USA > New York > Genesee County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Genesee County, New York, v. 1 > Part 30
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The indomitable energy and public spirit of the founder of Batavia is everywhere in evidence. On every possible occasion he promoted the welfare of the village. All legitimate enterprises were encouraged
1 Historical Sketch of the Village of Batavia, by William Seaver. 1810.
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by him in a practical way and he was never slow to take the initiative when he believed the young village would be benefited by his projected act. May 15, 180?, he addressed to Gideon Granger, postmaster. gen- eral, a petition for the establishment of a post-office at Batavia, and recommending the appointment of James Brisbane as postmaster. In his petition Mr. Ellicott said :
Although I cannot flatter the Post Master General with much augmentation to the revenue which may arise from an establishment of this kind, yet as the country is fast settling, and the Land Office is kept here for the sale of a large extent of coun- try, there is little doubt but that in a short period, a considerable revenue will arise from this establishment, as well as be productive of great convenience to the inhab. itants.
The postmaster-general promptly appointed Mr. Brisbane postmaster ; but there already being a post-office named Batavia in Greene county, the new office was designated Genesee Court House. The commission for the first postmaster was dated July 21, 1802, and the following month he entered upon the discharge of his duties, maintaining the office in his store. The mail was carried once in two weeks, either on foot or on horseback. The route west was from Canandaigua to Ba- tavia, Lewiston and Fort Niagara, and eastward from Fort Niagara to Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Williamsville, Van Deventer's, the Indian Vil- lage, Batavia and Canandaigua and other points east. Soon afterward the increasing population warranted the establishment of a weekly mail from Canandaigua to Buffalo direct, Batavia being a post on the route.
An idea of the population of Batavia, and of Genesee county, in 1802, may be gained from a statement made in a letter written by Mr. Elli- cott to Seth Pease May 15, 1802:
As you were acquainted with this part of the country before any settlement took place, it may not be altogether uninteresting to be informed of the number of votes given in at this village last election, for Members of Congress, which will be some data to form an opinion of the progress of settlement.
Oliver Phelps, Esq., Republican, 50 votes.
Nat. W. Howell, Esq., anti-Republican, 1 vote.
In this county, (Genesee), in consequence of the sparse settlements, not more than one third of the people could with any convenience attend the election polls, therefore we only voted 133, of which 117 were Republican and for Oliver Phelps, and the res- idue for Nat. W. Howell, so that it appears this county may be styled Republican.
The organization of Genesee county took place in 1803. The first court was held in the new court house June 14, when Richard Smith was admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor. November >
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the second court was held, at which Daniel B. Brown was admitted to practice.
During the early days of the village a favored few were permitted to purchase from twenty to forty acres of land fronting on Genesee, now Main, street, running back one mile in length. These had all been well schooled in the arbitrary doctrines of a landed aristocracy, the po- litical creed of Joseph Ellicott. For years these men held their broad acres undiminished by a sale. They were hostile to the idea of any street parallel to Main, which they would have considered an invasion of their sacred rights. They held their corn and pasture lands for their own pleasure and convenience, claiming that the public had no right to sacrifice them for highway purposes; that public necessities were subject to their private interests. As a natural consequence Main street was filled with handsome residences. For years all taxes and improvements were lavished upon that broad thoroughfare. The re- sult was that a residence upon that fine avenue became, to a certain extent, the arbiter of social position.
In the original village plot, as planned by Joseph Ellicott, all the streets converge at the bridge. He designed that the business part of the village should be built around the mill site and west on the banks of the creek. The business location was largely determined by the low prices at which Stephen Russell sold his subdivisions of lots 20 and ???. The first new street to be opened by the necessities of the pioneers was Mechanic street, now State. Then followed Center, then Bank, Lib. erty, Summit, South Liberty, Evans, Swan and Ross. They were generally occupied and built upon before they were legally opened as highways, becoming streets from the demands of a growing population and not in conformity to any plan laid down in the original village . plot. North street was the only parallel street on the north side of Main. It was opened as a highway in 1842 and 1843. Ellicott avenue was laid out by the State.
The year 180? was noteworthy by reason of the establishment of a printing office in the village, the press used being the first ever seen west of the Genesee river. Soon after the opening of the office the first newspaper in the county, the Genesee Intelligencer, was published by Elias Williams. Unfortunately publication was suspended in the following October. The early history of the press in Batavia is graph- ically told in a letter written by Benjamin Blodgett, one of the first ed- itors, to Frederick Follett, in November, 1846. A part of this interest- ing letter follows:
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The first paper published in this County was in the spring of 1807. Elias Williams purchased in Manlius, an old Ramage Printing Press that had been laid aside as useless, and a box of oldl type in pi, intended to sell as type metal, and brought them, in the winter of that year, to Batavia. After a laborious winter's work of assorting his old type, and patching up the old press, he published the first number of a paper called the "Genesee Intelligencer." This paper was printed upon a half sheet of medium size, with a subscription list of 100, and two or three columns of advertise- ments from the Holland Land Company, one Elopement, and one runaway appren- tice Boy, for whose apprehension a bag of bran was offered as a reward. This was all the advertising patronage, if my recollection serves me right, that the paper com- menved with. The paper was a sorry looking thing- the mechanical execution being so bad that it would have puzzled a Philadelphia Lawyer to find out what it was. I ought to have preserved a copy-it would be looked upon by the craft at this day, not only as a literary but a mechanical curiosity. Williams, becoming disheartened at the shabby appearance of his paper, and about to fail for the want of funds, induced me to go into partnership with him. Anxious to see my name at the head of a newspaper, as Printer, Publisher, and Editor, too, of the " Genesee Intelli- gencer," I embarked my all of this world's effects into the enterprise, which amounted to the vast sum of forty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents. the hard earnings of the summer before, as Pack Horseman and Cook to a Company of Sur- veyors on the Holland Purchase, a pursuit better fitted to my capacity at that day. than Editor of the " Genesee Intelligencer."
About the first of July, 1807, the firm of Williams & Blodgett resumed the publi- cation of the " Intelligencer." with an increased subscription list and advertising patronage. After publishing 13 numbers, Williams went to Alexander to attend a Military Review, and has never since been seen or heard of in this country. This unceremonious leave-taking of Williams put a mighty damper upon the prospects of Mr. Editor Blodgett, who instead of realizing the golden dreams he had anticipated, found himself involved in debt about $300, flat on his back with the fever and ague, which continued about six months without intermission ; and for the want of help, not being a practical Printer myself, was obliged to abandon the publication of the " Intelligencer." However, in the spring of 1808, I rallied again, and in company with a man by the name of Peek, Istarted the " Cornucopia," (a very classic name,) with an enlarged sheet and new type, under the firm of Peek & Blodgett, with a sub- seription list of about 300. In the fall of 1811, Peek was taken sick and died, and with his death the " Cornucopia" went down.
I then, under the mechanical superintendence of David C. Millar, (afterwards Colonel, with his little cane and breeches.) commenced the publication of the .. Re- publican Advocate," with a new Press and new type, and continued its publication for several years, when I sold out to Colonel Millar, who became sole proprietor of that paper.1
Up to the year 1810 James Brisbane and Ebenezer Cary were the only merchants in town. In that year Ephraim Hart opened a mercantile establishment of extensive proportions, the management of which he intrusted to Clark Heacox.
I From the History of the Press in Western New York. by Frederick Blu:
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For the first half dozen years in the history of Batavia no regular religious organization was supported, though meetings were held occasionally by laymen and itinerant preachers. The first religious society was organized September 19, 1809, when "a regular meeting was held at the Center School House in this place, this afternoon, agreeable to previous notice being given, for the purpose of forming a Congregational Church. The Rev. Royal Phelps, a missionary from the Hampshire Missionary Society in the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts presided, and officiated in the transactions of the day. We spent the meeting with a sermon adapted to the occasion, from Joshua 24th Chap. 15th Verse, 2d Clause." '
At the conclusion of the sermon Silas Chapin, David Anderson, Ezek- iel Fox, Solomon Kingsley, Eleanor Smith, Elizabeth Mathers, Eliza- beth Peck, Esther Kellogg, Hulda Wright, Patience Kingsley, Esther Kingsley and Polly Branard, signed the Articles of Faith and Church Covenant and were pronounced the constituent members of the new Congregational church. September 24, 1809, Rev. Royal Phelps preached "at Jesse Rumsey's barn " and administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, this doubtless being the first occasion of that kind in the history of the town. The church was regularly incorporated in February, 1811. The first regular pastor of the congregation was Rev. Ephraim Chapin, who received a call January 23, 1818, and served four years.
The impending hostilities between Great Britain and America which were inaugurated in 1812 prompted the State government to adopt measures for the protection of the Canadian frontier from invasion. The plans for defense included the erection of an arsenal for the storage of arms and ammunition at Batavia. In 1810 or 1811 the State made a contract with Joseph Ellicott for the erection of a log building twenty feet square and twelve feet high to be used for this purpose. This "arsenal," not a very imposing edifice, but large enough and possibly strong enough for the purposes for which it was intended, was situated above the mill, on the opposite side and near the bend of the creek, on the Alexander road. It was abandoned soon after the close of the war of 1812, when the old stone arsenal in the west end of the village was erected by the State, under the supervision of Major Isaac Sutherland.
June 6, 1815, after a series of services according to the ritual of the Protestant Episcopal church had been conducted by Rev. Alanson W.
' From the church records.
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Welton, a number of the resident adherents of that denomination met in the court house for the purpose of organizing a Protestant Episcopal church. Rev. Mr. Welton presided, and these officers were chosen : Wardens, John Hickcox, Samuel Benedict; vestrymen, Richard Smith, Isaac Sutherland, Isaac Spencer, John Z. Ross, Chauncey Keyes, Da- vid C. Miller, Aaron Van Cleve, Oswald Williams. It was decided that the society then organized should be known as St. James's church in Batavia. The record was certified by the chairman, S. Cummings, and Trumbull Cary, in the presence of Samuel Risley and Isaiah Bab- cock, acknowledged before Hon. D. McCraeken, one of the judges of the Genesee county courts, and recorded in the county clerk's office by Samuel Lake, deputy county clerk. At the first meeting of the vestry, held at Hickcox's inn, July 1, 1815, Richard Smith was appointed clerk, and it was resolved that Isaac Sutherland, John Z. Ross and Chauncey Keyes " be a Committee to wait on the Agent of the Holland Land Company, to ascertain what aid may be obtained from the said Company towards the erection of a Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Village of Batavia, and that the said Committee report at the next meeting of the Vestry." July 15 the committee reported "that in be - half of the Holland Land Company, the Agent would make a donation towards the erection of a Protestant Episcopal Church, if of Wood, of One thousand Dollars, and if of Brick, of Fifteen hundred Dollars." At a subsequent meeting of the vestry at Hickcox's inn, which occupied the southern part of the court house, Aaron Van Cleve and Isaac Sutherland were appointed a committee to ascertain from the agent of the Holland Land Company what site might be obtained for the church. October 21 of that year Isaac Sutherland was designated to superintend the erection of a brick church. At the same time Richard Smith, the clerk of the vestry, was appointed treasurer and Chauncey Keyes and Isaac Spencer collectors, Major Sutherland declining to act as super- intendent, another person was appointed in his place. The vestry im- mediately contracted with David Canfield and Thomas McCulley of Schenectady to perform the mason work, and on April 10, 1816, ground was broken and the erection of the new church was begun. The church was not completed until 1822. The first regular rector, Rev. Levi S. Ives, subsequently bishop of North Carolina, did not enter upon his duties until 1822, and his minstrations closed in summer of 1823.
Soon after the organization of St. James's church, a Methodist Epis-
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copal class, which had been organized as early as 1816, perhaps prior to that time, began to take steps toward the organization of a regular church society. December 15, 1819, a meeting of the local Methodists was held at the court house. Rev. Elisha Howse presided, assisted by Jeremiah Bennett, and Thomas McCulley, Samuel F. Geer, Jeremiah Bennett, Seymour Ensign and Silas Hollister were elected trustees of a congregation which it was then and there decided should be known as the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Batavia. The first church edifice was not erected until 1823.
. The Batavia branch of the Genesee County Bible Society was organ- ized April 5, 1819. The meeting was held in the old brick school house, and Rev. Mr. Chapin acted as moderator and Thomas Mc. Culley as secretary. The society was organized by the election of these officers: Chairman, Ephraim Towner; clerk, Thomas MeCulley; treasurer, Parmenio Adams; collector, Urial Spencer; distributing committee, Lemuel Foster, Amherst Crane. Ahimaz Brainard, Thomas McCulley.
A fair idea of the commercial and industrial progress made by the village during the period closing with the year 1819 may be gathered by reference to the following list of business men in town in that year :
Merchants, James Brisbane, Cary & Davis, Jonathan Lay, William H. Wells, J. P. &. A. Smith, William R. Thompson, W. S. Moore & Co. Druggists, H. Tisdale, Hewitt & Billings. Leather and shoe store, Ephraim Towner. Jeweler, C. C. Church. Milliner, Miss Ann Forbes. Tailors, James Cawte, H. B. Pierpont, Sam- uel Mead. Hatter, Nathan Follett. Tavernkeepers, William Keyes, Hinman Ho !. den, Horace Gibbs, Mrs. Leonard, Joseph Baker. Lawyers, Richard Smith, Daniel B. Brown, P. L. Tracy, Ethan B. Allen, T. C. Love, C. Carpenter. Physicians, D. MeCracken, Ephraim Brown, John Cotes, Winter Hewitt, John Z. Ross. Sad- dler, Simeon Cummings. Cabinet and chairmaker. Thomas Bliss. Tanners. E. Towner, Oswald Williams, Meat market, Mr. Folsom. Book store, Oran Follett.
The year 1821 was marked by the first fire of any importance which occurred in Batavia. The number of buildings destroyed and the pecuniary losses appear small when compared with the great fires which are so common in these days, but the destruction of even $10,- 000 worth of property was heavily felt by the citizens of Batavia over three-quarters of a century ago. The Spirit of the Times describes the fire, which occurred on the night of December 22, as follows:
The flames were discovered to proceed from a block of buildings occupied as stores and shops on the north sale of Main street, and exhibited to the agitated minds of our citizens a scene terrible and alarming in the highest degree; the destructive ele-
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ment was raging with the greatest fury in the heart of our village, and a prospect almost inevitable of the fairest portion of it being laid in ashes. The fire had made such progress before it was discovered, as to forbid all attempts to save the buildings situated on either side of Mr. L. Baker's Silversmith shop where it is supposed the fire originated. The active exertions of the citizens were turned to prevent it ex- tending its ravages to the adjacent building. The struggle was long and doubtful, but the cool and deliberate action of a few individuals, favored by the stillness of the night, and the constant pouring of water over the sides of the exposed buildings, accomplished at last what the most sanguine hardly dare hope.
Mr. Gibb's dwelling house on the west, and the Grocery Store of Mr. Davis at the east, were situated but a few feet from the building burnt, yet they were saved with no other means than the use of buckets. The injury they sustained is trifling.
The destruction of property is of considerable amount. Three buildings destroyed. One of them was occupied by Messrs. Moore & Finch as a Dry-goods store and owned by Mr. Horace Gibbs. Another by L. Baker as a Silver-smith shop, also owned by Mr. Horace Gibbs. The other was occupied by Mr. James P. Smith, Mer- chant, Charles C. Church, watch-maker. The upper part was occupied by D. C. Miller, Esq., as the Advocate Printing Office, which was totally destroyed. The building was owned by Messrs. F. & T. Palmer. Mr. Miller is probably the great- est sufferer in this dreadful calamity, having lost the whole of Ins printing apparatus, list-books, accounts, etc.
The amount of property destroyed may be estimated at about $10,000. The great- est amount was consumed in the building occupied by Messrs. Moore & Finch, but it gives us pleasure to state, that their loss, between 5 & $6,000 was covered by an insurance.
The first direct result of the fire, aside from the temporary set-back to the business development of the village, was an agitation for the es- tablishment of an adequate system of fire protection and the incorpora- tion of the village. June 23, 1822, a mass meeting of citizens was held, when Silas Finch, William H. Wells and Trumbull Cary were appoint- ed a committee to petition the State Legislature for an act of incorpora- tion. For some reason the first attempt in this direction failed; but at the next succeeding session of the Legislature a charter was granted, on April 23, 1823. Following is the original act incorporating the vil- lage of Batavia.
Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assembly: That the inhabitants resident within all that part of the Village of Batavia in the county of Genesee as Surveyed by Joseph Ellicott bounded as follows : Beginning at a point in the East line of lot Number forty-four in said Village eighty rods north from the centre of Genesee street thence westwardly parallel with the centre of Genesee and Batavia streets Eighty rods therefrom to the western bounds of Lot Number Three in said Village thence southerly on the west line of said lot number fourteen to the Southwest corner of said Lot, thence continuing in the same direction to the south bank of Tonnewanta Creek thence up the Southern bank of
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Tonnewanta Creek to a point eighty rods south of the Centre of Genesee Street thence eastwardly parallel with said Genesee Street to the East line of Lot Number Forty-five thence northerly on said like to the place of beginning shall be a corp .. ration by the zame and Style of the Trustees of the Village of Batavia and by the: name they and their Successors may have perpetual succession, shall be known is law; shall be capable of suing of being sued and of defending and being defende !! in all Courts and places whatsoever and in all manner of actions and causes ani they and their Successors may Have a common Seal and may alter the same a: pleasure and shall be is Law capable of purchasing holding and conveying any real or personal Estate for the use of sail corporation and shall have power to erect and keep in repair one or more fire Engine or Engines and Ladder fire hooks and other instruments for extinguishing fre ; to improve the streets and sidewalks and remove and prevent encroachments thereon : to prevent horses cattle and swine from :un- bing in the streets, to erect bay scales and regulate the assize of bread and to raise money by Tax to carry into effect the above mentioned powers and for defraying the incidental expenses of supporting the several bre laws and regulations. Which. money to be raised shall not exceed the sum of three hundred dollars annually Pro- vided that ao part of the said sum to be annually raised shall be applied to the mak- ing or repairing sidewalks, and shall be assessed upon the freeholders and ichall. itants of said Village who are voters there in proportion to their property real and personal within sail Corporation by the Trustees thereof and collected by the Co !. lector of said Village in the same manner as the Taxes of the County of Genesee and collected by virtue of a warrant to him directed signed by a majority of the Trustees of said Corporation and by him paid into the hands of the Treasurer thereof: provided that no tax shall be levied or monies raised for any of the pur- poses aforesaid nor any public builiding. erected nor any purchase of sale of any rea! or personal estate be made nor any fire Engine house or houses erected or disposed of without the consent of the freeholders and inhabitants of said Corporation as- sembled qualified to vote as hereinafter mentionel of a majority of them to be given at a public meeting duly notified as hereinafter mentioned.
And be it further Enacted That the Inhabitants residing within said Corporation and who shall have been in possession of real property withis said Corporation to: six months next Previous to the time of voting andi shall have paid highway or other Taxes within the limits of said Village may on the first tuesday of June next meet a: some proper place within the sail Corporation to be appointed by any two Justices of the Peace of the town of Batavia a notice whereof shall be put ap in at least three Public Places within said Corporation ten days previous to said first Tuesday of june next and then an : there proceed to Elect five discreet persons resident within sa !!! Corporation and who shall have resi led therein for the space of one year then next previous to such election and having freeholds therein to the value of Five bundre ! Dollars or other ; roperty to the value of One thousand Dollars to be the Trustees thereof and who when Chosen shall possess the Several rights and powers hereafter specified and Such Justices shall preside at such meeting and shall declare the Sev- eral Persons having the greatest number of votes duly Elected Trustees and on every first tuesday of May after the Election of Trustees there shall in like manner be a new election of Trustees for sal ! Corporation and the Trustees so elected shall hold their offices for one year and antil others are Elected in their stead and the said
THE VILLAGE OF BATAVIA.
Trustees or a majority of them shall after the first Election as aforesaid perform the duties required from the said Justices in respect to notifying the inhabitants of Said Village and presiding at Such Election.
And be it further Enacted That it shall be lawful for the said Trustees of said Vil- lage or a major part of them and their Successors to make ordain constitute and Pub- lish such prudential bye Laws rules and regulations as they from time to time shall deem correct and proper and for the benefit of said Village relating to the objects mentioned in the first section of this act and not inconsistent with the Laws of the State or of the United States and shall further be lawful for the said Trustees to or- dain constitute and publish such fines and forfeitures for the breaking any such laws.
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