History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 15

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inhabitant of this county from its earliest settlement, I have beheld it rise from the cheerless bosom of the forest to the respectable state in which we now behold it; to a state of population almost incredible, having, in the short space of fifteen years, increased to about twenty thousand; and this is in a great measure owing to a wise government and wholesome administration, that has yielded protection to all classes of society, and insured to them the full enjoyment of their lawful aoqui- sitions. In this time we have beheld towns and villages arise, seminaries of useful learning established, religious institutions founded and flourishing, trade and commerce thriving and extending, the means of communication facilitated by the improvement of roads, locks, and canals, agriculture remunerating the toils of the farmer beyond his fondest expectation, the mechanical arts cherished and sup- ported, and poverty and distress almost estranged by the smiles of plenty. Within this period, this western section of the State has attained a degree of power and influence highly respectable. Here the observant eye beholds the most sober observance of moral and religious duties, a name and praise to be preserved by utmost care, and only possible by a steady perseverance in the industrial path, and & pertinacious adherence to tried and approved rules, governing by the pure dictates of reason."

To the address, of which a fragment is given, Mr. Greig for the bar, replied : "To the Honorable Timothy Hosmer, Esquire, first judge of this court. Sir, -- The gentlemen composing the bar request me to communicate the painful regret felt at parting with you as the chief magistrate of this county. They authorize. me to declare that they have looked up to you as the father of this court. It is their earnest prayer that your remaining years may pass tranquilly and happily. They can no longer meet you as president of this court, but anticipate a meeting where contentions cease, and a true verdict will be passed upon human action, and where the just will meet with that glorious reward which will be the sure conse- quence of a well-spent life."

COURTS AND CASES.

The first Court . of Common Pleas and General Sessions of Ontario County was held in the unfinished chamber of Moses Atwater's house, on the first Tuesday in June, 1792; Oliver Phelps, judge, Nathaniel Gorham, Jr., clerk, and Judah Colt, sheriff. Vincent Matthews, of Newtown, was the only attorney present at the opening of the court.

The first business transacted by the Surrogate's Court in this county was the settlement of the estate of Captain Jonathan Whitney, deceased, in 1793. An inventory of real and personal is presented, beneath which is written as follows : " This may certify, that Oliver Whitmore did this day present the above in- ventory to us with an intention of lodging the same in the surrogate's office, agreeable to the bonds given by Nathan Whitney, as administrator of the estate of Jonathan Whitney, and made solemn oath that the above is a true and perfect inventory of all the estate of Captain Jonathan Whitney, late of the town of Seneca, in the county of Ontario, in the State of New York, deceased. Taken in presence of Joel Whitney and Solomon Yates, Ontario County, November 8, 1793. Samuel Mellish, Surrogate for Ontario County."

In 1804, a quarrelsome Indian was arrested for murdering a white man at or near Buffalo, brought to Canandaigua, lodged in jail, and tried in the old court- house. John Greig, Esq., was district attorney, and the prisoner was defended by Peter B. Porter and Red Jacket. The Indian was convicted but not exe- cuted. John Greig remarked, concerning the effort of Red Jacket, that he him- self was but a reed compared to the arrow from the lightning bow of his opponent, the native of the forest.

The first breach of promise case tried in Ontario County was in June, 1818, before Chief-Justice Thompson : Mary Nowlen vs. James Campbell ; and a verdict was rendered to plaintiff of $1200.

In 1822, a Penn Yan jury decided that a man was not a " habitual drunkard" unless he was drunk more than half the time.

At the Circuit Court and Oyer and Terminer, held in Canandaigua, June, 1822, his Honor Justice Platt presiding, . colored woman named " Airy Thomp- son," aged 28 years, was tried and convicted for murdering her infant child, and sentenced to be hung on the first Friday in October, between the hours of 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. The opinion to some degree prevailed that the woman was insane. Evidence of guilt was principally derived from the fact that the child's body was found secreted, with a wound in its head sufficient to cause death ; and certain con- fessions were made by the mother, which indicated her to be the author of the injury. She was ably defended by counselors Hulburt and Marvin, and the jury recommended her case to the merciful consideration of the proper authorities. A respite was granted, and her case was brought before the Legislature of 1823.

At the same session of court, Samuel Vantassel was convicted of rape, and George P. Moore of burglary, and both were sentenced to State's prison for life. The first county record relative to taxes collected in Ontario County bears date

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

1793. The town of Canandaigua had seven collectors, viz. : Jonathan Edwards, Phineas Bates, Eber Norton, Aaron Rice, Elias J. Gilbert, Noah Porter, and Solomon Warner. The total amount collected in the town of Canandaigua was £35 13s. 4}d. The total amount, as eredited to Ontario ' County, was £53 13s. 5td. The assessment as a tax was made on the third Wednesday of August, 1792. The tax assessed and levied June 25, 1793, upon the county, was £197 5s. 8d. The district of Williamson was established, and in May, 1794, a tax was granted for £186 12s. 10d. On 4th May, 1795, a county tax was granted for £300 3s. 11td. On May 5, 1796, a tax was granted for the use of schools, amounting to £194 10s., and July following, an additional amount, for county use, of £220, making £414 10s. Six new districts were formed.

" CAMANDAIQUE, March 22, 1797.

" The several accounts have been inspected by the Board of Supervisors, and vouchers for the several charges have been produced by the Treasurer, except the sum of £100, paid the commissioners for building the gaol, which is allowed, but no voucher has been produced. By order of the Board of Supervisors. " AMOS HALL, Supervisor."

On May 31, 1797, there was with the county treasurer $459.01} ; received from the State treasurer, $972.50, making a total amount in the county treasury of $1431.61}. On May 30, 1798, the accounts of the treasurer showed a bal- ance in his hands of $713.26, including $430.08 for use of schools, excepting $100, excepted as in previous years. The examining committee were Ezra Patterson, Ebenezer Curtiss, and E. Norris. A tax was granted May, 1798, for the following purposes, vis .: For highways, to be paid to the order of superin- tendenta, $400; jail, $1000; schooling, $500; county expenses, $600.34. To be collected from eighteen towns. The committee to examine the treasurer's accounts were Josiah Fish and Joel Roberts. The committee, in 1799, were Ebenezer Curtiss, Abner Barlow, and Solomon Hovey. The amounts on hand indicate a growth of property and a disposition to advance especially the educa- tional interesta. The first fine collected and credited to the county of Ontario was entered as follows: " December 13, 1799 .- By fine on Beman Wheeler, for petty larceny, at a Magistrate's Court in Geneva, $17.00." A tax was granted October, 1799, for the following purposes, viz .: For building jail, $3000; for highways, $1000; for schools, $500; for county expenses, $2455.50. The town of Sodus was included this year, and made nineteen towns in the county. These towns were assessed as follows: " Palmyra, $128.25; Middletown, $75; Farm- ington, $141.50; Bristol, $63.50; Easton, $142.50; Hartford, $78; Jerusalem, $324.50; Northfield, $167.50; Pittstown, $140.50; Seneca, $328; Bloomfield, $216; Sparta, $110; Charlestown, $90.50; Canandaigua, $150; Phelps, $146.50; Genesee, $95.25; Northampton, $4236; Augusta, $86.50; Sodus, $233.50." There was received from the Holland Company, $1788.95, and for schooling, from the State, for the year ending March, 1798, $972.50. The balance left to the credit of the county was $11,234.92. Committee of accounts, Solomon Hovey, Josiah Fish, and David Sutherlands

We close this subject of early taxes and their collectors by a list for 1801 of the parties employed to collect, in the various towns of the county, the taxes of that year. For Jerusalem, George Brown; Augusta, Francis Briggs; Northfield, Alexander Dunn ; Sodus, William B. Cogswell; Palmyra, C. Southworth ; Genesee, Ass Woodward; Northampton, Peter Shaffer; Hartford, John Mack; Bristol, George Codding, Jr .; Middletown, Ephraim Cleveland; Easton, Bascom Whit- ney; Seneca, William Smith ; Phelps, Augustus Dickinson ; Sparta, Benjamin Roberson ; Charlestown, Martin Lewis; Canandaigua, John Cooley ; Bloomfield, Elisha Steele; Pittstown, John Curtis; and Farmington, David Smith.

STATE ARSENAL.

For public safety and convenience, military stores were distributed over the State. Small arsenals were erected near the northern and western frontiers, and military stores deposited in them, ready for any emergency. One of these was built at Canandaigua. Moses Atwater and wife conveyed, on October 10, 1808, to the people of the State of New York, a piece of ground one hundred and twenty- four feet by ninety feet four inches, the same being part of lot No. 1 west of Main street, north of the square, in the village named. A brick building was soon after erected on this piece of ground, and designated as the arsenal. The site is a high eminence directly west of the centre of the square, and commands the village and adjacent country. In this structure were deposited cannon, a thousand stand of arms, ammunition, and accoutrements. It was used as an ar- senal, and so occupied until shortly before our late rebellion, when, by order of Secretary Floyd, all the arms therein contained were sold at auction, as were those of other arsenals at the north. Within a few years the State government was on the point of selling the building and the ground, when it was discovered that

the deed contained a clause giving the State a right to the ground and building only while it was used as a State arsenal for military purposes.

The old arsenal still stands, a silent memento of the struggle of the young re- public with old England. It is a pride of the village, and it is hoped that it may be allowed to remain. The building is a two-story structure; in size about thirty by fifty feet. Originally, the lower part was provided with racks for muskets. Here was kept for years an old twelve-pound iron cannon, whose thunders pro- claimed the each recurring anniversary of American Independence. Here also were one or two iron six-pound pieces. The second story was used for storing equip- ments and ammunition. Formerly, a guard-house was erected at the north end of the lot. This post was occupied for years by a non-commissioned oficer as guard over the premises, but it has given way before the inroads of time long since, and few now live who were aware of its existence. The old arsenal, standing isolated upon a spot made doubly interesting as the tomb of the Indian dead, di- lapidated and deserted, attracts many a curious gaze, and calls forth many a stirring recollection.

THE COUNTY POOR-HOUSE.

From the organization of towns, the care of the indigent has been a prominent feature of their history. Officers were early elected to attend to their interests, and provision made for their maintenance. The towns cared for their own poor until October 8, 1825, when, at the annual meeting of the supervisors of the county, Thomas Beals, Nathaniel Lewis, and Moses Fairchild were appointed a committee to purchase a farm for a county poor-house establishment. Notice was given that proposals would be received by the county treasurer until November 17, 1825, for the purchase of a farm for this object. Said farm to contain one hundred acres of land of good quality. Payment to be made, one-half March 1, 1826, and the remainder in one year. A farm in Hopewell, three miles east of Canandaigua, was purchased for $1868.64. A house was erected in the summer of 1826, and formal notice was given on the 23d of October of that year that the house would be opened for use. To this notice were attached the names of the superintendents, as follows : Thomas Beals, John Price, Nathan Reed, William T. Codding, and Chester Loomis. The aggregate cost. of the farm buildings, furniture, stock, and implements, was $7023.84, at the time the house was opened. Later, 112 acres have been purchased, giving a total of 212 acres in the farm. The main building, of brick and wood, is 40 by 84 feet, two stories and basement, with two wings, one of which is two stories, 32 by 60 feet, and the other one story and a half, 25 by 30 feet. The property has recently been much improved, a new mansard roof being added to the main building, and thereby not only increasing the capacity of the house, but enhancing its general appearance. There are con nected with the institution wood and wash houses, two barns, and other outbuild- ings. Nine acres of young orchard were planted in 1874, and an old orchard of five acres has been long upon the farm, but has inferior fruit. The crop of 1874 was 600 bushels wheat, 1200 bushels corn in the ear, 600 bushels peas and oats, 400 bushels oats, 1800 bushels potatoes, 40 tons hay, 40 bushels beans, 30 bushels onions, 12 bushels clover-seed, and 6 bushels herd's grass-seed. Nine cows, besides other stock, are kept on the farm. Average cost of boarding per week is $1.50. Inmates are well fed and clothed. A new building, designed for idiots and the insane, is detached from the main building. Iron bedsteads, single, are added to the furniture. The board of superintendents in 1875 were S. R. Wheeler, who had served seventeen years on the board; John H. Benham, three years, and W. B. Witter, one year. Mr. Sheldon was foreman, and Mr. Spear keeper.

Frances Mitchell, or " Mother Mitchell," as she was usually called, was received in 1826, and the second inmate. She died May 19, 1874, having been there about forty-eight years. The departments are as follows : for men, for women, for boys, and for girls ; hospitals for the aged, infirm, and sick, for the idiotic and insane; and a culinary department, the last conducted by Thomas Coleman for a quarter of a century. The infirm and sick are under charge of Dr. Hayes, of Canandaigua. The number of inmates in 1875 was 140. The number of regular boarders was 113, others remaining during winters. On the books were entered 319 names for the year ending October 1, 1874. Others were trampe, vagrants, and tran- sients, among which the following nationalities were represented: Irish, 143; American, 134; English, 17; German, 16; Scotch, 1, and Welsh, 1. Among the inmates were nine idiots and a score of lunatics. Early in 1875, there were twenty-four children in the institution, three-fourths of whom attended school in a house 18 by 24 feet. Miss Eunice Saunders had charge of the school during the last four or five years. Miss Codding, years ago, donated a fund whose interest supported the school during the entire year. The fund and children have recently been transferred to the Orphan Asylum, at Canandaigua, with beneficial results. Caddie Mccullough was the children's nurse. A dwarf in size, thirty-five years of age, thirty-two years were passed at the poor-house, and her utmost solicitude has

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

bsen the welfare of the little ones. The institution, having a value in money of $30,000, is one of the avenues by which the active sympathies of the citizens of old Ontario find expression, and redounds to their credit and honor.

ONTARIO IN 1810

extended about forty-four miles north and south, while its greatest width east and west was forty-five miles. It was bounded north by the Canada line, east by Seneca, south by Steuben, and west by Genesee. Its ares was seventeen hundred and seventy-seven and a half square miles, or one million one hundred and thirty-seven thousand six hundred acres. It had sixteen post-offices, and Canandaigua village contained one hundred and thirty-seven houses. The area was divided in twenty- four towns, of which Bloomfield was the most populous, its population being forty- four hundred and twenty-five. Great roads from Albany, westward, led centrally across the county, through the rich and flourishing villages of Geneva, Canan- daigua, and the elegant settlements of Bloomfield, Lima, and Avon. Canandai- gua, the capital of the county, finely situated on the margin of the outlet of the lake of the same name, was, next to Utica, the most populous village in the western district. A thousand people now lived in a place where, twenty-one years previous, there stood but a miserable Indian wigwam. Agriculture rapidly im- proved under the exertions of hardy industry, and the intelligent exertion of men who combined wealth, talent, and influence. At this early period there were but few portions of the State that made a better display of agricultural opulence than the district westward of Canandaigua to the Genesee, a tract abounding alike in soil of surpassing fertility and prospects the most beautiful. Illustrative of growth in population is the fact that the same area which, in 1791, contained ten hundred and seventy-five persons, in 1810 was the home of seventy-two thousand seven hundred and seventy-four. It contained fifty-eight hundred and thirty senatorial electors, or freeholders to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars, and probably there were in all about fourteen thousand families. The in- dustry seems incredible, and while we lightly regard the frail structures built along the creeks, and speak of the farmer-weaver as of petty ability, the statistics disclose a manufacture highly creditable to the pioneers. The household product in 1810 was five hundred and twenty-four thousand five hundred and thirty yards of woolen, cotton, and mixed cloths, and there were nineteen hundred and three looms.

Efforts from the first to improve the breeds of domestic stock were marked by careful attention. The merino was introduced, and the choicest breeds of cattle. It is noted that the first fair held in Canandaigua was appointed for the last Tues- day of January, 1811, when the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the county met at the court-house to adjudge various premiums on cloth there ex- hibited. The judges met, but not having received the law governing, adjourned to February 29, when they again met and awarded the first premium to Nathan Comstock on a piece of cloth manufactured from merino wool. While large tracts in southern and northern Ontario were lying uncultivated, the central region had attained a degree of advancement highly encouraging to those who had settled in hope, and borne with the toil and trouble of the earlier years.

CHAPTER XV.

TOWN MEETINGS-CELEBRATIONS-LA FAYETTE, JOSEPH SMITH, AND JOHN MORGAN.

THE town meeting of the early day was a fit type of pure democracy. Ques- tions of local importance originated division of sentiment and consequent forma- tion of parties. In these free assemblies were fostered that love of liberty and that power of self-assertion which made popular government a possibility. No ques- tion called forth greater interest than that of a division of the town. Parties were formed for and against the measure, and every expedient resorted to that each might frustrate the other. Temporarily majorities prevailed for " no division," but ultimately the opposition carried their point. Their efforts called out the rural orators, and many a straightforward, sensible appeal, and many a wordy harangue presaged the repetition of a struggle upon a broader field concerning questions of public import-county, State, and national. In this relation the town meeting may be fitly characterised as the primary school of legislation, the epitome of republican government. When a capable man was placed in office, he was retained therein for many years. The offices sought the men, and there was little scram- bling for political preferment. Meetings and elections were primitively conducted. For a few years no poll-list was kept, and there was no lack of opportunity had there been an inclination to bias the returns by fraud. In instances ballots were

deposited in a hat held under the arm. This was improved upon by placing the receptacle of votes upon a table. In Richmond each voter was obliged to walk up a plank, and Joseph Garlinghouse, knowing the residents of the town, was called on to announce the name. "You live out of town," "you have voted," or "you're not of age," were assertions which, if correct, obliged the person challenged to make way for another. The various officers elected at town meetings were, town clerk ; assessors, three in number ; constable and collector, both offices in one per- son ; three commissioners of highways; a supervisor; the fence-viewers and path- masters were unlimited, appointed as there was need. There were overseers of the poor, and school commissioners, whose duties as practiced were very limited. The bounty on wolves, the division of road districts, the rules respecting stock, the tax for town expenses, the provision for schools, were of the subjects which called for town action. The pioneers were not men skillful with the pen nor versed in orthography, but their edicts were marked by sterling sense, and their efforts, harmoniously exerted, have verily been the substantial foundation of present solidity and prosperity.

Celebrations, affording relaxation and giving expression, to patriotic feeling, have characterized the citizens of Ontario as second to none in adherence to law and in love of country. At Geneva, Phelps, Naples, and other old and enter- prising villages, anniversaries of notable occasions have given rise to an expression of honor to the fallen and an indorsement of their actions, but we have chosen Canandaigua, as the capital, to immediately represent the county, and a record of past and present is deemed worthy of extended notice in this connection.

The first celebration of the Fourth of July in Canandaigua took place in 1809. The anniversary of American Independence was celebrated by a very numerous and respectable number of the Federal Republicans of the county, in a style unusually splendid and honorable to the principles which consolidated our Federal government. "The sentiments and feelings which that epoch can never fail to inspire were heightened by recent events, the passing away of that cloud which has hung with portending aspect over our divided country, and of an eight years' Democratic night dispelled by the rising sun of Federalism." General Hall officiated as president, and Israel Chapin, Valentine Brothers, and Gideon Pitts as vice-presidents. An oration was delivered by Myron Holley at the sondemy. About seventy ladies assembled at the residence of Mr. Clark in the afternoon and drank tes in the spacious court-yard, and the evening was passed in dance and gayety. Music was furnished by the Bloomfield Band; dinner was provided at Taylor's Hotel, which in the evening was illuminated.

Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1812, was a day fitly celebrated. The ceremonies were carried forward with considerable pomp and ceremony under the auspices of the Washington Benevolent Society of Ontario County. Pun- derson B. Underhill, James D. Bemis, and Richard Wills were on the com- mittee of arrangements Proceedings were opened by prayer on the part of Rev. Torrey. Music was furnished by the Bloomfield Band, and an oration was de- livered by Myron Holley. The 4th of July, 1815, marking the close of a second war with Great Britain, an American triumph was celebrated by the young men of Canandaigua at the court-house. J. Willson read the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and the oration was delivered by William Hubbell. Dinner was pro- vided at Coe's Hotel. In the afternoon a " splendid tea-party" was given by the ladies on Arsenal Hill. The 4th of July, 1820, was an occasion of formal exer -. cises in the village. Mark H. Sibley delivered the oration. Services were held at the Methodist church. Rev. William Barlow made the prayer, Dr. Richard Wells read the Declaration of Independence; an ode was read by Rev. Johns, and one was sung by Chauncy Morse. The morning of the 4th, in 1823, was ushered in by firing of cannon, ringing of bells, and a display of flags. A proces- sion was formed under direction of Colonel Edward Sawyer, and marched to the brick meeting-house. Prayer by Rev. Mr. Johns; reading by Mark H. Sibley, Esq. ; and Walter Hubbell, Esq., delivered an oration. Dinner was served under a "bower" near Mead's Hotel, and the following were among the toasts offered : "Old Ontario, having 'set out' many children, still retains the homestead." " Monroe, Livingston, Wayne, and Yates : may they prove legitimate whelps of the ' Lyon of the West.'"

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 15

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

Author:
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Number of Pages: 391