USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York > Part 29
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In Hanover at an early date, a school was taught by Jolm Sprague at Sil- ver Creek in a log hut that stood on the north side of Walnut creek. In Sheridan the first school was taught by William Griswold in his house at Sheridan Center in ISOS and 1809. A school was opened in a log school- house on Main street in Fredonia. This was the first school in Pomfret. Its teacher was Samuel Berry who had come from Madison county in 18OS or 1809. A school was taught in Ellery at an early day by Dr. Carey in the northwestern part of the town. The first school of Portland was taught in ISto by Miss Anna Eaton in a small log house erected by Captain James Dunn about 212 miles west of Brocton on lot 30. Six or seven children attended the first term which continned three or four months. Horace Clough taught the first school in Arkwright in the winter of ISI and 1812. In Carroll the first school was taught in 1813 by Stephen Rogers two miles south of Frewsburg. Olive Marsh taught the first school in Busti in 1813 a little north of the village of Busti.
244
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
These were some of the early schools opened in different parts of the first settled portions of the county. About the last of these ancient schools com- menced before the modern school system went into effect and about the first established south of the Ridge, was opened at Sinclairville in the winter of 1813 and 1814. As this school and the schoolhouse in which it was kept were typical of their kind, a description of them will answer for all the rest.
The house was built of logs and stood at the intersection of the streets, the one leading to Charlotte Center and the other to Cherry Creek. It was 24 feet long and 18 feet wide. To use the architectural terms of the time it was a story and a log high. Its floors were made of ash logs ; the split or upper surface was smoothed with an adze; their rounded sides rested in notches cut in the log sills that lay upon the ground. In the side of this building was the door made of boards and plank and hung upon hinges of wood. There was no lock, for no one who wished to enter any habitation was a trespasser in those simple days. The latch string of deer skin always hung out. This schoolhouse was lighted by three small windows placed in notches cut in the logs. A wall of rude mason-work reached from the ground to the chamber floor and occupied nearly the whole of the end of the building. Before this broad chimney-back extended a wide hearth of stone, over which supported at the sides by large square timber an immense chim- ney of sticks inlaid with mud rose to the roof. Great andirons stood in the fire-place to support the crackling logs of beech and maple which diffused their warmth and made comfortable the young scholars who had seats in front. The desks consisted of boards resting on wooden pegs inserted in the logs and extended along the sides and end of the building. The seats were slabs in which holes were bored for wooden legs. They were placed end to end without a break in front of the desks.
This log schoolhouse was the first building erected in the village and like many other early schoolhouses it was used for general public purposes. For several years after it was built it was allotted for a few days to each set- tler upon his first arrival at the place and the school had to close for the time being. There on Sabbath days meetings were held. October 11th, ISHI, the first religious services were held in it. Father John Spencer officiated. He was dressed in the antique style of Revolutionary days. He wore short breeches with knee buckles, long stockings and boots. William Gilmour here taught the first term of school kept in the central part of the county in the winter of 1813 and 1814. The second term was taught by Polly Seaver. Her school was attended by over 20 pupils gathered from the region around almost equal to a township in extent. The curriculum of this log university was spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic as far as compound proportion or "double rule of three." To master " fractions " was considered a most remarkable achievement of scholarship. Geography,
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245
CLOSE OF THE WAR .- SCHOOLS.
grammar and physics were not tanght. The school books in use were Dill -. worth's and Webster's spelling book, the American Preceptor, Columbian Reader, Pike's and Daboll's arithmetic. Writing was performed with a goose quill. A decoction made from soft maple bark was used for ink. Besides these schools, there were others established prior to 1814. The earliest settlers of the county were not indifferent to the subject of education. It was not unusual to find a primitive school established in remote localities soon after settlement commenced. The carly schoolhouse often stood by some forest path deep in the shadows of the woods, with tall trees standing so close around that the ripened nuts would fall upon the roof and the wild deer would look in through the open door upon the master and his pupils.
To Gov. George Clinton belongs the honor of first giving official atten- tion to the subject of schools in the state of New York. In his message to the legislature which met January 6th, 1795, at Poughkeepsie, lie called attention to the fact that while liberal provisions had been made for the endowment of colleges and other institutions of learning where the higher branches were taught, legislative aid had not been given to the common schools, and he recommended that provision should be made for their improvement and encouragement. At the same session in response to Gov- ernor Clinton's suggestion a law was passed appropriating the sum of $50,- 000 annually for five years for schools, and boards of supervisors were directed to distribute the portion allotted to their county among the respective towns. Each town was required to raise by tax a sum in addition, equal to one half the sum received from the state. To the persistent efforts of Jeremialı Peck of Otsego county, and Adam Comstock of Saratoga, members of the legisla- ture near the close of the last century, are we indebted for the school fund, and in a measure for the common school system. They deserve to have a monument erected to their memory. They were plain, meducated, practical men of the people. Their perseverance and influence procured the passage of an act about the beginning of the present century for the raising of the sum of $87,500 for the encouragement of common schools. It is a curious fact, that the act provided that this sum should be raised by means of lotter- ies. It seems a paradox that the advancement of learning should have been aided by such questionable means. But in those days lotteries were not gen- erally regarded as immoral, and were often made use of to raise funds for the public good. In this case the end it would seem in a measure justified the means. Lotteries not only promoted financially the cause of education, but they also compassed their own destruction, for not long after common schools were established, they fell into great disrepute, chiefly through the influence of education and of schools that they had assisted to establish. They were "hoisted," as it were, " by their own petard," and by the constitution of 1821, lotteries where wholly prohibited. Additions for a while continued to be
246
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
made to the school fund of the state by lotteries and the sale of public lands, yet schools were not free, nor were they regulated by law until more than ten years after the first settlement of the county, until the act of 1812 which established the school system.
In the summer of 1814, the different towns of the county were first divided into school districts under the new law by the newly elected school commis- sioners. Probably all these towns voted in compliance with the act, that a sum equal or double that appropriated by the state be raised for the support of schools. Portland which then comprised the present towns of Portland, Westfield and Ripley raised less than $30 in addition to the $15 appropriated by the state. Other towns raised correspondingly small amounts. These facts serve to show how small were the beginnings of the common school system. Soon after it went into practical effect in 1814 a marked improve- ment appeared in the schools of the county and education received a stimu- lus that has never since waned.
Since 1811, Winsor Brigham had been slowly progressing in the work of building the courthouse. Its completion was retarded by the war and the difficulty and expense of procuring many of the materials used in its con- struction, particularly lime for plastering. It was so far finished that the June term of court was held in the unplastered court room. By the census taken this year the population of the county was 4,259, an increase of but 1,878 since the census of 1810, a small increase due to the paralyzing influences of war. James Prendergast was this year chairman of the board of supervisors and Charles B. Rouse, clerk. The wild lands of the northern part of the county were generally assessed at $1.50 an acre, while the wild lands in the south part of the county were assessed $1 per acre. The taxes levied were from three to five mills on a dollar of the assessed valuation. The south towis usually raised $250 for roads and bridges while the north towns did not raise so much.
247
1815-1816.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1815-1816.
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"Now Grim visaged war hath Smoothed his wrinkled front." -Richard III.
F FEBRUARY 18, 1815, the treaty made with England was ratified by the United States senate and peace was proclaimed and hailed with great joy. The return of peace found the financial affairs of the county in a ruinous condition. Banks had stopped payment, there was no specie, or currency that commanded respect. The Holland Purchase, particularly Chautauqua county, was in a still more deplorable condition. With some exceptions Chautauqua had been settled by the poorest class of men. Many of them had expended the last dollar in procuring the article for their land and had to pay with their labor for the first bushel of corn or potatoes their family used. The original debt to the Holland Land Company for land in most instances remained unpaid, with the interest steadily increasing, and, at the close of the war, the flood of." shin-plasters" that had been put in circulation had become worthless. The settlers were absolutely poor. In the two years immediately preceding the war the county had been increasing in population, but during the war it steadily decreased. A few settlers came, but more went away ; some to the lines as soldiers or camp-followers, others, yielding to the fears of their wives and families, were persuaded to leave on · account of dangers apprehended from Indians. The return of peace revived their hopes and renewed the courage of the settlers. They anticipated new accessions to their numbers, and a speedy return to the abandoned clearings by those who had left during the war. The long-restrained tide of emigra- tion began again to flow westward. Its current set strongly towards Chau- tauqua county, mostly from eastern New York and New England. During the summer people were exploring the woods and selecting lands, and many were purchasing. The inhabitants of the county renewed their exertions to open roads and make improvements. The courthouse and jail were fully completed in 1815. There were three terms of court during 1812 and 1813 all held at the inn. The June court of 1814 was held in the courthouse, although it had not been plastered, and was in other respects unfinished. The following November and February terms were convened at the court-
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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
house, but were adjourned to the inn on account of the coldness of the weather.
This old tavern of John Scott was the scene of many an early lawsuit. The people were poor and the amount in controversy small, yet the unfailing interest that a lawsuit excites in a new country usually drew a goodly num- ber of spectators to hear the stories of the witnesses and pleas of the lawyers. Zattu Cushing presided. Anselm Potter, D. S., and Jacob Houghton, Leman Averill and Dennis Brackett were the attorneys whose names most often appear in the records as participating in the trials. Brackett was actively engaged in the trial of causes in 1813 at the November term of the court. The next December he was killed and scalped by the Indians at the burning of Buffalo. Orders substituting other attorneys in the causes that he was con- ducting at the following February term constitute the only reminders entered in the records of the court of his fate. Other lawyers, non-residents of the county, often appeared in the trial of suits at this old tavern ; among them were Jonas Harrison, a prominent early lawyer of Buffalo who had read law with Aaron Burr, and Ebenezer Walden, afterwards one of its best known and most respected citizens and lawyers. The name of John Root of face- tious memory, " Old Counselor Root" as he was afterwards called, occasion- ally appears as having business in the courts held at Scott's tavern. Many anecdotes are told of his tact and readiness at repartee. The dignity of the court was not so jealously preserved by the non-professional judges of those days as it is at the present time, and liberties were indulged that would not now be tolerated. The "Old Counselor " once told the court that "its decis- ion had no parallel except in the celebrated ruling of Pontius Pilate." The judge indignantly ordered him to sit down, saying : "You are drunk, Mr. Root." The old lawyer, as he slowiy sank into his seat, was heard to say in a subdued tone, "Correct, your honor, and it is the only correct decision the court has made this term." On another occasion a new member of the bar, upon hearing an adverse decision, indignantly exclaimed that he " was aston- ished at the judgment of the court." For this he found himself immediately arraigned for contempt. The " Old Counselor " was requested to assist him. Root, as he drew up his tall form in a most dignified and serions manner, said : " I know our brother is in fault, but he is young, quite young. Had Ire practised at this bar as long as I have, your honor, he would long since ceased to be astonished at any ruling that it might make." It would be a mistake to assume that because of the rough and simple surroundings the causes were frebly or unskillfully tried. Not a few of those early lawyers were well read and skilled in their profession, and some were of unusual ability. In this primitive tavern James Mullett, whose genius and eloquence were unsurpassed by any lawyer in Western New York, was examined in open court before Zattu Cushing, and found sufficiently learned in the law
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1815-1816.
to be admitted for the first time to practise at the bar. Here also Dudley Marvin, a most able and eminent lawyer, who afterwards served several terms in congress, and by his talents and eloquence gained the personal friendship of Henry Clay, filed his license given under the hand of Chief- Justice James Kent in order that he might be able to practice in this back- woods court.
The June term for 1815 was held in the new courthouse, as were the suc- ceeding terms for 20 years. The courthouse and jail was a two-story frame building. It stood in front of the present courthouse with its front or west- ern side near the easterly side of the main street of Mayville. The east por- tion of the lower story contained three prison cells (two for criminals and one for debtors.) " The walls of the criminal cells were of double courses of hewed hardwood timber. A perpendicular course, framed into the build- ing, and a horizontal course crossing the other and dove-tailed at the corners, and firmly bolted and spiked together. The floor and ceilings were simi- larly constructed," forming secure places of confinement, not so much inferior to prisons of modern construction as at first might seem. The front portion of the lower story was occupied by a large kitchen with a fireplace, an oven, sink and closet ; a keeping-room and two bed-rooms. Between these rooms and the cells of the prisoners was a narrow hall on the north side of the build- ing ; opposite this hall was the well. The old well fixes this point and serves to mark the spot where this old courthouse stood. A broad stair leads to the courtroom in the south side of the second story. The building contained two jury rooms. Uutil about 1835 it served the purposes of the county as a courthouse and jail.
At the annual election Jonathan Spragne was elected sheriff, and John Dexter clerk.
The first settlement was made of the town of Cherry Creek, this year by Joseph M. Kent. He reared his bark-covered loghouse in the spring on lot 9 near the southeast corner of the town. He then returned to his family and sent his wife on horseback eight miles through the woods, with one child in her arms and another behind her, with nothing but marked trees to guide hier to the new house. She arrived safely, with flint and " spunk " previously provided started a fire, and passed the night undisturbed except by the howl- ing of the wolves in the adjacent Conewango swamp. Joshua Bentley, Jr., next settled upon lot 15 near Mr. Kent in the fall of 1815.
February 14, 1816, the town of Harmony was formed from Chautauqua. It included the present Harmony and a portion of Busti, and had for its northern boundary the line between the second and third townships of the 13th range and Chautauqua lake ; for its eastern boundary the line between the eleventli and twelfth ranges of townships ; for its southern the Pennsyl- vania line ; and for its western the line of townships between the thirteenth
250
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
and fourteenth ranges. Palmer Phillips was elected the first supervisor, and was chairman of the board in 1821. He was born in Preston, Conn., in 1781, married Content Patchin at Pittstown, N. Y., moved to Chautauqua county in 1811, and died in Jamestown in 1860. He was a farmer and finally a local Methodist preacher. The town of Ripley was erected on the first day of March of this year. It comprised all of the present town of Ripley and that part of Westfield west of Chautauqua creek. Amos Atwater was elected the first supervisor. He was born in New Haven, Conn. He settled on the west side of Chautauqua creek above Westfield in 1813, where he carried on wool- carding and cloth-dressing, and subsequently established an oilmill. He was a volunteer in the militia on the Niagara frontier in 1813. He removed to Beardstown, Ill., in 1836. The town of Mina was first settled this year by Alexander Findley from whom Findley's lake derives its name.
On the last Tuesday of April of this year, an election for governor occur- red. The errors committed by the Republican administration in the conduct of the war strengthened the Federalists. In Chautauqua county they had preserved their organization. In 1814, Elijah Holt of Buffalo had been nominated as their candidate for member of assembly, and his nomination was ratified by the Federalists of Chautauqua county at a meeting held in Pomfret April 11, at which Samuel Sinclear was chairman, and D. Sterne Houghton secretary. In the election in the spring of 1815 James Prendergast was the Federal candidate for the assembly. The Federalists carried the county by a small majority. There is no doubt that the mass of the Federalists were as patriotic as the Republicans, and were sincerely attached to the civil institutions of the country. Samnel Sinclear and others had been meritorious soldiers of the Revolution. Their opposition to the war, the " Hartford Convention," and the " Declaration of Peace " prostrated their hopes as a party. Their last effort for political supremacy was made at this election. Daniel D. Tompkins was the Republican candidate for governor and Rufus King the Federal. The latter received 328 votes in the county, Tompkins received 420. The result of the general elections that had been held subsequent to the settlement show that Chautauqua county opposed the Federalists and was a Republican county. The small vote polled at those elections is due to the fact that previous to the constitution of 1821 only free- holders were entitled to vote for governor and senators. The vote polled at this election was : In Chautauqua Tompkins received 73 votes, King 32 ; Pomfret, Tompkins 35, King 90; Ellicott, Tompkins 91, King 56; Gerry, Tompkins 1, King 1 ; Hanover, Tompkins 76, King 44 ; Portland, Tompkins 46, King 32 ; Ripley, Tompkins 20, King 58; Harmony, Tompkins 28, King 15. At this election, Dr. Jediah Prendergast was elected by the Republicans from Chautauqua county as member of assembly. He was the brother of James, the candidate of the Federalists for the same position the
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1815-1816.
year before. The assembly district was then composed of the counties of Niagara, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus. Jediah Prendergast was the first inhabitant of Chautauqua county chosen to a legislative office. He was the fourth son of William Prendergast. He journeyed with his father's family from Pittstown to Tennessee in 1805, and went with the family in the fall of 1805 from Chautauqua to Canada. In 1811 he returned to Mayville where he became a' merchant in company with his brother Martin. He numbered Martin Van Buren, Dewitt Clinton and Peter R. Livingstone among his friends. He was a scientific scholar and a man of varied accomplishments.
The expectations awakened among the inhabitants by the signs of return- ing prosperity were not at once to be realized. Besides the hard times that followed the declaration of war, the settlers were to experience other calami- ties. The summer of 1816 was known all through the Holland Purchase as the " cold season." The recollection of that remarkable year is still vividly impressed upon the memory of the surviving pioneers. Jannary, in 1816, was a very mild month. The sun shone every day, and the little show that fell quickly melted. February was even milder than January until near the last of the month, when a great snow storm came followed by cold and boisterous winds which continued into March. The last half of this month was mild. April was mild like the January ; towards its close it grew colder, ending with snow and ice. May was cold ; ice formed an inch thick on the streams ; flowers were frozen and the entire corn crop was killed. June was colder than May ; snow fell, frost and ice were common. Farmers now abandoned all attempts to raise crops and were compelled to hoard those of the previous year, which advanced the price of all products of the soil. July was accompanied by frost and ice: The " Fourth " was cold and raw. Blustering winds swept the entire Atlantic coast. On the fifth, ice was formed as thick as a window glass in New York city and Pennsylvania. In August ice half an inch thick was frequently seen. September and October presented the nearest approach to summer weather, yet they were cold and frosty. In November extreme cold weather again begun, and con- tinued with little intermission until April 1817.
252
HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1817-1818.
" The perils of a frontier life They braved with breasts of iron mold, And sternly waged victorious strife With famine, thirst and pinching cold." -Hosmer.
B Y REASON of the extraordinary severity of the season of 1816, the corn crop, upon which the people most relied, was an entire fail- ure. The first six months of 1817 was a period of extreme scarcity, and might almost be termed the " Starving season." As there was no sur- plus of the products of the previous year to resort to, provisions of all kinds became extremely dear. Flour was $18 a barrel, corn, $1.50 a bushel, other articles in proportion, and often difficult to obtain at those prices. Samuel Cleland of Charlotte rode two days to obtain provisions to supply the immediate wants of his family of five persons, and all he could obtain was one-half bushel of rye. The price of labor was but from 60 to 75 cents per day, consequently, during the winter and spring of 1817, there was great suffering. Those who were skillful in the use of the rifle could to some ex- tent provide their families with venison and other wild meat. Many how- ever until the harvest of 1817 subsisted upon fish, milk, greens and leeks. In this dark period, while the people were suffering from privations perhaps greater than they had ever before experienced, an event occurred which was most deeply to affect their future interests, and was destined to make Chau- tauqua one of the most wealthy and prosperous counties in the state by giv- ing them facilities for taking the surplus products of their lands to the markets of the east. April 15, 1817, the legislature passed a law directing the construction of a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie. The first ground for the canal was broken near Rome on the 4th of July. Another event occured in 1817 which must also have been satisfactory to the people of the county and which evinced the progressive and philanthropic spirit of the state : the extinction of slavery in New York. This certificate of freedom attests the fact that Chautauqua county has not always been a land of liberty, and that slavery once lawfully existed within its borders, as it did in nearly all the territory of the original 13 colonies.
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