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 31
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Justus Bnek lived on the north part of 96, in 1815, and owned one hundred and fifty acres, and there died. His son James received fifty aeres, which were recently sold; the remainder was sold by heirs to B. Story. On the southwest corner of the lot Colonel Mynderse had a large tract, upon which he caused a dwelling to be erected at a very early day. The harn, erected about the same time, still stands ; J. Tobey is the present owner. William I. Smithi had a tavern on the south side of the river road, on Lot 97, previous to 1815, and in the old building he passed away. . In a residence opposite, at the advanced age of seventy-three, lives his daughter; Mrs. Thorn. On the northwest corner dwelt Mr. Childs, upon what has proved to be a good, productive farm. Where Demarest lives, one Starks had a tavern from a period as far baek as 1815. Stark deceased, and Captain John Scott became owner, and likewise died, and J. McLaren entered on possession.
There were men who devoted themselves exclusively to the cultivation of their
lands; there were others who found abundant time for outside trade and diversions. Of the latter elass was John Daley, inhabitant of a log house on a farm npon the east side of the lot, in 1815. He is remembered as a judge of horse-flesh, and fond of trading. Oliver L. Brown was keeper of a public house on this lot, where, later, Martin Kendig, grandfather of Daniel Kendig, lived about the close of the war of 1812. On Lot 98 were several owners of fifty-aere farms, among whom were Baldwin, resident upon the present Pullman place; Benjamin Ranson, a mill- wright, and his brothers ; a Mrs. Briggs, a Mr. Tower, located on the east side of the North Road; and Seth Conklin, occupant of a log house, like most of the others. Mr. Moore had an eighty-acre farmi where Edward Pierson lives, and on the southeast corner, west of Mrs. Hunt's, was a house kept by John Van Tuyl, previous to 1815. Upon Lot 82, where lives Abram Hill, Seth Conklin was a pioneer resident ; industrious and ingenious, among the products of his leisure hours were axe-handles, which, bartered at the store, found their way ont to the choppers. Jesse Clark moved in during 1817, and hid off forty acres at a tax sale, which he never occupied, but about 1856 his son George moved upon it and built himself a honse. Upon ten acres cleared by his own labor Oliver S. Brown was a resident in 1815, and John Knox, a lawyer, resident of the village, owned three hundred acres. In the northeast corner of the town lies number 70. It was owned in 1815 by Jacob Elliott, whose family lived in a rude log cabin. Elliott sold to Samnel Bear, and he sold fifty acres to McElwain, George Decker, and tracts to other parties. Settlers on 69, in 1815, were Samuel Miller, Stephenson, and Walter Smith ; Stephenson was the pioneer settler, and Jacob Smith, now aged seventy-one, purchased the farm of Walter Smith, and remains a resident on the old farm,
On September 20, 1791, the traveler Watson followed a footpath from Seneca Falls up to Scauyes,* and saw no residents where the Waterloo of the present stands. The Indian village called Scanyes was once the home of Seneca Indians, who had purchased from the Cayugas. The place was pleasant and prosperous, and orch- ards bloomed in their season, and the ears of corn plucked from the neighboring fields contributed to the autumnal feasts. A force detached by Sullivan under command of Colonel Harper destroyed the village and laid waste the fields. Horatio Jones, a captive hy the Senecas, was some time near, 1789 a trader with the Indians. It is conceded by all that Samuel Bear was the first white man to settle upon the site of present Sonth Waterloo. In 1793 he started from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and after a long and weary journey through the intervening forest arrived at Scauyes, and took up Lot No. 4 in the town of Fayette. Returning to his former home to winter, he was accompanied back by John and Ephraim Bear, his cousins; soon after came John and Casper Yost. Young, enterprising, and energetic, Bear utilized the water-power before him, by the erection of a custom mill in 1794 or 1795. From material used in construction, it bore the name of the " Log Mill." The gearing, cog-wheels and all, was almost entirely of wood. Later, the log was replaced by the frame, whose raising was effected by the assistance of a Geneva congregation on the Sabbath, and whose single run of stone had an extensive custom. Families soon moved near the mill, and the settlement began to assume shape; land was held higher than north of the river, where the forest was unbroken. Bear dug a race-way, in which he was assisted by several Indians, and built the saw-mill lately owned by William H. CInte, now deceased. The circumstances appearing favorable for the growth here of a village, S. Bear caused a survey and plat of the land to be made by David Cook in 1806. Some few lots were taken at twenty-five dollars each, and the Hendricks farm, one mile southwest of the place, was held at eight dollars per acre. Ground for a public square was laid off near the centre of the surveyed plat, in dimensions forty-one rods and twenty-five links long by nine rods wide. Bear now erected and started a store and carried on a mercantile business ; his career was short, and his death took place in 1807, at the early age of thirty-five years. A partition of estate was the result of his deeease, and improvements were gradually made. Two children of Mr. Bear survive; one, Mrs. Wagner, lives in Waterloo, and Samuel Bear, Jr., in Junius. Ephraim Bear attended to running the grist-mill for a number of years, and afterward moved to the West. John Bear carried on a small tannery a short distance east of where stands the brick mill erected by William McCarty, and died abont 1829. George, John, and Casper Yost, mill-wrights, whose services in erecting primitive mills have been noted, bonght farms in Fayette in 1800, whereon some of their descendants are living. "Abram Yost established the first pottery in the County, on the site of the. Franklin House. Ready sale was found for the variety of jugs, crocks, and other earthenware made from the brick-like clay. Yost finally removed to Michigan. Martin Kendig emigrated from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1793, accompanied by his wife and ten children. They came by water, landed at Geneva, and settled
. The name Seanyes is variously spelled. Daniel S. Kendig, one of the hest informed eiti- zens of the place and good authority, gives the spelling as "Scauyas."
84
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
in the town of Benton, Ontario County. Martin Kendig, Jr., came to Seauyes in 1795, and set up a shop for the manufacture of tin-ware, sheet-iron stove-pipe, and also for the moulding of pewter spoons, which were an improvement upon the horn or wooden artiele. The marriage of Mr. Kendig to Leah Bear, sister to Samuel, took place in December, 1797. From 1797 till the spring of 1803, Ken- dig carried on distilling in a building then standing a little northeast of the " Log Mill," and made the "real copper-distilled rye." Andrew Schott was a black- 'smith in Scauyes in 1803, and later owned a farm about two miles south of the village. He occupied a small frame on one of four corners, and worked in a shop which stood just north of his dwelling. He was a resident for ten or twelve years, and then moved upon his farm, where he died. Daniel Moore, also a blacksmith, occupied a one and a half story frame house on the corner opposite Schott. . His shop stood next the race, where, in addition to regular work, he manufactured wrought-iron nails. All the nails used in putting together the barn of William Penoyer, built in 1812, were the hand-work of Moore, who later moved to Seneca Falls and thenee to Michigan. John Watkins succeeded Bear, in 1807, in the mereantile business. He was from New Jersey, and took a prominent part in public progress .. He ran a tannery in connection with storekeeping, and had a lucrative trade. About 1816, he put up a frame mill on the Island ; served as judge, and died about 1850. A son, Benjamin Watkins, is at present a lawyer in Waterloo. About 1808, Matthias Strayer, a wheelwright, moved into Scauyes, and engaged in the manufacture of large spinning-wheels for wool and tow, and the small wheels for flax. There was a great demand for these wheels; every family able to buy had one or more of them to spin their thread and yarn.
William Penoyer, s cooper by trade, who had been for some years a resident of Seneca Falls, removed to Scauyes, and in the spring of 1810 kept the first tavern opened in the place. There were then but six families settled in the vil- lage, namely, Daniel Moore, Andrew Schott, Abram Yost, Anthony Snyder, John Watkins, and Colonel Daniel Rlioas; all had frame houses. Snyder was a gunsmith from Pennsylvania. He lived in a small house near his shop, and employed himself in the repair of rifles and driving sharp bargains. He died about 1846; his dust lies in the old cemetery. Colonel Rhoas arrived with his family from Pennsylvania in 1808, and set up a saddler and harness shop. His first work was after the heavy Keystone pattern, but soon changed to the lighter. Like many another villager since, he had a farm, which lay a mile and a half south of the village. Abram Yost was succeeded in the pottery by James Thorn, and he by B. F. Whartenby, whose son is now the proprietor of the works. John Favorite, a school-teacher, and Joseph Doane were early residents of the place. A school house was moved in from the country in 1812, and in it Rev. Mr. Markle, a Lutheran, living upon a farm, was accustomed to preach. Rev. Mr. Wolf, of the M. E. Church, was also an early-day preacher there. Sophia Bear, born in 1800, was the first native white female in Scauyes, and her early death heads the lengthened list of those whose bodies crumble in the soil of the old grave-yard. It is stated that the primitive birth in Scauyes was that of John S. Bear, in 1797; our authority is S. Bear, of Junius. Charlotte Bear, now Mrs. Wagner, was born January, 1803, and. Hon. Daniel S. Kendig during the same year; both are living, the former in South Waterloo, the latter in the village proper. . Mr. Kendig bears his years lightly ; is a member of the Waterloo Historical Society, and the source of our information regarding the early settlement of the south side.
WATERLOO VILLAGE.
" Generations in their conrso decay ; And flourish there when those have passed away."
In. 1795, Jabez Gorham erected a log cabin near the site of the present Waterloo Woolen Mills, and was the pioneer on the north side of the Seneca River. . Gorham cleared a piece of ground where he had made's tomahawk im- provement, and opened the first tavern in a small frame building, adorned by a kind of piazza, a year or so later. About 1803 a small wooden bridge was built over the " Outlet," at a point abont fifteen rods southeast of the Gorham House. Stringers were laid upon bents, and a plank floor put down wide enough for two teatns. This structure, frequently repaired, is known to this day as the Gorham Bridge. When the State took in hand the enlargement of the canal, stone abut- ments were built, and the bridge constructed to admit the passage of boats. Zal- mon Disbrow, father of General Zalmon Disbrow, was one of the first to lay the leveling axe at the foot. . of. the forest tree, and. felled the first trec on the farm recently owned by Dr. . Gardner. Welles, now the heritage of his son Samuel Welles, M.D., resident of Waterloo. His advent was simultaneous with . that. of Gorham. Until this time the forest was unbroken, save .. by occasional Indian clearings on the western limits of the village site.
On December, 1807, conveyance was made by the State to John Mckinstry of
all the lands and privileges at Waterloo described in the following patent, excepting reservations therein made, a copy of which article, in itself of value and historic interest, is subjoined :
PATENT.
".The People of New York, by the Grace of God, Free and Independent. To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting :
" Know ye, that pursuant to an act of our Legislature, entitled, 'An Act granting a lot of land to John Mckinstry, passed March 3, 1802,' we have given; granted, and confirmed, and by these presents do give, grant, and confirm, unto. John Mckinstry, all that certain tract of land situate in the Township of Junius, and County of Seneca, known and distinguished by the name of ' The Cayuga Reservation,' at Schoys or Scanyace, and bounded as follows, to wit : On the south by the Seneca River; on the west, by Lot No. 97, in the said Township of Junius ; on the north, in part by said Lot No. 97 and Lot No. 98; and on the east, by the said Lot No. 98; containing six hundred and forty acres, together with all and singular the rights, hereditaments, and appurtenances to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining, excepting and reserving to ourselves all gold and silver mines, and five acres of every hundred acres of the said tract of land for highways, to have and to hold the above described and granted premises unto the said John Mckinstry, his heirs and assigns, as a good and indefensible estate of inheritance forever. In testimony whereof, we have caused these our letters to bs made patent, and the great seal of our said State to be hercunto affixed.
" Witness our trusty and well-beloved Daniel D. Tompkins, Esquire, Governor of our said State, General and Commander-in-Chief of all the militia, and Ad- miral of the navy of the same, at our City of Albany, the thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seven, and in the thirty-second year of our Independence.
" Passed the Secretary's Office, the 3Ist of December, 1807.
" BENJ. FORD, Deputy Secretary.
" Examined and certified as conformable to the order and proceedings of the Commissioners of the Land Office and in due form of law, by Daniel D. Tomp- kins, Governor, and John Woodward, Attorney-General."
On the 3Ist of December, 1807, the very day on which he received his patent, Mckinstry conveyed to Elisha Williams the said premises for the sum of two thousand dollars. Mr. Williams was an eminent lawyer, resident of Hudson, New York. He came West in 1809, and, with his agent, Reuben Swift, proceeded to survey and stake out farm lots. Swift is credited with saying, as he pointed to the fall of water, that some day a thriving village would be built beside it; and much through his enterprise, a few years later, was the prediction fulfilled.
Iu 1812, Martin Kendig removed from the farm now owned by William Pearson, where he had lived nine years, to the north side of the river. There were then but two buildings on the present Main Street within the limits of the village west of the Gorham House. On the extreme western boundary was the log part of the residence lately occupied by Isaac Thorne, and east of Jabez Gorham was the house of John Van Tuyl, until lately occupied by Isaac Mosher. Mr. Kendig, with his wife and five children, moved into a small log hut on the ground after- wards the site of the Waterloo Hotel. A few months later, a removal was made to a frame house, the previous property of one Marsh, and standing on ground now occupied by the house of Mrs. Calvin W. Cooke. Kendig bought of Williams a lot commencing on Williams Street, on the site of the Ashmore House, and running twenty rods to the Main Street, and the lot occupied by the Academy of Music, and extending across the eanal to the Seneca Outlet, with water to run a fulling- and carding-mill. His fulling-mill was erected in 1813, a dwelling-house in 1814, near J. H. Ackerman's shop, and a brick house in 1817,-this latter being the same as now owned, and for many years occupied, by the First National Bank of Waterloo. On the purchase of the village site, the settlement thereon formed took the name New Hudson, in commemoration of Williams's native town, Hudson, Columbia County ; yet to this day the old name of Scauyes is applied to the village south of the outlet. The post-office was at the " Kingdom," and kept by Lewis Birdsall, and there the settlers procured their store-goods and bartered their produce until the energy of Charles Swift opened a store at New Hudson. Mean- time John Smith, with whom thousands ean claim kindred by name, had been born to William and Phoebe Smith. Job Smith and Miriam Gorham had been married in 1799 ; John Gregory had died in 1807, and Isaac Gorham'had opened his school in 1810, and demonstrated heavily with the rod. One old inhabitant of the village has been heard to say that " old Gorham cleared almost as much land as any settler to get sticks wherewith to whale his boys.".
The War of 1812 did much for New Hudson.' 'Along the great highway leading to the far West went trains of emigrant teams, munitions of war, and regiments of troops. Their route, lay through the village of New Hudson, and many were quick to note the advantages of the location. Taverns sprang up like
PLATE XXVII
1 YEAR 11 MONTHS.
YOUNG CHAMPION WEIGHT 950 POUNDS. RES.& O. E. MAYNARD, WATERLOO TP, SENECA CO., N. Y.
RES. OF ROBERT BASTER, ADJOINING VILLAGE , WATERLOO, SENECA CO., N. Y
SOUTH VIEW OF THE COURT-HOUSE IN WATERLOO. 1841.
hedge &
& Janes Samson
NORTH
STREET
STARK'S
RC Churde
&Guldse
D Kern
Rail Road
SKLINH
DS,Skonto
Whiertoe 5
Jod hundy
W De Yue
CR
J. Wright
Thinperund Hutide in south
WTGibran
P Dox
S.
G.BeTera
Bruk las
Bruck
Purit's
Seneca River
Kachne's Church
PLAN
SAYRATE TOWNSULH
.
OF
F. Chapin 9, 55 Sup
mare
T
Srate of Perchis
NOTTH WATERLOO
... . . .
-
Schaunard
Cemetery
I'Rhodes
THEET
Schon House
to's Hulten
WATERLOO.
1852.
85
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
magic, and later local improvements made these houses necessary and their keep- ing a paying business. Previous to 1813, Elisha Williams had caused the con- struction of a race where now runs the Cayuga and Seneca Canal through the village. On April 6, 1813, the Legislature incorporated the Seneca Lock Navi- gation Company, of which Mr. Williams was a member and the owner of all the land adjoining the canal in Waterloo. The purpose of the company was to make the falls and rapids navigable for boats. The canal was opened some forty feet wide, about four feet deep, and provided with locks, whose remains can yet he seen near the woolen-factory. The improvements thus inaugurated attracted settlers from abroad and neighboring localities, and population rapidly increased. Oliver Gustin came to New Hudson May 15, 1815, to aid in building the locks then being erected by Marshall Lewis and his son Hazard Lewis. The house occupied by Charles Swift and family, Oliver Gustin and family, and Cornelius I. Smith, the owner, and family, was the building moved, in 1817, to the corner of William and Swift (then Back) Streets, and later known as the Grove Hotel.
There were nine dwellings within what are now the corporate limits of Waterloo, on the north side of the river, in May, 1815. The first one, approaching Water- leo from the west, was located on the lot now covered by the yeast-factory, and owned by Theophilus Church, afterwards used as a school-room, but since removed to the lot direetly north of the white church, improved and inhahited by James Mills. The next structure stood somewhat east of the residence of Moses H. Swift. It was a mongrel building, heing neither a log nor a frame, but composed of both logs and hoards, and put to service as a dispensary of eakes and beer. It served as a temporary residence of Reuben Swift during the construction of the Mansion House, the present residence of M. H. Swift, and has since been demol- ished. The third stood farther east, and adjoining the present Academy of Music, a story and a half in height, unpainted, unfinished, and the dwelling of Martin Kendig and family. The house was enlarged and remodeled by Moses H. Swift, and has been moved by Dr. Amhurst Childs to Stark Street, near the old ceme- tery. The fourth house in New Hudson was a small wooden affair owned and tenanted hy Lydia Cook and her two maiden sisters, and standing on the ground which furnishes the site for the residence of William B. Clark. Removed to Wil- liam Street, it now forms part of the dwelling of Henry Lisk. Another building of a single story stood upon the site of the residence of Rev. Wm. D. Orville Doty, Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Dr. Frishy occupied it for a brief period, in the spring of 1815, and a second resident was Lodowick Standish. It was swept away by a fire, whiel at the same time destroyed the Green Tavern, Matthew M. Clark's house and barn. and other buildings. The rear of the lot occupied by the cabin referred to, and of the lut next cast, was used by Standish as a brick-yard. In the primitive manner, oxen were used to tread the mortar .. The kiln stood where rests the dwelling of Alvin Williams, and the bricks manu- factured were used to build the present National Bank edifice. Eastward stood the much-inhabited house of Cornelius I. Smith. The next stood directly in the centre of the road, in front of Mr. Swift's store, and was occupied hy Oliver Gur- tin ; then come we to the Gorham House, long used as a tavern, and briefly oceu- pied by Reuben Swift on his arrival; and finally, is reached the tavern-stand of John Van Tuyl. Then, situated at the extreme lower end of the village, sinee moved baek of the street, is the property of Jane Hunt. In this old tavern was printed the Waterloo Gazette, edited hy the pioneer printer of the County, George Lewis, whose first numher hore date of May 19, 1817. The school-house of Isaac Gorham was standing on what is now the corner of William and Clark Streets. This small, single-story house was used for several years as a habitation by Jesse Clark, Esq. Directly south of the residence of the late Samuel Williams was a saw- mill erected hy Elisha Williams, and south of Kendig's house was his fulling-mill.
Among citizens to settle in New Hudson, in 1815, were Theodore Parsons, Ilenry Stewart, Reuben and Charles Swift, Oliver Gustin, Lodowiek Standish, and Isaac Rosa, the most, if not all, with families.
Among the early physicians of the place were Drs. Hubhard and Fifield, Dr. Gardner Welles, Dr. Caleh Loring, and Dr. Charles Stuart, father of ex-United States Senator Hon. Charles Stuart, from Michigan.
The first house put up in 1815 was built by Isaac Rosa, who came with the first settlers as master mechanic, and built the Waterloo Flouring- and Grist-Mill, for Reuben Swift & Co. The house stood nearly opposite the old mill, and is the property of Mrs. Sholes. In this small habitation lived nine persons, Deacon Rosa, his wife, three sons and four daughters. Rosa was miller for years ; was in charge of the old Presbyterian Church, by whose fall he received injuries, and finally removed to Painesville, Ohio. Of the seven children, a son and two daughters are living.
In 1816 a public meeting was held, and the proposition was made that the name of the village he changed. Various appellations were offered, but met no favor. Finally an old soldier, with great viger, urged the adoption of the name Waterloo, to commemorate the famous battle-ground which banished Napoleon to
St. Helena and elevated Wellington to the highest honors within the gift of England. The soldier prevailed, and the village has since borne the name.
During 1816, 1817, and 1818 Waterloo entered upon a career of great promise. Nearly two hundred buildings were erected, and it had a fair prospect of equaling Rochester and Syracuse. A number having visited both places, cast their lot here as the better place. Of these were John Sholes, who went to Rochester from here and returned decided in favor of Waterloo. Charles T. Freebody, from Newport, Rhode Island, stopped at Waterloo a few weeks, went to Rochester, stayed a week, and returned to make a permanent stay, and Isaae Maltby and family, from Massachusetts, examining hoth places, preferred this, Residents of Rochester came here, found lots and water-power too dearly held, and returned. The Erie Caual was surveyed along near North Street; contractors eame and ex- amined the work, and entered hids, but the location was readily changed to the point north. In 1818 the Waterloo Hotel, now a yeast-cake factory, was finished, and full of customers, provided for hy James Irving. Charles Swift & Co. had a large storehouse completed and filled with assorted goods, as also had S. M. Maltby. The court-house was finished, and the foundations of large taverns laid. Shops, dwellings, and shanties from the court-house to the mills were tolerably well filled in, and made a respectable appearance. Philander Kane had come to Waterloo and built a house where stands a brick dwelling erected by George Hut- ton, east of the woolen-mills. The lower of its two stories was used as a habita- tiou, and the upper for a shoe-shop. Shoe-making was laborious employment, with stiteh after stitch ; so thought Kane, and he revolutionized his business hy starting a grocery and groggery in a small way. He attracted custom by a sign upon which was painted three men. The first, snuff-box in hand, is taking a pinch, while beneath is painted "I Snuff;" a second held a short clay pipe in his mouth, translated " I Smoke;" and a third held a plug of tohacco in one hand, a jack-knife open in the other, taking a chew of the weed, and carried the idea " I Chaw." The device in this later day would need a patent as a trade-mark. Kane went to Monroe County, and became a citizen of considerable prominence.
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