History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 81

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 81

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287

TOWN OF ERWIN.

to the survey, " While engaged in it we made our head- quarters at Painted Post, on the Conhocton River, at the house of old Mr. Harris and his son William. These two men, Mr. Goodhue, who lived near by, and Mr. Mead, who lived at the mouth of Mead's Creek, were the only persons then on the territory we were surveying." It seems that Mr. Harris did not become discouraged by the burning of his establishment in the winter of 1787, but subsequently returned and rebuilt his house, and had a comfortable place for the entertainment of the surveyors in 1789.

FIRST PURCHASE OF ERWIN.

Early in the summer of 1789, while the surveyors were yet at work in this vicinity, Colonel Arthur Erwin, from Erwina, Bucks Co., Pa., came to Painted Post with a drove of cattle, which he was driving to Canandarque (now Canandaigua). While resting his cattle here he employed an Indian guide, mounted his pony, and explored the surrounding country. The situation and scenery so delighted him that be resolved at once upon purchasing a tract of land in this vicinity. On his arrival at Canandaigua he proceeded immediately to the office of Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, inquired if the land was for sale, and made them an offer for the land, which is now the town of Erwin. They were to take in part pay- ment his drove of cattle, and the remainder was to be paid in gold. The next morning the offer was accepted, and within twenty-four hours after the decd was signed, Colonel Eleazer Lindley arrived, and made an offer for the same township. He, however, subsequently purchased the town of Lindley.

The first time the name of Painted Post appears in any record or legal document is in the deed of conveyance to Colonel Arthur Erwin, which we here copy as a matter of curious interest to the reader. It is undoubtedly the oldest deed in Steuben County.

THE DEED.

" To all persons to whom there presents shall come, greeting : Know ye, that I, Oliver Phelps, now of Canandarque, county of Ontario, and State of New York, Esquire, for and in consideration of the sum of £1400 lawful money of the State of New York, to me in hand paid before the ensealing hereof, hy Arthur Arwin, of Bucks County, State of Pennsylvania, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, and am fully satisfied, contented, and paid, have given, granted, har- gained, sold, aliened, released, conveyed, and confirmed, and hy these presents do freely, clearly, and absolutely give, grant, hargain, sell, alien, release, convey, and confirm unto him, the said Arthur Arwin, his heirs and assigns forever, the certain piece or pareel of land lying in the county of Ontario, in the said State of New York, being town- ship No. 2, in the second range of towns, being north of Pennsylvania line, and six miles west of Massachusetts pre-emption, being six miles square, containing 23,040 acres, known by the name of Painted Pust, to have and to hold the before-granted premises, with the appurten- ances and privileges thereunto helunging, to him, the said Arthur Arwin, his heirs and assigns, to him and his own proper use, benefit, and behoof forever more. And I, the said Oliver Phelps, to bind myself, my heirs, and executors, and administrators do covenant, promise, and grant unto and with the said Arthur Arwin, his heirs and assigns forever, that before and until the ensealing hereof, I am the true, sole, proper, and lawful owner and possessor of the before- granted premises, with the appurtenances, and have in myself goud right, full power, and lawful authority to give, grant, bargain, sell, alien, release, convey, and confirm the same, as aforesaid, and that frec and clear, and freely and clearly executed, acquitted and dis- charged of and from all former and other gifts, grants, and bargains, sales, leases, mortgages, wills, entails, jointures, doweries, thirds, exe-

cutions, and encumbrances whatsoever. And furthermore, I, the said Oliver Phelps, for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, do hereby covenant, promise, and engage the before-granted premises, with the appurtenances, unto him, the said Arthur Arwin, his heirs and assigns forever, to warrant, secure, and defend against the lawful claims and demands of any person or persons whatsoever.

" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this eighteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty- nine.

" OLIVER PHELPS. [L. S.]

" Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of

" AMOS IlALL, " JOHN COTT."

"This deed, and deed of confirmation, from Nathaniel Gorbam, were recorded at Albany, Feb. 9, 1792, by request of Joseph Erwin. They were also recorded in the County Clerk's Office at Bath, Juno 4, 1870, in Book of Deeds 128, pages 273-276."

TOWN OF PAINTED POST.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME.

The name " Painted Post" originated in the erection by the Indians of a monument to the memory of the brave Seneca chief, Capt. Montour, who died in the year 1779, from wounds received at the battle of Freeling's Fort.

"This account," says Mr. Chas. II. Erwin, "we get from Mr. Taggart, a young man, who was at the time a prisoner under the notorious Tory Capt. MeDonald, and was present at the burial."

The celebrated Seneca chief, Cornplanter, being inter- viewed by Capt. Samuel Adams, in 1833, said that " a great chief and brave was there taken sick and died, and was buried under the shade of an elm, on the north side near the mouth of the Conhocton River, and that he (Cornplanter) was one of the council that placed over the grave a post stained with the juice of wild berries to mark the spot."

The spot on which it stood, and remained standing for many years after the first settlers came into the country, was within a few feet of the northeast corner of the wagon- shop of Messrs. Stout & Hurd, erected in the spring of 1860, and was repeatedly identified to persons now living by such early settlers as Edmund C. Cooper, Capt. Samuel and Francis Erwin, Robert Patterson, and Samuel Cook.

For many years the " painted post" was a noted land- mark throughout the frontier regions of Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania. That it was a favorite haunt of the red man long previous to its settlement by the whites, is abundantly indicated by the great number of relics of Indian occupation found scattered in and around the place. Stone hatehets, flint arrow-heads, lance-points, pottery, mor- tars, and many other mementos of the past, and curiosities of the present, have here been gathered and preserved. They are chiefly pre-historic, showing that the occupancy of the Indians must have been at a period prior to their inter- course with the whites, although at a later period it was un- doubtedly a place of rendezvous for the wandering tribes and war-parties passing back and forward through the country. The fact that it was chosen as a burial-place of the chief, Montour, shows that it must have been a place for which the Indians entertained considerable ancestral reverence. Since the white people have occupied the spot, it has not

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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

been an uncommon occurrence, in excavating for cellars and digging post-holes, to come upon graves in which have been found the bones of Indians, pottery, arrows, and other relies. In 1847, Mr. Erwin, in sinking a post-hole on the south- west corner of his residence lot, exhumed an Indian skele- ton, and in the same grave found an arrow-point as white as marble, and pieces of broken pottery. In 1860 another Indian skeleton was unearthed, while excavating the cellar of the Bronson block, on the southwest corner of Hamilton and Water Streets. This grave contained the bones of a very large person, the thigh and arm bones being of an unusual length. It was buried in a sitting posture ; in the same grave were broken but well-preserved pieces of Indian pottery and arrow-heads, showing that he had been amply provided with antmunition and cooking utensils for the long journey to the happy hunting-grounds.

The old town of Painted Post was organized as a part of Ontario County in 1793, and was represented by its super- visor, Mr. Eli Mead, in the board which met at Canandai- gua. Mr. Mead went on foot, by Indian trails, through the vast wilderness nearly seventy miles to meet his associates from the different scattered settlements at the county-seat. There was scarce a habitation on his route, and he was compelled to " take his hotel and bar in a knapsaek upon his back in the daytime, and use them for a pillow at night, under the protecting roof of the dense foliage of the trees near his path." When the county of Steuben was erected in 1796, Painted Post became one of its original towns. It comprised the territory now embraced in the six towns of Hornby, Campbell, Erwin, Lindley, Corning, and Caton. The first division occurred in 1826, when Erwin and Hornby (including Campbell and Lindley ) were taken off, leaving Painted Post reduced to townships numbers one and two in the first range, or Caton and Corning. Caton was taken off as " Wormley" in 1839, reducing Painted Post to the single town of Corning, to which name it was changed on the 31st of March, 1852.

We have desired to obtain a complete list of the super- visors and other town officers of Painted Post during the time it was a town of Steuben County, but owing to the loss of the records, and the absence of reliable verbal in- formation, we have been unable to do so. We find that Benjamin Patterson was supervisor of the town in 1806, and we have obtained from miscellaneous records in the county clerk's office the following list since 1823: Thomas MeBurney, 1823-24; John Knox, 1825; Thomas MeBur- ney, 1826-27 ; John Knox, 1828-29; Henry H. Matthews, 1830-32; Daniel Gorton, 1833-34; William Bonham, 1835 ; Samuel K. Wolcott, 1836; John McBurney, 1837-38; H. IF. Matthews, 1839; Thomas A. Johnson, 1840-41 ; John MeBurney, 1842-43; John Sly, Jr., 1844; Thomas A. Johnson, 1845-46; H. B. Noyce, 1847 ; Jonathan Brown, 1848; Benjamin P. Bailey, 1849-50; Daniel B. Cumpston, 1851.

PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT.

David Fuller with his family settled in the town in the autumn of 1789; Eli and Eldad Mead, in 1790; Capt. Samuel Erwin and his brother Francis, David and Jona- than Cook, Capt. Howell Bull, and several others, in 1792.

The first hotel, called the Painted Post Hotel or Tavern, was built by David Fuller in the spring of 1790; it was of round logs, one and a half stories, contained two rooms, and was located near the north end of the Conhocton bridge. Mr. Fuller was an agent and tenant of Col. Arthur Erwin, and for a long time the popular landlord of the hotel.

NARRATIVE OF THE LATE SAMUEL COOK.

" In the summer of 1792, I came with my father and family to Painted Post. Our goods from Tioga Point were pushed in a canoe up the Chemung and Conhocton Rivers by my father, and our cattle, sheep, and hogs were driven along the banks by my mother and sister and the children. In the Chemung Narrows we were met by a large party of Indians who were going to Tioga Point to make a treaty. At first my mother was very much frightened, but the In- dians were very civil, and passed us with their friendly salutation of 'sachoo,' how do you do ? or 'sachoo-ca-cho,' how are you, my friend ? We met with no other unusual incident until we reached and landed at a log tavern sit- uated on the north shore of the Conhoeton River, near the end of the bridge built there that spring. This tavern was kept by David Fuller, with whom my father and family boarded some days, or until he found a log shanty situated near the Post Creek road, into which he moved. I was then thirteen, and now I am eighty-one years old. Eph- raim Patterson was then living in a house on the west bank of Post Creek, just above the Chimney Narrows ; Ichabod, his son, was living in another, situated upon the farm re- membered as Nehemiah Hubbell's (father of Hon. Wm. S. Hubbell, of Bath, and Philo P. Hubbell, of Winona, Minn.); and Frederick Calkins was then living on the south side of the Chemung River, nearly opposite the Chimney Narrows. We lived in this shanty a little more than a year, then moved up to Mr. Lindley's, who was just commencing a new settlement, and built a log house near where Col. Mor- gan now lives. In 1793 or 1794 there was a log grist-mill built on Post Creek, just above Patterson's house.

" In 1795, Benjamin Eaton opened the first store in the town,* if not in the county, for the benefit of civilization. It was situated upon the ground now used for the highway, at the head of the street leading from Knoxville to Corning Bridge. A man by the name of Comstock, from the mouth of Goodhue Creek, up the Canisteo, and myself, then nearly sixteen years old, started in a canoe for Wattles' Ferry (now Unadilla) after his first stock of goods. We floated down the Chemung River to Tioga Point, then poled up the Susquehanna to Wattles' Ferry, drawing our boat upon the shore at night and sleeping under the trees upon the banks. We reached our destination in five days, where we found Mr. Eaton, who had gone by land. The stock of goods was too large for our canoe, though it was a very large one, which compelled Mr. Eaton to purchase another small one, for which he paid one gallon of whisky. We loaded the canoes, and took charge of the small one, and we started down the river on our return. The water was low and the boats heavily laden, and we were frequently compelled to unload and 'tote' the bundles past the rapids. Without

* In what is now the town of Corning.

PHOTOS BY EVANS, CORNING NY

Clarissa Balcone

Lyman Balcom

JUDGE LYMAN BALCOM.

The subject of this sketch is of Scotch origin of about the fifth generation. It is related that two brothers settled in Sudbury, Middlesex Co., Mass., having come from the north of England, to which place they had gone from Scotland. The great-grandfather of' Lyman Balcom was poisoned when about forty years of age, leaving a family of five sons and one daughter, of whom Henry Balcom, the grandfather of Lyman, was the youngest. He was born in 1740 in Worcester Co., Mass. Served in the French and Indian war from 1756 to 1763, and was also a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war. He passed through both wars uninjured, and was honorably discharged, By occupation, a carpenter and joiner and farmer. He married Miss Coziah Stow, a native of Worcester Co., Mass., by whom seven children, two sons and five daughters, were born, of whom Col. Samuel Balcom was the second son and fifth child.

Henry Balcom was injured by a horse when an old man of seventy- two, and died from the effects of the injury in October, 1812. His wife died in the fall of 1826, at the good old age of ninety.

Col. Samuel Balconi was born in Shrewsbury, Worcester Co., Mass., Dec. 31, 1772. He was reared a farmer and carpenter, and continued to follow it through life. He married Miss Polly Knapp, a native of Connecticut, during the winter of 1799, at which time they were citizens of Oxford, Chenango Co., N. Y. Mrs. Polly Balcom was born Dec. 1, 1780, and removed to Chenango County, when but ten years of age, with one Eliza Blackman. She was the first white girl or woman in Oxford. Mr. Balcom settled in Oxford about 1790. Of this union of Mr. and Mrs. Balcom nine children were born, six sons and three daughters, all of whom lived to maturity, of whom Judge Lyman Balcom is the eldest, born Nov. 19, 1800, in Norwich (now Preston), Chenango Co., N. Y., two and a half miles from Oxford, north. Col. Samuel Balcom was extensively engaged in lumbering in this county from 1829 to 1835. He and his wife were residents of the county from 1836 to 1837, when they returned to Oxford and spent their remaining days. He was colonel in the State militia, having risen from a pri- vate. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church of Oxford. He was a presidential elector in 1840 for Harrison ; he was at first a Jeffersonian and Jackson Demoerat, but later in life a Whig. He served as magistrate for several years in Chenango County. Ile died Angust, 1847, and Mrs. Balcom died October, 1852, and both lie sleeping side by side in the cemetery at Oxford.

Judge Lyman Balcom received a common-school education. He was reared a farmer and lumberman. At the early age of thirteen he commenced lumbering ; at fifteen he went down the Susquehanna with his father. The next year he went alone, and when but seventeen years of age he was a pilot. Lumbering has been one of the chief occupations of his early life. When about twenty years of age he commenced life for himself. From the first

he has been very successful in making money. He was the owner of some five hundred or more acres before he settled in Steuben County, which he sold. He bought and sold several farms before. his settlement in Campbell, Steuben Co., which was in April, 1835, and settled in Erwin, April, 1852. He made his first pur- chase in Steuben of one thousand acres for ten hundred and thirty dollars in 1832, which he sold in 1836 for six thousand dollars. Previous to this sale he hought more than sixteen hundred acres more, which he sold in 1836 also. He has bought and sold more than five thousand acres of land. He purchased his present beautiful farm home in 1854, having previously purchased the larger part of his farm.

Judge Balcom is not only the representative farmer of Erwin, but of the entire Chemung Valley. Ifis farm is situated on the north west side of the Tioga River, about half a mile above the con- fluence of the Tioga and Conhocton Rivers. It is very level, and one of the most productive farms in the State, yet Mr. Balcom has made his farm doubly productive by his course of farming. He has made agriculture a study, and enjoys an enviable reputation as a successful farmer He has four good houses and ten barns, some of which are very large. He has made his farm by ditching and by the judicious use of manure and plaster. A view of his home may be seen opposite. In politics he was a Jackson Demo- crat, but later joined the Whig party, and became a Republican when that party was organized. He has held various town offices both here and in Chenango County.

He has been assessor several terms, supervisor of Erwin from 1871 to 1872. He has been a delegate several times to district, county, congressional, senatorial, and State conventions, and was elected to the State Legislature in 1867, and served one term. He was an associate judge of the county court from 1840 to 1846. In all his official positions he has given general satisfaction.

Mrs. Balcom is a member of the Presbyterian society, and Mr. Balcom is a regular attendant of the various societies, though not a member of any. He married Miss Clarissa Hollenbeck, daughter of Abram and Margaret Hollenbeck, of Greene, Chenango Co., N. Y., July 12, 1820. She was born Sept. 7, 1799, in Grcene, N. Y. Of this union six children were born, viz. : Mary E., Samuel, Margaret, Charles, Susan F., and Jane E., all living save Mary, who died July 30, 1869. Mr. Balcom has taken the premium several times for fine stock, and was president of the Agricultural Society several years ago ; also vice-president. He was a director of the Steuben County Bank for several years.

Mr. and Mrs. Balcom had their golden wedding July 12, 1870, at which time were gathered their children and grandchildren and other members of the family, also a very large number of their neighbors and friends.

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TOWN OF ERWIN.

serious accident, but with severe toil, we arrived safely at home with the first stock of merchandise."

In 1801, John E. Evans came to Painted Post and boarded with Benjamin Patterson. He afterwards pur- chased a fartu about a mile and a half sonth of the village, and built a house (the farm now owned by C. F. Platt). Mr. Evans was born in the city of London, England, and came to Philadelphia in 1800. Before leaving England he had been liberally edneated. He possessed those active and business qualifications which made him a leading wan in the early settlement of this portion of Steuben County. Ile taught the first school in the town, and numbered among his pupils Robert and John Patterson, Gen. F. E. Erwin, of Painted Post; Gen. Wm. D. Knox, of Junction City, Kas .; John Erwin, Esq., of Cleveland, O .; Col. F. E. Yonng, of Hornellsville ; Thomas Wheat, Arthur H. Erwin, John McBurney, Samuel Shannon, Philander Knox, and many other well-remembered names. During the war of 1812 he was collector of revenue, afterwards postmaster. He was the first clerk in the town of Erwin, was re-elected six times; was justice of the peaee ; and in all his public and official positions maintained a character for capacity, honor, and integrity. He died, Feb. 27, 1854, at the age of seventy, leaving his second wife and three children.

In the early spring of 1803, Capt. Samnel Erwin re- moved with his family to Painted Post from Easton, Pa. His furniture and goods were carted to Wilkesbarre, the metropolis of the far-famed Wyoming Valley, on the Sus- quehanna River, and there shipped on a Durham boat and brought up the rivers to Painted Post. Capt. Erwin, wife and daughter, the latter then about fifteen months old (now Mrs. Eliza E. Townsend, living with her son, Edward E. Townsend, at the " Pines," four miles south of the village), came the entire distance on horseback, he carrying the child on a pillow in front of him. The distance was about three hundred miles. After a short delay at the house of David Fuller they moved into their new residence, a log house, situated a few rods east and south of the old log barn still standing upon the farm now owned by Gen. Francis E. Erwin, about a mile aud a half west of the village. They lived in that house until about 1811, when they moved into the log tavern formerly owned and occu- pied by David Fuller, where they remained till 1823. Charles II. Erwin, the youngest son of Capt. Samuel Erwin, was born in the town of Erwin, where he still resides, April 30, 1822.

By this time there had been made in various parts of the town many new settlements. George Young, father of Col. Francis E. Young, and of Clement H. Young, of Corning; Edmund C. Cooper, father of Levi C. Cooper, of Painted Post, settled in the town about 1823. Mr. Young, then a single mau, was from Philadelphia.

DIVISION OF THE ERWIN ESTATE.

After the death of Col. Arthur Erwin his property was by allotment divided equally between his ten children, who were all then living. Of the number, Capt. Samuel, Francis, Maj. Arthur, Mrs. Rebecca Mckean, and Mrs. Mulhollon, became settlers upon their portions in the town of Erwin. The other brothers and sisters, except Mrs. 37

Dr. John Cooper, subsequently disposed of their property in the town, chiefly to the brothers and sisters who had settled here. "Captain Sam" and " Uncle Frank," as they were usually called, came into possession of their portion, upon which the village now stands, and Maj. Arthur of the extreme southwestern portion of the town.

The division was made by commissioners chosen by the heirs of Col. Arthur Erwin, pursuant to an act of the Legislature, passed March 16, 1785, consisting of John Konkle, Eleazer Lindley, and Henry McCormick. A map of the town of Erwin, showing the several allotments made to each heir, may be found in the county elerk's office of Steuben County.

THE TOWN IN 1812.

In 1812 the settlement had grown to a size that required them to assist in adjusting the national difficulties with England. A day was appointed for determining, by draft, who should have the honor of defending our rights and privileges from the Tories. The draft was made in Bath, and several residing at Painted Post were chosen, among whom were Abner Trowbridge, Edmund C. Cooper, James Gillen, Thomas Wheat, and several more whose names can- not be obtained. Joseph Gillett, then living on Little Flats, below Corning, was a lientenant in the regiment, and was wounded. Judge Thomas McBurney also held a cont- mission. Edmund C. Cooper procured a substitute. Daniel Mulhollon, since removed to Jasper, enlisted twice before the draft ; the first time his father obtained a release, con- trary to his wishes ; he enlisted again, and in one of the battles in Canada lost his left hand, or rather, had it so severely wounded that amputation was necessary. The drafted men were engaged in several battles. Lieut. Joseph Gillett was wounded, and compelled to come home. He detached from his company Mr. Trowbridge to accompany him, and neglecting to have this put properly upon record, Mr. Trowbridge was, very unjustly, put down as a deserter. Mr. Erwin, who states this faet in his pamphlet (Hist. Painted Post), says, " A truer patriot never went to war."

Those who were called out upon the second draft did not reach the scene of action before peace was declared.

" THE GREAT PUMPKIN FLOOD."

In the antumn of 1817, the town was visited with what has been designated the " great pumpkin flood." At this time few, if any, of the settlements extended far beyond the river-flats, and the waters overflowed the banks and swept nearly all the late produce off. The pumpkins, which upon the rich soit had grown in great abundance and to a great size, were very conspienons, covering the face of the deep, swift current. The experience of a pioneer, which probably resembled that of many others, is given by Mr. Samuel Cook, as follows : " My father was then living in a log house, just above and on the opposite side of Tioga River from Erwin Centre. We had on the second floor, which was made of split hewn logs, some corn in the ear. The flood had driven two families to our house, and my father brought the sheep to the house in a canoe, and we shoveled the coru back, raised the floor and put the sheep in the second story. The water came in on the first floor and

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 81

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