USA > New York > Yates County > History of Yates County, N.Y. : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 25
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FREEMASONRY.
lows Hall, which it has occupied ever since and which soon after be- came Masonic Hall. January 21, 1850, Penn Yan Chapter gave its consent to the revival of Fidelity Chapter, No. 77, at Trumansburgh.
Darius A. Ogden was made a Royal Arch Mason in Penn Yan Chap- ter, served as its high priest and represented it in the Grand Chapter of the State of New York where he was elected grand high priest, which office he held for two years. He continued in active duty in the Grand Chapter and as chairman of the committee on foreign correspondence, and as such conducted the relations of the Grand Chapter of New York to its sister Grand Chapters with ability. He had been a member of all the Masonic bodies in Penn Yan, and had received the thirty- third degree as an honorary member of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite in the Northern Masonic jurisdiction. In civil life he had held important positions, having been for some years consul at Honolulu. He was canal commissioner and member of Assembly. For many years he had been a member of the Board of Education of Penn Yan and a trustee of Willard Asylum. He was born in Northville, N. Y., August 14, 1813, and died in Penn Yan on May 4, 1889.
Ontario Council, No. 23, Royal and Select Masters, was organized in Geneva, N. Y., on the 23d of February, 1864, by Grand Master Charles H. Platt, who issued his dispensation for that purpose on that date. A charter was afterward granted to it by the Grand Council on the 5th of February, 1865. For about fifteen years it continued to hold its assem- blies in Geneva, with a moderate degree of success. At the assembly held on December 6, 1880, it was decided to ask the grand master for his dispensation to move the council to Penn Yan; to this request he ac- ceded, and on St. John's day, December 27th, the officers were installed in public, with the officers of Milo Lodge and Penn Yan Chapter, in the Masonic Hall in Penn Yan. From that time Ontario Council has con- tinued to shed the beauties of Cryptic Masonry upon the neophyte in Penn Yan, which is expected to be its home for time to come. The .thrice illustrious masters of Ontario Council have been Corydon Wheat, William P. Durrant, John N. Macomb, jr., Franklin E. Smith, Orville F. Randolph, John L. Lewis, Edward Kendall, J. Henry Smith, and Henry R. Sill.
John N. Macomb, jr., was appointed grand lecturer of the Grand
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
Council on the 9th of September, 1880, and held that and other sub- ordinate positions in that body until the 10th of September, 1889, when he was elected grand master of Royal and Select Masters in the State of New York, which position he occupied until September 8, 1891. He was made a Mason in Milo Lodge, No. 108, F. and A. M., on August 6, 1875, and received the Fellow Craft's degree on August 20th, and the Master Mason's degree on September 3d. He was elected master of Milo Lodge on the 20th of December, 1878, and served as such for two years. On St. John the Baptist's day, June 24, 1885, he was appointed district deputy grand master of the Twenty- first Masonic District, and continued to discharge the responsible duties of that office until the cor- responding date in 1889. On the 24th of January, 1876, he received the Mark Master's degree in Penn Yan Chapter, No. 100, of Royal Arch Masons, the remaining degrees of Capitular Masonry being re- ceived on the following dates : Past master, February 14th; most ex- cellent master, April 10th; and Royal Arch Mason, April 24th. On the 9th of December, 1881, he was elected high priest and held that po- sition for one year. On February 8, 1888, he was appointed assistant grand lecturer of the Sixth District, which office he still holds He re- ceived the degrees of Cryptic Masonry in Ontario Council, No. 23, R. and S. M., in Geneva, on the 5th of February, 1877. On the 4th of March, 1878, he was elected thrice illustrious master of the council, and continued in that office for four years. He is the present grand representative of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Tennessee, near that of New York. On the 20th of June, 1876, he re- ceived the order of the Red Cross, and on the 18th of July the order of the Temple in Jerusalem Commandery, No. 17, K. T. He was elected to preside over the commandery as its eminent commander on May 7, 1878, and filled that position for six years. He is the grand repre- sentative of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Kentucky, near that of New York. In the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite he received the degrees and holds membership in the bodies in the valley of the Genesee at Rochester, N. Y. On September 19, 1882, he re- ceived the thirty-third degree in the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction at Boston, and became an honorary member of that body.
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In the year 1848 the first effort was made to establish an encampment of Knights Templar at Penn Yan, in the then unoccupied territory extending from Utica to Rochester, and from Lake Ontario to Pennsyl- vania. On the 17th of May, with this end in view, John L. Lewis, jr., and Davison Moshier went to Rochester, where they received the orders of Masonic Knighthood at the hands of that veteran Mason, William E. Lathrop. Associating with themselves several other Knights of the Order in February, 1849, they applied to Robert R. Boyd, grand mas- ter of the Grand Encampment of the State of New York, for a dispen- sation to organize an Encampment1 at Penn Yan. Owing to some in- formality this petition was not received ; it was, however, renewed in the following June in proper form, and was presented to Grand Master Boyd, accompanied by the required fee in the form of a draft for $90, which was placed by the grand master (who was at that time also grand secretary of the Grand Lodge) in the tin box that contained the Grand Lodge funds. In the scramble for the spoils, which formed an import- ant event in that unfortunate and unhappy communication of the Grand Lodge, the victors bore off, among other treasures, this particular draft, payment of which was stopped at the bank, and it was not until the 25th of February, 1850, that the dispensation was placed in the hands of the petitioners. It, however, bears this endorsement : " Granted on payment of fees, June 7, 1849. J. M. Hatch, G. R., p. t."
On the 9th of June, 1850, a charter was issued signed by James Hegeman, grand master ; William E. Lathrop, D. G. M .; George L. Thatcher, grand generalissimo; and John L. Lewis, jr., grand captain- general, authorizing Davison Moshier as grand commander ; John L. Lewis, jr., as generalissimo ; and Cornelius Masten as captain- general, to confer the Orders of Knights of the Red Cross, Knights Templar, Knights of Malta, Knights of the Christian Mark, and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. The petitioners for the dispensation were as follows : Davison Moshier, of Monroe Encampment, No. 12, Rochester, N. Y .; John L. Lewis, jr., of Monroe Encampment, No. 12, Rochester, N. Y .; Cornelius Masten, of Morton Encampment, No. 4, New York, N. Y .; William M. Oliver, of Columbian Encampment, No. 1, New York, N. Y .; John Daggett, of Genesee Encampment, No. 10, Lockport, N. Y .;
1 The name encampment was changed to commandery in 1857.
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
Clement W. Bennett, of Washington Encampment, No. 1, Washington, D. C .; William C. Bishop, of Louisville Encampment, No. I, Louis- ville, Ky .; and John Trimble. The last named is recorded as having received the Orders of Knighthood in Ireland, but no encampment is given.
The name " Jerusalem " given to this encampment was from the original name of the township in which its asylum is situated. The first conclave was held on the Ist day of March, 1850. At this time the only commandery occupying any portion of the territory named in the beginning of this sketch, besides Jerusalem, was Salem Town, No. 16, at Auburn. Within a few years Jerusalem Commandery had conferred the Orders of Knighthood upon the greater part of the material resi- dent within easy reach of its asylum, none from the more distant por- tions of its jurisdiction applying except on two occasions, when they were looking toward the organization of new commanderies.
On the 9th of April, 1852, consent was given to the organization of St. Omer's Commandery, No. 19, at Elmira, and soon afterward De- Molay Commandery, No. 22, was organized at Hornellsville; these concessions cut off a very important part of the territorial jurisdiction of Jerusalem Commandery. On the 20th of January, 1860, consent was given to the organization of Geneva Commandery, No. 29, and this re- duced Jerusalem practically to the neighborhood of Penn Yan, for although Ovid, in Seneca County, is still within its jurisdiction, the resi- dents of that village find it more convenient to go to Geneva for their orders of Masonic Knighthood, and they accordingly go, "asking no questions for conscience sake."
It has been the custom for many years for the subordinate command- eries to turn out as a guard of honor to the Grand Commandery of the State at its annual conclaves, and Jerusalem Commandery performed this pleasing duty for the first time in October, 1885, at Rochester, and afterward was found in its place in the column in 1886, at Elmira ; and in 1887 at Utica. In the Grand Commandery of the State Jerusalem Commandery has been honored by the election of Charles G. Judd to the office of grand commander in the years of 1858 and 1859. He was born in Williamstown, Mass., October 14, 1803. He was graduated from Williams College in 1824. He studied law and was admitted to
.
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FREEMASONRY.
practice. In early life he came to Penn Yan, was district attorney from 1831 to 1839, and ranked high in his profession and in mental attain- ments. He was an exemplary and public spirited citizen, respected and beloved by all who knew him. He was made a Mason in Milo Lodge, No. 108, April 9, 1847, and was master of that lodge for one year from December, 7, 1848. He was made a Royal Arch Mason in Penn Yan Chapter, No. 100, September 6, 1847, and was its high priest during the year 1852. He was made a Knight Templar in Jerusalem Commandery, No. 17, March 19, 1850, and was chosen eminent com . mander in 1853, and again in 1855, serving until 1859. In 1857 he was elected grand generalissimo of the Grand Commandery. He died at his home in Penn Yan, on December 1, 1886.
In the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite dispensations were issued for the organization of three bodies to be held in Penn Yan. These were named Penn Yan Lodge of Perfection, Jerusalem Council of Princes of Jerusalem, and Yates Chapter of Rose Croix. These dispensations all bear date July 25, 1863, and are all directed to the same brethren, whose names are as follows: John L. Lewis, Darius A. Ogden, Guy Shaw, William T. Remer, Peter S. Oliver, James Burns, Clement W. Bennett, Spencer S. Raplee, and Samuel R. Fish. These bodies were organized and kept in existence for some years under these dispensa- tions. The several degrees over which they had jurisdiction, viz : the fourth to the eighteenth, inclusive, were conferred upon a few Masons. It was found difficult for the little band of faithful workers in Penn Yan to keep these bodies in good condition in addition to the duties that de- volved upon them in connection with the bodies already existing, so they were obliged to allow the dispensations to lapse and no charters were granted.
34
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
CHAPTER XIX.
LAKE KEUKA AND ITS NAVIGATION.
ERE it possible for the plain, methodical and matter of fact writer of history to become at all romantic or sentimental, he might justly say: "Beautiful Ogoyago of the Senecas, what changes has the devastating hand of man wrought in your appearance during his reign of an hundred years ?" Where once alone did glide the noiseless canoe are seen large and elegant steam craft, each freighted with the fruits of innumerable vineyards, or laden with pleasure-seeking passengers. But to lay aside romancing and come to the material facts it may be stated that the now called Lake Keuka is peculiarly the pos- session of Yates County despite the fact that its upper waters lie in an adjoining shire. Seneca Lake bounds Yates County on the east, and Canandaigua Lake on the west; but with these bodies the county has nothing in common except incidentally and remotely. But with Keuka the situation is different. Local capital and industry have developed its resources and placed upon it the most elegant lines of steamers that ever graced an interior lake.
To the ancient Senecas this lake was known as Ogoyago, while to a later generation of the same occupants the name Keuka appears to have been applied to the lake. But this is a disputed question and the writer may be treading on dangerous ground in making the above asser- tion. It is claimed, and upon good authority, too, that the true Seneca name of this lake was Keuka, meaning " Lake with an elbow," which is truly descriptive of its outline formation. It is also asserted that Ogoyago in Seneca means "Land between the waters," fairly descrip- tive of the promintory called Bluff Point. Both of these statements may be and perhaps are true, and yet the original assertion will stand unimpeached; for one of the customs of the ancient Senecas was to name their lakes and rivers after some peculiarly prominent point of land in their immediate vicinity. If to them Bluff Point was Ogoyago, so, too, might the lake be called, and that regardless of the fact that
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NAVIGATION OF LAKE KEUKA.
Keuka, " lake with an elbow," was more properly descriptive of the char- acter of the lake itself.
But this is a comparatively unimportant subject to argue in this place. Both sides can present strong arguments in support of their positions ; but the matter is satisfactorily set at rest in the fact that common con- sent has adopted the name of Lake Keuka as proper and fitting to Yates County's own body of water. It may be stated, however, that the white-faced pioneers gave the name Crooked Lake, by which also the lake has ever since been known.
Navigation on Lake Keuka has passed through many stages and con- ditions since the first occupancy of the region by the white man. First there was the dugout or birch bark canoe used alike by the red men and the white-faced pioneer. This was followed by the flat boat period, of which Capt. John Beddoe seems to have been the pioneer. His craft was of three tons burthen and was brought to Lake Keuka from New York, being carried over the territory intervening between navigable waters. Captain Beddoe's voyage was made from the foot of the lake to his tract or purchase of land in Jerusalem in 1798. The flat boat period, however, was not commenced until some years after John Bed- doe's voyage, nor was he even to be counted among the early regular lake navigators,
In 1833 the Crooked Lake Canal was opened for business. This brought to Lake Keuka an importance not before enjoyed, and follow- ing it was an era of prosperity that even the most ardent pioneer en- thusiast had never dreamed of. But this was nothing more than a single onward step, and the importance of the canal and occasional sail boat period was more than dwarfted into insignificance by the appearance of the first steamboat-the Keuka-built and put upon the lake in 1837, and commanded by Capt. Joe Lewis; John Gregg, engineer. The Keuka was owned by the Crooked Lake Steamboat Company, the prin- cipal stockholders in which were S. S. Ellsworth, of Penn Yan ; John Magee, and W. W. Mckay, of Bath ; Thomas W. Olcott, of Albany ; and B. Whiting, of Geneva. Capt. Joe Lewis, of Geneva, commanded the Keuka until 1841, and was then succeeded by John Gregg, her for- mer engineer. Four years later the boat stranded and beached near the foot of the lake. She was dismantled and her cabins taken to form the nucleus of the present summer resort known as the Ark.
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
In 1845 Captain Gregg built the steamer Steuben and was her captain until the spring of 1864, when he sold her to Capt. Allen Wood. She was burned in July, 1864. The steamer George R. Youngs was built in 1865 by Capt. Allen Wood, who commenced running her in the month of September of that year. In 1868 Captain Wood built the screw steamer Keuka, which ran for a few years and was then sold and re- moved from the lake.
In 1871 the firm of Crosby & Company, composed of Morris F. Sheppard, Joseph F. Crosby, and Farley Holmes, bought the George R. Youngs of Capt. Allen Wood, and changed her name to the Steuben. In 1872 they formed the Lake Keuka Steam Navigation Company, of which Farley Holmes was president ; Morris F. Sheppard, secretary and treasurer ; and Joseph F. Crosby, superintendent. They built the steamer Yates. Morris F. Sheppard and Joseph F. Crosby sold out their interest in the Lake Keuka Steam Navigation Company to Farley Holmes.
In 1878 the Keuka Steamboat Company was organized at Ham- mondsport, and built the Lulu. In 1880 the Keuka Navigation Com- pany was organized with Nelson Thompson, president; Ralph T. Wood, vice-president ; Morris F. Sheppard, secretary and treasurer; and George A. Sanders, superintendent. They purchased the Lulu of the Keuka Steamboat Company and built the steamer Urbana. In 1881 the Keuka Navigation Company bought the Yates and Steuben of the Lake Keuka Steam Navigation Company. In 1882 George A. San- ders resigned and W. W. Eastman was appointed superintendent. In the winter of 1883-84 the steamer Yates was burned at her moorings in Penn Yan.
About this time William L. Halsey, of Rochester, formerly of Steuben County, became interested in the company. In 1883, owing to some misunderstanding with his associates, Mr. Halsey organized the Crooked Lake Navigation Company, with a capital stock of $12,000, and officers and directors as follows: William L. Halsey, president ; George H. Lapham, vice-president ; T. O. Hamlin, secretary and treasurer ; O. C. Knapp, superintendent; directors, W. L. Halsey, O. C. Knapp, T. O. Hamlin, W. W. Quackenbush, W. M. Johnson, George S. Weaver, Allen Wood, and George H. Lapham. The new company built and put upon
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NAVIGATION OF LAKE KEUKA.
the lake the large steamers Holmes and West Branch during the year 1883, and set up an opposition to the old line. The result was a most bitter enmity between the contending companies, which has continued even to the present time. The Crooked Lake Company put the fares down to ten cents to any point upon the lake. The old company im- mediately followed by reducing them to five cents. In 1884 Mr. Hal- sey died and T. O. Hamlin succeeded to the presidency of the company still retaining, however, his positions as secretary and treasurer. In 1887 Mr. Knapp died and was succeeded. by William N. Wise as su- perintendent In 1885 Morris F. Sheppard was elected president and treasurer of the Keuka Navigation Company ; Nelson Thompson, vice- president ; and William T. Morris, secretary.
In 1886 the Lake Keuka Navigation Company was formed with the following officers : Morris F. Sheppard, president and treasurer; F. M. McDowell, vice-president; William T. Morris, secretary ; and W. W. Eastman, superintendent. They purchased the steamers Urbana and Lulu of the Keuka Navigation Company which was dissolved.
In 1887 the Crooked Lake Navigation Company built at Penn Yan and put upon the lake the steamer William L. Halsey, a boat slightly larger than the Holmes. The present officers of the company are as follows: Theodore O. Hamlin, president, secretary, and treasurer ; H. M. Halsey, vice-president ; W. N. Wise, superintendent ; George E. Mumford, H. M. Halsey, George S. Weaver, J. W. Davis, George Gib- son, J. H. Coryell, W. W. Quackenbush, and T. O. Hamlin, directors. On January 1, 1890, the owners of the Lake Keuka Navigation Com- pany sold out to Charles W. Drake of New York city.
. On October 17, 1891, the Lake Keuka Navigation Company signed a contract with the Union Dry Dock Company of Buffalo, N. Y., for a new steamer 150 feet in length, twenty-five feet beam, steel hull, twin screws, double boilers, two triple expansion engines of the capacity of 700 horse-power, and steam stearing gear. The speed provided for in the contract is twenty miles per hour. The material and workmanship are to be according to the specifications required by the United States government in its contracts for first-class naval vessels. The cost of this boat, including its furniture and upholstery, will be something over $40,- 000. The hull will be constructed in Buffalo, and the boilers, engines,
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
and other machinery will be constructed in Brooklyn, by the Cowles Engineering Company, who have furnished the machinery for many of the recently constructed very fast vessels, and the boat will be put to- gether and launched at Hammondsport. The delivery to the company is guaranteed to be not later than May 15, 1892, which insures to the travellers on Lake Keuka additional accommodations for next season, which will in time revolutionize the inland lake traffic of this entire sec- tion of New York State. The construction of this boat is another step in the scheme for the development of Lake Keuka, adopted by the par- ties who have recently become so largely interested in it.
CHAPTER XX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MILO, AND OF THE INCORPORATED VILLAGE OF PENN YAN.
T HE town of Milo, as at present constituted, occupies a prominent central position among the civil divisions of Yates County. Like- wise it is the most important town in the county, deriving that charac- ter from the fact that within its territorial limits is located the greater portion of the village of Penn Yan, the seat of justice of the county ; and although the village has a partial separate organization from the town, yet they are a unit as far as the election of town officers is con- cerned. Milo is also one of the larger towns of the county, and is the only one that has a front on the waters of Seneca Lake and also on Lake Keuka. This double frontage is of value to the town and its peo- ple in that the special product of the locality, the fruit of the vine, can be successfully grown on both the east and west sides in particular, while the interior lands are also made productive in the same industry by reason of their favorable situation between the lakes. The like con- dition may exist in other towns, but no locality, except Bluff Point in Jerusalem, perhaps, possesses natural advantages equal to Milo. But Bluff Point is an exceedingly high promontory of land, not valuable for
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TOWN OF MILO.
general agricultural pursuits, while Milo is a vast tract of comparatively level land, and has rich and fertile soil, which yields abundantly to the husbandman's efforts, both in farm and fruit products. In addition to this Milo possesses the principal water-course of the county, i. e., the outlet of Lake Keuka, which in its flow from Keuka to Seneca Lake has a descent of 269 feet, affording a water- power not to be excelled in this region of the State. The building of a number of large mills along the outlet has made Milo something of a manufacturing locality, which, added to its other resources, makes this the most important town of the county. Milo is bounded on the north by Benton and Torrey ; east by Seneca Lake; south by Starkey and Barrington; and west by Lake Keuka and the town of Jerusalem. Originally the town of Milo formed a part of the district of Jerusalem, an organized territory in the nature of a township, and embracing the greater portion of what is now Yates County, and forming a part of Ontario County at that time. In 1803 the town of Benton was formed and organized, and included within its boundaries all that is now Benton, Milo, and Torrey. At first the new formation was called Vernon, but as that name had been given to an- other town in the State, Vernon was changed to Snell ; and still later, on account of a dissatisfaction that had arisen over that name, to Ben- ton, in honor of Levi Benton, the first settler within the town now so called.
In the survey of this region under the ownership of Phelps and Gor- ham, a subject fully treated in a preceding chapter, the greater part of what is now Milo was designated as township No. 7, first range, con- taining, presumably, thirty-six square miles of land. Being in the first range the eastern boundary of township No. 7 was the old pre-emption line. Had not difficulties and complications followed the first survey of the line referred to, it is probable that Milo, as afterward organized, might have contained only the territory of township No. 7, but on account of what did occur after the survey, the region to the eastward was annexed to and formed a part of this town. Township No. 7 was one of the several areas of land which were conveyed by proprietors Phelps and Gorham to the New York Genesee Land Company, better known as the lessees, in satisfaction to them for the withdrawal of their claims to the Genesee country under their famous long lease. By the
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