USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 24
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"At present wheat can be sent from the Genesee Settlement to Philadelphia, at one shilling sterling per bushel: but if the water com-
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munication be opened between the two rivers, the cost will not exceed fourpence. 1
"Dry goods can now be sent to these new settlements at about eight shillings sterling per hundred weight, which will probably be reduced to three shillings when the navigation is completed.
"No country in the world is better adapted for raising cattle than the Genesee grant. One of the first settlers in that country asserts that he can every season cut wild grass on his own farm in the Genesee flats sufficient to maintain 2,000 head of cattle through the winter; and that such hay, with rushes and vegetables which are found above the snow, generally keep the cattle fat without any ex- pense. Hogs can also be reared in the woods at little or no expense to the farmer. "As the distance from Philadelphia (between which and the Genesee lands a road was to be completed in 1791) is somewhat less by land than two hundred miles, there can be no difficulty in driv- ing fat cattle and hogs to that market for sale; as they can transport themselves at a very small expense, and as the demand for provision increases every year, and a liberal price is given for beef and pork, there can be no doubt but the rearing of cattle and hogs, as well as horses, for sale in the low countries, will soon become a great object of protit to the settlers, as the extensive ranges of meadow ground on the flats, and the blue grass, white clover and pea-vine in the woods, must en- able the farmer to feed almost any number he can raise, or find capital to purchase. In many parts of the tract there is little or no under- wood, and excellent pasture in the forests between the trees, in conse- quence of their being in general of an enormous size, and of the consid- erable distance between them, thereby affording even a wide range for cattle in the upland country, as well as in the flats and meadows, which have already been represented to be luxuriant beyond descrip- tion, in a species of coarse grass, very fit for hay. It is said that there are many wild horses upon the tract, which is an additional proof of there being winter food in the flat lands and in the forests.
"The present settlers have already got a fine stock of cattle and hogs, and find that they thrive and increase very fast ; but as yet there are very few sheep, although, it is supposed, they would succeed well
1. This communication was begun in 1793.
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on the hills, after the country is more fully peopled. Several genteel families are preparing to settle on the tract this season, which will greatly facilitate the population of these lands.
"The crops of wheat, Indian corn, and other small grains were very abundant last year; so that the present settlers are in a situation to assist and supply the wants of new-comers.
"The market for grain and provision raised in the Genesee country will be on the spot for some time to come, and the constant influx of settlers, who may be expected, until the whole of these lands are occu- pied, will, at least for a time consume all the surplus produce ; after- wards the city of Philadelphia will probably be the best market; and while the country is in progress of being settled, the hemp and flax raised by the Genesee farmers, and also the ashes and sugar made up- on these lands, and the skins and furs procured by hunting, must ulti- mately go to Philadelphia and New York; but this will be the business of the merchant, who will receive all these articles from the farmer in return for dry goods, implements of husbandry, salt and rum, and such other articles as the settlers may want.
% % *
"Wheat is at present, 1791, one dollar per bushel (4s. 6d. sterling) ; Indian corn, 2s. 6d. ditto; salt from the Onondaga works, 60 miles east of the grant is half a dollar a bushel. 1
The following is an account of a visit of a gentleman to the Genesee country in February, 1792: "From Canandaigua to the Genesee river, twenty-six miles, it is almost totally uninhabited, only four families residing on the road. The country is beautifully diversified with hill and dale, and in many places, we found openings of two and three hun- dred acres, free from all timber and even bushes, which, on our ex- amining, proved to be of a rich, deep soil. It seemed that, by only inclosing with one of these openings a proportionable quantity of tim- bered land, an inclosure might be made similar to the parks in Eng- land.
"At the Genesee River I found a small Indian store and tavern ; the river was not then frozen over, but was low enough to be forded. As yet there are no settlements of any consequence in the Genesee country. That established by a society of Friends, on the west side
1. Doc. Hist. II., IIII-1122.
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of the Seneca lake is the most considerable; it consists of about forty families. But the number of Indians in the adjoining country, when compared with the few inhabitants who venture to winter in the country, is so great, that I found them under serious apprehen- sions for their safety. Even in this state of nature, the county of Ontario shows every sign of future respectability. No man has put the plough in the ground without being amply repaid; and, through the mildness of the winter, the cattle brought into the country the year before are thriving well on very slender provision for their subsistence. The clearing of land for spring crops is going on with spirit. I also found the settlers here abundantly supplied with venison. "1
The institutions of society came slowly. Up to the month of June 1793, owing to neglect to appoint judges, no courts had ever been held in Ontario county, then embracing the country west of Seneca lake, although the county had been organized upward of four years. The first Circuit Court and Court of Oyer and Terminer was held at "Patterson's Tavern," in Geneva, on the 9th of June 1793, the pre- siding judge being John Sloss Hobart, one of the three judges ap- pointed in 1777 on the organization of the judiciary. A grand jury was empanelled and charged, but no indictments were found. The first Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions was held at the house of Nathaniel Sanborn in Canandaigua on the 4th of November, 1794. The presiding judge was Timothy Hosmer with Charles Wil- liamson and Enos Boughton as associates. At this term James Wadsworth, Thomas Morris, John Wickham and Vincent Matthews appeared as attorneys.
In the autumn of 1793 the Marquis de Talleyrand, the famous French statesman, was piloted through the wilds of the Genesee by Benjamin Patterson, who resided in Steuben county. The Marquis was then an exile and had leisure to inspect the natural features of this valley. Standing on the bluff near the present dam at Mount Morris, he said, after admiring for an hour the scenery spread out before him to the eastward, "it is the fairest landscape that the human eye ever looked upon."
The Albany Gazette of the 15th of July, 1793, contains this ad- vertisement : "Williamsburgh Fair and Genesee Races. There will be held at Williamsburgh, at the great Forks of the Genesee river,
I. Doc. Hist. II., 1131-1132.
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an annual fair for the sale and purchase of cattle, horses and sheep, to commence on Monday, the 23d of September, and continue on Tues- day. It is expected at this fair that a number of fat bullocks and working oxen of the best New England breeds, with which the coun- try is well supplied, will be shown. As the situation of Williams- burgh lays convenient for the Niagara market, it is also expected that both horses and young cattle will meet with ready sale at high prices, the demand from Upper Canada being considerable. On Wednesday there will be run for over the race ground a purse of fifty pounds, and also a subscription purse. On Thursday there will be a run for the sweepstakes, and races for small prizes. On Friday there will be shooting matches and foot races. As this meeting will be held in the centre of a country abounding in provisions, strangers will find no difficulty in providing themselves and horses, and pains will be taken to afford them every possible accommodation. Particular convenience will be made for such horses as are brought to compete for the different prizes. The horses must be regularly entered and carry weight according to the established rules at the races in the Low Countries."
The following year (1794) fourteen horses were entered for the fifty pound purse, and cattle were driven from all the adjacent country to the show. The fair and races continued for several years to be highly successful, while the sales of stock were quite large. The exhibitions were held on the flats lying between the present highway and the Canaseraga creek, west of the residence on the Colonel Abell farm, now the property of Major William A. Wadsworth.
In 1793 the small-pox, a disease of which the Indians had justly a great dread, broke out among the Senecas on the Genesee. The In- dian agent at Canandaigua, General Chapin, employed male nurses to go to Little Beardstown and other villages and take general charge of the sick. The papers of the agency contain the account of "Solomon Jennings for thirty-nine days nursing the Indians with the small-pox at Genesee river, seven pounds, sixteen shillings." The general government employed and paid blacksmiths for the Indians, as well, and Chapin's papers contain the account of George Jones, rendered in November, 1793, for fifteen months' services as blacksmith for the Senecas at Genesee river, tools and sundry supplies, one hundred and twelve pounds.
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The new stage lines appear to have promoted postal facinties mit little at first, for in February, 1794, the Albany Gazette, expressing regret at the deficiency of mail communication between Albany and the Genesee river, says, "a respectable if not a major part of the letters and papers brought in the mail to the post-office in this city are destined further westward, but for want of regular conveyance are rendered useless from the length of time elapsing before they can reach the place of destination. "1 It appears that there was a sort of provisional post-office at Williamsburgh in 1793, for Timothy Pickering. writing to General Chapin from Detroit in Angust, 1793, says: "The enclosed letter I request you to forward to Philadelphia, either by for- warding it to the post-office at Williamsburgh, or let it be carried by an Indian runner to the post-office at Whitestown, " and the same year the Secretary of War directs General Chapin "to write him weekly" by Captain Williamson's post.
In 1793 a plan was developed to divide this State, and erect the western half into a separate commonwealth. The crafty managers of the Livingston lease were doubtless at the bottom of this project. Failing to receive the approval of the Legislature to their contract for the Indian lands, these men proposed, it would appear, to accomplish their design in this revolutionary manner. A variety of reasons, though not the real ones, were assigned for this step. James Wadsworth and other large land owners were invited to take part in the movement. But it received no countenance from him nor from others in this region. The adjournment of the November term of the Court of Com- mon Pleas and General Sessions of Ontario, in 1794 was chosen as the occasion for a meeting to declare the popular opposition to the measure. The attendance was large. Timothy Hosmer, First Judge of the county, presided, and a series of resolutions were adopted set- ting forth that certain restless and turbulent characters from the eastern district of this State, evilly disposed towards the welfare of the country, had for some time past endeavored to stir up sedition among its peaceable inhabitants and incite them to acts both treason- able and improper, in proposing that the counties of Ontario, Otsego
1. Timothy Pickering, Postmaster General, write- to Gen. Chapin, under date of June 3d, 1794, "The postroad is extended by law to Canandaigua. \ \ \ The post will not be riding till Sep- tember. x x x I shall order the mail once in two weeks from Whitestown to Canandaigua."- See Chapin's Mss. papers, N. Y. Hist. Soc.
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and a part of Tioga and Herkimer should immediately shake off all dependence from the State of New York, and support their independ- ence by force of arms if need be; that the passions of the dishonest and disorderly, the ambitious and timid, had been flattered to expect that laws would be passed by the proposed State for screening in- dividuals from the payment of their just debts for six years and that all Indian lands and all public lands should become a prey to the rapacity of their hungry followers, and that they had engaged to sustain their measure with armed troops, collected from Vermont and elsewhere. Referring to the threats of the revolutionists, the resolutions say: "We have nothing to fear from any banditti they can collect for for- cing us into measures we heartily disapprove, " and that, sensible of the many advantages they derive from their connection with one of the most respectable States in the Union, and desirous of a continu- ation of the same, they highly resented the ill-timed and improper at- tempt made by the characters above alluded to to disturb their peace. The proposed state could not defray the necessary expenses of the most moderate state government, and it would be unjust to raise enormous taxes for such an object on uncultivated lands, and they recommended that the Geneva meeting, appointed to be held on the 25th of November, be not attended, as it was called by strangers to the county.
The meeting expected, after such a public declaration, that the State administration would take the most vigorous measures to sup- press any attempt that might be made to destroy the peace and quiet of the county. Judge Cooper, in his charge to the grand jury of Otsego county, referred to this meeting and endorsed its action. Other officials and other public meetings discountenanced it, and the project, however formidable at one time it appeared, seems never to have been revived.
The loss of the colonies was accepted with ill grace by the British authorities in America. The treaty of 1783 had, indeed, ended the war, but a spirit of hostility remained, and under one pretext or another the forts at Oswego and Niagara and other military posts on the western lakes continued to be occupied by British garrisons. British officers affected to claim the territory of Western New York. the valleys of the western lakes and the region of the Mississippi and every art was employed by them to keep alive the prejudices of the
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Indians and to incite them to unfriendly acts. The growth of the settlements along the Genesee was an especial cause of jealousy, both to the British and the Indians, though they did not venture directly to interfere. But when, in 1794, Charles Williamson began a settle- ment at Sodus Bay, the authorities of Canada resolved to put a stop to it. Lord Dorchester, then Governor-General of Canada, held a talk with the Indians, in which he artfully sought to provoke them to a hostile course, and found them disposed to second his measures. An alliance was formed, it is said, and a concerted movement agreed upon, having for its object the repossession of Western New York. Presents were freely distributed, "the British Superintendent of In- dian Affairs," says Colonel Hosmer, "being profuse of costly pres- ents to his fierce allies; and broadcloths, blankets and silver orna- ments were tauntingly exhibited to the white settlers of Avon and vicinity by the young braves of Canawaugus," who had received them of the Canadian authorities. There was good ground for believing, as our government did, that the Ministry of Great Britain enter- tained the idea of making war upon us. As a first step, the Deputy Governor, Simcoe, dispatched Lieutenant Sheaffel of the British army to Williamson with a formal protest against the further prose- cution of the settlement at Sodus Bay, and all other settlements in Western New York, during the inexecution of the treaty. William- son happened to be at Bath at the time, and Sheaffe informed his agent, a Mr. Moffatt, of the nature of his mission, and stated that he would return in ten days. Williamson was sent for, and Thomas Morris met the British officer and conducted him to Williamson, who stood beside a table on which lay a brace of loaded pistols. The meeting was friendly and even cordial, for the two gentlemen had known each other years before, when both were in the English ser- vice. The protest was delivered and read, and Williamson desired the Lieutenant to inform his principal that no attention could be paid to the missive, but that the settlements there and elsewhere would be proceeded with all the same.
News of this proceeding on the part of the British authorities was not slow in spreading through the Genesee settlements. Is abrupt nature, and the morose and quarrelsome temper of the Indians who
1. Better known afterwards as Major General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe. He commanded at the battle of Queenstown, after Brodie's death, and was otherwise conspicuous during the war of 1912.
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swarmed the forests, and had become "rude and saucy to the white settlers, " says George Hosmer, "and would impudently enter their houses, take the prepared food from the tables and commit other offences." and who were known as ready and willing allies of the authorities across the border, caused no little anxiety and alarm among the pioneers, who were destitute of arms and ammunition, an l were scattered over a large territory, remote from assistance. A few sold out their betterments at a loss, and returned to the East. But the insolence of the demand excited the spirit of the settlers, many of whom had but recently laid down their arms, and many were the offers of personal service to repel any attempt to take Captain Wil- liamson prisoner and send him in irons to England, as had been threatened. A letter written at this period expresses the feeling of the sturdy settlers. "We are prepared to give a cordial and warm reception to our Canada friends, and shall not fail to persuade them to make six foot locations in the rich soil of the Great Sodus and along the Genesee should they come over with guns loaded and pointed."
The Lieutenant no sooner left than Captain Williamson dispatched an express rider to President Washington and another to Governor George Clinton, advising them of the peremptory character of Simcoe's order and of his own purpose to resist any attempt to inter- fere with the settlements. He requested that arms might be fur- nished and authority given to collect and organize the militia and volunteers. Governor Clinton was found at his home in Little Britain near Newburgh. The independence of the act stirred the stern old patriot, and he lost no time in directing that the arms that had been assigned to the militia of the western frontier and the quota for Ontario county should be immediately forwarded. "For," said he in his order, "the principle set up in Governor Simcoe's protest cannot for a moment be tolerated, and if any attempt should be made on the part of the British to carry it into execution. force must meet force. To this end, exert every means to keep the militia of your division in the most perfect readiness for actual service." A law had recently passed the Legislature authorizing the erection of fortifications on the northern and western frontiers, and commissioners were selected to carry it into execution. They decided to establish block houses at Fort Stanwix. at Onondaga Salt Springs, Canandaigua, Canawaugus
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and at Bath. The Albany Gazette of the 11th of September, 1794, says, "Several of the block houses and pickets on the western frontier are already completed, and all of them are in great forwardness. Each will be furnished with a piece of cannon and all necessary ammunition, and seven hundred stand of arms for use if inhabitants of the frontier are on their way."
"While all this was progressing, " says Turner, "in four days after the affair at Sodus, in fact before Governor Simcoe would have had time to execute his threats, the great measure of deliverance for the Genesee country and the few scattered border settlers of the west, had been consummated. 'Mad Anthony'1 -and there had been 'method in his madness' -- had met the confederated bands of the hostile Indians of the West, and almost under the walls of a fortress of their British allies achieved a signal victory! Those upon whom Governor Simcoe was relying for aid (for it is evident that he looked to a descent of the western Indians upon the Genesee country in case the war was renewed), were humbled and suing for peace. This alone would have averted his worst intentions, and added to this was the consideration that Mr. Jay had sailed for London on the 12th of May, clothed with ample power from our government to arrange all matters of dispute.
"Those familiar with the history of our whole country in the earliest years of its separation from England, are aware how important was the well planned and successful expedition of General Wayne. Im- portant in its immediate consequences, the putting an end to pro- tracted, harassing Indian treaties, and the founding of that great empire of wealth, prosperity and unparalleled progress, our Western States. But few can now realize its local consequence in the Gene- see country. It gave security where there was little of it before, and inspired hope and confidence with those who were half determined to retrace the weary steps that had brought them into the wilderness; for they felt that if war was to be added to all the sufferings and privations they were encountering, it were better to abandon the field. if not forever, to a period more propitious. The news of Wayne's victory was communicated by Brant to General Chapin, and it circu- lated briskly among the backwoods settlements. Here and there were seen small gatherings of pioneer settlers congratulating each
1. General Anthony Wayne, of Revolutionary fame
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other upon the event, and taking fresh courage to grapple with the hardships of pioneer life. All was confirmed when, in a few days, the Senecas were seen coming back, upon their war path, humbled, quaking with fear at the mere recollection of the terrible onslaught that Mad Anthony had made upon the dusky legions that had gathered to oppose him, and uttering imprecations against those who had lured them from home to take part in the contest and then remained far away from danger, or shut themselves up in a strong fortress, mere spectators in a conflict while they and their confederates were falling like autumn leaves in a shower of hail."
Colonel Hosmer says, "Tidings of Wayne's victory came like a reprieve after sentence of death, a skylark's call after a raven's croak." The Indians were thoroughly subdued, and, chagrined by their terrible reverses and the bad faith of their Canadian allies, they determined to settle down quietly in their villages and renew their amicable relations with their white neighbors. The British, also, bound by the terms of the Jay treaty, ceased from troubling, and the Genesee settlements were finally permitted to progress in peace.
Early in September, 1794, Daniel Kelly, John Jones and John Har- rison, all of whom were afterward notable farmers of Groveland, and all became deacons in the same church, left their Pennsylvania home, on the north branch of the Susquehanna, for a visit to the Genesee country by way of the Williamson road, "which was without bridges over creeks, or crossways in bad places, the underbrush and logs being removed a rod wide," says Mr. Harrison. William Ryans was also of the party. They had two horses between the four, riding and walking in couples by turns. The party on horseback would trot on far ahead, and hitching the horses beside the road, would start for- ward on foot, leaving their companions to come up and resume the saddle. A journey of eight days brought them to Williamsburgh. where, on the 13th of September, 1794, they put up at William Lemon's tavern, a small frame house, and the first frame house built in the town of Groveland. Ryans was displeased with the country and homesick, and started back the following morning, taking with him one of the horses. The three others went to Geneseo to pur- chase lands of the Wadsworths, who were then laying the cellar wall of their homestead. James Wadsworth at once saw that they were good judges of farming lands, and advised them to look at some lots
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