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 2
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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
The Rose and Nicholas purchase suggests certain names that should have mention here. Robert S. Rose and John Nicholas were Virginians by birth, and through marriage, brothers-in-law. Nicholas came of an old Virginian family, born Jan. 19, 1764, in Williamsburg, Westmoreland county, and was elected to the 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th Congresses from that state. After settling in Geneva, in 1802, he became prominent in all local matters, devoting himself largely to agriculture. In 1806-7-8-9 he was a member of the State Senate. He was presiding judge of the Ontario county court. He died Dec. 31, 1819.
Robert Selden Rose was born in Henrico county in 1772. In coming to Geneva he made very extensive investments on the east side of Seneca
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lake. Both families brought slaves with them from the Old Dominion. Mr. Rose's wife was a Lawson. He was a member of the New York Assembly in 1811, '20, '21, and was in Congress during the sessions of the 18th, 19th and 21st Congresses. He died suddenly, while about to get into a sleigh, in the village of Waterloo, Nov. 24, 1835. He had long been apprehensive of a sudden death and had kept his affairs arranged for such an end. As his picture amply shows, he was a man to be revered and honored. Said a little girl, when looking at it, " How much he looks like George Washington." His extensive possessions, in the very heart of Rose, secured for the township his family name. Descendants of both of these gentlemen are prominent citizens of Geneva.
TITLES AND AGENTS .- Titles to farms in Rose ran from the Williamson patent through the Geneva agents to those purchasing. It was in 1790 that Morris sold to the syndicate. Captain Williamson managed the affairs of the estate till 1801, when, worn out with his arduous duties, he surrendered his position to Robert Troup, then of New York City. He visited the section repeatedly till 1814, when he became a resident of Gen- eva. He died in 1832 at the age of 74 years. Troupsburg, in Steuben county, was named for him, and an old map, 1838, gives Sodus Point as Troup- ville. He was a distinguished soldier during the Revolution. Williamson returned to Britain and there died in 1808. As sub-agents were John Johnston, John Heslop and Robert Scott, till we come to Joseph Fellows, who was by far the most important factor in these early sales. Many local agents were employed, and the first settlers in those parts transacted their business with Osgood Church of Wolcott. Associated with Mr. Fellows for some years was an active little Scotchman by the name of Andrew McNab, and he was accustomed to go about the towns looking after pay- ments, etc. "You won't drive me off," said a delinquent to him on one of these visits. "Oh, no," was the ready answer ; "the weeds and briers will do that soon enough." He frequently remained in Wolcott a week or two, keeping in sight the interests of those whom he served. By the side of an old church in Geneva I find this inscription, which tells about all that is now to be had about him : "Andrew McNab, a native of Scotland, died at Geneva, Oct. 26, 1829, aged 46 years." In 1862 Mr. Fellows asso- ciated with himself Mr. Edward Kingsland of Geneva, and in 1871 Mr. F. retired, leaving the latter in care of what is left of the former great interests.
From a grand-nephew of Mr. Fellows, H. C. Heermans, I am enabled to present the following facts : "Joseph Fellows was born at Redditch, Worcestershire, England, July 2, 1782. In September, 1795, his father and family, then consisting of his wife and seven children, of whom Joseph was the oldest, emigrated to America. After a brief stop in New York, he pushed on to Luzerne county, Pa., where Scranton is now, leaving Joseph in New York to study law with Isaac L. Kip, the indenture being made June 24, 1796. He served his time faithfully and received his cer-
JOSEPH FELLOWS, ESQ.
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tificate July 2, 1803. In his work for Mr. Kip he came in contact with Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and other distinguished lawyers of the day. Here he met Colonel Robert Troup, and at the age of twenty-one was offered a situation at the salary of $600 per year, which he accepted instead of entering his profession. Subsequently, as stated, he became in 1832 principal in the management of the vast property of the Pulteney estate. When 89 years old he gave up the trust. In 1873, April 29th, he died in Corning, Steuben county, N. Y. In his own affairs, he began by saving a portion of his scanty earnings, even in his apprenticeship days. In his agency work his salary was increased from time to time, till on succeeding to the full direction he received $5,500 per year. This income during a long life, with his habits of economy, afforded a continued surplus, which, being invested in lands and otherwise, made him a millionaire. In his agency his strong point was his strict, unswerving honesty. With millions of money passing through his hands, there was no effort on his part to make money at the expense of his employers. While not a member, Mr. Fellows was a liberal supporter of the Episcopal Church."
SURVEYS .- Colonel Hugh Maxwell, who has been called the "hero of Bunker Hill," superintended the first survey of the Phelps and Gorham purchase, beginning in July, 1788, and completing the same in the next year. To accommodate certain parties who had settled at Geneva, the subordinates of Maxwell deflected their north and south line so far to the west that Geneva was left out. In 1791-92 Adam Hoops directed another survey, which relocated the preemption line, leaving it as it is today. The land included between the two lines amounted to about 84,000 acres. Still, all of this was west of the Williamson patent, in which Rose was included. These lands were not opened for actual sale till (Hiram Church says) June 16, 1808. As to the surveys of this tract, I am indebt- ed for the following data to John C. Bishop, of Lyons, though a native of Rose. Valentine Brothers began his surveys from the vicinity of Sodus bay, where, at Port Glasgow, the Helms had located, being the first settlers in those parts, they coming a little before the close of the last century. He made his surveys to suit the settlers who were already on the grounds, thus laying out 17 lots, and the beginning of the numbering at this point is thus accounted for. Mr. Bishop says, " Then proceeding easterly he laid out lots 18, etc., following the old 'Sloop Landing' road and numbering on each side till he put in the large lot, No. 50, in the east bound of the district (where is now the village of Wolcott) ; thence south along the east line of the tract till he reached the southeast corner, having by this time scored 63 lots, with very little regularity as to sizes, shapes or positions. So anxious were the parties to sell they would lay out a lot anywhere, of any size or shape wanted, and the numbering was continued in the order of date. I think more than thirty years elapsed between the beginning and end. This work was done by Valentine Brothers, George
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Matthewson, John M. Gillespie, Elias R. Cook and others." The Rose and Nicholas purchase, of 4,000 acres, was sub-divided by the owners to suit circumstances. As to Annin's gore, the strip in the south part of the town, Mr. Bishop says: " The surveyor general, Geddes, in an attempt- ed ' smart trick,' caused a map to be made, allotting the original town of Galen. It was submitted to the Legislature and approved, and an appro- priation made to pay for the labor, the representation before the Legis- lature being that the work had already been performed, while the fact was, only a few base lines had been surveyed. The next summer Joseph Annin and others were sent to survey the tract according to the map. They found the territory larger than the map, both ways. As they could not (very well) move Seneca river, they changed the numbers and filled out the Gore on the west, making a very long lot for No. 1, between the map as constructed and the new preemption line as it really existed. On the north, the overplus strip was known as Annin's gore. The next year Annin surveyed it into lots as laid down in the map. Joseph Annin, together with Humphrey Howland and others, were in the employ of the state, under the direction of the surveyor general, for several years. They laid out a large part of the military traet, and, so far as I know, the whole of it." This Joseph Annin was a conspicuous figure in Cayuga county ; from 1803 to 1806 he was a state senator, and in 1799 and 1800 was sheriff, in fact the first one in the county. His home was in Genoa. The account- ing for the peculiar western boundary of Galen and the queer parallelogram in the south part of Rose is exceedingly interesting. Eron N. Thomas, in his Rose sketch furnished to Everts' " History of Wayne County," makes the exact dimensions of the town to be six and one-half miles east and west by five and one-quarter miles north and south, and the area to be 21,849; acres. It should be stated that Mr. Hiram Church, in his valuable articles on the old town of Wolcott, contributed to the Lake Shore News, several years since, said that the surveys and allotments were made in 1805-6 by John Smith, to whose maps early deeds make frequent reference.
SETTLEMENTS .- Exactly when the first settler came, or who he was, will never be clearly known. No record, however, is had of any dwellers before Alpheus Harmon and Lot Stewart, who came in 1805. Very likely Caleb Melvin came at very nearly the same time, to a point south of the Valley. In those days the spirit of unrest was, if possible, more rife than it is to-day. Besides, for several years it was difficult to secure perfect land titles. Hence the migrant halted for a brief time, and if a breath of trouble arose, hastened toward the ever inviting west. Inevitably the first comers were squatters. They built wherever they found a good loca- tion, naturally selecting a spot by the side of a spring. When surveys were made, some early comers bought, others moved on. The very earliest data at hand are those furnished by the late Hiram Church, from his
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father's book. Osgood Church's record gives 117 contracts. Of these, those falling within our bounds were as follows:
Alpheus Harmon, lot 169, 113,70 acres, at $3.50, June 21, 1808; now the Chester Ellinwood farm. Also, same date, lot 170, 114,9% acres, at $3.50; now the George Steward or Jones place. .
Pendar Marsh, lot 205, 50 acres, at $4.00, Jan. 11, 1811; the John B. Roe farm.
Epaphras Wolcott, lot 160, 100,8% acres, at $4.00, Jan. 30, 1811; the Brockway and Munsell places.
Seth Shepard, lot 187, 40 acres, at $4.00, April 1, 1811; now Hopping and Collins. Daniel Lounsberry, lot 206, 106,4 acres, at $4.00, April 3, 1811; now Chatterson, McKoon and Lockwood.
Jonathan Wilson, lot 140 (south half), 50 acres, at $4.00, April 3, 1811; Eustace Henderson place.
John Wade, lot 185, 107} acres, at $4.00, April 16, 1811; now Joel Lee.
Asa and Silas Town, lots 212 and 213, 150 acres, at $4.00, Nov. 11, 1811; now Desmond and Town.
John Burns, lot 153, 108,4 acres, at $4.25, April 8, 1812; the Jonathan Briggs farm, in part.
Abram Palmer, lot 140, 102 acres, at $4.00, April 22, 1812; now Lovejoy and
Henderson.
Thomas Avery, lot 154, 103 acres, at $4.25, May 4, 1812; in part the farm of Charles Harper.
Demarkus Holmes, lot 187, 1012, acres, at $4.32, June 25, 1812; long the Joseph Seelye farm.
Nodadiah Gillett, lot 132, 101 acres, at $4.00, Oct. 2, 1812; now Barrick and York farms.
Eli Wheeler, lot 188, 99,7 acres, at $4.00, Nov. 13, 1812; now Hopping and Hendricks.
Jacob Ward, lot 140 (in part), 60 acres, at $4.25, Nov. 12, 1812; possibly Buchanan farm, in part.
Elijah How, lot 167 (east side), 50 acres, at $4.00, Nov. 18, 1812; the Samuel Osborn place.
Jonathan Wilson, lot 161 (south end), 31 acres, at $4.25, Dec. 29, 1812; Lawson Munsell farm.
Asahel Gillett, lot 155, 50 acres, at $4.25, Mar. 10, 1813; Avery H. Gillett farm.
Thaddeus Collins, 1st, lot 141, 99 acres, at $3.50, Oct. 23, 1809; farms of J. S. Salisbury and E. Jones, in Butler.
After 1813 the work of sub-agents ceased, and thereafter all business was done with the main office in Geneva, which became the Jerusalem up to which the early settler had to make his yearly pilgrimages ; frequently the road was a via dolorosa. The books of the Geneva business are not at present in accessible form, so that a continuation of facts like the fore- going is impossible. Much of the land was bought on speculation, and for longer or shorter periods was held by men who never came to these parts.
ROADS, ETC .- It was not until 1810 that regular surveys were made. Till that time roads ran anywhere, at least they found the settler, or he made them in going from his home to that of his neighbor. In time it be- came desirable to straighten these paths and to make them passable at all seasons of the year, hence their official location. Osgood Church's old record book gives the first Rose road as that leading east from Stewart's corners, and the date is May 10, 1810; next is that north from Clyde to the Valley and Stewart's, June 29, 1810; from Port Glasgow to the Valley, March 20, 1811 ; north from the corners, at George Rodwell's, to Stewart's, May 11, 1811; east from Shear's corners, Dec. 25, 1812;
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from Glenmark to North Rose, April 1, 1814. Mr. Church was himself the surveyor. This ends Mr. Church's record, and the burning of Wolcott's first data precludes further early facts in this direction. To-day the roads are as good as the average in western New York. Perhaps that from the Valley to Clyde is much better, succeeding the plank road, whose tolls necessitated considerable care on the part of the stockholders. It had a good beginning and the dwellers upon it have kept it very well. The ma- terial for making the roads of Rose well-nigh perfect is yet lying, more or less a nuisance, in the fields of the town, in the shape of cobble stones, so annoying to tillage ; but when the stone crusher has been purchased, and the principles of McAdam are better understood, Rose may have thorough- fares that will be a pride and a delight.
Our town is among the "might-have-beens " in some respects. As early as 1841, General William H. Adams, of Clyde, secured a charter for a canal to extend from that village to Sodus bay, and its location was to be very near the Valley. Everybody knows "Adams' ditch," and it is fre- quently referred to in the following pages. In 1827 a preliminary survey was made, but Oswego was clamoring for connection with Syracuse and, through superior wealth, won. General Adams' devotion to this dream of his lifetime was touching. What he wrote upon the subject would fill volumes. His letters are clear, earnest and pointed. Possibly, some day, the wheels of time will develop the fact that he was not altogether a dreamer. Joseph Fellows was one of the promoters of his scheme.
Then there was the project for a Pennsylvania and Sodus bay R. R. The charter was granted in 1850, and there were numerous share takers in Rose, the matter reaching its climax in 1870. In 1853 was printed the engineer's report, and from it the following words are taken: "Starting from Port Glasgow the railroad was to follow the margin of the bay, or nearly so, till it came near the town line. Thence it was to pursue a little more westerly course, till it neared the Valley, which it was to pass, only 800 feet west of the main street. Its course southward is nearly direct, crossing the Clyde and Lyons highway, the Erie canal and then turns and runs parallel with the Central R. R. to Glasgow street." Eron N. Thomas was treasurer and a Rose director. The others from this town were Henry Graham and Chauncey B. Collins. William H. Lyon, of New York, was also a director. There is extant a letter from Joseph Fellows, in which he pleads the infirmities of age for not embarking in the enterprise.
However, what water and steam have failed to do, there is little doubt that electricity will yet accomplish. His reputation as a prophet would not be greatly imperiled who should predict that the year 1900 will see a line of electric roads connecting Clyde and the Valley ; thence diverging, one part will extend to Wolcott and beyond, while the other will pass through North Rose, Port Glasgow, and will terminate at the Lake.
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ROSE NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHES.
SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 7.
Oct. 21-Dec. 2, 1886.
In presenting these articles, it is my purpose to note the ownership of the farms ; the families and the buildings that have for years past been associated with this section, confining myself, for the present, to that part of the district embraced in Rose.
No. 7 lies three miles east of the Valley, as old residents call the village of Rose, and includes a slice of Butler, i. e., that portion of the town lying along the border road, second in number, to the westward of the Loveless range of hills, running south from Spencer's Corners, a locality better known to "ye inhabitants" as Whisky Hill. The district itself includes one long line of hills, or at least one side of it, the east, from the former residence of Delos Seelye, deceased, to the farm of Roswell Marsh. Two roads crossing have made, at the home of the late George Seelye, a four corners, noted for many miles around on account of the hospitality of Col. Seelye and the eminent respectability of the neighboring residents. A few rods to the eastward stood for nearly or quite forty years the cobble stone school-house, wherein the children of the vicinity received the essentials of an education, and whose homely figure gave to the section a distinguish- ing feature and a name.
Having, then, our bearings, let us go back to the remote past and learn what the early names were. Starting from the extreme northern part of the district, we have, on the west side of the road, first, the home, or what is left of it, of Joseph Seelye, who died February, 1854, an old man of seventy-seven years. He was born in Kingsbury, Washington Co., N. Y., of Connecticut ancestry. He early married in Stillwater, Saratoga Co., N. Y., Elizabeth Carrier, of an old Sharon, Conn., family, and, with her, essayed a farmer's life in Sherburne, Chenango Co. Here all his children, save the youngest, Delos, were born. A desire to better his condition prompted him to go still further west, and in March, 1815, he moved his young family to this then an almost unbroken wilderness. Blazed trces formed the chief means of tracing the roads through the forests. One Holmes had taken up the farm on which Mr. Seeyle located, and a small log house with a few acres of cleared area formed the only improvements on what was to be the
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"homestead." The willing hands of his two sturdy sons, George and Ensign, contributed not a little to the success of the venture, till the younger, Ensign, at the early age of nine, was killed by the fall of a tree which he was engaged in cutting down. The place of the lad's death was the field just north of the barn, and nearly in line with it. The log house gave place, about 1820, to one of the most commodious structures in the vicinity, and in point of comfort it may be doubted whether it has ever yet been excelled. Large fields in time surrounded it, and they, with their owner, were well known for leagues around. "Uncle Joe Seelye" was a character well remembered by middle aged and older people as a man of most marked peculiarities. Kind-hearted and generous when his feelings were touched, he was, nevertheless, choleric and opinionated. Of vast proportions physically, he found summer's heat almost unendurable, and frequently sought consolation and comfort in the coolness of his cellar. In winter, while others grumbled at the cold, he would sit in his shirt sleeves upon his porch and laugh at their discomfort. For years, the people entering his yard saw resting against his red horse barn a slab of marble having the inscription, "Sacred to the Memory of Joseph Seelye," he having thus providently made preparation for his demise. His coffin, too, he had provided and stored at an undertaker's. He boasted that he had his tombstones and coffin ready, had hired a minister to preach his funeral sermon, and he is known to have offered a neighbor a pig if he would agree to dig his grave. Amusing anecdotes are still told of his eccentricities. It was "Rate" Barnes whom he sent into a cherry tree to pick fruit and compelled to whistle all the time he was " up the tree," so that he might waste no time, "Uncle Joe" threatening him with the most terrible caning if he abated his music for a moment. I sorrow now over the terrible pucker into which that poor boy's lips must have gathered. He long had in his employ a lad who is now one of the most respected citizens of an adjoining town, but who in his youth fairly put nature to her test in devising schemes of mischief. It was a never failing source of delight to H. to do something which would arouse the old gentleman's ire and cause him to attempt a pursuit, ending always in his falling, and, owing to his rotundity, remaining prone, until some one, usually his wife, came to his rescue. Prompted by some older people, the boy ouce performed a wanton act, for which " Uncle Joe" determined to pay him in full, and so bided his time until one luckless moment - luckless for the boy - he was caught in one of the stalls of the barn. The immense form of the irate farmer filled all the space. Escape was impossible, and for once H. felt the full weight of the cane and the strength of Mr. Seelye's arm. Back of the house in the orchard was the first cider mill of this vicinity. It was made in the true "down cast " style. A huge sweep was moved around by horse or cattle power, and diligent industry might run through seven or
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eight barrels a day, provided the apples were reasonably juicy. The great wooden screws used in the press were in existence only recently, though the mill has not been used for nearly fifty years. Back of the main structure once stood a smaller house, in which Mr. Seelye's son, George, lived for a time, but in 1856 this was moved away to become a corn crib for his youngest son, Delos. The great red barn, erected near the road, also went up the hill. In time the shed and wood-house disappeared ; the wide, shady piazza fell away and the old house stands only a suggestion of its former self. After Mr. Seelye's death, in 1854, this portion of his estate fell into the hands of his son, Delos, and the old house became a sort of caravansary, in which abode, for a season only, a long line of tenants, the mere enumeration of whose names would make many lines of this article. The noble walnut tree, one of the largest in the town, still stands in front of the house, but there is little else to remind one of the beauties of the past. The great cherry trees have grown old and fallen. The Isabella grape that clambered over the cherry tree has also gone, and everywhere we see proofs of the truth that man and his works are perishable.
Mr. Seelye was twice married. His first wife dying in 1833, he wedded, in 1834, Miss Lorinda Clark, of Waterloo, but a native of Connecticut. She survived him many years, dying in 1880, at the advanced age of 92 years. Many changes have been wrought in the years since 1815. Then the howl of the wolf resounded at night-fall from the hillside, and Mr. Seelye's favorite diversion was deer hunting. A black bear once ambled across the garden where he and his son, George, were at work. Forests covered nearly all the surrounding country, and to procure material of the proper kind for his house he had to go to Pineville every day - he and George-to draw logs to Wolcott, to be cut into boards. He left two sons, George and Delos, and a daughter, Mary Louisa, who married Dudley Wade, and was long a resident of the district.
Passing to the southward along a road on whose sides apple trees still grow, the result of Joseph Seelye's thoughtfulness, we come, on the corners, to the place where for more than fifty years George Seelye greeted his friends and dispensed free-hearted hospitality. Coming to the country in its newness, he had marked all the changes in his surroundings from 1815 to the date of his death, December, 1885. What constituted his original homestead was a lot of ten acres at the cross roads, obtained by way of trade from his father. He had erected a modest house, set out an orchard of apple trees and surrounded his house with cherry trees, for many years the most prolific fruit bearers in the vicinity, and making his place one much thought of by all the boys in those parts. Many a tumble have luckless youngsters taken from those branches, but no one was ever seriously injured. On the death of his father, Mr. Seelye was able to
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