History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 11

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

suitable site in the village of Little Valley, of not less than five acres, whereon to erect a court-house, with county clerk's, county treasurer's, county judge's, and surrogate's offices, court-room, and jury-rooms therein, and a jail ; and that they procure a title thereto, free from all incumbrance, at a cost to the county of not exceeding one dollar;" and to proceed immediately to cause fit and convenient county buildings to be erected on such site, but without cost to the county.

The board, at the same time, accepted and appropriated for the erection of the buildings the town bonds of Little Valley and Napoli, and also the individual bonds, money, and material, conditionally pledged, as before mentioned ; and the building committee were further instructed " to accept bonds of the town of Little Valley for the sum of ten thousand dollars, and Napoli for the sum of three thousand dollars, bearing interest at seven per centum, and payable at stated periods; and they are also instructed to accept bonds of individuals, payable in money or materials, and payable at stated periods, which may be guaranteed by responsible parties, satisfactory to the building commis- sioners, or which may be accepted by contractors, or to accept sums of money ; and that such bonds, materials, and money, shall be used for the purpose of erecting said new county buildings in the village of Little Valley, and for no other purpose; and that before taking any title to the pro- posed site for the new county buildings, or doing any other act or thing to commit the county to removal of the county- site, to receive from the towns of Little Valley and Napoli valid bonds of those towns, and individual bonds, money, and materials, of sufficient amount, not less than thirty thousand dollars in amount and value, to guarantee the erection and completion of all the buildings provided for, and to insure the county against any and all taxation for the erection and completion of buildings or for the site."

The town and individual bonds, money, and materials of sufficient amount, as specified, were received by the com- mittee, and the building contract was let by them to Porter Welch, of Gowanda, at twenty-nine thousand five hundred dollars; the structures to be built in accordance with the plans furnished by H. N. White, architect.

The corner-stone of the court-house was laid with Masonic ceremonies, Aug. 22, 1867, followed by an address by William P. Angel. Both buildings are built of brick, with stone foundations (cut-stone above ground), cut-stone steps, window-sills and caps, belting, and slate roofs.

On the 13th day of November, 1868, the building com- missioners reported to the Board of Supervisors that the new court-house and jail were substantially completed ; that the county clerk, removed the records and occupied his office May 21, 1978; that the sheriff removed the prisoners to the jail the 28th of the same month; and that the first session of the Supreme Court, Hon. George Barker pre- siding, was held at the new court-house on the 8th day of June, 1868.

On the 25th day of November, 1868, they reported a settlement with Porter Welch, the contractor, which report was accepted, commissioners discharged, and their bonds ordered cancelled. The old county buildings were sold to the town of Ellicottville for one thousand dollars.

The court-house is eighty-two feet long by fifty-two feet wide. The first story is thirteen feet high, containing fire- proof office-rooms for the county clerk eighteen by sixty feet, offices for county treasurer, county judge, surrogate, and district attorney. The second story contains court- room, forty-nine by fifty-one feet, judge's, grand jury, jury, and janitor's rooms.

The jail is twenty by thirty-six feet, two stories in height, with three tiers of cells, and will accommodate thirty-six inmates, having been enlarged and remodeled the present year (1878). The contract was taken by Silas Vinton, who is also contractor for the Insane Asylum at Machias, now just completed.

COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICES.

From 1812 until the organization of the county, in 1817, deeds and conveyances were filed in the clerks' offices of Niagara and Allegany Counties. In the act organizing the county, March 28, 1817, the following provision was made for the proof of deeds and conveyances :

" That until the holding of the first term of the Court of Common Pleas of the said county of Cattaraugus, all deeds, mortgages, and other conveyances or writings relating to real property situate in said county shall be recorded in like manner as if this act had not been passed; and from and after the holding of such first term all deeds, conveyances, and writings, whereby the right or title to any lands or tenements situated in the said county may be affected, either in law or equity, shall be acknowledged or proved and recorded in the clerk's office of the said county, according to the provisions of the act enti- tled ' An act concerning the proof of deeds and conveyances.'"

The first deed on record in Cattaraugus County is dated June 5, 1817, and is from the sheriff of Allegany County to Benjamin Chamberlain, conveying lot 8 in section H, being in the village of Hamilton (now Olean, block 56). The first mortgage was from Horatio Orton to Seymour Bouton, of property in village of Hamilton, lots No. 13, 14, in south part of lot 12, section G, dated Dec. 15, 1817.

The first county clerk's office was built under authority of an act passed April 12, 1823, empowering the super- visors to raise money by tax, not exceeding eight hundred dollars, for erecting a fire-proof clerk's office for the preser- vation of the public papers and records in the custody of the clerk, and to be located in the village of Ellicottville, in such spot as the judges should appoint. The commis- sioners for its erection were David Bockes, David Gregory, and Phineas Spencer.

Building commissioners were appointed at the session of the Board of Supervisors in 1852 to build a new county clerk's office. An act was passed March 24, 1853, making it legal to change the location of the clerk's office, not to exceed forty rods distant, provided the change should be approved by a majority of the trustees of the village of Ellicottville. The change was approved, and a new clerk's office was erected on the north corner of the public square. The present clerk's office is located in the court-house at Little Valley.

COUNTY POOR-HOUSE AND FARM.

The first official action in reference to the county build- ings for the better care of the county poor is contained in a resolution of the Board of Supervisors at their session in 1833, in which Nelson Green, Benjamin Chamberlain, Geo.

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

A. S. Crooker, Robert Steele, and Tilly Gilbert were ap- pointed a committee to locate a site and farm for the erec- tion of a poor-house.

Advertisements were made for proposals for land, and at an examination held at the court-house Jan. 30, 1834, it was decided to accept the proposal of Willard Jefferson, of Machias, to sell two hundred acres for two thousand three hundred dollars. The supervisors of the poor were directed to procure title to the land, prepare the farm as soon as practicable for the reception of the county poor, and remove them thereto.

November 11 of the same year Messrs. Searls, Chamber- lain, and Crooker were selected to settle with Mr. Jefferson for the poor-house farm, and pay him any balance due.

Jan. 7, 1836, Eleazur Harmon, Levi Peet, Lewis P. Thorp, John Pierce, and W. W. Penfield, Supervisors of the Poor, advertised for bids to erect the necessary build- ings on the farm.

The house was completed and occupied, and in 1835 there were received into it thirty-three paupers. One child was born at the house during the year, two children died, and two were bound out. Forty persons were discharged during the year, and two absconded. The number of pau- pers in the poor-house, Dec. 1, 1835, was: females, thir- teen ; males, fifteen. Number of persons relieved during the year was: foreigners, twenty ; lunatics, one ; idiots, one. The building was destroyed by fire, with all the books and papers, in 1846, and was rebuilt soon after.

A select committee appointed by the Senate to visit the charitable institutions of the State made their report to the Senate, Jan. 9, 1857. Their remarks in this document upon the Cattaraugus poor-house were as follows :

" For the accommodation of the insane are two small houses : one an old dilapidated one, very cold in the winter from its loose construction and much decay, and at all times particularly offensive from the accu- mulation of filth ; the other a new structure, though an inferior one and illy planned. This, from some reason, is very little used. In these cells the insane sleep on straw, with very little clothing, the straw becoming filled with filth before being changed. Two are confined in these cells. The insane are attended by a male pauper. None during the year are improved or cured ; they receive the same medical attendance as the remaining paupers. No application has been made for admission to the State Asylum. In the house is one idiot and one blind person. Intemperance is the cause of one-half the pauperism here. The house is a poor one, and the poor, especially the insane, are illy cared for."

The next year after this report was made a committee from the Board of Supervisors, James M. Smith and Mar- sena Baker, visited the poor-house, and reported the build- ing exceedingly bad, and recommended additions and repairs.

At a session of the Board of Supervisors held in 1859, Addison G. Rice, Albert G. Dow, and Alonzo Hawley were appointed commissioners, with authority to sell and contract for land according to their judgment, and to contract for the construction of a new poor-house, not to exceed four thousand dollars for land and buildings.

In 1860, L. S. Jenks, Wm. Napier, and L. D. Warner reported that it was necessary to erect a building thirty by forty feet, two stories; the main building to serve as a wing to a new edifice to be built at a later time. Jesse E. K. Button was chosen commissioner, with full power and authority to erect a building in accordance with plans and

specifications, at a cost not to exceed one thousand two hundred dollars, and to be completed Nov. 1, 1861.

The State Commissioners of Public Charities for 1869 reported concerning the Cattaraugus County Poor-House :

"The wants of the poor of Cattaraugus County are soon to be properly met by a new building, now being constructed of stone near the site of the old one, located in the extreme northeastern part of the county. The building is to be completed during the present year, at an estimated cost of twenty thousand dollars, and when ready for occupancy will have the capacity for accommodating one hundred per- sons, besides furnishing apartments for the keeper and family. The old buildings now in use are to be abandoned upon completion of the new one.

"Connected with the house is a farm of two hundred acres, valued at ten thousand dollars, including fixtures. The completion of the new building will more than double this valuation. During the past year two hundred and fifty-five persons were supported in the house, at a cost of five thousand one hundred and sixty-nine dollars and ninety-three cents, and for the same period the sum of four thousand nine hundred and ninety-three dollars was expended in the adminis- tration of out-door relief. The management of affairs pertaining to the poor of the county is confided to three superintendents, and & keeper, who has occupied the place for the past nine years, is in imme- diate charge of the house. The superintendents visit the institution frequently ; the supervisors seldom.

"At the date of inspection, June 30, sixty persons were found pres- ent, two-thirds of whom were native-born. Among the number were twenty-three insane, three idiotic, one blind, one mute, and six chil- dren under sixteen years of age."

The building was completed, and was a substantial stone structure thirty-six by eighty feet, three stories in height, with slate roof surmounted by a cupola. Its cost was seventeen thousand eight hundred dollars. The grounds are two hundred acres in extent, with fifty acres of wood- land about two and a half miles north from the farm. A revenue of one thousand eight hundred dollars to two thousand dollars is derived from the farm, but the institu- tion is not self-supporting.

Of the eighty-five inmates of the poor-house at the pres- ent time (December, 1878), forty-five are insane. For the accommodation of this class of unfortunates, asylum build- ings are just being completed about twenty rods west of the poor-house. These buildings are four in number, namely : 1. A keeper's residence, Gothic style, twenty-six by fifty-three feet in size, two and a half stories high ; 2. Two Gothic buildings, each the exact counterpart of the other, twenty-three by thirty-six feet in dimensions and two stories high ; one to be devoted to the reception of male, and the other of female occupants; 3. A dining hall, twenty- four by forty-eight feet, and one story ; containing, also, the kitchen for all the establishment. A covered way con- nects this building with the male and female quarters re- spectively. Underneath this hall is located the heater for all the buildings. The entire cost of these is about fifteen thousand dollars.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HOLLAND COMPANY'S SUCCESSORS-THE DUTCH HILL WAR.

THE local affairs of the Holland Land Company remained in charge of their first resident agent, Joseph Ellicott, until October, 1821, when the relations so long existing between them were closed by his resignation.

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

It was during his administration, and not far from the year 1818, that there first appeared among the settlers upon the Purchase that feeling of irritation and enmity towards the company and its agents which afterwards became so wide-spread and formidable. Their indebtedness upon land contracts had so greatly increased as to create fear and ap- prehension of the ultimate result; and though there could be brought no charges against Mr. Ellicott's administration, yet a very large portion of the contract-holders had in some way conceived the idea that a change of the local agency would bring some relief or modification of the terms of their indebtedness. Some feeling of alarm at the growing dis- content had doubtless begun to enter the mind of the gen- eral agent, Mr. Busti, and induced him to favor Mr. Ellicott's resignation in the hope of appeasing the irritation of the settlers.

The successor of Mr. Ellicott in the agency was Jacob S. Otto, who remained in charge until his death in 1826. It was during his administration that the plan (which had been before discussed) of receiving cattle and grain in pay- mont upon land contracts, was adopted. At certain designated places,* in different parts of the Purchase, the settler could deliver his wheat and have its value indorsed upon his con- tract; while the plan pursued as to the delivery of cattle was to advertise yearly the times and places at which agents of the company would attend to receive the animals, and credit the contract-holder with the amount of their value. This arrangement was expensive to the company, but proved ad- vantageous to the settlers, who were enabled to reduce their debts in this way, when cash payments would have been impossible ; and, besides, they were almost invariably allowed a price for their wheat and cattle which was above their value, or at least above what they could have realized in any other way.

The last agent of the company was David E. Evans, who succeeded Mr. Otto, and remained in charge until the affairs of the Purchase were closed. Under him, in 1827, a general plan for the modification of land contracts was adopted, which was admitted to be very beneficial, and a decided measure of relief to a large class of the company's debtors. But notwithstanding these and other evidences of the good-will of the company towards those who were indebted to them on contracts, the dissatisfaction of the latter increased year by year, until it became declared hostility.

The dealings of the Holland agents with those who were indebted to their principals on land contracts had been uniformly marked by so much leniency and forbearance that these characteristics had become proverbial; and it seems difficult to understand how there could ever have existed such an antagonism to a company, against whom the most serious allegation that could be made was that "they were criminally indulgent to settlers in permitting them to remain on their lands for many years without pay- ment of either principal or interest."

At the time when the first symptoms of discontent ap- peared, and for several years afterwards, there was no thought on the part of contract-holders of questioning the title by which the company held their purchase ; but at last such doubts began to be whispered, and to spread abroad on their mission of mischief, created, it was said, by a Buffalo lawyer of some prominence, and by him fostered and indus- triously disseminated, with an eye to prospective advantages in the line of his profession. It was cunningly suggested to the minds of the disaffected, that the sole cause of the remarkably indulgent course pursued by the company to- wards its debtors was the result of a consciousness on their part that their title was worthless, and that it would be folly for them to attempt to enforce their claims by process of law. This argument proved a most effective one in in- creasing the discontent.

The doubts, or pretended doubts, thus engendered, took ready root in the minds of the most ignorant, and were eagerly entertained by the more knowing and unscrupulous ones, who were but too willing to avail themselves of any opportunity to escape the burden of further payments upon the lands for which they had contracted. This resulted in the widespread uneasiness and hostility above mentioned, and in the assembling, at various points, of public meetings or " conventions," at which resolutions were adopted to ig- nore the company's title, to make common cause with any and every person whom the company should attempt to co- erce to payment or removal, and to reimburse them for ex- penses incurred in legal resistance to such attempts.

The Holland Company, in order to restore quiet and confidence in their title, selected one or two cases in each county, and commenced proceedings; and although the people of Cattaraugus had-most creditably to themselves -refrained from active participation in the prevailing law- lessness and excitement, yet test cases were selected and prosecuted here, as in other counties.

The persons against whom the company brought action in this county were William Cooper, of Perrysburg, and Seth Cole, of Burton. These causes were tried in the United States District Court, which sustained the com- pany's title. In the other counties the result was the same, the triumph of the company and the discomfiture of the defendants, who were thus subjected to the loss of their improvements and the payment of heavy bills of cost, of which not a dollar was ever made good to them by the malcontents and agitators, whose solemn pledges of indem- nification had been so freely given in the resolutions of public meeting, and the compacts of their " leagues for mutual protection against the rapacity and tyranny of the pretended land-owners."

But although the company boldly entered the courts to vindicate their title, standing at bay, as it might be said, for their very existence, they had long before become alarmed at the attitude of the settlers, and this alarm was so greatly heightened by certain legislationt (the right or wrong of

* The principal point in Cattaraugus County at which the com- pany's agents received grain and cattle was Ellicottville. In the matter of receiving and appraising cattle in this county the company was more frequently represented by Peter Ten Broeck than by any other person.

t Particularly by "An act to subject certain debts owing to non- residents to taxation," passed April 27, 1833, viz., " All debts owing by inhabitants of the State to persons not residing therein, for the purchase of any real estate, or secured by mortgage on real estate, shall be deemed personal property within the town and county where

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

which may not properly be discussed here), enacted in an- tagonism to their interests, that they decided to dispose of their vast possessions in Western New York, which never had, and, as they now saw, never would, realize the expec- tations which had induced their purchase .*

The interests of the company were sold in 1835 to sev- eral smaller companies of land-speculators. One of the principal of these was the firm of Trumbull, Cary & Co., of Batavia, but their purchase did not extend into Catta- raugus. The companies purchasing in this county were- first, the " Devereux Company," composed of Nicholas Devereux, of Utica, Rufus L. Lord, Thomas Lord, Goold Hoyt, Russell H. Nevins, Thomas Suffern, and others, of New York ; second, the "Seymour Company," composed of Henry Seymour, David E. Evans (last agent of the Hol- land Company), and William Lowber; and third, a com- pany made up by Staley N. Clarke, Moses Beecher, and Major - Curry.

The purchase made by the Devereux Company consisted of uncontracted wild lands, and contracts which had re- verted to the Holland Company, all comprising about four hundred thousand acres, and extending over Cattaraugus, and part of Allegany County, and into the towns of China, Java, and Eagle in Genesee (now Wyoming) County. The price paid was ninety cents per acre. The purchase-money was paid, and the deeds received from the Holland Company in New York, on the 16th of December, 1835, the day pre- ceding the night of the " Great Fire" which consumed nearly all the lower point of that city. The office of this company was opened at Ellicottville in the spring of 1836, with Asher Tyler as agent. The advertisement of the company, issued soon after, offered for sale " one hundred thousand acres of land in Cattaraugus, Genesee, and Allegany Counties, a part of four hundred thousand acres recently purchased of the Holland Land Company, having a surface generally hilly, interspersed with valleys of deep, rich alluvion, and well watered with springs and streams," and was signed by Nicholas Devereux, Goold Hoyt, Rufus L. Lord, Russell II. Nevins, and William Kent. Not long after the purchase the lands of the Devereux Company were divided into several portions among the proprietors.

The purchase made by the Seymour Company embraced the " live contracts" of the Holland Company in this sec- tion. The funds for this purchase were furnished by the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company of New York, who held the title as security for repayment. The " contracts" made under the Holland Company's system, and included in this purchase, were changed to the ordinary form of bond and mortgage.

The lands acquired by the company composed of Staley

the debtor resides, and as such shall be liable to taxation in the same manner and to the same extent as the personal estate of citizens of this State." This law was repealed April 1, 1837.

* As early as the year 1821 the Holland proprietors offered to make an assignment of their entire interest for a sum sufficient to cover the original purchase money, with an annual interest of four per cent. added; and in 1822 they offered to Tibbets and Huntingdon, well- known capitalists of that time, all the unsold lands of the Purchase, at four shillings per acre,-and nearly one-half remained at that time unsold. These facts seem to show that they had, even at that time, begun to doubt the profitableness of the enterprise.

N. Clarke and others consisted of detached lots scattered through various parts of the territory covered by the other purchases. These lots having been overlooked, and thus in- advertently left out of those conveyances, were searched out upon the map, and all included in this, which was known as " the scrap purchase."

At the time of the final sale by the Holland Company, and when the fact of the contemplated transfer became known among the settlers, it produced a general feeling of apprehension and excitement, for they entertained the very reasonable belief that under no new set of proprietors could they expect a continuance of the mild system which had been pursued towards them by the company,-a system which they began fully to appreciate, now that they were about to lose its benefits.

Without following the successive phases of this hostile excitement, which scarcely showed itself at that time in Cattaraugus, it is sufficient to mention that it rapidly in- creased and spread through the neighboring counties, and culminated in acts of violence in both Chautauqua and Genesee. In the winter of 1836 (Feb. 6) a body of dis- guised and armed men attacked and entirely destroyed the land-office at Mayville, forcing the agent, the Hon. William Peacock, to leave the county for a time to escape personal injury. The general office at Batavia had been repeatedly menaced with destruction, and finally a mob of several hun- dred men (said to have been seven hundred) collected to put the threat into execution. They actually entered the village for this purpose, but finding the office defended by fifty armed and determined men, who had mustered under command of the agent, Mr. Evans, and also that the militia had been called out, they decided to postpone the attack. About fifty of the ringleaders were arrested, but the old policy of conciliation prevailed, and their cases were never prosecuted.

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History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 11

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: