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 55
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 55
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 55
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 55
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 55
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 55
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 55
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 55
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 55
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 55
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
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rules and regulations of war, enquired :- " Is it your custom to re- ceive a flag of truec under arms ?" To which captains Brown and Ely replied :- " You must excuse us, sir; we are not soldiers, but citizens." The armed men, however, were requested to retire, when the British officer disclosed his business. It was to tender the assurance of Sir James Yeo, that if all the public property was surrendered, private property should be respected. To favor his mission, he presented a paper signed by several citizens of Oswego, the purport of which was, that as the government had left large quantities of stores and munitions at that place, without any ade- quate foree to protect them, they had concluded not torisk their lives and property in the defence. The message and the paper was for- warded to captain Stone, who decided at once that the citizen sol- diers assembled at the mouth of the Genesee river, could not follow the precedent of their countrymen at Oswego. "Go back and tell the officer," said he, " that he may say to Sir James Yeo, that any public property that may be here, is in the hands of those who will defend it."
Soon after this, a gun boat, sloop rigged, of from 90 to 100 tons burden, sailed out from the fleet, approached the mouth of the river, fired a six pound shot, which compliment was returned from the 18 pounder on the American battery. The gun boat then fired 15 or 20 68 pound shots ; but one of them, striking the store-house, doing any damage.
Soon after this occurrence, Peter B. Porter arrived, and assumed command. Another flag of truce came from the British fleet at 4 o'clock P. M., bringing a peremptory demand from Sir James Yeo, that the public property be delivered up; and the threat, that if the demand was not complied with, he would make a landing with his marines and 400 Indians. To this, Gen. Porter replied, through his aid, Major Noon, that he would endeavor to take care of any force that Sir James felt disposed to send on shore ; accompanying the reply with an intimation that a third flag of truce sent upon the same errand, could not be respected. The demand for the surren- der of the public property was not repeated ; and nothing farther occurred, but an occasional shot from the fleet, which did no harm. Many of the heavy balls thrown on shore, were picked up, and have been preserved to this time, as memorials of the event.
The whole force collected for defence, was at most, 800 ; a num- ber entirely insufficient to contend with one which could have been furnished from the British fleet. The reason why Sir James Yeo sailed down the Lake without executing his threat, was probably an over estimate of the strength of the American force ; many ingen- ious maneuvres having been resorted to, well calculated to produce that result. Or, he may very wisely have concluded that a victory, won with even a small loss of men, would have been a barren one ; for with the exception of a small amount of public property, there was little in all the locality to encourage or provoke invasion.
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PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
GATES.
The territory embraced in the present towns of Gates, Greece and the city of Rochester on the west side of the River, had a separate organization, retaining the name of Northampton as early as 1809 : the old town of Northampton, once embracing all west of the River, having been thus reduced in territory. The freehold- ers, within the limits named were then : - Charles Harford, John Van Sickles, Samuel Latta, Wm. Hencher, Jacob Teeples, Aug. B. Shaw, Abel Rowe, Moses Everett, Samuel Currier, Isaac Vande- venter, Benj. Cowles, Frederick Bushnell, Silas O. Smith, Daniel Budd. The votes given in 1809, for members of Assembly, were for Levi Ward, Jr. 9, Chauncey Loomis 8. In 1810 the town gave on the Congress ticket, for Peter B. Porter 20, for Ebenezer F. Nor- ton 16. The first town meeting was held at the house of Jeremiah Olmsted, "under the direction of Zacheus Colby, Esq." Zhaceus Colby was elected supervisor, Hugh M'Dermid town clerk. Other town officers : - Thomas King, Richard Clark, John Williams, Mathew Dimmick, Moses Clark, Nathaniel Tibbles, Abel Rowe, Thomas Lee, Charles Harford, Frederick Rowe, Erastus Robinson, Asahel Wilkinson, Nathaniel Jones, Augustus B. Shaw. A bounty of " three cents for each rattle snake killed in town," was authorized. 1810-Samuel Latta was supervisor; the bounty upon rattle snakes was increased, and extended to those "killed in the banks of the River." 1811 -Zacheus Colby was supervisor ; bounty on rattle snakes was increased to 123 cents. 1812 -- John Mastick was supervisor. 1813- bounty on wolves was raised to $10. 1816 -- Roswell Hart was supervisor, John C. Rochester, town clerk ; it was voted that all former laws authorizing a bounty upon rattle snakes, black birds, and all other birds, quadrupeds &c., be repcaled." The name of the town was changed to Gates in 1813; the town of Greece was set off in 1822.
Previous to the close of the war of 1812, settlement was princi- pally confined to that part of the town which is now Greece. In 1817, Ezra Mason, who will be named in connection with early events in Rochester, purchased the farm upon which he now re- sides, a mile and a half beyond the city bounds on the Lisle road, moved upon it, and commenced improvements ; the farthest advan- ced settler upon that road. The Hartford family had also made an improvement of about 30 acres on that road, and built a house ; upon the farm now occupied by Melancton Whitemore. In the same year, Richard Paul made a commencement upon the farm which was purchased by Philip Lisle, in 1818; now owned by William Otis. Lovell Thomas made a commencement upon the Lisle road in 1817. In 1819, Wilham Williams advanced beyond Mr. Mason, and commenced improvements on the Chauncey farm.
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As late as 1817, there were but a few settlers living in small open- ings of the forest, on the Buffalo road in Gates. The town em- bracing all of Rochester, on the east side of the river, has little of history disconnected with village and city. It contained but a scattered population-there were but few openings in the forest- when Rochester was started. The same remark is applicable to Brighton, beyond what will be found in the body of the work.
PENFIELD.
The advent of Gen. Fassett, his attempt to settle the town, will have been noticed in the body of the work. He sold the township to Gen. Silas Pepoon of Stockbridge, who sold it to Samuel P. Lloyd, who sold it to Daniel Penfield, or rather it passed into Mr. Penfield's hands by reason of some liabilities he had assumed for Mr. Lloyd.
Mr. Penfield was a native of Guilford, Conn., a son of Isaac Pen- field. In the Revolution he had been the clerk of Oliver Phelps, in the .commissary department ; after which he commenced the mercantile business in Hillsdale, where he was burned out during the Shay re- bellion. He subsequently established himself in the commission business in the city of New York. After becoming the proprietor of the town that afterwards took his name, he appointed Zachariah Seymour, Esq., his agent, under whose immediate auspices, settle- ment progressed, until Mr. Penfield emigrated to the town in 1810 or '11. His wife was the daughter of Gen. John Fellows, who has been mentioned in connection with the first settlement of Bloom- field. He died in 1840, at the age of 82 years, after a long and active life, during more than forty years of which he was prominently inden- tified with the history of this region. His surviving sons are Henry F. Penfield, of Buffalo, and George Penfield, Poughkeepsie. Daugh- ters :- Mrs. Judge Gelston, of Black Rock, and Mrs. Andrew Young, of Maumee, whose first husband was Francis Brown, of Rochester.
The permanent settlement of Penfield commenced in 1801. In that year Libbeus Ross and Calvin Clark settled a short distance north of the present village. The former died in 1816, the latter in 1810 ; sons of both reside in Penfield. The settlers who came in in 1804, were : - Josiah J. Kellogg, Daniel Stillwell, Benj. Minor, Jonathan and David Baker, Isaac Beatty, Henry Paddock. Capt. Miner still survives, a resident of Rochester, in the 76th year of his age. Jonathan Baker was a keeper of an early public house in Penfield ; was an early auctioneer in Rochester; a deputy sheriff of Ontario; was at one period the keeper of the Eagle Tavern in Palmyra. Both of the brothers survive. Isaac Beatty died in
33
.
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1835, aged 73 years ; Mrs. David Baker, Mrs. Luke Thompson, Mrs. John D. Scovell, are his daughters. He was a captain in the Rev- olution, in the Jersey line. Mrs. Paddock still survives.
In 1806, Capt. Wm. M'Kinster opened the first store of goods, with which he connected a distillery. He was from. Hudson, the son of the Col. M'Kinster whose life was saved by Joseph Brant during the border wars. Mr Fellows gave the author an interest- ing account of Brant's visit to Hudson in 1805. He was on his way to England, and had stopped there to see Daniel Penfield in reference to some land titles on the Grand River in Canada. The business delayed him for two weeks, in which time he received much attention from the citizens of Hudson, many of the men of the Rev- olution calling upon him, who had met him in the battle field, or learned to dread him as the master spirit of border warfare. Col. M'Kinster, who lived at Livingston Manor, went down to Hudson, and the two had a happy meeting. It was the first time they had met since Brant had saved the Col's. life. Among the rest who came to see him was a loquacious Dutchman who had known him before the Revolution. In a boasting and rather uncivil way, the Dutchman told him if he had met him in the border wars, he would have put a stop to his career. Brant parried the attack with a pleasant anecdote : - "And if you had met me," said he, " it would have been with you just as it was with your neighbor He had boasted just as you are boasting now. In a skirmish I happened to meet him ; he took to his heels, and hardly stopped to take breath until he arrived in Albany, where a fire had just broke out, and the Dutchmen were in the streets crying, " braunt!" " braunt ! ! " __ (fiire! fire ! ) Stopping short he exclaimed in amazement : - " The d-d Indian has got here before me !'"
While in Hudson, Brant was free to say that he regretted having espoused the British side in the Revolution ; and that in another contest such would not be his position.
Capt. M'Kinster was upon the frontier in the war of 1812, in com- mand of a company at the battle of Queenston. In 1814 Jacob B. Bryan became his business partner ; the firm was continued un- til 1820, until Mr. M'Kinstry returned to Hudson. Mr. Bryan, who was the early P. M. of Penfield, continued the business until 1841 ; died in 1843.
Dr. Van Dake commenced the practice of medicine in Penfield in 1804, died in 1810; Dr. Rich in 1808, died in 1814. Dr. Arms in 1810 : removed to Michigan in 1833, where he died in 1838.
Dr. Oliver Reynolds commenced practice in the village, in 1815; in 1818 removed to what is now Webster, where he now resides. Dr. Daniel Durfee settled in the east part of the town in 1818, where he still continues the practice of his profession, at the age of 70 years.
The first settled minister was the Rev. Asa Carpenter, as early
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as 1813; he was the founder of the Presbyterian church. He died in 1835.
Mr. Penfield erected a grist and saw mill, at the Falls of the Irondequoit, in 1805. As has been observed, he did not become a resident until 1811. In 1813, Henry Ward (who has been named in connection with reminiscences of Tryon Town,) became his clerk, continuing as such until 1821. Mr. Penfield erected a flouring mill at an expense of $15,000. It is now owned by J. B. Roe. In 1836, James K. Livingston erected a stone flouring mill, at an ex- pense of $30,000, which is now owned by Samuel Miller.
There has grown up in the locality, a pleasant rural village, hav- ing all the signs of enterprise and prosperity ; of which much more could be said, but it is only primitive things that come within the design of this work.
Henry Fellows was the son of Gen. John Fellows ; (see page 174.) After graduating at Williams' College, he studied law with Peter Van Schaik, at Kinderhook. In 1806 he was admitted to practice, and settled in Canandaigua, where he remained until 1812, when he removed to Penfield, where he still survives, the occupant of a fine farm, a successful agriculturist and horticulturist, exhibiting but little of physical, and nothing of mental infirmities usually conse- quent upon the age at which he has arrived. He was at one period a member of the State legislature, as all will remember, who are conversant with the political history of the State. He'is the father of five sons, all residing in Penfield ; of Mrs. Daniel E. Lewis, of Penfield, Mrs. John L. Livingston, of Shortsville, Mrs. John Van Buskirk, of Newark.
It was not until 1805 or '6 that settlement commenced in north part of present town of Penfield, and what is now Webster. In those years and soon after, there went into that neighborhood, John Shoe- craft, Isaac Straight, Daniel Harvey, Deacon Foster, Paul Ham- mond, William Mann, William Harris, John Letts, Samuel Pierce, Michael Dunning, Justin Walker, William Straight, Gerard Dun- ning, Rufus Herrick, Robert Woodhull, Brooks Mason.
Mr. Shoecraft was a native of Ulster county, a Pioneer upon the . Mohawk previous to the Revolution, an active partisan in the Bor- der wars; was in Sullivan's expedition, and helped bury the mangled remains of Lieut. Boyd. In the command of a picket guard, near Cherry Valley, he with one Broadhead was taken prisoner by the Indians, and carried to Chemung. While their Indian guards were asleep, they made their escape, killing several of their captors. In the war of 1812. he was upon the frontier, in command of a com- pany of Silver Greys : John Shew was his lieutenant. He died in 1833, aged 77 years. Peter and John Shoecraft, of Penfield, are his sons : two other sons and a daughter, Mrs. Fox, reside in Michi- gan. Mr. Letts was the pioneer tavern keeper, upon the state road ; still survives. The Dunnings were enterprising pioneers ; it is per-
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haps worthy of record, that Michael built the first cider mill in all that region.
William Mann is the son of John Mann, the founder of Mann's mills on the Irondequoit, in Pittsford. He settled where he now resides in 1808, upon 100 acres his father purchased, and upon which he had erected the first saw mill in all that region. William Mann added a grist mill in 1812. A life of industry, perseverance and endurance, has been that of most of all the early Pioneers ; even where all this has been common, there are some things in the history of William Mann worthy of note. Possessed of but a slight frame, with apparently a feeble physical constitution, his life has been one of constant and persevering toil, uninterrupted by sickness. Taking charge of his own saw mill in an early day, he has been known for weeks to have no : leep, except during the intervals of the sets of his saw for each board ; in the labor of the field, he has been earliest and latest ; foremost at logging bees or raisings, where hard work was to be encountered ; and even now, there is with him but little falling off, or suspension of labor. The reader will be glad to learn that comfort and competence is the reward of all this ; but he seems to work on as if he did not know how to stop.
REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM MANN.
In most of North Penfield, what is now Webster, the forest was heavy, the ground wet, and it was hard beginning. The new settlers used to change works; many of them could not command a team, and had to work for their neighbors to procure team work. " Bees " would be made to help the weak handed; all were friendly ; sickness, privation, hardship, created unity and mutual regard for each other's interest and welfare. Deer and other wild game were plenty; salmon in the spring and fall would come several miles up the Four Mile creek. No money could be obtained in the earliest years ; in fact, our first resources for a little money and a little store trade, was when the brothers. Cornings, and Amos Dunning, and Amos Harvey, started asheries, and made market for ashes and black salts. The Ridge Road was an Indian trail. It was not cut out so as to be passable for wagons, until a little while before the war of 1812. There was great scarcity of food after the cold summer of 1816. I had ten acres of rye, stout and early ; five acres of it was cut and eaten before the remainder, or any other grain in the neighborhood was cut. In 1807, Amos Stone, of Pittsford, harvested wheat, threshed and carried it to Mann's Mills to be ground in good condition, on the 4th of July. A peach tree was planted on my farm, in 1807; it lived and bore peaches until 1849. Solomon Ful- ler, in 1806, built a small mill on the Irondequoit, in Brighton; used the old mill stones, and mill irons of the Allan mill at the Falls; I have one of the gudgeons. The first school in North Penfield was organized in 1810,
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in the Schoolcraft neighborhood; Wm. Harris, a Scotchman, was the first teacher. Methodist circuit riders were our first ministers. The Rev. So- lon Pierce organized a Methodist church in 1812.
Ebenezer Spear, (see page 381,) removed from Palmyra to Penn- field, in 1807; went into Schoolcraft neighborhood, via. Pittsford and Penfield village ; that being the then only road opened ; cut his own road from Mason's Corners.
As early as 1806, Norton & Richards, of Canandaigua, bought of the English association the Salt Works tract, 3000 acres. There was upon the tract, about two miles north of Webster Corners, a salt spring that was first known as a much frequented deer lick. - As agents for the proprietors, Stephen Howard and Stephen Sprague, sunk a well 60 feet deep and obtained tolerably strong wa- ter ; 24 kettles were set, and salt of a good quality was manufactur- ed for a wide region of new settlements. The price was $1.00 per bushel. Christopher Prentice succeeded Howard and Sprague as agents ; as early as 1809 or '10 the business of salt manufacture fell into the hands of Daniel Hudson and his son-in-law, Joel Thayer. The property fell into the hands of Mr. Greig, the manufacture of salt was suspended, and the lands reserved to furnish timber for salt boiling forms now a landscape of beautiful highly cultivated farms.
The first town meeting in Penfield, was held in 1811. William M'Kinster was elected Supervisor, Brooks Mason town clerk. Other town officers :- Nathaniel Case, Charles P. Moore, Josiah T. Kellogg, Caleb Lyon, John Shoecraft, David Lee, Benjamin Tripp, Willie Spear, Daniel Wilson, Joseph T. Shaw, Reuben Bailey. The following list of path masters will exhibit pioneer names, and indicate where settlements were made as late as 1811 :- John Stroger, Gurdon Lewis, David Camp, Stephen Butler, Peleg Ross, Henry Shew, Enos Hawley, Samuel Pierce, Ebenezer Spear, David Welsher, Joseph Hervey, Zoeth Eldridge, Elisha Smith, Rufus D. Stephens, Rufus Herrick, Jason Graves, Elisha Case, John Pierce, Michael Hibnor, Reuben Brace, Zaccheus Horton, Abner Brown, Wm. Cole, Jonathan Carpenter. William Spear was Supervisor in 1812, '13, '14, '15. The town of Webster was taken from Penfield in 1838.
Brooks Mason was an early Judge of Ontario, a Justice of the Peace, and in other respects, a prominent Pioneer. Russell B. Mason, of Penfield, and Isaac Mason, of Michigan, are his sons ; Mrs. Andrew Lincoln, of Perinton, is a daughter.
NOTE. - It has been said that a Yankee Pioneer wanted nothing but an "axe, a gimblet and augur, a drawing knife and jack plane" to build himself a house. Mr. Mann had not as much; but having a bellows and anvil he made his own gimblets. augurs and plane irons, with which he built not only frame buildings, but mills.
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The village of Webster has grown up on the farm of Dr. Oliver Reynolds. The earliest merchants there, were Stearns & Coltiss ; the permanent ones, William and Timothy Corning.
PITTSFORD.
The names of the first eight heads of families will be found on page 431. They were principally from Salem, Washington coun- ty. Israel Stone died in early years ; his widow became the wife of Paul Richardson, and after his death that of Moses Barr; she died a few years since at an advanced age. Eri Stone, of Pitts- ford is a son of Israel Stone. Simon Stone died 15 or 20 years since. Orrin Stone, of Pittsford, is a son of his. Jesihel (not Jo- seph, as on page 431,) Farr, died soon after 1812; the death of Mrs. Farr was the first that occurred in " Stonetown ; " Jesihel Farr, of Pittsford is a son ; a daughter became the wife of Caleb Nye. Silas Nye came into the new region at an advanced age ; had held a commission in the Revolution : he was the first supervisor of the town; died in early years. His surviving sons are, Nathan and Silas Nye, of Pittsford. Nathan who is now 78 years of age, has been a supervisor of the town, and justice of the peace. A daugh- ter of Silas Nye the elder, became the wife of one of the brothers, Beekwiths, early merchants in Palmyra; another, the wife of Carmi Hart, of Pittsford. Thomas Cleland died soon after 1830. Josiah Gimminson did not become a permanent resident, neither did Dodge, who was one of the proprietors of the town. Alexander Dunn was a son in law of Silas Nye.
Other Pioneers, as early as 1790, and mostly before 1800 : - Anson Stone, John Stone, Amos Stone, Samuel Stone, Daniel Per- rin, (the father of Darius Perrin, P. M. Rochester.) Caleb Hopkins, Wm. Aeker, Noah Norton, Thomas Billinghurst, Wm. Agate, Rich- ard Welsh, Nehemiah Hopkins, Robert Holland, Henry Bailey, Jared Barker, Elihu Doud, Nathan Calhoun, Ezra Patterson, Ben- jamin Weeks, Daniel Brown, (an early Baptist preacher,) Israel Canfield, Benjamin Miller, William Hill, Robert Holland. Wm. Acer, was the father of John Acer, the widely known landlord of Pittsford ; Ezra Acer, of Pittsford, is a son : daughters became the wives of Theron Noble, Dwellie Clapp, and May. Caleb Hopkins was breveted a Colonel in the war of 1812, had com- mands upon the Niagara frontier, and at the mouth of the Genesee River ; was an active and efficient partizan in all the trying crisis ; Marvin Hopkins, late supervisor of Pittsford is his son. Nathan Calhoun still survives at the age of 73; has been a supervisor of the town 8 years, a magistrate 30 years ; is the father of eight daughters, 6 of whom have become wives.
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Simon Stone 2d, a connexion of the numerous family of that name who were pioneers in the locality, was the primitive lawyer. He was located in practice soon after 1800; filled the office of super- visor, and justice of the peace ; he died 15 or 16 years since. Wm. G. Taylor was the next practicing lawyer, locating in early years ; he emigrated to the west. Ira Bellows, who has been so long iden- tified with the locality, yet survives, in the practice of the profession.
The early physicians were, Dr. John Ray and Dr. Daniel Rood ; succeeding them were, Dr. Achilles G. Smith, and Dr. Hartwell Carver. Dr. Carver is a lineal descendant of John Carver who came over in the Mayflower, and of Jonathan Carver, the ear- ly western explorer. He was a graduate of Yale College, settled at Pittsford soon after the war of 1812. Although making that his hailing place. a spirit of enterprise and adventure, has made him a traveller in Europe, a resident in New Orleans, in Florida, and in Minnesota : few men are more widely known, or have obtained more professional celebrity. Though a wandering bachelor, he would seem to be becoming a fixture now, as he is building the un- ique dwelling place, that may be observed upon the outskirts of the pleasant rural village of Pittsford.
Although Israel Stone in an early day, did a little in the mercan- tile way, the first considerable mercantile establishment was founded by Dr. A. G. Smith, Nathan Nye, Caleb Hopkins and John Acer. Samuel Hildreth, a brother of the Hildreth's of Vienna, was an early merchant, tavern keeper and stage proprietor ; founding the first line of public conveyance from Canandaigua to Rochester, and with others, the first on the Riga road from Rochester to Can- andaigua ; his widow survived. until recently: John Hildreth, of Pittsford is a son ; Mrs. Babcock and Mrs. Richardson of Pittsford are his daughters. Augustus Elliott was an early merchant and distiller ; and in an early day erected an iron forge in Penfield. He was the founder of the fine private mansion that was afterwards oc- cupied by James K. Guernsey.
Glover Perrin who is mentioned as the pioneer of Perrinton. got tired of his solitary life there, vacated his log cabin soon after the death of his friend Caleb Walker, and became the pioneer landlord. He died childless ; John Acer was his successor.
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