History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 18

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 18

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In the south part of the county, John Frew and Thomas Russell, in Carroll, and Robert Russell, of Kiantone, all came from Pennsyl- vania, and all of Irish parentage from the County Down.

The earliest settlements in the south part of the county were made at Kennedy, in the towr of Poland, and at Worksburg (now Falconer; in the town of Ellicott, by Pennsylvanians Dr. Thomas R. Kennedy, although he never became a resident of the county, may be said to have been the founder of Kennedyville Edwin Work was the founder of Worksburg A friendship and certain business relationship existed between these men. They both came from Meadville. Work was born in Franklin Pennsylvania. He studied law and was adınıt. ted to the bar and subsequently was the prose- cuting attorney there. He married Mrs. Jane Cameron, the widow of Joseph Cameron. He was a man of enterprise and ability and integ. rity. He caused mills to be built at Worksburg and roads and bridges to be constructed threc years before any settlement was made at Jamestown. When almost the only travel was made by Indian trails, keelboats and canoes on Chautauqua Lake and the larger streams in the southeastern part of the county, he constructed keelboats at his mill for the transportation of salt from Mayville to Pittsburgh and for other purposes. Work ran lumber from his mills to New Orleans, as he had done before from the Kennedy mills. He shipped cotton when he arrived at Natchez, and sold his boats at New Orleans for lumber for more than their cost. He may be said to be the pioneer of the south- ern part of the county, as McMahan had been of the northern towns. Worksburg was for several years the most important settlement in the southern part of the county, as the Cross Roads had been in its northern part. The first settlers of Poland and Ellicott, through the in- fluence of Kennedy and Work, like those of the Cross Roads, came from Pennsylvania ; not from the Susquehanna region in the east part of the State, but from Meadville and vicinity, in Western Pennsylvania. Among these pio- neers were Wilson, Culbertson, George W. Fenton, the father of Governor Fenton, Ross, and other well-known pioneers. Many of the settlers from Western Pennsylvania or their immediate ancestors originally had their homes in Northumberland and other counties on the Susquehanna, and most often had a Protestant- Irish parentage.

But it was only for a few of the first years that settlement was chiefly from Pennsylvania. The migrations of men have been generally from the East towards the West, with a strong tendency to follow lines of latitude, and this law was substantially observed in the subse- quent settlement of our county. For nearly fifty years after the first beginning of settle-

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ment, immigrants came here almost entirely from the middle and eastern counties of New York and from the New England States. The pioneers of the middle and a portion of the eastern counties of New York, in accordance with the law of migration, had come from the county immediately to the eastward. So it is that the settlers of Chautauqua county for a period of fifty of its earliest years were mainly of New England extraction. Of our own earliest pioneers many also were from the Brit- ish Isles-Irishmen, Scotchmen and English- mien. Alexander Cochran, a Protestant or Scotch-Irishman from the North of Ireland, was the first settler of Ripley ; Alexander Find . ley, an Irishman, from Pennsylvania, was the first settler of Mina.

When the frontier period had come to a close by the organization of Chautauqua as a sepa- rate county in the year 1811, the places that have now proved to be the most important points in the county had all been selected and settled, including Westfield, Fredonia and Jamestown. The population, influence and wealth of these three towns indicate the fore sight and good judgment of their founders- Col. James McMahan, Judge Zattu Cushing and Judge James Prendergast.

Judge James Prendergast, Colonel James McMahan and Judge Zattu Cushing, three leading pioneers of these different and distinct parts of the county, besides having broader and more comprehensive views as to the direc- tion in which the development of the county would tend, were possessed of more means than most of the early settlers, and could there- fore proceed with more deliberation and care in choosing the spot at which to stake their for- tunes. Colonel McMahan was a surveyor, quite familiar with the western wilderness. He had traversed the county from its southern limits to Lake Erie as early as 1795 with a view to location, and finally chose the beauti- ful farming land adjacent to Westfield as pre- senting the most favorable prospect. Judge Cushing also passed through the county in 1798 or 1799 on his way to Presque Isle to superintend the building of the ship "Good In- tent." and again on his return east. He select- ed his home on the Canadaway, in the fine lands around Fredonia, as offering the great- est promise to one who would choose a home on the frontier. He was no doubt influenced in his choice by similar considerations to those that governed Colonel McMahan. Judge Prendergast, who as early as 1794 or 1795 traveled extensively in the Southwest, having visited the Spanish country of Northern Louisi-

ana, and in 1805 journeyed through Pennsyl- vania to Tennessee with a view to settlement in that State, had at last explored the region around Chautauqua Lake and along the Cone- wango, saw in the magnificent forests of Southern Chautauqua a source of wealth. He saw also a prospect of its immediate realiza- tion in the Allegheny and its tributaries, which offered the facilities for the transportation of the lumber manufactured at their sources to the great market which he perceived was des. tined to grow up in the valley of the Missis- sippi.

As lumbering and clearing the land was the chief vocation, lakes and water courses, large and small, were the principal circumstances determining what points were longest to con- tinue business centers. Not until fifty years after the first settlement of the county did rail- roads come to revolutionize transportation and travel, changing business centers. The Hol- land Land Company deemed Mayville, at the head of Chautauqua Lake and at the head of the navigation of river courses to the Missis- sippi Valley and also at the termination of the Short Portage to Lake Erie, to be the place of importance in the county, as it did the hiar- bor at Barcelona at the opposite termination of the portage, and the small harbor at Catta- raugus creek. These three places were re- garded as the principal points of consequence. So much so that they were the only places in the county that the company saw fit to survey into village lots. Silver Creek was undoubt- edly selected for its harbor and water power. For the latter reason Forestville, Worksburg, Kennedy and Frewsburg, were chosen for set- tlement, as was Sinclairville by its pioneer, Samuel Sinclear. He thought also that its proximity to what he believed would some time be an important highway extending eastward and westward between the county seats of the southern tier of counties of the State to be intersected at or near Sinclairville by another important highway extending between Buffalo and Pittsburgh, would make it a place of some note. For similar reasons the crossing at the Portage road had much influence in establish- ing the location of the first settlement of the county at Westfield.

The county organized and settlement made at all of its principal points, emigration was continued from Eastern New York and the New England States with great vigor. It con- tinued almost exclusively from that portion of the country for quite forty years and until the county had gained three-fifths of its present population. At the end of that time it was

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

inhabited by people almost entirely of New England and English extraction. During that period the immigrants came in independently of each other, and in single families. Some- times it would happen that the inhabitants of a neighborhood came from a single locality in the East.

Several small colonies of English early set .. tled in the county. The literature and the lan- guage, the laws and the traditions of Eng- land, are so like those of America, that the few distinctive characteristics of these superior people disappear more quickly than those of any other country. A large portion of the set- tlers of the northeast part of the town of Mina and the northwest part of the town of Sher- man were Englishmen, many of them from County Kent. They began to settle in the county about the year 1823. Among those English pioneers were James Ottaway, the an- cestor of A. B. Ottaway, one of the ablest and best known lawyers in the county; William Relf, Edward Chambers, Edward Barden, Thomas Coveney, William Mayborn, Benja- min Boorman, John Thorp and Richard Bass.

In Charlotte there were many English fam- ilies. The street leading from Sinclairville to Cherry Creek was first settled by families prin- cipally from the South of England. Samuel Hurley was the pioneer, he came as early as 1817. Abraham Reynolds next came in 1810, direct from London; twice he walked from Charlotte to New York. Robert LeGreys came in 1819; John Thorn in 1834; and in 1836 John Reed from Devonshire; Richard Brock, Thomas D. Spiking and Thomas Thompson came later. The street leading north from the Center to Arkwright was also largely settled by Englishmen wholly from Yorkshire, in the North of England, among them Thomas Pear- son, ancestor of Arthur C. Wade, the well- known lawyer of Jamestown. William Wright and Thomas Dickinson came together in a ship from Hull, and settled on this street ; Wil- liam Hilton in 1830; his son John, who has been a director on the Erie railway. The descend- ants of these Englishmen and many others who came later, constitute a large and sub- stantial portion of the population of the town. Englishmen early settled in other parts of the county.

About twenty years after the selection of Jamestown for settlement by James Prender- gast, there came from the Midland counties of England the Wilson and Bootey families and settled at Jamestown, on the southeast side of the Chadakoin, and cleared the land on what is now known as English Hill, within the

bounds of the city of Jamestown. John T. Wilson, of the Wilson family, long one of the most enterprising and respected citizens of Jamestown, and the late Edward R. Bootey, of the Bootey family, one of the most able and esteemed lawyers of Chautauqua county, were both born in Jamestown. Later on and prior to 1840, there came from England, William and Charles Mace, John Spring, John Armi- tage and others. In 1843 William Broadhead, who has contributed more to the prosperity and advancement of Jamestown than anyone now living, came direct from Yorkshire in Eng- land; he was followed the next year by his father and Thomas Sunderland, who selected Busti for their homes; and soon after, the Northrups, Lords and Jabez Whitley, who also settled in Busti. Further additions of Eng- lishmen were made in the fifties and sixties. These were mostly from Lancashire and they largely settled in Sugar Grove and Youngsville, Pennsylvania. Soon after the Civil War, the manufacturing industries of Jamestown called Englishmen from the manufacturing districts of England. Early in the seventies many more Englishmen came to take a principal part in establishing the great textile industries of that city. Among them were the families of Joseph Turner, Edward Appleyard, Joseph Apple- yard, Edward Pickles, Edward Cawley, Samuel Briggs, William Briggs, David Hilton, Joseph Rushworth, T. H. Smith, Joseph Metcalf, R. E. Toothill and the Sedgwick brothers.

A few Frenchmen early came to Chautauqua county. Quite a number of French families settled in the northern part of the town of Charlotte, and a few in other parts of the county, but at no time have the French ex- ceeded one hundred in number. Of those who settled in Charlotte, John Cardot came in 1828 or 1829. In 1833 Mr. Tackley, Peter Belandret, Mr. Landers, Joseph Gillett and families, Lewis and John Simmons and afterwards John and August Boquin and Nestor Lamblin and fami- lies came. They were all substantial and re- liable citizens.

Irishmen were among the earliest pioneers. At first they came independent of each other, and were scattered among the different settle- ments of the county. About the year 1836 they came in large numbers and more in a body, to work upon the New York & Erie railroad, then in process of construction. About fourteen miles of the road was built by them from Dun- kirk into the town of Arkwright, when the work was suspended and this portion of the road abandoned. Theirs was the first work performed in building a railroad in Chautauqua

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county. The result of their labor is still to be seen in the old and partly obliterated "cuts and fills" and stone culverts that were constructed along the line of this piece of abandoned road. Many of these Irishmen afterward became citi- zens of Villenova, Arkwright and Charlotte.

By the census of 1845, the population of the county was 46,548, nearly all of American birth, and almost entirely of British descent, much the greater number having been born in New York or in the New England States. Per- haps 2,500 of the inhabitants of the county were of foreign birth, and of these almost all were from the British Isles. There were a few Ger- mans and Frenchmen, and scarcely one from any other country of Europe. Never have the people of the county been so purely of British extraction since then. In 1845 it was seldom that a person could be found who had come from Continental Europe, or could speak any other than the English language. When it hap- pened it was regarded as a notable circum- stance.

Soon after the year 1845, there began to set in from European countries to the county a great tide of immigration which has continued without interruption until the present time. The first to come were Hollanders. They came to the town of Clymer. About the year 1844 was the beginning of their settlement in that town, and now a large percentage of its popu- lation are of Holland stock. These citizens re- tain in a marked degree the characteristics, manners and customs of the parent country. The impress of original nationality is likely to remain longer with their descendants than with the descendants of any other people in the county.

No people have occasion to take more pride in their ancestry than those who can trace their lineage directly or indirectly back to Hol- land. New York is the only State in the Union that was principally settled by the people of that country. There is much of the State that has pleasing remembrances of this in- teresting country. In New York City, along the Hudson, at Albany, and in the Mohawk Valley, live the descendants of this people. Holland sympathized with America in her struggle for Independence. Soon after the Revolution, when it was known as the Repub- lic Batavia, eleven staid merchants of the city of Amsterdam had such faith in our republi- can form of government which at that time was regarded by most of the civilized world as but a visionary experiment, as to invest a large sum of money in the wild lands of the western part of this State. They constituted what is

known as the Holland Land Company. There- after for many years the interests of this com- pany were most intimately blended with the history of our county. Theophilus Cazenove, Paul Busti, and John J. Vanderkemp, natives or citizens of Holland were the earliest agents for the disposition of its lands.

With the building of the Erie railroad, be- ginning about 1849, began a still greater irrup- tion of foreigners into the county. Dunkirk was the objective point. The Irish were the first on the ground, but were closely followed by the Germans. The immigrants from both of these countries were mostly poor. The greater part became permanent residents. Ex- cepting the English, no foreigners have be- come so quickly and thoroughly Americanized as the Irish and Germans. They readily adopt American customs, quickly comprehend the free principles of government and learn to con- servatively apply them.

After the Irish and Germans came the Swedes. Jamestown was then the objective point. Three young women from Sweden came to Jamestown in 1849. One became the wife of Frank Peterson, one Mrs. Otto Peter- son, and the third went farther to the west. These were the first Swedes to settle in the county, the forerunners of the thousands that came afterwards. It is said that Samuel John- son and Andrew Peterson and some others came the same year. The first child of Swed- ish parents born in the county was a daughter of Andrew Peterson ; it died in infancy. Theo- dore, son of Samuel Johnson, born December 29, 1851, was the first male child born of Swed- ish parentage in the county. Since 1849 the immigration from Sweden to this county has been very great. Jamestown is the principal place of Swedish settlement, as Dunkirk in the north part of the county is now the principal home of the Irish, the Germans and the Poles, and Fredonia, Westfield and Silver Creek of the Italians. More than one-third of the popu- lation of Jamestown are Swedes or of Swedish parentage. A large percentage of the inhabi- tants of the southern towns of Ellicott, Car- roll, Kiantone, Busti, Ellery, Chautauqua, Harmony and Ellington, and of the town of Pomfret are natives of Sweden.

The people of this nationality at length be- came so numerous that in 1874 a Swedish newspaper, the "Folkets Rost" (People's Voice), was established in Jamestown by Olof A. Olson and others. It has been published in the Swedish language under different names until the present time. The Swedes have estab- lished many religious organizations, and have

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

built many churches. The first was the Swed- ish M. E. church; it was organized in 1852, and a church built. They have established libraries and many societies for educational improvement and for charitable purposes. The Gustavus Adolphus Orphanage, or home for orphan children, was organized and incor- porated in 1884. The Home owns 87 acres of land in East Jamestown, and a brick four-story building, which with outbuildings is worth $40,000. August J. Lindblad, who has been a director and its secretary for many years, has been one of the most zealous and faithful work- ers for the Home. By the census of 1855 there. were 453 persons born in Sweden : in 1900 the natives of Sweden in the county had increased in number to 7,151.

By the census of 1855, there were but five Danes in the county. The first to arrive in Chautauqua county was M. P. Jacobson, of Jamestown, in 1854; he came from Bornholm, an island of the Baltic; he was a carriage- maker and blacksmith by trade. He was fol- lowed by L. H. Tideman, a carriage and sign painter, and later by A. C. Holmes. John and Nicholas Romer were prominent among the early Danes. They came in the early sixties to Jamestown and entered into the employ of

Charles Jeffords in the manufacture of axes. Nicholas was foreman of the factory. They afterwards established an extensive model ax factory in Dunkirk. C. C. Beck came to James- town in 1864 and established the first ice in- dustry of that city. He also engaged in the building of steam and other boats on Chau- tauqua Lake. For several years nearly all the boats upon the lake were built by him.

The Danes of Jamestown with but few ex- ceptions came from the island of Bornholm, in the Baltic. But few Danes outside of James- town reside in Chautauqua county. They have organized various social and religious societies, and are intelligent, industrious and law-abiding citizens. According to the census of 1900, 316 residents of the county are natives of Den- mark.

In 1855' there were no Norwegians in the county ; by the census of 1900 there were only twenty. John A. Hale, of Jamestown, is said to have been the first who came from that country. Oscar O. Olson was born in Stor- hammer, Norway, in 1849, came to the United States in 1872, and is prominent among them.

The Swedes, the Danes and the Norwegians, constituting the Scandanavian branch of the Teutonic races, are so nearly related to the Anglo-Saxons that it makes it easy for them

to assimilate with and to become in every sense of the word American citizens.

Next after the Swedes came the Polanders. They settled in Dunkirk. The first to come were Abrose Johnson, Anthony Pogorzelski, Joseph Fleming, and John Winkler and their families. In 1855 there were 21 Polanders in Chautauqua county. Later they began to come in greater numbers; and in 1875 there were eighty-five Polish families in Dunkirk, and that year St. Hyacinth's Roman Catholic Church was erected at a cost of $10,000. The Poles principally reside in Dunkirk and the country roundabout. They are educating their chil- dren and making rapid progress. They are among the best farmers in the county ; through their energy and industry they are securing good homes. In 1900 there were 1,027 natives of Poland residing in Chautauqua county, and many more descendants.

The Italians were the last of our foreign- born residents to come to Chautauqua county. With the exception of a very few who resided in Dunkirk, Westfield, and perhaps at some other places, there were none of that national- ity residing in the county previous to 1890. These few were not common laborers, but men skilled in some trade or vocation. They were usually intelligent, and sometimes educated men. Mr. Martignoni, now of Dunkirk, and Frank Potalio, of Westfield, are among the early, Italians. By the census of 1855 there was not a single Italian residing in the county, and yet fifty years ago and before that date, Garibaldi, the most eminent of Italians, came to this far western country and visited Dun- kirk. Joseph Serrone was the first Italian to establish a permanent residence in Dunkirk. He came in March, 1888, and established a fruit store there. His daughter Lucy was the first child born of Italian parents in Dunkirk.

The Italian population first began to appear along the line of the Lake Shore railroad, and settle about the same time in several of the northern towns of the county. In the early part of the year 1891, Toney Dolce and Alex Gen- tile came to Westfield. Since then there has been a constant influx of this people to that village. In 1892, while the street railway was being constructed between Dunkirk and Fre- donia, some Italian laborers from Buffalo were engaged in work upon it, among them Peter Lauza. He brought his family from Buffalo and took up his residence in Fredonia, and was the first to reside in Pomfret. In 1893 relatives of the Lauzas and other families, about ten families in all, came from Buffalo, with a few

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others from Italy, to Fredonia. From that year to the present time they have been in- creasing rapidly in the vicinity of Fredonia, coming usually upon the invitation of their relatives who preceded them. In 1894 Peter Lauza was the first to open the new industry of wine making to the Italian settlers in West- ern New York. This wine industry is largely carried on by Italians residing in the county, but American firms have also been started. This wine is made of the pure grape juice and allowed to ferment itself. This industry has been so greatly developed within recent years that grape lands have greatly increased in value. Antonio La Grasso is now at the head of a large wine industry in Fredonia. Pietro Elardo and Antonio La Duca are large manu- facturers. One hundred thousand dollars are probably invested in the wine business at and near Fredonia. There are many successful Italian farmers cultivating lands in the Ameri- can way, among them the Russo brothers. Frank La Grasso has an extensive macaroni factory.

The first to settle at or near Brocton was Peter Rumfolo and his family and brothers. Rumfolo came about 1892 or 1893. He was followed by other families until now there are about one hundred Italian residents in that town, among them the two brothers Faso, who own an extensive wine cellar. These Italians are from the island of Sicily and are all small in stature but one, who is taller and larger than the others, whose name is Paolicckia, and who came from Italy proper. His family conform to the customs of America, and he manages one of the largest grape farms in the vicinity and is successful in the wine business. Many Italians have settled in Dunkirk and still more near Silver Creek, where they are engaged in rais- ing grapes and making wine. In considerable numbers they are beginning to appear in other towns in the county. The Italians now resid- ing in Chautauqua county are an industrious, law-abiding and peaceful people. They show an interest in educating their children. Their children attend the public schools, are eager to learn and make rapid advancement in their studies.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 18

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