History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 32

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 32

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PIONEER TRADESMEN AND MECHANICS.

Gideon Cobb, the original public conveyancer, has been noted. A brother, William, had been associated near Rome, with Dr. Matthew Brown. in the axe and scythe manufacture, and in 1816 transferred the works to Rochester. and added a machine-shop. A change of location was made in 1820, when Lawson Thayer became a partner. The site later occupied by D. R. Barton was purchased. Thomas Morgan. on the rear uf the lot, started the first cut-nail manufactory west of Albany. Prior to 1830, Mr. Cobb went to Allen's hill, under contract with Nathaniel Allen, to superintend a tool-shop there commenced. Both Allen and Cobb died at Louisville, Kentucky. Among the pioneer mechanics who made Rochester their home in 1816 were Jonathan Packard, Preston Smith, and Wil- liam Brewster. Mr. Packard came from Hawley. Massachusetts, and was the third to engage in silversmithing in the village. F. Cook and Salmon Schofield having preceded him. In 1817, Samuel W. Ice came on and made the fourth. Mr. Packard continued the business many years, and was the latest survivor of those who, in that early day, worked at that trade. He made the first stove-pipe over manufactured in Rochester, and took part in making the first castings. Preston Smith and William Brewster were in the cabinet bu-iness in 1816. and three years later Frederick Starr also took up the trule. These latter parties >0 enlarged their business and reached steh skill in workmanship. as to hold a lead- ing position among like establishments throughout the older cities of the country.

A tavern-house was built this year in that part of the city known in these days As Frankfort. The buildler was W. J. MeCracken, who was a citizen of Ruch- ester till more than half a century later. The stand known later as the North American hotel was a place of convenience to traveler and stranger, and the only frame building then existing between there and the Eagle corners.

THE FIRST NEWSPAPER.

In June, 1816, Augustus G. Pauby. the pioneer printer of Rochester, began the publication of the Rochester Gazette, a smail folio sheet, next in appearance. and fully up to the business requirements of this region. Dauly had purchased in Utica, of Mirors. Seward & Williams, an old Ramage pres. with an outfit of type and material nerdel, and with two wagons and teams set out from his home

for the Genesce river settlement. At Oneida Castle, the boxes containing the type fell through an opening made by a broken bottom-board, and were lost. the covery of the misfortune was made at Quality Hill, and returning, fruitles, wma was made. It transpired that the Indians found the boxes and buried then under a large stump. It was agreed that the boxes should be opened in prestes of the natives, who were very eager to see the contents. At Oneida Carle ra- government yearly paid the Indians their annuities in coin, brought in boxes hur those holding the type, and this explains why they had been concealed. Winn the first box was opened all silently gazed upin the contents. The type were taken out nud exhibited. At last, an Indian, drawing a long. sigh-hke breath. +z. claimed. "No god money-whoop !- no good money !" and departed. followed by all the rest. grunting their disappointment.

Dauby again set out. and came through in safery. He found a building snit. able for an office upon the spot near the river. where the office of the Demon et and Chronicle is located. The structure was of two stories, bolow Smith & Dai. the first butchery in the village, who had established a stall above, reached by a platformu running frota the bridge. Some fifteen feet away, the material of the new printing ofice was conveyed. John P. Sheldon a printer, lived fifteen wiley was of Rochester. Mr. Dauby secured his services, and during June the first number of the Rochester Gazette was given to the public. The office way son shifted to Abner Wakilee's building on Buffalo street. over Austin Steward's meat -- hop. and then removed to Exchange street, to a building known later as Filer & Fair- child's school-house. Mr. Sheldon ceased to be connected with the office, and went to Detroit. Edwin Serantom and A. M. Harris became apprentices. and fur two or more years A. G. Daby and his two assistants performed the office work. In the fall of 1818 another reninval was made to a story and a half wood build. ing on the north side of Buffalo street. near the present entrance to the Keymohly arcade. The cotire upper story was given to the office, which had ample mnom : below were two stores. one for drugs, the other groceries. It was past midnight of Saturday, December 4. 1819. before the master and his apprentice- had finished working of the first side of the Gazette, which was published on Tur- days. About two A. M., Sunday morning, the unusual cry of' " Fire !" rang through the village. Once beforo the devouring element had appeared in the store of Bond & Hatch. This second fire in Rochester began in a building owned hy .1. Reynolds, Esq .; the second story a saddler's shop, the lower room used as a store by C. E. Barnard. The fire caught the next building, one mom the store of Jobn Harfurd, the other that of Dr. F. F. Backus, for the sale of drugs. and, above the printing office. a third building, that of West, Clark & Co., was al. burned. The store of Leavitt & Will, near by. escaped. as did Reynolds' tavern. The citizens formed lines from the engine to the river. and, considering their in- experience, did well. There were strangers in the village, to whom the citizen expressed obligation for hearty services. The Gazette lost all save two Cases of type, thruwn out by Scrantom, who barely saved his life. and caught. one by Levi W. Sibley, and the other by Jesse Peck. This conflagration ended the publication of the paper for the time, and disheartened the publisher. Assisted by friend -. Mr. Dauhy opened a new office on Buffalo street. over the store of John W. Strong & Co., which stood near the banking office of Messrs. Stettheimer. Tour & Co. In 1821, Derick and Levi W. Sibley bought the establishment. when Dauhy returned to Utica and startul the Oneidn Observer. He was app-intel postmaster of the place in 1829 6: General Jackson. and keld the office for a score of years. Elsewhere is given the history of the press, and its perusal und prove that A. G. Dauby. the pioneer priuter. might well regard with pride it- - tears progress, keeping pace with the increase of population and the growth of larin ... till the publications of 1876 are an honor to the city-a nece-sity to thon- and- The original post-rider of Rochester was Stephen B. Bartlett, of New Hamy-hir- To the business of conveying newspapers to customers were added the poli-in- of physician and school-master. his power as a doctor being in the viturs triar- mittel to " the seventh son of the seventh son." and his ability as a teacher keine prominent as a reader, wherein be delighted. In the Rochester Telegraph at November 20, 1820. " the post-rider's notice" reads, " I must collert five bumired suudi debrs without delay, to pay one large. My patrons are left to their rhoter whether I must do it procenhly or forcibly." Bartlett was a .+ dead-head." atel his lodgings were always construed as gratis. To become a post-rider we. . doubtful mode of getting a living, as settlers were generally poor, and owel fr their lands. Many a post-rider. in debt and starved out, had a heavy list of pt accounts not separately worth the cost of collection. Our post-rider had a bin Canadian pons, strong and well-conditioned, and across the sadille was carried large pair of saddle-hier, the receptacles of the papers. Mounted and equity- 1. Bartlett set off upon his ride. At hut. cabin. and village the blast of lu- tu horn announced his approach, and letters from distant homes assured a conld n ception. He lived and dial upon a small farm oppante Falls field. on Nonb Saint Paul street, and his land, risen in value, mule n rich legacy to his heir-

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

THE ROLL OF PIONEERS FOR JANUARY, 1816.

in Rochester, gives the following: Ashbel Steele. Cousfort Williams, Moses and Bradford King, Mr. Wakefield. John C. Rochester, Dr. Jonah Brown, Dr. Gibbs, Ik ava Gibles. H. L. Sill and George Sill, Abelard Reynolds and his father's family, Juhn Mastiek, Harvey Montgomery, D. Carter, H. R Bender, C. Harford, Hutulet Serantom, Mr. Hamulin, Philip Lisle, Silas O. Sorith, the Browns, Ira W',-t, Roswell Hart, Bissell and the Elys, Daniel Mack, J. Hoit. L'nos Stone, Somon Close, Thomas Kempshall, Enos Pomeroy, Seth Surton, Luther Dewell, Honwell Babbitt, Prestou Smith, Benedict Harford, Willis Kempshall, Chaqueey Mead, Sammel J. Andrews. Roloff Hannahs, Azel Ensworth, Erastos Cook, Daniel Tinker, Kellogg Vosburgh, William Rogers, Libbens Elliott, Adonijah Ginvn. Jamies Irwin, Angustive G. Dauby. A and I. Colvin, M. P. Covert, Wm. W. Jobsoo, Henry Skinner, and James Sheldon. Many of these trom mention are familiar ; a number were, at the time, untuarried.

ROCHESTER IN 1816.

A rush of settlement had continued through the year, and the population by the fall of 1816 had doubled. yet the forest clung close to the outskirts of the vil- lage, as if reluctant to yield its supremacy. once gone lost forever. As its lost year without a name and government. a retrospection as presented by Judge Chapin is of unusual interest : " The principal settlement on Buffalo street was between the Eagle tavern and the bridge over the Genesee. The buildings were rows of small shops on each side of the street, mostly a story and a half high. Here and there was a building farther west on that street, and the brush had lately been borned to clear the street along in front of where the court-house and the Methodist chapel (1847) now stund. A frog-pond occupied a part of the court-house yard at the base.of a high stone ledge. From the bathing-house on the west was a log cause- way over a deep swamp, in which the forest trees were then standing: beyond Washington street west there was an unbroken forest. State street bad been cleared of trees, but the stamps were remaining. The forest came almost to the west line of the street, between Ann and Brown streets. On the west side of "Exchange street a small framed building stood perched on a high ledge of stone about where Allen & Seymour's book-store now is; farther west was a dwelling- house on the site of the Bank of Rochester; then on south there was occasion- ally a small building. On the west side of this street were .no buildings. A yard for mw-logs occopied the ground of Child's hasin. On North Fitzhugh street there was no settlement north of the site of the Baptist meeting-house. A cart- track then led north to adjacent woods. From North Sophia street, on west be- yond Washington, was an ash swamp filled with water the most of the year. The long pendent moss from the boughs of the trees in this swamp presented a pic- turesque appearance. The land south of Troup street was a forest. On the east side of the river was a cluster of houses on Main and South Paul streets. From ('linton street east, from Mortimer north, and from Jackson south, was mostly forst. A black walnut-tree of magnificent proportions stood on the north part of Dublin, not far northeast from the falls, and attracted many visitors." In the Fear following Chapin bought and cleared land on Troup street. A winding path le through the woods to .Spring street, and the wild deer were seen on his clearing. A pietore this not rich in coloring : nature, never lavish of her gifts, presented here a fitting field for the exercise of human intelligence.

INCORPORATION.

Four years had elapsed since Hamlet Serantow had completed his log house huilt ujwin the lot of Henry Skinner. Begun during a time of war, it tenaciously hell its footing until, with the dawn of peace. it awoke to a magical increase of In-jwrity, popularity, and population. The demand for one class of settlers called tor a correspondence of others. Individual enterprise found free away, social in- etitation» sprang op in response to apparent call, and the infant city put on the apparel of childhood. An act of incorporation was passed by the legislature in April, 1817, and the village received the name of Rochesterville, in honor of Na- thaniel Rochester, its founder.

THE FIRST VILLAGE ELECTION

"a. liehil on May 5, and five trustees were chosen under the new charter. These turat ..! Tu ials were Fraoris Brown, Everard Peck. Daniel Muck, Willi am Cohh, and J. lad Bornard. Francis Brown was made president, Hastings R. B. nder, clerk. stel Frederick F. Backus, treasurer. In the chetion of Its three of the old transfery were elected, and Mr. Brown continued president till 1820, as in 1919 no

election was held. Mossrs. Cobb an Barnard retired after the first your, and were succeeded by Isaac t'olvin and Ira West. Moses Chapin became clerk for the board during 1818, while F. F. Backus was continued treasurer until the spring of 1829, -- an example of trust and confidence reposed by the populace in an able and reliable citizen, a worthy 'and estimable man. Time ha- sped on. and all the members of that village council of Is17 have crossed the mystic river of death. Io the first year of village existence Isaac Colvin, Hastings R. Bender, and Daniel D. Hatch served as first assessors, and Ralph Lestor as collector and con- stable. Security against fires was an early precaution ; every citizen was required to be supplied with fire-buckets, and arrangements were made for banks, ladders. and the paraphernalia of a fire department. The following, Roswell Hart, Willis Kempshall, John G. Bond, Abner Wakelce, and Francis Brown, were the first fire- wardens, all of whom were changed at the next election. At a meeting held on Jane 10 there was voted a " tax of three hondred and fifty dollars for de fraying expeuses of corporation. for procuring tire-hooks and ladders, and to take other precautionary measures to guard against the destructive ravages of fire in sail vil- lage, and to cut a ditch from the swamp or slough westward of the dwelling-house of A. Reynolds sufficiently high up to completely drain the swamp and continue down said swamp, pas-ing the dwelling of Willis Kempshall, thence to the meadow of Thomas Mumford near the river; and, further, to cat another ditch from the low grounds in the rear of the dwelling of David H. C'arter, so as to drain the waters, which now settle there and stagnate, into the river, and forther suek the health and safety of the village." Measures, these, initiatory to vast enterprises which have followed, and typical of the New England character.

In 1817, D. K. Carter associated with Abner Hollister and built the old man- sion, the first three-story building ever erected in the placc. In this structure the first Masonic lodge in Rochester was instituted, and was known as Wells Lodge, No. 282. Another society, known as Hamilton R. A. Chapter, was organized in the spring of 1819.

MILL-RACES AND DAMS.

Matthew and Francis Brown had the previous year finished a mill-canal on the west side of the Genesce at the head of the great falls. It was quarried through a rock a length of eighty-four rods, a width of thirty feet, and a depth of three feet, and formed their mill-race, and furnished power to the cotton factory and to many another establishment. From this canal the water has a fall of nearly one hun- dred feet. The name of Elisha Johnson is prominently and closely associated with improvements of like and more extensive character. Ile was a son of Captain Ebenezer Johnson, a pioneer of the county of Chantsoque, and brother to Dr. Johnson, one of the leading founders of Buffalo. Professionally an engineer. he became later known as a constructor of the tunnel of the Genesee Valley canal. at Portage, and in 1838 was mayor of Rochester, and in 1844 an elector for president and vice-president. Mr. Johnson caine from Canandaigua to Rochester and bought the greater portion of Enos Stone's farm, the scene of the bear-tight, situated at the first fall, on the east side, and opposite the Rochester tract. This purebase included the land lying between North street and the river, some eighty acres of which are now a compact. solidly-built section of the city. For this property ten thousand dollars were paid, and the whole tract was laid out in vil- lage lots. Work was begun to construct a dam across the Genesee near by the old fording-place, and a large inill-canal was excavated from that point to the bridge. The work was some sixty er cuore rods long, sixty feet wide, and four deep. Aided by Orson Sheldon and other energetic citizens of Canandaigua, at! at an expense of twelve thousand dollars, the enterprise was consummated. and extensive water privileges were furnished and have continued down to the present. It was hargained with Enos Stone to construct a raceway on the east shure, north to the Curtiss property of to-day, and to build a goard-lock where water was tikou from the river. This raco was constructed as far down as the mill of William Atkinson, now the mill owned and occupied by C. J. Hill & Son. Moch powder was consumed in lifting the great quantities of solid rock necessary to make the water-course, and this debris of broken stone was damped into the river. The mill of Mr. Atkinson, having three run of stone, was the first one built on the race, and the first water that was used was let into his fiume upon his wheel. Messrs. Atkinson and Johnson, and many others, celebrated this event as one of great importance to hoth village and the country. Atkinson's mill was followed during this season by those of Elisha B. Strong, Hewan Norton, and E Beach, with four run of stone, and situated at the opper step of the lower fails Later owners were Hooker, Olmstead & Griffiths, and George A Avery and Philip Thurber. During the next year Palmer Cleveland built the mill ro the east bank at the middle falls. A. Reynolds was a subsequent owner, and in 19.i Orrin E. & George 1. Gibbs were owners, and had not only enlarged the build- ings but increased the run of stone from three to five. The mills occupied & just

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

tion near the brink of the main precipice ; the structure was of four stories besides attie, and was sixty-two and a half by fifty-two feet. Its material was stone, a wooden building a story and a half high, and sixty-sis by thirty-eight feet, beiog appended.

BUSINESS PROSPERITY.

These works brought in a rush of population, and made 1817 a marked dare in the calendar of the city. Such men as Smith, Reynolds, Stone, Mastick, Ben- der, Johnson, Bissel, and the Browns laid large plans for mechanical works, mer- chandising and milling, and any other enterprise that promised well to the newly- founded village; and they were joined, and their efforts seconded. by business men like Roswell Hart, Seth Saxton, Bond & Hatch, William Pitkin, John Childs, Jacob Graves, Samuel Works, Levi Ward. Jr., William Cubb, and many another citizen who had hoped for just such an activity. Copper, tin, and ~heet-iron basi- ness was started by Ebenezer Watts, and received in time the a idition of a large hardware establishment. Frazer & Sheldon engaged in the same business pursuit, and second to Mr. Reynolds in saddlery and harness-making way Pelatiah, brother to Ira West. Jolin Shethar was also in the same trade. Following the Colvins, John and William Haywood were the second firm engaged in the manufseture of hats. Jacob Graves and Samuel Works. arriving from Vermont, bought out the small tannery of Kellugy Vosburgh, and engaged in a business which, as carried on by Graves & Sons, was an industry of great magnitude. The manufacture of looking-glasses was begun in 1821, by Joho II. Thompson. The early tailors following Barnard, and the first to do any considerable business, were Smith and Holden. Early master-builders were Daniel Mack, the Kings, Robert and Jona- than, Phelps Smith, and Philip Allen. Pioncer coopers were Charles Magne and Eggleston. The first to start a shoe store was Abner Wakelee. Jacob Gould was a pioneer at the business, and his establishment and that of George Gould & Co. kept pace with the growth of the villare. Seven lawyers, attracted by the location and prospects of Rochesterville. bad made this choir meidence. The Genesee river was the boundary line between the counties of Ontario and Genesee, and courts were held at Canand.ugua and Batavia. These lawyers were John Mastick, Hastings R. Bender. Ancon House, Ruswell Babbitt, Enus Pomeroy, . Joseph Spencer, and Moses Chapin. Mastick, the pioneer, died in 1828. Bender was from Vermont, a Dartmouth graduate. House was known better as a bust- Dese man than as an attorney. He was the founder and owner of the Minerva block. Babbitt was from Lewis ecunty, and died at Saratoga Springs about 1830. Pomeroy was of Massachusetts. Later in his life he became a resident upon a farm in Brighton. Joseph Spencer, of Connecticut, was son of Isaue Spencer. at one time State treasurer. He graduated at Yale, and began practice here in 1816; was a State senator, and died about 1830 : and Chapin was a Yale graduate, began practice at Rochester in 1816, and was the first judge of Monroe from 1825 to 1829, and a member of the Pioneer Society of 1817. Ashley Samson, of Vermont, came to the village in 1S19. and was twice appointed first judge of Monroe. Among the physicians of Rochesterville were Frederick F. Backus, a permanent resident from 1816, and conspicuous among the city father. : John B. Elwood. a resident since January, 1817. and for two-score years hell eminence in his pro- fession and influence in society. The first settled physician following Dr. Elwood during the same year was Anson Coleman. Other physicians later in the village were Drs. O. E. Gibbs, Wilkenson, Dyer Ensworth. Jonah Brown : and occasional practitioners were Matthew Brown and the elder Ensworth. Comfort Williams, noted as the first resident clergyman, was the purchaser of for vaeres in woods, on what later was known as Mount Hope avenne, and was next after Carter and Seran- tom to improve in that section. His land remaining with his family after his decease. was sold out in city lots by Chas. Il. Williams, a son. The Carter tract near by was owned by Lyman Munger, by whom the carly improvements of that locality were made. Jahn Odell and Harvey Montgomery were of the carly merchants. In IS17 there were not twenty acres of cleared ground on the Brighton side. Of the residents were Aaron Newton, Moses Hall, and Ebenezer fitus Along Saint Paul street was a dense growth of hemlock. spruce. and calar, and the woods were close in every direction. Two brothers, named MeCracken, came to the vicinity of Batavia about 1$05. and left for Rochester soon after the war. A tract of land purchased by Dr. David MeCracken. on the river, near Deep Hollow, is now included in the city. William J. MeCracken, a tavern-kerper in Frankfort, Charles Millerd, Henry Draper, and Elliott, were landlords of the early days.

We have named Aldrich and Isaac Colvin as the pioneer hatters in a building where now on State street stands the stome blink of stores owned by Martin Briggs. They had a sture later " up in the village." on State street, near the corner of Buffalo. The Colvins were Quakers, and in 1817 formed a society and opened their houses for weekly meetings. Meetings were held cach Friday, and Daniel Quimby, of Henrietta, a venerable old man io broad-brimtued hat, ilrab

clothes, and white neck-tie, came regularly, regardless of the weather, on horse- back to the meeting. The Colvins were among the first Friends who bought the lot, and in 1822 built the first Quaker meeting house, nest Deacon Sage's nt North Fitzhugh street. That old building, wherein the s xes sat on opprite sides awaiting the moving of the Spirit, has disappeared. In 1834 the oumber of familie, in the Friends' society was about thirty-five. Their hours of wor-hip were at eleven a.M on the first and fifth days of each week. They had no rezu- larly settled preachers. As a result of discussion, wherein the name of Eli.is Hicks was of frequent use, another society. known as Orthodox Friends, na- formed in 1428. In 1838 the trustces of' this latter branch society were Jeste Evans, Silas Cornell, and L. Atwater; those of the other society were Samuel Post aud Joseph Green.

FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION. 1817.

The village area of about seven hundred and fifty acres had on July 4. 1817. a population such that, joined in by the villagers on both sides of the river and the towns outside, there was made quite a memorable celebration. Upon the site of the recent theatre on the east bank a long arbor was built ; beneath, running the entire length, were erected rough board tables, whereon s good dinner was served. The principal women concerned in this public repast were Mrs. E. Stone, Culver, Hall, O. W. Stone, Ely, Scrantom, Johnson, West, and Mack, then in life's prime, now departed to the land of rest. Seated at the long table, Elisha Johnson was at one end, Enos Stone at the other; Rev. Williams said grace. Then came toasts, honored by the discharge of twenty blasts put down in the race by Mr. Johnson. The first toast was, "Our country -- may prosperity attend her!" Two blasts touched off caused the woods to resnund, and cheers, lively given, followed. The day was fine, and when the last blast, deeper in the rock and heavier charged, was fired. the booming sound died away in the forest am au uuwooted silence followed; the owl's hoot, the fox's bark, the wolf's howl. were not heard,-the blasts from Johnson's raceway had awed them to silence.

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 32

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