History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 54

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PLATE XL.

W. C. POTTER.

W. G. POTTER'S MARBLE & GRANITE WORKS, GENEVA, N. Y. IMPORTER OF SCOTCH GRANITE MONUMENTS WILL ERECT SAME IN ANY PART OF COUNTRY AT LOWEST RATES, ALSO GENERAL DEALER IN ALL KINDS OF DOMESTIC MARBLE AND GRANITE WORK

.J. W. SMITH & CO.

INTERIOR VIEW OF J. W. SMITH & CO'S STORE, CO SENECA STREET, GENEVA, NEW YORK. CASH DEALERS IN DRY GOODS, CARPETS &f

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SENECA LAKE.

EVERTS, ENSIGN & EVENTS, LITHE, ZIE FILBERT 3%. PHIL 6

ER, GENEVA, N.Y.

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1 1

PLATE XLII

ERASTUS TUCKER.

MRS. ERASTUS TUCKER.

RES. OF ERASTUS TUCKER, GENEVA, N. Y.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of Dr. Wiley showed one hundred families and one hundred and ninety members in communion.

During the month of August calls were made to Rev. George Patten and Rev. C. Van der Veen, both of which were declined.

The pulpit was kept temporarily supplied every Sabbath, and finally an extra prayer-meeting once a week, in the afternoon, was started, and kept up.

In November the Rev. Samuel J. Rogers was providentially in Geneva, and was invited to supply the pulpit for a Sabbath or two. His services seemed ac- ceptable, and the indications of Providence seemed so emphatic that the consis- tory, on the 13th of November, resolved to give him a call, which was formally made out on the 21st, Rev. J. R. Vanarsdale presiding at the consistory meet- ing, and he was installed as pastor by the classis of Geneva December 12, 1865, Rev. F. N. Zabriskie preaching the installation sermon.

The regular weekly evening and the extra weekly afternoon prayer-meetings were kept up, and soon a spirit of inquiry was manifested, not only in this church, but in the community. At the commencement of the year 1866 a union daily prayer-meeting was commenced in the church, and the Holy Spirit was soon very manifest to God's people. During the month of March, thirty-four were received to the membership of the church. A careful revision of the church membership roll was again made, and April 1, 1866, the statistical report showed seventy families and one hundred and seventy members in communion,-a very large de- crease from the previous year's report, notwithstanding the large addition of members during the year, thus showing that the increase of previous years was only apparent, owing to the large numbers of removals from time to time without taking any dismission from the church, and of whom no trace could be ascertained ; these are not now embraced in the statistics. . Extensive repairs were made to the church, and a complete alteration of the pulpit and pews, at an expense of one thousand one hundred and five dollars, as reported April, 1867, and a further sum of one thousand dollars, as reported April, 1868.

In June, 1867, the general synod of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in North America met in this church, and among other important business was a report of a special committee in relation to a change of name. This report was finally adopted, and the proposition was sent down to classis, a large majority of whom approved the same ; and at a special meeting of synod at Albany in No- vember, final action was taken, and the word " Dutch" dropped, and the name adopted as the Reformed Church in America.

On the 10th April, 1868, the consistory resolved to take the necessary steps to alter the corporate name of the church, so as to conform to the action of gen- eral synod, and have the name of the church hereafter to be the Reformed Church of Geneva. No such steps, however, have been taken, and the corporate name remains as at first,-the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Geneva. Mr. Rogers remained as pastor of the church until 1872. After his first year there were no large accessions to the church in any year, although there was hardly a communion season when there were none received into fellowship. The removals by death and dismission about counterbalanced all the gain to the membership, although the number of families attached to the congregation had quite largely increased. The statistical table, made up immediately after his departure, showed ninety-four families and one hundred and sixty-six in communion. The contri- butions for congregational and benevolent purposes were very largely increased, averaging over two thousand nine hundred dollars per year. Under his minis- tration the congregation was very much united. In January, 1872, he notified the consistory of his intention to accept a call from the Reformed church of Port Jervis, New York; and at a meeting of consistory, presided over by Rev. W. D. Buckalew, of Tyre, his resignation was formally accepted, to take effect March 2.

In the mean time a call was made out to Rev. A. P. Peeke, but as there was some delay in forwarding it, he was obliged to decline, having accepted a call elsewhere.

On the 13th March, 1872, the consistory met, Rev. A. M. Mann, D.D., pre- siding, and a call was made and sent to Rev. William W. Brush, who, on the 20th instant, notified his acceptance, and at once removed to Geneva and entered on the discharge of his labors, and in April he was duly installed as pastor of the church by the classis of Geneva, the Rev. A. M. Mann, D.D., taking a part in the exercises.

It is a singular and noticeable fact that the venerable Dr. Mann participated in the services at the dedication of the church in 1833, and also at the installation of the first and second pastors, as likewise at the installation of the present pastor. He is yet in the vigor of health, and, although retired from the active service of the pastorate, yet often, as opportunity occurs, supplies a vacant pulpit, with his usual earnestness in preaching and to the great acceptance of his hearers.

During the ministry of the present pastor, Rev. W. W. Brush, the church has enjoyed great quietude, and the congregation continues compact and united, the greatest love and affection existing between the people and their pastor. The

growth of the church has been slow but steady, and the number of families have increased to one hundred and members in communion to one hundred and eighty- four. The Sunday-school, which a few years ago was quite depressed, is again in a flourishing condition, and numbers about ninety. The contributions for congre- gational and benevolent purposes continue as large as they ever have been.

TRINITY CHURCH .- The following document gives the record of the formal organization of Trinity church, Geneva, which is transcribed from the original " vestry book" of the parish :

" At a meeting held at Geneva, August 18, 1806, the following persons belong- ing to the Protestant Episcopal church, who have been members for twelve months last past, convened for the purpose of incorporating themselves under the ' act for incorporating religious societies,' to wit :

"John Nicholas, Daniel W. Lewis, James Reese, James Reynolds, David Nagle, Robert W. Stoddard, John Collins, Robert S. Rose, Samuel Colt, Ralph T. Wood, Richard Hughes, William Hortsen, Thomas Wilbur, Richard M. Bailey, William Tappan, Levi Stephens, Thomas Wood, Richard Lazelere, Thomas Smith.

"The following were chosen churchwardens: John Nicholas, Daniel W. Lewis ; and the following-named persons composed the vestry: Samuel Sheckel, John Collins, Robert S. Rose, Richard Hughes, Ralph T. Wood, David Nagle, James Reese, and Thomas Powell. It was unanimously agreed that they be called the Trinity Church."

The step thus taken had been in contemplation for several years; influenced, in part, by the visits of the Rev. Davenport Phelps, and doubtless quite as much by the encouragement given to the few churchmen of Geneva by the immigration from Virginia of the Nicholas and Rose families, traditional church-folk.

There had been gatherings in the village school-house, certainly as early as 1803, at which, when the services of the Rev. Davenport Phelps were not to be had, lay reading was conducted by the Hon. John Nicholas.

Rev. Davenport Phelps was the earliest missionary laborer of this communion in western New York. February 5, 1805, he preached and administered bap- tism to seven infants in Geneva, whose names we copy from the first volume of parish records :

Charles Barrone Hallett, Robert Lawson Rose, Ellis Johnstone, James Moore, Elizabeth Tinline, Ann and Elizabeth Wood.

The first church edifice was completed in 1809, and consecrated by the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, assisted by Rev. Amos G. Baldwin, Rev. Davenport Phelps officiating. The records of February 11, 1818, contain the following, under the head of baptism : " Mary, wife of Jonathan Doane; George Wash- ington, son of the same; and Ann M., daughter of the same." Then is the record of the admission into Christ's flock of the great-hearted bishop of New Jersey, who had resided in Geneva since 1808, and was here to grow up to youth foster- ing that love of learning in the careful reading and study in the book-mart of Colonel James Bogert, which building is now occupied by Edward Kingsland, Esq., on Main street. Among the noted names connected with the mother-church of the present diocese of Western New York, the name of George Washington Doane, D.D., LL.D., will not hold a second place.

The Rev. Mr. Phelps remained rector of this parish until June 27, 1813, when he was called to his final home.

Rev. Orris Clark succeeded Mr. Phelps, and was instituted as rector August 17, 1814. He died on the 24th of August, 1828, and was followed in the rector- ship by Richard S. Mason, D.D., who entered upon his duties July 6, 1828. The Rev. Jasper Adams and Rev. M. McDonald officiated from the decease of Mr. Clark until Dr. Mason took charge of the parish. April 26, 1830, Dr. Mason resigned, and was succeeded by Rev. Nathaniel F. Bruce, who was instituted into the rectorate of the parish August 4, 1831, and remained until 1835. Novem- ber 13, 1836, Rev. Pierce P. Irving was appointed minister of the parish, and May 27, 1837, was admitted to priest's orders, and, on the morning of the follow- ing day, instituted as rector of Trinity. Rev. Mr. Irving officiated until 1843, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Cooke, D.D. (now rector of St. Bartholemew's church, New York city). Dr. Cooke remained but two years, and was followed in the rectorate by Rev. John Henry Hobart, D.D., who also officiated about two years. Dr. Hobart, upon removing to another field of usefulness, was succeeded by the Rev. William Henry Augustus Bissell, D.D.

On Whitsunday, May 16, 1869, the Rev. William Stevens Perry, D.D., LL.D., entered upon the charge of the parish, to which he had been called a few months before, and continued his incumbency until September 10, 1876, when he received, in his parish church,-where the present beloved bishop of Western New York had been consecrated,-the laying on of hands which conferred upon him the episcopate of the diocese of Iowa.

The present house of worship was commenced in April, 1842, and was com- pleted in 1844, being consecrated by the Right Rev. William Heathcote De Lancey, D.D., LL.D., bishop of Western New York, on Wednesday, the 15th of

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

August of that year; the Right Rev. Benj. T. Onderdonk, D.D., preaching the sermon. This structure is one of the largest and finest church edifices in western New York.

UNIVERSALIST CHURCH .- The persons professing faith in the doctrines of the Universalist church assembled as early as the year 1833, and erected a very handsome and substantial brick church in this village; and in the fall of 1834 they organized themselves, under the ministration of Rev. Jacob Chase, into an incorporated reli- gious society, under the general laws of the State of New York regulating the same, with the following well-known citizens as trustees: Abraham A. Post, John Cham- berlain, Jesse Earl, Nathan Reed, Sr., Imley Prescott, Hugh W. Dobbin, Nathan Reed, Jr., Thomas Jones, George H. Butterfield. The clergymen that have officiated as pastors over the congregation from that time up to the present are : Rev. E. D. Kennicott, Jacob Chase, George Sanderson, S. Miles, Z. Cook, L. L. Saddler, Hiram Torrey, Oliver Ackley, S. W. Remington, - Bartlett, J. M. Austin, J. F. Countryman, and C. C. Richardson.

PIONEER SKETCHES.

Intimately associated with the pioneer history of Geneva is the name of Major James Reese. He was a prominent man, and at one time was the private secretary of Robert Morris, General Washington's stanch friend and supporter. He settled in the village in 1798, where he remained until his death. One daughter, the wife of William S. De Zeng, resides in the village.

Herman H. Bogert commenced the practice of law here in 1797. At this time the mail was brought from Albany once in two weeks, on horseback. Mr. Bogert died, leaving several children; the youngest daughter became the wife of Godfrey J. Grosvenor.

Robert W. Stoddard was a lawyer, and came to Geneva when a young man. He was not only highly esteemed by the whites, but was an especial favorite with the red men. He was a commissioner appointed by the government to settle the claims of sufferers by the war of 1812. His fee for settling claims was one dollar, and the Indians bestowed upon him the name of Cowesta, "one dollar." He died in 1847.

Polydore B. Wisner was a prominent lawyer in Geneva in 1805. Daniel W. Lewis was among the pioneers, and was somewhat celebrated as an attorney. Other prominent lawyers were David Hudson and John Collins.

Abraham Dox was a pioneer who came to Geneva in 1805. He was a success- ful merchant and miller, and did much in advancing the interests of the village.

Among the early merchants were Grieve and Moffatt, Septimus Evans, Samuel Colt, Richard M. Williams, Elijah Gordon, Richard M. Bailey, and Mr. Dox. Mr. Grieve was a colonel in the war of 1812, and died in 1835. Mr. Moffatt removed to Buffalo; and Mr. Williams settled in Yates county, where a son, Hon. Richard H. Williams, now resides.

Robert Scott, the agreeable Scotchman and intimate friend of the late John Greig, of Canandaigua, was in the village in 1805, in the Pulteney land office.

Samuel Colt was a brother of Joseph Colt, the pioneer merchant of Canandaigua, Auburn, and Palmyra. He died suddenly, at the hotel, in 1834.

Among the early physicians were Dr. John Henry, Dr. Adams, and Dr. Goodwin.

The earliest mechanics were Wm. Tappan, John and Abram B. Hall, Moses Hall, W. W. Watson, John Woods, Foster Barnard, Richard Lazelere, and Jacob and Joseph Backenstose. The two latter came to the village in its earliest days, and were the " fashionable" tailors of the "Genesee country." Other pioneers were Colonel James Bogert, John Nicholas, Robert L. Rose, Colonel Robert Troup, Captain Charles Williamson, Joseph Fellows, Thomas Lowthrop, David Cook, David Field, Messrs. Hastings, Nathan Parke, Richard H. Hogarth, Dr. Carter, Andrew and William Tillman, Phineas Prouty, John and Robert Rumney, and Bishop Doune.

Geneva has a population of about seven thousand. It has seven churches, three hotels, a water-cure, about two hundred stores, and a number of manufacturing establishments. Situated as it is upon the shore of the beautiful Seneca, and with its pleasant surroundings, it has attracted many families of letters and refinement, who have taken up their abode here in this quiet, charming, and historic village.

SENECA LAKE

is forty miles in length, five miles wide at the broadest part, and is embraced by four counties, Ontario, Yutes, Seneca, and Schuyler. It is noted chiefly for the purity of its waters. It seldom freezes, even in the the most rigorous'weather.

Its Indian name was Kumrudesaga, which was, upon the advent of the whites, changed to its present, in honor of the illustrious Senecas. Upon the settlement of the country it was immediately utilized for purposes of transportation, but not

until about 1825 was the first steamboat launched upon its waters. This was the " Seneca Chief," and was considered a marvel in its day. The importance of the lake to the traveling public increased from year to year, until it has become. one of the principal thoroughfares in the country. An organization, called "The Seneca Lake Steam Navigation Company," was formed a few years since, and now have five steamers, viz., " Onondaga," " Ontario," "Magee," "Schuyler,""and "Elmira." The " Onondaga" and "Schuyler" are passenger steamers; the former commanded by Captain A. Wheeler, and the latter by Captain W. S. Dey. The other steamers are used for the towing of boats, and excursions.

The natural attractions of Seneca lake have from time to time called forth many eulogies from poets and others who have visited its shores and been charmed with the beauty of the scene. The following, and undoubtedly the finest tribute, is from the pen of James C. Percival :

SENECA LAKE.

On thy fair bosom, silver lake, The wild swan spreads his snowy sail, And round his breast the ripples break As down he bears before the gale.

On thy fair bosom, waveless stream, The dipping paddle echoes far, And flashes in the moonlight gleam, And bright reflects the polar star.

The waves along thy pebbly shore, As blows the north wind, heave their foam,

And curl the dashing oar, As late the boatman hies him home.

How sweet, at set of sun, to view Thy golden mirror spreading wide, And see the mist of mant'ling blue Float round the distant mountain-side!

At midnight hour, as shines the moon, A sheet of silver spreads below,

And swift she cuts, at highest noon, Light clouds, like wreaths of purest snow.

On thy fair bosom, silver lake, Oh ! I could ever sweep the oar, When early birds at morning wake, And evening tells us toil is o'er.

LEGEND OF SENECA LAKE.

" Can you tell me a tale, or some legend old, Of the forest wild, or the streamlet cold, Where the Indian, hound, or arrow flew, Or the true hearts pledged their love anew ?"

Our history of this village would be incomplete without the legend of the " Wandering Jew" which is given below, by Professor Vail, of Hobart College :

"In the now distant past, the romantic lakes, the fertile valleys, and the beautiful rolling hills of western New York were the homes of the renowned Six Nations, a confederation that was at once a bulwark to its friends and a terror to its ene- mies. On the eastern shore of Seneca lake, and around its foot up the western shore, dwelt the most warlike and the most dreaded of all these tribes, the Senecas. Throughout the confederation their braves were celebrated for their fine, manly stature, their splendidly developed physique, and their spirit in the chase and on the war-path.

" Among these braves there was one, straight as an arrow ; one whose regal form towered above all others, whose gay-plumed head was always scen foremost in battle, whose eagle eye and steady voice ever guided the fiercest contests to suc- cessful issue, the great Agayentah. Calm and dispassionate at the council-fire, prudent and cautious on the war-path, terrible and resistless in battle, kind, benevolent, and hospitable in peace, well beloved was Agayentah,-Agayentah ! the power of the Six Nations ! the idol of the Senecas !

"One hot and sultry June day, some ten miles from Seneca Castle (Geneva), whither the trail of a huge black bear had led him, Agayentah was taking rest and shelter from an impending storm under a large tree on the high and over- hanging bank. Alas for Agayentah ! Amid a roaring of thunder and a burri- cane of wind there came a death-mingled shaft of lightning that dealt both tree and warrior a fatal blow. The tempest hurled the two lifeless trunks of forest- tree and warrior down the embankment, forth into the water. They floated out upon its surface, amid the angry surging billows; and not until the storm had long passed, and the sun had set in a sea of blood, did the wave-tossed bodies of tree and warrior disappear.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

137

"The next morning, while as yet Agayentah's devoted squaw and family and the Seneca braves were filling the land with lamentations and cries of mourning, there appeared on the surface of the waters something like the trunk of a huge tree standing erect, and protruding about two feet. For a long time it remained sta- tionary, a monument to mark the spot where the noble aboriginal and the forest- tree, the primeval denizens of this lovely country of the lakes, had surrendered up their magnificent heritage to the white man. But it was not to remain a sta- tionary monument of the pathetic event which it commemorated. Upon the ap- proach of another storm, amid the wailing of the wind and the moaning of the tempest, the ' Wandering Jew,' for such it has since been called by the white man, quitted its post and began its ceaseless course of journeying. Up and down, up and down, and around and around the lake, to this day it goes, sometimes against the wind, sometimes with the wind; sometimes disappearing for a period, and then reappearing and resuming its ceaseless march. It turns not from its course for anything, and woe to the mariner that does not keep a respectful dis- tance!

"It is said that strange noises presage the advance of the ' Wandering Jew,' and unto this day, during the quiet and death-like stillness that precede an ap- proaching tempest, and at evening also, whenever the setting sun covers the waters with bloody tints, may be distinctly heard, as symbolic of the tragic event we have related, those wonderful sounds familiarly known as the ' Lake Guns' of the Seneca. In the unwritten book of Indian tradition the significance of these ' Lake Guns' is interpreted, and their connection with Agayentah's death

revealed ; and it is historic that, to the latest day of their lives, when a thunder and lightning storm was abroad and the ' Wandering Jew' was on the march, the Indian braves of the Senecas believed that Agayentah's spirit was in arms and on the war-path, and that the ' Lake Guns' were but the echoes of his power- ful voice marshaling his hosts to battle.

" And thus on the fair bosom of the silver Seneca the ' Wandering Jew' for- ever keeps his troublous march, and the ' Lake Guns' forever sound, preserving to the generations as they succeed each other the memory of the sad fate of Agayentah."

Do not think that the above is but the product of an inventive imagination. There are those still living that have seen the " Wandering Jew," and upon any calm, quiet evening, after a hot summer's day, the "Lake Guns" may be heard either around Dresden Bay or in the neighborhood of Lodi Landing. The " Guns" have often been heard in other places, indeed, but nowhere so frequently as in the two spots mentioned. The sound of these "Guns" is such as we might expect were the contents of a large gasometer suddenly liberated five hundred feet beneath the surface, and the whole volume of gas left to pass instantaneously through the superincumbent mass of waters.

According to the mythology of the ancient Senecas, the body of the unburied Agayentah (the white man's " Wandering Jew") appears and the " Lake Guns" are heard each year; and so it will be as long as the red man inhabits any portion of this continent.

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TOWN OF GENEVA.

GENEVA was set off from the old town of Seneca, October 11, 1872, with the following boundaries : " All that part of the town of Seneca lying east of the west line of the first tier of township lots next west of the old pre-emption line."

Among the first settlers in this town was Jerome Lummis, who came from Connecticut, and located northwest of the village, in the year 1788. Mr. Lummis was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and served gallantly in the "Northern Rangers," under command of Major Whitcomb. He was one of Geneva's most honored pioneers, and greatly assisted the settlers in their early movements. The first oats in the new country were brought from Schenectady by Mr. Lummis, and sowed on the ground now occupied by D. W. Baird's carriage-works.

Six children are now living: Stephen T., Irene, Homer, Henry H., Mary J., and Cordelia. Henry H. is an elder in the Reformed church of Geneva.

John Scoon emigrated from Scotland in about the year 1800, and located in the village. He subsequently settled in the town, a short distance south. Two sons are now living in the county : William in Seneca, and James in this town. Thos. Huie, a soldier of the war of 1812, familiarly known as " Major Huie," was a pioneer, locating on lot 18. The father of Alfonso Wheadon, who now resides on lot 12, at an advanced age, was also an early settler.

Thomas McKelvie left the banks and braes of "auld Scotia," and in an early day located on lot 21, where a son, Charles, now resides. James Barnes early located on lot 33, on lands now owned by a grandson, Washington Barnes, and James Scoon, Esq. James Barnes, Jr., was an early settler on lot 22.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 54

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

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