Landmarks of Niagara County, New York, Part 33

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

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Pendleton village has enjoyed considerable business activity in past

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years. The first merchant was Jerry S. Jenks. William B. Jenks was for some time a leading merchant there, beginning in 1834; he was postmaster sixteen years and a justice of the peace for more than thirty years. Austin Simons was another prominent merchant from 1831 to about 1865 Sylvester Pendleton Clark's log tavern, built in 1821, was followed by his frame hotel erected in 1822. The Sulphur Springs Hotel was built by Reuben Fuller and Marshall Martin in 1850, and was long kept by Truman Nichols. The present merchants are Martin Woock, Mathias Donner (who is also postmaster), and Jacob Blum. The hotelkeeper is Anthony Roskopf. The post-office was established as early as 1823 with S. P. Clark postmaster.

Pendleton Center is a station and post-office near the center of the town, on the Erie Railroad. Ellis & Graff have a general store there. Near the place is also an M. E. church.

Mapleton is a post-office and milk station on the New York Central Railroad, in the northwest part of the town. Burt N. Thompson is postmaster.

Hodgeville and Hoffman are stations on the Erie Railroad, the former in the northeast and the latter in the southwest part of the town.

Wendelville is a small hamlet on the canal, or Tonawanda Creek, and owes its existence to Martin Wendel, the first merchant. John Wurtenberter has a general store there and is also the postmaster.

Beech Ridge (formerly Hall's Station) is a postal hamlet on the New York Central Railroad, in the extreme west part of the town. The land on which it stands was owned by Silas Hall, whose name long clung to the place. Philip Miller was formerly a merchant and post- master there ; the office was established in 1853 with William M. Beebe, postmaster. The present merchants are George Rundel and Charles Hill. An M. E. church, a neat frame building, was erected here about 1894.

The first school in Pendleton was opened in the winter of 1816 by a man named Dawson. In 1827 the town was divided into eight school districts.

The first steps taken towards the organization of a Presbyterian church in this town was in 1835 at Beech Ridge. Only four families

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were then interested in the movement, and their meetings were held in private houses and the school house at Mapleton. Rev. Samuel Leon- ard was the first pastor In 1844 a church was formed at Shawnee in Wheatfield and the members at Beech Ridge joined in it; it was under charge of Rev. Russell Brooks. A church edifice was erected at Ma- pleton in 1847-48. The society took the name of The First Presbyte- rian Church of Pendleton and Wheatfield. The first trustees of the Mapleton society were James Thompson, Silas Hall, and Isaac H. Smith ; the number of members was eighteen.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Good Sheperd at Pendleton was organized and the brick church edifice completed in 1854. Among the first officers were Martin Woock, Michael Mayer, John Staebel, John Adam Koepfinger, and Jacob Danna.

St. Paul's German Lutheran church, situated at Wendelville, was built in 1859.

The Methodist church of Pendleton village was organized in March, 1858, with Rev. John B. Jenkins as pastor, and Morris Wire, Francis King, Miranda Root, William Blowers, and Lewis Abbott as trustees.

The Church of the United Bretheren was organized in March, 1874. Both societies occupy the union church, which was erected in 1860, on a lot donated by Willett Clark for the use of all evangelical denomina- tions.

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CHAPTER XXII.

THE TOWN OF WHEATFIELD.

Wheatfield is the last town organized in Niagara county, and was set off from Niagara May 12, 1836. It lies on the southern boundary of the county, west of the center, and extends farther south than any other town. The Niagara River forms its southwestern boundary and Ton- awanda Creek its southern. Its surface is level or gently undulating. The soil is generally a clayey loam, not easy of cultivation, but pro- ductive of grains and especially of wheat ; this latter fact gave the town its name. Cayuga Creek flows across the northwestern part of the town and empties into the Niagara River, and Sawyer's Creek flows south- easterly across the southeastern part and empties into Tonawanda Creek. The town contains four post-offices-Martinsville, Bergholtz, St. Johns- burg, and Shawnee, besides the city of North Tonawanda, and the hamlet of Walmore, in the northwestern corner.

The first town meeting was held on the 6th of June, 1836, in the school house of district No. 7, on the north line of the town, and the following were elected as the first officers :

Supervisor, N. M. Ward; town clerk, Edwin Cook; assessors, Isaac H. Smith, James Sweeney, Hiram Parks; justices of the peace, L. B. Warden, John Sweeney ; commissioners of highways, Elias Parks, Matthew Gray; collector, Stewart Milliman ; overseer of the poor, William Towsley; constables, Stewart Milliman, Daniel C. Jacobs, Calvin F. Champlin, Seth F. Roberts; commissioners of schools, Isaac L. Young, James Sweeney, Loyal E. Edwards.

These were all esteemed citizens of the town at that comparatively late date.

The following have been supervisors of the town :

In 1836, N. M. Ward; 1837, Benjamin McNitt; 1838, N. M. Ward; 1839, William Vandervoort ; 1840, John Sweeney ; 1842, Isaac L. Young ; 1843, N. M. Ward ; 1844-45, Lewis S. Payne; 1846, N. M. Ward; 1847-48, L. S. Payne; 1849, Sylvester McNitt; 1850, L. S. Payne; 1851, Seth F. Roberts; 1852, Sylvester McNitt; 1853-54, Peter Greiner ; 1855, Joseph Hawbecker; 1856-57, George W. Sherman ; 1858, N. M. Ward ;

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1859-61, L. S. Payne; 1862, Peneuel Schmeck; 1863-66, George W. Sherman; 1867 H. H. Griffin; 1868, James Carney; 1869, H. H. Griffin; 1870, Edward A. Milliman 1871-73, Joseph D. Loveland; 1874-75, Thomas C. Collins; 1876, L. S. Payne; 1877 1878, Christian Fritz; 1879-81, Charles Kandt; 1882, Daniel Sy; 1883, C. F. Goerss 1884-88, Peter Heim; 1889-94, Chauncey Wichterman; 1895-96, William Tompkins 1897-98, Herman Rosebrook.

Charles Hagen, a veteran of Co. D, 100th N. Y. Vols., has served as town clerk since about 1874.

Since the incorporation of North Tonawanda as a city, Charles Koh- ler was elected supervisor of the First ward; Conrad J. Winter, Second ward ; and John H. Bollier, Third ward.

Although this town was erected so many years later than most of the others in the county, and its settlement in the interior and western parts was so comparatively recent, it still bore a close relation to the impor- tant events that took place in early years on the frontier. The banks near the mouth of Cayuga Creek, as the reader has learned, constitute a historical locality and witnessed stirring scenes when this town was a part of Niagara.

The first settlements were made on the Niagara River on and near the site of the city of North Tonawanda. Even in that vicinity progress was slow, except in the direction of improving farm lands, until after the completion of the Erie Canal. There were few settlers within the limits of the town previous to the war of 1812, and when these learned of the destruction of Youngstown and Lewiston, they shared in the general consternation along the frontier, gathered in haste such prop- erty as they could carry, and fled eastward beyond immediate danger.

Probably the earliest settler on the site of North Tonawanda was George N. Burger, who came in 1809 and built a log tavern on the river ; he remained a resident until about 1825. Joshua Pettit came in 1810 and settled near the Niagara Iron Works, where he opened a tavern. He was the father of Mrs. Daniel C. Jacobs and Mrs. Whitman Jacobs. Stephen Jacobs, a soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill, located on the river two miles below in 1817, where he purchased 196 acres of Augustus Porter, paying eight dollars an acre. He died in Niagara Falls in January, 1840. William Vandervoorte settled here in 1825, occupy- ing a log house which tradition says was the only one then in existence. It was his intention to make a business of purchasing staves and timber

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for the Boston market, and ultimately to open a mercantile business. In 1828 he finished the first public house in the place, which was called the Niagara ; it was burned in 1844. Later he purchased 1,000 acres of land of the Holland Company and sold to Prussian immigrants the largest part of their possessions on Tonawanda Creek and its vicinity. He established the first bank in 1836. As before indicated, little progress of a business nature was made here until the opening of the Erie Canal. The interior of the town was still almost an unbroken wilderness and as late as 1850 a large part of the area of the town was unimproved. The prospects at Tonawanda in 1824, as viewed by in- terested persons, is indicated in the following advertisement :

VILLAGE OF NIAGARA.

This village is located at the confluence of the Niagara and Tonawanta rivers, where the Erie canal from Buffalo enters the Tonawanta, and where boats pass from the canal into the Niagara river by a lock. At this junction of the rivers and ad- joining the village, is a safe and spacious harbor, as well for canal boats as for vessels navigating Lake Erie.

These advantages cannot fail to render the village of Niagara the depot of the products of the West, destined to the city of New York, and of return cargoes of merchandise.

A dam of four or five feet high will be thrown across the Tonawanta, at the vil- lage, so as to raise the river to the level of Lake Erie, and the river will be navigated for the distance of eleven miles, and be united with the canal between Niagara and Lockport. The surplus water from the dam will afford an abundant and steady supply for mills and other hydraulic works.

The village is 12 miles from Buffalo, 8 from the falls, 15 from Lewiston, and 16 miles from Lockport. A line of stages passes through fromn Buffalo to Lewiston daily, and another from Lockport to Buffalo every other day. Travelers to the Falls will leave the canal at this place.

A bare inspection of Vance's or Lay's map of the western part of this State will at once show the advantageous position of the village for trade, market and manu- factures.

Building lots are now offered for sale to actual settlers. A map of the village may be seen by application to James Sweeney, at Buffalo, or to George Goundy at the Land Office in Geneva ; and the former will enter into contracts of sale.

The title is indisputable, and good warranty deeds will be executed to purchasers.

GEORGE GOUNDY, JAMES SWEENEY, JOHN SWEENEY,

Proprietors.

July 5, 1824.

The James Sweeney, whose name appears above, settled first in Buf-

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falo in 1811. He became one of the proprietors of the site of North Tonawanda village, and as such settled there in 1828 and built one of the very early frame dwellings. The land owned by him and his asso- ciates was cleared to supply timber for the Buffalo pier and breakwater, and at the same time to prepare the tract for sale in small lots. The sites on which were erected the First M. E. church (1837) and the first school house were donated by Mr. Sweeney, and largely through his energy, activity and generosity the village received its early impetus. He died in January, 1850, aged fifty-seven. John Sweeney was his son and long a prominent citizen ; he superintended the building of the first railroad depot and was long the station agent. He caused the building of the first dock on the creek next to the bridge, and subsequently ex- tended it 250 feet. He built the first grist mill, which was burned and not rebuilt, and also the first saw mill.

James Carney settled as early as 1819, with his father, Edward, on Tonawanda Island, which was known for many years as Carney Island. His purpose was to gain pre emption rights to the island if the boun- dary settlement should leave it within the United States. In 1854 the State caused a survey to be made and ordered an assessment valuation of $4.50 per acre. In the next year the island was directed to be sold at auction in Albany and required one-eighth of the purchase money to be paid down. Mr. Carney placed the requisite sum in the hands of Judge Samuel Wilkinson, of Buffalo, to make the purchase. But the spirit of speculation awakened by the operations of Mordecai M. Noah and his associates, on Grand Island, created a spirited contest for this island and it was sold to Samuel Leggate at $23 an acre. After that Mr. Carney became one of the most active and energetic of the pion- eers ; engaged extensively in clearing lands ; was employed as a team . ster by Porter, Barton & Co .; boated salt and other produce up and down the river ; and was otherwise a useful member of the young com- munity.

Among other early settlers of the town were Heman A. Barnum, James A. Betts, Wilhelm Dornfeld, Albert Dornfeld, C. F. Goers, Her- man F. Stieg, Nelson Zimmerman, John Grey.

In 1824 Harvey Miller came from Rochester and settled on the Lock- port and Niagara Falls road, in the north part of the town, where he

ALBERT DORNFELD.

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purchased 100 acres of the Holland Company at $5 an acre. He was young and energetic, and although without much means, he soon be- came independent. During the first winter he was in this town he, with the assistance of one young man, cleared twenty-five acres. In that summer he sowed eighteen acres of winter wheat and raised 800 bushels ; this he sold to other incoming settlers at seventy-five cents a bushel. He was long a road commissioner and aided in laying out all the first roads in the town. He lived to an old age.

Among the first settlers in the extreme northeastern part, where the post-office of Shawnee is located, were Timothy Shaw (from whom the place is named) and Volney Spalding, who opened a store and estab- lished an ashery there in 1828. John Grey settled about a mile south of Shawnee in 1825; he purchased eighty-four acres of the Holland Company at $5 an acre.

In the course of time certain influences brought into this town a largely preponderant foreign element, mainly of Prussian nativity, who settled at first mostly on small tracts of land, but finally became in many instances large owners. By far the greater portion of the terri- tory of the town was finally occupied by them, and the same is true to- day of them or their descendants. They developed into excellent farmers, frugal and industrious, and patient in overcoming adverse con- ditions in their surroundings. They cleared the lands, drained the swamps, and rendered the town one of the most productive in this re- gion. Settlements by this element were about simultaneous in sepa- rate localities. In 1843 Carl Sack, Erdman Wurl, and Fred Grosskopf purchased of William Vandervoorte 400 acres at $15 an acre; the tract was situated on the Tonawanda Creek, in the southeast corner of the town, and the settlement made there was given the name of Martinsville, through the veneration felt by the inhabitants for Martin Luther. The original purchase was subdivided into small tracts of three or more acres, to suit the wishes of purchasers, and about thirty families came in the first season. Ten log houses were completed in the fall, and into these the families moved, three or four in a house, in some cases, until addi- tional buildings could be erected.

Christian Dornfeld settled here in 1843, purchasing six acres of Van- dervoorte, and lived to old age, leaving a family of children. His sons

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William and Albert became prominent business men in the place. William Dornfeld and Christian Fritz purchased, in 1856, the first saw mill, which had been built by Joseph Hewitt. Mr. Fritz built a saw mill and planing mill in 1860, and established a lumber yard. William Dornfeld also carried on a considerable store, which he opened in 1851. He was associated with Krull Brothers in operating another planing mill and sash and door factory, which was built in 1876, and was also postmaster of the place for some time. The present postmaster is Charles A. Graf, who is also a harnessmaker. Other later and present merchants are William F. Fritz, lumber ; Charles Grosskopf and Ernest G. Jaenecke, general stores; Ferdinand Ziehl, hardware; and Christ Martin, grocery. John G. Jaenecke is proprietor of the Martinsville Hotel, and Charles Rogge is a blacksmith and cider manufacturer.

Eugene De Kleist began the manufacture of church and other organs in Martinsville in 1892, and in 1893 erected a large factory, in which he employed about fifty hands. He has been eminently successful in this enterprise, and enjoys a trade which extends all over the country.

Martinsville became a part of the city of North Tonawanda on April 24, 1897, but still maintains its own post office.

New Bergholtz (Bergholtz is the name of the post-office) is in the central part of the town and was settled almost exclusively by Prussians. The place is named from one in. Germany whence many of the settlers came. In 1843 Frederick Moll, John Williams and John Sy, as trus- tees, purchased a tract of land for a German Evangelical Lutheran con- gregation consisting of 120 members. The tract contained 820 acres and was conveyed by deed from the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company ; 1761/2 acres, deeded by William L. Marcy and wife; 118 acres deeded by Washington Hunt ; 200 acres deeded by John J. DeGraff (the two latter tracts including the site of the village) ; 456 acres conveyed by Blandina Dudley ; and 349 acres by the Farmers' Loan and Trust Com- pany. These transfers were all made in October, 1843. The whole quantity of land conveyed comprised 2, 11972 acres and cost the settlers a little more than $16,000. A map of the lands was made and 12J village lots laid out, with proper streets and a large public square. By a general deed executed by the trustees October 12, 1843, they con- veyed to Augustus Manske and 118 others each a lot of one acre. The

EUGENE FR. T. DE KLEIST.

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first of these comers found temporary quarters in a large barn that had been previously built for some purpose, until houses could be erected. Washington Hunt presented the community with their first ox team to aid in building log houses, and during the first season a building was completed on nearly every one of the lots deeded. With the commu- nity came a carpenter, a blacksmith, a mason, a tailor, a shoe- maker and a cabinet maker, which enabled them to live almost wholly upon their own resources. Some of them had considerable money, one of the wealthiest being John Salingre, who brought over about $20,000. His kindness and generosity to his less fortunate neighbors in the new country are gratefully remembered. He died in 1871.

The first dry goods store started at Bergholtz was that of Christian Wolf, one of the pioneers. The first post-office was established in 1850 with John Sy, postmaster, who died in 1861.

These Lutherans left their own country chiefly on account of the determination of the king of Prussia to force a union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. Hundreds of families left their country on that account. Rev. J. An. A. Grabau of Buffalo, preached to these people for about a year from 1843, when their former pastor, Rev. Mr. Ehrenstroem, arrived from Germany. He was succeeded a year later by Rev. Henry von Rohr, formerly a captain in the Prussian army, who remained until his death in 1874. A church was erected in 1848, and was called The Holy Ghost Church. A school was opened and taught by one of the pioneers, and later by G. Renwald. In 1845 the Luthe- ran Synod was organized in Buffalo and the Bergholtz church became a part of it. In 1866, through dissension, the synod divided into three parts, and in consequence the Bergholtz congregation was divided into two parties, one of which, consisting of fifty-two families, renounced its old pastor, Mr. Von Rohr, and called Rev. W. Weinback. This party had a majority of the members and remained in possession of the church property, consisting of about twelve acres of land, the church parsonage, cemetery, and school buildings. The other party, about thirty-seven families, remained loyal to Mr. Von Rohr, held services in a private house, which was later fitted up for a school house, and soon built a new brick edifice, taking the name of Trinity church. Mr. Von Rohr died in 1874, and about two- thirds of the Trinity congregation

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now wished to join with the Buffalo synod ; but as the remainder were not willing, they separated, called another pastor, and in 1875 organ- ized the Lutheran St. Jacob's Congregation. A lot was purchased, and in 1876 a new church, parsonage, and school house were erected.

Bergholtz now contains the stores of Charles W. Kandt and August Lange, the latter being also postmaster, and the store of August Retzlaff.

At Shawnee, in the northeast corner of the town, a Baptist church was organized in July, 1830, but the large influx of Lutherans caused the abandonment of that organization and the substitution of the other. Land for the church was donated by Isaac Carl and the building was erected in 1847.

Shawnee was named from Timothy Shaw, who with Volney Spald- ing opened a store and ashery there in 1828. In 1863 an M. E. church was erected. Harmon H. Griffin is postmaster and general merchant, and Carl E. Eddy, blacksmith.

St. Johnsburg is an outgrowth of Bergholtz, and lies to the south- west of the latter place on the 820 acres deeded by the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, before mentioned. It has had very little business interest. A brick church was erected by St. John's German Lutheran Society in 1846, to which was attached a school. A store was opened and a few shops established. William C. Krull is the postmaster and a general merchant, and Lewis Holland is a harness dealer and proprietor of the hotel.

New Walmore, in the northwest corner of the town, was so named from a village in Prussia, whence the settlers came about 1843. A Lu- theran church was built there, of brick, in 1853. The place is merely a rural hamlet.

North Tonawanda formed one of the wards of Tonawanda from the incorporation of the latter village to 1857, when it withdrew, and for eight years was simply a part of the town of Wheatfield. The village of North Tonawanda was incorporated May 8, 1865, with the following trustees: David Robinson, Jacob Becker, George W. Sherman, Alex- ander G. Kent, Clark Ransom and J. D. Vandervoorte. At that time it contained a population of 440 and an area of 681 acres. The village government was established with its various departments of fire, police,

---

W. L. ALLEN, M. D.

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schools, etc., and during the thirty-two succeeding years was brought to its present efficient condition.

The village presidents were as follows :

James Carney, 1868; Franklin Warren, 1869; John M. Rockwell, 1870; A. G. Kent, 1871; Franklin Warren, 1872-73; C. W. Watkins, 1874-75; Franklin Warren, 1876; C. W. Watkins, 1877-78; F. S. Fassett, 1879; Alexander McBain, 1880; John Taylor, 1881-82; William Gombert, 1883; Conrad Backer, 1884; J. S. Thompson, 1885-87; Fred Sommer, 1888-89; Joseph Pitts, 1890; Benjamin F. Felton, 1891; John E. Oelkers, 1892; James S. Thompson, 1893-94; George Stanley (resigned, and E. C. McDonald installed), 1895; Levant R. Vandervoort, 1896; Albert E. McKeen, 1897.

On April 24, 1897, by a special act of the Legislature, North Tona- wanda was incorporated as a city with the following boundaries :

All that part of the county of Niagara, in the State of New York, comprised within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the junction of the middle line of the Tonawanda Creek with the Niagara River, the same being on the south bounds of Niagara county; thence running up said Tonawanda Creek, following the middle line thereof, the same being the boundary line between the county of Erie and the county of Niagara, to a point opposite the mouth of the Sawyers Creek, where Sawyers Creek empties into said Tonawanda Creek; thence northerly along and following the middle line of Sawyers Creek, to the junction of the east and west branches of said creek, in farm lot four, lying along Tonawanda Creek; thence northwesterly along the middle line of the westerly branch of said creek, to the in- tersection of said middle line with the north line of lot 12, in township 13 of range 8 of the Holland purchase (so-called); thence westerly along the north line of said lot 12, and lots 21 and 28 of said township and range, to the northwest corner of lot 28; thence continuing the same course westerly along the projection of said north line of said lot 28 to the point of intersection of said projected line with the north line of lot 73 of the New York State mile reserve; thence northwesterly along the said north line of said lot 73 and along the north line of lots 71 and 70 and 69 of the said mile - reserve, to the intersection of the west line of said lot 69 with said north line thereof; thence southerly along the west line of said lot 69 to the easterly shore of the Niag- ara River; thence at right angles to the shore line of said river at that point, south- erly to the middle line of the east channel of Niagara River, being the boundary between Niagara and Erie counties; thence up the said middle line of said east channel of Niagara River and along said boundary line between said Niagara and Erie counties, to the southerly point or angle of said Niagara county, in the middle of said east channel of said Niagara River; thence easterly and northeasterly in the waters of said river along the boundary line between said Erie county and Niagara county, to the place of beginning; shall be known as the city of North Tonawanda.

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Landmarks of Niagara County, New York, Part 33

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