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 II > Part 15
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Tall Chief (A-wa-nis-ha-dek-ha) lived alternately at Squakie Hill and at a group of five huts known as Tall Chief's Village located on Murray Hill, Mount Morris. Tall Chief was favored by nature with more than ordinary grace of person. He is said to have resembled Henry Clay in demeanor. Straight as an ar- row and quite senatorial in deportment, he was always cool and self-possessed. Tall Chief dined with Washington on the occasion of a visit of a deputation of his nation, sent to smoke the peace pipe with the President.
Straight-back, so named because of his erect walk and stately manner, was a son of Tall Chief, and acquired no little of the respect held by the whites for his father.
William Tall Chief (Ho-is-da-geh-thet) was also a son of Tall Chief. His personal appearance was quite striking; a man: of integrity, more noted as a hunter than a councilor ...
Big Tree (Ga-on-dah-go-wah) "was a useful friend of the American cause in the Revolution, and a leading adviser in all treaties and councils of the Senecas. He resided many years at Big Tree Village (in Leicester, already mentioned) which took his name. In the summer of 1778 Washington sent Big Tree to the towns of his tribe along the Genesee, in the hope that his per- sonal influence and eloquence might win the Senecas to the cause of the colonies. The Senecas seemed at first to be inclined to hearken to his wishes, but learning that the Americans were about to invade their country, all flew to arms, and Big Tree put himself at their head, determined to chastise an enemy that would pre- sume to encroach upon his people's territory."3
3 Doty's History of Livingston County.
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Black Chief (Tha-on-dah-diis) resided at Squakie Hill. "His swarthy complexion procured him his English name. He signal- ized himself in war as well as in peace, and enjoyed, in a large degree, the confidence and respect of his people."
Jack Berry lived at Squakie Hill. "He often acted as inter- preter for Red Jacket. He had a peculiar way of prefacing and clinching every sentence of the great orator's speeches, thus, 'Jacket says,' then, interpreting his words, he would end with, 'that's what Jacket says'."
Captain Pollard (Ga-on-do-wah-neh), meaning "Big Tree," lived at Big Tree Village, and was also known to the whites as Big Tree. "His mother was a Seneca squaw and his father an English trader. He had great weight in councils; his judgment was sound, and his oratorical powers scarcely inferior to the best of his race. Horatio Jones said, 'morally speaking, Pollard was as good a man as any white minister that ever lived'."
Hot Bread (O-ah-gwa-dai-ya) was one of the leading wise men at Canawaugus. "He was quite gifted as a speaker and stood well with his brother chieftains and tribesmen. Hot Bread was indolent and his appetite voracious. Red Jacket once said of him, 'Hot Bread, waugh! big man here,' pointing to his stomach, 'but small here,' bringing the palm of his hand with emphasis across his forehead."
Half Town (Ga-ji-ot) lived at Big Tree. He possessed a strong mind and was a wise councilor.
Sharp Shins (Haah-tha-o) "was a small Indian with diminu- tive legs, thin features and a squeaking voice, but was generally reckoned among the leading men of his people. In early life he was a noted runner for a long race."
John Montour (Do-noh-do-ga) "was of mixed blood, a descend- ant of Queen Catherine, a half blood of great beauty, whose father was said to have been a French governor of Canada, and whose mother was a squaw. Catherine became the wife of a noted chief, and allied herself with the Cayugas, establishing a village at the head of Seneca Lake. Here John was living at the opening of the Revolution. He removed to the Genesee Country and after the peace of 1783 settled at Big Tree Village. He was acting with the force under Butler, between the Genesee and Conesus Lake, when Sullivan lay at the inlet, and retreated to Fort Niagara when the American army advanced toward the river towns."
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Mary Jemison (De-he-wa-mis), more commonly known as the White Woman, is probably the best known of the Indian person- ages of the region ; her tragical story has been told so many times that it will not need repetition here. She was greatly venerated by the Indians, and during a large part of her life she formed the principal medium of communication between the whites and the Senecas. At the treaty of Big Tree in 1797 the extensive Gardeau Reservation was set apart for her use; here she lived for many years, and finally removed to the Buffalo Reservation, where, after a life of vicissitude, she died in 1833. In 1874 her remains were removed with appropriate ceremonies to the grave at Glen Iris, Letchworth Park, and here her remains are finding a last resting place near the old Caneadea council house and by the river she loved.
The invasion in 1779 by Sullivan of the territory of the Senecas in this county resulted in the total ruin of the Indian settlements and the complete destruction of their crops. A few of the leading Indians lingered near their beautiful homes while the war of destruction was in progress, while the others fled to Fort Niagara. An incident is related in this connection. Chief Big Tree had strenuously urged his countrymen to observe a strict neutrality, but without success. This chieftain stood with others on an ele- vated spot and saw his own possessions destroyed. "You see how the Americans treat their friends," said some of those around him favorable to Great Britain. "What I see," calmly replied the chief, "is only the common fortune of war. It cannot be supposed that the Americans can distinguish my property from yours, who are their enemies."
"In the spring of 1780 several Seneca families came back, and temporarily settled in the neighborhood of their former villages on the Genesee, but the greater portion of them never returned. The precautions had been taken by the natives, prior to Sullivan's arrival, to bury a quantity of corn, beans and other seeds, first placing them in mats of black ash bark, then concealing them in a cache, or trench dug in the earth, covering the whole with sand and litter. The army did not find this buried grain, and it was withdrawn by the Indians from its hiding places on their return and used by them for the spring planting."+
4 Doty's History of Livingston County.
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Sullivan's expedition was fruitful of great results in other ways, however, than the temporary subjugation of the Indians. The fertile and beautiful country now forming the western part of the State of New York was then an unknown wilderness and its value and attractiveness were first made known to the white peo- ple through this expedition. "There had come along with Sulli- van," says Turner, "a great number of those who were looking forward to the time when the war should close, and opportunity would be given for the growth of new settlements. They passed through the valley of the Mohawk, of our interior lakes, of the Susquehanna, delighted at every step with the beautiful prospects that surrounded them, until arriving at the valley of the Genesee it realized their highest hopes and most extravagant expectations. They returned to their homes to mingle with the narratives of an Indian war descriptions of a country that they had seen, resolved themselves to retrace their steps upon the more peaceful mission of emigration and settlement, and their representations turned the attention of others in this direction." On their way they recog- nized the extraordinary fertility of the soil in this new country, the salubrity of its climate, and the beauty of its ever changing vistas of hills and valleys and forest-bound lakes. Soon after the close of the war the tide of emigration commenced to flow west- ward. From the New England states, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, came hardy pioneers, led on by the glowing accounts they had heard of the new country; and the vicinity of the inland lakes, the borders of the flowing streams, the forest-covered hills became the dwelling places of a rapidly growing band of settlers. The road which Sullivan had opened from the Susquehanna Val- ley was followed by many of the settlers, even to the banks of the Genesee.
"Thus many of those who had shared the perils and privations of Sullivan's expedition afterwards became the set- tlers of the land they had aided to conquer, and under the hand of civilization it has literally become one of the garden spots of America, where nature rewards abundantly the labors of the hus- bandman, and hundreds of villages and cities teem with busy populations."5
The owners of the great tracts of land into which the Genesee
5 Norton's History of Sullivan's Campaign.
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM WADSWORTH
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Country had been parceled, were eminently fair and considerate towards the settler, and justified Turner's comment that it "could hardly have fallen into better hands. Both the English and the Dutch companies, under whose auspices as proprietors three- fourths of the whole state west of Seneca Lake was settled, were composed of capitalists who made investments of large amounts of money in the infancy of the Republic, when its stability was by no means a settled fact. They were satisfied with reasonable returns for their vast outlays, and patient under the delays of payment as all must concede. In all their correspond- ence with their agents no wish or indication escapes them of a disposition to have the new settlers oppressed, or to have their business conducted in any other than a fair, honest and liberal manner."
Although not the first white settlers within the county, for Horatio and John Jones, among others, had preceded them, the two Wadsworths, James and William, were the leading men of the early settlement days, establishing here the family which has contributed in so many important ways to the development, not only of the Genesee Country, but of a much larger field, most justly earning a national distinction in every quality which makes for citizenship of the highest rank, qualities asserted con- sistently by every generation from James and William down. James Wadsworth was a Yale graduate. He taught school for a year in Montreal, and returned to his home in Hartford, Connecti- cut, with the intention of locating later in Vermont. An uncle, Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, who had been a distinguished member of Congress from Connecticut, and who was President Washing- ton's commissioner at the Big Tree Treaty of 1797, had acquired an interest in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase and he offered his nephews, James and William, one-half of his holdings, or about one-twentieth of the whole tract, at actual cost, and the agency of the other half, if they would go to the Genesee Country as his representatives. This was acceptable to them, and preparations were made for the rough overland journey to the new country. In the spring of 1790 William, accompanied by two or three hired men and Jenny, a colored slave girl, went ahead, traveling by ox cart and three yoke of oxen. James joined his brother at Albany, having come with supplies from New York by sloop up the Hud- son. At Schenectady a boat was purchased and in this James
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proceeded via the Mohawk to Little Falls, while William traveled overland, ready to draw the boat and its cargo around the falls. Rome was the next stop, then a portage by the ox team and cart brought them to Wood Creek. From here William struck out for Canandaigua, which he reached several days ahead of James, whose boat had become grounded in Wood Creek. He was here overtaken by Augustus Porter, brother of General Porter, who took a part of Mr. Wadsworth's cargo on his boat, and the two parties in company eventually found their way to Canandaigua Lake and to the hospitable cabin of Phelps and Gorham at Canan- daigua. The brothers then started for the site of the Big Tree Village (Geneseo), having learned of a very desirable tract at that point. Camp was made the first night at Pitt's Flats and the second, east of the foot of Conesus Lake. Choosing different routes they resumed the journey to Big Tree, which James reached first, and began cutting logs for a cabin. William became lost in the swamp about two miles northeast of the present village of Geneseo and had to pass the night there. James, in the meantime, becom- ing alarmed over his brother's absence, started in search of the party, found them the next morning and guided them to the des- tination. Here they arrived June 10, 1790. Lemuel Jennings was the only other white settler within easy reach and it is said that he was attracted to the camp of the newcomers by the sound of their axes, while he was herding cattle in the vicinity for Oliver Phelps.
The first purchase of the Wadsworths, in all 2,000 acres, had been secured for eight cents per acre; the same season a second purchase of 4,000 acres was made at fifty cents an acre, which was the price fixed by the Phelps and Gorham Company for Gene- see land. At this time a census of Ontario County (then embrac- ing all of the Genesee Country) was taken by Gen. Amos Hall, who reported that within the present limits of Lima there were four families, comprising twenty-three people; in Sparta there was one family of five; in Geneseo eight families, with thirty-four persons; Avon had ten families, comprising sixty-six persons; Caledonia ten families, numbering forty-four members; and Lei- cester had four white families, with seventeen persons.
Roads had not yet been opened and only the Indian trails, sometimes almost impassable, permitted access to the valley of
COLONEL JEREMIAH WADSWORTH
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the Genesee. There were virtually no habitations west of the Genesee River, as settlement in this district, until 1792, had been discouraged, owing to the general feeling of unrest among the Indians, the result of machinations of certain groups antagonistic to the government.
The year 1792 brought an increased tide of settlers to the Genesee Country. The Albany Gazette in July published a flatter- ing account of the new country, as follows: "We are assured of the rapid increase of settlements there, encouraged by the situa- tion, climate and soil-equal in goodness to any part of the United States-and that the fever and ague, which it is common to sup- pose is epidemical there, has scarcely been known the present sea- son. The Indians are very friendly, attending solely to their domestic concerns and gradually acquiring civilized habits." Other eastern journals carried extensive advertisements of the western New York lands.
In 1790, in the so-called Indian lands west of the river, lived Horatio Jones, also the families of William Ewing, Nathan Fow- ler and Jeremiah Gregory. In the autumn of 1792 William Mc- Cartney purchased 320 acres in what is now Sparta, near the Steuben County line. He was the first white settler in that sec- tion and remained alone, without a neighbor within ten miles, for a year. McCartney was a native Scotchman and came to America a year previous to his settlement in the Genesee Country. In later years he held a number of county offices and for two terms sat in the state assembly. He died in 1831.
The Marquis de Talleyrand, exiled French statesman, visited the Genesee and was enchanted with the country. Something of its character and the spirit of the times may be found in the fol- lowing excerpts from descriptions written by men of that day.
"Many times," writes Thomas Morris, "did I break out in an enthusiastic frenzy anticipating the probable situation of this wilderness twenty years hence. All that reason can ask may be obtained by the industrious hand; the only danger to be feared is, that luxuries will flow too cheap. From Canandaigua I traveled about twenty-six miles through a fine country, with many settle- ments forming; this brought me to the Genesee River. On this river a great many farms are laying out; sixty-five miles from its mouth is a town marked out by the name of Williamsburgh,
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and will in all probability be a place of much trade; in the present situation of things it is remote, when considered in a commercial point of view ; but should the fort of Oswego be given up, and the lock navigation be completed, there will not be a carrying place between New York and Williamsburgh. * After I had reached the Genesee River, curiosity led me on to Niagara, ninety miles-not one house or white man the whole way. The only direc- tion I had was an Indian path, which sometimes was doubtful. The first day I rode fifty miles, through swarms of mosquitoes, gnats, etc., beyond all description."6
Another writer says: "The peculiar advantages which dis- tinguish these lands over most of the new settled countries of America, are these following: 1. The uncommon excellence and fertility of the soil. 2. The superior quality of the timber, and the advantages of easy cultivation, in consequence of being gen- erally free from underwood. 3. The abundance of grass for cattle in the woods, and on the extensive meadow grounds upon the lakes and rivers. 4. The vast quantities of the sugar maple tree, in every part of the tract. 5. The great variety of other fine timber, such as oak, hickory, black walnut, chestnut, ash of different kinds, elm, butternut, basswood, poplar, pines and also thorn trees of a prodigious size. 6. The variety of fruit trees, and also smaller fruits, such as apple and peach orchards, in different places, which were planted by the Indians, plum and cherry trees, mulberries, grapes of different kinds, raspberries, huckleberries, blackberries, gooseberries, and strawberries in vast quantities ; also cranberries, black-haws, etc. 7. The vast variety of wild animals and game which is to be found in this country, such as deer, moose deer, and elk of very large size, beavers, otters, martins, minks, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, bears, wildcats, etc., many of which furnish excellent furs and peltry. 8. The great variety of birds for game such as wild turkeys, pheasants, part- ridges, pigeons, plover, heath-fowl, and Indian hen, together with a vast variety of water-fowl on the rivers and lakes, such as wild geese and ducks, of many different kinds, not known in Europe. 9. The uncommon abundance of very fine fish, with which the lakes and rivers abound, among which are to be found excellent salmon of two different kinds, salmon-trout of a very large size,
6 Doty's History of Livingston County.
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white and yellow perch, sheep-heads, pike, suckers and eels of a very large size, with a variety of other fish in their different seasons. 10. The excellence of the climate in that region where these lands are situated, is less severe in winter, and not so warm in summer, as the same latitudes near the sea. The total exemp- tion from all periodical disorders, particularly the fever and ague, which does not prevail in the Genesee Country, on account of the rising grounds and fine situations. 11. The vast advantages derived from navigable lakes, rivers and creeks, which intersect and run through every part of this tract of country, affording a water communication from the northern parts of the grant by the Genesee River one way, or by the Seneca River another way into the great Lake Ontario and from thence by Cataraqui to Quebec, or by the said Seneca River, the Oneida Lake and Wood Creek, to Schenectady on the Mohawk River, with only a short land car- riage, and from thence to Albany, with a portage of sixteen miles; affording also a water communication from almost every town- ship of the southern part of the grant by means of the different branches of the Tioga River, which joining the Susquehanna, affords an outlet to produce, through an immense extent of coun- try on every hand, to Northumberland, and all the towns upon the great branch of this river, down to Maryland and Virginia; and (with a portage of twelve miles) even to Philadelphia with small boats; and when the improvements are made in the Susque- hanna, and the projected canal cut between the Schuylkill and that river, there will be an uninterrupted good water communica- tion for boats of ten or fifteen tons from the interior parts of the Genesee Country all the way to Philadelphia. 12. But above all, the uncommon benefits these lands derive from the vicinity to the thickly settled countries in New York and New England govern- ments on the one hand, and Northumberland County in Pennsyl- vania on the other, from all which quarters, from the great advantages which are held out, there must be an overflow of emigrants every year, until these lands are fully settled, which expectation is already completely evinced, from the rapid popula- tion that has taken place on the east boundaries of the grant upon the Tioga River, and between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes up to Ontario, where, in the course of three or four years, above eight hundred families have fixed themselves in this fertile country,
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most of whom having emigrated from the eastern states of New England, New York and Pennsylvania, have all the advantages which are to be derived from a perfect knowledge of the country, and from that kind of education and local resource, which soon renders the situation of a new settler comfortable and happy, enabling them, at the same time, to assist newcomers, who may be less acquainted with the nature of the country.
"At present wheat can be sent from the Genesee Settlement to Philadelphia, at one shilling sterling per bushel; but if the water communication be opened between the two rivers, the cost will not exceed fourpence. Dry goods can now be sent to these new settlements at about eight shillings sterling per hundred weight, which will probably be reduced to three shillings when the navi- gation is completed.
"No country in the world is better adapted for raising cattle than the Genesee grant. One of the first settlers in that country asserts that he can every season cut wild grass on his own farm in the Genesee Flats sufficient to maintain 2,000 head of cattle through the winter ; and that such hay, with rushes and vegetables which are found above the snow, generally keep the cattle fat without any expense. Hogs can also be reared in the woods at little or no expense to the farmer. As the distance from Phila- delphia (between which and the Genesee lands a road was to be completed in 1791) is somewhat less by land than two hundred miles, there can be no difficulty in driving fat cattle and hogs to that market for sale; as they can transport themselves at a very small expense, and as the demand for provisions increases every year, and a liberal price is given for beef and pork, there can be no doubt but the rearing of cattle and hogs, as well as horses, for sale in the low countries, will soon become a great object of profit to the settlers, as the extensive ranges of meadow ground on the flats, and the blue grass, white clover and pea-vine in the woods, must enable the farmer to feed almost any number he can raise, or find capital to purchase. In many parts of the tract there is little or no underwood, and excellent pasture in the forests between the trees, in consequence of their being in general of enormous size, and of the considerable distance between them, thereby affording even a wide range for cattle in the upland country, as well as in the flats and meadows, which have already been represented to be
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luxuriant beyond description, in a species of coarse grass, very fit for hay. It is said that there are many wild horses upon the tract, which is additional proof of there being winter food in the flat lands and in the forests.
"The present settlers have already got a fine stock of cattle and hogs, and find that they thrive and increase very fast; but as yet there are very few sheep, although, it is supposed, they would succeed well on the hills, after the country is more fully peopled. Several genteel families are preparing to settle on the tract this season, which will greatly facilitate the population of these lands. The crops of wheat, Indian corn, and other small grains were very abundant last year; so that the present settlers are in a situation to assist and supply the wants of newcomers.
"The market for grain and provision raised in the Genesee Country will be on the spot for some time to come, and the con- stant influx of settlers, who may be expected, until the whole of these lands are occupied, will, at least for a time consume all the surplus produce; afterwards the city of Philadelphia will probably be the best market; and while the country is in progress of being settled, the hemp and flax raised by the Genesee farmers, and also the ashes and sugar made upon these lands, and the skins and furs procured by hunting, must ultimately go to Philadelphia and New York; but this will be the business of the merchant, who will receive all these articles from the farmer in return for dry goods, implements of husbandry, salt and rum, and such other articles as the settlers may want."
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