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 35
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St. Joseph's church, German Roman Catholic, was organized in 1872 as an out post of St. Joseph's church in Rochester, and by the pastor of the latter church, Father Pingel. The church edifice was also built in 1872. This church and parish are in charge of Rev. Father Preeble.
The other church organizations and societies of Penfield are the Ger- man church whose edifice is located in the eastern part of the town, under the pastorate of Rev. F. Feegen, and the Advent church, also regularly organized but having no present pastor. The edifice of the "Tract" church, as the first mentioned is called, is a plain yet sub- stantial frame building; that of the Advent society is of brick con- struction.
The old town records furnish but little information concerning the first or even any of the early schools of the town. It is understood, however, that the first school was that opened in the village and taught by Joseph Hatch, and that later the town was divided into districts and schools established in each as fast as settlement justified such action. In 1820, while Webster formed a part of Penfield, the distriets num- bered nineteen, and the whole number of children in the town between the ages of five and fifteen years was 1,067. In 1835 the districts num- bered twenty-five, and children of school age, 1,627. In 1858 the dis- tricts numbered twelve, and children I, III. At the present time the town contains fourteen school districts, while the number of children of
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THE TOWN OF PERINTON.
school age is 728. For their instruction fourteen teachers are annually employed, and, in 1894, were paid in wages the sum of $4,038.16. In that year there was apportioned to Penfield public moneys amounting to $1,872.78, added to which the town raised by tax $2,905.09, and received from other sources $173.45. The total amount of money available for school purposes for the year ending July 31, 1894, was $5,168.72. Districts No. 4 and 12 have no school house, and of the twelve school buildings in the town six are of frame, five of brick, and one of stone. The total value of school property in Penfield is esti. mated at $12,325.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE TOWN OF PERINTON.
When the county of Ontario was formed in 1789 it extended north- ward to Lake Ontario and in other directions far enough to include within its boundaries several of the present counties of western New York. The present towns of Monroe county east of the Genesee River and north of Rush and Mendon, were, in 1794 organized into a town- ship named Northfield. In 1796 a town meeting was held and Silas Nye elected supervisor and Dr. John Ray town clerk, which office he held continuously until 1813. A little later, probably in 1798, the name of the township was changed to Boyle. Other supervisors of North- field and Boyle were Noah Norton, Ezra Patterson. Augustus Gris- wold, William Mckinstry, Caleb Hopkins, Stephen Lusk and Samuel Spafford. At subsequent dates the territory of Boyle was divided into the several towns now forming the northeastern part of Monroe county. Perinton was erected into a town May 26, 1812. Its first town meet- ing was held April 6, the following year, in Egypt and the officials elected were : supervisor, Cyrus Packard ; town clerk, Amasa Slocum ; assessors, Elisha Slocum, Joseph Beal and Charles Aldrich; commis- sioners of highways, Olney Staples, John Scott and David Stout; poor- inasters, Thomas Ramsdell and Stephen Eaton. A vacancy occurring
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in the office of constable and collector a year later, justices Cyrus Pack- ard, David Smith and Asa Wilmarth appointed Elisha Slocum. For many years town meetings were held in the Center school house (No. 3) later at Bushnell's Basin, Fullamtown and Egypt without regular order, but for more than half a century Fairport has been the chosen place. Prior to the formation of Monroe county, in 1821, Charles Al- drich, Peter Ripley and William S. Gregory served as supervisors. From 1821 to 1895 the roll is this: 1821-24, Reuben Willey ; 1825, William S. Gregory ; 1826-29, Reuben Willey; 1830, J. D. Thomp- son; 1831, Reuben Willey ; 1832, J. D. Thompson ; 1833-34, Enoch Strong ; 1835-36, John Peters; 1837, Abisha Goodell; 1838, Anson Beardslee; 1839, Horace Lee; 1840, Anson Beardslee; 1841, Lorenzo D. Ely ; 1842, Darius Talman ; 1843, Joshua F. Jones; 1844, Darius Talman ; 1845, Enoch Strong; 1846, William A. Lockwood; 1847, Anson Beardslee ; 1848, Enoch Strong; 1849-50, Charles H. Dickin- son ; 1851, J. S. Baker ; 1852, T. D. Walker ; 1853, J. S. Baker ; 1854, G. L. G. Seeley ; 1855, Jacob B. O'Dell ; 1856, Joshua F. Jones ; 1857, Jacob B. O'Dell; 1858-60, T. W. Dickinson ; 1861, William P. Chase ; 1862, C. H. Dickinson; 1863, E. B. Strong ; 1864-65, A. C. Hill ; 1866, J. G. Aldrich ; 1867-68, Jesse B. Hannan; 1869-71, G. L. G. Seeley ; 1872, G. F. Wilcox; 1873-74, William P. Chase; 1875-76, G. L. G. Seeley ; 1877-80, H. A. De Land ; 1881-86, Jesse B. Hannan; 1887, P. McAuliffe ; 1888-89, T. G. Jones ; 1890, F. A. Defendorf ; 1891-95, E. L. Hodskin.
Pioneers and Early Settlement .- The Phelps and Gorham purchase of territory extended from the Pennsylvania State line to Lake Ontario. In the survey the range lines were run north and south six miles apart. The east and west cross lines were also six miles apart, thus dividing the tract into townships six miles square.
In the northwestern portion east and west of the Genesee river, con- ditions made a departure from this regularity necessary, and the town- ships were not of uniform size and shape. Perinton, which in the origi- nal survey, was No. 12 on range 4, from the east boundary of the pur- chase, was one of the six miles square townships, and has not suffered any change in its original boundaries. It falls short, however, of six miles east and west, a fault due, perhaps, to the deflection of the needle
JOHN AYRAULT.
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THE TOWN OF PERINTON.
when running the range lines. In 1789 the entire township passed by purchase into the possession of William Walker, land agent for Phelps and Gorham. Judge Porter is authority for the statement that Walker sold to Daniel Penfield and the latter to a Mr. Duncan. In the summer of 1789 or '90, Caleb Walker, a brother of William, moved into the town- ship, bringing with him Glover Perrin and his wife. They built a house on what has since for a long time been known as the Eaton farm, now owned by Purdy Ellsworth. Then they engaged in surveying the town into lots. Walker died within a year. Twenty-two years later when the town was organized from Boyle it was named Perinton in honor of its pioneer settler, Glover Perrin.
Perrin cleared land and planted an orchard in nearly the center of what was later known as the Slocum farm, now owned by Byron Ells- worth. An apple orchard yet occupies the site of that first orchard in the town. Jesse Perrin came in 1792, cleared the site of the present Center burial ground, and a year later occupied the farm now owned by Mrs. H. B. Hamilton. In 1793 Phillip Piester, John Bice and Mr. Scribner settled on lands just south of Bushnell's Basin. In 1794 Abner Wight settled on the farm just south of Fairport, now owned by S. P. Howard. Asa, his son, born 1797, was the first white child born in the town that grew to adult age. In 1796 Samuel Bennett and wife settled in the center of the town and Bennett operated the first black- smith shop in the town. John Kelley settled in 1797 on a farm east of the Center, now owned by G. G. Denise. He went to Honeoye to mill and to Palmyra to church. Caleb Lyndon in 1800 bought the present known Beardsley farm. About the same time the Ramsdell family came in and bought a large tract east of the Center at what is now known as Egypt. They were successful in growing large crops of corn, and in a year of scarcity settlers came there from long distances to buy. Hence the name of the hamlet, Egypt. For more than half a century the Ramsdell family was a prominent one in the town. Gideon was a well known Friend and abolitionist and his house was a favorite way station on the underground railroad from the South to Canada for the fugitive slave.
The Slocums-Amasa, Elisha, Benjamin and Smith, came in 1804 and settled near the Center. In 1806 came to the vicinity of Egypt
46
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Oliver Loud, Cyrus Packard, L. Lapham, E. Bateman and S. Aldrich. In 1809 Olney and David Staples settled about a mile west of Egypt, and in 1810 James Hannan bought a farm adjoining the first settled by Perrin. David Cady and father, David Woolsey, David Barker, John Knickerbocker, and the Treadwells were other early settlers.
Up to 1810 settlement had mainly been along an east and west strip a little south of the center of the town. That locality contains its most valuable farming land. There were no indications at that date to point out the future commercial and business sites or routes of trans- portation and travel. The State road, the first in the town, was cut through the wilderness from Pittsford to Palmyra, the land was fertile, location healthy, and settlers attracted. At a later period lines of stages traversed this road carrying mails and passengers ; taverns were opened along the route and business increased. A village sprang up at Egypt, a stage depot was established and three taverns opened. A store was kept by Gregory & Co , another by Packard & Watson, a grist mill with two run of stone was built, a saw mill on the Aldrich farm. a tannery, a foundry, blacksmith, wagon and shoe shops, nurs- eries, post-office, and church, were among the later features of the vil- lage. The subsequent building of the Erie canal and the Central rail- road wrought a great change. Trade, manufacturers and business de- parted to other points. Its fertile lands remain, but of the rest, in this year of 1895, only the post office, a small store and a little feed mill are left in Egypt.
In 1807 Ira and Sarah Palmer settled in the northeast part of the town. A Mr. Barber was the only other settler then in that quarter of the town. Cornelius Conant and wife, Daniel Conant and wife, Park Brown, Miles Carter, Richard Woolsey, Stephen Whitehorn, John Chamberlain, Jonathan Soules, Daniel Childs and Edmund Plumb were early settlers there. Rev. Thomas Parker was a noted pioneer preacher. It is recorded that he preached over eleven hundred funeral sermons. He died in 1865, aged seventy- one years. Bennett Joy with parents and family came as early as 1808 to the northeast quarter of the town. Also George W. Downer and Ebenezer Jerrolds about 1816. Milton Budlong came about 1817 when a young man of seventeen. In 1820 he settled on twenty-five acres of land to which he added until his
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THE TOWN OF PERINTON.
estate amounted to seven hundred acres, the largest farm in the town. He dealt in cattle chiefly, plowing but very little. His brother, John Budlong, settled near him in 1823. Levi and Richard Treadwell, Mr. Wooden, Josiah Bristol and George Hepburn were early settlers in the southwestern part of the town. A Mr. Thomas settled east of the vil- lage of Fairport before 1800 and gave his name to Thomas creek. West of Fairport Isaiah Northrup settled in 1808. Two brothers, Andrew and Abel, located near by a little later, and another, Dr. E. Northrup, practiced medicine in town for twenty years. Michael Beach, Daniel and Roswell Terrell, Aaron Seymour, Hiram Hayes and Valen- tine Rowell were early settlers in that locality.
About 1810 Peter Ripley moved into the limits of the present cor- poration of Fairport. His farm was on the west side of Main street and north of Thomas creek. In 1816 Larry Wilcox settled on a farm across the street from Ripley's. He sold to Solomon Ralph, and purchased a farm on the hill south on the east side of the road. Opposite Wilcox, on the west side of the street, Martin Sperbeck bought a farm in 1817. The farm on the east side of Main street between Church street and Thomas creek, was settled by Isaac Beers in 1816. He also owned fifty acres west of Main and south of Church streets, and had a log house on that tract. The farm on the west side of Main street, between Church street and Thomas creek, was owned by S. Mallett, who moved into a log house in 1822, situated on the present L. T. Howard lot, south of Bown's block. In 1817 Mr. Beers erected the first frame house built in Fairport on the lot where H. A. De Land's residence now stands. Beers sold to Oliver Tomlinson in 1820. Jesse Treadwell and John Peters owned lands in the present northeastern area of the village, and Amos Chadwick and Nathan Weston in the southwestern. In 1822 the Erie canal was opened for business through the place, and seven log cabins, one block and one frame house made the entire village.
Among the first constructions of the pioneers were mills for sawing lumber and grinding grain. The first grist mill in the town was built by Joseph Richardson about 1810, on Irondequoit creek, on the Roch- ester road west of Fairport. The second was built in Egypt, by Pack- ard and Watson, in 1818. The third was erected in 1821 in the north- west part of the town on Irondequoit creek by Rich, Lincoln and Lath-
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rop; the fourth on Thomas creek, near its junction with the Ironde- quoit. The first saw mill was built on Thomas creek by Peter Ripley about 1812; another was built a little further down the creek about 1817, by E. Lewis ; a third was built on Irondequoit creek about 1820, by Bailey and Richardson ; a clothing mill was connected with it. Two saw mills were built in. Egypt, and one on the Irondequoit, where the Palmyra road crosses it; all these saw mills vanished a generation ago.
The pioneer period of the town of Perinton may be said to have ended with the opening of the Erie canal in 1822. The frame work upon which its future development should be built was then completed. The paths of its progress were plain. The half-dozen log cabins in the swamp at Fairport, marked the site of a town, which facilities for trade and transportion, should in the future, develop to one of the first in the county. Thirty-one years later the direct line of the Central railroad was built through the town and through Fairport. But that event did not change the conditions of development. It only intensified them.
Topography .- The area of Perinton is between twenty one and twenty-two thousand acres. It measures six miles north and south, and about five and one half east and west. Its surface is considerably broken and its soil of several qualities. It is abundantly watered by springs and streams. The water is hard from the presence of lime. Irondequoit creek enters it at its southwestern corner, but in a short distance flows into Pittsford, re- entering Perinton northwest of Bush - nell's Basin, thence flowing to the northwest corner of the town. It is a liberal stream and furnishes good water power. The lands along this stream and in its valley are mostly a sandy loam. Its bluffs are abrupt and in many places high and of singular shapes. There is evidence that at some remote time an immense volume of water swept down the Irondequoit valley. Thomas creek enters the town in its southeastern quarter, flows north and west to the valley traversed by the canal, thence westerly through Fairport and into the Irondequoit about a mile and a- half west of the village. Its entire course east of Fairport in the town is through swamp lands of which a large part was once covered with cedar. Some smaller streams flow into Thomas creek. The north- eastern part of the town is rolled up into hills with deep valleys between
J, Baker
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THE TOWN OF PERINTON
that were swamps, but which as the country was cleared and cultivated have mostly become tillable. In the central part of the southern por- tion of the town is a bold and very broken range of hills known as the Turk hills. Some very productive farms are located on these hills and along their base. The hills are composed entirely of drift, and many of them contain immense deposits of sand and gravel. The soil is a sandy loam, bearing considerable clay and small stone in the subsoil. The sum- mit is a level plateau of several hundred acres. Here the United States Coast Survey had a station when mapping Lake Ontario. The plateau is 685 feet higher than the lake, and is the highest land in Monroe county. These hills are choice fruit-lands on account of their exemp- tion from late spring and early fall frosts, the genial soil and fine natural drainage. The original timber was oak, chestnut and hickory, and it was small and open. Except in the swamps the timber of other parts of the town was mainly beech and maple. The largest body of level land in the town lies in the northeastern part along the upper waters of Thomas creek. There are several hundred acres of nearly flat lands.
In the southwest quarter of the town are two or three natural ponds. The larger, Bullhead pond, has an area of about forty acres. It is very deep, nearly circular and lies in a deep depression, the banks being steep and about 100 feet high, except on the southwest where a small stream emerges and flows into Irondequoit creek. Close to the waters of the Irondequoit, a little south of the West Shore railroad bridge, is a remarkable outflow of mineral waters, named after the late Rev. John Peddie, D. D., of Philadelphia. Dr. Peddie had a summer residence near these springs and first brought their virtues to public notice. The water is saline, carrying unusually large amounts of mineral constitu- ents and has a strong outflow. Near by are iron springs. The water is shipped extensively by the Fairport Crystal Rock Water Company.
The New York Central four track and the West Shore railroads tra- verse the town east and west in the Thomas creek valley. The Auburn branch of the Central cuts through the extreme southwest corner of the town.
The Erie canal enters the town at about the center of its eastern boundary, runs northwesterly by Fairport to within a mile and a half of the north and west lines of the town, then turns southwest for about
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three and one-half miles and crosses the Irondequoit valley at Bush- nell's Basin. The embankment there is the most expensive on the canal. There is a high embankment also at the Ox Bow, a mile south- west of Fairport, which forms a sheet of water thirty acres in extent and so deep that it is not drained when the canal is emptied. It is a famous fishing ground. Both these embankments have suffered breaks of great magnitude.
The lands of Perinton yield abundantly all the products capable of growth in this climate. The Turk hills and the sandy loams of the west side, have been famous for wheat and potatoes. The stiffer soils yield large crops of grass, corn, small grains, and in some localities, of potatoes. In earlier times the rearing of cattle, sheep and horses was a remunerative industry. Garden products are now largely grown for market, especially cabbage and onions, which are shipped both east and west in great quantities. Asparagus, tomatoes, sweet-corn, peas and berries are grown for the canning factories. Cherries are very abund- ant and of extra quality. Vineyards, peach, quince, plum, pear and apple orchards flourish and yield bountifully. The Perinton farmer can reasonably find no fault with the soil, location and climate as fac- tors for making his lot happy and prosperous ; his dissatisfaction is with prices.
Fairport .- Population and business made stable and fairly rapid growth in the village after the opening of the Erie canal. But there are no statistics to measure it in the early decades. It was the buying and selling point of a large and energetic body of producers. Accord- ing to one United States census Monroe county was only the second in the entire Union in the value of its agricultural productions. Proba- ably Perinton, in some years, has been a larger producer of potatoes than any other town in the United States. In 1874 its production was more than 220,000 bushels. The handling of farm produce has been since 1822 the most important and continuous business of the place. For thirty years it was shipped exclusively by the canal. From the warehouses on the banks boats were loaded with grain, apples and potatoes. New York buyers were in the town in fall and spring. The railroad after 1853 divided the transportation business with the canal, constantly gaining on the latter, and for several recent years not a
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THE TOWN OF PERINTON.
canal boat has been loaded in Fairport with farm produce. The most prominent of these old time buyers and shippers were Tomlinson & Co., Jeremiah Chadwick, Albert Norton, W. K. Goodrich, Vanderhoof and Van Norman, Charles Burlingame.
The first store was kept by Goodell & Aiken, on the east side of Main street near the canal. Charles and Thomas Dickinson succeeded this firm and they passed the business to Hill & Hamilton Tomlinson & Co. were store keepers Jeremiah Chadwick kept store for a long time,. and later was produce buyer and banker. Jacob O'Dell, Smith Wilbur and H. Montague Moseley were merchants before the civil war. G. L. G. Seeley and Mr. Ward established the first tin and hard- ware store about 1848. L. T. and J. E. Howard conducted for many years a large business in blacksmithing and wagonmaking, drawing trade far and wide.
The legal incorporation of Fairport was effected on the 30th of April, 1867, by the election of officers for the village pursuant to an act passed by the Legislature the 12th of the same month. The first president was A. C. Hill; board of trustees, O. P. Simmons, J. Y. Parce, J. E. Howard, Lewis Jones, T. L. Hulburt and J. M. Swinnerton ; assess- ors, E. B. Herrinton, R. B. Hewes; treasurer, H. Montague Moseley ; police constable, J. C. Van Ness. The last obtainable data give the population of Fairport in 1848 at 200, in 1867 at 1,000, in 1880 at 1,920, iu 1890 at 2,552 and in 1892 at 2,743.
The school interests of the village have been treated with such liber- ality and good judgment that but few towns possess equal facilities for education. In 1870 the first move was made to advance beyond the common school. A Union Free School was organized and more than $20,000 immediately expended in sites and buildings. Interest and enterprise in this line has constantly advanced. The course of study has been broadened, more commodious buildings added and the school property is now valued at more than $40,000. The school prepares the student for college or business and includes classical, Eng- lish and scientific courses. Diplomas are granted based upon Regents' standards. Last year the school expended $9,488.42. Fourteen teach- ers are employed. The board of education includes several ladies.
The total amount of available school money in 1894 for the town of
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
Perinton was $13. 122.90. The value of school property $49,000. Twenty-four teachers were employed. There were in town 1,204 chil- dren of school age of which 888 attended school The total days attendance was 114,480. There are eleven school districts,
Fairport is unusually fortunate in the possession of a very complete system of water works, in the construction of which the water was kept in its proper channels and not put into stock to increase the burden of tax payers. The village owns the plant, and the cost, considering its extent and completeness, is low. The water is abundant and of fine quality, being procured from a group of four drilled wells penetrating the underlying rocks to depths of from 55 to 100 feet. A Knowles pump, capacity a million gallons per day, sends the water to an iron stand pipe twenty-six feet in diameter and seventy-five feet high, standing on the hill in the southeast quarter of the village and 100 feet above the pumping station and business part of the village. From the stand pipe the water is distributed by gravity to all parts of the town. There are seven and one-half miles of distributing pipe and sixty-eight street hydrants. The pressure is eighty five pounds per inch in the business part of the town, and large volumes of water can easily be thrown over any building. It may also be used to run small ma- chinery.
The first board of water commissioners elected in June, 1893, con- sisted of C. L. Peacock, F. A. Defendorf, Nelson Lewis, C. C. Moore, C. G. Dewitt, Luther Talman and Joseph Duncan. Plans were drawn by W. F. Randall, C. E. of Syracuse. The contracts were immediately let and the work was begun August 15, 1893, and the plant was com- pleted January I, 1894. Total cost $48,000.
Careful, liberal and energetic as are the people of the town in con- ducting public enterprises, the numerous churches, as a matter of course, find a generous support. The progress of the churches and schools is linked close to the material growth of the town. They have marched hand in hand. One of the first concerns of the pioneers was religious worship. Perhaps the Methodist Episcopal society was first in the field. In 1810 meetings were held by its members at private residences. In 1816 circuit preachers were appointed and about 1825 a society was organized in Fairport and a church built. It flour-
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