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During the War of the Rebellion the town of Huron contributed a large number of its brave citizens to fill the Union ranks. The part it took in that terrible struggle is detailed in a previous chapter.
NORTH HURON is a small post village near the head of East Bay in the northern part of the town. Elihu Spencer erected here, in 1809, the first grist mill and saw mill in Huron ; the former was a brick structure.
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J. L. Barber built another mill in 1825 which finally passed to Thomas Graham. Other mills have been put up on the same stream (Mudge Creek). The place now contains a store, blacksmith shop, two churches and 75 inhabitants. James Chase succeeded Charles R. Weed as post- master and died in office July 14, 1894.
SOUTH HURON (Huron post-office) is a scattered settlement near the center of the town. Josiah Upson settled here at an early date and in 1811 established a tanning business, which he continued till 1818, when he built and kept the first regular tavern in Huron. In 1849 a town hall was erected just south of the Presbyterian church, and a few years since a Grange hall was erected on the opposite side of the road. Besides these the place contains a grocery and a blacksmith shop. The post- mistress is Mrs. S. E. Andrus.
LUMMISVILLE, about one mile northwest of South Huron, is another small postal settlement containing a store, repair shop, etc. The post- master is Wilson Lamb, who succeeded Lafayette Legg in the fall of 1881. The office was named from Dr. William N. Lummis, the first postmaster, who kept it where David Green now lives.
PORT GLASGOW (Resort post-office) has been noticed in previous pages of this chapter. It is chiefly noted as a summer resort and contains two hotels. The post office was established June 1, 1894, with S. G. Stacey as postmaster. Near here Dr. Zenas Hyde is said to have opened in an old log building, about 1810, the first tavern in town. Norman Sheldon about the same time opened another. The place lies at the head of sloop navigation on Sodus Bay and until recent years was a point of some shipping importance.
BONNICASTLE is a small but attractive summer resort on Sodus Bay a little more than a mile north from Port Glasgow. It contains a few cottages and accommodations for tourists.
LAKE BLUFF is a summer resort on the lake shore, west of East Bay and contains two hotels, a store, and a few cottages. The post-office here is continued three months in the year with E. B. Fuller as post- master.
RICE'S SETTLEMENT on Mudge Creek in the southeast part of the town, is so named from Decatur Rice, who finally came into the possession of the mill built by Jarvis Mudge in 1811.
The Presbyterian Church of Huron was organized as the First Pres- byterian Church of Wolcott by Revs. Charles Mosher and Henry Axtell on July 18, 1813, with these members: Erastus Wilder, Robert M. 54
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Palmer, Luther Wheeler, Jonathan Melvin, sr., Martha Fox, Lucy Wheeler, Damarius Wilson, Ezra Knapp, Elisha Jones, John Wade, Noah Seymour, Roswell Fox, Elisha Plank, Marian Seymour, Johanna Bunce, Elizabeth Olmstead, Margaret Upson, Elizabeth Sheldon, Ruth Plank, Josiah Upson, Amy Hancock, Noah Lyman, and Eunice Wade. The first officers were Ezra Knapp, Noah Lyman, Erastus Wilder, and Josiah Upson, elders; and Erastus Wilder and Ezra Knapp, deacons. The first pastor was Rev. A. M. Butrick. (The first minister of this denomination in Huron was Rev. Francis Pomeroy, who preached the pioneer sermon in the town at the house of Ezra Knapp in April, 1811. Two other ministers prior to 1813 were Revs. Royal Phelps and Daniel S. Butrick). In 1826 the name of this church was made to conform with that of the town by formally adopting the title of the Presbyterian Church of Port Bay, and in 1836 it was again changed, this time as at present, to the Presbyterian Church of Huron. The first and only house of worship was built of wood at South Huron in 1836 and attained its present dimensions by a subsequent addition of twelve feet. The society has about 100 members with Rev. R. A. Ward as pastor.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of North Huron was organized as a class at the school house by Benson Smith in 1817 with seven members. Mr. Smith was an exhorter and the first class leader. The first preacher was Rev. Enos Barnes, and services continued at private dwellings and the Dutch street school house until the present edifice, a frame struc- ture was built at North Huron about 1844, at which time the society was legally organized. It cost $1, 200 and was dedicated by Rev. Hiram Mattison. It was repaired in 1865 at an expense of $1,500. The first minister in charge of the new church was Rev. Almon Cawkins, and the first officers were: Trustees, Simeon Slaght, J. Seeber, Stephen Seaman, R. L. Ostrander, Stephen Playford; stewards, Horace Dem- mon, Simeon Slaght, William G. Brene, John McCarthy, Stephen Playford; class-leaders, Horace Demmon, John Hyde, John McCarthy. The Sunday school was first organized in 1832 with Horace Demmon as superintendent. The society has about fifty members under the pastoral care of Rev. P. Martin.
The Methodist Protestant Church of North Huron was organized about 1840, and the same year their present edifice was erected and dedicated. The society has twenty-five members with Rev. R. K. Andrews as pastor. They also maintain a flourishing Sunday school
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CHAPTER XXIX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BUTLER.
Butler originally conprised tho southeast part of the old town of Wolcott (which see), and was organized into its present limits on the 26th of February, 1826. It is nearly six miles square, and has as arca of 21,918 acres. It forms the central township of the eastern part of Wayne county, and is bounded on the north by Wolcott, on the cast by Cayuga county, on the south by Savannah and Galen, and on the west by Rose and Huron. Its principal stream is Wolcott Creek, which rises in the northeast part of the town, flows southwest through Butler Center, thence westerly, northwesterly and northerly through Wolcott village, and empties into Port Bay. Butler Creek is a small stream that rises east of Butler Center and flows southwest through South Butler and south into Crusoe Lake in Savannah. Both of these streams formerly furnished good mill sites.
The surface is broken into ridges and valleys running generally north and south The soil is generally loam admixed with more or less clay ; on the lowlands considerable muck exists. It is very fertile and nearly all adapted to cultivation. The principal industry is agriculture. Grain, hay, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, etc., are grown in abundance. During the past decade or two the production of tobacco has been given especial attention, and has placed the town prominently among the great tobacco growing sections of the State. Apples, pears, plums, and small fruit are raised in considerable quantities. Originally the land was covered with heavy timber, which long gave employment to sev- eral saw mills, and which even yet supplies two or three with sizable logs. Along Wolcott Creek, and in the northeast part of Butler, a good quality of limestone exists and has been extensively burned into lime for building purposes.
Devoid of railroad or canal the town has always maintained com- munication with adjacent villages by stage and horses. The first thoroughfare was the old Galen road opened about 1804 from the salt works in Savannah to Sodus Bay. It entered this town at South Butler,
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ran westwardly to Wheeler's Corners, and passed thence north and northwest through West Butler to Port Glasgow (then Sloop Landing). At South Butler it was intersected by the Musketo Point road from the east. From West Butler an early road ran north to Wolcott village. The first regular highway, leading south from Wolcott and now called New Hartford street, was surveyed and established by Osgood Church on November 2, 1810; Jacob Shook and Peres Bardwell were road com- missioners. Nearly all the roads in Butler were surveyed after the organization of the town. About 1825 a canal was projected from Seneca River to Sodus Bay. A company capitalized at $200,000 was formed and March 29, 1829, a charter was obtained. A survey was made running through Butler, but finally changed to a point a little west of Clyde.
The first town meeting was held at the house of Jacob S. Viele on Tuesday, April 4, 1826, at which Ebenezer Fitch was moderator, and Thomas Armstrong "clerk for the day." The first officers chosen were: Thomas Armstrong, supervisor; Ebenezer Fitch, town clerk; Jesse Viele, Israel J. Clapp, and Orestus Hubbard, assessors; Ezekiel Scott and Nathan Cook, overseers of the poor; Prentice Palmer, col- lector; Morris Craw, Asaph Spencer, and Welcome Cole, highway commissioners; Thomas Armstrong, Joseph A. Olmsted, and John R, Taintor, commissioners of common schools; Prentice Palmer and William Wood, constables; Benjamin Tucker, Austin Roc, and Joseph Watson, school inspectors; Simeon Merrill, Ezekiel Scott, Joseph A. Olmsted, Welcome Cole, Paul II. Davis, Thomas Newell, and Eleazer Smith, fence viewers; and twenty nine pathmasters. The second town meeting was held on April 3, 182;, also at the house of Mr. Viele, and the third to the ninth 'at the house of Lucius Ilibbard. November 28, 1827, the following justices of the peace were elected: Israel J. Clapp, four years; Ebenezer Fitch, three years; Thomas Hall, two years; and Jesse Viele, one year. In 1827 it was voted that pathmasters be fence viewers. The expenses of the town during the first year were $139.41, and at the annual meeting in 1827 there was an indebtedness of $5. 10. In 1827 the expenses amounted to $113.23. Austin Roe was town clerk many years.
The supervisors of Butler have been as follows:
Thomas Armstrong, 1826-33, Uriah G. Beach, 1834-36, Austin Roc, 1837,
Thomas Armstrong, 1838,
Austin Roe, 1839, John Dratt, 1840-11,
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Nathaniel W. Tompkins, 1842-43, Thomas Armstrong, 1844-45,
Gibson Center, 1863,
Benham S. Wood, 1864,
John Dratt, 1846,
Henry K. Graves, 1865.
Horatio N. Wood, 1847,
Anson S. Wood, 1866,
Franklin Knapp, 1848,
Andrew Spencer, 1867-69,
John Dratt, 1849,
Joel Laberteaux, 1870-73,
Thomas Armstrong, 1850-51,
John E. Hough, 1874-78,
Henry K. Graves, 1852-53,
William Wood, 1879-80,
John Dratt, 1854,
Eugene M. Walker, 1881-82,
Charles Mead, 1855,
Joseph H. L. Roe, 1883-86,
Henry K. Graves, 1856,
Isaac Lockwood, 1887,
Horatio N. Wood, 1857,
Lyman HI. Dratt, 1888-89,
C. D. Hadden, 1858,
Abram Gibbs, 1859, John E. Hough, 1860-62,
Gorham J. Wilson, 1890-93, Cyrus E. Fitch, 1894.
The town officers for 1894 are: Cyrus E. Fitch, supervisor; D. P. Mitchell, town clerk; Frank W. Fry, J. A. Craw, Noah Wood, A. B. Newton, and D. Wallace Holdridge (after January 1, 1895), justices of the peace; William P. Stiles, George E. Vincent, and Aaron Treat, assessors; William R. Burghduff, collector; Lucius Douglass, highway commissioner; A. M. Armstrong, overseer of the poor.
Settlement was commenced within the present limits of Butler as early as 1803. Capt. Peter Mills, who located in the town about that year, is regarded as the first actual settler. He was a Revolutionary soldier and drew a bounty here of 500 acres of land for military services. A part of this is now the L. H. Viele farm north of South Butler. His wife, Sarah Mills, died November 26, 1809, aged sixty-five, hers being the first death and burial in the town. Among the very first settlers were John Grandy on the Orestes Hubbard farm and Henry Bummell, two miles northwest of South Butler. . The latter sold to Eli Wheeler in 1808, and moved to Cayuga county. Abijah Moore located on New Hartford street in 1805 and lived there until 1860. Many of the earlier settlers were New Englanders endowed with sterling characteristics and indomitable perseverance. Slowly but steadily they converted the wilderness into productive fields and pleasant homes. By degrees they surrounded themselves with the comforts and luxuries of life, and transmitted to their descendants and the present generation their noble traits and advanced ideas of civiliza- tion. Primitive log cabins and rude churches and schools in time gave way to commodious frame dwellings and better institutions.
From 1808 to 1813 Osgood Church, of Wolcott, was the resident sub-
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agent for Williamson's patent, a part of which was located in Butler. He gave contracts for the land, and those falling within our limits were as follows:
Robert Van Tassell, 144 1-2 acres, lot 54, June 16, 1808; Silas Munsell, 180 3-4 acres, lot 65, June 22, 1808; Aaron Hoppin, 165 1-2 acres, lot 45, September 30, 1808; Glazier Wheeler, 152 1-2 acres, lot 52, November 26, 1808; Thomas Hancock, 50 acres, lot 104, August 8, 1809; Elijah Hancock, 50 acres, lot 104, August 8, 1809; William P. Newell, 85 acres, lot 144, August 9, 1809; Lucius Hibbard, 47 acres, lot 104, August 12, 1809; Prentice Palmer, 156 1-2 acres, at $4, lot 62, October 21 1809; Thaddeus Collins, 99 acres, at $3.50, lot 141, October 23, 1809; Jacob and Eli Ward, 100 1-2 acres, lot 122, at $3.50, February 18, 1810; Milton Fuller, 98 1-2 aeres, lot 182, December 25, 1810; Eliakim Tupper, 20 acres, lot 53, May 26, 1811; Jacob Watson, 94 acres, lot 56, May 28, 1811; James Phillips, 99 acres, lot 92, October 12, 1812; Eli Wheeler, 100 acres, lot 188, November 13, 1812; John South- wick, 96 1-2 acres, lot 191, November 14, 1812; Joseph B. Grandy, 101 acres, lot 201, July 1, 1813; Asa Whitmore, 101 aeres, lot 208, August 17, 1813; Samuel Hlaskell, 102 acres, lot 163, September 11, 1813.
In 1807 Seth Crane settled north of Wheeler's Corners, but in 1812 removed to a farm two miles east of South Butler, upon which he was succeeded by Ezekiel Scott. Mr. Crane was a justice of the peace and a deacon in the Baptist Church. He was a Revolutionary veteran and a very kind-hearted man. In 1809 Noah Starr and Seth Winans became settlers. The latter was also a Revolutionary soldier. Prentice Palmer located in the town in 1810, but the next year moved to Savannah to take care of the old Galen salt works. It is said that in one winter, in twenty-five days, he killed twenty-six deer. Paul Wellman, a soldier in the Revolution, came to Butler in 1810, accompanied by his father, Jedediah Wellman, who died the next spring, aged eighty-four, and whose death was the second in the iown.
Eli Wheeler was a settler of 1810. He was a prominent citizen and died in 1847. His son, Highland Hill Wheeler, was born in Cairo, N. Y., November 23, 1808, removed with his parents to Butler, and died here July 1, 1894. When twenty-one he went to New York, studied and , practiced law, married and returned to his farm, known as Highland Terrace, in 1860. He followed his profession and was a justice of the peace here many years. He was a scholarly writer and a recognized authority on local history, in which he took a deep interest, contributing many letters bearing on the early settlement of the old town of Wolcott to the county papers. He left four children.
Daniel Roe, when fifty years old, moved with his wife and five sons and six daughters from Litchfield, Conn., to this town, arriving May
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24, 1812. He bought out one Hopkins, who had built a log house and cleared some six or eight acres of land. He was vigorous and energetic, and lived to see his farm of 170 acres pretty well cleared up and his family all settled about him. He was an active Christian man and had a marked influence in the community, and was instrumental in securing from the old Genesee Conference the first Methodist preachers for that locality or region. They held quarterly meetings in his barn, preached in the school house on a corner of his farm, and he was an earnest sup-
porter of the church while he lived. He was one of the first magistrates of the town and served many years, and was for several years postmas- ter, the post-office being kept in his house. The mail was brought from Auburn on horseback once or twice a week. He died at the age of eighty-nine years and seven months. His wife preceded him in March, 1840, at which time the family cemetery now on the homestead was laid out. His sons, who all settled near him, were men of influence. Dan- iel was one of the pioneer settlers of the present town of Wolcott, and was prominent for many years as supervisor, justice of the peace, etc. He died at Butler Center, September 22, 1884, aged ninety-two years. Ile was a life-long Democrat. Austin, another son, was member of Assembly one or two terms. Willis W. was also prominent in town and lived and died upon the homestead where his youngest son, J. H. 1 .. Roe now resides. Of the old settlers on the same street, now gone, who have left descendants there, were Joseph Watson, Nathan Cook, Azur Raynor and Lucius Hibbard, and a little to the east lived Thomas Armstrong, for several terms a member of State Senate, and Paul II Davis, a man of marked characteristics yet of sterling integrity. Thomas Armstrong settled in Butler in 1813. He was long the super- visor, served as sheriff of Seneca county, and was the first sheriff of Wayne county. He was in the Assembly six years and in the Senate eight, and was a popular public officer.
Roger Olmsted settled near Wotcott village, and with his son built some years afterward a saw and grist mill on Wolcott Creek. Abijah Moore and his son had a distillery and grist mill on the same stream. Other early settlers in the neighborhood were Simeon Merrill, sr., John Ward and John Harmon.
Maj. William Moulton, a Revolutionary officer, settled in 1810 on 600 aeres granted him for military services near the center of the town. He was a decorous gentleman of the old school, and wore a powdered queue, cocked hat, top boots, and white headed cane. His estate in-
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cluded Armstrong Hill, the highest elevation in town. He was a land surveyor, and gave special attention to the cultivation of fruit.
Horace and Noah Peck were carly settlers, and in 1815 sold out to Edward Bivins and his father-in-law, Benjamin Hall, who came in the spring of 1816. Abner Bivins, the father and a Revolutionary soldier, and James, a brother, removed hither a few years later, as did also Joshua, Elias, Stephen and Peter Hall, brothers of Benjamin, and their father, Thomas. The road from South Butler to Wolcott was first called East street, and probably the first settler upon it was Capt. Peter Mills, who was the first man to die in the town, and who was succeeded by his son, Daniel Mills. John Foot lived near him, and about two miles north resided Aaron Hopkins.
Other prominent settlers were David Sprague, the father of two chil- dren, of whom Charles W. was one; James Davis, a tailor; Daniel Rog- ers, a lineal descendant of John Rogers the martyr; Welcome Cole, who died in March, 1883; Abram Gibbs, who died November 11, 1891, aged eighty-one; Prentice Cushman, who lived in South Butler more than forty years and died in May, 1891; James M. Jenkins, a local M. E. preacher, who died in 1879; Horatio Wood, for twenty years a mag- istrate and the father of Noah Wood, who died in 1860; Jason Under- hill, sr., who died in May, 1889; Deacon Isaac Miner, born in Connec- ticut in 1992, settled in Butler early, and died in Rose in December, 1891; Micajah Aldrich, father of Edward A. ; Chester Lee, son of Ly- man; Washington Ellinwood, son in-law of Lyman Lee; Joseph Brews- ter, who died in Clyde; Samuel Thompson, who had six children and died in 1852; Benjamin Kellogg, the grandfather of William B. ; Will- iam MeKoon, a typical pioneer and a local M. E. preacher, who was succeeded on the homestead by his son Jairus; Milton Town, who died in 1882, son of Silas; Samuel C. Pomeroy, who died in April, 1891; Seth Craw and John Dratt.
Ransom Loveless, sr., born in Johnstown, N. Y., in 1791, came to Butler in 1816, and died in August, 1864. His son, Ransom, jr., born here in 1818, succeeded to the homestead. Another son was Columbus Loveless. Nathaniel W. Tompkins became a merchant in Wolcott in 1835, but in 1811 settled on a farm in Butler. William HI. Peck was born in 1821, located in Galen in 1840, removed to Wolcott in 1883, and died there in October, 1886. Joel B. Bishop, the father of Benjamin, came to Rose about 1812, but later moved to Butler and died in March, 1575. aged seventy five. Abijah Upham, born in Saratoga county in
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1795, served in the War of 1812, and removed hither from Victory, N. Y., in 1825.' He died in February, 1881. John Kellogg, a native of Massachusetts, came to Butler when nine years old and died on the homestead May 25, 1876, aged seventy-four. Israel J. Clapp settled here in 1822 and died in December, 1892. He was born in Massachu- setts in June, 1796, served in the War of 1812, and was a carpenter by trade. He was prominent in town affairs. About 1829 Ransom Ward opened a store in a frame building a half mile west of West Butler, which was the first mercantile establishment in town, but it was soon discontinued.
Hon. Thomas Johnson, born in Saratoga county in 1814, came to Butler from Mexico, N. Y., when twenty years of age and lived with his unele, Thomas Armstrong. He was a school teacher, farmer, and town superintendent of schools, and served in the Assembly in 1856- 57. Two of his sons enlisted in the 9th Heavy Artillery. Mr. John- son died January 23, 1890.
Ezekiel Scott, previously mentioned, served six years in the Revolu- tionary War, and settled on the Scott homestead in this town in 1812. Upon the formation of the township he was one of a committee of three to choose an appropriate name, and Butler was selected in honor of Gen. William Butler, an officer of the Revolution. A. C. Scott, a grandson of Ezekiel, died February 28, 1890, in the house where he was born.
Jacob S. Viele purchased a farm of 300 acres near the center of the town in 1819 and erected at Butler Center a saw mill that did a large business for more than forty years. Abont the same time Simon S. Viele, a brother, located on a farm a mile or so north; his eldest son, Stephen S., a lawyer, was murdered at Seneca Falls in 1860.
In 1858 the town had 15,316 acres of improved land, real estate as- sessed at $580,494, personal property at $21, 850, 1, 126 male and 1,099 female inhabitants, 414 dwellings, 438 families, 360 freeholders, twelve school districts and 815 school children, 981 horses, 1,766 oxen and calves, 1,024 cows, 4,898 sheep, and 1, 647 swine. There were produced 16,462 bushels winter and 140, 631 bushels spring wheat, 2, 557 tons hay, 17, 906 bushels potatoes, 51,981 bushels apples, 97,511 pounds butter, 15, 112 pounds of cheese, and 1, 250 yards domestic cloth.
In 1890 the population was 1,836, or 425 less than in 1880, In 1893 the assessed value of land was $690, 620 (equalized $728, 949) ; village and mill property, $72, 119 (equalized $81,609); personal property, 55
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$4,820. Schedule of taxes, 1893: Contingent fund, $912.77; town poor, $150; roads and bridges, $100; school tax, $782.61; county tax, $1,842.48; State tax, $1,031.83; State insane tax, $266.19; dog tax, $54.50. Total tax levy, $5,733.69; rate per cent., .00710002. The town has two election districts and in 1880 polled 354 votes.
The first school in the town was taught in the summer of 1811 by Miss Mary Woodruff a little north of West Butler. In the winter fol- lowing Wheeler Wellman, son of Paul, taught the second school in a log school house standing between his father's house and that of Eli Wheeler's. The town now has ten school districts with a school house in each, which were taught in 1892-3 by twelve teachers and attended by 344 scholars. The school buildings and sites are valued at $5, 875; assessed value of districts, $572,290; publie money received from the State, $1,454.69; raised by local tax, $1,674.65. The principal of the South Butler Union school is Prof. H. A. Maynard.
During the War of the Rebellion the town of Butler sent 135 of her brave and loyal citizens to fight the nation's battles. All of them did valiant service. The organizations to which they belonged are detailed in a preceding chapter.
SOUTH BUTLER Village lies near the center of the extreme south part of the town of Savannah. Prior to 1839 it was known as Harrington's Corners. William Shedd opened a small store just over the line in Savannah about 1830 and was soon succeeded by Ornan King, who gave the place the name of King's Corners. Through his efforts a Sunday school and a Presbyterian Church were organized. Mr. King died in 1811, and wassucceeded by Sylvester Pomeroy, with whom his kinsman, Samuel C. Pomeroy, afterward United States Senator from Kansas, was associated. Sylvester Pomeroy died in 1845 and was followed by Henry K. Graves, who died January 1, 1879. Mr. Graves was super- visor several years and a member of Assembly. In 1839 O. H. Wheeler and Samuel B. Tucker built a saw mill, which finally passed to Brad- way & Crofoot, who also had a stave and shingle mill and a cooperage. Soon afterward a post-office was established under the name of South Butler and the name of the village was made to correspond. Dr. Clarendon Campbell was the first postmaster. Another founder of the place was John Smith, who opened streets, laid out and sold building lots, and erected a store, etc. In the latter he placed his son, who soon died, and was succeeded by Zebulon Ross, who was followed by John E. Hough. About 1850 a grist mill was removed hither from Pineville by
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