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 36
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Dr. Marcus J. Williams has his office and residence next. The house formerly belonged to the widow of Alonzo Snow, but it was built several years since by William H. Lyon, now of Brooklyn. It was once owned and occupied by James W. Colborn and family. Asa Cook was the first builder upon the site, and in his house dwelt for a time the five sisters of William H. Lyon. Dr. M. J. Williams is a native of Hannibal, Oswego county, born December 14th, 1853. His father, William L., came from Hollyhead, Wales, to America, at the age of twenty years, and married Miss Julia A. Palmer, of Hannibal. Both parents now reside in Clyde. Dr. Williams attended the district school of Hannibal, until he went to. Falley Seminary, Fulton, where he passed three years. Afterward he entered the medical department of the Vermont University. He was graduated thence in 1878. His first location was Red Creek, whence he- came to Rose seven years ago. He was married November 7th, 1877, to- Miss Clara E. Sittson, of Weedsport, who, from the union school of that. village, passed to the Auburn high school, where she prepared for college and was graduated from the Syracuse University in 1876. They have one- child, Mabel J., twelve years old. The doctor obviously enjoys living in Rose, and has an extensive practice, though the town is called a very healthy one. ( Dr. Williams moved to Jordan in 1892. )
The building on the corner of Thomas street was built by Eron N. Thomas as a store for Daniel Harmon, who also had the post office in it. George H. Merritt had a store there afterward. The latter's wife died in' Rose. He went from Rose to Red Creek, and thence to Michigan. John and George Collier followed with a general store, remaining until George- A. went into the building opposite. An L upon the north side has afforded a pleasant residence for the different occupants of the store. David Gragor- now keeps a variety store, and runs a barber shop at the same time. Mr. G. has been in Rose for nineteen years, a considerable portion of the time. having a shop in the old stone building opposite. He was born in Mon- tezuma, N. Y., and was a soldier during the War, in the 11th R. I. His- wife was Jane Nagle. By a former marriage, he had a son, Joseph. Mr. G. has Indian blood in his veins, coming from the grand old tribe of the- Oneidas.
DISTRICT No. 4 .- "THE VALLEY."
January 12-March 23, 1893. .
PART II.
In accordance with the plan uniformly followed in these letters, of working from the outside to the centre, we will pass to the extreme southern part of the town and follow the Clyde road north toward the-
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village. There are a few farms here that belong to the White School-house district, of Galen ; but they are so few that they will be given in connection with the Valley neighborhood, indicating where the sections are separated.
The home of Jeremiah Gatchell, on the west side of the street, is not more than a rod north of the town line. With the place there are thirty-six acres of land, which Mr. G. bought of Ebenezer Odell. The latter repaired the house, which was built by Harry Matthews. James W. Casler pre- ceded Odell. The latter died in 1886. Mr. Gatchell is a native of Huron, though the family is of Massachusetts origin, and his wife is Alice Kanouse, a daughter of the late first neighbor in Galen. They have one child, Grace. The farm is a part of that great plain extending from Clyde to near the northern limits of Rose, and it is not so long since that it was deemed an irreclaimable swamp. General Adams' ditch, if it did nothing more, opened many acres of good land to tillage. ( Mr. G. now resides in the Kanouse house over the Galen line, and Gardner Harper and wife occupy the Rose place.)
Hiram Gordon owns the farm across the way. He bought in 1875 from his brother, William. The latter took from Dr. Ely, of Clyde, and he from a Wadleigh. William Gordon built the barns and a part of the house. When Hiram G. bought, he improved and repaired the house. The Gordons are natives of Phelps, but their boyhood was passed in Galen. Mr. Gordon's first wife, Clara D. Kirkland, died in 1855, and his second, Anna Arnold, in 1889. Two children died in infancy, and Martha J., a young lady, in 1861. In addition to the fifty acres in the Rose farm, there are twenty-five in the Galen portion joining. Charles Harper, who works the farm, and with whom Mr. Gordon boards, married Esther Terry, and has two boys, George E. and Selah F. This was true in 1890, but now Mr. Chapin, late of Huron, tills the farm and Mr. Harper lives to the north.
Going northward we find Charles H. Stell, on the west side of the road, living on the Lester Gordon farm. Lester Gordon is a son of William, though in town parlance he was better known as "Bill" Gordon. There are twenty four acres in the place, and former owners were John Matthews, William Finch, Harmon Miner and many others. Seth Hale once bought this and possibly a part or all of the next farm south, from Stokes, the Clyde glass manufacturer, for 1,000 cords of wood. He failed, however, to keep his contract. Stokes purchased of a Watson.
Still further along, in the same direction, is the farm of Henry Tindall, who married a daughter of the widow of Leonard Mitchell, residing west of the Valley, and here lives Frank Finch, son of Selah, who resides at the next turn to the east. This is the old Bowles place, and the militant minister resided here when he had his famous encounter referred to in the history of the Methodist Church. The house was built by Ebenezer Stone many years since. Tindall bought of Nathaniel Campbell.
20
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Frank Finch married Mary Eagan, and they have two children, Albert and a little girl. The house was built by Seth Hale.
This whole section has been subjected to changes innumerable. When the higher acreage, all around, was taken up by permanent settlers, this was deemed almost valueless land, and it was only when General Adams' ditch drained it measurably that it was considered arable. Hence there is no farm along this road for some distance that is identified with any old family name.
The fifty-acre farm of Jerome W. Tindall has seen many owners. Col. Samuel Briggs sold to Henry L. Cole, who passed the right of possession to Charles Howes. The latter went west, though he moved here, for a dwelling, the house that once stood on the Bert Shepard place in Galen, further south. After him came Stephen Weeks, then Abram B. Covell, who now lives in Sodus. The latter married Helen Griswold, a daughter of the late Lorenzo. They have one son, Ernest W. Mr. Tindall came here in April, 1890, from the northwest part of the town, a son of that Charles H. Tindall long identified with the remotest angle of Rose. He married Ida Clark, of Arcadia, and they have one son, Clark. Mr. T., like many farmers along this road, makes a specialty of growing and evaporat- ing the black raspberry.
The Valley district begins with the home of William Steitler, a little north of opposite, i. e., William S. lived there in 1890, but now Charles Harper and family abide. It requires a yearly enumeration to keep track of the dwellers in these parts. The farm belonged to Willis Horton, deceased, and he bought of Samuel Kelsey. Years ago this was the property of Malcom Little, who sold to Morris Conklin, his brother-in-law. The latter was a stone mason by trade, and during the Rebellion was a member of Co. A, Ninth N. Y. Heavy Artillery, a comrade of the writer. He was subsequently accidently killed in the west. There are eighty-four acres in the farm.
Should we turn to the right and take the east road, we should find no dwellers in this district, but should soon enter the confines of the Town neighborhood. Here are still standing parts of the primeval forest, un- polluted by the homes of men, save as vagrant Indians have, from time to time, lived among the trees in basket making expeditions.
On the north side of the corner dwell Selah Finch and wife. He is a brother of the Finches of the Wayne Centre district, and his wife, Melissa Wright, is a daughter of the English Charles Wright who once lived in the extreme eastern part of the town. Their home is an exceedingly neat and pleasant one. They have only one son, Frank, whom we have already met. There are forty-two acres in the farm, and it goes back to Dr. Dickson at least. One Page, of Clyde, once owned and Alonzo Streeter built the house. George Sherman once owned the place, and after him was
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Henry Cole, to whom succeeded Isaac Cole, and then came the present owner. The late Brownell Wilbur once owned several acres, east of Finch's farm, the eastern portion of the latter's place, and the writer has distinct recollection of several days' work done thereon, along with Marvin Wilbur, of Victor, all in a summer's "haying." It was there that I first saw a windrow roped to the loading place.
Occupying a commanding site from whatever direction it is regarded, the home of Lorenzo N. Snow is conspicuous on this Rose and Clyde turn- pike. Mr. S., a native of Madison county, came here in 1854, succeeding William B. Sears. What was the north part of his farm, he bought from Dr. Henry Van Ostrand. The fine brick house and the roomy barns were all constructed by Mr. S. In the place there are more than 250 acres, ex- tending from this north and south road to the next one west. Much of the land is as level as a floor, occupying, as it does, a large part of the swamp land that the famous Sodus canal of General Adams redeemed from almost hopeless moisture. Mr. Snow is much interested in blooded stock, both horses and cattle. He married Harriet L. Sexton, of Chenango county. Years ago, two brothers, Collins and Isaac Batt, owned the eastern part of the Snow farm with a log house, near where Charles Harper lives, and another near the Snow house. There were other owners before Sears. The latter had one son, Edson, and two daughters by his first wife, Emmaette. These daughters, Sarah and Emily, were successively the wives of a Mr. Reynolds, Emily dying first, leaving two children; Sarah has one child. The second wife, Martha E., survives, and has one child, who is Mrs. Frank Howard of Galen. He afterward lived near the white school- house, and was a member of the Baptist Church. The old Sears house was long a tenant house for Mr. Snow. A recent dweller was "Deck" Brewster, who married Albertine, daughter of Nelson Ferguson. (Ben- jamin Decatur Brewster, through his mother, is a member of the Butler- Kellogg family; his children are Lena, Nelson and Benjamin. The family is now in Syracuse. )
Opposite, and quite as pretty a figure as there is on this excellent road, is the home of John Collier. If you wish to make the acquaintance of Mr. C., you will have to call on him, for he is not one of those who favor taverns and groceries with their presence. He was born more than eighty years ago in Ireland, in County Carlow, near Dublin, and his people were of the Church of England, longer than memory recalls; he came to Rose in 1845. His wife-wedded in the old country-in girlhood was Hannah Cardiff. She has borne a numerous family, as follows : Alice, at home; John, who died in New York, where the family located on coming to America ; Mark T., known as "Tom," of the Valley, who married Sarah F. Zeluff, of Clyde; William, who died before' he was twenty-one, having been for some time the favorite clerk of J. C. Atkins, the toy dealer of
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Clyde ; Anna, the wife of Jerry Barrett, of Rose; Eliza (better known as Leila), at home ; John, for some time in business in Clyde, now at home, and George, who married Mamie E. Valentine, and keeps one of the stores in the Valley. Mrs. Collier died April 17th, 1892. Mr. Collier bought his farm of Thomas M. Warn; but the house then standing has been re- paired and improved beyond recognition. There are seventy acres in the farm. John Skidmore, who married Sally Bishop, also dwelt here for a time. It is probable that the farm was taken from the office by Martin Warner. If one delights in pleasant prospects, there is every reason why Mr. Collier should stay at home and enjoy the outlook that the south side. of his home affords. He is a pleasant man to meet, with just enough of a. brogue to let you know that the curl of his tongue was acquired in Green Erin.
The house which covers George Klinck and wife was old long before they were born. George, a son of the late Henry C. Klinck, and a grand- son of the late Artemas Osgood, has been married twice-first, to Lucinda. Harper, and second, to Viola Warren, of Walworth. William Matthews, of this village, preceded Klinck, and I have little doubt but the latter wishes that Matthews had retained possession till after the destructive tornado of 1888, which broke the windows of the house and destroyed valuable trees.
Deacon Walter Lyon came before Matthews, and he was the most noted of all the possessors here. He was born in Woodstock, Conn., and came to Rose from Holland, Mass. This township is one of the most sterile in the southern part of the Commonwealth, and the frugality necessary to make a living there followed him to this fertile locality. It was early in the forties that he came among us. His first wife was Lucretia
who died in 1846. Their children were Amos, who taught singing schools in Rose, and finally went east, and died; Lathrop, who went to Gratiot county, Mich .; Winthrop, a wagon maker in Clyde, dying there; and Emer- son, who married a Whittlesey, of Galen, and went to Michigan; a daughter, Elmina, died in 1850, at the age of twenty-one years. He sub- sequently married Roxana, the widow of Deacon William Briggs. She survived till 1880, dying then at the age of eighty-five years. Deacon Lyon was long one of the most noteworthy figures in Rose. There are many who can still recall his tall and, as years came upon him, somewhat bowed form. He was as regular as clock-work in going to church, and every line in his face betokened devotion to what he considered right. His title was obtained before coming to Rose. He was extremely careful in his speech, determined to say only good of every man. But even deacons have troubles, and a line fence was a source of much bickering with a neighbor, and things didn't go to suit him at all. Even then he came no nearer a reproach than the following : Speaking of his neighbor's.
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son, he was wont to say : "A fine boy, a very fine boy ; very smart. He has an excellent mother, a beautiful woman; but his father-well, we won't say anything about him." If everybody were equally discreet, there would be less suits for slander. He lived to be very aged, and even then passed off the stage by his own hand. He was about eighty-four at his death, and it was the general opinion that he was not in his right mind at the time. The last home of himself, his first wife and daughter is in the neglected burying ground by the white school-house. He was a life-long member of the Baptist Church. John Wade built the house and lived here-some years.
Between the Presbyterian elder and the Baptist deacon, came the oc- cupancy of Samuel Jones ; he was a native of Albany county, and his wife, Lydia Gardner, was from Hudson. He later kept the south hotel in the village, and finally moved to Williamson. Of his children, Peter went to Sparta, Wis .; Rachel died in Chicago; Elizabeth in Williamson; John is in Adrian, Mich .; Lydia A. is Mrs. Hamel Closs; Mary Jane became the wife of the late David Ellinwood; George is in California, and Abbie, Mrs. Dr. Kimball, resides in Adrian, Mich.
Nearly opposite is a house that has latterly taken on a new lease of life. It belonged to Lyman Legg, and in it his son, DeLancey, resides. His wife is Fanny, a daughter of Nelson Ferguson, once residing in No. 7, and who will be remembered as marrying a daughter of Abram Phillips. (They have one child, Stella. ) This place has belonged to many owners, as Lorenzo Snow, Dr. Henry Van Ostrand and Jesse O. Wade. The latter is a son of John Wade, one of the earliest settlers. His wife was Milly, a sister of Dr. Van Ostrand.
Then comes the home of William McMurdy, born in Ulster county. His wife is Mary Wolever, and they came to Rose in 1882. They have only one child, Agnes, recently married to John W. Crisler, of Rose. The farm of eighty-eight acres is entirely of the perfectly flat character so peculiar to this section. Brownell Wilbur and family preceded the present owner, coming here from the Fuller place, and going hence to Victor. The house was built by Mr. Van Ostrand. Before him was Mr. Hoag, a wagon maker, who afterward lived in District No. 8.
The house just to the north, now nearly destroyed, was long the home of John Bassett and wife, they coming here from the Valley. The black- smith shop was a little south of the house. It yielded to time some years ago. There are twenty-five acres in the place. Truman Van Tassell, a Methodist minister, traded this place with "Uncle" John Bassett for the latter's village lot. These good people were long members of the Methodist Church, but the story goes that "Uncle" John once lost the run of the days of the week and went to work on Sunday in his shop. He was horrified when informed of his profanation. "Uncle" John's old horse was a good
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Methodist, too. In the days of the stone church, the beast one Sunday morn grew tired of waiting for the old people and went on up to the Valley alone, stopped at the horse block, and then walked demurely back to his place under the shed. The blacksmith followed in time, proud of the possession of so orthodox a beast. The Bassetts had an adopted son, who strayed away and was last heard from in Australia, writing thence to Eron N. Thomas. Mrs. B. was a sister of the late Mrs. Solomon Allen.
The home of William H. Griswold is one of the oldest houses on the street. In the early matrimonial days of Eron N. Thomas, it was nearly as it is now, only a few additions having been made. The first Mrs. Thomas cooked in the then cellar kitchen. This is still the largest farm in one body in the town. There are 313 acres in it, running back into the eastern swamps, a long ways from the road. In addition to the barns near the house, there is a very large one some rods back, to the east. Extensive young orchards give promise of fruitful wealth in years to come. Eron Thomas took from his father, Charles, who probably bought this farm of John Covey, April 18th, 1826. There were then 100 acres. Mr. Rhinehart now tills the farm. William Griswold is a son of Lorenzo, met in the ex- treme northern part of the Jeffers district. Lorenzo was a nephew of the first William G., of the district bearing his name. It will be remembered that this William lived for many years on the Griswold corner. He married Julia, a daughter of James Weeks, of the Jeffers district. Their children are Charles E., who has taught school for some time in Idaho; Mary Almeda, now the wife of Dr. Frank S. Barton, of Clyde; and Frank W., at home. The family now reside in Clyde.
Crossing the road, the home of Stephen Weeks is found. He is a son of James Weeks, of District No. 11, and his wife was Margaret Grenell, of Galen. They have only two children-Edith L., at home, and George R., who four years since sought happiness and wealth in California. (Mrs. W.'s mother, Adelia, widow of Henry Grenell, died here January 5, 1892, aged 82 years. ) The farm of forty-four acres was bought of Jerome Thomas, who purchased from the Alonzo Snow estate. Here, too, lived once Johnny Ogram, the most famous shoemaker ever in Rose. One old- time owner was Rufus Dann, a college graduate and a most polite gentle- man. Ogram went from here to Fulton. Mr. Dann was one of those singular freaks of nature called an Albino.
Ex-Deputy Sheriff John H. Barnes is the motive power in the next stopping place. Since his taking possession, he has instituted many improvements. The location of the outbuildings has been changed, and he has done a deal of " slicking up." He found a wife in Elizabeth Stack, whose family was met in District No. 8, and they have one daughter, Jessie May. Longer than many Rose people remember, this place was called the Austin farm. Ezra Austin was a native of Herkimer county,
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as was also his second wife, Huldah A. Allen. They were married in 1838, and came to Rose in 1841, buying of Thomas Knight. Mr. Austin died in 1862, his wife in 1885. There were Austin children as follows : by a former marriage, Hubbard, who died unmarried, and Charlotte, the first wife of William Allen, who went west; by his second marriage, Edmund, married Lovina Ingersoll, and was killed at the Wilderness, a member of Company C, 111th N. Y. Volunteers ; James died in childhood; Charles Henry, a soldier in the Third Artillery, died at Newburn, N. C .; Mary Josephine, married William Hamm, and lives in the village; Ida E. died in childhood, and Irving, who married Jane Willis, and is a Rose citizen, on Lyons street. It was in the early days of her widowhood that Mrs. Austin allowed some of those rapacious, predacious lightning rod men to mount her buildings, to put on fifteen or twenty dollars' worth of rods. When the men came down, the ridges on the barns resembled nothing so much as elegant picket fences. The bill was $300, and Mrs. A. and her boys had to pay it. Thus the barns became as conspicuous as any on the Clyde road. To be sure, the farmer is not beset by that form of legalized robbery now, but he has to keep his eye peeled lest a greater evil come unto him. The sharper has long considered the farmer his own particular victim. Mrs. Austin sold to Charles Vanderpool, and he to Frank Parkes. This farm, with the one south, is connected with one of the earliest names in the town, viz., that of Milburn Salisbury. It is on record that a child of his was the first one born in the town, in 1812. To him succeeded Abel Lyon, father of the Moses Lyon noted in the annals of the Methodist Church in central New York. Then there was a Caguin, and after him Ezra Dann, brother of the one who lived at the same time on the present. Weeks farm. This Dann had a family, and finally sold to Ezra Austin, as stated. The Danns lived together in a house which now serves Stephen Weeks as a horse barn.
Somewhere in these parts was the scene of the following thrilling story, told by an old gentleman, who now lives in Michigan, but was once a Rose boy. The story is due to the kindness of Chester T. Sherman, who is much interested in all Rose matters :
A MURDER STORY.
At the time of the murder in Rose, we lived on the south side of the creek, and west side of the road to Clyde. Our grandparents lived on the north side of the creek, and east side of the road. It was about mid- summer-July or August, perhaps-I think, about 1827 or 1828. One evening grandmother came over to our house and said :
" Clara," for so she called mother, "did you hear somebody cry 'murder,' a little while ago, down toward Salisbury's ?
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Mother said : "Why, no."
"Well," said grandmother, "when I was milking, I heard some one cry, 'Murder, murder, murder !' just as plainly as I hear you talking here now."
" Oh," said mother, "it was children playing, I guess."
"No," said grandmother, "it was not; and I think there is trouble somewhere."
As no one in the neighborhood seemed to notice it, the matter dropped and nothing more was said about it. About a week after that, mother went to Clyde to do some shopping, and took me along with her. We rode with a neighbor, in a two-horse wagon, since carriages were not much in use in those days. About a mile from where we lived, on the road to Clyde, stood a log house on the west side of the road, and just on the north edge of a thick, heavy timbered, low piece of land, called "the gore." I think the land still belonged to the state or government. As we were coming home from Clyde, about sundown, we came to this log house and were stopped by the man who lived there. His name was Phelps. He was in a terrible state of excitement, and said : "What do you think my dog brought up this evening ?" No one could guess. "Well," said he, "he brought up a man's foot and leg as far as the knee, and here it is." Sure enough, in an hour or two, the whole of quiet little Rose Valley was all excitement, and every man turned out and all night long was looking for the body of the man. Some time in the next day, the body was found away back in the woods, lying on its back, with the throat cut from ear to ear and a razor lying on the ground near his right hand as though he had committed suicide ; but a club was found, near by, with hair on it, show- ing that it had been used first. The body was, of course, in a terrible state, for it had been lying there some days in the hot weather. A coroner's jury was called, of which my father was one. On examination of the clothes, father recognized them as those of a man whom he had seen at Thomas' tavern a few days before. He and several others happened to be at the tavern, when a stranger came in and asked for a pint of whisky, which Mr. Thomas put up for him in a flask. The man asked if there was land for sale around there, representing that he had means to purchase. Some one told him that there was a piece of land for sale about a mile below, and directed him to go to Mr. Phelps, just on the edge of the land, thinking that Mr. Phelps would go with him and look at the land. The man went out, and nothing more was thought of it until father's discovery.
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