USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Pittsford > History of the town of Pittsford, Vt., with biographical sketches and family records > Part 3
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STATE OF VERMONT Surveyor General's Office, Sunderland July the 20th 1787. Recorded in the Book of Charters for New Hampshire Grants, Page 202, 203 and 204.
J. I. ALLEN, Surveyor General."
Of these grantees we have but little knowledge. The most of them were residents of Massachusetts, though a few from New Hampshire joined them to make the requisite number (sixty-four) to obtain a charter of the township, but none of them ever had a permanent residence within its bounds. The
24
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
most active and influential was Col. Ephraim Doolittle, who probably did more than any other to effect the settlement of the town. He was a resident of Worcester, Mass., and on the breaking out of the French war, received a Captain's com- mission and entered the service of the Colonies, was with Gen. Amherst at the taking of Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759, and it is said that he assisted Stark in opening and com- pleting the military road from Crown Point to Otter Creek. He was Colonel of the Massachusetts Militia in the Revolution, and afterward settled in Shoreham, Vermont, of which town he was one of the grantees. He died there in 1807.
Thus the grantees by the payment of a small sum had secured to them the title to a tract of land which, as they sup- posed, would be eagerly sought by a class of men who wished to make for themselves permanent homes in a new country. But unforeseen events prevented the immediate realization of their cherished hopes. It was soon found that another State asserted its claim to this same territory, and that the validity of their title depended upon contingencies too uncertain to com- mand the confidence of prudent men. A controversy had commenced between New York and New Hampshire respect- ing their mutual boundary. New York asserted its right to the territory which New Hampshire claimed, and till this was settled, claimants under grants from the latter must remain uncertain whether their claims would prove to be valid. And it was not till the promulgation of the King's Order in Council of April 11, 1767, which was construed to favor the claims of New Hampshire, that men seeking new homes felt willing to stake their fortunes in this newly granted township.
25
THE GOVERNOR'S LOT.
CHAPTER II.
Proprietors' Records ; Governor's Lot ; First Settlement ; Propri- etors' Meetings ; Pitches of First, Second and Third Divi- sion Lots ; Settlers. 1770-1780.
As the records of the Proprietors for the first ten years are lost, we have no means of knowing when they organized or who were their first officers ; but it is known that at a very early period they proceeded to carry out the provisions of the charter. The township was carefully surveyed, and we are told that Governor Wentworth, in the location of his five hundred acre lot, was made the dupe of a little sharp practice. Capt. Doolittle drew a plan of the township, and in the southeast part it represented a stream of water and the only one on the plan. This he carried to Portsmouth and laid before the Governor, and on being asked what stream was there represented, replied, East Creek. His Excellency supposing it to be Otter Creek, and knowing that the lands upon that stream were of the best quality, said that he would have his lot in the southeast corner of the township. It was surveyed off to him and marked B. W. on the plan. Some time after this he had the exquisite pleasure of finding that East Creek was not Otter Creek, but a small stream running through the poorest part of the township.
The first condition of the charter requiring "every grantee to plant and cultivate five acres of land, within the term of five years, for every fifty acres contained in his or their share or proportion of land in said township," was not fulfilled. How this was tolerated we are not informed ; but we may suppose,
26
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
that in consideration of the conflicting claims to this territory, and the unsettled condition of public affairs, His Excellency thought it wise to exercise clemency towards his "loving sub- jects." The township being divided into seventy shares, the proportion of land for each grantee was nearly 360 acres. It would appear from the records that, for a time, the grantees carried on quite a traffic in these town shares or rights, and at one period Capt. Doolittle owned nearly one-fifth of the town- ship.
Though anxious to effect the settlement of the township, it was not till 1769 that the proprietors were able to dispose of a right to an actual settler. This year Gideon Cooley bought of Ephraim Doolittle one right located in the south part of the township, upon which he had already made improvements. He was the son of Benjamin Cooley who was born in 1702, mar- ried Betsey , and located in Greenwich, Mass., where were born to him by this marriage three daughters and one son. His wife Betsey died about the year 1745, and the following year he married Mary , who was born in 1725. The children by this marriage were-1st, Benjamin, born April 30, 1747 ; 2d, Reuben, born April 25, 1752 ; 3d and 4th, Azariah and Naomi (twins), born July 26, 1755 ; 5th, Margaret, born November 13, 1757.
Gideon Cooley was the son of Benjamin by his first wife, and was born about the year 1737. At the commencement of the French war he enlisted as a soldier in the service of his country, and was assigned to the company commanded by Capt. Doolittle. During his three years service he passed through this region of country several times, and whenever he came in sight of the valley of the Otter Creek we are informed that he expressed his highest admiration of it. At the expiration of his term of enlistment he received his discharge, and returning on the military road from Crown Point, when he had arrived near Otter Creek he followed the old road up the west side of
.
27
FIRST SETTLER.
it till he reached the high bluff a few rods west of the present Gorham Bridge, and standing there he remarked to a comrade, " That," pointing to the broad expanse below, "is the place for me." But he returned to Greenwich, married Elizabeth Osborn of that town, in October, 1758,* and resided there till the spring of 1766, when he came to Pittsford to make a more thorough exploration of the country which had so long flitted before his mental vision. By a more critical examination of
the land in the vicinity of what is now known as Sutherland Falls, he discovered some seventy acres on the east side of the Creek, jutting in towards the Falls on the west and the high- lands on the east, and covered with shallow water retained there by a dam which had been constructed by beavers. He was convinced that by cutting this dam and draining the land, he might soon have a fruitful field. This to him was a coveted spot; and he therefore applied to his friend Capt. Doolittle for a deed of it. The Captain having a large interest in the town- ship and being anxious to effect its settlement, promised him one right of land as a gift, on condition that he would improve and occupy it, or in other words become a bona fide settler ; and to make the promise sure he gave him a bond for a deed. Thus encouraged Mr. Cooley hastened to Greenwich to get his younger brother, Benjamin, to accompany him to Pittsford and assist him in making improvements upon his land. But Benja- min being only nineteen years of age his father refused to give him his time. It was finally agreed that Gideon should remain in Greenwich and work for his father one year, in compensa- tion for a year of Benjamin's time. Gideon's share of the contract having been performed, early in the summer of 1767, the two brothers, taking a package of provisions, axes, shovel and hoe, set out on horsebackf to make for themselves a future home in the wilderness. Arriving in Pittsford, after making a
* We are unable to fix the precise date of this marriage, but the records of Greenwich contain a notice of their intention of marriage, dated October 9, 1758; so it is quite probable they were married the latter part of that month.
+ They had but one horse.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
rude shelter they commenced a clearing, and in a short time began to build a log house. In this they paid but little atten- tion to the rules of architecture, but gave to it such shape and proportions, as appeared to them best adapted to their more urgent necessities. This house stood about fifteen rods north- east of the present residence of Samuel B. Loveland, and on the east side of the present highway. The only vestige of it now remaining is a small excavation in the ground, which once constituted the cellar. Their living consisted mostly of game with which the woods abounded, though the streams contrib- uted no insignificant part from their living tenants. With the exception of one or two trips to Bennington to procure a few of the necessaries of life, they spent the summer here. They enlarged their clearing, completed the house and made such general arrangements as would enable them to resume their improvements another year to better advantage. In the fall they went back to Greenwich where they spent the winter. Early in May the next year they returned to Pittsford, bring- ing with them the seeds for a future harvest.
Up to this time Benjamin had supposed that he was to share equally with his brother, in the land they had taken up, and in the improvements. But now, to his great disappointment, he learned that Gideon had both the land and the improvements secured to himself. This produced some alienation of feeling, and Benjamin left his brother, went to the township of Addi- son and took up a lot of land on the border of Lake Cham- plain. Gideon, however, remained in Pittsford, and with the assistance of a hired man, continued the improvements upon his land, and during that season raised some corn, potatoes and other vegetables, and got his place ready for the reception of his household the following year. He returned to Greenwich in the fall, and during the winter made the necessary arrange- ments for the removal of his family. In the meantime Benjamin, who, as we have stated, went to Addison, had labored there
29
FIRST FAMILY IN THE TOWNSHIP.
through the summer of 1768, but in the fall he suffered so severely from intermittent fever that he abandoned his land upon the lake and returned to Greenwich. The following win- ter Gideon, probably actuated by sympathy for his brother, and by the desire of reconciliation, applied to Capt. Doolittle in his behalf, and obtained from him the pledge of a deed of one hundred acres, on 'condition that he (Benjamin) should im- prove and occupy it. This was satisfactory to Benjamin, the past differences of the brothers were forgotten, and they made the needful arrangements for removing to the wilderness of Vermont, as early in the spring as the condition of the roads would permit. Procuring two horses for the occasion, Gideon, his wife and five children, accompanied by Benjamin, set out about the first of May on the journey. Their scanty furniture and domestic utensils were packed in sacks which were carried upon the backs of the horses. Thus encumbered, their progress was necessarily slow, but after a toilsome journey attended with many vexatious delays, they reached the humble log cabin far removed from the haunts of civilization.
Here then we date the beginning of the sestlement of Pitts- ford by the European race. Of the exact day we are not informed, but that it was early in May there can be little doubt.
They at once " set up house-keeping," and during that year the two brothers worked together, and by hard labor succeeded in raising a comfortable supply of provisions. Besides culti- vating the land which had been cleared on Gideon's lot they made a clearing and some other improvements on Benjamin's lot, which he "pitched"* on the east side of Otter Creek, and a little more than a mile north of Gideon's pitch.
The two Cooleys having performed their part of the con- tract, in the fall Capt. Doolittle, in fulfilment of his part, presented them deeds of their lands. Gideon's deed covered the right or share of Robert Crawford, of whom Doolittle had
* Located.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
purchased it, and Benjamin's deed entitled him to one hundred acres, which constituted a part of the right of Daniel Boyden, of whom Doolittle had bought, and this division was "to include all the Intervale Land belonging to said Boyden's Right."
These lands are described as being in the town of Pittsford, County of Albany and State of New York, and the deeds bear date "the 30th day of October, in the Tenth year of his majesty's Reign, A. D. 1769."*
The pitch which had been made by Gideon, and of which he now had a warranty deed, included the farm now owned by Samuel B. Loveland. The beaver dam to which allusion has been made, was about one hundred rods west of Mr. L.'s pres- ent residence, but it has been so much disturbed by agricultural operations that scarcely a vestige of it remains.
Thus we have one solitary family quietly settled in the wilderness of Pittsford; but during the winter of 1769-70, we hear little from them. Early in the spring, however, the elder Cooley emerges from his seclusion and reports himself to the world. It appears that the family had passed the winter com- fortably, living in part upon vegetables raised the previous season, and in part upon venison, an abundance of which was readily obtained .¡ The most of the cooking was done in a small iron kettle brought with them from Greenwich. This utensil is still preserved in the Cooley family as a relic of that olden time.
* The consideration of these deeds was the nominal sum of five shillings which probably paid for making the writings. The deeds were executed at Worcester, Mass., Joseph Childs and Thomas Laton being the witnesses, and John Chandler the justice before whom they were acknowledged. In order to satisfy himself that the Cooleys had fulfilled the condition of the bond, Capt. Doolittle, with the deeds in his pocket, came to Pittsford on horseback. He found them at. work, cutting timber on the intervale about twenty rods east of the creek, and on land now owned by G. N. Eayres. The Captain, riding near, dismounted and walked up to them ; and while engaged in conversation he thrust his willow riding stick through a hollow stump into the ground. It took root, grew and became quite a stately tree, and was standing till within some thirty years.
+ The tradition in the family is that Gideon and his brother killed seventeen bears that winter.
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SUGAR MAKING.
Some leisure hours which could be spared from family cares, were improved in the preliminary arrangements for making maple sugar. They manufactured sap-spouts, and from split logs excavated small troughs-the antecedents of buckets. They were obliged to obtain their kettles from Bennington. But on account of the depth of snow it was impossible to go there with a horse; consequently Gideon resolved to make the journey on snow-shoes. Without a load this was easily accom- plished, but when he had purchased his two kettles and attempted, to return with them, their combined weight was more than he could carry. But being determined to accomplish the object of his journey, he carried one kettle a short distance, and setting this down, returned and got the other; and thus he persevered till he had carried both home. How much sugar was made that spring as the effect of this labor we have no means of knowing, but it is reasonable to presume that their grocery bill for the year 1770, did not contain the saccharine item.
Benjamin Cooley's hundred acres included what has since been known as the Cooley farm, a very small part of which is now owned by Peter Fredett. During the year 1770, he devoted his time to improvements upon this tract, though he continued to board in his brother's family till 1771, when he built a log house which stood about two rods west of the house now stand- ing on the farm. In this he resided alone till the 18th day of February, 1773, when he married Ruth Beach, who was born in Morristown, N. J., Jan. 11, 1756, but at the time of her marriage was residing in Rutland, Vt. After occupying the log house a few years Mr. Cooley built a frame house which, in · the year 1802, was burned. The present house was built by Mr. Cooley on the same site.
In the year 1770, seven individuals with their families, influ- enced by the glowing accounts they had heard of the new country, cast their lot among the pioneers of the wilderness of Pittsford. These were Roger Stevens, Ebenezer Hopkins, James
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
Hopkins, Samuel Crippen, Felix Powell, Isaac Rood and Isaac Buck.
Roger Stevens was the elder son of Stevens,* who was born in Wales about the year 1700, emigrated to this country in early life, married and located on what was known as Quaker Hill, N. Y., about the year 1722. He had two sons, Roger and Benjamin, the former born in 1730, the latter in 1734. Roger was placed as an apprentice to a hatter, a trade he learned and afterwards prosecuted with considerable success. About the year 1745, he married Mary, sister of Capt. Ephraim Doolittle, who procured the charter of the township of Pitts- ford, and continued his residence on Quaker Hill, where were born to him the following children, viz .: Roger, Jr., Ephraim, Abel, Elihu, Moses and Abigail.
In the spring of 1770, through the influence of Capt. Doo- little, he came to Pittsford, purchased a large tract of land, built a house into which he removed his family, and with the assistance of his sons soon made quite an opening in the primi- tive forest. This house stood on the high ground, about thirty rods west of the present Gorham bridge, and on the south side of the old military or Crown Point road. The cellar is still to be seen, from the bottom of which are now growing two but- ternut trees. Roger, Jr., married Martha - in 1773, and located and made the first improvements on the farm recently owned by Edwin Wheaton. The house built by Mr. Stevens stood about seventy rods east of the present house.
Ebenezer Hopkins was born in Waterbury, Conn., in 1699, married in 1728, and settled in Hartford. He became one of the original proprietors of Harwinton in the same State, and . removed there in 1733. He had three sons, James, Nehemiah and Elias, the two former born in Hartford, the latter, and a daughter, Tabitha, born in Harwinton.
* We have not been able to learn his christian name.
t There might have been others, but we have no knowledge of them.
33
JAMES HOPKINS.
James married and had the following children, viz .: Caleb, James, Rhoda and Susannah.
Nehemiah married Tryphena Smith, and located in Stock- bridge, Mass. His children were Ebenezer, Nehemiah, Ashbel, Martin, Matthew, Jemima, Tryphena, Rachel and Sylvia.
Elias married Polly -- -, and his sons were Elias, John, Daniel, Royal and Jesse. He also had several daughters.
James Hopkins came to Pittsford in the summer of 1769, and was so well pleased with the township that he purchased of Felix Powell two rights of land, a part of which he pitched on the east side of Otter Creek, and a part on the west side. The deed which was in consideration of "Fifteen Pounds Ten Shil- lings Three Pence New York Currency" was dated " this 5th day of September A. D. 1769, and in the 9th of his Majesty's Reign." One of the two rights thus conveyed was originally granted to Jacob Hemenway, and the other to Samuel Brewer. Mr. Hopkins' first pitch of one hundred acres on the Hemen- way right, was nearly identical with the farm just south of the Village, now owned by S. B. Loveland. During the fall of that year he made a clearing upon this tract and built a log house which stood about seventy rods southwest of the site of the present house, and near Mr. F. Burdett's north line. The following winter he spent with his family, quite likely, in Har- winton. Early in the spring, with his wife, children, and his aged parents, he set out for the wild lands of the New Hamp- shire Grants. It was a wearisome journey but successfully accomplished, and being accustomed to a forest life they well understood how to adapt themselves to the rude circumstances in which they were placed.
Having made for himself a comfortable home on the east side of the Creek, Mr. Hopkins began some improvements upon a lot he had pitched on the west side. He made a clearing and built a house about midway between the present residences
4
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
of Nelson Loveland and the Hendee brothers. This was a small log house,and stood about twelve rods west of the present travelled road, and on land now owned by Mr. Loveland. August 4th, 1774, he deeded his lot with its improvements, on the east side of the Creek, to the old gentleman, who, with the assistance of his grandsons, Ebenezer and Martin Hopkins,* continued to occupy and improve the place, while he devoted his energies to improvements upon his lot on the west side of the Creek.
The Crippen family is of English descent; the first of the name, in this country, settled in Connecticut at an early day. Samuel Crippen was born, as is supposed, in Simsbury, or near there, about the year 1743, and spent his early life in that vicinity. In 1770 he came to Pittsford and purchased of James Mead one right of land-the Alexander Scott right-including the farmst now owned by Ransom Burditt, for which he paid £22, the deed bearing date July 27, 1770. He cleared land and built a house on the rise of ground about fifteen rods south- west of the house now occupied by Austin Chingreau, and on the west side of the present highway. Early in the fall he married, and occupied this newly built house. His wife, Esther, was a Scotch woman who had previously had two husbands. The name of her first husband was Wheeler, but the name of the second is not now remembered. Mr. Crippen was a man of considerable energy and of great moral worth. At the organization of the first Congregational church in Rutland, Oct. 20, 1773, his name, with that of Ebenezer Hopkins of Pittsford, is found on the list of members.
The Powells of this country are of Welsh origin, and were among the early immigrants to Massachusetts. The name occurs upon the earliest records of Gloucester. In 1748, John Powell, of Boston, married Martha Winslow, and there is record
* They had come from Stockbridge to reside with him.
+ His first pitch of 100 acres included the farm now occupied by Austin Chin- greau.
·
35
ISAAC ROOD-ISAAC BUCK.
of the birth of Sarah, their first child, on the 25th of Decem- ber, that year. Felix is supposed to have come of this family, but we are unable to fix the date of his birth. He married and settled in Dorset, Vermont, in 1768, and was the first settler in that township, in consideration of which his fellow-townsmen, some years after, made him a grant of fifty acres of land. He came to Pittsford in 1770, and built a small house on land now owned by Isaac C. Wheaton. This house stood about seventy rods northeast of the site of Mr. Wheaton's house. He had one daughter, the first white child born in Pittsford, but she lived only a few weeks,
Isaac Rood is supposed to have spent the most of his early life in Windsor, Conn. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Ellsworth, Sen., by whom he had children, Ira and Adah. In 1770, he came to Pittsford and built a small house which stood on the north side of the brook opposite the present residence of Augustus and John Richardson .* He resided here till his death, which occurred in 1775. "He was called Deacon Rood, and his widow was a weakly woman and died a few years afterwards."t
Isaac Buck is supposed to have been born in New Milford, Conn., about the year 1735, and at the age of twenty-two he mar- ried Elizabeth Waters and located in that town. In the spring of 1770, he came to Pittsford and purchased of James Hopkins a small tract of land which is now mostly owned by Thomas D. Hall. He built a house on a point of land, about sixty rods northeast of the present residence of Mr. Hall, and about eight rods south of the east-and-west road. In the fall of that year, he removed his family, consisting of a wife and three children, from New Milford to Pittsford, and this was the eighth family then located in the township.
During the year 1771, only one family-Moses Olmstead's- settled in the township. The first of the Olmstead family in
* The land on which the house stood is now owned by Augustus Thomas, + Hendee's MS.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
this country was undoubtedly James, who came to Boston in the ship Lyon, Sept. 16, 1632, and settled in Cambridge, but moved to Hartford in 1636. He was accompanied by two nephews, Richard and John, and from these have probably descended the most of the families of this name, in New Eng- land. We are informed, however, that Moses descended from one of two brothers who came from England and settled in Rhode Island, but we are unable to trace his genealogy. He was born about the year 1718, married Abigail Ellwell in 1754, and had the following children, viz .: Jabez, Gideon, Moses, Simeon, Benjamin, Jonas and Lucy. June 30, 1771, he pur- chased of Asa Johnson one right of land in Pittsford, a part of which was so located as to include the farm now owned by Charles Hendee, and he built a house which stood about fifteen rods east of Mr. Hendee's present residence. To this house he removed his family, which was the ninth located within the limits of the township.
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