History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 127

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
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On the road, north of this house, Capt. William Fenton had a public-house about 1844, which was the stopping- place of the stages running between Buffalo and Jamestown.

About 1834, Thomas Noyes built a tavern at Leon Centre, which has been enlarged from time to time to its present dimensions. A man by the name of Granger kept it after Noyes. Other landlords at this place have been Samuel P. Hanford, John Lang, Ellery Stone, S. C. Horton, John Carpenter, Nathaniel Kierstead, Thomas Snyder, P. A. Snyder, A. Thomas, O. C. Chase, A. L. Roberts, Russel Barlow, Zelotes Blanchard, B. B. Mosher, and W. F. Ross.

On the street leading to the eastern part of the village, John Cooper kept a public-house, about 1837, which was continued after a few years by Nathaniel Cooper. It is now a residence, and the old Noyes tavern is the only public-house in town.

The first store in Leon was opened in 1827 at Leon Mills, by Johnson Noyes. He had but a small stock of goods. In 1830, Jabez Thompson placed a good assort- ment of merchandise in a building especially erected for store purposes, and carried on a very prosperous trade a number of years. In those days liquor was one of the staple articles sold, and an examination of the account- books kept by Thompson reveals the fact that nearly all the customers bought whisky as regularly as tea and sugar. After Leon Centre became the principal business point, this store was discontinued, and the building is now used for a barn.

James Dunlap erected the first store-building at Leon Centre, in 1833, on the corner opposite the Noyes tavern. In this building have been as merchants, Amaziah Strong, Jenks & Cooper, Ezra W. Cooper, Cooper & Brand, Spen- cer Horton, J. H. Chaffee, W. O. Tyrer, and one or two others for short periods. It is at present occupied by

William Babcock for a furniture room. On the west cor- ner, the second business house in the place was erected in 1843, by Ira R. Jones, and a store kept in it by Jones and Porter Dudley. In time, Edgar Shannon followed here in trade, and in 1873 displaced the old house with a very good business block, which he yet occupies as a merchant.

The Jones battling is at present occupied by M. W. Cooper and John Caneen for the drug and grocery trade. Formerly, Thomas Cancen had a grocery-store near this stand.

A hardware-store was opened in the village in 1872, by C. A. Kingsley, which is at present carried on by Horace R. Hollister. The same year a small store was opened at East Leon, by Charles Easton, who was followed in trade by Collins Spencer, and he, in turn, by William E. Easton, the present storekeeper.

POST-OFFICES AND THE PROFESSIONS.

About 1830 a post-office was established in the eastern part of the town, with the name of " Pleasant Grove." William Kendall was appointed postmaster, and held the office until after 1840. In the course of these years the name was changed to East Leon, which is the present title of the office. Among others who have been postmasters may be named Jonathan and Oliver Waldron, Ezekiel Seekins, Harrison Judd, William Seekins, and William Eas- ton, and the office has been moved from place to place, usually having been kept at the homes of the above. The mail is supplied once a week from Cattaraugus village.

The Leon office was established at Leon Mills about 1835, and first bore the name of that locality. John Carpenter was an early and probably the first postmaster. About 1840, Carpenter went to the village of Leon, and removed the office with him. Since that period it has been there kept, the postmasters having been Henry Lang, H. H. Holmes, R. A. Kellogg, Anthony Day, John Cooper, E. W. Cooper, W. O. Tyrer, C. A. Kingsley, and H. R. Hol- lister. The office is supplied with a daily mail, alternately from Cattaraugus and Randolph.

The Peace Vale office was established in 1862, at the house of Ezekiel Butler, who was the first postmaster. From 1865 to 1871 the office was held by S. C. Green. It was discontinued in the latter named year.

Dr. Joseph Wilson came to Leon in 1834 as the first regular physician to locate for practice, and remained sev- eral years. But before this period, Samuel Daniels, a be- liever in the Thomsonian theory, sometimes practiced his art. In September, 1835, Dr. Everett Stickney came from Erie County, and has lived here since as a physician. He was in active practice from the time of his settlement till 1868. That year Dr. A. A. Hubbell located in the village, and has since been an active practitioner.

Some time before 1850, Pliny L. Fox resided four or five years in the town, and followed the attorney's profession. After his removal there was no lawyer in town until a few years ago, when John F. Mosher opened an office, and is yet engaged in this profession, at Leon village.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

In 1822 a small log house, 16 by 18 feet, was put up on the east part of lot 49, in which a school was taught that

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winter by Richard Oathout, which was attended by mem- bers of the Amadon, Dudley, Gale, and Jenkins families. This was the first school in town, and the territory com- prised in the district now constitutes districts 2, 3, and 4.

The following spring a school was taught at Leon Centre by Louis Grover and Abigail Latham, the latter part of the season. The pupils here belong o the Cooper, Beach, and Holt families. Other schools were taught as soon as the country settled up.

At the first annual meeting it was voted that the money received from Connewango, as the town's portion of the unexpended funds, should be applied for school purposes ; and that, for the same use, double the amount of money be raised that was received from the State.

The commissioners of common schools for the first year were Isaac Leach, Cyrus Daniels, and Collins Gibson; the inspectors were Johnson Noyes, Leonard Clark, and Richard Oathout. The records of the carly schools are so vague that nothing satisfactory can be learned from them respecting the schools of that period.

In 1878 there were in the town 10 districts, in which 11 schools were taught 280 weeks. The number of children of school age was 372, from which an average attendance of 196 pupils was secured. For the support of these schools, $1050.40 was derived from the county fund, and $501.84 was raised by special taxation. Fifty-six volumes were reported in the different libraries, and the value of the school-buildings and grounds was set at $4300.

The school-house at Leon Centre was lately erected at a cost of more than $2000, and is one of the best buildings of its size in the county. It is an attractive two-story frame, handsomely finished, and well supplied with good furniture. The schools here taught are noted for their thorough scholarship, and are largely attended.

SECRET ORDERS.

Leon Division, No. 372, Sons of Temperance, was organ- ized about thirty years ago, having, among others, as charter members, Charles M. Eldridge, John F. Rhodes, Daniel T. Wood, Charles Everett, Thomas Caneen, and J. N. C. Kier- stead. The latter was elected the first Worthy Patriarch. The meetings were first held in the school-house, but were afterwards convened in a hall-secured for the use of the division-over George Shannon's wagon-shop. Here for a number of years it flourished, but some time about 1853 the meetings were discontinued. The hall was subsequently used by a lodge of Good Templars, whose meetings were here held several years. After the lodge was disbanded the hall was converted to other uses.

Bouquet Lodge, No. 728, I. O. G. T., was instituted in 1868, with E. C. Durfee as the first W. C. T. The meet- ings were held in the Methodist church, and were attended with much interest. The membership increased until there were more than 100 persons connected with the lodge. In time the meetings were held irregularly, weakening the interest so much that the lodge finally went down.

Leon Lodge, No. 153, A. O. U. W., was instituted May 4, 1878, with 26 charter members. The first officers were H. B. Hollister, P. M. W .; A. A. Hubble, M. W .; D. T. Wood, G. F .; Cyrus Rhodes, O .; H. J. Trumbull, F. R .;

J. L. Casten, Rec. ; O. L. Johnson, R .; Belah Dexter, G. ; Royal Mills, J. W .; Emerson Hart, O. W.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. .

The first religious meeting in the present town of Leon was held in August, 1820, at the house of Abner Wise, on lot 49 .* The preacher was the Rev. Daniel Hadley, a Free-Will Baptist, who came from Chautauqua County, following blazed trees to guide him to this settlement. He preached in this neighborhood occasionally for two or three years, but it does not appear that he attempted to organize a church. The first movement in this direction was made by the Rev. Ezra Amadon, a Reformed Methodist clergy- man and one of the original founders of that denomina- tion, at Reedsborough, Vt., in 1814. It was constituted of seceders from the Methodist Episcopal Church, the defec- tion having arisen on account of a difference in church government and religious observances. The polity of the new body was not so strongly episcopal and was more like that of the Congregational Church. They laid great stress on faith and perfection of character, striving to attain a greater degree of holiness. Elder Amadon moved to Leon, in February, 1822, with his family, and at once began preaching the doctrines of the new order with so much success that, in the spring of the following year, a Reformed Methodist Church was organized, in the southern part of Leon. The original members were Elder Amnadon and Elizabeth, his wife, Thomas W. Cheney, John Fairbanks and wife, James Battles, Lucy Whiting and her daughter, Lucy. In his ministerial duties Elder Amadon was much assisted by Thomas W. Cheney, who, though young in years, engaged zealously in this work. The doctrines of the church being generally acceptable, and there being no other church in town, many who had formerly been con- nected with other denominations in their old homes, became members of this society ; and as the town settled up, this membership was increased until there were more than 100 communicants.

In the summer of 1828 a frame church, capable of seat- ing 500 persons, was erected on lot 49, and was probably the first frame church in the county. In this the subse- quent meetings of the Reformed Methodists were held, and though nominally their property, other denominations were invited to occupy it for the occasional services they at that time held. Besides their preaching services, the Reformed Methodists held two prayer-meetings per week on week- days, or in the evening. Their ministers were the Revs. Ezra Amadon and his son Henry, Thomas W. Cheney, Eleazer Ewers, and, about 1840, Uriah S. Lembocker. These usually served the church gratuitously, receiving nothing but such gifts as the members were pleased to give them. Elder Amadon frequently spoke of the liberality of some of his members, who presented him with a new vest, worth $1.50, as a consideration for his labors among them; and Elder Cheney, who was a presiding elder among them, often received barely enough to pay his traveling expenses to his appointments in Eastern Ohio.

In 1840 the Reformed Methodists of the State united

* From data furnished by E. C. Durfee, Esq.

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MARTIN H.WOODIN.

MRS. RUTH S. WOODIN.

JENNIE W. WOODIN.

CLARIBELLWOODIN

RESIDENCE OF MARTIN H.WOODIN. LEON, CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, N. Y.

PHOTOS BY EDGERTON & CHASE, GOWANDA

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

with the Wesleyans or favored a union of the two bodies. The church at Leon was not agreed on the wisdom of such a step, and became divided in their sentiments, a portion uniting with the Wesleyans and others adhering to the original organization. Dissensions ensued, and what with the loss of members by emigration, the interest was so much weakened that the services were discontinued, and the meet- ing-house was abandoned and soon went to decay. The timbers have been removed, leaving no trace of its location; and of the early members none remain in town, except Rev. Thomas W. Cheney and Ezra Amadon, a son of the founder of the society.

Some of the settlers north of Leon Centre-the Beach, Holt, and Coe families-were Presbyterians, and sometimes had meetings in the school-house, where the missionary, John Spencer, preached, but did not form a church in con- sequence of the early removal of some of these families.

In 1823 the Rev. Jonathan Blake, in the employ of the Baptist Home Missionary Society, visited Leon and held services at the house of Robert Durfee and in the school- house on lot 49. So much interest was manifested that in the summer of 1824 Elder Blake organized a Baptist Church, which had among its members Otis L. Durfee and wife, Oliver Pool and wife, Asa Franklin and wife, Moses Daniels, Mrs. Philip Bigler, and a few others. Otis L. Durfee was elected the first deacon, but soon after re- moved to Crawford Co., Pa., where he became a minister. Elder Blake preached in Leon a few years longer, then removed to Ohio. After he had left, the Rev. Theophilus Hastings, who was the school-teacher in the building on lot 49 in 1826-27, sometimes preached, but the congrega- tion was too poor to maintain a regular pastor, and the Baptists hardly managed to preserve an organization.

Some time after 1830, Elder Bartemas Brahman, of Napoli, preached in the school-house at Leon Centre every two weeks. In 1834 an extensive revival ensued, from which resulted a large addition to the membership of the struggling church, which now became known as

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN LEON.

A year later, Feb. 16, 1835, was constituted the " First Baptist Society in Napoli," to attend to the temporalities of the church, and Samuel Kitwell, Moses Daniels, Jr., Levi H. Chapin, David Ross, Peter Low were elected trustees.

In 1836 a plain but substantial frame meeting-house was built at Leon village, in which meetings were now held with greater regularity, promoting, in consequence, the welfare of the church. This house, in a thoroughly re- paired, remodeled condition, is yet used by the society, and is a comfortable place of worship. It will seat 250 persons, and is valued at $1500.

No very intelligent account of the condition of the church work is found in the records prior to 1839. The entry that year contains the names of the following members : Elder J. Boardman, Curtis Battles, Gustavus Warner, B. C. Wil- loughby, John L. Harris, Oliver Pool, Chester Chapin, Levi Chapin, Eber Franklin, Asa Franklin, Benedict Rus- sell, Samuel Daniels, Peter Low, David Ross, John Dur- fee, V. R. Morgan, Maria Amadon, Betsey Battles, Jane

Boardman, Sarah Squiers, Jerusha Franklin, Mary War- ner, Louisa Harris, Catherine Low, Rebecca Dye, Sally Daniels, Abigail Chapin, Sarah Chapin, Patty Franklin.

Among those who here first filled the office of deacon were Chester Chapin and H. H. Holmes. This position has also been occupied by George Shannon, William San- ders, Horace Wells, D. H. Horton, George W. Press, Chas. Oakes, and Salmon Treat.

The clerks of the church have been Eleazer Slocum, Leonard Clark, H. H. Holmes, R. C. Jackson, and Everett Stickney.

The pastoral connection has been irregular, and sustained at times by supplies from other churches. Besides those named, M. F. Wadsworth was ordained to the pastorate in 1843. Since that period the clergy of the church have been the Revs. A. Frink, J. J. Trumbull, Samuel Ackerly, H. H. Phelps, J. P. Islip, - Bemus, - Porter, G. W. Brown, J. A. Pickard, and the present, R. D. Hays.

The church membership is reported at 41; and in the Sabbath-school are 40 members, having Charles Oaks as superintendent.

THE LEON METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

At an early period a class of Methodists was organized west of Leon Centre, which had among its members Simeon Harmon and wife, Ichabod Franklin, and Richard Oathout and his wife. The former was the class-leader, and the meetings were usually held at his houses. The preachers on the Connewango circuit also held meetings here at stated times and in the neighboring school-house. Measures were taken to build a church ; and to promote this object a society was formed Nov. 23, 1835. The first board of trustees was composed of James Dunlap, Benjamin South- wick, Simeon Harmon, Simeon L. Winchell, Thomas Mills, Ira Greeley, Ira Sanders, Aaron Edwards, and Michael Brenninstol. The ensuing season a plain but commodious church edifice was erected at Leon Centre, which was re- modeled and modernized in 1858, by a committee composed of Daniel Brand, Moses Mills, and Gaylord Kellogg. One of the most notable changes was the addition of a tower, which was supplied with a good bell. The house will seat 500 persons, and is a comfortable place of worship. It is worth $3000. A parsonage was purchased about 1847, which was used until 1873, when it was removed and the present attractive house erected in its stead. This property is reported worth $1200. The controlling board of trustees consists of Richard Kellogg, Moses Mills, George Fuller, James Casten, and Stephen Smith. The church has 65 members, in three classes, having James Casten, Richard Kellogg, and George Filley as leaders. The Rev. J. H. Bates is the pastor in charge of the Leon circuit, which embraces East Dayton as one of the appointments. The circuit was formed in 1847, and has had, since that period, the following ministerial appointments : the Revs. A. P. Brown, J. Scofield, D. King, J. Blackford, J. Scott, F. Muse, R. L. Blackmer, A. Norton, G. W. Sisson, L. Bur- ton, R. R. Roberts, Joseph Allen, W. R. Gehr, P. Bur- roughs, G. W. Gray, S. N. Warner, C. E. Woodworth, L. E. Beardsley, Z. W. Shadduck, W. H. Hover, W. L. Riley, William Rice, and since 1878, J. H. Bates.

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It will interest some of our readers to have, in this con- nection, a list of preachers on the Connewango circuit, which embraced this appointment, from 1826 to 1847. They were as follows : the Revs. John W. Hill, Job Wil- son, John P. Kent, Joseph S. Barris, Zachariah Ragan, David Preston, John K. Hallock, Nelson Henry, John Prosser, Andrew McCammon, D. Williams, Josiah Flower, Horatio N. Stearns, J. Scott, M. Hanna, J. E. Bassett, C. D. Rockwell, D. Rowland, J. O. Rich, J. F. Hill, M. Himebaugh, J. F. Hill, J. Demming, M. Elkins, D. Pritch- ard, W. W. Luke, J. H. Tagg, D. W. Vorce, J. A. Young, S. A. Henderson, J. B. Hammond, Wm. S. Warrello, and J. N. Henry.

...

The first Sunday-school was superintended by James Dunlap, and was discontinued at the approach of winter. About 1855, Daniel Brand was the superintendent of the first school that was continued throughout the year. Rich- ard Kellogg is the present superintendent, and the school has about 75 members.

THE LEON FREE METHODIST CHURCH

was organized in the fall of 1874, by the Rev. J. W. Mc- Alpine, with the following members : Joseph Sherman and wife, Melville Everts and wife, Lyman Franklin, and Ed- win Kellogg. The meetings were held at the Wells Hill school-house until the fall of 1876, when the old school building at Leon Centre was purchased and fitted up for a place of worship. In March, 1878, a board of trustees, composed of Melville Everts, Edwin Kellogg, and Hiram Harmon, was chosen to attend to the temporalities of the church, which are valued at $1000.

In 1876 the Rev. John Taylor was sent to the Leon circuit, and remained one year. He was succeeded by Rev. W. G. Oakes, who continued until September, 1878, since when the Rev. W. W. Browne has been the pastor. The church has enjoyed unusual prosperity, and is at present in a flourishing condition, having 40 members.

Its present board of stewards is as follows: Cyrus Inger- soll, Hiram Harmon, Levi Towers, Lyman Franklin, Le- grand Morgan, Albert Kellogg, William Hodges.

MILITARY MATTERS.

Among the early settlers of the town were several who participated in the Revolutionary struggle. Dudley Noyes, the father of Johnson Noyes, a well-known citizen, was at Bunker Hill; James Franklin served in New Hampshire; Anthony Day and Simon Bigler had been enrolled in their respective localities; and Elisha Freeman was another hero of " the times that tried men's souls." There is on file in the office of the town clerk an interesting relic of his ser- vice,-a copy of his certificate for a Revolutionary pension.

"WAR DEPARTMENT.

"I certify that, in conformity with the Law of the United States of the 18th of March, 1818, and the 1st of May, 1820, Elisha Freeman, late a private in the Army of the Revolution, is inscribed on the Pen- sion List Roll of the New York Agency, at the rate of cight dollars per month, to commence on the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen. Payable on the fourth of March and the fourth of September of each year, by the Branch Bank of the United States in the City of New York.

"No person is payable until the arrival of one or the other of the above dates after the issue of a certificate.

"Given at the War Office of the United States, this first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.

"JOHN C. CALHOUN, Secretary."

In the war of 1812 a great many had participated, among others being James Franklin, Jr., Asa Franklin, Benedict Russell, John Bigler, Philip Bigler, Hazeltine Streeter, Levi Sykes, John N. C. Kierstead, Eber Franklin, Lyman Dean, Daniel Johnson, Levi B. Hubbart, John Sickles, Xury Blodgett, Ephraim Sweet, Ayres Woodard, Simeon Herman, John Everett, Asa Ewers, Abraham Low, Ebenezer Day, David Ross, Andrus Franklin, Alvah Smith, Jesse Ross, Abner Durfee, Zephaniah C. Durfee, John Hazur, Benjamin H Paddock, Abial Davison, Harvey Butler.

Leon responded to the several calls of the President of the endangered Union for troops to suppress the Rebellion, and contributed a full quota in each instance. A list of those who served is found in another part of this book.

To facilitate enlistments several special meetings were held, the most noteworthy of which were the ones con- vened June 15, 1864, and Feb. 28, 1865, when liberal bounties were voted to volunteers, and aid to such as would secure substitutes.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

A. A. HUBBELL, M.D.,

was born in Connewango, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., May 1, 1846 His father, Schuyler Philip Hubbell, was the eldest of nine children-all now living, and successful in their respective avocations-of Eli Hubbell and Mary Huxley, who were married Nov. 30, 1820. His mother, Hepzibah Farnsworth, was also a member of a large family consisting of ten children. He is the oldest of four children, one of whom died in infancy.

According to traditional history preserved in the family, he is a descendant of a line of Hubbells, the first of whom emigrated to this country from England early in our nation's history, and settled at Reddington, near New Haven, Conn. The family comprised, besides parents, two sons and two daughters. The father was his (the Dr.'s) grandfather's great-grandfather. At least one of the above sons was in the "old French war" and also in the Revolutionary war. During the latter he, with a party of seventy, was poisoned at a spring of drinking water by the English, who were supposed to have placed it there for the purpose. He left at least seven children,-Esbond, Richard, Ger- shom, Benjamin, Enos, Ephraim, and Abigail. Esbond, who comes into the line of his descent, and was his great- grandfather, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, enlisting at fifteen years of age, and serving his time. Af- terwards he married, and engaged himself in the mercantile business at Ballston, Saratoga Co., N. Y. A speculation in beef, which spoiled on his hands, and which he intended

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for foreign market, ruined him financially. He then went to farming. At thirty-five he became crippled for life by a limb striking him on the back of his neck while felling some trees in the woods. He died at the age of sixty-three, after eighteen years of protracted suffering and paralysis.

His children were Francis, who died in the war of 1812, Enos, Ephraim, Eli, Louisa, Philip Schuyler, and Hannah Lovisa. In 1801 the family moved to Ovid, Seneca Co., N. Y., and in 1807 to Monroe County (then Genesee County), near Rochester.

A. A. HUBBELL.

In 1827, Eli Hubbell, with his wife and three children, settled in Connewango, Cattaraugus Co., arriving there October 16. He bought one hundred acres of land, being a part of the farm now owned by Hezekiah Burt, and lying east of Axeville, which he cleared and subdued, and to which he afterwards added more land. Here he reared his family of nine children, who, without exception, stand on ground of prosperity, and some have risen to distinction. The whole family are living, and the father has arrived at the advanced age of eighty-two years : now residing in the town of Randolph, near Chamberlain Institute.

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History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 127

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: