History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 17

Author: Young, Andrew W. (Andrew White), 1802-1877; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. fmo; Huntington Free Library. fmo
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Buffalo, N.Y. : Printing House of Matthews & Warren
Number of Pages: 948

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 17

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"Thus prepared, I opened an office, and invited the settlers to liquidate their debts, and quiet all alarm, as well about the title of their lands, as the terms and conditions of their credit, by taking deeds and executing bonds and mortgages for the purchase money. In less than eighteen months, four thousand persons whom I found occupying lands, chiefly under expired and legally forfeited contracts of sale, and excited and embarrassed alike by the oppression and uncertainty of ever obtaining titles, and antici- pated exactions upon their contracts-became freeholders-upon the terms at their own option either of payment of their purchase money, or payment of a convenient portion thereof, and a credit of five years for the residue ..

"When the occupant could not pay an advance, and his improvements were insufficient to secure his debt, his contract, no matter how long expired, was renewed without any payment. It was always, as you well know, a principle of my agency, that no man could lose his land by forfeit- ure, if he would but agree to pay for it in five years. There was none so poor that he could not secure his "farm and his fireside." I think, too, you will recollect, that to the sick and infirm, I invariably sent their papers for securing their farms; to the indigent, the money to bear their expenses to the land-office ; and since I am arraigned as a 'soulless speculator,' I may add, that to the widow, I always made a deduction from the debt of her deceased husband. To the common schools I gave lands gratuitously for their school-houses. From the time I came first among you to this period, I have never refused any indulgence of credit and postponement that was asked at my hands.

" When I found a few persons (as there must necessarily be some) who were obstinate in refusing terms generally esteemed so liberal, I appealed to them first through the public newspapers, then by letters through the post-office, and finally by a message sent directly to their houses. When these efforts failed to arrest their attention, and in a few cases legal proceedings or forfeitures were necessary, I uniformly conveyed the land upon the same terms as if the occupants had earlier complied with the terms which their fellow-citizens deemed so reasonable and liberal.

"Thus contentment was universally diffused among you, when the pressure of 1837 fell upon you, and me, and the whole country. Foreseeing many cases of embarrassment, in making payment on your bonds and mortgages in that season of scarceness of money, I immediately issued a notice that the first payment of principal would be dispensed with if the interest should be paid. Having then obtained a definite proposition from the American Trust Company, that an advance to the proprietors should be upon a credit of ten years, with semi-annual interest, I immediately announced to you the welcome and unexpected proposition to extend your bonds and mortgages for the same period and upon the same terms. This proposition has been generally accepted, and is yet open to all.

"On the rith of July, 1838, after two years' continued notice that the title of the Holland Company would pass from them to the proprietors or their trustees, the improved condition of the estate and the returning

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prosperity of the country, enabled me to conclude my arrangement with the American Trust Company. That institution advanced to me its bonds for the amount owed by you to the proprietors, and by the proprietors to the Holland Company ; and I paid them over to John Jacob Vanderkemp, agent of the Holland Company, at a sacrifice to my associates and myself, in discharge of their whole demands. Desirous to secure you against all possible incon- venience from this arrangement, it was agreed that the estate should remain as before, under my agency ; and the title of the lands, bonds, mortgages and contracts, was vested by a deed in myself and two others as trustees, to continue the settlement of the estate for the benefit of the proprietors and the security of the American Trust Company. This deed was immediately placed on record in Chautauqua county. The agreement between the parties stipulates that my agency, in person or by my own appointment, shall con- tinue three years ; and that payments made by you in Chautauqua county shall be credited as soon as paid there. The bonds, mortgages and contracts remain under this arrangement in the Chautauqua land-office, whence they have never been removed.

"In this transaction the Bank of the United States has had this agency : the general agent of the Holland Company has always kept his accounts and deposits with that institution, and his remittances were made through it. 'The payments from the Chautauqua office, like those of all the other offices on that tract, pass through the same institution. It received the bonds of the American Trust Company at a discount stipulated by me, and paid for them by a certificate of deposit to Mr. Vanderkemp, payable at six months. "From this explanation it appears that your bonds and mortgages are not in Wall street, nor in the Bank of the United States, but where you have always found them-in the Chautauqua land-office.

" That no Trust Company, foreign or domestic, has a deed of your lands ; but that the title of the lands of the state, and your securities, is vested in myself and my associate trustees, citizens of this state, instead of Wilhem Willink, Walrave Van Heukelom, and others in Europe :

" That neither through the agency of Nicholas Biddle, nor otherwise, have I borrowed money in Europe or elsewhere, at 5 per cent., and loaned it to you at 7 per cent .; but that instead of demanding from you immediate pay- ment of your indebtedness to the Holland Company, I have borrowed the money upon your credit and that of the proprietors, and for your benefit and ours, upon a term of ten years, at 7 per cent., of which you have the full benefit :

"That the proprietors do not exact semi-annual interest while they pay annually ; but that while they pay interest semi-annually, you pay annually or semi-annually, at your own option :

"That your 'farms and firesides' have not been put in jeopardy by me, but in just so much as a deed subject to a bond and mortgage, with ten years' credit, is a more safe tenure, than an expired and forfeited contract of sale, they have been secured to you :

"And that you have not been delivered over to a * soulless corporation,' but that your affairs have been arranged so as to secure you against any pos- sible extortion or oppression in any quarter ; and your bonds and mortgages are more certainly accessible to you for payment than before the arrangement was made.

"I have only to add, what you well recollect, that in all the settlement of this estate, no cent of advance upon your farms, or compound interest, or of

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costs upon your debts, has gone into my hands, or those of any other pro- prietor. That no man has ever lost an acre of land which he desired or asked to retain, with or without money ; no bond, mortgage, or contract, has been prosecuted for principal or less than two years' interest; no proceedings of foreclosure have ever been instituted when the occupant would pay a sum equal to one year's interest ; and every forfeiture has been relinquished upon an agreement to pay the principal and interest due.

"To the people of Chautauqua county of all political parties, this state- ment is due, for the generous confidence they have reposed in me, and the hospitality they have extended to me. It is required, moreover, by a due regard for their welfare, since their prosperity must be seriously affected by any discontents about their title and security. It is due to the harmony and contentment of their firesides. And if it needs other apology, it will be found in the duty I owe to others ; for, however willing I may be to leave my own conduct to the test of time and candor, I can not suffer their interests to be put in jeopardy. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. " Auburn, Oct. 15, 1838."

CHERRY VALLEY COMPANY'S PURCHASE.

In 1828, a sale of unsold lands in the east and south-east towns of the county, amounting to about 60,000 acres, was made by the Holland Land Company, to James O. Morse, Levi Beardsley, and Alvan Stewart, who were known as the "Cherry Valley Company." The following is a list of the towns in which the lands were, and the number of acres in each :

Township 1, r. 10, Carroll, 9,619 acres. Tp. 2, Poland, 5,398 acres. Tp. 3, Ellington, 1,015 acres. Tp. 4, Cherry Creek, 9,092 acres. Tp. 5, Villenova, 5,246 acres. Tp. 6, Hanover, 3,273, besides Cattaraugus Village, 1,588-in all, 4,861 acres. Range 11, tp. I, Kiantone and Busti, 2,824 acres. Tp. 2, Ellicott, 4,169 acres. Tp. 4, Charlotte, 6,218 acres. Tp. 5, Ark- wright, 5,066 acres. Tp. 6, Sheridan, 747 acres. Range 12, Busti and Harmony, 5,857 acres .- Total, 60,112 acres.

LA FAYETTE IN CHAUTAUQUA.

GILBERT MOTIER, MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE, was born in France, Sept. 6, 1757, and was married at the early age of sixteen years. Though posses- sed of an immense estate, he adopted the profession of a soldier, and, at the age of nineteen, was stationed as captain of dragoons at one of the gar- risoned towns of France. Having heard of the revolt of the American colonies, and of the subsequent declaration of independence, and sympa- thizing with the colonists, he determined to take part in the struggle, and offered his services to Congress. The rank of major-general was promised him by the American commissioner at Paris.

News having been received of the disastrous campaign of 1776, he was advised to abandon his intention. His wife is said to have exhorted him to

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persevere. He resolved to purchase a vessel, to freight it with supplies, and to set sail for America. His purpose having been discovered, a royal order was issued to detain him ; but making his escape to Spain with De Kalb and others, he succeeded in embarking in his vessel from that kingdom. After a protracted and stormy passage, he landed at Georgetown, S. C., hastened to Philadelphia, and presented his recommendations to Congress. He was answered, that, in consequence of so many applications having been received, there was doubt of his obtaining a commission. Determined to aid the struggling colonists, he offered his services as a volunteer, and without pay. His letters were examined, and he was tendered a commission as major- general. He was wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and debarred for a time from active service.

In 1788, France declared war against England, and formed an alliance with the United States. His own country now having need of his services, he obtained leave of absence. ' Complimentary resolutions, and a beauti- fully ornamented sword, were voted by Congress. He was received by his countrymen with great enthusiasm.

After an absence of fifteen months, he returned with the assistance of money and a French fleet bringing Rochambeau and 6,000 soldiers, and rejoined Washington. He again took an active part in the war, and distin- guished himself by his successful conduct of the campaign against Cornwallis at Yorktown. He again returned to France, and procured additional assist- ance-60 vessels and 24,000 men, and money. Soon after arrival, tidings of peace were received.

In 1784, at the invitation of Washington, he again revisited the United States. He arrived in August and departed in December, Congress taking a formal leave of him. In 1824, he visited this country for the last time. He landed at New York in August, and took a tour through the United States, going west to the Mississippi, and returning through the Northern states. The highest honors were everywhere paid him ; and he was received with an enthusiasm seldom if ever equaled. So liberally did he share in the cordial greetings and the hospitalities of the people on his tour of several months, that he was everywhere hailed as "The Nation's Guest." In two towns in our county, thousands of our citizens were favored with an oppor- tunity of testifying their gratitude for his particular services in the nation's struggle for independence.

RECEPTION AT WESTFIELD.

In anticipation of the arrival of the illustrious guest of the nation into our state from Pennsylvania, a number of gentlemen assembled at Westfield, June 2, 1825, on the evening previous to his expected arrival, to make arrange- ments for his reception into the state, and to escort and welcome him to that village. A committee of arrangements was appointed, consisting of the fol- lowing named persons : Jonathan Cass, Joseph Farnsworth, Henry Abell, Oliver Lee, Joshua R. Babcock, Fenn Demming, Eliphalet L. Tinker, Silas

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Spencer, Thomas B. Campbell, Lemon Averill, John Dexter, Ebenezer P. Upham, Wm. Peacock, Thomas A. Osborne.

A superb carriage, owned by the Hon. Wm. Peacock, was furnished for the conveyance of the General from the state line to Westfield. Messrs. T. B. Campbell, Silas Spencer, Ebenezer P. Upham and Fenn Demming, of the committee, proceeded to the state line .. On his arrival and introduction, he was presented by T. B. Campbell, Esq., in behalf of the committee, with the following address :

" GENERAL LA FAYETTE : With hearts full of gratitude for services ren- dered our country, we, as a committee, in behalf of the citizens of Westfield, have come to meet you and welcome your return to the state of New York.

"We assure you, General, that the same grateful feelings which have been so unanimously expressed to you by the people of this republic, influence and animate the citizens of this part of our state; and although unable to receive you with the splendor which accompanied your reception on landing upon our shores, yet we do receive you with no less affectionate and grateful hearts."

To which the General replied :

" I am fully sensible of the kindness and affection thus expressed to me by the people of this part of your state ; and I assure you, sir, it affords me much pleasure to take you by the hand and return you, and, through you, the citizens of Westfield, my hearty thanks for the respectful manner in which they have been pleased to communicate their feelings towards me. I am very happy to find myself again in the patriotic state of New York. Accept, sir, for yourself and the other gentlemen of the committee, the assurance of my best wishes for your health and happiness."

From the state line the General was escorted by a large number of gentle- men on horseback, collected from Ellery, Chautauqua, Portland and Ripley. At Westfield, the military had been under arms throughout the day to receive him. An immense concourse of citizens from the neighboring towns was likewise awaiting, with intense anxiety, the signals of his approach. At a little after sunset, on Friday evening, the signal guns announced the joyful tidings of the veteran's arrival. The public houses were illuminated in front, and a bonfire.was kindled upon the public square, which added much to the grandeur of the scene. The General was then received amidst the discharge of cannon. The appearance of the military, particularly the company of Light Infantry commanded by Capt. Towle, did honor to themselves and the occasion.

The General, on being introduced into the room provided for the occasion, was presented by Mr. Campbell to the other gentlemen of the committee there assembled, when Mr. Osborne, in their behalf, delivered the following address :

"GENERAL : Permit our feeble notes of congratulating welcome to swell the general anthem of the American nation. Taught from infancy to lisp the venerated name of La Fayette, which now trembles upon our tongue with gratitude and joy, we greet thee as the champion of freedom, the friend of Washington, of our country and her institutions, and the benefactor of

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mankind. While the burst of grateful acclamation which hailed your land- ing upon our shores has been borne on the tide of grateful hearts, until the remotest parts of the Union have vibrated with its influence, we of Western New York have cause for deep and peculiar emotions.

" At the period of your valuable labors for the establishment of our repub- lic, the spot upon which you stand was only tenanted by the howling inhab- itants of the wilderness. Until a long subsequent period, our country was without a name and without a population. Now, within its borders the hearts of more than twenty thousand freemen beat your welcome. It is to you whom we now address, that, more than to any other, this important change is to be attributed. The counsels of your wisdom were felt in the cabinet, and your youthful arm lent vigor to their execution in the field. Animated by your spirit and fired by your example, your king and your country stepped forth in the cause of liberty and man, and forever sealed the fate of tyranny in this western hemisphere. The life-giving energies of the triumph of liberty were felt in the rapid increase of population and settlement. Had a state of colonial servitude and dependence continued, your eye would not now have witnessed our fields covered with golden grain, waving their undulating shad- ows with sportive playfulness in the breeze. Compare, as you traverse the mighty Niagara, the colonial and the independent shores, and by their con- trast test the influence of liberty on the improvement and settlement of the country, and the promotion of the social happiness of man.

"Finally, General, in behalf of the citizens of the vicinity, we tender to you our most cordial congratulations upon your arrival among them, and the anxious aspirations of their hearts, that the evening of your days may be as tranquil as your life has been constant in the pursuit of freedom. That they have enjoyed the felicity of meeting and welcoming you among them, will ever be among the most gratifying of their recollections, while the remem- brance of the affectionate farewell which they must shortly bid you, their father and their friend, can not fail to awaken the liveliest sensibilities of their natures, and call forth the most poignant grief."

To which the General replied as follows :

"GENTLEMEN : I can not express to you my happiness at the kindness of your reception. When, about ten months since, .I first landed. upon your shores, I was received in a manner which can never be forgotten. The impression then received has been heightened by every subsequent event. Wherever I have been, I have received the kindest welcome. 'But it affords me peculiar pleasure to be thus received here in Western New York, and to witness the astonishing rapidity of its progress in improvement and settle- ment. Accept, sirs, my best wishes for your personal happiness, and, gentlemen, for the happiness of you all. I am happy to enjoy the interview ; to see you all assembled ; and sincerely regret that circumstances render it necessary that my stay with you should be so short."

The General was then introduced individually to the ladies and gentlemen assembled, and appeared to be highly gratified with the scene. Among the gentlemen introduced were a number of the soldiers of the Revolution. The interviews between the General and these companions in arms were cordial and affecting.

He was then presented to the Fredonia delegation, in waiting to escort him to that village ; and, after a stay of about two hours, at about ten o'clock

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in the evening, they departed during the discharge of twenty-four rounds from the artillery, with every demonstration of gratification on his part, and of respect and veneration on the part of the citizens assembled.

RECEPTION AT FREDONIA.

The account of the reception of the "Nation's Guest" at Fredonia was published in the Censor, of June 9, 1825, as follows :

Gen. La Fayette, with his suite, Col. G. W. La Fayette, and Messrs. Le Vasseur and De Syon, arrived in this village on Saturday last, [June 4th,] at about two o'clock in the morning, on his way to the eastward. He left Waterford, Pa., about 7 o'clock on Friday morning, and arrived here-a distance of 60 miles-without making any long stops, traveling in the night.

His approach was announced by a salute of thirteen guns from Capt. Brown's company of artillery, which, with Capt. Whitcomb's rifle rangers and detachments of the 169th regiment, were posted on the west hill to receive him. When he arrived, the military marched in advance down the hill, and halted in front of Abell's hotel, [the present site of the Taylor house]. Here the ladies had been collected, and with the military, Revolu- tionary soldiers and citizens, formed into two lines extending to the platform erected in front of the hotel. The General and suite then alighted, walked down the lines, and ascended the platform, followed by the committee of arrangements and military officers. The committee, clergy, etc., having been introduced, the Rev. David Brown, of the Episcopal church, at the request of the committee, thus addressed our distinguished guest :

" GEN. LA FAYETTE : We rejoice to see you. We greet you welcome to our rural hospitalities, and thank you for the great pleasure thus to salute a man most high and most dear in the estimation of every American. It pains me, sir, to add the least possible degree to your fatigue at this late hour of the night, but my fellow-citizens, having appointed me to the honor of addressing you, expect from me a passing remark on the motives which have prompted the little attentions within our limited powers, dwelling, as we do, where shortly since dwelt beasts of the forest.

" It will suffice to tell how much and for what we admire you ; but, sir, our admiration is qualified by a dearer sentiment. We greatly admire your character as standing in the front rank of the true and disinterested cham- pions of the universal republic, whose citizens comprise all the friends of liberty on earth. We admire the brilliant luster of your early heroism, by which you were inspired to rend the strongest ties of nature, and as a disin- terested volunteer in the righteous cause of liberty, to burst from the attrac- tions of all that was splendid and all that was lovely. In this act of your youth, sir, as in many that followed, we behold an eminent illustration of the much admired virtue, which enabled a great chief of sacred antiquity to look down with indifference on all the splendors and glories of the royal court of Egypt, when the cause of freedom and of God called him to the privations and dangers of a hostile wilderness.

" That, at every earthly hazard, through a life devoted to the vindication of liberty, you have uniformly asserted the rights of man, we admire you ; and we rejoice in an opportunity to acknowledge your undisputed claims to

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the gratitude and admiration of the world. We are almost lost in admira- tion, sir, as we look forward to the transcendent eminence that you will here- after occupy in the history of all princes and potentates of the earth, how- ever shining may have been their career, nay, how great soever their virtues ; for, with our own Washington, you have shown that 'a man is greater than a monarch.'

" But it is not so much by our admiration of what is illustrious in the character of Gen. La Fayette that we are moved and animated on this occa- sion, as by our veneration and love for what is excellent and amiable. Most sincerely and deeply do we appreciate the respect and admiration of your exalted character ; yet, the sentiment that predominates over even these, if not in general estimation more highly honorable, we feel as not less your due as our benefactor and friend, nor less worthy ourselves as Americans. We love you, sir, as our friend, and our fathers' friend ; we love you and can never forsake you. Never can our hearts beat with sentiments becoming men and Americans, when they shall have ceased to glow with filial affec- tion for Gen. La Fayette.

" It would be needless to speak of the origin and strength and warmth of affection entertained for you by those who took part with you in the liberation of our country from a foreign yoke. It may not, however, be unpleasing, we hope, to be reminded of the means by which, in the bosoms of the generations that have since come on the stage of life, this sentiment has been implanted and made to grow with our growth and to strengthen with our strength. For almost half a century, sir, your name, associated with all that is amiable in the philanthropist, as well as all that is chivalrous in the soldier of liberty, has been one of our most favorite 'household words.'

" When, in your tour through our country, our hearts have followed you and witnessed your emotions while embracing your old comrades in arms- especially when our sympathies were roused by the sublime and affecting scene at the sepulchre of our Washington, the interesting fire-side scenes of our early days were again brought home to our bosoms, when our fathers and our mothers taught us to venerate-to love the name of La Fayette. I have seen and I have felt the tear standing in the eye of childhood, when the tale has been told of your youthful disinterestedness, in devoting your fortune, your life, and your honor to the cause of our country, and of your sufferings and wrongs, and of your unbending virtues that no sufferings nor wrongs could subdue.

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