USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 58
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The road from Buffalo to Olean, through Springville and Ellicott- ville, was opened in 1810; the commissioners to locate it, were David Eddy, Timothy Hopkins, and Peter Vandeventer. It was opened by the state, and the county of Niagara, each paying one- half of the expense.
The family of Prendergasts were among the early pioneers of Chautauque. It consisted of six brothers and a sister, Mrs. Whiteside. Martin and Jedeiah were the founders of the village of Mayville, and were the primitive merchants there, commencing in 1806 or '7, in a log store, on the bank of Chautauque lake. James was the founder of Jamestown. Matthew settled on Chau- tauque lake, a few miles from Mayville; William and Thomas, in the town of Ripley. In an early period, few families were more prominent upon the Holland Purchase, or more identified with settlement and its progress. As in numerous other instances, the author has to regret the absence of data for a more extended notice. The only surviving one of the six brothers, is Col. William Prendergast, of Mayville. Mrs. Whiteside, the sister, who settled at Mayville with her brothers, was the mother of the first wife of the Hon. John Birdsall.
James M'Clerg, an Irishman by birth, was the patroon of the village of Westfield; was an early merchant there, and the founder of the large public house, that at the period of its erection, was not surpassed in magnitude and cost, by any similar establishment in Western New York.
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THE PIONEER SETTLER UPON THE HOLLAND PURCHASE, AND HIS PROGRESS.
" Through the deep wilderness, where scarce the sun Can cast his darts, along the winding path The Pioneer is treading. In his grasp Is his keen axe, that wondrous instrument, That like the talisman, transforms Deserts to fields and cities. He has left
The home in which his early years were past,
And, led by hope, and full of restless strength, Has plunged within the forest, there to plant His destiny. Beside some rapid stream He rears his log-built cabin. When the chains Of winter fetter Nature, and no sound Disturbs the echoes of the dreary woods, Save when some stem cracks sharply with the frost; Then merrily rings his axe, and tree on tree Crashes to carth; and when the long keen night Mantles the wilderness in solemn gloom. He sits beside his ruddy hearth, and hears The fierce wolf snarling at the cabin door, Or through the lowly casement sees his eye Gleam like a burning coal." *
The engraved view, No. 1, introduces the pioneer. It is Winter. He has, the fall preceding, obtained his "article," or had his land " booked " to him, and built a rude log house; cold weather came upon him before its completion, and froze the ground, so that he could not mix the straw mortar for his stick chimney, and that is dispensed with. He has taken possession of his new home. The oxen that are browsing, with the cow and three sheep; the two pigs and three fowls that his young wife is feeding from her folded apron; these, with a bed, two chairs, a pot and kettle, and a few other indispensable articles for house keeping, few and scanty alto- gether, as may be supposed, for all were brought in upon that ox sled, through an underbrushed woods road; these constitute the bulk of his worldly wealth. The opening in the woods is that only, which has been made to get logs for his house, and browse his cattle for the few days he has been the occupant of his new home. He has a rousing fire; logs are piled up against his rude chimney back; his fire wood is convenient and plenty, as will be
* Alfred B. Street.
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observed. There is a little hay piled on a hovel off to the right; the cattle and the sheep well understand that to be a luxury, only to be dealt out to them occasionally. The roof of his house is of peeled elm bark; his scanty window is of oiled paper; glass is a luxury that has not reached the settlement of which he forms a part. The floor of his house is of the halves of split logs; the door is made of three hewed plank-no boards to be had-a saw mill has been talked of in the neighborhood, but it has not been put in operation. Miles and miles off, through the dense forest, is his nearest neighbor. Those trees are to be felled and cleared away, fences are to be made; here, in this rugged spot, he is to carve out his fortunes, and against what odds! The land is not only to be cleared, but it is to be paid for; all the privations of a wilderness home are to be encountered. The task before him is a formidable one, but he has a strong arm and a stout heart, and the reader has only to look at him as he stands in the foreground, to be convinced that he will conquer all obstacles; that rugged spot will yet "blos- som like the rose;" he will yet sit down there with his companion in long years of toil and endurance-age will have come upon them, but success and competence will have crowned their efforts. They are destined to be the founders of a settlement and of a family; to look out upon broad smiling fields where now is the dense forest, and congratulate themselves that they have been helpers in a work of progress and improvement, such as has few parallels, in an age and in a country distinguished for enterprise and perseverance.
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SECOND SKETCH OF THE PIONEER.
No 2 .- It is Summer. The pioneer has chopped down a few acres, enclosed them with a rail fence in front, and a brush fence on the sides and in the rear. Around the house he has a small spot cleared of the timber sufficient for a garden; but upon most of the opening he has made, he has only burned the brush, and corn, pota- toes, beans, pumpkins, are growing among the logs. He has got a stick chimney added to his house. In the back ground of the pic- ture, a logging bee is in progress; his scattered pioneer neighbors, that have been locating about him during the winter and spring, have come to join hands with him for a day, and in their turns, each of them will enjoy a similar benefit. His wife has become a mother, and with her first born in her arms, she is out, looking to the plants she has been rearing upon some rude mounds raised with her own hands. She has a few marygolds, pinks, sweet williams, daffodills. sun flowers, hollyhocks; upon one side of the door, a hop vine, and upon the other a morning glory. Knowing that when the cow came from the woods there would come along with her a swarm of musquitoes, she has prepared a smudge for their reception. A log bridge has been thrown across the stream. It is a rugged home in the wilderness as yet, but we have already the earnest of progress and improvement.
*л
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HOLLAND PURCHASE.
THIRD SKETCH OF THE PIONEER.
No 3 .- It is Summer. Ten years have passed; our pioneer adventurer, it will be seen at the first glance, has not been idle; thirty or forty acres are cleared and enclosed. Various crops are growing, and the whole premises begin to have the appearance of careful mangement, of thrift, comfort, and even plenty. The pio- neer has made a small payment upon his land, and got his "article " renewed. He has put up a comfortable block house, but has had too much reverence for his primitive dwelling to remove it. He has a neat framed barn, a well dug, a curb and sweep; a garden surrounded with a picket fence. His stock is increased as may be seen, by a look off into the fields. The improvements of his neigh- bors have reached him, and he can look out, without looking up. A school district has been organized, and the comfortable log school house appears in the distance. A framed bridge upon the stream, has taken the place of the one of logs. The pioneer, we may venture to assume, is either Colonel of militia, a Captain, a Super- visor of the town, or a Justice of the peace; however it may be. he is busy in his haying. And she, the better part of his household, must not be lost sight of; and she need not be, for the artist has been mindful of her. She is busy with her domestic affairs; there is quiet and even loneliness about her; but, depend upon it, there are in yonder log school house, some half a dozen that she cares for and hopes for.
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FOURTH SKETCH OF THE PIONEER.
No. 4 .- It is Winter. Forty-five years are supposed to have passed since the artist introduced the pioneer and his wife to us, just commencing in their wilderness home. The scene has pro- gressed to a consummation! The pioneer is an independent Farmer of the Holland Purchase. His old " article" has long ago been exchanged for a deed in fee. He has added to his primitive posses- sions; and ten to one that he has secured lands for his sons in some of the western states, to make pioneers and founders of settlements of them. He has flocks and herds; large surplus of produce in his granaries, which he may sell or keep as he chooses. He is the founder, and worker out, of his own fortunes; one who in his old age should be honored and venerated, for his are the peaceful triumphs of early, bold enterprise, as we have seen; and long years of patient, persevering industry. He has more than comfortable farm buildings, orchards, and fruit yards; the forest has receded in all directions; he is prosperous in the midst of prosperity. There is the distant view of a rural country village that has sprung up in his neighborhood; a meeting house, a tavern, a few stores and mechanic shops, and a substantial school house. The stream that was forded, when the pioneer entered the forest with his oxen and sled, has now a stone arched bridge thrown over it. The artist has given us a rural landscape, in which is mingled all the evidences of substantial, well-earned prosperity; there is an air of comfort and quiet pervading the whole scene; the old pioneer, true to the instincts and habits of his youth and middle age, is not idle, as we can see. He has yet an eye upon his affairs, and a hand in them; and could we look within doors, we should see the young wife that bravely penetrated the forest with him; she who has lightened his burthens, and solaced him in such hours of despondency as will come upon the stoutest hearts; transformed into the staid, aged matron; yet looking to the affairs of the household; and blending precept with example, fitting her daughters for the vicissitudes, the trials, and the duties of life.
Such has been pioneer life and progress upon the Holland Pur- chase. A fancy sketch it may be called; but yet it is a faithful illustration of such realities as will be recognised by all who are familiar with the events that have attended the conversion of West- ern New York, from a wilderness, to a theatre of wealth, enter- prise, and prosperity, such as it is now.
VANDUZER Qui
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THE NEW YORK . LES PARY
LITH OF WM. ENDICOTT & CONY
C G CAEHEN
Chinezen Mix
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HOLLAND PURCHASE.
EBENEZER MIX.
The artist, it will be conceded, has been successful. The features he has presented will be recognised in every school district upon the Holland Purchase. To have rendered the portrait more familiar the old land office clerk should have been represented holding in his hands an "article," (tattered and torn, upon its reverse side, endorsements, assignments, and re-assignments,) peering over it with a mathematical eye, determining metes and boundaries, adjust- ing conflicting claims, " modifying" or reviewing, or perhaps can- celling it preparatory to a deed in fee. Then the picture would have been truc to life and reality; but these are associations that all the " old settlers" will readily supply.
Mr. Mix is a native of New Haven, Conn. He became a resident at Batavia in 1809; working first at his trade, that of a mason, he became a school teacher, then a student at law in the office of Daniel B. Brown, Esq., and in March, 1811, entered into the service of the Holland Company, as a clerk in their land office, where he continued for twenty-seven years. He had been in the office but a few months, when he took the place of contracting clerk. His duties were, to make contracts, calculate quantities of land, renew and modify contracts, make subdivisions of lands, and generally, to do all things appertaining to the place of salesman. In this way, he participated in the sale of all the lands of the Holland Company made after 1811, which were not within the boundaries of the several branch offices. Beside this, the author observes by the records, that he took a prominent part in arranging the details of measures appertaining to the whole Purchase; the fixing of the basis for the modification of contracts; the disposition of church donations; the plan for vesting school house sites, that were upon articled lands, in trustees, in fee; and in other measures that necessarily devolved upon the main office at Batavia. No one in the service of the Company, has been brought into so direct a con- tact with the settlers, or has had a more intimate acquaintance with them, and all the relations that have existed between them and the original proprietors. Few men could have better filled the place he so long occupied. Possessed of extraordinary talents, as a practical mathematician; a memory of localities, boundaries, topog- raphy, which mapped the Holland Purchase upon his mind; he
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was for a long series of years, eminently useful, not only to his principals, but to the settlers upon the Purchase ;- and yet survives, answering the purposes of a book of reference, or an encyclopedia, whenever conflicting questions arise, touching land boundaries, highway locations, or any of the primitive surveys or allotments. Irritable - a little rough and stubborn -he may have seemed at times, when hard pressed with the importunities of a crowd of settlers at the land office; but beneath the rugged exterior, there was a good heart, an inherent love of justice and right, that invested him with the confidence and esteem of the settlers generally, and constituted him the frequent and safe arbiter of their interests and welfare.
For twenty consecutive years, the subject of this sketch of artist and author, filled the office of Surrogate of the county of Genesee. In the war of 1812, in a crisis of danger with the frontier settlers upon the Holland Purchase, he transferred himself from the land office to the camp and the post of danger. He was the volunteer aid of Gen. P. B. Porter, at the memorable and successful sortie, at Fort Erie, September 17th, 1814. He has within a few years, been the author of a work entitled "Practical Mathematics," which needs only to be better known, to become a standard work in that branch of education. His age is now 61 years.
Judge JAMES W. STEVENS, entered the service of the Holland Company at the earliest period of land sales; was the clerk of Mr. Ellicott when an office was opened at the house of Mr. Ransom, at "Pine Grove," in 1799, and remained a clerk in the land office until his death, in 1841. He was a native of New Jersey, a graduate of Princeton college; a man of quiet, unobtrusive habits; possessed of a fine literary taste; in early life, was the contributor to a literary periodical in Philadelphia. In business, he was careful and methodical; all that came from his hands, is remarkable for its neatness and perspicuity, as volumes of manuscripts in the land office, will testify. To habits of industry, he added the character of scrupulous integrity. His public and private life were blameless. He was respected in his life time, for his many excellent qualities; and no where among his old associates, and the pioneers of the Holland Purchase, is his memory revived, but in terms of esteem.
EBENEZER CARY was in the employ of Mr. Ellicott as early as 1795, in the survey of lands in Pennsylvania; and came with him
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HOLLAND PURCHASE.
upon the Holland Purchase; acting sometimes in the capacity of surveyor; at others, as clerk or agent, at the store house in Stafford, and in superintending the purchase and transfer of provisions. He was an carly merchant at Batavia; was the founder of the mercan- tile establishment, afterwards so long and widely known upon the Holland Purchase, in the hands of his brother, the Hon. Trumbull Cary. His early correspondence with Mr. Ellicott, would alone justify the conclusion, that he was a man of no ordinary mould; enterprising, faithful and persevering.
He had been thoroughly inured to back-woods life. In a letter to Mr. Ellicott, written toward the close of a winter of inactivity, he says :- "The approach of another surveying season, increases my anxiety to be off; like the savage, I am sighing for the wilder- ness." In another letter, proposing to be employed, he is in a philosophic, or reflecting mood; he says :- "I wish to go with you, but I am not willing to wear out this old carcase for nothing. I must be preparing for the winter of life; for, generally speaking, he that has no money, has no friends." He died at Batavia, in 1825.
WILLIAM PEACOCK, Esq. of Mayville, is one of the few survivors of the early surveyors of the Holland Company; at one period he was a clerk in the office at Batavia. He surveyed most of the townships of Chautauque into farm lots, and in 1810 was appointed local agent at Mayville, which office he continued to fill until the sale of lands in Chautauque, to Messrs. Cary and Lay, of Batavia. He surveyed the city of Buffalo; there are few, in fact, who have ·had a larger participation in the events connected with the surveys, sale and settlement of the Holland Purchase. He has reached the age of 69 years. Among the old Pioneers who were drawn together at the last State Agricultural Fair at Buffalo, was the old surveyor and land agent, wondering with others, in view of the evidences of wealth, prosperity and improvement which came from the region they had traversed when it was a wilderness. Mr. Peacock married a niece of Joseph Ellicott.
DAVID GOODWIN, Esq. was also an early surveyor, and clerk in the land office. When the branch office was established at Elli- cottville, he took charge of it, and continued to be the local agent there until succeeded by Stahley N. Clark, Esq. Mr. Goodwin married a niece of Joseph Ellicott. His widow survives; is a resi- dent of Lewiston, with her son-in-law, S. B. Piper, Esq.
Our brief sketches of Pioneer advents upon the Holland Purchase,
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which have been intended to embrace detached localities, in all parts of it, must now be brought to a close; and not in the absence of regrets that they could not have been more full, and included all who took a prominent part in the founding of settlements, in our now so highly favored and prosperous region; a consummation, which, however desirable, the intelligent reader will readily see, would have swelled that branch of the main design of the work to an extent that must have excluded that which the author hopes will prove quite as acceptable. There was a sameness every where in Pioneer life; more of detail, of individual or local relation, would not better inform the reader of its privations and vicissitudes. Wherever the wilderness was penetrated, the same difficulties were to be encountered; the same years of hardship and endurances were to intervene between the primitive settlement, and the attain- ment of the comforts and conveniences of life.
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.
The topography of the Holland Purchase admits of the following natural divisions, each possessing a similarity in soil, climate and productions through its several parts, and varying from each other in a greater or less degree, in those points. The most prominent division is made by an elevated dividing ridge, commencing west of Genesee river, in township number six, in the first range, and running thence westerly through or near township number six in the second range, five in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth ranges, to within about six miles of lake Erie; thence south-westerly, through township number four, in the thirteenth range, and southerly through township num- ber three, in the thirteenth range; thence west near the line between townships number two and three, in the fourteenth and fifteenth ranges to the Pennsylvania line. The extent of this ridge in width, is from three to six miles, the descent of its sides, how- ever, is nowhere abrupt, nor is its extent defined with precision. Although the summit of the ridge is from one thousand to one thousand five hundred feet above the level of lake Ontario, it nowhere receives or deserves the name of a mountain. It is watered by springs and streamlets, and timbered with beech, red and black oak, white ash, ironwood, and hemlock; the soil is mostly
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gravel and yellow loam, tolerably free from stone; a great portion of it, if not the whole, is arable land, when cleared and prepared for cultivation. It is better adapted to grass than to grain, although good crops of oats, barley and other coarse grain have been raised on it; like other high ground, it is subject to late and early frosts, and in winter, to heavy falls of snow; the climate is healthy, and the water and air pure. The waters from the summit of this ridge flow to the north-west and north into lake Erie, Niagara river, and Genesee river, and to the south and south-east into the Allegany river, although a few small streams at its eastern extremity, fall into Genesee river, yet the whole territory, south and south-east of the dividing ridge may well be termed the valley of the Allegany.
That part of this valley lying north of the Allegany river, is hilly and rolling, but not mountainous; it is well watered by crystal springs and purling streams; the timber is beech, sugar maple, pine, cherry, elm, black oak, hemlock, basswood, white ash, and cucum- ber: the soil in general, is gravelly or sandy loam, containing no limestone, and very few stone of any kind; stone quarries, however, are to be found scattered through the whole territory: it is well adapted to the growth of barley, oats, peas, flax, potatoes, and various other esculent roots; and has produced tolerable crops of spring wheat, rye and corn; and the hardier kinds of fruit, such as apples, pears, and cherries are cultivated with success in this dis- trict. The climate is rather mild, and the snows seldom fall over one or two feet deep; but the summer season is usually from two to three weeks shorter than it is in the vicinity of the lakes, north of the dividing ridge; the water and air of this district are pure and salubrious.
The territory south of the Allegany river, is mostly rough, covered by precipitous, rocky hills of considerable height, some portions of it, such as the flats on the streams and less rugged borders, are, or rather were covered with excellent pine timber; much of the land thus timbered, is arable and fertile, after being brought to a state of cultivation, although in a cold climate; but by far the greater portion of the whole, is sterile, waste land or rocks covered at the interstices with mountain laurel, dwarf pines and other evergreen shrubs.
The narrow glade of land between the dividing ridge and lake Erie, from Cattaraugus creek to the Pennsylvania line, gradually descends from the termination of the ridge to the lake shore; the
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soil is gravelly or' sandy loam, timbered with beach, sugar maple, whitewood, basswood, hemlock, and some pine; yielding abundant crops of grass, wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley and the several kinds of esculent roots and vines produced in this region. It is well watered with springs and numerous streams descending from the dividing ridge; although the earth is calcarious, there is no lime stone in this region, and very few stone of any kind, except in quarries. The climate is not severe, although subject to sudden changes, being in a great degree controlled by the vacillating lake winds. Apples, peaches, pears, plums and similar fruits are produced in great abundance on this territory. The lake shore furnishes several small harbors, as Silver Creek, Dunkirk, Van Buren and Barcelona.
The country north of the dividing ridge, including the head waters of Cattaraugus, Eighteen Mile of Lake Erie, Buffalo, Ton- awanda and Allan's Creeks, forms another district, possessing great uniformity of character. This is a rolling country. well watered with pure water: the timber is beech, sugar maple, elm, basswood, cherry, white ash and hemlock; the soil is gravelly loam, with clay in some sections, containing no lime stone, nor a surplus of any kind of stone. It produces good grass, and at least middling erops of most kinds of grain and esculent roots raised on the Purchase; winter wheat is probably the only exception, for which spring wheat is substituted; of fruits, apples, pears, cherries and a variety of plums are grown in this district. The climate is generally mild and salubrious, the snow is seldom deep, and the summer season, usually is long enough to bring crops to maturity: this may be called the central district.
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