USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Ellicott > The early history of the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, N.Y. > Part 14
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This business has completely changed. Beyond re- pairing, few guns, perhaps not more than half a dozen, are now made in Jamestown in a year, and these are costly affairs not intended for hunting but for target shooting. The game once so plenty has nearly all disappeared.
I relate the following-which probably illustrates the "fool hardiness" of the boys of Jamestown in early times, quite as much as their steadiness of nerves and
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THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
their skill with the rifle. With all skill and steadi- ness of nerves had they not been "foolhardy" the story could not now be related. Hiram Eddy, now the Rev. Dr. Eddy of Connecticut, and the writer at an early day were noted as "good shots" with the rifle. Many years ago on Main street a short distance south of the cemetery was a deep gulf in which was a watering trough. Since that time the gulf has been nearly or quite filled and the watering trough, we believe, re- moved. Eddy and the writer had been out hunting with indifferent luck, in fact killed nothing, although Eddy had shot at a calf not ten yards distant without disturbing it.
The shot was made under the outrag- eous banter of his friend, the writer, that he was no marksman, etc. The writer owned both of the guns
and loaded them both.
Eddy finally took up the
writer's gun as if to shoot.
"No, no.
Use your own
gun." He exchanged guns and fired. The calf stood unmoved. He turned towards me and leaning on the muzzle of the gun, said, " I was positive there was no ball in this gun when you would not permit me to use the other. I would not have aimed at that calf for fifty times his value if I had believed there was." We were on our way home and came to the watering trough. I picked up a small chip and gave it to Ed_ dy and said, "You go up the hill and hold this at arm's length in your fingers and I will go up the other side and see how near I can put a ball through the center of it." He took the chip and started and the writer went in the contrary direction. It was eight or ten rods across the gulf. I drew up and fired. The ball pierced the chip to the outside of the center. Eddy remarked that he could beat that. I said to him that we could tell better after he had shot. He repeat-
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF
ed that he could, but he wanted to shoot "Old Kill Deer;" that he would not risk the other gun. His ball was nearly as far inside of the center as mine was on the outside. We fired several shots in this way. Sev- eral years ago the writer related this story to E. C. Bailey, Esq., of our city, a son-in-law of Dr. Eddy. In reply he said, "I do not quite doubt your word, but nevertheless will write to Father Eddy and get his re- membrance of the affair."
In early times there was quite as much shooting at a mark, target shooting as it is now called, as there is in these days, but of a very different character. Now guns of great accuracy, supplied with all the machin- ery for raising or depressing the sight, telescopes, etc., are used, and the distances between the marksmen and the tarket are almost fabulous. Then the longest dis- tance did not exceed 20 rods; 15 rods was a great dis- tance at which to fire at a deer, and in truth the dis- tance seldom exceeded 8 or 10 rods. A hunter would not fire at a bear unless within 5 or 6 rods, and the most of mark shooting was 5 rods or less, and always at arms length.
In early times it was considered necessary to de- stroy the game as fast as possible, it was so destructive to the crops, and a person was considered almost a philanthropist who would go out and kill two or three dozen squirrels, which were left where they were killed. The writer has many a night, for an hour or so, watched a small wheat field now within the city bounds, on what was called the old fair ground, to pre- vent the deer feeding upon it. Now but a few wild animals and birds remain and we have stringent laws for their protection. The time once was when quail were abundant and the wood pigeons plenty from early
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THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
in the spring until late in the fall. Now there is not a quail in the country and the pigeon is seldom scen. MACHINE SHOPS.
The first machine shop, so called, was probably the one started in the basement of Daniel Hazeltine's factory by the Harveys as before mentioned. In a country in which were so many mills, shops of this kind were absolutety necessary. Capt. Phineas Pal- meter from the earliest settlement of the country was more or less engaged in the building and repairing of machinery in Jamestown as long as he lived, and his son and grandson have continued the business up to the present time. Many places in town have been occupied by machinists ; even if we can remember where, it would not be profitable to point out the loca- tions. Jason Hazzard, C. W. Jackson and others were among the earlier machinists after the Harveys. Over 50 years ago Daniel S. Williams came to Jamestown and erected the first foundry on the southeast corner of Washington and Fourth streets, in the swamp as it then was. Afterwards the foundry was removed to the east side of the alley into the buildings erected by Williams & Barrett, and which are still in use. They manufactured stoves extensively and added lathes for machine work. Two young men, Josephus Clark and Josiah Lincoln, went into the establishment as ap- prentices, and learned the business from the foundation up. They afterwards bought out the old firm and the establishment was known as Clark & Lincoln. In a year or so Lincoln sold out to his partner and went west. Josephus Clark has remained in it up to the present day, and from a poor boy has " manufactured" himself into one of Jamestown's solid men. A few years later another foundry was started not far from
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF
Parks & Co's shoe factory, by Steele and others. This establishment was afterwards removed to the south side of the outlet to ground now occupied by a flouring mill on the east side of Main street near the bridge. The firm at one time was Steele, Tew & Sprague, and the establishment the most extensive that has ever been in Jamestown. James Sprague, a superior mechanic, died several years ago, and since his death there have been many changes in the firm, ending in the extinc- tion of the establishment. The Ben. Nichols' establish- ment on the south side of the race I believe is the legitimate continuation of it and one of the important machine shops in Jamestown at the present time.
Possibly there may be some important industry of an early day that we have unintentionally passed over, but we believe we have mentioned the most important ones. It now occurs to our mind that at one time many knot bowls were manufactured here. We pre- sume the knots were used up long ago, for we have neither seen or heard of a knot bowl in years. For two or three years we believe, hand sleds were manu- factured in large numbers for the foreign market, but was discontinued several years ago. Jamestown is now a manufacturing city, and we number our manufactures by the hundreds. They may be interested in our account of the smaller institutions of Jamestown when it was a small village, and when everything manufactured be- yond the wants of the people was carried "down the river on a raft."
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CHAPTER VII.
EARLY MANUFACTURES AT THE LOWER DAM-CHANGES IN THE OWNERSHIP OF THE SASH FACTORY-BIO- GRAPHICAL MENTION OF THE MEN-THE PAIL FAC- TORY-TAKING GOODS TO MARKET-ANECDOTES- A TRIP DOWN THE ALLEGHENY AND OHIO FORTY- THREE YEARS AGO-THE SALE OF JAMESTOWN PRODUCTS ON THE OHIO RIVER.
When we were engaged in writing our series of articles on the early history of Ellicott for the James- town Journal, Mr. Nathan Brown at our solicitation wrote a number of papers, giving the history of some of the industries at the lower dam, especially of the old sash factory and the pail factory, with which at an early day he was connected. And also a history of the sale of these articles from flat boats, to the various towns along the Ohio river. Mr. Brown has now been engaged in this trade, to which he has added furniture and agricultural implements for a period of forty-four years and no man is better qualified to write up this history than he. The following chapter is made up from the papers prepared by him for our series pub- lished in the Journal. Some portions exceedingly in- teresting, but not essential to the history of Ellicott we have been compelled to omit.
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The first sash factory in Jamestown and in the county, was built by Sedgwick Benham and Smith Seymour in 1826 and located at the lower dam, at what is commonly known as Piousville; and, as the greater part of the year was spent in building the fac- tory and preparing the machinery, they did not com- mence business until the next year. In 1827 Smith Seymour sold his interest to a Mr. Goodwin, who only remained a year, selling to Wm. R. Rogers, and under the name of Benham & Rogers, they increased the business, and, there being no outlet for their goods ex- cept the river, they commenced building boats and running the goods south. Mr. John Scott, their fore- man, managed the river business and the running of the boats. During the year 1829 they manufactured a surplus stock and built a large boat, and in the fall Mr. Scott coasted down the Allegheny, Ohio and Mis- sissippi rivers to New Orleans. As this long trip was never repeated we concluded it was not remunerative. In the spring of 1831 John Scott bought an interest; the new firm being Benham, Rogers & Scott, under which name they continued the business, still market- ing their goods south. In 1836 Benham retired, the firm becoming Rogers & Scott until Rogers sold his in- terest to Levi Barrows; Scott & Barrows continuing to sell their surplus stock south. At an early day there existed a prejudice against machine or "Yankee- made goods;" goods were consequently left on com- mission and credit and a ruinous system of making sales inaugurated.
In 1852 Nathan Brown, who was dealing in agri- cultural implements on the river proposed to buy their goods, take the bills and stock left on commission, and to buy and sell their goods in his own way. This
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THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
arrangement was entered into, and continued down to 1873, he selling in the aggregate $75,000 worth of the goods from this shop, and, at the same time, nearly the same amount from the sash factories of Wm. H Robertson, located at the foot of Main street, and of L. F. Merriam at Worksburg. Afterwards not being able to obtain goods enough in Jamestown to fill the large orders from the south, he was obliged to procure a large quantity of sash at Warren.
It was about 1845 that the manufacture of doors and blinds commenced, that of window sash alone be- ing carried on previously. In 1856 John Scott sold his interest to his partner, Levi Barrows, who carried on the business alone until 1860, when his sons be- came his partners under the name of Barrows & Sons. From this time on there have been many changes in this firm and many different owners and partners. John T. Wilson is the present proprietor who, with in- proved machinery and better facilities for manufac- turing, continues the business on the same site on which the sash factory was located over sixty years since.
Mr. Benham came to Jamestown from Penn Yan, Yates county, N. Y. After Mr. Benham sold his prop- erty the family returned to the east.
Smith Seymour was born in Camillus, N. Y., Dec. 17, 1803. He married Chloe Foote, sister of Dr. E. T. Foote, by whom he had four children, two of whom died in childhood; Emeline S. married A. J. Weeks and resides in this city. and Burritt G .. lives in New York. His second wife was Lucy, widow of Henry Barrett. Seymour died several years ago.
Wm. R. Rogers married Sophronia Benham and their family consisted of seven children, five sons and
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF
two daughters; two of the sons, Dorrance and William, died victims of the war of the Rebellion. Lewellyn and the two sisters Lucy and Harriet reside in War- ren; Lewellyn married Louisa, the eldest daughter of Judge S. P. Johnson and Martha (Hazeltine) Johnson and resides in Warren, Pa. Lucy becoming the wife of Judge Wm. Brown of Warren, and Harriet the wife of Mr. James of Warren. Wm. R. Rogers was one of the original members of the Presbyterian church and was an elder until his death. He was also superinten- dent of the Sunday school for many years and was an active church worker.
John Scott came to Jamestown in 1828. He mar- ried Elmina, youngest daughter of Rev. Isaac Eddy. They had six children, three of whom died in infancy; their son Robert was drowned April 12, 1868 on board the steamer Seabird, which was wrecked in Lake Mich- igan. James B. enlisted in the 9th N. Y. cavalry, Septem- ber '61, and died January 18, '63, a martyr to freedom and his country's cause. John W. is a physician in Jamestown. John Scott was one of the original mem- bers of the Presbyterian church, and an elder from the beginning until his death in 1873.
Levi Barrows was born in Luzerne, Warren county, N. Y., March 26, 1804. He was married July 6, 1828, to Abigail P. Ransom who died in September 1846. His second wife was Sally E. Canfield whom he married in 1847. She now resides in Jamestown. Mr. Barrows came to Jamestown in 1831. He was the father of twelve children, nine by the first wife, and three by the second, of whom four are now residents of Jamestown. Levi Barrows died in 1863.
Parley Smith, of Syracuse, a relative of Nathan Brown, came to Jamestown in 1830, and purchased a
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THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
large building which had been erected at the lower dam for a pail factory by Rowe and Dewey, who bought and tested to their sorrow the Miner patent for cutting pails in nests out of the whole log, each pail being but one piece, lacking the bottom. The patent was a failure. Smith induced his brother Levi and George Steele of Frankfort, N. Y., to become his partners. The firm was Parley Smith & Co. Nathan Brown came to Jamestown at that time in their employ. Two years later they sold the concern to Merrifield and Allen ; and a short time after Allen disposed of his interest to Wm. M. Eddy. They had bad luck in boating their goods to market, but received good prices for the pails. They had Jake Rice for a pilot, but he was too heavily loaded with whiskey to take the proper care of the load committed to his charge.
In the fall of 1833 Ezra Wood bought the estab- lishment, manufactured a boatload of pails, and Joel Partridge run them to market. Partridge sold for good prices and received a large sum of money which he carried in rolls in his pocket. He was followed by two suspicious looking men, all stopping at the Stone House, forty miles out from Pittsburg. All were obliged to sleep in the same room, and in the night the writer heard the men planning to rob Mr. Partridge ; his wakefulness prevented the success of the plan.
In 1834 Joel Partridge became Mr. Wood's part- ner. About a year later one of the hands working in he early morning snuffed his candle and dropped the burning wick into the shavings. He kicked the chips over it and supposed he had smothered it, but it ignited the light material and burned the entire factory and warehouse and surplus stock, inflicting a severe finan- cial loss. Almost before the embers had become cold
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF
the proprietors commenced drawing lumber for a new building. Elijah Bishop put in the machinery and a 12-foot breast wheel, which the writer very distinctly remembers. In a remarkably short time the new fac- tory was built and again turning out its pails and tubs by the thousands. One cold morning we found the wheel frozen fast. We took a lantern and axe, and going into the wheel, commenced cutting on one side, when the wheel suddenly started, throwing us and the axe backward and extinguishing the light. The first thought was that one of the hands had come in and hoisted the gate, and set the writer hunting for his prayers, apprehending that there might soon be one less of the Brown family ; but it was only the weight of the ice which had accumulated on one side of the wheel that had caused the start, and it soon stopped. Brown groped for the manhole, not waiting for any further ceremony about getting out. The first work of that morning was to send one of the boys up to Tew's hardware store to procure a lock, chain and sta- ple, and he never again went into the wheel without having the gate locked and the key in his pocket, to avoid a repetition of what might have been a serious accident.
The firm carried on the business extensively, from 40,000 to 50,000 pieces of ware being manufactured a year, and employed a large number of hands. Girls were employed to do the painting. At that time it was the fashion for women to wear low necked dresses. The prepared paint was kept on a high shelf ready to be used when needed, and one of the girls, when reach- ing up to get a dish of blue paint, accidentally spilled the contents in the shore side of her dress. She ran like a blue streak over the bridge toward her boarding
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THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
place, leaving a blue trail asshe went. She did not return until the next day, when she remarked that she " had heard of the blue laws of Connecticut, and of the blue Yankees, but had never expected to become a blue- breasted Yankee herself." In writing about the sash factory we abstained from anecdotes, knowing all the proprietors to be staid Presbyterians, from the dawn of its existence down to the close of its administration under Deacon Barrows ; but, as the pail factory was a Congregational institution, we have taken the liberty to indulge in a few remembranees of that character.
In 1839 Nathan Brown became one of the partners for a short time ; but he soon sold his interest back to them, preferring continuing as the foreman. In 1843 he purchased of Wood & Partridge a boat loaded with a miscellaneous stock, consisting of buckets, tubs, agri- cultural implements, etc., and soon after the company dissolved partnership, Mr. Wood engaging in the man- ufacture of agricultural implements, and Mr. Partridge in other business. Kibling & Peasley rented the fae- tory for a short time, and it finally culminated in the pail factory at Dexterville under the name of Salisbury, Kibling & Peasly, which proved a financial failure, many of their friends losing heavily. The original pail factory was torn down, and not a vestige of the island or anything connected with the manufactory remains. Where, for so many years was heard the clatter and buzz of machinery and the hum of indus- try, naught now remains but the open, flowing outlet.
William Eddy was a son of the Rev. Isaac Eddy, the first pastor of the Congregational church. He married Sophronia Willard, a sister of Harmis Willard. Howard Eddy, who was for several years engaged in
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF
the manufacture of carriages here, was his son. Mr. Eddy died several years ago.
Ezra Wood was a native of Westminster, Mass. He came to Jamestown in 1831 and established a shoe- store in company with H. W. Curtis ; in 1832 he mar- ried Mary Williams in Westminster, Mass. In 1833 he built a house where now the Prendergast residence stands, cutting down a forest of second-growth pine trees ; and on the north side of the house, where Mr. Newland now lives, was a hill as high as the second story windows. Where now is Fourth street was a nar- row, uneven pathway through the woods to the Baptist church. They had one son, George, who died in Chi- cago in 1870. Mr. Wood was an active member of the Congregational church and an active man of business. until his death in 1884.
Joel Partridge came to Jamestown from Worces- ter, Mass. His first wife was Azubah Goodell, by whom he had six children, two of whom are now liv- ing-James N. Partridge, and Eleanor A., wife of Samuel Kidder, both of this city. His second wife was Mary R. Pennock, by whom he had six children, three of whom are now living-Dr. Joel Partridge of Kala- mazoo, Mich .; Mary E., wife of D. D. Frank, and Frank E. Partridge, both of this city.
I ran my first boat down the river in the spring of 1843 and was obliged to take what was then deemed a bad claim-a crude, unfinished boat and cargo. It seemed to be that or nothing, and it consisted in part of 10,000 feet of maple veneering, 50,000 pine laths, In the also a lot of pails, tubs and scythe snaths.
bargain one of the firm agreed to run the boat to Franklin. Thesteward and cook was Chilian C. Wash- burn, who for many years had been an operative in
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THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
Hazeltine's factory. Such biscuit and cornbread! and he knew just how to fry ham and eggs; in short what he did not know about cooking one needn't try to learn. For a cabin passenger I had the good-natured, fun-loving printer, J. Warren Fletcher; one couldn't be lonely with him for company. Having taken on board a quantity of household goods, he remarked that it was quite too bad he did not know we were so comforeable or he should have made it a wedding trip as well as one for pleasure. Everything went
clear and smooth as a wedding bell. When we got stuck, which was quite often, we would partially un- load, and with the help of skids and spikes would soon be afloat again. The cabin passengers seemed to vie with each other to see which could do the most ef- tective work. We ran from Wilson's, just above Le- vant, down to Mvers', which place we left at 10 a. m., reaching Pine Grove in the evening, and the next morning went over the rapids in good shape, reach- ing Warren without accident. The steward gathered in his stores, the cables were taken in and at noon we were gliding down the Allegheny, but at rather a slow pace, the river being low and the wind up. We made Tidioute at dusk, a run of nineteen miles; early next morning we passed Tidioute islands, and soon were in sight of White Oak islands and chute, deemed by pilots the most difficult place to navigate on the river. Our pilot did not do very judicious work. He ran too far to the left and stuck on a flat rock, the stern flanked to the right and stopped. We made up our minds that we had some hard work ahead, and took in the surroundings, concluding to remove the 50,000 laths out of the bow and down the river some five rods to a point where we could carry them on again and,
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF
in addition, had to move some of the pails and tubs before we could start the boat. We engaged a pilot who lived near, soon had it afloat and our stock on board, our cabin passengers doing much to establish their credit as being ready to lend a helping hand when- ever needed. The new pilot suddenly remembered that he had corn to plant and that he would have to quit, so the piloting fell upon me from Tidioute down. We passed Franklin bridge just at dark, the moon not yet up and, running farther, when we tried to land on the left we ran into an old tree top, then pulling out and trying the right bank with no better success we concluded to pound ahead all night. We could thread the channel nicely after the moon came up until about 2 a. m., when a dense fog settled down up- on us and we could not tell in which direction we were running or where the shore was, and soon ran onto the head of an island where we lay until morning, when we found that we were on Mahoning island, and had another duplicate in the form of unloading. Mr. Orr, sheriff of Armstrong county, who owned the island, kindly brought over a number of his hands and for a small compensation helped us off. The cargo was soon in and we ran to Kittanning where the steward took on a fresh supply of stores including a large quantity of eggs at three cents a dozen., From there we ran to Freeport, tarrying but a short time, and the next point was Pittsburg which we reached in due sea- son and our cabin passengers returned home.
At Pittsburg we found Levi Barrows, who had preceded us down the river with a boat-load of sash, about ready to start down the Ohio. He very kindly suggested that we should couple boats and run to- gether, a proposition which we with no reluctance ac-
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cepted, as he knew the Ohio and we did not. Schuy- ler Robertson was his pilot and Charles Parker mate, while I retained my own mate Lovell Hastings. We ran down to East Liverpool where Capt. Barrows had a good trade and I put off a part of my dead weight in the form of laths. From there we ran to Wellsville where we spent the Sabbath and were ready for busi- ness early Monday morning. I here put off 20,000 more lath and a few snaths, tubs and pails.
We were soon at Steubenville where I put off the balance of the laths, and was glad to see the last bun- dle go, as I had been familiar with it quite too long. I also sold a few snaths and pails, and canvassed the cabinet shops to exchange a lot of the veneering for furniture, as with the laths out, we had plenty of room for handling it. Deacon Barrows at the same time sold some sash, but put more out to his commission merchants which he continued to do all the way down. We stopped at Wheeling and then at Mound- ville, 12 miles below, where is an Indian mound, the largest in the United States, being seventy-five feet high, eleven rods long at the base, and seventy-five feet across the top. The owner, Mr. Tomlinson, made an excavation from one side into the center and arched it over inside, putting up an immense double door, and charged an admission fee of 25 cents. He then dug from the top down to the base where the shaft was on a level with the outside, and put up a winding staircase, building on top of the mound three plat- forms of graduated size, one above the other, continu- ing the winding staircase up through the center to the top. Each visitor was furnished with a candle and a match to light at the base of the shaft where was sit- uated the museum, in which were two complete skele-
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