USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York > Part 61
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Timothy Goulding located one mile west of the harbor in 1808. A por- tion of Point Gratiot was included in his purchase. He built his house near where are now the brick yards, and probably within the city limits, and was the first actual settler of the city. After this he returned to Madison, and came back in 18og with his brother Luther Goulding, and his brother-in-law Solomon Chadwick. Timothy was the son of Joseph Goulding, who was born in Sherburne, Mass., and died in Pomfret about 1818 aged 80. Timothy died in 1873. The first settler at the harbor was Solomon Chadwick in 1809. He was born at Warren, Mass., October 16, 1776, emigrated to Madison county, where he married Persis Goulding, and moved his family to this county with a sled and yoke of oxen. By a contract, dated February 21, 1810, he bought .73 acres. This land includes the east part of lot 24, and was about 70 rods wide and 160 rods long, extending from the bay to the south line of the lot. It all lies within the second ward. He agreed to pay $164.25 for the land, or about $2.25 per acre. $4 was to be paid down ; $4 and the interest Feb. 21, 1811 ; the interest annually, and the remainder of the principal in eight equal annual payments ; the first Feb. 21, 1813. He built his log-house-the first erected at the harbor, on the shore near the foot of Dove street, a little east of the water-works. He lived here a few years, sold his interest, and moved to Sheridan, and afterwards to Perrysburg, where he died aged 87 years. He was a man slightly above medium height, spare in build, kind and cordial in his manner. Luther Goulding from Mad-
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ison county articled land in June 1809, and settled west of Chadwick, and east of his brother Timothy. He cleared the land and built his log-house on or near the bay, in 1809, at the bend of the shore where it turns towards the light-house. He built the first frame building in Dunkirk, a barn, near Point Gratoit. It is represented in a painting of Dunkirk made by Prof. D'Almane in 1835, and was standing as late as 1846. Luther Goulding was born at Holliston, Mass., in 1785. September 6, 1810, he married Polly Harrington. She was born at Petersham, Mass. Mrs. John Vosburgh and Mrs. C. S. Stebbins of Gowanda are their daughters.
Although the Goulding-Chadwick family was the first to locate on the site of the city, the Brighams were longer and more nearly identified with the fortunes of the place. John Brigham, was son of Jonathan Brigham, a native of Massachusetts, who emigrated from Oneida county in 1810, settled in Sheridan and in 1813 removed to Mayville, where he died in 1848. John Brigham came from Madison county and settled upon lot 23, (within the city) in ISO8, where he lived until August, 1828, in which month he and his wife died. Brigham road, which he laid out, and upon which he lived, takes its name from him. This was the second road opened from Fredonia to the lake. The first was the one to the mouth of the Canadaway. The third is now Central avenue. John Brigham, Jr., came here in ISIo with his wife and child. His brother James married Fanny Risley, a sister of Gen. Elijah Risley, in 1811. Samuel Brigham, a younger brother of John, Sr., in 1810 took up land on lot 19, and along the eastern shore of Dunkirk harbor. He did not move here as he died in 1811. Joel Brigham, his son, the only one of his family who came here, settled soon after on the lot taken up by his father. His house was built upon the bank of the lake in the Polish portion of the city. A few years after as he was returning on foot from Buffalo, when in the " four-mile woods," about a mile beyond Cattarau- gus creek, he was shot through the body by a young Indian. He reached Mack's tavern, where he was unconscious for several days. He was ill for two or three months, attended by surgeons from Buffalo. Among the Indians brought before him by Captain Mack, he identified Longfinger as the one who shot him. He was tried and imprisoned. Brigham lived many years, and died in Ohio. A little later than ISIo, Amon Gaylord located and built upon land lying east of Central avenue on Lake street. He was born in Connecticut, August 28, 1766, and died in Illinois in 1855. Ahiram Gay- lord, his son, came at the same time, and located and built near his father. He was born Nov. 11, 1787, and died in Illinois June 17, 1846. Daniel Pier took up land west of Central avenue, came here in January, 1814, and built at the corner of Second and Lake streets. He was born in Cooperstown, March 17, 1783, and died April 2, 1837. He married Candace, daughter of Amon Gaylord. They had seven children, among whom were
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Amelia S. Pier, Mrs. Louisa W. Saxton, and Mrs. Aveline H. Morey.
The first settlers of Dunkirk were generally influenced in selecting loca- tions only by the desire to obtain good farmning lands, without expectation of deriving especial advantage from a situation near a lake harbor. Solomon Chadwick, however, is said to have been led to locate on the bay by the proin- ise that it gave of becoming a lake port of importance. But during the six or seven years that he fished in the bay, dreamed of the coming commerce, and labored perhaps a little to extend the area of his rather neglected clear- ing, there was little to encourage his expectations. A gloomy forest lay between his habitation and the Canadaway settlements, unlike the open woods that grew upon dry and gravelly grounds. The site of the city was covered by a heavy forest of black ash and hemlock. Upon the drier grounds grew whitewoods and sycamores of the largest size. A whitewood root is mentioned as extending in an irregular course more than 90 feet before it disappeared in the ground. Although the generally even ground upon which the city is built inclined towards the lake with sufficient descent as to readily drain it, the roots of the trees and decayed and fallen timber so dammed the surface waters as to produce a boggy growth, and give it the appearance of being swampy ground. The forbidding appearance of this section turned settlement in other directions. Deer, wolves and other wild animals con- tinued to inhabit this region as late as they did the more inland portions of the county. The dismal woods came down to the very shore of the lake. From his cabin, Chadwick, at first, for days would look out over the lone- some bay, and see only a blue waste of waves with not a sail in sight. At long intervals some small craft driven by stress of weather, or perhaps laden with supplies for the settlers in the backwoods, would find its way into the bay, and Chadwick became well known. His hospitable and cordial ways made him well liked, and so, by common consent, the place was called Chad- wick's bay.
The first vessel that came into the harbor after the settlement it is said was brought there by Samuel Perry in 1810. The few commodities that were infrequently landed at the harbor, and other loads transported through the woods, were carried upon sleds of very simple construction. The prin- cipal branches of a small tree were cut a few feet above the forks or crotch. The tree itself was cut off a little distance below. There a hole was cut through which a chain was passed, by which the oxen drew the load. This simple sledge was the best conveyance known for the carriage of heavy arti- cles through the woods. It would adapt itself to the inequalities of the ground, and was fitted by its narrow prow to avoid obsta- cles. It would slip and slide between the trees and over the roots with little friction and withont upsetting. It was called by the settlers a " go-devil." The writer, when a boy assisting in the survey of the New York & Erie rail-
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road, was informed by Mr. Chadwick that he transported from Dunkirk the first merchandise conveyed south of the Ridge in the east part of the county in this way ; that the load was a barrel of whiskey, strapped upon one of these vehicles, and drawn by a yoke of oxen. It may have been a part of the cargo of Samuel Perry's vessel. The shipment of a barrel of whiskey mounted upon a " go-devil " seems to have been the startling commence- ment of commercial activity at Chadwick's Bay.
A few years later and the commerce of the Bay had increased a little. Haven Brigham, the second son of Jonathan, settled in Sheridan in 1810. He and his younger brother Winsor built a sawmill and had it in operation in 1811. Winsor soon sold his interest to Haven and commenced the erect- ion of the county buildings at Mayville. Haven, about 1815, built a schooner of 40 tons burthen, which he named the " Kingbird." She was commanded by Capt. Zephanialt Perkins, who ran her between Dunkirk and Buffalo freighted with lumber from Haven's mill. She brought back merchandise for the people of Dunkirk and Fredonia. Captain Perkins was a man of courage, trustworthy and very popular. It is related that once when he was a mate, a difference arose between him and the captain as to the management of the boat in a gale. The captain ran her into Cattaraugus creek. Perkins thought such a course extremely dangerous, forced the captain into the hold, put the vessel to sea, and rode out the gale in safety.
In 1816 a stock of goods was landed at Chadwick's Bay for Ralph and Joseph Plumb, merchants of Fredonia. It is said these goods were the first brought into the harbor. A temporary wharf was made by placing wooden horses in the water, upon which planks were laid, until the vessel was reached from the shore. At this time Dunkirk did not have population sufficient to entitle it to be called a village. But six or seven families were residing between Point Gratiot and the lower point. The few houses were so scattering that it was scarcely a hamlet. It was still known as Chadwick's Bay. Sampson Alton then hunted deer within the city limits, where they found a safe retreat in the tangled thickets of Crooked brook. Central avenue was merely a path marked by blazed trees, with the underbrush cut out. The road cut by Seth Cole many years before, from Portland through Dunkirk to Silver Creek, was then impassable for teams. Walter Brigham, son of Stephen and grandson of Jonathan, came to Sheridan in 1816. He told Henry Severance that he "started from Sheridan with his mother and grandmother one morning on foot to visit the Brighams on the Brigham road almost half way to Fredonia, and that they came by the road cut by Mr. Cole. It took them all day. They had to let themselves down into the gulf east of Mr. Smith's by hanging on to one bush until they could get a good clinch at another, and climb up the opposite bank by lifting and haul- ing each other. The gulf near George Rider's had to be passed in the same
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way. After they got this side of the high bluffs they went on the beach and finished their journey of the day of between five and six miles, tired, worn and hungry."
The site of Dunkirk and the country around it was apparently a dead level. Trees of remarkable size covered its monotonous surface. Its gloomy and forbidding appearance no doubt prevented its early settlement. Abont 1817, a new era commenced. Expectations were awakened, which, although doomed at times to disappointment, have survived to the present day. The history of Dunkirk has been unlike that of any other locality in the county. Bright periods of hope have been successively followed by long periods of depression, during which the true Dunkirker has never lost faith in the future, but has steadfastly adhered to the capricious fortunes of his town. The time had now arrived when Dunkirk was to emerge from the discourage- ment of its early settlement. In 1817 Dewitt Clinton was first elected gov- ernor. The bill for the construction of the Erie canal became a law April 15, 1817. Governor Clinton turned his attention favorably to Chadwick's Bay and made investments in its real estate. At that time the termination of the " grand canal," as it was called, had not been decided upon. There was a remarkable scarcity of good harbors upon Lake Erie. With the excep- tion of Black Rock, Put-in-Bay, and Detroit river, Chadwick's Bay was regarded as the best harbor on the lake; better than Maumee, Sandusky, Cayahoga river or Erie. It is thus described by William Darley in " A Tour from New York to Detroit," a book published in 1818: "A semi-circular bay lies in front of the village, formed by two capes, distance from each other about a mile and a half, with a bar extending from cape to cape, over which there is seven feet of water. Vessels capable of passing the bar find good shelter from east, southeast, south or southwest winds, and the bar breaking the waves, the harbor affords a refuge also from winds blowing from the lake. The bottom of the bay affords good anchorage within 200 yards of the shore."
For the shipping of those days it was a harbor more easily entered than Black Rock, then strenuously striving to be the terminal point of the canal. No harbor existed at Buffalo-only the mouth of a shallow creek which emptied into the lake at objectionable rapids and which was so obstructed by a sand bar that small vessels could rarely enter. Even canoes could not pass, and sometimes footmen could walk dry shod across. Chadwick's Bay was the best Lake Erie harbor within the state, and was a dangerous rival of Buf- falo and Black Rock. Governor Clinton believed that contingencies might occur that would cause it to be chosen a western terminus of the canal. The air was then filled with schemes for public improvement, even the impractic- able project of a canal from Chautauqua Lake to Lake Erie was then dis- cussed. It is possible that Governor Clinton thought that, independent of
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the Grand Canal, the good harbor, and the situation of Chadwick's Bay, gave it superior advantages. No suggestion that it was thought of as a terminus to the canal was made by William Darley, a competent observer, well informed upon the canal, who visited Dunkirk in ISIS. He merely made the sensible remark " that with good roads, and a thriving interior, Dunkirk must advance in a ratio with the neighboring county. Being the only port no rival can be raised to check its progress nearer than 45 miles. Should the current of commerce turn towards the city of New York, then would Din- kirk become the shipping port to a semicirele of at least 30 miles radius."
There is little doubt that Daniel G. Garnsey, who had visited the county in 1811, first called the attention of Governor Clinton and his friends to Chad- wick's Bay. In 1816 or 1817 he purchased for Elisha Jenkins, of Albany, as trustee for a company composed of Isaiah and John Townsend, De Witt Clinton and Mr. Thorn 1,008 acres, including the farms of Solomon Chad- wick, Timothy and Luther Goulding, Daniel Pier and others. Assignments were taken of their contracts, and deeds obtained of the Holland Land Com- pany. Chadwick received $2,000 for his farm, for which he had paid less than $200. Daniel Pier, who was a hatter, when he came two years before brought a box of wet and damaged hats, which he repaired and sold for $70, and this was all that he had paid on the land he now sold for $2, 400. Such advances in real estate was then without precedent in the county, .and have scarcely been paralleled since. Vicissitudes of fortune have from its earliest years been characteristics of Dunkirk.
Mr. Garnsey who was probably a stockholder, became the agent of these proprietors and was active to promote their interests. For several years he was the leading citizen of Dunkirk. . He was born in Canaan, N. Y., June 16, 1779. He studied law, was admitted to the supreme court, married Lucy Hudson, practised law in Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. He was at May- ville when the first county court was held in June 1811, and was admitted to the court of common pleas. He removed to Fredonia in 1816, and in 1817 to Dunkirk. He was ambitious for political preferment, obtained the office of surrogate, was appointed district attorney, being the first one who was a resident of the county, and was an active and efficient officer. He was also a commissioner to discharge certain duties of judge of the supreme court at "chambers," and he was the first member of Congress from Chautauqua county. He served two terms and was attentive to the wants of his constituents, particularly in regard to harbors, lighthouses and pensions. He subsequently removed to Michigan. On his way to attend the grand celebration of the completion of the Erie railroad, in Dunkirk, in 1851, he stopped at Gowanda, was taken violently sick and died May 11, 1851. He was a federalist until he came to Chautauqua, then became a Republican, and was a friend of Gov. Tompkins, then of. Gov. Clinton. He was a sup-
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porter of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and Gen. Harrison. Mr. Garn- sey is described as having sandy hair and beard, light complexion, dark eyes and a pleasant countenance. He was communicative but dignified in his * address, was six feet high, tall and slim, very straight and erect in his walk and had a military bearing. At one time he was brigade inspector of the militia, and few officers made more display or showed to better advantage. His Dunkirk residence was upon the east side of Eagle street near Front.
About the beginning of 1817 the harbor was called for a short time "Garnsey's Bay " as appears from the Buffalo Gazette of July 22, 1817. "New name. The place near the mouth of the Canadaway creek and Lake Erie, which was formerly known as Chadwick's Bay, has lately been called Garnsey's Bay, and a village has been recently planned at the head of said bay which is called Dunkirk." The name Dunkirk was given by Elisha Jenkins, trustee of the company, and one of the proprietors of the village. He was a citizen of Albany, had been a shipping merchant of Hudson and New York city, and was for a time engaged for the firm at Dunkirk, France. The bay at that place resembled Chadwick's Bay, hence the name Dunkirk. Jenkins was for many years a man of good reputation and a prominent offi- cial and politician. In 1801 he was appointed comptroller by the council of appointment, of which DeWitt Clinton and Ambrose Spencer were leading members, held that important office until 1806, and subsequently held the office of secretary of state three times, the last expiring February 23, 1813. He was a defeated Clintonian candidate for state senator in ISIS.
CHAPTER LI.
VILLAGE HISTORY.
A S SOON as. the company completed its purchase, 40 or 50 acres of the village site were surveyed into lots and improvements began. Samp- son Alton, in 1817, erected a two-story brick house on the south side of Front street near Buffalo street. It was the first brick house built in Chau- tauqua county. Mr. Alton made the brick on Front street east of Hook's bakery, and gathered the limestone of which the mortar was made along the American and Canadian shores, transported it to Dunkirk in his Io-ton sail- boat, burned in his lime kiln and laid the brick himself. This house was long regarded as the first mansion of the place. It was distinguished for the great hospitality of its inmates. Every one felt free to come, every one received a hearty welcome. It was torn down in 1891 to the regret of every
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one who remembered the Alton family. Mr. Alton's father, an Englishinan, who settled in Massachusetts, removed to Cooperstown, N. Y., married Fanny Gates in 1811. Their children were Luther Gates ; Nancy, (Mrs. Strobeck) ; Harriet, (Mrs. Joseph B. Hall) ; George D. ; Matilda, (the first child born in the brick house and first wife of Erastus D. Palmer, the celebrated sculptor) ; Olivia, (Mrs. Maurice Fox) ; Joseph F. ; Marion ; Fanny C., (Mrs. George M. Abell) ; Walton ; William. George D. Alton, born September 15, 1817, was the first white child born in Dunkirk. A deed of land was to be given to the first male child born in the place. Mr. Garnsey, at the time of the birth of George D. Alton, lived in Fredonia, and had a son born there about the same time. " Three months later he moved to Dunkirk with his family. He applied for and obtained a deed of said lot for his son, while his less enter- prising neighbor was contemplating doing so. The lot was situated on the bank of the lake, and long before either of the lads had reached man's estate, Lake Erie had put in a prior claim and taken the lot to itself. In this case, at least, it was shown that ill gotten gain did not benefit the possessor." Mr. and Mrs. Alton died during the same week in August 1848.
Adam Fink settled in Dunkirk in 1818 and was a well known early resident. His marriage in 1819 was the first in the place. With his own hands he cleared lands now in the heart of the city, and made the first cast steel edged tool in the county. He and Edward Keyes, who came a little later, were adepts at axe making.
Mr. Garnsey, supported by the Albany company, " The Dunkirk Asso- ciation," then the principal proprietors, was diligent in building up Dunkirk and inviting commerce. A road was made to Fredonia, a wharf and ware- house were built at the foot of Center street, a hotel on Front and Center streets, and other buildings at an expense of $20,000. Horace A. Foote of New York owns the only number of the Chautauqua Gazette in existence. It is dated May 19, 1818, contains this "Marine News" underneath the woodcut of a ship.
Garnsey Bay, Dunkirk, May 17, 18IS. Cleared : Sloop Independence for Sandusky passen- gers, 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 pas- sengers. Cleared : Firefly for 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 first steamboat, the Walk-in-the-Water also regularly entered the harbor. William Darley writes that he left Buffalo for the west August 2, 1818, and " At present the village, (Dunkirk) consists of about 20 houses newly built. The proprietors are employed in forming a road to join both above and below the village with that of the lake margin." The Chautauqua Gasette of May 19, 1818, contains an advertisement, dated Feb. 17, 1818, in which, under " New store," N. M. Caprons advertises that
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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 narrow axes, long draft and trace chains, and that such goods will be exchanged for lumber and grain or sold very low for cash," and that he will pay cash for 1,000 pounds of deer hair.
By the Chautauqua Gazette of August 10, 1819, it appears that the place had fully assumed the name Dunkirk, and that practical and substan- tial steps had been taken for the first time to prepare the harbor for the entry of vessels. The article was headed " Dunkirk."
To captains and pilots of vessels, sailing on Lake Erie. The Dunkirk Association at very considerable expense have prepared and placed buoys in the west channel leading from the lake into the bay to Dunkirk. The outer buoy is placed in line of the headlands or points each side of the bay yet a considerable distance without the bar. Vessels sailing down the lake may sail near or give the west point a good berth, yet approach the outer buoy with case. In fact, the onter buoy may be made from any point on the lake side, with from 15 to 18 feet of water. The buoys are white, 4 in mumber, and placed in the center of the channel. They are not all a direct line. It is expected, however, that all pilots and masters of vessels desirons of keeping the chan- nel and bringing into the bay the best water will keep a direct course from one buoy to the other running them down. The inner buoy next to Dunkirk, is placed in to feet of water, and the others from 12 to 15 feet, and vessels drawing not exceeding 9 feet of water way pass in and out with safety. After passing the last buoy, as vessels sail in, they may bear down for the wharf, or ride at anchor at case within the bay. The eastern channel it is. nuderstood, will shortly be buoyed out. May 26, 1819.
It was signed by D. G. Garnsey, Ellis Doty, William A. Lynde, John Bond, Azariah Fuller, Benjamin Day, Thomas Warren, James Day, capt. sloop Gen. Huntington, Joseph S. Barnard, capt. schooner Huron, Dan. G. Brown, pilot of the G. Huntington, Horatio Wilcox, pilot of schooner Zephyr and Moses R. Eaton, late master of the schooner Lord Wellington.
Under the heading of " Dunkirk Store," Beggs & Lynde advertise in the same paper that they "have for sale drygoods, crockery, hardware, glassware, groceries, Dutch bolting cloths, potash, kettles, iron, steel, anvils, vices, cranks, screws, sawmill saws, and nails," and "storage and forwarding con- tinued as usual." John Beggs came from Scotland and settled in Dunkirk in 1819, and was prominently connected with its early history. He built the Central avenue dock and the Buffalo street dock. He died in 1837. His brother Charles came later, and was a druggist and deputy postmaster.
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