Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 14

Author: Hakes, Harlo, 1823- ed; Aldrich, Lewis Cass. cn
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > New York > Steuben County > Landmarks of Steuben County, New York > Part 14

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In the new settlement Colonel Lindsley was an important personage, an earnest Christian, and a worthy leader. In 1793 he was elected to the State Legislature, opening the way, it is said, to a career of useful- ness in public life, but, unfortunately on the Ist of June, 1794, he was stricken ill and died. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Miller, died November 20, 1806. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Linds- ley kept public house, the first in the valley between Bath and Will- iamsport.

In addition to those whose names have been mentioned, we find the Lindsley colony to contain other persons, among them Joseph Miller, a substantial farmer of the valley and whose descendants still live in the county. David Cook also formed one of the pioneer party of 1790,

G. F. Marshal

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and, like the colonel, was an old Revolutionary soldier. He made a comfortable farm in the valley on the east side of the river, and, with Robert Patterson, another pioneer, is entitled to the honor of having planted the first apple tree in the town. Among the other early set- tlers, though possibly not pioneers, may be mentioned the names of Abner Thurber, another Revolutionary patriot, Benjamin Harrower, Simeon Rorapaugh, Thomas Clark, Ira Lyon, Elam Watson, James Sherwood, James Ford, Lyman Truman, Jared Butler, William Chilson, Parker B. Crandall, Henry and Ethan Pier, Russell and Julius Tremain, Joseph Upham, Elijah Knapp, Abram Kinney, Hezekiah Collins and others whose names are now forgotten. The Piers, the Tremains, Uphams, and several others, settled in the north part of the town, near Erwin Center, as it was for many years known, but now called Presho. Benjamin Har- rower became the owner of a 2,000 acre tract of timber land and built a "gang mill " at the Narrows.

John P. Ryess came from the eastern part of this State about the year 1810. He, too, was an extensive land owner, having some 3,000 acres. Among other early residents in the town were Silas Cook, Frederick Heckert, Jeremiah Mulford, Joseph Miller, Michael R. Thorp, surveyor, Mr. Waller, and possibly others.

All these came into township number I previous to the division o Erwin, and many of them while the territory was included within the still older town of Painted Post. They were an industrious and ener- getic set of men, and under their persevering efforts the lands were cleared, fine farms were developed and comfortable homes were built. For many years the chief occupation of the settlers was lumbering, and in this industry the locality long held a prominent position. At that time the Tioga valley was subject to frequent sudden inundation and on several occasions the settlers and lumbermen suffered serious damage. In the spring, and often in the fall, of each year came the rafting sea- son, events of importance and activity throughout the entire valley.

As we have stated, Lindley, previous to its separate organization, formed a part of Erwin, and possibly was the more important portion of the town. The center of business was at the hamlet called Erwin Center (now Presho), for here was about the geographical center of the town. In 1836 the number of inhabitants in the south part was about 600, and

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they generally favored a separation from the mother town. The result was that on the 12th of May, 1837, township I, range 2, was erected into a new town, and named " Lindsley " in compliment to Col. Eleazer Lindsley, its acknowledged pioneer and founder. As then and still constituted the town contains 23,000 acres of land.

The original name of this town was " Lindsley " but through an error in making the record the "s " was omitted, making the name " Lindley," which has since been accepted without question. The first meeting of freemen was held in the school house at the Center, on February 6, 1835, and these officers were elected : Benjamin Harrower, supervisor ; · Chauncey Hoffman, town clerk; Silas Cook, William Seelye and Jonah Davis, justices of the peace; Ansel C. Smith William Lindsley, Jere- miah Upham, assessors; G. A. Ryerss, Thomas Clark and Benjamin Patterson, commissioners of highways; W. A. Lindsley, collector.

In this connection may also be furnished the succession of supervisors of this town, viz .: Benj. Harrower, 1838; Wm. Lindsley, 1839-40 ; Silas Cook, 1841 ; Ansel C. Smith, 1842-43 ; G. T. Harrower, 1844; James G. Mercereau, 1845-46; Henry A. Miller, 1847; Samuel J. Mercereau, 1848-49; Gabriel T. Harrower, 1850-51 ; Ansel C. Smith, 1852; Eber Scofield, 1853; Samuel Heckart, 1854; A. B. Lindsley, 1855 ; G. T. Harrower, 1856-57; Henry G. Harrower, 1858; A. C. Morgan, 1859-60; Eber Scofield, 1861-63 ; Wm. Moore, 1864-65 ; Eber Scofield, 1866; S. M. Morgan, 1867; Eber Scofield, 1868; Wm. Moore, 1869-70; Mason Hammond, 1871; Wm. Moore, 1872 ; Jas. C. Orr, jr., 1873 ; G. T. Harrower, 1874-75 ; Wm. Moore, 1876; T. J. Presho, 1877; James A. Rogers, 1878; W. H. Hill, 1879-80; T. J. Presho, 1881; Jas. C. Orr, jr., 1882-83 ; Marcus Stowell, 1884; Wm. Moore, 1885-87 ; Marcus Stowell, 1888-89; Wm. Moore, 1890 ; Marcus Stowell, 1891-95.

With the same propriety we may also furnish the names of the town officers for the present year, 1895, viz .: Marcus Stowell, supervisor ; Wm. Hutchinson, town clerk ; H. C. Hill, Henry Stowell, Ira Knapp and C. J. Starner, justices of the peace ; Oliver Camp, J. Brinnan and J. Starner, assessors ; James L. Colder, overseer of the poor ; John Brinnan, highway commissioner, George Snyder, James Harris and James Colder, commissioners of excise.

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The population of Lindley by decades has been as follows : 1840, 638 ; 1850, 686; 1860, 886; 1870, 1,251 ; 1880, 1,563; 1890, 1,537; 1892, 1,455.

As Lindley was one of the towns purchased directly from the Phelps and Gorham proprietary, its inhabitants were less affected by the anti- rent controversy than in other localities. In fact at that time, while Lindley, or Erwin, had a number of settlers whose farins were encum- bered, and while the whole town suffered somewhat from the depressions of the period, there was less of actual distress here, in the Tioga valley, than was noticeable elsewhere in this part of the Genesee country. Erwin was represented in the Bath convention of January, 1830, but none of the delegates was from township number I, of range 2.

With a population of 886 in 1860 the town of Lindley is credited with having sent into the service a total of 125 men, a record equaled by few towns in this part of the State, and an indisputable evidence of patriotism and loyalty on the part of its inhabitants.

Glancing back into the early history of this township, we may note the fact that the first white child born was Eliza Mulford, August 10, 1792 ; the first marriage was that of David Cook, jr., and Elizabeth Cady ; the first school was taught by Joseph Miller, in 1793, near the State line ; the first tavernkeeper was the widow of Colonel Lindsley ; the first saw mill was built by Colonel Lindsley. The death of this pioneer was about the first event of its kind in the town. A writer of local history in 1860 said: " There is no church, no hotel, nor place where liquor is sold in the town."

Previous to the separation of Lindley from Erwin, the local schools were a part of the system then in operation in the latter town, but, at the organization meeting in 1838, the electors chose D. P. Harrower and T. L. Mercereau as inspectors of common schools. Soon after this the territory of this town was divided into school districts and provision made for a school in each. From that time this department of local government has received the same generous attention as have all others, and the schools of Lindley now rank well in the county. The districts now number ten, and during the last current year thirteen teachers were employed. The value of school property is estimated at $6,945. The amount of public school moneys received was $1,551.57, and the town raised by tax $1,868.83.

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LANDMARKS OF STEUBEN COUNTY.

That the reader may not be misled by a preceding statement to the effect that in 1860 Lindley was without a church, we may here remark that several church organizations have had an active and useful exist- ence in the town, the Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Free Methodist and Independent, as respectively known. At the present time there are at least two societies, the Methodist and Free Methodist, both of which are mentioned in another department of this work.

PRATTSBURG .- Captain Joel Pratt little thought that his original ex- tensive purchase of land in the Genesee county would some time become a part of one of the most progressive towns in the region. Tradition furnishes us little information as to the reason of Captain Pratt's first visit here in 1799, yet we know that this doughty pioneer was a man of firm determination, of strong character, and equally firm in his puritanic ideas of Christian propriety and observance. He had in mind the idea of establishing a settlement somewhat in the nature of a religious colony, yet without the fanatical elements which generally accompany such enterprises.

Joel Pratt, so all writers agree, first visited this region on horseback in the year 1799, and in the year following came with his son Harvey, and other assistants, and cleared and sowed with wheat IIO acres of land. In the course of time the grain was harvested, threshed and shipped to market, via the Canisteo, Chemung and Susquehanna Rivers, where it brought the handsome return of $8,000 cash. Thus encour- aged by his first efforts, Captain Pratt made all necessary preparations, and in 1801 brought several members of his family to the region where all became permanent settlers and useful residents. However, the honor of being the first settler in what is now Prattsburg must be ac- corded to Jared Pratt, who came with his young wife from Spencer- town, Columbia county, in February, 1801, traveling the entire distance on an ox sled. He settled on the road leading to Bath. Uriah Chapin also came from Columbia county, though not until 1802, and located on the Wheeler part of the territory. Rev. John Niles came in 1803, for the purpose of opening a farm, and in connection therewith to do such work of a missionary character as his enfeebled health would permit. He conducted the first religious services in the town and was treated with great consideration by the scattered inhabitants, and was presented with an eighty acre tract of land by Captain Pratt.

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In 1802, June 16, Joel Pratt and William Root became the qualified owners, or agents, of a large tract of land, and took upon themselves the task of developing and settling township No. 6, of the 3d range. The agreement was made with Col. Robert Troup, the agent of the Pulteney estate in New York. Captain Pratt engaged in this enter- prise with the worthy intention of settling and improving the land, while his associate, Mr. Root, only sought to increase his wealth. Hence it was only natural that a disagreement should follow, and the final result was that Mr. Root retired from the partnership, if such it was. In 1806 the Pulteney proprietary made a new agreement for the land, the purchasers being Joel Pratt, Joel Pratt, jr., and Ira Pratt, who took the unsold portion of the township. However, notwithstanding his best efforts, Captain Pratt found himself unable to meet his obliga- tions to the Pulteney agents, hence in 181 I was obliged to surrender the unsold lands to his vendors.

During his proprietorship, Captain Pratt did much to improve and settle the town, and had he been less generous his venture would have been more successful from a speculative point of view. Through his in- fluence the town was settled with a class of pioneers not found in every community, and whose residence and society was very desirable from every standpoint. They were chiefly Congregationalists, and were devoted to religious observances in a noticeable degree. They were not bigots in any sense, but upright Christian men and women. How- ever, let us recall the names of some of the pioneers and learn to whom the present generation is indebted for the substantial foundation upon which this town and its institutions have been built and maintained.

In 1804, so near as can be ascertained, the settlers were William P. Curtis, Pomeroy Hull, Samuel Tuthill and Salisbury Burton, while the year 1806 witnessed the arrival of a number of families, among them those of Enoch Niles, Rufus Blodgett, Jesse Waldo, Judge Hopkins, John Hopkins. Ebenezer Rice, Robert Porter, Gameliel Loomis, Samuel Hayes, Abiel Lindsley, Moses Lyon, Urial Chapin, Asher Bull, Roban Hillis and Stephen Prentiss Other early settlers were Warham Parsons, Aaron Cook, Michael Keith, Thomas Riker, William Drake, and others whose names have been lost with the lapse of years.

Some of these settlers were identified with "first events " of town

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history, without a mention of which no record is deemed complete. In 1804 Joel Pratt erected the first framed barn in the town, and Joel Pratt, jr., and Ira Pratt were the first merchants. Aaron Bull kept the first public house. The first white child born was Marietta, daughter of Jared Pratt. The first marriage was that of Isaac Pardee and the daughter of Deacon Waldo. The first male child born was Charles Waldo. A post route was established between Geneva and Bath, through Prattsburg, in 1808, and mails were carried on horseback once each week. In that year a post-office was established at Prattsburg, and Joel Pratt, jr., was the first postmaster. Judge Robert Porter built the first grist mill about 1807, and the second was built on the road to West Hill by Joel Pratt in 1818. Still later builders of mills were Horatio and Lewis Hopkins (the Cole mill), and they also built the fourth mill. The fifth mill was built by Henry and Ralph Hopkins, sons of Horatio, and was located in the village. It is a stone mill, and was built in 1887. Saw mills, too, have been numerous in the town in times past, located in various places, but chiefly on the main stream. Among the owners of such industries may be mentioned J. V. Stone, James Sturtevant, Wm. P. Curtis, J. H. Downs, Hopkins & Howe, H & L. Hopkins, A. and O. Waldo, H. Hodgkin, J. De Golier, J. Hervey Hodgkin and Messrs. Prentiss, Blodgett and Fay. As the forests were cleared these mills lost their usefulness and were abandoned, and the once heavily wooded tracts were turned into fine farms, and the result has been that Prattsburg became an agricultural town in the fullest sense, and one which has ever ranked well among the civil divisions of Steuben county.

As now constituted Prattsburg has an area of 30,600 acres of land and is therefore among the larger towns of the county. As originally formed on the 12th of April, 1813, it was much larger in area, as nearly half of Wheeler was taken off in 1820. Within the original territory of Prattsburg in 1800 were 132 inhabitants, and as evidence of rapid growth under the direction of Captain Pratt the further statement may be made that in 1814 the population was 615. Therefore it is not sur- prising that a new town formation was desirable, and not less surprising or desirable that the name of the new creation should be given in honor of its founder and promoter, Capt. Joel Pratt. The first town meeting

WILLIAM M. FULKERSON.

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was held on the Ist day of March, 1814, and Joel Pratt, jr., was elected supervisor. A full board of town officers was also chosen, but from the fact that an unfortunate fire burned the early records the names of all first officers cannot be ascertained. However, gleaning facts from other records, the supervisors from 1827 to the the present time are as follows :

Supervisors : Robert Porter, 1827 ; Burrage Rice, 1828-34; Daniel Burroughs, 1835-36; Aaron Pinney, 1837-39; J. H. Hodgkin, jr., 1840; John L. Higby, 1841-44; John F. Williams, 1845; John C. Higby, 1846-48 ; Aaron Pinney, 1849-50; Joseph Lewis, 1851 ; John Anderson, 1852 ; John F. Williams, 1853; Joseph Lewis, 1854; G. Denniston, 1855-57 ; John F. Williams, 1858-63 ; Wm. B. Pratt, 1864-69; H. B. Williams, 1870; D. W. Baldwin, 1871; Martin Pinney, 1872-75 ; Henry A. Hopkins, 1876-77 ; Martin Pinney, 1878- 80; I. L. Turner, 1881-82 ; J. A. Middleton, 1883 ; Martin Pinney, 1884; W. W. Babcock, 1885 ; I. L. Turner, 1886; W. W. Babcock, 1887 ; G. W. Peck, 1888; W. M. Fulkerson, 1889-90; R. N. Van Tuyl, 1891-92 ; William M. Fulkerson, 1893-95.

To this succession we may properly add the present town officers, viz .: William M. Fulkerson, supervisor ; R. E. Deighton, town clerk ; Dr. James A. Bennett, Jay K. Smith, Henry E. Allis and Wm. E. Weld, justices of the peace; Robert A. Walker, M. V. Drake and Henry Horton assessors; Aaron H. Putnam, commissioner of high- ways ; Philip Geiss and Freeman Avery, commissioners of highways ; Stewart Dillenbeck, collector.

Prattsburg has a substantial and fixed population, yet, in years past the town has suffered a decrease in number of inhabitants in common with the interior towns of the State. When set off and organized the local population was 615, and in 1820 the number had increased to 1,387. In 1830 it was 2,402, and 2,455 in 1840, while the year 1850 witnessed a population in the town of 2,786. The maximum was reached in 1860, the number then being 2,790, but in 1870 the popu- lation had decreased to 2,479. In 1880 it was 2,349, and in 1890 was 2,170.

The pioneers and early settlers in Prattsburg were noted for their piety and Christian example, and were fully mindful of the spiritual

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and educational welfare of their children. As early as the year 1803 they organized a religious society which eventually became the Presby- terian church. However. a record of this and all other church organ- izations of the town will be found in another department of this work, hence needs no further mention here. Still, in the present connection the reader will pardon a brief allusion to one of the early residents of the town, Dr. and Preacher Marcus Whitman, whose life and works are still well remembered by our older inhabitants. Dr. Whitman lived for a time in Prattsburg and Wheeler. In 1835 he went as a mission- ary to what is now the State of Washington, and in Walla Walla valley he established a mission among the Indians. He made the journey across the continent on several occasions, and through his efforts the now State of Washington was saved from cession to Great Britain. Dr. Whitman and wife, also thirteen other whites, were massacred by the Indians in 1847.

One of the most troublesome periods in the early history of Pratts- burg was that in which took place the anti rent conflict; and although the inhabitants of this particular locality suffered less than many others, they were nevertheless much disturbed by the excitement of the time. The local delegates to the Bath convention were men in whom the whole townspeople had every confidence and who guarded well all Prattsburg interests. They were Stephen Prentiss, Gameliel Loomis, Josiah Allis, Ira C. Clark and Joseph Potter.

The war of 1861-65 was another disturbed period for the people of our otherwise quiet and temperate townsfolk, but when the call for troops was made no town responded more nobly or generously than this. During the years of that great struggle Prattsburg is credited with having sent into the service a total of nearly two hundred men, 170 of whom enlisted directly from the town, while the others joined commands raised elsewhere than in this county.

The educational interests of Prattsburg have ever received the thoughtful attention of local authorities, and in the village there was established at an early day an academic institution of more than ordin- ary importance. In the village chapter further allusion will be made to the academy, and it only remains for us to here mention the town at large. When set off and organized as a town, the electors made neces

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sary provision for the maintenance of schools and regularly divided the territory into convenient districts. These have been changed from time to time as necessity required, and a uniformly excellent standard has ever been demanded and upheld. As at present constituted, the town at large is divided into fifteen districts, in each of which a school is maintained. During the school year 1894-5, twenty teachers were employed and 535 children attended school. The school property of the town is valued at $18,500. In the year mentioned the town re- ceived public moneys to the extent of $2,390.62, while there was raised by local tax the further sum of $3,385.45. Twenty-four trees were planted by pupils during the year 1894.

PULTENEY .- In the extreme northeast corner of Steuben county, on the west side of Lake Keuka, is situated the town of Pulteney ; so named in honor of Sir William Pulteney, the principal owner in the familiarly known Pulteney Association. The district of which this brief chapter treats contains 19,600 acres of land, and in some respects is one of the most interesting towns of Steuben county. Its people are engaged in diversified pursuits, those living west of the ridge being farmers, while the inhabitants and land owners on the east side of the town are almost exclusively engaged in the pleasant and profitable em- ployment of grape and fruit growing and wine making. These latter industries have given Pulteney an enviable prominence in this vast vine- yard region, which, together with the importance of the lake front and all its kindred attractions, have combined to make this town possess an unusual interest in the history of the county and its vicinity.

However, Pulteney did not become a civil division of Steuben county until 1808, when Bath surrendered to the new creation all that is now this town, and also Prattsburg and a part at least of Urbana. The former was set off from Pulteney in 1813, and the latter in 1848. Pioneership and settlement in this hilly and then uninviting locality began with the present century and increased rapidly until the popula- tion was sufficient to justify a separate organization. The story of early times is perhaps best told in the words of a reliable and well known local writer, from whom we quote as follows :

This portion of Steuben county was a part of the original Phelps and Gorham Purchase; was sold to Robert Morris, and by him to the

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Pulteney associates. Pulteney was surveyed in 1793 by William Bull, and was on the market at that time at eighteen and twenty cents an acre. About the first settlers were Samuel Miller, John Van Camp and G. F. Fitz Simmons, who came in or about 1800, but who were soon afterward followed by James and George Simms, Henry Hoffman, Abraham Bennett and Shadrack Norris, all during the year 1805. The next year there came Samuel and Nathaniel Wallis, John Ells, William White, James Daily, Erastus Glass, Harmon Emmons and Seth Pierce. From this time on settlement became more rapid and pioneership was virtually at an end. Still, we may properly refer to some of the first events of town history as they stand recorded and understood. The first marriage was that of Christopher Tomer and Jane Miller, in 1809; the first death that of the child of James Daily, in 1806. The first saw mill was built in 1810, and the first grist mill in 1814, both by Melchoir Wagener, an early settler and a man of influence and importance in the region. In 1807 Shadrack Norris opened the first tavern, and in 1808 Augustus Tyler began storekeeping, while Polly Wentworth opened a school in the settlement. The descendants of several of the old families still live in the town, and occasionally some relic of early times is observed, for only a few years ago the remains of the old Wagener mill-race were still visible ; also the scattered and decaying fragments of the saw mill itself. But later generations of occupants live in a different and perhaps more progressive period, and have little reverence for the old and useless structures of three-quarters of a century ago, yet they love to see recollections of them on printed records. Pulteney of to-day is far different from the old town of 1810, and along the lake front few indeed, if any, of the old farm lines and habitations have been preserved. Where once was a vast agricultural region, with desirable eastern slope, we now have almost numberless vineyards and fruit farms, in size varying from five to fifty acres.

According to the reminiscences of Mr. Risenger, grape culture as a special industry was begun in 1854, when he and Samuel L. Wagener planted a vineyard in Pulteney, the ultimate outgrowth of which is the splendid grape and wine producing interest which ramifies throughout the lake regions, and in many places extends far back into the inland districts. However, at the time Wagener and Risenger planted their

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Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 14

Author: Hakes, Harlo, 1823- ed; Aldrich, Lewis Cass. cn Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Hakes, Harlo, 1823- ed; Aldrich, Lewis Cass. cn
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1180