Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I, Part 18

Author: White, Truman C
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > New York > Erie County > Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 18

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New Amsterdam is at present the thoroughfare for all the commerce and traveling interchangeably going on between the eastern States (including New York and New Jersey) and the countries bordering on the great western lakes.

The creek is frequently said to unite with the river Niagara. I should say, as I believe every other man would, who spoke from his own inspection, that it unites with Lake Erie; and that the river Niagara begins two miles further north at, or rather just below, Black Rock [evidently meaning Bird Island]. Here the first per- ceptible current commences; while at the mouth of the creek, the waters, unless agitated by the wind, are perfectly still, and have exactly the same appearance as other parts of the lake.

At Black Rock, a town which is a mile square, is laid out by order of the State in- to house lots. The lots are to be disposed of at public sale, in December of this year, upon terms with which I am unacquainted. Should they be equitable the trade which I mentioned will soon center here. Between this rock and the shore is the only se- cure harbor on the American, and a much better one than on the British side of the lake, within a great distance. A road is already begun from this spot to Fort Niag- ara, at the mouth of the river, and will not probably be completed within a year. The period is not far distant when the commerce of this neighborhood will become a great national object, and involve no small part of the interests and happiness of millions.

The prospect presented at Buffalo, is most attractive, notwithstanding the inter- ruption named above. Directly opposite at a distance of two miles, but in full view stands Fort Erie, a blockhouse, accompanied by a suit of barracks and a hamlet. This collection of houses is built on a beautiful shore, wears less the appearance of a recent settlement, and exhibits a much greater degree of improvement, than any- thing which we saw west of the Genesee river. Beyond this hamlet a handsome point stretches to the south-west and furnishes an imperfect shelter to the vessels employed in the commerce of the lake. Seven of these vessels (five schooners, a sloop and a pettiaugre) lay in the harbor at this time, and presented to us an image

In this statement the reverend gentleman evidently erred.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

of business and activity, which distant as we were from the ocean, was scarcely less impressive than that presented by the harbor of New York, when crowded with al- most as many hundreds. Behind this point another much more remote stretches out in the same direction, exhibiting a form of finished elegance and seeming an ex- actly suitable limit for the sheet of water which fills the fine scope between these arms. Still further southward the lake opens in boundless view and presents in per- fect manner the blending of unlimited waters with the sky. Over these points, assembled as if to feast our eyes at the commencement of the evening after our ar- rival, one of the most beautiful collection of clouds ever seen by the votary of nature.

Beneath all this glory the lake, a boundless field of polished glass, glit- tered alternately with the variegated splendor of the clouds and the hues of the sky, softening and improving the brilliancy of both with inimitable delicacy and leaving on the mind the impression of enchantment rather than reality.

This reverend traveler, like many others when first visiting a back- woods settlement, fresh from the scenes of older and more improved localities, formed a hasty conclusion as to the character and intelligence of the people who had settled in Buffalo at that time. Doubtless they had the outside appearance of rude adventurers; this was a necessity in all similar settlements, and the tide of migration always carried with it more or less of the lower elements of population from older centers. But that the few dwellers in Buffalo in 1804 deserved the quoted dis- paragement is certainly not the fact.

William Hall, who resided in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1863, when he was eighty-five years old, wrote as follows of Buffalo in 1804, in which year he visited the place on horseback :

At Buffalo there were perhaps twenty houses, of which only three or four were frame, one of which was occupied by a Mr. Pratt, who kept a small store. He had his aged parents with him, whom I saw.

Some streets were partially laid out, but the whole were full of stumps, and no fences. We rode up the creek some mile or two, and crossed to see a Mr. Leech, who was from Connecticut. Saw no craft, but one or two small boats, in one of which we crossed.

Leaving Buffalo, we went to Black Rock, through woods-a small pathway, trod- den mostly by Indians, with some appearance of wagons having passed that way. We crossed the river in a scow, with our horses, to the Canada side, and found a good road, on the bank of the river, all the way to Chippewa.

In the winter of 1802-3 a man who became well known to the early inhabitants of Erie county as Capt. Samuel Pratt, made a journey to Detroit from his home in an eastern State to buy furs. Passing through Buffalo, he was pleased with its appearance and advantageous situation and determined to settle there and engage in the fur trade. Returning home in the fall of 1803, he prepared to remove with his

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FROM 1800 TO 1807.

family, in spite of the prophecies of disaster and the ridicule of his neighbors. Placing his belongings in an old fashioned two-horse coach, he started in 1804 and in due time astonished the settlers at Buffalo by driving up in front of Crow's tavern. There he was met by Erastus Granger, who politely vacated his room, such as it was, for the accom- modation of Mrs. Pratt and her children. Captain Pratt selected the lot designated on the Holland Company's map as inner lot 2, but on later maps as lot 1, it being the one including the Mansion House site. He built a frame house, then the largest in the place, and a store, where he began business, in which he was successful for many years. 1

William Hodge settled in Buffalo in 1804, having in the previous year taken up the farm lot that included the premises afterwards occu- pied by his son William, on Hodge avenue. He established an early nursery and in 1811 built a large brick hotel on the corner of what is now Main and Utica streets; this was the first brick building in the county and was long known as "The brick tavern on the hill." After the burning of Buffalo Mr. Hodge was one of the first to return to the ruins and begin the erection of a house.

There were no changes in town formation in 1805, but the towns of Willink and Erie were organized in the spring, the first town meeting for Willink being held at Vandeventer's, where the following officers were elected :

Supervisor Peter Vandeventer; town clerk, Zerah Ensign; assessors, Asa Ransom, Aaron Beard, John J. Brown; collector, Levi Felton; commissioners of highways, Gad Warner, Charles Wilber, Samuel Hill, jr .; constables, John Dunn, Julius Keys; overseers of the poor, Henry Ellsworth and Otis Ingalls.

The first town meeting of Erie was held at Crow's tavern, but most of the records of that town were destroyed at the burning of Buffalo. What is known of its organization and final disappearance is detailed in Chapter I.

Samuel Tupper settled in Buffalo as early as 1805, in which year he had charge of what was known as the Contractor's store, a business

1 Besides his house and store, Captain Pratt built a large barn on the corner of Seneca and Ellicott streets, the frame of which stood through the fire in 1813 and was afterwards covered and used as a hotel stable. His store became the principal resort of the Indians for trade, with whom he had great influence. They called him "Negurriyu," or honest dealer. He was a man of great energy and activity, and his public spirit and confidence in the future of Buffalo led him to take part in every enterprise that promised to benefit the place. He had a large family of children, among whom were Samuel Pratt, jr., Pascal P. Pratt, and Hiram Pratt. The latter was twice elected mayor of Buffalo. Pascal P. Pratt, the present president of the Manufacturers' and Traders' Bank of Buffalo, is a son of Samuel Pratt, jr. Captain Pratt died August 31, 1812.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

enterprise begun probably in the latter part of 1804 by a company of contractors who supplied the military posts of the west. Mr. Tupper purchased inner lot 7 and in 1808 took up outer lot 17 and built a house on the corner of what is now Tupper and Main streets. In the fall of 1805 he was appointed a judge for Genesee county, the first man in Erie county who was given that honor; in 1812 he was made a judge of Niagara county. Vincent Grant settled in Buffalo in 1805 and was also connected with the Contractor's store. He purchased inner lot 8 in 1808 and built a store which was burned in 1813. He afterwards built a cheap structure over the ruins, corner of Main and Seneca streets, where he was in business till about 1820.

Zenas Barker became a resident of Buffalo about 1805-6 and on the 1st of July, 1807, took up outer lots 76 and 77. He soon opened a tav- ern in his house on the terrace, corner of Main street, which was a rival of John Crow's house.1 Both of these landlords were licensed in 1805 to operate ferries across Buffalo Creek, Crow at its mouth and Barker at what became known as the Pratt ferry.

Besides the two tavern licenses granted in 1805 in Buffalo, one was given to Nathaniel Titus, who opened a public house at the bend of the lake shore in what is now Hamburg. Other settlers of the year in that town were Abner Amsden, who settled on the lake shore four miles above Titus; Jotham Bemis (who had opposed Vandeventer for super- visor in the town meeting of 1803), purchased land in Hamburg and soon afterwards settled near Abbott's Corners; and Tyler Sackett, Russell Goodrich, Rufus Belden, Abel Buck, Gideon Dudley, Samuel P. Hibbard, King Root, Winslow Perry, and perhaps others settled in the town in that year. In East Hamburg, Jacob Eddy (father of David) and Asa Sprague settled near Potter's Corners, where the Quaker element soon began to locate and later became very conspicu- ous. Daniel Smith in this year built a rude mill for grinding corn on what was called Hoag's Brook, two miles southwest of Potter's Corners, which was a convenience to the settlers, although it ground only five or six bushels a day. Other settlers in East Hamburg were William Col-

1 Mr. Barker had a large family of children, among whom was Jacob A. Barker, a well known citizen who died in the city in 1859. The father was a respected business man, and was appointed judge of Niagara county in 1813. A daughter married John G. Camp, an officer in the regular army, who subsequently settled in Buffalo ; another daughter married a son of William Johnston, and another married Captain Hull, who was in the army in 1812. A granddaughter became the wife of the late Oliver G. Steele. Jacob A. Barker, son of Zenas, was prominently connected with lake commerce, held the office of county clerk from 1823 to 1828, and was a member of the Legislature.

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FROM 1800 TO 1807.

trin, Samuel Knapp and Joseph Sheldon. David Eddy built a saw mill for the Indians, under contract with Granger, the superintendent, on Cazenove Creek, near what is now Lower Ebenezer; this mill supplied the first boards for the settlers in the south towns. The machinery was brought from Albany.

Deacon Richard Cary, a Revolutionary soldier who had seen arduous service, settled in Boston in 1805, with a sick wife and eight children and almost wholly without money. It need not be stated that they en- countered severe hardships. They and the Johnsons carried their first crops of wheat to Chippewa to be ground, a journey of forty miles and return.

Settlement in Aurora was somewhat advanced during 1805. Jabez Warren, as before stated, moved there in March, and was soon followed by his son William,1 who cleared a part of his father's land and settled down with his young wife. In August he had cleared five acres of the soft wood trees and girdled the hardwood; there he raised wheat.

In the town of Newstead Archibald S. Clark purchased this year and soon settled on the Buffalo road about a mile and a half southwest of Akron; he became one of the most prominent early citizens of the county. He was a member of the Council of Appointment in 1816, and county clerk of Niagara county in the previous year, and was other- wise honored. Aaron Dolph settled in that town about that time, and other immigrants were John Beamer, Eli Hammond, Salmon and George Sparling and Henry Russell.

Settlers in Clarence in 1805 were Thomas Clark, Edmund Thompson, and David Hamlin, sr. A son of the latter, who was eleven years old at the time of settlement of the family, left record that Asa Ransom had in that year both a saw and a grist mill in operation. In any event Ransom built a grist mill about that time, which was the first in the county for grinding wheat.

The names of John Hershey, Alexander Logan and John King ap- pear as purchasers of land in Amherst in that year. At the same time Elias Ransom, brother of Asa, opened a tavern three miles west of Williamsville. Jonas Williams, also, arrived there in that year. He had been a clerk in the land office and was sent by the company to

1 General William Warren (as he was afterwards known) had a natural taste for military affairs and was commissioned captain soon after his arrival in Aurora ; his district included all the southern part of Erie county and Wyoming county. His first order to assemble his company, made soon after receipt of his commission, brought together nine men. General Warren passed nearly all of his long life in Aurora, living to nearly a hundred years.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Chautauqua county on business. The fine water power on Ellicott's Creek attracted his attention, and he purchased the land and the aban- doned mill of Thompson, before mentioned, and in the spring of 1805 began the rebuilding of the mill. He was the founder of the village of Williamsville, which took his name.

During the years 1806-07, with the record of which this chapter will close, settlement in the county was gradual but steady, and pioneers arrived in several new localities outside of Buffalo village. A brief description of this place in 1806 was written by David Mather, and printed in the History of the Holland Purchase, as follows :

I settled in Buffalo in 1806. There were were then sixteen dwelling houses, prin- cipally frame ones; eight of them were scattered along on Main street, three of them were on the terrace, three of them or Seneca street, and two of them on Cayuga street. There were two stores-one of them the "Contractors'" on the corner of Main and Seneca streets, kept by Vincent Grant, on the east side of Main street. The other was the store of Samuel Pratt, adjoining Crow's tavern. Mr. Le Couteulx kept a drug store in part of his house on [the north side of] Crow street. David Reese's Indian blacksmith shop was on Seneca street, and William Robbins had a blacksmith shop on Main street. John Crow kept a tavern where the Mansion House now stands, and Judge Barker kept one on the site of the market. I remem- ber very well the arrival of the first public mail that ever reached Buffalo. It was brought on horseback by Ezra Metcalf. He came to my blacksmith shop and got his horse shod, and told me he could carry the contents of his [mail] bag in his two hands. 1

The David Reese above mentioned settled in Buffalo as the Indian blacksmith, probably in employ of the government, about 1803, and in 1806 purchased outer lot 176, on Seneca street, and built his black- smith shop about where the post-office stands. The shop was a red one-story frame structure and was one of the two buildings not burned in 1813, when it was used as a shelter for some of the wounded. Reese built his dwelling on the opposite corner on part of Johnston's lot. He continued his business until about 1823.2

1 It is probable that Mr. Mather overlooked the store of Sylvanus Maybee in this record, and · Joshua Gillett must have had a small store about that time.

2 In 1815 Mr. Reese had an unfortunate collision with Young King, then a principal chief of the Senecas, residing at Buffalo Creek. Reese with others was returning from cutting grass upon the south side of Buffalo Creek, when they met an Indian (probably intoxicated) for whom Reese had promised to do some small job of work in his blacksmith shop; in the dispute which followed, Reese struck the Indian with his hand or fist, which felled him to the ground. At this moment Young King rode up on horseback, and sharply remonstrated with Reese for what he had done, which exasperated him to such a degree that he threatened to serve Young King the same way; upon which Young King, having dismounted, struck Reese on the head with a stick or club, upon which Reese seized a scythe in the hands of a bystander and struck Young King a severe blow

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FROM 1800 TO 1807.

Within the present city limits there settled during the two years un . der consideration Major Noble, James Stewart, Gideon Moshier, Loren and Velorous Hodge, Henry Ketcham, and some others. The prices of land had meanwhile slightly advanced. In 1806 Joseph Landon purchased Crow's tavern, improved and refitted it and founded the ex- isting Mansion House. Mr. Landon made his house popular and well known over a wide territory.

Until this time Buffalo had been without a lawyer. Judge Ebenezer Walden arrived in 1806, bearing a letter of introduction to Erastus Granger, and immediately began practice in an office on Main street between Seneca and Exchange. He was a most worthy man and be- came a leading citizen and large real estate owner. For several years he was the only lawyer in Western New York west of Batavia. A brief sketch of his career will be found in Chapter XXX.

Elijah Leech settled in the village in 1806, entered the employ of Samuel Pratt, subsequently married his daughter and engaged in part- nership with Mr. Pratt. He built his house on the south side of Buf- falo Creek at the old ferry. He held several offices and finally removed to Clarence Hollow and died there.

It was in 18071 that the first school house of which there is definite knowledge was built in Buffalo, as detailed in the chapter devoted to educational affairs in the county. A school had been kept, however, in the winter of 1806-7, and perhaps earlier, by Hiram Hanchett in the old Middaugh house. The school house was built on the corner of Pearl and Swan streets, became a historic building, and was used until 1813. The money to erect it was raised by subscription, Among the subscribers appear the names of Thomas Fourth, Isaac H. Bennet, Levi Strong, William Hull, Richard Mann, Asahel Adkins, Samuel Andrews, Garret Freeland, and Billa Sherman, who have not before been noticed as settlers. Levi Strong and George Kith built the house. Farther details of the first school house and school will be found in Chapter XXIX.

It was probably in 1806 that the pastoral services of Rev. Elkanah

across the arm, nearly severing it from his body. The arm was amputated the following day; Reese was prosecuted for the maiming, but through the influence of mutual friends the matter was submitted to arbitration .- Ketcham's Buffalo and the Senecas, Vol. II, p. 186.

The arbitrators in this case were Augustus Porter, Joshua Gillett and Jonas Williams. The affair was thus settled.

1 The death of William Johnston took place in 1802, when he was sixty-five years of age. Al- though his early life had been a stormy one and connected with the enemies of the country, he died in the enjoyment of the respect of the community.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Holmes were secured. To accomplish this worthy purpose the inhab- itants held a meeting and made a list of those who were willing to aid in paying for a preacher's labors for a certain length of time. Then the amount was estimated necessary to be paid by each in each week, and it was agreed that the amount so fixed should be brought in a paper every Sunday. This novel arrangement succeeded perfectly and no debt was incurred.

Other purchasers of land of 1807 were Joseph Wells, farm lots 28 and 41, township 11, range 8; Frederick Miller, lots 36 and 37; Zachariah Griffin, lot 43; Ebenezer Walden, lot 52; Joshua Gillett, lot 51; Alvin Dodge, lot 54; Elijah Holt, lot 75; Daniel Chapin, lots 66 and 81; Rowland Cotton, lot 75. Capt. Rowland Cotton had seen Revolution- ary service, and had his residence about five miles out of the village on the old Batavia road. He was father of a large family. Henry Ketch- am and his brother Zebulon were early settlers, the former purchasing outer lot 17 and farm lot 70 in 1807; he built a dwelling on the corner of Main and Chippewa streets and lived there until the burning of the place in 1813. These two were brothers also of Jesse Ketcham, who purchased real estate in Buffalo; he was conspicuous in the work of advancing education and religion. After living for a time in Toronto, he returned to Buffalo and passed the remainder of his life there.

As far as relates to settlements in the county outside of Buffalo dur- ing 1806-07 the story is briefly told. Among the important improve- ments made was the building of the first grist mill in the southwest part of the county by John Cummings, on Eighteen-mile Creek about a mile below Water Valley in the town of Hamburg. The raising of the frame was a notable incident and long remembered by the pioneers. Jacob Wright settled about this period in Hamburg near Abbott's Cor- ners, which was for many years known as Wright's Corners. In 1806 Joel Harvey, the first settler in Evans, opened a tavern in his house at the mouth of Eighteen-mile Creek. A few purchases were made in that town at this time, but most of the buyers soon became discour- aged and left, and permanent settlement was not made until several years later.

By the year 1806 the Friends, or Quakers, in East Hamburg had be- come so numerous that a Friends Meeting was organized; it was probably the first religious organization in the county. In the next year they built a meeting house near Potter's Corners; this was for more than ten years the only building for religious purposes in the

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FROM 1800 TO 1807.

county. In 1806 also the Quakers built a school house, where Henry Hibbard taught the first school. David Eddy built a saw mill on Smoke's Creek, not far from Potter's Corners, and Seth and Samuel Abbott, brothers, settled a few miles southeast of Potter's Corners in the fall of 1807, and both became leading citizens, the latter giving his name to Abbott's Corners.

In Boston during the two years we are considering, the settlers in- cluded Jonathan Bump, Benjamin Whaley, Job Palmer, Calvin Doo- little, Eliab Streeter, Joseph Yaw, William Cook, Ethan Howard and Serrill Alger.

In 1806 Phineas Stephens bought the mill site at the lower village, Aurora, and built a saw mill the same year; in that year or the next he added a grist mill, built of hewed logs. In 1806, or 1807, William Warren, before mentioned, began keeping tavern in his log house, the first in the southeast part of the county. In 1807 Mary Eddy taught a school in the cabin he had first built there, and Mr. Warren himself taught there in the following winter. Among new purchasers in this town in 1806 were Solomon Hall, James S. Henshaw, Oliver Patten- gill, Walter Paine, Jonathan Hussey, Ira Paine and Humphrey Smith, all of whom became residents in that year or the next. Mr. Smith subsequently bought the mill site at Griffinshire and erected mills, and also those at West Falls and at the forks of Cazenove Creek. Ephraim Woodruff, the pioneer blacksmith in the southeast part of the county, settled in Aurora in 1807.

In 1806, or 1807, the Friends Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia sent a mission to instruct the Indians on the Cattaraugus Reserve, adjoining which they bought 300 acres of land. The mission of several single men and women was under charge of Jacob Taylor, from whom that locality took the name of Taylor's Hollow. They taught the Indians rudimentary book knowledge, housework, farming, etc., and accom- plished much good. With this exception the valley of the Cattaraugus remained a wilderness until the fall of 1807, when Christopher Stone and John Albro made their own road through the forest and located on the site of Springville. There the two families remained through the winter, their nearest neighbors ten miles away on Eighteen-mile Creek.

In 1806 William Allen made the first settlement in the present town of Wales and others soon followed; he located about half a mile south of the site of Wales Center. In the same fall Amos Clark and William

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

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Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume I, Part 18

Author: White, Truman C Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co. Number of Pages: 1014

Author: White, Truman C
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 1014