History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 19

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
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It has not been found practicable to obtain the subsequent history of the Union. For the facts pertaining to the County Sabbath-School Association of the present, applica- tion has more than once been made to its proper officer, but failed to elicit any response.

The Cattaraugus County Bible Society was an institution of the earlier years which had become nearly or quite ex- tinct. It was revived and reorganized on the 11th of June, 1867, with Bethuel McCoy as President, Allen D. Scott, Vice-President; Arunah Ward, Secretary; and S. C. Springer, Treasurer. The society reports to the American Bible Society. The present officers are Rev. Lewis Sweet- land, President; A. W. Ferrin, Secretary ; S. B. Densmore, Treasurer.

The meetings of the society are usually held at Little Valley.

EDUCATION.

The first measure taken by the State of New York look- ing to the encouragement of education in remote and thinly- settled communities was foreshadowed in the report of the Regents of the University in 1793, in which they suggested " the numerous advantages which would accrue from the institution of schools in various parts of the State for in- structing children in the lower branches of education." And again in their report of 1794 they declared that " the many infant settlements annually forming in the State, chiefly composed of families in very indigent circumstances, and placed in the most unfavorable situations for instruc- tion, appear to call loudly for legislative aid in behalf of their rising offspring." At that time settlements had not been commenced in the wilderness which was afterwards Cattaraugus, but the situation depicted in the report was precisely that which was found in this county twenty years later.

The recommendation of the regents resulted, in the fol- lowing year, in the passage of an act (April 9, 1795) for encouraging and maintaining of schools in the several cities and towns by appropriating to that purpose, from the reve- nues of the State,* the sum of twenty thousand dollars an-

nually for five years for encouraging and maintaining schools in the several cities and towns, to be distributed much after the manner now in use, and required the cities and towns respectively to raise a sum equal to one-half of that appropriated to each.

In the year 1811 five commissioners were appointed to report a complete system for the organization and establish- ment of common schools. The commissioners reported a bill in 1812, by which the sum of fifty thousand dollars was to be distributed annually among the counties, the Boards of Supervisors being required to raise an equal amount; the whole to be distributed among the towns and districts. Three commissioners in each town were provided for to superintend schools and examine teachers, and three inspectors in each district were to engage teachers and otherwise provide for the local necessities of the schools. The whole system to be placed under a State superintendent. Gideon Hawley was the first superintendent, and held the position until 1821, when the office was abolished.

There is no person living who can say with certainty when, where, and by whom the first school was taught in the county of Cattaraugus, but it is claimed, and with ap- parent reason, that that distinction belonged to a school which was taught by Dr. John McClure, in the year 1809, in a log cabin which had been vacated by one of the settlers named Hotchkiss, and which stood on the west side of Ischua Creek, between the present village of Franklinville and the hamlet of Cadiz.

Of the very earliest schools, some were taught, as in this case, in abandoned cabins, or in the log dwelling of a settler who was centrally located, or at the house of the " master." After a time, when settlers had become somewhat more numerous, and when a sufficient number had chanced to locate near enough to each other to render the erection of a school-house practicable, all would assemble at a central point as agreed on, armed with axes, mauls, wedges, and hand-spikes, to build the desired structure; and while some felled trees, others notched the logs and put them in their places, and still others rived and split out the covering for the roof. Flat and shapely stones were sought out and hauled for the fireplace, and sticks and mud were made ready for the formation of the chimney, and all these oper- ations were accomplished in a very short space of time. When the house was completed, it was almost invariably a

1801 .- One-half of lotteries for $100,000 50,000 1805 .- Proceeds of 500,000 acres of land sold; stock sub-

scribed in Merchants' Bank, and increased in 1S07 and 1808.

1816 .- One-half proceeds of Crumhorn Mountain tract of 69442 acres, amounting to 5,208

1819 .- One-half of arrears of quit-rents 26,690

An exchange of securities between general and common school fund, by which the school fund gained 161,641 Proceeds of escheated lands given.

1822 .- By constitution, all public lands, amounting to 991,- 659 acres, were given to the school fund.

1827 .- Balance of the loan of 1786 33,616

Bank stock owned by the State .. 100,000

Canal stock owned by the State. 150,000

1838 .- From the revenue of the United States deposit annu- ally. 110,000

And an additional sum from same fund for libraries .. 55,000

The sum of twenty-five thousand dollars from the revenue of the United States deposit fund is annually added to the common-school fund, and the capital of this fund is declared by the constitution to be inviolate.

* The permanent school fund of the State has been derived chiefly as follows:

1799 .- Seven-eighths of four lotteries of $25,000 each, author- ized by act of that year, $100,000 aggregate ........ $87,000

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

cheerless and uncomfortable one, deficient in light, and, in fact, lacking nearly every necessary quality except ventila- tion ; but it answered some sort of purpose as a school- house, and was not infrequently compelled to do duty as a church also, whenever any missionary or traveling preacher happened to come in its vicinity.

There were in these pioneer school-houses none of the aids and expensive accessories of the present system, and the schools bore scarcely a resemblance to those of to-day ; yet they were, in their humble way, institutions of learning, and in them were laid the foundations of many an honorable career.

The first distribution of school money from the funds of the State took place in 1816, the year before the county organization of Cattaraugus had been effected. No record is found of the raising of money for schools in the county during the first two years of its organized existence; but in the record of the supervisors for 1819, is found a resolu- tion of that body (under authority of the law of 1812, be- fore mentioned), directing that the several towns then com- posing the county should raise money for schools, as follows :

Ischua (comprising the northeast quarter of the

county )

$21.20

Olean ...

5.48

Great Valley

20.00

Little Valley

5.00

Perrysburg.

6.00

$57.68

It was the custom of the Holland Land Company to donate a school-house lot to each applying school district on the Purchase, in which there remained unsold lands. But for a number of years, difficulty was found in carrying out this liberal arrangement, on account of a provision in the school act of the State, that sites of school-houses should be secured by deeds in fee, or by leases from the possessor of the fee of the land. And as it often occurred that there could be found no deeded land in the district properly located, and as in the absence of such title or lease, as pre- scribed in the act, trustees could not levy and collect taxes for building or repairing school-houses, the agent of the company, Mr. Evans, in order to remedy the evil, adopted and entered upon the books of the company a regulation to apply in such cases, as follows : " In every legally organized school district on the Holland Purchase, where the most convenient site for a school-house shall fall on land not deeded from the Holland Company, a deed for such site, not exceeding half an acre of land, shall be granted from the company to such district, gratis. Provided, that when- ever such site shall fall on lands held under contract from the company by any person or persons, such district shall procure a relinquishment of the right to such piece of land by virtue of said contract, to be indorsed thereon by the person or persons holding the same." This regulation was established in 1828. School-house sites were donated by the company in various instances in Cattaraugus County.

The district library system was established in 1838 by a law appropriating fifty-five thousand dollars of State money, requiring counties and towns to raise an equal amount for the same purpose, and authorizing a tax levy of twenty dollars on the taxable property of each district, and ten dollars annually thereafter. Under the operation of

this law the superintendents of common schools of Catta- raugus reported for the county an aggregate of two hun- dred and twenty-two school districts, one hundred and forty-five of which had four thousand and ninety-three volumes in libraries.

The report for 1835 showed a total of 202 school dis- tricts in the county, in which an average period of six months was taught during the preceding year. The total number of children in the county between five and sixteen years of age was 7151, and the whole number taught during the school year was 8370. The amount of public money expended in the county for schools during the pre- ceding year was $2665.85 ; the amount paid for teachers' wages, besides public money, $4464.88 ; and the amount of public money distributed to the districts by the com- missioners in April, 1835, was $2629.86.

The report of the superintendent for the year ending July 1, 1856, shows the following statistics for Cattaraugus County :

Number of children over four and under twenty-one years of age residing in the districts. 14,915

Number of children taught. 13,056

Number of male teachers employed .. 178

Number of female teachers employed ..

296

Amount of public money apportioned to the districts for payment of licensed teachers ... $15,852.91

Amount raised by rate bill for teachers' wages. $5,620.77

Amount of public money apportioned by town superin- tendent during the preceding year .. $15,498.36 Amount of public money received and paid by trustees of school districts during the preceding year :

For teachers' wages. $15,076.86

For libraries ..

$672.08

Number of volumes in district libraries.

20,714

Log school-houses.

Frame school-houses

169

Brick school-houses

Stone school-houses 1

Number of unincorporated select and private schools. 14

Whole number of pupils attending said schools during the year 308

The school statistics of the county for the year ending Sept. 30, 1878, are shown by the commissioners' reports for that period, as follows :

Whole number of school districts 275

Whole number of school-houses 262

Value of houses and sites.

$166,855

Number of children of school age. 16,670

Average daily attendance.

9,321

Number of teachers for twenty-eight weeks or more

316

Number of weeks taught.

7.453

Amount of public money received from State.

$37,525.69

Amount of tax raised for schools ...

$65,583.64

Amount paid for teachers' wages. $70,882.94

Number of volumes in libraries 7,162

Value of libraries. $3,415

The county is divided into two commissioners' districts, each under charge of a county commissioner of common schools.

Commissioner district No. 1 now embraces the towns of Ashford, Allegany, Ellicottville, Farmersville, Franklinville, Freedom, Hinsdale, Humphrey, Ischua, Lyndon, Machias, Olean, Portville, and Yorkshire. This district is now (January, 1879) under charge of J. H. Challis, com- missioner.

Commissioner district No. 2 includes the towns of Car- rolton, Cold Spring, Connewango, Dayton, East Otto, Great Valley, Leon, Little Valley, Mansfield, Napoli, New Albion, Otto, Persia, Perrysburg, Randolph, Red House, Sala- manca, and South Valley. The present commissioner in charge of this district is Joel J. Crandall.

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

A further account of the public schools, as also of the higher institutions of learning in the county, will be found in. the histories of the several towns in which they are located.

AGRICULTURE.

The earliest agriculture of this county was in no respect different from that pursued by pioneer immigrants in other newly-opened regions in New York and other Northern States. The first problem to be solved by the settlers was that of subsistence 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 pro- vided 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.

But it did not need a very long trial to show that the high encomiums bestowed on Western New York as a wheat country by Capt. Williamson and others did not so well apply to this portion of the Holland Purchase as to the lands bordering the Genesee River. In short, before many harvests had been gathered from these hill-sides and valleys it became apparent that the soil or climate, or both, were less adapted for the production of wheat,* and especi- ally for winter wheat, than for many other crops. Rye and other cereals gave good increase here, but this fact could not, in the minds of those early farmers, compensate for the lack of success in wheat-growing ; for in that day it was an opinion well-nigh universal that the raising of wheat was the chief end of agriculture, and that a farming- country must be rated high or low in that particular, just in proportion to its capacity for the production of the royal cereal.

The farmers, however, believed that the climate more than the soil was to be blamed for the uncertainty which attended the cultivation of the favorite crop; and so it came that many a settler, after two, three, or more years of trial, gave up the attempt to raise wheat in "cold Cattaraugus" (as the county was rather contemptuously termed), and removed to the Western Reserve, or to Indiana, or perhaps to Michi- gan, there to make a new home on lands whose superior adaptation to wheat culture overbalanced, in his mind, their inferiority in many other respects to the well-watercd and healthy region which he had abandoned.

Sugar-making, though perhaps less an agricultural than a manufacturing industry, may properly be mentioned as a

resource of the farmers of the early day, or at least of such of them as were fortunate enough to have good maple-or- chards on their farms. To such it was a source of some revenue to them, and was prized as one of the few means by which, in the earlier years, cash or " store goods" could be procured. Imlay, in his " Topographical Description" of this region, highly recommended this industry to the attention of farmers, saying, " that no cultivation is neces- sary ; that no contingency, such as hurricanes or bad sea- sons, can disturb the process; that neither the heavy ex- pense of mills, engines, machinery, or a system of planting, is necessary at all to make the maple-sugar. The process occupies six weeks, from the middle of February to the end of March ; and the whole of the buildings and other articles necessary for carrying it on are to be obtained at so trifling an expense as to be within the reach of any person of com- mon industry, whose conduct in life can entitle him to the most moderate credit." And in his estimate of the import- ance of maple-sugar production he was certainly much more correct than in many of his extravagant estimates of the other agricultural capabilities of the country and the un- rivaled excellence of the climate. From the first until the present time, sugar-making has continued to be a very con- siderable industry in Cattaraugus ; the product of the county for the year 1855 having been 416,300 pounds, and 2459 gallons syrup; that of 1865, 522,193 pounds sugar, and 8121 gallons syrup; and that of 1875, being 441,021 pounds sugar, and 7022 gallons syrup ; the towns of Farmersville, Lyndon, Yorkshire, Freedom, Franklinville, Ischua, Hins- dale, and Ashford taking the lead in this production, in the order named.

Many of the early farmers having come from a country of orchards, hastened to plant fruit-trees here. The bottom lands along the creeks were oftenest chosen for this purpose, but where this course was pursued, the result was not gen- erally favorable. Orchards planted on such lands were less reliable, shorter-lived, and more liable to blast. Later ex- perience, however, caused the adoption of better methods, and portions of the county, especially in the northern part, compare well in their fruit culture with the most favored regions. The apple product of the county, as returned in the years 1855, 1865, and 1875, was as follows :

Bush. apples.

Barrels cider. 1257 5331

No. of trees in fruit.

1855 ... 177,173

1865 ..... 375,997

195,267

1875 ..... 492,346 9682

361,592

It became apparent at a very early day to the farmers of Cattaraugus, that the lands of the county were peculiarly adapted for purposes of grazing, and accordingly their at- tention was soon largely directed to that branch of agricul- ture ; not as at the present time, with a principal view to dairy production, but to the raising of cattle and sheep. For a number of years considerable care was given by the more enterprising farmers to the improvement of their horned stock, and Durhams, Devons, Ayrshires, and other favorite breeds were at one time found in considerable num- bers among the herds of the county. The first step taken in this direction was the bringing here of a superb thorough- bred Durham bull, about 1828. He is described as having been of a " strawberry roan" in color, and a gentleman well

* A well-informed writer on the agriculture of Cattaraugus, and & native of the county, in a communication on this subject written some thirty years since, said, " Cattaraugus is well adapted to the cul- ture of cereal grain, excepting wheat, and nowhere else is grass, vegetables, and roots produced in greater abundance or of better quality. The system of wheat-culture, too prevalent in this country, is a reproach to the farmer, and wars with the laws of reproduction. I submit if the fall wheat is not more generally sown the middle or last of October than the 1st of September. If the plant is destroyed by the spring frosts and the heaving of the soil, if the farmer gathers chess and smut, if his granary is empty, what wonder is it ? he has sown to the whirlwind amid frost, rain, and sleet, and reaps the certain reward of his folly. Let the trial be made once and thoroughly of cultivating wheat in a wise manner, and the result will forever silence the assertion that 'wheat cannot be raised in Cat- taraugus.'"

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

informed in stock matters thinks that among the descend- ants of that animal were some of the finest crosses and grades he ever saw. Some exceedingly fine Devons have been owned in the county in past years, notably the herd of Messrs. Staunton and Johnson, at their " Elk Farm" at Ellicottville some twenty years ago.

The most extensive cattle-owner ever in the county was Judge Peter Ten Broeck, of Farmersville, who was the owner of some six thousand acres in improved farms, and with whom for many years it was no uncommon circum- stance to winter six hundred head of cattle, and the number sometimes exceeded eight hundred. His stock in summer usually numbered twelve hundred to fifteen hundred head. He, however, gave no attention to improved breeds, and his ideas in this particular have in latter years been generally adopted by the farmers of the county, especially since their attention has become turned almost exclusively to dairying.

The raising of sheep has also been quite extensively

is now the town of Hinsdale, in the year 1807. His press -and a very serviceable one it must have been-was fashioned by squaring the top of a stump as a platform on which to set the hoop; then cutting a notch at the right height in a tree which chanced 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. It is said that this was the first cheese-press and the first cheese-making in the county. This statement cannot be vouched for with absolute certainty, but it is not improbable that it is entirely correct.

As early as 1830 to 1832 there were several farmers in the northern part of the county who made cheese from dai- ries of from twenty to thirty cows, disposing of their product at about five cents per pound in Buffalo. Among these were Benjamin Ballard, of Otto, and Peter White and Truman Edwards, of Perrysburg. It had frequently been the case that the early settlers exchanged cheese for flour, pound for pound. About 1841 a number of Welsh settlers, who came

PRIMITIVE CHEESE-PRESS.

carried on in past years, and was in fact a leading agricul- tural industry until the farmers had become fully awake to their advantages for dairying and the better profits to be realized from that branch, and then the sheep were disposed of (principally by slaughtering for their pelts and tallow), in preparation for stocking the farms for the new business.

The number of sheep kept in the county in 1835 was 39,509 ; in 1844, 68,609. The number kept in 1855 was 59,725, yielding 130,996 pounds of wool in 41,080 fleeces. In 1865, 77,682 were shorn, yielding 262,742 pounds of wool. In 1875 the number shorn had fallen to 17,139, and the yield of wool to 73,262 pounds.

Dairying is spoken of as a recent enterprise in the county, but the idea intended to be conveyed is, that it is only within a very few years that the business has assumed anything like its present magnitude and importance. Butter and cheese making, however, were practiced to some extent among the earliest settlers, though probably the amount made was exceedingly small. Zachariah Noble made cheese in what

to Yorkshire and Farmersville, commenced cheese-making, and were very successful in the business. The cheese made by the Welsh people in that quarter has always borne an excellent reputation.

The prices realized for farm products, including those of the dairy, were so exceedingly low before the opening of the Erie Railroad, that it seems difficult to see how any profit could have been realized by the farmers. A common price for butter, in the villages, was eight cents per pound, and even that payable in goods. Butter, which took a pre- mium at the Agricultural Fair of 1851, was sold at twelve cents, which was regarded as a very high figure. Yet, even at these prices, dairying was found more profitable than any other branch of agriculture, and by the opening of the Erie Railway, in the year 1851, the prosperity of the farmers of Cattaraugus was greatly increased, and made permanent.

The dairy products of the county, as reported for the year 1855, were-

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Butter

1,957,183 pounds. 1,717,484

Milk sold ..

6,200 gallons.

Number of cows ...

23,633

The product reported for 1864 was-

Butter

2,308,923 pounds.

Cheese

3,635,356

Milk sold

12,512 gallons.

The above being produced from 34,408 milch cows. In 1865, only three cheese-factories were reported. Four years later (1869), 49 were reported in the county.

For the year 1874, the dairy report was as follows:

Number of milch cows.

46,757

Number of cows whose milk was sent to factories ..

36,705

Butter made in families

1,923,846 pounds.

Cheese

183,850 "

Milk sold in market.

45,905 gallons.

It is to be regretted that the product of cheese-factories and creameries is not given in the report for this year.

It has been repeatedly stated, as the opinion of drovers and cattle-dealers who are familiar with the capabilities of all sections of the country, from the Hudson River to the prairies of Illinois, that Cattaraugus cannot be excelled in the quality of its grazing or in the quantity of grass pro- duced to the acre; that the pasture here suffers less from drought, and makes more and better milk, butter, and cheese, than can be made from the same area in Orange County, or in Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois. There are no better judges than these men in everything pertaining to stock-raising and dairying, and their statements in this par- ticular are undoubtedly true. In view of these facts and of the wonderful progress already made, it certainly is not rash to predict that in the near future Cattaraugus will stand in the very front rank among the prosperous dairy- ing counties of the State.

The following comparative statistics of the county, from the censuses of 1855, 1865, and 1875, are given here as being of general interest :

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History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 19

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: