USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 40
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burg restored. At some date prior to 1830 the East Hamburg post- office was again established and in that year Samuel S. Hawkins was postmaster. About the year 1825 William T. Smith became the first merchant at East Hamburg (formerly Potter's Corners), and a few years later Allen Potter bought the store and for nearly twenty years was the only tradesman in the slowly-growing place. By 1830 most of the log houses of the town had given place to modest frame structures and more than half of the area of the town was under cultivation. To this period is ascribed the origin of the celebrated Hamburg cheese. Hardwin Arnold, an early settler and a Quaker, kept a few cows and made excellent cheese, which he sold in Buffalo. His business in- creased and in 1830 he had a large dairy for that time and his product had acquired a high reputation. One or two other farmers took up the business and for a long time they had the monopoly; co-operation on the part of the dealer who handled the cheese in Buffalo and the really superior quality of the article soon created a demand which has never ceased. The cheese from this town took the premium over all others at the State fair in Buffalo in 1848.
Continuing notice of settlement and improvement in Wales from the date of the formation of the county, it should be stated that the sale to the Ogden Company in 1826 carried with it about three-fourths of the Indian lands in the town, a large part of which, however, went into the town of Marilla at a later date. A second post-office was established in this town at South Wales in 1826, the previous one being at Wood's Hollow. Several saw mills were built in this period in different parts of the town, but they disappeared with the clearing of the land. The building of the first hotel at what is now Wales Center, in 1816, gave the place the name of Hall's Hollow. Jonathan Hall kept a store there in 1830, and Hiram Cole built a store about that time which was long in use for trade purposes. The opening of the first store at Wales Hol- low by Orsamus Warren took place in 1823; James Wood was afterwards associated with him in the business, and Mr. Warren withdrew in 1827. This business, after other changes, passed to Stephen and Oliver Patch in 1832. Jesse Westcott built the first hotel in 1826 and kept it several years, and his brother, Reuben Westcott, built another in 1831. The first postmaster at South Wales was Nathan M. Mann, who was ap- pointed in 1826 and was succeeded in 1832 by David S. Warner. Gideon Barker established a tannery in 1819. Dr. Ira G. Watson was the first physician.
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In the year of the formation of the town of Evans, Dr. George Sweetland settled on the site of East Evans as the first physician in the town; he practiced his profession there more than half a century and was a prominent citizen. The settlement of Wright's Mills became known as Evans Center and there the principal part of the business of the town was transacted. A still smaller hamlet gathered farther north- east which was given the name of East Evans; here there was a post- office before 1830. Evans Center was on the main route from the east to the west; the turnpike in that vicinity was the only good road and travel over it was heavy; this condition was changed after the construc- tion of the railroad, as noticed farther on. A store was opened at East Evans in 1820 by R. Rowell, and there were small business interests there until the railroad changed the route of travel. In the town at large there is little worthy of attention during the period under con- sideration. It is an excellent agricultural region and in that respect made considerable progress, but not otherwise. The Baptist church at Evans Center was organized in 1830, and the Congregational church at North Evans in 1834. There were small business interests at these points. Angola, as a village, was not yet known.
The formation of the town of Evans March 16, 1821, sixteen days before the erection of Erie county, left the town of Eden with the area it has ever since had. This change took the post-office of the town with the new town, in consequence of which an office was opened in J. M. Welch's house at Eden Valley in 1822; this office was named Evans, the former office having the name Eden, but the names were soon af- terwards transposed, giving each town an office with the town title. Within a few years after 1820 small hamlets gathered in this town at Eden Center, Eden Valley and Clarksburg. Eden Center bore the name Hill's Corners until about 1822, in which year Col. Asa Warren settled there and built a large hotel, which he kept several years and then gave up the business on account of his temperance proclivities. Fillmore & Johnson opened a store there about 1824; several frame houses were built and the place began to be called Eden Corners; this title soon gave place to Eden Center. Lyman Pratt began mercantile trade there about this time and continued more than forty years, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Homer Parker. William Paxon and James H. Caskey were also early merchants. Dr. William Hill, who settled at Eden Center in 1814, died in 1828 at an advanced age. Pre- vious to his death Dr. William H. Pratt located there and remained 44
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nearly forty years. Godfrey Metz, a cooper, was the first German settler in the village. The Congregational society erected a church in the village in 1828, and the Methodists in 1830. There was little change in the other hamlets in the town during this period, excepting at Clarksburg (formerly called the Hollow), where Simeon Clark built a grist mill, a saw mill, and a shop for manufacturing spinning wheels; these passed to his son Allen, who also kept a small store.
Many settlers located in the town of Boston between 1820 and 1840. The hamlet now known as Boston Corners had its first post-office in 1820, with Erastus Torrey postmaster, under the name Torrey's Cor- ners; but in late years the business importance of the place has greatly decreased on account of the influence of railroads not reaching it. A Baptist church was erected in 1834, and in the same year a German Evangelical church was organized from the rapidly increasing settlers of that nationality. On the 15th of December, 1824, occurred the notorious tragedy of the murder of John Love in this town by the Thayers, which has already been described in these pages. Among the prominent settlers in the town of Boston not elsewhere mentioned were John Anthony and Henry Keller, Orrin and Jesse Lockwood, and others. Martin Keller, son of Henry, was a merchant and hotel keeper more than thirty-five years, and held the office of supervisor. Orrin Lockwood held the office of sheriff and Jesse was a magistrate and jus- tice of the sessions. This family has been prominent in the county, Dr. T. T. Lockwood, Hon. Stephen Lockwood and Hon. Daniel N. Lockwood being connected with it. On the hills in the east and west parts of the town many Germans settled at about the time under con- sideration and have become a useful part of the community.
As late as 1835 a large portion of the central, eastern and southern parts of the town of Colden were still unsold, settlements prior to that date having mostly been made in the Cazenove Creek valley. About the year named Samuel B. Love and Benjamin Maltby, of Colden, and Stephen Osborn, of Newstead, formed a partnership and purchased 15,000 acres of land from the Holland Company, covering the site of Glenwood and extending over the table land to the east. In 1838 the lands were subdivided and placed in market; during the ensuing twenty years most of the tract was sold and settled. Colden village (Buffum's Mills in early years), was made the location of the post-office in 1833. Richard Buffum was postmaster, and he kept a hotel from 1828 to 1836, when he was succeeded by S. B. Love; Albert G. Buffum kept the
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house later. E. P. Hatch opened the first small store about 1831 and Henry Smith and Albert G. Buffum established one in 1837. A tan- nery was built in Colden in 1833 by Arnold Holt and was sold in 1845 to George Balding. Dr. Philo P. Barber settled in Colden village in 1838 as the first resident physician, after having practiced two years in Glenwood. Benjamin Maltby built a saw mill at Glenwood in 1838 and in 1840 Samuel B. Love and Jonas Bridge built a tannery there, around which a small hamlet gathered. What is now the Presbyterian church at Glenwood was organized in 1829 as a Congregational society.
Samuel Butts, a native of Dartmouth, who has been mentioned as a settler in the town of Brant in 1820 and the builder of the first saw mill in 1822, was long a respected citizen of the town and father of five sons and five daughters. His mill was about the only one in the town, as there was a scarcity of water power. The formation of the town of Evans in March, 1821, took with it that part of the territory of Brant north of the original north line of the reservation, leaving the town with its present area. In 1825 Joseph Hubbard opened the first tavern in the town in the Shepherd neighborhood, east of the Center. Milton Morse was the first merchant, opening his small store at the Center in 1835. After the usual custom the name of the hamlet was for some time Morse's Corners. Mr. Morse was also the first postmaster. Prominent settlers of early years not yet mentioned were Jonathan Hascall, Nathaniel K. Smith, Otis Burgess, Stphen West, Moses White, Asa Wetherbee, John B. Steadwell, and others. The town of Brant was formed March 25, 1849, with its present boundaries. Dr. Luther Buxton settled in the town in 1836, previous to which time early physicians in Collins and Evans ministered to the sick. He was suc- ceeded by Dr. Joseph Andrus. During the period under consideration a Baptist society was organized and an attempt was made to build a church; but sufficient funds could not be raised and the uncompleted structure passed to the Methodists, who occupied it a few years, and then built a church of their own.
By the date of the formation of the town of Concord, March 16, 1821, the town was quite fully settled, as related in earlier chapters. It soon became one of the foremost towns of the county in point of character and quantity of agricultural products. Originally covered with heavy forest, entailing arduous labor to clear the land, the soil is excellent and well repays the industrious farmer. The business interests of the town nearly all center in Springville, but even this now thriving village
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was of small importance until later than 1840. Samuel Cochran kept a ho- tel there for twenty-five years, having erected a building in 1822. Elisha Mack, admitted to the bar in 1827, was postmaster at Springville from 1830 to about 1840. Charles C. Severance settled in the village about 1830 and became a prominent citizen and a successful attorney; he served as supervisor eight years, was two years in the Legislature and surro- gate of the county from 1860 to 1864. B. S. Wendover and Wells Brooks settled in the place about the same time with Mr. Severance and practiced law together. Mr. Brooks was elected to the Legislature in 1836 and served also as county clerk. Dr. Carlos Emmons settled at Springville in 1823 and practiced his profession more than half a cent- ury; he also occupied many public positions of honor. In early years there was a carding and fulling mill in the village, and about 1835 the mill, owned in recent years by B. Chafee, was built by Manly Colton. A foundry was erected about 1830 by a Mr. Barnett, and as early as 1840 Sherrill & Sears established a factory on the site of the Borden tannery; this was abandoned and another built by P. G. Eaton, which was transformed into a tannery. Springville was incorporated in 1834 and the first village election held May 6 of that year. The Presby- terian church was built in 1832 and subsequently sold to the Catholics. The Baptists built their church in 1834.
The first town meeting for the town of Collins was held on June 9, 1821, a few weeks after the formation of the county. There was then no post-office in the town, but in 1822 one was established at Taylor's Hollow, and a mail route opened through Eden to that point. The office was named Angola and Jacob Taylor was appointed postmaster, a position which he held until as late as 1840. This office was subse- quently abandoned and the name given to one in the town of Evans. The mail route ended there until 1824, when it was extended to Ald- rich's Mills (site of Gowanda), where a new post-office was opened with the name West Lodi; it was located on the south side of the creek. The hamlet that soon gathered here on both sides of the creek began to be known as Lodi. Within eight years after the establishment of the first post-office in the town, four others were opened in the old town of Collins: Collins, at Kerr's Corners (now North Collins); An- gola, at Taylor's Hollow; Collins Center, and Zoar. The last men- tioned office was in the southeast part of the town on Cattaraugus Creek, where a bridge and a mill had been built. Jehial Hill was postmaster between 1830 and 1840; the office was long ago abandoned.
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The old tavern at Collins Center, opened in 1816 by Nathan King, and subsequently closed, was reopened in 1830 by John Adams, who conducted it a few years and then transformed it into a store. An earlier store had been opened there by Samuel Lake, about 1827, and the next merchant was John C. Adams and another was Chauncey Bigelow. Dr. Israel Condon was the first physician, settling there about 1830; others were Dr. Alexander Bruce and Dr. W. A. Sibley. The post-office was established in 1826, with John C. Adams post- master; he was succeeded by Chauncey Bigelow, and he by Dr. Bruce.
The Aldrich families, who built the mills on the site of Gowanda, and from whom the place was called Aldrich's Mills, became embar- rassed in business and about 1823 Ralph Plumb bought their property and soon afterwards built and occupied a store on the north side of the creek, which was the first one in the village; it was Mr. Plumb, without doubt, who selected the name Lodi for the hamlet, and it was so called more than twenty years. About 1824 the post-office was opened, as before mentioned, with the name Lodi, but it was soon changed to West Lodi. When the village was incorporated, in 1847, the name Gowanda was given to it. H. N. Hooker opened a store on the north side about 1836 and continued it nearly twenty years. Mr. Plumb built a carding and fulling mill above the old grist mill before 1840, and in 1835 James Lock established a foundry which he called the Lodi furnace; it passed to Ashbel R. Sellew in 1841, who en- larged it and manufactured stoves and plows. The first hotel in the village within this town was the Eagle tavern, built in 1824 by a Mr. Vosburg. Later business interests of the town are properly noticed in the Gazetteer. The Presbyterian society in Gowanda was organized and its edifice built as early as 1826; the building was burned in 1843 and the present one erected. Methodists were early laboring in this field and in 1834 a church was built about three-fourths of a mile west of the Center; in 1840 it was moved to the Center and has since been enlarged and improved.
The town of North Collins was not formed until 1852, at which time it was quite fully settled, but business interests, outside of agriculture, were then and still are unimportant. In about 1822, or 1823, a mail route was opened from Hamburg southward and a post-office with the name Collins was established at what is now the village of North Col- lins. There was a tavern at that point and soon afterward Chester Rose opened a small store in the bar-room of the hotel. The hamlet
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that gathered there was long known as Rose's Corners and was the only business center in the town. With a change of merchants the name of the place became Kerr's Corners; the firm of storekeepers was now John and Alexander Kerr. In 1829 John Sherman and his brother opened a store and remained in company until 1833, when the latter withdrew. Most of the early settlers in the western part of the town belonged to the Society of Friends, and they built a meeting house about 1825. In 1828 a faction called the Hicksites withdrew from the society and built their own church. Between 1835 and 1840 a con- siderable number of German families settled on the high lands of the town and constitute a useful citizenship. This town is one that be- came noted in early years for the excellence of its dairy products and in later times has produced large quantities of excellent cheese.
In the winter of 1823-4 the first post office was established in the town of Lancaster, before mentioned as bearing the name Cayuga Creek; it was located a little south of the site of the village of Lancas- ter, and Thomas Gross was the first postmaster. Population now in- creased more rapidly in the town. A line of stages was established about 1827, with the name of the Pioneer Line, which passed through this town from Buffalo, and James Clark, who had been keeping a small tavern a little west of the Johnson school house, enlarged it and gave it the name of the stage line-Pioneer House. After the Ogden Com- pany's purchase the southern part of Lancaster, which was included in it, was rapidly settled, and about 1830 a large accession of Germans came in and they soon built a Lutheran church. Upon the formation of the town in 1833, the name of the post-office of Cayuga Creek was changed to Lancaster and has so remained.
The town of Cheektowaga is almost wholly settled by Germans, who principally came in after the Ogden Company's purchase, and few of the original pioneers of American birth remain. Among them, be- sides Alexander Hitchcock, the first supervisor, were Jesse Vaughan, Israel N. Ely, James N. Green, Elnathan Bennett, Amos Robinson, John B. Campbell, John A. Dole, John Hitchcock, Matthew Campbell, Nelson Warner, Samuel Warner, Caleb Coatsworth, Amos Richardson, James Hitchcock, Joseph Rowley, and many others. Among the Ger- man names found in early years were Matthew Vandusen, John Moyer, Jacob Kraise, Henry Deckhart, Jacob Kolo, Michael Escherich, Will- iam Schunerman, Philip Greiner, and others.
In common with the other towns of the county, which were directly
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affected by the sale to the Ogden Company, Marilla received accessions soon after the company placed the land in the market. The purchase in this town included all of the present town east of what is called the Two-rod road and a tract a mile wide at the south end of the remain- ing portion. Soon after the land sale mentioned, two roads were laid out, running north and south through the newly-opened region. One extended north from the site of Porterville, across the site of Marilla village and northward into Alden. It was on the border of the Indian lands and it was expected that they would give half the land necessary for a road of the usual width, or that more land would soon be purchased by the authorities, and the road was therefore laid out two rods in width; it remained so for several years and was given its peculiar name on that account. The second highway ran parallel to this one and about a mile farther east. In the spring of 1827 Jesse Bartoo bought and settled on the farm owned in later years by Isaac M. Watson, in the south part of the town. This he soon sold and located on another farm near the hamlet of Porterville. In the same year George W. and Jeremiah Carpenter bought a tract of land on the Four-rod road, east of the site of Marilla village, and Jeremiah built a log house and occu- pied it in January, 1828.
Prominent settlers in the town of Marilla between 1830 and 1840 were Joseph Carpenter, and Ira and Justus B. Gates, who located on the site of Marilla village about 1830; the Gates brothers built a saw mill, which was probably the first one in the town. In 1830 Rodney Day, Cyrus Finney, John L. Chesbro and Horace Clark settled in the town. In 1832 Jesse Bartoo built a saw mill at what is now Porterville, and a little later erected a grist mill there; the place was long known as Bartoo's Mills. In the spring of 1833 Thomas Kelsey settled on the farm occupied in later years by his sister, and there soon afterward built a saw mill. In the same year there came into the town Joseph Flood, Archibald Porter, Samuel Stewart, Nathan White, John Brewer, Simeon Thomas and Ephraim Kelsey. To the west and southwest of Bartoo's Mills, Willard Hatch, Elias Hatch, Leonard Hatch, Fordyce Ball and others were early settlers, while on the Two rod road, south of Marilla village, there were Elias Mason, Daniel Nettleton, Ezra Clark, Dudley Dennison, John M. Bauder, Walter Markham, Zerah Parker and others. At the village the saw mill built by the Gates brothers passed to James Clark and later to Copeland Carpenter, and was afterwards made into a cheese factory. Joseph and Jeremiah
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Carpenter built the second mill in 1838, which they soon sold to James Chadderden.
Progress in the town of Amherst and village of Williamsville was slow for many years after the formation of Erie county. There was no change in the original area of the town until 1839, when the southern part was set off to Cheektowaga, leaving Amherst as at the present time. After the building of the dam across Tonawanda Creek near its mouth, about 1825, that stream overflowed its banks, rendering much of the adjacent land worthless for cultivation. In later years these tracts were greatly improved by drainage. The northern section of the town is largely settled by Germans, who have labored industriously to make that region return compensating crops. In Williamsville the old mill property, which had been idle for some time, was purchased in 1826 or 1827 by Oziel Smith, who improved it; he also built the Eagle House in 1832. The tannery was in operation in 1825 and long afterwards by John Hutchinson, and previous to 1825 water lime works were established, the first in Western New York, and lime was sup- plied for building the canal locks at Lockport; this business soon passed to Mr. Smith's possession. Henry Lehn kept a store there from 1825 to 1856, and his son John was a later merchant. John Reist built a grist mill about 1840, and in the same year the old stone school house was erected. About the year 1837 John Schenck opened a store at Snyderville and took Michael Snyder as partner. Several churches were organized in the town during the period under consideration. Among them was the Reformed Mennonites, organized in 1834, and who built a stone church the same year. The Catholics built a church in 1836 and the Baptist society was formed in 1840. At Eggertsville a small hamlet gathered and an Evangelical Lutheran society was formed in 1838 and a church built the same year.
The territory of the town of Elma was wholly included in the Buffalo Creek Reservation and consequently was not settled until compara- tively recent years; there was scarcely an indication of village growth until after 1850. The land sale of 1826, which has called for such fre- quent mention, brought the region into market and settlement soon followed. The sale included a strip in the south part of the town one mile wide by six miles long, which took the name of the Mile Strip, and there all the first settlements were made. Among them were Ly- man Chandler and Willard Fairbanks (1829-30), and Wilder Hatch, Hiram Pettingill, Taber Earl, Martin Taber and Luther Adams a little
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later. In 1828 Taber Earl built and opened a frame hotel on the road from Aurora to Buffalo, which soon passed to possession of Samuel Harris. Martin Taber built another frame hotel about 1830 opposite the one just mentioned, which was conducted many years. About 1832 a Mr. Estabrook built a saw mill, the first in the town, on the site of the later Bullis mill. In 1835 or 1836 Leonard Hatch, before men- tioned as a resident in the town of Marilla, and Robert Mckean, of Aurora, secured from Seneca White, an Indian chief, authority to build a saw mill on Buffalo Creek on the site of East Elma village. McKean transferred his interest to Joseph Riley and the mill was built in 1836. Nearly all of the business interests and the several hamlets in this town came into existence later than 1840. In 1840 Zebina Lee, with the consent of the Indians, took up his residence in a log cabin on a farm near the site of Spring Brook. In May, 1842, when the Indians gave up the remainder of the reservation to the Ogden Company, other parts of the town attracted settlers and were soon fully occupied, as de- scribed in the Gazetteer of Towns herein.
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