History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I > Part 11

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sons of the backwoods from the hills of Ellery and Gerry, whose limbs had been toughened by swinging the ax in slashings, and stalking through the woods for deer, with bodies invig- orated by feasting on cornbread and venison. There were also rough rafting descendants of Anak from Carroll, Poland and Kiantone, whose muscles had been hardened by hewing down pine trees, and hauling them to saw- mills, pulling at oars, and roughing it on Alle- glieny fleets. There, too, were tough, grog- drinking boatmen from down the river, equally ready for a wrestle or a fight, though seldom a fight occurred. Indeed it was not merely strength and skill, but also nerve and brain that was required to hold the championship against all comers in those old wrestling days.

But few holidays were recognized. Thanks- giving Day was observed by only a few, and those settlers from the New England States. Christmas was honored but little more. The young people often celebrated New Year's with balls and sleighrides; Washington's Birthday was passed by ; the Fourth of July was duly remembered. No day of the year, however, not excepting Independence Day, was so gen- erally observed as General Training Day, often in other places called General Muster Day. The rough life of the backwoods man, the familiarity of the people with the use of fire- arms, and the recent war in which the country had been engaged, were calculated to cultivate a martial taste, and the military spirit ran high for many years. On General Training days, which were observed in Jamestown, Fredonia, Sinclairville, Mayville, and other principal places in the county, the whole male popula- tion of the neighboring towns would turn out to witness the sham fight, military parade, and take a part in the festivities of the day. None of that day lived long enough to efface from memory the fun and enjoyment of General Training Day. The apple carts and peddlers' wagons dispensing their stock of apples, sweet cider, ginger-bread and honey, and before all, the stirring music of the drum and fife were not soon forgotten.

These general trainings were held in Sep- tember of each year. Nearly all the young nien and the greater part of the able bodied men served in the ranks. When this military system was first instituted, the men and offi- cers took pride in the performance of their duties, and for some years the soldiers were quite well disciplined; after a little the mili- tary spirit began to wane, and discipline to re- lax. The officers were selected with less care,

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

and the men began to regard the performance of military duty as a burden. The law re- quired them to furnish their own arms and equipments and the consequence was that they were dressed "in all kinds of hats, all styles of coats, from the surtout to the sailor jacket ;

they carried all kinds of arms from the shot- gun to the stake from the fence," bearing a strong resemblance to Falstaff's soldiers, caus- ing much merriment to the wags of the time. The military musters after a while degenerated into a farce, and were discontinued.

CHAPTER X.

The Early Farming Period-1835-1851.

By the State census the population of the county in 1835 was 44,869, an increase of 10,212 in five years, showing the effect that the Erie canal had upon the prosperity of the county, and also showing in what high esteem the county was held abroad. Yet the inhabitants were still poor, their lands in most instances unpaid for, and all that they had was repre- sented by the labor that they had expended in clearing and improving their lands.

In 1835 the Holland Company contracted their unsold lands and lands of which there were outstanding and unexpired contracts, to Trumbell Carey and George W. Lay. It was understood that such of the settlers as could not pay for their farms would be compelled to renew their contracts, and pay a certain sum per acre in addition to the original price, and such interest as had accumulated thereon. This proposed exaction was called the "Genessee Tariff." As soon as this became known, it produced great excitement. A large public meeting was held in Jamestown at which ? committee was appointed consisting of Elial T. Foote, Oliver Lee, Samuel Barrett, Leverett Barker and George T. Camp to confer with the proprietors at Batavia, and ascertain their in- tentions towards the settlers. The committee so appointed were unable, however, to obtain satisfactory information. A second public meeting was held at Mayville, January 8th, 1836. The people were now greatly aroused, and this was more numerously attended than the former one. Leverett Barker was chosen president, and John M. Edson, secretary. James Mullett addressed the people in an im- pressive speech. Speeches were also made by Judge Foote and others : a committee was ap- pointed, to which was added the chairman and secretary, to confer with William Peacock, the agent of the company for Chautauqua county. Mr. Peacock received the committee coldly. and the little information that he gave them was very unsatisfactory. The result of this conference produced great excitement, and the excesses which followed the proposed exac- tions were such as might have been expected.

"The early settlers had braved a wilderness and wrought for themselves homes such as ex- treme toil, privation and hardship could accom- plish. They had rallied at the call of danger, shed their blood and perilled their lives in defense of the soil. The owners had grown wealthy by the industry of the settlers, and their agents rolled in fatness ; to impose such terms at a time and under such circumstances as, in a majority of instances, would deprive the settlers of their farms and compel them to abandon their possessions, while a course of fair dealing and equitable requirements on the part of the owners would enable them, after a few more years of toil, to call the soil on which the fire and vigor of their manhood had been expended, their own, was more than they would submit to or endure."

There were small gatherings of the people in Gerry, Ellicott and Ellery, in which the sub- ject was discussed. The more it was talked over, the more were the people incensed and inclined to resort to harsh measures. As the result of these gatherings, a meeting was called at Hartfield, which was not well attended. This was adjourned to the 6th of February, and it was understood, without a formal decla- ration to that effect, that the purpose would be tearing down the land office. On the 6th of February, from three hundred to five hun- dred people assembled at Barnhart's Inn at Hartfield, principally from Gerry, Ellery, Char- lotte, Stockton, Poland, Ellicott, Busti and Harmony. Roland Cobb, of Gerry, was chosen chairman. Gen. George T. Camp was solicited to become leader in the contemplated enter- prise, but he declined, and in an earnest speech endeavored to induce them to abandon their violent intentions. The chairman also said that the Land Company might yet be willing to make terms, should another conference be had with them. Nathan Cheney, an intelligent and resolute old settler, abruptly and effec- tively addressed the meeting in these words, "Those who are going to Mayville with me, fall into line." The whole assemblage at once obeyed, chose Cheney their leader, George

FAIR POINT

THE FIRST POSTOFFICE AT FAIRPOINT

EARLY FARMING PERIOD-1835-1851

Van Pelt from Charlotte for lieutenant, formed into line, and marched a short distance west of Barnes' store in Hartfield and halted. Cheney then called for twenty-five of the strongest men to do the work of demolishing the Land Office. The number called for promptly stepped forward. Among them were Harri- son Persons, the Allegheny pilot before men- tioned, "Zeke" Powers (noted for his strength, afterwards a soldier of the Mexican war where he lost his life ), "Coon" and Jim Decker, "Bill" Pickard, Peter Strong and John Coe (from Pickard Street in Ellery), and other strong and resolute people. The people then resumed their march for Mayville, the sappers and miners with Persons and Powers as leaders, in advance. The only arms they carried were axes and crowbars and some hoop-poles taken from a cooper's shop on their march. Two kegs of powder were taken along, although no use was made of them. When the party arrived at the Land Office ( which was about & o'clock in the evening) Cheney posted the sappers and miners upon three of its sides and paraded the rest of the party around these workmen to guard them from outside interfer- ence. As a light was burning in the building when they arrived, admittance was first de- manded, to which no response was given. Cheney in a strong voice then gave the order to strike, which was obeyed, and all the win- cows came out with a crash. The door was broken down, and an entrance to the building effected. A costly clock was disposed of by the blow of an ax. A valuable map of the county, upon which every farm was delineated, was destroyed. The axmen made light work of the furniture and woodwork. They cut the posts and canted the building over. They found some difficulty in opening the vault that con- tained the safe, which was made of solid mason-work of cut stone. Van Pelt pried out the keystone with an iron bar; others took one of the pillars of the building and used it as a battering ram, and strong arms soon bat- tered down the door of the vault. The iron safe was pried open, and half a cord of books and papers of the company were taken out, placed on a sleigh, and carried to Hartfield. where a bonfire was made, and they were burned. Some of them, however, were carried away by the people and have been preserved. The party dispersed and went to their homes about midnight.

The most of those engaged in this affair held contracts for the purchase of land, and in many instances would have suffered ruinous conse- quences from the company's exactions. The

proceedings were conducted in an orderly manner, and those engaged were generally sober men. No liquor was used, except while the work of demolishing the building and opening the vault was going on. While the people were on the way from Hartfield to May- ville, Peacock was notified of their coming and left his office and took refuge at the house of Donald McKenzie, and after remaining a short time in Mayville he went to Erie. No further communication was had between the Holland Land Company or their agents and the settlers until 1838, when a sale was made of the com- pany's land to Duer, Robinson and Seward (Gov. William H. Seward), who opened an office in Westfield, where the business was conducted without disturbance or dissatisfac- tion.

During the war waged by Texas for its inde- pendence, Chautauqua county was represented by at least two soldiers. John Harding, a native of Chautauqua county, served with credit, and Mr. Pickett, of Charlotte, a young man in Fanning's command, was massacred by the Mexicans.

The winter of 1836-37 was long, and so severe that the "Western Trader," a schooner loaded with corn and oats, bound down from Detroit in the fall of 1836, was frozen in the ice, drifted down, and lay for six weeks in a mass of ice off Dunkirk. She and her crew were not loosened from their fetters until nearly June, 1837. An increased interest in agriculture had now been manifested for sev- eral years. A society formed in 1820 went down in a few years for the want of patronage by the State. It was now revived. Some citi- zens met at Mayville in October, 1837, to organize an agricultural society. Jedial Tracy was chosen president and William Prender- gast (2d) secretary. The meeting was ad- journed to the 4th of January, 1838, when the Chautauqua County Agricultural Society was organized. William Prendergast was chosen president ; Henry Baker, Timothy Judson, Thomas B. Campbell and Elias Clark, vice- presidents ; E. P. Upham, secretary ; and Jediah Tracy, treasurer.

The county during the years immediately previous had been in a state of unexampled prosperity, in which Dunkirk fully shared. Lands both uncultivated and improved began to rise in value, which was first observed in 1833. People of all classes embarked in wild speculations, particularly in real estate. There was a great demand for corner lots, and favor- able sites. Cities were laid out along the lake wherever there was a harbor; almost every

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

village was affected. As Dunkirk was to be the termination of the Erie railroad, it was an unusually promising field for speculation. The crisis came in the spring of 1837. The mercan- tile failure in New York in March and April amounted to over $100,000,000; in New Or- leans to the amount of $27,000,000 took place in two days. All the banks in the county sus- pended specie payment.

The winter 1837-38 was one of the mildest ever known. Vessels navigated Lake Erie dur- ing the winter, including January. In this win- ter occurred the "Patriot War." Many of the people of Canada were discontented with the British government, particularly the French inhabitants of Lower Canada. An armed re- bellion broke out there, which was finally sup- pressed with some loss of life. Uprisings of a less serious character occurred in Upper Can- ada. The little steamboat "Caroline," owned by a citizen of Buffalo, was captured by the British at Schlosser, on the Niagara river, set on fire, and sent over the Falls. One person was killed and several wounded. This affair caused much excitement in Chautauqua county. A meeting was held in January at Mayville, of which William Peacock was chairman, and George W. Tew, secretary. A committee was appointed to draft resolutions with reference to the outrage at Schlosser. Strong resolu- tions were passed condemning the act, and in favor of military preparations to protect the borders of the county against further out- rages. Gen. T. J. Sutherland, a patriot leader, visited the county. Some enlistments were obtained. Secret lodges of "Hunters" were formed along the frontier of Canada, to collect munitions, and aid the "patriots." Some two hundred stand of arms had been gathered, and were stored for the use of the "patriots" at Fredonia. A body of United States troops under Gen. Worth was sent to suppress these unlawful proceedings. They stopped at Dun- kirk and marched to Fredonia to break up the "Hunters' Lodge" there. Several wagon-loads of arms and army supplies were captured. Among those who ventured into Canada and took up arms in the patriot cause, was Linus WV. Miller, who resided in Stockton. He was taken, tried, condemned, and punished by transportation to Van Dieman's Land. After an absence of nearly eight years, he returned to this county. The interesting story of his captivity he told in the "Notes of an Exile."

On June 14th, 1838, the steamboat "Wash- ington," on her downward trip to Buffalo, when about twelve miles below Dunkirk, was dis- covered to be on fire. She immediately steered

for Silver Creek, the nearest harbor, but the flames spread so rapidly that she soon became crippled and was sinking, when the steamboat "North America" hove in sight, took her in tow, and succeeded in getting her within two miles of the shore, where she sank. Twelve of the seventy persons on board were lost.

At the meeting of the board of supervisors ir 1839, certificates were given for wolves killed in Busti and Clymer. The year closed with the heaviest fall of snow in the record of the county. About Christmas, in a short time the snow fell to the depth of five feet. The wind heaped it into drifts, rendering the roads entirely impassable. All communication was cut off even between the nearest neighbors. Flocks were buried in the drifts, and physi- cians were interrupted in their duties, result- ing in some instances in the death of their patients.

By the census of 1840 the population of the county was 47,975, an increase in five years of but 3,106.

In 1841 a very large wolf was killed in Ville- nova. It was the last destroyed in the county. It was so successful in avoiding its pursuers that it was not killed until it had been hunted thirty-one days. Its skin was stuffed, and ex- hibited in different towns. The records of the board of supervisors show that a bounty of "ten dollars was allowed Sewall Spaulding for killing a full grown wolf, in the town of Ville- nova.'

The same portion of Lake Erie where three years before the steamboat "Washington" was lost, was the scene of the most terrible catas- trophe that ever occurred on the waters of Lake Erie. August 9th, 1841, the steamboat "Erie," Capt. Titus, left Buffalo at 3 o'clock p. m. for Chicago with over two hundred fifty persons on board. When off Silver Creek about 3 o'clock, a carboy of copal varnish on the upper deck near the smoke stack, became heated and burst. The boat had been painted and varnished, and in a few moments the whole ci the upper part of the vessel was enveloped in flames. The passengers leaped into the lake without life preservers, or the slightest article of buoyancy to sustain them, save one, who it is said laid himself out to die on the working beam of the engine. Over two hundred per- ished, of whom one hundred fifty were Swiss emigrants. The "DeWitt Clinton," which had put into Dunkirk a short time before, the little steamboat "Sylph," which was also lying there, and other small boats, hastened to the relief of the burning boat. They only saved about thirty-five persons, who were found clinging to

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EARLY FARMING PERIOD-1835-1851

the burning wreck, or floating on pieces of boxes, furniture and timber. The burning ves- sel appeared to be at Battery Point, while in fact it was several miles out. George and Sampson Alton and Andrew Wood put out in a little boat with a mere rag of a sail and saved young Lamberton, of Erie, who had swam two miles from the wreck. Others did what they could, but there was little to do more than to rescue from the waves the bodies of the lost. The corpses of the drowned continued to float ashore for two weeks or more. The greater number were interred in Dunkirk, many in Silver Creek, seven in Sheridan, some in Irving and a few at Van Buren. But four of the lost had been residents of the county.

It is a curious and now almost forgotten fact, that among the industries that have been cultivated in this county was included at one time the raising of silk. As early as 1827 a small number of black mulberry trees, morus nigra, now cultivated for ornament and shade, were grown, and a small quantity of silkworms raised. A smaller tree, the white mulberry, moru alba, was brought into the county about the same time. About 1834 the Chinese mul- berry, morus muticaulis, the leaves of which were best suited for food for silkworms, was introduced. In 1841 an act was passed provid- ing for the payment of a bounty of fifteen cents for every pound of cocoons raised, and fifty cents for every pound of reeled silk made from cocoons raised in the county. The effect of this law was to stimulate for a short time the growing of silk. Mulberry groves were com- mon and silkworms for a while grown in con- siderable numbers. It is interesting to know that one hundred pounds of silk were actually laised in the county in 1842. The business proved to be a losing speculation.

In President Harrison's administration, while Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, the question respecting the northwestern bound- ary of the United States was under consid- eration. Webster at this time visited the county to interview Donald McKenzie at May- ville. Mckenzie was born in Scotland, of dis- tinguished lineage, and came to Canada early in the last century ; for eight years he was engaged in the fur business. In 1800 he be- came one of the partners of John Jacob Astor in the fur trade, and was established at the mouth of the Columbia river, where he re- mained until 1812. In 1821 he joined the Hud- son Bay Company and was one of the council and chief factors, with his headquarters at Fort Garry, and was afterwards governor of the company. In 1832 he removed to May-

ville and resided there until his death in 1851. His life was full of adventures and peril. When Webster visited Mckenzie, he came from Buf- falo to Barcelona and thence to Mayville in a covered carriage. His purpose was to ascer- tain such facts bearing upon the northwestern boundary controversy between the United States and England as were in the possession of Mckenzie. His visit was a government scoret and known at the time by but few. Judge William Peacock was among the num- ber. Webster remained one day and two nights at the residence of Mckenzie.

In the spring of 1843, Capt. Nathan Brown, of Jamestown, sent down the river the first of his store boats. Until the building of the rail- road to Jamestown, these boats furnished the principal means for the transportation to mar- ket of the articles manufactured there. From 1843 to 1880, Mr. Brown built one hundred fifty-four of these boats, loaded them with worked building materials and other wood- work, and sent them down the river, selling his cargo at points along the Ohio and other rivers, and finally selling his boat. The enterprise of Mr. Brown made him and his boats familiarly known along the Allegheny, Ohio and Mis- sissippi rivers for many years. On November 4, 1844, late in the evening, Nathaniel Lowry, the leading merchant of Jamestown, while re- turning to his dwelling in Jamestown, was stabbed by a person evidently having the pur- pose of killing him. For a long time his life was despaired of. He finally recovered. Jere- miah C. Newman, of Pine Grove (now Rus- sell) Warren county, Pennsylvania, was sus- pected of the offense, arrested, indicted and tried at the Chautauqua county oyer and termi- ner at Mayville, in January, 1846. The trial was one of the most celebrated in the history of the county. Richard P. and Dudley Mar- vin, James Mullett and Madison Burnell, the ablest lawyers of the county, were engaged either in the prosecution or defense. Newman was convicted and sentenced to State prison for five years and three months.

The same year Alvan Cornell was tried at Mayville before Justice Dayton for the murder of his wife, by cutting her throat with a razor, in Jamestown. He attempted suicide but failed. The prosecution was conducted by David Mann, the district attorney. He was defended by Samuel A. Brown, was found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. He was be- lieved to have been insane, and his sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life.

By the State census taken in 1845, the popu. lation of the county was 46,548, a falling off ir.

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

five years of 1,427. This had not happened before since the settlement of the county. Dur- ing the ten years that followed the building of the Erie canal, and that had preceded the year 1835, 24,244 inhabitants were added to its popu- lation, an increase of one hundred twenty per cent., the most rapid growth the county had ever known. During the ten succeeding years it had added only 1,679 to its population, an in- crease of but four per cent. and at the close of that period it was actually decreasing in popu- lation. This remarkable falling off in the in- crease of population from 1835 to 1845 is be- lieved to have been due to the fact that there was during that period a large emigration from Chautauqua county to the west, caused by the hard times that followed the great finan- cial crash in 1837, and the discouraging delay in building the Erie railroad.

In June, 1846, the convention to frame a new constitution for the State commenced its ses- sion in Albany. George W. Patterson and Richard P. Marvin represented Chautauqua county in the convention. The changes made by the new constitution were followed by a statute passed in 1848 known as the "Code of Procedure," which entirely revolutionized the practice in civil procedure. It abolished the distinction between suits at law and suits in equity ; the whole system of pleading was re- formed, and many other changes were made of a radical and important character, respecting the procedure in civil actions. The changes made by the Code in practice and pleading much affected the legal profession. Lawyers who had mastered the settled principles that had governed the practiced were now obliged to devote much study to the perplexing ques- tions that arose under the new system. At- torneys then past their prime of life were naturally disinclined to renew their studies, and many of the older lawyers ceased to take as active a part in the profession as before, and some entirely retired from it.

When the Code went into effect, it marked the close of an era in the history of the Chau- tauqua county bar. The first period of its his- tory (the pioneer period ) commenced with the organization of the county and continued ten years until the constitution of 1821, during which time the old Court of Common Pleas was the principal legal tribunal. Four years of this time this court was held in John Scott's log tavern, and afterwards in the old court house. Zattu Cushing was the first judge, and presided in the Common Pleas during all this period. Judge Cushing, although he had no superior advantages of education or legal train-

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc. Number of Pages: 649

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649