USA > New York > Cattaraugus County > History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 21
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third of a mile wide; the superficial area of the reservation being 47 square miles and 398 acres, or 30,478 acres. The correctness of the survey was certified by Mr. Stoddard, the surveyor, as follows :
" I do certify that the notes contained in the field-book, to which this certificate is annexed, were, according to the best of my knowl- edge and belief, truly taken in respect to the surveying and mensura- tion as well as the qualities of the land, &c.
" RICHARD M. STODDARD. " MASSACHUSETTS PRE-EMPTION, Oct. 31, 1798."
THE QUAKER INSTRUCTORS.
Whatever degree of civilization has been attained by the Senecas, particularly by those located on this reservation, has been, and is, in a great measure, the result of unselfish and persevering labors among them by members of the noble and benevolent Society of Friends, and for this reason it is thought proper to give here a brief account of the commencement of those labors and something of their early progress.
In the year 1795, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting ap- pointed a committee " for promoting the improvement and gradual civilization of the Indian natives." In the follow- ing year the committee reported that after fully conferring on the objects of their appointment, and carefully consider- ing the means most likely to promote them, they believed it proper to learn the disposition of the various tribes in the vicinity of this State, and prepare their minds for the reception of the intended aid. " With this view, circular letters from the committee were, in 1796, addressed to va- rious tribes, accompanied with one from the Secretary of State, expressive of the approbation of our prospects by the Executive of the United States. These letters, in a guarded manner, communicated to the Indians our inten- tion of aiding and encouraging such as should early apply to us. The Oneidas, and those Indians settled on the Oneida Reservation, comprehending the Stockbridge and a part of the Tuscaroras, were the only tribes who at that time appeared willing to be instructed." But notwithstand- ing that the Senecas, with other tribes, appeared not anx- ious to receive the proffered aid and instruction, the project was not abandoned by the Meeting, and in the spring of 1798, "the committee having concluded to make an attempt at civilizing some of the Indian natives on the north western border of Pennsylvania, residing on the Allegany River, in the State of New York, Joshua Sharpless accompanied sev- eral Friends on a visit to Cornplanter,* near whose land they proposed to commence their operations, of which he preserved some account."
They set out from Chester County on the 1st of May,
* In the year 1791, the chief, Cornplanter, had addressed to the Friends in Philadelphia a letter, from which the following is an extract :
"Brothers,-The Sencca nation see that the Great Spirit intends they should not continue to live by hunting, and they look round on every side and inquire, ' Who is it that shall teach them what is best for them to do?' Your fathers dealt honestly by our fathers, and these have engaged us to remember it. We wish our children to be taught the same principles by which your fathers were guided.
" Brothers, we have too little wisdom among us, and we cannot teach our children what we see their situation requires them to know. We wish them to be taught to read and write, and such other things as you teach your children,-especially the love of peace."
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and rode through Shippensburg, Strasburg, crossed the Allegany mountains, and on the 10th arrived in Pitts- burgh. In the journal of Mr. Sharpless he said, "It was · the time of the sitting of the Supreme Court when we arrived here, and we had some fears whether we should get accommodations for ourselves and horses; but having inquired for the best tavern before we crossed the river, we were recommended to the Green Tree, where, after some hesi- tation, we were taken in, and found good accommodations. Some discouragement attended my mind on the way hither, concerning the business we were going on,-being impor- tant, and to be transacted among a people of strange lan- guage, in a wilderness country, and under great uncertainty how we should be able to get the goods we have in care to our desired port; but upon our arrival here, and being introduced to some for whom we had letters of credit, we met with a very kind reception, and they appeared hearty in assisting us, and informed us that the goods sent from Philadelphia arrived safely a few days ago, and were in the public store-house. The deputy quartermaster said that he would send them to Cornplanter's village, which was about one hundred and forty miles by land, but much more by water; that it was a good time for them to go, the river being neither too low nor too high.
" 11th. We had an interview with Gen. Wilkinson this morning. He received us very respectfully, appeared well satisfied with the business we were going on, and cheerfully disposed to assist us in our undertaking. He gave the deputy quartermaster, who bore us company, directions, in our hearing, to forward our goods to Cornplanter's settle- ment. The deputy provided a boat, sent a wagon to take our goods from the public store, which was in the fort, and convey those we had procured in different parts of the town to the wharf, and put on board the boat before evening. Those sent from Philadelphia, and what we procured here, weighed about four thousand seven hundred pounds, for which the boatman was to have twenty shillings per hun- dred-weight for taking up to the settlement, which we afterwards understood from him was two hundred and seventy miles by water. He agreed to set off with them in two or three days, estimating it would take eighteen days to reach the settlement.
"12th. Several of our number waited on the general this morning, agreeably to his request, and had a satisfactory interview. To encourage the business and assist therein, he presented us with the following letter, and when we came away accompanied us through the guards, and re- spectfully took his leave of us:
"'HEADQUARTERS, PITTSBURGH, May the 12th, 1798.
"'SIR,-This will be handed you by Mr. Sharpless, of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia, who, with several associates, is on a visit to the Seneca nation, with views to make some establishment which may prove useful to those people, and interesting to the rights of humanity. You will be pleased to furnish Mr. Sharpless a guide, provisions, and any accommodations he may need, charging the accruing expenses to the proper head.
"'With respect and esteem, I am, sir, your obedient servant,
"'JAMES WILKINSON.
"' CAPT. FOWLER,
"' Ass't Qr. Mr. Gen. Fort Franklin.'"
The party then crossed the Allegany and proceeded on their journey, " through a wilderness country, but little in-
habited, the settlements not more than two or three years old, and scarce of provisions for man and horse." They dined at Durkin's, eighteen miles, and that night reached " the Double Cabin," fifteen miles farther. " Here we could get neither pasture, hay, corn, nor oats for our horses; but having a little oats with us we fed them, and tied them to stakes until morning. After partaking of some of our victuals, we wrapped ourselves in our blankets, and tried to get some sleep on the earthen floor, being all the bed we could meet with."
"On the following day, after passing through a poor country, where the season appeared to be very backward, the leaves only then just commencing to put out, we got to Fort Franklin before four o'clock, pretty much fatigued, part of our road being tedious and rough, and we sensibly felt the effect of our poor night's lodging. We met with few houses in this day's ride. The town of Franklin (now Venango County) is situated close on the side of French Creek ; it contains ten or twelve log houses. They were built under cover of an old fort, which is now demolished, and a new one erected half a mile lower down the creek, just above its junction with the Allegany River. Two of us waited on Captain Fowler, and presented General Wil- kinson's letter, upon reading which he manifested great respect and a full disposition to comply with its contents."
The next morning they breakfasted with Captain Fowler, and, having obtained from him " four bushels of corn to feed the horses through the wilderness, and a half-hundred of flour and two quarts of salt to take to the Indian vil- lage," they set out, with a guide in the person of Joseph Johnson, who was a surveyor for the Holland Land Com- pany, and was bound for the mouth of Connewango Creek. At the end of about six miles they " came to a house near Oil Creek, the most desirable place seen for many miles back,-a fine, fertile bottom on the creek, with suitable plow-land, and a noble spring just by the door large enough to turn a mill. Oil Creek is so termed from an oily fluid collected from its surface, arising either from springs near its margin or from different parts of the creek. It is called Seneca oil ; and we were informed that one man gathered three barrels last year, which sold at Pittsburgh for four dollars per gallon."
The party stopped for that night at a point several miles above the mouth of Oil Creek, Pa., and in the following morning proceeded on their way.
" After riding two miles, we entered a white-pine forest, where the Holland Company* has a saw-mill, and is erect- ing a grist-mill, though there are but few houses within twenty miles. To this place there is a cut road from Pitts- burgh, but we now enter the wilderness without any path ; a number of marked trees were to be our guides. The woods were very thick, with much underbrush, and a suc- cession of logs to cross, some of which we jumped our horses over, and others with difficulty we got round. This stage, called twenty-four miles, appeared to us very long, taking twelve hours to get through, and for twenty miles of the way there was not one house. The rocks, stones,
# Besides the great tract known as the Holland Purchase, in New York, the Holland Company also owned very large tracts in this part of Pennsylvania.
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old logs, and the whole surface of the ground under the forest of pine-trees, were covered with moss, resembling for thickness a fleece of wool."
They arrived at Broken Straw Creek that night, and in the morning of May 16 rode down the creek seven miles to the Allegany River.
" The bottoms on the creek were rich, and beautifully coated with a luxuriant vegetation. We passed several sugar-camps, where the Indians come in the season to make the maple-sugar, though more than twenty miles from their village. About noon we arrived at Connewango, eighteen miles from Cornplanter's; and the road being very rough, we agreed to remain here till morning. Near the mouth of the creek, on a beautiful dry place, the State of Penn- sylvania has laid out Warrentown. The Holland Company have built a good house in this town, where they keep a store to supply their surveyors and settlers on the land with provisions, etc. Joseph Johnson, our pilot, had the charge of this store. He agreed with a young Indian who was sober, and we were informed would not get drunk, to pilot us to-morrow to Cornplanter's village. He was a good countenanced lad, and appeared pleased with the charge assigned him. When we reached the river we stopped to let our horses eat grass, there being plenty of it on some of the bottoms, which was a pleasing sight, and tended to re- move some fears respecting the fare of our horses when we got among the Indians. While here, a number of In- dians came by in canoes, who stopped to see us, shook hands with us, and looked pleasant. One man came down the mountain with a large turkey on his back which he had just shot, and we thought it would have weighed more than twenty pounds. We saw some pheasants, but no par- tridges.
" After a short conference on the weighty business we were embarked in we proceeded up the river, not without some exercise of mind, and would have been glad could we have sent a messenger forward to inform the chiefs of our coming ; but this was out of our power, for none of the Indians we met with could talk English ; we therefore moved forward, with our minds attentive to best directions. When we came in sight of the town many Indians appeared in view, look- ing towards us. Our guide turned into the first cabin he came to, and would go no further, but pointed to Corn- planter's house. We paid him one dollar, and moved for- ward, and presently saw the chiefs coming towards us; and on our riding up and alighting, they appeared to welcome us with open countenances. We did not know Cornplanter, nor could we distinguish him by his dress, but shaking hands with one who stood foremost, we asked him if he was Cornplanter. He informed us, in his way, that he was. After shaking hands with all, we were invited to his house, which differed from others only in being larger." The above narrative of the journey of the Friends to Corn- planter's village has been given somewhat in detail, because it seems interesting to read an account, known to be abso- lutely authentic, of the condition and appearance of this wilderness at that early day, and of the passage through it of a party of men, three of whom were to form the first white settlement within the bounds of Cattaraugus County.
It was in the afternoon of the 17th of May that the party
arrived at Cornplanter's village, which was named in Seneca Jenescatego, and was situated on the west side of the Alle- gany River, five miles south of the south boundary of the State of New York. Runners were at once dispatched to announce to the Indians their arrival, and that a general council was to be held at ten o'clock on the following morning. At this council the motives of the visit were explained. The Indians expressed their thankfulness to the Great Spirit for the Quakers' safe arrival amongst them, but queried how Indians could learn to plow, and do what was proposed, seeing they had no horses or oxen, and were poor, living in cabins covered with bark. The Friends told them great matters were not expected at once, but it was wished they would make a beginning ; that they had two horses, which might be taught to draw the plow, and that as they had an annuity paid them by the United States, some of it should be saved to buy oxen. Allusion was also made to their great intemperance, both men and women having been seen intoxicated. Much more was said in ex- planation of their objects in coming among the Indians, and then the council was dismissed, to allow the chiefs and principal men to consult among themselves. Another council was soon after called, at which Cornplanter made a speech, closing as follows :
" Brothers, we cannot say a word against you ; it is the best way to call Quakers brothers; you never wished any part of our lands, therefore we are determined to try to learn your ways ; and these young men may stay here two years to try, and then if they like it, and we like it, your young men may stay longer."
It was explained to the Indians that the young Quakers who were to stay among them must have a place to live in, and piece of land to work, in order to set them an ex- ample, and raise bread for themselves to eat ; but that the land should be theirs, and all the improvements put upon it should also be theirs, when it was left. Also, that a number of hoes, axes, scythes, several sets of plow-irons and other farming implements, and carpenters', masons', and coopers' tools, were coming up in a boat, which were intended for the general use of the settlement, and would be placed under the care of the young men, to lend to such Indians as wanted to use them ; but although they would be left with them, and never taken away, yet it was not thought prudent to distribute them as gifts, lest some of their people might pawn or sell them for whisky, and then they would be as bad off as they were before.
Upon consultation, however, it was thought unadvisable to make their location at Jenescatego, for the reason that all the land there was owned by Cornplanter himself, and that therefore any improvements made by the Friends would, upon their leaving them, become the individual property of the chief, and no benefit to the nation. For that reason it was decided that the three young missionaries or instructors who were to remain should locate north of the State line, within the Allegany Reservation, which, it was definitely understood, was to be laid out along the Allegany River, although the survey had not at that time been made or commenced. After looking about the country, they fixed on a place in the immediate vicinity of Genesangohta, an ancient Indian village, from which most of the inhabitants
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had a few years before removed to Cornplanter's tract. This place, otherwise known as " Old Town," was situated nine miles up the river from Cornplanter's village, and about two miles south of Tunesassa Creek (now known as Quaker Run), in the present town of South Valley, in Cattaraugus County.
They finally left Cornplanter's village and established themselves in their new home on the Reservation, on the 23d of May, 1798. Mr. Sharpless' account of their re- moval to the new settlement is as follows : " About twelve o'clock two of us set off on horseback, the other three having started an hour sooner with one Indian in a canoe. We rode across the river one mile above the town, and went up the east side of it to the shore opposite the place of destination, where we again crossed, though the stream was wide and deep. We stopped at the house of a chief, who accompanied us to our intended settlement, where we met our friends, who came up the river in the canoe. At the Old Town there yet remain three or four families. About one hundred and fifty acres of flat land here have been mostly cleared and worked with corn, part of which is again grown up with hazel, etc. It lies on the north west side of the river ; the flat is about forty perches wide, and then commences timber land, mostly white pine. Upon viewing it and its situation we united in the conclusion that near this place would be best to make a settlement; and on informing two of the chiefs, they said they had told us their land was before us, and that we might take it where we liked best, and expressed their full approbation of our choice. Cornplanter said, this man, meaning one of the chiefs who was with us, lives in this town, and he is like one of you, a sober man, and drinks no whisky; and he is very glad the young men are coming to live so near him. We in- formed the chiefs that our young men would want timber to build a house, for rails, and for firewood; to which they readily consented, saying they would be very glad if they would cut all the trees down, and if they saw a buck swim- ming across the river, or running through the woods, they might shoot him, or if they saw any fish in the river they might catch them. On viewing a house occupied by a family who, we understood, proposed leaving it, and would sell their right, and being informed that the owner was a sober woman, that would be likely to make good use of the money, we paid her twenty dollars for the house and privi- leges about it, the chiefs having conferred with her respect- ing it. With our assistance she removed, and in less than an hour we had possession, and the young men having given it a thorough cleansing, before dark our scanty furniture was arranged in it. The chiefs sent us three deer-skins with the hair on for our beds; but, the night being cold, we felt sensibly the want of better, and of more bedding, before morning, and were under the necessity of rising several times to renew our fire. The house is about twenty-four feet long by fourteen wide, and six feet high to the square, covered with bark, with a shed over the door, and furnished within as is usual in Indian buildings. It stands on an elevated spot, within five perches of the river, on its northeast side."
On the following day, Cornplanter presented them with an outfit of various kinds of seeds suitable to the climate,
such as corn of several kinds, beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelons, and potatoes. These, he said, had been sent in from the different houses as a blessing to begin with.
" We thought that the hearty good-will with which they were presented manifested a full approbation of our undertaking. On informing them there were more seeds than we should want to plant, we were answered that we must take them all, for they were sent for that purpose."
Some of the potatoes were planted the same day by the young Quaker instructors, who, after their day's work was finished, attempted to catch some fish; which resulted in their receiving a thorough wetting in the Allegany, from the upsetting of their canoe.
The three young Friends who had come as instructors, and who had thus experimentally established themselves on the Reservation, were Joel Swayne, Henry Simmons, and Halliday Jackson, from Chester County, Pa. The mem- bers of the committee who accompanied them to see them established were Joshua Sharpless (as already mentioned) and John Pierce. These two last named now issued an address to all the Senecas living on the Allegany River which was interpreted to them by Cornplanter's son, Henry, who had acquired a considerable knowledge of English during a visit to Philadelphia. The address contained an offer of premiums for agricultural productions; ante- dating, by more than forty years, the first similar offer made to white farmers in Cattaraugus County. It is thought to be very interesting on this account, and is here given entire :
" Brothers : We have now been several days among you, and have had council with your chiefs and wise men, and have looked about your country, and have agreed upon a place for our young men to begin upon. We are glad and thankful to the Great Spirit that everything we have pro- posed for your good has been so agreeable to your minds, that we seem to agree like brothers, having but one mind in everything we do, and we hope we shall continue to be of one mind about all the things we have been speaking to you of.
" Brothers : You know the place we have chosen for our young men to begin upon at Genesangohta, and we hope some of your young men will settle by them, and fence off lots for themselves, as they see them fence off theirs. Our young men will be willing to assist and instruct them in working their lots. We think our young men will not be able to raise any more off their lot this year than they will want for themselves, but we hope against another year they will have a little to spare, and we are willing they should give to your old and infirm people that cannot work one bushel out of four of all grain, etc., they have to spare.
" Brothers : In order to encourage you still more to take up work, and to follow the ways we pointed out to you, we will agree to give you a little more. We will send you smiths' tools, when our young men write us that you need them.
" Brothers : If you are industrious this summer, and raise a good deal of corn, and some wheat, we will help you to build a good mill next summer, if a suitable place can be found for it. You must find half the money to build the mill, and we will find the other half. We hope,
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brothers, you will save some money you get from the white people, that you may have your share ready against next spring. We think you had better choose one of your chiefs to keep this money for you till the time it is wanted, or perhaps it may be all gone for whisky, or something that will not do as much good as a mill would.
" Brothers: We are also willing to encourage you to learn farming, by agreeing to give some small premiums to such of our Indian brothers who are industrious and raise a good deal of grain.
" Brothers : We will give to every Indian man living on this river who shall raise twenty-five bushels of wheat or rye in one year, on his own land, not worked by white people, the sum of two dollars.
" 2d. For every fifty bushels of corn, raised by one man in like manner aforesaid, the sum of two dollars.
"3d. For every fifty bushels of potatoes, raised by one man in like manner aforesaid, the sum of two dollars.
" 4th. For every two tons of hay raised as aforesaid, and put into a stack or barn, not being mown or drawn in by white people, the sum of two dollars.
" 5th. For every twelve yards of linen cloth made by any Indian woman, out of flax raised on her or her husband's land, and spun in her own house, the sum of two dollars, to be paid to the woman.
" 6th. For every twelve yards of woolen or linsey cloth made by any Indian woman, out of the wool of her own or her husband's sheep, spun in her own house, the sum of two dollars, to be paid to the woman.
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