History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 8

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The Iroquois next made war upon the Andastes, who resided on the Sus- quehanna and were the last of the Huron-Iroquois or Wyandot family that remained nuconquered. The Andastes made a brave and stubborn resistance, but were obliged to yield in 1675 to the superior numbers of the Iroquois .*

From the extirpation of the Eries to its settlement by the pioneers of the Holland Purchase, Chautauqua county continued the home of the Senecas. They however made few settlements within its limits, but often came to its

* Relations, 1676-2.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

lakes for hunting and fishing. It is not known that any white man visited Chautauqua county except Frenchmen for nearly a century after the destruction of the Eries.

CHAPTER VI.

LA SALLE.

T HE first information obtained by Europeans of the regions about Lake Erie and of the people who inhabited it was from the French in Can- ada. French enterprise outstripped the English in effecting a perman- ent settlement of this continent north of the state of Virginia. A French navigator, James Cartier, as early as 1534 sailed up the river St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, then the site of the ancient Indian village of Hochelaga, and learned from the Indians for the first time of the existence of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river. He erected a cross and shield, named the country New France, and returned.

Afterwards the French made repeated attempts to settle Canada. In 1608 Quebec was founded by Champlain. In 1615 Champlain, who was fond of adventurous exploits, with a party of his countrymen ascended the upper waters of the Ottawa river in Canada, crossed over and discovered Lake Huron. Here he was joined by large bands of Hurons who dwelt there, and with these allies he traversed the wilderness of Upper Canada, crossed Lake Ontario, entered the territory of the Iroquois, who were the mortal foes of the Hurons, and fought a battle with the Senecas, which is supposed to have taken place in Onondaga county.

Along with Champlain in 1615 came the first missionaries. They were of the order of St. Francis. Previous to 1625 three of their number, Le Caron, Viel and Sagard, had reached the Neutral nation north of Lake Erie. The winter of 1626 was passed by De la Roche Dallion among this people. Two of these missionaries, Jean de Brebeuf and Joseph Marie Chaumonot, visited the Neutral Nation in 1640. The following letter written by Father Lale- mant from St. Mary's Mission May 19th, 1641, to the Provincial of Jesuits in France giving an account of their journey is very interesting. It contains about the earliest account of that region and its occupants, and also references to the Eries who were then inhabitants of our county.

"Jean de Brebeuf and Joseph Marie Chaumonot two fathers of our company which have charge of the mission to the Neutral Nation, set out from St. Marie on the 2nd day of November, 1640, to visit this people. Father Brebeuf is peculiarly fitted for such an expedition, God having in an

LA SALLE.

eminent degree endowed him with a capacity for learning languages. His companion was also considered a proper person for the enterprise. Although many of our French in that quarter have visited this people to profit by their furs and other commodities, we have no knowledge of any who have been there to preach the gospel, except Father de la Roche Dallion, a Recollect who passed the winter there in the year 1626. The nation is very populons, there being estimated about forty villages. After leaving the Hurons, it is four or five days' journey, or about forty leagues, to the nearest of their villages ; the course being nearly due south. If, as indicated by the latest and most exact observations we can make, our new station, St. Marie, in the interior of the Huron country, is in north latitude about 44° 25', then the entrance of the Neuter Nation from the Huron side is about 4212º. More exact surveys and observations cannot now be made, for the sight of a single instrument would bring to extremes those who cannot resist the temptation of an inkhorn. From the first village of the Neuter Nation that we met with in traveling from this place, as we proceeded south or southeast, it is about four days' travel to the place where the celebrated river of the nation empties into Lake Ontario, or St. Louis. On the west side of that river, and not on the east, are the most numerous of the villages of the Neuter Nation. There are three or four on the east side, extending from cast to west towards the Eries or Cat nation. This river is that by which our great lake of the Hurons, or fresh sea, is discharged ; which first empties into the Lake of Erie, or of the nation of the Cat ; from thence it enters the territory of the Neuter Nation and takes the name of Onguiaalıra (Niagara), until it empties into Ontario or St. Louis lake, from which latter flows the river which passes Quebec, called the St. Lawrence ; so that if we once had control of the side of the lake nearest the residence of the Iroquois, we could ascend by the river St. Law- rence without danger, even to the Neiter Nation and much beyond, with great saving of time and trouble. According to the estimate of these illus- trious Fathers who have been there, the Neuter Nation comprises about 12,000 souls ; which enables them to furnish 4,000 warriors, notwithstanding war, pestilence and famine have prevailed among them for three years in an extraordinary manner. After all, I think that those who have heretofore ascribed such an extent and population to this nation, have understood by the Neuter Nation, all who live south and southwest of our Harons, and who are truly in great number, being at first only partially known, and all being comprised under the same name. The most perfect knowledge of their language and country which has been obtained, has resulted in a clear dis- tinction between the tribes. Our French, who first discovered this people, named them the "Neuter Nation," and not without reason ; for their country being the ordinary passage by land between some of the Iroquois nations and the Hurons, who are sworn enemies, they remained at peace with both ; so

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

that in times past, the Hurons and Iroquois, meeting in the same wigwam or village of that nation, were both in safety while they remained. Recently their enmity against each other is so great that there is no safety for either party in any place, particularly for the Hurons, for whom the Neuter Nation entertains the least good will. There is every reason for believing, that, not long since, the Hurons, Iroquois, and Neuter Nation, formed one people, and originally came from the same family, but have, in the lapse of time, become separated from each other, more or less, in distance, interest and affection, so that some are now enemies, others neutral, and others still live in intimate friendship and intercourse.

" The food and clothing of the Neuter Nation seem little different from that of our Hurons. They have Indian corn, beans and gourds in equal abundance. Also plenty of fish, some kinds of which abound in particular places only. They are much employed in hunting deer, buffalo, wildcats, wolves, wild boars, beaver and other animals. Meat is very abundant this year, on account of the heavy snow which has aided the hunters. It is rare to see show in this country more than half a foot deep. But this year it is more than three feet. There is also abundance of wild turkeys, which go in flocks in the fields and woods. Their fruits are the same as with the Hurons, except chestnuts, which are more abundant, and crab apples, which are some- what larger. The men, like all savages, cover their naked flesh with skins but are less particular than the Hurons. The squaws are ordinarily clothed, at least from the waist to the knees, but are more free and shameless in their immodesty than the Hurons. As for their remaining customs and manners, they are almost entirely similar to the other savage tribes of the country. There are some things in which they differ from our Hurons. They are larger, stronger, and better formed. They also entertain a great affection for the dead, and have a greater number of fools and jugglers. The Sonon- tombernonos ( Senecas), one of the Iroquois nations, and nearest to, and most dreaded by the Hurons, are not more than a days' journey distant from the castermost village of the Nenter Nation, named Onguiaahra (Niagara), of the same name as the river. Our Fathers returned from the mission in safety, not having found in all the eighteen villages which they visited but one, named Klecostoa, or St. Michael, which gave them the reception which their embassy deserved. In this village, a certain foreign nation, which lived beyond Lake Erie, or the nation of the Cat, named A-on-en-re-ro-non, has taken refuge for many years for fear of their enemies ; and they seem to have been brought here by a good Providence to hear the word of God."

It is not certain that Brebeuf and Chaumont crossed to the east side of Niagara river. At this time no Englishmen of whom we have any account had reached the basin of the St. Lawrence. Before this besides these priests many Frenchmen had visited the Neutral nation to purchase furs and other

LA SALLE.

commodities. These constituted the nearest approaches that at that time any Europeans had made to Chautauqua county of which we have any account. Bancroft says : "Previous to 1640, by continued warfare with the Mohawks, the French had been excluded from the navigation of Lake Ontario, and had never launched a canoe upon Lake Erie ; their avenne to the west was by the way of the Ottawa and French rivers, so that the whole coast of Ohio and South Michigan remained unknown, except as seen by missionaries from their stations in Canada."

The missionaries who came from France were most able and excellent men. In their zeal to christianize the Indian, they became the pioneers of the Northwest. One of their number, Allouez, in 1665 explored the coun- try about Lake Superior, and taught the Indians there. He first discovered the Pictured Rocks and learned of the copper mines. Robert Cavelier de la Salle, a resolute and talented young Frenchman, who afterwards became proprietor of Fort Frontenac in Canada and the wilderness round about it, resolved to explore these regions and the vast prairies of the west, and to reach the Ohio and Mississippi of which the Indians had informed him. July 6, 1669, he left La Chine in Canada, ascended the St. Lawrence, coasted along the southern shore of Lake Ontario to Irondequoit Bay, and thence penetrated into New York to the Indian villages of the Senecas near Genesee river, with a view of traveling farther in that direction until he should reach the headwaters of the Allegany and Ohio. After remaining here a while he abandoned this design, and with his companions from thence traveled west, crossed Niagara river into Ontario and passed the winter of 1666 and 1670 on Grand river, near Lake Erie. In the spring he followed the coast of the lake west to the east side of Long Point ; thence returning to Montreal where he arrived June IS, 1670 by the circuitous route of the Sault de St. Marie and the Ottawa river.

In 1673, Marquette, a missionary, and Joliet, a French citizen of Quebec, with a few companions explored the Mississippi between the mouths of the Wisconsin and Arkansas. La Salle possessed a most adventurous and en- terprising spirit ; and these journeys aroused in him a desire to make new discoveries and more extended explorations .. He first conceived the design or uniting the French possessions in Canada with the valley of the Mississippi by a line of military posts to secure its commerce to his country, and at the same time completely encircle the British colonies in North America. Hay- ing obtained the sanction of Louis XIV to his projects, in the fall of 1678, with a party of Frenchmen in a large canoe he entered Niagara river, and established at its mouth on its eastern bank a trading post which he enclosed with palisades. This constituted the first occupation of western New York by civilized men, and the founding of Fort Niagara-a fortress which, for nearly a century and a half filled an important place in the history of Canada, the

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

northern portion of the United States and the Indian tribes dwelling in that region.

In January, 1679, La Salle commenced building a vessel at the mouth of Cayuga creek, a stream that empties into Niagara river at the village of La Salle in Niagara county, a few miles above the falls. By Augast it was finished and equipped with sails, masts and everything needful, and launched upon the waters of the upper Niagara river. It was a bark of sixty tons armed with seven small cannon, and named the Griffon. This was the first vessel that spread its sails to the breezes of Lake Erie. August 7, 1679, La Salle, Tonti, his Italian lieutenant, and Father Lonis Hemmepin, and twenty- nine others, in the presence of many Iroquois warriors, after firing all their cannon and arquebuses set sail from the foot of Lake Erie streering westsouth- west ; on that day they made many leagues passing Chautauqua county. Hennepin states that he saw on this voyage up the lake its two distant shores fifteen or sixteen leagues apart. They were the first Europeans of whom we have any account who beheld the forest-covered hills of Chautauqua. La Salle continued his voyage until the Griffon cast anchor in Green Bay, on Lake Michigan. She was loaded with a cargo of furs and sent upon her re- thru voyage but was never heard of more. After the departure of the Griffon La Salle for awhile awaited her return with a portion of his party at the month of St. Joseph's river. Cruelly disappointed but undismayed he pushed on into Illinois, where he built a fort which he called Creve Coeur (broken heart) in token of his grief. He sent Hennepin with two compan- ions to the Mississippi, which they ascended to the falls of St. Anthony.

It is believed that he journeyed westward from Onondaga in 1681 or 1682, with the design he had formed when in 1669 he penetrated western New York to the Indian villages of the Senecas on his way to the headwaters of the Ohio. " After fifteen days of travel," says his ancient biographer, "he came to " a little lake, six or seven miles south of Lake Erie, the mouth of which opened to the southeastcard." There is but little doubt that this was Chautauqua lake, and this famous explorer and his companions were probably the first Europeans to visit it. About one quarter of a century had then passed since the destruction of the Fries, and the evidence, of this destruction in their ruined and abandoned towns must have been plainly seen by La Salle as he traveled through their country. La Salle afterward descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, journeyed back to Canada and crossed the sea to France, where his government furnished him four vessels with which he again crossed the ocean and landed at the bay of Matagorda, in Texas. With a few companions he traver sed Texas and penetrated as far as New Mexico, where, with twenty others he spent much of the year 1686. While on his way from New Mexico to Canada he was assassinated by a treacherous companion. Thus perished this bold pioneer who will long be remembered

DE CELORON.

as one of the most remarkable explorers that ever visited the American · continent.

CHAPTER VII.

DE CELORON.

" So shaken as we are, so wan with care, Find we a time for frighted peace to pant, And breathe short-winded accents of new broils To be commenced in strands afar remote."

S IXTY years after La Salle's death France and England were bound in carnest contention respecting the boundary line between their posses- sions in America. The discovery of America by Columbus filled the old world with astonishnent ; and awakened in it a spirit of adventure and discovery never before known. The principal maritime nations of Europe were stimulated to make new discoveries, and to secure possessions in the New World. In 1497 Jolin and Sebastian Cabot, Venetian navigators sent by the king of England, discovered the continent of North America. Upon the discoveries made by the Cabots the English founded their claim to the conti- nent of North America from Florida to Labrador, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1524. John Verazzano, also an Italian navigator, while in the employment of Francis I. king of France, sailed along the coast of North America from Florida to Labrador. It is believed he entered the harbor of New York. From a second voyage he never returned, and it is not known what discoveries he made on this voyage, or by what disaster he perished. James Cartier under the auspices of the king of France, as early as 1534 sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal. Upon the discoveries of Verazzano and Cartier the French based their claims to possessions in North America. Holland by the discoveries and explorations of Henry Hudson claimed the valley of the Hudson, and the territory between the Delaware and Connecti- cut rivers. Besides the claims of the English, French and Dutch to North America, on account of the discoveries of Columbus, De Leon, and the explorations of De Soto, Cortez and Coronado, Spain claimed the southern part of North America, from ocean to ocean. Chantaaqua county was included in the region claimed by both France and England, and, as a con- sequence of this, it was soon to be near to prominent military operations, and in close proximity to important lines of communications and rude military highways leading from distant military posts in this then intermi- nable western wilderness.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

Communications between the French posts on the Mississippi and the French forts and settlements in Canada were at first maintained by the long and circuitous route of the Mississippi, Green Bay, and the Ottawa, afterwards by Lake Michigan and the Illinois; and later by the Maumee and the Wabash. The direct and easy communication that could have been had between Canada and the Mississippi by Lake Erie and the short portage of Chautauqua lake, or over that from Presque Isle [Erie] to French creek and the upper waters of the Ohio, seems for a long time to have been unknown to the French ; but events of an important character as affecting this part of the world, and also the history of two of the most powerful nations of Europe, were destined soon to introduce this region to the notice of other nations. The English in 1722 established a trading post at Oswego, and later, built a fort. The French to command communication with the West in 1725 reoccupied and reconstructed Fort Niagara which had been deserted for over thirty-five years, and made it a strong fortress which became the scene of exciting military events.

In 1749 the rival countries still more directly asserted their rights to the territory west of the Alleghanies. The English government granted 500,000 acres of land on the Ohio to the Ohio Company, which included persons in London, Maryland and Virginia as its members, among whom were Lawrence and Augustine Washington. The objects of this company were the settle- ment of this territory, and to establish trade with the Indians.

The same year the French sent out from Canada Captain Bienville de Coloron, a chevalier of the order of St. Louis, to the Allegany to take formal possession of the disputed territory in the name of France and to warn the English trader- out of the country. The Marquis de la Galissonire then governor of Canada, was a man of great ability and energy of character. The force he sent with Coloron consisted of eight subaltern officers, six cadets, an annoper, twenty soldiers, one hundred and eighty Canadians, thirty Iroquois, and twenty-five Abenakis. The expedition left La Chine near Montreal June 15. 1749, ascended the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, and passing along the eastern and southern shore of Lake Ontario, arrived at Fort Niagara July 6th." The expedition ascended the Niagara river entered Lake Erie and coasted along its southern shore. At noon on the roth it arrived at Chatakoin portage, now Barcelona, at the month of Chautauqua-creek, marked upon Celoron's map as the river " Aux Pommes," (Apple river. ) . Fifty men under M. de Villers and le Borgne, were sent to clear the way. Coloron examined the place now Barcelona harbor with a view of establishing a post there, and he described it as ill adapted for such a purpose, as well from its position as from its relation to the navigation of the lake. " The water is so shallow that barks standing in cannot approach within a league of the portage. There being no island or harbor to which

DE CELORON.

they could resort for shelter, they would be under the necessity of riding at anchor and discharging their loading by bateaux. The frequency of squalls would render it a place of danger. Besides there are no Indian villages in the vicinity. In fact they are quite distant, none being nearer than Gana- ongon (now Warren, Pa.) and Paille Coupe (now Broken-Straw.) In the evening M. de Villers and le Borgne returned to lodge at the camp having cleared the way for about three-quarters of a league." This and the follow- ing extract from De Celoron's journal were translated from the French by the late O. H. Marshall of Buffalo, and are contained in his account of " De Celoron's expedition to the Ohio in 1749," published in the Magazine of American History March, 1878. Mr. Marshall's many contributions to the French and Indian history of this part of the continent ate of great value.

Celoron's journal continues: "On the 17th at break of day .. we began the portage (between Lake Erie and the head of Chautauqua lake) the prose- cntion of which was vigorously maintained. All the canoes, provisions, munitions of war, and merchandise intended as presents to the Indians bor- dering on the Ohio were carried over the three-quarters of a league, which had been rendered passable the day previous. The route was exceedingly difficult, owing to the numerous hills and mountains which we encountered. All my men were much fatigued. We established a strong guard, which was continued during the entire campaign, not only for the purpose of security, but for teaching the Canadians a discipline which they greatly needed. We continued our advance on the 18th, but bad weather prevented our making as much progress as on the preceding day. I consoled myself for the delay, as it was caused by a rain which I greatly desired, as it would raise the water in the river, (Chautauqua creek) sufficient to float our loaded canoes. On the 19th the rain having ceased we accomplished half a league. On the 20th and 21st we continued our route with great diligence, and arrived at the end of the portage on the banks of Lake Chatakoin (Chautauqua) on the 2211d."

Here Celoron paused for a short time to repair his canoes and recruit his men. He and his companions must have been impressed with the scene as they saw in the depths of an unbroken forest a tranquil lake stretching away to the southeast in placid beauty, its shores almost concealed by over- hanging foliage that stretched back on every side in a dense volume of ver- dure to the sununits of the surrounding hills. Celoron rested but a little while. He embarked on the 23rd. His fleet of bark canoes, manned by half- naked Indians, Canadians in hunter's garb, and French soldiers in the uni- form of their country were slowly paddled over the waters of the upper lake. They passed the wooded promontory of Point Chautauqua, and the maple groves at Fair Point, shades then unvisited save by the wild deer that strayed in from the forest depths to snuff the cool breezes of the lake ; voyaged

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

around the slender cape now called Long Point, that stretching far out seemed to divide the waters of the upper lake from the pleasant sparkling bay beyond and passed over the middle sheet of water through the narrow strait at Bemus Point into the broad expanse of the lower lake. At night- fall his feet of canoes came to a place, which, the journal says, was within three miles of the outlet. Here Celoron landed and encamped for the night. During the day a number of Indians belonging to the expedition had been fishing in the lake and saw strange Indians watching them from the adja- cent forest. The latter fled as soon as they were seen, which fact was duly reported to Celoron.

It is supposed that the encampment was on the eastern shore of the lake above Fluvanna not far from Greenhurst. A few relics possibly left by members of this party have been found in this vicinity. In one place an old French axe, at another point a musket with a rusty barrel and a decayed stock. In 188; several interesting relics were taken from a mound in which discoveries of antiquities had previously been made. This mound was not far from the lake in the highway on the Strunk farm, a short distance above Fluvanna and about a mile below Greenhurst. Here were found portions of human skeletons and "two long steel knives, the blade of one being twelve inches long, and one and a half inches wide at the handle, and gradually tapering to a point. The other blade is eleven inches long and two inches wide at the handle and also tapering to a point. The latter bears the stamp of Sabatier, Rue St. Honore, 31, and the figure of a human hand partly sur- rounded by a legend somewhat indistinct from the effect of rust." These words show the French origin of the knives, and that they may have belonged to some member of Celoron's force.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 8

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1068

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068