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 36
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
HENRY BONNEL.
The subject of this sketch was born on Lot 79, in the town of Waterloo, Janu- ary 14, 1807. He remained here until 1815, when he moved with his father to
Wayne County. In 1825 he returned to his native County and engaged in farm- ing, working for ten dollars per month. September 30, 1829, he united in mar- riage with Mary Dell, daughter of Richard Dell, and removed to Wayne County, where they remained for a period of three years and returned to this County. This union has been blessed with five children, viz., Hannah S., born August 11, 1830, and married Alexander S. MeIntire, November 23, 1854; William R., born July 5, 1835, and married Mary Jane McIntire, November 24, 1859; Lucretia M., born September 21, 1838, and married Samuel S. Maynard, Novem- ber 19, 1857 ; Henry H., born April 6, 1844, and died March 5, 1856; George A., born April 28, 1849.
Mr. Bonnel, possessed of an iron constitution and indomitable will, was in every way well fitted for the task of subduing the forest, and transforming the wilder- ness to a land that should blossom like the rose. The early settlers met with difficulties and privations that the young of to-day know nothing of, save by tra- dition. As a practical exemplification of what is stated above, Mr. Bonnel relates that it was not an uncommon occurrence, for the purpose of raising money, for set- tiers to haul grain from Lot 66 to the city of Albany, a distance of more than two hundred miles. Mr. B. has been very successful in accumulating a large pro- perty, and has one of the finest farms in the County. Five hundred and thirty acres of land in one square are owned by himself and son. In politics he was a member of the Whig party, and a strong abolitionist. He is now an Independent Republican. Mr. Bonnel was an earnest supporter of the Administration during the late rebellion, and was among the first to subscribe to the war fund of the County. He met the demands of the Goverument in the matter of taxes without grumbling, always cheerfully discharging the amount imposed, which one year amounted to the sum of five hundred dollars.
JEDEDIAH PEIRSON
was born in Long Island, New York, May 5, 1739. On the 31st day of De- cember, 1761, he united in the bonds of matrimony with Elizabeth Hedges, who was born in March, 1739. Peleg Peirson was born January 11, 1773, and in 1802 married Sarah Woodruff, who was born in 1780. Jedediah H. Peirson was born in Waterloo, September 20, 1808, and united in marriage with Eliza M. Dob- bin February 8, 1837; she was the daughter of William W. Dobbin, and was born December 1, 1816. Edwin C., born December 7, 1837, and married Mary Jones February 10, 1869; Harriet N., born January 1, 1840, and married Charles Peck November 29, 1860; Albert H., born February 3, 1842, and was killed in the battle before Petersburg, in March, 1865 ; Julia A., born July 31, 1844; Charlotte, born June 16, 1848, and married Edgar B. Van Houten June 23, 1870 ; Elizabeth H., born May 10, 1853; Howell, born June 20, 1856, and died January 25, 1857 ; Charles W., born May 18, 1859.
The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was an elder in the Presbyterian . Church, and was ever ready to advocate the principles of that denomination. His father was also a member of this organization. Mr. Peirson and his son Edwin C. are prominent members of the Presbyterian Church in the village of Waterloo. The name Jedediah is a favorite with the family, and is traced back a period of one hundred and thirty-seven years. Though not blessed with the educational advantages of this progressive day, he made good use of, the district school, and succeeded in acquiring an education that well fitted him for a practical business career. He engaged in agricultural pursuits, and has accumulated a large sbare of this world's goods, and is passing his time happily on the farm where he first saw the light of day.
HON. SAMUEL CLARK.
The Hon. Samuel Clark, for nearly twenty years one of the prominent politi- cians and lawyers of Seneca County, was born in Cayuga County, in the year 1800. He graduated at Hamilton College, and studied law in Auburn with I. W. Hurlbut, having as fellow-students William H. Seward and John C. Spencer. After the completion of his studies, he removed to Waterloo, in 1827, and commenced the practice of his profession. His ability as a politician procured early recognition, and he was elected to Congress in 1833, a position which he creditably and ac- ceptably filled. As a lawyer, he ranked deservedly high, and for many years the firm of Clark & Birdsall was the leading law firm of this section of the County. During his residence in Waterloo he enjoyed the unlimited confidence and respect of the entire community. He removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1842, where for years he successfully carried on the practice of the law. In 1852, he was elected to Congress from the Kalamazoo District. Mr. Clark was
៛ Sister of Major Samuel Bear.
96
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
a gentleman of the old school ; a Democrat of the most unyielding type; a man of large abilities, of strong feelings, and of unflinching integrity. He died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. William H. Deyoe, Kalamazoo, October 2, 1870, after years of suffering and sickness.
HON. JESSE CLARK.
Nothing more forcibly reminds us of the rapid flight of time, and our own advancing age, than to see gradnally dropping away old and esteemed fellow- citizens, who can look back to the infancy of our village, when, uniting their for- tunes with it, "for better for worse," they settled here to grow with its growth and strengthen with its strength. The late Judge Clark was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he acquired, chiefly through his own efforts as a teacher, an extensive and liberal education. His father was a captain in the war of the Revolution. In the year 1814 he came to Waterloo, where he shortly after married, and commenced the practice of law, and soon, by his superior talents
and education, rose to an enviable prominence and success in his profession. At the first election under the Constitution of 1821 he was chosen one of the Senators for the Western District, and amid the exciting questions and the anomalous state of politics at that time his course, as ever since, was that of a firm and consistent Democrat. The electoral law of 1824 received, in accordance with the clear will of his constituents, his hearty support at the time the " famous seventeen" of his political associates opposed it. As a political writer, he was pronounced by a distinguished opponent the ablest in his district, and in that respect, by the com- mon consent, we believe, he acquired the highest reputation. Under his editorial control, the Seneca Gazette held a commanding position, while his literary con- tributions and legislative reports are marked by equal ability. From its origin, he was a trustee and patron of Geneva College, and contributed his means towards its foundation. The numerous improvements around us, which have given the place character and augmented its population, are largely indebted to him for their establishment, and bear witness to his public spirit and beneficence. During the fifteen years lie occupied the judicial bench of the County he was distinguished by his clearness of conception, his comprehensive and correct language, and his calmness and urbanity of manner. Judge Clark passed away on the 20th day of May, 1849.
PLATE
EDWIN R. DOBBIN.
EDWIN R. DOBBIN, grandson of General H. W. Dohbin, was born in the town of Waterloo, Seneca County, on the 24th day of May, 1818, where he remained, following the occupation of a farmer, mainly, until his decease, on the 21st of June, 1873, never having moved excepting to his late residence, Pine Grove, within a few roda of his birthplace.
Beginning life amid the wilds of a new country, and early sharing with hie parents the labors and hardships ever incident to pioneer life, knowing little or no childhood, having heen the eldest but one of a family of eleven children, deprived of even the limited advantages of the day for obtaining an education, his whole opportunity for schooling having been within the space of six months, all helped to develop the mon in the boy, end prove e fitting preparatory to what he was to encounter in the after- period.
Upon the death of his fether he sesomed the whole responsibility devolving upon father, husband, con, and brother, to the bereaved mother and fatherless little ones.
Nobly was this more than filial end fra- ternal obligation performed for many years, and blessings were granted in large meas- uro. Faithful in all which pertained to his early home-life, and hy and by to the added interests of his own home and little ones, he naturally became one to whom many looked, with confidence and esteem. Hav- ing been diligent in supplying many of the early deficiencies of an education, he was from time to time called to fill several
MRS. E. R. DOBBIN.
E . R. DOBBIN.
offices of the town and County, and hecame a favorite at home, being frequently re-elected to the various dutios of his school district. We quote from a series of rerolutious unani- meuely adopted in tho district, since hie decease : " His integrity was never questioned ; he was ever ready to labor for the public good. Believing that the firm and lastiog security of our civil and religious liberties depend on the intelligence of the masses, and that this iotelli- gence is largely attained at the common schools, ne constantly labored to advance their in- terest."
In an examination of the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Geneva. we find him to have been a member for over thirty-five years, and trustee at the time of hie death. In conclusion, we find the chief characteristics of his illustrious ancestor, General H. W. Dohbin, to have been reproduced, differing mainly in the circumstances of development. Quoting from the various eulogies mistakenly withheld, until his own earnest, appreciative nature could not bo benefited by them, we find what we believe to have been the true estimate of his character :
"Thus passed away from earth, to the ' bright and beautiful home beyond the river,' the kind neighbor, the upright citizen, the earnest patriot, the judicious counselor, the firm friend, the loving fother, the faithful husband, the consistent, humble Christian. We bave known him long and intimately, and do not overdraw his character, as his numerous acquaintances will attest."
" And oo his dear memory faln would we linger, Beeing so much for reverence and love; Reverence for a life of self-denial, Studying for othere all the while; Reverence for a steadfast love of right That kept his every record bright.
" Reverence for purity of thought, Which meo upon his brow could trace, As though an angel's hand hed wught To carve what care could not efface, Ner palo had power to wear away Nor time could threateu with Reery.
" Aye, sod foe courtesy that bent, In simple-great humility, To booor, with a deep Intent, Whate'er God honors with degree Of worth, of talent, or of blood, So it bat ewells the common good.
" But reverence for the greatest of them all, A sweet, ap holy charity, Which etrove to cover o'er What else had seemed for more, Viewed in other light."
MRS. C. M. VAN EPPS DOBBIN, wife of the late Edwin R. Dobhin, and daughter of Mrs. C. Covert Van Epps, was born at Ovid, October 19, 1814. This estimable lady ie & descendant of one of the pioneer and most highly honered families within the hounds of Senees County. Her mother, Mrs. C. Van Epps, was the oldest daughter of the late Abraham A. Covert, wbo was one of the party of three couples that crossed Seuece Lake in a canoe in search of one authorized to solemnize marriages, an event of this kind heing hitherto unknown in the County. They were married by Squira James Parker, a follower of Jemima Wilkinson, or the " Uni- versal Friend." Mrs. Dobbins, though on the down-hill of life, is passing the time pleasantly, surrounded by a large circle of steadfast friends.
RESIDENCE of CATHARINE M. DOBBIN & OF THE LATE EDWIN R. DOBBIN. WATERLOO TP, SENECA CO., N. Y.
e
3
Harris & Thomas's Steam Saw Mill & Boat Yard, Sheldrake Pomt
Seneca Co. Court House and Clerk's Office, Ovid
........**
OVID.
THE town of Ovid was formed March 5, 1794, at which time it was organized as a town of Onondaga County, when that county was set off from Herkimer. Ovid retained its original dimensions until 1817, when Covert was set off, and was again diminished in size when Lodi was taken from Covert and a part of Ovid, in 1826. These three towns, Ovid, Lodi, and Covert, comprise the origi- nal military town of Ovid, which contained one hundred six-hundred-acre lots. The present territory of Ovid embraces Military lots from 1 to 33 inclusive, except Lot 26, Lodi, and is the north part of the original town, bounded as follows : on the north by the town of Romulus, east by the centre of Cayuga Lake, south by the towns of Covert and Lodi, and west by the west shore of Seneca Lake, which is due north from Washington, longitude 77° west from Greenwich ; and the village of Ovid is in latitude 42º 41' north. The north line of the town is about seven and seven-eighths miles in length from lake to lake, and is a short distance south of the narrowest part of the County. The south line is about nine and one-third miles in length from east to west, and the width of the town north and south is about three and three-fourths miles.
The central ridge of Ovid is about four miles from Seneca Lake, and attains a height of from five to seven hundred feet above its level, and a still greater height above the waters of the Cayuga, which is sixty feet lower than Seneca. The central and southern portions of this town are underlaid hy the Genesee slate, succeeded by the Tully limestone in the eastern and western portions, more particularly noticeable in the ravines leading to the lake, beneath which occurs the Moscow shales of the Hamilton group of rocks found along the lake shores, and is the underlying rock in the northeast and a small portion of the northwest part of the town. Over all, the drift is deposited to a depth of from one to forty feet, which forms the basis of a naturally fertile and productive soil, containing more or less lime, and was in its natural state covered with a heavy growth of deciduous trees, except along the lakes and ravines, where 'pine, hemlock, and cedar are found. Among the forest-trees, the white-oak and basswood attained an elevation of one hundred feet, the latter flourishing to such an extent in the eastern central portions of the town that the region in an early day was denomi- nated the " Basswoods." The principal varieties of the timher-trees of the town were, viz. : white oak, red oak, swamp white oak,-some of which were from four to six feet in diameter,-black or yellow oak, white and black ash, pig- and shell- bark-hickory, sugar- and soft- (or white) maple, basswood or linden, poplar or whitewood, swamp, rock, and red slippery-elm, beech, ironwood, cucumber, cotton- wood or balm of Gilead, aspen, black walnut, butternut, and, occasionally, wild- cherry and mulberry, sassafras and dogwood.
The name of the town was bestowed by Simeon De Witt, the Surveyor-General of the State at the time the Military Tract wss surveyed and divided into towns. Mr. De Witt applied names to the whole tract taken apparently at random from some classical dictionary. Among these names were Aurelius, Sempronius, Ulysses, Ovid, Hector, Homer, Solon, Virgil, etc., entirely ignoring the signifi- cant and often more euphonious names applied to portions of this tract by the aborigines, such as Canoga (sweet water), Sacawas (swift water), and Kendaia.
Sullivan, in his campaign of 1779, passed down on the east side of Seneca Lake to " Kanadesaga." In the journal of Lieutenant Adam Hubley, who was under the command of Sullivan in this expedition, we find the following under date of September 4, 1779 : " We destroyed several fields of corn, and after a march of thirteen miles we encamped in the woods in front of a very large ravine, and half a mile from Seneca Lake. On account of some difficulty with the pack-horses, the main army did not reach so far as the infantry, and encamped about two miles in the rear." The encampment of Sullivan's infantry was at what is now known as Ovid Landing, and the encampment of the main army was near the present site of the Coombs school-house.
Scarce one decade had passed after the rattle of Sullivan's musketry ceased to reverherate in the forest along his line of march from " Newtown," now Elmira, to " Kanadesaga," now Geneva, ere the white settlers might have been seen threading their way through the forest in the wake of Sullivan's army, anxious to rear their homes in the fertile country of the Senecas.
The first that entered the County following on in the track of the invading
-
forces was Andrew Duulap, who came from Pennsylvania, located near the old Indian trail on Lot No. 8, in the southwest part of the town, in May, 1789, and died March 26, 1851, aged ninety-one years, six months, and nineteen days. It is claimed by some that Mr. Dunlap was the first permanent settler within the present boundaries of Sencca County. When Mr. D. planted the standard of. civilization upon the soil of Ovid, there was no permanent white settler. Where now is located the beautiful and thriving village of Geneva, ouly was found the ruins of the Indian village of " Kanadesaga." Oliver Phelps had just located at Canandaigua; Colonel John Handy, the pioneer of Chemung, had just settled at " Newtown ;" and there were but four small houses where now is situated the city of Buffalo with a population of 117,000. And it was not until several years after the settlement of Mr. D. that Joseph Ellicott, the agent of the Holland Land Company, laid out the village upon the present site of Buffalo, called "New Amsterdam." To conceive of a home in the forest, surrounded by the remnants of a hostile Indian tribe, together with wild beasts, is to form some idea of the courage and invincible determination that characterized Andrew Dunlap when he planted his home in the wilds of No. 8. He settled in May, 1789, follow- ing the first inauguration of Washington, and soon thereafter plowed the first furrow in what is now Seneca County. His brother-in-law, Joseph Wilson, and Peter Smith settled in the same year,-Wilson afterwards locating on Lot 17 and Smith on Lot 7, a large portion of which is now owned by his son, Colonel Ralph Smith.
In 1790, Abraham Covert and his son Abraham A., from New Jersey, settled on Lot 27, where the first town-meeting was held in April, 1794, when Silas Halsey, who lived on Lot 37 (now Lodi), was elected Supervisor, and sworn in before himself, there being no other Justice between the lakes.
In 1792, John Seeley, grandfather of the late Hon. John E. Seeley, located on Lot No. 3, on the present site of Ovid Village, and erected a dwelling on the site now occupied by the residence of William Jones, where his son Hezekiah, now of Niagara County, the oldest native of the village, was born in 1797. Moses Cole and Josiah B. Chapman, former Sheriff, father of Hugh Chapman, who has also heen Sheriff, afterwards settled on Lot No. 3.
The same year Captain Elijah Kinne, from Dutchess County, settled a short distance west, on Lot No. 2, near the site where Benajah Boardman erected the first grist-mill in the County, in 1793, which was a primitive affair, the bolt being turned by hand. In 1793, Nicholas Huff, who had been wounded at German- town, and his brother Richard came from New Jersey and located on Lot 20, in the heaviest timbered portion of the town. Peter Hughes came the same year, also Abraham De Mott with his sons James and John, also from New Jersey, and located on Lot 9, a short distance south of the village. James, familiarly known as Judge De Mott, afterwards served as lieutenant in the war of 1812, represented the County in the Legislature in 1825, was appointed As- sociate County Judge, and was married the third time when in his eighty-seventh year; he died February 18, 1875, sged eighty-eight years and eight months, and, st the time of his death, was more familiar with the early history of the town and County than any person now living. His sister Cristina, when a young child, in 1794, was brought from New Jersey on horseback, grew up at Ovid, married Colonel Cornelius Post, and was the mother of the Hon. Lewis Post, now of Lodi, the present member of the Assembly from Seneca County.
William and Robert Dunlap came in 1794 and settled on Lot 5, where the former, father of the Hon. A. B. Dunlap, of Michigan, died in 1854, aged ninety-three.
The same year (1794) Teunis Covert and family, from New Jersey, settled on. Lot 32. His sons, Teunis and Rynear, also settled on the same lot. A daughter of his married David Brokaw (father of A. C. Brokaw, Esq., of Lodi), and resided for a time on the west part of the same lot. One night a bear visited their prem- ises, seized their only pig, and started off through the woods with his booty. Whereupon Mrs. Brokaw, not feeling disposed to give up all prospect of the next winter's pork, seized her lantern, and, guided by the music of the pig, followed after, and kept track of the robber until her husband loaded his gun and came up, when bruin wss dispatched and the settlers got their pig again.
97
98
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
About the same year Garret Harris, from New Jersey, settled on Lot 27, between the villages of Ovid and Lodi, where his grandson, George Harris, now resides. Peter Le Conte, Esq., also settled on Lot 27. Ralph Swarthout, from the same State, settled on the adjoining Lot 28, near where Charles S. Johnston now resides. Mr. Johnston has in possession a sword captured by his great-grand- father from a Hessian officer in the battle of Bennington. Mr. Swarthout, it is said, built the first cider-mill in the town, in 1811.
In 1795, Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin settled on Lot 11, and afterwards built a saw- mill near Ovid Centre, where Hughes afterwards built a grist-mill, familiarly known to this generation as " Van Lieu's Mill." Dr. Baldwin, in 1801, removed to Onondaga County and founded Baldwinsville.
Samuel Sweeney built the next mill below, on the same stream now owned or operated by Edwin Barry.
From 1795 to 1806 the population increased rapidly. John I. Covert first settled on Lot 19, and afterwards on Lot 10, in 1796; Leddie Dunlap, from Con- necticut, also located on Lot 10; Abraham Bloomer settled on Lot 21 ; Folkerd Sehring, Peter Harpending, and George Harris on Lot 19; Gideon Scott and Ephraim Weed on Lot 12; his son Daniel, father of Hon. D. D. Scott, at Scott's Corners, on Lot 11 ; also, Abijah and Noah Barnum on the same lot; and Chas. Thompson and Anthony Schuyler on Lot 25. Hon. Wm. Thompson, brother of Charles, who first resided on Lot 18 and subsequently on Lot 9, near the village, was a lawyer, Surrogate of the County, and several years a member of the Legis- lature. He died in Michigan, in November, 1871, aged eighty-seven, and was buried in the cemetery near his old home in Ovid.
Charles Starrett and Peter Wyckoff settled on Lot 31 ; John Van Tuyl, Cor- nelius Sebring, Cornelius BoDine, Paul Anten, and Joshua Coshun on Lot 29; Matthew and David Gray, Abraham VanDorn and son, and Abram Low on Lot 28, where Colonel Wilson Gray was born; John MeMath, who kept the first store and the first inn in the town, on Lot 18; he erected the house in which Dr. C. C. Coan now resides, which for some years was a noted tavern; John Boice and Joseph Stull located on Lot 18; Peter Sherman on Lot 14; Simon and James Wheeler, with their father, and Benj. Waldron also on the same lot near Shel- drake; Geo. Sauter on Lot No. 6; James Brooks and John Townsend on Lot No. 10; John Leonard on Lot 9; John and Ralph Wilson and James Van Horn on Lot 17. Mr. Van Horn was Supervisor of the town several years, and was the grandfather of Hon. Burt Van Horn, of Niagara County, and the brother of Mrs. Abraham De Mott. The Simpsons located on Lot No. 1. John Simpson, the father, it is said, drew the lot for his services in the war of the Revolution, and he is the only one of the soldiers to whom the land in the town was allotted who located upon it. His sons were Anthony, Alexander, and John, all now deceased ; John, the present, being the son of Anthony.
Peter Combs and Abram P. Covert settled on Lot 15, where was buried George Dunlap, brother of Andrew, who died September 24, 1791, his being the first death among the settlers in the town and County. David McCormick settled on Lot 16. Lot No. 30 was the gospel and school Int, which, for some years, was owned by the town and rented to various persons. Geo. Runyan, the Powelsons, James and John Dennis, John Brokaw, and Charick Rosecrants were among its carly occupants.
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.