USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 38
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* The narrator will be gratified to learn that his recollections of an event that trans- pired almost sixty years since, are mainly corroborated by printed, cotemporary record, as will be seen by an extract of a letter published in the Maryland Journal of April 14th, 1789, dated at Wyoming, March 27th, 1789 :- " Major John Jenkins, Solomon Earl, - Baker, and William Ransom, about the 10th instant, were surveying lands near the Lakes. One morning about 2 o'clock, four Tuscarora Indians, and a squaw, made an attack upon them in their cabin. The Indians put the muzzles of their guns into the cabin and each fired. Baker was killed and Earl badly wounded. This awoke Jenkins and Ransom; the Indians rushed on with the knife and tomahawk, but Jenkins by an instantaneous effort of bravery, caught hold of an axe and knocked down two Indians; afterwards Ransom assisted and beat the Indians off, and took each of their guns, tomahawks, &c. Jenkins and his surviving companion lodged that night in said cabin with the dead and wounded; next day they returned with Earl to Geneva. A scout was immediately sent after the said Indians. When the party arrived at the cabin they found the Indians had been back and taken off all their provisions; the object of this bloody attack. Four Indians are sent in quest of the villians, and have pledged their honor they will not return without their bodies, or their scalps. God preserve their honor!" So it seems that Baltimore was the place to look for news of local events in Western New York, at one period. Mr. Boughton, who is introduced in a subsequent page, says, that when he arrived at the foot of Seneca lake in February 1790, he "saw there the man that was shot at Palmyra; the ball had gone through his jaw."
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meet him this year to receive their stipulated annuities. As is usual on such occasions, presents were provided for distribution among them, as well as articles of subsistence, of which it was known they stood in great need. The number of Indians assem- bled, however, greatly exceeded his expectations, (increased, doubt- less, by their starving condition,) amounting, propably, to two thousand. The stock of provisions proving inadequate to their wants, they were driven to the necessity of devouring every thing that could satisfy their hunger, consuming with voracity even the entrails of the animals that had been slaughtered. They parted with almost every thing they had to purchase food, and did not disperse until they had nearly produced a famine among the white inhabitants. Another occurrence of this season was the opening of a road, from Geneva to Canandaigua, which was the first piece of road opened west of Westmoreland (now Oneida,) county. The winter of 1789-90, I spent at my father's in copying my field notes, and finishing up my surveys.
During the winter of 1789-90, I entered into an agreement with Gen. John Fellows, one of the proprietors of East Bloomfield, to join him in the erection of a saw-mill, on Mud creek, in that town. about five miles west of Canandaigua. In pursuance of this plan, we collected at Schenectady a stock of provisions, tools, &c .. necessary for the purpose. In May, I embarked again at Schenec- tady, for the west, taking with me these articles, and proceeded by nearly the same route as in the previous year, except that I passed up the Canandaigua outlet to Manchester, now called, and thence transported my loading by teams to East Bloomfield. One of my companions in this expedition was Dr. Daniel Chapin, who resided many years in Bloomfield, and afterwards removed to Buffalo, where he died,-also Oliver Chapin and Aaron Taylor and family. I have heretofore remarked that the mode adopted to render Wood creek navigable, was to collect the water by means of a mill dam, thus creating a sudden flood to carry boats down. Sometimes boats did not succeed in getting through to deep water in one flood, and were consequently obliged to await a second one. As we were coming down the creek during the voyage on our first flood, we overtook a boat which had been grounded after the previous one, the navigators of which were in the water, ready to push her off as soon as the coming tide should reach them. Among these persons, was James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, with whom I then first became acquainted. He was then on his way west, to occupy his property at Geneseo, which has since become so beautiful and valuable an estate. Gen. Fellows set out for Bloomfield on horse- back, having sent on a team, (two yoke of oxen and a wagon,) with a moderate load, and four or five cows. These were driven on by some person coming on to assist in building the mill, and among them, Mr. Dibble, the millwright. Gen. F. parted with the wagon near Utica.
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During the previous winter, the legislature of New York had appropriated a township of land (called " the Road township ") situated in what is now called Madison county, the proceeds of which were to be applied to opening a road west from Westmore- land. The job had been taken by contract, and Gen. Fellows found the party cutting out the road not far from the present settle- ment at Onondaga. After Gen, F. reached Bloomfield, fearing that the team might not be able to get through with the materials for the mills, dispatched me back to meet the party, and help them along. At Cayuga lake I met Mr. Dibble, the millwright, from whom I learned that the team had left its load at Onondaga, and that the men with the cattle and wagons were coming on with a large number of settlers, as fast as the persons employed in opening the road, with their assistance, progressed with the work. therefore, concluded to return to Manchester and take the boat I had left there and go to Onondaga for the loading. Taking Mr. Dibble and three other men with me, I went to Onondaga and returned with the loading. The men and the teams of the party reached Bloomfield at about the same time we did. I spent the summer chiefly in attending to the crection of the saw-mill, occasionally doing some surveying, particularly town 13, 4th range, (now Penfield, Monroe Co.) which had been purchased of Phelps and Gorham by Jonathan Fasset. The mill was finished in the fall, and was, I believe, the third one erected on Phelps and Gorham's Purchase.
In Dec. of this year, (1790) I went, in company with Orange Brace and two other persons, on foot, to Connecticut. The journey was a tedious and painful one, being made through a deep snow the whole distance, a part of which was accomplished on snow shoes. The following are some of the persons who came into the country during this year, viz: To Canandaigua: Nathan- iel Sanburn, Lemuel Castle, Seth Holcomb. To Victor: Heze- kiah Boughton, Senr., Seymour Boughton, Senr. To Bristol: Deacon Codding, Francis Codding and Ephraim Wilder. To Pittstown, (now Richmond:) Peter, Gideon, William and Samuel Pitts. To Geneseo: James Wadsworth and William Wadsworth. To West Bloomfield. Benjamin Gardner, (from Canandaigua, ) Robert Taft, Mr. Miller, Clark Peck, Esq. Curtis, Jasper P. Sears,
Nathan Marvin, Lorin Wait, Amos Hall. To Avon: Gad Wadsworth, Mr. Ganson. To Farmington: oldMr. Comstock, and his sons Jared, Darius, John, Otis, and Isaac Hathaway. During the session of the Legislature in 1789-90, a law was passed erect- the county of Ontario, to consist of all that portion of the state Iving west of the Eastern line of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase. This was the first county set off from Montgomery. The follow- ing were the officers appointed: Oliver Phelps, first Judge; Timothy Hosmer, (afterwards himself first Judge) Arnold Potter, and Israel Chapin, side Judges; Judah Colt, Sheriff; Nathaniel Gorham, Clerk.
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I spent a part of the winter of 1790-91 at my Father's, and in February I left again for the west. I made the journey in com- pany with John Fellows, son of Gen. Fellows, and two others, in a two horse sleigh. At that time, the only white settlements between Westmoreland and the Seneca Lake, were at Onondaga Hollow, where Gen. Danforth and Comfort Tyler had settled, and at what is now Eldridge, Cayuga Co., where Mr. Buck had located himself. On this journey we encamped for the night in a fine hemlock grove, on the east side of Owasco outlet, where Auburn now stands.
During the early part of this season (1791) in carrying on the saw mill, and making improvements on land, with occasional sur- veying, I became acquainted, for the first time, with OLIVER PHELPS. This was an important event in my life at the west, for it led not only to my permanent and steady employment for more than ten years, (first for Phelps and Gorham, but always under the direction of Mr. P. himself.) during which I became familiar with most of the transactions relating to land sales, sur- veys, &c., but was followed by a personal intimacy with him. from which I derived many important advantages. His friendship for, and confidence in me, never faltered, and I have consequently always retained the highest personal respect for his name and memory.
On the 12th of May, 1788, Mr. Phelps, accompanied by Col. Hugh Maxwell, a Revolutionary officer, of Heath, Mass., as sur- veyor, then fifty-seven years old -and William Walker, of Lenox. as assistant, proceeded to Kanadasaga, (now Geneva) for the purpose of making arrangements for holding a treaty with the Indians for the purchase of the possessory right to the whole or a part of the territory. On arriving at Kanadasaga, he found the Indians assembled in council with John Livingston, of Columbia Co., and Caleb Benton, of Greene Co., who represented a com- pany known at that time as " the Lessee Company," for the lease of the tract lying immediately east of the Massachusetts claim. Mr. Phelps at once commenced negotiations, but as the Indians were not very numerously represented, further proceedings were adjourned to a treaty agreed to be held at Buffalo about the last of June. This treaty was held at Buffalo in pursuance of this adjournment. Mr. Phelps was anxious to purchase all their lands within the Massachusetts pre-emption claim. But the Indians were unwilling to sell any part of the country west of the Genesee river, alledging that "the Great Spirit" had fixed that stream as the boundary between the white and the red man.
Mr. Phelps, finding them quite immoveable on this point, then represented to them that he was very desirous of getting some land west of the river, at the great Falls, for the purpose of building thereon mills, for the use and convenience of the white
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settlers coming into the country, and that these mills, when built, would be very convenient for the Indians themselves. The Indi- ans then asked him how much land he wanted for his Mill Seat. He replied that he thought a piece about twelve miles wide, exten- ding from Canawagas village, on the west side of the river to its mouth (about twenty-eight miles) would answer his purpose. To this the Indians replied that it seemed to be a good deal of land for a Mill Scat, but as they supposed the Yankees knew best what was required, they would let him have it. After the treaty was concluded, the Indians told Mr. Phelps, that it being customary for them to give to the man with whom they dealt, a name, they would give him one. They also said they should expect from him "a treat " and a walking staff (meaning some spirits,) to help them home. The name they gave Mr. Phelps, on this occasion, was that by which he was cver afterwards known among them, viz: Scaw-gun-se-ga, which translated, is "the Great Fall." This purchase, which comprised what is now the city of Rochester, was thereafter called "the Mill Seat Tract."
The result of this treaty was the purchase of this Mill Seat Tract, and the whole of the eastern portion of the Massachusetts claim, bounded as follows: North by lake Ontario: East by the east line of the Massachusetts claim (which passes through a part of the Sen- cea lake at Geneva); south by the Pennsylvania north line; and west by the Gencsee river, as far as the mouth of the Canaseraga creek, and by a line running due south to the Pennsylvania line. The lands thus purchased at this treaty, I shall hereafter have occa- sion to refer to as "Phelps and Gorham's Indian Purchase."
At the same time the Lessee Company concluded their arrange- ments with the Indians, renting from them, for 999 years the tract lying east of Phelps and Gorham's purchase. The object of this company in taking their conveyance from the Indians in the form of a lcase, was to evade the pre-emptive right. It was, however, so palpable a fraud on that right, that the State of New York at once refused to recognize it, and it was declared void by the Legis- laturc at its next session. The lands were subsequently appro- priated by the State of New York to the payment of military bounties, and hence have since been known as the Military Tract. The agents of the Lessee Company, Messrs. Livingston and Benton, at this treaty, rendered important services in aiding Mr. Phelps in his negociations, and received from him two townships of lands in what is now Yates county, which were afterwards known as "the Lessee Townships," one of which is now named "Benton," after the grantee above mentioned.
Messrs. Phelps and Gorham and the Lessees, as soon as their treaties were concluded, determined at once to send surveyors to run out the line which was to divide their property on the east line
** Its contents are about 200,000 acres."
24
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of the Massachusetts claim. Geneva was then a small settlement beautifully situated on the bank of Seneca lake, rendered quite attractive from its lying adjoining an old Indian settlement, in which was an orchard. This orchard had been destroyed by Gen. Sul- livan, in his celebrated campaign, in 1779, but sprouts had grown up from it into bearing trees. As it was known the line must pass near this place, some anxiety was felt as to which party it might belong. Col. Maxwell, on the part of Phelps and Gorham, and Mr. Jenkins on the part of the Lessees, as surveyors, proceeded to the point of beginning at the 82d mile stone, on the north line of Penn- sylvania, and ran through to lake Ontario a line known as the Pre- emption line, which passed about a mile and a quarter west of Geneva, and which was the basis of the surveys, made by Phelps and Gorham. This line afterwards was proved to have been incor- rectly run, and it was charged that the incorrectness was in part a fraud of Jenkins, whose object was to secure to his employers, the Lessee Company, the location of Geneva. The suspicion of fraud led to a re-survey of this line, under the direction of Robert Morris .* The line being run, Col. Maxwell commenced immediately the sur- vey of the tract west of it, and in the course of the season run out about thirty townships and began the survey and allotment of Canandaigua.
The supposition was quite common, that on ascertaining the western boundary of the Massachusetts claim (being the east line of the New York and Massachusetts cession to the United States) it would be found to include the harbor and town of Presque Isle (now Erie, Pa.) The state of Pennsylvania was anxious to secure to itself that point, and in the winter of 1788-89 had made propositions to Phelps and Gorham for the purchase of it. At the request of Phelps and Gorham, the U. S. Government sent out the Surveyor General, Andrew Ellicott, in 1789, for the purpose of running and establishing this line. Frederick Saxton went with him on behalf of Phelps and Gorham. As the line was to commence at the west end of Lake Ontario, there was some hesitation in the outset in determining whether it should commence at the western extremity of Burlington Bay, or at the Peninsula separating the Bay from the lake. But it was at length fixed at the Peninsula, and on the completion of the survey, by first running some distance south. and then offsetting around the east end of lake Erie, it was found to pass some twenty miles east of Presque Isle. This line now forms the western boundary of the State of New York, between lake Erie and the old north line of Pennsylvania, and is the Eastern line of a tract known as the
* This re-survey was made by Andrew Ellicott, United States surveyor General, assis- ted by Judge Porter. It corrected the previous survey, by establishing the line about as far east of Geneva as that had west of it. The care taken in this last survey was well calculated to ensure correctness, and in fact its correctness was never questioned.
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" Presque Isle triangle," which was afterwards purchased by Pennsylvania of the United States, and is now a part of that State.
After the conclusion of the Indian treaty at Buffalo, in 1788, and as soon as the progress of surveys would permit, Phelps and Gorham commenced making sales, and up to the middle of the year 1789, had sold some thirty or forty townships, receiving small payments, chiefly in Massachusetts final settlement notes, with an understanding that future payments, might be made in the same securities at par. It was in consequence of this system of sales, that they were so large.
In consequence of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, not long after the purchase by Phelps and Gorham, it was anticipated that the General Government would assume the indebtedness of the several states growing out of the Revolution. The effect of this was to make the holders of the State securities less willing to sell at low rates, so that Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, instead of being able to continue to sell rapidly, for this species of payment, sold comparatively little after about the middle of 1789; and during the year 1790, Congress did, in fact, assume the payment of certain State debts, among which were included these Massachusetts final settlement notes. The consequence of this assumption was to raise them at once to par, and even above.
Having failed to make the payment of the installment due to Massachusetts in 1789-90, the state commenced a suit against Phelps and Gorham and their sureties. Phelps and Gorham were, however, enabled to effect a compromise with the State, by which it was agreed that P. and G. should re-convey to Massachusetts all that portion of their purchase to which they had not extinguished the Indian title, viz: All west of the Genesee river up to the mouth of the Canascraga, and thence due south to the Pennsyl- vania line, except the mill seat tract above mentioned, and retain to themselves the remainder, supposed to be about one-third of the whole, paying therefor a sum proportioned to the amount retained. It being understood that the final settlement notes were worth only four shillings on the pound when the purchase was made, the amount to be paid was to be estimated on that basis. This agree- ment was carried into effect in 1790, or thereabouts.
Meantime, the rise of these public state securities, which had pre- vented Phelps and Gorham from fulfilling their contract with Mass- achusetts, in like manner, prevented the early purchasers under them from making their payments. Consequently, a considerable part of these lands sold, reverted to Phelps and Gorham in after years, or were bought by Oliver Phelps, and sold by him to other persons.
[The portion of Judge Porter's manuscript omitted here - several pages - has reference principally to surveys in which he participated, connected with the bounda- ries of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, its sub-divisions,- and to matters necessarily connected with our chain of land titles. ]
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In the spring of 1794, I again returned to Canandaigua, and was employed during the whole season in making surveys of various tracts for Mr. Phelps. In the fall I again returned with him to Suffield, where I spent part of the winter, and the remainder with him in New York, where he effected his large land sale to De Witt Clinton, and other large sales to other persons.
During the summer of 1794, the court house of Ontario county was erected at Canandaigua. Thaddeus Chapin came this year to Canandaigua.
*
In the spring of 1795, I again left Suffield for Canandaigua. At Salisbury I was joined by my brother, Peter B. Porter, who had decided to settle at Canandaigua, in the practice of the law. During this season I acted as agent for Mr. Phelps in the manage- ment and sale of his lands, and in surveying for him. In the latter part of August, this year, I went to Presque Isle (now Erie Pa.) in company with Judah Colt. At this time all that part of the state of New York, lying west of "Phelps and Gorham's Indian Purchase," was still occupied by the Indians, their title to it not being vet extinguished. There was of course no road leading from Buffalo eastward, except an Indian trail, and no settlement what- ever on that trail. We traveled on horseback from Canawagus (now Avon,) to Buffalo, and were two days in performing the journey. At Buffalo there lived a man of the name of Johnstone, the British Indian interpreter, -also a Dutchman and his family, by the name of Middaugh, and an Indian trader by the name of Winne. From Buffalo we proceeded to Chippewa, U. C. where we found Capt. Wm. Lee, with a small row-boat, about to start for Presque Isle, and waiting only for assistance to row the boat, Mr. Colt, Mr. Joshua Fairbanks, now of Lewiston, and myself, joined him. Two days of hard rowing brought us to that place where we found surveyors engaged in laying out the village, now called Erie. Also a military company under the command of Gen. Irwin, ordered there by the Governor of the state, to protect the surveyors against the Indians. Col. Seth Reed, (father of Rufus S. Reed, and grandfather of Charles M. Reed,) was there with his family, living in a marquee, having just arrived .* A Mr. Reese, was also there, acting as agent for the "Population Com- pany," for selling and managing their lands, of whom Mr. Colt and I purchased two thousand acres. We returned in the same boat to Chippewa, and from thence on horseback by way of Queenston, on the Indian trail through Tonawanda Indian village to Canandaigua.
During this expedition from Buffalo to Erie, a very remarkable
* It would appear by the date of Judge Porter's visit to Erie, that Deacon Chamberlin was in error as to the year he was there. Mr. Fairbanks, who married the daughter of Col. Reed, agrees with Judge Porter as to the period of his settlement at Erie.
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circumstance presented itself, the like of which I had never before seen, nor have I since witnessed. Before starting from Buffalo, we had been detained there for two days by a heavy fall of rain, accompanied by a strong northeast gale. When off Cattaragus creek, on our upward passage, about one to two miles from land. we discovered, some distance ahead, a white strip on the surface of the lake, extending out from the shore as far as we could see. On approaching this white strip, we found it to be some five or six rods wide, and its whole surface covered with fish of all the vari- cties common to the lake, lying on their sides as if dead. On touching them, however, they would dart below the surface, but immediately rise again to their former position. We commenced taking them by hand, making our selection of the best; and finding them perfectly sound, we took in a good number (indeed, if we had desired, we might have loaded our boat with them.) On reaching Erie, we had some of them cooked and found them perfectly good. The position of these fish on their sides in the water placed their mouths partly above and partly below the surface, so that they seemed to be inhaling both water and air, for at each effort in inhaling, bubbles would rise and float on the water. It was these bubbles that caused the white appearance on the lake's surface. I have supposed that these fish had, from some cause, growing out of the extraordinary agitation of the lake by the gale from the eastward, and the sudden reflux of water from west to east, after it subsided, been thrown together in this way, and from some unknown natural cause, had lost the power of regulating their spe- cific gravity, which it is said they do, by means of an air bladder, furnished them by nature. I leave to others, however, to explain this phenomenon.
During this season, (1795) Nathaniel W. Howell, of Canandaigua, and Gen. Vincent Mathews, late of Rochester, first came to Can- andaigua to attend court, their residence being, at that time, at Newtown, now Elmira.
*
In the fall of 1796, I returned to Suffield, and spent most of the winter in making up my surveys and maps of the Reserve, and in closing up my business with the Connecticut Land Co., having concluded not to remain longer in their service, although they were desirous I should. But as I had now a family, and had spent most of my time for seven years in the fatigues and hardships of a woods life, I determined to settle at Canandaigua and accept the agency offered me by Mr. Phelps, of his land business. In accor- dance with this determination, in the latter part of February, 1797, I left Suffield with my family, in a sleigh for Canandaigua, where I arrived early in March. I immediately entered into the service of Mr. Phelps, in selling and surveying his lands, and in collecting his debts. One of the first acts of my agency was to sell three or
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