History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 80

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District No. 5 is mostly in Victor. Ebenezer Spring settled on a tract in this town at an early day, and brought his wife, a daughter of John Adams, into a wilderness, which they lived to see cleared, and which is now the home of their son, B. D. Spring.

District No. 7 was the site of the second settlement in the town. Silas Sprague, with his wife and sons, Roger, Asahel, and Thomas, and three daughters, came from Massachusetts, and built upon lots 49 and 52. Roger was one of the colony in 1789 ; he was an early school teacher in the town ; succeeded Nathaniel Norton as sheriff of this county, and became a member of the Legislature. He finally moved to Michigan, where he died in 1848. Asahel's house and farm lay south of the road, where D. Thayer now resides. He was the Nimrod of this section, and the owner of a gun of large calibre. The town, county, and State bounties amounted to twenty dollars for every wolf-scalp, and Sprague killed ten wolves while living here, besides a number of bears. His death occurred in 1810, and his widow married a Kellogg, who took up his residence in the town. Thomas was located where H. Borst now resides, and died about the same time as Asahel. One of the daughters, Minta, married Dr. Ralph Wilcox. Lot Rew was a near neighbor, but in West Bloomfield as at present laid out. The death of his wife was the first on No. 10, 4th range, four years after settlement began in the town. This small settlement was joined, in February, 1790, by Elijah Hamlin, from Alford, Massachusetts, and his daughters, Mary and Olive, were among the first births in the town,-the former born in 1791, the latter in 1792. His son. Philo was born there in 1794, and yet lives, a hearty, honest pioneer,-the oldest person born in East Bloomfield who resides here at present. Few men that have worked as hard as Mr. Hamlin, have lived to the same age in as perfect health. Elijah Hamlin was a contractor on the Erie canal, at Lockport, in 1822. William Adams, son of Deacon Adams, moved upon No. 44 previous to 1800, and died there some years later. John Adams, another son, lived on the north side of the road, where Edward Steele now resides; and Jonathan Adams, a third son, occu- pied the place now owned by J. S. Steele. He subsequently moved farther north, where A. T. Adams now resides, and Benjamin Wilson took his place. Jonathan had a son John to succeed him ; the latter is living in the village, eighty-one years of age. Alvin, a son of John, is also a resident, aged seventy-eight. The place now known as the property of Deacon Andrew Cone was once the home of Nathan Wilcox. On the road running north past the school-house, on the place owned at present by F. B. Tobey, lived Christopher Parks, a man fond of hunt-

ing and an excellent shot. His neighbor was Henry Lake, likewise of the pio- neers. Farther north, on the corner, lived Asa Doolittle on the J. S. Hamlin place, while west of him was the old pioneer, Colonel Asher Saxton, the first over- seer of the poor in the town, elected in 1796, and also a commissioner of high- ways. At his residence the town meetings were held for many years, and adjoin- ing his barn the first town pound was located. Here, at Saxton's, gathered the voting population, the first Tuesday in April each year, and elected for officers their best men. Political " bummers" were unknown to these people; swindling in public offices had not yet begun. " Hard and soft money" was not the main issue in the election of a chief magistrate. These honest pioneers desired honorable and worthy men for office, and such they continued to elect. Near Asher lived Philander Saxton, who was of the early town officers. Just west of L. Forsyth's lived Daniel Emmons at an early period. Although poor, and know- ing much privation, going barefoot in summer and with poor foot-covering in winter, lacking in times for bread, pounding corn for meal in mortars hollowed from stumps, and making long journeys to mill, they endured in common and bore troubles with patience. In the spring of 1795 the second school-building in the town was erected in this district. A brief description reveals the necessi- ties of that day. The house itself was of logs; it was small in size, and had a fire-place almost the width of the interior. To form the window, a log was cut in part from each side and the space filled with greased paper. The roof was of clapboards, held in place by weight poles, and the low door hung on wooden hinges. Here the children of the pioneers assembled daily to receive instruction from Miss Louisa Post, whose place was next taken by Betsey Sprague. Miss Post was married to Wm. H. Bush, who moved in 1806 to Batavia and built " Bush's Mills," three miles west of that place. He was one of Bloomfield's early pioneers, and carded the first pound of wool by machinery, dressed the first piece of cloth, and made the first ream of paper west of Caledonia. The " old log school-house" stood near the dwelling of Philo Hamlin, and long ago gave way to a neater, better structure.

South of the above-described district is No. 3. A Baptist preacher, named Elnathan Wilcox, was the owner of about one hundred and fifty acres south of the road, where R. Appleton now lives. The settlers were unable to support a minister, and yet preaching was indispensable, and a compromise resulted in making farming the means of obtaining a livelihood and sermonizing a gratuity. Rev. Wilcox came to Ontario from the Bay State, and passed his days on his western farm. He was, with others, active in religious labors, which were not unfrequently of great advantage to his neighbors and friends. East of him, on the southwest corner of lot 62, was Enoch Wilcox, who raised a large family, most of whom subsequently moved to Michigan. Ranson Spurr came in at an early day, and located where B. Jones occupies. Selling to Flavius J. Bronson, Spurr removed to near Buffalo, where he kept a good tavern for many years, and, in 1812, accommodated those with lodgings who hauled their flour from Canandai- gua to Buffalo. Mr. Bronson is a resident of the town, and has but nine years to live to make him a centenarian. James McMann, a pioneer in this part, re- sided on the south side of the road, opposite an old school-house in the western part of the district, and died there at the age of one hundred years. Near the same place, on the north side of the road, lives his son Hiram, a native of the town and a man well advanced in years. An early predecessor of G. Woolston upon his place was Reuben Smith, and Branch Everts was a shoemaker in what is now the Bailey neighborhood. Everts had sufficient work to keep him employed most of his time. Another resident on that road, although for a short time, was Mr. Gooding, who sold to William Bailey and moved to Bristol. Upon the farm now owned by G. Speeker stands a log house built by Israel Reed as early as 1800; its existence and appearance revive the olden day to the aged and arouse the cu- riosity of those of later times. It is well that it should remain-a monument of pioneer settlement, a vivid contrast of the past and present. One Barrett was a proprietor of the place where B. Bradley inhabits. He had for a neighbor one De Pue, who with two others, Daniel Harris and Hiram Hanley, were killed at the burning of Buffalo.

In district No. 8 is the beautiful valley of East Bloomfield, a place which will stand favorable comparison with any other inland community of the State. Dr. Daniel Chapin, noted in the history of No. 9, was a pioneer in this locality, and about the year 1805, when he removed to Buffalo, Dr. Ralph Wilcox located near the Congregational church, in the village. Within a few weeks, Dr. Henry Hickox came and settled west of the village, on the farm now the property of H. L. Parmalee, and the need of medical services was in a fair way to be sup- plied. John Fairchilds was on the farm now owned by W. C. Tracey, at the time of original settlement, and west of him was Silas Eggleston, on the farm of Mrs. Dowdin. Northwest of the village was a pioneer named Abraham Dudley, where S. B. Dudley, his son, is a present resident. A Mr. Bush owned and resided for some time upon the property of Moses Eggleston. John Keyes came

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PLATE LXXV

EAST BLOOMFIELD , ONTARIO CO, N. Y.

MAPLE GROVE, RES. OF T. D. FRENCH, FORMER LOCATION OF JONATHAN SMITH'S HOME.

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PLATE LXXVI

RES. OF H. HOLCOMB, EAST BLOOMFIELD , ONTARIO COUNTY, PA.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

in with the colony as a single man, and married one of Deacon Adams' daughters. He moved on the farm of Erastus Carroll. The original proprietor of the site of the village of East Bloomfield was Benjamin Keyes, who set apart the ground now the beautiful park, the pride of the villagers, an attractive spot to the stranger, rendered more so by the handsome monument erected to the memory of soldiers in the war of the rebellion. Deacon Ehud Hopkins, one of the earliest justices of the peace in this region, and a resident where F. N. Tobey dwells, is recalled in an anecdote of which he is the subject. About 1804, the settlers of the town had completed their first church edifice, and had hired for a year a cer- tain preacher, who, desiring a permanent position, attempted to secure a bond from the society, and, somewhat on the Levitical plan, required a life-payment of one-tenth of their farm products annually. Before the close of the year, a party had been enlisted in favor of this plan, but a meeting being held, it was defeated by a majority vote. A reconsideration was moved, and pending the final vote, an adjournment for a week was effected. The adjourned meeting was in progress, and Deacon Hopkins was active in discussing the propriety of the preacher's plan, when, during a lull, there arose a quiet man named Moses King, who spoke as follows: " Squire Hopkins' proposition recalls a recent dream. I thought that I had died, and had journeyed in darkness towards a gleam of light which pro- ceeded from a key-hole in a door. I knocked ; a black man opened, and, as I entered, closed and locked the door; then, turning harshly upon me, asked who and whence I was. I answered, 'King, from Bloomfield.' Recognizing the place into which I had come, the 'split-foot' was seen at a distance, engaged in business. In time this was finished, and I was introduced, and asked con- cerning the church quarrel in Bloomfield, and replied that the matter was settled. He became greatly excited, and gave orders for the best horse to be instantly saddled, and then inquired . the names of the leading men in the society. I answered that there were John Adams, Lot Rew, William Adams, Deacon Bron- son, Timothy Buell, and Esquire Hopkins. As the last name was mentioned, the old fellow arose and suid, 'Is Squire Hopkins there ?' I answered ' Yes.' He at once countermanded his order for the horse, and with great satisfaction said : ' I'll tell you how it is, King; if Hopkins is there, he can fix that business as well as I can.'" The story won, and the justice was beaten.

Elisha Hopkins was a pioneer resident upon the splendid farm of Charles Page. Abner Adams, son of Deacon Adams, and father of Myron Adams, of Rochester, lived formerly upon the present property of Samuel Stafford. Gaius Adams, son of Joseph, and grandson of the deacon, resides in the village, and is well along in years. A part of the fine farm now owned by Frank Bailey was the former property of a pioneer named Asa Hayward. His son is yet an in- habitant of the town. Elijah Rose was an early settler on the same farm, having moved to the town with the Adams family in 1789. It has been stated, and is believed, that his wife, Anna Rose, received fifty acres of land free of cost for having been the first white woman to settle in the town. True, she was the first, and being a great favorite, and the oldest of the party, when the company arrived at Canandaigua two of the men aided Mrs. Rose in fording streams, and hastening forward, they reached the town a few hours before the arrival of the remainder of the party ; but there is no record of a gift, and the piece claimed to have been given cost her fifty pounds sterling, as is shown by the following copy of the original deed : " To all people to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Know Je, that I, William Bacon, of Sheffield, in the county of Berkshire and common- wealth of Massachusetts, Esquire, for and in consideration of fifty pounds to me in hand paid before the onsealing hereof, by Anna, the wife of Elisha Rose, of Canan- darque District, in the county of Ontario and State of New York, yeoman, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, and am myself therewith fully satisfied, contented, and paid, have given, granted, bargained, sold, alioned, released, con- veyed, and confirmed unto the said Anna Rose the following tract of land, lying in town 10, in the fourth range . fifty acres of land lying on the east side of lot No. 32, in the said town, beginning on the east line of said lot and running west on the north and south lines equal distances, so far as to contain'fifty acres of land ; whereof I have hitherto set my hand and seal,. this the 14th day of June, A.D. 1792. Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of Elisha Hopkins, Benj. Keyes. .[L.s.] WILLIAM BACON."

A man named Stillwell was a settler just west of Hayward, and opposite him was Isaac Stone, who had a cooper-shop and found employment at hooping a few cider-barrels and wash-tube, and getting an occasional better job in an order for a new barrel. Where H. Holcomb has a good dwelling one Ephraim Turner was an early tavern-keeper, succeeded by a Mr. King. A tannery was carried on by Mr. Turner where M. Fuller's place is at present, and at a later day there was an ashery on the same lot. In 1806, Messrs. N. Norton and E. Beach rented a room in Philo Hamlin's residence, which stood upon the site of the Congregational parsonage, and opened the first place for the sale of merchandise in the town.

They did a very good business for that date, and soon built a new storehouse,-the one now occupied as a harness-shop by Mr. Spitz.

In 1812, Jonathan Childs, who has since been mayor of Rochester, in company with a Mr. Gardner, opened a store in Holloway's tavern, but soon built the brick store now kept by Mr. Higanbotham. A little later and a farmer's store was started by Roger Sprague, Daniel Bronson, and other grangers in the neighbor- hood; but buying when goods were high-priced, before the close of the war, they were unable to sell out at a profit, and the business was abandoned. Elisha Beach received the first appointment as postmaster soon after opening his store.

Peter Holloway, who had a blacksmith-shop in the village about 1804, built a tavern about 1809, but kept it only a short time; it is now used as a residence by Frederick Munson. Previous to the war of 1812, Jared Boughton, the pio- neer settler of Victor, built the brick tavern yet used as such, and his son Fred- erick was the landlord. In 1804, Anson Munson removed from the northeast settlement to the village, where he started a tannery, and where his son Harlow yet lives in his seventy-seventh year. In 1798, Zadock Bailey came to this town from Sheffield, where he had learned the trade of shoemaker. Later, he located on the farm now owned by Leander Forsyth, one mile west of the village. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, March 4, 1778, and is therefore over ninety-eight years of age, and the oldest man in the town.

District No. 10 is traversed by Mud creek, and other streams rise in its terri- tory. A saw-mill was erected by General Fellows and Augustus Porter in .1790, on Mud creek, at a point fifty rods north of the North road, near J. Kingsbury's. Mr. Norton's journal, from which we have previously quoted, says: " Monday, the 12th of June, 1790 .- This day General Fellows' saw-mill was raised, and Elisha Hoskins, badly hurt, was taken up for dead, but came to, was bled and hopes indulged of his recovery." This was the pioneer saw-mill in the town, and the third on the Phelps and Gorham purchase. Not long after, Joel Steele came upon the Kingsbury place, and within a few years advantaged the inhabitants by the erection of a grist-mill, the first one in town. A year or two previous to this a mill had been erected by the Smiths in Farmington, and thither the people went for their flour and their meal. Prior to the convenience of this home mill, the settlers were accustomed to take an ox-team and sled, and make the journey to a mill in operation upon the "Mill tract," on the present site of Rochester. Elisha Steele settled where his son Elisha resides. The elder died about 1813, as Mrs. Steele, his wife, survived till a few years since, and died aged ninety-six. Captain Nathan Waldron was a pioneer in this section, and settled on the south- cast corner of lot 13, where he carried on blacksmithing for several years. His shop was often seen stocked with old gun-barrels, sword-blades, etc., picked up on his farm near the old Indian village, and with these ancient relics of war he mended and made the implements of peaceful industry. On the east bank of the creek, just south of the road, was one Roberts, in a log house which sufficed for his family and an abode for himself until his death. Opposite Joel Steele was Timothy Buell, among the first settlers; his grandson, Charles Buell, is now the occupant of the homestead. Joab Loomis built on the place now owned by G. W. Reed, at an early period. This district, although limited in area, is honored as the birthplace of a congressman, Edward Brady, who died in Michigan soon after his election. His birthplace is the farm now owned by Augustus Buell.

South of No. 10 is district No. 5, upon the west part of which an early settler was Benjamin Chapman. Near the creek Ashbel Beach settled, he having moved thither in 1800, from his farm on lot 72. A mill built by him there at an early day is later known as " King's Mills," from the proprietor. Israel Beach was another pioneer in this locality. Linus Grunn, son of Moses Gunn, lived east of the creek; his wife was daughter to Amos Bronson, the pioneer. She died in the spring of 1876, at the age of ninety-three, in full possession of her faculties to the last.

On district No. 6, west of No. 5, at an early period, was Benjamin Gauss, who came with the party in 1789 from Alford, Massachusetts. He was a soldier of the Revolution, enlisted at the age of sixteen, served till its close, and knew hardship in its most trying form. He was in battle at Johnstown and Sharon Springs, and one of the command engaged under Colonel Marinus Willett in the unsuccessful expedition to Oswego, in the winter of 1781, where he froze his feet badly. He was one of Judge Porter's assistants in the survey of several towns, and helped to harvest the first wheat raised in the town by Eber Norton. His marriage to Sarah Codding, daughter of Deacon Codding, in 1793, was the first in the town, and among the first on the purchase. He died October 5, 1854, in his ninetieth year. Longevity is hereditary in the family. Two sons, Benjamin and Thayer, residents of the town, are aged respectively eighty-one and seventy-nine. Of a family of six children, all were living up to May 16, 1876, and the average of their ages is seventy-five years. A Presbyterian minister, named Aaron Collins, took up his residence on the northwest part of lot 48, in 1795, where he died several years later; he is remembered as having been a good preacher. His son,

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Frederick,'is a resident of Rochester. A. H. Rowley is now the owner of the farm; and his father, Simeon Rowley, in his eighty-sixth year, resides with him. Amos Bronson catne into this district with his family in 1794, and located upon the present property of T. P. Buell, and soon after opened a tavern there. He was from Berkshire, Massachusetts, and first came without his family, in 1793, and drove an ox-team, with which he was four weeks upon the road. The journey with his family, accomplished in fifteen days, was partly attributable to the improvement of the roads. Mr. Bronson drove the first team that passed over the Centrefield road from Canandaigua, going west. This road, laid out in -1794 as a State road, was surveyed by Mr. Rose. Mr. Bronson died in 1835, and his wife followed him a few years later, at the age of ninety years. Moses Gunn located where S. B. Sears now lives. He was of the original company from Berkshire, Massachusetts,' and died in 1820. His son, Alanson, was an early tavern-keeper on the Canandai- gua road. Gideon King was a pioneer resident where J. H. Boughton, son of the pioneer Jared Boughton, now lives. At Mr. King's demise his son Gideon took the place. Daniel Bronson became an early inhabitant where Amanda Newton lives, and opposite him John Keyes was a resident, having removed hither from another part of the town. Joel Kellogg was on the corner where M. Fitzmorris lives. Kellogg is said to have driven the first team of mules brought to this town, using in lieu of a whip a pole armed with a spike. Among residents prior to 1797 were men named Lamberton, Winslow, Tainter, and Joseph Parker, whose nearest neighbor was Simeon Deming, where W. Deming now lives. The follow- ing is a reminiscence of James Sperry, whose father was an early settler in the town, given as told in Turner's History : " In the fall of 1797 a young man, with a pack on his back, came into the neighborhood of Messrs. Gunn, Gauss, King, Lamberton, and the Bronsons', two miles east of the southwest school-house, and one mile north of my father's, and introduced himself as a school-teacher from the land of steady habits, proposing that they form a new district, and he would keep their school. The proposition was accepted, and all turned out late in the season, the young man volunteering his assistance, and built another log school- house, in which he kept a school in the winter of 1797 and '98, and also the ensuing winter. The school was as full both winters as the house could hold. Two young men, John Lamberton and Jesse Tainter, studied surveying both winters, and in 1800 the former commenced surveying for the Holland company, doing a larger amount of work upon this purchase than any other man. . . . In this school most of us learned, for the first time, that the earth is round, and turns upon its axis, making a revolution once in twenty-four hours, and that it revolves around the sun once in three hundred and sixty-five and one-quarter days. I shall never forget the teacher's manner of illustration : For want of a globe, he took an old hat, doubled in the brim, marked a chalk-line round the middle for the equator, and another representing the ecliptic, and held it up to the scholars. Turning it, he made it illustrate the two motions, and a simultaneous shout from small and great showed the profound impression thus created. Although the school-master was a favorite with parents and pupils, the most orthodox thought he was upon unsafe ground, and teaching a doctrine contrary to common sense, since their practical experience was that the earth is mainly flat and immovable, and the sun was seen to rise and set daily. That teacher finally settled in Bloom- field, and served many years as justice of the peace, and a term cach in the Legislature and as a member of Congress." At the time this was written, about 1850, the former teacher was known as General Micah Brooks, of Brooks' Grove, Livingston county. Moses Sperry, father of the author of the above sketch, moved from Massachusetts in the spring of 1794, and settled on what is now dis- trict No. 2, on the farm now occupied by W. Nudd; here he remained till 1813, when he removed to Henrietta, where he died in 1826. Pitts Hopkins resided at the cross-roads, where J. O'Neill is now located. North of Hopkins was Erastus Rowe previous to 1800.

In the southeast corner of the town is district No. 1. When Ashbel Beach first came to this part of the country, he located on lot 72, where he remained till about 1800, when he sold to Benjamin Wheeler, from Massachusetts. The business of a drover was begun by Mr. Wheeler, who gathered the surplus stock of the settlement, and, driving them east, there made sale. He built the frame house now owned and occupied by Simeon R. Wheeler, his grandson, in 1800, and in 1802 had erected a grist-mill on Mud creek, where David Thomas now has a seed- and grist-mill, and was likewise known as the owner of a distillery. His death occurred on the place about 1839. John H. Wheeler, his son, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was known as a prominent citizen of the town. Joel Parks settled very early where Mark Jopsen resides, and built the frame house now there, and in which he passed his later years. George Lee came about 1802, and settled on the farm now occupied by his descendants. A man named Walker was a resident of the place after 1802, now owned by B. S. Sim- mons. Israel Beach had a cabin where S. G. Castle now resides, and which was occupied later by his son Israel Castle. At East Bloomfield station is the be-

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 80

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

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