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 23
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Miller, lives in Michigan ; Mary, who is Mrs. William Neilson, of Canada ; Valentine, living in Wayne Centre; George Philip, in Macedon ; William Henry, in Tonawanda ; John E., who lives in the Valley, and Alfred, who died at the age of twenty-five. Mr. Kaiser settled first in Wayne Centre,. but afterward came this way. His faithful wife passed to her reward on the 4th of June, 1889, at the age of seventy years. Since her death Mr. K. has not been much at his old home, but has rather visited about among his children. (Died Feb. 11, 1893.)
Were we from this point to take the south road, we would soon reach the confines of the Griswold district; but there are no more dwellers in. District No. 11. Should we go north, which we proceed to do, we would soon find a small house, with pleasant inmates, on the west side of the- road, that of Horatio Baker, who came to Rose from Geneva. He bought his farm of twenty-five acres from Julius Smith, who now lives in Sodus. The latter built the house. Mr. Baker's wife is Rhoda, daughter of Leland Johnson, of District No. 10. Three children gladden the fireside- Mabel, Earl and an unnamed girl baby, who was monarch of the cradle when I called.
It should be stated that thirty years since, two houses were found on the east side of the road, between the corners and this point. In one of them dwelt Merrill Pease, of whom more will be said later, and in the northern one, C. V. Smith, of whom I have only the name. There are no traces of habitations now.
Still northward and on the east side Isaac Boyce resides. His neighbors pronounce his name as though it were spelled Bice. His father was Stephen, and the old family home was the place southwest of the Valley, now held by Judson Chaddock. His mother was Mary Ann, daughter of Nathan Jeffers. Isaac came to this place in 1871, buying out Eli Garlick, who, as usual, had a blacksmith-shop hard by. Mr. Boyce's wife is Lany Ream, a sister of Fred Ream, who lives further west. Her family came from Germany thirty or more years ago. There are two boys- Charles and John, who, when I called, were helping their father in har- vesting grain. The house was built by Eli Garlick, and there are twenty- seven acres in the farm. A few rods to the north we. should find the end of the road, the same terminating in District No. 10. (Mr. Boyce has sold to Burt Haviland, who will occupy in 1894.)
We must return to the corners and resume our westward way. Over the hill, and beyond John Blynn's, were we to look carefully on the south side of the road, we might find a filled up well, the same marking the site of the log house in which once dwelt Merrill Pease and his wife. Being childless, they passed their last years with William Dodds. Mr. P. peddled Peckham's Balsam, and the story is yet told of him that when he sold a bottle, he was wont to say: "After taking the balsam, you had
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better drink a little water, so as to wash it down on the lungs." Where could he have studied physiology? His acres passed first to William Garlick and then to Ovid Blynn. Before Pease, was one Stewart, whose son, William, married Martha, Mr. Pease's niece.
On the north side, some rods back from the street, is a very pretty cobble-stone house, the very first met on this road. Here, till recently, dwelt Jared Chaddock and family. The earliest resident whom I can find was William Desmond. He was born in Ireland, an uncle of the William Desmond residing east of the Valley. He took up the land from the office and made the usual weary trips to Geneva to make his payments. He built the first log house and lived and died in it. He was only fifteen years old when he came to this country, and his home was with his brother, John, till his marriage, at the age of twenty-two, to Lucinda Winchell. Her brother-in-law, Esquire Mitchell, married them, and she bore nine children to him. He died in 1849, aged forty-two years. His widow subsequently married Edward Horn, and died at the age of seventy- eight. Three of their children died early, but six are still living, viz., John, who resides in Huron; Timothy, in Clyde ; Frank, in Missouri; Mrs. Burch and Mrs. Cleveland, both in Rose; William, who lives in Arcadia. To him succeeded William Mitchell, to whom we owe the stone house. He was the second son of Philander, long known as " 'Squire " Mitchell, of District. No. 13. He married Jane Grenell, of that family so long identified with Ferguson's corners, and now lives in Lyons. After him came Henry Akerman, Stephen Collins' son-in-law, who built the framed addition to the house and added to the barn. After him came a Mr. Foster ; then Lewis Barrett, now of the Valley; next Philander Mitchell, 2d ; after him Fred Ream, whose present home is further west ; then Samuel Garlick, and lastly, the late occupant, who has made many improvements. In the farm are fifty-seven acres, very pleasantly located. Reference to Jared Chaddock was made in our leaving District No. 9, where he was named among the children of William Chaddock, 2d. His wife, as stated there, was Miriam Durfee, of Marion, a public spirited lady, who is interested in everything that pertains to the good of the town. They have only one child, Maude Evelyn. Mr. Chaddock himself was one of the early enlisted men from Rose, going through the War in the 67th New York, a regiment that began its work at Big Bethel, went through the Peninsula, Fredericksburg and Grant's "Fight it out on this line " campaigns. In his town he is noted for his devotion to the temperance cause and for his unfailing interest in the Grand Army of the Republic. It has been doubted by some whether the Sodus encampment, each August, would be a success if Jared should miss it. He is always first there and the last to leave. Only a few weeks since the farm passed into the hands of Miss Lucinda Mitchell, and Jared has moved to the Valley. (Now owned by Cornelius
13
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Marsh, who has rebuilt the barns and house, making them very attractive.)
Our next stop is on the south side of the road, and if our old friend, Cornelius Marsh, is at home, we are sure of a hearty welcome. His name was first given in our rambles as the owner for some years of the Joe Wade farm in District No. 7, and again as one of Amos Marsh's sons in District No. 5. Since leaving the eastern part of the town he has moved about considerably, and we now find him residing on the William Garlick farm. I call his attention to the solitary tree, standing on the very top of the last range of Rose hills to the east, and in the south part of the second lot from the north end of the ridge, and tell him that his birthplace is only just over that tree, a few rods further south. The point is between three and four miles away, but it seems only a brief distance. The house in which the family lives is very old, a log one, yet no one would suspect it, for the squared logs are clapboarded without and lathed and plastered within, similar to the one in District No. 10 built by Uriah Wade. From time to time additions and changes have been made till the structure has many crooks and angles. There are here a son, William, taller than his father ; a daughter, Irene, just blossoming into womanhood, and Cornelius, Jr., a black-eyed boy, at the happy and careless age just before his teens. (Irene Marsh was married in March, 1893, to Frank J. Mitchell.) William Garlick, referred to in our North Rose article, formerly owned this place and long lived here. He sold in 1881 to his son, Samuel. His first wife was Caroline Clary, from the northern part of the town. They had but one son, Samuel, who is now a Presbyterian minister, living near Ithaca. Mrs. Garlick died in 1881, aged seventy-two years. Her hus- band, later, married again, and now lives at Woodmont, Conn., near the old home of the Garlick family. The son, Samuel, took a theological course in the Auburn Seminary. He married Martha Delamatter, of Rose, whose parents have since moved to Michigan. Their children are Lena, who is Mrs. Jay Mack, of Ludlowville, N. Y., and Carrie, at home. (Now Junius, where Mr. G. is pastor of the Presbyterian Church. ) Before Mr. Garlick, was John Nelson Pease, who inherited from his father, Alanson. His wife was a daughter of Stephen Boyce, and he long since went to Wis- consin. He was a member of the Methodist Church. Alanson Pease was probably the first holder and the builder of the house. His wife was Nancy, a daughter of the first Robert Jeffers. They had children-John N .; Martha, the wife of William Stewart, and Permillia, who married an Ethridge, in Wisconsin. Mr. Pease was known in town as " Old Honesty," and dying, was buried in the Jeffers ground, further west. His widow accompanied her son to the far west. This farm of fifty acres is on lot 238, and in an old deed, dated January 20, 1850, I find that John N. Pease sold to Eron N. Thomas, who at one time or another had his name con- nected with very many farms in these parts. He must have passed the
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ownership to Mr. Garlick. In this deed I find boundaries as follows : North by Samuel Jeffers, east by the same, south by Merrill Pease and Franklin Finch, and west by Henry Wagoner and Frederick Nusbikel. What changes have taken place in the intervening forty years, I am unable to state.
Nearly across the way is the home of Gideon Barrett, whose father, John, bought, long since, of Henry Streeter. The latter was the first hus- band of Maria Winchell, a younger sister of Mrs. Sally Mitchell. Their sons were Alonzo and Jonah. John R. Barrett, as we learned in District No. 10, was the oldest son of Simeon Barrett. He married Mary Pitcher, of Columbia county, a sister of Mrs. William H. Vandercook. This farm, when he took it, was mostly new land, and he found work enough in try- ing to reduce it to a proper condition of cultivation. For the latter part of Mr. Barrett's life, he was sadly afflicted, being almost helpless for eight years from rheumatism. He died in his forty-ninth year. For many years he was a conspicuous figure at the religious meetings of the town, being one of the first to leave the Methodist Church at the formation of the Free Methodist organization. The children in this family were Gertrude, who became the wife of Harmon Case, recently deceased, a Free Methodist minister ; Gideon, who holds the paternal acres, forty-six in number, and whose wife is Emma Vanderburgh, of the Lyman district ; Alice, who died at the age of nine years, in 1865, and Helen, who married George S. Bliss, of Clyde. Gideon Barrett has very much improved the farm, and his father would hardly recognize the house, could he again look at it. In this home are two children-Georgie Emma and Florence May.
Beyond this farm we go past several fertile fields (all the land here is good) and are confronted on the north side, of the road by a large, well appointed barn, now the property of George Jeffers, but for many years it stood in the name of Loren Lane ; and here, among the peach trees, was a very pleasant home. He bought of "Little" William Jeffers, son of William, and thereby a grandson of the first Robert Jeffers. It will doubtless be understood why this is called the Jeffers neighborhood. Loren Lane's wife was Fanny M. Van Marter. Their children were Johnson V., to be met later ; L. Nelson, who married Rebecca Chidester, of the north part of the district, and who now lives in Michigan, and Elizabeth, who married, first, John Rhea, and second, William Story, liv- ing now in Canada. Recently the house has been destroyed, but there is no better building spot in this part of Rose.
Across the way, and for some distance to the south, are the lands of Fred Ream, who lives on the next corner. A very fine apple orchard occupies the field first met and this extends to the next north and south road. In the lots to the south have been, in the years past, one or two mint stills. There is also a spring of sufficient magnitude to find a loca- tion in the county atlas.
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The next building is the school-house, in some respects the most noted in town. It is called indifferently "Spunk " and "Jeffers." The latter name is readily evident, but to the former there hangeth a tale. This neighborhood was ever clannish. In one way or another the people were related. They did not like to go down to the Griswold district to school, nor to the Covell district north. They were bound to have a school of their own. Old Robert Jeffers gave the land for the building, and willy, nilly, they had their school-house and their school. They were spunky about it, and, lo! the name clings to the building to this day, not only to the first edifice, but to its successor, and bids fair to remain indefinitely. Again, this was the chosen home of the Neversweats. "And who were they?" the interested reader asks at once. Well, if every name and term used in this town had given me as much trouble in looking up, the history of Rose would have required an age like unto that of Methuselah to accomplish it. Everybody knew about the Neversweats ; could tell long- stories about their meetings ; but the one who could tell why they were thus termed could not easily be found. In the history of Wayne county, published in 1877, quite a little space is given to them, but the article really tells us nothing. An aged resident says : "They were good men and women who did not like the forms and ceremonies of the churches and so withdrew and held meetings here in this school-house. They had no organization, but every one did as he thought best." This did not give me the reason for the peculiar name. "Oh," says another, "John Corn- wall was there one night, and he, always full of fun and ridicule, just called them Neversweats, and the name stuck." But this did not satisfy me. Cornwall may have given them the name, but why? Finally, my searchings found this good lady, who said that the meetings were often protracted long into the night, sometimes till nearly morning, and that the expression used occasionally ran like this : "We'll hold on till morning and never sweat a drop. We'll never tire; we'll work constantly," and so on in a similar strain. That an irreligious fun lover should catch at the expression " Neversweat" was the likeliest thing in the world, and the people were named just as long as their memory continues. It is stated that one prime cause of the start of the meetings was the desire of one of the near dwellers to preach, he claiming that he had had a " call," but the quarterly conference being quite certain that it was some other- sound he heard, refused ; hence more " spunk " and the peculiar religion- ists. By'good people, the meetings are recalled as exceedingly spirited affairs, the like of which can hardly be found to-day. To the boys and girls who sat on the writing falls they were very entertaining. There is no doubt that they were productive of good. Though the Neversweats are numbered with other defunct bodies, there are many people in the vicinity who, impressed by the peculiar characteristics of these people, do not
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affiliate with any church. They claim to be and are, I think, excellent people, but when asked to what religious body they belong, the reply is : " He is, or I am, a stand alone." In all my goings up and down the world, this neighborhood presents to me the first instances of this peculiar relig- ious status. If all were "stand alones," the assembling of ourselves together specially enjoined by the Bible would be rather infrequent. I believe there are some others like-minded in Rose, but this neighborhood seems to have been the birthplace of the notion.
Another remove brings us to the four corners, where the fences are well covered with indications of tradesmen's enterprise, but never a sign to tell whither the roads lead. In that sweet-by-and-by, the few living may see, New England's example will have been followed to the extent of rearing at such a convenient point a guide-board, which will proclaim to the passers-by the distance to Lyons, to Clyde, or to the Valley. Now the manifold virtues of Barnes, the clothier, are frequently set forth ; but the traveling public would like to know how far the journey has progressed, how much longer it is to last, and the direction it must take. An excellent location for a guide-board. Neighbor Ream, won't you be the first to set the town a pattern ?
Should we turn to our left and go toward the south, we should find no house till we reach the Griswold district, and we are not ready for that yet. On each side of the road we should find the fertile farm of Fred Ream, whose home is on the northwest angle made by these crossing thoroughfares. If interested in indications of prosperity, we will give more than a passing glance at the well built and well painted barn that stands west of the house. The master here enjoys having his belongings well kept. Mr. Ream is of German birth. (His name in German is Rihm), though at his birth, his native city, Strasburg, was on French territory. His father, Peter, came to this country many years since and located on this place, then held by E. Nusbikel, a family that afterward went to Lyons, where members of it are to-day engaged in trade. Before the last named was Matthias Van Horn, whose wife was a Winchell. He went west long ago. Fred Ream's wife is Lovina, daughter of the first Philander Mitchell, and his children are : Alice F. and Edith L., both at home. There are one hundred and three acres in the farm. Mr. Ream was one of the drafted contingent during the War. He says that with others he reported at Auburn and was sent home for a week. On his second reporting, he was told to go home and wait till sent for. He has been waiting ever since. The collapse of the Rebellion rendered his enlistment unnecessary. He tells me that he has not as yet applied for a pension on account of his military services.
Just north of this place and on the same side of the road is the attractive home of Johnson V. Lane, who is a son of Loren, once living to the east of
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the corner. All these well-appointed buildings are of Mr. Lane's own construction. He is himself an evangelist and not a member of any denomination. Much of his time is thus required away from home. His wife is Sarah Melinda, a daughter of Lorenzo Griswold, once resident further north. They have only one child, Irving J., still at home. Mrs. Lane's mother, now Mrs. Franklin Finch, passes some portion of her time in this place. (Mr. Lane died July 5, 1890. Irving J. married Etha J. Hetta of Glenmark, and lives on the Samuel Garlick place.)
North of and immediately opposite there was once a house occupied by W. Meeks. I think I have heard it stated that he was a shoemaker. Further, I cannot affirm, save to state that to characteristics such as his name implies, has been promised the inheritance of the earth.
From this point northward to the beginning of Covell's district, the locality was known in former days as " Balsamville," all owing to the manufacture of Peckham's Balsam, once made by Selden Borden, and I am told that as many houses have been torn away as are yet standing. Even now the number seems strangely large for a farming community. About each home is a small enclosure, scarcely more than a village lot.
So, then, proceeding on our way, we shall first halt at the home of George Jeffers. South of him there is a noticeable angle in the road, giving it a slight turn toward the east. The farm is old Jeffers' land, and in this house Nathan Jeffers died. In 1858, it is recorded, it was the home of Mrs. J., who is now living in the Valley. Nelson Lane next owned it, and he sold to George Jeffers, who seems to have a faculty of getting all that joins him. His surroundings are becoming more and more convenient every day. For a long time a deputy sheriff of Wayne county, he is well known. There are ninety-eight acres in his farm. His wife is Eliza, daughter of Leonard Mitchell, and thereby grand-daughter of the first Philander. They have three children-Willard, Frank and May. To those whose lot it is to till steep hills and unresponsive swamps, the almost ideal lay of Mr. Jeffers' land must be very inviting. The next house is used by Mr. Jeffers for rental. It was built by John Burt, whose wife was Eleanor, a half sister of the present owner. They went west long ago and died there. Thirty years since it was held by a Mrs. Potter ; fifteen years ago by F. Blake, and now people by the name of Rice occupy it.
Opposite is the home of two very good people by the name of Kamp. Germany itself does not contain ten acres of more Germanized territory than are those belonging to Kasper Kamp. In the fifties this place was ascribed to S. Barrett. John B. once owned it, and he sold to Mr. Kamp. The latter has children residents in other parts of the country ; and they are thoroughly Americanized, but Kasper and his frau " can no sprek " English at all. John Chinaman, who does washee-washee in our cities, is not one whit more difficult to assimilate than are these good people to whom Deutschland clings in every particular. (Mr. Kamp has since died.)
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Next is the unoccupied house of Melvin Lane. He is a nephew of Loren, his father being Luther. He is now in the west. His house looks desolate and forsaken, as it apparently is. Its remoteness from the stone-throwing village boys has alone saved the window lights. Perhaps we shall not be blamed if we peer in, having pushed our way through branches and bur- docks to the side of the house. Truly, the presence of the master is necessary to prevent decay and destruction. Pompeiian ruins could not afford much more in the way of dust and dirt. It is the old Borden place, where Selden made the famous balsam.
The next house was built by John Chidester, to whom Lorenzo Griswold sold two acres of land. He sold to Samuel Clary, a brother of William Garlick's first wife. These people died here. A daughter by the name of Rose is married and lives near Rochester. A son went away long since. Now the place is occupied by William Armstrong, whose daughter, Kate, is the wife of Henry Fredendall of the Valley.
We reach our northern limits when we come to the next place. Here, many years ago, came Lorenzo Griswold, having bought one hundred acres of land with the inevitable log house from William Stewart, who thereupon went west. He had a brother, Solomon, who once lived opposite to Kasper Kamp's home. Mr. Griswold's wife was Betsey, the second daughter of Nathan Jeffers. Their children were : Mary Eliza, who married Nathaniel Weeks, now in Michigan ; William H. of the Valley, who made the Weeks account square by marrying Nathaniel's sister Julia ; Benjamin Frank, who died when twelve years old ; Sarah Melinda, already met as Mrs. J. V. Lane ; Helen, who is Mrs. Abram Covell, now south of the Valley ; John Willis, who died when twenty years old, and Rachel, who died in infancy. Mr. Griswold himself died in 1851, in his forty-fourth year. It has been stated in these annals that his widow afterward became Mrs. Franklin Finch of the same district. For some time subsequent to Mr. G.'s death the place was held by the family, till it passed into the hands of Arthur Dougan, whose wife was Damaris, a sister of Ephraim Wilson, first, of the Valley district. Mr. D. was from Phelps, to which town he returned when his wife died. They had a son, Jerome, who was prominent in Rose musical matters, and who, I think, enlisted from Rose. The farm is now owned by Simeon Van Buskirk of Ontario county, whose son, Thomas, occupies it.
Reversing our voyage and going southward, it is impossible to repress a wish that we might have every name of the people whose living here was too brief for any record. How many missing genealogical links might thus be supplied, but the search would be fruitless. Even our agricultural town, with its permanent class, has afforded shelter for a brief time to those who have folded their tents, like the Arabs, and as silently stolen away. Only contemporaries can tell to-day where the dwelling places were.
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We are again at the corners, and as we walk or ride along the valley we might, had we eyes sharp enough, find traces of former habitations. On the 1858 map, just west of what is now Fred Ream's house, was put down a name, which, after diligent effort, I have given up as undecipherable. It certainly begins with St., then it runs into the delineation of the hill beyond and ends in schif. It is suggestive of something decidedly German, and quite likely some ancient resident in these parts can tell about it. In the 1874 atlas Fred Ream is put down as the owner of both houses, but now I can find only one, viz., the one in which he resides.
Here begins the elegant fence with which the Glens have separated their farm from the road. Made of wood and wire and painted white, it has nothing approaching it in the town. This east and west road of ours is like the young Lochinvar, who " staid not for brake, and he stopped not for stone," for it makes no concession whatever to the hills in its way. Westward it started and it pursues its course remorselessly. As with Sheridan on his famous Cedar creek ride, "hills rose and fell," so here we are uplifted, as on the crest of an ocean billow, and again we find our- selves humbly at the bottom of the trough. Now we must mount upward, till reaching the summit, we may see the final range of Rose hills to the east and are confronted by the final line in the west. Our white fence has been at our right as we climbed, and while the horse takes a merited rest we will alight and call on the Glens. A very pretty marquee is set up in the front yard. That belongs to the "Sam" Glen's children, and if our call is in mid-summer, we may find "Sam" himself happily smoking, taking the otium cum dignitate which his New York life will not afford. His figure and bearing will warrant the conclusion that his way through life is not entirely without some of its good things. Again the house and outbuildings all bear testimony to the interest that " Bill " and "Sam " take in the old home. Their mother meets us at the door and invites us to a seat in the front room, and our pleasure at meeting her is more than ordinary, for her son, John, was the writer's chum away back in the early sixties at Falley Seminary. Some folks, Richard Graut White among others, have descanted on the inelegance of the word " chum," but to the old school boy it arouses recollections and brings out old colorings that few other words afford. So, then, elegant or otherwise, John was our chum, and a good one too. If he did rather more than half the small amount of work that we had to do, it was because he liked to work, not that his chum, was 1-, well, disinclined. So, then, for the first time in my life, I am talking with John's mother, and she tells me that she and her late husband, William, were Saratoga county born-he in the town of Milton, and she as Nancy Cole, in Galway ; that they came to Galen in 1855, and to this farm in 1858. Originally they were members of the Methodist Church, but at the time of the formation of the Free Methodist body, they
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