USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Pittsford > History of the town of Pittsford, Vt., with biographical sketches and family records > Part 4
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This year begin the earliest existing records of the Proprie- tors' meetings. The record of the first meeting is as follows:
" March 19, 1771.
Warned by Gideon Warren Proprietors' Clerk. A Propri- etors' Meeting Now Held at the House of Ebenezer Hopkins,* Firstly Voted and Chose Ebenezer Hopkins Proprietors' Mod- erator to be Moderator for Sd Meeting.
Then Voted and Chose Benjamin Cooley Proprietors Clerk ..
Then Voted to lay out the first Division of Lots and Num- ber the Same.
Then Voted and Chose Isick Rood First Committy Man. Then Voted and Chose James Hopkins 2 Committy Man. Then Voted and Chose Moses Olmstead Committy Man.
Then Voted to ad Ten acres to every Loot in the first Division for Highways. Then Voted that every Man should
* This house was built by James Hopkins and his father, but as it was designed for the father's use it is here called the house of Ebenezer Hopkins.
37
LOCATION OF RIGHTS.
have his Hundred acres where he has Don his Work .* Then voted that all the Lots be the same size. Then Voted to give the Committy three shillings a Day. Then Voted to have the same Committy lay out the Hiways."
This meeting was continued by adjournments from time to time, with such intervals as were judged necessary by the Proprietors for the transaction of the public business.
On the 9th of June, 1772, the Proprietors " Voted to dis- annul a vote formerly passed concerning sizeing Land by Sd Meeting in March 19th 1771. Then voted to lay out one hundred acres for a meeting house Lot."
On the 21st of July, "Voted that every man that lives in the town, and has land in the town, shall pay the Committy for Laying out the Public Rites, according to what Land they own in the town."
September 1st, "Voted that Benjamin Cooley be a Com- mitte man in the room of Isaac Rood to lay out land and highways."
October 8th, "Voted to lay out five acres to every Right amongst the pine timber, where the Commitee shall think best for the public good."
Docember 1st, "Voted to give the Proprietors of this Place to the fifteenth day of May next, to come and make their first Pitches. Then voted that William Ward should git it put in the Publick Prints."
The location of rights was most immethodical. Each pro- prietor had his land surveyed to him in such part of the township as he chose, the only condition being that he should not encroach upon claims already existing. The lots thus located were called pitches, and the only evidence necessary to establish a claim was a record of the survey in a book of the Proprietors. This manner of making the early pitches accounts for the great irregularity in the lots and for the many variously
* Up to this time no division of lots had been made among the Proprietors, but those who had settled here, did so on rights which they had purchased, and they had made their pitches without regard to any particular system ; hence this vote that "every man should have his hundred acres where he has done his work."
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
shaped patches existing between these lots, some of which remained for years unclaimed.
Three families are known to have located in Pittsford during the year 1772, and these were the Tuttle, Waite and Waters families.
Thomas Tuttle was from Litchfield county, Conn., where he married Phebe - -, and had one or two children. March 10, 1772, he bought of James Mead, of Rutland, one right of land in Pittsford, and located one hundred acres of it. Upon this he made some improvements and resided till 1776, when he removed to Brandon and was the first representative from that town to the General Assembly of the State. A careful search of the records of the Proprietors yields nothing definite in regard to his location in this town. It is stated in a writing left by the late Gen. Hendee that Thomas Tuttle resided on the west side of Otter Creek, and this is all we know of the matter.
The Waite family, consisting of Noah and his wife Esther, and their son Joseph and his wife Ruth, were from Lenox, Mass. Noah Waite purchased one right of land-the right of Ebenezer Harvey-and located the first division of it so that it included land now owned by William E. Hall and the heirs of the late Joseph Morseman. He and his son made the first .clearing west of the present highway, and near the northeast corner of a young growth of pine trees which can now be seen from the road. There they built a house, the relics of which are still visible.
Samuel Waters was from "Bailmons Patton, Dutchess county, N. Y.," but we are not able to trace his genealogy. He came to Pittsford in 1763, only about two years after the charter of the township was obtained, when the whole ter- ritory was an unbroken wilderness, and he was so well pleased with it that he bought six rights of land, those of which David Parpaw, Elisha Harvey, John Loomis, Samuel Fuller,
.
39
SAMUEL WATERS-WILLIAM COX.
Timothy Patterson and William Howard were the original Proprietors. The deed bears date Jan. 2, 1764, and is the earliest, with one exception, on the town records. But he did not settle here till 1772, when he came with his family and occupied the lot of which a part istnow owned by Abel Morgan. The house which he had built stood near the southeast corner of what is now Mr. Morgan's orchard, and near the old military or Crown Point road. This, though a log house, was quite commodious for that period, and for several years was kept as a public house, the first of the kind in the township. A small cavity in the ground is the only thing that now marks the spot where it stood.
In 1773, three men, William Cox, Samuel Ellsworth and Stephen Mead, with their families, took up their residence in this town.
William Cox was a native of Massachusetts, but the exact place of his birth is not known. He resided some years in Waltham, from which town he enlisted as a soldier in the French war, and was a member of the company commanded by Capt. John Brown. The good qualities he displayed as a soldier secured his promotion and he was soon appointed lieu- tenant of the company, in which capacity he served at Lake George in 1758. After the expiration of his term of service he returned to Waltham where he married Beulah Batt, a Dutch lady, Nov. 29, 1759. In that town three children were born to them, viz .: Sarah, Betsey and Beulah. In 1772, Mr. Cox came to Pittsford and bought of Moses Hill* one right of land which he located on the east side of Otter Creek. It included the farm now owned by Junia Sargent, with some other lands in that vicinity. The deed of this purchase was dated April 1, 1772. He cleared the land and built a house on the east bank of the Creek, near the most easterly point of a short curve in the stream, and the house stood within four or
* Hill had this right of Felix Powell.
.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
five rods of the water. The following winter he spent with his family in Waltham ; but in the spring of 1773, with his wife and children, he set out on horseback for the place in the wilder- ness which he had selected as his future home. The limited supply of clothing and furniture belonging to the family was packed upon the horses, and in this manner they proceeded on their journey, being guided some part of the distance by marked trees.
Samuel Ellsworth was the son of Samuel, the youngest son of Josiah, who came from England and settled in West Wind- sor, Conn., on the farm which afterwards became the home of Oliver Ellsworth, late Chief Justice of the United States. "He (Samuel, Jr.) was of light complexion, blue eyes, middle stature, thick set, firm constitution and much given to study. When young he worked at the weaver's trade. His parents gave him little opportunity for acquiring learning, but hav- ing a great thirst for knowledge, he acquired by his own exer- tions considerable information, calculated almanacs for several years in Connecticut, and for one year in this State. At the age of about thirty years he married the widow Anna Matson* by whom he had three children, Samuel, Caroline and Israel."t He came to Pittsford in 1773, and purchased what is now the south part of the farm owned by Isaac C. Wheaton. He built a house about seventy rods south of the present residence of Mr. W., and just west of a small ravine, and to this he removed his family in the fall of that year. In addition to his agricul- tural employments he practiced land surveying, and was Pro- prietors' clerk and justice of the peace.
The Mead families in this country are of English descent. The record of the Pittsford branch of the family is as follows : "Timothy Mead of Horseneck, N. Y., a descendant of one of two families who emigrated from England, died and left his son
* Her maiden name was Anna Halida.
+ Hendee's MS.
41
TIMOTHY MEAD-STEPHEN JENNER
Timothy Mead, 2d, who, with his wife Martha, moved to Nine Partners, N. Y., (which took its name from nine men settling there,) thence to Manchester, Vt., where they died, leaving their son, Timothy 3d, in Manchester, Zebulon, James and Ezra in Rutland and Stephen in Pittsford .* James, next elder than Stephen, was born at Horseneck Aug. 25, 1730, and moved to Rutland, being the first settler in that township. Stephen resided one or two years with his brother James Mead of Rutland, who had invested quite largely in Pittsford lands. Stephen purchased of his brother James one right of land in this town, a part of which was located north of Samuel Crip- pen's lot, and included the farm now owned by B. J. Douglas. The deed was dated May 15, 1773. His first clearing was about forty rods southwest of the site of Mr. D.'s residence, and there he built a house into which he removed his family in the summer of that year. Mr. Mead built the house in which Mr. Douglas now resides, about the year 1800.
The year 1774, is marked by the arrival of a large number of new settlers. Some of these had been here some time pre- viously, made their pitches and commenced improvements. The names of those who settled here this year with their fami- lies were Stephen Jenner, Jonathan Fassett, Ebenezer Lyman, Caleb Hendee, David Crippen, William Ward, Edward Owen, Jonathan Rowley, Joshua Woodward, Benjamin Stevens, Aaron Parsons, Samuel Daniels, Peter Whalin, Silas Mosher, John Hall, Gideon Sheldon, Isaac Matson and Samuel Montague.
Stephen Jenner was born March 24, 1749, and resided in his younger days in Stevenstown, Mass. In 1772, he came to Pittsford, and purchased of James Mead one right of land, for which he paid £20, L. M., the deed being dated June 10, 1772. This right or share was so located as to include the most of the land upon which Hitchcockville now stands, and it extended
* On the Coat of Arms attached to the original name of Mead, the field is sable, with a cheveron between three Pelicans.
·
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
some distance eastward. The following year he cleared the tract of land now the south part of the field owned by Mrs. Emeline Smith, and built a house thereon. This house stood about fifty rods east of the present residence of Henry Merrill. February 16, 1774, Mr. Jenner married Mary Kirkum, of Whiting, who was born August 2, 1755. Immediately after his marriage Pittsford became his legal residence.
Jonathan Fassett was the son of John Fassett who was born April 1, 1720, and removed from Hardwick, Mass., to Bennington, Vermont, in 1761. He was chosen Captain of the first military company formed there, and was one of the two representatives from that town in the first State Legislature. He was a member of the Bennington church at its organization, and was the first clerk of the church. He died at Bennington August 12, 1794, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
His children were Sarah, John, Jonathan, David, Nathan, Amos, Mary, Benjamin, and Hannah.
Jonathan, the second son, was born in Bedford,* Mass., May 7, 1745, married Mary,; daughter of Samuel Montague, of Sunderland, Mass., October 9, 1764, and settled in Ben- nington, Vt., to which place he had removed with his father in 1761.
October 27, 1773, he purchased fifty-five acres of land, in Pittsford, including a part of the farm now owned by the heirs of the late David Hall, and built a log house on the same ground upon which the present house stands. Here he removed his family, consisting of his wife and four children. The exact time of their arrival is not known, but they were residing here very early in the spring of 1774.
We have no knowledge of the birth-place of Ebenezer Lyman. The first we hear of him is in October, 1769, when his name occurs upon petition of the citizens of Bennington
* Town Records.
+ Mary Montague was born Nov. 4, 1746.
43
RICHARD HENDEE.
to the Governor of New Hampshire, and as his name is not found upon the records at an earlier period, it is probable that he was then a new-comer in that town, or had recently attained his majority. He married Martha, daughter of Samuel Mon- tague, June 15, 1768, and there is little doubt that he resided in Bennington till he removed his residence to Pittsford in 1774. May 12, 1773, he bought one-half of a right of land in Pittsford, for which he paid £15, and he made a clearing and built a house* near where John Lique now resides, a little south or southeast of Furnace Brook-then called East Branch. He removed his family here the following spring.
The first of the Hendee family in this country was named Richard. He descended from a family of French Protestants who, on account of their religion, were expelled from Nor- mandy and afterwards settled in England. Richard came to Boston in the first settlement of the country, married and settled in that vicinity. He had two sons, Richard and Caleb. The latter died without children ; the former married and had a son Jonathan ; his wife soon after died. He left the child with its mother's relatives, moved to Connecticut, there married a Conant and settled in or near Windham. Jonathan on com- ing to manhood married and had several children - David, Barzillai, Asa and Hannah. His wife died and he afterwards married Martha Millington by whom he had Jonathan, Richard, Caleb, Rachel and Martha. He died at the place now called Ellington about the year 1775. He was poor and illiterate, but was said to have been an honest man and to have possessed more than an ordinary share of physical power, as did also his sons by his first wife. Of his sons by his second wife, Jonathan died when young at Havana, Cuba; Richard we shall have occasion to refer to hereafter; Caleb, the third son, was born in Coventry, Conn., in the month of August, 1745. While
* This house and the one built by Mr. Jenner were the first two houses built in the vicinity of what is now Mill Village.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
young he removed with his father's family to Simsbury, and, being in humble circumstances, he received very limited educa- tional advantages. He was taught to read and drilled in writing just enough to enable him to keep his book accounts. He knew nothing of the rules of Arithmetic, though he could calculate interest and make such reckonings as were necessary in his business as a farmer. When twenty-one years of age he: was admitted to freedom with no other patrimony than a good constitution, without property or a trade. His father preferred that his elder brother Richard should live with himself, and to him he gave the small estate he possessed, which in a few years was sold and the avails lost by the depreciation of continental money.
On the 27th day of April, 1767, in the twenty-second year of his age, Caleb married Caroline, only daughter of Samuel Ellsworth, to whom allusion has already been made. She was born sometime in the month of March, 1748, and of course had just entered her twentieth year. She was without wealth and " had nothing to commend her but the good qualities of her per- son which were not inferior." He settled in Simsbury, Conn., where he resided about two years, then moved to East Windsor where by the fruits of his industry, he purchased a small farm, and erected buildings and made other improvements. In the win- ter of 1773, he came to Pittsford and purchased* of Silas Harmon one right of land, a part of which is the farm now owned by his son Dea. Samuel Hendee. He returned to Windsor, sold his farm there for £300, (about $1000,t) and in February or March, moved to Pittsford, where with vigor he entered upon agricultural pursuits, under all the disadvantages incident to the settlement of a new country. He built a house which stood a few rods north of the present residence of his son Samuel, and very near where Chester Thomas now lives.
* It is probable the contraet here made was a verbal one, and that it was after- wards consummated by a written one, as we find the deed was dated June 7, 1774. t A shilling was one-sixth of a dollar or 16 2-3 cents, and twenty of these were reckoned a pound.
-
45
WILLIAM WARD.
We are informed that David Crippen was a relative of Samuel but whether a brother or cousin we cannot determine ; nor have we succeeded in our efforts to ascertain his birth-place. Tradition makes him a native of Connecticut. On the 14th of February, 1774, he bought of Samuel Crippen twenty acres of land in Pittsford, comprising the north part of the farm now owned by Chapin E. Warner. He made a clearing and built a house* about six rods west of Otter Creek and forty or fifty rods south of the present Gorham bridge. To this place he removed his family consisting of his wife and two sons, David, Jr., and Darius, then grown to manhood.
The Ward family can be traced far back into English history. Seven hundred and ten distinguished persons, each bearing but one name, accompanied William, the Conqueror, from Normandy to the conquest of England in 1066. Among the number was " Ward one of the noble Captains." The first that appears with an additional name was William de la Ward residing in Chester in 1173.
The Wards became quite numerous in Yorkshire and soon spread into the adjoining counties of England. The first men- tion of the name in America was in 1639, when William Ward shared in the division of the lands of Sudbury, Mass., as one of the proprietors of that plantation. He was made freeman in 1643, represented Sudbury in the General Court in 1644, and was several years chairman of the selectmen, which office he held in 1660, when he removed to Marlboro. At the organization of the church in that town he was elected deacon.
In common with others he endured great hardships and sustained great losses through Indian hostilities; more espe- cially during King Philip's war in 1675-6, when his buildings were fired, his cattle destroyed and one of his sons slain by the enemy. He died at Marlboro, August 10, 1687. He had fourteen
* This house stood on the east side of the road and on the first rise of ground south of the bridge. There is nothing now to mark the site of it.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
children, the first three or four of whom were born in England.
His eldest child John, born in 1626, became one of the proprietors of Sudbury in 1651, married Hannah Jackson, of Cambridge, in that part now called Newton, where he settled and was selectman nine years, and nine years representative in "The Great and General Court." He lived in the southeasterly part of the town-his dwelling house being constructed for, and used as a garrison prior to, and at the time of King Philip's war. In 1701, he disposed of his real estate, lying mostly in one. body, by deeds of gift to his sons. The quantity of land to each was about one hundred acres, and in each deed was a. clause restricting the grantee from selling without the consent of his brothers, or the major part of them. When any one of them sold, his brothers witnessed the deed, which implied his- consent to the transaction. He made his will, Feb. 2, 1708, and died July 8, 1708, aged eighty-two. His wife died April 24, 1704, aged seventy-three. They had thirteen children.
Their 7th child, William, born Nov. 19, 1664, married Abigail -, Dec. 31, 1689, and settled in Newton, where he was selectman several years. He held this office as late as 1722, and perhaps moved away soon after. Nothing more is known of the parents.
They had at Newton, John, born Feb. 23, 1690, who mar- ried Deborah -, and resided at Newton until after 1720. He was for many years a school teacher at Grafton, and died there May 24, 1747, aged fifty-six. He had nine children.
His third child, William, born Dec. 18, 1716, married Mary Cole; when and where, not known. He died at Ashford, March 27, 1778, in the sixty-third year of his age. His widow died Aug. 19, 1779, aged sixty-five. They had six children.
William the eldest, born about the year 1755, went from Ashford to Shaftsbury, Vt., where he married and resided several years and was a magistrate .* September 14, 1774, he
* Ward family.
47
EDWARD OWEN-JOSHUA WOODWARD.
bought of Reuben Ellis one hundred and ten acres of land on Otter Creek in the town of Pittsford. This purchase included a part of the farm now owned by Isaac C. Wheaton. He cleared the land and built a house on what is now the field northeast of Mr. Wheaton's residence. Mr. Ward remained in town only a few years, and we have not been able to ascertain where he went, or to trace his descendants.
Of Edward Owen's ancestry we know nothing. His early life was spent in Sheffield, Mass., where he married Elizabeth Torrey and continued his residence there till 1774, when he came to Pittsford, Vt., and purchased the land now constitut- ing the easterly portion of the farm owned by the heirs of the late David Hall. He built a house* on the ridge of land about seventy rods east-or a little south of east-of the house now on the farm. Hither he moved his family, consisting of his wife and six children, viz .: Abraham, Abdon, Amasa, Rebecca, Thirza and Ersula, the eldest at this time being nearly grown to manhood.
Of Jonathan Rowley, previously to the time he located in Pittsford, little is known. It is supposed that he was a native of Massachusetts ; and that he had resided sometime in Rich- mond, Berkshire Co., there can be little doubt. In the fall of 1773, he came to Pittsford, and bought of Roger Stevens, one right of land, for which he paid £24, the deed bearing date Sept. 6, 1773. This land was so located as to include the farm now owned by Edward Paine. He built a log house, sixteen feet by twenty, at the base of the hill, and about thirty rods west of the site of the house now occupied by Mr. Paine. The following spring he removed here with his family which con- sisted of a wife and nine children, the eldest at this time having nearly come to maturity.
Joshua Woodward was a descendant of Richard who was born in Ipswich, England, where he married Mary -, and
* The cellar of this house may still be seen.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
embarked for America April 10, 1634, and became one of the earliest proprietors of Watertown, Mass. By his first wife he had eight children. He married, second, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Hammond of Newton. George, the eighth child, born September 11, 1660, married Lydia Brown, and after the birth of one child, settled in Brookline. The eldest child, Abraham, born in Watertown, February 1, 1687-8, married Joanna -, and had a son Abraham, born January 12, 1718, who married and resided some years in Brookline. By a second wife Sarah he had two sons, Caleb and Joshua. Caleb admin- istered upon his father's estate in 1760. Joshua came to Pittsford in 1774, and bought one right of land, which included the farms now owned by C. Bowen, F. B. Barnes, Josiah Leonard and James Bucknam. He built a house which stood about four rods north of Mr. Bucknam's, and to this he removed his family.
Benjamin Stevens was brother of Roger who has already been mentioned. He married Hopestil Shaw and resided in Nine Partners, Dutchess Co., N. Y., where were born the following children, viz .: Daniel, Benjamin, James, Simeon, Jonathan and Hopestil. In 1773, he moved to Manchester, Vt., and in the following year, to Pittsford. He bought the land which now forms the farm owned by Edward and Richard Hendee, and built a house on the south slope of the hill, the cellar of which may still be seen on the north side of the east- and-west road, near its junction with the north-and-south road. At that early period the Crown Point road passed a few rods east of this house; and the location of that road might have had some influence with Mr. Stevens in making his "pitch," and in the selection of a site for his buildings.
Of the ancestors of Aaron Parsons we have no positive information. It has been supposed that he descended from Jeffrey Parsons who settled in Gloucester, Mass., at a very early day. But if of Gloucester origin his parents were not
49
SAMUEL DANIELS-PETER WHELAN-SILAS MOSHER.
probably living in that place at the time of his birth, as we find no Aaron there of mature age in 1774, except one who died there in 1809. Josiah Parsons and Eunice Sargent were mar- ried in Gloucester, Dec. 24, 1719, and had Josiah, Eunice, Nathaniel, Rachel, Job, Sarah, Abraham, Deborah, Lydia and Mary born there. They afterwards moved to New Hampshire. Possibly Aaron of Pittsford came of this family. Whatever his origin might have been, he located in Pittsford with his family in 1774, and resided in a house which stood on the brow of the hill' about sixty rods west of the present residence of Azro Dickerman.
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