History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 9

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Joseph Childs set out on horseback, in 1801, from Somerset, New Jersey, and visited Geneva, then a kind of Western metropolis, returned East, and again set out for the Genesee country accompanied by his family, consisting of his wife, Phoebe, and five children, one of whom, Caleb, is a present resident of Waterloo, Seneca county. The household goods were conveyed in two wagons, having bows and being covered with canvas; each wagon was drawn by a yoke of ozen. Fair- childs drove one yoke and Joseph Saunders, a hired hand, the other. Their pro- gress was slow, and in time the Delaware was reached. There was no bridge, but a tin horn suspended to a post by the bank was suggestive. Fairchilds blew a blast or two, and a ferryman responded with a scow, on which the river was crossed. The beech woods in Pennsylvania were traversed; the wheels cut through the black soil, and the teams pulled heavily. Across the Susquehanna, on to the head of Seneca lake, and a halt was made at a small red building, which was kept as a tavern by an old man known as Captain Kinney. They were ferried across the outlet by Widener, and then took their way through the woods, and finally arrived at Geneva. We close, in this connection, the record of early journeys by settlers

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with the personal experience of Jared Boughton, the pioneer of Victor. " I came from Stockbridge with my family in the winter of 1790, in a sleigh, via Schenec- tady. At Utica there was a small frame store, and a large log house kept as a tavern. There were two or three families between Westmoreland and Utica. At Oneida Castle a man had hired an Indian house to accommodate travelers. We arrived here about midnight, and found lodgings on the floor, all the beds being occupied by emigrating families. The road was very bad. The sleigh got stuck and delayed us a day. We found no settlement between Oneida Castle and Onon- daga Hollow. Here Colonel Danforth kept tavern, and besides him the only in- habitants were Comfort Tyler and Ephraim Webster, an Indian interpreter with a squaw wife. Leaving this point, we traveled thirteen miles, and, with the family of Colonel Reed, camped at night under a hemlock-tree, built a camp of hemlook boughs, had a warm, brisk fire, made chocolate, and altogether had a comfortable time. Next night we arrived at the east shore of Cayuga lake, where we found two families, one of which, Judge Richardson's, kept us over night, and next morning we crossed the lake on the ice. By night we reached the foot of Seneca lake, where we remained with a man named Earl, who had a fioorless log cabin. Earl took us across the outlet next morning on a scow, and we went with Mrs. Reed to her home on the lake-bank in Geneva, which then contained ten to twelve families. From Geneva to Canandaigua there was no house. Flint creek, mid- way between those places, was high and frozen at the edges; there was no bridge. Trees were felled to get my family, sleigh, and goods over, and had to draw the horses over with ropes. About five miles from Canandaigua we stayed all night, at ' Wells' Cabin,' which was deserted. Wells had erected the cabin, sowed wheat, and left. The weather was very cold. Next morning we arrived at Canandaigua; the outlet was without a bridge, and we had a hard time in getting over. We pursued our journey from Canandaigua to Boughton Hill, where we arrived in good health March 7, 1790."

Prominent in all pioneer history is a record of its mills. The grain must be ground, and he who set up ever so rude a structure was a benefactor to the settler. Many the tale scores of pioneers yet living can tell of early experience in their journeys to and from the mills with their grist. Richard Smith, James Parker, and Abraham Dayton, followers of Jemima Wilkinson, erected the first grist-mill in Western New York during the summer of 1789, and here was ground the first bag of grain milled in all this region. Levi Smith, working in the employ of Nathan Aldrich, of Farmington, carried a grist upon horses to the Friend's mill in 1791. The stump mortar was the early chief dependence for preparing grain for bread. Fire was kindled in the centre of a stump cut square across, and a conical cavity burned to a sufficient depth and dimension, and cleaned thor- oughly. A pestle was swung by a horizontal pole over the stump, and used in reducing the grain to a proper fineness. Gamaliel Wilder, one of the earliest pioneers of Ontario, and the first to settle in Bristol, built, in 1790, the pioneer mill of Ontario. It was patronized beyond its ability to do, and, urged on by necessity, every creek was dammed wherever power could be had, and grist- and saw-mills multiplied.

It is related of Joshua Herendeen, a pioneer of Farmington, that he set out in the fall of 1790 with two yoke of oxen and journeyed up through the woods to Wilder's mill, and reached his goal late on Saturday night. Mrs. Wilder was opposed to Sunday milling, and asserted that the mill should not run on that day " if all Farmington starved." Another journey was the only alternative. Later in the season grain was taken up the lake to this mill by Herendeen, MoCumber, and Smith. A portion only was ground, and the rest was stored and laid over till spring. John Ganson was a settler in Avon, and, with his sons John and James, came on in 1788. The sons remained during the winter, and the father moved out in the fall of 1789. During the winter they built a " tub-mill" on a small stream, tributary to the Genesee. This was the first mill in the Genesee valley. Built of logs, the curb of hewed plank, the spindles a straightened section of a cart-tire, and the stones dressed from native rock, it was truly a primitivo concern. A sieve made of splints answered for a bolt, and the work was only a little improvement on the mortar and pestle. To this mill Jared Boughton took his buckwheat in 1790, a distance from Victor of twenty miles. The Indians gave Phelps and Gorham a tract of land twelve by twenty-four miles for a " mill yard;" and they conveyed one hundred seres of this to Ebeneser Allen, a character intimately associated with the early history of this region. The condition of conveyance was the erection of a mill by him upon it for the accommodation of the first settlers. It was a surprise to the Indians when they compared the size of the mill with the extent of the "yard;" but they expressed no dissatisfaction. This mill was resorted to by Ontario settlers from as far east as Canandaigua. The mill was poorly built, badly located, and had a single run of stones. Its greatest capacity was sixty bushels per day. After wheat-harvest, in 1790, Boughton set out for this mill, with two yoke of ozen, came to the end of his road, and before him lay low, wet ground in a heavy forent. He set off

and found his way to the river, over the hills east of Mount Hope. Here he put bells upon his oxen and turned them loose, and backed his grain, a sack at a time, across the stream down to the mill. The first grist-mill built in the vicinity of the county seat was erected in 1791, by Oliver Phelps, Sr., at Littleville, on the outlet, and was known as the Phelps mill. It had one run of stone, one bolt, and the flour was conducted directly from one to the other by a short spout. Small as it was, settlers came to it to get grinding done from long distances. As a contrast to the present, and an illustration of the ingenuity of that early period, we transcribe a description, by Edwin Scranton, of a mill built in 1807, by Charles Harford, upon the site of the city of Rochester : " The main wheel was a tub-wheel ; in the top was innerted a piece of iron, called the spindle, and the stone that ran rested upon it, so that in raising and lowering the stone, to grind coarse or fine, the whole enormous wheel, with the stone upon it, had to be raised with the bottom-timbers. This was done with a monstrous lever, which ran the whole length of the mill, tapering to near the end, which was managed by a leathern strap put twice around and fastened to the timbers at the end, while at the other end hung a huge stone. The bolt was carried from a screw made on the shaft under the stone, into which a wooden-cogged wheel was geared in like manner, similar to an old pair of swifts. The meal, as it ran ground from the stone, fell upon a horizontal strap, about siz inches wide, and ran over. a wheel at the far end of the bolt. This strap ran into a box on the upper side, and, as it went over the wheel, the meal was' emptied into a spout and carried into the bolt. In grinding corn this spout was removed, and the meal fell into a box made for the purpose. The bolt, however, had to go constantly, as the science of mill-making here had not reached that very important improvement of throw- ing out of gear such machinery as is not wanted running. But after all that was a charming mill. It rattled and rumbled like thunder, and afforded much amusement to the boys who assisted in the ponderous operation of hoisting the gate. This was hoisted with a lever similar to the one that raised the stone. A bag of heavy weights was hung to it, and then it was a half-hour's job for a man to hoist it alone. When once hoisted it was not shut again till night,-the stones being let together to stop the mill between grista. The primitive simplicity of this mill was in accordance with the rude improvements of the time."

Engaged in the practical and devoted as now to the acquisition of property, the forms of local government were maintained, and the occasion found the ma- chinery of the courts in good working order. It is said that the first court of Common Pleas and General Sessions was convened in the unfinished chamber of Moses Atwater, in Canandaigua, on the first Tuesday of June, 1792. Oliver Phelps was Judge, Nathaniel Gorham, Jr., Clerk, and Judah Colt, Sheriff. A grand jury was called, and Deacon George Codding was appointed foreman. Vincent Matthew, of Newtown, was the only attorney present at the opening of court. Having being duly instructed by the court, the grand jury retired to the northeast corner of the public square, where, having comfortably seated then- selves upon some logs, deliberation was had for a brief time, and then, returning into court, reported no farther business before them, and were discharged for the term. These plain men, clothed with authority, and consulting as they sat upon those tree-trunks, present a picture of strength and simplicity, whose vivid reali- sation would exhibit, with no slight power, the origin of our free and independent system of government.

The history of pioneer courts all over the Western country presents a record of assembly in open air or rude building, and the proceedings had not that reverence ascribed to legal majesty ; but the existence and operation of such assemblies by and for the people is indicative of the intelligent direction of popular will. The first decade of white supremacy in Ontario comprises much in the way of pioneer enterprise. To this period belongs the detail of affairs unnoted at the time, but interesting now, as sources of present industries. Influenced by curiosity, and having the ulterior object of investment, various persons traversed the Genesee region, and from their notes a general idea may be obtained. We see in 1792 but a forest, a few cleared fields, some straggling huts at various intervals, and clusters of huts with an occasional frame building. What history have we here but of the people and their sturdy self-reliance and mutual kindness? The traveler was hospitably received, and experienced some of the vicissitudes peculiar to his situation. Custom had made familiar, usages and discomforts, which, to the stranger, were unendurable. Liancourt Watson and others, escaping the forest, sought in the hamlet inns the same comforts common to the East, and vented their disappointment in complaint ; but it must ever be a matter of surprise that large families were enabled to occupy houses with but a single room during an entire winter, and to maintain a degree of order and neatness to some degree historic. The lakes were a source of supply of fish for the table, and an abundance of excel- lent venison was freely offered. A writer of 1796 thus expresses the contrast effected by the brief period of four years: "The county of Ontario, having several years the start in settlement, and the advantage of many Indian clearings of great

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extent, had already the comfortable appearance of an old settled country ; the old Indian orchards had been dressed up and the fruit secured from depredation. During this year a farmer near Geneva made one hundred barrels of cider, and in an orchard at the old Indian town one hundred bushels of peaches were obtained and sold to a neighboring distillery. The town of Canandaigua presented a changed ap- pearance ; a court-house and jail were already built, and an academy founded on a subscription of thirty thousand dollars was in process of erection. The whole ad- jacent country was rapidly settling with a most respectable yeomanry, but particu- larly that part lying between Canandaigua and the Genesee river. Geneva took a fine start; a street was laid out on the summit of rising ground west of the lake; at the south termination a handsome country house was begun, and finished during 1797; and, in the corner of the square, a large and convenient tavern and hotel, besides many other large and well-finished houses." The lake had known canoe, raft, and boat, but in 1796 a new enterprise was projected and executed. A sloop of forty tons' burden was put on the stocks, intended, when finished, to run as a packet between Geneva and Catharine's Town, a small village at the head of the lake. The close of the season found the vessel launched. This, the first launch of a passenger and freight craft upon the beautiful and never-frosen Seneca, was an occasion to call together many people from the different settlements. It was with no little surprise that they who, by families and in parties, had dropped into the country, now found themselves a part of a large and respectable assem. blage. Here were Native American and European, ostensibly engaged in the same object-their own well-being and the aggrandizement of the Genesee coun- try. Already it was almost one continuous village from Geneva to Lyons, distant sixteen miles. In 1795 the Legislature was induced to decree a division of On- tario, the north half retaining. the name Ontario, and the part struck off being formed as Steuben on March 18, 1796. The year 1797 was notable for the exo- dus of families to the Genesee country. It has been estimated that the number was far in excess of previous years, and that not less than three thousand people came into Steuben and Ontario during the brief period of six weeks of the winter of: 1796-97. These immigrants were principally. of the most substantial farmers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, the Jerseys, and New England. The improve- ment of the country not only brought comforts but luxury. Regular weekly mar- kets had been established in Geneva and Canandaigua, and there was an abundant supply of meat of all kinds. A printing-office had been established at Geneya, and a weekly Gazette published. The number of subscribers within six months had increased to a thousand. A Scotchman established a brewery at the same village, and the event is characterized as promising to destroy in the locality the baneful use of spirituous liquore. Water was brought in pipes from a remarkable spring a mile and a half distant in plentiful supply to the door, the kitchen, and the farm-yard, and the circumstance is adduced as evidence of the conveniences en- joyed. Let it not be understood that the work of settlement was more than in its infancy ; years elapsed, and the settler penetrated yet deeper into the forest, and repeated, with less of hardship, the story of initial improvement.

In 1800, the Indians had settled peaceably in their villages and aided the set- tlers in their improvements. There was honor among them, and fidelity ; and when, as in instances, they were wronged by overbearing whites, they found no more able nor prompt defenders than the old settlers. But the curse of intem- perance was all powerful in its influence, and occasional brawls resulted in the death of parties concerned. It was in one of these that a white man named John Hewitt was killed at or near Buffalo, then included in the limits of Ontario County. The murder was done by an Indian named. "Stiff-armed George," while intoxicated, and his surrender was demanded by the civil authorities for trial. The Indians resisted an arrest and became greatly excited. To their minds the fact of drunkenness was an extenuation of the crime, while the law of the whites made this an aggravation of the offense. The Indians insisted that they were an independent nation and had jurisdiction of the case, and claimed an appeal to the general government. Many attempts were made to induce the Indians to sur- render the murderer that he might be tried by the laws of the State. Meetings were held at which both races were present, but which proved of no avail, when finally, a council of the principal chiefs of the Senecas, Cayugas, and Onondagas was called at Canandaigua for a grave consideration of the question. The assem- bly included the principal inhabitants of the village, and was an occasion of much solemnity and perfect decorum. The speech addressed to the white portion of the audience, made by Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket, was against a surrender. The speech was published by James D. Bemis, then editor and proprietor of the On- tario Repository, and is produced here as furnishing grounds of judgment as to his ability as an orator, although the interpreter has much to do with the expression, and either may or may not have fully expressed his sentimenta. Picture to your- self a man six feet in height, of open countenance and penetrating black eye, thus addressing the pioneers of Canandaigua :

. ... " Brothers,-We ask your attention. Good will and harmony have.subsisted

with us for years, and now an unhappy event has taken place. One of us has murdered one of your people, and the act cannot be recalled. It seems as though the effect would be an end to our friendship, but we come to this place to see if harmony may not be preserved. Our superintendent has departed and we have no guardian, no protector. We ask that our speech may be taken to the Presi- dent. In the past, William Johnston was our superintendent, appointed by the king, and by him these offenses were settled. You threw off the government of the British and gained your independence. We held a treaty, and a method was employed of redressing socidents of this character when we were the sufferers. We claim the same privilege in making restitution to you that you then adopted towards us.

."Brothers,-Washington told us at the close of our treaty at Philadelphia that we had formed a bright chain of friendship, that we must not let it rust, and the United States would do their part. Our people have been murdered. Two years ago a few of our warriors were in camp westward of Fort Pitt, and two white men took their rifles, traveled three miles to the encampment, and, un- provoked, fired upon the Indians, killing two men and wounding two children. We relied upon the treaty and obtained satisfactory redress. Let the same action be pursued in this case.

" Brothers, -Was this a cool, intended murder? It was not. The accident was done in a quarrel resulting from the use of liquor. We do not excuse his unintentioned crime, but come here grieved, to have it settled.

" Brothers,-Since this accident has taken place we have been informed that, by the laws of this State, if a murder is committed within it, the murderer must be tried by the laws of the State and punished with death.

" Brothers,-When were such laws explained to us? Did we ever make a treaty with the State of New York and agree to conform to its laws ? No; we are independent of the State of New York. It was the will of the Great Spirit to create us different in color. We have different laws, habits, and customs from the white people. We shall never consent that the government of this Stato shall try our brother. We appeal to the government of the United States.

.. " Brothers,-Under the customs and habits of our forefathers we were a happy people; we had laws of our own ; they were clear to us. The whites came with their customs. They brought liquor among us, which our fathers affirmed would prove our ruin. It has caused the death of numbers of our people. A council was held to seek a remedy; it was agreed that no private revenge should take place for any such murder.

. " Brothers,-the President of the United States is called a great man, pos- sessing much power ... He may do as he pleases. He may turn men out of office who have held their offices long before he held his. He can do these things, and cannot he control the laws of this State ? Can he not appoint a commission to come forward to our country and settle the present differences, as we on our part have heretofore often done to him upon a similar occasion ? We now call upon you, brothers, to represent these things to the. President, that he may send a commission with power to settle the present difference. To refuse us will be a serious matter .. Our brother shall not be tried by State law, which makes no difference between a crime done in liquor or in cold blood. If tried here, our brother must be. hanged. This we cannot permit. When has a murderer of our people been punished by death ?

" Brothers,- Our treaty with Colonel Pickering requires our superintendent to reside in Canandaigua, because it is centrally located to the Six Nations, and because here our annuities are stipulated by treaty to be paid. Treaties are sacred. Our superintendent should reside here. . We have had no voice in the present appointment and feel ourselves injured. When Captain Chapin was appointed our wishes were regarded. He has been turned out, although satisfac- tory to us, because he differs from the President on government matters. We have a superintendent who is ignorant of our affairs and unknown in our country. We need one resident here and well known to us."

Speeches were heard, and arguments presented, but the offender was reluctantly surrendered. "Stiff-armed George" was brought to Canandaigua, and lodged in the jail, which was then located where the Webster House now stands. An in- dictment for murder was found against him, and he was tried at the Oyer and Terminer of Ontario County in February, 1803. The trial was held in the old court-house, now called the "Star Building." The Hon. Brockholst Livingston, . Supreme Court Justice, presided. John Greig, Eaq., as District Attorney, prosecuted the case for the people, and the defense was made by Peter B. Porter and Red .Jacket. Many Indians were present, and swarmed about the building. Red Jacket addressed the court and jury in Seneca, and was interpreted. It was on evidence that the murder was without malice, and attended by mitigating circumstances. The court, attorney-general, grand jury, and citizens, signed a petition to Governor Clinton for the pardon of the Indian. Judges Hosmer and Atwater concurred with Judge Livingston in recommending.the offender as a fit

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PLATEV

PUBLIC SCHOOL

BUILDING, CANANDAIGUA . N. Y.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

subject of mercy. A special message was sent in to the Legislature by the gov- ernor, and Stiff-armed George was not executed. Thus was arbitrary power as- serted. Might made right, and justice was mingled with mercy. ' A banquet at the jail tavern, kept by Phineas Bates, was attended by citizens and chiefs. Toasts were drank, and speeches made.

CHAPTER IX.

ONTARIO.IN 1800-TIMBER-ANIMALS-FURNITURE-CUSTOMS.

THE observations of a foreigner traversing. Ontario in 1800, accurate and intel- ligent as he was, present a portraiture of that period well calculated for this por- tion of our work, and embracing points desirable to mention in this chapter. Fresh from England, every object was seen in the light of contrast and novelty, and a glimpse is given of life three-quarters of a century ago. Traveler arrived at Genera, July 7, 1800. The weather was hot and sultry, and the thermometer stood about ninety degrees. A thunder-gust swept over Seneca lake, and its waters assumed variety of colors. On the near shore they were.a beautiful bright green, while on the farther shore white streaks were visible. A ride made July 12, six miles from Geneva, on the Sodus road, showed excellent land, fine farms, woodland worth six dollars an acre, haying done, and wheat turned brown. A farm of one hundred and fifty acres, which cost two hundred and fifty dollars, sold twelve hundred dollars' worth of cider in 1799, from orchards of Indian planting. Three tons of red clover had been taken from an acre of ground, and stalks were gath- ered full five and a half feet long. The timber was noted to be beech, sugar- ·maple, hickory, butternut, white-wood, bass-wood, and oak. Reapers were seen at work in a field of wheat, near Seneca lake, on the sixteenth day of July. The horse-road up to the west side of the lake, near the bank, had but one or two clearings, while all along the carriage-road, farther back, settlement was continuous. The lake vicinity was considered unhealthy, and the lands, then neglected and heavily timbered, ultimately became highest in value. . Watkins- town (Naples) settlement contained ten honses. The neighboring flats contained three thousand acres of superb land. On July 26 rye was cut and got in, bay- ing was in progress, and wheat was ready for the sickle. . . A visit was made in Angust to the Sulphur Springs, seven miles out from Geneva. A fellow-traveler took the trail to Lyons and Sodus, while our friend took the left towards Canan- darque, and crossed Elint creek on a good planked bridge, near its junction with the outlet of Canandarque lake. " Here were grist- and saw-mills, but insufficient water to run them. A grove of hemlock and white pine was seen. The timber was excellent, and, from its scarcity, was esteemed valuable .: At the Sulphur Springs several apertures permitted the. egress of the water, which, flowing to- gether, expanded upon a sheet of limestone, and stagnated in the marsh below. No trees grew in the marsh. The water was clear as crystal. The spring was midway between Geneva and Canandarque, on the northward, which was preferred in wet weather to the lower road. The settlements were of recent origin, yet for seven miles the country was cleared on each side. In 1800, the lower part of Seneca lake, terminating in marsh and swamp, abounded in snipe, pheasant, quail, deer, and other game. Geneva contained sixty families, among whom were those of Mr. Colt, Johnston, Hallet, Rees, Bogart, and Beekman. Three of these heads of families were lawyers; there were also two doctors, two storekeepers, a blacksmith, shoemaker, tailor, hatter, hair-dresser, saddler, brewer, printer, watch- maker, and cabinet-maker: . A hat made wholly of beaver was sold at ten dollars. The sloop of which we have spoken was, running.to the head of the lake as a packet. .. It was observed that trees, cut high above reach, were standing as they grew, along the road. : They had been blown across the road, and out off to clear the way, and the root, by its weight, resumed ita former position. These roots were often ten to twelve feet in diameter, and loaded. with .earth. They did not penetrate the earth, but spread along the surface, and the more the trees were pro- tected, the less hold of the soil did they take. At a trial at Canandarque, a wit- ness swore that on the same day a certain large tree was blown down in a certain township and rose again. Objection to the evidence was overruled, and a num- ber in the court-room swore to the same circumstance.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 9

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

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