USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 63
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Canawaugus, a small hamlet, is in the southeastern part on the Erie railroad. It was once a meeting place for Indian chiefs, and is sup- posed to have been the birth-place of Red Jacket.
In 1797 all the territory in the state west of the Genesee river was constituted a single town of Ontario county, and called Northampton. The first town meeting of this extensive tract was held at Big Springs, now Caledonia, Gad Wadsworth presiding. In 1802 Northampton was separated from Ontario county and named Genesee county, and the same year the territory was divided into the towns of Leicester, Ba- tavia and Southampton. The Caledonia settlement was included in Southampton, and the town of Caledonia was set off in 1806. In 1812 it was made smaller by the separation from it of a new town named Bellona, which is now the town of LeRoy in Genesee county, and in 1819 still smaller by setting off another section into a town now known as Wheatland, Monroe county.
Two Englishmen named Kane and Moffatt were the first settlers of Caledonia. They arrived at Big Springs in 1795, and built there the first house, necessarily of logs, and kept tavern in it for three years, but being suspicious characters, accused of robberies, and even murder, other settlers finally drove them away. They were succeeded by L. Peterson and David Fuller about 1798, who built other log houses and entertained incoming emigrants and passing travelers.
It was in 1798 that a number of families from Broadalbin, Perthshire, Scotland, emigrated to America. They arived in New York in April and immediately proceeded to Johnstown, now in Fulton county. Colonel Charles Williamson, agent for the Pulteney estate in the Gen- esee region, with characteristic enterprise went to Johnstown to see them and induce them to come to this land of promise. He offered them lands around Big Springs for $3 an acre, payable in wheat at six shillings a bushel, and agreed to furnish them provisions until
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they could provide for themselves. The offer was tempting, and they decided to send five of their number to the Genesee country to inves- tigate and report. Their names were Donald McPherson, Malcolm McLaren, Hugh McDermid, James McLaren and John D. McVean. Being out of money they were obliged to travel the two hundred miles on foot. They were pleased with the lands around Big Springs, and concluded to report in favor of settling there. When returning they met Colonel Williamson between Geneva and Canandaigua, and on the highway closed a written contract with him which secured to them the Big Springs lands. Donald McKenzie left notes of this trip and the settlement afterward of the Scotch families, in which he praised Colonel Williamson and said that they "found him more noble and generous than he had agreed or promised." The start of twenty of the Scotch company, women and children included, for their new home was made almost immediately after the return and report of their five representatives, and they arrived there in March, 1799, others remaining at Johnstown until the next fall and spring. The first ar- rivals included Peter Campbell and wife, Malcolm McLaren and wife, Donald McVean, Hugh McDermid and John McPherson. The fall arrivals were Donald McPherson, Donald Anderson and Alexander Thompson. All of them found temporary shelter and accommodations in the log guest houses of Peterson and Fuller. After looking about they agreed with Colonel Williamson to purchase 3,000 acres under his offered stipulations before stated, and because the purchase was a large one Colonel Williamson generously agreed to give them two hundred acres for the support of a minister, and two acres more on the state road on which to build a church and school house. They were an industrious and hopeful company, and the men began at once to put up log houses, clear away trees and cultivate the rich soil, their wives and children helping them as they could.
Others soon followed from Johnstown and Scotland, and there were accessions to the little colony of their Scotch countrymen nearly every year for several years. Arrivals in 1800 were John and Daniel Ander- son, John Christie and family, John McLaren, Major Isaac Smith, Smith McKercher and his sons, Peter and John. Afterward, and before or during 1804, came John McKay, and his mother and sister Jeannette, Alexander McDonald, his wife, son Donald and daugh- ters Jeannette and Catherine, Robert Whaley, William Arm-
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strong, Angus Cameron and his three sons, Duncan, Donald and John.
They experienced privations, but soon became attached to the land of their adoption and the new republic that had just been formed, in which they were not subject, as in the monarchy which they left be- hind, to various oppressions including impressment into the navy to fight against France. Colonel Williamson was more than faithful to his promises in furnishing them with needed provisions and means for cultivating the land. The wheat they used at first was grown in Dansville and ground at the mill in Conesus, but in 1802 they had a flouring mill at home, which was built on the outlet of the springs by Colonel Williamson. It was a small mill, with one run of stones, and was the second flouring mill built west of the Genesee river. John Mckay purchased the mill and two hundred acres of land, which in- cluded the springs, the outlet and the site of Mumford, in 1803 for $2,000. The next year he erected a saw mill on the outlet. There was no other flouring mill in Caledonia until 1814, when one was built by Moses Gibson and Colonel Robert Mckay on a stream near the York line. The mills made the progress of the farmers more rapid and were conveniences which the settlers in other towns were slower in obtaining.
Other settlers not named who came about 1804, and perhaps some of them a little earlier, were Duncan McCall and son, Donald, Lachlan, Daniel, James and Neil McLean, all brothers, Archibald Gillis, Archi- bald McLachlin, William Orr, Angus and Neil Haggart, brothers, Collin Gillis and John McKenzie. The most of these men brought with them their families, and others followed; the Scotch settlement was increasing rapidly. The most of the settlers for the first few years were Presbyterians of the strictest sort, some of them with the Westminster confession at their tongue's ends. It was probably a more religious and moral community at that period than almost any other in the Genesee country, and this fact contributed not a little to its prosperity.
The pioneers soon felt the need of a school house for their children, and having met and resolved to have one, caused it to be built-of course with logs -- in 1803 near the centre of the settlement, where the first teacher was probably Alexander McDonald. On Sundays the people met there regularly for religious worship, consisting of prayers, readings from the Bible, comments and exhortations; and Peter Far-
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quharson, who was better educated than his neighbors, often read ser- mons to them from an approved collection. Occasionally a minister came from another settlement and preached to them.
The first church was organized there by Rev. Jedediah Chapman of Geneva in March, 1805, and three elders were chosen, who are believed to have been Donald McKenzie, Duncan McPherson and Donald An- derson. The church became a part of the Presbytery of Geneva, and for a time was supplied occasionally for services by the organizer, Mr. Chapman, and Rev. Mr. Lindsley of Big Tree, now Geneseo. The community had failed to obtain the two hundred acres of land promised by Col. Williamson for the support of a minister because the deed could not be given until there was a legal religious society, and the Colonel had ceased to be agent for the Pulteney estate in 1802.
Lockwood L. Doty in his history says: "Colonel Throup, Colonel Wil- liamson's successor, though bound, of course, to fulfill all his engage- ments, seemed unwilling to give the society the promised deed, and it was not until 1805, after repeated solicitations by letters and hy messen- gers, that he did so. When the deed came from Geneva, a meeting of the society was called at the house of James McLaren to receive it. It was first resolved to deposit the deed in the hands of Peter Farquharson. By a second resolution, 'all persons were excluded from having any interest or property in the donation land, except such as lived on the Pulteney lands.' This resolution was directed against the new comers from In- verness, who had the year before bought on the Forty Thousand acre tract. 'Against such un precedented proceedings, which had a tenden- cy to tarnish the Christian religion and dismember societies and con- gregations,' Peter Campbell and Alexander McDonald "protested." Here was the beginning of the strife that for so many years agitated the settlement. The donation land, intended to be so useful, resulted for a time at least in very great injury. The church became divided into two factions, and a long series of quarrels ensued, resulting sometimes in violence, often in bitter words and bad feeling through- out the settlement. It was not until ten or twelve years had elapsed that the controversy was ended by an equitable division of the prop- erty between the two societies into which the original church had be- come divided.
"Beside the two hundred acres given to the society-they lay on the south side of Allen creek, and included what is called 'the old bury-
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ing ground'-a lot of two acres lying in the village laid out near the springs was granted as the site of a church and manse. Upon this lot, in 1805, the people built a log meeting-house, thirty feet by forty. In this work, though they were already. as we have seen, alienated from one another, the people from Inverness and those from Perthshire labored harmoniously together. This primitive church stood not far from the site of the house now occupied by Mr. Hatch, its gable ends facing east and west. Alexander Dencon was secured as minister."
Donald MeNaughton, who emigrated to America in 1805, and came to Caledonia in 1806, was one of the most prominent and useful men among the earliest settlers. He built a log house on the present site of Mumford in that year, and made it a shop for cloth dressing, a trade which he had learned, and thus became the pioneer in that business of all the country west of the Genesee. His patronage came from a ter- ritory now comprised of not less than ten counties. In 1809 he added a carding machine, which was the second west of the Genesce. Soon afterward he built a framed shop, and in this did a thriving business until it was destroyed by fire. Meanwhile he had purchased about four hundred acres of land of the English company at Geneva. On this he built a large stone factory, the stone being quarried from his land, and there continued the woolen business, and added the manufacture of many kinds of cloth. He also built a large grist mill on Allen creek, a little east of Mumford, with which he did a successful busi- ness until stopped by a succession of misfortunes, one of which was the burning of his stone factory, and another the loss of a large section of his land. The fire destroyed many thousand dollars' worth in build- ings and machinery. But undaunted he built on the outlet a large saw mill in which he did a profitable business for a number of years. His wife, whom he married in 1809, was the daughter of William Hencher, called "the prince of pioneers," who settled near the mouth of the Genesee river in 1792.
Alexander McDonald, Colonel Williamson's sub-agent came from Scotland to America in 1775, was taken prisoner by the British in New York with other emigrants as soon as he arrived, was enlisted in the 84th regiment and served five years and then became agent of Lord Dunmore's estates in the Bahamas. He came to the Genesee valley at the now extinct village of Williamsburg. to help Col. Will-
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iamson, in June, 1793. When the latter left the agency in 1802, Mc- Donald moved to Caledonia. He was the first postmaster of the village, and kept tavern there a number of years.
John Cameron, who arrived in Caledonia in 1806, purchased the old log cabin tavern and a large farm adjoining and built a framed dwell- ing and a store. He ran away from Scotland with the daughter of a wealthy lease-holder, who opposed their marriage, and brought his beautiful bride to the Scotch settlement after a short residence in Geneva. They popularized the log tavern, and many prominent men stopped there, among them Aaron Burr, his daughter Theodosia and her husband, Daniel Webster, Chief Justice Story, and the military officers who occasionally went to and fro. They had eight children. Mr. Cameron died in 1820, leaving his business affairs in bad condition, but his widow and her son Angus retrieved the estate, educated the children, and accumulated more property.
The first death among the settlers was that of Finley McLaren, and the first wedding was the marriage of Hinds Chamberlin to the widow of McLaren. The earliest physicians were Dr. William H. Terry and Dr. Peter McPherson. Different writers have named as the first school teachers, Archibald and Jeannette McDonald and Peter Farqu- harson, and these may have follwed each other in regular sequence in the original log school house. The first settled minister was Rev. Alexander Denoon who was installed by the Geneva Presbytery in 1807 and was pastor of the church 44 years. The first merchant was John Cameron, his decendants say.
Daniel S. Dickinson, afterward U. S. Senator and a famous orator, worked at harness-making in Caledonia in his early life. He became known as "Scripture Dick," on account of his familiarity with the Bible and frequent quotations from it in his public addresses.
A paper by Duncan D. Cameron of Caledonia for the historical so- ciety says of Peterson, who has been mentioned as one of the four first settlers, that he had been a sea captain, and was said to have been a pirate; that at Big Springs he had a bad reputation, and committed a misdemeanor which so aroused the indignation of his neighbors that he was arrested and sent to the Canandaigua jail, and upon his release left the country, and was reported to have died at sea. He was a Dane.
Chester Harding, one of the best American potrait painters, lived in
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Caledonia in 1814 and 1815. He came from Conway, Mass., and as partner of a man named Osgood painted the wood-work which Osgood made. He became famous as an artist and was in every way a worthy citizen. But he took notes for furniture in Caledonia, and failing to collect on them, became involved to the extent of $500, and was threatened with imprisonment for debt under the law then in force. Lawyer W. H. Smith took hold of his case, secreted him from the officers, and afterward told him to "make for the woods," which he did, and from the woods went out of reach of his pursuers. In Pitts- burg, Pa., he learned to paint portraits, after which his road to fame and fortune was easy.
One of the true poets and musicians was John H. McNaughton of Caledonia, where he was born in 1829. He has written the words and music of over one hundred songs, some of which became universally popular. His Onalinda-A poetical Romance, is one of the high- grade American poems, and has been admired by inany in England as well as America. He also wrote a Treatise on Music. Among his most popular songs in the past were Belle Mahone, Faded Coat of Blue, Mary Aileen and Love at Home.
Willard H. Smith was the first Caledonia lawyer. He was a grad- uate of Williams College, and studied law in Albany and Waterford. He commenced his practice in Caledonia in 1813, was appointed the first judge of the court of common pleas of Livingston county in March, 1832, and held the office sixteen years. He was one of the best lawyers in the state at that time, and proved an able and impar- tial judge.
Of the Caledonians who became distinguished in other states may . be named Hon. Angus Cameron, who was U. S. senator from Wiscon- sin, Hon. John R. McPherson, who was U. S. senator from New Jer- sey, Hon. Norman Meldrum, who has been secretary of state and sen- ator in Colorado, and Hon. James B. Beck, at one time U. S. senator from Kentucky, and reputed to be the most rapid speaker in the sen- ate. Mr. Beck resided in Caledonia nearly ten years, ending about 1850. His father built the horse railroad from Caledonia to Scottsville.
James Frazier Gordon was a Caledonian before he was a Rochester- ian, and was born there in 1842. His greatest invention has been of incalculable benefit to the grain growers of the country and the world, for it was the first successful automatic binder for reaping machines.
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It is also believed that he made the first printing machine which with one passage through it would print the paper on both sides, but this he never patented. He made his first binder model in 1862, when only twenty years old, and his first full-sized machine in 1864 when he filed his caveat. He obtained his first patent for a harvesting and binding machine in 1868, it being delayed on account of his lack of funds.
Another of the later residents, Dr. Thomas McPherson, had distin - guished himself in Scotland, before emigrating to America, as a physi- cian and surgeon in advance of his time, and by dissection discovered the seat of a then unknown disease of the brain and mastered it. He came to Caledonia in 1831 and died there in 1841. His reputation as a surgeon was such that he was called to distant places to attend patients, and performed many operations in Buffalo. During the cholera scourge in Rochester in 1832, he voluntarily spent two weeks among the cholera patients without asking for or receiving any fee. His death was a great loss to Caledonia and western New York, and the very large concourse of people which gathered at his funeral showed that the loss was felt. His oldest son has been for many years a well-known lawyer of Rochester.
The first town meeting of Southampton when present Caledonia was the greater part of it, was held March 1, 1803, and the following officers were elected: Supervisor, Christopher Labourn; town clerk, Job Pierce; assessors, Peter Shaffer, Ebenezer Green, Peter Anderson ; collector, James Ganson ; overseers of the poor, Hinds Chamberlin, Peter Shaffer; commissioners of highways, Thomas Irvine, Andrew Wortman, Asher Bates; constables, James Ganson, Cyrus Douglass, Daniel Buell; fence viewers and overseers of highways, John Ganson, Jr., Isaac Smith, John Christie, Peter Shaffer, James Wood, Andrew Wortman, Henry Mulkin; pound keepers, James McLaren, John Gan- son, Jr., Charles Duggan. At the next years town meeting Mr. La- bourn was re-elected supervisor and Hugh McDermid was elected town clerk, and the two held these offices until the name of the town was changed to Caledonia. At the first town meeting after South- ampton became Caledonia, held April 1, 1807, Mr. Labourn was again chosen supervisor, and Asher Bates was chosen town clerk. The next year James Ganson was chosen supervisor and Alexander McDonald town clerk.
The state fish hatchery established at Caledonia in 1875, had been
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started by Seth Green of Rochester as a private enterprise in 1864. He· conducted the business four years, then sold it to Andrew S. Col- lins for $14,000; Collins kept it going seven years more, when he sold it to the state for about the sum he paid for it. Seth Green was appointed superintendent of the hatchery, and the first appropriation for carry- ing it on was only $1,000. This was increased in 1880 to $15,000. The hatchery is now only one of several owned and controlled by the state, but it has been the mother of nearly every one of them, and the most useful among them all. Over 200,000 fish of various kinds are bred there annually and the eggs and fry distributed annually number many millions. The state grounds contain about forty ponds, with thousands of fish in each enclosure. The fish are in different stages of growth, from the embryo in the ova to the salmon trout weighing fifteen or twenty pounds. Many lakes, rivers, creeks and brooks of the state that have been stocked with fish suitable for their respective waters from the Caledonia hatchery, now abound with grown swimmers as a result of the distribution furnishing large supplies of delicious food for the people from water sources where before there was almost none. The hatchery has also been the means of introducing several new kinds of fine food fish into the waters of the state. A paper pre- pared by A. H. MeLean of Caledonia says: "There really seems to be no apparent good reason why every valuable fresh water fish of Europe should not be plentiful ultimately in the state of New York."
Two important and productive facts in the lives of Caledonians- one intellectual and moral and the other physical-are its library and its water works. An organization for a public library was formed in 1873, under the lead of Miss Christine Cameron, and by voluntary sub- scriptions and village aid the library was started almost immediately, and has been an increasing public blessing ever since.
The water works were built in 1897 at a cost of $22,000. It is a pumping system, with a capacity for 300 gallons a minute. The water is of the purest, and is obtained from the never-failing springs at the east end of the village. The number of users in 1904 was 200 and the revenue to the village corporation $125 a month.
The name given to Big Springs by the Senecas was Gan-e-o-di-a, meaning "small clear lake," and they called the outlet Na-gan-oose, meaning "clear running water." The springs were on the great Indian trail east from Fort Niagara, and were a favorite camping ground.
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It was said that the Indians camped there so often that the camp fire was always burning. Near the springs they celebrated their war dances and burned and otherwise tortured their enemies in accordance with the cruel customs of Indian savagery. Nearby also were the council house of the Senecas and the grounds for their games, races and athletic feats. Many Indian relics have been found in the vicinity of the springs. It was natural that the red men should concentrate at the spot where water was so pure, trout so abundant, and much game could be killed not far away.
Domestic animals of the pioneers were often killed by bears and wolves, which were numerous in the surrounding forest. John Fowles, who afterward moved to Wisconsin, has related a wolf story of that period in which he was the star actor: So many sheep had been destroyed by wolves one season that the farmers organized a special hunt for a large grey timber wolf that had often been seen and hunted. Fowles, then only 15, was one of the hunting party, and while riding on horseback near a tamarack swamp, saw the wolf ap- proaching. The animal had eaten so much lamb as to cause indiges- tion, and was tired out from running -- so Fowles said-and Fowles saw him plunge into a clump of bushes and lay down. He crept up, tied the wolf's leg to a sapling with his bridle, and ran for help, but while he was gone the wolf cut the bridle with his teeth and escaped. The party then taunted Fowles as a romancer, but the wolf was caught soon afterward with a piece of the bridle strap around his leg.
The Portland cement plant which has been referred to is owned by the Iroquois Portland Cement company, which started business in Caledonia in 1902. The marl and clay deposits extend over four hun- dred acres, contain no magnesia, and average eight feet deep. The cement is of a fine quality, and is made by a dry process on an exten- sive scale.
The village of Caledonia was incorporated in May, 1891. Its first president was C. W. Blackman and its first clerk F. A. Christie. In addition to its public library and water works, which have been elsewhere noticed, the village has an excellent fire department for pro- tection against the most dangerous element in cities and villages. It consists of two hose companies and one hook and ladder company, the last organized in 1878 and the others in 1897.
When the war of 1812 broke out a company of volunteers was
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formed in Caledonia with Robert Mckay as captain and Thomas Duer as lieutenant. They marched to Lewiston and remained there until relieved by regular troops. In 1813 Captain Mckay was promoted to the rank of Colonel, and with others of the Caledonia company marched to the defense of Buffalo against the British, who had crossed the Niagara river, captured Fort Niagara, and burned Youngstown and Lewiston. They fought at the battle of Black Rock under Gen. Hall and Col. Blakeslee, and Col. Mckay was taken prisoner and confined at Montreal until exchanged the next year.
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