USA > New York > Orleans County > Pioneer history of Orleans County, New York, containing some account of the civil divisions of western New York > Part 12
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I can remember when the common vehicle for trav- eling about was an ox sled with wooden shoes and the only wheel carriages were lumber wagons and they were few, when the Ridge Road was the main thoroughfare by which to reach the old settlements . and stage coaches were the fastest means of convey- ance.
It was considered an impossibility to make the Erie Canal. People said possibly water might be made to run up hill, but canal boats, never.
Some said they would be willing to die, having lived long enough when boats in a canal should float through their farms ; but afterwards when they saw the boats passing by, they wanted to live more than ever to see what would be done next.
Next after the canal came the railroad. I heard the cars were running at Batavia and I went out there to see the great wonder of the age, and saw them.
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We were next told of the telegraph. Knowing ones said that was a humbug, sure. I remember even some members of Congress ridiculed Professor Morse and his telegraph as a delusion. But in spite of rid- icule, and doubt, and incredulity, the telegraph be- came a success, and by it the ends of the earth have been brought together. These things I have seen and remembered while living here in Orleans county.
GEORGE E. MIX."
MRS. LYDIA MIX.
" I was born in Brantford, Connecticut, in 1783. At the age of eighteen I married Abiathar Mix, and re- moved to Dutchess county, N. Y., where my hus- band owned a farm, on which we lived, working it chiefly by hired men, my husband being a mason by trade, labored at that business in the summer and winters he made nails and buttons.
We resided there until May, 1817, when we sold our farm and removed to Barre, Orleans Co., and lo- cated on lot 32, township 14, range 2. Very little land was then cleared in that neighborhood, and even that was covered with stumps of trees. Mr. Mix had been here the year before and engaged a man to build a log house for him. When we came on we found our house with walls up and roof on. My husband split some basswood logs and hewed them to plank, with which he laid a floor, and we began housekeeping in our new house.
My husband had ten or fifteen hundred dollars in money, when he moved here. He took an article for a large tract of land and went to making potash and selling goods and merchandise, in company with his brother, Ebenezer Mix, who was then a clerk in the land office of the Holland Company, at Batavia.
The settlers, building their houses of logs and their chimneys of sticks and mud. my husband found noth-
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ing to do at his trade, until they began making brick and making their chimneys of stone, with brick ovens.
He then closed out his mercantile business and went to work at his trade and being something of a lawyer, he used to do that kind of business consider- ably for the settlers.
We had pretty hard times occasionally but managed to get along with what we had and raised our seven children to be men and women.
My husband died in 1856. Three of my children have died. I shall be 86 years old in a few days, if I live.
LYDIA MIX."
Barre, February, 1869.
JOSEPH HART.
Joseph Hart was born in Berlin, Hartford Co .. Conn., in Nov., 1775, and died in Barre, Orleans Co., N. Y., July, 1855.
Mr. Hart moved to Seneca, Ontario County, N. Y .. in the year 1806. In the fall of 1811, he came to Bar- re and took an article from the Holland Land Co., of lot 34, township 15, range 1, containing 360 acres, the principal part of which is still owned by his sons, William and Joseph.
In April, 1812, in company with Elijah Darrow. Frederick Holsenburgh and Silas Benton, then young unmarried men, he returned and built a log house on his lot and moved his family into it in October follow- ing.
Elijah Darrow took an article of part of lot 1, town- ship 15, range 2, held the land and worked on it about two years, then sold it to Mr. Hart, who sold it to Eb- enezer Rogers, about the year 1816.
Silas Benton took an article of part of a lot lying next north of Darrow's land, which was for many years afterwards owned by Samuel Fitch. Benton made a clearing on his land. built a log house on it,
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in which he lived several years and in which his wife, Mrs. Silas Benton, taught a school, probably the first school in the town of Barre, boarded several men and did her house work at the same time, all in one room. A log school house was afterwards built on Benton's land, to which Mrs. Benton moved her school, which was said to have been the first school house built in town.
Frederick Holsenburgh took an article of part of the lot lying next north of Benton's, in the village of Albion, on the west side of the Oak Orchard Road .- The Depot of the N. Y. Central Railroad stands on the Holsenburgh tract.
Joseph Hart married Lucy Kirtland, who was born in Saybrook, Conn., and who died at Adrian, Mich., January, 1868, aged 89 years.
He was here during the war of 1812, and was sever- al times called out to do military service in that war. He was a prominent and active man in all matters pertaining to the organization of society in the new country. He assisted in forming the Presbyterian Church, in Albion, in which he was a ruling elder while he lived, and from his office in that church he was always known as Dea. Hart.
He almost always held some town office, and for many of his later years he was overseer of the poor of the town of Barre, a position the kindness of his na- ture well qualified him to fill. His fortunate location near the thriving village of Albion, which has been extended over a part of his farm, made him a wealthy man. Through a long life, he maintained a high character for probity and good judgment, and died respected by all who knew him.
ADEN FOSTER
· Was born in Sudbury, Vermont, July 20, 1791 ; married Sarah Hall, of Brandon, Vt., Jan. 23, 1817 ;
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came to Barre in the winter of 1817 and settled on lot 36, township 14, range 1, half a mile south of Barre Center. He cleared up his farm and resided on it un- til his death, Feb. 18, 1838. Mr. Foster was an active business man, a leading man among the early settlers. He was for several years Capt. of a militia company, and for some years a Justice of the Peace.
ALEXIS WARD.
Alexis Ward was born in the town of Addi- son, Vermont, May 18, 1802. His parents removed to Cayuga county, New York, when he was quite a lad. He studied law with Judge Wilson of Auburn, and was admitted to the bar in 1823. In 1824 he re- moved to Albion, where he was soon appointed a Jus- tice of the Peace.
On the retirement of Judge Foot, who was the first Judge of Orleans county, Mr. Ward was appointed First Judge in his place Feb. 10, 1830, an office he held by re-appointment until January 27, 1840.
In 1834-5 he was mainly instrumental in procuring the charter incorporating the Bank of Orleans, which was the first bank incorporated in Orleans county, and in 1836 was elected its President and held that office until his death.
He was one of the movers in founding the Phipps Union Seminary and the Albion Academy, and was always liberal in sustaining our public schools.
It was mainly owing to his exertions that the Roch- ester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad was built, and if it has proved a benefit the thanks for its con- struction are chiefly due to Judge Ward.
The Suspension Bridge across Niagara River made a part of his original plan in connexion with this rail road, and his arguments and exertions were mainly effectual in inducing American capitalists to take stock in this Bridge.
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He projected the plank roads from the Ridge through Albion to Barre Center and took a large pecuniary interest in them.
He, with Roswell and Freeman Clarke, built the large stone flouring mill in Albion. He also built several dwelling houses.
He was a large hearted, public spirited man, always ready to do anything he thought might benefit Albion.
In all his business relations he was just, honorable and upright, every man received his due ; his purse was always open to the calls of charity. A man of untiring energy and perseverance,-to start a project was with him a certainty of its completion.
In his intercourse with those about him he was kind, affable and generous. His reserve might be construed by those who did not know him well, as haughtiness, but few men were freer from this than he.
As a Christian, he was an exemplary member of the Presbyterian Church of Albion, with which he connected himself in 1831. He always gave greater pecuniary contributions to sustain that church and its ministers than any other man. He did much by his prayers, counsel, charities and example to sustain the cause of religion generally.
In November, 1854, he was elected Member of As- sembly for Orleans county, but his death prevented his taking his seat in the Legislature.
He married Miss Laura Goodrich of Auburn in 1826. He died November 28th, 1854.
THE LEE FAMILY.
Judge John Lee, the ancestor of this family and the man after whom the Lee Settlement in Barre was named, was born in Barre, Massachusetts, June 25th, 1763. In an early day he emigrated to Madison county, New York, where he resided fourteen years,
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and came to Barre, Orleans county in 1816, and took up a tract of land. He returned home, but his sons, Charles and Ora, then young men, came on and cleared up several acres of their fathers purchase, and built a log house into which Mr. John Lee and his family moved in February, 1817.
Mr. Lee was an intelligent, energetic man, benevo- lent and patriotic in his character, always among the first to engage in any work tending to premote the good of his neighbors or the prosperity of the country. With the hospitality common to all the pioneers, he kept open house to all comers and frequently half a dozen men looking after land or waiting till their log houses could be put up, would be quartered with him though his own family was large.
He was always conspicuous in aiding to lay out and open roads, build school houses and induce set- tlers to come in and stay. He was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Genesee county and his opinions and counsel in all matters of local interest were much sought by his neighbors. He died in October 1823.
His children were Dencey, wife of Benj. Godard. who died in Barre in 1831. Submit, wife of Judge Eldridge Farwell, who is still living. Charles, Ora and Asa. Sally wife of Andrew Stevens. She taught the first school kept in the settlement in a log school house in which the family of a Mr. Pierce then re- sided, in 1818-19. She died at Knowlesville in 1828. Esther wife of Gen. Wm. C. Tanner, died in 1835. John B. who died in September 1860. Clarissa wife of John Proctor, who died in 1832. Cynthia married William Mudgett of Yates, in 1837, she is now living the widow of John Proctor. Charles has always resided on a part of the land originally taken up by his father. He has always been a prominent man in
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public affairs in town and county, and was for a number of years a Justice of the Peace ..
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Ora Lee also has resided on a part of the land so taken up by his father. It is said he ent the first tree that was felled between the village of Millville in Shelby and the Oak Orchard Road in Barre. Gen. John B. Lee removed to Albion about the year 1832, and engaged in warehousing and forwarding on the canal. Shortly after this he purchased of the Hol- land Company a large number of outstanding con- tracts made by the Company with settlers on the sale of their lands in the north part of this county. He conveyed these lands to the purchasers as they were paid for.
A few years afterwards he engaged in selling dry goods in Albion. In a short time he left this and devoted himself mainly to buying and selling flour and grain, and in manufacturing flour during the re- mainder of his life. He took delight in military affairs, held various offices in the State militia, rising gradually to the rank of Brigadier-General.
ABRAHAM CANTINE.
Abraham Cantine was born in Marbletown, Ulster county. He volunteered as a soldier in the United States Army in the war with Great Britain, in 1812, and served as a Captain in the stirring scenes of that war on the Canadian frontier. He was wounded in the sortie at the battle of Fort Erie.
After the war he was discharged from the army and returned to Ulster county, of which he was ap- pointed Sheriff by the old Council of Appointment, in Feb. 1819. Soon after the expiration of his office as Sheriff, he removed to the town of Murray, in Or- leans county. He was employed about the year 1829, to re-survey that portion of the 100,000 aere tract ly- ing mainly in the town of Murray, which belonged to
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the Pultney estate, part of township number three, a labor he carefully and faithfully performed.
He represented the county of Orleans in the State Legislature in 1827. He served five years as an As- sociate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Or- leans county. He was Collector of Tolls on the Erie Canal at Albion in 1835.
Several years befor his death he removed to Albion to reside, and died there about Aug. 1, 1840, aged fifty years.
Judge Cantine was a clear headed man, of sound judgment, well informed and always sustained a high reputation for ability wherever he was known. He was a warm personal and political friend of Pres- ident VanBuren.
CAROLINE P. ACHILLES.
Daughter of Mr. Joseph Phipps, was born in Rome. New York. She was one in a numerous family of daughters, whose early education was superintended by her father with more than ordinary care at home. though she had the advantages of the best private schools and of the district schools in the vicinity .- While she was quite young her father settled in Bar- re, and at an early age she was permitted to gratify the ambition she then manifested and which has been a ruling passion of her life, to become a teacher, by taking a small district school, at a salary of one dol- lar per week 'and board around,' as was then cus- tomary in such schools. The salary, however, was no object to her, she wished to teach a school, not to make money. After teaching this school two or three terms, she attended the Gaines Academy then in the zenith of its prosperity. Having spent some time here she was sent to a 'finishing' Ladies School kept by Mrs. and Miss Nicholas, in Whitesboro, N. Y.
On leaving Whitesboro she determined to engage in
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teaching permanently and accepted a situation to in- struct as assistant, in a classical school which had been opened by two ladies in Albion.
Finally an arrangement was made between the two principals and their assistant, under which they trans- ferred their lease of premises, and all their interests in the school to Miss Phipps.
She now associated with an elder sister and the two commenced their labors as teachers on their own account, in a building then standing on the site of the present Phipps Union Seminary, in April, 1833.
Acting on a favorite theory with her, that it is bet- ter to teach boys and girls in separate schools, she di- vided her scholars accordingly, and after a time she declined to receive boys as pupils and devoted all her energies to her school for young ladies.
This proved a success. So many pupils had come in that in August of her first year, she had been join- ed by another and younger sister as teacher, besides a teacher in music and all found themselves fully employed.
She thus became convinced a Female Seminary could be supported in Albion and that she was ca- pable of superintending it, and encouraged by the counsel and influence of some of the best citizens of the village, she issued a circular to the public, an- nouncing the founding of such an institution of learn- ing here.
, After near a year's trial the new Seminary was proved to require additional buildings, to accommo- date the large school. Miss Phipps invited some of the most wealthy and influential men of Albion, to meet and hear her proposition to erect a new Semi- nary Building, which was in substance, that they should loan to her four thousand dollars. with which, and fund's she could otherwise procure, she would erect a building and repay the loan to the subscribers
PHIPPS UNION SEMINARY, ALBION, ORLEANS CO., N. Y.
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in installments, and thus establish permanently the Seminary she proposed.
Such proceedings were had upon this proposal that a paper was circulated, and the required sum sub- scribed, with a condition added that the avails of this loan to be repaid by Miss Phipps, should be used to found an Academy for boys in Albion. This plan was eventually carried into effect, and the brick edi- fice still used as a Seminary, built in the year 1836, and Phipps Union Seminary duly incorporated in 1840.
Miss Phipps was thus instrumental in founding two incorporated schools in Albion, which have proved of great public benefit.
Miss Phipps was married to Col. H. L. Achilles, of Rochester, N. Y., in February, 1839, and soon after resigning the care of the Seminary to her younger sis- ter, she removed to Boston, Mass., where she resided the succeeding ten years. During this time this younger sister married, when the Seminary was trans- ferred to others, less competent to manage its affairs, in whose hands it lost the large patronage it had re- ceived, and was well nigh ruined.
This compelled Mr. and Mrs. Achilles to return to Albion, in 1849, and resume charge of the Seminary, or lose a large pecuniary interest they had invested there.
The tact and energy of Mrs. Achilles, well sustain- ed by her husband, gave new vigor to the institution, and soon brought the Seminary back to the high standing it had under her former administration.
Tired and worn down by the harrassing cares, anx- ieties and labor of superintending so large an estab- lishment and school, so many years, in 1866 Mrs. Achilles reluctantly consented to transfer her dearly cherished Seminary again to strangers.
After three years' trial by these parties however, it
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was thought best that Mrs. Achilles should again take charge of Phipps Union Seminary, which she did, bringing with her to her duties the skill, experience and practical ability which have given her such emi- nent success as a teacher.
Mrs. Achilles has devoted the best years of her life to the cause of female education. She has labored in her chosen vocation, with the zeal and enthusiasm of genius, and may enjoy her reward in the good she knows she has done, and in the success with which she sees her work has been crowned.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE VILLAGE OF ALBION.
First Inhabitants-First Business Men-Strife with Gaines for Court House-Strategy used by Albion men to get Court House-First Court House-Second Court House -- County Jail-First Hotel- First Warehouse-Stone Flouring Mill-Lawyers-Drs. Nichoson and White-First Tanyard-First Blacksmiths-Name of the Vil- lage.
AK Orchard Road intersects this village and now forms Main Street, north and south, in the center of the place. It was this road and the Erie Canal that fixed a village here.
When the canal was commenced Albion was used for farms, but by the time the canal became naviga- ble considerable of a town had sprung up.
William McCollister cleared the first land on what is now in the corporation, where the Court House and Female Seminary stand, and built his log house on the Seminary lot in 1812. He took up lot thirty-five, township fifteen, range one, on the east side of Main street, under article from the Holland Company, which he sold to William Bradner, who took the deed from the company of two hundred and sixty-six and one-half acres of the north part, his brother Joel taking a deed of ninety-two acres on the south part, on the west side of Main street.
Jesse Bumpus took up by article from the compa- ny, the land from the town line of Gaines on the north, to near State street on the south. John Holtzbarger, vor Holsenburgh, as he was sometimes called, took up
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the next land south of Bumpus, and Elijah Darrow" took the next.
Before the canal was made Mr. William Bradner - sold one hundred acres of the north-west part of his tract to Nehemiah Ingersoll and others. Mr. Inger- soll employed Orange Risden to lay out his land bor- dering on the Oak Orchard Road and canal, into vil- lage lots, and to make a plat of the same. From this Mr. Ingersoll sold lots and opened the streets, he hav. ing bought out his partners.
The Bumpus tract, on the west side of Main street, at this time was owned by Mr. Roswell Burrows, the . father of Messrs. R. S. & L. Burrows. He did not lay out his land into village lots by any general sur- vey and plan, but laid off lots and opened streets, from time to time as the wants of the public required. The land fronting on Main street, through the village, was taken up and mostly occupied by purchasers. from the original proprietors, about the time the canal was made navigable.
The location of the County Seat in Albion, about this time, and the bustle and business of erecting county buildings, establishing the courts and public of- fices and organizing the affairs of a new county, town and village, brought in an influx of inhabitants at once, representing the different callings and employ- ments pursued by those who settled in villages along the canal.
The south side of the canal-the north being the towing path-was soon occupied by buildings put up for the canal trade, such as warehouses and gro- cery stores. The large number of passengers who filled the canal boats, made the grocery stores, from which they and the boatmen procured their supplies, places of lively trade, by night and day. Variety stores, each filled with goods of every name, class and.
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·description demanded by the customers, were numer- ous, though small.
Among the first merchants were Goodrich & Stan- dart, John Tucker, O. H. Gardner, R. S. & L. Bur- rows, Alderman Butts, and Freeman Clarke, of late years a prominent banker in Rochester, N. Y.
When the Commissioners appointed to select the site for the Court House came on to fix the spot, their choice lay between Gaines and Albion. Gaines had the advantage of being the largest village, being on the Ridge Road, and being well supplied with me- chanics and merchants, and of having many of the institutions of old and well organized communities es- tablished there. Albion was nearest the geographical center of the county, and was intersected by the Erie Canal and Oak Orchard Road. The west branch of Sandy Creek runs through the east part of the vil- lage. Rising in some swamps in the south part of the town, it afforded sufficient water after the melting of the snow in spring, and after rains to turn ma- chinery a part of the year, but in summer was nearly dry. On this stream two saw mills had been built, one in the village, the other south of it.
The Commissioners came to consider the claims of the rival villages about the middle of the dry season. Mr. Nehemiah Ingersoll, Philetus Bumpus, Henry Henderson, and a few other Albion men, determined to use a little strategy to help Albion. Knowing when the Commissioners would be here the creek would be too low to move the sawmills, and foresee- ing the advantage a good mill stream would give them, they patched the two dams and flumes and closed the gates to hold all the water some days be- fore the Commissioners would arrive ; sent some teams to haul logs and lumber about the saw mill and mill yard, in the village to mark the ground and give the appearance of business there.
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When the Commissioners came to see Albion. . having been generously dined and wined by its hospi- table people, they were taken in a carriage to see the · place, and in the course of the ride driven along the creek and by the sawmill, then in full operation, with men and teams at work among the lumber, with a good supply of water from the ponds thus made for the occasion. The Commissioners were impressed with the importance of this fine water power and gave the county buildings to Albion before the ponds . ran out.
Mr. Ingersoll donated to the county the grounds now occupied by the court house and jail and public park.
The first court house was built in 1827, of brick, with the County Clerk's office in the lower story. Gilbert Howell, Calvin Smith and Elihu Mather were building committee.
This Court House was pulled down and a new one erected in its place in 1857-8, at a cost of $20,000. W. V. N. Barlow was the architect, and Lyman Bates, Henry A. King and Charles Baker, building com- mittee.
The present jail was built in 1838, and the clerk's . office in 1836.
The first hotel was kept on the south-west corner of Main and Canal streets, by - - Churchill. The next hotel, called Albion Hotel, was built by Philetus .. Bumpus about twenty rods south of the canal on the . west side of Main street, and kept several years by Bumpus & Howland, succeeded by Hiram Sickles. . Mr. Bumpus then built the Mansion House, a hotel standing on the north side of the canal, on Main St., which he kept several years.
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