History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 76

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ing a mist over our own origin, and comes darkly upon the old scene of De Nou- ville's ambuscade. The precise location of the battle-field has been a disputed point with writers; but, as a result of searching investigation by O. H. Marshall, the ground has been located in Victor by indisputable proof. In pioneer days Brandt was a guest of the Boughtons, and pointed out the site of the village on the flats, and the later one on the hill destroyed by the Senecas in 1687, as handed down by tradition. The route of the French army was over the farms of the Dryers, Wm. C. and Truman, near the present Pittsford road.

Among relics plowed up were silver coins, a silver cross, and two five-franc pieces were turned up as late as 1848. Near the trail on the farm of Asahel Boughton there were plowed up, some years ago, a half-bushel of iron balls, about the right size for use in a musket. In Victor's settlement the iron supply was chiefly of the old French axes brought to the surface by cultivation. On the summit of Fort Hill, which is on land owned by Thomas C. Turner's heirs, three miles southwest from Victor village, is a level tract embracing an extent of about sixteen acres. Wm. C. Dryer recollects a trench and breastwork. around this ground,-the former four feet deep in places, and the entire hill covered with forest-trees. A tree out on the hill in the early day proved hollow, and in the hollow space were found a number of gun-barrels. The council-house of the Seneca village was situated on the farm of Bruce Moore on Boughton Hill, and, judging by relics found, was west of his house, some thirty rods from the road. When the land occupied by the Indian village began to be cultivated, the settlers could locate the wigwams by the luxuriant growth caused by the ashes blended with the. earth. Burnt corn, charred and of perfect shape, has been plowed up there. On the west side of the hill from the village numerous remains indicate the tribal burial-place. It was not uncommon, in the days of clearing, to unearth portions of skeletons. In the repair of a fence, Mr. Moore dug through a bank upon the grave of an Indian, and saw there, besides bones, a brass kettle, with beads, French coins, and the iron of a gun, the stock having decayed. Many brass kettles have been found upon the farm of Mr. Moore, and curiosity-seekers have been readily supplied with relics, so that but a few, comparatively, have been retained.

Early settlement began in the spring of 1789, by Jared Boughton. In 1787 he married Olive Stone, a native of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and in the spring of 1788 attended the council at Geneva. His brother Enos was clerk and as- sistant to William Walker, surveyor of the purchase, and bought from the Phelps and Gorham company township 11, range 4, constituting the town of Victor, Ontario County, the price paid being twenty cents an acre, the money being sup- plied by the father, Hezekiah Boughton, and his family. In the spring of 1789, Jared and Enos Boughton came to Canandaigua. They paid two dollars for con- veyance of tools and provisions to the village, then little else than an Indian post, and with axes and a supply of food came to what is now Victor, along the Indian trail to Irondequoit. In what is at present district No. 2, upon the south line of the town, on the farm now occupied by A. Adams, they built a cabin fifteen feet square. It was of poplar poles, and stood near a small brook. In June, Jacob Lobdell and Hezekiah Boughton, Jr., came on with the cattle. They had the use of two yoke of oxen, and went to work to prepare a crop. Potatoes were planted and did not grow; buckwheat was sowed, and eight acres of wheat ground pre- pared and sown in the fall. All returned east late in the fall except Jacob Lobdell, who remained to winter a dozen or more head of cattle upon wild grass cut from an Indian meadow. The winter was mild and the cattle required little attention from Lobdell, who was a young man of eighteen years. He boarded with Elijah Rose, of Bloomfield, three miles distant, and came daily to look after the cattle. On one occasion, while returning home at night, he was pursued by wolves, which kept the woods on each side of him as he ran for refuge to his cabin.

The party which went east left their guns, which hung overhead in the cabin. A party of Indians returning from Canandaigua under the influence of liquor, passed the night in the cabin with Lobdell, who was made the dealer of rum and tobacco to them as his judgment warranted. An Indian showing a disposition to make trouble, was shown the guns, and told to remain quiet or he would awaken those up-stairs. Morning came and all departed.

Lobdell bought one hundred acres of land from Hezekiah and Seymour Bough- ton, where E. D. Hoyt lives, the price being two hundred dollars, which he paid in work. The property remained in the family until recently. He married a daughter of Levi Boughton and had a family of thirteen children, two of whom are living, one, Levi B., in Victor village, and the other, William W., in Michigan. Jacob Lobdell was the first supervisor in the town, held other offices, and was a nseful and influential citizen. He said of his first picnic, that " he was on his way through the woods, in 1789, ahead of the party, and just before reaching Boughton's cabin, seated himself by a brook to eat a lunch," and this he called `the first picnic in Victor. His death occurred November 12, 1847, aged seventy- six years.

On February 19, 1790, Jared Boughton set out with his wife and two small children, Sellick, a boy of two years, and Melanie, an infant daughter, accom- panied by Seymour, a younger brother, as an assistant, to take back the sleigh and horses. Bridging and fording streams they made their way to Geneva, taking with them the family of Colonel Seth Reed of that place. They crossed Canan- daigua outlet on the stringers of the bridge built by Sullivan's army in 1779. On March 7 they reached and moved into the cabin previously built. Provisions brought along, and the buckwheat harvested during the fall, lasted the family till wheat harvest. Of trips to mill we have spoken in county history. Shortly after settlement in the cabin, an Indian armed with a gun entered the house, saw the bread-tray set before the fire, and pinched off a portion of dough to intimate his want of some bread. Mrs. Boughton gave him a piece, and he departed, having said, by signs, that in three days he would return. He did so, bringing two large salmon trout caught in Great brook, a tributary of Mud creek, in the south part of the town. Indians often came with berries, and in moccasined feet moved noiseless and were in the cabin before their presence was discovered, and the cry of surprise invariably gave pleasure to the forest visitors.

Hezekiah, father of Jared, arrived in October, 1790, with his son Seymour and daughter Theodosia. They built near the residence of William Conover, near the station. The place being occupied by Peter Turner, became known as " Turner's Hill." In the spring of 1791 Jared built another cabin, where D. H. Osborne has his house. Ten acres of wheat were sowed in the fall upon a field owned by W. C. Dryer, back of the old Universalist church. In 1792, Hezekiah Boughton built the first framed house in town ; it stood on the hill east of the Four Corners, and was on the site of a house once inhabited by a family named Hamilton. He also built a framed barn. The house was used as a tavern, and was the first in town. Here Boughton kept tavern till his death, in 1798. He was succeeded by N. O. Dickinson, who continued until 1818. The old frames of house and barn are yet in use, the house being now a sheep barn owned by W. D. Dickinson.

In 1792 the land was divided ; the "Hill" fell to Jared, and contained five hundred and thirteen acres, and he owned in all about fourteen hundred acres. In the fall of 1791 Jared moved upon what has since been known as the "Jared Barton farm," and erected a cabin near the site of the present frame house. In the spring of 1792 Jared got out timber, framed and raised a barn, which, for lack of lumber, stood in the frame for a year. It had been intended to erect a saw-mill, but the mill irons were not obtained, and no other mill was available. In the fall of 1793 they built a saw-mill on a small stream in " Hog Hollow," which acquired its title from the large number of hogs fatted in that place on the refuse matter from a distillery once in operation there. Mr. Boughton put up a frame house in 1794-95,-the second framed house in town. The work was done by Phineas Taylor, who was two years in building it, and was paid in land, receiving one hundred acres, which included parts of N. Ketcham and the "Ball" farms. In 1799 Jared and family moved to North Carolina, engaged in lumbering; returned in ten years to Victor. The first birth in the town was that of Frederick, son of Jared, on June 1, 1791. He died February 14, 1860, in Pittsford. Lyman, another son, was born September 6, 1793, and died May 2, 1841, in Michigan. Another member of this leading family was Claudius Victor Boughton, son of Hezekiah, Jr., after whom the town was named.

The first school-house in the town was built on Boughton Hill, on land set apart by them as early as 1790 for a school-house and for a cemetery, and the intention has been carried out up to the present. One of the former school- masters was Daniel S. Dickinson. Asa Hecox, of Connecticut, was in the county soon after Oliver Phelps. He wintered in 1788-89 on the Genesee. In 1790 he brought on his family, farmed some years, and became a tavern-keeper. He was the first postmaster in the town, an early magistrate, and a judge of Ontario County. He died in 1829. A son, Vine W. Hecox, was drafted in 1812, and killed at the battle of Queenstown by a wounded Indian, who fired from behind a log, as Sergeant Hecox came and shot him through the head. Abijah Williams came to Victor in 1790, and bought land in the north part of the town, but soon sold, and purchased what is now composed in the farm of Walter Norton, R. B. Moore, and a part of Mr. Green's land. The first dwelling was of log material, located on Norton's farm. He was by trade a carpenter, and soon had a frame house on the farm of R. B. Moore, where he passed his life, dying in 1842, aged eighty-five. He had a family of six children. Two sons, Robert and James, resided in town. A daughter, Lucinda, married Asahel Moore, and raised fourteen children. Nicholas Smith came in 1790, and settled near where A. Adams now owns. He was the first collector of taxes, elected in 1796. Ezra Wilmarth and family moved in during 1796. and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, a portion of which is now owned by J. Bennett. They had three hundred and forty dollars in silver to pay for their land. Sale was made in 1816 to Samuel Gillis, a son-in-law, and Wilmarth moved to Boughton Hill, where, in 1815, he

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had begun to build a brick house, which was finished and opened as an inn on Christmas, 1816. The building was used as a tavern for eight years by the builder, and has since been used as a dwelling. Hezekiah Boughton, Jr., brother to Jared, set out for this locality from Massachusetts with a family. He fell sick and died on the way; the family came on, and located north of N. Ketcham's place. Reuben Parmele, a Presbyterian minister in Victor, arrived in 1798, and preached for a period of a quarter-century, and was a man of great value in the community. Ebenezer Bement bought where O'Dougherty resides, and was of the early blacksmiths. He married one of the Brace family, and finally moved away. A son, Harvey, carried on a shop at the old place. Josiah and Jabez Morehouse were of the early settlers near the town line; the former was captain of militia, and both held town offices. Peter Perry once lived upon the property of N. Turner. Dr. Thomas Beach purchased, in 1817, of E. Bement an un- finished dwelling, now in use by William Gallup, employed Jeremiah Hawkins to put it in good repair, and moved in. The house was afterwards rented to Mr. Gully, and kept as a tavern. Dr. Beach came to Victor in 1808, and settled on the farm owned by B. F. Timmerman. He lost two sons during an epidemic which raged in this locality in 1813. The doctor was kept constantly at work, for the sick people followed him from house to house begging assistance. He could get rest only by halting in the woods, tying his horse, using saddle for pillow, placing his alarm watch by his head, and on being awakened proceeding upon his journey. He was an excellent physician, and was in demand from Bristol to Lake Ontario. Many incidents are told of perils in the forest by night, and kind acts to the poor. He died December 24, 1840, and his remains rest in the family vault at Victor. Ira Seymour, a tailor, lived and died on the farm owned by S. S. Norton. Elisha Brace came, about 1793, from Massachusetts, and located on Brace strect, where T. McMahon lives; he raised a large family. William, a son, was a resident farther north. He was a major in the militia, and present just prior to the burning of Buffalo. The only descendant of the family resident of town is F. B. Brace, a merchant in Victor village. Herman Brace, brother of Elisha, lived in the same neighborhood. John and Reuben located north on the road; the latter kept a tavern at Hathaway's Corners. John be- came a pork-packer, and, removing to Canandaigua, followed the business there till his death. Joseph Brace, another brother, purchased the property farther north, where Mr. Stewart lives; here he died, and most of his family became residents of Lockport. Joel Brace was said to have been the first practicing physician in town, and had an extensive practice. It is related that the wife of Elisha Brace rode on horseback to the Cornusa Mill, north of their house, with flour, and there baked bread, there being no oven nearer. On her return one evening, with her children and freshly-baked bread, a number of wolves followed her so closely that she was obliged to feed the loaves one by one, and improve each delay to hurry homeward. She reached her house in safety, but with the loss of her day's labor.

District No. 1 is the centre of many converging roads, and contains the village of Victor. In 1798 the site of the village contained two log houses, owned and occupied by Captain A. Hawley, Sr., and his son James. The captain's house stood back of Gallup's store, and his ownership extended over the principal por- tion of the village site. James Hawley kept tavern in his cabin, which stood where now is the residence of Dr. Charles Ball. It was a double-log house, having but one story and two rooms. One was used for the bar, the other for the tavern proper. Rufus Dryer was the second inn-keeper. Toward the depot lived Peter Turner and Isaac Root. The latter owned a farm of one hundred acres ; he sold twenty to Dr. Beach, and the remaining eighty to Aldin Coville. His life was passed in the village. Turner's cabin was near the depot where Wil- liam Conover lives. He also owned one hundred acres. William Bushnell became its purchaser, and his son-in-law, D. H. Osborn, is the present owner. Israel M. Blood came in 1790, by boat, up Mud creek, and temporarily found work with Eber Norton, of Bloomfield. He moved to the farm now held by W. F. Haw- kins, where he finally died far advanced in years. A son, Stephen, is a resident of the town. Samuel Bugnean lived south of Blood. A man named Abbott had previously occupied the place, and dying, Blood married his widow, and both died upon the farm. Joel Howe was the occupant of a log cabin, and the owner of one hundred acres, upon which he made a small clearing. He exchanged land with Norman Brace, who exchanged with J. Perkins, who held the place till his demise; the farm descended to Ansil Perkins, and is now the home of Hiram Ladd, whose residence is a great improvement upon the original habitation of Howe. Michacl Brooks, a tailor, continued his trade in his residence, which stood on a six-acre patch of ground, now owned by Porter Rawson. Tailoring was then done in families, and he went from house to house, cutting out gar- ments, which were made by the women. He was skillful and economic of cloth, and gave general satisfaction.

Samuel Rawson purchased of Peter Smith, father of Gerrit Smith, of Madison

county, a farm in the west part of the district. The next year, 1813, he moved his family on his purchase, and began to clear his land. He held various offices of trust, all of which were honestly conducted. He was made a magistrate by appointment, and, later, by election, and served continuously twenty-five years. He was supervisor, member of Assembly, and an associate judge. Upon the homestead, now the property of his son, A. P. Rawson, he died March 4, 1874, in his ninety-third year.

VICTOR VILLAGE.

James Hawley, as mentioned, was the first tavern-keeper in the inception of the place. Horse-thieving had been carried on, and the leader of a gang, McBane by name, was, in June, 1801, wounded by a shot from a gun aimed by Solomon Turner. He was taken to Hawley's tavern, where his wounds were dressed by Dr. Hart, then resident of the place. The thief was taken to Canandaigua, and carefully attended, but died within a few days. Hawley sold his premises to Eleazer Boughton. A dispute arose between him and his wife, who went for refuge to the house of Joseph Perkins. Hawley then burned the latter's barn and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Abner Hawley, Jr., was a large land-owner, but lost the greater portion by speculation. As an illustration, he bought a leopard of a showman, giving therefor a note for one thousand dollars which he failed to meet. Rufus Dryer came from Massachusetts in 1792, at the age of eighteen years. He went to North Carolina in 1799. Returned to New York, married at Cazenovia, and returned to Victor in 1807. He purchased the tavern of E. Boughton, and began business in 1808. Remaining five years, he rented to Asa Hickox four years, and moved back in the spring of 1817. In 1818 he built the Victor hotel, which he opened Christmas, 1819. He died in October, 1820; Miss Dryer kept the house two years; rented several years to John M. Hughes. George W. and William C. Dryer went into the hotel in 1828. In 1833 George W. went to Michigan, and Truman took his place. The house was sold in 1848 to Harry Peck. It is now owned by George Peer and William R. Dryer, son of William C. Dryer. Rufus Dryer and N. O. Dickinson built a grist-mill in Hog Hollow in 1810 or 1811, and furnished bacon and flour on the " lines" during the war. The former became sole owner in 1816. The property was sold to Dewey Bement, and was burned in 1832 or 1833. The hotel occu- pied by T. B. Brace was built by Jabez Felt in 1816, and conducted by him many years. Ebenezer Bement kept tavern in the house where William Gallup lives. The first permanent merchant was William Bushnell, who was preceded in trade by Enos Boughton. He later opened a store where A. L. Peet's harness- shop is located. These stores were opened as early as 1808. The old tailor-shop of James Walling was occupied as a store by Bushnell and Jenks about 1820. Nathan Jenks built the store occupied by A. Simonds & Co. in 1833-34, and sold the old store to Giles Arnold, a tailor, who carried on his trade ten years, and died. James Walling became the owner, and in 1874 sold the old shop and . erected a new brick block, and prepared for a more extensive business. The store occupied by William Gallup & Co. was built by Thomas Embry in 1835, and used by him for several years. Alfred Grey was a store-keeper in 1817. Succeeded in two years by T. M. Boughton, he, in turn, was followed by Thomas Embry, who built a new store in 1835. John I. Turner and William I., his son, moved in during 1826, and opened a shoe-shop in the old office of Dr. Beach, until they built a new shop, now the dwelling of Thomas Henehan.

The first wagon-shop was carried on by Stephen Collyer. He began in 1816, and continued till 1834, and removed to Michigan. The first harness-shop was opened by William T. Roup. David Stout was an early hatter in Victor. The first tannery was built in 1810, by Enos, Samuel, and James L. Gillis. A shoe- manufactory was connected therewith, and business carried on for twenty-five years. In 1816 Bachelor and Leary opened a blacksmith-shop on the old road back of the bank building.

A school-house was finished in November, 1816. It was a frame structure, and the first teacher within its walls was Melancton Lewis, of Massachusetts. He was hired at twenty dollars per month for five months, and boarded around. He had a school of full fifty scholars, of whom William C. Dryer is a survivor. The teacher is still a resident of the village, but the old house is removed.

The postmasters of the village have been Asa Hickox, William Bushnell, twenty years, William C. Dryer, in 1835, A. P. Dickinson, William M. Boltwood, John P. Frazer, and William Gallup. A railroad station was established when the road was built, but no tickets sold for some time. Cornelius Hurley was the first ticket-agent, succeeded by his son, who was soon followed by Gideon Shaw. The village is handsomely situated, contains five churches, a graded school, and a population exceeding five hundred persons.

The Jacobs block, situate on Main street, was the second and last three-story building built in Victor, and is the largest business block in the village. The building is forty-four feet front by sixty feet deep, and was designed and built

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by Albert Jacobs in 1875-76, at a cost of about five thousand dollars, the small- ness of its cost owing to the fact that a large amount of the work was done by the owner. The ground floor contains two stores,-Fraser & Moul, stoves, tin- ware, etc., and Betts & Fosmire, boots and shoes. The second floor is occupied by C. Jacobs & Co., harnesses, etc., and Albert Jacobs, billiards, etc. The entire third floor is designed for a public hall, the reception- and waiting-rooms being on the second floor.

To district No. 4 (East Victor) came Abraham Broughton, from Massachusetts, in 1791. His location was on the farm now owned by his son, Harry, who was born here in 1797. Accompanied by his family, he came the long journey on ox-team and sled, and experienced the hardships of a travel to the later generation unknown. He afterwards engaged in hauling wheat to Albany, returning with goods for the Canandaigua merchants. He passed away upon the farm March 2, 1827.

Solomon Griswald came later and purchased in the southeast part of the town, but soon removing to this district to the farm of J. Colmey, and finally selling to Isaac Wheeler, and moving to Michigan.

Thomas Hawley located upon the land of John Welch, and built the stone house which stands upon the farm. He erected the saw-mill on . Fish creek pre- vious to 1800; ran it a number of years, sold out, and went west.

Otis Wilmarth built a grist-mill on the west side of the creek after Hawley left, and ran a saw-mill in connection with it. The grist-mill is yet in use, being operated by Hiram Cannon.

Elijah Griswald came in about 1800, and some six years later erected a carding- mill near Hawley's mills, and was kept busy for a short time when the grist-mill took its place.

Levi Boughton came to the town in 1789, and moved here in 1790. Boughton lived in various localities, and one of these was the place of G. A. Adams, near Great brook. He sold to Silas Pardee during the war of 1812, and moved near where Fisher's Station now is.

Samuel Drowne located at the forks of the road, on land now owned by G. W. Torrence. He removed to the vicinity of the Shire village in 1809.

Eleazer Boughton built a cooper-shop north of Henry Boughton. Prior to the war of 1812 he moved to lot 22, north of the village, where he continued the business of coopering.

Ezekiel Scudder north of East Victor, locating in 1800 where A. Scramling lives. He followed farming for some time, and then erected the first permanent mill in town on the site of the Phoenix Mills at East Victor, owned by Milbur & Son.

A small settlement was afterwards made there, which was called Scudderville, but was changed in later years to the present name. When Scudder first went to build the mill, he made his couch in a tree-top as a precaution from the attack of wolves. He procured bread and had his washing done at Jared Boughton's, going once a week for those purposes. After a prosperous business for years, he sold to Thomas Wright and Elisha Ingersoll about 1826.

After passing through various hands, the property fell to Solomon Carman, in whose possession the mill burned about 1860. He erected a frame mill during the same season. It is now run by B. Wilbur. The mill first erected was prob- ably a saw-mill at a very early date, and his grist-mill was put up about 1810.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 76

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

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