History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories, Part 10

Author:
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign & Everts
Number of Pages: 294


USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories > Part 10


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).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62


Preliminary to those immense industries which give a name and fame to Seneca, were the humble manufactures of her early mechanies. At the village of Scanyes, about 1796, Matthias Strayer, a wheelwright, manufactured large spinning- wheels for wool and tow, and small mills for flax. Two years prior to this, Mar- tin Kendig, Jr., in the same place, had set up a shop for making tinware, sheet- iron stove-pipes, and the moulding of pewter spoons, less serviceable than silver, but an improvement upon horn and wood. In 1804, Paul Goltry, in a log house, the first in present Lodi, manufactured looms, fanning-milla, and other articles. He jealously guarded the secret of weaving " riddles" for hia mills, and his work- shop was forbidden to his own family. The mills had no castings, and would be a curiosity now. . One Cooper was a maker of apinning-wheels in the same locality, and did a thriving business. The founder of a colony has use for most, save silversiniths and gentlemen, of trades and professions. The cultivation of the voice was regarded as needful, and the associations of the singing-school were pleasant. One of the early teachers of vocal culture was Daniel Clark, of Ovid. During the year 1808, he got up six schools, and held them at most accessible points: one at the log house of Jamea Cover, and another at Smith's tavern, near Lodi. The books ia use were Smith & Little's collection. The terms were fifty cents per scholar for thirteen nights. The close of terms was marked by a good " sing" at the court-house, where an audience conld be accommodated. Nor was


34


HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


the art of dancing neglected or destitute of advocates. An early number of the Waterloo Guzette gives notice of a dancing-school held by one Robinson at the house of Thayer. The rude mills of Bear and Halsey were speedily supplanted by others larger, more durable, and efficient. Mr. Bear, at Scanyes, employed the Yosts to prepare an ample frame. Post, girth, sill, and plate were worked and ready to be framed, when it was found the physical strength of the commu- nity was insufficient to raise the new building, and the proprietor was at a loss for help. Word was sent to Geneva, and the officiating minister gave notice to his congregation at the close of the Sunday exercises of the facts in the case, and suggested that all should lend their aid at once and raise the building. The proposition was favorably received ; boats were manned, the mill-frame put up; and the settlers quietly returned home, well satisfied with their having assisted a neighbor in a laudable enterprise, upon a day assigned to rest. The mill at Scanyes froze in winter, and, thawing in summer, when possible kept steadily at work. Too small to store the gatheriog grists, these were duly labeled, placed upon stumps about the mill, and attended to in due time. If the settlers waited for their grinding, the shop of Mrs. Phoebe Smith offered refreshments of cake and beer, unless providentially a lunch was brought along.


Deacon Isaac Rosa, wife, and seven children came in 1817 to Waterloo. Old, he was yet active and enterprising. Having superintended the building of the mills, he was employed to run them. The door in the front of the mill was in two parts. The pigs, attracted by feed, would crowd into the front door, which the deacon would close; then opening a back door, some fifteen fect above the water, he ran them out, and they shot, much surprised, into the water below. Deacon Rosa was employed to put up the frame of the old Presbyterian meeting-house. Messrs. Fairchild, Bacon, and Malthy went to see the frame, and found the plates on and supports placed in the basement for the heavy beams. The roof-timbers were being hauled up with a ginpole and tackle by a score of men, and the studs beneath bent with the pressure. Suddenly, with a crash, the whole frame fell, and seven or eight men lay under and among the ruins. Lorin Wills, a young. recently-married mechanic, was ernshed and bruised, and soon died. Deacon Rosa was badly hurt and rendered a cripple for life. Mr. King, a carpenter from an adjoining county, was so injured that amputation of a leg was necessary. Orrin R. Farnsworth got off with a fractured skull, was trepanned, and lived several years. William H. Stewart was severely hurt, but finally recovered, badly crippled. Adon Cobleigh fell uninjured, and Captain Jehiel Parsons caught on the plate and escaped a fall. This misfortune was the event of the time, and can never be forgotten by witnesses. In the summer of 1821, the people of the county seat and vicinity were duly notified that on a certain day a whale, twenty-two feet long, would be on exhibition at the Eagle Tavern. The time arrived and so did the whale. An old resident, wbo could not be mistaken, describes the object as "n well-preserved real whale, braced interoally with wooden ribs, thoroughly dried, and shaped up so as to show the size and form as ncar as could be of the real fish." It was seen during the day by various par- ties. Some took the wagon into the street to dump the whale into the canal to see if it could swim, but it was hauled back and locked in the barn. About three A.M., a bright light shone out and aroused the citizens, who hastened out and fonod the whale on fire and nearly consumed in the middle of the street, just north of the Eagle barn. The hostler, a Frenchman, ran to the showman's room and called out, " Mr. Parsons ! Mr. Parsons! Your codfish be all on fire !" Mr. Parsons arrived in time to cut off a tail-piece, about four feet in length.


About the year 1820, Seneca Falls and Fayette were visited by an odd-looking boy, clad in tow freck and trowsers, and barefooted. He hailed from Palmyra, Wayne Connty, and made a living by seeking hidden springs. This boy was Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. On September 23, 1823, an angel appeared to Smith at Manchester, Ontario County, and told him that in the bill " Cumorah" lay buried golden plates on which was engraved the history of the mound-builders, ,full and complete. The plates were duly unearthed and the translation commenced. Three men believed the new doctrine, Martin Harris, a well-to-do farmer, David Whitmore, and Oliver Cowdry, whose pen gave the prophet great assistance. Harris mortgaged his farm for money to print the "Book of Mormon," went to Ohio, lost all, and came back a poprer and wiser man. Mrs. Harris consigned a hundred or more pages of manuscript to the fire, delayed the work, and, finding her husband infatuated, left him. Converts embracing the new faith, the first Mormon conference was held June 1, 1830, in the town of Fayette, Seneca County. W. W. Phelps published an anti-Masonic paper in Canandaigua, and Brigham Young is reported to have been a teacher and a re- ligions exhorter in the same place.


Few but are familiar with the heroism of the young Marquie La Fayette. Enjoying wealth, rank, and influence, he nevertheless left all these, and, coming to America, found in Washington a bosom friend. Intrusted with a command, he lavishicd his fortune upon their equipment, and aided us through the Revolution


to its successful termination. Years passed. America developed grandly. Broad domains were peopled and cities by scores sprang into being. La Fayette was invited, in 1825, to visit this people, and when the old man came the enthusiasm was unbounded. His progress from point to point was a continuous ovation .; bonfires blazed from the hill-tops, cannon thundered his coming, and deputations from one town escorted him to the next. From Geneva he came to Waterloo and Seneca Falls, and went thence to Auburn. Old soldiers flocked to meet him, and were received with the greatest kindness. Many persons on horseback and in carriages escorted him from Geneva, and when he had taken his position on the chamber stairs in the hall of the Waterloo Hotel, now Bunton's yeast factory, the multitude of men and women thronged in to shake his hand. Fatigued he certainly was, and this penance to a foolish enstom marred the pleasure of an otherwise triumphal and happy tour of the country. The festivity of the occasion was interrupted by an accident and loss of life. An old swivel gon, which had. been many veyages to Africa on the brig Pegasus, a Newport slaver, was being used to fire the salute. Not content with an ordinary load, a double charge of powder was put in and a mass of flax rammed in npou it, the charge being still further compressed by driving upon the rammer with an axe. The party were afraid to touch it off. Captain J. P. Parsons chanced to pass along, and, ignorant of the dangerous loading, took the burning match and touched it off. A tremen- dous report followed ; the gun burst. A fragment struck and instantly killed the Captain, but of the throng around no one was hurt. Parsons left a mother and . three sisters and a brother who depended on him for support, and when La Fayette learned of the accident he sent them a thousand dollars.


The celebrated preacher, Lorenzo Dow, preached in Seneca County on several occasions, more notably at a camp-meeting held on the west bank of Cayuga Lake, in October, 1821. A temporary log shelter had been crected to provide against storms; in this rude temple he addressed a large audience, drawn together by the fame of his strange manners and quaint expressions. In appearance, he was small of stature, dark complexion, long hair, and poorly dressed. In the pulpit, he was apt in expression, shrill in voice, and earnest in manner. Familiar with Seripture, blunt in their application, he won favor with the old settlers by his knowledge of their needs and evident sympathy with them. His text on this occasion was the well-known verse, " It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment."


The tour of Andrew Johnson, in his " swing around the circle," brought him through Seneca. Falls and Waterloo. He was accompanied by Generals Grant and Sherman, and Secretary Seward, and spoke briefly to the crowds assembled. Varions celebrities have, at times, visited the towns of Seneca ; among these was Prince de Joinville, who, in 1843, came near elesing his career in n Seneca swamp, owing to the act of a gamin in turning the "old turnaround" switch, east of Seneca Falls village, and sending the engine, "Old Columbus," and all her train, off the track.


CHAPTER XIII.


MILITIA MUSTERS-WAR OF 1812-AN INCIDENT OF THAT PERIOD.


THE militia of New York consisted of every able-bodied male inhabitant between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, with exception favoring those relig- iously opposed to war. The report of the Adjutant-General, for 1809, gave a total enrollment of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, of 102,068. In 1811, there were deposits of military stores, among other places, at Onondaga, Canandaigna, and Batavia. Cannon were at these magazines rangiog in calibre from thirty-two down to two pounders. Heavy ordnance, intended for the Niagara frontier, was brought from Albany on Durham boats by the "Seneca Lock Navigation Company," and landed at West Cayuga, now called Bridgeport; from there they were trans- ported on stout, heavy sleds, built for that purpose. Taught by the recent war with England, the militia system was regarded as a timely precaution to guard against Indian depredation and foreign invasion. Territory was districted accord- ing to population ; in sparsely populated regions, large traets were drawn upon to form the companies. Privates supplied their own arms, and officers their own uniforms and side-arms. At a later date independent companies were equipped at their own expense. Four trainings were held during the year: the County trainings were two in number, held respectively on the first Monday of June and September; the battalion, or half regimental, and general, or regimental, trainings were held by appointments made by the field officers. Notice of mus- ters was given, through lack of press and mad facilities, by personal visits of


35


HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


non-commissioned officers to each militiaman. It absent, a written notice was placed upon the door of the house .. A failure to attend resulted in a court- martial and fine. The first general training in Seneca County was held at Ovid, in 1802. Soon after, a regiment was organized for the north end of the County, at old Scauyes, and, out of compliment, Wilhelmus Mynderse was chosen by tbe troops for Colonel, and duly commissioned by the Governor. . Lambert Van Alstyn was Major and Hugh, W. Dobbin Adjutant. Mynderse cared but little for martial exercises, and left the work of drilling to Van Alstyn and Dobbin, men who had seen service, and were destined-to win honors in the threatened war. Colonel Van Alstyn kept boarding-house in the first tavern erected at Seneca Falls, and later known as the "Old Market." His charges were consid- ered excessive, being never less than $1.25 per week, and once reaching $2.63. General Dobbin lived about four and a half miles west from Waterloo, and, at home and in the field, was a soldier by nature.


About 1811, an artillery company was formed, with headquarters at Seneca Falls. Captain Samuel Jacks, tavern-keeper, in the old building on Fall Street, Seneca Falls, was commander.' A single gun, an iron nine-pounder, was drawn from the State. Captain Jacks led liis company against the British and Indians during the war. The last survivor of his company was Hiram Woodworth, of Tyre. Anticipating a collision of arms, the Governor, early in the spring of 1812, called upon the militia regiments to furnish a company each for service upon the Niagara frontier. Promptly responding, Seneca sent out a company, under com- mand of Captain Terry, from Ovid. These men were iu barracks at Black Rock when news of the declaration of war by the United States arrived. Hostilities were immediately opened by an exchange of shots with the British artillerymen across the river. The regular army was augmented by forces of militia raised by drafts. The drafts were made for a period of three months. All the militia were called out in this way, and some were called upon a second, and even a third time. A few fled the draft. Substitutes were obtained at the maximum of thirty dollars for the three months. A private soldier's pay was five dollars per monthi, but was increased to eight dollars. The first engagement in which Seneca soldiers took a part was the struggle at Queenstown. The Americans were led by General Van Rensselaer, of Albany ; the British by General Broek. The Americans crossed the river at daybreak of October 13, 1812, and were success- ful in the carly part of the day, but the British being strongly reinforced from the garrison at Fort George, and the American militia being affected by the number of wounded brouglit over and averse to leaving their own territory, the comparatively small force of Americans cogaged, after a gallant fight, was com- pelled to surrender as prisoners of war. Of men in the battle from Seneca, was a rifle company raised in Fayette, commanded by Captain David Ireland, and a few volunteers from the militia. All fought bravely until the inevitable surren- der took place. Full one-third of the, men whom Ireland led into action were killed or wounded.


The year 1813 closed with disaster to the United States forces on the Niagara frontier. The British assumed the offensive, and waged relentless and cruel war- fare. On December 19, Colonel Murrey, with an armed force, surprised and captured Fort Niagara, commanded by Captain Leonard. Most of the garrison were bayoneted, and little quarter shown elsewhere. General McClure called on the militia of the western counties of New York to turn out en masse, to defend Buffalo and Black Rock. A panic spread throughout the country. The British were reported to be crossing the river. Thousands of militia, from Seneca and neighboring counties, took arms and began their march to Buffalo. On the evening of December 29, a British division crossed the river near Black Rock, and, on the morning. of the thirtieth, was followed by a second division ; the entire force under command of General Rial. A small force of regulars and a body of militia had been assembled by General Hall, who had arrived from Buf- falo, and with these he attempted to make a stand. The militia soon gave way -were pursued, overtaken, and many of them tomahawked by the British Indians. The enemy moved on to Buffalo, which was given up to plunder and set on fire. It is recorded that a woman named Lovejoy, refusing to leave her house, was tomahawked, and her body consumed in the ashes of the dwelling. An express arriving at Canandaigua gave notice of the retirement of the enemy, and the militia, which had reached that place, returned to their homes and disbanded.


On June 25, 1814, a command known as " Colonel Dobbin's Regiment " was organized at Batavia, and proceeded to the frontier. Among the officers were Colonel Hugh W. Dobbin, Majors Lee and Madison, and Adjutant Lodowick Dobhin. Two companies went from Seneca; one from Ovid, commanded by Captain Hathaway ; the other from Junius, officered by Captain William Hooper and Lieutenant Thomas W. Roosevelt, the latter of whom had seen two years' service. This regiment enlisted for six months, and were called New York Vol- unteers; they marched from Batavia to Black Rock, where they were joined by


a regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers and a body of Seneca warriors, and placed under command of General P. B. Porter. The battle of Chippewa was fought shortly after their arrival, and, all unused to the terrors of musketry fire, they did little service. Scott's brigade crossed Niagara River on July 3, and captured Fort Erie; they then advanced upon the British, who were encamped behind the Chippewa, a deep, still stream which runs at right angles to the Niagara; Rip- ley's brigade made the passage of the Niagara about midnight of the fourth, and Porter's on the morning of the fifth. The two armies lay about three-fourths of a mile apart. . At 4 P.M., General Porter, circling to the left, approached the Chippewa; Dobbin's regiment was in line on the extreme left; the enemy, recog- nizing the force as inilitia, boldly left their trenches, crossed the stream, and expecting au easy victory, moved forward, and the lines of battle soon became warmly engaged. The clouds of dust and heavy firing indicated the state of affairs, and Scott's veterans were ordered straight forward. Unused to battle, Porter's command gave way, and, notwithstanding strenuous efforts, could not be brought forward again during the action. The enemy, elated by success, received the attack by Scott with coolness, and the combat became furious. Major Jessup was sent, with the Twenty-fifth regnlars, to turn the enemy's right wing; he was pressed hard, both upon front and flank, but gave the order, "Support arms and advance ;" his men obeyed in the midst of a deadly fire, and, gaining a secure and favorable position, opened a telling return fire, and compelled the British to fall back. Towsen, of the artdlery, silenced the enemy's most effective battery, blew up an ordnance wagon, and opened with heavy discharges of canister upon the British infantry advancing to the charge. The enemy gave way, and were driven over the Chippewa into their works, with heavy loss. The battle of Bridgewater, or the Cataract, soon followed. A number of days passed, and the British, falling back, manœuvred their force to deceive in regard to their ultimate designs, and meanwhile gathered vessels, and began to land troops at Lewiston, thereby threat- ening the capture and destruction of the baggage and supplies of the Americans at Schlosser. To prevent this, General Scott, with a part of the army, was sent to menace the forces at Queenstown. About sundown, of July 25, Scott encoun- tered and hotly engaged the entire British army. Then was illustrated the old adage, that " he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day," for Porter's volunteers advanced to Scott's support with ardor, took ground on the extreme left, and iu good order and with intrepidity held their position and repelled a determined charge by the enemy. Stimulated by the voices and example of Colonel Dobbin, Major Wood, of the Pennsylvania volunteers, and other officers, these raw but courageous troops precipitated themselves upon the British line, and made all the prisoners taken at this point of the action. Cap- tain Hooper was killed during the engagement, which lasted far into the night, and a romantic association is given to the battle fought by moonlight-the roar of the cannon answered by the solemn sound of Niagara's falling masses.


Among various words of commendation by officers, were those of General Jacob Brown, in his official report to the Sceretary of War. He says, " The militia volunteers of New York and Pennsylvania stood undismayed amidst the hottest fire, and repulsed the veterans opposed to them." Again, at Erie, the volunteers from Seneca acquitted themselves most nobly, and once more won official approyal. Here fell Lieutenaut Roosevelt, in action, in the woods back of Fort Erie, on September 4, 1814. The regiment returned home, and was mustered out of serv- ice at Batavia, on November 8, 1814. Of eighteen men, from what is now Tyre, in Hooper's company, six were killed, four died from disease and wounds, and but four returned unhurt. The present sole survivor of Captain Hooper's company is Jason Smith, a veteran of over eighty years, a life-resident of the town of Tyre, to which he gave the name on its formation. His discharge, printed upon plain paper, is headed " Honor to the Brave;" it certifies that his duty was faithfully and honorably discharged, and is signed by H. W. Dobbin, colonel commanding.


We have said that the volunteers returned in honor, but there were those who, in the regular service, contested foot by foot cach battle-ground.


"They braved proud Britain's marshaled host, Her glitteriog pomp and pride, Nor feared to queach youth's patriot flame Ie life's red gushiog tide."


2025363


Among these was a young man from his quiet home on the banks of the Cayuga, wbo entered the service under Scott. The battle of Queenstown Heights is familiar. A band of regulars, in open row-boats, set out to cross the swift river. Scott, tall and slim, stood upright in one of these. Ile checked confusion by the steadying order, " Be deliberate, be deliberate!" They were met on the hostile shore by a deadly fire; a ball crashed into the brain of the helmsman of a boat, scattering clotted fragments upon his comrades. The hand which held the tiller relaxed its grasp, and the boat swung round in the current. The Seneca soldier saw the peril, and instantly took the helmsman's place.


36


HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


Landing without further loss, the boats returned with the dead and wounded. The sight of these struck terror to the reserved militia, and, despite entreaty by Van Rensselaer and others, they would not enter the boats. The regulars were overpowered, scattered, and some attempted to swim the river-a target for Indian riflemed. Our hero exhausted his ammunition, found himself alone, and stood upon the steep bank of the Niagara. Hastening along to find a descent to the river, with unloaded gun in hand, he stumbled upon a projecting root just as a spear whizzed swiftly by and over the precipice; a moment later, and, with fiend- ish yell, a stalwart Indian, springing forward, hurled a tomahawk. The weapon sped too high, cut through the bearskin cap, and, slightly wounding, stunned the regular. . The savage caught the gun and tried to wrench it from its owner, who, though smaller than his enemy, was tough and sinewy, and held fast with tenacious grasp. Again and again the powerful savage, almost lifting the soldier from his feet, strove to obtain the coveted weapon. During the struggle the sav- age unconsciously neared the edge of the bank, which here was higli and steep. A quick push, a loosened hold of the gun, and over the precipice went the assail- ant, with a malediction upon his lips. The gun was dropped, a footing sought, and an effort made to hold on to the bushes growing from the side. The soldier dashed his hand against the head of the man, and pushed him off; the act displaced a handkerchief, bound turban-like about his head. and showed the forehead of a white man. Down fell the savage white, till, striking full upon an upright cedar, its branch impaled him, and he died there an agonizing and linger- ing death. Again hurrying onward, he fell into the hands of a party of British soldiers, and was imprisoned at Queenstown. More than once came cannon-shot, fired by a son on the American side, close to the father, and one ball struck bear his head. A war with the Indian allies, and premiums for scalps, with avarice and passion to kindle zeal, with close encounter to call for strength, was cruel and terrible, and while we bear a kind remembrance to our later heroes, we must not forget the deeds of valor and the keen anxiety of the soldiers of 1812 in the field, and their wives and mothers in the log cabins at home, and give to each the meed of heroism.




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.