USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 90
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
James Rosebrugh, who came to Sonyea in 1795 with a wife and child was born in Mansfield, N. J., and was the son of Rev. John Rose- brugh, a Scotch Presbyterian minister. Soon after his arrival he moved to Groveland hill, and there settled on a farni which he occu- pied until his death. There in the wilderness, his family experienced the usual privations and dangers of the early settlers, and once Mrs. Rosebrugh, on horseback, was followed by a panther which she only escaped by running her horse at the top of his speed. Mr. Rose- brugh was elected to the assembly in 1814, and re-elected in 1816 and 1818. In 1820 he was chosen a delegate to the convention which framed the second state constitution. He was an industrious and
influential member of both bodies. In 1821, when Livingston county was formed, he was appointed the first surrogate, and held the
office eleven years. Many of the early wills of the county were
proven before him. He was several times chosen supervisor, and his neighbors had so much confidence in him that they frequently made him arbitrator of their disputes. In his later years he was a member of the Presbyterian church in Groveland.
Charles H. Carroll, who became a resident of Groveland in 1815, was born in 1794, in Maryland, where his parents were wealthy and owned many slaves. He was a cousin of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He graduated at St. Mary's college, Baltimore, at the age of eighteen with high honors.
He served as a volunteer in the war of 1812, and came to the Gene- see country in 1814, settling at Williamsburg, where he continued to reside until his death. He went to Massachusetts to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1819. He was the selected and successful agent of the towns to go to Albany and influence the legislature to erect Livingston county. He was appointed the first judge of the county in 1823, and held the office six years. He then became state senator for one term, when, on account of the illness of himself and his wife, he was obliged to retire for a time from public life: but later, in 1836, he was elected to the assembly, and in 1840 and 1842 to congress. He was a large farmer and hospitable entertainer, and did much to advance agriculture and improve breeds of stock. He also acted as agent for the sale of large tracts of land in Mt. Morris and Nunda. He was an Episcopalian, prominent in the councils of that church and contributed liberally to the support of the church
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
and benevolent efforts. He died in 1865. A friend said of him: "I remember with great pleasure and profit his eloquence, his geniality, his fund of information and humor, his liberality, his quick response to all calls of charity and for all public improvements, his noble gifts of time as well as money, his unbounded hospitality; but far beyond all these, he lett on me the unvaried and constant impression that he was a Christian." His son Charles became a member of congress from the Livingston and Ontario district, and his son William T. a clerk of the United States Supreme Court.
Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh an early and prominent citizen of the town met with a serious accident on Monday morning, April 18th. 1881, while going to survey some land a few miles from Mt. Morris in the direction of Sonyea. He, with Mr. Sutphen of Mt. Morris, occupied the back seat of the wagon, and in passing over a bridge a sudden movement of the team threw them backward, both striking upon their heads and shoulders and receiving severe injuries. From the first the most serious apprehensions were entertained, and Dr. Fitz- hugh himself expressed the belief that he could not recover. He was eighty-seven years old a day or two after the accident. and such a shock to a person of that age would of itself be almost certain to prove fatal. It aggravated some other difficulties under which he had labored, and greatly intensified his sufferings. Hope and fear alter- nated until Friday afternoon when it became evident that he could not live many hours. He expired at five o'clock on Saturday morning.
The grandfather of Dr. Fitzhugh, was Col. William Fitzhugh, who resided before the Revolution at the mouth of the Patuxent river, in the then colony of Maryland, and held a colonel's commission in the British army. He was a man of extensive influence and owned a large amount of land and a number of mills and manufactories. When the trouble between the colonies and the mother country broke out, Col. Fitzhugh retired from the British army, although he was offered a continuance of his rank and half pay if he would remain neutral. This would have assured him the quiet possession of the large property, but he refused and left his commission upon the Governor's table, encouraged his sons to take service in the "rebel" army, and himself accepted a seat in the execu- tive council of Maryland, to assist in devising ways and means for the defence and deliverance of his country. His fine estate was doomed
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
to pillage and the torch. In the absence of father and sons a small British party landed in the vicinity, but they were resisted by Mrs. Fitzhugh who armed and directed the slaves. Carrying cartridges in her apron, she went out to meet the invaders and so intimidated them that they made a hasty retreat. Disaster, however, was not long delayed, as a stronger party followed and executed their mission, and caused the family to flee fifty miles up the river. Col. Perigrine Fitzhugh was one of the sons of William, and at first was commis- sioned in a corps of light horse, but at a later period of the war was enrolled in the military family of Washington. In 1799 he emigrated to Geneva in this state where he resided three years and then re- moved to Sodus.
Col. William Fitzhugh was another son of Col. William, and also held a commission in a division of the cavalry, and after the Revolutionary war was a member of the Maryland legislature. He visited the Gene- see valley in 1800, in company with Col. Nathaniel Rochester, Maj. Charles Carroll and others. At that time he secured a third interest in the "one hundred acre tract" at the Falls of the Genesee, covering the heart of the present city of Rochester, and in company with Maj. Carroll purchased 12,000 acres of Col. Williamson, on the Canaseraga creek in Groveland and Sparta, paying two dollars per acre. It was at the time thought strange that they took upland instead of the MIt. Morris flats at three dollars per acre. But the explanation was that they came from a region where timber was scarce, and had learned to appreciate its value. The purchase embraced the site of Williams- burg, the project of Col. Williamson to found a village there having been given up after the mutiny and dispersion of his German colonists. The property of Messrs. Carroll and Fitzhugh was left in the hands of agents, and they did not bring their families until 1816. Col. Fitz- hugh died at Hampton, in Groveland, in 1839, aged seventy-eight years. He was elected supervisor of the town in 1821. His wife, a daughter of Col. Daniel Hughes of Washington county, Maryland, died in 1829, aged fifty-seven. The sons of Col. Fitzhugh were all men of more than ordinary force. Henry Fitzhugh settled in Oswego and was in 1851 elected canal commissioner, and re-elected in 1854. Five daughters became the wives respectively of Hon. Gerrit Smith of Peterboro, Dr. Frederick J. Backus of Rochester, John T. Tallman of Rochester, Lieut. J. W. Swift of the United States Navy, and James
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
G. Birney of Michigan. Colonel Fitzhugh served on the staff of Gen- eral Washington in the Revolutionary war, though not of age then.
Dr. Daniel Hughes Fitzhugh, was a son of Col. William Fitzhugh, and was born April 20, 1784, in Maryland, where he lived until he was twenty-two years of age. When but eighteen years of age he was upon the staff of the General commanding at Washington city when it was burned by the British, and, like his father, drew a Government pension for military services. In 1816 he came to this valley to sup- erintend the erection of suitable buildings for the family residence. These he located at the place ever since known as "Hampton," and the mansion built under his charge is the one where he breathed his last, and from which his remains were taken to the Williamsburg cem- etery, at the age of eighty-seven years and four days.
After his marriage he became the owner of 1700 acres of land at and around Sonyea, which he subsequently sold to the Shaker Society for $92,000. He was afterwards for a number of years a resident of Gen- eseo, but returned to Hampton and occupied it until his death. While residing at Sonyea in the town of Groveland he was seven times elected supervisor, viz: from 1830 to 1835 inclusive, and again in
1841. In 1842 he was elected to the assembly but positively de- clined a re-election, the position being repugnant to his tastes, and his own extensive affairs demanding all his time. He was for two years president of the Livingston County Historical Society, and in 1879 was selected to preside at the Sullivan Centennial, but was detained in Michigan by illness. He was the successor of the late Gen. James S. Wadsworth as president of the Genesee Valley Na- tional Bank, a position he resigned in 1880 when Hon. J. W. Wads- worth was elected.
Dr. Fitzhugh was married to Miss Ann Frisby Dana, who was born at Geneva, Dec. 22, 1803. They had thirteen children, nine of whom were present at the funeral of Dr. Fitzhugh. Mrs. Fitzhugh was a daughter of William Pulteney Dana, and was a lady of great loveli- ness of character. A friend to all who were in distress, she lost her life in February, 1850, by ship fever contracted in ministering to a poor family that came to Sonyea a short time previously. Their mar- ried life covered about twenty-five years, and since the decease of the mother, thirty years ago, some of the daughters have continued to re- side with their father. Dr. Fitzhugh made large and profitable invest-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
ments in real estate in the Saginaw valley, Michigan, especially the land on which the flourishing place of Bay City stands, and where some of his descendants reside. Dr. Fitzhugh never practiced his profession except as a surgeon in the army, in which capacity he was at the battle of Blandensburg.
The following interesting sketch of Dr. Fitzhugh was added to the foregoing, which is from the pen of the late Samuel P. Allen, in 18So, by the late Norman Seymour, Esq., in the same year:
At the close of the Revolution, followed by the famous Treaty of Big Tree (Geneseo), Sept. 1797, by the extinguishment of the Indian titles all the lands in the then Genesee country, extending from the old pre-emption line one mile east of Geneva west to Lake Erie, came into market. Robert Morris, the patriot and financier of Revolution- ary memory, had for some years been the most extensive owner. In 1792 Charles Williamson, agent for William Pulteney, the Scotch baron, who had purchased of Franklin, Robert Morris's agent, 1,200,000 of these lands, paying for the same £35,000, laid out and opened a road up the Susquehanna, from Williamsport, Pa., to the Genesee river, Williamsburg. He at once made a tour through Maryland, soliciting emigration to the beautiful and fertile Genesee. This road became famous as the great thoroughfare to the golden lands that lay in the lovely Genesee valley. In 1795, the Duke de Liancourt, and in 1796, Louis Phillippe, subsequently the king of France, and Lord Ashburton (Alexander Baring), came by this wild and romantic road to Canandaigua, and then to what is now Rochester. In 1800 a trio of noble men (Marylanders) of great pluck and energy, Col. William Fitzhugh, Col. Nathaniel Rochester and Major Charles Carroll, came into this section. Col. William Fitz- hugh's cavalcadc, as it wound its way up the Northumberland road, consisted of Pennsylvania wagons drawn by twenty-seven horses, the party numbering forty persons. It required about forty days to make the trip, the entire party camping out in the woods two nights. Col. Fitzhugh died at Hampton, Groveland, in 1839, aged seventy-eight years, leaving over eighty descendants. His wife was a daughter of Daniel Hughes of Maryland, who died in 1829, aged fifty-seven years. Col. Fitzhugh's children were W. H. Fitzhugh of Maryland, Dr. Daniel H., the subject of this brief sketch, James of Kentucky, Rich- ard P. of Groveland, Henry of Oswego, Judge Samuel H. of Mlt.
-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
Morris, and Robert of Groveland, now all deceased. His daughters were Mrs. Dr. Backus of Rochester, Mrs. James G. Birney of Ken- tucky, Mrs. Gerrit Smith ot Peterboro, Mrs. J. L. Tallman of Roch- ester, and Mrs. Lieut. Swift of Geneva.
Dr. Fitzhugh was born in Maryland in 1784. In the year 1816 he came to Groveland to superintend the erection of the house in which he died. His father, Col. William Fitzhugh, came into this valley in 1800, but, owing to the unhealthy state of the country, did not re- move his family until the year 1817. Since his advent into this sec- tion no one has been more extensively identified with the early settle- ment and history of the Genesee valley from Rochester south to the Canaseraga valley, than Dr. Fitzhugh. He was a man of delightful social accomplishments and highly appreciative of humor. He was not a great talker; indeed, rather the reverse. Hospitable in the ex- treme, a full house was his delight. Of close business habits, he was never deceived by the same person twice. He attended in the mi- nutest detail to the care of his estate to the very last day of his life. He was a true friend, a valued neighbor, and a courteous gentleman, emphatically of the old school in habits, manners and appearance. He had large landed estates in Saginaw, Mich. Dr. Fitzhugh was for many years president of the Genesee Valley Bank, and was also president, during the first two years of its existence, of the Living- ston County Historical Society and since then, up to the time of his death, was one of the Board of Councilmen, always taking a deep in- terest in the organization. Dr. Fitzhugh was associated as com- missioners with Gen. W. Wadsworth and Col. William Markham in erecting the first county buildings.
Williamsburg, where Dr. Fitzhugh was buried, one of the oldest burying-grounds in Western New York, is in the town of Groveland- a place historic and memorable in the history of the Genesee country. It is a retired and romantic spot, and can be seen by the traveler on our railway. For over half a century it has been the burial place of the Fitzhughs and Carrolls, honored names in the early settlement of the Genesee valley. In this cemetery a massive marble column marks the resting place of that honest man and pioneer in the anti-slavery movement, the late James G. Birney. By his side sleeps his son, Major Fitzhugh Birney, the A. A. G. of the second army corps, army of the Potomac, who died June, 1864, aged twenty-two years.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
On the north side of the cemetery stands a beautiful monument erected to the memory of Judge Charles Holker Carroll, who died July 22d, 1865, aged seventy-two years. Henry Fitzhugh, late of Oswego, has a monument here also that shall perpetuate the memory of one of the most worthy and upright state officers New York ever had. Rob. ert, Judge Samuel HI. and Richard P. Fitzhugh were also buried here. Colonel William Fitzhugh the father of those named came into the Genesee valley in 1800 and was the compeer and associate at that early day of the Messrs. James and William Wadsworth and Major Carroll. Colonel Fitzhugh died in 1839 aged seventy-eight years.
Joseph W. Begole, who was born in Groveland in 1815, moved to Flint, Mich., when he was twenty-one years old and there became prominent in political and official circles. He was county treasurer eight years was elected state senator in 1871, representative in Con- gress in 1872, and governor of Michigan in 1882. At that time he was a Greenbacker, and his election was the result of a combination be- tween the Democratic and Greenback parties.
In 1800 Major Charles Carroll, Col. William Fitzhugh and Col. Nathaniel Rochester purchased the "hundred acre tract" at the falls of the Genesee, and called it Rochesterville. From there they came up the valley and purchased the site of Williamsburg and the Hermitage tract, embracing in all 12,000 acres. At the time of the purchase of the site of Hampton by Col. William Fitzhugh it was occupied by a squatter named John Hampton, from whom it took its name. It was located in sight of and about one-half mile from the site of Williamsburg. * * Col. Fitzhugh commeneed the building of Hampton in 1814, and two years were spent in its construction under the superintendence of the late Dr. Daniel Fitzhugh, then a young man. When completed it was occupied by Col. William Fitzhugh, its owner. At the time of its destruction by fire (in 1893) it is believed to have been the oldest prominent residence in the county. Standing as originally built it was a large three-story frame building with piazza, supported by massive pillars around the front and sides, built after the old southern colonial style of architecture, and was long an attractive landmark on the road from Geneseo to Mt. Morris."
To give further particulars about Williamsburg we quote from Doty's history: "The site of Williamsburg was on the road between Geneseo and Mt. Morris, and is now marked by the residence of D. H. Abell.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
It comprised a tavern stand, one or two stores, and a number of dwell- ings, the entire village covering about thirty acres. On the flats ad- joining the river was also the celebrated race-course, where the first fairs and races ever held in the Genesee country came off. These fairs drew together a large concourse of people, some coming hundreds of miles to attend them, while from the Niagara frontier came many cattle dealers to purchase for the Canadian trade the fat, sleek cattle they were sure to find on exhibition. The tavern was a frame build- ing erected for that purpose by Captain Williamson, and stood on the southwest part of the town square, which was situated about eighty rods east of the river. The main building was about thirty feet square, and two stories high, a large wing extending from the rear of the principal building. In the second story of the latter was a good sized ball-room, in which as early as 1800 was kept a dancing school. The first landlord was Captain Elijah Starr, who was succeeded by William Lemen. The first town meeting of the town of Sparta was William held in this house on the first Tuesday of April, 1796.
Perine succeeded Lemen and kept the tavern two years. Thomas Hummer succeeded him and the latter, it would seem, was the first tavern keeper who had a license. William Magee purchased the tavern, the town square and village lots, amounting in all to some thirty acres, of the Geneva land office, and shortly after sold the property to Joseph Engle. The latter kept the tavern two years, and failing to make the payments, Magee took the property back in 1806 and kept the tavern one year. The property soon passed into the hands of Major Carroll, and the tavern was closed. Not many years afterward it took fire and burned down.
"Another writer says that Williamsburg contained a good hotel huild- ing, a dry goods store, a distillery, blacksmith shop, grocery, a grain warehouse and about forty dwellings. The distillery stood in the ra- vine just north of the present farm buildings of the Abell estate, while across the way, opposite these farm buildings, stood the old tavern. Church services were occasionally held in a portion of the warehouse, the Rev. Samuel J. Mills, a Presbyterian, being the minister."
"But Williamsburg," says another writer, "soon passed away. Geneseo (then called Big Tree) and Mt. Morris grew apace, and other villages sprang up in various places, but Williamsburg's glory waned. Its decline seems to have commenced about 1807, and in a
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
few years only a few old buildings remained. To-day not one remains to mark the spot where once Williamson expected would stand a place of much trade, whose commercial importance he painted in glowing colors."
In 1837 the Groveland Society of Shakers purchased of Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh 1700 acres of land in Groveland, lying on both sides of Keshaqua creek, for which they paid $92,000, and removed from Sodus, Wayne county, to this spot. They added to their original pur- chase afterward. There were about one hundred men and women; and at that time the elders were Jeremiah Talcott, John Lockwood, Emery C. Brooks, James Goodwin, Peter Long and Alexander Mott, and the trustees were James Pelham, Lucius Southworth, Emery C. Brooks, Malachi Sanford and James Goodwin. The lands are among the most fertile in the county, and were thoroughly cultivated by the Shaker community. For many years after locating in Groveland they raised garden seeds, and sold them throughout western and central New York. Later they cultivated much broom corn and made brooms. After sev- eral years they put up a large brick building near their frame church at a cost of $12,500, and their Sunday services were held in this build- ing. Later, Peter Long, who became the business manager of the com- munity, built a model barn on the premises, 120 feet long and forty feet wide, costing $8,000. On July 5, 1894, these Shakers sold the property to the state for $115,000 and merged themselves in the east- ern communities, and the state established there a hospital for epilep- tics, which has come to be one of the most useful of New York's institu- tions for the improvement and cure of unfortunates. Many new
buildings have been put up for their accommodation, and they are looked after by some of the ablest medical specialists. It is called the Craig Colony for Epileptics, being named from Oscar Craig of Roch- ester, long a member of the State Board of Charities, and in his later years, after President Letchworth retired, its president-a man of noble impulses and broad intelligence. From the eleventh annual re- port of the board of managers, of Craig Colony for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1904, we learn: "The additions to the men's and women's infirmaries under construction at the time of our last report were finished during the summer, and are now being filled with the feeble and infirm. Each infirmary will accommodate about 150 of this class. The 300 occupants of the two buildings will ultimately
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
represent about twenty per cent of the entire population. We closed the year with a total population of 898, 513 of whom are males, 385 females. In September of last year nearly 700 dependent epileptics were awaiting admission to this institution. We still have accom- modations for about 100 more of these whom we expect to take before January 1, 1905. * * This is the only institution in a state whose epileptic population numbers 14,000 to 15,000, solely for the care of the epileptics. In the second place, the state waited years for a place for its dependent epileptics. In the meantime an enormous waiting list of patients ready to enter its doors as soon as they were opened had accumulated. In the third place, as we have previously men- tioned, there are now between 600 and 700 patients awaiting admission to the colony."
The report of the medical superintendent, Dr William P. Spratling, says: "The first blow to prepare the old shaker homestead of nearly 2,000 acres for the purposes of a colony for epileptics, was struck on August 25, 1895; the first patient admitted February 26, 1896. Dur- ing the eight and a half years the colony has been in operation, fifty- seven honses capable of accommodating 1,000 patients and 200 em- ployees have been constructed; an electric light plant of 1,800 lights capacity installed, approximately two and a half miles of sewer and water mains laid, and an abundance of pure water provided for all purposes for a colony of 2,500 persons." Many cures have been ef- fected, and Dr. Spratling mentions one case where a man had been an epileptic sixteen years, and had from 50,000 to 60,000 seizures, and was discharged apparently quite cured, in 1898, after two and one-half years of treatment.
At the first town meeting of Groveland, held in Williamsburg, the following officers were elected: supervisor, James Rosebrugh; town clerk, Samuel Niblack ; assessors, Hugh McNair, John Jones, Christian Roup; commissioners of highways, Daniel Ross, John Slaight, Sam- uel Begole; overseers of the poor, Abraham Harrison, Aaron Nor- cross; constable and collector, Wm. Doty; constable, Davenport Alger; fence viewers, John Hampton, Samuel M. Mann, Enoch Squibb; overseers of highways, Wm. Doty, Nathan Ogden, John Oman, Ira Travis, David Cook, John Vance, Wm. R. Begole, Philo Mills, Ebenezer McMasters, Benjamin Price, Samuel Henderson, Eli Clark, Thomas Young.
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