History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 78

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 78

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).

They have two daughters, viz., Maggie, wife of Henry W. Farr, and Rachel, wife of Rufus K. Edminster, both of whom are farmers, residing in the town of Big Flats, Che- mung Co.

DANSVILLE.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

THIS town was formed in March, 1796, and was named from Daniel P. Faulkner, an early and influential eitizen, familiarly known as " Captain Dan." Parts of Colocton and Howard were taken off in 1812, a part of Wayland in 1848, and Fremont in 1854. A portion of the town was annexed to Sparta (Livingston County) in 1822, and a part of Cohoeton was reannexed April 26, 1834. Dans- ville is the northern town upon the west border of the county. Its surface is a rolling upland, divided into ridges by the narrow valleys of the streams, which flow both north and south into the two systems of waters which find their out- let in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Chesapeake Bay. The head-waters of the Canaseraga Creek, in this town, flow north, and the Canisteo River south. The soil is sandy and gravelly loam in the east and north, and gravel underlaid by hard pan in the southwest.

SETTLEMENT.

Although the town of Dansville was formed in March, 1796, the portion containing the population at that time was subsequently taken off, and that portion comprising the present town was without an inhabitant previous to 1804, at which time Isaac Sterling settled half a mile east of Burns' Station, near the foot of the hill, on the old Ark- port and Dansville road. Samuel Gilson settled next north of Sterling the same season. At that time the road ran along the foot of the east hill, avoiding a shallow lake or marsh, which filled nearly the whole valley for a distance of three miles. This body of water was covered with rank grasses on the west, presenting the appearance of a beau- tiful prairie, while to the westward a seraggy growth of shrubs and swamp-ash joined the pine and maple which lined the road. It was at the outlet of this body of water that the " Arkport" of the early navigators was established, and past the settlements of these early pioneers the growing travel of Dansville lumbermen and wheat-growers found an outlet.

In 1806, Isaac Sterling opened the first tavern in the town, which was succeeded by others until it was said " there was a tavern at every mile on the road, and the woods were alive with the noisy ox-teamsters who hauled staves to Arkport to sell for $1.50 a thousand, and drank up the money on their way home." { Settlement had so increased in 1811 that a school was opened, and James Jones, father of Philander S. Jones, postmaster and mer- chant of Burns since 1845, was the first teacher. . This school was not far from Doty's Corners. In June, 1816, James Jones was married to Miss Polly Shaw, his being the first marriage in the town. Spencer B. Jones, their son, occupies the old homestead near by. The Joneses were

early settlers in this valley, four brothers, John, James, Major, and Harry, coming from Pennsylvania. In the north part of the town, on Stony Brook, is a narrow glen, varying in width from 50 to 90 feet, and 200 feet deep, down which the brook leaps in a succession of falls and cas- eades, making a descent of 150 feet in a distance of 275 yards. Half a mile above this deep, dark glen, the first saw-mill in the town, built by Rufus Fuller, was in opera- tion in April, 1816. 1

Mr. Fuller built a grist-mill just below the saw-mill, in 1820, taking the stones from Oak IIill. This grist-mill was carried away by high water about 1823.

A general settlement was made in 1816 in various parts of the town. Among the first of these was Osgood Carle- ton, father of Osgood W. Carleton, who came from Maine, and settled on the State road, near Beechville, in 1815.

In 1815, Jehial Gates came from Vermont and explored the new country. The next year he was followed by a number of families and young men from Addison and Rut- land Counties, among whom were Charles Oliver, Joshua Healy, Elisha and John Robinson, Joseph Phelps, Jesse Bridge, Josiah Pond, Joseph Cobb, Martin Smith, New- man Bell, Capt. John Robbins, "Put" Rich, Judge David Demery, Jehial and his sons Gross and James Gates, Arad Sheldon, Silas Brookins, Isaiah Goodeno, and Venare Cook. These people located in and around Beachville. Judge Demery located south of "the corners," and his wife cooked for some of the surrounding young men, who re- turned in the winter and brought back their young wives the next spring.

Elisha Robinson, father of L. K. Robinson, of Dans- ville, is still living on his first farm, at the age of eighty- three.

Charles Oliver, whose .son is one of the leading men of Rogersville, organized a company of militia for "Simeon Bacon's Battalion" among his Vermont neighbors, and was commissioned April 16, 1816.

Jerome B. Phelps, now one of the oldest and most re- spected men of Dausville, is a son of Joseph l'helps.

A tavern was opened in this settlement in 1816, by Jesse Churchill, in a large double log house, near the Brayton place, one-half mile east of Beachville, and the country soon becoming settled, it was made for years a place of general resort,-men meeting there Saturdays to end the week in a general frolic,-pitching quoits, wrestling, running horses, and liberally patronizing "the Deacon"-as Mr. Churchill was called-until well into the coming week.

Nathaniel and Thomas Brayton, brothers, came from Washington Co. Philip, son of Thomas Brayton, lives on the old homestead, near the first burying-ground.

Tisdall Haskin and Timothy Atwood, surveyor and

278

JOHN P. FAULKNER.

MRS. LUCINDA FAULKNER.

JOHN P. FAULKNER.

The subject of this sketch is a lineal descendant, of Duteh origin, from Capt. Daniel P. Faulkner, who was one of the very earliest pioneers of Dansville, Livingston Co., N. Y., and the one after whom the present town of Dansville in Steuben County was named. He was familiarly known as Captain Dan. He died when but thirty-eight years of age.

John Faulkner was the son of Capt. Daniel P., and was born at Milton, Pa., July, 1787 ; married Hannah T. Perine, daughter of Capt. Wm. Perine, of Dansville, N. Y. She was born September, 1787. Of this alliance six children were born, all of whom, save one son-John P.,-are dead.

Mr. Faulkner settled in Dansville in 1819, and con- tinued to reside there until his death, in March, 1863. His wife died in August, 1865.

John P., only surviving child of John and Hannah Faulkner, was born in Dansville, Livingston Co., N. Y., Sept. 18, 1811. He was reared a farmer, which honor- able business he still continues to follow. When a young man he worked out by the month on the farm, and did not despise the day of small things. When but eight years of age he came into Dansville, Steuben Co., N. Y., which has since been his home.

He married Lueinda Lemons, daughter of Maj. W. S.

Lemons, of Dansville, N. Y., Nov. 28, 1833. She was born Dec. 3, 1811.

As the result of the above alliance six children have been born, viz .: Ann, Dorr, Phedova, Agnes, Kate, and John L., all of whom were born in Dansville, Steuben Co., N. Y.

Dorr was a brave soldier in the war of the Rebellion ; was a member of Company B, 136th Regiment New York Volunteers, mustered in Sept. 25, 1862. He was with his regiment in many battles, and lost the use of his left arm, July 3, 1863, in the battle of Gettysburg, and was honorably discharged in December, 1863.

At the present time he is engaged as postal clerk on the Erie Railroad, where he has been for several years.

The other son-John L .- is at home with his father on the farm. Mr. Faulkner is one of the representative farmers of Dansville, and owns a large farm near Rogersville.

He is a staunch Republican in politics, and has been honored with some of the offices of his town. His wife was and he is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Rogersville.

He bought his present farm in 1861. As a citizen he is well spoken of by his neighbors. His wife died March 14, 1876.

RESIDENCE OF JOSHUA HEALY, DANSVILLE, STEUBEN CO N. Y

279

TOWN OF DANSVILLE.

school-teacher, settled on the Beachville farm, occupied by John P. Faulkner. Jared Root and his son, John Root, settled near.

William S. Lemen, from Harrisburg, Pa., settled in the deep, narrow valley of Canaseraga Creek in the north, on the first land surveyed in that portion of the town. His son, James P. hemen, who occupies the old homestead, was born March 1, 1816. Mr. Lemen was the first white child born in the town of Dansville.

In the north part of the town, to the east of Stony Brook, was originally a high sandy plain, covered with a light growth of oak and yellow pine, which had been annually burned over by the Indians to make a hunting-ground. When the first settlers came there were about 1000 acres of this so open it could be seen through, and nearly level, some of the surrounding hills being also quite bare. These lands had to be plowed for the first crop, and were soon aban- doned by the first settlers as unfit for cultivation. This land is still known as Sandy Hill.

In 1816, Chauncey Day, father of Chauncey Day,-for years proprietor of the only hotel in Rogersville,-a native of Massachusetts, made the first settlement in that part of the town.

Of the first two settlers in the town who came in 1804, Isaac Sterling was elected fence-viewer in 1805, whose award was twenty-five eents a day for actual services, and Samuel Gilson, overseer of highways, in March, 1806, before there were any other inhabitants in its present limits.

The following interesting document was filed in the clerk's office of the town of Dansville, in 1811 :

MANUMISSION FROM SLAVERY.

" Know all men by these presents, that I, Nathaniel Rochester, of the town of Dansville, in the county of Steuben, and State of New York, have, and by these presents do, manumit, and make free from slavery, my negro slave named Benjamin, about sixteen years old, and my negro slave named Casandra, about fourteen years old. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty-ninth day of January, 1811.

(Copy.) "N. ROCHESTER." [SEAL .. ]

This was certified before John Metcalf, justice of the peace.

The record of a sale on file in the same office, in 1814, shows this property not to have been very valuable. Ann Faulkner, of the town of Bath, sold " all right, title, and interest in a little negro girl named Julia, born of her slave, Ann," in September, 1808, to James Faulkner, for twenty dollars.

In 1819, John Faulkner, a soldier of 1812, and a son of Capt. Daniel P'. Faulkner, and William Perine, father of H. W. Perine, of Bath, moved into the maple-lands, a mile south of the sand-lands. Of Mr. Faulkner's family of eight children, the only one yet living is John P. Faulkner, son of John Faulkner, and grandson of Daniel P. Faulk- ner, after whom the town was named, a leading citizen of the town, and principal occupant of the little hamlet of Beachville. Rufus Stone was an early settler on Sandy Hill.

In those early days, it was impossible to get work by the day, except around " old" Dansville. All work among the

settlers was done by " bees," from house-raising to harvesting. The first barrel of salt brought into the north settlement was paid for with fourteen bushels of oats, and the first crop of wheat on the sand-hills was pulled up by the roots, as being too short to reap, and the heads cut off over a stump with a broad-axe! The name of " The Lamp-Blacks" still clings to a portion of the old road through this part of the town where, in 1824, stood a round kiln of upright poles, daubed with mud on the outside, with a small open- ing through which the operator crawled to pile his fat-pine faggots for burning, or to scrape the lamp-black from the sides after they were burned. Lime was burned at Rogers- ville, and potash made everywhere. Charcoal was burned at $4 a hundred weight, for the use of the blacksmiths, while " three shillings" (37} cents) a day was paid for chopping the wood. If pork enough was raised to last until sugar came, in the spring, the people were happy. Among the early recreations pursued by the boys might be mentioned killing rattlesnakes on the " Old Brail farm," hunting wild- cats, to see them fight the dogs, or " cooning." Raccoons were plenty, and not every family of boys eould boast even a flint-lock relic of the old war, yet, with axe, and dogs, and pine torch, the dangerous sport was eagerly pursued by boys who are the gray-haired grandfathers of to-day. The last bear was killed by " Uncle Charley" Tripp between Rogersville and Loon Lake, in 1846, while quietly feasting upon corn in a farmer's garden.

The original settlers in Sandy Hill and its vicinity have given place to an industrious German population, from Prussia, on the Rhine, who have made of it the most valu- able portion of the town. Among their leading men are Alexander Leib, John Hlayt, Alexander Green, Jacob Kurtz, and Jacob Kurtz, Jr.

The patriarch of Sandy Hill was John Brail, a spare, genial old man, his form bent with age, and his bald head fringed with snowy locks which fell upon his shoulders. Everybody knew him as " Grandpap Brail," and every one liked him.

John Brail, who was born Jan. 28, 1771, migrated to the flats below the village of Dansville, and in 1817 bought the Brail farm, now owned by William llall, and built a log house, into which he moved with his family of seven chil- dren, the same fall. His fireplace, occupying an entire end of the house, was an inclosure of huge stones, resting upon the ground. The chimney, commencing at the garret floor, consisted of sticks, thoroughly plastered with mud, and ex- tending just above the roof. Great logs, which were shoved in on rollers by the united efforts of the family, kept the fire for six or eight days. Pitch-pine faggots furnished the only light for years. Ilis first clearing was made and sowed to rye in the fall of 1817. The next year grain was scarce, and as soon as this rye would do, a part of it was cut and shelled by hand. They put it in an old-fashioned Dutch oven and dried it for two days; then took it to Opp's mill to be ground. It being only half ripe and sticky, the mill- stone elogged and stopped. The accommodating miller took up the stone and gathered the grist, telling him he could boil it like rice, and eat it with milk.

Cows were scarce and expensive, but money would buy a cow when it would not buy bread. He gave Jonathan

280

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Barnhart $40 for a new milch cow, and drove her home. Boiled rye and milk was the staple article of food for the winter of 1818-19. The next crop was wheat, raised on a field opposite the old burying-ground. The soil was too poor to make straw, but good grain was produced in short scattering heads near the ground. This was pulled and threshed on a bed-quilt. His income while farming was produced from the burning of charcoal, in which he was an expert.

The necessity of a school becoming apparent, in Decem- ber, 1818, he notified the scattered settlers to attend a meeting which was held Dec. 25, 1818, at the house of Rufus Stone, in school district No. S, pursuant to a notice given by John Brail, by order of Elisha W. Brockway, commissioner of common schools. William S. Lemen was chosen moderator; Rufus Stone, clerk for the district ; Rufus Stone, Chauncey Day, and William S. Lemen, trus- tees ; David Stone, district collector. The following reso- lutions were adopted :

---

" Resolved, That the forks or corners of the highway at or near the house of John Brail be the site for the school-house.

" Resolved, That those persons that do not deliver their part of the lumber by the 8th day of January next at the site of the school- house that their portion of the lumber shall be assigned over to some other person by the trustees, and that the money be collected of said delinquents and paid over to the said assignee or assignees.

" Resolved, That the said school-house he huilt of plank, twenty- one feet long and cighteen feet wide.

" Resolved, That the trustees raise by tax $73, to be appropriated to building said school-house in the aforesaid district.

" Resolved, That each person liable to pay taxes in said district pay one day's work towards building said school-house when ealled upon by any one or more of the trustees, and that the said day's labor be gratis.

" Resolred, That the amount of lumber persons deliver at the site of the school-house as aforesaid shall apply towards his part of the before-mentioned tax.

" Resolved, That this meeting be adjourned to the 9th day of Jan- uary next, to be holden at the same place.

" [Signed,]

W. S. LEMEN, Moderator. " RUFUS STONE, Clerk."

This meeting marked an epoch in the history of Sandy Hill. Some of the resolutions seem to be arbitrary, but in those early days everything had to succumb to the necessity of the case. On the 16th day of January, 1819, twenty- two days after the first meeting of this district, the meeting convened at the same place according to adjournment, and the first resolution passed was in these words :

" Resolved, That the school-house be finisbed so far that there ean be a school kept therein within seven days, and that the school com- mence on the 25th inst."

The lumber used was only valued at $3.50 per thousand feet.

A month from the date of the first meeting, Elisha W. Brockway was teaching the first three months' school, for $13 50 per month. An assessment of half a cord of good wood was made for each scholar. The walls were notched and laid up like logs, and the fireplace, like that of Grand- pap Brail, was liberal in its proportions. The windows shoved sideways ; the door, at one corner of the building, swung upon wooden hinges, and the desks were wide boards placed in a standing position against the walls.

Weeks and months of labor were expended in cutting, notching, and gouging these desks full of images and strange devices. The seats were heavy slabs, with legs driven into auger holes. A water-pail, dipper, hickory- splint broom; a high, straight-backed, splint-bottomed chair for the teacher, and a long, blackened, wooden poker for the fire, comprised the necessary furniture. In 1819, Mr. Brockway was again hired, to be paid partly in wheat at " the April price," which was about $1 per bushel. In 1824 wheat was hauled to Rochester and sold for forty cents per bushel. In 1825 the old fireplace gave way for a stove, which was paid for by the first tax collected by warrant. The old school-house was remodeled in 1836, after the cholera, and in 1845 abandoned for a new one. During its existence this school-house was the educational, social, and religious centre for a large scope of country.

In the old burying-ground, a few rods west of where the school-house stood, where rest the remains of many of the pioneers, an inscription reads: "John Brail. Died Dec. 2, 1860, in the 90th year of his age." Inscribed upon many of the stones are the terrible words, " Died of cholera."

In 1834 the tide of German emigration turned towards Sandy Hill and the north of Steuben County. In August the families of Mr. Bolinger, Rider, Kersh, and Schu came by way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo, one of their number dying on the way of cholera. The families, num- bering 18 persons, moved into the old Brail house, and soon after Mrs. Brail was taken sick. The next day, August 24, she died. The doctors reluctantly admitted that the disease was contagious. The funeral, for which large prep- arations had been made, was abandoned. On Sunday morning one of the daughters died ; three of the emigrants were dead or dying. Samuel Lemen led a band of volun- teer nurses, composed of Zera Blake, Samuel G. Dorr, Mr. Driesbach, Rufus Stone, Joseph Acomb, Andrew Brail, John Brail, Jr., and others, doing all that men could do to arrest the spread of the disease. None of these ever fully recovered from the effects of their terrible watching. Mr. Blake was made an invalid for life. The rough coffins were made in the old school-house. Mr. Blake took a load of boards back into the woods, half a mile distant, and constructed two temporary buildings, and the two remaining sick, Mr. Bolinger and Mr. Rider, were carried thence ou stretchers. Before arriving at the foot of the hill, Mr. Bolinger died ; a day or two later, one of Mr. Rider's daughters died. A strict guard surrounded the contagion, and no intercourse was permitted with the outside world. Mr. Schu was the only one who recovered. Brandy and loaf-sugar were largely used as preventives. On the 4th of September, Simeon Decker died. Five days later his father, Samuel Decker, came down the old Indian Trail, on horse- back, to get lumber for his wife's coffin. Going home from the burial, he, too, was attacked, and died before morning. September 15, Mr. Acomb, one of the nurses, died. Andrew and Jolin Brail, Jr., John P. Faulkner, Mr. Driesbach, and Samuel Lemen buried him in the field near the house. All night long the sentinel watched at the barn where his young wife and four children had taken refuge, passing the preconcerted signal, "All is well !" that it might be

DEA. JARVIS CASE.

MRS.LORETTA CASE.

JARVIS P. CASE,

sen ef Philetus and Lucinda Case, was born in North Canten, Hartford Co., Coon., June 9, 1805. His father was a native of Simsbury, Cona .; he was the son of Amasa Case, Jr., who was the son of Amasa Case, Sr., who was a native ef Scotland. It is related that three brothers came from Scotland and settled in New England. One of these was named Amasa, from where Jarvis P. came. The parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents of Jarvis P. lived and died in Connecticut. Philetos was a farmer hy occu- pation. ]Ie and his wife were members of the Episcopal Church. They reared a family of nine children, of whom Jarvis P. was the eldest. He was a respected citizen. Jarvis P. remained at home on his father's farm until he was twenty-four years of age, when he left home and was engaged fer a few years as agent for the sale of clocks. In 1829 he settled in Dans- ville, Livingston Ce., N. Y., where he met his wife, Mrs. Alpheus Stout, fermerly Loretta Wyatt, June 1, 1836. She was born April 3, 1804, in Seneca Co., N. Y., and settled in Dansville in 1808 or 1809, with her parents. Of this union three children were born, viz. : Lucinda C. and Ileary P., died while very young ; and Henry Seymour, was horn Jan. 16, 1844, and died April 18, 1857, and was buried in the cemetery at Burns.

Mr. Case was living at Dansville while engaged in the sale of cleeks; he, however, sold his interest, and in 1832 or 1833 bought a farm of ene hundred acres, on Oak Hill, town of Dansville. He has owned some four different farms within sight of where they now reside. Mr. Casc has been successful in his business relations, but he will be known by future generations, and re- membered by his acighbors, not by the number of acres he has owned, but by the influence of an upright Christian life. Ile became a worthy member ef the Presbyterian Church in 1840. He has been one of the most premi- nent sad useful men in the town. Fer more than twenty-five years he has been deacon ef the church, and clerk and trustee fer a great many years.

For the past few years he and his wife have been members of the Pres- byterian Church at Arkpert. Deacon Case has been very liberal in sup- perting the church. Ameng many other thinga he gave a bell to the church at Arkport, which will continue to call the people together for wor- ship long after he is gone.

Deacon Case settled en his present place about 1867 or 1868, wbere be continues to reside. lo politics he was formerly a Jaokson Democrat, but

of late years he has net taken an active part in politics. He has been an assesser of the town for some ten years.

Mrs. Case joinod the church at the same time as Mr. Case. Mr. and Mrs. Case are ataunch temperance peeple. He has never used any ardent spirits of any kind, neither has he used tobacco in any form. The history of Deacon Case is ene that might well inspire ene to hely living. He is now very infirm, and ere this brief sketch ahall be read in the history of the county, he will probably have passed away.

We append the fellewing as his last written testimony fer the cause of Christ :

" After an experience of the religion of Jesus Christ for almost forty years, I find that its excellency, beauty, and power are net in the least diminished ; I find, to the joy and delight of my inmost sool, that every- thing that I have said er done for eur dear Redeemer or his caose, although said or done in weakness (great weakness), now cemes back to me in an hundredfold, not in dollars and cents, but in his infinite fullness, as Christ promised his disciples in Matthew xix. 29.

"In a life devoted to Christ and his glerieus cause there is nothing good that can be really lost, but everything that is really good is saved.

. "The nearer I approach the Sun ef Righteousness the clearer are my religious views, the brighter is my path, the more lively my bepe, the more animating my prospect, the stronger my faith, and my peace ia broad and deep as the river with overflewing banks. God be praised forever fer bringing me down to my present lew physical estate of bedy so gently and gradually. He baviog givon me the full and uninterrupted use and exer- oise of my reasen and judgment during all of my illness and suffering.

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 78

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