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 49
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General George McClure was born in Ireland in 1870. He was of Scotch descent, his ancestors having been Scotch Covenan- ters. Young McClure was fortunate in having the advantages of an early, though elementary, schooling, so that when he landed in Baltimore, twenty years of age, sharp, keen, ambitious and self-confident, his chances of success in the new world were magnified.
Having served an apprenticeship as carpenter, he found no difficulty in securing employment, for which he received $75.00 for two months' work. Being now financially independent, he traveled overland to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, carrying a pack on his back, but becoming footsore on the way, was obliged to put up with a German farmer. As neither the German nor his frau could speak English, conversation with them was con- ducted through a son, who had attended school. He remained with the German family several days, and, when he was about to continue his journey, was astonished to find that no charge was made him for his meals and lodging. And his opinion of the new world was accordingly enhanced. He at length accomplished the trip of 100 miles to Chambersburg, where he remained until
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spring, when in answer to newspaper advertisements, signed by Charles Williamson, he went to Northumberland to meet Colonel Williamson, only to find that Williamson had started with a band of foresters to cut a road 140 miles long through the wilderness. Near Northumberland he found an uncle by the name of Moore, who had arrived from Ireland in 1790, and McClure prevailed upon his uncle to accompany him to Bath and the Genesee Coun- try, where good land could be purchased for a dollar an acre. With provisions enough for a four weeks' journey, the two set out, well mounted on good horses, and all went well until a large, rapid stream was reached, when the uncle gave up the expedition in disgust and was about to return home, when two men appeared, who assured the travelers that there was no danger in swimming the horses through the torrent. The two landed safely on the other side, but as their journey progressed they encountered other and more treacherous streams and other dangers and incidents, which indelibly impressed themselves upon McClure's memory.
Arriving at Bath, the travellers were entertained at the Met- calf Tavern, a structure built of pine logs, one story high and of two rooms. The entire village at that time consisted of Metcalf's Tavern and a similar house occupied by Williamson, the mechanics and laborers being provided with temporary shanties. Uncle Moore purchased a farm four miles west of Bath, while McClure entered into an agreement with Williamson to assume charge of building operations. He returned at once to Northumberland, where he hired young men carpenters and procured necessary tools. Owing to the incompleted road, McClure found it necessary to embark his company and the little fleet proceeded up the Chemung River to Painted Post and thence by way of the Conhoc- ton to Bath. The trip was made in nine days and as the first record of white men navigating the Conhocton River.
On reaching Bath, McClure found that Williamson had a saw mill in operation, so that the construction of new houses proceeded briskly. One building forty by sixteen feet, one and a half stories high, was built in two days, which was considered a record, as the edifice was finished ready for occupancy, and Colonel Williamson was so well pleased at the feat that he presented McClure with $400 and also published accounts of the achievement in the New York and Albany papers.
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Soon after this a theatre was erected and a race track laid out. Colonel Williamson's idea being to provide entertainment for the settlers, but the effect of the amusement was to attract Southern sportsmen, who brought with them blooded race horses, and shortly Bath became known as the centre of gaiety. Money be- came plentiful and large sums were wagered on the races. The sporting element entered extensively into land speculation, and as Colonel Williamson offered a credit to purchasers covering a six-year period and gave transferable bonds for the assignment of title, when the contract was paid up, the entire settlement went wild over the prospect of increasing land values and plunged headlong into the maelstrom of land gambling.
McClure, who was prospering to the extent of several thousand dollars a year, refrained from the speculation, until he was offered a great bargain of 12,000 acres, in what is now South Dansville, at 25 cents per acre. He paid a thousand dollars in cash and gave his note for the balance. He then went to New York and employed an auctioneer, but could only sell the land for the same price he paid for it. Disgusted with his speculation, he decided to retain the tract and returned to Bath. When the next races were on, he sold the land to a merchant, accepting $1,000 in goods and the merchant's bond for the balance. Almost immediately the mer- chant failed, so that aside from the thousand dollars in merchan- dise, McClure lost the entire amount.
McClure at length decided to turn merchant. He sold his car- penter tools and settled his accounts with Colonel Williamson. Armed with a draft for $1,500 and letters of recommendation, he set out for Albany on horseback, arriving there in the fall of 1795. The stock of goods which he purchased in that city were shipped by boat on the Mohawk River, and as the boat was frozen fast in the ice about thirty miles west of Schenectady, until the opening of a sleigh road, the embryo merchant and his stock did not arrive in Bath until the middle of January. He at once opened a store and extended liberal credit to the small army of men who were under the employ of Colonel Williamson. Business was very brisk with him until the Colonel resigned his position of agent, when as all building and promotion activities ceased, the men were thrown out of employment and one night a number of them, owing him $4,000 in the aggregate, left for Canada. He called them "a
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sad set of unprincipled scamps." And after waiting until they had time to establish themselves in Canada, he pursued them, only to find that they were well scattered over the Canadian frontier. He chased them from Lake Ontario to Detroit and suc- ceeded in collecting but $200. After turning his papers over to a lawyer, who was shortly drowned, while crossing the lake, he fell sick, but eventually recovered.
Returning to Bath, he entered into partnership with his brother, and at length moved to Dansville, where he conducted a store for one year. Having taken in 4,000 bushels of wheat and 200 barrels of pork during the winter, he determined to build four . arks and run them down to Baltimore by way of the Canisteo River. This venture was most successful and with the profit realized he was enabled to again establish himself on a firm finan- cial footing.
Following his brother's death, he came into possession of the store in Bath, but continued to operate the one in Dansville, be- sides opening others at Penn Yan and Pittstown. He also bought the Cold Springs mill site, between Bath and Lake Keuka, where he directed a flour mill, a sawmill and a woolen mill. He built a schooner of thirty tons for carrying wheat from Penn Yan to what is now Hammondsport, and erected store houses at each end of the Lake. He devoted himself to the study of the Indian lan- guage and made trading expeditions into the Indian country, tak- ing in immense quantities of pelts and deer hams. He paid two shillings each for the hams, regardless of size, and sold them in the Baltimore market the following spring for two shillings a pound, thereby setting a pattern for the present day meat trust.
Later, McClure built other mills at Bath and entered exten- sively into the manufacture of woolen fabrics, but this last enter- prise was wrecked, when as he states, "Congress reduced the tariff for the protection of home industry to a mere nominal tax."
During his life McClure held many positions of trust and auth- ority. He was justice of the peace, county surrogate, sheriff, postmaster, judge and eventually general. He died in Elgin, Illi- nois at the advanced age of eighty-one years.
Following was recounted to the writer by Mr. A. T. Talbot concerning his grandparents, Amasa and Phoebe Travis, who
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came from Dutchess County in the early part of the last cen- tury, and settled in what is now Howard Township.
The trip from Dutchess County was made with an ox team and the load consisted of the parents, several small children and a greater part of their household possessions. Mr. Travis at once began the erection of a log house, but as the season was far advanced and he feared the difficulties of making the trip in the winter time, he determined to take the ox team and return to Dutchess County for the balance of his goods before cold weather set in. The sidewalls of the log house were up, but there was no roof over the structure, so Mrs. Travis and the children remained in the roofless cabin during his absence. In after years the frontier woman was fond of telling of seeing the stars at night shining down on their roofless home and hearing the chorus of prowling wolves, singing sad soliloquies as lullabies to her sleep- ing infants. Mr. Travis, however, accomplished his journey as quickly as the slow travelling oxen could negotiate it and returned in time to finish the cabin before severe weather came on.
The county records show that Amasa Travis purchased a farm in Howard in 1813, but it is probable that the date of his actual arrival was a considerable time before his purchase of the farm.
The remaining years of his life were spent on the homestead and Mr. Talbot assures me that both Amasa and Phoebe lived to a ripe old age and that their descendants are yet to be found in Howard although many of them have drifted into the outside world.
Speaking of wolves, the following extract from McMaster's History of Steuben County might well be termed a classic.
"As for the wolves, history despairs of doing them justice. They deserve a poet. How they howled, and howled and howled; how they snarled and snapped at the belated woodman; how they killed the pigs and the sheep; how they charmed the night with their long drawn chorus, so frightful that 'it was enough to take the hair off a man's head,' and yet so dismally hideous that it could not but be laughed at by the youngsters-all these must be imagined; words are too feeble to do justice to the howling of one wolf in the day time, much less to the howling of ten wolves at night, in the depth of a hemlock forest. Each pack had its
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chorister, a grizzled veteran, perhaps, who might have lost a paw in some settler's trap, or whose shattered thigh declared him a martyr for the public good. This son of the Muses, beginning with a forlorn and quavering howl, executed a few bars in solo; then the whole gang broke in with miracles of discord, as in a singing school the full voiced choir shouts in chorus, after the teacher had shown them 'how that chromatic passage ought to be executed.' All the parts recognized by the scientific, were carried by these 'minions of the moon.' Some moaned in bary- tone, some yelled in soprano, and the intermediate discords were howled forth upon the night air in a style that would make a jack- all shiver. The foreign musician, awaked from his dreams by such an anthem, might well imagine himself fallen from a lane where the Red Republicans had it all their own way, and having abrogated the rules of rythm and dynamics, with other arbitrary and insufferable vestiges of the feudal system, had established musical socialism. The wolves and their howling linger more vividly than any other features of the wilderness in the memory of old settlers."
SAMUEL HARRIS.
Samuel Harris, a son of John Harris, the founder of Harris- burg, Pennsylvania, and whose brother, John, Jr., and brother- in-law, William McClay, were distinguished patriots in the Revo- lutionary War, was the first white man to establish a residence in Steuben County. Little is known concerning him, excepting that he ventured up the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers to what is now Painted Post, where he constructed a log cabin and opened a trading post. Here he was visited by Judge Baker in the spring of 1787 and it is probable that the date of his arrival could be placed one or two years previous to that time. His near- est neighbor in 1787 was Colonel John Hendy, the original settler of Elmira.
Judge Baker returned to Painted Post on Christmas Day of the same year, only to find that the log house had been burned. No trace of the occupant could be found and the judge appre- hending that the Indians might have burned the cabin, and mur- dered its owner, felt grave fears for the safety of his one-time host, but later on other travellers found Mr. Harris again living
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in a new cabin on the same site, and their inquiries elicited the information that desiring to visit friends and relatives in Penn- sylvania, he had taken the opportunity to thoroughly renovate the old cabin of bugs and vermin by burning it to the ground, but no doubt the real reason for his summary house-cleaning was more to prevent some squatter competitor taking possession of the premises during his absence.
Augustus Porter, who was employed as a surveyor by Phelps and Gorham, states that in the spring of 1789 "we made our headquarters at the house of old Mr. Harris and his son William." During the same year Colonel Arthur Erwin, of Easton, drove a herd of cattle through Painted Post on his way to Canandaigua and was so struck with "the beauty and promise of the locality," that when he arrived at Canandaigua he immediately proceeded to purchase the entire township of Erwin.
Samuel Harris was born in Harrisburg in 1733. In 1755, he was one of the colonial soldiers under command of George Washington in the historic defeat of Braddock at Fort Du Quesne. He was a captain of cavalry in the Revolution and served with great distinction. Following Colonel Erwin's purchase of his lands, he surrendered his possessions to the new landlord and reestablished himself on Cayuga Lake, where his son, John; was already conducting a ferry. He died at Seneca Falls in 1825.
His son, John, afterwards became widely known throughout western New York and had the distinction of being the first sheriff of Onondaga County. He was elected to Congress in 1806 and saw service in the War of 1812.
The original Harris cabin came into the possession of one David Fuller, who increased the dimensions of the dwelling and opened an inn. This inn was the first hostelry in Steuben County and among other distinguished guests, who slept beneath its roof was Colonel Charles Williamson, the date of whose arrival was December 19, 1792. The first frame house to be erected at Painted Post was built by Benjamin Patterson in 1797 and the succeeding year Mr. Patterson erected the first still. It is said that Mr. Patterson did a flourishing business by exchanging whiskey for furs, but as time passed the still degenerated into a tannery, which was subsequently abandoned, only to be replaced by a bigger and better still, which was operated by Erastus Dodge.
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FERRY ACROSS CROOKED LAKE.
In the court minutes of the Steuben County Court of Common Pleas, for January, 1825, the following quaint ruling is reported :
"An application of Hiram Gleason to keep a ferry across the Crooked Lake from Point in the town of Pulteney to the Landing Place on the said Hiram Gleason in the town of Wayne in said county, the Court grant the same and orders the following rates of ferry, viz .:
for waggons and two horse
$0.62
" do with one
.44
" man and horse .31
droves horses, each Large Horse
.183/4
" footman
.121/2
horn cattle each
.183/4
"
sheep each per head
.03
hogs
.04
" and other property in proportion."
TRIAL OF INDIANS FOR MURDER.
In the Court Minutes of Oyer and Terminer for October 1825, held at the Court House at Bath. Present. Hon. William B. Rochester, Circuit Judge of the eighth district, James Norton, First Judge, David Hall, Sela Barnard, Thomas M. Bowen, Judges and Justices of the Peace.
3rd October 1825 Ordered by the Court that fines of ten dol- lars be imposed on the following persons, for their non attendance as petit jurors at the present term.
Allen Smith
Aaron Bull
also Ordered by the Court that a fine be imposed on Thomas Met- calfe as a grand juror at the present term of ten dollars.
also the Court imposes a fine upon Seymour Gillet of five dollars for his absenting from the Jury.
Ordered that the fines of Aaron Bull as petit juror and the fine of Thomas Metcalfe as Grand Juror be remitted for fines imposed at the present term 5th October, 1825.
The People VS.
Sundown
the Prisoner being arrained on an Indictment for Murder plead not guilty
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The People VS.
- the Prisoner being arrained on an Indict- ment for Murder plead not guilty
George Curley eye
the fine of Seymour Gillet is remitted
The People VS.
Sundown
Indictment for murder Samuel V. Hallett, John Livermore and Eliass Stepens are Recognized in the sum of one hundred dollars each for their ap- pearance at the next Oyer and Terminer as wit- ness in the above cause.
The People VS. George Curley eye
- the Like for Samuel V. Hallett, John Liver- more and Eliass Stepens
Ordered by the court that an order be drawn on the Treasurer of the County for two dollars in favor of William Dildine for his attendance at the present term.
The People VS. George Curley Eye
Jellis Clute and Horatio Jones recognized in the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars each for the appearance of Isaac Westfall to appear as a witness against the defend- ant at the next Court of Oyer and Terminer & Gaol delivery
The above case had to do with the trial of Sundown and Curley-eye, two Seneca Indians who were charged with the mur- der of Joshua Stephens, of Canisteo, and was held in a wooden court house, which stood on the site of the present court buildings. Enormous crowds attended the trial and the feeling against the Indians was most unfriendly. Red Jacket, the noted chief and perhaps the most gifted Indian orator of his day, together with many prominent sachems of the tribe, were in attendance. The jury brought in a verdict of "not guilty," and fearing an out- break of the rough element among the settlers, the Indians hur- riedly departed and for many years gave the locality a wide berth.
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THE PULTENEY TITLE.
The following is a brief synopsis, covering the past ownership of the lands of the Genesee Country.
First, the Iroquois Indians.
Second, the states of New York, Massachusetts and Pennsyl- vania, as holdings under royal charters. The various state claims conflicted sharply with each other.
Third, Phelps and Gorham, who by treaty with the Indians and purchase of the state titles, established what at least appeared to be a rightful ownership.
Fourth, Robert Morris, who purchased the rights of Phelps and Gorham, with certain exceptions.
Fifth, Charles A. Williamson, who purchased the rights of Robert Morris and others, but who was acting in the capacity of agent for his patron, the Pulteney Estate.
Sixth, the Pulteney Estate, to whom Williamson transferred all of his rights of ownership. The Pulteney syndicate consisted of Sir William Pulteney, William Hornby, a former governor of Bombay, and Patrick Colquhoun, an attorney from Glasgow. The interests were divided into twelve parts, of which Pulteney owned nine; Hornby, two, and Colquhoun, one. The date of Williamson's deed to the Pulteney Estate was March 5th, 1801. Following the death of Sir William Pulteney, a major portion of the property fell to Sir William's daughter, Lady Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Countess of Bath, and following her death, which occurred in 1808, to Sir John Lowther Johnstone, who took an active interest in the affairs of the estate up to the time of his demise, which took place January 24th, 1812, and subsequently the ownership of the estate fell to a number of heirs under whose auspices the lands were gradually sold to the settlers.
In the county clerk's office, at Bath, many of the old docu- ments, yellowed with age, but for the most part legible, are still preserved, and the following are true copies of a few of the most interesting.
LETTER WRITTEN TO COLONEL TROUPE BY BETTY JOHNSTON.
Hawkhill near Edinburgh 14th Oct. 1808.
"Sir
My niece the Countefs of Bath, died lately without making
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any Disposition by Will or otherwise, of her landed Property, & I am informed that by the Law of Succession in America, her landed Estates there, which I understand were under your man- agement, will become mine, as nearest of Kin to her Ladyship. If this be so, allow me to request, that you will be kind enough to take such steps as may be necessary, to make my Title to these Estates effectual & that you will continue to manage them for me, with as much zeal and activity, as you did for my Brother, Sir Wm. Pulteney, and the late Countefs of Bath.
I am, Sir your Obt Servt Betty Johnstone
To Colonel Troupe New York
(This letter was received by Mr. Troupe, February 2nd, 1809, and attached thereto was the following certificate.)
Edinburgh 15th October 1808.
I do hereby certify that Mifs Betty Johnstone of Hawhill near Edin', is the only surviving child of Sr. James Johnstone, late of Westerhill Bart., &, as such is the Person nearest of Kin to the late Countefs of Bath-And I do further certify that I have been credibly informed & believe, that the late Countefs of Bath died without making any Disposition by Will or otherwise, of her Landed Property.
Robt. Norton one of the Barons of his Majesty's Court of Exchequer in Scotland.
As before stated, the property did not, however, descend to Betty Johnstone, although, if one may judge her by her letter, she must have been a very gracious personage.
The following excerpts from a letter under date of February 1, 1808, will convey some idea of the elaborate language employed by Sir John Lowther Johnstone in his business letters to Colonel Troupe. (Colonel Troupe was at this time the agent of the Pulteney Estate.)
"I have lately received a Letter from the son of Governor Hornby, stating his claims upon part of the American property
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and those of Mr. Colquhoun, and that he would wait upon me with such papers as he pofsefsed, and wished to settle all points upon the most fair and liberal footing. He stated that my Title was not complete, he having the Indian Title, and so forth. I replied, by informing him that 'I was as ready as he could be to settle all matters upon a fair & liberal footing, but that I must decline taking any steps, till I was fully master of all the points to be discufsed, and had heard fully from you with your advice; that at all events I would not suffer anything to be done, but thro those who were my legal advisers, and that I should be guided by them entirely.'
"I cannot close this, without exprefsing to you in very strong terms, the satisfaction which Mr. Fellows, by his conduct here has given to all parties concerned, and I am convinced if they had left all arrangements to him, as I was willing to do much unnecefsary waste of time would have been saved. He certainly has acted with very great clearnefs & impartiality, and I should not do him justice, if I did not take every opportunity of saying so.
Believe me to remain
Sir Your most Obedt & obliged Huml Srvt. John Lowther Johnstone
London 1st February 1808.
All of which indicates that in the estimation of his Lordship, Mr. Fellows was one of the very best of fellows.
Another letter, marked private, addressed to Robert Troup, Esq., under date of 1810, is as follows:
Weymouth, 4 July 1810.
Sir
I read your private letter very attentively, and I am sorry to see by the last Packet from America that Mr. Jefferson & Mad- dison's party have got a great accefsion of strength, and that our differences are not likely to be settled. It was the universal opinion in this country that things were going on most amicably. Perhaps a knowledge of the violence of the French Decrees have not yet reached America. It appears that Bonaparte has seized a number of your ships.
The House of Commons determined lately that Ereksine had
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exceeded and departed from his orders, by a considerable major- ity, and it is understood that he remitted during the Pause all his fathers fortune out of the American funds to England. I remain Sir Your most obdt servt. John Lowther Johnstone
P. S. Your Minister, Mr. Pickney, seems pleased with Lord Wellerley,-and he, Lord Wellerley & Mr. Percival are constantly dining by themselves, which I hope will bring about a good under- standing between the two Governments.
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