History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 85

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 85

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In 1806, Capt. Samuel Irwin and his brother Francis were engaged in mercantile business, and continued selling goods till 1811. From some old papers it appears that Maj. Arthur Erwin was their clerk.

GEN. FRANCIS E. ERWIN,

the second son and third child of Capt. Samuel Erwin and Rachel Heckman, was born in the town of Erwin, Steuben Co., N. Y., May 3, 1803. He is one of a large and intel- ligent family of ten children who grew to manhood and womanhood. His educational advantages were confined to the common schools of that early day, yet by that untiring energy which has been a prominent characteristic of him through life, he acquired a good practical education. He was reared a farmer, which honorable business, combined with that of lumbering and some minor interests, has con- tinued to be his occupation up to the present time. He has been successful in his financial dealings, and ranks among the solid and representative men of his native town.

Gen. Erwin has been a life-long Democrat of the Jeffer- son and Jackson school. He is a firm believer in a redeem- able currency, or a currency redeemed in coin at the will of the holder.

He has held many positions of trust and responsibility, the duties of which he has always faithfully discharged, and with satisfaction to his constituents. During the years 1838 and 1839 he was supervisor of his town. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1841 and 1842, and served two terms. While in the Legislature he was a mem- ber of the Military committee, and during his second term was chairman of the same. The general's friends urged him to be a candidate for the third term, but he declined, preferring the quiet of home to official honors. He mar- ried Miss Sophia, danghter of Ansel McCall, of Painted Post, Jan. 23, 1827. She was born Oct. 23, 1806. Of this union, seven children were born in the town of Erwin, five of whom are still living, and are among the most re- spected citizens of the town or county.

Mrs. Erwin died May 16, 1856. She was a lady highly esteemed for her excellent traits of character, and died re- gretted by those who knew her. Gen. Erwin has held all the military offices in the State militia, from the rank of corporal to that of general, save that of captain.

ARTHUR II. ERWIN,

son of Capt. Samuel and Rachel H. Erwin, and grandson of Col. Arthur and Mary Erwin, of Scotch-Irish descent, was born in Erwin, Steuben Co., N. Y., Nov. 26, 1803. Ile was one of a family of nine children, all of whom lived to maturity. His early advantages for an education were chiefly confined to the common school of his town, then known as " Painted Post." When quite a young man he attended an academy at Easton, Pa., and here met Miss Frances M., daughter of William and Rebecca MeKeen, his future wife. His boyhood was spent upon his father's farm, and he was also more or less engaged in lumbering. His father was engaged in the mercantile business at Painted Post; hence Arthur also had more or less experience in the business. He was a partner with his father in the store for several years.

Ile married, Feb. 2, 1828. Of this union twelve child- ren were born. All are living except the youngest, who died when quite young, and De Witt Clinton, who was a soldier in the Rebellion, in the 50th Engineer Corps, and was honorably discharged, and returned home to the farm, and died Dec. 11, 1873. All of this large family were born in the town of Erwin, and the larger part in the house where the widow and family now reside.

Arthur H. continued in mercantile business till about 1830, when his health compelled him to seek outdoor em- ployment ; hence he went on his father's farm and remained about one year, when he returned to Painted Post and re- sumed his former pursuit, continuing till the winter of 1834, when he settled on the large farm, which continued to be his home till his death, which occurred Aug. 1, 1863. During these years he was engaged in the foundry busi- ness under the firm-name, Erwin, Bennett, Brooks & Co. During Mr. Erwin's lifetime he was extensively engaged in lumbering, and was the owner of a steam saw-mill. Like many others of this community, he was engaged as a farmer and lumberman. Mr. Erwin inherited a large portion of his property ; has made great improvements upon his home- farm, which is one of the best in the town. This farm has never gone out of the Erwin family since its first purchase in 1789.

In politics Mr. Erwin was formerly identified with the Whig party, but towards the close of his life he voted the Democratic ticket. Ile represented his town for eight consecutive years as its supervisor, and was such at the time of his death.

His wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Painted Post, and Mr. Erwin became a member a short time before his death. Ife was always a friend of educa- tion, and gave his children good opportunities for the same. He was a liberal supporter of the different churches of his town, and the poor found in him a friend indeed. He was a good citizen, a kind neighbor, a true and devoted hus- band, and an affectionate father. ITis name is held in grateful remembrance by the members of the family. He was buried in the family cemetery in Erwin, three and a half miles west of Painted Post. His widow still survives, and resides at the old home with her son Winfield Scott and three of her daughters.

FREMONT.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

THE town of Fremont was formed from Hornellsville, Dansville, Wayland, and Howard, Nov. 17, 1854. The south end of Wayland, in township 5, was subsequently added, but a compromise was effected returning a part, leaving an addition one by two miles in extent. It is situated in the northern part of the county, near the east line, and is bounded by Dansville and Wayland on the north, Cohocton and Howard on the east, Howard and Hornells- ville on the south, and Hornellsville and Wayland on the west. It is an elevation of broken land, cut into small bodies by numerous knobs and ravines. It forms the divid- ing ridge between the Conhocton and Canisteo Rivers, and comprises, for the most part, fine grazing lands. The ridges and valleys alternate between hard pan and gravelly soil, fine wheat and farming land occurring in all parts of the town.

ERECTION OF THE TOWN.

Elisha J. Stephens, the first supervisor, was the principal mover in the erection of the town of Fremont. An at- tempt was being made to erect a new county, and to avoid the possibility of a more distant county-seat, Mr. Stephens mapped out a new town, which he gave the name Fremont, and procured its erection at the next session of the Board of Supervisors, thereby creating one additional vote in that board against the new county.

SETTLEMENT.

Mr. Stephens. a son of Capt. Nathaniel Stephens, of Canisteo, moved from that town in 1834, and entered the wilderness to operate the saw- and grist-mills of Daniel Up- son, the first mills built in the town. The saw-mill was built in 1816, and the grist-mill in 1819. At the time of his purchase there was ouly a little log cabin down in the ravine by the mill, and another occupied by David Dun- ham, a preacher, who still lives there, near the present tavern. There was a small elearing, made by "Jerry" Carrington, in 1818, and all else was woods. Mr. Ste- phens repaired the mill, and added a separator and smut- mill, a new thing in those days, inducing customers to come from a long distance, and even past other mills. A black- smith was induced to locate at the mill, and a cooper came and made barrels for the flour. One hundred acres of land were cleared the first season. In 1839 a daughter of Mr. Stephens dying, was buried on the extreme corner of the clearing, and afterwards the cemetery was located at that point. The first store in the village was opened by Cor- nelius II. Stephens, in 1858, five years after the post-office was established. The Stephens Hotel was opened in 1854. The village is named Fremont Centre, but the post-office is Stephens' Mills. It is located upon a high bench of land

overlooking Stephens Creek, and extends for half a mile along the base of a knob which rises abruptly to a height of ninety feet above the level of its street. From the top of this bill may be seen level farm-lands in the distance, and fringes of low timber filling the ravines, which are too deep and dark to be worth clearing. To the east, as you look from the hill-top over the little village, is the residence of' Alvin Gates, son of Salmon thates, who made the first settlement in 1816, half a mile to the north, where you see the old homestead. This, one of the finest farms in the town, is oeenpied by another son, Syphorus Gates. Levi, brother of Salmon Gates, settled just out of sight-to the west, and his son, G. W. Gates, lives in the fine house at the west end of the village. Just below the village, in the valley, where the grist-mill stands, were the old Upson mills, to which hard-working men eame years ago with bags of corn on their backs. Close under the hill to the east, half hidden by a grove of hemlock, is the Advent church and cemetery. A few straggling houses continue to the valley beyond.

Far beyond this church, where the eye rests on a broad, level hill-top, at the west line of the town, was made the first settlement in the present town of Fremont, by Job B. Rathbun, father of William B. Rathbun, the present oc- cupant, and last of the family bearing the name in this State. Job B. Rathbun came from Connecticut and settled in Dansville, where he was pathmaster as early as 1810. Moving on to the hill in the spring of 1812, he built the first house in the town. just behind the present residence.

Half-way between Stephens' mill and the point of first settlement, known as Job's Corners, is an open basin a mile across, the lands gradually sloping until they join in the valley, and extending in cleared farms to the hill-tops on either side. In this valley, just beyond the old orchard on the right as you ascend the stream to the west, is the residence of the first neighbor of Job B. Rathbun, Abel H. Baldwin, who came from Otsego County in 1812, and is now the oldest man in the town, as well as the oldest settler. Mr. Baldwin was born in March, 1878, and has lived with his wife, who is still living, sixty-six years. Thomas, father of Sylvester and John A. Buck, settled just beyond the orchard, and built his log cabin on the top of the hill. They were natives of Washington County. The only other settler within six miles at that time was Job Rathbun, two miles east, over the ridge, and the road consisted mainly of white spots blazed upon the trees with an axe. They used first to earry their grists to Bath to be ground. John A. Buck married Re- becca, the daughter of his neighbor Baldwin, Aug. 24, 1815, and settled on the ridge near by. They were the first couple married in the town of Fremont. Their son, Charles E. Buck, born Nov. 12, 1816, was the first white

298

Elisha & Stephens

The subject of this sketel is of English origin. It is related that three brothers-Thomas, Richard, and Henry Stephens-came to America from Ireland some time during King Philip's war, served during said war as colonels, and afterwards settled : Thomas, in Massachusetts; Richard, in Charleston, S. C .; and Henry, in Hartford, Conn. Elisha G. Stephens, eldest son of Nathan Stephens and Rachel Gilbert, of Canisteo, and grandson of Jededialı and Abi- gail Stephens, natives of Connecticut, was born in Addison, Steuben Co., N. Y., March 21, 1805. He is a lineal de- scendant of the fifth generation from Ilenry Stephens. He received a common-school education, and taught school four winters. Ile remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age; then worked at the carpenter and joiner trade until he was thirty years of age.

He married Sarah Bennett, daughter of William and Mary Bennett, of Canisteo, May 21, 1829. She was born at Hornellsville, April 30, 1807. Her father was a son of Captain Solomon Bennett, one of the twelve who was a purchaser of the original towns of Canisteo and Hornells- ville of Phelps and Gorham.

Of this union five children have been born,-one who died in infancy. William B., who married Samantha Van Seoter, and has two living children, Floyd L. and Ira B .; he is at home with his father, and is at present a merchant at Stephens' Mills ; Emeline, deceased ; Benton W., who is at home with his father on the farm ; and Le Roy, deceased. The first three were born in Canisteo, and the other two in

Fremont. Elisha G. continued to follow his trade until Jan- uary, 1834, when he settled in the present town of Fre- mont, but at that time known as Hornellsville. During his residence in this place he has ever been the leading man, and to him more than to any other one is honor due for the growth and prosperity of the little hamlet which now bears his name.

He purchased the mills known as Upson Mills, and has continued to own them ever since. He has also more than one hundred and fifty aeres of land, besides the public- house of the place, which was his home at the time of the death of his wife, May 29, 1861.

Mr. Stephens has been a life-long Demoerat of the Jef- fersonian school. He has held various offices of trust and honor in the towns of Canisteo, Hornellsville, and Fremont, having served as supervisor of Hornellsville two terms and magistrate four years, and in Fremont was the first supervisor of the town after its organization for two terms, and magistrate for more than twenty years. He has often represented his town as a delegate to congressional conven- tions. Mr. Stephens belongs to one of the very earliest pioneer families of Stenben County, his father-Nathan- having settled in Canisteo as early as 1790. The names " Stephens" and " Stevens" are one and the same.

As a man, Mr. Stephens is respected by all. He is now nearly seventy-four years of age, hale and hearty, and retains the vigor of youth, and does more town business than any other man.

299

TOWN OF FREMONT.

child born in the town. Miss Lydia Everett taught the first school. The first death in the town was that of Mrs. Amos Baldwin, which occurred Dee. 12, 1815. Ira Travis was an early settler to the south of Mr. Rathbun, in the valley of Big Creek. Solomon and Jacob Conderman were early settlers between Baldwin's and Job's Corners. Capt. Joseph Bartholomew, from Washington County, father of Eber Bartholomew, settled south of Job's Corners in the southeast part of the town.

The road from Fremont Centre to Hornellsville, six miles distant, winds among numerous round knobs of cleared land, rising from twenty to eighty feet above the surface of the rolling lands which they obstruct, and overlooks deep, nar- row openings, dark with hemlock, or green with growing grain. Before these were cleared, they were the haunts of wolves, wild-cats, and beasts of prey ; furnishing a secure retreat from the pursuing hunter. Past these to the south, close beside a beautiful grove of beech and maple, is the residence of Morrison Harding, one of the leading farmers of the town, where Lemuel Harding, his father, settled in 1816.

Soon after, Oliver Harding, a soldier of the Revolution, who left the Wyoming Valley at the time of the massacre, moved into the place with his other sons, Oliver, Jr., Jus- tus, Abram, and Henry, giving the name of Harding Hill to that part of the town. Samuel Sharp settled west of Harding soon after.

Elisha Strait, who came in 1815, was the first settler in the north part of the town, and was joined on the south by Edward Markham and Francis Drake, in 1816.

Jerry Kinney and George Nutting, Barnet Brayton, Henry Cotton, and Leonard Briggs formed a settlement at the head of the west branch of Neil's Creek, in 1819. When these settlers came, there was a camp of some 20 Indians on the Cotton place, in the valley, where they hunted during the season.

Henry Cotton, who came from Washington County, still lives with his sou, Samuel Cotton, on the old homestead.

The first clearing in the vicinity of Haskinville was made by Alexander Kelly, father of Charles Kelly, on the Isaac Rathbone place, half a mile east.

James Rider, father of L. M. Rider, and William Has- kins came together from Saratoga County in 1818, and set- tled across the creek from Heury Cotton.

William Holden made shingles in a little log house, in 1834, and had a few acres partially eleared, but soon after sold out his improvement to William Haskin, who moved there and opened the first tavern in the town, on the same ground, in 1836. The village, which has grown around the old tavern, is situated in a deep valley near the head of Neil's Creek, and consists of a store, hotel, cheese-factory, shoe-shop, and twenty residenees. Half a mile above is a saw-mill.

A mail-route from Wallace's to Hornellsville, by stage, passes through, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Half a mile over the hill, to the west of Haskinville, in a sheltered little valley, is the beautiful farm of Leadran II. Benjamin, the present supervisor of the town. Here his father, Silas Benjamin, located, when he came from Ot- sego County, in 1834.

In 1820 Gideon Maynard, from Cayuga County, settled on the high dividing-ridge near the Methodist Episcopal church, making the first settlement in that vicinity, on the farm now occupied by his son, Richard Maynard. In the northwest corner of the town Stephen Holden, father of Jedediah and Stephen Holden, Jr., settled in 1816 on land still occupied by his sons. From this high divide may be obtained a most comprehensive view of that part of Steuben County west of Bath and north of the valley of the Canisteo River. The lands, which are here high and rolling, present the appearance of a general level, cut through with occasional valleys and ravines, from which show the tops of standing timber; while beyond the view blends into a line of nearly level farms and skirts of woodland to the east. To the south and west the more distant hills of central Allegany and southern Steuben blend with the hazy skies beyond. From here, looking to the southeast, may be seen the vast level of cleared farms in eastern Fremont, at Job's Corners, where the first hardy adventurer, Job B. Rathbun, located far beyond Dansville, towards Bath, in 1812, when those two towns were the great business centres of an almost unbroken wilderness. These high and airy points were selected first by the pioneers, and their trails were marked along the tops of all the ridges long before the opening of roads through the more difficult valleys. Long before these hills were bared the noblest game of the forest had fled. In 1818, Daniel Upson, the miller, killed the last elk seen in the town; but wolves remained much later. An early settler, who penned his little flock of sheep in a high inclosure, was astonished to find two wolves with them in the morning, unable to elimb the high walls which sloped inward, and too much alarmed at the situation to have a taste for mutton. Sometimes a wolf would be tracked to the " knolls" in the south part of the town, when a gen- eral hunt would be instituted, the retreat surrounded, and elose figuring ensue on the division of the bounty, which was from $40 to $60 apiece on each wolf " killed in the town." It is related how a shrewd hunter for several years guarded the secret of a she wolf's retreat, stealing her young and rearing them until old enough to take a bounty, and how he trapped wolves where they were plentiest, leading them home securely tied, to kill them in his own town " accord- ing to law." Sometimes, too, these early settlers were in want of bread. Mr. Upson, the miller, relates how when he had been repairing his mill, and started it ou Sat- urday night, the settlers, who were waiting with backloads of eorn, forced him to grind all night and far into the Sab- bath, that their little ones might have bread.

The lumbering of the town has ceased to furnish em- ployment, but little timber being left, except upon the waste land along the ravines, and some beautiful groves upon the uplands, which are reserved for the manufacture of maple-sugar in the spring, which is still a profitable in- dustry in favored seasons. The roads are generally superior, and the seenery varied and picturesque. Buildings are of modern construction, the open fireplace of the fathers having almost entirely disappeared. Many of the farmers of the town are engaged in active business pursuits during the winters. Four cheese-factories are in operation iu dif- ferent parts of the town, located respectively on Big Creek

300

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

in the southeast, where is also a post-office ; at Ilaskinville, on the farm of John M. Kelly, near Stephens' Mill, and in the southwest part of the town, on Harding Hill. There are two Grange organizations in the town, and one Odd-Fellows' society. The main business of the town centres at Fremont Centre. Elisha G. Stephens, who re- sides here, has been a leader in public affairs of the town since its formation, and for twenty-four years has been a magistrate. Ile and Morrison Harding were prominent in support of the government and furnishing volunteers during the war of the Rebellion.

Among the leading men of the town are William E. Rathbun, J. Jolly, L. H. Benjamin, Daniel Wainright, D. M. Page, L. N. Rider, and William B. Stephens.

FREMONT CENTRE.

Fremont Centre contains one store, the Methodist Epis- copal and Advent church, a hotel, shoe-, blacksmith-, and wagon-shops, cheese-factory, flouring-mill, and thirty-five residences.

Mails are received Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays by stage from Wallace Station, in Avoca, and by stage from South Dansville to Hornellsville, and return Wed- nesdays and Thursdays.

ORGANIZATION.

At the first annual town-meeting of the town of Fremont, held in E. G. Stephens' hotel, at Fremont Centre, Feb. 13, 1835, the following officers were elected : Elisha G. Steph- ens, Supervisor; Franklin Dartt, Town Clerk ; Jason Ranger, Salmon Gates, Ebenezer Il. Mason,* Justiees of the Peace; Randal F. Beecher, Isaac P. Haskin, and Morrison Hard- ing,t Assessors ; Iliram Culver, Norman Eldredge, William Haskin, ¿ Commissioners of Highways ; James R. Babcock, Collector; Cornelius Conderman, Overseer of the Poor; Derick Goes, Joshua W. Palmer, Caleb Bullock, Inspectors of Election ; John Eldredge, Henry J. Pawling, George Bartholomew, Thomas MeAdams, Constables ; J. S. M. B. Green, Town Sealer. George Collins, Jr., was appointed Commissioner of Schools, March 6, 1855.

LIST OF TOWN OFFICERS.

Supervisors.

Town Clerks.

Collectors.

1855. Elisha G. Stephens, Franklin Dartt.

James R. Babcock.

1856.

1857. Lorenzo N. Rider.

Wm. B. Stephens.

Henry J. Pawling.

1858.

Franklin Dartt.

1859.

Wm. B. Stephens.

IS60. Jason Ranger.

ISGI. =

Samnel B. Ilendee. John Sternburgh.

1862. Otheiel Preston.

Daniel Wainright.

Almond T. Allis. Ileary Pickle.

1864. Samuel E. Haskin. Samnel B. Hendee. Syphoras Gates.

1865. Wm. B. Stephens. 1866.

Dwight Manwaring. Orrin L. Rider.

1867. W. B. Rathbun.

W. A. Chapman.

Calvin Bullock. Alphens Hardieg.

1869. Esek Page.

Orrin L. Rider.

1870. 64

Daniel Wainright.

# Elected iu lleward.

t Elected in Horeellsville.

L. MI. Rider, elected in Howard, also held over the balance of his term one year.

Supervisors.

Town Clerks.

Collectors.

1871. Esek Page.

Daniel Wainright. Nathan Razey. Orrin L. Rider .

1872.

1873. Ira Carrington.

J. R. Conderman.

IS74. «

Albert Goedno.

1875. D. Merville Page.

Meldon J. Harding.

1876. Calvin Bullock.

1877. L. IT. Benjamin.

Daniel Wainright.

Cameron Cotton.

1878.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

1855. Jason Ranger. 1865. P. S. Burdett.

Salmon Gates. 1866. Elisha G. Stephens.

Ebenezer 11. Mason.

| 1867. Martin E. Hamlie.

L. M. Rider.

1868. Paul S. Burdett.

1856. E. H. Mason.

Harrison Russell.

1857. George Collins, Jr.

1869. George Collins.

1858. John Cole.

1870. Elisha G. Stephens.

1859. William B. Rathbun.

1871. Teherick P. Vankenren.

1860. Charles Bullock.

IS72. Paul S. Burdett.

1861. Esek Page. 1873. George Collies.

1874. Elisha G. Stephens.

1862. Elisha G. Stephens. Iliram Culver.

1875. Byron C. Huribut.

1863. Joseph J. Burnhatu. Ilarrison Russell.

1864. James Timmerman. F. G. Allis.

1877. James S. Brownsen.

1865. Esek Page.

1878. Elisha G. Stephens.

Finley MeColum.

CHURCHES.

METIIODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHI.

The first meetings of this society were held by Rev. David Dunham, in Byron Harlow's house, in 1828, and in the Harlow school-house on Big Creek, in 1830, by Revs. John Arnold and Levi B. Castle. In 1831, Rev. Cyrus Story formed the first class. Ambrose, David, and John Dunham, and their wives, Byron Harlow and wife, Zilum Pratt and wife, Dexter Pratt and wife, John Mason and wife were first members. The first elass-leader was David Dunham ; first steward, Dexter Pratt. The pastors have been Revs. Cyrus Story, John Shaw, and Andrew B. Pickard, E. Dowd; 1864-65, M. Fillmore, Asa Story, Robert Packer, Israel Kellogg, and - Gage, Ira Bronson, Nelson Hoag. Samuel P. Gurnesey, M. D. Jackson, C. G. Lowell, J. J. Turten, Daniel D. Van Allen, Eliza F. Bliven, A. S. Baker, John Il. Perry, Delos Potter, L. R. Crippin, Geo. F. Cole ; 1876, E. Batchelder ; 1877, Aaron Sornberger; 1878-79, John Irons.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 85

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