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 27
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Still journeying toward the rising sun, we come to a modest house on the north side of the road, the home of Andrew Stickles. It was once the property of James Lavender who now lives on the old Barnes farm. I have understood that Mr. L. built the house.
At this point a road leads north, coming out by John Blynn's. The only house near, or in it, is a small one on the east side, the home of Henry Knapp. Here, for some years, lived the Dunham or Donahue family, the head of which was for so long a time one of the blacksmiths in the Valley. The first Milem was also here, long ago.
Old inhabitants tell of a log house still further to the east, where dwelt Nelson Coleman ; then one Horn, and afterward the place was joined to the next, or Jeffers farm. Also a log house was on the southwest corner in earlier days, and in it lived Benjamin Johnson. But these are names only.
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DISTRICT NO. 12 .- WAYNE CENTRE.
June 11-July 9, 1891.
This record of District No. 12 is very incomplete. The removal of the first settlers and their children has left very little source of information. It is a most peculiarly shaped district, extending from the southern line of the town to within less than one mile of the Huron border. It includes parts of both Lyons and Sodus ; but I shall confine myself strictly to our town of Rose. In this district we shall find many Germans, who seemed to have overflowed from Lyons eastward, and to have thus taken the places of the original settlers. To my inquiry as to the reason for this German influx, I was told that many years since, the father of the late Lieutenant Governor Dorsheimer located in Lyons. Naturally others of his race came to a place where he, who had learned English, could interpret for them, and found homes near him. In time they spread out, and the Rose occupancy is the result.
For a long distance this district has the dwellers on one road only. For our purposes it will be as well to enter from the south. To do so, we shall have to go west from Ferguson's corners till we reach this highway. The first house is on the west side of the road, and has long stood in the name of A. H. Mallery. "Captain" Almon H. Mallery was born in Columbia county, though the family was of Connecticut origin. His father, Harvey M., who had married Emma Stone, came to this town more than fifty years ago, and the first home was on the next place north, the original farm being very large. This place, next to the Galen line, and for twenty years occupied by tenants, was bought of Mr. Nichols. "Capt." M. has been twice married. First to Adaline Dunn, who bore him one son, Harvey, a resident of Lyons. His second wife before marriage was Mary Hornbeck, born in Ontario county. Their children are James S., married and living in East Palmyra, and Emma, who is at home. The family many years since moved to Lyons, still retaining, however, the possessions here. The title by which Mr. Mallery is known is purely complimentary. When a lad, in Columbia county, he was the chief boy in a party of twenty or more who trained with wooden weapons. The title was given him then and has clung to date. As he says, everybody but his mother called him "Captain." On an old map where we should expect the initials A. H., I find only C. The maker was obviously deceived.
Valentine Goetzman is the owner of the next farm, though he does not at present reside there. He bought of William Espenscheid, who purchased from Oscar Mallery. Oscar Mallery married Anna Ferguson and had three children-Harrison, George and Sarah. He afterward went to Newark, and there died. There are one hundred acres in the farm, which is now in
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the care of Philip Humbert, who married Carrie Goetzman. Mr. G. is a German by birth, as is also his wife, who was Saloma Hoetzel. Their children are : William, who married Louise Fox, of the family to the northeast ; Mary, who became Mrs. Louis Fox, of the same family ; George married Carrie Rinkel, and lives in Lyons ; Sarah, who married Philip Mindel ; Carrie, Mrs. Humbert, and Albert, who married Anna Stell, and is with his father.
Before reaching the next dwelling, we shall pass on the east side a large farm belonging to the Mallery farm, for this almost surrounds the Goetz- man place.
John Myers, who planted his house on the west side of the road,. purchased a lot of one and a half acres from "Capt." A. H. Mallery, and in 1867 put up his buildings. Like most Germans, he manages to get the most possible from his glebe. He is a native of Baden, and his wife was Margaret Ohl. Aside from tilling his own lot, Mr. M. finds plenty of employment in helping his neighbors. They have had five children, all of whom have gone from home. They are Phoebe, who is Mrs. Henry Christ, of Lyons ; John, who is in Chicago; Conrad, who married Mrs. Mary (Reynolds) Ferguson, and is in Lyons ; Sophia, who is the wife of Andrew Baker, of Lyons, and Carrie, who also finds a home in the same place.
The next residence north is a handsome white house, the home of Henry Steitler. It is located in the southeast angle of the cross roads. With its convenient surroundings, it is visible from afar in an eastern direction, and is pointed out as the last house on this road toward Lyons. Mr. Steitler is an Alsatian, and his first wife was Mary Weikner, by whom he had Mary, the wife of William H. Espenscheid ; Henry, who is married, and lives in Galen, and William, who married Mary Luffman. Mr. Steitler's second wife was Mary Rankart, who has borne him Charles and Edith, both at home, though Charles has taken to wife Bertha Trask. There are about sixty-seven acres in the farm.
Before leaving this section we must retrace our steps, and place ourselves very near the beginning of the century. Then the road, such as it was, ran along the west ridge, on the preemption line, and not as now, at the foot of the line of hills. As a consequence, whatever traces of early settlers- along that way might have existed, they all long since disappeared. It is. more than probable that the first comer to this vicinity was John Drown, first, who came hither in 1813 from Parsonsfield, then District of Maine, erected into a state in 1820. His wife was Sally Ayers, and somewhere on the old'ridge preemption road, south of the east and west one, he located his habitation. He had a large family. He bought of Samuel Hoyt, but paid at the land office. His brother, Solomon, who came in 1812, lived just south of him on the same road, having bought at the office. The last dweller on this road, on the west side, and so in Lyons, was a Mr. Tuck,.
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whose wife was a sister of Josiah Calcott of Huron. Calcott himself married Katy, a daughter of the first John Drown. Ruth, another daughter, became Mrs. Daniel Hayford of Huron. Solomon was twice married. The name of his first wife I have been unable to learn. By her he was the father of John, William, Warren, Charles, Betsey and Solomon. His second wife was Fanny Dennis of the Wayne Centre family, and by her he had eight children. He finally went to Pennsylvania and there ended his days. Several of his children became Mormons, and went off at the time of the excitement and were lost sight of. The first John Drown afterward lived at the foot of the Dodds hill, in the Griswold district, and there his wife died. He, too, went to Pennsylvania and died there. It seems that he had made some extensive purchases of land in that state. When the Drowns left their first settlement, they sold to Aaron Waterbury.
The first settler where Steitler is was Jonathan Colborn, who was a Pennsylvanian. He, too, came very early in the century, having first stopped south of Lyons. His wife was Hannah Hamilton. The farm at first con- sisted of one hundred acres. Mr. Colborn died at the age of eighty-eight years, in 1857, and his wife followed him in less than three months, aged eighty-one. Both were buried at Ferguson's corners. Their children were James, whom we found in the Griswold district ; John, who went to Michigan ; Thomas, who married Sally Bowers, from the now Klippel farm, and became a Mormon. He had five girls. Clarinda became a Crippen, and lived near Rochester; Catharine became the wife of Ezra Vincent, and both joined the Mormons. On this farm a Vincent followed Jonathan Colborn, but whether he was Ezra or Josias, I am unable to state. An old map has at this point the name of B. Albough, from whom Mr. Steitler may have purchased. Over this whole section, as far as its early history is concerned, there seems to brood a deep twilight, not to call it night indeed.
After passing Steitler's, should we go east, we should find only the shut- up house of Anthony Turvey, who now lives in Wolcott. This place is now on the north side of the road. Again, were we to go west, our way would soon be met by the boundary between Rose and Lyons. It is the famous new preemption line; but which every dweller in these parts, young and old, calls " The Prehemption." Were they all Cockney born, they could not insist any more decidedly in putting in that absurd h. Our north and south road runs only a few rods away from this noted meridian.
Fred Trautman resides in the next house, located a little north of the corner, and is on the west side. It was said that a Harvey Gray was first here. Then came Josias Vincent; after him Jacob Mitchell, and next Conrad Young, who sold to the first Fred Trautman. The latter was of German birth and his first wife was Magdalina Baltzel ; their children were George, who lives in Buffalo, and Fred, 2d, who, having married Ida,
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daughter of Ovid Jeffers of Galen, now manages the place. After the death of Mrs. T., Mr., Trautman married again, this time Barbara Smith. He, himself, died in July, 1889, and his widow with their children-Elbert, Philip, Emma and Jessie-resides at the Centre. An older son, Charles, died. There are ninety-three acres in the farm.
The man who holds the next place is, obviously, a careful farmer, for everything is in most excellent condition. This farmer is Henry Klippel, who came to America from Hesse-Darmstadt in 1852. In 1860 he came hither, buying of Lysander Clark, who took from one Bixby, and in time the line runs back to the Colborns. The house was built by Bixby. Mr. K. married Catharine Austerly, and she has been the mother of numerous children. Mr. Klippell has a standing joke, viz. : " I have seven boys and every boy has a sister." Many say at once, " Why, then you have four- teen children." A remark which pleases Mr. K. not a little, and for any one to see through his statement immediately, and to respond, "You have eight children," is just a little disappointing. The sons are : John H., who, having taken Louisa Fox for his wife, lives in Lyons ; George B., in Lyons also ; Philip F., in Chicago ; Edward D .; Sylvester D .; Charles M., and Frank R. The last three are at home, but doubtless they, too, will soon seek more remunerative situations elsewhere. For the rising generation the farm has very little attraction. The only daughter, " every boy's sister," is Isadora. In the place are 1174 acres, much of it tim- bered swamp land. Mr. K. was one of the very first successful propaga- tors of peppermint in the town.
On the same (west) side of the road, well up and back, is the home of Michael Weeks, though everybody in town pronounces the name Wicks. This is the site of the old Benjamin Craft place. The three brothers, Benjamin, Abram and Thomas, came to these parts from Dutchess county as early, it is said, as 1810. This being the case, they must have been among the very earliest settlers within our present territory. Benjamin Craft died in 1858, at the age of seventy-nine years, and his wife, Elizabeth, survived until 1861, dying in that year, aged 81. Both are buried in South Sodus. It seems certain that Benjamin C. was the first settler here. He had originally 100 acres. His sons were Jonathan Pine and Benjamin, Jr. The daughters were : Deborah who married Abraham Van Valkenburg ; Lydia, who married a Ferguson of Galen, and Margaret, who became the wife of Andrew Rhinehart. The latter was killed during the War. J. Pine Craft succeeded his father on the farm. In town parlance, he was generally known as Pine, and this name is the only one attached to the Craft in the South Sodus ground. He died in 1867, at the age of sixty-six years. His wife was Amy, a sister of Michael Weeks, the present proprietor, and she sold to him. His wife was Frances M. Tooker before marriage. Their only child, Ida F., became the wife of Charles O. Baker, a great grandson
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of Benjamin Craft, the first settler. He resides in Galen. Ida died in 1887. A monument in the South Sodus burial ground tells the story of her early death at twenty-two years, and that of her infant, Frances E., who lived to be only seven months old. The life chapter of mother and child is soon written. There are now only forty acres in the place ; but Mr. W. keeps everything in admirable order. The house was built by the first settler.
The next house, still on the west side, is that of William McRorie. The farm buildings are on the east side. We are yet on the original Craft farm ; for this place of fifty acres the first Benjamin gave to Benjamin, Jr., who built the most of the buildings. His wife was Lucy Ann Goewey. Of their children, Squaire B., an infant, is buried in South Sodus ; Schuyler is dead also, and Betsey Ann went west with her parents, where they died. To the Crafts succeeded Elisha Barton, whose wife was Caroline Warren. Of them my record is very meagre, for I can only mention the death of Elisha in 1879, aged fifty-three, and that of his wife in 1884, at the age of fifty-four years. The present owner, William McRorie, is a native of Missouri. His parents, however, were natives of Galen, whence they went before the War to the west. The father, William, was a Union soldier, and, as such, was killed. The widow came back east, and our citizen was reared here. His wife is Ada, a daughter of the George H. Green met in the Griswold district. Their children are : John W. and Earl F., two as bright little fellows as are often encountered. (In 1883 McRorie is in Lyons, and McMillen is on the farm. )
Whatever there is of the hamlet of Wayne Centre may be said to begin here. The settlement is doubtless the result of the saw and stave mills and cooper shops located at this point. The task is quite too great to trace out all the owners and occupants of the small lots. It is probable that all this land once belonged to the Crafts, and from them passed to their heirs and relatives. The small village has come in the interval of fifty years. There are traces of houses, now destroyed, and of shops that ceased to be remunerative.
Perhaps it will be as well to keep to the west side as wenear the corners. After passing a large evaporator, we find the home of Samuel W. Lape, a native of Rensselaer county, though reared in Sodus ; has been postmaster, both in South Sodus and here ; he was a lieutenant in the Ninth Heavy Artillery, Co. D, and is now a justice of the peace. His wife is Julia Ann, a daughter of David J. Seager. In early life Mr Lape was a school teacher. He has twice taken the census of the town; in 1880 alone, in 1890 the 1st district.
Philip Rodenbach comes next. He is a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, and is one of the most substantial citizens in town. His parents came to Rose for a single year, in 1835, but afterwards went to Lyons. He came again
1
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in 1852, and has been here ever since. He has four brothers, and the five brethren average above 200 pounds each in weight. Mr. R.'s wife was in girlhood Margaret Klippel, a sister of Henry, of the same district. There are four children, of whom George H. married Josephine Wilder, and lives in Grand Forks, Dakota; Albert P., now in Rochester, and twin daughters, Carrie E. and Kate M. The former is the second wife of Charles O. Baker of Galen. Mr. Rodenbach bought of William Van Ostrand, and his ten acres are a part of the old Benjamin Craft estate. To his labors as a farmer Mr. R. has added the work of a blacksmith. His shop is still extant, but latterly he has not done much in it. No man in the place enjoys more respect than our friend, who now ranks as one of the oldest inhabitants.
The fine residence of Joel H. Putnam is just north, and it is one of his own building. Before this, was a house in which Jacob Young resided. The saw-mill back was the joint property of the three brothers-Conrad, John and Jacob Young. Jacob, whose home this was once, now lives on a fine farm just north of the Worden place ; but is in the town of Lyons. His wife was a Twamley, Martha, a daughter of the family so long identified with this vicinity. Mr. Putnam owns here only six acres, but he has a large farm eastward from the Corners, where his son Hervey lives. At this point he manages an extensive stave factory, a cooper shop and keeps up a very large store-house for barrels. Not the least interesting item about his premises is a fish pond, covering several rods of area, scooped out of the black muck down to the underlying clay, and fed from unfailing springs along the banks. Here he has placed eighty German carp, and they seem to thrive amain. It is worth the time to visit the pond to see the fishes fed. Mr. Putnam was born and reared in Marion, but claims descent from the brave old " Israel Put" of Revolu- tionary memory. His father was Cornelius, born in Hartford, Conn. His first wife was Happy Miller, and his second, Sophia Harris. His grand- father was Rufus Putnam, Joel H. Putnam married Eliza Alles, a native of the Isle of Guernsey, and they are the parents of Dewey C., who married Nellie Koon, formerly of the Valley, and he lives at home, having three children-Hazel, Olive and Ray. (Also Joel, and a girl, both born since writing the foregoing. ) The second son will be found on the east road, and the third son, Wells J., is in Chicago.
The approaches to the cooper shops and mills are passed next, along with the foundations of a house, burned a year ago.
Then comes E. Platt Soper, a native of Smithtown, L. I. His first wife was Charlotte Cady, of South Butler ; his second wife was Sylvia Grant, of Butler. The children by his first wife were : Josephine, who married F. Priest Wilcox, of Orleans county, a farmer ; and Erwin, who married Nettie Deputron, and lives in Auburn. His second wife is the mother of Elbert
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G. and A. Viauna, both young people at home. Mr. Soper has thirty-four acres here, the results of several purchases, representing the names of Craft, Shaw and Barton. Mr. Soper, like many people hereabouts, does coopering also, and his shop and barn are opposite. He is a brother of Egbert and Daniel, once living in the east part of the town.
On the corner is the home of Alfred Spong, of German birth. He has three children. Before him occurs the name of H. Dunham. Obviously, the site is an old one, but I can not undertake the finding of all those who have lived here.
Crossing the road, on the southeast corner, is one of the oldest houses in the vicinity, associated to some extent with Abraham Van Valkenburg, remembered as the husband of Deborah Craft. There were several chil- dren in this family that reached maturity, and are: John, who lives in Leroy ; Benjamin and Isaac, both in British Columbia ; Abraham, who married Dora Barton, of Lyons, and who also lives in Leroy ; Betsey mar- ried Andrew Baker, of Sodus, who was killed in logging ; and Margaret, who married John P. Shaw, long a resident on this corner. Mr. Van V. died in 1863, aged sixty-two years, and Mrs. Van V. in 1876, at the age of sixty-eight years. A daughter by the name of Adelaide died in 1881, aged thirty-two years. The Shaws who dwelt here are both dead, and, with their predecessors, lie in the South Sodus burial ground. They died, respectively, in 1880 and 1884, at the ages of forty-three and forty-four years. They left two children-Sheridan, now in California, and Emma, in Leroy. Albert and J. Wesley died in childhood. Mr. Shaw was a member of the 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, and Abraham Van Valkenburg, his father-in-law, died in service as a member of the 160th Infantry, rather an old man for soldiering.
Turning to the south, we pass Platt Soper's shop and barn and come to the home of various people, whose residence is more or less transient. Abraham Van Valkenburg's homestead was next. The store and post office are kept by John Trimble, who came hither from the town of Ontario four years since. His wife was Viola Woolsey, of Sodus. He has ten acres of land, having bought from Mrs. Dennis. The post office in Wayne Centre dates from 1863. (?) Joel H. Putnam received the appointment, and he deputized Moses Dennis, who was later made full postmaster. The service was meagre, coming only once a week, gratis, from Lyons. In 1878 the office was put on the route between South Sodus and Lyons, and had mail twice a week. In the days of John Camp, of Lyons, the office began getting a daily mail. After Dennis, as incumbents were S. W. Lape, Augustus Conroe, Joel H. Putnam and Trimble.
Next south is a house erected by Conrad Young, which passed afterward to the father of Dr. J. J. Dickson, late of the Valley, and in it he died. It is now held by Anthony Hebgen. The holdings south of this point are small and have changed owners and occupants many times.
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Returning to the cross roads, the school-house is found on the northwest corner. I do not know how many buildings have preceded it, but learn that the first edifice stood to the northward, where a road diverges from that of the preemption, standing just over the Lyons line. After many years, a site further south was selected. Here are held religious services every Sunday, alternately in English and German. They are Methodistic in character. The point is one on the Lock Berlin charge, though it has belonged to South Sodus and to the Valley. In many respects the latter union seems the more natural and desirable.
Whatever dwellings there may have been in the past, there are no indi- cations of houses till we reach the home of widow Miller. As she says, it has been the widow's abode for many years, since before her for twenty years was the widow Bennett. The site is an admirable one, commanding a wide view to the south and east. Here Philip H. Miller, a native of Alsace, came many years since. His wife was Mary M. Klippel, another sister of Henry. Their children are: Edward, now in Dakota ; Wells, who married Libbie Dodds, and lives in Lyons ; Frank, married and lives in Lyons; Walter, who is at home ; Matilda, the wife of George Wraight, of the Covell district ; Carrie E. and Maud C., who are, I believe, teachers. Mr. Miller died sixteen years ago, leaving directions that the place should be managed by his widow for eighteen years, when the property should be divided. She is now nearing the end of her trust, and, apparently, has done her part faithfully. She tells me, however, that the boys of to-day don't like the farm, and she can not get hired help to do as she would like. " Should Miller. see those arrow weeds standing in the fence corners, it would make him turn in his grave," was her remark, as she dilated on the decadence of the times and the disposition of the young men of the present to selfishly go for themselves at once. Mr. Miller bought of Jacob Mitchell, who took from the widow Bennett, who had been there for a long time. Before her and her husband are the names of Heldrigel, Vin- cent and Wm. Morris, the latter of whom probably took up the land from the office.
Our road crooks around toward the west, and on the south side is the most sightly edifice in the vicinity. Tunis Woodruff, who located here many, many years since, was singularly fortunate in his situation. Back of him was only one name, probably that of Lewis Morris, who went west. The Woodruffs, good, God-fearing people, dwelt here many a year, and hence passed to their reward and last resting place in the South Sodus inclosure ; Mr. W. dying in 1864, at the age of sixty.
There was once a burial place north of the barn, but who were placed there I have no means of learning. The spot was finally plowed over. The farm has one hundred acres. There were three Woodruffs reared here- George, now in Lyons ; Isaac, in the west, and Mary, who once lived in
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the Valley as Mrs. Anson Waring. After the Woodruffs came Constan- tine Worden, and this was his home for twenty-four years, he only last spring, i. e., 1890, leaving to live in Lyons. His wife was Phœbe, a daughter of Michael Vandercook. Her death took place four years ago. Their children were: George, of the Jeffers district; Leonard, who mar- ried Maggie Weeks, and is east of North Rose, and William, whose home is northeast of Wayne Centre, in the town of Sodus. Mr. Worden still. holds the farm, renting it to George L. Reynolds, of Lyons.
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