Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 22

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 22

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ham and Silas Howard settled in this town; Smith Bartlett came a little later.

In the towns of Concord and Sardinia arrivals were numerous dur- ing the two years preceding the war and a little hamlet gathered on the site of Springville. Here in 1811 settled Samuel Burgess, Harry Sears and others, and Benjamin Fay located at Townsend Hill. Either in that year or the succeeding one Rufus Eaton built a saw mill to accommodate the numerous newcomers in that vicinity. Over the town line into what is now Sardinia, settlers of 1811 and the beginning of 1812 were Horace Rider, Henry Godfrey, Randall Walker, Benja- min Wilson, Daniel Hall, Giles Briggs, John Cook, Henry Bowen, Smithfield Ballard, Francis Easton and Elihu Rice. The latter brought with him a small stock of goods which he placed in his log house for sale. Sumner Warren, a brother of William, also arrived in this town before the war and built a saw mill near the mouth of Mill Brook. There was still no road south of the Humphrey Settlement in Hol- land.

In 1811 James Ayer settled on the lake shore in the present town of Evans, where his son afterwards lived. At that time Gideon Dudley, David Corbin and Timothy Dustin had settled at or near the site of - Evans Center, while a Mr. Pike lived near the creek that bore his name. A man named Palmer was keeping a tavern near the mouth of Eighteen mile Creek. Hezekiah Dibble also arrived in this town be- fore the war and became a prominent citizen.

Among the settlers of the town of Holland during the period under consideration were Daniel Mckean, Harvey Colby, Samuel Miller, In- crease Richardson, Sanford Porter, Theophilus Baldwin and Joseph Cooper. The latter was father of Samuel Cooper, long a well known citizen, and settled in the Colby neighborhood, south of which there was no road as late as 1811. The first school in this town was opened in the Humphrey neighborhood just before the war. A few other set- tlers had located farther south on the high lands.

The town of Boston received accessions in the year 1811 in the per- sons of John Twining, Lemuel Parmeley and Dorastus and Edward Hatch. A Baptist church was organized in the town in that year over which Rev. Cyrus Andrews served as pastor during the succeeding ten years. A portion of his labor during that period was devoted to other near by sections. Rev. Clark Carr, also a Baptist, settled near the Concord line before the war and preached in that vicinity many years.

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In the preceding few chapters the gradual growth of settlement in various parts of Erie county down to near the outbreak of the war of 1812 has been traced quite minutely and, of course, with much greater detail than can be devoted to it in the later history of the several towns; but the personal history of a vast number of the families of the county will be found in the second volume of the work. A very large portion of those already named were worthy ancestors of the later families who contributed largely to the advancement and prosperity of the various immediate communities. They were men of sturdy type and mainly of high moral character. That they possessed energy, self- dependence, perseverance, and a share of that adventurous spirit that within a comparatively short period peopled a vast region and subdued the wilderness, need scarcely be stated. Had it been otherwise their names would not be found here among those of the pioneers of Erie county. Most of them arrived in their new forest homes almost with- out money and many of them with very few household articles, and those of a primitive character. These very conditions constituted one of the factors of inducement for them to migrate from older settled localities. Obstacles were encountered and overcome by them, both on the journey westward and within the few subsequent years, that would appall the present rising generation. While in Buffalo previous to the war there was a little opportunity for enjoyment of simple so- cial privileges, they were almost totally absent in the rural settle- ments for several years after the advent of the pioneers. Neighbors were distant from each other, journeys over the rude roads were tedious and time was precious for labor. Yet a spirit of general and active helpfulness and unselfishness was never failing. When sickness, death, or other trouble visited the settlers, as we know they did, then neigh- bors, however distant or burdened with home cares, sought out the afflicted and by their gentle deeds and practical sympathy relieved and cheered the unfortunate.

The wisdom of the pioneers was exhibited. in no other direction more strikingly than in their prompt opening of schools in every neigh- borhood as soon as there were children enough to make the employ- ment of a teacher a duty. These early schools were of the most primi- tive character and taught under the most discouraging circumstances; but they served to keep alive the true American desire for education until better conditions could be inaugurated. So, too, with religious observances ; meetings were held and prayers ascended in many in-

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stances where the vaulted heavens were the only church roof and the trees were its pillars. Under their adverse surroundings and in their isolation the pioneers trusted in God and worshiped Him whenever and wherever they could.

Money was scarce almost beyond present conception, and was diffi- cult to obtain even when there was the best of produce for sale. Ex- cellent wheat was, at times, worth so little that its value was absorbed in making a journey to Batavia or elsewhere to sell it. At one period it brought only twenty-five cents a bushel.' The only relief for the settlers in this respect was in the sale of crude potash, or " black salts," as it was called, which could be sold at the asheries, of which many were established in the county between 1808 and 1812. When potash was produced from the salts it could be transported east with so little expense compared to its value that a profit was realized, and a little money was brought into the county.

But all these adverse conditions served to stimulate a spirit of self- reliance and perseverance under difficulty among the scattered fam- ilies, which not only carried them through the years of privation, but bore fruit in later times in the development of a sturdy manhood among the forefathers, which was transmitted to a later generation.

Near the close of the period under consideration and not long before the tocsin of war rang out across the land, an event of great impor- tance took place in Erie county. The issue of the pioneer newspaper in any community not only constitutes in itself an especially notable occurrence, but it frequently signalizes local changes of more or less import, is always an indication of intelligent advancement, and the journal itself becomes at once a living and enduring record from which the reader in after years may learn of the march of progress in the distant past. Too frequently copies of early newspapers were con- sidered at the time of their publication as of little value and were thrown aside and lost. But Erie county is most fortunate in the pos- session of an almost complete file of its first newspaper. This fact assumes still more importance when it is remembered that all public records and many private papers having local value were destroyed at the burning of Buffalo in 1813. The loss of those documents, meager

" The fact has been recorded that a family in the north part of the county, in which the woman felt that she must have the tea to which she had always been accustomed, took eight bushels of wheat to a market and gave it for a pound of tea ; the price of the wheat was twenty- five cents a bushel and the tea was $2 a pound.

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though they may have been, doubles the historian's task and neces- sarily detracts from the character of his work covering a few years.

The first number of the Buffalo Gazette was issued on October 3, 1811, by Smith H. and Hezekiah Salisbury, brothers, the first named acting as editor of the paper. A file of the paper beginning with the second number is in possession of the Buffalo Young Men's Associa- tion. From its scanty record of current events and its advertisements a little additional light is reflected upon the story of the period, and especially upon the business condition of Buffalo village. The Gazette was then the only newspaper in Western New York with the exception of one at Batavia, which was established in 1807.' The Salisbury brothers also opened a bookstore, which was the only one in the State west of Canandaigua. In the early numbers of the Gazette Tallmadge & Mullett advertised for two or three journeymen tailors; John Tower for a journeyman shoemaker; Daniel Lewis for a "Taylor's" appren- tice and a journeyman; Stocking & Bull for three or four journeymen hatters; and Leech & Keep for two or three journeymen blacksmiths at their shop at Cold Spring, "two miles from the village of Buffalo."' On the 26th of March, 1812, the mechanics of the village organized the Mechanical Society, with Joseph Bull, president; Henry M. Camp- bell and John Mullett, vice-presidents; and Robert Keene, Asa Stan- ard, David Reese, Daniel Lewis and Samuel Edsall, a standing com- mittee. Edsall had a tannery and shoe shop, which he advertised in the Gazette as located " on the Black Rock road, near the village of Buffalo"; it really stood on what is now the corner of Niagara and Mohawk streets! Lyman Parsons was making earthenware at Cold Spring, and in the newspaper requested all who were "indebted to him and whose promises have become due, to make payment or fresh promises." Joseph Webb advertised his Black Rock brewery, which was probably the first venture of the kind in this vicinity.

In the issue of the Gazette of November 26, 1811, a meeting was called to consider the propriety of making application to the Legisla- ture for assistance to "effectually amend and improve the Public Road

1 Farther particulars of the Gazette and all other Erie county newspapers will be found in Chapter XXXII.

? These several advertisements for journeymen mechanics in a small frontier village bring to mind the marvelous changes that have taken place in the last half century in American methods of manufacturing. Under these changes the village shoemaker, the wagonmaker, the tailor, the tinsmith have almost disappeared, their wares being now turned out in enormous quantities from great factories emploving hundreds of men.

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from this village to the village of Batavia." Again, on the 3d of De- cember, a meeting was held to adopt measures for raising money by a lottery for the improvement of roads. This call was signed by Archi- bald S. Clarke, Abel M. Grosvenor, Joseph Landon, Frederick Miller, Timothy S. Hopkins and Asa Harris, of all of whom the reader has already learned something. The first number of the Gazette contains notice of 157 letters remaining in the Buffalo post-office; also in an early number is chronicled the arrival of the schooner Salina, Daniel Robbins, master, with a cargo of furs. Among the merchants adver- tising in the Gazette were Nathaniel Sill & Co., at Black Rock; Peter H. Colt, at the same place (who had whiskey, gin, buffalo robes and feathers); Townsend & Coit, Grosvenor & Heacock and M. Daley; the latter had on hand several panaceas for human ills. The name "New Amsterdam " was still in use to some extent, as appears from a notice that the "Ecclesiastical Society " would meet at "the school house in the village of New Amsterdam," and Grosvenor & Heacock advertised goods "at their store in New Amsterdam." There is no record of what this Ecclesiastical Society was, except as indicated by its name; and there was still no regular preaching anywhere in the county. The fare by vessel to Detroit was $12, as shown by a notice that the new sloop "Friends' Goodwill, of Black Rock," would take passengers on those terms.

In November, 1811, a call was published for a meeting of the Medical Society of Niagara County, signed by Asa Coltrin, secretary; he was then a partner with Dr. Cyrenius Chapin. Towards the last of Decem- ber Dr. Daniel Chapin also issued a notice of a meeting of the Medical Society of Niagara County. In the next number of the Gazette Dr. Cyrenius Chapin announced that Dr. Daniel's call was irregular and the Medical Society of Niagara County had already met in November and adjourned to February 1, 1812. But Dr. Daniel Chapin's society met and its founder made a speech reflecting severely on the other one, which he characterized as "a mutilated, ill-starred brat, scotched with the characteristic marks of its empirical accoucher." This was soon followed by an address from Dr. Cyrenius Chapin in which he de- nounced the other society as a humbug. Finally Dr. Daniel's society sued Dr. Cyrenius for taking a letter from the post-office addressed to the Medical Society of Niagara County, and the suit was decided just before the war in favor of the defendants. '

I See Chapter XXXI.

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On March 10, 1812, the Western Star Lodge of Free Masons pub- lished a notice of the approaching installation of its officers.

Down to the latter part of 1811 the name of the village had been spelled with a final "e," thus, Buffaloe. But it was changed at that time and the "e" dropped; the stimulus for the change was supplied chiefly by the Gazette, in which on December 29 was printed a satirical report of a fictitious lawsuit in the "Court of the People's Bench of Buffalo-e," wherein "Ety Mol O Gist was plaintiff and General Opin- ion was defendant." The reader of the present day is led to wonder how the final "e" ever came into use at all.1

On the 20th of March, 1812, the great town of Willink was much re- duced in size by the erection of the towns of Hamburg, Eden and Con- cord; Hamburg then contained the present towns of Hamburg and East Hamburg, and Eden included what are now the towns of Eden, Boston, Evans and part of Brant; Concord included the present towns of Con- cord, Sardinia, Collins and North Collins, leaving Willink about twelve miles square and including the present towns of Aurora, Wales, Hol- land and Colden. Willink and Hamburg, however, nominally ex- tended to the middle of the Buffalo Reservation, while Collins included that part of the Cattaraugus Reservation lying in Niagara county.

The first town meeting for Hamburg was held April 7, at the house of Jacob Wright. At that meeting it was voted that last year's super- visor (of Willink) should "discharge our poor debt" by paying the poormasters the sum of five dollars. At an adjourned meeting the next day it was voted that "hogs should remain as the statute law directs," (in allusion to methods of confining them on their owner's premises), and that $5 per head should be paid for wolves and panthers; the town was divided into twenty-one road districts. The records indicate that Eden was not organized until the next year, when Joseph Yaw was moder- ator of the meeting and the usual regulations were voted. Concord has lost her records by fire and its organization cannot, therefore, be given.

Meanwhile war rumors and sentiment were spreading, the Federalists strenuously opposing it, while the Democrats (or Republicans, as they were also called) favored retaliation upon Great Britain, even to the taking up of arms, for her unjust acts. Up to that time Niagara county had been decidedly Federal. Ebenezer Walden was member of assem-

1 For details of this alleged trial see Ketcham's Buffalo and the Senecas, Vol. II. pp. 259-60. 24

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bly for the district of Niagara, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. Jonas Williams, founder of Williamsville, was the candidate of the Democrats (Republicans) for Assembly. In April, 1812, Abel M. Grosve- nor, the Buffalo merchant, was nominated for the Assembly by the Federalists (who now assumed so far as they were able the title " Fed- eral Republicans"). The law passed by Congress in February calling for the organization of an army of 25,000 men, and a speech by Daniel D. Tompkins, governor of the State, to the Legislature, advising the State to prepare for the approaching conflict, caused intense excitement and anxiety. At the same meeting which nominated Mr. Grosvenor, a great committee was appointed, the members of which were doubt- less the most influential men in the county, and their names should, therefore, find a place here; they were as follows:

Town of Buffalo-Nathaniel Sill, Joshua Gillett. Benjamin Caryl, James Beard, Gilman Folsom, William B. Grant, John Russell,. Daniel Lewis, Rowland Cotton, David Reese, Elisha Ensign, S. H. Salisbury, Ransom Harmon, Frederick House, Guy J. Atkins, Samuel Lasuer, John Duer, John Watkins, R. Grosvenor Wheeler. Fred. Buck, Henry Anguish, Nehemiah Seeley, Henry Doney, Solomon Eldridge, Holden Allen.

Clarence-Henry Johnson, Asa Fields, James Powers, James S. Youngs, William Baker, Archibald Black, John Stranahan, Josiah Wheeler, G. Stranahan, Benjamin O. Bivins, John Peck, Jonathan Barrett.

Willink-Abel Fuller, Ebenezer Holmes, John McKeen, Sanford G. Colvin, Levi Blake, Ephraim Woodruff, Daniel Haskell, Samuel Merriam, Dr. John Watson, John Gaylord, jr.

Hamburg-Seth Abbott, Joseph Browning, William Coltrin, Ebenezer Goodrich. Cotton Fletcher, John Green, Samuel Abbott, Benjamin Enos, Pardon Pierce.

Eden-Charles Johnson, Luther Hibbard, Dorastus Hatch, Dr. John March, Job Palmer, Samuel Tubbs.

Concord-Joseph Hanchett, Solomon Fields, Samuel Cooper, Stephen Lapham, Gideon Lapham, Gideon Parsons, William S. Sweet.

It is pertinent to this topic to here give the names of a similar com- mittee of Democrats, although they were not appointed until a little later date :

Buffalo-Nathaniel Henshaw, Ebenezer Johnson, Pliny A. Field, William Best, Louis Le Couteulx, John Sample.

Clarence-Otis R. Hopkins, Samuel Hill, jr., Daniel Rawson, James Baldwin, Daniel MeCleary, Oliver Standard, Moses Fenno.

Hamburg-David Eddy, Richard Smith, Samuel Hawkins, Giles Sage, William Warriner, Joseph Albert, Zenas Smith.

Willink-Elias Osborn, Israel Phelps, jr., Daniel Thurston, jr., William Warren, James M. Stevens, John Carpenter, Joshua Henshaw.

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Eden-Christopher Stone, Benjamin Tubbs, Gideon Dudley, Amos Smith, Joseph Thorn.

Concord-Rufus Eaton. Frederick Richmond, Allen King, Benjamin Gardner, Isaac Knox.

These were general committees to have charge of county affairs re- lating to war, politics, etc.

Election was held on the 12th of May, and the result in this county, and probably elsewhere, had evidently made a decided change in the relative strength of the opposing political parties. The vote for mem- ber of assembly indicates both the Democratic gains, and the com- parative population in the several towns:

Grosvenor, the Federal candidate, received from Willink, 71 votes; Hamburg, 47; Eden, 41; Concord, 33; Clarence, 72; Buffalo, 123; total, 387.

Williams, Republican, received from Willink, 114: Hamburg, 110; Eden, 46; Con- cord, 50; Clarence, 177; Buffalo, 112; total, 609. Archibald S. Clarke was elected to the State Senate, the first citizen of Erie county to hold that office, as he had already been the first assemblyman and first surrogate.

Early in May a lieutenant of the United States army advertised for recruits in Buffalo, offering bounties that were liberal for those times, although they included only $16 in cash. In Lieut. - Col. Asa Chap- man's militia regiment Dr. Ebenezer Johnson was appointed surgeon's mate, a post identical with what is now termed assistant-surgeon; Abiel Gardner and Ezekiel Sheldon, lieutenants; Oziel Smith, pay- master; John Hershey and Samuel Edsall, ensigns.

In Lieut .- Col. William Warren's regiment, Adoniram Eldridge, Charles Johnson, John Coon, Daniel Haskell, Benjamin Gardner and John Russell were appointed captains; Innis B. Palmer, Isaac Phelps, Timothy Fuller, Benjamin I. Clough, Gideon Person, jr., Frederick Richmond and Varnum Kenyon, lieutenants; William Warriner, sur- geon; Stephen Kinney, paymaster; Elihu Rice, Samuel Cochrane, Benjamin Douglass, Lyman Blackmar and Oliver Blezeo, ensigns. A considerable number of these will be recognized as settlers within the present limits of Erie county. The war was at hand.

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CHAPTER XIV.

WAR OF 1812.

Incentives to the Conflict -- President Madison's Attitude-Congress Assembled -- Elements of Opposition to the War-Its Effects upon Commercial Affairs-The Local Military Situation-Dismay on the Frontier -- British Superiority on the Lakes -An Indian Declaration of War-Plan of Campaign of 1812-Hull's Failure at De- troit-General Harrison's Operations in the :West-Sackett's Harbor Attacked- Captain Chauncey to Build a Fleet for Lake Ontario-Attack on Kingston- Arrival of General Van Rensselaer at Fort Niagara-Plans to Invade Canada-Lieutenant Elliott's Brilliant Naval Exploit-Battle of Queenston-Surrender of the Americans -General Smyth and his Proclamations-Concentration of Troops at Buffalo -- Smyth's Abortive Operations-Invasion of Canada Indefinitely Postponed-A Riot in Buffalo-Naval Operations-An Epidemic.

It is not within the province of this work to enter into the details of the causes that led Congress to declare war against Great Britain in 1812; the incentives to this step were many and aggravating.

Great Britain was deeply humiliated when she signed the treaty of Paris, and grudgingly granted limited and indefinite rights to the new republic. Her rulers neither understood nor appreciated the spirit that moved the colonists to rebel and fight for self-government and in- dependence. The fact that for thirteen years she occupied military posts within United States territory is fair evidence of her reluctance to be just, and to accord to her conquerors the right they had gained but were really too weak to enforce.

Jay's treaty of 1794, while a long step on the road to justice, was in reality but an execution of the treaty of 1783; and though it did not secure to the United States all that was her right, it had the effect of strengthening the foundations of the government.

Early in the century, while Napoleon was threatening at the gates of England and England was aiding her allies against France, the gov- ernment of Great Britain issued orders, and France published decrees, suspending commerce in neutral vessels with the ports of these bellig. erents. American sailors were seized on American vessels by British men-of-war, and impressed into the naval service of that country, the

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right to do this being one of England's unfounded claims. These and other high-handed acts of injustice led Congress in October, 1807, as an act of retaliation, to place an embargo upon all vessels in United States harbors. This extreme measure may have been necessary, but it was ruinous to the ocean commerce of the United States and resulted in extreme political division. The Democratic party as a whole sup- ported the embargo, while the Federalists strenuously opposed it. It was clear to the more conservative statesmen of the country that how- ever effectual the embargo might prove as a method of retaliation against England and France, it was a measure that would bring noth- ing but commercial ruin to the United States.

"The outside pressure upon the administration against the embargo act became too great for resistance, and on the 1st of March, 1809, it was repealed."' But as a compromise to the contending powers of Europe, a non intercourse act was passed by Congress, by the terms of which the ports of the United States were opened to the commerce of the world, excepting that of England and France. This act met with even more denunciation by the opposition to the administration than did the embargo act.

On the 4th of March, 1809, James Madison was inaugurated presi- dent. In addition to her contentions with the foreign powers, the United States at this time was on the brink of an Indian conflict in the West, where Tecumseh was creating a disturbance that promised to generate a war of savage fierceness. The battle of Tippecanoe, fought November 7, 1811, by General Harrison against the Indians led by Tecumseh, was the culmination of the difficulties with the western tribes; and although a victory for Harrison, it gave only tem- porary relief to the settlers, while tending to ally the Indians with the British interests.

President Madison called Congress together November 4, 1811, a month earlier than the customary time, and a heated session followed. The Democrats who favored war were overwhelmingly in the majority in Congress, and the hesitation shown by the president, induced doubt- less by the influence of leading members of his cabinet, only inflamed the impatience and spurred the energy of the war party. Threats and ridicule from his supporters at length brought Mr. Madison to consent to a declaration of war, in which he sought to avoid the appearance of

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 22

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017