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 64
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 64
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 64
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 64
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 64
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 64
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 64
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 64
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 64
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 64
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Mr. Reynolds visited Charlotte, continued on his journey to Ohio, but the embryo village at Genesee Falls, had made a favorable impression upon him ; he returned and purchased lots 23 and 24, upon which the Arcade now stands. With the aid of "oxen and a stone boat," kindly furnished by Enos Stone, he drew stone from the bed of the river, made a foundation 24 by 36 feet, erected a frame upon it, and leaving it in charge of a carpenter to be cover- ed and enclosed, returned to Berkshire. Coming back in Novem- ber, he found the house in the condition he had left it, and erecting
* The reader will bear in mind that at that early period the Genesee River was not the diminished body of water, he has seen in later years.
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a smaller frame, in a few weeks had it tenantable. It was the first framed building erected on the Hundred Acre Tract. In Novem- ber, 1813, he removed his family. A brother-in-law who assisted in the removal, went back to Massachusetts and reported that he had left them in a place where they must "inevitably starve."
In November, 1812, he had been appointed P. M., and had made Mr. Stone his deputy until he got settled. The nett proceeds of the office up to April 1, 1813, was $3 46. With limited means, and encountering a long season of ague and fever, he had a hard intro- duction to pioneer life, but with courage and fortitude, he " bore up and bore on," gradually reaping the reward of his enterprise. He was the first saddler, the first P. M., and the first magistrate in all of Rochester, and? kept the first public house on the Hundred Acres, or original site of Rochester. He held the office of P. M. when the nett quarterly returns were $346; he surrendered it to other hands in 1829, when they amounted to $2,105 16. In 1828, he erected the Arcade upon the ground he had originally purchased and occupied-an enterprize of magnitude, and ahead of the times then-even now, after a twenty years' march of progress, not be- hind. The small plat of ground he purchased when it was almost in its primitive condition, is now producing an annual rent which is exceeded only by that of but few spots of equal size in the most fa- vorite localities of the largest cities in the Union. In the hands of his son, Wm. A. Reynolds, there has been added to the property Corinthian Hall, a structure creditable to the city ; a model even for similar enterprizes in the older cities.
Mr. Reynolds is now in the 66th year of his age; his surviving sons are, Wm. A. Reynolds and Mortimer F. Reynolds, of Rochester, the last of whom was the first born on the Hundred Acre Tract, after it had been platted as a village ; a daughter resides in Roches- ter, and another in Illinois. The Pioneer wife and mother still sur- vives.
Hervey Ely was from West Springfield, Mass., the nephew and ward of Justin Ely, one of the original proprietors of the 20,000 acre tract. " In November, 1813, at the age of 22 years, he cast his lot with the Pioneers of Rochester. In company with his brother, Elisha Ely, and Josiah Bissell, he commenced selling goods in a small building that stood on the Hart corner. Bringing men and supplies from Massachusetts, they soon erected a saw mill, their boarding place being a stable of Mr. S. O. Smith, which had been cleared out and fitted up for that purpose. In 1817 they built the red mill, with four run of stones. The care of the mill devolved upon Hervey Ely ; and thus becoming a Pioneer miller in Rochester, he has con-
NOTE .- Justin Ely took an active part in the Revolution - principally in mustering the militia for service. A considerable capitalist, he loaned money to Mr. Phelps, and received his pay in lands in different localities on Phelps and Gorhams' Purchase ; thence his proprietorship in the 20,000 acre tract.
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tinued in the business, until he has seen it in his own and other hands, arrive at a magnitude considerably exceeding that of any other locality in the world! In 1822 he built the stone mill now occupied by Mr. C. C. Winants, and in 1828 the extensive estab- lishment on the west side of the River adjoining the Aqueduct. After being engaged in the milling business for 38 years, he is yet in his 60th year, engaged in it - active and enterprising as in his early years. Some idea of the magnitude of his operations may be gathered from the statistical facts, that with the exception of the late Gen. Beach, he has paid more canal tolls upon his own property than any shipper on our canals ; for the first ten years after the Erie canal was completed he paid 1 3-4 and 1 1-2 per cent of the
entire canal revenue. He pioneered in the business of bringing wheat from the western States to be manufactured in Rochester, in 1828. He has manufactured from his own wheat, in one year, 80,- 000 barrels of flour ! Later comers, to be sure, are deserving of credit for their enterprise - as helpers in the work of making Roch- ester what it is - but it is especially gratifying to record such facts, in reference to a Pioneer.
Elisha Ely removed to Allegan, Michigan, in 1834, where he still resides ; is a Judge of Probates, and a Regent of the University of Michigan.
James B. Carter was the Pioneer blacksmith, locating upon the Hundred Acre Tract in 1812. He erected a small story and a half house on the corner now occupied by the block of Dr. John B. El- wood. His shop was on ground now occupied by Front street. He survives, a resident of Churchville. In March, 1814, his brother, David K. Carter, removed from Lewis county and became the oc- cupant of the house. In the same year he purchased the Mansion house lot from second hands, paying for it $106 ; in 1817 erected upon it a three story tavern house. The first lessee of it was Dan- iel Mack, a brother-in-law of Erastus Spalding. Mr. Mack emi- grated to Detroit ; a surviving son is Charles S. Mack of the firm of Mack & Van Valkenburg, Lockport. The next lessee of the house was John Christopher, who had opened a house at Handford's Landing, and relinquished it on account of sickness there. He kept the house for fourteen years - and a comfortable one he made of it as many an early traveller in the old stage coaches over the Ridge Road will remember. Mrs. Christopher still survives, a resi- dent with her son, John Christopher, in St. Louis. Another sur- viving son is Joseph Christopher, of Buffalo.
In 1817 Mr. Carter purchased of Augustus Porter thirty-two acres on the river, on either side of what is now Mount Hope Avenue, south of the canal, for $3 per acre, upon which he found but a bark covered log house. In 1820 he erected a tavern house, long known as the " Carter stand," on the Henrietta road. He died in 1827; his widow still survives, a resident of Rochester. There are five sur-
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viving sons in five different States, one of whom is David K. Carter, a present or late M. C., from Ohio ; Mrs. Dennis M' Arthur, of Syra- cuse is a daughter.
Mrs. Carter well remembers the first meeting she attended in Rochester - a reading meeting - held in Jehiel Barnard's tailor shop, on site of Pitkin's block. Old Mr. Harford read the Episco- pal service, Silas O. Smith the sermon ; Jehiel Barnard led the sing- ing. " In 1814 we got up a small school house, and it was with difficulty that we got together about a dozen scholars. Aaron Skin- ner was the teacher." Mrs. Carter observes that when she first came to Rochesterville there was but small openings of the forest.
Dr. Simeon Hunt, still a surviving practicing physician in Roch- ester, has been in practice in Monroe county forty years. He set- tled in what is now Greece, his only permanent predecessor, Dr. Zaccheus Colby, who died in early years ; his surviving sons are Hull and Zaccheus Colby, of Greece, and Merril Colby of Nunda. Dr. Hunt is in 66th year ; surviving sons, Anson M. Hunt of Albion, Rev. T. D. Hunt of San Francisco, who was for five years a mis- sionary in the Sandwich Islands; Mrs. Moore of Rochester is a daughter.
Dr. Hunt was a surgeon of Isaac W. Stone's Dragoons in the war of 1812, and continued under his successor, Col. C. V. Bough- ton ; was at the sortie of Fort Erie and battle of Lundy's Lane.
Dr. Jonah Brown was the earliest physician of Rochester ; he still survives, a resident of Irondequoit. Dr. Orrin Gibbs, of the early Pioneer family in Livonia, was next ; died several years since ; his father, Deacon Gibbs, also settled in Rochester in the earliest years.
Abraham Starks, was so early in Rochester, that he kept a small grocery store in the woods, near the present Mansion House.
Jonathan Child was from Orange county, Vermont. He came to Utica as a school teacher, in 1806, where he became the clerk of Watts Sherman, a widely known merchant of early years, and uncle of the Albany banker of that name. In 1810 he established him- self with a small stock of goods at Charlotte, where he was succeeded in a few months by Frederick Bushnell. He was next established in Bloomfield, in company with Benjamin Gardner. In 1820 he re- moved to Rochester, and soon after was engaged for several years as a contractor upon the heavy rock cutting through the Mountain Ridge at Lockport, in the construction of the Erie Canal. To his business as contractor, he added at Lockport, one of the earliest mercantile establishments in that locality. He was one of the early proprietors of the old Pilot transportation line upon the canal. He still survives at the age of 66 years ; his wife, who it will have been observed was the daughter of Col. Rochester, died in 1850. His life has been one of business, activity and enterprize; success crowned the enterprises of his early career - then came severe reverses ; but he
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was of the material that a large class of the early Pioneers were made of - and now, at an age when most men are seeking ease and retirement, he is in the active management of a new branch of busi- ness of great magnitude and public utility, of which he is one of the founders ; active, stirring, sanguine persevering, as in middle life : " His age, like a lusty winter, -f. osty, but kindly."
Samuel J. Andrews was from New Haven, Conn., a graduate of Yale College ; was a brother-in-law of Moses Atwater of Canan- daigua. On a visit to this region in 1812, he purchased jointly with Dr. Atwater, of Augustus Porter, a tract of land on the River, adjoining the farm of Enos Stone on the north, embracing the Up- per Falls. In 1815 he brought on a small stock of goods which he opened in the house of Enos Stone, and soon after his family. Mr. Stone having laid out a few lots on Main street, Mr. Andrews pur- chased what is now the corner of Main and St. Paul street, and built upon it a stone house, the first structure, other than of wood, in Roch- ester. Before the close of 1816 he had commenced the erection of mills at the Falls. He died in 1832, aged 64 years. He was the father of Samuel G. Andrews, under whose auspices, what has been called the Andrews' Tract, has principally been surveyed and sold out in village and city lots ; of James S. and Julius T. Andrews, of Rochester ; Mrs. Wm. P. Sherman, of Rochester, and the wife of Judge Joseph R. Swan, of Columbus, Ohio. The elder Mr. An- drews had been engaged in commercial pursuits, but he readily adopted himself to the work of settling and improving a new region, and was always sanguine in reference to the destiny of Rochester. The original Andrews and Atwater Tract - in all 140 acres - is now mostly occupied, principally with private dwellings ; is the Sixth Ward; has been sold and occupied principally under the agency of Samuel G. Andrews. Mrs. Andrews survives, a resident with her daughter, Mrs Sherman.
EVENTS OF A LATER PIONEER PERIOD.
So far, after reaching the site of Rochester, Pioneer advents and events, have principally been confined to the period immediately preceeding and during the war of 1812. Those that will follow gen- erally have reference to a later period -- when all of Western New York was reviving from the effects of the war, and Rochester es- pecially was setting out upon its rapid march, and giving earnest of its future destiny ; though the merging of the periods, in some degree, is unavoidable : - -
John G. Bond was a native of Rockingham, New Hampshire, a son of Dr. John Bond, a surgeon in the Navy during the Revolu- tion, having studied his profession with Dr. Bartlett, one of the
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signers of the Declaration of Independence. On the maternal side he was of a Pioneer stock. His grandfather, Wm. Moulton, was the first settler of Marietta, Ohio, in 1788, the women of his family the first white females in Ohio. The subject of this sketch was bred a merchant, and in 1799 became the partner of Gen. Amasa Allen, in Keene, N. H. In June 1815, he visited Rochester upon a mixed errand of exploration and business. Impressed with the advantages of the locality, he purchased of Jehiel Barnard, the lot now occupied by Pitkin's block, on which there was a small framed house; after which he visited Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and returned home via Montreal. The farther account of his early advent - his reminiscences of primitive days in Rochester - the author prefers to give in his own language. There are few of the surviving Pio- neers of Rochester who so well remember early events, or more largely participated in them.
In 1823, Judge Bond changed his residence from Rochester to Lockport, then a small village in the woods, which had sprung up after the location of the canal ; where he had a joint interest with his brother, Wm. M. Bond, who now resides at Mt. Morris, and the late Jesse Hawley, in a tract of land upon the original village plat. He was a good helper there as he had been in Rochester, in all those things which are required to give new communities an auspicious commencement. He was one of the early Judges of Niagara. He is now 73 years of age, a resident of Niles, Michigan, where he was also a Pioneer. His wife, who was the daughter of the Hon. Dan- iel Newcomb, of New Hampshire ; died in 1848. There are three surviving sons residing at Niles, and an only surviving daughter, Mrs. Wm. C. House, resides at Lockport. A deceased daughter was the wife of Jacob Beeson, an enterprizing merchant of Niles.
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN G. BOND.
In the fall of 1815 having in company with my brother-in-law and partner, Daniel D. Hatch, purchased what was then deemed a large stock of goods, in Boston and New York, we were fairly under way in the mercantile busi- ness in " Rochesterville." Our transportation had cost us $4,50 per 100 from Albany. Enlarging the small house and shop that Barnard had built, we made it answer for our store. In the way of merchandizing, there had preceded us Silas O. Smith, Ira West, Bissell & Ely, Roswell Hart. At this period, (and within a few months after,) the citizens of all of what is now Rochester, were, other than the merchants I have named, the Browns, Philip Lisle, C. Harford, Mr. Hamblin, Hamlet Scrantom, D. Carter, Hast- ings R. Bender, John Mastick, Harvey Montgomery, Abelard Reynolds and his father's family, George and H. L. Sill, Deacon Gibbs and Dr. Gibbs, Dr. Jonah Brown, John C. Rochester, Mr. Wakefield, the widow King and her two sons Bradford and Moses King. Ashbel Steel, Comfort Williams,
38
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Daniel Mack, Enos Stone, Mrs. Isaac W. Stone, Solomon Close, Thomas Kempshall, Seth Saxton, Enos Pomeroy, Roswell Babbitt, Luther Dowell, Erastus Cook, Daniel Tinker, Wm. Rogers, Kellogg Vosburgh, Libbeus Elliott, Adonijah Green, James Irvin, A. & J. Colvin, Augustine G. Dauby, James Sheldon, Henry Skinner, Wm. W. Jobson, M. P. Covert, Samuel J. Andrews, Azel Ensworth, Ruluff Hannahs, Chauncey Mead, Willis Kemp- shall, Preston Smith, Benedict Harford, J, Hoit. I of course include the families of all who had them; many of those named were unmarried.
The population increased very rapidly in the latter part of 1816, and in '17, and '18. The timber was cut out of Buffalo street as far as what is now " Halsted Hall," in the spring of 1816; at which time there was but a wagon track on the Seottsville road south of Cornhill. The road from Oliver Culver's to Rochester was mostly a log causeway, rough as any that may now be seen in the newest regions. It was a good hour's work to go over it with a wagon. There was, I think less than 100 acres of cleared land on all the site of Rochester. In all the region around Rochester, with the exception of a part of Brighton, Penfield and Pittsford, there was seldom but the primitive log house, small openings of the forest. The now fine town of Henrietta looked little as if I should live to see it what it now is.
In February 1816, I brought my own family and that of my partner, Mr. Hatch, from New Hampshire, changing from runners to wheels, and finally arriving when asudden thaw had left the roads in a horrid condition. Houses were scarce and rents high. In less than a year I changed my residence four times. I first went into house built by Francis Brown, the same that the good old gentleman Dr. Brown now lives in; next a house built by John Mastick on the Brighton side; next into the house of Ira West, on west side of State street; next into a house owned by John Roch- ester, a little south of the Rochester House. I built the house, the late residence of Gen. Matthews on Washington street, in 1817; and had previ- ously, in 1816 built the store which Dr. Pitkin occupied for manyyears as a druggist shop, and which now stands in rear of his fine brick block. The old shop I had bought of Jehiel Barnard, and converted into a store was used successively by Dr. Jabez Wilkinson, Dr. Backus, and John A. Gran- ger, as a drug store.
What was then a very serious fire, occurred, Ithink in 1819, which des- troyed several shops and stores on the Areade lot and my lot ; and the only printing office.
When I began on Washington street, in May or June, 1816, to clear away the native forest for the purpose of building my house, my neighbors expressed some astonishment, that I should think of building so far back in the woods. I told them that within twenty or thirty years, I expected to see it in the midst of a great city. They mostly demurred to my proph- ecies, and said if the population ever reached the number of 2,500 it would be more than they were looking for. In 1816 myself and Hervey Ely plant- ted sugar maple and other trees along on the west side of Washington street, the first trees for ornament set out in Rochester. There was no house west of Sophia street, before I built mine. On the ground now oc- eupied by the Stone Market, I erected a large ashery as early as 1815. Previous to December, 1815, our mail was brought from Canandaigua on horseback. Capt. Elisha Ely and myself concluded to make an attempt
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to raise a company to run a stage to Canandaigua. We went along the route and succeeded in getting Wm. Hildreth and other tavern keepers on it to engage in the enterprise. In January, 1816, the mail was first brought to Rochester in a four horse coach, or rather, a coach body upon runners. We followed up the enterprise by a journey to Lewiston on the Ridge Road. We were three days in reaching Lewiston, and we broke down our sleigh three times, by running foul of snags on the track. We succeeded in enl.sting upon the route, (principally Messrs. Barton and Fairbanks of Lewiston,) a sufficient interest to extend the Canandaigua route over the Ridge Road. In June, 1816, a tri-weekly four horse coach was put upon it. This was thought to be far ahead of the times -some said eight or ten years at least - but within a year, there was often the necessity of sending out three or four extras in a day, and soon the Ridge Road became a great thoroughfare.
We early citizens of Rochester had a great difficulty in getting the new county of Monroe. The old counties of Ontario and Genesee were mostly opposed to dismemberment. I was often with others, in Canandaigua and Batavia to promote the object. We were told in those localities that it was a wild and foolish project to think of having a new county in the back, sparsely settled, Lake region. In answer to some unkind remarks of a gentleman at Canandaigua - language of contempt, touching the aspir- ing and assuming young village of Rochester- Dr. Brown ventured to foretell its destiny, and promise that it would soon reach a position that would command respect instead of contempt and derision.
In the year 1816 and '17, Rochester had a rapid growth, a large addi- tion was made to its population. It had become not only the principal wheat market for the whole valley of the Genesce, but for most of what is now Ontario, Wayne, Orleans and Genesee. The crowding in of teams, sales of wheat, made store trade, and with new comers dropping in, build- ings going up, &c., the young village was a scene of activity and enter- prise. Hanford's Landing was the principal shipping point. Vessels be- gan to make regular trips to the mouth of the River and Hanford's Land- ing from all the ports below. Flour and wheat, pot and pearl ash, whis- key and staves, were the principal articles of commerce. In '16 some good dwelling houses began to be built. Population was increasing so rapidly that we had to enlarge the building in which we had our school, and held our meetings.
After the canal had been located as far west as Montezuma, it became a question where it should cross the Genesee River. Carthage below, and some point above - Black creek I think, - were proposed. While this was a mooted question, the Oswego route, Lake Ontario, and a canal around the Falls of Niagara, was revived, and became a powerful competitor. News came that the Canal Board were divided upon the question of over land and Lake route. This created a good deal of stir with us, and alarm it may be added. A meeting of the citizens of Rochester was convened in my counting room, a handbill was drawn up by Enos Pomeroy, signed by many citizens, printed and circulated far and wide. It was headed "Canal in Danger!" This was just pending the State election. The handbill favored the election of Mr. Clinton, as Governor, and of his friends to the Legislature. It was a close vote as all will remember, between Clinton and
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Tompkins, and I think the Rochester movement, its stirring appeal by handbill, to the local interests of Western New York, decided the contest .*
An early adventurer in Rochester, I had from the first, high anticipa- tions of its future greatness, and espoused its cause with an ardent zeal, as many of my old friends will remember. My predictions were sometimes looked upon as " castles in the air," but they have proved to be upon terra firma -- made of real and substantial brick, stone and mortar, as all may now see. I visited the scenes of my early enterprises and associations, during the last season, and my heart was warmed in taking by the hand my old neighbors and co-workers of Pioneer times; in talking over the events of early days, and witnessing the evidences of prosperity spread out upon every hand. Where I had in years of maturity, helped to clear away the forest, was a population of near 40,000; wealth, prosperity and all the happiness that a high degree of civilization and refinement can in- sure, was spread out upon every hand; and more than all, with me, was the recognition of old friends, whom I had encouraged to cast their lot with me, in the primitive, rough and forbidding locality - whom I had seen struggling in early years, with hardships and privations-in the enjoyment of health and competence, in their declining years. May God bless, and continue all this, is the hope and the prayer of a surviving non-resident Pioneer.
Richard Kempshall with a large family, was an emigrant from England, locating in a neighborhood of chiefly English families in what is now Pittsford, in 1806. He died in less than a year, of the prevalent disease of the new country, after having expended all of his small means in emigrating, making the first payment upon a tract of new land, in erecting a log house, and defraying other incidental expenses, leaving a wife and ten children in indigent circumstances. With no ability to make the payments still due upon their lands, they were obliged to let it revert, and destitute even of a home, the support of the large family devolved upon the widow, and the eldest son, Willis, who was then but eighteen years of age. The family was broken up, but through the extraordinary exertions of Willis, mostly found good homes under the roofs of the more fortunate Pio- neers. Of the ten children, six still survive.
Willis Kempshall, having acquired from his father the trade of a carpenter, was as early as 1813 in the employ of the Messrs. Browns, in Frankfort. He became a permanent resident in Rochester as early as 1814, where he has since mostly resided until quite recently, he has purchased a farm in Wyoming, Wyoming county, upon which he now resides with a large family.
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