History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 2

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976

USA > New York > Monroe County > History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences > Part 2

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Herein is essayed the description of farms cleared, villages platted, and a city founded, the inception and progress of agriculture, manufacture, and commerce, the note of rich soil, healthful climate, and striking scenery. Journeys and settle- ments, reminiscences and records, and chronology of pioneer stages of growth, are rising in importance as their valne becomes apparent. Regarding the many living monuments of the energies of to-day, the constant and higher progres of our people, and the confidence in our future, few but desire to lift the curtain of oblivion and gaze upon the past. Occupants of farm house or city mansion are interested in those initial efforts which have induced present enterprise, aud it is a slight reward to combine the names uf actors with their deeds, and rescue honest worth from furgetfulness. Prominent notice is given to the pioneer both from character and achievement. The intelligence of the New Englander is proverbial; a toller upon a soil which gave back scant return for labor, he saw alung thu Gen-

esee the broad fringe of woods which barred his occupation. The forest fell, and the reward of labor seemed like a tale of fiction. Thence arose the necessity of mills, the need of a market and means of transportation. The portrayal of early days in Monroe declares the present a proportionate effect. Occupation and loca- tion change character, and he who would koow of the pioneer must learn from the printed page. We seek to make known the struggles of the first settlers. their endurance, their patience, and their reward. and to contrast, as evidence of health- fulness, their works and resources with the achievements and purposes of the present. In these pages biography is blended with history, and a class is pictured by an individual type. Science presents the lineaments of the pioneer and the distinguished, and art pencils the sketch of rural home, city residence, and hoon- tiful scenery. The eye is pleased and the miod infurmed by historic and statistic page, views of nature grand and remarkable, and of architecture massive and oruate. Tradition recounts adventures connected with the dominance of the Iroquois ; outlines of Monroe in the rebellion exhibit the courage and patriotism of her citizens, while catalogue and minutes make knowo the standing of educa- tional institutions and the progress of religion. A Russian ukase transports a colony to the frozen fields of Siberia 'or the distant valley of the Amoor; New England migration presents a voluntary exile for life, to a distant forest, uf indi- viduals. The contrast in motive, the results of systems, is a lesson for the patriot. We are to consider the truth of the claim that on no other equal area can be sup- ported a greater population supplied with all life's necessaries, and with many of its luxuries, than the valley of the Genesee river. Nature has lavishly done her part, and io this favored land it remains for the people to konw and apply the means for the happiness and. prosperity within their reach.

The changeable character uf American civilization. still in process of transition, renders the past obscure save through record and illustration, and hence an effort to depict true to life and nature the history of the early dwellers on the Genesee, the pleasant valley,may

Eighty six years ago the first white family located in all that territory oow embraced in Monroe County. Prior to this date, temporary residents had allied themselves with the Indian tribes for trade and barter, or were there as captives adopted into families.

The outline of our work begins with the Iroquois confederacy, their character and government; the discovery and landing npoo their shores of Europeaus; the consequent claims to ownership hy France, England, and Holland, and their contest for supremacy ; English success, their allies during the Revolution; mer- ciless barbarity in warfare, and stern retribution.

Then comes the narrative of' treaty, the settlement of State claims, the famons Phelps and Gorham purchase, and the commencement of settlement. Proprietors, prominent pioneers, and types of border character claim attention. Initial meas- ures touching roadways, surveys, and sales are followed by evidence of a higher civilization in dwelling, mill, and cultivation.

The menacing, dumcinant spirit of England is seen to result in a war which hurls hack in utter rout the advance of occupation. A British squadron is held at bay by the adventurous stand of Genesee militia at the mouth of the Genesce. The close of war begins an active and permanent settlement. Despite privation, sickness, and poverty of resource, the settlers are seen to accomplish their work ; the village becomes a city ; a canal. grand in conception, wonderful in execution, conveys a wealth of produce castward, and bears back the multitude of emigration. Another canal adds to publie benefit. Railroads aru constructed, rude and thought visionary, and develop to the finest and most complete among hundreds of later origin. Trade, commerce, and manufacture, begun in trifles, end in the transfer

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of millions' valuation. A wealthy community is seen to erect and open public buildings,-reformatory, benevolent, educational, and religious. The patriotisma and valor of the citizen are shown upon the battle-field. and the trades and profes- sions are viewed in healthful activity. To realize these outlines is the object of the following chapters.

CHAPTER L

THE NEW WORLD AND ITS INHABITANTS- THE IROQUOIS: THEIR LEAGUE AND POLICY ; THEIR SAOACITY IN COUNCIL AND PROWESS UPON THE WAR-PATH ; THEIR RELATIONS TO EUROPEAN COLONIZATION-FRENCH EX- PEDITIONS AND RETALIATION.

Oxe age Had snecurled another since the fist had gone forth, " Let the dry land appear." The rocks crumbled and rivers begao their course. The cataracts of the Genssee and the falls of Niagara poured a mighty volume with majestic power and thunder-sound upon the lower river beds. No eye dwelt upon the grand scenery, no ear heard the solemo roar-emblem of eternity-which, re- verberating, died away in the endless wilderness. The law of development found here its ample illustration, and the "survival of the fittest" has been the rule in every succession to the present era of enlightened society.

Tradition, legeod, race, and geography uoite to confirm the aboriginal occupa- tion of the new world by migration to the southeast, across Behring's Straits, from Asia. Whoever they may have been, their mounds, their embankments, and implements of laborious and rude construction survive their remembrance to excite curiosity and the fruitless investigation of the antiquarian.

Io 1492, Columbus found the West Indies populated by a peaceable and pleasant people, ruled by caciques and enjoying existence. History fails at this period to speak of war-cry, stake, and crimson trophy. Obviously they were not koown to the Spaniards.

In 1520, Cortez, conquering Mexico, found the Attces residents of cities, ad- vancing in the arts of civilization, builders of causeways, dwellings, and temples, and tillers of the soil. Later discoveries present the entire region known as North America as in possession of Indiao nations, varying in character and ad- vancement in no greater degree than the citizens of New Mexico and New York. It is . question whether, left to themselves, the Mexican and Peruvian were not types of civilization which in time would have emulated eastern stages of pro- gression, had not a higher order of intellect crushed out the rising national in- stinct and implanted its gertns upon the ruins.

Back from the Atlantic to the southern shores of the great lakes lived five tribes, established in boundaries, controlled hy an acknowledged code of laws, and confederated for defensive or aggressive movements. They were keown by the English as the Five Nations, and, joined by the remnant of the Tuscarawas, as the Six Nations; by the French as Iroquois ; by the Dutch as Maquas; and by them- selves as the Mingoes, or United People; and to their league applied the name, Renunctioni.

Students of their character aptly denominate them the Romans of this Western World, and, considered either in the extent of their conquests, or the wisdom and eloquence of their chiefs, their impatience of control, treatment of the vanquished, and passion for war, the comparison is well taken. There is a curious interest attached to the sites of great events, the scene of unwonted heroism, the conme of a long-since perished army, its field of battle and relics of the conflict. The general existence of local pride in objects of historie interest warrants the follow- ing brief reference to the confederates, of whom, despite the published researches, Little is known to the present generatiun.

The confederates were known as Mohicks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cuyugas, and Senceas. The sixth nation, the Tuscaruwas of North Carolica, driven from their country for an attempt to annihilate the English settlements, were adopted by the Iroquois in 1725, and given lands between the Queidas and Quomingas. The domain inhabitel by these tribes is now the Empire State of the great re- public. Here were fertile lands upon the borders of the inland scas at the head- waters of the Ohio, Delaware, Susquehanna, Undson, and St. Lawrence, and in- coding a chain of small lakes, which were beautiful in appearance, stored with Ash, and surrounded by forests abounding in game; and wiely the united nations here took their stand, where their women could follow agriculture and their wat- riors diverge along a guiling stream upon a distant foray. Their supremacy extended over the country about the great lakes. and their expertitivos advanced south ward against the tribes of Alabama and other southern States. By tho

Iroquois, the Eries, south of the lake which perpetuates their name, were exter- minated, the Hurons were driven to the head- waters of the Mississippi, and the tribes of Hudson's bay. of the distant Miswuri, and the far south, were not re- moved from their attacks. With few exceptions the Indians of western New York were masters of the vast region east of the Mississippi river. The ap- perrance of a single _Mohauck upon the hills of New England produced a panie among the tribes, and a dozen Ottaicus, pursued by relentless fues, sought death by the waters of the great falls in preference to the ordeals of captivity.

It was by such a warrior race. on whom so much of French and English inQuence. propitious and adverse, had been expended, that the latter were guarded fron attack and the former driven to extremity in later years. The territory of the Suecas lay eastward of the Genesee. Tradition gives their origin at the head of Canandaigua lake; their villages, in earlier times, were comprised within the limits of Ontario county, and Monroe was a portion of their hunting grounds. The keepers of the western door were the most fierce and martial of' the nitiotis. and by their prowess won the first great battle which broke, the power of the neutral nation-the Erics. Each nation was composed of three tribes, whose emblems were the tortoise, the bear, and the wolf. Euch village was distinct in government National concerns were considered by the confederacy at an annual council. hell at Onondaga, the central canton. At this assembly full eighty sachems were known to have convened on more than one occasion. Here were considered the questions of war and peace, with the solemnity and deliberation worthy of the occasion, and with a dignity and eloquence which drew admiration from their foes and from the foreign writers whose erery expression sought to disparage everything American.

The confederates spurned control and reseoted the imputation of dependence. The ofice of sachem was the prize of wisdom, eloquence, and martial achievement. It was assumed by voiceless unanimous consent, and held by a practice of the excellences which made valid the claim to rule. In warfare servitude was for- bidden, and the captive was destroyed or incorporated with the tribe. Jealous ui prerogatives woo by their powers, vengeance followed swiftly upon the violation of their laws, and tributary nations, at their command. gave up prisoners to the English, and the decree of the Iroquois was followed by involuntary cession of lands. Arbitrary in enforcing respectful obedience, they were considerate and paternal in seeing that the white men did not infringe upon their rights and defraud them in negotiations.

The relation of the Iroquois to French and English colonization claims atten- tion from its relevance to the invasion of the lands of the Senecus, and the tread of a hostile army across the northeastern portion of Monroe.

Samuel Champlain, one of a company of French merchants, set out, in 1603. upon an expedition to explore the country along the St. Lawrence. and to found a colony upon a proper site. Primarily desirous of a depot for the fur-trade, a fort was built at Quebec. To favor the Hurons and Algonquins, he left behind a few of his party to complete huts for shelter, and with the rest set out to battie with the Iroquois. The rapids on the Sorrel barred farther progress with a vessel. which, with her crew, returned ; and well it had been for the French if Cham- plain bad gone with them, but himself and two others accompanied the _ligou- quins in their raid, and finally, the canoes emerging from the river. entered npen the lake whose name recalls its European discoverer. Traversing its surface. the allies were approaching the outlet of Lake George. intending to reach and surprise a village of the Iroquois, when they were met at evening by a party of the eneru ;. and with satisfaction both sides made for shore. Intreached behind fallen trees. "the Algonquins sent a messenger to postpone the action till next day, to which the Iroquois acceded. With daybreak the opposing forces, cach numbering about two hundred men, took position,-the Iroquois certain of victory, the Myauquins trusting to their white ally, and both sides armed with bows and arrows. The allies, issuing from their defenses, advanced rapidly until close upon their enemy. then, parting in two hands from the centre, disclosed the armed white men, who. leveling their firearms upon the Iroquois leaders, shot down all three, two deuel. and wounding the third dangerously. With astouishment Chatuplain . pres axx had been met, and with distnay hus destructive weapons were observed. and when another discharge cut down others, they fied precipitately. The _Iyonquins were victorious, but it cost their ally dear. At a council called at Ououdaga the sur- viving Iroquois made known the cause of their defeat, and it was there deter- mined' to exterminate the French. A war began, which coded only by the surrender to the English of all the domain now generally kouwn as Canada. In vain the Frenchman sought to allay resentment,-in vain the crafty Jesuit taught peace and good will; and for well-nigh a century atl a half the confederates alone, or allied with the English calom-ts. proudly bore reverses or fiercely foraged upon the settlements of the st. Lawrence.

Tho self-denying Jesuits, with accompanying traders and explorers, were the earliest agents of civilization in western New York. They came with La salle,

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

among the Senecas, in 1679, and years before had found a welcome in their vil- lages. When a few log cabins marked the site of Lewiston, and a trader's prost wag a commencement at Niagara, devoted missionaries traversed the uarrow trails to the bomes of the Senecas east and west of the Genesee river and raised the cross among the savage warriors. A little chapel was built by Catholic Indians upon the shore of the outlet of St. Joseph's ( Cayuga) lake. Fifteen disciples of the order of the Jesuits, arriving at Montreal, found a welcome with the confederates, and there was planted in the " wild, untutored mind" a religious principle which faded out with time, and left no record of its advent save the form of the cross in silver ornament.

Early in January, +840; La Salle had been received with kindness by the Seneca Iroquois, and conducted to their villages in Victor, Ontario county. This adventurous explorer sought a knowledge of the great western river, and, failing to procure from the Indians a guide through the forest, built and launched the "Griffin," a vessel of sixty tons, upon the upper Niagara river, and, having crectel a habitation and surrounded it with palisades. Father Melithon was left in charge, and the intrepid voyager set sail, on August 7, upon his voyage to the western lakes, whence neither he nor this, the first vessel upon the opper lakes, would ever return. La Salle perished by the shot of an assassin, in Texas, and the "Griffin," driven ashore in a gale, was plundered by the Indians, and her crew put to death.

The hereditary animosity between the Iroquois and French, Julled by the influ- ence of the Jesuits for a time, was again enkindled by the expedition of De la Barre, governor-general of New France. The Frenchman, angered that English traders had been permitted to share the Indian trade, set out in 1684, with nearly two thousand men, to invade the territory of the Iroquois, and landed ne: Oswego. It was in Angust, and the fevers which proved so deadly to our pioneers soon brought the larger portion of the French soldiers to the hospital. Too weak for aggressive measures, negotiations were instituted and a conference held. Garan- gula, an eminent Iroquois chiet, escorted by a body of young warriors, wei the marquis, as the representative of the League, and made a speech, which for keen irony, graphic allusion, and deep reasoning is of rare excellence and just celebrity. The French army retired to their former posts, glad to have escaped a dreaded conflict.

A second expedition against the Seneca Iroquois was made by Marquis De Nouville, in 1687. Grievances were not wanting, and this officer determined to humble the confederates as a security to French dominion and trade. Rendez- vousing his troops and Indian auxiliaries at Niagara and Montreal, winter was" passed in preparation. Governor Dongan, of New York, remonstrated with De Nonville, supplied the Iroquois with arms and ammunition, and sent out trading parties to the lakes. The two divisions of the French army met at Irondequoit bay within the same honr. The force from Montreal numbered two thousand, four hundred of whom were Indians. One hundred and fifty bateaux were em- ployed as transports : the route followed the south shore of Ontario lake, and each night the troops were landed and encamped, until, on July 10, the western con- tingent, five hundred and eighty strong, and the main army nnited and landed at the foot of the bay. A day was passed in the construction of a fortified camp. surrounding it with gickets and palisades. Four hundred men were detailed as guard over the boats and provisions, and on the 12th the line of advance was taken up the east side of the bay, and camp was made near the present village of Pittsford.

La Houton wrote, " On the following day (12th) we set out for the great vil- lage of the Tsounontouans, without any other provisions than the ten biscuits which each man carried. We had but seven leagues to march, through immense forests of lofty trees and over a very level country."

On the morning of the 13th the march way resumed along a trait leading to the Seneca village of Gannagarro. Apprised of their approach, the Senecus, some four hundred strong, concealed themselves on the northeastern verge of a swamp about a mile and a quarter northwest of their village. The French scouts advancing reported the coast clear. and the march was accelerated to insure the capture of the defenseless and stragglery. At once there rose a wild yell from the dense underbrush, and a deadly discharge of musketry smote the leading ranks. The regular troops and militia, seized with panic, fired upon each other, and the Senecas, noting their advantage, dashed among them, and a massacre would have ensued but that the western and the Christian Indians came to their resene, repulsed and pursued the Senecas, of whom eighty were slain. De Nouville's low was one hundred Frenchmen killed, twenty-two wounded, and ten of their savage auxiliaries were slain. In vain the Indians urged the French general to advance upon the other villages ; he halted at the battle-ground over night, and next day marching to the larger village, found it burned and abandoned. The Frenchmen occupied nearly a week in cutting down the eurn with their swords : they then visited two other small villages, which they found in ashes. There were found in

the country horses, cattle, poultry, and many swine. The Senecas sent runners to the other nations with tidings of the presence of an enemy ; a heavy force assembled and pursued, but before they reached the bay the enemy had departed. Oliver Culver has said, " When I first came to Irondequoit, in excavating tho earth to build a storehouse we found a large quantity of lead, balls, and flinty. On a kooll on the bank of the ercek there were the remains of a battery," doubt- less the vestiges of De Nouville's fortification.

To the summer of 1688 De Nouville sought peace; seventeen hundred Iroquois encamped pear Montreal, and a treaty was concluded. On their return homeward, a party was attacked by a Huron chief at the head of a hundred men; a number of the Iroquois were killed and others captured. The crafty Huron conveyed the impression that he was acting in French interest. The confederates, enraged at French faithlessness, assembled twelve hundred warriors, and on July 26, 1688, fell upon the settlements on Montreal island, killed a thousand inhabitants, took captive and burned alive twenty six, and brought the French almost to despair.

The third and last French expedition to western New York was commanded by Connt De Frontenac, a man of nearly fourscore years. Ile concentrated a strong force and crossed to Oswego ; thence he marched to Onondaga, which had been deserted and burned. Returning to Montreal, predatory mids were made in retaliation until, in 1700, a peace was ratified between the Iroquois and French; and during the war between the latter and the English, from 1702 till the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the confederates kept the friendship of both combatanta.

The tragedy of the Devil's Hole, whereby a body of Seneca Indians, on June 20, 1763, massacred a detachment of English troops in charge of a train of wagons hauled by ox-teams, and inflicted a loss of sixty killed upon a force which came to the rescue, and an attack made upon a body of English troops en route from Niagara to Detroit, by the same tribe, are all the events of importance prior to the Revolution in this region.

CHAPTER IL.

DISPUTED TERRITORY- ORIGIN OF CLAIMS-THE ARBITRAMENT OF THE SWORD -DUTCH ADMINISTRATION-EVOLISIt COLONIAL GOVERNMENT-ORIGINAL COUNTIES-EVENTS IN TRYON -ENGLISH SUPREMACY IN WESTERN NEW YORK.

To understand the character, sociality, religious freedom, and industrial ener- gies manifested by the early settlers of western New York, it is essential to learn the causes of emigration, the disciplinary forces of arbitrary power, and adverse circumstances of colonization.

The discovery of America in 1492 excited emotions of astonishment, followed by Spanish avarice, cruelty, and desolation. Their vessels did not explore the northern coasts, whose sterile, rock-bound shores presented no attractive features ; this was left to English enterprise. A new national right was recognized-the . right of discovery ; and to obtain a claim in the new world lettery patent were granted by Henry VII. to Jolin Cabot, a Venetian navigator, who, accompanied by his son Sebastian, set sail to acquire the title. With no port to make, Cabot continued westward until the forbidding, desolate coast of Labrador came in view on June 24; 1497, and thus by an Italian mariner England became the discoverer of North America. The general national desire to discover a shorter route to the Indies found fruitless effort, but resulted in explorations of inestimable im- portance. The English king made no use of his advantages. In 1498, Sebastian Cabot made a second voyage for purposes of traffic. Inclement weather drove him to southern exploration, and his vessels sailed from off the coast of New- foundland to Florida, whence arose the priority of English claim to a territory eleven degrees in width and af unknown extent westward.

Francis I. of France, desiring the commercial advantages supposed to be opened up in the west and emulating the enterprise of Spain and England, engaged the services of Jean de Verrazano, a Florentine, and sent out an expedition in 1524. Verrazano coasted seven hundred leagues of the shore in frail vessels, was the discoverer of the bay of New York, and was the first European to tread the soil of the Empire State. Treatment by the natives of New England was most cordial, yet the disposition to kidnap them was here as elsewhere indulged to European disgrace. The return was safely made, and French title gained but not asserted. The memory of strange visitors in wioged ships had become tradi- tion among the Iroquois when, on & ptember 4, 1609, Henry Hudson, an English- man employed by the Dutch East India Company, discovering, entered the river which now bears his name, and ascended the stream to n point near Albany. His

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 2

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts Number of Pages: 976

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976