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 41
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 41
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 41
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 41
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 41
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 41
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 41
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 41
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 41
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 41
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t He was a Pioneer upon the Holland Purchase, at the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek, as early as 1804. In 1805 or '6, he came down the Lake from his new lova- tion to mill at Sodus, in a skiff. Returning, he was taken sick, and on going on shore,
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Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth still survive, at an advanced age. They have fifty living descendants in the town of Sodus.
The old gentleman says that his neighborhood, in an early day, was more than usually the haunt of deer, bears and wolves ; wild ducks were abundant in the Bay, and some seasons of the years, pigeons were so plenty, that it was difficult to protect the crops from their depredations. At one period, they had their roosts on the Lake shore, their nests occupying the trees upon hundreds of acres. Some trees would have sixty and seventy nests upon them. The backwoods settlers carried away cart loads of the young squabs. On another occasion, an unusual quantity of beach nuts and mild weather, attracted myriads of them to the neighborhood ; the weather suddenly changing to severe cold, the woods were strewed with those that had been frozen to death.
Elijah Gibbs was the first settled physician in the neighborhood. He died in 1829. Several of his sons are masters of vessels upon the Lake. Elisha Matthews was an early physician ; a son of his resides in Rochester,
Mr. Ellsworth was sick for five of the first years after settling at Sodus ; his then young wife, transferred to the wilderness from a comfortable New England home, had her husband and young chil- dren to take care of, and much of the out door labor to perform. A payment upon their land became due : their dependence to meet it was a sum due them in Connecticut; Mrs. E. made the long journey to Windsor upon horseback, and obtained it. The history of their pioneer years has the harshest features of backwood's life ; but with them, as with others, the scene has changed; the dense forests have melted away ; in the midst of their descendants, sur- rounded by fruitful fields, they are spending the evening of their days, and calmly awaiting the close of the mission upon earth, they have so well performed.
PEREGRINE FITZHUGH.
DO See William Fitzhugh, page 364. He emigrated to this re- gion in 1799. Residing three years at Geneva, he was engaged in
died at Irondequoit. John G. Brown, of Hudson, Michigan, and Paul Brown, of Pal- myra, Wayne county, are his sons. Daughters became the wives of Edward Durfee, and William Wilcox, of Palmyra, and Gilbert Howell, of Oak Orchard.
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improving a large purchase he had made at Sodus, until his removal there in 1803. But little had been done there before his advent, in the way of farm improvements. Mr. Williamson's fine tavern house loomed up on the Bay, on either hand, a few log cabins, most of them deserted ; while the back ground was a thickly wood- ed forest, upon the beautiful swell of land between the Bay and the Lake ; cut up into "inner " and " outer " town lots; the stakes and blazed trees of the surveyors being the only marks of improve- ment.
Col. Fitzhugh came into the country strong handed; his was the Pioneer advent of the " Marylanders," and was a marked event. He came over Mr. Williamson's Northumberland road, with a for- midable cavalcade; large Pennsylvania wagons, drawn by 27 horses ; his family, including slaves, consisting of over forty per- sons. The cavalcade was five weeks in making the passage, the whole camping in the woods two nights on the way.
The enterprising adventurer from the shores of the Chesepeake Bay, chose for his home one of the finest regions of the Genesee country, as time and improvements are now rapidly demonstrating, but one beset with many early difficulties and hindrances - dis- ease, isolation, in reference to the directions that business and the progress of improvement took ; destined to slow settlement, and long untoward years. He died in the midst of his enterprises, in 1810. The owner, by inheritance, of slaves, he introduced them into a region unfitted for slave labor, and in his case, as well as with all others who made the experiment, it was a failure. He had made most of them free before his death.
Mrs. Fitzhugh, who was the daughter of Samuel Lloyd Chew, of Aun Arundel, Md., still survives, a resident at the old homestead, at the advanced age of 84 years. She has lived to see her descend- ants of the fifth generation. The surviving sons of Col. Peregrine Fitzhugh, are : - Samuel Fitzhugh, who has been a clerk in the
NOTE - An experiment of local colonization, or separate settlement of free blacks, commence . in an early day at Sodus. The mamumitted slaves of most of the Marylanders - many of them those of Mr. Fitzhugh - were allowed to go upon the Pulteney lands, near the Bay, the ten, fifteen, and, twenty acre lots that had been laid out by Mr. Williamson upon his towwn plat. They numbered at one time, abont 80 in all. The settlement began to disperse after a few years: they proved illy adapted for making themselves a home upon new lands; those that remained were idle and unthrifty, and their locality is now a sad specimen of the self reliance, or independent existence, of their race.
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General Post Office, at Washington, for nearly thirty years; and Bennett C. Fitzhugh, a resident at Sodus Point. Daughters be- came the wives of William Pulteney Dana,* whose mother was a niece of Sir William Pulteney ; of William Haylartz, of Sodus ; of William Edwards, of Sodus ; an unmarried daughter resides at the old homestead.
WILLIAM NIXON LOOMIS.
He was a native of New Jersey. After a collegiate education, he studied medicine, attended the lectures of Dr. Rush, at Philadel- phia. His ambition as a student, is indicated by the fact, that he took copious notes of the whole course of lectures of that eminent man, which fill several quarto volumes, and are the only report ex- tant, of that course. An acquaintance thus formed, between mas- ter and pupil, they afterwards maintained a correspondence of intimacy and friendship. Commencing the practice of medicine in Philadelphia, he continued there until a declining health, conse- quent upon an attack of the yellow fever, induced him to seek a change of climate.
He came on a tour of exploration to the Genesee country soon after 1800. In a trip by water, with some friends, they were overtaken by a storm, off the mouth of the Genesee river. The party landed, and went up to view the Falls. Upon the present site of Roches- ter, they came to a solitary log cabin, knocked, and were bid to come in. Upon entering, they found that in the absence of the family, a parrot had been the hospitable representative. The family returned soon, however, and gave them a supper of potatoes and milk ; the best that the site of a now city of 40,000 inhabit- ants, then afforded. Deciding upon making Sodus Point his home, he made Considerable investments in lands there, and soon removed his family to their new home. He resided at the Point, until the commencement of the war of 1812, when he removed two miles farther up the Lake, where he had purchased lands, and erected a flouring mill. His house at the Point was burned when the British
* He came to this country soon after his relative had become a proprietor here ; his wife dving, he returned to England in early years. Mrs. Daniel H. Fitzhugh, of Grove- land is, a daughter of his.
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force made their landing there. To the flouring mill, in his new locality, he added a saw mill, an iron forge, and several other branch- es of business ; besides improving the land, dividing it into farms, and building several houses for tenants. The little settlement was called " Maxwell." Leaving Philadelphia with the design of aban- doning his profession, his practice was only such as the exigencies of the new region demanded, and mostly gratuitous. He bestowed much of his time and talents in the cause of internal improvements. If not the projector, he early and zealous!y espoused the opening of a communication between Lake Ontario and the Erie Canal, by means of a branch canal, terminating at Sodus Bay .*
To indefatigable industry and perseverance, he added extraordi- nary business talents ; and to a vigorous intellect he added a thor- ough education, cultivated literary tastes and pursuits, in hours of relaxation from the sterner duties of life, which made him an agree- able and instructive companion. He died in 1833, at the age of 58 years. An inscription upon his tomb stone, in the rural cemetery, ยท at Sodus village, pays the following tribute to his memory ; - " He was one of the Pioneer Border settlers. His enterprising, vigor- ous, and active mind, aided esssentially in the improvements of this country, and commanded for him universal esteem."
The first wife of Dr. Lummis died in early years. His second wife was a daughter of Captain John Maxwell, and the niece of General William Maxwell, both of whom are honorably mentioned in Revolutionary annals. The surviving sons of Dr. Lummis, are : - Benjamin Rush Lummis, residing on the east side of Sodus Bay ; William M. and Dayton Lummis, merchants, New York. An only surviving daughter is Mrs. Elizabeth Ellet, the wife of Dr William H. Ellet, Professor of Chemistry in Columbia College, N York ; The amiable and gifted authoress of "The Women of the American Revolution," and " Domestic History of the American Revolution."
Dr. Thomas G. Lawson, an Englishman, leaving home on ac- count of some domestic difficulties, came to Sodus Point, in early
* A project revived in later years, principally under the auspices of another public spirited individual- Gen. Wm. H. Adams- with slow and untoward progress at first ; but now, with the aid of recent legislation, likely to be consummated.
NOTE .- Mrs. Ellet is now about 38 years of age. Her first published literary effort was written at the age of thirteen ; an "Ode" written on the occasion of La Fayette's visit at Geneva where she was attending school.
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years, purchasing a large number of Mr. Williamson's "out lots," a mile from the Point, fixing his residence there. Possessed of consid- erable wealth, he practiced his profession only occasionally, spending his money freely in improvements of his possessions. He returned to England, where he died in 1833.
Elder Seba Norton was the the pioneer clergyman, at Sodus, set- tling there as early as 1805. After four years' service in the Revolution, which included a participation in the battles of Mon- mouth and Saratoga, he united with the Baptist church, and soon took upon himself the office of a minister, with a limited education, but with a native strength of mind, and a devotion to his profession, which insured a long career of usefulness. He was the founder of the first meeting house in the township. He died in 1835, in the 76th year of his age.
In reference to the slow growth of Sodus, the early fluctuations of its population, Judge Byram Green remarks : - " A large portion of the early settlers about the Bay, were but transient residents, fishermen and hunters. They would come to the Bay, invited by the abun- dance of deer in the forest, wild ducks in the Bay, and fish in the Bay and Lake, and erect their huts on the Islands in the Bay, or the main land. There they would hunt and fish for a season, some a few years, and leave the place. Soon another set would come, and occupy the vacant and common ground. And thus a floating pop- ulation was coming and going, like the rolling waves upon the Lake, until more enterprising men purchased and occupied the ground, subdued the forest, and cultivated the soil."
RIDGE ROAD AND SODUS BAY.
Secluded, in reference to the main thoroughfares, the northern portions of Monroc and Wayne counties are less known than most of the Genesee coun- try. Sodus Bay, especially, a marked spot in the topography of the Genesce country, and in fact in all our Lake region, has never been seen by many, otherwise familiar with the whole region. These considerations will excuse a seeming partiality, in making them an exception to a general rule, in this his- tory of pioneer settlement.
Passing Irondequoit Bay, and going east, the Ridge Road becomes as well defined, as uniformly elevated, as upon any portion of it between the Genesee and the Niagara rivers. It passes through the towns of Webster, in Monroe,
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Ontario, Williamson, and Sodus, in Wayne, terminating at the head of the Bay, or rather losing there its regular and distinctive character. Starting from Irondequoit, passing the fine swells of uplands and broad plains - the constant succession of magnificent farms, of the town of Webster, the flour- ishing rural village, that bears the name of the town - there is a great uni- formity in nature's own highway, upon which you are traveling; its gradual slope in the direction of Lake Ontario, and the gentle swells and rolling lands on the other hand - a sameness of landscape - until you arrive at Wil- liamson, or Poppino's corners, where the main pases roads from Palmyra to Pultneyville. Here the scene changes gradually, the slope and the Ridge beeom- ing more irregular, and at the south knobs and sugar loaf hills become frequent, to add to the variety of scenery, not to form an exception to the every where desirable farms, and prosperous agricultural region. No where in all this region of progress, has the hand of improvement effected a more rapid change, or found a soil making better returns for its labor. And here it may be remarked, that with reference to the staple grain product, wheat, there is no region of country on earth, that contains in its soil more of its elements, than the slope from the Ridge Road to Lake Ontario, in its whole extent.
Passing from Poppino's Corners to Sodus village -seven miles - on either hand are broad wheat fields, elear of stumps, many of them looking like vast onion beds ; the Ridge gently curving, and then straight for miles, with a regular elevation, you are gradually bearing towards the Lake, until for a con- siderable distance you catch glimpes of its blue waves, through vistas of the forest, schooners with sails spread, or perhaps a magnificent steamboat - a floating palace - will cross the line of vision.
Sodus village has grown up on the Ridge - hardly within a pioneer period - a flourishing, brisk country village, having a pleasant rural aspect ; its site, where the road from Lyons to Sodus Point, crosses the Ridge. A walk, or ride, of four miles through a fine farming region, of ridges and valleys, brings you to the Point, or the old site of Mr. Williamson's magnificently projected town.
If you question his judgement, or say that his plans were premature, you will be obliged to pay homage to his taste ; for no where in all this region is there a finer site for a village or a city. The bold shore of the Lake forms an elevated and beautiful terrace on the one hand, while the ground gradually descends to the waters of the Bay upon the other. As the Point gradually widens out in the back ground, it rises slowly, and is interspersed with
NOTE. - In the years 1818, '19, the author, a youth, serving his apprentiship in a newspaper office at Palmyra, travelled through this region each fall, as the clerk of a blind newspaper carrier. It was a most unpromising region of log cabins, stinted improvements, of chills and fevers. The owls hooted from tops of the hemlock trees, wolves howled, and foxes barked in the dark forests ; the saucy hawk would be perched upon trees in close proximity with solitary log cabins, ready to pounce upon truant chickens that strayed a few rods from the coop before the door. Thirty years passed over, and he revisited the region in connection with this present work. What a change ! Comfort, luxury, abundance, had taken the place of those rugged scenes of pioneer life! Recognizing a pioneer mother, that he used to see there in those primitive days, he observed to her : - "I used to pity you that were obliged to live here; now I almost pity those that cannot."
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swells of land, slopes and vallies, forming sites for residences overlooking Lake and Bay, and every way inviting.
The Bay enters a cove of the Lake, which is protected on either hand by head lands. It is about half a mile across its neck, gradually widening out to the extent of four miles. In length from north to south, it is nearly seven miles. A small Island in the Lake, lying opposite the entrance to the Bay, a pier connects it with the main land, and another is extended into the Lake. These public improvements, added to natural advantages, renders it the finest harbor upon all our Lake coasts. It is said of the magnificent Bay of San Francisco, that "all the navies of the world might ride at anchor in it at one time, with safety." It may be said of Sodus Bay, that all the craft that will ever navigate our Lakes, would find ample room there; good anchorage, and protection from the severest gales. Its mostly deep, still waters might at times, be passed over safely in a canoe, when a tempest was tossing the waters of the Lake. The scenery, especially upon the east side of the Bay, is less bold and rugged, but its promentories remind one of the descriptions of the Bay of Naples. With an eye for the picturesque and romantic - a feeling of enthusiasm in reference to all this region, - Mr. Williamson wrote to a friend in England ; - " The town " (Sodus,) "stands on a rising ground on the west point of the Bay, having the Lake on the north, to appearance as bound- less as the ocean, and the Bay to the east romantically interspersed with Islands, and parts of the main land stretching into it. The first view of the place, after passing through a timbered country from Geneva, twenty-eight miles, strikes the eye of the beholder, as one of the most magnificent landscapes human fancy can picture; and the beauty of the scene, is not unfrequently heightened, by the appearance of large vessels navigating the Lake."
The " District of Sodus," was erected in the primitive division of Ontario county into Districts, in 1789. The earliest record of a town meeting is in 1799. The district then embraced all of the present town of Sodus and Lyons. The town or district meeting was held at the "house of Evert Van Wickle" in Lyons village. The officers chosen were as follows : - Azariah Willis, supervisor, Joseph Taylor, town clerk ; other town officers : - Norman Merry, Samuel Caldwell, Chas. Cameron, Moses Sill, E. Van Wickle, Timothy Smith, Joseph Wood, David Sweezy, Daniel Russell, Henry Lovewell, Wm. White, Reuben Adams, Samuel Nelson, David Sweezy, and John Van Wickle.
At a special town meeting in 1799, held " at the house of John Briggs," John Perrine, Timothy Smith, and Samuel Caldwell were chosen school commissioners.
There was at this period on the tax roll, the names of 50 persons, some of whom were non-residents; the settlers would seem to have
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been located in Lyons village, on the road from Lyons to Sodus Point, at the Point, and on the Palmyra road, with the exception of Brown and Richards, on the Lake shore between the Point and Pulteneyville. In 1800, Timothy Smith was supervisor. In this year the first records of roads were made. Two dollars bounty was voted for wolf scalps "with the skin thereon ; " and it was also voted that "hog yokes be eight inches above the neck." It was also voted that Elias Dickinson, who it is presumed was a Justice of the peace in Phelps, "be allowed $3 for opening town meetings two years past."
In 1799, the District gave Charles Williamson and Nathaniel Norton, candidates for Assembly, each 23 votes. In 1800 Thomas Morris had the unanimous vote of the district, 68, for representative of the Western District in Congress.
In 1801 the district "neglected to hold town meeting," but three justices of the county, Wm. Rogers, Darius Comstock and Ezra Patterson, met at the house of Oliver Kendall, and appointed John Perrine, supervisor, and Richard Jones town clerk.
Pulteneyville is upon the shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of Little Salmon creek. The waters of the fine pure stream that have been collecting upon the slope in Marion and Williamson, on ap- proaching the Lake, seem to have been coy and hesitating in fall- ing into its embrace ; meandering along for a considerable distance, nearly parallel with the Lake shore, a ridge elevated from 35 to 40 feet, affords fine building ground overlooking the Lake. Two prom- ontories put out above and below the entrance of the creek into the Lake, which, with a bluff shore, affords the means of making a very good harbor with a small comparative expenditure of money. It was a prominent locality in long years of French and English do- minion - the frequent stopping place for the small craft that coasted along the Lake shore. Although the locality was marked by Mr. Williamson in his plans of improvement, and is mentioned in his correspondence with his principals, no commencement was made there under his auspices.
Previous to 1806, William Waters was the only resident there. In that year, Capt. Samuel Throop, changed his residence from Manchester to Pulteneyville, accompanied by his father-in-law, Jeremiah Selby, who had settled at Palmyra as early as 1801. They erected a saw mill and grist mill on Little Salmon creek.
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Capt. Throop kept the first public house at Pulteneyville. Russel Whipple, becoming a resident there in early years, built the schooner " Laura,' which was sailed by Capt. Throop. The widow of Capt. Throop, is now the wife of Major William Rodgers, of Pulteneyville. In addition to the son named in a note attached, Capt. Washington Throop, of Pulteneyville, is another son. Daughters became the wives of W. H. Rodgers and Capt. Andrew Holling, of Pulteneyville.
Joseph Colt, the early merchant at Canandaigua and Geneva, was the pioneer merchant at Pulteneyville. Jacob W. Hallett, late of New York, was an early resident of Pultneyville, as was Samuel Ledyard, who is a resident there now; of both whom, especially of the latter, whose family was early identified with all the region west of Utica, the author is in hopes to be able to say something in another connection.
CHAPTER VII.
-
PIONEER EVENTS IN WHAT IS NOW MONROE.
IN December, 1789, the Shaeffer family became the pioneer set- tlers in all the region west of the Genesee river, and in fact of the whole valley of the Genesee, if we except those who had blended themselves with the Indians, were Indian traders, or had become squatters upon Indian lands, in their flight from the Mohawk and Susquehannah, during the border wars. With reference to pe ma- nent settlement and improvement, they must be regarded as the Pioneers of the Genesee Valley.
NOTE. - A singular train of Lake disasters and deaths, is connected with this pio- neer family :- Capt. Throop himself was drowned from the schooner Lark, of which he was master, while attempting to enter Sodus Bay, in a gale, in 1819. Previous to which, Mrs. Throop with two young children, in a skiff with her husband, Jeremiah B. Selby and George Armstrong, were going a few miles up the Lake; the skiff filled, the children were drowned, and Mrs. Throop barely escaped. At the early age of 18, the present well known Capt. Horatio N. Throop, of the steam boat Onta- rio, became a navigator of the Lake, as the master of a small schooner, which he had built himself. In 1825 on his way to Oswego, a cargo of corn with which he was laden became damp, swelled, the vessel suddenly bursting and sinking. Two lads on board drowned, and Capt. Throop himself escaped by swimming to the shore, four miles, on a door that had become detached.
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Peter Shaeffer, the elder, was a native of Berks county, Pa., but emigrated from Lancaster to this region, at the advanced age of 85 years. His family who became permanent residents, consisted of himself and his sons Peter and Jacob. In July, 1789, they came first to Geneva, and then to Ganargwa creek, in Bloomfield, where they purchased 1200 acres of land of Gen. Fellows. Remaining there until December, the old gentleman apportioned that traet among his three daughters, and went upon the river with his sons. They found Ebenezer Allan, the owner of the fine tract of flats and upland at the mouth of Allan's creek, adjoining the present village of Scottsville. He had a comfortable log house, upon a gentle swell of land, which may be observed a short distance from the confluence of the creek and river. He was living then with a young white wife, whose name had been Lucy Chapinan. Her family on their way to Canada, had stopped with him, and by the solicitations of Mrs. Dugan, (Allan's sister,) Lucy remained to keep her company. A sham magistrate came along soon after and made her a joint partner with some half dozen natives, in the affections of the then lord of the Genesee Valley. Mrs. Dugan, had come on some years previous, with her husband and joined her brother, and had been his housekeeper. Allan had acquired three hundred acres of land by gift from the Indians, to which he had added one hundred and seventy by purchase, from Phelps and Gorham. He had a stock of goods for the Indian trade .* He had 50 or 60 acres of open flats under the plough, 20 acres of wheat upon the ground; some horses and cattle. A few years previous he had wintered seventy head of cattle on rushes. t
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