USA > New York > Niagara County > Souvenir history of Niagara County, New York : commemorative of the 25th anniversary of the Pioneer Association of Niagara County > Part 22
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"The route along the ridge to Averill's Corner, where we struck the 'North Woods,' was delightful. As the land from that point was swampy we had to abandon the wagons
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
and repack our goods up on queer looking sleds. A place was hollowed out for the children, while my mother followed on foot, weeping at the prospect of a home amid such sur- roundings. Great care had to be used to prevent the sleds being overturned in the mud and water as they made their way over stumps and roots of trees and through hollows.
"Near the site of the present Village of Ransomville we received a hearty welcome in the home of my father's sister, Mrs. Newton Phelps.
"A clearing was at once begun upon the claim. A few trees were felled and the home built. It was the regulation log house; the cracks chinked and filled with mud. The shingles were home made and fastened to the rafters by pegs and poles. When the chimney reached the chamber floor a lug pole was placed across for the support of the chain, from which the kettle was hung. Sometimes the roaring fires burned this pole in two, and then away went the dinner. The chimney was made of sticks, laid up cob- house fashion, and plastered with mud. At the doorway a blanket was hung till a door with wooden hinges could be made-only this poor protection between the wolves and the babies-yet I never heard of a house being entered by a wild beast. A greased paper served for glass till that could be procured. The house had no partitions, and in one corner was the bed. Under this was placed the children's trundle bed. A home-made table and chairs completed the furnish- ings.
"In front of the house stood a large stump which my father transferred into a baking oven in this way : He leveled it off, plastered it thickly with mud mortar, then laid a con- ical pile of wood upon the mortar. A round stick coated with mud was inserted at the back near the stump. The pile was coated with mud within and without, then fired, making a clay oven. The stick inserted being burned out formed the draft.
"Space was needed for the corn, wheat, flax and or- chard, so the grand trees were felled and burned. We cry shame! and waste! but what those pioneers needed was space, not wood.
"The drinking water was obtained from shallow holes near the houses, which, filling with leaves, became breeding places for infusoria and disease. Fever and ague seized the early settlers with a fiendish grasp and shook them till they wanted someone to hold them still; shook them till their teeth chattered and their bones ached. Then followed a burning fever, accompanied by racking pain in the head and back and a terrible melancholy.
"But the people got well, the 'clearings' increased in size, grain glistened in the sun, in the 'slashings' luscious blackberries were ripening. Prosperity turned her smiling face toward the little colony."
Mrs. Baker well remembers when letter postage was twenty-five cents, and the general rejoicing when it was re- duced to eighteen cents.
The strictest economy prevailed. Ashes from the elm backlog took the place of saleratus; maple sugar and syrup furnished the sweets, wild berries the first fruit. Soap was made from lye leached from wood ashes and refuse fat and grease. The clothes of the family were made from flax and wool produced on the farm. The farm implements were of the rudest construction. The three-cornered drag was made from the crotched part of a tree, each prong seven or eight inches in diameter, flattened to the proper thickness, with two-inch holes, in which were inserted the wooden teeth, made from hard wood, generally hickory, oak or iron-
wood. The plow was as primitive, but was very soon sup- plied with an iron share and mould board. The grain was cut with a sickle and the grass with a scythe.
PORTER FROM 31800 TO 1825.
Transitory settlements were made by the French within the limits of the town, but actual settlement and occupation date from about 1800. John Lloyd, a soldier in the garri- son, stationed at Fort Niagara, is reported to have had the honor of being the first man to settle. This was in 1801. The records of the Holland Land Company show that the following persons took up land before the war: In 1803, Elijah Doty, John Waterhouse, Silas, Peter and Obadiah Hopkins, Conrad Zittle, who settled at Zittle's Corners, Ephriam Hopkins, John Clemons, Robert Bigger, James Benedict and William McBride, 1804; Ephriam and Samuel Hopkins, John Freeman and John Wilson, 1805; William Coggswell, who taught the first school the following year ; Jonathan Jones, Abijah Perry, father of William Perry, the first child born in the settlement, 1806; Jonathan Lutts, Pe- ter Ripson, John Brown and John McBride. In 1808 Isaac Swain removed from the Military Road, in Niagara, and set- tled on the farm occupied by his son, William Swain, one of the oldest men living, who was born in the town, being eighty-one years old. About this time came Michael and Jacob Lutts, William Arbuthnot and Michael Heims, who first owned the farm that was afterward the property of Pe- ter Tower. Owing to the unsettled condition of affairs along the frontier no further settlements are recorded until after the war.
While the history of the frontier will be given elsewhere a few incidents related by men and women, who heard them direct from their parents, may not be amiss giving, as they do, a glimpse from actual life of the home along the border in time of war.
William Swain, previously mentioned, tells of the escape of his father's family the night of December 18, 1813. "The army marched past so quietly that the family was not dis- turbed, but they were awakened by the sound of musketry at the fort. My father went to an elevation near the house and saw the flashes of the guns. As the noise soon ceased it was evident that the fort was taken. It did not require a messenger to notify them that their lives were in danger, and packing what food and clothing they could on a mo- ment's notice they proceeded, drawn by a team of oxen, to Warren's Corners, via the Creek road and the ridge."
Mrs. Marcelia Ripson, daughter of John Lloyd, whose home was about three miles from the fort, relates the fol- lowing :
"At the time of the invasion of New York by the Eng- lish, in 1813, two different detachments of foragers visited my father's farm. The first time my mother, who was in bed with a young babe beside her, saw the soldiers coming down the road. There was quite a large sum of money in gold and silver in the house, so she directed my sister to drop it in an old bake kettle and cover it with some potato pear- ings that were near at hand. The house was carefully searched, but no money was to be found. One of the men started to search the bed, but the commanding officer told him to stop instantly or he would cut him down. A few weeks later my mother again saw them turning the corner. Stepping to the back door she threw the bag of money as far as she could and again it was saved. This time the horses and cattle were confiscated.
About this time occurred the assault upon the wife and daughter of Michael Lutts, which was the cause of the unre-
SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
lenting hatred of the latter that cost the life of many an English soldier, as he and his brother, Jacob, carried on their work of death, shooting any stray soldier, or soldiers, with as little compunction as they would have shot a wolf. Mrs. Ripson remembers hearing her parents tell how her mother, Mrs. Lutts, and Mrs. Abijah Perry were sent with their families and what provisions had escaped the raiders to a vacant house on the ridge, somewhere east of Averills, where they staid till it was considered safe to return. Ru- fus Pratt, of Ransomville, has in his possession a shotgun and some silver spoons which were the property of Michael Lutts, who was his grandfather.
After the war came the following: 1814, Joseph Mc- Collum and Rudolph Clapsaddle, and John Vrooman, who was captured by the Indians in Schoharie County during the Revolution. Later he was rescued and taken to Mon- treal. In 1815 Peter and Otis Tower and John Mclaughlin. Peter Tower was the first carpenter and cabinet maker in the town. After a few years he settled on the Tower farm, and in connection therewith kept a small store for many years, and did much for the town. In his home William Morgan was concealed, and when the house was searched he remained safe under a pile of rags. Some silver spoons belonging to Morgan are in the family yet.
In 1816 came William and John Clapsaddle. The year following John built a sawmill and a gristmill at what is known as Tryonville. These were the first mills in the town. Before 1807 the milling was done in Rochester, or across the lake. In 1807 a mill was established at Schlosser, and in 18II one on the Eighteen-Mile Creek. The grain was carried on horseback, and when it was impossible to go to mill the grain was cooked, either whole or pounded, and eaten with milk or maple syrup.
In 1817 the first clearing was made, in what is now Ran- somville, by Gideon Curtiss. He kept a log tavern for a few years and then abandoned it. His brother, Capt. Gilbert Curtiss, soon after settled near him, and as soon as his cir- cumstances would warrant returned to Connecticut afoot to wed the girl to whom he had plighted his troth before start- ing out to the far West to seek his fortune. It is said that the first apple trees in this part of the town grew from seeds brought by them from their Eastern home. John Robert- son and Richard Smithson came about this time. Jacob Moote settled at an early day at what is known as East Porter; also the Simmons and Richard Cuddaback. Ste- phen Eaton, father of the late Judson Eaton, in 1820; also Thomas Brighton, who still resides in the village of Youngs- town.
In 1823 Jonathan Moss, who settled at Moss' Cor- ners, and Harvey Baker, father of Daniel, David, Dillman, Warren and Stephen Baker, who all settled in Porter.
Mrs. Van Syckles, a daughter of Jeremiah Dyer, whose father settled on what was afterward known as the Shaw farm, says that three events which have been graphically described by Fanny Fern transpired at Moss' Corners: "The Death of Little Johnny Runnells;" "The Young Naturalist who Tried to Teach her to Swim," and "How Little Joe Ironed the Bear."
Little Johnny became lost in the woods. The neigh- bors far and near, and Indians from the Tuscarora Reserva- tion, joined in the search. Signals were agreed upon, guns were fired and torches used. Once a place was found where the child had gathered leaves and made a bed. Again they found the marks of his little teeth in the bark of a tree.
After three days his body was found beside a log with his jacket wrapped around his bare feet. It was thought the noise, and perhaps the Indians, frightened him, causing him to conceal himself, as they found that several times they had been very near him.
The second lad showed his fondness for the water by running away to sea. He was finally drowned in a ship- wreck.
Little Joe was sent to Aunt Elsie's (Mrs. Jonathan Moss') to borrow the flatirons, and on his way home saw a bear over the fence. He crept up cautiously to try to iron bruin's shaggy coat, but was doomed to disappointment, as Mr. Bear trotted off in the woods. Joe afterward became an editor in one of our large cities.
In addition to land owners are to be mentioned John Young, who kept the first store in Youngstown, in 1808, and from whom the village derived its name; Edward Gid- dings, who served in the war, and was at the close ap- pointed lighthouse keeper. Burton & Son kept the first tannery, a prime necessity in a new country. This was built before the war. The first tavern was kept by Robert Grun- sett at an early day, and after his death by his widow. The village was burned in 1813, but was rebuilt soon after and the business conducted by about the same persons. At a very early date mail was carried on horseback between Fort Niagara and Canandaigua. Later stage coaches were put on between Canandaigua and Lewiston and Niagara Falls, a connecting line running between Lewiston and Youngstown. During this period a mail carrier on horseback carried mail between Fort Niagara and Rochester. After the establish- ment of the postoffice in Ransomville it came through that village. The first postmaster in Youngstown was Judge Hinman, who was appointed about 1820.
In 1818 Dr. Hyde, the first physician, settled in Youngs- town. He was the Good Samaritan of the surrounding country, riding day and night, many times when there were scarcely well ones enough to care for the sick.
The price paid by the settlers for their land was from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre, one-tenth down and the remainder on easy payments. It was no uncommon thing for men to walk to Batavia to make their payments, sometimes taking their last horse or team of oxen for that purpose.
The rough life of the frontier characterizes this period. A description of the village, in 1823, says that there were three taverns out of the dozen buildings in the town. Whiskey was so cheap that everyone could have it, and al- most everyone did have it. There were no churches and school was poorly sustained. The only religious services were those held by itinerants. In the year 1823 a Presbyte- rian society was formed, and after the building of the school house in that year services were held there for several years. In 1821 a Methodist class was formed, at East Por- ter, largely through the efforts of Jacob Moote and George Ash.
The first record of a town meeting that can be found is given as April 11, 1815. At this meeting Dexter Sprague was elected Supervisor, and Elijah Hathaway, Town Clerk ; Nathaniel McCormick, Joseph Pease and Thaddeus Sturges, Assessors; Conrad Zittle and Zebulon Coates, Overseers of the Poor; Benjamin Kemp, John Martin and John Brown. Commissioners of Highways ; David Porter and Thaddeus McIntyre, Constables: David Porter, Collector; Conrad Zittle and David Porter, Pound Keepers.
No other complete record can be found until 1819. the year following the setting off of Wilson. This meeting was
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
held at the house of Peter Tower. The following officers were elected : Michael Helms, Supervisor ; Thomas Brown, Town Clerk ; Jonathan Bell, George Ash and William Doty, Assessors; John Dunlap, Collector; Conrad Zittle and Daniel Kelly, Overseers of the Poor; Conrad Zittle, Daniel Kelly and Richard Cuddaback, Commissioners of High- ways; Moses Barto, A. G. Hinman, John Hyde, Commis- sioners of Schools; Jonathan Bell and Isaac Swain, Inspec- tors of Schools; John Dunlap, Constable; Daniel Kelly, Poundmaster.
PORTER FROM 1825 TO 1850.
Some of the settlers who arrived, about the beginning of this period, are: Jason Davis and son, Bradley, who started a general merchandise as J. Davis & Son. Upon the death of the father it was continued by Bradley Davis. About 1870 N. D. Haskell, who married Mr. Davis' daugh- ter, was taken into the firm, and the name was changed to B. D. Davis & Co. The firm discontinued business upon the death of Mr. Davis.
The firm of Emerson & Beals was in existence nearly half a century. About 1895 it became Beals & Eaton. W. H. Doyle, another prominent man in the place, settled in 1835. Others were John Carter, John Hutchinson, Eras- tus Downer, Lyman Whittaker, Charles Wille, William Mc- Cormick. In the east end of the town were Charles Quade, who kept the first store, and for a short time afterwards a hotel, in Ransomville, which was then called Quade's Cor- ners. Mrs. Quade was the daughter of the lighthouse keeper in Niagara when Gen. McClure crossed over and burned the town. The lighthouse, with two or three others, were the only buildings spared.
The following entries in the account book of Mr. Quade, in 1829, taken from five different men's accounts, give an idea of the kind of business done. W. stands for whiskey, Br. for brandy :
W. 3-6, 2 prs mitts 4-31 3/4 yds factory 30-8. . $4.76
I pr. shoes 3-6 2 qt W. 1-6 I fur hat 28- 4.13
2 qt W. 1-6 I pr. suspenders 3-6, W. - 6 12s. paper ī -. . 81 W. 1-6, I churn 3-6, I cream pot 14 I basin I- W I-6 .. I.IO W. - IO, W. - 10, candy -6 W. 14 W and Br. 12, W 74, I hat 6 -. 1.48
(The author is much indebted to a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Quade, Miss Ann Quade, for much valuable informa- tion in the the preparation of this article.)
Dr. Catlin, the first doctor in Ransomville ; Clark Ran- som, after whom the village was named, and who succeeded Mr. Quade in the store business, was also the first postmaster. William Kyte, father of Francis Kyte, who has lived in the town since 1829. W. H. H. Ransom, in 1839, who succeeded his uncle, Clark Ransom, in the store in 1842. E. T. Ransom was taken into the business about 1875, under the firm name of W. H. H. Ransom & Son. Business is done yet under the same name, although the father died a number of years ago. They have carried on the most ex- tensive business in the town.
The following may explain the secret of the success of the two firms, Davis & Son in the west end, and Ransom & Son in the east end of the town: W. H. H. Ransom was a carpenter, and before embarking in the mercantile bus- iness worked at his trade. He built the Davis dock, and Monday morning with his tools on his back he walked to Youngstown, and it is said that the only man he found up in the town was Jason Davis.
The staple product during this epoch was wheat. This period also marks the planting of the greater part of the ap-
ple orchards. A great stimulus was given this industry by the growing demand of the markets of the Middle West States. The smaller fruits were raised merely for family use. The first cook stove in Ransomville was purchased in 1832 by Charles Quade for twenty-five dollars. It had one large griddle on top for a large kettle, but the cooking was mainly done on top. It had an oven and was the wonder of the village.
Joseph Fowler, Sr., built a water sawmill in Rasomville. on the farm owned now by Mrs. Agnes Ransom, about the year 1825. The west branch of the Twelve-Mile Creek was turned slightly out of its course to provide the power. With the clearing of the land the water failed, and in the forties it was replaced by a steam mill, on the site of the present basket factory. This sawmill was operated until about 1875. With the failing of the supply of water the mills at Tryon- ville were abandoned after being used but a few years, and the town was without a gristmill until 1840, when the stone mill was built in Youngstown. There were also sawmills for a short time on the Creek road and at Kyles Corners.
On the Harris farm, just across the line in Wilson from Mr. Fowler's, were some salt licks (not a particle of vegeta- tion grows on them to this day), which were much fre- quented by deer. Like unruly cattle, they were wont to break over into the adjoining corn field, doing considerable damage. Mr. Fowler determined to stop this practice. So he drove down some stakes, shaved off a sharp point, just inside the fence where they were in the habit of jumping over. This was against the law, but it seemed to be the only way to protect his crop. One morning on going to his traps he found three deer impaled on the stakes.
In 1840 the Ransomville House was built by Capt. Cur- tiss, which continued to be a public house for many years. The same year Alexander Barton engaged in the hotel bus- iness in Youngstown, and continued in it till his death. The stone hotel was built in 1842 by Alexander Lane.
The Presbyterian Church, of Youngstown, was the first in the town. This was completed in 1837, enlarged in 1840, and rebuilt in 1890. The first pastor was Rev. Mr. Everett. St. Bernard's Parish, Roman Catholic, was estab- lished in 1830. A chapel was instituted and supplied by priests from Lewiston and Suspension Bridge. They oc- cupy a neat frame building at the present time. The Bap- tist Church, of Ransomville, was organized in 1834, and the building erected in 1837, Rev. Samuel Olney being the first pastor. The church was remodeled in 1870; parlors were added in 1900, and in the present year, 1902, a baptistry. A Methodist Episcopal class was formed at Zittle's Corners, in 1838, under the leadership of Rev. William Buck, with services held in the schoolhouse.
By 1830 School Districts two, at Tower's Corners; three, on the Creek road; four, at Zittle's Corners ; five, at East Porter ; six, at Ransomville; seven, at Moss' Corners, and eight, in the Brown district, were organized, and school- houses built in most of them. By 1850, nine on the Lake road, the Clark district ; ten, at Kyle's Corners; eleven, in the north part of the town, and a district No. 12, be- tween Zittle's and Tower's Corners, which was annulled be- fore 1860. The Lutts district was formed soon after the dis- solution of this district, and became No. 12. District eleven was dissolved in 1890 and the territory annexed to adjoining districts. No. 12 was then changed to No. II, its present number.
PORTER FROM 1850 TO 1875.
At the beginning of this period three-fourths of the land
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
in the town was cleared and fenced. Most of the log houses had been replaced by frame ones. The corduroy roads had given place to better worked earth ones. A plank road was in use between Ransomville and Averills, with a tollgate at the east edge of the township. This old tollgate house is in use as a dwelling near the site occupied by it at that time.
A stage route was established from Youngstown to Lockport, which carried the mail daily.
The first mowers were introduced about 1855, but did not begin to come into general use until 1863. Horserakes preceded the mowers; the three successive stages being the revolving rake, the rake dumped by hand power and the self-dumping. Reapers followed soon after the mowers. Like the rake, they have gone through three stages. On the first ones a man pushed the grain off the platform. This was followed by revolving rakes, and about 1880 by self- binders.
In 1852 the Niagara Falls and Lake Ontario Railroad Company was formed, to build a road from Niagara Falls to Youngstown. The road was opened as far as Lewiston in 1854. By the terms of the charter the stockholders be- came holden for the payment of the stock when the road was completed so that trains could run the length of it. October 21, 1855, a train ran to Youngstown. Soon after work was suspended and the track torn up. Eventually the road was sold for taxes and the land reverted to the original owners.
In 1852 the Niagara County Protective Association was organized at Curtiss' hotel. Clark Ransom, John Pow- ley and Judge Sage, of Pekin, being the charter members. It was the outgrowth of the loss of a valuable span of horses by Clark Ransom. It has been the means of driving out the business of horse thieving, which had become quite a serious matter in the County. It now has about 500 members. This was the first society of the kind in the State.
John Carter built the first brick yard in the town about 1850. About 1860 a brick yard was started on the farm now owned by William Ward, just north of Ransomville. Mr. West conducted the work. In 1867 W. H. H. Ransom opened one on his farm and manufactured several million brick. He took the contract of furnishing a large quantity to the Government, which were used at the fort in facing up the "bomb-proof" walls of the fortifications.
Youngstown was incorporated in 1854, upon a petition presented to the Legislature by Ira Race and others. George Swain was the first village president.
The following churches were built-In 1851, the Porter Center Methodist Episcopal, William Barrett, pastor; the Methodist Episcopal Church, at East Porter, in 1852; the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Youngstown, in 1854, John Bowman, pastor; the Wesleyan Methodist Church, in Ran- somville, about 1850.
Youngstown during this time was a good market for wheat and small fruits, the former going to Oswego, where it was shipped; the latter to Canadian markets. The princi- pal shippers were Emerson & Beals, W. H. Doyle and James Marshall. Lewiston and Lockport were the other mar- kets for produce.
It is to be feared that the law was not always complied with regarding the payment of revenue, and it is claimed that great quantities of goods, especially whiskey and woolen cloth, were landed along the lake shore in the vicinity of the Four and Six-Mile Creeks, and carried overland to towns along the Erie Canal and reshipped to other markets. Smuggling was carried on most extensively during the Civil War.
The part taken by Porter in the great Civil War is one of which her citizens may well be proud. Many of the brave boys who responded to their country's call fell on the battle field or languished in Southern prisons. Mourning and grief were in many homes. Let us honor their mem- ory. While the men who remained at home raised money to pay for more soldiers, the women were patriotically rais- ing money and supplies for the Sanitary Commission or sending necessaries to friends direct. Alarge amount of money was raised and much good accomplished.
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