USA > New York > Monroe County > Landmarks of Monroe County, New York : containing followed by brief historical sketches of the towns of the county with biography and family history > Part 26
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
plied with springs. The ' Alluvial Way,' or Ridge Road, extends west- ward from Rochester to Lewiston, on which the mail is carried three times a week, by a line of post coaches between Canandaigua and Lew- iston, by way of Rochester. This (the ridge, now in Greece), is the principal route of travel for people going to Upper Canada," etc.
The population of the old town of Northampton in 1800 was 778, and of the town of Gates as constituted in 1810, a total of 464. In 1820, inclusive of Greece, the inhabitants numbered 2,643, of whom 473 were farmers, 296 mechanics, 17 traders. There were also then in the town eighteen free blacks and nine slaves, but not many years were suffered to pass before the slaves were manumited and set free. How- ever, let us turn backward, and see who were the first settlers in Gates, the pioneers to whom belonged the honor of having been first on the soil of the town, and who laid the foundation for the welfare and pros- perity of succeeding generations.
All writers of the past history of this town agree that the first settler was Isaac Dean, a native of Vermont, a farmer and miller by occupa- tion, but the exact year of whose settlement has ever been clouded in doubt. Several early authorities have mentioned 1809 as the year, but this is an evident mistake, as several other families were located in the town previous to that time. It is believed that pioneer Dean came to the region in 1799, settled about a mile south of the center, and that in 1810 he built the famous saw mill that made his name and works espe- cially prominent in local history. John, Abraham and Charles Harford, and Isaac Ray were also among the earliest settlers, all thought to have come to the town in 1800. John Harford was one of the largest land owners in the county and is said to have possessed at one time at least the twelfth part of Gates. He located near the junction of the Lyell and Spencerport roads. Isaac Ray was a farmer and had his home east of Gates Center. Samuel and Daniel Gilman and Augustus B. Shaw were settlers in 1804, followed soon afterward by John Van Sickle, Dr. Wellman and Mr. Caswell. The Wells family came into the town about 1811 and settled near the Gillmans. The first town meet- ing was held at the house of Jeremiah Olmstead in 1809, and Zaccheus Colby acted as presiding officer ; hence each of these persons must have been among the pioneers, as also were the other officers chosen on that occasion.
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THE TOWN OF GATES.
The first town officers were as follows: Supervisor, Zaccheus Colby ; town clerk, Hugh McDermaid ; assessors, John Williams, Thomas King and Richard Clark; road commissioners, Matthew Dimmick, Moses Clark, Nathaniel Tibbles ; overseers of the poor, Abel Rowe and Moses Clark; collector, Richard Clark; overseers of highways, Thomas Lee, Charles Harford, Frederick Rowe, Erastus Robertson, Asahel Wilkin- son, Moses Clark and Nathaniel Jones; fence viewers and pound keepers, Abel Rowe, Augustus B. Shaw, Thomas King and Samuel Latta.
Referring collectively to other early settlers and in one way and an- other identified with olden times in Gates, we may mention the names of Ansel Griffin, an early collector of the town; William Hinchey, who came about 1810 and lived south of the Center ; Philip Lyell, for whom the " Lyell " (sometimes written " Lisle ") road received its name ; Da- vid Frink and Everett H. Peck, also Thomas Jameson, who came before 1812. The same may be said of Ezra Mason and Richard Paul. The first white female child born in Gates was the daughter of Ezra Mason ; the year 1818. Lowell Thomas, Ira Waite, Orange, Elliott, Ira and Cyrus Bartlett, Calvin G. Hill (a surveyor), and Luther Hall were also settled in the town previous to 1817. In their vicinity, known at an early day as the rapids, Asahel Bentley, Jeremiah Knapp and Daniel Muringer were also early comers. Simeon Hunt came to Gates pre- vious to 1814, built a house west of the Center, but afterward moved to Michigan. Chauncey Dean and Asahel Ainsworth, and also Amasa Kellogg and Spencer Woodward were in Gates about 1815. Samuel and Humphrey Hart, William Van Slycke, Gideon Baker were also here before 1820. Luther Field, a Windham county Vermonter, came in 1816. Other early comers to the town were Lindsley Sturgis, Joel Wheeler, Samuel Weibert, Eleazer Howard, Daniel Loomis, William Booth, Chester Field, Calvin Sperry (1825), and still others whose names are perhaps forgotten, but all were worthy of mention among the former residents of Gates and associated with its early events. Many of these heads of families still have descendants in the town, others were here for a time and then moved to another locality, while a few names have become extinct.
According to recollections of early events, it was on the land of John
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
Harford that the first grain was sowed, while Isaac Ray, who had mar. ried Harford's daughter, cleared some of the first land and erected one of the first houses. The old log tavern, the pioneer hotel in the town, was built in 1806, and William Jameson was its landlord. Joshua Bee- man followed him as host. At the rapids Mr. Caswell had a hotel as early as 1810, and Dr. Wellman the third a little later on. Asa Mun- son's tavern west of the rapids, was opened about 1820. At Gates Center Eleazer Howard opened public house about 1823, and another was soon started farther west, on the Buffalo road by Lindsley Sturgis. Chester Fields opened hotel on the same road in 1832, and others were subsequently started by others elsewhere on the principal thorough- fares leading west. In fact the old Buffalo road enjoyed much the same early prominence as did the famous Ridge road farther north, and during the period when westward travel was at its greatest it was cus- tomary to find public houses about every two or three miles ; and to- day in passing along one of these roads the old structures originally built for public houses are still noticeable, although now put to other uses. The Robert Currier brick hotel was built in 1864. The old Dean saw mill, built in 1810, stood near the Chili line, one and one- half mile south of the Center. Chauncey Dean owned it in 1811. Ira Waite kept the first store.
Such was the pioneer and early settlement history of the town of Gates, one of the oldest divisions of Monroe county. These settlers were mainly from New England, while a fair proportion of the others came from the counties in the eastern part of the State, and all sought to better their condition in the justly famed Genesee country.
A part of the town was taken for the organization of Rochester in 1817, and in 1822 the erection of Greece took from Gates more than half of its remaining territory, nevertheless the local population in 1830 numbered 1,631. During the next ten years, it increased to 1,728, and in 1850 the number of inhabitants was 2,005. By 1860 it had grown to 2,710, and in 1870 to 3,541. The extension of the city limits in 1874 reduced the number to 1,988 as shown by the census of 1880, but dur- ing the next ten years the population had increased to 2,910, according to the enumeration of 1890.
The chief occupation of the early settlers was farming, but as the
R. L. Fields
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THE TOWN OF GATES
city was constantly and rapidly increasing, both in numbers of inhabit- ants and business interests, there was created a demand for other prod- ucts of the then ordinary agricultural labors produced, hence the people of the town turned their attention to market gardening and milk pro- ducing. The result has been entirely beneficial to the town, and to- day Gates stands well up in the front rank of progressive towns in the the county. In 1820 there were 5,288 acres of land under cultivation, employing 1,431 cattle, 282 horses, and grazing 1,937 sheep. At that time also the town had in operation two grist mills, eleven saw mills, one fulling mill, one carding machine, one cotton and woolen factory, three iron works, two trip hammers, five distilleries and three asheries. During the next ten years, by creation of other towns, many of these industries were also separated from Gates, but in 1835 we find 6,336 acres of improved land, 6,362 cattle, 1,047 horses, and 389 sheep, with only one saw mill and one ashery in operation.
The town was organized at a meeting of the inhabitants held April 4, 1809, at the dwelling of Jeremiah Olmsted. At his time a full board af officers was elected, the names of the first officials having been men- tioned on an earlier page in this chapter. However, in this connection it is interesting to note the successsion of supervisors from the first meeting to the present time, as follows:
Supervisors .- Zaccheus Colby, 1809; Samuel Latta, 1810; Zaccheus Colby, 1811 ; John Masteck, 1812-16; Roswell Hart, 1817; Ira West, 1818; Matthew Brown, 1819-21; Jesse Hawley, 1822; Matthew Brown, 1823 ; Samuel Works, 1824; Jacob Gould, 1825 ; Seth Saxton, 1826; Fletcher M. Haight. 1827; Matthew Brown, 1828; Ezra M. Parsons, 1829; Nathaniel T. Rochester, 1830-32 ; James H. Gregory, 1833 ; William J. Bishop, 1834; Ezra M. Parsons, 1835 ; Calvin Sperry, 1836; Henry K. Higgins, 1837-39; Silas A. Yerks, 1840-42 ; E. Darwin Smith, 1843 ; Melancthon C. Wetmore, 1844-47; Joshua Fish, 1848 ; James Warner, 1849; Joseph Dewey, 1850-51 ; Hiram Sher- man, 1852 ; Melancthon C. Wetmore, 1853 ; Joseph Dewey, 1854-55 ; James Warner, 1856-57 ; Ezra M Parsons, 1858-60; Nathan Palmer, 1861 ; James Warner, 1862 ; William Otis, 1863 ; James Chappell, 1864; James Warner, 1865-66; Chester Field, 1867-71 : James L. Pixley, 1872-74; Edward C. Campbell, 1875; Reuben L. Field, 1876; Ed-
34
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
ward C. Campbell, 1877 ; Reuben L. Field, 1878-80 : Avery L. Reed, 1881-82 ; Reuben L. Field, 1883 ; Edward C. Campbell, 1884-86 ; Al- fred Wright, 1887 ; Reuben L. Field, 1888; Jacob Haight, 1889-91 ; Albert Hondorf, 1892- 95.
The present town officers in Gates are as follows : Albert Hondorf, supervisor ; G. B. Sperry, town clerk ; Edward C. Campbell. Reuben L. Fields, Edwin Roe and Thomas J. Leddye, justices of the peace ; George F. Olmstead, John H. Morgan and Reuben L. Fields, assessors ; William S. Perry, overseer of the poor ; William D. Eagan, collector ; John Statt, Anthony Kuhn and John Uhl, commissioners of excise ; Andrew J. Smith, John Haight, Carlisle Barsdale, Jonathan Reynolds and Peter Amish, constables ; Andrew R. Miller, road commissioner.
In Gates, as in many other towns in the Genesee country, the early history is more interesting than that of more recent times. In the early days of the town there was much more sociability and interchange of of visits among the people than at the present day. In this locality this condition is in a measure explained by the close proximity of the large and constantly increasing city of Rochester, for there, if time per- mits, the people are accustomed to go, whether in quest of pleasure or business. This close relation to the city has also operated against the building up of any considerable village in the town, for Coldwater and Gates Center are hardly more than cross-roads settlements, though the former is a station on the Central road. However, the only business enterprise at this place is the store of Mrs. Max Scheg.
In the eastern part of the town are several large manufacturing in- dustries, and while within the geographical limits of Gates, they are in reality city interests, and the only great benefit the town derives from them is their value as taxable property. Among these may be named the Rochester German Brick Company, which may be called a Gates industry, though operated by city capital. The slaughter house of John Joslyn, on the Buffalo road, two and one half miles from the city, is one of the largest and most complete enterprises of its kind in the region. The Standard Sewer Pipe Company also have their works in the town. There is also a large lime kiln, where is manufactured the famous Snow's White lime, a valuable commodity and a product of Gates. Mention may also be made of the large co-operative foundry, situated in the
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THE TOWN OF GATES.
town, just beyond the city limits, and other manufactures in the same locality.
As we have stated these are not strictly Gates enterprises, although the town derives a material profit from their existence and operation. They are assessed locally and bring population into the town, thus add- ing to the tax revenues and using the products grown here. However, there is a fair probability that within the next three years another ex- tension of the city boundaries will absorb these interests.
The ecclesiastical history of Gates, while interesting, is nevertheless limited, as the close relation of town and city has drawn from the former and added to the membership in the churches of the latter. However, from its earliest history the people of the town have not been unmindful or neglectful of the spiritual welfare of their families. In 1828 two church organizations were effected, the Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal, and both have continued in active existence to the present day. In the meantime other societies have been formed, but, having little sustaining power they continued for a time and then dissolved. However, during a recent year a Catholic church and parish has been organized, and a church home provided at Coldwater. Its membership is comprised of both German and Irish Catholics, the former predomi- nating largely. The church is under the pastoral care of Rev. Jacob C. Staub.
The First Presbyterian church of Gates was organized on the 15th of October, 1828, and Matthew Garest, Amasa Kellogg and William Jam- ison were elected its first trustees. The first officiating minister was Rev. George G. Sill, and early services were held in various convenient places, frequently in the dancing-room connected with landlord How- ard's old tavern, at the Center. The first church edifice was built about the year 1832, and was located at the Center. This building was re- moved in 1844 and replaced with a larger and more attractive structure. This edifice is still occupied by the society and is in very good condition, having been substantially reconstructed in 1892. The regularly installed pastors of this church have been few, the pulpit having been supplied much of the time. The present membership is one hundred and two persons, under the pastoral charge of Rev. Frank G. Weeks. The trus- tees of the society are E. B. Avery, Alfred Fenton and Silas W. Cook. The Sunday school has about seventy-five members.
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
The First Methodist Episcopal church of Gates, or, as originally and accurately known, the First Society of the M. E. church in Gates, was organized as a class in 1826, and as a church in 1828, the latter proceed- ing taking place in the little old log school standing less than a mile north of the present church site. Rev. John Copeland was the mission- ary worker on this circuit at that time, and through his efforts the church was formed. The first church edifice was built in 1840. The present membership in this church is not large and it has no settled pastor, being a station and supplied from Spencerport. The present supply is Rev. B L. Robinson, succeeding Mr. Hudnutt.
In educational affairs Gates has kept even step with with the other towns of the county, although the old records furnish but little reliable information concerning either early schools or districts. Tradition, un- reliable at best, has it that the first school in the town was opened near the old Dean saw mill, about the year 1810. However, in 1820 the then entire town (inclusive of Greece) was divided into twelve school districts, and within the town were four hundred and thirty-eight chil- dren of school age ; that is, between the ages of five and fifteen years. In 1835, then reduced to nearly its present area, the town contained eight school districts, while the children of school age numbered four hundred and thirty-three. Again in 1860, the districts numbered ten, and the pupils in attendance one thousand and seventy-four.
According to the present disposition and arrangement of school in- terests in Gates, more complete, thorough and perfect than at any time in its history, the town is divided into seven districts, and the total num- ber of children between the ages of five and twenty years is one thou- sand and twenty-eight. According to the commissioners' reports for the fiscal year ending July 31, 1894, we learn that the amount of public moneys apportioned to the town was $1,269.37 ; raised by tax, $2,671 .- 21; total for the year, $4, 190.09. Expenditures: Paid teachers, $2,- 989.15 ; paid for library extension, $47; for school apparatus, $25.63; for repairs, $187.65, and for all other expenses, $583.13. During the year nine teachers were employed. Of the school houses four are of frame, two of brick and one of stone. The value of school sites in the town is estimated at $3,424, and of sites and buildings, $10,474.
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THE TOWN OF GREECE.
CHAPTER V.
THE TOWN OF GREECE.
On the 22d of March, 1822, the Legislature passed an act dividing the old town of Gates, and from its territory the northern part, and by far more than half thereof, was set off and named Greece. The few remaining records of the town contain no information by which we may know why so large a portion of Gates was formed into a new town, and tradition, equally silent, affords no light on the subject. However, the inference has been made that the extreme north part of the new jurisdiction was deemed comparatively valueless for agricultural pur- poses, hence, lacking in quality, the town was compensated in quantity. Even here was made an error, for some of the supposed worthless regions have developed surprisingly, to the general benefit of Greece and its inhabitants.
According to present established surveys and measurements, Greece contains a total of 29,729 acres of land, being the largest in area of the towns of Monroe county. Earlier in its history the town was supposed to be even larger than in fact it is, surveys made about 1835 placing its area at 31,319 acres, of which 14, 168 were then improved lands.
Geographically, Greece lies near the center and on the northern bor- der of the county, the lake forming the north boundary, while the Genesee river is on the east. Parma lies west, and Gates south. The surface is rolling, with a general inclination toward the lake. The soil is a clay loam, with large areas of drift sand along the lakes. The town is drained by several streams which flow into the small bays that indent the lake shore. These bays, six in number, beginning at the west are Braddock's or Prideaux's bay, and Cranberry, Long, Buck, Round and Little ponds. These ponds have no special commercial value, owing to the constantly shifting sand bars at their mouths. Of these bays, or ponds, Braddock's receives the waters of Salmon and Little Salmon
.
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
creeks ; Rush creek discharges into Long pond ; Williams creek into Buck pond, and Raccoon creek into Round pond.
The town of Greece is located in the northeast corner of the famous Mill-Seat Tract; a tract twelve miles wide and twenty- four long, ex- tending from the lake south along the Genesee on its west side, which the Phelps and Gorham proprietary obtained from the Indians through palpable fraud or gross misrepresentation, paying them a mere nominal consideration as the purchase price. This subject, however, will be found more fully treated elsewhere in this work.
The mention of Indian occupants and owners suggests the fact that the lake region, and particularly the small bays and Genesee river val- ley, were for many years the favorite fishing, hunting and trapping grounds of the Senecas. The Canawaugus and the Tuscarawas Indians were tribes or branches of the Seneca nation, and they were the dwell- ers in this vicinity. This subject, too, is more fully mentioned in an- other department of this volume.
Old records and publications inform us that the first settlement in what is now Greece was made in the spring of 1792, by William Hencher and his family, who came to a location at or near Hanford's Landing, as afterward called. Hencher had been a former resident of Newtown Point, but came originally from Massachusetts, in the latter having been a participant in the once famous "Shay's Rebellion." It is also said that in 1791 Mr. Hencher and his son William went with an ox team and sled, from Newtown (now near Elmira) by way of Cath- arinetown (Watkins, Schuyler county) and Seneca Lake to Genesee Falls, and thence cut his road through the forest to a point in what is now Irondequoit, on the east side of the Genesee. Here he found one Walker, the pioneer of Irondequoit, with whom he remained until the spring of 1792, then crossing the river and becoming the pioneer of what is now Greece.
Noting collectively and briefly the names of other pioneers and early events in Greece, it may be said that John Love came into the town in 1793, and located at the mouth of the river. Zadoc Granger and Gideon King settled at the Lower Genesee Falls in 1796, at the place latterly known as Hanford's Landing, but originally as King's Landing, after the pioneer. In the winters of 1796 and '97, Eli Granger, Thomas,
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THE TOWN OF GREECE.
Hiram, Gilbert and Simeon King, Elijah Kent, Frederick Bushnell and Samuel Latta located in the town, all near King's Landing. At this place Eli Granger and Abner Migells built a schooner in 1799, and said to have been the first vessel of American build put upon the waters of Lake Ontario.
Jeremiah Olmsted settled on the afterward called Ridge road, about 1797, and at his dwelling was held the first town meeting after the divi- sion of old Northampton. Frederick Bushnell is also said to have come the same year. Bradford and Moses King located at the landing in 1798, and soon after came the families of Dr. Stone, pioneer physician, and a Mr. Graham. Hugh McDermaid came before 1800 and was one of the prominent men of the town for several years. Abel, Asa and Frederick Rowe came soon after 1800 and settled on the Ridge road, near Greece post-office. Dr. Zaccheus Colby is claimed as the pioneer physician of Greece, although Gates makes the same claim, while the good doctor himself in fact belonged to an old pioneer family in Ogden, still not living but a short time in the latter town. Other settlers of about this time were Samuel Latta, Felix McGuire, Nathaniel Jones, Moses .and Richard Clark, Erastus Robertson, Matthew Dimmick, Nathaniel Tibbles, and Asahel Wilkinson.
Between 1-800 and 1810 many families came and took up their resi- dence in Greece, and among them may be mentioned the names of Thomas Wood, Asa Hurd, John Mastick, Ephraim Spaulding and Daniel Budd. The Hurds lived near the Gates line, and Spaulding located three miles west of Charlotte. Mastick was the pioneer lawyer of the county, conceded by all past writers, although accounts differ as to the year of his settlement at Charlottsburg. Daniel Budd was a good farmer, even at an early day, and brought into the town eighteen head of cattle.
Soon after 1810 and during the succeeding five years, the north part of Greece became pretty well settled, and among the early occupants of this region are to be recalled the names of Wheeler Heacock, John Bagley, Silas Lloyd, Joseph Bullock, Silas Smith, John Utter, James Dailey, Francis Brown, Aristotle Hollister, Benjamin Fowler, John Odell, Daniel W. Miles, H. R. Bender, Robert Faulkner and Abijah Newman, However, a number of these settlers remained in the town
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
only a few years, then sold out their improvements and went further west. In the same connection we may briefly call to mind some of the other early dwellers in, this town, each of whom was in some manner identified with its history. Among the many we may mention William Wilkinson, George Wimble, the Kingsleys, Jacob Teeples, the snake hunter, so called, who was never known to work but who succeeded in completely fooling Supervisor John Mastick and causing him to pay several times the bounty on rattlesnakes. Mr. Mastick would throw the rattles out of a rear window, and as often Teeples would get them and again offer them for bounty. John Mastick was supervisor of Gates (before Greece was set off) from 1812 to 1817.
The construction of the famous Ridge road was of great importance in early Greece history, for by it an avenue of entry to the town was offered which had not been previously enjoyed. The road followed the general course of the old Indian trail. Travelers and prospectors, crossing the Genesee, found themselves in Gates, now Greece. and al- most at once began looking for a suitable location. To furnish accom- modations for the ever increasing tide of new comers, the settlers set up public houses all along the Ridge, while Hanford's Landing and Char- lotte became places of much importance. As early as 1810 Abel Rowe had a tavern at Greece, and soon afterward another was built by George Wimble. Other innkeepers of the period were Landlord Kingsley on the Ridge, near Parma line, and at North Greece by Mr. Mckinney, who also had the first store there.
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