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 41
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The Baptist churches of Niagara County are under the juris- diction of the Niagara Baptist Association, which was formed in 1823. A Baptist Church was organized at Lockport, named the Cambria Church, April 26, 1817; Rev. Samuel Alvord was the first pastor. In 1825 the name was changed to the Lockport Bap- tist Church, and again in 1851 to the Second Baptist Church. of Lockport, after the society had been temporarily disbanded. The Baptist Church in Hartland was established in February, 1815, by the Edmunds and Horton families. The First Baptist Church of Newfane was organized May 27, 1829, with twenty-five mem- bers. The Baptist Church of Niagara Falls was not recognized by the council of sister churches until February 21, 1842. In November of the preceding year thirteen people were constituted a branch by the Baptist Church of Lewiston and Niagara, with Rev. A. Cleghorn as the first pastor. The Baptist Church of Ransomville was organized March 5, 1834. One of the first churches in the county was the Baptist Church in the village of Somerset, organized in 1820, but now out of existence. The West.
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Somerset Baptist Church started in 1843. The Wilson Baptist Church had its inception in December, 1833.
The first work of the Episcopal Church in Niagara County was accomplished in 1823, when Reverend Hopkins, of New Jer- sey, preached at Manchester. In 1829 the Right Rev. John Henry Hobart, the third bishop of the New York Diocese, visited Man- chester and held services. Christ Church, the predecessor of St. Peter's Church of Niagara Falls, was organized January 5, 1829. Grace Episcopal Church of Lockport was organized in February, 1829. Rev. David Brown was the first Episcopal clergyman to locate at Lockport, and was the first rector of Christ Church, which was incorporated there September 28, 1832, although an organization had been started the previous year. St. Paul's Church, at Lewiston, was also organized about this time. St. Peter's, at Niagara Falls, was established January 16, 1832, and the first rector was Rev. John M. Robertson. The Church of the Epiphany, in the then village of Suspension Bridge, was formed in the year 1858. St. Mark's Episcopal Church of North Tona- wanda was organized February 17, 1869. Episcopal services were first held in the village of Middleport in 1864, and Trinity Church was organized in 1866. St. John's Episcopal Church of Youngstown had its inception in 1868.
The history of the Congregational churches in the county is closely allied to that of the Presbyterian. The Lewiston Presby- terian Church, for instance, was called at first the First Religious Society of Lewiston, and was really Congregational in character. The church, which had been started in 1817, was regularly organized in 1821. The first pastor was Rev. Silas Parsons, in 1827. The next church was the First Congregational Church of Lockport, formed June 7, 1838, resulting from a division of the First Presbyterian Church on the slavery question. The First Congregational Church in Niagara City, afterwards Suspension Bridge, started as a Sunday school in 1853; the church organiza- tion dates from 1854. The Congregational Church of Royalton was established in 1817. The East Avenue Congregational Church of Lockport was organized in 1890.
The first Lutheran Church in Niagara County was organized at Lockport February 20, 1837. It has had three names-Ger- man Lutheran and Reformed Church, Evangelical Lutheran
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Church of the Town of Lockport, and now, or since 1889, First English Lutheran Church of Lockport. South of Lockport is St. Paul's English Lutheran Church. In the middle of the last cen- tury, many Prussians located in the towns of Wheatfield, Niagara and Royalton. There are many Lutheran congregations in the county now, resulting from this invasion, such as those at Berg- holtz, Martinsville, Wolcottsville, Niagara Falls, North Ridge and Wilson, St. Johnsburg, Lockport, County Line, Lake Road, North Tonawanda, Newfane, Pekin and Gratwick. Missions are located at Hartland Corners, Lewiston, Youngstown, Middleport and Lockport. The German Verein Evangelical Synod of North America has six churches in the county, at Lockport, North Tona- wanda, Shawnee, Wendelville and Middleport. The largest is St. Peter's, at Lockport, organized in 1865. The Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church at Niagara Falls was started in 1854.
The first Universalist Church built in the county was that at Middleport, in 1841. The First Universalist Society of Lockport held meetings as early as 1836, with Rev. Job Potter as the first preacher. The Olcott Universalist Society was organized in 1858. At Niagara Falls a society of this denomination was established in 1889.
The first Catholic congregation in Niagara County was formed at Lockport, made up mostly of those who were there working on the Erie Canal, which was completed in 1825. The record of the church of St. John the Baptist has been a notable one. The first church was built in 1834 on land donated by Ed- ward Bissell, Joel McCollum and Lyman A. Spalding. The first rector was Father Managan. The parish of St. Mary's of the Cataract was formed from Niagara Falls, Lewiston and Youngs- town in 1847. Father John Boyle was the first priest in charge. The Church of the Sacred Heart of Niagara Falls was originally established as St. Raphael's Church of Suspension Bridge in 1855. St. Peter's Church of Lewiston was started about this same time, also St. Bernard's at Youngstown. St. Bridget's Church, in the town of Newfane, was organized in June, 1859. St. Patrick's, in Barker, formerly in Hartland, was organized in 1856. The Church of the Good Shepherd, in the town of Pendleton, was started in 1854. St. Stephen's Church, at Middleport, was begun about 1860. In 1858 St. Mary's congregation at Gasport was
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established. The Church of the Ascension in North Tonawanda was organized in 1888. The St. John de La Salle Church in the village of La Salle was organized in 1907. Shortly after 1900 the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary was started at Niagara Falls.
At the village of Orangeport, town of Royalton, is the First Christian Church of Royalton, one of the oldest churches in the county or in western New York. It was started by a Mrs. Wilder in 1813 and the church was regularly organized four years later.
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE COUNTY OF CATTARAUGUS.
The land which is now embraced within the county of Cat- taraugus was at first, of course, a part of Albany County ; then it became a part of Tryon County, later renamed Montgomery, then, in succession, a part of Whitestown, Ontario County, the town of Northampton, Genesee County, and Allegany County. By the act of March 11, 1808, the counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara were erected. The town of Olean, until 1812, compre- hended the entire county of Cattaraugus, and until the latter year was the only town in the county. Then Ischua was set off, and two years later parts of both were used to make the town of Perry. It will not be attempted in this connection to recite the numerous details of the civil history of the county under its many names and boundaries; but it may be said in passing that no county in western New York suffered more vicissitudes in reach- ing its permanent destination than Cattaraugus. The three towns above named remained unchanged until after the county was organized. Francis Green, Ashbel Freeman, and James Brooks, judges of the Court of Common Pleas, met at the house of William Baker, June 5, 1817, and designated "the house of William Baker, in the said town of Olean, in the county aforesaid, to be the place for holding the first court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace, in and for the county of Cattaraugus." The first court was held accordingly, with the following present: Timothy H. Porter, first judge; James Brooks, Ashbel Freeman, assistant justices.
On April 21, 1818, an act was passed appointing the house of Baker Leonard, in the village of Ellicottville, as the place for holding court, until suitable county buildings should be erected, and directing the supervisors of the county, at their next annual meeting, to locate the site for a court house and jail in the village of Ellicottville. A two-story jail building was finished in the
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public square of Ellicottville in 1820, and the upper floor was used as a court house. This structure was burned in the winter of 1829; other county buildings replaced this at the same place, after an interval of apprehension on the part of the Ellicottville citizens that the county seat might be removed elsewhere; indeed, Ellicott- ville was destined not to remain the capital of Cattaraugus County, for in 1868 Little Valley was named, and the county buildings there were completed before the end of that year.
The first white settlement in what is now Cattaraugus County was made by Joel Swayne, Halliday Jackson and Henry Simmons, Pennsylvania Quakers, who were sent to this section by the Phila- delphia Yearly Meeting of Friends, in 1798, as missionaries to the Seneca Indians. Joshua Sharpless, of Philadelphia, brought them here, and then returned home. These three young men first set- tled in what later became the town of South Valley, but in 1803 removed to an adjacent tract of 692 acres purchased by the Yearly Meeting from the Holland Land Company. They had some suc- cess in their work with the Indians and, through the purchase of the land mentioned, their permanent settlement was assured. The above land transaction was a direct sale. The first contract made by the Holland Land Company for land sales within the present county was made in 1803 with Adam Hoops, a former military officer under General Sullivan. He began work that year near the junction of Olean Creek (then Oil Creek) with the Allegany River. Robert Hoops, a brother, also settled there the same year, and remained until his death in 1816; Adam Hoops had left some years before.
The first settler in the valley of the Ischua Creek was Joseph McClure, who made a contract for land in 1805, and came there in the spring of 1806, locating on or near the site of Franklinville. He had been a surveyor for the Holland Land Company, and con- tinued in this vocation after coming here. In the same year there arrived Moses Warner, the Hoops settlement was increased by Cornelius and John Brooks, Wyllys Thrall, and William Shepard and at Hinsdale a settlement was made by Zacharias Noble and his two brothers, Charles Foot and Thomas Lusk. In 1807 Thomas Morris, Henry Conrad and three brothers, Nicholas, John and David Kortright and Benjamin Chamberlain came into the county. Settlement was not rapid, and it is said that six years
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after Adam Hoops' settlement on the Allegany there were only 458 people within the territory of Cattaraugus County. One old settler facetiously attributed this stagnation to the fact that it was so easy to build a raft, launch it on the fast-flowing river and "get away" from the new country.
The first settlement in the town of Olean was by Adam Hoops and on land which is now in East Olean. Lumbering and agri- cultural pursuits occupied the people of Olean for many years. In 1851 the Erie Railroad was built through the northern end of what is now the village of Olean and this was the signal for a brief business revival. The substantial development of Olean Village, which was incorporated in 1854, did not begin until 1872, when the Buffalo and Washington Railroad (now the Pennsylvania) was completed. In 1875 oil production in the Bradford region stimulated business activity and the village became a sort of oil center for this territory. In the five years from 1880 to 1885 the population doubled, reaching in the latter year 8,650.
Some of the interesting "firsts" of the town of Olean are as follows: the first industries consisted of a sawmill on the banks of Olean Creek in 1807, constructed by William Shepard and Willis Thrall; also a grist mill put up in 1809 by Robert and Adam Hoops. The first tavern was built of logs, and was opened to the public in 1811 by Levi Gregory; it stood on the site of the later Olean House. The Olean postoffice was established May 23, 1816, and the first postmaster was Horatio Orton. The first store was opened by Levi Gregory in 1818. The first newspaper in Olean was the Hamilton Recorder in 1819. The first school house was constructed in the winter of 1822-23, by Seth Simmons and his son, Ephraim. The first bank, the bank of Olean, was estab- lished in the year 1840. The first settler in the present village area was James G. Johnson, in 1808; he died in 1811 and his in- terment was the first in the village cemetery. The first trustees of the village were Dr. Lambert Whitney, C. V. B. Barse, Charles H. Thing and John K. Comstock. On April 25, 1893, Olean was incorporated as a city, and the first mayor elected was N. V. V. Franchot. The First Presbyterian Church of Olean was organ- ized August 28, 1822, by Rev. William Stone, a missionary. The first Methodist class was formed in 1836, and the name First Methodist Episcopal Church was given to it in 1852. The Roman
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Catholic Parish of St. Mary of the Angels was organized in 1850 by Father Doran, although mass had been celebrated in the vil- lage years before. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church of Olean was incorporated in 1830. The Ninth Street Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1887, and in the same year the People's Church of East Olean came into existence. The First Church of Christ Scientist was organized at Olean in 1898. The First Evan- gelical Church was established in 1880. St. John's Roman Cath- olic Church was organized in 1896. The first Baptist Society in the village of Olean was organized in the summer of 1830 by Rev. Eliab Going; the society was definitely organized under the name First Baptist Church of Olean in 1846.
The First National Bank of Olean started business as the Bank of Olean in 1870, as a branch of the Cuba Banking Com- pany. In September, 1871, the name was changed to its present style, with William F. Wheeler as president. William A. Dusen- bury is now president. The Exchange National Bank of Olean was founded upon the State Bank of Olean, which began business in the early seventies. C. V. B. Barse was president. The busi- ness of this bank was taken over by the Exchange National, which was incorporated in 1878. A notable executive of this bank was Frank L. Bartlett, president from 1895 until his death in 1922, and associated with it since 1880. Mark M. Holmes is now presi- dent. The Olean Trust Company is the successor of the Olean National Bank, organized in 1910. It assumed the present title September 1, 1914, with John P. Herrick president. Thomas H. Quinn is now president.
The Olean Times was established about 1860, by Gano & Fay. C. F. Dickinson and George W. Dickinson were other early pro- prietors. The first issue of the Olean Daily Times appeared in 1879. The Olean Herald was started in 1881.
The town of Randolph was erected from Connewango Febru- ary 1, 1826, and at first extended to the Pennsylvania line. The town of South Valley later took away a part of its territory. The first settlement in the town was by Edmund Fuller in 1820; set- tlements by Howard Fuller, James Powell, Samuel J. York, Wil- liam Eames, Howard Chapman and Thomas Harvey, followed shortly. Edmund Fuller, Jacob Vandawaker, Harvey and Abra- ham G. Bush owned the site of the village of Randolph, incorpo-
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rated in 1867. The State Bank of Randolph was established July 1, 1874, with Thomas J. Wheeler as president; John N. Cowen is now president. The Randolph Register, a Republican weekly now issued by M. D. Johnson, was started in September, 1865, by the firm of Southwick & Grierson. The first school in the town was taught by Sally Morton in 1822, near the present village of Randolph. An eclectic medical college was established at Randolph in the summer of 1848, and afterwards moved to New York City. The Randolph Academy and Female Seminary opened in August, 1850; this became the Chamberlain Institute in 1869, in honor of Judge Benjamin Chamberlain. The West- ern New York Home for Homeless and Dependent Children had its start at Randolph in 1877, when Rev. Charles Strong, former chaplain of Sing Sing Prison, opened his home to children of this class. The first religious society in the town of Randolph was that of the Baptists, in 1825; Methodist meetings were first held about this time and a church was formed in 1830; the First Free Will Baptist Church of East Randolph was organized in 1831. St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church was started in 1854, the Randolph Free Methodist Church in 1877.
The town of Connewango was erected January 20, 1823, and originally embraced what are now the towns of Connewango, Ran- dolph and Leon. The first settler was Eliphalet Follet, who came in 1816. James Battles was the second, in 1817, and Cyrus Childs the third, in 1818. James Blanchard, Lyman Wyllys and Daniel Grover came to the town in 1818. The first schools were taught in 1820. The various churches had their origin in the twenties, the first of which was the Presbyterian, in 1823.
The town of Dayton was taken from Perrysburg February 7, 1835. Probably the first settlements in the town were made by Simeon Bunce and his brother-in-law, Silas Nash, in 1810. Tim- othy Shaw followed in 1814. The oldest village is West Dayton, the postoffice in which, established in 1850, being named Cottage. It is said that the first religious services were held in 1816 by Rev. Elnathan Finch, Baptist missionary, at the house of Caleb Webb at West Dayton.
The town of Perrysburg was originally erected as Perry April 13, 1814; the present name was given to it in 1818. The original bounds of the town have been much contracted by the
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creation of the towns of Little Valley, Otto, Persia and Dayton. John Clark and Phineas Spencer, who came to the town in 1815, were among the very first settlers. Hugh Campbell, William Cooper, Truman Edwards, Daniel Johnson, Simeon Waterman and his brothers, Stephen Crocker, Alanson Dewey and Abel Jolls were pioneers of this section. The first religious services in the town were those conducted by the Methodists about 1820; the first organized church was that of the Baptists in 1821.
The town of Ellicottville, named for the well-known surveyor, Joseph Ellicott, was taken from Franklinville April 20, 1820. Ashford and a part of East Otto later reduced the area of Ellicott- ville. The first settler of the town was Grove Hurlbut, who came in 1815. Orrin Pitcher, Daniel Huntley, Baker Leonard, Rick- ertson Burlingame, Benjamin Perkins and John W. Cary were others. Eunice Carpenter taught the first school in the town in the summer of 1817. The Baptists were the first to hold meetings at Bryant Hill, and the first organization occurred in 1824. The Presbyterians were organized in 1818, and the Methodists soon after 1821. A Catholic organization was effected in 1848. The Bank of Ellicottville was organized July 15, 1878; E. S. Stewart was the first president. J. O. Clark is the president now. The Ellicottville Post, a Republican weekly issued by Charles North- rup, was founded in 1884.
The town of Little Valley was erected from Perrysburg (then Perry) April 10, 1818. The first settlement in the town was that in 1807 of John Green and Benjamin Chamberlain, but they left before making any improvements. Luther Stewart, William Gillmore, Alpheus Bascom and David Powers came soon after- wards. Other settlers who came in after the War of 1812 were James Green, George Bennett, Stephen Lampman, David Chase, Benjamin Winship, Stephen Crosby, Royal Tefft, Amos Stewart, Enoch Chase, Noah Culver, David Gregory and John Rainhart.
The village of Little Valley, incorporated May 9, 1876, was a very small settlement before the advent of the railroad. In 1851 Horace Howe platted some village lots where the first business houses were erected. The Cattaraugus County Bank at Little Valley was incorporated in 1902; Elmer E. Kelley is the presi- dent. The Cattaraugus Republican, now issued weekly, was
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moved to Little Valley in 1868 from Ellicottville. The Little Val- ley Hub was established in 1882.
The Free Will Baptists are believed to have organized the first church society in the town in 1826. The First Congregational Church of Little Valley started in 1840, and St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in 1874.
The town of Otto was also created from Perrysburg, Janu- ary 29, 1823, and originally embraced most of Persia. First among the settlers were Joseph Adams and his son, Blinn, in 1811. Two men named Hyde and Austin arrived about the same time. In the spring of 1812 Peter Pratt located in the town. Joseph Bartlett, Phineas Orr and Samuel Hill settled there some time before 1816.
The town of East Otto was taken from Otto November 30, 1854. Stephen Williams, Horace and Walter Wells and Moses T. Beach formed the vanguard of the settlers in this particular part of Otto from 1816 on.
The town of Franklinville was organized under the name of Ischua June 16, 1812, and comprised what are now the towns of Franklinville, Farmersville, Freedom, Yorkshire, Machias, Elli- cottville, Ashford, Otto, East Otto, Mansfield, New Albion, Persia, Leon, Dayton and Perrysburg. The first of Franklinville's pio- neers was Joseph McClure in 1806. Solomon Curtis located a claim the same year. Subsequent settlers included Moses Warner, with his sons, Moses, Jr., Parley, John and Roswell and Deacon Ira Norton. The period from 1817 to 1824 was one of large in- crease in the settlement, among the persons coming in being Isaac and Jacob Searl, Aaron Osgood, Eleazer Densmore, William, Deo- datus and Elijah Sill, John Reynolds, Oliver Root, John Scott, Henry and Hiram Morgan, Eli Rockwell, Jacob Ford, Moses Chamberlain, Samuel and Elijah Silliman, Henry Huyck, Eph- raim Fitch, Edward E. Smith, Ashbel Church, John McNall, Nehemiah Rogers and Howland Washburn.
Rev. John Spencer, sent out by the Connecticut Mission So- ciety in 1807, was the first preacher in this vicinity. He was a Congregationalist; he organized the first church about 1813. The First United Presbyterian Church of the town was started in 1867; the Baptist Church in 1828; the Methodist in 1842; the Free Methodist in 1863, and the Catholic about 1874.
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Dr. John McClure taught the first school in the town in 1808 or 1809, in the Hotchkiss home on the west side of Ischua Creek.
Joseph McClure first settled on the site of the village of Frank- linville, and here he kept a tavern and was appointed the first. postmaster. The village was incorporated in 1874. The Union National Bank of Franklinville was established in 1882. The. Franklinville Chronicle-Journal, issued as a Republican weekly by Gordon L. King, was started in 1875. The Franklinville So- cona World, devoted to poultry, was first issued in 1910. The Ten Broeck Free Academy in Franklinville was incorporated in 1862, and owes its start to the philanthropy of Peter Ten Broeck.
The town of Ashford was erected from Ellicottville Febru- ary 16, 1824. A portion of Otto was annexed April 13, 1835. Settlement in this town was late, as it was not until 1816 that the. pioneers began to come in. Among the early arrivals were Henry Frank and his sons, Andrew and Jacob H., William and George Shultis, Marsena Brooks, Benjamin Rhodes, Augustus Van Slyke. and Nathan Saunders. The first school house was erected at Thomas' Corners in the fall of 1822.
The town of Salamanca was erected from Little Valley No- vember 19, 1854, and first bore the name of Bucktooth. On April 17, 1862, the name was changed to the present form "in honor of Senor Salamanca, a Spanish banker and a large stock- holder of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, who had vis- ited the town a short time previously." It is believed that James. Rosenberry made the first settlement on the land now within this town in 1815, and James Green was probably the second. These men were followed in due time by John Parr, William P. Craw- ford, John Boardman, Adam Johnson, R. C. Brainard, Absalom Smith, the Wright families, Thomas L. Newton, George Hill and George W. Drake.
Until 1863 the site of the village of Salamanca was a swamp, with a corduroy road crossing it. Elias Sauter in the year men- tioned constructed the first frame house, and from this time the. growth of the village has been fairly steady. It was incorporated in 1878 as a village, and in 1913 received its city charter. Manu- facturing interests have aided greatly in the development of Sala- manca. The First National Bank of Salamanca was established in 1880; the president is now E. F. Hoy. The Salamanca Trust.
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