USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Ellicott > The early history of the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, N.Y. > Part 30
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passer by, " a farmer lives there." Joseph and Lydia (Stearns) Garfield had seven children, all now dead ex- cept the eldest son, Eliakim. Hannah, the eldest daughter, became the wife of Richard Hiller. Samuel, was the second son. Anna became the wife of Joseph Bacon, and Lydia the wife of Martin Grout. Joseph was the youngest son ; Sally Ann, the youngest daughter, died many years ago when about twenty years of age.
ELIAKIM GARFIELD.
The eldest son of Joseph Garfield, was born in Ver- mont, and came into the country when a boy with his father in 1816. He was one of the rugged, tough, ac- tive, stout young men of Ellicott sixty years ago. He is now an old man, but when a young man, there was no other in the country who could and who did, the herculean labor performed by Eliakim Garfield. In 1829 he bought the beautiful farm on which he now resides, with his earnings as sawyer in the mills, and in rafting and running the lumber to market. In 1830 he married Perscilla, daughter of Aaron Root. In 1833 he was elected Captain of the celebrated " Harvey Ri- fles," which was public honor enough for him ; we are not aware that he has been guilty of holding any other office, unless it may have been path master. He has been noted as a raiser and owner of fine cattle and horses, and for many years has been a prominent pre- mium taker at our Agricultural fairs. For several years he has been a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Jamestown. To Eliakim and Perscilla (Root) Garfield were born six children, all now living.
ELISHA ALLEN
Came to the rapids in 1815, and bought the tavern
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then building by Dix and Smith, and other property, and in the spring of 1816 returned to Vermont. In the spring of 1812 he had married Juliette Holbrook in Wardsboro. In September of 1813 his eldest son, Au- gustus F. Allen, was born in Wardsboro, and precisely a year afterwards his son Dascum was born. In the summer of 1817 he returned to Jamestown with his family, where he remained up to the time of his death in 1830. Adeline, his third child, was born in Decem- ber, 1817, and died in December 1851. Prudence Olivia was born in 1821, and died in 1854. Abner H. was born in 1823 and died in 1848.
AUGUSTUS F. ALLEN,
From earliest manhood, was one of Jamestown's most energetic business men. He was a man of great financial ability, and from 1830 up to the time of his death stood in the first rank, and during a large por- tion of that time at the head of that rank in the town of Ellicott. He was in every, and the best sense of the term, a self-made man. No man during that time did more-unless it be his brother Dascum-in building up Jamestown and its interests than he. He was for several years the Supervisor of the town; in 1867 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion of that year, and in 1874 was elected to Congress. But his health became impaired during the long po- litical struggle of that year, and he did not live to take his seat. He had two children who arrived at matu- rity, a son and a daughter. The son died several years ago ; the daughter is still living. His wife died about two years ago.
DASCUM ALLEN
Was a born lumberman ; what he did not know about that business was not worth knowing. He
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was everywhere known from Jamestown to Cincinnati as the big-hearted lumberman. If any man had been unfortunate and needed assistance, no matter whether friend or foe, he had but to go to "Dasc Allen" and his necessities were relieved. He was frequently imposed upon by the designing, and lost a good for- tune by endorsing the notes of those who never ex- pected to pay. His greatest fault was that he loved too well his greatest enemy. He died April 7th, 1872. His wife, Susan Darling Allen, died April 7, 1886. They left three children, Horace F., Florence, the wife of Charles W. Grant, and Frank.
SOLOMON JONES,
The fifth son of Solomon Jones, Sen., is still living and has been a resident of Jamestown from earliest childhood. Fifty years ago Robert Falconer and John K. Cowing bought of the Dexters the Dexterville mills and lands, and some years afterwards Solomon Jones and A. F. Allen purchased Cowing's interest in the same, and soon after became sole owners of the prop- erty. After the purchase was made Solomon Jones removed to Dexterville and took the management of the property, and finally purchased his partner's inter- est, and for years has owned the entire property. For a few years past he appears to have retired from very active employment, but he can generally be seen occu- pying a cozy corner of the Chautauqua Co. National Bank, of which he has been for many years a director. In 1848 he married Elizabeth Cowing, a daughter of the late Capt. Calvin Cowing. To them was born one son. Frank was an unusually bright young man, but he was born with phthisical tendencies and his health was always delicate, as such persons are apt to be. He received all the advantages of a finished education.
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He spent several years in Europe, part of the time in Heidelburg University and part in travel for the ben- efit of his health ; but the destroyer had marked his victim, and he died about two years after his return, Nov. 13th, 1873. Elizabeth Cowing died in less than two years after her marriage to Mr. Jones, of consump- tion. Solomon Jones went to Dexterville a young man. The short period of his married life was there spent, as well as the long period of his widower life, since the death of his wife. Although not a misan- thrope or averse to the society of his friends, he has lived a life of quiet retiracy, attending to his own af- fairs, which have fully occupied his attention without awakening in him the least desire to meddle with the affairs of others. Affable in manners, pleasant in con- versation, interested in public affairs, a laborer for the well being of his native town, generous in advancing its interests, charitable to the poor, we can say little more of Solomon Jones, Jr., than that he is and al- ways has been, "the quiet, unassuming, retiring and unostentatious man of Jamestown."
OUR EARLY ENGLISH SETTLERS.
There were very few English in Jamestown until the building of the Alpaca factories. Of these genuine cousins, we now boast a large number, and our only regret is that we cannot count four of them where we have to content ourselves with one.
Over fifty years ago there came to our village four men-healthy and hardy looking ; dressed in drab fustian and corduroy jackets and small clothes, blue knit caps, long stockings reaching above the knee, and their feet encased in high, heavy laced brogans, with soles nearly an inch thick and full of hob nails.
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They were working men, and when they pretended to work, work it was. They went up on what is now known as English hill, and bought land. How much they paid down on the land we know not; but they could not have been in debt long, for they were full of days work, and everybody employed them. Every- body wanted to see them work, for they seemed to like it, made them happy, and appeared to do them good. It was not long before they had converted a large por- tion of the low, wet, swampy land in the country into nice, dry, plough land. These men are all gone now, but they lived to become prominent, and well to do citizens in the town of their adoption. They raised fair families of children-how many now living we are not informed. Several of them, when the country called, enlisted and went to her defence in the war of the Rebellion, and they did not all return. The names of these four men were :
SIMON BOOTEY,
JOHN FULLER, JOHN WILSON. 1ST, JOHN WILSON, 2D.
With a few exceptions, the writer has for several years past had but slight acquaintance with the child- ren of these men, although he used to " doctor" them when young. To say the least, he hopes none of them have turned out worse than havea couple of sons of Simon Bootey and one of John Wilson, 2d, with whom the writer is well acquainted.
JOHN BOOTEY, the eldest son of Simon, commenced well in that good old trade of blacksmithing. Now, we believe, he is following the profession of making harness.
EDWARD R. BOOTEY, a younger brother, has not
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done quite as well; although he commenced as a fight- ing soldier in the fighting old 9th New York Cavalry. He was fortunate in getting back home, when so many of that gallant old regiment have never returned from the country's defence. They did good work at Win- chester when Sheridan was twenty miles away, and when he had taken that noted ride, and was back to lead them, the war cry was, "Get out of this Early, Phil is coming," and he did get out with the old 9th close to his heels. When Ed. returned from the wars he was not in very good health. Instead of employing a doctor as he should, and being remembered by his patriotic friends on Decoration day, he was induced to take large doses of the law, on which he thrived, and ere long regained his health. It is said he ranks high among the lawyers of the county, and has served two terms as District Attorney. He has, we think, com- menced to decline ; he is now one of our City Alder- men.
JOHN T. WILSON, was a son of the Englishman, John Wilson, 2d. He has always been a Democrat, a thing very scarce and of little repute in Chautauqua county. Furthermore he is one of Jamestown's fore- most business men. John was a spindling, rather sickly looking boy, but he has gained in health and good looks almost as rapidly as he has in wealth and business standing in the community. We now believe he will outlive any Englishman of the same age, to be found in the Pearl City. John T. Wilson is one of Jamestown's foremost business men.
If our new batch of English citizens, with far su- perior advantages, will, according to their numbers, in fifty years turn out as many first class American citizens-men and women-as have Simon Bootey,
-
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John Fuller and the Wilsons, the Pearl City will be the proudest city of its size in the Empire state.
SWEDES.
Jamestown to-day boasts of a population of several thousand Swedes. We have no better citizens than our Scandinavian population. A prominent one of them said to us a few days ago, "Please not speak of us as Swedes. There are a few Swedes among us, late comers, who have not yet obtained their naturalization papers, but as soon as they do they will claim, as I do now, that they are Yankees and have ceased to be Swedes. We love our country, the United States, and you well know that many of us have fought for it, and what is better, will fight for it whenever the country calls." It is nearly, if not quite fifty years ago that the first Swede man and family settled at the foot of English hill. That man was
SAMUEL JOHNSON .- He was a tanner by trade and worked for R. W. Arnold. We named a child of Sam- uel Johnson after our own baby daughter, Katie, who has gone. Katie Johnson, we are informed, became the wife of Capt. Conrad Hult.
Soon after Johnson settled in Jamestown other families came, and in a few years our Swede population could be counted by the hundred. Since that time they have become numerous, and are counted by the thousand. As citizens they are not excelled by any others.
CARROLL.
From its earliest settlement that part of the town of Ellicott now known as Carroll had a composite class of inhabitants. Previous to the emigration to this
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country from Vermont and the eastern part of this state, there were a few small settlements along the Al- legheny river and French Creek, especially in Craw- ford and Venango Counties. The route of these early settlers, who were mostly from Central and Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, was by the Sinemahon- ing and the portage across to the Allegheny at Olean or above, and then down the Allegheny in boats built for that purpose. This was the principal route taken by the first settlers between Warren and Franklin, and in most instances they found their way up the various streams emptying into the Allegheny river. In this way we trace their course up the Conewango into the Beech woods (Farmington) and to Sugar Grove, before Southern Chautauqua was settled.
Carroll was set off from the town of Ellicott in 1825, and was named in honor of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The town of Kiantone was taken from the town of Carroll in 1853, and received its name from a creek running through the south part of the town, known with the Indians as the Kiantone.
Boyles and Walton took articles for lands in this portion of the town of Ellicott in 1809; but the first settler we have any especial knowledge of, was
GEORGE W. FENTON,
the father of the Governor. In 1807 he took up lands and built a log house near the junction of the Outlet with the Cassadaga, at what for many years has been known as Plumbs Mills. He had for neighbors James Wilson and James Culbertson, who had settled on the Outlet a short distance above him the year previous. In 1809 he sold his lands at the Cassadaga junction, and in the spring of 1810 removed to lot 52 on the
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east side of the Conewango, about a mile below the present village of Frewsburg. George W. Fenton was born in New Hampshire in 1773 ; his father soon after with his family removed to the State of New York. George when of age, left his paternal home in 1804, and wandered west through the wilderness as far as Pittsburgh. He there' joined the river boatmen, en- gaged in trade with the settlers and Indians along the Allegheny river and continued in that business until 1806. In the year of 1806-7 he taught the first school in Warren, Pa. In Warren he married Elsie Owen, who was born in Lunenburgh in 1790. Soon after his marriage he took up land on the outlet of Chautauqua Lake and built a log house as stated above.
Mr. Fenton continued to reside on his Conewango farm up to the time of his death. In his youth he had received a good education and was during his whole life one of Carroll's most prominent and most intelli- gent citizens. He died March 3d, 1860. His widow survived him fifteen years and died February 26, 1875. They had a family of five children : Roswell O., who married Leonora Akins ; George W., Jr., who married Metta Howard; William H. H., who married Catha- rine Edmunds; John F., who married Maria Wood- ward. His youngest son was Reuben E. Fenton, the late governor of the State of New York, of whom we speak elsewhere.
JOHN FREW,
the founder of Frewsburg, came in 1812. Hugh Frew, his father, settled near by in the adjoining town of Farmington, Pa., as early as the year 1800. Soon af- ter John Frew had settled on the Conewango he was followed by his brother, James, and soon after they built a saw mill and afterwards a grist mill on what is:
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known as Frew's Run. The family soon after left their farm on the hill (Farmington) and moved down into the valley (Frewsburg) where Hugh Frew, the father, died in 1831.
John Frew assisted Edward Work to erect his saw mill on the outlet in 1808, and the first lumber cut in the mill was by and for John Frew. This lumber was plank for eight flat boats which Frew built at Work's, took to Mayville, and there loaded with salt, which he run down the Lake, Outlet, Conewango and Allegheny to Pittsburgh. It was after this that the same John Frew brought over from Dunkirk one and a half bushels of salt on his back for the settlers who were in perishing need of it. It was this same John Frew who in the spring of 1813 killed the last deer known to have been killed at the great deer lick in the four corners of Main and Third streets in what is now the city of Jamestown. In 1816 he was elected Sup- ervisor of the town of Ellicott, an office he continued to hold up to 1822.
We have stated that Hugh Frew settled in the Beech woods (Farmington) in the year 1800. Hissons John and James came into the country with him, and also a dozen or more settlers who first settled in the Beech woods, or in Sugar Grove near by, and which at that time was but a part of the tract of land known by that name.
Robert Miles, a Frewsburg man, the builder of Miles's road to Chautauqua Lake in 1804, (and the father of the late Robert Miles of Warren and of Fred- dy Miles of Sugar Grove) and several others had come in during the last years of the last century, 1796 to 1798. Among these was the father of Benjamin Ross, who built Ross' Mills on the Cassadaga in 1816.
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When the Frews, Russells and company arrived at what is now Warren in 1800, there was but one build- ing there and that was the Holland Land Company's store. Of course there must have been settlers in the vicinity or a store would be unnecessary. The extent of our information is, that Daniel Jackson had a small mill for grinding grain, the bolt of which was turned by hand on Winters's Run. Of course there was or had been a man by the name of Winters there-and others, or a miil would not be needed. Among those who came in with the Frews was
JOHN RUSSELL and a number of others. James and David Brown and a man by the name of Bar, who it is believed, settled in or near Sugar Grove. These set- tlers were mostly from the settlements on the Sine- mahoning in Pennsylvania, except the Browns and Bar, who were fresh from the bogs of the Emerald Isle. But they were all under the leadership of Russell, who was an ingenious mechanic, and had built a boat which could in a short time be put together or taken in pieces at will. In this boat Russell and his party conveyed their goods up the Sinemahoning to Drift- wood, where they placed their goods and their boat on wagons and followed the Indian trail through the wilderness to Canoe Place on the Allegheny river. Here they again put their boat together and floated down the Allegheny to Warren. This party came very near returning to their old home and giving up the idea of a life in the wilderness before they reached Driftwood. They had several wagons, yokes of cattle, and a number of cows, which the Frews and others un- dertook to pilot through the thickets to that place. In this they came near failing. Much of their way they had to cut a road for their wagons and to make fre-
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quent long detours on account of deep impassible gulchs, with which the entire country was filled. In this portion of their route they did not average one mile a day. They were about returning when Rus- sell, weary of waiting for them at Driftwood, took the back track in search of them. Finding them he dis- missed the principal mutineer from the party, who re- turned to the settlement alone, and encouraged the rest of the party to proceed. John Frew was accus- tomed to say those few days were the most discourag- ing of his whole life. John Russell took up lands on the Pennsylvania side of the state line and there re- resided up to the time of his death in 1818. His son, Thomas Russell, moved to the town of Ellicott and built a mill on the Cassadaga in the year 1816, and there resided for many years. He had a large family of children, Angeline Parsons is still living, how many more we do not know. He was born in Ireland in 1783, and died in Jamestown in 1865.
JOHN OWEN
Settled on lot 41 on the east side of the Conewan- go in 1808. He came with his family in 1805 to War- ren and there resided two years previous to his re- moval to Ellicott. He was originally from Connecti- . cut, and had been a soldier not only in the Revolu- tionary but in the Old French War. He was a man of infinite humor, and passed through many adven- tures, many of them most thrilling, and was always well pleased to relate them to those who desired to hear them. In early days he kept a tavern at what is now Fentonville, and in the spring of the year, during the rafting season, his house would overflow with rafts- men. He would not be able to accommodate half of them with beds, the rest were under the necessity of
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sleeping on the bar room floor. Although tired and weary, after a hard day's work at this laborious occu- pation, the raftsmen would quarrel among themselves for the privilege of laying on the floor in order to hear Owen relate his wonderful stories, and in the morning would declare themselves thoroughly rested and re- freshed, and that Owen's stories would soften the hard- est plank on the Conewango. John Owen lived to be 107 years old, and during the last days of his life was accustomed to declare he never had a sick day in his life. John Owen died in Carroll in 1843 of old age.
IRA OWEN was a son of John Owen ; he was fond of hunting, and was noted for his deadly aim. He was a member of Capt. Forbes' Company at the battle of Black Rock, at which many of the enemy it was said, fell victims to his deliberate and deadly aim. Ira could not with his father, boast that he never was sick. He was severely and dangerously sick once and was cured by Dr. Smith of Busti. We believe he emigrated to the west ; his brother,
RUBEN OWEN, continued to live on the old home- stead after his father's death ; he died several years ago.
JOHN MYERS
Settled on the Conewango about a mile from Frewsburg in 1814. He kept a tavern, and his place is known up to the present time as Myers'. He had a large family of both sons and daughters. Many of the descendants are still living in the town of Car- roll.
There were several other early settlers in that part of the town of Ellicott now included in the town of Carroll, a few of whom we remember by name but of whom we knew but little personally, and have
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obtained no important items of history. Among these are Josiah Wheeler, Robert Cowen, Rufus Green, Isaac Eames, Eli Eames and a few others.
KIANTONE.
In that portion of the town now known as Kian- tone, we have a large number of important early set- tlers. Among these we have, first
JOSEPH AKINS,
The pioneer settler of this part of the town of Elli- cott. He came from Rensselaer Co., and in 1807 squatted on lands on the Stillwater now owned by the heirs of Howard Russell. At that time the survey of these lands was not complete and were not in market. Akins was filled with the idea of building up a town, and passed over the heavy pine forests, and swamp lands of the outlet, to the dry and hard timbered lands of the Stillwater. The next year or the year after he laid out his town and induced Laban Case to build a hut of a tavern, and that very necessary thing in a new town, a blacksmith shop. We are not aware he ever succeeded in selling any village lots-in fact he had none to sell, far he had no title to the land he had occupied, and after procuring the usual Article could not give a deed. In 1813 a great effort was made to build up a town at Akins, in opposition to Prendergast at the rapids, but failed, and in 1814 the idea was en- tirely abandoned.
BENJAMIN JONES
Came in 1820, and first lived on a portion of the farm of the late A. T. Prendergast. He afterwards came in possession of the farm taken up by Solomon Jones in 1810, upon which he continued to reside up
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to the time of his death, a few years ago. He was an eccentric man, although a man of great moral worth and ability. Many are the anecdotes told of Uncle Ben Jones. He had five children, the youngest, Henry, a man of much worth, is full of remembrances of the good old early times, and during Fair days will gen- erally be found busily engaged in arranging a display of relics of the days of the fathers. Cynthia, the daughter, became the wife of
SETH CHENEY, whom we speak of in this connec- tion because of an anniversary celebration held at his house on the evening of December 29, 1886. Although an impromptu affair, nearly all the old people of the county were there excepting ourself, and had a right down, old fashioned, jolly time. From the newspaper account of this affair we gather that Seth Cheney mar- ried Cynthia Jones, Jan. 8th, 1832, and that they have had three children, sons. At this jolly affair they had a variety of excellent music, Mr. Cheney, although 77 years old, playing the violin with his old-time spirit and energy. Mr. Cheney is one of the solid men of Kiantone, and the large stone house in which he has lived so many years is the land mark of the locality. Seth was the youngest son of
EBENEZER CHENEY,
Who came into the country in 1812 with a large family, all of whom we believe remained and became identified with the country. He had eight children- three sons and five daughters, who lived to adult age, and all identified with the growth and history of the country.
NELSON E. CHENEY was the eldest of this family. He came into the country with his father, and is now, we believe the earliest and the oldest of the earliest set-
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tlers living. He was in daily attendance at our agri- cultural fair (September, 1886,) on Marvin Park, and no one appeared to be more interested in the busy scene around him than Nelson E. Cheney ; and few were more active in conveying themselves from one part of the park to another than he. But few would believe that if his life should be spared five years longer, he could celebrate the centennial of an earthly existence. Mr. Cheney has raised a large family, but how many or where located we are not informed. One of his sons was an officer in the fighting 9th New York Cavalry, and has represented our county in the Assembly of the State, and should again ; but so long as tricks of chicane will go further than true patriot- ism in securing a nomination in a district where a nomination is equivalent to an election, we think he will appear to the best advantage "holding the plow;" that is honest employment, to say the least. Two other sons, we believe, are physicians. Ebenezer Cheney's second son Levi we have already spoken of as a physician, and also of Seth, the youngest.
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