USA > New York > Orleans County > Pioneer history of Orleans County, New York, containing some account of the civil divisions of western New York > Part 16
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NATHAN SHELLEY.
Nathan Shelley was born in Hartford, Washington , county, N. Y., March 17th, 1798. In May, 1812, .. with his father's family he removed to Gaines. His; father settled on the Ridge Road, two miles west of the village of Gaines.
War with Great Britain was declared soon after he . arrived. After the defeat of the Americans at Queenstown, in October, 1812, many of the inhabi- - tants on the frontier retired eastward, and Mr. Shelley took his family and went with them, but returned in : December after.
Nathan Shelley married Dorcas Tallman, May 21st, 1820. She was born in Washington county, N. Y., - August 4th, 1795.
In 1821, he took up and settled part of lot forty -.. five, township fifteen, range two, on which he has ever since resided.
His first log house had but one room, only four . lights of glass, and a bedquilt for an outside door,. when he moved into it to reside in the the winter . of 1821-2.
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Beginning poor, by a life of steady industry and. prudence he became a wealthy farmer.
THE BULLARD FAMILY.
This somewhat numerous family in Gaines, are de- scendants of David Bullard, who was born in Ded- ham, Massachusetts, in 1761. He removed to Ver- mont, where he resided until September, 1814, when he removed to Gaines, N. Y., bringing with him as many of his children as had not gone' there before. He first settled upon lot twenty-three. a little west of the village of Gaines, north of the Ridge, on a farm which had been taken up by his son William. After a year or two he removed south of the Ridge,- upon lot twenty-one-a farm now owned by his som Brigadier, where he resided until his death in June,. 1831.
He married Elizabeth Hadley. His children were. William. who married Nellie Loveland. Polly mar- ried William Woohnan. They settled in 1811, in Gaines, on the farm afterwards owned by Phineas Rowley. JJudith married John Witherell. They set- tled north of the Ridge, next east of Oliver Booth. Olive married James Bartlett. Betsey married Fred- erick Holsenburgh. Nancy married Samuel Scovill. Sally married Arba Chubb. David married Elvira Murwin. Brigadier married Lovina Parker. Ran- som married Lydia Buck.
William, Judith and Brigadier settled in Gaines in: February, 1812. William Bullard died in September, 1861.
THE BILLINGS FAMILY.
Joseph Billings, Sr., the ancestor of this family, was born in Somers, Connecticut, and settled in Che- nango county, New York, where he resided until; his death.
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He purchased of Isaac Bennett a large quantity of land in Gaines, which Mr. Bennett had taken by article from the Land Company, which he afterwards divided among his sons, Joseph, Timothy, and Lau- ren. Joseph and Timothy settled on this land in 1817. and Lauren in 1822.
Joseph Billings married Charlotte Drake. His chil- dren, are J. Drake Billings, who married Melinda Shaw. Myron married Phebe Bement. Clinton married Esther Murdock. 3 Harlow married Adeline King. William II. married Sarah Everett. Clarissa married Elijah B. Lattin. Helen married John Lattin.
Timothy Billings married Betsey Bidwell. His children were Newton and Sanford, who died in early manhood, and Pomeroy, who died in childhood.
Lauren Billings married Roxana C. Rexford. His children are, Karthalo R., who married Catharine Murdock. Pomeroy O., who married Harriet Thomp- SON. Loverna C. married Norman A. Beecher. L. Dwight. Simeon R. married Carrie E. Gray. JJoseph F. married Josephine Eldridge.
Joseph, Timothy, and Lauren Billings, occupied adjoining farms, which they cleared and improved. Joseph and Lauren were each Justices of the Peace in Gaines for a number of years.
Lauren was a Colonel in the State Militia. Joseph was Supervisor of Gaines from 1837, to 1841, inclui- sive.
Joseph Billings died December 10, 1866. Timothy Billings died May 10th, 1837.
ARBA CHUBB.
Arba Chubb was born in Poultney, Vt .. Septem- ber 18th, 1791.
He married Emily Frisbie, October 17. 1813. Feb- ruary 20th, 1816, they started to move to Gaines, N.
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Y., on a wagon, and arrived there after being twenty days on the road.
He bought a farm lying between the Ridge and Gaines Basin, and resided there until 1832, when he moved to Gaines Basin and bought a warehouse there and carried on business as a dealer in produce, and sold goods until 1840, when he moved to Gaines vil- lage, and from thence to Michigan, in 1856.
His first wife died in 1829. For a second wife he married Sally, daughter of David Bullard, of Gaines.
In 1821, Mr. Chubb was appointed by the Council Justice of the Peace. He was after that elected Jus- tice by the people of Gaines, and held the office thirty-three years, a vacation of one year only occur- ring during that time.
After moving to Michigan he was elected Justice of the Peace from time to time, until in the whole he served in that office 47 years. No man has held the office of Justice of the Peace in Orleans county as long as Esquire Chubb. He also held every other town office but constable, and every office in the militia, from Corporal to Major, inclusive. He was for some time postmaster in Gaines, and Member of Assembly from Orleans county, for the year 1848.
Esquire Chubb describes a lawsuit tried before him soon after he was elected Justice, which occa- sioned him great trouble at the time. He gave the following account of it :
"Orange Butler was on one side, and a young lawyer named Capen, from Albion. on the other. I think they planned to give me a sweat. The plaintiff put in his declaration. The defendant demurred. Plaintiff put in a rejoinder. The defendant a surre- joinder. The plaintiff a rebutter. The defendant a surrebutter.
About all this special pleading I knew nothing. 1
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supposed, however, they would ask me to make a special decision ; but what the decision should be, I knew no more than the biggest fool alive. There I sat, the sweat rolling down my face, inwardly cursing the day I was appointed Justice, and my folly in accepting an office I knew nothing about.
I think the lawyers saw my trouble, had pity on me and helped me out as well as they could, and went on and tried the case."
Esquire Chubb resides at Ionia, Michigan, and is now (1871) serving in his old office of Justice of the Peace.
THE ANDERSON FAMILY.
The ancestors of this family originally emigrated from Scotland to Ireland, and thence to Londonderry, New Hampshire, at an early day.
John Anderson, the ancestor of most of the families of his name in Gaines, was born in Londonderry, Aug. 31, 1757. He was a soldier in the Revolution, fought at Bunker Hill, and was at the taking of Ticonderoga under Ethan Allen. He married Jane Archibald in Londonderry, Feb. 7, 1782, and settled in Ira, Rut- land county Vermont, in the same year. He repre- sented this town in the State Legislature eight or ten years in succession. His children were : Ann, Jane, John, Robert, Matthew, Betsey, Thomas A., Marga- ret, Nancy, Eli B. and Samuel F., all of whom were early settlers in Gaines, except Betsey, who died in Malone, N. Y. January 11, 1813.
John Anderson, senior, moved with his family to Gaines in 1821, and located on lot twenty-nine, town- ship fifteen, range two, on the north side of the Ridge road, where he died October 22, 1827. He was a man of very great physical strength, of good intellect, energetic and persistent in his character. One of his rules of action was : Do what duty requires and
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Conscience approves as right, without fear. Indeed he never showed fear of anything. Many instances are recollected of his cool and determined courage in cases of danger. In several conflicts he had with bears, he performed exploits as hazardous and full of daring, as Gen. Putnam's battle with the wolf.
One evening while he lived in Ira, dogs treed a bear not far from his residence. A number of men were present, but they had no gun. Mr. Anderson told them to build a fire around the tree and keep the bear up it until morning, and then he would go up and drive him down. The fire was made. Next morning Anderson armed with a club, climbed the tree to the bear thirty feet from the ground, and crept out on the limb on which he had retreated.
Disregarding the growls and bristling of the feroci- ous creature, Mr. Anderson went within reach and aimed a blow at its head with his club which the bear warded off and knocked the club to the ground. Nothing daunted, Mr. Anderson descended, got twe clubs, and again went up the tree to the bear. Taking a club in each hand, he made motions to strike with his left hand, and when the bears attention was at- tracted to these, he struck him a terrible blow on the head with the other elub, which knocked the body of the beast off the limb, leaving him hanging by his fore paws. A blow or two on his claws loosened their hold, and the bear was killed by the men be- low when he struck the ground.
Another time while he lived in Vermont. being in the woods, he saw a bear coming towards him. Con- cealing himself in bushes on a steep place, he lay in ambush, and the bear passed him so near that with a spring he rushed upon him, and armed only with a stone, pounded his head until he killed him.
Ann Anderson married Daniel Gates of Rutland. Vermont, moved to Gaines in 1811, and settled.
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on lot twenty-nine, township fifteen, range two. After a few years he sold this farm and removed to a farm in Carlton, where he died January 31. 1858. Mrs. Ann Gates died January 1, 1866. Two of her sons, John and N. F. Gates, now reside in Carlton, and another Matthew A. Gates, resides in Yates.
Jane Anderson married Phineas Rowley, of Rut- land, Vermont, moved to Gaines in 1817, and settled on lot thirty, township fifteen, range one. They both died several years since. Two of their sons. John and Andrew JJ. Rowley, are yet living in Gaines.
Margaret Anderson married John Farnham Jan. 22, 1818. They removed to Gaines, Oct., 1824, and settled on lot forty, township fifteen, range two. John Farn- ham was born in Poultney. Vt., February 26, 1795, and died November 3, 1841. Margaret Farnham died in May. 1868.
Nancy Anderson married Solomon Kingsley in Ver- mont and moved to Orleans county about 1819. They removed to Michigan in 1835 and died there.
John Anderson, Jr., was born in Ira, Vermont, Sept. 12, 1785. He settled in Gaines on lot twenty- two, township fifteen, range two, in 1810.
At the first town meeting held in Ridgeway. April 6, 1813, he was elected Overseer of the Poor. He was a man of positive character, a great lover of truth. withdrawing his confidence from the man who failed to keep his promises.
A neighbor owed him twelve shillings, which he promised to pay in a few days. Mr. Anderson re- plied he hoped he would, that it was worth a shilling to dun a man any time. In a few days the neighbor met him, spoke of his debt and renewed his promise to pay.
As they met occasionally afterwards, the debtor would dun himself, but paid nothing, till one day having repeated his acknowledgement and promise.
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Mr. Anderson took out a shilling and handed him, saying, " Here is a shilling for you, we are now even. I have given you credit on account one shilling each time you have dunned yourself for me and broken your promise. Your credits balance your debt and one shilling over, which I have paid you. It is settled, don't speak to me about it again.
Eli B. Anderson was married in Poultney, Vermont, removed to Gaines with his father. and resided with him until his death, and occupied the same place six or eight years after his death. when he removed to Michigan.
Samuel F. Anderson moved to Gaines with his fath- er, being then about righteen years old. In 1836 he married Miss Mahala Phipps of Albion, and removed to Cassopolis, Michigan where he still resides. He has represented his county several years in the State Legislature and been Judge of County Courts.
Matthew Anderson moved to Gaines in 1816 and took an article of part of lot twenty-seven, township fifteen, range two, since known as the " Hunter Farm" a little north of Eagle Harbor, now owned by C. A. Danolds and S. W. Kneeland. He cleared some land and built a log house on his farm. He died Septem- ber 30, 1816. In 1814 or 1815, he represented the town of Ira in the Vermont Legislature. He was Captain of a company of militia, which under his command volunteered and went to meet the British at Plattsburgh in the war of 1812.
Hon. Robert Anderson was born in the town of Ira, Vermont, April 21, 1787.
In June, 1807, he was elected Lieutenant in the militia. In October 1812 he was appointed Justice of the Peace in Rutland. He went with a company of volunteers to fight the British at Plattsburgh in the war of 1812.
In November 1812, he came to Gaines and bought
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an article for 150 acres, part of lot 22, township fifteen, range two, to which he moved his family in 1816, and where he has ever since resided. Two younger broth- ers, Matthew and Dr. Thomas A. Anderson and their families came. on at the same time from Vermont. The Dr. drove a two horse lumber wagon, which carried the women and children of the party, the other two men drove each a team of two yoke of oxen drawing a wagon laden with their goods, with a cow led behind each team.
They arrived in Gaines March 25th. having been twenty- five days on the road.
On arriving in Gaines, Robert Anderson moved into the log house the logs for which were cut by Mrs. Noah Burgess in 1809. It was roofed with elm dark and had a floor of split basswood in most ap- proved pioneer style. The next year he built a small tramed house and lived in that.
In the summer of 1821, David Whipple and wife, parents of Mrs. Robert Anderson, came to Gaines from Vermont to visit their children. They rode in a one horse wagon with bolsters and box lumber style, covered with cloth over hoops. The seat was a chair wide as the box. splint bottomed, the posts standing on the steel springs of a wolf trap. This was prob- ably the first wheel carriage rigged with steel springs that run in Orleans county, and was much admired for its novelty ond convenience.
Mr. Anderson and his wife started with her parents on their return to Vermont, to visit friends on the way. They went as far as Brighton, where she was taken sick and died. The death of his wife and the sick- ness prevailing in the country, with which he was attacked, so disheartened him he offered his farm for sale, and would have sold at almost any price, but no purchaser appearing and his health having im- proved. he concluded to stay. In August 1822, he
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married his second wife. Miss Roxana Lamb, of Bridgewater, Vermont, who died March 27, 1837.
In 1840, he rented his farm to his eldest son and only surviving child. Nahum Anderson, to whom in a few years after he sold it, reserving the right to live in his family during life.
. In . 1817, he was elected Lieutenant of a militia company in Gaines, and resigned at the end of a year. The same year he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, which office he held until the winter of 1822. In that winter, he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Genesee county, an office he held over two years and resigned. In the spring of 1818, he was elected Supervisor of the town of Gaines. an office to which he was annually elected as long as the town of Gaines belonged to Genesee county. After Orleans county was organized. he was elected the first Supervisor from that town, to serve in the first Board sitting in the new county, in 1826, by whom he was appointed Chairman, in consequence of his experience as a Supervisor.
In the session of 1822, he served as a member of the State Legislature, being one of three representa- tives sent from the county of Genesee.
Judge Anderson was never ambitious to hold public offices, generally taking office only when it was of- fered him without his asking, and resigning the first proper opportunity. He was regarded as a man of sound judgment. honest and faithful, and shared largely in the confidence of all who knew him.
For some years past he has lived quietly, retired from the cares of business, possessing a competence of property acquired by his own exertions, happy in the society of his many friends, enjoying a pleasant home.
Dr. Thomas A. Anderson, son of John Anderson, senior, was born in Ira, Vt .. May 14th, 1792. He
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married Sarah Whipple of Malone, N., Y., and moved to Gaines, as above stated, in 1816, and located at Fair Haven, or Proctor's Corners, in the town of Gaines, where he practiced his profession for some time in company with Dr. Truman S. Shaw, who af- terwards practiced in Knowlesville, and Yates, and died a few years since in Medina, Orleans county, N. Y.
Dr. Anderson had practiced medicine several years in Rutland, Vermont, before coming to Gaines. He was esteemed a skillful physician, and had as much business as he could do. He was constitutionally feeble, never had good health, and died September 2d, 1829, leaving one child only, a daughter, now wife of S. Dewey Walbridge, of Rochester, N. Y. His wife died April 22d, 1829.
MOSES BACON.
Moses Bacon was born April 5, 1787, in Burlington, Hartford county, Conn. He was a farmer.
About the year 1809, he came to Gaines and took an article from the Holland Land Company of two hundred acres of land on the south part of lot thirty- seven, township fifteen, range one. He worked for the Land Company opening the Oak Orchard road the summer of that year, to apply towards paying for his land, and returned to Connecticut in the fall. The next spring he came back and commenced work upon his land as a permanent settler.
In December, 1813, he went in Captain MeCarty's company to the defence of the frontier, and in his charge upon the British and Indians at Molyneaux tavern, in Cambria, on that occasion Mr. Bacon was present and did good execution.
In January, 1814, he married Miss Sarah Downer. In September of that year he was called out with the
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men on this frontier generally, to aid in repelling the British and Indians in the war with Great Britain. He was in the battle of Fort Erie, in which he was shot through the neck and taken prisoner by the British, who carried him to Halifax, where he suffered greatly under the cruel treatment of the officers who had the American prisoners under their charge. The next year he was discharged, the war having closed, and returned home broken in constitution from the hardships of his wound and imprisonment, and with a cough contracted in Halifax from which he never recovered, and for which he drew a pension from the United States ever afterwards.
Mr. Bacon sold the east part of his farm to his brother Hosea, and the north part to his brother Elias, reserving one hundred acres for himself. Upon this place he lived until his death, which occurred June 28th, 1848.
SAMUEL BIDELMAN.
Samuel Bidelman was born in Manheim, Herkimer county, N. Y., June 29th, 1806. His grandparents both came to America from Germany, before the revolutionary war, and settled on the Mohawk river. In that war his grandfather's buildings were burned by the Indians, and his family narrowly escaped massacre by flying to the block house fort for pro- tection.
His father, Henry Bidelman, came to Shelby in 1816, and bought an article for one hundred acres of land of John Timmerman. In January, 1817, he came to Shelby with a part of his children, leaving his wife and other children in Herkimer county until he could prepare a place for them. He was eleven days on the journey.
In July, 1817, John Garloek, brother-in-law of
16
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PIONEER HISTORY
Henry Bidelman, brought on Mrs. Bidelman and the remainder of her children, and with their other load- ing he brought three bags of flour. This was the next year after the cold season, and the neighborhood was destitute of flour ; some of the inhabitants had not even seen wheat bread for weeks, having lived in that time, as far as bread was concerned, on bran bread and some sea biscuit-"hard tack," which they procured from the Arsenal at Batavia, which had been stored there to feed the soldiers in the war of 1812.
It was a custom then when a new family arrived. for all the settlers for miles around to come together and give them a greeting. Such a surprise party waited on the Bidelmans, and after they had broken up and gone home, Mr. Bidelman found he had only a part of one bag of his flour left out of the three brought on by Garlock, as each family of the visitors must of course take home a little. Part of one bag of flour only for a family of twelve hungry persons to live on under the circumstances, looked as if the end was near.
These sea biscuit furnished material for much talk, as well as some food for the people. Mr. Joseph Snell, who was something of a wag, reported that a Mr. Simons, who resided a little south from Mr. Bid- elman, got some of the biscuit and ate too freely of them ; that they had swelled in his stomach and had burst him. He said his attendants tied hankerchiefs and straps around him, and did the best they could to make him contain himself, but without success : he burst and died, and was to be buried at a time specified. Several persons went to attend the funeral before they understood the hoax.
The first year after he came to Shelby, Mr. H. Bid- elman took some land of D. Timmerman which lay about a mile from his house, to plant with corn on
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
shares. In hoeing time, in the long days in June, he would get his boys together, Samuel being then about twelve years old, get them a breakfast of bran bread and milk and say to them, " now boys you can go and hoe corn, and when you get so tired and hun- gry you can't stand it any longer, come home and we will try and get you something to eat again. This was the way they fared before uncle Garlock came with flour.
The cold season of 1816 cut off the erops, and there was but little to be had to eat. Flour was worth fifteen dollars a barrel in Rochester, wheat three dol- lars a bushel here, and no money to buy it with. But crops were good in 1817, and as soon as the farmers began to raise wheat, and about 1820 and 1821, as there was no way to get wheat to market, the price fell to twenty-five cents a bushel. Articles of wearing apparel were enormously dear. Cotton cloth was worth fifty cents a yard.
In 1818, Mr. H. Bidelman chopped and cleared off' six acres of land for A. A. Ellicott, for which he ob- tained flour for his family for that season. He cleared five acres for Elijah Bent, a little South of Medina village, for which he received in payment one-third of the pork of a hog that weighed three hundred pounds in all ; that is, abont one hundred pounds of pork cost twenty dollars, paid for in such hard work. So they managed to live along until they could raise something of their own to live on.
About this time young Samuel, being then twelve or thirteen years old, and his brother William two years older, got disgusted with Western New York and agreed to run away back to the Mohawk country. fearing they would starve to death if they remained here. They did not go however.
In the year 1820, May 20th. barefoot, with an old straw hat, a pair of tow cloth pantaloons and a
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second hand coat on, Samuel Bidelman started on foot and alone for Ridgeway Corners, to learn the trade of tanning and currying leather, and shoemaking, of Isaac A. Bullard, who carried on that business there.
Before that time he had lived in Dutch settlements, and could but imperfectly speak, or understand the English language.
Mr. Bullard's tanning then amounted to about fifty hides a year, but gradually increased to about one hundred hides a year while Samuel lived with him. When he had been about three and a half years with Mr. Bullard, they had some difficulty and Samuel left him and went to his father. The difficulty was set- tled and Samuel was bound as apprentice to stay with Mr. Bullard until he was of age, and he went back and remained.
Bullard was addicted to strong drink, which made him rather a hard master to his apprentice. He died April 9th, 1827.
After Mr. Bullard's death his wife carried on the business he had left, and Mr. Bidelman worked for her by the month six months, and then bought out the tanyard and dwelling house and carried on the busi- ness on his own account.
May 17th, 1829, he married Eliza Prussia. She was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, of German parentage.
At Ridgeway Mr. Bidelman tanned about seventy- five hides a year. He kept two journeymen, made leather and carried on shoemaking. Stoga boots were worth four dollars a pair, coarse shoes two dol- lars. Boots were not so generally worn as now. Tanner's bark, hemlock, was worth one dollar and fifty cents a cord.
.
In the spring of 1835, Mr. Bidelman sold his place in Ridgeway, retaining possession until the next Oc-
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