USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 84
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6.60
1872
507,253
16.66
1887
996,708
6.09
1902
1,074,810
7.44
1873
493,503
13.81
1888
1,012,914
5.66
1903
1,050,822
7.29
1874
1,017,92I
6.50
1889
1,036,294
6.86
1
1895
1,018,193
7.50
1867
516, 113
21.SI
IS82
1,034,502
1897
1,095,359
6.65
1865
528,910
47.30
1880
959,822
6.09
Harvey W. Wilcox .1896-97-98
Geo. J. Marvin. 1899-00-01-02
Wm. N. Willis.
1903
John Culver. 1829-30
Solomon G. Grover 1831-32-33
Andrew Spafford. 1836-37-38-39-44-45
Jacob Snyder. 1890
WEST SPARTA.
West Sparta was originally a part of Sparta, and was separated from it by an act of the Legislature in February, 1846. It is bounded north by Groveland, east by Sparta, south by Ossian and west by Mt. Morris. Its area is 19,820 acres and its population in 1900 was 906. The eastern division line between West Sparta and Sparta is crooked Canaseraga creek. Butler brook is in the southern part, and has a perpendicular fall of about sixty feet. Canaseraga swamp is a large marsh in the northeastern part.
The western hills rise from the flats to heights of from 500 to 700 feet. In the northern part the soil is a heavy clay or clay loam not easy to cultivate, and in the southern and eastern parts, along the line of the Dansville and Mt. Morris railroad, is mostly a sandy loam. There are good farms in the town, but some of the land is not very productive.
The four hamlets are Woodville, Kysorville, Union Corners and Byersville. Woodville had a small boom in the early days, and the settlers hoped that it would rival or surpass Dansville, but the more advantageous location and superior water power of Dansville quickly attracted capitalists and Woodville- was left behind.
In pioneer times there was a thick growth of white oak on West Sparta hillside, and a sprinkling of magnificent white pines, some of which were 150 feet high, and would cut into from 2000 to 3000 feet of lumber.
The first comers within the limits of West Sparta were William Mc- Cartney and Andrew Smith, and they were also the first in the entire group of the southern towns of Livingston county. They emigrated from Scotland in 1791, landing in Philadelphia, and came to West Sparta in 1792, built and lived in a small cabin, but did not stay long. Mr. Smith remained only a year, when he moved to Bath, where he bought a farm and established his permanent home. Mr. McCartney was agent for Charles Williamson in the sale of the lands of the Pulte- ney estate, and after two years made Dansville his headquarters.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
The first man who came to be a permanent settler was Robert Dun- can, from Carlisle, Pa. He bought a tract of land of Charles Wil- liamson before starting, and set forth to find it in the fall of 1793. but stopped at Painted Post for the winter, and came on in March, 1794. Duncan was a Scotchman, and Williamson had truthfully told him that he expected a colony of Scotch families to settle in the vicin- ity of his purchase, but this expectation was not realized. Neither were Mr. Duncan's expectations in other directions, for the malaria of the valley gave him a fever, and the next fall he was taken with a congestive chill of which he died in a few hours. ITis wife then took charge of his affairs, and proved to be an energetic and able manager. She looked after the clearing and cultivation of the farm, and made three horseback journeys to Carlisle to collect money on property which her husband had sold there before he moved to the Canaseraga valley. The distance to Carlisle was sixty miles, and nearly all the way her course was through a dense forest. But her resolute hardi- hood overcame all difficulties, and brought her safely out of all perils. She made friends of the Indians in her new home, and they liked her so well that much of the time they kept her supplied with venison. She and her family went to Indiana soon after the war of 1812.
Jeremiah Gregory came about the same time as Mr. Duncan; Wil- liam Stevens about 1793, and raised the first apples and made the first cider; Benjamin Wilcox in 1793 or 1794, and was a prominent and in- fluential citizen; John McNair, Jr., about 1797; John McNair in 1804; Samuel McNair in 1802 and lived on his place until his death in 1853; Able Wilsey in 1797.
The John McNair mentioned visited the valley in 1803, and was so well pleased that he purchased of John Wilson, of Maryland, a tract of 400 acres three miles north of Dansville, then returned to his home in Pennsylvania, and early in 1804 came back with his family of six sons, one daughter and the daughter's husband, joining another son and daughter who had preceded them. They came in covered wagons, and brought tools and household implements. They arrived in the middle of June, and found a temporary home in the log cabin which had been occupied by Wm. McCartney and Andrew Smith in 1902. A part of their farm had been cleared and probably cultivated by the Indians. They built a house as soon as possible of logs which they
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
hewed and squared, and this house is said to have lasted until the end of the century.
Another of the early settlers was Ebenezer McMaster, "a man of stalwart frame and great physical powers, and withal, one of nature's noblemen," says David McNair. A mad wolf which was the terror of the settlement came into his yard one day and commenced biting his live stock, when he caught up a fence stake and went for the beast, which rushed for him, but received such a powerful blow from the stake that it killed him almost instantly.
An account of the sojourn of Millard Fillmore -who became Pres- ident of the United States-in West Sparta, has been written by him- self and published by the Buffalo Historical society, and the following lengthy extracts from it are interesting as a part of the history of the town:
"In the fall of 1814, a neighbor had been drafted into the military service for three months, and he offered me what I regarded as a very liberal sum to take his place as a substitute. I was foolish enough to desire to accept the offer, but at the same time a man by the name of Benjamin Hungerford, formerly a near neighbor (in Cayuga county), but then living in Sparta, Livingston Co., N. Y., where he had estab- lished the business of carding and cloth dressing, came to my father and proposed to take me on trial for three months, then, if we were both suited, I was to become an apprentice to the business. My father persuaded me to abandon the idea of becoming a soldier, and to go home with Mr. Hungerford to learn a trade. He had come with an old team to purchase dye woods and other materials for his business, -his load was very heavy and the road very bad, -- consequently Ihad to go on foot most of the way, something like a hundred miles; but I endured this very well.
"Up to this time I had never spent two days away from home, and my habits and tastes were somewhat peculiar. For instance, I was very fond of bread and milk, and usually ate it three times a day, re- gardless of what others ate. And here I will say, I think that this early habit, and the thorough training afforded by out door exercise on a farm, gave me a constitution and digestive powers which have enabled me to preserve my health under all the vicissitudes of a varied life, and to my uniform good health and temperate habits I am chiefly indebted, under Providence, for any success I have obtained.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
But I found, when I got to Sparta, that milk was a luxury which I could but seldom indulge. On the contrary, I was compelled to eat boiled salt pork, which I detested, with, occasionally, pudding and milk and buckwheat cakes, or starve. This was very hard, but I did not complain. I was, however, more disappointed at the work I was required to do. I had become anxious to learn the trade, and sup- posed I should be put at once into the shop; instead of which Iwas set to chopping wood for a coal pit. I probably manifested some dis- appointment, but I was reconciled to the work by being told that charcoal was indispensable for cloth dressing; that I might be so sit- uated that I could not purchase, and that therefore it was necessary to know how to make and burn a coal pit.
"I was the youngest apprentice, and soon found that I had to chop most of the wood, having very little opportunity to work in the shop; and as it seemed to me that I was made to enslave myself without any corresponding benefit, I became exceedingly sore under this servitude. One day when I had been chopping in the woods I came into the shop just before dark, tired and dissatisfied; and Mr. Hungerford told me to take my axe and go up on the hill and cut some wood for the shop. I took up my axe, and said (perhaps not very respectfully) that I'did not come there to learn to chop; and immediately left without waiting for a reply. I went on to the hill, mounted a log and com- menced chopping. Mr. Hungerford soon followed me up, and coming near, asked me if I thought I was abused because I had to chop wood. I told him I did; that I came there for no such purpose, and could learn to chop at home; and that I was not disposed to submit to it. He said that I must obey his orders. I said: 'Yes, if they are right ; otherwise I will not; and 1 have submitted to this injustice long enough.' He said, 'I will chastise you for your disobedience,' and stepped towards me, as I stood upon the log, with my axe in my hand. I was burning with indignation, and felt keenly the injustice and insult, and said to him, 'You will not chastise me,' and raising my axe, said, 'If you approach me I will split you down.' HIe looked at me for a minute, and I looked at him; when he turned and walked off. I am very glad that he did so; for I was in a frenzy of anger, and I know not what I might have done. I had dwelt in silence and solitude upon what I deemed his injustice, until I had become mor- bidly sensitive, and his spark of insolent tyranny kindled the whole
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into a flame. I do not justify my threat, and sincerely regret it, but the truth must be told.
"The next day he asked me if I wished to go home. I told him I was ready to go, or would stay the three months for which I came, if I could be employed in the shop. He said I might be, and so I re- mained until the time was up; when I shouldered my knapsack, con- taining bread and dried venison, and returned to my father's, on foot and alone. Mr. Hungerford came after me next year, but I refused to go with him.
"I think that this injustice, which was no more than other appren- tices have suffered and will suffer, had a marked effect upon my character. It made me feel for the weak and unprotected, and hate the insolent tyrant in every station of life. Some acts of tyranny during the late Rebellion, have made my blood boil with indignation; but perhaps I was wrong, since the country at large seems to have borne them with more than Christian patience and humility.
"One other incident that occurred during these three months of servitude, may be mentioned. The only holiday which I was allowed was the first of January, 1815; when I went, with the other employes of the shop, to the house of a Mr. Duncan, where the day was to be celebrated. There I witnessed for the first time the rude sports in which people engage in a new country ; such as wrestling, jumping, hopping, firing at turkeys, and raffling for them, and drinking whiskey. I was a spectator of the scene; taking no part, except that I raffled once for a turkey, that was perched up in one corner of the room, and won it. No persuasion could induce me to raffle again ; and that was the beginning and end of my gambling, if it might be called such, as I have never since gambled to the value of a cent."
As Millard Fillmore was born in 1800, he was about fourteen years old when he went from Cayuga county to West Sparta to learn the wool carder's trade. Up to that time he had worked on his father's farm. When his time with Mr. Hungerford was up he went back to his native county and worked at his newly acquired trade, mean- while improving opportunities for study. After a time he studied law in Judge Wood's office, teaching school winters to pay expenses, and in 1821 went to Buffalo, when he was admitted to the bar in 1823. His subsequent career is a part of our national history.
In 1860 he wrote to William Scott a letter, intended and used in
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
part for L. L. Doty's History of Livingston county which is here reproduced :
"Buffalo, July 28, 1860.
"William Scott, Esq. :
"My Dear Sir-I was greatly obliged for your letter of the 12th of May, in answer to mine of the 5th, giving me much information, as I desired to confirm my recollections of what I saw in Sparta during my short residence there in 1814, and on the 16th of May I made a draft in my letter book to Mr. Doty, which is hereto annexed.
"But after I had finished my draft 1 felt a reluctance about sending it and permitted it to lie without copying, till within two or three days and while copying it my repugnance increased and I finally concluded to send it to you as an old confidential friend and authorize you to give any of the information contained in it in your language, which you and Mr. Doty may deem of sufficient interest to justify it.
"I was born in Locke (now Summerhill) Cayuga County, in 1800, but my father moved to Sempronius (now Niles) in 1802, and settled upon a farm about a mile west of Skaneatelas Lake and ten miles from Adelphi, where I lived as long as 1 remained at home. The whole country was then new and my childhood was spent, as it were, in the forests.
"Benjamin Hungerford was our neighbor, engaged in the business of cloth dressing, but about the year 1812 or 1813 he sold out and re- moved to Sparta, in your county, where he established himself in the same business. Early in the fall of 1814 he returned east for his sup- ply of dyewoods, and called at my father's and he expressed a wish that I go home with him and learn the trade of dressing cloth.
"The war was then waging with Great Britain, and my youthful imagination and ambition was much excited by what I heard from the soldiers who returned from the line, and, having an uncle and cousin on the Niagara frontier, I was anxious to try the life of a soldier and asked my father's permission to go for three months as a substitute for some one who was drafted; but he refused his assent, and. probably with a view of directing my attention from so foolish a project, in- duced Mr. Hungerford to ask me to go. At all events my father expressed a strong desire that I should go and I consented.
"My father's residence was not only in a new country, but remote from all of the great thoroughfares of travel, and my lite had been spent in obscurity. I knew nothing of the world, never having been absent from home for two successive days, nor formed the acquaint- ance of any beyond the few scattered neighbors of the vicinity. I felt a natural reluctance at leaving a tender and affectionate mother, but was buoyed up and sustained by the thought of doing something for myself. and acting the part of a man.
"But the journey to me was a very long and tedious one. I do not
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
know the distance, but probably about one hundred miles. Mr. Hungerford had a poor team, heavily laden, and the road much of the way was very bare; and the consequence was that I traveled much of the distance on foot and suffered with sore feet and stiffened limbs. I recollect little that attracted my attention on my way except the wil- derness of the country as we approached the end of our journey, and the extraordinary luxuriance of vegetation in the valley of the Cana- seraga Creek.
"I was indeed glad to reach Mr. Hungerford's residence, solitary and desolate as it appeared among the hills and almost unbroken forest. But I required rest, and a new country had no new terrors for me. Knowing nothing of the geography of the country, and never having been there since, I can only describe this locality by what I have learned since from others. It was in the town of West Sparta and three miles northwest of the village of Dansville, or Sparta West Hill, on a small rapid mill stream emptying into the Canaseraga Creek about a mile below. I understand that nothing of the old mill and shop remain but a part of the flume and dam; but that it is yet known as the Hungerford place, and is owned and occupied by a farmer by the name of Enos Hartman.
"Whatever may have been my great dreams of ambition, I certainly had no thoughts of realizing them and at that time had no expecta- tions of anything more than to acquire a good trade and to pursue it through life for a livelihood. I went with the understanding that I was to remain four months and then if we were both satisfied we were to make further arrangements. But perhaps I expected too much. At any rate, the treatment which I had received was very galling to my feelings and has ever caused me to feel deep sympathy for the youngest apprentice (even the printer's devil) in every establishment.
"Instead of being set to work at my trade, as I had anticipated, I was required to chop wood and do all manner of servile labor and chores; and when I manifested some surprise and reluctance at this treatment my murmurs were silenced by being told that this was the usage of the trade. I bore this for some time, and one day, when I had been chopping in the woods, I came into the shop a little before dark and was ordered by Mr. Hungerford to go on the hill and cut some wood for the shop. I took the axe and, as I went out of the door, said that I did not come there expecting to give my time to learn to chop wood. I waited for no reply, but went up the hill, mounted a log and commenced chopping.
"In a few minutes I saw Mr. Hungerford coming after me with his face evidently flushed with anger. As he approached he said: ‘Do you think yourself abused because you have to chop wood ?' I replied : 'Yes, I do; for I could learn to chop wood at home, and I am giving my time to learn a trade; I am not satisfied and do not think my
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
father will be.' As I was angry, I presumed my manner as well as my language was not entirely respectful. At all events, he charged me with impudence and threatened to chastise me, upon which I raised my-axe and told him if he came near me I would knock him down. He stood silent for a moment and then walked off.
"Looking back for forty-six years at this little incident of my boy- hood, I am inclined to think that it was unjustifiable rebellion, or at least that my threat of knocking him down was going too far, for I fear I should have executed it : and my only justification or apology is that I have an inborn hatred of injustice and tyranny which I cannot repress. Next day he asked me if I wished to go home. I replied that Ihad come for a trial of four months, and if I could be employed in learning the trade I would stay, otherwise I would return, He said that I might remain, and from that time my employment was more satisfactory.
"Ile had a large family of children and the fare was not such as I had been accustomed to and it required all of my fortitude and patience to endure it: but I resolved to go through, and I was deter- mined to accomplish sthat I had undertaken at every sacrifice of comfort. My pride was touched at the thought of an ignominions failure.
"He had one older apprentice by the name of John Dunham, but our tastes did not agree and he was no company for me, but fortun- ately the foreman of the shop was William Scott, still living and resid- ing at Scottsburg in your county, who seemed born for a higher and better destiny, and whose merits. I am happy to hear, have in some measure been appreciated by his fellow citizens. In him I found a friend and also a congenial companion, so far as such a boy could be a companion to a man of mature years. I formed a friendship which I still cherish with grateful recollections. Hle was the only society which I enjoyed. I scarcely visited a neighbor, for only one or two were near enough to be accessible to me.
"I neither saw a book nor newspaper to my recollection. 1 attended no church and think that there was none in that vicinity, and I had no holiday except New Years. On that day we went down to Dun- can's on the creek and there, for the first time in my life, I saw the rough sports of the season and place such as raffling, whiskey drinking, and turkey shooting, with an occasional display of athletic strength. I recollect that I was ushered into a room almost stifling with the fumes of whiskey and tobacco smoke, in one corner of which was a live turkey, and in the center a table surrounded by men who were greatly excited in raffling for the turkey.
"The game as I recollect it was this: The turkey was put up by the owner at a certain price-say four shillings, and then they put twelve cents into a hat and cach shook them up and emptied them on the
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
table three times, and he who turned the most heads in the three throws won the turkey. But instead of taking it he immediately put it up again at the same price and the same process was gone over again and this continued through the evening. I was urged to take a chance and I did so once and won the turkey, I put him up again. pocketed the prize and have never gambled a cent since.
"The weather was warm for the season and it had rained some during the day. We stayed until about midnight and then started for home. We had to go about a mile through a dark pine forest, and our path in many places ran near the precipitous bank of the little stream on which Hungerford's cloth dressing establishment was situated. Only the underbrush had been cleared from the road, but the large trees were blazed to guide our way. As we had no lantern we supplied ourselves with å torch of pine knots; but we had not pro- ceeded far when by some accident it was extinguished and I was sent back to light it again. This detained me longer than anticipated and when I got back to the spot where I left my companions I found that they had gone, and so I pursued my way alone.
"By the time I had got half way through the woods I was overtaken by a very sudden and severe thunderstorm, which extinguished my torch and left me in an Egyptian darkness. I am sure that I never saw a darker night. I looked up, but could not see the shade of a tree or opening. I moved my hand before my upturned face but saw no shadow. The flashes of lightning for a moment revealed the dense forest around and then all was in impenetrable darkness. The thunder rolled terribly and at intervals I could hear the dashing waters of the swollen stream below, warning me that I was near the precipice, beneath which they flowed.
"I dared not go forward for fear that I should be plunged headlong into the gulf beneath and the thought of standing there all night in the cold drenching rain was terrible. I had but one alternative and that was to make my companions hear if possible and bring them back to my relief. I halloed several times with all of my might, and at last I heard a response. They had just reached home but had not en- tered the house when they heard me. The worst of the shower was soon over. They prepared a light and came back and relieved me from my terrible situation.
"Some time in December or January I was sent on foot to Dansville for some groceries for sickness. I cannot fix the time, but I recollect that there was two or three inches of snow on the ground, and I took what seemed to me a very circuitous route. By the time I had pur- chased my stores it was nearly sundown and I inquired if there was no nearer way back than the one which I came, and was told that there was an unfrequented path through the shrubby pine forest much nearer. I accordingly took it and found the track of a single person
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
which I followed without difficulty, but just after dark I came to the Canaseraga creek which was not frozen sufficiently to bear me and there was no bridge. There had once been a wooden bridge, built on cobble horses for abutments on each bank, but it was all gone except the cobble horses and one string piece.
"Just then I heard the wolves howl and presumed that they were on my track, I looked down into the dark waters of the creek and could see very little but could hear the ice crack as though a rising flood was breaking it up. I looked at the solitary string pieces across the dark abyss, covered with snow and concluded that I could not safely walk it. I could not turn back for I had not even a cane with which to fight the wolves. I felt that if I was once across that gulf I would be safe and that there was but one mode of accomplishing it and that was to climb up the old cobble horse, sit down on the string piece and hitch myself across: and this I did, and arrived safely at home, thank- ful for my escape.
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