USA > New York > Monroe County > Wheatland > Wheatland, Monroe County, New York : a brief sketch of its history > Part 5
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Chauncy S. Baker'44, '65, & '66.
Samuel Millard 1871.
James Durham 1845.
George W. Coe 1872.
W. B. Slaughter 1846.
O. B. Sparrow '73, & '74.
E. M. Buck 1847. J. W. Sanborn 1875.
Geo. W. Terry 48 & '49. Thomas E. Bell '76, '77 & '78.
Hiram H. Hood 1850. H. Vosburg '79 & '80.
John H. Wallace
1851. G. W. Kittenger 1881.
Thomas W. Eaton '52 & '53.
W. S. Tuttle 1882.
D. B. Lawton
1854. J. V. Lowell '83 & '84.
W. C. Willing
1855. L. D. Chase
'87 to '91.
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S. C. Smith
'56 & '57. T. F. Parker. '92 & '93.
Samuel Luckey 1858. G. S. Robinson '94, '95 & '96.
Charles Eddy
'59 & '60. G. W. Gibson '97 to 1901.
David Nichols
1861. J. B. Arnold 1902, '03 & '04
George Markham
1862. R. W. Copeland 1905 to '07.
S. C. Church
1863.
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.
During the first decade of the Nineteenth Century there settled in the eastern part of Wheatland many families, members of a religious body known among themselves as Friends, but by world's people called Quakers. They met at first for worship in private houses, but receiving accessions to their number by families moving in, they in 1820 erected a frame meeting house on the south road east of Thomas Stokoe's place. They wor- shiped together in perfect harmony until 1827 when a man named Elias Hicks came preaching a new doctrine. His views were accepted by one-half of the Society and rejected by the other. A separation took place, those who adhered to the old faith withdrew and built a stone meeting house farther east, near the River Road. Both parties retained the name of " Friends " but by outsiders were designated as the Orthodox and the Hicksites.
In 1852 the Orthodox removed to the road farther south, build- ing a frame house near Frank Cox's, while the Hicksites moved into the stone house just vacated. Meetings were held with more or less regularity by both societies for a series of years, but it was apparent to a casual observer that their existence was but a ques- tion of time. It was noticeable that their congregations were composed almost wholly of middle aged and elderly people. The young were absent, somehow they had learned that in the matter of dress there were more attractive colors than drab; some had acquired the habit of attending meetings where music was a part of the service ( sometimes the better part ) and where the wearing of a red ribbon was not regarded as a mortal sin.
The demise of these societies was so gradual and so quiet that it would be difficult to fix the date of their departure. Let no one infer from their extinction that the lives of their members
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were spent in vain. Far from it. Their sterling integrity, their habits of industry and economy, their love of freedom and justice, have left an impression not only upon their descendants but upon every one with whom they came in contact.
GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF SCOTTSVILLE.
Scottsville's youngest church organization, Grace Episcopal Church, was formed in St. Joseph's Hall January 12th, 1885. Rev. Henry Anstice presiding, the following vestry were elected: Wardens: Selden S. Brown, S. Hobart Dorr; Vestrymen: D. D. S. Brown, James H. Kelly, James B. Lewis, Homer L. S. Hall, M. C. Mordoff, G. Fort Slocum and Seward Scofield.
D. D. S. Brown's offer of a site for a church upon Brown's Avenue was accepted May 14th, 1885; ground broken for the church edifice June 1, 1885; corner stone laid June 27, 1885; church edifice completed same year, 1885; first Sunday service December 18, 1885; church edifice consecrated July 25, 1891. The following have served as rectors: J. Dudley Ferguson, Dr. James Roy, Francis Gould, Arthur Davies and Richard C. Searing.
THE CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION OF SCOTTSVILLE.
In 1841-42 the Catholics residing in Scottsville and vicinity, desirous of having some place of worship, rented the brick house east of and adjoining their present church for that purpose. Services were at first held one Sabbath in each month, priests from Rochester usually officiating. Their rooms proved too contracted to accomodate all who desired to attend and in 1843 Patrick Rafferty and his associates purchased the property they were occupying with the view of erecting thereon a suitable church edifice. Work, however, upon this project was delayed. Ten years elapsed before ground was broken for this purpose. The corner stone was laid by Bishop Timon August 15, 1853, and the foundation wall completed. The following year the walls were reared and the edifice, 40 x 80 feet, so far completed that services were held therein. The addition in rear of the church, 20 x 30 feet, was built during the pastorate of Father O'Donohue. Following are the names of those who have administered to the
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wants of the parish, viz: Edward O'Connor, 1848; Michael Walsh, 1849; James McGlew, 1852; Richard J. Story, 1856; J. V. O'Dono- hue, 1858; M. J. Loughlin, 1868; S. A. Mahar, 1869; E. J. McDon- ald, 1870; L. J. Miller, 1871; J. J. Buckley, 1872; M. M. Meagher, 1873; M. T. Madden, 1874; T. L. Rossiter, 1877; G. J. Eisler, 1881; and the present priest in charge, Rev. L. A. Lambert, 1890.
Father Lambert's service in point of time exceeds that of any of his predecessors, covering a period of seventeen years.
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BEULAH.
" In 1798 a company of emigrants from Perthshire, Scotland, . emigrated to America, landing at New York and coming as far west as Johnstown, Montgomery County, halted there to determine on some permanent location. Mr. Williamson, ( agent for an English land company, ) hearing of the arrival of his Countrymen, made a journey to see them. He found them poor in purse but rich in courage, perseverance and industry. He offered them a favorite location in the neighborhood of the Big Springs, now Caledonia -- land at $3.00 per acre payable in wheat at 6 shillings per bushel. In March 1799, while there was yet sleighing the Scotch adventurers came from Johnstown to the Big Springs."
The foregoing is a quotation from the " History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorhams' Purchase and Morris' Reserve," etc by O. Turner.
In the fall of the same year they were joined by their country- men, John Mc Vean, John Mc Pherson, John Anderson and Duncan Anderson, all single men but Mc Vean, and the next year they were joined by Donald Mc Pherson, Donald Anderson, Alexander Thompson and their families. These whose names have been given, crossed the ocean in the same ship and were the ancestors of the congregation of Beulah Church. All these men without exception were agriculturists and they settled in the Valley of Allan's Creek between Mumford and Le Roy, where the combination of stream, forest and rocky hillside was to them the counterpart of their native Highland Glens.
For the first fifty years of the nineteenth century these families and their descendants, with others who came later, attended the stone church in Caledonia, but when the church building was outgrown by the increase in population, a colony was formed in the northwestern section of the settlement and the church was built in 1851 during the pastorate of the Rev. Donald Mc Laren of the Stone Church in Caledonia. He presented the new church with a Bible bearing the following inscription on the fly-leaf: " To the Associate Reformed Congregation to worship in the
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House of God at Beulah, still forming a part of the flock which I have in charge, in token of my gratitude for their uniform kind- ness to me, of my great affection for them in the Lord, and my cordial acquiescence in their contemplated organization as a distinct church, I present this Bible on the day on which this House was first opened for public worship. Donald C. Mc Laren. Caledonia, January 1, 1852."
At its dedication the church was named Beulah Church by Captain Thomas Faulkner. It was a name of good omen as there never has been a quarrel in the church since it was organized. It has numbered over twenty families of the Mc Pherson clan, beside McMartins, McVeans, Menzies, Mallocks, Walkers, Brodies, Blues, Campbells, Andersons, Tennents, Christies, Hebbards, Vallances and Murrays. The church has produced one doctor of divinity, Rev. S. J. Mc Pherson, of Lawrenceville, N. J., two lawyers, Judge Hebbard and Herbert Menzie of Rochester, still land owners in Beulah, six physicians, Dr. R. J. Menzie of Caledonia and five physicians of the Mc Pherson name, four of whom are living.
Fifty years of prosperity and usefulness were allotted to this organization which still exists but is greatly reduced in numbers by deaths and removals. The Scotch Emigration of 1800 seems to have given place to that from Ireland half a Century later.
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POST OFFICES.
Although Wheatland was early settled it was late in acquiring postal facilities. For many years while Canandaigua was in receipt of a weekly mail from the east, there was no post office or post route west of that village. Mail destined for this locality was obtained at irregular and uncertain intervals, by persons who were called to the county seat by business or court duty. In 1812 a semi-weekly mail route was established from Canandaigua to Batavia and a post office opened at Caledonia.
For the next eight years mail for . Scottsville was obtained by chance opportunity, or by sending a boy on horseback to Caledonia for it. In 1820 a post office was opened in Scottsville and a tri-weekly mail route established from Rochester to York, Livingston Co., the mail going up and returning upon alternate days. At a later period, for a brief time, a four horse mail coach ran over this line but was soon discontinued.
In 1853 upon the completion of the Erie R. R. between Rochester and Avon, a daily mail was received at the Scottsville Station from the former city, and in 1874 when the cars com- menced running from Rochester to Le Roy, upon the State Line Road, a morning and evening mail was received, an arrangement which continued until recently. At the present time five mails arrive and depart daily and two Rural Free Delivery Routes start from the Scottsville office.
Below is a list of the Wheatland offices, the names of the Post Masters and the dates of their commissions:
SCOTTSVILLE, MONROE COUNTY, N. Y.
Established.
Freeman Edson, May 20, 1820.
İra Carpenter, Oct. 19, 1829.
Wm. G. Lacy, Apr. 19, 1849.
Dyer D. S. Brown,
Apr. 10, 1853.
David B. Lewis,
Sept. 29, 1855.
Benjamin B. Carpenter, Sept. 29, 1860.
Otto Bennett,
Mar. 14, 1861.
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John Croft,
Dec. 22, 1871.
Earll H. Slocum,
Aug. 12, 1875.
Otto Bennett,
Dec. 14, 1877.
Earll H. Slocum,
Jan. 20, 1878.
Otto Bennett,
Jan. 29, 1880.
Bridget Scanlan,
May 13, 1886.
Earll H. Slocum,
June 16, 1890.
Robert Walsh,
Apr. 7, 1894.
William Purcell,
Apr. 11, 1898.
WHEATLAND, MONROE COUNTY, N. Y.
Established. Clark Hall,
Apr. 5, 1826.
Benjamin Bissell, Sept. 7, 1847.
John Murdock,
Sept. 18, 1848.
Discontinued.
Sept. 20, 1858.
MUMFORD, MONROE COUNTY, N. Y.
Established. Duncan Mc Naughton, June 20, 1844.
Renselear N. Havens, June 9, 1849.
Duncan Mc Naughton, July 15, 1853.
James Mc Queen, Mar. 14, 1860.
Harriet E. Maynard, May 7, 1872.
Ezra A. Price,
May 25, 1877.
Charles Mc Naughton, Mar. 20, 1882.
Chester D. Woodard,
Nov. 9, 1885.
John E. Harvey,
Sep. 15, 1889.
William Buckley,
1893.
James Freeman,
June 11, 1897.
GARBUTT, MONROE COUNTY, N. Y.
Established. Harlan P. Wheeler, May 3, 1880.
Ezra Price,
June 22, 1882.
Duncan Mc Queen,
June 21, 1883.
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TOWN ORGANIZATION AND CIVIL CHANGES.
In 1789 ( the year of Sheffer's settlement here ) Ontario County, taken from Montgomery, was organized. It included within its border all territory of the state lying west of the pre-emption line, one mile east of Geneva. Eight years later, in 1797, that portion of Ontario lying west of the Genesee was organized as the town of Northampton. The first election in the new town was held April 4th, 1797 at the Allan Cabin on the flats, then occupied by Peter Sheffer, Jr. Josiah Fish was elected Supervisor. The other officers were Eli Granger, Peter Sheffer, Joseph Morgan, Jeremiah Olmsted, Gideon King, Hinds Chamberlain, Simon King, Chris- topher Dugan and Isaac Scott. These men all resided within the radius of a mile from the river, but were scattered from Cana- waugus to the Lake. Four were from King's, later " Hanford's Landing," three from Scottsville, and one each from Dugan's Creek, Chili line and mouth of Black Creek.
It will be noticed that Rochester is unrepresented in this list but it had a valid excuse. It was more than fifteen years after this election was held before Rochester was given a place on the map.
Some idea of the density of population in different localities may be inferred from the statement that in the war of 1814 what now constitutes the town of Wheatland was, upon twenty-four hours notice able to send seventy-five men to Niagara for the defense of Fort Erie, while the town of Gates, which included that portion of Rochester lying west of the River, could muster only one-half of that number to defend the mouth of the Genesee from the threatened attack of the British fleet commanded by Commodore Sir James Yeo.
In 1800 the first state tax was levied upon property west of the Genesee. The tax roll contains but one hundred and fifty names including land companies and non-residents. The following names from the roll were living in this immediate vicinity, viz:
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Hinds Chamberlain, Christopher Dugan, Cyrus Douglass, Elisha Farwell, George Goodhue, Reuben Heath, Christopher Laybourn, Joseph Morgan, John Mc Naughton, Stephen Peabody, Peter Sheffer, Isaac Scott and Jacob Schoonover.
The town of Northampton remained a part of Ontario County for five years, during which time its residents went to Canandai- gua, the county seat, to discharge jury duty, to place on record the transfer of property and to procure what mail might be in the Post Office for persons living in this locality.
In 1802 Genesee County, with Batavia as the county seat, was organized. Its boundaries were identical with those of the town of Northampton, ( then a part of Ontario County, ) which it replaced. Its territory was divided into four towns. A line was run due west from the Genesee Rapids - the line that now sepa- rates Chili and Riga from Gates and Ogden. The Eastern terri- tory north of this line retained the name of Northampton while the eastern portion south of the line was called Southampton. The northwestern portion became the town of Batavia, while the name Leicester was given to the southwestern part.
The first panel of Grand Jurors summoned in Genesee County contains the following names from that part of Southampton now known as Wheatland, viz: Elisha Farwell, Peter Sheffer, Hugh Mc Dermit and John Mc Naughton.
The following is from the Court Record on file in the Clerk's Office of Genesee County:
" ( Batavia, Genesee County, N. Y.
Court Com. Pleas, June term, 1810.)
Application of John Garbutt, William Reed and William Armstrong praying to be admitted as naturalized citizens of the United States, having been residents of this state the required length of time.
Application granted by Court of Common Pleas of Genesee County June 12, 1810."
In 1806 the name of the town was changed from Southampton to Caledonia, and thus remained until the formation of the counties
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of Monroe and Livingston in 1821, when an east and west line was drawn through Caledonia and that portion lying south of the line, retaining its old name, was taken into Livingston County, while the part lying north of the line, first as Inverness but sixty days later by an act of the Legislature changed to Wheatland, was taken into Monroe County.
The first town meeting in Wheatland was held at the public house of Powell Carpenter in Scottsville, April 3d, 1821, when the following officers were elected: John Garbutt, Supervisor; Levi Lacy, Town Clerk; William Reed, Jirah Blackmer and William Garbutt, Assessors; Thomas Stokoe, Collector; Rawson Harmon and Peter Sheffer, Overseers of the Poor; Joseph Cox, Clark Hall and Ephraim Blackmer, Commissioners of Highways; Freeman Edson, Thomas Lowry and Jirah Blackmer, Commis- sioners of Common Schools; George Wood, Sylvester Harmon and Peter Mc Pherson, Inspectors, and Caleb Calkins and Chester Savage, Constables.
COUNTY AND STATE OFFICES FILLED BY WHEATLAND MEN.
In 1840 William Garbutt was a presidential elector. Wheatland has furnished the County with two clerks, D. D. S. Brown 1859 to 1862, and Henry D. Mc Naughton 1883 to 1886; and two County Treasurers, Samuel Scofield 1864 to 1867, and Alexander Mc Vean 1879 to 1894. In 1906 Selden S. Brown was elected Surrogate for a term of six years.
The Third Assembly District of Monroe County has been represented in the Legislature by John Garbutt in 1829; John Mc Vean in 1845; Elisha Harmon in 1849 and 1850; Volney P. Brown in 1870 and 1871; Philip Garbutt in 1884 and 1885 and Isaac W. Salyerds in 1901 and 1902; while the 29th Senatorial district, then comprising the counties of Monroe and Orleans, was represented by Donald Mc Naughton in 1888 to 1892.
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OUR COUNTRY'S DEFENDERS.
That the residents of Wheatland have ever been actuated by a spirit of patriotism is manifest by the voluntary tender of their services upon every occasion when their country has required defenders.
At the time of the separation of the American Colonies from Great Britain, Western New York was peopled only by the Seneca Indians. The few soldiers of the American Revolution whose remains lie mouldering in the cemetery at Belcoda, removed to this locality from the east after the close of that struggle. They are eight in number, viz: Rev. Solomon Brown, William Bingham, John Joslin, Rufus Hibbard, Comfort Smith, Samuel Stanhope, Israel Merriman and John Toms. The remains of Joseph Morgan were interred in the neglected cemetery on the River Road, a few rods north of the town line.
The remains of Reuben Heath, a Soldier of the Revolution who fought at Bunker Hill, Roxbury Neck and Charlestown, Mass., in 1775, are buried in Lot No. 170, in Oatka Cemetery at Scottsville. He was from New Hampshire and was a member of Captain Hezekiah Hutchins' Company, of Colonel James Reed's Regiment. He was one of the early settlers in Wheat- land. ( See " Settlers prior to 1800. " )
4
*
لمرةتشري عيات.
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WAR OF 1812 - 1814.
Upon the breaking out of hostilities between our Country and Great Britain in the War of 1812 - 1814, the settlers upon the northern frontier were kept in a state of anxiety and alarm by the repeated attacks of the enemy upon Sacketts Harbor, Oswego and Buffalo.
One Sabbath morning in August 1814 a message was received from Niagara stating that Fort Erie, opposite Black Rock, then in possession of the American forces, was threatened with an attack and soliciting immediate aid. This dispatch was read from the pulpit at the morning service of the Baptist Society, then worshiping in the log school house at Belcoda, and notice given that those who were willing to volunteer in the Fort's defense were requested to meet that afternoon at Garbuttsville.
Incredible as it may appear this call was responded to by seventy-five men, being nearly the entire adult, able-bodied male population of the territory now embraced within the borders of Wheatland. On the following morning, without effecting a company organization, but with such arms as could be collected, they set out on their march to Buffalo. On September 1st they were enrolled and accepted in the service of the United States.
COMPANY ROLL.
Captain, Lieutenant,
Ensign,
Levi Lacy. Ward Smith. Timothy Doty,
Sergeants,
John Garbutt. Ephraim Blackmer. P. W. Cady. William Gray.
Robert Budd.
Corporals,
Thomas Armstrong. Ephraim Lacy. Hull Case. Jonathan Hafris.
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Musicians,
John Harmon, fifer. Nathaniel Cobb, drummer.
PRIVATES.
Nathan Bassett.
Jirah Blackmer.
William Johnson.
Ambrose Killam.
Bela Armstrong.
William Darling.
Alpha Wheeler.
Ezra Carpenter.
James Jones.
Isaac Grant.
Timothy Jackson,
Theron Brown.
Amasa Johnson.
Jonathan Webb.
Ezra T. Cone.
Hezekiah Higby.
Asa Jacquith ..
Jonathan Babcock.
Reuben Jacquith.
Philander Hizby.
William Steadman.
Abram B. T. Grant.
Caleb Calkins.
Thubal Lamb.
Reuben Hurlburt.
Andrew G. Cone.
Thomas E. Fletcher.
John Kelsa.
Joseph Shadock.
Abram Sweet.
Stephen Peabody.
Aaron Usher.
William Garbutt.
Daniel North.
Rawson Harmon, Jr. Daniel Grant.
William Cox.
Thomas Shadbolt.
Benjamin Warren.
Daniel Van Antwerp.
Andrew Grey.
Daniel Hetzler.
Henry Gilman.
Jason Peirce.
Joshua Howell.
Hugh Seeds. Ezra Brewster.
Charles Killam.
James Lewis.
John Johnson.
George Hetzler.
John M. Goodhue.
Harvey Guthrie.
Harley Hugh Sage.
Reuben Hulbertson.
Martin Sage.
Stephen G. Peabody.
Wm. P. Pentland.
Philip Garbutt.
George F. Hetzler.
This company participated in the successful defense made to the attack upon the Fort September 23d, 1814. William Garbutt and Stephen Guy Peabody were wounded. Peabody and one other were made prisoners, taken to Montreal, and held in con- finement six months, when they were released and returned to their homes. The members of the company were afterward granted by the Government a warrant entitling them to 160 acres of public land and at a later period the surviving members were granted a pension.
At this period, 1812 - 1814, Wheatland was a part of the town of Caledonia. That the foregoing list is composed almost exclu- sively of Wheatland residents is accounted for by the fact that
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another company was raised in Caledonia, commanded by Captain Robert Mc Kay, under whom those living in the vicinity of the Big Spring enlisted.
THE PATRIOT WAR, 1837 - 1838. The Scottsville Artillery Company.
In 1819 or 1820 an Artillery company was organized in the village of Scottsville, a six pound field piece being furnished them by the State. Isaac I. Lewis, Simeon Sage, Abner Cushman, George Ensign, Daniel P. Hammond and Francis X. Beckwith were successively commandants of the company.
During the trouble between our Country and Canada known as the " Patriot War " this company, then under the command of Captain F. X. Beckwith, was ordered by the Governor to Buffalo to aid in protecting that portion of our frontier. The company left Scottsville the last of December, 1837, via Rochester, where they took passage on open or platform cars on the Tonawanda Railroad, then just opened for business. It was a rough, bleak winter day, the wind sharp and piercing. Six hours were con- sumed in making the trip to Batavia, arriving there after dark, cold, tired and hungry. As Batavia was then the western term- inus of railroad transportation, the company marched from there to Buffalo. While upon the lines they performed camp and guard duty and after an absence of six weeks were discharged and returned to their homes. .
There is no roster of this company in existence. The Adjutant General's office at the State Capitol contains no record of it. The following list of thirty-three names out of the forty who obeyed the call were furnished from memory by Captain Beckwith and Hugh Mc Vean.
OFFICERS.
MUSICIANS.
Captain, Francis X. Beckwith. Fife Major, Mark Hammond. John Hammond.
Ist. Lieut. 2nd. James F. Beckwith.
Fifers,
Theodore Wilber.
Ist. Serjeant. Samuel Welch.
Chester Keys.
2nd. n Gilbert T. Whitney.
3rd. K James Wells.
4th. n Paul Austin.
Drummers, S John Wilber. Jasper Buck.
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PRIVATES.
Hugh Mc Vean.
James Savage.
Samuel Wood.
William Rogers.
Henry Vosburg. John Whitney.
John Johnson.
Mace Lard. James Salter.
William Stewart.
Roger Austin.
Erastus West.
Archibald Robinson.
William Huff.
John A. Barker.
Ezekiel Lard.
George Lampson.
Henry Tarbox.
Price Springstead.
Caleb Peirce.
James Cox.
The County of Monroe was represented in the Patriot War by a battalion of Artillery consisting of four companies, commanded by Colonel Joseph Wood, viz:
Rochester,
Captain Evan Evans. n Amos Soper.
Brighton,
Penfield,
Franklin Robb.
Scottsville,
Francis X. Beckwith.
The members of the Scottsville company were in after years rewarded by the General Government for their services by the presentation to each of a warrant good for forty acres of public land.
THE SECOND FLORIDA WAR, 1835 - 1842.
One resident of Wheatland took part in the Second Florida War against the Seminole Indians. This was Peter Sullivan who served five years in the Regular Army, in Co. G, 8th U. S. Infantry. He enlisted April 25, 1839 and was honorably discharged April 24, 1844. He will be remembered by many of the older people of Scottsville by his erect military bearing.
THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846.
Wheatland's sole representative in the war with Mexico in 1846 was Peter Clark, of Scottsville, N. Y. He enlisted in Captain Caleb Wilder's Company of Rochester, the only one raised in the county for that struggle. He came out of that contest without a scratch, was honorably discharged, and returned to his home. Fifteen years afterward he enlisted in the Old 13th, the first regiment raised in the County of Monroe for the preservation of the Union, and was killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg December 13th, 1862.
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THE CIVIL WAR, 1861 - 1865.
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