History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 91

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 91

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319

TOWN OF HORNELLSVILLE.

family he then had, few, if any, are left in this part of the land.

Abraham Minier and his brother Henry occupied the farm now owned by a son of the late Captain William Ben- nett. It was then known as the Dr. Hale farm, afterwards as the Pompelly, and still later as the Meade farm. Uriah Upson lived on the opposite side of the river from this farm, a little farther up, and nearly on the site of the present Canisteo depot. He had a large family, many of whom still remain. Next came William Mulhollen, famil- iarly called " Unele Billy." He kept a tavern in a hewed log house, and owned a most beautiful farm, sweeping from hill-top to hill-top across the broad valley, and all yet owned by Samuel and William, the surviving sous, who have greatly improved and beautified the ancestral homestead.

Then came Col. James McBurney, a bachelor, at that time of some forty or forty-five years, and owning some 1600 acres of land. He had, for that time, a fine house, well finished and painted, the grounds neatly fenced and shrubbery in the yard. Ile had also a fine orchard in full bearing. This splendid property was bought of Solomon Bennett, father of the late Maj. Thomas and William Bennett. It is now, in great part, owned by Mr. T. J. Magee. Col. MeBurney married a Mrs. Erwin, of Dans- ville, Livingston Co., with whom he lived many years, but left no child to bear his name or inherit his estate. He was a man of sterling integrity, strong mind, and kindly disposition. As a Democrat he was decided in his political principles, and was honored by his townsmen with every responsible office in their gift. In later life he became a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Hornellsville at the time of its organization, and an active and liberal helper in the erection of the first church edifice.

The next occupied farm on the way we have thus far traveled was owned by old Mr. Richard Crosby, who was as early a_settler as any in the valley. He, in company with Solomon Bennett, Capt. John Jameson, and Uriah Stephens, explored this region in 1788, and became a settler on this farm in 1790. It is the same farm now owned by Alanson Stephens and Philip Van Scoter. Mr. Crosby was an old man in 1810, and soon passed away. He had two sons, Reuben and Richard, and three daughters, Han- nah, Rachel, and Polly. Reuben lived a little north of' Mr. Hough's on the bank of the creek. It was then all woods between there and where Main Street, in the village of Hornellsville, now is. Richard lived on the river a few miles below Col. Bill's mill, and owned a good farm there. He had several sons, the most of whom have passed away, but some remain, and a new and enterprising generation of that name have taken the place of their ancestors. None of the daughters of old Mr. Crosby are living at this writ- ing. Hannah, known as Aunt Niel, was the last to depart, some years since. Rachel married Daniel Upson, and reared a large and respectable family. Many of the grandchildren remain here, but the majority of them have removed West. Polly married Elias Stephens, who lived in a hewed log house near the railroad crossing below the Hornellsville depot. They had two sons and five daughters, two of whom, Erastus Stephens and Mrs. Holmes, were, until their recent decease, residents of Hornellsville.

Deacon Thacher, speaking of' Mrs. Niel, says : " This most estimable lady lived with her father and mother, when I first knew her, but she owned a house and 50 acres of land, the gift of her father. The house stood a few rods east of Canisteo Street, and nearly opposite the Franklin House. It was thickly wooded between the house and road, though a little improved, and a small orchard stood farther back. Here she lived, as I have been told, for many months entirely alone, with no neighbors nearer than the settlement at ' Lower Canisteo,' a distance of six or seven miles. She was a model pioneer heroine. In the midst of a dense forest, the hoot of the owl, the howl of the wolf, and the panther's cry were familiar sounds by night, and the timid deer almost a constant visitor by day. Here she held this frontier outpost for months entirely alone. Iler husband and her brother Reuben's wife were buried on the same day, the first occurrence of the kind (the interment of two persons on the same day) in this entire region. She lived to be nearly one hundred years old, and died, as she had lived, with the respect and esteem of all who knew her. She was a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Hornellsville."

Oliver Harding was the nearest neighbor of Reuben Crosby, and lived on what is now Main Street, a few rods back from the " turnpike," as it was then called. He was an old man in 1810, a veteran of 1776 ; he had often seen, and, if we mistake not, fought under the immediate com- mand of General Washington. The old hero would always be affected to tears when looking at the likeness of his be- loved commander, and the slightest disrespect towards him would rouse the deepest indignation of the old soldier. He had six sons and two daughters. The daughters have long been dead, and all the sons save one are now gone. James, the eldest but one, died some fifteen years ago. He was about eighty years of age, the father of Morrisou Harding and Mrs. Erastus Grover. Adam Lewis was a half-brother of Mr. James Harding, and the father of Mrs. Matthew Stephens. "Harding IIill" received its name from Oliver Harding.

Judge Hornell, after whom the town was named, came next. He lived in what for a long time was known as the " Red House." It stood a little back from the road, and on the site of the house now owned by Mrs. Dr. Gray, on Washington Street. It was a large building for those days, and was kept as a public-house for a long series of years. The judge was one of the earliest of the pioneers, and bore his full share of pioneer hardships, which were neither few nor small. He purchased two or three thousand acres of land, and soon erected a grist- and saw-mill, which were a great relief to the infant settlement, as their nearest grist- mill was at Elmira (then Newtown), sixty miles by the present road, but nearer one hundred by the roads they were then obliged to take. The few neighbors here and at " Lower Canisteo" used to join and fit out a fleet of canoes, load them with grain for all the families, and then a suffi- cient number of the hardy woodsmen, with their setting- poles, navigated the fleet through all the windings and turnings, through the collections of driftwood, and over the shoals ; when wet and wearied, as the day closed, they were obliged to find a shelter wherever night overtook them. By

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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

their indomitable energy they overcame every obstacle, and carried their precious freight safely to " Newtown." But the victory was not then half won; it was then, as now, much easier to go with the current than against the cur- rent (whether the stream be water or corrupt public senti- ment) ; but energy and will generally succeed, and so did our energetic pioneers. These journeys " to mill" oceupied weeks of exhausting toil. We may well imagine that the new mills were hailed with joy, and that their owner was re- garded as a benefactor, as he truly was in more respects than one. He was a man of great energy of character, and grappled heroically with the difficulties of frontier life. Ile had always a helping hand to extend to the struggling poor. It is said of him that at a time of great scarcity of grain, when he had about all there was within twenty miles in every direction, a man of considerable wealth came to him and asked him if he had grain to sell. "Yes," said the Judge, "have you got the money to pay for it?" The man somewhat indignantly replied, "Yes, sir !" " Well, then," said the Judge, " take your money and go where they have it to sell ; I must keep mine for poor men who cannot go away after it."

For seventeen years, Judge Hornell was the life of the settlement and the embodiment of its history. Endowed with a liberal mind, and a kind and generous heart, he was a good citizen, a warm friend, and an honorable man. Ile was called by the people to fill many important trusts, and was one of the associate judges of the county. He died and was buried on the eminence just west of and overlook- ing the village, leaving a " name and a memory that his friends will not willingly let die." His widow survived him nearly thirty years. A plain marble slab, reared by the loving hand of a daughter (whose kindness in siekness and trouble many can never forget, and who has herself passed from earth), marks their resting-place. It bears the fol- lowing inscription :

" GEORGE AND MARTHA HORNELL,

" PIONEERS AND FOUNDERS OF HORNELLSVILLE.

" They spread their tent in the wilderness, 1794, and built them a vineyard, but the Master called them home ere they gathered the fruit."

A writer adds this comment :

" As we stand on that eminence and look far off over the broad valley of the Canisteo, with its busy thousands, and hear the rush of the locomotives, as they speed by on either hand, jarring the sacred resting-place of the pioneers, and watch the breezes waving the ripening grain of their de- scendants, while from the old mill to the river in the distance comes up the hum of the busy mart now peopled with strangers, we cannot but repeat, "Ere they gathered the fruit."

THE INDIANS.

The Indians had cleared here and there a small spot all along the Canisteo Valley. There was searcely a farm on the flats but had some portion bearing marks of Indian cultivation. Old corn-hills, although covered with a thick sward of grass, were plainly to be seen by the early settlers. They did not, however, at the time of which we are speak- ing, cultivate the lands, but still kept possession of their old

hunting- and fishing-grounds. They were quite as fond of dignity and titles as were their pale-faced brothers. There were Col. Shongo, of Wyoming notoriety, Tall Chief, and Tall John, Clump Foot, and Yankee John, who called himself " Capt. John," the Jamesons, sons of the white woman captive, and a great many other celebrities. These sons of the forest had acquired a fondness for the " fire- water" of the pale-face, and under its influence had become so much the counterpart of their instructors, that their presence was neither agreeable nor safe. But there was one feature in their drunken revels which it would have been well for their professedly more civilized neighbors to have adopted. They invariably kept one or more of their number sober, who generally succeeded in saving them from fines and lock-ups, and their white neighbors from serious injury.

In 1812 and 1813 there was great dread of the Indians. They had a great many warriors in the valley of the Gen- esee, and it was greatly feared they might be induced to take up the hatchet against their intruding white neighbors, but they finally embarked in our cause and became our allies. It was in this service that the chief Shongo ob- tained the title of colonel. This chief had borne an active part in the Wyoming raid, and was well known by many of the settlers in this valley. Aunt Olive Stephens (mother of Mrs. Dr. Olin) was a captive among them. Her mother was shot down by her side, and she herself escaped death almost miraculously. None knew Shongo better than Maj. Van Campen, of Angelica, father of Mrs. Rev. Robert Hubbard, the late Mrs. George Lockhart, and the late Mrs. Samuel Mulhollen. Van Campen could not forget the horrors and sufferings of Wyoming, where men, women, and children were the victims of savage barbarity, and lie retained a deadly hostility towards the perpetrators, many of whom he recognized as they roamed over their hunting- fields of the Allegany and Steuben forests. Shougo and the major were foes by mutual consent, and were each on the watch for the other, especially on their hunting excur- sions. It happened in one of these tours that each discov- ered the other at about the same moment, and cach availed himself of the shelter of a large tree as a fortress behind which to fight. They both stood for a few moments, neither daring to expose himself to the sure shot of his antagonist's rifle, when the major finally resorted to a ruse to bring out his savage foe. He very carefully slipped his ramrod under his hat and quietly carried the hat out till the keen eye of the savage caught sight of it. Instantly a ball from Shongo's rifle struck the hat, and Shongo jumped from his hiding-place, but only to find himself a victim of the supe- rior cunning of the white man. He as speedily sprang behind his fortress and commenced reloading his rifle; in this act he dropped something and thoughtlessly stooped to pick it up. Now was Van Campen's opportunity, and a bullet from his rifle convinced the savage chief that his foe was a sure shot. The ball struck the fleshy part of the Indian's thigh, and, although not fatal, it extorted a terri- ble savage yell with which the discomfited chief beat a hasty retreat into the thick woods. Van Campen did not choose to pursue him.

Deacon Thacher, from whose " Reminiscences" most of

Christopher Hulbert

CHRISTOPHER HURLBUT, Jr., whose portrait is here pre- sented, was born in Wyoming Valley, Pa., Dee. 17, 1794, and was next to the youngest of a family of eight children, seven of whom lived to a mature age. He married Ellen Tiffany, of Palmyra, N. Y., June 4, 1823, by whom he had six ehil- dren, Myron, Edmund, Lydia, Nancy, Elizabeth, and Abigail. He was a farmer, and a man of unblemished character, and died Feb. 8, 1875, having lived seventy-seven years on the "old Hurlbnt homestead," in Arkport.

As Christopher Hurlbut, Sr., was the head of the family here, and the founder of the village of Arkport, a more minute history of him is given.

He was born in Groton, Conn., May 30, 1757, and died in Arkport, N. Y., April 21, 1831. He descended in the follow- ing direct line from English ancestors : John, Jr., John, Sr., Stephen, Samuel, and Lieut. Thomas Hurlbut, who came from England about 1630, and settled in Connectient.

April 3, 1776, Christopher enlisted in the Continental army and served under the immediate command of Gen. Washing- ton. In 1777 he visited Wyoming Valley. In February, 1778, he left Groton for llanover, Luzerne Co., Pa., to pre- pare a home for his father's family, and returned in June to assist in moving them to the valley. When they arrived at Lackawasen, on the Delaware, they were met by the fugitives flying from the " Wyoming massaere," which put a stop to their further progress for that season. Christopher helped bury the victims of the " massacre," and the family in November, 1779, settled in their new home in Hanover. In 1782 he married Elizabeth Mann, of Wysox, Pa. Their chil- dren were Abigail, John, James, Sarah, Elizabeth, Nancy, Christopher, and Edward; all but the latter were born in Hanover, Pa. In 1789 he was appointed by Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, judge for the county of Luzerne for seven years ; and in 1791 he received the appointment by the same Governor of "justice of the peace for the district of Wilkesbarre," which office he held until he moved from the State.

While living in Pennsylvania he was a prominent actor in the stirring scenes of the valley which followed the historic battle of July 3, 1778. Of him, George Peck, D.D., the

historian of Wyoming Valley, says : " Mr. Hurlbut was a man for the times, of more than usual education ; a good mathematician, and a practical surveyor. His plots of large tracts of land surveyed by him in the county of Luzerne are acknowledged data."

In 1796 he visited " the Genesee country," and purchased a large tract of choice land at the head of the Canisteo Valley (now Arkport), known as great lots Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 13, in the Gore. The following spring he erected a small log house, and in Angust, 1797, left Wyoming Valley with his family in a Durham boat, and ascended the Susquehanna as far as Tioga Point ; from there by land to his new home, five miles from the nearest white inhabitant. About 1800 he built a saw-mill and store-house, and in 1801, or the spring of 1802, he ran the first arks ever taken down the Canisteo.

The first years of the present century were spent by him in clearing his farm and developing the country. lle laid out and improved roads in every direction from Arkport; obtained the passage of an act by the Legislature of this State making the Canisteo River a " publie highway," and made it a channel of commerce down whose waters were borne much of the products of " the Genesee country."

He built a large hotel and farm-house in 1805-6, which is still in good repair, and about 1815 a carding and cloth dressing mill; he also bought about the same date a large tract of pine timbered land in what is now Perkinsville, Steuben Co., on which he built a saw-mill. Ile filled various offices in the town of Canisteo, and was appointed judge of Steuben County. In the law creating the "Erie Turnpike Company" he was named as one of the three commissioners to locate and construct the road, a work of much labor and ex- pense, but of great importance to the country. Publie in- provements, public schools, and public morals found in hin an efficient advocate and worker. In religion he was a Presbyterian, as were his ancestors, and as are his descend- ants. In politics he was a Whig of olden times.

His children settled in this valley and vicinity, except Nancy, who married Ziba Hoyt in 1815, and moved baek to Wyoming Valley to become the mother, in 1830, of llenry M. Hoyt, the present Governor of Pennsylvania.

PHOTOS BY SUTTON NORNOLSVILLE YY

MRS FRANCIS COLGROVE

FRANCIS COLGROVE

FRANCIS COLGROVE,

son of Samuel and Clarissa Colgrove, was born at Painted Post, June 17, 1810. He is of English origin. His parents came from Rhode Island, settled in Steuben County at an early day, and continued to re- side in the county until their death. Francis received a common-school education ; removed into Addisou, remained a few years, then settled at Arkport, more than fifty years ago, where he remained following the occupation of a farmer until his death, Nov. 25, 1878. He was very successful as a farmer. He married Amanda, daughter of John and Sibyl Pitts, of Ark- port, Oct. 17, 1830. Mrs. Amanda Colgrove was born in Columbia Co., N. Y., Oct. 12, 1815, and settled in Arkport in 1818, in company with her parents, who were among the early pioneer families of this part of the county.

As the result of the above nnion, ten children have

been born, viz., John P., Henry, Newton, Samuel F., James, Theodore, W. H., Mary A., Chas. A., and Frank E., all of whom were born in the town of Hornellsville, in the community where the widow and a portion of the family now reside.

Mr. Colgrove affiliated with the Republican party until within a few years of his death. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church at Hornellsville, and his wife is a member at the present time. Their son, Newton, was a soldier in the late war; enlisted in Com- pany E, 188th Regiment New York Volunteers; mus- tered into service Oct. 4, 1864, and was honorably dis- charged at the close of the war.

Mrs. Colgrove's mother, Mrs. John Pitts, is now living in Arkport, and is in her ninety-first year; has good physical health, and has retained her faculties remark- ably well for one so old.

----

John J, Sharp

JOHN J. SHARP.

John J. Sharp was born on Staten Island, Jan. 1, 1800. Little is known of the ancestry of the Sharp family beyond his father, William Sharp, who was a merchant on Staten Island for many years. He was married to Elizabeth Johnson, by whom he had thirteen children, five of whom are now living. The family moved to Arkport, this county, in the year 1812, and hence were among the early settlers of the town of Hor- nellsville. Subsequently the parents moved to Pennsyl- vania, where the father died at the age of eighty-four, in the year 1844. The mother died during the same year, at the age of seventy-eight.

Mr. Sharp's opportunities for an education from books during his minority were somewhat limited, as he came with his parents to their new home when only twelve years of age, and those of our early set- tlers who still survive remember well the rude log school-house and its meagre appointments. In the year 1824 he married Olive, daughter of William Hyde, Esq., of Arkport. She was born Der 21, 1802. With- out pecuniary assistance this couple began life for them- selves.

For eleven years they lived on what is known as the Wheeler farm, during which time, by industry and economy, they accumulated sufficient means, and in the year 1835 purchased the farm now owned and occupied by the surviving wife and children.

Nearly all of this farm, consisting of one hundred

and five acres, Mr. Sharp cleared of its original forest, where now may be seen cultivated fields and farm im- provements, showing the handiwork of a careful and representative farmer. His children were Edwin Reuben (deceased) ; Ann Eliza (deceased) ; Lncinda (deceased) ; John W., of California; and Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. D. H. Butler), of Elgin, Ill. The mother died Aug. 17, 1838.

For his second wife he married, Jan. 24, 1839, Eliz- abeth, widow of the late David Boyd, and daughter of Richard Allen, who emigrated from Ireland, lived in Luzerne Co., Pa., and subsequently moved to Erie Co., Pa., where he died. She was born March 17, 1812. Of this nion five children were born, -Sarah ; Martha H. (deceased) ; Milton (deceased) ; Henry W. and Helen H. (twins).

Mr. Sharp was decided in his political inelinations, and unswervingly identified as a member of the Repub- lican party.

For many years he was an active member and elder of the Presbyterian Church at Hornellsville, which connection he retained until the organization of the Presbyterian Church at Arkport, when he united with that church, and was elder of the same until his death, Dec. 9, 1875.

Mr. Sharp was a man of sterling integrity. correct habits, and known for uprightness in all his business relations.

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TOWN OF HORNELLSVILLE.

the above has been taken, with some verbal alterations, in company with his brother, in 1828 or 1829, visited old Shongo at his village residence on the Genesee River. IIe was then an old, white-haired man. Upon his attention being called to his encounter with Van Campen the old chief laughed, and pulling aside his blanket showed the scar, which was still plainly visible. He knew Judge Hor- nell well, and called him by his Indian name, Ton-equin-e-da. He also had in his possession a copy of a treaty signed by George Washington.

The Tories and Indians from Niagara, on their way to Wyoming, in 1778, came across the Genesee country and reached the Canisteo in this town. About a mile above the village of Hornellsville they cut the pine-trees and built the canoes which carried them down the Susquehanna to the scene of that terrible massacre. The place where they built their canoes has often been pointed out by the late Col. John R. Stephens, being on the bank of the river on his farm where the stumps from which the trees were cut were standing. At the time Col. Stephens settled on the place a partly-finished canoe and some of their tools and implements were found there.

Nathaniel Thacher, father of Deacon Mowry Thacher, removed from Troupsburgh, and settled about a mile below the village of Hornellsville, on the site of the Arnott grist- mill, in 1810. His house, for that day, was considered a very excellent one, being constructed of hewed logs. In about two years he settled on what is now known as the Hart farm, where he resided ten years. He then moved into the village, where he spent the remainder of his days. He died in Florence, Ala., about 1825, leaving his widow, four sons, and two daughters. His third son, Otis Thacher, resided on the homestead in the village, where his family still reside, till his death, March 14, 1868. He was a prominent citizen, and was often called to fill positions of honor and trust. He held military commissions under Governors De Witt Clinton and William L. Marcy. In 1840 he was appointed one of the associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the county, in which position he acted for five or six years. In 1850 he was deputy marshal of the Third Assembly Dis- trict of Steuben County, and took the census of that year. He was one of the members of the Presbyterian Church of Hornellsville at its organization in 1831, and by his zeal and liberality aided largely in the erection of the first church edifice in the village. He was a devoted Christian and an earnest advocate of temperance.

Deacon Thacher has resided in the house where he now lives over fifty years. He was born in Gloucester, R. I., June 15, 1802, and came with his parents to this town in 1810. The house in which he resides was built in 1819, by his father, Nathaniel Thacher, for his son-in-law, George Hornell, a son of Judge Hornell. It is the oldest house now in town. Most of the old Hornell homestead, which was purchased by the Thachers in 1831, is now embraced in the First Ward of the village, and a large part of it covered with buildings. The first settlers on the site of the village were Judge Hornell, Benjamin Crosby, Elias Stephens, Elijah Stephens, and Oliver Harding. The Stephens' were brothers-in-law to Judge Hornell, and settled here soon after.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 91

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