USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 1 > Part 4
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WAYNE COUNTY.
and strong, and that he has raised forty bushels of the finest wheat he ever saw, and so of other articles in like abundance." In another letter he assured his agent that he had the most flattering reports concerning his lands in the Genesee country. At just about the time that Mr. Morris had become thoroughly convinced of the fertility and beauty of his great purchase, he received word from Franklin that he had sold it to an "Association" consisting of Sir William Pultney, John Hornby, and Patrick Colquhoun. Sir William Pultney was a London capitalist and occupied a high position as a citizen and a statesman; the other two were also men of character and wealth. The price paid for what was supposed to be about 1,100,000 acres, but was in reality, almost 1,200,000 acres, was £35,000. The sale included, of course, the terri- tory of Wayne county west of the pre-emption line.
As bearing upon what has been stated in respect to apprehensions of danger from the Indians and British the following extract from a letter written by Mr. Morris to Mr. Colquhoun, soon after the sale to the association, is given. He said :
These worthy but timid people had grown afraid since the Indian war at the westward had become so general as it is, to let their sons go out even to the town- ships they have bought, lest the Six Nations should become parties, and attack the Genesee settlements. Now as there is not the least danger of this happening, the Six Nations having already decided for peace, yet these timid people will await their own time. I will, however, announce to them that I can supply them with the lands they wanted, and as I think the Indian war will be of short duration, there is little doubt but they will buy when it is over."
The London association who purchased of Mr. Morris took imme- diate steps towards sale and settlement on their lands. In this work Mr. Colquhoun seems to have been the most conspicuous of the three. As their active agent they secured Charles Williamson, a native Scot, who had held a captain's commission in the British army at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, but the ship in which he sailed for this country was captured and he was taken to Boston and held a prisoner until the close of the war. He returned to England with a valuable store of information relating to this country, and when the attention of European capitalists began to be drawn in this direction, he very naturally became associated with them. After his appointment as agent by the association he sailed for America with his family and two intelligent Scotchmen, John Johnstone and Charles Cameron, who came as his assistants. From the day of his arrival in this country Charles Williamson became a most important factor in the settlement
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of the Genesee country. He learned from various sources of the great beauty, fertility, and value of the lands placed in his hands, and began energetically and intelligently to push forward the work expected of him by his employers. "Want of communication," he wrote to the association, "is the great draw back on back settlements distant from the rivers that run into the Atlantic. Remove this difficulty and there can be no doubt that the gentlemen of the association will reap an advantage fifty times their outlay; and come to their purpose many years sooner. Nothing will draw the attention of the people of America more readily than the idea of their settling under the protec- tion of an association who will take every means to render their farms convenient an profitable."
In the winter of 1701-2, leaving his party in Northumberland, Pa., he made a hurried trip through the Genesee country. Of this trip he wrote Mr. Colquhoun that he passed through an uninhabited wilderness more than one hundred miles before reaching Geneva, "which consisted of a few straggling huts." "There is not a road within one hundred miles of the Genesee country," said he, "that will admit of any sort of conveyance, otherwise than on horseback, or on a sled, when the ground is covered with snow." "The price of land has, in a few instances, exceeded two shillings per acre; some few farms of first rate quality have been sold on a credit for four shillings per aere."
After full consideration of the subject of opening communications between the east and the Genesee country, Mr. Williamson determined that the proper outlet for the country was southward to the Susque- hanna River. He accordingly took steps to construct a road from what is now Williamsport, Pa., to the mouth of the Canaserga Creek on the Genesee River, a distance of about 150 miles. Before the road could be opened, a ship load of goods reached Baltimore consigned to Will- iamson by Mr. Colquhoun. The heaviest of the cargo was sold off in Baltimore, and the lighter portion sent westward via Albany. Before the' close of 1792, Mr. Williamson had determined to make his first settlement at the termination of his road on the Genesee River; in pursuance of this plan he laid out a village there and called it Williams- burg; he built a long row of structures, plowed some land and pre- pared for the reception of a proposed German colony. Here were settled a large colony who came over through the immediate influence of one Berezy, who gained the confidence of Mr. Coloquhoun. While they proved useful to Mr. Williamson in building his road, before men-
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tioned, they proved an undesirable acquisition in every other way. They remained in Pennsylvania until the spring of 1793, when they removed to Williamsburg. Each family had a house, fifty acres of land, tools, stock, and provisions appropriated to its use; but they developed into an idle and more or less dissolute colony, with Berezy at their head. Mr. Williamson finally determined to rid his country of their presence, and in his efforts to accomplish this result, provoked a riot and had to call on the authorities of Ontario county to aid him and his friends. The Germans were at last scattered, many of them ultimately settling in Canada. Other attempts to colonize Europeans were scarcely more successful.
Previous to and during the course of the events we have briefly chronicled, a colony of Quakers, or "Friends," under the leadership of a woman, a native of Rhode Island, whose correct name was Jemima Wilkinson, had settled in 1787-88 in what is now Yates county, about a mile south of the site of Dresden village. The original party con- sisted of twenty-five members, who had sent delegates ahead to search for an eligible location. Their first land purchase was on "The Gore," previous to the establishment to the new pre-emption line, and comprised a tract of 14,000 acres lying in the east part of the present town of Milo, and a part of Starkey, in Yates county. Soon afterward their delegates purchased what is now the town of Jerusalem, in that county. It was through the agency of these settlers that the first grist mill. was built in Western New York; it was situated two and a half miles from Penn Yan, and turned out flour in the year 1789. The woman "Jemima," as she was known, exercised a powerful influence over her followers in all their affairs, public and private The community, while apparently thriving and successful for a time, showed evidences of decline before many years. They had settled there in quest of seclusion from the world and its wickedness; but their selection of lands was too wise to enable them to long hold a monopoly over the region ; and they soon found themselves in a thickly settled neighbor- hood. 'Jemima died in 1819, and was succeeded by Rachel Malin; but their teachings were long ago forgotten, though their descendants are still numerous in that section of the State.
In 1793 operations towards settlement began at Bath and rapidly progressed under Mr. Williamson's energetic direction. 1 Mills were
1 In 1799 an advertisement of the "Bath Theater" appeared in the Bath Gazette; the plays announced were " The Mock Doctor, or The Dumb Lady Cured." "A
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built there and immigration from Pennsylvania and Maryland became active. 1 . In the following year (1794) improvements were begun at Geneva, a feature of which was the building of the Geneva Hotel, which was finished in December and soon gained a widespread fame. It had no competitor for some time between there and Utica.
Canandaigua, also, was a point of importance in the early settlement of the Genesee country and the great county of Ontario-mother of Wayne and many other counties. After Mr. Phelps had decided on the foot of Canandaigua Lake as a desirable and central point for the founding of a village, he took measures to open primitive roads over which to reach the site. Operations were begun at Geneva and a pass- age way opened to the foot of Canandaigua Lake, following substan- tially the old Indian trail. Joseph Smith was the first settler west of Seneca Lake and located at Canandaigua in the spring of 1789. He built a block house and opened a tavern. In May of that year Gen. Israel Chapin arrived at the outlet and built his log house. With him and interested in surveys and land sales were eight or ten others, and they were soon followed by a Mr. Walker, agent of Phelps and Gorham. The settlement progressed rapidly, much of its growth and the toler- ably peaceful relations with the Indians being due for a number of years to General Chapin. In 1790 the heads of families on township 10, range 3, were as follows: Nathaniel Gorham, jr., Nathaniel San- born, John Fellows, James D. Fish, Joseph Smith, Israel Chapin, John Clark, Martin Dudley, Phineas Bates, Caleb Walker, Judah Colt, Abner Barlow, Daniel Brainard, Seth Holcomb, James Brocklebank, Lemuel Castle, Benjamin Wells, John Freeman. To these were added quite a
Peep into the Seraglio." The prices of admission were: "Pit six shillings; Gallery three shillings." The Bath Races were also advertised.
1 The proprietors of the Pultney estate indulged in visions of boundless wealth to result from the settlement of their lands. They supposed that the natural avenue to market from the rich Genesee country was down the Susquehanna, and that a city might be founded upon some of the headwaters of that stream which would command the entire trade of the West. After a survey of the region, the present site of Bath was selected as the location of the future city. Every inducement was held out to lure settlers; and for several years the markets of Bath proved a mine of wealth to the few who raised more grain than enough for their own use. Williamson erected a theater within a few years after the first settlement, in anticipation of the future metropolitan character of the place. A race course was also established, which for many years attracted sportsmen from all parts of the country. The golden visions of civie grandeur were never realized .- French's Gazetteer, p. 622.
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number of settlers during 1790-1. The place was made the county seat in 1793, and in the same year a court house, jail and clerk's office were built; and here the first courts were held, as described further on in these pages.
To conclude this necessarily brief description of the carly settlement at various points in the old county of Ontario, before turning our at- tention to the immediate locality in which our readers will be more deeply interested, it will be desirable to reproduce from the census report of 1790 a list of all the heads of families who had settled west of the old pre-emption line, as follows; the list is given by townships and ranges as shown in the abbreviated headings:
No. 9, 7th R.
No. 11, 2 R.
William Wadsworth
Sweet
David Benton Samuel Wheaton
Phineas Bates
Ezra Phelps
Rice
Daniel Ross
No. 10, 3d R.
Henry Brown
Nathaniel Gorham, jr.
No. 10, 3d R.
Enoch Noble
Nathaniel Sanborn
John Fellows
Joseph Smith
James D. Fisk
Nahum Fairbanks
William Moores No. 13, 5th R.
John Clark
Eleazer Lindley Daniels
Chauncey Hyde
Phineas Bates
Samuel Lindley
Timothy Allen
Caleb Walker
John Seely
Jacob Walker
Judah Colt
Ezekiel Mumford
No. 10, 6th R.
Abner Barlow
John Minor
Daniel Brainard
Asel Burchard
Seth Holcomb
Arthur Erwine
Abner Miles
James Brocklebank
Henry Culp
Davison
Lemuel Castle
William Anchor
No. 11, 6th R.
Benjamin Wells
Martin Young
John Ganson
John Freeman No. 11, 3d R.
Nos. 3 & 4, 5th & 6th R's.
Abel Wilsey
Abraham Lapham
James Headley
Elijah Morgan
Isaac Hathaway
William Baker
Solomon Hovey
Nathan Harrington
Jedediah Stevens
John Morgan
John MeCumber
Uriah Stephens
William Webber
Joshua Harrington
Uriah Stephens, jr.
William Markham
Elijah Smith John Paine
John Stephens Richard Crosby
Abraham Devans No. 7, 7th R.
Jacob Smith
Solomon Bennett . Andrew Bennett John Jameson 5
Niel
John Russell
No. 9, 1st R.
Nathan Comstock
James Latta
Israel Weed
Nicholas Rosecrantz
No. 11, 5th R.
David Robb
Jonathan Ball
Israel Chapin
No. 1, 2d R.
John Lusk
Martin Dudley
Eleazer Lindley, jr. No. 2, 2d R.
Peter Gardner
Philemon Winship
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Reuben Allen No. 12, 3d R.
William Hall Arnold Potter
Thomas Cleland
Silas Nye
Webb Harwood
David White
Darius Comstock
Jerome Smith
No. 8, 4th R.
William Goodwin
Daniel Gates
Gamaliel Wilder
Nathaniel Fisher
Thomas Warren
Ephraim Wilder
No. 10, 4th R.
Israel Chapin
Aaron Rice
Ephraim Rew
Platt
Aaron Spencer No. 9, 1st R.
David Smith
John Barnes
Gilbert R. Berry
Phineas Pierce
Oliver Chapin
Darling Havens
Esther Forsyth
Nathaniel Norton
David Bailey
Thomas Smith
John Adams
William Rice
Harry Smith
Michael Rodgers
Gershom Smith
Thomas Barden No. 10, 1st R.
Allen Sage No. 11, 4th R.
Hill Carney Morgan Desha
Seth Reed
Seymour Boughton
William Desha
Thaddeus Oaks
Jared Boughton
Horatio Jones
Jonathan Whitney
Zebulon Norton
William Ewing
Solomon Warner
Elijah Taylor
Nathan Fowler
Jonathan Oaks
No. 9, 5th R.
Joseph Kilbourne
Gideon Pitts No. 10, 5th R.
Jeremiah Gregory Nicholas Philips Jacob Philips
John Whitcomb
Phineas Stevens
Peregrine Gardner
Caleb Forsyth
Benjamin Tuttle
Amos Hall
Nathan Chapman
No. 11, Ist R.
Benjamin Gardner
Nicholas Miller
John D. Robinson
Peck Sears
Asa Utley
Pierce Granger No. 8, 2d R.
John Alger
. Ebenezer Allen
Francis Briggs
Sylvanus Thayer
Christopher Dugan
Michael Pierce
No. 12, 5th R.
Zephaniah Hough
Benjamin Tibbits
Jared Stone
Edward Harp
Henry Lovell
Simon Stone
Joseph Skinner
John Walford
Israel Farr
In order to give the reader a clearer idea of the distribution of these families by towns, and to aid him in locating those who had settled in what is now Wayne county, we reprint the following list, also from the census of 1290:
Painted Post 10
59 Phelps ·2
11
Milo
11
65 Middlesex
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Benton
3
25
Hopewell 6 14
Seneca, including Geneva 18
115
East Farmington 4
No. 10, 2d R. Sweet No. 9, 4th R.
Josiah Giminson Alexander Dunn
David Davis
James Goodwin
No. 10, 2d R.
Lot Rew
'Matthew Hubble
- Day West of Genesee River
Samuel Miller
Peter Shaeffer
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West Farmington
12
55
Brighton
4 20
Canandaigua
8
106
Lima
4
23
West Palmyra
4
14
Rush
9
56
South Bristol
4
20
Henrietta
1
8
North Bristol
4
13
Sparta
1
5
East Bloomfield
10
65
Geneseo
8
34
West Bloomfield.
7
26
Wayne
1
9
Indian Lands (Leicester).
4
17
Erwin
11
59
Victor
4
20)
Canisteo
10
50
Richmond
1
2
Avon
10
66
Mendon
·2
10
Caledonia
10
44
Pittsford
8
28
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Total
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Most of the pioneers of Ontario county and the military tract who came in prior to the beginning of the present century, and who did not come from southward, as before mentioned, took the water route from Albany, by way of the Mohawk River, Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, Os- wego River, and the Clyde. In 1791 what was called the "Geneva road" was built, extending from Whitestown to Geneva, and thence on to Canandaigua. It was for much of the distance merely a cleared track through the forest; but bad as it was it was influential in pro- moting the western settlements. Here is what Charles Williamson wrote to England regarding it :
To improve our communication with the coast seemed to be all that was necessary to render the country equal to any part of America for comfort and convenience; in many things, particularly the climate, we had much the advantage. To remedy this inconvenience as to roads, the Legislature of the State had, by an act passed in the Sessions of 1597, taken the road from Fort Schuyler to Geneva under their patronage. A lottery had been granted for the opening and improving of certain great roads; among these this road was included. The inhabitants made a volun- tary offer of their services, to aid the State commissioner, and subscribed 4,000 days work, which they performed with fidelity and cheerfulness. By this generous and uncommon exertion, and by some other contributions, the State commissioner was enabled to complete this road of near one hundred miles, opening it sixty-four feet wide, and paving with logs and gravel the moist parts of the low country. Hence the road from Fort Schuyler on the Mohawk River, to Genesee, from being in the month of June, 1597, little better than an Indian path, was so far improved that a stage started from Fort Schuyler on the 30th of September, and arrived at the hotel in Geneva, in the afternoon of the third day, with four passengers.
Settlements along this road were rapidly increased after its opening. . This highway was greatly improved within a few years, particularly in 1794, when a commission was appointed to open " The Great Genesee
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Road " six rods wide from old Fort Schuyler to the Cayuga Ferry; and again in 1996-7, when a considerable sum was expended in improving the road. In the year 1800, what was called " The Seneca Road Com- pany " was chartered for the improvement of the highway from Utica to Canandaigua. The capital stock of the company was $11,000, and Jedediah Sanger, Charles Williamson, Benjamin Walker, and Israel Chapin were appointed commissioners. In 1798 the first State roads were laid out from Conewagas, on the Genesee River, to the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and to Lewiston, on Niagara River. Other early roads more directly connected with the settlement of Wayne county will be described in the next chapter.
This chapter may be properly closed with a quotation from a descript- ive letter on the Genesee country written in 1792, as follows:
On the 12th of February, 1792, I left Albany on my route to the Genesee country ; but the country was thought so remote and so very little known, that I could not prevail on the owner of the sled I had engaged to go further than Whitestown, a new settlement on the head of the Mohawk River, one hundred miles west of Albany. The road, as far as Whitestown, had been made passable for wagons, but from that to the Genesee River it was little better than an Indian path, just sufficiently opened to allow a sled to pass, and the most impassable streams bridged. At Whitestown I was obliged to change my sled; the Albany driver would proceed no further. He found that the next 150 miles we were not only obliged to take provision for our- selves and our horses, but also blankets as a substitute for beds. After leaving Whitestown we found only a few straggling huts scattered along the the path at the distance of ten to twenty miles, and they affording nothing but the convenience of fire and a kind of shelter from the snow. On the evening of the third day's journey from Whitestown we were very agreeably surprised to find ourselves on the east side of Seneca Lake, which we found perfectly open and free from ice as in the month of June; and what added to our surprise, and admiration, was to see a boat and canoe plying on the lake This, after having passed from New York over 360 miles of country completely frozen, was a sight pleasing and interesting.
We then crossed the outlet of the lake, and arrived at the settlement of Geneva, consisting of a few families, who had been drawn thither from the convenience of the situation and the beauty of the adjoining country. From Geneva to Cana- darqua the road is only the Indian path, a little improved the first five miles over gentle swellings of land, interspersed with bottoms seemingly rich; the remainder of the road to Canadarqua, the county town, sixteen miles, was, the greatest part of the distance, through a rich, heavy-timbered land. On this road there were only two families settled. Canadarqua, the county town, consisted of only two small frame houses and a few huts, surrounded with thick woods. The few inhabitants received me with much hospitality I found there abundance of excellent venison. From Canadarqua to the Genesee River, twenty six miles, it is almost totally uninhabited, only four families residing on the road. The country is beautifully diversified with hill and dale, and, in many places, we found openings. of two and three hundred
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WAYNE COUNTY.
acres, free from all timber and even bushes, which, on our examining, proved to be of a rich, deep soil. It seemed that, by only enclosing with one of these openings a proportionable quantity of timbered land, an enclosure might be made similar to the parks of England.
At the Genesee River I found a small Indian store and tavern; the river was not then frozen over, but was low enough to be forded. As yet there are no settlements of any consequence in the Genesee country. That established by a society of Friends, on the west side of the Seneca Lake, is the most considerable; it consists of about forty families. But the number of Indians in the adjoining country, when compared with the few inhabitants who ventured to winter in the country, is so great, that I found them under serious apprehensions for their safety. Even in this state of nature, the county of Ontario shows every sign of future respectability.
In subsequent letters descriptive of the county in 1796, four years later, the same writer pictures the country under somewhat different conditions. Various settlements, he said, "had begun to assume an appearance of respectability never before instanced in so new a country." It is probably true that not in the history of the country has a wil- derness country been so rapidly peopled and improved as the old county of Ontario. , " Much pains had been taken," continued the writer, "to induce the different settlers at an early period to build mills, and every encouragement was given them." A newspaper had been established at Bath. The town of Canadarqua (Canandaigua), had assumed the appearance of a handsome village. The town of Geneva in that year had received a great addition by the laying out of a street on the sum- mit of a rising ground, along the west bank of the lake; at the present day one of the handsomest village streets to be found anywhere. A sloop was on the stocks to run between Geneva and Catharine's Town, at the head of the lake. A printing office was established in Geneva, and several new settlements had been begun. The Mud Creek region in which we are especially interested, received the writer's attention also. Speaking of new mills, he said that one was built on the outlet of Canadarqua Lake near its junction with Mud Creek (Lyons), both of which are very considerable streams, and "run through a great extent of country already well settled." "In the settlement of Mud Creek alone, there were for sale, last fall, not less than 10,000 bushels of wheat, of an excellent quality."
The settlers on the Genesee River were then receiving their salt from the Onondaga works, and their stores from Albany. " Mr. Granger," he continues, "last winter built a schooner of forty tons which was launched early in April; before the middle of May she made a trip to Niagara, with two hundred barrels of provisions, and there
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were then laying on the beach two hundred barrels more, ready to be put on board on her return." As to the character of the people who were settling in this section the writer said: "The rapid progress of this new country, in every comfort and convenience, has not only caused the emigration of vast numbers of substantial farmers, but also of men of liberal education, who find here a society not inferior to that in the oldest country settlements in America. The schools are far from being indifferent, and even the foundations of public libraries are already laid." After describing the climate and soil of the country in favorable terms, the writer continues: "The settlements already formed on the principal navigations, and whose inhabitants are used to business, and respectably connected, find, at an early period, the most advantageous markets for their surplus produce. To Canada, beef, salt, pork, flour, and whisky, are already sent to a great amount." "The success of every individual who has emigrated to the Genesee country, has stamped a greater value on the lands than was ever known in any place so recently settled, and so distant from the old settled country."
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