USA > New York > Niagara County > Landmarks of Niagara County, New York > Part 25
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1 As spelled in records.
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vine; 1852, William Wheeler; 1853, F. A. Wright; 1854, G. Angevine; 1855, 1856, Linus Spalding; 1857, Curtis Root; 1858, William Morgan; 1859, Thomas Brown; 1860-63, William Morgan; 1864, 1865, Linus Spalding; 1866-68, William Morgan; 1869, 1870, Linus Spalding; 1871, William Morgan; 1872, Edward O. Seaman; 1873, John L. Beardsley; 1874, Edward O. Seaman; 1875, George B. Taylor; 1876-81, John L. Chase; 1882-83, James Allen ; 1884-86, Abram Taylor; 1887-91, John H. Matte- son ; 1892-96, James S. Rowe; 1897-98, Frederick R. Montgomery.
The other town officers for 1897 are :
George B. Taylor, jr., town clerk; George D. Bixler, George Clark, F. R. Mont- gomery and Seward Mudge, justices of the peace; John Dewhurst, highway com- missioner; John Slattery, collector; Albert J. Chase, John Garbut and Frederick Pike, assessors; Jefferson B. Landers and James Hudson, overseers of the poor.
Charles A. Kendall was for twenty years from 1877 town clerk of Hartland, succeeding his father, Eber Kendall, and being followed in 1897 by George B. Taylor, jr. Eber Kendall served from 1867 to 1876.
The first settlements in this town were made by John Morrison, David Morrison, Zebulon Barnum, Jedediah Riggs, Isaac Southwell, and Daniel Brown; these all came in 1803 or 1804. In 1805 Abel Barnum came in and Oliver Castle settled about two miles southwest of the site of Johnson's Creek hamlet, and became the first local preacher on the Holland Purchase. John Morrison located on the farm a mile east of Hartland Corners, where R. B. Weaver lived in later years.
Jeptha Dunn came into the town in 1807 and settled two miles east of Johnson's Creek on the Ridge road. Benjamin Cornell settled in 1809 a little west of Johnson's Creek. A Mr. Crane settled on the Ridge road in 1810, and David Van Horn at Johnson's Creek in 1811 ; in the same year Benjamin H. Benson settled where he passed his long life, two miles south of Hartland Corners. James Shaw settled in 1812 on the Ridge road two miles east of Johnson's Creek. Dexter P. Sprague came to the town in 1809 and was justice of the peace until 1840. In 1814 Col. Richard Weaver, a native of Vermont, came to Hartland and became eventually a leading farmer and breeder of fine stock. He purchased the farm on which Isaac Southwell, the pioneer, first settled. He was prominent in the early militia, and received his title from offices held therein.
Jesse Birdsall was a very early settler and was father of Mary, who
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married Elisha Brownell. She passed her life on the farm where she was born, on the Quaker road three miles north of Johnson's Creek. Her father died in 1825.
Jesse Aldrich came with his wife, and Asa Baker and his wife in June, 1815, and were the first settlers in that part of the town which became known as the Quaker Settlement. They were probably the first settlers north of the Ridge road in the present town limits. At the same time, or soon after, Joseph Birdsall, Daniel Baker and Esek Aldrich located near by and aided in opening a road through the forest from the Ridge to Birdsall's land, a distance of about a mile and a half ; they also put up a log house. This accomplished, the three last named men returned home, leaving the two families of Aldrich and Asa Baker in the lonely wilderness. In 1816 this immediate locality was further settled by Joseph Baker, Hugh Jackson, Jesse Jackson, William Jack- son, Richard Earl, and Christopher H. Skeels, with their wives; all except the last two were Quakers, and the Quaker Settlement became a thriving part of the town.
To accommodate travellers, Jeptha Dunn opened his house as an inn in 1809; it was, as before stated, about two miles east of Johnson's Creek on the Ridge road, and was the first tavern in the town. Daniel Brown also kept a very early tavern in his log house a little west of Johnson's Creek on the Ridge road. Samuel B. Morehouse, whose name has been mentioned as one of the committee in the county divis- ion matter, and who became a locally famous character, built a hotel at Hartland Corners about 1813, and the place was known in early times as " Morehouse's ; " he was postmaster of that little village in 1816.
The first physician to settle in this town was Dr. Asa Crane, who came in 1810; Dr. Moore soon followed, and Dr. Butterfield came in 1812 or 1813 and settled at Johnson's Creek. Drs. Crane and Moore located north of the Ridge near the corner of the Quaker road. Dr. Butterfield passed his life in the town and long had an extensive practice.
Among other prominent residents of the town may be mentioned William Smith, Dexter P. Sprague, Hiram Allen, Daniel Van Horn, Daniel Seaman, Thomas Bills, Truman E Pomeroy, Hiram G. Dean, Cyrus A. Lewis, Eber Kendall, Charles A. Kendall, Levi Hall, John
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Scovell, Absalom Ladner, James Edmunds, Otis Leland, Jeremiah Turner, Silas Gilbert, Orlando Bates, Charles Williams, John W. Davis, Otis B. Hayes, John Heland, John Kenyon, Michael J. King, John B. Robeson, C. D. Silby, William Sharpsteen, and Milo D. Pierce.
At Hartland Corners (the name of the post-office now being Hart- land) the land was early owned on the east side of the Gasport road by Samuel B. Morehouse, before mentioned; on the northeast of the four corners it was owned by George Reynolds, and on the southwest cor- ner by James C. Lewis. Here Thomas R. Stewart built the first frame house in 1814, and Mr. Morehouse built his tavern in 1815. A Mr. Carrington started a blacksmith shop here in 1816, a store was estab- lished in early years and there has always been a small mercantile busi- ness here. Michael J. King now has a store and basket manufactory there.
At the point where Johnson's Creek breaks through the Ridge, in the southwest part of the town, a hamlet sprang up in the early years of settlement. The creek took its name from a family who located on its banks in early years. The land including the site of the village was formerly owned on the north side of the Ridge road, which passes through the place, by Henry Taylor, who settled there in 1816. He built a log house and later this was superseded by a frame structure. Mr. Taylor spent his life here and died in May, 1870. The land on the south side of the road and east of the creek was owned by Thomas F. Stewart, John Secor and others, and west of the creek by Mr. Stewart and others. Stewart built the first frame house in the place, just west of the creek, which was used in later years by John L. Chase for a horse barn. John Secor opened a primitive tavern in early years and in 1812 carried on a small grocery. James and Daniel Van Horn opened a general store in 1815 and in the same year George Robson and two others opened blacksmith shops. The Van Horns were succeeded as merchants in 1818 by George Reynolds; the store building was erected in 1815 by George C. Pease. Marvin Miner early kept a grocery.
In early years the grain that had to be ground for the pioneers was carried usually to Schlosser. About 1820, or a little earlier, some of the enterprising settlers built a grist mill on Johnson's Creek where it crosses the Ridge. In later years another was built at the creek by
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Ebenezer Seeley. As early as 1820 the first saw mill was built on the creek where it crosses the county line. Mr. Seeley built one at John- son's Creek as early as this or a little earlier. There was one tannery here which was built as early as 1818, but when the bark disappeared the establishment went to decay.
Among former merchants at Johnson's Creek were Shubal Merritt, Uriah D. Moore, Hiram Hoag, Robert Deuel, Harvey Hoag (who was burned out about 1885), and A. H. Jameson, who built the present brick store. Others still are Parker & Goutermout and Taylor & Goutermout, both of which firms also had an ashery. The latter firm was succeeded by Jay S. Rowe, one of the present merchants. John C. Watts and John S. Chase also have stores there now. Taylor's hotel was originally built as early as 1830 by George Judson; it was enlarged first by Alexander H. Jameson and later by Lewis Gouter- mout, and is now owned by George B. Taylor, sr.
North Hartland is a post-office and small hamlet in the northwest cor- ner of the town. A small mercantile business and a few shops have been conducted here many years, and the Methodists also have a church in the place.
The first school in this town was taught by Nancy Judson in 1813. In the next year Samuel Colton, James Welch, and Samuel B. More- house were elected school commissioners, and Daniel Cornell, John Leach, and William Smith were chosen school inspectors. In 1816 the town was divided into six school districts, and the sum of $60 was raised for the support of schools. The Quaker road school house was built about 1818, of logs, and Rachel Pease taught there first in 1819. The number of districts was gradually increased and for many years there were eighteen; the present number is seventeen, with a school house in each.
The Quakers of this town built a meeting house about 1818, of logs, on the Ridge road at the corner of Quaker road. It was occupied until 1835, when it was displaced by a cobble stone structure, about three- fourths of a mile east of the old one.
Through the efforts of James Edmunds, Abial Tripp and a few other pioneers, Baptist services were held in this town in early years. In De- cember, 1817, twenty two persons of this faith organized the First
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Baptist Church of Hartland, under ministration of Rev. Simeon Dutcher, of Gaines. The first regular pastor was Rev. William Harring- ton, who was settled there in 1820. The society was incorporated in 1822, with James Edmunds, Otis Leland, and Holden Le Valley, trus- tees. During the first seven years services were held in houses or barns, after which the society raised $100 and added ten feet to the length of a school house at Johnson's Creek, and meetings were held there until 1833; in that year the first church edifice was erected. This being the first church organized in the town, it received the ap- propriation of fifty acres of land, taking the southwest corner lot in the town; this was sold and the proceeds used in building the church. In 1868 the building was remodeled and enlarged at a cost of $6,000, and in 1877 the parsonage property was purchased.
A Methodist church is situated on the Quaker road, about two miles north of the Ridge road, which was organized in 1842, and a wooden church was built in 1843; this was burned in 1872 and on the site a brick church was erected. A prosperous existence has since been main- tained.
A Methodist church is located at Hartland Corners and another at North Hartland. The former was built about 1862 and remodeled in 1887.
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic church is situated on the Quaker road near the north line of the town. Services had been held by this denom- ination for some time prior to 1856 in private houses, and in that year under the ministrations of Rev. T. Sheehan. of Newfane, a frame edifice was erected; it was dedicated by the then bishop of Buffalo in 1857. In 1865 the building was enlarged, and again in 1872, a modern tran- sept, sanctuary and vestry were provided. A rededication took place in July, 1875. Rev. Thomas P. Brougham was the first resident pastor, removing thither from Newfane.
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CHAPTER XV.
THE TOWN OF PORTER.
The other one of the three towns which were set off from Cambria in 1812 (Niagara and Hartland having already been described) was Por- ter, which was erected on the same date with Hartland-June I of that year. When erected this town included what is now the town of Wil- son which was set off in 1818. The town was named in honor of Judge Augustus Porter. It is the northwestern town in the county and in- cludes Fort Niagara, Youngstown and Lewiston along its lake and river front-localities which, as the reader has already learned, were the scene of some of the most memorable early events in American history. The surface of this town is generally level and the soil along the lake shore a marly clay, while in the central and southern parts it is sandy and gravelly loam. Four-mile and Six mile Creeks cross the town in a northerly direction and the west branch of Twelve-mile Creek crosses the southeastern part in a similar direction. The first town meeting was held at the house of Peter Tower, but the date is probably lost. There is an existing record that the town meeting was held April 11, 1815, two years after the erection of the town. In the old book with this record are meagre accounts of a few other meetings, but containing nothing of especial importance. It is quite probable that the war interfered to such an extent that these meetings were al- most wholly interrupted in the early years; but there is nothing to indicate that the meeting of 1815 was the first one held, while the absence of records for two or three years prior to 1819 could scarcely be attributed to the war troubles. Following is a copy of the proceed- ings of the meeting of April II, 1815. as recorded in the old book :
Dexter F. Sprague, supervisor; Elijah Hathaway, town clerk; Joseph Pease, Nathaniel McCormick and Thaddeus N. Sturges, assessors; Conrad Zittle and Zebulon Coates, overseers of the poor; Benjamin Kemp, John Martin and John Brown, commissioners of highways; David Porter, constable and collector; Thad- deus McIntyre, constable; Conrad Zittle and David Porter, poundkeepers.
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The First Baptist church of Royalton is situated four miles south of Gasport and near Dysinger. The organization was effected August 20, 1822, by eleven members, and the first meeting was held in the school house of district No. 13. From 1822 to 1836 Elders Parsons and Waterbury were the pastors, after which to 1847 there were no stated services, but the church was supplied by surrounding societies. A church was in 1823 erected which was burned and replaced by another in 1866. The parsonage adjoining the church was purchased at a cost of $2,000.
The Presbyterian church of Middleport was organized June 11, 1833, and was received into the Presbytery of Niagara in the same month. The society had a fairly prosperous existence, the services being usually held by stated supplies, until 1875, when the church property was sold to the Roman Catholics. There were at that time about eighty mem- bers and the society was nearly free from debt. The price received for the property was $1,700. In 1888 the present frame church was erected.
The Catholic mission which purchased this property immediately im- proved and repaired the edifice and have since used it for their services. This is known as St. Stephen's Roman Catholic church, and Rev. J. J. Roche is the pastor.
The Middleport Methodist church was organized April 18, 1827, with Francis B. Lane, James Williams, John Bickford, Arunah Bennett, and Abijah Terry, trustees. Rev. John Copeland was then preaching and the large wooden church edifice was built in the same year. The society owns also a comfortable parsonage.
The Universalist church of Middleport was formed as the result of preaching in that faith which was begun by Rev. Linus S. Everett, whose services were secured by Judge A. S. Baker. Mr. Everett continued to preach in the school houses for some time, and finally a society was or- ganized and a church building erected of stone and brick in 1841. The building was extensively improved in 1871.
A Free Will Baptist society was organized in early years and in 1839 a church was built about two miles south of Middleport. Elder Gilman was the first pastor. In after years the building was occupied by other denominations also.
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Trinity church (German Lutheran) is in Wolcottsville and was organ- ized in 1854. The present brick church was built in 1867, the brick being made on the lot where the church stands, the work being done by the members. The society is largely made up of the German residents of that part of the town.
In 1858 the Evangelical Association was organized at Gasport, with about thirty members. For nearly thirty years meetings were held in the old school house. In 1878 a new wooden church was erected.
The German Lutherans also have a frame church in Wolcottsville that was built more than twenty-five years ago.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic church was organized in 1858, with about fifty members. A frame church was built the same year in Gasport.
Trinity (Episcopal) church at Middleport, is noted at length in the chapter devoted to Lockport.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE TOWN OF LEWISTON.
The town of Lewiston was erected from Cambria on February 27, 1818, and has always retained its original area, which is 22,231 acres. The town is the central ore of the three western tier and borders on the Niagara River. The mountain ridge divides the town into two nearly equal parts, and the surface is broken and rolling along the base of the ridge, while elsewhere it is comparatively level. The soil is generally a productive sandy loam. Four-mile, Six- mile and Twelve- mild Creeks rise in this town and flow northeasterly to the lake; Fish Creek flows westerly to Niagara River in the southern part, and several small streams help to drain the town. The Devil's Hole, the scene of the terrible massacre in the French war, is on the bank of the river in the extreme southern part of the town. Five miles above Fort Ni- agara and bordering the river is a peculiar flat of several acres which is more than sixty feet lower than the surrounding territory and bears the name of Five-mile Meadow. It was here that the British landed
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On the 20th of June of that year Reuben Wilson was chosen super- visor in place of Mr. Sprague, the reason not being recorded. At the town meeting of April 6, 1819, the following officers were chosen :
Michael Helms, supervisor; Thomas Brown, town clerk; Jonathan Bell, George Ash and William Doty, assessors; John Dunlap, collector; Conrad Zittle and Daniel Kelley, overseers of the poor; Conrad Zittle, Daniel Kelley and Richard Cuddaback, commissioners of highways; Moses Barto, A. G. Hinman and John A. Hyde, com- missioners of schools; Jonathan Bell and Isaac Swain, inspectors of schools; John Dunlap, constable; Daniel Kelley, poundmaster.
The usual regulations for the government of the town were voted at this and the preceding meetings. Among them was the appointment of fourteen pathmasters to have charge of the road districts.
The supervisors of Porter from 1819 to the present time have been as follows :
Michael Helms, 1819-24; Moses Barto, 1825-27; William Doty, 1828-29; no elec- tion, 1830; Leverett Bristol, 1831-34; Timothy Hosmer, 1835; Leverett Bristol, 1836-41; John Porter, 1842; Ziba Henry, 1843; Jehiel C. S. Ransom, 1844; Solomon Moss, 1845-47; John Porter, 1848; Solomon Moss, 1849; Ira Race, 1850-53; Peter Simmons, 1854; Ira Race, 1855; George Swain, 1856-59; James L. Fowler, 1860-62; Ezra S. Holden, 1863-64; Ira Race, 1865-66; Rensselaer Ward, 1867-70; Elton T. Ransom, 1871-73; James M. Foster, 1874; Elton T. Ransom, 1875-77; Richard D. Balmer, 1878; Peter S. Tower, 1879; Rensselaer Ward, 1880; Joseph Thompson, 1881-82; Alonzo U. Gatchell, 1883-84; Joseph Thompson, 1885; George Swain, 1886; Nelson D. Haskell, 1887; A. Judson Eaton, 1888; Harvey Cudaback, 1889-90; John E. Reardon. 1891-93; Elmer E. Brookins, 1894-96; Edwin S. Carter, 1897-98.
The other town officers for 1897 are :
Edward G. Hall, town clerk; William J. Sweet, H. H. Helms and Warren Curtis, justices of the peace; Francis Kyte, Frederick Kelley and William Hill, assessors; George Parker, highway commissioner; William N. Burmaster, collector; George C. McCormick and John W. Haskell, overseers of the poor.
The town has now a population of about 2,300.
John Gould came from New Jersey in 1788 as a drover. He gave some of his recollections to Turner as follows:
Col. Hunter was then in command at Fort Niagara. Our cattle and pack horses were ferried across to Newark in bateaux and Schenectady boats. Nothing then at Newark but an old ferry house and the barracks that had been occupied by Butler's Rangers. The Massasauga Indians were numerous then in Canada. They had no fixed habitations; migrated from camping ground to camping ground in large par- ties; their principal camping grounds, Niagara and Queenston. There were their fishing grounds. Sometimes there would be five or six hundred encamped at
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Niagara. They were small in stature, gay, lively, filthy; and much addicted to drunkenness.
We sold our cattle principally to Butler's Rangers. They were located mostly at the falls, along the Four and Twelve-mile Creeks. Oxen brought as high as £50, cows, £20.
The settlement of this town which may be considered as permanent did not take place until about the beginning of the present century, al- though momentous events had preceded along the frontier. John Lloyd, who had been a soldier in the garrison in 1799, settled in 1801 about three miles from the fort. After the war he occupied a farm on lot 27. The following list embraces the names of all who took land from the Holland Company down to the year 1807, and are given in the order of the dates of their contracts: 1803, Elijah Doty, John · Waterhouse, Silas Hopkins, Peter Hopkins, Obadiah Hopkins, Con- rad Zittle, Ephraim Hopkins, John Clemmons, Robert Bigger, James Benedict and William McBride. 1804, Peter and Ephraim Hopkins, additional land, Samuel Hopkins, John Freeman and John Wilson. 1805, William Coggswell, Jonathan Jones, Abijah Perry and Samuel Shelly. 1806, Peter Ripson and John Brown, and William McBride took additional land. A few of these men were not actual settlers, but bought for speculation, among them Silas Hopkins. Conrad Zit- tle located at what became known as Zittle's Corners, later as Por ter Center. Abijah Perry was father of William Perry, born August II, 1812, the first birth in the town after this permanent settlement began. William Coggswell was a man of considerable education and taught the first school in town in 1806. Jonathan Lutts settled in 1806 and afterwards bought a farm of the Holland Company and lived in the town thirty years or more.
In 1808 Isaac Swain, who had previously settled on the Military road, in the town of Niagara, removed to this town and purchased eighty acres of John McBride, which was the southern half of lot 3 of the Mile Reserve. He had an exciting war experience and was father of William and George Swain. Michael Lutts came in about the same time with his brother Jonathan, and William Arbuthnot came dur- ing or directly after the war.
Settlement here was almost wholly stopped by the war, only two pioneers of importance coming in 1814; these were Rudolph Clapsaddle
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and Joseph McCullum. The former located on lot 4, and the latter on lot 9. John Vrooman came in at the close of the war, having been stolen by Indians during the Revolution and brought to Two mile Creek, where he remained a captive a number of years. He was after- wards rescued and taken to Montreal, whence he removed to his former home in Schoharie. John McLoughlin settled in town in 1815, coming over from Canada. Peter Tower also came that year, he and his brother Otis making their way from Massachusetts with a two horse wagon. Peter bought 100 acres of Conrad Zittle, and Otis settled on another farm in this town. Michael Helms was living in town before the war ; Peter Tower lived with him before his marriage and worked at his trade of carpenter and cabinet maker. He was a prominent citizen in public affairs and caused the opening of the first road east from Four mile Creek to the Cambria line.
William and John Clapsaddle came into the town in 1816, John locating on lot 9. He built the first saw mill and grist mill about the year 1817, and kept an early tavern at what is now Tryonville. In the same year David Baker settled in Youngstown, worked there as a car- penter three years, and then removed to the site of Porter Center, where he purchased land of Gideon Curtiss. In the next year Mr. Curtiss took up land within the limits of Ransomville, and cut the first timber in that part of the town, and helped to lay out the road through the village and the one from the Ridge to the lake. His brother, Capt. Gilbert W. Curtiss, came in and ultimately made a home near by and went back to Connecticut, their native State, for his bride. They re- turned in a one-horse lumber wagon, and when they reached the Ridge they were compelled to cut a road through the woods to the site of Ransomville. They brought apple seeds with them, from which an orchard was started, which was the beginning of the large fruit growing interest of the eastern part of the town. He was a captain in the old militia, and from that position obtained his well known title. In 1825 he opened a tavern at Ransomville in a log building which stood in front of the later hotel. His brother Gideon had already opened an earlier inn at this place, but gave up the business before 1825. The tavern was kept in later years by the two sons of Captain Curtiss, the well known business firm of Curtiss Brothers. Captain Curtiss died in 1868.
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