History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 40

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 40

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The first white settlers within the bounds of this town were William Buchanan and his son Michael, in 1794 .*

Mr. Buchanan settled on the farm now known as the Levi Kysor Farm. The life of the father has in it some inter- esting incidents. When a lad of between seven and eight years he lived with his parents in the beautiful Wyoming Valley, and while thus living the inhabitants of that lovely valley suffered all the horrors of Indian warfare. Among the survivors was the young lad, William Buchanan, who was taken prisoner. llis captors traveled westward until they arrived in the extreme western part of Pennsylvania or in Ohio. He was adopted by the chief of the tribe, and was treated kindly by his foster-father. The mother, how- ever, disliking the fondness of the chief for the little pale- face, contrived to send him away, with provisions to last him on the journey, to the white settlements on the Susque- hanna, whither in due time he arrived safely. Ile had been with the Indians seven years, and had learned to speak their language much better than his mother-tongue.

At about the age of twenty he was engaged to go on board a ship, after which he went to England, Wales, and several other countries, and finally came back to the United States. While anchored about three miles from land, it being night watch, his desire became so strong to become free, and a landsman again, that he forsook his post, plunged into the sea, and swam for the shore, which he finally reached in an exhausted condition. After leaving a scafaring life he found his way into one of the eastern counties of this State, whence he removed, with his family, to Avoca, and there spent his remaining days.

Such was the beginning of the life of the first settler of this town. Soon after his arrival he erected his log house, and made it the home of the traveler, or of those who were seeking homes in this new country. There were no inns or taverns in all this section, and the only highway was the Williamson road through the Conhoeton Valley to the

# Some local authorities put the date at 1790. We think this an error. Mr. Buchanan was sent to the " Eight-Mile Tree" by Col. Williamson to keep a house of entertainment in the interest of the settlement of that section, and Col. Williamson did not settle at Bath till 1793.

Proslcotton

Ann S. Cotton

Est

RESIDENCE OF THOMAS COTTON, AVOCA, STEUBEN CO., N.Y

lif

155

TOWN OF AVOCA.

Genesee River. He was sent here as the agent of the and-office, and his large-hearted hospitality was proverbial unong the early settlers.

The year following his arrival he planted an orchard, which now shows the ravages of time, and like the early settlers is passing away. The orchard which William and Michael Buchanan set out on the Buchanan farm is now eighty-eight years old, and some of the trees therein are worthy of mention, one of which measures nine and a half feet in circumference at or near the ground. One branch of this trec, about six feet from the ground, measures seven feet, and about ten feet up measures six feet in circum- ference. The tree is about forty feet high, and from its present appearance may stand another century. In this orchard names were given to several of the trees, such as " Grandfather Moody," ete., and other names.

This place, or the valley, at that time was known as Buchanan's or the Eight-Mile Tree. The Eight-Mile Tree (so marked by Phelps and Gorham's surveyors) stood a little north of the dwelling of Levi Kysor, about a quarter of a mile south of the village of Avoca. The section went by the name of Buchanan's or the Eight-Mile Tree for a number of years, after which some one unknown to the writer gave it the euphonious name of PODUNK. But this name lasted only a short time, and when the little hamlet began to assume shape as a village it received a new name, which the inhabitants take pride in handing down to pos- terity. The name Avoca* was given by Sophia White while on her death-bed. Having heard that the little vil- lage was about to be christened with a new name, she sent a written request to the people to allow her to name the pleasant forest village.

The first settlers after the Buchanans were James and Hugh MeWhorter and James and George Moore. The Me Whorters and one of the Moores became permanent settlers, and finally, after a short absence, both of the Moores. James Mc Whorter first settled on the I. J. Has- kin farm, erected a small log cabin, and commenced a small clearing, but did not remain on the farm long, as, before 1800, Gershom Towner and Finley McClure settled in Avoca ; Gershom Towner purchasing the Haskin place and Finley MeClure the farm now known as the Shaver farm. Gershom Towner, soon after his arrival, erected the first hotel or inn in what is now the town of Avoca ; it was on the llaskin farm, and stood on the present site of Mr. Haskin's residence. Mr. Towner was noted for his hospi- tality, and no traveler was turned away hungry ; whether rich or poor, his house was the home of the traveler in this then new country. Although he did not have a large, commodious hotel, he supplied liberally the necessaries of life. The second hotel in the town was erected by Joel Collin, in 1808, at or near Wallace Station. It was primi- tive in its construction, being built of logs, the only lumber then manufactured in town. Finley MeClure cut the road through on the west side of the river, from Kanona to his place, when he settled there, there having before that time been a path or road cut through on the east side leading through to Naples, Ontario Co.

# From Thomas Moore's " Sweet Vale of Avoca."

Soon after 1801 a tide of emigration set towards Steuben County, and between 1801 and 1815 quite a number of families and young men settled in this town. The follow- ing are the names of those settlers as far as can be ascer- tained : Asa Phillips, Abram Towner, James Babcock, Richard Vau Buskirk, Henry Smith, James Davis, John Van Buskirk, William Moody, Daniel Mckenzie, Jonathan Tilton, John Donahe, Eleazer Tucker, Allen Smith, Samuel Burnham, Oliver Rice. These were, most of them, for- merly settlers of Bath, and set off to Avoca. Among those settlers taken from lloward who settled between 1801 and 1815 were Israel Baldwin, William Allen, Charles Robords, Timothy Parkhill, Wm. Goff, and Henry Kennedy. There were others that might be called carly settlers who came into this town between 1816 and 1824: John B. Calkins, Jos. Mathewson, Ger- shom Salmon, James Silsbee, John Putnam, Hugh Briggs, Van Housen Ilopkins, and a number of others unknown to the writer. Abram Towner settled on a farm near the new mill in 180S, and spent his life there. Ilis oldest son came into possession of the homestead, and resided there during his long life of seventy-eight years. The son died May 8, 1876, and the farm yet remains in the possession of one of the descendants.

John Donahe settled on the creek leading to Howard, on what is now known as the Donahe place. Richard and John Vau Buskirk settled on what is known as the Sam Ilaskin and Allen farm. Eleazer Tucker settled on what is known as the Tucker farmu, about a mile above Wallace Station, where some of his descendants now reside.

Henry Smith, father of O. S. Smith, settled in this town in 1814, on a farm about one mile south of Avoca village. This farm was known to the early citizens as the Smith farm, but is now known as the farm on which William Allen resides.

William Moody took up and settled the lands now occu- pied by the village of Avoca.

While the valley was being settled by earnest and worthy citizens the hills and uplands were receiving their sterling inhabitants, and in January, 1811, Israel Baldwin settled on a farm now owned by his youngest son, Abraham HI. Baldwin. This farm lies south of and borders on a beau- tiful inlaud lake known as the Smith Pond, taking its name from a worthy and noble Scot, who settled on the north side of it in 1810. In the month of March, 1810, William Allen settled on the farm now occupied by Lyman, John, and Alexander Shults, those two settlers being the only ones in that neighborhood until the following year. Israel Baldwin, when he came into the county and on the farm where he settled and spent his life, was the first to cut his way from the creek road leading to Howard to his posses- sion. William Allen preceded him, both taking upland over which no white man had ever traveled to their knowledge.

Charles Robords settled on what is known as Robords' Ilill in 1814.

Although the pioneers had a hard struggle to obtain sub- sistence, they did not forget that there was something to be looked to beyond the supply of their physical wants. As early as 1796 or 1797 they employed one Anna Parker

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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

to teach school by going round from house to house through the sparsely-settled country, imparting knowledge to the young as well as she conld. Hler qualifications, except in physical endowments and good moral character, would at this day be deemed doubtful for that avocation, for in after- life she would often tell of her pioneer teaching and say that she could not write, and those who could were regarded as highly educated. But she followed teaching for a num- ber of years, and was succeeded by Susan Collier, who was the second teacher, and taught school in part of her father's log house and the dwellings of the inhabitants. Anna Parker and Susan Collier were the only teachers who taught in Avoca until they built a school-house, which was in 1818. It was built of logs and stood on a plat of ground in the present village, and near where the railroad bridge now stands. Mary MeKenzie was the first teacher in this build- ing. She taught the summer school. George Cameron was employed to teach the winter school, at $8 per month, a price in those days considered high.

There were about 20 families in what is now known as the town of Avoca in 1812, and the greater part of them took lands on the river, and but few ventured back on the hills. After that time settlers came in faster, and in 1824 there were about fifty families settled, and improvements were commenced that afterwards were enlarged to fine, beautiful farms, and the comforts of life were easily ob- tained.

In 1809, Henry Kennedy erected a saw-mill at a place now known as Goff's Mills, and it is said that the year following James Vaughn built a grist-mill at that point. The writer has made thorough investigation as to its truth, but is un- able to affirm the statement, the old settlers informing him that William Goff erected the first grist-mill soon after he settled in Howard, which was in 1812, and until that event the Taylor mill, in Wheeler, was the nearest point where they could procure grinding. Eleazer Tueker built the first saw-mill on the river in 1825, near Wallace Station. Jon- athau Tilton built the first grist-mill about a mile south of the village of Avoca. Soon after James Silsbee built the flouring-mill in the village. The Goff mill was built some time before the Tilton or Silsbee mill. These mills gave the settlers great pleasure, for, until the building of the Taylor and Goff mills, the people were obliged to resort to the Cold Spring mills in Urbana, and many, to save the arduous work of carrying their grists on their shoulders such a distanee, resorted to the more primitive method of using the mortar and pestle, made sometimes of wood and stone. Therefore they had great cause for rejoicing over the erection of these mills near at home.

The first store kept in Avoca was by two brothers, George and Alonzo Simons, on the corner of the Oliver Zeilley lot. The whole stock of goods was brought here on two pack- horses. They were of such a class only as constituted the actual necessities of living in those plain days.

The Indians who frequented the settlements of the whites were a lazy set. They would often come out of the forest to where the settlers were chopping and clearing their lands, and stand for hours and look on, and if asked to aid or help, they would retort and say, " Ugh ! me like to see white man work; me no work ; squaw work." At the

time the first settlers came into this town, there were about 50 Indian huts on the Ilaskin farm, where many relies of their ingenuity and worship have been found. This region was a favorite hunting-ground of the Senecas. At the time Abram Towner settled on his farm near the new mill and for a number of years after, there were from 50 to 100 Indian lodges on the flat just below his house, and near that place have been found parts of a stone kettle, the stone being of a different character from any found in this country ; it was of that kind that could be worked into any form desired, and a gentleman now living in Avoca has made many a bullet-mould out of the remains of the In- dian kettle. In those days it is said that the creek running through the Towner farm and emptying into the river was their favorite stream for trout, and remained a favorite re- sort to them after they emigrated from this section, and many would return to fish on that stream.

There were only two teams of horses owned in this town before 1812, and they were owned by Michael Buchanan and James Me Whorter. All the other teams were oxen, and very few at most. Many of the settlers having no teams of any kind, the ladies and gentlemen of those days thought it no hardship to walk six or seven miles to make an evening visit and return. After a few years the farmers who raised any surplus found an excellent market in Bath for the products of their farms, which were drawn on sleds by oxen in the winter. After disposing of their loads, they were accustomed to start the teams homeward alone, and when they thought they had got about halfway home, they would follow and would overtake them, or get home as soon as the teams did.

The death of Michael Buchanan was the first in this town. Ile married Anna Parker about the year 1800, the marriage having been solemnized by Gen. George MeClure. Ile lived with his wife only seven years, when he departed this life, leaving Anna Buchanan a widow, until 1811, when she married James MeWhorter; but she continued to live on the Buchanan farm, it having been willed to her by her first husband prior to his death. The farm has been kept and owned by some one of the descendants of Anna Parker to this day. Hugh MeWhorter (whose death was .the second in town ) died March 6, 1812; at the time of his burial an apple-tree was planted near his head, which still marks his resting-place. This tree has grown to the great size of eight and a half feet in circumference.

There were but two places where schools were taught up to IS18,-one was in the village and the other uear Sal- mon Waterbury's. In IS43 there were eleven school dis- triets, which number remains to the present time. There are several fine school buildings in Avoca, one of which will take rank with the union school buildings of any of the sister towns. The number of pupils who attended school in the town during the school year of IS65 was 633; the amount of expenditures was 81365.37. In April, 1867, the number of pupils in attendance was 583 ; expenditures, $1404.29. The population of Avoca is IS76; the village contains about 600 inhabitants, two hotels, two dry-goods stores, one clothing-store, two groceries, oue cabinet-store, and several mechanics' shops, and other places of business. The inhabitants of the towu aud village are active, indus-

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O.J. Smith

OSCAR S. SMITH was born in the town of Avoca (then in- luded in Bath), March 31, 1816.

His paternal grandfather, Joseph Smith, was a native of Dutchess Co., N. Y., and settled with his family in Bradford Co., Pa., as one of the pioneers of that county, where he died it an advanced age. His father, Henry Smith, was about ten years old when the family settled in Pennsylvania ; was mar- ied to Anna Spalding, of Sheshequin, Bradford Co., Pa., and mmediately thereafter eame to Steuben County, settling in he then town of Bath, in 1814, purchased a tract of land, built saw-mill, and began clearing his land and manufacturing umber.

He spent the remainder of his life on this farm, quietly following agricultural pursuits ; was a man of correct habits, trict integrity of purpose, and unobtrusive in all his ways. He died about the close of the late Rebellion at the age of ighty, having lived in this county to see the forest give place o cultivated fields, and schools, churches, and public buildings ake the place of the pioneer's rudely constructed log buildings.

The wife and mother died at the age of fifty-seven, about he year 1850. She was a daughter of Maj. William Spald- ng, and granddaughter of Gen. Spalding, of Revolutionary ame.

Their children are Oscar S. ; Mrs. S. W. Park, of Athens, a. ; Maria ; Reuben O., of Olean, Cattaraugus Co .; Erastus I., of Towanda, Pa. (deceased) ; Henry B., of Lyndon, Osage Co., Kan. ; and Mrs. Franklin J. Marshal, of Wheeler, this ounty. Mr. Smith received his education from books in the ommon schools of his early days, which although of a limited mount formed a taste for reading and study, which he has ultivated during his life. His minority was spent at home, ngaged with his father in farm and lumber business. At he age of twenty he began business for himself, and unassisted

pecuniarily purchased one hundred acres of timbered land, upon which he labored for some eleven years, preparing the land for farming.

In 1849, January 31, he married Elvira F., daughter of Capt. Jabez Fish, of Sheshequin, Bradford Co., Pa. She was born in 1824.

In the year 1850 he settled in the village of Avoca, and opened a general merchandise store, which although of small beginning, he has gradually increased as the growing interests of the vicinity demanded, and continues at the present time. During the twenty-nine years he has been in business as a merchant in Avoca he has had associated with him at differ- ent times other men, with firm-names of " Smith & Pcek," and "Smith & Barney ;" the latter firm is now in business.

Mr. Smith cast his first vote for President of the United States for Martin Van Buren as a Democrat. Upon the formation of the Republican party he took an active part, and was a delegate in the county convention upon the organization of that party here. lle was a delegate to the State Conven- tion in support of Abraham Lincoln for President. He was appointed postmaster at Avoca, first under the administration of President Pierce, second of Abraham Lincoln, and third, in the spring of 1868, of Gen. U. S. Grant, which office he now holds, making in all some twelve years he has been postmaster.

Mr. Smith is a man of plain, unassuming ways, possessed of that native talent and sound sense, sharpened by contact with business through a series of years, not uncommon with men whose early life was regulated somewhat by the necessity of the times, and the privations which foster self-reliance. Promptness, integrity, and justice in his business are his known characteristics.

His children are O. Park, H. Wilmot, L. Dana, C. Howard, and R. O. Smith.

David La Grahands

DAVID L. ROBORDS was born in the town of Amsterdam, Montgomery Co., N. Y., Oct. 24, 1799. He is eldest in a family of eight sons and five daughters of Charles and Mary Robords, the former a native of New Jersey, and settled in Montgomery County prior to his marriage, where most of the children were born. He removed to Steuben County, and settled in the town of Howard, now Avoca, in 1813, and took up one hundred acres of timber land. At that time what is now Avoca was almost an unbroken wilderness. The remain- der of his life was spent clearing off this land, together with lifty acres more which he had purchased. He died in 1830, aged fifty-one. His wife survived him some thirty years, and died at the age of eighty, in the year 1860. Very many of their children settled in the town of Avoea, and are farmers. Their names are as follows : David L., Andrew, Ichabod, William, George, John, Barney, Mrs. Artemus Dunton, Mrs. Wm. Dunton, Mrs. Vestus Allen, Mrs. Edward Allen, and Mrs. John Nipher, of whom only four are living.

Mr. Robords resided at home until he was twenty-two years of age, and being the eldest son assisted his father very much in clearing off the forest and preparing his land for cultivation. He never enjoyed the advantages of an educa- tion from books; but possessed of a large degree of native talent which, brought in contact with necessary privation and hardship in the early settlement of the town, is only increased.

In 1821 he settled on one hundred aeres of land for him- self. In 1822 he married Betsey, daughter of David Dun- ton, of this town, and began life in the log house. All of the incidents common to the pioneer were the lot of this couple ; yet with a will to accomplish whatever they under- took, and make their beginning a success, Mr. and Mrs.

Robords entered upon the future with willing hands but no money.

He is now in his eightieth year, and can trace his life back through some sixty-six years as a resident of the neighbor- hood where he now lives; he remembers the continual war- fare carried on with the wolf and other wild animals, in the protection of domestic animals, in which, during his leisure hours, he had pleasant pastime with his gun in hand, and he relates the fact of killing as many as eight wolves in one day.

A rehearsal of such thrilling incidents to the youth of to- day fires the young heart with a love for the early days and the pioneer life, in strange contrast with a beginning of a business life in 1878.

Mr. Robords has spent his life as a thrifty, enterprising farmer, and in the same vicinity where his father first settled.

Always interested in local and national matters, he has valued the right of suffrage as a boon of the American people, and has been connected with the Whig party, and is now a member of the Republican party. He is one of the old land- marks that point to the early days, and very few, if any, have been spared to live so long in the town as he, and contribute as members of society to the general welfare of its citizens. HIe is known for his sterling integrity in all business matters, and for his broad and comprehensive view of the various beliefs held by men of the times. His wife died Oct. 4, 1866, at the age of sixty-three.

Their children are seven sons and six daughters, viz. : Charles, Mrs. Lyman Perry, Helen (died young), John, Joshua, James, Mrs. Edward Allen, Rachel (died young), Cyrus, Aaron, Mrs. Alvin Wood, Marvin, and Mrs. Harvey Fox.

I. B. thave

NATHANIEL B. CHASE was born at Liberty Corners, town of Cohoeton, this county, Dee. 13, 1814. Ilis father, Thomas C. Chase, was a native of Berkshire Co, Mass., and while a young man settled in Pompey, Onondaga Co., N. Y., where he married Malinda, daughter of Nathaniel Butts, of that place. She was a native of Canterbury, Conn., born in 1790, and with her parents removed first to Massachusetts, and when she was sixteen years of age the family settled in Pompey. ·

Of this union were born in the town of Pompey, Levi C. Chase, of Lima, Livingston Co., N. Y .; Mrs. Dr. Washington Day (deceased), of Areade, Wyoming Co.

The family removed from Pompey and settled in the town of Cohocton, Steuben Co., in 1812, and purchased a farm, a portion of which now forms a part of the village of Liberty, and through which the Rochester branch of the Erie Rail- road runs. Nearly all of this farm was cleared by Mr. Chase, senior. At the time of his settlement at what is now Liberty Village there was only a single log house, hence the Chase family were among the pioneers of that part of the county. In 1837 he sold his farm at Liberty, removed to Chautauqua County, and died the same year, aged fifty-two. ITis wife survived him thirty-six years, and died at the resi- dence of her son, in Avoca, in 1873, aged eighty-four.

Their children born in the town of Cohoeton were Na- ~ thaniel B., subject of this narrative; Aurilla (died in infaney); Mrs. Franklin Day (deceased), of Buffalo; Dwight W., of Eleador, lowa; Amos W. (deceased) ; Josiah (died in infaney).

Mr. Chase received the opportunities of the common school only until he was ten years of age. At the age of seventeen he went as an apprentice to learn the milling business ; after one year he worked as journeyman for several years. In 1846 he purchased the Liberty Mills,

which he carried ou for some three years, and removed to Avoca, purchased a grist-mill and saw-mill, and after four years engaged in business with those interests disposed of them, since which time has been engaged in farming, and quite largely in real-estate. For nine years, beginning with 1866, he was depot agent at Avoca, which position his son, Thomas C., has since occupied.

Mr. Chase was originally a member of the Democratie party, but upon the formation of the Republican party became a supporter of its principles. Ile has never been active in politics, but ever interested in questions affecting local and State legislation. In 1877-78 he represented his town in the Board of Supervisors, besides which he has never held office, desiring rather the quiet of business to political preferment.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 40

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