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 66
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 66
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 66
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Sarah E., born Dec. 29, 1822 ; resides in Sardinia.
Mary E., born April 11, 1824 ; married Rodney S. Nichols, Oct. 1, 1850; died at Millport, Pa., Aug. 11, 1871.
Eunice I., born Aug. 14, 1826 ; married R. S. Hudson, Oct. 14, 1850 ; lives at the West with a second husband.
Ira P., born Feb. 19, 1829 ; died April 1, 1846.
Daniel I., born Dec. 20, 1831 ; married Octavia S. Hyde, Aug. 19, 1866 ; resides on the homestead . his wife died April 1, 1872.
Lyman H., born Oct. 1, 1833 ; married Lucretia Rice, Jan. 27, 1856 ; resides at Yorkshire.
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Emily A., born Sept. 30, 1838 ; married Thomas J. Titus, Feb. 7, 1867 ; died Dec., 1876; Mr. Titus died Sept. 17, 1880
Isaac Smith.
Isaac Smith was born in the Town of Litchfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., March 27, 1795; removed with his parents, Ezekiel and Hannah Smith, to the Town of Concord, Erie county, N. Y., in the month of February, 1813. The family located at the foot of the hill, where the road leading to Sar- dinia village branches off from the main Cattaraugus Creek road, in what is now the Town of Sardinia.
Mr. Smith was married March, 1821, to Miss Phila Palmer, and located on a farm one and a half miles south-west of Sar- dinia village, where he died Nov. 11, 1876, and was buried in the Sardinia cemetery. Mrs. Phila Smith, his wife, was born in Canada, near Montreal, Jan. 20, 1803 ; resides at her home in Sardinia, where she has lived nearly sixty years. The family consists of :
Mrs. Sarah U. Davis, born Sept. 27, 1823 ; married D. J. Davis Feb. 18, 1847; now resides at Yorkshire, Cattaraugus county, N. Y. She has one daughter, Mrs. L. B. Nichols, of Springville, N. Y.
Maland Smith, born Feb. 28, 1826 ; married May 28, 1853, to Miss Zilpha Loomis. now resides at Sardinia, Erie county, N. Y.
Emeline Smith, born June 26, 1831 ; unmarried ; resides in Sardinia.
Loren D. Smith, born July 2, 1834 ; married July 2, 1866, to Miss Emma I. Curtiss ; resides at the old homestead in Sar- dinia.
David D. Smith born March 5, 1841 ; married June 27, 1877, to Miss Libbie S. Daly ; resides at Yorkshire, Cattaraugus county, N. Y.
Sketch of the Life of Mrs. Phila Smith.
Mrs. Phila Smith, the subject of this sketch, was born Jan. 20, 1803, near Montreal, in what is now the Province of Que- bec, Canada. Her father and mother, Darius and Elizabeth Palmer, came from Coeymans, N. Y., by the way of Albany,
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where they lived several years, to Montreal about the year 1800. Locating on a farm near the latter place they lived there till the war of 1812 broke out, when their quiet home was dis- turbed by the excitement, expectation, fear and suspense inci- dent thereto. The territory of Canada bordering on the States which was popularly known as the "lines," was filled with British soldiers, and became the scene of much individual suf- fering. Mr. Palmer was pressed into the British service, but being a New Yorker by birth, he left his post and came back to his family. He was arrested and taken back to camp, but eluding the vigilance of his guard, he again reached home in safety, and taking his wife and family he secured a canoe and they smuggled themselves across the river St. Lawrence. Phila, then a girl of nine years, recollects well the trials of that dark, cold and cheerless night of Autumn when the family were taken from their home, hurriedly placed in a boat and pushed out on the dark, rushing waters of the St. Lawrence. Getting swamped in the bull-rushes that lined the stream, the boat was pulled a little out of the current : the children laid down in the bottom and covered with a bundle of straw to sleep, while the watchers waited the morning light to show them their whereabouts. Finding they had drifted in the darkness on one of the many islands that fill the river at this point, they pushed on across the stream and landed in safety. An unbroken wilderness confronted them, but the father with his children to care for and a wife to protect, toiled on. Hun- ger stared him in the face, but a big stout heart supplied the place of provisions. At last a log house was found in which several families of refugees like his own had taken shelter. After staying in this log house a while, the family moved into a log school house in which a short time before the teacher, surrounded by his little flock, had been shot down by British bullets. From this school house the family removed to Dan- by, Rutland county, Vt.
In the year 1817, as nearly as Mrs. Smith can recollect, Mr. Palmer came with his family, in company with a family by the name of Williams, to the Town of Concord, Erie county, N. Y. Besides his own family was the wife of Stephen Williams, who had, with her husband, removed to the town of Concord
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some years before, and had made the journey back to Vermont a distance of over four hundred miles, on horseback. Mr. John Williams and two hired men by the names of Sillsbury and Philips, John Scott and Justus Scott, father of the Hon. Allen Scott, of Cattaraugus county, also came at the same time. Two ox teams brought the families and goods, and they were on the road four weeks. It was late in the Fall, the roads were rough and rooty, and the girls, Phila and her sister Linda, walked a large part of the way. A herd of cows and sheep were driven along at the same time. Stephen Williams had preceded them and settled. on the Cattaraugus flats, below what is now the Village of Springville, in the Town of Con- cord, where he had erected a log-house. This place was the destination of the travelers, wearied with their long journey. Mr. Palmer worked for the Williamses one year to pay them for moving his family and goods. Phila Palmer, then about fourteen years of age, as a member of the family, endured all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life, such as living in houses without floor or chimney, with no chairs, tables or bedsteads except such as could be fashioned from logs with- out the aid of saw or chisel ; with no clothing except what was made from cloth spun, wove, colored and made ready for use by the aid of the rudest utensils ; with no food except such as might be called native to the country, and prepared in the most economical way and with no means of tilling the soil except with wooden plows and drags of the same material.
At the age of eighteen Miss Palmer was married to Isaac Smith, Horace Clark officiating in the ceremony, he being Jus- tice of the Peace. Mr. Smith then lived on a farm now owned by George Marsh, but soon after purchased a part of what is now known as the Smith farm, one and one-half miles south- west of Sardinia village, in the Town of Sardinia, where Mrs. Smith now resides. Mr. Smith, her husband, died Nov. II, 1876, in his eighty-first year.
The family, consisting of three boys and two girls, are all living, and hold the property which was purchased by their father, the title coming direct from the Holland Land com- pany, and has not since been transferred.
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Darius Palmer, whose name occurs on the original subscrip- tion list for building the Springville Academy, and Elizabeth Palmer, Mrs. Smith's father and mother, lie in the Springville cemetery, and also a sister, Mrs. Polly Matthewson.
A brother, Isaac Palmer, is buried in a cemetery north of Springville.
One older sister, Mrs. Belinda Wilcox, still survives, and is a resident of Evansville, Wis.
Statement of Cyrus Rice, Esq.
Elihu Rice came to the Holland Purchase in company with Giles Briggs. They were natives of Coventry, Rhode Island, but previous to locating in Sardinia, then Willink, Niagara county, they had passed several years in Cazenovia, N. Y. Elihu Rice bought lot two, township seven, range five, extend- ing south from the old Genesee road to Cattaraugus creek, con- taining 556 acres. He afterwards sold 256 acres of the south part to his brother Joseph, upon which he erected the widely- known " Cherry Tavern, " in that year of important events, 1825.
Elihu Rice, previous to the opening of Hastings' store at Sardinia, dealt considerably in cotton goods, black salt and potash. He married Elizabeth B. Nott, of Canandaigua, Dec. 1816, and soon began keeping-house. The journey from Can- andaigua was made on horseback. It would be a fatiguing journey for a couple now, but it was not thought much of then. The original house has been repaired, but not as exten- sively as the "old logical knife," for the cellar of 1816 still remains.
Dr. Prindle made his home there, as did Dr. Colgrove after- ward. While residing at this house, the Doctor successfully treated those cases which gave him an enviable reputation as a surgeon. As the rain falls on the just and the unjust, so the old house has sheltered divines, honorables and scamps.
Elihu Rice held a commission in the army in 1812, and was on the lines with the militia. He was in no battle, but had some narrow escapes. Once when on service in a row-boat, he had just left the oar for the relief to take his place, when a cannon ball from the enemy took off the relief's head. He was in command of the squad at Schlosser when the sentinel
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was killed. He held the office of Brigade Inspector in the Fifty-fourth Brigade, and was widely known as Major Rice. He took an interest in public affairs, was always in the advance in the issues of the day, and his influence was always exerted in favor of justice, without regard to expediency. He was. rigid in his views, yet his children know nothing of him of which to be ashamed. He died on the farm where he first bought, and it still remains in the hands of his descendants. The favorite book of his wife was the Bible. Her greatest earthly interest was her children, and those she knew to be needy were never turned empty away. Mr. Rice was identified with several societies, notably the temperance society, joining the first one organised in his vicinity and remaining faithful to his pledge through life. He was also a pioneer in the anti- slavery movement, and long before the Rebellion, predicted that the slave-holders, by their aggressions, would bring on a war which would end in the overthrow of slavery.
RICE'S CORNERS.
Giles Briggs started a tavern on the north side of the road, near the southwest corner of lot three. He was one of those jolly, genial men, fond of sport and good horses. The tavern was built of logs, and had two rooms below, a stone chimney in the middle, with a wide, open fire-place for each room, and a pantry or bar on one side of the chimney. In 1814, Giles Briggs gave place to David Calkins, who was afterward the trusty miller in Bump's mill, afterward known as Hurdville, near Arcade station. He was for several years Justice of the Peace in the Town of China.
About the year 1818, Samuel Hawkins and his father came into possession, with a small lot of goods, and engaged Capt. Andrew Crocker to put up the upright of the building for a store and tavern. It is now the farm-house of the Nichols estate. They did not complete the building. In 1820, Mr. Hawkins and wife deeded the farm to Reuben Nichols, late of Rhode Island, and in 1821 Nichols gave his son Clark 119 acres. After the transfer to Nichols, Deacon Stukely Hudson took possession of the tavern until he moved to his farm, opposite Andrew Shedd. About 1821 or 1822, he put up a cooper shop.
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and for several years did quite a business in supplying asheries with potash barrels.
After the Deacon left, the log-house was never again used as a tavern.
Reuben Nichols was a widower; his son Clark was single. George Brown and family occupied the house a short time with them, and then moved on to a place about a mile south of Protection. David Stickney, a man of varied abilities, being a pettifogger, horse-dealer and musician; moved in with his wife and two daughters. Mrs. Stickney kept the house until Clark Nichols married Miss Howell, in 1826. A frame house was erected about this time and the old log-house, after being a tarrying-place for transient families for a time, entirely disap- peared.
Reuben Nichols received a pension for services in the Revo- lution. Ile enjoyed relating amusing anecdotes and had a remarkable memory of events. He and his son Clark, by industry and economy, increased their landed possessions to about four hundred acres, most of which is still in the pos- session of their descendants. Clark Nichols was an intelligent and energetic farmer, with exact business habits. He died at about eighty years of age.
Among the events that deserve notice at the log-tavern, was the birth of Wray Briggs, in 1811, the first white child born in the Town of Sardinia.
There also was the birth-place of Hannah Calkins, a very estimable lady, now the wife of Dr. Henry Shepard, of Iowa. There, too, Rebecca and Mary Brown, girls then in their teens, boast of taking as much comfort as if they had lived in a palace, in dressing up and walking out with and taking care of two very small children that belonged over the way. There General Nott, when Justice of the Peace, united Jehial Backus and Nancy Stickney in marriage, and there the children of the neighborhood enjoyed themselves turning the quill-wheel and winding the bobbins for Susan Colby and Mrs. How, a couple of weavers on hand-looms.
THE LOG SCHOOL-HOUSE.
In the Spring of 1818, "Uncle Daniel Hall," the man that whipped to death with beech sticks the wolf he had caught in a
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trap, started out one morning with axe and square and other tools, to put up a school-house. He was joined by enough of the neighbors to cut the logs and put up the body of a log- house. about twenty-four by twenty-six feet, the same day. The site selected was about one hundred and eight rods north of Rice's corners and near the north-west corner of the Nichols' farm and just south of the second pond-hole north of the cor- ners. The door and entry were on the south side, near the east end. A large stone chimney was next, fronting west, and in the north-east corner was a closet for the children's dinners, hats and over-clothes. The other sides had each a small win- dow and a shelf for writing and holding books and slates, and for scholars to lean against, and a stout hemlock slab on legs served for seats. Three smaller slabs near the center of the room nearly completed the outfit.
On one of the lower benches were cut drawings for three- men-Morris, fox and geese, checkers, &c. Of course these games afforded amusement and disciplined the mind to con- centration of thought; but the fact is undeniable that the children that took most interest in games took the least interest in books. Under the floor was a hole three or four feet square where unruly children were sometimes dropped by taking up a short board. The terrors of darkness, or internal spunk some times made it a difficult matter to keep the child's head below the floor. It once required the weight of the teacher and two of the largest girls to keep a girl, Elvira Cook, from putting her head through the floor. That was an episode that relieved the school-room of monotony while it lasted. That girl afterwards made the trip across the continent without the aid of railroads and made crack-shots with a revolver. She became the wife of Capt. U. P. Munro.
The old school-house was sometimes used as a temporary res- idence by families seeking homes; some one of whom doubt- less, dug the hole under the floor, in which to store vegetables.
A levy was made upon the pond for amusement both in Sum- mer and Winter. To wade in the water and climb the trees, some of which still remain, to hunt for bird's nests, to stone frogs, and catch blood-suckers and let them suck the blood from the foot until they became bloated and sluggish, were
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some of the sports of the Summer. Sliding on the ice in Winter was a favorite pastime, though not a boy in school had a pair of skates. The nearest approach to them was a hand- sled. One-old-cat, two-old-cat, base-ball, with stumps for bases, were favorite sports. Sometimes when the teacher was absent for dinner (the teacher boarded around), the benches would be put out of the way, and some girl with a good voice would sing " Monnie Musk." " Molly put the Kettle on," " Lake Erie," or " The Girl I Left Behind Me," the sets would form and shake out reels, jigs and French fours, with enthusiastic, if not with graceful movements. Anna Hall or her sister Sally, Caroline and Jane Eaton furnished the music.
In the Summer season, the Indians from near Buffalo, in their travels to Canadea, Allegany county, would pass the school house in squads of from two or three to forty. Of course they were a terror to the children, and the female teach- ers always seemed to breathe easier after they had passed. Our school book, " The American Preceptor," gave account of Indian atrocity and the prowess of Mrs. Dustan in braining her captors when they were asleep, and of the man who, when attacked by the Indians, fought them from his house, while his family sought shelter elsewhere, and when they came too close mounted his horse with the intention of taking one of his children and escaping, but could make no choice, so stayed with them and defended them all. The Indians seldom carried anything except a rifle and tomahawk. The squaws often carried a large pack on their backs, or a papoose lashed to a board with all but the little fellow's head and neck covered by the blanket. This gave the little follow the appearance of standing up in his mother's blanket, with a good view of all that passed. Every stout, burly, copper-faced old fellow' was believed by the children to be the old Chief, Shongo. He and his band used to make a halt near the site of the Cherry Tavern, both before and after it was built. One of the teachers once told us, " There goes the old white woman." She was 'not as stout-built as the squaws, but carried a pack. Her face was well-bronzed, but had none of the Indian features. This" was the cause of the teacher's recognizing her. After school the scholars had the satisfaction of learning that the teacher was
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right, as the band stopped at the Cherry Tavern, and it was reported as an important event that the "old white woman" was along.
The old school house was used for prayer and conference meetings, and some of the best ministerial talent of that time was reverently listened to there by crowded congregations. Among the preachers were Elder Harmon, of Aurora, Elder Carr, of Boston, Elder Baker, Elder Andrus, Elder Pratt, Elder Metcalf, Eliab Going and Deacon Colby, of the Baptist church, and Priest, Ingals and Lyman of the Presbyterian church. Methodist prayer and conference meetings were held there at an early day. Old Father Mann, the shouter, with his staff, would make it a wide-awake time; nor would Father Benoni Hudson, Alba Briggs or Stephen Waite allow a meeting to grow dull. They were men of irreproachable character, and exerted a salutary influence.
Miss Betsy Doane is said to have taught the first school in the log school house. Miss Eunice Shedd, now Mrs. Hubbard of Arcade, taught several terms. She was a seamstress and was a very useful member of society. Miss Miranda Powell, now Mrs. Charles Sears, taught during one summer ; also Miss Charlotte Nott, sister of Gen. Ezra Nott, and Widow Case, a member of the Humphrey family of Humphrey Hollow, in the Town of Sheldon, and Miss Lucy Bigelow, now Widow Carney. She was the last female that taught in the log house. Elihu Rice was the first male teacher and taught two Winter terms. The next teacher was Pardon Jewell, of Franklinville, then Isaac Humphrey, afterward Associate Judge of Erie county. Andrew Shedd taught two Winters, Dr. Shedd one Winter, then Dr. Berymin Osgood, afterward Judge of Probate in St. Joseph county, Michigan. John Lancton followed. He had formerly attended the school several terms as pupil. He afterward became Elder Lancton of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Lot eleven was taken up by one of the Warrens, Henry Godfrey, who married a daughter of Col. Jabez Warren, built a log house near the south-vest corner of the lot, just west of the burying-ground, and north of the tansy bed in the road. By the way, it may be safely said that every tansy bed marks the place of a pioneer's cabin. Tansy bitters was the early
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settler's panacea, but the temperance reform drove from the cabin the essential ingredient, and "patent medicine" finding it vacant has taken possession to stay. It was in the log house put up by Godfrey that Major Rice and Giles Briggs spent their first night on their arrival in town in 1810.
In 1811, Jacob Wilson, who was familiarly known as Uncle Jacob, bought the claim on lot eleven and built the inevitable log hut of that day by the road near the pine tree that now stands in front of John Weatherlow's house. The log house gave way to the red frame house about 1823.
Mr. Wilson possessed those characteristics so essential to a successful farmer. He died on his farm in 1332
To show the scarcity of money in those days, I will relate an incident. Mr. Wilson one year raised four hundred bushels of grain of various kinds, for which he received but thirty cents in money, and that was from a traveler who stopped, took dinner, fed his horse, and paid thirty cents for a bag of oats to take with him.
One of the first enterprises undertaken on " Hardpan " or West hill, was to bargain with Uncle Jacob for the forward wheels of a wagon, to be converted into the rolling stock of a cart, which afterwards became famous as the nine partner cart. Flint Keith, Sewell Butler, John Butler, Allan Stevens, Samuel Shepard, Jonathan Thomas, Joseph Thomas, Thomas Ward and David Conklin agreed to cut the timber on an acre of land ready for logging for the wheels, which they did, and returned home five miles the same day. When one of the stockholders had used the cart, he left it in the road for any other one to hitch to.
In the year 1824, Mr. Wilson executed a deed to the inhabi- tants of the Town of Sardinia of two acres of land as a com- mon place to inter the dead, which is the present burying- ground.
Lewis Wilson sold the farm to Samuel Weatherlow in 1834, and it has since been known as the Weatherlow farm. Lewis Wilson also sold to Weatherlow fifty acres of the north part of lot three, which is now in the possession of his daughter, the widow Simons.
It was about 1824, that Deacon John Colby shot the two
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year-old bear that John Houvee, who worked for Wilson, chased from the ground now occupied by Newton's hop yard, up a tree north of Newton's house. John had never seen a bear, and made considerable sport by telling the Deacon he had run a wolf up a tree. It took three balls from the Deacon's rifle to induce his bearship to leave the tree. A portion of the meat was given to the neighbors. It was sweet and acceptable, but what was smoked in the Deacon's log house stone chimney was delicious.
Francis Eaton came in possession of the east 113 acres of lot ten in 1811. Eaton was stalwart in form and had great muscu- lar power, and was very energetic. He was a carpenter and put up many of the farm houses and barns that were built in the east part of the town previous to 1824. He took pride in hav- ing every part of the frame work an exact fit, and the hand that did not work to the line would hear the gruff voice of the " General" (a nick-name) without delay. Ponderous rocks at the corners and points of greatest pressure, formed the under- pining. Walls for underpining were hardly thought of in those days, but timbers ten by twelve, or twelve by twelve, or twelve by fourteen, were not unusual, as the frames still stand- ing attest. The sills were usually put in place in the forenoon or the day before the raising. Men were invited for miles around, for the heavy timbers used required a corresponding amount of bone and muscle, and all responded to the call, for each in turn might require help. When the timbers for the bents were put in place, the " General " called for the pikes to be put in place ; next for two sturdy, careful hands, with iron bars or levers, to hold the foot of the posts. "Now men to your places." Hold! Hold! some called out, bring on that bottle. The bottle or its partner, the jug, full of vim and snap, passes from hand to hand and lip to lip. New determination lights each eye and telegraphs each muscle to be ready, and the " General " inquires, " Are you all ready?" Then comes the caution, "There are not men enough at that corner." When the men are fairly distributed, the word is given, " All lift together. Yo, heave! Yo, heave!" What animation thrills each nerve when those tones peal forth from an old com- mander. Yo, heave! If help is plenty the bent rises at the
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words, Yo, heave! " Man your pikes!" It moves up and soon is heard the command, "Set her up!" and, " Pikes on the other side!" The bent is soon in its place and stay-lathed. Now the girts are placed for the next bent, the next bent is put up, and the level-headed young men climb the posts, mount the beams, enter the girts, drive the pins, and the body is soon put together. Next putting up the plates require attention, Coolness and daring command a premium. While some can walk a stick eight inches square, high in the air, other's heads will swim at the same height, on a platform four feet wide. The latter are of use below in getting rafters, braces, pins and plank ready to go up when needed. When the rafters are on and the raising done, then the building had to be named. The bottle went up to those above, who ranged themselves on a plate, if there was a ridge-pole, and there was one with nerve enough to stand on that, the frame was named from it ; if not, it was named from the plate. When each had tried the bottle, the namer would repeat (or something like it), "Harry's delight ! framed in two weeks and raised before night." Then a general " Hurrah " would follow while the bottle was hurled high in the air, and all retired to luncheon, which consisted of bread or white biscuit and butter, cheese, doughnuts and sev- eral varieties of sweet cake, pies and baked beans, all seasoned with as many jokes as the company could supply, and washed down with water, tea, or home-made beer. After lunch, if there was time, the younger and more athletic would play base- ball, while the older men would discuss crop prospects, logging bees and the news of the day.
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