USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume I > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
Thus within a period of thirty-four years after its organiza- tion not less than six counties had been created directly in whole or in part from Ontario. These were the daughters of old On- tario; its granddaughters and dates of birth include: Allegany, taken from Genesee in 1806; Cattaraugus, Niagara and Chau- tauqua, taken from Genesee in 1808; Erie, taken from Niagara in 1821; Orleans, taken from Genesee in 1824; Wyoming, taken
540
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
from Genesee in 1841; Schuyler, which was taken in part from Steuben, originally Genesee County territory, and in part from Chemung and Tompkins counties, in 1854.
On May 5, 1789, Oliver Phelps was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas; John Cooper, surrogate, and Nathaniel Gorham, clerk. These were the only county officers then ap- pointed, and their tasks were not onerous, as few white people were then living in the Phelps and Gorham territory. Judah Colt was appointed sheriff April 7, 1790.
About the time the first county officers were appointed, and when the county was less than four months old, General Israel Chapin brought a party from New England over the route ex- plored by him and Walker the previous autumn. After arriving at Schenectady, these prospective settlers loaded their supplies into batteaux, ascended the Mohawk River to Fort Stanwix (now Rome), make the portage to Wood Creek, passed down that stream to the Oneida Lake, over that lake to its outlet, thence via the Oneida, Oswego, Seneca and Clyde rivers and the Canandaigua outlet to the Phelps and Gorham land office. Other parties came by this route later as far as Manchester and from there overland to Canandaigua.
General Chapin was a prominent figure in the early history of Ontario County. He was born of Welsh ancestry at Grafton, Massachusetts, December 4, 1740. From the time he was twenty- two years old until the breaking out of the Revolution there was hardly a year in which he was not elected to some local office. He was captain of a company of Minute Men in the spring of 1775, but it does not appear that he took part in the battle of Lexington. On April 27, 1775, he enlisted in the Continental army; was at Saratoga at the surrender of Burgoyne; was made lieutenant- colonel in October, 1777, and was promoted to colonel the follow- ing February ; as brigadier-general he took part in the campaign against Quebec, and was mustered out November 21, 1779. It is said that there were 104 members of the Chapin family in the Colonial army during the Revolution. In April, 1792, he was made deputy superintendent of the Six Nations by the secretary of war and was influential in negotiating treaties of peace with the Indians of western New York. He died March 7, 1795.
By the act of January 27, 1789, the justices of the Court of Sessions were directed to divide the county into districts. Turner
541
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
gives the five districts as "Canandaigua, Jerusalem, Seneca, Sodus and Tolland." The first census was taken in 1790 by General Amos Hall, United States marshal, and included the "towns of Canandaigua, Erwin, Genesee and Jerusalem." In the district, or town, of Canandaigua, which was practically the same as the present County of Ontario, there were eighty-eight families, with a population of 464, two of whom were listed as slaves. As the heads of these families constituted the pioneers of the county, the list is given in full:
John Adams, Reuben Allen, Thomas Barden, Abner Bar- low, John Barnes, Phineas Bates, David Benton, Gerard Bough- ton, Seymour Boughton, Daniel Brainard, Francis Briggs, James Brocklebank, Lemuel Castle, Israel Chapin, Israel Chapin, Jr., Oliver Chapin, John Clark, Judah Colt, Daniel Comstock, Nathan Comstock, - - Day, Martin Dudley, John Fellows, General John Fellows, James D. Fish, Nathaniel Fisher, Easther For- syth, John Freeman, Daniel Gates, James Goodwin, William Goodwin, Nathaniel Gorham, Jr., Pierce Granger, William Hall, Joshua Harrington, Nathan Harrington, Isaak Hathaway, Webb Herard, Seth Holcomb, Matthew Hubble, Joseph Kilbourn, Abraham Lapum, James Latty, John McCumber, Nathaniel Nor- ton, Zebulon Norton, Okes, John Pane, Ezza Phelps, Michael Pierce, Phineas Pierce, - Platt, Arnold Potter, Israel Reed, Seth Reed, Aaron Rice, Ephraim Rice, Lot Rice, John D. Robinson, Michael Rogers, John Russell, Allen Sage, Nathaniel Sanbourne, David Smith, Elijah Smith, Harry Smith, Jacob Smith, Jereme Smith, Joseph Smith, Thomas Smith, Aaron Spencer, Phineas Stevens, - Sweet, - Sweets, Elijah Taylor, Benjamin Tibbet, Benjamin Tuttle, Caleb Walker, Solo- mon Warner, Thomas Warren, Benjamin Wells, Samuel Wheeton, John Whitcomb, White, Jonathan Whitney, Ephraim Wilder, Gamaliel Wilder. The total population of the four districts covered by the census was 204 families, numbering 1,075 persons, including eleven slaves.
By the act of April 9, 1792, the supervisors of the county were authorized to levy a tax sufficient to raise 600 pounds for the erection of a court house, with the addition of one shilling per pound for the cost of collection. Before the court house was completed, courts were held in an unfinished room in Judge Moses Atwater's residence. The tax was levied and the contract
542
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
for building the court house was let to Elijah Murray. The first court house was a frame structure and was located on the public square, just south of the present court house. It was completed in 1794 and served the county for a little over thirty years.
In 1823 a movement for a new court house was started and in April, 1824, the legislature passed an act authorizing the county to erect one. On July 4, 1824, the cornerstone was laid. When the structure was completed, in 1825, the old court house was moved across the street, to the northwest corner of Main and Cross streets; there the lower floor was used for the postoffice and lawyers' offices, and the second floor (the old court room) for a lecture and concert hall, for town meetings.
After another thirty years, the growth of the county busi- ness demanded larger quarters. The question of a new court house was debated for some time, and in November, 1856, the supervisors appropriated $15,000 for the building. William Clark, of Victor, Evander Sly, of Canandaigua, and James Sover- hill, of Seneca, were appointed a building committee. A con- siderable appropriation was obtained from the United States, by an act of Congress which provided that the new building should contain quarters for the postoffice and the federal court. Archi- tect Searles, of Rochester, was employed to draw plans and speci- fications for a building, to cost $40,000; these plans were adopted February 12, 1857. A few days later a portion of the Gorham lot on the north side of the original square was bought. The court house was located facing Main Street, partly on the square and partly on the Gorham lot. The cornerstone was laid July 4, 1857; the cost of the new building was $42,000. The first term of court was held in it beginning January 10, 1859, Judge Henry Welles presiding. In July of that year, the second court house was sold to the village of Canandaigua for use as a "town house." About the same time the old first court house-or Star Building, as it was then called-was sold to Thomas Beals, who removed it to Coach Street and converted it into a storehouse. It was torn down in May, 1899, to make room for a modern business block. McIntosh says it narrowly escaped the fire on the night of November 21, 1875, when the "old codfish" which had so long served as a weather vane was blown off. It was rescued by F. M. Howell, who presented it to the Wood Library.
On May 21, 1908, the board of supervisors adopted a reso-
OLD JAIL, CANANDAIGUA, FROM WHICH WILLIAM MORGAN WAS ABDUCTED ON SEPTEMBER 12, 1826
.
545
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
lution to remodel the court house and erect a fire proof addition for the safe keeping of the records. Various committees were appointed and the cornerstone laid September 25, 1908. The first court was held in the new court room on June 7, 1909, and in the following November the remodeled building was formally dedicated.
Ontario County's first jail was the old blockhouse that had been erected as a protection against the Indians. It stood near the southwest corner of the public square. Two small windows on each side and one door were the only openings. Fastened securely to the walls were heavy iron chains for holding the prisoners and the floor was covered with straw for bedding.
In the autum of 1813, Septimus Evans, John Price and Roger Sprague were appointed a committee to receive bids and super- intend the erection of a new jail. The committee held its first meeting November 4, 1813, at Atwater's Tavern, and the next January 26, 1814. The contract was let in April and the legisla- ture of 1815 passed an act directing the county treasurer to pay the building committee for the jail. While the jail was under construction the upper story of the old Pitts tavern (later the Franklin house) was fitted up with cells, and the lower floor was used as the jailer's residence and for the accommodation of travelers.
The jail built in 1814-15 was a substantial stone building, with a high-walled yard for the exercise of the prisoners. It was from this jail that William Morgan, who had threatened to make public the secrets of the Masonic fraternity, was abducted on September 12, 1826.
In 1895 the present jail and sheriff's residence was com- pleted. About the first of June in that year removal was made to the new quarters. The old stone jail, which, for three-quar- ters of a century, had stood as a landmark, was then demolished.
Prior to the year 1826 each town in the county made provi- sions for the care of its own poor. In October, 1825, the board of supervisors appointed Thomas Beals, Moses Fairchild and Nathaniel Lewis a committee to purchase a county farm, upon which to erect an almshouse. After examining several tracts of land, the committee selected 100 acres in the town of Hopewell, about three miles east of Canandaigua, and recommended its
34-Vol. I
546
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
purchase. The next summer a building was erected and the insti- tution opened October 23, 1826.
In 1906, through the generous offer of Mrs. Frederick Thomp- son, a laboratory was erected upon the grounds of the Thompson Memorial Hospital at Canandaigua. It is the first institution of the kind to be established in the state and is intended for the use of physicians and chemists engaged in research work. It is in charge of a bacteriologist appointed by the supervisors and paid by the county.
In 1909 the board of supervisors appropriated $15,000 for a tuberculosis hospital. A grove on an eminence in the town of East Bloomfield was selected as a site and the institution was given the name of Oak Mount Sanitarium. After the pro- ject was started it was discovered that some legislative action was necessary. The legislature then passed a general law, which would permit other counties of the state to follow Ontario's lead and establish similar hospitals. Oak Mount was opened in Janu- ary, 1911.
The act of January 27, 1789, which created Ontario County, also made provision for the erection of towns as occasion demanded. Under this act ten towns were formed. From these six others have since been created.
Bristol is one of the original ten towns created under the act of 1789. When first erected it included the present towns of Bristol and South Bristol. Although the actual settlement of the town did not begin until 1788, the region was visited by white men a century before. In August, 1669, Father Galinee, one of the Sulpician priests who accompanied La Salle to the Seneca village where Victor now stands, wrote :
"In order to pass away the time, I went with M. De la Salle, under the escort of two Indians, about four leagues south of the village where we were staying, to see a very extaordinary spring. Issuing from a moderately high rock, it forms a small brook. The water is very clear, but it has a bad odor, like that of the mineral marshes of Paris, when the mud on the bottom is stirred with the foot. I applied a torch and the water immediately took fire and burned like brandy and was not extinguished until it rained. The flame is among the Indians a sign of abundance or fertility, according as it exhibits the contrary qualities."
The fame of this burning spring went abroad. In 1700 the
547
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
Earl of Belmont, then governor of the province of New York, sent Colonel Romer on a mission to the country of the Iroquois, and gave him particular instruction "to go and view a well or spring which they have told me blazes up in a flame when a light coal or fire brand is put into it. You will do well to taste the said water and give me your opinion thereof, and bring with you some of it." Since the world learned about nat- ural gas, such springs are no longer a mystery.
Settlement of the town began in 1788, when the seven Good- ing brothers-Elnathan, James, Job, John, Thomas, William and Zephaniah-came from Massachusetts. They cleared a few acres of ground, sowed some wheat and turnip seed, after which all, except Elnathan, returned to Massachusetts. With an Indian youth, the latter spent the winter in the little log cabin which had been erected. The following spring, William Gooding returned with his family, the other brothers coming a little later. In the meantime, Aaron Spencer located at the place known as Burbee Hollow and Daniel Wilder at Seneca Point. Following these pioneers came Nathan and Theophilus Allen, James Austin, Amos Barber, Jeremiah Brown, James and John Case, Faunce, George and John Codding, John Crandall, Nathan Fisher, Aaron and Jabez Hicks, Eleazer Hill, Ephraim, Seth and Sylvanus Jones, Oliver Mitchell, Moses Porter, George and Joshua Reed, the eight members of the Simmons family-Benjamin, Constance, David, Ephraim, John, Philip, Raymond and Simeon-Jonas and John Wilder and perhaps a score of others, who were residents of the town when it was organized.
The first town meeting was held April 4, 1797. William Gooding was elected supervisor; John Codding, clerk; Nathan Allen, Faunce Codding and Nathaniel Fisher, assessors. George Codding and Gamaliel Wilder, who had previously been ap- pointed justices of the peace, conducted the meeting.
The town has no railroad and only three small villages, Bris- tol Center and Vincent, each with a population of less than two hundred.
The town of Canadice was set off from the town of Richmond April 15, 1829, and was named for the small lake in its western part. The first town meeting was held April 6, 1830. The early records are not available, but it is known that Reuben Hamilton, a veteran of the Revolutionary war, was elected the first super-
548
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
visor and held the office for two years. It is said that at the time the town was organized it had the greatest number of inhabi- tants in its history, 1386. Less than a third of this number now live within the town borders.
In 1795 Jacob Holdren and Aaron Hunt settled near the head of Honeoye lake. They are credited with having been the first actual settlers. Holdren afterward married Jane Hunt, daugh- ter of Aaron, and acquired a reputation as a millwright. When they came to the town the nearest grist mill was at Hopewell and Canandaigua was the nearest postoffice. Townships had been surveyed in the Phelps and Gorham purchase, but the only way of marking claims was to blaze a line of trees along the boun- daries. For several years, Holdren and Hunt were the only occupants of this part of the county. Early in the autumn of 1804, Josiah Jackman, Gideon and John Walker came from Vermont and constructed their cabin near the foot of Canadice Lake. They walked from Vermont. They returned there early the next spring and brought their families to the new country. All resided in the one log house until two more cabins could be fin- ished. During the next decade probably fifty families located in the valleys around Canadice and Honeoye lakes. Prominent among them were: John Alger, James Anderson, Jesse Ballard, Nathan Beers, Samuel Bentley, James Button, Bartlett Clark, John Darling, Ezra Davis, Albert, Darius and Tobias Finch, Reuben Gilbert, Luther and William Gould, Hiram and Samuel Hogans, Ebenezer Ingraham and his sons, Abel and Andrew, Cornelius Johnson, Ebenezer Kimball, Seth Knowles, John Leg- gett, James and Jesse Penfield, John Richardson, Abram and Sylvanus Stacy, Ezekiel, Frederick, John and Robert Wilson. Canadice, or Canadice Corners as it was first called, is the only village in the town.
The name of the town of Canandaigua is of Indian origin and was spelled in divers ways by early writers. Lewis H. Mor- gan, who made an exhaustive study of the Six Nations, the loca- tion of their villages and their nomenclature, gives the name of the village at or near the foot of Canandaigua Lake as Ga-nun- da-gwa, with the accent on the third syllable. It was from this name that the modern Canandaigua was derived. The meaning of the Indian name as given by Morgan was "a place selected for settlement," or "the chosen spot."
(From oil painting in courthouse at Canandaigua)
FRANCIS GRANGER
Born in Suffield, Connecticut, December 1, 1792. Came to Canandaigua in 1816, and admitted to the Bar same year. He was principal organizer of what was known as the "Silver Gray Whig Party," and was a candidate for the vice-presidency of the United States. A member of the state legislature, a member of Congress for many terms, and was postmaster general under William Henry Harrison. Died in Canandaigua, August 28, 1868.
551
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
Settlement of the town began in 1789. Joseph Smith re- moved from Kanadesaga (Geneva) early in that year, built his log house on the shore of Canandaigua Lake and opened a tavern, in expectation of the arrival of settlers. Later in the spring came the company led by General Israel Chapin. In this group were Benjamin Gardner, Daniel Gates, Nathaniel Gorham, Jr., Fred- erick Saxton and a number of others. Thomas Morris, son of Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, became a resident in 1792. A little later came the Grangers (mentioned in another volume), Howells, Hubbells, Porters, Spencers and other prominent fami- lies, who left the impress of their character upon the Genesee country and its institutions.
As originally established under the act of 1789, the town embraced the town lots (or townships) 9 and 10 in range 3 of the Phelps and Gorham survey. McIntosh's history of Ontario County, published in 1876, states on page 19: "The first town meeting held in Ontario after its set off from Montgomery, resulted from the formation of two towns known respectively as Canandaigua and Big Tree. Two justices of the peace were appointed, one for each town: General Israel Chapin for the former and Moses Atwater for the latter. The meeting in and for Canandaigua was held at the house of Joseph Smith at the foot of Main Street, near the lake. It was opened and conducted on the first Tuesday of April, 1791, by General Chapin, who was chosen supervisor, and James D. Fish, town clerk."
At the same meeting James Austin, Enos Boughton, John Call, Nathan Comstock, Nathaniel Norton, Arnold Potter and Seth Reed were elected assessors; Phineas Bates and John Cod- ding, collectors. General Chapin held the office of supervisor until his death.
In 1804, a tract of 3,000 acres in the southern part of Town- ship No. 9 was given by Oliver Phelps for the support of the Can- andaigua Academy. The land was thought to be of inferior character, covered with a growth of stunted timber and huckle- berry bushes. A settler named Eaton located at Bell's Point in 1810 and was the first on the so-called Academy tract. Ten years later there were about forty families living on this tract, among them Elias Bascom, the Bullards, Jonathan Crooker, James Courier, Robert McGee, John Penoyer, Solomon Riggs and William Warren. When the land was cleared and placed
552
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
under cultivation it was found to be as productive as any in the town. Some of the best farms in the county are located on the former despised Academy lands. Near the north line of this tract is the village of Cheshire, first known as Rowley's school house. Jonathan Beebe opened a store in 1812 and John Rowley built a sawmill in 1814. John Adams was the first blacksmith and the first tavern was conducted by Joseph Israel.
When first established in 1789 the town of Bloomfield, one of the first ten, included the towns of East and West Bloomfield and Victor in Ontario County, and the town of Mendon in Mon- roe County. The land in what is now East Bloomfield was pur- chased from Phelps and Gorham in 1789 by a company com- posed of John Adams, John Ashley, William Bacon, John Fel- lows, Elisha Lee and Dr. Joshua Porter, all from Massachusetts. Deacon John Adams became acquainted with the character of the country while driving cattle to Fort Niagara and it was largely due to his representations that the company was formed and the land bought. In the spring of 1789, he and his wife, his five sons, Abner, John, Jonathan, Joseph and William, three sons-in-law, Lorin Hull, Ephraim Rew and Mr. Wilcox, also three unmarried daughters, formed part of the company brought here by General Chapin. They were among the first settlers in East Bloomfield. Others who came at the same time were John Barnes, Benjamin Gauss, Moses Gunn, Asa Hickox, John and Thaddeus Keyes, Eber and Nathaniel Norton, Lot Rew, Elijah Rose, Roger Sprague and Joel Steele. Elijah Rose's wife was the sister of Deacon Adams and it is said that she received fifty acres of land as a reward for being the first white woman to settle in the town. Another early settler was Elijah Hamlin, whose daughter Mary was the first white child born in the town, in 1791.
On the east side of Mud Creek, a short distance south of the site of the old Indian village of Gannagaro, John Adams erected the first dwelling west of Canandaigua for white people. It was a large log cabin and, as his family was rather numerous, sleeping berths were arranged in tiers along the walls, Pullman fashion, but without the luxury. Nearby were the cabins of other pioneers. General John Fellows and Augustus Porter built the first sawmill in 1790. A little later the first grist mill was built by Joel Steele. Both of these mills were on Mud Creek.
HOME OF FRANCIS GRANGER
Postmaster General under President William Henry Harrison.
555
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
Ox cart and wagon shops were started at an early date and were just as indispensable as the garage of today; a brickyard was established in 1804; three wool carding and cloth dressing machines were in operation in 1805; and by 1811 three clock fac- tories were doing business. Blacksmiths, coopers and gun- smiths were in almost every neighborhood, and brass andirons, candlesticks and sleighbells, wool and fur hats, were among the early manufactured products. The state gazetteer of 1813 said : "This is the most populous town in the county and one of the best farming towns in the state. The inhabitants are wealthy, enjoying all the ease of independence derived from agricultural industry and economy. The soil is of the best quality of loam, good for grain and grass, and the surface but gently undulated."
The first town meeting was held at the house of Asher Sax- ton April 5, 1796. Amos Hall was elected supervisor; Jared Boughton, clerk; John Adams, Asa Hickox and David Parsons, assessors and school commissioners. At this meeting a wolf bounty of $10 was authorized and it was paid for fifteen years thereafter.
Holcomb and East Bloomfield are the two villages in the town, both of which were incorporated in 1916.
Another of the ten original towns formed in 1789 is Farm- ington. It was named after Farmington, Connecticut. The land in this town and the one directly east of it was purchased in 1789 by a company of Friends, or Quakers, from Berkshire, Massachu- setts. These purchasers, who were also the pioneers, were Nathan Aldrich, William Baker, Dr. Daniel Brown, Jeremiah Brown, Nathan Comstock, Ephraim Fish, Nathan Herendeen, Edmund Jenks, Abraham Lapham, Benjamin Rickensen, Benjamin Rus- sell and Stephen Smith. The deed was given to Comstock and Russell as trustees of the company. Soon after the purchase was concluded, Nathan Comstock and his two sons, Darius and Otis, assisted by Robert Hathaway, cleared a small piece of ground, sowed some wheat and built a log cabin. Otis remained through the winter, but the others returned to Massachusetts. The next spring they returned, accompanied by Nathan Aldrich, Isaac Hathaway, Nathan Herendeen and others. The first town meet- ing was held April 4, 1797. Jared Comstock was elected super- visor; Isaac Hathaway. clerk; John McLouth, Isaac Hathaway
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.