History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 62

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 62

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CHARLES F. WHITE, of Dunkirk, was born in Hornby, Steuben county, New York, June 29, 1842, son of Joseph H. White, born in Philadelphia, died in British Columbia in 1861.

After receiving the education afforded by the public schools of his native village, Mr. White was about to engage in business, when on June 20, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, 17th Regiment, New York Infantry, being attached to the Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps. He was given an honorable discharge June 2, 1863, his term of enlistment having expired. In 1864 in the "Havana Journal" office Mr. White com- menced to learn the printer's trade. He purchased the "Allegany Democrat" in 1871, at Wellsville, and dis- posed of that newspaper property three years later. He bought an interest in the "Dunkirk Advertiser and Union" November 12, 1875, and in 1890 established the "Dunkirk Daily Herald." an influential Democratic paper. During its existence his various partners in the Herald Printing Company were: Charles E. Benton, November 12, 1875, to January 1, 1877; M. F. Durrell, January I, 1877, to August 1, 1877 ; A. H. Hilton and W. R. Mor- gan, August 1, 1877 to March 1, 1900.

BOOKS, LIBRARIES AND AUTHORS.

The following paper was prepared for, and read before, the Chautauqua County Historical Society, May- ville, New York, September 11, 1920, hy Lucia Tiffany Henderson, Librarian, James Prendergast Free Library :

BOOK TRAILS OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY-When the urge of a larger opportunity and the eagerness to over- come natural difficulties led our ancestors to open this region of splendid timberland to future development,

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certain time-honored Pilgrim trails were projected by them from New England. These trails have ever been taken up and extended by other later pioneers further toward the setting sun.

The trails we mean are traced upon no map, but rather, in the lives and destinies of our people. So it is that today I am asked to take you with me over one of these old paths,-the Trail of the Printed Book in our county, as it may be followed by us without undue at- tention to detail along the way; but hoping to reach sonic point where a comprehensive and pleasant view may prove to us that those who preceded us were not lacking in vision, while they contended with the hard- ships of frontier life,-that their descendants, in days made casier by that pioneer devotion, have also left creditable record and have shown us the way in our turn to carry on this goodly trail.

The research necessary to the preparation of such a paper has led to much delving among old pamphlets and histories, as well as to some interesting correspond- ence, and has also awakened memories of home con- versations relative to early books and reading habits. It is not my intention to develop this subject as a mere book-list, quoting you every author and title, with painstaking record of bibliographic detail. However informing it might be, this method could only interest a book-collector.

I must be content rather, to show the human interest of these few scattered volumes as they touched the lives dependent upon them almost entirely for mental and spiritual refreshment and guidance. From all accounts of the rigors of pioneer life in this region a hundred and more years ago, it is easy to realize the scant op- portunity for book-culture. Our forefathers must have had largely to find their "books in the running brooks," their "sermons in stones." The task of subduing the wilderness conditions attracted men and women of hardy, enterprising type, prepared to lead laborious lives, with the hope at heart, no doubt, that one day they or their children would win through to leisure and the things of leisure. There is record of certain pioneers making room for a box of books in the limited packing space of their wagons which were to toil so slowly and painfully through the wild unbroken wilderness. For some of these families from New England and the established places of Northern and Eastern New York, brought with them traditions of culture, and prized their small collections of well selected books. A few of these people were strongly intellectual, had advantages of schooling and. in some cases, a college education. Religion and education were traditions too precious to be thrown aside as burdensome impedimenta on this trek to their new home, therefore among early arrivals were the minister and the schoolmaster pro- vided with a few needed books.

It has passed into a proverb that as they moved west, our New England ancestors "carried in one hand a Bible and in the other a spelling-book." Were it possi- ble to look in upon such an early settlement, we might be at a loss to discover "Who's Who"-would not guess that the capable miller standing flour-dusted at the door of his mill was one of the scholarly young men of the New England town from which he came, and a young patriot of the Revolution as well. It was of this man that his fellow-villager, a Scotchman, is quoted as say- ing: "Mr. J- is a powerful smart man. He knows e'en-a-most as much as the meenester." High praise in those times.

Again, having noticed the smith at his anvil, we would be little prepared to behold him next day addressing his neighbors with impressive reasoning and fervid utter-

ance from the pulpit! Indeed, the eminent early mis- sionary to this region, Father Spencer, said that "A man to make a good pioneer-preacher should first learn blacksmithing-the best recommend he could carry into the wilderness."

Need of all manner of service was great, and a person of versatile talents had ample chance to exercise them.

It is said "they had no newspaper, few books, and a sermon was a treat," which leads us to mention the "first Sermon preached in Chautauqua County." This was at the close of the Revolutionary War. A mis- sionary to the Six Nations found himself wandering on the shores of Chautauqua Lake. At nightfall he bent his steps toward a light he saw in the woods, the cabin of an Indian chief, where he was hospitably sheltered. In the morning, after a good breakfast of venison, the chief asked him to sit with him on a log in front of his cabin. No sooner was he seated than he was asked to move along. This was repeated until Kirkland re- plied he could not mnove farther without falling off the log. "Well," said the Indian, "That is just the way you white people treat us. We once owned all this land, but we have been driven from place to place until there is no place left. The next push will drive us into the Lakes, and why are we treated thus?" "That," says the Rev. Charles Burgess, "is what I call the first sermon preached in Chautauqua county." It was an illustrated sermon, it was a moving and an effective sermon. It had one of the grandest of subjects,-Christian ethics and the rights of man.

He tells another anecdote of Father Spencer, mention- ed before. A visiting minister once said, "Mr. Spencer, your sermon is very able. I cannot answer it, but I do not believe a word of it!" Father Spencer replied: "I am very sorry to hear you say so; very little of it is mine, nearly all of it was taken from the Bible!"

As to the early physician : The only means he had of finding his patients was to follow the track of the Hol- land Land Company's surveyors, indicated by the trees they had blazed. Miss Clara Harrington, of the town of Poland, has old medical text-books used by her great- grandfather in his practice in those early times.

But though daily tasks were arduous, most of those early men and women improved their moments of leisure. It was at candle-light that the few books were enjoyed, or maybe at noon rest in the wood or field over his lunch, the studious, or imaginative, youth made the most of his precious opportunity to read. The industrious daughter, washing the family dishes, studied her Daybald's Arithmetic, supported open above the sink; (the thought suggests itself that in this divided interest fractions might have been demonstrated in broken bits of crockery ; but this is mere conjecture.)

The young schoolmistress read as she road horseback over the corduroy road through the long woods to her school; often hearing the howling of the wolves, I have heard my grandmother say. Then it is told that at a later day, a boy in love with science lay on the flat top- board of a fence deeply absorbed in a volume of his cherished Humboldt's "Cosmos." Such are the scenes and episodes of a bygone day which are thrown back upon our mind's eye as on the screen at a photo-play, as we drive through our smiling countryside over good State roads, which nearly all follow the early trails, now petrified, we might say, and so perpetuated at the demand of modern travel and commerce.

In regard to the coming of that great institution, the newspaper, to these western New York settlements, we have a picturesque account of Mr. Mckinstry. He says : "One difficulty with the publication of a newspaper was the limited mail facilities. The first mail route through

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BOOKS, LIBRARIES AND AUTHORS

the county was between Buffalo and Erie. Once in two weeks, mail was carried by a man on foot or horseback. There was intense interest in this first mail-carrier as he came along in the service of the United States, with his hand-bag, which easily accommodated all the let- ters and papers for our people."

Our first post office was established at Canadaway, now Fredonia, eight years before our first newspaper, -the "Chautauqua Gazette," in 1817, which publication continued one year. Of the early county papers there are two still published,-the "Fredonia Censor," founded 1821, and the "Jamestown Journal," in 1826. Mr. Ed- son also contributes to this topic: "Few newspapers reached this then distant frontier, and those often weeks after publication. Sometimes a single newspaper was taken in a whole community ; for instance, the only one received in the town of Charlotte for some time was the 'Albany Gazette,' taken by Maj. Samuel Sinclear; its arrival at the Fredonia post office was watched with interest. It was publicly read by some young man as- signed to that duty. This brought all they knew of what went on outside the wilderness. Events of the last war with England and of Napoleon's campaigns were learned by this means." Judge Foote collected about one hundred volumes of early newspapers of the county, few of which can be duplicated. Some of these are in possession of the Prendergast Library. A little later there were many who received the "New York Tribune;" the "Anti-slavery Standard," published by William Lloyd Garrison ; the "New York World," the "Ledger," and other papers.

It is interesting to know that in colonial times there were all told but eight thousand volumes produced in these colonies, including sermons and almanacs. By contrast we may state that last year there were publish- ed in our country upwards of nine thousand different titles, which ran into hundreds of millions of volumes. Among the exhibits at our County Centennial at West- field, 1902, were many early books of considerable in- terest, some of them typical of those to be found in the majority of early homes :- The Bible, perhaps Watts' Hymns, one or two other devotional books, Pilgrim's Progress, and the precious Almanac.

Old singing-books opening the long way, bound some- times in wooden covers, were owned by many who at- tended singing-school and used them at church, at home, and on most occasions when neighbors met for enter- tainmert. It will be convenient to classify these old books in general into (1) Bibles, and other religious books; (2) Literary and other miscellaneous writings ; (3) School-books. We must remember that for many years a recognized line was drawn between the books considered strictly religious and those called secular, -- a distinction handed down from Puritan times, resulting in the dictum that only religious and highly moral writings were to be read on Sunday, even by children. Let us read a delightful entry in the diary of a little girl of the fifties, showing this prejudice still pre- vailing. "Sunday, March 20, 1853. Mrs. Judge Taylor said we ought not to read our Sunday School Books on Sunday. I always do. Mine today was entitled 'Cheap Repository Tracts' by Hannah More, and it did not seem unreligious at all." Another entry reads: "Sun- day. Grandmother gave Anna, 'Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul' to read today; Anna says she thinks she will have to rise and progress a good deal before she will be able to appreciate it. 'Baxter's Saint's Rest' would probably suit her better !" Again. on Sunday I find this : "Grandma gave us 'The Dairyman's Daughter' and 'Jane the Young Cottager' to read. I don't see how they happened to be so awfully good. Anna says they died of 'early piety.' Grandma will give ine

10 cents if I will learn the verses in the 'New Eng- land Primer' that John Rogers left for his wife and nine small children when he was burned at the stake. I learned 'In Adam's fall we sinned all;' 'My Book and Heart shall never Part;' 'The Cat doth Play and After Slay'"

1 might record here the full title of "The New Eng- land Primer : An easy and pleasant guide to the art of reading ; to which is added the Assembly Catechism." These childish references are so typical of the reading of an earlier generation that we can not do better than quote once more: "Miss Clarke reads to us from tlie 'Life of Queen Elizabeth.' Have just read 'David Cop- perfield' and could not leave it alone till I finished it." I may say in this connection that in a letter from our good friend and member of this Society, Mrs. Newell Cheney, she tells me of her enjoyment as a girl of a book called "Ollapodiana" and she also speaks of read- ing Dickens' "Dombey and Son" as it appeared in the "New York Tribune." I have also heard my elders recount the eagerness with which these instalments were awaited. We had some of the early paper copies of the first editions of Dickens in this country. To return to the Diary for one more entry, we read: "I was straightening a room to be cleaned and found a little book 'Child's Pilgrim's Progress Illustrated.' Grandma sent Anna to see what I was doing. She told her I was so absorbed in Pilgrim's Progress I had made none my- self." "Father sent us 'Gulliver's Travels.' Before I go to school every morning I read three chapters in the Bible, five on Sunday, and that takes me through in a year." Of other children's books, Mrs. Cheney speaks of "Merry's Museum," a magazine she had. Mrs. L. B. Warner tells me of two books which she was per- mitted to read on Sunday in her girlhood,-"Aesop's Fables," and "The Universal Traveler." We find record of one copy of "Mother Goose," two hundred years old, in the town of Stockton. Names to conjure with were Letitia Barbauld and Maria Edgeworth, writers of moral tales and hymns for children. Miss Edgeworth is still brought out in attractive new editions for children, most entertaining in their quaint delineation of English child life many years ago. The novels of Scott, Mrs. Rad- cliffe and Mrs. Inchbald were favorites at an early day. Of Mrs. Radcliffe's "Mysteries of Udolpho" one writer says she "could not lay it down, but finished it in two days," her "hair standing on end the whole time."

Jane Porter was one of the best known, with her "Thaddeus of Warsaw," which went through fourteen editions, and "Scottish Chiefs," twelve editions. So much for children's reading at different periods earlier than ours; and some of the sermons and other re- ligious books which were so generally read. Certain of these sermons were the subject of very general dis- cussion. People felt a real concern as to such matters, and as a rule held simple and definite views of their relation to God and their fellow-men, in the constant arguing of which they felt a keener interest than do we in our day.

Examples of these books still existing in our country are: Many old Bibles, Psalm books, and Hymnals ; Yorick's Sermons: Romain's Sermons; Sermons on Faith. 1755; Sermons of Rev. Reuben Tinker, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Westfield, 1856; Religion Delineated ; American Preacher ; Evangelical Primer : "Devout Exercises of the Heart"; "Imitation of Christ" (early editions) ; "Derham's Theology" (which is fre- quently mentioned) ; "Hervey's Meditations" (another favorite) ; "Watts' Hymns;" Baxter's "Saint's Rest ;" "Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress ;" Taylor's "Holy Living and Dying."

Other books of more general character were in some

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homes, and are keepsakes still. Of such may be men- tioned: Pope's "Essay on Man ;" Young's "Night Thoughts ;" "The Spectator", of Addison and Steele; "Writings of Tom Paine", 1791, (the cause of much spir- ited controversy) ; "Military Instructions;" "Book of Surveying ;" "Patriot Manual", 1828; Poems of Scott and Burns; Lockhart's "Life of Scott;" Pomphret's Poems ; "Sky Lark;" "Art of Speaking ;" Taylor's "Philip Van Artevelde ;" "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," 1812; "Irish Rebellion" (which has a familiar sound in our own ears).

An old book of my father's is entitled "American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West-Evidences of an Ancient Population differing entirely from the pres- ent Indiars, who peopled America centuries before its discovery by Columbus ;" and so on down a characteris- tic title-page of the time.

Thomson's "Seasons" was a favorite book of poetry. In the Prendergast family library is a tiny old copy with microscopic print and curious old engravings. Who has not heard the invocation of its opening verse : "Come, gentle Spring ; etherial mildness, come !"

Oi these books, five, viz: "Thomson's Seasons," "Art of Speaking," "Hervey's Meditations," "Pomphret's Poems" and the "Sky Lark," were all advertised in Thomas's "Old Farmer's Almanac" of the day, books published and sold by the remarkable compiler of that important little annual which came to so many homes. A book-rarity in my possession is called "Historical Collections of New York." It is an illustrated and de- scriptive gazetteer, and has numerous quaint woodcuts of interest, especially those of scenes in Chautauqua county.

The vogue of the carly Almanac deserves special men- tion : a collection of forty-one of these was exhibited by Frank Lamb at the County Centennial, and the writer has an interesting lot in her collection; among them are: "The Farmer's Calendar, or Western Al- manac," published at Fredonia, 1826, '27; "Farmer's Cal- endar. or Buffalo Almanac," and "Steele's & Edward Butler's Western Almanac," Buffalo, 1825, '35, '38, '39; also "Poor Richard's Almanac," 1831, Rochester, N. Y .: "Evening Journal Almanac of Albany," 1859, and later.

For your edification I shall quote from "Poor Rich- ard's" a selection entitled "Elegant Extracts :" "Behold yon venerable remnant of human life, sinking bencath the weight of time into eternity ! His scale of mortality is nearly poised." etc., etc. ; and I also find this timely warning: "The most eminent physicians are full in the opinion, that nearly every case reported of death from drinking cold water, is, in fact, a death from drinking rum." However, I would not have you think the selections all in this vein; there is great variety of matter and manner.

Of course, most of the early books were published in England, though the colonial and later presses of our own country put forth many of those quoted here. Chautauqua county has never been nor is it likely to be- come a publishing center; however, there are precious copies of the few early books published within its borders, to be found now and then. Copies of the fol- lowing are in the Foote collection of the Prendergast Library. The first is "Contrast between Christianity and Calvinism, by a Western Clergyman." Judge Foote mentions Rev. David Brown as the author of this book. published anonymously, Fredonia, 1824. The author was the first Episcopal clergyman of Fredonia, and it was he who made the address of welcome on the occasion of Lafayette's visit to Chautauqua county at Fredonia, in 1825. His address was translated into French and sent to France, where it was published. Then, "Todd's

Abridgment of English Grammar," Fredonia, 1827. Next comes Linus W. Miller's "Notes of an Exile to Van Dieman's Land." containing incidents of the Canadian Rebellion, Fredonia, 1846; and Warren's little history of Chautauque County, Jamestown, 1846. However, the earliest recorded history of the permanent settlement of our county was the series of articles by Hon. Samuel A. Brown, an early lawyer of Jamestown, this sketch appearing in the "Jamestown Journal" in 1834. Twelve years later, Hon. E. F. Warren, county judge, prepared the small history before mentioned, only a few copies of which remain. Thanks to Hon. Obed Edson, the Pren- dergast Library possesses a copy of the quaint little volume. Next in chronological order is Dr. Elial T. Foote, who came to Jamestown in 1815, and of whom it is written that "no one has contributed so much in preserving the facts relating to the history of the coun- y." Our later historians of note are: Dr. Gilbert W. Hazeltine, whose "Early History of Ellicott" is most readable, written in familiar vein; a vivid picture of early residents, their characteristics, and the life of the period. There is an interesting history of the town of Portland, by the late Dr. Taylor, of Brocton. The latest and most eminent of this group, the well-beloved Obed Edson, has left a numerous and valuable contribution of published works of local history which constitute a worthy monument to his memory. Young's and Ed- son's histories, and the "Centennial History" in two volumes, are excellent works of reference.

The archives of the Chautauqua County Historical Society contain contributions to local history, antiquities, biography and scientific research, by members whose special qualifications enable them to speak with author- ity. These writings attest our county's share in the source-material of history distinctly worthy of record.

I would not omit reference to an enterprise of the Jamestown High School Seniors of 1913, inspired by their history teacher, Professor (now Superintendent) Milton J. Fletcher. This was the publication of an historical outline called "Jamestown, Past and Present." As an accurate and handy little book for ready refer- ence, this reflects much credit upon those who produced it, and it should be very generally in our homes and public libraries.

Besides these early Chautauqua county writers and the group of our historians, there is a distinguished list of authors born in this county or residing here at some time; hut as their record is the subject of a separate paper, I shall refrain from paying them further tribute here.

But to return to our record of early days: Let us say, that of English Classics brought by some scholarly pio- neers, there was an occasional volume or set of Shake- speare. The writer has the beautiful set of small fat volumes in their tree-calf binding, valued and intimate possessions of the grandfather who from a young man had his Shakespeare at his tongue's end. There were a few Greek and Latin Bibles, testaments and lexicons. Dutch families who settled in Clymer brought with them books from Holland. Some French people brought their own books ; while the Swedes settling principally in Jamestown and vicinity, had their Bibles, hymnals, and a few other volumes. Just a word as to the old school-books, from Mr. Henry Leworthy's collection of old Chautauqua county books, and several from other sources : Morse's Universal Geography, 1793; Lindley Murray's English Reader, 1823; Olney's School Atlas; Webster's Spelling Book; Columbian Spelling Book; Peter Parley Grammar, 1836; A New Guide to the English Tongue, by Thomas Dillworth, Bost., 1781 : Mental Arithmetic, 1784. These were household words

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of the earlier generation, of Chautauqua county youth in quest of an education.

I find mention of the first appearance of book agents in our county as early as 1825. They are said to have in- troduced for the most part, good, useful books, bought and read by many people.

As the age of more isolated settlement gave way to the better organized community life of towns and vil- lages, there began an epoch of Young Men's Associa- tions for debating, reading, and mutual improvement. From these, in most instances, library enterprises de- veloped. There were also groups of women who were most efficient and untiring in the work of establishing and conducting the early village library centers. Then, too, we find some record of encouragement offered library establishment by individual settlers very carly ; an instance is given by Dr. Taylor in his sketch of James Dunn, the pioneer settler of Portland, the gen- ial inn-keeper of the place. Of him Dr. Taylor says : "Although he and his family lacked the polish of a finished education, they were greatly interested in the dissemination of knowledge among the people; and in establishing a public library in 1824, they lent their in- fluence and contributed liberally."

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 62

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