USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania > Part 17
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After a protracted illness, his mind retaining its accus-
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tomed clearness to the last, he expired on the 1st of June, 1846, aged seventy years. Mrs. Reed and his only son and child, General C. M. Reed, still survive.
JUDAH COLT was born at Lyme, Connecticut, July 1st, 1761. As his history is identified with that of the Western country, a brief sketch and some extracts from his journal will be given.
Until the age of twenty-three he assisted his father on the farm, and the last three winters taught school in the neigh- boring towns. He then resolved to see something of the world, and took passage in the sloop Betsy for North Carolina. As they were driven off the shore by adverse winds, they landed at the Island of Bermuda, disposed of their perishing cargo, and repaired the vessel. They then made the harbor of Ocracock, North Carolina, and Mr. Colt visited the larger towns and taught school in the vicinity until spring, when he returned home after an absence of over six months. As was the custom, the prayers of the church at home had been offered for his safe return. In the autumn he made a tour to Vermont, taught school in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in the winter, and next en- gaged himself as a clerk in the dry goods store of Mr. Thos. Shelden, of Lansingburg, New York.
When he returned to the parental roof, after an absence of eighteen months, his father made him proposals "such as a kind parent would do," but having seen a better country for obtaining an estate by labor, he excused himself from accepting his offer, and returned to Lansingburg to enter the employ of Mr. Nathaniel Gorham, a respectable mer- chant. Mr. C.'s father dying, he returned and settled his estate, spending the winter there. Finally, after several other tours in 1789, he, with thirteen persons, with their goods, farming utensils, etc., set out for the Genesee country. At German Flats their wagon broke, and they proceeded from thence on horseback, each traveler carrying his own baggage. Through the scattering Dutch settlements the ac-
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commodations were poor. At Fort Schuyler (Utica) they crossed the Mohawk where there were but one or two small log houses ; ten miles west they put up at Mr. Blackman's ; from thence proceeded through the Oneida castle, following a bridle path, and at night encamped on the Canasaraga Flats. Here Mr. Colt's horse failed to keep up with the company, and Mr. E. Curtis agreed to move with him, as his horse could travel. Two days after leaving Utica they reached Onondaga River, and put up at Major Danforth's, near the Salt Spring, which was the only white family they found after leaving Blackman's. (One man resided in Oneida castle named Alburt or Talbut.) At Cayuga Lake a family of the name of Richardson resided, who ferried them and their horses over in two canoes lashed together; ten days from Utica they arrived at Geneva, and put up at Gilbert R. Boney's, Mr. C.'s horse having failed after crossing the outlet of Seneca Lake. After remaining a day or two in Geneva he walked to Canandaigua and took shelter in a cabin occupied by General Israel Chapin, being much fatigued. Provisions were brought in boats from Albany and Schenectady, and there was a great scarcity of the necessaries of life.
Mr. Colt contracted with O. Phelps, Esq., to survey a township situated on the Genesee River, known as No. 11, Honeoye Township. The 1st of July, 1789, he purchased a town lot (forty acres) of O. Phelps, cleared the timber, and afterward erected a dwelling in which he resided for many years. He sowed wheat upon three acres of his lot the same fall, which was the first sown in that part of the country. N. Gorham and others sowed large fields the same season. [Mr. Colt's yielded twenty bushels to the acre.] In August a treaty was held for the purchase of the Indian lands, attended by the chief Red Jacket and 1700 Indians, including women and children. The payment was made them in cash and merchandise. Rations of bread, meat, and occasionally rum were served out, and they came and
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went hungry. One hundred head of cattle were killed for them, but of flour there was a scarcity-one barrel made into bread sold for one hundred dollars in silver plate, of which various kinds of Indian ornaments were made. Many horses died distempered during the treaty, and the Indians fed on them freely, and also on the blood and entrails of all the beef slaughtered. While the treaty continued but little else was attended to, and although no serious accident hap- pened between the whites and Indians, there were several narrow escapes in consequence of the Indians making too free use of spirits, and the misconduct of the white people, who were often the aggressors.
The winter following, Mr. C. spent in Connecticut, his health having become impaired by frequent attacks of fever and ague. In September, 1790, he received the appoint- ment, from Governor Clinton, of sheriff of Ontario County ; and on the third of the same month a court of quarter and general sessions of the peace was held at the dwelling- house of O. Phelps ; Oliver Phelps, Esq., presided as judge, and Jas. Parker and Israel Chapin as assistant justices.
In January, 1792, Mr. Colt was married to Elizabeth Marvin, of Lyme, Connecticut. During the winter of 1794, he continued in Canandaigua for the first time. The inhab- itants were under serious apprehensions of an invasion by the Indians, in the spring, if measures were not taken by the general government to quiet them. Early in the spring, news was brought to I. Chapin, Esq., (Geneva,) Superin- tendent of Indian affairs, that Captain Brant had assembled with his warriors at Buffalo Creek, and was proceeding to Presqu'ile, Pennsylvania, to prevent the survey of the Tri- angle. To prevent serious consequences, Mr. Chapin re- paired to Buffalo Creek, Mr. S. Colt accompanying him as secretary, and Horatio Jones as interpreter. The Indians were assembled, and after consultation, a part of the young men were dismissed, and a few of the chiefs took passage by water, with the superintendent, secretary, and interpre-
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ter to Presqu'ile. From this they went on foot to Le Bœuf, where was stationed a small command of State troops under Captain Ebenezer Denny. On the Indians making their errand known, viz., to see the surveyors and to forbid them running lines, etc., they were informed that they shortly before left the country and had gone down the river. The Indians agreed to return home on assurances being given that the matter should be laid before the President of the United States.
It was agreed to hold a treaty with them the ensuing fall. Timothy Piekering, Esq., was appointed for that purpose, and met them at Canandaigua, in the month of October, when all matters of difference were amicably settled.
In August, 1795, Mr. Colt, accompanied by Mr. Augustus Porter, visited Presqu'ile for the purpose of purchasing land; and February, 1796, Mr. C. made a journey to Phila- delphia to confirm the purchase of his lands as well as to make an offer to the Population Company of one dollar per aere for a traet of 30,000 acres in the eastern part of the Triangle. The company declined to sell in so large a body, but appointed Mr. Colt their agent, at a salary of $1500 per year, besides expenses for traveling, board, etc. In 1798 the salary was increased to $2500, a clerk furnished, and all reasonable traveling expenses paid. May, 1793, Mr. C. brought his family to Greenfield, where they resided until their removal to Erie in 1802. The history of Erie County, during its first thirty years in business and society affairs, is closely interwoven with that of its two most promi- nent citizens, Judah Colt and R. S. Reed. In October, 1825, Mr. C. was elected first elder of the First Presby- terian Church, and was distinguished for his piety and benevolence, as well as esteemed and respected in all the various relations of life.
The evening of October 11th, 1832, without the least premonition, Mr. Colt suddenly expired, when seated with his family by the cheerful fireside. Mrs. Colt died March 13th,
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1834, aged sixty-six years; they left no children, two sons and a daughter having died in infancy.
USHER PARSONS, M.D., formerly of the United States Navy,-the last surviving commissioned officer of Perry's squadron,-was a native of York County, Maine. When war was declared with Great Britain in 1812, he was a sur- geon's mate on board of the John Adams. The officers and crew volunteered for the lake service and joined Perry at Erie in June, 1813. Dr. Parsons was attached to the flag-ship Lawrence, and, owing to the illness of the two other medical officers of the squadron, was the only acting surgeon on the bloody and eventful tenth. Respecting his valuable services on that trying occasion, the commodore made most honorable mention in a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Navy .* Soon after (1814) he was com- missioned full surgeon and sailed with the squadron to Mackinaw, and was present at the disastrous attack on that fort by Colonel Croghan.
Commodore Perry was soon after ordered to the com- mand of the frigate Java, and allowed the privilege of select- ing his officers, when Dr. Parsons was appointed surgeon.
In 1818 he again sailed to the Mediterranean in the Guerriere, commanded by Commodore McDonough, and after one year obtained leave of absence and visited the hospitals and medical schools in France and England. On his return he had charge of the hospital in Charlestown, Mass., for a year or two; afterward he was appointed to a professorship in Dartmouth College, which he resigned the
* " Of Dr. Usher Parsons, surgeon's mate, I cannot say too muchi. In consequence of the sickness of Drs. Barton and Horsely, the duty of operating, dressing, and attending nearly a hundred wounded and as many sick fell on him; and it must be gratifying to you, sir, to know that of the whole number only three have died. I can only say that in the event of my having another command, I should con- sider myself particularly fortunate in having him with me as a sur- geon."
Usher Parsons
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following year. Since then, Dr. P. has resided in Provi- dence, Rhode Island, excepting the winter of 1831, when he was Professor in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
In 1822 he married the daughter of Abiel Holmes, D.D., LL.D., of Cambridge, (author of Annals of Ame- rica,) who deceased in 1825, leaving one son, Dr. C. W. Parsons, of Providence.
In 1852 Dr. Parsons was chosen first vice-president of the National Medical Association. He is the author of several medical books, and of the Life of Sir Wm. Pep- perell.
Dr. P. combines not only eminence as a professional man and scholar, but all the virtues and graces of a Christian gentleman. The period he was stationed in Erie and the arduous duties which then devolved upon him, made a last- ing impression, and in its growth and prosperity, and the friends of those early and exciting times, he has ever mani- fested a warm interest.
DR. JOHN CULBERTSON WALLACE was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, February 14th, 1771. He was a good classical scholar, and graduated as Doctor of Medi- cine, at Philadelphia, under Rush and other celebrated medical men. In 1794 he accompanied General Wayne as surgeon in the Indian war; in 1796 was stationed at Fort Fayette, Pittsburg, and in 1801 went to Kentucky with General Wilkinson's command. The same year he was married to Miss Margaret Heron, daughter of Captain Jas. Heron, of the army, being a couple remarkable for personal grace and beauty. Dr. W. resigned his commis- sion as surgeon in the army, and after a residence of three years in Franklin, removed to Erie.
Dr. Wallace commanded an Erie County regiment at the commencement of the war of 1812, and was called into ser- vice with his regiment in the alarm that arose on the burn- ing of Buffalo. Dr. Parsons, of the navy, was acting-sur- geon of Colonel Wallace's regiment for a short time. In
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attending upon the wounded after the battle of Lake Erie, Dr. W. assisted Dr. Parsons at the hospital, (court-house,) during the months of November, December, and January.
Dr. Wallace was elected the first Burgess of Erie, in 1806, and also held the offices of Justice of the Peace, County Commissioner, and Coroner. Dr. Wallace was possessed of very considerable talents, being endowed by nature with unusual discernment, which he exercised as well on ordinary occasions as in his profession. He died December 8th, 1827, being but little past the meridian of life.
REV. ROBERT REID* was the son of James Reid and Elizabeth Craig. He was born at Reid's Hill, Hills- borough, near Belfast, Ireland, on the 5th of November, A. D. 1781. Owing to the troublous state of the times in their native country, his father, James Reid, and the three sons, Robert, Isaac, and James, then their sole family, the mother having died young, emigrated to this country in the fall of 1798, during the political troubles then raging; in which, as most Protestants had done, he and his connections had taken sides with the government and Orangemen. This was not remarkable, as their ancestor, Captain John Reid, had emigrated to that country from England under William of Orange, and was under him at the famous battle of the Boyne over a hundred years before, and after the final suc- cess of that struggle, remained in the country where most of his descendants still are.
James Reid settled in Philadelphia, and died there in 1821, and was buried in the then Spring Garden Cemetery. James Reid, the son, removed to Boston, but died young in Philadelphia, leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Koch, the paleontologist, of St. Louis, well known and still pleasantly remembered by most of our older citizens of this county. Isaac Reid became a shipowner and trader to the Guianas and South America. He died in
* Biography of Rev. Robert Reid, by a relative.
mettre NY
Johnle Wallow
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Philadelphia in 1854, leaving an only son now living, Dr. Neville Craig Reid, of Philadelphia; while Robert, the oldest and subject of this sketch, deeply imbned with the idea of religious duty, determined to devote himself to the service of the Gospel of Christ. He entered, as a student, the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, in 1801, and graduated with honor in 1805, being appointed imme- diately thereafter tutor in the chair of mathematics, which post he continued to fill during the following year.
Then entering the Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church, at that time located in the City of New York, he continued his clerical and profes- sional studies under the presidency of the celebrated Dr. John Mason. Having engaged in the necessary prepara- tions for the sacred calling with a zeal and perseverance characteristic of him through life, his studies were deep and thorough. Religion was in him not only practical piety, but a science as profound as the great Author of the universe, into the workings of whose mind we might by means of it obtain some faint glimpses; while his study of the original languages of the sacred writings continued and prosecuted there became one of the main pursuits of his life-one hour of every secular day when in his study being ever after devoted to the critical study and examination of the Scriptures in the original, as "containing the only rule of faith and practice," and as being the emanations and teachings of the Divine Spirit. Having completed the usual course and trials, he was licensed in 1809 under the authority of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and for the next two years the field of his labors was in Virginia, Mary- land, and Pennsylvania; principally in and west of the mountains, fulfilling Presbyterial appointments.
During his licentiate, he traveled over much wild and then thinly settled country, and preached in many neighbor- hoods, and sometimes a sermon for each day in the week.
In the fall of 1811, in company with the Rev. Samuel
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Wier, (afterward his brother-in-law,) also a licentiate of the same Presbytery, under the authority of the Presbytery of Monongahela, he arrived at Erie, and in 1812 he was regularly ordained and installed as pastor of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church, then the only organized re- ligions association in Erie .*
Some years after, another congregation of the same church was organized in Waterford, and for many years thereafter he continued to preach. During the war of 1812-13, he often officiated as chaplain to Perry's fleet here and to the army on shore, and in alarms, like most of our older citizens, was sometimes on duty in the ranks.
He was married on the 11th of April, 1816, to Elizabeth, daughter of David Calhoun, Esq., of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, an elder of the Associate Reformed church. She died young, after having been to him and his people a true clergyman's wife for eleven years, and was long remem- bered affectionately, and still is by her few surviving friends, throughout the country of his ministrations. In November, 1828, he was again united in marriage with Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Rev. Matthew Lind, an eminent clergyman of the Associate Reformed church, and long pastor of the famous Paxton Church, near Harrisburg. She still survives him, residing now in Mansfield, Ohio, while the memory of her numerous kindnesses is still cherished among the members of the church, and many others.
* "On Wednesday, the 21st day of October, 1812, Rev. Robert Reid was ordained pastor, the Rev. Messrs. David Kerr, Mungo Dick, and James McConnell were the members of the Presbytery who were present. On Wednesday, the 21st of April, 1813, the Rev. Mr. Galloway, of Mercer, and Mr. Junkin, ruling elder, assisting, Archibald McSparren, Thomas Hughes, and David Robinson were ordained, and Alexander Robinson was installed, ruling elders, and James Dumars ordained Deacon of the congregation."-Copied from the original records, pp. 83, 84, of the Associate Reformed church of Erie, Pennsylvania.
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In 1819 the Erie Academy was incorporated, and he was elected President of the Board of Trustees, the duties of which office he continued to perform for twenty-five years, to the close of his life. In him the cause of popular education from the earliest times here, and during all that period, had a constant, efficient, and devoted friend ; and after the organ- ization of the Erie Academy, until a competent principal could be procured, he occupied the position of the first prin- cipal of the institution .* After a service of more than a third of a century in the ministry, he died on the 16th May, 1844, in the sixty-third year of his age. He left six chil- dren surviving him, who are still living.
As a clergyman he was devoted to, and industrious in, the dissemination of the truths of the Gospel and of the doc- trines of Presbyterianism, and ardent in the defense and support of the Presbyterian form of church government, which he believed to lie deeply at the foundation of our Republican institutions; and with his pen as well, he was ever ready to discuss and defend the doctrines of the branch of the church to which he belonged.
His published works are :--
1. A Funeral Sermon on the Death of Lieutenant Brooks, U. S. N., published in 1813.
2. A Sermon, "The Reign of Truth and Righteousness about to commence," in 1824.
3. A Tract, "Observations on Dr. Watt's Preface to the Psalms of David," etc., in 1825.
4. "The Seven Last Plagues, being Dissertations on the
* One of Rev. R. Reid's parishioners informed me that his custom was to visit every family of his congregation once in six weeks. This, with memorizing all sermons, in accordance with the practice of the denomination, must have called for untiring industry. Two hundred and fifty dollars, and at the utmost never more than three hundred dollars, was the salary allowed for the support of the pastor and his family. L. G S.
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Prophecies of the Book of Daniel, and on the Book of Revelations." 1 Vol .: 1828.
5. "Helps to Christian Devotion ;" consisting of critical translations of, and dissertations on, the first twenty-three Psalms. 1 Vol., in 1833.
6. Two "Tracts on Church Government," published in 1839 and '41.
In all his works, and throughout a life engaged in the development and enforcing of Scripture truth, he was de- voted to the doctrines of the church as maintained in the " Westminster Confession of Faith," as held by that branch of the great Presbyterian family-the Associate Reformed, now the " United Presbyterian Church" of the United States-and to the exclusive use of the Psalms of Scripture in Divine worship.
As a scholar, he was distinguished for a profound and critical knowledge of the original languages of the sacred writings and their cognates, and as a mathematician. To the study of the exact sciences much of his leisure was ap- propriated, and his occasional contributions to the scientific periodicals of the day are still evidences of his extra-clerical lucubrations.
THOMAS WILSON was born near Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1772. His father, John Wilson, who was one of the earliest settlers of Northumberland County, died in 1774, and his sister Agnes soon after was married to General David Mead, the pioneer to the waters of French Creek, and the first settler of the pleasant town which bears his name. In 1782 a band of Indians entered the residence of Mrs. Wilson, being led by a chief who had frequently been fed there, and after emptying the ticks and filling them with the most valuable household goods, de- parted with the mother and Margaret, a little daughter, prisoners. Seeing one of Thomas's garments on the grass, the chief angrily demanded him also, but fortunately he could not be found. Before evening they sent the mother
Engraved by J. C. Bubre SI.
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back, but she feared to enter the house lest the Indians should return, and remained through the night in the stable. The child was redeemed three years after at Detroit, and afterward married a Mr. Barry, of Toronto. In 1802 Mr. Wilson was married at Waterford to Miss Mary Naylor, who resided with her brother, Jas. Naylor, Esq., being stationed there as Issuing Commissary for many years. Mr. Wilson removed to Erie in 1805. He had, for many years, been in partnership with Mr. Oliver Ormsby, of Pittsburg, in contracts for supplying all the Western military posts from Niagara to New Orleans; his last contract, which was at the time when Louisiana was ceded to the United States, proved unfor- tunate, and involved him beyond recovery. The year of his removal to Erie he built two vessels, one on Lake Erie, called the Mary, and the Fair American on Lake Ontario, being the best on those lakes; afterward he built the Lark at Erie.
Mr. W. was a man of remarkable business talent and en- terprise, and held various offices of trust in Erie with credit, being successively Justice of the Peace, County Treasurer, County Commissioner, member of the Legislature, and mem- ber of Congress, and at the time of his death, in 1824, he held the office of Prothonotary.
Mrs. Wilson still survives. The eldest daughter, Jane L., who deceased in 1860, was an agreeable and interest- ing writer, and the author of several works published by religious societies. The titles of the principal ones are "Broken Cisterns," " Arthur Singleton," and " Ruth Elmer."
P. S. V. HAMOT was born in Paris, France, on the 28th November, 1784. His father was a captain in the French army, and a royalist, and left France for Russia, where he resided during the "reign of terror." Returning to France after the establishment of the " Republic," he offered to pro- cure for his son a lieutenancy in the army ; but such a posi- tion not being in accordance with his tastes, and his atten- tion having been turned to the new republic of the West,
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he preferred to come to America and to try his fortune in a new and strange land. His father consenting, he came to Philadelphia, with the French consul, in 1802, as "l'homme de confiance," as expressed in his passport. The consul died soon after his arrival, leaving Mr. Hamot a friendless youth, and among a people in whose language he was little versed. His self-reliance, peculiarly a trait of his character, did not allow him to despond. A mercantile situation offering, he started for the West, as the clerk of a French house, in charge of a stock of merchandise. The vessel on the route was wrecked on Lake Ontario, but, with the goods recovered, he opened a store at Niagara, Canada, and from thence removed to Lewiston, and in 1805 to Erie. In 1810 he formed a partnership with Messrs. E. & D. Alvord, of Salina, who dealt largely in salt. This business connection continued many years. He was also engaged in general mercantile business on his own account, and was one of the first and most successful merchants of the place.
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