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 26
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Hon. A. J. McCall :
DEAR SIR-Your fellow citizens, undersigned, are desirous that there shall be a fitting celebration of the first Centennial Anniversary of the set- tlement of our village of Bath in 1793, and of our County of Steuben in 1796.
We are sensible that a proper celebration of these events cannot be fully and intelligently realized without a coincident publication of graphic annals of our town and county from the earliest times. It is therefore our earnest desire to have available to our people on those occasions such a sketch of our social birth and history, in convenient form, from the earli- est pioneer days to the present time, in order that valued memories may not be lost, but cherished and perpetuated. Happily for our aspirations, your long and worthy life has brought from the early years of the century rich memories and priceless materials, which enable you better than any other man living to tell the story of the first hundred years of Bath and of Steuben county.
We earnestly request that you will kindly gratify your neighbors and friends, the people of Steuben, by the preparation of such a history. We will attend to its publication, under your permission and direction.
Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., August 1, 1892.
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
WM. W. AVERELL,
GEO. W. HALLOCK,
C. F. KINGSLEY,
REUBEN E. ROBIE,
REUBEN R. LYON,
MOSES DAVISON,
S. G. LEWIS,
AUGUSTUS DE PEYSTER,
A. L. UNDERHILL,
J. CARTER ROBIE, SAMUEL S. SEELY,
FRANK CAMPBELL,
J. F. PARKHURST,
GEORGE S. HAVERLING,
A. H. CRUTTENDEN,
M. N. PRESTON,
CHAS. A. ELLAS,
Z. L. PARKER,
H. W. BOWES,
W. W. ALLEN,
A. R. DEPUY,
JNO. F. LITTLE, M. RUMSEY MILLER,
D. M. MCMASTER,
B. F. YOUNG,
WM. H. SHEPARD,
W. P. SEDGWICK,
WM. E. HOWELL,
JOHN BEEKMAN, 1
E. S. UNDERHILL,
W. H. HALLOCK,
E. BERKMAN,
H. W. PERINE,
A. C. BRUNDAGE,
BENJ. S. SANDERSON,
A. BEEKMAN, JAMES LYON,
GEO. HOLLANDS,
L. D. HODGMAN,
J. J. GLEASON,
J. DUNN,
WILLIAM RUMSEY.
APPENDIX B.
CORRESPONDENCE.
[In response to the invitations sent out by the General Committee of the Celebration, many responses were received. The reading of them constituted a pleasant feature of the weekly meetings of the Committee. A few from the authorities of State and Nation, were read to the public at the exercises on the morning of June 7th. The compass of this volume would be unduly extended were all this mass of correspondence to be printed in these pages. Nor would it serve any useful purpose, as the majority of them are simply polite regrets on account of the writer's inability to par- ticipate personally in the proposed exercises, accompanied with express- ions of interest in the Centennial contemplated. In addition to those from officials (which of course are printed, having been read in public and thus forming properly a part of the record of our Centennial), we include in this book a few others, selected mainly for one of two reasons ; either be- cause of the personality of the writer, or because in the letter itself there is some additional data bearing upon the early history of Bath. At the close of the printed correspondence will be found a complete list of the writers of letters turned over to to us, with the other manuscript from which this volume has been compiled .- ED.]
1 .- FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., May 19, 1893. 5
Mr. A. J. McCall, Bath, N. Y. :
MY DEAR SIR-The President directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 15th instant, inviting him to be present at the celebra- tion of the Centennial Anniversary of the settlement of your town, which will occur on the 6th and 7th of next month. It would give him great pleasure to join you in so interesting an occasion as that contemplated, but the pressure of public duties is such that he does not see how it would be possible for him to leave Washington at that time. He directs me, how- ever, to thank you heartily for this continued evidence of your thoughtful- ness and regard.
Very truly yours,
HENRY T. THURBER,
Private Secretary.
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
2 .- FROM SENATOR HILL.
ALBANY, N. Y., May 19, 1893.
Mr. Ansel J. McCall and Others :
DEAR SIRS-I am in receipt of your letter of a recent date, inviting me to attend the Centennial Celebration of Bath on the 6th and 7th of June.
I thank you for the invitation but regret that engagements out of the State at that time will prevent my acceptance of the same. I remain,
Very respectfully,
DAVID B. HILL.
3 .- FROM THE GOVERNOR.
STATE OF NEW YORK, - EXECUTIVE CHAMBER. ALBANY, May 18, 1893. S
Messrs. A. J. McCall, George W. Hallock, and others, Committee, Bath, Steuben County, N. Y .:
GENTLEMEN-Governor Flower is in receipt of your letter of recent date, and regrets exceedingly that he is unable to accept your invitation for the 6th and 7th of June next. He expects at that time to be in Chi- cago, and it will therefore be impossible for him to attend your celebration. Assuring you of his appreciation of your courtesy, I remain,
Very truly yours,
T. S. WILLIAMS,
Private Secretary.
4 .- FROM GEN. W. W. AVERELL.
[TELEGRAM.]
TACOMA, WASHINGTON, June 6, 1893.
Hon. A. J. McCall :
Please present my greeting to our people and children to-day. W. W. AVERELL.
5 .- FROM GEN. GEORGE J. MAGEE.
CORNING, N. Y. May 3, 1893. Hon. John F. Little, Bath, N. Y .:
MY DEAR SIR-I am in receipt of your favor of the 29th inviting me to participate in the Centennial Celebration of your town which is to take
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APPENDIX B.
place on the 6th and 7th of June. I accept the invitation with pleasure and shall try to arrange to be present one of those days. I regret, how- ever, that I shall not be able to prepare any sketch, either historical or bio- graphical of the events or men connected with the history of Bath, as I practically left the place when I was thirteen years old, going to school and afterward to college-although I was a student at the "Haverling Academy," when I was fifteen years of age, for a time, and I remember that you were there and on one occasion came to my rescue when Mr. Gulick was about to ill-treat me. I am not sure that this occurred in 1855 or 1852 or 1853. I mention the little incident to show that my recollections of Bath are, as to dates, somewhat obscure. After leaving college and re- turning from Europe, I went to Watkins and lived there, and since that time my relations, socially, have not been intimate ; and the only business relations sustained have been with the old Steuben County Bank matters. Still, I am with you in wishing success for the undertaking, and as above written, shall expect to be on hand for the Centennial-but please excuse me from any address or written article. With kind regards,
Yours very truly,
GEO. J. MAGEE.
6 .- FROM C. H. BERRY.
WINONA, MINNESOTA, MAY 13, 1893.
Hon. A. J. McCall, and others, Committee, &c. :
GENTLEMEN-Your invitation to attend the celebration of the first Anniversary of the settlement of Bath is received. I would be glad to attend, and more especially, perhaps, could I claim ever to have been a citizen of that part of Steuben county. Bath was, when I came to the county in 1828, the Mecca to which all pilgrims from the "Pulteney " lands, and all lands, went to pay their dues, if not to pay their devotions. Of course its history is practically the history, or associated with the his- tory, of the whole county, and still more than that ; and such, I think, will be the general view.
If I could be with you on that occasion, it would be my wish, not only to recall local history, the acts and plans of Colonel Williamson and his contemporaries, the broad schemes of inter-state navigation and transpor- tation, of which Bath, by position, was thought to hold the key, and other like considerations-but I would also, so far as I could, bring back those white men, hunter and farmer combined, who first settled along the rivers, and hunted in the then pathless forests, blazed the paths, and opened the roads for the use of others. Those persons had not all disap- peared when I came there, but few remained, and the lives of all of them
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
were fast becoming mere traditions. All of them were soon retired. Time has now run until those men are to this generation as though they had be- longed to a pre-historic age. Even with those who followed them so close- ly as I did, their names fall faintly on the ear of memory, as the report of the hunter's rifle then from time to time reached the listener, from the recesses of those dense and distant woods. They are being forgotten. Not even the little green hillocks which usually mark the beds of their im- mediate successors, tell their resting place, much less recall their names. In the objects of your notice, I bespeak for those "heralds of the day " a deserved remembrance.
With kind regards and earnest wishes for the success of your celebra- tion, I am,
Yours truly,
C. H. BERRY.
7 .- FROM WILLIAM ROCHESTER MONTGOMERY.
CITY OF HILLSDALE, MICH., June 2, 1893.
To Messrs. Ansel J. McCall and Others, Committee of Bath, N. Y., Cen- tennial Celebration, June 6 and 7, 1893.
GENTLEMEN-I had a slight hope that I might be with you agreeably to your request in the printed circular of April 15, 1893. I am obliged, how- ever, to write to you thanking you for your kind consideration and sending you the following synopsis of my humble life.
My father, Harvey Montgomery, was born in the City of Philadelphia, Pa., 1789, and died in Detroit, Mich., in 1869.
My mother, Mary Eleanor Rochester, daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester (who gave his name to the City of Rochester), was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, April 27, 1796; died at Rochester, N. Y., March 2, 1849. My father and mother were married May 19, 1812, at Dansville, N. Y., where my mother resided with her parents. My father was then resid- ing in Bath, Steuben Co., N. Y., where he kept a store two or three years. My parents moved to Rochester in 1816.
I was born in Bath, March 12, 1813, before my mother completed her 17th year. I am Colonel Rochester's eldest grandchild, and the eldest child of my father, and the eldest grandson of my father's father, William Montgomery, of Philadelphia, bearing the family name of Montgomery. I was named William after my grandfather Montgomery, and Rochester after my grandfather Rochester, which entitles me to my long name.
I have not seen my birthplace but once since I left there in 1815 or 1816. In 1824, my father went from Rochester to Philadelphia with a horse and gig, taking me with him, then eleven years of age. From Philadel- phia he drove to Doctor John C. Rudd's school, Elizabethtown (now Eliza- beth City), N. J., where he left me in the tutelage of Doctor Rudd and his
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APPENDIX B.
esteemed wife, and of the Rev. Edward Ballard, classical tutor. One of my class-mates was Henry J. Hartstene, afterwards Commander in the United States Navy, and another was Joseph Nabbett Warren, now living, eminent for his virtues, in Troy, N. Y.
I left Geneva (Hobart) College, in 1830, where I was intimately acquainted with my father's friend, Joseph Fellows, also a Bath man. I met, too, in Geneva a dancing master by the name of Shepard, whom my father had known in Bath. I availed myself of this dancing master, a gray-headed man. I studied law with my uncle, Henry E. Rochester, and Judge Samuel Seldon, of Rochester, and with John C. Spencer, of Canan- daigua, in 1832. I was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court in law and equity, in May, 1835. My licenses were signed by Chief Justice Sav- age and by Chancellor Walworth. I practiced law in Rochester till 1844, acting as Clerk and Attorney for the city from March, 1839, to March, 1842, three terms.
In 1844, I moved onto a half-section of wild land (320 acres), in Cam- den, the southwest township of this County of Hillsdale. There I remained till 1855, clearing up heavy timbered land. I cleared and fenced 150 acres of this one-half section. I then accepted the office of Register of Deeds, to which office I was elected in November, 1854, and held the office four terms-eight years.
I have also represented this county in the Legislature in 1851 and 1852. I was also elected Supervisor (ex-officio Assessor, of this county) for Cam- den and Hillsdale City, twenty-five years, and was chosen Chairman of the Board of Supervisors thirteen times.
I am now past eighty years old and doing business as an Attorney in the special calling of Conveyancer and Abstracter of land titles, etc. I write this manuscript with my own hand.
All my aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters of my father, are dead. All my aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers of my mother, are dead, save the youngest, Mrs. Louisa Lucinda Rochester Pitkin, widow of Hon. Wm. Pitkin, of Rochester, N. Y. I append a list of the children of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester and Sophia Beatty Rochester, his wife :
Judge William Beatty Rochester, born 1789, died 1838; Nancy Barbara Rochester, born 1790, died 1792 ; John Cornelius Rochester, born 1792, died 1837; Sophia Eliza Rochester, born 1793, died 1850. She died the wife of Jonathan Child, first Mayor of Rochester. Mary Eleanor Rochester (my mother), born 1796, died March 2, 1849; Thomas Hart Rochester, born 1797, died 1874; Catharine Kimball Rochester, born 1799, died 1835. She was the wife of Doctor Anson Colman. Nathaniel Thrift Rochester, born 1802, died 1883; Anna Barbara Rochester, born 1804, died 1805; Henry Elie Rochester, born 1806, died 1889 ; Ann Cornelia Rochester, born 1808, died December 31, 1892. She was the widow of William S. Bishop,
266
THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
Attorney at law, and subsequently of Seth Gates, ex-Member of Congress. Her step-son, Dr. L. Merrill Gates, is President of Amherst College, at whose home she died. Louisa Lucinda Rochester, born September 22, 1810, still survives (the only surviving child of the twelve children), in the city of Rochester, N. Y.
Please accept this as a labor of love from an octogenarian who was born in your oft-remembered city, with greetings and aspirations for your prosperity and that of the one hundred years old city you represent.
Very respectfully, your congenital brother.
WILLIAM ROCHESTER MONTGOMERY.
8 .- FROM PERRY P. ROGERS.
BINGHAMTON, N. Y., June 5, 1893.
Messrs. A. J. McCall, Geo. S. Haverling, and others, Committee :
GENTLEMEN-I have an invitation to attend the Centenary of your beautiful village, which I hoped to accept, but am obliged to decline. I was a resident of the town of Bath from my fifth to my ninth year-1831- 1835. In the former year my father, Jabez J. Rogers, bought of one Mc- Beth the "article" and "betterments" for a farm on Goff's Brook. Of that period I have only pleasant memories. It was a day of small things ; houses were small, many built of logs, but the latch-string was always out ; honest, open-hearted hospitality greeted the visitor, even the stranger within the gates. Ceremony was ignored, modern etiquette an unknown quantity ; a hearty bonhomie I have never seen equaled, characterized social intercourse ; none were rich, and a man's worth was not gauged by his possessions. All were workers, almost without regard to age or sex ; raiment was homespun, of wool or flax, patched as occasion required, and every farmhouse could have furnished the original of the good Quaker poet's "Barefoot Boy."
Educational advantages were limited, and not every child could fully enjoy such as they were; but no one was spoiled by sparing the rod. Boys and girls "made their manners," on entering and leaving the school-room, and to the " wayfaring man " on the highway. And as
" Buirdley chiels and bonnie hizzies Are bred in such a way as this is,"
they grew up to be strong, useful men and women, with a purpose in life. Many have followed the Star of Empire in its Westward course, and every- where, at home and abroad, have honored themselves, their parentage, and the good old county of their birth. Lumbering was the leading industry, but much wheat, of excellent quality, was grown, marketed at the mills along the Conhocton, or drawn (often by ox teams) to "Pegtown," as Hammondsport was then profanely called.
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APPENDIX B.
I remember a few of the early settlers between "Kennedy's Corners" (now Kanona) and Howard. Among them, Finla McClure, Jonathan Clisbee, Reuben, Henry and Allen Smith, brothers, from Sheshequin, Pa .; Daniel and David Tilton, John Donahe, James and Francis Otis, Russell Bouton, William Goff, the Hoaglands, Wheelers, Chamberlains, Bradleys, Neelys, and many others-good men and true, each and every one of them, serving well their day and generation, loyal, honest and brave. They caused the desert to blossom like the rose, the wilderness and solitary place was glad because of them. They labored, and others have entered into their labors. They blazed the way for our advances ; their faithful toil, patient self-denial and sore privations made possible the progress of to-day.
Our fathers, where are they ? All have departed, entered into the rest that remaineth, "each in his narrow cell forever laid," sleeps in God's acre, somewhere, and their children and grandchildren, gray-haired men and women, rise up and call them blessed.
We do well to honor the memory of the pioneers, and as we reverence, so let us emulate their virtues. Very resp'y yours,
PERRY P. ROGERS.
9 .- FROM HENRY C. MAY, M. D.
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 5, 1893.
Hon. Ansel J. McCall, Bath, New York, Chairman, Committee, etc:
SIR-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor invit- ing me to participate in the festivities commemorative of the one hundreth anniversary of the founding of the village of Bath. As a native of that beautiful village, nothing would afford me greater pleasure than to accept your invitation, if it lay in my power to do so.
You do yourselves great honor in thus honoring the memory of the pioneers, who pushed their way in flat-boats from the Susquehanna up the rivers to that beautiful country, and laid deep the foundations on which rest the fair fabric of your beautiful village. The forests conquered, the fields yielding their bountiful harvests, the stately old mansions, your churches and schools and hum of industry, are all monuments of the patience, heroism, patriotism and virtues of the fathers who have pre- ceded us.
May the memory of the "olden times," which you will recall in these anniversary days, be the pride of the old and young of to-day, and prove a stimulus and encouragement of the generations yet unborn, as, coming on the stage of future activities, they read and rehearse the records you now make and transmit to our descendants. Wishing you every success in your worthy endeavors to honor the past and encourage the future, I am,
Very sincerely yours,
HENRY C. MAY.
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
10 .- FROM J. C. STEPHENS.
CANISTEO, N. Y., May 29, 1893.
Hon. A. J. McCall, of Bath, N. Y.
DEAR SIR-Having received your invitation, to-day, to attend the Bath Centennial Celebration on the 6th and 7th of June next, I avail, or take the opportunity to write you of an occurence that took place when there were but five families in Bath, of which your father's was one, viz :
That Rachel Gilbert, the daughter of Elisha Gilbert, then of Addison, N. Y., who was born November 19, 1782, being but eleven years old, rode on horse-back from Addison to Painted Post and thence up the Con- hocton Valley to Bath, nearly all woods then, and did the housework for a Mr. Taylor and his four men (who built the saw-mill for Captain Williamson), and remained there thirteen weeks, your kind mother as- sisting her daily (the child woman). In 1804, she married Nathan Ste- phens, of Canisteo, by whom she had five sons, all of whom passed their three-score years and ten.
Yours,
J. C. STEPHENS.
11 .- FROM M. RUMSEY.
ST. LOUIS, June 2, 1893.
Mr. Ansel J. McCall, and other Gentlemen of the Centennial Committee, Bath, N. Y. :
GENTLEMEN-I am in receipt of your kind and thoughtful favor invit- ing me to participate in the due celebration of the Centennial of Bath. I indeed regret that circumstances will not permit that I be with you in per- son. You may, however, rest assured in spirit I will be present, and with you rejoice that our little town of fifty years ago has grown to such mag- nificent proportions. "Breathes there a man with soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, this is my own, my native land ?" was born from a poetic inspiration which strikes a responsive chord in the heart of every man. What feelings, then, of veneration, of joy and of congratulations must animate us on that day, when, for the first time, our native town celebrates with eclat the one hundredth anniversary of her birth! A cen -- tury of vigorous growth from the swaddling clothes of the bye-way town to the sturdy city of commercial manhood. Many years, though days they seem, have passed since I, with youth's ambition fired, bade friends and Bath good-bye. I have waged with the world beyond, the suns of many climes, and the frosts of many lands have warmed or chilled my brow. The waves of many waters have cradled me to sleep ; cares and responsi- bilities weighty, the consequence of a busy life, have often well-nigh over- whelmed me. The moments of rest free from mental toil have been few ;
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APPENDIX B.
few and brief though they have been, to me they have been most refresh- ing, for an enjoyment, than which none is greater, has been mine, for in those seldom moments the pleasures of memory have proven a rejuvenat- ing tonic. Then, reminiscences of the past, long gone by, yet vividly present as of yesterday, crowd my weary brain and lull me as a child to rest. The pleasures of childhood's days, thoughts of boyhood's sports and boyhood's friends, made the man a child again-and I lived in Bath. Full many well known and well beloved faces arising amidst those memories have passed away from earth to e'en brighter homes beyond ; others in lands far off abide. These will join with us, and in joy acclaim the one hundredth birthday of our natal town. And those of whom first I spoke, if the celestial spirits of the departed dead think aught of those whom they have left behind, may we not hope that even they, touched by the magic sounds arising from the echo of the inspiring words of liberty and life, native land, native heath, will, in accord with our souls, hail thee, Bath, wishing thee a thousand, yea, ten thousand returns of this festal day. May thou and thine advance in wisdom, wealth and commercial supremacy, until Bath, prosperous though she be to-day among her sisters of the Em- pire State, shall shine illustrious among the fairest cities of our fair land.
I have the honor of remaining, Gentlemen,
Yours truly,
M. RUMSEY.
12 .- FROM FANNY MCCAY HOWELL. 60 NORTH LAFAYETTE ST., 2 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., June 3, 1893. 5
Mr. John F. Little:
DEAR SIR-It would have given me pleasure to contribute to the pro- gram of literary exercises for your Centennial Celebration at Bath, this week, but your letter of May 3d has been wandering, and probably would not have reached me at all, had it not been advertised. Mrs. F. B. Gilbert has received a "bidding to the past," and if the Gilbert name had been upon my letter, it would have come to me without delay, as the family is large and long resident in this city.
However, there are so many left of the old set, that you will not miss what I might have said. As it is, I can only send my best wishes for a successful occasion, and my kindest regards for each and every participant in the same. My filial sentiments to the dear old town are sent herein :
" Where'er I roam, whatever Realms to see,
My heart untram'ld fondly Turns to thee."
With thanks for your letter, and many regrets that I did not receive it earlier, I am, Very truly yours,
FANNY MCCAY HOWELL.
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
13 .- FROM HIRAM POTTER.
CHATTANOOGA, TENN., May 25, 1893.
Centennial Committee, Bath, Steuben Co., N. Y.
DEAR SIRS-I would gladly avail myself of your invitation to be pres- ent at the Bath Centennial Celebration, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 6th and 7th, were it in my power to do so. But my ! my ! what memories it calls up, inside, of Old Steuben, even to me whose experience was not very extensive within her borders, and notwithstanding I have not the proud distinction of being a Centenarian. And yet your invitation well-nigh makes me feel like one. Soon the roll-call of my early days in Bath and elsewhere in the county, will meet with no response, save from the grave.
But when I recall how, when a boy, I was all night long, on a cold winter night, making the trip in an old-fashioned four-horse stage coach (no railroad through that region then), over a rough and rugged road of mud-hubs (there was no snow at the time), from Painted Post to Bath, stopping at Cooper's Plains, Besley's Tavern, and " Mud Creek," to warm ; while now the rushing railroad accomplishes the distance, I suppose, in less than a half hour. Is it not naturally pardonable, in consideration of such changes, if one feels that he must be at least bordering on centena- rian grounds?
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