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 15
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reply, he slapped him on the shoulder, exclaiming : "Lucky dog." Some one querying as to whom Lafayette intended to say the best thing, a bright listener at once said : "Any one knows that a happy man is better than a lucky dog." Mr. Lyman keeps his property in excellent condition, though many observers are wondering when the fine pear orchard west of his house will begin to bear. The first house on the Lyman farm stood nearly in front of Charles Lyman's barn, and was built by Richard Avery, Sr., who had been a soldier in the French and Indian War and in the Revolu- tionary. His son, Richard, was in the late War. He was father-in-law of the first Joel Bishop and of Asahel Gillett, Sr. After him were two ten- ants, one of whom was Davis Hand, who married Polly Crydenwise. The builder sold to Chester Ellinwood, who was here for a while and then traded with Samuel Southwick for the farm where Ensign Wade lives. The succession is Mirick, Bamborough, James Phillips, Moses Carr, John Lyman.
Continuing our zigzag way, we find another Lyman domiciled on the north side. This one is Charles F., a son of John. His wife is Lydia E. Horton, and they have four children-Viola, Ralph, Mary and Ida. The house was built by David Lyman, one of the second generation in these parts. This clinging to the old sod and soil of this family is very pleasant to contemplate, and I doubt not, in storing up this world's goods, they have quite as much to show as they would have had had they, like some others, been constantly on the move.
Our next stop is at a house on the north side, belonging to John Lyman. It stands on the old Lyman farm, which, lacking ten acres, lay entirely on the north side of the road. The site was bought and built upon by one Lancaster. It was also owned by the elder Oaks and by a Mr. Farnsworth, who now lives in Glenmark. Eli Knapp has also occupied it. Without intending to disparage any former occupant, we may be pardoned for feel- ing glad that another John Lyman, he of the third generation is, living here.
To Charles Lyman I am indebted for many facts, and thanks are espe- cially due for the following incident : Samuel Lyman always braved public opinion when it conflicted with his sense of right and duty, and in the year 1830, being engaged in building a small barn, and having then recently read Dr. Lyman Beecher's "Six Sermons on Temperance," he felt that it would be wrong for him to furnish liquor at the raising, and he determined not to do so. Taking no pains to conceal his purpose, it became noised about that Lyman was going to have a cold water raising, a thing unheard of at that day and age of the world. Consequently a large crowd was attracted-some to lift up and others to pull down, among the latter not only regular old topers, but staid and sedate church members. The builder, a sober man and excellent citizen, was evidently in sympathy with
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the " hot water "' sentiment, as the tone of his commands was wonderfully tame and feeble, the effect of which was apparent when the first bent, after having been started, became stationary, and it seemed certain that the attempt to raise it would end in failure, when a Baptist preacher named Ansel Gardner, who, five years later, built the Baptist Church at the Valley, springing forward with fire in his eye and with the exclamation, "I can raise that bent." rang out his commands in tones so positive and determined that the lifters were animated with new energy, and the bent moved right along to its place. The incident had the effect of shaming the boss into a proper performance of his duty, and the first cold water raising in the town was successfully accomplished. Years after, a neighbor, C. W. Fairbanks, was heard to relate in connection with the foregoing cir- cumstance : " When the first bent was going up, I noticed that some one standing beside me was pulling down, and by a quick movement I shoved . the hand of the obstructionist off the beam." The barn alluded to was the one so long standing near the road, and in which numerous Africans after- ward halted on their way to liberty. True, the edifice is, in a double sense, a monument. Standing now, well back from the road, it is still a strong tribute to cold water raising.
The Moreys have already been referred to as residents in this section. I have learned that the first Richard D. Morey was a half brother of the first Mrs. Jeremiah Finch. The Morey family came in 1831, having filially remained east until after the death of Mrs. Morey's aged mother. On coming to these parts, Mrs. M. died first, and afterward Mr. Morey mar- ried widow Wilcox. With her first husband, she had lived in a log house near where "Ham " Closs now lives. The neighbors say that when Mr. W. was dying, his bed was the floor, and some one calling to ask how he was, his wife cheerfully replied : "Oh, he's slowly wasting away," he getting no more attention than a log of wood. She had a daughter, Julia Ann, who married Jeremiah Finch, 2d, and a son, Richard, both of whom went west. This second marriage, I fancy, was none of the happiest, and going down to Saratoga to visit his oldest son, Mr. Morey died and was buried there. There were ten children, evenly divided as to sex : Jesse, the oldest, remained east; Elijah married Harriet Lovejoy, who, after his death, married Watson Dowd, and lived in Huron; William married widow Burch, née Havens; Richard Derrick, called "Derrick," married Almina Kelsey, who lived at "Holl " Drury's ; and H. Delevan, one of twins. He makes his home with Norman Lovejoy. The oldest daughter, Mapelet, never lived in Rose, for having married John Crapo, weut directly west; Lydia we have seen as the hospitable wife of Norman Love- joy ; Charity married Nelson Lovejoy, of Wolcott; Charlotte is Mrs. Philip Thomas, of Huron, while the twin, Nancy Ann, is Mrs. Abram DePew, of Wolcott. Mrs. Norman Lovejoy is my chief informant concerning the
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Moreys, and what she doesn't recall concerning her early life in Rose is hardly worth remembering. She says : "I tell you, there was lots of spinning and weaving going on in those days. We had to work the wool for winter's wear and the flax to make linen for summer. I could spin my three runs of tow in less than a day. Laws! the girls nowadays don't know anything about work." On my asking her what constituted a run of tow, she replied : "I guess you don't know much about weaving. Why, twenty knots, of course." Lest I should still further expose my ignorance, I forebore asking the extent of a knot, and to this day can not tell whether the word has to do with the intertwining of strings or is in some way allied to nautical language, as "twenty knots an hour." Con tinuing, she ran on thus : "Brother Lige got a neighbor to make a broad- cloth coat for him, and to pay for it, I had to spin thirty-two run of wool for her. I did it, but I had to work for it. Why, one day, a good many years afterward, a friend came along here and he asked me if I remem- ber the spinning. I told him I did, very well. 'Why,' said he, 'you'd spin two runs before ten o'clock, then go home and get dinner and be back again before one o'clock and spin two more. How you did make things fly.' Oh, I could spin and wash and keep busy. Old Mrs. Mirick, just after we came up here, invited me and my sisters to a party, and we were the only ones in our neighborhood who had an invite. I tell ye, it just sot us way up." Mrs. L.'s conversation gave me a vivid picture of times more than fifty years away. How many boys of today have sisters who would give eight days' hard work to pay for making said boy's coat? I await an answer.
Once more crossing the highway, we may enter the home of Michael McDorman. The latter, though of Irish birth, came hither nine years ago from Canada, and, having purchased a few acres of land, has erected a cosy house near an excellent barn, everything indicating the utmost thrift. His wife is Dillene Quertershan, a lady of the Canadian French. They have a promising family, consisting of Michael, Carrie, John and Edward. Exemplary members of the Rose Methodist Church, they enjoy the highest respect of their neighbors.
Visions of school ma'ams and of pedagogic sway dance before us as we approach the next building, for it is the school-house : the place where the young ideas of the district are taught to shoot, and the edifice itself is highly creditable to those who built it. Painted white, with green blinds, it is no " ragged beggar by the roadside sunning." It is the second build- ing on the site, erected in 1879, though the first school-house in the dis- trict was made of logs and stood to the westward over the hill, where Mr. Shear's tenant house now stands. There were two framed buildings there also. The first school-house was burned. I am wondering whether the youth of this neighborhood should be called "hard students " that they
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managed thus to use up five buildings. From the district school many a boy and girl went to the seminaries in other places, thus securing advan- tages that were denied to the fathers and mothers. The present location is singularly near the exact centre of the district.
The next move takes us to the four corners, where we may see, facing the setting sun, what was, when erected, the very finest house in Rose. Now the property of Peter Shear, it was built by John Closs before 1828. Though we have the record complete of this farm for more than sixty years, the very earliest history is a little nebulous. If, as I have seen it stated, Oliver Whitmore was located just south of Joel Bishop, then he must have held this place once. Before him may have been a Mr. Belden. "'Squire " Whitmore's son, Seth, was a surveyor, and to him is due the angle in the road near the Lyman farm. Possibly Mr. Closs may have purchased his betterments. John Closs, the progenitor of the Rose family of that name, was of New Jersey birth, very likely of remote Dutch origin, and his name must have passed through an interesting transition, perhaps from Klaus to its present English form. His parents had moved to the vicinity of Lyons, whence our subject moved to Rose. Before coming here, he had held contracts in constructing the Erie canal. However the farm had been held before Closs' coming, his payments were made to the Rose and Nicholas purchase. The place lay on all four corners, and was unexcelled in convenience and fertility. At his coming, in 1825, he dwelt in a log house just below the southeast angle of the cross roads. But Mr. Closs had the means and the disposition to rear for his family a more seemly habitation, and the present structure was the result of his building, though much of the material had to be brought from Jack's Rifts. Perhaps the family moved in in 1827. At any rate, the youngest children, twins, were born here in 1828. The good wife was Hannah Hamel, a native of Verona, Oneida Co. Their children were Harvey, about whom there will be more. anon; George, who died in 1848 ; Lorenzo, who married, in Ohio, a Miss Taylor. He afterward held an appointment in a government office in. Washington, and from Georgetown College his two sons, Charles and Frank, were graduated. He now lives in New York City. The fourth son, Caleb Hamel, known familiarly in Rose as "Ham," we shall meet later. There were only three girls in the family, and of these two were twins. The elder sister, Eveline Adelia, died in 1848. The twin sisters, Juliette and Anjenette, were born in 1828, and, if reports be true, they were the light of the household in that, to those rural regions, palatial home. I have heard my mother say, when passing this house, "How many pleas- ant hours I have passed there with the twins." Juliette became the wife, of Willis G. Wade, son of John, the pioneer, but died in 1859. Near her, in the cemetery, lie her husband and infant son. Anjenette died in 1853. The elder Closses died early in life; John in 1832, aged thirty-nine ; his wife:
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in 1831, in her thirty-seventh year. Upon the eldest son, Harvey, cares were thus thrown very early ; but I have never learned that he faltered for a moment. He married, in 1836, Evelina Henderson, daughter of Gideon, in the Stewart district, and until 1856 dwelt on the paternal acres. Here his only son, Frank, was born, and thence two infant daughters were borne to the cemetery. In 1856 he exchanged with Peter Shear his old home, taking in part payment the present abode of Wm. Closs, to the west- ward. In 1859 he moved into the Valley district, taking the well known stone house of Hiram Mirick, and here lived until 1876, when, selling out, he went still nearer the centre of the village, this time to the old Collins home, and here he dwelt until his death, January 6, 1886. I am sure I speak within bounds when I state that no resident of this town ever more deservedly enjoyed the thorough respect of his fellow-townsmen than Harvey Closs. In 1857 and 1858 he was supervisor of the town, and was long a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church. To the writer, both Mr. Closs and his wife have additional interest from the fact that Mr. Closs went to school to George Seelye, his grandfather, and Mrs. Closs to Cath- arine Shepard, his grandmother, while their only son was a school-mate in Falley Seminary. Mrs. Closs, the widow, is passing the evening of life very pleasantly in the home whence she may overlook the village. We now come to the present occupant of the old Closs farm, Peter Shear. He was born in Coeymans, Albany county, his name indicating a Dutch origin. His wife, Mary, bore the cognomen of Shear before as well as after marriage. They came to this town thirty-five years ago, living first on the Van Sicklen farm, near Huron, and they came here in 1859. Mrs. Shear lives now on another farm, owned by Mr. Shear in Junius, Seneca county. The husband lives a divided life, managing thus two farms. His home in Junius he visits weekly, remaining here the rest of the time. He has long been known as a successful speculator in stock, perhaps more prominent in this respect than any other man in the town. In this farm there are 166 acres. His children, all born in Rose, are Stephen, Gertrude, William, Fred, George and Minnie. With the exception of William they are in Seneca county, where Stephen married. William we shall see again. A divided interest necessitating the absence of the gentler portion of the household, may account for the lack of fix-up-ed-ness that once per- vaded the corner. There are slats wanting in the blinds, and we note the absence of that intensity of green and white that we like to see in blinds and house. Mr. Shear's family, I am told, are Progressive Friends. (Mr. Shear died January 26, 1890, aged seventy years. The place is now owned by Edward Welch, who has made all the improvements called for in the home, and more. His wife is Sarah Buckley, and they have one son, William. Mr. Welch came to this farm in April, 1893. His brothers, Thomas and Joseph, own that part of the old farm south of the east and west road, and
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also some near the school-house. They have this season erected a large, handsome barn near the corner, and will later move the house north of the barn, and, perhaps, make it a counterpart of their brother's fine residence on the other side of the road. )
Still moving westward, we pass at our right a tenement house of Mr. Shear, and soon come to a very pleasant place, the home of William Closs, " Ham's" younger son. Here, too, in antiquarian researches, we are lost in obscurity, for as yet I can go no further back than James Andrews, who was there as early as 1826. He sold to Solomon Whitney, and he to William Lamb, whom we have already noted as the husband of Almira Mc Wharf. As owner, then came Peter Shear, and in 1856, Harvey Closs. Frank Sherman then held it for a time, and to him succeeded Joel Sheffield, repeatedly met in our town jottings. He and his wife, Nannie Osgood, began their married life here, and here resided for some years, until Hamel Closs, desiring a home near at hand for his son, John, bought and located John and his lately wedded wife, "Gustie " Saunders, in this comfortable abode. But John tired of the farm and went west long ago, and is now living in Detroit, Michigan. After a succession of tenants, came the younger son, William, who married Emma Hillman of Webster, Monroe county, and after living with his parents for a while, came hither. He has two children, Ralph and Archer.
Something more than a stone's throw beyond, is the dwelling of Stanton E. Waldruff, who, a native of Galen, married Frances Vanderburgh, and thereby came to this farm, for many years held by William S. Vanderburgh. He was a native of Columbia county, and married Lovina Clapper. For many years he tilled these acres, and, full of years, died about two years since. Both he and his wife, who passed away in 1883, sleep in the Rose cemetery. Sarah, their oldest child, married Samuel Lyman. John W., the next child, and only son, after serving in the 9th Heavy Artillery dur- ing the War, went west and has been lost to the knowledge of his friends. The next daughter, Etta, became the wife of James Covell of the adjacent district on the west. Emma married Gideon Barrett of the Jeffers neigh- borhood. Mr. and Mrs. Waldruff, who hold the paternal roof tree, have three children. Fred, who having taken for his wife Lizzie Harmon, lives in the Valley. ( Fred died May 16, 1893, in Allegan, Michigan. Etta was married in 1891 to George W. Rice of Huron, leaving Edna only at home). A much enlarged and improved barn indicates progress. In fact, I am reminded, as I go about, of the great improvement in farm buildings. What would the pioneers say, could they awake and arise, to a barn with matched siding and painted, yes, actually painted ? Why, in those earlier days it was rare that paint could be afforded for the house, let alone the barn. Before the Vanderburghs, this was the home of William Havens, twice encountered in the Lake district. He built the house. In
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the Rose cemetery I find inscriptions to the memory of William V. Havens and Susan, his wife. They died, she in 1848, aged sixty-four, and he, full of years, in 1875, for he had attained the unusual age of ninety-five. The Havens bought of Harley Way, and he of Dr. Peter Valentine, who had helped his brother, Asahel, in paying for the place. The Havens came to this town from Cato. They had two sons-Dexter and William-now living in Weedsport, and several danghters, of whom one became Melesse Lawrence of Weedsport; another, Mrs. Hunt ; and Sally married a Drake- ford and went to the west; another became Mrs. Elias Wood, already noted in the Lake district.
Continuing toward the west, we find at our right the home of Edwin W. Catchpole, a part of the large Catchpole estate. Here Mr. Catchpole, with his wife, Alice Rich of Marion, and their infant son, George C., takes all the comfort that can come to mortals. ( Besides George C., there are now children : Alice A., Rutherford Hayes and Edwin W., Jr.) Mr. Catchpole bought the place of the Klinck heirs ; for it was here, in 1877, that Henry Klinck passed from mortality to immortality, a death that to humanity seemed especially untimely, since there was a large family of children seemingly demanding a father's care. There were Henry, who, married, now lives in Shortsville; George, who married a Harper, and lives in the Valley with his mother, his wife having died; Carrie is the wife of George Brown of Chili; William lives in the Valley; Edward ; Ellsworth, generally known as "Allie;" and Bert, who, I think, was born here. George and Will are painters. Mrs. Klinck lives in the village, and at her home her aged father, Artemas Osgood, died in 1887. Mr. Klinck bought of John D. Waterbury, who, as was also his wife, Emma Adams, was born in Nassau, Rensselaer county. In 1847 they came to Galen, and the next year to Rose, and here they remained for uearly twenty years, going hence, in 1867, to Huron. He afterward went to Pontiac, Michigan, where he died in 1884, aged seventy-six years. His wife died in 1862, at the age of forty-eight years. Her remains were after- ward carried to Michigan also. The living of our town have generally gone to that Peninsular state, but this is the first instance, in my knowl- edge, of the removal of the dead to that much sought locality. They were respected citizens, members of the Baptist Church. Of their five children, three grew to adultship, viz., Mary E., who married Hayden Lamb of Huron, but a member of our Rose family. They live in Pontiac, Michigan; Hiel Adams married Harriet Williams of Nassau, and resides in Clyde ; Emma E. married James Rockwell of Pontiac, and died very suddenly in 1887. William Morey of the same school district, who had married the widow Burch, a daughter of William Havens, was the preceding owner, and he built the framed house. His predecessor was Hosea Howard, a brother of Mrs. Elizur Flint.
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Just a little west of opposite is another house, with large barns con- nected, now the property of George Catchpole, who bought it in 1866 from Mr. Pitcher, who in turn had purchased a short time before from the heirs of Rufus R. Weeks, who was killed in the Valley in 1861 at the raising of a flag pole. This was a very distressing incident. After the injury Mr. Weeks was borne, insensible, into the adjacent hotel, now Pimm's, where, for three or four days, he lay unconscious until death came to his relief. Mr. Weeks was a native of Rensselaer county, but he moved to this town from Galen. Taken away thus in the prime of life, the loss to his family and friends was irreparable. Active and industrious, the raising of a pole seemed small compensation for the loss. The farm of fifty-one acres Mr. Weeks had bought of Alpheus Roberts, now of Huron, and he from Elias R. Cook of Sodus. The latter had not occupied, but had simply rented. At present I can go no further into the past. Mr. Catchpole has added largely to the barns, until now they are among the very largest in the vicinity.
When we come to the next house, that of George Catchpole, we have reached the western limit of the district and one of the land- marks of the neighborhood, for it was to this place that the brothers Pomeroy and Elizur Flint came in 1817. Pomeroy lived only two years, leaving a youthful wife, whom his brother married. The Flints were from Coventry, Conn., and coming here took up one hundred and ten acres, upon which improvements had been made by one Paine and a log house built. Probably the latter came in 1810, and through his betterments, the land cost. the Flints nine dollars per acre. The framed house that Deacon Flint in time built was a part of the upright of the present commodious farm house. The wife was Roxy Howard, a good specimen of the go-ahead Connecticut woman, and a model housekeeper. She died many years since, at the age of 70 years. Her husband survived until 1884, being then ninety-one years old. There are few characters standing out more promi- nently in town history than that of Deacon Flint. In 1812, he shouldered his musket, and, with others, helped man the fort at New London when assailed by the British, and for this service he became eventually a pen- sioner of the United States. He was once supervisor, and for many years served as a justice of the peace. He was the mainstay in the Presbyterian Church and one of its earliest members. His face, full of decision and will, is not often reproduced. Ever industrious, he rested but little, as some folks understand the word, even in his age. Two children grew up- Calista, who wedded George Catchpole, and Dwight, who married George's sister, Mary. The Catchpoles are of English birth, and George was born in Moulton, Norfolk Co. On coming to this country, they reached Huron by way of Geneva. In Huron, the brothers, Robert and James, located on adjacent farms, and soon won enviable reputations for genuine honesty,
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industry and worth. George, having won the deacon's daughter, began housekeeping in Huron, just east of his father's. Dwight Flint soon after contemplated matrimony with Mary Catchpole. For some reason he did not care to take his wife to his old home to live; so one day the deacon rode up to George's, but delayed making known his mission. Something was on his mind, but it was not until a good dinner had lubricated his tongue that he spoke his mind. Then moving back his chair, he said : "I may as well let you know what I came here for. The truth of the mat- ter is, we want you two to come and live with us. Dwight doesn't want to take his wife home, and I don't see how we can get along without you. There needn't be any fuss about it. When Dwight is ready, just let him come here, taking everything, and you come to the old place." Says George C .: "I don't suppose there was ever quite such a trade effected before nor since. I was satisfied with my place given me by my father. It was well stocked and the house was furnished. I asked my wife what she thought about it, and she replied that we should have to go. Well,. one day Dwight rode off and got married. After a short trip, he came up to my place to stay over night. In the morning, wife and I got into his buggy and drove down here, leaving everything of ours there and taking all that we found here. That was in 1859, and there was never a shade of difference or trouble from that day to this over the trade." Calista (Flint) Catchpole died in 1872, and, subsequently, Mr. C. married' Mary, youngest daughter of Artemas Osgood. Their home has everything neces- sary for comfort. Surrounded by great barns to receive the product of the 210 acres of the farm, our farmer friend ought to reign a veritable king on his domain. Five times his fellow townsmen have made Mr. Catchpole supervisor of the town. Fond of travel, he has once revisited England to see the early home, and has in mind to go again at no distant day. His only son, Edwin, we have just passed to the eastward. (Mr. Catchpole- later moved to the Valley, and there his wife died in 1893. His son, Edwin, now occupies the farm.)
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