History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 87

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PLATE LXXXV.

LUTHER STANLEY.

MAS LYDIA STANLEY

MRS. LUCINDA S. MARTIN.

RES. OF MRS. L. S. MARTIN , RICHMOND, ONTARIO COUNTY, N.Y.

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PLATE LXXXVI.

COL. WHEELER REED.

MRS. PHILIA G REED.

RES. OF WHEELER REED , RICHMOND, ONTARIO CO, N. Y.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

alofig the foot of the hill when a pack of the beasts darted out in close pursuit. The saddle and bridle thrown down checked pursuit for the moment, and Abbey filed with the rapidity lent by fear, and reached home safely. Seth Tubbs, Sr., in 1800, took up fifty sores on the north side of the McClurg road, and afterwards added sixty acres. A cooper by trade, he built a shop near his dwelling, taught the busi- nees to his son and made many barrels, and later, erecting a comfortable framed house in front of his orchard, lived in ense for many years. His death took place February 19, 1859, aged eighty-five. His wife died aged ninety-one, on March 24, 1865. David Crawford moved in contemporary.with Bentley, and purchased where T. A. Crooks lives. He was a prominent citizen, and removed to Michi- gan, where he died. Two sons are Methodist Episcopal ministers ; his daughters were at one time teachers in the Green Bay mission school. A man named Doyle was an early resident where P. Bacon resides. He had a double-log house near the turn of the road. A daughter, Mrs. Brownell, resides in town.

Allen's Hill, district No. 2, adjoins West Bloomfield on the north. In 1796 and 1797, Moses Allen, with his sons, Peter and Nathaniel, and their families, be- came residents of this vicinity. Peter became a soldier, commanded a regiment at Queenstown, where he was captured, and rose to be a brigadier-general. He was a member of the Legislature from Ontario. He moved in 1816 to Terre Haute, in Indiana.

Nathaniel Allen was .the primitive blacksmith of Pittstown. He began as a journeyman at Canandaigua; then started a shop in this town near the tile-fac- tory south of Allen's Hill. Afterwards he worked in a shop on the hill known by his name. Mr. Allen was an officer of militia, sheriff, and a member of the Legislature. In 1812 he was commissioner and paymaster on the Niagara fron- tier. He died in 1833, at Louisville, Kentucky. An only daughter was the first wife of Hon. R. L. Rose, who occupied the homestead on the hill from 1829 till 1857, and now resides at Hagerstown, Maryland. Joseph, son of James Garling- house, a settler in Ontario about 1800, from New Jersey, some years after arrival here bought twenty-five acres near Allen's Hill, giving in payment the uniform of a militia officer. He served in the war of 1812; was at the burning of Buffalo; brought back a musket which he exchanged for a cow. He married Submit Sheldon, and settled in the west part of town on the farm now owned by Tisdale Ashley. Joseph Garlinghouse raised a family of eight children ; four are living, Nelson, Joseph, Louise, and Mary. Nelson, the only resident in town, has lived twenty-six years on Allen's Hill. Mr. Garlinghouse held various offices of trust in town, and at his death, in 1862, was janitor of the State Senate chamber. Mr. Folger addressed the Senate in reference to his decease, and the following brief extract is given :

" During that intense anti-Masonic excitement which convulsed western New York he was in active service of the State in pursuit and capture of the persons indicted as participants in the Morgan abduction, and was also in the service of the government in the removal of the Cherokees beyond the Mississippi, and in these capacities exhibited resolution, agacity, and persistence."

Cyrus Wells, of Vermont, purchased and built upon the farm now owned by George Ray, about a mile north from the centre, on the Genesee road. Sylvester Curtis took up the farm opposite the residence of William Culver. A man named Boyd located on the Culver farm, and Jenkins upon the lot late the property of Horace Gilbert. Michael Scovill built where Judge H. Smith resides, and died in town. His son Abijah sold to William Smith, whose son, now seventy-six years of age, is the present occupant. Hugh Gregg was an early settler near the old outlet on No. 35, and occupied a small log house, whose remains.are yet in existence. George Fox and Abram Wiley were also early settlers in this vicinity. Gideon Gates came in early, and built a three-story tavern west of the Episcopal church. The third story was occupied by a lodge of Freemasons, the largest in this part of the country. Gates sold to David Pierpont, and went to Michigan.

David Pierpont, of Vermont, came out in 1816, and bought of Bemis, where Amos Symonds lives. Here he engaged in cabinet-making, as Bemis had done before him. In settlers' houses were found chairs, sideboards, tables, and other fur- niture of his workmanship. He purchased Gates' tavern before its completion, in 1818, and combined tavern-keeping with cabinet-making for several years. He put the first post-coaches on the road from Canandaigua to Genesee, and ran a daily line for years. Mr. Pierpont died in town, in 1862, aged seventy-three years. His son, D. A. Pierpont, sixty years of age, is a present resident. Samuel Caldwell opened a store in 1816, on the lot east of the Episcopal church. Thomas Wil- liams was a store-keeper at a later period, and now, aged eighty-three, is a resident of Le Roy.

Joshua Phillips, of Dighton, Massachusetts, had worked for Philip Short in 1791; and in 1803 bought and built where A. Sleght lives. A large family came west · with him, and twenty-seven days passed while on the journey. They brought out . flock of sheep for Captain Pitts. The family temporarily lived with Sylvester Wheeler, where George Johnson now resides .. Three families at one time dwelt

in this house. There was but one room below; a ladder led to two rooms above. The Dighton people of Bristol turned out and put up a house for him. Aper- tures for doors and windows were filled by blankets. He was in the war of 1812, and a lieutenant in the company of Captain Clark, stationed at Schlosser. He was captured at Queenstown, sent to Halifax, paroled; returned home and drew provisions to the lines till the war ended. He died in town, eighty-four years of age, during the year 1865. Nathan Hicks, of Dighton, built a house upon the farm of John Savage, and here he died, advanced in years. Elijah Wheeler had. been a previous settler on the place. Pierce Chamberlain, son-in-law to Captain Pitta, located where L. Tiffany lives, but remained a brief time.

Dennison's Corners and Richmond mills lie in the northwest part of the town. Asa Dennison came to Richmond in 1795, and, with Levi Blackmer, set out to find a home. They selected what is known as Dennison's Cornera, being induced thereto by the thrifty timber, which they regarded as an index of a fertile soil. Dennison articled at three dollars an acre for one hundred and fifty acres, and began, with an axe and twenty-five dollars cash, to prepare a home for his wife and child in Vermont. He cleared a field fronting the residence of Asa Denni- son, Jr., and built a log house, where he lived alone till 1798, when himself and Blackmer set out for Vermont, one having siz dollars and the other five dollars to pay expenses. A day's travel from their destination Dennison gave out, and Black- mer, giving him the last dollar, pushed on alone. The other rested, and then completed his journey. Dennison's oldest child, Ann Marsh, resides at Erie, Pennsylvania. . Zebediah married Harriet Mead, of town, and lived here thirty years, and moving to Ohio, died there, aged seventy-two years. Cynthia married B. F. Green; moved from town to Wisconsin in 1845. Asa Dennison was assisted at his first logging bee in clearing his farm by Indians, who were furnished food and whisky, and did lively work. He built a framed tavern at the corners, two stories, and forty feet square. A ball-room was fitted up, and was the scene of many a festive occasion. Another building was erected, of the same size as the first, adjacent to it, and the habitation was now forty by eighty feet, and contained two long ball-rooms. Dennison kept tavern sixty years, and made the business profitable. The bill of fare was principally bread, pork, potatoes, and whisky,- last named, but first called for. That part of the old farm on which the tavern is situated has passed from various hands to Richard Blackmer.

Levi Blackmer engaged at one hundred and twenty dollars per year, for one year, to Lemuel Chipman, and remained with him two years. Chipman wrote the agent of Phelps and Gorham, at Canandaigua, that his hired men wanted land, and Blackmer bought one hundred and fifty acres, at three dollars an acre, from him. He paid one hundred dollars, and with the rest of his wages bought a yoke of oxen and utensils for farming.

He cut and piled the first brush heap on a knoll a few rods south of R. Black mer's residence; a log house was erected, where he lived alone, working for others and clearing his land. On September 5, 1799, he married Hannah Pitts, daughter of the captain. They raised seven children. Richmond, the youngest, lives upon the homestead, and Levi, the only other survivor, is a resident of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Blackmer became the owner of one thousand acres of land, and died February 15, 1855.

In 1796, Roswell Turner bought land on Hemlock lake outlet, built a cabin, made a clearing, and in winter was joined by his parents and his family. About 1798 the family moved to Allen's Hill, whence, in 1804, they went to the Hol- land purchase, where he died in 1809.

In the spring of 1816, Calvin Ward, with his wife and two-year-old son Harry, came from Vermont to Richmond. In the fall he bought fifty acres at twenty dollars per acre of Mr. Collins, then owner of what is now part of Mr. Ward's farm, occupied by her son Harry Ward. Within eleven days of the purchase Ward had dug a cellar twelve feet square, and built over it a log house with a shingled roof. In three weeks a door was hung, and in a year there was a win- dow with sash and glass. The first winter Ward threshed for Mr. Frost three hundred bushels of wheat with a flail, receiving one bushel in ten for his pay. He floured his wheat and sold it at Albany, bringing back a load of goods for the merchants as far west as Batavia. At his death, in 1870, aged eighty-two, he left a farm of one hundred and fifty acres. Mrs. Ward is living, aged eighty- three. Philip Reed moved in 1795 from Vermont to Richmond. He had been out with the Chipmans in June, 1794, when Pitts was the only resident of town. When Reed arrived in spring of the next year he found five families had pre- ceded him. He bought on lots 48 and 49, and soon made additional purchases, until his farm included one thousand five hundred acres, most of which is now owned by his descendants. Reed and his family stayed with Captain Pitts until, with two loads of lumber, drawn from " Norton's mills," a shanty was erected. In this shanty Reed, his wife, three sons, and a hired man lived three weeks, and did their cooking at a fire built by a fallen tree close by. A log house then ready was occupied. He and Cyrus Chipman erected the first brick houses in town, Chip-

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man making the brick on his own land. Mr. Reed was thought wealthy, from having three thousand dollars in money to pay for his land. He built both a grist- and a saw-mill a short distance above Richmond Mills, and became prominent in town affairs. Isaac Adsms came on as Reed's hired man, and in time bought one hundred acres from the east end of lot 49, joining him. His two sons, John and Cyrus, erected a distillery in later years, and operated it several years.

Colonel Lyman Haws set out in the fall of 1812, on foot and alone, from Brook- field, Massachusetts, for the Genesee country. He was sixteen years of age, and when he had paid his bill to Gamaliel Wilder, at South Bristol, for lodging, he had left a New England dollar, here uncurrent. He served in 1813 on the Niagara frontier. Discharged at the expiration of service, he came to Dennison's Corners, and hired at blacksmithing to Joshua Abbey, for sixteen dollars per month. He first bought out his employer, and soon raised enough to buy some land, when he engaged in wheat-raising and wool-growing. He was elected to the Assembly in 1857, and aided in 1861 to raise a company in Lima. He died in Lima July 5, 1861, aged sixty-five. His niece, Mrs. Mary J. Holmes, of Brockport, New York, well known as a writer, taught school and married in this town. George McClure, of Bath, sent to Allen's Hill the first stock of goods, and during 1808 -9 a clerk was employed to sell them. The store was then closed, and the unsold goods returned. People owing for purchases hauled wheat to Bath, and sold at fifty cents per bushel to pay them. In the fall of 1810 Amosand John Dixon established a store at Dennison's Corners, and in addition to goods, hardware, and other arti- cles, a hogshead of West India rum was brought on for sale. They had an exten- sive trade. John Dixon, now of Canandaigua, and about ninety years of age, continued merchandising many years. He was later the proprietor of a flouring- mill at Frost's Hollow for a few years. Oliver Lyon was an early resident just north of the Corners. He has no descendants living. William Warner was a resident in the same neighborhood. He served as constable in 1797. He moved to Lima in 1812, and there died. Other settlers were Parley Brown, Luther Stanley, and Parley Drury ; the last-named soon moved west.

District No. 8 lies south of No. 4. A resident for many years upon the present farm of Philip Reed was an early settler named Frisbee, who sold out and went to Canadice. On lot 52 dwelt an Irishman, James MoCrossen by name. He was one of the early distillers, and ended his days on the place. Stoddart lived where W. D. Beecher now owns. He was elected to several offices. At his death, well along in years, his descendants mainly removed to Michigan. Rufus Bul- lock was an early resident near the Baptist church, of whose society he was a leading member. Here lived and died the Briggs brothers,-Caleb, a preacher for many years for the denomination, and Thomas; and Barzilla L. Bullock, son of Thomas, resides here. James Green lived many years upon lot 59. He built a house west of the road, and later sold out. Colonel Jewett was an owner of the property for some time. Stephen Frost moved upon the I. S. Purcell place, and there closed his life. Near him, on the same farm, resided William Short, who removed to Michigan, and there died. Near where Burlingame lives was the cabin home of Gates Pemberton. On this farm he expended his efforts at clearing, and here died. North of the present farm of George W. Sharpstein lived his father, upon the place owned and occupied by M. Smith. He followed the tide moving to Michigan, and there died. Caleb Smith was the former owner and farmer upon the place on which his son, W. P. Smith, resides. Following his trade of blacksmith, he was a good workman, and secured all the patronage of this part of town. Nelson Skinner took up the place, and erected a log house where now H. H. Reed farms and prospers; here he died, and his heirs sold and removed. East of the Whetstone creek, on the farm of H. Short, long ago a cabin was erected by John Norton, a Baptist preacher; he went west. Farther east on this road lived James Parker, on a farm of fifty acres, and opposite him was Abijah Wright, a Methodist preacher. Double-log houses were in common use, and on one occasion, standing at the door between, he announced as his text " Behold I stand at the door and knock," and verified his assertion, thereby gain- ing unusual attention.

District No. 9 lies at the foot of Honeoye lake, and contains the village of the town. William Arnold, of Vermont, moved upon the farm near the town line. One Davis was his successor, who soon sold and left. East of the Corners, on lot 26, lived Amos Jones, a tavern-keeper, in 1814, and several years subsequently. Another inn-keeper was Jesse Stephens, who came to Richmond in 1811, and in 1815 opened a public house in a small frame erected near Jones, and there re- mained many years. Jones moved west. A journeyman shoemaker named Noble purchased and built a cabin of logs on the Franklin farm. He was a permanent occupant, as was his son Levi at his death. The latter finally sold to John Franklin. Jesse Stevens came to the town, November 19, 1811, with a family of six children. He articled with Ashley, then agent for Tuckerman, of Boston, owner of a number of lots. The land is about two miles southwest of Honeoye village, and is owned by his son Jesse, now in his eighty-second year. West of

Jones' tavern, on the south side of the road, lived A. S. Bushnell, in a small log house, which served as a home until he packed up and went west. In this vicin- ity Philip Short had a distillery, which was operated by Walter and Jesse Stevens for several years, during the heyday of that then not disreputable business. Caleb Arnold and family came in 1807 to Richmond, and there bought eighty acres of wild land, owned by Connecticut, of the agent Seymour, paying four to five dollars per acre. He worked hard and cleared a large portion during his stay of some eight years, and then sold to John Green. The farm is now owned by Zack Briggs. Three children are living. Caleb Arnold, Jr., works in a cabi- net shop in Honeoye, where his brother William is a dentist. When Arnold sold he went to Honeoye, and built the first part of the house occupied by Thomas R. Reed, having to cut trees to make room for the building. Finding a white- oak log with a proper twist to the grain, he used it in making mould-boards for the wooden plows then generally used. Arnold is credited with having made the first plow manufactured in town. Abel Short, son-in-law of Captain Peter Pitts, lived upon the farm now owned by Cyrus Briggs. Many a story is told of his. daring and recklessness. He was a superb horseman, and " Ranger," an animal that followed him with blind devotion, was the hero of more than one adventure still told by old settlers.

Artemus Briggs, then living in Bristol, in 1813 traded with Jesse Allen for one hundred and fifty acres in Richmond. He agreed to pay five hundred dollars, the estimated difference in value. To raise the money he made a sled twenty feet long, loaded it with pork and flour, and set out to find sale with a yoke of oxen and one horse. The load and the oxen were sold on the Mohawk Flats to a Quaker, who inquired, " If thee stole it," and had his suspicions removed by the reply. Cyrus, a son, lives on the old homestead, the owner of full six hun- dred acres of fine land. Jedediah, another son, lives in Honeoye, in a house erected by Gideon, son of Peter Pitts. He bought, from the heirs of Gideon, some one hundred and seventy acres of land, all of which, save fifty acres, he has sold in small parcels and village lots, and has given, in consequence, more deeds than any other man in the town. His house is forty-eight feet square, with a cellar under the whole structure. In this old building Jedediah Briggs has lived since 1852. Benjamin Briggs farmed for a time, and then sold to C. C. Curtis the place on which he lived, and went west. John Becher was a predecessor of J. J. White; while south of this farm, in an early day, lived Gilbert Kinyon and a man named Ray ; all three died upon their lands.

HONEOYE VILLAGE.

This village, at the foot of the lake, is a business centre, and a place of some importance. Artemus Briggs was the proprietor, and his son Jedediah is a present resident of a thriving hamlet grown. to a village under his own obser- vation. A brief record of early occupants, tradesmen, and business men is given as follows: In 1813, Moses Risden, living in a frame house now occupied by A. Plimpton, was the proprietor of a tannery, which he sold to Daniel Phillips. In a log house, previously occupied by Ebenezer Jones, lived Daniel Short, whose occupation is not given. In the spring of the year Gideon Pitts built a blacksmith- shop, and employed a man named Way to work in it. After Way, Abner Mather entered the shop, and labored at the anvil several years. A saw-mill, built that season by Pitts, is yet standing. Two years later he built a grist-mill, and at present both mills are the property of Mr. Quick. The frame house now occupied by Mr. Hawks was built by Caleb Arnold, a well-known.and skillful carpenter. The next settler was Mrs. Hovey, who built a frame house where Dr. Hamilton now owns. Eliab Soles followed, and erected a frame, yet standing, and in use as . dwelling by A. Franklin. Soles was the successor of Mather in the shop, and remained about six years. Isaac De Mille was a later villager, yet he built a frame house as a dwelling, and near by erected a shop, where he remained many years. About 1815, R. Davids came in, and, adding to the Arnold house, opened a tavern, where he kept for a few years, and then sold to Samuel G. Crooks, who in time sold to Smith Henry. A fulling-mill and clothing-works were built in 1817 by John Brown and Linus Giddings; part of this building is now the foundry building. Sale was made within a year or two, and Joseph Blount be- came the owner. On his death, which took place about 1822, his brother Walter carried it on a year ; then John Culbertson, followed by Huntly. It was idle for several years, when Hiram Pitts and Joseph Savill, an Englishman, built an addition, and ran the establishment as a woolen-factory. A store was built in 1822 by John Brown, who thus for three years was the pioneer merchant of the village. Erastus Hill and Richmond Waldron were his successors. Dexter K. Hawks, having carried on the business with a partner under the firm name of Hawks & Whipple, sold, and built a store for himself across the street. In the Soles house, then owned by Mills, Edwin Gilbert began merchandising, and in two years had built the store now occupied by his sons. Isaac G. Hazen erected

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PLATE LXXXVII.

NOAH ASHLEY.

MRS. MINERVA ASHLEY

RES. OF NOAH ASHLEY , RICHMOND, ONTARIO CO, N. Y.

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PLATE LXXXVIII.

GEORGE JOHNSON.

MRS. GEORGE JOHNSON.

RES. OF GEO. JOHNSON , RICHMOND, ONTARIO CO, N. Y.

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the next store building, near Hawks', and sold in a few years to M. M. Gregory, who, later, opened there a hardware store. Lyman Pearce started an ashery here prior to 1830. He died, and E. Pearce, his brother, continued the business, which connections have kept alive many years. The store building now occupied by A. Franklin was erected by Benton Pitts, who rented to Pearce. Isaac Seward came here about 1815, and combined a tannery and a shoe shop business for years. He was the first shoemaker in the place, where he ultimately died. Cornelius Hollenbeck came to the village about 1820, and erected and ran a tannery. Ten years later Oliver Adams built both tannery and shoe-shop, and the fact indicates that the business proved profitable. Part of Stout's tavern was originally built by Caleb Arnold and a man named Tubbs, about 1830, as a cab- inet-shop. In a few years O. Adams used it as a shoe shop. Artemus Briggs and Ephraim Turner were distillers here about 1818, on land south of the village; they sold to John Pennell, who afterwards took the better part of it and built anew in the east part of the town. Gideon Pitts and Erastus Hill built the next; it stood near the Catholic church. The Protestant Methodist church built a frame in 1832, where Mrs. Phillips lives; it burned some years ago. During the same year a Baptist church was built west of town.

Honcoye Mills .- The natural order of human effort is from rudeness to conven- ience. Primitive labor is the fruit of necessity ; improvement keeps pace with demand. He is the most prosperous who can anticipate the wants of his fellows, and thereby secure their patronage and his own advancement. The pioneer mills did for early times, but later years have higher demands. These have been met by J. A. Quick, who came here from Steuben county, where he had followed milling twenty-five years, and purchased the Honeoye mills, in 1876, of Messrs. Stevens & Haslett. The mills are run by water power supplied by the surplus waters of Honeoye lake. They have three run of burrs, the latest machinery of bolts, and smut machine, and this is run by two Leffell water-wheels, forty inches diameter. The capacity of the mill is an average of one hundred bushels per day. The yearly production of flour is about one thousand barrels, which find sale in the neighboring villages. Recent and thorough repairs have been made, and the mill, refitted, is prepared to execute superior work. In connection with the grist-mill is a custom saw-mill, supplied with a muley saw. Its capacity is about two thousand feet of lumber daily, and it is operated about six months of the year, doing business altogether as a local enterprise supplying the demands of the neighborhood. It is generally reputed to be the best custom mill in Ontario County, and reflects credit upon the skill and enterprise of the proprietor .*

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 87

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

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