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 29
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
put to other uses, and now forms part of the houses of Mr. Wells and Calvin Carpenter. The name of this locality was changed in the course of a few years from Elizabethtown to Summer Site, and as such contin- ued until it finally merged into and was absorbed by its more successful rival-Penn Yan.
The little rural villages, one at the head of the street and the other at the foot of the lake, each trying for mastery in the matter of import- ance, could produce but one result, and that the gradual growing to- gether and final dissolution of the name of the lesser burgh. The Wag- ener mills occupied a site about midway between them, and the natural tendency of travel and trade was in their direction. Abraham Wag- ener's dwelling1 stood near the corner not far from the mills, and he of course drew improvements toward his own home. On the corner just north of his house was a store, but by whom built and by whom first conducted the writer knoweth not.
During the first twenty or thirty years of its existence the village of Penn Yan was rapidly increased both in population and industries. The people who located there represented all trades and professions inci- dent to their period, but to mention each of them would be a thing next to impossible. Some were prominent in local affairs, while others were conservative in both thought and action, and did not therefore appear conspicuously in the settlement. By 1817 or 1818 the place had ac- quired a population sufficient to warrant the starting of a newspaper- the Penn Yan Herald-through which channel the business portion of the community could proclaim themselves and their wares to the inhab- itants of the region. But the one great event which gave to the old village its greatest upward start and brought to it a considerable popula - tion, was the erection of Yates County, and the designation of Penn Yan as the county seat. This occurred in 1823, and from that time dated the certainty of future growth and prosperity. With the establishment of the county seat attorneys came to practice at the courts; to get the quiet people into trouble and then kindly help them out again.
A writer of village history of Penn Yan, covering the period from about the beginning of the present century down to about 1832, informs
1 The dwelling of Mr. Wagener was originally built where Quackenbush's drug store now is, but was afterward moved to the Knapp House site.
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us as to the principal interests represented at the head of the street, and from his reminiscences we are able to furnish the present reader with a fairly accurate list of the businesses conducted, together with the own- ers thereof.
Lawyers .- Cornelius Masten, George H. Green, William Shattuck, John Willey, Abraham P. Vosburgh, Thomas J. Nevens, Levi Lyman, David B. Prosser, Henry Welles, Welles & Treat, Everett Van Buren, Prosser & Winants, Prosser & Eno, B. W. Franklin, Henry M. Stewart, William Cornwell.
Merchants .- William Babcock, Hezekiah Roberts, Henry Bradley, Bradley & Bissell, Ira Gould & Co., Eli Shelden & Co., L. G. Budlong & Co., E. Mount, John Sloan, John H. Bostwick & Co., James W. Nor- ris, William and John Brooks, B. Tyler & Co., Tyler & Fowle, Augustus Stewart, Milliken & Bradley, Wheeler & Sawyer, William T. Scott & Co., Moore & Coffin, Seabury Kissam, H. J. Lee.
Physicians .- John Hatmaker, Walter Wolcott, Uri Judd, Roscius Morse, A. Woodworth, Francis M. Potter, William Cornwell, William D. Cook.
Watchmakers and Silversmiths .- Frederick A. Seymour, Charles Scott, A. B. Terrill, C. H. Guiger.
Carriage Makers .- Melzer Tuel, Amaza Tuel, James Cooley, Timo- thy Brigden, Heman Squires.
Carriage Painters .- George Stimson, Charles Meeks, Edward Bow- ers, James I. Broom.
Carriage Trimmers .- John D. Applegate, Lewis Ingalls, Albert Little.
Cabinet and Furniture Makers .- Samuel F. Curtis, Amasa Holden, N. P. Hawks, William Morris.
House Painters .- Stephen Williams, Jacob Woodruff, Alexander Edson.
Mason .- Isaac Youmans.
Dentist .- Joseph Elmendorf.
Saddle and Harness Makers .- James Sears, L. Himrod & Co., Charles P. Babcock, John C. Babcock, Charles Risden, William D. Mc- Allister.
Carpenters .- Jacob Hovey, Hubbel Gregory, Abraham Prosser, Eli- pha Peckins, - Rogers, John Horn, D. Reed.
Hatters .- Ebenezer Jenkins, Sutton Birdsall.
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
Grocers .- Higley & Haskill, Benjamin Remer, John Norcott, Henry A. Tyler, George W. Mason.
Baker .- John D. Applegate.
Tailors .-- Lewis Vanderlip, J. Seymour, George Cooley, Luther Lee, Samuel Fullager, Henry M. Locke, Morris Earle, Milton P. Burch.
Shoemakers .- Hitchcock & Scofield, John Scofield, Joseph Elmendorf.
Blacksmiths .-- John Powell, Powell & Elliott, Powell & Simonds, Aaron Wood, Abraham Stetler, Reuben Stetson, James S. Powell.
Cooper .-- Gideon Maynard.
Stoves, Iron, and Tinware .- P. Carson & Co.
Gunsmiths .-- Gilbert & Bales.
Wool Carding and Cloth Dressing .-- Morris F. Sheppard, Higley & Haskill.
Tanners .-- Morris F. Sheppard, Henry Hubbard, Hubbard & Warner. Butchers .-- Nathan E. Lacey, Lyman H. Newton.
In 1824 and the years following, the newspapers, or at least one of them, published at the village, was called the Yates Republican. Its edi- tor and proprietor was Edward J. Fowle. At the time or during the period first mentioned, a number of hotels were in operation at the head of the street, prominent among which was the "Penn Yan Hotel, Stage House and Livery," Major Asa Cole, proprietor. On the opposite side of the highway and on the corner was " Luman Phelps's Inn." Mr. Phelps died in the business and was succeeded by David H. Buell, and still later by Dr. Jeremiah B. Andrews. Another public house in the same locality was that known as "Smith Cole's Inn."
Among the men who were prominent in public and local affairs, and dwellers within the village proper at an early day, were William Bab- cock and Elijah Spencer, who were members of Congress; Aaron Re- mer and Morris F. Sheppard, members of Assembly; Cornelius Masten, county judge; Abraham P. Vosburgh and Edward J. Fowle, surrogates; William Babcock and Henry Bradley, county treasurers; Abner Wood- worth, Edward Genung, Robert Buell, and Luther Winants, justices of the peace.
Of course the readers will not be led into the belief that the persons and firms above mentioned were in business at the head of the street at the same time, for such was by no means the case. They were in busi-
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ness during the first thirty or thirty-five years of the present century, constantly coming and going as is the custom at the present day.
The year 1832 or thereabout found the village containing a popula- tion of about 1, 500 persons, and although the head of the street contin- ued thereafter for some time as the chief center of trade, along down Main street, particularly on the west side, was a number of residences the places of abode of the three prominent citizens as it is now. There were two churches, the Presbyterian and Methodist ; the former well up the street, while the latter stood west of the site now occupied by the church of that denomination.
The court house stood about on the same ground as does the present building, and was built in fairly close resemblance to that now in use, though not quite so large. Where is now the residence of John S. Sheppard stood a hotel building built originally it is said by a retired English sea captain, and which was called " Washington House," but afterward remodeled and put to use as a boarding and select school, and then called " Yates County Academy and Female Seminary." At this time the postoffice occupied a small one-story building standing about where is now the residence of George C. Snow. The incumbent of the office was Ebenezer Brown.
The lower part of the village acquired an advantage over the upper part through the location and survey of the Crooked Lake Canal. The purpose of this water-way was to furnish boat passage from Crooked Lake to Seneca Lake, a distance of eight miles. The act authorizing its construction was passed by the legislature of 1828, and the canal was ordered built by an act of the following year. The work of construc- tion was commenced in 1830, and fully completed in 1833. This con- summation brought business to the lower end of the village, and corre- spondingly depressed trade up at the corners. The coming of the freight and packet boats became as common a thing as was the stage and mail coach, but the arrival of the former meant more than the latter. A hotel was soon afterward built for the accommodation of the boatmen. It rejoiced in the odd name of "Owl's Nest," and stood on Seneca street just west of Jacob's Brook.
One of the more prominent men at the lower end of the street, dur- ing the period of which we write, was George Shearman. He came to
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the village in or about 1808 or '09, and from that time forth was closely identified with its business interests. He had a store, standing very near the corner of Main and Jacob streets, and was in trade something like twenty-five years. On the land now occupied by Hon. George R. Cornwell's block Mr. Shearman built a hotel, the American, which will be remembered by many of the present residents of mature years. Mr. Shearman also was proprietor of a potash works and a distillery; likewise a mill on the outlet. In fact he built and established two mills and two distilleries. He contributed toward the building up of his part of the town as much as any man during that period.
But, however gratifying it might be to the reader to refer to each and every of the old buildings and enterprises of Penn Yan during the first half century of its history, the space already used in that connec- tion warns us that we must pass to another branch of the subject and give some attention to things that were and are, as well as to those of which it can only be said that they have been. The old buildings are nearly all gone, some by the ravages of fire and other elements, while many have been torn down, having become unsightly and not well adapted to the uses of later occupants. The first buildings were mainly frame structures, built in rows, having room enough in many cases for a half dozen or more tenants on the ground floor, while the upper floors were occupied by lawyers and doctors, tailors and other light trades- men. And after the destruction and removal of the first and possibly the second series of buildings of frame, the owners along the businees streets commenced to build with brick.
According to the best recollection of older citizens of the village the first brick-yard was situated out west of the village proper, near and just beyond the present sand-bank, while another of about the same period was near the foot of the lake. But about the year 1820, as near as can now bedetermined, a brick- yard was started on the south bank of the outlet near the site of the present planing-mill. Dr. Rayment, Eras- tus and Albert Page are said to have been among the early proprietors at this point. The clay supply, however, soon became exhausted and the owners moved to a more abundant field across the highway-Lake street, as now laid out. A yard was in operation here for more than thirty years, and the brick there made were used in building many of the
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older residences and blocks now in the village. It was discontinued about twenty-five years ago. The imported bricks and "bats" were afterward used in filling depressed places, and were covered over with earth. Lake street, along where the yard was in operation, was in this way built up to grade level.
Speaking of these depressions recalls the most noticeable one in the village, that at the foot of Main street, starting near the north end of the Knapp House block and extending south across the outlet. In front of the block the foot passenger descended several steps, like stairs, and thence was a gradual decline down as far as the mills and the canal, while on the opposite side of the outlet was a sharp ascent before level ground was reached. The present mills stand at least fifteen feet higher than did the Wagener mills, and the bridge has likewise been raised to grade. All the space between the Knapp House and the laundry is " made land."
Incorporation of the Village .- After the lapse of about thirty years from the time of the first improvement within the limits proper of Penn Yan the village was found to contain a sufficient population to jus- tify its people in assuming municipal character. In fact such course became necessary in order that certain established interests might be protected ; that there might be regulated its internal police ; that a fire department might be established and controlled, and that necessary im- provements might be made without first obtaining the sanction and consent of the town of Milo, the people of which town were not will- ing that their moneys should be appropriated to uses of improvements from which they derived no substantial benefit. To accomplish this end the citizens of the village caused to be presented to the State leg- islature a bill which was enacted into a law on the 29th of April, 1833. The enacting clause was as follows :
"All that district of country hereinafter described shall be known and distinguished by the name of the ' Village of Penn Yan,' that is to say, all that part of the town of Milo, and all that part of the town of Benton, in the county of Yates, bounded as fol- lows: Beginning at the northeast corner of lot No. 37, township No. 7, first range, thence south 21} degrees east. 60 chains. 50 links, to the northwest side of the high- way leading by Samuel Gillett and Robert Shearman's to the Crooked Lake ; thence along the northwest side of the highway, south 16} degrees west, 15 chains ; thence 38 degrees west, 2 chains to the north side of Gillett street ; thence on the north side of the highway, south 59 degrees west, 27 chains, 42 links ; north 21} degrees west,
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26 chains to the south side of lot No. 37 ; thence along said line north, 88 degrees west, 37 chains and 62 links to the southwest corner of said lot ; thence along the west line of said lot, north three degrees, 27 minutes east, 64 chains to the town line between Benton and Milo aforesaid ; thence along said town line south 80 degrees east, I chain, 25 links, to the southwest corner of lot No. 64, in township No. 8, first range ; thence along the west line of said lot, north 3 degrees, east 24 chains and 25 links ; thence south 87 degrees east, 49 chains ; thence south 3 degrees west, 24 chains, 50 links, to the place of beginning."
The second section of the act declared that "the inhabitants of said village shall be a body corporate by the name of 'Trustees of the Vil- lage of Penn Yan.'"
The first annual meeting was provided to be held on the first Monday of June next (1833), at the court-house, at which time the voting pop- ulation were authorized to elect five trustees, one clerk, one treasurer, three assessors, one collector, one police constable, and five fire wardens. The seventeenth section of the act divided the village into three fire districts, viz .: District No. I, to include all that part of the village lying north of Court street ; No. 2, to include all the village lying south of Court street, and its east and west continuation, and north of the out- let ; No. 3, to include all that part of the village lying south of the outlet. But the village of Penn Yan at the present time includes a much larger area of territory than was embraced within its original limits. This extension was made necessary by increasing population and busi- ness interests, while many who were originally outside the village sought to be admitted therein that they might have the benefit of its excellent school system, as well as other advantages not accorded them as residents of the township.
The village organization was made complete by the election of offi- ceis provided by the act of the legislature, which officers, when qual- ified (the trustees), passed and adopted ordinances for the government of the village, regulating the police and health departments, and pro- viding for adequate protection against the loss and destruction of property by fire. The officers chosen at the election above referred to were as follows: Trustees, Abraham Wagener, R. N. Morrison, Rus- sell R. Fargo, Morris F. Sheppard, and John Brooks; assessors, Eben Smith, J. W. Squier, E. J. Fowle; clerk, Henry Eno. The whole num- ber of votes cast at the election was 252. . Abraham Wagener was elected president of the board of trustees.
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VILLAGE OF PENN YAN.
In this connection it would be desirable to furnish a succession of the principal officers from the organization of the village to the present time, but such a list is impossible from the fact that the old minute books have been lost. In the office of the village clerk there are found two books of proceedings of the board, covering the period from about 1852 to the present time, but the most persistent effort has failed to discover any earlier record. Therefore rather than to furnish a partial list of village officers it is deemed preferable to give none at all.
The village of Penn Yan was incorporated in 1833, and by that pro- ceding it was in part separated from the mother town, Milo, yet not wholly so. The officers who govern the town have a certain control and jurisdiction over the village, and both join together in the election of township officers. The village is subject to taxation for the benefit of the whole town, and the township outside is in the same manner subject to taxation for certain village improvements. In addition the village raises a fund by tax on its own property, which is devoted to the maintenance of its special institutions and for its own special benefit. The people of the village vote the tax which creates this fund and the trustees expend the same according to their own judgment.
The early pages of the present chapter have been devoted mainly to the history of the village prior to its incorporation, but the question naturally arises, what can be recorded as its history subsequent to that time ? It is absolutely impossible to supply to the reader the name of every proprietor of a business, or to follow correctly the changes that have taken place with each succeeding year since 1833, but the village and its people have certainly made a history, and an important and in- teresting history it has been. It is written in the existence, past and present, of every church society, each school building, and the multitude of scholars who have passed through its course ; written in every busi- ness block and manufacturing industry that has been built up during the last sixty years. Therefore these must be the subjects of narration on subsequent pages.
Educational Institutions of Penn Yan .- Be it said to the honor of the Board of Education of Penn Yan that no interior municipality in the State of New York can boast of a better system of common school and academic courses than this village. As a recent writer has truth -
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fully remarked, "illiteracy has but poor excuse in this community." But while fairly within the province of this chapter to enter into a de- tailed history of the schools of Penn Yan, the necessity for so doing is in a measure removed by the thoroughness of the educational chapter in the general history. However, a history of this village without at least a brief reference to its educational institutions, past and present, would indeed prove an unfaithful record.
The first school taught within the limits of what afterward became the village of Penn Yan was that conducted by Ruth Pritchard, the faithful friend and co-worker of Jemima Wilkinson. This most esti- mable woman had kept a school in the Friends' log meeting-house in 1796, and afterward at Benton Center. In 1797, having then been mar- ried to Justus P. Spencer, she resided near this locality and while here started a little school and thereafter taught the youth of the settlement for some years, and until the time of her death in 1816. During this period, and in 1814, John L. Cleveland maintained a select school and numbered among his pupils several who afterward became prominent men in the village. George A. Sheppard, Charles C. Sheppard, Charles Wagener, and James D. Morgan, sr., attended Mr. Cleveland's school. John L. Lewis, sr., is also remembered as having been a teacher for about three years, commencing in 1815. In 1820 Mr. Gregory con- ducted a grammar school.
The old school-house of the village, it is said, stood on the upper corner of the present academy lot, and was used not only as a school, but as well by the Presbyterian society as a place of worship. A short time prior to 1830 a brick school was built west of the older house, be- ing located on the west side of Liberty street as afterward laid out. The latter was in use until 1843, when district No. 13 of Milo built the school on Head street, as afterward called. So near as can be learned from scattering records and untrustworthy memory, the early teachers in the several school buildings alluded to were as follows : John L. Lewis, - - Gregory, Gurdon Badger, John Smith, Jason Andrus, in the old frame building on Main street; Pierpont Dyer, Joshua E. R. Abbott, R. P. Lamb, Jerome Corey, assisted by Ascha A. Cornwell, afterward Mrs. J. S. Glover, Emily Cornwell, Hannah Benedict, Henry C. Wheeler, James L. Seeley, Samuel H. Chapman, - - Wilkinson,
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Adolphus Kneeland, Philetus Olney, Richard Taylor, John Porter, William A. Coleman, Henry A. Brunner, Sherman Morse, Celinda Soper, Sophia Elwood, Charles Edson, Henry M. Stewart, Rev. Edward Brown, Cornelia Locke, Caroline Cornwell, Salina Easton, and others as early teachers in the Liberty street and Head street buildings.
In 1824, or the year following, the lower end of the village had built its first school-house, standing on what is now Seneca street, but then know as Ray street, and nearly opposite the site of the Shearman & Lewis malt house. This building was in service until 1842, when the Maiden Lane school-house was erected. Among the teachers men - tioned in connection with the Seneca street school were Crinus B. Feagles, Austin Feagles, Selden Chadwick, Jethro Bonney, Hiram Kid- der, A. C. Spooner, B. B. Stark, Mr. McGuinn, Benjamin L. Hoyt, and a Mr. Moore. Mr. Hoyt taught this school in 1840 and 1841. The lady teachers remembered in connection with this school are Nancy Raymond, Armenia Tyler, and Susan Shaw.
In 1842 the school-house in Maiden Lane was erected, and here at- tended a fair proportion of those who afterward became and still are the leading business men of the village. The play ground extended to Main street, the scholars then having more freedom and latitude than appears to be the lot of the present generation of pupils. Where are now the stores of Roneke & Rogers, Donahue, Hazen, the First National Bank, L. P. Wagener, and others below, was the ball grounds occupied by the scholars under the instruction of Joseph Bloomingdale and teachers immediately succeeding him. The Maiden Lane school has been main- tained to the present day. Originally it was in District No. 12 of the town of Milo, but for many years has been a part of the free school system of the village. Recalling the names of teachers connected with this school, these are found : Joseph Bloomingdale, Howard R. Miller, Mary A. Jocelyn, Harris Cale, Samuel Keifer, Asa Countryman, Jay Calkins, John W. Stewart, E. Hermon Latimer, Laura Latimer, Anna Matthews, Jane Stark, Mary A. Bennett, Sarah S. Hammond, Julia Hard, Eliza Casey, Charity Bishop, Henry R. Sanford, Almira L. Ho- bart, and possibly others whose names are forgotten.
At the foot of the lake, in 1825 or thereabouts, was organized dis- trict No. 9 of the town of Milo, but the district itself has now become
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mainly absorbed by the Union District. About 1824 or '25 Van Rens- selaer Vorce had a school in Aaron Plympton's old log house, and after the building of the district school he was its first master. Following him as pedagogue were Henry H. Tupper and Electa Williams. Other early teachers here were William W. Hartshorn, Isaac W. Hartshorn, John T. Perkins, James Hartshorn, Joseph Bloomingdale, Edward Ran- dall, Mr. Gillette, and Samuel V. Miller, the latter in 1840 and 1841. Still later teachers were Sherman Morse, Jerome Corey, Lucien Corey, and Eber Stone. The maintenance of a school in this part of the vil- lage was necessary even after the absorption of the locality by the Union district. Under the direction of the Board of Education in 1879 the brick school on Lake street was erected, at a cost of about $2,500. Since that time the school here has been a part of the excellent system of education adopted by the board, and is now one of the juvenile or primary departments of the village.
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