History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 31

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 31

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The flag returned to the fleet, and a sloop-rigged gunboat. mounting several cannon, approached, towed by four boats. Judge John Williams, with a dozen riflemen, took post behind a gravel ridge east of the river, to which they were ferried by a small boat, which crossed up the stream out of sight. When this ambuscade, marching through the rank grass of the marsh, had reached position, the lighter was again manned, and all made ready w attempt the capture of the approaching vessel. The officer in command of the cannon was expressly ordered to hold his fire till the colonel should give the direction. When near the place where she was wanted, the tow-boats gave way right and left, and a shot was fired which fell into the river below the store-houses. Immediately the heavy gun replied, and the scheme of surprise was thwarted. The verel fired fifteen or twenty heavy shot, one of which struck the store-house. The balls were used in Rochester long afterwards in breaking stone for buildings. General Porter now arrived, and, at four P.M., sent Major Moore to meet a second truce-boat. It was threatened by Commodore Yeo that, nuless publie property was given up, he would land his army and four hundred Indians and take it. Porter replied, if troops were landed. they would be taken care of, and warned Yeo not to send another boat, under penalty of being fired upon. Militia gathered in constantly in small parties, and, by night of the second day, some six to eight hundred mien had arrived. On the third morning the fleet set sail, and the militia triumphantly and without loss returned to their homes.

RAISING OF THE RED MILL

With the close of the war the tide of emigration resutned its westward flow. Certainty of security and permanence surrounding settlement, and the natund concentration of' enterprising mien inaugurating manufacture and creating a con- stant demand for labor, make the history of the year 1815 prolific of events and recollections. Different dates are given to the construction of the old Harvey Ely or " red mill." This may be designated the pioneer mill of Rocluster. although the ruins of the old Allen will were still visible on Aqueduct stest as remindera of' ante-settlement days. At the raising of the ell red tudi : sort mian and buy, and a majority of the women in the village, were pr seat. The " rating' wenpied the greater part of two days. The southern " bent" and the next onu

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

were got up with much difficulty ou the first day. Many cross-timbers and gird- ers were put in place and pinned in to make it strong, und a support to raise the other two. Tackle-blocks with ropes were attached to the corners of the raised part, other blocks were rigged to the prostrate bent ; some manned the " fall." others with bauds, bars, and handspikes lifted upon the heavy framework. The bent rose at the regular "yo beave" of the builder. A little way up and the great weight remained stationary " Every man and boy take hold," was the order, promptly obeyed. At a pull and united effort the tackle-mupe on oue corner parted, sad but for a strong " skid." which, following up the rising bent, caught it as it fell, the result would have been made paintully memorable. One man. Mr. Woodruff, received injury to his spine, producing paralysis, and. within a few months, death. With renewed effort aud reinforcements the first great raising was completed, und the event was celebrated by great hilarity augmented by liquors freely used, as was the general custom of the day. Night and day Harvey Ely bad supervised the construction of' his mill, and for years farmers resorted hither frown far and near, and often passed the night in the mill waiting their grist, drinking and beguiling the time with stories. The first red mill was equaled only Ly tlar of Francis Brown, on the lower race, now known as the Phoenix mills. The old mill stood on Buffalo street, where now the Van Zandt buildings are. uest north of the city mills. It ran four pair of stones. In time, having been disused for some years for milling, it was fitted up for various mechanics as the "hydraulic building," and was burned October 4, 1837.

THE GENESEE COTTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY.

It was during the year 1815 that there was incorporated in'alochester a com- pany known as " The Genesce Cotton Manufacturing Company," whose designa- tion is indicative of its purpose. Among the stockholders are found the names of Enos Stone, Oliver Culver, S O. Smith. M. Brown. Fisher Bullard. and W. Kempshall. In the fall, contract with Russel Smith, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, was made to furnish the following machinery, namely-twelve throstle-frames of eighty-four spindles each, and two mules of one hundred and ninety-two spindles each, giving a total of one thousand three hundred and ninety-two spindles, to- gether with all the needful apparatus to their operativo. A building was erected at the foot of Factory street on Brown's race. the machinery was put in, and by the apricg of 1816 the factory was ready for business. When built, this manu- factory contained the only cotton machinery west of Whitestowu, and on the beilding was hung the first bell west of Genesee river.

Much difficulty was anticipated by the company in starting, since they were full one hundred and forty miles from any place where experienced operatives could be obtained; but just before the enterprise was completed ready for running, all the help wanted was furoished by the arrival of three or four large families of opera- tives from the Black-river country, from which there seems to have been quite a begira westward. No slight obstacles had to be encountered. and progress was Limited. The prices paid for material and the difficulty of obtaining it are thus illustrated: The price paid per pound for cotton way thirty certs in New York, sod transportation was three dollars and seventy-five cents per hundred. Fisher Bullard, superintendent, paid Silas Smith twenty-five cents per pound for chalk. und 6ve dollars a gallon for common lamp oil. aud when the local supply was thus exhausted, Mr. Bullard proceeded to Canandaigua aud purchased by whole-ale at three dollars und seventy-bve cents per gallon. For inferior pork as high as thirty-five dollars per barrel was paid, and it was dealt out at twenty cents per poond. Money was scarce and hardly deserving the name. Embarrassed and disheartened, the company, having disbursed all their available meaus in buildingy and orchinery, were without money or credit with which to carry on manufacture. The factory was kept running until January, 1818, when couldesity of difficulty prevented further operation, In lieu of' spinning cotton, there were write, execu- ticos, and injunctions, and the whole establishment fell into the sheriff's hauds. Stockholders were nutitied to pay balance due on stock or forfeit their rights in the concern, and most preferred the latter alternative. A few paid their stock in full, with an understanding that when sold by the sheriff it could be bil in to them, and so they could save their property and realize full value on stock. A person authorized bid a merely nominal sum on sale, and the whole property was struck of to him. Litigation Followed, and we leave this pioncer enterprise with its wreck of hopes and loss of means till a later period.

MILL CANAL

Prior to the discovery of stram as a motor. and in the carly annals of western effort, we find the construction of the mill-race holling such relation to manufac- tore as highways for inter-communication do to settlement. fuelian+ as well as whites aided in digging the ruce of the old Bear mill, at Scanyes, in Seneca county,

aod all the populace of Canandaigua turned out to cut & canal from the font i.f the lake across a bend in the Outlet to furnish water-power for the pioneer nulis down the stream ; but in Rochester there were strong and willing hands engaged io opening the mill-raee south of Buffalo street, by Rochester & Co., and in Isti. M. Brown, Jr : F. Brown, and T. Mumford, beziunmy their mill canal at the ha wd of the great falls, consumimated the task in 1810 ; here was no creation of w .: tor. power, but a utilizativo by a diversion of a portion of the immense water-power hete awaiting intelligent application.

FIRST PURCHASES OF PRODUCE.

It was during the year in question that the purchase of produce in considerable. quantities from the adjacent country was commenced. It was not until 1814 that flour began to be manufactured in Rochester. A few hundred barrels were sent to the Niagara frontier, yet, army contractors not having money to purch.ve. there was no incentive to fluuring, and existing mill-power was used ur grinding the grists of the neighborhood. With peace. came an opening of trade with Canada, and during 1813 several hundred barrels of Rochester four were exported to Montreal and other ports on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. The wheat crop of the year was short in the Genesee country as well as in Canada, and fur four weeks the price of flour in Rochester was fifteen dollars a barrel. Indiau corn was shipped io considerable quantities to the Canadian shore of the lake, and sold at York (Toronto) readily at three dollars per bushel. The almost onini- present distillery was an unworthy agent for the consumption of corn ard rye. During the year a building was erected and a large distillery started. upon a new principle, difficult of description. A process was devised to evade durics and cheapen prices. Sixty gallons a day were run on one boiler, which did not have a capacity to hold over thirty gallons of water. The other distilleries, unable to obtain the secret, denounced the liquors as injurions, aod the question of good whisky was generally canvassed ; regarded as essential to health, the subject was one of great importance.

EARLY STAGING.

The mail had been brought once a week on horseback from Canandaigua by MIrs. Donbam, whose husband was a government contractor; this mail facility cou- tinned till 1815. Dr. Levi Ward, a settler in Rochester in 1817. had obtained authority, in 1812. from General Gideon Granger. postmaster-general. to designate the location of post-offices in such places as be would contract to deliver the mail once a week for all the postage which he might cuileet in the greater part of the country lying between Canandaigua and the Niagara river. and from the Canan- daigua and Buffalo road to the shores of Ontario. There was included in this tract an area over twenty-five miles wide by one hundred long, including the present populous counties of Monroc, Orleans, and Niagara, and the cities therein situated. It was in 1815 that Samuel Hildreth, of Pittsford, began to run a two-horse stage between Rochester and Canandaigua, distant twenty-eight miles. The trip was made twice a week, and the Diail-bag was transferred from the funt- rider to the mail coach. During the year private enterprise established a weekly mail route between Rochester und Lewiston. on the Niagara river. the expen-e being met by the income of the offices along the route. Not till 1816 did L'on- gress, on tootion of General Micah Brooks, direct the committee on jwiet route- tu "inquire into the expedieney of establishing a mail route from Canandaigua to Lewiston, by way of the village of Rochester."

FIRST TAVERN ON THE WEST SIDE.

The growth of the village called for more accommodations for the traveler. the land-hunter. the speculator, and the settler awaiting the completion of hi- hot -.. and during this year Abelard Reynolds opened a tavern on the west side of the river, on Buffalo street. This was the first inn on the " hundred acres." Here Mrs. Jonah Brown, prior to her marriage to the doctor, occasionally gave her er- vices an bar-tender, and here was kept the post-office in its early existence.

THE FIRST CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY

in Rochester has a triple interest, from being the first from its spirit and its method. In both the last-named change has been great. A celebration then wie significant, for recent British injuries were recalled, and at the gatheringy then and later were many Revolutionary oficers and walthers. llow their speeches thril. . as heroic dels were rehearsed, and how the south venerated the old " seventy- sixers," arrayed in the uniform of the continentals ! But that element is wantir the last old patriot borne in a carriage, and seated upon the platform, is a je .- t memory, onel we live in to-day. A religious feeling, a sentiment of gratitude, **

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

mingled with the sense of a deep obligation, and pions men and ministers took ative part und directed the festivities. The inhabitants congregated at Reynolds' tavern, and arranged u programuue which was to end in a sham battle. Mr. Rey- Gulds and others made sperches from the stoop in front of the post-office, and their patriotic expressions were heartily applauded. A line was formed, and the company out of aeruss the bridge on to the hill-top on the cast side, where the hoys of that section joined in. The troop then marehed to the music of drum and fife down to the four corners, where they were well drilled by a Scotchman named Wallace, who had fought at Lundy's Lane, under Scott, and who burnt the first lite in a kilo upon the later site of the old Rochester saving bank. The battle www next in order. The British assembled near the end of the bridge, the Yankees in the street opposite the Arcade cotrance. The contest ended in British defrat, and refreshments were served in the dining room of the tavern. A settler ordered " puilful of " black-strap," and the fiend of alcohol, insidiously concealed. first, ay is hi- wont, heightened the spirits, only to close the day with a feeling not unmixed with distrust and dissatisfaction.

ROCHESTER IN 1815.

Various centres of trade early existed, which, as time wore on, became suburbs and ultimately n component part of the growing city. Samuel J. Andrews, of New Haven, Connecticut, was a brother-in-law of Moses Atwater, of Canandaigua, These two had visited the vicinity in 1812. and conjointly made purchase from Angustus Porter of a large tract of land on the river, embracing the upper falls, and joining the farm of Enos Stone on the north. In 1915, Mr. Andrews brought on a limited stock of goods and engaged in merchandising, using the house of Enos Stone. The family of this carly store-keeper soon arrived, and, Mr. Stone having hid off a few lots on Main street, Andrews bought what is now the corner of Main and Saint Paul, and erected upon it a stone house, the first building besides wood known to Rochester. He was hopeful of the advancement of the settle- ment to a business mart, and did his part towards a realization, under supervision of Itis son, S. G. Andrews, Jr. The original Andrews and Atwater tract comprised in one hundred and forty acres has been surveyed and sold in village and city lots, and, as long ago as 1850, had been mostly occupied with private dwellings, and was known as the sixth ward.

Jolin G. Bond, of New Hampshire, was a grandson on the maternal side of William Moulton, one of the first settlers of' Marietta, Ohio, in 1788, and, being educated to the mercantile business, beenme in 1799 a partner of General Amasa Allen, in Keene, New Hampshire. Partly upon business and in part to explore the locality he came to Rochester in June, 1815, and with confidence in the result purchased the lot upon which the Pitkin block was subsequently erected, and on which was a small frame house. In the fill Mr. Bood, accompanied by Daniel D. Ilatch. bis partner and relative, bought in the cities of New York and Boston what was then regarded as a large stock of goods, and set out for Rochesterville. Transportation from Albany cost four and a half dollars per linndred pounds. The Barnard house and shop, no longer needed for school and church, was en- larged, and transformed from tailor- and saddler-shop to a dry-goods store, the fifth in the place; Smith, West, Bissell & Ely, and Roswell Hart having been prekes-ors in trade. Mr. Bond moved to Lockport in 1823, and became one of the judges of Niagara county, Willis Kempshall, son of Richard Kemp-hall, an emigrant from England to Pittsford in 1806, had learned from his father the trade of a carpenter. He was employed by the Messrs. Brown, of Frankfurt, in 1813, and became a resident of Rochester in 1814. Thomas Kempshall, a brother to Willis, found employment during the winter of 1813-14 as clerk for Ira West. Il- advanced to a partnership, and, on the retirement of Mr. West in 1824, con- tinuel business aluse for several years, when John F. Bush, a clerk in the store, was taken into partnership. Business was conducted for some years as the firm of Kemp-hall & Bush, and then gave place to a large furnace and mills furnishing establishment. Mr. Kempshall engaged in other enterprises to be mentioned Inter Entering the settlement the orphan of a foreign emigrant, Thomas Kemp- anil saw a village incorporated, a city organized, and was elected on March 7, 1.7. to the honorable position of mayor.

In 1815, the pioneer silversmith and watch-repairer, Erastus Cook, came and located in Rochester, and grow old at his employment. Isaac and Allrich Colvin were pioneer hatters, and, later, farmers in lleurietta. Jacob Hlowe started a bakery during this year, and carried on the business till his death; he was suc- w+-tel in the same business by his son Jarob. Daniel Mack was an carly master- Foilder. am Enos Pomeroy, of Massachusetts, simlied law in the office of General Kirkland, and this year opened an office in the place. The efforts of Mr. Pome- roy, together with those of Colonel Rochester and Judge Strong, were initiatory to the formation, frotu Genesee and Ontario, of Monroe County, and began to be

made as early as the year 1818. In the month of December the first census of the village was taken, and gave a population of three hundred and thirty-one persons.

ACTIVITY IN BUILDING, AND SOCIALITY.

The year 1816 was marked hy a rapid growth and durable improvements. The incubus cast upun enterprise and speculation by the war was removed, and the season opened auspiciously. Business sprang up so vigorously and healthfully that a great want arose for habitations wherein to accommodate the faniilies of those who, as principals or employees, had engaged in the various lines of indus- trial pursuit. Reynolds' solitary tavero was besieged by many desiring to board. While a few were accommodated, quarters were straitened for those who. travel- ing, nightly sought its hospitalitirs. Private fatuilies were beset to take boarders, and the early settlers aided their own limited resources, and furthered the public welfare, by a sensible effort at compliance. In such a state of affairs there was great activity in building, and shanties were a mushroom growth. The saw-mills ran night and day, and the tiling of the saw at midnight by Ezra Mason, sawyer at Brown's mill, was heard as regularly as deep-toned bells and musical steam- whistles proclaim the midday bour for rest and refreshment to toiling thousands of to-day. Families moving in would bivouac for weeks in their wagons before they could find other shelter. One family bought a lot on Buffalo street, on the later site of the National hotel, cleared away the brush, and, driving into the clear- ing, began to build about their covered wagon. Working busily by day, and by the light of pitch-pine knots by night, a week's close found floor. roof, and three sides completed. The wagon was then unloaded and run out, and hy evening of the seventh day the front and last part, with its two square, paneless windows and its batten door, were finished, and one more family was domiciled in Rochester. There was no lack of sociality among the women and children while waiting the raising and ruobng ot dwellings. Ou bench, chair, and log the covered-wagon community disposed themselves, exchanging words of cheer, kind sympathy, and relating incidents of the journey. New comers were not obliged to wait an intro- dnetion ; the hand was taken with cordiality, and hearty welcome given as a rein- forcement in the determined effort to plant a village in this unpropitious spot.

In the spring of this year the timber was cut from Buffalo street as far as St. Mary's hospital, formerly Halsted Hall. when but a wagon-track existed on the Scottsville road south of Cornhill. A rough log causeway led from Rochesterville to the house of Oliver Culver. To make a trip over it with a wagon was a good hour's work. Half the year the street was but the similitude of a viaduct. It is recorded that, in those days, a passing villager threw out a plank to reach a hat lying on the mud. On raising it. a voice issued from under. " Hallo there! what are you at ?" " I beg your pardon," was the reply, " I was not aware there was a man onder it." " Well, you give op that hat, or you will find there is one, and as good a horse, too, as there is in this infernal country."

With the erection of buildings, stepping-stones and slabs for sidewalks were placed for convenience of pedestrians. There was at this time less than one hut- dred aeres of cleared land on the village site. Save at Brighton, l'enfield, and Pittsford, there was in all the region surrounding little more than small openings, on which stood the primitive log house. Judge Bond has written, " In February, 1816. with my family and that of Mr. Hatch, my partner. I came ou from New Hampshire. With changing weather, runners gave place to wheels, and. un arrival, a sudden thaw had left .he roads in a horrid state. Houses were seurce and rents high. I changed residence four times in less than a year. The first house was built by Francis Brown, where Dr. Brown was a later resident ; the second, by John Mastick, on the Brighton side; the next resting-place was the house of Ira West, on the west side of' State street ; and the fourth, a house owned by John Rochester, just south of the Rochester house of an eider day. Ibuilt the house, the residence of General Matthews, on Washington street, in 1817. and had previously, in 1816, Enik the store which Dr. Pitkin ocenpied for many years as a druggist-shop." The old tailor-shop of Barnard " was used successively by Dr. Jabez Wilkinson, Dr. Backus, and John A. Granger as a drug store. When I began, in June, 1816, to clear ground on Washington street on which to build my house. my neighbors were astonished that I should think of building >++ far back in the woods. I told them that within thirty years this would be a great city. Most demurred, and said if the population reached two thousand five hun- dred, it would be beyond their expectations." In 1816, Bondt's was the only house west of Sophia street. Himself and Harvey Ely set out sugar-maple and other trees along the west side of Washington street,-the first trees for ornament planted in the village. Judge Bond and Captain Elisha Ely were the iustigitors of the movement to nuprove and establish postal facilities. In January, 1516, tavern- keepers along the route having been enli-ted in the enterprise, the mail wa- first brought through in a four-horse sleigh. " We followed up the enterprise by a

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

journey to Lewiston, occupying three days, and the sleigh three times being broken down by coming in contact with snagy. ' In June, a tri- weekly four-hor? coach was put on, and this was regardeil a. ten years in advance of the tinics ; but before the year chocd three or four extras were called for in a day, and the Ridge road rapidly became a great highway.

The construction of mills, a business in its infancy, made the village the chief wheat market for the entire Gencsee valley and fur most of what now forms Ontario, Warue, Orleans, and Gene-ce. Teamos came crowding in, and wheat was sold at prices ranging from one dollar and twelve and a half cents to turn dollars and fifty cents per bushel. and four. during the first two months of the year, sold for nine dollars a barrel. The arrival of new comers. the entry and exit of teams, the store trade, and the activity in building were a premonition of the future. Commerce began to be worthy of the name. Hantoni's Landing was the leading shipping point. Ves els began to run regularly from the landing and from the mouth of the river to other ports. The leading articles of export during this Season were flour. wheat, pot and pearl ach. whisky. and staves. The shipments of the first named during the year had reached a total of seven tu eight thousand barrels. There was no difficulty in tinding pupils for the school, and the red school-house received an enlargement to furnish room.

SETTLEMENT OF CARTHAGE.

We have spoken of Rochester as the seat of a rising village and a growing trade ; meantime other allotmeuts were made and lots laid off as germinal points of s future unity. To the northward. and on the east side of the river, Elisha B. Strong and Elisha Beach, in company. made a purchase, from Caleb Lyon, of one thousand acres embracing the site of what has been known as Cartbage. Lyon had been a resident for same time, and made a small clearing. A few families were living upon the tract in log cabins, but were coiety of the squstier class. At this time, access to the site of the purchase was obtained only by the merchants' road, which had been made chiefly by merchants of Canandaigua several years previous. It left the Brighton roud just east of the farm of O. Culver. A woods road, with blazed trees as guides, had been made by Lyon on the river-bank to the Brightun road. We shall see, in another place. the daring length to which the proprietors of this purchase carried their projects.

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 31

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