USA > New York > Monroe County > Wheatland > Wheatland, Monroe County, New York : a brief sketch of its history > Part 4
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John Garbutt was a shoemaker, a farmer, a surveyor and a politician. He worked at his trade, supervised his farm, surveyed many of the highways of Caledonia and Wheatland, and filled many town offices. He was Supervisor of Caledonia in 1820, be- fore the division of the town, and Wheatlands' first Supervisor in 1821. To his influence is ascribed the change of the name of the town from Inverness to Wheatland. ( Garbutt was not a Scotchman.) In 1829 he was one of Monroe's representatives in the State Legislature. He died in 1855, the semi-centennial anniversary of the library's existence.
James Wood was the first settler upon the farm now occupied by Mrs. Isaac Budlong. He was Commissioner of Highways in 1803 when the town was known as Southampton, Genesee County. In 1808 he sold his farm to Samuel Cox and removed to Chili.
John Finch was a blacksmith, the first of his calling in Scottsville. He was a man of extensive reading and of more than ordinary mental culture. Possessing colloquial powers he delighted in disputations. He was Supervisor of Caledonia in 1812 and re- moved to the far west in 1820. .
Christopher Laybourn was the original settler upon lot 49, now owned by the heirs of Julian J. Mc Vean. His residence, a log structure, was on the south side of the highway. He was a prominent man and took an active part in all public enterprises of the day. He was Supervisor during the four years the town was known as Southampton and one year after the name was changed to Caledonia. Upon his farm in 1810 was held the first general training in this town. Companies were present from Caledonia, Scottsville, Chili and Riga. In 1811 he sold his farm to John Mc Vean, the father of David, Duncan, John and Archibald Mc Vean, and removed to the state of Illinois.
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Nathaniel Taylor was a resident of Garbutt, an old bachelor. He taught school in the log house at Belcoda and married one of his pupils, a girl many years his junior. This act occasioned some adverse. criticism on account of the disparity in their age. Their wedding trip was to the far west.
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SCHOOLS.
The first school house erected and the first school ever taught in that portion of the state lying west of the Genesee River was in the town of Wheatland.
This house was located on the creek road north of Mumford, about one hundred rods west of the bridge that spans the Oatka at the village of Mumford. It was constructed of logs by the Scotch settlers of that locality in the year 1803. The first teacher of this school was Alexander Mc Donald, who had previously been in the employ of Charles Williamson, agent for the sale of lands belonging to the Pulteney estate. Mc Donald afterward engaged in the sale of merchandise in the village of Caledonia and died there in 1826.
The first school house erected in Scottsville was also of logs built in 1806. It was located at the south point of the triangular lot west of Brown's Grove. This house had but a brief existence, being destroyed by fire in 1808, whether from accident or design is unknown.
The first teacher in this house was John Smith, the early land surveyor of this region, the father of the late Robert and Thomas Smith. Mr. Smith's residence was on the east side of the river road a few rods south of the road leading to the Oatka Station of the Erie R. R.
Miss Elizabeth Garbutt, a daughter of Zachariah Garbutt, was Mr. Smith's successor. It was during her occupancy of the house that it was consumed. To complete the term of her engagement the school was removed to a newly erected barn upon the farm of Powell Carpenter in the western part of the village. Miss Garbutt became the wife of William Reed.
Two years after the burning of the log house a small frame school house was erected on the North road upon the farm of Reuben Heath, midway between the farm buildings and the tracks of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg R. R.
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In 1819, this house proving inadequate to accomodate all who desired admission, the alternative was presented of either enlarg- ing the house or of building anew.
At a public meeting called to take action upon the subject a resolution was adopted to build a house of larger dimensions, and in a more central location. The site selected was a lot on the west side of Rochester Street, opposite the present residence of Edwin A. Smith. This house was erected the following year, 1820. Among the teachers in this building were Elisha Cox, Samuel D. Simons, Wm. N. Reed, Lanklan Catana and our towns- man William H. Harmon. This house was abandoned for school purposes in 1842, and converted to other use until 1862, when it was demolished.
In 1842 the east half of the brick house on East Third Street was built. Two years later No. 4, a small district in the western part of the village, was taken into No. 1, and No. 10 on the North road was divided, the western part annexed to the Garbutt district and the eastern part, including the schoolhouse, to the Scottsville district. In 1844 an addition equal in dimensions to the original structure was added on the west. The house in No. 10 was taken down, the bricks of which it was composed brought to the village and used in the construction of the walls of the addition. No. I's house thus enlarged afforded space for a hall, a library and three large rooms to accomodate the departments of the school, proving sufficient for the wants of the district during the next quarter of a century.
In 1868 District No. 2, lying south of the Oatka, after a spirited and somewhat embittered contest, was, against the protest of its people, brought into and made a part of District No. 1. The following year the present commodious brick structure on Brown's Avenue was erected at a cost of $15,000, and the house on East Third Street sold and converted into a dwelling house. During the occupancy of the old house the school attained a high reputa- tion, the scholars for a rapid advance in their studies and the teachers for possessing the faculty of imparting instruction to their pupils. The principals who had charge of the school in the old brick house were: Asa Baker, Carmi C. Olds, A. M. Watson,
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Nathan A. Woodard, Morris W. Townsend, Alfred Mc Phail, Mr. Willey, John E. Niles, Sheppard Gleason, D. C. Rumsey, William E. Cook. Franklyn R. Garlock, Reuben Huff, Sidney A. Luce and Paraclyte Sheldon. Five of this number entered the Methodist ministry, three the profession of law, two that of medicine; one became a journalist, one enlisted and died in the service of his country, and one has never forsaken the calling of his youth but is still imparting instruction to the young. But four of the num- ber, viz: Cook, Garlock, Huff and Luce are living. The list of lady teachers in the old house is incomplete. Among the number were: Mary Thorn, Mary J. Halsted, Ann Buttolph, Sarah Tarbox, Anna Nixon, Jerusha 'Clark, Sarah Allen, Alevia Burdick, Helen Hurlburt, Clarinda Chapin, Mrs. Willey, Mary J. Mc Kelvey, Minerva Cutler, Kate Kiley, Theresa Zimmerman.
The present school edifice was accepted and occupied in 1870. The first principal in the new house was a Mr. Phitts, whose term of service wasof short duration. He was followed by Mr. Comfort, whose reign was still more brief and the first year closed with the school in charge of its third principal, Arthur G. Slocum. Mr. Slocum's successors have been John N. Drake, W. C. Simpson, Isaiah Hudnut, William Carter, Elmer J. Smith, John J. Morris, George V. Jennings, S. A. Crowder, Philip B. Strong, Merrit Abell, J. T. Pangburn, F. H. Brown, B. G. Eells, and the present principal in charge, Herbert T. Comfort. Mr. Charles Goldsmith taught in the third grade in 1879-80.
Mr. Brown's administration extended over a period of sixteen years, being equal to that of the combined service of his fourteen predecessors. Messrs. Drake, Simpson, Jennings, Crowder and Pangburn are dead. Slocum is president of a college in Kalama- zoo, Michigan ; Carter is the present County Judge of Livingston County; Brown is at the head of a large high school at East Syracuse, N. Y.
The large addition to the present school house upon the south side of the main building, for the library and class rooms, was erected in 1898 at a cost of $5,000.
The lady teachers in the present house have been Helen Smith,
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Eleanor M. Dorr, Libbie Mc Naughton, Marion E. Croft, Lizzie Wallace, Julia Dutton, Minnie Darrow, Sarah A. Clark, Harriet Gates, Sara A. Goheen, Hattie M. Sheffer, Jennie Hansey, Beulah E. Mordoff, Mary Reed, Fanny Mills, Emily Mc Nair, Leora Reed, Gertrude W.llard, Mabel Wheeler, Elsie Beckwith, Emeline Moore, Lillian C. Chase, Grace Boyd, Bessie A. Hughes, Lovina W. Snyder, Abbey Comstock, Maud Wilder, Caroline Lester, Clara Henderson, Marion Barnes, Dora E. Covey, Avis L. Slocum, E. S. Boardman, Mae Tabor, Annette Weeks, Anna J. O' Brien, Anna Dailey, Frances A. Shadbolt, Maud Miller, Jessamine Chapman, Clara Grey, Ruth B. Casey, Agnes Hogan, Bertha Greene, Agnes E. Winchester and Clara Moseley.
From 1830 to 1845 Garbutt was in possession of two schools. The building opposite the store was used for the primary depart- ment, while a school for more advanced classes was held in the church building on the cemetery ground.
The few yet living who attended this latter school speak of it in the highest praise, and claim that it was unexcelled by any school in town. They name with pride the list of their instruct- ors, viz: Zachariah Garbutt, Lanklan Catana, Alexander Mann, John D. Church, Henry J. Raymond and William H. Harmon.
That the school ranked high is unquestioned but unfortunately it was doomed to share the destiny of the hamlet in which it was located. Garbutt was then a thriving village, but a score of years later it went into a decline that it was impossible to arrest. However, now that Garbutt has renewed its activity, with the prospect of an increase in trade and population, the school will share its prosperity and may retrieve its former glory.
The first school house in the village of Mumford was a small frame structure erected in the early twenties. It was located on the west side of William Street nearly opposite the residence of William C. Page. In 1832 a one-story stone structure was erected on the north side of Dakin Street, midway between the present school building and Main Street. At first it consisted of but a single room, afterward it was enlarged and two departments created. It was in this long, low, unpretentious structure, that James B. Covey, Lanklan Catana, Samuel D. Simons, Reuben D.
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Jones and the late D. D. S. Brown wielded the birchen rod, and piloted their pupils through the mazes of the multiplication table. The pupils yet living who attended school in the old stone house, cherish the memory of their instructors and speak in terms of commendation of the efficiency and thoroughness of their work.
Brown became clerk of the County of Monroe and Jones Super- intendent of schools of Rochester. None of the teachers in the old stone house are living. Catana died in Wyoming County many years ago. Simons died in California ; Brown in Scottsville in 1887 ; Jones in Rochester in 1904.
The present commodious brick school house in Mumford was erected in 1860. The residents of the village claim that the school of the present day is vastly superior to that of the olden time, that with better text books, improved methods of instruction and various new appliances, they are in possession of a school of which any village in the county might justly take pride.
Three of the teachers of the Wheatland schools became Lieuten- ant Governor of the State; Daniel S. Dickinson, Sanford E. Church, and Henry J. Raymond. Dickinson taught in No. 5 on the North Road at the center of the town. Church taught on the same road farther east, in what was then No. 10, in a brick house on the farm of Major John Mc Vean. Raymond taught in Garbuttsville. Dickinson was Attorney General of the State and United States Senator; Church was Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals; Raymond was Speaker of Assembly and Member of Congress. He founded the New York Times, an able and widely circulated journal, through the. columns of which he exerted a potent influence over the legislation of the State and Nation.
Prior to the year 1843 the schools of each town were under the supervision of a board of three, elected by the people, known as "Commissioners of Common Schools." Under this law Wheatland's schools were served by the most prominent residents of the town, viz: Powell Carpenter, Theron Brown, Freeman Edson, William Garbutt, David Mc Vean, Duncan Mc Vean, E. H. S. Mumford, Elisha Harmon, Allen T. Lacy, Thomas Faulk- ner, Lewis Goodrich, Peter Mc Naughton and Samuel Wood.
In 1843 the system was changed to a single officer known as ,
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" Town Superintendent of Common Schools." While this law was in operation the duties of the office were discharged by Joslyn Hutchinson, Wm. G. Lacy, D. D. S. Brown, Asher Bennett, Nathan A. Woodward and Morris W. Townsend. +
In 1856 the form of government was again changed by placing all the schools in each assembly district in charge of a single officer, a " School Commissioner," who was expected to devote his entire time for their benefit. The only residents of Wheatland who have filled this office were Franklin R. Garlock, who was elected for a single term, and G. Fort Slocum, who was appointed by Judge Fuller to fill out the unexpired term of Allen J. Ketchum, deceased.
In addition to its public Schools Wheatland has been in pos- session of various others. In 1824 the residents of the village of Scottsville and of the surrounding country, in order to give their children the advantages of a more advanced grade of studies than were at that day taught in the common schools, by voluntary contribution purchased in the western part of the village a site and erected thereon a two-story brick building for an Academy or high school. This was placed in charge of the Rev. Dr. John Mulligan, a Scotch Presbyterian clergyman, a man of ability, industry and tact, and under his administration the school was well attended and attained a fair degree of success.
Mr. Mulligan's successor in the school was Joseph A. Eastman, a young lawyer, who after leaving the school practiced his pro- fession in this village.
After the school had been in operation several years neighbor- ing villages, which hitherto had contributed to its support, were now sustaining institutions of a similar character in their immedi- ate vicinity, consequently the attendance decreased and the school continued to decline until the year 1832, when it was finally abandoned. The property passed into private hands and was converted to other use.
During nearly the entire time this building was used for the school it was on Sunday occupied by the Presbyterian Church Society, of this village, as a house of worship. This building of
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four score years, bereft of one-half of its upper story, is still standing, retains its early name, and when mentioned by the elder residents is spoken of as the " Old Academy."
The two-story brick building at Wheatland Centre, now occu- pied by Frank Kingsbury, was in the early thirties built for the purpose of a high school, and used as such for the brief period of three or four years when it was discontinued. It never had as large an attendance, never acquired the reputation, and left a feebler impress upon the public mind of its existence than did its prototype, the Scottsville Academy.
In the spring of the year 1846 upon the farm of General Rawson Harmon, now occupied by Wm. H. Garbutt, was started what was advertised as the " Western New York Agricultural School." The proprietors and faculty of this institution were Lee and Harmon. Professor Daniel Lee, editor of the "Genesee Farmer," an agricultural paper published in Rochester, N. Y., was to have charge of the theoretical part, while Harmon was to give instruction in the practical work of plowing and sowing, of reaping and mowing so effectually that a class of scientific agri- culturalists could be graduated each year. The expense to the pupil for room, board and tuition was one hundred dollars per year. About twenty pupils were in attendance during the summer of '46. The future prospects of the school were not encouraging and application was made to the Legislature for an appropriation in its behalf, which failed to receive favorable action. The State was then asked to take possession of the school making it a State institution. This request was also declined and in the spring of 1847 the school was removed to Ellwanger & Barry's nurseries, south of Rochester, Mr. Barry taking the position vacated by Gen. Harmon. But this plant was of too feeble a growth to bear transplanting. The rich nursery soil when applied to the culture of this institution, was found to have no advantage over a Wheatland farm. The first frost of Autumn put an end to its existence.
In addition to those mentioned, Wheatland has had various primary, select and parochial schools, which probably answered the purpose of organization, but all of which were local in char- acter and influence.
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These schools in our town have ceased to exist, for the simple reason that there is no longer any occasion for their existence, while the public schools, not only of Wheatland, but of the State at large, have from year to year steadily grown in strength and efficiency, and are occupying a higher and more exalted position than at any former period of their history.
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CHURCHES.
The first church organization in Wheatland and the first in the territory lying between the Genesee and Niagara Rivers was formed in the log school house upon the Creek Road March 4th, 1805. Duncan Mc Pherson, Donald Anderson and Donald Mc Kenzie were elected ruling elders. Rev. Jedediah Chapman, of Geneva, officiated. It was of Presbyterian denomination. ( See Hotchkin's History of Western New York, pp 78 & 79. ) Two years later, when this society got ready to erect a house of worship, it was located in the village of Caledonia.
BELCODA.
The "Baptist Church of Wheatland, " located at Belcoda, was ·organized in 1811 with twelve members, viz: Rawson Harmon, Jirah Blackmer, Benjamin Irish, Andrew G. Cone, Henry Martin, Lydia Harmon, Mary Martin, William Lacy, William Welch, Joseph Douglass, Joseph and Polly Tucker. Their first elder was Rev. Solomon Brown and they worshiped in a log school house. The date of the erection of their first frame church is uncertain, probably about 1820. It was built in the old style with square pews and an high pulpit.
In 1845 the church edifice was remodeled, its pews and desk conforming to modern usage. When completed, but before rededication, it was destroyed by fire. By this calamity, though severe, the people were not disheartened, but going immediately at work soon placed upon the old foundation a new edifice.
For two score years after its organization this society increased in membership and in wealth until it became one of the strongest connected with that denomination. The erection of the Baptist churches in the villages of Mumford and Clifton in 1852 drew heavily upon the membership of the Mother Church and from this period it went into a rapid decline. Services were held at irregular intervals and finally ceased altogether. After remaining idle for some years the church edifice was sold to a neighboring farmer, taken down and removed.
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Elder Solomon Brown's successors in charge of the Belcoda Church were Eli Stone, Aristarchus Willy, Horace Griswold, John Middleton, Daniel Eldridge, Gibbon Williams, H. K. Stimson, William W. Everts, Austin Harmon and supplies from the Rochester Theological Seminary.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF WHEATLAND.
Mrs. Isaac Scott, who settled here in 1790, stated in after life that she resided here ten years before she had an opportunity to attend any religious service. In the opening years of the Nine- teenth Century occasional services were held in private residences, in a new barn, or in any vacant room that could be had. Upon the completion of the school house on the west side of Rochester Street south of Alexander Hannah's residence in 1820, the Pres- byterians and Methodists held union meetings in that building as supplies could be obtained.
In March 1822 in this school house was formed the "First Presbyterian Society of Wheatland" with eleven members. Isaac 1. Lewis, Freeman Edson, John Colt, Daniel Van Antwerp and Philip Garbutt were elected Elders. Its first Board of Trustees were Clark Hall, Abraham Hanford, Isaac I. Lewis, Stephen Warren and Ebenezer Skinner.
Upon the completion of the Academy building on Caledonia Avenue in 1824 they occupied that structure as a house of wor- ship, the Rev. Dr. Mulligan, their pastor, divided his time between the Academy building and the new church in Garbuttsville. ( This Garbuttsville Church was situated on the hill where the cemetery is; it was afterward used as a School house and torn down about 1856.)
This arrangement continued until 1831 when the Society erected a frame structure 42 x 54 feet on Second Street facing south, at the Northern end of Church Street, before Brown's Avenue was opened.
The pastors who ministered to the spiritual wants of the Society while worshiping in the school house on Rochester Street, and in the Academy building ( perhap not in the order named ) were Chauncey Cook, John Mulligan, William F. Carry, Alvin Parmlee and Jacob Hart.
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The Society occupied their first church edifice for twenty- five years. On Sunday afternoon February 3, 1856, it was con- sumed by fire.
The pastors of the Society during this period were Lewis Cheeseman, Eli S. Hunter, Selden Haynes, Linus W. Billington, Milton Buttolph and Dugald D. McColl.
Immediately after the fire the Society accepted the offer of the Methodist Episcopal Society to join them in worship until the completion of a house of their own. This arrangement was entered into and carried out through the year to the satisfaction of both parties. Meantime work upon the present house of worship was pushed with vigor and completed the following Spring, and on May 7th, 1857, it was dedicated. The following have served as pastors since the occupancy of the present church edifice: Dugald D. McColl, Thomas A. Weed, D. H. Laverty, G. B. F. Hal- lock, Edward Bristol and the present occupant, Dwight L. Parsons.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF SCOTTSVILLE.
In the year 1838 for some real or fancied grievance the pastor, two of the elders and nearly forty members withdrew from the First Presbyterian Church of Wheatland and formed the First Presbyterian Church of Scottsville. John Colt, Isaac I. Lewis, Jonathan or John ? P. Sill and Warren Smith were elected elders. This society built and worshiped in the front part of the building yet standing upon the west side of Church Street, and occupied as a produce warehouse by J. C. McVean, Jr. After a separate existence of twenty-one years these two Presbyterian bodies were reunited in 1859.
The pastors of this church were Lewis Cheeseman, Edwin Bronson, Richard Mckay, Henry R. Doolittle and John Jones.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF SCOTTSVILLE.
The Methodist Episcopal Society of Scottsville, though not the first to perfect a church organization, yet was the first to erect a church edifice in the village. They continued to occupy the school house on Rochester Street until 1828 depending upon
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chance supplies to fill the pulpit. In 1827 a church organization was formed and Rev. John Copeland called as their first pastor, and the following were elected trustees, Joel Hunter, Henry Tarbox, John Harroun, Jonathan Babcock, and John Grunendike.
It was voted to build a church of brick 32 x 44 feet, on the east side of Church Street. The following year, 1828, this was accomplished at an expense of $2,000.00. Powell Carpenter, Dr. E. G. Munn and Joseph Cox, none of whom were members of the Society, were liberal contributers to the erection fund and in the year of its building the two first named were members of the Board of Trustees. The first public service held in the new house was in February 1829.
In 1870, under the superintendence of Rev. E. S. Furman, the church edifice was thoroughly remodeled, an extension to its length was added to the east, new entrances were made in front, the gallery was removed, the floor was raised three feet, it was reseated, stained glass windows were installed, and a new desk, making it essentially a new structure, at a cost of but little over $3,000.00.
Mr. Copeland's successors down to the year 1840 ( perhaps not in the order here given ) were James Hemingway, John Weiley, Benijah Williams, Dr. Bartlett, Orrin F. Comfort, and Seymour A. Baker. The following is a list of pastors from 1841 to date:
J. B. Langdon 1841. E. S. Furman '64, '68 & '69.
O. F. Comfort
1842. Griffin Smith 1867.
A. D. Wilber 1843. John A. Copeland '70, '85, & '86.
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