History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 59

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 59

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Martin & Co., Mr. Curtis having retired. Mr. Hamilton has been the controlling manager in both tanneries. They give employment to more than ten men continually, and during bark-peeling time they employ some three hundred and fifty or more men. They use about ten thousand cords of bark annually. This company make the purchases of their stock in the city of New York, and sell their leather direct from the tannery. This firm owns several thousand aeres of timber land, and is unsurpassed by any other for its credit.

Mr. Hamilton affiliates with the Republican party, and cast his first vote for Winfield Scott for President. Ile has never held any official position, as his extensive business relations would not allow him to do so. Ilis firm has dealt with large firms in England, Scotland, and Germany, send- ing their leather direct to those firms.

Hle married Ilarriet D. Lovell, a native of Chemung Co., N. Y., Feb. 17, 1858. Mrs. Hamilton was born Aug. 25, 1835. They have two children,-Willis L., born April 14, 1860, and Sarah, born Feb. 24, 1874.

Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are worthy members of the Presbyterian Church. He has been one of the most suc- cessful business men in Steuben County (See view of his residence on another page of this work.) In all his busi- ness relations he has been actuated by a strict regard for truth and honor. He is a kind, hospitable neighbor, a dutiful son, and an affectionate husband and father. His life shows what can be accomplished by industry, integrity, and perseverance, coupled with those moral principles which lie at the foundation of every truly successful life.

DANIEL B. CURTIS. -

The subject of this sketch is the oldest son of John and Lucy Curtis, and was born in Newtown, Fairfield Co., Conn., March 30, 1826. Ilis father owning and carrying on the business of a tannery, Daniel worked with him until his death, which occurred in 1845. He then continued the business alone until 1849, when he sold out and went to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, being forty days on the way. He arrived in San Francisco about the 15th of November, 1849, and for the first year was en- gaged in prospecting and mining, and the remainder of his stay in California as a general produce merchant, shipping goods by pack-mules into the mining districts, his head- quarters being at Marysville. He left California in the fall of 1856, and in the spring of 1857 he settled at Cur- tis, Steuben Co., N. Y., having purchased a half-interest in a tannery there. He continued in the business about two years, when he sold out to Messrs. Fitch & Alling, of Rochester.

He then purchased of his uncle, Daniel Curtis, after whom the railroad station of Curtis was named, the saw- mill and farm on which he now resides. The farm contains about four hundred acres. He was married in Bath, N. Y., in May, 1863, to Mary A., daughter of Lucius H. and Susan Y. Brown. They have had four children, Jennie B. (who died when three years old), John S., George H., and Uri B. Curtis.

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RESIDENCE OF A. J. CARTER, CANISTED, NEW YORK.

N.C. CHEMEX

CANISTEO HOUSE

"CANISTEO HOUSE, JOHN CARTER PROPRIETOR, CANISTEO, N. Y

217.

CANISTEO.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

CANISTEO was one of the original towns of Steuben County, formed in March, 1796. A part of Troupsburgh was taken off in 1808, Hornellsville in 1820, and parts of Jasper and Greenwood in 1827. A part of the town was annexed to Troupsburgh in 1818. It is an interior town, lying a little southwest of the centre of the county, being bounded north by Howard, east by Cameron, south by Jasper and Greenwood, and west by Ilartsville. Its sur- face is chiefly a hilly upland, broken by the deep valleys of the streams. The Canisteo River runs through the north- ern part, with a valley half a mile wide, and with hills 450 feet high on each side. The principal creeks running from the south into the Canisteo are Bennett's and Col. Bill's Creeks, flowing through narrow, deep valleys, sur- rounded by steep hills. The soil is chiefly a clayey and gravelly loam, with rich alluvium in the valleys of the streams ; some of the richest lands in the county being the Bennett Flats, at the mouth of Bennett's Creek.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The Canisteo Valley was among the earliest-settled por- tions of Steuben County Early in 1788, Solomon Ben- nett, Capt. John Jamison, Uriah Stephens, and Richard Crosley, from the Wyoming region in Pennsylvania, started ou an exploring expedition up the western tributaries of the Susquehanna. They passed up the Chemung and the Conhoeton, but finding no land to suit them, erossed over the hills and discovered the beautiful valley of the Canisteo. This valley, about half a mile wide, was bordered by steep hill-sides from 400 to 500 feet high, inclosing a forest of heavy timber for a cousiderable distance, but terminating iu an open flat of several hundred aeres, covered with grass " so high that a horse and his rider could pass through it almost unperecived." The explorers decided to purchase two townships on the river, which included the open flats. In the summer of 1789 a company was sent to the flats to cut and staek hay for the cattle which were to be driven on in the fall. The first settlers conveyed their provisions, baggage, and families, from Newtown (Elmira), on a seven- ton boat, while four sons of Mr. Uriah Stephens drove the cattle along the shore. The ascent of the river was no easy task, as frequently they were obliged to eut away the truuks of trees and dams of driftwood to clear a passage for their boat. Sometimes they encountered rapids, when all hands were obliged to go on shore and tow their craft by means of a long rope. Ilaving gained the upper flats, the eattle were turned loose to feast upon the luxuriant grass, while the pioneers proceeded to build a house of logs 26 feet long aud 24 feet wide. There was only one room below. Four fireplaces were excavated in the four corners

of the room, and with plenty of wood the settlers passed the winter quite comfortably. Two families spent the winter in this log palace, and in the spring two others were admitted, each occupying a corner and arranging their domestic affairs in their own way, with as much good-humor as if their apartments had been separated by brick and mortar.

In the spring of 1790, Solomon Bennett, Uriah Stephens, Jr., and Col. John Stephens, with their families, joined the new settlement. They immediately commenced breaking a portion of the open flats. Four yoke of oxen were neces- sary to force the old-fashioned plow through the thickly- matted roots of this miniature prairie. After sowing their wheat and planting their corn, they constructed an enormous log fence, inclosing about 400 acres of land. From the present site of the village of Canisteo down to the next township, about six miles, they laid out twelve lots across the valley, and assigned them by lot to the several proprie- tors .* The first house was built on what has since been known as the Bennett or Pompelly farm. The first families who occupied the place were those of' Uriah Stephens, Sr., and Richard Crosby ; then, as we have said, came Solomon Bennett, Uriah Stephens, Jr., and Col. John Stephens, in the spring of 1790. These were followed the same spring by Jedediah Stephens, John Redford, and Andrew Bennett, making quite an important addition to the settlement. Sol- omon Beunett was one of the leading spirits. He built the first grist-mill on the Canisteo in 1793. It stood on Ben- nett's Creek, about half a mile from its mouth. It was burned in a year or two. Before this mill was built, the settlers carried their grain to Shepard's mill, on the Sus- quehanna, nearly one hundred miles. After the burning of the mill, Mr. Bennett went to New York to procure machinery for another, but became engaged in other busi- ness, and failed to supply the wants of his neighbors George Hornell, afterwards known as Judge Hornell, set- tled in the upper township, now Hornellsville, in 1793, and was induced to build a mill on the site since known as Hornell's Mills. The settlers were so impatient for its erection that they turned out and prepared the timber vol-

# The lots in Canisteo and tlornellsville were drawn as follows:

CANISTEO.

HORSELLSVILLE.

No.

Arthur Erwin ...

James Hadley.

Christian Keiss.

John Jameson.

Solomon Bennett ...

Arthur Erwin

Solomon Bennett ..

1 Christian Keiss.

Jucl Thomas ..

Joel Thomas.

John Stephens.

ITriah Stephens, Jr

.John Jameson.

John Stephens,

Uriah Stephens.

William Wynkoop.

Uriah Stephens, Jr.

Uriah Stephens. Sr.

William Wynkoop.

Solomon Bennett

James Hadley.

Elisha Brown

12 Sotomon Bennett

217

No.

218

IIISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

untarily. Solomon Bennett kept the first store, and Jede- diah Stephens the first tavern. James McBurney, of Ireland, first came to Canisteo as a peddler. Ile bought Great Lot No. 12, in the upper township, of Solomon Bennett, and other lands; went to Ireland, and upon his return settled some of his countrymen upon his lands.

The first birth was that of Olive Stephens, Nov. 18, 1790. The first marriage was that of Richard Crosby and Hannah Baker, and the first death that of Henry Stephens.

The early settlers of Cauisteo frequently recognized among the Indians, who came to hunt in that vicinity, some of their old antagonists at Wyoming ; but old enmities were generally forgotten, and the savages and settlers lived together on the most amicable terms.

Under the old organization of Ontario County, the set- tlement of Canisteo was in the town of Williamsburgh, which at that time embraced an indefinite amount of terri- tory in what is now Steuben and adjacent counties. Jede- diah Stephens was the first supervisor of that town, and attended the meetings of the board at Canandaigua in 1794 and 1795. The town-meeting was held at the house of Uriah Stephens, and seven votes were cast. Solomon Bennett is said to have been the captain of the first military company organized in Steuben County.

At the time of the first settlement, the Indians were accustomed to come down from Squakie Hill several times a year to engage in horse and foot racing, and other rude sports. At such times the uproar of their festivals made the valley appear like a den of maniacs. The Indians, though " quick as cats" and " limber as snakes," were not a match for their better trained and more experienced antagonists. On these festive occasions the Indians came down with all their households, women, children, dogs, and horses, but conducted themselves with great civility, giving their hosts no cause of complaint.

Elias Stephens was a strong, athletic man, and a skillful wrestler. At one time the Indians proposed a wrestling- match between him and a young chief, whom they had selected and trained for the occasion. Mr. Stephens con- sented, and at the first round hurled the young savage to the ground with a broken thigh. The chief's backers were angry, and threatened to kill the victor, but the affair was finally made up, and the unfortunate chief was borne from the scene of his defeat on a deer-skin stretched between two połes.

The Indians sometimes made a military display, marching forth upon the flats to the number of three hundred war- riors, in full costume, to exhibit the grand war-dance. They made a fire about eight rods long, and paraded around it with hideous chants, and a great clattering of little deer-skin drums. Elias Stephens, by his display of strength and resolution, became an object of respect to the Indians, who well knew that he dared to do all he promised. Fourteen men were once at work in Bennett's mill-yard, when sixteen of the savages came on whooping and brand- ishing their knives, and drove the men from the yard. Mr. Stephens was immediately informed of this raid, and, seizing a club, he hastened to the mill, where the Indians were capering about and brandishing their knives in great glee. "'Put up your knives, and be off," said he, "or I will beat

all your brains out !" The Indians, deeming that discretion was the better part of valor, put their knives in their belts, and quietly walked away.

About 1820 a road was opened up Bennett's Creek as far as the point known as the Salt Springs. At an early period saline water had been discovered at this place, and several unsuccessful efforts had been made to manufacture salt from the water. The water at the surface was found not sufficiently strong, and afterwards an attempt to find good brines was made by boring, but it was finally given up as fruitless.

At this place there was a log house at the time the road was opened, otherwise it was entirely wild from William S. Thomas' through. There was a man by the name of Charles Moore, who owned a farm near where Purdy Creek unites with Bennett's Creek. He was among the early settlers, if not one of the pioneers. IIe was living on this farm as early as 1810, and his family was one well known in the valley of the Canisteo. One of the daughters be- came the wife of Uriah F. Stephens, Esq., and of the daughters of the latter, one is Mrs. David Woollever, of Ifornellsville, and another Mrs. William Hendershott. Mr. Moore also had one or more sons and two daughters,-Mrs. Enoch Ordway and Mrs. Atwell Cook, of Canisteo,-and some of the descendants are still living in the town. The place was afterwards occupied (perhaps owned) by John Moore, who was a relative, but not of the same family.

There were two John Moores in the town ; one kept a public-house near Hadley's Eddy, on the river, and was called " Big John," being a large man ; the one who lived on Bennett's Creek was called " Little Johnny," by way of distinction, although he was a man of at least medium size and weight, his only peculiarity being his unusually short legs. Little Johnny lived in 1810 on the turnpike, in a little log house. The place has since been known as the Sweet farm. An old acquaintance, who knew Little Johnny at the time of which we are speaking, describes him as " a man in the best sense of the word,-intellectual, kind, and generous. a good neighbor and a valued citizen." Of Irish descent, he entertained but a small amount of good-will towards the government whose allegiance he had renounced, and he evinced his love and attachment for his adopted country by taking the field in her defense, in the war with Great Britain in 1812. Just before the war he was in Canada, with a friend, and in passing a fortification he ob- served that some of the pickets were broken off, and he remarked to his friend that " if a person was disposed, he might easily get through them." The remark was over- heard by a sentinel, and soon Johnny and his friend found themselves under arrest. They were taken before the com- manding officer of the fort, who very sternly inquired of Moore if he had made the remark. Johnny replied very frankly, " I did, sir." " And would you try it ?" inquired the officer. " I would, indade, if my country called me," was Johnny's prompt reply. The officer then offered him large inducements, in British uniform and gold, to enlist in the British service, but Johnny could not be moved from his patriotic loyalty to his adopted country. The next year found him an American soldier in the disastrous battle of Queenstown, where he was wounded and made prisoner.

George 7. Stephing

Haret Alphon,

GEORGE H. STEPHENS.

George II. Stephens was born in Canisteo, on the place where he now resides, June 19, 1803. His grandfather, Uriah Stephens, was a native of Litchfield County, town of Canaan, Conn. ; married Martha Rathbun, a native of Stonington, Conn. Of this union were born before leaving that State : Benjamin, died in the Revolutionary war; Mrs. Solomon Ben- nett, Mrs. Daniel Mellenry, Uriah, Jr., John, Mrs. Judge George Hornell, Phineas, Elias, Elijah, William, and Benja- min (2d). The family left Connecticut in 1766, and settled in Stillwater, N. Y. ; afterwards in Northumberland Co., Pa. ; thence to Tioga Point ; thenee to Newtown, now Elmira, and in 1789 the father and his sons, Uriah and John, explored the Canisteo Valley, accompanied by his son-in-law, Solomon Bennett, and James Hadley. That year, with others, they purchased the upper and lower Canisteo, now Canisteo and Hornellsville, and the same year Uriah Stephens, Sr., settled here with his family ; the others settled the following year.

Uriah Stephens, Sr., was a soldier of the French and Indian war, and in the Revolutionary war his son Uriah, Jr., took his place, and served through the entire war on the Indian frontier in Pennsylvania. Phineas Stephens was in the war of 1812, and ranked as major. Uriah Stephens, Sr., settled on the place now owned by Thomas Hallett, which remained in the family about eighty years, and on which he died, as also did his wife, and they were buried on the farm.

Ile was a member of the Presbyterian Church, his wife a member of the Baptist Church, and both assisted in the or- ganization of the first church and school in the town. This family, whose posterity has become so numerous in the county, was the first to settle and begin the various enterprises of the Canisteo Valley.

His father, Uriah Stephens, was very closely allied to the most important public interests of the town and county, was town clerk for several years, justice of the peace for eighteen

years, supervisor for twenty years, and associate judge of the county for six years. He was a man of good business ability, temperate habits, and ranked among the prominent men of Steuben County ; and his integrity of character, and faithful- ness to duty as an officer of the public, won the esteem of all who knew him. His early education was very meagre, but he possessed much native ability and good, sound common sense. He married Elizabeth Jones in 1785, while in the Wyoming country, of which union were born three sons and five daughters,-John R., Mrs. John Ayers, Mrs. Abbott, afterwards Mrs. Bazey Baker, Mrs. Silas Corey, Mrs. Joshua Stephens, Matthew, George H., and Mrs. Jerathmell Powers. Of these children, only the subject of this sketch is living. The father died Aug. 2, 1849, aged eighty-eight. The mother died March 30, 1849, aged eighty-three.

George H. Stephens has followed farming during his life on the farm settled by his father on the Canisteo River. He married Harriet, daughter of Daniel Baker, Sept. 5, 1825. She was born Sept. 6, 1802. Their children are George, Caleb, Paulina (deceased), Shirene, Elizabeth (deceased), Mary, Rhoda (deceased), Mrs. Edwin Foster, and Matthew. Like his father before him, Mr. Stephens is a staunch member of the Democratic party, and for some fifteen years has served the people of his town as assessor. He was the first man who joined the Morning Star Masonic Lodge in Canisteo, and has been a member of that lodge for over half a century.

Mr. and Mrs. Stephens have lived happily together for upwards of fifty years, and for some twenty years of that time have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and contributors to that and kindred interests. They are now among the old landmarks that point back to the early days in the history of the town, and have lived to see schools and churches established, railroads, the telegraph, and modern machinery take their places in advancing civilization.

Nathan Graphy

Nancy Profily

NATHAN CROSBY.

The Crosby family in Canisteo is of English descent. His grandfather, Benjamin Crosby, emigrated from Eng- land about the middle of the last century, arriving in New York after a long period of suffering by being cast away, one of the children having starved to death. The family remained in the vicinity of New York until 1789, when Mr. Crosby, in company with several others, explored the Canisteo Valley and purchased the territory that now com- prises the towns of Cauisteo and Hornellsville, and thus he became one of the original proprietors of this section of Steuben County. In 1790 he settled with his family where Hornellsville now is located, and there owned several hundred acres of land. Ile raised a family of eight children who reached maturity, among whom was Richard Crosby, who was a captain in General Washington's body- guard, and was also ensign in the first military company organized.

Richard Crosby was with his father when he first visited the Canisteo Valley ; married for his first wife, Hannah, daughter of Jeremiah and Anna Baker, and sister of Hon. Jeremiah Baker, now living in Canisteo.

Their children were Benjamin, Benjamin (2d), Hector, Troylus, Mrs. Absalom Travis, Frederick, John, Mrs. Charles Travis, and Samuel.

The mother died in 1812, and about 1813 he married Hannah, daughter of Nathan Thomas, of this county. The children by this nuion are Nathan, Mrs. Elizabeth Hallett, Ulysses, and Robert. The father died about 1822; the mother died in 1863, aged seventy-seven.

Nathan Crosby was born in the town of Canisteo, March 26, 1815. Ile had limited opportunities for an education from books, yet received such parental training as to lay the foundation for a successful business life as a farmer. His father owned a mile square of land in the valley, and was thereby enabled to leave to each of his sons a small farm, which however at the time that Mr. Crosby started business for himself was of little value. In 1836 he married Nancy, daughter of Elijah and Elizabeth ( Moore) Hallett, of Canisteo. She was born Nov. 19, 1820.

Their children are Mary (died young), Mrs. Thomas J. Sheffield, Hiram, George, deceased, leaving a wife and two children, Byron and Lewis L.

Iliram was a volunteer, in 1861, of the 86th New York Volunteers, Colonel Bailey commanding ; served three years, and was in the battles of second Bull Run, Wilderness, and all in which his regiment was engaged.

Frank Hallett, a son-in-law (Mrs. Sheffield's first hus- band), was in the same regiment, and met his death at Spottsylvania Court-Honse, being wounded, taken prisoner, and died as a prisoner of war.

Mr. Crosby's life has been spent as a farmer and lumber- man; in the latter business he has been engaged for as many as thirty years of his life, mostly as pilot on the Canisteo, Chemung, and Susquehanna Rivers. He has been a member of the Free-will Baptist Church for over forty years, having been deacon for the last thirty years of this time. He is a Republican in politics, but was origin- ally a member of the Democratic party.

JOSHUA STEPHENS.

Joshua Stephens was born in 1793, and was seeond child, born in Canisteo, of Jedediah Stephens. He was mar- ried Dee. 29, 1811, to Rhoda, daughter of Uriah Stephens, who was son of the first settler of Canisteo Valley. She was born in 1795, and married at the age of sixteen. This couple first settled by themselves in 1815 on Bennett Creek, then a wilderness, on two hundred acres of land, the property now being owned by his children, and on which three of them now reside. They commeneed elearing their land, his wife not only attending to the housework in the rude log house, which now stands on the place, but she often assisted him at the log-pile piling brush, and in the gen- eral work of preparing the land for cultivation. At this time on their farm were scattered Indian wigwams, so that their immediate neighbors were the red men of the forest. Mr. Stephens was a warm friend of the Indian, and often befriended them ; but other white men were unfriendly, and often had quarrels with them, burnt their wigwams, and tried to drive them away. This so en- raged the Indians that they resolved upon the death of one of their perseentors. Mistaking Mr. Stephens for this man, they shot him in mid-day ; he was hunting for his oxen in the woods. His death oc- eurred Sept. 20, 1825.

The mother and her four children-Elizabeth, Abigail, De Witt C.,

MRS. RHODA STEPHENS.

and George J-were left to meet the obstacles of a life in a new country as best they could, but she proved herself eanal to the emergency. Her courage, ambition, exceutive ability, and perse- verance made her successful. With the aid of her children she went on clearing the land, feneing and cultivating it.

IIer eldest son, at the time of the death of his father, was only seven years of age, but the daughters, being older, assisted the mother in her ont- door work until the sous were of proper age to use the axc.

The incidents, privations, and hard- ships of this family would interest the reader eould they be narrated. The mother was a model woman in all her ways, and reared her children to respeet and honor her. She lived to care for her children. Devotion to family faintly expresses her love for her children. She died Dec. 10, 1876, being eighty- one years and eleven days old, and lived upon the farm first settled upon after marriage the remainder of her life. The second daughter, Abigail, married Henry Hamilton, of Canisteo ; and the oldest son, De Witt C., married Amanda Hamilton, and re- sides on a part of the old homestead. The portraits of George J. and his sister Elizabeth, together with their mother's, accompany this sketeh. They now occupy the old home. The formuer was born May 5, 1824; the latter, Nov. 2, 1812.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 59

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