History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826

USA > New York > Steuben County > History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 104

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).

Charles Traldo

Elisabeth & Maldo

CHARLES WALDO

was eighth child and seventh son of Jesse and Martha Waldo, born in the town of Prattsburgh, Nov. 2, 1805, and is said to have been the first white male child born in the town.

He received his education at the common school and at Franklin Academy, and until he reached. his majority most of his time was spent at home. At the age of twenty-one he became a teacher, but only followed teaching for two terms.

At the same time and place as the marriage of his brother Lueins, he married Elizabeth Elvira Par- melee, daughter of Asa Harmon and Emily Parmelee. She was born Ang. 22, 1809.

For six years subsequent to his marriage lie car- ried on farming on the old homestead, one-half of the time following his marriage.

In 1831 he settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land, mostly timbered, where he has since resided, and to which he has made additions, so that at one time he had some three hundred acres.

His main business through life has been farming. He has never been actively connected with the po- litical circle, but has preferred the quiet of a business life; yet he has ever been interested in questions affecting local, State, or National legislation, formerly being identified with the Whig party, and now an unswerving supporter of Republican principles.

Valuing the intrinsic worth of a good education, he

has through life taken a deep interest in that subject, and done all in his power to promote the progress of education in his vicinity and town, and especially, as means would afford, has he given his children the benefit of the best schools.

Mr. Waldo has ever been of a studious turn of mind, and conversant with the current topics of the times. As early as nineteen years of age he became a member of the Congregational Church of Pratts- burgh, was for many years connected with its manage- ment, and for the past twenty-five years has been a deacon of that church, which office he now tries to honor.

His wife died Jan. 16, 1873. She became a mem- ber of the Congregational (now Presbyterian) Church at sixteen years of age; was a woman possessed of rare excellence and Christian virtues, devoted to her family, and especially interested in church and Sun- day-school work. In the sphere she was remarkably gifted in adapting herself to the capacities of children of tender age.

The surviving children are Charles Dwight, of Lyons, N. Y .; David Parmelee, of Midland City, Mich. ; William Albigense, of Prattsburgh ; Theron Linsley, a graduate in the Class of '63 of Hamilton College, and a Presbyterian clergyman; George Har- mon, of Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Chloe Elizabeth ; and Mrs. A. J. Snoke, of Princeton, Ind.

Rebecca Naldo Lucius Maldo

LUCIUS WALDO.

Lucius Waldo was born in Bridgewater, Oneida Co., N. Y., June 25, 1802. His father, Jesse Waldo, was a native of Mansfield, Conn., born in 1761 ; married Martha Hovey, also a native of Mansfield, Conn., born in 1770. Settled in Oneida County, where they lived for several years, and removed to Prattsburgh, this county, and settled near the town-line of Prattsburgh and Pulteney, in July, 1805 ; took up quite a large traet of timbered land, and spent the remainder of his life in elearing off the forest and preparing the land for cultivation. He came into the town nearly simultaneous with Captain Joel Pratt, Pixley Curtis, and other familics, numbering fourteen.

For several years he was chosen as justice of the peace, and also officiated as assessor for several terms. He belonged to the old Federalist party, and consequently opposed the war of 1812. He was a deacon of the Congregational Church at Prattsburgh for many years prior to his death, which occurred in 1826. His wife was an exemplary Christian woman, and proved a helpmeet in all the duties of pioneer life, and educated her children in all that makes true manhood and womanhood. She died in 1849. Their children born in Connecticut were Mrs. Isaac Pardee, Jesse, Aaron H., Otis, Albigense; born in Oneida County, Henry H. and Lucius; born in Prattsburgh, Charles, Abigail (died young), and Edmund. Of these only Lueius, Charles, and Edmund survive.

The subject of this sketch was only three years of age when the family settled in Prattsburgh. His education from books

was attended with the then common obstacles of a long distance, rude school-house, and poor roads. A distance of four miles was often traveled to get to school, but his subsequent career as a business man has fully demonstrated that education does not all come from books.

In the year 1828, Oct. 15tlı, he married Rebecca, daughter of Obed and Sibyl (Carter) Hervey, of Prattsburgh. She was born March 10, 1808.

After his marriage, Mr. Waldo settled on a farm adjoining where he now resides, to which he made additions until he now occupies the same premises, as also enough more to make over three hundred aeres, upon which he and his wife have resided over half a century.

His life has been one of industry, economy, and self-sacrifice ; yet through his middle life, and until debarred by age and in- firmity, he was ever regarded as one of the thrifty, enterprising, and intelligent farmers of the town.

Mr. Waldo was originally a member of the Whig party, op- posed human bondage, and since the organization of the Repub- liean party has been a supporter of its principles.

Mr. and Mrs. Waldo have lived in an unostentatious way ; bceame early in life members ef the Congregational Church of Prattsburgh, and are liberal supporters of all interests tending to aid the needy and educate the rising generations. They have lived together upwards of fifty years, but passed the day of their golden wedding without public notice.

357

TOWN OF PRATTSBURGII.

purchase of the town of Prattsburgh, to which he removed from Hemlock Hill in the year 1805.

ORIGINAL PURCHASE OF THE TOWN.

On the 16th day of June, 1802, Col. Robert Troup, chief agent of the Pulteney estate, entered into a contract with Capt. Joel Pratt, then of the county of Columbia, and William Root, of the county of Albany, whereof the follow- ing is the substance :

I. Messrs. Pratt and Root were to take upon themselves the sale and settlement of township No. 6, 3d range of town- ships in the county of Steuben. The township thus desig- nated was afterwards organized as Prattsburgh, in honor of the founder.

II. The survey was to be made in convenient lots to suit purchasers, at the expense of the said Pratt and Root, and to be made as soon as practicable. We learn from other sources of information that the survey was made by Hon. William Kersey.

III. The third article contains the stipulation for reserv- ing 200 acres, to be appropriated forever to the use of a clergyman, who shall ultimately reside in said township. to minister to them according to the Christian faith and doe- trine.

IV. The fourth article contains a charge to Messrs. Pratt and Root to exercise great diligence in the matter of effeeting sales.

V. The fifth article relates to the price of land, which in no case is to be less than $3 an aere, and as much more as possible. An article dated 2d of February, 1803, shows that from that time lands might be sold for $2.50 an acre.

VI. to XIII. The subsequent articles, to the thirteenth, contain several provisions relating to the manner of payment and the form of security to be taken whenever the lands in question were sold upon eredit.

The two remaining artieles stipulate that Messrs. Pratt and Root should receive as a compensation for their care and trouble, and as an incitement to diligence, one moiety or half part of so much of the purchase-money as (com- puting the number of acres contained in such lots) shall exceed the sum of $2 per acre ; but with the provision that no portion of this should be paid till said Pratt and Root had themselves paid into the land-office of the Pulteucy es- tate, at Geneva, the sum of $32,000.

The objects of these two original purchasers were un- doubtedly dissimilar. Mr. Pratt had determined to form a church as well as a town, and it was his intention to have cast in his lot with the hardy pioncers of the new colony. Mr. Root, on the contrary, continuing to reside in Albany, looked upon the enterprise merely in the light of a hopeful speculation.

Concerning the former, Mr. Hotchkin, in his History of Western New York, remarks as follows : " It was his de- termination to settle himself aud family on this township, and to establish a religious society in the order to which he had been accustomed. With a view to the accomplishment of this object, he required every person to whom he sold land to give a note to the amount of $15 on cach 100 acres of land purchased by him, payable within a given time,

with legal interest annually, till paid to the trustees of the religious society which should be formed."*

Rev. John Niles came to Prattsburgh, accompanied by his family, in the autumn of 1803. He was a licentiate of a Congregational Association, and in feeble health, for which reason he desired to combine with the ministry the invigorating labor of an agriculturist. Capt. Pratt gave him a farm of 80 acres as an inducement to settle herc. It was a portion of the present farm of Israel B. Vau Houseu.

William P. Curtis, Samuel Tuthill, and Pomeroy Hull came in the year 1804, and also, later in the same year, Salisbury Burton, who occupied for many years what used to be so well known as the Burton farm.

In 1806 we find a goodly array of settlers. In addition to those already named, were the following : Enoch Niles, Rufus Blodget, Jesse Waldo, Judge Hopkins, John Hop- kins, Deacon Ebenezer Rice, Robert Porter, Deacon Ga- maliel Loomis, Samuel Hayes, Deacon Abiel Linsley, Moses Lyon. Uriel Chapin, Asher Bull, Roban Hillis, Stephen Prentiss, and perhaps others.

Of the pioneers of this town, Mr. Ilotchkin remarks that "almost all the heads of families who first came in were members of the Congregational Churches, and persous of more than ordinary intelligence. They were drawn hither by the expectation of enjoying good religion and civil society. They were peculiarly a homogeneous popula- tion."

The plan proposed by Capt. Pratt for forming a perma- nent fund for the support of the gospel was at first adopted with great unanimity, but subsequently it became a source of' dissatisfaction, and after a few years was relinquished. It was probably continued long enough to produce all the beneficial effects its anthor had in view, and it was certainly an important means of drawing to this settlement an unusu- ally large number of religious and intelligent families.

Capt. Pratt and his partner, Mr. Root, were not of " cou- genial aims and purposes." To end the differences between then it became necessary for the former to buy out the in- terest of the latter, which was done in the year 1806 by the payment to Mr. Root of nearly 88000. In the same year the original contract was rescinded between all the contractors, and a new one entered into between the agent of the Pulteney estate and Capt. Pratt, Joel Pratt, Jr., and Ira Pratt for so much of the township as remained at that time unsold. This contract, like the former one, was re- scinded about 1810 or 1811, in consequence of Capt. Pratt's inability to comply with its terms,-an inability resulting from a serious pecuniary embarrassment beyond the power of human calculation to foresee or of human prudence to overcome.

The first frame building erected in town was a barn built by Joel Pratt, in 1804. It stood on the rear of the lot now owned by Grandus Lewis, on Chapel Street, and was subsequently removed by Mr. Pinney to his farm, in the cast part of the town. At an early time, when families were coming in, this barn used to be a common stopping- place for them till they could arrange the rude appoint-

> Hist. Western New York, p. 406.

358

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ments of their own cabins. It was also the usual place of holding publie worship. Mr. Pratt soon added to this barn a frame house, which stood on ground now occupied by the residence of Martin Pinney, and which, with important additions and improvements, is now the residence of Mr. Elias Wygant.

The first merchants of the town were Joel Pratt, Jr., and Ira Pratt. Aaron Bull kept the first hotel. It was built of logs, and opened in 1806 or 1807. It stood ad- joining Dr. Pratt's office, where the store of Martin Pin- ney now stands. In the year 1808 three log houses stood on the east side of the public square; one was the resi- dence of Henry Allis, and stood on the same site as the dwelling now occupied by Elijah Allis; the second was the residence of Cyril Ward, and stood near the present resi- dence of Mrs. Rice; the third was owned by Capt. Theo- dore Brown, and stood on the site of the present residence of Mr. Thos. Van Tuyl.

Judge Porter at that time lived in a log house which stood upon the same ground or near the present residence of John C. lligby. Add to these the first meeting-house, and you have the village complete as it was in that early day.

The first burying-ground was the one on the Bath road, just south of the village. It was laid out in 1806. We have before alluded to it as receiving first the remains of Harvey Pratt, and then of three or four others, who first died in the settlement, as the forerunners of the immense multitude now resting there. Here sleep most of the pio- neers of Prattsburgh, whose names on the simple monn- ments recall to the present generation the " forefathers of the hamlet."

ROAD TO BATH.

The two-rod road to which reference has been made, did not continue for a long time to be the principal thorough- fare to Bath. The same road, which is usually traveled at the present day, leading to the village, was cut through a dense forest, in 1805, at the joint expense of Capt. Pratt and the Pulteney estate. It intersected the road leading to Geneva, near Brown's Hollow, but for several years was next to impassable. In 1807, two roads were cut from the village of Prattsburgh to Crooked Lake, one opening the way to West Hill. Each of these roads nearly correspond to the ones now in use.

Till 1808, Bath was the nearest post-village. During that year a post-route was established from Geneva to Bath, passing through the village of Prattsburgh, over which the mail was carried on horseback, generally, once a week. That year the Prattsburgh Post-office was established, and Joel Pratt, Jr., was postmaster. It was nearly twelve months before Mr. Pratt was put in possession of a mail- bag, the mail matter designed for this office being taken from the bag at Geneva and brought here in a separate parcel ; so, too, the mail here was made up in a separate package and deposited in the bag on reaching Bath. These were not the only difficulties. Daniel Cruger, who in those days represented this district in Congress, contrived to get the stage-route from Geneva to Bath on the east side of the lake, thus leaving Prattsburgh unprovided with mail facilities. Mr. Pratt was obliged, under these circum- stances, to send mail matter to Bath as he had opportunity,

and receive from thence what was in that office in the same precarious manner. On making complaint to the depart- ment of the injustice of this arrangement, he was author- ized to provide a mail-carrier for a regular weekly mail till other arrangements could be made. These were effected soon after, and since that time no irregularity has occurred in the mails. Since the establishment of the railroads the citizens have been favored with a daily delivery.

IIONORABLE MENTION.

The first child born of white parents in this town was Marietta, daughter of Jared Pratt. It is recorded of her : " She resided here till 1836, and we know not, within the whole range of our town's history, that there ever lived among us an individual whose life better exemplified the Christian walk. She was but a little way removed from total blindness, yet, notwithstanding the loss of so impor- tant a sense, she was well educated, and lived the life of a child of God, and died in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection."

The first marriage celebrated in the town was between Isaac Pardee and a daughter of Deacon Waldo.

The first male child born in Prattsburgh was Charles Waldo, who still resides here, and has reared a family of five sons, who are all settled elsewhere.

LIFE IN THE EARLY DAYS.

" The early years of our town's history," say the local historians, " were not days of modern refinement. Those were days of patient toil and patient endurance. The pio- neers of our early history were strangers to the moderately- luxurious appointments of our modern homes. For a few years the present residence of John C. IFigby was the only house which art had embellished or paint adorned, to feast the eye of the traveler throughout the whole distance of the weary route leading from Geneva to Bath, through Prattsburgh. This was called the ' Lily of the Valley.' The frugal housewives of those days knew nothing, or at least experienced none of the benefits or care of three-ply carpets, hair-cloth sofas, or marble-top centre-tables ; no more did they have the tribulations of a modern party, with its knackery of ice-creams and jelly-cakes, five layers decp : pleasure carriages then formed no part of a farmer's inventory.

" These early settlers generally came here in the winter, and upon ox-sleds, subsisting throughout their journey upon their own provisions. Deacon Waldo and Judge Hopkins, the morning previous to their arrival, found their stores reduced to two loaves of bread, being then at Sher- man's Hollow.

" In 1805, Stephen Prentiss, Warham Parsons, and Aaron Cook purchased adjoining farms in that part of the town known as West Hill. The same year Mr. Prentiss occupied his place. Mr. Parsons, the next year, settled on his farm, and the year following Deacon Cook became a permanent resident, and occupied his place till the day of his death. In 1807, Michael Keith purchased and began the cultivation of a farm in Riker Hollow, where he lived in undisturbed solitude till the advent of Thomas Riker and William Drake, in the year 1810.

MRS. LUTHER GRAVES

LUTHER GRAVES.

( PHOTOS BY M A RCES PRATTSBURGH )

LUTHER GRAVES

was born in Whately, Mass., Jan. 16, 1794. He was the seventh child in a family of ten children-five sons and five daughters-of Israel and Anna (Brown) Graves, both of whom were also natives of Whately.

His father was a farmer by occupation, and both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church, and educated their children in religion as well as morality, and all that makes true manhood and womanhood. The parents died at their native place at advanced ages.

In 1815, Mr. Graves migrated to the then " far West" and made his first settlement in the town of Prattsburgh, this county. His first purchase was one hundred and fifteen aeres west of the village, and to get there he was obliged to pass through an unbroken wilderness. He has since made additions to his first purchase, and now owns the same farm and enough more to make one hundred and fifty-five aeres in all.

It may be interesting to the young to read of the privations and patience of the early settlers; hence, the writer will give an incident in the pioneer life of Mr. Graves :

For several years he boarded with Josiah Allis, an early settler, the arrangement for his board being that Mr. Graves was to work two days of the week for Mr. Allis as compensa- tion for his board for the whole week, leaving him four days to chop and clear off the timber on his own farm. The first rude log cabin, subsequently supplanted by a framed one, and lastly, a modern residence took the place of the second one, together with the gradual removal of the original forest and the woods, teeming with the bear, the wolf, and the deer, are all matters of interest in the life of the pioneer.

In the year 1819, Oct. 20th, he married Hannah Burton, of Prattsburgh. Of this union were born two daughters, Mrs. Sidney Luce (deceased), of Brighton, Monroe Co., N. Y., and Mrs. Francis Briglin, of Prattsburgh. The mother died July 2, 1824, aged twenty-two.

For his second wife he married Charlotte Cooper, of Pratts- burgh, Oct. 28, 1824. Of this union were born two sons, Martin Luther and Asher Allis (deceased), and one daughter, Jemima Elizabeth (died young). The mother died May 17, 1843.

For his third wife he married, May 23, 1844, Rebecca Storte- vant, of Prattsburgh, whose portrait may be seen above. She died August, 1878, aged seventy-eight.

For sixty-three years Mr. Graves has owned and managed his farm, although for the past fourteen years he has done no . labor himself on it, but has resided in the village of Prattsburgh.

Born during the latter part of the eighteenth century, Mr. Graves has lived under the administration of every President of the United States.

He was a member of the old Whig party, and is now a Republican.

His life has been one of quiet and labor, self-sacrifice and industry. He assisted in the erection of the first school- house in his neighborhood, in making the first roads, and in building the first church edifice, and for over half a cen- tury has been a member of the Presbyterian Church of Prattsburgh.

A view of his farm-residence may be seen on another page of this work, showing the result of a life of toil.

FARM BUILDINGS OF LUTHER GRAVES, PRATTSBURGH. STEUBEN COUNTY, N Y

359

TOWN OF PRATTSBURGII.

"In 1806, Judge Porter erected what has, in later years, been known as Higby's Mill, occupying the mill-site at the new bridge, across the stream, east of the present residence of C. G. Higby. At that time Mechanie Street was lined on both sides with a dense forest. The same year, and while Prattsburgh was yet included in Bath, Mr. Porter was elected justice of the peace and Esquire Curtis con- stable. The assessed taxes for township No. 6, 3d range, were $1.25, of which amount Squire Curtis paid five cents."

RELIGION AND EDUCATION.

We have already seen that the early settlers of Pratts- burgh made it their first care to provide for themselves the institutions of religion. When but two families composed the community the head of one was a minister of the gos- pel. A few years later almost the entire population of the town were emigrants from New England. In coming here they were influenced by the same motives which inspired their predecessors first to settle in the New World,-that is, to establish in the wilderness the institutions of religion and free government. Among such a people we should natu- rally look for the school as occupying the second place to the church. Accordingly, in this community educational matters were early thought of, and such provisions made as time and circumstances permitted in a new country.

" In 1812, in advance of the act of the Legislature re- specting common schools, there were four schools, volun- tarily established and sustained by the individuals of their respective neighborhoods. The principal one of these was in the village of Prattsburgh,-a small sehool-house, stand- ing hard by the church, in true New England fashion, and probably upon the precise spot of ground now occupied by Ezra Bramble's shoe-shop. Near by, and directly in front of the old church, was a clear spring of never-failing water, where these literary tyros would duek their heads and wash down their tough doughnuts. Another school-house was near the present residence of E. H. Hopkins, in the Walde district, the third in the vicinity of the Bridges farm, and the fourth in what is now Wheeler. These school-houses were the private property of the inhabitants, and, like all the schools of that day, were faulty and insufficient for what were felt to be the wants of even those times.

"After the passage of the connuon-school act the town was divided into a number of school districts, in accordance with its provisions, and a manifest improvement in the character and teaching of the schools was the result. Still, with this measure of improvement, they were felt to be deficient, the great difficulty being to obtain qualified teachers.

" The school-house which stood upon the site of the pres- ent residence of Edwin Wilson was built in 1816, and contained the village school till 1839."

FRANKLIN ACADEMY.

The subject of establishing an academy at Prattsburgh began to be seriously disenssed as early as 1822. Sub- scription-papers were put in circulation,-one to raise the necessary means to erect a suitable building, another to create a permanent fund for the support, in part at least, of the school. In 1823 a sum deemed adequate was found

to have been subscribed, and that year trustees were ap- pointed and arrangements made for the erection of the building. Considering the few inhabitants then in Pratts- burgh, the amount raised was liberal, being about $2000 for the erection of the building and between $3000 and $4000 for the support of the school. The ground upon which the academy stands was purchased of Judge Porter. The building as originally erected was 52 by 32 feet and two stories in height, surmounted by a cupela or belfry.

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.

History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 104

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co. Number of Pages: 826

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826