourishing village. It received its name from William Knowles, the first settler of the village.
The settlement of this town was commenced by Ezra D. Barnes. from DeRuyter, Madison County, in 1809. Israel Douglas, Dyer Sprague, Otis Turner, Dr. William White, David Hooker and S. B. Murdock, were among the early settlers. Mr. Douglas was a native of Connecticut, but removed to Vermont with his father when quite small, and remained there until 1806, when he removed to Monroe Co., and, in 1810, to Ridgeway, at that time forming a part of Batavia. He was the first magistrate appointed within the pres- ent limits of Orleans Co., having been appointed previous to 1812; he was also elected Town Clerk at the first election after the forma- tion of Ridgeway, and subsequently held several other offices, dis- charging their duties in such a manner as to show that he was one of the best business men in the County.
The late Judge Otis Turner was one of the early settlers, and came here in 1811. Ile came with an ox team from Palmyra. transporting his family and household goods. There were no bridges across the streams, and the passage of the Genesee above the falls was attended with great peril. Taking the near ox by the horns he made the passage in safety, and, proceeding west by the Ridge Road, arrived at Oak Orchard, where he located. Dr. Wil- liam White became the neighbor of Judge Turner soon after, and in company they erected a saw mill on the creek, between Oak Orchard and Medina. A mill had previously been erected at Me- dina by the Holland Company. The salt works at Oak Orchard were first worked by Israel Bennett in 1818. He bored about one hundred and fifty feet and obtained water of good strength, and at one time had seventy kettles in use for boiling purposes. The set- tlers in this region obtained their supply of salt at this place for several years. In 1823 Henry Boardinan became proprietor, and after the completion of the canal the works were abandoned.
William C. Tanner and his brother, Josias Tanner, came from Vermont in 1816 with an ox team. The journey was performed in twenty-one days. In 181; he became a Lieutenant of Militia, and in 1826 received the commission of Brig. General, the first in the County. Elder J. Morse also came in 1816. The sufferings of the early settlers can scarcely be realized at this day. At one time
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the Elder's cow lost her bell and was gone eight days, his stock of provisions was reduced to a small piece of bread and some maple sugar. He could get no flour and the grain in the field was not ripe. The small amount of bread was divided among the children, and some potato tops were boiled and eaten with vinegar, but the stomach was too weak to digest such food and rejected the whole. The next day he called on a neighbor who divided his seanty allow- ance of flour with him, and that, made into a pudding and eaten with molasses, was one of the sweetest meals he ever tasted.
Seymour Murdock came to Ridgeway in June 1810, and is said by some to be the first settler. The memory of the "oldest in- habitants" is not always alike,' consequently we cannot always know what the facts are. Murdock raised a large family of chil- dren, eight sons and four daughters, eight of whom settled in this town. S. B. Murdock was a delegate to the first convention that met in the County to nominate County officers. He was the first commissioned officer of the Militia in the town, and was one of the Board that sat as the first Court Martial in Orleans County. Ili- rain and Wm. Murdock came into the town in 1810, and are now living. George Davis came in 1810, and a daughter of his about seven years old was the first person who died in the town.
Miss Betsey Murdock taught the first school in the summer of 1814; her school house was a barn which is still standing. The first school house was erected in 1815, and the school was taught by Lucy Judson. The first male teacher was Cyrus Morrison. Eli Moore kept the first store and the first inn in the town.
F. H. Daniels came in 18'1 ; P. H. Hooker in 1812, and is now living where he first settled, on the Ridge Road, east of the Cor- ners. Witter Stewart came in 1811, raised a company for the war of 1812, and served as Captain during the war. William Cobb, Asel and H. N. Parker and Daniel F. Hunt, came in 1816. Amos Barrett came to Ridgeway in March, 1812, with a sled drawn by an ox and a horse. Jeremiah Webb came to Murray in 1815, and remained there until 1820, then removed to Shelby, where he re- mained until 1865, when he came to Ridgeway. Joseph Davis, Christopher Servoss, Jonathan Barlow, Wm. Jackson, Henry Mc- Neal, George W. Martin, Samuel Church, Jacob L. Weld and Ly- man Bates, were among the early settlers.
The first town meeting of Ridgeway, was held April 6th, 1813. Oliver Booth was elected Supervisor ; Israel Douglass, Town Clerk ; Lansing Bailey, James Carpenter and Henry Lovewell, Assessors; John Proctor. Collector ; John Anderson and Otis Turner, Over- svers of the Poor; Samuel Clark, Gideon Freeman and William White, Commissioners of Highways ; John Proctor, Minoris Day, Otis Turner and Robert Garter, Constables; James Mather and
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Eli Moore, Pound keepers. At this meeting $250.00 were raised for roads and bridges, and they "voted that the town of Ridge- way be divided into two towns, and that the line dividing the second and third ranges of townships be the division line."
The second annual town meeting was held April 5th, 1814. A bounty of five dollars on wolves killed in the town, was voted .- "Voted to raise double the sum of school money that should be drawn from the State for the use of schools." School Commis- sioners were allowed $1.12} per day for services visiting schools. In 1815 they "voted to raise three times as much for schools as shall be apportioned to the town from the school fund." The bounty on wolves was raised to fifteen dollars.
In 1816, " Voted that if any man suffer a Canada thistle to go to seed on his land knowingly, shall forfeit one dollar to the poor." Adjourned to Ellicott's Mills.
O. TURNER, Clerk.
At a special meeting held to discuss the subject of a division of the town, it was " Voted that this town be divided on the town- ship line, between the 14th and 15th Townships, in the 3d and 4th Ranges, and that application be made to the next Legislature ac- cordingly."
"Voted that the first town meeting in the new town be held near the mills of Andrew A. Ellicott, and that the first town meet- ing in the town of Ridgeway be held at the house of Eli Moore."
At a special meeting held Sept. 30th, 1819, Jeremiah Brown was appointed " Agent to wait on Joseph Ellicott respecting the land which the Holland Company intend to give each town of six miles square."
April 12th, 1823, a special town meeting was called "For rais- ing a sum of money to build a bridge over a ditch which runs across the Ridge Road in District No. 1, and other purposes." The town also gave the Commissioners of Highways " sufficient au- thority to make such a compromise as they may think proper with those who first opened the drain which caused the above ditch, and if they cannot get a satisfactory compromise that they may com- mence by prosecution." In 1828, "Voted to raise all the money for the use of schools that the law will allow." This certainly is an indication that there was no lack of interest in the education of the rising generation.
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