USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 68
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MEDINA .- The site of the village was an unbroken wilderness when the canal was located. The village was laid out in 1823, by Ebenezer Mix, and named by him. Its site occupied nearly the center of a tract of fourteen hundred acres, owned by David E. Evans and John B. Ellicott. The large mill now owned by Wm. R. Gwinn, was going up in 1823, when the village was projected. Mr. Gwinn, who married a niece of Joseph Ellicott and a sister of D. E. Evans, became a resident at Medina in 1828, and has been prominently connected with the settlement and progress of the village. The improvements at Medina have been gradual and permanent. There is a valuable water power created by a fall in the Oak Orchard creek, and the Tonawanda feeder. Like the whole region around them, Medina and Shelby villages furnish evidences of progress and improvement; they are going ahead, as all villages upon the Holland Purchase are. [The author has to regret the absence of memorandums which would enable him to name the earliest citizens of Medina. ]
ALBION .- [For some notice of the pioneer settlers upon and near the village site see page 554.] The fine lands in tho immediate neighborhood of Albion had attracted settlers at a pretty early period in the settlement of the country, and previous to the location of the canal a considerable advance had been made in improvements. The village, however, was one of the creations of that great founder of villages and cities; commencing gradually, as the work progressed, and was brought into use. In 1823 it had sufficiently advanced to indicate the necessity of a press and newspaper, and Oliver Cowdery, (who has been the pioneer printer in at least a half dozen localities, ) took a part of the old battered " small pica" that had been used in printing the Lockport Obser- vatory, and adding to it indifferent materials from other sources, commenced the publi- cation of the " Newport Patriot."
Wm. Bradner, Harvey Goodrich, R. S. & L. Burrows were early merchants. The early physicians were Orson Nichoson, A. B. Mills, William White, Stephen M. Potter. Philetus Bumpus was an early tavern keeper, if not the pioneer in that line. The author, as in reference to Medina, has to regret the absence of minutes which would enable him to name the early mechanics and other village Pioneers.
The first Methodist society was organized in 1830; the first Baptist society, the same year; the first Presbyterian society, in 1822; the first Episcopal organization was in 1844. Albion Academy was incorporated in 1837; Phipp's Union Seminary, in 1840.
The first Board of Trustees of the village were as follows :- Alexis Ward, President; Orson Nichoson, William Bradner, Freeman Clark, Franklin Fenton.
The progress of Albion has been gradual and uniform, keeping pace with agricul- tural improvements in its fertile neighborhood. In the midst of universal prosperity, such as every where exists upon the Holland Purchase, it is difficult to discriminate; but no where are the evidences of increasing, substantial wealth exhibited in a greater degree, than in Orleans and its smiling and flourishing villages, Albion, Gaines, Me- dina, Shelby, Knowlesville, Eagle Harbor, and Gaines' Basin.
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NANDUZEE
. THE ELLICOTT MONUMENT.
The monument to Joseph Ellicott, the plan of which is annexed, is now in the course of erection, the materials of which were prin- cipally carried upon the ground during the last winter. It is to be erected at the expense of a portion of the heirs, under the general supervision of the Hon. David E. Evans. The elevation is to be thirty-two feet; the main shaft, sixteen and one-half feet. The inscription not being prepared, is omitted upon the drawing.
NOTE .- The architects are Messrs. B. & J. Carpenter, of Lockport; the materials are from their valuable quarry of limestone. The shaft is a fine specimen of what the quarries of the Mountain Ridge are capable of producing, except as to length. At either of the three quarries of the Messrs. Carpenters, Jorome B. Ransom's, (formerly Buell's, ) or that of J. D. Shuler, at the Cold Springs, shafts of solid limestone may be procured, up to eighty feet in length. The superior quality of the stone, its extraordi- nary durability, and capability of resisting the action of dampness and frost, have been abundantly tested, especially upon our public works.
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EXPEDITIONS OF GENERAL SULLIVAN AND COLONEL BRODHEAD COTEMPORARY RECORDS.
These two expeditions, together with that of Col. Van Schaick, had for their end the punishment and conquest of the hostile Indian nations that had, with assimilated Tories, so long and often desolated the frontier settlements of Western New York and Pennsylvania. Of Gen. Sullivan and Col. Schaick's expeditions accounts will be found in the text. Of Col. Brodhead's, nothing has been related, though it was organized about the same time, formed an important part of the general plan, which originally contem- plated the union of both armies, and a combined attack on Fort Niagara. Both were successful so far as their separate objects were concerned, but their ultimate destination was never reached ;- the large bodies of Tories and Indians collected around the for- tress at Niagara, furnishing a safe retreat and shelter for the finally broken and defeated bands of Johnson, Butler, and Brant -were left undisturbed.
Since that part of the volume relative to the Border Wars of the Revolution was written, some original, authentic and entirely trustworthy documents -now in posses- sion of Mr. Daniel W. Ballou, Jr., of Lockport -have been kindly furnished the author, and are here inserted. It is not known that they have ever before been published, or even alluded to, by historians of the Revolution. They are copied directly from an old manuscript journal of the year 1779, in which are recorded daily orders issued by Gen. Washington to the army, proceedings of Court Martials, with the names of offi- cers forming the boards, the names of those tried, their acquittal or conviction, beside other transactions connected with affairs of the camp. These extracts may, therefore, be regarded as copies of official announcements made by the Commander-in-Chief to the troops under his immediate command, at West Point. The victory of General Sullivan is thus communicated by General Washington, October 17th :-
"Extract from His Excellency, Gen. Washington's Orders. " HEAD QUARTERS, MORE'S HOUSE, Oct. 17, 1779.
" The Commander-in-Chief has now the pleasure of congratulating the army on the complete and full success of Maj. Gen. Sullivan, and the troops under his command, against the Seneca and other tribes of the Six Nations, as a just and necessary punish- ment for their wanton depredations, their unparalleled and innumerable cruelties, their deafness to all remonstrances and entreaty, and their perseverance in the most horrid acts of barbarity. Forty of their towns have been reduced to ashes, some of them large and commodious; that of the Genesee alone containing one hundred and twenty- eight houses. Their crops of corn have been entirely destroyed,-which, by estimation, it is said, would have provided 160,000 bushels, besides large quantities of vegetables of various kinds. Their whole country has been overrun and laid waste; and they themselves compelled to place their security in a precipitate flight to the British fortress at Niagara ;- and the whole of this has been done with the loss of less than forty men ou our part, including the killed, wounded, captured, and those who died natural deaths. The troops employed in this expedition, both officers and men, throughout the whole of it, and in the action they had with the enemy, manifested a patience, perseverance, and valor that do them the highest honor. In the course of it, when there still remained a large extent of the enemy's country to be prostrated, it became necessary to lessen the issues of provisions to half the usual allowance. In this the troops acquiesced with a most general and cheerful concurrence, being fully determined to surmount every obstacle, and to prosecute the enterprise to a complete and successful issue. Maj. Gen. Sullivan, for his great perseverance and activity; for his order of march and attack, and the whole of his dispositions; the Brigadiers and officers of all ranks, and the whole of the soldiers engaged in the expedition, merit, and have the Commander-in-Chief's warmest acknowledgements, for their important services upon this occasion."
As nothing has been said of Col. Brodhead's campaign, it may be proper to state that on the 22d of March, 1779, Washington ordered him to make the necessary pre-
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parations for an expedition against Detroit, to throw a detachment forward to Kittaning, and another beyond to Venango, at the same time preserving the strictest secrecy as to his ultimate object. Though this expedition was soon found impracticable and aban- doned, preparations were immediately made for the one which was actually undertaken against the Indians at the head of the Allegany river, French creek, and other tribu- taries of the Oliio. On the 11th of Angust, 1779, with about six hundred men, includ- ing militia and volunteers, and one month's provisions, Col. Daniel Brodhead left Fort Pitt and began his march to the Indian country. The result was announced by Gen. Washington to his army at West Point :-
"Extract from General Orders. " HEAD QUARTERS, MORE'S HOUSE, Oct. 18th, 1779.
" The Commander-in-Chief is happy in the opportunity of congratulating the army on our further success, by advices just arrived. Col. Brodhead, with the Continental troops under his command, and a body of militia and volunteers, has penetrated about one hundred and eighty miles into the Indian country, on the Allegany river, burnt ten of the Muncey and Seneca towns in that quarter, containing one hundred and sixty- five houses; destroyed all their fields of corn, computed to comprehend five hundred acres, besides large quantities of vegetables; obliging the Savages to flee before him with the greatest precipitation, and to leave behind them many skins and other articles of value. The only opposition the Savages ventured to give our troops, on this occasion, was near Cuskusking. About forty of their warriors, on their way to commit barbarity on our frontier settlers, were met here. Lieut. Harden, of the 8th Pennsylvania regiment, at the head of one of our advance parties, composed of thirteen men, of whom eight were of our friends the Delaware nation, who immediately attacked the savages and put them to the rout, with the loss of five killed on the spot, and of all their canoes, blankets, shirts, and provisions, of which, as is usual for them when going into action, they had divested themselves; and also of several arms. Two of our men and one of our Indian friends were very slightly wounded in the action, which was all the damage we sustained in the whole enterprise.
" The activity, perseverance, and firmness, which marked the conduct of Col. Brod- head, and that of all the officers and men, of every description, in this expedition, do them great honor, and their services justly entitle them to the thanks, and to this testimo- nial of the General's acknowledgment."
In a letter dated " West Point, 20th October, 1779," addressed to the Marquis de Lafayette, Gen. Washington incidentally alludes to these two campaigns, and their probable effects upon the Indians. He informs Gen. Lafayette as news that may be interesting to him, that -
" Gen. Sullivan has completed the entire destruction of the country of the Six Nations; driven all their inhabitants, men, women, and children, out of it; and is at Easton on his return to join this army, with the troops under his command. He performed this service without losing forty men, either by the enemy or by sickness. While the Six Nations were under this rod of correction, the Mingo and Muncey tribes, living on the Allegany, French creek, and other waters of the Ohio, above Fort Pitt, met with similar chastisement from Col. Brodhead, who, with six hundred men, advanced upon them at the same instant, and laid waste their country. These unexpected and severe strokes have disconcerted, humbled, and distressed the Indians exceedingly; and will, I am persuaded, be productive of great good, as they are undeniable proofs to them, that Great Britain cannot protect them, and that it is in our power to chastise them whenever their hostile conduct deserves it."-Spark's Writings of Washington, Vol. VI, p. 384.
THE SEQUEL OF HOLLAND COMPANY INVESTMENT.
The author has no data to determine what was the final result, so far as profits are concerned, of the Holland Company's investment. Some indication of it is perhaps afforded by the fact, that in 1821, the Dutch proprietors offered to make an assignment of their entire interest, for a consideration which would cover the original amount of
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purchase money, and an interest of four per cent. In 1822, they offered to Messrs. Tibbets & Huntington, well known capitalists of that period, all the unsold lands, for four shillings per acre. Nearly half of the entire Purchase was then unsold. These offers, however, may have been somewhat induced by a disposition to close up a pro- tracted business, and to avoid the perplexities and litigations which were then in pros- pect. The final result was probably better than would be inferred from these offers.
THE OGDEN PRE-EMPTION.
In 1810, the Holland Company sold all their pre-emptive right to the Indian Reser- vations, to David A. Ogden, for fifty cents per acre. What is known as the Ogden Company, have extinguished the Indian title to all the Reservations, except the Catta- raugus, Allegany, and the largest portion of the Tonawanda. They assume to have, by treaty, extinguished the title of the Indians to the whole of the Tonawanda Reservation; but possession is resisted by the Indians, and proceedings are now pend- ing in our courts in reference to it; from which controversy may this remnant of the Iroquois, whose history has been mingled in our narrative, have a good deliverance. There has been quite enough of attainted Indian treaties in Western New York, under this Ogden claim, and removal and possession in pursuance of them.
GERMAN EMIGRANTS.
The location of German emigrants upon the Holland Purchase, forms a prominent feature of recent events. In Buffalo, they already compose nearly one-third of the entire population, and are mingled in almost all of its branches of business. They have spread out from there, into the towns of Cheektowaga, Lancaster, Black Rock, Tonawanda, Newstead, Amherst, Clarence, Hamburg, Eden, Boston, Wales, Sheldon, Bennington, Orangeville, and Attica; in some of the towns named, making a large proportion of the aggregate population.
In Niagara county, there are three villages or colonies of Prussians; the first came into the county in 1843, purchased and located upon 4000 acres of land in the northern and central parts of Wheatfield, in which is located the village of Bergholtz. During the same year, another village was founded on the Tonawanda creek, at the mouth of Cayuga creek, called Martinsville; and a third has been added, on the Shawnee road leading from Lockport to Niagara Falls, called Wallmow. The three villages are all in the town of Wheatfield; their aggregate population, is nearly 2000. They are refugees from religious persecution; their religious faith is purely Lutheran, with the Augsburg confession as their standard. They are not communists, or Fourierites, their lands being held in severalty, and yet there is among them a system of mutual aid and common interests, that grows out of their position and religious organization. The poor among them have small tracts of land set apart for their use, and have the privi- lege of purchasing upon long credits. They brought with them their ministers, school masters, and mechanics; the excellent indications, meeting and school houses, marked their advent; industry and thrift are the general aspects of their settlements.
RICHARD SMITH.
The name of this Pioneer lawyer upon the Holland Purchase, occurs in the body of the work but incidentally. He was a native of Sharon, Connecticut, a relative of Gov. John Cotton Smith; and is a lineal descendant of Dr. Cotton Mather. He became a resident at Batavia on the first organization of Genesee county, and is now the oldest
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resident lawyer west of the Genesee river. Ho has held the office of Surrogate of Genesee county for sixteen years, aud has been one of the judges of the county courts. Ho has lived a uniform lifo of usefulness; has been the exemplary lawyer and honest citizen; enjoying, at all times, the confidence and esteem of a wide circle of social and business acquaintances.
THE ISLANDS OF THE NIAGARA RIVER.
·
The Senecas ceded to the State of New York all the islands in the Niagara river, within the jurisdiction of the United States, at a treaty held at Buffalo, September 12th, 1815; the consideration was one thousand dollars down, and five hundred dollars per annum, in perpetuity.
ANCIENT REMAINS.
Since this portion of the work was prepared, many additional interesting localities have been suggested to the author; especially a series of ancient fortifications that exist north of Aurora village, in Erie County, on the banks of Buffalo creek. Mr. E. G. Squier, an industrious and highly intelligent antiquarian, made a partial survey of Western New York, during the last winter, and intends to revisit the region during the approaching summer. His preliminary observations and drawings are already published in the second volume of the American Ethnological Society, and in a sepa- rate pamphlet form.
CLERKS IN LAND OFFICE.
In addition to the clerks in the principal office at Batavia, that have been named in the body of the work, there have been the following, nearly in the order in which their names occur :-
John Branon, Andrew A. Ellicott,
David Goodwin,
William Wood, Walter M. Seymour, Abram Van Tuyl, Lewis D. Stevens,
Pieter Huidekooper, Stahlev N. Clark,
William Green,
James Milnor, John Lowber,
Robert W. Lowber, Moses Beecher,
Oliver G. Adams.
Ira A. Blossom was Principal in the branch office at Buffalo, during its whole continuance.
PIONEER PRINTERS UPON THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.
A history of the press in Western Now York has been prepared and published by Frederick Follett, Esq. a worthy member of the craft, under the direction of a com- mittee appointed at the Franklin Festival, held at Rochester, in Jan. 1847. The pioneer printers upon the Holland Purchase, not heretofore named in this work, were as follows: -
Olean .- Benjamin F. Smead, 1818. Ellicottsville .- Richard Hill, 1826. Lodi .- G. N. Starr, 1829.
Perry .- G. M. Shipper, 1834. Pike .- Thomas Carrier, 1838.
Forestville .- W. Snow, 1824.
Fredonia -James Percival, 1817.
Jamestown .- Adolphus Fletcher, 1826
Mayrille .- R. H. Curtiss, 1819.
Westfield .- H. Newcomb, 1829.
Dunkirk .- Thompson & Carpenter, 1834
Panama .- Dean & Hurlbut, 1846. Warsaw .- L. W. Walker, 1828. Batavia .- Elias Williams, 1807.
Attica .- David Scott, 1834.
Alexander .- P. Lawrence, 1837.
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APPENDIX.
MIDDLEBURY ACADEMY.
This institution pioneered the way on the Holland Purchase, beyond the institution of the ordinary district schools. It was the first Academy. It was founded in 1818. At that early day, several of the carly settlers there, prominent among whom was Silas Newell, appreciating the value of education, moved in the matter, and in 1819 had built a permanent brick building, and obtained an act of incorporation. The enterprise mivolved even the mortgaging of the farms of some of the public spirited founders. The Rev. Joshua Bradley was its first Principal; the Rev. Eliphalet M. Spencer was his successor. There are many, now prominent men in Western New York and the Western States, who were educated at this Pioneer Academy.
NOTES.
Page 85 .- During the last winter, O. H. Marshall, Esq. of Buffalo, communicated to the New York Historical Society the new fact in the history of this state, that four years after the expedition of Champlain to lake Champlain, he was in another expedition, which embraced the present site of the county of Onondaga. To the same industrious researcher of the early history of our local region, the Historical Society were indobted for the fact that the celebrated Archbishop Fenelon was once a missionary on the northern shore of lake Ontario.
Page 102 .- Their "Sainted Seneca maiden." Mohawk should probably be substi- tuted for Seneca, though her abiding place was sometimes with the Senecas. She was called by the Jesuits, "Catharine, the Iroquois Saint." In a letter from Father Cho- loner, written to one of his superiors in France, dated in 1715, she is described as a remarkable instance of superior piety and devotion; making in early life, vows of chas- tity, and setting herself apart from her people and the world for devotional exercises and a life of holiness. She died at one of the mission stations upon the St. Lawrence, at the age of twenty-four years. Her tomb became a shrine of prayer, where supplica- tions were offered in her name; pilgrimages were made to it by devotees, for the cure of their diseases. The Grand Vicar of the diocess of Quebec certified that "a diar- rhœa which even ipecacuana could not cure," was assuaged by a vow that he would visit the tomb of Catharine. The Commandant at Fort Frontenac certified that his prayers, offered for nine days in succession, in the name of "Catharine Tegakonita," together with a vow to visit her tomb, had cured him of a gout that afflicted him twenty- three years.
Page 187 .- Joncaire was made a prisoner by the Senecas when quite young, adopted, grew in high favor with them, and exercised, for a long period, a powerful influence against the English in favor of the French. In 1750, Kalm, the German traveler, found a son of his residing at Lewiston. There were two of his sons, officers, among the French Seneca allies, at the English siege of Fort Niagara. Washington met a . son of his at the mouth of French creek, while on a mission to the French, in 1753; and mentions the fact, that he asserted the French claim to the Ohio by virtue of its discovery by La Salle. There are probably descendants of Joncaire among the Senecas.
Page 231 .- Some years since, there were exhumed a number of Indian skeletons, in the garden of Col. Bird, at Black Rock, having about them all the accompaniments of Indian war burial. Were not these the killed in the attack upon the English troops?
Page 260 .- Judge Thomas Butler, of Niagara, who was intimately acquainted with
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Joseph Brant and his personal history, confirms the position of Mr. Draper, in reference to his birth place.
Page 330 .- The anthor supposed he had derived his account of the death of Mr. Williamson from a reliable source, and yet it would seem to be erroncous. In the address which Gen. Porter prepared to deliver at Geneva, he states that Mr. Williamson had embarked from England at the first "dawnings of liberty and symptoms of revo- lution," in South America, with an intention to take a conspieuous part in the contest; and that he died on his passage.
Page 357 .- In compiling the biographical sketch of Robert Morris, the author has availed himself of information derived directly from his son, the late Thomas Morris, Esq. of New York, from an article in the American Review, to the writer of which he contributed some information, and from original manuscripts obtained from other sources.
Page 431 .- In the preparation of the brief biography of the family of_Ellicotts, the author relied upon some sketches prepared for a newspaper at Ellicott's Mills, Md. they seeming the most authentic data within his reach. From some reminiscences that have since been furnished him, it would seem that the ancestors, Andrew Ellicott and Ann Bye, came from "Collumnpton," in Devonshire, south part of England, instead of "Cullopton, in Wales;" that they settled, originally, in Pennsylvania, and not New York; and that their marriage took place in Bueks county, in 1731. This may be the truer history, and yet it is strangely at variance with the fragment of verse and the date attached to it, which is attributed to the maternal ancestor, "Ann Bye."
Page 475 .- It should have been added, that Gen. Warren passed through the several grades of militia offices, np to that of Major General, and that he served in the war of 1812, and participated in several engagements.
Page 484 .- The details of the war of 1812 have not taken a range wide enough to embrace such reminiscences as the one promised upon this page. There was a singu- Jar and mournful fatality attending the family of the early pioneer mentioned by Judge Porter, in connection with one of his early advents, and by the author, in connection with some sketches of early settlement in Wyoming,-Orange Brace. At the com- mencement of the war, the family consisted of the parents, three sons, and three daughters. The old gentleman and one of the sons went upon the lines under Smyth's proclamation, and both died at Buffalo, of the prevailing epidemic; and a daughter died at Canandaigua, where she was attending school, about the same time. A son- in-law, Ardin Merril, was afterwards killed on board of a ferry boat, near the Canada shore, opposite Black Rock. The neighborhood of their residence, in Sheldon, was more than ordinarily afflicted; ahnost every family in it mourned the death of one or more of its members.
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