History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 42

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 42

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James Prendergast

Sketch, p. 1 2.

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JAMESTOWN.

THE first survey of village lots was made for James Prendergast, by his nephew, Thomas Bemus, a surveyor, in the spring of 1815. A few addi- tional lots were subsequently surveyed, it is believed, by a Mr. Burlingame ; and at a much later period many blocks of lots were surveyed by Samuel Green, then of Jamestown. Thomas Disher, a clerk in the store of Jediah and Martin Prendergast, at the north-west corner of Main and First streets, drew, on a sheet of paper, a plain and simple map of the lots surveyed by Bemus. This map was kept in the store, and was, for many years, the only map of the village. The lots were of uniform size, 50 by 120 feet, and offered at the same price, $50 each. Terms of payment were liberal. Some gave a note for the purchase money, and took a deed. Disher generally filled out the deeds until Samuel A. Brown settled in the village, in 1816.

Jamestown was surrounded by heavily timbered pine lands ; and the set- tlers, who were chiefly along the outlet and the Connewango, were engaged in lumbering rather than agriculture. Provisions were scarce and dear, and mostly brought from Pittsburgh by keel boats and canoes. Few paid down a large share of the purchase money for their lands ; most of them took arti- cles at from $2.25 to $3 an acre.

The outlet at this place had received, from the boatmen and others, the name of Upper Rapids, to distinguish it from the Lower Rapids, or swift and shallow water on the Connewango at Russellsburg, Pa. Such was the water from near the present steamboat landing to Slippery Rock, now the site of the Dexterville mill-dam. The freight in boats and canoes was often divided at Slippery Rock ; a part to be left on shore to be taken up on another trip to the steamboat. landing.

The original purchaser of the land on which the settlement of Jamestown was commenced, was Matthew Prendergast, one of the numerous family whose emigration to this county is elsewhere narrated. He resided on the west side of the lake, in the vicinity of others of the family. The James- town tract embraced the west and middle thirds of lots 33 and 34, lot 41, and the south part of lot 42-in all, 1,000 acres, and all lying in tp. 2, T. II. The purchase money, $2,000, was all paid, and a deed taken. The lands were afterwards deeded by Matthew to his brother James, and the deeds were recorded in Niagara county clerk's office, before Chautauqua county was fully organized. James also purchased in his own name, by articles of agreement, lots 50, 58 and 59, in tp. 1, r. 10, on Kiantone creek, and the east part of lot 3, tp. 1, r. 11-in all, 1,201 acres. These lands were deeded to Mr. Prendergast in 1835. He had spent the summer of 1806 on the west side of the lake ; went back to Pittstown, married, and remained there until 1809, when he came and made the purchase as above stated. [See sketch of Pren- dergast family in the historical sketch of Chautauqua.] In the fall of 1810, he brought his family, and spent the winter on the west side of the lake.

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

After his arrival, Mr. Prendergast employed John Blowers, a young mar- ried man, who had followed him from Pittstown, to go to the head of the rapids, and, on Mr. Prendergast's land, build a log house for himself [Blowers] to live in. To the foregoing statements of Judge Foote in his history of Jamestown, he adds: "Solomon Jones, Esq., informed me that he first saw that log house in an unfinished state, and unoccupied, early in November, 1810, while on his way with his family from Vermont to his new residence on Stillwater. Blowers informed me that he moved into his house before Christmas. I have been thus minute in relation to the date of the settle- ment of Jamestown, that there may be no dispute about it hereafter."

In the spring of 1811, a large 172 story log house, with two rooms, was erected for Mr. Prendergast's family, on the north side of the outlet, a little south of the present railroad track, near where A. F. Kent built the first Kerosene Refinery. Preparations were also made for the building of mills. Judge Prendergast had purchased in Albany, in 1810, his mill-irons, saws, bands, bolts, etc., which were shipped up the Mohawk river to Utica, and thence, by different conveyances, brought to Mayville, the transportation amounting to about $6 a hundred. The first boards to be sawed were in- tended to cover the mills and lay the floors. The completion of the locks, that the navigation might not be obstructed, was required by statute, under a severe penalty.

The following is a condensed account of the erection of the mills, as found in the records before us :

The dam progressed rapidly, considering the quantity of timber used in its construction, and of hemlock boughs and gravel required to cover it. The saw-mills were raised about the fore part of September, 1811; the locks, it is believed, not until October. After the frames were raised, the comple- tion of the dam, and one of the saw-mills and the locks, was all that was contemplated that year. The boards and other sawed stuff used about the mills, was mostly rafted down Goose creek and the lake from Slayton's new mills. Some think much of it came from Work's mill. The dam was most thoroughly constructed, and was closed late in November, or early in Decem- ber. Attention was then turned to the finishing of one of the saw-mills and the locks. The timber of the grist-mill was partly framed, but not raised, in 1811. The single saw-mill did not commence sawing until about the first of February, 1812. The first saw-mill contained a gang of saws and a single-mill. On the outlet side of the first mill, and close to it, was a frame lift-lock for boats to ascend or descend from the mill-pond. In 1814, this lock burst while a boat was passing through it. The lock was never repair- ed, the strength of its timbers being insufficient. A canal was subsequently dug on the south side of the outlet, from the south end of the dam, and a lock inserted, which answered a good purpose. After the first lock had been abandoned, in 1814, a new single-mill was erected on the foundation of the lock timbers, the frame being separate from the first saw-mill, but within 2 or 3 feet of it. The gang and single-mills, in one frame and under one roof,

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were completed in 1813. From charges in J. & M. Prendergast's books, and the statement of Eleazar Daniels, it appears that the grist-mill was not completed until 1814.

A phenomenon, authenticated by several reliable witnesses, is deemed worthy of mention in this place. After the mill-dam was closed, the water in the pond rose rapidly a few feet; after which, the rise was almost imper- ceptible. Although the dam was unusually tight, it was soon ascertained, to the surprise of the proprietor and the mill-wright, that the water rose no faster in the pond than in the lake ! The water passing down the outlet was insufficient to supply Work's mill below. For six or eight weeks after the dam was closed, the water did not run over the top of the dam. This phe- nomenon, however, it is now generally believed, may be explained on well established philosophical principles.

In the spring, farmers along the lake shores found much of their clearings overflowed with water, caused by the erection of the dam below, and claimed damages for the injury. Many of the claims Mr. Prendergast paid prompt- ly; and those which he deemed unreasonable, were .settled by two arbitrators, one chosen by each party. In the summer, having become convinced that he could not legally maintain his dam, he rode round the lake, and assured the settlers that, if they would wait patiently till he could saw timber and boards sufficient to rebuild his mills and dam, he would remove them lower down to a place where, he had ascertained, he could raise the requisite head without affecting the lake.

At the court of general sessions in June, 1812, an indictment was found against Mr. P. for the erection of his dam, "to the great damage and com- mon nuisance of the liege citizens of the state." From this it appears, that it was also charged that the overflowing of the land had rendered the air un- healthful. The trial was put off to the November term, as it was represented that the defendant was about to remove the dam, and that further proceedings would be unnecessary. Besides the losses sustained by claims for damages and the necessity of rebuilding his dam and mills, he had the misfortune to lose, by fire, his house and nearly all its contents, among which was a large quantity of linen, much of it the manufacture of Mrs. Prendergast. A board shanty was soon erected for a dwelling, in which the cooking was done for the family and workmen, and in which the family and females lodged during the fall. At the November term of the court, notwithstanding the misfor- tunes of Judge P., and his disposition to repair all damages ; and although he had removed the dam, the indictment was pressed to trial ; and the jury rendered a verdict of guilty, and the court imposed a fine of $15.

In November, 1812, Judge Prendergast and Capt. Forbes erected a cheap frame house, the first within the limits of the present village. It was 1 72 stories high. The lower story was divided into two rooms. In the middle of the building was a stone chimney with two fire-places, the top of the chimney being of lath and clay. Into this house Prendergast and Forbes removed their families in December, 1812. This house and the log-house:

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

built by John Blowers in the fall of 1810 on Prendergast's land, were the only houses at the Rapids, and the families of these three men, the only actual residents. In 1813, Blowers took a license for a tavern, which he kept in his log house. Judge P. had not sold any of his land ; nor had a public road been laid out to the Rapids, nor a bridge erected over the outlet. The saw mills, consisting of two single saws, and a gang of sixteen saws, in one frame and under one roof, were completed in 1813 ; the grist-mill, in 1814.

During the war of 1812, improvements at the Rapids were nearly station- ary. The inhabitants then were in great part supplied with provisions by keel boats from Pittsburgh. The bridge across the outlet, commenced in 1813, was completed in 1814. The $100 bridge money received from the county was thus appropriated : Bridge across the outlet at Esquire Prender- gast's, $37.67. Bridge across Stillwater creek, near Joseph Akin's, $29. Bridge across Kiantone creek at Robert Russell's mill, [now A. T. Prender- gast's,] $33.33. The remainder necessary for building these bridges was raised on subscription by the inhabitants of the town. The building of bridges, in Ellicott, in those days, was much aided by subscriptions payable in labor and materials.

In 1814, Judge Prendergast had not offered for sale any of his lands at the Rapids ; but had added to them in 1813, by the purchase of the east thirds of lots 33 and 34, and the north part of lot 42 ; making the contents of his tract nearly 1,550 acres. Aware that his own interest, as well as that of others, would be promoted by the settlement of mechanics at the Rapids, he made considerable effort to induce some persons to settle there ; but those who did, resided either in houses built by him, or by themselves on his lands, without any valid title to them. Some of them will be mentioned.

Jacob Fenton, a native of Mansfield, Conn., a Revolutionary soldier, and by trade a potter, came from Burlington, N. Y., in 1813, and commenced the pottery business. He was induced by Judge P. to come to the Rapids in the spring of 1814, under a promise of assistance in building a tavern house and pottery, which were accordingly built, east of where Main street, and south of where Second street now is. The house faced the keel-boat landing, and extended to Potter's alley, so named from the adjoining pottery. His house was for some years the principal hotel; and he did considerable business as a potter. He made red earthen teacups and saucers that sold readily, because better ones could not be easily obtained. He ultimately removed to Fluvanna, where he resumed his trade, and died June 21, 1822, aged 57 years.

Eleazar Daniels, a blacksmith, a native of Mass., removed to the Cross Roads [Westfield] in 1813, and thence with his partner, Basset Nichols, to the Rapids, in 1814, in a small plank house built for Daniels, on the site of the Atlantic hotel. Nichols soon left. Daniels resided there about four years, and did most of the blacksmithing for the mills. He never purchased the house or shop, nor was required to pay rent. He left the village. He became a pio- neer settler on Little Broken Straw, where he was residing on a good farm, at the age of 85 years.

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Patrick Campbell, from Herkimer Co., came with his wife in 1814, and had a shanty blacksmith shop, near the mill race.

John Burge, [or Burgess,] born on the ocean while his parents were emi- grating from Germany, removed in 1811, to the Cross Roads, and thence, in 1814, into a small unfinished frame house, on the east side of Cherry street, south of Second, and carried on the tanning and shoemaking business in a shanty shop south of what is now First street, near Cherry. Some of the out- door tan vats, constructed in 1815, were exhumed when the railroad was made. Burge sold out, about 1817, to Wm. Pier and others, and removed to Portland, and thence to Rochester about 1820, where he died in 1823, leaving a widow and a large family.

James Berry, a single man, a deer skin dresser and leather mitten maker, came in 1814, from Cayuga county, and in 1815, built a small frame house on the corner of Cherry and First streets. His health failed ; he sold his house and lot, and returned to Cayuga Co., where he died of consumption.

Judge Prendergast, in the fall of 1814, built for himself a small one story and a half frame house, on the lot next north of the one now occupied by the Chautauqua County Bank. Although it was not designed for a large family, there was none in the village more distinguished fof hospitality. Such it remained until Judge P. sold his property in Jamestown, and removed from it.

John Blowers, in the fall of 1814, built a small one story and a half dwelling house with its side toward Main street, a chimney with two fire- places in the middle, built of the same materials as Judge Prendergast's. The house was on what became lot 3, on the west side of Main street, and stood up to the line of the street. Blowers subsequently added to the rear a one story lean-to for a kitchen, and opened a tavern. In the north room, the first school in Jamestown was taught by Rev. Amasa West. Among the pupils was Alexander T. Prendergast, now of Kiantone. Dr. Laban Hazel- tine on his removal to Jamestown in 1815, hired the north part for his family, and, in 1816, bought the house, and lived in it many years. Blowers removed to 100 acres of new land, a mile or more south-west from the vil- lage. He died in Ellery in 1863, aged 77 years.

In 1814, Judge Prendergast was the only person assessed for real estate at the Rapids. The lands mentioned as having been bought by him of the Company in 1813, and which had been only booked, were now deeded; and the whole was assessed to him in 1814, and was valued by the assessors at $2,976. The tax was $38.98.

Besides the frame buildings mentioned, there was the store building, in which was kept a small store by Jediah and Martin Prendergast, being a branch of their principal store at Mayville, and superintended by Thomas Disher, a young man from Canada, who boarded with Judge Prendergast. As there were shanty blacksmith shops and a shanty tannery building, so there was also a shanty store. It was raised on a block foundation, and in- closed with rough clapboards. We are not told when it was erected; but

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

the old store ledger shows dates as early as November, 1813. The store contained a few shelves of dry goods and hardware, besides whisky, tobacco, nails, glass, castings, hollow-ware, dried fruit and flour, stone-ware and tools.

In the summer of 1815, Judge Prendergast employed Israel Knight, a carpenter, to erect an academic building, two stories high, on the west side of Main street, near Fifth, then entirely out of the village, among stumps and logs. It was plain, like an ordinary dwelling, and stood on a block founda- tion. It was inclosed, except glazing; and the lower floor was laid.

Phineas Palmeter, Jr., erected a two story dwelling this summer, at the south-west corner of Main and Third streets; but it was not finished that season. Wm. Clark and Jesse Smith commenced a large, square-roofed tavern house on the south-east corner of Main and Third streets; but Clark soon sold his interest to Francis Lamb, from Vermont, and Lamb sold to Horatio Dix, a carpenter and mill-wright, then a resident of Kiantone. Dix and Smith carried it so nearly to completion, that it was opened as a tavern about the close of the year; and a New Year's ball was held in it-the first ever held in Jamestown. In 1816, the house was sold to Elisha Allen, who kept it as a hotel many years, and sold many goods in it. The early build- ings in the village were all erected on block foundations. The cellar of the Allen House was walled with hewed pine logs to sustain the sides of the cellar and the sills of the building. In a few years the cellar became so musty, and the air so impure, that the use of the cellar was abandoned. The severe and protracted sickness of the family of Solomon Jones, Esq., who then kept the tavern, was imputed to the state of the cellar. Most of the early small house cellars were made by merely digging a hole with scoop- ing, sloping sides and not walled. To the cellar there was a trap door through the floor.

The first stone cellar and foundation for a building in the village, was the fine store erected by Silas Tiffany, in 1819, where the Burtch drug store stood. He obtained his shelly stone mostly from the rivulets south of Warner's steam saw-mill. The house of Judge Foote, erected in 1823, on the site of the collegiate school, was the first dwelling with stoned cellar and foundation in the village. The stone was chiefly from the bottoms of spring brooks. At that time the Dexterville quarries were not opened, nor were the people aware of their existence until Col. Dexter had opened them. Stone cellars and foundations soon after became common.

Messrs. Holmes, of the present town of Sheridan, built, in 1815, a single wool-carding machine, in the attic of Judge Prendergast's grist-mill, leased for that purpose. About the time it was completed, it was sold to Walter Sim- mons and Horace Blanchar, from Oxford, N. Y., who ran it that season. There were no large flocks of sheep ; but small lots of wool were brought from a distance.

The village now began to be called Jamestown. It so appeared in a man- uscript advertisement of wool carding by Simmons and Blanchar. It had been proposed to call the village Jamesville, in honor of its founder, James

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Prendergast ; but having been informed that there was a village and post- office by that name in this state, the present name was given. Still, the name of Ellicott, or the Rapids, was commonly used until 1816 or 1817.

The incorporation of The Chautauqua Manufacturing Company was con- summated September 11, 1815. Its capital was to be one hundred thou- sand dollars ; its object was declared to be "the manufacture of cotton cloth and dyeing cotton yarn and cotton cloth." The business of the company was to be carried on in the town of Ellicott. The corporators named were the following : Jediah Prendergast, Samuel Sinclear, Jacob Houghton, Solomon Jones, Ebenezer Cheney, Nathan Cass, David Boyd, James Prendergast, John Thompson. Judge P. was the agent and executive officer. In 1816, the factory canal, or head race, was mostly excavated ; a heavy factory frame erected and inclosed, and the outside finished, except glazing ; and a part of the floors was laid with heavy oak plank. The reader may be surprised on being told, that all this was done without any written contract binding Judge P. to convey to the company the requisite land and the water power. They had only a verbal promise to convey. As, however, his word " was as good as his bond," the principal danger of the company was in the uncertainty of life. Capt. Dix, who had put up the building, and who had not received all his pay, sued the company and obtained judgment for about $2,000. The property was sold by the sheriff, and bid in by Judge P. for less than the cost of the building. Judge Prendergast converted it into a custom grist-mill, which was destroyed by fire in Sept., 1833. In the winter of 1833-4, he had a flouring and custom mill erected on the same site -Elijah Bishop, builder-where a mill has been in operation to this time.

Nicholas Dolloff, a native of Raymond, N. H., removed to Westfield, March, 1814; thence to Slippery Rock on the outlet of Chautauqua lake, and helped Nathan Cass erect saw-mills. In 1815, he removed to James- town, and commenced sawing for Judge Prendergast. While in his employ, he purchased of him two lots on the east side of Spring street, and built a small plank house at a spring, since called Palmeter's spring. He helped dig the lock race at the south end of the dam. About 1817, he bought land on the Connewango, on which he afterwards built saw-mills and a two story brick house ; and resided there many years. He sold his mills and moved up on the east side of the Connewango, two miles. Dolloff and Elias Tracy, with what help they could get, built the two bridges on the Cassadaga and the Connewango creeks. Mr. Dolloff was a member of the Methodist church. He died in March, 1870, aged 907/2 years.

Dr. Laban Hazeltine and wife, from Windham Co., Vt., in October, 1815, settled permanently in Jamestown. He was the second physician there, Dr. Elial T. Foote having preceded him a few months. Dr. H. practiced his profession in Jamestown about thirty years.

Abner Hazeltine, a graduate of Williams College, came in November, 1815, and opened a school in the academy building, and studied law while teaching. He is still a resident of the village.

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Dr. William P. Proudfit, son of Dr. Andrew Proudfit, was born in Argyle, N. Y., in 1806 ; graduated at Castleton Medical College, Vt., in 1831. He came from Argyle to Jamestown in Jan., 1832. He married Maria Freeman, and removed, in 1836, to Milwaukee, Wis., where he died in 1843. His widow, with two surviving children, returned to Jamestown.

James M. Winslow, a native of Vermont, came to Jamestown in 1833, and was there engaged in the stage business. In 1839, he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and thence to St. Paul, Minn. He was a son of Elisha Winslow, and 'his mother was a sister of Solomon Jones. An elder brother, Thomas J., came in 1827, and kept the Shaw hotel several years. In 1836, he removed to Elyria, O., and the same year to Black Rock, near Buffalo.

Nathaniel Johnson, father of Fobes Johnson, who was a member of as- sembly from this county in 1844, and of Lorenzo Johnson, for many years a tailor at Jamestown, went to visit his son at that place. He went to bed as well as usual, and was found dead in bed in the morning. He died in October, 1826, aged 64, and was buried at Jamestown.

Nathan Meads, from Fort Miller to Onondaga Co., and thence to Ellicott, on lot 35, tp. 2, r. 11, 429 acres, purchased Feb., 1813, from the Holland Land Company. He is said to have settled in 1812. He built two small log houses near the north shore of the outlet. In the fall of 1815, he built a large two story house of square-hewed pine timber ; but before it was com- pleted, he sold his place to Solomon Jones and Henry Babcock, about 1816, and removed to the west side of the range line, in the town of Ellery-where his wife died in 1836, aged 61. He died Nov., 1839, aged 63.

The surface of the ground of the village was very uneven. A person who did not see it in early days could now scarcely imagine the amount of labor expended, within half a century, in filling up swamp holes and gulfs, cutting down knolls, and grading streets. In the earliest surveys, no lots were laid out south of First street. Judge P. was cautious in the selling of lots or grounds that might encroach upon the grounds required for canals or for manufacturing purposes. At first, few lots south of Second street, between Main and Spring, were sold. Second street was not opened between Pine and James streets for about six years, owing to a deep ravine extending from the north-east corner of Pine and Second streets, down the hill towards the outlet. Another ravine, about six feet deep, formed by the outlet of Palme- ter's spring, crossed Second street, near where Budlong's first ashery was built. There was also a smaller ravine which crossed Second street at Me- chanics alley. This alley, it is believed, was not worked for the passage of carriages for the space of two years or more. In Third street, the tamarack and alder swamp, commencing near the junction of Cherry and Third streets, and extending west beyond Washington street, was not opened for teams under about ten years. On the east side of Main street, in front of Rufus Jones' store, was a deep swamp hole with tall flags, extending into Third street, where cows were sometimes mired, and had to be extricated by the help of men.

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