USA > New York > Wayne County > Rose > Rose neightborhood sketches, Wayne County, New York; with glimpses of the adjacent towns: Butler, Wolcott, Huron, Sodus, Lyons and Savannah > Part 14
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There is yet one place before we reach Huron. We shall find it a few rods beyond E. G. Smith's, on the west side. There are many years separating us from Orrin Morris, who, I have learned, after selling on the corners, came up here, pre-empted twenty-five acres of land and built his log house, which he sold to the widow of Paine Phillips. Then came names as Hurlburt, C. C. Collins, who joined the farm to his, Turner, then Brunney, an Englishman, whose foster son, James, of the 3d N. Y. Artillery, lies in the Lovejoy burial ground. To Brunney, who went to Michigan, succeeded John Richardson, a native of Queens county, Ireland. He married, long since, Diana Plunket, as good a name as Erin ever pro- duced. They have four sons-John William, Irving, Frank and George -and one daughter, Sarah Jane. At the age of seventy-three, for he was born August 6, 1815, he tills his glebe, and waits the aid that government should give him for injuries sustained in the War. Already passed the age of military duty, he was a soldier in the 3d Light Artillery.
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Going across the line into Huron, we come to the home of John Briggs. He is a son of the late Jonathan Briggs of North Rose. The farm was long the home of Samuel Otto, whose wife was Eliza Miller. . Mr. Otto had rented his farm and was living in the Valley. In the winter of 1870, while on the farm, he was killed by his tenant, Walter Graham. The latter died in Auburn prison years ago. Otto's two sons were in the army; James, of the 10th Cavalry, died in Andersonville; Guilford, of the 6th Cavalry, was shot while acting as a scout; one daughter is Mrs. Barrick of North Rose; the other is Mrs. Briggs. The Briggs children are Eliza, who married Nathan Turner of Sodus; Olive, who is Mrs. Thomas Welch of North Rose ; and Jonathan F., a lad at home. Mr. Otto was Lyons born, one of sixteen children born to James Otto, who had moved from Pennsyl- vania in 1796.
We are not quite through with this district yet, for going south from Carrier's corners we shall find, on the west side of the road, the farm of Avery Gillett. As early an occupant as we can find here was Russell Morris, brother of Orrin Morris, the predecessor of Henry Robinson, at the corners. The name is all that I have. It was his log house, into which John Gillett moved when he grew tired of living with his uncle, Asahel. He was born in Fort Ann, Washington county, and when twenty-three years old came to this town to live with his uncle, but the combination not proving a happy one, they separated and the nephew came here. His wife was Clarissa Jane Rich of the same township. From the log begin- ning to the present structure, the usual progress was made. Here they reared their children, and here they lived till war times, when they moved to the Valley, where Mr. Gillett died in 1866, aged fifty-nine years. Dur- ing his life he enjoyed the highest respect of all his acquaintances. He was a devoted and invaluable member of the Baptist Church. He was an intimate friend of the writer's grandfather, George Seelye, and they were frequent visitors at each other's home. I can readily recall his cheery face, and for "Auld Lang Syne," forgive him for calling me "Bub " when helping him harness his horse. He and grandfather, on one hot August day in 1863, held the foot of the ladder and cheerfully discussed politics and religion, while I turned every screw in the blinds of the Baptist Church-those long blinds that recently came down when the church was made over. His widow subsequently married Justin Durfee of Palmyra, the father of the wives of Jared and Jefferson Chaddock. After his death she became the second wife of Gansevoort Center of Butler. Since his death she has continued to live in the village. When John Gillett left his farm, his son, Avery, was left at the head of affairs, and in his hands it still remains. The children of John and Jane Gillett were Melvin, who married Mabel Young, a grand-daughter of Benjamin Seelye. He moved to Iowa, and there died, leaving a daughter, Ella. The writer remembers Melvin as an
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excellent teacher, and has great pleasure in paying this inadequate tribute- to his memory. The second son was Avery, who married Augusta Jake- way, and lives in Clyde now. They have one son, John C. Avery was. in the army-the 9th Heavy Artillery. The next son, John Henry, we have met as the husband of Lucy Mason, and as such a resident in Michi- gan. Charles married Sarah Bowle of Huron. He was a good soldier in the 90th New York. He died in 1867, in his twenty-fifth year, and is buried in the Ellinwood enclosure. Mark, the youngest son, married Cassie Hoffman of Clyde. For a time he lived on the Van Antwerp place. He died several years ago, leaving two sons. South ward a grass-grown depression attracts attention, and I find that thence rock was taken years since by John Gillett for his adjacent lime kiln, and by the consequent income was he enabled to pay for his farm. ( Marcus Baker, a nephew of Julius, is in charge now, 1893. He married Mary D. Genung, and their children are William G., Maud M., Benjamin and a boy baby. )
Still further south and on the same side of the road is a small house marking the site of the early Crydenwise property. It is probable that the family came from Saratoga county, where Issac Crydenwise was married to Eleanor, daughter of John Covey, who took up the old Mirick place on the Clyde road, now the property of F. H. Closs. Mr. Crydenwise was of Dutch extraction ; his wife of New England stock. They early moved to Geneseo, where their children were born, and whence the husband enlisted as a soldier for the War of 1812. He, however, sickened and came home- to die. The children were : Isaac, Jr., who married Sophia Thomas, and died in 1831, in his thirty-first year. He was buried in the Rose cemetery. His widow became the wife of Dr. J. J. Dickson. The other children were daughters, the oldest, Polly, who married Davis Hand, and finally died in. Oakland county, Michigan ; Clarissa became the wife of Heman Foster, and died in Indiana ; Abigail married Aaron Foster, and died in Illinois ; Rachel was Mrs. John Fink, and died in Iowa, while Olive, sole survivor, became the wife of John Sherman in 1827, and lives in Joppa, Calhoun: county, Michigan. Widow Crydenwise, first, married for her second hus- band Abraham Marsten, also of Saratoga county, and to them was born a son, Abraham, Jr. Mrs. Amos Dorris was a niece of Mrs. Marsten. This place was held by Dr. Dickson for many years, and from him or his heirs- it passed to Avery Gillett. Near the John Gillett lime kiln Jos. Boynton, Sr., built a log house in 1833. He sold to Eli Garlick, who was a black- smith, and had a small shop near, where work for the neighbors was done. Through Elder, Marsten, Miner, etc., the place passed to A. Gillett.
The end of this district is reached. In area it is one of the largest in the town, but like the other outlying ones, it does not have the school population of years ago. Readers have noticed how the dwellers here, as elsewhere in town, having gone to school together, there made acquaint-
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ances that subsequently ripened into matrimony. Emigration has taken its-I am almost disposed to say-victims to the west, whence, I have no doubt, longing eyes have often been turned to the Lovejoy neighborhood.
SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 3, OR THE LYMAN DISTRICT.
January 24-April 11, 1889.
In our rambles about Rose this is the first school district that we have reached lying entirely in the town, all the others having bordered on adjacent towns. To the dwellers near the location of the district no description is needed, but for those living remote, it may be stated that it lies south of the old Lamb's corners, now North Rose section, west of Stewart's corners, north of the Valley and east of the Covell district. To enter it, we may as well go north from Ensign Wade's, past the old home of Ellis Ellinwood, that of Theodore McWharf, and our first halt will be at the house of the William Welch estate. Like many places in the neighborhood, it has seen many changes. In fact, in the district there are only four estates or parts of original purchases that remain in the families of the first proprietors. This section was taken up by Asahel Gillett, Sr., and Samuel Hand, from whom it passed in turn to Samuel Southwick, Ira and Hiram Mirick and Thomas Bamborough. An early name associated with this place is that of Alonzo Mace, and it is a name only. Ralph Fuller owned it for a while. The land attached was at first scarcely more than a garden spot. Then came Moses Carr as owner, though he lived in the next house north. Thomas J. Graves, a preacher, was an occupant for several years, then August Hetta, Thomas Cullen, and finally the Welches. During the holding of Moses Carr a division of land was made by him and his brother, Lyman, so that the house had twenty-eight acres connected with it, and this is the amount now held, though the family has forty acres north of the next east and west road. William Welch was of Irish birth, and after many years of industrious living died, and was buried in the Catholic cemetery in Clyde. His wife, Mary, survives him and is still on the farm. (Died July 15, 1892, aged 63 years. ) There are several children, as Helen, Mary Ann, Katie, Edward, William, deceased, Thomas and Joseph. The latter two maintain a hardware store in North Rose, and one of them is P. M., which is, after the language of the lamented Nasby, postmaster. The farm seems to be well managed and industry is everywhere evident. (Now occupied by Will Shear and family.)
In the next house dwell Isaac Osborne and family. He is a posthumous child of that Isaac who was long since killed by a lightning stroke. His wife is Mary Burkle, a daughter of the man once living on the corner farm now owned by her husband. Their children are three girls and two boys.
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Though he lives here his farm is further north, and just at present we are concerned with owners of this place. The place stands now in the name of Wm. Curtis, of Marion, who in some way traded with the late possessor, Philip Fry. Fry moved away three years since, and now resides near Newark. His wife is Catharine Cornell, and they have quite a family of children, as Amy, George, William, Daniel and Belle. They came here from the vicinity of Lyons, and Mr. F. is a brother of the George Fry who owned for a short time the old Carrier farm. Before the name of Fry, I find those of VanAlstyne and James Vanderburgh, who bought of Moses Carr. The latter was from Onondaga county, and went from Rose to Michigan, whence, I understand, he went into the army during the Rebellion. I believe he built the house. His predecessor was Thomas Bamborough, who came to Rose from Lyons and went from this town to Michigan. He had married Widow Gee, and his farm numbered about one hundred acres. Back of Bamborough is chaos, though it is possible that the Mirick belongings covered this estate.
Over the way in the days agone was a log house in which dwelt Lyman Carr, brother of Moses. The two brothers divided the Bamborough prop- erty, but finally this Carr formed part of the train westward. Nearly west of this place may be noticed an old apple orchard. The east and west road once ran near it, coming out near the old Ellis Ellinwood home. Here were a log house and barn built by Samuel Hand. He was the father of John Skidmore's first wife. After Hand was James Gordon, a son-in-law of Jonathan Melvin, then John McWharf, Samuel Smith, a relative of the Miricks, and in 1834, Thomas Bamborough. Later came many tenants, till its disappearance in 1845.
To the east of the corners is the old Oakes place, but this was described in the account of the Stewart district. It is the only one belonging to the Lyman neighborhood lying east of the terminus of the north and south road. (In 1893 George H. Ball of North Rose built a barn upon this land on the north side of the road, having purchased the same from the Welch Brothers. He will also erect a house here.) Were the north and south road to continue, it would run over a well covered by a small house on the Osborne property ; but to follow the line of the next range of lots, it makes a jog to the west about ten rods, and then runs by Osborne's corners between lots 155 and 156. Just at the turn, on the southwest side or corner, formerly stood an evaporator built by Fry and Welch. This has been moved down to Ensign Wade's, but a small addition to it still remains.
On the northeast corner of our road north, stands a new house built by Isaac Osborne. By-and-by, I presume, he or some other good citizen will occupy it, but just at present a thriving berry patch and a range for a promising pig have sadly encroached upon the dooryard. The barns opposite have long been landmarks and are much as they were years
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ago. The house which preceded the new one was old, almost beyond the recollection of the present generation, though it is probable that it was built when the place was owned by Dr. Dickson. I can find no trace of ownership before that of Amos Dorris, and that is well back in the century. After him for a short time only, Cyrus Brockway held and occupied it. Then followed Dr. Dickson, but he never lived here. During his owner- ship there came a long succession of tenants ; among others was our often found friend, William Sherman. There are other names, as Cornelius Bamborough, Peter Paine, Thomas Cullen, Mark Gillett, John Lovejoy and W. Burkle. Just how many of these were nominally owners I have no means of stating. I am told that Osborne bought of Louis Ebert, a Clyde glass-blower. In the years to come, it would be pleasant to note a continued occupancy, one that would develop the resources of the farm, and bring out the latent possibilities. Thus far it has been a sort of bucolic hotel. I am told that there have been forty successive occupants. Few places in the town enjoy a better situation. Amos Dorris, the first owner, must have been a character, if surviving stories be true. Here are speci- mens illustrating his extravagance of speech : He lost his cow one day, the small bell she wore not serving to locate her. Says he: "I wish she wore a bell as big as that of Moscow. Every stroke of it would bring her on her knees." Again, the chipmunks made havoc in his corn. " I wish," said he, "I had a cannon that pointed in every direction; I'd load it to the muzzle and tech it off." "Why, then," interposed Mr. Wilcox, a former British soldier, "you'd hit yourself." "I wouldn't care," says the angry farmer, " if I only killed a chipmunk."
As we progress westward we are on the old Rose and Nicholas purchase -that lot of 4000 acres, from one of whose owners the town took its name. Our first stop is at a small house, owned and occupied by Nicholas Powers, a native of Erin. He is an industrious man, who lays stone wall and does masonry generally. He has two children-Edward and Alice. Though there are only ten acres in the place, it has formed the home of a numerous family, as when held by the MeWharfs, who sold it to Abner Osborne, and he to Mr. Powers. That we may know just who the McWharfs are, it will be necessary to go back a great many years to John McWharf, who was born in Providence, R. I. He there married and had two children, one of whom, James, passed his life in Canada. Coming to Onondaga county, this state, he married Hannah Skut, a sister of Orrin Skut of North Rose, and with his wife's father's family came to this town. He located first in a log house north of Lamb's corners, and near the farm of O. Skut, having then fifteen acres of land. Here he lived for several years, until he came down to the Lyman neighborhood, where he bought the small property of Harvey Gillett. Here, in time, he put up the small frame house now in existence, and whence he was borne to his still smaller house in the Rose
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cemetery, in 1869, at the extreme age of ninety-five. His wife followed in 1872, aged eighty-eight. Of their children, Jane married Cornelius W. Fairbanks and died on the Alonzo Chaddock place. Fairbanks went to Wisconsin. Almira married William Lamb of the corners, and once lived where William Closs now abides. Both husband and wife are dead, and lie in the Rose burial ground. One of their children, Myron, was a soldier under Sherman in the Rebellion, and is now in Illinois. Malvina McWharf married Jerome McQueen ; Hayden L. married Mary, daughter of John Waterbury ; Theodore married Mary Stickles of Hillsdale, Columbia Co. They began their married life in a small building still standing in the corner of the Powers' dooryard, while attached to it was a still smaller structure, in which the McWharfs worked at coopering. Mr. McWharf, who enlisted in Company C, 111th N. Y., was captured at the unfortunate affair of Harper's Ferry, and was finally discharged on account of dis- ability. He now draws a pension for his services, and lives, still pursuing his trade, just north of Ensign Wade's. His family was quite numerous and included John M., who, having taken the degree of M. D. from both Buffalo and Chicago, lives now at Fort Scott, Kansas. He was for several years in Dunkirk, in this state, and in that section found his wife, Lucy Stryker ; Jane married Simeon Olmstead, and, a widow, lives in Clyde ; James married Delia Derby, and lives in North Huron, though he once dwelt in the house opposite ; Alice, the wife of Andrew Stickles, is dead ; John J. married Carrie Haugh of Galen, and lives at home ; Charles married Sarah Green of Junius ; Marietta is the wife of Alfred Sours of Galen ; while the youngest, George, is a dentist in Ontario, this county.
Harvey Gillett, from whom McWharf bought, was one of the characters in the early history of the town. He was a cousin of Asahel, settled further north, and was of Connecticut birth, to which state, in New Canaan, he eventually returned to care for the closing years of his father's life, though, as we hear of Harvey, we wonder that he should be put to care for any- thing. As one neighbor says : "He was too lazy to be dissipated," but he was always hungry. The death of a child of this man is said to have been the first in the town. Amos Dorris gave to Gillett a life lease of one- half acre of ground, upon which he built his log cabin, and here clustered a brood of little Gilletts, of whom Julia became Mrs. Michael Ryan. Of the others, at present I can secure no trace. Stories of Gillett's gastronomic feats still linger after fifty years, and here is one of them : Having eaten a breakfast before starting for Abner Wood's, he called at Stephen Babcock's, now the Isaac Cole place, and, being invited, ate a second breakfast. When he reached Mr. Wood's, though a little late, he accepted a call to eat, and stowed away his third morning meal. His work was that of scoring timber ; but at ten o'clock in the forenoon he was seen to observe the sun with interest, saying : "I wonder if it isn't almost noon. for I am darned
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hungry." Again, when working for Alpheus Collins, he sat up to the table for a little lunch, and Mrs. C. put before him a quantity of baked beans, just one-half of a mess cooked in the forenoon for the family and several workingmen. The first half had made the dinner, and she had saved this lot for supper, but Harvey made nothing of downing the entire mess, and when asked if he would have anything more, remarked that he guessed he'd top off with a little milk, and actually there and then he drank a pan full of the lacteal fluid. Is there any wonder that a man with such an appetite was always poor ?
Opposite, on the south side, is a small place belonging to Elbert Briggs, he having bought of Michael Londrigan, who went to the part of this dis- trict bordering on North Rose. Mr. L. probably bought of H. Metz. The house was built by L. H. Lyman in 1859, a brother of John, next west. (Mr. Briggs has since sold.) -
For convenience we will pass the home of John Lyman, and near where the barn of his son William stands, we may fancy the first abode of the Lymans in Rose. The prime comer was Samuel, a son of David and Flavia (Collins) Lyman, of Salisbury, Conn. As Flavia was a sister of the first Thaddeus Collins, her son was first cousin to Thaddeus, 2d, Alpheus and the other children of the pioneer. The first visit was made in the fall of 1817, and in the following spring came the family, in the customary way, viz., by ox team and sled. Betterments had been made on the hundred acre lot by John Drury, a son of the Caleb already mentioned. These were bought and payments were made to the firm of Rose & Nicholas. In the log house the family remained until 1837, when the framed house opposite, and occupied by Charles Lyman, was built. In this Samuel Lyman died, in 1877, aged eighty-three, while his wife had preceded him, in 1870, at the age of seventy-seven. It should have been stated that her maiden name was Clementina Evarts, of the family that has since furnished a United States senator from the state of New York. "Old Mr. Lyman," as he was generally known, was one of the most vigorous Abolitionists in Rose. I am told that the old horse barn, once near the road, has concealed more runaway slaves than any other building in town. He was currently reported to be a station man on the underground railroad. For one, I take no little pleasure in writing these words, for such a record should be a source of pride to his descendants and to his town. The oldest son, John, married Eleanor Griggs, of Seneca county, and made his initiative house- keeping in a log structure standing in the field to the southwest. No trace of this now exists. This particular spot is almost classic in our annals, for here, in the early years of the century, Zenas Fairbanks opened the first store in the town. Here, too, was an ashery, and near, probably the first lime kiln. Charles Lyman's farm barn is very near the site of the kiln. I understand that the Fairbanks family lived first on the Linus
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Osgood farm, possibly the very first settlers there. Afterward, I am told, they had a habitation on the Thomas ridge, further south. Zenas married a daughter of Alverson Wade, while George found a wife in John Wade's family, and Cornelius we have seen as the spouse of one of the McWharfs. Northwest of this point, near the present home of Michael McDorman, a bear was slain by one of the early settlers, perhaps Samuel Southwick, whose cabin was a mile or so south. John Lyman afterward bought thirty- four acres of Moses Carr, including the house in which he now lives. The successive owners of this place were the same as those of the next place east, though we shall find near here, as early as 1831, the family of Richard D. Morey. His wife was Sally Harris and they came from Saratoga county, though it is probable that they had lived in Warren county. They after- ward lived on the Valley road, south of Shear's corners. Let us now, however, continue with the Lymans. John's oldest child is Caroline. Then follow Charles E., William D., John D., who married Minnie Parslow, (they have one child, Ella); and Samuel H., who, a graduate of the Albany State Normal School, is a successful teacher, being now at the head of the Pulaski union school. (John Lyman died January 14, 1892, aged 72 years. ) Samuel Lyman had several other children, as follows : Caroline, who married Cyrus Felt, and died west ; Mary, deceased ; Charles ; David, who married Emma Chalker, and lives in the Valley, though he once dwelt near here; Lavius H. married Ella Branch, of Onondaga county, and, as we have seen, once lived in the place next east. After the War he migrated to Arkansas, and still lives there ; Frederick, now dead, married in Illinois. He rose to the rank of captain during the Rebellion. Flavia married Levi Chase, from New Hampshire, and once lived on the corner, in the Dr. Dick- son house. (Mr. Chase, now living in Sturbridge, Mass., is a genealogist and local history writer of note.) Samuel, the youngest son, married Sarah Vanderberg and lives in the Valley.
Crossing the road we find the new house of William D. Lyman, who married Mary Hoyt, a cousin of Orson Toles' wife. Their children are Maggie, Edith and Benjamin. As the house stands so near the first log house, Mr. Lyman may take a little pride in maintaining the family suc- cession.
Zigzagging to the south side, we have the house built by Samuel Lyman. To be sure, it has been somewhat remodeled, but it is substantially the same. Here resides Chas. Lyman, in a state of so-called single blessed- ness. But as the Bible has said that it is not good for man to be alone, there must be a contradiction somewhere. Mr. Lyman, in the language of Lafayette, is a lucky dog. The French patriot, at a great party given in Boston, on being introduced to a young married man, shook him vigorously by the hand, saying, " Happy man! happy man!" Soon after, meeting another gentleman and asking him if he was married and getting a negative
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