USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Ellicott > The early history of the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, N.Y. > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
JAMES HALL
Was one of the six brothers who at an early day emigrated from Windham County, Vt., and became residents of this country when a wilderness. William and Elisha became residents of Jamestown, Samuel of Busti, and Josiah and Orris of Warren, Pa. This fam- ily has proved, we think, the most important of all, that at an early date left the green hills of Vermont for the wilds of Chautauqua.
William Hall, Sen., the father of the Halls who em- igrated to Ellicott, was the son of Elisha and Eliza- beth (Young) Hall, and was born in Hopkinton, Mass., in 1753. In 1781 he married Abagail Pease, and
434
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
immediately emigrated to Wardsboro, Vt. To Wil- liam Hall, Sen., and Abagail (Pease) Hall were born twelve children, seven sons and five daugh- ters. Six of the sons and two of the daughters found their future homes in this western wilderness. The following are the names of the children and the years in which they were born. Samuel, 1782; Lydia, 1784; Lydia, 1785; Lewis. 1788; James, 1790; Mary, 1792; William,1793; Josiah, 1795; Abagail, 1797; Elisha, 1799; Irene, 1801; Orris, 1804.
James was the first of the sons to emigrate to the wilderness of Chautauqua in the spring of 1812. He took up lands in that part of the town of Ellicott now known as Kiantone, about a mile west from Kiantone village, and there resided up to the day of his death in 1846. He built a log house near where stands the farm house which for so many years has been known as the James Hall homestead. He immediately cleared and put into crops ten acres. In the fall of 1813 the corn and the wheat he had raised upon his small clearing he threshed and husked and stored in the loft of his log house, and the vegetables he laid away in a hole dug in the ground under the floor. Soon after on a warm afternoon, without a coat and barefooted, he walked a mile through the woods to as- sist a neighbor to put up a log house. His wife took her baby in her arms and walked a half mile or more through the woods to visit her sister, Mrs. William Sears, leaving the house alone. On her return to pre- pare supper, when she reached the little clearing, she discovered that the roof of the house was on fire. Lay- ing her babe down upon the leaves she ran towards the house to save what she could. When she arrived at the log fence in front of the house, two men well
435
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
known, stood in the door and with threats bade her leave. She hastened to the woods for her baby and as quickly as possible returned to her sister's, there to await the return of the husband. There was no mis- taking the object of these ruffians. A few days pre- vious Ebenezer Cheney, the father-in-law of Mr. Hall, had returned from Vermont, and it was well known he was expected to bring a large sum of money with him. They supposed the money was in this house-but for- tunately was in another-not finding it they fired the building to cover up the rumaging they had done in the house. Mrs. Hall coming suddenly and unexpect- edly upon them before they had time to escape, they were willing to commit a much greater crime if she did not leave. The ruffians were not prosecuted or molested. The country was a wilderness and the two villains were known to be desperate men, and it was thought the safest way to let them alone, hoping they would soon leave the country. A few of the older inhabitants will remember the Kelleys. The location of the log house became Mr. Hall's garden. and to this day it is seldom that you can take up a handful of dirt therein without finding kernels of charred wheat as perfect as on the day it was threshed. A new log house was soon finished in which Mr. Hall resided until the autumn of 1819, when they moved into the frame house erected a few rods from the log one, and in which Mr. A. J. Phillips now resides.
At the organization of the town of Ellicott in 1813, James Hall was elected constable and collector. From that time on he served the town in various ca- pacities up to 1823, when he was elected Supervisor and continued to serve as such until Carroll was set off
436
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
from Ellicott, after which he was elected Supervisor of Carroll until he refused to serve longer. In 1833 he was elected Member of Assembly. There could be no greater evidence of his unbounded popularity than this, not only in his own town, but in the county. The known Whig majority was about 2,000 ; nevertheless, James Hall, a notorious Democrat, was elected by 1700. Politicians had plenty of time then (as they have had since) to think of their crooked ways after that election. James Hall for many years was a prom- inent and worthy member of the Congregational church, and was a liberal giver to all religious and benevolent objects. His first wife was Polly, the second daughter of Ebenezer Cheney. To them were born three children, viz : Abagail, who became the wife of Benjamin Morgan, previously spoken of as a chairmaker; Lewis, who was born in 1815, married a Miss Davis of St. Louis, and is a prominent citizen of Jamestown. His wife died but a short time ago, great- ly esteemed and beloved in Jamestown. Elial mar- ried a daughter of Samuel Barrett; he has for many
years been a lawyer in New York city. After the death of Polly, James Hall in 1829 married Abagail, another daughter of Ebenezer Cheney. There were no children by this marriage. His third wife was Maria, the youngest daughter of Ebenezer Cheney, to whom he was married in 1850. To James and Maria (Cheney) Hall were born three children, viz: Erie, who married Jennie, the eldest daughter of the Hon. R. P. Marvin. He is a prominent member of the firm owning the Jamestown Worsted Mills in Jamestown. Mary became the wife of Capt. Tuckerman of the Burdan Sharp Shooters, who did great service in the war of the Rebellion. James, who went a mere boy,
437
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
a common soldier to the defence of his country, fell at Malvern Hill ; his body returned to mother earth on Virginia soil. If ever a noble, generous, self- sacrificing, patriotic set of men stepped to the front ready and willing to lay down their lives for their country, those men went from Chautauqua county in the war of 1861. The post of Sons of Veterans in Jamestown is named after young JAMES HALL. May the example of his bravery and his patriotism inspire each of them to like noble deeds, should the country call and demand the sacrifice. In peace may they emulate the virtues, and in war, the heroism of JAMES HALL, THE YOUNG PATRIOT.
ANNA CHENEY became the wife of Dr. E. T. Foote in 1818. They had a large family of children, but the last of the family removed from Jamestown many years ago, excepting Mary Ann, the only daughter, who married S. C. Crosby. Mrs. Crosby and her daughter Florence continue to reside in Jamestown. Anna (Cheney) Foote was a prominent and active member of the Methodist church. That church will hold her in affectionate re- membrance, because of her noble Christian character, and courageous efforts for their upbuilding and pros- perity when the church was poor and its friends few. Ruby, the eldest daughter of Ebenezer Cheney became the wife of
WILLIAM SEARS, who was born in Wardsboro, Vt., in 1787, and emigrated to Chautauqua Co. in the fall of 1810, a short time after Solomon Jones. In the fol- lowing spring he purchased Lot 11 on which the vil- lage of Kiantone is built. He resided on this farm for many years, and up to the time of his death. His widow
438
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
afterwards married Charles Arnold of Dewittville. Soon after Mr. Sears had made his location he built a tavern which he afterwards sold, and built another which is still standing, and was for many years the principal hotel of the place. This location, as long ago as we can remember, was known as Sears', after- wards as Searsburg, then as Carroll, and after thedivis- ion of the town as Kiantone. William and Rhoda (Cheney) Sears had two sons and two daughters that we remember,-there may have been others, if so we are not informed. The eldest son, Nathan L., lived in Jamestown several years, and at one time kept a Drug and Book store. He emigrated to the west several years ago. At this present writing, January 13th. 1887, our city papers announce the death of Nathan L. Sears, at his home in Gibson city, Ill. He was born in the town of Ellicott (Kiantone) June 16th, 1812. If not the first, he must have been among the first- born white children in Southern Chautauqua. His first wife was Deborah, daughter of Samuel Hall. She died in Jamestown about forty-three years ago. A younger son, Clinton, at one time attended "The Academy " in Jamestown, went to Yale College, and afterwards, we are informed, became an eminent preacher in Cincinnati. Anna, the eldest daughter, became the wife of S. B. Winsor and is still living. The youngest daughter married D. T. Brown and lives in Milwaukee. A Congregational church was organ- ized at Sears' in 1815 by Father Spencer; the land on which the present Congregational church in Kiantone stands was the gift of Ruby Cheney Sears.
EBENEZER DAVIS came from Wardsboro, Vt., in 1812, and took up land near the Stillwater. His wife was Lydia, a sister of James Hall. They had
439
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
a large family of children, but we have not been able to obtain their names. The Davis's were noted . for their musical talent. One surely and we believe two of Ebenezer Davis' sons became Baptist ministers. Emri Davis, a brother of Ebenezer came in at the same time and became a prominent man, in Busti. His son, now a resident of Sugar Grove, Pa., promised us a sketch of his father's life, a promise he has failed to keep. We now can only say, that Emri Davis, Sen., was for many years one of the prominent men of Busti. He died several years ago." He had, we believe, several children, how many, we are not in- formed.
SAMUEL HALL
Was the eldest son of William Hall, Sen., of Wardsboro, Vt. Samuel Hall married Susannah, the second daughter of Samuel and Deborah (Chapin) Davis, in Wardsboro, and enigrated with a family of five children to Ellicott in 1814. The names of these children were Samuel D., Elona, Edson, Deborah C., and John A., the last not yet six months old. After their removal to this county, there was born to them Chapin and James Monroe Hall. Samuel Hall took up a farm on the Stillwater on what is now the divid- ing line between Busti and Kiantone, and upon which he continued to reside up to the time of his death in 1859. Deborah Hall became the wife of Nathan L., a son of William Sears. She died in Jamestown in 1836, her husband being a Druggist and Bookseller there at the time of her death. Two, at least of the sons of Samuel Hall have been very important men in the history of the country. John Adams Hall is spoken of in other pages of this volume.
Chapin Hall was born in the wilderness in 1816-
440
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
in the wilderness which in after life he was so active in subduing and from which he derived his great wealth. Chapin married Susan Bostwick, the daugh- ter of one of the early settlers. To them was born a daughter. She became the wife of Charles Wetmore, of Warren, the civil engineer-a son of the late Judge Lansing Wetmore, and brother of the present Judge Wetmore of Warren. To Charles and Rose (Hall) Wetmore were born two sons and a daughter, the latter dying in childhood. A few years later Charles Wetmore was accidentally killed. After many years of widowhood the daughter is now the wife of Mr. Alba M. Kent.
Chapin Hall was a man of great activity and bodily endurance ; his mind, was a mathematical one, always filled with figures, and finance and ideas of great wealth, to the attainment of which he bent all his best energies. Early in life, and for many years his home was mostly at mills and on fleets of lumber on the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. Warren, Pa., claims him, we are informed, as a resi- dent of that place, and Louisville, Ky., ranked him among her prominent citizens. The claims of War- ren must be allowed, for it was from the Congressional district of which it is a part that he was elected to Con- gress, nevertheless he was born in Ellicott, received his education in her log school houses, and a short time be- fore his death purchased of his brother the old home- stead on which he was born and upon which his son-in- law now exhibitsthe choicest herd of cattle in Western New York-and he departed this life in Ellicott, at the residence of his brother, John A. Hall, Sept. 12, 1879. His remains are interred in Lake View cemetery.
Susannah, the wife of Samuel Hall, who lived and
441
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
suffered for several years with paralysis, died July 25, 1858. Samuel Hall died in October, 1859.
JASPER MARSH was among the earliest of the set- tlers in this part of the town, coming in in 1811. He took up a farm adjoining Joseph Akin on the Stillwater. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and was present at the sur- render of Burgoyne. He was a mechanic as well as a farmer, and he supplied the early settlers many useful implements-spinning wheels, large and small, reels, swifts, chairs, hay rakes, pitchforks, and many other useful and necessary articles, in an early day came from Jasper Marsh's little shop on the Stillwater. We have not been able to obtain any record of his family. He had several sons, all, I think, remained in the country. Capt. A. J. Marsh of Washington is a grand- son of Joseph Marsh.
EZBAI KIDDER
Was a descendent of the early Pilgrim stock ; his forefather, James Kidder, from England landed at Salem Harbor in 1650; The forefathers of the Kidders, the Jones's, the Halls, the Hazeltines, the Davis's, and others whose descendants emigrated first to Vermont and afterwards to Chautauqua Co., set- tled early in the last century on or near the Charles river, in Mass. Ezbai Kidder was born at Webster, Mass .. in 1787; his father the same year emigrated to Wardsboro, Vt. Ezbai came to Ellicott in 1813, and after thoroughly viewing the country returned. He returned in 1816, and at first was employed splitting rails and laying up a fence for Dr. Laban Hazeltine. He soon made a purchase of land in what is now the northeast corner of Kiantone. He married Louisa Shearman, a sister of Deacon Loring Shearman, whom he had known in Wardsboro, and who came into the
442
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
country with her brothers in 1814. They had one son and three daughters. The daughters married and raised families but now are all dead, except one, Mrs. Harlow Mitchell, of Busti. Louisa Shearman Kidder died in 1867. Ezbai Kidder died in 1SSO, at the ad- vanced age of 92.
SAMUEL KIDDER, who inherited the large property left by his father, now lives in the old homestead. He was born in 1825. Married Eleanor, eldest daughter of Joel Partridge in 1854. Both, as were their parents before them, are members of the Congregational church of Jamestown. They have had a family of ten children, eight of whom are now living. The Kidders have occupied that corner of Kiantone for two-thirds of a century, and the prospect is they will continue to oceupy for a century longer at least.
POLAND.
Was set off from the town of Ellicott in 1832, and comprises township 2, Range 10, according to the Hol- land Company's survey. In 1804 and 5, Thomas ' Kennedy commenced a settlement at what is now Kennedy, and there erected the first saw mill in South- ern Chautauqua. Although in the heart of a dense, unbroken forest, the timbers for this mill were cut, hewed and framed in the neighborhood of Franklin, Pa., and then floated up the Allegheny river to War- ren and from thence up the Conewango to the place of their destination. Dr. Kennedy found his method of building a mill a very expensive one, and the labor hereulean. Having reached Warren with the timbers, he there placed them on keel boats, for the remainder of the journey. The timbers having arrived, Dr. Ken-
443
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
nedy could not find men enough in the whole sur- rounding country to erect the frame, and spent many days between Warren and Franklin in picking up men for that purpose. The method for disposing of the first lumber cut at this mill was quite as extraordinary as of building the mill itself. The boards were rafted at the mills and run to Pittsburg in the usual manner. At Pittsburg they were drawn and stuck up for a year to season. Flat boats, in the meantime, were built at the mill, run to Pittsburg, the boards loaded into them and run to New Orleans. This was before the day of steamboats; the Paragon, that wonder of the world, which could be propelled by hot water at the rate of four miles an hour had not at that time been built by Robert Fulton in New York harbor. The hands who run the boats, returned by sea to Phil- adelphia, and from there walked home. In those days there was no way of coming up the Mississippi river except in row boats, through a wilderness country filled with savages, at that time at war with all white men, and constantly on the watch for scalps. The Atlantic ocean was by far the safest as well as the most expedi- tious route. Dr. Kennedy died in Meadville in 1813.
In 1831 the Kennedyville property was sold to Richard P. Marvin and his elder brother, Erastus Mar- vin, of Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y. Erastus Marvin moved from Dryden to Kennedyville to take charge of the property. Their father, with a second wife and family of children, sold his large farm in Dryden and moved into this county the next spring, stopping tem- porarily at Kennedy until he should find and purchase a suitable farm. During the summer of that year much sickness prevailed at Kennedyville. Erastus Marvin had the misfortune to break his collar bone,
444
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
and before he recovered from this injury was pros- trated by fever and died. The father, deeply affected by the loss of his son and the endemic condi- tion there prevailing, after a short illness also died, and two or three weeks after the widow died. Richard was deeply affected by these losses, and not having in- tended to take the management of the property he disposed of it and continued the practice of his profes- sion in Jamestown, his health being greatly impaired for a year or two. Some years afterwards he removed the remains of his relatives from Kennedy to the cem- etery in Jamestown, and after the establishment of Lake View he had their graves again removed, and they now rest in a beautiful lot, on which is erected a beautiful monument-Sarcophagus form-with the name simply "Marvin" upon it, with appropriate head- stones-all of the finest and most durable granite. Robert Falconer and Guy C. Irvine succeeded the Marvins in the ownership of the property, and soon after Robert Falconer became sole proprietor, and he was succeeded by his youngest son, William T. Fal- coner, now dead.
ROBERT FALCONER.
Descended from a wealthy and ancient family in Scotland, who could never forget that they were "lairds" in the days of Monteith, Wallace, and Mc- Dugh, and bravely fought with Bruce at Bannock- burn. Yet Robert was thoroughly a republican in opinion and practice. He graduated at old Aberdeen in 1808, and soon after emigrated to America, not only to increase his wealth but to enjoy its free republican institutions, to which he was a convert. For several years he was engaged in the purchase and sale of cot- ton in New York and Charleston, S. C. He sent large
445
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
invoices of cotton to Glasgow and to other parts of Scotland. In 1816 a brother in Scotland, who never 'was in America, desired to join him in the purchase of lands, with the intention of making a Scotch settle- ment, for which the brother at home was to select and send over an extra class of emigrants. In accordance with this arrangement Mr. Falconer came to James- town in 1817, and spent the summer in examining the country hereabouts, making his home with Dr. Haz- eltine. He was an excellent surveyor, and many of our early roads were surveyed by him. During this first visit he would make long trips into the wild- erness, always on foot, and frequently was absent for a week, greatly to the alarm and annoyance of his
friends. His only companions on these excursions were his compass, jacob staff, and a heavy hatchet. His favorite resort was the wilderness along the Still- water and the Brokenstraw beyond Sugar Grove, Pa. Finally he selected lands near Sugar Grove for his future home. That section was then almost an un- broken wilderness, and he had passed through it in al- most every possible direction, running lines and ascer- taining the area of certain tracts. Formerly it used to be said that a thousand trees in the forest bore the blaze of Falconer's hatchet. Dr. Hazeltine was accus- tomed to tell the following story about his friend, sometimes to his great annoyance:
He returned one pleasant day enveloped in an old camlet cloak, which had been patched with cloth of other kinds and colors. Under this could be detected the tattered remains of coat and pantaloons. He was cross and taciturn-did not wish to be questioned, and passed quickly to his room. He afterward gave the following account of an encounter with a bear : " In
446
TIIE EARLY HISTORY OF
the woods a couple of miles from Sugar Grove, I came across a nice, active cub; he did not run away,neither did he seem to be afraid. I stood admiring him when an old bear came slashing through the underbrush. When she came near, although I had not meddled with the young bear, I saw she was determined to wrestle with me. She would sit up and show her teeth, then come nearer, and sit up and again show her teeth. I made up my mind that she was near enough to be agreeable, and that when she sat up again I would prod her with the jacob staff. Well, she came and stood up, and I made a lunge at her. The old she divil pulled that jacob staff out of my hand in the winking of an eye; in doing so she pulled me forward on to my face. In a moment I was aware that the divil of a brute was unfastening my clothes where there were no buttons. I wished 'old clute' had her and her pretty little divil of a cub likewise. I as- sure you that I was grieved that the great she brute should handle my clothes in that manner, and pres- ently I felt a miserable smarting where I could not see the mischief she had wrought, and I was mad. I got hold of my hatchet and came to my knees promptlv, and dealt her a blow with all the strength at my com- mand. It was an unlucky blow for the beastie, for I am quite sure its sharp edge came down through her left eye, and the way the old divil whorled around and grunted would have amused the best Heelander that ever trod the Grampians." I got up and seized my compass and the staff which was near at hand and ran with all my might. I did not look back to see if Mis- tress Bruin was coming until I was a good half mile
*A one-eyed bear was killed on the Brokenstraw about two years after.
447
THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT.
from the place of encounter, and then I concluded that it was best to estimate damages. I soon found, to say the least, that I was not presentable, and that I had suffered no severe personal injury, although I did find a large patch of bare skin where I wished it was not, and three deep scratches on my person. A large and quite important portion of my trousers was en- tirely absent, and I went immediately to the nearest habitation that I knew of. The only garment I could procure that would cover the seat of greatest damage was that old cloak, which I put on, heartily thanking the lender of the same for his kindness. I laughed much on my way home when I thought of the ridi- culous figure that old bear had transmographied me into, and all the way back I busied my mind in trying to remember what I had read of the mendicant orders in the ages long agone. I concluded I was a worthy brother in habit if not at heart. The garment was patched with a sufficient number of colors, but too long I concluded to make of me a Joseph; it had the orthodox length, but too many colors to make me pass well for a Scotch friar. Doctor, I prefer you say nothing to my friends here about my tilt with the bear, and es- pecially about the spoiling of my clothing, for I am a thorough Scotchman. I enjoy a good, hearty laugh if not at my own expense; it is not agreeable to be laughed at, you know."
Mr. Falconer returned to New York in the winter of 1818 and came back with his family in 1819 and settled in Sugar Grove, Pa. He was at that time con- sidered the most wealthy man in this section of the country. He loaned considerable money and was very active in laying out roads and in aiding in the settlement of the country. In 1829 he removed to
448
THE EARLY HISTORY OF
Warren, Pa., and soon after became interested in the Lumberman's Bank, of which he was made the Pres- ident. Through the rascality of those who were sup- posed to be its friends and supporters the bank was broken. Mr. Falconer in attempts to save it, lost largely in wealth, and his health was permanently im- paired. He returned to Sugar Grove in 1840 a mental ruin, where he died in 1853.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.