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 93
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The progress of the place rapidly followed. On the 19th of November, 1851, Edwin Hough published the first number of the Hornellsville Tribune, the first newspaper published in the town. The village was incorporated June 28, 1852. The branch road to Buffalo was opened the same summer.
This and the following year were marked by a whirl and excitement, and fortunes were made in corner lots. Large and expensive buildings were erected, and the population increased so rapidly that buildings could not be erected fast enough to accommodate the new-comers. The Tribune of that date states that there was not a single house to let in the village.
The first locomotive in Hornellsville was the "Orange, No. 4," built by the Norris Locomotive-Works at Philadelphia. She was also the first that ran to Attica, and in faet the pioneer of the entire road. Engine No. 90 was the next, and the first to sound the steam-whistle between Buffalo and Cleveland. She was taken from Boston to Piermont by N. G. Brooks and C. W. Tafts, on a schooner, then put on a scow and towed to Buffalo by the way of the Erie Canal, then located on a ship and taken to Dunkirk, and ran the first train at that end of the road.
In February, 1851, C. W. Tafts was ordered to Hornells- ville from Dunkirk, to run engine No. 73, between Hor- nellsville and Andover as a construction-train. He came by stage, which took four days (instead of four hours, as at present). Jamestown, Ellicottville, Little Valley, and An- gelica were stopping-places. Fare and hotel charges, $10. At that time IFornellsville contained about one hundred
* To fill varaney.
185S. Richard C. Major.
1859. Homer Ilolliday.
ITTLE
WALTER G. ROSE was born in Coventry, Conn., Oct. 2, 1814. He was second son in a family of three sons and three daughters of Horace and Marcia ( Edgerton) Rose, the former a native of Coventry, and the latter a native of Lebanon, Conu. His parents removed from Connecticut and settled in the town of Hartwick, Otsego Co., N. Y., in 1827, where they followed the occupation of farming, and for awhile his father was a merchant. There they re- mained until the year 1846, when the family came to Hornellsville (except one daughter, Mary Ripley Rose, who died in Otsego County), where the parents lived until their deccase, the father dying in the year 1862, at the age of seventy-four; the mother died at the age of eighty-six, in the year 1875.
Of the children, all are living except Ashley and Horace J., leaving those who survive at the time of writing this sketch, Walter G., Mrs. J. X. Brands, and Mrs. Jonathan Wyatt, of Wisconsin.
Mr. Rose, after receiving a fair education at the common school, at the age of seventeen was apprenticed to learn the tinner's trade, with term of service of three and one-half years, followed with three years as a journeyman. His industry and integrity exemplified during this time won the confidence of his employer, and he was taken in as a partner in the business, which was continued for some six years at Hartwick, Otsego Co., when Mr. Rose started a general merchandise store for himself, which he carried on until 1845, and disposed of it. . The same year he came to Hornellsville and purchased the property he now occupies, in connection with his father, which they took possession of in the spring of 1846.
At this time Hornellsville was a small village of some two hundred and fifty inhabitants. Mr. Rose at once established a general hardware business and the manufac- ture of tinware, which was the first established in Hor-
nellsville and the Canisteo Valley. This business he has increased as the growth of the village and country around demanded, until instead of a few hundred a year it now reaches as many thousand annually, and is the oldest house of the kind in the Canisteo Valley.
Mr. Rose has not only been intimately connected with the growth of the village in all its improvements and enter- prises, but as well the town beside, being chosen to occupy many positions of trust and responsibility, both within the corporation and town : as trustee of the village for some three years, assessor for nine years, and supervisor for two years, all of which positions have been filled with fidelity to the citizens and eredit to himself.
Upon the organization of the Bank of Hornellsville, Mr. Rose was chosen vice-president (with Mr. F. G. Bab- coek as president), which connection he still retains.
He has been unswervingly identified with the Democratie party since he cast his first vote for Martin Van Buren for President of the United States, and in his party has been somewhat active and a conservative counselor.
In the year 1839 he married Glovina, third daughter of Peter and Cornelia (Murray) Olendorf, of Otsego Co., N. Y. She was born March 18, 1816.
Her paternal grandfather, Daniel Olendorf, was a native of Germany; was in the Revolutionary war; was taken prisoner with his wife by the Indians at Cherry Valley, and were prisoners some two years.
Her maternal grandfather, William Murray, was a native of Bristol, England; came to America at the age of eighteen ; was private secretary for General Washington during the war for independence.
Their children are John R. and Charles, partners with their father in business. Gilbert G. died young, and Annie was drowned in the Canisteo River at the age of eighteen, in the year 1869.
JAMES ALLEY was born in Moravia, Cayuga Co., N. Y., March 25, 1810. He is a lineal descendant of the third generation from his ancestor, - Alley, who was of French birth, and settled in Dutchess Co., N. Y., where his father, William Alley, was born in 1763, and was married to Phebe Dusenbury, and in the year 1798 re- moved to Cayuga County, and during his life followed farming and worked some at his trade as a mason. He died in Moravia at the age of eighty-seven. His wife died at the age of sixty-seven.
The family consisted of eight sons and two daughters, of whom Mr. James Alley was sixth son.
Until he was eighteen he spent his time on the farm of his father and attending the common school, followed by five years as a clerk in a general merchandise store at Moravia, where he laid the foundation for his subsequent career as a merchant and business man.
In the year 1833 he settled in the town of Howard, this eounty, and started mercantile business for himself, carting his goods from Hammondsport. During these days staging it to Albany was the quickest mode of transit.
Mr. Alley remained as a merchant in Howard until 1849, and during that time, in the year 1836, was married to Julia, daughter of Charles Graves, of that town.
By this union were born (that now are living) two chil- dren, Charles G., a lumber merchant of Whitehall, Mich., and Mrs. George M. Smith, of the same place.
Upon the close of his mereantile business in Howard he removed to Hornellsville, and for twenty-one years was a dry-goods merchant of this place. Mr. Alley was also en- gaged in other enterprises while in the mercantile business here.
In the year 1870 he commenced operations in the lumber business at Whitehall, Mich., purchasing at that time and since some five thousand acres of land. In this business now, which has become largely successful, he has associated his son and also his son-in-law.
While a resident of the town of Howard, Mr. Alley was honored with the offices of elerk and supervisor several terms each, and in 1850 represented his Assembly distriet in the State Legislature. He was formerly identified with the Whig party, and upon the formation of the Republican party became a supporter of its principles.
In the year 1877 his wife died, and in the year 1878 he married Mrs. Amanda Sweetland, of Hornellsville. Mr. Alley still retains his residenee at Hornellsville, although he spends much time in connection with his lumber business in Michigan.
325
TOWN OF HORNELLSVILLE.
houses, two churches, and two school-houses. Cobb's Hotel, corner of Main and Canisteo Streets, opposite Mr. Adsit's store, was the resort of the weary traveler.
One week previous to the grand opening day of the road, engine No. 73, on a gravel-train, sank in the quick- sand at Tip-Top Summit, just west of the water-tank, and it took over a week to get her out. She has been of great service sinee.
THIE ERIE SHOPS.
The first Erie shop (or shed ) was built in 1849. It was enlarged in 1850 to accommodate three engines, and ma- chinery for repairing the same. It was burned in 1856. The ground was broken for new shops and engine-house, and the foundation laid in 1854, the old shops being too small. The building was completed in 1856, and was dedi- cated by a grand ball, September 4, 1856. H. E. Bur- ringer, ticket-agent for the company at that time, sold tickets for the ball. He has remained in the company's service ever since, holding positions of responsibility and trust.
The Erie shops, at Hornellsville, cover six acres of ground, including two round-houses. The latter will accommodate 42 engines. The ear-shops employ 50 men ; the machine-shops and round-houses employ 172 men ; be- sides, there are 120 engineers and firemen on the Western Division of the Erie Road, and 300 engineers and firemen on the Buffalo Division. W. H. Van Deusen is chief elerk of the shops. A. M. Rollins had charge, as general fore- man, previous to 1851; in that year he was succeeded by Stephen Hobbs, but was returned by Mr. Martin in 1854. John Latham served as general foreman from 1859 to 1869; W. E. Cooper, from 1869 to Feb. 14, 1874 ; J. W. Chapman, from Feb. 14, 1874, to June, 1878. G. H. Griggs, present master mechanic, took charge of the shops June 15, 1878. There are four yard-masters: A. A. Dudley, William Branzen, George H. Bullock, and Ami Osgood. Thomas Stoddard, baggageman ; Louis Hienderf, railway police ; J. E. Neff, night police ; A. E. Brow, chief telegraph operator. 75 men are employed in the yard, freight-house, ticket-office, and around the station, under the control of the station-agent, D. K. Belknap.
The railroads add about 2500 to the population of Hor- nellsville. The average monthly pay-roll of men living in the village is, for the Western Division, $23,000, and for all three divisions, $40,000. There are about 30 miles of switching in the Hornellsville yard, and from 500 to 800 ears pass through the town each way every day.
DANIEL K. BELKNAP
was born in Bethany, Wayne Co., Pa., Mar. 17, 1828. His ancestor, Samuel Belknap, emigrated from Wales, and settled in the town of Windsor, Conn., about the latter part of the seventeenth century.
His great-grandfather, Abel Belknap, born in 1739, married Elizabeth Stevens, and moved to Stillwater, Sara- toga Co., N. Y., where he followed farming, and on his farm was fought the ever-memorable battle between Gates and Burgoyne, "The Battle of Saratoga." Ile was a soldier of the Revolution, first ranking as ensign, and at the close of the war as lieutenant of artillery.
His grandfather, Abel Belknap, Jr., was also a soldier of the Revolution, and after the close of the war moved to Cherry Valley, Otsego Co., where he became one of the early settlers. ITis children were five sons and three daugh- ters, of whom Horace Belknap, father of the subject of this sketch, was second, and was born at Cherry Valley, in the
D. K. Belknap
year 1792 ; married Susan, daughter of Joseph Skinner, of Damascus, Wayne Co., Pa. The Skinner family were de- scendants of Admiral Skinner, who was one of the first set- tlers on the Dealware River, west of Port Jervis; was driven away by the Indians and Tories, and returned after the close of the war. IIorace Belknap followed farming and lumbering; was in the war of 1812 as a musician (a fifer), lived the most of his life in Wayne Co., Pa., and died in Tioga Co., Pa., at the age of sixty-one. Of their five sons and three daughters, Daniel K. was third child.
He received only a limited early education. At the age of eighteen he went into the busy world for himself, re- solved to do whatever would bring an honest livelihood. For five years he was with a company of eivil engineers on the Pennsylvania coal roads, and his experience in this new business led him to desire more of a railroad life. Upon the completion of the Erie Railway he at once obtained a position, and for twenty-seven years has been connected with that great highway, in various positions of trust and responsibility. There are very few, if any, in the employ of the Erie Company who can trace their business relations with the road through all its administrations, as can Mr. Belknap. And it is said, that during its entire length, no man is better or more favorably known by all the employees of the road. For eleven years he was stationed at Deposit, N. Y., as agent, and for the past six years he has been lo- cated at Hornellsville. With all the changes in connection
326
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.
with this great thoroughfare, few have retained to so full an extent the confidence of the several administrations of this road as has Mr. Belknap. In all matters of loeal in- terests Mr. Belknap has not shrunk from responsibility, and supports with a liberal band and willing mind church and kindred interests. Since the organization of the Bank of Ilorwellsville he has been one of its directors. He has led a strictly business life, seeking no political preferment or official notoriety.
In the year 1857, Oct. 14, he married Elvira Blizzard, of Sullivan Co., N. Y. Their children are Walter and Laura.
The following is a list of station-agents at IIornellsville from the opening of the Erie Road, in September, 1850, to date: J. A. Redfield, Sept. 1850, to Feb. 1852; II. B. Smith, Feb. 1852, to Oct. 1854; J. S. Spellman, Oct. 1854, to March, 1855; J. S. Sheaffer, March, 1855, to Jan. 1856; H. B. Smith, Jan. 1856, to Sept. 1858; T. 1. Stowell, Sept. 1858, to May, 1863; W. C. Taylor, May, 1863, to March, 1864; E. Van Tuyle, March, 1864, to Nov. 1866; E. M. Canfield, Nov. 1866, to Nov. 1868 ; S. C. Jillson, Nov. 1868, to Feb. 1873; D. K. Belknap, Feb. 1873, to present time.
The following are the master mechanics and superintend- ents of the Ifornellsville shops and the Western Division of the Erie Road :
Master Mechanics. - Albert Griswold, 1851-53; Jas. Gilmore, 1853-54; Will. Hart, 1854-56; F. P. Martin, 1856-57; HI. G. Brooks, 1857-61 ; John Durrell, 1861- 64; M. E. Cooper, J. W. Chapman, G. II. Griggs, present master mechanie.
Superintendents .- W. C. Taylor, 1851-53; R. N. Brown, 1853-54; J. A. Hart, 1854-56; B. Smith, 1856 -57; Charles P. Robinson, 1857-61; I. G. Brooks, 1861-64; J. S. Beggs, 1864, to present time.
INCORPORATION OF THE VILLAGE.
The village was incorporated, under the general law, at a court of' sessions held in Bath, on the 28th day of June, 1852. The first election of officers was held August 30 of the same year, at which John H. Lillie, Thomas Snell, J. T. Wilbur, Richard Durbin, and Wm. C. McCormick were chosen Trustees; George Alley, Hiram Bennett, and Rufus E. Holmes, Assessors ; Horace Bemis, Clerk ; Mar- tin Adsit, Treasurer; and James Fogle, Poundmaster. At the meeting of the board, John II. Lillie was chosen Presi- dent.
1853 .- Col. L. D. Benton, R. Durbin, D. S. Reyno, James Alley, John J. Ely, Trustees ; D. S. Reyno, Presi- dent ; II. A. Patterson, Clerk ; N. Chadwick, Treasurer.
1854 .- P. C. Ward, William M. Ilawley, R. L. Brun- dage, HI. Bennett, J. M. Osborne, Trustees ; Col. P. C. Ward, President; Ezra Bowen, Clerk ; Martin Adsit, Treasurer.
1855 .- T. J. Reynolds, J. M. Wisewell, W. R. MeCor- mick, J. H. Lillie, C. E. W. Baldwin, Trustees; Maj. T. J. Reynolds, President ; M. C. Prindle, Clerk ; M. E. Brown, Treasurer.
1856 .- W. G. Rose, R. Pardee, William Bennett, S.
Taylor, Martin Adsit, Trustees; Martin Adsit, President ; J. R. Sheldon, Clerk ; 1. E. Sharp, Treasurer.
1857 .- N. M. Crane, Mark Ball, L E. Bowen, James Kinshern, Stephen Taylor, Trustees ; Col. N. M. Crane, President ; Miles W. Hawley, Clerk ; I. E. Sharp, Treas- urer.
1858 .- M. E. Brown, Martin Adsit, J. P. Martin, Morris Smith, Philip Van Scoter, Trustees ; M. E. Brown, President ; Miles W. Ilawley, Clerk ; II. Holliday, Treas- nrer.
1859 .- Morris Smith, Mark Ball, Philip Van Scoter, J. T. Glazier, Martin Adsit, Trustees ; Morris Smith, Presi- deut ; Miles W. Hawley, Clerk ; R. Pardee, Treasurer.
1860 .- Mark Ball, Noah D. Ogden, David Conderman, James T. Glazier, Nathan Nichols, Trustees; Mark Ball, President ; Miles W. Hawley, Clerk ; I. E. Sharp, Treas- urer.
1862 .- Alonzo Trumbull, Walter G. Rose, W. II. Coy- kendall, George II. Kellinger, Mark Ball, Trustees ; Alonzo Trumbull, President ; Ziba B. Guilds, Clerk ; James W. Burnham, Treasurer.
1863 .- Hiram . Bennett, N. D. Ogden, A. Trumbull, C. L. Prindle, Trustees; Hiram Bennett, President; E. R. Reynolds, Clerk.
1864 .- L. D. Pratt, Charles F. Smith, James M. Cook, Horace Bemis, E. H. Badger, Trustees ; L. D. Pratt, Presi- dent ; V. B. Wetmore, Clerk.
1865 .- Martin Adsit, Charles F. Smith, Mark Ball, Walter G. Rose, John R. Sheldon, Trustees ; Martin Ad- sit, President; John Culbert, Clerk ; Augustus McHenry, Treasurer.
Since the adoption of the new charter, the following have been presidents and clerks of the village :
Presidents.
Clerks.
1867 I. W. Near.
J. M. Popple.
1868 R. M. Tuttle
A. S. Charles.
1869
Rodney Dennis.
G. W. Brigden.
1870 Juhn R. Rose.
Miles W. flawley.
1871. S. E. Shattuck.
W. II. Van Dusen.
1872 fE. E. Buvinger.
1873
Horace Bemis.
A. S. Charles.
1874 James HI. Stephens.
A. G. Howard.
1875 Samuel Arnott.
D. G. Moriarty.
1876 R. D. Jillson.
1877
Charles Adsit.
G. W. Brigden. M. G. Graham.
1878 G. S. Ilumphrey.
F. P. Rathbun.
ALDERMEN .- 1878.
First Ward .- Richard Stellman, J. H. Shant.
Seeond Ward .- George Hollands, G. L. Boynton.
Third Ward -E. I. Gilbert, J. I. Bentley.
Fourth Ward .- John Sauter, David Adams.
Fifth Ward .- J. W. Chapman, Thomas Kelley.
Sixth Ward .- B. F. Collins, J. W. Burus.
Police Justice .- George W. Brigden.
Treasurer .- Charles Maguire.
Collector .- Stephen Hollands.
Assessors .- Edward Connoly, Thomas Burris, Harvey Prentis.
EARLY MERCIIANTS AND BUSINESS MEN.
Col. Ira Davenport was the first merchant in the village. He came here in 1815 with a single wagon-load of goods, driving three hundred miles, from Harpersfield, Delaware
-
MR. Hous Rele
NATHANIEL B. HASKELL
was born in the town of Wayne, Kennebec Co., Me., Dec. 3, 1811. The ancestors of the Haskell family emigrated from Eng- land, and settled in New England, in 1626. His grandfather, Eliphalet, and his father, Jacob, were both natives of New Gloucester, Cumberland Co., Me .; the latter was a lumber- man and farmer by occupation ; was a captain of a company of militia in the war of 1812, and in the beginning of the present century moved to Wayne, Kennebec Co., Me. He was married to Charlotte Bennett, of which union were born four sons and three daughters, of whom Nathaniel B. Haskell was third child. Five of the children are now living. The father died at the age of sixty-five, in the year 1848. The mother died in 1831, at the age of about forty-five.
Mr. Haskell remained with his father engaged in lumbering, farming, and carrying on a grist-mill until he was twenty years of age. In the year 1831 he went to New Brunswick and en- gaged as a millwright. There he remained for three years and went to Bangor, Me., where he remained for some two years, and a short time afterwards accompanied Hiram A. Pitts, the inventor of the Pitts' Separator, through New Jersey and Penn- sylvania in its sale. After one year he traveled alone, selling this machine, and it is said that Mr. Haskell bought the first machine that was sold.
In 1843 he went to Penobscot Co., Me., and engaged in lumbering, which he continued until 1857. His first purchase of timber land was some seven thousand acres in that county,
and his operations were somewhat extensive. In 1847 he mar- ried Hannah, daughter of Nathaniel Shorey, of Burlington, Me. Her grandfather lived to the advanced age of ninety-five, and died in Lowell, Me. Her father, during the latter part of his life, moved to Wisconsin, where he died in 1875. Mrs. Haskell was born Dec. 2, 1827.
In 1857, Mr. Haskell moved to the village of Hornellsville, and one year and a half later moved on to the place where he now resides, then a woodland tract, but now by his untiring industry and enterprise a pleasant farm residence. His first purchase was some three hundred and sixty-five acres, most of which he has cleared of its original forest and crected commo- dious buildings thereon.
Mr. Haskell's has been a life of active business, rewarded with merited success. For several years since he came to Hornells- ville he has been also engaged in the lumber interest in Michi- gan, and a part of the time his family has resided there. In this latter interest he was associated with Williamn Bennett, and James and George Alley, which interest he disposed of in 1870. In 1868 he bought an interest in the lumber business in Huron Co., Mich., with Henry C. Spaulding, of Elmira, which he still retains.
He was formerly a Whig, was a delegate to the first State convention in Maine, and assisted in the organization of the Republican party, since which time he has been identified with that party. His children are Moses, Bennett, Edward M .. Albert, Lizzie A., Henry Beecher (deceased), and Bell M.
חז
PHOTO BY SUTTON
CA. Stephens
ALANSON STEPHENS,
the subject of this sketch, was born in the town of Hornellsville, this county, Dec. 8, 1820.
The Stephens family in this county is descended from Elijah Stephens, his grandfather, who settled in the town of Canisteo in the year 1789; he, with some six others, coming from the Wyoming Valley after the great massacre there, by the way of the Susque- hanna, Chemung, and Canisteo Rivers in boats, stopping awhile at Newtown (now Elmira), being the first white inhabitants in the Canisteo Valley. Elijah Stephens became a large land owner, owning several tiers of lots through the town. He met the trials of a wilderness life and of early settlement with that resolution which overcame difficulties, and paved the way for the prosperity of his progeny, which became quite numerous. He died at the age of about eighty, in the year 1840, leaving three sons and six daughters.
His father, Benjamin Stephens, was second child of this family, was a farmer by occupation and in his day figured in the early settlement of the town ; he was married to Arthusa Hamilton, of the town of Howard. Her father, Alexander Hamilton, was a Revo lutionary soldier, was a pensioner, and lived to a very advanced age. Of this union were born five sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this notice was the oldest. His father died in 1835, having been born in 1800. His mother died about 1840, at the age of forty.
Mr. Stephens spent his early life as a carpenter and joiner, and as early as at the age of fifteen engaged in rafting lumber down the Susquehanna River to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Port Deposit, which he carried on quite extensively, sometimes reaching as high a figure as one million feet in a year. His entire stock of lumber was cut and sawed in the town of Hornellsville, and for some ten
years and until the beginning of the war he operated on a large scale in this business ; since which time he has continued the same, but not so extensively. A part of the time he was in partnership with Mr. Barnard, of Albany, who owned some seventeen hundred acres of timber land in the town of Hornellsville. Mr. Stephens' principal occupation now is farming.
In early life he was, through necessity, denied the opportunities of an education from books (as in those times a pecuniary value was often set upon the time of children), and hence during his subse- quent life he, feeling the need of the same, has done very much to confer upon others this great gift. In the Fifth Ward may be seen a fine school edifiee built by him, and afterwards accepted by the people of that ward : and it may be said that nearly all of the school edifices of the village of Hornellsville bear the imprint of his hand in their construction. In this work Mr. Stephens always felt well repaid that such opportunities might be given the rising generation for an education, and never consented to receive any remuneration for his services. Valuing Mr. Stephens' experience, and knowing his warm interest in school work, for the past twelve years he has been elected President of the Board of Education of HIornellsville, and for some twelve years prior was connected with the Fifth Ward school as trustee.
In his early years Mr. Stephens was a Demoerat, but subse- quently has regarded principles above party, and independently favors the man who represents the principles of sound doetrine and reform. For two years he has represented his town as supervisor. In the year 1842 he married Catherine, daughter of Christopher Doty, of Hornellsville. His wife died in 1866, leaving four sons,- Christopher B., Thaddeus A., Walter, and William B., and one daughter, Mrs. Paul Lord.
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