History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 744

USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2

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An earlier preparation of the work would have lessened the labor and produced more satisfactory results ; would have given access to the personal experience and relations of the very first settlers, with whom have died facts and incidents which are now beyond recall. But few of the first generation of those who settled and subdued this wilderness are now left with us, and fewer still of that sacred remnant

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

retain their faculties sufficiently to relate coherently and positively the interesting incidents of that early period ; but we still have their " oft told tales" from the lips of their immediate descendants, and have thus been able to collect and chronicle, with a close approach to accuracy, the facts of early history. It must, therefore, be obvious that the time for the publication of this work had fully come, and that a longer delay would only have added to the obscurity of the facts and the difficulty of their acquisition.

Ilappily the very full and scholarly " Relations" of the faithful Jesuits and other French mission- aries give us a minute and definite account of the manners and customs of the American Indians, the supposed aboriginal occupants of this country, with whom they mingled as early as the fore part of the last half of the seventeenth century, though they are chiefly concerned with the relation of their efforts to Christianize them, and to engraft upon their rude natures some of the arts and usages of civilization in their time. Numerous evidences of this intercourse have been disclosed by means of the plow and other agencies in this county, which for a considerable period was the home of several cantons of the most numerous and powerful of the tribes of the Six Nations, the Senecas. These consist of gaudy trinkets and other articles of use and adornment, which possessed an intensely magnified value in the eyes of the untutored savage, and were the means by which these zealous missionaries sought to ingratiate themselves with the natives and prepare the way for the successful accomplishment of their ulterior object. The mural remains, now mostly obliterated by the agency of the plow, and other economic and sacred relics which were familiar objects to the first white settlers in the Valley of the Genesee, bore abundant testimony to the fact that Livingston county was long the seat of a numerous Indian population.

Though this county is not as rich in historical incidents fraught with tragic interest as the counties which bordered on the confines of civilization during the French and Indian wars, the sanguinary struggle of the Revolution, and the more recent but memorable war with the mother country, which etched in lines of blood the history of their eventful scenes, it witnessed one of the most pathetic and memorable incidents of the Revolutionary struggle, and the culmination of an event which was fraught with the most important results affecting the development of Central and Western New York. Its soil is hallowed by blood shed to establish those principles which, eighty-two years later, its sons so nobly fought to perpetuate. It has, too, a pacific history to which many will recur with interest-yea, with reverence.

The authors take this opportunity to tender their grateful acknowledgments_to the many who, in various ways, have so kindly aided them in this laborious work, and to testify to the uniform courtesy which was extended to them, and the cordiality with which their labors were seconded by the hosts from whom it became their duty to solicit information.

HISTORY

LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

ABORIGINES-PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD-THE IRO- QUOIS CONFEDERACY-ITS ORIGIN AND ORGANI- ZATION-TRIBAL RELATIONS-SECRET OF ITS POWER-ITS SUPERIORITY AND SUPREMACY-ITS DEGENERACY.

‘W THAT we usually term the beginning of history," says Humboldt's Cosmos, "is only the period when the later generations awoke to self- consciousness." The historic period for the region of country the history of which it is the purpose of this volume to give, may be said to date from the ad- vent of the Jesuit missionaries into Canada, as their Relations give us the first as well as the most exact and comprehensive account we have of the people who then inhabited it, and who are classed under the generic term Indians-a name which obtains from the fact that when this continent was discov- ered by Columbus and others who succeeded him in search of a western passage to the East Indies, it was supposed to be the eastern shore of the con- tinent of India .* Their history prior to their inti- mate association with civilized people is shrouded in obscurity and is transmitted to us in the form of vague and fragmentary legends. The Indians were a barbaric race and have left no written his- tory, except that we occasionally discover traces of their rude paintings, and still ruder engravings. But these are pronounced merely the totems of the

Indians by Catlin, who says, " I have been unable to find anything like a system of hieroglyphic writing amongst them."* This absence of a connected written history is, however, compensated in a meas- ure by the less enduring relics, consisting of the implements of husbandry, the chase and war, which the plow and other means of excavation have numerously disclosed. Their fortified villages and places of burial are rich also in suggestive incidents.

Who were the aborigines of this country is a sub- ject of much learned inquiry. It is pretty gen- erally believed that the races who occupied it on the advent of the Europeans, were preceded by one more numerous and highly cultured, though the evidence that such is the fact, is meager and un- satisfactory. De Witt Clinton points to the numer- ous mural remains which existed through the north- ern, central and western parts of this State, and to the more remarkable ones bordering the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and their branches as evi- dence of the fact :f while more recent authors, reasoning from more exact data, ascribe the origin of the former works to a much more recent date, and to a different race of people than the latter .¿ The evidences referring to a pre-historic period within this State are rare ; though the celebrated

* Catlin's North American Indians, II, 246. t Collections of the New York Historical Society for 1814, 89.

# Says E. A. Squier, M. A., "* * * none of the ancient works of this State, [New York, ] of which traces remain displaying any con- siderable degree of regularity, can lay claim to high antiquity. All of them may be referred, with certainty, to the period succeeding the com- mencement of European intercourse." Antiquities of New York and the N'est. ).

* Indians of North America, I. 3.

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

Pompey stone * and the argent relict of the Genesee Valley may be cited as instances of this character, while neither can be said to furnish ne- cessarily conclusive evidence.

That the nations of the Eastern hemisphere had knowledge of the existence of the American con- tinent long before its discovery by Columbus, their literature gives abundant evidence ; and that its aboriginal inhabitants were descended from eastern Į ples is generally conceded, though the theory tr .. t American antiquity ante-dates that of Asia, is hot without its advocates.

Humboldt, from his observations of the remains ( t the civilizations of Mexico and Central America, s convinced that communication had existed between the Eastern and Western continents, evi- lence of which he found in the religious symbols, 1 1 architecture, the hieroglyphics, and the social .stoms made manifest by these ruins, and the ube Brasseur de Bourbourg shows that the sym- ils of phallic worship, once so prevalent, and still, Lo some extent, practiced in the East, were de- scribed by the Spanish writers at the time of the ( quest. "These," says Baldwin, "with the ser- Joint devices, the sun worship, and the remarkable 1 .: owledge of astronomy that existed in connection ith them, show a system of religion," of which, h the social institutions it consecrated, " Asia," says the Abbé, " appears to have been the cradle." " The traditions of these countries," says the same author, "are still more explicit. Their uniform tes- timony is, that the ancient American civilization came originally from the East across the ocean." The native histories examined by the Abbé, de- scribe three classes of ancient inhabitants, first, the Chichimecs, " who," says Baldwin, "seem to have been the uncivilized aborigines of the country ;" second, the Colhuas, "who were the first civilizers, and by whom the Chichimecs were taught to culti- vate the earth, cook their food, and adopt the

usages of civilized life :" and third, the Nahuas or Toltecs, " who came much later as peaceable im- migrants, but after a time united with the uncivil- ized Chichimecs, caused a civil war, and secured power." The Colhuas originated the oldest and finest monuments of the ancient civilization. Dé- siré Charnay, referring to the ruins of Mitla, "points out," says Baldwin, "that the most ancient archi- tecture, painting, mosaics, and artistic designs are in the highest style, and show 'marvelous work- manship,' while the later editions are in much lower style, and seem to be the work of a people less ad- vanced in culture and skill than the original found- ers of the city." The finest and most remarkable monuments of these countries seem to be the re- mains of that great and ancient kingdom of Xibalba. " It is said repeatedly that 'the Colhuas came from beyond the sea, and directly from the East ;'" and the Abbé states that "there was a constant tradi- tion among the people who dwelt on the Pacific Ocean, that the people from distant nations beyond the Pacific formerly came to trade at the ports of Coatulco and Pechugui, which belonged to the kingdom of Tehuantepec.'" The traditions of Peru told of a people who came to that country by sea, and landed on the Pacific coast ; referring doubtless to the Malays, a great and ancient mari- time empire, the dialects of whose language are scattered across the Pacific Ocean as far as Easter Island .*

Many ingenious theories are advanced to ac- count for the origin of this ancient civilization. One, of which Adair and Boudinot are noted advocates, ascribes it to the "Lost Tribes of Israel ;" this Catlin is inclined to sanction, t while Bancroftt seri- ously refutes it, Foster / discards it, Bradford " likewise refutes it, and Baldwin || regards it an ab- surdity; another, the " Malay theory," which Bald- win regards as "much less improbable, though not satisfactory ;" ** a third, the " Phoenician theory," which Baldwin discredits, while he admits that "the known enterprise of the Phoenicians," (who have been thought to be identical with the Colhuas,) and their " ancient knowledge of America, so vari- ously expressed, strongly encourage the hypothesis that the people called Phoenicians came to this continent, established colonies in the region where

. This is a small boulder about thirteen inches long and twelve inches wide, bearing a most remarkable inscription and figures, which, it genuine, and correctly interpreted, furnishes what is supposed to be the earliest evidence of the presence of Europeans in North America. It dates back to a period earlier than the discovery of New England, New York or Virginia, a hundred years earlier than the founding of Plymouth colony, and within twenty-three years of the discovery of the new continent by C'abot. It has been reasonably conjectured by the author of Clark's Onondaga, to be a sepulchral monument, erected possibly by a party of Spaniards, who, stimulated by the love of adventure, allured by the love of gold, or driven by some rude blast of misfortune, may have visited that region and lost one of their number by death.

t " On the flats of the Genesee River, there was found on the lands of Mr. Timothy Judd, a bit of silver, about the length of a man's finger, hammered to a point at one end, while at the other it was smooth and square, on which was engraved in Arabic figures ' the year of our Lord too." Ms. Address on the Antiquity of the World, by Dr. M H. Mills, of Mt. Morris.

· Pre-Historic Nations, by John D. Baldwin, A. M. . 392-395. t Catlin's North American Indians, 11, 211-235.

$ History of the United States.

§ Pre Historic Races of the United States, by J. W. Foster, LI .. D. 322-324.

' American Antiquities, 240.

Ancient America, 166.

·· Ibid, 167-171.

PRE-HISTORIC RACES.

ruined cities are found, and filled it with civilized people,"* and a fourth, the "Atlantic theory," ad- vanced among others by Brasseur de Bourbourg, who has studied more thoroughly than any other man living, the monuments, writings and traditions of this civilization, which he avers is the first of man- kind-a theory which attributes it to the Atlantides, who occupied the " lost island of Atlantis," referred to by Plutarch, Solon, Plato and Theopompus, and supposes it originated on a portion of this conti- nent now submerged by the Atlantic Ocean, into which it extended in a long, irregular peninsula, was visited by a cataclysm which engulfed it, ex- cept some elevated portions, including the Canary, Maderia and Azores islands, and destroyed its in- habitants, except such as escaped in ships, or fled to the tops of high mountains, whence they made their way to Central America.t

The origin of the barbarous Indians of North America is buried in even greater obscurity than that of the probable aborigines of this continent. Our information regarding them is wholly conject- ural. Efforts have been made to connect them with the Mound Builders as their progenitors, and there are able advocates of the theory which sup- poses the unity of the races; but, says Foster,} a broad chasm is to be spanned before we can link the two, who, he says, "were essentially dif- ferent in their form of government, their habits and their daily pursuits." The former, "since known to the white man, has spurned the restraints of a sedentary life, which attach to agriculture, and whose requirements, in his view, are ignoble. He was never known to erect structures which should

* Ancient America, 171-174.

t Ancient America, 174-184 ; also Baldwin's Pre-Historic Nations, 396-400. The latter quotes from Diodorus Siculus, book V., Chap. IT., the following "important passage concerning America," which, it says, "is not mythical, and seems to be given as a historical fact rather than a tradition : 'Over against Africa lies a great island in the vast ocean, many days' sail from Libya westward. The soil is very fruitful. It is diversi- fied with mountains and pleasant vales, and the towns are adorned with stately buildings.' After describing the gardens, orchards and fountains, he tells how this pleasant country was discovered. The Phoenicians, he says, having built Gades, sailed along the Atlantic coast of Africa. A Phoenician ship, voyaging along this coast, was, 'on a sudden, driven by a furious storm far into the main ocean ; and after they had lain under this tempest many days, they at length arrived at this island.'" For further information upon this interesting subiect, the reader is referred to Pre-Historic Races of the United States ; Abbé Brasseur de Bour- bourg's translation of the Teo Amoxtli, which is the Toltecan mytho- logical history of the cataclysm of the Antilles : The lifted and subsided Rocks of America, by George Catlin ; Biography and History of the Indians of North America ; American Antiquities and Researches into the Origin and History of the Red Race, by Alexander W. Brad- ford, and others, which might be cited but which we have not the space to quote at length.

Ancient America, 205, which quotes Bourbourg's Quatre Lettres Source de l'Historie du Mexique.

$ Pre-Historic Races of the United States, 347.

survive the lapse of a generation." "The Mound- builders," he adds, "cultivated the soil in a meth- odical manner, far different from the mode pre- sented by the present Indians," and cites as evi- dence "the vestiges of ancient garden-beds " left by them. Many other radical points of difference are cited by him. Baldwin says, referring to the sav- age tribes, or wild Indians, their barbarism was " original; " there was nothing to indicate that they or their ancestors, near or remote, had ever been civilized. " even to the extent of becoming capable of settled life or organized industry."* He adds, "the constant traditions of these Indians, support- ed by concurring circumstantial evidence, appears to warrant the belief that they came to this part of the continent originally from the west or north- west, at a period too late to connect them in this way with the Mound-builders." After referring to the skill of the Mound-builders in the ceramic and other arts, he asks, "who can imagine the Iroquois or the Algonquins, [the two great families who two hundred years ago occupied the Valley of the Mississippi and the regions east of it] working the copper mines with such intelligence and skill, and such a combination of systematic and persist- ent industry ! They had no tradition of such a condition of life, no trace of it. It is absurd to suppose a relationship, or a connection of any kind, between the original barbarism of these In- dians and the civilization of the Mound-builders. The two peoples were entirely distinct and separate from each other. If they really belonged to the same race, which is extremely doubtful, we must go back through unnumbered ages to find their common origin and the date of their separation."+

The Iroquois, with whom the subject of this work is more intimately connected, are supposed by Lewis H. Morgan, who has discussed "Indian Migrations" in a series of interesting papers in the North American Review, to have "separated very early from the same original stem which produced the great Dakota family ;" and from their relative position in the East as compared with the Algon- quins, who were spread most widely over the coun- try when it was first visited by Europeans, Mr. Baldwin assumes that they preceded the latter there.#

Livingston county is a part of the broad domain

* Ancient America, 59. tlbid, 59-61. $ 1bid, 60.

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

of the Iroquois* Confederacy, which, in general terms, extended from the Hudson to the Genesee, and from the north to the south boundaries of the State. This confederacy was composed of the following nations, named in the order of their loca- tion from east to west : the Mohawks, ( Ganca- gaonos,t) on the river which bears their name ; the Oneidas, ( Onavotekaonos,) Onondagas, ( Onunda- gaonos, ) and Cayugas, ( Groengrochonos.) adjacent to the lakes which bear their name; and the Sen- ecas, (Vundawaonos.) between Seneca Lake and Genesee River. Its origin is buried in the obscur- ity of vague tradition and was unknown to civilized nations in 1750.# The traditions of the Iroquois ascribe it, as well as the origin of the individual nations, to a supernatural source. They, like the Athenians, sprung from the earth itself. " In re- mote ages they had been confined under a moun- tain near the falls of Osh-wah-kee, or Oswego River, whence they were released by Thurouhyja- gon, the Holder of the Heavens."|| Schoolcraft in- clines to the opinion that the confederacy is to be referred to a comparatively recent date, early in the fifteenth century; Mr. Webster, the Indian inter- preter, a good authority, about two generations be- fore the white people came to trade with the In- dians ; Pyrlaus, a missionary among the Mohawks, "one age, or the length of a man's life, before the white people came into the country ; " while Clark, the author of Clark's Onondaga, "from the per- manency of their institutions, the peculiar struc- ture of their government, the intricacy of their civil affairs, the stability of their religious beliefs and the uniformity of their pagan ceremonies, differing from other Indian nations in important particu- lars," thinks it must have had a longer duration. They declare themselves to be the most ancient and greatest people in America."

" Iroquois was the French name for the five confederate nations of In- dians residing mostly within this State. By the Dutch they were called "Maquas." They denominated themselves " Mingoes, " meaning United People .- Clark's Onondaga. "Their true name is " Hodenosau- nee," or "People of the Long House." because the five nations were ranged in a long line through Central New York, and likened to one of their long bark houses, -Parkman's Jesuits. Ruttenber says they bore the title of "'Aquinosbione," or "Konesbione," having the same mean- ing. They also called themselves "Canossioone," or "Konossione," meaning in the Iroquois language, "the whole house, or all the Indians together." Colomal History, iv. 78, 205. The appellation Iroquois was given them by the French, because they usually began and finished their speeches with the word hiro, which means " I say," or " I have said," and combined as an affix with the word Kowe, is an exclamation express- ing joy or sorrow, according as the pronunciation is long or short. Char- levoix. Garneau's History of Canada.

t The Iroquois termination in ono, means people .- Parkman's Jesuits. $ Colden's Five Nations.

§ Signifying, " I see everywhere and see nothing."-Clark's Onon- daga "

Indian Tribes of Hudson's River. Ruttenber. · Col. Hist. iv., 122.

Long ago, says the Iroquois tradition, Taounya- watha, the deity who presides over the forests and streams, came down from his abode in the clouds to make free the former to all, to remove the ob- structions from the latter, and to bestow good gifts upon the people. In the locality of Oswego he dis- closed to two hunters of the Onondaga nation whom he there met, the object of his mission, and pre- vailed on them to accompany him up the river and over the lesser lakes, while he made ample provi- sion for the sustenance of men, and taught them how to cultivate the soil and live happy, united and prosperous. Having accomplished this beneficent mission he divested himself of his divine character and took up his abode among men, assuming their habits and character. He chose for his habitation a beautiful spot on the shore of Tconto (Cross) Lake, * where he built a cabin and took a wife of the Onondagas, by whom he had an only and beau- tiful daughter, whom he tenderly loved. His excellence of character, great sagacity, and wise counsels won for him a profound regard, and by universal consent he was named Hiawatha, signifying very wise man. His advice upon mat- ters both grave and trivial was eagerly sought, and he was regarded as possessing transcendent powers of mind and consummate wisdom. Under his direction the Onondagas early gained a pre-eminent distinction as the wisest counselors, the most elo- quent orators and expert hunters, and the bravest warriors.

While Hiawatha was thus living quietly among the "people of the hills," the tribes were attacked by a ferocious and powerful enemy from the north of the great lakes, who invaded their country, laid waste their villages, and slaughtered indiscriminate- ly men, women and children. While a bold resist- ance could not intensify the ferocity of the enemy, neither did supine submission ensure palliation ; utter destruction seemed inevitable. In their ex- tremity they looked to Hiawatha, who, after thoughtful contemplation, advised a grand council of all the tribes that could be gathered, "for," said he, "our safety is not alone in the club and dart. but in wise counsels."+

This council is supposed to have been held on the east bank of Onondaga ( Ohnentaha) Lake, on the high ground where the village of Liverpool now

* Ruttenber .- According to Clark the name of the lake is Teunngktoo, the discrepancy probably arising from a difference in tribal dialects.

1 Ruttenber .- Clark puts this language into the Chieftain's mouth : "our safety is in good counsel and speedy, energetic action :" and Clay ton, the following : " Become a united people and you will conquer your enemies."

HIAWATHA'S ADDRESS.

stands .* There was a vast assembly of chiefs, war- riors, men, women and children, and although the council fire had been burning for three days they still awaited the presence of Hiawatha. Messen- gers were dispatched and found him troubled with melancholy forebodings of ill-fortune. He had re- solved not to attend the council by reason of this distress of mind, but he yielded to their importuni- ties and set out with his daughter to join the wait- ing throng. The white canoe in which the vener- able Hiawatha made his journeys by water, and which was regarded by his people with almost as much veneration as himself, glided silently down the deep waters of the Seneca, through the narrow outlet and into the placid Onondaga, and as it ap- peared to view, the assembled multitude welcomed their chief with a glad shout. As he ascended the steep bank and approached with measured tread the council ground, a loud sound was heard like a rushing mighty wind. Instantly all eyes were turned upward and beheld a mass of cloudy dark- ness rapidly descending into their midst, and in- creasing in size and velocity as it approached. All sought safety in flight save Hiawatha and his love- ly daughter, who calmly awaited the impending ca- lamity, the former having uncovered his silvered head. With a mighty swoop a huge bird, with long distended wings, descended and crushed the cher- ished girl to the earth, destroying in her remains the very semblance of a human being, and perish- ing itself in the collision.

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History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 744

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 744