USA > New York > Steuben County > Bath > The official records of the centennial celebration, Bath, Steuben County, New York, June 4, 6, and 7, 1893 > Part 12
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Hanover, October 5, 1796. A FARMER.
Some of the settlers this year were Dr. B. F. Young, Dr. Shults, Philip Gilman, George D. Cooper, William Cook, Daniel Curtis, James Edie, James Miller, Fisher Whitney, John Woodard, Josiah Wright, David Jones, James Love, Leonard Beaty, George Dixon and Finla McClure, the father of the General.
The Federal Gazette, of Baltimore, under date of April 18, 1798, says : "The obvious route to market for produce of the Genesee country is by the river Susquehanna."
ERECTION OF THE COURT HOUSE AND JAIL.
1797 .- In 1797, the town organization was completed and preparation made for the annual town meeting. Bath embraced all the territory now
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
included in the towns of Urbana, Pulteney, Prattsburgh, Wheeler and Avoca. The following is a copy of the first minutes in the town records :
"At a town meeting held at the residence of John Metcalf, in the town of Bath, for town officers to serve in said town, on the 4th day of April, 1797. After the votes were taken by ballot, it appeared that the following gentlemen were duly elected, viz ; Charles Cameron, Esq., Super- visor ; James Edie, Town Clerk ; William Aulls, Patrick McKell, Hector McKenzie, Commissioners of Highways; Gustavus Gillespie, Collector ; Amos Stone, George Dixon, Abijah Peters, Constables ; Daniel Cruger, Patrick McKell, Overseers of the Poor ; Amos Eggleston, Joseph Inslie, William Read, John Woodard, Henry Bush, Henry McElwee, Jacob Phil- lips, Overseers of the Highways ; Eli Read, Andrew Smith, James McKell, Thomas Streeter, Fence Viewers ; Robert Biggar, Samuel Miller, Samuel Baker, Assessors ; Samuel Baker, Silas Beers, Pound-Masters ; George D. Cooper, Jolin Sheather, Charles Williamson, Benjamin F. Young, Commis- sioners of Schools."
The Supervisor elected at that meeting having resigned, a special town meeting was held on the 19th day of June of that year, and George Mc- Clure was elected to fill the vacancy. The number of road districts was seven, and two hundred and thirty-five persons were assessed for highway purposes.
There were a number of ordinances passed with regard to fences, estrays &c., as well as giving a bounty of twenty shillings, in addition to that given by the State, for every wolf and panther killed within town. In 1810, the bounty was extended to Indians, which shows that these wild foresters were still prowling in this vicinity. In 1828, ten dollars was the bounty for the scalp (written " sculp" on the record), of a full grown wolf. At that period our youthful citizens were frequently startled in the night time with the frightful howls of these destructive animals from South Hill.
The Court House and jail were completed this year. The Court House was a wooden structure, a story and a half high, with a portico, flanked by wings, and located on the east side of Pulteney Square. It was built at Pulteney's expense. It was a neat and commodious structure, and well fitted for the purposes for which it was intended. The first record we have of its occupancy by the court was at the June term in 1798. One of the wings of the old one, when the new Court House was built in 1827, was moved to the lower part of Morris street and fitted up for a dwelling on the property of the late Matthew Shannon, where it stood till a few years ago. The jail was constructed of squared timber, and stood on the lot in the rear of the Hewlett cabinet shop.
A splendid regiment of militia was organized, and Captain William- son was appointed its Lieutenant-Colonel. He was ever afterward styled Colonel Williamson. To give notoriety to his new metropolis he built a
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
theatre at the junction of Steuben and Morris streets, where now stands Major Stocum's residence. In the Bath Gazette of December 2, 1797, a flaming programme appears of a tragedy, comedy and songs to be give on January 1, 1798. " Doors to be opened at half-past five ; tickets to be had of Captain George McClure and Andrew Smith. Pit, six shillings ; gallery, eight shillings." The town continued to improve in appearance and population. The annual fair and races were held, but with less pomp and circumstance.
1798 .- In the early settlement of a wooded country, the roads, as we all know, are exceedingly bad and difficult to travel. One hundred years ago no other mode of transportation than that by natural water ways was regarded with favor. Great efforts, therefore, were made hereabouts to remove obstructions from the smaller affluents of the great rivers, so that navigation would be open from the interior to the sea. In the spring and fall the Conhocton from Bath, with little labor, was fairly navigable for rafts, boats and other craft. All the products of the north-western part of the State (which were principally lumber and grain) were expected thus to reach the great marts of Philadelphia and Baltimore. In the spring (1798) Bartles started from Mud Creek two rafts of boards, which in a very brief time and at a very small cost were landed safely in Baltimore. This settled the question of navigation for that species of craft. Immigration was so great into the town and surrounding country that as yet there were no surplus farm products for export. As Bath was then at the head of navigation, it is not strange that a man with Colonel Williamson's sanguine- temperament overflowed with bright anticipations of its growth and greatness, and believed that it was bound to become the great commercial metropolis of South-western New York. The first river bridge in the coun- ty was constructed across the Conhocton this season, at Bath. Henry A. Townsend, Joseph Grant, William Howe Cuyler, John Wilson, James Woodruff and Daniel Bennett were the new comers.
1800 .- In March, 1800, Messrs. Swing and Patterson built an ark eighty feet in length by twenty in width, at White's saw-mill, on the Conhocton, five miles below the village of Bath, loaded it with wheat and lumber, and on the fourteenth of that month started for Baltimore, which port they reached in due time with their freight. Two others with like freight, in the month of April, followed from Bartles' mills, on Mud Creek, and met with similar success. They were the first ventures of the kind, and cre- ated quite a sensation throughout the country. This species of craft was the invention of a Mr. Kryder, who, in 1792, built one at Standing Stone, on the Juniata, loaded it with wheat and whiskey, and ran it down the Susquehanna to Baltimore. It was constructed as follows : A frame was made of three sticks of square timber, eight by twelve inches; the two outside timbers, fifty-five feet long, were placed eight feet from the center
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
stick, which was seventy-five feet long. These were securely framed together by means of shorter ties, or girths, mortised into them. At the bow and stern a similar timber extends from the ends of the outside pieces uniting at the end of the center piece, so as to make the extremities sharp enough to aid in giving direction to its movements, and to meet with less resistance. This frame was then completely planked and calked as tight- ly as possible. It was then turned over, the planked side being under, and the whole shoved into the water. Studs or studding four or five feet long and five feet apart were mortised into the outside timbers, and planked up on the outside. The inside was ceiled so as to make a tight, rectangular box or hold. In the solid posts, at the terminal points, was firmly imbedded a stout wooden pin to hold the oars, which directed the course of the craft, but did not propel it. The oars were made from small, straight white pines, light, dry and tapering, some thirty feet in length and eight inches in diameter at the butt, in which was cut a gain for about five feet to receive the blade. This was made from a plank about fifteen feet long and eighteen or twenty inches in width, sawed for the purpose, tapering, being about two and a half inches thick at one end, an inch at the other, rounded at the thinner end and fastened securely in its place in the oar- stem with wooden pins. At a point where the oar will balance, a hole is bored and a slot made to give play vertically to the oar when it is placed on the oar pin, and so balanced that the blade will just dip lightly in the water. The small end of the oar was whittled down to a convenient size so that it could be readily grasped by the hand. The ark, except at the bow and stern, and a small space in the center where the cabin was built, was securely covered with boards, as well to protect the cargo as to fur- nish a smooth walk for the oarsman.
Captain Williamson was greatly elated at these ventures ; rafting and ark building became a lively business upon all the streams in the spring- time. Bath was now boomed all over the country. It was at the head of navigation and the shipping point to market for grain, lumber and other products. In 1804, Wilson, the poet, in The Foresters, when he reached Newtown (now Elmira), gives this graphic picture of the river navigation during the spring freshet upon the Susquehanna :
"Here, when soft spring dissolves the wastes of snows, And wide and deep the roaring river flows,
Huge loaded arks rush down the boiling tide, And winding through wild woods triumphant ride. Hills, towering steeps and precipices high, Rich plains and hanging rocks behind them fly ;
The watchful pilot every eddy eyes,
As down the torrent's foaming course he flies ;
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
Views, with stern look, the frightful falls disclose, And down the outrageous breakers headlong goes ; A thousand toils, a thousand dangers past, Columbia's harbor shelters them at last."
Storehouses were built at convenient places for storage. Two stood near Davenport's office, and three at the foot of Ark street. During the winter, loaded sleighs came crowding in from Geneva and Genesee with produce to be shipped, and business was lively in the village. When the spring freshets came, the arks were floated to the storehouses, the grain was poured into them in bulk, and the pilots, with their jolly helpers, cut loose the cables and began their returnless voyage to Chesapeake Bay. Their course was down the Conhocton and Chemung to the Susquehanna, and down that noble river to tide-water. These frail vessels did not always reach their destination, About one in ten emptied its contents into the river, as it was dashed upon some unknown obstruction, or was stranded on the shore. Thousands upon thousands of bushels of grain found their way to market through this precarious channel. A quarter of a century later, when Bath was on the eve of realizing Williamson's expectations, the canals were constructed ; and lo ! its glory departed. The ark of the Con- hocton passed into history ; the rats took possession of the storehouses ; the roofs caved in; the beams rotted away, and what was left of them tumbled into ruins.
1801 .- The Legislature of New York, having passed an act authorizing aliens for three years to take the title to real estate, in 1801, Colonel Will- iamson conveyed the unsold Genesee lands to his principals, and resigned his trust. Colonel Robert Troup was appointed his successor. The resig- nation of Colonel Williamson was a sad blow to Bath, and was deeply deplored by all the settlers in the country. He was greatly loved and respected. He promoted education and the establishment of religious societies, and was earnest in pushing improvements that promised benefit to struggling humanity. When he gave up the agency, many of his old friends and associates sought homes in other places. The Bath Gazette sus- pended publication ; the theatrical company disbanded and the old theatre fell into ruins ; the famous race-course, for a time, was abandoned, and pines and scrub oaks covered its track.
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Colonel Williamson had commenced building, in 1799, a grand country seat on his Springfield Farm, so-called, a mile and a half below the village, near Lake Salubria. It was the largest private dwelling in Western New York, and calculated to dispense hospitality on a princely scale. Although constructed of wood, it was considered magnificent, with its spacious par- lors, broad halls and grand assembly room, with their high ceilings and heavy mouldings, all finished and furnished exquisitely after the latest
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
style. It was flanked by two wings, each as large as an ordinary dwelling house, set off with piazzas and porticoes. The grounds about were artistic- ally laid out and graced with ornamental trees and shrubs, and the then rare Lombardy poplars. On its completion, in 1801, he placed it in charge of Major Presley Thornton, a kinsman of Washington and an officer in the Revolution, who had just come from Virginia with a young wife of rare wit and beauty. She was long known as "The Madam," from her grace- ful and commanding ways. The Colonel made his home with them after he retired from the agency, maintained the establishment, and dispensed its hospitality with a generous hand. The place became famous for its brilliant assemblies. For there gathered on such occasions all the beauty and aristocracy from all the Genesee country, and even the distant Sus- quehanna.
The Major died in 1806, and the Colonel soon after left for Europe and never returned. The Springfield Farm, with the appurtenances, passed into other hands. The purchaser failed and it fell to his creditors, and soon the famous mansion, with its gardens and walks, showed signs of decay and became a picture of desolation-the abode of the owl and the bat and other uncanny things. Thirty odd years ago it was taken down to give place to the present farm house of Mrs. R. B. Wilkes.
The Major brought with him a few slaves as household servants. He was followed the next year by Captain William Helm, a wealthy planter from Prince William county, Va., with his family and a retinue of about forty slaves. He purchased a number of farms and set these colored peo- ple cultivating them. He built a fine mansion on the present site of the First National Bank, and lived there in great splendor, says Austin Stew- art, his born thrall. He purchased and rebuilt the old grist mill erected by Williamson, near the bridge, and engaged John Richardson, the grand- father of Clinton Richardson, as miller, who ground the first superfine flour. He entered into large speculations. His wife died, and on the death of Major Thornton he married his widow. His money soon gave out and his enterprises failed. Some of his slaves ran away ; some were seized by the sheriff and sold to satisfy his creditors, and his whole estate vanished. He became intemperate ; the Madam left him, and, in 1826, he died in penury in this village, cared for only by one of his former chattels.
John Fitzhue and Samuel Hanson Baker came here from the South with a few slaves soon after the advent of Captain Helm. From the slaves brought by these families sprang our colored population. In 1800, there were only twenty-two in the county, all slaves ; in 1810, only one hundred and sixteen, of which eighty-seven were slaves. Since 1860, the race here seems to be gradually diminishing.
Owing to the large amount of business transacted at the Land Office, the long and frequent sessions of the Courts, and the better cultivation
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
and improvement of the lands in the vicinity, Bath was enabled to hold its own during the commercial depression of the first ten years of the nine- teenth century.
In 1804, William H. Bull came, with his father, Howell Bull, from Painted Post, and has furnished the memoranda from which has been made a bird's-eye view of Bath in that year. He may have omitted some dwellings, but of those given there are now standing only three, viz : the residences of Mrs. James Lyon, Miss Jennie Wilkes and Mrs. Samuel Balcom.
The Presbyterians, in 1806, organized in the village the first religious society. The first church edifice of the society was dedicated in 1825.
1808 .- In 1808, the stone jail was erected on the north-west corner of Pulteney square, and was regarded quite impregnable ; yet now and then an expert fellow would manage to dig his way out. It was taken down in 1846.
In 1811, Edward Howell and his brother William came to Bath, and about that time William Woods, Moses H. Lyon and John W. Fowler. Mr. William Howell has left us an accurate description of the town at that date, which we copy verbatim :
" In the year 1811, the only streets in Bath were Morris, Liberty and West Steuben from Pulteney Square to its junction with Morris street. There were nine dwelling houses on the north side of Morris street, extend- ing from the square to Stewart's Hill, as follows : On the McCay corner a dwelling house, formerly occupied as a tavern ; then the Cuyler house, Warden house, three small houses, a blacksmith shop, a log house and the Campbell house. There was only one house on the south side of the street. On the south side of Pulteney Square there was the agency house, where the agent of the Pulteney estate lived, and the land office, and back of them were several long, low houses, built of logs and sided up with clap- boards, which had been used as servants' quarters.
"On the south side of West Morris street, from the land office to where the Erie depot now stands, there were four or five dwelling houses, one of which was constructed of squared logs, and stood on the lot where Abram Beekman now resides. Near the depot, where A. S. Howell now lives, there was a small frame dwelling house and a blacksmith shop. On the north side of Morris street (west of the park) there were six dwelling houses, five of them occupied as follows : Ira Pratt, Metcalf Tavern, John McCalla, D. Cruger ; on the corner, Spring's Tavern. On the opposite cor- ner on Steuben street, was the county jail, a stone building, and on the south side of the jail a small frame building which had been occupied as a store. On the north side of the park there were two dwelling houses on the opposite corners of Liberty street, the one on the east corner being the Townsend house, on the west corner the Captain Helm house, and there
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VILLAGE OF BATH IN 1804.
1-Log house, formerly printing office of the Bath Gazette.
2-Bull's Tavern.
3-Log house.
4-Helm's residence.
5-Frame house, afterwards occupied by Rev. J. Niles.
6-Log house.
7-H. A. Townsend's house.
8-McClure's house and store.
9-Grocery.
10-Court House.
11-Turner's house.
12-Jonathan T. Haight, lawyer.
13-Log house.
14-Pulteney Land Agent's residence.
15-Land office.
16-Liberty tree (blown down in 1825).
17-Bath Jail.
18-School house.
19-D. Cameron's house.
20-Metcalf's Tavern.
21-Blacksmith shop.
22-Theatre.
23-Helm's grist and saw mills.
S
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
were some small buildings and a barn extending up to the old cemetery. East from the Townsend house and extending as far as where Beekman's factory now stands, was a row of small frame buildings, occupied for shops and groceries. On the east side of the park there was the Court House and a small frame building used for a school house, which stood where the building now is which is occupied by the Misses Hafford (now the site of the Surrogate's office). There were two small log houses, which had been sided with boards and painted red, which stood on or near the old Episco- pal church lot.
"There were no buildings on the south side of Steuben street except the old log jail, which was on the west side of the new jail, and used for a barn. On the north side of the street, west of the old cemetery, were several small houses, and near the junction with Morris street, on the north side of Steuben, there was quite a large house built of squared timbers, and near the point of the triangle between the streets, at their junction, there was a large frame building which had been erected for a theatre, and was known by the name of the ' Old Theatre.' There were no other build- ings on either side of the street until you come to where Judge Cook's house now stands, and there was a frame house, partly finished, which had been built by Mr. Taylor, who was the father of the first Mrs. Cameron.
"There was a bridge across the river where the present one now stands, and a frame house, the same which is now occupied by Mrs. Cam- eron, and farther up the road and near where Esquire Lindsay now lives, was a grist-mill and distillery, and two or three small houses. The water for the mill was taken out of the river a little below where Cook's mill now stands, and carried in a ditch to the mill, and then back to the river down below the bridge.
"On the east side of Liberty street was a dwelling owned by Henry A. Townsend, next north a log house, for years occupied by " Billy " Edwards, above a small house afterwards used as a hat shop, and the Niles house, near where the Episcopal church now stands. Nearly opposite, on the west side of the street, stood the old Gazette printing office, where Dr. Higgins long resided. Then came the Howell Bull tavern, and next south a log house on the ground subsequently owned by the late Reuben Robie,"
THE WAR OF 1812.
During the war of 1812, there was much excitement in Bath, situated as it was in proximity to the Canadian line and the Indian reservations. It was the chief rendezvous of the newly organized regiments of the coun- ty. Several of her citizens played prominent parts on the frontier. Gen- eral McClure, Majors Cruger and Gaylord, Captain Read and Lieutenant Kennedy rendered efficient service. Two companies were drafted on Pul- teney Square in 1813. When Buffalo and Black Rock were burned, on the
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
30th of December, 1813, and the British threatened to invade the country, a great alarm arose, and expresses were sent flying through this region calling for re-enforcements instanter. Another draft was ordered. It was mid-winter. The proceedings on the occasion are thus graphically report- ed by Judge McMaster : "One batallion was mustered on Pulteney Square. The snow was deep, the wind keen, but the soldiers stood formed in a half- moon with the fortitude of Siberians. Colonel Haight, mounted upon a charger, rode up with great circumstance and made a vigorous and patri- otic speech, calling for volunteers and exhorting every man to go forth to battle. If half the corps volunteered a draft would not be necessary. Nearly half the number offered themselves at once. Then the deluding drum and fanciful fife began to utter the most seducing melodies. The musicians again and again made the circuit of the regiment. Drummers pounded with marvelous energy, and the fifers blew into their squeaking tubes with such extraordinary ardor that if the safety of the Republic had depended upon the active circulation of wind through those ear-piercing instruments, all apprehension of danger from the invaders might have been instantly dismissed. Occasionally a militiaman broke from the line and fell in behind the musicians ; but most of the legionaries who had resisted the first appeal stood in the snow, proof against drums and fifes and the Colonel's rhetoric. The draft to complete the corps was finally made, and the batallion started for the seat of war in high spirits."
1816 .- In 1816, there was something of a boom, the village was incor- porated and a seal adopted ; but, so far as is known, no steps were taken to complete the organization. General McClure had again taken up his residence here, purchased the property lately owned by Constant Cook, and erected mills. In the spring he ran to Baltimore a million feet of pine, one hundred thousand of cherry, and five hundred barrels of flour ; but not meeting a favorable market, he shipped his cherry to Boston and exchanged it for machinery necessary for a woolen factory, which he erected on the mill property. If he had had money to carry out his great enterprises, he would have made Bath a great manufacturing as well as commercial centre.
He performed a feat that attracted world-wide notice. Upon a wager of $50, he proposed in ten hours to take the wool from a sheep's back and manufacture it into a dress suit. He performed the feat in less than nine, and wore the suit that evening at a party. There was a gay time in the village on the occasion. Captain Bull, with his ear-piercing fife, and Billy Edwards, with his thundering bass drum, discoursing martial music, fol- lowed by a mellow crowd of revelers, escorted McClure to the entertain- ment.
Vincent Mathews, the most prominent attorney in Western New York, took up his residence in the village and occupied the dwelling since the
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
property of Mrs. Franz Wolf. William B. Rochester, afterwards Circuit Judge, became his partner. Capt. Benjamin Smead, the veteran editor, brought his printing press from Albany and commenced the publication of the Steuben and Allegany Patriot ; he subsequently changed the name to the Farmers' Advocate. John Magee came to the village soon after. Dr. Simpson Ellas and William Woods arrived here the previous year. William W. McCay and Peter and John Gansevoort followed the next year.
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