History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 86

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Charles Moshier, Dec. 24, 1863 ; wounded in front of Petersburg, and dis- charged in consequence in summer of 1865.

James O'Neil, Dec. 24, 1863; taken prisoner at Reams' Station, Va., Aug. 25, 1864; sent to Salisbury, N. C .; paroled Feb., 1865; furloughed home ; died May 24, 1865, of disease contracted in prison.

Schuyler W. Case, Aug., 1862 ; in General Grant's campaign of 1864, serving as infantry, till Lee's surrender, April, 1865 ; discharged June, 1865.

Frederick T. Shelton, Aug. 12, 1862 ; doing garrison duty in defenses of Washington till March, 1864; joined the Army of the Potomac; taken prisoner at Reams' Station, Aug. 25, 1864 ; sent to Salisbury, N. C .; paroled Feb. 28, 1865; discharged May 31, 1865,

Myron L. Taft, Jan., 1864; in Grant's campaign of 1864, from the battle of the Wilderness, May 5 and 6, till surrender of Lee, April, 1865 ; discharged Oct. 2, 1865.

Battery M .- Daniel S. G. Gregory. Re-enlisted from 104th Infantry, Aug., 1863; taken prisoner at the Weldon Railroad, Aug. 31, 1864; sent to Salisbury, N. C .; died there Nov. 22, 1864.

Channing Millard, Jan. 4, 1864; taken prisoner in the battle of the Wilder- ness, May, 1864 ; confined at Andersonville, Ga., four months; Florence, S. C., three months; exchanged Dec. 13, 1864 ; discharged Sept. 26, 1865.

George G. Shaddock, Aug., 1863; served as infantry till Lee's surrender ; discharged Sept., 1865.

Seramus B. Shaddock, August 29, 1863; in battle of Wilderness, May, 1864, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Reams' Station, Hatcher's Run, and others of that campaign till surrender of General Lee; discharged September 26, 1865.

Battery A .- Peter Mattice, January 5, 1864; in battle of Wilderness, May, 1864; Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, June, 1864; taken sick and sent to hos- pital; discharged there June 28, 1865.

Battery H .- Augustus C. Brown, first lieutenant, June 21, 1863; promoted captain December 23, 1863; through the campaign of 1864; under General Grant in Virginia till discharged, December 5, 1864, on surgeon's certificate of disability.

Eighth Artillery, Battery D .- Henry P. Sturges, hospital steward, Decem- ber 22, 1863; reduced to the ranks, Jan. 20, 1864; wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 3, 1864; sent to Philadelphia hospital and promoted hospital steward; discharged June 1, 1865.

William N. Page. Enlisted in 1862, in a battery of artillery ; letter unknown.

CAVALRY.

First Veteran .- John C. Griffith, first sergeant, July 28, 1863; engaged with the enemy at New Market, Virginia, May 15, 1864; Piedmont, June 5, 1864; Lynchburg, June 24; discharged July 20, 1865.

William Stewart, August, 1863; taken prisoner ; released.

John H. Eldridge, August, 1863; no report since enlistment.

Edward H. Brady, first lieutenant, July, 1863; promoted captain spring of 1865; discharged July, 1865.

First Dragoons, Company A .- Willis Cooper. Enlisted September 5, 1864; representative recruit for Stephen H. Ainsworth ; discharged summer of 1865.

Company G .- Robert Misker, March 16, 1865; discharged on general order from War Department.

Third Cavalry, Company H .- James E. Wheatley, September 10, 1862; in skirmish at Washington, North Carolina; furloughed home; died August 18, 1864.

William Coney, February, 1864; in the numerous raids of General Kauts around Petersburg and Richmond.

Eighth, Company B .- Frederick Pach, 1861 ; discharged by reason of re- enlistment, December, 1863.

William S. Sturges, September 8, 1864; in several skirmishes in Shenandoah valley ; discharged May 11, 1865.

Joseph Flint, October, 1861. Re-enlisted December, 1863; discharged with regiment, June, 1865.

Company K .- Theodore P. Whiting, October 14, 1861 ; taken prisoner at Winchester, Virginia, May 25, 1862; released September 13, 1862 ; discharged, and re-enlisted December 1, 1863; corporal in Company D; skirmished at White Oak Swamp, Black and White Station ; at Roanoke Station, June, 1864; taken prisoner at Stony Creek, June 29, 1864; sent to Savannah, Georgia; exchanged March 25, 1865; discharged June 27, 1865.

Company M .- Edward H. Millington, August, 1862; wounded while on picket at Dumfries, Virginia, March 3, 1863; transferred to Eleventh Regiment Vet- eran Reserve Corps, October 9, 1863; orderly to medical inspector, U.S.A., Washington ; discharged July 14, 1865.

Isaac Ermis, August, 1862; discharged spring of 1864, on surgeon's certificate of disability.

Company H .- Charles P. Murrill, corporal, August 31, 1862; in battles of Chancellorsville, Virginia, May, 1863; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July, 1863; in campaign of 1864, in Virginia, till Lee's surrender; discharged June 27, 1865.

Twenty-second, Company G .- Charles S. Huntingdon, August 5, 1864; in battles of Cedar Run, October 19, 1864; Waynesborough, Virginia, March 2, 1865; at Winchester, Virginia, and vicinity ; discharged August 9, 1865.

Frank F. Huntington, August 5, 1864; in battles of Winchester, Virginia, September, 1864; Strasburgh, October 12, Cedar Creek, October 19, Winchester, November 12, 1864; discharged June 6, 1865.

NAVAL.

George T. Fletcher, September 8, 1864; with the Mississippi squadron a short time; taken sick; sent to hospital; discharged May, 1865; died July 17, 1865.

Frederick C. Smith, September 7, 1864; clearing the banks of the Mississippi of guerillas, from Vicksburg to Memphis, till February, 1865; transferred to hospital at Memphis as steward till discharged, June 20, 1865.

This town sent a greater number of men, in proportion to its population, than any in the county. There were one hundred and seventy-two enlisted regularly, eight substitutes, and twenty-two credited from other localities, making the large number of two hundred and two soldiers from a town of small area.

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PLATE LXXXIII

RES. OF COL. SARDIS SIMMONS, RICHMOND, NEW YORK.

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PLATE LXXXIV.

PES. OF I. J. ABBEY, RICHMOND, ONTARIO CO, N.Y.

RES. OF D. L. HAMILTON , RICHMOND, ONTARIO CO., N.Y.

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TOWN OF RICHMOND.

RICHMOND IN THE EARLY DAYS.

IT was in September, 1779, when an army of white men penetrated the territory of the Senecas, that the beauty and fertility of that country was made known to the cultivators of the rocky shores of New England. Here were fields long cul- tivated, and from the mazes of the forests the troops came out upon plains covered with corn and bearing fruit-trees. The Indians filed, overpowered, and, warned by Sullivan's morning and evening gun of his whereabouts, kept at a distance. Near the Indian castle, at the foot of Honeoye lake, were afterwards turned up many relics of the camp, and the early settlers found little change from the day when the retiring army left behind them a solitude and a desolation. In April, 1787, Gideon Pitts, James Goodwin, and Ana Simmons left Dighton, Massachusetts, for a home in this eulogized region. At Elmira they erected its first white habita- tion, and there raised a crop of corn. Returning home, their report resulted in the formation of the Dighton company, whose object was the purchase of a large tract when Phelps had perfected a title. Calvin Jacobs and Gideon Pitts were deputed to attend the Indian treaty and select the land. Following the survey into townships, forty-six thousand and eighty acres of land were purchased. A large portion was known as Pittstown, in honor of the first settlers. Title to this purchase was taken in the name of Calvin Jacobs and John Smith.

In 1789, Captain Peter Pitts, William, his son, Descon Codding, George, his son, Calvin Jacobs, and John Smith arrived, and surveyed the towns of Rich- mond and Bristol.

Land was divided by lot. Captain Pitts drew three thousand acres, mostly situated at the foot of Honeoye lake, and including the site of the village destroyed by Sullivan ten years previously, land near Allen's Hill, and the rest in Livonia. Improvement was begun in the spring of 1790, by Gideon and William Pitts. Coming in with two yoke of oxen, they made a temporary shelter with their sled, using the boards of the box and bottom. This camp was near the present house of George Swan. Their farming began on a field situated on the northeast corner of the cross-roads, three-fourths of a mile east from the village of Honeoye. Captain Peter Pitts, his family, John Codding and family arrived the 2d of December. During the season the brothers Gideon and William, hav- ing got in some crop, built a good log house. This was torn down, and a new one of square timber erected, which might have been called the " Long House" by the travelers on the old Genesee road, so long compared to width was its dimen- sion. Years later a part was removed, and still it stands the " longest house in town." When it was built is unknown, but its only predecessor was the house of 1790. It is now owned and occupied by D. Phelps' heirs. It is well preserved and was solidly constructed. Its doors, studded with nails, are supported by heavy strap-iron hinges, extending nearly across them. In this house lived Captain Pitta, his wife, and ten children, some of whom became prominent citizens. For three years the family were sole residents of the town. Captain Pitts purchased some year-old apple-trees in Bloomfield, set out two and a half acres, and placed a fence about each tree. The trees were grafted with scions brought out in his saddle- bags. This was the first orchard in the town. Game was abundant. A hunter named Elisha Pratt lived with Pitts, and killed as many as half a dozen deer in & day, and the venison was no unwelcome addition to the rough bill of fare. The Pitts house, standing on the old Indian trail from Canandaigua to Genesee, was the only house on the road where travelers could be accommodated, and hence is mentioned by noted persons who enjoyed its protection. Louis Philippe, accom- panied by Talleyrand, while journeying in 1805 through this region, passed the Sabbath with Captain Pitt; also, ten years earlier, De Liancourt visited the cap- tain while stopping at Canandaigua. He says : " We set out with Blacons to visit an estate belonging to one Mr. Pitt, of which we had heard much talk through the country. On our arrival we found the house crowded with Presbyterians, ita owner attending to a noisy, tedious harangue, delivered by a minister (Rev. Z. Hunn). with such violence of elocution that he appeared all over in a perspiration. We found it very difficult to obtain some oats for our horses and a few morsels for dinner." The duke admired the handsome women in attendance, and found them

" even more pleasant to our senses than the fine rural scenery." Rev. Hunn at stated times held meetings at Captain Pitts', in 1793. Gideon Pitts, the captain's oldest son, married Lorinda Hulbert, of Richmond. The first death in Richmond was the first wife of Colonel William Pitts; her demise occurred April 9, 1793, at the early age of 23 years. His second wife was Hannah Taft, of East Bloom- field ; she died in 1802, and a third wife, Hannah Richmond, was found at Dighton. Samuel Pitta married Deborah Richmond, and, after her death, Percis Barnard. Further reference to the family will be made hereafter in connection with other pioneers. Eber Sibley and Edward Hasen were also early residents of this vicinity, as was Edward Taylor. Mr. Hasen was the first path-master of the town, and the incumbent of various other offices. In the gully south of Dr. Crooks, Silas Whitney built a log cabin in 1799, and resided there some time while engaged in clearing up the land. John Pennell, of Massachusetts, moved to Cortland county in 1807, and six years later came to the town of Richmond in sleighs drawn by oxen and horses. The family consisted of seven persons. The children's names were John, Abraham, Epaphras, Horace, and Martha. John remained at the Cortland farm caring for the stock till near the first of June, when his father came on, and helped him drive them to the new farm. The stock con- sisted of eight cattle, half a dozen hogs, and about thirty sheep, some of which died on the way. Mr. Pennell bought fifty acres of John Rhodes, paying four- teen dollars per acre. On the place was a double-hewed log house, a log barn, and some twenty- five acres of cleared land. He took up two lots from the State of Connecticut,-one of one hundred, and one of eighty acres. The war had closed, produce had no price, and after a hard struggle the land reverted to the State. It was re-purchased by his sons John and Abraham, who not only paid for it, but for additional land to the number of over eight hundred acres. Four more children were added to the Pennell family-Dennis, Nancy, Randolph, and Chaun- cey. John, Abraham, and Nancy married and settled in the town. John lives with Thomas R. Reed, of Honeoye, and is about eighty years old, and Abraham lives a half-mile east of the village. The sons just named operated one of the olden- time distilleries for some years. Ebenezer Farrer lived where J. Bray now resides and later sold, and moved to Canada. Jonathan Rhodes was an early settler near where F. G. Pennell lives, on a tract that belonged to Oliver Phelps. Rhodes also engaged in distilling liquor.

Richmond Centre, District No. 7 .- A diminutive settlement, located as the name indicates, sprang into being, flourished, and now rests in quiet. Here town business was done; here was a stock company sustained by farmers, and here was organized the first religious society and was opened the first school in that region.

The following were early settlers in and near the "Centre:" Noah Ashley; Elias and Joseph Gilbert ; David, William, Sanford, and Heman Crooks; Philip Reed and his sons, John F., Silas, Wheeler, William, and Philip; Whitely Marsh ; John and Eleaser Freny; Deacon Harmon, Roderick Steele, Cyrus Wells, Isaac and Alden Adams, Daniel H. Goodsell, O. Risden, and some others.

Noah Ashley, in 1802, purchased, at five dollars per acre, a farm of one hun- dred and eighty-five acres, comprising lot 32, upon which a man named Fuller had built a log house and cleared a few acres. His son, Noah Ashley, now lives on the homestead. In the spring of 1803 his wife and two children, Eliza and Hiram, joined him. Squire Ashley was agent for sale of the greater part of the land in the southwest part of the town. He was supervisor for years, and was well qualified for the various positions of trust assigned him by his townsmen.

Deacon Elias Gilbert settled in 1803 on the farm now owned by John Norgate. He soon sold to Roderick Steele, his brother-in-law, and bought of David Crooks the farm now the property of William H. Wright, deceased. Deacon Gilbert was a tanner and a shoemaker. His tannery and shop stood just north of J. Daniels' residence, and he not only made these pursuits remunerative, but likewise cleared his farm of its heavy growth of timber. Fifty years he lived upon his selected farm. To him fell the work of locating a site for burial-ground and meeting- house, and finally he moved to Davenport, Iowa, where, at the good old age of ninety-five, he passed away.

Elesser, Freny settled on the northeast corner, opposite the Congregational church,

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

on the present property of T. O'Neil, and the east part of the recent property of Hon. Hiram Ashley, son of Noah. Where Frank Ashley, a grandson of the squire, now lives, John Freny was the original occupant. Opposite Freny lived Whiting Marsh, upon the lot now owned by John Norgate.

David Crooks, from Blunford, Massachusetts, moved in 1800, with his wife and five children, to this locality. Eli and Riley were his sons, and Rachel, Zada, and Sarah his daughters. Mr. Crooks accompanied a party seeking homes in Ohio. They mostly located in that State, but on the return he saw this section, and made a purchase of the farm now owned by the heirs of William H. Wright. He sold, in 1803, at a nominal figure, ten acres of land for public uses. Here were erected a school-house, a church, and a parsonage. An acre or two in the rear was set aside for a grave-yard. After seven years' residence he sold to Dea- con Gilbert, and bought seven hundred and fifty acres three-fourths of a mile east from Honeoye. This land, now owned by John Pennell, had been reserved by Judge Oliver Phelps for a homestead. The judge had erected thereon a large farm-house, still standing, and occupied by Myron H. Blackmer, son-in-law of John Pennell, Esq. He had also erected a saw- and a grist-mill, probably the first in town, upon Mill creek. The grist-mill was east of south from the farm-house, and the saw-mill east from the grist-mill, on land now owned by Frank G. Pennell. These mills, once indispensable, have long ago gone to ruin. Thirty years ago, the ruin of the old grist-mill, with decaying roof and crumbling frame, stood leaning over the creek as a reminder of a by-gone age. For five years Mr. Crooks occupied the farm, improved its fields, and set out an orchard, still serviceable; then was presented a claim for the land by a son-in-law of Judge Phelps, and the property was swept away. This loss and an injury at the mill caused his death, while but forty-four years of age. Four children were added to the family of David Crooks in Richmond,-David K, Eunice, William, and Polly. The first, seventy-six years of age, and a resident of the town, is said to be its oldest native-born inhabitant.

William Crooks, futher of David, came out from Massachusetts in 1802, bring- ing with him his sons Heman and Sanford. He purchased and built a house upon the farm now owned by Ira Allen, Sr., and after eighteen years' residence died there. Heman Crooks, in 1801, had been out to see the country, and next year married, and, emigrating to Richmond, settled upon the farm now owned by Hiram D. Adams. Sanford Crooks lived with his father, and aided him in carry- ing on the farm. He married a daughter of Jacob Frost, and soon after died of fever, then prevalent.

Daniel H. Goodsell, of Vermont, built a house on a farm part of which is the property of William, son of Squire Ashley, and here lived with his family until well advanced in years.

Oresimus Risden was a blacksmith, and lived in a log house built near the south side of William Ashley's garden. His shop stood south of the cabin, near Whetstone brook.

Isaac Bishop came west with David Crooks, worked for him one year, and set- tled on the lot now owned by Edward Olmstead. At a barn-raising in 1802, for Deacon Harmon, a bent fell, and killing an adopted son of the deacon, named Butts, it stunned Bishop, and he recovered only to find his memory of the past obliterated. He again learned his letters, taught by his wife, and even the names of his children had been forgotten.

District No. 6 lies in the northeast part of the town. Lots 5 and 6 were pur- chased in 1795 by Lemuel and Cyrus Chipman, who came from Vermont to Pittstown by sled, with horse and ox teams driven by Asa Dennison and Levi Blackmer, hired men. They were eighteen days on the road. Lemuel Chipman had been a surgeon in the war for Independence, and in Ontario became a judge of the courts, was a member of the Legislature, a State senator, and was twice an elector for president and vice-president. About 1817 he settled in Sheldon, Wyoming county, where he died at an advanced age. Lemuel, his son, was a volunteer in the war of 1812; was taken prisoner at Queenstown, and afterwards exchanged. Samuel, another son, was an ardent temperance man. He visited every jail and poor-house, not only in New York, but Ohio, and four other States, and collected material for the Star of Temperance, a paper of which he was the editor, and which was published in 1828, at Rochester. A daughter, Altie, married Dr. E. W. Cheney, of Canandaigua. David Aken came to town and located a lot south of the residence of Isaac Abbey, on the west of the road. Uriel, his son, settled on a farm of one hundred acres opposite his father, and erected the old framed building yet standing on the farm of Isaac Green. Orry Aken, another son, located on thirty acres now the northeast part of David K. Crooks' farm. The father and sons were blacksmiths, in a shop built in front of Uriel's place, near the road. Here the Akens resided for twenty years until the wife of David Aken died, when all sold and moved to farms on the road to Honeoye from Allen's hill. The father sold to a son-in-law, Jonathan Jeromes, and his sons to William Baker. David and Orry settled on the Henry Ogden

place, and Uriel bought where Benjamin Ogden lives. The family were cut off by consumption, a disease hereditary to them. Uriel's farm at his death passed to William Sibley.

Thomas Wilson, son-in-law of David Aken, purchased a large tract joining Uriel on the south, and extending to include the present farm of Dr. J. C. K. Crooks. He built two log houses, one near the residence of Isaac Green, the other near Dr. Crooks; the latter he rented. He sold to Tilness Bentley, Sr., the south half, and later, to William Baker, the north part. When Baker died these lands fell to his sons James and William, and then as time elapsed passed with the farm of Mr. Jeromes into the hands of John Abbey. Wilson bought and built where Charles Quayle lives.

Tilness Bentley, Sr., not only purchased of Wilson in 1808, but entered a sixty- acre lot on the east, which is now owned by James McClurg. He had six chil- dren on his arrival, and five others were born to him in his new home. Of this large family four died in their minority. The two eldest sons were in the war of 1812. Tilness, Jr., was a prisoner, taken at Queenstown, but soon after exchanged. Tilness, Sr., about 1815 fell through a bridge, and was rendered insane by the accident. His life was protracted to eighty-four years. His son Tilness was a man of unblemished reputation ; passed his life in Richmond, and died March, 1875, aged eighty-two. In 1798, William Baker, Esq., with his wife and a large family, arrived, and entered land adjoining Chipman, the farms being separated by the Genesee highway. His first purchase was of four hundred acres, extend- ing from the Honeoye road to the Bristol line. Part of an apple-orchard set out by him is still in a bearing condition. William Baker was forty years old when he settled in Richmond, and, having been elected justice of the peace, held the office during life. He was twice married. His second wife died March, 1805, and was buried in a small grove on the ridge, near his residence. The locality is known as the " Baker cemetery," and in this consecrated ground lie the remains of a score or more of the early settlers. He erected a fine frame building for a residence across the road from his old home, and upon a hill from which one may view nearly the whole town. He was the founder of Methodism in Richmond, and his house was ever open to all clergymen of that denomination. Here was organized the first Methodist society in town. Meetings were held at his house, barn, or the neighboring grove until the old church was erected east of Abbey's Corners. Here the society flourished till a new church was built in 1860, at Allen's Hill. He married a third time, and January 14, 1824, aged sixty-six years, died suddenly while sitting in a chair conversing with members of the family. He was buried in the cemetery referred to, as was also his wife, Anna M., on February 14, 1853. Of a family seventeen in number of children, not one survives in this town. One son, Elisha, enlisted in the army ; was stationed at Green Bay, and while out one night away from the fort, with two comrades, was attacked and killed by wolves; the others escaped.

Aaron and John Abbey, father and son, came to Richmond in 1800. Aaron fought at Bunker Hill, and served through the war. When discharged and on his way home, weary and foot-sore, he stopped near Albany, at a small tavern, for breakfast. His bill for that meal was eighty dollars. He had served ten months for the Continental currency which had returned him so small an equivalent. Trusting in the honor of his country to redeem her promises, he sold his farm and took pay in Continental paper, which became worthless; then, disappointed and broken in health, he came, as said, to Richmond, where he soon died. John, his youngest son, twenty years of age, soon hired to William Baker by the month, and while so engaged asked the squire for his oldest daughter, Elizabeth, and he was mar- ried before being twenty-one. Abbey first bought a lot of fifty acres, part of the farm now belonging to David Crooks. Other acres were added till he had one hundred and forty, which, in 1838, he sold to Mr. Crooks. Elected constable and collector, he had at one time one hundred and fifty summonses to serve upon parties in this and adjacent towns. In 1829 he moved to the four corners northward, where he had purchased forty acres of his father-in-law's place, and put up a good house. Travelers solicited permission to lodge with him, and he did not refuse them. A license was obtained and a tavern opened, in which he did a prosperous business, which he closed in 1845, and thereafter attended to farming. He died aged eighty- two, wealthy and highly esteemed. It is related of him that in the early day the flour was found to have given out. A bag was filled with wheat, shouldered, and taken to a mill on the creek, three miles distant. He found the water drawn off to clean the race. The miller told him " the sooner it is cleaned the sooner you get your grist; if you want to help there is a chance." He worked three days, and then received three dollars and his flour. While living with his father, where now is the place of Dr. Crooks, he was returning home on horseback along a bridle path, and, reaching a brook on the farm, turned the horse into a field and set off barefoot, and carrying saddle and bridle, for home. The howl of a wolf attracted his attention ; responding howls were heard, and soon sounded near by. Abbey set off on a run; but, turning an angle of the path, had made but a few rods

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 86

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

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Number of Pages: 391