USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families > Part 9
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Charles Williamson, who has been frequently mentioned in connec- tion with the Pulteney association, was as intimately associated with the early history of Ontario county as were Phelps and Gorham, or any other of the early land proprietors. Williamson was born in Scotland, and is said to have first come to this country during the Revolution as a captain in the British service ; but the vessel on which he was making the passage was captured by a French privateer, and Williamson was detained as a prisoner at Boston until the close of the war. He im- proved every opportunity to become acquainted with the country, and his services therefore were much sought by foreign investors in United States lands. His first visit to the Genesee country was made in Feb- ruary, 1792, he having then been recently appointed representative of
L of C.
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
the Pulteney association. The next year he founded the village of Bath, now in Steuben but then in Ontario county, and at the same time caused a survey and map of Geneva to be made, the latter work being performed by Joseph Annin. By this time, also, Canandaigua had become a village of much importance, it being the county seat of the newly erected county of Ontario. In 1796 a sloop was built by Williamson on Seneca Lake to be run as a packet between Geneva and Catherinestown. In the same year, also, a printing office was estab- lished at Geneva. However, these are subjects which may be more appropriately treated as local rather than general history, and therefore need no further discussion at this time.
In 1796 Charles Williamson was elected to the Legislature from On- tario county, and served three successive years. March 18, 1795, he was appointed a judge of the county of Ontario and served in that capacity at several terms of the court held at Canandaigua. March 31, 1796, he was appointed first judge of Steuben county. He was also appointed by the governor, lieutenant colonel of the militia. In the infancy of settlements in the Genesee country he was a most important agent, and much of the early prosperity of the region was due to his enterprise. Eastward of Geneva was an uninhabited wilderness, and not a road within a hundred miles of the Genesee country would admit of any sort of conveyance except when the ground was covered with snow. He opened roads in various directions, and often made advance- ments to induce settlement. The lands he was generally compelled to sell upon credit, and payments were often postponed. Many of Will- iamson's enterprises were ahead of the times, and were rewarded with
slow returns. His resources were mainly the capital of his principals, who advanced large amounts for improvements, freely at first, but soon began to be impatient at the slow return of their outlays. By the year 1800 there had been expended by the association the sum of $1,374,- 470.10, and there had been received for lands sold only $147,974.83, while at this time there was owing for lands purchased about $300,000.
Sir William Pulteney was the principal man in the association, his interest being so large that upon the division of the lands his share ex- ceeded that of both of his associates. However, the Hornby and Colquhoun shares were each large, and were managed as an estate, the
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THE PHELPS AND GORHAM PURCHASE.
agency of which was at Canandaigua under the charge of John John- stone, and upon his decease John Greig, of Canandaigua, succeeded to the agency.
In the final adjustment of affairs with his principals, Mr. Williamson obtained a princely compensation and a large estate was left to him. Major James Rees was his agent until Mr. Williamson returned to Scotland, in 1803 or '4, when his matters were left with Col. Benjamin Walker of Utica. Mr. Williamson died of yellow fever in 1808, while on a passage from Havana to England. His wife did not leave this country, but continued to reside in Geneva, where she died August 31, 1824.
Much that might properly come within the province of this chapter, particularly that which relates to the sale and disposition of the several townships now forming Ontario county, is omitted from the present narrative, but reference to them will be found in one of the later chap- ters (relating to the organization of the county), and also to the chapters devoted specially to township history.
In the settlement of Williamson with his principals, he conveyed the real estate directly to them by deeds dated the 16th of May, 1801, under an act of the Legislature, April 2, 1798, enabling aliens to purchase and hold real estate. This act expired by limitation in three years from its passage. The amount of personal property, consisting of bonds and mortgages and notes he thus conveyed at different dates, according to an adjusted statement between the parties, was $551,699.77. According to the same statement the valuation of the land conveyed was, to Sir William Pulteney, in Ontario and Steuben counties, $2,607,682.25; to William Hornby, in said counties, $350,924.45, and to Patrick Colqu- houn, in the same counties, $37, 188.13, making the whole amount con- veyed valued at $3,547,494.58.
Robert Troup was the attorney of Sir William Pulteney in effecting the settlement with Williamson, and to his surprise received a full power of attorney, dated July 26, 1801, to act as the permanent agent and attorney. At first he absolutely refused the agency, but finally was persuaded to accept, and commenced his duties in September, 1801. Sir William Pulteney died intestate, May 13, 1805, and the property descended to his only child, Henrietta Laura, the countess of
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
Bath; she died July 14, 1808, intestate as to her real estate, and that property descended to Sir John Lowther Johnstone, her cousin and heir- at-law ; he died August 7, 1811, leaving a will under the powers of trust in which the management of the property has continued until this day. Colonel Troup continued in the agency until his death, which occurred January 14, 1832, and his successors have been Joseph Fellows and Benjamin F. Young, the latter continuing as yet the agency at Bath, Steuben county. This part of the Pulteney estate is usually known as the Johnstone Branch.
The countess of Bath bequeathed the personal part of the estate for the benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Markham, the wife of the Rev. George Markham, afterwards the wife of John Pulteney, and her children. The personal estate in America consisted of moneys due and to become due on sales of real estate by contracts of purchase, and by bonds and mort- gages taken on such sales. Elizabeth Evelyn Pulteney died March 18, 1856, bequeathing to her son, the Rev. Richard Thomas Pulteney, the residuary personal estate of the countess of Bath. This part of the Pulteney estate has become known as the Pulteney Branch. Joseph Fellows was the agent for a number of years and was succeeded by Edward Kingsland in 1871, who yet retains the agency at Geneva. Although the personal property branch of the Pulteney estate was but a minor part of the whole estate, yet after all it was considerable. It has, however, been gradually reduced until it is now comparatively small, and as soon as it can be done, without detriment to the estate or inconvenience to the parties, it will be entirely closed up.
CHAPTER IX.
A Brief Chapter Devoted to the Settlement Made by the Society of Friends in what is now Yates County - An Outline History of the Society and of its Remarkable Leader, Jemima Wilkinson, alias " The Friend" - Early Grist Mills.
IN the preceding chapter reference was made to the settlements begun at Kanadesaga and Canandaigua under the direction and patronage of Proprietors Phelps and Gorham ; and at a later period how the les- sees made the former place their chief seat of operations, and were fol-
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THE "FRIENDS."
lowed in the same work by agent Charles Williamson of the London Association. Under the patronage of the persons named, the northern part of what is now Ontario county was developed and settled. And what is true of that locality will also apply to the western part of the State of New York, which was likewise improved and developed under the patronage of the Holland Land Company. The Holland Purchase and the Morris Reserve were each, in part at least, portions of Ontario county as originally created, but as the jurisdiction of the county over that region of country was of brief duration, the subject of its purchase, subdivision and early history needs but a slight notice in this work. However, there was an element of pioneer population in Ontario county, which, although the territory settled now forms a part of another county, is nevertheless deserving of some mention in this record. We refer to the settlement made by the " Friends " in what is now the town of Tor- rey, Yates county. As a matter of fact the emissaries of the "Friends" made their first visit to the Genesee country very soon after the close of the Revolution, before the controversy between Massachusetts and New York was decided, and, of course, before Phelps and Gorham made their extensive purchase, and before any county erection in this part of the State was even contemplated.
In the year 1786 Ezekiel Shearman visited the Genesee county, his object being to find some suitable location for a permanent settlement for the followers of Jemima Wilkinson, but finding the country not ripe for occupation, Mr. Shearman returned and reported to the society the result of his investigation. During the next year three other emis- saries of the society visited the region, stopping for a brief time at Kan- adesaga, then proceded up the lake to the location of the old Indian vil- lage Kashong, where they found two Frenchmen, De Bartzch and Poudre, who were residing there and carrying on trade with the Indians. By these traders the committee was informed that the region about them was unsurpassed for purposes of settlement and cultivation. The travelers proceded several miles further southward and examined the lands in the vicinity of the outlet of Lake Keuka, and decided to make a favorable report to the society, but to leave the exact location of the colony to the discretion of those who should first come to make a home in the region.
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
The first settlement by the society of " Friends " was made during the latter part of the summer of 1788, when twenty five of their num- ber made this place their permanent home. The next year the little colony received large accessions in numbers, and even their faithful leader herself attempted the journey to the "New Jerusalem," but an accident compelled her to return to Philadelphia ; and it was not until 1791 that the Friend joined the colony, at which time its number amounted to more than one hundred persons.
Jemima Wilkinson, as she was originally named, or the Universal Friend, as she styled herself after her somewhat remarkable transforma- tion from the material to the spiritual being, was the founder and leader of the sect or society just referred to. She was with her followers re- ligionists of the order usually termed fanatics. The people who allied themselves to the Friend were earnest, honest, upright men and women, and among them were many persons who are remembered as having been among the foremost men of Ontario county during its pioneer period ; and although the society has been for many years extinct, and memory of it lives only in historical records, no intelligent speaker has given voice to sentiments other than of praise for the society and for its most zealous founder and head.
Jemima Wilkinson was born in the town of Cumberland, Providence county, R. I., in 1758, the daughter of Jeremiah and Amy Wilkinson, and the eighth of their twelve children. The young life of this child was not unlike that of others of her condition and situation, nor did she possess traits that marked her in contrast with others of her time. She lived in an age when it was not an uncommon thing for numbers of people to separate themselves from established sects and set up a new standard of religious discipline or worship; and while Jemima was brought under the influence of one of these departures, she was not gov- erned by it.
During her young womanhood Jemima underwent a remarkable and singular change. In the summer of 1776 she fell sick with a disease that puzzled the medical men and was called by them one of the ail- ments of the nervous system, and not of the physical, for she suffered no pain. Gradually wasting in strength, her life hung by a slender thread, and she finally fell into a trance state and appeared almost life-
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THE "FRIENDS."
less for a space of thirty-six hours. Then she suddenly aroused herself, called for her garments, dressed, and walked among the members of the household, though weak from long prostration. From this time forth she disclaimed identity with Jemima Wilkinson, asserting that her former individuality had passed away, and that she was another being, a min- ister of God sent to preach His gospel, and to minister to the spiritual necessities of mankind. She took to herself the name " Universal Friend," or " Public Universal Friend," and would recognize no other name even to the end of her life, although to her followers she was com- monly known as " The Friend."
The first public appearance of the Friend in her new character was made on the Sunday following her rising from the bed of sickness, and on that occasion she delivered a discourse, displaying a remarkable familiarity with Scripture passages and surprising her hearers with the peculiar force of her delivery. She traveled about from place to place, visiting and preaching in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, drawing many followers to her standard, among them men of wealth and influence ; and in the summer 1782 she went to the neighborhood of Philadelphia, where her ministrations were continued. To establish a community home in some new and unsettled region was the cherished desire of the Friend, and it was for this purpose that Ezekiel Shearman visited the Genesee country in 1786.
As has been stated the colony of the Friends in the New Jerusalem . was established in 1788 upon the lands ceded to Massachusetts by New York. As afterward developed, the settlement was on both sides of the old pre-emption line, and, in 1794, Charles Williamson, in response to a petition, showed the society the greatest consideration, treating them with great liberality and confirming to them the title to the lands upon which they had settled.
However, dissensions finally arose among members of the society, and the result was in the purchase of township number seven in the second range from Phelps and Gorham for the use of the Friend and those of her followers who remained faithful. This township was named Jerusalem in Yates county, while the provisional district of Jerusalem embraced a much larger area of territory, and was one of the original civil divisions of Ontario county.
14
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
The Society of the Friend gradually decreased in numbers and in- fluence until the death of its founder, which took place July 1, 1819, after which time it soon passed out of existence.
One important event in connection with the Friend's settlement at City Hill, in the present town of Torrey, was the erection of a grist-mill in 1788, the first structure of its kind in that region of country. And a noteworthy fact, also, was the settlement by the pioneers of the society, which was the first permanent settlement west of Seneca Lake. These sturdy pioneers, during the year 1788, sowed about twelve acres of wheat, which was the first event of its kind in the State west of the lake. In this connection we may add that the Friend's mill for some time sup- plied the whole region of eastern Ontario county with flour, except such as was brought from the east.
The grist-mill above mentioned at the Friend's settlement was built in 1789 and 1790 by Richard Smith in conjunction with Abraham Day- ton and James Parker. The following record is taken from Mr. Smith's family Bible. "4th July 1790 I have this day completed my grist mill and have ground ten bushels of Rye," and "July 5 I have this day ground ten bushels of wheat the same having been raised in this im- mediate neighborhood last year." The first grist- mill erected in West- ern New York appears to be that of John and James Markham on a little stream which enters the Genesee River, two miles north of Avon, in the winter of 1788-9. Indian Allen built a mill at Rochester late in the year 1789, the frame being raised on the 12th and 13th of No- vember. Oliver Phelps built a grist-mill on the Canandaigua outlet, about five miles northeasterly from the lake and about half a mile above Shortsville. This was run for some years by Samuel Day, and com- monly called Day's mill ; it was built in 1791. Early in the year 1794 Bear's mill at Waterloo, Seneca county, was erected, the frame thereof being put up on Sunday by church people from Geneva at the request of the minister who officiated at the Presbyterian church at Geneva on that day.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
CHAPTER X.
Original County Organizations - Albany County - Tryon County Formed - Name Changed to Montgomery - Ontario County Created - Its Extent and Population - The First County Officers - The County Seat - The County Buildings - Civil Divis- ions of Ontario County - Subsequent County Erections Which Took Lands of Original Ontario - Formation of the Towns Now Comprising Ontario County - The County Civil List.
D URING the rule of the Dutch, the inhabited portion of the State of New York was organized as a county or province of Holland ; but during that period there was little attempt at settlement beyond the limits of the Netherlands, and only a limited colony in the vicinity of Schenectady. After the overthrow of the Dutch power in America, the successful English rulers organized the original county of Albany, the same being formed November 1, 1683, and confirmed October I, 1691.
In 1772, just preceding the outbreak of the Revolution, the territory of Albany was divided, and Tryon and Charlotte counties were created. Tryon county was formed March 12, and originally embraced all the lands of the State west of the Delaware River and a line extending north through Schoharie, and along the east lines of the present coun- ties of Montgomery, Fulton and Hamilton, and continuing in a straight line to Canada; and therefore embraced the lands of the Genesee coun- try and the subsequently created county of Ontario.
Tryon county was so named in honor of William Tryon, colonial gov- ernor of the Province of New York, but during the Revolution the con- duct of this official was so decidedly inimical to the cause for which the Americans were contending that his name was highly distateful to the patriotic settlers who located in the county after the war. Consequently when a petition was presented to the Legislature, that body on the 2d of April, 1784, dropped the former name and in its stead adopted that of Montgomery, so given in honor of Gen. Richard Montgomery, a Revolutionary officer, who was slain in battle at Quebec.
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
During the period in which the region existed under the names of Tryon and Montgomery, there was a division of the territory into pro- visional districts, and it was not until 1788 that any town or township organization was effected, or even attempted. At first there were five of these districts, all formed in 1772, and covered all the inhabited por- tion of the country.
In 1787 Phelps and Gorham became the owners of a vast tract of land in Montgomery county, located west of Seneca Lake, in extent be- ing about 2,600,000 acres. The greater part of the remainder of the State west of the purchase just mentioned soon afterward became the property of the so- called Holland Land Company. The proprietary of each of these tracts at once began its development by making surveys and settlements thereon. The permanent settlement on the Phelps and Gorham tract began in 1787, and increased so rapidly that in 1789 it was deemed advisable to make a division of Montgomery county. Therefore, upon the presentation of an application, the Legislature. on January 27, passed an act creating Ontario county, and including within its boundaries all the lands of the State west of Seneca Lake, or in other words, the whole tract which was ceded by New York to Massa- chusetts west of the pre-emption line. The county was named from Lake Ontario, which formed its original northern boundary. The effect- ive part of the act creating the county reads as follows : " Whereas, the county of Montgomery is so extensive as to be inconvenient to those who now are, or may hereafter settle in the western part of that county ; Therefore, be it enacted, etc., That all that part of the county of Mont- gomery which lies to the westward of a line drawn due north to Lake Ontario from the mile-stone or monument marked eighty-two, and standing on the line of division between this State and the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania, shall be one separate and distinct county, and called and known by the name of Ontario."
The third section of the act provided that until other legislation should be had in the premises it " shall be lawful for the justices of the Court of Sessions for the said county of Ontario to divide the said county into two or more districts, as they shall deem expedient and convenient to the inhabitants."
It was under the provisions of this act that the original districts of Bristol, Canandaigua, Bloomfield, Farmington, Gorham, and Middle-
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
town (Naples) were formed, each thus comprising a much larger area of territory than at present. However, this is a subject which will be more fully treated hereafter.
At the time of the organization of the county the total population of its towns or districts did not exceed 1,000 persons, as the first federal census, made soon afterward, gave the county a total of 205 families and 108I inhabitants.
After the erection of the county, to complete the organization, the following officials were appointed : Oliver Phelps, judge of the Common Pleas ; John Cooper, surrogate ; and Nathaniel Gorham, county clerk. The first sheriff of the county, Judah Colt, was not appointed to office until April 7, 1790.
As is well known, the county seat and buildings have been located at Canandaigua since the erection of the county ; and while the people of Geneva had a strong desire to possess the county properties, even at the time the county was formed, their claims were not well grounded, inasmuch as there was then a doubt whether the locality of that village was on the Phelps and Gorham tract, or on the lands claimed by the lessees. Furthermore, the seat of operations of the proprietors had, by 1789, been removed from Geneva to Canandaigua, and as those pro- prietors were chiefly instrumental in causing the division of the mother county-Montgomery-it was only natural that the same influences should control the location of the county buildings. Therefore, the commissioners appointed to examine the several localities desirable for the seat of justice, had no difficulty in designating Canandaigua as the place most suitable.
Geneva, however, was the county seat to the extent of having con- ducted within its limits (at Patterson's tavern) the first Court of Oyer and Terminer convened in the county. This event took place in 1793, and Judge John Sloss Hobart presided at the session.
The first court house of Ontario county was built during the year 1794, in pursuance of an act of the Legislature, passed April 9, 1792, which authorized the supervisors of the several towns to raise by tax the sum of 600 pounds to construct the building, with an additional tax of one shilling to pay the expense of collection. The old court-house was a plain two-story frame structure, and was located on the northeast
ยท
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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.
corner of the public square, near the site of the present court-house. It was built by Elijah Murray. On the erection of the second court-house, in 1824, the pioneer building was removed to the corner of Main and Cross streets, and thereafter was occupied as a town hall and post- office. Later on it was again moved to Coach street and used as a store-house.
The second Ontario county court-house was a more pretentious structure than its predecessor, a fact in no manner surprising when we consider that the new building cost double the first one. After thirty years of constant use the old county building was deemed unfit for longer use ; in truth it was said to be a disgrace to the village and the county, and that notwithstanding the historic memories surrounding it .. But as sentiment counts for nothing in a growing, enterprising com- munity, the people in 1824, through the board of supervisors, applied to the Legislature for an act authorizing the laying of a tax to raise the sum of $6,000 for the construction of a new court-house. The bill passed and was approved in April, and on the 4th of July following the corner stone of the new building was laid with impressive ceremonies. Like its predecessor, the second court-house was a plain two story building, yet was more substantially built and more ornamental in ap- pearance. Over its entire front was a broad portico, supported by heavy columns. This building was in use by the county from 1824 to 1858, a period of thirty-four years, and then gave way to the large and handsome structure which now adorns the " square."
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