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 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
Still further east, there will be eventually another street, and, already on hand awaiting the street, are the homes of Jerome Davenport, David Hill (not the governor), Peter Salter and George Parslow. Beyond these even is the abode of widow Hannah Quackenbush, in a house built by William Dickinson. We must not slight the very necessary hotel, which dates from railroad times, and which was constructed by Thomas Parks, but is now the property of William Roe of Wolcott. It has had numerous landlords, of whom we might name John Decker, who died here, and the present Myron Brant, a son of that John Brant who years ago lived on the Briggs farm. (In 1893 Miss Ara A. Barnum owns the hotel, which is kept by Mr. Guy Beadle. The street to the eastward has been built and changes have been made as indicated in the village plan.)
North Rose as a post office dates from war times. In 1861 "Ben " Aldrich opened the office, and kept it where Mr. Thompson now lives, north of the old school-house. Then David Lyman had it in the little red house, nearly opposite the school-house. Morton Tripp followed in the Eldred house.Jonathan Briggs then had the honor for a while, having the office in the railroad station. Romaine Cole was next, followed by Lyman Briggs, in 1877, who in turn passed the privilege of the place to Irwin Seelye, in 1882. He was postmaster till Grover Cleveland made Nelson Graham postmaster, in 1885. Irwin, however, continued as deputy until recently, when the country was made thoroughly safe by passing the office from an old soldier to Thomas B. Welch, who maintained the same in his hardware store. [Since writing the foregoing, Mr. Welch has resigned. ]
The house on the northwest corner of the cross roads is much changed from its former appearance. It was away back in the twenties that Gilbert Miner, a seafaring man, and a bachelor brother of Prentice Miner, already
134
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
on the ground, was persuaded to erect on this conspicuous corner a tavern. Ansel Gardner was the builder, but before the work of rum selling (in those days the chief business of hotel keeping) could begin, a great temperance wave swept over the country, meetings being held in churches and school-houses, and Othello's occupation was gone. Prentice Miner lived here some years, till, selling out, he went to Michigan. He had three children. I have heard him described as a short man, duck-legged, a sailor in early life, but could out-jump anybody in the neighborhood. The place was owned for a time by a Mr. Simmons, then by a Mr. Young of Geneva. Jonathan Briggs possessed it also, and from him, I believe, it passed to Franklin M. Proseus, who, a native of Dutchess county, came to Rose from Sodus. He enlisted in Company G, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery, and died in 1862, leaving a widow and two children. Mrs. P. was born in Sodus-her maiden name was Anna M. Lake-though the family was of Connecticut extraction. Her maternal grandfather, Horace Terry, died from wounds received at Sodus Point, in the War of 1812. Her son, Allen, married Sophia Andrews, and resides in Huron, while Frank, who married Nellie Tryon, lives in the village. His two children are Frank and Fern.
On the east side of the road, a few rods to the north, two apple trees standing in the field are near the site of the McWharf home, mentioned in the Lake district series. A spring of clear cold water and a consequent stream were doubtless the motives for locating his home thus. He had fifteen acres conveniently near the home of Jonathan Skut, his brother-in- law. The latter's home was over the way and still a trifle to the north of the site of the present house of Orrin Skut. The family was immediately from Onondaga county, but the name is uncommonly suggestive of the Hudson river region, and of those sturdy Dutch burghers, whose stalwart proportions the members of the family still possess. However, the first Mrs. S. was Hannah Rowe, and she was the mother of a large number of children, as follows : Orrin, Charles, David, Andrew, Horace, Mahala, Caroline and Esther. With the marriages of these people we are interested only in that of Charles, who took for his wife an adopted daughter of Eli Andrus, and Orrin's. All the family went to Michigan, but Orrin tired of the country and came back. He says now that he is sorry that he returned. He had learned the cooper's trade, and in the newer regions of the west there was little demand for what he had to give. The elder Skuts, after living for a time on Crusoe Island, in Savannah, went to Michigan and there died many years since. The wood colored house, long prominent here, was built by Jonathan Skut and still remains, though repaired and painted. Here Orrin Skut lived for many years, tilling his forty-eight acres and pursuing his trade. He now lives in the village near. He did not follow his father immediately as owner, having managed it seven years as superintendent for a Mr. Angus, to whom Jonathan had sold. His wife
135
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
was Almira Lamb, a daughter of Isaac, one of the pioneers. Their children were : Alexander, who, though owning a farm in Huron, has his home in North Rose, and with him his father lives. His wife is Melinda Jones, of Huron, and they have three children-Cora, Annette and Orrin ; the second son, Ira, married Helen Creque of Wolcott, and died in 1881; he was a soldier during the War ; Jerome died in 1862 ; Jasper married Frank Park of Wolcott, and went west some years ago. The only daughter, Annette, is the wife of Alexander Ellinwood, of Clinton, Oneida county. Mrs. Orrin Skut died in January, 1886. With both Alexander and Jerome I was well acquainted, having been a fellow pupil with them in Fulton, and know personally of their sterling worth. Jerome was only twenty-two years old at his death. Orrin Skut has been, in one way or another, a town officer for eighteen years, the most of the time a commissioner of highways. (Orrin Skut died May 6, 1892, and June 12, 1892, Alexander died. The place is now occupied by William Dickinson, who married Irene, daughter of Frank Davis, and has children, Forrest, and a baby girl. )
We are pretty near the confines of the town when we reach the next farm, that of Charles G. Oaks, a son of that Charles G. Oaks who lived and died in the Lyman district. He was a soldier during the War, and his wife was Huldah Wilson, a daughter of Robert Wilson, whose home this was for many a year.
One more remove and we reach Daniel Skut, a brother of Jonathan. He, too, had a large family, which also emigrated to Michigan. His children were Robert, Apollos, Daniel, Abram, Truman, Betsey and Hannah, who became the wife of one Sumner, whose father was an early dweller on the Cephas Bishop farm. When the Skuts left, there were only fourteen acres cleared. In the farm, however, there were one hundred acres. The house, as usual, was built of logs, and water was brought from a spring. To this place came, in 1835, Robert Wilson, a native of Romulus, but moving from Dundee, Yates county. His wife was Catharine Raplee, changed, undoubt- edly, from the Hudson river name Rapalye. She was born in Dundee. Here these good Baptist people lived and reared their children, building finally the pleasant house now the home of the Oakses. The oldest son, Luther, married Cynthia Boynton, and lives on the next road east, hold- ing a farm formerly a part of the paternal acreage. Mary N. Wilson married Gilbert A. Chapin, and resides now in Denison, Texas. Huldah, the wife of Charles G. Oaks, died in January, 1887, leaving four children, of whom Katie is the wife of James Thomas, of Huron, while Charles W., Marilla and Robert L. are at home. Robert Wilson died in 1868, in his sixty-third year. His widow, quite infirm on account of a fall, makes her home on the old farm with the family of her daughter, Huldah. (C. W. Oaks married Ella L. Winchell, and they have a son, Seth Carroll ; Marilla Oaks is Mrs. Edgar C. Davis, of Central Falls, R. I.)
136
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
Our last house faces a road which was once a public way extending down to the Glenmark road, but which terminates now at the home of Ogden Van Sicklen. As laid out many years ago, it led to the property of Isaac Lamb, the first settler here. He was a stirring, enterprising man, and, in 1823, built a saw-mill west of his house, obtaining power by damming the stream which ran through the gully. This mill was in operation more than sixty years, and it fell into decay only when the need of it ceased. It doubtless is responsible for the denudation of the surrounding country, and through said destruction, the stream has dried up so that water power would be quite out of the question. Further up the glen, many years since, the same Ansel Gardner, before referred to, built a mill for carding wool, but it was never utilized. It was just back of Orrin Skut's home. Fifteen years after the construction of the saw-mill, Mr. Lamb built a grist- mill a half mile down the stream, and the road was correspondingly extended, having, up to this time, terminated at the saw-mill. This must have been a very rough, winding, hilly way, and after the mill went down, I don't wonder that the road was taken up. As we approach from the east, we should have seen, first, the miller's house, in which lived many families, and at one time the Huffmans, with whom the Lambs married. Not a trace of it is now standing. Down under a steep bank, nestled the mill years ago, and many a bushel of wheat was turned into material for the staff of life by the water that long since ran by. It is easy to trace the old dam, and, with some difficulty, I can find indications of the race way, which bore the motive power to the mill, and as the fifty years roll away, in fancy I see the boys of then (the grand-sires of to-day), just as boys will ever do, leaving their clothes on the bank, while they seek happiness in the cooling waters ; or, earlier in the season, trying to secure nibbles from passing minnows by the temptations of a wriggling worm. Perhaps, in winter, our boys of "ye olden time" have bumped their heads in essay- ing the pleasures of skating. All these fancies float before me on a burning hot day in August, and I, too, sigh for the consolation of the bath. or the shade of the glen beneath. Imagination must be drawn upon to call back the old mill, of which there is not a rack left behind. One of the old stones serves Myron Lamb, at the corners in North Rose, for a horse block, and the other is lost to sight and search in the morass near which the building was located. So much for these buildings of old; now let us return to the abodes of men, and pause where Ogden Van Sicklen has his home.
It was many years ago that Isaac Lamb broke into this primeval wilder. ness and began his liviug. His cabin and his surroundings were like those of his neighbors. He came directly from Cayuga county in 1820. His wife was Sally Stanley, and they were both Methodists. After many years here, they yielded to their son, John, and, buying ten acres west of
137
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
Aldrich's, built a house and dwelt for a time. Mrs. L. died in 1846, aged ·sixty-nine. After her death the husband went to Lyons, where he died in 1862, at the home of Ira Mirick, his son-in-law, at the age of eighty-six. No trace of his home on the Glenmark road now exists. Both of these good people now sleep in the North Rose burial ground. Their oldest son, Isaac, Jr., married Emeline Hickok, a daughter of Moses, and we shall soon see him again. William married a McWharf, as already noted, and died in Huron. John we shall presently meet; Martha, as the wife of Ira Mirick, must wait till we get to the Valley district ; Polly married John Baker, and, after living in Rose, went to Michigan ; Almira we have met as Orrin Skut's wife ; Jane never married, and died in Lyons some years ago. Somewhat peculiar in manner and speech, she is said to have responded to a query as to why she didn't accept a certain offer of heart and hand : "Do you suppose that I am going to take up with every old jackass that comes along ?" Sally Ann became the wife of William Blighton, in Galen, and apropos to this same is suggested a couplet that irreverent youths sometimes sang in "ye good old days :"
"So glad I come, old Daddy Lamb, Oh, won't you give me Sally Ann ?"
Isaac Lamb, Jr., and wife succeeded his father. They lived here several years, and had born to them a family, consisting of Munson, named for a brother of Mrs. L .; Munroe, Betsey, Caroline and Almanda. Like scores of others in this town, they took up the westward march and settled in Michigan, where doubtless these Lambs have increased to quite a flock. Lamb sold to Peter Shear, and he to William Hallenbeck, whose name we first encountered on the Halsey M. Smith place, in the Lovejoy district. He was from Coxsackie, Greene Co., and his wife was Rachel Ten Eyck, from the same town-both names betraying unquestionable Dutch origin. It was thirty-six years ago that Mr. H. came to this farm, and here he died in March, 1883, at the age of seventy-one, his widow surviving him a little more than one year, dying in October, 1884, at the age of seventy-three. Their children were not numerous, consisting of Martin F., who died in the army during the War, and Louise, who is the wife of Mr. Van Sicklen. The latter was born in one of the western states, and his father dying when Ogden was very small, his mother, who was a daughter of Elkanah Smith, returned to this town, and here he was reared. They have children, William F., who married Minnie, daughter of Jay Dickinson, of North Rose, and lives at home, and two girls, Belle and Rose. The framed house was built by Isaac Lamb, Jr., and the fine barn by Mr. Hallenbeck. (Wm. F. Van Sicklen and wife have a child, Mildred A.)
On the south side of the road is the estate of John Lamb. The house was constructed in part by Wm. Hickok, who afterward dwelt south of the
138
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
Valley, and was completed by John Lamb. John's wife is Jane E. Huff- man, a member of the family that once lived a little further west, near the old grist-mill. Like many others, these good people went to Michigan, where they dwelt six years, but came back to this old pasturage, because, Mrs. L. says, " John was homesick." They reared a sizable family here and then went to North Rose to dwell, where "John " may work or not, as he likes. He knows where the biggest blackberries grow. Their chil- dren are Myron, Addison, and Mary Annette, whom, as Mrs. John Hetta, we shall meet in the Glenmark district. The place continues to suggest innocence, for Addison Lamb dwells here. His wife is Eliza J. McQueen, from Savannah ; but as people of that name formerly lived in the neigh- borhood, it is possible that her folks were once Rose inhabitants. They have one child, Cora I. (Now Mrs. Addison Dagle, of Huron.)
Continuing our route across the town line, having returned to the main road, we shall find, first, the valuable farm of Ishmael Gardner. His wife was Sarah Slaght, of Wolcott, and they have two boys to patronize the North Rose school. No one must think that, on account of his name, Ishmael's hand is against every one, for no better nor more highly respected farmer lives on the street. He is an Ishmaelite in name only. Samuel Gardner, who lived here so long, was widely and favorably known. After working his farm up to a commendable condition, he moved down to the village, and there died, the supervisor of Rose, in 1885. . Ishmael is the son by his first wife, while Ella, his only daughter, is the child of Happilona Chatterson, his second wife, who now survives him, living in Rose. Joseph Preston was the first settler on this farm. In the local annals, there is also a Hovey Preston, possibly a relative.
Near the corner, on the left, as we continue north, we may see the place where James Catchpole wrought out his fertile and beautiful farm. Robert and James Catchpole came to Huron from Geneva more than forty years ago. They were from Norfolkshire, England, and another brother, George, became a wealthy resident of Geneva. It is quite unnecessary to state that the careful habits of these good people would have made them well-to do, wherever they were. They were not grinding, grasping folks, but good judgment, backed up by good health, industry and integrity, has given them enviable positions in this lake bordering town. The sequel has war- ranted us in the thought that their name was from the beginning suggestive, but that wealth, honor and repute might as well have ended it as the com- monplace "pole." James, the older, married a widow, Susan Knight, and their children are James, who retains the parent place, and with his maiden sisters, Mary Ann and Matilda, exemplifies how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, individually as well as col- lectively. The next son, Benjamin, married Susan Comstock, of Huron, and has his home a little north of this district; Robert married Lavina
139
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
Tindall ; Susan became the wife of Thomas Smith, of Geneva ; Ann became Mrs. Edward Thomas, late of Geneva ; while Jemima, who married John Smith, we may meet if we go a few rods to the east and follow a private road till we find her pleasant home. Of her children, William, with a wife (who was a Post, from Butler) and two boys, lives at home, as also does James ; Nora married Fred Kelsey, and lives in Galen ; Maggie, a beautiful girl, died some years ago. The first James Catchpole and his wife are dead. Earlier than the Catchpoles, the names of Hiram Lamb and John Baker may be found connected with this farm.
Across the road from the James Catchpole place, we find Dwight Flint and his wife, who was Mary, daughter of Robert Catchpole, 1st. The trade with her brother, George, has already been described. They have but one child, Augusta, who is the wife of Frank G. Gaylord, of Sodus. The barns on this place were burned some time since, and have been replaced with most commodious structures. William Lamb once lived here, as did also Mr. Parley Lyon.
Our limit in this direction is reached when we come to the home of Harvey D. Barnes. This place Robert Catchpole bought, away back in the forties, of Hiram Woodruff, and here he reared his children and devel- oped his farm, and here, too, he remained till advancing age prompted him to seek a home at the Valley. This was probably twenty years since. Mr. C. has been dead for several years, but his widow, in remarkable health and strength, makes her home at the old place. (Died in 1890.) The family that was reared here consisted of Robert, who lives near Sodus Bay, in Huron ; George, the present supervisor of Rose; Ellen, who mar- ried Garhardus Watson, of Galen ; Mary A., the wife of Dwight Flint; Elizabeth, who is the wife of H. D. Barnes ; aud Anna M., who is the wife of Joel Thorn, of Galen. This is the last farm in the district in this direc- tion, and the last one before making the plunge into the gorge through which we must pass in going hence to Glenmark; but the place is a very superior one, and, as at present conducted, yields admirable returns for the labor expended. " Harve," as his friends call Mr. Barnes, is an old friend. We saw him first in District No. 7, the "boy" who lived with Joseph Seelye; that outrageous youngster who sorely tried the patience of the old lady and drew many a satisfactory "ha! ha!" from the old gentleman. Had we time and place, a book could be filled in detailing the pranks of this man, who, as a boy, had all the mischief of the neighborhood laid at his door. But he lived through boyhood, served his country for three years in the Forty-fourth New York Volunteers, and coming home was fortunate enough to marry his excellent wife. An admirable pair ; we have but one regret as we consider their surroundings, and that is, that while the farm is well tilled and stocked, it has no little Barnes. "Harve" is the son of Edward Barnes, who had married Hannah Tindall, a sister of
140
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
blacksmith "Parm," of the Valley, and also of the late Mrs. Daniel Alex- ander. Mr. B., senior, lived in several places in this town and in Galen,. in which town " Harve" was born. At one time he lived on the Dr. Dickson farm, i. e., the one now occupied by Harlan Wilson, west of the- Linus Osgood place. He finally died in Michigan, his wife in the Valley. They had several children, among whom were Harvey ; Horatio, who- served during the War in the regular army and died afterward at Fort. Plain ; and Mary, who died at her Uncle Brown's, in Glenmark. In part- ing with our old friend and his pleasant wife, I must extend sincere con- gratulations on the evident prosperity of both, and to the Robert Catch- pole family for following Scriptural injunctions literally, in that the estate has been gathered into Barnes.
Coming back to the North Rose corners, we are ready for a journey east- ward. Mrs. Proseus owns on the north side, and, as yet, her farm has not been cut up into house lots. Very near the angle once stood a black- smith shop, since moved down into the village and stands on Caroline street.
The school-house is by far the most important building in the vicinity, and now that a new one is so constantly mooted, it will be in place to quote from the early records that have been preserved from 1821. Before the erection of this district, children went to the house down under the hill, west of Peter Shear's. One of the choicest reflections that one has in look- ing back to the beginning of our town is, that our fathers were so anxious. to give to their children educational advantages. These may have been meagre ; undoubtedly they were limited enough, but they sufficed to give- the young folks a start in life. To me the following extracts seem specially valuable : June 5th, 1820, Joseph Fellows and Andrew McNab leased six. rods square of land in the southeast corner of lot 130 in Brother's allot- ment, for the sum of one dollar and for the term of ten years, to Joel. Mudge, Moses Hickok and James Leland, trustees of District No. 14, and to their successors, for the purpose of furnishing a site for a school-house, the lease to be void if the school should not be maintained. October 21st, 1826, Gilbert Miner permanently leased the same site. only a little circum- scribed, i. e., it extended five rods back from the middle of the highway, and four rods east and west, but still in the same corner. This was done- for the consideration of two dollars and fifty cents. At the rate of holding land then, the price paid was large for a deed in fee instead of a lease sim- ply. This was made to Asahel Gillett, Stephen Benedict and Gale. Leland, trustees, and was given shortly after the erection of the town :
".School Destrict No. 14. Beginning at the northeast corner of Nicholas" Four Thousand Tract. Thence west on the north line of said tract three- miles and a half, thence north one mile and a half, thence due east until it strikes the west line of Destrict No. two, thence southerly on west line of
141
ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
Destrict No. two and six to the place of beginning the above. Described Destrict being a part of Destrict number five and three. The above Described Destrict is erected into separate Destrict, and the Clerk of the "Town is hereby ordered to Record the same."
MARTIN CARTERIGAT, \ Commissioners of ERASTUS FULLER, J Common Schools.
WOLCOTT, June the 27th, 1821.
On the 6th of October, 1826, it was voted to build a new school-house : to begin preparations in the winter; to have it ready in the ensuing June ; that it should be 18 x 26. (This was not completed till 1828.) November 1st, 1845, preliminary steps were taken toward building another new school-house. At the adjourned meeting, November 7th, it was voted to build on the old site ; to have Henry Graham, Asahel Gillett and Hovey Preston co-operate with the trustees ; to build of wood with studs and braces and to paint on the outside ; to build 28 x 24, after a model pre- sented by Henry Graham ; to sell the old building and stove to the highest bidder; to levy a tax of $300 to build with; and to have the edifice completed the first of September next.
Back of the old school-house is a small house in which lives William Thompson, whose business is that of a peddler. Here, before him, dwelt Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Smith, father of E. G. Smith, whom we saw in the Lake district. Before them was Robert Andrews, that merry shoemaker who located first in the Valley, but afterward came here and built a little shop southeast from the school-house, which was long a congregating place for all the male gossips of the vicinity. A Protestant Methodist, he could pray long and loud; could tell a good story, and was not without interest in a horse trade. Of his children, Kellogg, called "Cal," became a Protestant Methodist minister ; Mrs. Colcord lives in North Huron ; Mrs. Phoebe Sherman in Michigan ; Mrs. Dora Thomas and Mrs. Peter Paine are also in the west. From Rose, Andrews went to Huron.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.