USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 1 > Part 29
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The First Baptist Church of Clyde was organized as early as 1819, and Rev. Joseph Potter was the first pastor; but owing to the loss of the records to 1843, further information concerning its early history cannot be obtained. The erection of an edifice was begun soon after the formation of the society -- an edifice that has since been remodeled into the present church. In 1843 the pastor was Rev. Mr. Maxwell, and following him came Revs. Mitchell, Webb, Vrooman, Loomis, Gilbert, Cormac, Cooley, and Hubbard, the latter serving in 1858-59. Dissension sprang up in the church which threatened its existence, and it was finally decided to dissolve and reorganize the society. September 10, 1864, and soon after the old church had formally disbanded, a meet-
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ing for reorganization was held and the present society was formed. In September the legal organization and recognition by council took place in Parker's hall. The new church had fifty members and these officers: P. Sloan, A. Devereaux, J. Vandenberg, B. Jones, and J. S. Lamereaux, trustees; A. De Laney, treasurer; La Fontaine Russell and Hiram Burton, deacons. The first pastor of the new society was Rev. William H. Steegar; the present pastor is Rev. C. H. Howes, who is also moderator of the Wayne Baptist Association, 1893-94. In 1864 the church building was partially sold to the Free Methodists, who still own a half interest; but the new Baptist society has always used it for their meetings. It is a brick structure on Sodus street, and cost about $2,500. In 1877 it was remodeled at a cost of $4,319, and on October 3, of that year, it was dedicated. The church has about one hundred members and a Sunday school with an average attendance of seventy- five scholars; the superintendent is W. L. Devereaux.
The First Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Clyde was organized in the village school house by Revs. Isaac Chase and Joseph Gardner, November 23, 1824, the first trustees being Jabez Cook, Ben- jamin B. Wright, and Isaac Chase. In 1831 their first house of worship was finished and dedicated at a cost of about $1,900. It was of wood and was used until 1859, when a brick structure was erected on the corner of Sodus and Caroline streets. Enlarged and its length increased to one hundred feet it was rededicated November 23, 1871 ; it was again remodeled and refurnished in 1892. The church proper including the parsonage is valued at about $30,000, and the society has a membership of 325. The Rev. John Robinson was appointed for two years as first pastor of the new society. From the organization in 1824 to 1833 the church was in a circuit. The first regular appointment was in 1833, when Philo E. Brown was pastor. The present pastor is Rev. David Keppel. The Sunday school was organized in 1821, and now has an average attendance of about 200; superintendent, J. W. Hinman.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Lock Berlin was organized in the school house in 1835 with about twenty-five members. Prior to this, however, services had been held in the place by Methodist preachers, prominent among whom was Rev. Loren Riley. The church building was erected in 1838 and cost $1, 200. Among the first pastors were Rev. Silas Bolts, Joseph C. Chapman, and Rensselaer Harrington, the latter
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St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Clyde was organized in the High School building September 26, 1840, the first officers being: James C. Adkins, senior warden; Charles A. Rose, junior warden; William HI. Griswold, Josiah N. Westcott, William S. Stow, James R. Rees, Daniel H. Allen, Henry Goodchild, Charles D. Lawton, and William H. Adams, vestrymen. Rev. Benjamin W. Stone, D. D., was the first rector. In 1842 the first church edifice, a wooden building, was erected on the site of Harmony Hall at a cost of 81, 200, and was consecrated by Bishop William Heathcote De Laney, D. D., in May of that year. In 1845 it was moved to the north side of the public square, west of the Clyde Hotel, on the site of Mrs. J. R. Muth's present dwelling ; here it was burned September 11, 1883. The present hand- some stone edifice was built in 1884, and is valued at $18,000. The corner stone was laid by Bishop Coxe of Buffalo, September 13, 1884, and the church opened for service just one year from that day. The parish has about eighty communicants. Rev. Richard T. Kerfoot has been rector since January, 1892. The officers for 1894 are: Homer Daboll, senior warden; De Lancey Stow, junior warden; Clark Potts, Dr. J. N. Arnold, Robert Nichols, George B. Greenway, and P. H. Kenyon, vestrymen. The society owns a brick rectory east of the church. The Sunday school has an average attendance of about fifty, under H. Cady, superintendent. In the chapel of this church is a pipe organ that is cherished as a memorable relic of the past. It was donated to this parish by the Trinity church of Geneva in 1846 in consideration of the fact that many of the members here formerly belonged to that body. It was used until about 1890, when it was replaced by a hand- some pipe organ costing $2,000. The old organ is said to have been the first of its kind in this State and the first instrument purchased by the Trinity church of New York city. Upon the solicitation of Rev. Davenport Phelps it was secured as a gift by the Trinity church of Geneva soon after the formation of that society.
St. John's Roman Catholic Church of Clyde had its inception in services of that denomination which were held in Thomas Hickey's building by Rev. Father Gilbride about 1845. Priests occasionally visited the village until 1851, when the first edifice, a wooden building, was erected at a cost of $1, 300. It was in the Lyons charge and Rev. Thomas O'Brien was the first pastor. In the spring of 1869 the corner stone of the present brick and stone edifice was laid, and on Christmas following midnight mass was celebrated therein by Rev. J. P. Stewart,
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to whom great credit is due for its erection. It was consecrated in August, 1870, by Bishop McQuaid and Father Stewart. The building cost $22,500. The parish has 1,000 communicants. The present pastor is Rev. Father J. J. Gleason. The presbytery south of the church was built in 1822, and remodeled in 1891. The Sunday school was begun in 1856; it now has an attendance of eighty scholars, under the super- intendence of Father Gleason.
The German Lutheran Church of Clyde was organized in the old M. E. edifice in 1859, and occupied it until 1864 on a lease. The first pastor was Rev. Mr. Stahlsmith. Among his successors were Revs. Thompson, Schmaltzel, Schapple, and Manns. The society purchased a half interest in the old M. E. church building in 1864. Services were maintained with some irregularity until a year or two ago, but the society has become weak in numbers and is practically disbanded.
The Free Methodist Church of Clyde was organized in Harmony Hall by Rev. William Cooley early in 1864. The first trustees were: Samuel Fornecook, Henry Baker, Henry Cole, Harrison Holcomb, P. Grim- shaw, Isaac Hammond, Philip Sours, and B. Griner. The first pastor was Rev. J. B. Stacey, and the present pastor is O. M. Owen. The church is in the Rose charge and the pastor resides at Rose Valley. In 1864 the society purchased the old Baptist building, but through a legal technicality it passed back to that organization. The same year the Free Methodists, jointly with the German Lutherans, bought the old M. E. edifice, the former's half interest costing them $1, 600. It was dedicated in the fall of 1864. A Sunday school was organized in 1864.
The Universalists formerly maintained occasional services in Clyde, but never effected an organization. From 1859 to 1864 they used the old M. E. church building on a lease.
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CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WOLCOTT.
THE old town of Wolcott, comprising the present towns of Butler, Wolcott, Huron, and Rose, was set off from the north end of Junius, Seneca county, on the 24th of March, 1807, but a legal organization was not effected until April, 1810. June 11, 1814, a special town meeting was convened to consider the question of uniting with the town of Galen (then including Savannah), Sterling, Cato, Hannibal, and Ly- sander in the formation of a new county to be known as Peru, but the delegates appointed were instructed to vote against the proposition. The subject was revived in 1815, but was soon abandoned. About 1823 it was once more agitated, and this time effectively, but not with- out considerable difficulty in the adjustment of boundary lines. Among the committeemen appointed for the purpose were Amos Snyder, Nor- man Sheldon, Thomas Armstrong, and Elisha Plank. Huron and Butler both wanted to include Wolcott village, while the settlers in the vicinity of Red Creek were willing to accommodate either town so as to make their village the principal point in the new township. The mat- ter was finally settled and the three towns were set off, as at present constituted, in 1826, viz. : Rose on February 5; Huron on February 25; and Butler on February 26, leaving Wolcott with its present assessed area of 20,82812 acres.
The town lies in the northeast corner of Wayne county, and is bounded on the north by Lake Ontario, on the east by Cayuga county, on the south by Butler, and on the west by Huron and the lake. The surface is undulating with a general inclination toward Lake Ontario. The soil is a sandy and gravelly doam and susceptible of easy cultivation. Port Bay, in the northeast corner of the town, extends inland several miles and receives the waters of Wolcott Creek, which flows from Butler through Wolcott village, where it affords valuable mill sites. In the northeast corner is Blind Sodus Bay, so named from the sand-bar which stretches across its mouth from the west shore." Between these are two smaller bays, the east one of which receives the waters of Big and
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Little Red Creeks, the former flowing through the village of Red Creek. These and two or three other small streams, all flowing to- wards Lake Ontario, afford excellent drainage and several good mill privileges.
Agriculture forms the chief industry of the inhabitants. The soil is well adapted to all kinds of farming and fruit raising. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, raspberries, etc., are grown with profit, and of late years the cultivation of tobacco has received more or less attention. Originally the town was covered with a heavy growth of timber indig- enous to this latitude, which furnished employment to a number of saw mills, all of which, with the exception perhaps of a few portable concerns, have long since gone down.
North of Wolcott village and along Big Red Creek are several beds of iron ore. The bed near the village of Red Creek has been worked in past years with considerable profit. In various parts of the town evidence of salt water have been discovered. In 1887 the Wolcott Gas and Mining Company, of which Jefferson W. Hoag was president, sunk a well inside the limits of Wolcott village to a depth of 2,700 feet. Brine and natural gas were found, the latter in considerabla quantities, but neither was ever utilized.
The town was settled with a class of hardy, resolute men and women, who were endowed with sterling traits of character and remarkable powers of endurance, and whose keen perception, habits of thrift, and personal characteristics are inherited by their descendants and perme- ate the communities in which they lived. The pioneers, with very few exceptions, have passed away, but the fruits of their labors are visible on every hand. The fertile fields, the beautiful orchards, the pleasant and commodious homes, the thriving villages-all are living monu- ments to their hardships and privations, while the numerous schools and churches attest the standard of their ideas of civilization.
The town derived its name from Oliver Wolcott, governor of Con- necticut, from which State and Massachusetts many of the first settlers originally came. It lies wholly within the old Military Tract. The original town extended south to Galen and Savannah and west to the new pre-emption line, and when the latter boundary was established all of the present town of Huron, nearly all of Rose, and the western parts of Wolcott and Butler were made over to the Pultney estate as compensation. From that estate Capt. Charles Williamson, the founder of Sodus Point, received title to the entire tract in payment for money
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advanced in the purchase of previous patents. It thus became known as Williamson's patent.
During the earlier settlement of Wolcott the chief means of trans- portation was by way of Sloop Landing, an important port on the east side of Great Sodus Bay, between the present sites of Port Glasgow and Bonnicastle. Thither all produce was drawn, whence it was shipped to Canada or down the St. Lawrence. It promised a brilliant future and maintained a wide prestige for many years. But the Erie Canal drew nearly all the commerce southward, and Sloop Landing gradually fell into decay. The New York Central Railroad, through the south- ern part of the county, had a marked influence upon the settlement and development of this section, but its most important acquisition was the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad (now the R., W. & O.), which was com- menced in 1871 and completed through the town, with stations at Wol- cott and Red Creek, in 1874. At Red Creek the old settlers, on August 23, 1871, made the occasion memorable by formally breaking ground for the line with appropriate ceremonies. To aid in the construction of this railroad the town was bonded at seven per cent., the bonds be- ing exchanged February 1, 1882, for five per cent. bonds, amounting to $139,000, of which about $95,000 remain unpaid. The railroad com- missioner is Wesley Hall.
The first highway in Wolcott was the "old Galen road," running from the salt works in Savannah to Capt. Helms's place at "Floating Bridge" (now Port Glasgow); this thoroughfare was opened by the Galen Salt Company prior to 1808. The first regular road was sur- veyed and established . November 2, 1810, by Osgood Church; Jacob Shook and Peres Bardwell, highway commissioners; this is now called the New Hartford road leading south from Wolcott village. Mr. Church surveyed nearly all of the early highways, and Messrs. Shook and Bardwell were long the road commissioners. In 1810 the old town was divided into nine road districts, the commissioners filing their re- port March 19, 1811. The present town contains sixty-three.
The first town meeting was held at the grist mill of Jonathan Mel- vin, sr., in Wolcott village on April 3, 1810, a little more than three years after the old town had been set off from Junius. The first officers were as follows :
Osgood Church, supervisor; Adonijah Church, town clerk; Obadiah Adams, Osgood Church, John N. Murray, assessors; Ezra Knapp and Jesse Mathews, overseers of the poor; Isaac Shook, Peres Bardwell,
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Noah Starr, highway commissioners; Levi Wheeler and John Grandy, town viewers; Glazier Wheeler, William P. Newell, James Alexander, Roger Sheldon, overseers of highways.
It is believed that those who participated at this town meeting, and who, of course, were residents of the old town of Wolcott, were:
Osgood Church,
Ezra Knapp,
Adonijah Church,
Abijah Moore,
George Sheldon, Harvey Mudge,
Aaron Hoppin,
Jacob Shook, Moses Gillett,
Franklin Ward,
Eliab Abbott,
Thomas Hancock,
Alpheus Harmon,
John Grandy,
Elijah Hancock,
Obadiah Adams.
Lucius Hubbard,
Seth Craw, John Hyde,
Roger Olmsted, Gardner Mudge, Alpheus Collins,
Jacob Frober, Wareham Sheldon, Consider Herrick,
Noah Starr,
Lyman Whitney,
Prentice Palmer,
Dr. Zenas Hyde,
Robert Van Tassell,
Ashley Goodrich,
John Hyde,
Stephen Herrick,
Thaddeus Collins,
Roswell Fox, Jacob Ward, Eli Ward,
Pender Marsh,
John Woodruff,
Caleb Mills,
Eliakim Tupper,
Lambert Woodruff,
Jonathan Melvin, sr.,
William Hallett,
Charles Woodruff,
Nathaniel Williams,
Jarvis Mudge,
Peres Bardwell,
Glazier Wheeler,
Lott Stewart,
Silas Munsell,
Eli Wheeler,
Jabez Stewart, Jesse Mathews.
James Alexander,
Levi Wheeler,
Roger Sheldon,
Milton Fuller,
Zenas Wheeler,
William P. Newell,
Abram Bunce,
For the first few years, or until 1826, the town meetings were held alternately at the houses of Obadiah Adams in Wolcott village, and Lott Stewart at Stewart's Corners. It is impossible to give a complete list of the supervisors owing to the records prior to 1867 being burned. Osgood Church held the office for four years (1810-13), and was suc- ceeded by Adonijah Church (1814-17). Jesse Mathews, Arad Talcott, Norman Sheldon, and perhaps others down to 1826, when the town was divided. The first supervisor of the present township, in that year, was Dr. David Arne. March 5, 1867, the following town officers were elected: Edwin H. Draper, supervisor; Ezekiel K. Teachout, town clerk; Isaac Vought, John J. Van Alstine, George E. Due, Daniel C. Washburn, justices of the peace; William W. Phillips, assessor; Ashley Milliman and H. W. Burchard, overseers of the poor; Isaac Rice, high- way commissioner; Harmon V. Becker, collector. The supervisors since then have been :
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Edwin H. Draper, 1867-70.
George W. Snyder, 1885-86.
James W. Snyder, 1871.
Myron Wood, 1887-89.
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Edwin H. Draper, 1872-77. Marion Conklin, 1878-80.
George R. Miles, 1890.
Alanson Church, 1891-93.
Myron Wood, 1881-84.
George R. Miles, 1894.
The town officers for 1894 are: George R. Miles, supervisor; Herbert Perkins, town clerk; E. II. Kellogg, E. H. Horton, O. J. Frost, Mills Douglass, justices of the peace; William H. Milliman, Nathaniel J. Field, George Johnson, assessors; Burgess Jenkins, highway commis- sioner; Hiram Snyder, collector; Rolla Stewart and Henry Schuyler, overseers of the poor.
Settlement in the present town of Wolcott commenced at Wolcott village as early as 1807. About 1806 Jonathan Melvin, sr., who in 1795 had located on 500 or 600 acres of land on Melvin hill in Phelps, On- tario county, purchased lot 50, containing 500 acres, now included with- in the corporate limits. He began improvements in 1807 or 1808, but did not settle his family here until 1811. His tract was on William- son's patent, which included the old town of. Wolcott. The actual sale of lands on this patent continued from June 16, 1808, to October 15, 1813, during which period 116 contracts, covering about 10,000 acres, were made, the prices ranging from $2.40 to $5 per acre. The first contract was taken by Abram Bunce for 144 acres, now the Van Vleet farm in Butler. The sub-agents for Williamson's patent were . Osgood Church and Frederick Wolcott. The latter did not live here, and the work devolved upon Mr. Church, who made the sales and accounted for the proceeds.
Adonijah Church, the first town clerk and a brother to Osgood, came to Wolcott with his family in 1807 and settled on lot 48. He was one of the carly commissioners of common schools, supervisor from 1814 to 1817 inclusive, and died in 1842, aged forty-two. Osgood Church located on lot 49 in 1808. He was born in Berkshire county, Mass., in 1780, and being a surveyor he laid out all of the carlier roads in this town. He was a prominent citizen, an influential man, the first and for four years supervisor, and died March 15, 1815. October 27, 1809, he had deeded to him 855 acres of land here at $2. 40 per acre.
Jonathan Melvin, sr., and Osgood Church were closely associated with the business development of not only Wolcott village, but the old town as well, and for many years carried on a number of important industries. Melvin began improvements about 1808 and the following
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year had a grist mill in operation on the present Rumsey site. He also, and doubtless before this, built a saw mill, and about 1812 he sold both establishments to Obadiah Adams for $10,000. He donated a site for a school house or a church which would include the present Baptist church lot and public square in Wolcott village. He sold a lot below the saw mill to Daniel Mellin. who erected a fulling, cloth-dressing, and carding mill. He sold about three acres, then known as the swamp lot, to Dr. David Arne; this included the site of the new Presbyterian church. He built an ashery on the north side of Main street and a dis- tillery on the west side of the road leading to the Beach grist mill. In 1811 he moved his family here and about 1813 he erected a dwelling house which he painted jet black. Mr. Melvin was a peculiar man. Upon being asked why he chose such an unusual color for his residence he replied: "I like to see things correspond; if my character is black, I paint the house so." He always wore a buckskin apron, one for work and another on Sundays to church. His farm and residence were widely known as the " Black House."
Extensive business interests like Melvin's required more capital than he could command, and so the banks at Utica and Geneva were called upon to furnish funds, for which notes and mortgages were given as collateral. This involved Osgood Church, who became Melvin's en- dorser, and when their paper fell due they unfortunately found them- selves without the necessary money. The banks were obdurate, and the sheriff levied upon everything the two men owned, including about 150 acres within the present limits of Wolcott village. The property was bid in by the Geneva Bank, or at least passed into the control of that institution, by which it was subsequently parceled out to individual purchasers, as noted further on. Melvin was a pensioner of the Revo- lutionary war, and after his failure here he returned to Phelps, where he died about 1845.
Obadiah Adams, a brother-in-law of Osgood Church, came here in 1810 and purchased forty acres on the east side of New Hartford street in Wolcott village. He was a colonel in the State militia, and from about 1812 to 1824 was the chief business man in the town. Upon the site of the Wolcott House he built a story and a half frame dwelling, which he opened as a tavern, and a year or two later he erected an ad- dition, in which he kept a store, being the first merchant and tavern keeper in the town of Wolcott. He also built the first distillery and an ashery, and had a kiln in which he dried corn meal for shipment to
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Canada. . IIe bought wheat and had a warehouse at Sloop Landing, where he speculated in land, laid out village lots, and erected several very good buildings. He owned a sailing vessel, which plied the waters of Lake Ontario, and he built the first frame barn in town, opposite his hotel. Ilis tavern, being on the Oswego-Buffalo stage line, was a favorite and important stopping place. He erected a blast furnace a little east of the Beach mill and was about to start operations in the manufacture of plow .castings when he failed (about 1824). The law then imprisoned for debt and Mr. Adams was taken by the sheriff to the jail limits at Lyons. He was soon liberated, however, and 1826 he moved to Rochester, where he opened a hotel, but died soon afterward, a poor man. The last town meeting of the old town of Wolcott was held at his house in April, 1825.
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Dr. David Arne was a practicing physician and the first postmaster of the town. He purchased of the Geneva Bank the old Black House farm of 250 acres at $17 per acre. He was a conspicuous man, as was also Obadiah Adams, and the two were inveterate political opponents. Dr. Arne was justice of the peace, and on one occasion swore out and per- sonally wrote several summonses against Adams for swearing on the street, securing of course the usual judgments, which the latter was obliged to pay. Mr. Adams retaliated by suing the doctor for false arrest and secured a verdict of about $50.
The war of 1812 checked immigration somewhat; the following were residents of the old town of Wolcott just prior to that conflict :
James Kellogg, Asa Town,
Chester Andrews,
Sylvanus Joiner,
Silas Town, Joseph B. Grandy,
Jonathan Mayo,
John R. Laraway, james Van Auken,
Daniel Lounsbury,
Nathan Parker,
Robert Mason,
Isaac Lounsbury,
Norman Sheldon,
Daniel Roe,
Jonathan Wilson,
Orlando Seymour,
Asa Whitmore,
Henry P. Mead,
Nathaniel Graves,
Michael Vandercook,
Andrew Petabone,
John Burns,
Samuel Harskell,
Luther Aldrich,
Abram Palmer,
William Moulton,
Micajah Aldrich,
Stephen Betts,
Aaron Shepard,
Jacob Watson,
Thomas Avery,
Ralph Sheldon,
Seth Mead, Ira Smith,
Loren Doolittle,
Samuel Millin. Elisha Benjamin,
Samuel Southwick,
James Phillips,
Simeon T. Viele,
Thaddeus Fitch, Giles Fitch, Charles Sweet,
John Southwick, Elijah How, Asahel Gillett,
Solomon Chapin,
Palmer Lovejoy,
Worcester Henderson,
Thomas Hale,
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Isaac Gillett, Elihu Spencer,
John Calkins,
Elisha Plank, C. Avery, Stephen Joiner, Seth Shepard,
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