History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 29

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 29

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FIRST SURVEY AND SALE OF LOTS.

During 1810, Colonel Rochester removed to his purchase at Dausville, and there erected the pioneer paper-mill of the entry. Soon after settlement be tura -1 attention to his river truet, and in July came tluther, and surveyed a number n' lots along Exchange and Buffalo streets, and, through his agent, Ewos Stot. offered them for sale. Indicative of early prices and recalling pioneer mames se copy, free Towner's history of Money, the letter of instructions from the proqau- tor to his agent. By way of contra-t from other localities once regarded with for greater favor, yet doomed to mediocrity by the state of proprietors, it will to seen that prices Were extremely low and terms consistent and favorable. The prm.

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

riple that they whose presence and labors have made values greater should share in the advance, But only betokens the justice of Colonel Rochivater, but redouudel tu his advantage, as reports of liberality were rapidly disseminated and drew tuarther oren of enterprise desirous of profitable employment. The letter is av follows :

" DANSVILLE, August 14. 1911.

" DEAR SIR, -Ioclosed I send you a plat of the village of Rochester. at the falls of the Genesce river. I have sent on advertisements to the printers of Canandaigua and Geneva, mentioning that I have laid out a village, and that you will show the lots and make known the terms on which the lots are to be sold. The terms are for lots Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 17, 18. 30, fifty dollars each ; for lots Nos. 6. 7. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. 25, thirty dollars ; No. 1, two hundred dollars : the rest numbered are sold. Persons purchasing must build a dwelling-house or store- bouse not less than twenty by sixteen feet, by October 1. 1s12, or the lots will revert to the proprietors, and the advance of tive dollars be forfeited. Five dollars an' to be advanced on each quarter-aure lot, and twenty dollars oo lot No. 1, the nwidue to be paid in two annual instalments with interest thereon. If any person naw vale ch -a the hand of the moon or the river tell them that I will be down in (tuber to lay out lots along Mill street up to the river, and these lots can be had for building warehouses on the river at fifty dollars for a one-fourths aere lot. Bridge, Buffalo, Mill, and Carroll streets are six rods wide : other streets are four rods, and the alleys twelve feet. You will observe that lots No. 26. 27 are to be but three rods on Bridge street, but extend back more than ten rods. owing to the angle in the street. When I go down in October I shall lay out the streets, alleys, and lots agreeable to the enclosed plat. NATHANIEL ROCHESTER."

Lot 36 was taken by Enos Stone, at fifty dollars. The following list gives the purchasers, the lots, and the prices paid for them, beginning with December 29,

lis ory Shimmer, Ko. 1

9209 . Israel gerastime, Nos. 19, 19.

Hamlet Serautom, No. 26 ... 50

Luscum Knapp. No. 45 .... 60

1-aer W. Stone, Nos. 23, 24

100

lezezah Nable, No. S.

Abraham Starks, No. 20.

Joseph Hughes, Nos. 15, 62

David C. Koapp. Nos. 21, 22

200

Ebenezer Kelly, No. 16. 60

Amasa Marshall, No. 25.

50 fra West, Nus. 50, 115, one-half of 3.

290

Findenor Jerry, No. 32.

125, Cook $ Brown. No. 53

100

Ein-ba Kty. Nus. 39. 40, 41. 133

360 Harvey Montgomery, No. 85. 250

Porter P. Peck, Nu. 154.

100 Roswell Hart, Nos. 8. 56. 57.

400

Juwish Bissell, Jr., Nos. 7, 13, 31.

24,0

Charles D. Farman, No. 129

200

Stephen In.k, No. 6 .. .

William Rubb, Nos. 61, 62, 63, 116. 11 ;.. Mirharl Cully, No. 79.

800 | James Stoddart, No. 110 ..

100

100 | Fabricus Reynolds No. 1.it 200

Of all these purchases but one reverted ; the rest were paid for either by origi- nal purchasers or by those to whom they transferred their contracts. The table presents nearly all the sales made prior to the declaration of peace, when the actual growth of Rochester began. MIr. Rochester made frequent visits to the embryo village, and personally supervised its affairs until 1817. when. the proprietors divid- ing interests, each assumed the care of his own property.

OTHER ALLOTMENTS FOR SETTLEMENT.

Another allotment for settlement was made during 1812. Lots Nos. 48 and 4D. lying immediately north of the Rochester tract, were purchased by Matthew Brown, Jr., Francis Brown, Thomas Mumford, and John MeKay from Charles- Il icfonl, Samuel Parkman, and Oliver Phelps. The lands were abreast of the Mille fois and contained Harford's grist- and saw-mills, a lng and a plank house, atul between these and the landing was a cabin or two. Mumford bought Mckay's interest and became owner of the south one hundred acres, and was half owner with the Browns of the north lot. The services of Benjamin Wright were seured during 1812, and part of the land was laid out in village lots and named Frank- fort. The Browns were from Massachusetts, Mumford from Connecticut. Francis Brown. resident of Detroit and trading with the Indians, was shipwrecked on Frie, and narrowly escaped death. In a canoe, obtained ut Niagara, he journeyed "itwand along Ontario's south shore. When off the mouth of the Genesee river A storm arose, and he was compelled to land. Ile then came up and examined the. falls and vicinity, and hence the Brown purchase. Mumford was a lawyer, Il sertled in 1794 to practice in Aurora. county of Cayuga. He removed to Cayuga Bridge in 1800, and later bought of the Porters a twelfth of a twenty- thousand agre tract, of which the Browns had also acquired a large interest. The Brown hothers came west during the winter of 1812 by sleigh. and bought along " millwright to plan improvements, which were carried forward in the spring. Framis Brown bought from Rome mill-irons, some goods, and workmen. A race wi- built and the mill improved. A boarding-house was kept in a dank cabin by Art, mus Wheelock, and the Browns built a small house for an employee. Fera Woon, who moved in with his family. The Browns were energetic and kept their mill, running and drew trade from as far away a+ Niagara county, on the Roky road : they built a hug structure upon the later site of the F'rankfurt market,

und conducted a mercantile business of a acale corresponding to the sparse settle- ment. They employed as their clerk Gains B. Rich, who became a merchant in Attica, then a banker in Buffalo. Francis Brown left Rochester in 1821 ; a son Francis became a Rochester merchant. Dr. Matthew Brown became a resident of Rochester after the war, and survived to a good old age ; members of the family were known as energetie business men, and they were held in high esteem. Mr. Mumford was represented in Rochester by his son William, who came in about 1818. Philip Li-Je, who had become interested in the Mumford lands, was the agent for sales till 1818. Lots 16 and 47 below Frankfort, owned hy Mumford, were sold to Chancellor Jones, and an interest was acquired later hy James L. Grahamn. Dr. Alexander Kelsey had the agency and control of the estate for a more recent period.

INITIAL TRADESMEN AND OFFICIALS.

Hamlet Serantom, of' Durham, Connecticut, moved to Lewis county in 1805, and there resided until 1812. Desimas of engaging in tanning. he arranged to ratnove to the fulls as a promising location. Encouragement was given by Henry Skinner, the purchaser of lot No. 1, known as the Eagle Tavern corner, and Mr. Skinner, resident of Genesco, proposed to erect a log house upon it for Serantom's use. Men went down, put up the body, and, being attacked by the fever and ague, left without completing their work. Mr. Serantoni arrived at his future home on May 1, 1812. The family consisted of parents, four sons, and two daughters. Edwin Scrantom, an early printer and editor, and a present auction and commission merchant, has been for years a writer of early scenes in Rochester ; and from his papers, kindly placed at our disposal, we present the Rochester which met his boyhood's eye : " With a yoke of steers and a light wagon Hamlet Serantom and three sons worked their way through the tangle of small growth and came in sight of the roofless, unchinked house built upon the Powers lot. An open place in front, facing east, was left as a good place for a door, and a squi re hole on each side suggested windows." The family found temporary lodging in a shanty belonging to Enos Stone until August, when their cabin was finished,-mud filled the ehinks, papers were used as windows, and a heavy door swung on wooden hinges, with wood latch and catch, and long leathero string hanging through on the outside; and in this structure dwelt the residents of a lot on which stands an imposing structure elsewhere described, and representing in its material and workmanship a million dollars.

Hamlet Serantom addressed his father a letter on July 28, 1812, and his ex- pressions reveal the general expectation of the settler and the inteligence which ignored the present, in hope of the future. As coming from one of the very first residents of the future city, the language of the writer is preserved : " I have purchased a lot in the village of Rochester, a place which is almost in a state of nature at present ; but the prospect is very promising for business in case dithi- culties are settled between the American and British nations. A bridge is almost completed, to which roads centre from all directions. The village is laid out on the east side of the river, and my lot (26) is the second from the river near the end of the bridge. Just above the bridge are falls of twelve feet, which make the situation one of the best for securing motion to all kinds of machinery. The lake is seven miles distant. A mill is being built at the great falls below the village, calculated for seven run of stones, only three of which will be set going this season. The land is fertile, and the country pleasant. The timber is of ouk, whitewood, chestnut, hickory, black-walnut, and many trees are of an enormous size. If any one has a wish to see the place, whether mechanic or farmer. let him inquire at Canandaigua for the new bridge at the Genesee falls.

"The declaration of war made a great uproar for a time ; many families moved eastward, but have generally returned. About three thousand troops, regulars and militia, are at Niagara, and we do not apprehend danger. All remains quiet. I intend to commence tanning next spring. I have been tending saw-mill thirty- three days, and eut as many thousand feet of boards. I had been living in a small house on the east side of the river. but have now toved across and purpose to put up a small house on my lot. The town where I reside is Northampton, county of Genesee, but a letter had better be addressed Falls of Genesee, town of Boyle, county of Ontario. A post-office will soon be established here." The last sentence was a verity, for in November, 1812, Abelard Reynolds, a saddler by trade and a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, received the appointment of postmaster and deputized Mr. Stone until he could get settled. The office thus established was held by Mr. Reynolds from 1812 till 1829. The growth of the village is seen in the quarterly returns. The proereds of the office up till April 1. 1813. had been three dollars and forty six cent4 ; when he passed the office to other bands, in 1820, they around to two thousand one hundred and five dollars and sixteen cents. Fortuitous circumstances made Abelard Reynolds, a pioneer of Rochester, a present rendent. He had, in 1811, been to Warren, Ohio, and when return-

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ing to the State to anke arrangements to move out his family in the spring of 1812, stopped for a right at Bloomfield, where Colonel Hopkins and others ad- vised him to si-it Charlotte, at the mouth uf the Genesce. He set nut for the locality, and in the woods, near Genome Falls met Euos Stone, who endcarored to induce him to purchase a lot in the new village. The ruins of a mill. a rough cabio, and an aufinished bridge did not second the appeal. He founded the river, visited Charlotte, and went upon his journey ; he n tected upon the new village at the falls, and returning bought lots 23 and 24. upon which the Arcade stands. A yoke of oxca and a stoue-boat were furnished by Enos Stone, and stone drawn from the river bed. With these a foundation was built, twenty-four by thirty-six feet, a frame raised, and having engaged a carpenter to cover and inclose it returned to Berkshire. Visiting the place in Novetuber, he found the building as left. put up a smaller frame, and speedlily had it tenable. This was the first framued build- ing erected on the Rochester tract. His family was brought on in the fall of 1813, and his wife's brother, who aided in the reuroval on his return east, spoke of Rochester as a place where Reynol.Lo must " inevitably starve." Mr. Reynolds, pow ninety years of age, is known as Rochester's first saddler, first posturaster, Grot wager de, and aha ! annen feel fine taseer tand on the original alot of the city. Mortimer F. Reynolds was the first white chud born on the hundredl-aere tract after it was plotted as a village site. It is a striking feature of American progress that presents for historic note. the fact of an individual in his prime, when the wild beast roamed the forest. aud dens of rattlesnakes were found among the rocks of a locality where he sees to-day milles of streets, throngel with citizen . and stranger, and a broad expause of business block and dwelling, the abode and industrial field of three-score thousand people. In July, ISI:, the first mer- chant's store in Rochester was opened by Ira West ; bis store was at first ou East avenue, near the tavern of Oliver Culver. Afterward he removed into the vil- lage, and for some years was a merchant on State street, about the present site of A. S. Mann's store. He married a daughter ot Colonel I. W. Stone. the first inn- keeper, whose tavern was nn South Saint l'aul. near Ely street. Mr. West was a successful merchant, and one of the founders of the brick church, corner of North Fitzhugh and Allen streets. He burit the house. the residence of llon. E. Dar- win Smith, and therein lived until his death many years ago.

THE FIRST PARTY.

Sociality was a leading feature of the pioneers, and herein we describe the first party in Rochester. west of the Genesce river. In the fall of 1812, Colonel Rochester hearing that a surveyor had located at the falls, came tlown from Dansville to complete his plet of village lots. The colonel was accompanied by his wife and Nathaniel T., a boy of ten years, and the party put up at the tavern of Colonel I. N. Stone. Business was transacted, and then an invitation to teu extended and accepted. The choice plate and gulden china of Saratoga were not of the embel- liabments of the pure white linen cloth spread over the table. but it was in style with log walls and hewed ceiling. The chairs were split. of the best, and flag. The biscuit was made from flour brought on horseback from Webster's mills, nine miles away. The tea and sugar came from Canandaigua, twenty-eight miles dis- tant. Sauces were of the crab-apple and wild red plum that grew abundantly wbere now stands Corinthian Hall. Cake there was not. but " cookies" plenty, such as recall a loving, sacrificing mother; and butter and milk, the contribution of the first cow on Rochester's west side. whore pasture was of unbounded range. The colonel, his lady, and Mr. and Mrs. Scfantom, and their eldest daughter, Mrs. D. Barnard -five in all,- sat down to tea The moments spel. and, as twilight come, the colouel, wife, and son recrossed the bridge at Main street to the tavern, and the first party was ended.

THE BEAR-FIGHT.

It was in the fall of ISII that Enos Stone had a patch of corn about six acres in extent. This corn patch way on the cast and mouth sides of his little dwelling, which stood near the bank of the river. beside the fording place, for the bridge was yet unfinished. Provisions were exceedingly scarce, and not to be had at any price, except to prevent starvation. Mr. Stone regarded his corn-field with anxiety, knowing well the extent of his dependence upon it for the approaching winter. Towards the ripening uf the preciuns erup. he found that much would be lost from the depredations of the wild beasts, and at length he began to be appre- bensive for the whole field, when he found that an old she-bear hand commenerd devastations upon it, destroying far more than she devoure.l. For a while he kept her at bay by leaving ont his dog. till at length th . bear becoming emboll- enel pursued the dog even to the doorstep. A ertes had arrived ; sounthing mast be done ; a continuation of depredation wanld ruin the prospect of even a partial crop, and rest could not be taken with such an animal prowling about the

habitation. In desperate frame of mind, Mr. Stone turned out with a boy and a rusty gun to attack the intruder about two o'clock one morning. The bear then took refuge in a tree, whence she was soon dislodged by the smoke of a tire kindle] beneath. She full near Mr. Stone, and, after a short contest with the trin, man. he. and dog, retreated to another tree. She was distalged from four tree, one altre another, by kindling fires beneath, when, mire powder being obtained, a lucky shot so disabled the fue that she fell from the tree. Fallen, but unconquered. thu. bear, unable to stand. fought upon her haunches, kept the dog at bay, and parried the blows of ussailants with a skill not unworthy of a professional boxer. Finally. her shaggy bide became the trophy of him who. corn-field she had laid waste Thus, sixty five years ago, way slain one of the Largest bears found in this region. upon the spot where restless thousands travel, where all the improvement aml machinery of a populous city are established. and where, for aught of present in- dication, a city may have stood for centuries.

Interest attaches to the topics treuted in this connection from their initiatory character. The agents of civilization are men; of them and of their efforts made for personal advancement, and enhancing public welfare. pioneer history finds its mole material. The origin of villages tells of individuals, families, amil parties of two and three who come in, purchase, work for those there before them. or, with capital, engage in husiness for themselves. Some halt for brief interval -. and, discouraged and restless, leave ; some aid to bring in others, and liver beroun. residents, and as the prosperity of the place becomes assured, many rush in as waters to a vortex, and increased activity decpens confidence. Individual life. however prominent, is forbidden later mention from the multitudle deserving. buildings yearly improved in style, size, and material are indicated by example -. and the attention is diverted to acts of societies, public works, increasing popn. lation, expanding limits, retrospection, contrast, and cvideoces of progressinn. History gives way to annals and statistics ; reminiscences to a brief chrunulogy. During the fall of 1812, the Scrantoms, Stones, and other boys chased the squirrel and such like game where stands the Third Presbyterian church of Gr day. There was no clearing east of Enos Stone's. The Pittsford road, nuw Monroe street, was not opened fur years, and the forest was unbroken and thick from Stone's farm east as far as David S. Bates' farm and Oliver Culver's tavern. On the south, adjoining Culver, Miles Northrup had made a small clearing and put up a log house; and on East avenue, south side, westward of Culver, was the farin and clearing of Jolin Culver, Oliver's hrother. Farther west was Mo-4 Hall, brother-in-law to Enos Stoue, upon a farm where are now the palatial m-i- dences of Fliram Sibley, D. N. Power. and men of like reputation. Hail's clearing. small in area, was the first one on East avenue. Duwn the cast bank of the river to the fulls stood an unbroken wood, and on the sloping sides near Andrews street were clumps of towering. wide-spreading cedars, whose long. low, trailing branches in after-summers attracted in their delicious shade the village residents. The few surviving pinucers, Charles J. Hill, Abelard Reynolds. Edwin Serantom. and others will remember those sylvan howers, where. John Mastick. the pioneer lawyer of Rochester, used to say, all carly matches were made. Truly it may be said of the present great and growing population. and their mighty works, that "the wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them, and the desert haith blossomed like the rose."!

The first settlers are characterized by works of necessity rather than art ; sur- prise has been manifested that so few have placed their knowledge upon record. The act seems puerile to day, which a century hence will stand as provident and wise. Jchiel Barnard came to Rochester in 1812, and thirty-six years later wis present at the first pioneer festival hell at Blossom's hotel. ile was the builder of a two-story structare which stood on the north side of Buffalo street, not far east from State street, and a little west of the present entrance to the Anad. In dimensions the building was hut eighteen by twenty-six feet ; it was not for its size that it is made historical, but from its asswiations. Here Baroard, atailor by trade, inaugumted the business in Rochester, and found ample employment In this shop, shoemaking in the plwe had its origin ; here were held the first meet. inga, and within its walls the boys and girls were assembled to attend the first schet. Fond of society, the tailor, released from his week day-labor, wandered about the village, and, like a Selkirk upon the ocean island, scemed banished to a sohtud Preston Smith, Gideon Cobb, Jonah Brown, and the Elys, Harvey and Eli-h.s. were of the pioneers of 1813. Smith was from West Springfield, and settled in his then wild home when a dozen families comprised the population. Cobb w. a native of Vermont, a podiller of seythes, axes, and, for a time, hollow-ware. It made his home at Rochester in 1913, during which year he established the first public conveyance Rochester ever had. and ran it in har style for more than to . years. It was a vehicle drawn by two yoke of event driven by himself. and made a trip wmi-weekly between the village and the leading. Laving was the merchandise of that period, amul roads were full of ruts and holes. The poirer teamster, subsisting upon rough fare, found board with Willis Kemp-hul at three

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

dollars per week, and lodging " under a work-bench." He cleared up North and Monroe streets ; built by contract, at an expense of sixty thousand dollars, a new and splendid edifice for the courts and public offices of Monroe County, and gradnated as one of Brighton's ablest farmers.

T'bo health of a locality has more to do with its settlement than its progress. During 1813, typhoid pneumonia became general, and occasioned great mortality. It differed from preceding epidemics by localizing at brain or lungs. Varied symptoms caused different treatment. Soine, violently attacked, speedily died. Severe cold chills announced the attack ; respiration was difficult, and the ex- trensities became cold. Medical skill was tried to the utmost : the lancet, opium, and tonics were employed, and the physician was as often called to conduct the treatment as to prescribe. Under these circumstances and in such needed times came Jonah Brown to Rochester, in 1813, as the earliest physician of the place. An office was built, and practice begun. Visiting a patient at the Rapids, he narrowly escaped the elaws of a panther when in the woods two miles south of the village. He was often called to act as ourse, cook, and doctor, and found entire families prostrated, and not one able to cook or nurse. The first deed given for real estate paid for on the " one-mandied-are true' was that of Dr. Brown. It was for the lot on Exchange street, where the Rochester bank formerly stood, nearly opposite its present site. Dr. Brown found temporary board with Mr. Covert, but lodging was most difficult to obtain. During the winter of 1813-14 he slept with the floor for a bed. saddle-bags for a pillow, and his horse-blanket for a covering; visiting the sick at Stone's tavern and passing through the bar- room, he groped his way with difficulty along the floor, which was literally packed with lodgers. For over a score of years in practice, he became wealthy, and retired from the profession.

We have spoken of Mr. Reynolds as a pioneer of 1812. His wife Lydia moved to Rochester in February, 1813, and experienced the privations of a back- woods' life. She was in attendance wpon the first funeral after her arrival. It was that of Mr. Diernere, at his house, which occupied the site of the later old red mill. There was no funeral service of any kind, as there was then no clergyman here, and no one present was willing to attempt a prayer. As a contrast to later prosperity, the extremity of the family became at one time such that tho tailor- shop of Mr. Barnard was sought and work obtained which paid her fifty to sixty dollars during the year while her busband was abseat on the " lines."

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 29

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