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 19
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It is possible that Andrews built the red house opposite, or at any rate added to that little school-house that (18 x 26) was the pride of the early settlers, for this was moved off, and, I understand, made a part of this structure. I believe John Lamb owns it now. It was for a time the home of Jay Seelye, and here Michael Prindle, preacher, blacksmith and horse jockey, dwelt. His peculiarities still excite remark among the denizens of the place. I believe that Henry Garlic was here also, and that Elkanah Smith, often met in wanderings hereabouts, dwelt here once. The black- smith shop, where work was done, and where the small boy languished with switch in hand, was near the shoe shop, and finally melted away. (On the south side also is the second old school-house.)
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J. B. Aldrich has opened a new street, or rather has continued Gray street across the road into his orchard, and here, on the east side, Albion M. Gray is building a very fine house. (Mr. Gray was born in Mt. Vernon, Me., reared in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and learned his carpenter trade in New Jersey. He married Sarah A. Smalley, a relative of Abram Doremus, in New Jersey. Their children are Charles A., John M., Elizabeth L., Otis A. and Alvin M. So far as I know he is the only resident ever given by the Pine Tree State to the town. ) Further in the orchard, right among the trees, Irwin R. Seelye has planted his beautiful house. Irwin married Sarah Williams, of Marion, and has one child, Nettie. May they find much pleasure in their home among the apple trees, where annually they must be surrounded by those prettiest of flowers, i. e., apple blossoms. Across from Seelye's is a house owned by Wing Langley. (Robert Dickinson married Emeline, daughter of Birney Briggs, and built, recently, a very pretty home east of Mr. Gray's, and just beyond him. To them in Aug., 1893, a daughter was born. Allen Proseus, having already put up an excellent barn, is erecting an elegant residence. His wife is Libbie, daughter of Joseph Andrews, and their children are Harry I. and Isabelle.)
Here the road leads up to the Huron part of the district, but whose only Rose dweller is Luther Wilson. A visit to him reveals one of the most pleasant homes in Rose. His only child, a daughter, died some years ago. Beyond him, in Huron, we should find Jefferson Chaddock and several others whose affiliations are with Rose.
On the south side of the main road is a red building which years ago Morton F. Trippe bought of the Langleys, it having stood near the ceme- tery, and having been a tenant house for them, and moved to this site. Here he located his parents. Morton was a soldier during the War, and, it is presumed, filially applied some of his earnings and bounty in this praiseworthy manner. He was graduated at Hamilton College, and became a Presbyterian minister, and is now serving his God in that capacity on an Indian reservation in the western part of the state. The post office was here for a time. Then came Cornelius Van Buren, who deeded the prop. erty to Henry Garlic, and he traded it with Katie Graham for the little farm over near P. T. Lewis', in the Lovejoy neighborhood. Here now dwell Katie, the widow of Alfred Graham, and her parents, the Eldreds. Clark Eldred was born in Deerfield, Oneida county, and married, first, Harriet Blanchard of Cato. His second wife was Mary Chaddock, a daughter of that William the first whom we met in the Lake district. His life has been passed principally in Huron and Rose. Now an invalid, he keeps close to his home. Mrs. E. is a good soul, who likes to meet her friends and pass a social hour. They have but two children, Katie and Lydia, who, as the widow Sobers, married Henry Garlic. (Mr. Eldred died August 18, 1889, aged 84 years. )
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The home of James B. Aldrich now attracts us, and entering, we shall find not only the head of the family, known among his friends as "Ben," but also his wife, Calista, her mother, Mrs. Julia Dickinson, and an invalid aunt of Mr. A. The home is home-like-and what more in way of praise could be said ? Thirty acres of Mr. Aldrich's farm were bought of Darwin Dickinson ; the remaining seventy were a part of the old Amos Aldrich estate. As we have seen, Mr. A. has opened a street into his domain, and already houses are going up thereon. The house was built by Emory Roberts thirty-five years ago. Roberts, with his father, John, went to Michigan. They sold to. " Dar" Dickinson. They had bought of Henry Graham, and had lived here probably ten or twelve years. The Aldriches have only one child, Harriet E., who married Everett Slaght of the village, though he was formerly from Wolcott.
Crossing to the south side we shall find the house of Morgan Lewis Smith. The politics of Smith's father, Elkanah, and the time of his birth, may be surmised by his Christian name. Mr. S.'s holding is a small one, consisting of thirteen and one-half acres only, and he bought of Jay Dickinson. The latter built the house. Mr. Smith's wife was, as a girl, Florence Jane Commett, from Newark. They have no children. The Smiths came from Delaware county, and the elder Mrs. Smith lies in the Rose burial ground. Elkanah went to Michigan.
James Brisbin has a small holding on the north side of the road, a part of the William Dickinson place. Mr. B. came from Pultneyville, and his wife is Lizzie, a daughter of Mr. Dickinson. Their only son, George, is at home. (Now in Clyde. ) Maggie, a daughter of Mr. B. by his first wife, Elizabeth Malcom, is the wife of Wing Langley. Another daughter is Lillian E. Mrs. B. and George are members of the Rose Free Methodist Church.
As we advance eastward we must notice deep excavations on both sides of the road. Hence have been taken many cords of lime stone for building purposes. I should conclude from casual observation that the rock is better adapted to making walls in bulk than to holding them together in the shape of lime. I think no successful effort has been made to burn this stone. Early in the century the quarry was worked by Prentice Miner, but whether he opened it or not deponent doth not aver. From this source material was obtained for the Erie canal locks near Clyde in 1823, and again for the same purpose at the time of the enlargement. Door steps and corner-stones innumerable have been taken thence for use in this and neighboring towns. If Miner (what an appropriate name) possessed any rights in the quarry, they passed to Dickinson, who took articles from the land office. The latter was born near Lake George in 1801 (December 19th), and married first Charlotte Vaughn, by whom he had two children- Sarah Ann, who married her cousin, Christopher Dickinson, a printer,
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who lived in Albany and later in Clyde. She now lives in this town as Mrs. David Wescott. The son, Robert Darwin, was well known in Rose, where he lived for many years, though he died in New York a commission merchant. His wife, Harriet Ferris, was a daughter of Deacon Ferris of Butler. He left four children-Harvey D., who, having married Clara Colvin, lives now in Idaho ; Clarence, since deceased ; Merville, in Idaho with Harvey, and Caroline. William Dickinson's second marriage was to Julia Emily Seelye, daughter of Benjamin, and their children were Charlotte L., who married, first, John Partridge, and second, Joseph Boynton. They moved to Napoleon, Michigan, where she died, leaving a son, Merville. Calista Dickinson we have seen as the wife of James B. Aldrich ; Eliza is Mrs. James Brisbin ; while Isadore Amelia married Philo B. Boynton. They live at Joel Lee's in District No. 6, and have three children-Emily, Joseph and Florence. In the second family of Mr. Dickinson there were only two sons-Judson and Jay R. The latter married Elizabeth Bovee of Rose, and lives in the village, following the trade of a house carpenter. The former, through mental infirmities, was well known in the town, especially in the decade from 1860 to 1870. He died in 1882, and we cannot help wondering what he might have been if nature to him had ne'er been unkind. William Dickinson was always connected more or less with a mill, and in this place erected a structure for fashioning and smoothing stones, but it was not, I think, successful. The pond which supplied his power was immediately at our left as we crossed the bridge going east. Mr. D. was a man of great decision and determina- tion, and it means no disparagement when we state that he was familiarly known in town as " Bill Dick." He was a life-long Baptist, and I would give a great deal if I could settle one question as authoritatively as he, William Chaddock, Jonathan Briggs, Artemas Osgood and other contem- poraries used to rule on all matters of state and religion. The lyceum convened immediately after morning services and the place was at the entrance to the church, and here they served up whole chunks of solid wisdom. The world, I fear, will never know just how much it has lost. When Mr. Dickinson raised that oracular finger and emphasized his dictum with "I tell you " so and so, and with a look that Lord Chancellor Thurlow might have envied, there was no gainsaying him. However much one might object to some of his opinions, he was uniformly respected. He died in December, 1879, and is buried in Clyde. His widow was born October 23d, 1799, in Kingsbury, Washington county. In her old age she finds a pleasant home with Mrs. Aldrich. (Died September 3, 1889, in her 90th year.) After Mr. D.'s death, the place passed to James Brisbin for a time, when he sold to Jonathan Briggs, who in time sold to Charles Barrick, and he has lived here for the last seven years. Mr. B. is from Lyons, of a Maryland family long settled there ; his wife is Emily Otto, a
1
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daughter of Samuel Otto of Huron, but a resident of Rose when he lost his life in 1870. They have two children-Ralph L., who married Sarah Hall of Galen, and is now in Emporia, Kansas ; the daughter, Hattie E., is at home. A small house across the road belongs to the estate. It is surrounded by land belonging to the Briggs property. (Mr. Briggs has recently erected a steam saw-mill south of the road.)
Proceeding eastward we must notice the elegant barn which Mr. John York has erected recently on the old Benjamin Seelye place. Like many farms in this vicinity, this has passed into the hands of the North Rose maltster, and plenty of money is rapidly effecting very noteworthy changes. I do not believe I could enumerate all the people who have lived here as tenants and owners, but going back to John Burns I can give the most of them. In Osgood Church's book of sales, this lot, 132, is assigned to Noadiah Gillett. Of this party, I have thus far obtained no clue what- ever. He may have been related to the other members of the Gillett family ; but if so, the survivors do not know it. John Burns certainly lived here and reared his large family. Possibly Henry Graham owned it for a brief time. The period of uncertainty, however, ends when, about 1840, Benjamin Seelye and family came from Washington county and located here. He was an elder brother of Joseph, who, from 1815, had lived in District No. 7. Mr. Seelye had had the care of his aged mother, and after her death he forsook the hills of his native town and came hither. His wife was Eunice Barnum, a native of Shaftsbury, Vermont. She had several brothers in Rose and Butler, as Roger, whom we have seen near Stewart's corners ; Bateman, who married a Richardson, in Butler, and Smith, who married a Mason, in the same town. A daughter of Smith B. married a Leonard, at Spencer's corners. All of " Uncle Ben's " children were born in Washington county, and the oldest we have already met as Mrs. William Dickinson ; Electa married, first, Garrett Clark, whose son, Byron, lives in Savannah ; her second husband was Oliver Millard, and with him she lived for many years in Lockport, finally dying there ; Polly was Mrs. William Farr, of Fort Ann, Washington county, till both went west, to Iowa. Emma was the wife of Jared Young, of Fort Ann, and the mother of Bell and Electa Young, who used to live with the Seelyes, of Rose, Bell married Melvin Gillett; the youngest child, Caroline, became the wife of David Stanley, who, a miller, for a long time ran the grist-mill in North Huron. She died long since, leaving children, Plumie, who mar- ried a Clark, of Waterloo; Alice, who became Mrs. Michael Vandercook, of Rose ; Elmer and Ellen. Benjamin had two sons, John Jay and Nehemiah. The latter we met two or three times in other districts in Rose. Jay married Minerva Boynton, of Huron, and for many years lived on the old place. Afterward he was in Huron and North Rose, and finally died in Waterloo, in 1887. His burial place is Huron. His children were 11
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Irwin, Fred and Burt. Fred married Lottie Sours, of Huron, and died in Wolcott, leaving a son, Gray P. (Mrs. Seelye married in January, 1890, Mr. G. F. Smith, of Horton, Kansas.) Burt is a successful teacher in Waterloo. (Now in Brooklyn.) These Seelyes, Benjamin and Jay, were entitled to the respect and consideration of all who knew them. Praise- worthy citizens, they lived beloved and died regretted. As occupants or owners after this family, we can find the names of Elkanah Smith, Robert Jeffers, Wing Langley, and finally John York.
Nearly opposite is a dwelling which Henry Graham put up for his daughter, who married Isaac Maybe. On the north side is a small house belonging to the Grahams, which was once on the Baker place, the build- ing that William Chaddock found there when he bought. It was sold to George Smith with one-half acre of dand. It now belongs, as stated, to the Graham estate.
The Graham farm follows, the place where Henry Graham accumulated his wealth, and where now his youngest son, Nelson, lives. The latter's wife is Susan Genung, of Rose. The farm was first occupied by Moses Hickok, grandfather of Felton and Eugene. He probably lived here several years and reared his family. William, a son, used to tell about encountering a deer when visiting the spring down by the present site of the railroad. In this case the boy rather than the animal was hunted. From relationship, I fancy that the Hickoks were from Connecticut. Moses' wife was Zervia Felton, by whom he had William, Joseph Mun- son, Caroline, Emeline, Fanny and Luna M. Fanny, Caroline and Joseph died young. Luna married John R. Hudson and went to Michigan.
Henry Graham was one of the most noteworthy figures in the history of the town. He was born in Ulster county, January 19, 1802, and died in Clyde, October 17, 1878, and was buried there. It is remarkable that at the time of his death his mother was living with a daughter in Port Byron, at the wonderful age of 102 years. She lived to be 106. Her name was Lydia, and with her husband, Henry, moved to Cayuga when our Henry was only ten years old. He saw the usual round of privation and adventure. He learned the carpenter's trade, tended lock on the Erie canal, and was a blacksmith in Canandaigua. His first wife was Roxana Demure, who died in 1841, in her forty-first year, and was buried in the North Rose burial ground. In 1831 he moved to Port Glasgow and leased and kept the hotel owned by Isaac Gillett. Later he came to Rose, to the Jonathan Briggs farm, and thence came to this, his long-time home. To begin with, he had 160 acres, but this amount varied from time to time. His second wife was Eliza Ross, of Auburn, and she survives him, living in Clyde. (Died July 23, 1892, in her 78th year. ) By his first wife Mr. G. was the father of Henry, who for many years kept the Graham House in Lyons, whose wife was Jane Lambkin, of Port Byron; he has been dead
OLD RESIDENTS.
ELIZUR FLINT. AMOS_ALDRICH.
SAMUEL LYMAN.
STEPHEN COLLINS, FRANKLIN FINCH.
WM. DICKINSON.
HENRY GRAHAM.
ADDISON WEEKS,
CHAUNCEY BISHOP.
JONATHAN BRIGGS.
BENJAMIN SEELYE.
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several years ; Albert came next, and he married Eliza Smith, as we have seen ; Adaline married Welcome Freeman and went to Ohio, and Eliza- beth became the wife of Isaac Maybe, of Butler. The present Mrs. Graham is the mother of Nelson ; Elmore P., who, having married Nettie Beach, of Seneca Falls, keeps up the old Purdy farm in Butler in fine style ; and Archibald, the youngest, married Rose E. Case, of Clyde, he has one child, Louise R. He maintains a large business in running a grist-mill and drug store. Henry Graham was a man calculated to arouse attention anywhere. His business talents were of the highest character, and at his death he was probably the wealthiest man in the town. He was quick and certain in his conclusions and rarely was in error. In personal appearance he was noteworthy, weighing generally about 250 pounds. In stature erect and in motion courtly, he had much of what is styled old time gentility. Though never conspicuous in politics, he had talents fitting him for any position. He built the framed house so long prominent on the farm, but this has been moved to the village. Its predecessor, which Graham found there, is now a barn on the premises. The present well appointed house was built in 1886, and it seems a pity that no youthful Grahams are grow- ing up to utilize so much comfort and elegance. (Mrs. Nelson Graham died April 26, 1892. Mr. G. has since married Miss Florence Lovejoy, of District No. 9. In Sept., '93, was born to them a daughter, Susie E.)
Julius Baker lives on the next place east, and it is a pleasure to talk with so well preserved and active a man, whose years are reaching toward the eighties. Born in 1810, I found him on a hot August day of 1888 using a cradle in an oat field, and full of jovial remark. He says that Dudley Wade used to court a red-headed girl named Goodsell, in Clinton, Oneida county, and that years afterward, when Baker was sawing wood for Mr. Wade, he asked him, as they were sitting down to the table, if he remem- bered anything about her. "Don't you say a word about that red-haired girl before my wife," says Uncle "Dud," and, says Baker, "I didn't." "Why, Wade hitched up the first horse that I drove when I went court- ing," continued Mr. Baker. He was born in Watertown, Conn. He was for many years a wagonmaker, and lived in various places, coming to Rose directly from Cayuga county. His wife was Eliza Leonard, who was born in 1811, in Westmoreland, Oneida county. For the last twenty-four years he has lived here. His son, George, lives near Wolcott, and Jerome in Auburn. Nelson is on the farm with his father. Jane married Ambrose Copeman, from Aurelius, who died on the Collins place, east. Nelson's wife is Helen Barrett, a native of Ossian, Allegany county. Their children are Clara and George. Mr. Baker bought of William Chaddock, who built the house, and he followed Hiram Dunn. Unfortunately, I am obliged to leave the farm thus Dunn for.
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For a long time I had supposed that the log house on "Sam " Osborn's place, built by his father, was the only one in this part of the town, but I. am in error, for going down the hill beyond Mr. Baker's, and just before I begin the ascent of the next one, at my left, I find a log structure slowly settling down and returning to primitive dust. It was built more than forty years ago by "Jim" Phillips, whom we met in the Lake district, but for the most part its history is identified with that of the Feecks, who lived here several years. Nicholas, the father, came here from Aurelius, Cayuga county, and his wife, a Brown, was related to the wife of the first William Chaddock. They had six sons, of whom four went into the Union army, as did Nicholas himself. Alonzo was in Company H of the Ninth Artillery, and was taken prisoner with me at Monocacy. If he ever had any energy he lost it all on his capture, for after entering Danville prison he hardly lifted a hand to help himself. I have seen him lying on the ground and fairly covered with flies. They swarmed over his body and were even on his face and hands. "Feeck, in heaven's name, why don't you brush those flies off," I said to him one day as I passed. " Oh, what's the use ! They'll come again," was the languid response. Such an utter lack of grit could have only one result. He died before the first fall of snow upon our prison pen. William J. Feeck, who was in the 111th N. Y., lives now in Huron. Zadoc Taylor took the place, a small one, after Feeck, and it continues in his family.
Our eastern course is run when we come to the home of Charles Harper, on the south side of the road, but to get at prime facts, let us go back to 1813, where in the books of Osgood Church we may find the following entry : Dr. Asahel Gillett, Cont. No. 102, March 10, lot No. 155, 50 acres, price per acre $4.25. This of course takes us to the land office, and back of Gillett must have been the bears and Indians. This settler was from Connecticut and was one of several Gilletts who have been found in the town. He was a cousin of Harvey of the Lyman district, and likewise of Hosea and Isaac, already seen in this district. His wife was Ruth -, but unfortunately they were childless. Honest and industrious, they paid for their farm and had money beside. They invited John, a son of Asahel's brother Avery, to come and live with them as heir expectant, but incom- patibility of tempers spoiled the plan, and, as we have seen, John set up for himself. Then Alphonso, son of another brother, came to take John's place, but this scheme worked no better than the first one. The old people became suspicious, and they had always been exacting. One misfortune after another followed, till all the savings of many years were squandered, and Asahel finally died in the house of Avery Gillett, son of John, during the War, otherwise he must have been thrown upon the town. After Gillett came Albert G. Graham, Henry's son, and he was followed by the LaRock brothers, Charles and Joseph. Charles married a Hart and Joseph
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a Seager. At present the former lives near Wayne Centre. Charles Harper came next, and he still holds the property. He is Galen born, being one of a family wherein seven members averaged 214 pounds each in weight. His wife is Clarissa Winchell, born in Rose, and they have two children, David and Minerva. The house remains, without, much as it was in Gillett's day, but the interior arrangements have been altered somewhat. The Harpers are Methodists. (David has recently wed Anna Lovejoy.)
We have now reached the eastern limit, and to get to the other part we must stand again on the corner by Mrs. Proseus'. We shall pass at our right a fruit dryer on the Proseus place, and must then go over a deep glen, along which, years ago, were the saw and grist-mills of Isaac Lamb. Somewhere along here on the south side was the home of Isaac Lamb after leaving the old farm. The first house to be encountered is that owned by Cephas B. Bishop. The latter is a son of Chauncey, so long prominent in the annals of the town, and he married a daughter of the second William Chaddock. I am very sorry that I cannot tell more about Almon Howard, who was one of the first if not the very first resident here. He was prominent in school matters, but like many others went to the west. After him Ebenezer L. Sumner is found, but aside from some marriage connections with neighboring families, we have little save the name. He, too, went west. Then came Dr. Henry Van Ostrand, who finally went to Albion, Michigan. Then succeeded Murray Waterman, who now lives in Lyous. The house was built by Mr. Van Ostrand, but was improved by Waterman .. Then followed Henry Clapper, Rose born, but who has lived years in Wolcott. He was his son who married Anginette Munsell, grand- daughter of Harvey Mason. From Clapper the farm passed to Bishop ; this in 1863. There are eighty-six acres in it. The owner has not lived on his farm for some years, finding it more convenient to dwell in the Valley, and to thus afford a home to his aged mother-in-law. Cephas is a man of many a joke, and enjoys a good laugh. (Charles Garlick is now the owner.)
The next place, that of Mr. Correll, is a part of a very large farm that was years ago in the possession of a Mr. Young, a wealthy Genevan, whose brother Thomas lived in the Proseus house and managed the estate. One of the first dwellers here was Joseph Aldrich, reared at the corners, being a son of Amos. To him succeeded one of the Lymans, then Alpheus Gillett, Ira Lathrop, and finally the present owner, a German. (Now the property of Mrs. John York.)
Our last place in this district is reached when we come to the long time home of Pardon Jones, though he for many years resided in the Valley. I can find no earlier name connected with the farm than that of James Colborn, the same one who lived so many years in the Griswold district. Though his life more properly belongs to the latter neighborhood, it will
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