History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 63

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 63

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).

A town library was established in 1824, under the act of 1796, authorizing the incorporation of library associations. A society was formed, entitled " Portland Library." The act was signed by 27 persons, and $100 were subscribed for the purchase of books. Seven trustees were elected : Cephas Brainard, Nathaniel Fay, Jesse Baldwin, Parsons Taylor, John R. Coney, Ebenezer Harris, David Eaton. The formation of this association, and the liberal subscription for the library, evince a high appreciation of useful knowledge. Few of these early settlers had enjoyed the advantages for acquiring a good school education ; and they wisely provided for supplying the deficiency by a course of useful reading. Among the men who have shed the brightest luster upon our country, are many who have thus qualified themselves for the high and honorable positions to which they attained. With the increased facilities for learning enjoyed by the present generation, there has not, it is believed, been a corresponding increase of available, practical knowledge. Every school district is furnished with a free library; but that a large proportion of the families avail themselves of this means of information, is questionable. A division of time between school studies and the reading of judiciously selected books, would greatly promote the general diffusion of useful knowledge.

Portland has attained a high rank among the towns of the county in fruit- growing and grape culture. Capt. Dunn, David Eaton, the Fays, and other early settlers, set out orchards as soon as sufficient " clearings " had been made. In this, however, they did not differ from the settlers in other towns. Hence it is deemed unnecessary to speak at length of their orchards, though they were scarcely excelled by any in the county. It is the cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of wine for which this town has become dis- tinguished.

The grape was introduced in this section by Dea. Elijah Fay as early as 1818. After a trial, for several years, of different varieties without success, he introduced, in 1824, the Isabella and the Catawba, which proved to be well adapted to the soil and climate. From his crop of 1830, he made from five to eight gallons of wine, the first made from the cultivated grape in western or even central New York. The old stocks of these pioneer vines were healthy and productive, until the winter of 1872-3. One of them had been trained a distance of 110 feet, and in 1871 yielded 160 pounds of fruit. The severity of the winter of 1872-3 materially injured them, and they are in part removed. The family, it is said, have still a few gallons of wine of the vintage of 1847. For the last four years of his life, Mr. Fay is supposed to have made nearly 300 gallons a year. His cellars contained 1,500 gallons at the time of his death, in 1860.

In 1859, Joseph B. Fay, Garrett E. Ryckman, and Rufus Haywood, built a wine house on ground obtained of Dea. Fay; and 2,000 gallons were made the same fall. It was soon found that not only the gravelly soil was adapted

505

PORTLAND.

to the culture of the grape ; but vineyards were planted in other parts of the town. The increase of fruit enabled the company to increase their manu- facture, until, in 1865, it reached 16,000 gallons. Fay retired from the firm in 1862. Ryckman & Haywood continued the business until 1865.

In 1865, Lake Shore Wine Company was formed with a capital of $100,000, which went into operation in April. Timothy Judson was president of the company ; J. B. Fay, secretary; and Albert Haywood, superintendent. They bought of Ryckman & Haywood their stock of 17,000 gallons of wine, and their other wine interest for $38,000. The present wine house of Ryckman, Day & Co. was built the same season. The enterprise was unsuccessful. The company became involved ; the property was sold to pay their indebted- ness ; and was bought by G. E. Ryckman and R. B. Day, who became the owners of the property in 1868.

Ryckman, Day & Co. commenced business the first of June, 1868. They purchased at the sale of the Lake Shore Company's property, 24,000 gallons. The storage capacity, which was 40,000, has been increased to 120,000 gallons. In 1870, about 200 tons of grapes were manufactured, and a like number in 1871, a large portion of which came from northern Ohio and cen- tral New York. The product in 1870 was 45,000 gallons ; in 1871, 42,000. They had at one time in their cellars, in 1872, 85,000 gallons. The enter- prise is said to be a successful one.

The Empire Vineyards of Ralph D. Fuller, of Portland Center, were com- menced in 1862, and have been increased to 12 acres. He manufactured 200 gallons of wine in 1867; in 1871, 10,000 gallons. In 1873, he had at one time in his cellars 14,000 gallons.

Thomas Quigley commenced the raising of grapes for market in 1858. In 1863, he made 20 to 30 gallons of wine; in 1871, 3,000. A few others have made smaller quantities, but only as a necessity from the low price of fruit. In 1873, the number of acres set to grapes in Portland was about 600.

There is in Portland a "peculiar institution," probably the only one of its kind in the United States. It is called the " Harris Community." Its mem- bers disclaim affinity with societies generally so called. They style them- selves the " Brotherhood of the New Life," a society better known in Europe than in America. Mr. Thomas L. Harris, their head and center, admits that "in one sense the Brotherhood are Spiritualists," but they reject the general mediumship and constant intercourse with the spirit world, as profitless, dan- gerous, and even profane. "In another sense," he says, "the Brotherhood are Socialists ;" by which he seems to mean, " the association of noble and cultivated souls in every industrial and human service." They do not re- nounce the domestic relations. He says: "Marriage, the family, and proper- ty, that triad of institutions, most menaced by the revolutionary and distinc- tive spirit of the age, are held by them of infinite authority and universal value."

Mr. Harris, of Amenia, Dutchess Co., N. Y., with a few chosen friends, purchased, in 1867, nearly 2,000 acres of farm lands, in Portland, chiefly on

506

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

the lake border, where they are engaged in the usual operations in agriculture, as, the wholesale pressing and shipping of hay; the general nursery business; and the manufacture and sale of pure native wines, more especially for medicinal use. They are laying out a village which they have named Salem- on-Erie, designed to be a business center. Dr. Taylor says : "They cut and secured, in 1872, about 1,000 tons of hay from their own premises, and pur- chased from outside parties about 250 tons, of which 850 tons were pressed and sent to market; the remainder used by them and sold near home." And according to Mr. Harris' own statement, their product of wines has been from 15,000 to 23,000 gallons annually. The grapes from which the wine is manufactured, are in part raised by them, and in part obtained by purchase. This part of their business is done under the name of the "Lake Erie and Missouri River Wine Company."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

DAVID EATON was born in Framingham, Mass., Feb. 2, 1872. He was the oldest son of Benjamin and Mary Eaton, and the fifth of ten children. His father was a shoemaker ; and David was put upon the bench at the age of nine years. When eighteen years of age his father died ; but he continued the business and supported the family until he was twenty-two ; yet he found time to store his mind with useful knowledge. In 1805, with Nathan Fay, he visited the "Purchase," and explored the lake region, and returned. April 20, 1806, he married Elizabeth Horne; and in May, accompanied by his wife, mother, and youngest sister, Nathan Fay and family, Elisha and Nathan- iel Fay, started for the West, with a span of horses and a covered wagon. His wife being in feeble health, they were obliged to stop for rest at New Hartford, where she died. Leaving his mother and sister there, he came to Portland, and located the land on which he afterwards settled, and where he lived until his death, nearly 67 years. Having built a log house and cleared two acres of land, in October he removed his family from New Hartford. The following winter was a very severe one. The mills at Westfield being frozen fast, he had to prepare his corn for food with a mortar and pestle. His mother kept house for him until 1811, when he married Mrs. Mercy Fay, widow of Nathan Fay. His sister, who taught the first school in town, as elsewhere stated, continued teaching until 1815, when she married and moved to Whitestown. His mother died in Oct., 1848, aged 95 years and 6 months. His wife died May 12, 1862. Mr. Eaton died Oct. 7, 1872, aged 90 years and 8 months.

Mr. Eaton was not only an estimable and highly respected citizen, but rendered his town and county valuable service. He served his country in the war of 1812, and was wounded in the battle of Queenston. [See War History.] He was assessor of the town of Chautauqua in 1809; and clerk of the board of supervisors from 1820 to '27, and for the years 1831 and '32. He was supervisor of the town for 6 years, and chairman of the board in 1815 ; and was for several years a justice of the peace. He was appointed

Davia Ealon

507

PORTLAND.

superintendent of the poor in 1844, and held the office 6 years. He had 5 children : 1. Edwin, who married Caroline P. Baldridge, of Fredonia, and resides at Frewsburgh. 2. Emily, wife of Josiah Wheeler, of Frewsburgh ; both deceased. 3. Alfred, who married Hannah C. Clark ; settled in Wis- consin, and now resides on the old homestead, in this town. 4. Oscar, who married Louisa A. Kennedy, of Steuben county ; removed to Michigan, and thence to Forest Grove, Oregon. 5. Darwin G., who was a graduate of the state normal school at Albany ; subsequently one of its teachers ; and thence transferred, nearly thirty years ago, to the Packer Institute in Brook- lyn, where he is still professor of mathematics and natural sciences. He was married to Ann J. Collins, of Steuben county, Oct. 2, 1850.

FAY FAMILIES .- There were among the early settlers in Portland five families of this name, whose respective heads were Elijah, Elisha, Nathan- iel, Hollis, and Nathan. All but the last named were brothers, the sons of Nathaniel Fay, who never came to Chautauqua.

ELIJAH FAY was born in Southborough, Mass., Sept. 9, 1781, and was married to Lucy Belknap, of Westborough. They came to Portland in 1811, in a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen and a horse, and were forty-one days on the road. He settled on lot 20, township 5, the whole of which he had previously located, containing 179 acres, about one-half the area of an or- dinary lot. He occupied his first cabin Jan. 1, 1812. His house needs no other description than to say, that it was one of the rudest of the rude. Three-legged stools made of split slabs served for chairs for about three years. A better house was built about a year after the first, and the first was used for a barn, and the space between the two closed up for a threshing floor. Three years later, another house was built, which the family occupied until 1831, when the house now on the farm was built. Pages might be filled with the relation of a most interesting pioneer experience of this family, but which we are compelled to omit. Mr. Fay was regarded as one of the best of the good men who peopled this town. He was prominent among the founders of the Baptist church, and one of its early deacons. Deacon Fay died Aug. 23, 1860 ; Mrs. Fay, Jan. 18, 1872. They had 3 children : I. Clinton S., who married Almira A. Clark, and who resides on a portion of the homestead. He is a deaf mute from disease in early life. 2. Lydia E., wife of Lawrence F. Ryckman, who died July 22, 1873. 3. Joseph B., who married Maria M., daughter of Isaac Sage, and after her death, Martha Haywood ; now lives in Topeka, Kansas.

ELISHA FAY, a brother of Elijah, was born in Framingham, Mass., June 2, 1783. He came to Portland in June, 1806. He came with his brother, Nathaniel, both unmarried, and Nathan (not a brother) and his family. He settled on lot 25, on which he has lived 67 years, though for some time since the death of his wife as a boarder with his sons. He went to Massa- chusetts in 1807, and returned to Portland with his wife, Sophia Nichols. A new log house was built, which they occupied until 1828, when the stone house was built. Mr. Fay served in the war of 1812, and was in the battle

508

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

at Black Rock and Buffalo. He is the oldest actual settler in the town now living. He was an early member of the Methodist Episcopal.church ; after- wards of the division called Wesleyan. Mrs. Fay died in October, 1850. His children were : 1. Lincoln, who married Sophrona Peck, and lives on the farm located by Nathan Fay in 1806. 2. Eddie, who died at 23. 3. Charles, who married Laura A. Hall, and lives . on a part of the old homestead. 4. Otis N., who married Emeline Van Tassel, and lives about two miles south- east from Centerville.

NATHANIEL FAY came to Portland in 1806, with his brother Elisha, and in 1810 located a part of lot 12, tp. 5; the land now owned by his son Franklin. He married Lydia, daughter of Calvin Barnes. He was elected supervisor in 1830, and held several other town offices. He served in the war of 1812, and was at the battle of Black Rock .. He died May 15, 1853 ; Mrs. Fay, Sept. 4, 1872. Their children were : 1. Mary Ann, wife of Orrin Brainard, who settled first in Arkwright, and afterward in Pomfret, where she died in 1854. 2. Franklin, who married Catharine Bowdish, and lives on the homestead. 3. Nathaniel, who married Nancy Bowdish, and settled in Stockton, and is now a Methodist minister in Penn. 4. Lucy, who died at 17.

HOLLIS FAY came to Portland with his brother Elijah in 1811. He first bought land on which the east part of Brocton stands. This he sold in 1815 to Moses Sage, and bought part of lot 42, in the north-west corner of the town. For three years he lived alone in a log cabin. In 1818, he went to Massachusetts and married Phebe Mixer, and removed west with an ox team and covered wagon. Their wagon was their sleeping room, and the road side their kitchen and dining room. They were six weeks on the way. In 1851, they removed from their farm in Portland to Concord, Erie Co., where Mr. Fay died in July, 1868, and Mrs. Fay in October following. They were buried in the Westfield and Portland Union Cemetery. They were members of the Baptist church. They had 3 children, one only surviving infancy : Roxana E., wife of Edmund Ellis, who died in 1857. Mrs. Ellis resides in Concord.

NATHAN FAY, son of Nathan Fay, was born in Southborough, Mass. In 1805, he and David Eaton made a prospecting tour through Portland, on foot, with knapsacks, returning through the south part of the county. In May, 1806, he came with his family, David Eaton and others, to this town, and settled near where Lincoln Fay resides. He was married in Massachusetts to Betsey Clemens, who died in 1807 ; hers being the first death in Portland. In 1809, he married Mercy Groves in Oneida Co., and in June, 1810, he died. He had 7 children, of whom the last only was born in Portland. 1. Hattie, wife of Simeon Guile, who settled in Wisconsin, and died there. 2. John, who married Nancy Mcclintock ; settled in Westfield, and died in Illinois. 3. Nathan, who married and died in Michigan. 4. Cutting, who went south, and is supposed to be dead. 5. Willard, who left home, and has not been heard from. 6. Esther, who died in Ripley about 1865. 7. Betsey, wife of Samuel Morehouse, and lives in Missouri.

H. C. Taylor .

509

PORTLAND.

JOSHUA LA DUE was born August 2, 1794, at Auburn, N. Y., where he was married, in 1816, to Julia Ann Cowles. In March, 1826, he removed to Sherman, then a part of the town of Mina, having, the year before, built a log house on land he had taken up in January, 1825. He resided there many years. He was elected supervisor of Mina, before the erection of Sherman; and he held for many years the office of justice of the peace. He afterwards removed to Westfield, where, in 1846, he was appointed keeper of the light- house at Barcelona, which position he held for three years. He resided in the towns of Sherman, Westfield, and Portland, where he died, September 1, 1865, aged 71 years. His widow still resides there. They had 13 children : Bethana, was married to More Titus, is a widow, and resides in Portland ; Fidelia, to Ichabod Thayer, Westfield ; Uriah S., to Mary J. Morgan, Broc- ton ; her husband deceased; Clarissa, to James Caldwell, Chautauqua ; Albert D., to Ann E. Slayton, Kansas City, Mo .; Jay, to Jeanette Buell, Rochester, Minn .; Mabel, to Leroy Wilcox, both deceased; Joshua, to Harriet Goodrich, Clinton, Missouri; Mercy A., to H. C. Kingsbury, West- field ; Ambrose, to Sarah Garrison, Mantorville, Minn .; Henry, who died at 16 ; Jerome, to Ada Wells, Westfield ; Lillie, to Geo. W. Marsh, Portland.

HORACE CLEFTON TAYLOR, son of Bernice and Caroline Taylor, was born in Montague, Franklin county, Mass., Nov. 26, 1813, and was the eldest of six children. In May, 1827, he came with his father's family to Fredonia. In 1833, he began a preparation for the ministry, but was diverted from that course by poverty. He received his education in the common school and Fredonia academy. He studied medicine at Salem Cross Roads, now Broc- ton, and with Prof. B. L. Hill, of Berlin Heights, Ohio ; and attended med- ical lectures at Cincinnati, O., at the E. M. Institute, in the classes of 1848, '49, and graduated in June of the latter year. He commenced practice at Brocton, the same month, and has remained there, in the practice of his pro- fession, to the present time. In religious sentiment he is a Presbyterian, and has been a member of that order since 1831. In politics he is a republican. In 1859, '61, and '62, he was supervisor of Portland ; and, in 1873, he was elected county superintendent of the poor, which office he now holds. He has been U. S. examining surgeon for pension claims since October, 1865. He is author of a history of the town of Portland, published in 1873. His father died in Pomfret, April 10, 1853, aged 70 years ; his mother, at Broc- ton, July 18, 1854, aged 67 years. Dr. Taylor was twice married : first, to Eliza Jane Roff, Oct. 1, 1835, who died May 13, 1846 ; second, to Fran- ces Chambers, June 14, 1847. He had two children by each marriage ; one of each now living.

CHURCHES.

The First Congregational Church of Portland was formed January 31, 1818, at the house of John Churchill, Rev. John Spencer officiating. The original members were John House, Wm. Couch, Augustine Klumph, Jabez Hurlbut, David Eaton, John Churchill, Sylvester Churchill, Zachariah H. Price, Joan- na House, Abigail Couch, Wilson Andrews, Andrew Kelsey, Frederick

510

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Couch, Mary Eaton, Louisa Hurlbut, Mercy Eaton, Keziah Andrews, Nancy McClintock,-eighteen. For about two years, only occasional preaching and the administration of the sacraments by Mr. Spencer were enjoyed. From 1820, Rev. Phineas Camp, a preacher at Westfield, and his successor, Rev. Isaac Oaks, divided their time with the Portland church, preaching once in three or four weeks at the latter place. The number of members had in- creased to 38 in 1823, and at a later period to 52. At about this time, a de- clension commenced, which continued until the church had become virtually extinct ; some of the members having united with the Westfield church ; others having entirely lost their church connection. The society in connec- tion with this church was formed pursuant to the statute of June 24, 1822, and was styled " The First Congregational Society of the Town of Portland." The first trustees were Frederick Couch, Wilson Andrews, and Wilder Emer- son. On the 3d of March, 1833, the church was reorganized by Rev. David D. Gregory and Rev. Timothy Stillman. The members of the new organization were Timothy Judson, Samuel Hall, and Abigail Thompson, from the Presbyterian church of Fredonia; Clark Gould, Elisha Cook, Cla- rinda Cook, Alvin Cook, Catharine Cook, Eliza Cook, and Anson Driggs, from the Presbyterian church, Westfield ; Nathan G. Jones and Mary Eaton, members of the old church ; and Samuel Walker, Dana Churchill, and Min- erva Churchill, formerly members of distant churches. Dana Churchill and Alvin Cook were chosen deacons ; and Charles Gould, clerk. The new " Congregational Society " required by the statute of 1813, was formed April 30, 1833.

The Methodist Episcopal Church is said to have been the second church in Portland. The precise date of its organization is not ascertained. By the efforts of Wm. Dunham and a few others, a class was formed in June, 1817, by Rev. Godard, of the Chautauqua circuit, which extended from Cattarau- gus creek to Erie, Pa. The members of the class were William and Lucy Dunham, Isaac and Parthena Baldwin, William and Barbara Correll, Abiel and Mary Flint, and Simon Burton. Soon were added, Elisha and Sophia Fay, Parsons Taylor and Mrs. Taylor, and Mrs. Thompson. Another class was soon after formed on the south road. The classes met for a time in dwellings and school-houses. Early class leaders were William Dunham, Isaac Baldwin, and Elisha Fay. For the better accommodation of preachers, the two or three classes were united. Meetings, for many years, were held at noistated place, until a few years before the building of their first church edifice. The society in connection with this church was formed in 1822. This society having lost its identity, and its acts become illegal from some informality, it was reorganized Feb. 3, 1834, under the name of the "First M. E. Society in Portland." The first house of worship was built at the Center in 1835. A new house was built in 1868, at a cost of $7,000. A parsonage was built by subscription in 1843.

In 1853, a portion of this church united with a class on "Harmon Hill," and a church formed at Salem Cross Roads, now Brocton; Rev. T. D.

51I

PORTLAND.

Blinn then being in charge. Their house of worship, standing in the east part of the village, was built in 1853.

The First Baptist Church of Portland was organized Sept. 20, 1819, and composed of 11 members : William and Rachel Harris, John and Deborah Light, Sylvester and Erastus Andrews, Charles Morse, Phebe Fay, Sally Sage, Sarah Mumford, and Anna Taylor. The meeting at which they were set apart as a church, was held at the school-house in Brocton, and the coun- cil called for that purpose was composed of Revs. Joy Handy, Pearson Crosby, and Jonathan Wilson. Fifty-two were added to the church within the first year, among whom were Elijah and Lucy Fay. Sylvester Andrews was the first church clerk ; Elijah Fay and Sylvester Andrews the first dea- cons. Elder Jonathan Wilson was the first pastor. For many years the society had no permanent place of worship ; meetings having been held at deacon Fay's and at school-houses, until about 1830 to '32, when they came to be held pretty regularly at the Salem Cross Roads, in the school-house. In 1825, the members residing at and in the vicinity of Westfield, organized a "Branch of the Church of Portland," with limited powers and privileges : Rev. Charles La Hatt, minister at Portland, presiding. [See Baptist Church, Westfield.] Pursuant to a request of the members of this "Branch " church, they were in 1831, by a council, constituted an independent church. The First Baptist Society connected with the church, was organized April 6, 1822, under the act of 1813, by which they became entitled to one-third of the Io0 acres of what was called the " gospel land." Their first house of worship was commenced in 1834, but not finished and dedicated until 1837. The present commodious brick edifice was erected in 1867. Elders Jonathan Wilson and Pearson Crosby ministered to this church until October, 1822, when it was "voted to employ elder Charles La Hatt to preach one year upon the following terms :" to "find him a house and garden and firewood ; move his family, and pay him $150 ; seven-eighths in produce at the country price, proportioned to wheat at 75 cents per bushel ; the remaining one- eighth in cash." Did elder La Hatt accept this offer? It is presumed he did, as he became their minister, and served them as pastor until 1838, when he was dismissed ; but he preached more or less until about the time of his death, in 1850. He was a German, and emigrated to America before the Revolution.

The West Baptist Church of Portland was organized in 1842. At a meet- ing of the mother church in March, for the accommodation of the members residing in the west part of the town, some of them 5 miles from their place of worship, a branch church, with limited privileges, was authorized. But at a meeting in June, in answer to a request of the "branch," the first church voted, that the said branch be allowed to become a distinct and separate church. It was recognized as such by a council, June 22, 1842. The meet- ings were generally held in the stone school-house until the completion of the church edifice. The society connected with the church was formed in September, 1842.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.