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 66
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 66
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 66
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 66
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 66
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 66
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 66
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 66
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 66
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 66
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Hastings R. Bender, was from Vermont ; a graduate of Dart- mouth ; he left practice 15 or 20 years since, and went upon a farm in Parma, where he now resides.
Anson House was an early Attorney and Justice of the Peace, but engaged in business enterprises, has been but little known in his profession. He was the founder, and is still the owner of the Mi- nerva block.
Moses Chapin, was a graduate of Yale in 1811; studied his pro- fession in Albany with Jones & Baldwin; in 1816 commenced the practice of his profession in Rochester ; was the Frst Judge of Mon- roe, from 1825 to 1830. He still survives in the practice of his profession.
Ashley Samson was a native of Addison county, Vt., a graduate of Middlebury ; studied his profession in part with Col. Samuel
NOTE. - Mr. Pomeroy remarks that the project of a new county was started as early as 1818 ; himself, Col. Rochester, Judge Strong, were at Albany at the same, and at different periods, to promote it. The opposition to the measure at Canandaigua, Batavia, and all along the old Buffalo road, was formidable, and retarded the consummation! Crowded calendars at the courts of the old counties of Ontario and Genesee helped the matter much. This was the result of the financial revulsion that commenced in 1817. John C. Spencer, of Canandaigua, and P. L. Tracy, of Buffalo, commenced each an bundred suits in one year in court of common pleas. In both counties protracted sessions of the court had to be held. Judge Howell of Ontario would sometimes open his courts b fore day-light. A specimen of his dispatch of business : - " Mr. Dixon, do you expect to prove any thing more in this case ?" " Well Sir, I can hardly tell how that will be." " Clerk, enter a non-suit!"
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Young, at Ballston ; commenced practice as a partner of Simon Stone, 2d., in Pittsford in 1817; in 1819 removed to Rochester. In 1823 he was appointed First Judge of Monroe county ; resigned in 1825; was re-appointed in 1838, and held the office until 1843. He was an early Justice of the Peace in Brighton ; and was a re- presentative in the Legislature from Monroe, in 1844. He still survives, mainly retired from the profession on account of physical infirmity, but with mental faculties unimpaired, enjoying the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens.
The courts of Monroe were organized in 1821 ; the first term held in that year at the "house of Azel Ensworth." There were then added to the bar of Rochester, and soon after: - Wm. W. Mum- ford, Melancton Brown, Wm. Graves, Daniel D. Barnard, Timothy Childs, Vincent Matthews, Ebenezer Griffin, Wm. B. Rochester, Charles R. Lee ; and it may be, others whose names have escaped recognition.
VINCENT MATTHEWS.
Though not a resident of Monroe county early enough to be termed a Pioneer, he bore that relation to all the western portion of this State, and as early as 1816; was a resident upon Phelps and Gorham's Purchase. He was the first lawyer located in practice west of Utica; at the period of his death had been fifty six years in practice. In reference to age, his ex- tended years of residence, and professional life, he was a Father of the Bar of Western New York; and he was well entitled to that distinction by his dignified professional examples, and the deference that was award- ed to his legal opinions and personal character, by his cotemporaries.
He was of Irish descent ; a paternal ancestor was an officer in the Brit- ish army stationed at Albany, when the Dutch surrendered New York to the English. His grand father emigrated to America in 1702, becoming a Pioneer in Orange county, settling upon a tract in the then wilderness, back of Newburg, which took the name of " Matthew's Field."
The subject of this sketch was the son of James Matthews; was born in 1766; was one of a family of six sons and six daughters, all but one of whom lived to adult age, and became heads of families. In 1781 he left his paternal home, and became a student in an Academy at Newburg, of which Noah Webster, the afterwards renowned lexicographer, was the Principal. He was afterwards a student in an Academy at Hackensack, of which Professor Wilson was Principal. In 1786 he entered the law ofice of Col. Robert Troup in New York, and after four years of study, in 1790, was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. The fame he ac- quired in after life as a sound and thoroughly educated lawyer, may in a great measure be attributed to a long and severe course of study, and to the fact that he was a member of a society of students (most of whom be- came eminent in their profession,) instituted for practice. Courts were
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organized in which Brockholst Livingston, Judge Jones, Robert Troup, presided as Judges; feigned issues were made, and thus the young aspir- ants to professional excellence were enabled to make theory and practice go hand in hand. And it should also be observed, that his law studies did not end with the obtaining of his diploma, but continued through life .*
In the winter of 1790, '91, the counties of Tioga and Ontario were erected from Herkimer. A friend of his who had emigrated to the new region, and located at what is now Elmira, importuned him to join him there, and commence his professional career in the backwoods. He had married soon after the termination of his studies. Leaving his wife be- hind until he had pioneered the way himself, he got credit for a horse, which he mounted, and made the journey to the newly established county site at Newtown Point, now Elmira, The embryo village then contained but three or four log buildings, one of which was used as a court house. Obtaining board with a new settler three miles down the River from the county site-at a place then called Tioga, he opened an office; thus becoming the Pioneer in his profession, in all the region west of Utica-if indeed there was any there as early as 1791. His practice soon extended to On- tario county. He was present at the opening of the first court in Canan- daigua.
In 1793, '4, he was the representative of Tioga in the Legislature. In '96 he was a Senator from the Western District. Before the expiration of his term of service, he was appointed one of a board of commissioners to settle questions of disputed land titles upon the Military Tract, some ac- count of which has been found in a preceding chapter. He was elected to Congress in 1809. From 1812 to 1817 was District Attorney of Tioga.
Like nineteen twentieths of all the early adventurers in the western por- tion of this State, he had commenced poor; in debt for the horse he rode, and for a portion of his academical education; but at the end of twenty years he had not only gained professonal eminence, but had accumulated what was then regarded as a large estate; a portion of which was a valua- ble tract of land, which embraces a part of the site of Elmira. At an un- fortunate period he embarked in the mercantile business, which venture proved disastrous, even to the extent of the loss of his entire property.
In 1816 he changed his residence to Bath, Steuben county, and formed a partnership with the late Wm. B. Rochester, in the practice of law. In 1821 he removed to Rochester, where he practiced until a few months preceding his death, which occurred on the 23d of September, 1846.
He was District Attorney for Monroe, for several years; in 1826 one of its representatives in the Legislature. His military rank of a Brigadier General was attained through the several gradations, commencing with the command of a company of cavalry in a regiment of which Thomas Mor- ris was Major. He was a General at the early period when the beat of his Brigade was all of the territory lying west of a line north and south al- most through the centre of the State.
The deep sensation that his death produced in the city of Rochester -
# The anecdote of the celebrated Dr. Parr, would apply to his case : - " When did you finish your studies," said a verdant student to his preceptor, Dr. Parr. " Never, and I never expect to finish them," was his laconic answer and reproof.
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the demonstrations that followed its announcement - are already recorded witnesses of the esteem and respect entertained for him by his immediate neighbors; - and in fact throughout the wide region with which he had been so long and intimately blended, there was heartfelt sorrow; a feeling that an eminently exemplary and useful life had terminated. A monu- ment erected in that well ordered and beautiful city of the dead - Mount Hope - erected with the spontaneous offerings of all classes of his fellow citizens; his venerable features preserved upon canvass, and hung up in the court room; are additional evidences of the manner in which his mem- ory is cherished.
The remarks made by his friend and professional cotemporary, Judge Samson, at the meeting of the Bar immediately following the announce- ment of his death, deserves a more enduring record than that affored by newspaper files : --
" MR. CHAIRMAN: - The event we are met to consider and take action upon, has not come upon us suddenly, or by surprise, and may be thought, therefore, to lack some of the impressive solemnity which attends an un- expected and afflicting dispensation .. Death has been in our midst and taken away a most dear and esteemed friend. It has been said that the deceased was fifty six years in practice. I am regarded by associates as an old man, and certainly my feelings go strongly in corroboration of this opinion; and yet, Mr. Chairman, I was born the year our venerable broth- er was admitted to the Bar.
" In his death crowned as it was with years and honors, he resembled an ancient oak falling mighty and majestic to the earth, after braving the storms of uncounted winters. He contended long with disease, but the last enemy, death, prevailed, and he bowed his venerable head and died. His pure and useful life affords an impressive lesson to the profession. He confined himself mainly though not exclusively to the single object of professional pursuits. Sometimes indeed he listened to the call of his countrymen, and entered public life, but he always returned with alacri- ty to his professional labors.
" One feature in his character I desire particularly to notice. He was a Christian. Though much occupied by his ordinary pursuits, he did not neglect the higher interest of his soul. Even before he made a public profession, he was known often to leave his bed, not to prepare his briefs, but to peruse the oracles of eternal truth. In process of time he publicly acknowledged the Lord Jesus, and connected himself with the Episcopal church, to which his preferences inclined. He was no technical theologian, or mere sectarian.
In a conversation I had with him a few days since, his eye lighted with unusual brilliancy when I adverted to the glorious hopes of the gospel, and he expressed his undoubting trust in the cross of Christ. To a friend who called upon him when near his end, he declared that he relied solely upon the merits of Jesus Christ,
"In conclusion, I cannot conceal from my brethren of the Bar, my solici- tude that we may one and all imitate his example, and that this bereavement may be sanctified to us all."
Mrs. Mathews died at her residence in Rochester, in December 1850.
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An only son, James E. Matthews, resides near the Lake shore in Somerset, Niagara county, where he was an early merchant, and has been for many years, an exemplary and useful citizen. The surviving daughters are Mrs. Albert H. Porter, of Niagara Falls, Mrs. William Everett, and an unmar- ried daughter, residing in Rochester. Sela Matthews Esq., of Rochester, a nephew, an early ward and student of Gen. Matthews, is his business successor.
Frederick F. Backus, M. D., is a native of Richfield county, Conn .; a graduate of Yale College ; studied his profession in New Haven and Philadelphia. He settled in Rochester in 1816, where he has continued in practice until the present time. In addition to local offices he has held, he has been a member of the State Senate. He is one of the " fathers of the city," conspicuously identified with it in most of all its history.
John B. Elwood, M. D., studied his profession principally with Dr. Joseph White, of Cherry Valley ; practiced a short time in Richfield ; in January 1817 located in Rochester. There was in practice in Rochester, beside Dr. Backus, Dr. O. E. Gibbs, Dr. WVilkenson, Dr. Dyer Ensworth, Dr. Jonah Brown; and Dr. Mat- thew Brown, and the elder Dr. Ensworth, practiced occasionly, as exigency required. Dr. Gibbs died four or five years since. Dr. Anson Coleman was the first settled physician after Dr. Elwood, as early as 1817. He died 15 or 16 years since.
Dr. Elwood still survives, having been in practice in Rochester, nearly thirty six years ; - years of usefulness, and something of em- inence in his profession ; while in other respects he has maintained a prominent and influential position. Infirm health, a few years since induced him to make a winter's residence in Florida, where he met with a serious accident, with which the public were made familiar at the time ; from which he has mostly recovered.
Comfort Williams was the first settled clergyman in Rochester. His charge being that of the First Presbyterian church, which was the first organized religious society of Rochester, in the early year 1814. He was a graduate of Yale. Ministering to but few, and most of those but illy able to contribute to his support, he labored dilligently " with his own hands." Purchasing 40 acres of land, in the then woods, on what is now Mount Hope Avenue, he was the first after Messrs. Carter and Scrantom, to make improvements in that portion of the city. He died in early years. His surviving sons are, Alfred M. Williams, Charles H. Williams, of Rochester, and Edward B. Williams, in Texas. Mrs. Oatman, of Wisconsin, is a daughter. The tract of land he purchased has remained in the hands of the family, and has been mostly sold out in city lots, under the auspices of Charles HI. Williams.
The Carter tract in the same neighborhood, mostly went into the
39
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hands of Lyman Munger, under whose auspices much of the im- provements along on Mount Hope Avenue have been made. That locality, where the reader will have seen Mr. Scrantom placed his family that they might not be found in the event of British invasion ; a dark and gloomy forest, as many will recollect who used to ap- proach the falls and the mouth of the river, via. the Henrietta road, is becoming the especial pride of the city. There are there, Mount Hope, a resting place for the dead, scarcely inferior to any enter- prise of the kind in the older cities of the Union ; and to say noth- ing of other attractions, beautiful private residences, &c., there are the extensive grounds of those tasteful, practical, and enterprising nurserymen, horticulturalists, and florists, Messrs. Ellwanger and Barry.
Augustine G. Dauby, who had served his apprenticeship with Ira Merrill of Utica, first introduced the printing press into the county of Monroe. He established the Rochester Gazette in 1816. John Sheldon and Oran Follett were . early associated with him. Mr. Dauby returned to Utica, was for a long period the editor and pub- lisher of the Utica Observer, and P. M. of Utica. He still resides at Utica, retired from business. John Sheldon has since published a paper at Detroit, in Wisconsin, has held a government office, been a reporter at Washington ; still resides at the west. A daughter of his is the wife of Dr. Nott. Mr. Follett, who, with his family, are noticed in another connection, resides at Sandusky. In 1818, Everard Peck, & Co., - who had established in 1816 the pioneer bookstore in Rochester - established the Rochester Telegraph. Mr. Peck still survives, enjoying a competence of wealth, and the es- teem of his fellow-citizens. He is now the President of the Com- mercial Bank. The mechanical department of the paper was con- ducted by the two brothers, Derick and Levi W. Sibley. In 1824 Thurlow Weed became its editor ; in 1827, associated with Robert Martin, he purchased the establishment, and the two issued it semi- weekly until 1828, when it was published daily by Mr. Martin. The Sibleys were the successors of Dauby & Sheldon. Levi W. Sibley died in Rochester in 1844; Derick Sibley resides in Cincin- natti. Edwin Scrantom, who is named in another connection, was the first apprentice to the printing business in Rochester. In 1826 Luther Tucker who had served a portion of his apprenticeship in the first office established at Palmyra, issued the Rochester Daily Advertiser, the first daily in Rochester, and the first west of the Hudson river. Henry O. Rielly became its editor. In 1829 the two daily papers were united, and a paper published by Tucker & Martin, called the Rochester Daily Advertiser and Telegraph. Luther Tucker is the widely known and highly esteemed proprietor and editor of the Albany Cultivator. Jessee Peck, David Hoyt, S. D. Porter, Thomas W. Flagg, Elihu F. Marshall, D. D. Stevenson, Daniel N. Sprague, Erastus Shepard, E. J. Roberts, Elisha Loomis,
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Albert G. Hall, Peter Cherry, John Denio, Alvah Strong, Nahum Goodsell, Franklin Cowdery, Sidney Smith, George Dawson, Samuel Heron, George Smith, Thomas Barnum- are names blended with the history of printing and newspapers in Rochester.
And here the author must leave the Press of Rochester, as all else must be left, in this history of the beginning of things ; - with something more than usual reluctance -for it is of his own craft ; and no where is the whole history of its progress marked with greater enterprise, or more creditable to the " Art preservative of all Arts."
-
Roswell Hart, was of the large family of that name, in Clinton, Oneida county. He commenced mercantile business in Rochester as early as 1816; died in 1824, aged 37 years. His surviving sons are, Thomas P. Hart and Roswell Hart, of Rochester, and Geo. W. Hart, of N. Y. Daughters became the wives of the Rev. Francis H. Cuming, now of Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Henry E. Rochester, and M. F. Reynolds, of Rochester. Thomas Hart, a brother of Roswell Hart settled in Rochester in 1820; still survives. Seth Saxton was the early clerk of Roswell Hart, subsequently his partner and that of his brother Thomas Hart. His widow still survives, and three daughters, one of whom has recently become the wife of Major Sibley, of the U.S. Army, now stationed in Santa Fee.
Charles J. Hill was in Rochester as early as 1816; he still sur- vives ; one of the many enterprising millers of the " city of mills." He erected in 1821, in company with Mr. Leavitt, and occupied himself, the first brick building in Rochester, on Fitzhugh street, the present residence of Wm. Alling. Mr. Hill observes : In point of health, the settlers immediately upon the site of Rochester, suffered less than would be supposed, as it was literally, most of it, a swamp without drainage ; still they were no strangers to sickness and suf- fering, and occasionally from fevers of a very malignant type.
Solomon Close, who it will be observed, was one of the signers of the handbill-" Canal in danger"-was a deputy sheriff of Genesee ; resided in early years in Greece ; and was also an early resident in Rochester. He removed to Michigan in early years.
John Odell was a merchant in Rochester as early as 1819 ; had a. small store on site now occupied by the Talman block ; emigrated to Michigan in early years.
Harvey Montgomery, who was an early merchant in Rochester, the partner of John C. Rochester, still survives. He is the father of Thomas Montgomery, an Attorney, and Dr. Harvey Montgomery of Rochester.
Eli Stilson, was from Fairfield, Conn., emigrated to Cayuga coun- ty as early as 1800. He was an early surveyor in Cayuga, a school teacher, and had much to do in the early organization of schools in Scipio and its neighborhood. He removed to the town of Brighton in 1817; in 1829 became a resident of what is now Rochester, on the east side of the river; was a surveyor of a large portion of the .
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city east of the River, of lots and streets; was at one period the agent of Bissell & Riley, in the prosecution of their enterprise up- on the tract purchased of Enos Stone. He still survives at the age of 78 years. His surviving sons are, David Stilson, and Eli L. G. Stilson, an Attorney of Battle Creek, Michigan, Jerome B. Stil- son, division engineer upon the Erie Canal, George D. Stilson, a contractor on the Erie Rail Road. Daughters became the wives of Dr. Caleb Hammond, and Gen. A. W. Riley, of Rochester, Ros- well Hart, of Brighton ; another the second wife of Gen. Riley, and another the second wife of Roswell Hart.
William Atkinson was early on the east side of the River, the founder of the mills now carried on by Charles J. Hill. Hobart Atkinson, of Rochester, is a son of his; the widow is now the wife of the Rev. Chas. G. Finney. William Nefus came in as the mil- ler of Mr. Atkinson ; his widow still survives ; his daughter is the wife of Nelson Curtis. Mr. Nefus was an early tavern keeper on the east side of the River.
In 1817, there was residing on present city limits, on the Brighton side, other than those already named, Aaron Newton, Moses Hall, Ebenezer Titus. In that portion of the now city there was not twenty acres of cleared ground. There was little else than prim- itive wood's roads in any direction. Along where St. Paul street now is there was a dense forest of evergreens, hemlock, spruce and cedar.
The brothers, M'Crackens, were as early as 1805 or '6, Pioneers in the neighborhood of Batavia. They removed to Rochester soon after the war. Dr. David M'Cracken was a prominent citzen of the old county of Genesee. A tract of land he purchased near Deep Hollow, on the River, is now embraced in the city. He died at an advanced age five or six years since, childless. Wm. J. Mc- Cracken, was an early tavern keeper in Frankfort, still survives, a resident with his son-in-law, Henry Blanchard. A daughter of Gardner M'Cracken, is the widow of "Capt. Scott," the afterwards Col. Scott, of the U. S. Army, who was killed in the Mexican war.
Other early landlords in Rochester, who have not been named, Charles Millerd, Henry Draper, - - Elliott. The daughters of Dr. Ensworth who has been named in another connection, became the wives of John Shethar, Benjamin Campbell, and Rufus Meech. George Ensworth, an only surviving son, resides in New York.
Warham Whitney was from Northampton, Mass .; removed to Rochester in 1820; was one of the early enterprising millers; a flourishing portion of the city on the west side of the River, south of what was Frankfort, has grown up on his farm. He died in 1841. His surviving sons are, George L. Whitney and James Whitney, of Rochester. Daughters became the wives of John Williams and Samuel G. Andrews. John Whitney, a brother of Warham, preceded him in Rochester ; has in later years been a res-
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ident of Orleans county, and Ohio ; is again a citizen of Rochester. Ralph Parker was a native of Salisbury Conn .; a resident of Vermont, he was for fourteen consecutive years a member of the State Legislature. In 1816 he emigrated to Rochester, where he still resides, at the advanced age of 79 years. He was one of the Judges of Genesee, before the erection of Monroe county. His surviving sons are, Daniel P. Parker, of New York, Medad P. and Ralph A. Parker, of Rochester, Phineas Parker, Beaver Dam, Wis- consin. Mrs. James H. Gregory, of Rochester, and Mrs. Richard Ayres, of Lewiston, are his daughters.
So much in reference to Rochester, has been incidental to the Pioneer History of the whole region to which it bears so important a relation. It is hoped that no reader of the work had anticipated a history of Rochester ; such has not been the design ; and it would have been incompatible with the plan of the work. A wide region of primitive settlements, of towns and villages, has been embraced ; a long series of events recorded that preceded settlement ; brevity, the quitting of one locality to hasten to another, has been an imper- ative necessity that the author has had often to regret.
In another form-in a work especially devoted to the locality - it would have been gratifying to have passed the pioneer period, and step by step, from event to event, and from year to year, to have traced the progress of Rochester from a primitive village to a popu- lous CITY ; - a scene of wealth, enterprise and prosperity, creating wonder and admiration, even in an especial era of enterprise and progress.
The " Falls of the Genesee," to which the reader has been intro- duced when it was a lonely and secluded spot in the wilderness - visited but by an occasional tourist - after that, for nearly twenty years, the abode of but one solitary family of our race, -the local- ity that remained a dense, unbroken forest, for years after there had been a near approach of considerable settlements and improvements ; has now a population of nearly FORTY THOUSAND, and even that is but an imperfect indication of its prosperity, the triumphs it has achieved ! The " Hundred Acres," the germ of village and city, has had added to it, first, other plats or separate surveys, then farm after farm, in succession, until it has expanded to over FOUR THOU- SAND ACRES, nearly all of which is occupied with streets, business establishments, public edifices, and private dwellings. The lots that the venerated Patroon, Col. Rochester, in 1811, with moderate an- ticipations, and liberal views, instructed his agent to sell at from $30 to $200, are now worth from 5,000 to $25,000. There are annual rents derived from the buildings upon some of those lots, from $3,000 to 12,000. Of the staple article of home trade and commerce in most of the civilized world, Rochester manufacturers more than is
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