USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 46
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JACOB S. OTTO.
This gentleman was the successor of Mr. Ellicott in the local agency. He was previously a resident of Philadelphia; had been engaged in mercantile and commercial pursuits.
The period of his agency was from 1821 to his death, in 1826. Although possessed of many amiable qualities, his previous pursuits and business experience were not well adapted to fit him for the new and peculiar duties of the place he was called to fill; though the period of his incumbency was one of active and extensive sales, and his efforts were not wanting to perpetuate the liberal policy that had so generally characterized the ownership and agencies of the Purchase. The measures adopted during his agency were such as tended to promote the interests and prosperity of the Holland Purchase.
At the great canal celebration, in Lockport, on the 26th of October, 1825, he was one of the delegation from the county of Genesee. From some exposure upon that occasion, he contracted a cold, which terminated in his death, May 2d, 1826.
It was during Mr. Otto's administration, that the plan of receiving cattle and grain from the settlers, that had previously been entertained, was effectually commenced. Depots were designated in different parts of the Purchase, for the delivery of wheat; where the settler could carry it, and have its value endorsed upon his
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contract. Agents were appointed to receive cattle. They adver- tised yearly, the times and places, when and where the cattle would be received, fixed upon their price, and endorsed it upon contracts. It was one among the measures of relief, and its operation was highly beneficial. The agencies were, however, expensive to the company, and allowing the market price for the grain and cattle, they were largely the losers by the operations.
DAVID E. EVANS.
During the administration of Mr. Otto, Mr. Evans had been appointed as his associate, to give the incumbent the advantage of his long experience and familiarity with the details of the business. Yet he did not, to any considerable degree, participate in the joint administration proposed; his time being chiefly occupied with his own private affairs, and the duties of a member of the Senate of this state.
Upon the death of Mr. Otto, he entered upon the discharge of the duties of the local agency. Early in life, he had been a clerk in the office, under his uncle, Joseph Ellicott, and had for a long period occupied the desk of the cashier and accountant of the agency. Few, therefore, could have been more familiar with the wants, interests and welfare of the settlers. They were old familiar acquaintances, and his interests were identified with theirs.
It was during the second year of Mr. Evans' administration, (in Sept. 1827,) that a general plan for the modification of land con- tracts was adopted. It was regarded at the time, as a very decided measure of relief to the settlers, and its operations were highly beneficial to a very large class of the debtors of the Holland Com- pany. The plan of modification was mainly as follows :-
" Any person or persons holding a contract for land, or holding land, which is under a mortgage, whether the contract has expired or not, and whether the whole of the money has become due on the mortgage, or not; where the principal and interest already paid and to be paid, amounts to more per acre than the maximum prices subjoined. may surrender the said contract, and enter into a new contract for the same, according to the following principles, and if under a mortgage, the money shall be reduced in conformity to the same.
" Where partial payments have been made, ascertain how many acres those payments (an original advance of five per cent, ex-
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cepted) would have paid for at the original contract price, (deduct- ing five per cent.,) had that quantity been in a separate contract; estimate what the residue of the land would amount to at the max- imum price, and charge the same on the whole of the land in the original article, or under the original mortgage; at which time all reasonable divisions will be made where several individuals claim parts of the original article; and in case of a mortgage, reasonable divisions will be made, and accounts opened for each proprietor or claimant of such divisions, and those several parts released when paid for. Provided, however, that such claimant of the whole, or any part of the land held under an old contract, or covered by a mortgage, shall pay at least one-eighth part of the new price so found, at the time such deductions shall be made, and such divisions take place, and covenant or agree to pay the residue in six equal annual payments with interest annually. The maximum price is not to be enhanced by adding interest until January 1st, 1828.
Previous to the year 1828, much difficulty and embarrassment had occurred throughout the Holland Purchase, from a provision in the School Act of the state, that sites of school houses should be secured by deeds in fec, or by leases from the possessor of the fee, of the land. In numerous instances there was no deeded lands in the district; or if there was, not conveniently located. In the absence of such title or lease, the trustecs of the districts could not legally levy and collect taxes for building or repairing school houses. About the period above named, Mr. Evans adopted the following plan to remedy the cvil, and prevent the hindrances that were in the way of a full realization of the benefits of the common school system upon the Holland Purchase. It was entered upon the books of the office, and the benefits of it extended whenever asked :---
"In every legally organized School District on the Holland Pur- chase, where the most convenient site for a school house shall fall on land not deeded from the Holland Company, a deed for such site. not exceeding half an acre of land, shall be granted, from the Company to such district, gratis. Provided that whenever such site shall fall on lands held under contract, from the Company, by any person or persons, such district shall procure a relinquishment of the right to such piece of land, by virtue of said contract to be endorsed thereon by the person or persons holding the same."
Mr. Evans' agency continued until 1837. It embraced the large sales of the Holland Company's interest; in fact before it closed, the entire business and interests of the Company, had progressed nearly to a termination.
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Having served one term as a State Senator, Mr. Evans had been elected a Representative in Congress at the period of Mr. Otto's death. He resigned to take upon himself the duties of the agency.
He became the purchaser of the fine residence of Mr. Ellicott, from the three sisters and the brother's wife, to whom Mr. E. had willed it. Extending and carrying out the plans of his uncle, he has made it one of the most beautiful and tasteful residences in the state; and a seat of hospitality, as will readily be inferred, by those who know the generous and social character of its owner.
.
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CHAPTER III.
COMMENCEMENT OF SETTLEMENT, AND ITS PROGRESS UP TO THE WAR OF 1812.
The chain of narrative in a preceding chapter was interrupted by the introduction of a chapter of personal biographies, just as Mr. Ellicott had so far progressed with the surveys as to admit of the announcement of the commencement of land sales. There were then but three settlers under the auspices of the Holland Company; the three pioneer tavern keepers. Settlement and its progress will now be taken up, and continued with reference to the order of time in which it occurred, and its localities. An attempt will be made to show the reader when and where the bold and enterprising Pioneers dashed into the wilderness in different direc- tions-erected their humble primitive log cabins, and laid here and there, over a wide region, the foundations of the wealth, prosperity and happiness, which he may now witness. He will find that the commencement, and the progress for a long period, was surrounded with formidable difficulties; that they involved privation, suffering, and indomitable perseverance; and in the end will feel to venerate the names of the living, and the memories of the dead, of those who reclaimed the wilderness, and prepared the way for its con- version to the fairest portion of our Empire State.
As soon as Mr. Ransom had built his house at Pine Grove, Mr. Ellicott had made it his head quarters, as has been indicated by the dates of his letters. His appointment as Local Agent, took effect ()ctober 1st, 1800, at which time he commenced sales of land-a portion of Mr. Ransom's house being appropriated for his office, and Mr. James W. Stevens, whom he had brought on from Phila- delphia for that purpose, acted as his clerk; Mr. Brisbane occasion-
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ally acting in that capacity, though his duties were mostly at the Transit Store House.
Before introducing the names of the settlers, we will insert some desultory sketches, which have a bearing upon this primitive period of settlement :-
Extract of a letter of Joseph Ellicott to Paul Busti, Esq., of Philadephia, dated New Amsterdam, January 16th, 1801 :-
"I have the satisfaction to inform you (although after a disagree- able journey) that I arrived here in good health the 1st instant, since which period I have been busily employed in making arrangements for the sale of the land placed under my charge. The season of the year being such as to prevent persons from making their estab- lishments, prevents me at present from effecting any bona fida sales.
Settlers generally wishing to defer entering into articles before they are enabled to commence their improvements. I have, how- ever, abundant reason to conclude, that at the opening of Spring I shall effect the sale of considerable land."
In a letter to Messrs. Le Roy & Bayard, dated " West Gene- see " May 7th, 1801, Mr Ellicott says :-
" In respect to sales of lands, we have not as yet made rapid progress. The best and most eligible situations are only in demand. However, we dispose of more or less almost every day. Settlements form more rapidly on the east side of the Purchase than the west, owing to its contiguity to the old settlement in the Genesee, where provisions and necessaries for their beginning is more easily attainable. However, there are some going on on the western side, and I continue to live under the expectation of selling a considerable quantity of lands in the course of the summer and fall, and presume after this season the sales will increase, the ice will then be broken, and conveniences will be had for the settlers on the Purchase."
In May, 1801, Mr. Ellicott acting as the special agent of Messrs. Le Roy and Bayard, employed Mr. Richard M. Stoddard to sur- vey the Triangular tract, giving minute directions, especially as to the laying off of five hundred acres at " Buttermilk Falls."
In a letter to Mr. Munger, at Transit Store House, dated at " Pine Grove," (Ransom's,) May, 1801, he says, he has been informed " that the inhabitants of your neighborhood have under- taken to open the road to Ganson's. You will please consider me a subscriber towards the expense of the undertaking."
In May of this year, Gen. James Wilkenson came upon the western frontiers of this State, commissioned to open a communi-
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cation by land between lake Erie and Ontario. Making Black Rock his head quarters, with his surveyors and a corps of U. S. soldiers for laborers, soon after his arrival, he addressed Mr. Elli- cott for advice in reference to the best route to pursue. The answer pointed out with but little variation the route that was adopted. Mr. Ellicott forwarded to Gen. Wilkenson such maps and field notes as would facilitate the enterprise; in acknowledging the reception of which, the General expresses his apprehensions that "evil disposed persons will labor to excite elamor and discon- tent among the Indians on this occasion;" but he trusts Mr. Ellicott and Gen. Chapin "will prevent any obstruction from that quarter."
Gen. Wilkenson and his corps, located the road. He directed Major Porter, then in command at Fort Niagara, to open it with the soldiers of the garrison. In the season of 1802 it was opened as far west as the brow of the mountain at Lewiston; and from thence to a mile west of Tonawanda creek, the timber was cut down but not removed. The work of the season included the erection of bridges over the Tonawanda and Cayuga creeks. The road was left in this condition until 1809, when an appropriation was made by the legislature of this State for its farther improve- ment, of fifteen hundred dollars; the sum to be collected from the debtors to the State for lands purchased upon the " Mile Strip." Joseph Landon, Peter Vandeventer, and Augustus Porter were appointed commissioners to lay out the money. It was used to make a passable wagon road from Black Rock to the Falls. This was the end of government appropriation.
While Gen. Wilkenson was upon the frontier he located the site of a Fort at Black Rock. At the session of the legislature that followed, the general government made application for a cession of land to carry out the project. The cession was refused, unless the general government would pay for the land. The condition was declined, and the project abandoned. This narrow, and strange legislative policy induced the general government to abandon the prosecution of the military road; and to it, is also to be attributed the defenseless condition of the frontier on the breaking out of the war of 1812.
In a letter dated July 14th, Mr. Ellicott informs Mr. Busti gen- erally as to land sales, their amount, and location. In closing the letter he makes the following suggestions :----
" When we reflect that there are lands for sale in every possible
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direction around us, that every purchaser who comes into this quarter has to pass by almost innumerable land offices, where lands are offered on almost every kind of terms imaginable; and that in Upper Canada, adjoining this Purchase the government grants lands at 6d Halifax currency per acre; we cannot calculate to make very rapid sales, until we have saw and grist mills erected, and roads opened; all of which are going forward.
" If some modes could be devised to grant lands to actual settlers, who cannot pay in advance, and at the same time not destroy that part of the plan which required some advance, I am convinced the most salutary consequences would be the result, which I beg leave to suggest for Mr. Busti's consideration, as three-fourths of the applicants are of that description; and as every acre of land that is cleared, fenced, and sowed on the Purchase, at the labor and expense of others, makes the district at least $25 more valuable, it appears to me some mode might be devised, to grant to such actual settlers lands, without restricting them to pay in advance. Monied men are loath to settle before conveniences can be had, and deprive themselves of the benefits of society, which accounts for the reason why our sales have not been more extensive to that class of pur- chasers."
Mr. Thompson, who had charge of the building of the house for Mr. Ellicott's office and residence at Batavia, expressed to him in a letter his disapprobation of "log houses," and considers the money expended upon them " thrown away." Mr. Ellicott in his answer thus quiets his scruples upon that point :- "you will please consider the expense solely chargeable to me, and I hope I may never want for a worse house than a good log house. Indeed I should prefer living in such a house, to that of being obliged to board in the best brick house in Canandaigua."
Extract of a letter from Mr. Ellicott to Mr. Busti, dated July 21st, 1821:
" You will permit me to mention to you the propriety of opening a township or two for sale on the lake Ontario shore, as no doubt people will be moving into this purchase by water, and unless we have some establishment on the Lake, and a road effected from the distriet to said establishment, such persons will be put to consider- able inconvenience. I would therefore propose, as there is a good harbor for boats in township No. 16, 2d Range that the said town- ships should be opened for sale. Indeed an establishment on the Lake cannot, in my opinion, be begun at too early a period, as the farmers in the Purchase will require a place to convey their potash to deposit on the Lake, in order to be sent to Montreal or New York, as may be most likely to produce a market, and also for a place to receive their salt, and without such an establishment
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many will have to go considerably farther, as well as carry their money into other settlements in which we are not interested.
"Another object of no small moment to our prosperity, would be the setting apart for sale township No. 11, in the 8th Range, including New Amsterdam, which would shortly become the place for the inhabitants of the western tract to receive their supplies, and in a little time would be a place of trade, which would give a spring to the settlement, and of course could not be too soon commenced for the benefit of the interior part opened for sale. All which is respectfully submitted, dear sir, with great respect and esteem."
Among the primitive tavern keepers, there was a backwoods philosopher. It was the Mr. Walthers, that had been sent from Philadelphia to be the landlord at the Transit Store House. Established in his location, he made himself quite officious; his letters came thick and fast upon Mr. Ellicott, whenever he knew where they would reach him. They were an odd mixture of philosophy, and advice and suggestions in reference to the best manner of settling a new country. In one letter he would talk of his domestic troubles; in another, would announce that one, or two, or three landlookers had been his guests, not forgetting to assure Mr. Ellicott how hard he had labored to convince them of the splendid prospects of the new country; in another he would inform him of false reports that had been started as to the title of the land, and how he had put a quietus upon them; in another he would express his regrets that his house was full of strangers, who were passing the Purchase, and going to "swell the numbers of his Brittanic Majesty's subjects in Upper Canada." In Mr. Ellicott's absence, he was wont to consider himself a sub-agent; taking some airs upon himself, from some favors that had been shown him by the General Agent at Philadelphia. He did not last long, as will be observed in an extract of a letter from Mr. Ellicott to Mr. Busti. Mr. Ellicott answers a letter received from "Mrs. Berry and Miss Wemple"-(names familiar to old settlers, as household words.) They were applicants for two town lots, at the "Bend of the Tonewanta." He very courteously informs them, that when he lays out a town there, the lots will contain forty acres each, and their application shall be held in remembrance.
One of the earliest attempts at gardening in Buffalo, is indicated in a letter from Henry Chapin to Mr. Ellicott, dated March, 1801. He asks the privilege of fencing in the ground on Seneca street.
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from Main to Washington street, opposite the Post office, for the purpose of raising some "garden vegetables."
Extract of a letter from Mr. Ellicott to Gen. Payne :-
"Mr. Ellicott makes a tender of his compliments by Gen'l. Payne to Mr. Kirtland, informs that gentleman, that as yet, the Holland Land Company have made no provision for opening the road through their lands from Buffalo creek to the eastern boundary of the Triangle.
"Mr. Ellicott has recently mentioned that subject to the General Agent, and is waiting his answer. He thinks it probable the Company may unite with the Connecticut Land Company, but this he cannot speak of with certainty."
About this period, a lost horse gave Mr. Ellicott much trouble. He had borrowed the horse at Schlosser, to ride down to Niagara. and from thence to "Howell's," where he strayed away. The owner, presuming he had a good customer, demanded an exorbitant price. In a letter, he orders his friend Robert Lee, Esq., at the garrison to advertise the horse in "Tiffany's paper at Niagara." The horse is not much flattered in the advertisement; is not made to come up to the hundred dollars that the owner demanded; he is neither "shod before nor behind, and is tender footed;" (for which neither the horse nor the owner was probably to blame, for there were as yet no blacksmiths in the country.) After paying for the horse, it was found that the Tonawanda Indians had appropriated him to their use.
Extract of a letter from Mr. Ellicott to Mr. Busti, dated Batavia. 7th November, 1801 :-
"Having as yet not removed my office from Mr. Ransom's I am unable to detail particulars of the Agency. It is with regret that I inform you that we lost, three weeks since, another of our most valuable settlers, who fell a victim to the prevailing fever :- Mr. Garrett Davis, whose name you will see on the map of the west bounds of the Tonawanda Reservation, the place of his residence. He has left a wife and two children who will long feel his loss. Since the cold weather has set in the settlers are regaining their health, and I hope another season will be sufficiently healthy to enable me to report more favorably of the salubrity of this part of the Purchase."
Extract of another letter from the same to the same, dated Pine Grove, Dec. 4th, 1801 :-
"I have made no actual sales this fall where the stipulated
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advance has been paid. I begin to be strongly of the opinion you always expressed to me, (but which, I must confess I rather doubted) that few purchasers will come forward and pay cash for lands in a new country.
The saw mill I have been erecting at Batavia, which has cost a deal of labor, not being a natural seat, but a place where a conveni- ence of this kind is absolutely necessary, will, the mill-wright informs me, be in motion by the 10th instant, at which period we expect to begin to make ourselves and the settlers comfortable with floors, &c. which will be a great acquisition to our present situation."
Then follows a long correspondence, or a long series of letters from Mr. Ellicott to Mr. Busti, proposing some general principles of land sales and settlements; and in reference to taxes, the asses- sors of Ontario county, having as he thought begun taxation of the Holland Company lands pretty promptly. In a letter dated at " Ransom's Grove," Feb. 14th, he informs Mr. Busti that many settlers are preparing to commence their establishments as soon as the spring opens. He says :- " My present situation, (although the accommodations are as good as could be expected,) is gloomy for the want of society; our nearest neighbors being eighteen miles distant." In the same letter he announces that "Mr. Walthers had sold his possessions and fled the country. It is said, has gone down the Mississippi to the Spanish Settlements."
About this period a venerable relative of Mr. Ellicott in Mary- land, expresses his concern for him in his wilderness home, as follows :-
"I observe thou says thou art living without society, that thy nearest neighbor is ten miles. Pray can a person be justifiable in spending the few years he has to live in a way that is not the most agreeable to him? Think on this and retire from that toilsome life thou hast pursued so many years, and enjoy thy few remaining years to the fullest extent."
In a letter from Mr. Ellicott to his brother Benjamin, dated in March, 1801, and directed to him at Davis' Hotel, he mentions that White Seneca is looking out a place for the Buffalo road south of the Reservation; and approves of his brother's selection of the site for the offices "at the Bend," and his general plan of the town plat he is surveying there.
In a letter to Mr. Busti, dated at "Ransom's, West Genesee,"" August, 1801, Mr. Ellicott states that his quarters had been vis- ited by the Hon. Jonathan Mason, U. S. Senator from Massachu-
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setts, on his way to the Falls. In the same letter he complains that the inhabitants of the town of Northampton off from the Purchase are disposed to tax the company exorbitantly, for roads, bridges, &c. laying out the money beyond the bounds of the Purchase. The evil he thinks will be remedied when that part of the town which embraces the Purchase gets enough inhabitants to insure a fair division of the town offices; and ultimately, when a separate town can be organized. To hasten these events, he states that he is encouraging settlement, by waiving the requirement of advance pay- ments for land, when he can secure a settler. He complains that the county of Ontario have built "an elegant and commodious brick jail, such an one that few of the old counties of Pennsylvania can boast;" with the intention of making the Holland Company, foot a large portion of the expense. In this letter he informs Mr. Busti that many of the settlers are "greviously afflicted with the fever and ague."
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