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 25
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Years ago, at the base of the hill, to the northeast, a log house stood, and in it lived Robert Boyce. Further along on the north side, was another log house, where dwelt Emory Boyce. In this first structure an aged Mrs. Winchell died, as did also the first wife of John Drown. Mr. Drown, at nearly ninety years of age, till recently living west of Sheldon's corners in Huron, was a native of Parsonsfield, Maine, then a part of Massachusetts, having come when thirteen years old, with his father, also John, to these parts, and stopped first on the extreme west part of the town-now Mallery's. Taking the road on the west as one line and running south
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below George Milem's, and then on the east, almost to the Sodus canal, Mr. Drown had two hundred and thirty-seven acres. He cleared away the trees from the summit of the hill and there built his house, just as high up as possible; lest, I suppose, what his name signifies might happen to him and his. His first wife was Esther Jeffers, a daughter of the first Robert ; his second, Charlotte Boyce, and his third, still living, widow Mary Ann Whipple. It must have been a wearisome life on the top of this hill, but what a prospect the family had ! The water for family use had to be brought from the spring, still seen just south of the entrance to the Milem place. Naturally, Mrs. D. would occasionally object to the labor necessary to keep the kitchen running. Whereupon her rather easy-going husband would say : "Well, come right out here and show me where you want the well." She would go and tell him, and that is as far as the enterprise ever went. Their first child, Maria, is Mrs. Watson Chaddock of Huron ; the second became Mrs. Dudley Boyce, formerly of this town ; John A., now of Rose, has been twice married, first to Hannah S. Van Horn, a daughter of Matthias and his wife, Roxana Winchell, and second, to Mrs. Louisa (Trask) Sedgwick, but he will be met later in the Valley ; Sanford married first, Emily, a daughter of the late Gowan Riggs of Huron, and second, Artelissa Sedore, a sister of the late Mrs. Enos Pimm. She, too, is dead. The next child, Hester Ann, married Stephen Delamatter, and is in Michigan ; Thomas married Jennie Powers, and died in a New York hospital during the War, being a soldier ; Napoleon B. married Martha Harper of Galen, and died in Huron ; Jane is Mrs. Joseph Thorp of Huron ; Rosette married James Slocum, and moved to Kansas. By his second wife, Mr. Drown is the father of Madison, who married in Kansas. By his third wife he had Huldah, who is Mrs. Lafayette Legg, of the Valley, and Cornelia, who became Mrs. Stephen Brower. On leaving this sightly location, Mr. Drown sold the lower part of his farm to Robert N. Jeffers, and the north portion to William Dodds. Long since, all evidence of the homestead disappeared, save possibly a clump of trees, and were it not for such mousing records as these, in a few years it would be difficult to make any one believe that the hill-top was ever the home of industrious parents and prattling children. Mr. Drown died November 2d, 1890, at the home of his son, John A., in the Valley.
Next we skirt along the base of the hill, having fertile fields and orchards at our right, and the steep hill-side toward the east. When we get to the first west road, we must keep well up lest we go down the descent, whether we will or not. Soon the home of George Milem appears, perched on the ridge of the hill that has now sloped to an accessible altitude. Nevertheless, our horse will have to put forth extra strength as he pulls us up the road cut through the drift gravel of which the hill consists. Reaching the house, Mr. Milem is found putting together a new harvester, and data are
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imparted as he keeps at his task, for the impending wheat harvest will not admit of any delay. His farm has one hundred and thirty-six acres, fifty of them being in the old Stokes lot, and well back in the level swamp land eastward. This lot was once the property of Captain Stokes of glass factory fame in Clyde, and Walter Harper also owned it once. In former days there were several habitations upon it. The remaining portion he obtained from R. M. Jeffers and William Gillett. Mr. Jeffers bought of John Drown and Robert Vandercook, and they of Garrett Y. Lansing. This must carry the line pretty near to the first owners. The house is on what was the Jeffers portion, and Mr. Milem has enlarged and improved it considerably. The Milems are of English origin. The first, William, and Thirza Sizer, his wife, came from Norfolkshire, England, to this town in 1851, and located just west of the head of this road, where Frank Knapp is now. Mrs. Milem died in 1856 and is buried in the Rose cemetery. Their children were Christopher, who is in East Portland, Oregon ; Sizer Ann, who married Robert Hunter, and lives in Lyons, and George, our resident. Mr. Milem, Sr., went to Ohio in 1866, and is now living in Fowlerville. George M. was a good soldier during the Rebellion, serving in Company F, Ninty-eighth New York Volunteers, and putting in more than four years of service. He married Christina Lang of Galen, who bore him nine children, as follows : Thirza M., George H., Hester A., William B., Minnie M., Elizabeth C., Philip L., Mary E. and Carrie I. This is one of the most encouraging families in Rose. Would that there were more like him. Mrs. Milem died in 1887, in her fortieth year, and till recently the oldest daughter did the honors of the household. The boys are helps upon the farm. Mr. Milem is a Free Methodist in religion and a Prohibi- tionist in politics. " And why shouldn't I be ? " he says, "when I have all these boys and girls growing up to be endangered by the rum traffic. I'm down on that all the time." I am pretty much of his sentiments myself. It is impossible to overestimate the danger that alcohol is sub- jecting us to. In 1890, August 12th, Mr. Milem was married to Miss Julia Sedore of Rose.
South of Mr. Milem's, under the hill, is a fine, unfailing spring, a source of comfort to the stock. Near the road and close to the lane leading up to the house is another one carefully boarded up. Still further along is land belonging to Alonzo Snow of the Valley road, whose possessions extend from road to road.
On the west side is the home of Eugene Converse. The house is consider- ably south of opposite to Mr. Milem's, and is below the site of the house which once stood in the names of McConnell and Gillett, and in which one Converse killed his wife, several years since, while laboring under mania a potu, a tragedy liable to be acted wherever rum may be found. A number of trees still mark the location of the first structure. Mr. Converse has
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just put up a new barn, and with his growing boys, will doubtless make his farm one of the very best. There are fifty acres in it, and the lads are anxious to help. The place was bought of John H. Barnes, and as already intimated, must have been in the hands of others. The house is the one that Milo Lyman once lived in, and which he gave up when he built his new one. Mr. L. says : " I spent seven hundred dollars in getting the old house in shape, and in fixing up the cellar, and then it didn't suit me, so I just sold it for less than I spent in repairs, and started anew." It was moved down here and makes a very comfortable home for Mr. C. and his family. He is a native of Erie county, but much of his youth was passed in the Valley. His wife is Anna Harper, a daughter of Almon Harper, and their children are Edith M., John D., Ernest E., Arthur J., Flora D., and Daniel E. The family are communicants of the Rose Baptist Church. Mr. C. has been here seven years.
Just below, and on the west side, is the home of Mrs. O'Donald, widow of Patrick. Her children are Joanna, Patrick and James. The belonging, a small one, was bought of H. W. Levanway, and Mr. O'Donald built the house. He once had a log house just under the hill as we turn west to go toward Milo Lyman's.
Still further along, and the last place in the town, situated well back from the street, lives the Pultz family. They are Germans and came here from Lyons, buying the small place from Mr. Levanway. The children here are Emma, Ida and Daniel. They are Lutherans in religious belief.
We must now return to the road leading west, and on the north side just beyond the turn is a red house which once abounded in active life. It is now the property of Milo Lyman, who has turned it into an evaporator. The house was built by Jacob Stack, a native of Strasburg, Germany, who lived and labored here for many a year. He was a cooper by trade, and worked long and faithfully in the Barnes shop, further west. His glebe was small, and he himself built the house. His wife was Eva Strang, a sister of Fred Ream's mother. We met Ream in District No. 11. Their children were many, and as follows : Jacob, who lives in Rochester ; Lana married James Lavender ; Louis lives with his mother south of Clyde ; Lizzie is the wife of John H. Barnes of the Valley ; Louisa married Wm. Dodds; Katie married Byron Crandall of Rose; Carrie, who is Mrs. Albert Williams of Clyde; Fred, deceased ; George and Helen are at home with their mother. Mr. Stack died several years ago.
The elegant home of Milo Lyman claims us next. This is on the north side of the road, and is the building erected after Mr. L. sold his old house to Eugene Converse. Painted a pure white, the structure is a landmark. If our call is in mid-summer, we shall certainly find Mr. Lyman at work in the field. To reach him, we will follow a lane running back from the road, and will pass a series of large barns conveniently arranged on a gentle
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slope, thus having that very desirable arrangement in a country of hard winters, viz., underground sheds. Just a little west of front of the barns is the site of the first framed structure on the place, and close by was the log house. The well is there yet, and an avenue of cherry trees leads down to the present abode. Milo Lyman was born south of Ferguson's corners, and at the age of four years was bound out, till he should be twenty-one, to Adam Learn, who lived south of Lock Berlin. Mr. Lyman had very few advantages of the schools. His youth was one of toil, and when the expiration of his time came he had very little to start with save a vigorous body and fifty-eight dollars, a sum coming from the sale of a colt which Mr. L. had given him a few months before. Fortunately Mr. L. turned his face Roseward, and lived for a time in the family of the first John Barnes. Still more fortunate, he secured for his wife Mr. Barnes' daughter, Rebecca, who has been an invaluable helpmeet during all the years of his married life. Their home, before coming to this farm, was south of where the Wykoffs live now, and the place was reached by a lane from the road extending from the Valley to Wayne Centre. They came to this farm just after the War. They have had only one child, John W., who was a most promising young man, a graduate of the State Normal School in Albany in 1878. He had taught two years at Garrisons on the Hudson, when failing health compelled his return to his father's house, where he died May 28th, 1881, at the early age of twenty-three years. With the hope that a change of occupation might improve his health, the fond father had bought for him a store at Lock Berlin, but the young man visited it only once. Life's burdens were scarcely assumed ere he laid them down. Early crowned, he left a desolate household to mourn his departure. The Lymans were of Connecticut origin, no doubt connected remotely with those in the Lyman district, although I have not succeeded in establishing the relationship as yet. The father, Jesse, was long favorably known in Rose, having lived in that town many years. He was once on the old Finch place, near Griswold's school-house. For some years he kept the light-house in Sodus, and finally died in the Valley in 1863, at the age of sixty-nine years, and was buried at Ferguson's corners. His first wife was Betsey Sedgwick, another excellent Connecticut name, who died in 1831, aged thirty-seven years. Their children were Henry, who was for some years a clerk for Eron Thomas in the Valley, and who died in 1850; Lydia married Charles Crafts and went west; Angeline became Mrs. Dr. Robert Copp, of Canan- daigua ; Milo, already noted ; Philander S., who lives in Sodus, having kept the light-house there, as did his father before him, and John B., who lives in Michigan. Jesse Lyman was a shoemaker by trade. After the death of the first Mrs. L. he married the widow of Orrin Lackey. He had two half brothers, once residents in Rose-Thomas, who once lived near the Harley Way place under the hill, and afterward went west and died,
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and Levi, west of Ephraim Wilson's. The latter has a son, Jacob, now living in the Valley. A half sister of Jesse, Betsey, married Harley Way, while another married one of the Valley Crislers. The Lymans have long been staunch supporters of the Rose Methodist Episcopal Church. The farm includes one hundred and forty-seven acres. The major part of it. was bought of John Barnes, first, after the War. The latter had purchased it from James Colborn, Jr., who had traded with John Vandercook. John V. had received it from his father, Michael. Michael Vandercook had taken in part from John Clapper, whose possession goes back to the land office. He built the first log house. Lyman built the present Converse house in 1875. Afterward came the present house, where it is to be hoped Mr. and Mrs. Lyman may take many years of comfort. Though they are childless, they have adopted George, son of Mrs. L.'s youngest brother, James, of Huron. What man has done, man may do. No man in our town had less to start with than had Milo Lyman. Few have done any better. Energy, honesty and perseverance, accompanied by a faithful, devoted and capable wife, have placed him in the forefront of our towns- men, a man to be admired and emulated. (Mrs. Lyman died May 18, 1892. Mr. L. has rented his farm to Frank Mitchell, 1893.)
Next west is the home of William H. Vandercook. This name, once so common in Rose, has pretty nearly disappeared. The farm occupied by Mr. V. is a part of the old Michael Vandercook property, but the original house was on the next road north. Somewhere on these acres Mr. V. has lived for more than fifty years. There are 108 acres in the farm, and the house, a fine brick one, is of Mr. Vandercook's building. Back of his barns, which are on the south side of the road, is an old log house, which was, in olden times, the abode of John Clapper. Mr. C. was a brother of Jacob, who once lived in the Jeffers neighborhood. It is a long time since this family lived here, and memory of them is not over vivid, but I find that there were five children-two daughters and three sons. These mar- ried as follows : Polly became the wife of Embury Finch, who once lived south of the old John Vandercook farm, and is now a tobacconist in Auburn ; Sally married James Potter, a son of Godfrey, who once lived as tenant for Bockoven, on the present John L. Finch place, west of the Valley ; George married Eliza Waring, daughter of Joseph and his wife, Susan ; Orrin and Abram both married daughters of this same Godfrey Potter, and all went to the all-absorbing west. Returning to Mr. Vander- cook, it is found that he married Helen E. Pitcher, a sister of John Barrett's wife. Their children were John W., who went to the Albany Normal School with Milo Lyman's son, and, like him, died, to human minds prematurely, at the early age of thirty years, in 1887, having mar- ried Mary E. Spaulding, of Schoharie county ; Emma Eliza died at the age of nine years ; Mary married Clarence Johnson, of Wolcott ; and Anna M.,
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who is Mrs. Frank Fellows, of Lyons. Like all of the Vandercooks, Wil- liam H. is a Methodist.
The next place, and still on the north side of the street, is the old John Barnes estate. It is one of the best and most prominent in this part of the town. The century was not very far along when Mr. B. bought out the improvements made by Merrill Pease, and himself settled at the land office for the farm. It was a favorite remark of the old gentleman that when he came into the town, he had only his wife and his axe, carrying the latter on his shoulder. He was Dutchess county born ; but, with his parents, came early in life to Galen. A brother was the father of Harvey Barnes, of Huron, indicated in our North Rose articles. He married Mary Cowan, a sister of Mrs. Francis Osborn, the mother of James and Francis O., of the Covell district. His first stop in Rose was on the present Espenscheid place, a mile further west. Coming to this final site he lived for many years in a double log house, still marked by the large chimney, the latter having been used for many years in the coopering, for which this section was long noted. Finally he built the commodious farm house still stand- ing. After long and useful lives, the aged people passed away, and were buried at Ferguson's corners. They reared a numerous family, as follows : George, who married the widow of Arnold Rhea, and lived, till he went west, where Alvin Barnes resides. At one time he took up land near where Espenscheid is now. George Barnes died in Michigan, leaving one daughter. The oldest daughter, Mary, married William H. Allen, and lived for many years in the Valley, where Mr. A. was a tanner. They afterward moved to Coldwater, Michigan, where Mrs. Allen died Aug. 12, 1888, leaving a son and daughter. Rebecca we have seen as Mrs. Milo Lyman. Alvin married Sarah Finch, and lives in this district. John H. Barnes married Elizabeth Stack, and lives south of the Valley. He has only one child, Jessie May. Elijah married Mary S. Holiday, and lives at Ferguson's corners. Like his brothers, he is a thorough and successful farmer. James married, first, Fanny Griswold, and second, Fanny E. Ferguson, of the corners. They live in Huron, and their children are Eveline, who is Mrs. James Gatchell, of that town ; Edwin B., at the Albany Normal School, and George, who lives with his Uncle Lyman ; Margaret is Mrs. Philander Mitchell, whom we shall meet toward the end of the dis- trict. Beside these there were James, who died in infancy, and Sarah, who lived to be nine years old. John H. Barnes succeeded to this farm ; but he prefers to live nearer the Valley. His tenant now is James Laven- der, a native of Ireland, whose wife was Lana Stack.
The last house to be encountered before reaching the corner is that of Harmon Van Amburg. Harmon has dwelt here many years. The original holding came from his father-in-law, William Griswold. He built the house himself. He is a native of Saratoga county-born in 1812-
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whence he came with his parents to Galen when he was quite small. By trade he is a carpenter and joiner. His wife was Emily, the first William Griswold's oldest daughter. She died in 1886. Their children were Deborah M., who died in infancy ; Rebecca A., who is with her father ; Sarah E., who died in Syracuse, and Ellen M., who married Wesley M. Abbott, of Otisco. She now resides in Syracuse. It is probable that under favorable circumstances, H. V. can beat any man in the town telling stories of the dim and misty past. He once knew all the dwellers west of the Valley and all of their antecedents. He was a brother of German Van Amburg, who formerly dwelt in the Covell district, in that part called Canada. (Mr. V. has since died.)
Just opposite the Van Amburg home is a tenant house, belonging to Alvin Barnes, whose possessions extend southward, and whose home we shall find on the west side of the road. It is a brick structure, and is in excellent keeping with the other farm houses of this locality. As already stated, Mr. Barnes married Sarah Finch. They have two children-Matilda and Willard. I am told that this place was first held by one Green Plum. There is an absurdity in that name that strikes a hearer or reader at once. If it were sweet or ripe Plum, it would be different, but to be always Green is appalling. Well, Green finally sold out, or was forced off the farm and afterward became mildly insane, and thus died. To him succeeded Simeon Barrett, and his father-in-law, Ebenezer Pierce, that Revolutionary veteran. These people were described in our "Covell " sketches. Then came Arnold K. Rhea, who died in 1852, leaving a widow and three chil- dren-John, Leroy and Chloe. All of them finally went west. The widow married George Barnes, and the latter managed the farm until John Rhea came of age, when he went to Michigan. John afterward sold to the present holder, Alvin Barnes, better known in Rose as "Alf."
Still further south, and on the east side, is the farm house of James Deady ; but it is the long time home of John Vandercook, whose name is indissolubly linked with this locality, for he was the builder of the stately residence. Further back still, I find that this was the old Colborn farm, the place to which James Colborn, first, came when he left his early abode near North Rose. The youth of James Colborn was passed in the extreme western part of the town. His wife was Mary Waters, of Alloway, a sister of Mrs. John Q. Deady, of District No. 5. On this farm their mar- ried life was passed and here their family was reared. Beside several children who died in infancy, there were : Lydia, who became Mrs. Charles W. Griswold, of Palmyra ; Margaret, the wife of John Vandercook ; James, whom we shall meet in the Valley ; Sarah, who also married a Griswold, William, and went to Missouri; and William, who married Ephraim Wil- son's daughter, Caroline, and now lives in Wolcott, though for many years they were Rose dwellers. Another son, Jonathan, lost his life at the
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·siege of Fort Donelson, during the Rebellion. The later years of James Colborn's life were passed in the Valley, where he died in 1871. He and his wife were life-long members of the Methodist Church. John Vander- .cook, who married Margaret Colborn, succeeded to the old home and .place, and to it added acres, till finally he had here about three hundred. In situation and commodious arrangements, Mr. Vandercook's place had no superior in the town, perhaps not in the county of Wayne. He had three children : Mary was educated in Lima, and afterward married Robert Osborn, of Sheldrake, and is now in Indiana ; Frank went to Ful- ton to school for a time, and then went west, where he married ; Michael, named for his grandfather, married Alice Stanley, and he, too, is in Indiana. After the death of Mrs. Vandercook, a most capable and worthy woman, Mr. V. married again, this time a widow. It was only a short time there- after that he sold out and went west. At last accounts he was in California. (Died March 13, 1892, in Los Angeles, aged 72 years.) James Deady is a native of Rose, eastern part, Town district. He married Caroline Swift, of Sodus, and has passed the most of his life in Huron. His farm there, now Wride's, was noted for its productiveness. It is claimed that his Huron orchard is the best in the county. He has three children : Charles S .; George L., who married Maggie Murray, of Clyde, and Willig J., who is a printer. He is now in New York, where he has worked on the Commercial Advertiser. He is the boy who started a paper in Savannah a year or two since. Mr. D., in buying, did not take all the Vandercook farm, retaining one hundred and seventy-seven and one-half acres. James Deady has boxed the political compass. For years he was one of the few thorough-going Greenbackers. He has probably talked more on that subject than any other man in Rose or Huron. No better view of farm and buildings can be had in Wayne county than that afforded of this place from the next road west.
South of Mr. Deady's are farms belonging to William Glenn, of Lyons, and John Barnes, of the Valley. Both are rented to tenants. In the east place once lived a family of Finches, though not related to the other people of that name in Rose. The mother, a widow, came from West Dresden, Yates county. She had sons-George and Embury. The latter married Polly, daughter of John Clapper. He was lately a resident of Auburn. The place has changed hands a great many times. (In 1893 E. E. Legg is here. He married Dora Wright, from Canada. Their children are Ernest E., Ora and Mary.)
The last dweller on this road, before reaching the Galen line, is Henry W. Levanway. As the name indicates, Mr. L. is of French origin, his birthplace, Clinton county. He was sixteen years old when he came to the town of Macedon. He left home with five dollars in his possession, and became a resident of Wayne county with five cents left. After the
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