USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 1 > Part 30
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Elijah Olmstead, Simeon Bissell,
John Wade, Jeduthan Wilson.
Dr. Denas Hyde came here in 1807, and November 5, 1811, he took a contract for eight and one-half acres of lot 36. He was the father of Harlow Hyde, who is now the oldest living supervisor of the town. The latter was for twenty years a justice of the peace and a member of Assembly in 1856-60. His son, James II., was lieutenant of Company A, 138th N. Y. Infantry.
Zenas Wheeler came to Wolcott about the same time and was a mem- ber of the General Assembly in 1832. He was an elder in the Presby- terian Church, and died in Phelps in March, 1879.
Lambert Woodruff bought and settled on about 500 acres adjoining the Black House farm, on the north, in 1808. He had five sons, John, Jesse, Charles, Luther and Andrew. His homestead subsequently be- came the residence of Enos Reed.
Elisha Plank removed to this town in the spring of 1813, and on May 21 purchased 465 acres on lots 381, 383 and 385, for which he paid 84.25 per acre. Hle built a saw mill and grist mill on Mill Creek, about one mile north of the village; both establishments were carried away by a freshet November 1, 1814, carrying him and a son with them. The latter was drowned, but the father escaped with slight in- juries. The following spring his house was burned. He erected another grist mill on the same site, and died September 25, 1852. His son, born in 1796, came here with the family in 1813, and died Decem- ber 27, 1886. He taught school in early life and held several town offices.
Abijah Moore was the pioneer settler on New Hartford street. He came in 1809 and brought his family hither in 1810, and led the first dance held in the town. Stephen and Sylvanus Joiner, on March 1. ISHI, purchased 1,050 acres for $4.00 an acre of Fellows & McNab; this was on lot 344, and upon it they built two frame barns.
Hiram Church was a son of Osgood Church, previously mentioned, and was born in Marlboro, Mass., April 8, 1806. Coming here with father in 1808 he lived to see the old town transformed from a wilder- ness into beautiful homes and thrifty villages, and a few years before his death he published in the Lake Shore News a number of articles
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pertaining to the early history of this locality. He had two daughters and a son (William O.), and died here October 13, 1889.
Giles Fitch contracted for ninety-six acres of lot 352 July 20, 1811, and the same day Thaddeus Fitch purchased a like amount of the same lot. The former was the first mail contractor from Wolcott to Auburn, carrying the mail on horseback once a week each way.
Eliab Abbott was a settler of 1808. On September 30 of that year he contracted for fifty-nine and a half acres of lot 376. Among other pioneers and prominent settlers in the old town of Wolcott were Lott Stewart, inn-keeper at Stewart's Corners; Jarvis and Gardner Mudge; Ransom Ward, Joseph Foster, father of Asahel; Jedediah Wilson, on lot 66; Linus Hibbard, a blacksmith; Jonathan Runyon, a Revolution- ary soldier, who drew a bounty of 600 acres; Levi Smith ; Samuel J. Otis, on lot 352, an old Mason; Stephen D. Fowler, son of John P .; Ephraim P. Bigelow; Isaac Otis, on lot 267; Daniel Dutcher, on lot 75; Benjamin Brown, on lot 320, who died in June, 1871; John Mack, father of Harrison, on lot 31; Luke Brinkerhoff, on lot 62; John Ford, a soldier of the war of 1812: Daniel Patterson, also a veteran of 1812, and the father of John; William Sax, Roger Olmsted, George I. and Garrett Van Fleet, James M. Hall, Rev. Ira H. Hogan, William W. Phillips, father of John M. ; and Robert McArthur, another soldier in the war of 1812, and the father of John. June 24, 1812, Thomas Hale contracted for 200 acres of lots 304 and 312 and August 26, 1813, he purchased twenty-five acres more of lot 304. Charles Sweeet bought fifty aeres of lot 344 October 15, 1813.
Elias Y. Munson, born in New Jersey in July, 1793, removed to Auburn, where he helped to lay the walls of the State Prison, and came thence to Wolcott in 1820 as a clerk for Obadiah Adams. Upon the failure of the latter he went to Waterloo, but soon returned to Wolcott as agent in the store of Reuben Swift & Co., whom he soon bought out. About 1829 he purchased of the Geneva Bank the old tavern stand and farm of Adams's. The hotel was burned in the winter of 1836-7 and in 1837 he built the Northern Exchange Hotel, which was the first brick building in Wolcott. He subsequently bought a farm two miles south of the village, but two years later returned and engaged in merchandis- ing, a business he followed until shortly before his death, June 23, 1861. He was the second postmaster of Wolcott, and for several years was a justice of the peace. He had three children.
Rev. Amos P. Draper was born in Dover, N. Y., in 1791, and by
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trade was a carpenter and joiner. He "went from the bench to the pulpit" of the Baptist Church and began his ministerial labors in Wol- cott, subsequently officiating in Phelps and Red Creek. He was the father of Dr. Edwin II. Draper, a practicing physician in Wolcott vil- lage; he also had four children.
Thomas Snyder, born in Owasco, N. Y., in 1796, came with the family in 1813 to Red Creek, where his father purchased 1,000 acres of land .. The latter built the first saw mill and grist mill in that village, and during his life was a prominent citizen of the place.
John (). Wadsworth, from Vermont, settled in Butler with his father, Elisha W., in 1819. In 1832 he removed to Wolcott, and was sheriff of Wayne county four years. He was the father of Henry Wadsworth.
Capt. Horace L. Dudley, born in Guilford, Conn., February 25, 1803, came to Wolcott in 1824, and in 1826 married Melinda Hendrick. He was a progressive agriculturist, held several town offices, and was com- missioned captain in the State militia August 22, 1829. He had nine children, and died March 25, 1880.
Jedediah Wilder was born in Bristol, N. Y., in 1792, and came to Wolcott village in 1816. He purchased of Samuel Millen the fulling and cloth-dressing mill, which he conducted until 1826, when he sold it to Roswell Benedict and bought a farm of Zenas Wheeler. He was one of the earliest agents of the American Bible Society, for twenty years a magistrate of the town, for ten years president of the Wayne Sunday School Union, and a soldier in the State militia under Col. Swift during the attack on Sodus Point by the British. Ile died August 8, 1867.
William Olney Wood, son of Noah, was born in Otsego county, N. Y., in August, 1809. He finally removed to Butler, and learning the trade of a tanner came to Woleott village. In 1831 he purchased a small tannery in Red Creek and became one of the wealthiest and most in- fluential men in the town. He built Wood's Hotel and opened a private banking office, and for several years was supervisor of Wolcott. He had ten children, and died in March, 1879.
Hon. Isaac Leavenworth, a native of Watertown, Conn., born June 17, 1781, became a resident of Wolcott village about 1838, and during the remainder of his life was one of the town's most prominent citizens. He founded the Leavenworth Institute, and in 1849 was elected to the Legislature. He was energetic, public spirited, enterprising, and gen- erous, and died February 26, 1860.
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Anson Drury, born in Vermont in 1799, came to Huron with his par- ents Caleb and Jane in 1816, and removed to a farm in Wolcott in 1855, where he died in January, 1881. Jesse W. Williams was born in Bur- lington, Vt., October 30, 1797, served as a teamster, with his father, in the war of 1812, and came to this town in 1834, where he died in August, 1846. M. P. Foote, born in Newtown, Conn., in 1805, came here in 1840, was first a merchant and then a farmer, and died September 25, 1889. Capt. Thomas W. Johnson removed to Wolcott when a boy, served in the Civil War and was brevetted major, and died in Novem- ber, 1886. Jesse Mathews was supervisor of the old town in 1814 and for several years was a justice of the peace; his daughter Amanda suc. ceeded him on the homestead.
Prominent among other settlers and residents are George W. Brink- erhoff, born in Wolcott in 1838, served in the 9th Heavy Artillery, brevetted major, elected to the Assembly in 1891; George Doolittle, supervisor, deceased; Joseph Ward, father of Reuben, died in 1882; R. W. Younglove, of North Wolcott; Jesse Olmstead, the last of nine children, died September 26, 1884; Deacon Cyrus Brockway, died in October, 1875; John Turner, father of M. B., died in 1890; Isaac Rice, father of Ammon, died in 1893; John Dow, who purchased 300 acres of land at North Wolcott for $5 per acre and died in 1884; Alanson Frost, from Connecticut, father of Oscar J .; Hamilton Hibbard, who died April 29, 1894. Many others are noticed in Part II of this volume.
In 1858 the town had 12, 995 acres improved land; real estate assessed at $549,749; personal property, $55,300; 1,535 male and 1,478 female inhabitants; 593 dwellings, 609 families, and 484 freeholders; 15 school districts attended by 1, 223 children; 673 horses, 1,327 oxen and calves, 882 cows, 4,296 sheep, 1,692 swine. There were produced that year 9,103 bushels winter and 112, 751 bushels spring wheat, 1, 714 tons hay, 10,854 bushels potatoes, 17,456 bushels apples, 79,186 pounds butter, 2,452 pounds cheese, and 840 yards domestic cloths.
In 1890 the town had a population of 3, 216, or 515 less than in 1880. In 1893 the assessed valuation of land was $629, 375 (equalized $644, - 831); village and mill property, $351,035 (equalized $344, 149); rail- roads and telegraphs, $102,638; personal property, $23, 150. Schedule of taxes for 1893: Contingent fund, $2,984.62; town poor, $200; roads and bridges, $634.42; special town tax, $5,800; school tax, $1,019.91; county tax, $2, 110.25; State tax, $1,314.71; State insane tax, $346.91; dog tax, $72.50. Total tax levy, $15. 185. 44; rate per cent. . 01342759.
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There are four election districts and in 1893 the town polled about 690 votes.
In the war of the Rebellion the town of Wolcott sent to the front a large number of her brave and heroic citizens, who did valiant service in the suppression of that sanguinary conflict. Some of them rose to the ranks of commissioned officers; many gave up their life blood on Southern battlefields or in rebel prisons. The survivors are few, and with the dead they share the tender remembrances of a grateful people upon each Memorial Day.
The first birth in Wolcott was that of Isaac Hopper, and the first death in the old town was that of Sarah Mills, who died December 25, 1809, and was buried on the Viele farm. The two principal cemeteries in the present town are those at Red Creek and Wolcott villages. The oldest portion of the latter is known as Leavenworth cemetery, while the annex, or new part, is called Glenside; the receiving vault was built in April, 1887.
The first school house in town was a log structure built in 1810, in Wolcott village, on the site of Dr. E. H. Draper's present residence. Another log school building was erected two or three years later by Jonathan Melvin, sr., near the Knapp foundry. This was the first dis- trict in the town, and was organized as No. 1 about 1812, the first trustees being Osgood Church, Lambert Woodruff, and Eliakim Tup- per. One acre, covering the site of the Baptist church, was donated by Mr. Melvin, and soon a frame school house was built thereon; this building was subsequently purchased by Obadiah Adams, who moved it across the street and added it to his hotel. A new structure was erected on the lot and known as the old red school house until 1843, when it was removed and a two-story building put up in its place. This employed two teachers, and was burned in 1865. Among the earlier teachers in these buildings were Mary Lambert (daughter of Lambert Woodruff), John Melvin (son of Jonathan), Daniel Butrick, Huldah Seymour (daughter of Dea, Noah Seymour and afterward Mrs. John Roe), Prudence Wells (afterward Mrs. Jedediah Wilder), William Plank (son of Elisha), Loren Doolittle, Austin Roe, Harlow Hyde, Levi Hendrick, Barabus Knapp, Willis Roe, and Samuel Colboth.
In 1859 Leavenworth Institute was incorporated and a brick building erected on New Hartford street in Wolcott village, through the mu- nificence of Hon. Isaac Leavenworth, who contributed one-half of the funds, the balance being raised by subscription. It is two stories high
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above a stone basement, and for several years contained the only pub- lie hall in town. The first principal was M. J. Slee, and the first presi- dent of the Board of Trustees was Dr. James M. Wilson, who was suc- ceeded by E. N. Plank. Upon the destruction by fire of the public school building a project was inaugurated to consolidate the two, which was effected November 1, 1865, under the name of Leavenworth Insti- tute and Union Free School, the former becoming the academic de- partment, and the district being reorganized as Union Free School district, No. 1, towns of Wolcott, Huron and Butler. November 4 the following Board of Education was elected: Dr. James M. Wilson, Jedediah Wilder, E. N. Plank, J. Talcott, B. F. Peck, William H. Thacker, W. W. Paddock, T. W. Collins, C. P. Smith, R. Sours, J. S. Roe, L. Millington and R. Matthews; E. N. Plank was president ; W. W. Paddock, treasurer; Chester Dutton, secretary and librarian. The new organization paid a debt of $250 against the institute and refunded $260 to the Leavenworth heirs. The first term opened December 12, 1865, with John Teller as principal, and Miss Tappan as preceptress. Among the successive principals have been Amos H. Thompson, Pro- fessor Hutton, M. T. Brown, C. T. R. Smith, Jefferson W. Hoag, Pro- fessor Baldwin, John T. Cothran, W. R. Vosburgh, Edward Hayward, E. B. Nichols, john W. Robinson and E. D. Niles. The preceptress is Miss Agnes Ford.
The first school house at Red Creek was a frame structure, twenty feet square, on Canada street, and one of its first teachers was Abigail Bunce. In 1837 the wooden building of the present academy was erected, and the first teacher therein was Norman F. Wright. March 25, 1839, the Red Creek Union Academy was incorporated, and among the first trustees were William O. Wood, Amos Snyder, Abel Lyon and Francis Nichols. The first principal was N. F. Wright, A. M. ; second, John W. Armstrong, A. M. ; third, Professor Hendrickson, associated with Rev. E. C. Bruce, who remained until 1854. About this time the first brick building, fifty by seventy feet, three stories high, was erected, and Rev. William C. Mason was appointed agent; he alone contributed $500. The fourth principal was Rev. John B. Van Patten. In 1858 or 1859 the brick building burned, and the citizens subscribed for another. The contract was let to Jonathan P. Jones for $4,000, who put up the present structure with a judgment against it of $1,500. The property was sold, being bid off by William P. Jones, who took a sheriff's deed, and who disposed of the whole in 1865 to a stock com-
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pany for $10,000, divided into shares of $25.00 each. The institution was reorganized, a new charter was obtained, and the name was changed to the Red Creek Union Seminary, which it has since born ; the trustees named in this charter were William P. Jones, president; J. B. Decker, secretary; Jonathan P. Jones, Lewis Jones, Riley Z. Pat- rick, Parson Cooper, Amasa Quivey and George Coplin. Mr. Decker has served continuously as trustee and secretary since 1865. The old charter building is still standing, and occupied by the principal as a residence. The Board of Education for 1894-5 consists of Parson Cooper, president; J. B. Decker, secretary; Riley Z. Patrick, treasurer; George M. Coplin, Abram Harris, Jay D. Frost, Amasa Quivey, Lewis Jones and William T. Clark. The principal is Albert D. Whitney, A. M., assisted by three teachers. The school is in a very flourishing condition.
The first school house in the vicinity of North Wolcott was a log structure erected about 1835 by John Dow. Prior to this a school had been kept in "the shanty" near Little Red Creek by Margaret Shaft, afterward Mrs. Elijah Edwards. A frame school house was built in district No. 2 in 1840.
The town now has fifteen school districts with buildings, in which twenty-six teachers are employed, and which are attended by about 920 scholars: Value of school buildings and sites in 1893, $20, 220; assessed valuation of districts, $1,320,525; money received from the State, $3,582.12; raised by local tax, $5, 146. 11.
WOLCOTT VILLAGE .- This is one of the pleasantest villages in Wayne county. It lies in the extreme west corner of this town and partly in the town of Butler, and on the south side of the R., W. & O. Railroad. Containing valuable mill privileges on Wolcott Creek, it was the site of the first settlement and the first business interests within the present town, and much of its earlier history has already been recorded in previous pages of this chapter. . Intimately connected with its growth and development from a dense forest to a thrifty village are associated the names of Jonathan Melvin, sr., Obadiah Adams, Osgood Church, Dr. David Arne, Elias Y. Munson, and others heretofore mentioned. The first improvements were inaugurated by Melvin, and the first tavern and distillery were conducted by Adams. The latter also had a cornmeal kiln, and his huge hogsheads, filled with meal for shipment, carly give the place the name of " Puncheonville.". Dr. Arne was the first postmaster. About 1811 Jacob Butterfield, a tanner and shoc-
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maker, purchased of Mr. Church three acres on which he built a tan- nery and conducted business many years. William M. Nurss and Mer- ritt Candy from Oneida county, came here in 1823 and erected a dis- tillery and ashery on the east side of the creek; they purchased Elisha Plank's grist mill, and also established a store. Mr. Candy died in 1828 and Nurss closed out their business, being succeeded by Alanson Melvin, whom his father, Jonathan, sr., had left here to wind up his affairs. E. Y. Munson, as previously noted, succeeded to the Adams tavern and all the land on lot 50 which Adams had purchased of Melvin. Hle sold to Stephen P. and Chester A. Keyes all that tract across Main street from the Wilder lot to the gulf and moved the old barn and sheds over to his tavern stand. The Messrs. Keyes occupied Munson's old store. Nathan Pierce, son-in-law of Levi Smith, built a hotel opposite his stone building and kept it several years; it was later known as the old White Hotel. A Dr. Tripp, from Montgomery county, purchased from the Geneva Bank the Melvin mill property and repaired and con- ducted it some time. The present Wolcott House, standing on the site of Adams's pioneer tavern, which was burned and replaced by the Northern Exchange, was rebuilt by Julius Whiting in 1880 and passed from him to the present proprietor, S. A. Williams, on February 1, 1887; the latter has also made additions. Abram Cuyler settled here in 1833; his son, John II., was the first producer of barrel staves in the village.
Wolcott village was incorporated February 24, 1852, and re-incor- porated in February, 1873. March 18, 1873, the following officers were chosen: Asa D. Kellogg, president; B. Franklin Knapp, Horace L. Dudley, Nelson Moore, trustees; Henry A. Graves, treasurer; Hiram Silliman, collector; William O. Church, clerk. The presidents since then have been :
Anson S. Wood, 1874. William W. Paddock, 1875.
Benham S. Wood, 1882.
Noah Wood, 1883.
George B. Curtis, 1876. Henry A. Graves, 1884. Thomas W. Johnson, 18;7. Martin E. Cornwell, 1878. Alanson Church, 1888. David II. Mann, 1879. F. S. Johnson, 1889-92. Henry A. Graves, 1880 -81. G. HI. Northrup, 1893 -94.
Martin E. Cornwell, 1885-87.
The village officers for 1894 are: G. H. Northrup, president; J. E. Lawrence, B. J. Worden, H. A. Loveless, trustees; Joel Fanning, clerk; F. A. Prevost, treasurer; William Borden street commissioner;
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E. H. Kellogg, police justice; the trustees, assessors; N. W. Merrill, collector.
The village has been visited by a number of conflagrations, impor- tant among which are the following: In 1874, destroying a large amount of property; July 20, 1875, eight business houses from the Wolcott House to the " Arcade" building, loss about $12,000; August 28, 1876, six business places on the east side of Mill street; November 11, 1879, the old landmark, the " Arcade," which was owned by the Presbyterian church and leased for stores; February 10, 1884, eight business blocks including the Lake Shore News office, rendering homeless twenty-three business concerns and fourteen families, less about $150,000; and February 19, 1887, Campbell's block.
In April, 1884, it was decided to raise by tax $2,500 for the purchase of a fire engine and suitable equipment, and in the fall of 1885 the present frame engine house and village hall was erected. In Novem- ber, 1886, a new hook and ladder truck for Independent Company No. I was purchased. The fire department is now constituted as follows: Chief, Henry A. Graves; first assistant, Rolla Stewart; second assist- ant, J. G. Cook. Independent Hook and Ladder Company No 1, Cy- rus E. Fitch, foreman. Wolcott Fire Company. No 1, B. J. Worden, foreman; Wolcott Hose Company No 1, William Olmsted, foreman.
The first banking business in Wolcott village was instituted in a small way by James V. D. Westfall. . Roe & Ellis's private bank was started by Roe, Ellis and Pomeroy in 1875, in the present bank build- ing, which was erected for the purpose. In the spring of 1884 Mr. Pomeroy sold his interest to the present firm, consisting of Willis S. Roe and A. D. Ellis.
Wolcott village now contains four dry goods stores, three groceries, four drug stores, two hardware stores, three clothing stores, two furni- ture and undertaking establishments, a boot and shoe store, four jewelry stores, three milliners, a newspaper and printing office, a bank, three hotels, three liveries, two meat markets, a bakery, two harness shops, a music store, four churches, five physicians, seven lawyers, two dentists, two insurance offices, a variety store, two grist mills, two foundry and machine shops, two lumber and three coal yards, a box factory, a fruit warehouse, one grain elevator, a laundry, marble and monumental works, a photograph gallery, two public halls, two wagon and four blacksmith shops, and about 950 inhabitants. The present postmaster is C. F. Van Valkenburg.
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RED CREEK-This village is situated in the east part of the town, on the stream of the same name, and on the R., W. & O. Railroad, and in an early day was called Jacksonville in honor of Gen. Andrew Jackson. A post-office was established, the name of which as well as that of the village was changed to its present designation in 1836. The first set- tler, tradition says, was a hunter and fisherman named Beman, who built a rude hut on the banks of Red Creek, some forty rods east of the Presbyterian Church. The second comer was a Mr. Babbitt. Neither of these remained more than a few years. In 1811 Noadiah Childs came in, built a log house, and made other improvements. Then fol- lowed Jacob Snyder with his ten children: John, Peter, Thomas, Amos, Noah, Betsey, Polly, Catharine, Nancy and Jacob, jr. He built a log house and later a frame one on the site of the dwelling of the late W. (). Wood. This was the first frame house in the village. Mr. Snyder was a Methodist preacher and often officiated at local meetings. The next settler was Isaac Easton, with eleven children, of whom the sons were William. John, Mahlon, Chillion, David, Abram and Walter. This was in 1816, and soon afterward Isaac Hoppin, Philip Bien, Abra- ham Teachout and James S. Brinkerhoff came in.
The first store was opened about 1832 by Stephen P. and Chester A. Keyes, who came hither from Wolcott village. Lyon & Hawley started another the same year. Isaac Easton was the first blacksmith, and following him were Messrs. Bunce and Gage. Noah Snyder opened the first tavern about 1829; it was twice burned and rebuilt. The first brick buildings were the academy and the store of Underhill & Lyon, the latter being built in 1851. The first physician was a Dr. White. The first lawyer was John W. Carey, who practiced here for six years prior to 1849, when he removed to Wisconsin, where he was State senator two terms; he is now in Chicago, and has been general attor- ney for the C., St. P. & M. Railroad for over twenty-five years. J. B. Decker was town superintendent of common schools for four years. Ile was admitted to the bar of this State in 1850, has been district at- torney three years, and a notary public ever since that office was ere- ated in the town. He was a student in the Red Creek Academy the first year it started, is a graduate of Union College, receiving the de- grees of A. B. and A. M., and for several years was admitted to the United States Courts.
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