History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 13

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Bristol was formed in 1789, and Thomas Hunn was a teacher in that town in the year following. Thirty families constituted the population of Canandaigua in 1792, yet Major Wallis is recorded as the instructor of their children at that date. The pioneer teacher in East Bloomfield was Laura Adams, in 1794. The first schoolmaster in the town of Gorham was Timothy Moore, who, in 1802, opened a term in Rushville. Prior to this, Hopewell, formed from the northern portion in Gorham, had enjoyed school advantages under the direction of Calvin Bacon, a teacher as early as 1792. Elam Crane, of whom frequent mention is made from his extensive experience in the schools of the county, was the first teacher in Manchester in 1800, A marked contrast in capacity, apparent as late as 1806, was exhibited between two teachers. One day unwonted quiet fell upon the school-rooms, the light faded, and the air grew chill; the sun was slowly darkened, and an awe was felt in many a troubled breast. Elam Crane called his scholars out to where a fair view could be obtained, and then, while they looked on and watched the dark body of the moon stealing over the great luminary, a lesson of astronomy was taught never to be forgotten. In another school Draxy McLouth was teaching; she saw the gloom deepen with emotions of terror, dis- missed her pupils, and sought shelter with a patron near by. The early settlers of Naples established their first school in 1792, with Susannah Parish as teacher, while the pioneer of Phelps is lost to recollection. A house was known to have existed prior to 1800, and it is not probable that a man of enterprise like Robin- son would delay the establishment of an agency so necessary to future well-being. At Geneva, in Seneca, was established a model union school, and one of the first in the State. To Francis Dwight is attributed the plan of its formation, and its success changed the opposition caused by the weight of taxation to the heartiest support; delegations from various localities came to visit and to observe its work- ings. Though the oldest point of settlement, no school was opened in the settle- ment of Senecs until 1792, when Samuel Wheaton engaged in teaching, while the first school in South Bristol was taught by Joanna Forbes. The old school- house, rude in every feature, from the round logs which formed its sides, and the broad fire-place which occupied one end, to the puncheon floor and alab seat, is a matter of history. The text-books of that period are known no more. The rod is little used in modern days, and the pens are no more to be mended, nor copies to be set. While it were futile to challenge progress, nevertheless it is true that the few books were well conned, and some attention to good manners inculcated. Schools of all grades and classes were established in the villages, and, as examples, we note a boarding-school at Canandaigua in June, 1804, by Mrs. Whalley, at her house, a few doors north of the court-house. Her number was limited to twenty young misses, who, in addition to the branches of study, were taught sew- ing at the reasonable tuition of two dollars per quarter. A military school was opened at the court-house by Othniel Taylor, and a dancing-school at a hotel by E. M. Cummings. A musical association was formed in 1803, under conduct of Elijah Morely, and it is safe to assert that there is little taught at present but was known and practiced in those early days, and there is " no new thing they did not attempt."

The marriages which characterised the early history of Ontario and. all

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PLATE VII.

HIGIENIS INSTITUTE

THIS INSTITUTION IS OPEN AT ALL SEASONS OF THE YEAR FOR PATIENTS AND BOARDERS. FOR CIRCULARS ADDRESS AS ABOVE. HYGIENIC INSTITUTE , ~ 10 PARK PLACE, GENEVA, N.Y .. A. B. SMITH, M.D. PROPRIETOR .

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PLATE VIII

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF SENECA, & PARSONAGE.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

this western region, were in accordance with the circumstances. Not unfre- quently, young men came out and sought their favorite spot for a farm, pur- chased, cleared, and built, and then went East to be married ; and the long journey by ox-sled was the bridal tour, and the howling of wolves their charivari. Bravely the youthful couple encountered the hardships of backwoods life, and together they passed along life's pathway down to rest. Numerous anecdotes are extant of the simplicity of ceremonies attending the marriages in the settlements. An instance or two must suffice.

One afternoon in a day of 1794, Israel Chapin was busily engaged on the public square at Canandaigua in chopping, when a man called, desiring his serv- ices to marry him to a young lady accompanying him. The ceremony was soon over, and the new-made bridegroom produced a silver dollar as the magistrate's fee. Mr. Chapin took the coin and presented the same to the bride as her first gift; the squire returned to his chopping, and the couple whence they came.

Again, it is related of Joseph Annin, known later as Judge Annin, that the "" course of true love did not run smooth" in his efforts to provide a helpmeet. The lady of his choice was a Miss Read, the daughter of Seth Read, a settler in the town of Phelps. Tradition affirms that Mr. Read was much opposed to the match, and forbade Annin from entering his house. One evening Mr. Annin, in company with Thomas Sisson, Esq., one of the first justices of the pesos in Ontario, was passing the premises of the farmer, and found Miss Read employed in milk- ing her father's cows near the highway. The opportunity was propitious. She set aside her milk-pail, stood up, and then and there the silken knot was tied by Require Sisson. The justice and the bridegroom then wended their way home, while Mrs. Annin finished milking the cow that was commenced by Miss Read. The parents of the young wife, compelled by necessity, became reconciled to the union, and, so far as is known, this wedding, unwitnessed and unceremonious, was productive of full as much felicity as those attended with the display of these times. No form of law can soften asperity of temper nor imbue with conjugal affection, and the log cabin of the settler probably knew more of happiness in the marital relation than now exists in many a palatial abode. The first marriage, not only in Ontario, but upon the Phelps and Gorham purchase, was that of Benjamin Goss to a daughter of George Codding. The first marriage in Farmington was that of Otis Comstock and Huldah Freeman, in.1792. Philetus Swift and Sally Dean were married in Phelps during 1793. The first marriage in Naples was in 1795, of Benjamin Clark and Thankful Watkins. The first marriage in Seneca was of Dr. Joel Prescott and Phila Reed, and in Victor, that of Zebulon Norton and Miss Boughton.

An importance always attaches itself to the initial event of any character, and the first white child born in a county, a town, or a village takes precedence from that circumstance, and the fact becomes a matter of history. The birth of Oliver Phelps Rice in 1790, at Canandaigua, was the first within the limits of Ontario. Welcome Herington was born during the same year, in Farmington. The first born of Bristol was Cornelius MoCrum ; of Naples, Phineas P. Lee ; of Phelps, Henry H. Robinson; of South Bristol, Eli Allen, in 1791; of Hopewell, Benja- min Wells, Jr., on February 4, 1791; of Victor, Frederick Boughton, June, 1791, and of Bloomfield, Lucinda Gardner, September, 1791. It would be interesting in this connection to learn the consequents in the lives of these earliest native whites of Ontario; yet one fact is established-that the open air, the plain, nutritious food, the healthful exercise, and the freedom from care have resulted in long and happy lives.

The first deaths in the county, from the fact simply that they were such, require a brief notice. It was on secure region, this country of the Senecas ; there were those who died while on their journey hither; there were deaths by falling trees, by burning fevers, by drowning, and by inclement weather; and hardly had the log cabin betokened occupation ere the lonely grave gave silent witness of man's destiny.

Without medical care, destitute of medicines, many struggled with disease, and in the intervals of fevers attempted to prosecute their labors. We note the death of Walker, in 1790, at Canandaigua, and that of Mrs. Fish, soon after. The death of Elijah Smith is given as 1793, in Farmington. William Johnson, of Seneca, was found dead upon the banks of " Scandedice" Lake, in Pittstown, in 1803; and on January 15, 1805, Charles Robins, of Canandaigua, and John Kennedy, of Sparta, were found frozen to death. Robert Wiley, of Middleton (Naples), was drowned in Canandaigua Lake in 1808, and Cotton Dickinson was instantaneously killed by the falling of a stick of timber from a loft in 1804, at the raising of the Presbyterian church at Oak's Corners.

Respect for the departed was not feigned, and while deep feeling of loss weighed upon the relative, tender sympathy was exercised by friends. There was a class who looked indifferently upon death, and the carousal could proceed in one apart- ment while a body lay awaiting sepulture in the next. Familiarity upon the bat- tle-field with the grim horrors of war had blunted sensibility. These settlers

were tender and kind to the mourner, but regarded the remains with honor only as far as they recalled worth on the part of him who had left them. Funeral rites were solemnized with little display. No hearse with stoic driver preceded a long train of carriages, no rosewood, silver-mounted coffin inclosed the inani- mate clay, and but a plain native slab marked the burial spot.

But with this early simplicity there was method and provision for the future. One of the first acts of Oliver Phelps, Sr., at the " chosen spot" was the presen- tation to the inhabitants of a lot for a cemetery, containing one acre of ground as surveyed by Daniel Brainard; and such lots were donated or purchased at suitable spots over the county. Not upon unknown grounds, but in consecrated lots, were laid the bodies of the pioneers, borne thither upon the bier, and consigned to rest. In these old cemeteries are to be found the honored names of many we have noted in these pages-the pioneer settlers of Ontario. Upon those old graves the hand of affection still lays the fresh flowers over the dust of ancestors, and as in life they were the precursors of settlement, so are their remains the first in the ever- growing villages of the dead.

CHAPTER XIII.

ADVENTURE, INCIDENT, AND REMINISCENCE ILLUSTRATIVE OF EARLY TIMES.

A SCORE of years passed away after the first settlement, and nearly another had gone its round before the abundant traces of pioneer efforts had given way to the old and permanent system which in many regards remains in the present. In 1796, Lucius Carey started a newspaper in Geneva, called the Ontario Gazette and Genesee Advertiser. Other publications followed, but the circulation of these pioneer sheets delivered by post-riders was limited, and so far as the coun- try was concerned of little effect. Deprived of resources of literary character, the young and the old delighted in adventure, and gathered about the huge fire- place to hear such men as Follett recount the stirring scenes of the border, in which they were no idle spectators.

Frederick Follett, in 1778, was a border settler in the valley of Wyoming. A party of four men, himself, Lieutenant Buck, Elisha Williams, and Stephen Petti- bone, were out one day upon the Kingston bank of the river, within view of the Wilkesbarre Fort, when they were suddenly assailed by a score of Indians. A murderous volley stretched all four upon the ground. Three were killed, and their scalps taken, while Follett, with a ball in each shoulder, was stabbed re- peatedly with spears, one of which pierced his stomach so that its contents came out at his side. Retaining consciousness, he feigned death in hopes of escaping further injury from his ruthless enemies. They came upon him, and one tore the scalp from his head as he lay in gore and agony. Aid came from the fort, and the Indians fled. Follett's case looked desperate; he was a pitiable object, but humanity dictated the utmost endeavor of medical and surgical skill. In the charge of Dr. William H. Smith, his recovery was assured, and he became a hale and hearty man. His spear-wounds, nine in number, severe though they were, gave him no real trouble; the pain of an unextracted ball was felt at intervals, and that portion of the head from which the scalp had been removed was sensi- tive to the lightest touch, otherwise he was vigorous and active. He entered the navy, and was captured. After six months' confinement in prison at Halifax, he was released. A second and yet a third time he became a prisoner to the British, but finally returned to Massachusetts, whence he emigrated to Ontario. He was in the omploy of Captain Williamson in 1794, and a settler in Gorham a few years later. A notable instance of savage barbarity and human endurance rarely met with at any time.

Israel Harrington, a settler in Ontario prior to 1798, had been a soldier of the Revolution, and his musket was borne by him everywhere as his tried and trusty friend. He was one of a small class who, partially deranged in mind, chose a hermit life; and while near his children and grandchildren, lived in a shanty in the woods comparatively alone. It was his leading occupation to start away upon a hunting tour, weeks, and even months of duration. His resort was the shore of Lake Ontario, where his favorite game-the bear-were abund- ant. To this region came many another hunter, and a time arrived when one after another failed to return. Suspicion of Indian hostility was so far verified as to preclude solitary hunting and trapping. When neighbors, relatives, and friends learned that Israel was preparing for a trip to these dangerous hunting- grounds every effort was made to dissuade him from going, but without success. Few expected that he would ever return, yet the smoke issuing from a hole in the roof of his cabin one day some time after proclaimed the old man's success. It appears that when he had reached his old resort, and passed several days thereon,

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

his experience enabled him to detect the presence of Indians in the neighborhood. One night, as he walked along the lake shore, he saw upon the water an approach- ing canoe, but sauntered leisurely along to a favorite camping spot, where he kin- died a fire, from which he withdrew into the shadows of the forest. Soon an Indian was seen stealthily approaching, and when within range was shot dead. The body was taken to the canoe and placed therein ; stones were filled in the frail vessel till it sunk to the water's edge; then, wading, Uncle Israel pushed the canoe out to deeper water, tipped the edge, and his foe was buried. His hunting was not disturbed, and his return was within the usual time.

Captain Peter Pitts lived upon the old Indian trail from Canandaigua to Gene- see, and in the early years of settlement was almost constantly surrounded by Indiana, camping and hunting on their old grounds. In the main they were pesceable, but one day in 1794 a party under the influence of liquor, while on their way to the treaty at Canandaigua, called at the house, and, demanding liquor of the women, were refused. Mrs. Pitts was sick, and was attended by her daughter, who, as the Indians became boisterous, closed the door to shut them out, and in so doing caught and pinched the finger of a drunken savage. He drew his knife, and his hostile movement was followed by his fellows. William Pitts, and others engaged near by in cribbing corn, hastened to the scene, the former arming himself with a sled-stake, and the rest taking whatever came handiest. They struck the Indians upon their arms, and as this caused them to drop their knives, the children caught up and hid them. An Indian struck Captain Pitts a blow upon his head, felled him to the floor, and a moment later would have knifed him had not a heavy blow with the sled-stake in the hands of William Pitts upon the Indian's neck caused his head to lop quickly to one side .. Edward, later known as Elder Hasen, armed with a fire-shovel, repeatedly brought his adversary to the floor. The Indians were subdued, yet peace was not restored until Horatio Jones, arriving on his way to the treaty, interfered and ended the trouble. The danger apprehended from the Indian was when he was intoxicated, and at such times all his natural ferocity was aroused.

At one time seven Indian wigwams stood on the mill-yard of Wells Whitmore, an early settler in Phelps. One day Mrs. Whitmore. was left alone, the family having gone away not to return until the following morning. An Indian, par- tially intoxicated, entered the house and demanded bread. Mrs. Whitmore told him that there was no bread in the house, and, to convince him of the fact, ex- hibited some dough prepared for baking. The savage gave her the lie, drew his knife and brandished it over her, and yet insisted upon having some bread. On this the resolute woman seized the cheese-tongs, the weapon nearest reach, and quickly drove her troublesome visitor from the house. The cheese-tongs were then applied to their appropriate use; a cheese was put into a press that stood in an open shed that was attached to the house, and she retired to her lonely couch for rest, drending the Indian's return. During the night she heard a firm step in the shed where stood the cheese-press, accompanied with other noises that con- vinced her of his actual return. The noise soon ceased, but she dared not open the door till morning, when she found that a bear, not an Indian, had stolen and eaten her cheese .. In the course of the day Bruin was seen upon a bluff, standing straight up, reconnoitering the premises. At night two men awaited his approach and saluted him with bullets, on which he wheeled and retreated to the forest.

As late as 1802, the Indians sauntering the streets of Canandaigua seised every opportunity to get drunk. " Indian John" was a red man well known to the boys of the village, as he supplied them with bows and arrows, taking his pay from them in hard cider. We may know that the boys had no difficulty in get- ting the cider to pay, since in that day most cellars had a supply. On one occa- sion " Indian John" came to the house of a boy customer very thirsty, and begged a drink of cider, promising to bring an arrow in payment on the morrow. The lad told him to drink a quart of water, and he should have a drink of cider. John consented, and swallowed the requisite quantity of water with many a con- tortion of face, but when the promised drink of cider was offered as agreed, his stomach had revolted at the strange and large load forced into it, and turning upon his heel in great disgust, he exclaimed, " Me got 'nuff this time."

The early days were remembered as times when the shot-gun was unknown, and the rifle bullet was depended upon to secure the game, or else the trap and the dead- fall. Deer came in flocks to feed upon the green wheat; bears came and took hogs from directly before the doors of new settlers, sometimes in open daylight; wolves followed benighted travelers, howled about the cabins, and when opportu- nity presented, played sad havoc with the sheep; and there were instances in the hilly regions of Naples and Bristol when the panther was known to frequent their wild and deep ravines. While all are united in the assertion that the wolf was a pest to the settlements, there is no record of their having killed any person. The aged say that when, while children, the first long-drawn howl of the wolf was heard in the log cabin in the woods, the sound awoke emotions of terror which in time changed to pleasure. The boys went through the woods by day after the

cattle with impunity, but when necessity required a journey by night, a torch was carried.

Russel M. Rush worked when a boy for Bezaliel Gleason, and his evening chore was to bring home the cows, which, straying deep into the woods, involved the boy in darkness ere he could return. On several occasions the wolves pursued, and only the protection of the cow-bells saved him from attack. Moses Ward, Sr., now eighty years of age, and a resident of Canandaigua, near Cheshire, set out the last of August, 1808, at the age of twelve years, to go from Owl Creek, in Allegheny County, to Canandaigua. He had been working for his brother-in-law, and left one morning, after a hearty meal from a mess of trout caught the evening previous and cooked by himself. The boy was barefooted, had a half-dollar in his pocket, and a hatchet in his hand, which he called a "tomahawk." He passed through four miles of woods, and called at the house of a Mr. Swift, who asked " where he came from and where he was going ?" His reply was, " I have been living with my sister on Owl Creek, and am going to Canandaigua to see my mother." After a brief rest, four miles farther and two houses were passed; then another four, and the boy sought rest with a man named Ward. With morning came three men who had been benighted and chased by wolves all night. Young Ward had no fears, but set out upon his way, and soon saw wolf-tracks in large numbers in the mud along the road. As he crossed a creek and ascended the opposite bank, he came close upon a half-dozen wolves, sud screamed at them without effect. He then began to stone them with pebbles from the creek, and drove them off. Fear now possessed him and he ran a long distance. At Pike Hollow he halted to tell his story, was asked the former noted questions, and gave the same reply. He was suspected to be a runaway, but was not molested. It was nine miles through the next woods, and he was tired, when a doctor came along on horseback and took him on behind him to the house of a settler named Whalley. Next morning our boy traveler was again on his way, when overtaken by two men in a wagon near the Pine Tavern, and was taken home. The narrative is plain and unaffected, but there was something akin to heroism in the journey of this young pioneer through the early forests of Ontario. Low wages for chopping, and high bounties, made wolf-hunting a business, and the animal soon became a rarity.

A wolf-hunt was organized on town-meeting day, 1818, and the last wolf cap- tured in Manchester was taken on that occasion. Sheep had been killed on the Bentley farm, word was passed around, and a day designated as stated. A akirm- ish line was formed and reconnoitered the woods thoroughly to the clearing on the Sawyer farm. Along the line of the road were posted a number of expe- rienced marksmen; at the clearing the wolf broke cover. A ball from the rifle of Joseph Benney crippled a hind leg, and another from that of Christopher Brady closed his career and the hunt at the same time.

Bears were numerous in the forest, and many a tale of them was told about the fire-side; men, boys, and dogs would start a bear from a corn-field and drive him to the tallest tree, whence, firing through the foliage in the gloom, some ran- dom shot would bring him down. The bear was no coward, and when, as hap- pened, the dogs became too eager, their temerity met condigo punishment. Their love of pork often proved their ruin. A bear, one day, seized a hog belonging to a settler named Peter Allen, and carried it to the woods. Standing upon his hind legs, with claws clinched in the hog, Bruin attempted to beat out the life of the porker by dashing it against a tree, persisting until approached and attacked with clubs. It was not unusual for a settler to have a wolf, bear, or deer for a pet, just as at this time raccoons and squirrels are kept by boys in the West. An instance or so out of many, regarding the deer, will close our chapter. A lady was crossing the ground now the Phelps cemetery, then covered by a growth of hem- looks, and was met in the path by a large buck, which stood and disputed her passage. Taking advantage of a slight diversion of his attention, she ran by, down the bank of Flint Creek, which she waded, and at the hut of a Mr. Granger, near the Eagle Mill, halted and gave the news. Granger took his rifle, departed, and a rifle-shot proclaimed his success. Fawns were sometimes. found in the woods and taken home. An occasional rescue has turned the tables and compelled a precipitate retreat. While the woods contained game, it was much relied upon by the settlers for meat supply; and as late as 1816, the fare of some of them was reduced to squirrels, venison, and boiled wheat. There is a fitness in the scheme of early settlement; and, rightly understood, there was little in the forest, its timber, soil, and occupants, but contributed to the pioneer's success.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 13

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 391

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 391