USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 57
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Lawrence M'Mullen, was the first settler upon the Tonawanda creek, between the Reservation and the rapids, and for eight years
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was the only one. He went there in 1815. In 1823, Elias Safford, Esq. moved from Batavia with his large family, and became the first settler upon the north side of the creek, in T. 13, R. 5. Although his pioneer advent was at a late period, he encountered all the difficulties of a life in the wilderness. He persevered, and lives to enjoy the comforts of a fine farm, and to see the wild region he had the fortitude to enter as a pioneer, mostly settled and rapidly progressing in improvement. He has been not only the founder of settlement, but he has reared in his log cabin, upon the banks of the Tonawanda, an excellent family, that have gone out into the world, richly endowed with paternal precepts and examples.
Daniel Benedict was a settler upon the creek in 1824.
The first settlers of all Royalton, south of the Lockport and Batavia road, have been migratory to an extraordinary degree. There are not more than five or six families there, who were resi- dents in 1824. In one school district, sixty families have moved in and out, yet there is permanent settlement there now, as any one will conclude who has witnessed the earnest that the inhabitants are giving of their intention to remain.
The author is indebted to Alexander Coon, Esq. of Shelby, who was one of the first, (if not the first,) settler in that town, for some early reminiscences of pioneer life in that portion of Orleans county :-
"My father and his family came into the woods two miles west of Shelby village, in 1810. The whole family, with a hired man, left the Lewiston road at Walsworth, and arriving upon our land, four crotches were inserted in the ground, sticks laid across, and the bark of an elm tree used for roof and sides. The hut was only intended for a sleeping place; the cooking was done in the open air. So much accomplished, my father and mother went out to Walsworth's for a few nights to get lodging, the hired man and boys lodging in the hut. A log house was the next thing in order. A very comfortable one was built in five days, and that too, without the use of boards, nails or shingles. Our cattle were carried through the first winter entirely on browse; the next winter we had a little corn fodder to mix with it.
"Our nearest neighbor south, was Walsworth, there was one family north, on the Ridge Road; west, there was no settler nearer than Hartland. Eleazer Tracy, came in next after my father; John Zimmerman, Nicholas Smith, Henry Garter, Robert Garter, the same year; William Bennett, James Carpenter, Samuel
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Carpenter, William Older, David Hagerman, David Demaray, Elijah Bent, soon after. When the British were in possession of the fron- tier, many of the early settlers left the country; some of them did not return. It was hard times during the war; provisions were scarce and high. I have been from Shelby, over the Genesee river for two bushels of wheat; getting it ground at the mill on the Cone- sus. In the cold season of 1816, I paid $11 for a barrel of flour, in Rochester, and $3 for its transportation. A circumstance I well remember in 1818, will shew how new settlers had to manage to get along. I was the collector of taxes; had a small tax, less than a dollar I think, against one man, who to raise the money, made black salts, and conveyed them to Gaines on a hand sled. The first boards we had in all this region, was from the saw-mill built by Andrew Ellicott."
The early settlers of Shelby, locating there generally after the period embraced by Mr. Coon, were David Burroughs, Esq. the Gregorys, Freemans, Sherwoods, Snells, Servoss, Squires, Potters; and others, of whose names the author has no record.
David Burroughs, Esq. (the father of S. M. Burroughs, Esq.) was the first supervisor of the town; for a number of years, and until his death, a magistrate; and was one of the representatives from Genesee in the state convention of 1821. In each station, he was distinguished as an efficient and faithful public servant.
Col. Andrew Ellicott, was the patroon of Shelby village. He is remembered for his many acts of kindness to the new settlers; and especially for the interest he took in the welfare of the Indians at Tonawanda. He was adopted into their nation under the Indian name of "Kiawana," which means, a "good man." He has often helped them to bread in seasons of scarcity with them.
Rev. James Carpenter, was the early and faithful minister in that region; and well deserves a passing notice in these necessarily brief pioneer annals. One who knew him well, says of him: - "He was truly a good man, possessed a bold and vigorous mind; and a deep seated love of his Master. He used to make the forest reverberate the "glad tidings," in echo to his stentorian voice. His sermons seldom occupied less than two hours; and often began at noon and were not finished until sunset. "The Elder," as he was familiarly called, when there was no other preacher in town, was fond of hunting as well as preaching; and wo! to deer or bear, that became the object of his unerring aim. A bear of large size, made a noc- turnal visit to the Elder's pig pen, which stood close to his log cabin; one of the pigs gave pretty distinet indications that he was within
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the fatal grasp, or hug. Its Reverend owner, sprang from his bed, and taking an axe, approached the bear, and with one blow, directed to the brain, saved the pig and secured a bear skin of uncommon size.
The office of Christian ministers was no sinecure upon the Holland Purchase, in early years; as the reader must have already inferred. They encountered the roughest features of pioneer life; penetrated the forests by woods roads, and paths that were only indicated by blazed trees; preaching a sermon in a log school or dwelling house in one settlement, attending a funeral in another, performing the marriage ceremony in another; and returning to their homes after thus itinerating, labored with their hands, that they might not "be chargeable upon the brethren." It is remem- bered of one faithful pioneer settler and minister in Niagara, that he has often spent the day in meeting some appointment,-perhaps officiating at a funeral-and, returning to his home, split rails, burned log heaps, planted patches of corn and potatoes, or hoed them, by moonlight. Instances, numerous ones, could be cited, which would illustrate the early endurances, and the faithful, disin- terested and devoted services of those who founded the first churches upon the Holland Purchase. The churches to which they severally belonged, should gather up their names, and cherish their memories.
Joseph Hart was a pioneer in that portion of Orleans county, contiguous to the village of Albion. He settled on the Oak Orchard road, a little south of the village, in 1811; and is yet residing there, having reached his 77th year. From a son of his, Mr. E. Hart, of Albion, the author received a few brief reminiscences of early events :-
" William M'Allister was the pioneer of Barre; his farm embraced the eastern portion of the village of Albion. Oliver Benton, Esq. settled in the town in 1811 .* John Holsenburg and Jesse Bumpus
* This early pioneer of Orleans county died in 1848. In an obituary notice in the Orleans Republican, it is said :-
" The life of Mr. Benton is identified with the history of this country. In early manhood he emigrated to the place of his late residence, then a waste wilderness, which, by his industry and perseverance, he subdued, and converted into fruitful fields. His life has ever been one of activity. He was Sheriff of this county at an early period after its organization, and, for a number of years, Post Master; and filled other stations of usefulness and responsibility among his fellow citizens. Up to the period of his last confinement, he was a prominent citizen, and an active, influential man in the business relations of community-esteemed by his neighbors, and his acquaintances generally. By his industry and frugality, under the smiles of Providence, he had accumulated a goodly substance - and he had lived to see a thrifty neighborhood and a respectable and promising family grow up around him."
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were early settlers; their farms were lands that are now embraced within the village corporation.
" The only road passable for teams when settlement commenced here, was the Oak Orchard road. The first milling that my father had done, was at Irondequoit. A fact that I have often heard my father mention, will convey some idea of the condition of things here in an early day :- The pioneer, M'Allister, brought in with him a hired man, who was accompanied by his wife; the first female that resided in Barre. She died soon after coming here. At the funeral, there was no one of her sex present; nor any one to con- duct religious services; there was no boards to be had to make her coffin; hewed plank, pinned together, was used as a substitute.
" In all the early years, the inhabitants of this region, had few resources that would command money or store trade. Soon after the war, Van Rensselaer Hawkins and James Mathers, and the firm of E. & D. Nichols, commenced the manufacture of pot and pearl ash, at Gaines, and the purchase of black salts. This afforded the new settlers the first facilities they had to command a little money, and it was such a help to them as few can realize in these days of plenty. All of them who could raise a five pail kettle, or club with their neighbors and get a cauldron, commenced the man- ufacture of the new article of commerce. It not only brought money into the country, but it promoted the clearing of land. The fine crop of wheat in 1818 helped but little. My father sold his wheat that year for twenty-five cents per bushel; it was worth but thirty-one cents in Rochester. The avails of black salts, furnished provisions at a period when settlement must in a great measure have been abandoned for the want of them; this is especially applicable to the seasons of 1816 and '17.
"Our first religious meetings used to be held upon the Ridge road, by itinerating Methodist ministers; we used to go through the woods, generally on foot, whenever we heard of one of their appointments. The first school in the town of Barre, was kept by the wife of Silas Benton; she attended to her domestic affairs, kept boarders, and managed a school."
James Mathers, Esq. was the first settler in Gaines, in 1810. He says :-
" When I made my location, the settlers between Gaines and Clarkson were, Elijah Downer, John Proctor, Samuel Crippen, the
NOTE .- The remarks of Mr. Hart, with reference to the timely aid that came from a market being opened for black salts, are applicable almost to the entire Purchase. It helped in all the new settlements; enabled the settlers to pay taxes, and purchase necessary articles of domestic use, the want of which had added much to the privations of pioneer life. It is a fact, the making of a record of which is due to the memory of the late Hon. Ephraim Hart, of Utica, that being a merchant at Batavia, at the period spoken of, he transported from Utica one hundred potash kettles, and sold them to the new settlers, mostly on credit, to enable them to embrace the opportunity of converting their ashes into a marketable commodity.
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Farwells, - - Mattison, and a family at Sandy creek. West, in what is now Orleans, there was Noah Burgess, Cotton M. Leach, Isaac Leach, Messrs. Sibley, Jacobs, Wilcox, Joseph Adams, Daniel Pratt, Daniel Gates.
" Previous to the war there was but a few scattered settlers north of the Ridge.
"I built the first framed barn in Orleans county, procuring my boards at Turner's mill on the Oak Orchard, and at Dunham's mill at Johnson's creek. Noah Burgess set out the first orchard. William Perry was the first merchant in Gaines. The Nichols were next after him, commencing in 1816. Guernsey and Bush- nell started a mercantile establishment here in 1817, Van Rensselaer Hawkins was connected with it.
" The first mail was carried through on Ridge Road, on horse- back, by James Brown. Daily stages were put on in 1816. Stage traveling increased rapidly and became very large before the opening of the Canal. I have often known eight and ten loaded coaches pass in a day.
" About half of all the residents upon the Ridge Road, left during the war; most of them, however, returned. In all the early years, we had much sickness upon the Ridge Road; ague and fever, and bilious fever, principally. I have known half, and even two-thirds of the inhabitants sick at the same time. In the years 1816 and `17, there would have been suffering for food, if the inhabitants had not been kind to each other; dividing as long as they had anything to divide. When I came here in 1811, there was but little bread to be had; our living was principally potatoes, corn and fish.
"The first school was established in Gaines in 1815; in a log school house, of course."
Mr. Mathers speaks of the commencement of the manufacture of pot and pearl ashes, and attributes to it all the good effects that have been stated; and adds that the next article of commerce of Orleans, was staves, which found a market at Montreal. He dates the commencement of lumbering upon the lake, in 1816. In 1817 and '18, it was extended along the lake, to the Niagara river; the mouths of Oak Orchard, the Eighteen, the Twelve, Youngston and Lewiston, were the principal depots. The trade was at first in butt staves; ship timber followed, and continued until the fine groves of oak, between ridge and lake, have pretty much disap- peared. As soon as the Canal was completed as far west as Lock- port, the commerce in staves and ship timber commenced upon it. Daniel Washburn and Otis Hathaway, first engaged in the business at Lockport, under a large contract with the eminent ship builder in New York, Henry Eckford. The fine oak that grew in the
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immediate vicinity of Lockport, was used to fill their contract. Since that, the business of shipping staves and timber from Lockport, and other points on the canal and Tonawanda creek, has continued, employing in the earliest years of canal navigation, a large amount of capital and labor; and even now the commerce has not ceased; but is of course much diminished; for although no other district of country in the United States, even bore as much oak, it was not exhaustless. Lake and canal, have conveyed the great bulk of it to Montreal and New York .*
In the history of pioneer settlement in Orleans, there is the well remembered attempt to form a "Bachelor settlement;"-a kind of Fourierite community of joint, yet "single blessedness." They commenced the settlement in 1811; their location being about a mile below still water, on the Oak Orchard creek, in T. 16, R. 2. It was a failure, as the reader has probably already anticipated. As in the primeval locality of the progenitor of mankind :-
" In vain the viewless seraph lingering there, At starry midnight charmed the silent air; In vain the wild bird caroll'd on the steep, To hail the sun slow wheeling from the deep; In vain, to soothe the solitary shade, Aerial notes in mingling measures play'd; The summer wind that shook the spangled tree, The wispering wave, the murmur of the bee ;- Still slowly passed the melancholy day, And still the stranger wist not where to stray. The world was sad ;- the garden was a wild;
And man, the hermit, sighed - till WOMAN smiled."
An old Pioneer, quaintly observed to the author: "they began to go east and get wives in a year or two." The introduction of wives and the coming on of the war broke up the "Bachelor settlement," though most of its founders became permanent settlers, and heads of families. Like Benedict in the play, when they said they should "die bachelors," they did not think they "should live to be married."
Judge Otis Turner, recently of Medina, now residing at Niagara
* As specimens of the native timber growth of Niagara, the author cites the fact, that a black walnut tree was cut down, while clearing the ground to build the locks, in Lockport, a saw log from which, fourteen feet in length, made 1643 feet of inch boards. An Englishman, who had a nursery of forest trees in England, in an early day, procured in the neighborhood of Lockport, a black walnut, an oak and a whitewood plank, all eighty feet in length. and measuring at their butts, over five feet in breadth, clear of the wane. He took them to London for exhibition, to promote the sale of his young trees. While at the wharf in New York, Major Noah called public attention to them, by a notice in his paper, and they were visited by thousands.
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Falls, came upon the Holland Purchase in 1811. Starting from Palmyra, Wayne county, with an ox team to transport his family and household goods, he forded the Genesce river at the rapids, above the Falls. It was in November and there was not a little of peril and danger attending the fording at that inclement season. Taking his near ox by the horns, he was the pioneer, or pilot of his team, stem- ming the strong current himself, and selecting the best track, though at times there was iminent danger of his oxen loosing their foothold upon the slippery rocks, a ship, or rather a wagon wreck, and an aquatic excursion over the Falls. The intrepid adventurer how- ever, arrived upon the western shore in safety. Proceeding west upon the Ridge Road, there was no stream bridged that crossed it.
Judge Turner located at Oak Orchard. From some minutes taken in conversation with him, the author selects a few brief sketches of early events in that region, in addition to those furnished by others.
Dr. William White of Palmyra, became the neighbor of Judge Turner, soon after he located. The two pioneers built a saw-mill, on the Oak Orchard between Medina and Ridge. This was the first saw-mill in all the region, except the one that had been erected by the Holland Company.
The salt works at Oak Orchard were first worked by Israel Bennett, in 1818. He bored about 150 feet, and obtained water tolerably strong. At one period he had seventy pot ash and caldron kettles set, and furnished most of the salt consumed in all the northern portion of the Purchase. Henry Boardman became the proprietor in 1823. The gradual completion of the Erie canal. induced the abandonment of the works.
The earliest prominent settlers west of Oak Orchard, on Ridge, in Orleans, were :- Ezra D. Barnes, Israel Douglass, (the latter was the first magistrate north of Batavia;) Seymour B. Murdock and sons, Eli Moore. The milling of the first settlers was obtained at Niagara Falls and the Genesee river.
The salmon in their seasons, were abundant, in the Oak Orchard, at the early period of settlement, and in fact, up to 1816 and '18. These and other fish, were a great help to the pioncer settlers; not only a substitute for food which it was difficult to obtain, but enabled them often to drive a brisk trade, an exchange or barter, with the new settlers who were farther removed from fishing grounds. In the months of June and September, the salmon would ascend the main stream and its small tributaries, in great numbers, and
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were easily taken; sometimes they would ascend in high water, and when it receded, would be left upon the banks. They have been picked up in the cultivated fields along the streams, after a freshet.
The transportation of the early settlers in the region of the Oak Orchard, used to be both upon the Ridge Road and the lake. In 1812, and for some years after, vessels could enter the Oak Orchard that drew less than five feet of water. When settlement first commenced, there were indications that the mouth of the Oak Orchard had been a favorite stopping place for lake navigators, from the earliest period of French occupancy in this region.
The reader has already, in the course of the narrative, had occasional glimpses of early events at Niagara Falls. It remains to speak of one, who for nearly forty years, has been closely identified with that world-renowned locality. Gen. Parkhurst Whitney, has not only been a pioneer upon the Holland Purchase, but he is the son of one of the earliest pioneers of Western New York. His father came as far west as Seneca lake, in the summer of 1789, and erected a small log house upon the " old castle" farm, ploughed five acres of land and sowed it to wheat, made a few tons of hay and stacked it, returned, and in the following February brought his family to his new home. Arriving at Rome, he found the road so bad, and his team so jaded, that he was obliged to leave most of his stock of provisions, and even after that his eldest son and hired man were obliged to lend the team frequent assistance, putting themselves upon the lead whenever they arrived at hard spots, and that was pretty often. The journey was one of peril and hardship; the pioneer mother, wading through mud and water on foot, and camping with the rest in the woods, three nights during the journey.
Gen. Whitney settled at the Falls in 1810; in 1814 he opened a small tavern in a house belonging to Judge Porter. and in 1815 he bought the Fairchild stand, the site being the same now occupied by the Eagle. Joshua Fairchilds had been the pioneer landlord at the Falls. When Gen. Whitney took possession of the premises, the house was of logs, two stories, with a small framed addition. After taking possession, he continued to make additions and improv- ments, to tear down and build up, until 1831, when he bought the Cataract House, of which he became the occupant in 1835. Then the house was of very respectable dimensions, but not of a size adequate to the increase of visitors at the Falls. He added to it in 1835, one addition, forty feet by fifty-six feet, four stories high; in 1842
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and '43, another addition of nearly the same dimensions; in 1845 and '46, another addition, forty-two by one hundred and thirty-three feet, five stories, beside basement and attic. Beside all this, there has been added a two story kitchen, twenty-five by thirty feet; a stone factory, fifty by sixty feet, has been purchased and connected by a gallery, for sleeping rooms; and many out buildings have been put up. The reader has concluded by this time, that the establish- ment, taken altogether, is of mammoth size, as it really is; vieing in magnitude and management, with the first class of hotels in the United States. The whole, its humble beginning, and what has been consummated, furnish a striking instance of progress, in a region of rapid change and improvement.
The veteran landlord and founder of most of this large establish- ment, who used to be his own hostler, bar tender, and table waiter, (while his excellent wife was no less tasked in her departments,) has retired from an immediate supervision of it; and a son and son-in-laws, are his successors. With a constitution but slightly impaired by age, the model landlord has become a model farmer, as all may see who will visit his fine farm near the Falls, or who attend our county and state agricultural Fairs.
The following brief notices of pioneer settlement in four separate localities, were omitted in the connection to which they belong :-
The village of Lodi, which is located on either side of the Catta- augus creek, in Cattaraugus and Erie counties, had its commence- ment in 1822. It has grown up on lands that were a part of a tract of seven hundred acres, belonging to Turner Aldridge, an enterprising member of the Society of Friends, who emigrated there from Farmington, Ontario county, in 1814 or '15. He built the first grist and saw mill. Judge Amasa L. Chaffee, Dr. Crumb. Alvin Bugbec, Enoch Palmer, L. H. Pitcher, were the first settlers in the village. Ralph Plumb, Esq. was the first merchant, and soon after him, Phineas Spencer and Norton Davison commenced the business. Chaffee and Bugbee, started the first cloth dressing establishment. The Post Office was established in 1823, Benjamin Waterman becoming the first P. M. A Methodist church was organized in 1824; a Presbyterian, in 1832.
Charles and Oliver Johnson were the pioneers of the town of Boston, Eric county,* locating there at the early period of 1804.
* So says one informant of the author. It will be observed that David Eddy makes Didimus Kinney the pioneer, and the Johnsons the next settlers.
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It is mentioned in some memorandums that the author has of their early advent in the wilderness, that during the first winter, Colonel Charles Johnson, bought a bushel of corn of the Indians, and con- veyed it upon a hand sled and upon his back, a distance of fifteen miles through the woods, the snow being at the time, two feet deep; and that he also, during the same winter, backed another bushel from Batavia. The two brothers raised the first crops, and planted the first- orchard. The first town meeting was held in Boston, in 1818; Samuel Abbott was elected Supervisor, and Sylvester Clark, Town Clerk. The first merchant in town, was Zadock Stevens; the first physician, Sylvester Clark; the first born in town, was Pliny Johnson, a son of Oliver Johnson. Two citi- zens of the town, Calvin Cary and Hoofman, were killed at the capture and burning of Buffalo.
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