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 2
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Colonel Rochester always retained the utmost faith and con- fidence in the future of the city. He looked forward to the day when his affairs should permit him to settle permanently at the falls. In 1813, Elisha Ely having applied for water privileges, Rochester wrote to both Carroll and Fitzhugh of his disappoint- ment in not being able to come to the falls himself and erect the mills, but that war conditions made it impossible. Of the three purchasers of the hundred acre tract, Fitzhugh and Carroll were never residents of Rochester. Carroll, a native Marylander and a large landowner, came to what is now the town of Groveland, in Livingston County, in 1815, and three years later was ap- pointed register of deeds for the Territory of Missouri. Later he returned to Groveland and died at Williamsburg October 28, 1823. William Fitzhugh, likewise a native of Maryland and at one time an aide on Washington's staff, came to the Genesee Country in May, 1816, and also located in Groveland, where he died Decem- ber 29, 1839.
MRS. NATHANIEL ROCHESTER EARLY IN LIFE
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Nathaniel Rochester was a man of clear foresight and acute business sense. There is in existence a letter written by him in 1825, which summarizes in his direct style the motives of his coming here and the subsequent events with which he was con- nected. There remain interesting descriptions of this austere, impressive figure and many intimate facts of his life have be- come history, but in these few score words he gives us the au- thentic story of the decade period of his life most important to the city of Rochester.
"In the spring of 1800," he wrote, "having six children then
living * I concluded that it would be best for them that I should remove to the west where more could be done for them, than in an old settled country. I therefore visited the northwest- ern territory (now Ohio), Kentucky and Tennessee with a view to purchasing an eligible situation for my family. I returned in August with a determination to remove to Kentucky, but on my return home two of my neighbors and most intimate friends were about to visit this part of the State of New York which had been but recently settled. They prevailed upon me to come with them. I then saw the great advantages this country had over the south- western states and we all purchased with a determination to re- move here as soon as we could close our business in Maryland. They were very wealthy men and purchased 12,000 acres of the best land in the country and I purchased about 500 acres on which were several good mill seats. On our return home, the families of my two friends were very much opposed to moving to this country and I did not like to come without them until May, 1810, when I removed to this country and built a grist mill, paper mill and sawmill at Dansville, about forty miles from this place, where I resided five years, when I sold there and purchased a very valuable farm about twenty miles from hence where I resided during the late war and until seven years ago, when I removed to this place and rented out my farm. Two years after my first visit and purchase in this country, say in 1802, my two neighbors and friends and I visited this country again to see our first purchases, when we purchased 100 acres of land at the falls of Genesee River for which we gave seven hundred pounds. The whole of this hundred acres has been laid out in streets, alleys, and quarter acre lots and pretty much covered with buildings, to-
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gether with as much more adjoining, which is included in the village (what is called a town in the south). In 1811, the year after my removal to this country, I laid out a village here and in 1812 several small houses were built, but the war commencing and being rather exposed to the incursions of the enemy very few im- provements were made until the close of the war in 1815.
"Since then the village has had the most rapid growth per- haps of any place in the United States and now contains 5,000 inhabitants and is now improving more rapidly than at any for- mer period. Not only the site of the village, but the country about it was all a wilderness in 1811, but is now a thickly settled country that turned out from ten to twelve thousand persons who met General Lafayette here on the 10th of June last. There can be no doubt but that Rochester will be one of the greatest manu- facturing places in the United States. It embraces more local advantages than any place I have ever seen and I have visited almost all of the states. The land for 100 miles in every direction is of the finest quality. The grand canal from Albany to Lake Erie runs through the center of the village. All the land carriage to the whole shores of Lake Ontario is but two miles. The Gene- see River, which runs through the center of the village north and south is navigable forty miles to the south and the canal opens a water communication to all the shores of Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior, and their navigable streams; and within two miles of where I now write there are at least 500 seats for water works, a great number of which are now occupied for mer- chant mills, sawmills, fulling mills, paper mills, oil mills, cotton and woolen factories, nail factories, furnaces, etc. All strangers are astonished at the rapid growth of the village and the quantity of business done in it. It is a thoroughfare for an immense num- ber of travelers from all quarters, east, west, north and south, and many from Europe, to see the canal, the aqueduct across the Genesee River and the Falls of Niagara and it is on the route from the New England states to the west and southwestern states. My third of the 100 acres of land purchased at this place is now worth one hundred thousand dollars exclusive of the houses thereon, but in order to get it settled I sold the lots very low."
According to the terms fixed by Rochester, the prevailing prices for lots were fifty dollars for those on the street front and thirty dollars for those with a rear location. He was acquainted
CONESTOGA WAGON
Such as used by the Pioneers coming into the Genesee Country. Col. Nathaniel Rochester used three of these vehicles when making his journey from the East,
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with the rudiments of surveying, and with his own chain and compass laid out the lots in his tract. Enos Stone, who had brought his family to the site in the previous year, was appointed by Rochester as his agent. The state road, following approxi- mately the present lines of Main and State streets, had been laid out and the first lots surveyed were grouped around the corners made by the turn in this highway. The first lot established was that now occupied by the Powers Building and the lines of the principal streets were determined. Soon about fifty lots, in size, according to Rochester's statement, nearly a quarter-acre each, were ready for sale and to Enos Stone was assigned the job of exploiting them. That he lost no time in going about his work is indicated by the fact that buyers soon appeared. Stone him- self purchased the first lot, No. 26, and paid for it the regular price-fifty dollars. Henry Skinner, of Geneseo, purchased lot No. 1 (Powers corner) for two hundred dollars, the highest price of the initial sales. This price was based upon the location of the lot and, in addition, Skinner was required to "build and erect a dwelling house on the said lot not less than thirty by twenty feet, with brick or stone chimney, said house to be raised and enclosed on or before the first day of January next (1813) and finished within six months thereafter." Rather a pretentious outlay for this clearing in the wilderness, but the object naturally was to attract settlers and at the same time forestall land specula- tion as much as possible. Subsequent sales of lots in the tract are a matter of record. Historians have painstakingly listed the buyers, the lots, the prices and other facts, but in the library of the Rochester Historical Society there exists today Colonel Rochester's own written record of the first few score purchases made, different in many instances from the accepted accounts, but the most authentic transcript of the matter. He regarded the prospects of developing his community as very satisfactory. The building of the Main Street bridge in the latter part of 1811, which provided the nearest crossing of the Genesee this side of Avon, promised to bring many caravans of grain this way-with the consequent advertisement of the settlement. A decided slump in selling occurred during the war period, which is described in the paragraphs dealing with the military history of Rochester, but after 1815 settlers in considerable number again ventured
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into this section and the little village by the falls very briskly renewed its growth.
The pioneer period of Rochester, or the era of settlement as it can be termed, may, for the sake of convenience, be placed between the years of 1788 and 1817, which were, respectively, the years of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase and the incorporation of "Rochesterville" as a village. With the latter event, on April 21, 1817, the village doffed its swaddling clothes and entered upon the period of adolescence.
The present area of the city of Rochester is vast compared with the original one hundred acres on the river bank. When the first settlements were made this outlying territory was virtually an unbroken wilderness, a swamp, unhealthful and forbidding. Few very early settlements were made in the uncharted region outside of the hundred acres, and these few were characterized by squalor and destitution and beset by malaria. Only the hardiest had the courage to face these conditions. Charlottesburg, Frank- fort, Carthage and Hanford's Landing were settlements whose location was within what is now Rochester; each had its dreams of metropolitan greatness, which perished by the immutable law of the survival of the fittest.
We know that late in the eighteenth century one Farewell established himself on what is now Lake Avenue; that in 1807 Charles Harford constructed a "block house" on State Street near Lyell, also a mill; and that Enos Stone, Colonel Rochester's right hand man, built his cabin on the west side of the river in 1810. William Hincher, a participant in Shay's Rebellion, for which he was forced to leave Massachusetts, came to the Genesee Country in August, 1791, and settled at Long Pond, where he built the first house on the shore of Lake Ontario between the Genesee and Niagara rivers. The settlement of Charlottesburg, or Charlotte, came within a tract of land at the mouth of the Genesee sold by Phelps and Gorham to Joseph Smith soon after 1789. Smith sold the tract to James Latta for $175 and Latta's deed, recorded at Canandaigua September 16, 1790, is said to have been the first deed to land in what is now Monroe County. Samuel Latta, son of the purchaser, settled thereon shortly afterward, constructed a warehouse, and was soon joined by others. Tradition has it that when Robert Troup became agent for the Pulteney estate, in 1801, the settlement was given the name of Charlottesburg in honor of
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his daughter. This meager, and vainly ambitious settlement has been absorbed in the city limits of Rochester, but in its heyday it boasted of a shipyard where a number of vessels were laid down. The military affair at Charlottesburg in 1813 is described in the chapter on the military history of the city.
Hanford's Landing-that muck-hole of ague and malaria- was originally called King's Landing, but, of course, has now been swallowed up by Rochester. Gideon King and Zadock Granger, from Connecticut, bought some three thousand acres on the west side of the Genesee, approximately half way between Rochester and the little settlement at Charlotte. King improved his site by building a house, a road and a dock, and the place was called King's Landing until his death. The seven brothers Han- ford came here from Rome, New York, and purchased a consider- able portion of the King tract, and thus inherited the dock which, in fact, was the principal one on the river until Caleb Lyon and others founded the settlement of Carthage, about a mile above on the east side of the river. Hanford's Landing was also called Fall Town; by 1816 the site was abandoned to the rattlesnakes and mosquitoes.
Carthage-of pretentious name and equally pretentious hopes -was houseless, bridgeless and roadless when Elisha B. Strong, native of Connecticut and Yale man, came here in 1817. Caleb Lyon had cleared land on the site about 1809. In 1816 Strong, with Elisha Beach, bought one thousand acres of land in the vicinity and when they came next year they found that Caleb Lyon had induced a few families to settle on the tract and erect log cabins with "squatter's" privileges. Strong, Beach and He- man Norton formed a land company and engaged Elisha Johnson to survey the ground in 1817. Carthage apparently was destined to be the metropolis of the Genesee Country, but now it is only a name. At one time the village boasted of a postoffice, a tavern, schools and stores and, above all, a monumental bridge connecting the high banks of the Genesee. The bridge was used about a year and then collapsed. Elisha Strong was the patron saint of Carthage and one of the strong characters of the section in that day. He was the first county judge of Monroe, member of the legislature from Ontario County in 1819-20, and withal one of the most earnest boosters for the county among the citizens.
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Frankfort was the name given to a small community on the east side of the river composed of Francis Brown, Matthew Brown, Jr., and Samuel J. Andrews. It was afterwards absorbed by the city. Tryon was another settlement with hopes of being a city; the fate of this ill-starred community is discussed in the Monroe County chapter, as the site is not included in what is now the city of Rochester.
The settlements at Irondequoit Bay may be included in nam- ing those which were made within what is now the city of Roches- ter. It is recorded that the first settlement here was made in 1791 by William "Tory" Walker, formerly with Brant and Butler, and a rival of "Indian" Allan in his inhuman acts. A mulatto named Dunbar located here in 1796, also Samuel Spaf- ford. Among others who came later were: Jesse Case, Jesse Taintor, Elmer Reynolds, John Culver, Ransford Perrin, Adoni- jah Green, Abner Wakley and Abel Densmore.
The pioneers of Rochester who settled here prior to the year 1820, and through whose efforts the village was so definitely launched upon her path to greatness, were mostly from the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. They endured the discomforts, the hardships, the dangers without com- plaint and most of them were able to appreciate whatever humor was in their situation, no matter how trying the latter might be. Enos Stone, conspicuous in the sale of lots on the original hundred acres, was from Massachusetts. Stone was not the first of the name in this vicinity, as Peck writes that Enos and Orange Stone, from Massachusetts also, came in 1790 and built a tavern near the council rock and big elm on what is now East Avenue in the town of Brighton. It is said that the Duke of Orleans (later King Louis Philippe) and his brothers were dined at this inn in 1797. Enos Stone, however, was one of the substantial individuals of early Rochester. The Main Street bridge was secured largely, through his efforts, that structure which the legislature declared would only be used by the muskrats. Enos Stone died October 23, 1851, at the age of seventy-six, having attained wealth in his later years.
Hamlet Scrantom, native of Connecticut, came here in 1812. The previous year he had visited the Wadsworths at Geneseo and they directed him to the falls of the Genesee as a most desirable
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spot to locate. Henry Skinner, who owned the two hundred dollar lot No. 1, which he had purchased from Colonel Rochester, offered to provide Scrantom a house thereon. Fever and ague among the workmen, however, retarded the work and Scrantom resided across the river with Enos Stone until the dwelling was finished. Scrantom was a miller by trade and afterwards became a prop- erty holder in the village, where he lived until his death in 1850. During his life he did much for the cause of religion and educa- tion.
Oliver Culver, a Connecticut Yankee and well entitled to a place in the gallery of Rochester pioneers, claimed that he first visited the falls in 1796. In the autumn of 1805 he assisted in cutting out the road where Main Street now is, extending from the river two miles to the intersection of the old landing road. The only dwelling here then was a log house built by Colonel Fisk in connection with the Allan mills. Culver stated at one time in the '40s : "In 1813 we had not given up hope that the Irondequoit Landing would be the port of entry, everything here was so for- bidding and inaccessible."
Silas O. Smith, from Massachusetts, located at Hanford's Landing in March, 1810. His arrival at the falls was attended with some adventure. Enos Stone directed him in the treacher- ous fording of the Genesee, but he had no sooner reached the west side than he fell into Allan's mill race. Dr. Jonah Brown, hailing from eastern New York, came to Rochester in 1813 and was the first physician in the village. Harvey Ely also came in this year from Massachusetts. He was a miller and later embarked in a mercantile business with Elisha Ely and Josiah Bissell. These three men erected the first merchants' mill in the settlement. Jehiel Barnard came to the settlement in 1812 and erected a small building, 18x26 feet, which was destined to play many roles as a shelter. First it was Barnard's tailor shop and, in addition, was afterward used as the first shoemaking shop, the first schoolhouse and the first general meeting place. The early settlers of Roches- ter generally congregated in one of two places-Barnard's tailor shop or Mrs. Abelard Reynolds' kitchen. Gideon Cobb, a typical character of the period, came to Rochester in 1813, having been in Erie County the previous year. Cobb established the first public conveyance, which was a four-ox team. With this outfit he jour-
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neyed between Rochester and the mouth of the river for two years, subsisting on a rough fare of pork and beans. He had his pro- visions cooked in bulk, and one supply would last from one to two weeks except in warm weather when they were prone to sour. Cobb became a very prosperous farmer in the town of Brighton and later contracted for a building for the courts and public offices of Monroe County when the latter was created. In writing of pork, it may be said that this fare was craved by those who were convalescent after the ague, just as one who suffers the loss. of blood craves water. Daniel Graves, who came here from New Hampshire in 1818, was seized with sixty-four attacks of the ague the first summer he was here and there was not a pound of pork within a hundred miles of the falls.
Abelard Reynolds, who was born in Massachusetts, and by trade a saddler, came to the falls in 1812 and in November was appointed postmaster. The proceeds of the office for the first. half year were $3.46. Reynolds was the first inn-keeper on the hundred acres, was afterward an alderman, a member of the leg- islature, and was the builder of the Arcade. S. G. Andrews arrived in the winter of 1815. Erastus Cook, from New York, established a silversmithing business in Rochesterville as early as 1815. Elisha Ely, native of Massachusetts, came to the settle- ment in the summer of 1813 and erected a sawmill where "In- dian" Allan formerly had his grist mill. During his life Ely was active in the support of schools and churches; he also had a store and operated the "Red Mill" with Harvey Ely and Josiah Bis- sell, Jr.
We have noted in a preceding paragraph that during the years of the war with Great Britain settlements at the falls of the Genesee were infrequent, trade suffered a slump and altogether conditions were not encouraging. However, the war over and the menace of attack removed, Rochesterville quickly revived. The years of 1815 and 1816 were periods of recuperation. The village at this time consisted of rows of one and a half story shops along a few streets. Brush was burned to clear the principal streets; the west side of Washington Street was a wilderness; State Street. had been cleared, but the stumps were still standing; the forest. came almost to the west line of the latter street and on the west side of Exchange there were but few structures. On North Fitz-
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hugh Street there were some settlers and from North Sophia west- ward beyond Washington there was an ash swamp filled with water most of the year. Long pendant moss hung from the trees in this district and a log causeway stretched its length across the morass. On the east side of the river there was a small cluster of houses on Main and St. Paul streets and from Clinton Street east was mostly forest. The principal feature of the court house yard was a frog pond adjacent to a high stone ledge. Notwith- standing the drab coloration of the scene the hearts of the pioneers here held visions of prosperity; they foresaw the dawning of a new era and their faith in their chosen home was unshaken. Many came here in 1816 and in the few years thereafter. Communica- tion was established by regular stage with the outside world. In 1815 Samuel Hildreth of Pittsford started a two-horse stage be- tween Rochesterville and Canandaigua, running twice each week, and in the next year a post route was established between Canan- daigua and Lewiston by way of Rochesterville. The Rochester Gazette was first published this year and in 1817 land on the east side of the river was laid out into building lots. The village had grown to such an extent in 1817 that some protection from fires was believed necessary, so a board of fire wardens was appointed and certain ordinances made relating thereto. Police protection, or rather the "night watch," did not appear until after the in- corporation of the village in 1817.
Following Erastus Cook in the silversmithing business came Jonathan Packard from Massachusetts in 1816. Jacob Graves arrived from the same state in 1816 and purchased a small tan- nery which afterward developed into an enterprise of magnitude. William Brewster, an upholsterer and cabinet maker, came from Connecticut in 1816. Fisher Bullard, of Massachusetts, became a resident in this year and was one of the company which organ- ized The Genesee Cotton Manufacturing Company, a short-lived venture. Charles J. Hill arrived at the falls in 1816 and, in 1821, with Mr. Leavitt, erected the first brick building on Fitzhugh Street. Judge Moses Chapin, a Massachusetts native and Yale graduate, came to the village in 1821 and found six attorneys already here: John Mastick, Hastings R. Bender, Anson House, Roswell Babbitt, Enos Pomeroy and Joseph Spencer. Col. Anson Newton reached the village in March, 1817, from Connecticut. He later became an inn-keeper on the site of the later Blossom
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