USA > New York > Cattaraugus County > Dayton > Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York : comprising the villages of Cottage, Wesley, Markham, Dayton, South Dayton, and Fair Plain > Part 2
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It will be observed there is nothing in the first act telling when it is to take effect; but presumably at that time all acts took effect immediately, unless some other time was specified in the act
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DESCRIPTIVE.
OTHING in the history of the American people is more remarkable, or more indicative of their real character, than the lofty courage, stern endurance, unflagging industry and readiness for every re- quirement, shown by the pioneers, or early settlers, in all parts of our land. Nearly one hundred years ago they made their way into this trackless wilderness to build up homes and a profitable business for themselves and their children. Their energy and perseverance were joined to a far seeing good judgment, to whose wisdom the results give testimony. No doubt they sometimes gave indulgence to their imaginations, but they could hardly have even dreamed, in those days of trials and discouragements of the prosperous condition of the town today and of its glorious prospect for the future. The territory comprising the present town of Dayton was set off from the Town of Perrysburg, Feb. 7, 1835, and comprised then as now an area of 23, 137 acres. It is described in the survey of the Holland Land Company as township five, in range nine, and is bounded on the east by Persia, on the south by Leon, on the West by Villenova and on the north by Perrysburg. The surface is much less broken than that of some of the surrounding towns. The central, western and southern portions are generally level but the northern and north eastern are undulating. The southern part was formerly a swanıp with the outlet through the Conewango Creek. This has been drained and improved until it now forms a fine farming country. The soil of the flats is largely clay and loam while that of the highlands is a light loam mixed with gravel. With the exception of an occasional opening, which had been burned over, the whole town was formerly covered with a dense growth of heavy forest. The flats were covered with choice pine, while on the highlands were to be found all the hard woods common to this climate, and some hemlock. Here and there a clump of the old forest remains, but the valuable pine has been almost entirely cut off. Lumbering has always been an important industry of the town. And today a large part of the postage and revenue stamps manufactured by the government are made out of paper wood cut from these swamp lands. Farming now forms the chief pursuit with dairying as the leading industry. No better farms nor any more prosperous and up-to-date farmers can be found than those of Dayton. This region has long been famous for the excellent butter and cheese which are made here. Through the northeast corner of the town there is a water shed. From this the small streams on the north run down into the Cattaraugus Creek and thence to the St. Lawrence,
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while on the south they find their way through the Conewango, through the Ohio and Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. The eastern branch of the Conewango which drains this region to the south has recently been straightened and deepened by state and local authorities. The Erie and the Buffalo & Southwestern railroads afford excellent s hipping facilities to all points. To these roads is due to a great extent the manufacturing and merchantile life of the town. They give a market for the products, and vitality and shape to the industrial energies. But the expansion of her material interests did not outreach her social and intellectual progress. Her religious and educational institutions have grown as her needs have increased. They were established with wisdom and judgment. They have grown with her growth and have changed with her phases, always meeting her every requirement. Of her ten churches, and ten schools, each will be set forth in due proportion and in its proper place in these pages.
The history of Dayton is the story of a thrifty, progressive and an upright people. The departed ones have left records of endurance and perseverance, which are fitting examples to the coming generations. Her sons have been brave and her daughters fair. Some of her public men have become famous and have held high positions of honor and trust. She has sent out many noble sons who have made their mark in the world. She has enjoyed prosperity with moderation and has borne disaster with fortitude. She has honored domestic and social virtue and has discharged with fidelity every domestic duty. In peace her record has been admirable and in war it has been glorious. Her people have ever exemplified those sterling and forceful attributes which mark the best American citizen. Their history can best be read in considering the villages which they have built, Wesley, Cottage, Markham, Dayton, South Dayton, and Fair Plain.
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HISTORICAL.
HE PIONEER settlements were made in the northern and eastern parts of Dayton. A list of the lands owned in 1819 contains the following names :
MRS. SILAS NASH, Wife of the First Supervisor of the Town of Dayton,
Lot.
Heman Merrill
31 Chauncey Hammond 39
31 Bela H. Redfield 39
32 Samuel Hammond 39
37 Samuel K. Strickland 40
37 Abraham Hale 32
James M. Shaw
31 F. A. Redfield
Lot. Lot.
Ralph Johnson
30 Hiram Howard
Wm. Blaisdell
30 Jebediah Lee
Anson C. Merrill
30 Lyman Wood
Timothy M. Shaw
31 Nathaniel Blaisdell
37 Stephen Parsell 40
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Lot.
Lot.
Lot.
John Parsell
40 Simeon Dryer
53 Arza Corbett 59
George Babcock
40 Luther Hubbard
53 A. Starkweather 59
Thos. Newcomb
46 Jeremiah Pratt
53 Ephraim Smith 60
Sylvanus Finch
47 Azariah Darbee
54 Ephaphras Smith 60
Ezra T. Winship
47 Peter Allen
23 Eldad Corlit
61
Chester McDaniels
47 Chester Darbee
54 Moses Morgan
62
Ebenezer Roberts
48 Caleb Webb
55 William Reed
63
Aaron Nash
48 Josiah Webb
56 Silas Nash
64
Nathan Bumpus
52 Leman H. Pitcher
58 Simeon Bunce
64
Lyman Bumpus
52 James P. Pitcher
58 Don S. Downer
64
Some of these resided on their lands at this time, and nearly all became actual settlers in the course of ten years. A few of the first only we notice here in detail. In the fall of 1810, Simeon Bunce, and his brother in-law Silas Nash,* left Otsego County to find a home in the Western part of the
MRS. SIMEON BUNCE,
Wife of the First Settfer of the Town of Dayton.
state. They had heard of Chautauqua County, and determined to locate there; and when they took up their lands on lot 64, now known as Cottage, they believed that they were in that County. Each articled a hundred acres, at eighteen shillings per acre and at once made substantial improvements. Mr. Nash built a log house the same year, which was the first in the town In this humble of Dayton, and which his family occupied.
* We endeavored to secure a picture of Mr. Nash but after a diligent search became convinced that he never had one taken.
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HEMAN MERRILL.
MRS. HEMAN MERRILL.
See Cottage Section.
pioneer home occurred the first birth in the town, in June, 1811,-a son-who was named Aras. Here also, the following year in the month of February, the angel of death came to claim his first victim in the town, Dewitt, another son of Silas Nash; and thus the house of rejoicing was turned into a house of mourning. Silas Nash put up the first saw mill in the town, in 1817, on the present site of the saw mill at Cottage owned by M. W. Wilcox. Mr. Nash was Supervisor of Perrysburg, and the first Supervisor of the Town of Dayton. He continued for many years the leader among the early settlers, holding many positions of honor and trust. His descendants also became energetic and active citizens, some of them attaining prominent positions in the affairs of the County.
Simeon Bunce was a native of Connecticut, having been born at Hartford, June 8, 1788. To that state he returned in 1813 and brought his father's family to the home he had made, on lot 64. His father Rory Bunce was born in Hartford, Conn., Jan. 9, 1758, and died June 27, 1812. He served in the revolutionary war. His wife Elizabeth Olcutt, born in Connecticut January 14, 1763, she died at Cottage, July 24, 1843. Simeon, died at Cottage, Nov. 26, 1875. On December 28, 1814, he married Esther, daughter of Joseph and Rebecca (Putney) Brownell, who died September 20, 1870. Their children were Harriet, Sanford, and Nelson. Nelson alone is living and occupies the old homestead at Cottage. Nelson Bunce was born in Dayton, Nov. 30, 1821, he married Katharine Wheeler Nov. 22, 1843. She died March 24, 1891. Their children were Sanford C., Maria S., who married A. L. Roberts, and now resides at South Dayton; Francelia, who married
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Geo. Hubbard in Jan. 1871, she died Jan. 6, 1886; Jay B, who now resides at Dayton; Simeon A., and Nellie L., who married V. C. Reynolds, and now resides in Pennsylvania. Timothy M. Shaw came from Herkimer County, in 1814, and located a piece of land on lot 31. To this place he brought his family, consisting of a wife and one child, the following year he was accompanied by Heman and Anson C. Merrill from Onondaga County. (See pioneer residents. ) The former settled on the same lot as Mr. Shaw, and Anson C .. on lot 30. Both occupied these places until their death, leaving many descendants. Mr. Shaw died in 1872. Ralph Johnson from Connecticut, came in the later part of 1815 and settled on lot 30. He was a tanner and currier by trade and followed the business in town until 1865. He was also an early inn-keeper and the first postmaster of the Dayton postoffice. (See Pioneer residents. ) Joshua and Caleb Webb, from Madison County, came the same year, 1815, and settled on lots 55 and 56, being the first in that locality. At the house of the former was held the first religious meeting the following year. Ten years later they became inn-keepers at what is now Cottage. The Webb farm was sold in 1833 to John H. Rice, and is now owned by William B. Smith.
At South Dayton, on lot 58, Leman H. and James P. Pitcher were the first settlers in the year 1816. They did not remain long but sold their interest to M. C. Nickerson, who afterwards became a Mormon. Nickerson sold to a Mr. Tweedy, he to Christopher Smith who transferred to his sons Daniel, George and David, they sold to Joseph and Homer Wheelock. The larger part of the farm is now owned by "Hum." Thompson.
In the spring of 1816, Azariah Darbee settled on lot 54, where he made
ANSON C. MERRILL.
MRS. ANSON C. MERRILL.
See Article, " Pioneer Residents."
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preparations to bring his family, the following year from their home in Rutland County, Vermont. The journey here was made by ox team. On his place was the first orchard in the town. He brought the trees from Hamburg, N. Y. A part of this orchard still remains and is on the farm now owned by Nathan Searl. Azariah Darbee was born in 1762. His wife Susan Phelps was born in 1761. He died Aug. 18, 1851, and she Jan. 28, 1840. Their children were Chester, Susanna, Aurilla, Azariah, Olive, Clarissa, Celia and Henry. His granson, Augustus occupied the farm at Cottage, until Dec. last when he died.
In March, 1817, Samuel K. Strickland came from Central New York and
COL. RALPH JOHNSON,
An Early Pioneer and Benefactor.
See Article, "Pioneer Residents."
located on lot 40, bringing with him his wife and son, Robert O. The streams on the way were crossed on the ice, and many hardships were endured.
The same year Thomas Newcomb settled on lot 46. He cleared a farm near Markham where he died at an advanced age. His son Edwin was born here in 1831, has been married three times and now resides on the old homestead. Another son, George, served in the 154th N. Y. Vols. and died a prisoner at Belle Island.
William Blaisdell settled on lot 30 and Nathaniel Blaisdell on lot 37. The latter died at the age of 62. Of his seven children, David married Lucinda, daughter of Daniel Allen of Persia and had born to him, six children. His
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brother Daniel was born in Otto, Jan. 28, 1828, and married Elizabeth Shepard of Dayton. Of their chil- dren. Frank married Mary Merrill, and May became the wife of Mar- shall Merrill.
Peter and Luther Allen, the latter a minor, at the time he came, came from Onondago County in 1818, and after some removals settled on lot 23. Luther Allen returned to Onondago County for a wife and brought her to Dayton on an ox sled. In 1834 he put up the first MRS. RALPH JOHNSON. frame house in the town where the village of Dayton now is, a part of which house is still standing, and is used as a henhouse by L. O. Hall. Mr. Allen removed to Gowanda and died there in Feb. 1847. In 1820, his brother Asahel came and located on the same lot, 23, settling on the place now occupied by Hon. N. M. Allen. Asahel Allen, a son of Peter, a native of Connecticut, was born as Fabius, Onondago County, Nov. 5, 1802, and came to Dayton in 1818, buying land of the Holland Land Company for $3.00 per acre. He finally moved to Cottage where he died Jan. 21, 1858. His wife, Sally A., daughter of Jonathan Benedict of his native County, died Oct. 22, 1847. Their children were Jonathan B., Peter R., Harlow, Lucy M., Laura J., Eliza L., Mary C., James M., George M., and Ellen M. By his second wife, Julia A., daughter of Timothy M. Shaw, he had three children, Annette, Newton and Julia A., Peter R. Allen married Betsey, daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Eddie) Johnson. He died July 29, 1880. Their son, Daniel E., was born Aug. 25,1862, and now resides at Perrysburg.
After this period there were so many new settlers came to the town that it is impossible to enumerate them all here. The Redfields, Par- sells, Smiths, Hubbard, Bacon, Parke, Austin, Hammond, Judd, and many other prominent fam- ilies came before 1830. In another
THOMAS W. JOHNSON, An Early Innkeeper.
See Article, 'Pioneer Residents."
25
place in this work under the title of "Pioneer Residents" etc., we give more of a history of these early residents.
The condition of the buildings and lands in the town can best be seen from a carefully compiled list of the actual residents and owners of the town of improved property in the year 1833. The valuation of the buildings may be less than their actual value but the relative measures of the improvements is the same in each case.
Name.
Lot.
Value of Buildings.
Name.
Lot.
Value of Buildings.
Isaac Waite
1
$ 50.00
Jonathan Palmer
31
25.00
David Milks
1
45 00
Heman Merrill
31
110 00
Peter Kellogg
2
35.00
Hale Matteson
32
45.00
Ephriam Dutton
2
100.00
Jonathan Milks
38
90.00
Jonathan Milks
2
45.00
R. E. Knight
38
50.00
David C. Bassett
3
40.00
Garrett Parsell
40
35.00
Eleazer Hillibert
3
60.00
S. K. Strickland
40
40.00
Norman L. Bacon
4
40.00
John Parsell
40
50.00
P. Collins
4
40.00
Thos. Newcomb
46
30.00
D. Loomer
6
35.00
Wm. B. Smith
47
50.00
Wyman Hulett
7
35.00
Ebenezer Roberts
48
50.00
David Guptel
8
45.00
John Hammond
51
40.00
Chapel Judd
9
30.00
Asa H. Nichols
52
20.00
Ezekiel Seekins
9
40.00
Alvah Cole
52
80 00
Leander Bacon
11
40.00
Stephen Soule
53
45 00
Constant C. Bacon
11
40.00
Simeon Dryer
53
95.00
P. Bacon
11
40.00
Lemuel Webster
54
35.00
Avery Parke
11
57.00
Azariah Darbee
54
45.00
Abel M. Bacon
12
45.00
James Cadwell
54
45.00
Delos C. Burdick
14
55.00
Caleb Webb
55
125.00
Horace C. Adams
15
40.00
Win. B. Smith
55
120.00
Artemus Coon
16
10.00
John H. Blish
56
100.00
Sidney Parke
19
45 00
Goodale Wheeler
56
130.00
Russel J. Burdick
20
40 00
Thos. Newcomb
56
35.00
John Watenpaugh
22
45 00
Isaac P Hubbard
56
35.00
Asahel Allen
23
35.00
M. C. Nickerson
58
130 00
Luther Allen
23
40.00
George Passmore
59
20.00
Ruben Robertson
23
90.00
Tilly Sanford
59
40.00
G. Wellls
24
35.00
Sylvester James
60
50.00
William Farnsworth 22
40.00
Isaac Holbrook
61
35 00
E Dutton
29
45.00
Nathan Bumpus
62
35.00
Ralph Johnson
30
250 00
Silas Nash
64
190.00
Anson C. Merrill
30
225.00
Simeon Bunce
64
110.00
Gile Johnson
30
45.00
Daniel Whelplby
64
80.00
Timothy M. Shaw
31
30.00
In addition to the above there were half a dozen tracts of improved land in the town owned by parties living in adjoining towns. In 1835 there were 4,313 acres of improved land in the town of Dayton three sawmills and one tannery. The population in 1850 was 1,448, in 1860, 1,294; in 1870, 1,267; in 1880, 1,705; in 1890, 1,735; in 1900, 1,694.
The first marriage in the town occurred in March 1818, when Benjamin Parsell and Miss Mary Redfield became husband and wife. In 1833 the first store in the southeastern part of the town (Wesley) was opened by
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Wm. H. Leland. When the town was set off from Perrysburg, in 1835, the act provided for an equal division of the unexpended public moneys, and Dayton received as her share just one shilling. The first school was taught by Mary Redfield in the Johnson School house, located near the present residence of Miner Hubbard. The first church was organized by the Baptists at Cottage, in March 1818.
AN OLD-TIME WEDDING.
A wedding in the olden times was an extremely lively affair. The guests were all invited at least three days before hand; guns were fired in the respective neighborhoods of bride and groom on the morning of the wedding day, and at the appointed hour the groom and his friends set out for the house. About half way to the bride's dwelling they were met by her male friends, and each company chose one man to "run for the bottle," to the house of the bride. The one who returned first with the bottle gave a toast, and drank to the bride's health, after which of course the beverage was passed around. The whole party proceeded firing their muskets as they went by the houses on the way. Arrived at the bride's house, the bride- groom's company were placed in a room by themselves, and it was con- sidered an act of impoliteness for any of the bride's friends to intrude. Just before the ceremony was to begin the best man entered the bride's apartments, led her into the room, and placed her at the right hand of the groom, took his station immediately behind, as did also the "best maid." After the ceremony all the men kissed the bride and all the women kissed the groom. Dinner followed, and then came dancing and other amusements.
MRS. MARIA JOLLS.
MRS. SALLY FLOWERS.
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AGRICULTURE.
HE earliest agriculture of this locality was in no respect different from that pursued by pioneer immigrants in other newly opened regions. The first problem to be settled by the settlers was that of subsistances for their families, and so the first crops planted or sowed in their small clearings were exclusively such as were required for this purpose, and chief among these was wheat. Potatoes and other esculents were provided for in a small way, but the article of prime necessity was wheat, and to it a great portion of the space of the clearings was devoted. Sugar making though perhaps less an agricultural than a manufacturing industry, may properly be mentioned as a resource of the farmers of the early days or at least of such of them as were fortunate enough to have good maple orchards on their farms. To such it was a souce of some revenue and was prized as one of the few means by which in the earlier years, cash or "store goods" could be procured. From that time until the present sugar making has continued to be a very considerable industry in this section. Many of the early farmers, having come from a country of orchards hastened to plant fruit trees here and the fruit culture of today compares well with that of the most favored sections. It became apparent to the farmers at a very early day that their lands were peculiarly adapted for the purposes of grazing, and accordingly their attention was somewhat diverted to that kind of farming not as at the present time with a view of dairy production, but to the raising of cattle and sheep. Sheep raising has been carried on quite extensively in later years, and was in fact a leading industry until the farmers became fully awake to their advantages for dairying and to the better profits to be realized in that direction, so that at present time very few sheep compar- atively are raised through this section. Dairying is spoken of as a recent industry, but by that is meant that it is only within the past twenty years that it has assumed any- thing of its present magnitude and importance. In our A PRIMITIVE CHEESE PRESS. travels throughout the town
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we find one man who will milk 100 cows during the following season. But butter and cheese making were carried on to some extent among the early settlers. In 1830 Peter White and Truman Edwards, of Perrysburg, of which Dayton was then a part, made cheese from dairys of from twenty to thirty cows, disposing of their product at about five cents a pound in Buffalo. It had frequently been the case that the early settlers exchanged, cheese for flour, pound for pound. We present herewith a picture of a primitive cheese press. It was made by squaring the top of a stump on which to set the loop, then cutting a notch at the right height in a tree that happened to stand close by the stump, and into this notch, placing the end of a lever which was then laid across the cheese and properly weighted at the other end. This is said to have been the first cheese press used in Cattaraugus County.
The prices realized for farm products including those of the dairy were so exceedingly low, before the opening of the Erie R. R. that it is difficult to see how any profit could have been made by the producer. A common price for butter in the villages was eight cents a pound, and even that payable in goods. Butter which took a premium at the agricultural fair of 1851 was sold at twelve cents, which was regarded as a very high price. Yet even at these prices dairying was found more profitable than any other branch of farming and by the opening of the Erie Railroad in 1851, the prosperity of the farmers was greatly increased and made permanent.
THE FROST OF 1859.
Gowanda Reporter, Friday, June 10, 1859: The heavy frost which visited this region on Saturday night last cut and seared everything in the line of vegetation to a fearful extent. Fruit of all kinds and the crops generally have suffered alike in the destruction wrought by this unwelcome visitor, Jack Frost. From all parts of the country, far and near, we hear of the destruction it has done to grass, wheat, corn, potatoes, fruit, etc .- (This would show the frost to have been on Saturday, June 4, 1859. )
THE local affairs of the Holland Land Company remained in charge of their first resident agent, Joseph Ellicott, until October, 1821, when he resigned on account of poor health. He committed suicide in the summer of 1826, at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
THE first white child, it is a historic fact, who was born in America had a Norwegian mother. The child was the son of Thornfield, brother of Lief Ericson; it was called Snorre and was born in the State of Massachusetts in 1003, and taken back to Iceland when three years old.
THE ready wit of Cyrus Giles, a prominent and singular character, was well known to many of his time. He probably lived on two-thirds of the places from Cottage to South Dayton, being an inveterate trader. He was a man who could neither read nor write but a wit and a bickerer.
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EARLY PRIVATIONS.
S A RULE the settlers who came to this locality were far from rich in this world's goods. They had very few sources which would command money, and some money was necessary even for those who occupied lands of the Holland Land Company. The only way to obtain this was the production of black salts, though even this was not salable until after the first forests were felled. But at length asheries were built and these by purchasing the salts afforded the settlers a chance to realize a little money. All who could procure a five pail kettle or club with their neighbors, if they had neighbors, to purchase a cauldron, commenced the manufacture. This not only brought a little money into the country but it also promoted the clearing of the lands. Black salts was made as follows: Timber was cut into convenient lengths, piled and burned to ashes (although the process was by no means as short as the description). The ashes were then gathered, placed in a sort of a hopper, and drenched with water, which percolating the alkaline mass, dripped out in the form of lye, which was then boiled in kettles or cauldrons, becoming more and more concentrated as the process was continued, until at last the liquid was crystalized into the substance known as black salts, each hundred pounds of which represented a certain amount of money, and an amount too which the early pioneers regarded as very considerable. The best ashes came from the burning of oak, elm, beech and birch, and the other hard woods. Those made from pine and hemlock were worthless for the purpose. An acre of heavy woods would produce perhaps four hundred pounds of salts, which could generally be sold for $2.50 per cwt. The results here given are fully as favorable as were obtained by the average settler, so when we compute the amount thus realized from the severe labor of falling and converting an acre of heavy timber into the commercial commodity, we realize how precious was money, and how cheap was the labor of sinew and bone among these early settlers. A source of far greater return than could be derived from the manufacture of the salts was to be found in the dense mass of pine timber which covered the low lands of the town. But these were not developed until some years later, and then the manufacture and marketing of the lumber, thugh found very profitable by some required an amount of capital far beyond the reach of most of the pioneers who settled this locality.
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