History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 8

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 8

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" New England ! Rich in intelleet, though rude in soil, the intelligent enter- prise of her goos io a fertile lani has largely aided in rendering the Genesee country the garden of this State." Handsomely expressed, beautiful in its truth, and the expression indicates the nativity of the pioneers. Following a line west- ward through Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, the most forward and enterprising are men of eastern lineage. Localities pride themselves upon their ruins, hut the citizens of Monroe triumph in advanced cultivation, and their monuments are their institutions for trade, commerce, education. benevolence, and religion. At the first pioneer festival, held to eninmemorate carly settlement at Blossom's hotel, Bochester, on September 31. 1817. the survivors, beholding the superstructure reared upon their fimulation rrcounting the past, were thus addressed by one who still survives to look back upon yet more prodigiuns changes: " For New Eug-

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

landers there was another luxury. I allude to the fuet that the ' heat and burden of the day,' in sobduing the forest and rearing up this new city, was, to a great extent, borne by adventurers from their Fatherland, and not only so, but, happily for the future, these sons of New England very generally brought with them the principles and habits which have always so favorably distinguished the land of the Puritans. Finally, one other luxury, peculiar to our infantile State. was the fact that notwithstanding the large participation of New Euglanders in the enterprise and vicissitudes of our early forming State, other States, and even foreign lands, were well represented, and what he bad here to note as of peculiar interest was the fact that, despite a seemingly heterogeneous population, they were in a remarkable degree of one heart and mind regarding the essential elements of society. They readily united in a practicable demonstration of the importance of morality and intelligence, as well as enterprise and untiring industry in building for after-gen- erations."

The habitations of a people are indices of rank in civilization. The Esqui- maux hut, the Kamtchatkan subterranean abode, and the Indian wigwam, charac- terize their builders. The pioneer of the Genesee, arriving alone and selecting his lot, put up a brush shelter till, logs being prepared, a raising was practicable. We have seen the Atchisons, at Braddock's bay, live temporarily in a shelter formed by boards from their sled and blankets brought with them. Then a house was built of logs, without nail, board, or window-pane. Josiah Fish put up a log hut at the mouth of Black creek, and hired the Indians to cover it with bark. Hencher's hut was thatched with the long, dry grasy eut at Long pond; and Shaeffer's homestead, built in 1789, with strap-door hinge and smith-wrought Jock, handle and latch, still stands, a relic of the past. Emigranta arriving crowded in one cabia, and at Riga twenty-eight persons were occupants of a single small log house Saya Elihn Church in Turner's History, " Isaac, Elisha, and David Far- well, hearing that I was houseless, generously came and beiped me to erect a building. We put up the body of it in one day, and had it ready to occupy on the fourth day. The door was of spiit basswood, the root of cedar shingles; no boards were used in its construction, and to Elisha Farwell I was indebted for a few nails." The log house has been anperseded by finer and more commodious structures, in consonance with the taste and changed circumstances of the people, but many a descendant of the pioneer stock recalls, with Edwin Scrantom, their composer, the following lines, entitled

MY EABLY HOME.

Back on the misty track of time, in memory's flickering light, I see the scenes of other days, like meteors in the night. The garden, with its low-huilt fence, with stakes and withes lo tie it, The rude log honse, my early home, end one wild maple hy it.

Rude were the sports 'round that wild bome, when little bands were twined, And echoing woods swept hack the joy, like voices io the wind; And there gay birds, on bended spray, their wild-wood songs have given,- The robin sang at dawn of day, the whip po-will at even.

Bat leaves are scattered nut more wild, by autumn's winds uphurled, Than all that group of faces bright upon the wide, wide world;

But still on memory's page, in light which time can ne'er destroy.

Stand out those scenes,-that house and tree, -a lost but sacred joy.

The early settler, having provided a shelter for himself and family, not un- frequently impruvised his own furniture. The chairs were represented by sec- tions of a tree, of required height ; the beds contained no mattress, springs, or even bed-cord,-the couch being spread upon the floor, and sleeping-apartments made by hanging blankets. Not infrequently Indian and white guests lay upon blanket or robe before the huge open fire-place, and a familiarity existed strikingly in contrast with the not more exemplary society of modern times. About the fire- place were found hooks and trammel, the bake-pan and the kettle, and, as homes varied, there were found in many a cabin the plain deal table, the flag-bottomed chairs, and the easy, high-backed rocker. Upon the shelf were spoons of pewter, blue-edged plates, cups and sancers, and the black earthich teapot; perchance a coroer of the room was occupied by a tall Dutch clock, while in another stood an old-fashioned high-post and corded bedstead, covered with quilts .- a wander of patch-work ingenuity and laborious sewing. In lieu of a time-piece, the sur- veyor may have eut a noon-mark upon the threshold, and in place of the bell to call the chopper from the clearing, a cheery call was given, or conch-shell blown.

The habits of the pioneers were influenced by their mode of life. Chopping in the clearings for days alone, without loggings, raisingy, and other gatherings, produced a tendency to silence. Journeys on foot for hundreds of miles were undertaken to visit friends. Women rode from Ontario to Massachusetts OD horseback. It was a delight to gather at some one of the number of log taverns and relate stories of the Revolution and tales of adventure. Whisky distilleries were built, and from corn and rye abundant liquur was produced. This was used

upon all occasions, and was the cause of mach trouble. The ills of the past are unnoted in respect to the living ; but the testimony of all the pioneers is that many were ruined by the use of intoxicating liquors. Was a building to be raised, or a field of wheat cut, the presence of the bottle or jug was indispen- sable. The evil attracted attention, and has been opposed till the present, when the indulgence in liquor is generally held disteputable. " Put it in that I ran a distillery ; it was nu disgrace then," said an old pioneer when supplying material fur a biography, and it was true. The pastimes of settlers wore of physical character. The terms " side," " square," and " back-hold" were well understood as relating to wrestling, as was the " ring wrestle." Boxing and not unfrequently fighting were attendants at trainings and town-meetings. Skillful marksmanship. foot-races, and lifting or shouldering weights were other exercises At religious meetings all endeavored to attend, old and young, and the evidence of internal feeling fuund expression in voice and action, while the fervid eloquence of minis- ters wrought the assemblies to the highest pitch of excitement. Prominent ideas survive the lapse of time, and the conversation of the aged back woodsman. refer- ring to the pioneer period, is of deer, wolf, bear, of trapping, hunting, and fishing; of prevalent sickness, and cutting ruads, and of killing rattlesnakes. and journeys to distant markets. A strict regard for justice was a general characteristic. of which we have the following illustrations: William Mano was a sawyer, and. in 1812, a miller in Monroe. Slender af frame, he was untiring in effort. His saw-till was run by him for weeks with ouly the rest afforded by the intervals ot setting the saw for each board. He made " bees" to help the weak-handed, and, during a scarcity which prevailed in 1816, bad five of ten aeres of rye ent and eaten before any other grain was cut. Jesse Perrin moved to Monroe in 1791, and brought with him a quantity of cloth fur future need. He was obliged to sell his cloth to obtain money to buy seed-wheat. The nearest mill was at Honeoye Falls, to which he went upon his horse, with a bag to get wheat. The miller asked if he had money to pay for it, and if he owned the horse he rode. Affirmative rephes being given, the nuller said, " Well. then, you must go farther, for I have so many neighbors wbo have neither, but must have wheat." Perrin bad to go on until he could find wheat for sale.

The subject of food was all-important with the settler, and hard lahor creating keen appetite, much account was made of the feasts at merry-makings. parties, and public gatherings. Quality was not so much regarded as quantity. Gideon Cobb obtained provisions-" beans and pork"-while transporting with his ox- team the trade of Rochester to the mouth of the river. Seth C Jones, while cutting steamboat wood two and a half miles south of Charlotte. in attempting to vary his fare caught and cooked a fish known as a " sheep's head" ; the effort proved a failure, and he fell back on pork at two shillings a pound. The salmon. trout, and other fish, which lake and stream furnished in abundance, the venison and bear's meat, and even the raccoon's carcasa, were made available for food. As an illustration of the times, the following incidents are narrated: At Canaudai- gua, upon the occasion of the first tea-party, to which all the women in the village Were invited, solid refreshments were provided, and when upon that or a similar occasion a huge pot-pie had given great satisfaction, curiosity developed the fact that a pet bear had been sacrificed tu furnish the ingredients. At a husking frolic held at the house of Nathan Harris, of Palmyra, in 1796, Mrs. Eden Fos- ter, of Batavia, was present, and has said, " We had a pot-pie baked in a five- pail kettle, composed of thirteen fowls, as many squirrels, and due proportions uf beef, mutton, and venison ; besides this were baked ments, beans, and huge putup- kin pies." It may seem. strange that in a country where, as Allen had infurmed Williamson, wheat produced forty bushels to an acre, there should be a want of food. but it must be considered that this wheat grew upon the best of land, "cleared by rangers and Indians at Alleu's command; but before the settler could realize a crup, his own individual labor way required to fell the heavy tituber, tree by tree, and follow it by all the labor of preparation, and then, perhaps, be unable to obtain the seed to sow it. It was at such times, when there was little to eat, and hunger sharpened by labor made the future look gloomy, that a call to attend a "raising" was promptly heeded, and the bountiful supply of edibles fully appreciated. Times were when the providential appearance of a deer averted starvation, and the fortunate catch of fish or the trapping of game eked out a scanty subsistence. The early history of the county of Monroe and the counties west hay many a memory of suffering for final. Journeys of many miles were made for a few pounds of flour, and as Jate as IS1G. when the cold season pro- duved a partial famine. At such times it is pleasant to record the unselfish actions of those who had a surplus of grain. The inhabitants kindly shared their food as long as there was anything left to divide. The name of Jonathan Umlerwood, the originsd settler of Parma Contre, deserves perpetuation as that of a uoble man -- an honor to the town and county of which he was a resident. He was unmarried. and remained through life a bachelor. He had an extensive farm, and his industry brought it uader an advanced state of improvement, which ro-

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

sulted in good erops of grain. When the season of scarcity arrived. Jonathan Underwood withheld from those who had the means to purchase, and trusted out bis aurplus to all his needy fellow-settlers. It is gratifying to dwell upon this phase of pioneer life in Monroe, since examples of generosity were by no means rare upon the valley settlements, and the grasp of sordid feeling, which delights in a monopoly and speculates in man's necessity, was not known in the country.

The clothing worn in early days was generally the same in all seasons. The settler, standing upon the prostrate trunk. of a huge tree, stroke following stroke of his keen axe, and chip after chip whirring out upon the snow, little regarded the winter temperature, and the inmates of the log dwelling were warmed by the huge sticks blazing in the fireplace. The garments worn were generally the pro- duct of home manufacture-the result of' necessity and economy. Prior to the war of 1812 hemp culture had been carried on. but the cost exceeded the selling price, and the experiment was abindoned after a few years. Flax alen was raised. and that became of general utility. Shirts were ordinarily made from flux and hemp, and those made from wool were a luxury. Sbeep required much care to protect them from wolves, and the cash price of the coarsest wool was balf a dollar per pound. Buckskin breeches and those made of hemp were in common use. Half a year's labor was required to earn a suit of clothes, and the use of boota and ahoes was dispensed with by men now affluent until long after the first falls of snow. The price for an ordinary pair of cow-hide boots was seven dollars. payment being made in wheat at sixty-two cents per bushel, and the use of' the moccasin, patterned from the Indians, was not uncommon. The home-made prod- ucta of the loom, and the then ubiquitous spinning-wheel. were the handiwork of the matrons and the maidens of long ago. The huzz of the spinning-wheel and the double shake of the loom were pleasant sounds, and their operation a loved avocation. The long web, uofurled like a carpet, bleached in the sun under their care and supervision, and, aided by the carding- aud fulling-mills, the wool from the sheep and the flax from the field were manufactured into homespun, and worn common. Sabbath and holiday suits were worn with laudable pride, as the skillful manufacture of mother, wife, or daughter.

In large towns British goods were worn, and the sensible and discreet matroos hazarded the remark, with reference to the fashionable attire of city belles, that " they had better wear more clothes for comfort, and less for mere ornament." It was not but that fashion had its votaries in those days, but its exactions were not severe, and there were les frequent changes of style. A calico dress, made up by the wearer, served both for the reception of company at home and for the party abroad. The wearer looked oo whit less attractive than those clad in the richer fabrics of to-day, and there were few excuses from social gatherings upou the plea of " nothing to wear." Society knew little of factional distinction, and there were formed numerous warin and generous friendships. The love of liberty and the maintenance of lofty sentiments are cherished hy industry, and no dignity of character is more precious than that derived from conscious worth. The silent influences of the public, the sentiments of the worthy. were estimated at full value. True manhood was exampled in principle, integrity and independence expressed in the anying of an eminent old writer : " The inbred loyalty unto virtue which can serve her without a livery." The amusements of young and old were enjoyed with zest. There were huskings and quiltings, wood-choppings. loggings, and raisings, apple-parings, and societies for benevolent objects .- and cach was a joyous occasion. There was a double sense of enjoyment .- consciousness of profitable employment and sociable communion. Visits were made without formality, and received with genuine gratification. To church or merry-making the ox-sled was the accustomed vehicle, and the party were full of life and freshness; and who would not remember the return from the dance. when the ride was enjoyed with merry laugh and the chorused song? Later, the lumber aleigh was deep and roomy, the horses fleet of foot, the bells of approved size and numbers, and a " ride of eight or ten miles to the gathering none too extended. Horseback riding for business or pleasure was common to both sexes. since horses could pass where tree and stump forbade the use of wheeled vehicles. A ride to view the falls, the springs, the lake, was a healthful recreation : and a visit to the cataract at Niagara had the same interest for them, that the thousands have recently ex- perienced in viewiog the artistic productions of the nations at the Philadelphia " Centennial."

To-day, society, labor, dress, and mode of travel are all changed. There is more formality and less of happiness. There are fictitions distinctiuns of classes. but a contrast honoring the past nobly credita a progress long to continue beyond the present. " I have lately found," says Edwin Scrantom, " among the furniture of one of our honored men deceased. the chairs that umeed the drawing-room of a governor of Connecticut over a century ago,-a good. sul-tantial chair, bat not fit in style or design for our modern kitchen -. And. in another house ( the garret in both instances hold the articles), I found a good specimen of an old-fashioned spinning-whee! and swifts; the like articles my own dear mother used years ago

to spin and prepare yarn for the clothing of these primitive days. In yet another garret was revealed an old warming-pan and a square foot-stove,-the former to be used to prepare the bed for an invalid, or for company who stayed over night in winter, and the latter, originally got up and used in New England, by the women in winter, especially in their churches, which had no provisions for warm- ing, or for going abroad in sleighs. Most of these old-fashioned implements in their day were indispensable, and but few for ornament. Now they are neither useful nor ornamental, but the relics of an age gone by. They are mere curiosi- ties, guide-marks of progress in scientific and mechanical skill .. Things of old fashion are not all consigned to the garret ; the great, clumsy splint chairs of a past century are again found in a higher civilization upon stoop and balcony, or. modified and varnished, among rosewood and green reps." It is said that " bis- tory repeats itself," and the evolutions of time are circular. Believe it not ; they are spiral; and while a revolution approaches the past it is upon a higher plane, and such is the plan of the Supreure and Everlasting. Architect.

Instances of methods of travel, the dangers incident, the wants unmet, and the heroism of wife and daughter, may here have place, and each with varying phase stands as a single type of the many.

Seth C. Jones started in the spring of 1816 for the far west. Ile was a youth of fifteen years, ou foot, alone. with a sack upon his back. Wandering through woods, be reached Pittsford May 20, with two dollars and two suits of clothes. Two years later he came to Rochester, and went to cutting and selling cord wood and getting out building timber. The price per cord, piled in the yard of the purchaser, was seventy-five cents. The best price for the timber of the court- house was two and three-fourth cents per foot. In like sort came Milton Bud- long to the east part of the county. He came west on foot ; his property was bound up in a shirt, whose sleeves answered as strapa to biod it to his shoulders, " the place of entry being firmly sewed to prevent a fall of stocks." The future of Mr. Budlong is that of enterprise rarely surpassed. We mention, as a single item, that in 1840 he drove to Albany and soid eighteen hundred cattie.

George Goodhue was one of the earliest settlers at Braddock's bay, and made the journey hither from Canisteo in six days. His family and household effects were transported upon an os-sled. He reached the Genesee river, at the site of Rochester, io February, 1802, and found the ice thawed along the bank out a distance of a dozen or more feet. Erceting a temporary bridge, he got upvo the solid ice and crossed to near the western shore. where he found the ice untriist- worthy. He unyoked his cattle, and cudeavoring to drive them to land, they broke through, and barely escaped drowning. Goodhue had left his wife, sled, and furniture upon the ice, while he on shore began to make a bridge. Presently a large section upon which Mrs. Goodhue was became detached from the rest, and moved with the current towards the falls. The pioneer promptly seized a pole and threw it to bis wife, who fastened voe end to the sled; the chain was hitched to the other end, and the ice was towed to the shore by the cattle, where all were landed. A few moments later the ice-cake went over the falls.

Simon Pierson came out from Connecticut, November, 1806, and, crossing the Genesee river upon an old scow at Canawagus, located in the woods five miles north of Ganson's settlement, now Le Roy. A forest surrounded ; the soil was wet, and the air heavy with feverish exhalations. The wants now manifest seemed a legion. There were trees to fell aud burn, and fences to make. . A log huuse was essential to protection. and boards, nails, and glass to make it convenient. Roads cut through the woods were to supersede marked trees ; log bridges were needed at creek and slough ; a school-house was wanted for instruction of chil- dren, and a meeting-house for Christian assembly, and then, before these, a min- ister. When this last-named arrived, funds were necessary to his support, and the aid of the few pioneers in West Pulteney ( Riza) surmounted the difficulty. It was resulved to follow custom in his ordination. A messenger was sent to Canandaigua for brandy and loaf sugar, and the rehearsal of the choir was held in the new frame barn of Amasa Frost, upun seats erected on the loft on both sides of the barn-floor. For food to the family, two hushels of smutty wheat were obtained, and this was taken to mill on horseback. Pierson set out, pro- ceeding down Allen's creek till a dark, dense forest of evergreens, appearing like a cedar swamp. came in view. In the centre of this supposed swamp was a small but, which was entered. Donald MeKenzie and several workmen were found at dinner. The kind Scotchman furnished his chance guest with a good meal, which the sharp air of November had made enjoyable and uremorable.

In pioneer, as well as modern life, the women bore their full share of labor, and often the widow, with her children, continued the improvements which a deceased husband had begun. Ami Ellsworth came out to the Genesee country in 1801, and was inesparitated for labor by sickness. His wife, exchanging her , contfortable eastern home for the willerness, carel for husband and young children within, and performed much of the out-door labor. There came due a payment opon the land, and the means to make it was due them in Connecticut. MIrs. 1

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Ellsworth set out on horseback, rude to Windsor, obtained the money, and ruet the payment.

Upon the Ontario shore dwelt a solitary settler namel Arune Richards, who, ay years pasend, maile a small clearing. He died, and his wife, assisted by a daughter of twenty years, both strong and well, remained alone in their solitary home, and continued the work of improvement. They choppel timber and cleared land ; they put up a log barn and planted an orchard ; plowing, sowing, and harvesting were done without the aid of men. A cow was made accustomed to carry loads. and ppon her back grain was taken to mill. The road to the settlement was of their own makiog; they took care of their stock, and successfully achieved their purpose of independently securing a home. The mother died aged nicety-three, and the daughter became the wife of Jedathan Moffat.

Jesse Perrin had moved in during 1791, and was sick with the ague all summer. He managed to prepare for wheat a piece of ground cleared the previous year, but he was not able to sow it. A friend sowed the wheat: then the oldest daughter, aged six years, put her mother's side-saddle upon the horse. and rode, and, with the aid of her little brother, two years older, contrived to harrow in the craiu. At the prescot age the same scenes ard transpiring in the Air'west, and the same spirit, inherited from ancestors and developed by necessity, has made and pre- serves us a nation.

- CHAPTER X.

CLEARING LANDS-PRODUCTS --- MANUFACTURES OF EARLY STAGES OF SETTLE- WENT-CLIMATE-REALTE-MARKETING-INAUGURATION OF TRADE.

THE settler, alone or with his family, enters upon his journey to seek a distant home with a sense of responsibility. He knows that from the soil must come that which will supply food; but a noble growth of timber-sure token of fertility -encumbers the ground, and must first be removed before grain or vegetable will grow. Hard labor as it was, many found delight thereio, and had no ob- stacles existed beyond the actual clearing, the woodmen could have accomplished their object without great dificulty. The author has repeatedly been pleased to listen to the narratives of those who, when children. came upon their present farms in the valley, and thereon have grown old in all but the ever-greeo memory of those first impressions. Differing in names, dates, and locality of settlement, the history of one of the pioneers of Monroe is that of all. As units in the force assailing Nature, the greatest obstacles were met by those who led the van. When land hai been choszo and improved, when time brought day of payment ard no means, and when, sickness endured and hunger suffered. default of payment or foreclosure of mortgage deprived the family of their home, then. in truth, hard- ship was kuowa. Such was the reward of many who cleared land in Monroe.

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 8

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