History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 13

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 13

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Orson Pratt, one of the twelve Mormon apostles, distinguished also for his knowledge of mathematics and for his scientific ability, was once identified with the county. James D. Strang was another famous Mormon. He re- sided in Ellington, was admitted to the bar of Chautauqua county in October, 1836; prac- ticed law in Ellington, where he was postinas- ter for a time. He joined the Mormons, and became a leader among them. When the Mor- mons were driven from Nauvoo in 1845. they were divided into three factions-the "Twelv- ites," who emigrated to Utah ; the "Rigdon- ites," who followed Sidney Rigdon, and the "Strangites," who followed James D. Strang. When Joe Smith was killed, Strang claimed to have a revelation from God appointing him his successor. Strang and his followers made Bea- ver Island in Lake Michigan their headquar- ters. After a while a force of fishermen and others attacked them and the Mormons were driven from the island. Strang received wounds from which he died soon after at the Mormon village of Voree, in Wisconsin.

The scene of Button's Inn, written by Judge Albion W. Tourgee, is located in Chautauqua county, near the brow of the hills south of Westfield, on the main road to Mayville. The story is partly based upon the existence of Mormonism in our county and the fact that some of the Mormon leaders went out from it.

By the State census of 1855, the population of the county was 50,506, a gain of but thirteen in five years. The population of the villages was as follows: Dunkirk, 4,754: Jamestown, 2,625 ; Fredonia, 2,076; Westfield, 1,433: Sil- ver Creek, 652 : Forestville, 540 ; Mayville, 501 ; Panama, 500 ; Ellington, 487 ; Sinclairville, 450 : Laona, 406; Sherman, 401; Frewsburg, 400; Quincy, 289; Dexterville, 270; Salem, 258; Ashville, 247; Centerville, 233; Busti Corners, 201; Delanti, 180; Barcelona, 169; Cordova, 154; Dewittville, 133; Cassadaga, 131 ; Block- ville, 118; Clymer, 110, and Fentonville, 100- twenty-seven . villages, large and small. Al- though the boundaries of most of them were not established by corporate lines, the census figures given fairly represent their population within their reasonable limits. Some since then have nearly gone out of existence, while the villages of Falconer, Lakewood, Celoron, Cherry Creek, Brocton, Chautauqua, Point Chautauqua and Bemus Point are not in the list, the greater number of them then having no existence. It is also interesting to know that nearly 18,000 of the inhabitants of the county in 1855 lived in these twenty-seven vil- lages, while the population of the county out-

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

side of their limits remained nearly the same as it was twenty-five years before, the villages having increased nearly four fold.

It is interesting and may be hereafter use- ful to mark not only the changes in the popula- tion, but also the conditions of our climate as it has been from time to time. The winter of 1855-56 was of great severity. Commencing about Christmas, the cold continued for one hundred days with scarcely a thaw; snow fell more or less each day. The railroads were often blocked with snow, and the trains at times ceased to run. The mail route between Jamestown and Dunkirk was filled with drifts, and for a week, as late as in March, no New York or Buffalo mails were received at James- town. When the blockade was broken, fifteen mail bags were received within forty-eight hours at the village post office. The following are the thermometer records from the diary of an old resident of the county. The figures given all mean below zero: January 7, 1856, 2 below; 8th, 8; 9th, 22; 26th, 23; February 3rd, 24; 6th, 14; 12th, 17; 13th, 22; 14th, 28; 19th, 25 ; March 7th, 2; 9th, 14; 10th, 24; 12th, 6; 13th, 5; 30th, 4; April Ist, zero. Apple, peach and plumb trees were so injured by the cold that many died.

The county of Chautauqua was always one of the largest producers of maple sugar among sections of a like area in the United States. Maple trees were abundant in every town of the county. According to the census of 1850, 767,653 pounds of maple sugar were made. Harmony produced the most, 87,422. Char- lotte was by far the greatest producer accord- ing to its area; that year it produced 69,195 pounds. Busti came next with 60,350, Stock- ton 55,685, Villenova, 49,216. Sheridan pro- duced the least, 2,400. In 1857 the maple sugar production in the county was greater than in any previous year. Over a million pounds were made.

Early in the morning of May 22, 1859, Cor- nelius Lynch, a farm hand in the employ of James Battles, a substantial farmer of the town of Charlotte, was found in the barn of Mr. Battles, bleeding and insensible, and so badly injured by wounds upon his face and head that he died during the day without recovering con- sciousness. Martin, son of James Battles, was arrested for the killing of Lynch, and was tried at the June court the next year. He was ably defended by Madison Burnell, Austin Smith and James A. Allen. John F. Smith, the dis- trict attorney, represented the people. He made a very able plea that occupied eight hours in the delivery. The plea of Mr. Burnell in de-

fense of the prisoner was a powerful effort, and was the last important case that Mr. Burnell tried. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty. The sentence of Judge Richard P. Marvin, the judge who presided, was that the prisoner should be confined in prison for one year, and then executed on the warrant of the governor. This was in accordance with the statutes as they then existed. The defendant, by his attor-1 ney, James A. Allen, appealed the case to the general term, and the verdict was set aside upon the ground that the law was unconstitu- tional.

The year 1859 is memorable for the great June frost. A more flattering and propitious spring had seldom been known. June 3rd the air became cold and chilly, rain prevailed, which changed to snow the next morning. During night the thermometer fell to the freez- ing point. The ice froze from one-half to one inch thick. The ground was frozen to a cor- responding depth. Just a week later, June IIth, occurred a frost even more severe than that of June 4th. All of the grass, fruit, corn, winter grain and other crops were killed. The leaves upon the maple, the ash, and all the nut- bearing trees, were killed, and in a few days later all the foliage was yellow; the trees ap- peared as if scorched by fire. Nature presented a most desolate appearance which continued through much of the summer ; even the shrub- bery and young saplings were killed. The ter- ritory that suffered by this calamity extended as far west as the middle of Ohio, north into Canada, south to Pittsburgh, and nearly to Cincinnati.

Up to the meeting of the board of super- visors in the fall of 1859, the name of the county had been spelled Chautauque. This spelling it was believed was not in accordance with its pronunciation by the aborigines. Upon the petition of Hon. E. T. Foote and others, a resolution was adopted by the board on Octo- ber IIth, 1859, directing its clerk in all records and correspondence to spell the name of the county Chautauqua. The resolution directed the county clerk to change the seal accord- ingly.

August 26th, 1859, Col. E. L. Drake sunk the first oil well at Titusville, Pennsylvania, and at a depth of seventy-one feet struck oil. His success produced startling results. Great ex- citement followed throughout the country. Chautauqua county was contiguous to the oil region, consequently the excitement there be- came intense. The county by a direct line was not more than twenty miles from either the Tidioute oil belt, or the great Bradford field ;

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AGRICULTURAL PERIOD-1851-1861

so near it was, that Chautauquans were con- stantly reminded of the great mines of mineral wealth so little distance from their boundaries, by the light of the burning wells of gas and oil nightly reflected upon the sky. They often came in communication with operators and speculators whose minds were filled with bright visions of wealth to be made in oil, and many of our county people became in a meas- ure infected with a mania for speculation. Some made fortunes, others lost all they had.

Among those connected with our county and successful in oil operations, were some who by their ability and enterprise assisted greatly to develop the industry. Dr. Francis B. Brewer became interested in petroleum years before Col. Drake put down the first oil well, and was among the first to direct attention to its vir- tues, and to move in an enterprise to develop its production. Dr. Brewer afterwards became a distinguished citizen of the county, represent- ing it and Cattaraugus county in Congress. Cyrus D. Angell, a native of Hanover, in Chau- tauqua county, in 1867 became interested in and had charge of the Belle Island Petroleum Company, of which William C. Fargo of Buf- falo was president. Four years later, Mr. Angell became the owner of its stock. This company was among the most successful in the oil country. Among the citizens of Chautau- qua county in one way or another largely in- terested in or connected with this company or with Mr. Angell in the oil business, were C. R. Lockwood, W. T. Botsford, Amos K. War- ren, John R. Robertson, Sherman Williams, William Leet, C. G. Maples, T. S. Moss and Dr. Cory.

Mr. Angell, by his intelligent observation and study of the subject, and by practical tests and surveys, established the truth of the theory that petroleum deposits were to be found ex- tending in courses, in a fixed direction through the oil country; a knowledge that has proved of recognized and practical value to oil men. One of the principal oil producing belts bears his name. Among the citizens of Chautauqua county to be named who have acted a promi- nent part in the development of the oil indus- try and have been more or less successful in mining operations, may be mentioned Haskell L. Taylor, who was born in Stockton. He and others organized the well known oil firm of H. L. Taylor & Co., which became at one time the largest producer in the oil country. This company reorganized as the Union Oil Com- pany, with Mr. Taylor as its president, finally

sold out to the Standard Oil Company for $3,000,000.

Charles E. Hequembourg, who was born in Dunkirk and was once its mayor, with Dr. J. T. Williams, Mr. Avery and others of Dun- kirk, organized the Bradford Oil and Gas Com- pany. This company developed a large oil and gas interest in McKean county, Pennsylvania, and also in Allegany county, New York, and for a while supplied the city of Bradford with gas for fuel and illuminating purposes. Frank M. Johnson, who was born at Westfield, be- came a resident of Bradford and was largely interested in oil in that city, in Mckean county, and in the Ohio and Indiana oil fields. J. W. and F. A. Griffith, both born in Kiantone, were oil men, as were E. M. Cobb, born in Gerry, and Frank A. Wilbur, born in Fluvanna.

Until pipe lines afforded better means for the conveyance of crude oil to the refineries, long trains of petroleum cars, upon each of which were mounted great upright wooden cisterns, and later huge cylindrical metal oil tanks topped with low cupolas, were constantly passing over the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio railroad, the Buffalo & Oil Creek Cross- cut railroad connecting Corry with Brocton, and the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pitts- burgh railroad. The last two named, when built, were intended for oil roads, and both communicated directly with the oil region, passing through Chautauqua county on their way to the refineries. Sometimes it would happen that a long train would take fire. If this happened in the night-time, the country for miles around would be illuminated by the flames. Such an occurrence once happened on the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburgh railroad as a train was passing northward through Wheelers Gulf, in the town of Pom- fret.

In 1860, occurred an event of more sub- stantial and permanent value to Chautauqua county than the discovery and development of oil in Northwestern Pennsylvania. That year the Atlantic & Great Western railroad was completed through the southern towns. For nine years the lake towns of the county had enjoyed railroad facilities, while the southern towns were wholly without them. Jamestown was much the largest village south of the ridge. It possessed better facilities for manu- facturing, and was so situated as to command a larger trade than any other village in the county, consequently, prior to the completion of the Erie road to Dunkirk, it had realized a

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

more rapid growth than any other village in the county. But during the ten years that had just expired, the growth of Dunkirk had been greater. The latter village had now nearly double the population of Jamestown. Even Fredonia had not much less than Jamestown, and Westfield more than half its number of inhabitants. At this time, aside from such goods and commodities as were transported to and from Jamestown over Chautauqua Lake and down the Allegheny river, they were all carried in wagons and sleighs. The principal part of the merchandise brought into James- town was conveyed over the plank roads be- tween Jamestown and Dunkirk, a distance of thirty miles, and sometimes from Little Valley in Cattaraugus county. The gas wells of Penn- sylvania had not then been developed, nor was gas there manufactured for the uses of the village ; it was then lighted by oil and kerosene used in lamps. The transportation of coal to Jamestown was too expensive. The village was chiefly heated by wood fires. That fuel was used in the manufactories, consequently Jamestown for many years was an excellent wood market for the country around. Farm- ers also of the southern part of the county were not in the enjoyment of the advantages that the railroads gave their fellow farmers in the northern part of the county. This was evi- denced by the superior improvements and con- ditions of the farms in the northern towns; there the dwellings were of more modern architecture and the lands better cultivated. The southern portion of the county remained a retired rural district until 1860.

For energy and business enterprise, the citi- zens of Jamestown had never been surpassed by those of any other locality in the county. They entertained projects for securing rail- road facilities before the Erie railroad was completed to Dunkirk. September 24, 1850, a meeting was held at Jamestown, of which Joseph Wait was chairman, at which a com- mittee was appointed to confer with the peo- ple of Erie, Pennsylvania, and the New York & Erie Railroad Company, with reference to the building of a railroad from Little Valley to Erie, through Jamestown, Randolph, Ash- ville and Panama. In the fall of that year, a favorable route was found by the way of Find- ley Lake.

The Erie & New York City railroad was organized in 1852, and during the summer of that year a line beginning at the New York & Erie railroad in Cattaraugus county was surveyed through Jamestown, Ashville and

Sherman to intersect the Erie & North-East railroad, two miles beyond the State line be- tween New York and Pennsylvania. Breaking ground took place in Randolph, Cattaraugus county, May 19, 1853. Speeches were made by the president of the company, Benjamin Cham- berlain, Richard P. Marvin, Madison Burnell and William Metcalf of Erie, Pennsylvania. Work was commenced upon the railroad the same day where now is the village of Sala- manca, and in August at Jamestown. A little later work was commenced in the town of Harmony, and in December in Sherman.

In December, 1858, the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company of New York was organized at Jamestown. Henry Baker, Wil- liam Hall, Augustus F. Allen, Bradford Bur- lin, Sumner Allen, Robert Newland, W. D. Shaw of Jamestown and Daniel Williams of Ashville were the Chautauqua county directors. This road commenced in Cattaraugus county, where now is the village of Salamanca. The first thirty-eight miles of the Erie & New York City railroad, extending from Salamanca : to five miles west of Jamestown, was adopted, thence it extended to a point near the south- west corner of the town of Harmony. It was intended that this road should be further con- tinued until the valley of the Mississippi and ultimately the Pacific coast should be united by it with New York City and the Atlantic Ocean.

April 26, 1860, the engineers placed their instruments upon the new line. On the 3rd of July the iron was laid to Randolph, and Au- gust 24, 1860, cars first arrived at Main street, in Jamestown, witnessed by a multitude of people, the band on the train playing the air, "Ain't I glad to get out of the wilderness?" A complimentary dinner was given at the James- town House to Thomas W. Kennard, the Eng- lish engineer. J. W. Hill, the associate Ameri- can engineer ; Sig. T. Deosdados, agent for Don Jose de Salamanca : Sig. Navarro, agent for the Duke de Rienzares, and other representatives of Spanish interests in this country : John God- dard, of London, and Robert Thallon, of New York, who came on the train, and many other invited guests, were present. Col. Augustus F. Allen presided. Toasts were given and speeches made by William H. Lowry, Col. A. F. Allen, Selden Marvin and C. D. Sackett.

The building of the road was promoted by Spanish capital, advanced by intelligent bank- ers. It was the first time in the history of American railroads that they had been given substantial support in Spain. In honor of Don

AGRICULTURAL PERIOD-1851-1861

Jose de Salamanca, one of the Spanish gentle- men who had contributed liberally to the pro- motion of the enterprise, the eastern terminus of the road was called Salamanca, a name full of romantic memories to those familiar with Spanish literature. The road was completed to Corry in May, 1861 ; to Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, in October, and to Akron, Ohio, Janu- ary 19, 1862. To the energy and business abil- ity of Col. A. F. Allen, of Jamestown, more than to any other, were the people of Chau- tauqua indebted for the successful result of this effort. As soon as the road was com- pleted, the people of Southern Chautauqua began to realize great benefit from it, and Jamestown again took the lead of all the vil- lages of the county in growth and business enterprise, which it has ever since maintained.

The railroads began to benefit all pursuits. They gave a market value to products which before had none. Before the railroads were built, sheep had been slaughtered in great numbers for their pelts and hams (the latter were worth one cent a pound) and for their tallow, which was manufactured into candles. The carcasses were thrown away. Herman and Abner Camp, brothers, commenced the manufacture of candles about the year 1846 at Sinclairville. Twenty tons of tallow was manufactured into candles in 1847, and fifty tons in 1848. The Camps then removed their factory to Dunkirk, where on a more perfect and extensive scale they continued to manu- facture candles from mutton tallow. They had invented and patented a process by which newly made candles were withdrawn from the mold. A candle when withdrawn would draw after it into the mold the wick for another candle. Their invention greatly shortened and cheapened the labor of manufacturing.

An interesting circumstance occurred while they were in business at Dunkirk which should be related. The Italian patriot, Garibaldi, after many battles and adventures in the wars of South America and in the contest with the French and Austrians, was banished from Italy. In the summer of 1850 he came to New York, where a public reception was tendered him, which he declined. In order to earn a liv- ing during his banishment, he made soap and candles for a while on Staten Island. After- wards he made voyages at sea from New York. Ultimately he returned to Italy, and became famous for the distinguished part that he took in the wars and politics of Europe. While in the candle business on Staten Island, he made a trip to Dunkirk to visit the candle factory of the Camp Brothers. He was entertained over

night at the residence of Herman Camp in Dunkirk, meantime negotiating with the Camps for the purchase of the patent for the manufacture of candles. No agreement was completed, however.

After the Erie railroad was completed, many old-time vocations were nearly abandoned. Other exports and imports, except such as were shipped on Lake Erie or upon the Conewango and Allegheny rivers, were carried over the roads leading into the county in wagons, and teaming was a common employment. Over the main road extending east and west through the north towns of the county, and over the highways leading south from Dunkirk and Fredonia through Sinclairville and Delanti to Jamestown and Warren, Pennsylvania, and from Westfield to Mayville, and the south- western towns of the county, much freight was transported and many persons were engaged during much of their lives in this employment. Alfred Austin, an old teamster of Sinclairville, in the twenty-three years that he was on the road, made three thousand four hundred fifty trips between Fredonia and Sinclairville with a loaded team, traveling a distance equal to 107,000 miles, or more than four times around the earth at the equator. With the construc- tion of railroads, this business practically ceased, and the old teamsters, their team horses and wagons, became things of the past.

Staging was formerly an important occupa . tion. All travel west of Buffalo, after the close of navigation each year, passed through the northern towns of the county in stages. Some- times in the spring the ice would drift down Lake Erie and obstruct entrance into Buffalo. Boats coming down the lake at such times would land their passengers at Silver Creek to be taken to Buffalo in stages or post coaches, assembled there for that purpose. Thirty and more stage coaches have been known to be in waiting at one time. Even during the summer months, much travel passed through Chau- tauqua. In some years, steamboats from Buf- falo connected with stages for the west at Dunkirk, thus avoiding the bad roads east of the Cattaraugus creek. Besides passengers, the stages carried the local mail, and, in the winter time the through mails to the west, sometimes two tons in weight, requiring a coach exclusively devoted to that purpose. Adams Express matter was first carried through the county in stages over this route. These old coaches were owned and run by the Ohio Stage Company. They were drawn by four horses, and were large enough to carry twelve persons within, the driver and several

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

persons outside. They were well constructed, graceful in form, and comfortable for passen- gers. The oval body of the coach rested on strong leathern straps called thorough-braces, which gave an easy, rocking motion when moving. The driver's seat was well up in front. There was a leather-covered boot for baggage behind.

When the Lake Shore railroad was com- pleted, the old stage route was abandoned, and the stage coaches and their drivers were trans- ferred to the Far West and beyond the Missis- sippi. The writer remembers in 1855 to have seen many of the old stage coaches of the Ohio Stage Company in use on the stage route be- tween Dubuque and Cedar Falls, in Iowa.

The stage route next in importance was that from Dunkirk and Fredonia, through Sinclair- ville and Jamestown to Warren in Pennsyl- vania. This route was a principal outlet for travel from Jamestown and Warren, and these old-fashioned post or stage coaches were in use over it. Stage coaches were also run from Westfield to Mayville, and thence alternately along the east and west shores of Chautauqua Lake to Jamestown. These four-horse coaches were also used on the stage route from Fre- donia through Forestville to Gowanda in Cat- taraugus county. With the building of later railroads in Chautauqua county these leading stage routes, one by one, were discontinued and the stages were run only between unim- portant points in vehicles less pretentious.

The old-fashioned inn disappeared also. Taverns where liquors were sold during the first half century of the history of the county were very numerous. Even on the less im- portant roads there were many taverns. Thickly sprinkled along unimportant country roads in many parts of the county, at this day may be seen old farm houses, usually more pretentious than their neighbors, that were once taverns, where there is now no need for an inn whatever. On the main or stage road from Buffalo to Erie, in the northern part of the county, they were still more frequent. Judge L. Bugbee says that on the completion of the Erie road the emigrant wagons all dis- appeared with the country taverns. The stage routes running east and west were abandoned about the same time.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 13

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