History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 5

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 5

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The plan of survey and the method of disposal of lands adopted by Mr. Phelps were simple and efficient, and, as such, were employed by government in the laying off of congressional townships and the establishment of local land offices. Walker first surveyed what were termed range lines,-running north and south. six miles apart, and seven in number, numbered from the pre-emption line westward, one to seven. At right angles to these, also six miles distant from each other, township lines were run, and numbered north ward, from one to fourteen. Each traet. there- fore, contained thirty-six square miles, and was called a township. These town- ships were designated as in a certain number and range: thus, Pittsford was known as No. 12, filth range, and Brighton as No. 13, seventh range. " Aa the Genesee river runs about twenty-four degrees cast of north below Avon and the seventh range of townships way continued to the lake, the fifth range was left to contain but twelve, and the sixth range but ten townships, and to square the tract lying west of the Gencsce, two townships, entitled the short range, were set off near the luke. These townships are now comprised in the towns of Gates and Greece. The towns of Parma. Ogden, Rigs, Chili, Wheatland, and Caledonia, then four townships, were called the first range of townships icest of Genesce river,

PLATE III.

ONTARIO

رة٠١

& der aboat

Sold to

Emilet

Guales .

Samt Street

: 7à 13

1 0. 13

Sold to

Sold Ehjak

Jonathan Passet

Jy his Arrigt

SadtoCallb

Short Rompe

Hyde

16.13

.73.12

3. 12

Confirming about

sollte

to WT Walker Warner

.78 1%

Stone

800ars Part . Doctor &

Comstart &

Ebenezer Ennt & others

are sold to

Ezekcual Scool

.78 11

Sold to

3.11

à 11

301 Containingabout

, Da's mit are

Phelps &

soulto dorez

Others

Others o

Hankha & FM

Jammas &

street

others

* Prospe i

Anda

1 10

Sold to In0

Jedd &

Lune

Leothers

Fellows

foruten!

OWA TRE

Pint. O.

Einerved by Fan! GanhamF & Phelps for Unramase

Sold to Ino

Rest Ina Brath

Fellows

Br. Smith

Seath &

.188 Sold to

sad Prince

sold salt codyrold

Bryan or

Futter

filter

Faderhis Assigee

Caleb

PHELPS & GORHAMS

.777 forinto

URCIASE

Hathaway

1790

One equal and Sold to bych

pros

o Tadoworth

2) Beary Stone,

& Others

motor

Hudson

187

Natt

là3

.183

Bry

Gold t

Sold to Chleb

trthar I z

Sold

Lundicg

7th Range

6th Bage

st Rangel

+PÅ Range

3rd Lange

2™ Mange

of Range

Pennsylvania

Luce

1.1.10 Sold to when salad

Narviarts

Indianson &

ochery ifiled

misto the catthe her sold to 2

.35,9

. 123

Sold to

Caleb Bouton

Sold to Oliver

Furto sold to

Eros Boughty Comstock &

aqua

sound to

23000 Tons &sold to Mit Chapen & Samt

Med sworth

Outlet

à 10

17,10

Sold to Chapin

For this Tract others

others

Tontons &

Sold to B'M Bacon Luthers

imles sold + Bout to

Solit to

.787

Sold to

Watkır &

Parlarehrs

trustin or

That is sold be

Maddy Luke

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

in Gorham and Phelp-' purchase." Sales of townships were made as soon as survey was completed, and by the middle of 1780 some thirty-five townships were sold, small cash payments being made and notes given for final payment in Massachusetts scrip. Sales were confined principally to share-holders. . At a meeting held in January, 1789, a division was made and the purchase became properly that of Phelps and Gorham. The events of 1789 introduce the settlers to the Genesce country and establish a medium of conditional purchase. Canan- daigua had heen laid off in the fall of 17SS, with a main street eight rods wide and two miles long, and John D. Robinson had been engaged to construct a dwell- ing and office for Mr. Walker, the laud agent. In May, 1789, the agent arrived with others, and opened an office whence .Articles were issued. The feature was wholly American. favorable to the poor but energetic settler, and highly advan- tageous as a safe and rapid meaos of settlement. The article granted possession. but not the fee of the land; opportunity was given for making those frequent changes common among new settlers. Improvements could be sold, possession assigned, and abandonment resulted in reversion to the proprietor. These sound measures have rendered the Genesee farmers enterprising, and enhanced the value of their postet ..... The .. ..... ] in 1720 and included all the land within the State west of the new pre-emption line. The capital or county seat was located at Canandaigua. A dozen counties have been formed from this territory, leaving a proportionate area about the old county seat. Oliver Phelps was appointed first judge, and General Vincent Matthews was the first lawyer admitted to practice in that court, whose jurisdiction was so extended.

During the absence of loc:d laws it was agreed with the Seneca sachems that each race should punish the offenses committed by their own people, and it was with difficulty that the Fudians were induced to yield this right to the white man's courts. An Indian, called by the English " Stiff-arm George," had murdered a white man, and Benjamin Barton, then sheriff of Ontario, was forbidden by the chiefs to make an arrest. It was agreed that the man should be present when court met, and on the trial Red Jacket spoke with unusual ability. The prisoner was condemned to be hung, but was pardoued by Governor George Clinton and banished from the State.

The assumption by Congress of certain State debts, among which was the May- sachusetts scrip, so enhanced its value that Phelps and Gorham were unable to make their payment, and therefore proposed to the State to reconvey that portion to which the Indian title was not extinguished, and provided that any excess held over one-third of the whole tract should be paid for, at the average price of the whole. The offer was accepted. The same cause which compelled the ruconvey- ance prevented early purchasers from making payments, and a large portion of lands sold roverted to Phelps and Gorham, and, from the complex character of their affairs, the titles to lands became a question of litigious dispute. The lands surrendered to Massachusetts were purchased by Samuel Ogden, and by him sold to Robert Morris, who, at a treaty at Big Tree on the Genesce, near the present village of Genesee, extinguished the Indian title by the payment of one hundred thousand dollars. The greater part of this land, comprising three million two hundred thousand acres, was sold to what was known as the Holland Land Com- pany, and the land became known as the lolland Purchase.

On November 18, 1790, Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, reserving two townships for themselves, sold all their lands, comprising one million two hundred and sixty-four thousand acres, to Robert Morris for two hundred thousand dollars. Morris bad made few sales and executed slight improvements, when his agent, who had been sent to Europe to interest foreign parties in wild lands, effected a sale to Sir William Pulteney and others. Charles Williamson was appointed resident agent, and opened land offices at Geneva and at Bath. Interest centered primarily at the will of the proprietors from the protective influences afforded and the conveniences.of inter- course. Colonies having purchased a township sent out a party to erect a tem- porary habitation, and then came on with:their families. The survey of townships into farm lota was done at the purchasers' expense. Augustus Porter and Frederick Saxton were employedl upon this labor. Instances were observed where . Shaeffer or a Hencher planted themselves far aloof from neighbors, and again an entire colony came on, as in the case of Caledonia, of which Wheatland originally constituted a portion.

The county of Ontario was formed near the close of the year 1789. Town meetings were held in April, 1791. At Canandaigua Ismael Chapin was chosen supervisor, and at Canawaugus John Gau-on was elected to the same office at the same date. No court organization was effected until 1793. A court of oyer and terminer was held at Geneva in June of the year named, at which John S. Hobart, a judge of the supreme court, pre-ided. A grand jury was called, but no indict- ments were presented. The first court of common pleas and general sessions for Ontario took place in November, 1704. in the tavern of Nathaniel Sanborn in Canandaigua. Timothy Hosmer and Charles Williamson presided. and with them Was associated Enos Boughton. Among the attorneys privent were Vincent

Matthews aod Thomas Morris. A grand jury was called, and a party was indicted for the theft of a cow bell. Another session of the court was held in June, 1995. at which Nathaniel W. Howell and Peter B. Porter were admitted to practice in the courts of Ontario county. The first jury trial in the county west of' Herkimer was had at this court. The case for larceny, as stated, way prosecuted by N. W. Howell and defended by Peter B. Porter and Vincent Matthews. The latter was long known as one of the ablest of the legal profission. He was held iu high esteetu by the members of the bar of Monroe, having settled at Rochester upon the formation of the county of Monroe in Het. / 05 /

In the settlement of Ontario, wherein for thirteen years Monroe was include I. two classes of laud occupants were recognized,-the temporary and the perma- Dent. There were conversions from one class to the other, and a certain degree of restlessness possessed by all in the desire when searching for a home to obtain the best possible, hut the distinction of the two divisions is strongly marked. The general rule is, in carly settlement, for a border cles of trapper aud hunter to hang upon the fringe of advancing occupation. They may be called openers or beginners, and seem averse to neighbors, and disappear as signs of settlement multiply. There was another class who erected small log eahins, cleared as they were able, then, exhausted by privation and sickness or failing to make payments, gave way to others, who, with the strength of nowhere, built with better success upon their broken fortunes. An Ontario pioneer settled upon a farm near Can- andaigua thus speaks for a class: " The place for a man is not quite among the Indians, for that is too savage, nor yet among good farmers, who are too jealons and selfish, but in the woods, partly for clearing it up and partly for hunting." The histories of towns, dealing in the first settlers, often bear witness to a nameless class of squatters whose deserted cabins gave a brief home to the permanent settler, and whose half-tilled clearing, grown up to rank weeds, made a locality more wild than the surrounding woods. Elkanah Watson has noted the squatter class as " rude and uncouth." Maude, Liaucourt, and other early travelers con- firm the statement, and express relief when leaving some worse than usual bed and board. Litigations were frequent, and, when not settled by physical en- counter, aggrievances were taken before the justice, and the docket of those carly magistrates presents in the many cases a lesson of intemperance and poverty nut pleasurable but by present contrast. Such was the social character of the "squatters" of Outario.

We cannot better illustrate the class whose labor is the basis of present enlightened society than quote the language of Everett. " What have we seen," said he, " in every newly-settled region ? The hardy and enterprising youth finds society in the older settlements comparatively filled up. Flis portion of the old family farm is too narrow to satisfy his wants or his desires; and he goes forth with the paternal blessing, and often with little else, to take up his share of the rich heritage which the God of Nature has spread before him in this Western World. He leaves the land of his fathers, the scenes of his early days, with tender regret glistening in his eye, thoughi hope mantles on his cheek. He dues not, as he departs, shake off the dust of the venerated soil from his feet : but on the bank of some distant river he forms a settlement to perpetuate the retuem- brance of the home of his childhood. He piously bestows the name of the afait where he was born on the place to which he has wandered; and while he is . laboring with the difficulties, struggling with the privations, languishing, perhaps, under the diseases incident to the new settlement and the freshly-opened soil, he remembers the neighborhood whence he sprung, -the roof that sheltered his. infancy,-the spring that gushed from the rock by his father's door, where he was wont to bathe his heated forehead after the toil of his youthful sports .- the village school-house,-the rural church,-the grave of his father and of his mother. In a few years a new community has been formed, the forest has dis- appeared beneath the sturdy arin of the emigrant, his children have grown up, the hardly offspring of the new clime, and the rising settlement is already linked in all its partialities and associations with that from which its fathers and founders had wandered. Such, for the most part, is the manner in which the new States have been built up; and in this way a foundation is laid BY NATURE HERSELF for peace, cordiality, and brotherly feeling between the ancient and recent settle- ments of the country."

In recounting the inceatives to western einigration, the ruling motive was the hope of improving the condition. The land was cheap, fertile, and abundant. the terms of payment were favorable, and the prospects of a rising value certain. The land agents and proprietors, in many instances, gave a good farin tract in Ontario in even exchange for a New England farm of one-fourth the afvz Many in the cast became excited by over-wrought tales of a " Paradise in the West," and made the journey hither only to suffer with disease, privation, and discouragement. Some, returning, toll a story of suffering, and created doubt ; others, with iuherent manhood, resolved to make the best of it, and gradually won their way to affluence.

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The choice of lands w.is the privilege of the early s-ttler. The Indian felda were located upon flats in the richest lands. In sure these no effort was sparedl. A cleared tract wis coveted by all. At Naples, Geneva, Vietor, and on the Genesee were clenrings which served to in-lirate the capability of production. With na roads, vehicles, nor commerce, with co manufacture nor industrial pur- mit, the Senccus established their villages for convenience and for defense. With the arrival of emigrants, the platting of village sites by speculators became a game of fortune. Short-lived prosperity attended those of premature origin, or devoid of local ar surrounding wivantages. Years passel and miany of the pio- Deers had departed before the crowning site for a city was acknowledged and the couoty seat of Mourve had existence. Next to Canandaigua, the village of' l'itts- ford, chronologically, was laid out,-it was contemporary with Ayon, Genesee, Lyons, and Palmyra, and the pioneer of what is now Monroe. Upon a bluff rested the settlement ; at its base was a valued spring. Now but an outpost of a great city, time was when it seemed like retrbing civilizatinn to enter the streets of Pittsford, the home of merchants, doctors. lawyers, and preachers,-the seat of trade for a wide region ; it is not that Pittsford has now become less, but that Rochester bas become more, that the pioncer village rests upon the record of the earlier day.

From the earliest ages the course of streams had heen the routes of travel, and tho communication aforded by river and lake through the State of New York westward was a powerful agency in the development of Ontario. A highway for travel. was extemporized from the great Indian trail from Albany to Buffalo, and by water and by land,-by boat, batean. sleigh, wagon, on horseback. and on foot, at all seasons, with varied experience, -the course of emigration, slowly at first, then accelerated, came to the valley of the Genesee. The original course of travel was by boat or bateau from Schenectady up the Mohawk to Fort Stanwix ( Rome). There boats were carried over a portage of a mile to the waters of Wood creek ; down this stream the erigrint4 passed to Oneida lake. through the lake and its out- let to Three River point, then on un the Sonera river and the outlet of Kanadeangy (Seneca) Like to Kanadesaga settlement (Genera). The navigation was inter- rupted only at what are now Seneca Falls and Waterloo, in the county of' Seneca. The first party, conducted by General Chapin in the spring of 1759. for the set- tlement of Canandaigua, came by water down the outlet of Canandaigua lake to their journey's end; the instance was exceptional, the head of navigation being in what is now the town of Manchester. The water upon the streams was of far greater volume than at present, and the emigrant, at times moving easily along, had opportunity of observing the diversity of scenery; at others, a raft of logs in- terminably hlended created delay of portage or the work of cutting a channel. To those who made that voyage, looking back after an interval of poling, rowing, floating, and transporting, for a period of from four to six weeks, the eastern home seemed far remote, the comforts of civilization left far behind. Another, and a southern route, led the emigrant along the Susquehanna and Tioga rivers to Newtown, thence to and down the Seneca Like. It was said hy Maude that, " August 18, 1800, a schooner of forty tons sailed from Genesee landing for Kingston, U. C., laden with potash, which had been sent from Canandarque to Rundicutt bay, and from thence mund about in boats to the landing;" the extract presents the condition of navigation at a date when many settlements of Ontario were well advanced, and evidenees the lack of roads and the unsettled condition of Monroe. For a brief time the water route found patronage, but efforts were at once put forth and the cutting through of mad- began.

The early settlers npon the military traet came from New Jersey and Pennsyl- vania along the well-marked route of Sullivan. The pioneers of Ontario from Massachusetts set out on foot and on horseback and drove through their stock, while families came by water, or, as was the rule. the heads of faruilies or young men came on as land-hunters, made their selection, bought or articled. built a lng house, and then returned along the path or trail to pass the winter at the old home. Fully aware of the influence of mads in facilitating travel and conse- quent settlement. Mr. Phelps, jointly with John Taylor. State agent, contracted with Ephraim Blackmer to eut ont a road two rods io width from Fort Stanwix to Seneca lake. This preliminary improvement upon the Indian trail and blazed trees was completed during 1789. Men were next employed to eut the brush between Geneva and Canandaigua, and from a point on Flint creek to the foot of Canandaigua Ike. \ wagon-road was made from the head of navigation, in Manchester, to the site af Canandaigua In 1722. said Williamson, in a note to Maude's Travels, " the road from Geneva to Canandaigua was but an Indian parh, upon which but twa families had' settled. The county town consisted of only two small frame houses and a few huts inchused by thick woods. From Canandaigua to the Gene ce river but four families resided on the road or trail." Patrick l'amp- bell, who traveled through the western country in March, 1792. notierd but one house and two newly-erected huta in Marcellus township, and rass, " The whole region from Onnydaga Hollow to Cayuga was a furest." No more interesting or

authentic description of the routea to the Genesee country are furnished than the journey by water, made in the spring of' 1789, by a party of whe h .Judge Porter was a member, and one made by Williamson early in 1792. by lan.l. Aneu-tu4 Porter contracted to survey two townships purchased in Ontario, and to that enel met William Bacon, one of the proprietors, at Schenectady, in May. 1749. While part of the company went on by fand, driving through cattle, others, with 1w. bnats laden with provisions and farming tools, set out by water. The boats carl carried about twelve barrels, and required a erew of four men. Wagony wpr. employed to transport the boats and their louds around the Little Falls of the Mohawk. and at Fort Stanwix a portage a mile's distance was required to launch their boats in Wood ereck. At this portage " there was a dim for a saw-mill which, when filled, could be rapidly discharged; creating a flood upon which buats passed down." At Seneca falls the boats were passed up-stream empty, ear-l heing manned by a double crew, while the loading was taken around by a man named Job Smith, who had a pair of oxen and a rudely constructed cart, whose. wheels were made by sawing off sections of a log, some two and a half or three fort in diameter.

Geneva consisted of a half-dozen families. A party of four, including Porter. took the trail for Canandaigua, each carrying upon his back a pack. At Canan- duigua were a dozen persons, recently arrived. Judge Porter went to No. 1H. fourth range, where he found Jonathan Adams and quite a colony in occupation of three log houses, one being large, the others smaller. East Bloomfield having been surveyed, No. 9, sixth range, enme next. Its owner, General Fellows, ofend whole township (Livonia) to Porter and Saxton at twenty cents per arre. Other surveys were made, and then succeeded the slow return journey to the east.

The testimony of Williamson presents changes and first impressions. " Feb- ruary 15, 1792. Albany was left on my route to the Genesee river. but the conn- try was thought so reruote, and so very little known, that the stage owner wouldl not engage conveyance further than Whitestown, a new settlement at the head of the Mohawk, one hundred miles from Albany. To Whitestown a pre-able wayon road existed, thence to the Genesee was a trail widened for the passage of a sled. and rough bridges thrown over otherwise impassable streams. Reaching Whites town, the Albany driver became alarmed for himself and horses, when he learned that for one hundred miles forage, provisions, and blankets hail to be carried aloog, and carriage was changed. On from Whitestown huts were found at in- tervals of ten to twenty miles, but affoniedl only shelter from the snow, and the convenience of a fire. On the third day the east side of Seneca lake was reached. and was found free from ire. Pleasure and admiration were affordled by the sight of a boat and canoe plying upon the lake. Gladly the journey was concluded to Genera, where at its log huts rest was taken. To Canandaigua the route lay mpou an improved trail through land rich and heavily timbered. The county town contained two frame houses; the people were hospitable. and venison was abundant. From thence to the Genesee river, twenty-six miles. it was alone totally uninhabited, only four families residing on the road. The country was beautiful and very open ; in many places the openings were free of all timber and varied by hill and dale; it reminded one of the English parks. At the Genese river was found a small Indian store and tavern. The river was not frozen, and was fordable." No considerable settlement existed in the Genesee country, that of Jemima Wilkinson's followers, consisting of ahnut forty families, being the largest. Indians were numerous, and regardled by the few settler, with appro- hension. The land was full of promise; cattle throve through the winter : clear- ing advanced with spirit; ample returns repaid laber ; and there was early promise that these and other pioneers soon to follow, hy their energy and -kill. would sup- plaut the forest with the field, the hut with the dwelling; would cut out roads. build bridges, and lay the foundation for later prosperity.

CHAPTER VL

THIF. PIONEERS OF THE TERRITORY NOW CONSTITUTING MONROE ; THEIS REMINISCENCES-FORMATION OF GENESEE COUNTY-EARLY SETTLERS OF THE TOWNS NOW COMPRISED IN MONROE; THEIR HARDSHIPS AND IM- PROVEMENTS.

EVENTS now bell trivial derpen their interest with the lap-e of years, and the inquiry as to what famili's first mode settlement in Means, nightly aus wand will. in time, afford no little satisfaction. The transmission from agr to agr of the details of carly travel, primitive life, and laborious effort auticijustes conjecture,

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

presents contrast, and stimulates emulation. Local history traces human progress and natural changes. New England colonies are seen to occupy an Indian wilder- ness ; troops of savages, predatory and Ishmael-minded, are located upon reserva- tions or transported to distant regions, and the gradations of improvement find ample demonstration.

The main road leading from Utica westward to Buffalo crossed the Genesee at Avon, by the only Fridge spanning the river, and led to an early and reueral set- tlement of the lands adjacent that highway, while northward remained for years a wilderness with here and there a log hint in a elearing, the occupants scourged by fevers, yet tenacious in possession till time und interest brought relief.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 5

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