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 55
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Assistance in the compilation of the following material has been furnished by Judges J. D. Coe and W. T. Johnson, and Messrs. Helim Sutton and E. Sayre, to whom thanks are given for ourselves and others to whom as time progresses this matter will enhance in value.
PRIMITIVE SETTLEMENT.
It has been generally understood that the primitive settlement was made in this town by David Wisner, in 1789, on Lot 95, where L. Jones is located, hut it is also known that one Abram Brown lived on Lot 71, and had peaches of his own raising upon it, in the year 1791 ; and John D. Coe, Sr., who, on one occa- sion, passed the night with him, partook of the fruit. The inference is that Brown was the first settler in what is now Romulus. Anthony Swarthout came out with Wisner and stopped upon 94, where atands Willard Asylum, and, a little Jater, settlements were begun by Isaac Johnson, on No. 89, Haynes Bartlett, .on No. 65, and Messrs. McMath and Mcknight, on No. 64. Alla MeMath, in 1801, bought four hundred acres from the west end of this lot. He put up a log cabin just north of the ereek, into which he moved his family, and they found them- selves at a home without any of its comforts. . MeMath sold to James McKnight one hundred and eighty acres, shortly after the original purchase, and the latter erected a small house south of the creek, where P. Pontius owns. Mcknight sold to David Brooks, of New Jersey, and he to Daniel and Jesse Cooley, who con- veyed to Lattimer, the latter to Parker, and he to Pontius. McMath died upon his farm. His son, as well as Mcknight, afterward opened public house, as was
customary, and evinced the same love of gain, with light labor, aa characterizes many of the present generation. In 1806 the neighbors rented a room in the McKnight dwelling, and, having hired a teacher, whose name is not knowD, opened there a school which was continued at intervals for four years. An Irish- man, Robert Sulfradge, was a teacher, and probably the only one they had. The marriages of Mabel and Anna McMath to Alexander Baldridge and John Bain- bridge took place in 1808. Michael Baldridge, of Pennsylvania, owned one hundred acres on the southeast of the lot. In 1806, three young men, William, John, and Alexander Baldridge, came out from Peunsylvania, and, upon this lot, made improvements resulting, two years later, in the erection of a grist-mill upon the creek. John Sample bought of Michael Baldridge, and lives upon the place. The property of Alexander passed to his son Alexander, thence to his heirs,- present owners. Haynes Bartlett, from Orange County, New York, in 1794, pur- chased two hundred acres from the north side of No. 65. A blacksmith by trade, he erected a shop upon his farm, and made his own and neighbors' repairs. Forty- seven years he lived upon his place, and died at the age of eighty-five. Early births were of his children, Kezia, in 1795, John, in 1797, and A. B. Bartlett, in 1799. Kezia moved to Michigan, where he died. Thomas Combs was a New Jerseyman, who came on in 1798, and bought one hundred acres in the central part of the lot. In time the land was sold to Benjamin Bartlett, then to James Brooka, and finally to Thomas N. Everett, its nceupant. John Sayre and J. Folwell were owners of one-hundred-acre farms in the lot.
In the southeast part of Lot No. 66, where lives the widow Folwell, John Bainbridge was the pioneer, and westward of him was his brother Mahlon. Sales bave been made from time to time, and the southwest portion is closely settled.
Lot No. 67 was owned by Joseph Hunt, who dying, the heirs sold to Steele, and he to I. VanOstrand. William Hunt was a blacksmith, and carried on a ahop in 1806.
Lot No. 68 was occupied by Peter, son of Joseph Wyckoff, prior to 1807. His marriage to Miss Pruden, by John Sayre, Esq., was of remote date. At his death the farm passed to other families. H. E. Burton occupies part of the tract. A family named Cooper owned and cultivated a piece of ground on this lot ; their atay was brief. . William McCarty waa the next possessor, who has given way to James Blaine.
Lot No. 69, lying south of Romulusville, was owned and occupied by white men in 1802. First, a hardy band of men had moved into these fields and be- come established; newa of their success aroused the spirit of migration, and at the date given John Terhune was found at work elearing land upon the south- west hundred acrea; the land has successively passed through the hands of Wil- liam McCarty, Joseph Blaine, J. H. King, Jacob H. Ogden, down to B. Van- Ostrand. Terhune died upon his improvement, and his family moved to Michigan.
Fifteen pounds sterling were paid to the soldier, John Green, by John D. Coe, for Lot No. 70, which contains seven hundred and twenty acres. The land re- mained in its native state for a number of years, while clearings became many and large upon adjacent and neighboring lots. Simon Vreeland became an occu- pant in 1813, and, after a residence of five or six years, departed with his family elsewhere. Mr. Coe was a resident of Roekland County, this State, and deeded his wild land to his sona. The southeast third was the portion of John D. Coe, Jr., who moved upon it during 1814, and the year following built a frame house and a good barn. A second aon, M. D. Coe, received the west third; he moved out in 1817, and followed his brother's example in the erection of buildings. The old home seemed preferable, and he sold to one Denton Gurney, and returned thither. Gurney disposed of the farm to Morris Barton, a Presbyterian minister. It is now owned by Thomas Mann and Benjamin Warne. Judge Coe, now eighty-six years of age, has been in the Legislature, served as Side Judge for five years, and has long held the office of treasurer in the agricultural society of the County. Various reasons conspire to fix the primal settlements upon stream of lake in the days when communication was only possible by water. We have stated that Abram Brown was possibly the first settler in this part of Romulus.
Ezekiel Hays and Captain Andrew Smith each had a landing on Lot No. 71,
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
st the mouth of Martha's Creek, as early as 1802. Zebedee Williams had a ten- acre piece of ground near the lake, and carried on s store for some years. He was bought out by John St. Clair in 1814. Mr. St. Clair built s distillery and created a home market for grain. A grist-mill was also put up, and between the two manufactures the farmers found sale for what grain they could raise. The diversion of trade to other channels crippled the business, and the mill and still went to ruin. ' A man named Wicker, from New York City, became a purchaser of the property in 1835. After an experience of ten years, he sold out and re- turned East. Captain Abel Frisbee was an innkeeper and ferryman. In 1798 he lived upon the southeast corner of the lot, and ran a row-boat to and from Aurora for the accommodation of the people of this vicinity, who obtained their maii from that point. John Brown was an old-time settler. He built a frame house for a residence, and erected a large barn, which was used for Baptist meet- ings during the ministration of Rev. John Csten. There was sn Indian apple- orchard on this lot, where Edward Dean now owns, and the fruit was serviceable, as was also the cider pressed from it. The repair and construction of cider-bar- rels, tubs, and other. receptacles, gave employment to a cooper named Nathaniel Bryant, who, in 1803, was a resident in the northwest corner of the lot, where he owned eighty aeres, had erected a shop, and did many a handy job for his neighbors.
The Scoheys, from New Jersey to Cayuga, were the first settlers upon No. 77. John had married Miss Homau in Cayuga, sud, crossing the lake, the young couple wended their way by torchlight through the woods to his log cabin, built upon the northwest quarter. Picture the scene of these brave-hearted people upon their tour on foot to their forcst home, devoid of ocenpant to welcome them, with difficulties to contend with, and a full realization of years of toil, and, con- trasting them with the advantages now enjoyed, say whether their unostentatious lives do not elsim at least a recollection. Lewis Scobey, about 1803, was owner of one hundred acres on the northern side, while Israel Brown dwelt upon one hundred acres in the northeast corner. From a family of five sons and three daughters there is but a solitary survivor in the town. Mr. Brown is remembered as an opponent of education, on the ground of its being a dangerous thing. There are not a few at this day who privately hold the same opinion. Upon the south- west one hundred acres lived James Voorhees, and his son George still holds a part of the old homestead, while the State's Hundred in the southeast corner was improved by Wm. Ball, who raised therein a family, all of whom have scattered to other places. In priority of occupation upon 78, Isaac Vandeventer, from the Jerseys, was a settler upon two hundred acres on the northeast. The tract went to a son Christopher, whose name appcars as a Fence Viewer, in 1797. The farm was sold to Washburn Race, of Seneca Falls. The lands upon the lot have changed ownership, suffered division, and now have various owners. As early as 1814 the neighborhood united to build a frame school-house, wherein John Ogden was a teacher, and Levi Hart was one of like profession about the same period.
POSTAL SERVICE IN 1806.
Lot 84 borders upon Cayuga Lake. A farm of seventy acres in the northeast part was occupied by Stephen Sherwood, who at an early day was married to Miss Wakeman. To this spot eame a Mr. Prout, who, in 1779, had been through this country with the army, and had returned to stay. He was a Methodist exhorter, and is remembered as a resident upon the southeast part of the lot. Identified with Lot 72 is the history of John Sayre, a carpenter by trade, and an emigrarit from Orange County. In his Western journey he was accompanied by Haynes Bartlett ; these men were equal to the task of moving through with a wagon, their route lying between Horse Heads and the head of Seneca Lake. Mr. Sayre was employed in the construction of the first court-house in Elmira, built in 1794. Arriving upon his land, which comprised a fourth of the lot, he found shelter for his wife and child. Naturally qualified for the business, he raised a taverni and store, but preferred the duties of an innkeeper, which he dis- charged for a period of thirty-five years. He was appointed a Postmaster in 1806, and retained the office until its removal to Romulusville. Mr. Sayre served a term in the Legislature of 1804, and was Side Judge many years. His death occurred in 1848, at the age of eighty. While Sayre was the Postmaster at Romulus, Samuel' Seeley was a courier between Elmira and Geneva. One trip per week was made, and the mail was carried in a small green bag within his jacket pocket. Mahlon and Peter Bainbridge, the latter a Baptist minister, were settlers prior to Mr. Sayre, while Stephen Miller moved on about the same time as 'Sayre. The birth of Eliza Sayre, in 1796, occurred on this lot." On the southwest part was the farm of W. W. Folwell, who came in from Bucks County; Pennsylvania, in 1807, and, erecting a dwelling therein, passed his life. ' The estate fell to his aon, Dr. N. W. Folwell, who, at the age of seventy years, lives upon the land made familiar by many a season's toil upon its fields. Mahlon Bain- bridge owned the central part, ruoning north and south through the lot. . At his
death it passed to his sons, Peter, Mahlon, and John. The south side is owned by the heirs of Samuel Bainbridge. In the northeast corner stood the cabin of Stephen Miller; here he lived, toiled, and died; such, too, was the record of his son, of the same given name, and the property came down to his heirs. Mrs. Reeves was early an owner of fifty acres in the southeast corner, and sold to S. Miller. B. VanOstrand married an heir to Miller's property, and is a present inhabitant.
The record shows that William Brewster and Daniel Sayre, the former in the central part, on the old road, and the latter in the northern part, on the lake road, were settlers on Lot 73, in the year 1801. Both of these men sold to John Finton in 1805. When Mr. Finton died the farm passed to his descendants, by whom it is owned, in part, at present. Walter Carson bought a fifty-acre field on the west side from Brewster. John Fleming, in 1790, moved to s farm on the east side of the lot. 'John and Robert Fleming, his sons, were his successors.' In 1800, John Green lived upon one hundred acres of a farm in the north part, on the east side of the road. No house now stands upon the old site. Opposite Green, on the west side, lived William Brewster. Joshua Tuttle was on the eentral portion, and Stephen Reeder, s mason, lived near by. In time he sold to McLafferty and moved away: Robert Chambers is named as sn inhabitant of the lot in 1805.
FIRST NATIVE WHITE BIRTH.
This part of the town is notable as the birthplace of Elsie Fleming, the first white child native to the town of Romulus. Her birth dates 1790, and s child is a present resident of the city of Rochester. The primary settlement of Lot 74 began in 1800. Upon the southeast corner dwelt Bostion Williams, and west of him was the place of Silas Beers. The latter sold to John B. Pruden nine acres. In 1804, Beers sold out to Richard D. Doremus, a carpenter, from New Jersey, whose son Garrett, aged sixty-eight, resides upon the old farm. Two brothers, named Dill, residents of Auburn, were owners of the rest of the lot, and sold their rights in 1814. John Bainbridge obtained seventy-five aeres, Stephen Miller one hun- dred, and John Sayre one hundred and twenty-five. The last named moved on in 1821, and a son Edward yet survives, aged seventy. John B. Pruden bought fifty acres, Ebenezer Conkling fifty acres, while he had owned one hundred since 1807, giving him one hundred and fifty, and George Wyeoff had thirty acres, on which he settled in 1816.
Thus rapidly did the larger tracts dismember to supply the demands of settle- ment. The chiscled inscription upon the marble slab tells birth, age, and death. Our record enrolls the names and place of labor of men who laid the foundations of the mightiest of nations.
OLD-TIME TAVERN.
The probable first resident upon No. 75 was Peter. Huff, whose family lay upon the south side. At his death the land descended to Jacob and Peter, his sons. In time the former died, and the latter moved into Fayette, where the descendants now reside. Upon the farm owned by John VanOstrand lived Joseph Wycoff, from 1794 till his death, in 1810. For sixteen years the old fields were tilled, and a family growing to maturity learned to shift for themselves. An old weather-worn tavern stands upon this lot as a remembraneer of David DePue, the builder, and of a by-gone time. Riding npon horseback, now rare, was a custom and necessity to the pioneers.
Benjamin Sutton, by trade a carpenter, came west in 1791, from Orange County, New York, and settled upon forty acres on the south side of Lot 86. In making the journey in company with his wife, two boxes were carried upon a horse upon which Mrs. Sutton rode, while her husband walked alongside. Those who came in this manner were in search of a permanent home, and gave character to settle- ment, while various infant villages were the resort of gamblers and other disrep- utable classes, which precede and go with our American pioncers.
EARLY BIRTHS.
Among early births was that of Elizabeth Sutton in 1793, Helim Sutton, now living in the neighborhood, in 1803, and Cyrus J. Sutton, a life-long resident of the old place, in 1806. To these and like pioneers the language of the poet has a vivid mesning and truthfulness in the lines,-
"How dear. to my heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollectiea presents them to view,- The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild wood, And evory loved spot which my infancy kaew !"
John Wisner owned fifty aeres in the northwest part, and, s weaver by profes- sion, pursued his calling at his house. . Liquor was generally enjoyed, and eonsid- ered in the light of a necessity, and those living upon and near thia lot eould obtain spirits fresh from the still of David Price, at a date as remote as 1803. Jonas Seeley, marrying s Miss Seeley, moved upon the large farm now held by
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Mr. Larkins, as early as 1798. Sophia Fenton, aged seventy-six, and a resident of the town, is a daughter of Mr. Seeley, and was born upon the place. Mrs. Conkliog, also a daughter, is at present living in Romulus. Judge Seeley filled the place of Side Judge several years, and departed this life on his old farm. The early settlers upon No. 79 were Joseph Folwell, of Pennsylvania, who owned one hundred acres on the south side ; William Seeley, who lived in a cabin near the centre part, on the west side of the old road, and, later, moved on the lot south ; James Watrus, a road-overseer in 1799, and owner of one hundred acres on the west side, where he died; and Walter Watrus, a resident where J. H. Gilmore lives. Dr. Ethan Watson occupied a farm on the southwest corner. A school was taught by Mrs. Watson, at an early day, in a small frame building that stood on this lot. In the central part lived John Caten, a Baptist preacher, who sold to S. Merritt, and he to J. Van Vleet. John Dey came in early, and purchased four hundred acres from the north side: Sale was made to Anthony Schuyler. The farm is now owned by Edward Van Vleet and Mr. Murnogan. An Indian orchard flourished on the southwest part of this lot, and a
SHORT-LIVED HAMLET,
Plymouth, was here laid out, with a Main Street and a Seneca Street, and half a duzen cahins were erected there prior to 1800. A warehouse, between the road and lake, stands opposite the site of this premature and short-lived hamlet. Hun- dreds of abandoned sites, scattered over the States, illustrate the enterprise of specu- lators and the uncertain future of the village. Phineas Tuthill and Asa Smith were residents upon the lot in 1800.
In the northeastern part of School District No. 6 is situated Lot 80. There lived William Shattuck upon the southern portion in 1795; bis son William after- wards took the southwest corner of the lot. The father was a blacksmith, the son a legal practitioner, whose career as a farmer was terminated by sale to Juseph Sutton in 1812. This last party also bought the claim of Clinton Shattuck, another son, who sought to utilize his education in teaching a school, in a log house which stood on the northwest corner of No. 87.
PIONEER .FARMER-MECHANICS.
In 1803, John Stone, formerly a shoemaker in Barleytown, came over from Cayuga County, and located on the northern part, where he died. The farm is owned by Colonel Swarthout. A man named Dalls lived for a time on the east part of the lot, then sold to B. Sutton, who deeded to John, his son. The mar- riage of Dr. Eliphalet Shattuck to Jane Wiley, both residents of this section, took place on January 18, 1798. The adaptability to condition of former mechanics is a feature of their farin settlement. Wherever it was possible, the old weaver, shoemaker, blacksmith, and other tradesmen pursued their calling io house or adjacent shop, but many gave up all practice of their trade, and ulti- mately became excellent farmers. Sutton Turner was the owner of one hundred acres of No. 81 in 1810, and finally sold to Samnel Bailey, and migrated West. Near the centre of the lot dwelt a Baptist minister named John Caten. His family was numerous, and seem to have made good the adage that " preachers' children are generally the wildest." Upon Lot 82, in 1797, dwelt a settler from New Jersey, Samuel Waldron by name, who owned one-half its area. Ile was employed as overseer of roads in 1799, and at his demise the family removed to Michigan, where, in an inter-lake region on a larger scale, an exodus of Seneca pioneers seem to have gone and become the pioneers of that great and prosperous State. M. E. Kinne now owns the Waldron tract. A tavern stand was kept in 1827 by William Martin, and when he died his son, J. T. Martin, took up the business. The old inn, which had stood. for half a century, was finally burned down in April, 1876. A post-office was established at Romulus Centre some time in 1860, with Mr. Martin, Postmaster. It was discontinued in 1874, and one established at Hayt's Corners, with Postmaster Combs in charge. As early as 1797, William Stout, carpenter, from New Jersey, owned part of the western portion of the lot, and John Hagerman settled on the northwest ground. Wil- liam A. Stout is a present owner of his father's and Hagerman's farms. He has lived seventy-three years upon the old place, and where he played when a child in his age finds a rest more satisfactory than many who have traveled the wide world all over. Lot 83 was occupied by several pioneers in the year 1803. Lewis Ross and William Wilson, the former a Revolutionary soldier, owned the south- west corner, one hundred acres. North of Ross was William Hays, upon fifty acres ; and next north of him was Uriah Townsend's one hundred aeres. On the northeast corner was Palmer Roberts, a tailor, and afterwards a Methodist preacher of some ability and reputation. David and Diamond Gould owned two hundred acres on the east side. John Burt, who had one hundred acres on the southeast corner in 1800, had sold to Isaac Johnson, who was a resident in 1804. Rev. Roberts sold to D. Gould and removed to Junius. The Goulds sold to
Captain Kinne, and he deeded it to his sons. Mr. Day owns a portion of the tract; Johnson's farm passed to his ebildren.
One hundred acres on the northeast of No. 85 was in 1800 the property of Sullivan Wakeman, from Balltown, New York. The farm which adjoins the lake was bought by Stephen Sherwood, and has come down to Levi Markle. The pioneer Wakeman moved upon the Holland purchase, where he continued through life. In 1815, James Purdy had one hundred acres on the southeast corner, and William Yerks held forty acres on the west side of Purdy. Both emigrated to Michigan, where, at last accounts, Yerks was still living at an advanced age. Cap- tain VanLew, from off the Delaware River, purchased a portion of Lot 92 from William Hayt, and was a resident in 1817. The Whitneys, John, Nathan, and James, were settlers by the lake in 1803. They appear to have been men of some degree of enterprise, and about 1816 built a warehouse and bought grain, which was hoated by Messrs. Purdy & Gibbons. Peter Smith settled for a time where C. Warne resides, and afterwards went west. . One Barney McCue was a deserter, and came to this neighborhood, which bears a remembrance of his dexterity in flax-dressing, a business then general' among the farming class. In 1800, Cyrus Dodge was a settler on fifty acres of Lot 99, where Lane resides, and died upon it. His brother Josiah dwelt upon fifty acres, now the home of W. S. Smith. Both were carpenters from Vermont, and were builders of barns for E. Kinne, Reuben Benton, and others. Josiah moved to Genesee County, where he died. The land was sold to John P. Nevins, who in turn made sale to D. E. Morris. Josiah Nelson and Alexander Dunlap were early settlers. A landing existed at this place as early as 1800, and bore the name "Porter's Landing."
Between 1790 and 1800 there were men settled in this vicinity; the date is difficult to establish. John Dunlap, of Pennsylvania, married Catharine Dowers, and located on two hundred acres in the southeast part of the lot, while Deacon Waldron owned a small piece of ground on the south side, where he erected a cabin, to which he brought a bride in the person of Miss Hoagland from farther down the lake. Elijah Miller, a practicing lawyer in Auburn, hecame the owner of Lot 91. Ife settled his father upon the western part. Three brothers to Elijah, named Lewis F., Elisha, and Ezra, came on and made improvements. The first sold to S .. V. R. Johnson, and Peter Post is present owner. Elisha, the second, made sale of one hundred acres, now owned by Widow Bryant, to Judge DeMott. Ezra's son, If. S. Miller, owns the old farm cleared by the father. The Miller brothers are of the past. The Auburn member of the family was father- in-law to the statesman William H. Seward, Governor of New York, and Secre- tary of State during the administration of Mr. Lincoln.
Lot 90 was drawn by Charles Wissenfelts, a lieutenant in the Second New York Regiment, by whom it was probably sold for a trifle. The southwest part was occupied in 1800 by Lawrence IIall, who sold, and the property passed suc- cessively to Smith, Harris, and G. Townsend. On the east end was Z. Hayt, who built a shop in 1806, and carried on his trade of shoemaker on what is now known as Hayt's Corners. Nathaniel Newman, Hayt's half-brother, was owner of a fifty-acre lot, which he sold to Solomon Delevan; he, to L. C. Miller, and various owners have been known. Hayt purchased from Stephen Hurlbut, a weaver by trade, and an excellent man. It may truly be said of Father IFurlbut, "None knew him but to love him," and his memory is blessed by the living. The old gentleman lived with his son-in-law and pursued his calling, and finally returned to Dutchess County, where he died.
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