History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 95

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

USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario Co., New York > Part 95

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Digitized by Google®

247

248

HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

long upon the farm, but finally moved to what has been known as Hilltown, in the southwest part of South Bristol.

The next place going south on this road, and occupied by Eli Allen, was first settled by Aaron Rice, one of Wilder's party. His stay was transient, and a sale was made to Theophilus Allen. The third frame house erected in town is the one occupied by Mr. Allen, and was built by his grandfather. Mr. Rice moved from here to the farm now owned by Henry Atchison, where he cleared a few acres and then removed to lot 9, where C. G. Hemenway resides. He selected for his residence the west brow of the hill, where he had a good view of the sur- rounding valleys. His death took place here in 1821. South of Rice's first settlement comes the farm owned by D. P. Allen. Its first settler was Nathan Hatch, Jr., from Connecticut. He came to the Wilder settlement prior to 1800, and married Lucy Wilder, daughter of Gamaliel. The Hatch family were prin- cipally residents of Burbee Hollow. The settler, Nathan, after a long sojourn here moved to Ohio. A neighbor was a very deaf old man, known as Uncle David Gilbert, a brother-in-law to Wilder. Here he died where J. A. Ryan now owns, on lot 18. Next south we find Gamaliel Wilder, who first moved here from the Point, and built a double-log house a trifle northeast of the present property of Hotchkiss. The southern part of the present dwelling was erected in 1808, and was the first frame in the town, and for years so remained. Asa, a son of Gamaliel, who made his home with his parents, erected the north part of the house. Di- rectly south of this place, on the J. W. Davis farm, lived Elisha Parrish, son-in- law to J. Wilder. He came here from Naples, prior to 1800, and was one of the earliest school-teachers in town. His son, F. Drake Parrish, was born in Naples, then Middletown, on December 20, 1796, and is now a resident of Oberlin, Ohio, where he has resided some sixty years. From him we have received valuable notes of early settlement of this locality.

South of Mr. Parrish there was no settlement, till 1812, between his house and Naples, by way of the " Cold Spring." The settlement, as we have indicated, extended itself around into " Burbee's Hollow," and the first settler southwest of G. Wilder, up the creek, was of the pioneer blacksmith, James Wilder, a distant relative of the proprietor. He came into town soon after the commencement of settlement, and located on the W. H. Hurd place, and built a house opposite his residence, where stands the house of Mrs. Tuttle. Wilder remained a blacksmith in this locality for thirty years, and few men of bumble station became more gene- rally known to the neighborhood. He is described by one who knew him as a "jovial, witty, queer genius," whose shop was thronged each stormy day to hear his stories and ready jokes. He finally removed to Kentucky. A neighbor to Wilder was Warren Brown, whose clearing was upon the furm of A. Ingraham. In 1812, Thomas Lee, a carpenter, who afterwards resided at Cold Spring, built the frame house for Brown which stands opposite the dwelling of Ingraham. Here Brown raised a family, and later moved to Canandaigua, where he died at an advanced age.

Next south of Brown was Jared Tuttle, another of the Wilder party of 1790, and an industrious settler, upon the farm of P. Ingraham. He passed his years upon this estate, and died in 1840, an old and respected citizen. His son, Jared, died in 1875, at an honored age. It was fortunate for the settlers that among their number were found men efficient and ready to use the natural resources of the country to the greatest advantage. The rapid water suggested its power and use, and Ephraim Brown, a Connecticut wheelwright, came in among the first, and locating near Tuttle, at once set to work and erected the first mill here, under the direction of Wilder & Allen. He was aged when he came to this new country, and his existence was not protracted here. The process of acclimation was too severe for many, and not the least of the trials of the family was the loss of a member; but the danger past, the longevity of the settler seemed assured. It is known that Alpheus Gury was a neighbor to Tuttle, and that is all; a memory of a name, a dim recollection, and a life is dropped out of notice.

In 1796, Kaufman and family moved in from the east, and settled next above Tuttle. Kaufman was short-lived in the Genesee country, and the widow Kauf- man attended the grist-mill in the locality, when it was first built, and was very well regarded in this connection. A son, William, until his recent death, was the oldest resident in the town. For many years this family had for a neighbor a man named Stratton, whose house was on the bank, south of the house of S. Berner.

Going north from Boswell's Corners, we come into what is termed " Burbee Hollow," whose first settler, from the corners, was Phineas Perkins, who moved in during 1796, and settled the farm where 'eorge Alexander now owns. Age came upon him while he lingered; but finall when quite old, he sold out and found a home elsewhere. Upon the same lot ived Deacon John Forbes, whose existence was spared to see his children grow up to maturity around him. Shortly after his death the family went to Kentucky. The next neighbor north, on the same lot, was Richard Bishop, whose resider se in the neighborhood was some- what later than that of Forbes. As will be noted, Wilder had a distillery to utilize

his peaches, and Bishop was engaged in its management for a time, but ultimately removed to Kentucky, where he is said to have engaged in distilling on his own account, and to have become his own patron. The next place north was not of early settlement, it being 1812 when Abraham Roberts moved upon it, and there resided till his death, some years later. Farther northward was the place settled by Levi Austin and a man named Fay. The former put out an orchard here in 1796, below where the barn of Warren Parmely stands; the orchard is yet, after a lapee of fourscore years, in good bearing condition. It is observed that every new settler, as soon as he had cleared sufficient land, at once set out an apple-orchard, and from 1812-14 there was an immense quantity of cider made. The trees were young, thrifty, and from ten to twelve years old, and bore abundantly. A great incentive to the manufacture of large quantities was the ready market and high prices. Our forces were then posted along the frontier from Sackett's Harbor to Buffalo, and thousands of barrels of cider were hauled to the various camps, where disposal was soon made. The Allens were heavily engaged in orcharding, and made hundreds of barrels of cider annually. They had erected a large cider-mill house, in which they placed two presses, which they ran constantly. Prior to 1800, Nathan Hatch, Sr., moved in with a large family of boys, and two or three girls. He bought out Austin and Fay, and made a further purchase of Wilder. His sons were Nathan, George, John, Thomas, Charles, Lyman, and Luman. Nathan afterwards purchased the farm north of John Ryan, and owned by D. P. Allen. George located upon the property held in part by Mrs. Betsy Crouch. John settled in No. 9, on the farm owned by the late Seymour W. Case, west of Bristol Centre. Lyman, on land adjacent his father, now held by Homer Alford. Thomas returned to Connecticut, and Luman lived upon the homestead until his death, which occurred in 1826.

The S. T. Swartz place was first settled by one Belknap, who remained but a brief time. Aaron Spencer came to the settlement in 1790, worked for a time with Wilder, and then returning to Connecticut, brought out his family and moved in 1792 upon that part of lot 36 occupied by T. Smyth. Here he cleared a few acres, and remained three years, when he sold to Nicholas Burbee, who had recently come in with Colonel John Green, of Pittstown. The sojourn of Burbee, which terminated in the spring of 1812, gave origin to the name Burbee Hollow, by which this vicinity has since been known. Soon after his purchase Burbee sold the north half to Captain Reuben Gilbert, and afterwards Seevel Gilbert, brother to Reuben, came to live upon the place now owned by I. J. Barnes. Deacon Parmely bought Burbee out in 1812, and settled down upon a large farm for life. He had practical knowledge of surveying, and made it available to the neighbor- hood. At his father's death, James Parmely remained upon the old farm until

within a few years, when he removed to Louisiana, and his remembrances are the basis of much of our information. "Lawyer" Butler was a resident of this neighborhood in the pioneer period, and found employment as a petty attorney in local disagreements. His home was a small log cabin, and his legal business occu- pied time not engaged in farming. A family named Reed once lived in this vicinity. At Seneca Point, as now known, Wilder made his first sojourn, and afterwards removed to lot 18, north of the forks of the road. Gideon Beeman came out in 1809, from Connecticut, and located near the lake, where now lives W. H. Hicks. Here, having erected a log cabin, he engaged in horse-trading in conneo- tion with farming. For a time he was away, but returned to the town, where he died. A son, Nelson, resides in the town. It is notable how character becomes manifest in the life of an individual. Contentment and love of home become a habit, and fix a man to one locality, whence he never departs. This was illus- trated in the life of Daniel Wilder, son of Gamaliel; where he settled with his father, there he remained until the close of his life.

The Covel settlement derived its name from its leading early settler, James Covel, who, in 1806, came out from Woodstock, Vermont, and located cast of the cemetery, on a tract of two hundred acres opposite where G. S. Randall resides. Some years later he removed to Allegany. He has a son, named Thomas, resid- ing at Naples. The old gentleman has attained the age of eighty-five. John Wood came to this neighborhood soon after Covel, and took up his residence upon one hundred and fifty acres of the lot opposite. His death took place when advanced in life, and no descendant resides in the town. Ezra Wood moved in about 1810 from Woodstock, Vermont, and the land now tilled by E. F. Wood is the same as that cleared by his grandfather. One hundred acres comprised his possession. His death took place February 23, 1813, when fifty-one years of age. In February, 1876, Isaac, son of Ezra, died here, aged eighty-one years. Gaius Randall accompanied Wood here, and bought him a home upon the north part of lot 9. While a portion of his time was given to carpentry, the farm was his main dependence. He moved to the Wilder farm in 1814, after the death of Daniel Wilder, and from there to the place where Martin Hicks lives. He finally bought the Covel place, where, at the age of seventy-three, he died. He has two sons, aged respectively seventy-one and fifty-five, who yet reside in the town.

Digitized by Google

249

HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Jonathan Forbes, son of the deacon, was a farmer on lot 8, where Charles Goff lived as early as :1808, and emigrated, as did many others, to lands in Kentucky. South of Goff dwelt Jeremiah Spicer, on the Vanderburg place. He raised a family, and in his age moved upon a farm farther south, where he died. His son Jere. now lives in Naples .. In the person of Aaron Rice, a resident upon lot ? upon the Hemenway place, was found the only farrier then in the country. He was old and worthy, a citizen of good reputation in the community. Luke Coye came in about 1814, and settled near Naples, but afterwards moved to lot 2, south of the present school-house. A son David and two daughters are residents of the town. Elam Crane, of Durham, Connecticut, moved to the county in the spring of 1791, and settled on the Archer farm in Hopewell. A son John was born in 1792. Mr. Crane has been mentioned as a teacher of repute. In 1826 he moved from near Cheshire to lot No. 9, where, November 17, 1850, he died in his eighty- third year. He was industrious as he was intelligent, but, with a large family to support. never accumulated property. His family consisted of twelve children- three by a first wife. There were six boys and a like number of girls. Three sons and two daughters survive. One son, George, lives near his father's place ; Calvin lives near Canandaigua, and is eighty-two years of age. The remains of Mr. Crane, the teacher, rest in the Academy grave-yard.

Thomas Francisco, from near Albany, moved in, and in time married a daughter of John Wood, and settled on lot No. 1, where W. E. Lincoln lives. After some years he moved to Michigan, where his descendants are living. Ezra Par- mely, as late as 1812, was. the first to settle upon lot 2, near the place of J. M. Sanford. Some years later he traded his farm to Granger, of Canandaigua, and joined the movement to Kentucky. Clark Worden joined Parmely in the pur- chase from Wilder of a tract of land lying on the East Hill, adjoining the Rice place on the east, and moved on in the spring of 1812. A year or two later a man named Ward, and designated " Papa" Ward, had located next south of Worden. These, with Rice, Spicer, and Forbes, constituted the inhabitants at that time of the locality. The lower road through what is now called the Coye neighborhood was not opened, and years elapsed before the road from the Covel settlement to the Hollow was altered to run on the line of lots. David Knicker- booker moved in from Hopewell in 1811, and bought of Beeman the place occu- pied by William Hicks, on lot 12, near the Point. The orchard seen there was planted by him sixty years ago. A numerous family grew up around him, and thinking to better their condition, removed to Ohio, where he died. Some of the children are still living there; the oldest, Larry, married Orpha, daughter of Daniel Wilder. Larry built a schooner on the lake about 1826. It was announced that it would be launched at the Point on July 3, and people turned out to see the novel spectacle from all directions. The event was marked by the drowning of Leonard Hoskins. The craft sailed to Canandaigua, and on July 4 a good load of passengers went down to the village, and had a memorable and enjoyable time. It attracted considerable attention as it sailed gayly along, and groups gath- ered at various points to observe the progress of the schooner.

In this vicinity a school was opened during 1816, in a log house east of where Frank Wood resides. The first school-master was Winthrop Holcomb, who had about a score of scholars, most of whom have departed. The teacher later con- ducted a school near Standich, and still survives. In 1812, and years afterwards, Indians were frequently seen. The settlers were accustomed to see them pass their houses in parties of from two or three to twenty, some being on foot and some on ponies. They generally stopped at the cabins and houses to beg bread. Their method was to halt in the road, and send in a squaw or two to do the begging. The present of a loaf or more was taken with a grunt of satisfaction. It was divided among the whole party, which then moved on another stage. The pap- poose was carried by the squaw upon her back. The infant was lashed to a thin board, face outward ; a leather strap was attached, which rested against the fore- head in carrying. When a squaw entered a house, the child was set against the fence or house, and never uttered a cry to indicate discomfort, although left to itself for a considerable period of time. The last wigwam stood till 1815, about a mile from Cold Spring, and from time to time Indians occupied it temporarily ; but the hills and valleys of South Bristol are traversed no more by the Seneca, and the white man dwells there supreme and alone.

Bristol Springs is a hamlet comprised in the central portion of district No. 3, in the southern part of the town, near the lake. It has a post-office, and to the eastward are Cook's and Lapham Points. The first settler on the former point was Frederick Winthrop Holcomb, from Windsor, Connecticut, in 1812. Along the road traveled by thousands, and beaten by the use of a score of years, Hol- comb tramped on foot. He was no uncommon pedestrian, yet in nine days he had walked three hundred miles, and at the age of twenty-four ·began a settler's life. About two acres of land on the point was so far cleared that he sowed them with wheat; then, as had been done by settlers during his boyhood, he returned to winter in Connecticut. Again, in March, 1813, he returned on foot, save when

occasional rides could be obtained, and set resolutely to work. During the season several acres were cleared, and sown in wheat harvested from the two acres. He married Keziah Wood, and these later pioneers dwelt for sixteen years in a log house having a single room. In 1829 his father came to the place, while he him- self moved to the land owned by S. Bappel. He yet resides in this neighborhood, at the age of eighty-seven years, and is the oldest inhabitant of South Bristol. At Cook's Point had lived a man named Maloy, who belonged to that transient, float- ing class who obtained subsistence from the lake and woods, and was of that type of whom the cheaper novels treat. Maloy was a hunter and a fisherman ; a cheerless cabin was his home, a section of a hollow tree served as a chimney to his fireplace, and here he lived, and gave a first name to the Point. It was first known as Maloy's, then Holcomb's, and finally as Cook's Point. Two and a half miles up the lake, where now stands Standish Hotel, once lived a Welshman, named John Perry, who cared not for society or habitation so long as deer ran in the woods and fish could be taken from the lake. A few acres were cleared to furnish vegetables, an orchard was planted in trees, and a small, one-roomed cabin was the tenement of the family. Perry was generally to be found hunting the deer with hounds, which drove the game into the water, where he made captures, by the aid of a skiff, of as many as five in a single day. The old hunter lived many years in this place, and has a descendant, Ann Hatch, who yet resides in the town, at the age of eighty-six years. Thomas Standish came from Vermont in 1811, with a family, and built a cabin where J. G. Wood's house now is, on lot 3. That shelf of the hill extending southerly from Cold Spring was of late settlement compared with the Covel neighborhood. The locality was named, from its pioneer, the Standish settlement. Standish moved to Batavia, where he died, This section was reputed unhealthy. A fog of miasmatic composition arose from marsh and swamp at the head of the lake, and drifting along to the shelf, there rested during the clear, still nights of summer. A man by the name of Love- ridge first settled on the farm subsequently owned by Luman Hatch. The latter married Miss Ann Perry, and in 1819 sold to Amos Miner, Jr., who, moving upon it the same year, was a sufferer all summer with fevers, and exchanged with Hatch for the farm now owned by S. T. Swarz. Phineas Lee was an early oc- cupant where F. Seamans lives. He married a Miss Leiphart, and removed to Michigan. The parents of this couple died here at an early period. A man named Lucius Lincoln came in about 1816, and located on the property now owned by T. L. Lincoln, his son. The father of Lucius early resided in the town. Thomas Lee, of Hopewell, came in 1820, and built the house occupied by William Wood, a carpenter. About 1840 he removed to Michigan. Richard Ingraham came here about 1813, and took up a residence on lot 10. His death occurred several years since, and members of the family reside in the town. A shoemaker, named Knowles, resided in this place, and traveled from house to . house for several years to do the work of making and mending, as was the pioneer custom.

Jonathan Greene came in about 1813, and lived north of the Springs, on the farm of Isaac Trembly. He was known as a carpet-weaver, and his death oc- curred at an early period. Dr. David Williams came in from Connecticut, and located north of Greene, and practiced about two years, when he died. It is re- lated, in connection with his funeral, that being in life a Methodist, when his remains were taken to the house of a Presbyterian, the owner saw the assembly seated and then withdrew until the exercises were concluded. North of Williams the doctor, was Williams the distiller, whose business was of brief duration. Anson Parrish built upon the adjoining farm. He was son to Elisha, who lived opposite the place of W. W. Davis. William Gatis and brothers came about 1818, and purchased where L. Hughson lives on lot 9. They were from Ireland, and gave attention to farming. Samuel was by trade a mason, and was ready to do any work in his line as occasion offered. John Fox came in during 1815, and settled on the farm lately owned by H. D. Coye on lot 18; opposite Fox dwelt E. G. Hurlburt, on lot 13, where Sailor had preceded him. Farther north on this road lived Van Ness, on the present farm of Charles Gannett. Harrison Salsbury, a relative to Van Ness, moved in about 1817, and settled where Lewis E. Gannett recently owned on lot 17. He moved to Cold Spring at a later period. A son resides in Michigan. On what is known as the Crandall farm was located Pitts Walker, an early settler.

South Hollow vicinity has no early history. From Boswell's Corners to the Naples line there were in 1810 no occupants. About 1813, Jere. Spicer moved from Covel Hill to land upon the) creek, and built a log house opposite to where J. A. Pierce now lives. He left the impress of a life of toil in the fields cleared by his labor, and save this brief, mention would soon have been forgotten, so quietly do the generations pass, and so little heed is paid to their departure. About the same year as Spicer moved, William Kaufman changed his residence to where S. Crouch resides, neat, the south line of lot 29. In 1815, Eleazer Parker came in from Bloomfield, and developed a farm from the wild lands on

Digitized by Google

250

HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

lot 23, where is now the farm of Chauncey F. Ingraham. About 1818 he was joined by his brother, David, and the two ended their days on their farms. South of this point, the land remained in its native state until some thirty years since, when Caleb MoNair moved in from Yates county and purchased fifty acres. About the same time a man named Sheldon came in and bought a large tract. His family grew to maturity, and became prominent in various localities.

Frosttown and vicinity was occupied by Gamaliel Wilder during the first or second year after his arrival. He cut out a road from his place at the Point, westward over the hill, down the mountain-side east of where he later died. That same old road is still in use by many in the eastern part of the town, as a foot or horseback road in getting over the old Wilder place. The southwestern part of the town was seen to abound in pine timber, and upon a creek which flows to Honeoye lake was found a good mill site. Wilder, therefore, continued his road up hill-side and down into valley to what is now designated Frosttown.

The route of the first road leading west across the town is thus given : "Continu- ing on westerly from Brown stand, very nearly on the site of the present road till near the top of the hill on the Tuttle Place, where it bore to the right along the south part of lot No. 28, twenty or thirty rods north of the Boswell school- house, winding northwesterly up the hill, passing near where George Alexander's house now stands, on northwesterly down the valley eastward of the creek, to the farm now owned by Homer Alford. It then turned west up the mountain ; when part way, it wound round to the southwest, and so kept that course mainly to where, on lot 44, a saw-mill was built." Untraveled for seventy odd years, its route is traceable most of the way from Alford's to the mill. During the days of carly settlement the inhabitants were obliged to spend much time and labor to cut out and open roads, though, as in the instance given, we see that Wilder per- formed a large share of the labor. Wilder opened a road from his residence down the valley close under the foot of East Hill, avoiding the creek, and reaching the place of his brother Ephraim, at Bristol Centre.

During this year a road was out out from Wilder's, nearly south, up the moun- tain, thence winding to pass the gullies, but mainly direct to Naples settlement, which was then mostly at the lower end of the present village. The old road was nearly upon the track of the one south of H. B. Gannett, to the old Clark place at the foot of the hill in Naples. It was the only one passable for teams that con- nected No. 8 with Naples for a dozen or more years. James Parmely says that " In the summer of 1813 my father sent me to Naples with a sack of wool lashed on the horse behind the saddle, to get it carded," and along this scarcely passable road he made his way through what was then an unbroken wilderness. In the fall of 1813 the notice was circulated that on a certain day all should meet to out out a road from Boswell's Corners, south, to Sutton's settlement. The settlers, to the number of a score or more, turned out from four or five miles around. Phin- eas Perkins, an old but energetic man, was appointed "boes." To make a road up and down the hills on banks each way from the creek was a formidable task, but all went heartily to work. The teams were variously employed, some in haul- ing logs to fill up low places, some plowing, while the settlers were active, some chopping, others shoveling, and by night there was a passable road to nearly oppo- site the mill-pond of Kaufman. After the erection, by Wilder, of a saw-mill at Frosttown, the call for lumber from the northern towns was far in excess of the capacity of a mill, and three or four years after the erection of Wilder's, the Frosts, Jonathan and Jacob, bought several hundred acres of land west and south of it, and put up another mill just at the head of Wilder's mill-pond, and later purchased the lower mill. The place then went by the name of Frosts' mills for many years, then it became Frost Hill, and finally subsided as Frosttown. These mills were the leading mart for pine lumber in Ontario County for twenty or thirty years, until the exhaustion of the timber. Jacob Frost died about 1816, and Jonathan sold the upper mill to John Hall, and the lower one to Israel But- ler. Having sold his mills, Frost, with his sons, Moses and Ephraim, went upon and cloared up the farm now owned by Hiram Abbey. Stiles Parker, a local Methodist preacher, lived here some time, and left to seek a better country. Has- sard Wilcox came in soon after the Frosts, and built a house on lot 48, near where his son, I. W. Wilcox, lives. He built a steam saw-mill in the later years, and it was the first in the neighborhood. Several are now being run in this part of the town. North of Wilcox, for a long distance, there was no settler, and a large area is still without a habitation. In the central part of joint district No. 11 lived Hall, on the farm of C. G. Davis. Hall cleared large fields, and a family grew up around him. He moved away in time, and settlement progressed slowly. A man named North was a temporary resident in this locality. South of Frosttown there was no early settlement till Hilltown. The first on the road was Caleb McNair, who moved here in 1826 from another part of the town. Among those who came in about this time were William Duan, of Naples, who built a saw-mill on lot 43, and John Lee, of Bloomfield; here both men resided to the close of their lives. Iu the southwest part of the town, in district No. 10, is the locality which bears

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 95

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

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