History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 50

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RES. or E. W. GARDNER , ESQ., GIBSON ST. CANANDAIGUA, N.Y.

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PLATE XXXIX.

James Showrally

Ellen H. Whourales

RES. OF. JAMES WHORRALL , CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK.

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PERSONAL SKETCHES.

AUGUSTINE SACKETT.

Nature has done much for some men, and the simple improvement of inherent qualities has brought a train of comforts such as are considered component parts of life's blessings. In this regard we may briefly consider the character and sketch the life of Augustine Sackett. He has come from a pioneer stock, original settlers in Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut. Upon the farm where he was born, on April 24, 1789, his great-grandfather cleared the primeval forest, and the fifth of the Sackett generations now reside. He was the son of Homer Sackett, and one in a family of twelve children. His early youth was spent at home, engaged on the farm during summer, and attending school in winter. These periods of study in good schools enabled young Sackett to aspire to become himself a teacher, and at the age of nineteen he conducted a winter school at nine dollars per month, and was well satisfied with his first attempt.

Members of the Sackett family had gone to the Genesee country as early as 1801, and some of them had settled and sent home favorable reports of what is now Ontario County proper. The topic of discourse was the advantages offered by this new field, and in April, 1812, Mr. Sackett left Warren upon a prospecting tour, and, at the expiration of twelve days, traveling in a one-horse wagon, reached the town of East Bloomfield. He remained in the town nineteen months, work- ing by the month on a farm, and teaching school. In the fall of 1813, in company with his brother Theron, Augustine purchased ninety-four acres in the town of Canandaigua, whereon he is a present resident. In November he set out on horseback and returned to Connecticut; he was ten days on the road. He speedily engaged a school in his father's district, and boarded at home. On March 31, 1814, he married Arze, daughter of Platt Starr, born in Warren, June 11, 1793. Leaving his wife at her father's, Mr. Sackett returned to Canan- daigua with a two-horse wagon, and reached his destination about the 1st of May. The summer was passed with Theron on the land previously purchased. August 25 he drove back east, and on September 16 bade farewell to the old home, and set out with his wife for his new one in Canandaigua. Two weeks were occupied in the journey. These young pioneers began housekeeping in a frame building sixteen by twenty-four feet. Here they lived until 1825, when the house at present the homestead was erected. The farm, now so well cleared and improved, so well supplied with buildings, had at the outset but twenty acres cleared, and no house upon it of any account. The blessing of good health was enjoyed, and, combined with economy and industry, the comforts of life have been experienced with but few of its luxuries. In time eight children were added to the family circle. Sarah Lucinda, the eldest, was born June 16, 1815, and died January 7, 1846. Darius C., the youngest, born December 7, 1839, died February 10, 1871 ; he acquired a good education, and directed his thoughts to sacred themes ; be- came a Presbyterian minister, and was settled over a church at Rock Stream, New York, when his health failed and terminated his labors. After a life com- panionship of over fifty years Mrs. Arze Sackett died November 20, 1871, and left her husband to travel life's pathway in the companionship of. affectionate children. Mr. Sackett bought out his brother's interest in the farm, and from time to time added to its area until it comprised three hund .. i and fifty acres. One hundred and fifty have been transferred, leaving two hundred in the home- stead. Mr. Sackett has never been obtrusive, but when called to act has been found capable and reliable. He has been required to serve as assessor repeatedly, and as school commissioner served acceptably. To the appellation of colonel he is justly entitled, having risen upon the gradations of military rank, and in about 1826 being lieutenant colonelof a regiment of State troops. These promotions followed as a reward of faithfulness, stimulated by a natural love of discipline. Popular among the men, he was not less so among the officers, and may well re- call his experience with pleasure. Early in life, as we have seen, he entered the school-room as an instructor, and has ever been a friend to the common school system. He built, of brick, for four hundred dollars, the first house used for school purposes in the district, and at both academy and seminary has made available their facilities for the education of his children. It is a memory of the past that Mr. Sackett hauled cord-wood to pay for the tuition of his daughters.

He joined the Congregational church about 1840, and wife and daughters were and are connected with that denomination. He has not ignored politics, and has been a member of parties regarded by him as best calculated for national progress. A Federalist, a Whig, a Unionist, and at present a Democrat, and in favor of the best men, wherever they may be found. About and with him his family is living with comfort. He has been and is a farmer, and from the production of wheat and the raising of stock has been enabled to obtain a comfortable livelihood. Seen at home, his influence has been firmly and judiciously exercised ; not deny- ing reasonable indulgence, and seeking their prosperity, he has the honor and affection of his children, with whom his years pass pleasurable. The impression left upon the mind of the stranger is of an aged man, worthy, estimable, and of noble bearing; hospitable, kind, and in the enjoyment of the fruit of honest endeavor; at peace with men, and reposing trust in the goodness of God.

GEORGE HICKOX.

Our brief records permit little else than genealogy, with the chronology of de- scent, and incidental notice of the life of George Hickox, his predecessors and his immediate descendants. Stephen Hickox, great-grandfather of Mr. Hickox, came from England, married Lydia Spelmen, settled in the middle parish of Granville, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, and lived and died there.

Levi, son of Stephen, was born in Granville, April 27, 1751. Sibyl Moore, who became his wife, was a native of Middletown, Connecticut, and moved to Canandaigua, New York, in 1791. Her death occurred December 29, 1801. His death took place January 7, 1811, in his sixtieth year.

George Hickox, Sr., was born in Granville, January 25, 1772; and Eunice, his wife, August 14, 1777. Both parties came west to Canandaigua,-the former on January 31, 1793. They were married January 26, 1797. Eunice Hickox died May 27, 1845. Mr. Hickox moved upon different farms, made improve- ments, and sold the betterments. He had a family of nine children-four sons and five daughters-born, and dead or living as follows: Orpha, 1798, died in Michigan ; Eunice, 1800, died in Wisconsin; George, December 29, 1802; Zo- phar H., 1810, died in Wayne county; Luman, 1805, met death by accident; Michael S., now widowed; Mrs. Elias Durand; Luman C., 1812, died in the town; Roxana, 1815, resident of Wisconsin ; Candice L., 1819, widowed and living in Wisconsin.

George Hickox, the especial subject of our notice, was born upon the farm now owned by Lorenzo H. Tillotson. He early manifested an interest in farming, and a fondness for the vocation of a shepherd. When any one indulges his taste, he makes a choice likely to result in advantage, and it is natural to find that the youth who loved to care for the lambs should have become a heavy stock-raiser. As an index of the extent to which he conducted his operations, it may be stated that at one time his flock of sheep numbered between four and five hundred choice merinos; his drove of cattle, some thirty fine Durhams; while from his meadow farm, at Cheshire, were taken one hundred and thirty tons of pressed hay. The first purchase of farm lands numbered fifty acres, and by purchase had in- creased to four hundred and fifty-six. Sale was made of the Cheshire farm, and the present homestead numbers two hundred and two acres.

He was married on February 25, 1828, to Mary A. Mallory, born at Milford, Connecticut, September 20, 1808, and the marital relation has been of mutual concord and affection. Possessed of those qualities which make the name of mother loved and revered, Mrs. Hickox enjoys, in the decline of life, the fruition of her unwearied efforts to teach, by precept and example, the lessons of truth, honor, industry, and religion.

Four children have been given them,-three sons and a daughter. George S. dates existence from March 30, 1829; James S., August 10, 1830; Henry B., January 19, 1833; and Mary D., May 26, 1837. The three sons are all married, and settled upon farms in the immediate vicinity of the homestead. As the

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

father, so the son ; and the example of ample and well-built barns and sheds, of improved machinery, and both intelligent and energetic tillage, seen when under the paternal roof, has been given to a purpose. George lives on the farm adjoin- ing the homestead; James on the second farm, known as the "Cooley farm;" and Henry one mile south, in distance of dwellings, but with lands but a few rods apart. While it may be true that practical education is valuable, theoretical knowledge is by no means to be underrated. The learning of the schools lays a basis for an after superstructure in life, and such a foundation was early bestowed by Mr. Hickox upon all his children. The boys reaped the advantages offered by the curriculum of the Canandaigua Academy, and the only daughter studied to a purpose when an inmate of the seminary. She has long been a teacher, has had charge of different seminaries as preceptrees, and from natural aptitude, education, and taste may be regarded as a capable and popular professional educator.

A further consideration of the life of George Hickox reveals a man of medium stature, plain appearance, few, meaning words, and undemonstrative action. The condition of his farm, the taste and elegance of his residence, the lives of his children, are points of observation which inform the eye and give an index of character. A believer in rotation of crops, his land has lost nothing of its fer- tility ; having pride in the best and knowing it the cheapest, his stock have taken many premiums. To make society of value, he has contributed both money and labor, and whether engaged with quiet diligence in the cultivation of his fields and the care of his stock, or among those whose united effort has perpetuated and enhanced the utility of the annual fairs of Ontario, his name may be mentioned as of one of the prominent and leading agriculturists of the county. Knowing but little of the lessons taught in schools, he is yet well informed, through the powerful educative influence of the public press. Publishers find in him a patron, and the table is covered with the literature of the day. Reverent to his Creator, he is not unmindful of his obligations, and joining the Methodist Episcopal church at Cokes' chapel, in 1833, he remained its steward a quarter-century. His charities are not ostentatious, his gifts are not blazoned, but they are none the less extensive and effective. An original Whig, he is a present Democrat, but not a partisan; and, as illustrative of his principles, no drunken candidate for popular suffrage could have his vote. While the name of George Hickox may not be heard beyond his own county, his life is not the less noble, his example lees laudable.

JOHN B. COOLEY.

Every person has some test, some experience, whose illustration may be a benefit to others. A sterling trait of character possessed by Mr. Cooley, combined with modesty, is self-reliance, and his biography shows how a youth possessed of good health may lay the foundation for an after-life of usefulness and enjoyment.

John Cooley came to Canandaigua about 1790, and bought a farm of sixty-five aores on lot 72, now owned by J. S. Hickox. He married Margaret, sister of Abner Barlow, by whom he had one child, Lyman, who in early manhood was a teacher, and who died aged fifty-seven years. Mr. Cooley again married; his second wife was Lucina Bissel. He had gone upon his land, and erecting build- ings, cleared off the timber, purchased additional land, and one by one children had been added to the family till their number was eight,-two sons, six daughters. The father died aged forty-eight years, during April, 1817, and left his widow to raise the family and conduct the farm. The first child, a son, died in infancy. Margaret married Marcus Norton, and died in Canandaigua Emily married Amass Chapman, then David Cassort, and died in town. She has children in Ilinois. Minerva married Benjamin Sheldon, Jr., and died about 1835, in Chili, Monroe county. Ann H. married Hiram L. Collins, and died at Pittsford, Monroe county. Lydia married Edwin A. North, and died in East Bloomfield, about 1865. Terrissa is the wife of Orson Wilcox, resident of East Bloomfield.' All have descendants in Ontario and the west.

John B. Cooley, the only son, was born upon the old farm in the town of Can- andaigua, on February 12, 1814. We have noted the father's death, and the .widow left to her own resources. She rented the farm to various parties until John B., a sturdy, self-reliant lad, had reached the age of twelve years. A tenant had just left the farm and Mrs. Cooley was prepared to engage another, when her son proposed to undertake to carry on the farm for that season. With some doubt the mother permitted the effort, and it was successful, and for years the land was cultivated by him. All the advantages a common school could furnish were sup- plied, and when he reached the age of eighteen he attended the academy a year, and split rails to pay his board. During this time his brother-in-law, Mr. Wil- cox, rented and carried on the farm. On February 18, 1836, he was united in marriage to Adaline Cooley, of Attica, Wyoming county, and continued his agricultural labor. His mother, who had passed her life upon the homestead,

died in 1845. The son became manager of the farm of two hundred acres, upon which he lives, some fifteen years before the deed was given. He has purchased fields and sold as the opportunity presented, and has now four hundred and thirty- nine acres of choice land.

Beginning the life of a farmer young, and desirous of securing from his labor the greatest possible results, Mr. Cooley has learned that production bears propor- tion to the condition of the soil as well as to its tillage. Stone and stump have been entirely removed, and huge cairns evidence a laborious task completed. Lands are kept well manured, tools are placed in shelter, and extensive sheds and barns house stock and hold farm products. He has engaged in a mixed husbandry, and the failure of one crop has been atoned by the growth of another. Sheep- raising has been and is a leading employment, and with this has been combined wheat-growing. Upon the Cooley farm five hundred fine merino sheep have grazed at one time, and seventy acres of wheat have ripened at a single harvest. A fine flock of two hundred choice merinos are now upon the farm; besides, there are the best breeds of swine and valuable Durham cattle. Upon the estate one may find all kinds of farm machinery, kept under cover and ready in condition when required for use. Assiduous in home-work, he has combined with other leading farmers and helped to make the Ontario Agricultural Society what it is to-day, by membership, labor, and outlay of means. Upon the records of the so- ciety many premiums to his credit attest the character of his products. He is no aspirant for political preferment, and, while Democratic in principles, is inde- pendent in action. He joined the Methodist Episcopal church in 1832, and has contributed of means to the church till date. Mr. Cooley is of genial, social dis- position, a liberal provider, and an indulgent parent. Desirous of securing the advantages of education to his family, he has kept his home well supplied with many newspapers, and furnished his children opportunity to attend to the acquisi- tion of education. By his first wife he had eight children, seven of whom are living. Mrs. Cooley died on January 28, 1853. Francis, born February 17, 1837, and Lucian A., September 16, 1838, are residents upon farms near Jackson, Michigan. Martha Ann, born April 3, 1840, May A., June 11, 1847, and Lu- cina, January 31, 1849, are living at home. John D., born May 30, 1842, is a farmer in East Bloomfield ; and Frederick S., born November 17, 1844, is mar- ried and resides upon and works a part of his father's farm. Mr. Cooley married on July 14, 1853, Catharine T. Benson, who has borne to him four children,- three daughters and one son. Adaline, born July 14, 1855, died January 9, 1860; Orion J., born November 18, 1856; Nelly D., June 14, 1859; and Catharine E., June 26, 1860, make the old farm their home. The examples of history and its events fraught with truth impress the mind, but an instance taken from the ranks of the husbandman presenting honest independence, and how it was obtained, properly applied, is a valuable leeson.

J. E. CHASE.

None repent the diligence of their youth nor applaud their own idleness ; but the pleasure of retrospection is the memory of time well spent. It is not that J. E. Chase was born in Montgomery county, New York, but a natural desire to learn how by inherent energy a man destitute of property has finally reached a compe- tence, and what striking points mark a new departure destined to result in ulti- mate success. The loss of a parent has generally a double significance,-a depriva- tion of valuable companionship and the cessation of support. It was in this sense that Mrs. Chase, mother of J. E., was left in 1818 with three small children, and dependent upon human sympathy. Years went by and many a privation was ex- perienced, and powerfully were the lessons of diligence and self-denial impressed upon the character. In the year 1839, J. E. Chase was united in marriage to Miss Julia Lake, of Essex county, New York. Two years later he removed to Hopewell, Ontario County, and in 1843 became a resident of Canandaigua. A comparison of the past with the present exhibits a contrast between a young man, just married, arriving in this county with but three quarters of a dollar with which to begin the battle of life, and the present owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres of good land free from incumbrance. Three qualities have been potent to secure this happy result,-industry, sobriety, and religion. The early settler in Ontario, while his deprivations were greater, had his land at nominal rates; but he who could become the owner of a farm of two hundred acres, beginning with an empty pocket and only a hopeful mind as late as 1843, had full oocasion to illustrate that industry which, connected with abstinence from an unhealthy and destructive stimulus, will almost invariably result in prosperity. Mr. Chase em- braced religion in early life, and has found its consolations a great comfort under severe trials, through which his life has passed. He can confidently recommend . search for this wisdom, as " above rubies," and not to be compared in value with aught temporal and earthly.

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GENEVA VILLAGE.

"Oh, a wonderful stream is the river Time, As it runs through the realm of tears, With a faultless rhythm and musical rhyme, And a boundless sweep and surge sublime, As it blends with the ocean of years."

B. F. TAYLOR.

NOTHING can be of greater interest to the student of local history than men- tion of those Romans of the forest who inhabited this county immediately prior to the advent of the white settler, and proud should the people of Geneva be in the recollection that where now are located their pleasant homes, scarce a century ago the wilderness resounded with the war-whoop of the fierce Iroquois, the most powerful as well as intellectual nation of aborigines of which we have any record. Where was there a warrior who equaled Brandt, or an orator superior to Red Jacket ? The valor, and, it is well to add, the barbarity, of Joseph Brandt ( Thay- endenega) have gone down to history without a parallel in the annals of the world, while Red Jacket's power at the council-fire and at the treaty was mightiest of all.

Sullivan's campaign, and its severe but salutary results, are matters of his- tory. At "Kanadesaga," the American army found and destroyed a large Seneca village. Here the warriors had gathered their forces, and at this point a battle was anticipated ; but as the white soldiers advanced the Indians abandoned their homes and fied in terror before the thunder of his artillery, like leaves before the whirl- wind. Nearly a decade had passed after this invasion before an attempt was made by the whites to purchase their lands and enter upon their settlement. Phelps and Gorham completed their purchase April 1, 1788. This was effected with difficulty, in consequence of the interference and subtle intrigues of the agents employed by the lessee company.

The history of the pre-emption lines is given in the county history. Between those lines, in the " Gore," lay the tract of Reed and Ryckman, consisting of six- teen thousand acres, held by them for services in negotiating Indian treaties, they being agents and members of the lessee company. Upon this tract, at the foot of the Seneca lake, was begun the hamlet which now claims attention as the metropolis of Ontario County. All that has been effected towards establishing the village, prior to 1793, was under the auspices of Reed and Ryckman and the lessees. Geneva in 1787 consisted of a solitary, unfinished log house, inhabited by a man named Jennings. When white settlement was made at this point Buffalo was an Indian village untrodden by Americans, and six years elapsed before Colonel John Hardenburg, the first settler in Cayuga county, had located where now stands the thriving city of Auburn. Rochester was a wilderness, and thirty years elapsed after the settlement of Geneva before Rochester, now a city of more than eighty thousand inhabitants, was incorporated as a village.

On June 4, 1788, Oliver Phelps arrived at " Kanadesaga" (Geneva), and was highly pleased with the location and its surroundings. The following is an ex- tract from a letter written by him at this time :

" I am well pleased with what I have seen of the country. This place is situ- sted at the foot of Seneca lake, on a beautiful hill which overlooks the country around it, and gives a fine prospect of the whole lake, which is about forty miles in length. Here we propose to build a city, as there is a water carriage from here to Schenectady, with only two carrying places of one mile each."

In 1788 the little village of Geneva was a pretty brisk place. Here were the speculator, the explorer, the lessee company and their agents, all actively engaged in furthering their respective operations. The lessee company had a bark-roofed framed tavern and a trading establishment on the lake shore. The village was the principal seat of the Indian trade for a wide region.

Ass Ranson, who afterwards became somewhat noted as the first settler at Buffalo, occupied a small hut and was manufacturing Indian trinkets.

Horatio Jones was living in a rude structure covered with bark, located on the bank of the lake. He was an Indian trader and interpreter. Clark Jennings had a log tavern on the bank of the lake, and there was a cluster of houses on the lake shore. Peter Ryckman, Peter Bortle, and Colonel Seth Reed were residing here at this time. These were prominent men, and did much in shaping pioneer movements at "Kanadesaga."

At the close of day on the 20th of September, 1790, a small party of explorers emerged from the thicket at the foot of the lake, and the leader, Mr. Elkanah Watson, thus describes the grandeur of the scene when their eyes fell upon this beautiful lake and landscape :

"The sun was just setting as we entered the lake, which opened upon us like a new creation, rising to our view in picturesque and romantic beauty. Our pros- pect extends south over a bold sheet of water. The tops of the hills and trees were just tinged with the departing sun, the evening was serene, and my mind involuntarily expanded in anticipating the period when the borders of the lake will be stripped of nature's livery, and in its place rich enclosures, pleasant villas, numerous flocks, herds, etc., and inhabited by a happy race of people, enjoying the rich fruits of their own labors, and the luxury of sweet liberty and independ- ence approaching a millennial state."

This picture is given in the same connection :

" Geneva is a small, unhealthy village of fifteen houses,-all log but three,- and about twenty families. It is built partly on the acolivity of a hill, and partly on a flat, with deep marshes north of the town, to which is attributed its unhealthi- ness. We receive decent accommodations at Patterson's, on the margin of the lake, but were troubled most of the night by gamblers and fleas, two curses to society."

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 50

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

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