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 54
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CHAPTER LI. THE COUNTY OF ORLEANS.
The county of Orleans was created from the northern part of Genesee by the act of November 12, 1824. With the exception of Schuyler and Yates counties, it is the smallest in the Genesee Country, having an area of 396 square miles. The name Adams was at first proposed for the new county, but at the insistence of a number of prominent citizens the title of Orleans was adopted.
As early as 1803, the Holland Land Company, to promote immigration to the region now comprising Orleans County, laid out a road from Batavia to the mouth of the Oak Orchard Creek, where it was planned to start a village. This road followed an old Indian trail. Part of it now constitutes Main Street, in the village of Albion. The company surveyors found a salt spring near the Oak Orchard Creek, a little below where the village of Medina is now situated. At that time the nearest salt works were located at Salina, Onondaga County, a distance of over 100 miles: As a further inducement to settlers, the land company established salt works at this spring and opened roads in various directions. These were called "salt works roads," a few stretches of which, here and there, are still in existence.
Permanent settlement did not begin, however, until 1811. In that year Anthony Tripp settled in what is now the town of Barre. Lansing Bailey purchased land about a mile south of Albion and built a cabin, but did not bring his family until the following February. In 1812 Oliver Benton located at the place later known as Benton's Corners. William McCollister cleared land on the Oak Orchard road, and built a log house near where the court house at Albion was afterward erected. Jesse Mason and Nathan Whitney also came in 1812. Both soon afterward enlisted and served through the War of 1812. Jonathan Whitney, Joseph Hart and William White were settlers of the year 1813. Condi-
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tions in this section were very primitive at this time. One settler has stated: "In 1815, the only mail to and through Ridgeway was carried on horseback twice a week between Canandaigua and Lewiston. October 22, 1816, a postoffice was established at Ridge- way Corners, named 'Oak Orchard,' Elijah Hawley, postmaster." On August 24, 1817, another postoffice was established at Oak Orchard Creek, on the Ridge, with James Brown as postmaster. A postoffice was started at Gaines in July, 1816, with William J. Babbitt, postmaster. One of the principal incentives to settle- ment in what is now Orleans County, inducing the growth of Holley, Albion, Knowlesville and Medina, was the building of the Erie Canal. The so-called Ridge road was an important item to the early settler also. This was originally an Indian trail, but, through legislative enactment, it had been surveyed and laid out in 1815 by Philetus Swift and Caleb Hopkins. The presence of the road, which generally followed the natural ridge through this vicinity, did much to encourage travel from east to west. Andrew A. Ellicott constructed his mill on the Oak Orchard Creek at Shelby Center in 1813, which led the Holland Company to open a road leading to the mill from the Oak Orchard road, mentioned above. This was the beginning of highway construction in the county, the early roads having been laid out as necessity de- manded, to insure easy communication between the settlements. Next, of course, in transportation matters, came the railroads, the first of which was the line from Medina to Akron, in Erie County, which went into operation in 1836, but was abolished soon afterwards. The Rochester, Lockport & Niagara Falls Rail- road was incorporated in 1850, and is now a part of the New York Central. The building of the latter gave a real impetus to the development of Orleans County. Additional matters relating to the first settlement of the county will be given in the following paragraphs relating to the towns.
The town of Barre was named by Judge John Lee for his birthplace, Barre, Massachusetts. It was erected March 6, 1818, having been set off from the town of Gaines. Nathan Whitney was the first supervisor. Prior to the War of 1812, a number of families came to Barre to live, but the hostilities on the Niagara frontier brought a halt to immigration for a period. The first tavern in Barre was conducted by Abram Mattison in 1815, on
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the west side of the Oak Orchard road, two miles south of Albion; within the village of Albion a man named Churchill had an inn on the south corner of Main and Canal streets. The first school in the town was taught by Silas Benton, in the village of Albion, south part. The first merchandise store was opened by E. and A. Mix at Porter's Corners. Orris H. Gardner opened a store in 1819 near Benton's Corners, on the Oak Orchard road. The first lawyer in the town was Theophilus Capen, who had an office in Albion. William J. Moody, Alexis Ward, Henry R. Curtis, A. Hyde Cole and George W. Fleming were other early lawyers of the village and town. Dr. Orson Nicholson was the pioneer physi- cian, having settled in Barre in 1819. Dr. William White built the first saw mill in the town, on the creek southeast of Albion, in 1816. Three years later William Bradner constructed a grist mill on this same stream. The first deed of land in the town was given by the Holland Land Company to Jacob Young, and conveyed 100 acres of lot 33, town 15, range 1, about one and a half miles south of the village of Albion. William Bradner took a deed to a large part of the east side of Main Street in the village, and Roswell Burrows had a deed to the west side of the street. The first clear- ing in the village was made by William McCollister, in 1811, where the court house is now located. The first dwelling in the village was a log house erected also by McCollister. The first town meetings were held at Mattison's tavern, afterwards at Benton's tavern. Among the more prominent of the early settlers of Barre may be named William McCollister, Lansing Bailey, Joseph Hart, Joseph Stoddard, Elijah Darrow, Reuben Clark and Silas Benton. Ever alert to induce settlement in their domain, the Holland Land Company offered a tract of land to the first church organized in each of the towns upon their purchase. It is recorded that the company deeded 100 acres in Barre on March 8, 1822, to the First Congregational Society, which was the first religious organization in the town. The first board of trustees of this church was com- posed of Orange Starr, Cyril Wilson, Ithamar Hibbard, John Bradner, Caleb C. Thurston, and Oliver Benton. The church was organized December 5, 1817. The First Presbyterian Society of Albion was incorporated March 20, 1826, and was the first in the village and the second in the town. The first trustees were: Harvey Goodrich, Joseph Hart, Ebenezer Rogers, William White,
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Hiram Sickles, and Milton W. Hopkins. Rev. William Johnson was the first pastor, in 1824, and the first house of worship was erected in 1830.
The location of the village of Albion, as mentioned before, was determined by the Erie Canal and Oak Orchard road (Main Street). William McCollister's clearing and log house constituted the first step in the physical formation of the village. This was in 1812. Arad Thomas, in his history of the county (1871), states: "McCollister took up lot thirty-five, township fifteen, range one, on the east side of Main street, under article from the Holland Company, which he sold to William Bradner, who took the deed from the company of two hundred and sixty-six and one- half acres of the north part, his brother Joel taking a deed of ninety-two acres on the south part, on the west side of Main street. Jesse Bumpus took up by article from the company, the land from the town line of Gaines on the north, to near State Street on the south. John Holtzbarger, of Holsenburgh, as he was sometimes called, took up the next land south of Bumpus, and Elijah Darrow took the next. Before the canal was made William Bradner sold one hundred acres of the northwest part of his tract to Nehemiah Ingersoll and others. Mr. Ingersoll employed Orange Risden to lay out his land bordering on the Oak Orchard road and canal, into village lots, and to make a plat of the same. From this Mr. Ingersoll sold lots and opened the streets, he having bought out his partners. The Bumpus tract, on the west side of Main Street, at this time was owned by Mr. Roswell Burrows, the father of Messrs. R. S. & L. Burrows. He did not lay out his land into village lots by any general survey and plant, but laid off lots and opened streets from time to time as the wants of the public required. The land fronting on Main Street, through the village, was taken up and mostly occupied by purchasers from the original proprietors, about the time the canal was made navigable."
The acquisition of county seat honors, with its attendant activities, brought in a wave of settlers, and very quickly the vil- lage began to grow. Buildings sprang up on the south side of the canal (the tow path having been on the north side), and trades- men of every description unpacked their stocks and hung out their signs. Included among the early merchants were: Good-
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rich & Standart, John Tucker, O. H. Gardner, R. S. & L. Burrows, Alderman Butts, and Freeman Clarke. The last named was after- ward a prominent banker of Rochester. A Mr. Churchill kept the first hotel on the southwest corner of Main and Canal streets. The next hostelry was the Albion Hotel, located south of the canal on Main Street, west side, and was conducted for a number of years by Bumpus & Howland, afterwards by Hiram Sickles. Mr. Bumpus later built the Mansion House, on the north side of the canal on Main Street. Jesse Bumpus and his son, Philetus, built the first frame house in the village. The first warehouse was con- structed by Nehemiah Ingersoll on the canal east of Main. The first sawmill was that of William Bradner, built in 1819. He also had the first grist mill. A stone flouring mill was built on the canal in 1833 by Ward & Clarks.
The first attorney in the city was Theophilus Capen, already mentioned as the first in the town of Barre. Others of the settle- ment days were: William J. Moody, Alexis Ward, Henry R. Curtis, Gideon Hard, William W. Ruggles.
Dr. Orson Nicholson moved from his former location two miles south of the village in 1822, and so was the first physician of Albion. Dr. William White came here about 1824 from Oak Orchard, opened a drug store, and practiced in partnership with Doctor Nicholson. Dr. Stephen M. Potter came here from Caze- novia, New York, and in time returned there. .
The village of Albion was for some years called Newport, but another community of the name in the state caused frequent mis- direction of the mails; consequently, when the first incorporation of the village occurred April 21, 1828, the name was changed to its present form.
When the commissioners appointed to locate the site for the county seat began to look around, two villages presented their claims for the honor-Albion and Gaines. Gaines, the larger of the two, was on the Ridge road, and better established, but Albion had the advantage of being nearer the geographical center of the county. The decision of the commissioners in favor of Albion was brought about largely through the clever strategy of a group of Albion men, Nehemiah Ingersoll, Philetus Bumpus, Henry Henderson and others. These men knew that under ordinary con- ditions, the time of year being in the dry season, the creek would
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be low and the mills would be idle, which they knew would not impress the commissioners. They immediately repaired the dams and flumes and closed the gates, in order to hold all the available water until the psychological moment came; they also hauled logs and lumber to the mill yards and stationed a number of workers at advantageous points. The commissioners arrived, and before viewing the village were royally entertained with meat and drink; they were then driven along the creek and saw with satisfaction the rushing stream and the mill hands industriously hurrying about their work. Albion got the county seat. The first court house, of brick, was built in 1827, with the county clerk's office in the lower story. A new court house was erected in its place in 1857-58. The first jail was built in 1838.
The town of Carlton was set off from the towns of Gaines and Ridgeway, April 13, 1822, and was first called Oak Orchard, but in 1825 was given its present name. Richard W. Gates was the first supervisor. It was in this town that the first white settle- ments of the county were made. William and James Walsworth came here from Canada in 1803. James settled near the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek, and William near the mouth of Johnson's Creek. James, who was really the pioneer settler, rowed his family across the lake from Canada in an open boat, and first built a log cabin, then the only house on the lake shore between Fort Niagara and Braddock's Bay. Walsworth was very poor and had to labor unceasingly to provide food for his family. In two or three years he moved to a site between Lockport and Batavia, and became a tavern keeper. The Walsworths and a few others were the only settlers in Orleans County before 1809. Joseph Ellicott, well-known surveyor for the Holland Company, conceived a village at the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek. In 1803 he made a plat of his proposed village and named it Manilla, with the hope that it would be a trading point for the lake trade route to and from the Holland Purchase. However, the building of the Erie Canal caused the demise of Manilla. The first deed of land from the Holland Company in Carlton was given to John G. Brown, and conveyed two and a half acres on the west side of Oak Orchard Creek; Brown held it for a time in the hope that a village would be located there. Among other settlers and those who bought land of the Holland Company in 1803, 1804 and 1805
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were: John Farrin, James DeGraw, Cornelius DeGraw, Elijah Brown, James McKinney, Elijah Hunt, James Dunham, David Musleman, Samuel Utter, Ray Marsh, Henry Lovewell, John Parmeter, William Carter, Martin Griffin, Eli Griffith, William Griffith, Stephen Hoyt, Samuel Mckinney, John Jason, Henry Lovewell, William Carter, Job Shipman, Ephraim Waldo, Paul Brown, Job Johnson, Thaddeus Moore, David Miller, Matthew Dunham and his sons, Matthew, James and Charles, and Moses Root. Matthew Dunham erected a wood-turning mill on John- son's Creek in the summer of 1804, also did wood turning. He carried most of his product across the lake to Canadian customers until the embargo of 1808 prevented a disposal of the goods, but even afterwards, it is recorded, he smuggled quantities of chairs and bowls across in a sail boat. The Holland Land Company caused to be constructed the first grist mill and sawmill in a few years, under the ownership of the Dunhams, and later George Kuck. Reuben Root in the early days carried passengers and freight across the lake in a small sail boat. Reuben and John Fuller settled near Kuckville in 1811.
In December, 1810, eight young men of Stockbridge, Massa- chusetts, formed a "Union Company," to settle on the Holland Purchase. They bound themselves into a cooperative venture and placed their agreement in writing. So they came to Carlton and took up land west of Oak Orchard Creek, each having his own farm. These men were: Minoris Day, Fitch Chamberlain, Charles Webster, Anthony Miles, Selah Bardslee, Moses Barnum Jr., Russell Smith, and Giles Slater, Jr. All were bachelors except Chamberlain, and he left his wife at home. Single blessedness soon palled upon them, and after the first year Slater returned East for a wife. He was soon followed by the rest of the Union Company. All eight of the men became sterling citizens of the county, accumulated wealth, and their descendants are yet living in the county. Anthony Miles was the survivor of the group.
The first store in the town was kept by George Kuck. The first death was that of Elijah Brown; the first marriage that of William Carter and Amy Hunt in 1804; and the first birth was that of twins to Mrs. James Walsworth in 1806. Peleg Helms taught the first school in 1810-11. The first religious services in Carlton were held in 1810 by Reverend Steele, a Methodist
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preacher from Canada. Dr. Richard W. Gates was the first regular physician, but later removed to Barre, and thence to Yates. He represented Orleans County in the Assembly in 1841.
The town of Clarendon was erected from the town of Sweden February 23, 1821. As in the case of many other towns of west- ern New York, settlement during the first few years was slow, owing to the difficulty in obtaining good title to the land before 1811. Among the earliest settlers in this town were: Eldridge Farwell built the first sawmill on Sandy Creek in 1811, and the ford, Elisha Huntley, David Church, and Chauncey Robinson. Farwell built the first saw mill on Sandy Creek in 1811, and the first grist mill at the same location two years later. Around these mills a small village grew, which was aptly called Farwell's Mills. The first store of the town was kept here by Frisbie & Pierpont in 1821. The first school in the town was taught by Mrs. Amanda Bills, and the first schoolhouse, built of logs, was put up in 1813 south of Farwell's Mills. David Sturges succeeded Frisbie & Pier- pont in the mercantile business at the Mills. Pierpont was also a tavern keeper. In 1815 Joseph Sturges built a distillery at the Mills and, with his brother David, operated it for about a decade. Doctor Bussy was the first physician in the town of Clarendon. The Presbyterian Church of Clarendon was organized February 4, 1823. In 1831 it united with the Presbyterian Church in Holley. The first town meeting was held April 4, 1821, at the Farwell's Mills schoolhouse, and Eldridge Farwell was elected supervisor. Among other early manufacturers at the busy little hamlet of Farwell's Mills were Jonas Davis, who made spinning wheels, and Alanson Dudley, who made shoes and did tanning.
The town of Gaines was formed from the town of Ridgeway February 14, 1816, and included the town of Barre and most of Carlton within its original boundaries. William J. Babbitt, prominent citizen of the town, suggested the name of the town in honor of General E. P. Gaines, U. S. A. Samuel Clark was the first supervisor of the town.
Before the War of 1812, a number of families had settled along the Ridge road. A man named Gilbert, who lived about two miles east of Gaines Village in 1809, was undoubtedly the first settler of the town. Land was purchased in the town in 1809 by Andrew Jacox, Whitfield Rathbun, William Sibley,
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Cotton M. Leach, Noah Burgess, James Mather, and Henry Luce. Turner's History of the Holland Purchase states: "Whitfield Rathbun was the pioneer upon all that part of the Ridge Road, in Orleans County, embraced in the Holland Purchase." Noah Burgess came across the lake from Canada and settled on the south side of the Ridge. Arad Thomas says: "Mr. Burgess was sick and unable to work when he first arrived, and the widow Gilbert, (Mr. Gilbert, mentioned above, had died in 1809), took her oxen and moved the family and effects of Mr. Burgess from Stillwater to his place on the Ridge, a distance of about four miles. Mrs. Burgess, who was a strong, athletic woman, then chopped down trees and cut logs for a log house, and Mrs. Gilbert drew them to the spot with her oxen, and the walls of the house were rolled up from these logs by men who came along to look for land. The house so built was occupied for a time by Mr. Burgess." The widow Gilbert moved to Canandaigua in 1811. The names of Rowley, Wilcox, Leach, Adams, Rosier, Sprague and Pratt are familiar among those who settled along the Ridge in 1810. Daniel Gates came in 1811, and settled about two miles west of the village of Gaines, where he found a cabin already built by a former tenant. It was in this cabin, also, that Orrin Gleason taught the first school in the town in 1813. Henry Drake came to the town in 1811, and in the next year he built. the first dam and saw mill in the town, on Otter Creek.
The men residing in the town of Gaines during the War of 1812 had the opportunity to participate in the activities of that conflict. A company of the settlers had organized themselves under the captaincy of Eleazer McCarty, as a means of protec- tion against any attacks. In December, 1813, after the British had burned Lewiston, the Gaines recruits heard that the enemy was approaching along the Ridge. Immediately the company was brought together and marched westward. They came to Molyneaux Tavern, about twelve miles east of Lewiston, the next night, and found that the tavern was occupied by British and Indians. McCarty and his men staged a surprise attack before the enemy could reach their arms. A few Indians and one British soldier were killed, and the remainder taken to Lewiston as prisoners. The Gaines company encamped near that village and captured a scouting party of British which was returning
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to Fort Niagara with plunder. After about twenty days' service, Captain McCarty and his men were discharged and returned home.
The first practicing physician in the town of Gaines was Doctor Jesse Beach. The first lawyer was Orange Butler, and he was followed by Judge Elijah Foot and W. W. Ruggles. Jonathan Gates built the first grist mill in 1822 on Otter Creek. The first tavern was kept by William Sibley in 1811, and the first store by William Perry in 1815. Other early merchants were: E. & E. D. Nichols, V. R. Hawkins, and J. J. Walbridge. The first printing press in Orleans County was brought to Gaines by Seymour Tracy, who began to publish a newspaper in 1824, and continued about four years; John Fisk succeeded Tracy before the paper expired. The first child born in the town of Gaines was Samuel Crippen, Jr., in 1809; the first marriage was that of Andrew Jacobs and Sally Wing in 1810 or 1811. James Mather was a trader in "black salts," potash and staves, which he shipped to Montreal. The village of Gaines, when the canal was completed, was the most important village in the county. Stage coaches made regular trips on the Ridge Road, merchants were thriving, two hotels were doing a large business, there was an academy, a meeting house and a newspaper here. Consequently, when the county seat went to Newport (Albion), or "Mudport," as the Gaines people facetiously called it, they were much surprised and disappointed. Travel was deflected from the Ridge Road to the canal boats and the new county seat began to eclipse the grandeur of Gaines. The Gaines citizens strove earnestly to check the recession in their affairs, but it was of no use; they lowered the price of lots, but there were no buyers; they established the Farmer's Bank of Orleans, but it failed; the academy finished its career for lack of students and funds, and until today Gaines has remained a hamlet. One writer says: "The new county seat would be Gaines. Philetus Bumpus was then hunting bears where Albion now is, and the future great- ness of Gaines was not dimmed by prospects of Clinton's Erie Canal. Such was the theory. The canal made dough of the whole of that cake."
Among the early settlers in the village of Eagle Harbor, so named from an eagle's nest found there when the canal was
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built, were: Harvey Smith, Stephen N. Chubb, Macy Pratt, Asahel Fitch, James Mather, Robert Hunter, Amos S. Samson, Stephen Abbott. The first clearing was done by Harvey Smith in the winter of 1812. David Smith was the first tavern keeper and built the first saw mill. The first school house was built in 1822. Doctor James Brown was the pioneer physician.
The town of Kendall was formed from the town of Murray April 7, 1837, and named for Amos Kendall, then postmaster- general. Ryan Barber was the first supervisor. Settlement in this town was late, as it was off the traveled routes, and the land was not surveyed and offered to the settlers by the Holland Com- pany. Samuel Bates, a Vermonter, was the first white settler in 1812, but did not bring his family until 1814. David Jones, Adin Manley, Amos Randall, John Farnsworth, Zebulon Rice, Benjamin Morse and Nathaniel Brown came in 1815. Felix Augur, Reverend Stephen Randall, Ansel Balcom, George Bal- com, Stephen Bliss, James Weed came in 1816. Real settlement did not begin until after this year of 1816. The first birth in the town was that of Bartlett B. Morse, in November, 1815; the first marriage was that of James Aiken and Esther A. Bates, March 2, 1817, and the first death was that of a son of George Balcom in 1816. Hiram Thompson was the pioneer merchant in 1823; Lyman Spicer had the first inn during the same year; the first saw mill was built by Augur & Boyden in 1819; Gurdon Balcom taught the first school in 1819; the first grist mill was built by Ose Webster on Sandy Creek; Elder Stephen Randall conducted the first religious services; and Doctor Theophilus Randall was the first physician. The town of Kendall was the scene of an intellectual revival in 1820, when a public library association was formed, fostered by such prominent settlers as H. W. Bates, Adin Manley, Doctor Randall, Amos Randall, David Jones, Calvin Freeman, Orrin Doty, James M. Clark, Benjamin Morse, Nathaniel Brown, Caleb Clark and Noah Priest. About seventy-five volumes were secured and for ten years the people were busy reading them. Salt making was an early industry in this town. In 1825, about fifty Norwegians came here from their native country and settled on the lake shore in the north- east part of the town. Most of them later moved westward.
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