USA > New York > Wayne County > Military history of Wayne County, N.Y. : the County in the Civil War > Part 8
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Feller met Phelps at the Indian treaty, and he became a land speculator in Western New York. He went from Irondequoit direct to Canandaigua.
The history of that log hut as I heard it from the early settlers, varies but little from Ketchum's, it was about 12 by 18, without chimney, with split logs for a floor ; it was used for many years by trappers, hunter and boatmen, as a camp- ing place. I have heard its history from a dozen different pioneers. Peeled basswood logs in the woods would not have lasted from the French war.
JAMES REEVES.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
This takes away something of the romance from the old traditional story. This account dates the building of the Block House only back to 1789, the year the Stansells and Featherlys were making the first settlement of the county, at Lyons. If it was gone in 1805, it only stood fifteen or sixteen years. Yet, in this view even the Block House of Clyde, must remain an item of great interest in the early history. According to this account it belonged to that period subsequent to the Revolution, and prior to the Jay treaty, when as yet the British had not surrendered the forts at Oswego or Niagara, and when Indian alarms still ren- dered it a very wise precaution to have an actual fort for protection.
The tradition at Clyde, coming direct from John King, is very strong in favor of an older building than Ketchum's History describes. Mr. Redfield, Mr. Snedaker and others are very positive in their recollections of the description given them by men who had seen it. Had it been so recent a structure (only five or six years old at the time of John King's rambles), it could hardly have been handed down as so old a building. Without being able to settle the question, the author ventures to suggest that if John Fellows repaired and occupied a log house already erected instead of building one, the several accounts would be virtually harmonized.
It is hardly possible for a historical writer to canvass a county in search of facts without hearing at least one story of money-digging ; and here it is for Wayne County, as told in a recent newspaper article :
" A. S. Field and David Tuttle, of Clyde, two of the oldest pioneers of that village, relate a historical episode connected with the noted Block House of Revolutionary fame, that once graced that locality. It appears that in 1820, or thereabouts, a rumor was circulated in Clyde, then a small settlement, that before the destruction of the Block House, a large sum of money had been secreted either beneath or in close prox- imity to the building. Several of the then prominent citizens of Clyde, wishing to improve the state of their finances, resolved to dig for the hidden treasure, and selecting the midnight hour for such labor, they commenced operations. Night after night had thus passed, when in the midst of the enthusiastic prosecution of the enterprise, an ugly looking
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
object appeared to them, dressed in white, and of a seeming unearthly origin. Then came an exemplification of bravery, as one of the party rushed up to the apparition with an uplifted axe, and exclaimed : ' Be ye man or devil, I'm after you !' The ghost (if such he was) made one bound and sought safer quarters in some underbrush near by, after which time he was no more seen. Many people believed that the whole party were more or less frightened, inasmuch as the money-digging mania ceased from that hour."
HURON.
Roswell Green was a Revolutionary soldier, settled in Huron, and lived to the extraordinary age of one hundred and six years. He died May 30, 1862, and is buried in the Huron Cemetery .*
Isaac Richardson, Sr., was a soldier of the Revolution. He died September 3, 1818, and is buried in the Huron Cemetery.
Buckley Johnson was a Captain in the Revolutionary war, and resided in Huron with his son-in-law, Benjamin Parker. Buried in . Huron Cemetery.+
Gad Hall is recorded on the books of Keeslar Post, as a Revolutionary soldier, and they annually decorate his grave in Huron Cemetery. We have no other record. Isaac Richardson, born in Connecticut in March, 1752; a sol- dier of the Revolution ; moved from Springfield, Mass., to Cherry Valley, Otsego county, after the war ; died in Huron, and buried in Huron Cemetery. He had a family of thirteen children, only one of whom now sur- vives, Mrs. Horace Demmon, of Huron, aged eighty years.
LYONS.
Daniel Dorsey, the early pioneer at Lyons in 1801, was from Maryland, and had held a Captain's commission in the Maryland line during the war of the Revolution. We have no further information as to his military services. He died in 1823, at the age of sixty-five.
* In a letter to the Democratic Press, under date of October 22, 1860, George W. Paddock, having visited Roswell Green, then living in Huron, at the age of one hundred and four years and six months, wrote :
" When I expressed my surprise at finding one so advanced in age, he said he was not so old as his grandmother was who lived to be one hundred and twenty, and he feared he would have to sit here as long. He lives with his grandchildren. I think that he is comfortably provided for."
+ Levi Paddock, of Clyde, writes of him : " He used to have a place on the platform at Fourth-of-July celebrations, from 1840 to 1850. He was much respected by his townsmen. I took lessons of him in military drill."
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Benjamin Avery, born in 1758, in Connecticut, enlisted in Con- tinental army ; served in the Canada expedition under Montgomery ; defended the military stores of Danbury ; was in action at Fort Mifflin ; wintered at Valley Forge; served three years under General Wayne; was in the battles of Monmouth and Stony Point; was with the picked troops assigned to Gen. Lafayette ; first enlist- ment for two years; second enlistment "for the war,". and served through ; paid off in Continental money, worth two and a sixpence to the pound ; settled in Lyons in 1824, and died in 1843.
Abraham Romeyn was a Revolutionary soldier, and is buried in Lyons Rural cemetery.
Eli Hecox was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and is buried in Lyons Rural cemetery.
Evert Van Wickle was a soldier of the Revolution. He was prominent in the early settlement of Lyons, and held various public offices.
Amos Gilbert was born in the town of Brookfield, Mass .. in the year 1757. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, being stationed at West Point during the last three years of the war. He was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. After the war, at general trainings in Mont- gomery county, he used to be ordered out in front of the regiment to act as fugleman, (Webster defines a fugle- man -"A soldier especially expert and well drilled, who takes his place in front of a military company as an example or model to the others in their exercises.") He moved to Lyons, N. Y., in the year 1806. He had six sons, John, David, Solomon, Amos, Jacob and William. John, David and Solomon were members of Capt. Hull's company, who went into the army in the war of 1812, and Solomon died while in the service near Buffalo, and was buried near the fort. Amos Gilbert resided in Lyons almost continuously from 1806 until 1831, when he re- moved to the town of Sodus, where he died and was buried in 1832. His widow survived him six or eight years, and died in the town of Collins, Erie county, N. Y.
Elijah Whiting, a Revolutionary soldier is buried at Lyons South Cemetery - (Grandfather of Elijah Ennis, of Palmyra.) Was in General Washington's army in New York. Died about 1853, aged about ninety-eight.
THE FIRST SETTLERS OF WAYNE COUNTY.
We give the following extended notice of Nicholas Stan- sell, whose name appears in the Arcadia list :
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Nicholas Stansell was born September II, 1755, in Spring- field, Massachusetts. In early childhood his father moved to the Mohawk valley, and there raised a large family among the stirring scenes that made the history of that section so full of interest. The powerful confederacy of Indians known as the six nations, had long controlled central New York.
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While they were carrying their arms west and south successfully, the white man was slowly advancing from the east. The Indians irritated and stung to the last degree would often turn and fall upon the white settlements with swift and sudden vengeance. Few families were called to witness more of these terrible scenes than the Stansells. They were a large, muscular race of men, the dread of the Indians, who sought every opportunity to destroy them. On one occasion, they had kept safely within the enclosures of a fort for a long time. Harvest was drawing near. The old man said to his five sons, one day : " Although it may be at the risk of our lives, we must try and secure our hay." The sons obeyed his orders and worked until near the close of the day. Nicholas was taken ill and was the first to retire. Looking back he saw an Indian crouching along half bent, with a rifle in his hand. He immediately shouted the alarm, when all commenced to run. Instantly they received a shower of bullets, followed by a terrific whoop, and the chase began. Two brothers escaped and reached the fort. One was shot and fell dead while crossing the fence ; one was captured and taken off, and Nicholas escaped by concealing himself among some high weeds. When the news reached the fort a posse of soldiers was sent to their relief. The prisoner was recaptured, but not until he had been badly mutilated by marking his ears.
Sullivan's expedition of 1779, put an end to this state of things. The days of peace had come, but the Mohawk valley did not satisfy the ambition of Nicholas Stansell. He determined to go to the Genesee Country, as all Western New York was then called. In the spring of 1789, Nicholas Stansell and John Featherly built a boat on the Mohawk river, took their families on board, (twelve persons in all,) and started up stream. They took the usual route, as indeed
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
there was no other possible ; up the Mohawk; over the carrying place to Wood's creek, and down that stream ; through Oneida Lake and down its outlet to Three River Point; up the Seneca to the mouth of Clyde river; up the Clyde to Lyons. It was a long and difficult route, and they were often delayed by the necessity of cutting their way through log-rifts. They located themselves on the present Dunn farm, their log-house being erected on the site of the
present residence. THEY WERE THE PIONEERS - THE FOUNDERS OF WAYNE COUNTY. There is no record of any settler who located earlier than they did. At first they had no neighbors nearer than Phelps-and not many there. In a year or so, they may have counted John Swift, of Pal- myra, a neighbor; and in another year the Long Island Colony of East Palmyra.
In 1797, Mr. Stansell relinquished his claim to this land, moved further south and settled on what is now the Jeffer- son Sparks' farm. There he built the first framed barn ever raised in Lyons. In 1812, he conveyed this land to Abram Clark, and moved six miles west into what afterwards became the town of Arcadia. He died December 11, 1819, greatly beloved and respected. He and his family were early identified with the Methodist church in Lyons, and his name appears at its first organization as one of the first trustees. He is buried in Newark Cemetery
His children were Betsey, born September 2, 1779 ; John, March 29, 1781 ; William, October 19, 1782 ; Nicholas, Sep- tember 26, 1784; Henry, May 15, 1786; Isaac, November 21, 1787 ; Mary, September 9, 1789 ; Samuel, December 28, 1795; George, February 13, 1800; and Margaret, June 6, 1803.
George, the youngest son, lived until the present year. He died February 10, 1883, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Crandall, and was buried on the 13th, his eighty-third birthday. The following is an extract from a memorandum written by himself in 1880:
"I was born in the town of Lyons and lived there till 18II. Then my father moved to what is now called East Newark. Then we went to chopping and clearing up another farm. The first year we cleared ten acres and sowed it to wheat; the next year not quite so much. We
7
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
had to build two log-houses. It was all a wilderness then where the two villages now stand, except one house, called the Jay house. In 1814, we put up a mill-dam and a saw- mill on what in those days was called Trout Run. In 1814, my oldest brother and a brother-in-law enlisted into the army for a year and went to Black Rock. My brother died before his time was out; the other man returned. On the first day of November, 1819, I was married, and on the 11th of December, my father died and left me to paddle my own canoe, and I paddled it forty-five years with my companion, and brought up a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters."
Of the original family of brothers, William was a mill- wright, and settled at Lockville, and died there. John died in the army in 1814. Henry and Isaac settled in Michigan. Nicholas, Jr., was killed by accident, while skidding or hauling logs.
Mr. John Featherly, mentioned as settling with Mr. Stan- sell, in later years moved to Rose, and obtained a pension as already noticed.
MARION.
Obadiah Archer, (grandfather of Hon. Ornon Archer,*) was born in Hebron, Conn., February 15, 1760 ; served two or three years in the Revolutionary war; married, in 1785, Elizabeth Fitch, of Lebanon, Conn., and settled in Granville, Washington county ; removed to Marion in 1835 ; died April 8, 1852, and is buried in the Marion Cemetery. The widow lived to be exactly of the same age. She was four months his senior, and died four months earlier to a day.
* The author of this volume was a student at Walworth Academy in the fall of 1846, and during the following winter. A lyceum called into debate the best talent of the village and vicinity. The "Abolitionists" pressed the " Whigs " hard on the inconsistency of supporting the Mexican war, and yet denouncing its origin. Rev. Mr. Fox, a sharp logician, denounced the "right- or-wrong" theory, one night, with especial vehemence. In reply, Ornon Archer, among other things, said in a low yet clear voice that thrilled the audience :
" I was taught to love my country at the knees of a venerable grandsire who told me stories of the Revolution, in which he was a soldier. The lessons then acquired linger with me still, and whenever the flag of my country is in danger, it shall ever have my unwavering support, no matter how that danger arose."
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Nathan Rundell, of Marion, now only forty-eight years of age, is a son of a Revolutionary soldier, Samuel Run- dell, of Fairfield, Conn., who died in Columbia in 1850, aged eighty-four. Nathan Rundell is probably the youngest man now living in the county who can claim to be the son of a Revolutionary soldier.
MACEDON.
Benjamin Smith was a Revolutionary soldier ; came from New Jersey and resided in Macedon several years. He removed to Michigan about 1835, and died at the great age of one hundred and fourteen years.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died in Macedon, March 24, 1837, Paul Sheffield, aged seventy-five years, a Revolutionary soldier, formerly of Groton, Conn.
ONTARIO.
John Mack was an early settler in Ontario, grandfather of J. B. Mack. He served in the war of the Revolution. He came to Ontario from Cayuga county. He died June 14, 1852, at the age of ninety-six years, and was buried in Ontario Cemetery. He was a native of Wawarsing, Ulster county, and removed to Cayuga county about 1790 ; afterwards, in 1824, to Ontario, and resided with his son, Benjamin Mack, on the farm now occupied by J. B. Mack.
William Huston was born in Sterling, Connecticut, Decem- ber 29, 1756. He joined the Continental army, Decem- ber 29, 1776, before Boston, and served nine months, for which in his old age he drew a pension of $96 a year. He also belonged to the State militia for three years. His wife was Elizabeth Campbell, of Sterling, with whom he lived nearly seventy years. In 1828, he settled in Ontario, a mile and a half south of Lake Side. He moved to Henrietta, Monroe county, in 1832, and died November 1I, 1849, aged ninety-two. His wife died sixteen months later, aged ninety-four.
Willard Church, (already mentioned,) was about seventy years of age at the time of his death. He was buried in the Willard Davis cemetery. When captured, as elsewhere related, and required to pilot the British fleet to Pultneyville, it is related that he was very resolute and spunky. He told the British officers that we were building a gun-boat at Sackett's Harbor, that would knock the British vessels into splinters. When set shore and ordered not to fight against the British, he told them " he would fight as soon as he could get a gun."
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
PALMYRA.
Lemuel Spear, Sr., was a Revolutionary soldier from Cum- mington, Mass. With his family he reached Palmyra, in February, 1790, and settled a mile above Palmyra village, where he had bought land of Isaac Hathaway, at twenty cents an acre.
In Palmyra cemetery are the following inscriptions :
" In memory of Amos Miner, died November 11, 1836, aged 84 years. He was a brave soldier of the Revolution. He was at the Battle of Bunker Hill, also at the surrender of Burgoyne. He was always at his post, and was one of those brave souls that could not be conquered."
" William Jackway died July 28, 1848, in his 90th year. Nancy, his wife, died July 11, 1849, in her 81st year. They participated in Revolutionary scenes and trials."
" In memory of Capt. John Hurlburt, born in Groton, Conn., Feb. 21, 1760, died Jan. 10, 1815. He was a patriot of 1776, and was engaged at Trenton and Princeton."
From the Wayne Sentinel.
" In this village yesterday morning (July 21, 1831,) dicd the venerable Peleg Holmes, an early settler in this vicinity aged seventy-six years. Mr. Holmes was a volunteer in the Revolutionary struggle."
" Died at Palmyra village Aug. 1, 1832, Mr. Noadiah Hub- bard, a Revolutionary pensioner, aged eighty-two."
In the list prepared for the annual use of Garfield Post G. A. R. in the ceremonies of decoration there are given the following additional names as those of Revolutionary soldiers : Moses Powers, John Lillie.
Lemuel Durfee was born at Tiverton, R. I., April 18, 1759. He was the second of a family of twelve children, of whom ten settled near Palmyra. He served three years in the Revolutionary War, after which he settled in Cambridge, Washington county, from which place he removed to the vicinity of Palmyra, in 1798, and located on a farm about two miles north of Palmyra village, where he continued to reside until his death, August 8, 1829. He was buried in the family burial place on the farm now owned by his grandson Henry R. Durfee. He had a family of eleven children, of whom one, Par- don Durfee, was a captain in the War of 1812.
Jeremiah Perry, of East Palmyra was a Revolutionary soldier and is buried in the cemetery at East Palmyra.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
From the Palmyra Whig.
At the residence of his son in this village on Saturday, Dec. I, 1838, Deacon Samuel Handy, aged eighty-two years. He was a soldier of the Revolution, having enlisted for the war ; at the close of which and after having served his country faithfully seven years he was discharged.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died at his residence in Manchester, Ontario county, on the 17th of January, 1842, Benjamin Throop, Esq., in the eighty-eighth year of his age. He was born in Lebanon, Ct., where he was married in the month of May preceding the declaration of independence, to Rachel Brown. He subse- quently took part in the Revolutionary struggle.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died in this town Feb. 8, 1842, Shevah Houghton, a Revo- lutionary pensioner, in the eighty-eighth year of his age.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died in Palmyra, August 4, 1843, Mr. Israel Parshall, a soldier of the Revolution, aged eighty years.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died in Westford, Otsego county, on the 18th of Dec. 1843, James Brumfield, (father of James I. and Andrew D. Brumfield, of Palmyra,) aged ninety-four years, a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died in the town of Shelby, Orleans county, Dec. 18, 1839, Samuel R. Thompson, formerly a resident of Wayne county, in the ninetieth year of his age. Mr. T. was a soldier of the Revolution and remained until his death a true patriot and worthy citizen.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died in this village on the 15th of September, 1841, Mr. Joseph McMichael, aged eighty-six years. He was a true patriot, having learned his earliest lessons of republicanism and love of country from General Washington, with whom he served as a waiter in the Revolution. He was subse- quently in the employ of Gen. Arnold, was with him before the battle of Saratoga, until the consummation of his treason having rejected a proffered bribe to desert with him to the British fleet.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
General Swift should also be mentioned as a Revolu- tionary soldier. His record is given at length in another chapter.
Samuel Clark,* of Long Island, and also a settler at Wyoming, had served through two campaigns in the old French war of 1756-'60. In the Wyoming valley a hasty flight was made on horseback, to avoid the Indian massacre. Lest in the escape the little ones should be thrown off one side or the other, Susan (afterwards Mrs. Luther Sandford,) was tied to her brother, Oliver; Hannah, (afterwards Mrs. Gabriel Rogers,) was tied to her brother, Benjamin. The family came to East Palmyra in 1803 or 1804. Samuel Clark was drowned in the Canal soon after its opening, at Newark. He was then a strong, vigorous old man of eighty-six. He was buried on the Oliver Clark farm in East Palmyra.
Jedediah Foster, father of the pioneer Joel Foster, was also a soldier of 1756-'60. He died in East Palmyra at the age of ninety-six, about 1832 or 1833. He was buried in East Palmyra Cemetery.
James Reeves, who died May 19, 1838, aged seventy-seven years, had served in the Revolutionary war on board a vessel bearing letters of Marque. He was born at South- ampton, Long Island, October 13, 1762. His father was Dr. Stephen Reeves. The maiden name of his mother was Mary Howell. Long Island, or a large part of it, was under the control of the British during several years of the Revolu- tionary war. A letter written about that time says :
" The people are as a torch on fire at both ends. The Connecticut Whigs carry off their stock and produce, and the British punish them for letting them go."
He served on the ocean against the enemy, as shown in the following extracts from a diary kept by him :
" I felt myself a man and a good navigator, and with my
"The colony that settled East Palmyra has a history that ought to be writ- ten before the children of the pioneers have passed away. The personal history of the Colonists-their adventures on Long Island and at Wyoming; their long voyage to Palmyra ; their settlement in the Ganargua valley and the social and religious institutions which they founded, would constitute chapters of intense interest. James Reeves, of East Palmyra, is in possession of the original memorandum of purchase. It bears the signatures of William Hop- kins, Elias Reeves, Joel Foster, Abraham Foster, Luther Sanford.
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father's consent, I left home. My elder brother, Stephen, was in the battle of Long Island, and at that time a soldier. I left Long Island in a small open boat in the fall of 1782, in the evening, in company with James Sawyer, two years my senior, for New London, Conn., thirty miles across the Sound, taking the North Star for a guide."
He gave the British fleet at the north of Fisher's Island, the slip, though they fired a few distant shots at the little boat.
" We arrived the day after Arnold left with his fleet. The ruins of the city of New London were still smoking."
He shortly reached Nantucket and shipped on a privateer, the brig Digby, at seven dollars a month, and a small share of the prize money. The vessel carried six guns, nine pound calibre, a good supply of small arms, a crew of forty- six men, and a cargo of salt beef, corn, beans, etc. Their destination was the port of Havana, Cuba.
" Eight days out, we discovered a vessel on our larboard side bearing down upon us under British colors; from Ber- muda, carrying nine guns, and having the wind in her favor. She gained rapidly upon us and fired a shot across our bow. We hove to, got in readiness, and answered her with a broadside. The battle continued over an hour, when they hoisted sail and drew off. We did the same; our loss four men killed and nine wounded."
Soon after they were in the friendly port of Havana, un- loading the vessel, making repairs and getting ready for sea, protected by the Moro Castle.
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