History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 30

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 30

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Luther Goulding came from Madison county in June, 1809, and settled west of Chadwick and built a log house near the bay and east of his brother Timothy. Luther Goulding built a barn near Point Gratiot, the first frame build- ing erected in the city. That barn was repre- sented in a painting of Dunkirk made by Pro- fessor D'Almane in 1835, and was standing as late as 1846.

But a little later than the Chadwicks and Gouldings came the Brighams, who were longer and more closely identified with the for- tunes of Dunkirk. John Brigham came in 1808, bought lot 23, within present city limits, and there died in August, 1828. He laid out

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CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

Brigham road in Dunkirk, the second road opened from Fredonia to the lake.

John Brigham, Jr., with his wife and child, came with his father, and Walter E. Brigham was the first white child born in Dunkirk. Amon Gaylord, born in Connecticut, came about ISII and built upon land on Lake street, a little west of Central avenue, his son Ahiram coming at the same time. Daniel Pier came in January, 1814, and built at the corner of now Second and Lake streets.

The first vessel of which there is record came to Chadwick's Bay in 1810, commanded by Samuel Perry, but Dunkirk Harbor and the mouth of the Canadaway became better known during the second war with Great Britain.

June 18, 1812, war was declared against Eng- land, of which official information reached Fort Niagara on the 26th. The British learned of this twelve hours earlier through a dispatch sent to Queenstown by John Jacob Astor in the interest of the Fur Company. They promptly captured a small vessel loaded with salt which had just set out from Black Rock to coast along the shore of Chautauqua to Barcelona or Erie. This was the first notice the citizens of Buffalo had of the existence of war. It cre- ated consternation upon the border. Chautau- qua was thinly settled. Its people were poor and illy prepared. Having forty miles of lake coast, it was more exposed to invasion than most of the other parts of the Holland Purchase. Until Perry's victory in the fall of 1813, the British had complete command of Lake Erie, and could land forces at Dunkirk, Barcelona, Silver Creek, and at the mouth of the Cattaraugus. The poverty of the people undoubtedly shielded the county from invasion. Soon after news of war reached the county, a detachment of forty- five men under Captain James McMahan was posted at Barcelona, where he built a defensive work to protect salt boats on their arrival at the northern terminus of the Portage road. A similar detachment was stationed at the mouth of the Canadaway to guard those salt boats on their way up the lake. Salt from the Onondaga salt springs for Pittsburgh was at this time the principal article of transportation along the southeastern shore of the lake.

With the exception of an affair at the mouth of the Cattaraugus, the town of Dunkirk has the distinction of being the only town in the county in which actual hostilities occurred be- tween opposing forces in war, subsequent to its settlement. It was an attempt by the enemy to capture a salt boat on its way from Buffalo to Erie. About forty men of Captain

Tubbs's company, Col. John McMahan's regi- ; ment, had been posted at the Widow Cole's house at the mouth of the Canadaway. The salt boat had put into Eighteen Mile Creek to . escape a British cruiser. It stole out in the darkness, and after a hard night's row ran up on the west shore of Canadaway creek. As morning broke and the fog cleared away, they saw off the mouth of the creek, not a quarter of a mile away, a large armed schooner, proba- bly the "Lady Provost." A boat with a dozen or more armed men set out from the vessel to attack the salt boat, which fired upon them from a swivel. Captain Tubbs and his men lay concealed behind the east bank of the creek; when the British small boat arrived within musket shot they opened fire. The boat imme- diately put back to the vessel, with what, if any, loss has not been certainly ascertained. It is related that the crew of the "Lady Pro- vost," afterwards captured by Perry, stated it to have been three wounded and none killed

Mrs. Cole was the heroine of the occasion when hostilities commenced she mounted hei horse and rode to the Canadaway for reinforce. ments ; after her return she was actively en. gaged in carrying food and drink to the men The war waged by the British upon salt boats finally destroyed all commerce in salt, and its transportation over the Portage Road came to an end.

During the summer of 1813, British vessel: were cruising the lake, chasing and capturing such small craft as ventured from port, occa sionally looking into Erie Harbor, where Perr. was building his fleet, and now and then com mitting depredations along the American shore. The "Queen Charlotte," mounting seventeen guns, afterwards captured by Perry at th battle of Put-in Bay, was the most dreaded c these vessels. She was a scourge to the in habitants all along the eastern border of th lake, often hovered off Dunkirk, and made fre quent descents to plunder the inhabitants, pai ticularly at or near Eighteen Mile Creek i Erie county.

After the war the commerce of the bay it creased a little. Haven Brigham, second son ( Jonathan, before mentioned, settled in Sher dan in 1810. He and his younger brother Wir sor built a sawmill and had it in operation i 18II, but soon after Winsor sold out his inte est to Haven and commenced the erection ( the county court house at Mayville. Have: about 1815, built a schooner of forty ton burden, the "Kingbird." She was commande by Capt. Zephaniah Perkins, who ran her b tween Dunkirk and Buffalo, freighted wit

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THE CITY OF DUNKIRK

lumber from Haven's mill. She brought back merchandise for the people of Dunkirk and Fredonia.

In 1816 a stock of goods consigned to Ralph ind Joseph Plumb, merchants of Fredonia, was landed at Chadwick's Bay. As this was the first cargo of such a nature, a temporary wharf was made by placing wooden horses in he water upon which planks were laid until he vessel was reached from the shore.

In 1817, with the passage of the act author- zing the construction of the Erie canal, a new nd hopeful era dawned for Dunkirk. The act vas passed April 15, 1817, and the same year DeWitt Clinton was elected Governor of New York. Chadwick's Bay was then undoubtedly he best harbor on Lake Erie within New York tate limits, and was for a time a dangerous ival of both Buffalo and Black Rock. Gov- rnor Clinton thought most favorably of Chad- rick's Bay, and invested in Dunkirk real estate. Dunkirk was spoken of as the most suitable estern terminus for the Erie canal, and hopes an high, likewise speculation.

Daniel Garnsey in 1816 or 1817 purchased or Elisha Jenkins, of Albany, as trustee for a ompany composed of Isaiah and John Town- end, DeWitt Clinton and Mr. Thorn, 1,008 cres of land, including the farms of Solomon hadwick, Timothy and Luther Goulding, Daniel Pier and others. Assignments were tken of their contracts and deeds obtained of le Holland Land Company. Chadwick re- eived $2,000 for his farm, for which he paid ss than two hundred. Daniel Pier, who was hatter when he came to Dunkirk two years efore, brought with him a box of wet and amaged hats, which he repaired and sold for :venty dollars. This sum was all that he aid towards his land, which he now sold for 2,400. Such advances in real estate were len without precedent in the county, and have :arcely been paralleled since. Like vicissi- ides of fortune have followed Dunkirk from e beginning. Mr. Garnsey was probably a .ockholder in this Land Company, became its gent, and actively promoted its interests. For :veral years he was the leading citizen of unkirk, and the first member of Congress dom Chautauqua county. This was the begin- ing of the Dunkirk Land Company, and as son as their purchases were completed, the 'llage site was surveyed and improvements lgun.

About the beginning of 1817, the harbor was (lled for a short time Garnsey's Bay. The mme Dunkirk was given by Elisha Jenkins,

the trustee of the Land Company, and one of the proprietors of the village. Mr. Jenkins was a citizen of Albany, and had been a ship- ping merchant of Hudson, with his brothers and father. They had also a business house in New York, where some of the firm resided. Elisha was for a time engaged for the firm at Dunkirk, France. The bay at that place re- sembled Chadwick's Bay on Lake Erie, hence the name Dunkirk. Dunkirk in France is a city in the department of Le Nord, situated on the Straits of Dover, a place famous in French history and the scene of many battles and sieges.

In 1817 Sampson Alton erected a two-story brick house on the south side of Front street, near Buffalo street, which stood until torn down in 1891. That was the first brick house built in Chautauqua county, the brick being made on Front street, the lime burned in his own kiln and the bricks were laid by the owner.

Adam Fink, postmaster of Dunkirk under President Jackson, the first man to be married in Dunkirk, was an expert axe-maker, and made the first cast steel edged tool in the county.

Daniel Garnsey, supported by the Albany group of gentlemen known as the "Dunkirk Association," then principal proprietors, was diligent in his endeavors to build up Dunkirk and invite commerce. A road was made to Fredonia, a wharf and warehouse were built at the foot of Center street, a hotel on Front and Center streets, and other buildings at an ex- pense of $20,000. The earliest and only num- ber of the "Chautauqua Gazette" in existence, which was published at Fredonia, bearing date May 19, 1818, contains this "Marine News" underneath the woodcut of a ship: "Garnsey's Bay, Dunkirk, May 17th, 1818 .- Cleared : Sloop Independence for Sandusky, passengers, lumber and potatoes. Arrived: Schooner Firefly from Detroit, with passengers. Schooner Blacksnake from Erie with passengers and fish. Schooner Buffalo Packet with passengers and furniture. Schooner Eliza of Sandusky with passengers, Sloop Livona from Buffalo with passengers. Cleared: Firefly from Buffalo, Blacksnake for Buffalo, Buffalo Packet for Buffalo, President Monroe for Buffalo, Livona for the River Raisin with passengers."

Later in the same year the "Walk-in-the- Water," the first steamboat to navigate the lake, was added to the list of boats that regu- larly entered the harbor of Dunkirk. She was of two hundred forty tons burden. Job

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CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

Fish was her first captain. The following notice of a trip of the "Walk-in-the-Water" to Mackinaw to carry goods for the American Fur Company, is given in a New York City paper of May 20, 1819: "The swift steam- boat, Walk-in-the-Water, is intended to make a voyage early in the summer from Buffalo on Lake Erie, to Mackinaw on Lake Huron, for the conveyance of a company. The ship has so near a resemblance to the famous Argonautic expedition in the heroic ages of Greece, that expectation is quite alive on the subject. Many of our most distinguished citizens are said to have already engaged their passage for this splendid adventure."

The "Walk-in-the-Water" made weekly trips from Black Rock to Detroit and back, stopping at Dunkirk and other principal towns on the American shore. Her rates of fare from Black Rock were $3.00 to Dunkirk, $6.00 to Erie, $12 to Cleveland, $15 to Sandusky, $18 to De- troit. Her speed was from eight to nine miles an hour. She made seven trips to Detroit the first season. The facilities for travel afforded by this boat brought Chautauqua county a little nearer the east, lessening the time and increasing the comfort of passengers from and to Buffalo. The "Walk-in-the-Water" was ruined in a squall near Buffalo, in November, 1821. It was succeeded by the "Superior," the second steamboat on the lake, in May, 1822.

The "Chautauqua Gazette" of May 19, 1818, contains an advertisement dated February 17, 1818, in which under "New Store" N. N. Ca- pron advertises that he has "groceries, dry goods, hardware and crockery, also cotton and woolen goods, cotton yarn and thread, glass, mill irons, nails, iron and steel, broad and nar- row axes, long draft and trace chains and that such goods will be exchanged for lumber and gain or sold very low for cash." That he will 'pay cash for one thousand pounds of deer hair." This early merchant, Newton N. Capron, was the brother to Horace Capron, once a Commissioner of Agriculture to Japan.

By the "Chautauqua Gazette" of August 10 of that year, it appears that the place had fully assumed the name "Dunkirk," and that prac- tical and substantial steps had been taken to prepare the harbor for the entry of vessels.

John Beggs, of the merchandising firm of Beggs & Lynde, came from Scotland and set- tled in Dunkirk in 1819, and was prominently connected with its early history. He built Central avenue dock and the Buffalo street dock. He died in 1837. His brother Charles came later and was a druggist and deputy post- master

Dr. Ezra Williams settled in Dunkirk in 1820, and in his prime had a very large prac -: tice. He was postmaster of Dunkirk under President John Quincy Adams, one of the founders of Dunkirk Academy and father of the eminent Dr. Julien T. Williams.

There were no good roads between Dun- kirk and Buffalo, no bridges across the streams. An artificial harbor had been completed at Buffalo in 1821; the western termination of the Erie Canal had been decided in favor of Buffalo in 1823; these things all tending to hinder Dunkirk's expected prosperity. In 1825 the population had dwindled to fifty inhabit- ants, and the dull years prior to 1818 had again returned.

Fortunately for the future of Dunkirk, its possibilities attracted the attention of Walter Smith, a young merchant of Fredonia, remark- able for energy and business capacity. Besides the superior advantages of Dunkirk as a lake port, with its fine harbor open to navigation two weeks earlier than Buffalo, there still lin gered a belief that it might be necessary to extend the Erie canal to this point to gain the benefits of its harbor. Moreover, a bill had been passed by the Legislature upon the per sonal application of the inhabitants of th' southern tier of counties for the appointment of three commissioners to explore and surve; a State road from the Hudson river to som point upon Lake Erie, which it was nearly cer tain would be Dunkirk. In fact, the surveyor employed by the State arrived at Dunkirk o December 24, 1825, and stuck their last flag a the foot of the wharf, completing their survey This line was pronounced by them to be th best to the lake. These considerations ur doubtedly influenced Walter Smith to unite hl destiny with that of the village. In that yez he bought the undivided half of the propert of the Dunkirk Company for the sum of $10,00 and immediately turned his energy and bus ness ability to building up the place and de veloping the resources of the surroundin .. country. Although he was scarcely twent: five years of age, his business capacity an judgment was that of one of mature years ar. long experience. He had broad views of bus ness and was fitted mentally for large unde takings. He became at once the controllir power in Dunkirk, and soon the most influe. tial and public-spirited business man in tl county.

Walter Smith was born in Wethersfiel Conn., March 21, 1800. When fifteen, he w clerk in the store of Jacob Ten Eyck, in Caz novia, New York. When nineteen, he made

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THE CITY OF DUNKIRK

horseback tour through the western counties of the State in search of a suitable place to engage in business. He arrived at Fredonia in March, 1819, and resolved to settle there. He returned to Cazenovia, where, although still a minor, he formed a partnership with Mr. Ten Eyck, as Walter Smith & Co. Mr. Ten Eyck furnished the capital, and Mr. Smith re- turned to Fredonia in May with a stock of goods. Todd & Douglass engaged in business in Fredonia that year. Joseph and Ralph Plumb, then in business there, failed in June of the same year, and Mr. Smith bought their store and ashery. His first year's sale of goods exceeded $20,000 and at the end of twelve months he repaid Mr. Ten Eyck and owned the business. This increased so that in the sixth year it amounted to $75.000. In the earlier years of his business he furnished supplies for all the forts and garrisons of the United States on the Great Lakes under a contract with the general government. Every article of produce so furnished was raised in Chautauqua county except white beans, which were bought in Ohio.

In 1826 Walter Smith moved to Dunkirk and thereafter devoted his talent and energy to building up that place. He "transferred to this theater of action his capital, his prestige, his remarkable talent for business and adventure. Daily stages for passengers and a wagon line for transportation were soon established be- tween Dunkirk and Warren, Pennsylvania. Communication with Buffalo was opened by means of the 'Pioneer.' The few steamboats that then made infrequent voyages to west- ern points, where great cities have since grown up like exhalations, were induced to call at Dunkirk for the convenience of those who were westward bound, and a new impulse was given to the general trade, travel and improvement of the country. Mr. Smith's life was a masterly ind persistent struggle, always against natural obstacles, often under adverse fortunes, to build up a commercial town at Dunkirk which would vie in importance with neighboring ities on the lake." Such was his attention to he public interest that his influence became potential in the north part of the county, par- icularly in his own village, so that it used to e facetiously said that Dunkirk had no other God than Walter Smith.

In 1827 the expenditure of $4,000 appro- riated by Congress to improve navigation of he harbor and the building of a lighthouse vas commenced. The stake for its site had jeen stuck on the 10th of July the year before y Garnsey and Dox. The steamboat "Pio-

neer," Captain Miles, was now making daily trips between Buffalo and Dunkirk, carrying passengers. It would leave Buffalo at 9 o'clock in the evening and arrive at Dunkirk the next morning at 8 o'clock. Returning it would leave Dunkirk at 9 o'clock a. m. and arrive at Buffalo at 2 o'clock p. m. A line of stages be- tween Dunkirk and Erie, via Fredonia and Westfield, connected with the "Pioneer." At Erie, this line of stages connected with a line to Pittsburgh and another to Cleveland. By the "Pioneer" and these routes, passengers from Buffalo could reach Cleveland in two days and Pittsburgh in three.

Walter Smith so stimulated the settlement of Dunkirk that by 1830 its population is be- lieved to have increased from fifty to over three hundred people. The defeat of the State Road by the Legislature of 1826 was the beginning of the agitation of the subject of a railroad. Mr. Smith was one of the first projectors of the New York & Erie railroad, and in its in- cipient stages the leading and most efficient man in the State to promote it. He spent the greater part of the winters of 1831-32 in Al- bany, bringing the importance of the road to the attention of the Legislature. It was largely through his efforts that the road was char- tered, April 24, 1832. Through his influence a clause was incorporated in the charter requir- ing the running of a certain number of trains into Dunkirk daily, thus securing to it perma- nently and beyond contingency the benefit of the road. The wisdom of this provision is now apparent. There were then but five thousand miles of railroad in the whole world, yet Mr. Smith saw with a remarkable clearness of vision the revolution in business that railroads were to make. At a meeting of the projectors he said that "the day would come when cattle fattened in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio would be brought to the New York Market." His prediction was derided at the time as vision- ary.

Judge Richard P. Marvin, of Jamestown, was also one of the first citizens of the county to appreciate the importance of a railroad. He addressed a meeting at Jamestown, September 20, 1831, of which Judge Elial T. Foote was chairman, at which it was resolved that appli- cation should be made to the Legislature for a charter. This was the first public movement made in reference to the New York & Erie rail- road. It was through his efforts that the im- portant provision was incorporated in its char- ter that the termination of the road at Lake Erie should be at some point between the Cat- taraugus creek and the Pennsylvania line.

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CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

The preliminary survey was made in 1832 by Dewitt Clinton, Jr. One million dollars of stock was required to be subscribed before the company could be organized. The subscrip- tion of William G. Buckner completed the re- quired amount, and the company was organ- ized in July, 1833. Eleazer Lord of New York was chosen the first president, and William G. Buckner, treasurer. Benjamin Wright was appointed to survey the route. He was assist- ed by James Seymour and Charles Ellet. The survey was completed in 1834. In 1835 the company was organized, and forty miles put under contract.

By the census of 1835, Dunkirk had a popu- lation of 628, an increase of nearly one hun- dred per cent. since the census of 1830. This increase resulted in the incorporation of the village of Dunkirk in 1837.

The "Chautauqua Gazette" was the first newspaper published in the county. In 1826 it was united with the "People's Gazette." It was moved by Mr. Hull to Dunkirk in 1826 and was the first newspaper published there. In a few months, however, it was removed to Westfield. The "Chautauqua Whig" was the first permanent newspaper published in Dun- kirk. Its publication was commenced in An- gust, 1834, by Thompson & Carpenter. After- wards its name was changed to the the "Dun- kirk Beacon," the name probably suggested by the beacon at the entrance of the harbor.

It was while Dunkirk was part of district 9 of town of Pomfret, that its first school house was built. This building, which stood near the rear of the later Lake Shore Bank, was in after years filled up as a dwelling house. A brick school house was built about 1827. In May, 1837, Dunkirk Academy was incor- porated, the brick school house being used for the Academy building. Twelve years later the property was conveyed to the Union School district, and the academy became the academic department of the Union School.

On May 5, 1830, a Baptist church was organ- ized, the first in the town. The Revs. Joy Handy and Elisha Tucker were among its first preachers. The society worshipped in the new brick schoolhouse on Third street for many years. Later, this church and others held serv- ices over Parson's wagon shop. In 1856 it built a brick church.

In 1830, ten persons, Congregationalists and Presbyterians, petitioned the Buffalo Pres- bytery to organize them into a church, and a church was formally constituted May 22, 1630. About September Ist that year, Rev. Timothy Stillman, a graduate of Yale and

Auburn Theological Seminary, began his labor as pastor on a salary of four hundred dollars a year. The congregation also wor- shipped in the brick schoolhouse on Third street. As a result of a revival in 1833, thirty were added to the church and measures taken to erect a meeting house on the corner of Cen- ter and Third streets. It was a wooden struc- ture, and was completed in 1835. Rev. Timo- thy Stillman closed his labors as pastor in 1838. He was one of Dunkirk's best known and mnost respected citizens of old times. He had a large influence in religious circles. He was small in stature, a strict theologian, and a firm adherent to his denominational faith. It has been said of him that it was seldom that so much Presbyterianism was enclosed in so small and compact a package. He married Mary Ann, a daughter of Mosely W. Abell.

October 23rd, 1894, the Rev. J. T. Badgley was called to the pastorate. He came direct from Auburn Theological Seminary, where he had just graduated, and his pastorate con- tinued for just a quarter of a century, his resig- nation having been presented October 23rd, 1920, upon his stated conviction that no pas- torate with rare exception should extend over a period of more than twenty-five years. Dur- ing this pastorate the church grew and pros- pered. A chime of ten bells ranging in weight : from half a ton to one hundred pounds each were installed in the spire as the gift of Mr. R. J. Gross. A very commodious and beautiful building was erected adjacent to the church designed as a community house, and named Westminster Hall. This building, 80 by 40' feet, consists of four stories, has an auditorium provided with a stage equipped with scenery and electric light effects, making it possible to stage plays of any kind ; beautifully furnished club rooms and parlors ; a billiard room, with three tables ; dining room accommodations for 250 guests, and is one of the most complete and elaborate in the State erected by any church for community service.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 30

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