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 75
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SONYEA.
The Society of Christian Believers .- In the year IS21 there begau a religious awakening in Wayne county, N. Y., which continued with an increase for several years. The people of that section having learned something of the doctrines of Be- lievers, applied to the society at Mt. Lebanon for aid in establishing a society in Western New York. Brethren from Mt. Lebanon visited the people in the year 1826. Finding them to be thoroughly in earnest, a site was selected and purchased for the location of their society. The tract of land decided upon contained about 1,296 acres ; situ- ated partly in the town of Sodus and partly in the town of Huron. It was purchased of Robert C. Nicholas, Feb. 23d, 1826, and the Believers took formal possession of their property March Ist of the same year. In the month of May following, there were sent from the churches at Mt. Lebanon and Niskayuna, four missionaries, viz. : Elders Jeremiah Talcott and John Lockwood, and EI- dresses Esther Bennet and Lucy Brown. These were to be the leaders of the newly-formed society at Sodus. Under their ministration the society continued to increase in numbers and prosperity at that place for several years. They erected some buildings and lived very comfortably.
In the year 1836, when the Sodus Canal Com- pany was formed, with the intention of building a ship canal from Clyde to Great Sodus Bay, the projected course of the canal lay through the land which the Believers had purchased. The Canal Company offered to buy the property, and the people, not wishing to be subjected to the incon- convenience and associations which a canal would bring, accepted the terms of the company, and the sale was effected on the 21st day of November, 1836. Having thus disposed of their home, it
now became necessary for the Society to secure a future abiding place.
After much inquiry and due deliberation, they finally purchased the property where they are now located, consisting of 1,670 acres of land in the town of Groveland, Livingston county, N. Y. This was bought of Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh in January, 1837 ; and afterward additional land was pur- chased, making in all about 1,800 acres. The Society at that time numbered 145 members or thereabouts ; who, soon after the bargain was con- cluded, commenced moving to their new home in Groveland. This move was accomplished during the years 1837-38, and in the month of April, 1838, the Sodus property passed into the hands of the Canal Company.
There was necessarily much privation suffered by the people in beginning anew to establish a home; but they immediately set about cultivating the soil, erecting buildings, and striving to provide themselves with accommodations and comforts as fast as possible. In the year 1839, the office was built, and soon afterward the church, then the mills, a flouring mill, (since destroyed by fire) and a saw mill. The foundation for the present dwelling was laid in 1858. Previous to that time and during the time of building, a part of the Society occupied the house formerly used as a dwelling by Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh and his family. The remainder of the people lived in other smaller buildings which were on the place when they bought it, until better accommodations could be provided. This Society has met with many losses ; some by several fires which have occurred here, and others by the dishonesty and unfaithfulness of trustees, who, betraying the confidence reposed in them, have left the Society, taking with them much of the property which had been consecrated for the benefit of all the members.
In spite of all obstacles, however, those who have remained true to their faith have continued making improvements, erecting commodious build- ings, and by constant toil have steadily risen from a state in which they were barely supplied with the necessaries of life, to a condition of con- parative comfort, though not of ease, for it is one of the principles of their faith that all should engage in manual labor to provide for the susten- ance of the body. It is now more than forty years since the removal of the Believers from Sodus, and more improvements have been made in their property and belongings since the year 1861 than in all the previous years. The ministers or leaders
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THE SEWING HOUSE.
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1 OFFICE
2 HORSE BARN
3 MEETING HOUSE
4 DWELLING HOUSE
5 SEWING HOUSE
6 DINING ROOM & DAIRY
THE HOME OF THE SOCIE VULGARLY CALLED SHAKERS.
FRUIT HOUSE AND LAUNDRY.
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7 FRUIT HOUSE & LAUNDRY
8 STOCK BARN
9 WOOD & CARRIAGE HOUSE
10 BOILER HOUSE
JOINER SHOP
12 BROOM SHOP
13 SCHOOL HOUSE
CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS
A, LIVINGSTON, Co, N.Y.
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WILLIAM K. MANN.
who first came to Sodus, have long since died ; but their places have been filled by worthy successors, who have striven to maintain the doc- trines that were established in the first days of their church. There have been many seceders from the faith causing a declension in numbers, but the fundamental principles, as taught and practiced by the founders of the Church, have ever been preserved in their purity by the faithful, and to-day the Believers claim to have a faith, which has stood the test of more than a hundred years.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
WILLIAM K. MANN.
Samuel Mitchell Mann, son of Samuel Mann and Margaret Keith Mann, grandson of John and Mary Mann, was born on the 25th day of August, 1781, in the township of Horsham, Montgomery county, Pa., where the family still reside in the fourth and fifth generations, in the same substan- tial stone house, and on the same farm originally bought by the founder of the family from the Penns.
Samuel M. Mann came to Western New York in 1805, with his brother-in-law, Samuel McNair, and located in what was then the town of Sparta, Ontario county, now Groveland, on a farm of 240 acres in the wilderness, and upon which there had not been cut a stick of timber He returned the following year to Pennsylvania, and in September, 1806, married Susan, daughter of General John Borrows, of Northumberland county, Pa. Susan was a native of Philadelphia county.
They removed to their farm in Groveland, where they died after raising a family of nine children, seven of whom are still surviving, and six of them in this county. Dr. Josiah Stockton Mann, son of Samuel and Snsan Mann, has been a practicing physician in Posey county, in the State of Indiana, for more than forty years. Samuel Mann and wife lived to be four score years of age.
The subject of this sketch, William Keith Mann, was born in the town of Groveland, on the 15th day of September, 1811, and was the third son of Samuel M., and Susan B. Mann, and now resides within one-half mile of the place of his birth. He has always been a farmer, and has sometimes dealt in produce. Mr. Mann cannot boast of the ex- aggerated advantages of modern schools, but may claim to be a graduate of the district school, the school of the people, whose advantages were made use of by him to its fullest extent.
He was married on the 28th of March, 1837, to Sarah D. McNair, by whom he had eight children,
five of whom are living; one in Indiana, one in Pennsylvania, one in Colorado, and two in Grove- land, In 1863 he was married to Mrs. Fanny M. Wheelock, by whom he has one daughter.
Mr. Mann well remembers when it was quite as common to see an Indian as a white man ; and when bears and deer were often seen, and rattle- snakes were killed by children singly, or hunted by men and killed by the score.
Mr. Mann has always had laudable ambitions, probably induced somewhat by pride of ancestry, as he can trace the blood of the Stocktons, Hub- bards and Manns of New Jersey ; and of the Keiths, Borrows, Torberts, Andersons and Mitchells of Pennsylvania, in his veins. Both of his grandfathers and one of his great-grandfathers were Revolutionary patriots and served in the war of Independence. His great-grandfather, John Borrows, enlisted in the war with five sons, and two step-sons by the name of Wood, and out of the eight in the family but three returned-the father, Nathaniel and John Jr. One perished in a prison-ship in New York harbor, one was blown up on a vessel in the same harbor, when every soul perished, and a third fell at the battle of Camden, in South Carolina. John Jr., was promoted and remembered by his government, and subsequently was appointed a General in the war of 1812, and raised a brigade and was ready to march to the lines when peace was proclaimed. He was State Senator and Prothonotary of the county of Lycoming several years, and otherwise honored and respected.
William K.'s aspirations for learning led him to spend a few months at school in Geneva after he was 21 years of age, on his own responsibility, when his board, tuition and stationery did not cost him over fifty cents per week, and when he wrought on Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays to pay for his fuel by chopping and sawing wood, cleaning and digging ditches, and other jobs that were hon- est that he could get to do. He returned to his father's in the spring and continued to work for him as if a minor till in his 23d year, when he en- gaged in teaching school for several winter terms, still working on the farm in summer. Subsequent to his marriage, for a series of years, he worked lands on shares by the halves, and at times had contracts on the public works, when he bought the farm on which he now resides and has continued to add to it until he is now in possession of 840 acres, but his misfortunes have compelled its incumbrance.
Being a man of decided opinions, one whose convictions were clear and conclusive, and believ- ing that "no man has a right to say he will do as he has a mind to unless he has a mind to do right," he has always been a total stranger to policy, born without fear. If he thought a certain course right he was sure to say so if all the world beside him said otherwise, and if he thought it wrong it was sure to meet with his most emphatic condemna- tion. His views on temperance were adopted early, amidst persecution, and never regretted, and he can now say truthfully that he never bought,
360
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
offered, or received a glass of intoxicating liquor at any public bar or elsewhere, since his views were formed, which was when he was 13 years of age.
Politically he was born an Anti-Mason about the time William Morgan was abducted and murdered. He thinks the whale society of Masons responsible for the crime by trying to prevent the punishment of the perpetrators by encouraging their witnesses to treat the case with contempt, and treating them as if they had been martyrs in some righteous cause after they had served or paid the penalty of the law. He voted with the Anti-Masonic party until they united with the Whigs. His sympathies were with the Democrats, and his first vote for President was cast for that noble Democrat, Andrew Jackson. He continued to vote with that party until it seemed to him the only principles left it were the loaves and fishes and slavery. He abandoned the party in disgust and went in with the Republicans, voted for John C. Fremont, twice for Abraham Lincoln, twice for Gen. Grant, for R. B. Hayes, and lastly for Jas. B. Garfield. He prides himself on being called a Republican and in belonging to the party that carried ns through the war and saved the country ; proud of the glori- ous company of such men as William H. Seward, A. Lincoln, D. S. Dickinson, J. A. Dix, E. Morgan, Stanton, Sherman, Grant, Sumner and hosts of others that were originally Democrats.
Mr. Mann is decidedly of the notion that the Methodist minister was right when he said that "the man who sells seven feet of wood for a cord is no Christian," and he envys not the man's morals that thinks he can pay a just debt by bank- rupt or assignment laws.
His earliest recollections of the pioneers of this town which dates back to the close of the last war with Great Britain, embraces the McNairs, Robertsons, Vances, Baileys, Rosebrughs, Cul- bertsons, Lattimores, Brans, Stillwells, Kellys, Barbers, Hendershotts, Roups, Hylands, Magees, Berrys, Thompsons, Harrisons, Dotys, Gambles, Carrolls, Fitzhughs, Scholls, Mills, Ewarts ; nearly all from New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Most of them are dead, many removed, some have not even left one to transmit their names. The first clergy- man he heard in this town was Rev. Lindsley.
We can find descendants of men of this town in almost every State and Territory west of this, and not a few in the South. The changes are al- most incredible in other respects from hard labor to machinery, from the Indian paths, to railroads and telegraphs, and the rise in the value of land from $2,00 per acre to $roo. We might search long for a race of men more distinguished for lon- gevity than these pioneers.
EDWARD LOGAN.
Edward Logan was born in county Antrim, Ire- land, in July, 1813. His parents were Edward
and Jennie (Boyd) Logan, natives of the same county, who came to this country in 1820, and settled permanently in the town of Sparta, near Scottsburgh, where they remained till they died, the mother in 1861, and the father a few years later. They had seven children. viz :- Jennie, Ed- ward, Sarah, James, Mary, John and Andrew, all now living in this county, except Sarah, who re- sides in Tecumseh, Michigan. Edward lived at home with his parents until 1846, when he settled where he now lives in the town of Groveland.
March 13, 1850, he was married to Adeline, daughter of John W., and Sarah (Magee) Latimer, of Groveland. She was born June 18, 1824. Her father came with his parents from Pennsylvania when very young.
Mrs. Logan's paternal ancestry were English. Her mother was born in the State of New Jersey, of Irish parents, of whom the father died February 22, 1865, and the mother July 27, 1834. They had six children :- William McNair, James, Hugh C., Caroline and Adeline, (twins, ) and Elizabeth.
Mr. and Mrs. Logan had three children, all of whom died in infancy. Mr. Logan has been flat- teringly recognized by his townsmen by election to various offices of his town. He was elected Super- visor in 1852, and again in 1853. and has been Road Commissioner. In politics he is a Republi- can, and firm in the support of his party's meas- ures and principles. He is a member of no reli- gious denomination but attends the Presbyterian church at Groveland Centre, of which his wife is a worthy member.
ISAAC PRAY.
Isaac Pray was born in Winfield, Herkimer connty, N. Y., April 22, 1812. His grandfather, John Pray, left his native State, Nov. 1, 1794, and with his family, settled in Litchfield, where he engaged in farming. Soon discouraged in this he went to Ballston, Saratoga connty. His son James, father of our subject, was born in Foster, R. I., in 1782, and was about twenty-one years of age when his father went to Ballston. July 28, 1805, he was married to Cornelia Patterson, of Winfield, who died Nov. 10, 1856. Before his marriage he engaged in the manufacture of pot- ash, that being one of the leading industries of that early day, and disposed of his potash to parties in Albany. This was a good business venture and gave him a fine start in life. With Mr. Sim- mons as a partner, he built a saw and grist mill on one of the head branches of the Unadilla river, near a small hamlet which is not now remembered. A few years after he disposed of his interest there and engaged in the distilling business. He soon, however, became dissatisfied with this and en- gaged in farming ever after. In May, 1832, he came to Groveland and bonght the farm where Isaac now resides, and where he lived till his death, which occurred Nov. 16, 1873, aged 91
MRS. PRAY.
MR. PRAY.
RESIDENCE OF ISAAC PRAY, GROVELAND, LIVINGSTON COUNTY, N. Y.
361
JOHN WHITE - LIVONIA
years and 6 months. Isaac Pray resided with his parents till 19 years of age, and enjoyed only the limited advantages of the district school of those early days for an education. He afterwards went to Ohio where he engaged in farming for five or six years, and in 1837 went to visit his parents in Groveland, when his father prevailed upon him to remain at home and assist him on the farm which he bought in 1864, and which consisted of 1183 acres of land.
February 6, 1836, he was married to Jane, daughter of Frederick Lewis Mills, of Mt. Morris, by whom he had two daughters, Harriet M. and Frances I., the latter of whom married William Wyant, of Groveland. In politics Mr. Pray is a Republican, at all times working in the interests of his party, but never wishing to hold any office. In religion Mr. Pray and his family are Baptists, Mrs. Pray having been a member of that church for more than forty years.
JOHN WHITE.
John White was born in the town of Piqua, Northumber- land county, Penn., December 25, 1788. In 1794, his parents with their family em- igrated to the town of Lima, where they lived for four years, then purchased and remov- ed to a farm, (long know as the Ram- beau farm, ) one and a half miles southeast of the village of Geneseo. In these boyhood days Indians were often his com- panions in the games of wrestling and ball playing.
In 1805 while yet but a youth he started out for himself and began the battle of life in earnest. In company with a brother and a friend he followed the Indian trail westward to the "Holland Pur- chase" where each purchased a farm in the unbroken forest, but all living together for a year in a rude log-cabin doing their own house-work, and furnish- ing their cabin in the style of those days. Split bass-wood logs fastened on standards of different heights serving for tables and chairs, and maple wood dishes were their only supply.
He cleared a portion of his farm and built a house and on Jan. 6th, 1807, was united in mar- riage with Miss Anna Griffith of Geneseo. In 1808 he united with the M. E. Church and from that time forward his religious faith and principles con-
Photo. by Merrell, Geneseo. (JOHN WHITE.)
trolled him in all the duties and relations of life. In 1813 he returned to this vicinity and bought the farın in Groveland, on which he resided for 62 years. Thus did he become identified with the early settlement and material prosperity of the town where so great a portion of his life was spent. He held for many years the various offices within the gift of his townsmen, truly the gift for he never solicited a vote nor even voted for himself, and in the discharge of these duties his record is of one who did his work well and honorably.
In 1826, he assisted in the organization of the M. E. Church at East Groveland, was elected trustee and class-leader, which offices he held until his death. In the same year he with Lemuel B. Jennings donated a lot of five acres to be occupied as a parson- age ground, and it is still used for that pur- pose. He was the first farmer in Grove- land to break away from the then prevail- ing custom of provid- ing ardent spirits for his laborers, while to protect the pioneer temperance lecturer in his work he has even interposed his own powerful physical frame as a barrier in the door against the enemies of the tem- perance cause.
Firmness of purpose and perseverance in duty characterized him in every position he was called to oc- cupy. He died in Geneseo at his home with his only remain- ing child Joseph E. White, June 27th, :880, in the 92d year of his age.
CHAPTER XXVI.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LIVONIA.
T THE town of Livonia lies on the eastern border of the county. It was formed February 12, 1808, from Richmond, Ontario county, which, at that date, was known as Pittstown. A portion of its territory was taken off in 1819, and, with other territory of Ontario county, formed into the town of Conesus.
The town is bounded on the north by Lima and Avon ; on the south by Conesus and Canadice
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
(Ontario county,) on the east by Richmond, (On- tario county,) and on the west by Geneseo. It contains an area of 22,811 acres, the soil of which, in the low lands, is a clayey loam, and on the higher lands an admixture of sandy and gravelly Ioam.
In the southern part the surface is somewhat hilly ; in the northern part, gently undulating.
The name, Livonia, was derived from a Russian province, and was proposed by Col. George Smith at the time when the Legislature was petitioned for the formation of the town.
The township contains five villages-Livonia, Livonia Center, Hemlock Lake, South Livonia, and Lakeville. Gullburgh, in the southeastern part, is a name given to a small settlement of a few scatter- ing houses ; and Hamilton Station, in the northern part, is a small station on the line of the Erie rail- road.
The only streams of importance are the outlets of Hemlock, Conesus, and Canadice lakes-the two former lying partly within the eastern and wes- tern borders of the town-and Kinney's creek, a small stream which rises in the southern part, flows northerly and southerly and empties into the mill- pond at the village of Hemlock Lake.
The first settlement of Livonia was begun by Solomon Woodruff in 1789 .* He came from Litchfield, Conn., and located on lot 32, just south of Livonia Centre, and a little east of the present residence of Buel D. Woodruff. Here he made a clearing, on which he built a log house, and then returned to Connecticut and brought his wife and son Austin, then three years old, together with his household effects, in an ox sled, to Livonia.
On that lone winter's journey, their second born little boy sickened under exposure and hardships. When they reached Bristol, Ontario county, he died in his mother's arms, and there on the sum- mit of one of those bleak hills the father dug a rude grave by the way-side, in which they laid their little one, and then with saddened hearts pursued their journey.
Arriving in Livonia, Mr. Woodruff found that the log-house which he had so patiently constructed had been burned down by the Indians during his absence, and that his wife and surviving child were homeless in this region of wilderness.
He immediately began the erection of another house, and while it was in the course of construc- tion his wife and child stayed with the family of
Gideon Pitts, the nearest neighbors, at the foot of Honeoye lake.
In this log-cabin, when completed, Solomon Woodruff and his resolute wife Susannah began their pioneer life. - the initial movement toward the settlement and civilization of the town.
For a number of years the nearest mill was seven miles east of Canandaigua, at a place now known as Shortsville, where Mr. Woodruff carried his grist on his back, or on an ox yoke, there being no ac- cessible wagon road through the forest.
The Indians then in this locality were often troublesome. Soon after their arrival here, when Mr. Woodruff was absent from home one day, his son Austin was stolen by a passing band of Indians. When the father returned and discovered his loss he immediately started in pursuit, overtaking the Indians on the shore of Hemlock lake, and single handed contended with them and rescued his child.
At another time while at work alone he was sur- prised by a company of Indians, his first intimation of their presence being the savage war-whoop. Looking up he found himself confronted by their levelled guns. Bareing his. breast he stood erect before them, without a quiver of a muscle : whereupon, struck by his coolness, they lowered their weapons, saying such a brave man should not die.
In 1794, February 19, a second son, Phillip Woodruff, was born, being the first white child born in the town.
He was in after years a lawyer of considerable repute in the County courts, and a noted patron of education in the common schools of the county. He was a member of Assembly two terms in 1849 and 1850.
In that same year, 1794, Solomon Woodruff kept the first tavern in the town in his log-house. Beneath that humble roof the discrowned and exiled Louis Phillipe, King of France, who, with the Duke de Liancourt, wandered in these western wilds, received a night's lodging and the hospitable care of Solomon and Susannah Woodruff.
Their cabin also sheltered for a time a lad who was afterwards known as the celebrated Presby- terian divine, Rev. Dr. Joel Parker, who in 1858, at a meeting of the general assembly in Rochester, said to a daughter of his benefactors, "Whatever under God I am or have done in my life I owe to Mrs. Susannah Woodruff."
Solomon Woodruff died January 18, 1811. Su- sannah, his wife, died in 1828.
The only direct descendant now living of those
* On the tombstone over his grave the date of his incoming is placed at 1790 ; but that was a mistake made at the time of its erection. French gives the date as 1792, which is also incorrect.
G.D Ramsdell, Photo Eng. Roch.N.Y.
The subject of this biography was born in Dorset, Vt., March 3, 1779, while his parents were moving from Scituate, Rhode Island, to Claren- don, Rutland county, Vt. His ancestors on both sides were of English descent, and were noted for their strong native talents.
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