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 71
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The facilities for the transportation of grain dur-
ing the early history of the town were extremely limited and being debarred by the expense of trans- portation from sending the bulk of the grain raised away to market, they were perforce compelled to create a market for it at home, by converting it into something more easily carried, and it was not but a few years after the settlement of the town, before a distillery sprang up, built by John H. Jones on the old Fort farm where Col. W. W. Jones afterwards lived. Since that time there have been eight other distilleries in operation, although at present the business has entirely died out.
A great deal of this liquor found a "home mar- ket " also, as is witnessed by the fact that no less than sixteen taverns have had existence in the town. Besides Stimson's tavern there was the Pine tavern, which at first was only a log shanty in the woods kept by Joseph Simonds, a tavern kept by Francis Richardson on the farm afterwards owned by Hiram Crosby, one kept by Pell Teed, one at the river on the road between Geneseo and Moscow kept by James Forbes, and one at the Jones Bridge kept by Mr. Whitmore, all of which were the earliest in the town. Dennison Foster kept tavern on the place afterwards owned by Geo. Lane, in a house which he erected for this purpose, and which was afterwards purchased by Wm. Robb, who moved it to Moscow in 1816, where he fitted it up as a store and occupied it for a few years. It was after- wards occupied successively by Allen Ayrault, Ly- man Ayrault and Daniel Gates, and was finally incorporated in the tavern afterwards kept by a Mr. Pratt. Col. Joseph White was another early tavern keeper at Leicester.
Elder John B. Hudson, an early Methodist preacher who settled in Geneseo in 1808, states in his "narative" that "Lester was at this time (1808) known as a thinly scattered settlement, certainly not noted for its morality, and still less so in regard to religion. Whiskey and Sabbath dese- cration were then and there notoriously prevalent." Another writer says: "For a number of years after the first settlement of the town the inhabi- tants were beyond the reach of the healthful influ- ence of civil authority. Intemperance was general and crime was of frequent occurrence." All this, however, has long since undergone a change, and Leicester, freed from the incubus of alcohol, has taken a front rank among the towns of the county for the industry, thrift and law abiding spirit of its inhabitants.
Old Leicester village was laid out in 1800 about three-fourths of a mile east of Moscow by Augus-
340
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
tus Porter. The first postmaster in Leicester was Nicholas Ayrault.
The formation of roads received due attention from the carly settlers, and some of the principal thoroughfares from Geneseo passed through this town. The first recorded roads in the county were one located in Geneseo in 1791 and one in Avon in 1797. In 1792 a gentleman from Boston jour- neying from Canawaugus to Fort Niagara says that "there was no path except an Indian trail which was sometimes very difficult to follow, and no white man lived on the route." Soon after this, as the settlements increased in number, temporary paths were opened through the forest, through which, by means of "blazed" trees the traveler could wend his way with a sense of safety against losing his way through the forest, even if the road was rough and primitive in its construction. One of the earliest roads in the town was from the set- tlement first known as Old Leicester to Batavia, and from thence to Lewiston ; another was opened from Leicester directly west twenty-five miles to the town of Sheldon, while a third road starting from the same point as the other two was laid off in a south-westerly .direction to the Alleghany river. Between Beard's creek, at this time, and Leicester village was a swamp which though pass- able was during wet seasons mostly under water. The highway from Leicester to Mt. Morris was the continuation of the present road leading south from Leicester to its intersection with the present road a few rods south of the school house at Squakie Hill. From thence north to Moscow in 1818 the present traveled road was opened and made passable for teams, mainly through the efforts of Jellis Clute, who with 'Thomas and Win. Clute were prominent early settlers, coming from Schenectady. The old road from Leicester village to Rice's Falls came across Moscow green, thence by the northwest corner through the center of the ceme- tery and from there to the falls. In regard to the means of crossing the river we have only been able to glean the following items: Daniel Curtis, in 1804-5 kept a ferry across the river on the road leading from Geneseo to Leicester. The first bridge built south of Avon was called the Jones bridge, and was erected in 1816. In 1831 this bridge was carried away by a large freshet, and was not rebuilt till 1832-3. The bridge at Mt. Morris was built in 1830, washed away in 1832, and rebuilt two years later. The Cuylerville bridge was erected in 1852.
Besides the early settlers already mentioned that
wielded a prominent influence in the early history of this town there were Jesse Wadhams, Joseph White, Joseph Edmunds, Gideon T. Jenkins, after- wards the first sheriff of the county, Festus Cone, Dr. Asa R. Palmer, Justin Dutton, Col. Jerediah Horsford, Samuel Miles Hopkins, Col. Wm. Ly- man, Elijah Hunt, Alexander Ewing, Theodore Thompson, and others. Jedediah Richardson set- tled in Leicester in 1816. His son Hiram W. Richardson was born in 1817, and is now living in the town. Col. Lyman's wife was a daughter of Capt. Horatio Jones, and was born in Leicester ; she died March 14, 1875, aged seventy-one. Cap- tain Horatio Jones, already mentioned, was born Dec. 17, 1763, in Penn. He enlisted in the Con- tinental army in 1780, and was captured by the Indians that same year and taken to their home. He lived with them till after the close of the war. He died in 1836 and is buried in Geneseo.
The industrial interests of the town have been quite prominent in their time. Besides the nine distilleries already mentioned, there have been five grist-mills, the first of which was erected by Oliver L. Phelps, on the west branch of Beard's creek at Rice's Falls in 1797, and was burned in 1817 and the second one by Noah Benton, near Mos- cow, in 1799. The one at Cuylerville was first built in 1844, by Col. Cuyler. There have been three fulling mills in the town, two of them as early as 1815, viz: one built by Peter Roberts and Samuel Crossman in the gully, north of the resi- dence occupied by Lewis Newman, and one built by Peter Palmer. Three tanneries have been in operation, conducted by Messrs. Ira Holmes, Cone & Ferry and Spencer. The first saw-mill was built by Ebenezer Allen, at Gibsonville, in 1792, Samuel M. Hopkins owned a brewery in 820.
The first upland farm cleared and cultivated was that of Josiah Risdon's, and was situated a little north of Cuylerville. It was afterwards owned by David Bailey. The first physician was Paul New- comb.
In September, 1825, there was held at the Academy in Moscow an important treaty with the Seneca Indians. On the part of the United States, Major Carroll, Judge Howell and Nathaniel Gor- ham acted as commissioners, Jasper Parish was Indian agent and Horatio Jones acted as inter- preter. This treaty was heldl mainly for the purpose of extinguishing the title of Mary Jemison to the Gardeau reservation by purchase by the whites. The land amounting to nearly 18,000 acres was
341
LEICESTER-TOWN OFFICERS.
bought by Henry B. Gibson, Micah Brooks and Jellis Clute. The Indians soon after this sale was con- summated, moved away to their reservations west.
In 1815 the Synod of Geneva proposed opening a school at Squakie Hill for the instruction of the Indian children, provided a school house could be built for that purpose. Rev. Daniel S. Butrick engaged to have a suitable school house provided which was completed in November, 1815. Soon after the completion of the house a school was opened for the Indian children under the care of Col. Jerediah Horsford, who was employed for the purpose by the above mentioned Synod. At the time of this school the number of Indians at the place, old and young, was about eighty.
August 20, 1841, occurred a most notable event in the history of the town. On that day, in the presence of large delegations from Livingston and Monroe counties, the remains of those brave men who formed Lieut. Boyd's scouting party and who were so cruelly sacrificed, were, to- gether with the remains of Boyd and Parker, taken to Rochester and there interred in Mt. Hope ceme- tery. The remains of Boyd's unfortunate comrades were exhumed August 16, from the farm of James Boyd, in Groveland, having been buried near where they so bravely fell. Boyd and Parker were buried near the bridge at Cuylerville. The two small streams that join near here were at this time (1841) named respectively Boyd's and Parker's creeks in their honor.
The first town meeting was held March Ist, 1803, at the house of Joseph Smith, who then lived very near the spot that Col. Cuyler's farm house was located. This Joseph Smith was the one to whom, in company with Horatio Jones, the Indians granted a tract of land.
At this meeting there were elected the following officers :-
Supervisor, John H. Jones; Town Clerk, Geo. A. Wheeler; Assessors, Samuel Ewen, Alpheus Harris, Dennison Foster ; Collector and Constable, Peres Brown ; Poor Masters, Benjamin Gardner, Adam Wisner; Commissioners of Highways, George Gard- ner, Wm. Mills, Joel Harvey ; Fence Viewer, Daniel Curtis ; Pound Keepers, David Dickinson, James Dale, Joel Harvey; Path Masters, Abel Cleveland, Samuel Hascall.
The following have been the successive Super- visors and Town Clerks :---
Supervisors.
Town Clerks.
1804-06. John H. Jones.
1807. Tom Lemen.
Daniel Curtis. Jared Spalding.
1808-09. Tom Lemen.
Wm. Jones.
1810. John H. Jones.
1811-13. Wm. A. Mills.
1814.
1815. 1816. Abraham Camp.
66
Joseph White.
1818. Joseph Butrick.
Hezekiah Ripley.
1819. Jellis Clute.
John Baldwin.
1820-21.
1822. Joseph White.
1823. Jellis Clute.
1824-25. Elihu Scofield.
1826.
Jellis Clute.
1827. Allen Ayrault.
Daniel Gates.
1828. Felix Tracey.
Wm. Lyman.
1829. Geo. W. Patterson.
1830. Daniel H. Bissell. H. A. Wilmerding.
1831. Horatio Jones, Jr. Ebenezer Walker.
1832. Daniel H. Bissell. H. A. Wilmerding.
1833-34. ..
1835-36. 66
Ephraim Cone.
1837.
Daniel P. Bissell.
M. N. Burchard.
1838.
Geo. W. Patterson. H. A. Wilmerding.
1841.
Richard H. Wells.
1842. Wm. W. Wooster. Sylvanus L. Young. 66
1843-44.
Wm. M. Older.
1845. John H. Jones.
Horatio Jones, 3d.
1846.
John Kennedy. 66 6.
D. B. Noble.
1848-50.
66
Henry Tilton.
1851.
D. B. Noble.
1852. John H. Jones, Jr. Gideon Thompson.
1853. John Kennedy.
Erastus Brooks.
1854. Wm. W. Wooster. Wm. W. Sears.
1855. Hiram D. Crosby. Wilbur H. Boies.
1856.
Thos. J. Jones.
James McCarter.
1858.
66
Barney Van Vleet.
W'm. C. Dwight.
1860.
W. W. Wooster.
E. N. Bacon.
1861.
W. B. Wooster.
N. E. Clute.
1862.
A. E. Clute. 66 66
1 863. W. B. Wooster.
1 864-66.
66
Chas. O. Atherton.
1867. A. M. Wooster.
1868-70. John H. Jones. 66
1871
1872. A. M. Wooster. 66
Dorus Thompson. P. A. Phillips. Austin S. Smith. Dorus Thompson.
1873. 1874.
John H. Jones.
66
1876. WVm. C. Dwight.
66
1877
Bingham Knapp.
1878-79. Jas. C. Wicker.
D. Thompson.
1880. C. O. Atherton.
The following officers were elected April 5th, 1881 : Dorus Thompson, Supervisor ; Squire P. Utley, Town Clerk ; George W. Lane, Justice of the Peace ; William B. Wooster, Highway Com- missioner ; John Robinson, Assessor ; Martin S. Wheellock, Overseer of the Poor; George W.
Justin Dutton. Jellis Clute. Justin Dutton.
Jellis Clute.
John Baldwin.
1817.
Jerome Curtis.
Wmn. Lyman.
66
Jerediah Horsford.
Daniel C. Maxson.
1839-40. H. N. Wheelock.
WVm. M. Older.
1847.
1857.
66
1859.
66
1875. A. M. Wooster.
342
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Richardson, Collector; George W. Richardson, Harrison Harrington, Ira Green, Reuben G. Moses, Constables ; Daniel G. Ten Eyck, Game Constable ; Henry H. Warner, (vacancy.) James Brophel, Excise Commissioners ; James E. Beebe, John W. Kellogg, Louis A. Allen, Inspectors of Election.
At the first town meeting it was voted that $400 be raised for the expense of the town for the year, and also that a bounty of five dollars be offered for every wolf killed in the town.
The following order appears on the town records :-
ONTARIO COUNTY, SS :
To Samuel Hascall, Poormaster of the District of Leicester :- In the name of the people of the State of New York, you are hereby authorized and required to warn and see that each and every per- son hereafter named doth faithfully work the num- ber of days opposite their respective names on the road, beginning at the northeast corner of the square against the Indian town, thence from the southeast corner of said square to the river at "Squarker" Hill, thence east from the place of beginning to the top of the hill at Leonard Stim- son's, and make returns of your proceedings to the Commissioners of Highways according to law. Hereof fail not at your peril. Given under our hands this the 31st day of May, 1803.
GEO. GARDNER, JOEL HARVEY, WM. A. MILLS. Com'n'rs of Highways.
The following are the names appended :- John Redford, Stephen Hoyt, Warner Finton, Wm. Carter, John H. Jones, John Solomon, James and Stephen Dale, Joshua Quivey, John Griffith, Wm. White, James Blakesley, Martin Griffith, Willard Lewis, John Sample, Andrew Rose, W'm. Rose, John Lewis, Josiah Rirden, Ralph Brown, Elijah Hunt, Geo. and Eli Cooper, John Shackleton, Peres Brown, Ransom Harmon, Ephraim Fosster, Denison Foster, Geo. Gardner, Joel Harvey, Major Nobles, Daniel Curtis, Benjamin Gardner, Benj. Gardner, Jr., Geo. A. Wheeler, Joseph Smith, Peter Myers, Adam Wisher, Josiah Jewett, Caleb Shaw, David and Joseph Pond, Josiah and John Hovey, David Philips, Moses Wilson, John Knuckle, Jacob Holden, Aaron Wheeler, Josiah Hovey, Jr., Simeon and Guerdon Hovey, John Bonard, Rich- ard Cramer, -- Teeple, Jonathan Jinner.
The following names were appended to a similar order sent to Wm. A. Mills : Clark and Abel Cleve- land, Joseph Philips, Jared Spalding, Thos. Philips, Alpheus Harris, Isaac Powel, David Dickerson, Lewis Mills, Wm. A. Mills, Alexander Mills, Bela
Elderkin, Samuel Patterson, Dorastus P. Snow, Zebulon Tubbs, Squire Haskin, Phineas Bates, Robert Wilson, -- Lauraby, Amos Solomon, John Kinyon, Geo. Minigar and James Haskins.
At an election held in this town April 26, 27, 28, 1803, there were forty-five votes cast. In 1810 there were fourteen votes cast for Governor.
In the war of the rebellion Leicester contributed her full share and it is a matter for serious regret that a perfect record of those who so bravely vol- unteered from this town at the time of their coun- try's peril and who laid down their lives upon the altar of liberty, should never have been made. The following is a copy of all that appears on the town records essentially pertaining to its military record.
April 5th, 1864, the following resolution was passed :-
" Resolved, That the Board of town auditors be authorized to pay such sums of money to the indi- gent families of the soldiers from this town now in the service of the United States or that may be called into such service during the present year as in their judgment shall from time to time be deemed necessary to make such families comfortable, and that the same be levied upon the taxable property of said town the same as other town expenses and not to exceed One Hundred and Fifty Dollars."
August 15, 1864, it was
" Resolved, That the town of Leicester pay for volunteers who may enlist under the last call of our President for five hundred thousand men dated July 18, 1864, in addition to all other bounties the sum of three hundred dollars for those who may enlist or be mustered in, to the credit of said town for one year, and six hundred dollars for those en- listing for three years until the quota is filled.
" Resolved, That the town pay the sum of five hundred and twenty-five dollars to men that are drafted under the late call of the President for five hundred thousand volunteers and who furnish a substitute."
September 12, 1864, the following resolution was passed :-
" Resolved, That the Supervisor of the town of Leicester be and is duly authorized to pay for vol- unteers to fill the quota of said town under the call of July 18, 1864, for five hundred thousand men for the service of the United States, not to exceed the sum of one thousand dollars to each recruit."
* *
The following school statistics for the town of Leicester were taken from the last report filed with the county clerk, which bears date of October 1, 1877 :-
Number of licensed teachers employed at the same time for twenty-eight weeks or more, 12;
MR. & MRS. OLIVER ATHERTON,
OLIVER ATHERTON.
Oliver Atherton, the subject of this sketch, was born in Chesterfield, Cheshire county, N. H., Dec. 5, 1806. He was the second son of a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters. He remained at home with his parents, assisting his father on the farm, until 19 years of age, when he went to Warsaw, now Wyoming county, and in partnership with a man named Marvin, bought the stage route running between LeRoy and Angelica. This proved to be a bad investment, for his part- ner was unreliable, and he then commenced working in a hotel for Col. Wm. Bingham, of . Warsaw, with whom he remained two years. After this he drove the stage for Gen. McEl- wain, from Warsaw to Moscow, and in 1838
commenced the grocery and restaurant busi- ness in Moscow, where he continued till his death, which occurred Feb. 5, ,1865.
Mr. Atherton was successful as a merchant, careful, prudent, and industrious. Feb. 27, (1839,) he was married to Maryette, daughter of William and Clarinda Knapp, of Perry, Wyoming county. They adopted a son who is as dear to Mrs. Atherton as though he were her own. He carries on the same business, begun by his father and occupied the same building until 1880, when he moved to the present large and commodious building near the old one.
In politics, Mr. Atherton was a Republican, supporting his party by his vote only, never interfering with others in their political views.
343
LEICESTER-VILLAGE OF MOSCOW.
number of children between five and twenty-one years of age residing in the town Sept. 30, 1877, 552 ; number of children attending school during the year, 428; average daily attendance, 229.950; whole number of days attendance through the year, 34,685 ; number of volumes in district library, 263; value, $140; 10 school houses, all frame ; value of sites, $800 ; value of school houses, $4.355 ; size of sites, 2 acres 77 rods ; assessed value of tax- able property in the district, $1,289,820.
Statement of receipts and disbursements for the school year ending Sept. 30, 1877 :- RECEIPTS.
Amount on hand Oct. 1, 1876 $ 87.78
Amount apportioned to district ..
1,375.47
Amount raised by tax .
1,717.23
Amount from teachers' board and other sources 36.00
-$3,216.48
DISBURSEMENTS.
For teachers' wages $2,581.19
For libraries
8.43
For school apparatus
10.46
For school houses, sites, fences, out-houses, repairs, furniture, etc.
139.12
For all other incidental expenses 332.16
Amount on hand Oct. 1st, 1877 145.12
-$3,216.48
The following from this town have held distin- guished positions in various places :-
John H. Jones was appointed one of the Judges of Genesee county at its organization in 1802 and continued on the bench of that county till Living- ston county was formed in 1821. He was after- wards Side Judge in Livingston county for a few years. Gideon T. Jenkins was the first Sheriff in the county, and also served in the State Legisla- ture in 1819. Samuel Miles Hopkins and Felix Tracy both served in the legislature. Col. Hors- ford was in the legislature in 1830, and Geo. W. Patterson in 1832-33-35-36-37-38-39-40, twice Speaker during that time. John H. Jones, Jr., in 1857, and Lyman Odell were elected to the assem- bly. In 1814 Samuel M. Hopkins was elected a member of Congress and served one tern. J. Horsford was elected to Congress in 1850. Geo. WV. Patterson was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1848 on the Whig ticket. Prof. Eben Horsford, a chemist of note, is a native of this town.
Moscow.
In the year 1811, Samuel Miles Hopkins came to Livingston county ; but it was not till 1813 that he finally made a permanent location in Leicester.
In 1814, he made arrangements with his brother- in-law, Jesse Wadhams, to erect a large hotel at Leicester village. Mr. Wadhams, therefore com- menced operations and collected part of the ma-
terial for the new house when some difficulty arose between Mr. Hopkins and some of the villagers in which Mr. Hopkins felt himself much aggrieved, and, in consequence of which, he determined to do nothing towards the advancement of that settle- ment. Mr. Hopkins soon after had completed the plans of another village, and in accordance there- with the present village of Moscow was laid out, and the plot surveyed in August, 1814, John Smith, of Groveland, acting as surveyor.
Samuel Miles Hopkins was an eminent lawyer, and a brother to Mark Hopkins. He graduated at Yale College in 1791, and in 1792 became the pioneer lawyer in the village of Oxford, Chenango county, which was then just budding into promise.
In 1817, Mr. Hopkins was considered to be worth about $75,000, which, three years later, owing to a depreciated currency-the legacy of the war of 1812-15-was wholly absorbed in the payment of his debts.
In 1822, he moved with his family from the Genesee Valley to Albany, and engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1831, he removed to Geneva, N. Y., where he died October 8, 1837, aged sixty-five. He represented the 21st District in Congress in 1813-15 ; was a member of Assem- bly from Genesee county (which then embraced the town of Leicester,) in 1820-21; represented the Western District in the State Senate in 1822 ; and March 7, 1825, in conjunction with George Tibbits and Stephen Allen, was appointed a Commission to sell the State prison at Newgate (which was inadequate to accommodate the con- victs in the eastern section of the State,) and build a new one-at Sing Sing. He was much respect- ed as a philanthropist and a Christian.
The land upon which Moscow is located, was, at the time it was surveyed, covered with a young growth of hickory and oak. When first laid out, the square was bounded about one rod south and three or four rods north of its present limits, and was donated to the town for a public square and the land sold by the original proprietor with that understanding. The roads running east and west from it were six rods wide, but encroachments have been made upon both, and afterwards held by occupants of adjoining lands.
The first building of any kind built in Moscow was a barn erected by Jesse Wadhams. The first public house in the place was built and kept by Jesse Wadhams in 1814. He was succeeded by Gideon T. Jenkins who kept it for some little time. The building was afterward used as a residence
344
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
by Horatio Jones. Homer Sherwood and Joseph White, from Leicester, each built a tavern in Mos- cow soon after and kept them for some time. Col. Jerediah Horsford succeeded Mr. Sherwood in business in 1848. Jerediah Horsford first opened a public house in Moscow in 1817 and kept it about twenty years. The Moscow Academy was built in 1815-16 and was one of the first institu- tions of the character in Western New York. In the first few years of its existence it drew pupils from as great a distance as Canandaigua and Buf- falo. With the decadence of the village the acad- emy gradually lost its patronage, until it was finally closed. The building is now used as a black- smith shop. The first physician in Moscow was Asa R. Palmer, and John Baldwin, who came from East Bloomfield in 1814, was the first lawyer. The first public school house built in Moscow was the one known as the "old brick school house," built in 1817. The first store was opened in 1815 by Nicholas Ayrault.
A weekly mail, sometimes on foot and on horse- back, was established between Moscow and Angel- ica by the "short tract." Previous to 1817 settlers of Mt. Morris had to go to Moscow for mail.
The first newspaper in the county was estab- lished in Moscow by Hezekiah Ripley in 1817 under the name of the Moscow Advertiser and Genesee Farmer. In 1821 James Percival pur- chased the paper, and removing it to Geneseo continued it under the name of The Livingston Register. According to French's State Gazetteer Moscow village was incorporated in 1856, although no mention of this fact is found elsewhere.
The following includes all of the present business of the village :-
F. H. Moyer, M. D., came to Moscow in June, 1876 ; was graduated from Buffalo Medical College in 1872.
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