USA > New York > Orleans County > Pioneer history of Orleans County, New York, containing some account of the civil divisions of western New York > Part 18
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HENRY DRAKE.
Henry Drake was born in New Jersey, April 6th, 1770. He settled in Gaines in March, 1811. In 1812. he built a dam on Otter Creek, a few rods north of the Ridge, in Gaines, on which he erected a sawmill, which was the first sawmill built within the present town of Gaines.
Mr. Drake learned the clothier's trade in his youth. but followed farming as his business in life. He married Betsey Parks, in New Jersey. She died
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April 16th, 1843. Mr. Drake died December 25th, 1863, at the age of almost 94 years.
SIMEON DUTCHIER.
Simeon Dutcher was born in Dover, Dutchess Co., N. Y., April 21st, 1772. For fifteen years after ar- riving at manhood he labored as a millwright, a trade he assumed without serving any regular apprentice- ship. He then commenced preaching and was or- dained an Elder in the Baptist denomination. In the year 1817, Elder Dutcher removed with his family to Carlton, New York, and in 1820 he removed to the town of Gaines, where he resided until he died. The primary object he had in coming to the Holland Pur- chase was to preach and serve as a missionary among the people, the Baptists having no church organiza- tion in Orleans county.
The people were few, poor and scattered, and Elder Dutcher never received much pay for his ministerial labors, but supported his family mostly by working a farm. He used to preach in several neighboring towns in the log cabins of settlers, or in the school houses after such were erected. And for several years he officiated at nearly all the marriages and fu- nerals in this part of the country.
The first framed meeting house erected in Orleans county was built in the village of Gaines by a stock company, who sold the slips to whom they could, on the condition that the house should be used by different denominations, and it was so used.
A Baptist church was organized at Gaines in 1816, under the pastoral care of Elder Dutcher, to whom he preached until 1827, when the anti-masonic excite- ment prevailed in his church. Elder Dutcher, who was a Free Mason, was required to renounce Freema- sonry. He declined to do so and was excommunica- ted, and dismissed from his church.
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
In the later years of his life Elder Dutcher professed to be a universalist in religious sentiment. He was always regarded as a good man and was much be- loved by the early settlers. He died January 22d, 1860.
HON. WILLIAM J. BABBITT.
William J. Babbitt was born in Providence, Rhode Island, September 1786. He learned the blacksmiths trade of his father and worked at that business main- ly until he came to reside in Gaines, where he had a small shop and occasionally worked at his trade for several years. In the year 1812, he took up the farmi on which he ever afterwards resided, part of lot thirty. township fifteen, range one, and moved his family there in 1813.
For many years after Mr. Babbitt settled in Gaines no professional lawyer had come into what is now Orleans county. The people however would in- dulge occasionally in a lawsuit, and Mr. Babbitt be- ing a good talker, and a man of more than common shrewdness, they frequently employed him to try their cases in their justices' courts. He improved under his practice until he became the most noted "pettifogger" north of the Tonawanda Swamp, and whichever of the litigants secured the services of Esq. Babbitt, was quite sure to win his case. He was active in getting the town of Gaines set off from Ridgeway in the winter of 1816, and July 1st of the same year, on his application a postoffice was estab- lished in Gaines and he was appointed postmaster, which office he held five years. This was the first postoffice and he was the first postmaster in Gaines.
In 1831-2 he represented Orleans county in the As- sembly of the State. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace by the council of appointment in 1815, and reappointed from time to time until the elections to
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that office were given to the people under the consti- tution, when he was elected by the people holding the office of Justice of the Peace in Gaines, in all 23 years.
He was several times Supervisor of his town, and held various other town offices from time to time. He took pleasure in serving in official and fiduciary positions, and was largely gratified in this particular by his fellow citizens.
He was remarkable for promptness in keeping en- gagements. Late in life he was heard to say he was never behind set time in being present in any legal proceeding to be had before him. He acquired a character for uncompromising fidelity in business matters, and by a life of industry and economy laid np a large property.
He died July 20th, 1863.
He married Eunice Losey, June 27th 1810. She died April 4th, 1867.
GIDEON FREEMAN.
Gideon Freeman was born in Stillwater, Saratoga county, January 11th, 1787. About 1799, he moved with his father to Ledyard, Cayuga county, and in March 1812, he settled northwest of what is called Long Bridge, and took up the southwest section of land now in the town of Gaines. He was the first settler in this locality south of the Ridge, and founder of what was for many years known as "Freeman Settlement."
He cleared up a large farm and carried on a large business as a farmer. His son, Chester Freeman, now of Barre, relates that in the cold season of 1816, his father planted forty acres to corn, which was a total failure. He had a large stock of hogs that year which he expected to fatten on his corn, from the loss of which, having nothing to feed them, many of them
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
starved to death in the next fall and winter. He had a large stock of cattle at that time and but little food for them.
Mr. Freeman chopped over nearly fifty acres of woods to browse his cattle in the winter of 1816-17, cutting down all trees suitable for that purpose, and losing only about six of his cattle from starvation. Mr. Freeman owned a part of the section lying next east of his home farm. On that land one year he sowed forty acres to wheat, which grew very large. At harvest time he measured off one acre of his field and cut and cleaned the wheat on it, getting fifty-five bushels of wheat on that acre.
Mr. Freeman was a liberal, generous man, and la- bored hard to induce settlers to come in and to open the country to inhabitants. He sustained some large losses in his business and became insolvent, finally losing all his land. He removed to Ypsilanti, Mich- gan, where he died in 1832.
Mr. Levi Atwell, Joseph Stoddard and Reuben Clark were among those who moved into the Freeman settlemen soon after it was commenced.
CHESTER FREEMAN.
Chester Freeman, son of Gideon Freeman, was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, August 18th, 1807. He married Eliza Chidester in 1835. She died in March, 1848, and October 30th, 1849, he married Amanda Morris. He has resided on lot thirty-one, in township fourteen range two, in Barre, since 1842. He came into Orleans county with his father in 1812.
DANIEL PRATT.
Daniel Pratt was born in Westmoreland, Oneida county, N. Y., March 25th, 1788. He married Polly Bailey, August, 1809, and moved to Gaines and set-
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tled on the Ridge in the spring of 1810. His wife, Polly, died August 30th, 1812. He married Caroline Smith, January Sth, 1815.
He went east during the war of 1812 and remained two years, then returned to his farm, on which he labored until his death, October 7th, 1845. Mrs. Caroline Pratt, died September 18th, 1831.
The first wheat sold by Mr. Pratt was taken on an ox sled by him to Rochester, and sold for twenty- five cents a bushel.
Mr. Pratt was a man of quiet habits, trusty and faithful. He was much respected by his acquaintan- ces.
He was Town Clerk of Gaines for many years and held the office of Overseer of the Poor a long time.
DANIEL BROWN.
Daniel Brown was born in Columbia county, N. Y., June 15th, 1787. He removed with his father's fami- ly to Upper Canada, in the year 1800. He resided in Canada during the war 1812. He experienced much trouble in consequence of his refusal to bear arms in that war against his native country. He was in- dicted and tried for treason and acquitted. In Janu- ary, 1816, he removed to the town of Gaines and set- tled one mile north-east from Albion.
Mr. Brown has established an enviable character for integrity among his acquaintances, and has been honored and respected.
He was Supervisor of the town of Gaines in 1844, and has held various other town offices.
He married Mary Willsea, in Canada, in the year 1807.
Mr. Brown is still living.
WILLIAM W. RUGGLES.
Win. W. Ruggles was born in Hardwick, Massa-
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
chusetts, January 1st, 1800. His father, Seth Rug- gles, removed with his family in 1804 to Poultney. Vermont, where Wm. W. labored on a farm until he was eighteen years old. He then entered the office of Judge Williams, at Salem, N. Y., as a student at law. Here he studied law eight months in the year, teaching school winters. He closed his preparatory law study with Chief Justice Savage, at Albany. Having been admitted to the bar, he came to Albion and formed a partnership with Judge Moody, which was soon dissolved.
He removed to Gaines in 1824, and began the prac- tice of his profession there.
In the contest between Gaines and Albion for the county buildings, he took an active part for his vil- lage.
He aided in founding Gaines Academy and the Farmers Bank of Orleans, at Gaines.
He exerted himself to have the New York Central Railroad located along the Ridge, and used his influ- ence in favor of the building of Niagara Suspension Bridge, and was a stockholder in that company.
In his profession as a lawyer he was diligent and successful. He held the offices of Master in Chancey, Supreme Court Commissioner, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Justice of the Peace and various other town offices. He was several times the candi- date of the Democratic party for the State Legisla- ture, but failed of an election as his party was large- ly in the minority.
Judge Ruggles had a enltivated mind, enriched by studious habits of life. He was particularly fond of Astronomy, on which he left some lectures in manu- script, written by him.
In the autumn of 1849 he went to Chicago, intend- ing to reside and practice law there, but having taken cold while on his voyage around the lake, he was
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compelled to return to Gaines sick, and never re- covered, dying at Gaines, April 22d, 1850.
He spent a year surveying government land in Michigan, when General Cass was Governor, where he contracted fever and ague, from which he suffered over afterwards.
He married Miss Ann Davis, daughter of Dea. Perry Davis, of Gaines, in 1827. She died Aug. 20th, 1846, He left three children, William Oakley, now a broker in New York : Henry C., a Civil Engineer in Cincin- natti, Ohio; and Helen, who married Mr. Fred Boott, and resides in Gaines.
EAGLE HIARBOR.
Eagle Harbor, a thriving village on the Erie Canal, in the town of Gaines, is said to have been so named because a large bird's nest was found in a tree grow- ing there about the time the canal was surveyed, sup- posed to have been built by an eagle.
The land on which the village is built was for a number of years at first held under articles from the Holland Company.
Harvey Smith took a deed of eighty acres on the south-east corner of lot thirty-six, November 1, 1819. Stephen N. Chubb took a deed of fifty-three acres next north, September 6th, 1834, and Macy Pratt, of one hundred and thirty-eight acres north of Chubb, November 29th, 1819.
On the East side, Asahel Fitch took a deed of one hundred twenty-five acres, part of lot twenty- six, February 20th, 1821. James Mather took a deed of two hundred aeres next north of Fitch, No- vember 27th, 1829; and Robert Hunter, one hun- dred and seventy-six aeres next north of Mather, January 31st, 1828.
South side of Canal, fifty acres of lot thirty-five
-
x
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
were deeded to Amos S. Samson, December 22d, 1836.
Stephen Abbott took up the land afterwards deeded to Harvey Smith, and commenced cutting down tim- ber on it in the winter of 1812. This was probably the first clearing done in Eagle Harbor.
Little improvement was made until work was begun on the canal. The high embankment over Otter Creek was constructed by a man named Richardson. He opened a store here to accommodate his workmen, which was the first store.
Hicks and Sherman bought Richardson's store and continued it after him.
A Mr. Hicks built the old red warehouse, the first in the village, south side of the canal, where Collins' warehouse now stands. This was owned and occu- pied by A. S. Samson afterwards.
In 1832, this warehouse was sold to Willis P. Col- lins who opened a dry goods store in it and continued it about six years, then built a store and warehouse on the east side of the street and moved there.
David Smith built the first sawmill about forty rods north of the canal, on Otter Creek.
James Mather built a sawmill on the south side of the canal in 1826.
N. Pratt, J. Delano and L. Northrop, built the lower dam and sawmill in 1825.
James Leaton bought the Hunter farin, and he in company with W. P. Collins, built the north flouring. mill in 1837. This mill was burned in the fall of 1839, and re-built immediately.
A large flouring mill on the south side of the canal was built by General E. S. Beach, in 1847. This mill has since been burned.
The brick church was built in 1827 by the united means of Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists,
PIONEER HISTORY
and owned half by Methodists, and one-fourth each by the other denominations.
The first meeting house was taken down and rebuilt in 1845, the same parties building and owning the new house, as they did the old one.
The Wesleyan Methodists erected their church ed- ifice in 1845-6.
Eagle Harbor postoffice was established about the year 1837, with W. P. Collins first postmaster.
The first school house was built in 1822, on the west side of the street.
The second school house was built on the lot now owned by the district, in 1841 : and the third school house in 1846.
Col. Jonathan Delano was the first carpenter and joiner.
Samuel Robinson was the first shoemaker, and Da- vid Smith the first tavern keeper.
Col. Delano and Sam. Robinson the first grocers. Mr. Hurd the first blacksmith, and Dr. James Brown the first physician.
The growth of Eagle Harbor has been greatly pro- moted by the large capital employed there by Gen. Beach in erecting mills and manufacturing flour, and by the active business energy of Mr. Willis P. Col- lins, for many years a resident in the village, and the foremost man in every enterprise tending to add wealth and importance to the place.
CHAPTER XX.
TOWN OF KENDALL.
Partitioned between State of Connecticut and Pultney Estate-First Settler-First Marriage-First Birth-First Tavern-First Death -- First Store-First School-First Saw Mill-First Public Religious Service-First Physician-First Highway from Kendall Corners to Ridge-Biographies of Early Settlers.
ENDALL was named in honor of Amos Ken- dall, Postmaster General at the time it was formed from Murray, April 7th, 1837. From its location, being off the line of travel, and because the land was not surveyed into lots, and formally put in market to sell to settlers as soon as lands on the Holland Purchase, settlements were not made as early or as numerous as in towns on the Purchase. The State of Connecticut and the Pultney Estate had owned these lands under a joint title, and for consid- erable time they remained undivided.
In July, 1810, Dr. Levi Ward became agent for the State of Connecticut to sell their lands on the 100,000 acre tract, of which Kendall forms a part. And in 1811 a formal partition of land between the State of Connecticut and the Pultney Estate was made, and Mr. Joseph Fellows was appointed agent of the Pult- ney Estate.
Land offices were opened by these agents, and set- tlers were invited to come in and take lands. But few came into Kendall until after the cold season of 1816, and for some time after that they had difficulty in ac-
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quiring a good title to farms bought of the Pultney Estate.
Samuel Bates, from Vermont, is said to have been the first white man who settled in this town, locating on lot 111, in East Kendall, in 1812. He cleared some land and sowed wheat, but did not move his family in until 1814.
David Jones, Adin Manley, Amos Randall, John Farnsworth, Zebulon Rice, Benjamin Morse, and Nathaniel Brown, settled in 1815.
Felix Augur, Rev. Stephen Randall, Ansel Bal- com, George Balcom, Stephen Bliss, James Weed, in 1816.
Ethan Graham, William Clark and his son Robert Clark, came in 1817.
The first marriage in town was that of James Aiken to Esther A. Bates, March 2d, 1817.
The first birth was that of Bartlett B. Morse, in November, 1815.
The first death was that of a son of Geo. Balcom, in 1816.
Hiram Thompson kept the first store in 1823. The first inn was kept by Lyman Spicer in 1823.
The first sawmill was built by Angur and Boyden, in 1819, and Gurdon Balcom taught the first school in 1819.
The first gristmill was built by Ose Webster, on the site on Sandy Creek, now occupied by the mills of his son Ebenezer K. Webster, forming a nucleus for the settlement now known as Webster's Mills. Pre- vions to the erection of this gristmill, the people of Kendall took their grain to Rochester, or to Farwell's mill in Clarendon, to be ground.
Farwell's mill was much nearest, but the road to it was almost impassable with a load, and the little mill had not capacity to do all the work in that part of the country.
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
The first religious service in Kendall was conducted by Elder Stephen Randall, a Methodist preacher.
The first physician who practiced in town was Dr. Theophilus Randall, though Dr. Rowell, of Clarkson, was frequently called.
When Mr. Bates settled in Kendall there was no public highway in town. Settlers and others coming there usually left the Ridge a little east of Kendall and traveled a road which had been opened into what is now Hamlin ; thence west to Kendall. The first high- way leading south from Kendall to the Ridge, was located and ent out by the early inhabitants without any public authority, from Kendall Mills following up the west side of Sandy Creek to the Ridge road. This road is yet traveled a part of the way.
The first settlers of Kendall were chiefly from Ver- mont, bred among the Green Mountains, and the change of climate, air, water, food and occupation they experienced in this new and comparatively level country, was attended with the usual consequences. They were almost all sick at times, and although the utmost kindness prevailed, and every one did all they could to help themselves and others to alleviate suf- fering, yet so few were well, and in their little rude huts furnished only with a most seanty stock of con- veniences, short of provisions, and no place near where the common necessaries for the sick could be obtained, some of these people suffered great misery. If they sometimes felt discouraged and wished them- selves away, when they were sick they could not go, and when they got better they would not go, for they came here to make them homes, and with the stub- born resolution of their race they persisted in the work they had begun, till their fondest hopes were more than realized in the beautiful country their toils and sacrifices made out of the wilderness.
The principal settlement in town for several years
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at first, was in the east part, near the center. The Randalls, Bates, Clarks, Manley, and other lead- ing men there were intelligent, and wanted the lights of civilization to shine into their settlement, if it was away in the woods. Accordingly they met together about the year 1820, and formed a Public Library Association. Among the names or prominent actors in this movement were H. W. Bates, Adin Manley, Dr. Theophilus Randall, Amos Randall, David Jones, Calvin Freeman, Orrin Doty, James M. Clark, Benj. Morse, Nathaniel Brown, Caleb Clark and Noah Priest.
They raised by contribution among themselves in various ways, about seventy-five volumes of books, organized themselves into a society, elected their offi- cers, and kept up their organization about ten years. Mr. Amos Randall was librarian, and these books were well read in that neighborhood, and the habit of thought and study thus implanted has borne its proper fruit in after years, in the numbers of intelli- gent and influential men who have grown up there.
They were too poor to each take a newspaper, and the nearest post office was at Clarkson. Several men united in taking a paper. When it came to the post office whoever of the company happened there first took out the paper, and the neighbors would come together to hear it read-those who did not contribute to pay the expense as well as those who did-and the paper was then passed to some other family and read over and over until it was worn out.
Salt water was early discovered in Kendall, and salt made there to supply the people.
In 1821, Mr. H. W. Bates and Caleb Clark dug a well and planked it up to obtain brine on Mr. Bates' farm and there they made about one thousand bush- els of salt. They sold their kettles to a Mr. Owen, who made salt in them in the southwest part of the
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
town. Salt making in Kendall was discontinued when the Erie canal opened.
About the year 1825, a company of Norwegians, about fifty-two in mimber, settled on the lake shore, in the north-east part of the town. They came from Norway together and took up land in a body. They were an industrious, prudent and worthy people held in good repute by people in that vicinty. After a few years they began to move away to join their country- men who had settled in Illinois, and but few of that colony are still in Kendall.
They thought it very important that every family should have land and a home of their own. A neigh- bor once asked a little Norwegian boy whose father happened to be too poor to own land, where his father lived ? and was answered, "O, we don't live nowhere, we hain't got no land."
BIOGRAPHIES OF EARLY SETTLERS.
ADIN MANLEY.
"I was born in Taunton, Mass., March 19, 1793. I was brought up among the boys of New England, never having belonged to the . upper ten.' I roughed with the hardy sporting ones, always ready for ath- letic games, and conld commonly act well my part. When about twenty-four years old I was taken with the western fever, and having laid up two or three hundred dollars, in time saved while sowing my 'wild oats,' I bought a horse and wagon and started with three others for the Genesee country. Not knowing or thinking of any trouble ahead, we dashed away. One of my traveling companions was Stephen Ran- dall, Jr., son of Rev. Stephen Randall, who had previously gone west, and then resided at Avon.
18
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PIONEER HISTORY
The son now resides in the town of Union, Monroe county, and has got to be an old man and wealthy. We arrived in Avon in September, 1815. From thence we made our way into Murray, and to what is now Kendall, by way of Rochester. At Rochester we were glad to get into the barn with the horses for a night's lodging, there being about thirty men, and how many horses I cannot tell. Which made most noise would be difficult to tell ; one thing I do know, the men swore most and drank the most whisky. That was an awful company. It seemed as if they were the filth and offscouring of the whole country. In the morning I proposed to sell my horse for I was short of funds and had no farther use for him. A gentlemanly appearing man by the name of Gilvreed offered to buy him. He said he had good notes against a responsible man, but the notes amounted to more than the price of the horse, and I might give my note for the balance, and as to the value of the notes, I might enquire of gentlemen who knew, at the same time referring to some standing by, who said they were good and no mistake. So the exchange was made in due form and both parties were highly gratified.
But the result was that the maker of the notes was not worth a straw, and the man, Gilvreed, was worse. This was my first financial operation in the west. What added to my humiliation was, I thought I had such a vast knowledge of men and things as to be proof against being outwitted by anybody; and that I knew more than 'old folks." I wonder if boys think so of themselves now-a-days?
I then made my way west along the Ridge Road to Murray Corners, now Clarkson, where Dr. Baldwin had located and kept a tavern, which at that time was a very lucrative business, as people were flocking from the east rapidly.
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OF ORLEANS COUNTY.
From Murray Corners we struck off north-west what was then called 'Black North,' a region where the probability was, what the musketoes did not eat up, the fever and ague would kill. On we went. nothing fearing, until we came to what was called ' Yanty Creek,' where we found three families loca- ted, who I believe were the only white inhabitants in what is now the town of Kendall. They were H. W. Bates, Amos Randall, and Benjamin Morse and their families. I concluded to make a 'pitch' here. I now had to learn the customs and employments of the people among whom I was going to reside, which consisted mainly of chopping, rolling logs, raising log houses, drinking whisky to keep off the fever and ague, hunting deer, bear, raccoons, bees and catching fish.
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