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 8
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Coming back to the cross roads, by the home of George Rodwell, we shall have to go eastward again ; crossing a swampy stretch of land and climbing a hill, we are on the Butler line. At our right is a house which marks the former home of Sam. Kilburn, who sold to a Mr. Devoe. One of Devoe's daughters was the wife of John Stringer, whom we have seen as the first occupant of the Dudley Wade farm. My information concern- ing this family is exceedingly meagre, but I have the impression that the old people died here, and to them succeeded a grandson, John Devoe, who married a Howland, and afterward went to Illinois. The Devoe family was noted far and near for its musical ability; a talent often sought in scenes of country festivity. After Devoe came the Turners, and Charles Wright owned a part of the place. A Mr. Cummings, related to Wm. Haney, was here for a time. His daughter, Libbie, was, for a number of years, a teacher in Rose and Clyde. With her sister Mary, she is now in Chicago. Charles Covell, now county superintendent of the poor, owned the place for a while, and, I think, sold to Buckley, the present owner. John J. Buckley is Irish born, from county Kerry, though coming to Rose from Lyons. His wife is Annie Dwyer. Their children are Mary; Sarah, who is Mrs. Edward Welch of North Rose; Maggie, who married Matthew Kane of Throop; Edward, employed with New York Central Railroad ; Michael, John, and Martin. Mr. Buckley has repaired and improved the buildings, moving to this side a house, once standing nearly opposite. The town line runs through his sitting room, so he can take his choice as to the town he stays in. He has about 100 acres in his farm, having added to it the old Austin Roe place, across the way.
Opposite, many years since, there was a log house, in which lived Jonathan Fuller. He was not a careful farmer, but delighted more in roaming about the neighborhood and imbibing hard cider, than in putting in the " big licks" on his land. The story is told that the young men of the vicinity came one very bright moonlight night, cut and bound his very scant crop of wheat and set it up in proper form. Then getting a cow bell, they began to tinkle it. Soon the old man came out with his wife to drive away the intruding kine. But, however fast the old people ran, the cow ran faster, and effectually dodged them. It took the man some time to discover that the wheat had been harvested, but when he did, he nearly convulsed the boys by straightening himself up, and exclaiming : "By the eternal gods, Phoebe, that's no cow." The expression was long a by-word in the vicinity. The place finally came into Austin Roe's possession, and he held it until his sale to John B. Roe. Austin R. retained fifteen acres on the north and south road. A Mr. Harmon owned near this farm once, and I think the places were finally merged. One of the Harmons married Polly Lounsberry. A framed house was built on the north side of the road by a Mr. Irwin, I am told, who was a blacksmith. John B. Roe sold
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the whole farm to his son, Merwin S., who, with his first wife, began housekeeping here. He managed the place for a time, and then sold to Mr. Buckley, who moved the buildings to the south side, and thus identi- fied the two farms. The writer of these sketches has recollections of work in Merwin's barn that, to this day, induce waves of heat even to contem- plate. It was G. G. R.'s last summer on the farm, and that day's thresh- ing completely dispelled any notions that we may have had of making farming our life work. The Lockwood boys ran the thresher and they always made it lively for all concerned. The barley stack was on the west side of the.barn, and old Sol never sent his rays more directly nor pointedly than he did on that August afternoon. George and I were on the stack, and it was our duty to keep that voracious, cavernous maw full. Wellington never longed for Blucher or night as did we for the going down of the sun or the using up of that pile of barley. Pricked and nettled by barley beards, dusty beyond recognition, and completely parboiled by the sun and perspiration, we went home to wash up and to mutually sympa- thize. What bliss we extracted on the barn floor from those pails of water! We turned about in scrubbing, and I never shall forget George's thin voice as he remarked, while undergoing kneading at my hands: "If there is any easier work than this in the world, I am going to do it. You won't catch me on the farm another year." He spoke the truth ; it was his valedictory. Though tired as we were, and while going through the sitting room to bed, we changed our entire plans, and were completely revived by a communication from Aunt E., to the effect that we were invited up to F. H.'s to spend the evening. Instead of donning night garments, we put on our best, and were soon off to spend not only the evening, but a large part of the next morning. So quickly do the youthful body and spirit renew themselves.
In this district we have to travel in all directions, and we must now return to Wright's cross roads and journey northward. Old residents will readily recall a log house standing on the east side of the road, just opposite the Marsh place. Some apple trees now mark the vicinity. It gradually deteriorated until it became a barn and then only an occasional shelter for animals pasturing in the lot. I cannot name the builder, but in the earlier years of the century it was occupied by one Knapp, who, selling, moved to Nunda, Livingston Co. After him came an Allen and perhaps other occupants. Before this the land had become Austin Roe's. He retained it until his death, willing it to Austin M. Roe, his son, who sold to John B. Roe, to whose estate, I think, it now belongs. (Since sold to Wm. H. Sowls, who has erected a house and purposes to reside here.)
The Marsh place is one of the oldest in the district. Amos Marsh came from Connecticut, town of New Hartford, early in the century, and marry- ing Polly, sister of John Q. Deady, reared here his large family. He was
5
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a genuine pioneer and experienced all the viscissitudes of life among the Indians and wild animals. He had his hogs killed by bears and was him- self pursued by wolves. He entertained the vagrant Indian and reclaimed his home from the pristine forest. His log house was burned and his family had a narrow escape ; but he lived through all these trials till 1866, when he died at the age of sixty-nine. His wife died in 1873, aged nearly seventy-five. The children of thirty and more years ago will recall the large orchard which shut out the view of the house. This a severe storm of some years since, completely leveled. It not only destroyed the trees, but it nearly wrecked the barn and outbuildings. So from fire and wind the estate has had its share of suffering. The story is told of William, the oldest son, that being vexed at something, he one day seized an axe and proceeded to level his father's apple orchard. He was interrupted in this. diversion before he had played George Washington on all the trees, but with unappeased wrath, he joined the " forty-niners " for California, where he has since remained. (He died June, 1892, in Carson City, Nev.) Of the other children, Roswell, unmarried, lives on the farm, and this same farm bears excellent testimony to his care and diligence. On the hillside, toward the west, is, I believe, the only collection of maple trees still devoted to sugar making in this part of the town. There is hardly an old home near that has not its alder spiles and its old bailless kegs, telling of the sweet times of long ago ; but the trees have gone. Though not directly interested in the product, I hope this " sugar bush " may long continue to afford saccharine satisfaction to the family. Nearly all the family bear names that relatives before them had borne in the old Connecticut home. Roswell's great uncle, Roswell Marsh, was the largest land owner in the town of New Hartford. He was the nearest neighbor there to the Shepards, who, in fact, sold to him when they moved to this state. Amos was accompanied, on his immigration, by his brothers Uriah and Pendar, who after a time went further west. Coming back to Amos' family, we find Uriah, Henry and Cornelius-three young men of stalwart frame, good habits and industrious natures, who were for some years the favorite helps of neighboring farmers. Were John B. Roe living, he would readily add his testimony to these words. All of them enlisted in Company H of the 9th Heavy Artillery, and all were good soldiers, though Cornelius was discharged before the regiment left the defenses of Washington. Uriah. and Henry stayed through and were discharged with their comrades in 1865. I remember both the boys at Cold Harbor, and they were then just the same capable help to Uncle Sam that they had been in former years to my Uncle John. After the War, Uriah, named for his uncle, married his second cousin, Eveline Wadsworth, of Butler, and settled there. He died in 1890, as patriotic and deserving a son as our town ever produced. I have stood beside his grave, and with moistened eye have recalled many
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pleasant memories of my early friend, who, to me, had been in time of need like an elder brother. Henry married Mary, sister of William Desmond, and went to the west. Cornelius took for his wife Mrs. Jane Leaton, and now lives west of the Valley. Garrett, the youngest son, married Addie Clark, and has lived for several years in Clyde. He is a carpenter by trade. Of the daughters, Lydia married William Green of Glenmark ; Rebecca, as already stated, married Martin Saxton; Lorinda died at home, unmarried, in 1874; Matilda is at the old fireside. Amos Marsh's old mother accompanied him in his moving to the then west and narrowly escaped suffocation at the time of the burning of the house. She, too, I suppose, sleeps with her children and grandchildren in the burial ground near.
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SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 6, STEWART'S.
Nov. 17, 1887-Jan. 19, 1888.
This district, quite likely the first established within the limits of the town, was originally much larger than at present, including an area now supporting several schools. From the outset it has borne its present name, derived from the early settler, Lott Stewart, whose home was at the cross roads just north of the school-house. For seventy-five years some one of the name has lived on the site, and the corners deserve their appellation. Of the school-house itself, mention was made in earlier letters. This build- ing is a comfortable white structure, succeeding the old red one. Red was the favorite color in our grandfathers' days for school-houses. Doubtless it was cheap as compared with any other ; it made the edifice prominent, and as a logical sequence, I suppose, they thought the pupils might be well read. The red house went back to the log building, in which our grand- fathers themselves were instructed. To prevent undo hilarity, probably, on the part of their youth, the early settlers placed their first cemetery just a few steps to the east, and used it till about 1830. Memento mori, or remember to die, must have ever been before the children's eyes. Alvin Clark, brother of "Priest " Clark, was one of the teachers in the log school-house, and to illustrate the strictness of rule in those days, he severely whipped George Seelye for making a superfluous mark in his copy-book. Mr. Clark was very severe in school hours, but at recess and noon he could unbend. He snow-balled with the boys and flirted with the girls. It is even told that, one noon, when both arms were occupied in holding upon his knees two girls, he ordered William Kellogg, now of Cattaraugus county, to wipe his (the teacher's) nose, he having no hand to perform this very necessary act. What remark would such a perform-
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ance nowadays excite ? By a strange streak of fortune, the nearest house was Lott Stewart's tavern. This, a double log house, stood at the corner, where is now the home of George Stewart. Without any authoritative statement, I think we may claim this as one of the very earliest crossings in the town. The Galen salt road went very near this point, terminating at Port Glasgow, and the rather crooked way leading from the Valley to Wolcott must have followed the early slashing of Jonathan Melvin, Sr.
Lott Stewart was a very early settler from Saratoga county-Ballston Spa. His tavern was the first one outside of the village, and was long a halting place on the way to Wolcott and Rose. It stood on the north side of the road, about eight rods east of the corners, where now are the ruins of some Lombardy poplars. Under later usage, however, the inn would be quite too near the school-house. At this tavern in " ye olden time," the town meetings were held alternately with those at Wolcott. It is one of the mysteries of fate that with a tavern, school-house and the town meeting, not to mention the cemetery, this place should not have been the village instead of Rose. Very likely the division of the town of Wolcott, making Rose Valley the center of the new town, had much to do with its growth. This, one of the very earliest points to be settled in the town, was occupied by Lott Stewart, of Saratoga county. His second wife was Mary Harmon, a daughter of Alpheus, his nearest neighbor on the east. He had in all two sons and seven daughters. Of these, James succeeded him on the home estate, while he himself moved away from the neighbor- hood, dying in Cattaraugus county, as did his wife also. His first wife died before he left Saratoga county. By his first marriage he had a son, James, and two daughters, and by his second, one son, Allen, and five daughters-Hannah, Amanda, Lucy, Betsey and Cynthia. James Stewart married Fanny Lomis, of Yates county, and had one son, George D., and two daughters-Ann Eliza, who died unmarried in 1842, aged twenty-four, and Lydia, who married Richard Armstrong, of Butler, who went first to Waterloo, Iowa, and afterwards to Dakota. James Stewart had a good reputation as a farmer and neighbor, and died in April, 1862, aged seventy years. His wife died in Iowa. His son, George, who succeeded him on the old place, was one of the earliest converts to Second Adventism in the town, and from the early forties to the present he has been the most con- spicuous believer in the doctrine in the vicinity, carrying his faith in the Master's coming, in at least one instance, even to the extent of not putting in seed in the spring-he and his fellow believers thinking they would have other business before harvest time. His first wife was Sally Bump, who was the mother of Lawton J. Stewart, a young man of much promise, who died in 1861, at the early age of twenty-four. He lies, with his kindred, in the Collins burial ground. The mother herself died in 1849, aged forty. Mr. Stewart's second wife was Sally C. Cox. They have two children
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living-George H., a teacher in South Butler, and Mary E., who lives at home. Two daughters, Aurelia G. and Lillian E., died at the ages of eight and fifteen, respectively. The present Stewart house was long the wonder of the neighborhood on account of its two wings and its unusual size. It is considerably more than fifty years old. (From Mr. S. this farm passed to the late Mr. Soule of Rochester, and from him to Silas Lovejoy. The latter's son-in-law, Alfred Jones, now lives here. The house has under- gone several changes, being much improved thereby.)
Going toward the south from the corners, we find no residence till we reach the home of John Atkinson. Most people, recalling the place at all, will think of it as the former home of " Harl " Wright. The latter was one of those easy-going men who like a good story and who know all about their neighbors. His favorite by-word was "Godies," and many a time, in conversation with his nearest neighbor, J. J. Seelye, have I heard him say, "Godies, Jud, that won't do." His wife was a daughter of Jesse Olmstead. They had one daughter, who is the wife of Charles Reed (subsequently sheriff of Wayne county), of Huron. " Harl," in connec- tion with his small farm, was a carpenter by trade, and did much work in the vicinity. He died some years since and is buried in Wolcott. His father, Daniel, came from Tioga county and bought a small piece of land from the old Stewart estate, though I think he purchased directly from Nathaniel Center. He, too, was a carpenter. His death came in 1854, at the age of seventy-two. His wife, Mary Hyatt, survived till 1872, when she died, aged nearly eighty-two. Both are buried near the Seelye corners. How Mr. Wright's name, Albert, was metamorphosed into "Harl " would puzzle the most skillful philologist. He had seven brothers and sisters, as follows : Sylvanus; John; Henry; Augusta; Elizabeth, who married Eben Rising of the Valley ; Mary, wife of Wm. H. Saunders, well known in Wayne county ; and Jane, who became the wife of George Porter of Auburn. Mrs. Saunders has three children-one, George, married Leora, oldest child of Hudson Wood, and resides in New York City; another, Augusta, is the wife of J. J., son of " Ham" Closs. They live in Michigan ; the third, William A., is yet unmarried. Mr. Atkinson is English born, and of excellent reputation. His wife's maiden name was Allie Hield. They have one son, George, at home.
Just a few rods further along is the road taking us to Clyde, and facing this, years ago, was a log house. Very likely there is not a trace of the building now. I believe this was built by Simeon Hendricks, a good old Methodist brother, who was wont to say in meeting that his sins rested on his shoulders like a potash kettle. Both he and his wife were short and very stout, and betrayed in form and speech, as well as in name, their Dutch origin. They came from Herkimer county in 1816 to Galen. To this day people tell of the peculiar speeches that Mr. H. would make in
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meeting. "When night came, the d-1 would whisper to me that I was too tired to go to prayer meeting, but I would take my cane and start slowly for the school-house. The nearer I got, the less tired I felt, till, the meeting over, I would trip it home as lively as a boy." Again, describing an experience common, I guess, to all farmers, he told this story : "The hogs were in the corn. I tried to drive them out, but the more I ran, the more they did, till I knelt down and prayed. When I got up I shouted ' ste-boy,' and away they went, every one of them." He had nine children, but I can trace only a few of them. Barbara married Ralph Fuller, son of Erastus Fuller, living nearer the Valley ; Betsey was the wife of Peter Aldrich, a name well known in the vicinity ; Katy mar- ried William Aurand of Galen. There were other children, whose descendants live in this and adjoining towns. From this place they moved south to the Briggs neighborhood and there died. Delos Seelye and his wife here began housekeeping, and here their oldest child, Angeline, was born. Soon after his leaving, the house fell into decay and finally disap- peared.
Keeping the direct road south, on the east side of the road is an old, unpainted house, now unused, and fast falling to pieces. This site was the early home of the Aldriches. The first comer of the name was Micajah, from Chenango county. His wife was an Elliott, a relative of Mrs. George Seelye. In the inevitable log house dwelt, in time, Edward A. Aldrich, son of the preceding. At present I have no data concerning him, but I suppose he took up the line of march for the west. The first Aldrich and wife were buried in the old ground by the Stewart's school-house. After Aldrich, came Deacon David Foster, a gentleman of most excellent repute. He had a son, David. Two of his daughters married brothers named Lyon ; and one, Nancy, became the wife of Abram Knight of Clyde. On selling, the Fosters went to Sodus. A brother-in-law, Mr. Davis, bought of Foster a small tract, and built the next house to the south. This, from
the start, has borne a red color. Both Davis and Foster were from the east, and were most excellent members of the Presbyterian Church. Then came James T. Vandereof from Orange county. This name most unquali- fiedly betrays a Dutch origin. His wife was Martha Post, and their four children were born before leaving their old home. They settled first in Huron. Both are now dead, and lie in the Collins burial ground. The father died in 1870, with his son, William, in the Valley. Both of these people were estimable members of the Methodist Church. The oldest son, Post, married Isabella Hake in Michigan; afterward lived in Lyons, and there died. William and John, as noted in the account of the Town dis- trict, wedded Emily and Sarah Town, respectively. William, an excellent carpenter and joiner, lived in the Valley, where he died. John has already been noted as dead also. It has been mentioned in my hearing,
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as a noteworthy fact, that the sons were married in order, beginning with the youngest and so upward. All had one son each, and each wife had curly hair. The only daughter, Rachel, married James Burt, went west, and has long been dead. After leaving this farm, James T. Vandereof moved to Wolcott. To him succeeded Chester Lee, eldest son of Lyman Lee. His wife, Sally, was a daughter of Jabob Miller, who was Solomon Allen's predecessor on his place. Lee sold to Washington Ellinwood, or, at any rate, was succeeded by him. The latter had married Mary, a daughter of Lyman Lee, who died early in life, leaving a daughter, who became the wife of Philip Turner of the Valley. Both of them are dead. Mr. Ellinwood married again, and has for many years resided in the Valley. Till Mr. Cleveland's administration, he was the postmaster. A second daughter is the wife of Clayton Allen of this district. Lee moved to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he died twenty years ago. Of his family, Judson J. is a merchant in St. Louis, Mo .; and John W., a con- tractor and builder in Toledo. Both of these gentlemen retain a lively interest in their native town. To them is due the handsome monument to the memory of Lyman Lee in the Ellinwood burial ground. Next we find here Hudson Wood, son-in-law of Thaddeus Collins. He has been men- tioned somewhat at length in former letters. One daughter, Hattie, was born in the red house, which thereafter became the principal house on the farm, the old wood colored one being relegated to the back seat, as it were. In it Wood lived for a part of a year after selling, and before moving to Butler. It might be possible to name each family that has lived in the building, but it wouldn't pay. One family, however, merits more than a passing notice, that of Michael Marsteiner, always known in these parts as " Mike." The honors of his house were fully equally shared by his frau, Rene, whom the neighbors called "Rayner." In hiring them for farm work, the farmers rather preferred the nominally weaker vessel, claiming that she could do more work than her husband. He had been a soldier in the Bavarian army, and as such had received a bad wound in some one of the engagements into which the paternal (?) government had forced its subjects. This breaking out occasionally, made him at times something of an invalid, but "Mike" would work as long as he could stand, and so would his wife. I believe there was no kind of farm work which she could not do with wonderful success. As to her housekeeping qualities, I am not prepared to speak, but certainly her two children, whenever they appeared in public, were clean and neat. Rene had very little time to devote to mere care of her progeny, and when the first one was a week old, the mother was hard at work in the field, while the baby was lying conveniently near on the ground. One day some people passing the house, saw the strange sight of a small child suspended from the door latch by his shirt flap. When the second child came, the first one was
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promoted to baby tender, while the parents were at work without. It seems that the lad, then two years old, had climbed into a chair for some purpose, and, in turning about, had caught his garment, the only thing he had on, upon the projecting latch. In his effort to release himself, the chair had fallen over and there was the infant in almost as perilous a. position as was the youthful Putnam, when only the hem of his trousers leg saved him from a head-long fall from the tree. It is said that the baby balanced very well, and that his frantic arm and leg motions indi- cated great talent in the swimming line. The passer-by soon liberated the child, much to his own relief and that of his scarcely older sister. The Marsteiners were very saving as well as industrious, and in time owned a farm near Lock Berlin. Louis, the son, now married, lives upon it. " Mike" and his wife and, possibly Mary, the daughter, live near Roch- ester. Hudson Wood sold to James Sheffield and his son, Kendrick. The latter we have already mentioned as a resident of District No. 7. The father, a brother of Mrs. Geo. Seelye, was born in Northumberland, Washington county. He was a son of Dr. James Sheffield, who afterward moved to Chenango county, town of Sherburne. His wife was Lucy Stevens of Troy, Bradford county, Penn. He was considerably past middle life when he came to this town, but his fervor on all topics in which he was interested, and his eloquence on all religious subjects, few who knew him will ever forget. To me his face was wonderfully suggestive of that of Lafayette, as I have seen the same depicted in print. His stay in the red house was not continuous, he living for a while in the Peter Aldrich house. But, coming back to this abode, he died here in 1859, aged nearly sixty-five. He was a life-long Baptist. "Aunt" Lncy, his wife, did not rejoin him till 1874, at the age of seventy-four and past. Her home was with her sons, Joel and Kendrick, but much of her time was passed with her sister-in-law, Mrs. . Deacon Seelye, at whose home she died. Every- where her sunny, genial nature assured her a most cordial welcome. Their eldest son, Willard, lived and died in New York, but is buried in Rose. The latter's son, James, also a resident of New York, is one of the most devoted of the summer dwellers at Charles' Point. ( His wife is Cassie H., daughter of the late Hon. Thos. Johnson of Savannah.) His sister, Sarah, is the widow of Linus Osgood. Beside Kendrick, Mr. S. had other sons-Judson, who died in Chenango county ; and Joel, now the postmaster of Rose. The Sheffields sold to Charles Mirick, son of George Mirick, one of the town's oldest and best known citizens. He in time sold, and after keeping a store for a time in Clyde, moved to Adrian, Mich. His successor was Gleason Wickwire from Madison county. He is a relative of the Seelyes ; second cousin, I believe, of George and Delos. His second wife is Eliza Chase of Hamilton, herself a sister of the wife of Kendrick Sheffield. Mr. W. has pretty nearly passed the management of
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