USA > New York > Genesee County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Genesee County, New York, v. 1 > Part 29
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I hear the echo of the woodman's stroke Resounding through the aisles of forest gray ; The crash of giant elm and sturdy oak, As they for towns and fertile fields make way.
I hear the stage horn's blast at close of day, The wheels that rumble o'er the rugged road, While feeding deer affrighted speed away, To tangled thickets of their will abode.
I hear the postman as he hastens here From forest op'nings, where the blue smoke curled, O'er winding pathways, desolate and drear, Where now are beaten highways of the world.
The breaking twigs in thicket dense I hear, Where stealthy panther creeps upon his prey ; The victim's struggle and his cries of fear, Which fainter grow, and die, at last, away.
I hear the whirring of the spinning wheel, The crackling of the logs on fireplace bright, The scythe stone grinding on the blade of steel, The owl complaining through the lonely night.
I hear the merriments of olden times, The apple-parings and the husking bees ; The laughter ringing out like merry chimes From rustic haunts beneath the forest trees.
" What mean these stones ?" They tell of honest men, Who lived in years now flown away, Who toiled for us with hammer, plow and pen, From rosy morn until the evening gray.
Their grandest castles, builded in the air, When they at noon sought rest in shady dell, Were not, though fancy painted, half so fair As these in which their children's children dwell.
We now enjoy the fruitage of their toil. From where the Genesee's bright waters flow, To where Niag'ra's billows in turmoil Plunge o'er the precipice to depths below.
All honor to those noble men who laid The firm foundation of our wealth and pride ! They rest to-day beneath the maple's shade, All andisturbed by traffic's surging tide.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
O, could they wake from slumber of the tomb, What changes would they note beneath these skies A wilderness transformed to Eden bloom.
With wonders everywhere to greet their eyes.
What though their forms have crumbled into dust, Their deeds shall shine resplendent as the sun ; What though their plowshares are consumed by rust, The work they wrought will never be undone.
All honor to that man who forward came In "times that tried men's souls," long years ago, And gave his wealth and pledged his spotless name, To drive forever from our shores the foe.
The memory of Morris long shall stand, With honor crowned beneath these sunny skies ; The sons and daughters of our favored land Will not forget his love and sacrifice.
'Twas he who wakened from their wild repose These hills and valleys, stretching far away, That now unfold their beauty like the rose That gives its dew drops to the kiss of Day.
When armies faltered for the lack of bread, When bugles ceased to call and drums to beat, He came with patriot heart and hasty tread, And laid his millons at his country's feet.
Freedom's immortal Declaration bears The name of Morris on its sacred page ; With changing years his record brighter wears, While granite crumbles at the touch of Age.
Then dedicate thuis structure to his name, While music sweet floats out upon the air. The walls shall to the earth speak forth his fame, And this fair valley shall be still more fair.
As sea shells sing forever of the sea, Bear them away from ocean where thou wilt. So shall ye sing, O walls, through years to be, Of great success on firm foundation built.
The storms and tempests of the rolling years Have beat thy granite walls by night and day, V'et thou hast stood, amid man's hopes and fears, To see the hands that made thee mould away. Thou shalt remain to bid this land rejoice, Till these fair youths who gaze upon thee now
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Shall speak thy praises with a trembling voice, When hoary hairs adorn each wrinkled brow.
The waves of progress which have swept away Thy brother landmarks, built of wood or stone, Broke at thy feet and vanished into spray, And left thee, gray old monarch, here-alone.
"A thing of beauty " thou hast always stood, "A thing of beauty " thou shalt ever stand, At first the glory of the lonely wood, But now the glory of the teeming land.
Sing on, O walls, though years their changes bring, Sing on while all the bells of progress chime, Sing of the past. of future glory sing. While thy quaint form defies the march of time!
The chorus which participated in the exercises of the day consisted of about a hundred voices under the direction of Prof. E. F. Crane, as follows:
Sopranos -- Mrs. E. Kirby Calkins, Mrs. I. E. Mecorney, Mrs. W. R. Durfee, Mrs. Frederick H. Fargo, Mrs. P. Welch, Mrs. Charles Scott, Mrs. Sarah Peck, Mrs. C. B. Peck, Mrs. Bessie Carpenter, Mrs. Kate Crosby, Mrs. Lounsbury, Mrs. B. H. Bean, Mrs. Preston Case, Mrs. George Crofoot, Mrs. Lord, and Misses Ella Hirsch, Ida Kellar, Miriam Kellar, Emily Carr, Mary A. Lewis, E. Alice Smith, Edna King, Bes- sie Kellar, Emily Hartshorn, Gracia Morse, Minnie Ingersol, Frankie Ingersol, Cornelia Brownell, Rachael McNab, Mertie McNab, Lizzie Shepard, Ada Mockford, E. Maud Baker, Edith M. Knapp, Mertie Knapp, Grace Perkins, Lillian Hatch, Jessie Wallace, Cora J. Gardner, Alice Parmelee, Ora Rapp, Mary Poultridge. Mary Maltby, Ruth Ben- jamin, H. A. Langdon, Adelle Clark, Eva Milward, E. F. Wood, Nellie Day.
Contraltos-Mrs. W. C. Gardiner, Mrs. E. E. Leavenworth, Mrs. F. A. Lewis, Mrs. Clara Mills, and Misses Lottie Rogers, Mary Milward, Helen M. Iveson, Cora W. Palmer, Gertrude Cardus, Bertha L. John- son, Agnes C. Rimmer, Hattie Hartshorn, Jean Brownell, Louise HI. Morse, Nellie McNair, Blanche Lewis, Fannie Stanley.
Tenors-J. T. Whitcomb, Frank E. Howe, Clarence Meserve, George Mower, A. H. Plock, S. P. Stephens, E. I. Nott, Edward Gamble, Charles B. Peck, F. C. Chadwick, F. A. Lewis.
Bassos-Henry Chiswell, Matthew Robinson, William Mills, E. II. Perry, William C. Gardiner, C. A. Snell, Rev. Thomas Cardus, Lucius
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A. Parmelee, John C. Squires, Frederick H. Fargo, E. E. Leaven- worth, George W. Pratt, Myron A. Pratt, Myron A. Williams, W. H. Kearns, John Skehan, Harry C. Norton, Thomas Trick, Wilbur Trick.
Lunch was served in the corridors of Hotel Richmond at one o'clock P. M. Among the guests who sat at the table were Robert Morris of Johnsonburg, Pa., a great-grandson of Robert Morris; S. Fisher Morris of Eckman, W. Va., also a great-grandson of the distinguished patriot ; Mrs. Morris, a descendant of the family of George Washington; Mr. and Mrs. John B. Church of Geneva, the latter being a descendant of Robert Morris; Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, secretary of State; Hon. John G. Carlisle, secretary of the treasury; Hon. Daniel S. Lamont, secretary of war; Hon. Wilson S. Bissell, postmaster-general; Hon. Hilary A. Herbert, secretary of the navy; Hon. Hoke Smith, secretary of the interior; Hon. Frank Jones, first assistant postmaster-general ; Hon. Thomas E. Benediet, public printer; and a number of other in- vited guests.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE VILLAGE OF BATAVIAA.
Hon Joseph Ellicott was the founder of Batavia. Late in the summer of 1691 he came from Philadelphia to Genesee to attend a convention for the purpose of entering upon a treaty with the Indians at that place, when the lands west of the Genesee river were purchased from them by Robert Morris. In September of that year the treaty was concluded, and after having made arrangements for the survey of the Holland Company's lands, Mr. Morris returned to Philadelphia in the following February. In May, 1798, he again started for the Genesee country, accompanied by his brother, Benjamin Ellicott, and Ebenezer Cary. He arrived at Buffalo in June.
April 18. 1698, James Brisbane and John Thompson left Philadelphia with a supply of stores for Mr. Ellicott and the men who were to sur- vey the Morris Purchase. May 15 they arrived at the mouth of the Genesee river, having traveled from Oswego in batteaux, via Lake Ontario. At this point Mr. Brisbane proceeded up the Genesee river
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JOSEPH ELLICOTT.
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THE VILLAGE OF BATAVIA.
to Williamsburgh, taking with him one batteau loaded with stores. Mr. Thompson proceeded westward on the lake until he reached the mouth of the Niagara river, whence he proceeded to Buffalo with the remainder of the stores. Mr. Brisbane remained at Williamsburgh, located between Mount Morris and Geneseo, until October, 1198, when he removed with the stores in his charge to what is now the village of Stafford. Headquarters were maintained here until January 2, 1800, when the entire party-consisting of Joseph and Benjamin Ellicott. Mr. Cary, Mr. Brisbane and James W. Stevens, started to return to Philadelphia. November 1 of that year Joseph Ellicott received the appointment of general agent for the great Holland Land Company. A few days afterward he returned to Buffalo, arriving there early in January, 1801. Late in that winter he removed to Ransom's Tavern, in what is now the town of Clarence, Erie county, where he opened an office for the disposal of the lands of the Holland Company.
At a very early date, probably before March, 1801, Mr. Ellicott de- termined to make the present site of Batavia the location for the land office of the company he represented, deeming it a fine location for the village he hoped to found.' As the fact became known, a number of persons visited the spot with a view to making it a place of residence. Among them was Abel Rowe, who arrived in March, 1801, and erected the first building in the village, on the lot directly opposite that selected for the site of the land office. The building, which was made of logs, was used for a tavern, and for some time was widely known as " Rowe's hotel." Soon afterward Stephen Russell erected a log house on the land subsequently occupied by the Genesee house.
It was the original intention of Mr. Ellicott to name the place Busti- ville or Bustia, in honor of Paul Busti, general agent of the Holland Land Company. He communicated the fact to Mr. Busti, but the latter entreated him to use another name, suggesting Ellicottstown ; but Mr. Ellicott refused to honor himself in this manner, and announced that the place should be known as Tonnewanta. But this name evi- dently did not satisfy the founder of this village, for a few months later
1 February 17. 191, writing fre: Ransomville to Richard M Stoddard at Canan laigna, Mr. Ellicott said : "I expect to make my establishment at or near the Bend of Tonnewania, and there let the Genesee Road fork. One to be directed to Bufala and the other to theenston, and place my office in the fork locking Eastward " The " fork " subsequently becaire the str forthe arsenal In a letter to Stephen Russel at Bloomfield written in May, Pol. hesays . "Drapet. shortly, to have all the Lots bail out at the Bien ! since I saw you love earle best to gas. pone them for the present, in order to attend to laying out a piece of Road before the trains became so thick as to prevent u- fever weing the country "
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
he began referring to it as Batavia, in accordance with a suggestion made by Mr. Busti. November :, 1801, Mr. Ellicott wrote to Mr. Busti, dating the letter " Batavia." 1
One of the first steps taken by Mr. Ellicott after deciding to make " the Bend " his headquarters was the erection of a dam in the creek and a saw mill. The latter was completed about the middle of Decem - ber, 1801, and kept in constant operation manufacturing planking and boards for the houses which were planned by the pioneers of Batavia."
As there was no pine timber nearer the mill than at a point six miles distant, in the present town of Elba, Mr. Ellicott engaged Isaac Sutherland to cut a road to the Pinery (Pine Hill), and the work was begun Jannary 18, 1802.
The first land office building was completed in December, 1801. It was a two-story log structure and was situated on the north side of West Main street, nearly opposite the site of the old land office now standing. Immediately after its completion this building was occu- pied by John Thompson and others in the employ of the company as a boarding place; but Mr. Ellicott did not remove his office from Ran- som's until the spring of 1802.
February 20, 1802, John Lamberton was engaged by Mr. Ellicott to cut a public road through the village of Batavia. Lamberton, assisted by a man named Mayo, began the work the day following, cutting a road one hundred feet wide and two miles long, its western terminus being in front of the arsenal. This roadway, the clearing of which cost twelve dollars per acre, or about two hundred and ninety dollars, was completed in the following May. It at once became, and always has remained, the principal thoroughfare in Batavia-Genesee, now Main, street. The land now occupied by this street was at that time covered with timber. Mr. Lambertou's contract called for the cutting away of this timber and preparing it for logging. The road was con- structed, probably, by the owners of lots fronting on the new street.
The necessity of a grist mill manifested itself at an carly date. The first allusion to the enterprise is contained in letters from Mr. Ellicott to Mr. Busti, dated at Batavia, February 28, 1802, and forwarded by his
1 In this letter Mr. Ellicott wrote: "In regard to the name of this place, it heretofore was called the Bend, from the diresistance of the Bend of the Creek, and is generally known by that name, but I have BaptizeIst by the Name of Batavia."
" This saw mill was torn down about 1822.
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brother, Benjamin Ellicott.' This mill was not completed until late in the year 1804.
When the Holland Land Company mapped out the village of Batavia in 1801, they divided it into about one hundred lots. These lots had a frontage of twenty rods cach on what is now Main street. They were marked from No. 1 up, the even numbers being on the north side of the street and the odd numbers on the south side. Each lot was in- tended to be one mile deep, and the extent of land covered in the original map was much larger than that of the present corporation. The western boundary line ran through the spot formerly occupied by the State arsenal. From what is now Jackson street to the court house the lots were subdivided, and in the original map did not contain as much land as the others. Main street was then called Batavia street west of the court house and Genesce street east of that point.
The first sale recorded on the old records, and doubtless the first sale of village property, was made January 1, 1802, the purchaser being Stephen Russell. The lot was bounded on the east by what is now State street, was of sufficient depth to comprise an area of eight and one-half acres, and was sold for five dollars per acre, or forty-two dol- lars and a half for the whole lot. A four-acre lot having a frontage on Main street was sold April 30, 1807, to James Cochran, also for five dollars per acre. The lot on what is now the west corner of Jackson and Main streets, extending west to a point about the centre of the old Holden store, was sold March 21, 1810, to Samuel Peck and Benjamin Blodgett, for one hundred and fifty dollars.
A contributor to the Batavia Spirit of the Times of April 29, 1882, thus describes the improvement of the sanitary condition of Batavia from 1800 to 1SS2:
The first settlers were prostrated with bilious, typhus, typhoid fevers, ague and fever, dysentery, jaundice, and all the aggravated disorders of the liver to such an extent that there were not enough of the well to take care of the sick. Sickness compelled many who had located here to leave. Many of the settlers from New England went to Wyoming county, where the surface of the country was hilly and the water was soft. Even in 1529 the ague and fever prevailed to such an extent that the usual fall militia drill and militia exercises were dispensed with. Malaria with its attendant diseases still prevailed to a very great extent and created the greater portion of the sickness of that time.
1 In this letter Mr. Ellicott, after alluding to certain business matters to be explained by hus brother, the writer says: "His object is also to procure such necessaries in the lower Country. as will be required for the completion of the Grist Mill erecting on account of the Campany. an ! also to procure if practicable, a good Mill- Wright to construct the running fear of sad mill. "
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The early physicians of that day were David MeCracken, Ephraim Brown, Winter Hewitt, John Cotes, Levant B. Cotes, Chester Bradford, John Z. Ross, Richard Dibble, Truman H. Woodruff, Charles E. Ford, who ranked high in their profession and were skilled in the treatment of the malarial diseases of the country. Their in- vestigation of the causes and their story of the character of the prevailing diseases and their conviction of the urgent necessity for their prevention made them strong advocates of surface drainage as the only effectual safeguard against sickness. This period closed with the year 1830, with some modification and abatement in the ma- lignant type of the disease.
The second term ranges from 1830 to 1860. During this time a marked change was produced, resulting from a thorough and more extensive system of surface drainage. The Tonawanda Railroad drained the ponds at Mount Lucy, and filled the streets along its line nearly three feet. The village authorities inaugurated an effective system of surface drainage on the north and south sides of Main street. The spring, fall and winter overflow of the creek was checked by raising the road and making a dyke along its banks at Toad Point. The genial rays of the sun evap- orated the latent miasma from a soil freed from the stagnant waters. The plow and the spade lent a helping hand, and the village to a certain extent was liberated from the slimy pools of water which had hitherto dotted its surface. Still the medical faculty insisted that many instances of malarial disease were constantly occurring where the drainage was imperfect. Dr. John Cotes, Levant B. Cotes, Truman H. Woodruff, Charles E. Ford. Holton Ganson, John Root, John R. Cotes O. P. Clark were the leading physicians of this period. A still more efficient mode of drainage was strongly advocated by all these medical men. They admitted that the sanitary condition of the place showed marked improvement, and that they were not obliged to resort to the violent remedies of former years.
The last term extends from 1860 to 1882. During this time another marked change has taken place. The system of surface drainage has been abandoned and the tile system has been adopted. The population of the village has doubled and houses have been erected in close proximity to each other. No sanitary restraints have been enforced in regard to the position of wells and outhouses, and the contents of water closets and house drainage are poured into closed tile sewers running to the creek, the grade of which is so small that it produces a sluggish and impeded move- ment of its slimy contents. The outlet empties into the ereek at low water mark, subject to have its malarious germs swept back into every cellar during the high floods of the creck. Below the outlet the waters of the creek are polluted with the offensive sewage and exhale a pestiferous miasma. poisoning the atmosphere along its banks. This has produced a return to the malarious condition of the time from 1820 to 1830. Ague and fever, bilious, typhus and typhoid fevers, dysentery, dis- ordered action of the liver have again reappeared, and with them that class of dis- eases engendered by sewer gas, diphtheria, scarlet fever, roseola, malarial fever, mental depression, loss of vitality, general lassitude and debility and all the various types of nervous maladies which are the marked characteristics resulting from the poisonous emanations of sewer gas. Among the physicians of the last term, Dr. Le- vant B. Cotes was the veteran survivor of all his compeers. Dr. Ganson followed next in seniority, than in succession John Root, John R. Cotes, O. P. Clark, N. G. Clark, L. L. Tozier, John F. Baker, H. S. Hutchins, Hamilton, Morse, Davidson, Rand, Walkinshaw and others.
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THE VILLAGE OF BATAVIA.
It was almost entirely through the efforts of Mr. Ellicott that the county of Genesee was erected, with Batavia for a county seat. The population of the new village was increasing at a satisfactory rate, and the legislative act designating Batavia as the capital of the new county gave it a prestige which instantly proved most beneficial. Determined that the village which he had founded should enjoy the full benefits which naturally should follow its selection for this important purpose, Mr. Ellicott at once began plans for the erection of a court house and jail, having stipulated, in his agreement with the Legislature, that these buildings should be constructed at the expense of the Holland Land Company. In a letter to Mr. Busti, written May 8, 1802, he said :
I am happy in the promptness with which you have agreed to carry into effect the erection of the Court House and Jail, as stipulated to be erected at the expense of the Company, by Mr. D. A. Ogden and myself. This stipulation was one of the principal inducements towards our effecting the passage of the Law establishing the new County. This money I conceive to be well laid out, for had we not have pro- cured this Act for establishing the County, and bounded it as we have fortunately done, the Company would, in all probability, have had to erect another Court House and Jail, as well as that at Canandaigua, at their expense, and in which they would have been but little benefited.
It was in contemplation by Mr. James Wadsworth, and interest was actually mak- ing for that purpose, so to divide the county of Ontario, as to make his residence in the town of Hartford [now Geneseo], on the Genesee River, the County town of a County.
In regards to the Court House and Jail, your ideas perfectly accord with my own, in erecting them in such a maner as will be the most economical, and at the same time answer well the purposes intended. I have received a Plan from New York, which my friend, D. A. Ogden, was kind enough to procure from an Architect of that place. It is not, in my opinion, calculated for the meridian of this Western World, this Century, but might probably answer for the meridian of the cities of London or Amsterdam.
Mr. Ellicott engaged Isaac Sutherland and Samuel F. Geer as archi- tects for the court house, which was to be built after his own plan, and of wood. The frame was set up about November 1. Its raising " was a Herculean task of three days, and in consequence of the sparseness of population, required all the men that could be mustered in the surround- ing country, even from Buffalo. The timber was exceedingly heavy, being almost exclusively oak, and we are told that the workmanship was so perfect, as to elicit the admiration of every one who saw it. Not the slightest mistake was discoverable, and when the frame was put
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together, every joint was as perfect as mallet and chisel could make it.' ' Though the building was not completed until 1804, the work had pro- gressed so far by the spring of 1803 that the first sessions of the courts after the organization of the county were held in it at the time last named.
The first frame building in the village was erected by Isaac Suther- land in the spring of 1802, about two months before the construction of the court house was begun. It stood west of the Presbyterian meeting house, and was occupied as a residence by Mr. Sutherland and his fam- ily. About the same time Mr. Sutherland and Samuel F. Geer built another frame house on the ground subsequently occupied by the Pres- byterian church, intended for their own use as a joiner's shop.
In the spring of 1802 James Brisbane visited New York and pur- chased a stock of groceries, provisions and general wares with which to stock a store which he had arranged to conduct under the patronage of the agents of the Holland company. Arriving with his stock at Batavia about the middle of May. he rented the building which Sutherland and Geer had erected for use as a joiner's shop and at once began business as a merchant -- the first in town. A few weeks later he purchased the building and occupied it until 1822, when it was removed to make room for the Presbyterian meeting house.
Several other improvements were made in 1802. During the sum- mer of that year William Munger erected the west part of what after- ward became the Keyes house, which he conducted as a tavern. He was succeeded by Mr. Rowe, and then by William Keyes, under whose management it became the principal hotel in the village. About the same time Mr. Ellicott erected a frame building for use as a land office, tearing bown the original log building and moving the records of the office into the new one about January 1, 1803. This building was after- ward altered and became a portion of the residence occupied for many years by D. E. Evans. Stephen Russell also erected a two-story frame building as an annex to his log tavern, on the site which afterward was occupied by the Genesee house. It will thus be seen that the develop- ment of the village of Batavia was progressing at a most satisfactory rate as early as 1802.
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