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 43
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The town of Bennington was formed from Sheldon March 6, 1818, and the first town meeting was held at the house of David Farnham; George Loomis was the first supervisor. The first set- tler of Bennington was George Tolles, who arrived in 1802. Con- temporary with him were: Jacob Wright, John Jones, Jabish Warren, Almond C. Laire, Asa Jones, Ebenezer Smith, Joseph Browning, Job Mattson, Daniel Root, Stephen Wickham, William Adams, John Toles, Joseph Bromaghan, Bartholomew Arm- strong, Chauncey and Justice Loomis, David Ward, Ichabod Smith, Aaron Whitney, R. Newell, Joel Maxon, Joshua Lamphier and John Green. The village of Bennington Center was first settled in the summer of 1807, by Chauncey Loomis, who opened a store. The village of Folsomdale was also called West Ben- nington and Scottsville. David Scott was the owner of the land upon which it was located. The site of the village of Cowles- ville was owned in 1818 by Quartus Clapp.
The town of Castile was erected from Perry February 27, 1821; the first supervisor was Ziba Hurd. Nearly half of this town was included in the reservation granted to the "White Woman" by the Big Tree Treaty of 1797, and consequently was not opened to settlement until 1823. Settlement in other parts of the town was slow as compared with that in most of the other towns of the county. There were a few settlers in 1809, such as Robert Whaley and Daniel McKay, two Scotch squatters from Caledonia. Later settlers of the town included Rescom Tallman and his sons Giles, Charles and David, Captain William Tripp, Captain Ebenezer Seymour, Eliakim Bottsford, Joseph Abbott and his sons, James and Gurley, Jeremiah Matteson, Clark San- ford, Freeman Sanford, Dow I. Clute, John W. Boughton, John
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Bowers, Captain Rockwood, Gilbert Crist, Aaron D. Truesdale and Robert Whaley.
In 1816 Ziba Hurd bought 400 acres of land, which included part of the present site of Castile village; here he made the first clearing, and in the next few years he was joined by others, forming the nucleus of the later village of Castile. Among those who came during these years were Gunnel Stannard, Jacob Kel- logg, Sylvester Derby and J. Gilbert. The village was incor- porated June 19, 1877. The Castilian, Republican weekly issued by Edward L. Meach, was started in February, 1873, by A. Gaines. Frank B. Smith was associated with this paper for a time soon after its start. The Bank of Castile, C. A. Van Ars- dale, president, was established in 1869. The Baptist Church of Castile was organized as a class in 1817.
The town of Covington was formed from Perry and LeRoy January 31, 1817; it was sub-divided in 1840, part being added to the town of Pavilion in Genesee County. Jairus Cruttenden was the first supervisor; he was the first settler in the town, locating at the conjunction of Pearl Creek and the Oatka. While he was absent on one occasion his land was bought by a brother of Jemima Wilkinson, and Cruttenden had to move half a mile northwest and begin over again. His brothers-in-law, William and John Sprague, later settled nearby. Subsequent settlements in the town were made by William Miller, Dr. Daniel White, Captain Levi Beardsley, and his sons, Dyer, Jesse, Elisha, Levi, and William, Amenzo Beardsley, Marshall Davis and brothers, Calvin, Jonathan, Edward and Lewis, William Cruttenden, Luke Keith, and James C. Ferris. In 1815 Thatcher Beardsley taught the first school and in the same year Lucy Sleeper started a class. Rev. Mark Norris preached the first sermon in the town at the Center in 1815. Rev. William True settled in the town the same year. A so-called "Christian" Church was soon organized, fol- lowed soon by a Methodist organization. A Congregational Church was established in 1817 and a United Presbyterian Church in 1827.
The town of Eagle was erected from Pike January 21, 1823. The first settlers within the town were William and Silas Hodges, in 1808, followed in succeeding months by Dan Beach, Nathaniel and A. Hills, Simeon Baker, Amos Smith, Peter Keyes, Jethro
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Grover, Robert Hamilton, Philip Baker, Barzilla Bedee, Elisha Baker, Ebenezer Dutton, Nicholas Severance, Elijah Poole, Joseph Crocker and many others. The first town meeting was held at the house of Seth Wetmore February 11, 1823; Lorey Buckley was elected supervisor. Elijah Hyde owned the land on which the village of Eagle was located, and there opened the first store in the town. The Free Will Baptist Church at Eagle village was the first in the town.
Justin Loomis owned the land where the village of Bliss is situated. The village has a newspaper, the Bliss Tidings, which is issued weekly as an edition of the Wyoming County Gazette. The Bliss National Bank was established in 1915; Glenn F. Met- calf is president.
The town of Gainesville was originally called Hebe, and was formed from Warsaw February 25, 1814. The first settlement in the town was made in 1805 by William Bristol, who was sur- veying through this section. His brothers, Richard and Charles, and Elnathan George settled here in the same year. James Cravath and John Patterson came in 1806, Willard Thayer in 1807 and William Broughton in 1810. The first church in the town was the Congregational, organized in 1815; a second church was started three years later. The Methodists began about the same time, and, as late as 1879, a Roman Catholic Parish was formed at East Gainesville. The Gainesville National Bank was organized in 1901; F. M. Bristol is its president.
The town of Genesee Falls was formed from Portage and Pike April 1, 1846. The land was within the Cottringer tract and was opened for sale in 1816. The white men here previous to this date had mostly been of the squatter type and not permanent settlers. Some remained and became residents, such as Joseph Dixon, Benjamin B. Earl, Increase Hawley, Aaron Davis, Zach- ariah Van Buskirk, George Brown, Thomas McClenathan, David Handy, Anson Bigelow, Jacob Mabie, Orrin Goodell, Truman Blood, John Robinson, Elisha Leach, Albert Langdon, and Thomas Buckman. Robert Flint was chosen supervisor of the town at the first meeting held April 14, 1846. The village of Portageville was called Schuyler until 1829, when Portage was adopted and used until 1846; then the "ville" was added. The village incorporated in 1866, was laid out by a company con-
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sisting of Mumford, Mckay, Hubbard and Smith. The First Presbyterian Church of Portageville was established as a Con- gregational Church in 1827, the Baptist Church in 1838, the Uni- versalist Church in 1841 and the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin about 1848.
The town of Java was set off from Arcade (then China) April 20, 1832. The first town meeting occurred at the Abner Currier House in April, 1833, when officers were chosen, headed by Moses Twiss, supervisor. Settlement in this town did not begin until 1809, when the Holland Land Company released the land. Prominent among those who came into the town within the next few years were Timothy Kerby, Samuel Coleman, Joshua Gates, David Wolcott, Erastus Wells, Guy Morgan, Abraham C. Hollenbeck, Daniel H. Wooster, Amasa Joslin, James Hall, Lemuel J. Paul and Oren Waters.
The town of Middlebury was formed from Warsaw March 20, 1812. The first settler was Jabez Warren, who located at the later site of Wright's Corners, in 1802, in the northwest part of the town. Jonas Sellick was a contemporary of Mr. Wright, and soon after came Reuben Chamberlain and Israel M. Dewey, J. Sellick, Thomas Cahoon, James Fay, Elijah Cutting, David Torrey, Job Hill, Zophar Evans, Daniel Vanorman, Jona- than Curtis, Asahel Wright, Samuel Ewell, Reuben Hall and Edmund Curtis.
The land upon which the greater part of the village of Wyom- ing is situated was bought in 1809 by Silas Newell, who built the first houses there. It was first called Newell's Settlement, then Middlebury village and later Wyoming. One of the first things Mr. Newell did after sufficient number of settlers had taken up their homes near him, was to start a subscription for an academy, which eventually became the well-known Middle- bury Academy. The Presbyterian Church at this place was first organized in 1817, as a Congregational society. A Baptist Church was organized in 1810. Methodists had missionaries here for many years, but it was not until 1835 that a church was incorporated. The village has one newspaper, the Wyoming Reporter, which was first published in 1886. The Wyoming Banking Company, now under the presidency of W. J. Humphrey, was started in 1902.
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The village of Dale was first settled in 1825, by Archibald Worden, who built a sawmill.
The town of Orangeville was created February 14, 1816 and taken from Attica. It originally included the territory which became Wethersfield. Several weeks later the first town meeting convened and Noah Merrell, Jr., was chosen supervisor. John Duncan and James Sayer were the pioneer settlers of the town, and were soon followed by Elisha Doty and Lemuel Chase. These settlements were made in 1805, as were those of Adial Sherwood, Seth Sherwood and Silas Merrifield. Truman Lewis, the large Merrell family, Ephraim Durfee, John S. Cowdin, John Tilton, Jonathan Colburn, Simeon Morse, Reuben Stone, Phineas But- ler, John Head, Artemus Benson, Seth Porter, Levi Johnson, Sr., and Jr., Aaron Kinsman, Lemuel Chase, John Grover, Joshua Mitchell, Asahel Ward, Paul Richards and Oliver Lee were among those who followed at regular intervals. Settlement on the site of the village of Orangeville was begun in 1807, and the first there were Jeremiah Merrell, Ebenezer Tyrell and Isaac Moore. The first religious organization in the town of Orange- ville was the Baptist, which was represented by a church as early as 1812. In the same year a Presbyterian Church was estab- lished. The Orangeville Society of Friends was organized about 1816. In the north part of the town in 1831 the Union Evangeli- cal Church was instituted, and in 1850, in the northeast part of the town, a Methodist Episcopal class was formed as a branch of the Warsaw Church.
The town of Perry was taken from Leicester March 11, 1814. At this time it included Castile and a part of Covington. Some of the more prominent early settlers of Perry were Elizur Webs- ter, Roswell Turner, Joel Adams, Phineas Stevens, Jabez War- ren, Josiah Williams, Samuel Gates, Amos Otis, Elisha M. Smith, Cornelius Anable, Amos Smith, Justus Lyon, Joshua Clark, Seth Canfield, Julius Curtiss, John Hammersley, James Edgerly, Jonathan Atwood, Peter Atwood, Elijah Atwood and Aaron Pond. The first school in the town was opened about 1819 by Samuel Waldo.
The village of Perry was first settled soon after the first arrivals in the town. A grist and sawmill were built here in 1811, and within a short time a store became necessary. The place was first called Shacksburg, then Columbia, then Nineveh,
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and finally the present name was adopted. Perry was incor- porated in 1830.
The First National Bank of Perry is the successor of a state bank organized in 1855 by R. H. and A. D. Smith. William D. Page is now president. The Citizens Bank of Perry, G. M. Tra- ber, president, was established in 1888.
There are two newspapers now published in this village. The Perry Herald was founded in July, 1877, as the Wyoming County Herald, by Lewis E. Chapin. The name was changed to The Herald in 1878. Guy Comfort is now editor and proprietor; the paper is issued weekly, and is Republican in politics. The Perry Record, also a Republican weekly, established in 1894, is edited by Carl G. Clarke.
The Baptist Church of the village was formed in 1818, the Presbyterian in 1822, the Methodist Episcopal about 1840, the Universalist before 1830, the Roman Catholic (St. Joseph's) in the forties, and the Free Methodist in 1859.
The town of Pike was created March 18, 1818 by dividing the old town of Nunda; Pike then included what was later Pike, Eagle, Hume and Centerville. A town meeting was held at the inn of Benjamin G. Chamberlain April 7, 1818; Thomas Dole was elected supervisor. The first permanent settlement was made in Pike in 1806 when the following, all from Whitehall, New York, came: Asahel Newcomb, Eli Griffith, Peter Granger, Caleb Powers and Phineas Harvey. The first school was taught by Miss Beulah Abel in the summer of 1809. The first private school was kept by Tracy Scott in the winter of 1833-34. Pike village was incorporated June 23, 1848.
The Wyoming County Gazette, published weekly by C. W. Scott, had its beginning as the Farmers' Gazette established in May, 1876, by B. H. Randolph, at Warsaw. Within six months the paper was purchased by H. Besancon and moved to Pike, and the name changed to the Wyoming County Gazette. A few months later it became entitled the Pike Gazette, and eventually adopted its present name.
The Pike Banking Company, W. W. Metcalf, president, was established in 1922.
A Presbyterian Church was first formed in the town of Pike
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in 1819, the Baptist Church in 1827, the Methodist in 1824, and the Free Will Baptist in 1852.
The town of Sheldon was formed from Batavia, Genesee County, March 19, 1808. Attica was taken from its territory later, as also were Bennington and China. Roswell Turner was the first white settler in the town in March, 1804. David Hoard was the next, then Orange and Marvin Brace, William Vary, Lodowick Thomas, Uriah Parsons, Jotham Godfrey, Robert Carr, George Grinold, Joshua Gates and Simeon Hoard. The German immigration began about 1833, and Peter Zittle, Jacob Zittle, John Hausower and John Schmidt were among the first to arrive. The first postoffice was established at Sheldon Center in 1810; Fitch Chipman was the postmaster. The first school was taught by Polly Rolph in 1807.
The town of Warsaw was taken from Batavia, Genesee County, March 11, 1808, and then included, in addition, the pres- ent towns of Middlebury and Gainesville. The first town meet- ing was held at the house of Elizur Webster April 5, 1808; Mr. Webster headed the list of officers then chosen, as supervisor. He was also the first settler of the town in 1803, having come from Washington County, New York. He purchased about 3,000 acres of land, lying in the valley of the Oatka Creek, paying $1.50 per acre for it. He sold most of this land to other settlers for $2.00 per acre. He went back to his former home for his family, and when he later returned to Wyoming County he was accompanied by Shubael Morris and Amos Keeney. Lyman Mor- ris was also a settler of this time, and in 1804 there arrived the Hoveys, Elijah Cutting, Josiah Jewett, Nehemiah Fargo, Josiah Boardman, Jonas Cutting, William Knapp, Amos Keeney, Lyman Morris, Sterling Stearns and several others. In 1805 Giles Parker, Lot Marchant and Hezekiah Wakefield came. In 1806 a stream of settlers arrived, and the population this year was doubled. The first school in the town was taught by Samuel McWhorter in 1807.
Concerning the early village of Warsaw, an old historical account states: "Previous to 1816 Warsaw had very little the appearance of a village. Of frame buildings there were the tavern built by Judge Webster, on the corner of Buffalo and Main streets, a school house on the site of the Baptist Church, a small
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house-the residence of Nehemiah Fargo-on the opposite side. of the street at the corner of Main and Livingston; Almon Stev -. ens' residence, where the Congregational Church now stands; the house of Doctor Sheldon, just north of it; a small house a. few feet north from where the Bartlett block now is; the tavern. of Russell Noble, on the corner of Main and Genesee streets. Just north from where the Presbyterian Church stands, was a. small building in which Almon Stevens kept a store, and another,, used for the same purpose by C. L. Sheldon & Company. On. the north side of Buffalo Street, just west from the creek, Calvin. Rumsey had a tannery and shoe shop, in a part of which he lived." The village was incorporated in 1843. Growth was slow during the next few decades. The postoffice was established in. 1811, and Chauncey L. Sheldon was the first postmaster.
The first newspaper in what is now Wyoming County was. established at Warsaw in 1828; this was the Genesee Register, issued by Levi and Warham Walker; it lasted six months. The Western New York, Republican weekly of Warsaw, now under control of Levi A. Cass, was started at Perry in January, 1841, by John H. Bailey. Soon afterward it became the property of Barlow & Woodward, who moved it to Warsaw, where it has been. published since under successive owners. The Wyoming County Times, Democratic weekly published now by Fred Norris, at. Warsaw, started in November, 1869, when The Arcade Times was started by S. W. Wade. He issued it at Arcade until Janu- ary, 1876, then moved the plant to Warsaw, and, in October,, 1876, changed the title of the sheet to the present form. The Wyoming County Farm Bureau News, published by T. W. Vann, at Warsaw, began publication in the year 1915.
The present Wyoming County National Bank at Warsaw,. under the presidency of W. J. Humphrey, had its beginning in 1851, when Joshua H. Darling established a banking business, as the Wyoming County Bank, which continued until 1865. In that year it was succeeded by the Wyoming County National Bank, with Mr. Darling as president. The Trust Company of Wyoming County was organized in 1913; J. C. Buxton is: president.
The first select school in Warsaw was opened about 1825, with Rev. Anson Tuthill as teacher. Rev. Julius Steele, of the:
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Presbyterian Church, had another school of this type about the same time. Union graded schools were established in the vil- lage in 1846.
In the year 1807, Reverend Van Nest organized a Methodist class in the south part of the town,and, in 1820, the First Method- ist Episcopal Society of Warsaw was regularly formed. The very first religious organization in Warsaw, however, was the Union Society, composed mostly of Presbyterians and Baptists, and originated in 1808. Both sects had their own societies dur- ing the life of the Union Church. The Presbyterians had been organized also in 1808. The Baptists organized themselves in 1810. The Episcopal Church of Warsaw was established in 1852; occasional services had been held in the village for many years previously. The Free Will Baptist Church of Warsaw was started in 1833, and the Congregational Church in 1840. St. Michael's Roman Catholic Parish of Warsaw began in the early years as a station, or mission, established by Father McConnell, and a church building was not erected until 1850.
The town of Wethersfield was erected from Orangefield April 12, 1823. The first town meeting was held at the house of Joel S. Smith, March 5, 1824; Lewis Blodget was elected supervisor. No settlements were made until 1809 within the present limits of the town; then James Cravath erected a log house, which was occupied by his brother, Ezekiel Cravath. The next year Lewis Hancock, Calvin Clifford, John W. Perry and a few others arrived. Reuben Briggs, Jonathan King, Daniel Wolcott, Manning Wells, Erastus Richards, Ebenezer French, Amos P. Randall, Guy Morgan, Samuel and Israel Reed, Samuel and Bliss Charles, Amasa and Daniel Belden, Timothy W. Charles, Amos Harriman and Joseph Charles arrived between 1811 and 1815. During the next three or four years there came. Joshua Parish, David Randall, Jesse Howe, Alexander Robin- son, Samuel Robinson, John Copwell, Thomas Loveland, James Warren, William Palmer and Henry Colwell. The first school in the town was opened in the fall of 1813 by Erastus Wells in his log cabin. The first postoffice was established in 1823, under the name of Wethersfield at Smith's Corners; Joel S. Smith was. the first postmaster.
The first religious company in Wethersfield was formed at the
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house of Daniel Belden, in 1817, by Rev. Joseph Case, Baptist preacher. A society was incorporated in 1822. A Christian Church was organized at Hermitage in 1836. St. Clement's Episcopal Church was established at Wethersfield Springs in 1826, and at the same place a Presbyterian Church and a Meth- odist Episcopal Church started in 1832.
The call for troops in 1861 brought ready response from the people of Wyoming County. The first war meeting at Warsaw was held April 23, 1861, at the court house. General L. W. Thayer presided and a vice-president was chosen from each town in the county. A flag pole was erected at the corner of Main and Buffalo streets and the colors floated to the breeze. An immense crowd attended the meeting and an overflow gathering was held in front of the court house. Over $3,000 was raised for the families of volunteers, and thirty men placed their names on the rolls as volunteers. Speeches were made by prominent men and the citizens entered upon the task of preparing for war with unsurpassed zeal. On the 24th a similar meeting was held at Pearl Creek. The thirty volunteers were augmented by forty more at a meeting on the 26th. A company was formed with G. H. Jenkins, captain; H. A. Dudley, first lieutenant, and A. M. Whaley, second lieutenant. On the 20th of May the company left Warsaw and proceeded to New York, where they were assigned to the 17th New York Volunteer Infantry. At regular intervals thereafter companies left Wyoming County for the front; only the briefest mention can be made of the principal military organizations with which Wyoming men were identi- fied. These were: 17th, 21st, 27th, 44th, 104th, 130th and 136th Regiments New York Volunteer Infantry; 5th and 9th New York Cavalry; 2d Regiment of Mounted Rifles; 24th Inde- pendent Battery; 4th Artillery; 8th Heavy Artillery.
In 1882 there was published a list of lawyers who had prac- ticed in the village of Warsaw, with the dates they began. This follows: "Robert Moore, 1817; Mahew Safford, 1817; Warren Loomis, 1817 or 1818; Theophilus Capen, 1818 or 1819; James Crocker, 1821 or 1822; Ferdinand C. D. Mckay, 1823; Thomas J. Sutherland, 1834 or 1835; James R. Doolittle and Linus W. Thayer, 1841; W. Riley Smith, 1847; William S. Crozier, 1847; Leonard W. Smith, 1848; Charles W. Bailey, 1850; Harlow L.
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Comstock, 1850; Charles Henshaw, 1853; Alonzo W. Wood, 1853; Lloyd A. Hayward, 1854; Byron Healy, 1857; Henry C. Page, 1858; Elbert E. Farman, 1858; Myron E. Bartlett, 1860; I. Samuel Johnson, 1861; Augustus Harrington, 1864; Beriah N. Pierce, L. Lockwood Thayer, 1867; Robert Snow, 1869; C. T. Bartlett, 1870; S. B. Bartlett, 1873; E. E. Farman, II, 1875; E. M. Bartlett, 1879; S. Rockwell, 1879." Some of the early attorneys of Perry were: Robert Moore, Calvin Pepper, M. C. Hough, I. N. Stoddard, L. W. Thayer, Levi Gibbs, J. J. Pettit, William Pettit, L. A. Hayward, William Mitchell, Mr. Blenner- hasset, A. A. Hendee, D. L. Gilman, A. Lent, E. B. Fiske.
The Wyoming County Medical Society was organized in August, 1870, at a meeting attended by the following physicians of the county: T. D. Powell, Milan Baker, J. T. McArthur, S. Chester Smith, G. B. Gilbert, Julius A. Post, C. W. Howe, F. E. Bliss, O. B. Adams, George M. Palmer, W. D. Hunt, Jacob K. Smith and H. P. Merville.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE COUNTY OF STEUBEN.
Steuben County was taken from Ontario March 18, 1796, and named in honor of Frederick William Augustus, Baron de Steu- ben. At the time of its organization it was divided into six towns, Bath, Canisteo, Dansville, Fredericktown, Middletown and Painted Post. There have been a number of losses in the territory of the county since this time, thus reducing it to its present area. William Kersey, a Philadelphia Quaker, was the first judge, and he supplemented his court work with the business of surveying. The associate judges were Abraham Bradley and Eleazer Linds- ley. The first terms of court were held at Bath, the county seat. The first court house was a one story and a half frame building, with two wings. The building was moved away about 1828, and a brick structure erected. This was burned in 1862, but imme- diately replaced by the present building. The first jail was built of logs; the present brick building was constructed in 1882. The surrogate's office was built in 1886, and the clerk's office in 1872.
The first Indian trader within the territory now forming the county was that of William Harris at Painted Post in 1786, and in the same year the first Indian trader at Onondaga was Ephraim Webster. The first settlement in Steuben County was made near Gibson (then in Painted Post, now town of Corning) by Frederick Calkins in 1789. Settlers were being encouraged to come to this country by Capt. Charles Williamson, agent of the Pulteney Es- tate. In the summer of 1793 he caused explorations to be made for a road from the site of Williamsport to Williamsburg, at the junction of Canaseraga Creek with the Genesee River, and this was opened in the following autumn by a group of German emi- grants. These people proved very undesirable as pioneers and after a time were removed to Canada. McMaster's history con- tains the following regarding this period (1794) : "The next proj- ect that claimed his (Williamson's) attention was the improve- ment of our streams. They were then called 'creeks,' but when
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