History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 16

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The forty-eighth anniversary of American Independence was celebrated on Monday, July 5, 1824, with unusual ceremony. A national salute was fired at sunrise from Arsenal Hill. A procession was formed at 10 A.M., Colonel Sawyer, marshal ; Adjutant Phelps, assistant. Spaulding's Band preceded, followed by an artillery company under Captain Merrill, with martial band. The corner-stone of the second court-house was laid, and the procession marched to the brick church, which was filled to overflowing. The following exercises took place : first, an ode ; second, prayer by Rev. Hickox ; third, reading of Declaration of Independence by Francis Granger; fourth, an ode; fifth, oration by Oliver Phelps Jackson, Esq. Later a dinner was partaken of at the hotel kept by Mr. Mead, and Hon. Aaron Younglove presided.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

A centennial celebration took place July 4, 1876, and since 1824 there had been none so notable in the annals of Ontario County. The "Sleeping Beauty" was fairly awakened. A profuse display of flags and decorations in public localities and on private residences betokened the interest in the occasion. The main stand was on the east side of Main street, just south of the old oak, now stripped of its branches. Over the stand was the motto : " We begin our Second Century with Hope and Confidence." On front of the town hall was the motto: " 1776, an Experiment-1876, a Success !" a transparency designed by Dr. Bennett. Fronting the court-house steps was the stand for the choir of children, directed by Professor Whelpton. The " Declaration" was read by W. S. Hubbell, Esq. A part of the history of Canandaigua, by J. Albert Granger, Esq., was read, and a rain compelled adjournment to the court-house, where it was finished. The very few comparatively who could find entrance listened to an oration by Hon. E. G. Lapham. The " Boomerang Legion" came out in queer, grotesque array. The wheelbarrow- and sack-races and greased pole gave amuse- ment to the crowd. A grand display of fireworks in the evening closed this memorable day.

The visit of La Fayette to America, as the nation's guest, was an occasion when the entire populace vied to give him greatest honor. His journey through the land was a triumphal march ; bonfires blazed on the hill-tops; cannon thun- dered their salute; old soldiers rushed weeping to his arms; committees met and escorted him to their villages, and hundreds sought the honor of a grasp of his hand. The general arrived in Buffalo January 4, 1825. Thence he visited Black Rock, Niagara Falls, Fort Niagara, Lewiston, and Lookport. He came on a canal-boat to Rochester. On Tuesday morning, June 7, 1825, an express messenger from Rochester rode into the villages announcing that the Marquis La Fayette would, late in the afternoon, reach Canandaigua. The news spread like wildfire all over the country. The people knew that he was to come, and awaited the announcement of the day. Crowds were soon in motion, people in carriages and on horseback turned out to meet him at Mendon, where he was to be received by a committee from Canandaigua. About sundown the " Ontario Band" and martial music marched to the head of Main street. It was half-past eight when the retinue and the general appeared in sight, a fact announced by the discharge of artillery ; loud, long cheers. were raised by the multitude, and smiles of gladness were on all countenances; the band began to play, but so eager were the people to see their visitor that the formation of a procession seemed dif- ficult. The general was received from the Rochester committee at Mendon, placed in the finest coach that could be obtained, and this was drawn by four gray horses, driven by Samuel Greenleaf. A long procession of carriages and horse- men, with a multitude on foot, was finally formed, and marched down Main street, to the alternating music of the band and the drum and fife. Salutes were fired from Arsenal Hill, and many residences were brilliantly illuminated. The Can- andaigua Hotel and Kingley's tavern opposite were dazzling in appearance. When opposite the hotel the procession opened ranks to allow the general to pass through. As his carriage reached the entrance, the crowd surged forward, and were with diffi- culty kept from thronging into the hall. The doors were closed and guarded. Col- onel William Blossom and Judge Moses Atwater, the committee, introduced many, and the marquis sat down with about one hundred guests to an elegant supper. About ten o'clock the music appeared on the balcony, and La Fayette came out, while candles were held on either side of him that the people might see him. With head uncovered he bowed smilingly to the eager, patient multitude below. He spoke briefly, thanking them for kind attentions and expressing regret that he could not have arrived in the daytime. With French politeness and graceful bows he withdrew inside the hotel. The general spoke slow, in broken English, and it was difficult to understand him. With him, upon the balcony, was his son. In appearance he was stoutly built, with healthy but fatigued look, and full, florid face. Later, he was escorted to the mansion of John Greig, where he passed the night. A procession was formed in the morning to escort the general to meet the Geneva delegation. As they marched down the street kerchiefs waved a welcome, and all were gladdened by a sight of our noble friend, the companion of Washing- ton. The Geneva committee met the escort at Ball's tavern, near Flint Creek, and the tide of population moved forward to Geneva, where great preparation had been made for his reception. A bower had been erected on the square in front of the Geneva Hotel, and the pathway was covered by carpets and strewn with flowers. He chose, it seems, to walk more humbly upon the native soil. A few hours at Geneva, then on to Waterloo, Seneca Falls, Auburn, and Syracuse. Here he em- barked on a packet commanded by Captain Allen, and proceeded on his way to Boston, where, on the 17th, he took part in laying the corner-stone of the " Bunker Hill Monument." The Canandaigua artillery, a six-pounder, was com- manded on the occasion of the visit by Ira Merrill. A cavalry company, thirty strong, mounted on gray horses, turned out under command of Captain James Lyon, and Asa Spaulding led the Ontario Band. Greenleaf, who drove the team

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alluded to, is a resident of Shortsville. He drove the first four-horse stage out of Ithaca, May 1, 1816, to Auburn.

MORMONISM had its origin in Ontario County. The natural credulity of the ignorant has ever made, them the dupes of design, and there has never been a creed promulgated so fallacious or so monstrous but that it has found followers. Indignant citizens have ejected the contaminating influence from their midst, and, glorified by persecution, the evil has grown and perpetuated itself. Time hallows the past, custom sanctions usage, and the usurper in the course of events becomes authority. The society of Jemima Wilkinson soon dissolved, but the new re- ligion with active workers drew proselytes from every quarter, and numbers thous- ands of firm believers. It is of interest, then, to place on record here a brief out- line of its founder. The father of Joseph Smith was from near the Merrimac river, New Hampshire. His first settlement was in or near Palmyra village, but in 1819 he became the occupant of new land on Stafford street, Manchester, near the Palmyra line. His cabin was of the rudest, and a small tract about it was underbrushed as a clearing. He had been a Universalist, but had changed to Methodism. His character was that of a weak, credulous, litigious man.

Mrs. Smith, originally designing profit and notoriety, was the source from which the religion of the Latter-Day Saints was to originate. The Smiths had two sons. The elder, Alvah, sickened and died, and Joseph was designated as the coming prophet,-a subject the most unpromising in appearance and ability. Legends of hidden treasure had pointed to Mormon Hill as the depository. Father and son had visited the place and dug for buried wealth by midnight, and it seemed natural that the Smiths should in time connect themselves with the plan of a new creed, with Joseph Smith as the founder. As the scheme developed, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris gave it their support, and Sydney Rigdon joined the movement later. Cowdery was a school-teacher in the district, and intimate with the Smiths. Harris was owner of a good farm two miles north of Palmyra village. The farm went to pay for the publication of the Mormon Bible. Harris was an honest, worthy man, but a religious enthusiast. Rigdon came from Ohio, and attached himself to the scheme of imposture. He had been a Baptist preacher, but had forfeited his standing by disreputable action. His character was that of a designing, dishonest, disreputable man. In him the Smiths found an able manager, and he found them fit agents of his schemes. Joseph Smith, Jr., had in his possession a miraculous stone, opaque to others, luminous and trans- parent to himself. It was of the common hornblende variety, and was kept in a box, carefully wrapped in cotton. Placed in a hat, and looked upon, Smith alleged ability to locate hidden treasure. Mrs. Smith made and sold oil-cloths, and, while so engaged, prophesied a new religion, of which her son should be the prophet. One morning as the settlers went to their work a rumor circulated that the Smiths, in a midnight expedition, had commenced digging on the northwest spur of Mormon Hill, and had unearthed several heavy golden tablets covered with hieroglyphics. It was stated that Joseph was able to translate this record, and was engaged upon the work. To make money and indulge a love of notoriety was the first plan, and to found a new religion a later thought. . The mysterious symbols were to be translated and published in book-form. Money was wanted, and Harris mortgaged his farm for two thousand five hundred dollars, which was to secure him half the proceeds of the sales of the Gold Bible. Joseph Smith told Harris that an angel had directed where on Mormon Hill the golden plates lay buried, and he himself unwillingly must interpret and publish the sacred writing, which was alleged to contain a record of the ancients of America, en- graved by Mormon, the son of Neephi. Upon the box in which were the plates had been found large spectacles, whose glasses were transparent only to the prophet. None save Smith were to see the plates, on pain of death. Harris and Cowdery were the amanuenses, who wrote as Smith, screened from their view, dictated. Days passed, and the work proceeded. Harris took his copy home, to place in the hands of the type setters. His wife was a woman of sense and energy. She seized one hundred pages of the new 'revelation, and they were burned or concealed. This portion was not again written, lest the first being found, the versions should not agree. The author of the manuscript pages from which the book was published is unknown. One theory gives them as the work of a Mr. Spaulding, of Ohio, who wrote it as a religious novel, left the manu- script with a printer, and, being appropriated by Rigdon, was brought to Man- chester and turned to account. The general and most probable opinion is that Smith and Cowdery were the authors, from these reasons : it is a poor attempt at counterfeiting the Scriptures ; modern language is inconsistently blended, and chronology and geography are at variance. It is a strange medley of Scripture, to which is appended a " Book of Commandments," the work of Rigdon, perhaps assisted by Spaulding's papers. The date of the Gold Bible is fixed as the fall of 1827. The first edition of the Book of Mormon was printed by E. B. Gran- din, of Palmyra, New York, and consisted of five thousand copies, The work of printing began June 29. It was completed in 1830, and offered for sale at

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PLATE IX.

ST THERESA'S CATHOLIC CHURCH , STANLEY, N. Y, (ERECTED 1876.)

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

one dollar and twenty-five cents per copy, but it would not sell. Smith went to Pennsylvania, clad in a new suit from funds provided by Harris; here he married a daughter of Isaac Hale, and both were baptized by Rigdon after the Mormon ritual. This wife is living near Nauvoo, Illinois, in comfortable circumstances. The original edition of the book has this preface: "The Book of Mormon ; an account written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi," and concludes with "By Joseph Smith, Jr., Author and Proprietor." Later editions designate Smith "translator." The contents give fifteen "Books," and the edition contains five hundred and eighty-eight pages, common duodecimo, small pica letter. A formal organisation was desirable. A meeting was held at the house of Joseph Smith, Sr., in June, 1830. The exercises consisted of readings and interpretations of the new Bible. Smith, Sr., was installed "Patri- arch and President of Latter-Day Saints." Cowdery and Harris were given limited and conditional offices. From the house the party adjourned to a brook near by, where a pool had been made by the construction of a small dam. Harris and Cowdery were first baptized at their own request. The latter, now qualified, administered the same rite to Joseph Smith, Sr., Mrs. Smith, his wife, Hiram Page, Mrs. Rockwell, Dolly Proper, and some of the Whitemer brothers. Cal- vin Stoddard, a neighbor, early believed in Mormonism, and was possessed with the notion that he should go out and preach the gospel. While in a state of doubt, two men, Stephen S. Harding and Abner Tucker, played a practical joke, which confirmed his faith. At midnight they repaired to his house, struck three heavy blows with a stone upon his door, awaking him; then one solemnly spoke, "Calvin Stoddard ! the angel of the Lord commands that before another going down of the sun thou shalt go forth among the people and preach the gospel of Nephi, or thy wife shall be a widow, thy children orphans, and thy ashes scattered to the four winds of heaven."

Next day the first Mormon missionary, in full faith, began to preach from house to house, and so began that missionary system so successful and so potential to this new sect. Soon after organizing, the Mormons migrated to Kirtland, Ohio, thence to Independence, Missouri, then to Nauvoo, where Smith fell a martyr to the cause, and where a temple long stood to mark the sudden energy of the grow- ing sect. Away to Utah the people traveled, and far beyond the pale of civili- sation established a new city and grew in power. The creed of polygamy en- grafted by a later prophet has been a distinctive and repellent feature, at variance with law and morality. To its existence may be attributed the decline and ulti- mate death of the system. While Mormonism originated with the ignorant, and was perpetuated in knavery, among its adherents are ranked many good people whose devotion to the religion entitles them to honor. The career of a Mohammed had like points in the origin of Mohammedanism, and age has deepened the faith of its votaries. Mormonism, originating in Ontario, and the subject of ridicule, furnishes yet another evidence of human frailty, superstition, credulity, and faith.

MORGAN AND MASONRY .- Another character played a prominent part in Ontario history about the same period as there given. In the summer of 1826, William Morgan, a stone-mason, began to prepare a work revealing the mysteries of Masonry, and arranged with David C. Miller, a printer in Batavia, to have it published. Members of the order, learning the fact, took measures to suppress the publication. An attempt was made to get possession of the manuscript. Mor- gan was arrested on a civil suit, but found bail. In August, 1826, he was given up by his bail to the sheriff, and put in prison over the Sabbath, while his lodg- ings were searched, and, according to report, a part of his papers taken. The office in which the book was to be published was attempted to be fired by an in- cendiary. On September 12, Miller was placed under arrest by a constable on a warrant issued by a justice of the peace of Le Roy. He was taken to Le Roy, bat accompanied by many persons. At Stafford, a hamlet on the road, Miller was taken from the carriage, in which he was being conveyed, to a Masonic lodge- room, where an effort was made to so far intimidate him as to obtain the desired manuscript. A large party of Miller's friends had followed, gathered in the street, and demanded his release. The prisoner was brought out, saw counsel, and learned that he was taken on a civil action for debt, but all bail was refused. Both parties then set out for Le Roy, where Miller demanded to be taken before the village justice. The demand was finally acceded, and discharge followed arraignment, as no evidence was found. Miller hastened his return to Batavia, his friends foiling an attempt to again arrest him. In September, 1827, three of the parties engaged in this transaction, Jesse French, Roswell Wilcox, and James Hurlburt, were tried and convicted for false imprisonment, riot, assault and battery; French had a year in the county jail, Wilcox six months, and Hurlburt three.

In September, 1826, William Morgan disappeared from Batavia, and for well- nigh fifty years no solution has been found to the mystery of his fate. In this connection Canandaigua became notorious in history as playing a conspicuous part in the Morgan abduction. A warrant was obtained, September 10, from a

justice of the pesce in Canandaigua, by Nicholas G. Chesebro, for the arrest of William Morgan, on a charge of stealing a shirt and cravat which he had bor- rowed of one E. C. Kingsley. The warrant was served next day on Morgan at Batavia, and he was brought as a prisoner in a stage coach to Canandaigua, and lodged in jail. Morgan was discharged by the justice issuing the warrant, there being no evidence adduced. He was immediately rearrested in a civil suit for the recovery of two dollars upon the alleged tavern bill assigned by Ackley to the complainant. Judgment and execution at once followed, and Morgan became a prisoner for debt in Canandaigua jail. He remained in prison that day, and until about nine o'clock of September 12. The jailor and his turnkey were conveniently absent, when certain parties went to the jail, represented that the judgment had been paid, and advised an immediate liberation of the prisoner. Morgan passed out, and at the street was seized, hurried into a close carriage standing near the front entrance to the jail, and by Hiram Hubbard driven rapidly out of town westward, and from that time his fate is obscure. Great excitement followed, and extended throughout the State. The feeling against Masonry was intense, lodges were dissolved, and an anti-Masonic party was formed. Parties were indicted for Morgan's abduction, and convictions for minor offenses obtained, but no indictment for murder could be brought, since Morgan's body was never found. A body said to be that of Morgan was found on the beach of Lake Ontario, near the mouth of Niagara river, but no reliance is placed upon the statement. Tales of his being & wanderer in a foreign land and of being seen far away on the Western plains are diversions from the more probable statement that his life was taken shortly after his abduction.

The trials of those indicted took place at Lockport and Canandaigua. It was learned that the carriage containing Morgan passed through Rochester, thence west on the ridge road towards Lockport, where a cell had been prepared in the Niagara county jail. At Wright's Corners, near Lockport, the programme was changed, and the carriage was driven to Lewiston, and thence to Fort Niagara. The driver was ordered to stop when near the grave-yard at Fort Niagara. Four men left the carriage, which was ordered to be driven away. This was about mid- night of September 13. The surroundings were sinister, and calculated to intimi- date, but failed to effect their object. Morgan was confined in the magazine from the morning of September 14 to the 19th, when he was removed to the fort. He was excited and vehement at first, but later asked to see his wife and children. Every effort was made by those having him in charge to induce a disclosure of the place where the manuscript was concealed, but in vain. We quote from " Early History, by William Hildreth," published in the Ontario Times of July 2, 1873. Three propositions were made: "to settle him on a farm in Canada; to deliver him over to the Masonic commander of some British war vessel at Mon- treal or Quebec, or to drown him in the river." The last proposition was met with strong opposition. High words and quarrels ensued among those present in council. The members became divided in opinion, and when William Morgan disappeared from the magazine at Fort Niagara, on the 19th day of September, 1826, he left no witness of his fate to give testimony of what had become of him. The popular feeling spread and deepened, and enemies of Masonry gained thou- sands of supporters. The blast swept by, and Masonry has again become powerful, while the embers of opposition are extinct, or lie smouldering with scarce a sign of the flery passion which swept the country and threatened its peace.

CHAPTER XVI.

MILITIA-MUSTERS-WAR OF 1812-MEETINGS FOR DEFENSE AND BELIEF.

THREATENED with hostilities and held in contempt by England, the entire border swarming with Indians, and Canadian influences constantly evidencing aggressive feeling, the State of New York enrolled among her militia every able- bodied male inhabitant between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, barely except- ing those religiously opposed to war. The adjutant-general gives, in his report for 1809, = total enrolment of the various branches of service of one hundred and two thousand and sixty-eight men. In 1811, military stores had been deposited among other places at Onondaga, Canandaigua, and Batavia. Cannon of various calibre were stored at these magazines. Heavy ordnance, designed for the Niagara frontier, was brought from Albany by water to West Cayuga, now Bridgeport, and thence transported on heavy sleds built for the purpose to their destination.

The frontier region was ill-fitted for war. The militia system was imperfeot. Revolutionary soldiers were exempt. Territory was districted according to popu- lation. Large tracts were drawn upon to form companies. Privates supplied their own arms, and officers their own uniforms and outfit. Four trainings were

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

held each year. County trainings .were held respectively in June and Sep- tember. Notice of musters was given, and substitutes allowed ; fines were imposed for non-attendance. These musters consisted of little else than an enrolment, a roll-call, an inspection, and a review, with little discipline and less benefit. The remembrances are mainly of a pleasing character, while there is also a recollection of pugilistic encounters and athletic sports. A resort to an adjacent log tavern was always in order, and the drill was never protracted, yet when called to the field, these backwoods militia won reputation as brave and efficient soldiers. War was declared against Great Britain, June 18, 1812. Expresses traveled through the country, spreading the tidings upon the main roads, whence they were borne to the interior settlements. The settler ceased to labor and awaited the result. Panics in some sections caused abandonment of homes, but they were again oo- cupied. The governor ordered a draft of militia, but volunteers mainly composed the force.

On May 21, 1812, six hundred men, besides the Niagara garrison, composed the American forces on the frontier; by July 4, eight days after the declaration of war had been received, the force had been augmented to nearly three thousand. William Wadsworth was soon placed in command. On July 28 General Amos Hall was his successor, and August 11 Van Rensselaer assumed command, with headquarters at Lewiston. The express rider had gone on, scattering his hand- bills, blowing his tin horn, and rousing the people along the way. A town meet- ing was immediately announced to be held at Canandaigua on June 24. The citi- zens of the town turned out in large numbers, and the meeting was organized by the selection of Major William Shepard as chairman, and John C. Spencer, sec- retary. A committee of correspondence was appointed, consisting of the follow- ing-named gentlemen : Nathaniel W. Howell, Thaddeus Chapin, Zachariah Sey- mour, Oliver L. Phelps, J. C. Spencer, Nathaniel Gorham, Moses Atwater, James Smedley, and Hugh Jameson. A resolution was passed recommending the for- mation of a citizens' corps, to be composed of citizens exempt from military duty, for the defense of the village. A war meeting was also held in East Bloomfield, July 4, at which Captain Timothy Buell presided, and Daniel Bronson officiated as secretary. A company was organized for the defense of families and homes, called the " East Bloomfield Alarm Company." They resolved to arm themselves, and, when called upon, to assemble and march to the relief of any place in On- tario County, and for this purpose "pledged their sacred honor." Farmington held a war meeting at the tavern of Ebenezer Pratt. Sylvester Davis was chair- man, and Nathan Barlow secretary. A corps was here formed for local protec- tion, and fifty-three names at once enrolled.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 16

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

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