USA > New York > Erie County > Sardinia > History of the original town of Concord : being the present towns of Concord, Collins, N. Collins, and Sardinia, Erie County, New York > Part 51
USA > New York > Erie County > Collins > History of the original town of Concord : being the present towns of Concord, Collins, N. Collins, and Sardinia, Erie County, New York > Part 51
USA > New York > Erie County > Concord > History of the original town of Concord : being the present towns of Concord, Collins, N. Collins, and Sardinia, Erie County, New York > Part 51
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The Elder, as he is now remembered, was a man of large stature, finely formed, of iron constitution, zealous at all times in the interest of religion, and especially interested in building up his own church. As his society grew it outgrew the meager accommodations found in the dwellings of its members or of the school-houses that were occasionally utilized for church services. The members of the congregation and church being largely scattered, the question of a central point, with proper accommodations became of serious importance.
At an early day in the history of the town the corners of the road near the late Timothy Clark's farm and the Uncle " Sam. Hazard" farm, now occupied by W. H. Perkinson, was deemed a central point ; and there had been erected a log school-house of ample pattern and pioneer accommodations. It had out- lived its usefulness, fallen down and been removed, but its
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recollection as a central point remained in the minds of the people, many of whom had graduated from it with all of the instruction that in early days could be obtained from a back- woods school-house.
It was determined to erect a church at this point for the " Christians" and one was erected ; a frame church, of respect- able proportions, quite comfortably finished and furnished. In it for many years the congregations gathered and held their services.
As in individual lives so in church and state, there is no one permanent, continuous period of existence, and this church being no exception to the rule, its period of activity seemed to go down and out and its church, once so flourishing, has dis- appeared from off the face of the earth, leaving scarcely a trace to show where it once stood, and history now steps in to save its memory from utter forgetfulness. In latter years the Free Methodist church or society erected a church at Collins Center. which has escaped the ups and downs of its neighbor on the little hill across the little valley. It was built without orna- ment of tower or spire and has no bell, serving without the least pretense, the purposes of the society for which it was built, as a place for their religious services.
Still another church was erected at Collins Center, by the Uni- versalists. That, however, has been changed to other purposes. The old log school-house on the corner of the cross-roads, near the Timothy Clark farm has been mentioned. The cor- ners were in early days four corners instead of three, as now, and the school-house accommodated a very large extent of country the dees-trict being very large. Its heating accommodation was very ample. It consisted of an open fire-place occupying one entire end of the house, with its large, rough, stone hearth, and freedom from mantel and jambs, its broad and open stick-chim- ney slanting from the chamber floor, offering an opportunity at night of studying astronomy by looking upwards through the chimney as the stars moved by on their travels. The seats con- sisted of what are known as slabs, the rounded side downwards with legs of split billets of wood inserted in auger holes to sup- port them. The desks consisted of a series of boards, one edge resting against the wall and slanting downwards. The desks
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were continuous around the room and were for the older and more advanced classes. The seats in like manner, were con- tinuous, and the young man or young woman who wanted to change position from or to the desk, found the work attended with more or less embarrassment. The younger portion, those who were not old enough to write or cipher, were accommoda- ted on an inner tier of seats. Those now living who had occa- sion to occupy them, still have vivid recollections of going to school. It was a seat upon a hard board, the feet dangling in the air, inches from the floor, with no back and no support for the feet, and through the long monotonous hours of the forc- noon and afternoon, relieved only by the few minutes of recess and the short exercises of reading and spelling, which constituted the sole labors of the little folks of the school. The text books consisted of Webster's spelling book, Murray's, or the old English reader, and Daboll's arithmetic. The step in reading from Webster's spelling book to Murray's reader, would be considered rather abrupt in these days, nevertheless, that is the way they did it then. There are many, no doubt. of that day, who have no recollection of a transitive state be- tween the speller and reader, but recollect only the English reader, as their text book for reading. While the present gen- eration might not survive school privileges of that kind ; the young men and women of that day, felt especially blest if they could get a three months' schooling during the year, and grow up to manhood and womanhood, strong and healthy men and women, worthy to be the fathers and mothers of the present generation. Of arithmetic, in that early day, he or she who got as far as the Rule of Three, was deemed qualified for any of the ordinary business occupations of life. As to geography and grammar, they were deemed outside of and beyond the reach of acquirement in the early school history of the town. The introduction of these and other and higher branches into the schools, has been the work of the years that have gone by, each making its additions, until the schools of the town became what they are, equal to those of other portions of the state, which have been built up, no doubt, in like manner. The old school house on the Corners, when first built, accommodated all that portion of Collins, castward of (and including) the
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residence of the late George F. King, and the school house was not over-crowded. The next school house to the eastward was at Morton's Corners. Lodi furnished the one on the west. The population of the town increasing, school houses soon began to be built. A small frame school house was built about 1829, in the Joshua Palmerton and Smith Bartlett school dis- trict, and stood at the present four corners, then three corners, between the Moses Conger and Ezra Nichols farms. About 1830 and 1831, the people of that district indulged in the luxury of a man teacher, for summer school. A Mr. John Pratt, on account of ill-health, and for want of other occupa- tion, to which he could adapt himself, accepted the meager pit- tance that the farmers found themselves able to pay and taught "the young ideas how to shoot." In those days, and for years afterwards, the teacher " boarded around," the dollars and cents paid and received, was practically net gain. A frame school house was soon after built in the "Crandall " district, as it was called, and located near the site of the present cheese factory, just cast of Mr. John H. Johnson's, about a mile north of Collins Center. That district soon followed the example of the Palmerton district, and had the services of a man, Mr. Franklin Bement, for some two summers. The old log school- house on the hill at Clark and Hazard's corners, having served its day, it was determined to build a new school house, and one was built on a site obtained of Mr. Warren Tanner, near the present residence of Mr. Isaac Tanner. The first teacher of the school the Winter after the house was built was Howe, of Lodi, then studying law, afterwards Judge Howe, of Cattaraugus county. A Mr. Arnold Mann, an old bachelor, taught the school two Winters. Augustus Hanchett, then studying to be a physician, taught the school one Winter. Hanchett was afterwards admitted to practice, married a wife in Springville, and moved west. He was a man of superior natural abilities, coupled with other characteristics, that greatly neutralized them, and prevented him from reaching an emi- nence in his profession, to which his friends believed he was fully entitled. Charles Woodward, who since then became a Methodist teacher, taught the school some two or more Winters.
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In the carly history of the town, its school matters were man- aged by three school commissioners and three school inspectors.
Among those who served as Commissioners and Inspectors were John Lawton, John C. Adams, Dr. Noyes, Stephen White Leman H. Pitcher, John F. Allen and Edward Vail. The plan was changed to that of Town Superintendent of Schools in about 1846, and Dr. John F. Allen became the Superintendent for the first year. The Town of Collins then comprised what is now Collins and North Collins, and had some twenty-five school houses located within the town, with more or less joint districts connected with other towns. Dr. Allen was succeeded as Town Superintendent by S. C. Adams, who continued in the office some six years, until he was elected Supervisor of the town.
Adams was succeeded as Superintendent by Dr. William A. Sibley, who held the office until it was abolished, and super- ceded, in 1855, by the office of School Commissioner, including several towns in one Commissioner's district. Since then, S. W. Soule, of Collins, has served as School Commissioner.
Among those engaged in the town as teachers, not before mentioned are the following :
Eli Heath, Alanson King,
Lewis Varney,
Edward Vail,
S. C. Adams,
Wilson Rogers,
Harvey Hicks,
Hosea S. Heath,
Erastus Harris,
S. W. Soule,
Joseph O'Brien,
Charles C. Wilson,
William H. Johnson, Ferdinand Taylor,
Horatio Whittemorc,
David Woodward, Hiram Clark, Asahel Sloan, Clark Sibley,
Joshua Allen,
Joshua C. Ticknor, C. Vosburgh,
James Matthews,
Z. F. Parks,
William Potter,
Lyman Wright,
George Richardson,
Ahaz Paxon,
Alonzo B. Pierce,
William Pierce,
Lewis Rogers,
Among the lady teachers were :
Ruth Knight,
Jane White,
Mariette Perry,
Sarah Henry,
Rhoda Smith,
Emily Brown,
Ann Palmerton,
Amanda Herrick,
Esther Pratt,
Ann Tifft,
Laura D. Abbott,
Mary W. Brown,
A. T. Brown, Amos S. Willett.
Lyman Clark,
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FORMER LADY TEACHERS OF COLLINS.
Julia E. Martin,
Mary A. Clough,
Julia A. Smith,
Lydia Ferris,
Apalonia Douglass, Louisa A. White,
Ruth Blanchard,
Polly Rogers,
Lucy Clough,
Eunice Palmerton,
Maria Irish,
Phebe McMillen,
Sarah McMillen,
Lydia McMillen, Betsy A. Hathaway,
E. L. Rogers,
Phebe J. Wilcox,
Mary E. Wilber,
Mary Johnson,
Caroline Etsler,
Jane Arnold,
Sophia S. Clark,
Lydia Ferris,
Maria Conklin,
Lydia A. Sisson,
Hannah Warner,
Jerusha Pratt,
Harriet A. Watson, Mary Jane Warner,
Malinda Arnold,
Jane Arnold,
Emily Lewis,
Emeline Palmerton,
Mary E. Jennings,
Amanda M. Avery,
E. Jennings,
Ellen Richmond,
Martha Johnson,
Lucy B. Randall,
Elizabeth Wilson,
Paulina Wheeler,
Sarah Vail.
NOTE .- The above communication was written at the request of the author by S. C. Adams, Esq., formerly of Collins, now of Buffalu.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FAMILY HISTORIES OF THE TOWN OF COLLINS, ETC.
Hudson Ainsley.
Hudson Ainsley, son of Joseph and Polly Ainsley, was born in Palmyra, Pike county, Penn., Sept. 20, 1799. He has been twice married-first to Matilda Davis, daughter of Gabriel and Matilda Davis, by whom he had three children, two sons and one daughter :
Emily, born Dec. 8, ISII ; married William Davis. She died in North Collins, Jan. 4, 1875.
Ira, born Dec. 8, 1823 ; married Emily White; lives in Aurora, Ill.
John, born, Feb. 20, 1827; married Harriet Wood, and lives. in the Town of Eden.
In 1831, he came to what is now North Collins, and located on a farm formerly owned by Frederic Smith, where he resided until 1838, when he removed to a farm in Collins known as the George Southwick farm, at which place he has ever since resided.
His first wife died Feb. 13, 1828. Oct. 17, 1830, he married Mary M. Heaton, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Heaton, by whom he had eight children :
Joseph, born Sept. 29, 1831 ; married Harriet Jones, and resides in Gowanda.
Laura E., born in 1833; married Leander Stafford, and resides in Perrysburg, N. Y.
William, born Aug. 7, 1834 ; married Elmira Wood ; lives in North Collins.
George, born Jan. 29, 1836; married Ella M. Rogers ; lives with his father on the old homestead.
Hudson and Heaton, twins, born Jan. 15, 1838. Heaton married Electa Hussey : he died in North Collins, April 18, 1879. Hudson married Alzina Hanford, and lives at Sala- manca.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Ann M., born March 2, 1841 ; married Frank Moss and re- sides in Collins.
Mary R., born May 21, 1844 ; is unmarried and lives with her father.
Mr. Ainsley is one of the oldest inhabitants of the Town of Collins, being eighty-two years of age ; yet he is still a healthy robust old man, with physical and mental powers unimpaired. He has been an industrious farmer, and by well-directed efforts has acquired a competence which he now enjoys. He has been a skillful marksman and a successful hunter, especially when the country was almost an unbroken forest, and the haunts of wild beasts were more numerous than the habitations of man. One season he killed forty-four deer and many bears. He en- joyed with a kecn relish the excitement and dangers of these sports.
He has living nine children, sixteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His second wife died Jan. 8, 1871.
Harley M. Atwood, M. D.
Dr. Atwood was born at Danby, Vt., in 1847. His father's name was Harley Atwood ; his mother's maiden name was Amelia Chase. When an infant, his parents removed to Provi- dence, R. I., where young Harley's father became a wealthy shipping master ; dying at Providence in 1857;
In 1860, the family removed to Collins, N. Y. Soon after, the doctor attended school at the Springville Academy one or two years. Inclining toward the medical profession, he en- tered the Buffalo Medical College, graduating from that insti- tution in 1872. The doctor soon had professional honors con- ferred upon him. He was appointed physician to the peniten- tiary in 1874 and '75, and was appointed post-mortem examiner for the county one year, and during the same three years he was examiner in lunacy. He commenced the practice of medi- cine at Collins Center, in 1877.
The Doctor descended, on his mother's side, from English sea-faring people, among whom were traders and mariners of note. Some of them settled at Pawtucket, R. I., where one of them was a slave-holder and the first Baptist minister in the
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place. The Doctor has two brothers, two sisters and one half- brother, as follows :
Clarence, in mercantile business in Buffalo. Frank, salesman in Buffalo. Emma married Hiram Brown; resides in Collins. Louise, at home. Half-brother Edward I. Vail resides in Collins.
Statement of Benjamin Albee, 2d.
My father, Benjamin Albee, Ist, was born on the Connecticut river, in Vermont, in 1771 ; my mother's maiden name was Abigail Thompson. I had four brothers and three sisters ; we were all born in Danby, Vt., from which place my father and mother and their eight children came to Collins in March, 1811 and located on lot sixty-four. We drove through with two teams, my two older brothers, Jehiel and Adolphus went ahead driving an ox team which drew our goods and the rest of us followed with a horse team.
When we arrived in Collins I think Stepher Wilber, Joshua Palmerton, Stephen Peters, Arad Howard, Aaron Lindsley, Turner Aldrich and Jacob Taylor were the only settlers. We built a rude log-cabin, without any floor, and I slept on hem- lock boughs thrown down on the floorless cabin, for a bed until fall. Oats were so high that my father considered it cheaper to buy wheat to feed his teams, and did so. When operations began on the Niagara Frontier, in the war of 1812, many of the settlers left for what they considered safer quar- ters. Of our family father and I were the only ones that remained, the rest were gone six weeks and we had no bread to eat during that time. Later, when the services of the settlers were needed as soldiers, my father, brother Jehiel, Darius Crandall, James Tyrer, Henry Palmerton, Luke Crandall, Ste- phen Peters, Jesse Frye, Simeon Watterman, Luther Pratt, Phineus Orr, Elisha Cox and others, went out on the "lines" and I was about the only man (and I was only sixteen) left in our neighborhood to look after things.
I first went to school in Collins in a log school-house which stood a short distance north of the Free Methodist church at Collins Center. When we came there was no road cut out in town. I think John Lawton, as Commissioner, and Stephen
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White, Surveyor, located the first road which now leads from Collins Center to Marshfield.
At this early day John Lawton was a prominent man in this region ; he was proprietor of the mills at Lawton's Hollow and in the fall of the " cold season" (1816), he gave notice that all grists brought to the mill on the backs of women would be ground free. One day the wife of William Sisson appeared at the mill with two bushel of wheat on her back ; but it was sur- mised that she had carried it but a short distance. At one time Mr. Lawton had some bags of wheat stolen ; he put up a notice that if the thieves would return the bags they would be welcome to the wheat ; when he arose the next morning he found the bags hanging on his door-yard fence.
During the earlier years of our pioneer life wild animals were very numerous, especially deer, of which I have killed many ; wild turkeys were frequently seen. Otters were to be found also. A party of four, consisting of Luke and Darius Cran- dall and two Flint brothers, caught four on the stream that flows near the present residence of John H. Johnson. At another time Nathaniel Knight and others captured three on the first brook crossing the road north of Collins Center. Black bears were also plenty. In the month of April, a party of us followed the trail of a large bear to the vicinity of Cattaraugus Creek ; we wounded her but failed to effect her capture ; we found her cubs, however, and secured three of them alive, one of which was tamed by David Brand and kept by him a long time. On one occasion, while coming from the Cattaraugus Creek, carrying a young pig in my arms, secured by thongs of moose- wood bark, I was suddenly confronted in my path-way by a large bear that rose on his haunches and surveyed me and my pig ; as I didn't show a disposition to retreat he turned and disappeared in the woods.
My father died Dec. 30, 1858, in Concord, to which place he moved from Collins. My mother died in Nov., 1861. Of my brothers and sisters, Jehiel died in Collins ; Adolpheus in Indi- ana ; Howard in Michigan, and Enoch in Wisconsin. My sisters are living : Mrs. Rachel Palmerton in Collins ; Mrs. Clarissa Wright in Avon, N. Y., and Mrs. Diantha Hunt, in Collins.
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I was born in Vermont, in 1798; married Rhoda Wheeler and have reared a family of eight children.
Sylvenus Bates.
Sylvenus Bates was born in the town of Munson, Mass., Jan. 29, 1786. His parents were poor and at the age of eight years he was bound to service until he should become twenty-one years of age. At the age of twenty, a difficulty arising be- tween him and his master, he ran away and went to Vermont, where he worked a short time. He then went to Orange, Franklin County, Mass. There he hired out to a man by the name of John Briggs, to go to New Hampshire and work on the turnpike. In a few months he returned to Orange and engaged to labor for one year for Sable Metcalf. While there he formed the acquaintance of Sylvia Briggs, whom he afterwards married.
After his marriage he remained three or four years in Orange and then removed with his family to what is now Collins, Erie county, N. Y. Mr. Bates was the father of eight children, seven boys and one girl :
Briggs, born in Orange, Franklin county, Mass .; married Drucilla Bartlett. Tryphena, born in Orange, Franklin county, Mass : married Aaron Lindsley. Sylvenus, born in Collins. Erie county, N. Y .; married Marrietta King. Taylor, born in Collins, Eric Co., N. Y .; married widow Randall. Stephen, born in Collins, Erie county, N. Y .; unmarried ; died about 1855. William, born in Collins, Erie county, N. Y .; married Paulina Bates, lives in Springville. Joseph, born in Collins, Erie county, N. Y .; unmarried ; lives in Collins. Franklin, born in Collins, Erie county, N. Y .; married Polly Mathews; lives in Collins.
A Portion of the Statement of Sylvenus Bates.
In April, 1811, I walked from Orange, Franklin county, Mass., to Uncle Townsend's, on Townsend hill, in this town. I staid there a few days, and then started out to look for land ; I went west through the woods; there was no guide except marked trees, and no settlers from Cooper's to near Collins Center ; I selected a piece of land south of Clear creek, near Marshfield ; I built me a shanty about eight feet square, on a side-hill near the creek, the lower side about eight feet high and the back
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
side about two ; I drove down four crotches and laid some sticks across for a bedstead, and measured myself and peeled a piece of ash bark the proper length and laid it on, and that, with a blanket, composed my bed.
That Summer I chopped and cleared four acres and sowed it to winter wheat ; I worked all Summer, early and late; I had no meat to eat except a hog's leg, which I bought of Samuel Cooper. I planted some potatoes in the Spring, and when the new ones got to be as big as walnuts with the shucks on, I used to dig and eat them, the new and old ones together. I would eat a half a dozen for my dinner, and would take as many more out and lay them on a stump for luncheon ; sometimes I became so weak that I staggered as I walked about ; on the 6th day of October I started to go to Massachusetts; I went afoot and alone.
On the 11th of February, 1812, I started back with my fam- ily, consisting of my wife and two small children. Kendall Johnson. a young, unmarried man, came in company with me ; each of us had a pair of oxen, which we drove as one team. We were on the road twenty-five days, when we arrived at Uncle Townsend's in this town ; before I went east I had put up the body of a log house with a bark roof ; when I arrived there with my family there was no door, no windows, no floor ; the gable ends were open and holes between the logs large enough for the children to crawl through ; had no bedstead, no table, no chairs; I drove down four crotches and laid poles across for a bedstead, and split a basswood log of proper length and laid the split side up for a table ; made a couple of stools for myself and wife, split logs and laid them down for a floor ; bored holes in the side of the house and drove in pins and laid on boards split from logs for my wife to put her dishes on. I had no hay or other feed for my cattle and they had to live on browse; they were so anxious to get at the browse that I had great trouble to keep them from under the falling trees ; one ox was knocked down two different times by trees, but he was tough and lived through.
In June, 1812, war was declared against Great Britain, and the settlers in Collins were afraid to remain for fear of the In- dians, and several moved away; I moved away also; I took
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my family and cattle and came cast as far as Mr. Lush's and stopped over night, turned out my oxen and cows, and they strayed away, and I looked three weeks, with others to help, before I found my oxen ; did not find one of my cows till some time later ; after about three weeks I returned to my place in Collins ; others returned also.
THE BLACKNEY MURDER.
On Sept. 9, 1875, the people of Gowanda and vicinity were thrown into a state of intense excitement by the murder of Charles W. Blackney, a talented and promising young lawyer of that place, by Lewis Darby, a young farmer residing in Col- lins about a mile south of Gowanda : the murder was evidently the result of trouble between the two years before, although for some time previous there had apparently been friendly rela- tions existing between them.
Darby was unmarried and lived with his brother on a farm ; he made arrangements with Blackney to come to his brother's house on the day of the murder to draw up some legal papers. Darby secreted himself in a clump of willows by the roadside at the foot of an incline in the road near his brother's house. As Blackney came down the hill with a horse and buggy and neared the clump of willows, Darby fired four shots, the four balls all taking effect in the body of his victim. Blackney fell from his carriage, and though terribly wounded, commenced crawling up the opposite hill calling for help. The murderer leaped over the fence and ran toward the woods; looking back and seeing his victim still alive, he returned and beat in his skull and ran toward the house.
The murder now attracted the attention of a party of men threshing near by, who found Blackney still alive and able to name his murderer. He died in a short time, and the excited party which had gathered started in pursuit of Darby. He was followed to his room, where he was found in a pool of blood, having cut his throat from ear to car.
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