USA > New York > Niagara County > Landmarks of Niagara County, New York > Part 28
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 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
Rufus Spalding, 1818; Benjamin Barton, 1819-27; (Nathaniel Leonard filled out an unexpired term of Mr. Barton's in 1823); Jacob Townsend, 1828-30; Sheldon C. Townsend, 1831; Lothrop Cook, 1832; Alexander Dickerson, 1833-41; Sherburne B. Piper, 1842-45; Benjamin Hewitt, 1846; Seymour Scovell, 1847-48 ; Benjamin Hewitt, 1849; Arthur Gray, jr., 1850; Leander K. Scovell, 1851; Andrew Robinson, 1852-53; John L. Whitman, 1854; John Robinson, 1855; Reuben H. Boughton, 1856; Frank- lin Spalding, 1857; Benjamin Hewitt, 1858; Franklin Spalding, 1859-60; Isaac C. Cook, 1861-62; Moses Bairsto, 1863-66; Silas S. Hopkins, 1867; Moses Bairsto, 1868; Sherburne B. Piper, 1869-74; William J. Moss, 1875-77; William P. Mentz, 1878-80; . Galen Miller, 1881-85; William J. Cooke, 1886-90; Galen Miller, 1891; Wilber T. Pool, 1892-98.
Thomas P. Scovell served as town clerk for forty consecutive years, from 1852 to September 29, 1892, when he resigned, and Milton Rob- inson was appointed to fill the vacancy. The present town clerk is William C. Townsend.
283
This town is the permanent abiding place of the Tuscarora Indians, whose reservation occupies about a third of the area in the central and northern part. The history of this tribe is well known. In the war of the Revolution such of the Tuscaroras and the Oneidas as joined the British forces and fled before the approach of Sullivan in his expedition westward, sought refuge with the British garrison at Fort Niagara. In the next year a part of these returned to their former haunts in Central New York, and the remainder took up their abode on a mile square of land on the mountain ridge here, which had been given them by the Senecas. At a later date the Holland Company granted them two square miles adjoining their former possessions, and in 1808 they pur- chased of the company an additional tract of between 4,000 and 5,000 acres. These lands constitute the present reservation, which has been brought under good cultivation, and the occupants have so far advanced in civilization that they form a respectable element in citizenship. They have two churches, Baptist and Presbyterian, the latter having been in existence since 1805. There are also good schools and the council house. The nation was long ruled by Chief John Mountpleasant, son of Captain Mountpleasant, who was born on the island of Mack- inaw in 1779 and came to the reservation two years later. He was an officer in the British army in 1812 and participated in the battle of Queenston; he also served as interpreter, being versed in the language of various tribes. After the war he returned to the reserva- tion, where he died October 9, 1854. John Mountpleasant, the son, was born January 18, 1810, and was elected chief in 1827, when only seventeen years old. In 1831 he was married to Jane Green, a daugh- ter of the tribe, who subsequently died and he married Caroline G. Parker, a Seneca woman and sister of Gen. Ely S. Parker, who was General Grant's military secretary. This chief was possessed of a good degree of intelligence and executive ability and was a representative Indian ; he served as one of the delegates of the Six Nations at the obsequies of Red Jacket in Buffalo ; he was one of the trustees of the Thomas Indian Orphan asylum, and a corresponding member of the Buffalo Historical Society. His administration of the affairs of his peo- ple was marked with ability, judgment and kindness. He successfully cultivated a large farm, and lived in a large and handsome dwelling
284
where the most liberal hospitality always prevailed. Chief Mount- pleasant died May 6, 1887.
The first permanent white settlement in this town was made at about the beginning of the present century on the site of Lewiston village. Among the few who were located here in 1800 were the families of Frederick Woodman, William Gambol, Thomas Hustler, Henry Hough, Henry Mills, Joseph and John Howell, and two others named Middaugh and McBride. Thomas Hustler was an early tavern keeper, his house standing on a corner of what is now Center street opposite its junction with Portage street. His house was long well known and popular. Middaugh was keeping a tavern as early as 1788, and McBride built a tannery here in 1799. The History of the Holland Purchase states that Silas Hopkins said he spent most of the summer of 1788 in Lewiston, buying furs, and that the only white inhabitant then was Middaugh. In published reminiscences of John Mountpleasant it is stated that the Middaughs were from the North River, and that when they came here they occupied one of the old houses left by the Mohawks. Hough had a Mohawk wife and lived in a house that had been occupied by Brant.
In 1802 Lemuel Cooke settled here and was conspicuous in the early history of the place, and his sons were afterwards leading citizens. Mr. Cooke had been a surgeon in the army. One of his sons was Bates Cooke, who held the office of comptroller of the State, and was a member of congress with Daniel Webster; he died in Lewiston May 31, 1841. Another son was Judge Lothrop Cooke, who died in July, 1855. A third was Isaac Cooke, who died earlier.
Jesse Beach settled in the town in 1801, and two years later located on a farm two miles east of Lewiston village. Later he owned the farm occupied at one period by Colonel A. Dickerson at Dickersonville and there built the first dwelling and blacksmith shop. Silas Hop- kins, before mentioned, settled in the town in the first year in which the lands of the Holland Company were offered for sale. He was afterwards a colonel in the American army in 1812, and subsequently was one of the judges of this county. John Robinson, from Pennsyl- vania, settled on the west third of lot II, in 1806. Asahel Sage came into the town and located on his farm in 1807; his neighbors were
285
John Gould, and two families named Bragbill and Smith, who had lo- cated on the first tier of lots east of the Mile Reserve. There were then no settlers father east on the mountain. Solomon Gilbert was an early settler in the town, and Joseph Hewitt came in several years before the war, having removed from Connecticut to Genesee county in 1803, and later to the town of Cambria, until he exchanged farms with Wil- liam Howell and became owner of the place occupied subsequently by his son, J. P. Hewitt. Isaac Colt came in from Sussex, N. J., in 1809, bringing his wife and six children, making the journey with two yoke of oxen; he lived a short time on lot 24, on the Military road, but soon located on lot 25, where he opened a tavern. In the same year Aaron Childs came with his wife and four children and settled on the Ridge road, where he kept a tavern a number of years, and finally removed to Niagara.
Dr. Alvord was the first resident physician, but it is not known just when he arrived. He was followed by Dr. Willard Smith in 1810. A school was opened in 1806 by a Scotchman named Watson, and the following year Jonas Harrison, who was a pioneer lawyer, opened an- other in a log building on what is now Center street. One of the two rooms in the building was used for a dwelling and the other for the school. The village has been described as it appeared in 1807, when "it contained two small frame and five or six log houses. The ground on either side of Main (now Center) street, for a short distance, was cleared and fenced in, and corn and other grain was grown on it. There were many old dry trees standing, and thick woods bounded it on the north and south sides."
Joshua Fairbanks, long a resident of Lewiston, made his first visit to Western New York in 1791, and narrated to Mr. Turner his experiences on his journey and after his arrival as follows :
We coasted up Lake Ontario; going on shore and camping nights. We were sev- enteen days making the journey from Geneva to Queenston. The only person we saw on the route, from Oswego to Niagara, was William Hencher, at the mouth of Genesee river. We made a short call at Fort Niagara, reporting ourselves to the commanding officer. He gave us a specimen of British civility, during the "hold- over" after the Revolution. If was after a protracted dinner-sitting, I should think. He asked where I was going. I replied to Chippewa. "Go along and be d -- d to you," was his laconic verbal passport. There was then outside of the garrison, under its walls, upon the flats, two houses. No tenement at Youngstown.
286
I landed at Queenston-went into a house, partly of logs and partly framed, and commenced keeping tavern. There was then a road from Fort Niagara to Fort Erie. At Queenston, Hamilton had a good house built, the rest were small log huts.
Benjamin Barton settled in Lewiston in 1807, but had previously be- come interested in business with General Porter. As soon as the Mile strip on the Niagara River was surveyed into farm and village lots, he attended the sale at the office of the surveyor-general in Albany ; that was in 1805. While there he met General Porter and their long friend- ship began. They purchased several farm lots, including the property around the falls, and bid off at public auction the landing places at Lew- iston and Schlosser, for which they received a lease for twelve or thir- teen years. In 1806, under the firm name of Porter, Barton & Co. (which has been noticed in the history of Niagara), they commenced the carrying trade around the falls on the American side ; they were connected with Matthew McNair, of Oswego, and Jonathan Walton & Co., of Schenectady; and this was the first regular and connected line of forwarders that ever did business from tide water to Lake Erie on that side of the Niagara. After the war of 1812 Mr. Barton moved with his family to Lewiston, his favorite place of residence, and com- menced rebuilding and repairing the property which had been injured in the war. During the last fifteen or twenty years of his life he re- tired from business, excepting agriculture, to which he was much at- tached. He died in Lewiston in 1842, at the age of seventy-two years.
In May of 1801 Gen. James Wilkenson arrived on the frontier, com- missioned to open a road between Lakes Ontario and Erie. He ordered General Porter, then at Fort Niagara, to aid in the work with the soldiers in the garrison. Of this work Turner says :
In the season of 1802 it was opened as far west as the brow of the mountain at Lewiston; and from thence to a mile west of Tonawanda creek, the timber was cut down, but not removed. The work of the season included the erection of bridges over the Tonawanda and Cayuga creeks. The road was left in this condition until 1809, when an appropriation was made by the Legislature for its further improve- ment, of $1,500; the sum to be collected from the debtors to the State for land pur- chased upon the Mile strip. Joseph Landon, Peter Vandeventer, and Augustus Porter were appointed commissioners to lay out the money. It was used to make a passable wagon road from Black Rock to the Falls. This was the end of govern- ment appropriation.
287
Judge Silas Hopkins narrated some of his reminiscences to Turner, in which is found the following :
I spent most of the summer of 1788, at Lewiston, purchasing furs. I bought prin- cipally beaver, otter, muskrat, mink. The Indian hunting grounds for these animals were the marshes along the Ridge road, the bays of the Eighteen, Twelve, and Four- mile creeks. The marsh where I now live (six miles east of Lewiston), was then, most of the year, a pond or small lake. The only white inhabitant at Lewiston, then was Midpaugh. He kept a tavern-his customers, the Indians, and travellers on their way to Canada. I carried back to New Jersey about four hundred dollars worth of furs, on pack horses. At that period, furs were plenty. I paid for beaver, from four to six shillings; for otter about the same; for mink and muskrat four cents. There were a good many bears, wolves, and wild cats; but a few deer. Im- mediately after the defeat of St. Clair, the Indians were very insolent and manifest- ed much hostility towards the whites.
Asahel Sage settled on a farm in Lewiston in 1807. He gave the following reminiscences to Turner :
I moved upon the farm in Lewiston, where I now reside, in 1807. John Gould, Bragbill, -Smith, were then settled on the first tier of lots back of the Mile- strip; no other settler farther east up the mountain. Sanders, Doty, Goodwin, Web- ster, Hawley, were the pioneer settlers in Sanders' Settlement. Jairus Rose, --- Defoe, Springsteen, the Carneys, went in west of Pekin after the war. The Rey- nolds and Carneys were the first settlers at Pekin. Beamer, Wilson, Bridge, Dr. Ortan, Bliss, Earls, were among the earliest settlers between ridge and mountain west of Scott's.
Besides those already mentioned there are known to have been sev- eral other settlers in Lewiston village before the war. John Latta be- came a settler a few years before the war and built a tannery which he operated until the burning of the place. Caleb W. Raymond and a man named Hull were blacksmiths, and a man named Dorman was an apothecary. It is likely that there were a few other residents.
Achish Pool, with his wife and two sons, Thomas and William, made the journey from Massachusetts in 1811 and arrived at Lewiston Oc- tober 13. Their conveyance was a covered wagon which was drawn by a yoke of oxen and one horse. The Gillette family were also early settlers at Lewiston.
A list of other prominent though later residents of the town includes Joseph P. Hewitt, a contractor, farmer, and lumberman ; Hetzel Colt, born here in 1809; Walter Lotta, born in town in 1826; Jeremiah G. Campbell, many years assessor, who came here from Vermont in 1819 ;
288
Robert and A. J. Nichols, fruit growers and natives of Lewiston ; Ziba A. Downer, who arrived in 1832 ; James Buckley, who came here with his parents about 1835 ; and John A. Cleghorn, Edgar W. Barber, Lewis W. Hull, James Kelley, Leander K. Scovell, Samuel Treichler, Capt. James Van Cleve, Charles McConnell, William P. Mentz, William Legg, Miles Parker, J. N. Babcock, James Johnson, William Patterson, Charles and George Hotchkiss, Samuel Burns, Philip Bechtel, Asa Thompson, Isaac N. Jack, Samuel B. Russ, Charles A. Bairsto, W. S. McCollum, J. O. Hooker, J. W. Murray, and others.
The war came and with it all the attendant terrors of hurried flight by the inhabitants, destruction of property and cessation of industry. There was a rude arsenal building in Lewiston at this time which stood near the site of the later American Hotel, in which were stored arms and other munitions of war. A small battery was built on the brow of the mountain opposite Queenston Heights in 1812, which was called Fort Gray, after the man who superintended the work. Some years before the war, even, the inhabitants had a foretaste of what was in store for them. In 1808 the 4Ist British Regiment was stationed in Fort George, some of whom deserted and came over to this side. The British employed Indians to arrest the deserters and return them to their command. An incident of these proceedings is thus related by an early resident :
I have seen a large number-twenty or more-British soldiers sent over the river, tramping with impunity up and down the Main street of Lewiston, inquiring and searching for deserters. The Indians caught two and took them past Lewiston in the night, over the river. They were severely flogged, and it was reported that each received five hundred lashes. The feelings of our people became aroused at this insolent manner of capturing deserters, and they determined to stop it. For two or three miles on the road running east of Lewiston the people had ten hours to give notice to each other of trouble. I remember that one bright moonlight night we were all aroused by the blowing of the horns, and men armed came rushing in with the information that the Indians had got some deserters and were coming in with them. The alarm proved false. About the same time Sergeant McDonald, who had charge of some twenty-five men at Queenston, came over with three or four men to hunt for deserters. This party the citizens captured, and were about starting them off to jail at Batavia, when a committee of some of the leading men in Canada came across the river, and an agreement was made with our people that no more soldiers should be sent to our side, or Indians employed to catch deserters.
Another incident that took place in connection with the embargo on trade, was thus related :
289
Mr. Dorman, who has been mentioned as an early apothecary in the village, had goods and potash that were of great value in Canada, but the embargo prevented their being taken over. On town meeting day, which wasthe first Tuesday of April, when every man in the place was attending the meeting, some twelve miles distant, Dorman had three boats come from Queenston with twenty or twenty-five men, armed with clubs swinging at their wrists. They opened the storc, and rolled the ashes and carried the other property down the hill and took it over the river. Hav- ing so much to do, they did not quite get through until the men began to return from the meeting, where they had got information of what was going on. As a conse- quence the Canadians had to leave a large share of the property, which fell into the hands of the citizens of the village.
The following interesting notes on the local situation on the frontier in this immediate locality, were contributed to a county newspaper re- cently :
At the junction of the Portage road with Main street, there was a public house for many years, which, during the war of 1812, was kept by a man named Gad Piercc, who was an active frontier partisan. When hostilities commenced between the two countries, there was a very small number of troops on the American side of the river, and only a single company to garrison Fort Niagara. It was expected every night that the Fort would be attacked by the British, who had a large force at Fort George. Mr. Pierce, aware of this state of affairs, one day raised all the inhabitants in the surrounding country, and had them assemble at Lewiston. Horses of every kind were brought into requisition, and when the citizens were mounted, they ap- peared at a distance like a formidable troop of cavalry. Among them, too, werc several Tuscarora Indians, who entered with spirit into the maneuvre. Instead of swords they used walking canes, sticks and ramrods Several of the ramrods were polished steel or iron, which made a very bright and flashy appearance. The cavalcade moved from Lewiston, along the river road, in sight of the enemy, and entered Fort Niagara, the blankets of the Indians fluttering in the wind, and the various habiliments of the farmers, the limping and overstrained plow horse. the nibbling gait and twitching head of the wild pony, with now and then a noble looking horse, formed, to those who were near, a most ludicrous spectacle. In the fort they dismounted and performed some slight evolutions in the most laughable manner. At the command to mount some of the Indians executed the order in such a masterly way as to throw themselves entirely over their ponies. To the British, the imposing appearance of the troops with their steel ramrods, which glittered in the son like broadswords, had the desired effect ; the contemplated attack was not made. At the time of the general invasion Mr. Pierce had his family removed to a place of safety, but would not himself quit the premises. He and four others formed the little garrison, with which he determined to defend his homc. They waited for the approach of the enemy. At length a company of British regu- lars appeared and a fire was opened on them. They continued the defence for some time, but as their opponents were numerous, it was impossible to keep them at a distance. A part advanced upon the front of the house and succeeded in breaking
37
290
down the door, firing the guns as they entered. The defenders effected their escape in an opposite direction without any of their number being wounded.
After the investment of Fort George and Fort Erie by the Americans in the spring of 1813, and when the frontier was in their possession, they established a ferry just below the site of the later Lewiston suspen- sion bridge. It is related that on occasion a party of Canadians gathered at the ferry wharf and attempted to kidnap or otherwise harass our people as they crossed the ferry. Thereupon a squad of boys, with the assistance of one man, secured a four-pounder gun, dragged it to a point commanding the Canadians, loaded it with grape shop, fired upon the intruders and drove them away.
During the battle of Queenston, which was, of course, seen from this side, balls from the heights came across into the settlement, some of which passed through or partly through buildings. It will be remem- bered that the American militia refused to cross the river in that battle, for which conduct they were charged with rank cowardice. Miles Gillet, a son of Solomon Gillet, was one of a number who did cross with the intention of taking part in the battle. He hid behind a stump and placing his hat on its top, drew the fire of some of the British In- dian allies. His hat was riddled with bullet holes, and he returned the fire. The experiences of the elder Gillet have been detailed on an earlier page.
When the invasion was made no place on the frontier suffered more than Lewiston. The attack was a surprise. The Indians, preceded by the British a few minutes and under the license given them by Riall, their commander, they began the indiscriminate shooting of the people. The little force under Major Bennett, that was stationed at the settle- ment, were soon compelled to retreat after losing a number of men. A few days earlier a small force of Americans and friendly Indians had been gathered for the defense of the frontier between Lewiston and Five mile Meadow; but they were likewise surprised in an unorganized condition and forced to flee. It was in this party that the elder Gillet was engaged, as before related. Soon the only thought on the part of the inhabitants was how to reach a place of safety. An " Old Pioneer" wrote the Lockport Journal a few years ago, as follows :
At one time when the red-coats were seen landing at Lewiston, every owner of a
291
a horse hitched up to his sleigh and piled in their goods and escaped to the moun- tain. But one woman was left alone in her cabin. Astwo "reds" came to the house they seized her infant child which happened to be outside and threatened to kill it if she refused to let them in. But she persisted, when they dashed the child's brains out against the corner of the house, and then mounting the roof began descending the chimney. With quick presence of mind she emptied her straw bed into the fire which smothered them so that she easily finished them with her axe. After washing the soot off their faces she recognized two of her neighbors who were tories.
The killed at Lewiston numbered about twelve, among whom was Dr. Alvord. the pioneer physician, Thomas Marsh, Jarvis Gillet, who was only seven years old and who was shot while trying to escape with his mother, and two others named Tiffany and Finch. All but one were scalped and that one was beheaded. Dr. Alvord had just mounted his horse before his dwelling to ride away, but was shot before going far. The escape of Lothrop Cooke and his brother, Bates Cooke, has been narrated.
Reuben Lewis lived at the foot of the mountain on the outskirts of the present village, and having agreed with a neighbor that he would never be taken alive, he fought after he was wounded until the enemy came up and killed him. For other details of the invasion the reader is referred to the earlier chapter treating upon this war.
The Tuscarora village shared the fate of Lewiston. We quote from Turner as follows :
The Ridge road presented one of the harshest features of the invasion. The in- habitants on the frontier, en masse, were retreating eastward, men, women and children, the Tuscarora Indians having a prominent place in the fight. The resi- dents upon the Ridge who had not got the start of the main body, fell in with it as it approached them. There was a small arsenal at the first four corners west of Howell's Creek, a log building containing a number of barrels of powder, several hundred stand of arms and a quantity of fixed ammunition. Making a stop there, the more timid were for firing the magazine and continuing the retreat. The braver counsels prevailed to a small extent. They made sufficient demonstrations to turn back a few Indian scouts who had followed up the retreat to plunder such as fell in the rear. The mass made no halt at the arsenal, but pushed on in an unbroken column, until they arrived at Forsythe's, where they divided, a part taking the Lewiston road and seeking asylums in Genesee county and over the river, and a part along the Ridge road and off from it in the new settlements of what are now Orleans and Monroe counties, and Wayne and the north part of Ontario counties. All kinds of vehicles were put in requisition. It was a motley throng, flying from the torch and the tomahawk of an invading foe, with hardly a show of military or- ganization to cover their retreat.
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.