History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 114

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
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PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church of Hinsdale was organized at the school-house in the village of Hinsdale, Jan. 3, 1871, and incorporated January 12 of the same year. Thomas Bell presided at the first meeting. Elihu M. Wasson and Albertus Norton were elected church- wardens, and Emery Wood, Alonzo Emerson, O. Salisbury, and P. B. Smith vestrymen. The society has a member- ship of about 30. No pastor.

SOCIETIES.

The Ischua Valley Agricultural Society, which included the towns of Hinsdale, Ischua, and Franklinville, and whose grounds were situated about one-half mile north of Hinsdale village, was incorporated July 7, 1857.

Messrs. Hollis Scott, Elihu M. Wasson, Nelson Nourse, Hiram Webster, and William O. Leland, of Hinsdale, Andrew J. Davis, of Ischua, and Samuel Searl, of Frank- linville, composed the first board of directors.

The petition for incorporation, which was signed by Staley N. Wood, J. A. Brown, T. A. Allen, Thomas T. Wasson, F. M. Wood, E. M. Wasson, Wm. O. Leland,

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Hollis Scott, Hiram Webster, Thomas A. E. Lyman, and John Willover, recited, " That the objects of said society are the improvement of the condition of agriculture, horti- culture, household and mechanic arts, by means of essays, addresses, annual fairs, and prizes for meritorious produc- tions in each department."

The society was continued very successfully for a period of some ten years, when the grounds came into the posses- sion of a party with whom no satisfactory arrangements could be made as to leasing, and the fairs were discon- tinued.

Hinsdale Lodge, No. 175, A. O. U. W., was instituted Sept. 23, 1878, by District Deputy Woodruff, and organ- ized by clecting the following officers: P. F. W. Sydenham, M. W .; L. Y. Miller, Foreman ; G. W. Capron, O .; L. C. Scott, Recorder; A. L. Walker, Financier; R. B. Smith, Receiver; H. Sherlock, Guide; M. P. Derby, J. W .; A. C. Terry, O. W .; M. H. Marsh, P. M. W.

The lodge meets weekly at their lodge-room in Hinsdale village.

MILITARY.

In May, 1828, John H. Farewell was appointed lieuten- ant in the 226th Regiment of Infantry of the State of New York. He afterwards became captain. Thaddeus J. Fare- well and Chauncey A. Jones were ensigns in the same regi- ment, and Emery Wood was colonel.

Moses Fay, Sr., Enos Ludden, and Jonathan Gowing, residents of the town in 1840, were pensioners for Revolu- tionary and other military services.

Emery Wood, Thornton Wasson, John Osterstuck, Peter Frantz, Emery Yates, and Wheelock Wood were soldiers of the war of 1812.

During the war of the Rebellion there was paid to the soldiers in bounties as follows : by a citizens' subscription fund, $3310 ; by town bonds, interest, etc., about $7000 ; by the county, $3300; relief to soldiers' families, $400; making a total of $14,010.

Hinsdale put into the field about 160 men, and received credit for about 125. Their names and the remarks opposite each, as taken from the town records, are given at the close of the general history of the county.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WILLIAM O. LELAND.

Among the prominent and respected business men of Hinsdale, few, if any, have been continuously interested in mercantile life longer or with greater general success than the subject of this sketch. A native of the county and the son of respected pioneers of the town of East Otto, he has been intimately identified with its interests, and points with deserved pride to a highly honorable and extended business career.

Wm. O. Leland was born at East Otto, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., May 5, 1827. He received his rudimentary educa- tion at the public schools of his native town, and completed his studies at the Hinsdale Academy. He entered the

mercantile business in 1846, at Hinsdale, and for thirty- three years has been steadily engaged in trade, either alone or as a member of various firms. In addition to his busi- ness interests at Hinsdale, since 1867 he has been the senior member of the banking-house of Leland & Co., at Springville, Erie Co., N. Y. He has also been largely en- gaged in a general produce business.

Photo. by Winsor & Whipple, Olean.

A. P. LElund

On the 24th of December, 1846, he was united in mar- riage with Amanda A. Vinton, of Hinsdale, by whom he has had four sons and one daughter. Of his sons three are in the bank at Springville (two, H. G. and E. O., as partners, and F. W., as an assistant). F. D. is with him in the store at Hinsdale. All are young men of good business ability and fair prospects.

In 1855, Mr. Leland was elected supervisor of his town, and for two years subsequently; has been chairman of the County Republican Committee since the organization of that party, and has been a consistent and faithful advocate of its principles ever since. In 1861 he was appointed by the martyr President, Abraham Lincoln, postmaster at Hinsdale, which position he has retained to the present time. His business and official life has been characterized by personal integrity, ability, and success.

STALEY N. WOOD

was born at Hinsdale, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., May 22, 1832. He was the son of Emery and Permelia (Marsh) Wood, old and respected pioneers, who settled in Hinsdale prior to the year 1820. He attended the public schools and the Hinsdale Academy, at the latter of which he com- pleted his education.

He embarked in the mercantile business at his native village, in the fall of 1851. In 1857 he went to New

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York and engaged as salesman in the wholesale boot and shoe house of A. & F. Reed, afterwards F. & L. B. Reed, and subsequently F. & L. B. Reed & Co., he being ad- mitted into the firm in 1872. This co-partnership con- tinued until Jan. 1, 1879, when Mr. Wood retired.

Mr. Wood has figured quite prominently in local politics. He is a Democrat, and his party has several times honored

He has been four times elected a supervisor, and in that responsible and arduous position gave very general satisfac- tion. He always evinced a desire to honestly represent his constituents, and to economically manage the interests of his town.

On the 2d of June, 1853, he married Laura A. Foot, step-daughter of Bela Norton, formerly of Herkimer

S.20 Manel

him with nominations for county offices, and twice for member of Assembly. In the fall of 1861 he was the candidate for that office, and was only defeated by four hundred and seventeen votes in a district where the usual Republican majority was nearly fifteen hundred. In 1875 he reduced the prevailing majority of upwards of five hun- dred to ninety-seven, which speaks well for his general popularity.

County, but for many years a prominent citizen of Hins- dale. They have had eight children,-four sons and four daughters,-of whom six (two sons and four daughters) survive.

Mr. Wood enjoys the confidence and respect of the com- munity in which he resides, and in business and social cir- cles occupies a prominent position as an honest and upright citizen.

YORKSHIRE.

THE town of Yorkshire lies upon the north border of the county, east of the centre. The surface is a rolling and hilly upland. It is watered by the Cattaraugus Creek, which forms the larger portion of the northern boundary, the south branch of the same stream, and the outlet of Lime Lake, which flowing north through the eastern part, forms a junction with the branch just northwest of York- shire Centre. Stone Creek, which flows in a northeast course through the western and northern parts, empties 55

into the latter stream near its junction with Cattaraugus Creek.

The soil is a clay and gravelly loam, well adapted to grazing, stock-raising, and dairying. Here, as in adjacent towns of the county, the agricultural classes are chiefly interested in cheese-making.

The cheese-factories controlled by Messrs. Joseph Dem- mon, S. R. Smith, and Judson Wiltsie, consisting of five separate establishments, use the milk of about 2000 cows,

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and will manufacture 500,000 pounds of cheese annu- ally.

The cheese-box and shingle-manufactory of the Messrs. Goo Brothers, at Yorkshire Centre, will manufacture 10,000 cheese-boxes and about 200,000 shingles yearly.

The town contains a total area of 23,580 acres, of which 12,800 acres are improved, and in 1875 had a population of 1685 inhabitants.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

In 1809, Sumner Warren, William L. Warren, Ira P. Paine, Ebenezer Warren, and Ezra Nott contracted with the Holland Land Company for lots in township 7, range 5. It has not been ascertained that any one of them set- tled south of the Cattaraugus Creek.

The following year (1810) Major Evans, Morton Crosby, Bethuel Bishop, John Johnson, Dennis Riley, and Ben- jamin Felch entered into contracts for land in township 6, range 5. Of these, Benjamin Felch and Bethuel Bishop became actual settlers, and, without doubt, were the first settlers within the present boundaries of Yorkshire.

Benjamin Felch came from Francestown, N. H., and settled upon the farm now owned by Erastus Daley, Esq. He was a farmer, a prominent citizen, and at the first town- meeting was elected assessor, commissioner of highways, and commissioner of common schools. He was also the second supervisor of the town, and served in that capacity for a period of five years. In 1840 he removed to the State of Wisconsin. His eldest son, Alson Felch, who was born here in June, 1813, is now a wealthy and highly- respected citizen of Racine, Wis.

Bethuel Bishop was from Vermont, and settled in the northwest part of township 6, range 5. He died in 1818. William Felch, a brother of Benjamin, settled here at the same time, or very soon thereafter.

The same year (1810), or the year following, Thomas Dow-the first blacksmith-and his son Benjamin, Isaac Williams and his sons, Isaac, Jr., Albert, and Proctor, and John Brown, all from the State of Vermont, settled in the northeast part of lot 1, township 7, range 5.

Williams was the first to settle on the site of Yorkshire Corners, and erected here the first frame house in town, in 1820. It was opened as a hotel by his son Proctor in 1822. He also built the first saw- and grist-mill on Cattaraugus Creek in 1814.

Solomon Clark, his son Solomon, Jr., David Clark, and Chauncey Clark came from Vermont, and settled in the north part, in 1814. Solomon Clark located where 'Squire Steele now resides. Luther Thompson was at the forks of the creek at the same time. James Boyce, a native of Virginia, came from Greenfield, N. H., in 1815, and was the first settler at West Yorkshire; he afterwards removed with all his family to Pennsylvania. John Pierce, an Englishman, and James Smith, from Herkimer Co., N. Y., also located near Mr. Boyce, in the fall of the same year. In 1816, Ezekiel Smith, from Herkimer County, and Edward Bump, from Mount Holly, Vt., settled in the town. Mr. Bump located where Mrs. Luther Cummings now lives. Abner Bump was never a resident of Yorkshire, but of township 7, range 4, where he located in 1809.

Robert Steele, from Londonderry, Rockingham Co., N. H .; Samuel G. Sutton, from Canterbury, Merrimac Co., N. H .; Jacob Cochran and James Haines, also from New Hampshire, settled in the town, in 1817. 'Squire Steele was one of the first justices appointed in the town, and held the office for fifteen years in succession, and says he never had a judgment reversed. He was the first collector, in 1821, and has held the office of supervisor for five years. The first town-meeting was also held at his house in 1821. Mr. Steele still resides here, and at the age of ninety years is able to recount many incidents of pioneer days, and of his experiences at pleading law, etc.

Samuel G. Sutton located near the forks of the creek. He, with Benjamin Felch and Col. Arunah Hibbard, were the prominent men during the early days. Mr. Sutton was the first surveyor, the first supervisor, and the first post- master in the town. The post-office was established at his house about 1825; previously, their nearest post-office was Sheldon, Wyoming Co., twenty miles distant.

David Haynes and his sons, Daniel B. and James A., came from Livingston Co., N. Y., in 1818, and settled on Blue Hill. He lived for some time in the house belonging to Robert Steel, who boarded with him at the time of hold- ing the first town-meeting.

Col. Hibbard came here about the same time, and was a prominent, active business man ; had been actively engaged in the war of 1812, and was wounded through the arm at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He established mills and a distillery at Yorkshire Corners in 1824, and drove an ex- tensive business. His sons were merchants. Samuel Silliman, from Arlington, Vt., settled in the eastern part, 1819; also Daniel W. Cheney, a native of Ashford, Conn. Mr. Cheney took up a farm, upon which he lived for a time, when he bought on the opposite side of the road, where he spent the remainder of his days. When he came the country was new and heavily timbered. The frost and cold season of 1816 had cut off and shortened their crops, and much suffering was thereby occasioned. Deer were plenty, and supplied them with nearly all the meat they had. Money was very scarce, it being wellnigh impossible to obtain any. Before coming to Yorkshire he had lived in Machias. On a certain occasion, while returning home, with a grist upon his back, from Arcade, Wyoming Co., whither he had taken it to be ground, darkness overtook him as he reached the swampy country which surrounds Lime Lake, and he had yet two miles to go. He was startled by the scream of a panther, and still more so when a few minutes later the same ominous sound pierced his ears from a distance of some two rods only. He turned in the direction of the sound, and plainly discovered two eyes, which glared upon him like balls of fire. Nothing more was visible. He commenced walking backwards, still facing the animal, and when he had got off some distance, turned and went forward till he again heard the approach of his expectant foe, when he again turned and faced it. He repeated this manœuvre until he reached a clearing, when the animal uttered a terrible scream of mingled rage and disappointment, and retreated into the woods.

Among other early settlers who were here in 1819 was Joseph Pierce, from Vermont, who established a small

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distillery and exchanged whisky for rye and corn, at the rate of six quarts of whisky for a bushel of grain ; also Josiah Hakes, John Moffatt, John Ward, Alvah Wilson, Benjamin Thompson, George Barnes, John C. Marston, Warren Worden, John Haling, Samuel Metcalf, from Ver- mont, James Marston, and Girah Phinney. The last named came from Whitestown, Madison Co., N. Y., and settled first in Erie County, in 1811. Mr. Phinney was accom- panied by his sons, Girah, Jr., and Orrin, and located on the farm now owned by Alonzo Evans.

Henry and John Smith, brothers, came in from Hills- borough, N. H., in April, 1820. They were joined in December of the same year by Mason Smith, the son of John. Mr. Mason Smith relates that the year he came here he had traveled on foot a distance of 1800 miles, in the performance of his work as a stone-cutter and mill- wright, in the States of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and his journey from the former State to Cattaraugus County, which occupied eighteen days. He contracted for the large farm upon which he now resides, in 1821, and the lands upon which the major portion of the village of York- shire Centre is built. In 1821 he made the first clearing upon the village site, and the following year, assisted by his uncle (his father had returned to New Hampshire), had raised a crop of five acres of wheat, corn, potatoes, etc. Harvest time came, their grain was ripe, but they had no tools to cut it; those owned by their more fortunate neigh- bors were in use. The uncle proposed that they should borrow their neighbors' cradles or sickles, and cut the grain at night; but Mason said no, there was too much labor attached to the operation of going four or five miles to borrow, then work through the night, and return the tools in the morning. The independence and self-reliance which have ever been characteristic of the man through life as- serted themselves then. He had heard that some merchant in Erie County, sixteen miles distant, had a stock of such tools as they needed. Starting out one morning on foot, he found the man, but the sickles and cradles were all sold. He was referred to another merchant, who lived within twelve miles of Buffalo. Young Smith reached there before nightfall, only to be disappointed the second time. He remained with this man through the night, and the next morning early proceeded to Buffalo, where, as he says, he bought two sickles and a cotton handkerchief, arriving at his home in the evening of the second day.

Their crops were at last harvested and secured in good condition ; but on account of there being no roads or bridges, and the swollen current of the South branch, which then contained a greater volume of water than since the forests were leveled, they could not be taken to the west side, where the Smiths had their cabin, until winter, when a sled could be drawn through the timber, where it would be impossible to take a wagon in summer. Winter came on, and another difficulty presented itself; the rapid current did not freeze over, and Mr. Smith extemporized a bridge as follows : he selected two large trees standing near the bank, and at a suitable distance from each other, and felled them up the stream ; the current forced the tops down against the opposite bank, and made them firm ; he then trimmed the branches from the upper surface of the trunks, and

filled the space between them with branches, brush, etc. The day being a freezing one he, late in the afternoon, spattered water over all the logs and brush. The next morning the whole structure was frozen solidly and firmly together ; he then threw on some hemlock-brush, and over this shoveled snow until he had a perfect roadway, and a bridge sufficient for his purpose.

Mr. Smith built the first framed barn, in 1821. Its di- mensions are 25 by 26 feet, and it is still in use. It occu- pied two days' time to raise it ; the men of that time were unaccustomed to heavy frame-work, and were timid in going aloft. In 1821, Abram Howell, Alfred Howell, Henry I. Paddock, and David Paddock became settlers. Mr. Henry I. Paddock came from Penfield, Monroe Co., N. Y., and built the first framed house at Yorkshire Centre.

The following year George Graham, from Concord, N. H. ; Ezekiel Pingrey, from Mount Holly, Vt .; Abel Gordon, from Hillsborough, N. H. ; Stephen S. Langmade, William Campbell, and many others came in. The easy terms offered by the agents of the Holland Land Company to actual settlers, the desirability of the soil and climate, com- pared with that of the Green and White Mountain States, caused a steady inflow of hardy citizens from those sections during the years prior to 1830. Yorkshire received a large portion of them as well as the adjacent towns in Cattarau- gus, Erie, Wyoming, and Allegany Counties.

Mr. Graham located near the centre of the town. He came here before he was married, taught school and sur- veyed. He taught the first school of which we have any knowledge. It was in a log house covered with bark, sit- uated a little east of West Yorkshire. He returned to New Hampshire in 1824, married, and soon returned, bringing with him his wife. They compassed the journey with wagon, sleigh, and upon horseback in alternate stages, as the weather and condition of the roads permitted. Mr. Graham served his town as supervisor nine years, town clerk seven years, and justice of the peace twenty-five years.

Ezekiel Pingrey came from Vermont with his father, Jonathan Pingrey, who settled in Sardinia, in 1817. The same year Ezekiel worked for 'Squire Felch in Yorkshire, then Ischua. In 1823 he married, and settled on a farm one and a half miles north of the centre, on the creek, where he resided for forty-two years. He bought his land for $2.50 per acre, and sold it for $40 per acre. Mr. Pingrey now resides in the village of Yorkshire Centre.

Abel Gordon built the first house at Yorkshire Centre in 1822. It was of logs, 16 feet square, and stood near the site of the present Baptist church. He and Mason Smith built this house unaided by any others.

Previous to 1825, Samuel King, John Harmon, Samuel Davis, Stephen Hollister, Luther Wheeler, Wm. W. Wattles, David Putnam, Elihu Hollister, Israel Thornton, Richard Thornton, James Ray, Asa Willard (who had a small distillery), and Augustus Crary, from Vermont, who built, in 1824, the present grist-mill at Yorkshire Corners, were all here; also Benjamin Packard, who built the first brick house in 1824. This house was used as a tavern for many years. Lewis Marsh, from Vermont, settled at the centre in 1825. Solon Pierce, a Methodist preacher, came in

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from Penfield, Monroe Co., N. Y., in 1826, and settled upon a large farm in the central part, where he died at the expiration of four years. Lewis M. Fisk located at West Yorkshire about the same time, and established the first carding-machine. Weaver G. Fisk, from Ontario County, settled in the northern part, on the highest point in the town, about 1828, and Reuben Smith, originally from Ver- mont, came in from Wyoming, then Genesee County, and settled on lot 5, in 1829.

Henry L. Baker kept the first store in town, in 1822, at Yorkshire Corners. His goods were displayed on one side of Proctor Williams' bar-room.

The very early settlers were attended by Dr. Colgrove, of Sardinia. Dr. Patterson, the first resident physician, was located at Yorkshire Corners. Benj. Felch owned the first horses. Mason Smith and his uncle the second span. They were obliged to take them eight miles for pasturage. A Mr. Goodenough owned the first buggy-wagon, and Mason Smith the first cast-iron plow. The first cheese-factory was established at Yorkshire Corners in 1864.

CIVIL HISTORY.

By an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, passed April 13, 1820, the town of Yorkshire was formed from Ischua.

The new town then contained a population of 313 in- habitants, and the language of the act in describing the terri- tory of the town thus formed is as follows :

" Being all that part of the town of Ischua known and distinguished as townships number five and six, in the fifth range of townships, and all that part of the seventh town- ship, in the fifth range of townships, lying south of the Cattaraugus Creek, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate town, by the name of Yorkshire; and the first town-meeting shall be held at the house of Robert Steele, in said town, on the first Tuesday of March next."

Machias-being the fifth township in the fifth range of townships-was taken off April 16, 1827. The west tier of lots of the town of Freedom was annexed in 1844, and the south tier of lots was set off to Machias in 1847.

At the first town-meeting, held at the house of Robert Steele, in the town of Yorkshire, on the 6th day of March, 1821, for the purpose of electing town officers, and to trans- act such other business as might be deemed necessary, the following-named officers were chosen, viz. :

Supervisor, Samuel G. Sutton ; Town Clerk, Joshua Daniels; Assessors, Elijah T. Ashcraft, Jacob Cochran, Benjamin Felch ; Collector, Robert Steele ; Overseers of the Poor, Edward Bump, Joseph Kinne; Constables, Robert Steele, Warren Worden, Joseph Kinne, Jr. ; Com- missioners of Highways, Elisha Brown, Benjamin Felch, Joseph Pierce; Commissioners of Common Schools, Ben- jamin Felch, Samuel G. Sutton, Charles H. Biggs ; Inspec- tors of Common Schools, Robert Steele, William Gowen, Samuel Silliman ; Poundmasters, Obadiah Vaughan, Jr., Robert Steele, David Clark.

HIGHWAY DISTRICTS IN THE TOWN OF YORKSHIRE FOR THE YEAR 1821.

District No. 1, John Farrar, commissioner, beginning on the State road, at the east line of the town, and running

northwestwardly on said road to the centre of the Ischua Creek.

District No. 2, Joshua Daniels, commissioner, beginning at the centre of Ischua Creek, near John Farrar's, and run- ning northwestwardly on the State road to the first large brook north of Elijah T. Ashcraft's.

District No. 3, Robert Steele, commissioner, beginning at the brook last mentioned, and running on the State road to the west line of the town.

District No. 4, Samuel Metcalf, commissioner, beginning at the forks of the road north of Elijah T. Ashcraft's, and running north to the southeast corner of lot 23.

District No. 5, Benjamin Thompson, commissioner, be- ginning at the southeast corner of lot 29, and running north to the Cattaraugus Creek ; also, the road from the forks of the Cattaraugus Creek to the east line of Samuel G. Sutton's land ; and also the road from the east line of lot 31 to the road near Sallimon Davis'.

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History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 114

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: