History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 99

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A CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY was formed through the activity of the Rev. Isase Sergeant, who came into town as a Unionist. He preached at the Kimball school- house; held a revival, at which many " forsook their evil ways, and bowed the knee to the mild sceptre." The society was soon diesolved, and no records exist.

The " WESLEYAN METHODIST CONNECTION OF AMERICA" organised a church at the Bush school-house, in March, 1845, after a protracted effort and revival conducted by Israel D. Trembly. His first sermon, and the first one by a minister of that denomination in town, was delivered in November, 1844. The original members were Andrew Ingraham, Joseph Yost, William Smith, Eli Shaw and wife, Jesse Westbrook, John Winch, Benjamin and Jane Blake. William Smith was the first class-leader, Jesse Westbrook the second, and A. W. Doolittle the

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third and last. The greatest number of members at one time was thirty-four. It closed its labors as a church in 1864. The different ministers who labored with them were Revs. Trembly, Kitchel, Bixby, Boothe, Havens, Davis, Finney, Yorks, Paine, and Broadhead. A class of the denomination was formed on Kim- ball Hill, in 1856, and has no available record.

The CHRISTIAN CHURCH of the towns of Canadice and Springwater held meetings for years in the Waite school-house. The meetings were chiefly for prayer, and occasionally Ira Spencer or Daniel Peabody would speak to them, but regular organization was not effected till 1830. It was then formed by the Rev. Amos Chapman, who preached regularly to them for many years. About the same time, meetings were held at the Williams school-house in Springwater. The two united, and on April 18, 1834, the name now borne was given. On July 19 and 20, 1834, a general meeting was held at the horse-barn of Stephen Walbridge. The church edifice was erected during 1836-37, and dedicated in October of the latter year. The ministers present were Oliver Barr, Joseph Bailey, Sylvester Morris, Bartlett, and Gilmore. It was repaired in the fall of 1871, and rededicated in 1872. The first ordination was of Sylvester Morris, Jr., on July 18, 1847, when S. Morris, Sr., Joseph Badger, Asa Chapin, and Samuel Cross were pres- ent. The different preachers have been W. Munroe, Dr. Hendricks, Rutherford, Fancher, Haines, Rice, Stearns, Newel, Chambers, Welton, Morehouse, Lamont, and Hebard. The church has its periods of death and prosperity. It has no regular preaching at present.

As earlier stated, first preaching was by the Methodists. Elder Ingraham in 1809, Revs. Bartlett and Clark in 1811, Jehiel Spicer in 1812, Silas Reynolds in 1816, and Elder Walker in 1808 were the first preachers in town of that de- nomination. A class, composed of Jabez Northrup, Robert Collister, Jonathan Waters, Daniel Knowles, and their wives, was formed in 1817, on Ball Hill. Northrup was their first class-leader, and Collister the second. The date of origin of the class from which sprang the present church is not known. It is ascer- tained that Albert Finch was baptized in 1812, James Anderson and family, de- vout Methodists, came in during 1815, Silas Reynolds and wife in 1816, and a class was probably formed consisting of Anderson, Reynolds, and their wives, Aloin and Orrin Anderson, and their wives, Jehiel Spicer and others; but there is no positive information on this point. Meetings were held in barn and school- house. The first of many protracted meetings since held was by Elder Wright, in 1812. One was held at the J. B. Hoagland barn in 1829, and revivals took place in 1830-33, and since. Camp-meeting was held on Ball Hill, upon the Hoppough farm, in 1833. The church was organized by the election of trus- tees in December, 1831. The meeting-house was built in 1833, and dedicated in December of the same year. Other early members, besides those named, were Uriel Spencer, one of the first trustees, Androw Ingraham and wife, Henry Hong- land and wife, the Huffs, and Elias Westfall. The church is now in a prosperous state.

The cause of temperance has found ardent supporters in Canadice, and a great change from the tansy-bed and the whisky-bottle has been effected. There have been but two distilleries in the town. The first was erected on the Slout farm, and the second was started by Julius Bigelow in 1825, on the C. F. V. Barber farm on Ball Hill. The petty taverns retailed whisky at three cents a glass. The numerous asheries were a kind of grocery, also, where sugars, tens, tobacco, and like necessaries were kept, and etiquette required that customers be treated. The licensed liquor-sellers of the early day are thus recalled. The first was John Phillips, in 1817, on the Kimball farm; then Shadrach Ward, on the Wright farm, from May 4, 1819, to 1833. His sons, Andrew and Jerry, continued the traffic. Peter Barnard and John Wing were on the G. W. Owen place. L. O. Davis, John Petitt, Halsey Whitaker, Victor Putnam, and E. Coykendall, on the Harvey Brown farm ; John Winch, H. Lewis, and G. O. Spencer, on the Hoagland farm; and in other places, venders were J. Coykendall, L. Spencer, W. Smith, O. Wetmore, D. Norton, P. Wetmore, A. Goodrich, T. Doolittle, I. Chamberlain, J. W. Spencer, J. Fox, J. King, E. Hall, Joseph King, and Jacob Snapp,-a list which amply demonstrates universal custom and reputable estima- tion at that period. The truthful delineation of the effect produced by so general a traffic would show many a drunken vagrant prowling about for drink, while his family suffered at home for food and clothing. Not unfrequently, death closed the sad drama, and friendship drew the veil of oblivion. The justice's docket indicates the effect of intemperance. Robert Armstrong, in office five years, left a record of over four hundred closely-written pages. Andrew Ward was in four years, and his docket lengthened to three hundred and forty-three pages. Wil- liam Chamberlin, three years, and his writings cover one hundred and sixty pages, and this in a town less than four by six miles in size. Those days are past; justices have served whose records for five years will not cover as many pages of an or- dinary account-book. L. A. Davis became a strenuous temperance man. Henry Hoagland was one of the most conscientious advocates of reform. He desired

to raise an addition to his log house in 1824, and no help would come without whisky. He exchanged some corn for the liquor, and solemnly vowed it was the last exchange,-and it was.

Maurice Brown, a temperance justice, was elected in 1837. He was elected supervisor in 1848, filled a vacancy on the excise board, and for the first time licenses were refused by Thomas Doolittle voting with Brown, and so making a tie. The question of "license" or " no license" was first carried by " no license" men in 1853, when D. Byron Wuite was elected justice by a majority of nine. The law was changed vesting the power to grant license in commissioners. Under that law Joel Coykendall took out a license; since then no applications have been made, and the people are known as temperate, honest, and Christian.

CANADICE BOYS IN BLUE.

A list of the soldiers of the Revolution is worthy of place in the history of the town ; they comprise the names of Harry Armstrong, William Gould, Reuben Hamilton, Nathan Moss, Isaiah Smith, William Sullivan, and Derby Wilds. Few citizens of the town know that Isaiah Smith, one of the guard at Washington's headquarters, was buried here. Of the soldiers of the war of 1812, mention may be made of David Badgro, Jesse Brown, Albert Finch, Luther Gould, Captain Grandy, Justus Grout, Laban Howland, Cornelius Johnson, James Kelly, John Kelly, Ira Kimball, Jos. King, Morris North, Daniel Norton, Jonas Quick, Silas Reynolds, Amasa Richardson, Jonathan Richardson, Robert Smith, Samuel Smith, William Smith, Horace Spencer, Orra Spencer, Ira Spencer, George Struble, David Tibbals, Benjamin G. Waite, Green Waite, Andrew Ward, and Frederick West- brook. . Some of these can be followed to the battle-field, where hardship, defeat, valor, and victory rewarded their efforts. They were once a part of the popula- tion, and a score or more of those old soldiers here enjoyed the fruition of their effort, and here rest until the reveille of the last day shall call them to a grand review.

In the last great civil war no other town of old Ontario furnished more men, com- pared with population, nor braver soldiers than the town of Canadice. Those who early enlisted to sustain our flag in the hour of peril were James N. Brogan, Owen S. Brown, Thomas J. Burch, Jonathan Coykendall, Joseph H. Coykendall, Ichobod McConnell, Harvey R. Coykendall, Stephen H. Draper, James Erens, Francis M. Francisco, George W. Heazlett, Sedrey M. Heaslett, Palmer W. Lewis, John M. Hyland, Horace Z. Shepard, Ellicott R. Stillman, Daniel Roes, Lendall H. Rowley, Homer A. Smith, William L. Shepard, Arnold G. Coyken- dall, William N. Simons, Harrison J. Babcock, and James H. Loveland. Then, responding to a later urgent call, came the enrollment of John Burch, Jr., La Fayette White, Lewis C. Crossen, Albert H. Tibbals, Ira D. Durgy, James E. Cole, Buel G. Burch, William H. Hutchinson, William E. Thorpe, William I. Bishop, Wil- lard D. Caskey, Luther C. Myers, Emery Anderson, Thomas S. Doolittle, Martin L. Nutt, Thomas Melody, George F. Roy, Clinton A. Owen, George Casner, Michael Oliver, Henry S. Struble, Elmer Bailey, Robert R. Ranney, William McLeod, Donald McLeod, Maurel W. Smith, James A. Gowers, Henry S. Thorpe, George W. Case, Alonso G. Wemett, Henry J. Wemett, Joseph We- mett, Melford C. Wemett, William C. Lucker, Orra 8. Pursel, Charles M. Struble, Willard G. Shepard, Joseph H. Hyde, Jonas Beardsley, John O'Labay, Peter C. Roes, Harrison E. Francisco, Wesley Stout, Geo. O. Richardson, Geo. Culver, Elam Wetmore, Dwight Coykendall, Jerry Coykendall, Jefferson Doolittle, Heman Cole, James Westfall, James Stillman, John King, Joseph King, and George King.

Of the number, Ellicott R. Stillman, Francis M. Francisco, Daniel Roen, Len; dall H. Rowley, Arnold G. Coykendall, George W. Heaslett, Stephen H. Draper, Henry S. Struble, Harrison J. Baboock, and Daniel McLeod re-enlisted ; and John M. Hyland, Ellicott R. Stillman, James Evens, Francis M. Francisco, William H. Hutchison, Stephen H. Draper, Joseph H. Coykendall, and Henry J. Wemett, were promoted. Horace Z. Shepard was taken prisoner at Plymouth, North Car- olina; sent to Salisbury, thence to Andersonville and Florence, where, in 1864, he died. William L. Shepard was captured in 1862, at Harper's Ferry. Ellicott R. Stillman was taken at Plymouth ; kept at Andersonville, Charleston, and Florence, until 1865 ; exchanged. Palmer W. Lewis was captured at Plymouth ; put into Andersonville prison pen, and died in 1864. James Evans was killed at the last Bull Run battle. Francis M. Francisco was taken prisoner at Plymouth; kept at Andersonville, Charleston, and Florence, where he died, and James N. Brogan also passed with him to the same fate. Daniel Roes was wounded at Kernstown, and left on the field of battle. Lendall H. Rowley fell into the enemy's.hands at Plymouth ; went to Andersonville, Charleston, and Florence, and escaped from the last place in 1865. William I. Bishop died at Point of Rocks, Virginia, in 1865. Jonathan Coykendall died in 1862, at Catlett Station, Virginia, and William A. Simons in the same year, at Suffolk. La Fayette White was captured, taken to Florence, and there died in 1864. Owen 8. Brown died in Washington in 1862,

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and George F. Roy at Martinsburg, West Virginia. Elam Wetmore was shot while refusing to march from Andersonville to Florence. Martin L. Nutt was captured at Gettysburg, kept a while at Libby, and starved to death at Anderson- ville. Ledrey M. Heazlett was last heard of while crossing the Chickahominy, in 1862. George Casner died at Suffolk, Virginia, in 1862. Maurel W. Smith, in 1864, at City Point, also died, as did James A. Gowers, from wounds received at Spottsylvania. Robert R. Ranney died at Elmira. Joseph Wemett was burned in the vessel employed in taking him from Andersonville; and the bones of Ichabod McConnell, Dwight Coykendall, Joseph H. Coykendall, and James Westfall lie in unknown graves, if happily buried, upon southern soil. George

O. Richardson lost a leg at Fredericksburg, William McLeod a right arm at Bull Run, and many another was wounded in the fell and bloody strife. Charles M. Struble, Henry J. Wemett, George W. Case, Alonso G. Wemett, John Burch, Jr., Albert H. Tibbals, and Lewis C. Crossen were present at the surrender of General Lee.

A brief, honorable record is that of Canadice's soldiers. They are not forgot- ten. The nation remembers them; the community regrets their loes; the loyal and patriotic mourn and honor them. If tears for the sufferings of those men who fell would embalm them, their remains would never perish, their memory cease.

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PLATE XCV.

RES. OF CHARLES G. HEMENWAY, SOUTH BRISTOL , ONTARIO CO, N. Y.

RES. OF ALLEN HUFF , CANADICE , ONTARIO CO, N. Y.

RES. OF WIE S. DOOLITTLE, CANADICE , ONTARIO CO., N. Y.

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PLATE XCVI

S. H. SUTTON.

REs. or S. H. SUTTON, ESQ., NAPLES, NEW YORK.

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TOWN OF NAPLES.

Here spreads a forest; there a village shines; Here swell the hills, and there s vale declines; Here through the meads, meandering waters run; There placid lakes reflect the full-orbed sun .- Anon.

EIGHTY-FIVE years have elapsed since the pioneers, adventurous, self-denying, and enduring, left their New England homes, with habits of industry and frugality, and founded here, in the then distant west, their life-long homes upon a moral and religious basis, and one by one, passing away, bequeathed to his posterity good example, valuable precept, and a toil-won old homestead farm.

The fame of the Genesee country had spread far and wide in sterile New Eng- land. As men slept there came bright visions of comfortable homes and moderate competence in the land of hill and dale, mead and lake, and they awoke to make the dream a reality. They bid adieu to friends in tears, whose last farewell was waved as distance slowly came between. The westward fever grew, and tales of wonderful fertility and attractive scenery, healthful olime and prospective fortunes, were circulated from hearth to hearth.

A public meeting was held at Patridgefield in 1789, and a company of sixty persons was formed in the towns of Dalton, Windsor, Pittsfield, and Patridgefield, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, to purchase a township of Phelps and Gorham in the Genesee country. At a subsequent meeting, where Colonel William Clark was chairman, a committee of eleven was chosen to purchase said township. These men were, William Clark, Nathan Watkins, William Watkins, Edward Kibbe, Nathan Hibbard, Elizur Burnham, Dennison Robinson, Thomas Robinson, William . Cady, James Harris, and Ephraim Cleveland. They selected from their number a committee of three, vis., Edward Kibbe, Nathan Watkins, and William Cady. This committee was empowered to proceed to the Genesee country and make pur- chase of a township of land; knapsacks were supplied with blankets for camping out, with provisions, and a bottle of New England rum was also considered no small part of the outfit. The three pioneers set out on foot about the middle of September, 1789. They had reached the valley of the Mohawk, enjoying the free hospitality of the old Dutch settlers, with slight fatigue, but, as the wilder- ness closed in on their narrow and winding road, and as they trod long stretches of the strange pathway, the limbs became weary and the feet sore. Gladly they stopped at each little log tavern a score of miles from the last, and then entered upon the track of the Oneidas and slept by the fires these former foes had kindled. After three weeks of toilsome travel, the trio reached Kanandarque. They saw General Chapin, agent of Phelps and Gorham, and announced their business. "Go," said he, " and look at township No. 9, second range." This was what is now Gorham, and the committee found the land covered with oak openings with a mixture of heavy timber and with gently undulating surface, and declared this to be their choice. While at breakfast, a stranger came up and asked an opinion of the country, and they answered that a township beyond the foot of the lake was satisfactory to them; while they finished breakfast, the stranger went to the land office and secured the town for the lessee company of Dutchess county, and the committee tried the agent again. General Chapin gave them No. 9, fifth range, now, the town of Richmond, north of the Honeoye lake, to inspect. They followed the marked town lines by aid of compass, and returning, contracted for the township, and reaching home in safety made a favorable report. A purchase ,was concluded with Phelps and Gorham, then at Granville, for what is now known as Richmond. Through mistake or intention, township No. 7, in the fourth range, was deeded to the proprietors, and they submitted to this apparently fair transac- tion and consummated the purchase of what is now the town of Naples, six by five and a half miles, but not then surveyed. It was considered so remote that one of the proprietors said, " It is a barren, mountainous region, whose lonesome silence and wilderness retreats would never be broken only by the croaking of bullfrogs or the hideous growls of wild beasts." The deed to the proprietors con- veys township No. 7, fourth range, being siz miles north and south, by five and . half cast to west, and containing 21,120 acres. The consideration was £1056 current money of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, bearing date March 20,

1789, and made the price of the land about twelve cents an acre. Meanwhile, preparations were going on in Berkshire for removal to this purchase.

The pioneers of Naples were Samuel, Reuben, and Levi Parrish, formerly from Connecticut, and members of the company of sixty purchasers. These were the first to set out with their families in the midst of the hard winter of 1790-91. They were four weeks upon their eventful journey, driving their two oz-teams, fording bridgeless streams, cutting their way at times, and crossing upon thick ice the Kanandarque lake. It was a bleak, cold day in February, when the little party, coming up the inlet at sunset, halted at an Indian hut for shelter, while the oxen were turned out to feed upon the dry wild grass, grown luxuriant in the valley of Koyandagee (between the hills). Silence was broken only by the bark- ing of Indian dogs, that answered each other from hut to hut. The night was clear and cold, and the full moon shone brightly upon a lonesome wintry scene. The party saw the frozen snow gleaming in the subdued light from the hill-sides with the brightness of silver, while the sombre shades of higher acolivities lay stretched along the margin of the valley. A cold repast was taken, and the Indians looked on in silence. The minds of the women took in and sensibly felt their situation; home, kindred, and friends were far away, comfort and society were exchanged for a smoke-filled wigwam of bark and dirt, from which, with tear-filled eyes, they gazed despondent. A cold night was sleeplessly passed by the Parrish families.

The morning came, and the smoke of forty wigwams curled slowly upwards, while all around was stamped with savage impress save the ox-sleds and their close-packed loading. These Indians of the Seneca tribe in groups watched the movements of the white families. Hintonta, their chief, stood by Canesque, the ex-chief, powerful in frame and with hair bleached silver-white with the frosts of a century, and they seemed to meditate upon the destiny of their race. The great Indian trail to Kanadesaga and Kanandarque passed through the valley, and tradition asserts that here were the headquarters of the Senecas. The lofty hills, says Parrisb, on either side were so destitute of timber that a deer could plainly be seen from one extremity to the other, even to the very summit. The Parrishes soon erected a small log house sixteen by eighteen feet, and covered it with oak shakes, held in place by poles. Split base-wood formed the floor; and the sled- box made a door and a table. This house stood a little north from the brick- yard, while a second built by Levi Parrish stood on east Main, south of the present dwelling of Orlando Cummings. The last of April or the first of May, a large company of emigrants arrived to gladden the Parrish families. Colonel William Clark, Captain Cleveland, Nathan and William Watkins, John Johnson, and Jona- than Lee, with their families, thirty in all, had come in small bateaux up the Mohawk, Wood creek, Seneca river, and Kanandarque outlet, lake, and inlet. They built a log house just below the present residence of Ephraim Cleveland, and this served for a temporary abode for the new settlers as they arrived. Dur- ing the summer Captain Nathan Watkins built the fourth log house under the bill, north of M. H. Cleveland's place. Captain Cleveland erected the fifth house, and Colonel Clark, the sixth ; this last stood a few rods south of the residence of C. S. Lincoln. Captain William Watkins built himself a house on the flats east of Main street. The few log houses built before the advent of saw-mills were covered with hollow bass-wood, oak shakes, and black-ash bark. The first framed barn was raised by Nathan Watkins, in 1793, a little north of the Cleveland home- stead. The first framed house in Middletown was erected in 1794, by Isaac Whitney, and stood on the present site of E. Wells' residence. It was not till 1860 that the first brick building-the Naples Academy-was erected in the town. Nathan Watkins was the pioneer tavern-keeper in " Watkinstown."

The early settlers were mostly inured to farm labor, and skillful in the manu- facture and repair of their farm implementa. The first clearings were made adja- cent their houses on each side of the public square, and there the first crops were planted and raised. Captain Kibbe was an arrival from Patridgefield during 1793, and brought tidings fresh from the old home. Till now no division of lands had been made, and, preparatory to this step, a plat was made to survey one hundred

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and ninety-five lots of one hundred and eight acres each. These were numbered from the north to the south line of the town in fifteen ranges, numbering from the east, westward. Sylvester Atchison and Major Harris were employed as sur- veyors, Isaac and Jerrard Watkins as axe-men, and John Johnson and Joel Watkins carried the chain. The party divided, and commenced surveying from opposite sides of the town at the same time. Each party, nearing the centre, dis- covered an overplus eight rods wide. Then surveying from the north and south sides, a strip of land sixteen rods wide was discovered. Thus was produced the eight and sixteen rodways crossing at right angles the town's centre, and adding to the size of the lots on the west side of the eighth rodway. The survey ended, the company chose fifteen of the best lots in the valley, partly cleared by Indians and long cultivated by them, and dividing each into four lots, numbered from one to sixty inclusive, designated them as " settling lots," and allotted one to each of the company of sixty. A drawing was then had by numbers of all the lots. Each share drew one of the settling lots and three of the out-lots, and quit-claim deeds exchanged. Every share was drawn. Some individuals had more than one share. More than half the owners never saw the land, but bought on speculation or for their children. Many hill lots were subsequently bought up by New York and New England capitalists, among whom was Robert Bowne, a New York city merchant, who held over four thousand acres. He sold to Marvel Ellis, of Utica, taking half payment and mortgage for the other half. Ellis sold part to Thomas, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, but died before completing payment. Meanwhile, Bowne began a suit of foreclosure, but subsequently compromised by taking back half the lands. After Ellis' death, Bowne, or his heirs, conveyed by quit-claim deed the other half of the lots to St. Johns, heir of Lord Bolingbroke. The annual taxes on these lots were not paid. Until about 1825, parts of lots, and in in- stances entire lots, had been sold for taxes, when the heir of Ellis came on, took formal possession, and sold to settlers who had squatted on the lots. Not know- ing, among many claimants, the ones having rightful title, lots were designated as "unknown," and this expression appeared for many years on the assessment rolls of the town. Another cause of litigation was occasioned as follows: One of the eleven who took the title deed of the townships of Phelps and Gorham deceased within a year or two thereafter, and before deeding or quit-claiming to the other holders of the sixty shares. His heirs, however, received their share to which his claim entitled them, and it was supposed to have been and was equitably set- tled, but fifty years after one of Cady's heirs was told by a shrewd lawyer that inasmuch as his father had not parted with his title before his death, his heirs were technically the owners of one-eleventh part of the whole township. An hundred suits were simultaneously begun to recover. These suits were settled by payments of twenty-five dollars to one hundred dollars each.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 99

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

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