USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
"Every thing at Lake Erie-by which name this collection of houses is called-is dearer than at any other place we visited, for the simple reason that there is no direct communication with any other point. Some were sick with fever in almost every house."
JOSHUA FAIRBANKS resides at Lewiston. His first visit to western New York, was in the winter of 1791. He had been recently married to Miss Sophia Reed, the daughter of Col. Seth Reed, of the Revolutionary army, at Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Col. Reed had the winter previous moved his family to Geneva- or rather to where Geneva now is. In the winter of '91, Mr. F. set out with his wife, to join him. They were in a sleigh. The narrative of the journey is taken up after they had passed Whites- borough :-
"Half way from Whitesborough to Onondaga Hollow, night overtook us, and fortunately, we found a settler who had just got in, and had a log house partly finished. There were some Indians at the house; the first that Mrs. F. had seen. I do not recollect the name of our obliging pioneer host; but he was the first settler between Whitesborough and Onondaga Hollow. We staid the next night at Onondaga Hollow. The only settler there was Gen. Danforth. Here Mrs. F. remarked that she thought there must have been others in the neighborhood, as there was a small dancing party at the General's that night. The next night we camped out; found the remains of an Indian tent; struck a fire; Mrs. F. cooked a supper, and we passed the night pretty comfortably. It was in February; snow from eighteen inches to two feet deep. Staid next night at Cayuga lake with Harris, who kept a ferry when the lake was not closed; we crossed on the ice. We arrived at Col. Reed's the next day."
Mr. Fairbanks had brought along with him a few goods to trade with the Indians. He remained at Geneva with Col. Reed, until the fall of 1793. He has an old deed of two village lots in Geneva. It is dated in August, 1790. The grantor is Peter Bortle. - Ryckman would seem to have been one of the proprietors of the ori- ginal village plot. The lot conveyed, was "91, on west side of Front
320
HISTORY OF THE
street." The instrument is witnessed by Albert Ryckman and John Taylor. During the time of Mr. Fairbanks' residence at Geneva, a court was held-he thinks by Judge Cooper of Coopers- town .* It was then, says Mr. F. considered a good day's walk, ar ride, to Canandaigua. The inhabitants that he recollects at Geneva, at that period, were :- Ezra Patterson, Thomas Sisson, the Reed family, Peter Bortle, - Talmadge, - Van Duzen, Benjamin Barton, - Butler, -- Jackson, Dr. Adams; and Dr. Coventry, lived over the lake. Mr. Fairbanks has preserved an old bill of a part of the goods he brought to Geneva. They were bought of "Reed & Rice, Brookfield, Massachusetts." A few of the articles and prices are noted :-
11 yds. Ratteen, 4s. pr. yd. 30 66 Cotton Cord, ribbed, 3s. 4d.
73 " Corduroy, 5s. 63 Shalloon, 2s. 4d. 25 lbs. Bohea Tea, 2s. 8d.
"About the 1st of September, 1793, I started with my wife, Giles Sisson, and William Butler, in a batteau; went down the Seneca river, Oswego river to Falls, where we had our batteau, goods, &e. to carry over a portage of one and a half miles; thence down to the British garrison at Oswego. The commanding officer, as ex-officio, revenue inspector, searched our goods. There was one settler at the portage-Oswego Falls. There was one company of troops, and a small gun boat at Oswego-no settler.
"We coasted up lake Ontario; going on shore and camping nights. We were seventeen days making the journey from Geneva to Queenston. The only person we saw on the route, from Oswego to Niagara, was William Hencher, at the mouth of Genesee river. We made a short call at Fort Niagara, reporting ourselves to the commanding officer. He gave us a specimen of British civility, during the hold over period, after the Revolution. It was after a protracted dinner sitting, I should think. He asked me where I was going? I replied, to Chippewa. "Go along and be d-d to you," was his laconic, verbal passport. There was then outside of the garrison, under its walls, upon the flatts, two houses. No tenement at Youngstown.
"I landed at Queenston-went into a house, partly of logs, and partly framed, and commenced keeping tavern. There was then a road from Fort Niagara to Fort Erie. At Queenston, Ham- ilton had a good house built, the rest were small log huts."
* Judge HOWELL thinks this Court was in June 1793; and says that the presiding Judge was John Sloss Hobart, one of the Judges of the Supreme court of this State; one of the first three who were appointed Judges of that Court. It was the first Court of Over and Terminer, &c. held in Ontario county. There was a grand jury sworn and charged, but no other business done.
321
HOLLAND PURCHASE.
Mr. Fairbanks, remained at Queenston and Chippewa, until 1805. Mrs. Fairbanks names the circumstance, that while keeping the tavern at Queenston, they had as guests, Aaron Burr, and his daughter Theodosia, and her husband, Mr. Allison. The party traveled on horse back, attended by servants. It was upon their trip to Niagara Falls.
" In 1794, I took passage on board of a British armed schooner, at Fort Erie, commanded by Capt. Cowen. I wished to see the country; the vessel was going up to bring down a British engineer, who had been employed on some of the western posts. Went to Detroit; Col. England was there in command of a British regiment. On our return we entered the Maumee Bay and anchored off the mouth of the Au Glaize. It was soon after the battle of Wayne with the Indians. We saw many of the Indians who were in the fight. Taking advantage of the little knowledge I had of their language, I asked one of them, who I learned had retreated at a pretty early hour in the engagement, why he came away? Suiting the action to the word, he replied: - " Pop, pop, pop,-boo, woo, W00-0-0, 00,- whish, whish,-boo, woo !- kill twenty Indians one time; no good by d-n."*
" The armed vessel upon which I took passage, and some few gun boats, constituted all the British armament then on the Lakes. I think there was then no merchant vessel."
Deacon HINDS CHAMBERLIN, a venerable early Pioneer, aged eighty-three years, resides at Le Roy, Genesee county. He came to Avon in 1790. In 1789, previous to any settlement west of Avon, his brother-in-law, Isaac Scott, and family, and two other families, had settled at Scottsville. These, with William Hencher, were the first settlers west of Genesee river.
"In 1792, I started from Scottsville with Jesse Beach and Reuben Heath; went up Allen's creek, striking the Indian trail from Canawagus, where Le Roy now is. There was a beautiful Indian camping ground-tame grass had got in; we staid all night. Pursuing the trail the next morning, we passed the Great Bend of the Tonawanda, and encamped at night at Dunham's Grove; and the next night near Buffalo. We saw one whiteman-Poudery - at Tonawanda village. We arrived at the mouth of Buffalo creek the next morning. There was but one white man there, I think; his name was Winne, an Indian trader. His building stood first as you descend from the high ground. He had rum, whiskey, Indian
* This, the reader will observe, was an imitation, as near as the Indian could make it, of the firing of small arms, of cannon, and the whizzing and bursting of bombs ;- a specimen of the entertainment served up to the Indians by " Mad Anthony."
21
322
HISTORY OF THE
knives, trinkets, &c. His house was full of Indians; they looked at us with a good deal of curiosity. We had but a poor night's rest; the Indians were in and out all night, getting liquor.
" Next day we went up the beach of the lake to mouth of Catta- raugus creek where we encamped; a wolf came down near our camp. We had seen many deer on our rout, during the day. The next morning we went up to Indian village; found " Black Joe's" house, but he was absent; he had however seen our tracks upon the beach of the lake, and hurried home to see what white people were traversing the wilderness. The Indians stared at us; Joe gave us a room where we should not be annoyed by Indian curi- osity, and we stayed with him over night. All he had to spare us in the way of food was some dried venison. He had liquor, Indian goods, and bought furs. Joe treated us with so much civility, that we stayed with him till near noon. There was at least an hundred Indians and Squaws, gathered to see us. Among the rest, there was sitting in Joe's house, an old Squaw, and a young delicate looking white girl, with her, dressed like a Squaw. I endeavored to find out something about her history, but could not. I think she had lost the use of our language. She seemed not inclined to be noticed.
" With an Indian guide that Joe selected for us, we started upon the Indian trail for Presque Isle. Wayne was then fighting Indians. Our Indian guide often pointed to the west, saying, 'bad Indians there.'
"Between Cattaraugus and Erie, I shot a black snake, a racer, with a white ring around his neck. He was in a tree, twelve feet from the ground, his body wound around the tree. He measured seven feet and three inches.
"At Presque Isle, (Erie,) we found neither whites nor Indians; all was solitary. There were some old French brick buildings, wells, block houses, &c. going to decay; eight or ten acres cleared land. On the peninsular, there was an old brick house, forty or fifty feet square; the peninsular was covered with cranberries.
"After staying there one night, we went over to La Boeuf, about sixteen miles distant. pursuing an old French road. Trees had grown up in it, but the track was distinct. Near La Boeuf, we came upon a company of men, who were cutting out the road to Presque Isle; a part of them were soldiers, and a part Pennsyl- vanians. At La Boeuf, there was a garrison of soldiers-about one hundred. There were several white families there, and a store of goods.
Myself and companions were in pursuit of land. By a law of Pennsylvania, such as built a log house, and cleared a few acres of land, acquired a pre-emptive right; the right of purchase, at £5 per one hundred acres. We cach of us made a location near Presque Isle.
On our return to Presque Isle, from Le Boeuf, we found there
323
HOLLAND PURCHASE.
Col. Seth Reed and his family. They had just arrived. We stopped and helped him build some huts; set up crotches; laid poles across, and covered with the bark of the cucumber tree. At first the Colonel had no floors; afterwards he indulged in the luxury of floors made by laying down strips of bark. James Baggs, and Giles Sisson came on with Col. Reed. I remained for a considera- ble time in his employ. It was not long before eight or ten other families came in.
"On our return we again staid at Buffalo over night, with Winne. There was at the time a great gathering of hunting parties of Indians there. Winne took from them all their knives and tomahawks, and then selling them liquor, they had a great carousal.
The author finds the following incorporated in the pamphlet of Mr. WILLIAMSON to which reference will be made in a subsequent page. It is there said to be "an account of a journey of a gentle- man into the Genesee country, in February, 1792."
"On the 15th February 1792, I left Albany, on my route to the Genesee river, but the country was thought so remote, and so very little known, that I could not prevail on the owner of the stage to engage farther than Whitestown, a new settlement on the head of the Mohawk, 100 miles from Albany. The road as far as Whites- town had been made passable for wagons, but from that to the Genesee river, was little better than an Indian path, sufficiently opened to allow a sled to pass, and some impassable streams bridged. At Whitestown, I was obliged to change my carriage, the Albany driver getting alarmed for himself and horses, when he found that for the next 100 miles we were not only obliged to take provisions for ourselves, but for our horses, and blankets for our beds. On leaving Whitestown we found only a few straggling huts, scattered along the path, from 10 to 20 miles from each other; and they affording nothing but the conveniency of fire, and a kind of shelter from the snow. On the evening of the third day's journey from Whitestown, we were very agreeably surprised to find ourselves on the east side of Seneca Lake, which we found perfectly open, free of ice as in the month of June; the evening was pleasant and agreeable, and what added to our surprise and admiration was to see a boat and canoe plying on the lake. After having passed from New York, over 360 miles of country com- pletely frozen, the village of Geneva, though then only consisting of a few log-houses, after the dreary wilderness we had passed through, added, not a little to the beauty of the prospect; we forded the outlet of the lake, and arrived safe at Geneva.
" The situation of this infant settlement on the banks of a sheet of water 44 miles long, by 4 to 6 wide, daily navigated by small
-
324
HISTORY OF THE
craft and canoes, in the month of February, was a sight as grati- fying as unexpected. It appeared that the inhabitants of this delightful country, would by the slight covering of the snow on the ground, have all the convenience of a northern winter; and by the waters of the lake being free from ice, have all the advantages of this inland navigation, a combination of advantages perhaps not to be experienced in any other country in the world.
"From Geneva to Canandarqua the road is only the Indian path a little improved, the first five miles over gentle swellings of land, interspersed with bottoms seemingly very rich, the remainder of the road to Canandarqua, the county town, 16 miles, was the greatest part of the distance through a rich heavy timbered land; on this road there were only two families settled. Canandarqua, the county town, consisted of two small frame houses and a few huts, surrounded with thick woods; the few inhabitants received me with much hospitality, and I found abundance of excellent venison. From Canandarqua to the Genesee river, 26 miles, it is almost totally uninhabited, only four families residing on the road; the country is beautiful and very open, in many places the openings are free of all timber, appearing to contain at least 2 or 300 acres beautifully variegated with hill and dale; it seemed that by only enclosing any of them with a proportionable quantity ef timbered land, an inclosure might be made not inferior to the parks in England. At the Genesee river I found a small Indian store and tavern; the river was not then frozen over, and so low as to be fordable. Upon the whole, at this time, there were not any settlements of any consequence in the whole of the Genesee country; that established by the Friends on the west side of the Seneca lake, was the most considerable, consisting of about forty families. At this period the number of Indians in the adjoining country was so great, when compared with the few white inhabitants who ventured to winter in the country, that I found them under serious apprehensions for their safety. Even in this state of nature, the county of Ontario shews every sign of future respectability; no man has put the plough in the ground, without being amply repaid, and through the mildness of the winter the cattle brought into the country the year before on very slender provision for their subsistence, were thriving well; the clearing of land for spring crops is going on with spirit; I also found the settlers abundantly supplied with venison."
325
HOLLAND PURCHASE.
CHAPTER II.
LAND TITLES-PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE-EARLY EVENTS.
James I, King of Great Britain, in the year 1620, granted to the Plymouth Company, a tract of country denominated New England; this tract extended several degrees of latitude north and south, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean east and west. A charter for the government of a portion of this territory, granted by Charles I, in 1628, was vacated in 1684, but a second charter was granted by William and Mary in 1691. The territory comprised in this sec- ond charter extended on the Atlantic ocean from north latitute 42º 2' to 44º 15', and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean.
Charles I, in 1663, granted to the Duke of York and Albany. the province of New York, including the present state of New- Jersey. The tract thus granted extended from a line twenty miles east of the Hudson river, westward rather indefinitely, and from the Atlantic ocean north to the south line of Canada, then a French province.
By this collision of description, each of those colonies, (after- wards states,) laid claim to the jurisdiction as well as to pre-emption right of the same land, being a tract sufficiently large to form several states. The State of New York, however, in 1781, and Massachusetts, in 1785, ceded to the United States all their rights, either of jurisdiction or proprietorship, to all the territory lying west of a meridian line run south from the westerly bend of lake Ontario. Although the nominal amount in controversy, by these acts, was much diminished, it still left some nineteen thousand square miles of territory in dispute, but this controversy was finally settled by a convention of Commissioners appointed by the parties, held at Hartford, Conn., on the 16th day of December, 1786.
326
HISTORY OF THE
According to the stipulations entered into by the convention, Massachusetts ceded to the state of New York all her claim to the government, sovereignty and jurisdiction of all the territory lying west of the present east line of the state of New York; and New York ceded to Massachusetts the pre-emption right, or fee of the land subject to the title of the natives, of all that part of the state of New York lying west of a line, beginning at a point in the north line of Pennsylvania, 82 miles west of the north-east corner of said state, and running from thence due north through Seneca lake, to lake Ontario; excepting and reserving to the state of New York, a strip of land east of and adjoining the eastern bank of Niagara river, one mile wide, and extending its whole length. The land, the pre-emption right of which was thus ceded, amounted to about six millions of acres.
In April, 1788, Massachusetts contracted to sell to Nathaniel Gorham of Charlestown, Middlesex county, and Oliver Phelps of Granville, Hampshire county of said state, their pre-emption right to all the lands in Western New York amounting to about six mil- lion acres, for the sum of one million dollars, to be paid in three annual instalments, for which a kind of scrip, Massachusetts had issued, called consolidated securities, was to be received, which was then in market much below par .*
In July 1788, Messrs. Gorham and Phelps purchased of the Indians, by treaty, at a convention held at Buffalo, the Indian title to about 2,600,000 acres of the eastern part of their purchase from Massachusetts. This purchase of the Indians being bounded west by a line beginning at a point in the north line of the state of Pennsylvania due south of the corner or point of land, made by the confluence of the Kanahasgwaicon (Cannaseraga) creek with the waters of Genesee river; thence north on said meridian line to the corner or point at the confluence aforesaid; thence northwardly along the waters of said Genesee river to a point two miles north of Kanawageras (Cannewagus) village; thence running due west twelve miles; thence running northwardly, so as to be twelve miles distant from the westward bounds of said river, to the shore of lake Ontario.
* It must be understood that Messrs. Gorham and Phelps although acting in their own names only, in this transaction, were merely the representatives of a company, consist- ing of themselves and a number of others, who had formed an association for the pur- chase of these lauds.
327
HOLLAND PURCHASE.
On the 21st day of November, 1788, the state of Massachusetts conveyed and forever quitclaimed to N. Gorham and O. Phelps, their heirs and assigns forever, all the right and title of said state to all that tract of country of which Messrs. Phelps and Gorham had extinguished the Indian title. This tract, and this only, has since been designated as the " Phelps and Gorham Purchase."
According to the original plan of the proprietors the tract was. as soon as practicable, surveyed into townships about six miles. square, and those townships subdivided into lots of different sizes; and so promptly was the execution of the design commenced, that through the industry and perseverance of Mr. Phelps, the acting and efficient conductor of the whole enterprise, Capt. William Walker, a surveyor and his assistants, arrived on the territory about the time the sale was perfected, to wit., in the fall of 1788, and surveyed several township lines before the inclemency of the winter weather put a stop to their labors.
The proprietors offered this tract for sale by townships or parts of townships; and during the summer of 1789, several families set- tled on, and near, the site of the old Indian village at Canandaigua; at Bloomfield, and on Boughton Hill now in the town of Victor. During this season the first productions of the earth were brought forth by the cultivation of white people, and the first wheat was sown on the tract. So rapid were the sales of the proprietors that before the 18th day of November, 1790, they had disposed of about fifty townships, which were mostly sold by whole townships or large portions of townships, to sundry individuals and companies of farmers and others, formed for that purpose. On the 18th day of November, 1790, they sold the residue of their tract, (reserving two townships only,) amounting to upwards of a million and a quarter acres of land, to Robert Morris of Philadelphia, who soon sold the same to Sir William Pultney, an English gentleman, who appointed Capt. Charles Williamson his general and resident agent, to superintend his interest in, and dispose of the lands by sale in small or large quantities. These lands lay somewhat scattered over Phelps and Gorham's purchase, although mostly on the south and north parts. This property, or such parts of it as was unsold at the time of the decease of Sir William, together with other property which he purchased in his lifetime in its vicinity, is now called the "Pultney Estate."
328
HISTORY OF THE
OLIVER PHELPS.
OLIVER PHELPS, was a native of Windsor, Conn. and soon after his majority became a citizen of Suffield, Massachusetts. At the commencement of the revolutionary war, he took an active part and in various capacities, remained with the American army to its close. It was at this period that he became acquainted with Robert Morris; Mr. Phelps being superintendant of army purchases, for Massachu- setts, it led to an acquaintance with Mr. Morris, who as will be seen was the chief financier of the Revolution. He removed with his family, to Canandaigua Ontario county, in March, 1802, and resided there until the period of his death, in 1809. He was appointed first Judge of the county of Ontario, and elected a member of Congress from his district. An inscription upon his tomb stone, closes as follows :-
"Enterprise, Industry, and Temperance, cannot always secure success, but the fruits of those virtues, will be felt by society."
Like his revolutionary acquaintance, and afterwards co-operator in the purchase and settlement of Western New York, Robert Morris, he was destined to close his life in the midst of reverses. His business became much extended; his purchase of large tracts of wild land, had extended even to Georgia and Mississippi. In 1795, he estimated his property at nearly one million of dollars,- his debts at less than eighty-five thousand; and yet at his death, in 1809, he was much embarrassed; what was saved from his estate, being the result of good management with those upon whom its administration devolved. A memorandum in his own hand writing would show that he lost over three hundred and thirty thousand dollars, by bad debts and bad titles. Among the early Pioneers of Western New York, who knew him well, it is common to hear him alluded to in terms of respect and esteem; to hear the expression of sincere regret for the misfortunes attending his last years, mingled with their recollections of early events.
He left one son and one daughter. His son Leicester Phelps, after graduating at Yale College, assumed the name of Oliver Leicester Phelps. He died in 1813, leaving seven children, of whom the present Judge Oliver Phelps of Canandaigua-a worthy descendant of his Pioneer ancestor,-is one.
329
HOLLAND PURCHASE.
By the side of that of her husband, in the village cemetery, at Canandaigua, is the tomb stone of "Mary, wife of Oliver Phelps, and daughter of Zachariah and Sarah Seymour ;- died 13th Sep- tember, 1826, aged seventy four years." It is said of her:
"She was alike unaffected in prosperity and adversity."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.