USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I > Part 49
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Jonathan Bugbee, a young man, left Madi- son county in 1809, and alone and on foot made a tour to the wilderness of central Chautauqua Amos Adkins, a member of a surveying party gave him advice, and young Bugbee finally se lected a claim at what is now known as Cen- tralia, in the southern part of Stockton. He started a clearing and gathered material for : log house, and at Batavia, on his way home received a writing entitling him to a deed o 205 acres of land at $2.50 an acre, if paid within a specified time. Bugbee returned in the win ter of ISI1, with his parents and brothers, Wy man and Simeon. The Bugbees cut a road through the woods for three miles to the place" where Jonathan had begun a clearing. Abou 1821 Jonathan opened a hotel.
Previous to the return of the Bugbees, and in 1810, clearings were started by John West Bela Todd and Joseph Green, of Herkime county, half a mile west of Bugbees, while two miles west David Waterbury, Shadrach Sco field and Henry Walker from Saratoga county had formed a settlement. In 1814 a log school house was built. Dexter Barnes built a black smith shop, and supplied the settlers with axe and other tools. Henry Walker, who was ap pointed justice of the peace by the Governor
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onducted himself with great dignity, attired 1 an official dark mantle and treble capes. In 814 Bela Todd started a log tavern, Dr. E. P. teadman administered to the sick, and Lewis Bump opened a small store, receiving supplies y the way of Tinkertown (now Dewittville). The "State Gazetteer" says that the first set- ement was made in ISI0, in the south part of ne town. The names, however, of as many as en early purchasers were entered in 1809, the rst that of John Silsby on lot 48. Henry Valker's name appears as purchaser of lot 49. township 4, range 12. May, 1811, and that of cofield as a purchaser of lots 50 and 58, Octo- Per, 18II. Waterbury appears only as pur- naser of lot I, township 4, range 13, now a urt of Stockton, but his name was entered on te land company's plat of township 4, range ", as owner of the west part, and Shadrach Cofield of the east half of lot 57, though neither apears on the sales book as purchaser of any j rt of that lot, which is the southeast corner lt of that township.
In Mr. Crissey's historical sketch of Stock- tn, he says that Ebenezer Tyler and Solomon (almon) Tyler, from Greene county, John Test. Joseph Green and Bela Todd, from Erkimer county, settled on the town line (outh line of township 4, range 12), about March 1, 1810. Their contracts are dated in My that year. West appears as purchaser on the sales book in the town of Chautauqua, lot 2 in November, 1810. The contract of the Ilers, however, bears date April. 1811. In Ctober, 1810, Samuel Woodbury, Shadrach Sofield and Henry Walker, all from Saratoga cunty, settled in the western part of the town. The sketch says further that Dexter Barnes a'l John Aker came from Herkimer county in I. I. In June, that year, Barnes, a blacksmith, b lt the first blacksmith shop in town, on the sath side of the road, east of the residence of
Hnry Alden. In March, 1814, John Ecker (or Aer) bought a part of lot 41, though this is pobably the person who came in 18II. He ws the first fiddler in town and his services wre appreciated, as many of the settlers were fod of dancing. In 1811 Comfort and Elisha Morgan located about a mile north of Shadrach Sofield, on lot 58, one of two which Mr. Sco- find had previously bought, and adjoining that of which he resided. In 1812 the war with Grat Britain began, and from the Stockton rejon went Shadrach Scofield, Dexter Barnes, Ba Todd, Comfort Morgan, Elisha Morgan, Nthan Bugbee and Wyman Bugbee. In 1813 al returned. They had been up to Buffalo, wich was burned by the red coats and In-
dians ; Comfort Morgan brought back with him a bullet in his knee, and Wyman Bugbee a bullet hole in his hat. Great fears were enter- tained of a visitation by a hostile band of In- dians, but it was not long before the enemy was routed in the struggle for the possession of Fort Erie, and, as there was no more trouble with the British and Indians, the pioneers re- sumed the pursuits of peace.
The first settlement in Bear Creek Valley was by Benjamin Miller, from Oneida county, in 1811, with an ox-team and hired help, and built a shanty of poles and hemlock boughs three-fourths of a mile north of Delanti. After two years he went back to Oneida county, where he remained until the war danger was over, when he returned to his farm, where he resided till his death in 1857.
His children were William O. and Linus W., farmers, and Laura, who married Origen Cris- sey ; Elvira, who became Mrs. John L. Kazer, and Irene, who married Royal L. Carter.
Abel Thompson came from Sangerfield, New York, in June, 1812, and bought 100 acres of land from lot 29 and 178 acres from lot 37, in- cluding the farm owned later by Truman Todd, and extending west beyond the creek and north to and including a small part of the village of Delanti, where he was the first settler. His house was a square log pen and the floor was of split logs. In the spring of 1813, while the snow was yet deep and covered with a crust, he brought his family with an ox-team. Thompson unloaded his goods at Mr. Miller's on the snow. It required two days to break a road to Thomp- son's house, three-quarters of a mile distant. Mr. Thompson died in 1831. He had several sons, including Horace and Newell C. The little settlement where Thompson lived was early known as Bear Creek Corners. Among those who soon followed were Eaton Ford, Samuel Crissey, Gould Crissey, Christopher Smith, John Mitchell, Levi C. Miller. Truman Todd, Hiram Lazell, shoemaker. Carlton Jones, physi- cian, and Mr. Hines, a carpenter. James Hay- wood opened a store in 1817, and the same year a Baptist church was organized by Revs. Joy Handy and Asa Turner. Early in 1812, Othello Church settled at the outlet of Cassadaga Lake, followed soon after by Ichabod Fisher, Elmer Wood, Nehemiah Woodcock, Nathaniel Smith. Abner Putnam, Philip Phillips and others, all from the eastern counties of New York, except one or two families from New England. A few settled west of Cassadaga creek.
Hiram Lazell, a shoemaker, and Elijah Nel- son, were prominent in the early settling and building up of Delanti. They came in 1815
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from Massachusetts, and went back for the purpose, it would appear, of getting married, for they returned in November, 1817, and not alone. Hiram Lazell, at the first town meeting in 1821, was made an assessor, collector and constable ; so he could assess taxes, go out in another official capacity to collect the tax he had imposed, and finally enforce the collection as constable.
Samuel Shepard, Aaron Lyon and Ira Jen- nings came from Massachusetts in 1819. Mr. Shepard was the first justice in the town. Mr Lyon was an early settler on the west side of Cassadaga Lake, on lot 48, near the town line, where Franklin, his son, afterwards resided, though he appears as an original purchaser of lot 12, in June, 1817. Mary Lyon, founder of the Holyoke Female Seminary, in Massachu- setts, was his sister. He had two sons and eight daughters. Five of the girls married ministers, and Lucy and Freelove were the first and second wives of Rev. Mr. Lord, a mission- ary to China, and missionaries themselves. Mr. Lyon was for a long time a justice in Stockton and supervisor for several terms.
In 1816 Ichabod Fisher kept tavern in Cassa- daga, Henry Walker was a storekeeper, Grove Page attended to the physical ailments of the people, and Ammi Richard mended their shoes. James Beebe was the first postmaster. The first religious society was the Baptist church, organized December 1, 1833.
Resolved W. Fenner, a native of Rhode Island, came from Madison county, New York, in November, 1819, and bought land from Abel Brunson, a part of lot 15. township 3, range 12. He was a farmer, and also a cooper. Washing- ton Winsor, a Baptist minister who preached at Stockton and Carroll, and afterwards at Cas- sadaga, where he died in 1840, was a native of Rhode Island, who came from Otsego county, New York, and settled near Delanti in 1827.
Amos Brunson, born in Connecticut, was said to have been one of a hundred of the first settlers who were able to pay for their lands according to contract. In 1824 he built a frame house and opened a tavern, in 1838 a sawmill, which failed from lack of water. He married Sallie Love in 1809: they had twelve children.
John West, a native of New Hampshire, came in 1810, and with Dexter Barnes helped clear the site of the county poor house. They and Peter Barnhart took a contract from William Peacock, agent of the Holland Land Company, to cut a road from the fourteen mile stake, east of the land office, to the Cattaraugus line, and then seven and one-fourth miles beyond to the
old Indian road leading from Cattaraugus to the Allegheny river.
Stephen Messenger, a blacksmith, was an early settler, in whose family an extraordinary number of deaths occurred in a few years. Abel Beebe moved from Buffalo to Stockton in 1809, cutting his way through the woods from Laona. Beebe, Joel Fisher and Othello Church were the only persons who spent the winter of 1809- Io in the neighborhood.
The first white couple married in Stockton were John West and Miss Barnhart, at the home of Samuel Waterbury, December 31, 1812. Jonathan West later opened a log tavern which was succeeded by a frame hotel which he con- ducted about twenty-five years. The first birth in Stockton is said to have been that of Wil- liam Walker, August 25, 1811. The first school was taught by Abigail Durfee, in the south part of town, in the summer of 1815. Ichabod Fisher kept the first tavern at Cassadaga in ISII, and Elijah Nelson the first one at Stock- ton. James Haywood kept the first store at Stockton: McClure & Holbrook, Aaron Wad- dington and John Z. Saxton, also early mer- chants, but of a later period. Dr. Carleton Jones settled in Stockton in 1818. later doctors being E. P. Stedman, Waterman Ellsworth, George S. Harrison, Humphrey Sherman and Justin Thompson. Dr. Thompson was a sur- geon in the Union army during the Civil War, and made his escape from a southern prison pen.
Origen Crissey was the first wagon maker. Levi Holmes many years later built a wagon and carriage shop. Hiram Shaw, a cabinet maker, established a shop about 1830. Seth Duncan succeeded him, and carried on a busi- ness for some thirty years.
A gristmill and a sawmill were built about 1817 or 1818. where now the village of Stock- ton is, by John Hines, Hiram Lazell and Eli- jah Nelson. Obed Taylor, Samuel Shepard and David Sacket subsequently became inter- ested in it ; Sacket later built a gristmill, which was sold to Joseph S. Sacket, Truman Todd and Milton Smith. David Sacket and Aaron Lyon built a gristmill and a sawmill about 1821 at Cassadaga Lake, constructing a dam. Bela Todd built a sawmill on the creek, five miles from the lake, about 1829, which he sold to Charles D. Cooper, who also built a carding and cloth dressing establishment. Benjamin Miller built a sawmill about 1826, three-fourths of a mile above the village. Dascom and New- ton Taylor built a steam sawmill about 1868. which they sold to Harrison Price and Oren
2
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Miles. Later planing and shingle mills were attached. A steam sawmill was begun three or four miles from Stockton, in 1850, and com- pleted by Philip Lazell ; it was burned in 1854. On the Bugbee brook, near the site of this mill, a sawmill was built in 1830 and burned in 1835.
R. W. Fenner and his son Christopher built a sawmill on Cassadaga creek in 1824. R. W. Fenner and Forbes Johnson built the first grist- mill in that part of the town in 1827. About 1835 these mills were bought by Henry Love. After his death they became the property of Forbes Johnson and John A. Fenner. In 1839 the sawmill was torn down, and a new one built about forty rods east of the first. About 1856 E. J. Spencer, Osmand Johnson and John A. Fenner became owners of the gristmill and out in machinery for planing and matching boards. In 1868 a gristmill with modern im- provements was built in place of the old one y Osmand Johnson and E. J. Spencer. In 1869 Spencer sold his interest. Forbes John- ion and his sons, Owen and Edwin, who owned he mill in 1869, exchanged it with James Aus- in for a dairy farm in Ellery. This mill is said o have turned out 750,000 feet of lumber in a rear, besides large quantities of pine and hem- ock shingles, lath, etc.
In 1811 the Holland Land Company began opening a highway from Mayville eastward to he Genesee river, through the town of Stock- on. The road was soon traveled quite exten- ively and half a dozen different landlords pened taverns. Ample frame buildings in ome cases replaced the log cabins which were rst opened as hotels. James Dyer, James Colby. Henry K. Gravit were early innkeepers, esides several in addition to those previously mentioned.
Stockton is a leading dairy town of Chau- huqua county and scattered through the town re many butter and cheese factories. The resent village of Stockton was formerly known 's Delanti, a name adopted at a meeting of itizens held in January, 1833. Amos Crane resided at that meeting, Milton Smith was ecretary and Loraine Dantforth, a teacher, se- cted the name. Dr. Waterman Ellsworth was le first postmaster at Delanti.
The population of the town of Stockton as >ported to the New York State census enu- 1erators in 1915 was 1,805 citizens and 25 iens. The principal manufacturing enter- rise of the town is the grape basket factory of redericksen & Bussing, located at Cassadaga ake, where there are two other smaller fac- ries. The Chautauqua Cement Company
was organized in 1890 and began manufactur- ing near Cassadaga.
The Cassadaga Navigation Company incor- porated in 1827, with a capital of $20,000 to improve the navigation of the Cassadaga to its junction with the Conewango, and the naviga- tion of the Conewango to the State line. Wal- ter Smith conceived the idea of opening the Cassadaga and Conewango to keelboats. A boat twenty-five feet long was constructed, which brought a load of salt up the Conewango and Cassadaga to Cassadaga Lake, went back with a light cargo and again ascended the streams part way, but the water in the Cassa- daga lowered after the channel was cleared, and navigation was found impracticable.
Baptists formed a church in 1808, near Chau- tauqua Lake. This was divided in two in 1817, one of which in April, 1821, became the Baptist church of Stockton, and in October, 1821, the First Baptist Congregational Society was in- corporated and received a grant of fifty acres of land offered by the Holland Land Company to the first two churches. The settlers of Bear Creek Valley organized in 1817 at Delanti the Third Baptist Church of Chautauqua. Cassa- daga Baptist Church was organized May 8, 18344. A Congregational church was organized in 1815. The church at Oregon was organized in 1839 or 1840. The Christian Church was formed at Delanti in 1825. The Universalists and United Brethren have had societies since 1850.
The Methodist Episcopal church has been established in the town since 1825 and has a congregation in the village of Stockton of 181 members, including the branch at Centralia. Villages of the town are Stockton and Cassa- daga, both with good schools and churches, the latter a popular summer resort. Other villages are Burnhams; Moons, a station on the Dun- kirk, Allegheny Valley & Pennsylvania rail- road : Denton. Centralia and South Stockton.
The Empire State Degree of Honor, an im- portant organization having its home office in Stockton and claiming to furnish life insurance on "the most simple and equitable plan," was incorporated May 26, 1886. Henry W. Sey- mour was a leader in its founding, and for a number of years its secretary. The design of the association is to meet the wants of a large class of people, both men and women, who desire to carry life insurance at a reasonable expense. The association has 7,894 policies and $6.740,750 insurance in force ; has paid out on death claims, $2,131,207.14, and holds as a re- serve fund, $382,923.77. Officers, 1920: Amos
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E. Hall, president; B. O. Taylor, vice-presi- dent; C. G. Warren, secretary ; M. T. Wake- man, assistant secretary ; C. E. Olson, J. W. Henderson, medical examiners; Benjamin S. Dean, attorney. For many years L. W. Lazell was treasurer, holding until his death in 1919, when he was succeeded by C. E. Olson.
Supervisors-1821-22, Calvin Warren; 1823- 25, Henry Walker : 1826, Calvin Warren ; 1827, W. Ellsworth; 1828, Aaron Lyon; 1829-30, Hiram Lazell; 1831-32, W. Ellsworth; 1833, John Grant; 1834, John Lyon; 1835, John Grant : 1836-37, Calvin Smith ; 1838-39, Chaun- cey Warren ; 1840-41, Delos Beebe ; 1842, Philip Lazell; 1843-44, Thomas Rolph; 1845, Chaun- cey Warren : 1846, Eleazer Flagg, Jr .; 1847, Chauncey Warren; 1848-49-50-53, Milton Smith ; 1854, George S. Harrison ; 1855, Judge L. Bugbee ; 1856, Ebenezer Moon ; 1857-58, W. P. Burdick; 1859, Judge L. Bugbee; 1860-61, Philip Lazell; 1862-63, Merrill Crissey ; 1864- 65. Harlow Crissey ; 1866-67, Eliphalet Mitchell ; 1868-69, Chauncey Warren; 1870-71, Walker Parkhurst ; 1872-73, Joseph E. Batchellor ; 1874- 79, Lucian C. Warren; 1880-81, Charles W. Chapman ; 1882-83, Jay A. Flagg ; 1884, Darius G. Pickett; 1885, P. M. Miller ; 1886-89, New- ton Crissey : 1890, Lucian C. Warren ; 1891, Charles D. Payne ; 1892-97, C. Frank Chapman ; 1898-99, Michael C. Donovan ; 1900-03, Lucian C. Warren ; 1904-05, Michael C. Donovan ; 1906- 07, Clayton S. Putnam; 1908-09, Lucien C. Warren : 1910-II. Everett J. White; 1912-20, Charles D. Payne.
The full value of town real estate in 1918 was placed at $1,243,810, the assessed valuation for the same year being $975,857.
Villenova-Villenova, meaning new village, originally the southern part of Hanover, was taken off as a separate town by an act of Janu- ary 24, 1823. Its area is 22,826 acres. In the north part the surface is hilly, the highest lands having an altitude of 1,400 feet above tide water. The inhabitants follow agricultural pursuits, including dairying to a considerable extent, to which the surface and soil are adapted. The two branches of the Conewango creek join near the southeast corner of the town, and they receive the waters of a number of small streams which arise in the northern up- lands and of the outlets of Mud Lake and East Mud Lake. The last named body of water is within Villenova, while the possession of Mud Lake is divided with Arkwright. In the south- ern part of the town the surface is rolling rather than broken and hilly, with soil of clay and a gravelly loam. The town is a great pro- ducer of apples. Villenova has felt the effects
of the disposition of the rising generations of people, since the pioneer days to leave the rural regions, especially in this part of the country, as it has had a net loss in population since 1835. In that year the population was 1,453. The population (State census of 1915) 1,148, in- cluding 26 aliens. It must be remembered, however, that Villenova is an inland town with- out railroads. There are four villages in the town, Balcomb, Hamlet, Villenova and Wango. The value of real estate in the town in 1918 was placed at $593,135 ; the assessed value, $465,357.
Original Purchases in Township 5, Range 10.
1809-October, Ezra Puffer, 19, 27, 36; John Kent, 2; Daniel Whipple, 3.
ISIO-March, John Kent, Jr., 3: April, Reuben Wright, Jr., 22; June, John Arnold, 19; July, Benj. Sweet, II, 18; October, Chas. Mather, 4. 1815-June, Eldad Corbett, Jr., II.
1816-March, Villeroy Balcom, 10.
1817-May, James Congdon, 14; November, Augus- tus Wright, 52.
.1818-March, Daniel Wright, 20; April, Enos Matte- son, 64; May, Sylvanus Wright, 20.
1819-May, Auren G. Smith, 43.
1820-May, Nath. Warner, 36.
1821-October, Nath. Warner, 35.
1822-March, Noah Strong, 64; June, Nath. Warner, Jr., 43; October, Wm. J. Straight, 58.
1823-May, Arad Wheeler, 14: June, James H. Ward, 15.
1824-December, Phineas T. Judd, 27.
1825-April, Samuel Geer, Jr., 48; Thos. White, 48; Josiah H. White, 24; Wheeler B. Smith, 24.
1826-January, Henry Waters, 33; August, John Pope, 62; December, Thomas Howard, 50.
1827-October, Villeroy Balcom, 17; Nathaniel War- ner, 63.
The early settlers were largely of New Eng- land stock-people of sturdy strength and ster- ling character. Villenova comprises townships 5, range Io, in which purchases of land were made as early as 1809. John Kent, a native of Royalton, Vermont, came from Cortland county that year, and aided Daniel Whipple and others to locate desirable lands. Mr. Whip- ple, John and Eli Arnold, natives of Great Bar- rington, Mass., came in 1810 with their families. In 181I came William and Benjamin Barrows and Roderick Wells, and about that time, also, Charles Mather, Captain Sweet and Nathaniel Bowen. Bowen served in the War of 1812 and was killed in the battle of Buffalo in 1813. Ezra Puffer, who came in 1812, a native of Sudbury, Mass., was a cultured man, of literary and scientific tastes. He was a first-class surveyor, and ran many of the lines, laid out the early roads, was the first justice of the peace and drew the legal papers called for in the early days. He moved to Indiana in the early forties. Villeroy Balcom, who for years held the first
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office of the town, and Ezra Corbett, both from Massachusetts, came in 1815, as did William Pierce and Eldad Corbett, Jr. Charles Wright came from Herkimer county the next year. His four brothers, .Augustin, Lewis, Daniel and Sylvanus, all settled in town, the first two named in 1817, and Daniel and Sylvanus in 1818. Numerous descendants of these pio- neers live in the town. The business settle- ment to which the name of Villenova was finally given was formed at the cross roads on lot 19. near the line of 20. At first it was called Wright's Corners. Grover & Norris established the first store in 1828, and V. Balcom an inn in [829. Mr. Balcom was the first postmaster, as Well as justice and supervisor. James Cong- lon came in 1817, with sons, Amos, Ichabod and Lewis. Auren G. Smith and his brother in 1819 bought lot 43, and developed the power at Hamlet, where they built a sawmill later known as Orton's Mills. Allen L. Brunson, who came in 1838 from Cherry Creek, was con- table for twenty-three years. Gamaliel Col- ins was for many years a justice. George Wil- on, a wagonmaker, was an early settler at Hamlet, and justice many years. Noah Strong bought lot 64 in 1822, and made it his home for ife. The Crowells, early settlers, were a nu- nerous family. Benjamin Vincent, a black- mith, came early to Villenova.
Auren G. and Nathaniel Smith built a saw- nill, as already noted, at Hamlet, and a grist- nill was begun by Stephen Landers and com- leted by Crowell & Shepard. Kent's mill on he Conewango was said to be the head of navi- ation in the busy days. Nathan Worden built sawmill a mile and a half from Hamlet. In 828 the Holland Land Company sold all the ands then held by it in ranges 10 and II, and n township I, range 12, excepting the town of Jerry, to the Cherry Valley Company, com- osed of James O. Morse, Levi Beardsley and Alvin Stewart. Of this, 5,246 acres were in Tillenova. On a contract with the Holland and Company, John and John P. Kent cut a oad through the forest from Kent's mill, Vil- enova, to Kennedyville, through Cherry Creek, or the very reasonable compensation of ten ollars a mile. They also cut a road from the ame point southwest to Sinclairville soon after 812. Gardner Crandall and Isaac Curtis set- led on this road in 1816.
The first white person born in town was Electa, daughter of Daniel Whipple, May 5, 812. James Moffitt and Mary Dighton were he first couple married, in 1812. Mrs. Battles n 1815 taught the first school, near Wright's
Corners. For more than seventy years Hamlet, on the west branch of the Conewango creek, lias been the principal business center.
The first town meeting in Villenova was held in 1823, when these officers were elected: Su- pervisor, Ezra Puffer ; town clerk, Milton Foot ; assessors, Daniel Wright, Isaac Martin, Ville- roy Balcom : collector, Charles Wright ; over- seers of poor, Alvah Simons, Nathaniel War- ner : commissioners of highways, Nathaniel Smith, Stephen P. Kinsley ; constables, Auren G. Smith, Charles Wright; commissioners of schools, Daniel Wright, Alvah Simons, John Weaver ; inspectors of schools, Hiram Kinsley, Ezra Puffer, Milton Foot.
James L. Brown built the first carding and cloth dressing establishment at Hamlet, where afterwards was a gristmill. Carding was also done at the southeast part of the town, on the Conewango.
An iron foundry was built about 1860 by Hickey & Howard, which afterward was owned sticcessively by James Howard, Martin Crowell, Crowell & Shepherd, Lemuel Hickey and others. A planing mill, propelled by the same power, was owned by Martin Crowell.
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