History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 70

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 70

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).

With the exception of a term or two at an Eastern school, he had no other education than what could be obtained in the eommon schools of the town. flis tastes and habits inclined him to become a farmer, and as soon as he attained his majority he married Jemima Patterson, a daughter of the late Ichabod Patterson, one of the six proprietors of township two, in the first range, included in the old town of l'ainted Post.

Mr. Mc Burney immediately moved upon the farm across the river from Corning, a part of the purchase of Patterson, upon which he spent the remainder of his life. By his industry and thrift upon this farm he laid the foundation of the hand- some fortune he left his family.

In 1831 his wife Jemima died, leaving him three children : Mary, wife of C. K. Miller; James McBurney, and Jemima, wife of John Dodge. In 1832 he married Almariah Knox, daughter of the late Judge Knox, of Painted Post. She lived but a few years and left one son, John Knox.

He married for the fourth time Mrs. Edwards, daughter of the late Cornelius Younglove, of Hammondsport, who still lives. Mr. MeBurney held various town offices. In 1832 he

was elected a member of Assembly from this county and served well his constituency. In 1853 he was again elected to the As- sembly from the Third Assembly district. It was during this session that active efforts were made to divide the county of Steu- ben. Mr. MeBurney, who was an able advocate, was strongly opposed to the measure, and sought to secure the aid of as many as possible of his fellow members to defeat it. He was ever out- spoken and frank, never concealing his opinions and sentiments.

It was a common saying you could always tell where to find MIr. MeBurney, and know how he stood politically or socially. He continued to reside upon and work his farm till his death, which occurred on the 7th day of August, 1867. He was truly and practically a farmer, for he not only worked with his hands, never engaging in speculations or venture of any kind, but steadily followed the plow,: nd by slow and sure accumulation acquired a fortune.

lle illustrated the fact that any farmer, however humble, if he will unchangeably and persistently pursue his calling and live within his income, cannot fail in process of time to lay by a handsome competence.

Politically, Mr. Mc Burney from his youth up was an earnest and active Democrat. Notwithstanding, he was elected and re-elected time and again supervisor, justice of the peace, and assessor of the old town of Painted Post with a strong majority against his party. When he administered justice, friend and foe stood equal before him. His best friend had nothing to hope and his bitterest foe nothing to fear, for he, like the goddess of justice, could see neither.

It was remarked by the late Judge Burns, whose politieal and family relations placed him ever in position of hostility to Mr. MeBurney, that in all his practice before justices of the peace, and it was an extensive one, Mr. McBurney was the only one who in making his decisions could rise above prejudice and dispense justice manfully and impartially. As a supervisor and assessor the publie found in him a faithful and competent public officer. He was a man of good sound sense and rare integrity ; with him the oath of office was no lip service. No publie plunderer dare approach him with a bribe As a friend he was true and earnest ; as a foe, stern and uncompromising.

253

TOWN OF CORNING.

while a resident of Northumberland, Pa., in 1792, formed the acquaintance of Benjamin Patterson, the famous hunter and guide, who was also a resident of that town.

The colonel saw he was the very man to run his new hotel, and at once induced him to remove to the new coun- try and open the house. In the fall of 1796, Patterson, while here, killed a large amount of game, and had salted down a large quantity of bear meat and dried deer hams, to supply his hotel the coming season. In May, 1797, Patterson and his brother Robert, with their families and effects, embarked in boats and commenced the slow and toilsome voyage up the Susquehanna, from Northumber- land to Painted Post. The boats (sometimes called Dur- ham boats) were long and narrow, and propelled against the current by setting-poles, after the manner of the early voyagers on our Western rivers. A stout man on each side of the cabin, which rose slightly above the broad gunwale, with a long pole braced against his shoulder, walked steadily from stem to stern, while the steersman with his rudder kept the craft in the right direction. When the current was very rapid, the living freight went on shore, and with a long rope attached to the bow, the boat was drawn up the rapids by the crew. It has been told that the young- sters of the family enjoyed the voyage hugely.

Early in the beautiful month of June, Patterson tied his tiny fleet to the bank just above the old Corning bridge and quite convenient to his new home. He brought with him his furniture and groceries, and was prepared at once to open his house.

On his arrival he found a number of families in the valley, located as follows: David Fuller at the Conhoeton ford; Stephen Ross on the farm in Centreville, known as the old Philo Ilubbell place; Eli Mead and his son Eldad on the old Judge McBurney place, now owned by Fuller; George Mccullough, on the next farm east. His house was nearer the bank of the river, at the termination of the Mccullough lane ; 1Iowell Bull lived near the site of the Bonham IIouse, and Fitch Wattles just across the road ; Judge Knox eame next. Across the road was Ben Eaton's store. Mrs. Nehemiah Hubbell, then the widow of Ichabod Patterson, occupied the next farm ; Senator Bradley's farm was occupied by Jared Irwin, who planted the row of buttonwoods which skirt the highway. The old Mallory and Mccullough's lands, now the village of Corning, were then owned and occupied by Jonathan and Jeduthan Row- ley. Next below them resided Abraham and Dr. Phineas Bradley and their brother-in-law, Eliakim Jones. Enos Calkins lived just below them in a log house on the bank of the river at the turn in the road. Frederick Calkins lived near the site of the old red house, lately burned. The Grotons, Wolcotts, and Rowleys lived still farther east. Besides those named there were living in the vicinity James Turner, William Knox, Hezekiah Thurber, Samuel Shannon, David Hayden, Joseph Grant, Jonathan Cook, and David Trowbridge.

In 1804, Patterson left the tavern and removed upon his farm two miles up the Tioga. Capt. Howell Bull was his successor, and ran the house for a year or so. Col. William H. Bull, of Bath, relates this incident as occurring while his father occupied the place. One day, Gen. Ker-

nan, of Tyrone, rode into the shed in the rear of the house to hitch his horse, and discovered, not the Saviour, but the enemy of mankind, a huge rattlesnake, coiled up in the manger, taking his siesta. The general hurried into the bar-room, and with affected anger saluted the captain thus: "By St. Patrick, captain ! if you entertain such customers as I find in your shed, I shall seek other quar- ters." His snakeship was soon disposed of, and the general appeased with a bumper of his favorite beverage. The next landlord was Jonathan Rowley, who for long years afterwards kept a hotel in Dansville. In 1813 the agent of the Pulteney estate, finding it no longer necessary or profitable to run a hotel, sold the property to John Jen- nings, theu of Newtown, who, a short time previous, had emigrated from the famous Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Ile occupied and kept that old tavern until his death, a period of over twenty years.

John Jennings was a great wag and rare character. So much esteemed was he that men and boys from far and near called him " Uncle John" or " Uncle Johnny." He was a stout, dumpy man of about five feet eight, with a rosy, happy face-wrinkled like an old pippin-and double chin, bright hazel eyes, flecked throughout with brown specks, that twinkled with fun and beamed with good- humor, aided much by the many crows'-feet about them. He was portly withal and quite corpulent, making him no mean type of the dispenser of mirth and good cheer for others. In dress he was somewhat careless .*

Knoxville was founded by and named after the Hon. John Knox, who came to the place about 1795, from his native State of Massachusetts. Ile led a distinguished and active life, reflecting the highest honor upon the commu- nity he established. His residence-iu which he kept a public-house-was located upon the second lot below the Methodist church in Knoxville. It was in this house that the original Painted Post Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons occupied rooms, and where it flourished till 1827.

Among the old landmarks of the town were the grist- and saw-mill erected by Ansel McCall, in 1805, upon the site lately occupied by the Hammond & Johnson mills, on the south side of the river, below the canal-dam. Mr. MeCall moved into the town in 1804, and occupied a log house near his mills. IIe was the father of Ansel J. MeCall, Esq., one of the old lawyers of Bath, the late Mrs. Betsey Calkins, the late Mrs. William S. Hubbell, of Bath, the late Mrs. F. E. Erwin, and Mrs. T. Whiting, of Iowa.t

CENTREVILLE.

Centreville formed part of the large farm of Judge Thomas McBurney. In 1824 or '25 he laid out that por- tion where Centreville is now situated into village lots, and having set up a high post, and placing upon it the likeness of an Indian and squaw painted on canvas, claimed it as the site of the original Painted Post, and named the ineip-

# Article by A. J. McCall, Esq., in the Corning Journal.

+ On the Parks farm, now owned by Nelson Cowan, is still stand- ing a barn built by Justus Wolcott, in 1796. The nails in it were made at Bartle's Hollow, now Bradford, and brought on borseback, in a pair of old-fashioned saddle-bags, by Jobn Wolcott, a son of Justus Wolcott.

254

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ient village accordingly. It became a place of much activ- ity and attracted many enterprising men. Philo P. Hubbell kept here a large hotel; Fidelis Fermbaugh had a large saddle- and harness-shop; Z. F. Wilder carried on an ex- tensive blacksmith-shop; John Arnot and H. H. Mathews built a store ; Mr. Charles L. Mills and Charles E. Osborne carried on mercantile business. It was at Centreville that the late Judge Thomas A. Johnson began his legal career, which brought him afterwards such high honors and dis- tinction.

The first school here was taught by Ansel J. McCall, Esq., now of Bath.

About the year 1824 the " old Mallory house" was built. For the time and general condition of the country it was something palatial. The spectaele it now presents of dilapi- dation and age is an eloquent reminder of those simple days when luxury was the exception and masculine severity in habits and morals the rule of life. In a wing of this house the " Bank of Corning" was first located after its establish- ment in 1839.

CHEMUNG CANAL.

This region had now become extensively known as a lun- ber district, the quantity and quality of which made it famous. By means of rafts and arks the lumber bad been floated down the Chemung aud Susquehanna Rivers to the Chesapeake Bay, where a market was found for it in Balti- more, Philadelphia, and Wilmington, as well as at the larger towns accessible along the shores of the Susquehanna. The only outlet to the Eastern seaboard being through these rivers, the markets to which they led were consequently arbitrary and unreliable. Albany and New York needed the surplus products of this region, but these cities were inaccessible. The Erie Canal was completed in 1825, and although this great avenue of commerce was opened, its distance of seventy-five miles north made transportation over the hills to reach it exceed all prospective profits. This dis- advantage was removed by the construction of the Chemung Canal, which placed Corning at the head of inland naviga- tion, communicating with the Hudson and the Atlantic Ocean. It necessarily became the shipping-point for all the products of this fertile country ; and it is to this fact that Corning owes its growth and prosperity. The bill for the construction of the canal passed April 15, 1829 ; the work was completed in 1833. A State dam was thrown across the Chemung River at the lower end of the corporation of Corning, and a canal feeder constructed a distance of fifteen miles to Horseheads in Chemung County.

ORGANIZATION.

Corning was originally part of the old town of Painted Post, which was organized as a town of Ontario County in 1793, and embraced all the territory from the eastern boun- dary of what is now Steuben County to the west line of Addison. When Steuben County was erected, in 1796, Painted Post was narrowed in its dimensions, and made one of the original towns of the county, comprising the territory now embraced in the six towns of Hornby, Camp- bell, Erwin, Liudley, Canton, and Corning. The first di- vision of the town occurred in 1826, when Erwin and Hornby (embracing Campbell and Lindley) were set off,

leaving Painted Post reduced to two townships, number one and two in the first range, or Canton and Corning. Canton was taken off in 1839, leaving the town of Painted Post reduced to one township, viz., Corning, which it remained till March 31, 1852, when its name was changed to Corn- ing. We give below the civil list of Corning only from this date, as the history of the old town of Painted Post- including its officers-is given in connection with that of the town of Erwin, in which the village of Painted Post is now situated.

LIST OF TOWN OFFICERS.

Supervisors.

Town Clerks. Collectors.

1852. Wm. Irvine.

Chas. C. B. Walker. Theodore J. Steele.

1853. Simeon [fammond. George Thompson. Simeon Van Etten.

1854. John Maynard.

Jonathan S. Belknap.

1855. Charles Packer.

Wm. W. Robinson. Wm. A. Spencer.

1856. B. P. Bailey.

1857. Stephen F. Hayt. llenry T. MeIntire. Benj. C. Wilson.

1858. Chas. C. B. Walker. James K. Newell. David S. Powers.

1859. Stephen T. Ilayt. Edwd. T. Robinson. =

1860. =

1861.

E. J. Mallory.

1862.

George W. Fuller. David S. Powers.

1863. 4€

1864. Nelson Cowan.

Edwd. E. Robinson. Edward R. Hatch.

1865. ..

1866:

Edward Clisdell.

1867. Ifenry Goff.

Jacob H. Wolcott.

George Ilitehcock.

1868.

Benj. C. Wilson.

1869. John Viseher. G. G. Ilallenbeck.

Louis D. Stone.

1870. Austin Lathrop, Jr.

Benj. F. Edgar.

1871.

John Cowley.

G. P. Miller.

1873.

O. J. Robinson.

G. W. Hallenbeck.

1874.

Jas. C. MeIntosb.

David S. Powers.

1875.

O. J. Robinson.

Levi Cowley.

1876.

Calvin W. Smith.

R. A. Benham.

1877.

W'm. E. Vanderhoff. M. T. Inscho.

187S. Nelson Cowan.

J. M. Johnson. Frank P. Rcase.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

1850. Josiah Weeks.

Daniel F. Brown.

Jeremiah D. Quackenbush.

i851. George N. Middlebrook.

David Lane.

1852. Butler S. Wolcott.

1864. W. A. Spencer.

1853. Charles li. Thomson. A. T. Payne.

1854. Daniel F. Brown.

1865. F. A. Williams.

Isaac Gray.

1866. John James.

1855. Dexter Davis. 1867. James S. Robinson,

1856. David L. Johns. 1868. William A. Spencer.

Oliver Peak.

1870. Ifenry Goff.

1857. Z. Lewis Webb.

1871. James S. Robinson.

1858. Rufus Arnold.

1872. William A. Spencer.

James S. Robinson.

1873. George Hitchcock.

1859. Rufus Arnold. 1874. llenry Goff.

1860. Plina A. Rouse. 1875. James S. Robinson.

1861. Orrin Dodge. 1876. Grove P. Miller.

M. F. Cooper.

1877. George Hitchcock.

J. M. Smith.

1878. Peter W. Calkins.

1862. James S. Robinson.

VILLAGE OF CORNING.

Just fifty years ago, when the bill for the construction of the Chemung Canal was being discussed in the Legislature at Albany, and soon after Col. Samuel Young, of Saratoga, had made his adverse report in relation to it, Capt. Vincent Conklin, of Horseheads, took his team, and with great difficulty reached Blossburg, and procured a load of the Blossburg coal, and had it conveyed to Albany, to satisfy

= 44

1872.

1863. Emerson G. Edgar.

HIRAM PRITCHARD.

Photo, by Jaynes, Corning, N. Y.

LUCINDA PRITCHARD.

HIRAM PRITCHARD.

Hiram Pritchard was born at Lawrenceville, Tioga Co., Pa., Feb. 7, 1818.

His father, Calvin Pritchard, was a native of Wyoming, Pa., and at the age of five years remembers the Indians taking his father prisoner at the time of the ever-memorable massacre there; since which time he has never been heard of, and is supposed to have been killed. The mother and children es- caped, coming to Tioga Point, and subsequently settled at Lawrenceville, where they became the pioneer settlers.

His father was a farmer, and lived and died on the farm where they first settled after reaching Lawrenceville. His father died at the age of seventy, about the year 1847. His mother, whose maiden name was Anna Kennedy, died in 1840, aged fifty-seven.

Their children were eight sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was third son, and since the age of nine years has cared for himself, receiving no education from books except as he has gathered it himself as opportunity occurred.

At the age of eighteen he married Lucinda, daughter of Lot and Hannah Searles, of Flemingville, Tioga Co., N. Y. For eight years after his marriage he followed milling, six years of which time being after he settled in Corning, which was in November, 1838.

When Mr. Pritchard became a resident of the place there was no village, and only a few houses, one of which was framed ; hence, he has seen the entire growth of the now thriving village of Corning, and has been identified with its various interests, and is now one of the oldest residents, having lived here the longest, with a few exceptions, of any now living in the vicinity.

In 1843 he opened a general merchandise store which he continued for three years, followed by four years as a clerk for Payne & Olcott.

In 1850 he took charge of an extensive lumber business in Clinton Co., Pa., for Phelps, Dodge & Co., of New York City,

where he erected mills and manufactured lumber, shipping the lumber and timber to Wrightsville, Pa., headquarters of the firm for the lumber interest. He remained in this business for three years, and soon after bought three thousand acres of timber land in Tioga Co., Pa., in partnership with James A. Hayt and Aaron H. Foster. Here the firm built an extensive mill and began the manufacture of lumber. Mr. Pritchard disposed of his interest in this property after about fifteen months, and removed to Corning, and from 1856 to 1863 was a dealer in lumber, handling as high some years as ten million feet. He then purchased a one-half interest in the foundry and machine-shops at Corning, owned by Payne & Oleotts, and in 1868 disposed of this interest, which concluded his active business life. Mr. Pritchard's is only another example of a self-made man, and of privation and necessity of economy in early life, with a will to do, resulting in a successful business career.

He was a Whig until that party was merged into other parties, and has since been a Republican.

He has been officially connected with the interests of the village in many places of trust and responsibility ; was presi- dent of the village in 1861-62, during which time he caused permanent improvements to be made in the village, although opposed strongly by some of the citizens, which now merit the approval of all, and fully demonstrate his far seeing and sa- gacity. In the year 1873, May 28th, he was appointed by Gov. John A. Dix, with Gen. Alexander S. Diven, Lansing D. Hodgman, Casper S. Decker, and Eaton N. Frisbie as asso- ciates, a commissioner for the erection of the State Reforma- tory at Elmira, N. Y. Was trustee and president of the Board of Education for fifteen years beginning with 1861, and has liberally contributed to church and kindred interests since bis residence here. He was one of the organizers of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the place, and has been a member of the same since.

His children are Truman S., Mrs. M. V. Sales, and Albert.

HIRAM W. BOSTWICK was born at New Milford, Conn., Aug. 28, 1802. At the age of sixteen he went to Albany, N. Y., as a clerk in a whip mann- facturing establishment.

In 1820 he married Mary Rowley. In 1824 he removed to Laurens, Otsego Co., N. Y., and formed a co-partnership with his brother in a general mer- chandise store, where he remained until about 1836, when he removed to Painted Post, this county, and engaged in lumbering at the mills now known as the "Gang Mills." Soon afterwards, as one of the Corning Company, he removed to the present site of the village of Corning, and became the general manager of that company, and so continued until its dissolution in 1855; and to him more than to any other one person was the prosperity of the village due. He was president of the Bank of Corning, of the Tioga Iron, Mining, and Manufac- turing Company, which built the railroad from Corn-

ing to Lawrenceville, Pa., connecting there with the Tioga Navigation Company, owning the railroad from Lawrenceville to Blossburg, constituting the first outlet for bituminous coal from the Pennsyl- vania mines.

He was one of the chief promoters, and for a time president of the Buffalo and Conhoeton Valley Rail- road.

After the great fire at Corning in 1850, he, with Major Andrew B. Dickinson, built the "Dickinson House" and "Concert Hall," thereby stimulating others to erect many of the finest buildings now in Corning.

In 1863 he went to Nicaragua as an assistant of Major Andrew B. Dickinson, who was United States Minister to the government of that country. He returned to the United States in 1866, and established his residence at Vineland, N. J., where he died April 8, 1868.

255

TOWN OF CORNING.

the incredulous that there were rich deposits of that mineral in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania, that would come into use and set aside the charcoal so extensively used by blacksmiths and machinists ; that if they would construct the Chemung Canal, having its western terminus at Painted Post, all the vast timber and coal interest would be developed, and a country hitherto shut off from commercial centres, save by the unreliable navigation of the Chemung River, would pour its rich treasures into Albany, on the Hudson. While Mr. Conklin was thus demonstrating to the Legisla- ture the feasibility of the Chemung Canal, he had an atten- tive listener in the person of Edwin Crosswell, Esq , senior editor of the Albany Argus. In a strong editorial Mr. Crosswell took up the line of argument as presented by Mr. Conklin and others from the Southern Tier, and advocated the passage of the bill. The bill passed April 15, 1829. Great were the rejoicings of the people in Chemung and Steuben Counties, in New York, and in Bradford and Tioga, Pennsylvania. The work was completed in 1833.

The late Erastus Corning, with his keen business fore- sight, foresaw that he who would be first to develop those rich mineral deposits at Blossburg would reap lasting bene- fits. In consultation with Mr. Thomas W. Olcott, the great financier, it was determined to organize what was afterwards known as the Corning Company. This was in 1835. They and their associates, Joseph Fellows, Watts Sherman, Hiram Bostwick, Ansel Bascom, Bowen Whiting, Wm. A. Bradley, and Levin I. Gilliss, made a purchase of the lands of the Erwins, at Painted Post, but through some misunderstand- ing, the purchase never became valid .* Where the pros- perous village of Corning now stands was then, with the exception of some cleared farm land in the valley, in its primeval state. The company, not being able to purchase lands on the east side of the Chemung, made a bona-fide purchase of ahout 340 acres, embraced within the present corporate limits of Corning. Railroads were then being first constructed in America. By a careful survey the company ascertained that a railroad could be constructed from their town site, at the head of canal navigation, to the coal-fields at Blossburg, cheaper than a canal, or cheaper than it could be floated down the Tioga on arks or rafts. A charter was obtained for a railroad to the State line at Lawrence- ville, where they were met by enterprising men from Phila- delphia, Messrs. James K. Wilson, Coffin Colket, J. W. Ryerss, and others, with a charter from the State of Penn- sylvania, connecting them with the Blossburg coal region.

In the year 1839 the locomotive first traversed the Tioga Valley. Then it was that Corning sprang into being. Al- though Mr. Parcell and a few families had located at Corn- ing in 1838, yet it was not until the years 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842 that Corning received its impetus. It was christened in 1836, but it was not until the time above referred to that signs of future life and prosperity dawned upon it. Then came the men that were to lay the founda- tion-or rather the superstructure, for the foundation was surely laid by Erastus Corning, Thomas W. Olcott, and their associates-of Corning's future greatness. The good people of Corning were apparently on the wrong side of

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 70

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