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 6
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
IIISTORY OF WARSAW.
Several acres have been set apart and inclosed for a Park. Three fine brick dwelling houses have been erected by G. W. Frank, H. A. Dudley, and Rev. J. E. Nassau. That of Mr. Frank is completed. Another has been commenced by Mr. Farman, and will be completed the present year. This will soon be one of the most attractive parts of the village.
POST OFFICES.
The first Post-Office in Warsaw was established in 1811. Prior to this time, letters were received and mailed at Bata- via. County, town, and land-office business being done there, the inhabitants had frequent opportunities of sending to the post-office at that place. But the early settlers received many letters from eastern friends by the hands of " new comers," and of those who came seeking homes. And as those who purchased returned to bring in their families, the people probably received and sent most of their letters outside of the mails. The rates of postage were high; and few letters would have been written even if there had been a post-office in the town. Postage on letters was, for a distance not ex- ceeding 30 miles, 6 cents; over 30 and not exceeding 80 miles, 10 cents; over 80 and not exceeding 150 miles, 123 cents; over 150 and not exceeding 400 miles, 183 cents; over 400 miles, 25 cents. The carly settlers being generally poor, they were compelled to restrict their correspondence to cases of necessity. Coming from the extreme eastern part of this state and from the eastern states, most of their letters were subject to the highest rates. How many letters would our farmers now write if they had to pay the price of a bushel of wheat or four bushels of oats for a letter? Yet there was a time, many years after there was a post-office here, when the quantity mentioned of each of these commodities would have commanded no more cash than the highest rates of postage.
71
POST-OFFICES.
And how would men have regarded the prediction that, within the life-time of some then living, a letter would be carried from the Atlantic to the Pacific for three cents ?
At an early day-probably soon after the establishment or the post-office here-a post route was established from Geneseo through this place to Lake Erie, which made a direct and con- tinuous route from Canandaigua to that lake, at a point eight miles from Buffalo. Levi Street, of Sheldon, carried the mail many years, and, as is believed, was the first contractor and carrier; but what year he commenced his ride, (on horseback, of course,) we are not informed. The papers chiefly taken were the "Ontario Repository " and " Ontario Messenger," both published in Canandaigua, and, at a later date, the "Moscow Advertiser," and were carried by Mr. Street. Of the number he distributed, we may form a tolerable estimate from the fact, that they were carried in a saddle-bag, as lately as 1816, at those seasons of the year when the roads were too muddy or too rough for him to go with his vehicle, labeled, " Moscow Stage." Mr. Street was at length superseded by other mail contractors, who at least furnished the traveling public better accommodations. He removed to Cincinnati, O., where he died of that dreadful disease, hydrophobia, caused by the bite of a horse.
The "Genesee Intelligencer," the first paper in this state west of the Genesee River, was published in Batavia in 1807, by Elias Williams, who commenced it in the spring, and dis- continued it in October. The "Cornucopia " was commenced the next spring, (1808,) by Benjamin Blodgett and Samuel Peck, and continued by them until 1811, when David C. Miller took the place of Mr. Peck; and the paper assumed the name of "Republican Advocate." The post-office being established here about the same time, this paper began to take the place of the Canandaigua papers. In 1819, the "Spirit of the Times " was commenced at Batavia. After this, few Ontario papers appeared in this town.
72
HISTORY OF WARSAW.
The following are the names of Postmasters in Warsaw, with the dates of their appointment :
Chauncey L. Sheldon, April 12, 1811. Chauncey L. Sheldon, January 24, 1826.
Elias R. Bascom, March 3, 1828. Isaac C. Bronson, August 20, 1841. William K. Crooks, March 10, 1843. Edwin L. Fuller, July 15, 1845. Charles W. Bailey, May 3, 1849. Jacob W. Knapp, February 28, 1853. Seth M. Gates, May 28, 1861. Seth M. Gates, June 3, 1865.
The amount received for postage on letters and papers dur- ing the first year at this post-office was about fifty dollars.
By an act of Congress, postmasters whose compensation from commissions on the money received at their respective offices exceeds $1,000, are appointed by the President, with the concurrence of the Senate.
A post-office was established at South Warsaw, February, 1850, and continued several years, Alonzo Choate, postmaster. Also in the south-east part of the town a post-office named East Warsaw was established after the preceding-Evans, postmaster. It was continued but a few years.
73
AGRICULTURE.
AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURE is a term hardly applicable to the farming of those days. Agricultural papers, if there had been any, would have been of little use to those just beginning in the woods. The "virgin soil " was prepared for seed when cleared of its forest burden-the better, however, if it had had a " good burn," which the proprietor was always anxious to se- cure. The principal instrument of tillage was the triangular harrow, usually called drag, sometimes made of a crotched tree. The timber was worked down to the proper size, and teeth were inserted of nearly double the thickness of those now used, so as to stand the severe test to which they were to be put. The drag bounded along over roots and stones, and among the stumps, generally drawn by oxen often driven by boys-a kind of driving which would not be relished by the youthful drivers of " fast horses" in these later days. And when the roots had become sufficiently brittle to admit of the use of the plow, an instrument was used, which it would puzzle the young men of the present day to give a name. The idea of a cast iron plow had not then entered the brain of the inventor. This plow was invented by Jethro Wood, of Scipio, Cayuga Co., N. Y., about fifty years ago; though it is a much less number of years since it came into general use. The improvements since made in the plow and the harrow; the invention of cultivators, drills for sowing and planting, and other labor-saving implements, have changed the aspect of farming, and increased incalculably the power of produc- tion.
In harvesting, the change is most striking. Before the de- cay and removal of stumps permitted the use of the grain cradle, the cutting of grain was mostly done with the sickle, now a rare instrument, not at all used for its original purpose. It was then a staple article of merchandise. In the old Day- Books and Journals of the early merchants, if they could be
74
HISTORY OF WARSAW.
found, might be seen the charge, "To 1 Sickle," under the names of scores of customers, followed, in the cases of many, by that other charge, "To 1 Gal. Whisky," an article then deemed by some as necessary in the harvesting operation as the instrument itself. The cradle, which superseded the sickle, is now fast giving way-in many parts of the country has wholly done so already-to the reaper, an instrument then not more likely to be invented than the photographic art, or the means of hourly intercourse with people on the other side of the Atlantic. Single fields of wheat of one hundred to five hundred acres each, are not rare in some of the Western States. Let a man imagine an attempt to ent these immense fields of grain by handfuls with the sickle, and he can not fail to appreciate the invention of the reaper. Grain was threshed with the flail, ten to twenty bushels a day, and cleaned with a fan-an instrument which most of our readers have never seen, and which we will not under- take to describe. It was superseded by the fanning-mill, which, though not a new invention, was not easily obtained by the first settlers. A single machine now receives the sheaves and delivers the cleaned grain at the rate of one hundred to two hundred bushels a day. And a reaper is in use at the West, which carries two binders, and drops along its track the cut grain in sheaves, bound.
In hay harvesting, also, improvements would seem to have reached perfection, when a lad of sufficient age to drive a team, mows from fifty to one hundred acres of meadow in an ordinary haying season, and the hay is all raked during the same time by a single hand.
STOCK RAISING.
Early attention was given to the raising of stock. In a large portion of the Holland Purchase, it has become the principal branch of agriculture. The first settlers moved on with ox-teams, and each brought a cow, few more than one. For several years, their little " clearings " were insufficient to
75
AGRICULTURE.
furnish keeping for the smallest herds. Before they had pastures and meadows, cattle run in the woods during sum- mer, feeding on herbage and browse. Leeks, with which the woods abounded, and which appeared almost as soon as the snow was off, were a tolerable substitute for hay and carly pasture. In the winter, the lack of hay was chiefly supplied with straw and corn-stalks from the first grain crops, and browse. Much of the chopping was done in winter; and cattle were driven to the woods to feed on the tops of the fallen trees. In process of time, settlers were enabled, from the increase of their stock, to supply "new comers," who saved the expense of driving cows by buying here. And stock raising in time became to many the most profitable branch of farming. When there was no longer a home demand for the surplus grain, nor any other accessible market, cattle, though very cheap, were sold to drovers and driven to eastern cities, when grain would not bear transportation to the nearest market.
The first crops of grain were abundant in all the Holland Purchase. But when the land came to be plowed, the pro- ducts began to decrease; and in large portions of it, the raising of breadstuffs proved a failure. This was the case in the western towns of this county. Farmers continued to plow, and kept comparatively poor. They turned to grazing; and from the products of the dairy and the sheep-fold, they paid for their farms, and became rich. The introduction of im- proved breeds of cattle and sheep, and improvements in the making of butter and cheese, have contributed greatly to this result. Cheese factories have been built in most of the towns in this county. Twenty-four were in operation the last year. Of the products of these factories we have not the means of forming even a tolerable estimate.
FRUIT CULTURE.
Fruit culture, too, has proved a material source of profit. Almost the first acre of the early settler's "clearing," was
76
HISTORY OF WARSAW.
made the beginning of a large apple orchard. The crop in time became abundant, and for the surplus there was no market; and many farmers cut down a large portion of their trees. They soon learned their mistake. Instead of continu- ing to contract, they are now rapidly extending the area of their orchards to meet the constantly increasing demand for this staple fruit. Many a farmer in Western New York receives a greater profit from his orchard, than from the rest of a large and fertile farm. So great a portion of the West -- all that lies in the more northern latitudes-must ever remain dependent upon other parts of the Union, that there need be no fear of an unsalable surplus. And we may add the fact-perhaps not generally known-that the apples from Western New York are preferred to those from other sections of the Union.
In view of the various modern improvements, by which the labor of farming has been so much lightened, and so well rewarded, it is not strange that the business has been increas- ing in the popular favor. It is becoming as attractive as it is honorable.
RESIDENCE OF AUGUSTUS FRANK
77
MERCIIANTS.
TRADE-MERCHANTS.
ALTHOUGH the first dwellings and school-houses were built of logs, we believe there was never in this town a log store. There have been many on the Holland Purchase, however; and we have seen several within the present limits of this county. Asheries were established in new settlements, and their proprietors kept small lots of the more common articles of merchandise in a part of their log dwellings, or erected a building of the same material for a store. And we have seen in some of them good assortments, comprising nearly the usual variety found in stores generally.
The early stores bore a striking contrast to those of the present time. A hardware store, a drug store, a book store, or grocery store, as such, was not, until a late period, known in country villages. A store comprising a single class of goods could not, among a sparse and poor population, be sustained. Hence merchants kept, and would enumerate in their show-bills and advertisements, "Dry Goods, Groceries, Crockery and Glass-ware, Hardware, Iron-Bar, Band, Hoop, and Sheet Iron-Nails, School Books and Stationery, Dye- woods and Dye-stuffs," and sometimes adding, "Drugs and Medicines," and not excepting "Brandy, Rum, Gin, and Whisky;" and this list would be supplemented with a string of et ceteras, or, " every other article usually found in country stores."
It will be readily imagined to have been no inconsiderable item in a merchant's business to make his semi-annual pur- chases. Preparations for his periodical visits to Albany and New York were commenced weeks beforehand. The time of absence would vary from two to four weeks, according to the state of the roads; and leaving for New York was attended with about as much circumstance and ceremony, as is now observed on leaving for a tour to Europe.
78
HISTORY OF WARSAW.
Few goods were sold for cash. Almost all trade was on the credit and barter system; as well that of the merchant as that among the people in general. Notes were made payable in grain, lumber, cattle, and other commodities, and some- times contained the stipulation, "at cash price;" for almost every country product, as well as merchants' goods, had two prices, a cash and a barter or credit price; though it was by no means an easy matter to ascertain the cash price, which, after all, depended materially upon the mutual agreement of the parties. Merchants often suffered much loss by this system of business. Notwithstanding the high per centage charged as profits on their goods, losses by bad debts, (many customers being very poor,) and losses on grain and other commodities, which it was difficult, sometimes impossible, to turn into cash, rendered the mercantile business a precarious and hazardous one.
Warsaw was for many years the center of trade for an extensive region. At Attica, and Batavia, and Le Roy, were the nearest stores in those directions. Perry was the only adjoining town in which there was a store. The northern towns of Allegany county, and the town of Castile in our own county, (then Genesee,) found here a market for large quan- tities of pine lumber, with which those towns then abounded. It was here exchanged for goods and grain. Much of the grain taken by the merchants for goods was thus disposed of.
To the south-west, trade extended far into Allegany and Cattaraugus counties. Maple sugar, long an important arti- cle of trade, came in large quantities from that quarter. But from its superabundance, and the inhabitants generally sup- plying themselves, the price was at times as low as four or five cents a pound. Brown sugars of the kinds now used, were seldom found in the early country stores. Almost the only sugar brought from New York, was the white, refined sugar, put up in hard, tall, solid loaves of a conical form, and hence called Imp or loaf sugar, and was wrapped in strong and coarse paper. This refined sugar was sold chiefly for
79
MERCILANTS.
sweetening medicines and the liquors of tavern-keepers, who bought it in large quantities.
Ashes were a more important article of trade. In every place of considerable business, there was at least one mer- chant who had an ashery and bought the ashes made in the neighborhood, the lye of which was boiled into pot-ash. Raw ashes, of which large quantities were made in the fields from the timber burned in clearing land, not admitting of trans- portation a great distance, it was necessary to concentrate their virtue into smaller bulk. The lye was boiled down to the consistence of thick mortar, called "black salts," which were brought to this village a distance of twenty or thirty miles from the south-west. Hence the necessity also of a pearl-ashery for converting the salts into pearl ashes. This was done by baking, or rather burning them in a large oven brought almost to a red heat. The value of this trade will readily appear from the fact, that pot and pearl ashes, con- taining great value in small weight and bulk, might be trans- ported a great distance. Hence they were taken by teams to Geneseo and Rochester, where they always commanded cash; and sometimes, before the construction of the Erie canal, to Albany, by teams, which were loaded back with merchants' goods. Pot and pearl ashes being so readily turned into cash, the manufacturers would often pay for salts and raw ashes in part, sometimes wholly, in cash.
To facilitate the collection of debts, merchants sometimes received cattle on accounts from their customers, and drove them to castern markets, or sold them to drovers from the east. Cattle were cheap in those days. A pair of good working oxen could be bought for fifty or sixty dollars; steers three years old, for fifteen dollars a head; steers two years old, for about ten dollars. Pork also was taken on account, at prices which contrast strikingly with those paid within the last few years. Well fatted pork, dressed, has been bought here for two dollars and a half per hundred.
80
IIISTORY OF WARSAW.
STORES.
Almon Stevens came in with a store of goods as agent for John Dixson, in Jan., 1813. The bar-room of Judge Web- ster's tavern, (no longer kept by him as such,) was used for a store, until a store was built, which was the small building removed a few years since to clear the ground for the new Presbyterian church, and which now stands on Liberty street, opposite the Fair grounds. After about two years, Almon Stevens and his brother Henry bought the stock in trade, and continued the business about two years, and discontinued it in 1817, or 1818.
In 1815, Simeon Cummings, who that year made his land purchase of Judge Webster, in connection with Dr. Sheldon, and a Mr. Brigham, established a store, under the firm of C. L. Sheldon & Co. It was kept in the small red building, afterwards used many years as a dwelling, and finally re- moved to make room for the Episcopal church. The store was discontinued in 1816.
In the winter of 1816-17, Erastus Beach, of Mt. Morris, opened a store on the west side of Main street, nearly oppo- site the present site of the brick hotel. It was continued less than a year.
In 1817, Elisha Parmele opened a store in the building, elsewhere noticed as " the cider-mill," a few rods west of the mill-race on Buffalo street, and occupied it until he had built a new store near the north tavern, afterwards removed to the corner opposite to and south of the Brick Hotel, and known as the "old yellow store." He stopped trade in the winter or spring of 1824.
In or about the year 1818, Drs. Sheldon & Frank com- menced trade on a small scale, or added some family necessaries to their Drugs and Medicines in a small building, twelve by sixteen feet, standing east side of Main street, facing Buffalo street, and used also for a Post-Office. It may still be seen on Water street, where it forms a wing to a
81
MERCHANTS.
dwelling-house. The compound word, "Post-Office," thinly covered with white paint, may still be read on the frieze. A larger store was soon built, occupied by that firm for a few years, and afterwards by Dr. Sheldon, and Sheldon & Bas- com. Since the addition of a lower story, and a change in the appearance in its front, by its present proprietor, it has been designated as "Dr. Bartlett's Gothic."
In 1818, HIomer and Ebenezer C. Kimberly opened a store in the building formerly occupied by Almon Stevens, near the Presbyterian church. In 1820, they occupied their new store on the north corner of Main and Buffalo streets, now called the "Bank corner," the Bank having since been pressed in between the street and the spot previously occu- pied by the corner building. In 1822 the firmn was dissolved, and the business was continued by Ebenezer C. Kimberly until 1828.
In the spring of 1822, Dr. Frank, having dissolved with Dr. Sheldon, and built a new store on the west side of Main street, near the ground now occupied by A. & G. W. Frank, commenced business in his own name alone, and continued the business for nearly thirty years from that time, and, until within a few years of his death, in the same building.
In 1824 or 1825, Elias R. Bascom, a clerk of Dr. Sheldon, became a partner in the concern, and so continued, it is believed, until the death of Dr. Sheldon, in March, 1828. Mr. Bascom continued business until 1832 or 1833, alone, except a very short period of partnership under the firm of Bascom & Whitcomb.
About the year 1825, John McWhorter and John M. Cumings commenced trade in the " yellow store," and con- tinued business a year or two.
In Sept., 1828, A. W. Young removed his goods from Wethersfield, and commenced business in the corner store building, bought of E. C. Kimberly. In Sept., 1830, he took in Joshua H. Darling as a partner; and business was con- tinned under the firm of A. W. Young & Co., until the next
6
82
IHISTORY OF WARSAW.
year, when Mr. Young withdrew from the firm; and in the spring of 1832, Mr. Darling sold to Young & Webster, who were succeeded the same year by Mr. Darling, who bought, with the store and goods, the dwelling-house and lot now owned by Timothy HI. Buxton.
In 1831, Isaac C. Bronson joined Dr. Frank in trade. In 1836, he left the concern, and commenced business in the "yellow store," and in 1837, he took into partnership his brother-in-law, Chauncey C. Gates, who, in 1843, sold out his interest to Andrew G. Hammond.
In 1833 or 1834, Andrew G. Hammond came to Warsaw as agent for John Dixson, of Richmond, and after about a year, removed to Ohio, with the goods. After closing busi- ness there, and being employed as Cashier in Kalamazoo, Mich., and in Florida, he returned to Warsaw, and became a partner of Isaac C. Bronson, as above stated, in the year 1843.
About the year 1837, Alanson Holly and James M. Darling bought Dr. Frank's goods, and traded one year. After this, Mr. Holly bought Joshua II. Darling's stock of goods at the corner store, and traded alone a year.
About the year 1842, Morrison & Faulkner opened a store in Warsaw. Within a year or two after, Faulkner retired from the firm, and Morrison continued business a year or more, sold out his goods, and returned to New York. He is now one of the firm of Lathrop, Ludington & Co., wholesale Dry Goods dealers in that city.
In 1843, Roswell Gould, who had traded fifteen years in South Warsaw, removed to the village, and continued the business until 1851, when he sold his stock of goods to Web- ster & Andrews.
In May, 1845, the Comstocks of Le Roy, and Elijah W. Andrews, of Warsaw, under the firm of A. O. Comstock & Co., established a store in Warsaw. In 1848, Abel Webster became a partner, and the firm was changed to Comstock, Andrews & Co. In 1850, Webster retired. Comstock &
-
£3
MERCHANTS.
Andrews, in 1851, sold out to Watson, Murray & Co. In 1853, E. D. Day retired from this firm; and in 1853, Watson & Murray sold to E. W. Andrews, who, in 1856, sold to S. A. Murray, who, in 1857, sold to Albert Purdy, who continued business until February, 1867, when his store was destroyed by fire.
In 1851, after Comstock & Andrews had sold to Watson, Murray & Co., Webster & Andrews bought ont Roswell Gould. In 1853, Abel Webster bought the interest of his partner, and continued business until his death, in 1859.
In 1845, Alonzo Choate bought of Roswell Gould his store and goods at South Warsaw, and continued business until 1854, when he sold half his interest to Gurdon G. Clark, who conducted the business; and Mr. Choate established a store in the village, in the south end of the Gould Block, now owned and occupied by Thomas S. Glover, and continued business one year. The store at South Warsaw was discon- tinned soon after.
In 1847, Augustus Frank, Jun., commenced trade, which he continued alone many years, when he admitted his brother George W. The business, under the firm of A. & G. W. Frank, still continues.
J. M. Darling and Allen Y. Breck, (Darling & Breck,) commenced trade at the old "corner store," (year not recol- lected,) and continued, it is believed, several years. Mr. Breck subsequently, in different stores, alone, and with Seth M. Gates, and later as one of the firm of Breck, Gates & Hurds, (Chester Inrd and Son,) carried on the business for several years.
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.