USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario Co., New York > Part 11
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The crops produced, besides wheat and rye, were oats, barley, clover, and timo- thy. The wild grass was in large quantities along the Genesee river, and, in 1803, Augustus Porter and Stephen Bates advertise in the Ontario paper that they have a good supply of hay made from this grass at a point fourteen miles above Allen's Hill, and are prepared to winter the cattle of new settlers. The difficulty with the settler was the care of his crop. Hands could not be obtained, and many a field grew brown, and the owner would have given a good share of the crop to have it harvested. The hay crop was cut with soythes and raked in windrows beneath a burning sun. The wheat was out in some localities with the sickle; but this was regarded as too tedious, and the cradle was employed. Wheat
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
was threshed.by.flail, making an all winter job for hands, or was trod out by the oxen, made to traverse a cirele upon which the.opened sheaves were laid. Winnow- ing was done by raising and letting fall the grain, with barn-doors open and wind blowing through. Some time elapsed ere a fanning-mill was introduced. The chief difficulty with which the settler had to contend, when all others had been surmounted, was the lack of a market ..
Steuben county, a region much broken, and embracing a succession of high hills and deep, narrow valleys, and not near as productive as Ontario, was consid- ered to have much .the advantage, in not only having a nearer but a better market for her produce. The records, wherever given, show that the raising of wheat had been the main dependence for a crop, but the inability to transport to market made prices low. The farmers of the township of Bloomfield, first in settlement, and early supporting a large population, found difficulty in attempts to market their crop. When Williamson cut his road in 1792, by way of Williams- port, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore, wheat, which brought a dollar at Bath, was only sixty cents at Geneva, a difference graduated by a lack of transportation. In the fall of 1804, a wagon-load of wheat, containing one hundred bushels, was brought by four yoke of oxen from Bloomfield to Albany, a distance of two hun- dred and thirty miles. The wheat was purchased at Bloomfield for five shillings currency .. per bushel, equal to sixty-two and a half cents, and sold at Albany for seventeen. and a fourth shillings, or two. dollars fifteen and a half cents.a bushel. The time occupied in making the journey, going and returning, was estimated at twenty days, taking into socount the badness of the roads. It naturally follows that the enterprising men of that day gave their attention to improving both water and land routes, and a class embarked in the business of transporting grain, which could be bought at pretty much their own price, and gained considerable property. These. conveyances, originating in the necessity of a few, became a regular and prosperous business, and so. continued until the construction.of the Erie Canal, when the whole business collapsed, and the entire machinery disappeared forever. By the year 1818 the wagon transportation was in full force. Upon the turnpike were many Pennsylvania wagons. Siz horses drew them, at snail pace, along the narrow way. These nondescript instruments of a past commerce are nearly for- gotten, and in another generation will be beyond recollection. They were capa- cious as a canal boat, with long sides, and high and covered with canvas. . They were built heavy and strong, and were supported upon. huge wheels, having tires of six to eight inches width. Three and four span of powerful horses were at- tached to this land craft, and upon the harness were little towers bearing small bells .. The driver, a gay, careless fellow, sat.upon a high seat or rode the nigh- wheel horse, guiding by voice and single rein his teams. Innumerable taverns sprang up all along the route, ranging from the veriest log. hut to the more pre- tentious frame, and all obtaining full patronage, not according to their desert, but the travelers' necessity.
These wagons were of. great capacity, and, once upon the road, kept their way against all other vehicles. It is related that a large eight-horse wagon was in Geneva during 1818, and the owner, an Albany man, endeavored to contract with a merchant for a load of wheat at three shillings a bushel, but the latter had not sufficient to make a load. Darrow, a settler in Phelps, chanced to be at the village, and told the wheat-buyer to go home with him and he would load him up for two shillings and six pence a bushel. The offer was accepted, and the wagon was driven out to Darrow's, distant four miles, and loaded with two hundred bushels. The teams were kept over night without charge, and next day took their departure for the market at Albany.
The cultivation of tobacco was carried on sufficient for home use, and at the stores a pound of this article had the same price as a bushel of wheat. This ex- pedient, like that of raising hemp, was attempted as likely to benefit the people in affording a diversity of product. We have spoken of the sale of wood ashes, and the manufacture of potash in kettles. It is estimated, that four hundred and fifty bushels of ashes made a ton of potash, a barrel of which weighed four hun- dred pounds, and the sale of ashes as late as 1816 was the chief reliance for the purchase of tes and spices. One of the first evils which beset the settler was the establishment of whisky distilleries. They originated at the same time with the grist-mills, and were generally found combined. To them the new settlers took their corn and rye, and received in exchange the product of the still. . Small and log-built, they made up in numbers their lack of capacity; and while there is much said of its purity, no person can study the history of that time without being im- pressed with the ruinous effect of strong drink upon all classes. The time is so recent, and descendants of families are still resident of localities so as to forbid personal allusion, but he who asserta that the temperance movement has accom- plished little in Ontario, as well as in other counties, knows little, of the ruin and death caused by liquors in the days of which we write. The tavern was but a synonym for dram shop, and there were at one period sixteen houses, one for each mile, between Canandaigua and Geneva, where the sign "Tavern" was pat out
Not only was there every day habitual drinking, but much of intoxication. Cele- brations, raisings, harvesting, etc., were incomplete without liquor. The first temperance movement, so far as learned, in all this region was made by a Friend named Stephen Durfee, on the occasion of raising his house, in 1811. He noti- fied his neighbors. that no liquor would be provided, and was able without diffi- culty to raise his building. Aside from custom, one cause of so much liquor was its distillation from surplus grain. One of the greatest hardships of the settlers was the want of salt. He pot only required a supply for his provisions, but for his cattle. The price, varied according to distance from the salt-works. The manufacture at Onondaga was rude and rapid. : Asa Danforth and Comfort Tyler, by means of a kettle suspended over a pole held up by two crotched sticks, made thirteen bushels of salt in twelve hours. : For years it was customary for settlers from long distances to bring kettles with them, and manufacture enough salt for. their own use. At first each dipped the water in pails, and carried it to the place for boiling; then a pump was used, later water-power, Improvements were made from time to time, and solar works in large numbers have been erected. A trip made by Jared Boughton will illustrate the experience of the Ontario settler in obtaining a supply of this necessary commodity. In the fall of 1790 the Victor settlement was found out of salt, and it was resolved that a boat should be sent for a quantity to Salt Point. Some time in November the Boughtons, Seymour and Jared, and John Barnes, set out for Swift's Landing, now Palmyra, took a Schenectady boat, and went on their journey. The only inhabitants on the route were the Stansells, at Lyons. Below the junction of Mud or Ganargwa creek and Canandaigua Outlet they came upon an obstruction of logs some sixteen rods in extent, and to pass it were obliged to haul their boat to shore up a steep bank, and move it on rollers to a. point below, where they relaunched and went on. Twelve barrels of salt were procured, and the return voyage begun. Arrived in the Seneca river, a storm of snow was encountered, and ice formed in the stream. Progress was slow, and when the boat struck upon stones in the bottom, the men were obliged to get out and, wading in the ice and water, set it free. At the wood-raft the boat was transported overland, and so aleo were the barrels of salt. The water was low, and the boat, with her.cargo, was left at Lyon's Landing. Following township lines through the woods to Farmington, they came back by way of Palmyra, with six yoke of oxen, and by means of wagons and sleds, along a road made by themselves, the first cargo of salt was conveyed to the town of Victor.
The climate of Ontario had something to do with its settlement. The sickness suffered was attributed to the climate. The summers were found to be warm, and the weather in winter, while not so intensely cold, was more steady, and snow lay longer. It is a feature of this region that, however uncomfortable the day during the heated term, the nights are pleasant and cool .. The land having been cleared, the climate has been indisputably healthy. From exact registers kept by the different supervisors and assessors of the towns, it appears that the county of Ontario contained in 1799 twelve thousand two hundred free inhabit- ants, and the number of deaths amounted to ninety-seven. The population of Bloomfield was one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and of them but three died. One of these was a persen seventy years of age, whose trouble was inter- mittent fever; the others were infants. In five other townships, whose popula- tion was one thousand six hundred and sixty, two only died, one of whom was sixty years of age and the other seventy.
The insalubrity of the Genesee country was proverbial, and the intermittent fever, known better as fever and ague, was escaped by few. The age of the citizen is indicative of the character and the climate, and it is notable here that in 1875 there were in Ontario county one thousand seven hundred and twenty-six persons, or three and a half per cent. of the population, who were seventy years and upwards of age. Of these persons, three hundred and eighty-four were over eighty, thirty-nine over ninety, and three over one hundred years of age. The following is the roll of those over ninety : Henry Smith and Samuel Pomeroy, of Bristol ; Huldah Webster, James A. Potter, Catharine McCarthy, Polly Carrol, John Dizon, and. Emma Jenkins, of Canandaigua; Esther B. Quinn, Mary Robinson, Flavius J. Bronson, Zadoc Bailey, Zilpha Topliff, and Betsey Terry, of East Bloomfield; Joanna Cummings, Mary Larner, Eunice White, and Rhoda Nichols, of Farmington ; Christian . Fisher, of Gorham ; Wareham Sheldon and Isaac Platt, of Geneva; Barzil Benham, Sarah Lincoln, and A. Fletcher, of Hopewell; Michael Van Wormer, Sarah Olin, Grazilla Vanderhoof, Charles S. Joselyn, Levi Wolfin, Deacon T. Wheeler, Lydia Taylor, Rebecca Van Deusen, and William Grove, of Phelps; John Jenree, Elisabeth Dodge, Joseph Gray, and Luther Whitney, of Seneca; Bell Collan, of Victor, and Jerusha Stratton, of West Bloomfield. . A chapter upon the temperature, salubrity, and vital statistics could not more forcibly and truthfully represent the attractive features of the county in those respecta. Among the old residents and early settlers of Ontario was Ebeneser Horton, the Ontario Hermit. His dress was outlandish ; his per-
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PLATE VI.
CLIFTON SPRINGS SANITARIUM , CLIFTON SPRINGS , ONTARIO CO., N. Y.
HENRY FOSTER, PROPRIETOR.
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formances grotesque. He came to Farmington about 1795 and bought a farm by the Cedar Swamp, near the present home of S. P. Gardiner, thereon built a cabin, where he lived until his death, entirely alone. For a period of sixty years Horton was an inmate of the cabin, and finally died at the age of ninety, during the winter of 1856. Dancing was with him a passion, and few were his equal in this direction. Never the corn husking to which he was not welcome. Rapid in labor, he was a choice hand, and when the fiddle was brought out no one could " cut it down" like Eb. Horton, who occasionally introduced variations in the way of somersaults and other performances, all in perfect time. It is said of him that when he had reached fourscore a dancing party was announced at " Cooper's tavern," and the old man, putting his slippers in his pocket, wended his way thither. The company most willingly gave him the fioor, and enjoyed a specimen of dancing as practiced in the olden time. He was a weather-prophet and believed himself able to control its mutations, and when his efforts failed the result was attributed to demoniacal influence. Prior to his advent in Farmington he had lived in Rhode Island. His naturally weak mind was partially unsettled by re- ligious excitement, during which a sleigh-ride was planned by his young com- panions as a diversion, and he being invited consented to go. When called for he took to his heels, and reaching a small tree climbed it, and no persuasion could induce him to descend. The weather was cold, and to suffer him to remain was to run the risk of his being frozen, and so the tree was chopped down, but, in falling, lodged upon a larger one, to which he scrambled, and up which he ascended and seated himself upon a limb. During a parley he promised to de- soend, provided a good fire were built under the tree to warm him. This was done, and down he came at a single leap from his high perch to the ground. Bones were broken and flesh bruised, but surgical aid was called and recovery eventually followed. He showed a desire for isolated existence by building a hut near a large swamp remote from any dwelling, and there living alone and dreaded. Finally he came out to Ontario, and lived as has been stated. Few of that vicinity do not recall this character,-a type of individuals to be found in most localities, an example of the frailty of our race.
CHAPTER XI.
BIOGRAPHY OF NOTABLE AND DISTINGUISHED PIONEERS OF ONTARIO COUNTY : PROPRIETORS, AGENTS, SUPERINTENDENTS, ATTORNEYS, MERCHANTS, MIN- ISTERS, AND OTHERS.
THE commencement of all history of this section, for whatever purpose,-book, press, church, and nation, -repeats the names of those of whom we write, and begins with that of Oliver Phelps, a native of Windsor, Connecticut. He was present at the Lexington skirmish, April 19, 1775, and was later one of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. He served as an army contractor in the war for a time, and then became connected with the commissary department. While a resident, at the close of the war, of Suffield, Massachusetts, various offices were given him, among which were those of assemblyman, senator, and member of the governor's council. We have spoken of his preliminary arrangements for the ownership of western land, of his treaty, of his sale to Robert Morris, and of his retrocession of land west of the Genesee to Massachusetts. During August, 1790, Mr. Phelps wrote of Indian discontent, settlers' sickness, and the lack of medical attendance.
Aiming at all times to deal justly, his motives were aspersed, and complaints of fraud in treaties made by Cornplanter and others. Mr. Phelps wrote the President a full account of his proceedings, accompanied with the depositions of promi- ment parties having knowledge of the facts. In answer to Indian complaint, he made them a speech whose conclusion contains a characteristic statement. " Now, brothers, I do not want to contend with you; I am an honest man. If you go to New England and inquire my character, you will not find me as I am represented here to be." During the early years of settlement, while his residence was in Massachusetts, his time was chiefly passed in Canandaigua, and there was no en- terprise of school, church, or public character which he did not labor to promote. His highest desire was the prosperity of the settlers, who found in him their best friend. Much land in various ways came under his control, till, in 1795, he con- sidered himself a millionaire. He was elected to Congress, engaged in speculation, lost heavily, borrowed money, giving land mortgages, and involved his affairs in confusion. He made a permanent removal to Canandaigua in 1802, and struggled manfully to reinstate himself and others connected with him. Under a load of care his health gave way, and he died, aged sixty, in the year 1809. Upon his tombstone may be read, " Enterprise, Industry, and Temperance cannot always secure success ; but the fruits of those virtues will be felt by society."
Mr. Phelps was first judge of Ontario County, upon the formation of ita courts, and a representative of Western New York to Congress. He left a son and a daughter. The son, Oliver L. Phelps, married a granddaughter of Roger Sherman, and at his father's death dwelt in the old Phelps mansion in Canandaigua village, where he died in 1813.
The older Nathaniel Gorham resided in Massachusetts. His representative west was his son Nathaniel, who came to Canandaigua in May, 1789, and at once closely allied himself with the foremost of the pioneers in promulgating their and his own interests. In these connections we find him a supervisor of Canandaigua, a judge in the county courts, and president of the Ontario Bank, from its incor- poration, in March, 1813, until his death, at the age of sixty-two, in 1826.
The sale of lands to Robert Morris brings him forward as the second in the chain of proprietors. He was born in Liverpool, England, came to America while young, and later became a merchant in Philadelphia. He warmly espoused the cause of the Colonies during the Revolution, and, as a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Time and again he loaned money to Washington, and gave freely of his resources for the public service. Made Secretary of the Treasury, which existed but in name, his own means paid the army, and his credit obtained from the bankers of Holland the millions which maintained the unequal struggle. To Morris is ascribed the plan which hemmed Cornwallis at Yorktown, and brought the contest to a close. Having purchased the lands of Phelps and Gorham, he began initiatory efforts to secure their settlement, but soon sold, and later bought the lands which are known as the Holland Purchase. The death of Mr. Morris occurred during 1806, in New Jersey.
As evidence of belief in the value and future prosperity of the new country, Robert Morris wrote to Sir William Pulteney, one of the London company to whom he had sold, that he desired to have his son Thomas settled therein. During the summer of 1791, the son was one of a party who passed through Ontario to Niagara Falls, and returning, remained some time at Canandaigua. The wooded nature of the land near the village caused the young man to become bewildered while on an excursion, and, when only a mile away, darkness came on, and he tramped over hill and through swamp until the hut of a settler came in sight, from the light which shone from it, and he there obtained lodging. Early in the morning he was up, and before sunrise entered Canandaigua, having made a tramp of six miles. He soon thereafter became a resident of the village, and acted as his father's agent in closing his business with the Holland Company. In the three-fold character of lawyer, proprietor, and agent, he was closely associated with Ontario history, and was the first representative to Congress from the Gen- esee country. Having unduly speculated in lands, reverses followed, and in 1803 or 1804 he moved to New York, and continued the practice of law until his death, in 1848.
In manuscripts written in 1844, Mr. Morris says : " In the early part of March, 1792, I left New York for Canandaigua. I was induced to fix on that place for my residence from the character and respectability of the families already estab- lished there. I finished building a frame house, filled in with brick, in the early part of the year 1793. When it was completed, that and the house built by Oliver Phelps were the only framed houses west of Whitesboro."
The concerns of the Genesee lands in the hands of the London Associates, pur- chasers from Robert Morris, were chiefly placed in the charge of Patrick Col- quhoun, who gave himself fully to the work. His laudable aim was wealth for himself and prosperity for anticipated settlers. Wherever the interests of the latter came up, they were fairly and honestly considered, and justly much was maid of him to his honor, upon a marble tablet, which till recently was placed in front of the Congregational church of Canandaigua, to perpetuate his memory. A native of Scotland, his life was that of a philanthropist, and his death took place in London, in 1820, at the age of seventy-six.
Among agents, Charles Williamson stands first, and his exertions in favor of the pioneers of Ontario, especially at Geneva, are fully deserving of the mention given. All his improvements were projected upon a liberal and extensive scale, and, in some localities, beyond the times. Hotel, mill, road, academy, library, and fair, all found in him a patron. It is said of him that in 1792 he was sick of, a fever at the house of a Mr. Dolson, near Elmira, and on his recovery gave the family twenty guiness, and the choice of a farm any place on the purchase, as payment for their trouble, and this incident is in keeping with his entire life during his sojourn in the west. Several gentlemen accompanied Williamson to America. Charles Cameron was one of them, and was invaluable as an accountant and trav- eling companion. The local agent at Lyons, he was the first to ship Genesee pro- duce to Albany. When the village of Canandaigua was the metropolis of the Gene- see country, Cameron was engaged in merchandising there, and so became well known to the pioneers.
Robert Troup, of New Jersey, was the successor of Williamson. His appoint-
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ment as general agent of the Pulteney estate was made in 1801. After many journeys west, he finally, in 1814, became a resident of Geneva. Much of the land unsold found sale and purchase with him. For thirty years his influence was felt in this country in works of public utility. He died in 1832, aged seventy- four.
Joseph Fellows, of England, came to Pennsylvania in 1795. He was employed as sub-agent at Geneva in 1810. The business of the office was discharged by him until the death of Mr. Troup, when he became his successor, and many inci- dents attest his generosity and indulgence.
The first clerks in the Geneva Land Office have been Thomas and George Goundry, William Van Wirt, David H. Vance, William Young, and John Wride.
John Greig, of Scotland, became a resident of Canandaigua in April, 1800. He studied law in the ofice of N. W. Howell, and was admitted to practice in 1804. Two years later he succeeded John Johnston as the agent of the Hornby and Colquhoun lands. As a lawyer he was a partner with Judge Howell till 1820, and possessed such attributes as placed him in the front rank among men whose ability is handed down as more than ordinary. He was president of the Ontario Bank, a vice-chancellor of the Board of Regents of the University, and in 1841 and 1842 a representative in Congress. He lived to an advanced age, and in all his labors for others found a willing helper in his wife, who still lives in the old home in Canandaigua-one of the oldest and best esteemed of its citizens.
The services of Israel Chapin have been noted. No man, probably, had a more difficult task to conciliate the Indians and secure quiet to the white people, and no other rendered such signal service in preventing the alliance of the Iro- quois with the Western Indians against Wayne. Himself and son were held in high esteem by both races, and the Seneca chiefs were very desirous that the latter should not be removed.
Nathaniel W. Howell was, at the time of his death, the oldest resident member of the bar of Western New York. He was a native of Orange county, and a farmer's son. He was admitted an attorney of the Supreme Court in May, 1794. A year later he opened an office in the town of Union, near the village of Bing- hamton. General Matthews, then practicing at Newtown, and Mr. Howell were the only Supreme Court lawyers then in the county of Tioga. Judge Howell was admitted attorney of the Court of Common Pleas in Ontario County during June, 1795, and in February, 1796, became a resident of Canandaigua. He was a legal adviser for Williamson, and in the employ of Joseph Ellicott in transactions connected with the Holland purchase. Nominated by Governor Jay, he was, in 1799, appointed assistant attorney-general for the five western counties of New York, and discharged the duties of the ofice till his resignation in 1802. Appointed, in 1819, first judge of Ontario, he continued in the posi- tion for thirteen years. Early a member of the State Legislature, he was, in 1813 and 1814, a representative in Congress for this county and those lying west of it. Retiring from the bench, he gave himself to the supervision of farm and garden, and at his death left an example of dignity, integrity, and exalted worth equaled by few.
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