USA > New York > Monroe County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Allegany County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming > Part 40
USA > New York > Livingston County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Yates County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Wyoming County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Steuben County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Wayne County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
USA > New York > Orleans County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 40
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Homer and Zebulon Williams, are his sons ; Mrs. Hiram P. Thayer, of Buffalo, is his daughter.
Stephen Phelps was the early landlord in the village ; afterwards the surrogate of Ontario county. The site he occupied, is now that of Nottingham's Eagle Tavern. He emigrated to Illinois in 1820. Enoch Lilley was another early landlord ; his wife was the daughter of the Rev. Eleazor Fairbanks. Preceding either, however, was Dr. Azel Ensworth, who was a brother-in-law of William Rodgers, and had come into the country in '92, and first settled in his imme- diate neighborhood. After keeping a public house in early years, in Palmyra, in the early start of Rochester, he was the founder of the Eagle Tavern, and for a long period he and his son were its landlords. He still survives, a resident of Buffalo, with his son-in- law, Benjamin Campbell .*
Silas Stoddard was from Groton, Conn .; had been at sea, in the merchant service, emigrated to Palmyra in 1801, landing first at Sodus. He died in July last, at the age of 91 years ; his intellect and physical constitution but little impaired previous to his last ill- hess. Col. James Stoddard, known of late years as an intelligent horticulturist, is his son ; now a resident of Palmyra, aged 66 years. He served an apprenticeship with Col. Samuel Green, of the New London' Gazette, and emigrated to Palmyra with his father. From him the author obtained many early reminiscences. In 1801, he was in the employment of Major Samuel Colt, who had commenced merchandizing in Palmyra, and had charge of two Durham boats, which Major Colt owned at Palmyra. Loading them with flour and pork, he went down the Ganargwa creek to Lyons, and from thence to Schenectady. Among his companions, were Gilbert Howell, Cooper Culver, John Phelps, and Wm. Clark. The party were one month going and one month returning; having merchan- dise for their return freight. About the time of the building of these boats, says Col. Stoddard, land transportation looked discour- aging ; the merchants of Geneva, Canandaigua, Palmyra, Ithica, in fact all who did not depend on the Susquehannah as an avenue to market. held a consultation, and concluded that business must be done via the Rivers, Oneida Lake, and the Mohawk; and to en-
* At the Pioneer Festival in Rochester, in 1850, he was present, and the medal was awarded to him as being the earliest Pioneer present.
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courage them, stone locks had been built, at Rome and Little Falls. Many boats were built ; for a few years business was brisk, but it proved too tedious and expensive ; too dependant upon high and low water. Even land transportation, over bad roads, successfully competed with it.
" The first trip we made," says Col. Stoddard, " in passing through Oneida Lake, we stopped at Vanderkemp's settlement, now Con- stantia. Mr. Vanderkemp had erected an expensive dam, a large saw mill and grist mill, and there were eight or ten framed and some log dwellings ; but one single family however, all the rest hav- ing been driven off by sickness .* When I landed with my father's family at Sodus, Mr. Williamson's settlement had much declined, and there were many deserted tenements between Sodus and Pal- myra ; sickness having driven off the occupants. I have known periods when' a majority of all the inhabitants of the Ganargwa valley were prostrated by fevers."
Henry Jessup was the early tanner in Palmyra, and still survives, his sons being his successors in business. His partner for many years was George Palmer, of Buffalo.
William Rogers came in with his brothers, James and Thomas, in 1792, a widower, and his brother James dying in early years, he married his widow. The family were from Rhode Island. William was one of the early Judges of Ontario, one of its representatives in the Legislature, and a magistrate; prominently identified with the history of Palmyra and Ontario county. He died in 1836, aged 82 years. Major William Rogers, so favorably known to the travel- ling public in the early years of canal navigation, as a packet master, the father-in-law of Pomeroy Tucker, editor of the Wayne Sen- tinel, is a surviving son. He is now the occupant of a fine farm near Pultneyville ; as stirring and energetic as when he used to sing out : - " Hurra, is the lock ready ?" - or beat up the quarters of the sleepy drivers in dark and rainy nights. A daughter of his was the wife of Noah Porter. Gen. Thomas Rodgers, and Denni- son Rodgers of Palmyra, are surviving sons of James Rodgers. Thomas Rodgers preceded his brother, and assisted in the survey of the town; of his family, only his son David remains in Palmyra.
* The founder of this settlement was the father of John J. Vanderkemp, of Phia- delphia, the general agent of the Holland Co. He soon abandoned the enterprise, and removed to Oldenbarneveldt," [Trenton,] Oneida co.
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The first winter after Judge Rodgers came in, the neighborhood was without salt. Learning that some had been brought up as far as Lyons, with a hired man, and an ox team, he cut his own sled path, and after three days hard labor, returned with his salt.
Zackariah Blackman was the early blacksmith. John Hurlburt, a brother of Judge Hurlburt; who was the Pioneer of Arkport, on the Canisteo, became a resident of Palmyra in 1795. His widow is now living at the age of 81 years. He set up a distillery as ear- ly as '96. He died in 1813. * William Jackway, who came in with Gen. Swift, died in 1849, aged 91 years. John Russell, who was one of the front rank of Pioneers, upon whose original farm a portion of the village has grown up, removed to Henrietta in 1821, where he died but a few years since, from the effects of the kick of a horse. John Russell was the step-father of Augustus Southworth, of Holley ; Mrs. Russel now resides in Rochester.
Reuben Town was the earliest settled Physician in Palmyra. He removed to Batavia in early years. He was followed by Dr. Gain Robinson, as early as 1800. Dr. Robinson was from Cum- mington, Massachusetts. He married the daughter of Col. John Bradish, the father of Gov. Bradish, who was one of the early set- tlers of Palmyra. He continued in practice until his death, in 1830, enjoying a large share of professional eminence, and highly esteem- ed in the wide circle of his practice. There have gone out from under his instruction a large number who have conferred credit up- on their early mentor ; among them may be named : - His nephew, Dr. Alexander McIntyre, who for many years practiced with him, and is now his local successor ; Drs. James and William White ; Dr. West, of Cayuga county ; Dr. Isaac Smith, of Lockport, ( deceased ; ) Dr. Whippo, ( now an engineer ; ) Dr. Durfee Chase, of Palmyra; Dr. Gregory of Michigan. The surviving sons of Dr. Robinson, are : - Clark, Darwin, and Rollin, of Buffalo." Daughters :- Mrs. Philip Grandin, of New York ; her husband was an early merchant in Palmyra ; and Mrs. Judge Tiffany, of Adrian, Michigan ; Mrs. Hiram Niles, of Buffalo ; and Mrs. Geo. Pomeroy. t
* A toast of the early Pioneer, in one of the early years, at a Fourth of July cele- bration, is worthy of preservation. The wish has been fully realized :- " May we cultivate the vine and sheaf in this new world, and furnish the old with bread."
. + Judge Tiffany is a son of the early printer at Niagara, C. W., and Canandaigua. Mr. Pomeroy is one of the founders of Wells & Pomeroy's Express.
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The first lawyer in Palmyra, was John Comstock, who also mar- ried a daughter of Col. Bradish. He survives, a resident near Adrian, Michigan.
In the year 1789, Joel Foster, Elias Reeves and Luke Foster, of Long Island, became the agents of a company that had been form- ed in Connecticut, New Jersey and Long Island, for the purpose of leasing lands of the Indians ; an organization similar to the Lessee Company of this State. Proceeding to Fort Pitt, where they were joined by others, they traversed the wilds of Virginia, and return- ing to the north, struck the Ohio river, and followed it down to the desirable location called Turkey Bottom, where they purchased a claim to a large tract, and left Luke Foster to keep possession for the winter, Joel Foster and Elias Reeves returning to take on a colony of settlers in the spring. An act of Congress interfering with their title or possession, frustrated the enterprise. "Turkey Bottom," in process of time, became Cincinnati, the queen city of the west.
Thus disappointed, and Indian wars growing more threatening at the west, the Long Island adventurers turned their attention to the Genesee country. Elias Reeves, Abraham Foster, William Hop- kins, Luther Sandford and Joel Foster, in the summer of 1791, bought 5,500 acres on the Ganargwa Creek, in East Palmyra ; spotting a tree and planting some apple seeds, an earnest of their intended occupancy. In April, 1792, they built a sail boat, launched it in Heady Creek, embarked with their families, towing down the stream to South Bay, and sailing up to New York, and from thence .to Albany, where they took their boat out of water, transported it on wheels to Schenectady, launched it in the Mohawk, and from . thence came to Lyons ; and obtaining a smaller boat, ascended the Ganargwa Creek to their new wilderness home. The journey con- · sumed 28 days. Most of those named, became prominent founders of settlement, and have left numerous descendants.
NOTE .- For the facts connected with the pioneer enterprise of this Long Island colony, the author is indebted to a sermon delivered at Palmyra on Thanksgiving day, 1846, by the Rev. Nathaniel W. Fisher, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, who de- rived his information from Mr. Henry J. Foster, a descendant of one of the Pioneers Mr. Fisher was one of the victims of the cholera at Sandusky, in the summer of 1848. The author makes an extract from the sermon, in which the Rev. gentleman bestows no more than a deserved eulogy upon the Pioneer mothers, who accompanied this ex- pedition : - "Especially do we admire the character . of those noble women, whose sacrifices, prayers and labors, aided in laying the foundations of society and those
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It is stated by the Rev. Mr. Fisher, that a Presbyterian church was organized in 1793, in Palmyra. If this is so, it was the first or- ganized church west of Seneca Lake. Mrs. Tice, a daughter of John Hurlburt, says their first religious meetings were conversational or social meetings, not sectarian, generally held at the house of John Swift. It is recorded that the Presbyterian church in Palmyra was organized in Sept., 1797; the trustees elected : - Jacob Gannett, Stephen Reeves, David Warner, Jedediah Foster, Jonah Howell: The first settled minister was the Rev. Eleazor Fairbanks, who was succeeded by the Rev. Benjamin Bell.
Jonah Howell erected the first mill, a mile east of the village, on the Vienna road ; this was followed by one erected by Gen. Swift, on the site occupied by Goddard's mill.
The first death in Palmyra was that of David White ; the first wedding was that of William Wilcox and Ruth Durfee ; the first male child born in town, was Asa R. Swift, a son of John Swift ; the first female, the daughter of David Wilcox, who became the wife of Alva Hendee.
WILLIAM HOWE CUYLER.
His father, John Cuyler, of Greenbush, had been (at what period the author is unable to state,) a General in the British service. He was a resident of Greenbush, opposite Albany, an attorney at law. It is presumed, that when Mr. Williamson arrived in this country, upon his agency, he found in him an old acquaintance, as he is one of the first with whom he held correspondence, and he . was one of his first legal advisers. As early as 1793, his son, Rich -. ard, was in the employment of Mr. Williamson, as was his son Wm. Howe Cuyler, several years previous to 1800.
Soon after 1800, Wm. Howe Cuyler became a resident of Pal- myra, having become the local agent of Mr. Williamson, for the
blessed institutions which are now the support and ornament of community. The legends of those times are adorned with the names of females that should descend to posterity, and be embalmed in their most grateful recollections. We often wonder if the mantle of those venerated matrons have fallen upon the wives of the present day ; with all the improvements in modern education, are they better qualified to make happy homes ? Have they larger hearts, better minds, purer patriotism, warmer zeal, in every good work ?"
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sale of lands in the north-east portion of what is now Wayne county. - Sawyer, the brother-in-law of John Swift, who had an interest with him in the original purchase of the town, wish- ing to return to Georgia, where he had formerly resided, sold his property to Major Cuyler, in 1805 Included in this sale, was the old Cuyler farm, upon which a considerable portion of the village of Palmyra has grown up.
Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812, Major Cuyler was early upon the frontier, as the aid of General Swift .* Stationed at Buffalo, he was the active co-operator with Lieut. Elliott, in the preparations for the gallant exploit of capturing the British vessels, from under the walls of Fort Erie, on the 8th of October, 1812. In anticipation that the expedition would return with wounded men, he had been engaged through the night in making preparations for their reception. Anxious for the fate of men who had engaged in so hazardous an enterprise, before day light in the morning, he had rode down upon the beach, towards Black Rock, when a chance grape shot, from a British battery, at Fort Erie, passed through his body, breaking the spine, and killing him instantly.t It was the first sacrifice of the war, on the Niagara frontier ; the first and one of the dearest of the many sacrifices of western New York, in all that contest. And it may also be added, that Gen. Scott being near him, it was his first introduction to the terrible realities of war, of which he was destined to see so much through a long and brilliant military career .¿ After the war, his remains were removed to Palmyra, and are now entombed in the rural cemetery, which the citizens of that village, with much of good taste and public spirit, have within a few years added to their flourishing village.
In civil life, Major Cuyler was a man of much energy and enter-
* The author has an early evidence of his military spirit and ambition. When some of the earliest military organizations were going on in Steuben, he was a resident at Bath, a clerk of Mr. Williamson. Mr. Williamson being in Albany, the young aspirant to military distinction, wrote to him : - " You are the only field officer in the Regi- ment, and on you, of course, will devolve the duty of making proper recommendations I shall only observe that I have been a military man for about twelve years past, and have never rose above the halberd, and that I now look for promotion. I should like to have the office Mr. Porter formerly held - that of Brigade Major and Inspector - as the duty of Adjutant General in the several brigades, now devolve on that officer."
t The shot is now in possession of his sister, Mrs. Smith, of Auburn.
# He had just been promoted to the rank of Lieut. Colonel, and had arrived at Black Rock. in comumand of two companies of U. S. Artillery.
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prise ; he was one of the founders of the Ontario Woolen Manu- facturing Company .* He married the daughter of Samuel Shekell, of Manchester, who still survives, a resident of Brooklyn, with her daughter by a second marriage. Major Cuyler left two sons, George W. and William Howe Cuyler; the former a banker, and the lat- ter a merchant, in Palmyra.
LYONS.
The early advent of the Stansell's and Featherly, the building of mills, the primitive commencement generally, at Lyons, have been noticed in connection with Mr. Williamson.
James Otto came in 1796, was employed in the erection of the mills, and in '98, marrying the daughter of Capt. Dunn who settled where the Mead's now reside on the Geneva road, he moved upon his farm south of Lyons village, where he now resides, in his 81st year. He has been the father of eight sons and eight daughters, thirteen of whom are now living in Lyons and the western states.
The old gentleman says it was so sickly about the village of Lyons in early years that many who attempted to settle there got discour- aged and left. Dr. Prescott of Phelps, was the first physcian. Dr. Willis settled where the village of Lyons now is, but getting sick himself, and sick of the country, returned to Vermont. In the winter of '99 and 1800, there was an unusal deep snow ; there came a rain making a crust, and the wolves destroyed the deer to such an ,extent that their carcasses were strewn over the woods tainting the whole atmosphere.
Judge Evert Van Wickle, who has been mentioned in connec- tion with early operations in Allegany, came to Lyons soon after Mr. Williamson had commenced improvements there, and was in his employ as a surveyor.t
Judge Daniel Dorsey from Frederick county, Maryland, came
* He introduced the first Merino buck into western New York, purchasing it of one . of the Livingstons, in Albany, paying $900.
t In one of Mr. Williamson's letters, in 1798, ho says : - " A promising settlement, composed of people from Jersey and Maryland, is begun here this June ; a Mr. Van Wickle from the Jerseys, moved in along with forty persons."
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to Lyons in 1801, with his family. Two years previous he had ex- plored the country and purchased of Mr. Williamson nearly one thousand acres. mostly on the east side of the outlet, immediately adjoining the village of Lyons, on either side of the Lyons and Geneva Plank Road. It included the farm that had been commen- ced by Mr. Cameron, as agent for Mr. Wiliamson, and the improve- ments ; had been reserved in anticipation of what would grow up at the confluence of the streams-mostly the head of navigation ; but was sold to Judge Dorsey as an inducement to emigration. He had a large family - ten children - and a considerable number of slaves, that were soon liberated, principally for the reason that in that case as well as in all other similar experiments that were tried in this region, slave labor was unprofitable.
The strong handed emigrant immediately commenced clearing and improving his fine possessions. Soon after 1800 he commen- ced merchandizing, bringing his goods from Baltimore. A large proportion of his early trade was with the Indians, who were en- camped along the banks of the outlet and at Sodus. There used to be as many as thirty Indian huts along where William street, of Lyons village, crosses the canal.
Thomas Dorsey, a son of the carly Pioneer, now occupies a por- tion of the old homestead. The author transcribes from memoran- doms of a conversation had with him, some early reminiscences of that locality : -
Durham boats used to arrive frequently from Schenectady with emigrants and goods, and with salt from Salt Point. It was only in freshets that they could go as high up as Palmyra and Manches- ter. Salmon were very plenty in the streams ; at the forks I have known fifteen and twenty taken with one spear in a night ; weigh- ing from fifteen to twenty pounds. It was not uncommon to see herds of deer grazing on the flats.
When the Dorsey family arrived at Lyons, there was settled in village and immediate vicinity, other than those already named : - John Biggs, who kept a tavern on the site now occupied by Bar- ton's tavern, in a log house. He was the Pioneer landlord, and is yet living near the village. Richard Jones, a saddler, had a shop on what is now Broad street, in a log building. He died in 1832. George Carr, a mason by trade, lived on Broad street in a log house. William Gibbs lived a little south of the village, on the farm now
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owned by Harvey Geer. John Perrine lived on the Canandaigua outlet one mile from the village. He was an early magistrate and Supervisor of the town; removed to Michigan, where he died in 1836. The progress of the village was slow in all the early years, and in fact until the location and construction of the Erie Canal. In 1818 there was but a small cluster of buildings ; two taverns, one kent by Ezekiel Price, and another by Elias Hull; the store of Leach & Demmon; a few dwellings; a few mechanic shops ; a Methodist and Presbyterian church. John Cole, the father of Joseph Cole, was the first local minister, and organized the first Methodist society. He died in 1810. The first religious meetings were attended by Judge Dorsey, who was a member of the Meth- odist church, and occasionally an exhorter.
The village of Lyons had a rapid start after the completion of the canal ; many enterprising men were attracted there ; substantial business establishments were started one after another; private residences, in beauty of location, and in all their appointments vie- ing with those of any of its neighboring villages and cities in West- ern New York, were founded one after another; new streets were laid out with the accompaniments of fine walks and long lines of shade trees ; substantial and neat public edifices were erected ; until now, in 1851, there are few spots in all this wide region, hold- ing out more inducements, either for residence, or business pur- suits. The tourist, in western New York, who does not wander from the rail road route, misses at least two beautiful and flourishing villages - Palmyra and Lyons. But things as they were, not as they now are, are the subjects in hand.
Daniel Dorsey died in 1823, at the age of 65 years. His survi- ving children are : - Upton Dorsey, Esq., of Geneva; Thomas E. Dorsey, residing on the old homestead at Lyons ; Nelson R. Dorsey, residing in Calhoun county, Michigan ; Mrs. Cyrus Chapin, of Gen- eva ; Mrs. Lawrence Riley, in Ohio ; Mrs. Thomas Rook, of Lyons, Mrs. Wm. Hudson, of Geneva; Mrs. Michael Miller, of Calhoun co., Michigan ; Mrs. Milton Barney, of Chicago; and two sons have died after arriving at adult age; eleven in all. The early Pioneer had held a Captain's commission in the Maryland line during the Revolution, and after his advent to this region, was an early Judge of the courts of Ontario.
25
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SODUS.
After the advent of Mr. Williamson in that region, the erection of his mills, large tavern house, wharf and store house - all the im- provements under his auspices - there followed long years of de- cline ; but an occasional hardy adventurer dropping into the wil- derness, along on the Lyons and Palmyra roads, encountering dis- ease and privation - some of them wrestling with them until dis- couraged, leaving their log cabins untenanted -a forbidding indi- cation to new adventurers. All that Mr. Williamson had done was premature. A fine public house, good mills, a pleasure boat upon the beautiful Bay, would have been well conceived enterprises in a settled country, but sadly out of place in a wilderness, with here and there, miles apart, in small openings of the forest, a Pioneer settler, half resolving to leave the country, and give up his enter- prise as a bad job. Of those that were connected with the im- provements, but few remained long after they were completed.
In 1801, Ami Elsworth came from East Windsor, Conn., and set- tled on the road leading from the Ridge to the village Mr. William- son had founded upon the Lake and Bay. There was then on the road leading to Palmyra, no settler nearer to where he located than Daniel Russell, 9 miles distant. At the Point, (village) Moses Sill was in the tavern house ; and there were two or three families be- side, most of whom lived by fishing and hunting. On the Lake shore, seven miles above the Point, was a solitary settler by the name of Amos Richards. * Elijah Brown was an early, but not a permanent settler on the Lake shore, four miles above the Point. t
* Connected with him or his family, is a tale of pioneer life, well worthy of record. Mr. Richards had been in but a few years, and made but a little opening in the forest, when he died, leaving a wife, and a daughter twenty years old ; both uncommonly en- dowed with health and strength. In their solitary home, far away from neighbors, the mother and daughter took the laboring oars in out of door work, chopped and cleared land, added a comfortable log barn upon their premises, planted an orchard, harrowed, ploughed, sowed, reaped and harvested ; dispensing entirely with the labor of men. In winters, they had their own roads to make to the settlements, their stock to fodder and brouse ;-- in fact, women as they were, they contended successfully with all the endurances of pioneer life, and in the end, with pretty good success. There was an entire new feature in the old lady's domestic economy : - She trained a cow to carry burdens, and especially her grain to mill, upon her back. Mrs. Richards died in 1849, aged 93 years. The daughter is the wife of Jeduthan Moffatt.
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