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 21
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The census of Geneseo taken in 1790 by Gen. Amos Hall showed eight families with forty-three people. Twenty years later this figure jumped to 148 families with 894 people. In 1805 there were twelve dwellings in the village and a quarter century later there were ninety-six buildings, with a population of 500.
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It is interesting to read the business directory of Geneseo for 1830. This includes the following names: Andrew Stewart, C. R. Vance, Chauncey Metcalf, E. M. Buell, Owen P. Olmsted, R. Van Rens- selaer and Henry P. North, merchants; Dr. Eli Hill, druggist; John F. Wyman, grocer; Jacob B. Hall and C. Heath, harness makers; Elijah H. Perkins and Oliver Spalding, hatters; Horace Alpin and Walter Smith, shoemakers; Henry Thompson, Andrew Stillwell and Samuel Thompson, tailors; Cecil Clark, wagon maker; Chauncey Parsons, Joseph W. Lawrence, Jr., Joseph P. Sharp and Benjamin Tucker, blacksmiths; Samuel Gardner and J. F. Butler, cabinet makers; Moses Hunt, chairmaker and painter; Cyrus L. Warner and Frederick W. Butler, carpenters; Medad Curtiss, Grandison Curtiss and Calvin Church, stone masons; Colt & Nowlen and Len Goddard, plough makers; Harry Metcalf, livery; Comfort & Hamilton (the American), John Fitz (the Geneseo), Jesse P. Button (the Eagle), and Chauncey Wat- son (the Farmers' Inn), hotels.
Water for the village was secured from springs in the east part between the years 1845 and 1887; in the latter year a new system was constructed, costing close to $100,000, which brought the water from Conesus Lake by way of a reservoir two miles from the village. A very serious fire occurred January 6, 1864, which wiped out the store buildings on the west side of Main Street.
Information concerning the professional history, banks, churches, schools, etc., is to be found in chapters covering these subjects.
The original town of Sparta embraced the present towns of Sparta, West Sparta, Groveland, North Dansville and a part of Springwater. The formation of these latter towns, thus reducing Sparta to its present dimensions, is described on preceding pages.
The first town meeting of original Sparta before the organi- zation of Livingston County, was held at the home of William Lemen in Williamsburg in April, 1796, when the following were elected : £ William Harris, supervisor; William Lemen, town clerk; John McNair, James Rosebrugh and Henry Magee, asses- sors; Matthias Lemen and Alexander McDonald, commissioners of highways; Samuel Mills, James Henderson and Robert Erwin, commissioners of schools; William McCartney and Hector
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Mckay, pathmasters; Asahel Simons, pound keeper; Nathan Fowler and Jeremiah Gregory, fence viewers; John Ewart, con- stable and collector.
The first town meeting, as the town is now constituted, was held in 1847, when Philip Woodruff was elected supervisor.
James Collar is credited with having made the first settle- ment in Scottsburg in 1794 and for a number of years the place was called Collartown. He came from Pennsylvania in 1794 and built a log house on the site of the village of Scottsburg, the one village of the town. More Pennsylvanians followed him, among them Darling Havens, John Niblack, Asa Simons, Rob- ert Wilson, Thomas Hovey and Alexander Fullerton, all settling in the town before 1796. Havens was the keeper of the first tavern, at a place long known as Haven's Corners, it was a very popular rendezvous. Philip Gilman, John Carpenter, James McCurdy, James Scott, the Hamshers, Kuhns, Samples, Artlips, Steffys, Litchards, Mckays, Hammonds and Driesbachs came later. The first postoffice in Sparta was established in 1814; Samuel Stillwell was the earliest postmaster. The first mill was built by W. D. McNair in 1810. William Scott and his brother built a grist mill in 1813.
From 1814 until his death in 1825, Captain Daniel Shays, of "Shays' Rebellion" fame, lived in the town of Sparta. A citi- zen of much importance in the town was William Scott, a native of Pennsylvania already mentioned, who came to Sparta in 1806 with his father's family, locating four miles east of the village of Scottsburg. Young Scott was at this time in his teens. He first engaged in the wool and carding business and at one time was a partner of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester. In 1821 he opened a tavern at Scottsburg and continued in that business until 1826. He was member of assembly in 1837 and 1838 and held local offices.
About 1814, Millard Fillmore, later President of the United States, came to Sparta as an apprentice to Benjamin Hunger- ford, who had established the business of carding and cloth dressing; while there young Fillmore and Scott formed a friend- ship which continued through life.
In 1860 Millard Fillmore wrote to William Scott as follows:
"I was greatly obliged for your letter of the 12th of May, in answer to mine of the 5th, giving me much information, as I
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desired to confirm by recollections of what I saw in Sparta dur- ing my short residence there in 1814, and on the 16th of May I made a draft in my letter book to Mr. Doty, which is hereunto annexed.
"But after I had finished my draft I felt a reluctance about sending it and permitted it to lie without copying, till within two or three days and while copying it my repugnance increased and I finally concluded to send it to you as an old confidential friend and authorize you to give any of the information contained in it in your language, which you and Mr. Doty may deem of suffi- cient interest to justify it.
"I was born in Locke (now Summerhill), Cayuga County, in 1800, but my father moved to Sempronius (now Niles) in 1802, and settled upon a farm about a mile west of Skaneatelas Lake and ten miles from Adelphi, where I lived as long as I remained at home. The whole county was then new and my childhood was spent, as it were, in the forests.
"Benjamin Hungerford was our neighbor, engaged in the business of cloth dressing, but about the year 1812 or 1813 he sold out and removed to Sparta, in your county, where he estab- lished himself in the same business. Early in the fall of 1814 he returned east for his supply of dyewoods, and called at my father's and he expressed a wish that I go home with him and learn the trade of dressing cloth.
"The war was then waging with Great Britain, and my youthful imagination and ambition was much excited by what I heard from the soldiers who returned from the line, and, having an uncle and cousin on the Niagara frontier, I was anxious to try the life of a soldier and asked my father's permission to go for three months as a substitute for some one who was drafted; but he refused his assent, and probably with a view of directing my attention from so foolish a project, induced Mr. Hungerford to ask me to go. At all events my father expressed a strong desire that I should go and I consented.
"My father's residence was not only in a new country, but remote from all the great thoroughfares of travel, and my life had been spent in obscurity. I knew nothing of the world, never having been absent from home for two successive days, nor formed the acquaintance of any beyond the few scattered neigh-
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bors of the vicinity. I felt a natural reluctance at leaving a tender and affectionate mother, but was buoyed up and sus- tained by the thought of doing something for myself, and acting the part of a man.
"But the journey to me was a very long and tedious one. I do not know the distance, but probably about one hundred miles. Mr. Hungerford had a poor team, heavily laden, and the road much of the way was very bare; and the consequence was that I traveled much of the distance on foot and suffered with sore feet and stiffened limbs. I recollect little that attracted my attention on my way except the wilderness of the country as we approached the end of our journey, and the extraordinary luxuriance of vegetation in the valley of the Canaseraga Creek.
"I was glad indeed to reach Mr. Hungerford's residence, soli- tary and desolate as it appeared among the hills and almost unbroken forest. But I required rest, and a new country had no new terrors for me. Knowing nothing of the geography of the country, and never having been there since, I can only describe this locality by what I have learned since from others. It was in the town of West Sparta and three miles northwest of the village of Dansville, or Sparta West Hill, on a small rapid mill stream emptying into the Canaseraga Creek about a mile below. I understand that nothing of the old mill and shop remain but a part of the flume and dam; but that it is yet known as the Hungerford place, and is owned and occupied by a farmer by the name of Enos Hartman.
"Whatever may have been my great dreams of ambition, I certainly had no thought of realizing them and at that time had no expectations of anything more than to acquire a good trade and to pursue it through life for a livelihood. I went with the understanding that I was to remain four months and then if we were both satisfied we were to make further arrangements. But perhaps I expected too much. At any rate, the treatment which I had rceived was very galling to my feelings and has ever caused me to feel deep sympathy for the youngest apprentice (even the printer's devil) in every establishment.
"Instead of being set to work at my trade, as I had antici- pated, I was required to chop wood and do all manner of servile labor and chores; and when I manifested some surprise and
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reluctance at this treatment my murmurs were silenced by being told that this was the usage of the trade. I bore this for some time, and one day, when I had been chopping in the woods, I came into the shop a little before dark and was ordered by Mr. Hungerford to go on the hill and cut some wood for the shop. I took the axe and, as I went out of the door, said that I did not come there expecting to give my time to learn to chop wood. I waited for no reply, but went up the hill, mounted a log and commenced chopping.
"In a few minutes I saw Mr. Hungerford coming after me with his face evidently flushed with anger. As he approached he said, 'Do you think yourself abused because you have to chop wood?' I replied, 'Yes, I do; for I could learn to chop wood at home, and I am giving my time to learn a trade; I am not satisfied and do not think my father will be.' As I was angry, I presume my manner as well as my languge was not entirely respectful. At all events, he charged me with impudence and threatened to chastise me, upon which I raised my axe and told him if he came near me I would knock him down. He stood silent for a minute and then walked off.
"Looking back for forty-six years at this little incident of my boyhood, I am inclined to think it was unjustifiable rebellion, or at least that my threat of knocking him down was going too far, for I fear I should have executed it; and my only justification or apology is that I have an inborn hatred of injustice and tyranny which I cannot repress. Next day he asked me if I wished to go home. I replied that I had come for a trial of four months, and if I could be employed in learning the trade I would stay, otherwise I would return. He said that I might remain, and from that time my employment was more satisfactory.
"He had a large family of children and the fare was not such as I had been accustomed to and it required all of my fortitude and patience to endure it; but I resolved to go through, and I was determined to accomplish what I had undertaken at every sacri- fice of comfort. My pride was touched at the thought of an ignominious failure.
"He had one older apprentice by the name of John Dunham, but our tastes did not agree and he was no company for me, but
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fortunately the foreman of the shop was William Scott, who seemed born for a higher and better destiny, and whose merits, I am happy to hear, have in some measure been appreciated by his fellow citizens. In him I found a friend and also a congenial companion, so far as such a boy could be a companion to a man of mature years. I formed a friendship which I still cherish with grateful recollections. He was the only society which I enjoyed. I scarcely visited a neighbor, for only one or two were near enough to be accessible to me.
"I neither saw a book nor a newspaper to my recollection. I attended no church and think that there was none in that vicinity, and I had no holiday except New Years. On that day we went down to Duncan's on the creek and there, for the first time in my life, I saw the rough sports of the season and place such as raffling, whiskey drinking, and turkey shooting, with an occasional display of athletic strength. I recollect that I was ushered into a room almost stifling with the fumes of whiskey and tobacco smoke, in one corner of which was a live turkey, and in the center a table surrounded by men who were greatly excited in raffling for the turkey.
"The game as I recollect it was this: the turkey was put up by the owner at a certain price-say four shillings, and then they put twelve cents into a hat and each shook them up and emptied them on the table three times, and he who turned the most heads in the three throws won the turkey. But instead of taking it he immediately put it up again at the same price and the same process was gone over again and continued through the evening. I was urged to take a chance and I did so once and won the turkey. I put him up again, pocketed the prize and have never gambled a cent since.
"The weather was warm for the season and it had rained some during the day. We stayed until about midnight and then started for home. We had to go about a mile through a dark pine forest, and our path in many places ran near the precipitous bank of the little stream on which Hungerford's cloth dressing establishment was situated. Only the underbrush had been cleared from the road, but the large trees had been blazed to guide our way. As we had no lantern we supplied ourselves with a torch of pine knots; but we had not proceeded far when by
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some accident it was extinguished and I was sent back to light it again. This detained me longer than anticipated and when I got back to the spot where I left my companions I found that they had gone, and so I pursued my way alone.
"By the time I had gone half way through the woods I was overtaken by a very sudden and severe thunderstorm, which extinguished my torch and left me in an Egyptian darkness. I am sure that I never saw a darker night. I looked up, but could not see the shade of a tree or opening. I moved my hand before my upturned face, but saw no shadow. The flashes of lightning for a moment revealed the dense forest around and then all was impenetrable darkness. The thunder rolled terribly and at intervals I could hear the dashing waters of the swollen stream below, warning me that I was near the precipice, beneath which they flowed.
"I dared not go farward for fear that I should be plunged headlong into the gulf beneath and the thought of standing there all night in the cold drenching rain was terrible. I had but one alternative and that was to make my companions hear if possible and bring them back to my relief. I halloed several times with all of my might, and at last I heard a response. They had just reached home, but had not entered the house when they heard me. The worst of the shower was soon over. They prepared a light and came back and relieved me from my terrible situation.
"Some time in December or January I was sent on foot to Dansville for some groceries for sickness. I cannot fix the time, but I recollect that there were two or three inches of snow on the ground and I took what seemed to me a very circuitous route. By the time I had purchased my stores it was nearly sundown and I inquired if there was no nearer way back than the one which I came and was told that there was an unfrequented path through the shrubby pine forest much nearer. I accord- ingly took it and found the track of a single person, which I fol- lowed without difficulty, but just after dark I came to Canaser- aga Creek, which was not frozen sufficiently to bear me and there was no bridge. There had once been a wooden bridge, but it was all gone except the cobble horses and one string piece.
"Just then I heard the wolves howl and presumed that they were on my track. I looked down into the dark waters of the
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creek and could see very little, but could hear the ice crack as though a rising flood was breaking it up. I looked at the soli- tary string pieces across the dark abyss, covered with snow and concluded that I could not safely walk it. I could not turn back, for I had not even a cane with which to fight the wolves. I felt that if I was once across that gulf I would be safe and that there was but one mode of accomplishing it and that was to climb up the old cobble horse, sit down on the string piece and hitch myself across; and this I did, and arrived safely at home, thank- ful for my escape.
"I can tell little in reference to the people. I remembered a Mr. Baird owned a sawmill above Hungerford's on the same stream. The Duncans and a Mr. McNair lived on the flats, but I had no acquaintance with them. Jonathan Weston, however, a brother-in-law of Hungerford and a son-in-law of General Daniel Shays, of insurrectionary memory, lived near Hunger- ford. I had known Weston before he went there, as he had taught school in Cayuga County and recollect calling at his house: and seeing General Shays there and being greatly disappointed in his personal appearance. He seemed to me a very common man and I could wonder how he had become so famous, for it. was as common when I was a boy to hurrah for Shays as it has: been since to hurrah for Jackson. But one was intended for a. joke, whereas the other was sober earnest.
"About the middle of January, 1815, my probation of four months being ended, I shouldered my musket and on foot and alone; returned to my father's house, not exactly like the prodigal son, but scarcely less gratified to get home and fully resolved never to go back. But since then I have formed many pleasant acquaint- ances in your county and have enjoyed many pleasant visits to other parts of it, but I have never revisited the scenes of my boy- hood, though I confess I should like to do so."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
LIVINGSTON COUNTY: EDUCATION
In aboriginal days the Seneca youth was taught to hunt and fish, to fight his foes, and the knowledge of woodcraft was early imparted to him; physical development was a thing of racial pride, but education, as we understand it, was not within his reach. When the white men introduced schools into the Genesee Coun- try, the Indian was not unwilling that his children should receive instruction. In December, 1815, the Presbyterian synod of Geneva located a school for Indians at Squakie Hill, in a build- ing provided by Rev. Daniel Butrick, and put it charge of Jere- diah Horsford. About twenty Indians attended, usually in com- pany with the parents, who were interested spectators. The Indians named their instructor Ga-ya-dos-hah sha-go-yas-da-ni, "he teaches them books."
One of the most important of the earlier schools of western New York was the Livingston County High School. On May 30, 1826, a group of prominent citizens met at the court house in Geneseo to discuss the organization of a school on the monitorial plan, "sufficiently extensive to teach 600 scholars, particularly in the higher branches of science." Articles of association were adopted and a committee consisting of George Hosmer, Charles H. Carroll, James Faulkner and Philo C. Fuller was appointed to solicit subscriptions. In the following August advertisements were issued for proposals for the erection of the "Livingston County High School," the same to be a building of brick, 65 x 33 feet, three stories, also a second building of practically the same specifications to be used as a dormitory. In 1827 the legislature incorporated the Livingston County High School Association, with the following members: William Wadsworth, James Wadsworth, William Fitzhugh, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, John H. Jones, Charles H. Carroll, George Hosmer, James Faulkner, Wil-
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liam H. Spencer, Philo C. Fuller, Charles Colt, Henry P. North, Leman Gibbs, Orlando Hastings, Augustus A. Bennett, William Finley, Moses Hayden and Jeremiah Briggs. About 1830 the buildings were completed; the grounds, donated by James Wads- worth in 1826, were beautifully situated on an elevation in the eastern part of the village. The name of the institution was changed from the Livingston County High School to Temple Hill Academy, and again, in 1858, to the Geneseo Academy, and placed under the care of the synod of Buffalo. The first prin- cipal was C. E. Felton, later president of Harvard University and a noted Greek scholar. Samuel Treat, Rev. D. D. McColl, Rev. James H. Nichols and Mr. Robinson were other well-known principals. Students came to the academy from many states and Canada, Sandwich Islands and Japan; between 1851 and 1857, 2,000 pupils had attended the school. The establishment of the state normal school at Geneseo in 1871, mentioned in a later paragraph, caused the abandonment of the academy in 1872. The buildings and grounds are now used as a private residence.
The first school house in Avon was erected about 1800; it was on the site of the Episcopal Church and made of logs. Judge Hosmer conducted church services in this little school house every Sunday. The first log school house in Caledonia was built in 1803 near the center of the settlement, and the first teacher was probably Alexander McDonald. This house, too, was used for religious purposes on the Sabbath. The first school house in Conesus was built in 1810, of log construction with greased paper windows, and here a school was opened in 1810 by Mary Howe. The first school was taught in Lima by John Sabin in 1792-1793.
One of the early schools of the county was the Moscow Acad- emy, established soon after 1815, and lodged in a frame building, 24 x 40 feet, three stories high; the first principal was Ogden M. Willey, assisted by Abby Willey, his sister. This academy was one of the first in western New York and furnished excel- lent instruction for the time. At Livonia Center a school was opened by Darius Peck in the winter of 1798-1799; a log build- ing was put up by Colonel George Smith and John Wolcott for its use. In the town of Ossian the first school was taught in
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1813 and 1814 by Mr. Weston. It is said that the first school in the town of North Dansville was taught in 1798, by Thomas Macklen, a Scotchman who had come the previous year, in a small log house a mile north of the center of the village. His class numbered about a dozen scholars. An academy was started at Dansville in 1858 and existed until the establishment of the Union School in 1882. In the town of Portage, Horace Miller and a Miss Bellinger taught the first schools in 1817. The first teachers in the town of Springwater were undoubtedly James Blake and Harvey S. Tyler, in the early years of the nineteenth century. In Groveland, the pioneer school house known as the Gully School, about a mile and a half south of Groveland Center, performed service both as a class room and a house of worship. An old sea captain named Armstead, was one of the early teachers here. John Dixon, Dyer Cowdrey and a Mr. Corson also taught at the Gully School. The first teacher in the town of Sparta was Thomas Bohanan.
Through the civic spirit and energy displayed by a number of the village citizens, Geneseo is indebted for the establishment here of the state normal school. In April, 1866, the state legis- lature authorized the establishment of five additional normal schools. Citizens of Geneseo perceived the waning popularity of the academy, due mainly to changing conditions in the state, and they sought to locate one of these normal schools in their village. A meeting was held August 13, 1866, and the trustees were authorized to make an offer of $45,000, later increased to $50,000, and a suitable site for the location of the school at Geneseo, and the electors of the town voted to raise a like sum. A committee was chosen to present the offer, consisting of Craig W. Wadsworth, Colonel Lockwood L. Doty, William H. Kelsey, Hon. Jacob A. Mead and General James Wood. These efforts failed, however, at the time, Brockport securing the school. Efforts were continued nevertheless and Colonel Doty, then in Albany, held out hopes for eventual success. On March 29, 1867, the legislature passed a special act giving Geneseo the school. The electors of the town of Geneseo were authorized by this act to vote upon the question of contributing a sum not exceeding $100,000 to aid in the erection of the school. The financial aid necessary was in due course of time furnished by the village
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