Landmarks of Niagara County, New York, Part 30

Author: Pool, William, 1825-1912, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: [Syracuse] : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 820

USA > New York > Niagara County > Landmarks of Niagara County, New York > Part 30

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Pettit; 1867, Richard C. Holmes; 1868-70, William Hamblin; 1871-74, Benjamin Dearborn; 1875-77, Ralph Stockwell; 1878-80, Edward Baker; 1881, Stephen C. Wakeman; 1882, A. Douglass Pease; 1883-84, Martin S. Gifford; 1885-86, O. S. McChesney ; 1887-90, Samuel H. Petit; 1891-92, William H. Holmes; 1893-96, Sam- uel H. Petit (resigned January 1, 1896, and T. A. Blake appointed to fill vacancy); 1896-98, J. W. Hackett.

The other town officers for 1897 are :

Charles N. Markle, town clerk; John C. Miller, Warren A. Bush, Jacob D. Irish, and Jay K. Johnson, justices of the peace; Samuel O. Isdell, George L. Griffin, and Walter E. Wetmore, assessors; Edward M. Woodcock, collector; Charles Deitz, highway commissioner; E. A. Johnson, and Edward Barker, overseers of the poor.

There were only a few settlers in this town prior to the war of 1812. Henry Lockwood came from Canada in 1808 and took 100 acres of land from the Holland Land Company on lot 77, in the extreme north- east corner of the town. He built his log house near the mouth of a small stream that long bore his name, and there lived until the breaking out of the war. At the close of the war the place was transferred to John Cudaback who lived there, as also did J. S. Cudaback.

In the same year (1808) Robert Waterhouse came from Connecticut and settled on lot I in the extreme south part of the town. In 1809 Stephen Sheldon, from Jefferson county, N. Y., came with his large family and located on the east branch of Twelve-mile Creek, half a mile from its mouth, where he built a rude dwelling place. Lots 8 and 9 had previously been assigned to him by the Holland Company. In the spring of 1811 he built a better house at the mouth of the creek, moved into it and there died in the fall of 1812. His family remained there until the house was burned by the British. They afterward re- built near by and lived there many years. In the summer of 1814 Smith Sheldon, the third son of the pioneer, was working with four others for a Captain Brown, near Four-mile Creek, when Brown and all of his help was captured by British troops and taken to Quebec, where Mr. Sheldon died on a prison ship.

The settlements in the town were considerably increased in 1810. It was in that year that Reuben Wilson, John Eastman and Gilbert Purdy left the Canadian shore near Toronto in April, the two former accom- panied by their families, with household and farm utensils They rowed around the head of Lake Ontario in open bateaux, camping on

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the shores at night, and in the early part of June they arrived at the mouth of Twelve-mile Creek. A mile and a half east of there they landed, unloaded their effects, and by the aid of the boats turned bot- tom up and enclosed at the sides with bark, made a temporary abiding place. They lived thus three months, during which time Wilson and Eastman had each completed a substantial log house. John Eastman had in 1809 taken an article for 100 acres on lot 82, and there resided until 1818, when he exchanged places with James Cole and removed into the eastern part of Hartland.

Reuben Wilson gave the following among other reminiscences to Turner:

When I came in (1819), there was scarcely an acre of ground cleared in what is now Wilson. There was no road up and down the lake. In the fall of 1811 there was a road opened from Fort Niagara to Somerset; it was generally along the lake shore, though deviating at the streams; at its termination, a foot path continued on to Johnson's creek on the Ridge road. . . The first year after I came in I had my provisions to procure from Canada; the second year, I raised my own; at the end of two years, I had fifteen acres of improvements. When I first began to raise grain I had to go across to Port Hope and Hamilton for my grinding. Even after mills were built upon the Purchase, it was easier to go across the lake, than to travel the new roads. Previous to the war myself and neighbors did our trading at Niagara. Dr. Alvord and Dr. Smith, of Lewiston, were our early physicians. We had no meetings or schools previous to the war; after it, and up to 1820, we had but occasional preaching in the neighborhood by missionaries. We organized a school in 1815, built a log school house; Dr. Warner was our first teacher. He was both teacher and physician. Our school commenced with only 12 or 15 scholars. A saw mill was built in 1815 at the mouth of Twelve-mile Creek, by Daniel Sheldon and Joshua Williams. I purchased the property in 1816, and built a grist mill in 1825.

Reuben Wilson was a native of Massachusetts, migrated to Otsego county, N. Y., in 1805 and went thence to Coburg, Canada, in 1807. After his arrival in Wilson he took up 170 acres of land on lot 82 for which he paid $2.50 per acre. Besides erecting his buildings he cleared ten acres the first year and in the second raised a crop of wheat which more than supplied his family, which then consisted of seven persons. To get his grain ground he had to cross the lake to Port Hope or Hamilton. Niagara was the nearest trading point. In 1816 Mr. Wil- son purchased a saw mill which had been built the previous year, probably by Joshua Williams and Daniel Sheldon ; it was situated on Twelve-mile Creek, and his son Luther took charge of the mill. He

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erected a dwelling near this mill into which he moved in 1818. In 1825 he associated his son Luther with himself in business and in the same year completed the first grist mill in the town ; it stood near the saw mill, and was a great convenience to the settlers. Prior to that time and in 1817, or thereabouts, a great oak stump had been hollowed out and a spring pole and pestle attached, to which the people brought corn to pound into course meal from a wide district ; this primitive mill was on the Lake road, and was the only means of grinding until the Wilson mill was completed. The Wilsons also opened a store in 1825, and the family took a leading part in all town affairs. Reuben Wil- son's son Owen was the first white child born in the town. The first marriage was that of Luther Wilson to Sarah Stephens, and the first death was that of Stephen Sheldon.

The Lake Shore road was the first one opened and improved in this town, extending east from Fort Niagara ; it was cut through in 1811 and the earliest settlements were made along its course. The road ex- tending from Youngstown to Van Horn's mill was laid out in July, 1816, by Abner Crossman and George Sheldon, road commissioners, and was surveyed by Joseph Aiken. The so-called Town Line road, running between the seventh and eighth ranges of townships from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania line, was the first opened extending south from the lake, and was surveyed in May, 1816. It originally ran south from the lake two miles and then southwest to that corner of this town. It was straightened on the old line in November, 1819. The road running south from the lake between lots 72 and 82 was laid out in 1818.

The Wilson house was not burned by the British through the fol- lowing narrated occurrence :

At the time of the raid George Ash was staying at the Wilson home with his family, and starting for his farm in Porter on horseback he met a party of the en- emy about six miles west of Wilson's. He was leading his horse and the animal was frightened and escaped. He fled homeward on foot and arrived in time to alarm part of the neighborhood. The few cattle in the immediate vicinity, about 25 head, were speedily collected and started down the lake, driven by Reuben Wilson, then a boy of fifteen years, who pressed them on in advance, passing Van Horn's about sun- down, with the enemy then in sight. A few of the cows had bells which Reuben, fearing they might be heard, stuffed with dried leaves and continued on five miles beyond, where he rested for the night. The next day he returned after the destruc-

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tion of the mill and the retreat of the invaders. The British upon coming up to Mr. Wilson's made him their prisoner, but paroled him upon his word that he would remain at home until their return. Captain Scott, who was in command of the troops, was a very humane officer and seeing the scanty supplies of the settlers and realizing the utter destitution which a strict fulfillment of his instructions would cause, sent his orderly sergeant with George Ash back from Mr. Wilson's to the fort to portray to the officer in command the situation of the inhabitants and induce him to countermand the orders in a measure at least, but he could not be influenced to relent. Mr. Ash was retained as a prisoner and the sergeant was sent back to his company with word to Captain Scott to carry out his orders to the letter. On the return of the troops the next day, a small squad who were in advance of the main body, driving some cattle which had been picked up, called at Mr. Wilson's and forced him to go with them. The main body coming up, Mrs. Wilson had no little trouble in convincing the officers that her husband had not forfeited his word and voluntarily left. The officers remained at Mrs. Wilson's house over night, par- taking of food prepared by Mrs. Wilson. For this hospitality, and the fact that the house stood about 20 rods from the main road, it was not burned by them. Mr. Wil- son was kept at the fort about ten days, when he was released on parole and re- turned to his family. He afterwards received many favors at the hands of the British officers at the fort.

Gilbert Purdy, before mentioned, after assisting Wilson and Eastman to build their houses, went westward up the lake, and in the fall of 1810 obtained an article for 100 acres of land on lot 26. In the following winter he built a house there and in the spring moved his family from Coburg. He died there in 1813. His family were burned out by the British and soon thereafter abandoned their home and returned to Canada.

Erastus Barnard came from Royalton in the summer of 1810 and lived for a time with Stephen Sheldon, who was his father-in-law. He took up land on lot 16, made slight improvements, but sold it soon after the war and removed to Porter. A German named May settled in the same year on lot 41, where the late Lawrence Thompson resided. He left the place in 1812, fearing depredation by the Indians, and never returned.

Dexter P. Sprague and Robert Edwards came from Vermont in the fall of 1810 and settled on lot 63. At the commencement of the war Mr. Sprague removed his family to the Ridge, in Hartland, and in 1815 sold his land to Adam Stevens, who resided there until his death. Mr. Edwards was a captain in the militia and remained on his place until the first day of the raid, when he fled with his family to the home of an

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acquaintance on the Ridge. His place soon afterward passed to David Porter. James Meeker settled in the same fall on 100 acres on lot 91, and Andrew Loys, from Canada, on lot 75. Both these pioneers erected buildings, but fled through fear and did not return.

Three Germans from the Mohawk Valley, named respectively Vos- beck, Wood and Gray, came into the town together in 1810. Each had previously taken an article for a quarter section of land, Vosbeck and Gray on lot 25, and Wood on lot 24. The anticipated terrors of coming war, of which they had heard from their forefathers in the Revolution, drove them away after making considerable improvements. Their farms were afterwards purchased by Stephen, John and David Tower, three brothers, who moved on them from Massachusetts in 1818 and became prominent citizens.

Elijah Mallory, of Coburg, Can., settled on lot 82 in 1811. As he owned a team of horses, he was required by the government to aid in constructing the log causeway from Wright's Corners to Warren's Cor- ners ; he was afterwards detailed to haul supplies from Williamsville, which was a military depot, to Buffalo, and died while in that service. His family remained in Wilson many years.

With the outbreak of the war immigration almost wholly ceased for about three years, but was actively renewed in 1815-16. Daniel and George Sheldon, sons of Stephen Sheldon, were residing in Kingston, Can., at the beginning of the war, and were drafted into the British service ; but they succeeded in escaping and in 1814 came to this town. George afterwards located on lot 17, and Daniel in company with Joshua Williams, built the first saw mill in 1815. It stood on the west bank of Twelve-mile Creek about half a mile from its mouth.

Richard and William Knowles were also drafted into the British service, and escaped to come to Wilson, the former locating on the west part of lot 8 and the latter on the north part of lot 7. Henry Barber and Nathan Pratt left Canada to escape the draft and in 1815 settled in Wilson, the former on lot 89 and the latter on lot 7. John Carter set- tled on the southwest part of lot 72 in the same year.

Abraham Hutchins came from Livingston county in 1816, took up the whole of lot 88, on which he settled. He was a soldier in the war, and had an exciting experience. In 1817 John Haze, from Coburg, settled

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on lot 7 ; Nathan Sherwood on lot 9, the northeast part, and James Cole on the east part of lot 82 ; he had previously located on the Ridge. From this time onward settlers came in rapidly and the lands were soon all taken up. Many of these families are noticed in Part III.

T. T. Upton opened the first tavern in the town in 1818 ; it was situ- ated a short distance west of the site of Wilson village. Benjamin Douglas is said to have set up the first ashery in the town in 1817 and opened a small store on Twelve mile Creek near the grist mill site. He died soon afterward and his business passed to Reuben and Luther Wilson. Peter Furrow, the first mason to locate in the town, came from Massachusetts and settled on lot 25 ; he did most of the mason work in Wilson village up to 1840.

The post office in the town was opened about 1825, with Reuben Wilson, postmaster, his son Luther acting as deputy. Daniel Holmes was the first contractor to bring the mail through from Olcott to Youngstown.

The first and only tannery established in the town was that of Simon Sheldon, which was built about 1825. It stood on the northwest corner of lot 7. The business was suspended after four or five years. Jere- miah Whipple built a distillery about 1826, two miles west of Wilson village ; it was operated only a few years.

Among other prominent residents of Wilson, past and present may be mentioned :

Jared H. Ackerman, on lot 58; Hiram K. Burton, on lot 30; Gilbert Brown on lot 72; Andrew Brown on lot 90; Ozro Bachelder on lot 17; William Burton on lot 20; F. F. Barnum on lot 5; Elmer A. Bickford, produce dealer; Erwin Burton on lot 49; Calvin Bowker, on lot 15; Daniel Carter on lot 81; Grant Cuddeback; John J. Cush- ing on lot 68; Daniel Dwight on lot 26; Benjamin Farley on lot 48 (he was sheriff of Niagara county in 1857 and member of assembly in 1867-68); Orsemus Ferris on lot 14; R. A. Ferris, on lot 53; Enoch Fitch in the west part of the town; Nathan Gallup; Hiram H. Goodenough; Hiram Gifford on lot 3; William Hamblin and son Eli N; John Hill; Daniel Holmes, the first town clerk, on lot 73, and his son, Richard Holmes, the first mail carrier, on lot 72, and later on lot 31; J. C. Hopkins on lot 38; Abram Hutchings, a soldier of 1812, and his son J. Harvey; John John- son and his sons Joseph F., Levi L. and Harvey N .; William A. Knowles son of Richard, the pioneer, on lot 8; Guy W. Loomis on lot 70; James M. Morse on lot 69; Capt. Sewall B. Miller on lot 81; David H. McDonald; William H. Miller; William H. Mudge; Capt James M. Newman on lot 63; Curtis and Alexander Pettit on lot 71; William O. Pettit, son of Samuel, on lot 72; George T. Parker on lot 21; Cal- vin Pratt and son Lorenzo N. on lot 82; Enoch Pease on lot 91; Christopher Palmer

A. N. DWIGHT.

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on lot 38; Reuben Palmer on lot 39; Enoch Sanborn, son of Hon. Lee R. Sanborn, on lot 14, where he built the first cheese factory in town; Homer Swick, Samuel Adams, Perrin C. Bailey, T. A. Blake, James G. O. Brown, William Brown, Will- iam Dailey, Cephus Eaves, Frank B. Farley, P. W. Folger, William Goodfellow, Justus W. Hackett, John A. Hamblin, John S. and Sanford Hague, William H. Holmes, Eugene Loomis, Stephen H. Morris, James M. Morse, Delos Nelson, Clin- ton and George Pettit, John and Thomas Pettit, Rufus W. Pratt, James Reynolds, Guy M. and Perry W. Saulsbury, Edward Stacey, Wilbur C. Stacey, Ralph Stock- well, Benjamin Sutherland, Augustus W. and Harvey P. Swick, Homer and Herbert G. Swick, Arthur E. and C. Edgar Swick, Alexander and Charles Thompson, Frank H. Tower, Salem and Peter Tower, Stephen C. Wakeman, Elisha Wilcox, Charles A. and Frank Wilson, Benjamin Wilson.

There was no resident physician in Wilson until 1824, when Dr. Jonathan Thayer came from Dutchess county and purchased of Reuben Wilson 100 acres of land on lot 73, where he lived and practiced his profession many years. Previous to his coming Drs. Alvord and Smith of Lewiston, and Dr. Warner, of Olcott, visited this town as needed. The first lawyer in this town was Sylvester Parsons, jr., who located at Wilson village in 1840.

Wilson, the only considerable village in this town is beautifully situ- ated on the lake shore at the mouth of Twelve mile Creek. The village takes its name, of course, from its founders, Reuben and Luther Wil- son, whose early mills here have been noticed. The place was laid out originally by Luther Wilson in 1827, and then consisted of only a tier of lots on the north side of Young street, from Lake street to the creek. On these streets a little hamlet gathered around the first mills and the store opened by the Wilsons. No extension of these streets and lots was made until 1847, when Mr. Wilson made what was called the Wilson addition, and in the same year Simon Sheldon added the so- called Wood plat in the south part. Other additions were subsequently made by Andrew Brown and John Onderdonk.

Wilson was made an incorparated village by act of the Legislature passed May 11, 1858. The corporation boundaries were made to in- clude 416 acres, and the population at that time had reached a little more than 700. The first village officers chosen were as follows : Luther Wilson, president ; Luren D. Wilson, Reuben F. Wilson, Henry S. McChesney, and William P. Grout, trustees ; John Hosmer, clerk.

In 1837 Luther Wilson enlarged his grist mill and added steam

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power for its operation. It was later a distillery, operated by Thomas T. Martin, and was burned about 1888. The village in its early history was very largely indebted to Mr. Wilson's enterprise for its prosperity. He opened the first tavern in 1829, and in 1844 built a large stone hotel on the corner of Young and Lake streets, which burned in July, 1894, and with it the First Presbyterian church.

In 1846 he obtained permission from the secretary of war at Wash- ington to extend piers into the lake at the mouth of Twelve-mile Creek; in that year he constructed two piers 200 feet long. The har- bor thus begun was greatly improved after that, and all the work down to 1867 was under Mr. Wilson's supervision. An act of the Legisla- ture passed May 9, 1867, incorporated the Wilson Harbor Company, with a capital of $10,000. Some further improvements were made by this company, but work was suspended in 1870, when it passed into the control of the government. Since about 1878 the piers have been slightly extended, a breakwater built, and some dredging done, at an expense of between $30,000 and $40,000.

In 1846 Mr. Wilson built a storehouse at the harbor, and began buy- ing and shipping grain and fruit, which was of great benefit to the farming community. In the same year he also established a ship yard where he built for his own use the vessel R. F. Wilson, which was em- ployed in carrying freight between this port and Oswego. Through the influence of himself, William D. Grout, and Vincent Seeley the place was made a port of entry in 1848, and Abram Vosburgh ap- pointed collector. Mr. S. Vosburgh is the present incumbent.

The village in past years has been quite a boat building point, about sixteen vessels having been built here. Among former merchants were William P Grout, Benjamin Dearborn, Hezekiah Seeley, and Lu- ther Wilson. The first lawyer was Sylvester Parsons, jr., whose par- ents came here from Maine in 1840. The first blacksmith was Henry Johnson, about 1824.

The present business interests of the village are in the hands of Charles N. Markle and A. L. Welch, general stores; Edward Whittle- ton and George W. Perrigo, hardware; L. Eugene Henry, Elmer A. Johnson (also postmaster), Warren A. Bush, O. E. Vosburgh, and J. W. Hackett, groceries; Charles O. Storrs and J. S. Burgess, shoes,

CHARLES E. HONEYWELL.

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etc., Mrs. E. A. Jones and Eliphalet Swain, drugs; A. H. Reed, furni- ture and undertaking ; L. A. and S. A. Perrigo, millinery ; A. N. Dwight, lumber; the Barnum iron foundry ; E. F. Barton, harnesses ; Chapman & Litchards (successors to Bush & Chapman), steam grist mill. There are also two handsome hotels-Hotel Sutherland, built in 1895 on the site of the Ontario House, which was burned, and the Tower Hotel, erected in 1896 where the American House had stood.

The Wilson Creamery Company was organized in 1894 with S. H. Pettit, president ; C. N. Markle, secretary ; and J. W. Eggleston, treas- urer. Butter was manufactured until 1897, when the manufacture of cheese was substituted. The present officers are Hervey Sanford, pres- ident, and Charles N. Markle, secretary and treasurer.

The Star, a bright weekly newspaper, was started in Wilson in Octo- ber, 1878, by Tower & Betts, who in November of the same year sold it to Charles E. Honeywell, the present editor and proprietor.

Charles E. Honeywell, editor and publisher of the Star, was born in Toronto, Canada, March 2, 1852, and is a son of John Honeywell and Isabella Bridgford, his wife. His father was a lieutenant and his great- grandfather, David Honeywell, was a colonel in the English army. His maternal great grandfather, John Stegman, was the first surveyor in Niagara county, and acquired Goat Island at the Falls from the Indians. Mr. Honeywell was edueated in his native city, and learned the trade of printer there, first on the Toronto Leader and afterward on the Tele- gram. He was then a journeyman for several years, and in 1878 came to Wilson, Niagara county, and purchased The Star, of which he has since been the publisher and editor. Mr. Honeywell has one of the best equipped country printing offices in the county, and has placed his paper among the leaders of Niagara journals. He is a member of On- tario Lodge No. 376, F. & A. M., and of other organizations. March 3, 1879, he married Sarah, daughter of Charles Myers, of Wilson.

The officers of Wilson village for 1897 are Jay K. Johnson, president ; Arthur Ackerman, and L Eugene Henry, trustees; Charles O. Storrs, clerk ; John S. Wilson, collector ; Justus W. Hackett, treasurer ; William Albright and Fred M. Tabor, assessors; Lorenzo S. Wilson, Thomas Moore and John Nelson, street commissioners.

As far as is now known the first school in this town was taught

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evenings in 1817 by Luther Wilson, for the benefit of adults. It was continued through the months of January and February in a dwelling about a mile south of the site of the village. The first school house was built of logs in 1819 on the Lake road about a mile and a half east of Wilson village. Dr. Warner taught the first day school there in that year. Another log school house, the first in the village, was built in 1820, on the site where was subsequently erected Luther Wil- son's stone residence. Almira Welch was the first teacher there, and was succeeded by David Murray. The town was divided into dis- tricts as seemed to be needed, the number in 1860 being seventeen ; there are now fourteen with a school house in each, and the schools are well maintained.

In 1845 a number of persons who were deeply interested in the cause of education adopted measures to establish in Wilson an institu- tion for higher education. A subscription paper was circulated which was generously headed by Luther Wilson with $500. A considerable sum was soon pledged and in that year a large two-story stone struc- ture was built on a site donated by Simon Sheldon. The institution was incorporated by the Regents of the University February 19, 1846, under the name of the Wilson Collegiate Institute. It was opened with Ben- jamin Wilcox, principal, and David H. Davis, assistant. The institute was moderately successful for a number of years, but ultimately the re- ceipts for tuition upon which it depended for support, became inade- quate, and in the fall of 1869 the institution was merged in Union School District No. I, which consisted of four school districts of the im- mediate vicinity. The trustees of the institute deeded to the union dis- trict trustees the property of the former, in accordance with a legislative enactment, thus making it a free school. The first board of education of the union school was composed of H. N. Johnson, president; Syl- vester Parsons, Vincent Seeley, J. G. O. Brown, Jerome Gifford, Henry Sanford, Henry Perry, W. Richardson and Lorenzo Pratt. An aca- demic department was opened in this school in 1870. The first princi- pal was Prof. S. C. Hall. The present principal of the school is H. C. Hustleby.

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Landmarks of Niagara County, New York, Part 30

Author: Pool, William, 1825-1912, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: [Syracuse] : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 820

Author: Pool, William, 1825-1912, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: [Syracuse] : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 820