USA > New York > Steuben County > History of the settlement of Steuben County, N.Y. including notices of the old pioneer settlers and their adventures, 1853 > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
111
Here a few wise veterans yet hide in the rocks, and raise infant families under circumstances of great dis- couragement.
In 1793 Col. Williamson commenced the settlement of his village, called Bath, from Lady Bath of England, a member of the Pulteney family. "Before the end of the season,"" he says, " not less than fifteen fami- lies were resident in the village. Early in the season a saw-mill had been finished, and previous to the set- ting in of the winter a grist-mill with a saw-mill nearer the town were in great forwardness." The first men- tioned saw-mill stood on or near the site of the " Glass- mill," on the Kennedyville road. The grist-mill stood near the bridge. On New Year's Day of 1794, a few months after the settlement, Mr. Harry McElwee, a young man from the north of Ireland, made his entry into the new-made village, and gives his first impres- sion substantially as follows :-- " I found a few shan- ties standing in the woods. Williamson had his house where Will Woods has since lived, and the Metcalfes kept a log-tavern above the Presbyterian Church. I. went to the tavern and asked for supper and lodging. They said they could give me neither, for their house. was full. I could get nothing to eat. An old Dutch- man was sitting there, and he said to me : 'Young man if you will go with me you shall have some mush and milk for your supper, and a deer-skin to lie on with your feet to the fire, and another to cover your- self with.' I told him that I thanked him kindly, and would go along. We went up through the woods to where St. Patrick's square now is, and there the
112
Dutchman had a little log-house. There was no floor to it. I made a supper of mush and milk, and laid down with my feet to the fire and slept soundly. The Dutchman was travelling through to the Genesee, but his children were taken sick and he stopped there till they got well." Mr. McElwee, now residing on the Mud Creek, is the sole survivor of the young men who were with Capt. Williamson in the first years of the settlement, now living in the town of Bath. Mr. Thomas Metcalfe, of Ellicotville, and Charles Came- ron, Esq., of Greene, with perhaps a few others, sur- vive of the "stout lads" who came up with their Captain in '94.
The trees had, at this time, been cut away only to admit of the erection of cabins for the accommodation of the few citizens, and to open a road through the for- est. In the spring of 1794 Mr. McElwee, under the direction of Captain Williamson, made the first clear- ings, being the Pulteney Square and four acres behind the agent's house for a garden, for the cultivation of which he afterwards imported a gardener from Eng- land. The trees on the square were chopped carefully and close to the ground. "A single pine was left stand- ing in front of the agency house for a Liberty Tree. It was trimmed so as to leave a tuft at the top, and stood nodding defiance at despotism for several years, when it was blown down in a storm. The chopper of the Pulteney Square denies the popular tradition, that to get rid of the stumps they were undermined and buried. Many strange expedients were resorted to in those days by persons not trained from their infancy
113
to wood craft, to free the earth from the pitch-pine stumps and the oak stools which seemed to be more enduring than "brass and pyramids," but the tradi- tion of the preposterous burial, just alluded to, is without foundation.
For notices of early citizens, and the early opera- tions of Capt. Williamson, we refer to the following narrative :
NARRATIVE, BY GEN. GEORGE M'CLURE, LATE OF T ELGIN, ILLINOIS.
Some sixty years since Western New York was a howling wilderness, inhabited by Indians and wild
[NOTE .- The following reminiscences were prepared in the sum- mer of 1850, at the request of the publishers, by Gen. McClure, who resided at that time in Elgin, Illinois, at the age of 80 years, and were submitted by him, with unlimited license to alter and amend. They might perhaps be disposed more advantageously to the order of history if broken up and used in extracts as occasion required, but the narrative will probably be more acceptable as here presented than in any other shape. A few extracts have been inserted in - other places. With these exceptions the narrative is almost un- altered. Gen. McClure is necessarily the hero of his own story, and in his private instructions to the publishers desired it to be so altered that every appearance of sounding his own trumpet might be avoided. The editor was unwilling to make any changes except in a few passages. which have been condensed. . The language is fresh and graphic, and the narrative gives a lively picture of the early business of the county. Passages, declaratory of Gen. M.'s opinions. on politics, it was deemed absolutely indispensable to omit. It is proper, however, to say that he avowed himself to be a staunch free-soiler, a radical temperance man, and a firm believer in the fu- ture glory of the United States. These reminiscences are given from memory. Gen. M. lost his papers by fire.] 11*
-
114
beasts. Where the City of Utica now stands was con- sidered in those days the extreme western frontier ; all west of that place had been but partially explored by civilized man. It was considered imprudent and dangerous to attempt a journey into that wild region. " After Oliver Phelps had purchased of Massachusetts the pre-emptive right to a large tract of land in West- ern New York, he made preparations to visit and ex- plore that wild region ; his neighbors called upon him to take a last farewell, as they never expected to see his face again."
Much has been written, since those, days of the far famed west. * F* * But it may now be asked what has become of it. Has it eloped or absconded like the wandering savage tribes that once possessed that goodly land ? Yes, truly it is gone, and now like the Children of Israel of old, it has reached the pro- mised land, not a land flowing with milk and honey only, but also with gold, silver, and precious stones. The great Pacific Ocean is its boundary. Here I take my leave of the Far West, and return to old Steuben, to give some account of the hardy and enterprising pio- neers who were the first settlers in that wild and un- cultivated region.
.
Rev. James H. Hotchkin in his " History of the Presbyterian Church in Western New York," makes some severe strictures on the character of Capt. Wil- liamson and his settlers. He says, " They were prin- cipally from Europe or the States of Maryland and Virginia, with a sprinkling of Yankees, who came to make money." "The state of society " he remarks,
115
" was very dissolute. The Sabbath was disregarded. Drinking, gambling, carousing, horse-racing, attending the theatre, with other concomitant vices were very general, and numbers of those who moved in the high circle were exceedingly depraved." I do not know from what source such information was obtained ; but this I know, that the Sabbath was not desecrated in the village of Bath in the manner that he represents. We had but two public houses in that village for many years. One was kept by the Metcalfe family, and the other by old Mr. Cruger, and after him by Mr. Bull. Neither of these houses suffered gambling and carous- ing on the Sabbath. Nor did I ever hear of a horse- race on the Sabbath in Bath, nor of theatrical amuse- ments on that day. There were not more than four or five families from Maryland and Virginia that settled in Bath ;* the other part of our population were at least one half Yankees, and the other half foreigners and Pennsylvanians. Now I would say that instead of a " sprinkling of Yankees," we had a heavy shower of them. I do not believe, however, that they were a fair sample of the sons of the Pilgrims, for a good many of them, to say the least, were no better than they should be. I trust that nothing in my remarks will be con- sidered invidious. I do not intimate by any means that Rev. Mr. Hotchkin would knowingly state an un- truth, but that he has not been correctly informed in
Major Presley Thornton, who was the first occupant of the great Springfield House, a mile and a half below Bath, and Capt. William Helen, two Virginians; were the principal Southern men who located at Bath.
116
relation to the character of a large proportion of the early settlers. I admit that many were very loose in their morals, " lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God." In the year 1807, we employed the Rev. John Niles to preach for us half his time, and the other half in Prattsburgh. I believe he was a good man, but not well qualified to reform so dissolute and heathenish a body of men as composed Capt. Williamson's first set- tlers (according to the popular account of us).
Among the number of the most respectable Scotch emigrants were Charles Cameron and Dugald, his bro- ther. These two young men were first-rate specimens of the Scotch character for intelligence and integrity, as well as for other amiable qualities. Charles Cam- eron was a merchant, and the first to open a store in Bath. He was also the first post-master by appoint- ment of Capt. Williamson, who paid all expenses of transporting the mail once a week to and from North- umberland .* Some fifteen or twenty years after he obtained the appointment of sub-agent of the Hornby estate from John Greig, Esq., of Canandaigua, the chief agent. He moved to the village of Greene, in Chenango County, where he still resides. Few men possessed stronger intellectual powers than Dugald Cameron. He was highly respected by all classes of his neighbors and acquaintances. He was a clerk in the Land Office for some time, until he and Gen. Haight were appointed sub-agents by Col. Troup.
* An old Frenchman lived at the " Blockhouse," on Laurel Ridge, 65 miles distant from Bath. Thomas Corbit, the mail rider in '94, went thither weekly for the Steuben County bag.
117
He was a great favorite of the people of Steuben. 'In 1828 they elected him as their representative in the Legislature of the State, which appointment with some 1 reluctance he accepted. While at Albany attending to the duties of his station, he was seized with a violent complaint, and after a short and painful struggle de- parted this life, leaving a wife and a numerous family of children, most of whom have since died. His death was lamented by all his relations, friends, and ac- quaintances.
Andrew Smith, a trustworthy Scotchman, had the charge of the farming operations of Capt. Williamson ; such as the clearing of the land for cultivation ; and all other kinds of labor were committed to his charge. He had generally from thirty to fifty men, and some- times more, in his employ, and I had nearly as many in the house-building department. Muckle Andrew (as we called him, being a large man,) and myself were great cronies. We were both single men, and kept bachelors' hall. We generally met-on Saturday evenings, alternately, in each others' apartments. We had, in those days, plenty of the joyful, but we seldom carried matters so far as to get decently tipsy. We violated no pledge, for even ministers of the gospel and deacons, in those days, kept on their side-boards a full supply of the best Cogniac, wine and old whis- key ; and when they got out of those articles, they would make very decent and
* * * V * But I must return for a moment to my good friend Muckle Andrew, and relate how we used to spend the evenings of our social meetings.
118
The first topic of conversation was the business of the past week, and what progress we had made in our re- spective vocations: The next business in order was a drink, then a story or a song. Andrew told the sto- ries, and I did the singing. My songs were generally the productions of Burns, such as, " Scots wha ha' wi' Wallace bled," " Wha'll be king but Charlie," and " Auld Lang Syne." The last verse we always sung standing. My good friend Andrew had one favorite standing toast, which was as follows :
( " Here's to mysel', co' a' to my sel',
From l Wi' a' my heart here's to me ;
Here's to mysel', co' a' to mysel', And muckle guid may it do me."
There were a number of respectable young men, natives of Scotland, arrived in Bath in the years '93 and '94, amongst whom was Hector Mckenzie, said to be the son of a Scotch Laird, who was employed as a Clerk in the Land Office. Of him I have nothing to say, only that he felt himself a good deal taller than other young men; and although otherwise respectable, I discovered that he did not possess any of the amia- ble qualities of his countrymen. the Camerons, and not a particle of the courtesy and unassuming manners of his employer, Capt. Williamson .*
- John Greig, Esq., (now of Canandaigua, and chief agent of the Hornby estate,) arrived about the same time, a young man of fine talents, a lawyer by profes- sion. He did not make Bath his place of permanent resi-
*He died in the West Indies.
n
119
dence, but he often paid us a visit, and we were always glad to see him, and never allowed him to depart with- out having a real jovial old-fashioned thanksgiving.
Also, about this time, arrived Robert Campbell and Daniel Mckenzie, both respectable mechanics. They have both lately departed this life. Mr. Campbell, (though one of Williamson's first settlers,) was sober and industrious, and a worthy member of the Presby- terian Church. There was also old Mr. Mullender, with a very interesting family, who settled on a farm of Capt. Williamson's, near Bath. They were from Scotland, and removed afterwards to the Old Indian Castle, near Geneva.
I must now take leave of my Scotch friends, while I talk a little about my own dear countrymen, as well as of some of the sons of the pilgrims.
Henry McElwee, and William, his brother, Frank Scott, Charles McClure, Gustavus Gillespie, and Brown, his brother, Samuel and John Metler, with large families of children-those, with many others whose names I do not now recollect, were natives of the North of Ireland, whose ancestors were of Scotch descent. They are all dead and gone long since, with the exception of Henry McElwee, who is yet alive and resides on his farm at Mud Creek. He was an honest, sober, industrious, hard-working man, and had the confidence and patronage of Capt. Williamson.
William Dunn, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Bath in the spring of 1793, and kept for a short time a house of entertainment. He was appointed High Sheriff of the County after its organization. He was
120
a very gentlemanly man. He entered largely into land speculation without capital, and like many others, his visionary prospects soon vanished, and wound him up. He moved to Newtown, where he shortly after died. Mr. Dunn had two brothers, who came to Bath
with him, or shortly after : Robert and Joseph. The former was called Col. Dunn. This military title he obtained on his way from York County, in Pennsyl- vania, to Bath. He was one of a company of adven- turers and speculators, who agreed that they should introduce each other by certain assumed titles. Some Judges, others Generals, Colonels, Majors, but none below the grade of Captain. This Col. Dunn would pass anywhere as a gentleman of the first rank in society.
Old Mr. Cruger moved from Newtown to Bath, and kept the house lately occupied by Wm. Dunn, on the southeast corner of the public square. Mr. Cruger, I. understood, was a native of Denmark-a very pleasant man, full of anecdote and mother wit. He was the father of Gen. Daniel Cruger., Gen. Cruger was a lawyer, and was highly respected by his fellow-citizens. He represented the people of Steuben County in the State legislature several years, and also the District in the Congress of the United States. He served with me in Canada, in the campaign of 1813, as a Major of Infantry, and was a faithful and vigilant officer. Some years since he removed to the State of Virginia, and died there.
But I am violating my own rule in spinning out such long yarns. My locomotive being on the high pressure
121
system, I find it difficult to arrest its progress. When I come to speak of the trade and commerce of Mud Creek, and the Conhocton and Canisteo Rivers, which then wormed their way over sand-bars and piles of drift-wood into the Chemung River, I shall have some- thing more to say of the enterprise of Mr. Bartles, and . of his son Jacob, and son-in-law, Mr. Harvey.
The town of Prattsburgh was settled with Yankees. They were truly men of steady habits and correct morals. For further particulars I refer the reader to Rev. James H. Hotchkins' book in relation to the in- habitants of that town.
I have said nothing of the inhabitants of the town of Wayne, and, with a few exceptions, would beg leave to be excused. Dr. Benjamin Welles moved from Kin- derhook, N. Y., to that town in 1798, if I am cor- rectly informed. He had a numerous family of children. Dr. Welles was a surgeon in the army of the Revolu- tion, and part of the time belonged to Gen. Washing- ton's staff. He died in 1812.
Gen. William Kernan, an Irishman by birth, moved into Steuben I think about the year 1800, and settled in the town of Tyrone. He is an active politician of the Democratic party, but whether he is Hunker or Barnburner I am not able to say. Gen. Kernan has been a popular man in the county, and the people have conferred on him from time to time many important offices .*
* Mr. John Faulkner, of the eastern part of the State, settled at an early day in Painted Post, where he died. Dr. James Faulkner,. his son, an eminent physician, and a public man of sagacity and
12
122
A brief sketch of my own history will doubtless be expected. From the consideration that I have been one of the principal actors amongst the first settlers in Steuben County, and that I have undertaken to be the biographer of other men's lives, I can see no im- propriety in giving a sketch of my own. I approach the subject with all due modesty, divesting myself of anything that might have the appearance of egotism ; for it cannot be supposed that I have any ambitious views or propensities to gratify, either politically or otherwise, at my advanced time of life ..
I was born in Ireland, in the year 1770; my ances- tors emigrated from Scotland, and settled not far from the city of Londonderry. They belonged to a religious sect called Covenanters, who for conscience sake had to fly from their country to a place of greater safety, and out of the reach of their cruel and bigoted perse- cutors. I was kept at school from the age of four years to fifteen. The character and qualifications of those Irish pedagogues, to whom the education of youth was then committed, is not generally understood in this country. They were cruel and tyrannical in the mode and manner of chastising their pupils. Their savage mode of punishment, for the least offence, was disgraceful.
After leaving school, I chose to learn the trade of a carpenter, and at the age of twenty I resolved to come
eccentricity, lived at Mud Creek. He was first Judge of the County Court, from 1804 to 1813. Mr. John Faulkner, a brother of Dr. Faulkner, settled on a farm five miles north of the village of Bath. Two other brothers, Daniel and Samuel, settled at Dansville.
123
to America. I therefore embarked on board the ship Mary of Londonderry for Baltimore. We made a quick and pleasant voyage of five weeks. I landed in Baltimore the first week in June, in good health and spirits. The whole of my property consisted of three suits of clothing, three dozen of linen shirts, and a chest of tools. As soon as I landed, I stepped into a new building, where a number of carpenters were at work, and inquired for the master builder. I asked him if he wished to employ a journeyman. He said that he did, and inquired how much wages I asked. My answer was, that I could not tell; that I knew nothing of the usages of the country, as I had but a few minutes before landed from the ship.
" Then," said he, "I presume your are an Eng- lishman."
"Not exactly, sir," I replied. " Although I have been a subject of King George the Third, of England, my place of nativity was Ireland, but I am of Scotch descent."1
"Ah, well, no matter. Come to-morrow morning and try your hand."
I did so, and worked for him two months, when he paid me $75. Thinks I to myself, this is a good beginning-better than to have remained in Ireland, and worked for two shillings and sixpence per day.
I then determined to see more of the land of liberty ; for at this time I had never travelled beyond the bounds of the city. I had some relations near Cham- bersburgh, Pa., and I made preparations to visit them. In those days there were no stages, only from city to
124
city on the sea-board. All the trade of the back- woods was carried on by pack-horses, and some few wagons where roads were suitable. I was advised to purchase and rig out a pack-horse, but as to do this would use up half my means, I concluded to be my own pack-horse, and set out on foot for the far west, leaving the heaviest part of my goods and chattels to be forwarded by the first opportunity. I made good headway the first day, but I had put on too much steam and became foot-sore. I stopped for the night at the house of a wealthy German farmer, who had a large family of children, males and females, most of them grown up. Mine host and his good-looking Frau could not speak a word of English. He was very in- quisitive, but he might as well have talked Hindoo to me as German, as I could answer them only in their own way by a kind of grunt and shake of the head, which meant "I can't understand." So he called his son Jacob (who had been to an English school, and could talk a little English,) to act as interpréter. He told his son to ask me whence I came, and whether or not I was a forfloughter Irishman (that is, in plain English, a d -- d Irishman.) Thinks I this is a poser, and I answered judiciously, and I think cor- rectly, under all the circumstances. I told him I was a Scotchman, as in Ireland all Protestants go by the name of Scotch or English, as the case may be. My Dutch landsman appeared to be satisfied, and we had a very social chat that evening to a late hour. The family were all collected, young and old, to hear of the manners and customs of the Scotch. They seemed to
125
take a great liking to me, and it was well for me that I had become quite a favorite, for my feet were so blistered with travelling that I could not move. I re- mained several days till I got over my lameness. When I called for my bill I was told that all was free, and was invited to remain a few days longer. I. set out on my journey, refreshed and encouraged by the hospitality and kindness of that amiable Dutch family.
In three days thereafter I reached Chambersburgh, which is one hundred miles west of Baltimore. I re- mained there until the spring following, when I dis- covered in the newspapers an advertisement, signed by Charles Williamson, offering steady employment and high wages to mechanics and laborers who would agree to go with him to the Genesee Country. Thinks I this is a good chance, and I will embrace it. I set out im- mediately for Northumberland, the head-quarters of Mr. Williamson. On my arrival there, I was told that Capt. W. had started with a numerous company of pioneers to open a road through the wilderness to his place of destination-140 miles.
I had some relations and other particular friends and acquaintances in that country. An uncle of mine, of the name of Moore, who came with his family from Ireland in the year 1790, had settled near the village of Northumberland. I made Uncle Moore's my home until I heard of the arrival of Capt. Williamson at Bath, when I again made my preparations to set out for the land of promise, accompanied by my old Uncle Moore, a man who had never travelled more than twenty miles from his old homestead in all his life, ex-,
12*
126
cepting on his voyage to America. I told him that if his object in coming to this country was to purchase land for himself and his sons, he ought, without delay, to go to the Genesee country, where he could purchase first-rate land for one dollar per acre. This was all true, though I was somewhat selfish in making the proposition, as I did not like to travel alone through the wilderness, liable to be devoured by panthers, bears and wolves ; so I eventually persuaded the old gentleman to accompany me. The old lady, Aunt Moore, packed up provision enough for at least a four weeks' journey. We mounted a pair of good horses and set out. We had only travelled twenty miles when we came to a large rapid stream or creek, which from late heavy rains was bank full. Uncle Moore concluded to retrace his steps homeward. I told him
I could not agree to that. " Why, we will be laughed at."', "Well," said he, "they may laugh if they please," and would go no further:
"Very well," said I, " If that's your determination, I will remain here until the water falls-but I see a house close by, and a large canoe, (the first I had ever seen,) let us go and inquire whether it would be safe to swim our horses alongside of it."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.