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 55
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The town of Murray was erected from the old town of North-
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ampton in June, 1812. Northampton is described upon another page of this work. The new town was named for John Murray, of New York, one of the proprietors, and at first included the present towns of Murray, Kendall, Clarendon, Union or Hamlin, Clarkson and Sweden. The first settlements within the limits of the present town were made on the Ridge near Sandy Creek. Epaphras Mattison settled here in 1809. Other early settlers were named Wait, Wright, Farnsworth, Sisson and Rockwood. First settlements also followed along the Ridge Road. The pioneer tavern of the town was conducted in 1809 by Mr. Matti- son. The first store was opened at Sandy Creek in 1815 by Isaac Leach. The first grist mill was built by Perry and Luce in 1817. The first school was kept by Fanny Ferguson in 1814. The first town meeting was held in the barn of Johnson Bedell, four miles south of Brockport; this was before the original town had been divided.
The village of Holley, in the town of Murray, is one of the four larger villages in the county of Orleans. Like many other communities in this section of the state, it owes its existence to the Erie Canal, which brought trade and population. The site of the village was originally a hemlock forest. The land within the present village was part of a tract taken up by Areovester Hamlin, a Connecticut Yankee, in 1820, and he began clearing the land preparatory to laying out a village; he also built a store, and secured a postoffice, of which he was postmaster. Hamlin worked hard to encourage settlement. All of his property, how- ever, was sold at sheriff's sale about 1829. Colonel Ezra Brain- ard built the embankment for the canal over Sandy Creek. John W. Strong was another early storekeeper here, and, like Hamlin, failed. Hiram Frisbie came to the village in 1828 and opened a store; he bought a large part of the former Hamlin property in the neighborhood. James Seymour was another prominent citizen of the day. Other early merchants were: Mower & Wardwell, Selby & Newell, Alva Hamlin, George A. Porter, S. Stedman and E. Taylor. John Avery and brother were black- smiths; Samuel Cone was a shoemaker; and Doctor McClough was the first physician. The first lawyer was Reuben Bryant. Early taverns were kept by Messrs. Cone and Barr. Some attempts at salt making were made in the early years, but with
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varying success. The village was at one time called Salt Port by the boatmen on the canal, but when the canal was dug the name Holley was given in honor of Myron Holley, one of the canal commissioners. The village was incorporated July 1, 1850. A Congregational Church was organized in the town of Murray, at Sandy Creek, as early as 1819.
The first settler on the site of the village of Hulberton, in the town of Murray, was Joseph Budd, from Rensselaer County, this state, who came in May, 1826. He was a public-spirited man and did much to induce settlers to come here. He sold lots and provided material assistance for many. The village was first called Scio, but there having been another postoffice of the name in the state, it was changed to Hulberton in honor of Isaac H. S. Hulbert, prominent early merchant of the village. Abijah Reed, and his sons, Epenetus, Hercules and Jacob, his son-in-law, Edward Mulford, Gilbert Turner, William Perrigo, Remember S. Wheeler, George Squire, Hanford Phillips and Orsamus Squire were other worthy pioneers and citizens.
The village of Hindsburg, in the town of Murray, was first settled by Jacob Luttenton, who built the first house there. He sold out in 1829 to Jacob Hinds, who began the development of the village. From him it takes its name.
The town of Ridgeway was formed from the town of Batavia, June 8, 1812, and included within its original boundaries what are now Ridgeway, Gaines, Barre, Shelby, Yates and Carlton. In 1830 an addition to the town was made in order to include the village of Knowlesville in one town. The town received its name from the Ridge Road. The first town meeting was held at Oak Orchard, April 6, 1813, and Oliver Booth, of Gaines Corners, was elected supervisor. Judge Otis Turner settled at Oak Orchard in 1811, and, with Messrs. White and Hooker, built a grist mill on Oak Orchard Creek between the Ridge and Medina in 1812. Doctor William White was the first physician in Orleans County; he afterward moved to Albion, where he aug- mented his professional practice by building and operating a sawmill on Sandy Creek. He also kept a drug store, was the first surrogate of the county, engaged in boating on the canal, and farmed in the town of Carlton. He later moved to Holley and served as justice of the peace in the town of Murray. How-
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ever, the first actual settler in the town of Ridgeway was Sey- mour Murdock in 1810, followed soon after by William Davis. Ezra D. Barnes was another. Eli Moore moved to the Corners in 1811 and opened a tavern, and a store later. Cyrus Harwood was the first lawyer in the town and Elijah Hawley the first postmaster. The first school house, of logs, was built in 1815. The first school had been taught in 1814 by Betsy Murdock in her father's barn. The First Universalist society was organized December 14, 1833, and Reverend Charles Hammond was the first pastor.
When work on the Erie Canal was started there was nothing on the site of Medina. The village was laid out by Ebenezer Mix about 1823 and named by him. Settlement had shown signs of beginning at Shelby Center and no thought was given to the later Medina. Samuel F. Gear built a sawmill at the falls of the Oak Orchard creek in 1805, and at the same time the salt works were started north of the village. Few settlers came in before the war, however, as there were no roads here and war conditions made them cautious. The salt works were under con- trol of Joseph Ellicott, but little was done with them until they were bought by Isaac Bennett in 1818. The first store in Medina was opened by Sylvanus Coan in 1824. David E. Evans built a flouring mill in 1825. Joseph Nixon built a brewery in 1827, which later became a distillery. Uri D. Moore had the first hotel on Shelby Street in 1824. Asahel Woodruff and his brother were early merchants. Doctor Rumsey was the first regular physician. The first attorney was Nathan Sawyer. A postoffice was established at Medina in 1829, with Simeon Bathgate as postmaster. The first church in the village was the Episcopalian. St. John's church was incorporated in 1827, when a missionary, Reverend Richard Salmon, was in charge. Bishop Hobart held the first Episcopal service by a bishop in the county at this church September 7, 1828. Justus Ingersoll, Richard Van Dyke, Chris- topher Whaley, Elijah Beech, John B. Ellicott, Joseph Nixon, Henry Yerrington, Benjamin W. Van Dyke, Jonas S. Billing's and Hezekiah R. Warner were prominent members. The first church building was erected in 1831, and the first services held there on Christmas Eve of the next year, although the house was not fully completed for several years. The First Methodist
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Episcopal Church was established in 1830 and a church erected in 1834. The Baptists in Medina organized themselves in 1831. The Presbyterian Church here was organized March 19, 1829, and this society erected the first church building in the village, on the north side of Cross Street, near West Street. The first newspaper in Medina was the Herald, published by D. P. Adams in the autumn of 1832. Medina was incorporated March 3, 1832.
The village of Knowlesville was founded by William Knowles, the first settler there in the winter of 1815. Shortly afterward, John Caniff also took up land there. Mr. Knowles began the first clearing of native timber on the site of the village. He occupied a log cabin at first, and in 1825 erected the first frame house in the town. William Van Dorn had the first store in Knowles' warehouse. Nathan S. Wood was the second merchant, in 1825. The first school was constructed in 1817. The post- office was established in 1826, and Mr. Knowles, at the request of the villagers, called it Portville, but after learning that there was another New York village of that name, this community was called Knowlesville. The first religious society in the town was the Presbyterian at Knowlesville, established in Congrega- tional form by Reverend Eleazer Fairbanks, August 27, 1817. Oak Orchard was the principal village in the town before the building of the canal, but the latter event brought the business and settlers to Knowlesville.
The town of Shelby was formed from the town of Ridgeway, March 6, 1818, and named for Governor Shelby, of Kentucky. Joseph and Colonel Andrew A. Ellicott promoted the settlement of this town by building mills and highways, with the assistance of the Holland Land Company. Colonel Ellicott was the patron saint of Shelby, and moved here from Batavia in 1817. He had been working under his uncle, Joseph Ellicott, as a surveyor. He died in 1839. The first tavern in the town was kept by Daniel Timmerman in 1816, and the first store by Christian Groff, in 1818. The first school was taught by Cornelius Ashton in the winter of 1815-16. The first physician was Doctor Chris- topher Whaley, who came in 1819. Doctor George Norton was the second. The first postoffice in the town was at Shelby Center and the postmaster was Colonel Ellicott.
The town of Yates was erected from the town of Ridgeway,
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April 17, 1822, under the name of Northton, but in the next year the name was changed to Yates, for Governor Yates. George Houseman, in 1809, and John Eaton, in 1810, were probably the first settlers. The first tavern keeper was Samuel Tappan, at Yates Center, in 1825. The first store was kept by Moore & Hughes, in 1824. The first school was taught by Josiah Perry in 1819. The school house was about a mile north of the Center. Yates Center seemed at first to be the coming village of the town, but Lyndonville appropriated the honors in later years. The last-named village was named by a group of citizens from Lyn- don, Vermont. Stephen W. Mudgett, Samuel Clark, Samuel and Oliver Whipple, Richard Barry, Royal Chamberlain and C. Peabody were early residents. L. & N. Martin kept the first store; Blanchard & Chamberlain had the first tavern; and Doctor Horace Phippany was the first physician.
The town of Albion was set off from the town of Barre in 1875, and includes the village of the same name. Norman S. Field was the first supervisor.
The pioneer first judge of Orleans County was Elijah Foot, appointed April 22, 1825; the first surrogate was William White, appointed April 19, 1825. In 1847 the duties of surrogate and county judge were combined, and the first to hold office under this ruling was Henry R. Curtis. The courts for Ontario County, before the county seat was located at Albion, were held at Bron- son's hotel in the town of Gaines. Judge William B. Rochester presided at the first circuit court held here, October 13, 1825. The trial jurors sworn in at this time were: Martin Hobart, Oliver Brown, Samuel Norton, Joshua Raymond, Nathan Whit- ney, Curtis Tomlinson, Zebulon Packard, Thomas Annis, Zardius Tousley, Dudley Watson, Seymour B. Murdoch, Ephraim Masten, Oliver Booth 2nd, Daniel Gates, Archibald L. Daniels, Richard M'Omber, Timothy Ruggles, Daniel Reed, Ethan Graham, John Hall, Philo Elmer, Joseph Davis, John Sherwood.
The first court of common pleas and general sessions was also held at Bronson's hotel, June 22, 1825. There were present the following: Elijah Foot, first judge; Eldridge Farwell, William J. Moody, William Penniman and Cyrus Harwood, judges; and the members of the grand jury, Ralph H. Brown, William Love, Harvey Goodrich, Hiram Sickles, Henry Carter,
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Hiram Frisbie, David Sturges, Joseph Hamilton, Levi Preston, John Proctor, Robert Anderson, Zelotes Sheldon, Silas Benton, Ebenezer M. Pease, L. A. G. B. Grant, Benjamin Howe, Elijah Bent, Abraham Cantine, Eri Wood and Oliver Bennett. Orange Butler was district attorney; William Lewis, sheriff, and Orson Nicholson, clerk.
The Orleans County Medical Society was organized January 8, 1873, in the office of Doctor J. W. Randall at Albion, who was the first president.
The Orleans County Bar Association was established March 12, 1877, with John H. White, president. The county attorneys who affiliated themselves with the organization were: George Bullard, H. A. Childs, C. J. Church, John Cunneen, O. A. Eddy, S. E. Filkins, H. S. Goff, John W. Graves, Andrew C. Harwick, Clark D. Knapp, Charles A. Keeler, E. Porter, E. R. Reynolds, D. N. Salisbury, John G. Sawyer, Seth D. Spencer and I. M. Thompson.
There are six strong banks in Orleans County at the present time. The Citizens National Bank of Albion was organized in 1885, and has now deposits over three millions of dollars; J. C. Curtis is president. The Orleans County Trust Company, of Albion, was started in 1920; H. D. Bartlett is president. The Holley State Exchange Bank is under the executive charge of M. Kennedy. The Lyndonville Citizens State Bank was organ- ized in 1911; F. B. Housel is president. The Central Bank of Medina was established in 1909 and the Union Bank in 1861. W. F. Barry is president of the former and G. A. Newell of the latter. The Bank of Orleans, established at Albion in 1834, was the first financial institution in the county. It existed until 1857. The Orleans County National Bank was organized August 9, 1865, with Elizur Hart as the first president. The Bank of Albion was founded in 1839, and in December, 1863, was reorgan- ized as the First National. John M. Kennan was the first banker in Medina; he was from Lockport. He established his business here in 1854 and failed in 1861, but later was instrumental in starting the Union Bank of Medina with William Potter as president. The First National Bank of Medina failed in 1866.
The first newspaper in Albion, when it was still Newport, was the Patriot, in 1824; this became the Orleans Advocate, in
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1825. Franklin Cowdry was the founder of this publication. It later was renamed the Orleans Advocate and Anti-Masonic: Telegraph; then in 1828 the Advocate part of the title was dropped. In the same year it was called the Orleans Telegraph and then the American Standard. This paper was the beginning of the present American and News. The Orleans Republican, published at Albion, was first issued October 21, 1829, by Cephas S. McConnell. In Medina the first newspaper was the Herald, established in 1832 by Dan P. Adams, and existed two or three years. In 1837 the Sentinel was started by J. and J. H. Davis. The Medina Citizen was established in 1850 by H. A. Smith, and later was renamed the Tribune. The Medina Journal was first issued in 1903, the Register in 1877, and the New York State Fruit Grower in 1917. The Holley Standard was established in 1870, and the Lyndonville Enterprise in 1907; both are inde- pendent sheets.
Reference has been made to the brief participation of Orleans. County men in the War of 1812. The beginning of hostilities in 1861, with Lincoln's call for volunteers, found the citizens of the. county prepared to fight. On April 18, 1861, the first mass meet- ing was held at Albion and the formation of three companies. was immediately begun. Medina also had a meeting, with like results. Space prevents a detailed description of the different. regiments in which Orleans County men served, but the principal ones may be mentioned as 27th infantry, the 28th infantry, the 11th infantry, the 8th cavalry, the 3d cavalry, the 2d mounted. rifles, the 8th heavy artillery, 151st infantry, 1st, 4th and 14th artillery regiments, 17th independent battery, and the 25th battery, light artillery. Hunderds of men lost their lives among those who enlisted from the county; in fact, no county in the Genesee Country paid a dearer price in proportion to population. than did Orleans.
CHAPTER LII. THE COUNTY OF SCHUYLER.
Schuyler County is the smallest of the counties in the Genesee Country, having an area of only 336 square miles. It is likewise the youngest, being created by the act of April 17, 1854, from parts of Chemung, Steuben and Tompkins counties. It was named in honor of General Philip Schuyler, distinguished Ameri- can soldier and patriot. Not unlike the experience of other counties, the subject of the location of the county seat engendered bitter feelings and some strife. For a number of years Havana and Watkins were rivals in this direction. In the act Delos De Wolf, of Oswego County, Edward Dodd, of Washington County, and Vivus W. Smith of Onondaga County were named commis- sioners to locate the site of the county buildings. Madison Treman and David F. Sears, of Hector, Roswell Holden and Hiram Chapman, of Reading and Guy C. Hinman, of Catherine, were appointed building commissioners. The courts were to be held in such place as the board of supervisors appointed until the erection of a court house, and prisoners were to be confined in the Chemung County jail until that of the new county should be completed.
The commissioners visited Watkins, then proceeded to Havana and, to the surprise of the greater part of the county's population, designated the latter place as the county seat. Then arose the storm; through newspapers, the courts and meetings the action of the commissioners was both approved and con- demned. At a meeting of the board of supervisors held at the hotel at Watkins, August 30, 1854, Supervisor Phineas Catlin, of Catherine, presented a deed executed by Charles Cook for a. site in the village of Havana for the county buildings, which, with the bond of the commissioners, was delivered to the clerk of the board for safe keeping and no action was then taken. At.
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a second meeting, held October 25th following, the supervisors rejected the deed as insufficient to pass the title to the county. The board, moreover, instituted proceedings to stop the erection of the county buildings at Havana, which had already begun. Further action by the board to the same end was taken at a later meeting and, at its meeting on December 11th the board deter- mined to locate the county seat at Watkins. Guinnip's Hall in Watkins was designated as the place for holding courts until the county buildings were finished, and all county business was directed to be transacted at Watkins. This, however, did not end the struggle. In 1857 a law was passed confirming the action of the commissioners in locating the county seat at Havana. The supervisors refused to take possession of the county buildings at Havana or to allow courts to be held there; a court house had in the meantime been completed at Watkins. The affair dragged on until 1867, when the legislature authorized a change of the county seat to Watkins. In 1874 the supreme court upheld this choice and the strife of two decades was ended with the sale of the county buildings at Havana, which were paid for by the county.
By a statute passed May 15, 1798, the northern half of town- ships 1 and 4, and the whole of townships 2 and 3, of John W. Watkins' patent, were incorporated into a town by the name of Catherinestown. Twenty-six families then resided within the town. It was originally a part of Newtown (now Elmira, Che- mung County). Catlin and Veteran (Chemung County) were taken off in 1823; a part of Newfield (Tompkins County) was annexed in 1853, and a part was annexed to Cayuta in 1854. Montour was taken off in 1860.
Within the limits of the old town of Catherine were the earliest settlements of the county. The town was named in honor of Catherine Montour, mentioned elsewhere. Near the villages of Catherine and Odessa the first cabins were built. John Mitchell, who came in the spring of 1799, was the pioneer, and he was followed by such men as Josiah Hinman, and his son, Elijah S., David Beardsley, Ebenezer Mallory, Samuel Winton, Solomon Booth, Elijah and Isaac Booth, John Coe, Ichabod Meeker, Simeon Lovell, Isaac Lyon, John Stiles, Lemuel Shelton, William H. Prince and James Osterhout. Many more could be
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named if space permitted; the settlement was rapidly growing and the communities were soon transformed into villages.
The village of Odessa was laid out by Phineas Catlin and surveyed by John Foster about 1827. Besides these two, Cole- man Olmstead, George Shelton and others settled there at this time. John Foster had the first store in the year 1828; he also kept the first tavern. The first sawmill was erected in 1799 by Isaac Swartwood for Robert Charles Johnson; and the first grist mill in 1801 by David Beardsley, John Coe and Robert C. John- son. The first school was erected about 1825. The village was incorporated in 1903. The banking business of Charles S. Couch & Son, at Odessa, was established in 1914.
The early settlers on the site of the village of Alpine were Aaron E. and William P. Mallory, Caleb Robinson, Robert Lockerby, John H. Rumsey. The village of Catherine was settled by the men named in the forepart of this chapter as early settlers of the county. The Methodist Episcopal Church of Catherine was organized in 1805; that of Alpine in 1874, and Odessa in 1877. The First Wesleyan Methodist Church of Odessa was formed in 1856. St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Catherine was established in 1809, and the First Free Will Baptist Church in 1841. The First Baptist Church of Alpine was organized in 1874.
The town of Cayuta was originally organized March 24, 1824, from Spencer (Tioga County), and at the time of the erec- tion of Schuyler County in 1854 underwent an extensive change of boundaries, by the addition of parts of the towns of Erin and Catlin in Chemung County. The pioneer of the town was Cap- tain Gabriel Ogden, who came with his family from Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and settled near the site of the village of Cayuta in 1798. About the same time Reverend David Janes (or Jaynes) came. Other arrivals of this year were Harmon White, Jonathan and Joseph Thomas, Benjamin Chambers and Jeremiah Taylor. John, Emanuel, Saunder and Benjamin Ennis, bro- thers, came together the next year. Robert Lockerby came in 1801 or 1802, and was followed shortly by Moses Brown, Lang- staff Compton, the Reynolds and Smiths and others. Captain Ogden conducted the first tavern, at Cayuta, in 1805. The first sawmill was erected by Jesse D. White on the east branch of the Cayuta in 1816, and the first grist mill was built two miles
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below Cayuta in 1817 by John Ennis. The first religious services were held by Elder Janes at his house in 1802. The first school was taught by Robert Lockerby in the winter of 1805, in one of Elder Janes' houses. The village of Cayuta was settled by Cap- tain Ogden, Harmon White, John White and a few others. The first store was kept by Jesse D. White about 1810. Hiram White had the first tavern in 1817. The postoffice was established here in 1815, it is said, with Jesse D. White the first postmaster. Elder Janes is believed to have been the first preacher within the present Schuyler County. Many years passed before any regular religious organization was effected within the town; the first church building was not put up until 1859; this was for the Free Church. The First Baptist Church of Cayuta was organized in 1877.
The town of Dix was formed from the town of Catlin, Che- mung County, April 17, 1835. Near the site of the village of Watkins, at the head of the lake, and along the valley of Cather- ine creek, the first settlements of the town were made. John Diven and William Baskin settled in 1797-8. About 1800, Jacob Mills and his son, Jacob, arrived, followed soon by Matthias Miller; other settlers during the early years of the new century were: the Clevelands, Thomas L. Nichols, Ebenezer Buck, Oba- diah Phinney, Messrs. Hackett, Haskins, Palmer and Perry, Joseph Hitchcock, William Lane, Mr. Easling, George Frost, John P. Cornell, George W. Bronson, Amos Royce, Judge John Crawford, Claudius Townsend, Underhill Frost, John and Brewster Platt, Colonel Green Bennett, Elish and G. W. Bronson and Simeon L. Rood. The First Baptist church of Dix and Orange was formed in 1833; the church of Catlin and Dix in 1830; the First Methodist Episcopal church of Beaver Dams in 1833; the First Presbyterian church of Catlin in 1834; the First Universalist society of Dix in 1848. The first school was taught in the town in 1826 by Miss Amanda Hotchkiss. The first grist mill was erected by Mr. Hubbell in Van Zant's Hollow. Colonel Green Bennett built a sawmill on Bower's Creek in 1828.
In 1788 Wolcott and Wilson, at Havana, Culver and Smith, at Watkins and George Fausett, on the lake road near North Hector, made settlements. John Dow reached the head of the lake in April, 1789. He became very prominent in the affairs of
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