USA > New York > Orleans County > Landmarks of Orleans County, New York > Part 45
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His wife was Harriet Muckro, also a native of England. His son, Alfred Hyde, and his daughter, Mrs. Fanny Breeze, are residents of Gaines.
Orrin Osborn, who came to Gaines and located on lot 21 about 1823, was a native of New Hampshire. He remained on the farm which he. first purchased till his death, in 1879. His wife was Naomi Wolcott. She died in 1883 at the age of eighty .seven. Of their eight children who lived to maturity, Norman resides on the old homestead and Lorenzo lives in Albion.
Jere Wilson was born in 1799. In 1823 he came from Penfield, N. Y., to Gaines and took up 100 acres of lot .8, in the northeast part of the town. He married, in Penfield, Laura Crippen, a native of Herki- mer county, N. Y. Their children were William, Jane (Mrs. D. A. Porter), and Betsey (Mrs. S. E. Williams). Mr. Wilson died in 1884; Mrs. Wilson in 1875.
Amos Kelsey, a native of Onondaga county, N. Y., born in 1800, came to Gaines in 1825, and ten years later purchased a portion of lot 36, near Albion, where he died in 1884 His son, Addison Kelsey, was born in Onondaga county in 1824 and came here with his father's family.
Stephen Crawford was born in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1769. His wife was Anna Olmstead, of Pittsfield. They removed to Vermont, and thence, in 1826, to Gaines, settling on lot 12, in the eastern part of the town, where he died in 1854, and she in 1857. They had three daughters, all of whom are dead ; and one son, Roswell. The latter. who was born in Vermont in 1810 and came with his father to Gaines, In 1834 he married Asenath, a sister of Eri Green. They had two sons : Robert Bruce, who died at the age of twenty ; and Walter. Mrs. Asenath Crawford died in 1859, and in 1860 he married Mrs. Eunice Stewart. He died September 20, 1890.
William Hayden was born in 1793. His wife was Rowena, daughter of Perry Davis, born in 1791. They lived in Farmington till 1826, when they removed to Gaines and located on lot 23, half a mile west from Gaines village on the Ridge. After many years he removed to Rochester and thence to Albion, where he died in 1871. Of his nine children Perry Davis Hayden became the owner of the west part of the farm which his father originally purchased, and resided on it till his death in 1872.
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Benjamin Stacy, a native of Massachusetts, born in 1774, removed to Vermont, and thence in 1826 to Gaines, where his son William had already settled. His wife, also a native of Massachusetts, was Lydia Cooley. Both died in Gaines ; she in 1827 and he in 1856. Their nine children, all of whom were born in New England, came to West- ern New York. Of these William came to Orleans county about 1815 and remained on the place which he first purchased till his death in 1880. Benjamin was the well-known court crier during forty years, a constable fifteen years and a justice of the peace twelve years. He was a deputy sheriff, a notary public and a collector in Gaines.
Richard Treadwell, born in Connecticut in 1783, married in 1809 Miss Temperance Smith, of Palmyra, who lived but a few months, and in 1809 he married Frances Bennett. In 1827 he went to Shelby and a few years later removed to Gaines, where he died in 1866.
Wright Lattin, son of Benjamin and Freelove (Wright) Latin, natives of Long Island, was born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1790. With his mother he came to Gaines in 1828. His wife was Maria Flagler. Their children were Horace, Mary, Cordelia, Eunice and Dorcas. William Lattin, also a son of Nathaniel, was born in Pleasant Valley in 1808 and removed to Gaines in 1834.
Albert Bennett removed from Sandlake, Rensselaer county, N. Y., to Ohio in 1816. He soon afterward went to Virginia, and in 1828 came to Monroe county, N. Y. In 1829 he removed to Orleans county and settled a mile south from Gaines village. Albert L. Bennett, his son, was born at Sandlake in 1815, and with his father's family became a resident of Gaines in 1829. At first he engaged in distributing news- papers through the county, then he became a clerk in a grocery store, then a farmer, and afterward, during thirty-five years, a banker in Albion and Buffalo. In 1874 he retired from business and he has resided at Eagle Harbor. He died August 12, 1894. He married in 1835, Ada- line Farr, who was born at Five Corners, in Gaines, in 1818. They had four children.
James Grear was born in New Hampshire in 1799. In 1830 he came to Murray in Orleans county, and five years later removed to Gaines and purchased lot 16 in the northeast part of the town. There he re- sided till his death in 1863. His wife was Sophia Clark, a native of
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Vermont. They reared to maturity one daughter and six sons. His wife died in 1875.
Floyd Hobby and his brother, Ebenezer, were natives of Connecti- cut. Floyd was born in 1800 and Ebenezer in 1811. In 1830 they came to Gaines and purchased a farm in the east part of lot 21, where they resided many years, and where Ebenezer died in 1885. His wife was a native of Canada, born in 1809. Floyd went to Ohio, where he died in 1875.
It has been stated that the first death in the town was that of the pioneer, Gilbert, in 1809. In the fall of 1812 a man named Crofoot, died. Lumber could not be found with which to make his coffin. In the cabin of Levi Atwell was a shelf made of a board that had been a side-board to his shed when he came here. This and a shelf from the cabin of another settler were utilized for the purpose, and the man was entombed in this rude casket thus manufactured. The first birth in Gaines was that of Samuel Crippen, jr., whose father had, in 1809, located on lot 39, at Fairhaven. In 1810 or 1811 Andrew Jacobs and Sally Wing were married. July 4, 1812, the marriage of Cyrus Daniels and Elizabethı Freeman was celebrated. These were the first marriages in town.
There have been in the town four grist mills and nine saw mills. Henry Drake built the first saw mill on Otter Creek, in 1812, and Justus Welch erected a saw and shingle mill in the same vicinity soon after- ward. Atlater dates saw mills were built by David Smith, Pratt, Dealne & Northrup, James Mather, Brown & Farnham, Matthew An- derson, and Elias & Bacon, the last on a small stream that crosses the Albion road near Five Corners. These mills have gone to decay. The changes which changed circumstances have effected in the customs of the people have rendered the small grist mills no longer necessary, and they too have ceased to exist.
In 1809 Daniel Gates took up the west part of lot 29, about two miles west from the village of Gaines. On this a log cabin, twelve feet square, was built, with a single roof. In this building Orrin Gleason taught the first school in town, in the winter of 1813. Miss Rebecca Adams taught the first summer school. A log school house was erected in East Gaines, south from the Ridge, in 1815, and Hannah Strickland and
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Ira H. Beach were the first teachers there. A log house, built in 1816, was the first school house in the Bullard district, and the first teacher there was Miss Anna Frisbie. In 1817 a school was taught at Five Corners in Frederick Holsenburg's corn house by Miss Ruth Haywood. In the same year a school house was built at Fairhaven, and John Mc- Omber was one of the first teachers. About 1818 a board school house was built on the Ridge near the crossing of Otter Creek. It was 18x22 feet, with windows in the sides, a door in one end, and a fire place and chimney at the other. This was a stylish school house for those times. Among the early teachers in Gaines the names are remembered of Hull, Culver, Joseph and Orson Tomlinson, John Pratt, Lewis Gates, Almon Backus, Ziba Ruggles, Lauren K. Hewitt, Lyman Lovewell, Scott Bacon, Nancy Bullard, Betsey Gillett, Laura Terrell, Caroline Chubb, Nancy Holland, Cynthia Daniels, Phebe Bennett, Emily Hale and Helen Hoyt. The town was organized into school districts in 1819.
On a thoroughfare like the Ridge, inns for the entertainment of the incoming settlers were necessary at an early period, though the cabin doors of the earliest immigrants were always open to those who came after them. As early as 1809 William Sibley opened a tavern in the western part of the town, on lot 45. Tradition says that it was first a thatched booth of hemlock boughs, and that a log house was soon erected. It is believed that this was the first tavern in Orleans county. Another hotel was built in 1825 by Robert C. Green, on the same lot, at the present crossing of the roads. Another, at about the same time, was established on the opposite corner by Zelotes Sheldon. Four years later a larger hotel was erected by Harvey Noble, a few rods farther east. All these have ceased to be used as hotels. At East Gaines what was known as the Five Mile House was built by John Huff in 1816. It was subsequently kept by William Huff, Jerry Dunn, and Horatio N. Ball. During many years Hon. A. Hyde Cole was the owner of this house. It was closed in 1873." The Perry House at East Gaines, so named from one of its landlords Silas Perry, was built by Peter Runion in 1826. In its day it was a popular house, but it was long since abandoned. As already stated, Noah Burgess established a tavern at Fairhaven in an early day. In 1824 Samuel Percival built a hotel there, and hospitalities have since been dispensed by many land- lords.
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ORLEANS COUNTY.
Mention is made of many other early settlers and representative citizens and families of the town in subsequent pages of this volume, all of whom, as well as the previously noticed, have materially con- tributed to the steady growth and development of one of the richest rural sections of the State. Thickly dotted with beautiful homes, which present a striking contrast to their archetypal cabins, rude and humble, of three-quarters of a century ago, the Gaines of to day is a veritable garden blessed by generous nature Surrounded by substantial build- ings, fertile farms, productive orchards, and unexcelled means of com- munication with the outside world, the present generation enjoy a life not even dreamed of by those who braved the hardships and privations incident to pioneer times.
During the War of the Rebellion the town of Gaines sent forward to fight the nation's battles a large number of her brave sons, many of whom gave their life's blood to the cause. Of those who returned, crowned with honor and decorated with scars, a few still remain to tell the story of that sanguinary struggle. The following is a list of those who volunteered from this town :
Charles Ashby, 27th Inf., 14th H. Art. Jacob Anderson, 8th H. Art.
Philip Brown, 188th Inf.
Henry Baker, 188th Inf.
John Bannister, 27th Inf.
Charles Blakely, 161st Inf.
Albert L. Bean, 28th Inf.
Alfred Bailey.
Benjamin Barker, 28th Inf.
William J. Buchanan.
Victor M. Ball, 105th Inf. William Bowman, 27th Inf.
George Buzzing.
Orrin D. Beach, 27th Inf., 3d Cav.
William Brown.
William Barber, 3d Cav.
George Barry.
Merrett Brackett, 28th Inf.
Henry Burbanks, 188th Penn.
Orrin E. Babcock, 129th Inf.
Frank Ball, 105th Inf.
Graham Ball, 19th Bat.
Albert Brown, 151st Inf.
Galusha Chapman, 27th Inf.
George A. Burnett, Ist Inf.
Amos Cliff, 27th Inf. William Collins, 28th Inf.
Martin H. Burnett, 4th H. Art.
Henry J. Babbitt, 151st Inf.
Jefferson Chapman, 28th Inf.
John W. Bradley, 4th H. Art. Gairahan Ball, 17th Bat.
Dwight Cook, 27th Inf.
Warren H. Crego, 28th Inf.
William H. Chapin, 28th Inf.
Edwin Broomfield, 157th Inf. Levi Bentley, 4th Art. Charles Bassinett.
William Canhan, 28th Inf.
Thomas Coleman, 12th Inf.
William Blunt.
Joseph Burrill, 28th Inf.
Joseph Ball, 27th Inť. Burbanks, 11th Inf.
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Charles Churchill, 8th H. Art. Lewis Clukey, 8th H. Art.
George Cunningham, 1st Inf. Charles Cole, 151st Inf. Patrick Crane, 8th H. Art. Oliver C. Clark, 8th H. Art. Amassa Cupps, 151st Inf.
Robert Canhan, 3d H. Art.
Orland Clark, 8th H. Art.
Charles Cupps, 2d Mounted Rifles.
Arnold Cole, 19th Inf.
William Connolly.
David Cowan. Thomas Connors. Robert Crombie.
Charles Dwinell, 27th Inf.
Dempster Doane, 31st Inf.
Oscar L. Doane, 27th Inf.
George Day, 8th H. Art.
Thomas Donohue, 8th H. Art.
Daniel Deveraux, 8th H. Art.
John H. Dunn, 151st Inf.
Albert Dinehart, 114th Inf.
Hugh Doyle, 114th Inf. Daniel Doyle, 8th Cav., 8th H. Art.
Thomas Doyle, 8th H. Art., 4th H. Art.
William Dickerson, 19th Inf.
Frederick Decker, 188th Inf.
John Dayley, 22d Cav.
Barnard Doughland.
William Dailey.
William Davies. Charles O. Dotta.
George Everett, 151st Inf.
John Everett, 17th Bat.
Edmond Furdon, 28th Inf.
Charles G. Furdon, 27th Inf.
John C. Fowler, 27th Inf.
William Fields, 151st Inf. Daniel D. Frisby, 17th Bat.
Jarvis Ford, 17th Bat.
Cass Fuller, 8th H. Art.
Michael Fields, 151st Inf.
Patrick Flaherty, 151st Inf.
Thomas Flansburg, 2d Mounted Rifles. Patrick Flanda, 151st Inf.
Nicholas Flansburg, 2d Mounted Rifles. William Fisher.
Richard H. Forman.
Robert Goaring, 8th H. Art. Jerome Gummer, 8th H. Art.
John Graham, 4th H. Art.
Peter Goodrich, 14th H. Art.
Thomas Gilmore.
Job Gibson.
Horace J. Harding, 27th Inf., 8th H. Art. Frank Hayden, 27th Inf.
John Hemietta, 28th Inf.
William Harrington, 106th Inf.
John Hurburger, 8th H. Art.
George S. Hutchinson, 151st Inf.
George A. Hoyt, 8th H. Art.
Chester Harding, 8th H. Art.
Horace Hayden, 151st Inf. Horace House, Ist N. Y.
James Hammon, 4th H. Art. Charles Hills, 8th H. Art.
George W. Hewitt, 4th H. Art.
William Hubbard, 151st Inf.
Harving Harding, 8th H. Art.
William Hayman, 2d Mounted Rifles.
Martin Henry. George Halphinte.
James Healey. Thomas Kyne.
George S. Iden, 8th H. Art.
Edwin Johnson, 151st Inf.
Henry G. Jackson, 151st Inf.
Edwin D. C. Jones, 27th Inf., 14th H. A.
John June. Levi S. Johnston.
James Kensella, 47th Inf.
William Kemp, 24th Inf.
Frederick Kruse, 28th Inf.
Norman Kneeland, 151st Inf.
Albert Kingman, 27th Inf.
Daniel Kimball, 8th H. Art. Alanson Kimball, 18th Bat.
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William Kelly. Joseph Kehoe. John Kesler.
George Lawrence, 47th Inf.
Milton Ludwig, 151st Inf.
Thorne Lapham, 17th Bat. Henry Levins, 151st Inf.
Elnathan Lynden, 4th H. Art. Nathaniel Lattin, 8th H. Art.
Orrin P. Loomis, 17th Bat.
Major Lemont, 8th H. Art.
Frank Packard, 8th Cav.
William Phillips, 8th H. Art.
Smith Pratt, 151st Inf.
Joshua Payne, 151st Inf. James Paul, 27th Inf. Andrew A. Patnode.
Albert Rykeman, 24th Cav.
Jacob Radner, 1st Cav.
Reuben Reed, 4th H. Art.
Frank Ruggles, 8th H. Art.
Edward Rookey, 17th Bat.
Henry Robinson. Wallace M. Sterling, 28th Inf.
Selam Squires, 27th Inf.
Alfred Sargeant, 79th Inf.
Hiram Shingler, 27th Inf.
Aaron W. Shelly, 151st Inf.
Andrew S. Shelley, 151st Inf.
Jacob Stephens, 14th H. Art.
Sampson Samuel.
Appleton Starkweather, 1st Sharpshooters.
William Scotney, 8th H. Art.
Terril H. Clair, 151st Inf.
Selam G. Squires, 151st Inf. Samuel W. Smith, 4th H. Art.
Judah M. Smith, 151st Inf.
William H. Smith, 151st Inf.
Hiram Starkweather, 12th Bat.
John H. Soper, 90th Inf.
George Starkweather, 40th Inf. Charles Stilson.
George W. Kelly, 120th Inf.
Charles H. Tibbitts, 27th Inf.
William H. Terry, 8th H. Art.
57
Michael Omal. William Patterson, 28th Inf.
Arthur Presant, 28th Inf. Daniel E. Pratt, 151st Inf. Harrison Pangburn, 151st Inf. Charles Pangburn, 8th H. Art.
George M. Pangburn, 151st Inf. Edward Pangburn, 151st Inf.
Nelson Pierce, 151st Inf., Orlando Pride, 8th H. Art.
Ora B. Mitchell, 48th Inf.
Orra H. Moore, 47th Inf., 8th Cav.
Jay Mudge, 77th Inf.
Volney Mudge, 27th Inf. Benjamin Marsh, 11th Inf.
Clinton Murphy, 77th Inf.
Henry Maxwell, 49th Inf.
Ernest Mansfield, 28th Inf.
Jacob Myers, 105th Inf. Samuel Merritt, 28th Inf.
Shepard R. Malone, 28th Inf.
Darius Maxwell, jr., 8th H. Art.
Alexander McClandish, 151st Inf.
Jared W. Martin, 4th H. Art.
Ichabod Mansfield, 26th Bat.
Patrick McSweeney, 8th H. Art. James T. Maxwell, 14th H. Art.
Dick F. McComber, 8th H. Art.
George Moore, 2d Mounted Rifles.
Frederick McOmber, 8th H. Art.
Edward Murray, 2d Mounted Rifles. Galveis Martin. Thomas Morrissey, 8th H. A. James Maloney.
Charles A. Miller.
Alexander McGuire.
John Mongowins.
James Maloney. Thomas McDonough. Charles Nash, 27th Inf. John Normile, 17th Bat. John R. Neyn.
David W. Onderdonk, 18th Maryland
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LANDMARKS OF
Orville H. Taylor, 8th H. Art.
Aretins Terril, 4th H. Art.
Laphan Thorne, 7th Bat.
Datus Wright, 151st Inf.
George Weaver, 151st Inf.
Benjamin P. Ticknor, 8th H. Art.
William Taylor, 8th H. Art.
John C. Wood, 8th H. Art.
Henry D. Taft, 12th U. S. Inf.
Anthony J. Weaver, 17th Bat.
Rathbun Tonsley, 27th Inf.
Patrick Tunney.
Albert Waters, 151st Inf. Gilman Warner, 4th H. Art.
John Velie, 104th Inf.
Henrie Velie, 27th Inf.
Abram Van Arman, 151st Inf.
Chandler Welton, 15th Eng. Corps.
Henry L. Vandresser, 27th Inf., 8th H. Art.
Edmund G. Weller, 17th Bat.
Mark Woolston, 28th Inf.
William Willis.
John Welch, 28th Inf. Charles Washburn, 105th Inf. Asa Williams, 105th Inf.
Wellington Wiltsey, 76th Inf.
William Wilson.
William A. Waters, 151st Inf.
William Willicks.
George W. White, 4th H. Art.
George Washington.
John G. D. Whipple, 151st Inf.
John White.
Nelson Wickham, 17th Bat.
Charles S. Whipple, 11th U. S. Inf.
John A. Wheeler, 151st Inf.
Peter R. Williams, 108th Inf., 2d Mounted Rifles.
Daniel W. Ticknor, 8th H. Art.
Leonard Wells, 8th H. Art.
Luther D. Williams, 162d Inf.
Edmund N. Wood, 49th Inf.
Thomas Whalen.
In 1890 the town had a population, exclusive of the portion of Al- bion village included within its limits, of 1,953. Its assessed real estate in 1893 aggregated $1, 112,820 (equalized $1,349,746), personal property, $158,100; total tax on rolls $10,219.36; rate per cent. . 0077557 ; town audits, $2,745. 14 claimed, $2,661.92 allowed. The town officers for 1894 are as follows : John H. Pratt, supervisor ; Alvah A. Fuller, town clerk; Daniel D. Frisbie, R. S. Eggleston, Benjamin F. Baldwin George W. Bennett, justices of the peace ; John E. Morton, collector ; Richard Andrews, commissioner of highways; William J. Prussia, Arthur T. Starkweather, Walter Crawford, assessors ; William Briar, overseer of the poor.
GAINES VILLAGE .- At the organization of Orleans county Gaines village was a place of more trade and business than any other within its limits, and up to the time of the completion of the canal it had given promise of maintaining its position as the principal village in this sec- tion. The first court in the county sat here at the house of Selah Bron- son, the Mansion House. The first newspaper in Orleans county, the Gazette, was established here in 1822 by Seymour Tracy, but was dis-
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continued about four years later. The Orleans Whig was started in Gaines by John Fisk in July, 1827. A steam grist mill, with a foundry attached, was operated several years, and about 1850 a steam saw mill was built by Anselmo Tenney, on what was called the " old flat- iron lot." The first school here was taught by Ira H. Beach in a log house. A new school house was erected about 1820 in the west part of the village, and in this Miss Lucretia Downer was the first teacher. Select schools were taught at an early day, and Hon. Almanzor Hutch- inson is remembered as one of the teachers. Through the exertions of several of the enterprising citizens an academy was establish- ed in the village. It was incorporated April 14, 1827, and placed under the care of the Board of Regents of the State of New York Janu- ary 26, 1830. William J. Babitt was largely instrumental in securing its incorporation. It had a prosperous existence during several years, and among its efficient preceptors Professors Bates and Gazley are re- membered. The first teacher in the present village school house was Paris Dolley, whose assistant was Miss Mary Short. The first phy- sician was Dr. Jesse Beach. The first attorney was Orange Butler, who was followed by Elijah Foote and W. W. Ruggles.
In 1811 Oliver Booth built the first tavern in the village, near where the present hotel stands. It was a large log structure with one story and an attic. This was the stopping place for the early immigrants especially those who left the Ridge road here to settle in the country, north and south. It was soon replaced by a frame building. Booth was followed by Woodworth, Pemberton, Martin, Starr, and others. Sanford's History says : "The Mansion House, which stood on the northwest corner of the Ridge and the Oak Orchard roads, was erected by William Perry in 1816. It is described as a large three-story wooden building, with high Grecian columns, and one of the oldest and most imposing structures of the kind between the Niagara and Genesee Rivers. This hotel was, during the most prosperous days of the village, the leading place of entertainment It was the stage house and the principal place of resort for the leading citizens of the village, and at different times its roof sheltered many distinguished visitors from abroad, among others General Scott and Henry Clay, the latter of whom gave an informal reception in its parlors to many of the leading men of the
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county. Among those who did the honors of the Mansion House in the days gone by may be mentioned, William Perry (its builder and owner), Selah Bronson, P. McOmber, E. Curtis, Bronson & Collins, Samuel Scoville, ex-Sheriff E. S. Butler, H. E. White and S. D. Wal- bridge, formerly proprietor of the Eagle Hotel of Rochester. This house was kept open until 1842. In the following year it was burned." The Pioneer House, built about 1825, on the south side of the Ridge, was kept for a time by Mrs. Agrippa M. Furman, and a brick dwelling on the same side of the road was occupied as a hotel by Dr. Edwin Bab- cock.
On the 26th of April, 1832, the village of Gaines was incorporated by an act of the Legislature. It embraced an area of a mile square, through the center of which the Ridge road passed. The first village election was held on the 28th of May, 1832, and the following officers were chosen : James Mather, Orange Butler, John J. Walbridge, Perry Davis and Alfred Babcock, trustees; Chauncey Woodworth and Levi Gray, assessors ; W. W. Ruggles, clerk ; William Hayden, constable and collector ; Eldad S. Butler, treasurer ; Elijah Foot and Jacob D. Chand- ler, overseers of highways; Eldad S. Butler, pound keeper ; Elijah Foot, justice of the peace. At a meeting held subsequent to the election, Orange Butler was chosen president of the board. In the exercise of their corporate powers the village authorities provided for proper drain - age, for the purchase of fire apparatus and for the construction of a reservoir. This latter was located north from the Ridge and east from the crossing of the Oak Orchard road. It was supplied with water con- veyed in pump logs from a spring on James Mather's land. No traces of it now remain. Prior to the incorporation the " Great Ditch " had been dug along the south line of the village to drain a depression in the land on that side of the Ridge.
Dr. John H. Beach says: "At the organization of Orleans county [1824] the village of Gaines contained three stores, three asheries, three tanneries, two taverns, one chair factory, one carriage factory, one cabi- net shop, three blacksmith shops, one distillery, one cloth dressing and wool carding establishment, two brick yards, one printing office where a newspaper was published, one hat factory, and one saddle and harness shop. Works requiring motive power were driven by horses." In
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ORLEANS COUNTY.
1835 there were some seventy houses and more than 400 inhabitants. There were four lawyers, two physicians, one saddler, two tailors, one painter, four blacksmithis, one cabinet maker, three tanneries, three wagon shops, three scythe snath factories, an ashery, four dry goods stores, two groceries, four shoe shops, two hotels and an academy. That same year, through the efforts of Judge Thomas and Dr. Mason, the main street was ornamented by locust trees, some of which still re- main.
The Farmers' Bank of Orleans was incorported at Gaines village October 29, 1838, but after a career of some years it failed. The first chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Orleans county was organized here in 1826 by Dr. Jesse Beach in the brick tannery on the south side of the street. It was closed during the anti Masonic excitement, and was never reorganized. In 1824 the first circus in the county pitched its tent here. About 1820 a puppet show, Sickels's Wax Figures, repre- senting the " Babes in the Woods," was exhibited in the ball room of the Mansion House. The first school entertainment was managed by Professor Gazley in 1829. when the "Lady of the Lake " was produced with Hon. Alfred Baccock, Richard McOmber, Miss Laura Davis (afterward Mrs. Babcock) and others as the principal characters.
Of Gaines village Judge Thomas says : "The hotels were well patronized, stage coaches were plenty on the famous Ridge road. and everything considered, the good people of Gaines, and in most of the county in fact, excepting Newport, since named Albion, thought the court house would be built in Gaines village surely, and they put up the price of village lots accordingly, while the people of Newport, or Mudport, as Gaines men called it when contrasting places as sites for a court house, offered to give away lots and do many other generous acts if the court house was located there. But the court house went to Albion, and the stream of travel which once went on the Ridge took to the boats on the canal, and the post coaches hauled off ; villages grew up along the canal and trade went there. The resolute business men of Gaines tried hard to retain their high position ; they got their academy and their village and a bank incorporated by the Legislature, and lowered the price of building lots. But their glory had departed, their academy stopped, village franchises were lost by non-user, and
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