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 40
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
Honeoye, the largest village, is located near the foot of the Honeoye Lake. It occupies the site of a Seneca village which was destroyed by Sullivan in 1779. Letters written by Sullivan's offi- cers described it as having "about twenty houses, with fifty acres under cultivation and some fruit orchards." The location of Honeoye is due mainly to the water power furnished by the outlet of the lake. This power was first utilized by Gideon Pitts about 1813 to run a grist mill and sawmill. Moses Risden established a tannery about the same time. In 1815 a man named Davis opened a tavern and the first shoemaker appeared in the person of Isaac Seward, who started a tannery shortly thereafter. John Brown and Linus Giddings built a fulling mill in 1817 and in 1822 the former opened the first store. Edwin Gilbert was the second merchant, beginning business in 1823.
Allen's Hill, in the northern part of the town, took its name from Moses Allen, who settled there in 1796 with his two sons, Nathaniel and Peter. Nathaniel was a blacksmith and Peter took an active part in the War of 1812, rising to the rank of brigadier-general. David Pierpont came from Vermont and opened a tavern in 1816. He was also a cabinetmaker by trade and established the first line of daily mail coaches from Canan- daigua westward, over the Canandaigua and Genesee Road. In the early days of the last century Albany was the nearest market. As it was easier to transport grain in the form of whiskey than in bulk, distilling was an important industry. It is said that in 1810 there were no fewer than fifteen distilleries in operation. About half of these were located on what is known as the "Pan Handle"-the section of the town situated between Honeoye Lake and the town of South Bristol. Wagons loaded with whiskey or
567
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
wheat in sacks would make the trip to Albany and return with goods for the merchants along the route.
The town of Seneca, one of the original ten, was formed in 1793 and then embraced what are now the city and town of Geneva. Geneva was then a thriving little village, the center of the Indian trade for a wide surrounding country. On Novem- ber 15, 1872, the original town of Seneca was divided, to make room for the town of Geneva, which is described in a subsequent paragraph.
Among the more prominent of the early families of the town of Seneca was that of the Whitneys, descendants of whom yet reside here. The progenitor of the family in this section was Jonathan Whitney, who located near Old Castle in 1798, having come from Massachusetts. Other early settlers of the town were: Anson Dodge, Abram Burkholder, Peter Van Gelder, Ami Whit- ney, William Esty, Thomas Tallman, Thomas Ottley, Nathaniel Page, Edward O. Rice, Seth Stanley, Thomas McCauley, James Rice, Whitney Squier, Squier Parks, John Rippey, James Black, Aden Squier, Adam Turnbull, Richard D. Bill, William Forster, John Dixon, Edward Hall, also the Croziers, Wilsons, Perkins and Stokoes. The first town meeting was held at the home of Jonathan Fairbanks in March, 1793, when Ezra Patterson was elected supervisor and Thomas Sisson clerk. A number of other town officials were chosen at this time. The villages of Stanley, Flint and Seneca Castle are located within the present limits of the town.
The town of South Bristol, formerly a part of the town of Bristol, was set apart as a town March 8, 1838. The history of the town of Bristol is told in a foregoing paragraph. The first town meeting of South Bristol was held at Brown's tavern in March, 1838. Franklin Crooker was chosen supervisor and Simri Collins clerk.
The town of Victor is noted for having been the scene of the only battle ever fought on Ontario County soil, this was in 1687, when Denonville encountered the Seneca forces. The first white settlers in the town were Jared and Enos Boughton, brothers, and Horatio Jones. They came in 1789. Enos Boughton, who was secretary to William Walker, agent for Phelps and Gorham, bought the land now in the town for about twenty cents per acre, making the purchase for his father, Hezekiah, who lived in Massa-
568
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
chusetts. The two Boughtons and Jones constructed their log cabin in the southern part of the town and during the ensuing weeks parceled out the land into farms which they intended to sell to new settlers. In June, 1789, Jacob Lobdell and Hezekiah Boughton, Jr., came to the town and put in some crops. All of the settlers here returned east for the winter, with the exception of young Lobdell, who was left in charge. In 1790 Enos and Jared Boughton returned with their families, also Hezekiah Boughton and his brothers, Eleazar, Matthew, Seymour and Nathan, also David, Deforest and Abram Boughton, who were other relatives. Two sons-in-law of the elder Boughton, Nicholas Smith and Joshua Ketcham, located in the vicinity. Israel M. Blood, Abijah Williams, Ezekiel Scudder, Asa Hecox were others who came in at this time. Scudder founded a small settlement which was called Scudderville, at East Victor, and here built a mill. It is said he slept in the trees to escape the wolves. Hecox was an early miller, doing his first grinding in a tree stump, hollowed out in Indian fashion. A stone attached to a sweep for pounding completed his crude mill. The Boughtons then owned practically all of the town, a quarter of which they reserved for themselves, selling the rest. Their ambition to establish a village in the vi- cinity of Boughton Hill, however, was frustrated by the growing importance of Victor as a trading point on the Rochester-Canan- daigua Road. Jacob Lobdell became a very prosperous and in- fluential resident. Reuben, Herman, John, Joseph and Elisha Brace purchased four square miles of land in the northeastern part of the town in 1793. Ezra Wilmarth, who came in 1796, had one of the first hotels in the town, on Boughton Hill. Some of the pioneers in the southwestern section were: Jonathan Cul- ver, Roswell Murray, Abijah Covill, Elston, Hunt, Samuel, Ste- phen, and Eleazar Ellis, James M. Campbell, Increase Carpenter, Peter Perry, Jeremiah Richardson, Isaac Marsh, James Upton, Jabez Hart, John Lane, John Ladd, Joseph Rowley, Simeon Parks, Asahel Lusk, Gregory Hill, Joseph and Barzella Woodston, Sam- uel and Joseph Rawson, Colonel Lanson Dewey, Rufus Dryer, Enos, Samuel and James Gillis. In 1812 the new town of Victor was officially set off from Bloomfield and named after Claudius Victor Boughton, son of Hezekiah, Jr. The first town meeting was held in the new Proprietors' meeting house, erected in 1805 in
569
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
the village of Victor, and Jacob Lobdell was chosen supervisor and Eleazar Boughton, clerk.
The village of Victor was incorporated as such December 8, 1879. Rufus was one of the early hotel keepers of the village and the Gillis brothers were early tanners and shoemakers. William Bushnell was a prominent merchant and landowner. Nathan Jenks was a pioneer merchant, partner of Bushnell, and later with Thomas Embry. Albert Simonds was a merchant who came here in 1832. Stephen Collyer was the first wagon maker in the town.
The town of West Bloomfield was formed February 11, 1833, from the old town of Bloomfield. In April following, the first town meeting was held and among the officers elected then were Reynold Peck, supervisor, and H. B. Hall, clerk. Peregrine Gard- ner was the first white settler in what is now West Bloomfield town. He came here in 1789, and was shortly followed by Ebe- nezer Curtis and his family. Amos Hall was a prominent man of his day in civil and political life. Other of the pioneers were: Reuben Lee, Deacon Samuel Handy, Josiah Wendle, Nathaniel Shepard, Nathaniel Eggleston, Josiah Eggleston, Bayze Baker, Martin Minor, Philemon Hall, Daniel Curtis. Nathaniel Eggles- ton was a tavern keeper; Samuel Nichols had a distillery; Jacob Erdle owned a saw mill; Julius Curtis was a pioneer surveyor; Colonel Jasper P. Sears was a tavern keeper also, the first; gen- eral stores were kept by Erastus Hunt, A. Hendee & Company, Ludwick C. Fitch and Augustus Hall; Doctors Hickox and Fair- child had a drug store; Captain Arnold established a tannery; M. and D. Pillsbury owned an axe factory, Reuben Pierce a wagon shop, Bushnell Arnold a shoe shop, D. W. Pillsbury an iron foun- dry, and Edward Herrick a brass foundry. Other early settlers of the village and town were: Joseph Gilbert, Jasper Marvin, Palmer Peck, and Samuel Miller. At the present time there are no incorporated villages within the town limits, although West Bloomfield, North Bloomfield and Ionia are thriving rural com- munities.
The village of Canandaigua, as noted before, came into exist- ence as the headquarters of the Phelps and Gorham Company. William Walker was the agent appointed to dispose of the land to the new settlers who were to be induced by a well planned cam- paign of publicity to make their homes in the western country.
570
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
Walker, then a man of about thirty-seven years of age, a Revo- lutionary War veteran, was given the authority to select the site of the company headquarters; he was advised by Phelps to make "ye outlet of the Kennadarqua Lake" the designated spot. In October, 1788, Walker reported that he had selected "west of Canandarqua Creek" a "beautiful situation and good ground for a town plot." This was the beginning of Canandaigua. Walker and his friends apparently desired his name adopted into the title of the new village, as it has been mentioned as Walkersburgh, but the name Canandaigua, with its various spellings, was applied and continued permanently.
A building erected by Walker on lot No. 1, east side of Main Street south of the square, and used by him as a residence and land office, was the first structure in the village. The house was constructed by John D. Robinson, for which Walker paid him the equal of forty pounds. Similar houses for James D. Fish and Joseph Smith were built about the same time. Smith was the first actual settler on the site, coming in the spring of 1789; General Israel Chapin and his companions arrived in May fol- lowing. It was reliably stated that by the first snows of the following winter there were eighteen families in the village, con- sisting of seventy-eight males, twenty females and one slave. The principal heads of families were: Nathaniel Gorham, Jr., Na- thaniel Sanbourne, John Fellows, Joseph Smith, James D. Fish, General Israel Chapin, John Clark, Martin Dudley, Phineas Bates, Caleb Walker, Judah Colt, Abner Barlow, Daniel Brainard, Seth Holcomb, James Brocklebank, Lemuel Castle, Benjamin Wells and John Freeman. Oliver Phelps had the site of the village surveyed and laid out into lots, the first survey making provision for 280 lots. Phelps and Gorham had 166 lots on this tract, Samuel Street had thirty, William Walker, Judge Sullivan, Thompson J. Skinner and Colonel Butler four each, while others had two each. The first appearance of the village was that of an orderly, well-kept settlement and mention was frequently made by those journeying through the Genesee Country of the comfortable frame houses, neatly painted, and the hospitable character of the settlers; while other travelers deplored the presence of mosquitoes and rattle- snakes and other handicaps, which were common features of early settlement in all of western New York.
Upon the first village plat was a square of six acres, quar-
571
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
tered by Main and Cross streets. Milliken's history of Ontario county states: "Its south line was what is now the north face of the Hubbel block; on its east line the Canandaigua Hotel now fronts; its north line was what is now the north line of the street known as Atwater Place. Court Street and Atwater Place, there- fore, both occupy land and the New York Central Railroad tracks occupy land originally included in the square. The property was conveyed by Phelps and Gorham in 1800, for a consideration of $1.00, to the county of Ontario, it being provided in the deed that nothing but a court house should be built in the northeast corner, that the southeast corner should be devoted exclusively to park purposes, and that that portion lying west of Main Street should be occupied only by buildings used by the county, excepting that no building should be erected that would obstruct the light or obscure the view of the school house then standing thereon.
"The extension of the square to the north, on the east side of Main Street, where the present court house stands, came into possession of the county at the time of the erection of that build- ing in 1857, the conveyance having been from Samuel Brush, for a consideration of $6,000. The deed provided that no building should ever be erected on the land therein conveyed, within twenty feet of Gorham Street.
"In the square have been grouped a succession of noble public buildings, beginning with the first court house erected in 1794, including the second court house erected in 1824 and now known as the town house and culminating in the splendid county building erected in 1858 and recently rebuilt and enlarged.
"Facing the square on the north and south were located origi- nally the dwellings of four of the most prominent citizens of the village. On the south side, east of Main Street, stood the house of Oliver Phelps, the head of the Phelps and Gorham Land Com- pany. This continued to be the residence of the family until after the construction of the Canandaigua and Jefferson Railroad in 1849, when it was utilized for the business offices of that com- pany. A few years later it was destroyed by fire. Facing the square on the north was the dwelling of Nathaniel Gorham, Jr., which upon the opening of Gorham Street in 1849 was moved to a location on the north side of that street, where it now stands. Across Main Street, on the north side of the square, stood the house of Dr. Moses Atwater, which, in 1850, in preparation for
572
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
the erection of the office building known as Atwater Hall, was moved to a site further west, and was for many years the resi- dence and studio of Marshall Finley, the pioneer photographer of the village. On the south side of the square, west of Main Street, was located the house of Thaddeus Chapin, son of Gen. Israel Chapin. This was later adapted to business uses, and about the year 1865 was destroyed by fire.
"Among the buildings facing the square as now constituted are the Red Jacket Building, erected about the year 1812 by Nathaniel Gorham, Jr., long occupied by the Red Jacket Club, and now serving a useful purpose as an office building; the stately Canandaigua Hotel erected in 1852-53, on the site originally occupied by the Blossom House."
Schools and churches were among the first thing's the pioneer settler thought of after he had reached his new home in the Gene- see Country. Also, one of the first considerations was hotel ac- commodations, taverns and inns. Following closely upon the selection of Canandaigua as the headquarters of the Phelps and Gorham Company, Joseph Smith arranged to use his home as a stopping place for the newcomers. His house stood on what is now the north side of Coy Street, west of Main. The first tavern, though, was that opened in 1790 by Nathaniel Sanbourne and his wife, on the site of the present postoffice building. Captain Martin Dudley opened another tavern in 1796, on the east side of lower Main Street. About 1791, on the west side of upper Main Street, Phineas Bates dispensed cheer and comfortable quar- ters to the traveler. The first real hotel of the village was the Blossom House, built in 1814, on the site of the present Canan- daigua Hotel. On the night of December 2, 1851, fire destroyed this hotel. The next year a stock company was formed and in 1853 the hotel now known as the Canandaigua was constructed. The Webster House Block, which was constructed in 1860, occu- pies a site originally that of Pitts Tavern, in which was located the old jail; in 1827 Thomas Beals erected here the Franklin House, which was burned in March 1860. There are a number of other hotels of varying size in Canandaigua.
Public utilities, or municipal improvements, had their be- ginning in 1853, when the Canandaigua Gas Light Company was established and laid its wooden mains through Main Street. Street and house lighting was also supplied by this company, of which
BLOSSOM HOUSE, CANANDAIGUA Site of Present Canandaigua Hotel
575
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
E. G. Lapham was president, without competition until 1886, when electric lighting was introduced by outside interests. The two companies afterwards arranged a nominal consolidation. In 1893 the electric lighting and street railway interests were amal- gamated, the power having been generated at Littleville. In 1900, through foreclosure sale, all these interests were taken over by the Ontario Light & Traction Company, an outside corporation. The first water mains were laid in Canandaigua, in 1884, by a company formed by eastern capitalists, but it did not function properly, and in 1895 a municipal system supplanted that of pri- vate ownership. The first street railway was laid out in 1887, from the lake dock through Main Street to a point above the Buffalo Street corner; a number of local men were interested in this enterprise. It was first operated by horse power, but when taken over in 1893 by the Canandaigua Electric Light Company it was electrically operated. In 1900 it became the property of the Ontario Light & Traction Company. Sewers in the city of Canandaigua were first laid in 1883, when a trunk sewer was put down in Main Street. Brick pavements were laid for the first time in 1899; this was on Chapin Street, from Main Street to Sucker Brook bridge. Two years later a macadam pavement was put down on Howell Street, followed by one on Gibson Street.
Transportation facilities for Canandaigua were at first lim- ited to crude roads, trails and fairly close connections with the Erie Canal and its Geneva branch. In 1840 the Auburn and Rochester Railroad completed the line between Rochester and Canandaigua, and the first locomotive came over the line Sep- tember 12th. By November the line was completed to Auburn. Francis Granger and Oliver Phelps were connected with the pro- motion of this railroad. Railroad communication southward was undertaken in 1845, among the promoters having been Mark H. Sibley, Jonas M. Wheeler, Jared Wilson, John A. Granger and Oliver Phelps, 3d. The road was opened between Canandaigua and Watkins (then Jefferson) in September, 1851, and was at first called the Canandaigua & Corning Railroad; this road is now a part of the Pennsylvania system. What is now known as the Batavia branch of the New York Central was constructed in 1853 by the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad Company. The electric interurban line between Rochester and Geneva was completed in May, 1904, and was first called the Rochester &
576
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
Eastern Rapid Railway; it is now a part of the New York State Railways.
Canandaigua was incorporated as a village under the terms of the legislative act passed April 18, 1815, and on the first Tues- day of the following June the first village election was held. The officers chosen then were: James Smedley, Thaddeus Chapin, Dr. Moses Atwater, Nathaniel W. Howell and Phineas P. Bates, trus- tees; Jasper Parrish, Asa Stanley, Freeman Atwater, Abner Barlow and John A. Stevens, assessors; Thomas Beals, treasurer ; Benjamin Waldron, collector. Judge Howell was elected presi- dent of the board, and Myron Holley, clerk. The presidents of the village from this date were: Eliphalet Taylor, 1816; Jeremiah F. Jenkins, 1817-18; James D. Bemis, 1819-20; William H. Adams, 1821; Francis Granger, 1822-23; Henry B. Gibson, 1824; John W. Beals, 1825; Phineas P. Bates, 1826-27; James Lyon, 1828-29; William Kibbe, 1830; Nathan Barlow, 1831-32; William Blossom, 1833; Alexander H. Howell, 1834; Phineas P. Bates, 1835; Nicholas G. Chesebro, 1836-39; Phineas P. Bates, 1840; Nicholas G. Chesebro, 1841-43; Jabez H. Metcalf, 1844; George W. Bemis, 1845-46; John A. Granger, 1847-49; Myron H. Clark, 1850-51; Alexander H. Howell, 1852; Thomas F. Brown, 1853; Cyrus Townsend, 1854; Alexander H. Howell, 1855; John J. Lyon, 1856-59; Henry C. Swift, 1860-61; Gideon Granger, 1862; Alexander McKechnie, 1863-64; Noah T. Clarke, 1865-66; John C. Draper, 1867; William H. Lamport, 1868; Jacob J. Mattison, 1869-71; Edward G. Tyler, 1872; Marshall Finley, 1873-74 ; Rol- lin L. Beecher, 1875-76; Hilem F. Bennett, 1877; J. Harvey Mason, 1878; William T. Swart, 1879; Amos H. Gillett, 1880; Rollin L. Beecher, 1881-82; Lyman C. North, 1883; John B. Rob- ertson, 1884-85; Alexander Grieve, 1886; Frank H. Hamlin, 1887; Mattison L. Parkhurst, 1888-89; W. M. Spangle, 1890; Charles F. Robertson, 1891; Lyman C. North, 1892-93; Mack S. Smith, 1894; Daniel M. Hulse, 1895-98; William H. Warfield, 1899-1902; Cornelius J. Andruss, 1903-04; Maynard H. Clement, 1905-10; Peter P. Turner, 1911.
Canandaigua was chartered as a city April 28, 1913, and the first officers were; Peter P. Turner, mayor; William Brooks, . clerk; W. M. Crowly, treasurer; Philip J. O'Keefe, judge; and Fred D. Cribb, attorney. Fred H. Partridge became mayor Jan-
577
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
uary 1, 1918, and on January 1, 1923, was succeeded by William J. McFarlane.
The Canandaigua Fire Company was the first organization of its kind in the village and came into existence in 1816, equipped with a hand engine, and composed of John W. Beals, Charles Underhill, Walter Hubbell, Punderson B. Underhill, Ebenezer Ely, Spencer Chapin, Nicholas Chesebro, Charles Hill, Manning Goodwin, Joseph Bull, George H. Boughton, George Clark, James Lyon, Mark H. Sibley, Simeon T. Kibbe, Hiram T. Day, Jeremiah F. Jenkins, W. N. Jenkins, John Clark and Abraham H. Bennett. In 1830 Fire Company No. 2 was organized; in 1832 the Canan- daigua Hook and Ladder Company, and in 1843 the Ontario Fire Company No. 3.
The first settler on the site of the city of Geneva was Elark Jennings, whose home and tavern stood near the present junction of Washington and Exchange streets, on the old Indian trail. This was in June, 1787. Within a comparatively short time sev- eral log huts and houses had appeared along this trail, one of the most pretentious of which was the tavern used by the Lessee Company, whose exploits have been mentioned, and occupied by its agent, Dr. Caleb Benton. Probably ten or twelve families lived on the site of Geneva by 1790. Milliken's history of Ontario County states that other settlers of this period were: "Peter Bartle, Indian trader; Horatio Jones, Indian interpreter; Asa Ransom, maker of Indian trinkets; Gilbert R. Berry, silversmith ; John Widner, farmer at the foot of the lake and ferry keeper; Daniel Earl and Solomon Earl, his son, farmers over the outlet ; Capt. Timothy Allyn and one Hickox, merchants; Jacob and Joseph Blackenstose, tailors, who by their skill created in time a statewide ambition to wear clothes made by a 'Geneva tailor ;' one Butler, the first carpenter; James Tallmage, a blacksmith, and Elisha Tallmage, merchant; Ezra Patterson, inn keeper, pre- sumably on the site of Carrollton; Joshua Fairbanks, inn keeper ; Colonel Seth Reed and Peter Ryckman, first holders of important land patents in Geneva; Major Benjamin Barton, Major Adam Hoops, Jacob Hart, Joseph Annin, William Jenkins, surveyors; Dr. William Adams, first physician, and a little later Doctor Andrews; and landowners among others as follows: Jerome Loomis, from Lebanon, Connecticut; Major Sanford Williams; Capt. Jonathan Whitney; Roger Noble, from Sheffield, Massachu-
36-Vol. I
578
HISTORY OF THE GENESEE COUNTRY
setts; James Latta, from New Windsor, New York; Solomon Warner, William Ansley, a Mr. Ringer, a Mr. Crittenden, owner of the farm on which were the Old Castle and the Indian mound; Phineas Stevens, at the Charles Bean place; while at Kashong were settled Joseph Poudre and Dominique De Bartzch, the latter a man of great influence at the time in this region. Other names of this period are: Sisson, Van Duzen, Butler, Jackson, Graham, and Scott, the last two being merchants who came in June, 1793." The McCormick Tavern on the southwest corner of North and Exchange streets, the first inn on the Kirkwood site, and Tuttle's tavern were other early hostelries in Geneva.
The site of Geneva was involved in two important land pat- ents. The first of these, covering the northern portion of the city, was issued by the land office of the state of New York to Col. Seth Reed in 1790, for services in the Revolutionary war; this consisted of 2,000 acres. The second patent, issued the same year and covering the southern part of the present city, was given to Peter Ryckman and Seth Reed, as tenants in common of a 16,000 acre tract, ceded by the Cayugas to Ryckman. However, at a later date, as noted elsewhere, a resurvey of the preemption line rendered void all former titles here as the land was found to lie east of true preemption, and thus inside of the military tract.
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.