History of the town of Warsaw, New York, from its first settlement to the present time; with numerous family sketches and biographical notes, Part 3

Author: Young, Andrew W. (Andrew White), 1802-1877
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Buffalo, Press of Sage, sons & co.
Number of Pages: 504


USA > New York > Wyoming County > Warsaw > History of the town of Warsaw, New York, from its first settlement to the present time; with numerous family sketches and biographical notes > Part 3


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 | 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


1807, June 27, Solomon Morris, Sen., north third lot 26; 116 acres, of Jabish Warren.


1807, July 24, David Keeler, lot 44; 371 acres. Sold Sept. 14, 1807, to Abraham Reed and Absalom Green. New article, July 25, 1817, to Russel Noble.


1807, Ang. 24, Daniel Wing, lot 56; 353 acres. Sold north 300 acres to Loami Hall.


1897, Oct. 12, Ebenezer Munger, west part lot 42; 100 acres. New article, Oct. 13, 1817, to John Parrey.


1807, Oct. 12, Ebenezer Munger, part lot 42; 228 acres. New article, Oct. 13, 1817, to Hezekiah Scovel, 144 acres.


1807, Oct. 12, Simeon Gibson, lot 41 and part of 42; 408 acres. New article, Oct. 13, 1817, to Elijah Hurd, Shubael Morris, Hervey Gibson, Hezekiah Scovel.


1808, Jan. 17, Elkanah Day, lot 51 ; 333 acres. New article, to Warham Walker, David Martin, and Samuel Salis- bury.


1SOS, April 13, Nathan Pierce, part lot 46; 50 acres. New article, April 14, 1818, to John C. Curtis.


1808, June 1, Flavel Kingsley, lot 58; 367 acres. New article, June 2, 1818, to Chauncey L. Sheldon.


ISOS, June 1, Seth Carpenter, south half of east two-thirds lot -; 132 acres. New article, June 2, 1818, to Sam- uel Barnard and Leverett Hitchcock.


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FIRST SALES OF LANDS.


1808, Aug. 13, Suel Hovey, north two-thirds lot 8; 244 acres. New article, Aug. 15, 1818, to Alvin Hovey and Eliphalet Hovey.


1808, Sept. 26, Ziba Hovey, east part 16; 120 acres. New article, in parts to Suel Hovey and Josiah Hovey, Jun., Sept. 28, 1818.


1808, Oct. 1, Linus Giddings, north half lot 14; 166 acres. New article, to Anson A. Perkins, Oct. 2, 1818.


1808, Oct. 1, Thomas Sherman, north half lot 14; 166 acres. Oct. 2, 1818, new article to Lester Giddings.


1808, Oct. 5, Hiram Hoyt, west third lot 49; 113 acres. Oct. 6, 1818, new article, in parts, to Ichabod T. Murray and Joel Wethy.


1808, Oct. 5, Hervey Gibson, middle third lot 49; 113 acres. Oct 6, 1818, new article, in parts, to David Hawley and ITorace C. Sharp.


1808, Oct. 5, Hervey Gibson, cast third lot 49; 113 acres. Oct. 6, 1818, new article, in parts, to David Hawley and Samuel Bedow.


1808, Oct. 5, Wm. S. Stone, lot 57; 3753 acres. Oct. 6, 1818, new article, to Isaac Stone, Loren Seeley, Benj. Seeley, Jun., Abijah Stearns.


1808, Oct. 7, Daniel Fuller, Jun., east two-thirds lot 18; 258 acres. New articles to Elijah King, Lemuel Williams, Leverett Hitchcock.


1809, April 22, Noah Willis, lot 7; 364 acres. Article re- newed 1819, 10 Barnabas Rice and Nathan Snow.


1809, May 11, Jonathan Miller, lot 15; 345 acres. New ar- ticle, May 12, 1819, to Henry Hibbard, David Hovey, Ebenezer Smith, Alvin Hovey.


1809, Oct. 23, James Hitchcock, south part lot 20; 125 acres. New article, Oct. 24, 1817, to Ebenezer Hitchcock; from him to Elijah Chamberlain, 1828.


1809, Oct. 23, Chester Richards, north part lot 20; 248 acres. New article, Oct. 24, 1817, to Jacob Glazier, Anson Richards, Chester Richards.


3


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


1809, Nov. 14. Thos. Morris, lot 50; 347 acres. New article, Nov. 15, 1819, to Eleazer Taylor, David Seymour, Jun. 1810, April 7, Stephen James, east half lot 64; 149 acres. 1810, March 22, Abraham W. Brown, north part lot 4; 112 acres. March 23, 1820, new article to John Sharp.


1810, March 22, Stephen G. Brown, middle lot 4; 112 acres. March 23, 1820, new articles to Ezekiel Hamlin, Lot Marchant.


1810, Dec. 14, Silas C. Fargo, east part lot 19; 132 acres. Dec. 15, 1820, article renewed to Charles B. Richards.


1811, Jan. 25, Levi Rice, east part lot 2; 100 acres. Ang. 28, 1823, new articles to Shubael Goodspeed, Eldridge Beardsley.


1811, Jan. 28, Nehemiah Fargo, part lot 30; 60 acres. Jan. 29, 1829, new article to John II. Reddish.


1811, March 12, Joseph Logan, north-west part lot 48; 120 acres. March 13, 1819, new articles to self and to Hampton Crandall.


1811, March 12, Samuel Spalding, south-west part lot 48; 120 acres. March 13, 1819, new article to Nathan Pierce. 1811, April 29, (?) 1819, new articles to Ira Craw and John Cook.


1811, Sept. 9, Thomas Stutson, east third lot 3; 125 acres. Sept. 10, 1819, new article to John Sharp.


1811, Sept. 9, John Bisby, middle third lot 3; 125 acres. Sept. 10, 1819, new article to Peter Sharp, Alexander Stone.


1812, March 20, Ziba Hovey, part lot 24; 50 acres. Sold to Josiah Hovey.


1812, March 20, Ziba Hovey, part lot 24; 50 acres. Sold to Lyman Morris.


1812, July 11, David Griffis, west part lot 6; 75 acres.


1812, July 11, David Griffis, part lot 6; 102 acres. July 11, 1822, new article to Cyrus Rice.


1812, Nov. 10, John R. Knapp, part lot 23; 100 acres. Sold, 1828, to Julius Whitlock, 50 acres.


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FIRST SALES OF LANDS.


1812, Nov. 10, Wm. Knapp, north part lot 23; 100 acres. July 2, 1823, new article to Harley and Daniel Knapp.


1813, April 13, Samuel Whitlock, south-west part lot 23; 100 acres.


1813, June 21, Joseph Palmer, south part lot 43; 1823 acres. 1813, July 19, Josiah Jewett, west part lot 39; 200 acres. July 20, 1819, new articles to Amasa Mynard and Jo- seph Case.


1813, July 19, Nehemiah Fargo, south-east part lot 39; 80 acres.


1813, July 19, Nehemiah Fargo, north east part lot 39; S6} acres.


1814, Jan. 10, Levi Stearns, south part lot 2; 160 acres. Sold to Elijah and Andrew Blackman.


1814, Feb. 17, Josiah Boardman, east part lot 40; 100 acres. Feb. 18, 1822, new article to Isaac Boardman. Part sold to Noah Fisk.


1814, June 22, Aaron Bailey, middle lot 63; 100 acres.


1815, June 15, John II. Reddish, north east part lot 30; 54 acres. Sold to Jolm Wilder in 1829; to Harry Keeney in 1834.


1815, June 19, Simeon McWethy, south part lot 4; 144 acres. Part sold to Oliver Goodspeed in 1828.


1815, July 15, Jabez Chapman, cast part lot 6; 177 acres.


1815, Sept. 7, Elisha Gay, north west part lot 40; 120 acres. Parts sold to John Tripp, Shepard Eastland, Thomas Howes.


1815, Oct. 18, Isaac Luce, west part lot 63; 1113 acres. Sold to Chester Perkins.


1815, Oct. 21, Ziba Hovey, south part lot 8; 121 acres. Part sold to Prentice Holmes; next to Hewitt Kinney.


As has already been stated, the dates of the contracts, or articles, do not in all cases show the times at which settlers became residents of the town. For example: Josiah Hovey, Jun., is charged on the Land Company's book with Lot 23,


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


under date of June 20, 1803, being the date of the original purchase by Judge Webster, though Hovey did not buy until several months later; and as the land was bought in his name for himself and his brothers, Simeon and Gurdon, the names of these two do not appear on the book as purchasers of any part of the Lot, or as early settlers. Jonas Cutting is said to have come as early as 1804, though his article was dated Nov. 21, 1806, he having previously contracted with Judge Webster for the land. A number made purchases in 1803, and a few-as did one or two of the Hoveys-built their cab- ins in the fall; but it does not appear that any families but those of Judge Webster and Shubael Morris, became actual residents that year.


PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT-FIRST BURIAL.


In 1804, a considerable number of families and several un- married men, came in as settlers. The three Hoveys, just mentioned, came carly in the spring, and were followed, a few months later, by their father, with five younger sons, most of them, however, under age; Elijah Cutting, who had bought the year previous; Josiah Jewett, Nehemiah Fargo, Josiah Board- man, Jonas Cutting, William Knapp, Amos Keeney, Lyman Morris, Sterling Stearns, and perhaps others. Sterling Stearns was one of the first settlers at Wright's Corners, but removed from there early in the spring of 1804. On his way from Middlebury with his family, he stopped over night at Mr. Webster's, where one of his children, an infant son of about two years, died of croup. The body was buried by Amos Keeney, Elijah Cutting, and Wm. Webster, the latter being a youth of seventeen living with his brother. They cut away a few trees on the hill, half a mile south, and dug a grave; and as it was a time of high water in the creek, they had to cross it, single file, on a large log, a little north of the hill, one of them carrying under his arm the coffin made of part of a wagon box, there being no other boards in the place. This was the first body buried in the old grave-yard. There was


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EXPERIENCE OF SETTLERS.


no one to perform any religious service on the occasion. Mr. Stearns was a soldier of the Revolution; volunteered in the war of 1812, and was killed in the battle of Queenston. The second death in town was that of a son of Nehemiah Fargo, five years old, drowned in the O-at-ka, in the fall of 1804.


In 1805, the number of settlers received but a small in- crease. Our list of new purchasers contains the names of but three, of whom at least two did not bring in their families until the next year, namely, Giles Parker, and Lot Marchant. Hezekiah Wakefield is said by some to have come in as early as 1805; but we have no certain evidence of his being here previous to the purchase of Lot 53, in 1807, though he proba- bly came carlier.


In 1806, there was a large increase of population, the num- ber having probably more than doubled that year, if the number of new families was equal to the number of land purchases, as it probably was. For, though not all who bought came in the same year, several are known to have come whose purchases are not dated until a year or two later.


EXPERIENCE OF SETTLERS-AMOS KEENEY, AND OTHERS.


For several years, settlers had to procure their grain and other provisions at a great distance. The nearest accessible grist-mill was at Le Roy, to and from which, by way of Wright's Corners, over a half-opened road, with an ox-team, was a two or three days' journey. Grists were also sometimes taken to Conesus, six miles east of Geneseo. Most of the set- tlers were poor, and had spent all their means in getting here, a distance of more than three hundred miles. The experi- ence of Amos Keeney, though a little extraordinary, conveys a tolerably correet idea of the early struggles in the wilder- ness.


Mr. Keeney, as has already been stated, accompanied Judge Webster to Warsaw in October, 1803, driving one of his teams. He bargained with Mr. Webster for fifty acres of land, now a part of the farm of Samuel Fisher, 2d, which was


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


to be paid for by clearing ten acres for Webster. The condi- tion of his domestic affairs prevented his staying to build a house; and he traveled back to Hampton on foot, with Lyman Morris, who also had contracted for a farm. He returned in March; built his log cabin; chopped, towards paying for his land, two acres on the north side of what is now Buffalo street, between Main street and the creek; and started again for Hampton, carrying his provisions in a knapsack. Crossing Genesee river, he came near losing his life. Having but ten shillings, and over three hundred miles to travel, he could not afford to pay the ferriage fee of a shilling, and ventured to ford the stream, feeling his way with a long stick. Being a man of small stature, and stumbling over the stones, he found it difficult to maintain his balance amidst the deep and pow- erful current. Getting his knapsack replenished by a brother in Oneida Co., he was enabled to reach Hampton, having the last day morning paid out his last six-pence for lodging.


In October, he and Lyman Morris came in with their fam- ilies, Mr. Keeney having a wife and three children, and Mr. Morris a wife and two children. They had but one wagon, which carried all the household goods of both families, with the women and children. The wagon and the team of two yoke of oxen belonged to Morris, who had also three cows, and Keeney one. When within about ten miles of Warsaw, the king-bolt of the wagon broke; and they had to camp in the woods over night. The next morning, a second trial of a wooden bolt having failed, the company started for their des- tination on foot, leaving the wagon with the goods standing in the woods. Mr. Morris drove his oxen and carried Jonathan, then about two years old. Stephen Perkins drove the cows and carried George, then nearly five years old. Mr. Keeney put on his overcoat, and, by turning up the bottom, formed a kind of knapsack, in which he carried his two eldest children, Betsey and Harry, and his wife carried the baby, about six months old. Mrs. Morris, though she had no child to carry, did not go empty-handed. This is probably the only instance


Amos Reency. Sketch, p.286.


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EXPERIENCE OF SETTLERS.


known of ten emigrants entering a place, five of them being carried by four of the other five! Morris having got through first and made their situation known, Mr. Webster went to meet the others, and met them a mile and a half north of the village, at the foot of the hill, on the "Old Buffalo Road," then just opened from Leicester. Ile there relieved Mrs. Keeney of her burden, and escorted the new-comers to his hospitable cabin home.


Mr. Keeney's hardships had just begun. He owed some ten dollars or more for the transportation of his goods. Ilis stock of provisions had been reduced on his arrival to a few pounds of flour and a part of a salt fish. His house was one of the rudest of its kind. It had no chimney other than a wide opening. The fire-place had not even a stone back-wall, the fire being kept at a safe distance from the wooden wall. Their first night's sleep in their new house was disturbed by the howling of wolves, with which the wilderness abounded.


Scanty as was Mrs. Keeney's wardrobe, a flannel skirt was sold to Sterling Stearns for some wheat or flour, and a chintz dress to Josiah Hovey, Sen., for the wear of his eldest dangh- ter, for twelve bushels of corn to be delivered at Genesco, where Mr. Hovey had raised it the preceding summer. He hired an ox-team to go after his corn. The first settlers had their "milling " chiefly done in Le Roy. But, being, when at Genesco, within six miles of Bosley's mill on the Conesns outlet, he took his grist to that mill. He had now a tolerable supply of breadstuff; but where could he store it? and how preserve so great a bulk of corn meal from spoiling? He cut from a hollow bass-wood tree several pieces about three feet long, shaved off the bark, and smoothed them inside. He put the meal into these vessels in layers of about two inches deep, separated by layers of clean flat stones. In this way it was preserved, and, with the flour previously bought, lasted nearly a year. One of these vessels is still in use for other purposes, and will probably be transmitted to the "third and fourth generations " as a memorial of pioneer life on the Hol- land Purchase.


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


Their meat during the first winter was chiefly venison, fur- nished by Judge Webster, who was skillful in the use of the rifle. He killed the deer, and half dressed them, which was done by loosening the skin from the fore part of the animal, and taking out the entrails. The carcass was then cut in two, crosswise, and the parts were fastened to a sapling bent down, or to a limb of a tree, which, springing back, would raise them beyond the reach of wolves. Mr. Keeney, guided by the track in the snow, would find and bring in the meat, tak- ing the two fore-quarters for his share. For a part of one or two seasons, Judge Webster supplied some of the settlers with pigeons caught in a net, they returning him the feathers.


At a pioneer meeting in this village a few years since, Hon. Seth M. Gates presented the following :


" My father moved from Litchfield, Herkimer County, to Sheldon, in 1806. He was twenty-six days on the road, and hard driving at that. Roswell Turner, father of the writer of the History of the Holland Purchase, started with a load of provisions from Genesee river to go to his residence in Sheldon, a distance of thirty miles, and actually went back to stay the first and second nights, and was five days get- ting home. Jabish Warren, of Aurora village, hired sev- eral hands to clear his land in that village, so long the residence of President Fillmore, and used to come fourteen miles to Roswell Turner's, in Sheldon, to get his bread baked."


Truman Lewis, in the spring of 1807, came from Vernon, Oneida county, to Orangeville. Ile passed through Warsaw in the evening; and in the middle of the highway, now Main street, he stopped and counted the children through the cracks of a house which stood on the east side of the street. Before his marriage, he had a younger brother, Jason Lewis, now of Hinsdale, living with him. It was a year of great dearth. There was no grain to be had; and although they had meat and milk and vegetables, they soon felt the neces- sity of having bread. Truman started on horseback to see if he could buy some wheat or corn. He continued his journey


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EXPERIENCE OF SETTLERS.


and inquiries until, somewhere on the Genesee river near Mount Morris, he found a man who had a very little wheat. He asked the man if he would sell a bushel for $5. The reply was, that he would not sell it for a bushel of dollars. He continued his travels until he found a squaw in Caucadea, Allegany county, who had a little corn. He succeeded in buying a little, and brought it home on his horse. He had at this time wheat on the ground; and as soon as it began to turn on the knolls, he reaped a few bundles, dried theni around the fire in his log-house, threshed them, and, putting the wheat into a pillow-case, sent Jason with it on foot five miles to Vary's mill, at Varysburg, to get it ground. There had been no wheat in the mill for weeks; and, to use the words of Jason, he was obliged " to watch the old man at the hopper, the old woman at the bolt, and the pet lamb at both." He got home with his flour about nine o'clock in the evening, and had " one good square meal of short cake and butter " before sleeping.


UNCOMFORTABLE DWELLINGS.


Among the unavoidable inconveniences of the first settlers, though perhaps not the greatest one, was the want of com- fortable dwellings, especially before there were saw-mills, as, for the want of boards, blankets were used by many to close the openings left for doors; and the chamber floors, as well as roofs, were bark. A more minute description of these dwell- ings may be acceptable to many readers of the present gen- eration, born and reared in the " ceiled houses" of their fathers. A worthy citizen, responding to a request to com- municate such information concerning his part of the town as he should deem suitable for our history, gave, with sundry other things, a description of the style of house architecture in the days of the pioneers, and as adopted by his father in 1806, which shows no material improvement during the two intervening years since the erection of the bark-covered struc- tures of Judge Webster and his earlier neighbors. The sub-


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IUSTORY OF WARSAW.


stance of his description, with such additional facts as our knowledge of log-house architecture enables us to supply, is as follows :


A cabin was erected by notching the logs together at the ends, placing one above another to the height of about a story and a half. The roof of this little palace of the woods was made by framing together round poles for rafters, across which were placed other poles to support the covering made of elm bark taken from large trees when they peeled readily. The strips were about four or five feet long by two or three feet wide, and fastened on the roof in tiers, each tier lapping on the preceding one. The floors were made of bass-wood plank split out with beetle and wedge. These planks were dressed as well as time and circumstances permitted. The fire-place was made by cutting out several logs from one side of the building, making an opening seven or eight feet square, which was filled with common field stone laid in mortar made of common earth. The chimney was commenced at the chamber floor, very wide, to correspond with the broad fire- place under it. It was built of thin strips of timber resem- bling our common strip lath, laid up in the form of a cob- house, gradually narrowed in its progress upward, until reduced to dimensions little larger than those of an ordinary brick chimney of fifty years ago. The inside of it was plas- tered with mortar made of clay and chopped straw, the latter being used for the same purpose as hair in common mortar. The strips were obtained by riving them out of free rifted timber. This " stick chimney," as we used to call it, was far from being fire-proof, and was a source of much anxiety, as the soot would often ignite, and sometimes communicate fire to the wood, and much alarm the family. A speedy applica- tion of water, thrown up plentifully inside, would soon allay all fears. The cracks between the logs were filled up with timber, and plastered over with the same material as that used in making the chimney.


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EXPERIENCE OF SETTLERS.


Bedsteads were sometimes made from saplings cut into pieces of the right length. The rails at two corners were fas- tened to the wall, by fitting them into holes made into the log wall with a large auger. At the other two corners, the rails were fastened in the same way into short posts. Or, by hav- ing three corners fastened to the walls, the bedstead required but a single post. It now wanted only a cord, which was sometimes made of elm or bass-wood bark.


Living in houses like those we have described, must have been attended with serions discomforts. In many families were six, eight, or ten children, who, with their parents, were crowded into a single room. In one corner was the father and mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed for the smaller children. The larger children lodged in the chamber, which they entered by a ladder in another corner. And they often made tracks to and from their beds in snow driven through the crevices by the wind. These houses furnished anything but comfortable quarters to their occupants, especially in win- ter. Nor did their roofs, made of bark or shakes, protect them from the rains in the summer. How visitors who came to spend the night were disposed of, the reader may not readily conceive. Some, as their families increased, added to their houses another room of the same size, and built of the same material as the former. After there were mills to fur- nish the timber, a small framed building was sometimes attached to the log structure, designed to form a part of the new framed house in prospect.


FIRST MILLS-STORE-PHYSICIAN-DIVISION OF TIIE TOWN.


One great want of the settlers was in part supplied by Judge Webster's saw-mill, which, according to Turner's History, and French's Gazetteer, was built in 1804. This is probably a mistake. Mrs. Hovey, who came into town with her late husband, Simeon Hovey, in the spring of 1804, and is still living, says that Mr. Hovey, in part payment for the land bought of Judge Webster, built the mill, and made some


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HISTORY OF WARSAW.


of the gearing in the winter season in his (Mr. Hovey's) log- house, and in their only room, which, though used already as a kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room, parlor, and bed-room, became also a carpenter's shop. The mill, therefore, could not have been running until 1805, though it may have been commenced the year before. The mill was on O-at-ka creek, near where that stream is crossed by the first road north of South Warsaw running east by Amos Keeney's, and near the spot where Leonard Martin's saw-mill now stands.


Another, and perhaps a still greater want was supplied by the first grist-mill, which stood near the saw-mill, and which is said to have been built by Joseph Morley or Mauley, in 1806, and bought by Solomon Morris, Sen. Amos Keeney thinks Mauley, for the want of means, was unable to finish it, and though he sold it to Morris in 1806, Morris did not get it running until the next year. Probably the idea was not then entertained, that within the limits of the village, a water power would be found sufficient to propel two large grist- mills, as is now done. But for many years after this mill was built, and even until long after the village mill had been built by Simeon Cumings, getting "milling" done was no small item of labor. Roads were uneven, rooty, and miry; and the sloughs were bridged with logs laid side by side across the way. Hence the vulgar name of "crossway " given to a bridge of this kind-a name, however, not sanctioned by Webster, who gives us causeway or causey, instead. While the bad roads lasted, grists were carried in the summer season, in great part. on horseback.


Great inconvenience was suffered also from the want of a store. The Gazetteer says the first store was kept by Absalom Green and Daniel Shaw, in 1809. A settler of 1804 says these men brought with them some articles of goods, but no general assortment; and it is believed that they made no subsequent purchases. The first store, properly so called, was kept by Almon Stevens, agent for John Dixson, a merchant in Richmond, Ontario Co. Mr. Stevens came in 1813, and


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EXPERIENCE OF SETTLERS.


for a time occupied the bar-room of the tavern built by Judge Webster, who had discontinued his tavern after another had been built capable of accommodating the public. Goods were very dear, not only then, but for many years later, espe- cially the heavy groceries, iron, nails, salt, &c. Goods were hauled from Albany in wagons; and it took three or four weeks to make a trip.




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