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 42
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Company, E. B. Vreeland, president, was incorporated in 1902. The Cattaraugus Republican, a Republican weekly, was started at. Salamanca in 1873, and the Republican Press, an evening daily, in 1904. It is an interesting fact that the first religious society in the town of Salamanca was a Congregational Church composed of Indians, formed by Rev. Charles Potter. The First Baptist. Church in Bucktooth was organized among the Indians in 1858. St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church at West Salamanca was started in 1862. St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Salamanca. was established in 1875. St. Mary's Episcopal Church was or- ganized in 1865; the First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873; the First Baptist Church of Salamanca in the same year, and the First Congregational in 1875.
The town of Machias was formed from Yorkshire April 16, 1827. It was named for Machias, Maine, whence came many of the early settlers. Major Timothy Butler is generally credited with having been the first settler, in 1807. Samuel Philbrick and E. Maxson were arrivals about the same time. Jeremiah Ballard came in 1810. The first religious organization was that of the Free Will Baptists, formed in 1818.
The town of Farmersville was erected from the town of Ischua March 29, 1821. First settlements were made in 1817 by Peter and Cornelius Ten Broeck, Richard Tozer, Peleg Rob- bins, and Levi Peet. These were the first permanent settlements, although in 1805 a number of land contracts had been made by others with the Holland Land Company.
The town of Persia was erected from Perrysburg February 7, 1835. The first settlement of the town was made by Ahaz Allen in 1810. His brother, Daniel, came in 1813, and Thomas Farns- worth in 1817. The village of Gowanda was settled in 1816, by Turner Aldrich and other members of the Society of Friends, and the place was first called Aldrich's Mills. In 1822 it became known as Lodi, and in 1848 the name Gowanda, Indian in origin, was adopted. The first school in the town was taught by Polly Redfield in 1817. Gowanda was incorporated as a village in 1848. The Free Will Baptists were the first to hold meetings in the town, in 1816. The village now has two newspapers, the En- terprise, established in 1914, and the News, begun in 1905. The Bank of Gowanda was incorporated in 1881.
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The town of New Albion was created from Little Valley Feb- ruary 23, 1830. It is probable that the first settlement here was made by Matthew Dimmick in 1818. James Godard and David Hammond settled the same year. Benjamin Chamberlain, Jona- than Kinnicutt, and David Hill came within the next few years. Horace Snyder in 1830 made the first clearing on the site of the village of Cattaraugus, incorporated in 1882, and manufactured potash from the timber. The Bank of Cattaraugus was organized in 1882, and the Cattaraugus Times began publication in 1884. A postoffice was established in 1851, when the railroad was built, with S. L. Johnson postmaster. The first school in the town was started in 1823 by John Allen. The Methodists were the first religious denomination to hold meetings in the town; a class was organized in 1827 on Snyder Hill.
The town of Freedom was erected April 13, 1820, from Ischua. The first contracts for land in this town were made in 1809 and 1810 by Elihu Daggett, Warren Stanley, Enoch Howlett, Ezekiel D. Runals, Rufus Metcalf, Earl Sawyer and Jonas C. Irish. Three or four others had contracts with the Holland Land Company, but did not become actual.settlers. Seth Makepeace, Robert Daniels and David Wild were the first owners of the Sandusky Village site, and Nathan and Daniel Cole of the site of the village of Elton.
The town of Carrollton was erected from Great Valley March 9, 1842. The inducement to early settlement in this town was the lumber industry; the settlers came to cut down trees, not to farm. Charles Foster, Horace Howe and Marcus Leonard came in 1814. It is said that the first permanent white settler, Aaron Kellogg, came in 1828. The village of Limestone in this town was originally known as Fullersburg.
On April 27, 1837, the town of Portville was erected from the town of Olean, and was so named because it was an early shipping point for lumber down the Allegany and Ohio rivers to other cities, such as Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. While a number of men made early land contracts here, few of them settled perma- nently. By 1809 there were very few living within the present limits of the town. Some of the principal early residents were William Atherton, and his brothers, Asahel and Rufus, Gideon Haskell, John Morris, who was the first on the site of the village of Portville, Jonathan, Lynds, Alfred and Daniel Dodge.
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The town of Humphrey was erected from Allegany (then Bur- ton) May 12, 1836. The first white settler was Russell Chapell, who came in 1815, and after him, during the next few years, came Richard Wright, Captain Nathan Howe, Stephen S. and Benja- min Cole, Foster B. Salisbury, James Hitchcock, Eri Tracy, Parker and Freeman Hall, G. Worden, F. and H. Hitchcock, and Barber Wilbur.
The town of Cold Spring was erected from Napoli March 20, 1837. It is thought that the first white settler within this town was Philip Tome, who came about 1818. Jesse Hotchkiss, Isaac Merrill, Charles Crook, Frink and Erastus Crook were others of later date. The site of the village of Steamburg was settled by Eastman Prescott.
From the town of Olean the town of Hinsdale was erected April 14, 1820. Zachariah, Horace, and Seymour Noble, Charles Foot, and Thomas Lusk, came here in 1806, and in the following year there came Jedediah Strong, Bibbin Follett and Doctor Brad- ley, also Simeon Hicks.
The town of Yorkshire, taken from the old town of Ischua, was erected April 13, 1820. Benjamin Felch and Bethuel Bishop were about the only ones of a large group of men who made land contracts in 1809 and 1810 to become actual settlers in this town. William Felch, Thomas Dow, Benjamin Dow, Isaac Williams and his three sons, Isaac, Albert and Proctor, and Solomon, David and Chauncey Clark followed within the next few years.
The town of Allegany was erected from Great Valley, as Bur- ton, April 18, 1831. The name was changed March 28, 1851. Its territory was somewhat reduced by the erection of Humphrey in 1836. Ebenezer Reed made the first settlement in the town in 1820, choosing a site near the mouth of Five-mile Run. Isaac Eggleston, Andrew L. Allen and David Orton settled in 1820. Hiram Wood and Elias Fish came in 1821. The First National Bank in the village of Allegany was established in 1903, and the Allegany Citizen, Democratic weekly, was first issued in 1896. The first school in Allegany was taught by Leonard Cronkhite in the north part of the town in 1825. The first religious services in the town were held at the house of James Strong, Sr., by Rev. Benjamin Cole, in 1823. The first religious society organized was that of the Methodists, in 1829.
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The town of Mansfield was formed from Little Valley, as Cecelius, February 23, 1830. In 1831 the present name was adopted. It is believed that Amos Morgan was the first actual settler. He came in 1818 .. Others were Timothy Morgan and Nathaniel Fish. Zira Fenton and a brother came in 1819. Tim- ber cutting was the principal occupation of the settlers of this town, as it was in many other towns of Cattaraugus County. Lefo Chase taught the first school in 1821. The Baptists, in 1827, formed the first religious organization in the town.
The town of Great Valley was erected from Olean April 15, 1818. Burton and Carrollton were afterward taken from the original territory of Great Valley. James Green is supposed to have been the first white settler who remained. He came in 1812. His brothers, Francis and Richard, and Ira Norton, Jeremy Wooster and Benjamin Chamberlain came soon after. The father of Judge Chamberlain and a number of brothers also made this town their home.
The town of South Valley was organized from Randolph and Cold Spring April 2, 1847. The Society of Friends at Philadel- phia was responsible for the first settlements in this town, which was also the first settlement of the county, and as such is described elsewhere in this chapter.
The town of Napoli was erected from the town of Little Valley in 1823 and bore the name of Cold Spring until 1828. The town of Cold Spring was set off from it in 1837. Major Timothy But- ler made the first settlement in the town in 1818; George Hill was the next settler, in the same year. Beginning with the next year there came Sargeant Morrill, Timothy Boardman, Harvey Parme- lee, Lyman Parmalee, John Warner, Harlow Butler, Peter Beardsley and others. The first church organization in the town was the First Congregational Church of Cold Spring in 1821.
The town of Leon was erected from Connewango April 24, 1832. James Franklin and his son, James, were the first settlers, in 1818. Abner Wise and his son, Abner, came during the same season,
The town of Lyndon was erected from Franklinville on Janu- ary 24, 1829. In 1857 the name of the town was changed to Elgin, but in 1858 it was renamed Lyndon. In 1808 Solomon and William Rawson made the first settlement in the town, and the
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next year were joined by three brothers, Simon, David and Seth Markham.
The present town of Ischua was erected February 7, 1846, as Rice, which name it retained until March 27, 1855. The territory which comprises the town was originally in the town of Olean until the erection of Hinsdale, and although the first settler came in 1808 it was not until after 1830 that real settlement com- menced. The first settlement was that of Seymour Bouten on the site of Ischua Village, in 1808.
The town of Red House was erected from Salamanca Novem- ber 23, 1868. Darius Frink, in 1827, was the first settler, and for many years was the sole resident of the town. James Rosen- berry followed in 1837.
The first doctor in Cattaraugus County was John McClure, who lived at the McClure settlement, and there taught school and practiced his profession as early as 1809. He died in 1810. In the winter of 1814-15 Normal Smith, a doctor, came to Olean, and practiced there until 1830. Dr. James Trowbridge, an ex-army surgeon, came to Ellicottville in 1816. Dr. Alanson C. Bennett came to Olean in 1816; he was drowned in 1820. Dr. Alson Leav- enworth came to Cattaraugus County in 1818. Dr. Andrew Mead came to Olean in 1820. Dr. Charles McLouth settled at Frank- linville in 1820, and there practiced for over a half century. Dr. Thomas J. Wheeler settled in Connewango about 1825, and Dr. Augustus Crary came to Yorkshire in the same year. Dr. Thomas J. Williams began practice at Ellicottville in 1829, the year in which Dr. Edward Finn opened an office at Olean. Dr. Levi Goldsborough came to Otto in 1830. Dr. Lambert Whitney came to Olean in 1833. Dr. Paul Clarke came to Hinsdale in 1836. Drs. James and Dyer Coudrey came to Freedom in 1835.
It is believed that a county medical society was organized as early as 1824, but no record of the event has been preserved. In 1833 there was a meeting for organization of a society, at which the following doctors attended : T. P. Whipple, H. Davison, T. J. Williams, A. Crary, E. Harmon, L. Riggs, E. Finn, O. Guernsey and C. Ellsworth. In 1867, there was again an organization of a county medical society, the old society having held its last meet- ing in 1844; Dr. F. D. Findley, of Franklinville, was elected the first president. The Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Homeopathic
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Medical Society was organized in 1866 as the successor of a simi- lar society which had gone out of existence.
The Higgins Memorial Hospital of Olean was founded in 1895, when funds were raised for a beginning. The hospital was the recipient of a gift of $65,000 a few years later, from Mrs. Clara A. H. Smith in memory of her brother, Gov. Frank Wayland Higgins, which made possible the erection of a new building. Do- nations of $10,000 each from Mrs. Kate C. Higgins and F. L. Bartlett augmented the fund for the development of the institu- tion. The Mountain Clinic Hospital, a notable institution of its kind, was opened at Olean in March, 1918, the building having been completed in one year and costing $100,000. It was erected by Drs. William H. and Stephen V. Mountain. The David A. Mountain Home for Aged Physicians was also made possible by their generosity in converting their old home of 200 acres into this institution as a memorial to their father, David A. Mountain.
At the opening of the first court in 1817, Daniel Cruger, Zephaniah Z. Caswell, David Higgins, Jr., and Alvin Burr were admitted to practice in the court of common pleas, and Asa Hazen in the supreme court. Hazen practiced at Ellicottville, as did John A. Bryan. Timothy H. Porter was first judge of Cattarau- gus in 1817. Henry Bryan Practiced at Olean many years. Chauncey J. Fox was a lawyer of Ellicottville beginning in 1818. Joseph E. Weedon practiced many years in Randolph. Anson Gibbs, Eleazer Harmon, Charles P. Washburn and William Pitt Angel were early Ellicottville lawyers. Other lawyers who prac- ticed in the county during the very early days were: in Olean, Andrew Mead, Milton B. Canfield, Roderick White, Dudley C. Bryan, David M. Bacon and D. C. Woodcock; in Franklinville, James Burt, Ralph R. Phelps, David McClure and Samuel S. Spring ; in Ellicottville, Daniel R. Wheeler, Addison G. Rice, Rens- selaer Lamb, William H. Wood, Moses Sawyer, Daniel G. Bing- ham, Nelson P. Wilson, Lewis D. Simonds, Josiah Ward and Hiram Greenfield; in Randolph, Alexander Sheldon, Alexander Wentworth, Peter Masten, Elias L. Matteson, and M. T. Jenkins; in Dayton, Norman M. Allen; in Connewango, George A. S. Crooker; in Hinsdale, Seth Lockwood, A. C. Fuller, Alexander Storrs, and J. T. Lyman; in Persia, Chester Howe, Albert Burke, and L. H. Hewett; in Perrysburg, Ashbel H. Hurd, Mark W.
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Fletcher, and Cephas R. Leland; in Ashford, Pliny L. Fox; in Freedom, Russell C. Bryan and Lyman Scott, Jr .; in Machias, Josiah S. Masters.
The record of the participation of Cattaraugus County in the Civil War is one unsurpassed for loyalty in New York State. Considering the population of the county at the time, it is almost unbelievable that men from this county served in a total of 180 different regiments of the Union army, and that the county con- tributed about 3,500 men to the ranks of these organizations. The principal regiments, in which one or more Cattaraugus County companies were enrolled, were as follows : 37th New York Volunteer Infantry (two companies) ; 64th New York Volunteer Infantry (six companies) ; 85th New York Volunteer Infantry (two companies) ; 105th New York Volunteer Infantry (one company) ; 154th New York Volunteer Infantry (nearly nine companies) ; 13th New York Artillery (one company) ; 5th New York Cavalry (one company) ; 9th New York Cavalry (two com- panies) ; also men from Cattaraugus served in regiments from the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michi- gan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and Mis- souri. Nearly 100 men from the county served in the navy. The history of these regiments has been written countless times, and it is unnecessary to repeat this record here.
CHAPTER XLVII
THE COUNTY OF WYOMING.
The county of Wyoming was created April 19, 1841. The act of establishment defined the boundaries of the county as follows: "All that part of the county of Genesee lying and being on the south side of a line beginning at the northwest corner of the town of Bennington, in the county aforesaid, and running thence east on the north line of the towns of Bennington, Attica and Middlebury, to the west line of the town of Covington; thence south, on the east line of Middlebury, to the southwest corner of the Cragie tract; thence east on the south line of said Cragie tract, and on the south bounds of the Forty-thousand-acre tract, to the east line of said town of Covington-shall be a separate and distinct county of the State of New York, and be known by the name of Wyoming." The part of the old town of Covington lying within the new county retained its old name, while the part remaining in Genesee County was given the new name of Pavilion. A change in the county boundaries occurred under the act of April 1, 1846, which provided that "the towns of Eagle, Pike and all that part of the town of Portage in the county of Allegany, lying on the west side of the Genesee River, bounded as follows-on the east by the Genesee River, on the south by a line running due easterly from the south line of the town of Pike until it intersects the Genesee River, and west and north by the original lines of the said town (of Pike)-from and after the passage of this act shall be and the same are hereby annexed to the county of Wyoming. The original act fixed the public house at East Orangeville as the place where the first courts of the new county should be held until permanent county buildings were provided; on June 21, 1841, the first court convened at the place so designated. There were present Paul Richards, first judge; James Sprague and Peter Patterson, judges. The only business
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transacted at this first session of the court was to order a seal for the county. Later sessions of the court until the erection of a court house were held at the Masonic hall in the village of War- saw, and, until the completion of a clerk's office the records of the county were kept in a small building on the east side of Main Street in Warsaw. The commissioners appointed to locate the county seat were Peter R. Reed, of Onondaga, Davis Hurd, of Niagara, and John Thompson, of Steuben County. Warsaw and Wethersfield Springs were contenders for the honor of being the capital of the new county, and the latter place had the sup- port of the Perry residents. The commissioners decided upon Warsaw as the logical point, geographical and otherwise.
The decision in favor of Warsaw created the usual opposi- tion in certain other parts of the county. In 1877, at the Novem- ber 21st meeting of the board of supervisors a resolution was adopted disapproving the location of the county seat at Warsaw, condemned the condition of the county buildings and advocating its removal to East Gainesville. This action of the board was overwhelmingly defeated by the people voting upon the proposi- tion in February, 1878.
The commissioners in charge of the county building construc- tion were John A. McElwain, of Warsaw, Paul Richards, of Orangeville and Jonathan Perry, of Middlebury. The lot upon which the court house and county clerk's office were erected was donated by Hon. Trumbull Cary, of Batavia. The jail was com- pleted in 1841 and the court house in 1842.
The town of Arcade was formed from Sheldon March 6, 1818, and originally included Java. It was known as the town of China until 1866. Silas Parker was elected supervisor at the first town meeting in 1818. It is believed that the first settler in the town of Arcade was Abraham Jackson, a Vermonter, who owned ten sections of land, later known as the Jackson Settle- ment. He returned to Vermont and early in the spring of 1809 returned with his son, Jacob, and Silas Parker. In 1810 Israel Kibbe came. Others who came during the early years were Silas Meach, Deacon Walter Hinckley, D. Rowley, Moses Smith, Simeon Wells, William Bennett, Aaron Sillaway, Peter and David Salter, Isaac H. Salter, Asa Fisher, Jonathan Hadley, Moses Blood, Charles Beebe, Israel Friend, Elias and Silas Par-
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ker and Sardis Davis. Most of the early settlers participated in the battle of Black Rock, mentioned elsewhere in this work. The war of 1812 interrupted the tide of immigration into Wyom- ing County, as it did generally in the Genesee Country, but by 1815 the new settlers were again appearing from the east. The first preacher in the town was Rev. John Spencer, a Congrega- tional missionary from Connecticut.
The settlement of land within the limits of the present limits of the village of Arcade is coincident with the settlement of the town. The village was incorporated as such in 1871. Arcade has a newspaper, the Wyoming County Herald, a republican weekly issued by W. H. Arthurs, which was established in 1891. The Citizens Bank of Arcade (J. D. Case, president) was organ- ized in 1882, and the First National Bank (F. J. Humphrey, president) in 1913. The first bank was that of Hurty & Cham- berlain, organized in 1867. In 1839 Samuel Sedgwick opened a select school in the basement of the old Congregational church; the Arcade Academy was established in 1863, and in 1870 the academy and union school was organized.
The First Congregational Church of Arcade was formed in 1813, with Rev. John Spencer the first pastor. In 1820 the Bap- tist Church was organized. Methodist Episcopal services prob- ably began about 1830. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at East Arcade was built in 1846; the Catholics here had been affiliated with those in Java previous to this time.
The town of Attica was formed from Sheldon, Genesee County, April 4, 1811, and originally included the town of Orangeville, which was taken off in 1816. John Hubbard was the first supervisor, in 1812.
In 1802 Zerah Phelps started from the east on his journey into the Holland Purchase, accompanied by Deacon Porter, Nathaniel Sprout, Isaac Townsend and Major P. Adams. They settled in what is now Attica. In 1804 there came John Smith, John Richards, Steward Gardner, Daniel Gardner, Daniel Bur- bank, Nathaniel Sprout, Jr., Eli Hayes, Daniel White, Zadoc Williams and Zadoc Whipple, and Levi Nelson. In 1805 there arrived Oliver Hodges, Clark Burlingame, Benjamin Powers, Eliphalet Hodges, Jacob Howe, John M. Coffin, Joseph Munger, Levi Stanhope, Patrick Alvord, Thomas Whaley, Nancy Wood,
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Samuel Smith, Nathaniel Eastman, Benjamin Nelson, Orator Holcomb, Stephen Crawford, Luther Stanhope, Simeon Porter, Benjamin Moulton, David Beckwith, Joseph Hopkins, Elijah Rice, Elihu Beckwith, Daniel Adams, Joel Bradnor, Francis Rodgers, John Kean, Joseph Munger, Nehemiah Osborn and Lemuel Whaley. Following within the next few years the settlers were Owen Cotton, Asher Gardner, John Wilder, Asa Johnson, Joseph Wilder, William Vary and Mr. Fuller, Abel Baker, Caleb Starkweather and Joel Boughton. Gaius B. Rich and Seymour Brainard came in 1811.
Zerah Phelp's double log house, erected in 1802, was the first structure on the site of Attica village, and here he built the first grist mill in the town, which was the first in the county as well. The first store was opened by T. Cary, of Batavia, in 1806. The first postmaster was Gaius B. Rich in 1814. One of the first schools in the little settlement was a singing school taught by John Bogart, which met in the different cabins. The village was incorporated May 2, 1837. The first school, other than the above mentioned, was that opened by Miss Sophia Wil- liams in the summer of 1807. The Attica Union School and Academy was incorporated in 1867.
There have been a number of newspapers published in the vil- lage of Attica; today there is but one, the News, issued by Frank Norris as a Republican weekly. This paper was established in June, 1872, as the Attica Weekly News, by Charles F. Meloy. In 1874 C. L. Shepherd acquired the newspaper and dropped the "weekly" from the title.
The present Bank of Attica, C. B. Benedict, president, dates back to 1856, and the Citizens Bank of Attica was organized in 1911. Elon P. Spink is the president of the latter institution. The first bank in Attica was also known as the Bank of Attica; it was established in 1838 by Gaius B. Rich, and in 1841 removed to Buffalo. In 1856 Leonidas Doty and Dean Richmond opened the Farmers Bank of Attica, and moved it to Batavia in 1860. It was succeeded by the private banking firm of Benedict & Doty. They were followed by C. B. Benedict & Son, and then by the Attica National Bank. In 1863 the First National Bank of Attica was organized, but failed in 1865; this was said to be the first national bank failure in the United States. Thomson
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& Loomis also did a banking business in 1847, followed by J. H. Loomis & Son.
The first Baptist Church of Attica was organized in 1806, and is said to have been the first in the Holland Purchase. The Congregational, later Presbyterian, church of Attica was estab- lished in 1807. The first Methodist Episcopal society in the town was incorporated in 1823, although preaching had been com- menced as early as 1809. The Roman Catholic Parish of Attica was organized as a mission in 1856. The Universalists started about 1870.
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