History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 66

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 66

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JOHN SMALLWOOD was born in England, Feb. 15, 1811, and emigrated to America, in 1820, with his father's family, who, after several years' residence in Livingston Co., removed to Warsaw in -. He was married, Sept. 20, 1837, to Harriet Jennett, daughter of Judge Webster, of Ripley, and removed to Ripley in the spring of 1838, on the farm where he now resides. From his youth his occupation has been farming, in which he has been successful. He was an assessor in Ripley for many years. He was appointed one of the county commissioners of license when the law went into effect, and served two years, and was continued in the office, by reappointment, for an addi- tional period of six years. And he is at present one of the board of excise in this town, under the new law. Himself and family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has long been a member, and to the various interests of which he has been a liberal contributor. He has also given his support, by personal effort and otherwise, to the objects of benevolent and reformatory institutions generally. His wife died Mar( 30, 1875. They had 6 children : 1. Mary Adelia, wife of Rev. John T. Brown- ell, a member of the Genesee conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and has 2 children, John Veranus and Margaret Jennett. 2. Clementine, who died Sept. 10, 1870, aged 26 years. 3. Lorett, who married Georre K. Powell, attorney at law, Wilkesbarre, Pa., and has a son, Lewis Small vood. 4. Emma Adelle. 5. Wilbur Fisk, now at the University in Syracuse. 6. Henry Thornton.

OLIVER STETSON, JR., settled early in Ripley, on the Erie road, in the west part of the town ; afterwards on a part of the farm now owned by David Cochran, near Westfield line, where Mr. Stetson died. He was one of the constituent members of the Presbyterian church of Ripley, at the time of its organization. His children were; Delia Ann, wife of John Taylor, and is deceased ; Betsey, wife of Frank Slater, Quincy ; John, who died at about 17 ; Asenath, wife of Ezra Burrows, both deceased ; Moses, who married Fanny Porter, who died in 1870, and whose daughter Jennie is the wife of Henry Burgess, with whom Mr. S. resides ; Henry A., who married Elizabeth Spink, and resides at Jackson, Mich .; Robert Marshall, who married Ann Ross ; Oliver, who married Elizabeth Lay ; and two sons who died young.

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RIPLEY.

Capt. Oliver Stetson, Sr., came later, and settled where Hugh Stevens resides. He had 4 sons, William, Robert, Moses, and John, and 3 daughters. Only John, in Erie Co., Pa., is living.

MOSES A. TENANT, from Otsego Co., settled, in 1833, about 2 m. south from Quincy ; and afterwards removed to the place where he now resides, near the village. He has been several times elected supervisor and justice of the peace. He is a member and officer of the Baptist church. He had 4 sons and 4 daughters, who attained to manhood and womanhood. The sons are Alvin J., Delos G., Albert M., and John A. Albert M. is a Baptist minister, now at North-east, Penn. Daughters : Eliza, wife of Henry W. Shaver ; Julia, wife of David Shaver ; Wealthy A., wife of Erbin C. Wattles ; Fanny, wife of George Mason. All the families are members or supporters of the Baptist church.

GURDON H. WATTLES, a native of Delaware Co., removed from Otsego Co., to Ripley, 3 m. south of Quincy, in 1818, where his son Glover P. lately resided. In 1859, he removed to the farm where he lately resided, I m. west from Quincy, and now resides with his son, Erbin C., near the village. He was elected supervisor in 1835 and 1836. From 1846 to 1853, he managed a store in Erie for B. Tomlinson & Co. His son, Erbin C., is at present supervisor of Ripley. The families are members or supporters of the Baptist church. [Glover P. Wattles has recently died.]

ANDREW W. YOUNG was born in Carlisle, Schoharie Co., N. Y., March 2, 1802. His paternal ancestors were from Holland. His mother, when a child, came from the north of Ireland, her ancestry being generally designat- ed as "Scotch Irish." His vernacular was that which had been brought over by the Diedricks and Knickerbockers, which was the language of the family during the period of its existence. He obtained his education in the com- mon school. He became a teacher at an early age, having taught one term before he had completed his fourteenth year. In 1816, he removed with his father's family to Warsaw. He was engaged alternately on the farmi and in teaching, until he attained his majority. He was thereafter, for several years, engaged as clerk and as principal, in the mercantile business. In 1830, he commenced the publication of the Warsaw Sentinel; and, in 1832, having purchased the Republican Advocate, published at Batavia, the former was merged in the latter, which he published three years, when it passed into the hands of Daniel D. Waite, Esq., its present publisher. After his brief edi- torial career of five years, he directed his attention to what has been the principal business of his life. Impressed with the idea, that our political prosperity and the security of our liberties depend, essentially, upon an en- lightened suffrage, he wrote the "Science of Government," designed alike for the use of schools and for the family library. Several other works, of which this formed the basis, he has written and published. In 1855, the " American Statesman," a political history of the United States, was pub- lished, and was followed, a few years after, by "National Economy," and other works. In 1845 and 1846, he represented Wyoming county in the 34

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

assembly, and in 1846, in the constitutional convention. In 1856, he re- moved to Ripley, Chautauqua county, N. Y. In 1867, his family went to Red Wing, Minn., he remaining to complete an unfinished work. He has, for the last few years, been engaged in writing local histories, of which the History of Chautauqua County is the third. He was married in Warsaw, Oct. 4, 1827, to Eliza, daughter of Hon. Elizur Webster. He had five chil- dren : 1. David A., who married Ada Augusta McGlashan, and has three sons, Herbert A., Arthur L., and Charles M. 2. Lucy, who was married to Emery Purdy, late of Red Wing, deceased. 3. Elizabeth, residing at Red Wing. 4. William, who died in infancy. 5. Mary E., who was married to Eldridge K. Sparrell, late of Red Wing, deceased. They had two children : John and Grace, the latter deceased.

CHARLES P. YOUNG, a native of Killingworth, Conn., removed to Herki- mer Co., N. Y., in 1797 ; thence, in 1812, to this county, near Dewittville : in 1835, to Westfield, and in 1845, to Ripley, near the lake, where he now resides. He served in the war of 1812, under Capt., afterwards Col. James McMahan. He was at the battle of Black Rock in 1813, at the time of the burning of Buffalo. He receives a pension for his services in that war. He was elected, in the town of Chautauqua, a justice of the peace, in 1830. and again in 1834. He had 3 sons : Wm. B., who resides with him on the farm ; Joseph, also a resident of Ripley ; and Charles P., Jr., who served in the late war, and died in the hospital at Hilton Head, S. C. He also had five daughters. The families are principally connected with the Methodist church.

ELIZUR WEBSTER was born in Connecticut, Aug. 24, 1767. In October, 1803, he removed from Washington Co., N. Y., to Batavia, afterwards, [1808,] the town of Warsaw, where he had, in June preceding, taken up several thousand acres of the Holland Company's land. In Feb., 1837, he removed to Ripley, on the farm previously owned, successively, by Basil Burgess, Robert Dickson, and Henry Abell, near the old Presbyterian church. He was the first settler in the present town of Warsaw, and was 8 miles from the nearest settler on the Holland Purchase. He was appointed a justice of the peace, the first in the township, by the council of appointment; and was the first supervisor of Warsaw after its formation, and held the office many years. He was also, successively, associate judge of the county court, a member of assembly in 1816 and 1817 ; and a member of the constitutional convention of 1821. He was-married in 17 -- , to Elizabeth Warren, who died in Ripley, Dec., 1848, aged 74. Mr. Webster died in March, 1854. They had 12 children, 8 sons and 4 daughters, all of whom had families : 1. Arvin, who removed to Illinois, where he died. 2. Warren, who died at Gowanda, and whose widow resides in Westfield. 3. Chipman, who resides in Illinois. 4. Lucinda, wife of Elijah Norton, who resides in Warsaw. 5. Clorinda, wife of Orson Hough, and resides in Westfield. 6. Eliza, wife of Andrew W. Young, and resides in Red Wing, Minn. 7. Lemuel, who died in Wisconsin. 8. Horace, who resides in Erie Co., Pa. 9. Elizur, who married Frances

Charly Pi young.

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RIPLEY.

Averill, resided in Ripley, and died in 1874. Mrs. Webster died in 1862. IO. Gideon, who resides at Fredonia. 11. William Harrison, who married Mary Dickson, in Ripley, and resides at Coldwater, Mich. 12. Harriet Jennett, wife of John Smallwood, who owns and occupies the homestead of his father- in-law. Mrs. Smallwood died March 30, 1875.

CHURCHES.

The First Presbyterian Church of Ripley was organized Nov. 2, 1818, at a meeting in the school-house near John Post's, about 60 rods east of the old meeting-house, the Rev. Phineas Camp presiding. The church was composed chiefly of members of the church at Cross Roads, [now Westfield.] The male members were Joel Loomis, Alexander Cochran, John Cochran, Robert Cochran, John Gibson, Thomas Gray, William Crossgrove, Lorrel Nichols, Olney Nichols, James McMahan, James Dickson, Oliver Stetson, Jr., John B. Densmore, Hugh Crossgrove. The number of females was about the same, many of them being wives of the men above named. Joel Loomis, James Dickson, James McMahan, and Alexander Cochran, were chosen elders : only the first two accepted, and were ordained. The records do not show the services of a stated minister before October, 1824, when each of the churches of Ripley and North-east engaged the labors of Rev. Giles Doolittle one-half of the time, at a salary of $200, payable, one-half in cash, and one-half in grain at cash price. Mr. Doolittle was ordained and installed as pastor of the two congregations, April 15, 1825. At his own request, his pastoral relation to the church of Ripley, was dissolved in April, 1830. Among later ministers was Rev. John B. Preston. The name of Rev. Samuel G. Orton appears on the records of the session as early as July, 1837 ; and his pastorate continued until 1853. He was succeeded by Rev. William Waith, whose labors were terminated by his death, in 1863. The church was subsequently supplied by Rev. Sylvanus Warren for two years, and by the Rev. William L. Hyde for five years. A meeting-house in an unfinished state, was destroyed by lightning, July 30, 1828. Another was soon erected in its place, and is still standing. In 1854, a division of the society took place ; and the western members built the present brick house in Quincy. In 1871, the churches were reunited under the name of the " First Presbyterian Church and Congregation of Ripley." In October, 1870, Rev. Edwin S. Wright commenced his pastorate, which still continues.

The Second Presbyterian Society was organized at Quincy, April 18, 1853 : Bezaleel Gates, moderator of the meeting. Alexander Cochran, Ira Loomis, and William Cochran, were elected trustees, and Martin Cochran was chosen clerk. John Loomis, John B. Densmore, and Thaddeus S. Ways, were chosen a building committee, to superintend the erection of a church edifice. The church was composed almost entirely of members of the First church, residing in the west part of the parish. On the application of about 30 members, letters of dismission were given them for that purpose. The male members were John Cochran, Alexander Cochran, Martin Cochran,

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

John Loomis, Ira Loomis, Bezaleel Gates, James McIntosh, Andrew McIn- tosh, John Crossgrove, and the wives of most or all of them, with a few others. John Cochran, Bezaleel Gates, and John Crossgrove, were chosen elders. The first minister was Daniel Gibbs, from August, 1854 ; J. S. Barris, from March, 1856, to March, 1860; Sylvanus Warren, from April, 1862, to December, 1863 ; his labors being equally divided between the two societies ; Mr. Hancock, from June, 1864 ; and William L. Hyde, from July, 1865, to April, 1870, both also ministering to both churches. In December, 1871, a union of the churches having been agreed upon, all the members of the Second church were, by a general letter, dismissed to the First church ; the house built by the Second church at Quincy to be the house of worship of the united church. Rev. Edwin S. Wright was elected pastor. A neat and commodious parsonage has been erected by the society, in the western part of the village.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Ripley was formed at an early period, but the year of its organization is probably not known by any person now living in the town. About the year 1811, it is thought, the first class was formed. Among the members of this class were Andrew Spear and wife, Farley Fuller and wife, and Basil Burgess and wife. Within a few years after, the following named persons became members : Asahel Peck, Reuben Peck, and their wives, James Truesdell, Harry Loomis and wife, Lucretia and Lavina Baird, Adolphus and Henry Walradt, Dolly, Rebecca, and Mary Walradt, Silas and Hannah Baird. Of the earliest members of the church yet living, are Reuben Peck and Calista Peck. Who the earliest preachers were cannot be stated with certainty. This part of Chautauqua county was early in the Erie circuit, which was in 1811 in Monongahela district. Jacob Gruder was presiding elder ; and James Watts and James Ewing, circuit preachers. The next year, 1812, Erie circuit was in Ohio district ; Jacob Young was presiding elder ; James Watts and Jacob Gorwell, preachers. For several years after, preachers on the Erie circuit were Abel Robinson, 1813 ; John Solomon and John Graham, 1814; Robert C. Hatton, 1815, 1816. In 1817, James B. Finley, presiding elder ; John P. Kent, Ira Eddy, preachers. A meeting-house was erected in 1839, and completed and dedicated two or three years afterward ; dedicatory sermon by Rev. James E. Chapin. A new and beautiful brick house was erected a few rods east of the other, in 1873, at a cost of about $13,000. Dedicated in April, 1874. Sermon by Rev. Benoni I. Ives, D. D., of Auburn.

Connected with the Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Quincy, are well-constructed and well-sustained sabbath schools. That of the latter has been for several years under the superintendence of two young ladies, sisters.

A Baptist church was formed, at a comparatively early day, about three miles south of Quincy, and a house of worship erected. Some of its mem- bers residing at a remote and inconvenient distance, and others having removed from that part of the town, the organization is believed to have hardly maintained its former strength and efficiency.

533

SHERIDAN.

SHERIDAN was formed from Pomfret and Hanover, April 16, 1827. It embraces township 6 of the 11th range, excepting lots 1, 2, 3, and 4, which are attached to Hanover. Although it is not square at its north end, it con- tains an area of nearly the same extent as that of an ordinary regular town- ship. The surface is level in the north-west, and hilly in the south-east. A nearly perpendicular bluff, 50 to 100 feet high, extends along the lake shore. The south-west and west parts of the town are drained by Scott's creek and Beaver creek, flowing north to the lake, the former entering it in the north- east corner of Dunkirk, the other about a mile east of the north-west corner of Sheridan. The soil is a clay loam, mixed in some parts with gravel.

Original Purchases in Township 6, Range II.

1804. August, Francis Webber, 17. Wm. Webber, 27. Hazadiah Steb- bins, 17. November, Abner Holmes, 43. Alanson Holmes, 53. [Deed.]

1805. March, Gerard Griswold, 35. Orsamus Holmes, 44, 60. April, Joel

Lee, 52. John Walker, 67. John Hollister, 66 ; [articled to Wm. Gould.] September, Thomas Stebbins, 18; [reverted, and transferred to Jonathan Webber.] November, Simeon Austin, 52 ; [articled to Abner Holmes.]

1806. April, Ozias Hart and Justus Hinman, 59. October, Thomas Stebbins, 6, 16.

1807. August, Jonathan Webber, 62 ; [transf. to Gideon Shove.] Alan- son Holmes, Winsor Brigham, 64. October, Jonathan Webber, 15, 16.

1808. February, John Spencer, 61. July, Hazadiah Stebbins, 18.

1809. March, Ozias Hart and Daniel Pratt, 45. April, Jonathan Brig- ham, 54, 64. Samuel Newell, 34. September, Wm. and Robert Pattison, 5. October, Daniel Baldwin, 58. John Bovee, 26. Isaac Baldwin, 58. Nov., Bethel Willoughby, 31. December, Thomas and Matthew Cassety, 63.

1810. March, John M. Alden, 24.

18II. May, Joel Lee, 55. August, Thomas Chapman, 15.

1812. Jonathan Griswold, 36. April, Edmund Mallett, 49. Charles Burritt, 24. Jonathan Brigham, 56.

1813. October, Charles F. Collins, 39. December, Jonathan Brigham, Jr., 64. Winsor Brigham, 70.

1814. February, Jonathan Sloan, 59.

1815.

March, Ozias Hart, 44. Polly Pratt, 44. Asa Strong, 43.

1816. January, John Pattison, 14. February, Luke Kibbe, 23. Bethel Willoughby, 23. March, Nicholas Bovee, 26. April, John Pattison, 14. November, David Pattison, 15.

1817. January, Winsor Brigham, 63. David Pattison, 14. May, John Spencer, 62.

1818. Feb., Haven Brigham, 49. Oct., William Griswold, 46.

1819. February, Clark Jenks, 38. April, Hosea White, 57. Leonard Love, 22. August, Alva Cummings, II. October, William Jones, 42. Griffin Sweet, 42. Nov., Neri Crampton, 37. Dec., Chauncey Barnes, 12.

1820. January, Joseph Van Vliet, 22. March, John Darling, 21. June, Bliss Webb, 10. November, Robert Peebles, 33.

534

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

1821. January, James Goodrich, 49. October, Benjamin Jones, 1 ; [now in Hanover.] December, Josiah Bail, 7. Stephen Brigham, 21.

1823. April, Nathan Blanchard, 18. June, James Bellows, 56. July, Sylvester Merrick, 70. November, John Kelly, 29. John Johnson, 29. 1825. July, John N. Badger, 38. October, Benjamin Drake, 30.

1826. September, James Fisher, 29. December, Cyrus Glass, 36.

1827. June, William McConnell, 29. William Griswold, 46. August, Andrew Clark, 56. September, Eli Chamberlain, 13.

Joel Lee, a native of Connecticut, removed with his father from Sherburne, N. Y., to Sheridan, in 1805, and died there in 1836. He built the first frame house in that town ; was a deacon of the Congregational church ; and was adjutant of infantry, and captain of cavalry, commissioned by Governor Tompkins. He was a carpenter and mill-wright.

Buel Tolles settled on a part of lot 26, on the place of his stepfather, Stephen Thompson, where he still resides. He was for 8 years supervisor of the town. Edgar, a son, resides with his father. Newell Gould settled in town early, and finally where he now lives, on lot 26. A son, Milton, was married, and is deceased ; Frank is in Dunkirk; Edward was killed in the late war ; Julius is with his father on the farm.

In the central part of the town, Samuel Newell settled in 1809 on lot 34, and died about 1850. His sons were Samuel, Oliver, and Warren, who reside in the town. Thomas Newell, brother of Samuel, Sr., settled on lot 53, and is dead. His sons, Jefferson, Chauncey, and Nevins, reside in town ; Corydon removed west. Griffin Sweet was an early settler, and a Methodist minister. His sons, Jonathan N., Newman, Caleb, Griffin, all dead or out of town. Jonathan had several sons, all deceased; a daughter, wife of Abraham Cranston, deceased ; she resides in town ; and Stephen B., deceased, whose sons, Walter and Edward, reside in the town. William Doty, from Delaware county, to Sheridan, in 1819, settled on lot 28, half a mile east from the Center, and died in the town. His sons were Asa ; Daniel, who died in Michigan ; Peter B. ; Seth, deceased ; and Joseph C., the last only in town. Asa is in Hanover ; Peter B., in Conneaut, Ohio. Daughters : Susan, wife of Edmund Mead; another, the wife of Daniel Alden, in Sheridan. Stephen Bush settled near the Center, having bought lots 35 and 36, and died there. The property fell to his sons, Asahel, who died many years ago; and Stephen, who resides on a part of the farm at an advanced age.

In the east part of the town, Hazadiah Stebbins settled on lot 17, bought in 1804, on which his son Marcus resides. Otis Ensign, a Revolutionary pensioner, about 1816, came to the south-west part of the town, but finally settled on lot 28. He had sons : William, deceased, whose son Otis is on the homestead of his father; Seth, who resides in Hanover, and whose place was afterwards owned by Gideon, a nephew ; now owned by Gideon's son ; and Seymour, who removed to Erie, Pa. ; and whose son Otis resides on his father's homestead.

In the south-west part of the town, Jonathan Sloan settled on lot 59. His sons were John, James, and George W .; only James living, and resides in

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SHERIDAN.

town. William, son of George W .; and Devillo, son of John, reside on their fathers' homesteads. Daniel Baldwin, from Vermont, brother of Isaac, settled on lot 58 ; removed to Indiana, and died there. He had many chil- dren ; of whom Abigail, wife of Simon Burton, resides in Portland ; others dead, or removed from the county. James White, from Madison county, settled on lot 59, bought in 1810 ; family removed from the county, or dead.

The first town-meeting was held at the house of William Griswold, Tues- day, May 8, 1827 ; and the following named officers were elected :

Supervisor-Lyscom Mixer. Town Clerk-Enoch Haskins. Assessors- Haven Brigham, Otis Ensign, Sheldon Stanley. Collector-Rodolphus Simons. Com'rs of Highways-Nathaniel Loomis, William Ensign, John N. Gregg. Overseers of Poor-Otis Ensign, Jonathan S. Pattison. Consta- bles-Rodolphus Simons, Orlow Hart. Com'rs of Schools-Benjamin Brown- ell, Royal Teft, Lyscom Mixer. Inspectors of Schools-Elihn Mason, Nathan- iel Gray, Samuel Davis. [Of these, only Jonathan S. Pattison is living.]

Supervisors from 1827 to 1875.

Lyscom Mixer, 1827 to '30, and '32-5 years. Nathaniel Gray, 1831, '35, '38. Nicholas Mallett, 1833. Leroy Farnham, 1834. Jonathan S. Pattison, 1836, '37. Willard W. Brigham, 1839 to '42. John I. Eacker, 1843, '53. John N. Gregg, 1844. Harry Hall, 1845 to '49. Edmund Mead, 1850 to '52, '54, '56-5 years. Newton P. Smith, 1855. Newell Gould, 1857. William O. Strong, 1858, '59. John C. Cranston, 1860 to '62. Buel Tolles, 1863 to '67, '69, '70-7 years. Joseph C. Doty, 1868, '71, '72. George W. Eacker, 1873. Stewart Christy, 1874. Henry J. Cranston, 1875.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

ISAAC BALDWIN, born in Jeffrey, N. H., Oct. 12, 1763, removed with his father to Mass., and thence to Halifax, Vt., where he was married to Parthena Harris, in Sept., 1785. They subsequently removed to Pawlet, and thence to the Holland Purchase. He purchased, in 1809, the north 254 acres of lot 58, in Sheridan, and returned to Vermont. In the spring of 1810, he came and built a log house, and cleared six acres, sowed his field with wheat, and returned. In February, 1811, he came the third time, bringing his two oldest sons and the oldest daughter ; and returned soon after to move the remainder of his large family. His removal was for a time deferred by the declaration of war against Great Britain ; apprehending danger from Indians in the wilderness in a frontier country. In September, 1812, they started in an emigrant wagon with three horses, and, after a tedions journey of 45 days, arrived at their new home. A 16 feet square hut, into which was stowed a family of fifteen, was, to use the words of the narrator, "a pretty tight fit." But the discomforts experienced in their small cabin without chimney or even the minor conveniences of an ordinary cabin, were far less than some of those they suffered on their journey. Nearly all the country west of the Genesee river was a wilderness. The road between Buffalo and Cattarangus

536

IIISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

creek-the terror of travelers at a much later day-was in some places all but impassable. They entered the woods in a rain, and after prying up the load and working along a few rods at a time, the wagon pitched into a deep slough, and the neap came out, leaving the wagon to the axles in the mud. Imagine their feelings in this dilemma-a father and mother with nine children, in a dark night, and surrounded with a dense forest and mud and water, and no inhabitant within two miles !

They were not slow in devising relief. One of the boys got on one of the horses, and took the mother on behind him with a babe of eight months in her arms. Another, with a girl or two behind, rode another horse; and the rest of the family trudged along on foot. At 10 Or 11 o'clock they reached the Cattaraugus without a serious mishap, though one of the boys and a sister narrowly escaped a watery grave. Their horse, in trying to avoid the mud, had got on a narrow ridge between the mud and the precipice on the lake shore, when the horse's hind feet slipped, and the children came near being thrown off ; but the horse fortunately gathered up ; and they went on unconscious of the fate they had escaped. On going for the wagon the next morning, they found that the horse had slipped on the brink of the precipice, and but for having regained his foothold, the horse and his riders would have been plunged into the lake some fifty feet below! After getting to the creek, they were obliged to wait in the dark and rain nearly an hour before they could get any one to ferry them over. They were two days in getting their wagon through and repaired. Without further serious difficulty, they reached their destination, traveling, however, the last two miles in an underbrush path, through the woods.

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