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access to historical material from
the nineteenth century.HISTORY
OF THE
PIONEER SEEEI&ikfer
4	'
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE,
AND
MORRIS’ RESERVE;
EMBRACING THE COUNTIES OF
MONROE, ONTARIO, LIVINGSTON, YATES, STEUBEN,
MOST OF WAYNE AND ALLEGANY, AND PARTS
OF ORLEANS, GENESEE AND WYOMING.
TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SUPPLEMENT, OR EXTENSION OF THE PIONEER HISTORY OF
MONROE COUNTY.
THE "WHOLE PRECEDED BY
SOME ACCOUNT OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION—BORDER WARS OF THE REYOLU-
TION—INDIAN COUNCILS AND LAND CESSIONS—THE PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT
WESTWARD FROM THE YALLEY OF THE MOHAWK—EARLY DIFFICUL-
TIES WITH THE INDIANS—OUR IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS THE
SENECAS—WITH “ A GLANCE AT THE IROQUOIS.”
BY 0. TURNER,
[AUTHOR OF THE <e HISTORY OF THE HOLLAND^PURCHASE.”]
ROCHESTER:
PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM ALLING.
1851.
KG3ca
/CORNELL^
UNIVERSITY!
\ LIBRARYy
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1851, by Wm. Alling, in the Clerk’s
Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York.
Stereotyped by
j. w. brown, Rochester.
PRINTED BY LEE, MANN & CO.,
Rochester, JV. Y.fijitintte.
TO THE
SURVIVING PIONEERS
AND TBS
DESCENDANTS OF PIONEERS
OB'
PHELPS AND GORHAM7S PURCHASE,
AND
MORRIS5 RESERVE,
THIS WORE IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED :—
To the first, — as a feeble tribute, a moiety of what is their due, for the
physical and moral triumphs they have won through long early years of toil,
privation and endurance. In view of the brief space allotted to man by an
All Wise Providence, as an average existence—(no more than thirty
fleeting years constituting a generation) — you live to be the witnesses of
more than it is often given to man to see. The wilderness you entered in your
youths — some of you in middle age — you have lived to see not only
“ blossom as the rose,” but to bear its matured and ripened fruit. Where
you have followed the trails of your immediate predecessors — the Seneca
Iroquois — or your own woods paths, are Canals, Rail Roads and Telegraphs.
A long line of internal navigation — an artificial River — bearing upon its
bosom the products of your own subdued, teeming soil, and continuous fleets,
laden with the products of an Empire, that has sprung up around the bor-
ders of our Western Lakes — winds along through vallies that you have seen
but the abodes of wild beasts; from whose depths you have heard in your
log cabins, the terrific howl of the famishing wolf ! Aqueducts, structures
that the architects of the old world might take for models, span the streams you
have often forded, and over which you have helped to throw primitive log
bridges. And upon these Lakes, whose commerce you have seen to consist
of a few batteaux, lazily coasting along near shore, putting into bays and inlets,
whenever the elements were disturbed— a^e fleets of sail vessels, and “ float-
ing palaces,” propelled by a mighty agent, whose powers were but little
known when you began to wield the axe in the forests of the Genesee coun-
try. A subtle agent was occasionally flashing in the dark forests, indicating
its power by scathing and levelling its tall trees; then but partially subdued
to man’s use; now tamed, harnessed, controlled; traversing those wires, and
bringing the extremes of this extended Union to hold converse with each
other with the “ rapidity of thought,”—more than realizing the boasts of
the spirit of the poet’s imagination, who would
---“ Put a girdle ’round the Eartb in thirty minutes!”	'IV
DEDICATION.
: Villages, cities, institutions of religion and learning, are upon sites where
you have seen the dark shades of the forest rest with a profound stillness,
that you could hardly have expected to see disturbed by the hand of improve-
ment. But more than all this, you have lived to see an extended region of
wilderness converted into fruitful fields; a landscape every where interspersed
with comfortable, often luxurious, farm buildings; surrounded by all the evi-
dences of substantial, unsurpassed prosperity. Who else that have planted
colonies, founded settlements, have lived to see such consummations ? Peaceful,
bloodless, and yet glorious 1 The conquerous upon battle fields have been
destroyers; you, creators; they* have made fields desolate; you, have clothed
them with smiling promise and full fruition. They, have brought mourning;
you, rejoicing. Theirs, was the physical courage of a day, perhaps of a for-
tunate hour; yours, was the higher and nobler attribute — the moral courage
— the spirit of endurance and perseverance, that held out through long years
of suffering and privation; that looked dangers and difficulties in the face,
till they became familiar associates. In the retrospect of well-spent lives —
in view of the consummation of the great work of civilization and improve-
ment, you have helped to commence and carry on — now that the shades of
evening are gathering around you — now that you are admonished that your
work upon earth is done — well may you say: — u Now Lord lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace?
To the second, — as the inheritors of a rich legacy, the fruits of the
achievments, of the long years of enterprise, toil, fortitude and perseverance,
of those Pioneer Fathers; the conservators of their memories. Honors, titles,
stars and garters, such as kings may bestow, are baubles compared with what
they have bequeathed! Far most of them breaking out from their quiet
New England homes, in youth, and strength, went first to the battle field,
where it was the strong against the weak, the oppressor against the oppressed,
and helped to win a glorious national inheritance; then, after a short respite,
came to this primitive region, and won a local inheritance for you, fair and
fertile, as rich in all the elements of prosperity and happiness, as any that
the sun of Heaven shines upon! Guard the trust in a spirit of gratitude ;
cherish the memories of the Pioneers; imitate their stern virtues; preserve
and carry on the work they have so well begun!
And both will accept this tribute, from the son of a Pioneer — one “ who
was to the manor born,”—who has essayed to snatch from fading memories,
gather from imperfect records, and preserve these local Reminiscences; — and
who, most of all regrets, that in the execution of the task, he has not been able
to recognize more of the names and the deeds of the Founders of settle-
ments in the Genesee Country.	The Author.%
ODE,
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF "WESTERN NEW-YORK.
[BY W. H. C. HOSMER, ESQ.]
High was the homage Senates paid
To the plumed Conquerors of old,
And freely, at their feet were laid,
Rich piles of flashing gems and gold.
Proud History exhausted thought,
Glad bards awoke their vocal reeds;
"While Phidian hands the marble wrought
In honor of their wondrous deeds:
But our undaunted Pioneers
Have conquests more enduring won,
In scattering the night of years,
And opening forests to the sun;
And victors are they nobler far
Than the helmed chiefs of other times,
Who rolled their chariots of war,
To foreign lands, and distant climes.
Earth groaned beneath their mail-clad men,
Bereft of greenness where they trod,
And wildly rose, from hill and glen,
Loud, agonizing shrieks to God.
Purveyors of the carrion bird
Blood streamed from their uplifted hands,
And while the crash of States was heard,
Passed on their desolating bands.
Then tell me not of heroes fled —
Crime, renders foul their boasted fame,
While widowed ones and orphans bled,
They earned the phantom of a name.
The sons of our Hew England Sires,
Armed with endurance, dared to roam
Far from the hospitable fires,
And the bright, hallowed bowers of Home.
The storm they met with bosoms bared,
And bloodless triumphs bought by toil;
The wild beast from his cavern scared,
And clothed in bloom the virgin soil.Y1
ODE.
Distemper leagued with famines wan,
Nerved to a high resolve, they bore ;
And flocks, upon the thymy lawn,
Ranged where the panther yelled before.
Look now abroad! the scene how changed,
Where fifty fleeting years ago
Clad in their savage costume ranged,
The belted lords of shaft and bow.
In praise of pomp let fawning Art
Carve rocks to triumph over years,
The grateful incense of the heart
Give to our living Pioneers.
Almighty! may thine out-stretched arm
Guard through long ages, yet to be,
Prom tread of slave, and kingly harm,
Our Eden of the Genesee.
ERRATA.
Page 131 — arts of peace, instead of “ acts.”
Page 151—read sister instead of “ daughter of Zachariah Seymour.”
Page 174—in note—Judge Taylor, should be in place of “ Judge Wells. ”
Two references which belong to page 325 are carried over to page 326.
Page 483 — Shay’s Rebellion—“ General order” — date should have been 1786.
Page 314—8thline, “ after,” should precede “his appointment.”
Page 416 — 9th line $200 instead of $2,00.”
Page 597—15th line, receipts of Rochester P. 0., should be as in a few lines above,
$3,46, instead of “$346.”PREFACE
A work, commenced nearly one year since, the publication of which has been
delayed far beyond the promised period, owing to causes unforseen — principally to
the fact that it is of greater magnitude, and has involved a far greater amount of travel,
labor and research than was anticipated — is now presented to the public.
The general plan of it will hardly be misunderstood by its readers : — It is a his-
tory of the Pioneer, or first settlement, of that portion of the Genesee Country em-
braced in the purchase of Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham of the State of Mas-
sachusetts and the Seneca Indians, and of that portion purchased by Robert Morris,
which he reserved in his sale to the Holland Company. The boundaries of the region
embraced are indicated in the title page, and are more clearly defined in the body of
the work. It is the eastern, and nearly the one half of what constitutes, properly,
Western New York ; its eastern boundary being the Massachusetts line of pre-emption.
The work commences with the advent of the French upon the St. Lawrence, and
traces their progress to this region, and along the shores of the Western Lakes to the
Mississippi; briefly recognizing the prominent events that followed under English
and French dominion.
Enough of colonial history has been embraced — that which tended in the direction
of our local region — to make such an induction to the main design of the work, as
would secure an unbroken chain, or chronology of events, commencing with the
landing of the French upon the St. Lawrence, and continued through the period of
French and English occupancy. As all this was but incidental, it has been, generally,
briefly disposed of, for the author was admonished that his space would be required
when he had entered upon a less beaten track. Yet he may venture to anticipate that
even the student of history, will find something of interest in this precedent portion
of the work; for it is not wholly an explored field, and each new gleaner may bring
something from it to add to the common stock of historical knowledge.
It was the original design of the author to incorporate in the work, something of
the history of our immediate predecessors, the Senecas. It was mainly abandoned
however, on learning that a local author> quite competent for the task, (as his now
published work bears witness,) was preparing for the press, a work which would em-
brace much of interest in their history.* Much of them, however, will be found
scattered throughout a large portion of the work, and a separate chapter is appropriated
to them, from the pen of a native, and resident of the Genesee Valley — a scholar and
a poet, whose fame has gone out far beyond our local region, and conferred credit upon
its literature.f See chapter II, Part I.
The colonial period passed, — the local events of the Revolution briefly disposed
of; — Indian treaties, commencing under the administration of George Clinton —
the almost interminable difficulties in which the State, and individual purchasers
were involved in with the Lessees, — the slow advance of settlement in this direc-
tion — are subjects next in order. Much of all this has been drawn from authentic
records, and did not previously exist in any connected printed record.
The main subject reached — settlement of the Genesee country commenced — a
general plan of narrative, somewhat novel in its character was adopted : — History
and brief personal Biography, have been in a great measure blended. This has vastly
increased the labor of the work, but it is hoped it will be found to have added to its
interest. It will readily be inferred that it involved the necessity of selecting the
most prominent of the Pioneers in each locality — those with whom could be blended
most of the Pioneer events. In almost every locality there has been regretted omis-
sions ; a failure to recognize all who should have been noticed. This has been partly
the result of necessity, but oftener the neglect of those who had promised to fumisn
the required information. While the work contains more of names and sketches of
personal history, than are to be found in any other local annals that have been pub-
lished in our country, there are hundreds of Pioneer names reluctantly omitted.
* “ League of the Iroquois,” by Lewis H. Morgan, Esq., of Rochester.
t W. H, €, Hosmer, Esq., of Avon.vm
PREFACE.
In all that relates to early difficulties with the Indians ; to threatened renewals of
the Border Wars, after the settlement of the country commenced, the author has been
fortunate in the possession of authentic records, hitherto neglected, which gives to
the subjects a new and enhanced interest. The accounts of the treaties of Messrs.
Pickering and Chapin, with the Indians, are mostly derived from official correspon-
dence ; while most of what relates to the councils held with them to obtain land ces-
sions, west of the Seneca Lake, are derived from the manuscripts of Oliver Phelps
and Thomas Morris, the principal actors in the scenes.
The author cannot but conclude, that poorly as the task may have been executed,
it has been undertaken at a fortunate period. More than one half of this volume is
made up from the reminiscences, the fading memories, of the living actors in the
scenes described and the events related. No less than nine, who, within the last ten
months, have rendered in this way, essential service, — without whose assistance the
work must have been far more imperfect — are either in their graves, or their memories
are wholly impaired.
The thanks of the author are especially due to Henry O’Rielly, for the use of val-
uable papers collected with reference to continuing some historical researches, he had
so well commenced; to James H. Woods, for the use of papers of Chas. Williamson ;
to Oliver Phelps and James S. Wadsworth, for the use of papers in their possession,
as the representatives of Oliver Phelps and James Wadsworth ; to John Grkig and
Joseph Fellows for access to papers in their respective land offices ; and especially
to the former, for the essential materials in his possession as the representative of
Israel Chapin, and his son and successor, Israel Chapin ; to the managers of the
Rochester Athaeneum, for free access to their valuable Library ; to C. C. Clarke, of
Albany, and S. B. Buckley, of Yates, for valuable contributions; to numerous other
individuals, most of whom are indicated in the body of the work. And to Lee, Mann
& Co., the Printers, and Wm, Alling, the Publisher, for their liberal terms, and the
business accommodation with which they have aided the enterprise.
(jg|p The manner of publishing is a material departure from the original intention.
Instead of publishing one work, there will be four. This is the first of the series.
Those that will follow in order— (and in rapid succession if no unforeseen difficulties
occur) — will be : — P. and G. Purchase — Livingston and Allegany; — P. and G.
P.— Ontario and Yates; —P. and G. P. — Wayne. In this plan it is confidently
believed the interests of Author, Publisher and Purchaser, will be made to harmonize.
It obviates the necessity of a large work of two volumes, and a high price, fatal to that
general sale that a local work must have, within its scope, to remunerate the labor of
its preparation and defray the necessary expenses attending it. While the citizens of
Monroe, for instance, will have all the general history of Phelps and Gorham’s
Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve — 493 octavo pages — brought down to a. late Pioneer
period; they will not be under the necessity of purchasing at an an enhanced price,
the mere local history of other counties. The only alteration there will be in the main
body of the work, in the subsequent volumes announced, will be the correction of
any material errors that are discovered; but there will be in each one of them, the
“Supplement,” or “Extension,” of the Pioneer history of the counties, as in this in-
stance — Monroe.
The historical works which have been essential to the author’s purposes, other than
those duly credited, are : — Conquest of Canada, Travels of the DukeDe la Roche-
foucault Liancourt, Mary Jemison or the White Woman, History of Schoharie, His-
tory of Onondaga, History of Rochester.
There are no illustrations : — partly because they are not essential to history,
but mainly because they enhance the cost beyond what the sales of any local work
will warrant. The leading object has been in the mechanical execution of the work,
to furnish a large amount of reading matter, in a plain, neat and substantial manner, at
a low price, — which object, it will probably be conceded, has been accomplished.
It will be observed, that little is said of the early history of Steuben. In an
early stage of the preparation of the work, the author was apprised that a local histo-
ry of that county, was preparing for the press.
§^f”Errors m names, in dates, in facts, will undoubtedly be discovered. De-
pending upon memories often infirm, one disagreeing with another, labor, weeks and
months of careful research, could not wholly guard against them. ILF With reference
to the future enterprises announced, the author will be thankful for any corrections
that may be communicated to him personally, or through the mails. wPART FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
BRIEF NOTICES OF EARLY COLONIZATION.
It was one hundred and sixteen years after the discovery of
America by Columbus, before the occupancy of our race was tend-
ing in this direction, and Europeans had made a permanent stand
upon the St. Lawrence, under the auspices of France and Cham-
plain.. In all that time, there had been but occasional expeditions
to our northern Atlantic coast, of discovery, exploration, and
occasional brief occupancy; but no overt act of possession and
dominion. The advent of Champlain, the founding of Quebec, from
which events we date French colonization in America, was in 1608.
One year previous, in 1607, an English expedition had entered the
Chesapeake Bay and founded Jamestown, the oldest English settle-
ment in America. In 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, in the
employ of the East India Company of Holland, entered the bay
of the river that bears his name, and sailed up the river as far as
Albany. In 1621, permanent Dutch colonization commenced at
New-York and Albany. In 1620 the first English colonists com-
menced the permanent occupancy of New England at Plymouth.
In tracing the advent of our race to our local region, French
colonization and occupancy, must necessarily, take precedence.
Western New-York, from an early period after the arrival of Cham-
plain upon the St. Lawrence, — until 1759, — for almost a century
and a half, formed a portion of French Canada, or in a more ex-
tended geographical designation, of New France.
France, by priority of discovery, by navigators sailing under her
flag, and commissioned by her King, in an early period of partition
among the nations of Europe, claimed the St. Lawrence and its
tributary waters and all contiguous territory, as her part of the New
World. Setting at defiance, as did England the papal bull of Pope10	phelps aistd gorham’s purchase.
Alexander VI., which conferred all of America, “its towns and
cities” included, upon Spain and Portugal; her then King, Francis
I. entered vigorously into the national competition for colonial pos-
sessions in America. While the English and Dutch were cruizing
upon our southern and eastern coasts, entering the bays, and mouths
of their rivers, hesitating and vasciliating in measures of permanent
colonization; and the Spaniards were making mixed advents of gold
hunting and romance, upon our south-western coast; the French
were coasting off the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and unappalled by
a rigorous climate, and rough and forbidding landscapes, resolving
upon colonization upon its banks. “ Touch and take,” was the
order of the day; with but little knowledge of the value of the vast
region that had been discovered, of its capabilities and resources,
but such as had been gained by navigators in a distant view of the
coasts, and an occasional entrance into bays and rivers; the splendid
inheritance was parcelled out, or claimed by the nations of Europe,
as lightly and inconsiderately as if it had been of little worth.
The subjects of France, as it would now seem, when such a vast
field had been opened for possession; after they had seen and heard
of more promising and congenial regions, made but a poor choice
of her share in the New World. We are left principally to con-
jecture for the explanation: First, the broad stream of the St. Law-
rence invited them to enter and explore it; no where were Europe-
ans met by the natives with more friendly manifestations; and a
lucrative trade soon added to the inducements. It was a mighty
flood that they saw pouring into the ocean, with a uniformity that
convinced them of the vast magnitude and extent of the region it
drained. Though ice-bound for long and dreary months, when spring
approached, its fetters gave way, and on rolled its rushing tide, a
“ swift witness” that it came from congenial regions embraced in
their discovery. Beside, a “ shorter route to the Indies,” across this
continent, was one of the prominent and early objects of European
navigators, following the discovery of Columbus. It was in fact, a
main object, allied perhaps with visions of precious metals;—for
actual colonization, was at first but incidental to the leading objects.*
Upon the shores of the Chesapeake, iipon the Hudson and St. Lawrenee, and in
the bays of Few England, the first information sought after by European adventures,
of the natives, through the medium of signs, had reference to the directions from which
the rivers flowed, and the existence of precious metals.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
11
It was but a natural deduction, that the broad and deep river they
had entered from the ocean, and its tributaries, were stretched out
in a long line toward the Pacific coast.*
The progress of colonization in all the northern portion of the
continent, after discovery, was slow. What in our age, and espe-
cially where our own countrymen are engaged, would be but the
work of a year, was then the work of a century. It was before the
world had been stimulated by the example of a free government and
a free people, unincumbered by royal grants and charters, and their
odious and paralizing monopolies. It was before governments had
learned the simple truths that some of them are yet slow in appre-
ciating, that the higher destinies of our own race are only to be
worked out in the absence of shackles upon the mind and the phy-
sical energies of the governed. It was when the good of the few
was made subservient to that of the many; and Kings and their
favorites were central orbs around which all there was of human
energy, enterpxdze and adventure, was made to revolve as sattelites.
It was when foreign wars and conquests, and civil wars, in which
the higher interests of mankind were but little involved, were divert-
ing the attention of Europe from the pursuits of peace, civilization,
and their extended sphere. There was no prophet to awake the
sleeping energies of the Old World to an adequate conception of
the field of promise that was opening here: — no one to even fore-
shadow all that was hidden in the womb of time; and had there
been, there would have been unfolded to Kings and Potentates,
little for their encouragement; but how much to man, in all his
noblest aspirations, his looking forward to a better time!
When colonization, such as contemplated permanent occupation
finally commenced, it was in a measure, simultaneous, upon our
northern coasts. Two powerful competitors started in the race
* The intrepid La Salle, with a spirit of daring enterprize that was never excelled,
had no sooner seen the “ avalanche of waters” at Niagara, than he determined to fol-
low them to their source. He had no sooner seen the upper waters of the Mississippi,
than he had determined to see the great basin into which they flowed. Leaving be-
hind him detachments of his followers to maintain the posts he established, and carry
on lucrative trade, he was himself absorbed in the great objects of his mission, a new
route to the Indies and the discovery of gold. The extent of his wanderings is sup-
posed to have been Chihuahua, in New Mexico. He was almost upon the right track
w ith reference to both objects. Others beside him, seem to have been prepossessed with
the idea that there was gold in that direction. Shall we conclude that through some
unknown medium, some indistinct idea had been promulgated of what in our day is
actual discovery and acquisition?12	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
for possession and dominion in America; and a third was awakened
and became a competitor. While as yet the Pilgrim Fathers were
refugees in Germany, deliberating as to where should be their
assylum, appalled by all the dangers of the ocean and an inhospita-
ble clime, and at times half resolving to go back and brave the per-
secution from which they had fled; — while as yet there was but
one feeble colony, upon all our southern coast, and the rambling
De Soto and the romantic Ponce de Leon had been but disappointed
adventurers in the south-west; the adventurous Frenchmen had
entered the St. Lawrence and planted a colony upon its banks;
had erected rude pallisades at Quebec and Montreal, and were
making their way by slow stages in this direction. Halting at
Kingston, (Frontenac) they struck off across Canada by river and
inland lake navigation — carrying their bark canoes over portages —
and reached Lake Huron; then on, amid hostile tribes, until they
had explored and made missionary and trading stations upon Lakes
Michigan and Superior, the upper waters of the Mississippi, and the
Illinois rivers.
In all the French expeditions to the St. Lawrence, previous to that
of Champlain, there is little interest save in those of Jaques Cartier.
In his second one, in 1535, with three ships, and a large number
of accompanying adventurers he entered the St. Lawrence and
gave it its name; giving also, as he proceeded up the river, names
to other localities which they yet bear. Arrived at the Island of
Orleans, he had a friendly interview with the natives. In a previ-
ous voyage he had seized and carried to France, two natives, who,
returning with him somewhat instructed in the French language,
now acted as his interpreters, and gave a favorable account to their
people of those they had been with, and the country they had seen.
Proceeding on, he anchored for the winter, at “ Stadacona,” after-
wards called Quebec. Here he was met by an Indian chief, Dona-
cona, with a train of five hundred natives who welcomed his arri-
val. The Indians giving Cartier intimation that a larger village
than theirs lay farther up the river. With a picked crew of thirty-
five armed men he ascended the river, had friendly interviews with
the natives upon its banks. Arriving at the present site of Mon-
treal, he found an Indian village called Hochelaga, which “ stood in
the midst of a great field of Indian corn, was of a circular form,
containing about fifty large huts, each fifty paces long and fromphelps and gorham’s purchase.
13
fourteen to fifteen wide, all built in the shape of tunnels, formed of
wood, and covered with birch bark; the dwellings were divided into
several rooms, surrounding an open court in the centre, where the
fires burned. Three rows of pallisades encircled the town, with
only one entrance; above the gate and over the whole length of
the outer ring of defence, there was a gallery, approached by flights
of steps, and plentifully provided with stones and other missiles to
resist attack.”* The strangers were entertained with fetes and
dances, and in their turn, made presents. The sick and infirm came
to Jaques Cartier, who in the simple minds of the natives, possessed
some supernatural power over disease, which he disclaimed; but
the pious adventurer “ read aloud part of the Gospel of St. John,
and made the sign of the cross over the sufferers/’
Jaques Cartier returned to his colony at St. Croix, after a friendly
parting with his newly acquired acquaintances at Hochelaga. In
his absence, the intense cold had come upon his people unprepared,
the scurvy had attacked them, twenty-five were dead, and all were
more or less affected. The kind natives gave him a remedy that
checked the disease.f The expedition prepared to return to France.
As if all of the first interviews of our race with the natives were to
be signally marked by acts of wrong and outrage, as an earnest of
the whole catalogue that was to follow, under pretence that he had
seen some manifestations of hostilities, Cartier signalized his depart-
ure, and his ingratitude, by seizing the chief, Donacona, the former
captives, and two others; and conveying them on board his vessels,
took them to France. The act was mitigated, it has been said, by a
kind treatment that reconciled them to their fate.
The expedition had found no “gold nor silver” and for that rea-
son disappointed their patron, the King, and the people of France;
added to which, were tales of suffering in a rigorous climate. Ja-
ques Cartier, however, made favorable reports of all he had seen and
heard : and the Indian chief, Donacona, as soon as he had acquired
enough of French to be intelligible, “ confirmed all that had been said
of the beauty, richness and salubrity of his native country.” The
chief, however, sickened and died.
The next commission to visit the new dominions of France, was
* Conquest of Canada.
t A decoction of the leaf ana the hark of the fir tree.14
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
granted to Jean Francois de la Roche, with Jaques Cartier as his
second in command. It was formidable in its organization and
equipment; after a series of disasters: — the arrival of Cartier,
upon his old grounds; a reconciling of the Indians to his outrage;
a winter of disease and death among his men; a failure of de la
Roche to arrive in season; it returned to France to add to a war in
which she had just then engaged, reasons for suspending colonial
enterprises. Almost a half century succeeded for French advents
to become but a tradition upon the banks of the St. Lawrence.
How like a vision, in all this time, must those advents have seemed
with the simple natives! A strange people, with all that could excite
their wonder: — their huge ships, their loud mouthed cannon, whose
sounds had reverberated upon the summits of their mountains, in
their vallies, and been re-echoed from the deep recesses of their
forests; with their gay banners, and music, and all the imposing at-
tendants of fleets sent out by the proud monarch of a showy <pid
ostentatious nation of Europe ; who had addressed them in an un-
known tongue, and by signs and symbols awed them to a contempla-
tion of a Great Spirit, other than the terrible Manitou of their sim-
ple creed; who had showed them a “book” in which were revela-
tions they had neither “ seen in the clouds nor heard in the winds;”
whose advent had been a mixed one of conciliation and perfidy: —
who had given them a taste of “ strong water,” that had steeped
their senses in forgetfulness, or aroused their fiercest passions. All
this had come and gone, began and ended, and left behind it a vacu-
um, of mingled wonder, amazement and curiosit}^; and of dark fore-
bodings of evil, if there was some kind spirit, caring for their future
destiny, to foreshadow to them the sequel of all they had witnessed.
Would the pale faced strangers come again ? — Would their lost ones
be restored to reveal to them the mysteries of those wondrous
advents; and tell them of all things they had seen in that far oflT
land, the home of the strangers ? These were the anxious enquiries,
the themes around their council fires, in their wigwams, when they
held communion with their pagan deities, or asked the moon and the
stars to be the revelators of hidden things. One generation passed
away and another succeeded, before the mysterious strangers came,
Note.—Toward the close of the period between the advents of Cartier and Cham-
)lain, small expeditions of French fishermen and traders, generally coasting off New
?oundland, occasionally entered the St. Lawrence and traded with the natives.15
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
first to conciliate their favor by offering themselves as allies; then
to wrest from them empire and dominion.
The first expedition of Champlain was in 1603 and ’4. The ac-
counts of them possess but little interest. In 1608, equipped by his
patrons for an expedition, having principally in view the fur trade, he
extended his own views to the addition of permanent colonization,
and missionary enterprize. Arriving at Quebec, he erected the first
European tenements upon the banks of the St. Lawrence. The In-
dians, with whom Cartier had cultivated an acquaintance, were re-
duced to a few in number, by removal, famine and disease. Re-
maining at Quebec through a severe winter, relieving the necessi-
ties of the Indians, his own people suffering under an attack of the
scurvy, Champlain in 1609, accompanied by two Frenchmen and
a war party of the natives, went up the St. Lawrence, and struck off
to the Lake that still bears his name. The war party that accom-
panied him, were of the Algonquins and Hurons, of Canada, who were
then at war with the Iroquois. Their object was invasion of the Ir-
oquois country, and Champlain, from motives of policy had become
their ally. Upon the shores of a lake to which he gave the name of
St. Sacrament—afterwards called Lake George—the party met a
war party of two hundred Iroquois ; a battle ensued, the tide of it was
as uusual, turning in favor of the warlike and almost every where
conquering Iroquois, when Champlain suddenly made his appearance,
with his two Frenchmen, and the first fire from their arquabuses, kil-
led two of the Iroquois chiefs, and wounded a third. The Iroquois,
dismayed, as well by the report and terrible effect of new weapons
of war, as by the appearance of those who bore them, held out but
little longer; fled in disorder; were pursued, and many of them killed
and taken prisoners. This was the first battle of which history gives
us any account, in a region where armies have since often met.—
And it marks another era, the introduction of fire arms in battle, to
the natives, in all the northern portion of this continent. They had
now been made acquainted with the two elements that were destined
to work out principally their decline and gradual extermination.
They had tasted French brandy upon the St. Lawrence, English rum
upon the shores of the Chesapeake, and Dutch gin, upon the banks
of the Hudson. They had seen the mighty engines, one of which
was to conquer them in battle and the other was to conquer them
in peace councils, where cessions of their domains were involved.16
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Champlain returned to France, leaving a small colony at Quebec;
was invited to an audience, and had favor with the King, who be-
stowed upon all this region, the name of New France. * Cham-
plain visited his infant colony again in 1610, and 1613, recruiting it,
and upon each occasion going himself to battle with his neighbors
and allies against the Iroquois. In 1615 a company of merchants in
France, having procured a charter from the King, which embraced
all of French interests in New France, gave to Champlain the prin-
cipal direction of their affairs. Having attended to the temporal
affairs of the colony, the conversion of the natives, by Catholic
missionaries, engaged his attention. Four missionaries of the order
of Recollets were enlisted. These were the first missionaries in
Canada, and the first upon all our Atlantic coast, with the exception
of some Jesuit missionaries that had before reached Nova Scotia.
Leaving the large recruit of colonists he brought out at Quebec,
where he found all things had gone well in his absence, the intrepid ad-
venturer, and soldier as he had made himself, pushed on to Montreal,
and joined again a war party of his Indian allies, against the Iroquois.
The Iroquois were this time conquerors. Defeat had lessened the
importance of Champlain in the eyes of his Indian allies, and they
even refused him and his few followers, a guide back to Quebec,
although he had been wounded. Remaining for the winter an
unwilling guest of his Indian allies, he improved his time, as soon as
his wounds would allow of it, in visiting more of the wild region of
Canada. In the spring he returned to Quebec, and in July, to
France.
For several succeeding years, Champlain visited and revisited the
colony, extending and strengthening it; encountering vicissitudes in
France consequent upon the breaking up and change of proprietor-
ships ; his colony subjected to attacks from the Iroquois whom he
* Charlevoix.
Fote.— It has remained for an indefatigable researcher in the history of the early
French occupancy of this region — 0. H., Marshall, Esq. of Buffalo—to ascertain where
Champlain and his Indian allies invaded the territory of the Iroquois. They came
across the lower end of Lake Ontario, and passing through what is now Jefferson and
Oswego counties, crossed the Oneide Lake and attacked the Onondagas at their prin-
cipal settlement and Fort on the banks of the Onondaga Lake, when a battle ensued
which lasted three hours, the invaders gained no advantage; and Champlain who
expected a reinforcement endeavored in vain to induce his Indian allies to remain and
continue the seige. He had received two severe wounds, and was carried in a basket
of “wicker-work” to the shores of lake Ontario. He spent a dreary winter among the
Hurons on the north shore of the Lake.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUECHASE.	17
had injudiciously made his implacable enemies. Still, French colo-
nization in New France slowly progressed, and trading establish-
ments were multiplied. In 1623 a stone Fort was erected at Quebec
to protect the colonists against the Iroquois, and a threatened end of
amicable relations with the Hurons and Algonquins. In 1625, ’6,
the first Jesuit missionaries came out from France, among them were
names with which we become familiar in tracing the first advents of
our race in Western New York and the region of the Western
Lakes.
In 1627 the colonization of New France was placed upon a new
footing, by the organization of the “Company of One Hundred Asso-
ciates.” Their charter gave them a monopoly in New France, and
attempted to promote Christianization and colonization, both of which
had been neglected by making the fur trade a principal object. The
“Company” engaged to introduce 16,000 settlers before 1643.—
Before the advent of this new association, the colony had become
but a feeble one; the Indians had become hostile and kept the French
confined to their small settlements, at times, to their fortifications.
Hostilities having commenced between France and England, the
first vessel sent out by the Associates fell into the hands of the
English. An English expedition after destroying the French trading
establishment at Tadoussac, on the Sagenay, sent a demand for the
surrender of Quebec. Champlain replied in a manner so spirited
and determined as to delay the attack, until the English force was
increased. In July 1629 an English fleet appeared, and demanded
a surrender which Champlain with his reduced and feeble means
of resistance was obliged to obey. The terms of capitulation se-
cured all private rights of the French colonists, and most of them
remained. Champlain, however, returned to France. It was a
siege and capitulation in miniature, that after the lapse of more than
a century, was destined to be the work of concentrated armies and
navies, and weeks of fierce contest.
English possession was surrendered by treaty in 1632. At the
period of this small conquest:—“the Fort of Quebec, surrounded by
a score of hastily built dwellings and barracks, some poor huts on
the Island of Montreal, the like at Three Rivers and Tadoussac,
and a few fishermen's log houses and huts on the St. Lawrence,
were the only fruits of the discoveries of Yerrazano, Jaques Cartier,
Roberval and Champlain, and the great outlay of La Roche and18
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
De Monts, and the toils and sufferings of their followers, for nearly
a century.” #
Champlain returned in 1633, having been re-appointed Governor
of New France, bringing with him recruits of Missionary and other
colonists, and gave a new impulse to colonial enterprize; settle-
ments began to be extended, and a college, with rich endowments
was formed at Quebec, for the “education of youth, and the conver-
sion of the Indians.” While all this was in progress, Champlain,
the founder of French colonization in New France, to whose perse-
verance, courage, and fortitude, France was indebted for the foot-
hold she had gained upon this continent, died, and was “buried in the
city of which he was the founder.” f
Montmagny succeeded Champlain. Deprived of much of the
patronage from the Associates that he had reason to expect, the work
of colonization progressed but slowly during his administration,
which continued until 1647. Trade, advanced settlements, agricul-
ture, made but little progress, but missionary and educational enter-
prises, had a powerful impetus. At Sillery, near Quebec, a college
was founded. The Dutchess de Arguillon founded the Hotel Dieu,
and Madame de la Peltrie, the convent of the Ursulines. The last
named liberal patron was young, high born; a devotee to her reli-
gious faith, and a zealous propagator of it. She came herself to the
New World, with a vessel of her own, accompanied by Ursulines.
who blended their names and services conspicuously with the history
of Lower Canada. Such was the eclat that attended the advent of
the noble patron and her followers, who had left all the refinements,
gaities, and luxuries of France, to take up their abode upon the wild
and inhospitable shores of the St. Lawrence, that their arrival was
signalized by a public reception, with military and religious observan-
ces.
The other principal events under the administration of Mont-
magny, were the founding of Montreal, and the building of a
Fort there and at the mouth of the Richlieu, as out-posts against the
Iroquois, who since they had become exasperated by Champlain,
made frequent attacks upon the French settlements. A threat reach-
* Conquest of Canada.
t He was one of tlie extraordinary men of his age and nation. History finds in him a
marked character, and poetry and romance the model of an heroic adventurer.19
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
ed the ears of Montmagny that they would “ drive the white man into'
the sea,” and becoming convinced of the powers of the wild warriors,
whose strength he had no means of estimating, he sought the means
of establishing a peace with them, in which he was encouraged by his
neighbors the Hurons, who were worn out, and their numbers re-
duced, by long wars with their indefatiguable adversaries. The gov-
ernor and the Huron chiefs met deputies of the Iroquois at Three
Rivers, and concluded a peace.
M. cf Ailleboust who had held a command at Three Rivers, was
the successor of Montmagny, and continued as Governor until 1650.
The peace with the Iroquois gave a spur to missionary enterprise
and trade, both of which were extended.
During the administration of Montmagny, missionaries and traders
had followed the water courses of Canada, and reached Lake Hu-
ron, where they had established a post. From that distant point,
in 1640, came the first of our race that ever trod upon the soil of
Western New York, and left behind them any record of their ad-
vent. # On the 2d day of November, 1640, two Jesuit Fathers,
Brebeai^ and Chaumonot, left their mission station at St. Marie,
on the river Severn, near Lake Huron, and came upon the Niagara
river, both sides of which were occupied by the Neuter Nation, f
They found this nation to consist of 12,000 souls, having 4,000
warriors, and inhabiting forty villages, eighteen of which the mis-
sionaries visited. They were, say these Fathers : — “ Larger,
stronger, and better formed than our Hurons.” “ The men, like
all savages, cover their naked flesh with skins, but are less particu-
* In a letter from Father L’Alternant to the Provincial of the Jesuits in France,
it is mentioned that the Recollet Father Daillon passed the winter of 1626 among the
Neuter Nation. If this is so, he was the first white man who saw Western New York .
The period is earlier than we can well suppose there could have been any Frenchman
so far away from the settlements upon the St Lawrence, especially when we consider
the then utter hostility of the Iroquois. Still, the Seneca branch of them may as early
as tills have tolerated a few missionaries and traders.
tThis Neuter Nation, then, were occupants of all the region between the‘Niagara
and the Genesee rivers, Lake Ontario and the foot of Lake Erie, and a wide strip on
the west side of the Niagara river. It was neutral ground, while surrounding nations
were at war, and they were neutrals. But three years only after the visit of Brebeauf
and Chauraorot, they were .dispossessed by the Iroquois. "Thus the region became —
as we found it — a part of the domains of the Seneca. Says Charlevoix : — “ To avoid
the fury of the Iroquois, they finally joined themselves against the Hurons, hut gained
nothing by the union. The Iroquois, that like lions that have tasted blood, can not be
satiated, destroyed all that came in their way; and at this day there remains no traces
of the Neuter Nation.”20
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
lar than the Hurons in concealing what should not appear.” “ The
Squaws are ordinarily clothed, at least from the waist to the knees;
but are more shameless in their immodesty than our Hurons.”
“ They have Indian corn, beans, and gourds in equal abundance;
also, plenty of fish. They are much employed in hunting deer, buf-
falo, wild cats, wolves, wild boars, beaver, and other animals. It is
rare to see snow in the country more than half a foot deep. But
this year, it is more than three feet.” The Rev. Fathers found our
remote predecessors here upon the soil of Western New York,
with the exception of one village, unfavorable to the mission they
were upon, and intent upon which they had braved all the rigors
of the season, and a long forest path which they soon retraced.
If those Rev. Fathers were admirers of nature’s almost undis-
turbed works, fresh, as it were, from the Creator, and bearing
the impress of His hands — and we may well suppose they were,
for they had come from cloistered halls and high seats of learning,
and refinement — how must their eyes have been satiated in view
of the panorama of lakes and forests, hills and plains, rushing tor-
rents, water-falls, and the climax in their midst — the migkty cata-
ract of Niagara, thundering in its solitude! Who would not wish
that he had been among them — or what is perhaps more rational —
that he could enjoy such a scene as Western New York then was ?
The treaty with the Iroquois had but suspended their hostilities.
In 1648, they were again out upon their war-paths upon the banks
of the St. Lawrence. Father Antoine Daniel had made a mission
station of the small settlement of St. Joseph. When the Huron
warriors had gone out upon the chase, while the missionary had the
old men, the women and children, collected for religious service, a
party of Iroquois stole upon them and massacred the whole. This
was probably the first of a series of martyrdoms that awaited the
Jesuit missionaries. In the early part of 1649, a thousand Iroquois
fell upon two villages of the Hurons, and nearly exterminated the
whole population; the missionary in eac*h place meeting the fate of
Father Daniel. This was followed up in the same year by an at-
tack upon the Huron village of St. Johns, where nearly three thou-
sand, with their missionary, were massacred! Disease, as well as
the war-club, had visited the Hurons. “Most of the remnant of
this unhappy tribe then took the resolution of presenting themselves
to their conquerors, and were received into their nation. The fewphelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
21
who still remained wandering in the forests, were hunted down like
wolves, and soon exterminated." #
In 1650, M. de Lauson became the Governor of New France.
During his administration, the colony made but slow advances;
flushed with their victories over their own race, the Iroquois grew
bolder and more determined to expel another race whom they
regarded as intruders ; and who had been the allies of their foes.
They almost continually hung upon the French settlements, and
paralized their efforts. In 1653, however, the Onondaga branch of
the Confederacy petitioned the French Governor for the location
of a missionary and trading establishment among them. The propo-
sition was acceded to, but it served to exasperate the other nations,
and was finally withdrawn by stealth, to avoid a massacre.
In 1658, Viscount d’Arguson succeeded M. de Lauson. The
commencement of his administration was signalized by a massacre
of French allies, the Algonquins, under the very walls and guns of
Quebec. A reverse, however — a defeat of a band of Mohawks
at Three Rivers, was followed by a suspension of hostilities which
was industriously improved by the French in extending their mis-
sion and trading stations. But the Iroquois were soon again upon
their war-paths, giving the French colony but little repose. At a
period when the colonists were desponding, and almost upon the
point of abandoning the whole ground, and retiring to France,
d’Arguson renewed a treaty with the Iroquois, and an exchange of
prisoners.
In 1662, a new Governor came out — the Baron d’Avagour—
and the French garrision was reinforced by an importation of 400
soldiers. A Bishop of Quebec had now been appointed — M. de
Monts. He found all spiritual and temporal efforts likely to be
paralized by the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians, and the
colonists, that d’Avagour had allowed. The Bishop hastened to
France, represented the evil to the King, and came back with a
new Governor, M. d’Mesy, who had orders to stop the destructive
traffic, f The new Governor proved a tyrant, thwarted the mis-
sionaries, fell into a general disrepute, and w%s soon recalled.
* Conquest of Canada.
fThis was probably the first temperance movement by other than "moral suasion,”
on this continent. The Catholie missionaries were from the first, however, each a Fa-
ther Matthew.22
PHELP3 AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
In 1663, the company of Associates relinquished all their rights
in New France, which were transferred to the West India Compa-
ny. In this year, all that is now the Canadas, Western and Central
New York, was visited by a tremendous earthquake. #
M. de Tracy came out as Governor under the West India Com-
pany in 1665, bringing with him a recruit of soldiers, and soon,
with the aid of Indian allies, intimidated the Iroquois. A large
number of families, artisans and laborers, wrere added to the colony,
and forts were built at the mouth of the Richlieu. In December,
the Senecas, Cayugas, and Onondagas, sent deputations sueing for
peace and an exchange of prisoners, which was readily agreed up-
on. The Mohawks and Oneidas still holding out, after sending out
an expedition against them that principally failed, M. de Tracy, at
the head of 1200 French soldiers and 600 Indian allies, encounter-
ed all the vicissitudes of a long march through the wilderness; in
which his army suffered for the want of food, and were only
saved from starvation by subsisting upon chestnuts. Arriving at
the villages of the Mohawks, he found them principally deserted.
The finale of the formidable expedition was the burning of the
Mohawk cabins, and the killing of a few old men and women.f
Little of glory, and much of suffering, loss and disgrace, were the
fruits of the expedition. M. de Tracy returned to France, and the
government devolved on M. de Courcelles.
Peace with the Iroquois ensued, and a brief season was allowed
for the progress of settlement and the promotion of agriculture.
The administration of M. de Courcelles was vigorous and well con-
ducted. Learning that the Iroquois were endeavoring to persuade
the Western Indians to trade with the English, he menaced them
with a formidable attack; to make amends for murders of Iroquois
by Frenchmen, he had led out and executed, the offenders, in view
of those whose friends had been the victims; and by Other acts of
* [See Appendix, No. L] There are strong evidences throughout all this region, of
some great convulsion of the earth, as recently as 'within the last two centuries.
There are fissures in our rocks, extensive forests with timber growths of less than two
centuries; mounds and indentations of earth, as if whole forests had suddenly been
uprooted; immense sections of rock and earth detached from their primitive locations
upon hill sides, and the banks of our streams; shall we not say that all this dates
from 1663 ? Some portions of the account would seem exaggerated; but in all mat-
tern of fact, the Jesuit Relations are accredited by historians.
t The French found corn enough buried in pits to have supplied the Mohawks for
two years.phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	23
conciliation, preserved peace. A war broke out between the
Iroquois and Ottawas, and he interfered and made peace.
About this period, the small pox, always a most frightful scourge
with the Indian race,* broke out among all the allies of the French
upon the St. Lawrence and the interior of Canada. In some instan-
ces, whole tribes were exterminated; the victims were enumerated
by thousands; in one village near Quebec, they amounted to fifteen
hundred.
Near the close ofM. de Courcelles administration, in 1671, by
sending an indefatigable agent to all the Indian nations around the
western Lakes, a grand council was convened at the Falls of St.
Mary, when the sovreignty of the King of France was acknowl-
edged, and a cross, bearing his arms, was set up.
In 1671, Count Frontenac, a worthy successor of Champlain, his
equal in all, and his superior in many respects; advanced in age,but
vigorous, arbitrary, in all his designs and movements; took the reins
of government in New France, and in many respects, created a new
era. Following out the plans of his subordinate, M. Talon, an expe-
dition was set on foot to explore the “ great river,” the “Mechasepe,”
in the dialect of the western tribes, of which but vague and inde-
finite ideas had been gained of the natives. Marquette, a Jesuit
Missionary, with Joliet, and other attendants, set out from St. Mary's
and reaching the Miami, obtained from them two natives as guides.
They struck upon the waters of Fox River, and descending them,
crossed the short portage, and descended upon the waters of the
Wisconsin River to its confluence with the Mississippi. Their
guides having returned, the adventurous Frenchmen floated down
the river in their frail canoes until they came to a village of the
Illinois where they were “ kindly and hospitably received.” The ex-
pedition, falling in with none but friendly natives, went as far down
as below the mouth of the Arkansas, where, hearing that the river
emptied itself into the Gulf of Mexico, instead of the Pacific, as they
had fondly hoped; and fearing that they might fall into the hands of
the Spaniards; they returned; Marquette commencing missionary
* Whenever the scourge has appeared upon this continent among the aborigines, it
has swept off nearly all who were attacked. Their simple remedies succesful in other
diseases, have failed them in this. This has been principally attributed to the com-
plexion, or rather the texture of the skin, differing from that of our race, in a toughness
that prevents the disease breaking out and expending itself upon the surface; and
sends it back to prey upon the vitals of its victims.24
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
labors among the Miamis, and Joliet carrying* the news of their dis-
coveries to Quebec. These were the first of our race that saw the
upper Mississippi and its vast tributaries. The pages of general his-
tory that tell of the hazardous journey; that recounts the impressions
made upon the mind of Marquette, who had a mind to appreciate all
he saw in that then vast and hitherto unexplored wilderness of prairie
and forest, inland seas, and wide rivers; is one of peculiar attractions.
Few historical readers will fail to peruse it. The name of a county
in Illinois, and a village, perpetuates the names, and the memories of
Marquette and Joliet.
ADVENTURES OF LA SALLE—THE FIRST SAIL VESSEL UPON THE
UPPER LAKES.
Previous to the western advent of Marquette and Joliet, La Salle,
a young Frenchman of ample fortune, after completing his educa-
tion, with all the religious enthusiasm peculiar to the disciples of
Loyola, mixed with a spirit of adventure then so rife in France, had
crossed the ocean, pushed on beyond the farthest French settle-
ments upon the St. Lawrence, and become the founder of Frontenac,
now Kingston, the ownership of which was conferred upon him by
his King with the rank of nobility. The grant was in fact, that of a
wide domain, with some exclusive privileges of Indian trade.
When Marquette and Joliet returned, they took Frontenac in their
route, and found the young adventurer in the midst of his enterprises,
drawing around him missionaries, traders, agriculturalists — the pa-
troon of one of the most flourishing settlements of New France.—
Listening to their accounts of the vast beautiful region they had
seen, its broad Lakes, wide prairies — and with especial interest to
their story of the “Great River,” — he resolved upon following
up their discoveries, by a new route, and extending French domin-
ion across the entire continent. Returning to France, with the
information he had obtained from various sources, his earnest impor-
tunities inspired the king and his minister, Colbert, with confidence,
and a commission of discovery was granted him. The object, as
expressed in the commission, was, “ to discover the western portion of
our country of New France,” and the suggestion was made, that
through it a passage might be found to Mexico. The expeditionPHELPS AND GOEIIAm’s PUECHASE.
25
was to be at his own expense, and that of his associates; their pros-
pective remuneration, a restricted monopoly of trade with the natives.
With an Italian named Tonti, Father Hennepin, a number oi
mechanics and mariners, naval stores, and goods for the Indian
trade, he arrived at Frontenac in the fall of 1678, and soon after a
wooden canoe of ten tons, the first craft of European architecture
that ever entered the Niagara River, bore a part of his company to
the site of Fort Niagara. La Salle, followed soon after with a sail
vessel, in which he had a stock of provisions, and materials for ship
building; crossed the Lake, coasted along its southern shore, entered
the mouth of the Genesee River or the Irondequoit Bay, and visited
some of the villages of the Senecas to reconcile them to his enterprise;
and on his way from the Genesee to the Niagara River, encountered
a gale and lost his vessel, saving but a part of his cargo. Arrived at
Niagara, he erected some rude defences, established a post, and at
Lewiston erected a trading station with pallisades. Late in Janu-
ary the business of ship building was commenced at the mouth of
Cayuga creek, six miles above the Falls of Niagara. In mid winter,
the neccessity occurring, the intrepid adventurer, on foot, made the
journey to Frontenac, around the head of the Lake, returning on the
ice along the northern shore, with a dog and sledge for the transpor-
tation of his baggage.
It was fortunate, perhaps, that during the ship’s building, the war-
riors of the Senecas were principally drawn off in an expedition against
some of the western enemies.* Those that remained behind, hung
around and watched the operations at Niagara as well as at the
place of ship building. In consequence of their remonstrances, what
was intended as the commencement of a Fort at Niagara, had to be
abandoned, and a “ habitation surrounded with pallisades” substitu-
ted; and they were almost constantly annoying the ship builders.
The missionary, Hennepin, by mild persuasion, and the display of the
emblems of the faith he was propagating, would seem to have aided
much in reconciling the natives to these strange movements they
Note.—It should be observed that hitherto Lake Erie had been unexplored. The
route to the Upper Lakes had been via the interior Rivers and Lakes of Canada.—
Why the earlier adventurers, missionaries and traders, had failed to follow up the great
body of water that they saw discharging into Lake Ontario, is left to conjecture :—
The jealousy with which the Senecas had guarded their territory, and then unwilling-
ness, that the French should extend their alliance with their enemies the western na-
tions, affords the most reasonable explanation.1
226
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
were witnessing. Becoming discouraged, surrounded with dangers,
the ship builders were once upon the point of desertion to the English
settlements upon the Hudson, but were encouraged by the pious
missionary in “exhortations on holidays and Sundays after divine
service.55 He told them that the enterprise had sole “ reference to
the promotion of the glory of God, and the welfare of the Christian
colonies.55 On one occasion, while the vessel was upon the stocks,
a scheme, the Senecas had devised for burning it, was frustrated by
the timely warning of a friendly squaw.
All these difficulties were surmounted, and when the River and
Lake had become clear of ice, a vessel of sixty tons burthen, was
ready for the water. It was “ blessed according to our Church of
Rome,55 and launched under the discharge of artillery, accompanied
by the chaunting of the Te Deum; the Senecas looking on with
amazement, declaring the ship builders to be “Ot-kons/5 men with
“penetrating minds.55 Some weeks followed of preparation for the
voyage; trips by water were made to Frontenac; trading parties*
went to the principal villages of the Senecas; and the Niagara Riv-
er was explored to see how the vessel was to be got into Lake Erie.
In the mean time the warriors of the Senecas returned from the
westward, and their resenxments were absorbed in wonder at all
they saw; awe, or fear perhaps, overcame their jealousies. Invited
on board the vessel and hospitably entertained, they exclaimed,
“ ga-nor-ron,55 how wonderful!
The vessel was named the “Griffin/5 in honor of Count Fronte-
nac, whose armorial bearing was the representation of two griffins.
It was equipped with sails, masts, and every thing ready for naviga-
tion, and had on board “ five small cannon and two arquebuses.*
After all was ready several attempts were made to ascend the Nia-
gara, befor a wind sufficiently favorable occurred to insure success
At last, with much severe labor, men being often placed on shore
with tow lines to assist the sails—the vessel entered Lake Erie,
and on the 7th of August, 1679, accompanied by the discharge of can-
non, and the chaunting of the Te Deum, the first sail vessel was
careering over its unknown expanse, groping its way with no charts
to direct its course.
* Hennepin, whose account is principally relied upon, speaks of the great difficulty
attending the getting of the vessel’s equipments up the “three mountains” at Lewis-
ton. He says “ it took four men to carry the largest anchor, but brandy being given
to cheer them, the work was soon accomplished.”phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
27
After a protracted voyage, the Griffin cast anchor in Green Bay,
where a trade was opened with the natives and a rich cargo of furs
obtained. Late in the season of navigation, it started on its return
voyage to the Niagara River, encountered severe gales, and the
vessel and all on board were never more heard of — their fate remain-
ing a mystery.*
Hennepin describing what they saw of the shores of Lakes Erie,
St. Clair and Huron, and the banks of the Detroit and St. Clair Riv-
ers, observes :—Those w7ho will have the good fortune some day to
possess the beautiful and fertile lands, will be under many obliga-
gations to us, who have cleared the way.
Anticipating the return of the ill-fated vessel, La Salle established a
trading house at Mackinaw, and proceeding to the mouth of the St.
Josephs, added to a small Missionary station, under the care of Ah
louez, a trading house with pallisades, which he called the “ Fort of the
Miami.” Despairing of the return of the Griffin, leaving ten men to
guard the fort, with Hennepin, and two other Missionaries, Tonti, and
about thirty other followers, the impatient adventurer ascended the
St. Joseph and descended the Kankakee to its mouth. From there
he descended the Illinois to Lake Peori where he erected a fort amid
the murmuring and discontent of his followers, who deemed their
leader and his expedition ruined by the loss of the Griffin. Yielding
temporarily to despondency, the stouthearted leader, named it Fort
Creve Coeur, the “ Fort of the Broken hearted.”
Recovering his wonted energy, however, he set his men to sawing
ship plank, dispatched Hennepin with two followers to explore the
Upper Mississippi, and started himself with three companions, for
Frontenac, to procure recruits, and sails and cordage for his vessel.
The journey was made in the month of March, and was one of peril and
suffering; the route overland to the Niagara River, and from thence
around the head of Lake Ontario to Frontenac. New adventurers
* Unless tlie author was right in the conclusion he formed as to its fate in a previous
work. The Jesuit Missionaries concluded that it was stranded in a gale, plundered
by the natives and its crew murdered. Such was probably the fact:—In 1805, some
of the early settlers in Hamburg, Erie county, after a severe blow that had removed a
large body of sand and gravel upon the lake shore, found where it had been deeply
embedded, an anchor. In later years, near the same spot, there has been found several
hundred pounds of iron, such as would seem to have been taken from a vessel ; and
near the spot, two cannon, the whole buried in the earth, and good sized forest trees grow-
ing over them. There is no record, or tradition, of the loss of any vessel, other than
the Griffin, at the early period in which these relics must have been left where they
were found.28	PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PUBCHASE.
flocked to his standard, supplies were obtained, and he returned to
his post upon the Illinois, which he found deserted. In his absence,
it had been attacked by the natives; an aged Missionary, Father
Ribourde, had been murdered, and Tonti with a few followers, had
escaped, and found refuge among the Potawatomies on Lake Mi-
chigan.
Returning to Green Bay, he commenced trading and establishing
a friendly intercourse with the Indians; collected his scattered fol-
lowers ; built a spacious barge on the Illinois River, and in the early
part of 1632, descended the Mississippi to the sea. He planted a
cross upon the Gulf of Mexico, claimed the country for France, and
called it Louisana.
The sequel of these daring enterprises, that have no parallel even
in our day of wondrous achievements — that paved the way for the
occupancy of our race in all the vast region drained by the Missis-
sippi — is a long chapter of disaster, of successes and reverses, mostly
remote from our local region, and belonging to the pages of general
history. In all that relates to French occupancy, of the Genesee
country, the borders of the western Lakes, of the valley of the Mis-
sissippi— especially, to the adventures of Marquette, Joliet, La
Salle, Hennepin and Tonti, hitherto the historian has had but uncer-
tain guides, and but unsatisfactory, authentic details. Recent dis-
coveries in Quebec, and among the archives of the Jesuits, in Rome,
afford encouragement that with some future historian these de-
ficiencies will be supplied. In anticipation of this, the author leaves
the high souled, adventurous La Salle, upon the threshold of adven-
tures, that led him over the plains of Texas, to New Mexico; that
embraced, voyages to France by sea, shipwrecks, and a series of
untoward events; and ended in his murder by one of his followers,
on the-Trinity River in Texas, on a return, overland, to Frontenac.
Well deserving was he of the eulogy bestowed upon him by our ac-
complished national historian, Bancroft:—“ For force of will and
vast conceptions ; for various knowledge and quick adaption of his
genius to untried circumstances; for a sublime magnanimity that
resigned itself to the will of Heaven, and yet triumphed over afflic-
tion by energy of purpose and unfaltering hope, — he had no superior
among his countrymen.”
In a previous work, the .author in a brief review of a somewhat
more elaborate account of the expeditions of La Salle, has remark-PHELPS A HD GOBHAm’s PUKCHASE.
29
ed: One hundred and thirty nine years ago, the Griffin set out upon
its voyage, passed up the rapids of the Niagara, and unfurled the first
sail upon the waters of the Upper Lakes.
Intrepid navigator and explorer! High as were hopes and ambi-
tion that could alone impel him to such an enterprise; far seeing as
he was; could the curtain that concealed the future from his view,
have been raised, his would have been the exclamation: —
“ Visions of glory, spare my aeliing sight;—
Ye unborn ages, rush not on my soul!”
He deemed himself but adding to the nominal dominions of his
King; but opening new avenues to the commerce of his country;
founding a prior claim to increased colonial possessions. He was
pioneering the way for an empire of freemen, who in process of time
were to fill the valleys he traversed; the sails of whose commerce
were to -whiten the vast expanse of waters upon which he was em-
barking!
How often, when reflecting upon the triumphs of steam naviga-
tion, do we almost wish that it were admitted by the dispensations
of Providence that Fulton could be again invested with mortality,
and witness the mighty achievements of his genius. Akin to this,
would be the wish, that La Salle could rise from his wilderness grave
in the far-off South, and look out upon the triumphs of civilization
and improvement over the vast region he was the first to explore.
Ours is a country whose whole history is replete with daring en-
terprises and bold adventures. Were we prone, as we should be,
duly to commemorate the great events that have marked our pro-
gress, here and there, in fitting localities, more monuments would
be raised as tributes due to our history, and to the memory of those
who have acted a conspicuous part in it. Upon the banks of our
noble river, within sight of the Falls, a shaft from our quarries would
soon designate the spot where the Griffin was built and launched;
upon its base, the name of La Salle, and a brief inscription that
would commemorate the pioneer advent of our vast and increasing
Lake commerce.
Frontenac returned to France in consequence of disagreement
with other officers of the colony, but to return again in after years.
He was succeeded by M. de la Barre, who found the Iroquois dis-30	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
posed to lean toward the English interests upon the Hudson, and
assuming again a hostile attitude toward the French. The Otta-
was, who were the allies of the French, had killed a chief of the
Iroquois; and from this and other causes, they were again exaspera-
ted, and preparing for descents upon the French settlements. Hith-
erto, the Senecas, far removed from what had been the seat of war,
and almost continually waging war with those of their own race,
had participated but little in the wars with the French. Provoca-
tions now began on their part, in the way of endeavoring to divert
trade to the English, and in warring upon the French Indian allies;
and upon one occasion, they had robbed a French trading party on
their way to Illinois.
A long series of provocations were given by the Iroquois, which
determined M. de la Barre to go against them with all the forces he
could command. He had information that a descent was to be
made upon the French settlements upon the St. Lawrence. He
assembled an army of 700 Canadian militia, 130 regular soldiers,
and 200 Indian allies, in July, 1683. While coming up the St.
Lawrence, he learned that the more friendly of the Iroquois nations
had prevailed upon the Senecas to listen to overtures of peace. The
English had offered their mediation, with intimations that they
would make common cause with the hostile nations of Iroquois,'if
the French Governor persevered in his warlike demonstrations.
M. de la Barre crossed Lake Ontario, and quartered his army at a
Bay in what is now Jefferson county, and awaited the arrival of
peace deputies of the Iroquois. While there, the French army suf-
fered much for want of wholesome provisions, and they named the
place “ La Famine/’ or Hungry Bay. The Indians met them, with
an Onondaga chief, Garangula, at their head. A speech was made
by the French Governor, and replied to by Garangula, in a tone
of contempt and derision, rather than of fear or submission. # He
well knew that famine and disease had weakened the French force,
and even tantalized them by allusion to their misfortunes. De la
* For a correct translation of this noted * speech, copied from La Hontan, see
uHolland Purchase.” Mr. Clinton said : —"I believe it impossible to find in all the
effusions of ancient or modem oratory, a speech more appropriate or convincing.
Under the veil of respectful profession, it conveys the most biting irony ; and ‘while*
it abounds with rich and splendid imagery, it contains the most solid reasoning.” The
respected author of “History of Onondaga,” regards him as having been the Nestor
-of the Iroquois.31
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
Barre, says the Baron la Hontan, who was present, “ returned to his
tent much enraged at what he had heard.” The interview ended
by a stipulation on the part of the Senecas that they would make
reparation for some alleged wrongs;# and on the part of the French
Governor, that he would immediately withdraw his army. The dis-
cornfitted and chagrined la Barre withdrew an army made feeble
by disease and hunger; and upon reaching Montreal, learned that
a French force had arrived, which would have enabled him to
humble the proud warriors, and provoking orator he had met on
the wild shores of Lake Ontario.
[Of local events, the expedition of De Honville follows next in order of time. A
brief allusion to it will be found in Mr. Hosmer’s chapter upon the Senecas, and more
of it will be found in the Appendix, Ho. 2.]
The Iroquois were prompt to carry the war home upon their in-
vaders. In November following De Nonville’s expedition, they at-
tacked the French fort on the Sorrel, and were repulsed, but they
ravaged the neighboring French settlements, and made captives.
Darkness lowered upon the French cause.
“ In this same year, there fell upon Canada an evil more severe
than Indian aggression or English hostility. Toward the end of
the summer, a deadly malady visited the colony, and carried mourn-
ing into almost every household. So great was the mortality, that
M. De Nonville was constrained to abandon, or rather defer, his
project of humbling the pride and power of the Tsonnonthouans#
He had also reason to doubt the faith of his Indian allies; even the
Hurons of the far West, who had fought so stoutly by his side on
the shores of Lake Ontario, were discovered to have been at the
time in treacherous correspondence with the Iroquois.”
“ While doubt and disease paralized the power of the French,
their dangerous enemies were not idle. Twelve hundred Iroquois
warriors assembled at Lake St. Francis, within two days’ march
of Montreal, and haughtily demanded audience of the Governor,
which was immediately granted. Their orator proclaimed the
power of his race, and the weakness of the white men, with all the
emphasis and striking illustration of Indian eloquence. He offered
* The wrongs complained of, were the destruction, by the Senecas, of a large
number of the canoes of the French traders, on their way to the West, the taking of
fourteen Frenchmen as prisoners; and an attack upon one of the Western forts.—
Paris Doc.32
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
peace on terms proposed by the Governor of New York, but only
allowed the French four days for deliberation.”
“ This high-handed diplomacy was backed by formidable demon-
strations. The whole country west of the river Sorrel, or Richlieu,
was occupied by a savage host, and the distant fort of Cataracouy,
on the Ontario shore, was with difficulty held against 800 Iroquois,
who had burned the farm stores with flaming arrows, and slain the
cattle of the settlers. The French bowed before the storm they
could not resist, and peace was concluded on conditions that war
should cease in the land, and all the allies should share in the
blessings of repose. M. De Nonville further agreed to restore the
Indian chiefs who had been so treacherously torn from their native
wilds, and sent to labor in the galleys of France.”*
Before the treaty was concluded, however, the implacable ene-
mies of the Iroquois, the Abenaquis, attacked them on the Sorrel,
destroyed many, and pushed their conquest even to the English set-
tlements. And nearly at the same time, another untoward circum-
stance occurred; an instance of cunning and knavery which has
no parallel in Indian warfare : — Kondiaronk, a chief of the west-
ern Hurons, with a retinue of warriors, sought an interview with
De Nonville, for the purpose of reconciling some misunderstanding.
Learning that peace was about to be concluded between the French
and Iroquois, he determined to prevent it. Pretending to go back
to his own country, he went up the St. Lawrence, and lying in am-
bush for the Iroquois, on their return from the treaty, he fell upon
them with his warriors, killing many, and taking some prisoners. He
then pretended that he was acting in concert with the French Gov-
ernor, and that he had instigated the attack upon those with whom
he had just concluded a peace. The scheme worked just as the
wily backwoods Metternich had concluded it would : — A renewal
* Conquest of Canada.
Note.—Tlie author of the history of the Conquest of Canada, says of De Nonville,
in allusion to his seizure of the Iroquois, and sending them to France: —"His other-
wise honorable and useful career can never be cleansed from the fatal blot of one dark
act of treachery. From the day when that evil deed was done, the rude but magnani-
mous Indians, scorned as a broken reed the sullied honor of the French.” The author
should not have made De Nonville wholly responsible. In all probability, he acted
under instructions. The instructions of Louis XIV. to La Barre, were: — "As these
savages who are stout and robust, will serve with advantage in my galleys, I wish
you to do every thing in your power to make them prisoners of war, ana that you
will have them shipped by every opportunity which will offer for their removal to
France.”33
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PTJBCHASE.
of hostilities was soon made by the Iroquois, to revenge themselves
for the supposed baseness of the French Governor. Twelve hun-
dred Iroquois warriors made a descent upon the Island of Montreal,
burnt the French houses, sacked their plantations, and put to the
sword all the men, women and children within the outskirts of the
town. “ A thousand French were slain in the invasion, and twenty-
six carried into captivityThe marauders retreated, but not with-
out further destruction of life; — a force of one hundred French and
fifty Indians, sent in pursuit, were entirely cut off. “ The disastrous
incursions filled the French with panic and astonishment. They at
once blew up the forts of Cataracouy, (Kingston,) and Niagara,
burned two vessels, built under their protection, and altogether
abandoned the shores of the western Lakes.” f Frontenac arrived
at Quebec in October, 1689, at a period of great depression with the
colony. His hands were strengthened by the government of
France, but a vast field of labor was before him. He repaired to
Montreal, and summoned a council of the western Indians ; the
first and most important consummation to be effected, being their
perfect conciliation and alliance: — “As a representative of the
Gallic Monarch, claiming to be the bulwark of Christendom—Count
Frontenac, himself a peer of France, now in his seventieth year,
placed the murderous hatchet in the hands of his allies; and with
tomahawk in his own grasp, chaunted the war-song, danced the
war-dance, and listened, apparently with delight, to the threat of
savage vengeance.” J
In the February preceding the event just alluded to, the revolu-
tion in England had been consummated. William and Mary had
succeeded to the throne, and soon after which France had declared
a war against England, in which the American colonies became at
once involved, and a contest ensued, in which the question of undi-
vided empire in all this portion of North America was the stake to
be won; —France and England had both determined upon entire
conquest, Frontenac succeeded in conforming the alliance of
nearly all the western tribes of Indians, and through the mission-
* Smith’s History of Hew York.
t So says the author of the Conquest of Canada. It is not probable that all the
western posts were abandoned.
t Bancroft.34
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
aries was enabled to make a partial division of the Iroquois from the
English interests. He soon received from his government instruc-
tions to war for conquest, not only upon New England and New
York, but upon all the Indian allies of the English. His instruc-
tions contemplated an attack upon “ Manathe,” (“ Manhattan” or
New York,) by sea, and an attack upon Fort Orange by land,
and a descent upon the Hudson, to co-operate with the naval
expedition. The French force in Canada, of regulars and militia
was about two thousand. In February, 1689, an expedition
started from Montreal, and after a long march through the wild-
erness, in which they were obliged to walk up to their knees
in water, and break the ice with their feet, in order to find a solid
footing, they arrived in the vicinity of Schenectady, the then
farthest advanced of the English settlements. Arriving at a soli-
tary wigwam, the benumbed and disabled from the effects of the
severe cold weather, warmed themselves by its fire, and information
was gained from the squaws who inhabited it, how they could best
fall upon the village and execute their terrible mission of war and
retribution upon those who had assisted the Mohawk branch of the
Iroquois in their onslaughts upon the French settlements. In all
their march and contemplated attack, they had been assisted by a
former chief of the Mohawks, who had deserted his country and
identified himself with the French allies at the west. Approaching
the point of attack, he had eloquently harangued the French and their
Indian allies to “lose all recollections of their fatigue in hopes of
taking ample revenge for the injuries they had received from the
Iroquois, at the solicitation of the English, and of washing them out
in the blood of the traitors.” # At eleven o’clock at night they came
near the settlement, and deliberating whether they should not post-
pone the attack to a more dead hour of the night, were compelled by
the excessive cold to rush upon their victims and destroy them, to
* He was, says the French official account, “ without contradiction, the most con-
siderable of his tribe — an honest man — as full of spirit, generosity and prudence as
was possible, and capable at the same time of great undertakings.”
Note. — The English account of the massacre at Schenectady, contained in the Lon-
don Documents, gives the names of sixty of "ye people kiled and destroyed;” of
twenty-seven who were earned prisoners to Canada. The few of all the population
that escaped, being a detached part of the settlement, the residence of the British com-
mandant of the place, “Capt. Sander,” whose wife had shown some favor previously
to some French prisoners. The French account, in the Paris Documents, says that
“ the lives of fifty or sixty persons; old men, women and children were spared, they
having escaped the first fury of attack.”BHELPS AND GORHAM^ PURCHASE.	35
enjoy the warmth of their burning hamlets. A small garrison, where
there were soldiers under arms, was first attacked, carried, set fire
to and burned, and all its defenders slaughtered. Then succeeded
hours of burning and massacre, until almost the entire population
and their dwellings had been destroyed. The details of the terrible
onslaught are familiar to the general reader. It was a stealthy mid-
night assault, a work of the sword and the torch, that has few par-
allels in all the wars upon this continent. The whole forms an early
legend of the Mohawk, and was the precursor of the terrible scenes,
that in after years were enacted in that once harrassed and ravaged,
but now smiling and peaceful valley.
As if satiated with this work of death ; paralized by the severity
of the weather, or intimidated by the English strength at Albany ;
the French retraced their steps, with their prisoners and plunder, not,
however, without suffering from hunger and cold, enough to make
the victory, if such it could be called, a dear one. The flesh of
the horses they had taken at Schenectady, was for a part of the
march their only food. About one hundred and fifty Indians and
fifty young men of Albany, pursued them to Lake Champlain, and
even over it, killing some and taking others prisoners.
Another expedition left Three Rivers and penetrated the wilder-
ness to the Piscataqua River in Maine, surprised a small English
settlement, killed thirty of its inhabitants, and made the rest prisoners.
After which they fell in with another French force, and destroyed
the English Fort at Casco.
A third expedition went among the Western Indians to confirm
their alliance by intimidation and a lavish bestowal of presents ;
arid was by far the most successful of the three. It hefped vastly to
turn trade in the direction of Montreal, and strengthened the French
with many of the powerful nations of the west. On their way, they
fell in with and defeated a large war party of the Iroquois.
While all this was in progress, war parties of the hostile Iroquois
had been making repeated incursions down the St. Lawrence,
harrassing the French settlements.
The incursions of the French at the eastward had aroused the
people of New England to make common cause with the people of
New York and their Iroquois allies. In May, 169Q, deputies from
New York and all the New England colonies met in Albany, and
made the quarrel their own instead of that of England, who had been36
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
remiss in aiding their colonies to carry it on. A general invasion
of the French colony was resolved upon. Two expeditions were
arranged, one to sail from Boston to Quebec, and the other to cross
the country to the St. Lawrence, and descending the River, join the
naval expedition at Quebec. Both were failures. The land force,
under General Winthrop of Connecticut, 800 strong, marched from
Albany to Lake Champlain, where they were disappointed in not
meeting 500 Iroquois warriors as had been aggreed upon, and the In-
dians had also failed to provide the necessary canoes for crossing
the Lake. A council of war was held and a retreat agreed upon.
Major Schuyler of the New York levies, had however, preceded the
main army, and crossed the Lake without knowing that Winthrop
h^d retreated. He attacked a small garrison at La Prairie, and obliged
them to fall back toward Chambly. The French in retreating, fell
in with a reinforcement, and turned upon their pursuers; a severe
engagement ensued; overpowered by numbers, Schuyler was obliged
to retreat. Sir William Phipps had command of the naval ex-
pedition, which consisted of 35 vessels and 200 troops. After captur-
ing sortie French posts at New Foundland, and upon the Lower St.
Lawrence, the British squadron arrived at the mouth of the Sage-
nay, Frontenac having learned that the English land force had
turned back, had hastened to Quebec, and ordered a concentration
of his forces there. The slow approach of the New England inva-
ders gave him a plenty of time to prepare for defence. On the 5th
of October the squadron appeared before Quebec and the next day
demanded a surrender. To the enquiry of the bearer of the mes-
sage, what answer he had to return, the brave old Count said: —
“ Tell your master I will answer by the mouth of my cannon, that
he may learn that a man of my rank is not to be summoned in this
manner.” The attack followed: — A force of 1700 was landed un-
der Major Walley, and had much hard fighting, with but indifferent
success, with French out-posts. In the mean time, Phipps had
anchored his vessels, bearing the heaviest guns against the town and
fortress. The fire was mostly ineffectual; directed principally
against the high eminence of the Upper Town, it fell short of the
mark, while a destructive fire was pouring down upon the assail-
ants. The siege was continued but twenty hours, when the British
fleet fell down the stream out of the reach of the galling fire from
the high ramparts of the besieged fortress. The force under Majorphelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	37
Walley, upon land, continued the fight, generally succeeding in
their approaches. After a series of sharp engagements, the land
force were obliged to resort to a hurried embarkation on board of
their vessels. It was a night scene of panic and disorder, many
losing their lives by the upsetting of boats. The artillery that was
taken on shore, fell into the hands of the French. Leaving nine dis-
abled ships, Phipps returned to Boston to add to the news of the re-
treat of Winthrop, the sad account of the result of his siege of
Quebec.
Then followed a winter of repose with the French colony, but of
dismay and apprehension in New England and New York, whose
fleet and army had so signally failed. But the Iroquois who had
failed to bo-operate with Winthrop in the fall, were early in the
field by themselves in the spring. In May, a thousand of their
warriors approached Montreal, laying waste the French settlements,-
and re-enacting all the horrid scenes of former years; though not
without some instances of severe and summary retributions before
they had effected their retreat. In a few weeks the incursion was
repeated, and with similar results.
Then followed seven years of English and French and Indian war,
the French under the energetic administration of Frontenac, all the
while extending their settlements, and strengthening their whole co-
lonial position, though with arms in their hands. They were mostly
content to act upon the defensive, while on the part of the English
colonies, there seems to have been no energy in aiding the Iroquois to
carry on the war. In 1796, Frontenac, despairing of any reconcilia-
tion with the Iroquois, resolved upon another invasion of their terri-
tory. He assembled all his disposable forces of French and Indian
allies at Fort Frontenac, (Kingston,) and crossing Lake Ontario dis
embarked at the mouth of the Oswego river. His army was a form-
idable one, and it was provided with a train of artillery as if he was
to attack a walled town instead of weak pallisade Forts. After en-
Hote. — The details of battles that occurred along in these years upon the St. Law-
rence, would alone confirm all of daring heroism that has been attributed to the Iro-
quois, and give us a clue to their long series of conquests over their own race. Crossing
Lakes Ontario and Champlain, in inclement seasons, with their frail canoes, and de-
scending the St. Lawrence by land and water amid snows and ice, there was not only
their stealthy assaults and savage warfare, but on many occasions with the stoicism of
their race added to ordinary bravery — they faced for hours the trained and veteran
soldiers of France, astonishing the men of discipline in the arts of war with their
achievements. The best soldiers of France, and England, were not a match on many
occasions, for an equal number of untaught soldiers of the wigwam and forest.38	FIIEPLS AND OOEHAmV PURCHASE.
tering the Onondaga Lake, the army was divided, a portion of it being
sent against the Oneidas, while Fronten|c landed with the main force
destined for the attack upon the Onondagas. The old Count had
now become so decrepid from age and hard service, that he was
borne to the point of attack upon a litter ; presenting a scene spiced
somewhat with romantic heroism, if the object of attack had in any
considerable degree corresponded with the military array and pre-
paration. The French army landed upon the banks of the Lake, and
threw up some defences. The Onondagas were aware of the ap-
proach, fortified theniselves as well as they could in their castle,
sent away all but their warriors, and resolved upon a desperate de-
fence. They were, however, intimidated by a Seneca prisoner, who
had escaped from the French, who told them that Frontenac’s army
“ was as numerous as the leaves on the trees, and that they had ma-
chines which threw up large balls in the air, which falling on their
cabins would burst in pieces scattering fire and death every where
around, against which their stockades would be no defence,” This
was a kind of warfare new to them, and which they resolved not to
encounter, setting fire to their castle and cabins, they fled and left
their invaders the poor triumph. of putting to death one old Indian
Sachem, who remained to become a sacrifice and defy and scorn
the invaders, even while they were applying their instruments of
torture/ The Oneidas fled at the approach of the other division of the
French army, but thirty of them remaining to welcome the invaders
and save their castle, village, and crops. They were made prisoners
and the village, castle, and crops destroyed. No rumor came from
the English, but the fear of one hastened the French retreat across the
Lake to Fort Frontenac, and from thence to Montreal.
The treaty of peace concluded at Ryswick, and the death of Fron-
tenac soon followed, leaving partial repose to the harrassed French
and English colonies. The amiable Callieres, the governor of Mon-
treal, succeeded Frontenac, but hardly lived to witness the consum-
mation of his wise measures for conciliating the Iroquois, renewing
Indian alliances, and generally to better the condition of the affairs
of New France. He was succeeded by Vaudreiul who was soon
waited upon by a deputation of Iroquois, that acknowledged the
French dominion.
It was but a short breathing spell for the colonies: — In May,
1702, what was called “ Queen Ann’s war,” was declared, and thePHELPS AND GOIUIAM’S PURCHASE.	39
scenes of what had been called “ King W illiam’s war/’ were re-enact-
ed upon this continent.	#
The Province of New York took but little part in the contest, and
its chief burden fell upon New England. The Indians, within their
own limits, reinforced by the Indians of Canada, and not unfrequent-
]y accompanied by the French, made incursions into all parts of the
eastern English Provinces, falling upon the frontier settlements with
the torch, the tomahawk and knife, and furnishing a long catalogue
of captivity and death, that mark that as one of the most trying pe-
riods in a colonial history, upon almost every page of which we are
forcibly reminded how much of blood and suffering it cost our pio-
neer ancestors to maintain a foothold upon this continent.* The
war on the part of the English colonies, was principally directed
against Port Royal, Quebec and Montreal. Most of the expeditions
they fitted out were failures ; there was a succession of shipwreck,
badly framed schemes of conquest; organization of forces but to be
disbanded before they had consummated any definite purposes;
“ marching up hills and marching down again.”
Such being the geographical features of the war; the Province
of New York having assented to the treaty of neutrality between
the French and Five Nations, and contenting itself with an enjoy-
ment of Indian trade, while their neighboring Provinces were strug-
gling against the French and Indians; there js little to notice having
any immediate connexion with our local relations.
Generally, during the war, the Five Nations preserved their
neutrality. They managed with consummate skill to be the inti-
mate friends of both the English and French. Situated between
two powerful nations at war with each other, they concluded the
safest way was to keep themselves in a position to fall in with the
one that finally triumphed. At one period, when an attack upon
Montreal was contemplated, they were induced by the English to
furnish a large auxiliary force, that assembled with a detachment of
English troops at Wood Creek. The whole scheme amounting to
a failure, no opportunity was offered of testing their sincerity; but
from some circumstances that transpired, it was suspected that they
were as much inclined to the French as to the English. At one
* From the year 1675, to the close of Queen Ann’s War in 1713, about six thousand
of the English colonists, had perished by the stroke of the enemy, or by distempers
contracted in military service.40	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
period during the war, five Iroquois Sachems were prevailed upon
to visit England fqr the purpose of urging renewed attempts to
conquer Canada. They were introduced to the Queen, decked
out in splendid wardrobe, exhibited through the streets of London,
at the theatres, and other places of public resort; feasted and toast-
ed, they professed that their people were ready to assist in extermi-
nating the French, but threatened to go home and join the French
unless more effectual war-measures were adopted. This was a les-
son undoubtedly taught them by the English colonies, who had sent
them over to aid in exciting more interest at home in the contest
that was waging in the colonies. The visit of the Sachems had tem-
porarily the desired effect. It aided in inducing the English gov-
ernment to furnish the colonies with an increased force of men and
vessels of war, in assisting in a renewed expedition against Mon-
treal and Quebec, which ended, as others had, in a failure. They
got nothing from the Five Nations but professions ; no overt act of
co-operation and assistance. The Governor of the province of
New York, all along refused to urge them to violate their engage-
ments of neutrality; for as neutrals, they were a barrier to the
frontier settlements of New York, against the encroachments of the
French and their Indian allies.
“ The treaty of Utrecht, in April, 1713, put an end to the war.
France ceded to England 4 all Nova Scotia or Arcadia, with its
ancient boundaries ; also, the city of Port Royal, now called An-
napolis Royal, and all other things in those parts, which depend up-
on the said lands/ France stipulated in the treaty that she would
‘ never molest the Five Nations, subject to the dominion of Great
Britain/ leaving still undefined their boundaries, to form with other
questions oi boundary and dominion, future disagreements. *
In all these years of war, French interests at the West had not
been neglected. In 1701, a French officer, with a small colony
and a Jesuit missionary, founded the city of Detroit. # The peace
of their respective sovereigns over the ocean, failed to reconcile
difficulties hetween the colonies. The trade and the right to navi-
gate the Lakes, was a monopoly enforced by the French, which the
English colonies of New York were bent upon disturbing, though
* Almost a century before the settlement of Western New York had advanced be-
yond the Genesee river.phelps a™ gorham’s purchase.
41
the terms of peace had in effect, confirmed it. The English as-
sumed that all of what is now Western New York, was within
their dominions, by virtue of but a partial alliance of its native
owners and occupants; and the French claimed by a similar tenure;
for, in fact, it was a divided alliance, fluctuating with the policy of
the Senecas, who seemed well to understand the importance of
their position, and were resolved to make the most of it. Soon af-
ter 1700, we find a marked and progressive change in the disposi-
tion of the Senecas towards the French. This we may well at-
tribute to the influence of the Jesuit missionaries, who had suc-
ceeded in getting permanent missionary stations among them, in a
greater degree, perhaps, to the advent of an extraordinary person-
age, who, for a long period, exercised an almost unbounded influ-
ence throughout this region. This was Joncaire, a Frenchman,
who, from a captive among the Senecas, merged himself with them,
was adopted, and became the faithful and indefatigable promoter
of the French interests. We first hear of him from Charlevoix, who,
in 1721, found him the occupant of a cabin at Lewiston, where lie
had gathered around him a small Indian settlement, and where a
fortress was contemplated — the right to build which, he had nego-
tiated with the Senecas. He then bore a commission in the French
army. He was familiar with all the localities of this region, and
gave to Charlevoix a description of the “ river of the Tsontonouans,”
(Genesee river,) the Sulphur Springs at Avon, and the Oil Spring
at Cuba. In 1750, Kalm, the German traveller, found a half-blood
Seneca, a son of his,at Lewiston; and in 1753, Washington made
the acquaintance of another son of his, while on a mission tp the
French at the West, and mentions that he was then preferring the
French claim to the Ohio, by virtue of the discoveries of La Salle.
In 1759, these two half-blood sons bore commissions in the French
army, and were among the French forces of the West, that were
defeated on the Niagara River, on their way to re-inforce the be-
■ sieged garrison. In 1736, M. de Joncaire, the elder, had made a
report to the French Superintendent at Montreal, of all the Indians
whom he regarded as “ connected with the government of Canada.”
He embraces the whole of the Iroquois nations, and locates them
principally through tills State, from Schenectady to the Niagara
River; and in Canada, along near the lower end of Lake Ontario,
all of the nations of Canada, and all inhabiting the valleys of the42
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PtJECHASE.
western lakes, the Ohio and the Mississippi. In this official docu-
ment, he mentions that he is “ engaged at the history of the Sioux.”
“ He spoke,” says Charlevoix, “ with all the good sense of a French-
man, whereof he enjoys a large share, and with all the sublime
eloquence of our Iroquois.”
The peace of Utrecht, m 1713, had but illy defined the respective
dominions of the English and French, in this quarter; but the Gov-
ernor of New York assumed that it gave the English the jurisdic-
tion they had claimed. In 1726, the English Governor, Burnett, built
a fort at Oswego, and a “public store-house” at the Bay of “Ironde-
quoit.” The year previous, the French, upon the ruins of the tem-
porary works of De Nonville, had built Fort Niagara against the
protests and remonstrances of the English.* *
The occurrences of a long succession of years, of Indian out-
breaks, of French descents upon New England settlements, of re-
taliatory expeditions, of French and Indian wars, have in the main
but little reference to this local region, though dominion here was
one prominent cause of contention. Peace between the mother
countries had but little influence with the colonists; they would
make war upon their own account ^s often as difficulties arose out
of mixed occupancy, and conflicting claims to jurisdiction. The
, Note. — Were it not that names descend through the maternal line, the descendants
of Joncaire would be found among the Senecas of the present day, in all probability;
for French blood has no where run out among the natives when once merged with
them. Inquiry would hardly fail to find among them traditions of Joncaire, and those
who are his living descendants.
* The site of Fort Niagara commanded the key to the western lakes. The French
were aware that its occupancy and fortification was necessary to the maintenance of
the dominion they claimed against English encroachments. Previous to 1721, Jon-
caire had secured a mixed trading, missionary and military station at Lewiston. Even
this met with the strong opposition of the English authorities of New York, and all of
the Six Nations, except the Senecas, who had the right of controlling the matter. The
Senecas persisting in allowing their favorite to build his “cabin” where he chose,
the English asked for joint occupancy. To which the Senecas replied: — “Our
country is in peace, the French and you will never be able to live together without
raising disturbances. Moreover, it is of no consequence that Joncaire should remain
here; he is a child of the nation; he enjoys this right, which we are not at liberty to
take from him.” Soon after this, the successful negotiator extended his views farther
down the river, and paved the way for the erection of a strong fortress at Niagara,
This was accomplished by a ruse on the part of Joncaire and other French officers.
The Senecas had no idea of admitting either French or English fortifications upon
their territory. A body of French troops arrived and encamped at the mouth of the
Niagara river, to commence the work, but were by no means strong enough to under-
take it in the presence of the Senecas, who were watching their movements. They at
first got permission to build a “wigwam with one door;” and then to divert the Sene-
cas from being witnesses of the formidable work they were contemplating, joined them
in a general hunt, which kept them away until the work was far enough advanced to
enable the French to protect themselves against attack.phelps and gorham’s pukchase.
43
French continued to extend their posts to the West and South West,
and the English to strengthen the frontiers of New England, and
their advance post at Oswego.
In 1744, Great Britain declared war against France and Spain.
The first blow struck upon this continent, was the capture of Louis-
burg, which success emboldened Governor Shirley, of Massachu-
setts, to ask the co-operation of the other colonies in an attempt to
drive the French from all their American possessions ; some de-
monstrations with that view were made; but the principal events
of the campaign were at sea, and upon the frontiers of New Eng-
land. The short war was closed by the peace of Aix la Chapelle,*
of 1748. Its chief result had been the loss to the French of all the
Northern frontier coast, to repair which, they immediately projected
schemes for extending their dominion to the valley of the Ohio, and
upon the Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1750, commission-
ers met in Paris to adjust American boundaries, but after a long
session, accomplished nothing. Difficulties arose in a new quarter.
JJThe crown of England granted to an association of its subjects at
home, and in Virginia, called the Ohio Company, 600,000 acres of
land upon the Ohio river, all of which was upon territory claimed
by France. The attempts of this Company to survey and settle
these lands, and the building of French posts upon them,, simulta-
neously, brought the English and French colonists into direct con-
flict. The campaign was opened by the Governor of Virginia, who
sent an armed force to the disputed ground. Other colonies soon
co-operated; and after the contest had been attended with alternate
successes and reverses, in 1755, General Braddock came with a
force from England, to aid the colonies. All the events of the war
upon the Allegany and the Ohio, form prominent pages of American
history; ultimately connected with the history of our western
States; but deriving its chief general interest from the circumstance
that it was the school of experience and discipline, where the sword
of the youthful Washington was first unsheathed.
Braddock’s defeat followed; then General Shirley’s abortive ex-
pedition in the direction of Niagara; Sir William Johnson’s par-
tially successful expedition to Lake George; the advent of Lord
Loudon, as Commander-in-chief of the British army in America;
which principal events closed the campaign of 1755; and in the ag-
gregate, had darkened British prospects on this side of the Atlantic.44
phelps ajnd gorham’s purchase.
The campaign of 1756, opened with the successful attack of the
Marquis de Vaudreuil, upon an English fort, in what is now the
county of Oneida; which, after an engagement of Bradstreet with
a French force on the Oswego river, was followed by the capture of
the British fort at Oswego, by the Marquis de Montcalm. .
These principal events, with the dark filling up of French and
Indian depredations at the west; amounting almost to the exter-
mination of the border settlers of Pennsylvania; gave to British in-
terests, at the close of the campaign of 1756, an aspect even less
encouraging than the one with which it was commenced.
Montcalm opened the campaign of 1757, early in the spring, by a
harrassing investment of Fort William Henry, by a force under the
command ofVaudreuil and Longrieul; a reinforcing and strengthen-
ing of Crown Point, Tieonderoga and Niagara. During the summer,
Lord Loudon collected the main force of the regular army, all the dis-
posable forces of the colonies, and with a powerful naval armament
added, undertook the Capture of Louisburg, on the Island of Cape Bre-
ton, but abandoned the design when a victory seemed easily attaina-
ble ; for reasons which remain a mystery in the history of English war-
fare. Taking advantage of this diversion of the English forces, Mont-
calm in person completed the conquest of Fort William Henry. It
was a year of disasters with the English; formidable armies and navies
were embarked and disembarked, expensive expeditions were abor-
tive; one of their strong fortresses had gone into the hands of the
French. In no modern era, save that of the American Revolution,
has English pride of foreign conquest been more humbled.
In 1758 a new era with England commenced : — It was that of
Mr. Pitt's administration of its affairs. So untoward was the aspect
of its affairs when he assumed the helm of government, that it was
with,difficulty, that confidence could be restored. “ Whoever is in,
or whoever is out,” said Lord Chesterfield, in one his letters, “ I am
sure we are undone both at home and abroad : at home by an increas-
ing debt and expenses ; abroad by our ill luck and incapacity. The
French are masters to do what they please in America.	We are no
longer a nation. I never yet saw so dreadful a prospect.”
The first brilliant achievment under the new order of things, was
the capture of Louisburg. Procuring the removal of the naval and
military officers, who had proved so inefficient in America, Mr. Pitt
recalled Lord Amherst from the army in Germany, and made him45
PHELPS AND GORHAM^ PURCHASE.
commander in chief of the expedition, and made the Hon. Edward
Boscawen the Admiral of the fleet. An expedition consisting of 22
ships of the line, 15 frigates, 120 smaller vessels, on board of which
were nearly 12,000 British regulars, sailed from Portsmouth and arri-
ving at Halifax on the 28th of May, soon commenced the siege of
Louisburg, which ended in a capitulation of the strong fortress, after
a gallant and protracted resistance, on the 25th of July. The fruits
of the conquest were 5,600 French prisoners; 11 ships of war taken
or destroyed; 250 pieces of ordnance; 15,000 stand of arms, and a
great amount of provisions and military stores. A scene of plunder
and devastation followed in all that region, which dimmed the lustre
of British arms.
Far less of success attended British arms in this campaign in other
quartersMr. Pitt had infused among the despairing colonies, a new
impulse ; they had sent into the field an efficient force of9,000 men,
which were added to 6,000 regulars—all under the command of Aber-
crombie. In July, he had his strong force afloat on Lake George,
proceeding to the attack upon Ticonderoga and Crown Point. A
protracted siege of Ticonderoga followed, badly conducted in almost
every particular; the sequel, a retreat, wTith the loss of nearly 2,000
men. The intrepid Bradstreet soon made partial amends for this un-
fortunate enterprise, by the capture of Fort Frontenac, then the strong
hold of French Indian alliance. General Stanwix advanced up the
Mohawk and built the Fort that took his name. In the mean time
General Forbes had left Philadelphia with an efficient army of over
6,000 regulars and provincials, and after a defeat of his advance force,
had captured Fort du Quesne, changing the name to Fort Pitt in
honor of the great master spirit who was controlling England’s des-
Note.—How often are triumphs of arms, the result of chance! It is bnt a few
years since an American General confessed that a splendid victory was owing to the
fact that some undisciplined troops did not know when they were fairly conquered,
persevered in the fight and turned the tide of battle. An English historian, candid
upon every subject he touches, admits that the capture of Louisburg was accidental:—
The first successful landing was made by Wolf, then a Brigadier General. Gen.
Amherst doubted its practicability. “The chivalrous Wolf himself, as he neared the
awful surf, staggered in his resolution, and proposing to defer the enterprise, waved his
hat for the boats to retire. Three young subaltern officers, however, commanding the
leading craft, pushed on shore, having mistaken the signal for what their stout hearts
desired, as an order to advance; some of their men, as they sprung upon the beach,
were dragged back by the receding surge and drowned, but the remainder climbed up
the rugged rocks, and formed upon the summit. The Brigadier then cheered on the
rest of the division to the support of the gallant few, and thus the almost desperate
landing was aeeomplished.,,46
PHELPS AHD GOKHAM’S PUEOHASE.
times, At the close of the campaign of the year, Abercrombie had
been recalled, and General Amherst, who had returned to England
after the capture of Louisburg, had arrived in America invested
with the office of commander in chief.
CHAPTER II.
SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF FORT NIAGARA. —— CONQUEST OF WESTERN
NEW YORK.
Toward the close of 1758, the policy of the British Minister, Mr.
Pitt, began to be clearly developed. It looked to no farther ineffi-
cient measures but to a vigorous and decisive campaign, which
should terminate in the anihilation of French power and dominion up-
on this continent. The British people, stimulated by a spirit of con-
quest, and a hatred of the French, both of which had been assidu-
ously promoted by the public press, and public men of England,
seconded the ambitious views of the Minister. Parliament, in ad-
dressing the Throne, applauded him, and upon the recommendation
of the King, were prompt and liberal in the voting of supplies.
And care had been taken upon this side of the Atlantic, to secure
cordial and vigorous co-operation; the colonists, wearied with war
and its harrassing effects, were cheered by the expressions of the
commiseration of the King, and his assurances of protection and
final indemnification; and more than all, perhaps, by an overt act of
Parliament, in voting them the sum of £200,000, as a compensation
for losses and expenses consequent upon the war. The strong, im-
pelling motive of interest had been preparing the way for a cordial
co-operation of the colonists in the magnificent scheme of conquest
that Mr. Pitt had projected. In its success was involved the high
prizes, a monopoly of the Indian frade, the commerce of the Lakes,
and the consequent vastly extended field of enterprise which would be
opened. The board of trade had brought every appliance within theirphelps and gorham’s purchase.	47
control to bear upon the King and Parliament, and of course, had hot
failed to magnify the hindrances to British interest which continued
French dominion imposed; nor to present in glowing language, the
fruits of conquest and the extension of British power in America.
Sir William Johnson, always faithful to his liberal patron the King,
was more than usually active in wielding the immense influence he
had acquired with the Indians to secure, their aid; he drew them
together in different localities, urged upon them his professions of re-
gard for their interests, inflamed their resentments by recounting
the wrongs they had endured at the hands of the French ; listened
to their complaints of English encroachments upon their lands, and
was lavish in promises of ample reparation; not omitting the more
than usually liberal distribution of presents, of which he was the
accustomed almoner. By much the larger portion of the Five Na-
tions of the Iroquois were won over to the British interests, a portion
of the Senecas being almost alone in standing aloof from the contest^
or continuing in French alliance.	^
General Amherst having succeeded to the office of Commander
in Chief of the British forces in North America, had his head quar-
ters in New York, in the winter of 1758, "9, actively calling to his
aid the provincial troops, appointing Albany as the place of rendez-
vous, at which place he established his head quarters as early as the
month of April.
The force at the disposal of General Amherst, was larger by far
than any that had been before mustered upon this continent. In
addition to a large force of British regulars, the colony of Massachu-
setts had furnished seven thousand men, Connecticut five thousand,
and New Hampshire one thousand. The provincial regiments, as
fast as they arrived at Albany went into camp, and were subjected
to rigid discipline; the regulars, who were destined for operations at
the north, were pushed on and encamped at a point some fifty miles
on the road to Fort Edward.
The general plan of the campaign contemplated the conquest of
the three important strong holds, and seats of power, of the French;
Quebec, Montreal, and Niagara. The main army, under General
Amherst, were to move from the shores, of Lake George, reduce the
French posts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, descend by the river
Richlieu and occupy Montreal; then, on down the St. Lawrence to
join the besiegers of Quebec.48	PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PUECHASE.
Leaving the northern expedition to the province of general his-
tory, with the exception perhaps of a brief allusion to it in another
place, we will take up that portion of the general campaign, which
is more immediately blended with the history of our local region: —
The force destined for Niagara rendezvoused at Schenectady
early in May. It consisted of two British regiments; a detachment
of Royal Artillery; a battalion of Royal Americans; two battalions
of New York Provincials; and a large force of Indian Allies under
the command of Sir William Johnson; the most of whom were
Mohawks, Oneidas and Onondagas, the remainder, Cayugas and
Senecas, with a few from such western nations as had been partly
won over to the British interests. Brigadier General Prideaux was
the Commander in Chief; next in rank, was Sir William Johnson,
who previous to this had been regularly commissioned in the British
army. The force moved from Schenectady on the 20th of May,
came up the Mohawk, and via the usual water route to Oswego,
where it remained, completing the preparation of batteaux for ascend-
ing Lake Ontario, for over five weeks. On the first of July, the
whole force were embarked, and coasting along the shore of the Lake
toward their destination; a strong fortress, the seat of French domin-
ion, over a widely extended region; the key or gate-way to the pri-
mitive commerce of the western lakes; its battlements in solitary
grandeur frowning defiance to any force that would be likely to reach
it through difficult avenues, in its far off location in the wilderness.
Never in all more modern periods, have the waters of Ontario borne
upon their bosom a more formidable armament. In addition to a
large force, to their stores and camp equipage, was the heavy artillery,
and all the requisites that British military skill and foresight had
deemed necessary for the reduction of a strong fortress by regular
approaches; such as the plan of attack contemplated. And how
mixed and made up of different races, and men of different habits
and characters, was this expedition! — There was the proud com-
missioned and titled Briton, who had seen more of the refinements
and luxuries of courts, than of the hardships of camps in the wilder-
ness; veteran officers and soldiers, who had fought in European
wars, inured to the camp and the field; the sons of the wealthy and
influential colonists in New York, along the Hudson river counties,
who had sought commissions in the army, and were going out in
their first campaign. Provincials, men and boys, transferred fromphelpb and gorham’s purchase.	49
the stores counting-houses, and mechanic shops of New York, and
the rural districts of Westchester, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk,
Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Albany, and the lower valley of the Mo-
hawk, to the camp, the drill, and the march that seemed then as far
extended, and beset with more difficulies than would one over
the mountains to Oregon now; and lastly there was the warriors of
the Iroquois, fully imbued with their ancient war spirit, decked out
with feathers, claws, and hoops, the spoils of the forest chase — and
with new paint, broad-cloths, blankets and silver ornaments, the gifts
of the King.
The armament coasted along up the south shore of the Lake, en-
camping on shore; the first night at Sodus, invited there by the
beautiful bay, in which their water craft could be made secure from
winds and waves, as their frail structure demanded. Their other
halting places for the night, were at Irondequoit, Braddock’s Bay,
and Johnson's Creek; (which latter place was named in honor of Sir
William Johnson;) arrived at the mouth of tjae Eighteen Mile Creek,
(what is now the viilage of Olcott,) within eighteen miles of Fort
Niagara, a halt was made to enable reconnoitering parties to go out
and determine whether the French had made a sortie from the Fort
in anticipation of their arrival.
As they coasted along up the lake, they had occasionally dis-
charged their heavy artillery, well knowing that a noiseless approach
would give them no advantage, as the Indian scouts from the garri-
son, glimpses of whom had been caught upon several occasions, had
kept the French well informed of their movements; and there were
Iroquois enough in the French interest, belonging to the lower na-
tions, to give the French missionaries and traders, in all their local-
ities in Western New York, timely notice of all that was going on.
But they wished to inspire the Senecas in their interests with cour-
age and the neutrals with terror; and well, perhaps, did their device
subserve those purposes.
Leaving the British army almost within sight of the field of con-
flict, let us pass over the lake, and down the river St. Lawrence, to
see what preparation had been made for their reception: —
Well informed at home of the policy of Mr. Pitt; of the prepara-
tory acts of Parliament; of the shipping of reinforcements to the
British army in America; of all the minutiae, in fact, of the cam-
paign; the French had not been idle. Despatches were sent to M.50	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PtJECHASE.
De Vaudrieuil, the Governor of Canada, and his hands were strength-
ened by reinforcements from France. He lost no time in putting
Quebec, Montreal, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga, in the best pos-
sible state of defence. Proclamations were made to the Canadian
militia, commending them in the highest terms for their former
services; reminding them of their former triumphs; and appealing
to them to join in the final struggle for the dominion of their King
and country, over the fairest and best portions of the New World.
The gallant Montcalm had succeeded Dieskau, as commander in
chief of the French forces in Canada, and was active in the" work
of preparation. Captain Pouchot, a skillful and experienced engi-
neer, was sent to put Fort Niagara in a condition for defence, and
to assume the command of it.
On the 7th of July, the British force under Prideux, broke up
their brief encampment at the Eighteen Mile Creek, and by land
and water, moved up to the Four Mile Creek, making a stand upon
the western shore of the Bay, whererthey then began an entrench-
ment, and commenced the work of opening an avenue through the
forest. A small scouting party of French and Indians, came upon
the advance workmen, as they were about to emerge from the forest
into the open ground, a few shots were exchanged, and the party re-
tired into the fort. A fire was opened upon the besiegers from the
fort, which was kept up during the greater portion of the night.
On the 8th, the English prosecuted the work upon their entrench-
ments, the French continuing their fire upon them at intervals from
the fort, and Monsieur La Force # coasting up and down the Lake
in the armed schooner Iroquois, occasionally reaching them with a
shot. General Prideux sent an officer with a flag into the fort, de-
manding a surrender, which was very courteously refused by the
French commander. On the 9th, but little transpired beyond the
exchange of a few shots, and a slight advance of the besiegers. On
the 10th, the English advanced into the open ground, protecting
themselves by entrenchments, under an occasional fire from the fort,
* He may, with propriety, be called the Admiral of the Lake ; for he commanded
the only sail vessel upon it. He was a kind of fresh water Van Tromp, or Paul
Jones; at one period, we hear of him as an active negotiator between the French and
English, at Fort du Quesne; at another, in the command of a scouting party, har-
l’assing the border settlers of Virginia ,* at another, loaded with chains, in jail at Wil-
liamsburgh, from which he was liberated by the humanity of Washington, who had
known him upon the Ohio; and lastly, in the command of an armed schooner, active
and brave, in the French service on Lake Ontario.51
PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PURCHASE.
which became almost incessant during the night, obliging them at
times to suspend their works. The small French force at Schlosser,
succeeded in reaching the fort. On the 11th, a small party of
French approached within a short distance of the English trenches,
from which they sallied out in strong force, but were driven again
into their defences, by the guns of the fort. At 5 P. M., the Eng-
lish opened their fire with eight mortars.
The siege continued from day to day, and night to night, with oc-
casional, but not long-continued intermissions; the French, too few
in number to risk a sortie, holding out valiantly amid the tumbling
walls of their devoted fortress, seriously annoying the besiegers
by an active fire, that often arrested the progress of their works, as
may well be inferred from their slowr approaches; wearied with toil
and want of rest; at times, almost upon the point of abandoning
the unequal contest. On the 14th, the besiegers had so extended
their works, as to be enabled to bring a heavy force to bear upon
the fort. On the evening of the 19th, their General, (Prideux,) who
had so well planned the attack, and, so far, so well executed it,
was accidentally killed, while giving his orders in the trenches, by
the premature bursting of a shell, discharged from a cohorn mortar.
The vigor with which the siege was prosecuted, may be judged
from the fact, that in one night, they threw three hundred bombs.
Thus things continued until the morning of the 23d, when the be-
sieged had a gleam of hope that,was' destined not to be realized: —
Anticipating this attack, Captain Pouchot had sent runners to
Presque Isle, Le Bceuf, Venango, and Detroit, ordering them with
their commands, and all the Indian allies they could muster, to
repair to Niagara. At a moment when it seemed that the dilapidated
fortress, and its diminished and wearied defenders could hold out no
longer, two western Indians made their way into the fort, bringing
word from Monsieur Aubrey that he had arrived with a force of
nearly twenty-five hundred French and Indians, at Navy Island,
opposite the “ Little Fort,” (Schlosser.) Four Indians were imme-
diately despatched, to inform Monsieur Aubrey of the critical con-
dition of the fort, and urge him to press forward to its relief.
The command of the British force having now devolved upon
Sir William Johnson, he had anticipated the approach of the
French and Indians from the West, and kept himself carefully ad-
vised of their movements, by means of his Indian runners. On52
phelps ahh gorham’s purchase.
the evening of the 23d, he sent out strong detachments of troops,
and posted them along on either side of the road leading from the
fort to the Falls, about two miles from the fort, where they rested
upon their arms during the night. Early in the morning of the
24th, other detachments of his most effective troops were ordered
from the trenches before the fort, to re-inforce those already posted
upon the Niagara River. The success of his protracted siege,
now depended on arresting the march of D’Aubrey.
The British force had but just been posted for the encounter
when the French and Indians, under D’Aubrey, came down the
river. The British out-posts fell back, and joined the main body.
The opposing forces were now drawn up in order of battle, and
D’ Aubrey gave the order for attack. His western Indian allies,
hitherto principally concealed, swarmed from the woods, and gave
the terrific war-whoop, at the same time, rushing upon the English
lines, followed by the French troops. The British regulars, and
such provincials as had seen little of Indian warfare, quailed for a
moment in view of the fierce onslaught ; the Iroquois and the prac-
ticed Indian fighters, among both regulars and provincials, stood firm.
In a moment, the shock was met as firmly as it had been impetu-
ously made. Volley after volley was discharged upon the fierce
assailants from the whole British line, and from the Indian flanking
parties, until the Indian assailants gave way and left the field.
Deserted by his Indian allies, D’Aubrey bravely led on his French
troops against the English column, and was pressing it vigorously,
when a reinforcement of Johnson’s Indians arrived from the trench-
es, and assailed his flanks, and aided powerfully in turning the tide
of battle against him. Standing firm for a short time, and return-
ing the English and the Indian fire, he gave way and ordered a re-
treat, which soon assumed the character of a total rout. The
English pressed upon the vanquished and retreating French, and
made prisoners, or shot down by far the larger portion of them.
But a remnant of them escaped into an inhospitable and trackless
wilderness. D’Aubrey and most of his principal officers were
among the captives. This was the main and decisive feature of
the protracted siege. The contest was but of short duration; but
long enough, with the vigor and desperation with which it was
waged, to strew the ground for miles with the dead bodies of the
combatants.phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
53
How vivid is the picture presented to the imagination, of this
early scene! It was then far, far away, in any direction, from the
abode of civilization. There were no spectators of that sudden clash
of arms, of that protracted siege; all were participants. Hundreds
of miles beyond the heaviest sounds that like earthquake shocks
must have gone out from the conflict, were the nearest of our race,
save those who were at Frontenac and Oswego, and the few mis-
sionaries and traders upon our interior rivers. The outlet of vast
inland lakes, the shores of which had been scarcely tread by Euro-
peans, hushed to comparative stillness, after having tumbled over
the mighty precipice, and madly rushed through the long narrow
gorge that succeeds, was rolling past, its eddies dashing heavily
againstthe shore, moaning a requiem over the dead that were thickly
strewn upon it. Death and carnage, the smoke of battle, the gleam-
ing of steel, had chosen for their theatre a marked spot, romantic
and beautiful as any that arrests the eye of the tourist, in that region
of sublime and gorgeous landscapes. There was the roar of musket-
ry, the terrible war-hoop; the groans of the dying; the fierce assault
and firm repulsion; precipitate retreat, and hot and deadly pursuit;
the red warrior loading himself with trophies of the tomahawk and
scalping knife, that would signalize his valor in the war dance, or
tale out his deeds of blood at a place of reward:
“The shout of battle, the barbarian yell, the bray
Of disonant instruments, the clang of arms,
The shrieks of agony, the groan of death,
In one wild uproar and continued din
Shook the still air!”—Southey.
In yonder ancient structure, standing out in bold relief, solitary
and isolated even now; was a handful of brave men, their numbers
thinned, holding out after a long siege; encouraged by hopes that
were crushed, when their brave countrymen, deserted by treacher-
ous allies, gave way before a superior force. Stretched out upon
yonder plain, in long lines of batteries and entrenchments, were the
besiegers, who, advancing from day to day, had approached so near,
that every shot from their heavy artillery told upon the massive
walls they were assailing.
It was a new scene in the wilderness; — nature in her solitudes
and fastnesses, was affrighted; the wild beasts hurried farther and
farther, into the recesses of the forest, or huddled in their lairs,54	PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PURCHASE.
trembling as each successive crash came upon their unaccustomed
ears. It was a calm July morning. The surface of that wide ex-
panse of water, smooth and unruffled, mirrored the scene of fire and
smoke, of waving banners and advancing columns. Stunning and
deafening came the sounds of battle; — then a hushed silence, as if
war and conquest stood appalled in view of the work of death they
had wrought; in which brief pause would come the roar of the
mighty cataract, rushing in as if impatient to riot in its accustomed
monopoly of sound! The “ great thunderer” was contending with
its first rival! High over all arose the smoke of the .two battle
grounds to the clear blue heavens, and mingling there with the spray
of the cataract, was carried off by a gentle breeze ; and at the suns
decline, when the strife was ended, it canopied and spanned the deep
blue waters, — a bow of promise and a harbinger of peace.
The French in the Fort had been close observers of every sign
without, and had seen enough to make them apprehensive of the re-
sult upon the river bank; but hours passed by before they could
know with certainty the fate of the gallant men who had been
arrested in their march of intended relief. An Indian scout gained
access to the Fort informing them of Aubrey’s total defeat and rout,
and in a few minutes, a British officer entered and demanded a
surrender, accompanying the demand with an exhortation from Sir
William Johnson against the necessity of further bloodshed, and the
intimation that his exasperated Indian allies could not be prevented
from wreaking vengence upon the captives if the fight was further
prolonged. Captain Pouchot, with the advice and concurrence of
of his officers, yielded to fate and necessity; and more than all, per-
haps, to the fearful apprehension that farther doubtful resistance
would make victims to savage warfare, of his unfortunate country-
men and their allies. Terms of capitulation were agreed upon, hon-
orable to both parties ; and thus ended a well planned and wTell con-
ducted siege; stood out against with almost unexampled heroic
fortitude; and thus commenced the English possession of Fort Niag-
ara, and dominion over all the region 01 Western New York.
Note. — The battle ground is upon the banks of the Niagara River between the vil-
lages of Youngstown and Lewiston, below the Five Mile Meadows. Its principal
theatre was at a small inlet which was known to the early settlers by the name of
‘"Bloody Run.” Soon after 1800, when settlement of that region commenced, gun
barrels, gun locks, broken swords, bayonets and “ bill axes” were found on the surface
of the earth, and up to this period, the plough frequently discloses relics of the battle.PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
55
The terms of capitulation assented to by Sir William Johnson,
should be added to the evidences that "while he excelled in bravery
and military foresight, a life in the wilderness, far away from the
incentives and examples of civilized life, had not made him insensi-
ble to the obligations of humanity and courtesy. Anticipating the
bloody scenes we must yet pass through, to conduct the reader to the
main objects of our narrative, the wish obtrudes itself that he could
have been spared to have exercised his vast influence in after years
in arresting the tomahawk and the scalping knife. The vanquished
were allowed to pass out of the Fort with the honors of war, and lay
down their arms. It was stipulated that the French officers and
soldiers should be conducted to New York, where comfortable quar-
ters should be furnished them; that the females and children should
have safe convoy to the nearest port of France ; and that the woun-
ded should be taken care of, and conveyed to New York as soon
as they were able to undertake the journey. Upon the other hand,
Captain Pouchot stipulated the surrender of all the stores, provisions
and arms, with which the garrison had been well supplied.
The French that capitulated in the fort, numbered over 600; be-
side them, were the prisoners taken in the battle upon the river.
Not less than ten commissioned officers were among the prisoners,
of whom were the gallant D’Aubrey, Captain Pouchot, and two
half-breed sons of Joncaire. In marching* out and embarking in
batteux, it was with difficulty they were saved from massacre by
the Iroquois; and only saved by the conciliatory course of Sir
William Johnson, and the promise to his turbulent allies of a liberal
participation in the spoils of victory; a promise that he fulfilled.*
In a few days, after holding an Indian council to further promote
* A letter, written from the spot soon after the surrender, preserved in some old
newspaper files, states that the Indian allies were allowed all the plunder in the fort,
save the arms and ammunition. Some of them, it is stated, obtained, individually,
plunder to the value of £300. Among the plunder, were large quantities of French
hatchets, stored there for Indian trade and presents; the same that are even now occa-
sionally uncovered by the plough, in different localities in this region.
Note.—It has been truthfully said, that the last French and English war, was the
school of the Revolution. Washington first unsheathed his sword at the battle of the
Great Meadows, and won his first laurels at Braddock’s defeat. Putnam was at Ticon-
deroga; Gates and Morgan were at Braddock’s defeat; Stark was a young officer in
a corps of Provincial Rangers; George Clinton, it has been asserted, bore a commis-
sion among the Provincials, in the siege of Niagara; and there are other names, after-
wards rendered illustrious, mingled in different accounts of the campaigns against
Crown Point, Ticonderoga, Quebec, and Niagara.56
phelps and goriiam’s purchase.
and strengthen the alliance of the Iroquois, and detaching a suffi-
cient force to repair and occupy the captured fort, Sir William
Johnson, with his main force and his prisoners, departed for
Oswego.
CHAPTER III.
SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA, CROWN POINT, QUEBEC, AND
MONTREAL — PEACE OF 1763---------END OF FRENCH DOMINION.
While all this was transpiring, war was waging with equal vigor,
if not with as signal success, upon the banks of the St. Lawrence,
and upon the Northern Lakes. On the 22d of July, the main army
under General Amherst, arrived at Ticonderoga; and, opening a
heavy fire upon the French out-posts, compelled them to retire^
within the walls of the fort, leaving their heavy breast-works to
shelter the besiegers from a brisk fire they poured out from the
strong-hold to which they had retreated. The siege and stout re-
sistance continued until late in the night of the 23d, when the
French, warned by the formidable preparations the besiegers were
making, withdrew their main force to Crowm Point, leaving but
400 to mark their retreat. Seldom, perhaps, in war’s annals, has
an unequal force — a handful against a powerful array — so much
annoyed besiegers, as did these 400 gallant Frenchmen, left, as it
would almost seem, for a sacrifice. In the darkness of the night, a
detachment of them went from the fort, and stealthily approached
the English in their entrenchments; breaking them up, and for a
brief space, creating confusion and dismay. They held out in the
fort for the two succeeding days, annoying the besiegers in their
entrenchments, by a continued well-directed fire. On the night of
the 26th, the small force, perceiving that the English had planted
themselves strongly within six hundred yards of the fort■*— that51
PHELPS AHD GOKHAm’s PURCHASE.
longer resistance would be unavailing — blew up their magazines,
fired their wooden breast-works, barracks and store-houses; made a
wreck of their fortress for the besiegers to occupy, and secured a
safe retreat, uninterrupted but by a pursuit across the Lake, and
the capture of 16 of their number. At daylight, on the morning
of the 27th, the French flag was struck down, and the English flag
raised, amid smoke and flames, devastation and ruin, that the torch
and lusee of the gallant, but despairing Frenchmen, had left for the
destruction of works their valor could not save.
The first work of Gen. Amherst was the repairipg of the dilapi-
dated fortress; and in the mean time some naval armament was per-
fected necessary to carrying his conquest further on, to Crown
Point. He was soon however, informed that that post was aban-
doned, and that the enemy had retreated to Aux Nois,* at the lower
end of Lake Champlain. On the 4th of August, he advanced with
his main army, to the last deserted French post. M. de Bourlemagne,
who commanded the French forces in that quarter, seemed govern-
ed by the policy of retarding as far as possible, the advance of the
English force, whose ultimate destination he was well aware, was
Quebec; and their errand there, to aid the besiegers in the reduc-
tion of that strong hold, and last hope, of his king and country upon
this continent. At Aux Nois, where he had made his stand, he had
yet an effective force of 3,500 men; 100 pieces of cannon; and a
force of armed vessels, which gave him command of the Lake.
The English rested at Crown Point, engaging actively however, in
strengthening their feeble naval armament; occasionally sending
out small scouting parties; and preparing in all things, for breaking
up the French in their plan of retreat. On the 10th of October,
the army under Gen. Amherst were embarked, and after an ineffec-
tual attempt to reach their destination, in consequence of high winds
and storms, were obliged to seek shelter in a bay, upon the western
shore of the lake, and remain there for seven days. On the 18th,
the troops were again embarked, and after encountering another
gale, fell back to Crown Point. The season was now far advanced
— the rigors of winter, in a bleak northern region, had began seri-
ously to impair the ability and energy of the troops. These con-
siderations, allied to the probability that he could not reach Quebec
until the contest there was decided, induced Gen. Amherst to post-
pone further offensive operations to a more propitious season.
458	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
The English squadron, destined for Quebec, had set sail about
the middle of February. The command of this expedition was
conferred by Mr. Pitt, upon James Wolf; the youngest man that
had ever borne the commission of Major General in the British
army; yet, he was selected for by far the most difficult service that
the war involved. The naval command was conferred upon Admiral
Saunders. The expedition arrived at Halifax, towards the close of
the month of April. The force destined to act upon land under
Wolf, was over 8,000. From the first landing upon the American
coast, the British Admiral had anticipated the arrival of a convoy
from France, destined for supplies and men, and had watched to in-
tercept it, but it had eluded his vigilance and reached Quebec.
It was not until the 27th of June that the imposing force had
reached the Island of Orleans, a few leagues below Quebec, and
disembarked. A recent historian* has thus eloquently described
the English commander’s first view of Quebec, and the task that lay
before him: — “ Accompanied by the chief engineer, Major M. Kel-
ler, and an escort of light infantry, he pushed on to the extremity
of the Island nearest to Quebec. A magnificent but disheartening
scene lay before him. On the summit of the highest eminence; on
the straits of the great river from whence the basin before him open-
ed, the French flag waved. The crest of the rocky height was
crowned with formidable works redoubted and planked. On every
favorable spot, above, below, on the rugged assent, were batteries
bristelling with guns. This strong-hold formed the right flank of a
position eight miles in extent; the falls and the deep and rapid stream
of the Montmorency, was the left. The shoals and rocks of the
St. Lawrence protected the broad front, and the rich vallies of the
St. Charles, with the prosperous and beautiful villages of Charles-
burg, and Beauport, gave shelter and hospitality in the rear. A
crested bank of some height over the great river, marked the main
line of defences from east to west, parapets planked at every favor-
able spot, aided their natural strength. Crowding on this embattled
bank, swarming in the irregular village streets, and formed in mass-
es on the hills beyond, were 12,000 French arid Canadian troops,
led by the gallant Montcalm.”
The scenes that followed—all the details of that protracted and
Author of Conquest of Canada.phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
59
eventful siege — form prominent pages in our general history. It
would be but repeating that with which most readers are familiar,
to give them a place in these local annals.
The siege commenced on the 29th of June, and lasted with but
brief intermissions, until the 18th day of September. Upon that
memorable day the French, after a gallant resistance — a holding out
almost unparalelled, considered in reference to time and the fierce
and frequent approaches they had to resist — surrendered the great
citadel of their strength in America; the Gibraltar upon which
they had fallen back in other days of untoward events ; the spot
they had occupied since Champlain chose it in 1608, as the seat
and centre of French colonization.
The American reader has been surfeited, through English sources
principally, with accounts of the bravery, the skill and the fortitude,
of the besiegers and conquerors of Quebec. The story of the gal-
lant Wolf, the mild, unassuming and amiable commander; in whose
character there is mixed up the finest sensibilities of our nature;
child like simplicity, with as stern heroism as Britain can boast in
her long catalogue of military conquerors; his almost shout of tri-
umph, when the news reached him that the enemy was yielding,
even when the film of death was upon his eyes, just as his noble
spirit was about to take its flight far away from worldly conflict; —
has become as familiar as house-hold words. ; But little has been
said, or known, in our language, of the brave defenders of the be-
sieged citadel; and of him especially, the gallant but unfortunate
Montcalm; whose end was as glorious as that of his conqueror;
though no shouts of victory cheered him upon his entrance into the
dark valley of death.
A recent English historian,* has in this respect, set an example
of magnanimity; and to his pages are we indebted for much that is
new in all that concerned the defence of Quebec. From the mo-
ment the English had obtained a footing upon the Island of Orleans,
the French commander was like a noble stag at bay. Confronted
by a powerful force, chafed and harrassed in his preparation for de-
fence ; distrustful as the result proved he had reason to be, of the
courage and counsels of the Governor, Yaudreuil, who had an
immediate command of the Canadian militia; his courage was that
Author of "Conquest of Canada.”60
phelfs and gorham’s purchase.
of desperation: — restive, impulsive, chivalric,to a fault. Forget-
ful of superiority of rank, he said to Yaudreuil, in reference to some
policy he had pursued : “You have sold your country, but while
I live I will not surrender it up.” Of the provincial troops, he wrote,
on the eve of battle: “My Canadians without discipline, deaf to
the sound of the drum, and badly armed, nothing remains for them
but to fly; and behold me beaten without resources. But one thing
I can assure you, I shall not survive the probable loss of the colony.
There are times when a general's only resource is to die with honor;
this is such a time. No stain shall rest upon my memory. But in
defeat and death there is consolation left. The loss of the colony
will one day be of more value to my country, than a victory. The
conqueror shall here find a tomb; his aggrandizement shall prove
his ultimate ruin.”#
Never did the general of an army, or the defender of a citadel
have more upon his hands. There was disaffection among the
militia to conciliate ; desertion to prevent; a scanty and bad supply
of provisions to obviate, with but feeble prospects of obtaining new
supplies; an unreaped harvest wasting in the fields, for the preser-
vation of which he was obliged to spare 2,000 of his men at a crit-
ical moment; the supply of ammunition was scanty; the vigorous ^
and almost incessant prosecution of the seige, left him with little
of that confidence which is essential to efficient action. His co-
operator, and superior, (Yaudreuil,) was but a clog upon his move-
ments. Yet he manfully and heroically contended against impend-
ing and fearfully foreshadowed fate. He compelled obedience to
his orders by iron rules and summary inflictions of severe penalties;
inspired by his determined impetuous bearing, terror, where duty
and courage failed or flagged; moved from point to point issuing
his orders ; here to repair a breach, there to prevent desertion; and
there, to push forward attacking columns.
“ I am safe,” said he on the 12th of September, “unless Wolf lands
above the town.” Even then, there was a movement with the Brit-
ish force to gain the position, from the possession of which he had
impliedly foretold his ruin.
* There is some difficulty in determining to what event this looked forward : — If
to defeat and expulsion from the region the English were conquering, it has not been
realized. If it meant that the war that was then waging would pave the way to the
loss of most of the American Colonies, it was singularly and truthfully prophetic.phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	61
While he was listening to the sound of cannon from an unexpec-
ted quarter, a horseman came to him in full speed, and announced
that the English were occupying the plains of Abraham. He
aroused a sleeping and wearied soldiery, and by prompt action had
them soon hurrying in long lines over the valley of the St. Charles
to the battle ground. Incredulous at first, that the besiegers had
ventured and succeeded in gaining the rugged ascent — almost be-
lieving it a feint;—-when convinced of its reality he nerved him-
self for the decisive contest which he knew had come. The hour
of conflict found him at the head of his army: as Wolf was of his.
Where danger was most imminent, he was to be found; flying from
column to column, inspiring confidence by his presence and infusing
into his ranks, a desperate courage that England’s veteran troops had
no where before contended with. At one moment, simultaneously al-
most, as if each charge was exploded by an electric circuit, came a
volley from the drawn up columns of the British lines. The French
were swept down like forest trees before a whirlwind. Upon this
hand, fell his second in command, upon the other, one of his bravest
generals; the day and the battle, the citadel and an Empire was al-
ready lost; and yet Montcalm was undismayed. Recoiling from
the shock, like hardened steel that has been bent almost to breaking,
again he collected his scattered forces and presented a bold front
to the enemy. Then came another terrible fire from the British
lines, and with it a charge, such as has but few parallels in the his-
tories of battles. Overcome, trampled down, yielding and flying in
every direction, was the whole French force. Amid this scene of
death and carnage, Montcalm died as he had hoped he should;
when he could no longer resist the march of the invader. He fell
mortally wounded at the head of his troops, that he was in vain at-
tempting to rally and make stand firm, in the face of a fire and a
charge, incessant and desperate. When the surgeon had examined
his wound, he told him it was mortal. “ I am glad of it,” said he,
“how long can I survive?” “Perhaps a day, perhaps less,” was
the reply of the surgeon. “ So much the better,” replied Montcalm,
“I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec.” It is given on
the atuhority of a British officer, who was present at the siege of
Quebec, that Montcalm, in his last moments, paid a high compliment
to his conquerors; and at the same time bitterly reflected upon his
own troops. That he said: “ If I could survive this wound, I would62
PHELPS AKD GORIIAm’s PURCHASE.
engage to beat three times the number of such forces as I comman-
ded this morning, with a third of their number of British troops.”
The siege continued. On the 17th, when the British fleet had
prepared to attack the lower town, and 118 guns were mounted up-
on the British batteries, ready to open a fire, there came from the
besieged city a stipulation to surrender, if no reinforcements came
before the next morning. This was in anticipation of the arrival
of French troops from Montreal that had been ordered down. In the
mean time, Yaudreuil had retreated with his immediate command at
Montmorency, as had also another large division of the French
army, under De Bougainville, that had been posted at another point.
They retired to Port aux Trembles. When the Governor of Mon-
treal came down and joined them, it was agreed to send encoura-
ging words to M. de Ramsay, the Governor of Quebec, urging him
to hold out against the siege. The courier reached the besieged city
on the day — the 18th of September — in the morning of which it
had surrendered.
The English army took possession of Quebec, and the French
army retired to Three Rivers and Montreal. Thus ended the
campaign in that quarter, for the season of 1759. Its results had
been the conquest of Quebec, Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and
Niagara. Occupying these vantage grounds, the English may
well be supposed to have, surmounted the most formidable barrier^
against the complete success of the campaign ; yet, on the part of
the French colonists, the stake they were contending for, was too
large — the issue was too momentous — to admit of entire surrender,
as long as there was the least chance of winning.
M. de Levi, the Governor of Montreal, had succeeded Montcalm
as commander-in-chief. The French army, during the winter of
1759, J60, had been reinforced by six thousand militia, and a large
Note. — The author of the “Conquest of Canada,” says:—"Under some mysteri-
ous and incomprehensible impulse, Montcalm at once determined to meet his danger-
ous enemy in the open field. To account for this extraordinary resolution, is impossi-
ble. Had the French General thrown himself into Quebec, he might have securely
defied his assailants from behind its ramparts, till winter drove them away. But a
short time before, he had recorded his deliberate conviction, that he could not face the
British army in a general engagement. He was well aware that all the efforts of his
indefatigable enemy had been throughout exerted to bring on an action upon any
terms: and yet, at length, on an open plain, without even waiting for his artillery,
unaided by any advantage of position, he threw the rude Canadian militia against the
veterans of England. Once, and once only, in a successful and illustrious career, did
this gallant Frenchman forget his wisdom and his military skill. But that one tremen-
dous error led him to defeat and death.’	.63
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
body of Indians. In April, as soon as the upper portion of the St.
Lawrence was open enough to admit of the transportation of
his artillery, heavy baggage, and military stores, M. de Levi re-
solved upon a descent and an attempt to re-conquer Quebec. It
was a rash attempt, but he relied much upon the effects a cold win-
ter had had in reducing and enfeebling the British force, that had
been left at Quebec; and in fact, shut up as they had been, but
scantily supplied with salt provisions, death and disability had fear-
fully thinned their ranks. The defence had devolved upon Gen.
Murray. On the morning of the 27th of April, M. de Levi had
posted his strong force within three miles of Quebec. The British
General, fully aware that investment, for any considerable period, in
the condition of his army, would be equally as fatal as defeat, re-
solved to follow the example of Montcalm. His unequal force was
marched out, and an attack commenced. After a desperate fight,
and the loss, in killed and wounded, of nearly one-third of his army,
he retired within the walls. M. de Levi followed up his success,
approaching and strongly entrenching; the lost citadel was apparent-
ly within his grasp, when a small, but efficient English fleet came
up the St. Lawrence, and made quick work in destroying and cap-
turing the whole French armament; a new spirit was infused in the
English camp; and M. de Levi, with hopes so suddenly crushed,
made a hasty retreat at the sacrifice of his guns, ammunition, stores,
and entrenching tools. Thus ended an expedition that the chagrined
Canadians stigmatized as “ de Levi’s folly.”
On his way to Niagara, Prideux had left Col. Haldimand in com-
mand at Oswego. On the 4th of July, the fort was besieged by a
large force of Canadian militia and Indians, under the command of
M. de la Corne. A surprise was attempted and failed, the garrison,
being forewarned, was ready for their reception, and opened a fire
upon the besiegers, which compelled a dispersion. An attempt to
burn the English boats in the harbor failed, and the besiegers re-
crossed the Lake.
The English opened the campaign in 1760, to complete their con-
quest. Early in May, Gen. Amherst had collected a large force at
Oswego. Two armed vessels succeeded in forcing all the French
armament upon the Lake to take refuge among the “ Thousand
Isles.” The army at Oswego consisted of over 10,000; allied to
which, were 700 Indians that Sir William Johnson had brought into64
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
the field. The main army under Gen. Amherst, went down the
Lake, and the St. Lawrence; a detachment under Col. Haviland
going via Lake Champlain to Crown Point, to be joined by the force
stationed there. The first point of attack was the small garrison
upon Isle Royal, commanded by captain Pouchot. That surrender-
ed after a spirited resistance. Here the Indian allies mostly deser-
ted, or marched off in a body, chagrined at Amherst and Johnson’s
refusal to allow them to massacre the whole French garrison, as
they had intended. After a perilous passage down the St. Lawrence,
in which 80 men and 60 boats were lost, Amherst’s army landed
nine miles from Montreal on the 6th of September. Murray, with
all his disposable force, had left Quebec and sailed up the St. Law-
rence on the 14th of June. As an evidence how strong, was yet
the attachment of the Canadians to the French interests — even in
this hour where there was little hope, it is mentioned that Murray’s
force was constantly annoyed by guerrilla attacks from the banks of
the river, as they ascended. After a slow passage, delayed in expect-
ation of being joined by fresh troops from England, the squadron
reached the Island of Montreal on the 7th of September, and were
disembarked. Col. Haviland having come down Lake Champlain,
captured the post at Isle Aux Nois, to which the French had re-
treated before Amherst, the previous season, was near at hand, and ,
reached the Island on the 8th.
Under Amherst, Murray and Haviland, there was now an
English force of 16,000 effective troops. With but little delay, in
view of so formidable an army of besiegers, M de Vaudreuil surren-
dered Montreal and signed articles of capitulation, which included,
all of Canada, western New York, and to the extent of the French
claims at the west.
If any thing excused the French Governor, Vaudreuil, for so sud-
den a surrender, it was the favorable terms he exacted from the be-
siegers, which were conceded to, as a better alternative, than the
shedding of more blood, of which the banks of the St. Lawrence,
and the shores of the Lakes, had already seen enough to satiate the
most morbid desire for human sacrifice, in the respective countries
to which the thousands of victims owed allegiance. The foreign
French troops; the civil officers, their families and baggage; were
to be sent home in English vessels; the troops under parol, to serve
no more during the war. The militia were allowed to return tophelps AKB gorham’s purchase.
65
their homes. The French colonists were to enjoy the same privi-
leges and immunities as British subjects. The Indians that had ad-
hered to the French interests, were to be unmolested, and disturbed
in no right they had enjoyed under French dominion.
Thus terminated French dominion upon this continent, which
had existed for a century and a half. How badly was all that time
improved! The sympathies which are naturally excited by a peru-
sal of all the details of the final contest; the misfortunes and casual-
ties, we may well call them, that one after another baffled the arms
of France, and- paralized the arms of as brave men as were ever
trained in her armies; shutting them up in fortresses; closing the
avenues by which succor could reac h them, with ice and snow, or
adverse winds; cutting off reinforcements in their march of relief;
disease prostrating them, and famine staring them in the face, while
hosts of armed men were thundering at their gates, and their strong
walls were swaying and trembling over their heads; are in a mea-
sure abated by the reflection, that they so long held dominion over
as fine a region as arms ever conquered, or enterprise ever reach-
ed, and were so unmindful of the value of their possession. An
occupancy of five generations, and how little did it leave behind of
its impress! How little was done for France! how little for man-
kind!
There was in Canada, (East,) the two considerable cities of
Quebec and Montreal, and a few small villages upon the St. Law-
rence. In their vicinities, upon the most favorable soils, there was
an agricultural population, but little more than supplying their own
food. In Canada, (West,) but a small garrison at Frontenac, (Kings-
ton,) with a little agricultural improvement in its immediate neigh-
borhood ; a small trading station at Toronto; and a few missionary
and trading stations in the interior, and upon Lake Huron. In
western New York, the valley of the Lakes, and the upper vallies
of the Mississippi, over all of which the French claimed dominion,
there was but fur trading and missionary stations ; with few excep-
tions of agricultural enterprise; by far the most considerable of
which, was upon a narrow strip upon the Detroit river.
There is much that is admirable in the French Missionary enter-
prize in all the region they occupied. The world has no where
seen as much of devotion, of self-sacrifice, of courage, perseverance
and endurance. A host of gifted men who had left the highest66
phelpb a™ goeham’s purchase.
walks of civilization and refinement, which they had helped to
adorn, took up their abode in the wilderness, in rude huts; here and
there, upon the banks of lakes and rivers, where there were none
of even the foot prints of civilization, save their own. Solitary and
alone, they wrestled with the rude savage; displayed the cross,
the emblem of salvation, to his wondering gaze, and disarmed his
fierce resentments by mild persuasion ; adapting themselves to his
condition, and inducting him into the sublime mysteries of a re-
ligion of peace and universal brotherhood. Each missionary was
a wanderer: — ice, snow, swollen streams,.winds and tempests,
summer’s heats and winter’s chills, were to him no hindrances, when
duty and devotion urged him onward. Inured to toil and priva-
tion, a small parcel of parched corn and a bit of jerked beef, would
be his only sustenance in long journeys through the forests, seeking
new fields of missionary labor. Often were they martyrs — there
are few localities in all the vast region they traversed, where one or
more of them did not yield up his life as an earnest of his faith.—
As often as they perished by the tomahawk, the rigors of the cli-
mate, exposure, fatigue or disease, their ranks were supplied. Like
disciplined soldiers, the Jesuit missionaries, one after another, would
fill ranks, the vacancy of which would admonish them of danger.
And where are now the evidences of all these long years of mis-
sionary enterprize, zeal and martyrdom ? In the small villages of
Western New York, which now contain remnants of the once
powerful Iroquois, there is the form of the cross in their silver or-
naments, and around the western Lakes and Rivers, the traveller
may see in addition to this, occasionally, a rude cross, over an Indian
grave. This is all that is left, save written records, to remind us of
that extraordinary, long continued, missionary advent. All else
faded away with the decline of French power. The good mission-
ary, worn out in the service, either rested from his labors under the
mould of the forests he had penetrated, or retired when the flag of
his country no longer gave him confidence and protection. The
treaty of 1763 forbid any recruits of his order. In his absence,
his simple neophytes soon forgot his teachings. The symbols of
his faith no longer reminded them of the “glad tidings” he had
proclaimed. Tradition even of his presence, has become obscure.
Never perhaps, was rejoicing in England, as universal and enthu-
siastic, as when the news of the conquest of Quebec — the con-67
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
quest of Canada as it was rightly construed — reached there.
High expectations of the value and importance of the French pos-
sessions had been raised; and hatred of the French had become a
universal public sentiment. A series of defeats and misfortunes
that had previously attended the British arms in this quarter; in the
war then waging, had disposed, the people of England to make the
most of victories when they finally came. A public thanksgiving
was proclaimed, pageants upon land and water succeeded, with
bonfires and illuminations. The victory was the theme of the press
and the pulpit, of the poet and the player. Mingled with all this,
was mourning for the brave men that had perished in the long suc-
cession of conflicts, or rather the reverse of the picture, was the
funeral pageant, the widow’s and the orphan’s tears, the hearths
made desolate. When the remains of the lamented Wolf were
carried home and conveyed to Greenwich cemetry, there was a
solemn and imposing hiatus in the national jubilee;— but that over,
England became again joyous in view of an immense accession of
empire, and the triumph of its armies.
We know how well it is ordered for us, as individuals, that a
curtain is drawn between the present and the future; that our pres-
ent happiness is unalloyed by any taste of the bitter drugs that are
concealed even in the cup of bliss. So with nations, if they could
always see the tendency and the end of events, there would have
been less rejoicing at the triumphs of arms. How would it have
appalled England; how would her King, her Statesmen, sitting un-
der triumphal arches, or holding saturnalias at festive boards, have
been affrighted and dismayed, if some prophetic hand had inscribed
upon their walls: — “You have gained a Province and lost an
Empire!”
And such was the destiny; — crowding into a brief space, the
cause and the effect, the triumph and its consequences. Illy fitted
for the great task that was before them, would the feeble colonies
have been, at the commencement of th.e Revolution, in the absence
of the apprenticeship in the trade of war, that the last French and
English war upon this continent afforded. What better discipline
could men have had ; what better experience, to inure them to toil,
privation and danger, than was had in the expeditions to the Ohio
and the Allegany, the siege of Louisburg, Quebec, Montreal,
Crown Point and Niagara? Every campaign was a school far68
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PUECHASE.
better than West Point and Annapolis. Mingled in all these were
the colonists of New York and New England, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Out of the ranks of those retired
armies, came a host of the efficient men, who, upon the breaking out
of the Revolution, so well convinced their military instructors of
the proficiency they had made under their tuition. The military
skill and genius necessary to organize armies, the courage and chiv-
alry necessary to lead them to triumph, which had been inert, was
aroused in the stirring scenes of the French war; its succession
of splendid triumphs. England had made war a profession with a
large number of the colonists, little thinking where would be the
field and what the occasion of its practice. In the prosecution of
the French war, England had fearfully augmented its public debt;
in an hour of evil councils, against the protestations of her wisest
statesmen, taxation of the colonies Was added to the burthens, the
privations and sufferings that had borne so heavily upon them.
And it may be added, that a handful of feeble colonies would hardly
have ventured to strike a blow for separation, as long as the French
held dominion here. Independence achieved, the colonies would
necessarily have had to assume the relative condition that England
bore with France. They would have assumed England’s quarrels,
growing out of unsettled boundaries and disputed dominions.
Had there been no English conquest of French dominions, the
separation of the colonies, if realized at all, would have been an
event far removed from the period in which it was consummated.
France surrendered her splendid possessions in America, sullenly
and grudgingly, yielded to destiny and a succession of untoward
events, hoping for some event —some tc tide in the affairs of men,”
that would wrest from England’s Crown the bright jewel she had
picked up on the banks of the St. Lawrence, bathed in blood; and
which she was displaying with a provoking air of triumph. It
came more speedily than the keenest eye of prophecy could have
foreseen. In a little more than twenty years after the fall of Que-
bec, La Fayette, Rochambeau, Chastelleux, D’Estang, M. de Choisy,
Yiomenil, de Grasse, M. de St. Simon, and a host of gallant French-
men beside, saw the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown; an
event as crowning and decisive, in the loss of an empire, as was
the surrender of Quebec, in the loss of a colony.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
69
CHAPTER IV.
ENGLISH DOMINION ~ BORDER WARS OF THE REVOLUTION.
From the end of French dominion in Western New York, to
the close of the Revolution, constituted a period of twenty-four
years; the events of which, having an immediate bearing upon our
local region, must be crowded into a space too limited for elaborate
detail; allowing of but little more than what is necessary to pre-
vent a break in the chain of events that leads us to the main de-
sign of the work in hand.
Little of historical interest occurred previous to the Revolution.
The English would seem to have made no better use of the rich
prize that the fortunes of war had thrown into their hands, than had
their French predecessors. Settlements made the advance of but
a day's walk, and occupancy in any form, west of the lower valley
of the Mohawk, was but the fortresses of Oswego and Niagara, and
small English trading establishments, that had succeeded those of
the French. The rich soil, that has made this region the prosper-
ous home of hundreds of thousands; in which lay dormant the
elements of more enduring wealth than would have been the rich-
est “ placers ” of California, had no attractions for their adventur-
ers, and were without the narrow circle of enterprize that bound-
ed the views of colonial governors and legislators.
The change of occupants does not seem to have pleased the
Senecas. Scarcely had the English got a foothold in their coun-
ty, before a war was commenced by an attack upon a British
wagon-train and its guard, as they were passing over the Portage
from Lewiston to Schlosser. A tragical event that has much
prominence in the local reminiscences of that region. This was
followed by an attack upon a detachment of British soldiers at
Black Rock, on their way from Niagara to Detroit. Sir William
Johnson, in his official correspondence, called the Senecas a “trou-
blesome people;*	*	.70	PHELPS AND GOBHAM’s PBECHASE.
All of English dominion west of Albany, other than its military
posts, was a “ one man powerand before proceeding farther, it
will be necessary to give some account of that one man, who has
already, incidentally, been introduced in our narrative.
Slit WILLIAM JOHNSON.
He was a native of Ireland, of a good family, and was well edu-
cated. Soon after he became of age, in 1737 or ’8, he came to
America as the land agent of his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, an Ad-
miral in the English navy, who had acquired a considerable tract of
land upon the Mohawk, in the present county of Montgomery. He
located a few miles from the present village of Port Jackson. Of a
romantic disposition, and having acquired, from the unsuccessful
termination of a love affair in. his native country, some distaste for
civilized society, which he was well qualified to adorn, he had not
been long a resident in the backwoods of America, when he had
determined upon permament settlement. He formed an exception
to a large majority of his countymen, in the ease and facility with
which he exchanged the refinements of civilized society for life in
the woods, with few but the native Indians for neighbors or associ-
ates. No Frenchman ever sit himself down upon the borders of
our western lakes, alone of all his race, in the midst of Indian wig-
wams, and sooner merged and blended himself with all about him.
Says the London Gentleman’s Magazine, (1755): — “Besides his
skill and experience as an officer, he is particularly happy in making
himself beloved by all sorts of people, and can conform to all com-
panies and conversations. He is very much the fine gentleman in
genteel company. But as the inhabitants next to him are mostly
Dutch, he sits down with them and smokes his tobacco, drinks flip,
and talks of improvements, bear and beaver skins. Being surround-
ed with Indians, he speaks several of their languages well, and has
always some of them with him. He takes care of their wives and
old Indians, when they go out on parties, and even wears their
dress. In short, by his honest dealings with them in trade, and his
courage, which has often been successfully tried with thenvand his
courteous behavior, he has so endeared himself to them, that they %
chose him one of their chief Sachems, or Princes, and esteem him
as their father.”	•phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	71
He was just the man the English government required in the
contest they were waging with the French; and he had not been
long in the Mohawk valley, before he became its Indian agent, and
the dispenser of its gifts, which added to his personal popularity
with the Indians, gave him an influence over them greater than
any one of our own race has ever possessed. He was the first
Englishman to contend, with any great measure of success, with
French Indian diplomacy; their governors, missionaries and tra-
ders.
On the breaking out of the last English and French war upon
this continent, he was made a General of colonial militia, and by
virtue of a leadership that had been created by the Iroquois, he was
head warrior of all of them that inclined to the English interests.
His first military service, was to head the formidable expedition
against Crown Point, in which he was the vanquisher of the Baron
Dieskeu. For this signal service, he was made a Baronet. The
other prominent event in his military career, was the siege and con-
quest of Fort Niagara, which mainly devolved upon him, by the
death of his superior in command, Gen. Prideaux.
The gifts of his sovereign, and the facilities he enjoyed for pur-
chasing Indian lands, made him the possessor of great wealth, which,
with his military honors, the partiality of his countrymen, and his
great influence with the Indians, rendered him as near a Prince as
any thing the backwoods of America have witnessed. *
After the close of the French war, as a British agent, he held
treaties and negotiated with the Iroquois, and some of the western
nations, all of the territorial acquisitions in middle New York, north-
ern Pennsylvania, and upon the Ohio River, that was made pre-
* “ He built two spacious and convenient residences on the Mohawk River, known
afterwards as Johnson Castle and Johnson Hall. The Hall was his summer residence.
Here tliis singular man lived like a little sovereign, kept an excellent tame for strangers
and officers, whom the course of their duty now led into these wjius ; and by con-
fiding entirely in the Indians, and treating them with unwearied truth and justice
without even yielding to solicitations he had once refused, he taught them to repose
entire confidence in him. So perfect was his dependence on those people, whom his
fortitude and other manly virtues had attached to him, that yhen they .returned from
their summer excursions and exchanged their last year firs for fire arms, &c., they
used to pass a few days at the Castle, when his family and most of his domestics were
down at the Hall. There they were all liberally entertained by Sir William, and 500
of them have been known, for nights together, after drinking pretty freely, to lie
around him on the ground, while he was the only white person in a house containing
great quantities of every thing that was to them valuable or desirable.” — Memoirs of
an American Lady.12
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUECHASE.
vious to the Revolution. To his influence with the Indians as a
British agent, inherited by his family, may be attributed in a great
measure their alliance with the British throughout the Revolution;
and yet had he lived when the contest was waged, it is doubtful
what would have been his position. There are strong reasons for
assuming that he would have been at least a neutral. He died at
Johnson Hall, in June, 1774, just as the storm was gathering, soon
after he had himself predicted that “ England and her colonies w^ere
approaching a terrible war, which he should never live to witness.”
His health had been for some years declining.*
In his youth, soon after he became a resident upon the Mohawk,
he took for his wife, (conventionally,) a comely, German girl, who
being a redemptipnist, was serving her time with one of his neighbors.
She was the mother of his son and successor, Sir John Johnson,
and of his daughters, who became the wives of Col. Claus, and Col.
Guy Johnson, a distant relative of Sir William. A legal marriage
took place when Sir William was on his death bed, which ceremony
had reference to the descent of property. And here it would be
historical delinquency to conceal the fact, that Sir William, away
from the restraints of civilized life, had indulged in what Mr. Ban-
croft would call the “freedom of the backwoods.” Ebenezer Allan,
who was at one period, in the valley of the Genesee, what Sir
William was in the valley of the Mohawk, without taking his many
virtues as his examples, was but an humble imitator of his one prom-
inent vice. The fruits of his amours may be traced at this day in
all the retreats of the remnants of the Six nations. Upon the banks
of the Allegany, the observing traveller will recognize the family
resemblance in the contour of faces; the “ blood of the Johnsons,”
coursing the veins and harmoniously blending with that of the Iro-
quois. The sister of Joseph Brant, in some respects as good a speci-
men of her race, as was her renowned brother, was the mother of
several of his children who were also legitimatized by a private
marriage that took place a few years before his death.
Histories of the Revolution exist in too many forms, are too
easily accessible to all classes of readers, to make it necessary to em-
* Documentary History. Vol. 2d. p. 957 ; Col Duncan, to a Friend of Sir Williams:
“ Yr friend Sir William is sore failed, he is eyer now and then in a bad way, whereforePHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
IS
brace even any considerable allusion to it in a work of this character.
All of it that has any more than a remote connection with the his-
tory of our local region, are the Border Wars of New York, and
with them the author will assume that his readers are generally
familiar.
' On the death of Sir William Johnson, his son, John Johnson, suc-
ceeded to his titles and estates, and his officer of General Superin-
tendent of Indian Affairs fell into the hands of Col. Guy Johnson,
his son-in-law, who had as his deputy Col. Claus, another son-in-
law. Thus inherited, all the official and personal influence that had
been acquired was wielded against the Colonies and in favor of the
mother country. The natives unschooled in all that could enable
them to understand the merits of the quarrel — themselves recog-
nizing in their simple form of government heriditary rulers — could
see in the up rising of the Colonies against their King, little else than
unjustifiable rebellion, and they were told by the Johnsons that the
outbreaks in Boston, and the battle of Lexington, were the acts of
disobedient children against the King their Father, who had been
kind to them as he had to the Six Nations. Sir William Johnson had
been the almoner of annual gifts from his sovereign, and mingling a
sincere regard for them, with his official duties, had wedded them
strongly to him and to his government.
Joseph Brant, (in Indian, Thay-en-da-ga,) had been the protege
of Sir William Johnson. When quite a youth he had sent him to
the Rev. Dr. Wheelock’s school in Lebanon, Connecticut, after-
wards employed him in his private business. # Engaged in military
service, when he took the field, the young chief took the war path,
one of the leaders of Sir William’s Indian allies. Under these cir-
cumstances it was very natural that Brant should have been found
a follower of the fortunes of the Johnson family.
With those influences bearing upon them, the Six Nations, with
is thought not to last many years more which will be a great loss to mankind in gen-
eral, but particularly to this neighborhood, and I don’t see that any one of the family
is capable of keeping up the general applause when he is gone.”
* His nativity is a mooted question. Bishop Strachan of Toronto, in an article
written for the Christian Messenger, assumed that he was a Mohawk, bom on the Ohio
river, his parents having emigrated. This is upon the authority of Dr. Stewart, for-
merly a missionary in the Mohawk valley; Col. Stone accredits this. But better au-
thority than either, because he has been a far more industrious researcher—L. C. Dra-
per, Esq., of Philadelphia—assumes that he was a native Cherokee. There were
Clierokees in all the nations of the Iroquois; captives and their descendants.74
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
the exception of a part of the Tusearoras and Oneidas, were the firm
allies of England throughout the war of the Revolution. Immedi-
ately after the death of Sir William, Guy Johnson renewed allian-
ces, and as hostilities approached the Mohawk valley, “ brightened
the chain of friendship” with gifts and lavish promises of increased
patronage from his master, the King. A “ committee of safety,”
which was early organized in “ Tryon county,” were jealous of
every movement of the Johnsons, and especially those of Guy John-
son. It would seem, in fact, that he had at first rashly determined to
maintain his ground, and, for that purpose, under pretence of fear
of attack from “the rebels,” had fortified his house, and drawn
around it as guards, a formidable body of Indians. This alarmed
the Tryon county committee, which had been early organized as
auxiliary to the central committee at Albany. They made re-
presentations to the Albany committee of all that was going on,
and in allusion to Johnson’s fortified castle and the hostile Indians,
they say:—“ We are, gentlemen, in a worse situation than any part
of America at present. We have an open enemy before our faces,
and a treacherous enemy at our backs.” They assure the Albany
committee that they will “ neither submit to the acts of Parliament
nor Cob Johnson’s arbitrary conduct.”
A series of stirring local events followed: — The Johnson family
closely allied in interest and friendship with other influential fami-
lies of Tryon county, not only controlled the Indians, but had such
an influence with the whites as almost to enable them to coerce
local obedience to them, and fealty to the King. They even
ventured, and partially were successful, in using the civil authori-
ties of Tryon county to subserve these purposes; interfering in one
or two instances in breaking up what they termed “ rebel meetings.”
Early in the summer of 1775 however, Guy Johnson had deter-
mined that his own safety and the interests of his King, would both
be promoted by removal to Canada. Up to this time, he had relied
upon hopes that the revolutionary movements were but temporary
outbreaks, which would be suppressed by the strong arm of his
government, or conciliated by a redress of some of the grievances
complained of. But admonished by the dark clouds of war that
were gathering, that the crisis had arrived, that he could not preserve
where he was with safety, a position even of neutrality, he resolved
upon placing himself in a position to take an active part in the con-PHELPS AND GOEIIAm’s PUECHASE.	75
test. Under the pretence that he could better control the Indians,
and keep them from harming the inhabitants by fixing his head-
quarters at Fort Stanwix, he left “ Guy Park ” and repaired to that
post, where he was soon joined by John and Walter Butler, Brant,
and a formidable body of Tories and Indians. He soon removed
with most of his retinue to Oswego.
It should here be observed, that inured to war as had been the
Iroquois —fond of it as would seem from the avidity with which
they had engaged in it with their own race and ours — the breaking
out of the Revolution, found them with somewhat altered inclina-
tions. Vastly reduced by wars with the southern and western
Indians, and with the French, the remnant of them that had enjoy-
ed a few years of peace had learned in some degree to estimate its
value. Fully realizing the consequences, should they take up the
hatchet for the* King, the local committees of safety for.Tryon and
Albany counties, held conferences with the Mohawks and received
assurances of neutrality. In June, 1776, General Schuyler, appoint-
ed for that purpose by the Congress at Philadelphia, held a council
with all of the Six Nations upon the German Flats, where assur-
ances of neutrality were renewed. But the superior influences that
have been spoken of, finally prevailed.
. Guy Johnson soon repaired to Montreal, where he made his
head quarters, and engaged with zeal and activity, in enlisting the
Indians in a harrassing border war, chiefly directed against his old
neighbors. Sir John Johnson, previous to the flight, or hegira of
his brother-in-law, had stipulated with Gen. Schuyler that he would
remain and be a neutral, the chief motive being the preservation of
the vast estate he had inherited; but encouraged by the prospect of
a final triumph of the King over the colonies, he followed his incli-
nations, violated his pledges of neutrality, and taking with him
three hundred of his neighbors and dependents, (chiefly Scotch,)
joined his brother in Montreal, and became like him an active par-
tizan. The immediate presence of the powerful family was thus
withdrawn from the Mohawk, and little left of them but their deser-
ted fields and mansions; but the devoted valley had yet to feel the
terrible scourge which loyalty could inflict, when sharpened by mo-
tives of private vengeance.
Col. John Butler soon fixed his residence on the shores of Lake
Ontario, in the immediate vicinity of the village of Niagara, where76
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
he was soon installed as the leader of the tory refugees. Erecting
barracks upon the plain, near where Fort George was afterwards
built, there they were organized and quartered; and from that point
they sallied out in marauding expeditions to the vallies of the Mo-
hawk and Susquehannah, with their Indian allies; and to that point
they returned when their errands of mischief had been executed.
It was there the expeditions to the devoted valley of Wyoming, and
to arrest the march of Sullivan, were projected.
After leaving the Mohawk valley, Brant was alternately at Oswego,
Niagara, upon the Susquehannah and Genesee Rivers, until July
1777, when he made his appearance with an armed band of warriors
at Unadilla, an Indian village upon the Susquehannah. There Gen.
Herkimer, with a strong guard of Tryon county militia, sought an
interview with him, in hopes of changing his purpose of engaging
in the King’s service. They met, Brant rather haughtily demanded
the object of the interview, which was explained. Hinting to Gen.
Herkimer that his attendants were pretty numerous for a peace
ambassador, he assured him that he had a superior force, five hundred
warriors, with which he could crush him and his party at a word;
but said he, “ we are old neighbors and friends and I will not do it.”
A hot-headed and imprudent Col. Cox, who had accompanied Gen.
Herkimer, grossly insulted Brant, which came near bringing on an
unequal contest, but Brant hushed the impending storm and promised
another interview. It was had according to promise; Brant assur-
ed the General that he fully understood his errand; “ but” said he,
“ you are too late, I am already engaged to serve the King. We
are old friends, I can do no less than to let you return home unmo-
lested, although you are entirely within my power.” This was the
last conference held by the agents of Congress with the Indians,,
pending or during the war of the Revolution; and after this, soon
followed the terrible scenes with which the author presumes the
reader to be familiar.
Immediately following this interview with Brant, Sir John John-
son and Col. Walter Butler sent out runners and convened delega-
tions from all of the Six Nations at Oswego. The council was
opened by a speech from Sir John, in which he assured the Indians
that their assistance was wanted “ to subdue the rebels who had
taken up arms against their good Father the King, and was about
to rob him of a great part of his possessions and wealth.” Thephelps and gorham’s purchase.
11
chiefs then rose and severally assured the British agents that they
had only one year before in council with General Schuyler, pledged
themselves to neutrality, and that they should not violate the pledge
by taking up the hatchet. The British agents told them that the
rebels” were few in number and easily subdued, and that on ac-
count of their disobedience they fully merited all the punishment that
white men and Indians united could inflict; that the King was rich
and powerful, both in money and subjects; that his “ rum was as
plenty as the waters of Lake Ontario/’ This appeal to the appetites
of the simple natives which British agents had done much before to
vitiate, accompanied by promises of rich gifts, prevailed, and a treaty
was made in which they pledge themselves to take up arms against
the rebels, and continue in service during the war. “ Upon the con-
clusion of the treaty, each Indian was presented with a suit of clothes,
a brass kettle, a gun, a tomahawk, a scalping knife, a quantity of
powder and lead, and a piece of gold/’ #
In the speech of Cornplanter to the Governor of Pennsylvania,
in 1822, he said: — “ The cause of Indians having been led into sin
at that time, was, that many of them were in the practice of drink-
ing and getting intoxicated. Great Britain requested us to join
them in the conflict against Americans, and promised the Indians
land and liquor.”
Soon after the war commenced, Brant collected the Mohawks at
Lewiston, selecting for their home some of the fine grounds on the
Ridge Road, near the present village. He built a small log church,
using the bell of one of the Indian churches upon the Mohawk,
which was hung upon the notch of a tree, the British chaplain at
Fort Niagara, frequently holding service there. After the Revolu-
tion, he removed to Brantford, C. W., where large grants of land
were secured to him by the British government. He died in 1807,
aged 64 years.
Col. John Butler, who was respectably connected upon the Mo-
hawk, became, from the first breaking out of the Revolution, a
* Life of Mary Jemison.
Note.—In few things is the poverty of the colonies, when the war commenced,
more strikingly evinced, than in these Indian negotiations. With a few thousand
dollars.expended in the form of presents, when Gen. Schuyler held his treaty with
them, their neutrality could have been secured ; but he gave them nothing, for he had
nothing to give. The British took advantage of this, secured their services, and made
them a scourge to border settlers of New York and Pennsylvania.*J 8	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
zealous tory, and fled from his friends and home with the Johnsons,
fixed his residence at Niagara, as has already been mentioned.
With the doings of him and his Rangers, the readers of the Revo-
lutionary history are familiar; he is connected with some of the
darkest pages of it. With more of the savage in his nature by far,
than Brant, he was far ahead of him in acts of cruelty, and incapa-
ble of the exercise of any of his sterling virtues. He was well
educated, and his letters and the part he acted in various Indian
treaties for the sale of the lands of this region, induce the conclu-
sion, that he had a good share of business talents. At the close of
the Revolution, he became Superintendent of Indian affairs for Up-
per Canada, and was also a half-pay British Colonel. The patron-
age of a King he had served so devotedly at the sacrifice of the
private esteem of even those who had been his companions in arms,
enabled him to surround himself with all the comforts and many of
the luxuries of life. The home of which he was the founder, even
now in its neglected condition, exhibits in all its primitive appoint-
ments, much of cultivated taste and refinement, which it is difficult
to reconcile with the character of the man, as given to us in the
annals of Border Wars. He died at Niagara, in 1794.
The influence of the Johnson family with the Indians, was hard-
ly less potent than with their white neighbors. No where in all
the colonies, was there so large a proportionate diversion of the
inhabitants from an espousal of the Revolution, as in the valley
of the Mohawk ; and on the other hand, nowhere were there bet-
ter examples of patriotism, bravery and self-sacrifice. It was, em-
phatically, “ the dark and bloody ground/’ At first, the contest
had all the features of civil war; households were divided; it was
brother against brother, and neighbor against neighbor; and when,
after the tories and Indians had withdrawn to Oswego, Montreal,
Fort Niagara and Canada, they returned from time to time upon
their errands of blood-shed and rapine; they were upon familiar
ground, and well knew where most effectually to direct their steps,
Note.—In 1791, James Wadsworth visited Niagara, principally to inform himself
as to the prospect of an Indian war. He wrote to a Mend:—"Yon will not suppose
that we are under much fears from the Indians, when I tell you that I started from
the Genesee river without company, and reached Niagara in two days, without any
difficulty. But sir, it was a most solitary ride.” "I had an excellent dinner with Col.
Butler. We were served with apples, chestnuts, hazelnuts and walnuts; hut what
surprised me most, was, to see a plate of malacatoon peaches as good as I ever saw.”phelps and gorham’s purchase.	79
and where to execute the most terrible mischief. In the retrospect,
when nations have settled down in peace, and look back upon the
excesses they have committed in the strife and heat of war, there
is always much even for self-accusation; but in all. the history of
wars, there is nothing that so stands out in bold relief, without miti-
gation or excuse, as was the sanguine policy of England in the em-
ployment of the tomahawk and scalping knife, to aid her in warring
against her colonies. In all her own dark catalogue of wrongs, in
the east, at home, in compelling obedience to the throne, there is
nothing that so far outraged humanity, that so far transcended the
rules of civilized warfare, as was the arming of savage allies, and
sending them to lay waste unprotected backwoods settlements and
massacre their inhabitants, without regard to age, condition, or sex.
What the feeble colonies scorned to do in self-defence — after they
had determined upon asking nothing farther than to have the toma-
hawk and scalping knife kept out of the contest — British agents,
with the sanction of their government, did not hesitate to do in a
spirit of inhumanity so sanguinary aud unrelenting, that it urged on
Indian warfare, even when it hesitated in the execution of its
stealthy and bloody missions.
The Border Wars, the tory and Indian incursions from Canada,
Oswego and Niagara, continued at intervals from the flight of the
Johnsons, Butler and Brant in J75, until August 1779. The horrid
details already fill volumes of published history.* With powerful
British armies to contend with upon the sea board — work enough
for the feeble and exhausted colonies-—inadequate help had been
afforded to repel invaders of the frontier settlements of New York.
The stealthy foe could make descents by land or water through dif-
ferent unguarded avenues, and wrhen their work of death was
accomplished, retreat to their strong holds at Oswego and Niagara^
a wide wilderness their defence and security against pursuit and
retribution. When expeditions were planned at Niagara, if designed
for the valley of the Mohawk, the Indians and tories would concen-
trate at Oswego; and if the valley of the Susquehannah was the
destination, they would concentrate upon the Genesee river, Seneca
* For these details the reader is referred to Campbell’s Annals of Tryon County >
Simm’s History of Schoharie and the Border Wars, Stone’s Life of Brant, History of
Onondaga, and the Holland Purchase.80
PHELPS AM) GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
Lake,, or the Tioga river. Their prisoners were usually taken to
Fort Niagara, the Bastile of the then western wilderness
At last, in the early part of the year 1779, Gen. Washington de-
termined upon a measure for carrying the war home upon the inva-
ders, routing the Indians from their villages, and if practicable, the
seige and capture of Fort Niagara. The command was entrusted
to Gen. Sullivan. The army organized for the expedition was in
three divisions. That part of it under the immediate command of
Gen. Sullivan, coming from Pennsylvania, ascended the Susquehan-
nah to Tioga Point. Another division under the command of Gen.
James Clinton, constructing batteaux at Schenectady, ascended the
Mohawk and rendezvoused at Canajoharrie, opened a road to the
head of Otsego Lake, and from thence proceeded in a formidable
fleet of over two hundred batteaux, to Tioga Point, forming a
junction with the force under Gen. Sullivan, on the 22d of August.
Previous to the arrival of Gen. Clinton, Sullivan had sent forward
a detachment which fell in with a scouting party of Indians, and a
skirmish ensued.
The combined forces amounted to 5,000 men. The expedition
had been so long preparing, and upon the march, that the enemy
i were well apprized of all that was going on. Their plan of de-
fence contemplated a decisive engagement upon the Chemung river.
For this purpose the Rangers and regular British troops, under the
command of Col. John Butler, Cols. Guy and Sir John Johnson,
Major Walter N. Butler and Capt. M’Donald, and the Indians
under Brant had concentrated their forces upon a bend of the river,
near the present village of Elmira, where they had thrown up a
long breast work of logs. The united forces of the British allies
as computed by Gen. Sullivan, was about 1500.# Having ascer-
tained their position, Gen. Sullivan marched in full force and attacked
them in the forenoon of the 29th of August. He found the enemy
partly entrenched and partly arranged in scouting and flanking
parties, the Indians especially adopting their favorite mode of war-
fare. Well provided with artillery, a heavy fire was opened upon
the enemies entrenchments, which soon proved them a weak de-
fence ; a part of the Indians were panic stricken by the heavy
cannonade, and fled, while other portions of them were rallied by
Assumed to be much less in the British accounts.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
81
their intrepid leader, Brant, and well maintained the unequal contest.
“ Both tories. and Indians were entitled to the credit of fighting
manfully. Every rock and tree and bush, sheltered its man, from
hehind which the winged messengers of death were thickly sent,
but with so little effect as to excite astonishment. The Indians
yielded ground only inch by inch; and in their retreat darted from
tree to tree with the agility of a panther, often contesting each new
position at the point of the bayonet — a thing very unusual even
with militiamen, and still more rare among the undisciplined warriors
of the woods/5 # The battle had been waged about two hours,
when the British and Indians perceiving their forces inadequate,
and that a maneuver to surround them was likely to be successful,
broke and fled in great disorder.
“ This ” says John Salmon, of Livingston county, who belonged to
the expedition and gave an account of it to the author of the Life
of Mary Jemison, “was the only regular stand made by the In-
dians. In their retreat they were pursued by our men to the Nar-
rows, where they were attacked and killed in great numbers, so that
the sides of. the rocks next the River looked as if blood had been
poured on them by pailfuls.”
The details of all that transpired in this campaign are before the
public in so many forms, that their repetition here is unnecessary.
The .route of the army was via “ French Catherine’s Town,” f head
of Seneca Lake, down the east shore of the Lake to the Indian
village of Kanadesaga, (Old Castle,) and from thence to Canandai-
gua, Honeoye, head of Conesus Lake, to Groveland. The villages
destroyed, (with the apple trees and growing crops of the Indians,)
were at Catherinestown, Kendai, or “ Apple Town ” on the east
side of the Lake, eleven miles from its foot, Kanadesaga, Honeoye,
Conesus, Canascraga, Little Beard’s Town, Big Tree, Canawagus,
and on the return of the army, Scawyace, a village between the
* Life of Brant.
t Name from Catherine. Montour. She was a half blood, is said to have been the
daughter of one of the French Governors of Canada. She Was made a captive and
adopted by the Senecas when she was ten years of age, becoming afterwards the wife
of a distinguished Seneca Chief. When on several occasions she accompanied the
chief to Philadelphia her extraordinary beauty, joined to a considerable polish of
manners, made her the “ observed of all observers; ” she was invited to a private house
and treated with much respect. She resided at the head of Seneca Lake previous to
Sullivan’s expedition, and afterwards at Fort Niagara, where she was treated with
marked attention by the British officers.82
PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PUECHASE.
Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, and several other Cayuga villages.
Captain Machin was at the head of the engineers in this expedition.
The industrious gleaner of Border War reminiscences, the author
of the History of Schoharie, has found among his papers the fol-
lowing, which accompanied a map of Sullivan’s entire route: —
“ Distance of places from Easton, Pennsylvania, to Chenesee, \Gen-
see] Castle, taken in 1779, by actual survey: NAMES OF PLACES.						MILES.	TOTAL.
From Easton to Weomining,	- ■	-		_	-	65	65
To Lackewaneck Creek,	-	-	-	-	-	10	75
Quailuternunk,	-	-	- •	-	-	7	82
Tunkhannnnk Creek,	-	-	-	-		11	93
Meshohing Creek,	-	-	-	-		9	102
Vanderlips Plantation,	-		-	-		5	107
Wealusking Town,	-		-	-		’ 8	115
Wessawkin, or Pine Creek,	-		-			14#	129#
Tioga, ....						1%	145
Chemung,						12	157
Newton,						8#	
French Catherinestown, -	-	-	-	-		18	183J£
Kandia or Appleton	-		-			27#	211
Outlet of Seneca Lake,	-		-	-		11#	
Kanadesaga, or Seneca Castle			.	-		3#	226
Kanandaque,						15#	241J£
Haunyauya,						13#	255
Adjusta, - - -						12#	267#
Cossauwauloughby, - Chenesee Castle						7	274#
	-		-	-		5#	280
It is probable a better table of distances than has since *been
made. Among the papers of Capt. Machin, is the following certifi-
cate : —
“This may certify that Kayingwaurto the Sanakee chief, has been on an expedition
to Fort Stanwix and taken two scalps, one from an officer and a corporal, they were
gunning near the Fort, for which I promise to pay at sight, ten dollars for each scalp.
Given under my hand at Buck’s Island.	JOHN BUTLER, Col. and
Supt. of the Six Nations and the allies of his Majesty.”
This Kayingwaurto was a principal Seneca chief at Kanadesaga.
He was killed by a scouting party of Gen. Sullivan’s army, and in
his pocket the certificate was found. The history of those scalps is
one of the most melancholy tales of that era of terrible savage war-
fare. The chief in 1777, with a scouting party of Seneca warriors,
was prowling about Fort Stanwix. Capt. Gregg, and a Corporal of
the Fort, had ventured out to shoot pigeons, when they were fired at
by the Indian scouts; the corporal being killed and Capt. Gregg
severely wounded. Both were scalped; but after the Indians had left83
PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PUECHASE.
Capt Gregg revived. His dog ran off to some fishermen of the
Fort, a mile distant, alarmed them by his moaning, attracted them
in the direction of his wounded master. Capt. Gregg was thus
discovered, and lived to relate the story of his preservation. It is
given upon the authority of Dr. Dwight.
The march of Sullivan, the devastations committed by his army,
would at this distant period seem like Vandalism, in the absence
of the consideration that he was acting under strict orders; and
that those orders were approved, if not dictated by Washington.
The campaign was a matter of necessity; to be effectual, it was
not only necfessary that its acts should be retaliatory and retributive,
but that the haunts, the retreats, of a foe so ruthless, must be bro-
ken up. The object was to destroy all the means of subsistence
of the Senecas, desolate their homes, prevent their return to them,
and if possible, induce their permanent retreat beyond the Niagara
River. The imprudepce, the want of sagacity, which Col. Stone
has imputed to Gen. Sullivan in alarming every village he approach-
ed by the sound of his cannon, the author conceives, a misappre-
hension of his motives. Stealthy, quiet approaches, would have
found as victims in every village, the old men, the women and
children —the warriors away, banded with their British allies.
Humanity dictated the forewarning, that those he did not come to
war against could have time to flee. It would have been a far
darker feature of the campaign than those that have been complained
of, and one that could not have been mitigated, if old men, women
and children, had been unalarmed, and exposed to the vengeance
of those who came from the valleys of the Susquehannah and the
Mohawk to punish murderers of their kindred and neighbors. The
march of Gen. Sullivan, after leaving the Chemung, was bloodless,
except in a small degree—just as it should have been, if he could
not make victims of those he was sent to punish.
The third expedition of this campaign, which has generally been
lost sight of by historians, was that of Gen. Broadhead. He left
Fort Pitt in August with six hundred men, and destroyed several
Mingo and Muncey tribes living on the Allegany, French Creek,
and other tributaries of the Ohio.
The heavy artillery that Gen. Sullivan brought as far as Newton,
would indicate that Niagara was originally the destination. There
the General and his officers, seeing how long it had taken to reach
i84
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PURCHASE.
that point, in all probability determined that too much of the season
had been wasted, to allow of executing their tasks in the Indian
country, making their roads and moving the army and all its ap-
pointments to Niagara before the setting in of winter. Besides, before
the army had reached the valley of the Chemung, the fact was
ascertained that there would be a failure in a contemplated junction
with the army under Gen. Broadhead.
After the expedition of Gen. Sullivan, the Indians never had any
considerable permanent re-occupancy of their villages east of the
Genesee river. They settled down after a brief flight, in their
villages on the west side of the river in the neighborhood of Gen-
eseo, Mt. Morris and Avon, and at Gardeau, Canadea, Tonawahda,
. Tuscarora, Buffalo Creek, Cattaraugus and Allegany. For retreats
of the Johnsons, Butler and their troops, see narrative of William
Hincher, in subsequent pages; and for Gen. Washington’s official
account of Sullivan’s expedition, as copied from the manuscripts
of a Revolutionary officer for the History of the Holland Purchase,
see Appendix, No. 3.
Note.—The author derives from James Otis Esq. of Perry, Wyoming County, a
more satisfactory account of the retreat of the Indians upon the Genesee River, than
he has seen from any other source. He became acquainted with Mary Jemison in
1810. She told him that when Sullivan’s army was approaching the place of her resi-
dence, Little Beard’s Town, the Indians retreated upon the Silver Lake trail. When
about two miles from the Lake they halted to await expected re-inforcements from
Buffalo Creek. They had a white person with them that they hung by bending down
a small tree, fastening to it a bark halter they had around ms neck, and letting it fly
back; thus suspending their victim in the air. The bones and the bent tree attested
the truth of the relation long after white settlements commenced. Reinforcements
from Buffalo arrived, a council was held which terminated in the conclusion that they
were too weak to risk an attack of Sullivan. When their invaders had retreated, the
great body of the Indians went back to the sites of their old villages upon the River.
Mrs. Jemison, went around on the west side of Silver Lake, and then down to Gardeau
flats, where she found two negroes living that had raised some corn. She husked com
for the negroes and earned enough to supply her family with bread, until the next
harvest This occupancy continued, Mrs. Jemison had the Gardeau tract granted to
her at the Morris treaty.PART SECOND
CHAPTER I.
OUR IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS----THE SENECAS — WITH A GLANCE AT
THE IROaUOIS.
It is not the design of this work to embrace a detailed account of
the Five Nations. The Senecas, however, the Tsonnontouans of
French chronicle, wTho guarded the western door of the Long
House, looking out on the Great Lakes, demand a passing notice, as
we are approaching a series of events connected with the “ par-
tition ” of their wide and beautiful domain.
In common with the red races, they are the “ autochthonoi ” of the
soil — “ fresher from the hand that formed of earth the human
face/' than the present rulers of the land that was once theirs.
On their hunting grounds, the pioneers of the Genesee country,
preparatory to settlement, kindled their camp-fires. Our clustering
cities and villages are on the sites of their ancient castles, forts and
places of burial. In the vallies where they lived, and on hills
where blazed their beacons, a people with the best blood of Europe
in their veins, at one and the same time, are founding halls of learn-
ing, and gathering in the golden harvests. The early annals of
their occupation, to which the reader is soon to be introduced, are
intimately blended with this once powerful and numerous branch
of the Iroquois confederacy, that furnished under the toteuiic
bond, at the era of confederation, two of the presiding law-givers
and chiefs.#
An opinion prevails, that the guardians of the Eastern Door, the
Mohawks; or, as called by their brethren, “Do-de-o-gah,” or
Documentary History.86	PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PUECHASE.
“message bearers,” were the most warlike; but a careful exami-
nation of history and the pages of Jesuit journals, establishes the
fact, that the Senecas were not their inferiors in every martial at-
tribute, and were always represented at a general gathering of the
clans, in time of danger, by a more formidable force. There is no
foundation for the remark of Buchanan, speaking in reference to
the Mohawks, that their allies neither made war or peace without
their consent.
Unquestionable proof is on record, that the fierce Senecas were
not always governed in their action by the general voice at Onon-
daga. Sternly independent, they some times took up arms, when
the other tribes, to use an Indian metaphor, sate smoking in quiet
on their mats. After the rapid decline of French ascendancy on
this continent, and many of the tribes beheld with terror the gov-
ernment of Canada falling into English hands, the Senecas, un-
daunted by the danger, adhered with dogged obstinacy, to the
vanquished.
For a time, they were in alliance with Pontiac, and played a
conspicuous part with the great “ Ottawa ” in his plan of surprising
a cordon of posts in the Lake country, and exterminating the
£ dogs in red clothing,” that guarded them. This statement does
not rest on vague conjecture, or blind tradition. By reference to
the British Annual Register, for 1764, we learn that on the 3d of
April, 1763, Sir William Johnson concluded at Johnson Hall, on
the Mohawk, preliminary articles oi peace with eight deputies of
the Seneca nation, which alone of the Iroquois league, had joined
Pontiac. While the proud and conquering Mohawks imposed
tribute on the Mohegans, and scoured the pine-forests of distant
Maine in pursuit of flying foes, westward the track of the Senecas
was literally marked in blood. The Neuter Nation, with homes on
both sides of the Niagara, were “ blotted from the things that be
and the Eries, after a brave resistance, destroyed — the prize of
conquest, the loveliest portion of our trans-Genessean country.
The barren coast of Superior, a thousand miles away frofti their
great council-fire, was trodden by their warriors.
The Illinois turned pale at their approach on the shores of
the Mississippi, and no hatchets were redder than theirs in the
Herculean task of humbling the Lenni Lenapes, and for ever
hushing into silence their boasting tongues.PHELPS AHD GORHAM’s PURCHASE.	87
The Chippewas, a valiant people, discomfitted and utterly dis-
mayed by their prowess, fled like hunted deer to the remote vil-
lages of the Sioux. The long and bloody wars waged by the Five
Nations with the Southern tribes, owed, their origin to an attack
made on the Senecas in one of their distant expeditions to the
south west, by a party of Cherokees. The war-post was at once
struck, and the confederates joined with their injured brethren in
resenting the insult, and taming the pride of their wily antagonists.
Though a vast extent of territory lay between the hunting grounds
of the latter and the central fire of their cantons, the dreaded
war-whoop of the Iroquois w.as heard on the banks of the Talla-
poosa and Ocmulgee. Forbidding wilds, draped in the long gray
moss of milder latitudes, and swampy fastnesses, the savage haunts
of the alligator and terrapin, were explored by the infuriated in-
vaders.
Nature opposed no barrier to a triumphant campaign, and dis-
tance was no obstacle in the fearful work of retaliation.
Hiokatoo, the renowned husband of the “White Woman;” was a
leader in one of these wild forays, and when a gray-haired ancient,
cheered many a listening circle at his lodge fire, with a narrative
of his exploits on that occasion.
Individuals of* Cherokee extraction, still reside on the Tonawan-
da Reservation. They trace their descent to captives, saved from
torture at the stake, and adopted as tribesmen by their victors.
I must differ from many writers, misled by Heckewelder, in the
opinion that compared with surrounding nations, the Iroquois were
not a superior race of men. No primitive people can boast of
nobler war captains, than Kan-ah-je-a-gah, Hon-ne-ya-was, Brant,
Hendrick and Skenandoah; — no abler orators and statesmen than
Dekanissora, Canassetego, Logan and Red Jacket.
When the adventurous Frenchmen first set foot on Canadian soil,
in 1603, he found the tribes of the League settled near Hochelaga,
on the site of Montreal. Previous to this eventful period, they were
said to have been a peaceful and happy people — more inclined to
till the earth than follow the war-path. The unprovoked encroach-
ment of the Adirondacks on their land — a powerful nation residing
300 mile^ above Trois-Rivieres, at length woke their latent energies,
and roused their martial qualities. After their expulsion from the
banks of the St. Lawrence, one of America’s mighty arteries, and88	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE. /
conquering the Satanas in their migrations, they laid the founda-
tion of empire on the borders of our beautiful Lakes. Seasoned,
like Caesar’s veterans, by hardship, long marches and victory, they
bravely resisted the inroads of their old enemies, the Hurons and
Adirondacks. Though inferior in physical force, they made ample
amends therefor, by the exercise of greater prudence, and superior
strategy. Fighting in small detached parties, and under intrepid
leaders, they struck blows in remote points, at one and the same
moment of time, producing a general panic and surprise.
In turn, assuming the offensive, they drove back the invaders,
disheartened and discomfitted, to the neighborhood of Quebec.
Then came the tug of war. Through the intervention of Jesuit
influence, so puissant in the 17th century, that Kings and Pontiffs
submitted to its dictation, the French colonists formed an alliance
with the vanquished tribes. Supplied with more deadly weapons —
the fire-locks of civilization —the Algonquin and Huron again
struggled for the mastery. By consulting Golden, we learn that
previous to the conflict between Champlain and the Iroquois, on the
Lake that bears his name, the latter had never heard the thunder
or seen the lightning of the pale faces. Though defeated on that
occasion, they were not humbled; all fear of consequences was
merged in a feeling of deep and deadly exasperation. The re-
doubtable Champlain himself, was doomed a few years after to feel
the heavy weight of their vengeance. # Incautiously laying siege
to one of their forts on Onondaga Lake, in October, 1615, he was
twice wounded by arrows, and forced to retire in disgrace with his
motley array of French and Indians.
He who foils, in hard encounter, a dexterous swordsman, with
an oaken staff, gives proof of matchless address and prowess—•
and the fact that the Five Nations, recovering from the effects of a
first surprise, boldly maintained their ground, even at this period,
and often played an aggressive part, proves their native superiority,
and gives them indisputable right to their own haughty term of
designation — “ On-gui-hion-wi ” — men without peers.
French interference, in behalf of their old and implacable foes,
only developed the genius of their Sachems, and attested the devo-
tion of their warriors.
* 0. H. Marshall’s able.address before the Young Men’s Association at Buffalo.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	89
It was extremely impolitic on the part of the Canadian colony,
far from the resources of the mother country, thus in a state of in-
fancy, to provoke the hate of unconquerable tribes. The Charis-
toone, or Iron Workers, as they termed their neighbors, the Dutch,
and after their decline, the English, supplied the Konoshioni with
ammunition and arms. Jealous of French influence, they encouraged
them to wage a war that should ask no quarter, and know no end-
ing, until Canada was depopulated. Then blacker grew the tem-
pestfrom the pine plains of Ske-nec-ta-da to the great Lake,
a gathering-cry was heard, that rang through the arches of the
forest, more dreadful than the panther’s scream. Towns and out-
posts were burned — the Carignan was struck down at his door-
stone, and the settler scalped in the midst of his clearing. Neither
age nor sex was spared.
The fur-trader found a red grave in the wilderness; even the
sentinel was shot pacing his rounds, and the unwary batteauman
dyed with his heart’s best blood the waters of Cataracqui.
French America, through the administration of successive Vice-
roys of Louis XIV., atoned for her folly in the dispersion of her
Abenaqui — the sack of Montreal —the defeat of her faithful
Huron® under the guns of Quebec, and humiliating irruptions of a
foe that overran the province, to use the strong figure of her annal-
ists, “ as a torrent does the low-lands, when it overflows its banks,
and there is no withstanding it.”
Compare for a moment the Atahualpas and Huan Capacs of
Peruvian history, with the dreaded founders and rulers of this
Aboriginal League. Though mighty armies came at their call,
resplendant with gold and blazing with jewels, they were routed by
Pizarro, with a few horsemen at his back. Charging steed and
shouting rider—deemed by the silly natives one animal, like the
Centaur of fable — rattling gun and the blast of the trumpet
subdued them with a terror that no appeal to patriotism could
overcome. In sight of their homes and altars, thousands were
slain like unresisting sheep, the survivors bowing their necks to the
yoke, and looking tamely on, while their heart-broken Incas suffer-
ed ignominious death. The mighty empire of the Aztecs had ex-
perienced a few years before, the same disastrous fate ; it crumbled
away, as it were, in a night; the splendor of its adorning more ef-
fectually insuring its destruction.
690
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
The romantic valor of a few Castilian adventurers, outweighed
in the scale of conflict, the countless multitudes that opposed them.
Montezuma and Guatimozin, after all, were nothing more than
royal shadows, notwithstanding their patient martyrdom.
The sceptred phantoms invoked by the weird sisters were less
frail and unsubstantial, for they inspired fear — extorting this shud-
dering cry from a tyrant and regicide, bloody and false like Cortez —
"Let this pernicious hour
Stand, aye, accursed in the calendar.’*
Of different mould and mettle, were the Sachems and Attotarhos
of the Five Nations. They were endowed with the will to dare —
the hand to execute. Their Garangulas and Decanissoras — their
Oundiagas and Karistageas united to indomitable courage, talents
for negotiation, and resistless eloquence.
Less brilliant than banded states that paid s\dbmissive tribute to
the Aztec emperor, there was more stability anchstrengtlr in their
unwritten compact of union. Though a mere handful, compared
with the swarming and priest-ridden slaves of Mexico, they posses-
sed an inherent valor and spirit of independence, that submitted to
no wrong, and brooked no rivalry. Seldom in the field with more
than a thousand warriors, they went forth conquering and to con-
quer — bound by an heraldic tie that evoked a deeply-rooted senti-
ment of regard and national pride.
Less formidable by far was Spanish inroad at the extreme south
than French military power on this continent so vainly exerted,
under De Nonville and Frontenac, to overawe and subdue them,
“ and it can scarcely be deemed fanciful to assert,” says a dis-
tinguished writer, # “ that had Hernando Cortez entered the Mohawk
valley instead of that of Mexico, with the force he actually had, his
ranks would have gone down under the skilfulness of the Iroquois
ambuscades, and himself perished ingloriously at the stake.”
Wherever they were urged onward by a martial impulse and
ardor that no difficulties could lessen or abate — whether traversing
the Appalachian chain or western prairie -r- the fame of their ex-
ploits preceeding them, created panic, and paralized resistance.
Though thinned in number by long and bloody wars, they were fear-
fully formidable in modern times: foes in our revolutionary struggle,
Schoolcraft.91
PHELPS AHD GOBHAM’s PUBCHASE.
they proved their devotion to their British Father at Wyoming,
Minnisink and mournful Oriskany — friends at a later epoch, of our
Union, they followed Oundiaka and Honneyawas to the red field of
Chippewa. At all periods of their history — flushed with triumph, or
clouded by disaster — there has been no decay of hereditary valor.
Whether known as ‘ Massawomekes’ to the southerner ‘Na-
dowa’ to the western Tribes, they were alike terrible and invinci-
ble. A more splendid race of savages never launched their war-
canoes on our streams, or drew bow in our forests ; and a wild mag-
namity throws light on their darker traits, in their practical applica-
tion of the motto, “parcere subjectos, et extirpare superbos.” Hu-
manity blushes to recall the scenes of rape and hellish licence that
have followed the storming of towns, and sack of cities in the old world,
but an Iroquois warrior was never known to violate the chastity of
a female prisoner.
Often a chivalric spirit gave an air of romance to their native
daring. After a successful foray into an enemy’s country, pursu-
ers on the trail, finding their gage of mortal defiance, would move
with greater circumspection. Like the generous reptile whose
dread rattle arrests the step of the hunter, significant tokens dropped
by the way, warned foemen to retire, or expect no mercy at their
hands. Thus in 1696, when Frontenac’s army was on the Oswego,
two bundles of cut rushes, in their line of march, a numerical sign,
conveyed the startling intelligence that more than fourteen hundred
warriors were on the watch for their coming.
Not less haughty and heroic was their conduct in 1779, when re-
tiring before the greatly superior force of Sullivan. They bent a
tree, and twisted its rugged top around the trunk, as an emblem of
their own situation —- bent but not broken — smitten, but not over-
thrown.
Though all the tribes of aboriginal America were competitors; the
palm for greatest manifestation of mental power would be awarded
to this extraordinary people. The principle of unity that banded
them together, offspring of profound policy that lifts them above the
hunter state — their love of liberty that scorned submission to foreign
control; their ability to cope, in council, with the most skillful diplo-
matists of a boasted civilization — the wonderful eloquence of their
orators, challenging comparison with the finest periods of Demos-
thenes— their self-reliance that laughed at the menaces of kings —92
PHELPS AND UORHAm’s PURCHASE.
their long adherence to one great plan of conquest; —bear witness
that they were a highly-gifted race, and may well make them objects
of intense interest to the poet, philosopher and historian. The climate
enjoyed, and the country occupied by them were favorable to the de-
velopement of a noble manhood. Their broad domain was irrigated
by streams whose rich alluvial bottoms rewarded the rudest tillage
with a full supply of golden maize; its forests abounding in animals of .
chase — bear, bounding deer, majestic moose and elk — furnished"
their lodge boards with venison; and the lovely lakes that spotted its
rolling surface, paid rich tribute to the bark-net, and barbed spear of
the fisherman.
Man owes many of his characteristics to the scenes amid which
he is nursed, and the grand, geographical features of Iroquois em-
pire were sources to its upholders and lords, of high, ennobling
thought. Rivers rushing to find a level “either in the gulfs of St.
Lawrence and Mexico, or in the intermediate shores of the Atlan-
tic ” — Erie and Ontario, those lonely worlds of waters, that border-
ed on the north and west, with a blue belt, their hunting grounds;
the Adirondack chain, with its deep gorges, vapory cones, and
splintered cliffs — old mossy woods, where the mysterious winds
awoke their wildest music; glades basking in the light, and glens,
where reigned at noon-day a sepulchral gloom; and, more than
all, the mighty Cataract of Niagara, singing an eternal anthem at
the western door of their Long House; were sights and solunds that
found a reflex and an echo, not only in their magnificent traditions,
but in the sublime imagery and symbolic phraseology of their
orators. Previous to the overthrow of the Neuter Nation, and
subsequent to that event, of the Eries, the Seneca country extended
westward to the Genesee. After that period they were undisputed
masters of the soil from the valley of Pleasant Water, to the banks
of the De-o-se-o-wa, or Buffalo Creek. Disputes have arisen among
antiquarians, as to the question whether the Kah-kwahs and Eries
were one and the same people. All Indian history proves that a
tribe is often known by diverse names in their own tongue, as well
as in different dialects. For example, referring to their position, the
Senecas were called “ Swan-ne-ho-ont,” (door on the hinge)—-in
reference to the place of their origin— an elevated point at the
head of Canandaigua Lake, “ Nun-do- wa-ga,” or people of the Hill.
Whether known as Allegan, Erie, or Kah-kwah, the western door-phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	93
keepers struggled many years in vain to give the Long House
of the League a greater extension. For the first time since quitting
their Canadian seats, on the St. Lawrence and its tributaries, were
they checked in their march toward the setting sun. Their rivals
in arms were inclined, while hand could wield hatchet, not to sur-
render without a blow the broad spreading chase-grounds of their
fathers: — and a glorious land it was — a Canaan of the wilderness
— well worth the bloody sacrifice that was made by a luckless and
gallant people in defending the integrity of its soil. Opposed to
them was a foe, renowned throughout the nations, for courage, en-
durance, enterprise and boundless ambition.
The latter assign as cause of war, the defeat of the Kah-kwahs
in ball playing, and other athletic sports, though the challenging
party.
I am inclined to believe, however, that the Senecas *were the ag-
gressors,— competitors for the spoils in one of those games of life
and death that the human race, savage and civilized, have played in
all ages and in all lands.
Their fierce and restless natures could ill bear aught that blocked
the way to a more extended rule: — bounds to their supremacy,
westward, were not to be found on the Genesee, while beyond its
channel lay one of the fairest gardens of this western World. It
was an easy task for their subtle minds to frame a pretext —a much
harder one for their strong right arms to wrest a priceless heritage
from its heroic defenders.
In August of the year 1653, Father Le Moyne — known among
red men as Ondessonk — visited the Onondagas, and found them
bitterly bewailing the loss that the confederacy had sustained in the
massacre of the great Seneca Chief “ An-nen-cra-os ” by their
enemies, the Kah-kwahs. The war raged for a time without any
very disastrous result to either party.
Unaided by their eastern brethren, the Senecas, however, triumph-
ed in the first general engagement— unmistakeable proof of their
high, martial qualities ; for their opponents displayed a desperate
hardihood, on that day, worthy of a more fortunate issue.
Some writers are of opinion, that the battle was fought near the
Honeoye outlet, and midway between Canandaigua Lake and the
Genesee River: —others locate the scene of carnage more than a
day’s march from the old village of Cannewaugus, in a westward94	phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
direction. The place of final conflict is better known. Leaving
more than half of their warriors, pierced by the shafts, and crushed
by the war clubs of the conquerors, the survivors fled to their prin-
cipal village, and strong-hold on the De-o-se-o-wa.
Reinforced by their allies, the Senecas pursued and attacked them
in their fortress. After a brave resistance a feeble remnant of the
once haughty Eries fled from their old hearth-stones and possessions
to an Island of the Allegany ; but a foe was on their trail, truer
than the sleuth-hound when he has tasted blood. The unhappy
fugitives, surprised in their encampment, fled down the river, under
cover of night, losing forever in distant wilds, their identity as a
nation. A few, saved from the general slaughter and dispersion,
were adopted by the confederates ; for by this politic course, they
in part, repaired the dreadful ravages of war, and postponed the
dismal hour of their own inevitable declension and fall.
I cannot forbear, in my brief sketch of their extirpation, from
closing in the eloquent words of my friend Marshall: — “ They are
a people of whom there is scarcely a memorial, save the name of
the Lake that washes the shore they ruled. Fit mausoleum of aft
extinct tribe! Even the vague tradition that transmits their mem-
ory, will soon be lost, with the last remnant of the ‘ Nun-de-wa-gas*
that swept them from existence/’
Enraged by continued infraction of their territory, during the ad-
ministration of De la Barre, by the passage of French trading
parties to the south west, laden with material to arm their enemies,
the Senecas began hostilities by wresting from them their powder
and lead — seizing their canoes, and dismissing them, homeward,
with threats of torture and death if they ever returned. In his in-
structions to the French Governor, on receipt of the alarming intelli-
gence, Louis XIV. recommended a prompt invasion of the hostile
country, and directed that all prisoners of war taken in the cam-
paign, when opportunity offered, should be shipped to France, re-
marking, in his despatch, that “the Iroquois, being stout and robust,
would serve, with advantage in his galleys/
What plan, by the rash Bourbon, could have been devised, I ask,
more certain than this to undermine his sovreignty on this conti-
nent? An attempt to enslave a high spirited race, that preferred
liberty to life, was a long stride, on the part of French America,
towards certain destruction. Captives, treacherously seized, were,,	PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PUKCHASE.	95
actually carried to France, in pusuranee of royal policy, and forced
into degrading service.
At a subsequent period they were liberated and laden with pres-
ents, brought back to Canada. But the dragon-teeth had been sown,
and it was too late to hope for a burial of the hatchet. The insult
was one that the Five Nations would neither forget nor forgive :—
and many were the bloody scalps that soon hung drying in the
smoke of their wigwams. De la Barrels expedition to La Famine,
or Hungry Bay, in compliance with the royal pleasure, was attended
by disastrous results. A terrible distemper broke out in his camp,
and the half-famished troops, spurning restraints of discipline, clamor-
ed for speedy departure to their homes.
While thus in a condition to become an easy prey for enemies,
ever on the watch,-he endeavored to achieve by diplomacy what he
could not effect by force. Messengers were sent entreating the Five
Nations to meet him in council on the shore of the Lake.
The Mohawks and Senecas returned a haughty refusal, but the
remaining tribes complied with his request. The speech of Garan-
gula, on that occasion, has been justly deemed a master-piece of
argument and eloquence.
De la Barre had indulged in idle bravado, thinking that his real
situation was unknown to his eagle-eyed adversary ; and nothing
could have astonished him more than the picture drawn by the
sarcastic chief, of his utter inability to strike a blow — or more
galling to a soldier’s pride, than the taunting language that he em-
ployed :
H Hear, Yonnondio! our women had taken their clubs, our chil-
dren and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart
of your camp, if our. warriors had not disarmed them, and kept
them back.”
Soon after this signal exposure of his weakness, the Governor
returned to Canada, with a dispirited army, and a tarnished reputa-
tion.
The Marquis De Nonville, successor of De la Barre, though an
accomplished officer, was taught a still sterner lesson in 1687. In
July of that year, with two thousand regulars and militia, and a
thousand friendly Indians, he landed at “ O-nyui-da-on-da-gwat,” or
Irondequoil Bay. The plan of campaign was to attack the dread-
ed “ Long-house,”at a point never before invaded, by securing96	phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
greater chances of success. In crushing the Senecas, justly re-
garded the most ferocious and formidable of the Five Nations,
the Marquis hoped to curb the pride, and paralize the power of
their strong League for ever. Great glory would also accrue to
his name, in conquering a region, and annexing it to the crown
of France, unsurpassed in beauty and fertility, “of regular sea-
sons,mild of climate, intersected by numerous lakes and rivers,
and said, by writers of the period, to be “capable of bearing all
the fruits of Touraine- and Provence.”
In addition, by erecting a fort at “ the extremity of a tongue of
land between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario,” he intended to
secure uninterrupted command of the great lakes, monopolize the
beaver trade, and furnish a place ot rendezvous and supplies for the
savage allies of France in their wars with the Iroquois.
After building a redoubt, manned by several companies, to pro-
tect the canoes and batteaux, four hundred in number, De Non-
ville put his army in motion. Warned of the danger, the main
body of the Seneca warriors hastened to remove their old men,
women and children to places of safety, leaving a hundred picked
men at a small fort to act as a corps of observation, and closely
watch the progress of the invaders.
The latter, informed that “Yonnondio” wTas on the war-path,
sent runners to their friends, and 350 young men turned back to
give him a suitable reception.
An ambuscade was skillfully laid on a small wooded hill, about
half a mile from the Indian castle of Ganagarro, at the foot of
which was a deep and dangerous defile.
The scouts of the army, on the second day of their march, passed
without being molested, or observing their crafty enemies, even to
the corn fields of the village. The lions of the Genesee lay
crouched in their hidden lair, to pounce on more formidable prey.
No note of alarm being heard, command was given to centre and
wings to quicken their movements. Thinking that the braves of
the nation had fled, and that they would meet with no opposition,
the French plunged rashly into the defile. While in confused array,
the dreaded and blood-curdling war whoops of the Iroquois rang in
their ears, followed by a heavy volley of musketry. While their
bravest went down under the close discharge, the foremost ranks
recoiled; then, emulating French speed at the “ Battle of the spurs,”PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
97
shamefully fled, disorganizing the whole line, and carrying dismay
in their course. “Battalions,” — says La Hon tan, a spectator, and
the historian of the fight — “ separated into platoons, that ran with'
out order, pell-mell, to the right and left, not knowing whither they
went .” A more vivid picture of utter overthrow for the time, and
the contagion of fear, could not be drawn.
Before the panic subsided, the Senecas broke cover, and charged
the flying foe, tomahawk in hand.
Many of the fugitives were slain, but the pursuers followed too
far, losing the advantage of a thick wood, and strong position. Such
was their paucity of numbers, that they could only for a brief period
make head against a host. By rallying his routed troops, and
making a combined attack of regulars, militia and Indians, De Non-
ville checked the Senecas, and after a valiant stand, and desperate
efforts to stem the refluent tide of conflict, they were compelled
reluctantly to give way.
Spartan prowess could have done no more. A General, thirty
years in service, and a favorite officer of “the Magnificent Louis,”
had been surprised; his savage hordes, colonial levies, and veteran
regiments disordered, charged and driven back by a much smaller
force than his own rear-guard — and only saved, by overwhelming
numbers, from the crowning disgrace of a disastrous defeat.
Though repulsed, the Senecas were not disheartened, and when
challenged, in their retreat, to stand and fight, halted on the brow
of a hill, and replied: — “ Come on, four hundred to our four hun-
dred, and we have but a hundred men, and three hundred boys, and
we will fight you hand to fist.” # It is unnecessary to remark that
the proposition was not accepted, for we have French authority for
saying that the Iroquois were more skillful in the use of the gun
than Europeans, f
If De Nonville was the chivalrous soldier and Christian, that
Charlevoix represents him to have been, he left his good name be*
hind him in this unfortunate expedition. In his report of the battle
he has mingled much that is obviously false, an act unworthy of a
gallant gentleman; and he little honored the Christian character,
by permiting his wampum-decked allies, whose poltroonry was only
* Doc. “His.” Vol. 7, p. 248.
t Doc. “His.” p. 231.98
PHELPS AND GORHAM S PURCHASE.
surpassed by their horrid barbarities, to torture the helpless and
wounded, breathing defiance to the lost, that fell into his hands.
How can we reconcile with common ideas of honor, his official
statement, that the skulking Ottawas performed their duty admirably
in the action, with a passage in his published letter to the Minister,
in which he bitterly denounces their cowardice and cruelly ? How
can we reconcile his idle, and vain-glorious claim to an almost
bloodless victory, with La Hontan’s, that besides twenty-two woun-
ded, an hundred Frenchmen, and ten savages were slain ?
The Baron’s honest narrative, so little flattering to the military
pride of his countrymen, is corroborated, in the main, by other
witnesses of the engagement. Well might an indignant savage,
in view of their utter inefficiency to cope with the “ Western Ro-
mans,” sneeringly exclaim, that “they were only fit to make war on
Indian corn, and bark canoes; ” for there is proof on record, that
the French officers, at Mount Royal, jeered one another for being
appalled by the Seneca war whoop to such a degree, as to fall
terror-stricken and powerless to the ground. #
The memory of illustrious women who have matched, in defence
of altar and hearth, the deeds of the sterner sex, has been enshrined
in song, and honored by the Historic Muse. Joan of Arc, and the
dark-eyed maid of Saragossa, in all coming time, will be chivalric
watchwords for France and Spain, but not less worthy of record,
and poetic embalmment, were the five devoted heroines who followed
their red lords to the battle-field, near ancient Ganagarro, and
fought with unflinching resolution by their sides, f Children of
such wives could not be otherwise than valiant. “ Bring back your
shield, or be brought upon it,” was the Spartan mother’s stern in-
junction to her son; but, roused to a higher pitch of courage, the
wild daughters of the Genesee stood in the perilous pass, and, in
defence of their forest homes, “turned not back from the sword —
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.”
The results of this ill-conceived irruption into the Seneca can-
ton, though preceded by months of busy preparation, great con-
sumption of material, and attended by the pomp and parade of war,
may be summed up. in few words.
* Doc. “His.” Yol. 1, p. 246.
t Doc. “His.” Yol. 1, p. 248.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PTJECHASE.
99
A battle was fought in which the field was won by the French —
the glory by their foe. Then a few unarmed prisoners were tor-
tured, corn fields laid waste, and bark villages burned, followed by
alarms that caused a precipitate retreat to their boats, harrassed
every step of the way by hovering parties in pursuit. Embarking
at Irondequoit, after the loss of about twenty men,# they coasted
along the Lake, leaving a feeble garrison at Niagara to defend an
isolated post.
The greater part of them, soon after, including the commander,
De Troyes, while closely besieged by the Iroquois, fell victims
within their stockade, to the not less fearful assaults of famine and
disease.
CHAPTER II.
CONFLICTING CLAIMS TO WESTERN NEW YORK-----INDIAN TREATIES---
THE LESSEE COMPANY — THE MILITARY TRACT.
In the treaty of peace of 1783, which ended the Revolutionary
war, England, forgetful of their obligations to the Six Nations,
ipost of whom had served them faithfully, as the devastated fron-
tier settlements fully attested, made no provisions for their allies;
but left them to the mercy or discretion of those against whom they
had carried on a long and sanguinary warfare. ' “ The ancient
country of the Six Nations, the residence of their ancestors, from
the time far beyond their earliest traditions, was included in the
boundary granted to Americans.” f According to the usages of
* “We have the news of Keman, that the Indians have taken 8 men, 1 woman, 8
crowns or scalps, and kiHed near upon 20 men at the place where the Barks lay.”
£Maj. Schuyler to Gov. Dongan, Doc. His. v. 1 p. 255.
t Memorial of the Six Nations, presented to Lord Camden.100
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
war and the laws of civilized nations, they were a conquered peo-
ple, and their country forfeited to the conqueror. But the authori-*
ties of our General and State Governments did not choose to apply
so stringent a rule to the simple natives, who were unlearned in
reference to the position in which their action in the war had pla-
ced them, and had been the dupes of their unprincipled, ungrateful,
and neglectful employers. A strong disposition prevailed in the
state to regard their lands a forfeit — especially among those who
had suffered most at their hands; at one period, the State Legisla-
ture entertained such a proposition — with so much favor, that it
is probable it would have prevailed, but for the decided opposition of
General Schuyler, aided by the influence of Washington, with the
General Government. A different course was dictated by a feeling
of humanity, as well as that of economy; for renewed war and
conquest would have been far more expensive than peace negotia-
tion and purchase proved to be. The wiser and better policy
prevailed.
The cessation of hostilities on the part of those to whom they had
lately been allies, left them in an enfbarrassing position. England
had made a peace, and left her allies in the field to fight it out, or
seek a peace upon their own account. British perfidy has seldom
been more clearly exhibited.
Previous to the cession by all the states, of lands within their
boundaries to the General Government, the respective rights of
General and State Governments were but illy defined; and so far
as this State was concerned, especially, a collision was had. As
early as April, 1784, the Legislature of this State passed an act,
making the Governor and a Board of commissioners the Superin-
tendents of Indian affairs. The commissioners designated were: —
Abraham Cuyler, Peter Schuyler, Henry Glen, who associated with
them, Philip Schuyler, Robert Yates, Abraham Ten Broeck, A.
Yates, jr., P. W. Yates, John J. Beekman, Mathew Vischer, Gen.
Ganesvoort. , Governor George Clinton, as the head of the Board,
assumed the laboring oar of negotiation. The services of the mis-
Note—Had a different course been pursued, the Indians "would have called to
their aid some of the western nations, and prolonged the war. The venerable chief
Blacksnake, now an hundred years old, residing upon the Allegany Reservation, in-
sists that the Six Nations went to the treaty of Fort Stanwix, not as a conquered
oeople sueing for peace, but with arms in their hands.PHELPS &m GOBHAM1S PUBCHASE.
101
sionary, the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, of Peter Ryckman, Jacob Reed,
James Deane, Major Fonda, Col. Wemple, Major Fry, Col. Van
Dyke, — most of whom had been Indian traders or captives — were
enlisted. Peter Ryckman became to the Board, a species of
“ winged Mercury,” flying from locality to locality-— now at Oneida,
then at Ranadesaga, then at Niagara, consulting with Brant; and
next at Albany, reporting the result of his conferences with the
statesmen and diplomatists of the forest. The time and place
of a treaty was partially agreed upon.
In the mean time, Congress had contemplated a general treaty
with the Indians, bordering upon the settlements in New York,
Pennsylvania and Ohio; and had appointed as its commissioners,
Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee. A correspond-
ence took place between the New York Board and the Commis-
sioners of.the United States, in which the question of jurisdiction,
the respective rights to treat with the Indians, was seriously involv-
ed. The New York Commissioners found the Indians generally
averse to treating with a State, but generally disposed to meet the
“ Thirteen Fires,” and hold a treaty of peace jointly with their
people of some of the western nations. Most of the spring and
summer of 1784, was consumed by endeavors of the New York
Board to get a council of the Six Nations convened. Qn the first
of September, they met at Fort Schuyler ~ deputies from the Mo-
hawks, Cayugas, Onondagas and Senecas. The Oneidas and Tus-
caroras held back; but deputations from them, were brought in by
runners on the third day. The deputies of these two nations were
first addressed by Governor Clinton. He assured them of a dis-
position to be at peace; disclaimed any intention to deprive them
of their lands; proposed a settlement of boundaries; and warned
them against disposing of their lands to other than commissioners
regularly appointed by the State of New York, who would treat
with them for lands, when they were disposed to sell them. In re-
ply to this speech, a delegate of the two nations expressed their
gratification that the war had ended, and that they could now meet
and “smoke the pipe of peace.” “You have come up,” said he,
“ what has been an untrodden path to you for many years; and
this path which you have seen as you have come along, has been
strewed with blood. We, therefore, in our turn, console your loss-
es and sorrows during these troublesome times. We rejoice that102
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
you have opened the path of peace to this country/’ He thanked
the commissioners for their advice to the Oneidas and Tuscaroras,
not to listen to individuals who proposed the purchase of their
lands.
At this stage of the council, the Cayuga and Tuscarora chiefs
exhibited a letter from the commissioners of Congress, The letter
was read. It informed the Indians that they, the commissioners,
were appointed by Congress “ to settle a general peace with all the
Indian nations, from the Ohio to the Great Lake ”, — that the Gov-
ernor of New York had no authority from Congress; but as he had
invited the Indians to assemble at Fort Stanwix, on the 20th of
September, the commissioners, to save the trouble of two councils,
would alter the determination of holding their council at Niagara,
and meet them at For Stanwix on the day named.
Gov. Clinton next addressed the “ Sachems and warriors of the
Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.” He assured them
that what was a colony had become a State; that he and his friends
had met them to open the paths of peace, to establish that friendly
relation that existed between the Indians and their white neighbors
previous to the war. Some passages of the Governor’s speech was
as truly eloquent as any thing that will be found among our State
records. He said:	“ The council fires which was lighted both at
Albany and Onondaga by our ancestors and those of the Six Na-
tions, which burned so bright, and shone w7ith so friendly alight
over our common country, has unhappily been almost extinguished
by the late war with Great Britain. I now gather together at this
place the remaining brands, add fresh fuel, and with the true spirit
of reconciliation and returning friendship, rekindle the fire, in hopes
that no future events may ever arise to extinguish it; but that you
and we, and the offspring of us both, may enjoy its benign influence
as long as the sun shall shine, or waters flow.” In reference to
the letters of the commissioners of Congress, he assured them that
their business was with Indians residing out of any State; but that
New York had a right to deal with those residing within her boun-
daries.
The answer to the Governor’s speech was made by Brant. He
said that “ it meets with our dispositions and feelings of our minds.”
In reference to the respective claims of Congress and New York
to treat with the Indians, he thought it strange that “ there shouldPHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PUECHASE.	103
be two bodies to manage the same business.” Several speeches
folio wed,.Brant and Cornplanter being the spokesmen of the Indi-
ans. The utmost harmony prevailed; the Indian orators treating
all subjects adroitly, manifesting a disposition to make a treaty, but
evidently intending to stave off any direct action, until they met
in council the U. S. Commissioners. To a proposition from Gov.
Clinton, that the State of New York would look for a cession of
lands to help “ indemnify them for. the expenses and sacrifices of
the war;” they replied, admitting the justice of the claim, but say-
ing they were peace ambassadors, and had no authority to dispose
of lands. The council broke up after distributing presents, and
leaving the Indians a supply of provisions for subsistence while
waiting to meet the U.%. Commissioners.
The treaty of Fort Stanwix followed, conducted by the United
States Commissioners, Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur
Lee. No record of the proceedings exist in our public archives;
the general result is however known. Terms of peace were con-
cluded; the western boundaries of the Six Nations were so fixed
as to enlarge the “ carrying place” on the Niagara river they had
previously ceded to the King of Great Britian, and starting from
the mouth of Buffalo Creek, was to be a line running due south to
the northern boundary of Pennsylvania; thence west to the end of
said boundary; thence south along the west boundary of said State
to the river Ohio. The treaty was effected with considerable diffi-
culty, a large number of the Indians insisting that it should be gen-
eral, and embrace the western Indians, so that all questions of boun-
daries could be settled at once. Brant was absent, transacting
some business with the Governor of Canada. Had he been present,
it is doubtful whether any treaty would have been concluded. Red
Jacket, then a youth, made his first public speech, and as Levasseur,
(who derived his information from La Fayette,) says: — "His speech
was a masterpiece, and every warrior who heard him, was carried
Note.—La Fayette was present at the treaty of. Fort Stanwix. After the lapse of
forty years, the generous Frenchman, the companion of Washington, and the Seneca
orator, again met. The author was present at the interview. A concourse of citizens
had been assembled for nearly two days, awaiting the arrival of the steam boat from
Dunkirk, which had been chartered by the committee of Erie county, to convey La
Fayette to Buffalo, and among them was Bed Jacket. He made, as usual, a somewhat
ostentatious display of his medal—a gift from Washington — and it required the es-
pecial attention of a select committee to keep the aged chief from an indulgence —
a “sin that so easy beset him,”—which would have marred the dignity if not the104
PHELPS ARD GORHAM’s PURCHASE.
away with his eloquence.” He strongly protested against ceding
away the hunting grounds of his people at the west, and boldly
advocated a renewal of the war. The better councils of Corn-
planter, however, prevailed. The so highly extolled eloquence of
Red Jacket, had little in it of practicability. The Six Nations
agreed to surrender all of their captives, most of whom had been
brought to the treaty ground for that purpose. The commissioners
in behalf of the United States, guaranteed to the Six Nations the
quiet possession of the lands they occupied, which was recognized
as embracing all of New York, west of cessions they had made
under English dominion.
The next council of the commissioners of New York, after the
one that has been named, was convened at Fort Herkimer, in June
1785. This was with the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. Gov. Clinton
made an opening speech in which, after defining their rights, and
advising them that the State held the exclusive right to purchase,
informed them that it was understood they were prepared to sell
some of their lands south of the Unadilla; and if so, the commis-
sioners were ready to purchase. After nearly two days delibera-
tion, the Governor’s speech was replied to by “ Petrus, the minis-
ter.” The orator said his people were averse to parting with lands
— alluded to the frauds that had been practiced upon the Mohawks
before the Revolution; said “ the German Flats people when they
were poor, applied to us for lands and they were friends; but now
they are rich, they do not use us kindly.” The speech was one of
consummate ability; especially did the chief turn the tables upon the
Governor, in a frequent allusion to his former advice to the Indians
to keep their lands. Days of deliberation and speech making suc-
ceeded, the Indians making propositions to lease a small quantity of
land, then to sell a small quantity of their poorest lands, but failing
romance of the intended interview. The reception, the ceremonies generally, were
upon a staging erected in front of “ Rathbun’s Eagle.” After they were through with,
Red Jacket was escorted upon the staging, by a committee. “The Douglass in his
hall,”—himself in his native forest—never walked with a firmer step or a prouder
bearing ! There was the stoicism-of the Indian—seemingly, the condecension, if it
existed, was his, and not the “Ration’s Guest.” He addressed the General in his
native tongue, through an interpreter who was present. During the interview, La Fay-
ette not recognizing him, alluded to the treaty of Fort Stanwix: “And what” said
he, “has become of the young Seneca, who on that occasion so eloquently opposed
the burying of the tomahawk ? ” “Heis now before you,” replied Red Jacket The
circumstance, as the reader will infer, revived in the mind of La Fayette, the scenes
of the Revolution, and in his journey the next two days, his conversation was enrich-
ed by the reminiscences which it called up.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
105
to come up to what the commissioners required. In a speech made
by the Grasshopper, he alluded to the attempt the British agents
made during the war, to induce the Tuscaroras and Oneidas to join
them. He said: ■—“They told us by joining the Americans, we would
get lice, as they were only a lousy people; but however, although
they expressed the Americans were lousy, they have although lousy,
overcome their enemies.”
The commissioners finally succeeded in purchasing the land lying
between the Unadilla and Chenango Rivers, south of a line drawn
east and west through those streams, and north of the Pennsylva
nia line, &c., for which they paid ill,500, and distributed among
them a liberal amount of goods, trinkets and provisions. In finally
announcing the conclusion to sell the land, the Grasshopper said : —
“ This newTs about selling our lands will make a great noise in the
Six Nations, when they hear we have sold so much; and therefore
we hope we shall not be applied tcgany more for any of out* country.”
How was the future curtained before the simple backwood’s diplo-
matist ! Little, did he think that the narrow strip of land thus '
grudgingly and unwillingly parted with, would be added to, and
widened out, until his people were mostly shorn of their broad pos- !
sessions!
Here, in the order of time, it becomes necessary to notice jtwo^
hindrances that were interposed to temporarily delay the prelimin- *
ary measures for the advance of settlement westward from the
lower valley of the Mohawk, after the Revolution:—The Kings
of England and France were either poor geographers, or very
careless in their grants of territory in the new world. They gran-
ted what they never possessed, paid very little attention to each
other’s rights, and created cross or conflicting claims. In the year
1620, the King of Great Britain, granted to the Plymouth Compa-
ny a tract of country denominated New England, extending several
degrees of latitude north and South,.and from the Atlantic to the
Pacific ocean, east and west. A charter for the government of a
portion of this territory, granted by Charles 1^. in 1628, was vacated
in 1684, but a second charter was granted by William and.JMary
1691. The territory comprised in this second charter, extended on
the Atlantic ocean, from north latitude 42° 2, to 44° 15, and from
the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Charles I., in 1663$ granted to the
Duke of York and Albany, the province of New York, including
7106
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
.. the present State of New Jersey. The tract thus granted extended
from a line twenty miles east of the Hudson river, westward, rath^y
indefinitely, and from the Atlantic ocean north, to the south line of
Canada, then a French province.
By this collision of description, each of these colonies, (after-
wards States,) laid claim to the jurisdiction as well as pre-emption
right of the same land, being a tract sufficiently large to form several
States. The State of New York, however, in 1781, and Massa-
chusetts, in 1785, ceded to the United States all their rights, either
of jurisdiction or proprietorship, to all the territory lying west of a
meridian, line run south from the westerly bend of Lake Ontario.
Although the nominal amount in controversy, by these acts, was
much diminished, it still left some nineteen thousand square miles
of territory in dispute; but this controversy was finally settled by a
convention of commissioners, appointed by the parties, held at
Hartford, Conn., on the 16th dayiof December, 1786. According
to the stipulations entered into by the convention, Massachusetts
ceded to the State of New York, all her claim to the government,
sovereignty and jurisdiction of all the territory lying west of the
present east line of the Stale of New York; and New York ceded
to Massachusetts the pre-emption right, or fee of the land, subject
to the title of natives, of all that part of th& State of New York
lying west of a line, beginning at a point in the north line of Penn-
sylvania, 82 miles ^Jorth of the north-east corner of said State, and
running from thence due north through Seneca Lake, to Lake On-
tario; excepting and reserving to the State of New York, a strip
of land east of, and adjoining the eastern bank of Niagara river,
one mile wide, and extending its whole length. The land,, the pre-
emption right of which was thus ceded, amounted to about six
millions of acres.
The other difficulty alluded to, arose fromAhe organization and
operations of two joint Lessee Companies. The constitution of the
state forbade the purchase of the fee in lands of the Indians, by
individuals, reserving the right to the state alone. To evade this,
and come in possession of the lands, an association of individuals
was organized in the winter of 1787, ’8, who styled themselves the
“ New York Genesee Land Company/’ The company was com-
posed of some eighty or ninety individuals, mostly residing upon the
Hudson; many of whom were wealthy and influential. The prin-\
phelps and gorham’s purchase.	107
dpal seat of the company was at Hudson. Dr. Caleb Benton,
John Livingston, and Jared Coffin were the principal managers
At the same time a branch company was organized in Canada,
called the “ Niagara Genesee Land Company/' This consisted of
John Butler, Samuel Street, John Powell, Johnson and Murphy, and
Benjamin Barton; all but the last named, being residents of Canada.
This branch organization enabled the company to avail themselves
of the then potent influence of Col. John Butler with the Six
Nations, and the influence of his associates. Benjamin Barton, the
father of the late Benjamin Barton Jr. of Lewiston, was an active
member of the association. Soon after the close of the Revolution,
he had engaged in the Indian trade, and as a drover from New
Jersey, via. the Susquehannah River, to the British garrison at
Niagara. By this means he had become well acquainted with the
Senecas, was adopted by them, and had taken while a youth, Henry
O’Bail, the son of Corn plan ter, and placed him in a school, in N.
Jersey. In addition to the influence thus acquired, there belonged
to the New York Company, several who had for a long period been
Indian traders. Thus organized, by such appliances as usually for-
warded negotiations with the Indians, the company in November,
1787, obtained a Lease for “ nine hundred and ninety nine years/’
of all the lands of the Six Nations in the state of New York, except
some small reservations, the privilege of hunting, fishing &c.
The annual rent was to be two thousand Spanish milled dollars ; and
a bonus of #20,000 was also promised.
In March, 1788, John Taylor had been appointed an agent of the
New York board of commissioners, or superintendent of Indian
affairs. In that month, he was sent to the Indian country to coun-
teract the unlawful proceedings of the Lessees. On his return he
reported that he had fallen *in with the clerk of an Indian trader,
just from Tioga, who told him that “Livingston had sent fourteen
sleighs loaded with goods-into the Indian country. They got within
50 miles of Tioga, and would proceed no farther. 'Chat the Sene-
cas were exceedingly dissatisfied with Livingston, and would not
abide by the bargain, charging him with having cheated them; and
threatened Ryckman for having assisted him in cheating them.
That near 160 families were at Tioga, with a considerable number
of cattle, in order to form a settlement on those lands ; but were
very much at a loss, as they had heard that the state intended108
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
that no settlement should be made/' Governor Clinton issued a
proclamation warning purchasers that the Lessee title would be
annulled, and sent runners to all the Six Nations warning them of
the fraud that had been practiced against them.
It was a formidable organization, embracing men of wealth and
political influence, and those who, if their own plans could not be
consummated, had an influence with the Indians that would enable
them to throw serious obstacles in the way of legal negotiations with
them fpr their lands. The lease consummated, the next object of the
association was to procure an act of the legislature sanctioning the
proceedings, and for that purpose, an attempt was made to intimidate,
by threats of dismemberment, and the formation of a new state,
embracing aH the leased territory. But the whole matter was met
with energy ^nd promptness by Gov. George Clinton, who urged
upon the Legislature measures to counteract the intended mischief.
In March, 1788, an act was passed which authorised the Governor
to disregard all contracts made with the Indians, not sanctioned by
the state as null and void, and to cause all persons who had entered
upon Indian lands under^uch contracts, to be driven off by force,
and their buildings destroyed. Governor Clinton ordered William
Colbraith, then Sheriff of thov county of Herkimer,(which then em-
braced all of the present county of Herkimer and all west of it to
the west bounds of the state,) to dispossess intruders and burn their
dwellings. A military force was called out, and the orders strictly
executed. One of the prominent settlers, and a co-operator of the
Lessees, was taken to New York in irons, upon a charge of high
treason.
Thus baffled, the managers of the two associations determined to
retaliate and coerce a compromise, if they failed to carry out their
original design, by meeting the State upon treaty grounds, whe.re
they could bring a stronger lobby than they could command for
the halls of legislation. At the treaty, held in Fort Stanwix, in
September, 1708, with the Onondagas, for the purchase of their
lands by the State, Governor Clinton took the field in person, back-
ed by all the official influence he could command; and yet, he
found for a vrhile, extreme difficulty in effecting any thing. Little
opposition from the Lessees 'showed itself openly, but it was there
with its strongest appliances. In after years, when preferring a
claim against the “ New York Genesee Company,” in behalf of thephelps akd gorhah’s purchase. *
109
“ Niagara Genesee Company,” a prominent individual among the
claimants, urged that the Canada company had kept the Indians
back from the treaties; and when they could no longer do so, had
on one occasion, baffled Governor Clinton for nearly three weeks.
Treaties, however, went on, until the State had possessed itself of
the lands of the Six Nations east of the pre-emption line. The les-
sees, seeing little hopes of accomplishing their designs, finally peti-
tioned the legislature for relief; and after considerable delay, in
1793, an act was passed, authorizing the commissioners of the land
office to set off for them from any of the vacant unappropriated
lands of the State, a tract. equal to ten miles square. The allot-
ment was finally made in township number three, of the “ Old Mili-
tary tract.” Thus terminated a magnificent scheme, so far as the
State was concerned, which contemplated the possession of a vast
domain, and perhaps, as has been alleged, a separate State organi-
zation. It marks an important era in the early history of our State.
The influence brought to bear upon the Indians from Canada, by
which the extraordinary lease was obtained, was stimulated by
the prospect of individual gain; but may we not well infer—with-
out an implication of the many respectable individuals who com-
posed the association in this State to that extent—-that it looked
forward to future events; the maintenance of British dominion,
which was afterwards asserted and reluctantly yielded. It was
long after this, before the potent influence which the Johnsons, But-
ler and Brant had carried with them, even in their retreat to Cana-
da, was counteracted. They were yet constantly inculcating the
idea among the Six Nations, that they were under British dominion,
the Senecas at least. What could better have promoted this pre-
tension, than such a scheme, especially if it contemplated the ex-
treme measure of a dismemberment of this State — such as was
alleged at the time* was embraced in the plan of the two organiza-
tions? The calculations of the “New York Genesee Company”
may have been circumscribed by the boundaries of loss and gain ;
that of their associates and co-operators may have taken a wider
range, and embraced national interest, to which it was wedded by
ties even stronger if possible, than motives of gain and private
emolument. As late as November, 1793, James Wadsworth and
Oliver Phelps, received a circular, signed by John Livingston and
Caleb Benton, as officers of a convention purporting to have been!110	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
held at Geneva, urging the people to hold town meetings and sign
petitions for a new state to be set off from New York, and to em-
brace the counties of Otsego, Tioga, Herkimer and Ontario.
Early in the spring of 1788, another council with the Six Na-
tions was contemplated by the New York commissioners. In an-
swer to a message from them, requesting the Indians to fix upon a
time, some of the chiefs answered in a writing, that it must be
“after the corn is hoed.” Massachusetts, not having then parted
with its pre-emption right west of Seneca Lake, Gov. Clinton
wrote to Gov. Hancock to secure his co-operation in counter-
acting the designs of the lessees. The general court declared the
leases “null and void;” but Governor Hancock, in his reply to the
letter, stated that Massachusetts, on account of the “embarrassed
situation of the Commonwealth,” was about to comply with the
proposals of some of her citizens, for the purchase of the pre-emp-
tion right.
The first of September was fixed as the period for the treaty, and
Fort Schuyler was designated as the place. Active preparations
for it were going on through the summer, under the general super-
vision of John Taylor, who had the zealous co-operation of Gov.
Clinton. In all the villages of the Six Nations, the lessees had
their agents and runners, or Indian traders in their interest. Even
the Rev. Mr. Kirkland had been either deceived or corrupted by
them, and had played a part inconsistent with his profession, and
with his obligations to Massachusetts. It was represented to Gov.
Clinton that, in ^preaching to the Indians, he had advised them to
lease to the New York and Canada companies, as their territory
Note.—After the arrangement with the State, there was a long controversy be-
tween the two associations in settling their affairs: in the course of which, much of
the secret machinery of both was developed. An old adage was pretty well illustra-
ted. It no where appears that any thing was paid to the Indians in their national or
confederate capacities; though a bonus of twenty thousand dollars was stipulated to
be paid in addition to the annual rents. The Canada company refused at one timeto
pay an installment into this general fund, alleging as a reason, the non-payment of
this twenty thousand dollars due the Indians. But yet, it appears that it was a pretty
expensive operation; the chiefs who favored the scheme and the agents who operated
upon them, must have been well paid; “presents” must have been as lavish as in the
palmiest days ,of British and Indian negotiations. Remonstrances that were presented
to the Legislature of this State, set forth that “ secret and unwarrantable means had
been employed by the lessees in making their arrangements with some of the In-
dians,” At a meeting of the “New York Genesee Company,” at Hudson, in Sep-
tember, 1789, the aggregate expenditures, as liquidated, had been over twelve thou-
sand pounds, N. E. currency. It will be necessary to refer to this subject again, in
connection with Indian treaties that followed, and Charles Williamson.Ill
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
was so wide, he could not make his voice heard to its full extent;
that he could “ preach better/’ if their territory was smaller. At
the treaty held at Kanadesaga, when the Lease was procured, he had
acted efficiently for the Lessees, To counteract thosestrong influ-
ences,. agents and runners were put in requisition by the N. Y.
commissioners ; and during the summer, the poor Indians had but
little peace.
The preparations for the embassy to the Indian country, at Al-
bany and New York, were formidable ones. A similar expedition
now to Santa Fee, or Oregon, would be attended with less of pre-
liminary arrangements. A sloop came up from New York with In-
dian goods, stores for the expedition, marquees and tents, specie for
purchase money, (which was obtained with much trouble,) those
of the board of commissioners and their associates, who resided in
New York, and many who were going to attend the treaty from
motives of curiosity; among whom was Count Monsbiers, the then
French minister, and his sister.
The board of commissioners and their retinue, started from Al-
bany on the 23d of August, (the goods and baggage going up the
Mohawk in batteaux that had been built for the purpose,) and did
not arrive at Fort Schuyler until the 28th.
A wild, romantic scene was soon presented. The veteran soldier,
George Clinton, pitched his marquee, and was as much the General
as if he had headed a military instead of a civil expedition.* Among
his associates in the commission, and his companions, were many
who had with him been conspicuous in the Revolution, and were
the leading men of the then young State. They were surrounded
by the camp fires of the numerous representatives of the Six Na-
tions, amounting to thousands, who had been attracted to the spot,
some from an interest hey felt in the negotiations, but far the lar-
gest proportion of them had been attracted from their scattered
wilderness homes, by the hopes and promises of feasts and carous-
als. Indian traders from all their localities in New York and
Canada, with their showy goods and trinkets, and “ fire water/’ were
upon the ground with the mixed objects of a sale of their goods,
when money was paid to the Indians, and the espousal either of
the State interests or that of the Lessees. Some of the prominent
Lessees from Albany, Hudson and Canada had preceded the Gov-
ernor, and were in the crowd, secretly and insidiously endeavoring112
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
to thwart the objects of the council. Irritated by all he had heard
of the machinations of the Lessees, and learning that one of their
principals, John Livingston, of “ Livingston Manor ” was present
— with the concurrence of his associates, Gov. Clinton “ took the
responsibility,” as did Gen. Jackson at New Orleans, and ordered
him in writing, to “ leave in three hours/’ and “ retire to the dis-
tance of forty miles from Fort Schuyler.
After this, Governor Clinton organized a species of court, or
inquest, and summoning Indians, Indian traders, runners in the
interest of both State and Lessees, took affidavits of all that had
transpired in procuring the long lease. It exposed a connected
scheme of bribery, threats, intimidation and deception, practiced
upon the Indians. Finding that the Senecas were holding back
from the treaty, and that many of the head men of the Cayugas and
Onondagas were absent, and learning that there was a counter
gathering at Kanadesaga, messengers were sent there, who found
Dr. Benton surrounded by Indians and his agents, dealing out liquor
and goods, and delivering speeches, in which he assured the Indians
that if they went to Fort Schuyler the Governor of New York
would either cheat them out of their lands, or failing in that, would
fall upon them with an armed force. Many of the Indians were
undeceived, and finally induced to go to Fort Schuyler, when they
had recovered from a state of beastly intoxication they had been
kept in by Dr. Benton and other agents of the Lessees. Such had
been the excesses into which they were betrayed, to keep them
away from the treaty, that many of them, when becoming sober
were sick and unable to reach Fort Schuyler; .and a Cayuga chief,
Spruce Carrier, died on the road. When they were encamped at
Scawyace, twelve miles east of Seneca Lake, on the eastern trail,
Debartzch, a French trader at Cashong, in the interest of the Lessees,
went there, and by intimidations, the use of rum, and promises of
presents, induced them to turn back.
It was not until the 8th of September that the different Nations
were so far .represented as to warrant the proceeding to the business
of the council. Governor Clinton addressed the Onondagas, inform-,
ing them minutely of the positions in which the Six Nations stood
in reference to their lands; that they were theirs to dispose of
when they pleased, but that to protect them from frauds, the State
had reserved to itself the right to purchase whenever they werephelps and gorham’s purchase.
113
disposed to sell. He told them that the acts of the Lessees, were
the acts of “ disobedient children ” of the State, and that they were
a “ cheat,” and at the same time informing them that as commis-
sioners of the State, he and his associates were there prepared to
purchase. He cautioned them to keep sober, as there were stran-
gers present, “ who will laugh at us if while this business is in agi-
tation, any of us should be found disguised.” “ After the business
is completed,” said the Governor, “ we can indulge ourselves in
innocent mirth and friendship together.” Black Cap, in behalf ot
the Onondagas, replied, assuring the Governor that the Onondagas
wholly disapproved of the proceedings with the Lessees, had made
up their minds to sell to the State, but wanted a little farther time
to talk among themselves. On the 12th, the treaty was concluded,
and the deed of cession of the lands of the Onondagas, some res-
ervations excepted, was executed. The consideration was $1000
in hand, and an annuity of $500 forever. After the treaty was
concluded, additional provisions were distributed, presents of goods
made, and congratulatory speeches interchanged. “ As the business
on which we had met, said the Governor, is now happily accomplish-
ed, we shall cover up the council fire at this time and take a drink,
and smoke our pipes together, and devote the remainder of the day
to decent mirth.”
It should be observed, that this council was called for the double
purpose of perpetuating friendship with the Six Nations, and pur-
chasing lands. Though New York had ceded the pre-emption
right to the lands of the Senecas, to Massachusetts, still it was de-
sirable that the Senecas should be present. Most of their chiefs
and head men were kept away, but about eighty young Seneca
warriors and women were on the ground, occupying the ruins of
the old Fort. The governor addressed them, distributed among
them some provisions and liquor, and desired them to go back to
their nation and report all they had seen, and warn their people
against having any thing to do with the Lessees. A young Seneca
warrior in his reply said: — “We had to struggle hard to break
through the opposition that was made to our coming down, by some
of your disobedient children. We will now tell you how things
really are among us. The voice of the birds,# and proud, strong
* Vague rumors, and falsehoods, were called by the Senecas, “ the voice of birds.’*114	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
words uttered by some of our own people at Kanadesaga, overcome
the sachems and turned them back, after they had twice promised
to come down with us.”
Negotiations with the Oneidas followed : — Gov. Clinton made a
speech to them to the same purport of the one he had delivered to
the Onondagas. This was replied to by “ One-yan-ha, alias Beach
Tree, commonly called the “ Quarter Master,” who said an answer
to the speech should be made- after his people had counselled to-
gether. The next day, just as the council had assembled, word
came that a young warrior was found dead in Wood Creek. It
was concluded after some investigation, that he had been drowned ac-
cidentally, in a state of intoxication. The commissioners insisted
upon going on with the treaty, but the Indians demanded a postpone-
ment for funeral observances. At the burial, A-gwel-en-ton-gwas,
alias, Domine Peter, or Good Peter, made a pathetic harrangue,
eloquent in some of its passages. It was a temperance, but not
a total abstinence discourse.
The funeral over, the business of the council Was resumed. Good
Peter replied to the speech of the Governor: — He reminded him
of a remark made by him at Fort Herkimer in 1785, in substance,
that he should not ask them for any more lands. The chief recapitula-
ted in a long speech, with surprising accuracy, every point in the
Governor’s speech, and observed that if any thing had been omitted,
it was because he had not “the advantage of the use of letters.”
He then made an apology, that he was fatigued, and wished to sit
down and rest; and that in the meantime, according to ancient
Note.—The backwoods spiritual and temporal adviser, insisted that his people
must abide b}T the resolution of their chief, which forbid any of them asking the Gov-
ernor or commissioners for rum,.but only to take it when it was offered and measured
out to them. “We are not fit55 said he, “to prescribe as to this article. Some who
are great drinkers have often given in both women and children in their list, and
drawn for the whole company as warriors, and thereby increased the quantity beyond
all reasonable bounds. Let the Governor therefore determine, if he sees fit to give a
glass in the morning, and at noon, and then at night; and if any remain after each
one is served, let it be taken off the ground. This was the ancient custom at Albany
in the days of our forefathers, when a great number of Indians were assembled on
the hill above the city. The rum was brought there and each one drank a glass and
was satisfied. No true Indian who had the spirit of a man, was ever known at that
day to run to a commissioner and demand a bottle of rum, on the ground that he was
a great man, and another too, for the same reason, which is the practice now-a-days;
no such great men were known in ancient happy times.”
[Good Peter’s temperance exhortation, is similar to that of the Scotch divine: —*
“My dear hearers,” said he, “it is a’ well to take a drap on getting up of a mornin,
a little afore dinner and supper, and a little on ganging to bed; but dinna be “dram,
dram, dramming.”]PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUEOHASE.
115
custom, another speaker would arise and raise the spirit of their de-
ceased sachem, the Grasshopper. But before he sat down, he in-
formed the Governor, that the man bearing the name of Oe-dat-segh-
ta, is the first name know in their national council, and had long
been publised throughout the confederacy; that his friend, the Grass-
hopper, was the counsellor for the tribe, to whom that name be-
longed, and that therefore, they replaced the Grasshopper with this
lad, whom you are to call Kan-y-a-dal-i-go ; presenting the young
lad to the Governor and Commissioners; and that until he arrives
at an age to qualify him to transact business personally, in council,
their friend, Hans Jurio, is to bear the name of O-jis-tal-a-be, alias
Grasshopper, and to be counsellor for this young man and his clan,
until that period.
The Governor made a speech, in which he disclaimed any desire
on the part of the State to purchase their lands; but strenuously
urged upon them that the State would not tolerate the purchase or
leasing by individuals. He told them ‘that when they chose to sell
the State would buy more for their good than anything else, as the
State then had more land than it could occupy with people.
Good Peter followed, said the Governor’s speech was excellent,
and to their minds. “ We comprehend every word of your speech,
it is true indeed ; for we see you possessed of an extensive territo-
ry, and but here and there a smoke .”	“ But/’ said he, “ we, too,
have disorderly people in our nation ; you have a keg here, and
they have their eyes upon it, and nothing can divert them from the
pursuit of it. While there is any part of it left, they will have their
eyes upon it and seek after it, till they die by it; and if one dies,
there is another who will not be deterred by it, will still continue to
seek after it. It is just so with your people. As long as any spot
of our excellent land remains, they will covet it, and will never
rest till they possess it.” He said it would take him a long time to
tell the Governor “all his thoughts and contemplations ; they were
extensive ; my mind is perplexed and pained, it labors hard.” In a
short digression, he spoke of the Tree of Peace, and expressed his
fears that, “ by-and-by, some twig of this beautiful tree will be
broken off. The wind seems always to blow, and shake this belov-
ed tree.” Before sitting down, Good Peter observed that they had
all agreed to place the business of the council, on their part, in the
hands of two of their people, Col. Louis and Peter Ot-se-quette,116
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
who would be their "mouth and their ears.” # There was, also, ap-
pointed, as their advisers, a committee of principal chiefs.
The negotiation went on for days; speeches were interchanged;
propositions were made and rejected, until finally a deed of cession
was agreed upon and executed by the chiefs. It conveyed all their
lands, making reservations for their own residence around the Onei-
da castle, or principal village, and a number of other smaller ones
for their own people, and such whites as had been their interpret-
ers, favorite traders, or belonged to them by adoption. The con
sideration was $2,000 in money, $2,000 in clothing and other
goods, $1,000 in provisions, $500 in money for the erection of a
saw-mill and grist-mill on their reservation, and an annuity of “ six
hundred dollars in silver,” for ever. Congratulatory addresses fol
lowed; the Governor making to the Oneidas a parting address, re-
plete with good instruction and fatherly kindness; the Oneidas re-
plying, assuring him of the satisfaction of their people with all that
had taken place; and thanking the Governor and his associate
commissioners for the fairness of their speeches and their conduct.
It would be difficult to find a record of diplomacy between civilized
nations more replete throughout with dignity, decorum and ability,
than is that of this protracted treaty.
After dispatching the Rev. Mr. Kirkland (who had,been present
throughout the treaty, and materially aided the commissioners;
thus making full amends for the mischief he had helped to produce
in connection with the long lease,) to the Cayugas and Senecas,
charged with the mission of informing them of all that had trans-
pired, the Governor and his retinue set out on their return to Al-
bany. The council had continued for twenty-five days.
The next meeting of the commissioners was convened at Albany,
December 15, 1788. Governor Clinton read a letter from Peter
Ryckman and Seth Reed, who were then residents at Kanadesaga ;
Reed at the Old Castle, and Ryckman upon the Lake shore. The
* Col. Louis was a half blood, French and Oneida. He had held a commission un-
der Gov. Clinton, in the Revolution. Peter Ot-se-quette, in a speech he made in the
council, said that he had just returned from France, where he had been taken and edu-
cated by La Fayette. He said that when he arrived in France, he “was naked, and
the Marquis clad him, receiving and treating him with great kindness;” that for a
year, he was restless; and “when the light of knowledge flowed in on his mind, he
felt distressed at the miserable situation of his countrymen;” that after four years’
absence, he had returned with the intention of enlightening and reforming them.
JJ£|p® See Appendix, No. 4.PHELPS AND GOKHAm’s PUKCHASE.
117
letter was forwarded by “ Mr. Lee and Mr. Noble/’ who had been
residing for the summer at Kanadesaga. The writers say to the
Governor, that the bearers of the letter will detail to him all that
has transpired in their locality ; and add, that if required, they can
induce the Cayugas and Senecas to attend a council. The Rev.
Mr. Kirkland gave, in writing, an account of his mission. He
stated that on arriving at Kanadesaga, he ascertained that to keep
the Cayugas back from the treaty at Fort Schuyler, two of the
principal lessees and their agents, had “ kept them in a continued
state of intoxication for three weeks;” that “ Dr. B. and Col. M.
had between twenty and thirty riflemen in arms for twenty-four
hours; and gave out severe threats against P. Ryckman and Col.
Reed, for being enemies to their party, and friends to the govern-
ment, in persuading the Indians to attend the treaty at Fort
Schuyler.” Mr. Kirkland stated that he had been as far as Nia-
gara, and seen Col. Butler; and that at the Seneca village, on Buf-
falo Creek, he had seen Shen-dy-ough-gwat-te, the “ second man
of influence among the Senecas;” and Farmers Brother, alias
“ Ogh-ne-wi-ge-was;” and that they had become disposed to treat
with the State. Before the Board adjourned, it was agreed to ad-
dress a letter to Reed and Ryckman, asking them to name a day on
which they could procure the attendance of the Cayugas and
Senecas, at Albany. Reed and Ryckman, on the reception of the
letter, despatched James Manning Reed with an answer, saying
that they would be at Albany, with the Indians, on the 23d ot
January; and adding, that the lessees kept the Indians “ so continu-
ally intoxicated with liquor, that it is almost impossible to do any
thing with them.”
It was not until the 11th of Febuary however, that Mr. Ryck-
man was enabled to collect a sufficient number of Indians, and reach
Albany. Several days were spent in some preliminary proceedings,
and in waiting for the arrival of delegations that were on the way.
On the 14th, James Bryan and Benjamin Birdsall, two of the
Lessees appeared before the commissioners and delivered up the
“ long leases” that had occasioned so much trouble. On the 19th
Note.—Got. Clinton and many of the commissioners resided in New York. As an
illustration of the then slow passage down the Hudson, they resolved at Albany to
charter a sloop, and thus be enabled to settle their accounts and arrange their papers
on their way down the river. '118
phelps Amy gorham’s purchase.
the council was opened with the Cayugas, many Senecas, Onon-
dagas and Oneidas, being present. Good Peter in behalf of the
Cayugas, made a speech. He said his brothers, the Cayugas and
Senecas had “ requested him to be their mouth.” As upon another
occasion his speech abounded in some of the finest figures of speech
to be found in any preserved specimens of Indian eloquence. In
allusion to the conduct of the Lessees, and a long series of precedent
difficulties the Indians had had with the whites, he observed: —
“ Let us notwithstanding, possess our minds in peace ; we can see
but a small depth into the heart of man; we can only discover what
comes from his tongue/’ Speaking of the relations that used to
exist between his people and the old colony of New York, he said,
they “used to kindle a council fire, the smoke of which reached the
heavens, and around which they sat and talked of peace.” He
said in reference to the blessings of peace, and the settled state of
things that was promised by fixing the Indians upon their Reserva-
tions, under the protection of the state : — “ Our little ones ean now
go with leisure to look for fish in the streams, and our warriors to
hunt for wild beasts in the woods.” Present at the council,
was a considerable number of their women, whom Good Peter
called “ Governesses,” and gave the reasons why they were there.—
“The Rights of women,” found in him an able advocate:-—“Our
ancestors considered it a great transgression to reject the counsel
of the women, particularly the Governesses; they considered them
the mistresses of the soil. They said, who brings us forth ?
Who cultivates our lands ? Who kindles our fires, and boils our
pots, but the women ? Our women say let not the tradition of the
fathers, with respect to women, be disregarded; let them not be des-
pised ; God is their maker.”
Several other speeches intervening, the Governor answered the
speech of Good Peter;—-He reviewed the bargain the Indians had
made with the Lessees, and told them that if carried out it would
be to their ruin; explained the laws of the state, and their tendency
to protect them in the enjoyment of a sufficient quantity of land for
their use; and to guard them against peculation and fraud. In re-
plying to that part of Good Peter’s speech in reference to the
women and their rights, the venerable Governor was in a vein of
gallantry, eloquently conceding the immunities that belonged to
the “ mothers of mankind.” He told them they should have re-phelps akd gorham’b purchase.	119
servations “ large enough however prolific they might be; even if
they should increase their nation to its ancient state and num-
bers.” He apologised to the dusky sisterhood by saying that he
“ was advanced in years, unaccustomed to address their sex in pub-
lic ;” and therefore they “ must excuse the Imperfections of his
speech.”
Other speeches, and days of negotiation followed. On the 25th
of February, all the preliminaries being settled, the Cayugas ceded
to the state all of their lands, excepting a large reservation of 100
square miles. The consideration was $500 in hand, $1,628 in June
following, and an annuity of $500 for ever.
In a congratulatory address, after the treaty was concluded, Gov.
Clinton recapitulated all of its terms, and observed : — “ Brothers
and sisters! when you reflect that you had parted with the whole of
your country, (in allusion to the long lease,) without reserving a
spot to lay down, or kindle a fire on; and that you had disposed of
your lands to people whom you had no means to compel to pay
what they had promised, you will be persuaded that your brothers
and sisters whom you have left at home, and your and their children,
will have reason to rejoice at the covenant you have now made,
which not only saves you from impending ruin, but restores you to
peace and security.”
The three treaties, that had thus been concluded, had made the j
state the owners of the soil of the Military Tract, or the principal j
amount of territory now included in the counties of Cayuga, Onon- I
daga, Seneca, Tompkins, Cortland, and parts of Oswego and Wayne. I
Other cessions followed until the large reservations were either
ceded entirely away, or reduced to their present narrow limits.	j
The deed of cession of the Cayugas stipulated that the state
should convey to their “ adopted child,” Peter Ryckman, “ whom
they desire shall reside near them and assist them,” a tract oh the
ISTote. — This tract was bounded on the Lake and extended back to the old pre-
emption line, embracing most of the present site of Geneva. By sale, or some after
arrangement, the patent was issued to “Reed and Ryckman.” It wonld seem by this
cession that the Cayugas claimed west as far as the old pre-emption line, but their
ownership, as it was afterwards shewn, did not extend west of Seneca Lake. Their
ancient boundary was a line running due south from the head of Great Sodus Bay.
Good Peter as the “mouth” of the Cayugas, alluding to the obligations they were
under to Peter Ryckman,, said they “ wanted his dish made large,” for they expected
“ to put their spoons in it when they were hungry.” This probably had reference to
some promises on the part of Ryckman.120
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
west side of Seneca Lake, which should contain sixteen thousand
acres, the location being designated.
Soon after the treaty of Albany, the superintendency of Indian
affairs principally devolved upon John Taylor, as the agent of the
board of commissioners. Although the treaty had seemed amica-
ble and satisfactory, a pretty strong faction of all three of the na-
tions treated with, had kept back, and became instruments for the
use of designing whites. Although the Lessees had surrendered
their leases, they did not cease, through their agents and Indian
traders in their interest to make trouble, by creating dissatisfaction
among the Indians; probably, with the hopes of coercing the State
to grant them remuneration. Neither Brant, Red Jacket, Farmer’s
Brother, and in fact but few of the influential chiefs had attended
the treaties. Harrassed for a long period, a bone of contention,
first between the French and the English, then between the Eng-
lish and colonists of New York during the Revolution, and lastly,
between the State of New York and the Lessees, the Six Nations
had become cut up into contending factions, and their old land
marks of government and laws, the ancient well defined immuni-
ties of their chiefs, obliterated. Dissatisfaction, following the trea-
ties, found ready and willing promoters in the persons of the gov-
ment officers of Canada, and the loyalists who had sought refuge
there, during the border wars of the Revolution. When the first at-
tempt was made to survey the lands, a message was received by Gov.
Clinton, from some of the malcontents, threatening resistance, but
an answer from the Governor, stating the consequence of such re-
sistance, intimidated them. At an Indian council at Niagara, Col.
Butler said the Oneidas were “ a poor despicable set of Indians,
who had sold all their country to the Governor of New York, and
had dealt treacherously with their old friends.”
When the period approached for paying the first annuity, the
Onondagas through an agent, represented to Gov. Clinton, that
they had “received four strings of wampum from the Senecas, for-
bidding their going to Fort Stanwix to receive the money; and in-
forming them that the Governor of Quebec, wanted their lands ;
Sir John, (Johnson, it is presumed,) wanted it; Col. Butler wants
the Cayuga’s lands; and the commanding officer of Fort Niagara
wants the Seneca’s lands.” The agent in behalf of the Governor,
admonished them to “ keep their minds in peace,” assured them of '
%
1PHELPS AM) GORHAM S PURCHASE.
121
the Governor’s protection; and told them the Lessees were the
cause of all their trouble.
The Cayugas sent a message to the Governor, informing him
that they were “ threatened with destruction, even with total exter-
mination. The voice comes from the west; its sound is terrible;
it bespeaks our death. Our brothers the Cayugas, and Onondagas
are to share the same fate.” They stated that the cause of com-
plaint was that they had “sold their lands without consulting the
western tribes. This has awakened up their resentment to such a
degree, that they determined in full council, at Buffalo creek, that
we shall be deprived of our respective reserves, with our lives in
the bargain. This determination of the western tribes, our Gov-
ernor may depend upon. It has been communicated to the super-
intendent of Indian affairs at Quebec, who as we are told, makes no
objections to their wicked intentions, but rather countenances them.”
They appealed to the Governor to fulfill his promises of protection.
Replies were made, in which the Indians were told they should
be protected. As one source of complaint was, that some Cayugas
who resided at Buffalo creek, had not been paid their share of the
purchase money. The Governor advised that they should make a
fair distribution; and warned them against the Lessees, and all
other malign influences.
Among the mischief makers, was a Mr. Peter Penet, a shrewd,
artful Frenchman, who had been established among the Oneidas
as a trader; and whom Gov. Clinton had at first favored and em*
in Indian negotiations. But ingratiating himself in the good
will of the natives, he became ambitious, represented himself as
the ambassador of France, as the friend of La Fayette, charged by
him with looking to the interest of the Indians; and finally, got the
Note.—The part that the Senecas were persuaded to take in promoting these em-
barrassments, was glaringly inconsistent. They had sold a part of their lands to Mr.
Phelps the fall before, without consulting other nations, to say nothing of their having
consented to the "lease” which was a far worse bargain than those made by the
State. But the main promoters of the troubles, were the Lessees and the British
agents; the latter of whom, were soured by the result of the Revolution, and were yet
looking forward to British re-possession of all Western, and a part of Middle New
York. In all this matter the conduct of Brant, did not correspond with his general
reputation for fairness and honesty. He helped to fan the flames of discontent, while
at the same time he was almost upon his own hooks, trying to sell to the State the
remnant of the Mohawk’s lands. Interfering between the State and the Indians,
he got some dissatisfied chiefs to join him in an insolent letter to the Governor,
%hich was replied to with a good deal of severity of language.

8
t
f.122	Phelps and gorham’s purchase.
promises of large land cessions. Thwarted mainly in his designs,
he became mischievous, and caused much trouble.
A mere skeleton has thus been given of the events connected
with the extinguishment of Indian titles, and the measures prelimi-
nary to the advancement of settlement westward, after the Revo-
lution. It was only after a hard struggle, much of perplexity and
embarrassment, that the object was accomplished. For the honor
of our whole country, it could be wished, that all Indian negotia-
tions and treaties, had been attended with as little of wrong, had
been conducted as fairly as were those under the auspices and
genera] direction of George Clinton. No where has the veteran
warrior and statesman, left better proof of his sterling integrity
and ability, than is furnished by the records of those treaties. In
no case did he allow the Indians to be deceived, but stated to them
from time to time, with unwearied patience, the true conditions of
the bargains they were consummating. The policy he aimed at was
to open all of the beautiful domain of western New York, for sale
and settlement — to prepare the way for inevitable destiny — and
at the same time secure the Indians in their possessions; give them
liberal reservations; and extend over them as a protection, the
strong arms of the State.
The treaties for lands, found the Six Nations in a miserable con-
dition. They had warred on -the side of a losing party, for long
years, the field and the chase had been neglected; they were suffer-
ing for food and raiment. Half famished, they flocked to the
treaties, and were fed and clothed. One item of expense chared
in the accounts of the treaty at Albany in 1789, was for horses paid
for, that the Indians had killed and eaten, on their way down. For
several years, in addition to the amount of provisions distributed to
them at the treaties, boat loads of corn were distributed among them
by the State.*
In tracing the progress of settlement westward, it will be neces-
sary to give a brief account of the disposition the State made of lands
acquired of the Six Nations, bordering upon the Genesee Country.
They constituted what is known as the Military Tract. To protect
* The years 1789, *90, is supposed to have been a period .of great scarcity. The
record of legislation shows that large amounts of provisions were paid for by the
State, aud distributed, not only among the Indians, but among the white inhabitants
of several counties.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
123
the frontiers of this State from the incursions of the British and their
Indian allies, the State of New York, throwu upon its own resour-
ces, in 1779 and ’fcO, enlisted two regiments to serve three years* *
unless sooner discharged. They were to be paid and clothed at
the expense of the United States; but the State pledged to them a
liberal bounty in land. To redeem this pledge, as soon as Indian
titles were extinguished, the surveyor General was instructed to
survey these bounty lands and prepare tpem tor the location of
warrants. The survey was completed in 1790. It embraced about
two million eight hundred thousand acres, in six hundred acre lots.
The tract comprised all the territory within the present boundaries
of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Cortland, and a part of Oswego,
Wayne and Tompkins. A large district of country adjoining on
the east, was thus put in the way of being settled, about the same
period that sales and settlement commenced west of the pre-emp-
tion line, though it did not progress as rapidly. Land titles were in
dispute, and emigrants chose to push on farther, where titles were
indisputable. Speculation and fraud commenced as soon as the
patents were issued, a majority of those who it was intended the
bounty of the State should benefit, sold their right for a trifle,* and
some were defrauded out of the whole. By the time that settle-
ment commenced, there were few lots, the title to which, was not
contested. In addition to other questions of title, the * officers’ and
soldiers’ wives, held in a large majority of cases, the right of dower.
Land titles upon the whole military tract, were not finally settled
until about 1800, when a committee appointed by the Legislature,
one of whom was the late Gen. Vincent Matthews, accomplished
the work.
In 1784, Hugh White and his family progressed beyond the set-
tlements on the Mohawk, and located at what is now Whitestown.
In the same year, James Dean located upon a tract given him by
the Indians, in consequence of some services rendered them as an
interpreter, near the present village of Rome. In 1787, Joseph
Note.—In a letter from Mr. Moriss to Mr, Colquhoun, dated in June 1791, lie says
tliat notwithstanding all these questions of title, land on the military tract had risen
to I8d per acre; and that a tract of 50,000, which he had bought of the State of New
York in 1786, in Otsego county, which by a fortunate use of some public securities,
cost him but 6d pet acre, had risen to 10s per acre, New York currency.	|
* “Many patents for 600 acres, were sold at prices in some instances as low as eight
dollars.—[Maude, an English Journalist.*124	phelps aot> gorham’s purchase.
Blackmer, who was afterwards a pioneer in Wheatland, Monro©
count}*, advanced and settled a short distance west of Judge Dean.
In May, 1788, Asa Danforth, with his family, accompanied by
Comfort Tyler, progressed far on beyond the bounds of civilization,
locating at Onondaga Hollow. There being then no road, they
came by water, landing at the mouth of Onondaga Creek. The
very earliest pioneers of all this region, speak of “ Major Dan-
forth ” and the comforts of his log tavern, as compared with their
camps in the wilderness. Another name has been introduced, that
should not be passed over by the mere mention of it. Comfort
Tyler was conspicuously identified in all early years with the his-
tory of the western portion of this State. He was teaching a
school upon the Mohawk at the close of the Revolution, and also
engaged in the business of a surveyor. He was with Gen. James
Clinton, in the establishment of the boundary line between this
State and Pennsylvania. He felled the first tree, (with reference to
improvement,) assisted in the manufacture of the first salt,# (other
thq,n Indian manufacture,) and built the first turnpike in Onondaga
county. He also constructed the first “ stump mortar,” or hand-
mill, of which the reader will be told more in the course of our nar-
rative. He filled many important offices in Onondaga county, and
was one of the original projectors of the Cayuga bridge. He was
the friend of the early pioneers; and many in all this region, will
remember his good offices. The Indians, who were his first neigh-
bors, respected him, and his memory is now held in reverence by
their descendents. His Indian name was '•* To-whan-ta-gua”—
meaning that he could do two things at once; or be, at the same
time, a gentleman and a laboring man. While a member of the
Legislature in 1799, he made the acquaintance of Aaron Burr. A
charter having been procured for building the bridge, Col. Burr and
Gen. Swartout subscribed for the whole of the stock ; and at that
time, Col. Burr had other business connections in this region.
1	* Tyler and Danforth, both engaged in making a Httle salt for new settlers in
early yearn. A letter published in a Philadelphia paper, in 1792, says, that “sixteen
bushels of salt are manufactured daily at Col. Danforth’s worka” It is mentioned in
the history of Onondaga, that Col. Danforth commenced the business of salt boiling
by carrying a five pail iron kettle from Onondaga Hollow to the Salt Springs upon his,
head. Lest this should be looked upon as incredible by the younger class of read-
ers, the fact may be mentioned, that it was a very common practice of the pioneers to
carry their five pail kettles into the woods for sugar-making in this way.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
125
* Thus commenced the intercourse of Aaron Burr with the people
of Western New York, many of whom/’ with Col. Tyler, “were
drawn into the great south-west expedition.” Col. Tyler and Israel
Smith were commissaries of the expedition; went upon the Ohio
river, purchased provisions, and shipped them to Natches. Col.
Tyler was arrested and indicted, but never tried. With fortune
impaired by all this, in a few years after, Col. Tyler removed to
Montezuma, and became identified in all early enterprises and im-
provement at that point. In the war of 1812, he acted as Assistant
Commissary General to the northern army. He was an early
promoter of the canal policy, and his memory should be closely
associated with all that relates to the early history of the Erie
Canal. He died at Montezuma, in 1827.
There followed Danforth and Tyler, in the progress of settle-
ment westward, John L. Hardenburgh, whose location was called,
in early years, “ Hardenburgh’s Comers,” now the city of Auburn.
In 1789, James Bennett and John Harris, settled on either side of
Cayuga Lake, and established a ferry. This was about the extent
of settlement west of the lower valley of the Mohawk, when set-
tlements in the Genesee country began to be founded.# The ven-
erable Joshua Fairbanks, of Lewiston, who with his then young
wife, (who is also living,) came through from Albany to Geneva ih
the wijiter of 1789, *90; were sheltered the first night in the “un-
finished log house” of Joseph Blackmer, who had become a
neighbor of Judge Dean; and the next night at Col. Danforth’s;
Note.—For theXprincipal facts in tlie above brief notice of one whose history
would make an interesting volume, the author is indebted to the "History of Onon-
daga.” The connection, in all this region, of prominent individuals with Cot Burr,
in his south-western scheme, was far more extensive than has generally been supposed.
It embraced names here, the mention of which would go far to favor the conclusion
which time and its developements have been producing, that the scheme, as imparted
by Col. Burr to his followers, had nothing in it of domestic treason. There were no
better friends to their country, or more ardent devotees to its interests, than were many
men of western N ew York, who were enlisted in this scheme. In after years, when
in familiar conversation with an informant of the author, (a resident of western
New York,) Col. Bun* spoke even with enthusiasm of his associates here—naming
them, and saying that among them, were men whom he would choose to lead armies,
or engage in any high achievement that required talents and energy of character. At
the risk of extending this note to an unreasonable length, the author will add the
somewhat curious historical fact, that the maps and charts, by which the British fleet
approached New Orleans in the war of 1812, were those prepared in western New
York, by a then resident here, for the south-western expedition of Col. Burr. The
circumstance was accidental; the facts in no way implicating the author or maker of
the maps.
* Other than the settlement of Jerusalem.126
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
there being no intermediate settler. They camped out the third
night; and the fourth, staid with John Harris on the Cayuga Lake.
The parents of Gen. Parkhurst Whitney, of Niagara Falls, came
through to Seneca Lake, in February, 1790, “ camping out ” three
nights west of Rome. It is mentioned, in connection with some
account of the early advent of Major Danforth, in May, 1788, that
his wife saw no white woman in the first eight months. These in-
cidents are cited, to remind the younger class of readers that the
pioneers of this region not only came to a wilderness, but had a
long and dreary one to pass through before arriving at their desti-
nation.
| The first name we find for all New York west of Albany, was
that bestowed by the Dutch in 1638: — “ Terra Incognita/' or " un-
known land." It was next Albany county ; in 1772 Tryon county
(named from the then English Governor,) was set off, embracing all
of the territory in this state west of a line drawn north and south
that would pass through the centre of Schoharie county. Imme-
diately after the Revolution the name was changed to Montgomery,.
^U1 this region was in Montgomery county when settlement com-
menced} Cjn 1788, all the region west of Utica was the town of
Whitestown.) The first town meeting was held at the “ barn of
Captain Daniel White, in said District, in April, 1789; Jedediah San-
ger, was elected Supervisor. At the third town meeting, in 1791,
Trueworthy Cook, of Pompey, and Jeremiah Gould of Safina,
Onondaga county, and James Wadsworth of Geneseo, were chosen
path masters. Accordingly, it may be noted that Mr. Wadsworth
was the first path master west of Cayuga Lake.' It could have been
little more than the supervision of Indian trails ; but the “ warning"
must have been an onerous task. Mr. Wadsworth had the year
previous, done something at road making, which probably suggested
the idea that he would make a good path master.* At the first
general election for Whitestown, the polls were opened at Cayuga
Ferry, adjourned to Onondaga, and closed at Whitestown. Herki-
mer county was taken from Montgomery in 1791, and included all
west of the present county of Montgomery.
* “ The first road attempted to be made in this country, was in 1790, under the di
rection of the Wadsworths, from the settlement at Whitestown to Canandaigua
through a country then very little explored, and then quite a wilderness.” — [History
of Onondaga.127
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
CHAPTER III '3
THE GENESEE COUNTRY AT THE PERIOD WHEN SETTLEMENT COM-
MENCED ---ITS POSITION IN REFERENCE TO CONTIGUOUS TERRITORY-
CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY GENERALLY AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
At Geneva, (then called Kanadesaga) there was a cluster of
buildings, occupied by Indian traders, and a few settlers who had
come in under the auspices of the Lessee Company. Jemima
Wilkinson, with her small colony, was upon her first location upon
the west bank of Seneca Lake, upon the Indian Trail through the
valley of the Susquehannah, and across Western New York to
Upper Canada; the primitive highway of all this region; one or two
white families had settled at Catherine’s Town, at the head of Sen-
eca Lake. A wide region of wilderness, separated the most north-
ern and western settlements of Pennsylvania from all this region.
All that portion of Ohio bordering upon the Lake, had, of our race,
but the small trading establishment at Sandusky, and the military
and trading posts upon the Maumee. Michigan was a wilderness,
save the French village and the British garrison at Detroit, and a
few French settlers upon the Detroit River and the River Raisin.
In fact, all that is now included in the geographical designation —
the Great West —was Indian territory, and had but Indian occu-
pancy, with similar exceptions, to those made in reference to Mich-
igan. In what is now known as Canada West, there had been the
British occupancy, of a post opposite Buffalo, early known as Fort
Erie, and a trading station at Niagara, since the expulsion of the
French, in 1759. Settlement, in its proper sense, had its commence-
ment in Canada West during the Revolution; was the offspring of
one of its emergencies. Those in the then colonies who adhered to
the King, fled there for refuge: for the protection offered by British
dominion and armed occupancy. The termination of the struggle*128
PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PUEOHASE.
in favor of the colonies, and the encouragement afforded by the
colonial authorities, gave an impetus to this emigration; yet at the
period of the first commencement of settlement in Western New
York, settlement in Canada West was confined to Kingston and its
neighborhood, Niagara, Queenston, Chippewa, along the banks of the
Niagara River, with a few small settlements in the immediate inte-
rior. Upon Lakes Erie and Ontario, there were a few British
armed vessels, and three or four schooners were employed in the
commerce, which was confined wholly to the fur trade, and the
supplying of British garrisons.
Within the Genesee country, other than the small settlement at
Geneva, and the Friend’s settlement, which has been before men-
tioned, there were two or three Indian traders upon the Genesee
River, a few white families who were squatters, upon the flats; one
or two white families at Lewiston; one at Schlosser; a negro, with
a squaw wife, at Tonawanda ; an Indian interpreter, and two or
three traders at the mouth of Buffalo creek, and a negro'Indian
trader at the mouth of Cattaragus creek. Fort Niagara was a
British garrison. All else was Seneca Indian occupancy.
In all that relates to other than the natural productions of the
soil, there was but the cultivation, in a rude way, of a few acres of
flats, and intervals, on the river and creeks, wherever the Indians
were located; the productions principally confined to corn, beans
and squashes. In the way of cultivated fruit, there was in several
localities, a few apple trees, the seeds of which had been planted
by the Jesuit Missionaries; and they were almost the only relic
left of their early, and long continued occupancy. At Fort Niag-
ara and Schlosser, there were ordinary English gardens.
The streams upon an average, were twice as large as now; the
clearing of the land, and consequent absorption of the water, having
diminished one half, and perhaps more, the quantity of water then
carried off through their channels. The primitive forests — other
than those that were deemed of second growth — that are standing
now, have undergone but little change, that of ordinary decay,
growth, and re-production, but there are large groves of second
growth, now consisting of good sized forest trees, that were sixty
years ago but small saplings. The aged Senecas point out in many
instances, swamps that are now ^thickly wooded, that they have
known as open marshes, with but here and there a copse of under-phelps and gorham’s purchase.
129
wood. The origin of many marshes, especially upon the small
streams, may be distinctly traced to the beaver; the erection of
their dams, and the consequent flooding of the lands, having des-
troyed the timber. As the beaver gradually disappeared, the dams
wore away, the water flowed off, and forest trees began to grow.
And here it may not be out of place to remark, that a very com-
mon error exists in reference to the adaptedness of certain kinds
of forest trees to a wet soil. We find the soft maple, black ash, a
species of elm, the fir, the spruce, the tamarack, the alder, and
several other varieties of trees and shrubs growing in wet soils,
and then draw the inference that wet soils are their natural local-
ities. Should we not rather infer, that all this is accidental, or
rather, to be traced to other causes, than that of peculiar adaptation ?
Take the case of land that has been flooded by the beaver: — the
water has receded, and the open ground is prepared for the recep-
tion of such seeds as the winds, the floods, the birds and fowls,
bring to it. It will be found that the seeds of those trees which
predominate in the swamps, are those best adapted to the modes of
transmission. The practical bearing of these remarks, has refer-
ence to the transplanting of trees from wet grounds. Wherever
the ash, the fir, spruce, tamarack, high bush cranberry, soft maple,
&c. have been transplanted upon up lands, and properly cared for,
they furnish evidence that it was a casualty, not a peculiar adapta-
tion, that placed them where found, generally stinted and unhealthy.
But little was known in the colonies of New York, and New
England of Western New York, previous to the Revolution. During
the twenty-four years it had been in the possession of the English,
there had been a communication kept up by water, via Oswego
and Niagara, to the western posts ; and a few traders from the east
visited the Senecas. The expeditions of Prideux and Bradstreet
were composed partly of citizens of New England and New York,
but they saw nothing of the interior of all this region. A few
years previous to the Revolution, in 1765, the Rev. Samuel Kirk-
land, whose name will appear in connexion with Indian treaties, in
subsequent pages, extended his missionary labors to the Indian
village of Kanadesaga, where he sojourned for several months,
making excursions to the Genesee River, Tonawanda and Buffalo
Creeks. He was the first protestant missionary among the Senecas,
and with the exception of Indian traders, probably gave the people130
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
of New England, the first account of the Genesee country.* But
the campaign of Gen. Sullivan, in 1779, more than all else perhaps,
served to create an interest in this region. The route of the army,
after entering the Genesee country, was one to give them a favora-
ble impression of it. They saw the fine region along the west shore
of the Seneca Lake; and passing through what are now the towns
of Seneca, Phelps, Gorham, Canandaigua, Bristol, Bloomfield, Rich-
mond, Livonia, Conesus, they passed up and down the flats of the
Genesee and the Canasoraga. To eyes that had rested only upon
the rugged scenery of New England, its mountains and rocky hill
sides, its sterile soil and stinted herbage, the march must have af-
forded a constant succession of beautiful landscapes; and what was
of greater interest to them, practical working men as they were,
was the rich easily cultivated soil, that at every step caused them
to look forward to the period when they could make to it a second
advent — a peaceful one — with the implements of agriculture,
rather than the weapons of war. Returning to the firesides of
Eastern New York, and New England, they relieved the dark pic-
ture of retaliatory warfare —the route, the flight, smouldering
cabins, pillage and spoliations — with the lighter shades — descrip-
tions of the Lakes and Rivers, the rolling up-lands and rich valleys
— the Canaan of the wilderness, they had seen. But it was a far
off land, farther off than would seem to us now, our remote posses-
sions upon the Pacific; associated in the minds of the people of
New England, with all the horrors of a warfare they had known
upon their own extreme borders ; the Revolution was not consum-
*	The young missionary had first seen some of the young men of the Six Nations,
at the mission school of the Rev. Mr. Wheelock in Lebanon, Connecticut, where they
were his fellow students, among whom was Joseph Brant. Taking a deep interest
in the spiritual welfare of their people, he got introduced to them as a missionary of
Sir William Johnson. With Indian guides, carrying a pack containing his provisions,
travelling upon snow shoes, and camping at night upon and under hemlock boughs,
he reached the Indian settlement at the foot of Seneca Lake, or rather at the Seneca
Castle. Pie was well received by the chief sachem of the village, and invited to re-
main; but another chief of the Pagan party of the village, soon made him much
trouble, and in-fact endangered his life, by accusing him of witchcraft — of being the
cause of the sudden death of one of their people, fie was tried and acquitted through
the influence of his friend the chief sachem, and a trader from the Mohawk, by the
name of Wemple, the father of Mrs. Gilbert Berry, and grandfather of Mrs. George
Hosmer.* After this he was uninterrupted in his missionary labors. Mr. Kirkland’s
influence with the Indians enabled him to do essential service during the Revolution,
in diverting them from Butler and Brant.
*	See Appendix, No. 5.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PTJBCHASE.	131
mated; long years' it must be, as they thought, if ever, before the
goodly land, of which they had thus had glimpses, could become
the abode of civilization. The consummation was not speedy, but it
come far sooner than in that dark hour, they allowed themselves to
anticipate. In less than four years after Sullivan's expedition, the
war of the Revolution was ended by a treaty of peace; but almost
ten years elapsed before the conflicting claims of Massachusetts
and New York were settled, and Indian titles had been extinguish-
ed, so as to admit of the commencement of settlement.
The tide of emigation to the Genesee county, was destined to
come principally from New England. A brief space, therefore,
may be appropriately occupied in a sketch of the condition of the
citizens of that region, after the Revolution, in the vortex of which
they had been placed; and in this, the author has been assisted by
the venerable Gen. Micah Brooks, whose retentive memory goes
back to the period, and well informs us in reference to the men
who were the foremost Pioneers of the Genesee country. The
sketch is given as it came from his hands : —
“ It was my lot to have my birth under the Colonial Government.
In childhood, I saw our fathers go to the field of battle, and our
mothers to the harvest field to gather the scanty crops. Food and
clothing for the army was but in part provided; and at the end of
the war, the soldiers, who had suffered almost beyond endurance,
were discharged without pay; the patriots, who had supplied food
and clothing for the army, had been paid in Government paper,
which had become worthless; the great portion of laborers drawn
from the farms and the workshops, had reduced the country to
poverty; and commerce was nearly annihilated. The fisheries
abandoned, the labor and capital of the people diverted into other
channels, and the acts of peace had not returned to give any sur-
plus for exportation. A national debt justly due, of #100,000,000,
and the Continental Congress no power to collect duties on imports,
or to compel the States to raise their quotas. The end of the war
brought no internal peace. In 1785, Congress attempted to make
commercial treaties with England, France, Spain and Portugal;
each refused; assigning as a reason,* that under the Confederacy,
Congress had no power to bind the States. Spain closed the Mis-
sissippi against our trade, and we were expelled from the Mediter-
ranean by Barbary pirates; and we were without the means to132
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
fight them, or money to buy their peace. The attempt of the
States to extend their commerce was abortive; salt rose to $5 and
$8 per bushel; and packing meat for exportation ceased. Massa-
chusetts prohibited the exportation of American products in British
bottoms; and some of the States imposed a countervailing duty
on foreign tonnage. Pennsylvania imposed a duty on foreign goods,
while New Jersey admitted them free of duty.
“ During the war, various causes had operated to make a new dis-
tribution of property: — those equally friendly to the British had
secretly traded with the enemy, and supplied them with fresh provi-
sions, while their troops were quartered in various parts of the
country; thus filling their pockets with British gold. At the close
of the war, a large amount of British goods were sent into the
country, absorbing much of its precious metals; tending to render
us still dependent on British favor. While all those whose time and
property had been devoted to the cause of liberty and independ-
ence, were scarcely able to hold their lands, taxation brought dis-
tress and ruin on a great portion of our most worthy citizens.
Time was required by those who had lost their time and property,
to re-establish themselves in their former occupations; yet, some
of the States resorted to vigorous taxation, which created discon-
tent and open resistance. The great and general pressure, at this
time, seemed to create a universal attempt of all creditors to en-
force in the courts of law all their demands before they should
be put at hazard by the sweeping taxation, which was evidently
coming.
“ It may be well to call to mind the condition of the country, as to
law and government. At the period of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, we had neither constitutions nor government, and the
people took the power into their hands to conduct the affairs of the
nation. The people, in their primary assemblies, attempted to car-
ry out the recommendations of the American Congress; and that
in many instances, by town committees; and to furnish recruits for
the army. The citizens of a town would form themselves into
classes; each class to furnish a man, equipped for service. The towns
punished treason, arrested and expelled tones, levied taxes, and
cordially co-operated in all the leading measures of that day, so far
as related to our National Independence.
“In11786, J7, a boy, I saw the Revolutionary fathers in theirPHELPS Amy goeham’s purchase.
133
primary assemblies. The scene was solemn and portentous! They
found their common country without a constitution and govern-
ment, and without a union. The supposed oppressive measures of
an adjoining State had so alarmed the people of a portion of it,
that open resistance was made for self-protection, and the protec-
tion of property. An army, in resistance to a proceeding of the
courts of law in ‘Massachusetts, had been raised, and had taken the
field. Col. P., a man of gigantic stature, and a soldier of the Rev-
olution, with his associates in arms, entered the court-house at
Northampton, silenced the court; and in a voice of thunder, order-
ed it out, closing the doors, and using the court-house as his castle.
In the county of Berkshire, a General, with three hundred volun-
teers, had taken the field, in open resistance to State authority ; and
the blood of the citizens had been shed, and the execution of
State laws had been suspended. Other sections of our country
were in a state of insurrection, and no prospect of relief from any
source of mediatorial power then existing. The appalling scenes
that followed, filled the American people with fear and dread. The
distress that existed, might be an apology for the resistance of the
laws, which was afterwards regretted by those who partook in it, a
number of whom I saw who had left their homes and wandered as
fugitives to evade the punishment that the law would inflict on
them.
“ A new field was now opened,to exhibit the powers, genius and
energies of the American people. ; They soon discovered what was
essential to their security and prosperity; and in their deliberations,
moved and adopted an ordinance, or constitution, which they de-
clared to be 4 in order to form a more perfect union, establish jus-
tice, ensure domestic tranquility, and provide for the general de-
fence; promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our posterity;’ and, although defects and
doubts of its renovating power existed, yet, in a spirit of concilia-
tion, they adopted it.
At the time the new constitution went into effect, a new class
of laborers appeared. These sturdy boys, who were taught in
business habits during the war, had grown to manhood, and with
redoubled energy, repaired the depredations which contending
armies had spread. And many of those soldiers who composed
Sullivan’s army, and who had penetrated the western wilds of this134	PHELPS AND GdRHAM'S PURCHASE.
State, to chastise the savages for cruelties inflicted on their friends
and relations; those who had viewed the beauties of the Genesee,
and the rich table lands of Western New York, resolved to leave
the sterile soil, the worn and exhausted lands of New England, and
with their families, under the guidance and protection of a kind
Providence, gathered their small substance, pioneered the way
through a long wilderness, to the land of promise — the Genesee
country.
In 1796, in common with the sons of New England, I had a
strong disposition to explore the regions of the west, and avail my-
self if possible, of a more productive soil, where a more bountiful
reward would relieve the toil of labor. I traversed the Mohawk,
the Susquehannah, the Seneca and the Genesee. I saw the scatter-
ed Pioneers of the wilderness in their lonely cabins, cheered by
the hope and promise of a generous reward, for all the temporary
privations they then suffered. Their hearts were cheered with the
sight of a stranger, and they greeted him with a welcome. I found
in most of the pioneer localities, that three-fourths of the heads of
families had been soldiers of the Revolution. Schooled in the prin-
ciples that had achieved that glorious work, they only appreciated
the responsibilities they had assumed, in becoming founders of new
settlements, and the proprietors of local, religious, educational and
moral institutions. These Pioneers inherited the principles and
firmness of their forefathers; and whatever in reason and pro-
priety they desired to accomplish, their energy and perseverance
carried into effect. They subdued the fokest, opened avenues of
intercourse, built houses and temples for worship, with a rapidity
unknown in former ages. For intelligence and useful acquirements
they were not out done in any age; and wrere well skilled in all the
practical duties of life. In seven or eight years from the first en-
trance of a settler, a number of towns in Ontario county, were fur-
nished with well chosen public libraries.”Phelps and gorham’s purchase.
135
CHAPTER IV. *
PHELPS AND GORHAM^ PURCHASE OP MASSACHUSETTS-OLIVER PHELPS,
HIS ADVENT TO THE GENESEE COUNTRY, AND HIS TREATY
WITH THE SENECAS : ------NATHANIEL GORHAM*
Oliver Phelps was a native of Windsor, Connecticut. Soon
after he became of age, the resistance to British oppression com-
menced in the colony of Massachusetts, and he became an active
partizan, participating in the revolutionary spirit, with all the zeal
of youth and ardent patriotism. He was among the men of New
England, who gathered at Lexington, and helped to make that early
demonstration of intended separation and independence. Soon
after, without the influence of wealth or family distinction — with
nothing to recommend him but uncommon energy of character, and a
reputation he had won for himself—though but a youth, he was
enrolled as a member of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety.
When the troops of Connecticut were first organized, and had
taken the field, he entered the service of a contractor ot the army,
and soon after had an appointment in the commissary department,
the duties of which he continued to discharge until the close of the
Revolution.
On the return of peace, he settled in Suffield, Massachusetts.
He held in succession, the offices of member of Assembly, Sena-
tor, and a member of the Governor’s council. Robert Morris
having been at the head of financial affairs during the Revolution,
Mr. Phelps had made his acquaintance, and for a few years after
its close, business relations brought them frequently together. Maj.
Adam Hoops, who had been the aid of Gen. Sullivan, in his expe-
dition to the Genesee country, was a resident of Philadelphia, and
an intimate acquaintance of Mr. Morris. It was during interviews
with them, that Mr. Phelps was confirmed in a favorable opinion of136
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
this region, and the inducements it held out to enterprise, which had
been acquired by the representations of his New England neigh-
bors, who had been in Sullivan’s expedition.
Soon after Massachusetts became possessed of the pre-emption
right by deed of cession from New York, he resolved upon being
interested in the purchase of one million of acres; and for this
purpose associated himself with Judge Sullivan, Messrs. Skinner
and Chapin, William Walker, and several of his friends in Berk-
shire. Before they had matured their plans however, Nathaniel
Gorham had made proposals to the Legislature for the purchase of
a portion of the Genesee lands. Mr. Phelps had a conference with
Mr. Gorham, and to prevent coming in collision, they mutually
agreed, that Mr. Gorham should merge himself with the association,
and consider his proposition as made for their common benefit. He
had proposed the purchase of one million of acres, at one and six-
pence currency per acre, payable in the "public paper of the com-
monwealth.” The House of Representatives acceded to the propo-
sition, but the Senate non-concurred. In a letter to one of the
associates, announcing the result, Mr. Phelps observes: — "We
found such opposition in the Senate, and so many person’s ears and
eyes wide open, propagating great stories about the value of those
lands, that we thought best to postpone the affair until the next
session.” This was at the session of 1787.
The effect of Mr. Gorham’s offer was to bring competitors into
the field, and others had resolved upon making proposals before the
legislature again convened in April, 1788. Another compromise
was made which admitted new partners, and embraced all who
had any intention of purchase, in one association, of which Messrs.
Phelps and Gorham were constituted the representatives. They
made proposals for all the lands embraced'in the cession of Massa-
chusetts, which were acceded to; the stipulated consideration being
#100,000, payable in the public paper of Massachusetts; the price
Note.—In addition to tlie knowledge Mr. Phelps had acquired of the country as
above indicated, some early explorer had given him a written account of it from which
the following is an extract“ The country is so favorable to fruit, that the apple trees
destroyed in the late war, have sprung up and already bear fruit. The flats and in-
tervals of which there are a great quantity, are superior to any on Connecticut River.
There are many salt springs; an Indian was working at one of them last summer,
when I was in the country, with an ,old broken pot-ash kettle, and he never made less
than a bushel a day.’PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PURCHASE.	137
of which being much depressed, it was selling at a high rate of
discount.
So much accomplished,*the share holders held a meeting, appoint-
ed Gen. Israel Chapin to go out and explore the country; Mr.
Phelps the general agent, whose first duty was to hold a treaty with
the Indians, and purchase the fee or right of soil; Mr. Gorham as an
agent to confer with the authorities of New Yorjk, in reference to
running the boundary or pre-emption line; and Mr. William Walk-
er, as the local Agent of surveys and sales.
The Lessees and their “ long lease/' was an obstacle duly con-
sidered by the purchasers, for they were aware of the exertions
they were making to thwart the commissioners of New York, and
had no reason to anticipate any thing less from them, in their own
case. Massachusetts had joined New York, in declaring the leases
illegal and void, but the association were well advised that they
could not succeed in a treaty with the Senecas, against the powerful
influences the Lessees could command, through their connection
with Butler, Brant, Street, and their associates in Canada, and the
Indian traders and interpreters in their interest. A compromise
was resolved upon as the cheapest and surest means of success.
Proceeding to Hudson, Mr. Phelps met some of the principal Les-
sees, and compromised with them upon terms of which there are
no records, but there is evidence which leads to the conclusion, that
they were to become shareholders with him And his associates.
The Lessees on their part, contracted to hold another treaty with
the Indians at Kanadesaga, surrender their lease of all the lands
west of the Massachusetts pre-emption line, and procure for the
same, § deed of cession, Phelps & Gorham, for themselves and
associates, to be the grantees.
Mr. Phelps returned to New England and made preparations for
attending the treaty at Kanadesaga, which was to be convened and
carried on under the general supervision of John Livingston, the
principal agent of the Lessees. In all confidence that the arrange-
ment would be consummated, Mr. Phelps started upon his advent to
the Genesee country with a retinue of agents, surveyors, and assis-
tants, prepared to take possession of the country and commence
operations. Arriving at Schenectady on the 8th of May, the party
put their baggage on board of batteaux and arranged to go on horse-
back to Fort Stanwix, as far as there was any road, and from there
9
l138	PHELPS AND gobham’s pubchase.
embark in their batteaux. Mr. Phelps wrote from Schenectady
that they were likely to be delayed there by the non-arrival of Mr.
Livingston ; that he had met many unfavorable rumors, the purport
of one of which was that the Indians had refused to treat with
Livingston, and that they had “ taken up and whipped several
persons” in his interests who had preceded him at Kanadesaga.
On the 13th he wrote to Col. Wadsworth, of Hartford, that Livings-
ton had arrived, with his provisions and goods for the treaty, that
all was on board of batteaux, and the expedition was about to move
on; ybut he adds, that an Oneida Indian had just arrived from the
west with the information that Brant has “ got the Indians collected
at Buffalo creek, and is persuading them to take up the hatchet, and if
possible not to treat with us.” He expresses his fears that the treaty
will fail; and adds his regrets, as he thinks it will “ keep back settle-
ment a whole year.”
Mr. Phelps did not arrive at Kanadesaga, (Geneva,) until the
first of June. On the 4th he wrote to one of his associates, Samuel
Fowler, informing him that the Indians had not collected, that But-
ler and Brant had collected them at Buffalo creek and persuaded
them not to treat with Livingston. But inasmuch as Livingston
had sent out runners and interpreters, he is in hopes they will yet
be collected. “ I am well pleased,” he says, “ with what I have seen
of the country. This place is situated at the foot of Seneca Lake,
on a beautiful hill which over looks the country around it, and gives
a fine prospect of the whole lake, which is about forty miles in
length. Here we propose building the city, as there is a water
carriage from this to Schenectady; with only two carrying places
of one mile each. I design to set out to-morrow to view the Genesee
Flats.”
After waiting at Kanadesaga until the 17th of June, Mr. Phelps
made up his mind that the Lessees would be unable to fulfil their
contract, and informed their agent, Mr. Livingston, that he should
proceed independent of them or their lease, to treat with the Indians.
Note. — In addition to other letters of introduction he had provided himself with
in case of necessity, he procured one at Kanadesaga from Dominique Debartzch, the
French Indian trader at Uashong, who wielded more influence then among the Senecas
than any one man had, since the days of the Jesuit Fathers, and Joncaire. He had
essentially aided the Lessees as the reader has observed, and now as zealously es-
poused the interests of Mr. Phelps. Among Indian traders, inteipreters, and it may
almost be said, missionaries, at that period, “ every man had his price,” and it was
generally payable in land, in case it should be obtained.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
139
He had by this time discovered that there was a “ screw i loose5’
between the “New York Genesee Company55 and the “Niagara
Genesee Company55 and that they were pulling in different directions.
Inferring that the balance of power was in the hands of the Niag-
ara Company, Mr. Phelps taking the Indian trail, proceeded to Niag-
ara, where he met Butler, Brant and Street. He secured their
co-operation, and they agreed to procure a gathering of the Indians
at Buffalo, creek for the purpose of holding a treaty with him. Mr.
'Phelps, rejoined his friends at Kanadesaga where he remained until
a deputation of chiefs waited upon him to conduct him to the coun-
cil fire they had lighted at Buffalo creek,* where he and his party
arrived on the 4th of July.
Negotiations were commenced. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland was
present, appointed by a law of Massachusetts to superintend the
treaty and see that no injustice was done to the Indians, and his
assistant, superintendent, Elisha Lee, Esq. of Boston. The inter-
preters were James Deane and Joseph Smith, William Johnstone,
Mr. Kirkland and several others. Besides these, there were also
present, John Butler, Joseph Brant, Samuel Street, the officers of
Fort Niagara. The Lessees, following up Mr. Phelps, were repre-
sented by John Livingston, Caleb Benton and Ezekiel Gilbert.
Chiefs of the Onondagas, Cayugas, and the Mohawks were also
present.
On the opening of the council, Mr. Phelps produced the commis-
sion given him by the Governor of Massachusetts:! had it inter-
preted ; and made a speech, explaining the object of the treaty;
the right he had purchased of Massachusetts, &c. Most of the
Seneca chiefs, of which there was a pretty full delegation present,
were for selling a portion of their lands. They, however, stood
out as to the quantity. They had come to the treaty, determined
upon making the Genesee river the eastern boundary of their ces-
sion, and they stoutly resisted innovation west of it for several
days: but finally yielded, and fixed the western boundary as it was
* Red Jacket was at the head of this deputation. Afterwards, in 1790, at a council
at Tioga, when complaining to Mr. Pickering of some wrong in reference to Mr. Phelp’s
treaty, he said :—“ Then 1, Billy, and The Heap of Hogs, went to Kanadesaga and
took Mr. Phelps by the hand, and led him to our council fire at Buffalo creek.”
t Says Red Jacket, in his complaints to Mr. Pickering, at Tioga : —“ Then all know,
and Mr. Street knows, that Mr. Phelps held up a paper, with a seal to it, as big as my
hand. When he opened his mind to us, we took it hard.”140
• phelps and oorham’s purchase.
afterwards established. Mr. Phelps, in a statement he made of the
transactions, says, “ the council was conducted in a friendly and
amicable manner.” The negotiation then turned upon the price to
be paid; and Mr. Phelps and the Indians failing to agree, they mu-
tually appointed John Butler, Joseph Brant, Elisha Lee, as referees,
who agreed that Mr. Phelps should pay for the tract purchased, five
thousand dollars, and an annuity of five hundred dollars for ever.
The Indians had consented to take for the quantity of land they
were conveying, a sum which would amount to a fair proportion
of what the Lessees had agreed to pay for their whole country, and
this was the basis upon which the price was fixed.
/ The lands thus ceded, constituted what is now known as Phelp’s
and Gorham’s Purchase ; its eastern boundary, the Massachusetts’
pre-emption line; and its western boundary, a line “ beginning in
! the northern line of Pennsylvania, due south of the corner or point
/ of land made by the confluence of the Genesee river and the Can-
't ascraga Creek; thence north on said meridian line to the corner,
j or point, at the confluence aforesaid; thence northwardly along the
j waters of the Genesee river, to a point two miles north of Cana-
I wagus village; thence running due west twelve miles; thence run-
I ning northwardly, so as to be twelve miles distant from the western
bounds of said river to the shores of Lake Ontario.” Within
\jthese boundaries, were contained, by estimation, 2,600,000 acres.
Soon after arriving at 'Buffalo Creek, Mr. Phelps Saw that the
Lessee agents would embarrass his negotiations — at least, cause
delay—• and he, therefore, made a compromise, stipulating the con-
veyance to them of the four townships named in another connec-
tion; besides, as may well be inferred, paying their immediate
agents well for a forbearance in the work of mischief, in which
they were so persevering. Their release of so much as was in-
cluded in his purchase, was interpreted to the Indians.
The Niagara Genesee Company, Butler and his associates, in ad-
dition to their interests in common with all the Lessees, had an in-
dependent claim for convening the Indians ; and by their influence,
Note.—With the story of the “Mill Site,” the reader will be familiar. The au-
thor finds no record of it; but it may well be presumed, that Mr. Phelps, in urging
the extension of his purchase beyond the Genesee river, spoke of building a mill at
the Palls; and in all probability, promised to do so for the mutual benefit of the In-
dians and the white settlers; for immediately after the treaty, he gave the 100 acres to
Ebenezer Allanrnpon condition that he would erect a saw-mih and grist-millPHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE,
141
in fact, enabling Mr. Phelps to accomplish his purpose. This was,
probably, arranged by a promise on the part of Mr. Phelps, to give
them an interest in common with himself and associates.#
Mr. Phelps, before leaving the country, set surveyors to work,
under the direction of Col. Hugh Maxwell, to divide the newly ac-
quired country into townships; and, having fixed upon Canandai-
gua as the primitive locality, the focus of intended enterprise, re-
turned to Suffield. All retired as winter approached, and left the
whole region in possession of its ancient owners.f Arrived at home,
Mr. Phelps reported, by letter to his principal associates, the result
of his embassy. “ You may rely upon it,” says he “ that it is a good
country; I have purchased all that the Indians will sell at pre-
sent ; and, perhaps, as much as it would be profitable for us to buy
at this time.” Mr. Walker, after having remained in the country
until nearly the setting in of winter, returned and was present at a
meeting of the associates in January. He reported that he had
sold and contracted about thirty townships. At this meeting, a
division of the land took place; a large proportion of the shares
were but small ones, the largest portion of the lands falling into the
* Such would seem to have been the arrangement, though a misunderstanding and
litigation ensued. Soon after Mr. Phelps5 large sale to Robert Morris, “ Samuel Street
ana others,” (the Niagara Lessee Company,) filed a bill in chancery, setting forth
that they were entitled to the proceeds of sales of “ fifteen one hundred and twentieth
parts55 of all of Phelps5 and Gorham’s Purchase, by virtue of an agreement made by
Mr. Phelps at the treaty of Buffalo Creek. Upon the bill of complaint, an injunction
was issued against Phelps and Gorham, their associates in interest, and their grantees;
but how the matter was arranged, the author is unable to state. An interminable
quarrel arose between the two lessee companies; and the Canada company had but
little, if any, of the avails of the four townships. Some of their correspondence re-
minds one of the aneedote of the gambler, who, after pocketing cards, and practicing
the arts of his profession for a whole evening, very gravely complained that there
•“ was cheating about the board.5*
fKanadesaga (Geneva) excepted. Mr. Phelps5 intentions of founding a settlement
at Geneva, which the reader will have noticed, was of course changed, when he found
that according to the original survey of the pre-emption line, the locality was off from
his purchase. Canandaigua was his next choice.
Note.-—There has been a very common mistake as to where Mr. Phelps held his
Indian treaty; and this work will, probably, fell into the hands of those who will in-
sist that it was at Canandaigua, pointing out the very spot upon which it was held.
The error has been perpetutated by historians and essayists, who have added a fancy
sketch of a scene at the treaty ground : — Red Jacket eloquently invoking the war
ery, the tomahawk and scalping knife, and Farmer’s Brother opposing him. The
whole story is spoiled by Rea Jacket’s own assertion, that he and "Billy, and the
Heap of Dogs,” led Mr. Phelps from Kanadesagatothe treaty at Buffalo Creek. There
was no opposition to the Phelps’ treaty at the time; but one afterwards appeared.
/ The idea of a land treaty of Mr. Phelps with the Indians, at Canandaigua, must have
come from a gathering which was had there in 1789, when Mr. Phelps’ payments be-
came due.142
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
hands of Phelps and Gorham and a few associates. The most of
the early sales of townships, was to those who held shares.#
Early in the spring of 1789, under the general auspicies of Mr.
Phelps, arrangements were made, and a pretty formidable expedition
started out to the new Genesee country to commence a settlement,
the general details of which will be found in another connection.
Mr. Phelps was during that and succeeding years, alternating be-
tween Canandaigua and his home in New England. Before the
close of 1789, he had jointly, with John Taylor, an agent of the
State, contracted with Ephraim Blackmer, who has before been
named, for the cutting out of a road, two rods wide from Fort Stan-
wix to Seneca Lake. While in the Genesee country this year, in
the absence of any local laws, he entered into a written compact with
some Seneca chiefs, of a reciprocal character, each party promising
to punish offences committed by their, own people.
After all this had transpired, at the session of the Massachusetts
legislature in 1789, Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, and their associates,
found themselves unable to fulfil the engagements they had made
for the payment of the purchase money. They had predicated
payment upon the supposition, that they could purchase the public
paper of Massachusetts, at its then market value, which was but
about fifty cents on the dollar. In the interval, before pay day ar-
rived, the prospect of success in the formation of a Federal govern-
ment, and a consequent funding of the debts of the States, the
paper they had stipulated to make payment in, had nearly a par value
in market. Thus situated, and having failed to extinguish the
native right to the whole, they memorialized the legislature and
got released from their obligations in reference to what remained,
paying only for what was included in their Indian treaty. The
legislature, the more readily perhaps, acceded to their request, inas-
much as they were pretty sure of finding a purchaser for what re-
mained, in the person of Robert Morris.
New difficulties however, soon presented themselves. The Indi-
ans who had seemed almost universally satisfied with the sale to
Mr. Phelps, became divided upon the subject; the mischievous
* The low prices named in connection with some of the early sales, is explained by
this. ^ The purchasers were shareholders; the price paid, about what it had cost the
association. For instance, Robinson and Hathaway were original shareholders; and
the price they paid for Jerusalem, was fixed upon the basis named.143
PHELPS AND goeham’s ppechase.
traders and some interpreters among them, promoted the trouble,
and in that then retreat of disturbed spirits, and haters of every
thing that was American — the refugees of the Revolution, and,
British, officers and agents — Fort Niagara and its precincts — there
wrere disturbers other than those that had been compromised with.
The Indian chief Cornplanter, was the principal representative of
the malcontents.
In August, 1790, Mr. Phelps being in the Genesee country, wrote
to the elder Mr. Gorham in Boston, and after giving a somewhat dis-
couraging account of the almost universal prevalence of disease
among the new settlers,* informs him that the Indians had been at
Canandaigua, and refused to receive any farther payments, alledg-
ing that the amount of purchase money, aside from the annuity,
was to have been ten, instead of five thousand dollars. He adds,
that some recent murders of Indians committed at Tioga, by whites,
had helped to exasperate them; that he was about to set out to visit
their principal villages to appease them ; and that if he did not suc-
ceed, he feared they would retaliate by a general attack upon the
whites.
At an Indian council by Mr. Pickering at Tioga, in November,
Red Jacket and Farmer’s Brother made speeches, in which they
both claimed that the sum to be paid by Mr. Phelps, was ten instead
of five thousand dollars; afiedged that they had been cheated ;
that their “ heads had been confused ’’ by treaties with the “thirteen
Fires,” with “Fires kindled by the Governor of New York,” and
by “ Livingston.” Speaking of the payment from Mr. Phelps, Red
Jacket said: — “ When we went to Canandaigua to meet Mr. Phelps,
expecting to receive ten thousand dollars, we were to have but five
thousand. When we discovered the fraud, we had a mind to apply
to Congress, to see if the matter could not be rectified. For when
we took the money and shared it, every one here knows, that we
had but about one dollar a piece. All our lands came to, was but
the worth of a few hogsheads of tobacco. Gentlemen who stand
by, do not think hard of us for what has been said. At the time
of the treaty, twenty broaches would not buy half a loaf of bread;
*He says: —“We have suffered much for the want of a physician ; Atwater has
not yet arrived; we have now a gentleman from Pennsylvania attending on the sick,
who seems to understand his business. The two Wadsworths, who came from Dur-
ham, have been very sick, are now recovering, but are low spirited ; they like the
country but their sickness has discouraged them.”144
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
so that when we returned home, there was not a bright spot of
silver about us/'
In December, Cornplanter, attended by other Seneca chiefs, met
President Washington at Philadelphia, and delivered to him a speech,
in which he represented that the treaty at Buffalo creek, had been
fraudulently conducted; that Mr. Phelps represented himself as
the agent of the “ thirteen Fires,” that he told th^m that the coun-
try had been ceded to the thirteen Fires by the British King > that
if he could not make a bargain with the Indians, he could take
their lands by force; and that generally, it was by threats and de-
ceptions he had obtained the Indian lands. He added that Mr.
Street, whom they supposed their friend, “ until they saw him
whispering with Phelps/' had been bribed by the promise of a
large tract of land. The President heard the complaints, promised
an investigation of the matter, and to see the Indians redressed if
they had suffered wrong.
Soon after all this, Mr. Phelps addressed the President, giving a
detailed history of the treaty, denying the allegations of Cornplan-
ter, and asserting that he caused the Indians at the treaty, to be
well informed of his errand, their rights to their lands; that he used
no threats, or coercion to accomplish his object, and that the sum
he was to advance to the Indians, was but five thousand dollars.
He accompanied his statement, by depositions from the Rev. Mr.
Kirkland, James Dean, Judge Hollenbeck, and others, who were
present at the treaty, in substance, to the effect that the treaty was
conducted honorably, and fairly, and that Cornplanter was mista^-
ken as to the amount of the purchase money.
In February, '91, Joseph Brant addressed a long letter to the su-
perintendent of Indian affairs for the northern district of the United
Note.— It is to be inferred from what followed, that Cornplanter was more eloquent
than honest in his speech to the President. Speaking of the consequences of the
President turning a deaf ear to the complaints of the Senecas, he said : — “You have
said that we were in your hand, and that by closing it you could crush us to nothing.
Are you determined to crush us ? If you are, tell us so, that those of our nation who
have become your children, and have determined to die so, may know what to do. In
this case one chief has said he would ask you to put him out of pain. Another, who
will not think of dying by the hand of his father, has said he will retire to Chautau-
que, eat of the fatal root, and sleep with his fathers in peace.55 This was an allusion
to the beautiful Seneca tradition, that a young squaw once eat of a root she dug on
the banks of the Chautauque Lake, which created thirst; to slake it, she stooped down
to drink of the waters of the Lake, and disappeared forever. Thence the name of
the Lake; — “ Ja-da-qua,55 or the place of easy death,— where one disappears, and is
seen no more.	’	<145
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
States, in which he attacks Cornplanter with severity; alleging
that “ influenced by bribes and other selfish views, he prevailed on
the chiefs who were sent to cover up the council fire at Kanadesaga,
kindled by John Livingston, to lease the whole of the Five Nation’s
country, for a consideration of twenty thousand dollars, and an an-
nual rent of two thousand; and it was with the utmost difficulty,
that the Five Nations were able to move that lease, from off a por-
tion of the country.” He recapitulates the bargain made by Mr.
Phelps, agreeing with other witnesses. He says that the Lessees
were only released from the payment of five thousand of the twenty
thousand they had agreed to pay for the whole country, and a pro
rata amount of their stipulated annual rent.* This was to show,
that the bargain with Mr. Phelps, was a better one even than Corn-
planter had promoted with the Lessees.
When Mr. Pickering held his council at Newtown, in July, ’91, he
examined several Cayuga and Onondaga chiefs, who stated that
Cornplanter’s allegations were untrue; and some of the principal
Seneca chiefs, stated to him that, all was fair on Mr. Phelps’ part,
in reference to the treaty.
But all this did not entirely quell the dissatisfaction, and the al-
ledged wrong was mixed up with other elements, to render the
earliest relations of Pioneers of the Genesee country and the Indi-
ans, equivocal; in a condition to keep up alarm and apprehensions
of evil. If the Senecas themselves were mainly disposed to be
friendly, their jealousies and resentments were kept alive, by the
western Indians, and their British prompters, and British agents at
Niagara. DCP See Mr. Phelps’ speech to the Indians. Appendix,
No. 6.
The whole history of the early Indian treaties in this State, is a
complex one; there was a disjointed state of things existing among
our own people; the treaties began without any clear and definite
understanding, of what were the respective rights of the State and
the general government. The Indians, after they had heard of
“ one big fire being lighted for all the thirteen States,” could not un-
derstand why they should be invited to attend “ so many little fires,”
* The reader need hardly be told, that the poor Indians never realized the sum
promised by the Lessees, except in the form of bribes to some of their chiefs; and in
that form but a small portion of it. And yet the Lessees in one form and another,
realized a large amount for their illegal "long lease.”146
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
or councils. The almost interminable mischief, the Lessee move-
ment, was thrust in to add to embarrassment. The close of the
Revolution had left them with distracted councils, cut up into fac-
tions themselves. No wonder that when they were pulled and
hauled about from one treaty to another, beset by State commis-
sioners, Lessee companies, speculators and “ their old friends at
Niagara/5 they should on several occasions have complained that
their “ heads were confused.55
But the crowning curse, the source of nearly all other evils that
beset them, and nearly all that embarrassed our early relations and
intercourse with their race, was the use of spirituous liquors. In
the absence of them, the advent of our race to this continent, would
have been a blessing to theirs, instead of what it has proved to be,
the cause of their ruin, and gradual extermination. No where in a
long career of discovery, of enterprize and extension of empire,
have Europeans found natives of the soil, with as many of the
noblest attributes of humanity; moral and physical elements, which,
if they could not have been blended with ours, could have main-
tained a separate existence, and been fostered by the proximity of
civilization and the arts. Every where, when first approached by
our race, they welcomed it, and made demonstrations of friendship
and peace. Savage, as they were called, savage as they may have
been in their assaults and wars upon each other, there is no act of
theirs recorded in our histories, of . early colonization, of wrong or
outrage, that was not provoked by assaults, treachery or deception •—
breaches of the hospitalities they had extended to the strangers.
Whatever of savage character they may have possessed, so far as
our race was concerned, it was dormant until aroused to action
by assaults or treachery of intruders upon their soil, whom they had
met and treated as friends.
This was the beginning of trouble; the cupidity of our race
perpetuated it by the introduction of “fire water,55 which, vitiating
their appetites, cost them their native independence of character,
made them dependents upon the trader and the agents of rival
governments; mixed them up with factious and contending aspir-
ants to dominion; and from time to time, impelled them to the
fields of blood and slaughter, or to the stealthy assault with the tom-
ahawk and scalping knife. For the ruin of his race, the red man
has a fearful account against us, since we assumed the responsibilityphelps and gorham’s purchase.	147
of intercourse with it, as a separate and independent people; but
as in another instance, where another race is concerned, we may
plead with truth and justice, that we were inheritors of the curse;
and that our predecessors are chargeable with having fixed the plague
spot and stain upon us, indelibly, long before the responsibility de-
volved upon us.
From the hour that Henry Hudson toled the Indians on board of
his vessel, on the river that bears his name, and gave them the first
taste of spirituous liquors, the whole history of British intercourse
with them is marked by the use of this accursed agent as a princi-
pal means of success. The example of Hudson was followed up
by all the Dutch and English traders upon the Mohawk, and when
Sir William Johnson had settled as a British agent in the Mohawk
valley, he had unfortunately learned the potent influence of spirit-
uous liquors in Indian traffic and negotiation. He is probably the
first that made use of them at Indian councils; thus setting a vicious
example that has been perpetuated. The early French traders upon
the St. Lawrence, and in all this region, commenced the traffic not
until after they had ascertained that they could in no way compete
with the English traders than by using the same means. The early
Jesuit Missionaries checked them in their work of evil, but the
English trader was left unrestrained, even encouraged by English
colonial authority. The Senecas, especially, naturally inclined to
the French. There was something in the French character that was
congenial to their natural preferences; the two races met and
flowed into each other, (if the expression is admissable,) like kindred,
or easily assimilating elements ; with the English it was different;
there was a natural repugnance, it may almost be said ; the blowze,
turgid Englishman, and the Seneca who possessed generous and even
romantic and poetic elements, were in caste and inclination, anti-
podes. It was with his keg of rum, that the Englishman could alone
succeed; and with a morbid, sordid perseverance, he plied it in trade
as well as diplomacy. It was rum that first enabled the Englishman
Note.—From the first advent of the French Franciscan and Jesuit Missionaries in
this region, they -were the determined opposers of the introduction of spirituous
liquors among the Indians. They would suppress it in the trading houses of their
own countrymen, and at the risk of their lives, knock out the heads of English rum
casks. They became, in some instances, martyrs in endeavoing to suppress the traffic.
The first temperance essay the world ever saw other than the precepts of the Bible,
was written in this region by a Jesuit Missionary, and published in raris.148	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
to get a foothold upon the Hudson, upon the Mohawk, along the
shores of Lake Ontario; in the absence of its use, bold as the asser-
tion may appear, he would not have succeeeded in putting an end to
French dominion in America.
At a later period, when the storm of the Revolution was gather-
ing, the English resorted to the old weapon they had used against
the French, to use against the colonies. The Indians had undoubt-
edly resolved upon neutrality ; unsophisticated, unlearned in all the
grievances of oppressed colonies, in the intricacies of taxation,
representation, and the immunities under other structures of gov-
ernment than their: own, they could not understand why the bonds
of kindred should be sundered; why those they had just seen fight-
ing side by side against the French should be arrayed against each
other so suddenly. The aspect of the quarrel was not suited to
their tastes or inclinations, and they resolved upon standing aloof;
the Senecas at least. Invited to Oswego, by the English refugees
from the Mohawk, kept intoxicated for days and weeks, promised
there that the accursed “fire water” of England’s Ring, should be
as free to them “ as the waters of Lake Ontario,” their good inten-
tions were changed, and their tomahawks and scalping knives were
turned against the border settlers ; a series of events ensued, the
review of which creates a shudder, and a wonder that the offences
were so easily forgiven; that we had not taken their country after
subduing it with our arms, instead of treating for it. But well and
humanely did the Father of his Country consider how they had been
wiled to the unfortunate choice of friends which they made. Eng-
lish rum was not only freely dealt out at Oswego, during the Revo-
lution, but at Fort Niagara, where it paid for the reeking scalp, and
helped to arouse the fiercest passions of Indian allies, and send
them back upon their bloody track.
When peace came, and our State authorities began to cultivate
an acquaintance with the Indians, they found them deserted by
their late British employers, with nothing to show for the sanguine
aid they had given them, but appetites vitiated by the English rum
cask, and a moral and physical degeneracy, the progress of which
could not have been arrested; and lingering yet among them, in all
their principal localities, was the English or tory trader, prolonging
his destructive traffic. It was American, New York legislation,
that made the first statutes against the traffic of spirituous liquorsPHELPS AKD GOEHAM’S PIJECHASE.	149
among the Indians. It was American legislation, after the incubus
of British dominion was shaken off, that first checked the slave
trade. Two enormous offences have been committed against two
races, both of which had been alike perpetuated under English do-
minion.
Mr. Phelps, although his residence in all the earliest years of set-
tlement, was still in Massachusetts, spent most of his time in Can-
andaigua, and was the active and liberal patron and helper in all
the public enterprises of the region where he had been the pioneer.
Of ardent temperament, ambitious in all that related to the pros-
perity of the new country, the Pioneer settlers found in him a friend;
and when disease, privation, Indian alarms, created despondency,
he had for them words of encouragement, and prophecies of a “ bet-
ter time/’ He was useful to a degree that no one can realize who
has not seen how much one man can do in helping to smooth the
always rugged paths of backwoods life.
A considerable shareholder in the original purchase of Massa-
chusetts and the Indians, he eventually became a principal owner,
by purchase of shares, reversions and other means. In a few years
after the settlement of the Genesee country was fairly under way,
he was regarded as one of the most successful and wealthy of all
the many founders of new settlements of that period. In 1795, he
regarded himself as worth a million of dollars. There are no busi-
ness enterprises which, if successful, are better calculated to lead to
excess and rash venture, than that of speculation in lands. A
mania of land speculation, as will be seen in another connection,
commenced along in ’95 and *6, and extended through all the then
settled parts of the Union. Philadelphia was the principal focus,
its leading capitalists, among whom was Mr. Morris, were the prin-
cipal operators. Among the devices of the times, was a gigantic
“ American Land Company.” Elected to Congress, Mr. Phelps,
elated with his success in the Genesee country, was thrown into
the vortex of rash adventure, and became deeply involved, as all
were who made any considerable ventures at that unfortunate
period. One of his ventures was in connection with the “Georgia
Land Companywith the fate of which, most readers will be
familiar. Liabilities abroad made him a large borrower, and obliged150
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUECHASE.
him to execute mortgages upon his Genesee lands. In all this, the
titles of purchasers under him became involved, which created dis-
trust and excitement among a portion of the settlers, and brought
upon him a good deal of censure. His reverses, and the appre-
hensions, perhaps, that others were to be involved in them, preying
upon a sensitive mind, his health gradually declined, and he died in
1809, aged 60 years. In 1802, he had removed to Canandaigua ;
and from the commencement of his reverses up to the period of his
death, had been struggling to extricate himself, and others involved
with him, from embarrassment. In allusion to all this, an inscrip-
tion upon his tomb-stone contains the following sentence: —
“ Enterprise, Industry and Temperance, can not always secure success; "but the
fruits of those virtues, will be felt by society.”
The State of Connecticut having been a principal creditor of
Mr. Phelps, and holding a large mortgage upon his lands, the Hon.
Gideon Granger became its agent, and ultimately the settlement of
the estate devolved upon him. When he entered upon the task, he
was assisted in some of its preliminary investigations by the late
lessee Hawley, Esq., who, in a memorandum which the author has
in his possession, remarks that the estate was involved in “com-
plexity, perplexity and confusion/' The superior business facul-
ties of Mr. Granger, however, made “ crooked things straight
debts were cancelled, land titles cleared from incumbrances; no
purchasers under Mr. Phelps, it is believed, ultimately suffered loss;
and a considerable estate was saved to his heirs. Among the sur-
viving early Pioneers, it is common now to hear expressions of re-
' spect for the memory of Oliver Phelps, and regrets, that the last
years of his active and enterprising life was so clouded by misfor-
fortune. Jesse Hawley wrote that he was “ the Cecrops of the
Genesee country. Its inhabitants owe a mausoleum to his memo-
ry, in gratitude for his having pioneered for them the wilderness of
this Canaan of the west/'
Mr. Phelps was first judge of Ontario, on the primitive organiza-
tion of its courts; and was an early Representative in Congress,
from the then western district of this State.
He left a son and daughter. His son, Oliver Leicester Phelps,
was educated at Yale College, married a grand-daughter of Roger
Sherman, and became a resident of Paris, France. Returning to
this country, after the death of his father, he became the occupant151
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
of the old Phelps’ mansion at Canandaigua; was at one period Maj.
General of the 22d Division of New York Infantry. He died in
1813. His surviving sons * are: — Judge Oliver Phelps, of Canan-
daigua, who resides at the old homestead, a worthy representative
of his honored ancestor; William H. Phelps, of Canandaigua; and
Francis Phelps, an inmate of the Infirmary at Jkattleborough,
Vermont. The daughter of Oliver Phelps became the wife ot
A.masa Jackson, of the city of New York, and is now a resi-
dent of Canandaigua^ A daughter of hers, is the wife of Gen.
John A. Granger; and another, is the wife of Alexander H. Howell,
a son of the Hon. N. W. Howell. The wife of Oliver Phelps, who
was the daughter of Zachariah Seymour, died in 1826, aged 74
years.
Nathaniel Gorham, the elder, who was the associate of Mr.
Phelps, was never a resident upon the Purchase. He resided in
Charlestown, Mass. His son, Nathaniel Gorham, jr., his local repre-
sentative, came to Canandaigua in 1789, and was of course one of
the earliest pioneers. He was an early Supervisor of Canandaigua,
a Judge of the county courts, and the President of the Ontario
Bank, from its first organization, until his death. He died in 1826,
aged 62 years. His surviving sons are: — Nathaniel Gorham, mer-
chant, of Canandaigua; William Gorham, of Canandaigua; and
David Gorham, of Exeter, New Hampshire. Mrs. Dr. A. G. Bris-
tol, of Rochester, is a daughter; and an unmarried daughter resides
at the old homestead at. Canandaigua. The mother died in 1848,
at the advanced age of 83 years.
And in this connection, lest he should be omitted in a work like
this —-as he should not be — some mention should be made of the
venerable William Wood, who, if not a pioneer himself, is especial-
ly the friend of the pioneers; and among his other good works,
takes a lively interest in perpetuating their memories. Mr. Wood
is a veteran bachelor, the brother of the late Mrs. Nathaniel Gor-
ham. His native place is Charlestown, Massachusetts. At one
period of his life, he was an importing merchant in the city of Bos-
ton ; after that, a cotton dealer in New Orleans, where he was
known for his deeds of philanthropy and benevolence. Becoming
a resident of Canandaigua, by quiet unostentatious charities, by152
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
being “ present in every good work, ” he has well entitled himself to
be called the Howard of his local region. The public edifices of
Canandaigua, the rural church-yard, thp streets and side-walks, the
public libraries, bear testimonials of his public spirit. If no other
good work is in hand, he will carry apples, books, and other accept-
able presents, to the inmates of the jail, and cheer them by kind
words. In cities and villages of this country and in England, he
has established libraries and literary institutions, principally for the
benefit of mechanics, apprentices and clerks. Well may it be said,
that the world would be better, the picture of humanity would have
in it more of lighter coloring, if there were more like William
Wood. But, principally, it has been intended to notice him in con-
nection with a Gallery of Portraits — mostly of Pioneers of the
Genesee country — that he is collecting and suspending in their
well-chosen and appropriate place, the court-house at Canandaigua.
It contains already the portraits of—
Oliver Phelps,
Peter B. Porter.
Philip Church,
Wm. Wadsworth,
Micah Brooks,
Vincent Mathews.
Abner Barlow,
, Walter Hubbell,
John C. Spencer,
Moses Atwater,
And a correspondent adds: *
man of them all”
Augustus Porter,
John Greig,
James Wadsworth,
Red Jacket,
Nathaniel Rochester,
Jasper Parrish,
Judge Fitzhugh,
Ambrose Spencer,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS,
N. W. Howell.
-“ William Wood, the noblest Ro*153
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
CHAPTER V, "
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
This eccentric founder of a religious sect, and her followers,
having been the Pioneers of the entire Genesee country, preceding
even the Indian treaties for acquiring land titles; and having con-
stituted in early days a prominent feature in all this region; some
account of them, it may well be supposed, will be looked for in a
work of this character.
Jemima Wilkinson, or, as she was called by her followers, “ The
Friend/’ or “ The Universal Friend/’ was a daughter of Jeremiah
Wilkinson of Cumberland, Rhode Island. She was one of a family
of twelve children. The father was a respectable ordinary New
England farmer. When Jemima was in her 20th year, the entire
family, except her, had a severe attack of fever; and after their
recovery, she was attacked, and her sickness was severe and pro-
tracted, at times her life being despaired of. In the extremity of her
illness, her friends had assembled around her bed side to witness
her death, when, as she affirmed, it was suddenly revealed to her
that she must “ raise her dead body.” She arose from her bed, and
kneeling by its side, made a fervent prayer, called for her clothing,
and announced that her carnal existence had ended; henceforward
she was but divine and spiritual; invested with the gift of prophe-
cy.* She soon commenced travelling and exhorting, and with a
considerable degree of success; followers multiplied, some of them
good New England farmers. They soon furnished all her wants,
and would accompany her sometimes to the number of twenty, on
her missions. She travelled through New England, Eastern New
York, and spent several years in the neighborhood of Philadelphia
* This is briefly, her own account of her sudden transformation, as related to an in-
formant of the author, who knew her well, before and after her advent to this region.
10154
PHELPS AM) GORHAM?S PURCHASE.
and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, accompanied by most of her follow-
ers ; and she had proselytes wherever she went. Her authority
over them was absolute. Upon one occasion, at New Milford, in
Connecticut, she proclaimed a fast for thirty days on bread and
water. Most of them strictly obeyed; some of them becoming
almost what Calvin Edson was in later years. After remaining in
New England and Pennsylvania about twenty years, she came to
Western New York; she was then near forty years of age. The
author has a copy of the “ New Haven Gazette and Connecticut
Magazine," of date, March 1787, that has a letter in it from a
Philadelphia correspondent, written at the time “ The Friend/' and
her followers were in Philadelphia, on their way to this region.
Her personal appearance is thus described: — “ She is about the
middle size of woman, hot genteel in her person, rather awkward in
her carriage; her complexion good, her eyes remarkably black and
brilliant, her hair black and waving with beautiful ringlets upon her
neck and shoulders; her features are regular, and the whole of her
face thought by many to be perfectly beautiful. As she is not to be
supposed of either sex, so this neutrality is manifest in her personal
appearance: — She wears no cap, letting.her hair hang down as
has been described. She wears her neckcloth like a man; her chemise
is buttoned around the neck and wrists. Her outside garment is a
robe, under which it is said she wears an expensive dress, the fash-
ion of which is made to correspond neither with that of a man nor
woman. Her understanding is not deficient, except touching her
religious fanatacism. She is very illiterate, yet her memory is very
great; artful in discovering many circumstances which fall out
among her disciples. On all occasions she requires the most extra-
ordinary attentions that can be bestowed upon her; one or more
of her disciples usually attend upon her, and perform the most
menial service. Her pronunciation is after the peculiar dialect of
the most illiterate of the country people of New England. Her
preaching has very little connexion, and is very lengthy; at times
cold and languid, but occasionally lively, zealous and animated."
Enlarging upon the account she first gave of her rising from a
bed of sickness — dead in the flesh —she assumed that there was
once such a person as Jemima Wilkinson, but that “ she died and
went to heaven; after which the Divine Spirit re-animated that
same body, and it arose from the dead; now this divine inhabitantPHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.	155
is Christ Jesus our Lord, the friend to all mankind, and gives his
name to the body to which he is united, and therefore, body and
spirit conjointly, is the '‘Universal Friend.” She assumed to have
two "witnesses,” corresponding in all respects to those prophecied
in Rev. Chap, xi, from 3d to 13th verse. These were James Par-
ker and Sarah Richards.
But the reader will be principally interested in the advent of this
singular personage and her followers to the Genesee country: —
Previous to 1786, they were living in detached localities. In that
year, they met in Connecticut, and resolved upon finding some "fer-
tile unsettled region, far from towns and cities, where the ‘ Univer-
sal Friend ” and her followers, might live undisturbed in peace and
plenty, in the enjoyment of their peculiar religion/ They delega-
ted three of their number, Abraham Dayton, Richard Smith and
Thomas Hathaway to look for such a location. They went to
Philadelphia and traversed on horseback the interior of Pennsylva-
nia. Passing through the valley of Wyoming, they came across a
backwoodsman by the name of Spalding, who furnished them with
a glimpse of the region around Seneca Lake, and gave them direc-
tions how to find it. Following his directions, they went up the
river, and falling upon the track of Sullivan’s army, reached the
foot of Seneca Lake, and from thence proceeded to Cashong creek,
where they found two French traders, (De Bartzch and Poudry.)
who told them that they had travelled through Canada, and through
the Western territory, and had seen no where so fine a country as the
one .they were in. A few days exploration, satisfied the land look"
ers, and they returned by the route they came, to inform the Friend
of the result of their travels.
In June 1787, twenty five of the Friends, among whom were
Note.—At a time when the Friend and her followers, were likely to loose their first
location npon the banks of the Seneca Lake, .and were haying some difficulty with
their neighbors, Abraham Payton was deputied to go to Canada, and negotiate with
Gov. Simcoe, for a grant of land for a new location." Gov. Simcoe acceded, and made
a grant in the present township of Burford, C. W. ’Preparations were made to emi-
grate, when the Governor annulled his grant. He gave as an excuse that he had sup-
posed them to be Quakers, of whom he had acquired a good opinion in England;
but learning that they were a new sect, he did not wish to encourage their emigration.
He however made the grant to Col. Dayton individually, upon such terms,—settle-
ment duties &c.—as he was then in the habit of making land grants. Col. Dayton
settled" upon the land, died in early years, apd was succeeded by his son-in-law, Ben-
ajah Mallory.. The aged widow of Col. Dayton, who became the wife of CoL Joel
Stone, the founder of the village of Gananoque, below Kingston, died but a few years
since.156	PHELPS AHD GORHAMV PURCHASE.
Abel Botsford, Peleg and John Briggs, and Isaac Nichols, with their
families, met at Schenectady, and embarked on board of batteaux
for the promised land. At Geneva they found but a solitary log
house, and that not finished, “inhabited by one Jennings/’ They
went up the east side of the Lake to “ Apple Town,” where they
remained several days searching for a mill site. The noise of the
falling water, of the outlet of Crooked Lake, attracted them to the
west shore of Seneca Lake. Passing up the outlet they came to
the Falls, and exploring the neighborhood, fixed upon it as their
location. They began their settlement in Yates County, about one
mile south of the present village of Dresden. It was August when
they arrived. They prepared ground and sowed a field of wheat
in common, and the next season, 1789, several small fields of wheat
were sown.*
The first land purchase was made of the State, upon the “ Gore,”
previous to the running of the new pre-emption line. It was a
tract of 14,000 acres, situated in the east part of the present town
of Milo, and south east part of Starkey. William Potter and
Thomas Hathaway were delegated to make the purchase. They
applied to Governor George Clinton for a grant of land, which was
refused of course, but he assured them that if they would attend
the public sale in Albany, they would be able to obtain land at a
satisfactory price. They attended the sale and bought the tract
above named for a little less then 2s per acre. Benedict Robinson
and Thomas Hathaway, soon after bought of Phelps and Gorham
the town of Jerusalem for Is 3d per acre.f
The first grist mill in Western New York, was built by three of
the society; — Richard Smith, James Parker and Abraham Dayton.
The site was the one now occupied by the “ Empire Mills,” two
and a half miles from Penn Yan. It was built in the summer and
fall of 1789 and flour was made in it in that year. Here also was
* This corrects the very common impression, that the first wheat Was harvested at
Canandaigua, and Victor, in the‘fall of 1790. The wheat sown by the Friends must
have been harvested in 1789.
tit was a rule at that early period, with Messrs. Phelps & Gorham, in selling a
picked township, to require the purchaser to draw for another township at the same
price. Robinson and Hathaway after purchasing Jerusalem, drew what is now the
town of Geneseo. The Friend objected to her people “ trading and buying property
at a distance,” and fearing her displeasure, they prevailed upon Mr. Phelps to release
them from the bargain, which he was quite willing to do, as he had ascertained the
Value of the township.PHELPS AND GOKHAM’s PURCHASE.	157
opened the first public house by David Waggener. A son of his,
Abraham Waggener of Penn Yan, now 76 years of age, Well re-
members seeing the French Duke, Liancourt, at his father’s inn.#
The first framed house in the Genesee country, was built by Enoch
and Elijah Malin, as a residence for “ The Friend.” The house is
still standing, and is occupied by Charles J. Townsend. It is a mile
north of Dresden, and a half a mile east of S. B. Buckleys. The
first school in the Genesee country, was opened by Rachel Malin in
a log room attached to this house. In 1789, a log meeting house
was built in which “The Friend” preached, and met with her fol-
lowers. This house stood a few rods south of the residence of S.
B. Buckley. But this is anticipating pioneer events that belong in
another connexion.
Major Benajah Mallory, well known in all this region during the
war of 1812, is yet living, in Lockport, Niagara County. , Ho is
spoken of in a preceding note as having married the daughter of
Abraham Dayton. This family connexion, (or then anticipated one,)
brought him to the Friend’s settlement at an early period after it was
founded. He was the first merchant there ; and in fact, opened the
first store in the Genesee Country, other than those connected with
the Indian trade. From him the author has obtained many remin-
iscences, some of which are applicable to the subject in hand. He
gives the names of principal heads of families who were followers
of “ The Friend,” and located in the settlement during the earliest
years : — Abraham Dayton, William Potter, (father of Arnold Pot-
ter) Asahel Stone, John Supplee, Richard Smith, David Waggener,
James Parker, Samuel Lawrence, Benj. Brown, Elnathan and Jon-
athan Botsford, Jessee Brown, Jessee Holmes, Joshua Brown, Barn-
abus Brown, Nathaniel Ingraham, Eleazor Ingraham, David Culver,
David Fish, Beloved Luther, John Gibbs, Jacob Waggener, Wm.
Sanford, John Barnes, Elijah Brown, Silas Hunt, Castle Dean, Jon-
athan Dean, Benedict Robinson, Thomas Hathaway. Besides these
there were unmarried men, and men and women who had been
separated in adhering to the Friend. The followers were mostly
* “ The inn” says the Duke in his Travels which contained but two rooms, we found
already full; some person who intended to buy land near the Great Sodus, and Capt.
Williamson’s agent who was to sell it to them, had taken possession before our arrival.
After an American supper consisting of coffee and boiled ham, we all lay down to
rest in the same room. There was only two beds for ten persons; in consequence, these
two beds were occupied by fdurhf us, and the others lay down in their clothes upon
the straw.”158	PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
respectable men of small property; some of them had enough to be
called rich in those days. Those who had considerable property
gave her a part, or were at least liberal in supplying her wants.
Man and wife were not separated; but they were forbidden to
multiply. A few transgressed, but obtained absolution by confes-
sing and promising not to disobey again. It was generally a well
regulated community, its members mostly lived in harmony, were
temperate and industrious. They had two days of rest in the week,
Saturday and Sunday. At their meetings the Friend would gener-
ally speak, take a text preach and exhort and give liberty to others
to speak. The Friend appeared much devoted to the interests of
her followers, and especially attentive to them in sickness. Major
Mallory insists that the old story of her promising to “walk on the
water” is wholly false. When Col. Pickering held his treaty with the
Indians at Newtown Point, nearly five hundred Senecas encamped
at Friends’ Landing on Seneca Lake. They were accompanied by
Red Jacket, Cornplanter, and Good Peter, (the Indian preacher,)
the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, Horatio Jones and Jasper Parrish. Good
Peter wanted an interview with the “ Universal Friend.” She ap-
pointed a meeting-with the Indians and preached to them, Good
Peter followed her, and the Friend wanted his discourse interpre-
ted. Good Peter objected, saying: — “if she is Christ, she knows
what I said.” This was the meeting upon the bank of Seneca Lake,
that gave rise to the report alluded to.
The Friend did not join her colony until the spring of 1789. She
then came wTith a reinforcement, a somewhat formidable retinue.*
Benedict Robinson, the most considerable property holder among
her followers, gave her 1000 acres of land, upon which she resided.f
* William Hencher, the Pioneer at the mouth of the Genesee River, then lived at
Newtown Point, and helped her on with his teams through the woods, to Catherines-
town. His surviving son who accompanied the expedition, well remembers “ The
Friend,” her singular dress, and singularity as it seemed to him, of a woman controlling
and directing men in all things appertaining to the journey. It seemed to him a “ one
woman power,” if the form of expression may be changed with the sex; yet he
gratefully remembers her kindness and hospitality, when his father’s family came
through the wilderness, and stopped at her residence, on their way to the Genesee
River.
tThe author has several letters of Mr. Robinson, written to Messrs. Wadsworth,
Williamson, and others, and he is often alluded to in early reminiscences. The Duke,
Liancourt visited him in 1795, and says of him ,*— “ This Benedict Robinson is a mild,
sensible and well behaved man, resides on an estate of 500 acres, 150 of which are.im-
proved.” “ Last year he sold a thousand pounds of cheese at a shilling a pound.”
* He does not plough his land, but contents himself with breaking it up with a har-
row. Although he says that Mr. Robinson had been a “ zealous disciple of the “All
Friend,” he inferred nom his conversation that his confidence in her divine missionphelps and gorham’s purchase.
* 159
Her business would seem to have been conducted by her female
witmess, Sarah Richards, who did not arrive at the settlement until
June, 1789. Some correspondence of hers, and memorandums,
have been preserved: —	•	.
“Jerusalem, 1st of 6th mo., 1791.
“ I arrived with Rachel Malm, Elijah Malm, E.Mehitable Smith, Maria, and'most of
the Friend’s family, and the goods which the Friend sent Elijah to assist in bringing
on. We all arrived on the west side of Seneca Lake, and reached the Friend’s house,
which The Universal Friend had got built for our reception; and with great joy, met
The Friend once more in time, and all in walking health, and as well as usual.
'	" SARAH RICHARDS.”
"In the year ’91, settled with Elijah Malm, being in trust for The Universal Friend.
At this time, reckoned and settled with him for building The Friend’s house, and pass-
ed receipts the 24th of the sixth month, 1791.	SARAH RICHARDS.”
" Reckoned and settled^with Richard Hathaway for gqods which the carpenters took
up at his store for building The Friend’s jhouse in Jerusalem. Settled, I say, this 3d
of the 7th month, 1791.	SARAH RICHARDS.”
"About the 26th of the 7th month, 1791,1 and Rachel Malm were taken sick about
the time of wheat harvest, and remained sick, and were not able to go out of the house
until the ground was covered with snow; but entirely confined to our chamber, which
finished up the year 1791.	SARAH RICHARDS.”
Sarah Richards died in ’94 or ’5, and was succeeded in all her
relations to The Friend, by Rachel Malin. The father of The
Friend never became her convert, but her brother, Stephen, and
sisters, Mercy, Betsey and Deborah, followed her in her advent to
this region.
The meetings of this singular sect, were conducted very much
was somewhat weakened. The Duke might have added a circumstance that had
somewhat interfered with the relations of the Friend and one of her most prominent
disciples. He had infracted one of her rules, by marrying. He was in this way, the
first transgressor among the followers. Susannah Brown had been his houskeeper.
Thos. Hathaway having business with Benedict early one morning, went to his house
where he found Mr. Williamson, who told him that Benedict being unwell was yet
in bed. Mr. Williamson leading the way, they both went up stairs and found Bene-
dict in bed with his housekeeper, Susannah; " Good .Lord! Benedict, what does this
mean ?” was the ejaculation and interrogation of Thomas, accompanied by an uplifting
of his hands, in token of astonishment and horror, at what he called "shameful, sin-
ful, and disgraceful.” Mr. Williamson replied: — "Why, Benedict got tired of sleeping
alone, and crept in bed with Susannah.” Thomas hastened to inform The Friend,
who was displeased, but avoided an open rupture, with one whose position and influence
made him too valuable to admit of excommunication. The harsh features of the affair
were soon softened, by Mr. Williamson, who announced that he was then on his way
from Canandaigua, where he had taken out his commission as a Judge of Ontario county,
and had legally married Benedict and Susannah before they had ventured to place
themselves m the position in which Thomas had found them. The eccentric marriage
proved a happy one to the parties, whatever it may have been with the offended Jemi-
ma. The living descendants in the first degree, of the offending Benedict and Susan-
' nah, are: — Dr. Daniel Robinson of Farmington, Ont. county; Mm. Dr. Hatmaker of
Milo, Yates county ; James C. Robinson, P. M., Penn Yan ; and Phoebe, a maiden
daughter, who resides at the old homestead.160
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
after the manner of the legitimate Society of Friends. The con-
gregation would sit in silence until some one would rise and speak.
While The Friend lived, she would generally lead in the public
speaking, and after her, Rachel Malin. In addition to this, and the
usual observance of a period of silence, with each family, upon sit-
ting down to their meals, ■■“sittings” in each family, upon Sunday
evenings, was common. The family would observe perfect silence
for an hour or more, and then rise and shake hands. “ I remem-
ber,” says Mr. Buckley, “ when I was a boy, many such 'sittings ’
at my grand-father’s, and I always rejoiced when they commenced
shaking hands to end the tiresome stillness.”
It has already been observed, that the French Duke, Liancourt,
visited The Friend’s settlement in 1795. He became much inter-
ested in the new sect, made the acquaintance of The Friend, was
a guest, with his travelling companions, at her house, and attended
her meetings. For one so generally liberal and candid, he writes
of all he saw there in a vein of censure, in some respects, unde-
served. She and her followers, were then at variance with their
neighbors, and the Duke too readily listened to gossip that implica-
ted the private character of this founder of a sect, and added them
to his (justifiable, perhaps,) denunciations of religious imposture.
Her real character was a mixed one: —- Her first incentives were
the imaginings of a mind highly susceptible of religious enthusiasm,
and strongly tinctured with the supernatural and spiritual, which,
in our own day, has found advocates, and has been systematized in-
to a creed. The physical energies prostrated by disease, the
dreamy mind went out, and, following its inclinations, wandered
in celestial spheres, and in a “ rapt vision,” created an image, some-
thing to be or to personate. Disease abating, consciousness return-
ing, this image had made an impress upon the mind not to be readily
effaced. She became an enthusiast; after events, made her an im-
postor. All founders of sects, upon new revelations, have not had
even so much in the way of induction to mitigate their frauds. A
sect that has arisen in our own day, now counting its tens of thou-
sands, the founders of a State, have nothing to show as their basis,
but a bald and clumsy cheat; a designed and pre-meditated fraud.
It had no even distempered religious enthusiasm; no sick man or
sick woman’s fancy to create a primitive semblance of sincerity or
integrity of purpose. The trance or dream of Jemima Wilkinson,phelps AM) gorham’s purchase.	161
honestly enough promulgated at first, while the image of its creation
absorbed all her thoughts and threw around her a spell that reason
could not dissipate, attracted the attention of the superstitious and
credulous, and, perhaps, the designing. The motives of worldly
ambition, power, distinction; the desire to rule, came upon her
when the paroxism of disease in body and mind had subsided, and
made her what history must say she was, an impostor and false
pretender.
And yet there were many evidences that motives of benevolence,
a kindly spirit, a wTish to promote the temporal wellfare of her fol-
lowers, was mixed up with her impositions. Her character waf a
compound. If she was conscious herself of imposition, as we must
suppose she was, her perseverance was most extraordinary. Never
through her long career did she for one moment yield the preten-
sions she made upon rising from her sick bed and going out upon
her mission. With gravity and dignity of demeanor, she would
confront cavillers and disbelievers, and parry their assaults upon
her motives and pretensions; almost awing them to a surren-
der of their doubts and disbelief. Always self-possessed, no evidence
could ever* be obtained of any misgivings with her, touching her
spiritual claims. Upon one occasion James Wadsworth called to
see her. At the close of the interview, she said :—*' Thou art a
lawyer; thou hast plead for others; hast thou ever plead for thyself
to the Lord ?” Mr. Wadsworth made a courteous reply, when re-
questing all present to kneel with her, she prayed fervently, after
which she rose, shook hands with Mr. Wadsworth, and retired to
her apartment.
The reader must make some allowances for the strong prejudices
of the French Duke, who upon the whole, made but poor returns
for the hospitalities he acknowledges. He says: -— “ She is con-
stantly engaged in personating the part she has assumed ; she des-
canted in a sanctimonious, mystic tone, on death, and on the happi-
ness of having been an instrument to others, in thfe way of their
salvation. She gave us a rhapsody cf prophecies to read, ascribed
to Dr. Love, who was beheaded in Cromwell’s time. Her hypoc-
risy may be traced in all her discourses, actions and conduct, and
even in the very manner in which she manages her countenance. ”
The Friend’s community, at first flourishing and successful, began
to decline in early years. The seclusion and separation from the162
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
world, contemplated by its founders was not realized. They had
selected too fine a region to make a monopoly of it. The tide of
emigration reached them, and before they had got fairly under way,
they were surrounded with neighbors who had little faith in The
Friend, or sympathy with her followers. The relations of neigh-
borhood, town and county soon clashed, militia musters came, and
the followers refused the service; fines were imposed and their
property sold. The Friend was a long time harrassed with indict-
ments for blasphemy, but never convicted. While she could keep
most of her older followers in the harness, the younger ones remind-
ed of the restraints imposed upon them, by contrasting their privi-
leges with their disbelieving neighbors, would unharness themselves;
one after another following the early example of Benedict Robinson.
Two of that early class of methodist circuit preachers,* that were
so indefatiguable in threading the wTood’s roads of this western
forest, as were their Jesuit predecessors a century before them,
found the retreat, and getting a foothold, in a log school house,
gradually drew many of the young people to their meetings. Many
of the sons and daughters of the followers abjured the faith.
Jemima Wilkinson died in 1819, or departed, went *away, as the
implicit believers in her divine character would have it. Rachel
Malin, her successor in spiritual as well as worldly affairs, died
about three years since. She kept up the meetings until a few
years previous to her death. James Brown, and George Clark, who
married heirs of Rachel Malin, own the property that she inherited
from The Friend. The peculiar sect may be said to be extinct;
not more than three or four are living who even hold lightly to the
original faith. Even the immediate successors of Jemima and
Rachel, the inheritors of the property, and those who should be
conservators of their memories, if not of their faith, are forgetful
of their teachings. The old homestead, the very sanctuary of the
Universal Friend, once with all things appertaining to it, so chast-
ened by her rigid discipline; is even desecrated. During this present
winter the sounds of music and dancing have come from within its
once consecrated and venerated walls. DCpFor an interesting
sketch of Jemima Wilkinson and her followers, copied from the
manuscripts of Thomas Morris, see Appendix, No. 7.
* Revs. James Smith and John Broadhead.PART THIRD
CHAPTER I. f
COMMENCEMENT OF SURVEYS, AND SETTLEMENT OF THE GENESEE
COUNTRY.
[Pioneer settlements will be taken up in this connection, by counties, as they now
exist The arrangement will not allow of strict reference to the order of time in
which events occurred; but it will be found more convenient for the reader than any
other that could be adopted.
After Mr. Phelps had concluded the treaty,— before leaving the
country he made arrangements for its survey into Ranges and Town-
ships. This was done under contract, by Col.‘Hugh Maxwell, who
completed most of the northern portion of it previous to the close
of the year 1788; and in the year 1789, with the assistance of
Judge Porter, he completed the whole. The survey of townships
into farm lots, in cases where whole townships were sold, was done
at the expense of the purchasers. Judge Porter, Frederick Saxton,
----- Jenkins, were among the earliest surveyors of the subdivis-
ions.
Mr. Phelps having selected the foot of Canandaigua Lake, as a
central locality in the purchase, and as combining all the advanta-
ges which has since made it pre-eminent, even among the beautiful
villages of western New York, erected a building for a store house
on the bank of the Lake. The next movement was to make some
primitive roads, to get to and from the site that had been selected.
Men were employed at Geneva, who underbrushed and continued
a sleigh road, from where it had been previously made.on Flint creek,
to the foot of Canandaigua Lake, following pretty much the old164
PHELPS AND GOBHAm’s PUBCHASE.
Indian trail. When this was done, a wagon road was made near
where Manchester now is, the head of navigation on the Canandai-
gua outlet. No one wintered at Canandaigua in 1788, *9. Early
in the spring of 1789, before the snow was off the ground, Joseph
Smith moved his family from Geneva, and occupied the log store
house; thus making himself the first settler west of Seneca Lake.
Soon after his arrival he built a block house upon Main street, upon
the rise of ground from the Lake, where he opened a tavern. His
first stock of liquors was obtained from Niagara, U. C. He went
after them from the mouth of Genesee river, in a canoe; on his
return, his frail craft was foundered in a gale, at the mouth of the
Oak Orchard creek; but he saved most of his stock, and carried it
to Canandaigua on pack horses. This primitive tavern, and the
rude store house on the Lake, furnished a temporary stopping place
for those who arrived in the spring and summer of 1789.
Early in May 1789, Gen. Israel Chapin arrived at Canandaigua,
and selected it as his residence, erecting a log house near the outlet;
— connected with him, and with surveys and land sales that were
contemplated, were some eight or ten others, who came at the same
time. They came by water, even into the lake, though this was
about the only instance that batteaux went higher up the out-let
than Manchester. There were, of these early adventurers, besides
Gen. Chapin: —Nathaniel Gorham jr., Frederick Saxton, Benjamin
Gardner, and Daniel Gates. Soon after Mr.'Walker, an agent of
Phelps and Gorham arrived with a party, built and opened a log
land office on the site which Mr. Phelps afterwards selected for his
residence. Others came during the summer, who will be named in
another connection, and before the sitting in of winter there was a
pretty good beginning of a new settlement. Judge John H. Jones,
a brother of Capt. Horatio Jones,—who still survives to remember
Note.—Joseph. Smith was captured by the Indians at Cherry Valley, during the
Border Wars. Like others he had chosen to remain among them. His stay at
Canandaigua was but a brief one, as he was soon employed as an Indian interpreter.
At the Morris treaty at Geneseo, the Indians gave to him and Horatio Jones six square
miles of land on the Genesee river. They sold one half of the tract to Oliver Phelps
and Daniel Penfield, and Smith soon after parted with his remaining quarter. He was
an open hearted generous man, possessed in fact of many good qualities; endorsed for
his mends, was somewhat improvident, and soon lost most of the rich gift of the Indi-
ans. He was well known upon the river in some of the earliest years of settlement.
He died in early- years; his death was occasioned by an accident at a ball play, in
Leicester. A daughter of his—a Mrs. Dutton, resides at Utica with her son-in-law,
Dr. Bissell, late Canal Commissioner.PHELPS AND GORHAM V PURCHASE.	165
with great distinctness, early events, was one of the party who
opened the road from Geneva to Canandaigua, and from Canandai-
gua to the landing place on the outlet, in 1788, revisited the locality
again in August, in 1799. He says: — “ There was a great change.
When we left in the fall of ’88 there was not a solitary person
there; when I returned fourteen months afterwards the place was
full of people;—residents, surveyors, explorers, adventurers; houses
were going up ; it was a busy, thriving place.”
Mrs. Hannah Sanborn, is now the oldest surviving resident of
the village; and with few exceptions, the oldest upon Phelps and
Gorham’s purchase. She is now in her 88th year, exhibiting but
little of the usual infirmities of that advanced age, with faculties,
especially that of memory of early events, but slightly impaired.
The author found her in high spirits, even gay and humorous, en-
joying the hearty laugh of middle age, when her memory called up
some mirthful reminiscence. Upon her table were some of the
latest publications, and she alluded in conversation to Headly’s fine
descriptions in his “ Sacred Mountains,” as if she had enjoyed them
with all the zest of her younger days. She had just finished a letter
in a fair hand, shewing but little of the tremor of age, which was to
be addressed to a great grand daughter. To her, is the author
largely indebted for reminiscences of early Pioneer events at Can-
andaigua.
V" Early in the spring of 1790, Mr. Sanborn came with his wife and
two young children to Schenectady, where he joined Judah Colt,
and the two chartered a boat, with which they came to the head
of navigation on the Canandaigua outlet.* * Mr. Sanborn moved
Note.— Nathaniel Sanborn, the husband of Mrs. Sanborn, died in 1814. There is
scarcely a pioneer settler in the Genesee country, that did not know the early landlord
and landlady. Mrs. S. was the daughter of James Gould, of Lyme Conn., is the aunt
of James Gould of Albany. Her son John and William reside in Illinois. Her eldest
daughter —the first born in Canandaigua,—- now over 60 years of age, is the wife of
Dr. Jacobs of Canandaigua; another daughter is the wife of Henry Fellows Esq. of
Penfield; another, is Mrs. Erastus Granger of Buffalo; and a fourth is a maiden
daughter, residing with her mother.
*Mrs. S. gives a graphic account of this journey. The last house the party slept
in after leaving Schenectady until they arrived at the cabin on the Canandaigua out-
let^ was the then one log house in Utica. It was crowded with boatmen from Niag-
ara. Mrs. 8. spread her bed upon the floor for herself, husband and children, and the
wearied boatmen begged the privilege of laying their heads upon its borders. The
floor was covered. After that they camped wherever night overtook them. On the
Oswego River they took possessien of a deserted camp, and just as they had got their
supper prepared two stout Indians came who claimed the camp and threatened a sum-166	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUECHASE.
into the log hut that he had built in the Robinson neighborhood, where
they staid but a short time, the place looking “ forbidding and lone-
some.” Mrs. S. chose to go where she could have more than one
neighbor within eight miles. They removed to Canandaigua1
Mrs. S. says she found there in May, 1790, Joseph Smith, living
on bank of Lake, Daniel Brainard in a little log house near the pres-
ent cemetry, Capt. Martin Dudley, in the house built by Mr. Walk-
er, James D. Fish in a log house down near the Lake; Gen. Chapin
who had been on the fall before had built a small framed house for
his # family, a few rods below Bemis’ Bookstore. Mr. Sanborn
moved into it until a small framed house was erected on the Atwater
corner, of which he became the occupant, opening a tavern, which
with the exception of what Joseph Smith had done in the way of
entertainment, was the first tavern west of Seneca Lake, and
was the only one for four years. It was the home of the young
men who came to Canandaigua for settlement; of adventurers,
emigrants, who would stop at Canandaigua w7ith their families a few
days to prepare for pushing here and there into the wilderness;
land surveyors and explorers; Judges of the early courts, and law-
yers; the Indian'chiefs Red Jacket, Brant, Farmer’s Brother, Corn-
planter, who were called to Canandaigua often in early years to
transact business with Gen. Chapin, the Superintendent; in short
the primitive tavern that now would be deemed of inadequate
dimensions for an inn at some four corners in the country, had for
guests all the prominent men of that early period ; and of many
eminent in their day, and even now blended with all the early his-
tory of the Genesee Country. Mrs. Sanborn enumerates among
her early guests, many of them as boarders:'—Oliver Phelps,
Charles Williamson, Aaron Burr, Thomas Morris, Rev. Mr. Kirk-
land, Augustus and Peter B. Porter, James and William Wadsworth,
the early Judges of the Supreme court of this State, Bishop Chase,
Joseph and Benj. Ellicott, Philip Church, Louis Le Couteleux,
Charles and Dugald Cameron, Vincent Matthews, Nathaniel W.
Howell, John Greig, Horatio and John H. Jones, Robert Troup,
Jeremiah Mason, Philetus and John Swift, Wm Howe Cuyler,
Elias Cost, Herman Bogert, Samuel Haight, Timothy Hosmer,
mary ejectment. The conflicting claim was amicably adjdusted, but Mrs. S. says it
was the first of the race she had ever seen, and they cost her a little fright. The party
saw none but Indians and boatmen in all of the long journey west of Utica.phelpb and gorham’s purchase.
167
Arnold Potter, Benedict Robinson, Jemima Wilkinson, Samuel B.
Ogden, John Butler, Samuel Street, and Timothy Pickering. Few
of all of them are now living, and yet the busy stirring landlady, of
whom they were guests, most of them in their early years, lives to
remember them and speak familiarly of their advents to this
region.
Mrs. Sanborn well remembers the Pickering treaty of ’94. As
it was known that Col. Pickering, the agent, would come prepared
to give them a grand feast/ and distribute among them a large
amount of money and clothing, the attendance was very general.
For weeks before the treaty, they were arriving in squads from all
of their villages and constructing their camps in the woods, upon
the Lake shore, and around the court house square. The little
village of whites, was invested, over run with the wild natives.
It seemed as if they had deserted all their villages and transferred
even their old men, women, and children, to the feast, the carousal,
and the place of gifts. The night scenes were wild and picturesque ;
their camp fires lighting up the forest, and their whoops and yells
creating a sensation of novelty, not unmingled with fear, with the
far inferior in numbers who composed the citizens of the pioneer
village, and the sojourners of their own race. At first, all was peace
and quiet, and the treaty was in progress, beeves had been slaughter-
ed sufficient to supply them all with meat, and liquor had been care-
fully excluded ; but an avaricious liquor dealer, secretly dealt out
to them the means of intoxication, and the council was interrupted,
and many of the Indians became troublesome and riotous. Gen.
Chapin however suppressed the liquor shop, harmony was restored,
and the treaty concluded and the gifts dispensed. A general ca-
rousal followed, but no outrages were committed. They lingered
for weeks after the council, displaying their new broadcloths and
blankets, silver bands and broaches.*
Samuel Gardner was the first merchant in Canandaigua; he
married a sister of Wm Antis; his store was in a log building.
Thaddeus Chapin was the next.
* Judge Porter was then in Canandaigua acting as the agent of Phelps and Gorham,
in the name of his principals, he had to make them presents of provisions and Whiskey
when they came to Canandaigua, and that was pretty often. On the occasion alluded
to he denied an Indian whiskey, telling him it was all gone. “No, no,” replied the
Indian, “ Genesee Falls never dry.” This was a shrewd allusion to the gift to Phelps
and Gorham of the enormous "Mill Lot,” which embraced the Genesee Falls.168	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
During the summer of 1790, Caleb Walker, the brother of the
agent, who had been down and made a beginning in Perinton, died.
It was the first death and funeral in Canandaigua. The nearest
physician was a Dr. Adams of Geneva, who came but was destitute
of medicine ; some was obtained by breaking open a chest that had
been left by a traveller. At the funeral, the physician being an
Episcopalian, the church service was read, which was the first relig-
ious exercises after settlement han commenced, in the Genesee Coun-
try. In the same year religious meetings were organized, using Judge
Phelp’s barn for the meetings. Sermons were read by John Call;
Mr. Sanborn led the singing; — prayers were omitted, there being
no one to make them. After the sermon of Rev. Mr. Smith,# who
is mentioned in connection with the Pitts family, the next was
preached by the Rev. Mr. Guernsey.
- In all early years at Canandaigua, the forest afforded a plenty of
vension, and the Lake and small streams a plenty of fish. The
hills on either side of the Lake, abounded in deer, which were easi-
ly driven into the Lake and caught. Some hunters would kil}
from eighty to an hundred in a season ; and the Indians, when they
visited the place, would generally have vension to barter for flour
or bread. Wild fruits — whortleberries, blackberries, wild plums,
crab-app[es, cranberries, strawberries, raspberries — were plenty in
their seasons, and furnished a pretty good substitute for cultivated
fruits. The Indian orchard on Canandaigua Lake, at the Old Cas-
tle near Geneva, at Honeoye and Conesus, afforded- a stinted supply
of poor apples. Apples and peaches in small quantities, began to
be produced from the young orchards, in "95 and ?6. The first dish
of currants produced in the Genesee country, were served in a tea-
saucer, by Mrs. Sanborn, in 1794, at a tea-party, and was a thing
much talked of; it marked an era.
Ebenezer Allan is well remembered at Canandaigua, as he is in
all the Pioneer settlements. Mrs. Sanborn speaks of his being her
guest on his way to Philadelphia, after the Morris treaty, to place
his two half-blood daughters in school. He had his waiter along,
and was at that period what the Senecas would have called a
* On the second visit to the country, in 1701, Mr. Smith called together such as
were members of churches in all the Genesee Country organized a church and admin-
istered the sacrament. The first church organization and the first celebration of the
Lord’s Supper, in the Genesee Country. The church organization was however, not
a permanent one.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
169
“Shin-ne-wa-na,” (a gentleman;) but stories of his barbarity in
the Border Wars, were then so rife, that he was treated with
but little respect. Sally, the Seneca mother, with all a mother’s
fondness, came as far as Canandaigua to bid her daughters good
bye.
In July, 1790, the heads of families in T. 10, R. 3, (Canandai-
gua) were as follows: — Nathaniel Gorham, jr., Nathaniel Sanborn;
John Fellows, James D. Fish, Joseph Smith, Israel Chapin, John
Clark, Martin Dudley, Phineas Bates, Caleb Walker, Judah Colt,
Abner Barlow, Daniel Brainard, Seth Holcomb, James Brockle-
bank, Lemuel Castle, Benjamin Wells, John Freeman. Before the
close of 1790, there was a considerable accession to the popula-
tion.
The first town meeting of the town of Canandaigua, was held in
April, 1791. It was “ opened and superintended by Israel Chapin,”
wTho was chosen Supervisor; and James D. Fish was chosen Town
Clerk. The other town officers were as follows: — John Call, Enos
Boughton, Seth Reed, Nathan Comstock, James Austin, Arnold Pot-
ter, Nathaniel Potter, Israel Chapin, John Codding, James Latta,
Joshua Whitney, John Swift, Daniel Gates, Gamaliel Wilder, Isaac
Hathaway, Phineas Bates, John Codding, Nathaniel Sanborn, Jared
Boughton, Phineas Bates, Othniel Taylor, Joseph Smith, Benjamin
Wells, Hezekiah Boughton, Eber Norton,* William Gooding, John
D. Robinson, Jabez French, Abner Barlow.
“Voted* That swine, two months old and upwards, going at large,
shall have good and sufficient yokes.”
“ Voted, That for every full-grown wolf killed in the town, a
bounty of thirty shillings shall be paid.”
The reader, with names and locations that have occurred and
will occur, will observe that these primitive town officers were
spread over most of all the eastern portion of Phelps and Gorham’s
Purchase. It was the first occasion to bring the Pioneers together.
Mutual acquaintances were made; friendship, good feeling, hiliari-
ty, athletic games, (says Mrs. Sanborn,) were the order of the day.
Note.—-When the Senecas, at the Morris treaty, deeded four square miles at Mount
Morris, to Allan, in trust for Chloe and Sally Allan, one condition of the trust was, that
he should have them taught "reading and writing, sewing, and other useful arts, ac-
cording to the custom of white people.’*
n1Y0	PHELPS AND GOKHAm’s PURCHASE.
In April, 1792, the town meeting was “ opened and inspected by
Israel Chapin and Moses Atwater, Esqs.” Most of the officers
were re-elected. Eighty pounds were raised to defray the expen-
ses of the town. In this year, the record of a road was made,
which ran from “ Joseph Kilbourn’s house to the shore of the Lake ;”
and another, from “Swift’s ashery to west line of No. 12, R. 2,
near Webb Harwood’s;” another, “from Swift’s to Canandaigua;”
and others, leading “ from the square in Canandaigua,” in different
directions.
Town meeting, 1793, it was voted that fence viewers “examine
the size and dimensions of hog yokes;” the wolf bounty was raised
to $5. Tn this year, twelve scalps were produced; among the
names of those who claimed bounty, were : — Thaddeus Chapin,
William Markham, Benjamin Keys, Gamaliel Wilder, Daniel Cha-
pin, Israel Reed. Roads from “ Canandaigua to John Coddings;”
“from Nathan Comstock’s to Webb Harwood’s;” “from old pre-
emption line to Canandaigua Mills;” “from Mud Creek Hollow to
Capt. Peter Pitts’;” and many others, were surveyed this year.
The early road surveyors were: — Gideon Pitts, Jairus Rose,
Jonathan Edwards, Jabez French.
By the town records of 1794, it would seem that Annanias M.
Miller had a mill in operation on Mud Creek. Roads were recorded
this year, “from Canandaigua to Jerusalem;” “from Jerusalem to
Gerundegut.” This year, Othniel Taylor presented six wolf scalps.
Gen. Israel Chapin was Supervisor till 1795, when he was suc-
ceeded by Abner Barlow. There is recorded this year, the sale of
several slaves, the property of the citizens of Canandaigua.
Although the county of Ontario, embracing all of the Genesee
country, was set off from Montgomery, during the session of the
legislature in 1789, ’90, no organization of the courts was had until
1793. In June of that year, a court of Oyer and Terminer was
held at “ Patterson’s Tavern in Geneva.” The presiding judge
was John Stop Hobart, one of the three Supreme Courtjudges ap-
pointed after the organization of the Judiciary in 1777. A grand
jury was called and’charged, but no indictments preferred. The
first court of Common Pleas and General Sessions, was held at the
house of Nathaniel Sanborn in Canandaigua, in November, 1794.
The presiding judges were, Timothy Hosmer and Charles William-
son, associated with whom, as assistant justice, was Enos Bough-pheips and gorham’s purchase.	171
ton. Attornies, Thomas Morris, John Wickham, James Wads-
worth, Vincent Matthews. There was a number of suits upon the
calendar, but no jury trial. The organization of the court would
seem have been the principal business. There was, however, a grand
jury, and one indictment was found.
The next session of the court was in June, 1795. James Parker
was an associate justice. Peter B. Porter and Nathaniel W. Howell,
being attornies of the Supreme Court, were admitted to practice in
the courts of Ontario county. Stephen Ross and Thomas Mum-
ford were also admitted. At this court, the first jury trial was had
west of the county of Herkimer. It was the trial of the indict-
ment that had been preferred at the previous session, for stealing a
cow bell. John Wickham, as County Clerk, was ex-officio District
Attorney, but the management of the prosecution devolved upon
Nathaniel W. Howell. Peter B. Porter and Vincent Matthews
managed the defence.
In November, 1795, Moses Atwater was added to the bench. It
was ordered that “ Nathan Whitney be appointed the guardian of
Parkhurst Whitney, an infant at the age of eleven years.” David
Saltonstall, Herman Bogert, David Jones, Ambrose Hall, Peter
Masterton, John Nelson, Major Bostwick, George D. Cooper, H.
K. Van Rensselaer, were admitted as attornies, [most of them non-
residents..]
From Book of “Miscellaneous Records,” 1797 : — Peter B. Por-
ter as county clerk, records the medical diplomas of Daniel Good-
win, Ralph Wilcox, Jeremiah Atwater, Moses Atwater, Augustus
Williams and Joel Prescott. 1799—Chiefs of Seneca Nation ac-
knowledged the receipt of $8,000 from Gen. Chapin, as a dividend
upon the sum of $100,000, which the United States government had
received of Robert Morris, as purchase money for the Holland Pur-
chase and Morris Reserve, and invested in the stock of the United
States Bank. The medical diplomas of Drs. John Ray, Samuel
Bungan, David Fairchild, Arnold Willis, are recorded. Peter B.
Porter appoints Thomas Cloudesly, deputy clerk. Theophilus Caze-
nove and Paul Busti appoint Joseph Ellicott and James Wadsworth,
their lawful attornies, 1800—Robert Troup as , general agent for
Sir William Pultney, appoints Robert Scott local agent. De Witt
Clinton executes a mortgage to Oliver Phelps, on an “ undivided
fourth part of 100,000 acres lying west of the Genesee River.” 1801,172	PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PUECHASE.
Peter B. Porter as clerk, makes Augustus Porter his deputy. 1803—
Benj. Barton and Polydore B. Wisner are made appraisers of dam-
ages incurred by the construction of the Seneca Turnpike. 1804—
Sylvester Tiffany as county clerk appoints Dudley Saltonstall his
deputy. Thomas Morris appoints John Greig his lawful attorney.
Harry Hickox files certificate of license to practice medicine. 1806—
John Hornby of the county of Middlesex, Kingdom of G. B. ap-
points John Greig his lawful attorney. T. Spencer Colman is ap-
pointed deputy clerk. Phineas P. Bates is succeeded as Sheriff
by James K. Guernsey. 1807—Oliver Phelps appoints Virtue
Bronson his lawful attorney. 1808—Stephen Bates as Sheriff ap-
points Nathaniel Allen deputy. James B. Mower succeeded Syl-
vester Tiffany as clerk. 1810—Myron Holley is county clerk.
Canandaigua Library organized. 1811—James B. Mower as clerk1
appoints Daniel D. Barnard his deputy.
In all the earliest years, the Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga and
Seneca Indians received their annuities at Canandaigua, which
made it the place of annual gatherings of those nations, and the
centre of the Indian trade.
Although not entitled to it from population, in 1791, by a special
act, Ontario was entitled to be represented in the Assembly. This
was not known in the new settlements of Canandaigua, Geneva,
and their neighborhoods, but in a small settlement that had com-
menced on the Canisteo in what is now Steuben Co., they were in
possession of the secret. Col. Eleazor Lindley, under whose auspi-
cies the settlement was made, collected together a few back woods-
men, held an election, got a few votes for himself, carried them to
New York and was admitted a member of the Legislature. The
whole proceeding was irregular, but there was no one to contest
the seat, and the Legislature did not wish to deprive the backwoods
of a representative. General Israel Chapin was its representative
in 1792.
In a letter to Sir Wm. Pultney, in 1791, Robert Morris had de-
clared his intention of settling his son Thomas in the Genesee coun-
try, as an evidence of his faith in its value and prospects. He
states that Thomas was then reading law with Richard Harrison
Esq. by whom he was deemed a “ worthy young man/' In August
1791, Thomas Morris with some companions, passed through the
country, visited Niagara Falls, and on his return, made a considera-PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
If3
ble stay at Canandaigua.* He returned and became a resident of
Canandaigua, marrying a daughter of Elias Kane, of Albany. His
father having become the purchaser of the pre-emption right of
what was afterwards the Holland Purchase and Morris’ Reserve,
it was probably intended that he should be the local agent. That
interest however being parted with, he had much to do with closing
up his father’s affairs in this region, and in all the preliminary meas-
ures adopted by the Holland Company, in reference to their pur-
chase. His father having in his sale to the Holland Company,
guarantied the extinguishment of the Indian title, he acted in all
that affair as his agent. He was the first representative in Congress
from all the region west of Seneca Lake; and as a lawyer, land
proprietor, and agent, was intimately blended with all the local
history of this region. Becoming through his father, an early pro-
prietor of the Allan tract at Mount Morris, that locality derives its
name from him. He was the intimate friend of Mr. Williamson;
and in fact, enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all the early
Pioneers. Like others of that early period, he over-traded in lands,
shared in his father’s reverses, and as early as 1803 or ’4, retired to
the city of New York, where he practiced law, until his death, in
1848. The author knows nothing of his family, save the factr that Mr.
Morris an Engineer upon the southern rail road, and Lieut. Morris
of the Navy are his sons.
* Major Hoops, who was then surveying for the father, Robert Monis, in Steuben,
writes to him, Sept. 1791: — “Your son Thomas is an excellent woodsman. He got
lost about a mile from Canandaigua, night came on; he made his way through swamps
and over hills, and at length espied a solitary light at a distance. Entering the hut
from whence it proceeded, he asked for lodging, but he appeared in such a question-
able shape that it was denied. Upon being told who he was, the occupant made
amends tor his incivility by turning half a dozen boys and girls out of their bed into
. his own. Tom turned in, slept till morning among flees and bed bugs, <fcc., &c.; then
rose and trudged on six miles, to Canandaigua, arriving before sun rise.”
And another case of a benighted traveller, of greater note perhaps, but of far less
real merit, had happened years before settlement commenced: — John Jacob Astor,
with a pack of Indian goods upon his back, wandered from the Indian trail, got lost
in the low grounds at the foot of Seneca Lake, in an inclement night, wandered amid
the howl and the rustling of wild beasts, until almost morning, when he was attracted
by the light of an Indian cabin, near the old castle, and following it, obtained shelter
and warmth.
Note.—Mr. ^Morris, in his manuscripts which were prepared in 1844, says: —“ The
excursion that has been spoken of was undertaken by me, partly from a desire to
witness an Indian treaty, and see the Falls of Niagara; and partly with a desire to
see a country in which my father, at that time had so extensive an interest; and with
the determination to settle in it if I liked it. I was pleased with it, and made up my
mind to settle at Canandaigua, as soon as I should have attained the age of 21, and
my admission to the bar. Accordingly, in the early part of March, 1792, I left Newm
PHELPS AND GORHAM?S PURCHASE.
John Fellows, who is named among the residents in Canandai-
gua in 1790, was in the Massachusetts line during the Revolution,
with the rank of Brig. General. He was a resident of Sheffield,
Mass., was sheriff of Berkshire county, and its representative in
the State legislature. He was one of the associates of Bacon and
Adams, in the purchase of East Bloomfield ; drawing his share •—
3,000 acres, — on Mud creek, he erected a saw mill there in 1790,
in company with the late Augustus Porter. Besides this tract, he
had lands in Canandaigua and Honeoye. He never became a per-
manent resident of the country — got discouraged, or rather looked
upon the dark side of things; said there was no use of having
good wheat lands, if they never were to have any market. He re-
sold the 3,000 acres on Mud creed for 18d. per acre. He died in his
native town, Sheffield, in 1808. He was the father of Henry Fel-
lows, Esq. of Penfield, and of Mrs. Daniel Penfield.
James D. Fish, was first town clerk; his wife’s death was the
second one in Canandaigua; and he died in early years.
John Clark came with Mr. Phelps to the treaty. His trade be-
ing that of a tanner and currier, he manufactured the first leather
in the Genesee country. This was from the hides of the cattle
driven on to furnish beef for the Indians at the treaty. His vats
were made by sawing off sections of hollow trees. From this
small beginning, his business was extended, and in early years his
shoe and leather establishment was well known throughout a wide
region. His wife was the daughter of the early pioneer, Lemuel
Castle. Mr. Clarke died in 1813, and Mrs. Clark in 1842. They
were the parents of Mrs. Mark H. Sibley of Canandaigua, and
Mrs. W. H. Adams of Lyons.
Luther Cole came into the country with Gen. Israel Chapin.
He was the first to carry the mail from Whitesboro to Canandaigua;
on horseback when the roads would allow of it, and often on foot.*
In winters he would travel with a sleigh, buy goods in Whitesboro
York for Canandaigua. I was induced to fix on that place for my residence, from the
character and* respectability of the families already established there. In the course
of that year I commenced building a framed house, filled in with brick, and which
was finished in the early part of the year 1793. That house still subsists, and even in
that handsome town, where there are so many beautiful buildings, is not considered as
an eye sore. When it was completed, that and the house built by Oliver Phelps were
the only framed houses west of Whitesboro.” The house is now owned and occupied
by Judge Wells.
* See Post Office Canandaigua, Appendix, No. 8.PHELPS AND GOPJIAm’s PIJECHASE.
175
and sell them in Canandaigua. From this small beginning he be-
came an early and prominent merchant. His wife was a niece of
Mrs. Phineas Bates. He died many years since. His sons, Henry
and James, emigrated to Detroit; James will be remembered as
an early and highly gifted poet.
Dr. Hart was another early physician, and died in early years.
He married the widow of Hezekiah Boughton, a brother of Jared
and Enos Boughton, and father of Claudius V. and George H.
Boughton.
William Antiss emigrated from Pennsylvania, and established
himself in Canandaigua as a gun smith, at an early period. He
was employed by Gen. Chapin to make and repair rifles for the In-
dians, and the white hunters and sportsmen, over a wide region,
were for a long period, the customers of his establishment.- He
died in early years, and was succeeded by his son William Antiss
2d, who continued in the business until his death in 1843. The
sons of Wm. Antiss 2d, are William Antiss of Canandaigua, Robert
Antiss, who is the successor of his father and grand-father in busi-
ness. Mrs. Byron Hays and Mrs. Wm. Reed of Canandaigua, are
daughters of Wm. Antiss 2d.
In his rambles in, June, 1795, the Duke, Liancourt, went from
Bath to Canandaigua. He staid all night at “ Capt. Metcalf's/’ and
mentions the fact that a few years before the Capt. had bought his
land for lfc. per acre, and sold a part of it f6r $3 per acre. He
says the settlement was “called Watkinstown, from several families
of that name who possess the greatest property here.” *	“ Capt.
Metcalf besides his lands and Inn, possesses a saw mill, where 4500
feet of boards are cut daily. These boards he sends on the lake to
Canandaigua, where they are sold for 10s. per 100 feet.” “ There
is a school master at Watkinstown, with a salary of twelve dollars
per month.” Speaking of Canandaigua he says: —“The houses,
although built of wood, are much better than any of that descrip-
tion I have hitherto seen. They consist mostly of joiner's work,
and are prettily painted. In front of some of them are small courts,
surrounded with neat railings. There are two Inns in the town,
and several shops, where commodities are sold, and shoes and other
* The Duke was in Naples. Phelps and Gorham sold the township to “Watkins,
Harriss&Co.”176
PHELPS AKD GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
articles made. The price of land here is three dollars per acre
without the town, and fifteen dollars within. Speaking of a visit to
“ Mr. Chipping/’# (Chapin) he says he found him surrounded by a
dozen Seneca Indians, (among whom was Red Jacket,) who had*
come to partake of his whiskey and meat.” The puke was evi-~
dently in bad humor at Canandaigua. His friend Rlacons had
selected the “ second Inn, which was far inferior to the first,” and
he says their dissatisfaction was greatly increased, when they were
“ shewn into a corn loft to sleep, being four of us, in company with
ten or twelve other men,” and after he had got to sleep, he says he
was disturbed by a recruit of lodgers, an old man and a handsome
young woman,'who I believe was his daughter.” At the idea of a
young woman occupying the same room, with twelve or fifteen of
the other sex, he thinks his European readers “ will scoff, or laugh,”
but he thinks it showed in “ an advantageous light, the laudable
simplicity and innocence of American manners.”
Phineas Bates was a native of Durham, Conn. He came to the
Genesee country in early summer in 1789, with the early Pioneer,
Gamaliel Wilder, and remained with him until the fall of the year,
making the commencement at Wilder’s Point, in Bristol. He re-
turned to Connecticut in the fall, making the journey on foot.
Early in the spring of 1790, accompanied by his eldest son,
Stephen, his son-in-law, Orange Brace, and several others, he return-
ed, starting with a yoke of oxen and sled, the party bringing with
them a year’s provision, and some household goods. Arriving at
Schenectady, they put every thing they could not conveniently
carry in their knapsacks, on board of abatteaux, left their sled, un-
yoked their oxen, travelled up the Mohawk, and struck off into
the wilderness, preceding the Wadsworths a few weeks. At Onon-
daga, Mr. Bates bought half a bushel of potatoes, slung them across
the neck of one of his oxen, brought them to Canandaigua, and
platited them upon some village lots he purchased. During the
summer, he cleared ten acres, and sowed it to wheat.
Returning to Connecticut late in the fall, in company with Amos
Hall,------ Sweet, Samuel Knapp; soon after the party left, they
encountered a severe snow storm, the snow falling to such a depth
* The translator of the Duke’s “Travels,” made bad work with names. William
Wadsworth for instance, is called Capt. Watworth.”PHELPS AOT) GOBHAm’s PTJECHASE.	Iff
as to render their progress extremely slow, Walking in single file,
one would go forward to break the path, until he wearied out, when
another would take his place. Anticipating no such delay, they
had provided themselves with an inadequate stock of provisions,
and long before they reached Whitestown', the suffering of hunger
was added to that of cold and fatigue. The carcass of an otter,
their dog killed in the Nine Mile Creek, was a substitute for more
palatable food.
Undismayed by the scene of suffering and privation he had parsed
through, Mr. Bates on reaching home, made preparations for the
removal of his family, and in February, 1791, brought them by
sleighing to Canandaigua, making the seventh in the new settle-
ment.
He opened a public house at an early day, near the upper end of
Main-street, which was continued by him and his son for many
years. He was an early Justice of the Peace, and in all respects,
a worthy citizen. He died in 1829, at an advanced age. Bring-
ing with him into the country at so early a period, active and en-
terprising sons, the family occupied a prominent position for a long
series of years. His eldest son, Stephen, marrying the daughter
of Deacon Handy of W. Bloomfield, became a successful farmer
in Gorham, was sheriff of Ontario, a member of Assembly, and a
Senator. In 1845, he emigrated to Sauk, Wisconsin, where he
died the year following; and of a large family of children, but few
survive. Asher Bates married the daughter of Elisha Steel, of
East Bloomfield; in 1803, moved west of the Genesee river, and
opened a public house on the main road between Caledonia and Le
Roy; was one of the earliest sheriffs of Genesee; died in 1810.
An only son studied law with Spencer and Sibley in Canandaigua,
settled in Detroit, and is now a resident at Honolulu, one of the
Sandwich Islands, acting in the capacity of the King’s attorney or
counsellor. His first wife was the daughter of Thomas Beals of
Canandaigua; the second, is a sister of Dr. Judd, the physician of
the missionaries in the Sandwich Islands. The widow of Asher
Bates is now the wife of Dr. Wm. Sheldon of Le Roy. Phtneas
P. Bates succeeded his father as a landlord in Canandaigua, and
was for many years a deputy sheriff and sheriff of Ontario. He
is the only one of a large family that survives : is the occupant
of a fine farm adjoining the village of Canandaigua. David C.178	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
Bates was a farmer near Canandaigua; died in 1849. A daughter
of the elder Phineas Bates became the wife of John A. Stevens,
the early Printer, and Editor of the Ontario Messenger. An elder
daughter was the wife of Orange Brace, who has been named in
connection with the early advent of the family; in 1806, he be-
came one of the earliest settlers upon the purchase of Phelps and
Chipman, in Sheldon, Wyoming county. #
Phineas P. Bates, Esq., the survivor of the family, who has been
named, in 1800, was the mail boy from Canandaigua to Fort Nia-
gara. The mail route had been established about two years pre-
vious, and was carried through by Jasper Marvin, who sometimes
dispensed with mailbags, and carried the contents in a pocket
book. Mr. Bates observes that when he commenced carrying it
for his brother Stephen, who was the mail contractor, it used to
take six days to go and return. His stopping places over night,
were at Mrs. Berry’s, among the Indians at Tonawanda, and at
Fort Niagara.
In some reminiscences of Mr. Bates, he observes, that “ in 1793,
one of those fatal accidents occurred at Canandaigua, which always
cast a gloom over small communities. A Mr. Miles, from what is
now Lima, and a citizen of Canada, were on their way to Massa-
chusetts. Riding into the village, when they were within a few
rods of Main-street, a tree turned out by the roots, fell upon the
travellers, killing them both, and one of their horses. What made
the affair a very singular one, was the fact, that although it was
raining moderately at the time, there was not the least wind to
cause the fall of the tree.”
Dr. Moses Atwater settled in Canandaigua as a physician, at the
early period of 1791. In some correspondence that passed be-
tween Gen. Chapin and Judge Phelps, there was much gratifica-
tion manifested that their new settlement was to have the benefit
of a physician. Dr. Atwater enjoyed for a long period an extensive
practice, and made himself eminently useful in the new country.
* The Pioneer and a son, both died on the frontier, where they had gone under.
Smyth’s proclamation, in the war of 1812. Another son and a daughter died about
the same period. Toward the close of the war, a son-in-law, Ardin Merrill, was hill-
ed on board of a ferry boat, at the Canada landing, opposite Black Rock. Many
households of all the Genesee country were thinned by disease, and deaths upon bat-
tle grounds, during the war; but there were few, if any, hearthston es made as desolate
as was theirs. Leicester Brace of Buffalo, late sheriff of Erie county, is a surviving
con of Orange Brace, and a surviving son and daughter reside in Illinois.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
179
He was an early Judge of Ontario county. He died in 1848, at
the advanced .age of 82 years. Samuel Atwater of Canandaigua,
and Moses Atwater of Buffalo, are his sons; a daughter became
the wife of Robert Pomeroy, of Buffalo; and another, the wife of
Lewis Jenkins, formerly a merchant of Canandaigua, now a resi-
dent of Buffalo. Dr. Jeremiah Atwater, a brother of Moses, set-
tled in Canandaigua in early years. He still survives at the age
of 80 years, laboring, however, under the infirmity of a loss of
sight.
Mr. Samuel Dungan was a native of Pennsylvania, a student
with the celebrated Dr. Wistar. He settled in practice in Canan-
daigua in 1797. He possessed extraordinary skill as a surgeon, and
in that capacity, was known throughout a wide region. He died
nearly thirty years since. He left a son and a daughter, both of
whom are still living.
Dr. William A. Williams was from Wallingford, Conn. He en-
tered Yale College at the close of the Revolution, and graduated at
the early age of sixteen. After passing through a regular course
of medical studies, he commenced practice in Hatfield, Mass.; but
in a few years, in 1793, emigrated to Canandaigua, established him-
self in a large and successful practice, which he retained until near
the close of a long life. One who was his neighbor for near forty
years, observes : — “ He was a man of plain and simple manners,
amiable and kind hearted; at the bed side of his patients, he min-
gled the consolations of friendship with professional advice; in
day or night time, in sunshine or in storm, whether his patients were
rich or poor, he was the same indefatigable, faithful physician and
good neighbor. He died in 1833 or ’4. Col. George Williams, of
Portage, and Charles Williams, of Nunda, are his sons. His
daughters became the wives'of the late Jared Wilson, Esq., and
John A. Granger, of Canandaigua, and —— Whitney, the present
P. M. at Canandaigua, and Editor of the Ontario Repository.
HATHANIEL W. HOWELL.
The venerable Nathaniel W. Howell, now in his 81st year, is the
oldest resident member of the Bar of Western New York. His
native place is Blooming Grove, Orange County, N. Y. The son180	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
of a farmer, at a period when farmers sons were early inured to
toil, a naturally robust and vigorous constitution was aided by the
healthy labors of the field. At the age of thirteen he was placed in
an Academy in Goshen, foifhded by Noah Webster, the widely
known author; where he remained for nearly two years ; after
which he entered the Academy at Hackensack, N. J., the Principal
of which was Dr. Peter Wilson, formerly Professor of languages in
Columbia College. In May, 1787, he entered the junior class in
Princeton College, and graduated, in Sept. 1788. A few months
after graduating, making choice of the legal profession, he com-
menced the study of law in the office of the late Gen. Wilkin, in
Goshen. Remaining there but a short period, he accepted a call to
take charge of an Academy ai Ward’s Bridge in Ulster Co., where
he continued for over three years; after which, he resumed the
study of law in the office of the late Judge Hoffman, in the city of
New York. He was admitted an Attorney of the Supreme Court
in May, 1794.
In May, 1795, he opened an office in the town of Union, near
the now village of Binghampton, in Tioga county. The late Gen.
Matthews was then practicing law in Newtown, now Elmira. The
two were the only Supreme court lawyers then in the county.
Judge Howell was admitted as an Attorney of the court of com-
mon pleas in Ontario in June, 1795, and in the following February,
removed to Canandaigua, where he has continued to reside until
the present time. The records of the courts bear evidence of his
having acquired a large practice in early years. He was one of the
local legal advisers of Mr. Williamson, and was employed by
Joseph Ellicott in his earliest movements upon the Holland Purchase.
Laying before the author at this present waiting, are copies of his
letters to Mr. Williamson written in 1795, and a letter written with-
in the present year, in a fair hand, but little marked by the tremor
of age. Fifty six-years have intervened!
In 1799, he was appointed by the council of appointment, on the
nomination of Gov. Jay, assistant Attorney General for the five
western counties of this state, the duties of which office he contin-
ued to discharge until his resignation in 1802. In 1819 he was
appointed by the council of appointment, on the nomination of Gov
Dewitt Clinton, First Judge of the county of Ontario, which office
he filled for thirteen years. He was an early representative in thePHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.	181
state legislature, and in 1813, ’14, he represented in Congress, the
double district, composed of Ontario and the five counties to the
west of it. On retiring from the Bench, he retired from his profes-
sion, employing himself in the superintendence of a farm and gar-
den, enjoying good health, with slight exceptions; in summers labor-
ing more or less with his own hands.
In a previous work, the author has observed, that there are few
instances of so extended a period of active participation in the
affairs of life; and still fewer instances of a life that has so adorned
the profession to which he belongs, and been so eminently useful
and exemplary. To him, and to such as him —his early ’ cotem-
porary, General Matthews, for instance — and others of his cotem-
poraries that could be named, is the highly honorable profession of
law in Western New York indebted for early and long continued
examples of those high aims, dignity, and exalted integrity, which
should be its abiding characteristics. They have passed, and are
passing away. If days of degeneracy should come upon the profes-
sion— renovation become necessary — there are no better prece-
dents ^tnd examples to consult, than the lives and practices of the
Pioneer Lawyers.
The first wife of Judge Howell was the youngest daughter of
General Israel Chapin. She died in 1808, leaving two sons and a
daughter. He married for a second wife, in 1809, the daughter of
Dr. Coleman, of Anchram, Mass. She died in 1842, leaving three
sons and a daughter. The surviving sons are : — Alexander H.
Howell, Thomas M. Howell, Nathaniel W. Howell, Augustus P.
Howell. Daughters became the wives of Amasa Jackson of the
city of New York, and Henry S. Mulligan of Buffalo.
Dudley Saltonstall was a native of New London, Conn., a grad-
uate of Yale College. He studied law in the celebrated law school
of Judge Reeves of Litchfield, and was admitted to practice in the
court of common pleas of Ontario, in 1795. He had genius, and
high attainments in scholarship, commenced practice under favorable
auspices; but aiming high and falling below his aim, in his first
forensic efforts, he lost confidence in himself, and abandoned the
profession. He engaged in other pursuits with but little better
success, and in 1808, emigrated to Maryland, and soon after to
Elizabeth city, N. Carolina, where he died some fifteen years since.
Dudley Marvin did not locate at Canandaigua within a pioneer182
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
period, but his name is so blended with the locality, that a brief no-
tice of him will perhaps be anticipated. He was a native of
Lyme, Connecticut. His law studies were commenced and com-
pleted in the office of Messrs. Howell & Greig; in the absence of
any classical education, but in its place was a vigorous intellect,
peculiarly adapted to the profession he embraced. He had not
been long admitted to the bar, when he had no superior, and few
if any equals, as an advocate, in the western counties of this State;
indeed, the giants of the law from the east, who used to follow the
circuits of the old Supreme Court Judges in this direction, found in
the young advocate of the west, a competitor who plucked laurels
from their brows they had won upon other theatres of forensic strife.
“ When sitting as a judge,” says one of his early legal mentors, “ I
frequently listened with admiration to his exceedingly able and elo-
quent summings up in jury trials. I was once present on the trial
of an important and highly interesting cause, in which Mr. Marvin
and the celebrated Elisha Williams were opposed to each other,
and I thought the speech to the jury of Marvin, was quite as
eloquent as that of Williams, and decidedly more able. He was, in-
deed, unsuccessful, but the failure was owing to his cause, and not
to him. He might well have said with the Trojan hero: — “ Si
Pergama dextra defendi possent etiam hac defensi fuissent”
He was twice elected to Congress, in which capacity the high
expectations that were entertained of his career were somewhat dis-
appointed. The new sphere of action was evidently not his forte —
neither was it to his liking; while the free habits that unfortunately
so much prevailed at our national capitol, were illy suited to help
the wavering resolutions of a mind that was wrestling with all its
giant strength, to throw off chains with which a generous social
nature, had helped to fetter him. Years followed, in which one who
had filled a large space in the public mind of this region, was almost
lost sight of; his residence being principally in Maryland and Vir-
ginia. He returned to this State, and resumed practice in the city
of New York, where he continued but a few years; removing to
the county cf Chautauque, and retiring upon a farm.
Myron Holley came from Salisbury Connecticut, in 1803, locating
at Canandaigua. He had studied law, but never engaged in prac-'
lice. He was an early bookseller, and for a considerable time
clerk of Ontario county. He was a member of the first Board of183
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
canal commissioners, the acting commissioner in the original con-
struction of the western division of the Erie Canal, unil the whole
was put under contract. Soon after the location of the canal he
became a resident of the village of Lyons. So eminently able and
faithful were his services as a canal commissioner, that the grateful
recollection and acknowledgement of them, outlive and palliate the
mixed offence of fault and misfortune, with which his official career
terminated.
Mr. Holley died in 1839, or *40; his widow, the daughter of
John House, an early Pioneer at Canandaigua, resides in Black
Rock, Erie county.
Isaac Davis, an early merchant at Canandaigua, and subsequently
at Buffalo, married another daughter of Mr. House. She resides
with her two sons in Lockport. Wm. C. House, a surviving son of
John House, was an early merchant in Lockport, and lately the
canal collector at that point; his wife, the daughter of John G.
Bond, an early merchant in Rochester.
Thomas Beals became a resident of Canandaigua, engaging in
the mercantile business, in 1803. In early years his trade extended
over a wide region of country, in which he was highly esteemed
as an honest and fair dealing merchant. The successor of Thad-
deus Chapin as treasurer of Ontario county, in 1814, he continued
to hold the office for twenty eight years. As Trustee and Secretary,
he has been connected with the Canandaigua Academy forty years.
He was one of the trustees, and a member of the building com-
mittee of the Congregational Church in 1812; and was one of the
county superintendents of the poor, when the Poor House was first
erected. He is now, in his 66th year, engaged in the active
pursuits of life; the Treasurer of the Ontario Savings Bank, a
flourishing institution of which he was the founder. Mrs. Beals,
who was the daughter of the early settled clergyman at Canan-
daigua, the Rev. Mr. Fields, still survives. There are two survi-
veing sons, one a resident of New York, and the other in Indiana.
Surviving daughters are: — Mrs. Alfred Field, and Mrs. Dr. Carr,
of Canandaigua, and Mrs. James S. Rogers, of Wisconsin.
In 1798, a formidable party of emigrants arrived and settled near
Canandaigua. It consisted of the families of Benjamin Barney,
Richard Daker and Vincent Grant. They were from Orange county;
and were all family connexions.. With their six or seven teams,184
PHELPS AND GOKHAM’s PURCHASE.
and a numerous retmue of foot passengers, and stock, their advent
is well remembered. They practiced one species of travelling
economy, that the author has never before heard of among the de-
vices of pioneer times:—-the milk of their cows was put into a
churn, and the motion of the wagon produced their butter as they
went along.* The journey from Orange county consumed twenty-
six days. The sons who came with Benj. Barney, were : — Thomas,
John, Nicholas, Joseph and Henry. Thomas was the head of a
family when they came to the Genesee country; a surviving son
of his, is Gen. Y. G. Barney of Newark Wayne county; a surviv-
ing daughter i(s the wife of Elisha Higby, of Hopewell, Ontario
county; — and in this connection it may be observed, that Mr.
Higby erected the first carding machine in the Genesee country,
in 1804, in what is now the town of Hopewell, to which he soon
added a cloth dressing establishment.
James Sibley, the early and widely known silver smith, watch
repairer, and jeweler, of Canandaigua, still survives, retired from
business, a resident of Rochester. His son, Oscar Sibley, pursuing
the business of his father, is the proprietor of a large establishment
in Buffalo. By the aid of a singularly retentive memory—especi-
ally in reference to names and localities — he has furnished the
author with the following names of all the heads of families in Can-
andaigua, village, in 1803 : —
Seth Thompson,
Abner Bunnell,
Elijah Moriey,
Henry Chapin.
Samuel Latta,
Dudley Saltonstall, ■
Leander Butler,
Luther W. Benjamin,
John Hall,
John House,
Martin Dudley,
Gen. Wells,
Jasper Parish,
Mr. Crane,
Daniel Danes,
Mr. Sampson,
Timothy Younglove,
.Samuel Abbey,
John Shuler,
John Brockelbank,
Jeremiah Atwater,
General Taylor,
Widow Whiting,
Phineas Bates,
Augustus Porter,
Zachariah Seymour,
Nathaniel Sanborn,
Timothy Burt,
Thomas Morris,
Thomas Beals,
Moses Atwater,
Thaddeus Chapin,
Israel Chapin,
Gould & Post,
James Dewey,
Ezekiel Taylor,
Wm. Antiss,
John Clark,
James Smedley,
Jacob Haskell,
Rev. Timothy Field,
Joshua Eaton,
Samuel Brock,
Moses Cleveland,
Sylvester Tiffany,
Wm. A. Williams,
James Holden,
Nath. W. Howell,
Samuel Dungan,
Robert Spencer,
Hannah Whalley,
Ebenezer F. Norton,
John Furguson,
Abner Barlow,
Norton & Richards,
Nathaniel Gorham.
William Shepherd,
Freeman Atwater,
William Chapman,
Col. Hyde,
Virtue Bronson,
James B. Mower,
Oliver Phelps,
Peter H. Colt
Luther Cole,
Amos Beach.
* But this device found more than its match with an old lady who was fleeing from
the frontier in the war of 1812. An alarm found her with her aough mixed for baking.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
185
The first permanent church organization in Canandaigua, of
which the author finds any record, was that of St. Mathew’s
church of the town of Canandaigua, February 4th, 1799. “A
meeting was held at the house of Nathaniel Sanborn; Ezra Platt
was called to the chair to regulate said meeting.” The following
officers were chosen: — Ezra Platt, Joseph Colt, Wardens; John
Clark, Augustus Porter, John Hecox, Nathaniel Sanborn, Benjamin
Wells, James Fields, Moses Atwater, Aaron Flint, Vestrymen.
The Rev. Philander Chase, the present Bishop of the United
States, then in Deacon’s orders, presided at this organization; re-
mained and officiated as clergyman for several months.
About the same period, “ the first Congregational church of the
town of Cannandaigua,” was organized. “ Ail persons who had
statedly worshipped in said congregation,” met “ at the school
house,” and chose as Trustees: —Othniel Taylor, Thaddeus Chapin,
Dudley Saltonstall, Seth Holcomb, Abner Barlow, Phineas Bates.
The first settled minister of this church, was the Rev- Mr. Field.
The first record of election returns that the author has been
enabled to obtain, is that of the election of Senators and Assem-
blymen in 1799. This was before Ontario was dismembered, or
rather before Steuben had a separate organization, and the returns
of course embrace the whole region west of Seneca Lake. Vin-
cent Matthews, Joseph White, Moss Kent, were the candidates for
Senators. The candidates for Assembly were, Charles Williamson
and Nathaniel Norton, opposed by Lemuel Chipman and Dudley
Saltonstall. vote is given	Williamson and Saltonstall were elected.		The entire
Bloomfield	168	Jerusalem	101
Northfield	59	Hartford	70
Charleston	125	Palmyra	55
Easton	- - - 58	Geneseo	44
Augusta -	58	Sodus -	46
Sparta	- - - 82	Seneca -	55
She rolled it up in a bed, and sitting upon it, kept it -warm, pulling it out and baking
as she stopped along the road.
Note. — There was a little feeling of rivalry in the organization of these Pioneer
churches: thence the anecdote of "Bishop Chase’s fiddle.” The then young clergy-
man boarded with Mrs. Sanborn, and to amuse one of her children, whittled out a
shingle in the shape of a fiddle, and stringing it with silk thread, put it in the win-
dow ; an ASolian harp. The trifling affair soon got noised about, and some members
of the rival church organization converted it to no less offence than that of a minister
of the gospel making a fiddle.
12186
PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
Canandaigua	66	Middlesex	52
Bristol -	110	Frederickstown	46
Phelps -	104	Painted Post	63
Pittstown	62	Dansville	54
Middletown	86	Canisteo - -	76
	978	Bath ---	106 766 978
Total - -			- 1744
In 1800, Lemuel Chipman and Nathaniel Norton were elected;
number of votes, 3,582. Thomas Morris W'as elected to Congress,
receiving almost the entire vote of the Genesee country. Canan-
daigua, Palmyra, Bristol, Sparta, Hartford, Easton, Charleston,
Northfield, Augusta, their entire vote; and in several other towns
there were but one, two and three, against him. 1801 — Peter B.
Porter and Daniel Chapin were elected to the Assembly. 1802 —
Steuben elected separately, Pollydore B. Wisner, Augustus Porter
and Thaddeus Chapin, were elected members of Assembly from
Ontario. 1803 — Batavia, which was then all of the Holland
Purchase, gave less than 180 votes. In that year, Amos Hall,
Nathaniel W. Howell, Pollydore B. Wisner, were elected to the
Assembly. 1804 — The members of Assembly were, Amos Hall,
Daniel W. Lewis and Alexander Rhea.
Jonathan Philips, an early shoemaker of Canandaigua, still sur-
vives, hammering and drawing out his waxed ends upon a seat he
has occupied for 51 years ; being now 75 years of age. The old
gentleman observes, that in that now healthy locality, he has known
it to be so sickly, that more than half the entire population would
be afflicted with fevers.
Southworth Cole, an elder brother of Luther Cole, came into the
country in 1797. He located on the east side of the Lake, in a
then wilderness, at what was known in early days as Corn Creek.”
There was an old Indian clearing of about 20 acres. Mr. Cole
was for several years the only settler between the foot of the Lake
and Naples. The location was famed as the favorite ground of the
rattle snake: some members of this Pioneer family have killed as
many as 160 in the course of a day at their den. Deer were so
plenty, that a hunter of the family has killed 60 in a season. The
sons of the Pioneer were Abner Cole, an early lawyer of Palmyra;
Dorastus Cole, of Palmyra; Joseph Cole, of Michigan; G. W.PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PURCHASE.
187
Gole, of Saratoga Springs ; and Benjamin B. Cole, of Ogden.
Mrs. Philetus Swift of Phelps, and Mrs. Kingsley Miller of Palmy-
ra, were his daughters. Joseph Colt, the early merchant of Geneva
and Palmyra, married a sister of Southworth and Luther Cole.
BLOOMFIELD.
The settlement of East Bloomfield, commenced simultaneously
with that of Canandaigua. The east township was purchased by
Capt. Wm. Bacon, Gen. John Fellows, Elisha Lee, Deacon John
Adams, Dr. Joshua Porter (the father of Peter B. and Augustus,)
Deacon Adams became the pioneer in settlement: — and the pa-
triarch it might well be added, for he introduced a large household
into the wilderness. His family consisted of himself and wife, his
sons John, Jonathan, William, Abner and Joseph ; his sons in laws,
Ephraim Hew, Lorin Hull, and-------Wilcox, and their wives, and
Elijah Rose, a brother in law and his family, and three unmarried
daughters. Joined with all these in the primitive advent, were: —
Moses Gunn, Lot Rew, John Barnes, Roger Sprague, Asa Hickox,
Benjamin Goss, John Keyes, Nathaniel Norton. Early after the
opening of navigation, in 1789, the emigrants departed from Sche-
nectady, some of the men with the household furniture and stores, by
water, but most of the party upon pack horses, following principally
the Indian trails. In May, they were joined by Augustus Porter,
Thaddeus Keyes, Joel Steele, Eber Norton and Orange Woodruff.
Judge Porter, then but twenty years of age, had been employed to
make farm surveys of the township. When he arrived he found
the Adams family, and those who had come in with them, the occu-
pants of a log house, 30 by 40 feet, the first dwelling erected west
of Canandaigua after white settlement commenced. To accomo-
date so large a family with lodgings, there were berths upon wooden
pins along the walk of the house, one above another, steam, or
packet boat fashion. It was the young surveyor’s first introduction
to backwoods life. He added to the crowded household himself and
his assistants, and soon shouldered his “Jacob staff,” and commen-
ced his work. The emigrants had brought on a good stock of pro-
visions and some cows; wild game soon began to be added, which
made them very comfortable livers. The Judge, in his later years,188
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
would speak with much animation, of the primitive log house, its
enormous fire place; and especially of the bread “ baked in ashes’*
which Mrs. Rose used to bring upon the table, and which he said
was excellent.
William Bacon, a principal proprietor in Bloomfield, was a res-
ident of Sheffield, Mass.; he never emigrated. He bore a captain’s
commsssion in the Revolution, and was a contractor for the army.
After the Revolution he drove cattle through upon the old Indian
trail to Fort Niagara. Deacon Adams, Nathaniel Eggleston, and
several others of the early settlers in Bloomfield, first saw the Gen-
esee Country, in connection with this cattle trade to Niagara. Col.
Asher Saxton a prominent pioneer, in Bloomfield, Cambria, and
Lockport Niagara co., and lastly upon the river Raisin, near
Monroe, was a son in law of capt. Bacon and his local representa-
tive. He died at his residence in Michigan in 1847 at a*n advanced
age. He married for a third wife a sister of Gen. Micah Brooks.
When he left Bloomfield to go into a new region in Niagara county,
he remarked to an old friend that he was going “where they live in
log cabins.” “ I want” said he “ to see more of Pioneer life.” The
roof of a log cabin has seldom sheltered a worthier man.
The author is unable to name the year in which all of the emi-
grants settled in Bloomfield after the primitive advent of the Adam’s
household, and those who came in the same year. Those who will
be named were of the earliest class of Pioneers.
Dr. Daniel Chapin was the early physician. He was the next'
representative of Ontario county in the Legislature after Gen.
Israel Chapin. He removed to Buffalo in 1805 and died there in
1835.
Amos Bronson was from Berkshire, a persevering and enterprising
man, and became the owner of a large farm. He died in 1835.
His wife still survives, at the advanced age of over 90 years. Mrs.
Bronson, and Benjamin Goss, are the only two surviving residents
Note. — There are no surviving descendants in the first degree of the early Pioneer
Deacon John Adams. In the second, third and fourth degree, few families are more
numerous. The three unmarried daughters mentioned above, became the wives of
John Keyes,—-Benjamin, and Silas Eggleston, Among the descendants are the
family who gave the name to “Adams Basin/’ in Ogden; Gen. Wm. H. Adams of
Lyons, Wm. Adams of Rochester, and Mrs. Barrett of Lockport; and the author re-
grets that he has not the memorandums to enable him to remember more of a name
and family so prominently identified with Pioneer settlement.PHELPS AHD GOBHAM’S PURCHASE.	189
of all the adult pioneers of East Bloomfield. The sons are among
the wealthy and public spirited men of the town.
b Benjamin Goss, who is named above, was in the country as early
as 1791. He married a daughter of Deacon George Codding, of
Bristol. Theirs was the first wedding on Phelps and Gorham’s Pur-
chase. He is now 90 years of age; a Revolutionary pensioner.
He was in the battle at Johnstown, at Sharon Springs, and was in
the unsuccessful expedition of Col. Marinus Willett to Oswego in the
winter of 1781*
Nathaniel Norton was from Goshen, Conn. He was the foun-
der of the mills that took his name, on the Ganargwa creek, in
Bloomfield. He was an early sheriff of Ontario, and its represen-
tative in the Legislature; and an early merchant in Bloomfield and
Canandaigua. He died in 1809 or ’10. The late Heman Norton
was his son; a daughter became the wife of Judge Baldwin of the
Sup. Court of the United States; another of —— Beach, of the
firm of Norton & Beach. Aaron Norton, the brother of Nathaniel,
settled in Bloomfield about the same time; died soon after 1815.
Hon. Ebenezer F. Norton of Buffalo, and Reuben Norton of Bloom-
field, are his sons. A daughter became the wife of —— Kibbe,
the early Bank cashier at Canandaigua and Buffalo; another, the
wife of Peter Bowen. Eber Norton, another brother of Nathaniel,
died in 1810; Judge Norton of Allegany is a son of his.
Roger, Azel, and Thomas Sprague, with their father and mother,
and three sisters, were early pioneers. Roger succeeded Nathaniel
Norton as Sheriff of Ontario, was a member of the Legislature, and
supervisor. He died in Michigan, in 1848. Asahel and Thomas,
both died soon after 1810. The only survivor of the family is a
sister who became the wife of Dr. Ralph Wilcox.
* The old gentleman gives a relation of suffering and privation in that expedition,
which exhibits some of the harshest features of the war of the Revolution. The con-
templated attack upon Oswego, was undertaken in mid winter, and the army encoun-
tered deep snow. Many of the men had their feet frozen, and the relator among the
number. The expedition was undertaken in sleighs, and upon snow shoes, the men
going ahead upon the snow shoes, and partly beating the track. Oneida Lake was
crossed upon the ice. Arriving at Fort Brewerton, a large number of the pressed mil-
itia, appalled by the suffering and danger they were to encounter, deserted and return-
ed to the valley of the Mohawk; the remainder, an unequal force for the work that
was before them, struck off into the dark forest in the direction of Oswego, were badly
piloted, missed their course, and were three days wanderers amid the deep snows of
the wilderness. Coming within four miles of a strong fortress, v^ith provisions exhaus-
ted, ammunition much damaged, and men already worn out in the march, a council de-
cided against the attack, and the expedition retreated to Fort Plain.190
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PIJBCHASE.
Moses Gunn was from Berkshire. He died in 1820 ; Linus Gunn
of Bloomfield was a son of his; another son was an early tavern
keeper on north road to Canandaigua.
As early as 1790 Daniel Gates located in the town of Bloomfield,
on the Honeoye creek, at what is now known as North Bloomfield,
and erected the first saw mill upon that stream. Procuring some
apple sprouts from the old Indian orchard at Geneva he had one of
the earliest bearing orchards in the Genesee country, His youngest
son, Alfred Gates, now resides upon the old homestead. .
Dr. John Barnes was an early physician, remained a few years,
and emigrated to Canada.
Elijah Hamlin, Philo Hamlin, Cyprian Collins, Gideon King, Ben-
jamin Chapman, Joel and Christopher Parks, Ephraim and Lot Rue,
Alexander Emmons, Ashbel Beach, Nathan Waldron, Enos Hawley,
Timothy Buel, were Pioneers in Bloomfield, but in reference to them,
the author as in many other instances, has to regret the absence of
datas to enable him to speak of them beyond the mention of their
names. Elijah Hamlin, who was alive a short time since, in Mich-
igan, if alive now, is the only survivor of them. He was a contrac-
tor on the Erie Canal, at Lockport, in 1822. Joel Parks, a son of
one of those named, married a daughter of Dea. Gooding of Bristol.
He was a pioneer at Lockport, Niagara county, a Justice of the
peace and merchant; and is now a resident of Lockport Illinois.
Moses Sperry moved from Berkshire to Bloomfield, in March,
1794, with his wife and seven children. He was then but 27 years
old. Remaining in Bloomfield until 1813, he removed with his
family to the town of Henrietta, when settlement had but first com-
menced, and where he had been preceded two or three years by
some of his sons. He died in the town of Gates, in 1826, aged 62
years. At the time of his death he had living, 12 children, 67
grand-children, and 7 great-grand children; nine of the sons and
Note.—Amos Otis Esq. of Perry, Wyoming county, who has furnished the author
with some interesting reminiscences of the early settlement of his present locality, a
nephew of the above named Daniel Gates, resided with him as early as 1804. He was
informed by his uncle that he ploughed up many relics in the earliest years of settle-
ment ; among which was a sword blade about two feet long, and a brass kettle. The
old gentleman also informed him the Indians were very troublesome previous to the
Pickering treaty; so much so that they would enter the log cabins of the new settlers,
insolently demanding whatever they wanted to eat or drink. Mr. Otis mentions an
additional fact that the author has learned from no other source, that in the height of
Indian alarm, the new settlers erected a block house, upon the Ball farm, in the north
part of the town of Lima.	*
!
\phelps and gorham’s purchase.
191
daughters are now living. The mother died in Randolph, Cattara-
gus county, in 1840, aged 78 years; the eldest son at Council Bluff,
on his way to Oregon, in 1846. The history of this family furnishes
a remarkable instance of the spirit of enterprise and adventure in-
herited by the descendants of the early pioneers of the Genesee
country. Residing in one town, in 1813, in 1842 the sons and
daughters were residents of five different States. Nine of them
are now living: James Sperry, in Henrietta, a well known surveyor,
and a local agent of the Wadsworth estate; Moses Sperry, the
present Surrogate of Monroe; Calvin Sperry, in Gates, Monroe
county; Charles Sperry in Quincy, Illinois; George Sperry in
Trumbull county Ohio. A sister resides in Cattaragus county;
another in Akron, Ohio; another in Missouri; another in Gates,
Monroe county.
Mr James Sperry having kindly furnished the author with some
interesting pioneer reminiscences, they are inserted in the form
adooted in other instances.
REMINISCENCES OF JAMES SPERRY.
Among the trials of the first settlers, there were none more irritating than
the i destruction of sheep and swine by the wolves and bears. Often whole
flocks of sheep would be slaughtered in the night by the wolves. This hap-
pened so frequently that those who determined to preserve their sheep, made
pens or yards, so high and tight that a wolf could not get over or through
them. If left out by accident or carelessness, they were almost sure to be at-
tacked. The state, county and town, offered bounties, in the aggregate,
amounting to $20 for each wolf scalp. Asahel Sprague caught ten in Bloom-
field, which had the effect to pretty much stop their ravages in that quarter.
Bears preyed upon the hogs, that from necessity the new settlers were
obliged to let run in the woods for shack. About two years after we
came to Bloomfield, when our nearest neighbor was a mile from my father’s
house, one dark evening in October, when we were all sitting around the
table pearing pumpkins to dry, (and to make apple sauce,) we were suddenly
started by a loud squeal from the mother of the grunters, who with her pro-
geny, were resting in a. hollow log in the woods. My father having no am-
munition for his old French gun, seized an axe, and went to the rescue, un-
hindered by the remonstrances of my mother. The bear fled at his approach,
bat had so injured the hog that my father killed her and dragged in the carcass.
It was not uncommon for boys to see bears when after the cows, but I
think no one of the early settlers received any injury from them, unless they
had first been wounded. One of the Coddings, in Bloomfield, came pretty192
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
near having a clinch with one, while in the woods, splitting rails. Stooping
down to pick up his axe to cut a sliver, he turned around and found himself
confronted by a bear standing upon its hind legs, with fore paws extended, to
give him a hug. He declined the offer, struck the bear in the head with the
axe, but making a glancing stroke, failed to penetrate the skull. The bear
fled, bearing off the axe, which was held by the wounded skin and flesh.
Asahel Sprague shot one effectually in the night, while he had hold of one
of his hogs in the fattening pen. James Parker drove one out of his com field
in the day time, followed close upon his heels, and broke his back with a
hand-spike as he was getting over the fence. The second year of our residence
in Bloomfield, one day when my father had gone to training, a bear came
within six or eight rods of the house and caught a hog. My mother and
eldest sister frightened him from his prey. So much for bear stories, and
enough perhaps, though I could tell a dozen more of them.
Among the pleasures of Pioneer life, there was nothing I used to enjoy
more than to see the flocks of deer bounding over the openings when we
were out for the cows, or whenever we went a little way from the clearings.
Many enjoyed the sport of hunting them, and some were successful enough
to make the sport profitable ; killed enough to supply themselves and their
neighbors with meat, and themselves with breeches from the dressed skins.
By the way, I would remark here, that at that early day, the openings about
Bloomfield were so clear of trees and bushes, that in many places deer would
be seen from a half to three quarters of a mile off. The openings were
burned over every spring, and every season they would be green with the
tender “ bent grass,” which made good feed for the cattle and deer. In a
few years, however, improvements were so extended that the inhabitants
ceased firing the openings, and soon they began to be covered with oak and
hickory bushes. I know of two localities where the ground was free from
trees or bushes fifty years ago, that would produce as many cords of wood
now per acre, as the heaviest timbered native forests.
Although the privations of the first settlers were numerous and hard to
bear, having often to go without meat and sometimes bread ; obliged to go
on horseback to mill, often fifteen and twenty miles ; to go with poor shoes
and moccasins in the winter, and barefoot in the summer; yet, notwithstand-
ing all this, to their praise be it recorded, they showed a considerable zeal in
the support of schools for their children. When our family arrived in
March, 1794, there was a school in the north east comer of the town, near
the residence of the Adams and Nortons, kept by Laura Adams. Four of
the oldest of our family entered the school as soon as we arrived. Heman
Norton and Lot Eue, who afterwards “ went through college,” were mem-
bers of this school. The next spring, a seven by ten log school house was
built about one and a half miles south west of the centre, where a school
was kept by Lovisa Post, who afterwards married William H. Bush, and
removed to Batavia. * Luring the summer of ’95 and ’6, Betsey Sprague
* The wife of the author is a daughter of his. After leaving Bloomfield in 1806,
he built mills at a place which took his name, on the Tonawanda Creek, three miles
west of Batavia. He was a Pioneer of Bloomfield, and also upon the Holland Pur-
chase. He carded the first pound of wool by machinery; dressed the first piece of
cloth, and made the first ream of paper west of Caladonia. He still survives, in the
78th year of his age.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
193
kept this school. There was then hut two schools in the town. Miss
Sprague kept the same school in the winter of’96 and ’7. My eldest
brother and myself attended this school in the winter, walking two and a half
miles through the snow across the openings ; not with “old shoes and clout-
ed ” on our feet, but with rags tied on them to go and come in, taking them
off in school hours. The young men and boys, the young women and girls,
for three miles around, attended this school. John Fairchild, west of the
Centre, sent his children.
In the fall of ’97, a young man with a pack on his back, came into the
neighborhood of Gunn, Goss, King, Lamberton, and the Bronsons, two miles
east of the south west school, and one mile north of may father’s, and intro-
duced himself as a school teacher from the land of steady habits; proposing
that they form a new district, and he would keep their school. The proposi-
tion was accepted, and all turned out late in the season, the young man volun-
teering his assistance, and built another log school house in which he kept a
school in the winter of ’97 and ’8, and the ensuing winter. The school was
as full both winters as the house could hold. Two young men, John Lam-
berton and Jesse Tainter, studied surveying both winters, and in 1800,
Lamberton commenced surveying for the Holland Company, doing a larger
amount of surveying upon their Purchase than any other man. He now
lives near Pine Hill, a few miles north of Batavia. The first winter, my
father sent seven to this school, and the second winter eight. In this school,
most of us learned for the first time that the earth was round, and turned
round upon its axis once in 24 hours, and revolves around the sun once a
year. I shall never forget the teacher’s manner of illustrating these facts : —
For the want of a globe, he took an old hat, the crown having “gone up to
seed,” doubled in the old limber brim, marked with chalk a line round the
middle for the equator, and another representing the eliptic, and held it up
to the scholars, with the “ seed end ” towards them, and turning it, com-
menced the two revolutions. The simultaneous shout which went up from
small to great, was a “ caution’” to all young school masters how they in-
troduce “ new things” to young Pioneers. Although the school master was
a favorite with parents and pupils, the “ most orthodox ” thought he was
talking of some thing of which he knew nothing, and wTas teaching for sound
doctrine what was contrary to the common sense of all; for every body
knew that the earth was flat and immovably fixed, and that the sun rose and
set every day. That teacher finally settled in Bloomfield, was afterwards
many years a Justice of the Peace; for one term, member of the legislature;
and for one term, a member of Congress; now known as Gen. Micah Brooks,
of Brook’s Grove, Livingston county.
The first meeting house in the Genesee country, was erected in Bloomfield,
in 1801. A church and society had been formed some years before; Seth
Williston and Jedediah Bushnell, missionaries from the east, labored occa
sionally and sometimes continually in Bloomfield, from 1797 to 1800. An
extensive revival in that and adjoining towns continued under their labors for
several years, and in 1801, they raised a large meeting house. Robert
Powers was the builder. Meetings were held in it summer and winter, when
it was in an unfinished condition, and without warming it, until 1807 and ’8,
when it was finished; Andrew Colton being the architect.
Ancient occupancy was distinctly traced at the period of early settlement194
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
in Bloomfield. On the farm of Nathan Waldron, and on others contiguous,
in the north east corner of the town, near where the Adams, Nortons and
Rues first settled, many gun barrels, locks and stock barrels, of French con-
struction, and tomahawks, were plowed up and used for making or mending
agricultural implements. I have seen as many as 15 or 20 barrels at a time, at
Waldron’s blacksmith shop, while he and David Reese, his journeyman, were
working them up. I once saw Reese pointing out in the roof of the shop,
the effect of a ball fired from an old barrel while heating it in the forge; his
hearers wondering how the powder retained its strength for so long a period,
the barrel having lain under ground.
There were many old Indian burying grounds in Bloomfield, and many of
the graves were opened in search of curiosities. In some of them, hatchets
were found, but generally nothing but bones. In ploughing the ground,
bones, skulls, and sometimes hatchets, were found. The stones used by the
Indians for skinning their game and peeling bark, were found in various
localities. These stones were very hard, worked off smooth, and brought
down to an edge at one end, and generally from four to six inches long.
Pestle stones used for pounding their com were frequently found. They
were from one to one a half feet in length, round and smooth, with a round
point at both ends, something like a rolling pin; and they were frequently
used by the settlers for that purpose.
The venerable Deacon Stephen Dudley, who settled in Bloomfield
as early as 1799, still survives. In the summer of 1848 he informed
the author that there were then less than twenty persons living in
Bloomfield, who were adults when he came there. He also inform-
ed the author, that Gen. Fellows built the first framed barn west of
Canandaigua; and as an instance of the value of lands in an early
day, he related an anecdote: — Gen. Fellows Kad no building spot
on the road, on his large tract, but an acre of land on a lot adjoin-
ing was desirable for that purpose. Proposing to buy it, he asked
the owner his price, who replied:—“I declare, General, if you
take an acre right out of my farm, I think you should give me as
much as jfifty cents for it”
In 1798 a second religious society was organized in Bloomfield,
called the “North Congregational Society/' The first trustees
were: —Jared Boughton, Joseph Brace, and Thomas Hawley.
MICAH BROOKS.
Micah Brooks, was a son of David Brooks, A. M., of Cheshire,
Conn. The father was a graduate of Yale College. He belonged195
PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PUECHASE.
to the first quota of men furnished by the town of Cheshire ; en-
tering the service first as a private soldier, but soon becoming the
quarter master of his regiment. He was a member of the legisla-
ture of Connecticut, at the period of the surrender of Burgoyne,
and a delegate to the State Convention that adopted the U. S. con-
stitution at Hartford. After his first military service, he alternated
in discharging the duties of a minister and then of a soldier — going
out in cases of exigency with his shouldered musket; especially at
the burning of Danbury and the attack upon New Haven. After
the Revolution, he retired to his farm in Cheshire, where he died in
1802.
Micah Brooks, in 1796, having just arrived at the age of twenty-
one years, set out from his father’s house to visit the new region, the
fame of which was then spreading throughout New England. Af-
ter a pretty thorough exploration of western New York, he returned
to Whitestown, and visited the country again in the fall of 1797, stop-
ping at Bloomfield and engaging as a school teacher; helping to build
his own log school house. [Cr’See reminiscences of Mr. James
Sperry. Returning to Cheshire, he spent a part of a summer in
studying surveying with Professor Meigs, with the design of enter-
ing into the service of the Holland Company. In the fall of ’98,
he returned, and passing Bloomfield, extended his travels to the Falls
of Niagara on foot, pursuing the old Niagara trail; meeting with
none of his race, except travellers, andPoudry, at Tonawanda, with
whom and his Squawr wife, he remained over night. After visiting
the Falls — seeing for himself the wonder of which he had read so
imperfect descriptions in New England school books, he went up
the Canada side to Fort Erie, crossing the river at Black Rock.
The author gives a graphic account of his morning’s walk from
Black Rock to where Buffalo now is, in his own language, as he is
quite confident he could not improve it: — “ It was a bright, clear
morning in November. In my lonely walk along the bank of the
Lake, I looked out upon its vast expanse of water, that unstirred
by the wind, was as transparent as a sea of glass. There was no
marks of civilization upon its shores, no American sail to float
upon its surface. Standing to contemplate the scene,—-here, I re-
flected, the goodness of a Supreme Being has prepared a new crea-
tion, ready to be occupied by the people of his choice. At what
period will the shores of this beautiful Lake be adorned wifh dwel-196
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’s PXJBCHASE.
lings and all the appointments of civilized life, as now seen upon the
shores of the Atlantic ? I began to tax my mathematical powers to
see when the east would become so overstocked with population,
as to be enabled to furnish a surplus to fill up the unoccupied space
between me and my New England friends. It was a hard question
to solve; and I concluded if my New England friends could see
me, a solitary wanderer, upon the shores of a far off western Lake,
indulging in such wild speculations, they would advise me to return
and leave such questions to future generations. But I have often
thought that I had then, a presentiment of a part of what half a
century has accomplished.” Walking on to the rude log tavern of
Palmer, which was one of the then, but two or three habitations, on
all the present site of Buffalo, he added to his stock of bread and
cheese, and struck off again into the wilderness, on the Indian trail,
— slept one night in the surveyor’s camp of James Smedley, and
after getting lost in the dense dark woods where Batavia now is,
reached the transit line, where Mr. Ellicott’s hands were engaged in
erecting their primitive log store house.
Renewing his school teaching in Bloomfield, in ’99, he purchased
the farm where he resided for many years. It was at a period of
land speculation, and inflation of prices, and he paid the high price
of $6 per acre. Boarding at Deacon Bronson’s — working for him
two days in the week for his board, and for others during haying
and harvesting, he commenced a small improvement.
Returning to Connecticut, he kept a school for the winter, and in
the spring came out with some building materials; building a small
framed house in the course of the season. In 1801 he brought out
two sisters as house keepers, one of whom as has been stated, be-
came the wife of Col. Asher Saxton, and the other ——Curtiss, a
settler in Gorham. In 1802 he married the daughter of Deacon
Abel Hall of Lyme, Conn., a sister of Mrs. Clark Peck of Bloom-
field.
He became a prominent, public spirited, and useful Pioneer.
Receiving in one of the earliest years of his residence in the new
country, a military commission, he passed through the different gra-
dations to that of Major General. Appointed to the office of justice
of the peace in 1806, he was an assistant justice of the county
courts in 1808, and was the same year elected to the Legislature
from Ontario county. In 1800, he was an associate commissionerPHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PUKCHASE.
197
with Hugh McNair and Mathew Warner, to lay out a road from
Canandaigua to Olean ; and another from Hornellsville to the mouth
of the Genesee River. In the war of 1812, he was out on the
frontier in two campaigns, serving with the rank of Colonel. In
1814 was elected to Congress. He was a member of the State
Convention in 1822, and a Presidential Elector in 1824. He was
for twenty years a Judge of the Ontario county courts.
In 1823, he purchased in connection with Jellis Clute and John
B. Gibson, of Mary Jemison, commonly called the White Woman,
the Gardeau tract on the Genesee River. Selecting a fine portion
of it for a large farm and residence, on the road from Mount Mor-
ris to Nunda, he removed to it soon after the purchase. The small
village and place of his residence is called “ Brook’s Grove. ”
Gen. Brooks is now 75 years of age, retaining his mental facul-
ties unimpaired; as an evidence that his physical constitution holds
out well, after a long life of toil and enterprise, it may be remarked
that in the most inclement month of the last winter, he made a jour-
ney to New England and the city of New York. His present wife
was a sister of the first wife of Frederick Smith, Esq. of Palmyra,
and of the second wife of Gen. Mills, of Mount Morris. His sons
are Lorenzo H. Brooks, of Canadea, and Micah W, Brooks, residing
at the homestead. A daughter is the wife of Henry O’Rielly Esq.,
formerly the editor of the Rochester Daily Advertiser, and P. M.
of Rochester; now a resident of New York, widely known as the
enterprising proprietor of thousands of miles of Telegraph lines in
different States of the Union; another, is the wife of Mr. George
Ellwanger, one of the enterprising proprietors of Mount Hope Gar-
den and Nursery; another the wife of Theodore F. Hall, formerly
of Rochester, now of Brook’s Grove. He has two unmarried
daughters, one of whom is a well educated mute, and is now a
teacher in the deaf and dumb institution at Hartford, Conn.
The history of Micah Brooks furnishes a remarkable instance of
a man well educated, and yet unschooled. The successful teacher,
the competent Justice and Judge — as a member of our State and
National councils, the drafter of bills and competent debater — the
author of able essays upon internal improvements, and other sub-
jects—even now in his old age, a vigorous writer, and a frequent
contributor to the public press: — never enjoyed, in all, a twelve
months of school tuition! The small library of his father, a good198
PHELPS AKD GOBHAM’S PURCHASE.
native intellect, intercourse with the world, a laudable ambition and
self reliance, supplied the rest.
The original purchasers of that part of the old town of Bloom-
field, which is now the town of West Bloomfield, (or 10,560 acres of
it,) were Robert Taft, Amos Hall, Nathan Marvin and Ebenezer
Curtis. All of these, it is presumed, became settlers in 1789, ’90;
as was also Jasper P. Sears, Peregrine Gardner, Samuel Miller,
John Algur, Sylvanus Thayer.
Amos Hall was from Guilford, Conn. He was connected with
the earliest military organizations, as a commissioned officer, and
rose to the rank of Major General, succeeding William Wadsworth.
At one period during the war of 1812, he was the commander-in-
chief upon the Niagara frontier. He also held several civil offices;
and in all early years was a prominent and useful citizen. He died
in 1827, aged 66 years. The surviving sons are: — David S. Hall,
merchant, Geneva; Thomas Hall, superintendant of Rochester and
Syracuse R. Road; Morris Hall, Cass county Michigan; Heman
Hall, a resident of Pennsylvania. An only daughter became the
wife of Josiah Wendle, of Bloomfield.
Gen. Hall was the deputy Marshall, and took the U. S. census in
Ontario county, in 1790, in July and August, it is presumed. His
roll has been preserved by the family, and will be found in the Ap-
pendix, (No. 9.)
HONEOYE—PITTSTOWN —-STOW RICHMOND.
In April, 1787, three young men, Gideon Pitts, James Goodwin,
and Asa Simmons left their native place, (Dighton, Mass.,) to seek a
new home in the wilderness. They came up the Susquehannah
and located at Newtown, now Elmira. Here, uniting with other
adventurers they erected the first white man’s habitation upon the
site of the present village; and during the summer and fall planted
and raised Indian corn. Returning to Dighton, their favorable rep-
resentations of the country induced the organization of the “ Dighton
Company” for the purpose of purchasing a large tract as soon as
Phelps and Gorham had perfected their title. Tp be in season, Cal-
vin Jacobs was deputed to attend the treaty with Gideon Pitts, and
select the tract. As soon as the townships were surveyed, the com-PHELPS AHD GORHAM^ PURCHASE.
199
pany purchased 46,080 acres of the land embraced in Townships 9
in the 3d, 4th, and 5th Ranges; being most of what was after-
wards embraced in the towns of Richmond, Bristol, and the fraction
of number nine, on the west side of Canandaigua lake. The title
was taken for the company, in the name of Calvin Jacobs and
John Smith.
In 1789, Capt. Peter Pitts, his son William, Dea. George Codding,
and his son George, Calvin Jacobs, and John Smith, came via the
Susquehannah route to the new purchase, and surveyed what is now
the town of Richmond and Bristol. One of the party, (the Rev.
John Smith,) on their arrival at Canandaigua, preached the first
sermon there, and first in all the Genesee country, save those
preached by Indian missionaries, by the chaplain at Fort Niagara
and at Brant’s Indian church at Lewiston. The lands having been
divided by lottery, Capt. Pitts drew for his share, 3000 acres, at
the foot of Honeoye lake, embracing the flats, and a cleared field
which had been the site of an Indian village destroyed by Sullivan’s
army.
In the spring of 1790, Gideon and William Pitts commenced the
improvement of this tract. Coming in with a four ox team, they
managed to make a shelter for themselves with the boards of their
sled, ploughed up a few acres of open flats, and planted some spring
crops, from which they got a good yield, preparatory to the coming
in of the remainder of the family. Withal, fattening some hogs
that William had procured in Cayuga county, driving them in, and
carrying his own, and their provisions upon his back. Capt. Peter
Pitts, started with the family in October, in company with John
Codding and family. They came from Taunton River in a char-
tered vessel, as far as Albany, and from Schenectady by water,
landing at Geneva. The tediousness of the journey, may be judged
from the fact that starting from Dighton on the 11th of October
they did not arrive at Pitt’s flats until the 2d day of December.
A comfortable log house had been provided by Gideon and William.
The family consisted of the old gentleman, his wife, and ten children?
besides hired help. For three years they constituted the only family
in town ; their neighbors, the Wadsworths at Big Tree, Capt. Taft
in West Bloomfield, and the Coddings and Goodings, in Bristol.
The House of this early family being on the Indian trail from
Canandaigua to Genesee river— which constituted the early trav-200
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
elled road for the white settlers — “Capt. Pitts” and “Pitts Flats”
had a wide notoriety in all primitive days. It was the stopping
place of the Wadsworths and Jones, of Thomas Morris and in
fact of all of the early prominent Pioneers of that region. Louis
Phillipe, when from a wanderer in the backwoods of America, he had
become the occupant of a throne, remembered that he had spent a
night in the humble log house of Capt. Pitts. The Duke Liancourt,
strolling every where through this region, in 1795, with his com-
panions went from Canandaigua to make the patriarch of the back-
wo'ods a visit.*
The Indians upon their trail, camping and hunting upon their old
grounds, the flats, and the up lands around the Honeoye Lake
were the almost constant neighbors of Capt. Pitts, in the earliest
years. Generally they were peaceable and well disposed; a party
of them however, most of whom were intoxicated, on their way to
the Pickering treaty at Canandaigua in 1794, attacked the women
of the family who refused them liquor, and Capt. Pitts, his son's
and hired men, coming to the rescue, a severe conflict ensued.
The assailed attacking the assailants with clubs, shovels and tongs,
soon vanquished them though peace was not restored, until Hor-
atio Jones, fortunately arriving on his way to the treaty, interfered.
The first training in the Genesee country was held at Captain
Pitt’s house ; a militia company, commanded by Captain William
Wadsworth; and Pitt’s Flats was for many years a training ground.
Captain Peter Pitts died in 1812, aged 74 years. His eldest son
Gideon, who was several times a member of the Legislature, and
a delegate to the state convention in 1822, died in 1829 aged 63
years. The only survivors of the sons and daughters of Capt.
Pitts, are, Peter Pitts, and Mrs. Blackmer. A son, Samuel Pitts^
* The Duke has made a record of if: — “We set out with Blacons to visit an estate
belonging to one Mr. Pitt, of which we had heard much talk through the country.
On our arrival we found the house crowded with Presbyterians; its owner attending
to a noisy, tedious harangue, delivered by a minister with such violence of elocution,
that he appeared all over in a perspiration.” [It was the Rev. Zadock Hunn.] “ We
found it very difficult to obtain some oats for our horses and a few hasty morsels for our
dinner.” The Duke however admired the fine herd of cattle; and with characteristic
gallantry, adds, that “ a view of the handsome married and unmarried women” that he
saw attending the meeting, “ was even more delectable to our senses than the fine
rural scenery” Rev. Zadock Hunn, who was not so fortunate as a part of his hearers
in falling into the good graces of the Duke, Mrs. Blackman, a surviving daughter of
Capt. Pitts,says: — “ was an old man then. He held meetings at my father’s house
as early as ’93, coming at stated times. He also held meetings in Canandaigua and
Bristol.” She differs with the Duke — says they “ used to have good meetings; much
better ones than we do now.”phelps Amy goeham’s purchase.	201
was an early and prominent citizen of Livonia. The descendants
of Capt. Pitts are numerous. Levi Blaekmer settled in Pittstown
in ’95, is still alive, aged 78 years, his wife, (the daughter of Capt.
Pitts,) aged 72. In the summer of 1848, the boy who had driven
an ox-team to the Genesee country, in 1795, was at work on the
highway.
The Duke Liancourt, said that Capt. Pitts had to “go to mill with
a sled, twelve miles ”; this was to Norton’s Mills. In ’98, Thomas
Morris built a grist and saw mill on the outlet of Hemlock Lake, and
in 1802 Oliver Phelps built a grist mill on Mill Creek.
In’95, Drs. Lemuel and Cyrus Chipman, from Paulet, Vermont,
and their brother-in-law, Philip Reed, came into Pittstown, with
their families. They came all the way by sleighing, with horse and
ox teams. The teams were driven by Levi Blaekmer, Pierce
Chamberlain, Asa Dennison, and Isaac Adams, all of whom became
residents of the town. They were eighteen days on the road.
Lemuel Chipman had been a surgeon in the army of the Revolu-
tion. He was one of a numerous family of that name in Vermont,
a brother of the well known lawyer, and law professor in Middle-
bury College. In all early years he was a prominent, public spirited
and useful helper in the new settlements ; one of the best specimens
of that strong minded, energetic race of men that were the founders
of settlement and civil institutions in the Genesee country. He was
an early member of the Legislature, and a judge of the courts of
Ontario county; was twice elector of President and Vice President;
and was a State Senator. Soon after 1800, he purchased, in con-
nection with Oliver Phelps, the town of Sheldon, in Wyoming
county, and the town was settled pretty much under his auspices. •
He removed to that town in 1828, where he died at an advanced
age. His sons were Lemuel Chipman of Sheldon, deceased, father
of Mrs. Guy H. Salisbury of Buffalo; Fitch Chipman of Sheldon;
and Samuel Chipman of Rochester, the well known pioneer in the
temperance movement—now the editor of the Star of Temperance.
A daughter became the wife of Dr. Cyrus Wells of Oakland county,
Michigan, and another the wife of Dr. E. W. Cheney, of Canan-
daigua.
Dr. Cyrus Chipman emigrated at an early period to Pontiac,
Michigan, where he was a Pioneer, and where his descendants
principally reside.
13202
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
In the year 1796, Roswell Turner came from Dorset, Vermont,
took land on the outlet of Hemlock Lake, cleared a few acres, built
a log house, and in the following winter moved on his family, and
his father and mother. The family had previously emigrated from
Connecticut to Vermont. After a long and tedious journey, with
jaded horses, they arrived at Cayuga Lake, where they were des-
tined to encounter a climax of hardship and endurance. Crossing
upon the ice on horseback, apart of the family, the Pioneer, his
mother and two small children, broke through in a cold day, and
were with difficulty saved from drowning by the help of those who
came to their rescue from the shore. Arrived at their new home,
sickness soon added to their afflictions, and two deaths occurred in
the family the first year. The residence of the family was changed
in a year or two to the neighborhood of Allen’s Hill, where they
remained until 1804, and then, as if they had not seen enough of
the hardships of Pioneer life, pushed on to the Holland Purchase,
into the dark hemlock woods of the west part of Wyoming, the
Pioneer making his own road, west of Warsaw, thirteen miles;
he and his family being the first that settled in all the region west
of Warsaw, south of Attica and the old Buffalo road, and east of
Hamburgh- pages could be filled with the details of the hard-
ships of the first lonely winter, its deep snow's, the breaking of
roads out to Wadsworth’s Flats, and digging corn from under the
snow to save a famishing stock of cattle too weak to subsist upon
brouse* and other incidents which would show the most rugged
features of backwoods life; but it is out of the present beat. Ros-
well Turner died in 1809. His sons were, the late Judge Horace
S. Turner of Sheldon; the author of this work; and a younger
brother, Chipman Phelps Turner of Aurora, Erie county. Daugh-
ters— Mrs. Farnum of Bennington; Mrs. Sanders of Aurora;
and the first wife of Pliny Sexton, of Palmyra.
PITTSTOWN — REMINISCENCES OF MRS. FARNUM.
I remember very well, that when early deaths occurred in our family, no
seasoned boards could be obtained for coffins, short of taking down a parti-
tion of our log-house. The second winter, myselfj a sister, and young bro-
ther, went to school two miles and a half through the woods, into what is
now Livonia. We went upon the old Big Tree Road, and mostly had tophelps and gorham’s purchase.	203
beat our own path, for hut a few sleighs passed during the winter. There
was but one family — that of Mr. Briggs — on the way.
I think it was in the summer of 1802, that a little daughter of one of our
neighbors, Sewal Boyd, three years old, was lost in the woods. A lively
sympathy was created in the neighborhood, the woods were scoured, the out-
let waded, and the flood wood removed; on the third day, she was found in
the woods alive, having some berries in her hand, which the instincts of
hunger had caused her to pick. The musquetoes had preyed upon her until
they had caused running sores upon her face and arms, and the little wander-
er had passed through a terrific thunder storm.
The Indians, if they were guilty of occasional outrage, had some of the
finest impulses of the human heart. The wife of a son of Capt. Pitts, who
had always been kind to them, was upon her death bed; hearing of it, the
Squaws came and wailed around the house, with all the intense grief they
‘exhibit when mourning the death of kindred.
Upon “Phelps’ Flats,” as they were called, near the Old Indian Castle,
at the foot of Honeoye Lake, in the first ploughing, many brass kettles, guns,
beads, &c., were found. An old Squaw that had formerly resided upon the
Flats, said that the approach of Sullivan’s army was not discovered by them
until they were seen coming over the hill near where Capt. Pitts built his
house. They were quietly braiding their corn, and boiling their succotash.
She said there was a sudden desertion of their village; all took to flight and
left the invaders an uncontested field. One Indian admitted that he never
looked back until he reached Buffalo Creek.
In the earliest years, deer would come in flocks, and feed upon our green
wheat ; Elisha Pratt, who was a hunter, made his home at our house, and I
have known him to kill six and seven in a day. Bears would come and take
the hogs from directly before the doors of the new settlers—sometimes in open
day light. I saw one who had seized a valuable sow belonging to Peter
Allen, and retreated to the woods, raising her with his paws clenched in her
spine, and beating her against a tree to deprive her of life; persisting even af-
ter men had approached and were attacking him with clubs.
I could relate many wolf stories, but one will perhaps be so incredible that
it will suffice. A Mr. Hurlburt, that lived in the west part of the town, was
riding through our neighborhood, on a winter evening, and passing a strip of
woods near our house, a pack of wolves surrounded him, but his dog diverted
their attention until he escaped. While sitting upon his horse, telling us the
story, the pack came within fifteen rods of the house,'and stopping upon a
knoll almost deafened us with their howl. Retreating into the woods a short
distance, they seemed by the noise to have a fight among themselves, and in
the morning, it was ascertained that they had actually killed and eat one of
their own number! *
Capt. Harmon, built a bam in 1802 or ’3; at the raising, an adopted son
of his, by the name of Butts, was killed outright, and Isaac Bishop was stun-
ned, supposed to be dead. He recovered, but with the entire loss of the fac-
* This is not incredible; other similar eases are given upon good authority. Fam-
ishing, ravenous; a fight occurs, and tasting blood, they know no distinction between
their own and other species.—Author.204
phezps akd gorham’s purchase.
ulty of memory. Although he had possessed a good education, he had lost
it all, even the names of his children, his wife and farming utensils. His
wife re-taught him the rudiments of education, beginning with the A B C,
and the names of things.
Battle snakes were too common a thing to speak of; but we had a few of
another kind of snake, that I have never heard or read of, elsewhere. It had
a horn with which it would make a noise like the rattle of a rattle snake.
In 1796 and ’7, Peter Allen and his family; his brother Nathaniel,
and the father, Moses Allen, became residents of the town. The
father and mother died in early years. Peter Allen was connected
with early military organizations, and rose to the rank of a Brig.
Gen. He was in command of a Regiment at the battle of Queens-
ton, in which he was made a prisoner; afterwards a member of the
Legislature from Ontario. DGP3 See Peter Allen and “Hen. Fel-
lows/’ Hammond’s Political History. In 1816 he emigrated to In-
diana, becoming one of the pioneer settlers of Terra Haute; a por-
tion of his original farm, being now embraced in the village. He
died in 1837*, many of his descendants are residents of Terra
Haute. Nathaniel Allen was the primitive blacksmith of Pitts-
town; working first as a journeyman in Canandaigua, and then
starting a shop, first in the neighborhood of Pitts Flats, and after-
wards, on the Hill, that assumed his name. He was an early officer
of militia, deputy sheriff, member of the legislature. In the war
of 1812, he successively filled the post of commissioner and pay
master, on the Niagara Frontier. After the war, he was sheriff of
Ontario county, and in later years, for two terms, its representative
in Congress. He died at Louisville, Ky., in 1833, where he was a
contractor for the construction of the canal around the Falls of the
Ohio. Of five sons, but one survives. Dr. Orrin Allen, a resident
of Virginia. An only daughter was the first wife of the Hon. R.
L. Rose, who is the occupant of the homestead of the family on
Allen’s Hill. The family were from Dutchess county. The daugh-
ters of Moses Allen becamethewives of Elihu Gifford, of Easton,
Washington county, Samuel Woodworth of Mayville, Mont, co.,
Samuel Robinson of Newark, Wayne co., Fairing Wilson, of Stock-
bridge, Mass., Roswell Turner of Pittstown, Ont., and Stephen
Durfee of Palmyra, Wayne county.
Sylvester Curtis erected the first distillery in town; and Jamesphelps and gorham’s purchase.	205
Henderson who was a pioneer at the head of Conesus Lake, was an
early landlord upon the Hill.
David Akin, Wm. Baker, Thomas Wilson, James Hazen, Silas
Whitney, Cyrus Wells, the Johnsons, David Winton, Nathaniel
Harmon, William Warner, were settlers in earliest years.
Philip Reed, who came in with the Chipmans, died about twenty
years ago. His surviving sons are Col. John F. Reed, Silas Reed,
Wheeler Reed, Wm. F, Reed, and Philip Reed, all residing on and
near the old homestead.
As early as 1796 or ’7, Elijah and Stiles Parker, Elisha Belknap,
Col. John Green, John Garlinghouse, became residents of the town.
The four first named, emigrated many years since to Kentucky, and
in late years some of them have pioneered still further on, over
the Rocky Mountains to Oregon. Joseph Garlinghouse, a son of
the early pioneer, John Garlinghouse, an ex-sheriff of Ontario
county, a prominent enterprising farmer, still resides in Richmond.
A son of his married a daughter of Erastus Spalding, the early
pioneer at the mouth of Genesee River; another, the daughter of
David Stout, a pioneer in Victor and Perinton. Daughters, are
Mrs. Comstock, of Avon, and Mrs. Sheldon, of Le Roy. Mrs. Briggs
and Mrs. Hopkins, of Richmond, are daughters of John Garling-
house ; and a son and daughter reside in Iowa.
Asa Dennison who is named in connection with the Chipmans,
still survives, a resident of Chautauque county.
GORHAM.
In all of the old town of Gorham, at first Easton, (what was is
now Gorham and Hopewell,) a few settlers began to drop in along
on the main road from Canandaigua to Geneva, as early as 1790. In
July of that year, there were the families of Daniel Gates, Daniel
Warren, ----- Sweets,----Platts, Samuel Day, and Israel Cha-
pin jr. who had commenced the erection of the mills upon the
outlet. Mr. Day was the father of David M. Day, the early ap-
prentice to the printing business with John A. Stephens in Canan-
andaigua, and the founder of what is now one of the prominent
and leading newspapers of western New York, the Buffalo Commer-206
PHELPS AOT GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
cial Advertiser. Daniel Warren emigrated to Sheldon, now Wyo*
ming co., in 1810or ’ll, where he died within a few years; Pome-
roy Warren, of Attica, Wyoming co., is a son of his, and Mrs.
Harry Hamilton, near Little Fort, Illinois, is a daughter.
Daniel Gates and his son Daniel Gates jr. were from Stonington
Conn., both were out with Mr. Phelps in his primitive advent.
They purchased land in Gorham, paying Is 6d per acre. The old
gentleman died in 1831, aged 87 years. He was the first collector of
taxes of the town of Gorham. His descendants are numerous, a
large family of sons and daughters becoming heads of families.
His daughters became the wives of Asahel Burchard, the early
pioneer of Lima; Asa Benton, Shubel Clark and James Wyckoff
of Gorham. Daniel Gates, jr. died in 1812 ; his wife was a sister of
the wife of Major Miller the early pioneer near Buffalo, and of
the wife of Capt. Follett; Daniel Gates of Palmyra is a son.
Those whose names will follow, were all residents of Gorham as
early as 1796 or ’7: — James Wood, Perley Gates,----------Ingalls,
Frederick Miller, Silas Reed, Capt. Frederick Follett, Lemuel,
George, Isaiah and William Babcock; Joseph and James Birdseye;
John Warren.
Major Frederick Miller left Gorham soon after 1800, and was a
Pioneer at Black Rock, the early landlord and keeper of the ferry
at that point. William Miller of Buffalo, is his son; and Mrs.
Heman B. Potter is a daughter. Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Follett and
Mrs. Daniel Gates, jr., were daughters of George Babcock.
Silas Reed died in 1834, at the age of 76 years; an only sur-
viving son, is Seneca Reed of Greece; a daughter became the
fwife of Levi Taylor, an early Pioneer of Lockport, now a resident
/ of Ionia, Michigan.
Frederick Follett, in 1778, was among the border settlers of
Wyoming Valley. In company with Lieut. Buck, Messrs. Stephen
Pettibone and Elisha Williams, on the Kingston side of the river,
within sight of the Wilkesbarre Fort, the party were suddenly at-
tacked by twenty Indians. Three of the four were murdered and
scalped. Mr. Follett was pierced by two balls, one in either shoulder,
and stabbed nine times with spears. Still having consciousness, he
fell on his face — being unable to escape — held his breath as much
as possible, and feigned death, in hopes he might escape further muti-
lation at the hands of his ruthless pursuers. But he was not thusphelps Aim gorham’s purchase.
m
to be spared. The Indians came up to him, and without any un-
necessary delay or useless ceremony, scalped him as he lay in his
gore and agony; and but for the approach of assistance from the
fort, would no doubt have ended his days with the tomahawk.
The spear wounds were severe and deep — one of which penetra-
ted his stomach, so that its contents came out at his side! His
case was deemed hopeless, but kindness prompted all the aid that
medical and surgical skill could afford. He was placed in charge
of Dr. William Hooker Smith, who did all in his power to save
him — and his efforts were crowned with success, and he became a
hearty and well man. He was then young and full of vigor, and
never experienced any particular inconvenience from these severe
wounds, except occasional pain from one of the bullets, which was
never extracted from his body, and extreme sensitiveness to the
slightest touch, or even the air, of that portion of the head from
wrhich the scalp was removed.
He afterwards entered the naval service — was captured, and
taken to Halifax, and confined in a dungeon six months; was re-
leased ; entered the service again, and was twice captured by the
British, and eventually returned to his native country, to Dalton,
Berkshire county, Mass., from whence he removed at an early day
to Gorham.
It is a somewhat singular coincidence that his eldest son — now
dead — who entered the naval service as a midshipman, in 1812,
was captured on board the Chesapeake in her engagement with the
Shannon, and wTas also imprisoned in the same dungeon six months
that his father had occupied during our first conflict with the pow-
ers of England.
“ Capt. Follett ” is frequently mentioned in the manuscripts of
Charles Williamson, and would seem to have been in his employ as
early as 1794. His surviving sons are, : —Orrin Follett, an early
printer and editor at Batavia, and a member of the legislature from
Genesee county, now a resident of Sandusky, Ohio ; his second
wife, a niece of James D. Bemis, of Canandaigua; Nathan Follett
of Batavia; and Frederick Follett, of Batavia, the successor of his
brother, as a printer and editor — for a long period honorable asso-
ciated with the public press of the Genesee country — and at
present, one of the Board of Canal Commissioners of this State;
having in immediate charge the western division of the Erie Canal,208
PHELPS AND GOBHAm’s PXJBCHASE.
and the Genesee Valley Canal. A son of his, is Lieut. Frederick
M. Follett, of the U. S. army, a graduate of West Point; a cir-
cumstance worthy of mention, as the patronage of that national
school is not always as well bestowed, as in this instance, upon the
descendant of one so eminently entitled to be remembered for ser-
vices, sacrifices and sufferings, unparalleled in our Revolutionary
annals.
BRISTOL.
Gamaliel Wilder and Joseph Gilbert were the Pioneers of Bris-
tol. About the period that Mr. Phelps was holding his treaty with
the Indians, in 1788, they located at the Old Indian Orchard, and
commenced improvements. In 1790, Mr. Wilder built the small
Pioneer Mill that has been often named in other connections. He
died many years since. Joseph Gilbert was living a few months
since, at the age of 93 years; if living now, he is the oldest sur-
viving resident of the Genesee country.
Deacon William Gooding and George Codding were among the
few who wintered in the Genesee country in 1789, ?90. Both
families have been widely known, and few have been more useful
in the work of subduing the wilderness, and promoting the health-
ful progress of religion, education and sound moral principles. The
descendants of George Codding are numerous, and mostly reside in
the early home of their Pioneer ancestor. William T. Codding is
the only surviving son. Ebenezer Gooding, of Henrietta, is a son
of the early Pioneer; another son, Stephen, resides in Illinois.
Deacon John Gooding, another son, was one of the early founders
of Lockport, Niagara county, where he died in 1838 or ’9.
The earliest record of a town meeting in Bristol, is that of 1797.
In that year, William Gooding was chosen Supervisor, and John
Codding, Town Clerk. Other town officers: — Fauner Codding,
Nathan Allen, Nathaniel Fisher, James Gooding, Jabez Hicks,
Moses Porter, Amos Barber, Alden Sears, jr., George Codding,
Stephen Sisson, Amos Rice, Ephraim Wilder, Nathan Hatch,
Peter Ganyard, Elizur Hills, Theophilus Allen, Elnathan Gooding,
John Simmons. Other citizens of the town in that year, were: —
Daniel Burt, Moses Porter, Jonathan Wilder, Theophilus Allen,PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PTJECHASE.
209
Elnathan Gooding, Chauncey Allen, Samuel Mallory, Ephraim
Francis, Seth Hathaway, Constant Simmons, James Carl, Zebulon
Mark.
MANCHESTER.
Township 12, R. 2, originally a part of Farmington, now Man-
chester; settlement commenced as early as 1793. Stephen Jared,
Joel Phelps, and Joab Gillett, were the first settlers. DC/3 For
Stephen Phelps, see Palmyra. Gillett, in early years, moved to No.
9, Canandaigua.
Nathan Pierce, from Berkshire, was a settler in 1795. But small
openings had then been made in the forest. Mr. Pierce erected a
log house, had split bass wood floors, no gable ends, doors, or win-
dows ; neither boards or glass to be had; and “ wolves and bears
were his near neighbors.” Coming from Parker’s Mills through
the woods at night, with his grist on his back, a pack of wolves
followed him to his door. Brice Aldrich, a Pioneer of Farmington,
was taking some fresh meat to Canandaigua on horseback, when a
wolf stoutly contended with him for a share of it. There were
many Indian hunters camped along on the outlet; some times the
whites would carry loads of venison to Canandaigua for them,
where it would be bought up, and the hams dried and sent to an
eastern market. Trapping upon the outlet was profitable for both
Indians and whites.
Mr. Pierce was supervisor of Farmington for fifteen years, and
an early magistrate; he died in 1814; his widow is now living, at
the age of 87 years. His surviving sons are:—Nathan Pierce,
of Marshall, Michigan, Darius Pierce, of Washtenaw, Ezra Pierce
of Manchester. Daughters: — Mrs. Peter Mitchell, of Manches-
ter, Mrs. David Arnold, of Farmington. John McLouth, from
Berkshire, came in ’95, was a brother-in-law of Nathan Pierce;
died in 1820. Joshua Van Fleet, was one of the earliest; was an
officer of the Revolution, a member of the legislature from Ontario;
a judge an*d magistrate, and the first supervisor of Manchester.
He is 90 years of age, a resident of Marion, Ohio. First merchant,
Nathan Barlow, a son of Abner Barlow, of Canandaigua; resides
now in Michigan. First physician, James Stewart. Nathan210
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Jones came in 1799, died in 1839; Samuel and Nathan Jones are
his sons ; Mrs. Dr. Ashley, of Lyons, and Mrs. Simmons of Phelps,
are his daughters. Jedediah Dewey, from Suffield, Conn., came
in ’98, is still living. Hooker and Joseph Sawyer, were early.
Gilbert Howland, a brother of Job Howland, of Farmington, set-
tled in Manchester in 1800; purchasing a large tract of land. The
Howlands were from Berkshire; Gilbert died in 1830. Nicholas
Howland, of Farmington, and Jonathan Howland of Adrian, Mich-
igan, are his sons. Mrs. Silas Brown of Hamburg, Erie county, is
a daughter.
John Lamunion, came in early years; was from Rhode Island.
He died ten or twelve years since. His wife, w7ho was the widow
of Capt. Follett, died two or three years since.
Peleg Redfield, was a townsman of Mr. Phelps in Suffield; was
a musician in the Connecticut line during the Revolution. In 1799,
he exchanged with Mr. Phelps, his small farm in Suffield, for 200
acres, whereter he should choose to locate, on any unsold lands of
Mr. Phelps. He selected the land where he now resides on the
Rail Road, a mile and a half west of Clifton Springs; (a judicious
selection, as any one will allow, who sees the fine farm into which
it has been converted;) clearing three acres and erecting the body of
a log house, he removed his family in Feb. 1800, consisting of a wife
and six children. “ The journey,” says a son of his, “ was perform-
ed- with a sleigh and a single span of horses. Besides the family,
the sleigh was loaded with beds and bedding, and articles of house-
hold furniture. I shall never forget this, my first journey to the
Genesee country, especially that portion of it west of Utica. The
snow was three feet deep, and the horses tired and jaded by the
cradle-holes, often refused to proceed farther with their load. I
had the privilege of riding down hill, but mostly walked with my
father, my mother driving the team.”
Arriving at their new home, the Pioneer family found shelter with
a new settler, “ until the bark would peel in the spring,” when a
roof was put upon the body of the log house that Mr. Redfield had
erected; openings made for a door and window, and bass-wood logs
split for a floor. Here the family remained until autumn, when a
double log house had been erected. Mr. Redfield is now in his
80th year; his memory of early events, retentive, and his physical
constitution remarkable for one of his years. He is the father ofphelps and gorham’s purchase.
211
the Hon, Heman J. Redfield, of Batavia; of Lewis H. Redfield,
the well known editor, publisher, and bookseller at Syracuse; Hiram
Redfield of Rochester, George Redfield, Cass co. Michigan, Alex-
ander H. Redfield of Detroit, Cuyler Redfield, with whom he re
sides upon the old homestead. His son, Manning Redfield, of Man-
chester, was killed in a mill where he was marketing his grain in
1850. One of his daughters, was the wife of Leonard Short, of
Shortsville, and the other, of Marvin Minor, a merchant at Bergen
and Johnson's creek. “I could have made my location at Fort
Hill, near Canandaigua," said the old gentleman to the author, “but
a town was growing up there, and I feared its influence upon my
boys." There are many Pioneer fathers who have lived to regret,
that they had not been governed by the same prudent motive.
The Pioneer mother died in 1844, aged 80 years. It will appeal
incredible to the house keepers, and young mothers of the present
day, when they are told, that Mrs. Redfield, in early years, when
she had a family of six and seven children, performed all her ordin-
ary house-work, milked her own cows; and carded, spun and wove,
all the woolen and linen cloth that the family wTore. But the old
gentleman thinks it should be added, that he and the boys lightened
her labor, by uniformity wearing buckskin breeches in the winter;
though the mother had them to make.
REMINISCENCES OF PELEG REDFIELD.
In 1800, a log house had been vacated; we fitted it up and hired Elam
Crane* to teach a school. It was a mile from my house, and my boys used
to go through the woods by marked trees.
In early years, wolves were a great nuisance; nothing short of a pen sixteen
rails high, would protect our sheep. In winters, when hungry, they would
collect together and prowl around the log. dwellings; and if disappointed in
securing any prey, their howling would startle even backwoodsmen. The
Indian wars upon the wolf with great hatred; it is in a spirit of revenge for
their preying upon their game, the deer. In the side hill, along on my farm,
they dug pits, covered them over with light brush and leaves, and bending
down small trees, suspended the offals of deer directly over the pits. In
springing for the bait the wolf would land in the bottom of the pits where they
could easily be killed. The salmon used to ascend the Canandaigua outlet,
as far up as Shortsville, before mill dams were erected. The speckled trout
were plenty in the Sulphur Spring brook; and in all the small streams.
* Mr. Crane died recently in south Bristol aged 83 years; he came to the Genesee
country in 1788.212	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
In 1805, I was erecting my frame house, and wanted glass and nails. I
I went with oxen and sled to Utica, carrying 50 bushels of wheat. I sold it for
$1,68 per bushel, to Watts Sherman, a merchant of Utica, and paid 18d per
pound for wrought nails ; $7 50 for two boxes of glass.*
It was pretty easy for young men to secure farms, in the earliest years of
settlement. I knew many who received a dollar a day for their labor, and
bought lands for twenty five cents per acre.
A Baptist Church was organized in Manchester in 1804; the
first Trustees were: — Ebenezer Pratt, Joseph Wells and Jeremiah
Dewey. This was the first legal organization, a society had been
formed previous to 1800. Judge Phelps gave the society a site for
a meeting house, and in 1806 Deacon John McLouth erected a log
building. In 1812 or 13, the stone meeting house was erected.
Rev. Anson Shay organized the church, and remained its pastor
for 25 years; he emigrated to Michigan, where he died in 1845.
The Methodists had a society organization as early as 1800, hold-
ing their primitive meetings in school and private houses.
“ St. John's Church, Farmington," (Episcopal, at Sulphur Springs,)
was organized by the Rev, Devenport Phelps, in 1807. The offi-
cers were:—John Shekels, Samuel Shekels, wardens; Darius
Seager, William Warner, George Wilson, Archibald A. Beal, Davis
Williams, Thomas Edmonston, Alexander Howard, William Pow-
ell.f
GOLD ' BIBLE — MORMOHISM.
As we are now at the home of the Smith family—in sight of “ Mormon
Hill”—a brief pioneer history will be looked for, of the strange, and singularly
successful religious sect—the Mormons; and brief it must be, merely starting
it in its career, and leaving to their especial historian to trace them to Kirtland,
Nauvoo, Beaver Island, and Utah, or the Salt Lake.
Joseph Smith, the father of the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., was from the
Merrimack river, N. H. He first settled in or near Palmyra village, but as
* Mr. Redfield has preserved Ms store bill. It is made out and signed by Henry
B. Gibson, the well known Canandaigua Banker, who was the book keeper in Sher-
man’s store.
t A brother of the early Hotel keeper at Geneva. The two brothers had erected a
public house at the Springs, and William was the landlordPHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
213
early as 1819 was the occupant of some new land on “ Stafford street” in the
town of Manchester, near the line of Palmyra.* “ Mormon Hill ” is near the
plank road about half way between the villages of Palmyra and Manchester.
The elder Smith had been a Universalist, and subsequently a Methodist; was
a good deal of a smatterer in Scriptural knowledge: but the seed of revela-
tion was sown on weak ground; he was a great babbler, credulous, not espe-
cially industrious, a money digger, prone to the marvellous; and withal, a lit-
tle given to difficulties with neighbors, and petty law-suits. Not a very pro-
pitious account of the father of a Prophet,—the founder of a state; but there
was a “ woman in the case.” However present, in matters of good or evil!—
In the garden of Eden, in the siege of Troy, on the field of Orleans, f in the
dawning of the Reformation, in the Palace of St. Petersburgh, and Kremlin
of Moscow, in England’s history, and Spain’s proudest era; and here upon
this continent, in the persons of Ann Lee, Jemima Wilkinson, and as we are
about to add, Mrs. Joseph Smith! A mother’s influences; in the world’s
history, in the history of men, how distinct is the impress!—In heroes, in
statesmen, in poets, in all of good or bad aspirations, or distinctions, that
single men out from the mass, and give them notoriety; how often, almost in-
variably, are we led back to the influences of a mother, to find the germ that
has sprouted in the offspring.
The reader will excuse this interruption of narrative, and be told that Mrs.
Smith was a woman of strong uncultivated intellect; artful and cunning; im-
bued with an illy regulated religious enthusiasm* The incipient hints, the
first givings out that a Prophet was to spring from her humble household,
came from her; and when matters were maturing for denouement, she gave
out that such and such ones—always fixing upon those who had both money
and credulity—were to be instruments in some great work of new revelation.
The old man was rather her faithful co-worker, or executive exponent. Their
son, Alvah, was originally intended, or designated, by fireside consultations,
and solemn and mysterious out door hints, as the forth coming Prophet. The
mother and the father said he was the chosen one; but Alvah, however spir-
itual he may have been, had a carnal appetite; eat too many green turnips,
sickened and died. Thus the world lost a Prophet, and Mormonism a leader;
the designs impiously and wickedly attributed to Providence, defeated; and
all in consequence of a surfeit of raw turnips. Who will talk of the cackling
geese of Rome, or any other small and innocent causes of mighty events, af-
ter this? The mantle of the Prophet which Mrs. and Mr. Joseph Smith and
one Oliver Cowdery, had wove of themselves—every thread of it—fell upon
their next eldest son, Joseph Smith, Jr.
And a most unpromising recipient of such a trust, was this same Joseph
Smith, Jr., afterwards, “Jo. Smith.” He was lounging, idle; (not to say
vicious,) and possessed of less than ordinary intellect. The author’s own re-
collections of him are distinct ones. He used to come into the village of
Palmyra with little jags of wood, from his backwoods home; sometimes pat-
ronizing a village grocery too freely; sometimes find an odd job to do about
* Here the author remembers to have first seen the family, in the winter of *19, ’20,
in a rude log house, with but a small spot underbrushed around it.
t France.214
PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
the store of Seymour Seovell; and once a week he would stroll into the office
of the old Palmyra Register,for his father’s paper. How impious, in us young
“ dare Devils” * to once and a while blacken the face of the then meddling
inquisitive lounger—but afterwards Prophet, with the old fashioned balls,
when he used to put himself in the way of the working of the old fashioned
Ramage press! The editor of the Cultivator, at Albany—esteemed as he
may justly consider himself, for his subsequent enterprize and usefulness, may
think of it, with contrition and repentance; that he once helped, thus to dis-
figure the face of a Prophet, and remotely, the founder of a State.
But Joseph had a little ambition; and some very laudable aspirations; the
mother’s intellect occasionally shone out in him feebly, especially when he
used to help us solve some portentous questions of moral or political ethics,
in our juvenile debating club, which we moved down to the old red school
house on Durfee street, to get rid of the annoyance of critics that used to drop
in upon us in the village; and subsequently, after catching a spark of Metho-
dism in the camp meeting, away down in the woods, on the Vienna road, he
was a very passable exhorter in evening meetings.
Legends of hidden treasure, had long desigiiated Mormon Hill as the de-
pository. Old Joseph had dug there, and young Joseph had not only heard
his father and mother relate the marvelous tales of buried wealth, but had ac-
companied his father in the midnight delvings, and incantations of the spirits
that guarded it.
If a buried revelation was to be exhumed, how natural was it that the Smith
family, with their credulity, and their assumed presentiment that a Prophet
was to come from their household, should be connected with it; and that
Mormon Hill was the place where it would be found.
It is believed by those who were best acquainted with the Smith family,
and most conversant with all the Gold Bible movements, that there is no
foundation for the statement that their original manuscript was written by a
Mr. Spaulding, of Ohio. A supplement to the Gold Bible, “ The Book of
Commandments” in all probability, was written by Higdon, and he may have
been aided by Spaulding’s manuscripts; but the book itself is without doubt,
a production of the Smith family, aided by Oliver Cowdery, who was a school
teacher on Stafford street, an intimate of the Smith family, and identified
with the whole matter. The production as all will conclude, who have read
it, or even given it a cursory review, is not that of an educated man or wo-
man. The bungling attempt to counterfeit the style of the Scriptures; the
intermixture of modern phraseology; theignorance of chronology and geogra-
phy; its utter crudeness and baldness, as a whole, stamp its character, and
clearly exhibits its vulgar origin. It is a strange medley of scriptures, romance,
and bad composition.
The primitive designs of Mrs. Smith, her husband, Jo and Cowdery, was
money-making; blended with which perhaps, was a desire for notoriety, to be
obtained by a cheat and a fraud. The idea of being the founders of a new sect,
was an after thought, in which they were aided by others.
* To soften the use of such an expression, the reader should be reminded that ap-
prentices in printing offices have since the days of Faust and Gottenberg, been thus
called, and sometimes it was not inappropriate.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
215
The projectors of the humbug, being destitute of means for carrying out
their plans, a victim was selected to obviate that difficulty. Martin Harris,
was a farmer of Palmyra, the owner of a good farm, and an honest worthy
citizen; but especially given to religious enthusiasm, new creeds, the more
extravagant the better; a monomaniac, in fact. Joseph Smith upon whom
the mantle of prophecy had fallen after the sad fate of Alva, began to make
demonstrations. He informed Harris of the great discovery, and that it had
been revealed to him, that he (Harris,) was a chosen instrument to aid in the
great work of surprising the world with a new revelation. They had hit up-
on the right man. He mortgaged his fine farm to pay for printing the book,
assumed a grave, mysterious, and unearthly deportment, and made here and
there among his acquaintances solemn annunciations of the great event that
was transpiring. His version of the discovery, as communicated to him by
the Prophet Joseph himself, is well remembered by several respectable citi-
zens of Palmyra, to whom he made early disclosures. It was in substance, as
follows:
The Prophet Joseph, was directed by an angel where to find, by excava-
tion, at the place afterwards called Mormon Hill, the gold plates; and was
compelled by the angel, much against his will, to be the interpreter of the sa-
cred record they contained, and publish it to the world. That the plates
contained a record of the ancient inhabitants of this country, “engraved by
Mormon, the son of Nephi.” That on the top of the box containing the plates,
“a pair of large spectacles were found, the stones or glass set in which were
opaque to all but the Prophet,” that “ these belonged to Mormon, the engra-
ver of the plates, and without them, the plates could not be read.” Harris as-
sumed, that himself and Cowdery were the chosen amanuenses, and that the
Prophet Joseph, curtained from the world and them,, with his spectacles, read
from the gold plates what they committed to paper. Harris exhibited to an
informant of the author, the manuscript title page. On it were drawn, rudely
and bunglingly, concentric circles, between above and below which were char-
acters, with little resemblance to letters; apparently a miserable imitation of
hieroglyphics, the writer may have somewhere seen. To guard against pro-
fane curiosity, the .Prophet had given out that no one but himself, not even
his chosen co-operators, must be permitted to see them, on pain of instant
death. Harris had never seen the plates, but the glowing account of their
massive richness excited other than spiritual hopes, and he upon one occasion,
got a village silver-smith to help him estimate their value; taking as a basis,
the Prophet’s account of their dimensions. It was a blending of the spiritual
and utilitarian, that threw a shadow of doubt upon Martin’s sincerity. This,
and some anticipations he indulged in, as to the profits that would arise from
the sale of the Gold Bible, made it then, as it is now, a mooted question,
whether he was altogether a dupe.
The wife of Harris was a rank infidel and heretic, touching the whole thing,
and decidedly opposed to her husband’s participation in it. With sacriligious
hands, she seized over an hundred of the manuscript pages of the new reve-
lation, and burned or secreted them. It was agreed by the Smith family,
Cowdery and Harris, not to transcribe these again, but to let s<3 much of the
new revelation drop out, as the “ evil spirit would get up a story that the
second translation did not agree with the first.” A very ingenious method,
surely, of guarding against the possibility that Mrs. Harris had preserved the216
jphelps and gorham’s purchase.
manuscript with which they might he confronted, should they attempt an inir
itation of their own miserable patchwork.
The Prophet did not get his lesson well upon the start, or the household of
impostors were in the fault. After he had told his story, in his absence, the
rest of the family made a new version of it to one of their neighbors. They
shewed him such a pebble as may any day be picked up on the shore of
Lake Ontario—the common horn blend—carefully wrapped in cotton, and
kept in a mysterious box. They said it was by looking at this stone, in a
hat, the light excluded, that Joseph discovered the plates. This it will be ob-
served, differs materially from Joseph’s story of the angel. It was the same
stone the Smiths’ had used in money digging, and in some pretended discov-
eries of stolen property.
Long before the Gold Bible demonstration, the Smith family had with some
sinister object in view, whispered another fraud in the ears of the credulous.
They pretended that in digging for money, at Mormon Hill, they came across “a
chest, three by two feet in size, covered with a dark colored stone. In the
centre of the stone was a white spot about the size of a sixpence. Enlarg-
ing, the spot increased to the size of a twenty four pound shot and then explo-
ded with a terrible noise. The chest vanished and all was utter darkness. ”
It may be safely presumed that in no other instance have Prophets and the
chosen and designated of angels, been quite as calculating and worldly as were
those of Stafford street, Mormon Hill, and Palmyra. The only business con-
tract — veritable instrument in writing, that was ever executed by spiritual
agents, has been preserved, and should be among the archives of the new
state of Utah. It is signed by the Prophet Joseph himself, and witnessed
by Oliver Cowdery, and secures to Martin Harris, one half of the proceeds of
the sale of the Gold Bible until he was fully reimbursed in the sum of $2,500,
the cost of printing.
The after thought that has been alluded to ; the enlarging of original in-
tentions ; was at the suggestion of Sidney Higdon, of Ohio, who made his
appearance, and blended himself with the poorly devised scheme of impos-
ture about the time the book was issued from the press. He unworthily bore
the title of a Baptist elder, but had by some previous freak, if the author is
rightly informed, forfeited his standing with that respectable religious denom-
ination. Designing, ambitious, and dishonest, under the semblance of sanc-
tity and assumed spirituality, he was just the man for the uses of the Smith
household and their half dupe and half designing abettors ; and they were
just the fit instruments he desired. He became at once the Hamlet, or more
appropriately perhaps, the Mawworm of the play. Like the veiled Prophet
Mokanna, he may be supposed thus to have soliloquised : —
“Ye too, believers of incredible creeds,
Whose faith enshrines the monsters which it breeds;
Who bolder, even than Nimrod, think to rise
By nonsense heaped on nonsense to the skies ;
Ye shall have miracles, aye, sound ones too,
Seen, heard, attested, every thing but true.
Your preaching zealots, too inspired to seek
One grace of meaning for the things they speak ,*
Your martyrs ready to shed out their bloodPHELPS AND GOKHAJtt’s PURCHASE.
217
For truths too heavenly to be understood
* * * *
“ They shall have mysteries—aye, precious stuff
For knaves to thrive by—mysteries enough;
Dark tangled doctrines, dark as fraud can weave,
Which simple votaries shall on trust receive,
While craftier feign belief, ’till they believe.”
Under the auspices of Rigdon, a new sect-, the Mormons, was projected,
prophecies fell thick and fast from the lips of Joseph ; old Mrs. Smith assum-
ed all the airs of the mother of a Prophet ; that particular family of
Smiths were singled out and became exalted above all their legion of name-
sakes. The bald, clumsy cheat, found here and there an enthusiast, a mo-
nomaniac or a knave, in and around its primitive locality, to help it upon its
start ; and soon, like another scheme of imposture, (that had a little of dig-
nity and plausibility in it,) it had its Hegira, or flight, to Kirtland; then to
Nauvo ; then to a short resting place in Missouri—and then on over the
Rocky Mountains to Utah, or the Salt Lake. Banks, printing offices, tem-
ples, cities, and finally a State, have arisen under its auspices. Converts have
multiplied to tens of thousands. In several of the countries of Europe there
are preachers and organized sects of Mormons; believers in the divine mission
of Joseph Smith & Co.
And here the subject must be dismissed. If it has been treated lightly —
with a seeming levity — it is l^ecause it will admit of no other treatment.
There is no dignity about the whole thing ; nothing to entitle it to mild
treatment. It deserves none of the charity extended to ordinary religious
fanatacism, for knavery and fraud has been with it incipiently and progress-
ively. It has not, even the poor merit of ingenuity. Its success is a slur upon
the age. Fanaticism promoted it at first ; then ill advised persecution ;
then the designs of demagogues who wished to command the suffrages of
its followers ; until finally an American Congress has abetted the fraud and
imposition by its acts, and we are to have a state of our proud Union —
in this boasted era of light and knowledge — the very name of which will
sanction and dignify the fraud and falsehood of Mormon Hill, the gold plates,
and the spurious revelation. This much, at least, might have been omitted
out of decent respect to the moral and religious sense of the people of the
old states.
FARMINGTOK.
Township No. 11, R. 3, (now Farmington,) was the first sale of
Phelps and Gorham. The purchasers were: —Nathan Comstock,
Benjamin Russell, Abraham Lapham, Edmund Jenks, Jeremiah
Brown, Ephraim Fish, Nathan Herendeen, Nathan Aldrich, Ste-
phen Smith, Benjamin Rickenson, William Baker and Dr. Daniel
Brown, The deed was given to Nathan Comstock, and Benjamin218	PHELPS AHD GOBHAm’s PURCHASE.
Russell; all except Russell, Jenks, J. Brown, Fish, Rickenson, Ba-
ker and Smith, became residents upon the purchase. In 1789, Na-
than Comstock, with two sons, Otis and Darius, and Robert Hatha-
way, came from Adams, Berkshire county, Mass.; a part of them by
the water route, landing at Geneva, with their provisions, and a
part by land with a horse and some cattle. W hen the overland
party had arrived within 15 miles of Seneca Lake, they had the ad-
dition of a calf to their small stock, which Otis Comstock carried
on his back, that distance. They arrived upon the new purchase,
built a cabin, cleared four acres of ground, and sowed it to wheat.
Their horse died, and they were obliged to make a pack horse of
Darius, who went once a week through the woods to Geneva, w'here
he purchased provisions and carried them on his back, twenty miles,
to their cabin in the wilderness. Upon the approach of winter,
the party returned to Massachusetts, leaving Otis Comstock to take
care of the stock through the winter, with no neighbors other than
Indians and wild beasts, nearer than Boughton Hill and Canandai-
gua. About the same period of the advent of the Comstocks,
Nathan Aldrich, one of the proprietqps of the township, came by
the water route, landing his provisions and seed wheat at Geneva,
and carrying them upon his back to the new purchase; he clear-
ed a few acres of ground, sowed it to wheat and returned to Mass-
achusetts.
In the month of February, 1790, Nathan Comstock and his large
family, started from his home in Adams, accompanied by Nathan
Aldrich and Isaac Hathaway, and were followed the day after by
Nathan Herendeen, his son William, and his two sons-in-law, Josh-
ua Herrington and John M’Cumber. The last party overtook the
first at Geneva, when the w7hole penetrated the wilderness, making
their own roads as they proceeded, the greater part of the distance,
and arrived at their new homes in the wilderness, on the 15th of
March. After leaving Whitestown, both parties, their women and
children, camped out each night during their tedious journey, and
arriving at their destination, had most of them to erect temporary
habitations, and this at an inclement season.
The following are the names of all wrho were residents of the
new township in 1790: — Nathan Comstock, Nathan Comstock, jr.,
Otis Comstock, Darius Comstock, John Comstock, Israel Reed,
John Russell, John Payne, Isaac Hathaway, Nathan Herendeen,
/phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
219
Welcome Herendeen, Joshua Herrington, John M’Cumber, Nathan
Aldrich, Jacob Smith, Job Howland, Abraham Lapham, John Ran-
kin, Elijah Smith, Levi Smith, Annanias M’Millan, Edward Dur-
fee, Thomas W. Larkin, Silas Lawrence, Jonathan Smith, Pardon
Wilcox, Robert Hathaway, Jeremiah Smith. But a part of all
these that were married had brought in their families, and most of
them were unmarried.
The only survivors of all the above named, are John Comstock,
Pardon Wilcox, and Levi Smith; to the last of whom the author
is indebted for many of his Pioneer reminiscences of Farmington,
Joshua Herendeen died last winter, at the advanced age of over
90 years.	'
Many of these early Pioneers were Friends, either by member-
ship or birth right. An early discipline of that society was in effect,
that any of its members contemplating any important enterprise,
and especially that of emigration, must report their intentions to
their meeting for consideration and advisement. The rash enter-
prise of going away off to the Genesee country, and settling down
among savages and wild beasts, was not consistent with the kindly
regard entertained by the meeting for the Farmington emigrants;
consent was refused, and they were formally disowned. When a
committee of the Friend’s Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia, attend-
ed the Pickering treaty at Canandaigua in 1794, they visited the
Friends of Farmington, espoused their cause, interceded with the
meeting that had disowned them in Massachusetts, which resulted
in their restoration. A meeting was soon after organized, the first,
and for a long period, the only one west of Utica. The society
erected a meeting house in 1804. Their early local public Friend,
or minister as he would have been called by other orders, was Caleb
M’Cumber. He died last year at an advanced age.
Wheat was harvested in the summer of 1790, the product of
what was sowed by the Comstocks and Nathan Aldrich, in the fall
previous. Some summer crops were raised in the summer of ’90,
The stump mortar was the principal dependence for preparing'
their grain for bread. In the fall of 1790, Joshua Herendeen, wjui
two yoke of oxen, made his way through the woods to WiMer’s
Mills in Bristol; arriving late on Saturday night, the miller/* wife
interposed her ipsi dixit, and declared the mill should nytrun on
Sunday, “if all Farmington starved.” This made hir^ a second220
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
journey, and it was a work of days, as the first had been. During
the same season, Welcome Herendeen, John M’Cumber and Jona-
than Smith, took grain up the Canandaigua outlet and Lake to
Wilder’s Mill. They got but a part of it ground, and it being late
in the season, a part of their grist lay over until the next season.
Levi Smith, in 1791, then a hired man of Nathan Aldrich and
Abraham Lapham, carried grists upon two horses to the Friend’s
Mill, in Jerusalam.
As an example of the difficulties and hardships that attended
emigration at that early period, it may be mentioned that in 1791,
Jacob Smith, with his family, was thirty one days in making the
journey from Adams, Mass., to Farmington. Putting family and
household furniture on board of a boat at Schenectady, and driving
his stock through the woods, along the creeks, rivers, and lakes, the
whole arrived at Swift’s Landing, beyond which he had to make
his road principally, as there had been little intercourse in that
direction, from the settlement in Farmihgton.
Nathan Herendeen himself wintered in the new settlement, his son
Welcome returning to bring out the family, who came in February,
*91; and about the same time other considerable additions were
made to the settlement, consisting of the families of those who had
come in the year before, and new adventurers. Brice, and Turner
Aldrich and their families, William Cady, Uriel Smith, Benjamin
Lapham, were among the number. A considerable number of
them came in company, with ox and horse teams, were twenty^one
days on the route, th^ whole camping in the woods eight nights on
the way.
The young reader, and others who may be unacquainted with
Pioneer life, in passing through that now region of wealth and
prosperity, will be surprised to be told that the founders of many of
those farm establishments —clusters of neat farm buildings, sur-
rounded by flocks and herds, and broad cultivated fields — in their
primitive advent, plodded through snow and mud days and weeks,
with stinted means; at night, with their families of young children,
clearing away the snow and spreading their cots upon the ground;
theii slumbers often interrupted by the howl of the gaunt wolf*
prowling around their camp-fires. Unless in that locality, from the
peculiar character of its inhabitants, better ideas of right physical
education prevails than is usual, there are daughters in those abodesphelps and gorham’s purchase.
221
of comfort and luxury who shrink even from the healthful breeze
whose mothers have prepared the frugal meal by the winter
camp-fire, and kept nursery vigils where the driving storm pelted
her and her household through their frail covering. Equally is
physical degeneracy, the wrork of but one and two generations,
marked in the sons. There are those in the Genesee country who
would deem it a hardship to black their own boots, harness their
own horse, or make their own fires, whose fathers and grand-fathers
have carried provisions to their families upon their backs through
long dreary winter woods paths. Sincerely is it to be hoped that
mental degeneracy is not keeping pace with all this, as some ob-
servers and theorists maintain.
But we are losing sight of the germ of what became a prosperous
settlement. The new comers were soon in their log cabins, dotted
down in the forest, and making openings about them to let in the
sun. Nathan Comstock was regarded as surveyor general of roads.
Mounted upon his old mare, he would strike off into the woods in
different directions where roads were needed, followed by axe-men
and a teamster with oxen and sled. The underbrush would be cut,
logs cut and turned out of the way, and thus the beginning of a
road was made to be followed up gradually, by widening out to two
and four rods, and bridging of streams, sloughs and marshes. As an
evidence that they commenced in earnest to subdue the wilderness,
it may be mentioned that there were considerable fields of wheat
sown in the fall of 1790. Nathan Aldrich having raised some
seed wheat in that season, Welcome Herendeen worked for him
thirteen days for two and a half bushels, sowed it, and he used to
tell the story when he became the owner of broad wheat fields,
remarking that he never had to buy any after that. The first set-
tlers of Farmington, bringing with them apple seeds, and peach
and plum pits, were early fruit growers — soon had bearing
orchards— and for long years, the new settlers in far off neighbor-
hoods, went there for apples, q,pd a real luxury they were in primi-
tive times. Farmington and Bloomfield cider, apples, and apple
sauce, was an especial treat for many years in the backwoods of
the Holland Purchase. Some enterprising keeper of a log tavern
would push out when sleighing came, and bring in a load. His re-
turn would be heralded over a wide district; and then would fol-
low ox sleds and horse sleigh ride, through wood's roads, rude feasts222	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
and frolics. The pampered appetites of the present day know
nothing of the zest which attended these simple luxuries then.
The first marriage in Farmington, was that of Otis Comstock to
Huldah Freeman, at the house of Isaac Hathaway, in 1792, Dr.
Atwater, of Canandaigua, officiating. The first birth, was that of
Welcome Herendeen, in 1790, a son of Joshua Herendeen, who now
resides in Michigan. As a specimen of this first production, it
may be mentioned that his weight is now said to be 350 pounds.
.The first death of an adult, was that of Elijah Smith, in 1793.
The first frame building was erected by Joseph Smith and James
D. Fish of Canandaigua, for an ashery, on the farm of Welcome
Herendeen. The first framed barn was built by Annanias McMil-
lan, for Isaac Hathaway, in 1793; and the same year, McMillan
built a small framed grist mill on Ganargwa Creek, within the town-
ship, for Jacob and Joseph Smith. Settlers have been known to
come forty miles to this mill. The wreck of it is now standing.
The first saw mill was built by Jacob and Joseph Smith, in 1795.
The first physician in Farmington, was Dr. Stephen Aldridge, from
Uxbridge, Mass. He died about fifteen years since, alter a long
and useful career, both in his profession and as a citizen.
Almost the whole town of Farmington was settled by emigrants
from Adams, in that same county of Berkshire that has been so
prolific a hive, sending out its swarms not only here, but to all our
western States and territories. The local historian here and at
the west, has often to query with himself as to whether there could
be any body left in Berkshire ? It would seem that when new
fields of enterprise were opened, new regions were to be subdued
to the uses of civilization, legions wTent out from its mountains, hills
and valleys — not “of armed men” — but of the best of materials
for the work that lay before them. Berkshire — a single county of
New England —it may almost be said, has been the mother of em-
pires.
In the history of a wide region of unparalelled success and pros-
perity, no where has it been so uniform as in the towrn of Farming-
ton. The town was soon farmed out by the original proprietors,
and of all the purchasers, but one failed to be a permanent citizen
and pay for his land. The wholesome discipline and example of
the Society of Friends preserved it from the effects of an early
profuse use of spirituous liquors, so destructive to early prosperityPHELPS AND GOKHAm’s PURCHASE.
223
in other localities; while the fruits and example of their proverbial
industry and economy, gave the town the pre-eminence that it has
acquired.
The first town meeting of the “ District of Farmington ” was held
at the house of Nathan Aldrich, in 1797; meeting was opened and
superintended by Phineas Bates, Esq., when Jared Comstock was
chosen Supervisor, and Isaac Hathaway town clerk. Other town
officers: — Joseph Smith, Nathan Herendeen, Jonathan Smith,
Otis Comstock, Asa Wilmarth, John M’Louth, Isaac Hathaway,
Arthur Power, Sharon Booth, Joab Gillett, Gilbert Buck, Benjamin
Peters, Job Howland, Welcome Herendeen, Turner Aldrich, Gid-
eon Payne, Joshua Van Fleet, Jacob Smith.
It was voted that $10 be paid for the scalp of each wolf killed
in town. Fifty dollars was raised to defray the expenses of the
Town. The meeting was adjourned to be held next year at the
house of Nathan Herendeen.
PHELPS.
John Decker Robinson, from Claverack, Columbia co., and
Nathaniel Sanborn, were among those who came to the Genesee
country about the time of the Phelps and Gorham treaty. Mr. San-
born was employed by Mr. Phelps to. take charge of a drove of
cattle that he intended for beef, to distribute among the Indians at
Note.—The family of Comstocks were from Rhode Island, and had been Pioneers
in Berkshire before their advent to the Genesee country. New England could hardly
have sent better materials to this region ; or a family that would have proved more
useful. At the period of emigration, the old Pioneer and patroon of new settlement,
had six sons : — Otis, Darius, Joseph, Jared, Nathan and John. Nathan was the Pio-
neer at Lockport, having settled there in the wilderness several years before the canal
was constructed. Joseph, Jared and Darius went there as soon as the canal was loca-
ted, and became the proprietors of a large portion of the site of the present Upper
Town, and the Lower Town has grown up principally upon the original farm of Nathan.
Darius was a large contractor upon the Mountain Ridge, and soon after the canal was
completed became a Pioneer near the present village of Adrian Michigan. A part of
the site of the village of Adrian was upon his purchase, and his son, Addison J. Corn-
stock, was a prominent founder of the village. The .father diedin Farmington in 1816 ;
Joseph, in Lockport, in 1821 ; Nathan in Lockport, in 1830 ; Jared and Darius in Mich-
igan, in 1844 and ’5 ; and Otis in Farmington, in 1850. The only survivor is John,
who was an early law student in Canandaigua, and now resides upon a farm near Ad-
rian, Michigan. The descendants in the second and third decree are very numerous,
their residences being now principally in Michigan. The wife of Asa B. Smith of
Farmington, is a daughter of Darius. The late Margaret Snell, of Union Springs,
was a daughter of Joseph.224
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
the treaty. As soon as land sales commenced, Mr. Robinson bought
lot No. 14, T. 11, R. 1, (Phelps) on the Canandaigua outlet, in pay-
ment for which he erected for Phelps and Gorham, (partly of logs;
and partly framed,) the building that was used as the primitive land
office, and for the residence of the agent of Mr. Walker. In the
spring of 1789, he put his family and goods on board a batteaux at
Schenectady and landed them at their new home in the then wilder-
ness. Raising a cloth tent they brought with them, the family
were sheltered under that until a log cabin was erected. Nine days
after their arrival, they were joined by Pierce and Elibu Granger,
Nathaniel Sanborn and his brother-in-law,------Gould, who remain-
ed with them a few months, cleared a few acres on an adjoining lot,
built shantees, and returned to Suffield in the fall, leaving the Rob-
inson family to spend the winter eight miles from their nearest
neighbor. Mr. Robinson opened a public house as soon as ’93, or 4.
His location was East Vienna; embracing some valuable mill seats
on Flint creek and Canandaigua outlet. He was one of the most
enterprising of the early Pioneers. His son Harry was the first
male child born in Phelps; another son, Henry, H. resides in
Lima.
Following the lead of Robinson and the Grangers, in 1791, were,
Thaddeus Oaks, Seth Dean, Oliver and Charles Humphrey, and
Elias Dickinson.
Jonathan Oaks was the primitive landlord, erecting as early as
’94 the large framed tavern house, at Oak’s Corners, about the same
time that Mr. Williamson erected his Hotel at Geneva, It was a
wonder in early days; peering up in a region of log houses, it had
an aristocratic look, and its enterprising founder was regarded as
pushing things far beyond their time. It was the second framed
tavern house west of Geneva, and when built, there was probably
not half a dozen framed buildings of any kind, west of that locality.
It was the house of the early explorers and emigrants, and its fame
extended throughout New England. It is yet standing and occu-
pied as a tavern in a pretty good state of preservation. Mr. Oaks
died in 1804, leaving as his successor his son Thaddeus, who had
married a grand-daughter of Elias Dickinson. The father dying
at so early a period, the name of Thaddeus Oaks is principally
blended in the reminiscences of the later Pioneer period. He died
in 1824 at the age of 50 years; an only surviving son, Nathanphelps and gorham’s purchase.	225
Oaks, a worthy representative of his Pioneer ancestors, inherits the
fine estate, the fruit of his grand-father and father’s early enterprise.
He is the P. M. at Oaks’Corners; his wife, the daughter of Truman
Heminway Esq., of Palmyra ; a sister, is the wife of Leman Hotch-
kiss, Esq. of Vienna.
As early as 1816, the lessees of the Oaks’ stand, were Joel and
Levi Thayer, now of Buffalo. About this period, the -long celebra-
ted Race Course, was established upon the broad sweep of level
ground, upon the Oaks farm, which passengers may observe from
the cars, in the rear of the church. For years, it was a famous
gathering place for sportsmen, and amateur sportsmen; race horses
came to it from the south, and from Long Island and New Jersey.
The annual gatherings there, were to western New York, in a
measure, what the State Fairs now are to the whole State.
Philetus Swift, a brother of John Swift, of Palmyra, was in
Phelps as early as ’91. He was an early representative of Ontario,
in Assembly and Senate ; in anticipation of the war of 1812, hold-
ing the rank of Col., he was ordered, with a regiment of volunteers,
to march to the Niagara Frontier, and was with his regiment at
Black Rock, when war was declared. He died in 1826. He left
no sons; an only daughter by a second marriage, is wife of Alexis
Russel, of Webster, Monroe co.
Seth Dean, was the Pioneer upon the site of the present village
of Vienna, building a primitive grist and saw mill, upon Flint creek.
His mill was raised by himself and his son Isaac; they being unable
to procure any help. The Pioneer died in early years j his son
Isaac resides in Adrian, Michigan, is the father-in-law of Addison
J. Comstock, one of the founders of the village of Adrian. Mrs.
Wells Whitmore, of Vienna, is a daughter of Seth Dean. Walter
Dean, a brother of Seth, eaime in at a later period. He was the
father of L. Q. C. Dean. A daughter of his married Dr. Isaac
Smith, of Lockport, deceased, and is now the wife of David Thomas,
of Cayuga.
The first merchant in Phelps, was John R. Green, an English
Note.— Mrs. Dean, it is presumed, put the first cheese to press in the Genesee coun-
try ; and “thereby hangs a tale”—or, a bear story. It was in one of the old fashioned,
out door presses; a bear came at night, and entirely devoured i.t, as his tracks and the
empty cheese curb, bore winess.226
phelps and goriiam’s purchase.
man, located at Oaks’ Corners. Leman Hotchkiss and David Mc-
Neil, were the first merchants in Vienna; a firm of much enterprise,
commanding, for a long period, the trade of a wide region. Hotch-
kiss, was the brother of the late Judge Hotchkiss, of Lewiston.
He died in 1822. His widow is now Mrs. Joel Stearns, of Vienna.
Hiram, of Lyons, and Leman B. of Vienna, are his sons. McNeil
was the first P. M. in Phelps, appointed in 1804, he held the office
until his death, in 1841. , He died childless; his widow survives, a
resident of Vienna.
Dr. Joel Prescott, was the early physician. He was an early
supervisor of the town, and for several years chairman of the board
of supervisors of Ontario. He died during the war of 1812; a
son of his, Imly Prescott, recently died in Geneva; daughters be-
came the wives of Owen Edmonston, of Vienna, and James Har-
row, of Seneca county.
Elder Solomon Goodale, was the first resident minister in Phelps;
preaching in school and private houses. The first organized church
was at Oaks'* Corners -— Presbyterian — the officiating minister, the
Rev. Jonathan Powell, a Welchman; who still survives, and is
settled over a Welch congregation in Ohio; a grand-daughter, Jane
Reese, was a poetess, whose early effusions appeared in the Palmy-
ra Register, in 1819, ’20; a sister of hers, is Mrs. Bailey Durfee,
of Palmyra. The church at Oaks’ Corners, was the second built
west of Seneca Lake, that of East Bloomfield the first. It was
erected in 1804, but not finished until 1814. Having then became
almost a wreck, by a vote of those interested, it was given in charge
of Col. Cost, who procured subscriptions, and rented pews, the
avails of which, more than paid for its completion. Thaddeus Oaks
gave the ground, and $ 1,000 dollars in addition, before it was finish-
ed. ? Vienna and Oaks’ Corners, were originally competitors for the
location.
Jonathan Melvin wras in as early as ’95; far better off than most
Pioneers, he purchased 800 acres of land at what is known as
“ Melvin Hill.” With ample means, and by extraordinary enter-
prise, he soon had large improvements, grain, pork, and pasturage
for new settlers. He built mills in an early day in Wolcott, where
he was a large landholder. After accumulating a large estate, he
endorsed, became embarrassed, and finally subsisted in his lasts
years, upon a Revolutionary pension. He died but a few yearsphelps Aim gorham’s purchase.	227
since, at an advanced age.# Iiis son, Jonathan Melvin, now resides
upon the old homestead.
Wells Whitmore came in with Jonathan Oaks; married a daugh-
ter of Seth Dean; his son Barnet, resides in Georgia, and Mrs.
Norton, of Vienna, is a daughter.
John and Patrick Burnett, brothers, came in 1795; Patrick left
in a few years; John became a prominent citizen. He held a
Captain’s commission in the Revolution. Win. Burnett, his son,
was an early supervisor, magistrate, and attained the rank of Brig.
Gen. of militia. He was in service on the Niagara frontier in 1813,
and commanded the volunteer force, called out to repel the British
invaders at Sodus. He died in 1826; William Burnett, of Ann
Arbor, is his son ; Mrs. Benjamin Hartwell, and Mrs. Bainbridge of
Phelps, are his daughters.
Cornelius Westfall came in ’95; purchased 500 acres of land;
died in 1832. His only son, Jacob, a Captain of a company of
riflemen, was killed in Queenston battle. '
Elijah Gates, came in ’95 : died in 1835: his sons Seth and Dan-
iel, reside at the old homestead.
Oliver Humphrey, one of the earliest, died in 1838; was a Major
of Militia. His son Hugh Humphrey, lives at the old homestead.
His brother Charles, who came in with him, died a few years since;
his son John, resides upon the homestead.
Lodowick Vandermark, came in ’94; erected one of the earliest
saw mills on the outlet. He died just previous to the war of 1812;
Frederick and William, of Phelps, are his sons. His brother Joseph,
who came in with him, died in 1816.
Deacon Jessee Warner, one of the earliest, located on site of
village of Orleans; was one of the founders of the churches at
Orleans and Melvin Hill. He died in 1835; John Warner of Or-
leans, is his son.
Solomon Warner was in Geneva as early as’88. He located
near, and afterwards became the purchaser of a part of the Old
Castle tract, which he sold to Jonathan Whitney. His wife was a
daughter of Jonathan Oaks. He died in 1813; two of his sons
reside in Michigan, and two at the homestead; daughters became
* In passing the Old Castle, in an early day, he picked up an apple, and was told to
lay it down. “Yon must be mean” said he “to begrudge a neigbor an apple; 1 will
plant 100 trees next year for the public;” He was as good as his word; the trees are
now standing along the road, on his old farm.228
Phelps and gorham’s purchase.
the wives of Cephas Shekells, Alfred Hooker, William Jones, Rev.
Wm. Patton. His son Lucius, now 56 years of age, resides in the
house his father built in '89, and in which he was born.
Col. Elias Dickinson, on-e of the original purchasers of Phelps, was
from Conway, Mass. He died in 1804, or ’5. His son, Colton,
was killed in raising the church at Oaks’ Corners, in 1804 ; Samuel
Dickinson, the eminent printer and publisher, of Boston, was a son
of Colton Dickinson; he was an apprentice of Elias Hull of Ge-
neva. Another son of the old Pioneer, was the founder of the
large mills of Vienna. He died in early years.
Col. Elias Cost was a native of Frederick co., Maryland, a son
of Jacob Cost; a sister of his, was the mother of Wm. Cost John-
son. At the age of 21 years, in 1799, in company with Benjamin
Shekel, and Abraham Simmons, he came to the Genesee country.
The party travelled on horseback, coming in via Mr. Williamson’s
Northumberland Road; upon 46 miles of which, there was.then
but one house; stopped at the Geneva Hotel, and continued on
through the woods to Sodus, where they found Mr. Williamson,
Jacob W. Hallett, and James Reese. The young adventurers had
left their horses at Oaks’ tavern, and arriving at the outlet, at Ly-
ons, were ferried over upon the back of a stout backwoodsman, by
the name of Hunn. Shekels and Simmons, bought land at the Sul-
phur Springs. The party returned to Maryland. The next season
Col. Cost came out and purchased land near Oaks’ Corners, where
he has resided for half a century. He is now 72 years of age •
may almost be said to be robust in health; his mind retaining its
vigor and elasticity ; possessing the fine social qualities, peculiar to
his native region. His first wife was the daughter of Capt. Shekells.
After her death he married the widow of Thaddeus Oaks, and was
the landlord of the Oaks’ stand for fourteen years. His daughters,
the fruits of his first marriage, became the wives of Thomas John-
son, of Maryland, and Lynham J. Beddoe, a son of John Beddoe,
of Yates co. An unmmarried daughter whose mother was Mrs.
Oaks, supplies the place of her mot! e , (who died recently,) in his
hospitable mansion. Col. Cost was upon the frontier in the war of
1812, a volunteer, with the commission of Captain, in the regiment of
Col. Micah Brooks, was at the sortie of Fort Erie; was a member
of Assembly from Ontario, in 1846.
Note.— Col. Cost, died in April last, whilst this work was in press.229
Phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Benjamin Shekel!, whose advent is mentioned in connection with
Col. Cost, died in 18 £8. His son Richard resides in Hopewell ; a
daughter, is Mrs. Stephens of Hopewell. Samuel Shekell came in
1803; died in 1826 ; his son Thomas in 1804, and opened a store
at Clifton Springs; returning to Maryland in a few years; another
son, J acob M., resides near Ann Arbor, Michigan ; another. John, in
Waterloo; another, Cephus, in Milwaukee. His daughters became
the wives, of Col. Elias Cost, Major Wm. Howe Cuyler, Alexander
Howard, and Andrew Dorsey, of Lyons. The Shekells were from
Bladensburg, Maryland.
William Hildreth was an early merchant and distiller; was a
Supervisor of the town, and a member of the legislature. He
erected mills on Flint Creek, was a large farmer, and in all, a man
of extraordinary enterprise, carrying on for many years an exten-
sive business. He died in 1838 ; his widow survives. His sons,
William and Spencer, reside in Vienna.
Eleazor, Cephas and Joseph Hawks, were early settlers in Vienna.
Cephas Hawks, just previous to the war, erected a large woolen
factory at White Springs, on the Nicholas (now Mrs. Lee's) farm,
near Geneva ; bought the fine wool of the Wadsworths; sold cloth
at from $5 to $12 per yard; made money rapidly; but low prices
and consequent failure succeeded after the war. He emigrated to
Michigan. Benjamin F. Hawks, of Vienna, is a son of Eleazor.
Luther Root was the first clothier in Phelps; he died 25 years
since; his widow and sons are residents of Vienna.
The town of Phelps was first the “District of Sullivan;” the
first town meeting was held at the house of Jonathan Oaks, in 1796.
Jonathan Oaks was chosen Supervisor, Solomon Goodale, Town
Clerk. Other town officers: —Joel Prescott, Philetus Swift, Pierce
Granger, Cornelius Westfall, Abraham F. Spurr, Chas. Humphrey,
Elijah Gates, Augustus Dickinson, John Patton, Wells Whitmore,
Jonathan Melvin, Oliver Humphrey, Patrick Burnett, Jesse Warner,
Oliver Humphrey, Philetus Swift, Augustus Dickinson, Joel Prescott,
Oliver Humphrey, Solomon Goodale.
A “gratuity of four pounds” was voted for “every wolf's head
thsat shall be killed in this district by an inhabitant thereof.”
At a court of special sessions of Ontario county, in June, 1796,
name was changed to “Distiict of Phelps.”
In February, 1797, a special town meeting was called “for the230	Phelps and gorham’s purchase.
purpose of establishing some regulations in reference to schools.”
After the town had assumed his name, Mr. Phelps gave an enter-
tainment at Oaks* Tavern, and a jovial time the backwoodsmen
had of it, as but few of them live to recollect.
GENEVA.
While the Pioneer events we have been recording, were going
on in other localities, the little village of Kanadesaga, at the foot of
Seneca Lake, had been going a head under the auspices of Reed
and Ryckman, and the Lessees. In the compromise with Phelps
and Gorham, the Lessees had come in possession of townships 6, 7,
and 8, in the 1st Range, and 9 in the 2d. Thes# townships were
deeded to the Lessees under the name of the “ New York Com-
pany;” and a fifth township (No. 9 in the 1st,) was deeded to
“ Benton and Livingston.” #	“ In the fall of 1788,” says a manu-
script in the author’s possession, “ number 8 was divided into lots,
and balloted for at Geneva; Benjamin Barton, sen., at that time
being agent for the Niagara (or Canada) Company, drew the num-
ber of lots assigned to them ; and Messrs. Benton and Birdsall,
being present, drew for themselves and associates.” f
In the fall of 1788, about the time that the Pioneer movements
were making at Canandaigua, Geneva had become a pretty brisk
place; the focus of speculators, explorers, the Lessee Company and
their agents; and the principal seat of the Indian trade for a wide
region. Horatio Jones was living in a log house covered with
bark, on the bank of the Lake, and had a small stock of goods for
the Indian trade; Asa Ransom (the afterwards Pioneer at Buffalo
* But the four townships were included in the compromise. Benton and Livingston
were prominent among the Lessees; and either acquired the fifth township by pur-
chase, or it was a bonus to them individually, for their agency in effecting the com-
promise.
t The author has in his possession the original draft of this lottery scheme, with the
names of all who drew lots — over an hundred—and th e numbers of the lots they
severally drew. The lots are said to be in the "town of Geneva and county thereof.”
Either the village of Geneva tl at had been laid out by Reed and Ryckman was
merged with the lands c f the Lessees, or they laid out a village upon the Lake
shore, opposite T. 8, as each shareholder drew a "town lot,” and a "large lot,” which
evidently meant a village lot end a farm lot. Lots were drawn in the name of
"Street & Co..” “ Samuel Street,” ‘‘Street and B > ler,” "John Butler,” and by all
the members of the New York and Canada joint Lessee Companies.phelps awd gorham’s purchase.
231
and Ransom’s Grove,) occupied a hut, and was manufacturing
Indian trinkets; Lark Jennings had a log tavern on the bank of
the Lake; the Lessee Company had a framed tavern and trading
establishment, covered with bark, on the Lake shore, “ near where
the bluff approaches the Lake,” which was occupied by Dr. Ben-
ton. There was a cluster of log houses all along on the low ground
near the Lake shore. The geographical designations were “ hill
and bottom.” Peter Ryckman and Peter Bortle were residing
there, and several others whose names are not recollected. Col.
Seth Reed was residing at the Old Castle. Dominick Debartzch,
an Indian trader from Montreal, was rather the great man of the
country. His principal seat was the Cashong farm, which he
claimed as an Indian grant, and where he had a trading establish-
ment ; though his trade extended to the western Indians, among
whom he went after selling • his claim to the Cashong farm to the
late Major Benj. Barton, of Lewiston.*
The Lessees were then strenuously claiming all of the lands of
the six nations up to the old pre-emption line. A letter from one
of the company at Geneva, to one of the Canada associates, dated
in Nov. ’88, speaks confidently of a compromise with the State, “ by
which we shall be enabled to hold a part, if not the whole of the lands
contained in our lease.” To further this object, it is proposed that
the Canada influence shall be brought to bear upon the Indians; and
that a strong delegation of the chiefs shall be at Albany when the
legislature meets, and “ remonstrate openly to the sovereignty of the
State, against the late proceedings at Fort Stanwix, and demand the
restitution of their lands.”f In April and May, 1789, the New
York company field out to their Canada associates, the strongest
assurances of being enabled with their assistance, to induce the In-
dians to abide by the Lease, instead of their cessions to the State ;
but in the fall of that year, they began to be disposed to take what-
ever they could get. In September, one of the auditors of the “ New
* John H. Jones witnessed the confirmation of this bargain. Major Barton, in part
payment, pulled off his overcoat, and gave it to Debartzch. It has heretofore been
said that the purchase was made of Poudry. Mr. Jones corrects this, and says that
Poudry at the time was a servant of Debartzch, occasionally asssisting him in the
Indian trade. Both gloried in native wives.
t In the month of September preceding, the Onondagas had, at a treaty at Fort
Stanwix, ceded their lands to the State; and in the same month, the Oneidas had
ceded theirs.232
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
York Genesee Company,” writing to the “Niagara Genesee Com-
pany,” says :—“ Our business has fallen much short of our first idea;’*
and after asking their concurrence in a proposed compromise with
the State, the letter closes with, “ I am, with due respect, but like
the rest of the company at this time, somewhat dejected, your very
humble servant.”
All that was done at Geneva previous to the spring of 1793, was
under the auspices of Reed and Ryckman and the Lessees. The
little backwoods village that had grown up there, the scattered set-
tlements in the Lessee towns and upon the Gore, and at Jerusalem,
constituted a majority perhaps of all the population west of Seneca
Lake. “ The district of Seneca,” which, so far as organization was
concerned, embraced all the region north to Lake Ontario, and the
Lessee towns, had its first town meeting in April, 179,3- It was held
at the house of Joshua Fairbanks, who still survives, a resident of
Lewiston, Niagara county. Ezra Patterson was chosen Supervisor,
Thomas Sisson, Town Clerk. Other town officers, Oliver Whit-
more, Jas. Rice, Phineas Pierce, Patrick Burnett, Samuel Wheed on,
Peter Bortle, Jr., Sanford Williams, Jonathan Oaks, David Smith,
Benjamin Tuttle, Wm. Smith, Jr., David Benton, Benj. Dixon,
Amos Jenks, John Reed, Caleb Culver, Charles Harris, Stephen
Sisson, W. Whitmore, Joseph Kilbourn, Seba Squires.
In 1794, Ambrose Hull was Supervisor. Store and tavern licen-
ses were granted to Graham S. Scott, Thomas Sergeants, Joseph
Annin, Hewson & Co. 1735, Timothy Allen was Supervisor, and
Samuel Colt, Town Clerk ; town meeting was held at the house of
Ezra Patterson, who was chosen Supervisor of the^town for several
successive years. In 1800, the number of persons assessed to work
on the highways in the town of Seneca, was 290.
Mr. Williamson turned his attention to Geneva, in the spring of
1793; and as will be observed, many of the early reminiscences of
the locality occur in connection with him. In fact, Geneva is more
or less mingled with the earliest events of the whole region. It was
the door or gateway to the Genesee country, and there our race first
made a stand preliminary to farther advances.
Herman H. Bogert, commenced the practice of law in Geneva,
in 1797, being now the oldest resident member of the profession,
except Judge Howell, in western New York. His father was Isaac
Bogert, a captain in the Revolution, attached to the New York line;233
PHELPS AND GOBHAm’s PXTECHASE.
was at the siege of Fort Stanwix, and at the close of the war be-
came a merchant in Albany. The son was preceded in his profes-
sion at Geneva, only by Henry H. Van Rensselaer, who remained
but a few years.
Mr. Bogert observes, that at the period he came to Geneva, land
speculations were at their height; high prices were the order of the
day; board was 84,00 per week at the hotel; and all things were
going on as swimmingly as in the later years, 1836, *37- Eligible
building lots of three-fourths of an acre-, sold for 8500; farming
lands in the neighborhood, sold for 85,00 an acre, that afterwards
brought but 82 and 83,00. Mr. Williamson had a sloop upon the
Lake that was engaged in bringing down lumber. The mail was
brought from Albany once in two weeks upon horseback. Mr. Wil-
liamson’s head quarters were then principally at the Geneva Hotel.
In addition to his other enterprises, he was actively engaged in the
construction of the turnpike.
Mr. Bogert is now 77 years of age; his wife, the daughter of
John Witbeck, of Red Hook, who also survives, is 73. Charles A.
Bogert of Dresden, Yates county, is a son; a daughter became the
wife of Derick C. Delamater, of Columbia county; another, of Her-
man Ten Eyck, of Albany; another, of Godfrey J. Grosvenor, of
Geneva.
Early lawyers in Geneva, other than Mr. Bogert, Pollydore B.
Wisner, Daniel W. Lewis, Robert W- Stoddard, John Collins, Da-
vid Hudson. Mr. Wisner was an early District Attorney. He
died in 1814. He was from Orange county; studied law with
Richard Varick; atone period member of the Legislature. Mr.
Lewis died within a few years in Buffalo, leaving no children. An
adopted daughter of his was the wife of Stephen K. Grosvenor, and
is now the wife of the Rev. Dr. Shelton, of Buffalo. Mr. Stoddard
died in 1847. A son of his is a practicing lawyer in Brooklyn, and
another son is an officer of the navy. Mr. Collins is now a prac-
ticing lawyer in Angelica. Mr. Hudson still survives, and contin-
ues a resident of Geneva. Mr. Parks is yet a practicing Attorney
jsTote.—Mr. Bogert, among other interesting reminiscences of early times, which
the author has used, in other connections, speaks of a marked event—a thunder storm
in 1797. There seemed to be a meeting of two large, dense, black clouds. For two
hours, there was peal after peal, in quick succession, of thunder; not unlike the re-
ports of parks of artillery. Water spouts rose upon the Lake, column after column ;
the atmosphere seemed on fire; the whole was a scene of grandeur and terror, that has
Lad few parallels.
15234
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
in Geneva. He studied law with Lewis and Collins, and was ad-
mitted to practice in 1814. In the war of 1812, he was upon the
frontier, and in the battle of Queenston, in command of a company
of volunteers.
The early merchants of Geneva, other than those who were loca-
ted there under Indian and Lessee occupancy, were: Grieve and
Moffat, Samuel Colt, Richard M. Williams, Elijah H. Gordon,
Richard M. Bailey, Abraham Dox. Grieve & Moffatt established
the first brewery in all this region. Mr. Grieve was in the employ
of Mr. Williamson, in the earliest years, as it is presumed Mr. Mof-
fat wa^, as his name occurs in connection with the early move-
ments at Sodus. Mr. Grieve was out in the war of 1812, a colonel,
under Gen. McClure. He died in 1835. Mr. Moffat removed to
Buffalo. Richard M. Williams became a farmer in Middlesex, On-
tario county, (or in Yates county) where he died a few years since;
a son of his was lately in the Senate of this State. Mr. Colt was a
brother of Joseph Colt, the early merchant of Canandaigua, Auburn,
and Palmyra. He removed to New York, and on a visit to Ge-
neva, attending the commencement at the College, he died suddenly,
at the Hotel, in 1834. Mr. Baily is still living. He entered the
regular army in 1812; had a staff appointment, was taken prisoner
at the battle of Queenston; went to Quebec in company with Gen.
Scott, where he was parolled.
Elijah H. Gordon is one of the three or four survivors of all who
were residents of Geneva previous to 1798; is in his 80th year.
His goods came in early years, from Schenectady, via the usual
water route, costing for transportation, generally about $3 per cwt.
Barter trade, in furs especially, constituted his principal early busi-
ness ; potash and ginseng was added after a few years.
Mr. Gordon was a Judge of Ontario county courts in early years;
and the second Post Master at Geneva, succeeding Walter Grieves,
who was the first. His two sons, John H., and Wm. W. Gordon,
reside in Washington, Louisana.
Dr. Adams was a physician in Geneva in the earliest years of
settlement. Dr. John Henry and Daniel Goodwin, were the ear-
liest permanent physicians. Dr. Henry died in 1812. Dr. Good-
win removed to Detroit, where he died a few years since. Stephen
A. Goodwin, an attorney at law, in Auburn, is a son of his; another
son, Daniel Goodwin, is an attorney in Detroit.235
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
'v
A Presbyterian society was organized in Geneva, as early as
1798. In July of that year, a meeting was held ; John Fulton and
Oliver Whitmore presided; Oliver Whitmore, Elijah Wilder, Sep-
timus Evans, Ezra Patterson, Samuel Latta, Wm, Smith, jr., and
Pollydore B. Wisner, were chosen trustees. .The Rev. Jedediah
Chapman became the first settled minister, continuing as such,
until his death in 1813. He was succeeded by the Rev. Henry
Axtell. The society built a church in 1811.
In 1806, “ nineteen persons of full age, belonging to the Protest-
ant Episcopal church, assembled, and there being no Rector, John
Nicholas presided.” Trinity church was organized by the election
of the following officers:—John Nicholas and Daniel W. Lewis,
Wardens; Samuel Shekell, John Collins, Robert S. Rose, Richard
Hughes, Ralph T. Wood, David Nagler, Jas. Reese, Thomas Pow-
ell, Vestrymen.
The Rev. Davenport Phelps was the first officiating clergyman;
was succeeded by the Rev. Orrin Clark, who officiated for many
years. He died in 1828. The society erected a church in 1809,
which was removed, and its site occupied by the present Trinity
Church, in 1845.
Baptist and Methodist societies were organized, and churches
erected, soon after the war of 1812, but the author has no farther
record or information concerning them.
Among the earliest mechanics at Geneva, were: Wm. Tappan,
John and Abraham B. Hall, John Sweeny, Elisha Douner, Moses
Hall, W. W. Watson, John Woods,* Lucius Cary, Jonathan Doane,f
Foster Barnard, Richard Lazalere, Jacob and Joseph Backenstose.J
John Nicholas, emigrated from Virginia, and settled at Geneva
in 1804. He was a lawyer by profession, but had retired from
practice. He was for several terms, a member of the State Senate,
and a Judge of the courts of Ontario. He engaged extensively in
* Mr. Wood, was also an early landlord.
t He erected the primative churches; was the father of Bishop Doane of New Jer-
sey, who received his primary education in Geneva.
t They were brothers, came to Geneva in the earliest years. They were the pioneer
tailors of the Genesee country. Time was, when to wear a coat from their press board,
marked the wearer as an aristocrat. Men going to Congress, or the Legislature, gen-
erally got a coat from a “Geneva tailor,5’ but never before election. “Generals” and
“Colonels” sometimes indulged in such an extravagant luxury. The surviving sons of
Jacob, are:—John Barkenstore a merchant of Geneva, and Jacob and Frederick, of
Bloomfield. Jacob Barkenstore yet survives, a resident of Lockport.236	PHELPS AND GOKHAM’s PURCHASE.
agricultural pursuits, owning and occupying the large farm after
wards purchased by Gideon Lee. Judge Nicholas died in 1817,
His surviving sons are Robert C. Nicholas, Lawson Nicholas, Gavin
L. Nicholas, John Nicholas; a daughter became the wife of Abra-
ham Dox, and another the wife of Dr. Leonard, of Lansingburg.
Robert S. Rose, a brother-in-law of Judge Nicholas, emigrated
with him from Virginia. He located upon a farm on the opposite
side of Seneca Lake, where for many years, he was one of the
largest farmers in western New York. Both he and Judge Nich-
olas, were at one period extensive wool growers, and did much to
promote the improvement of sheep husbandry in this region. He
was for one or two terms, a representative in Congress. He died,
suddenly, at Waterloo, in 1845.* His widow, who was of the
Virginia family of Lawsons, so highly esteemed for her quiet and
unobtrusive charities, and especially for her zealous aid to the Epis-
copal church, whose doctrines she adorned through life, died in
1847, or ’8. The surviving sons, are: — Dr. Lawson G. Rose, of
Geneva; John and Henry Rose, of Jerusalem, Yates county;
Robert L. Rose, of Allen’s Hill, Ontario county, late a representative
in Congress, from the Ontario and Livingston district, and Charles
Rose, of the town of Rose, Wayne county. A daughter became
the wife of Robert C. Nicholas; another, the wife of Hopkins Sill
BRIEF REMINISCENCES.
From old newspaper files, preserved by James Bogart Esq., an early and
worthy conductor of the newspaper press in Ontario county.	See some
account of the early printers and editors of the Genesee country.
In Bath Gazette, 1799, by an advertisement, it would seem that the “Bath
Theatre” was in full blast. The plays announced, are the “ Mock Doctor, or
the Dumb Lady cured.” “ A peep into the Seraglio.” “Pit, six shillings;
Gallery three shillings.” In same paper, George M’Clure, announces that he
* In early life he had entertained a presentiment of sudden death, arising from some
disorganization in the region of the heart. Many years previous to his death he had
assured his family it would be sudden, as it proved to be. He had dined with some
friends at Waterloo — at the table had spoken of his unusual good health; and in the
act of stepping into his sleigh to return hopie, fell and soon expired. So abiding was
his presentiment, that he had kept all his business affairs prepared for such an exigent
cy as actually occured.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
237
has opened a “ house of entertainment,” at Bath* Bath races are advertised.
“Northumberland and Sunbury Gazette,” 1792: — Charles Williamson
offers for sale “ 1,000,000 acres of good land in the Genesee country, at $1,00
per acre to actual settlers” He says:—“A village called Williamsburg,
is laid out at the junction of the Canascraga and Genesee Rivers, where
there is excellent navigation for boats carrying ten tons, in the driest season.”
“ The village will have the advantage of a school, church, &c.” “ Mechanics
wanted, to whom village lots will be donated.” “Mr. Williamson begs
leave to inform the German settlers in Pennsylvania, that he expects to hear
of the arrival of 400 Saxons from Germany, who have taken up lands in the
Genesee country. They sailed from Hamburg in April last.” *
In “ Seneca Museum,” 1800, Elkanah Watson and Wm. Mynderse, adver-
tise that they will contract the making of a turnpike from Onondaga Hollow
to Geneva, and make payment for the same “in good land.” In same paper
it is announced that “ Sloop Seneca, will sail from Geneva every Tuesday,
wind and weather permitting, for the head of the Lake, and will generally
return from there the Friday following. For freight or passage, apply to
Captain on board.”
From the Geneva Gazette, April, 1806: — “Positive proof has been ob-
tained by Joseph H. Davis, attorney general for Kentucky district, that Burr
had formed an association for making war against Spain, invading Mexico,
and forming a distinct empire in the western country.”
JAMES REESE.
In all our country there are but few survivors of our Revolution-
ary period — not one, perhaps — certainly not in our local region,
survives, who was so familiar with its stirring events as the venera-
ble James Reese, of Geneva, now in his 87th year. Entering the
counting house of Willing <fe Morris, in Philadelphia, in the memora-
ble year of the Declaration of Independence, he remained there until
the close of the long struggle that ensued. Transferred from the
commercial department of the firm to the private desk, and confi-
dence, of one of its partners, Robert Morris, then so blended with
and so participating in all that was transpiring, it may well be con-
ceived that his yet vigorous mind is a rich storehouse of historical
reminiscences. The man survives, a citizen of our own local region,
who was a witness of the interviews that often occurred between
Geo. Washington and Robert Morris; when he who wielded the
* And they proved, as the reader will see, rather the hardest case that the enterpris-
ing founder of settlements, had upon his hands.238
PHELPS AND GORHAM?S PURCHASE.
sword, would meet him who wielded the purse, and the two, with
painful anxiety, surrounded by embarrassments — with an unclothed
and unpaid army, and an empty treasury — would discuss the por-
tentuous questions, the ways and means of our nation’s deliverance.
When unpaid armies, disheartened, wore down by fatigue and pri-
vation, would threaten dispersion and a return to their long neglect-
ed homes; when even their stout-hearted leader would temporarily
yield to despondency, and almost in despair appeal to him whose
financial expedients were seemingly exhaustless, for council and
aid.
The printed notes of hand that Mr. Morris issued in several
emergencies during the Revolution, — especially those used in addi-
tion to the sum borrowed of the French to enable Washington to
put the army upon its march, preparatory to the battle of Yorktown,
were filled up and afterwards cancelled by Mr. Reese. Of the
hundreds in Mr. Morris’ employment at that period, in all his com-
mercial relations — as Superintendent of the finances, and Secre-
tary of the Treasury — Mr. Reese alone survives. His position
brought him in contact, and made him acquainted with the leaders
of both the American and French army, and the officers of the
Navy, of those whose memories are embalmed in a nation’s heart.
He names them with all the familiarity of recent intercourse; but
there are few, if any, in the long list that have not gone to their final
rest. He is one of the few remaining links that connect the Past
with the Present — and his is not only in reference to our national
history, but to the Pioneer history of our local region.
Mr. Reese’s first visit to this region was as clerk or secretary to
the commissioners for holding a treaty with the Indians, at “Big
Tree, ” commonly called the Morris’ treaty. Returning to Phila-
delphia he acquired an interest in the new region, and in 1798, he
removed his family to Geneva, where he has since resided, with the
exception of one year spent in Bath, in connection with the land of-
fice there. When Mr. Williamson came out as the Pultney agent,
his first business was with Mr. Morris, where Mr. Reese became
one of his earliest acquaintances in this country. On arriving here,
he entered into his agency service, and after that, was his private
agent until he returned to England.
Note. — Major Reese died at his residence in Geneva after this portion of the work
was prepared for the press.239
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PURCHASE.
He was appointed cashier to the old Bank of Geneva when it
went into operation. He was in service during the war of 1812, as
a Deputy Quartermaster of the Northern Division of the Army ;
and in later years he has filled the office of Bank Commissioner of
State, and Postmaster at Geneva.
In a work devoted to other objects, but a brief space can be spared
for Revolutionary reminiscences — even those as full of interest as
are those of the subject of this sketch. Speaking of Mr. Morris, he
observes: — “Ilis commercial transactions were immense, extend*
ing ove-r the greater portion of the commercial world; and to all
this was added the onerous task of providing for an army in the field,
and an armed force upon the ocean. He brought all his energies
of mind and body in requisition for the Herculean labor; was active,
vigilant — at times sleepless, —and all in-his employ were kept in
motion. There was no man who could have filled his place. He
wielded an immense amount of wealth; had an extraordinary facul-
ty to inspire confidence; he unloosed purse strings that no one else
could have unloosed. Even those of the society of Friends, their
principles forbidding an immediate or remote participaton in war
or any of its relations, who constituted at that period a large class of
Philadelphia capitalists, lent him money; in one especial instance,
$6,000 in specie, in a pressing emergency of the army, with an in-
junction of secrecy.* The relations between him and Washington
during the whole of the Revolution, was one of great intimacy, con-
fidence and friendship. There was no one individual upon wham
the Father of his country so much relied, in all the terrible conflict
that won our national Independence.
As the clerk of Mr. Morris, Mr. Reese had an opportunity of
seeing Washington under circumstances which enable him to
speak familiarly of him. “ He always/’ says he, “received me and
treated me with great kindness of manner, when I had business to
transact with him. He was mild and courteous — sedate—not
austere.”
Mr. Reese observes that Mr. Morris’ sudden reverses were in a
* When the gallant Rochambeau was about to return to France, a deputation of
Friends were among those who made to him congratulatory addresses: — "It is not”
said they, "on account of thy military qualities that we make thee this visit—those we
hold in little esteem ; but thou art the friend of mankind, and thy army conducts
itself with the utmost order and discipline. It is this which induces us to render thee
our respects. ”240	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
great measure consequent upon what he regarded as his fortunate
investments in the Genesee country. Stimulated by his golden
prospects here, and especially by his successful sale to Sir William
Pultney and his associates, renowned throughout Europe as the
fortunate American land operator, he bought of himself and with
others, immense tracts of wild land in different States of the Union.
Pay days came before sales could be effected ; a change from af-
fluence, a princely fortune, to bankruptcy, attended with dignity,
integrity, and honorable conduct, marked the close of his useful
career.
CHAPTER II.
SALE OF PHELPS AND GORHAM TO ROBERT MORRIS — RE-SALE TO ENG-
LISH ASSOCIATION--------- ADVENT OF CHARLES WILLIAMSON.
A name intimately blended with the whole history of the Revo-
lution, one to whose memory a larger debt of national gratitude is
due than to that of any other man, (the great leader in the struggle
always excepted,) was early and prominently identified with all this
region. What could well furnish the material for an elaborate his-
torical work, must here be but the brief sketch necessary to his in-
troduction as a large proprietor of the soil of the Genesee country.
Robert Morris was a native of Liverpool, England. While a
youth, bis father emigrated to this country, locating in Baltimore.
Entering into the service of the eminent merchant of Philadelphia,
Charles Willing, as a clerk, he became the partner of his son and
successor. At the breaking out of the Revolution, although en-
gaged in an extensive mercantile and commercial business that de-
manded his attention, he became at once an active partizan in, the
struggle. In 1776, he was a member of Congress from Pennsyl-
vania, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence,PHELPS AND GOBHAM’s PURCHASE.
241
In the previous year, soon after the battle of Trenton, General
Washington, in a pressing emergency, had realized from him a tem-
porary loan for the army. Again, money was wanted by the
commander in chief, and he supplied it; the army was destitute
of bread, and the doors of his store houses wrere opened for their
relief; it was without lead for bullets, — stripping the leail fixtures
from private dwellings for that purpose, — when the ballast of one
of his vessels supplied the deficiency. Invested with the office of
Secretary of an empty Treasury — becoming the financier of the
poorest country that ever kept an army in the field, or armed ships
upon the ocean — his own means were put in requisition, and his
almost unbounded credit freely used. With a tact, as a financier,
never excelled, when money must be had, he obtained it. When
other men or bodies of men failed, he would succeed. When the
rich bankers of Amsterdam knew no such new creation as the
United States, or its Congress; or, knowing them, had no confi-
dence in their engagements, they trusted him on his private re-
sponsibility with millions, which he used in the public service.
And when the great struggle was drawing to a close — when a
last and desperate blow was to be struck, and the army that was to
doit, was in New Jersey, without pay, and destitute of comfortable
clothing and rations. * — when even its stout hearted commander-
in-chief was almost yielding to the embarrassments with which he
was surrounded, and upon the point of leading his army the wrong
way, because he could not command the means to move it where
it should go — the active, patriotic financier hastened to his camp,
and by assuring him that he would supply all immediate wants/en-
couraged him to put his army in motion. The destination was
Yorktown;—the defeat of Cornwallis, the crowning act of the
Revolution, was the result, f Mr. Morris died in New Jersey, in
1806. He was eventually reimbursed by Congress for all of his
expenditures and losses in the Revolution, though not for the sacri-
fices of time and abstraction from his private business, that his pub-
lic services made necessary. He was, however, eminently suceess-
* “ I saw that army when it passed through Philadelphia,” says the venerable
James Reese; “and a more ragged, shoeless, and sad looking one, has seldom been
put upon the march in the direction of an enemy.”
tThe money in specie, that he had promised, was borrowed, and paid to the army,
but a few days before the attack upon Cornwallis.242	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
ful in his commercial affairs, and at one period, was by far the
wealthiest man in the United States; but engaging enormously in
land purchases — other than in this region — he became embar-
rassed, and the country he had so well served, had the sore morti-
fication of seeing him, toward the close of his useful life, the tenant
of jail limits. #
Mr. Morris’ extended commercial affairs, had made him in a
measure, a citizen of the world, instead of that of the new republic.
Such was his credit at one period, that in most of the commercial
cities of Europe, his private notes passed from hand to hand, with
all the confidence that would have been had in the issues of a sound
bank. At the close of the Revolution, an immense quantity of wild
lands were thrown into market, speculation became rife, and Mr.
Morris entered into it upon an extensive scale. Mr. Phelps, during
the Revolution, having been connected with the commissary depart-
ment of the Massachusetts line, and Mr. Gorham, being a promi-
nent merchant in Boston, Mr. Morris had made their acquaintance,
and when they sought a purchaser for their unsold lands in the Gen-
esee country, they applied to him. Little was known in the com-
mercial cities of all this region, other than what had been gathered
from maps, and from those who had accompanied Sullivan’s expedi-
Note.— The Duke Liancourt, who made the acquaintance of Mr. Moms, and speaks
of him in language of respect and esteem, mentions among his gigantic business oper-
ations, his investments in the city of Washington. The capital was located in an era
of speculation and inflation, and magnificent expectations were entertained in reference
to the city that would grow up around it. In company with Messrs. Nicholson and
Greenleaf, of Philadelphia, he purchased 6,000 lots at $80 per lot, with the condition
that there should be built upon them 120 two story brick houses, within seven years.
This purchase was made of commissioners; the company bought about an equal
number of lots of original proprietors of the ground. Successful sales followed, part
of the buildings were erected, but the bubble burst and added to the embarrassments
of Mr. Morris, ruining manv others of the large capitalists of the United States. The
city of “ brick kilns,” and “magnificent distances,” as Mr. Randolph called it, abounds
with the relics of the extravagant views entertained at an early period.
The private notes that Mr. Morris issued during the Revolution, were called “ Long
Bobs,’’Sand “ hort Bobshaving reference to the drawer’s name, and the periods of
their maturity.	For a more extended biographical sketch of Robert Morris, see
History of Holland Purchase.
*An unthinking Shy lock at a public watering place, during the last summer, in W.
N. Y., gave it as his sage and profound opinion, that no “ worthy, deserving man,”
ever suffered by the operations of the old law, which imprisoned for debt; and added
the wish, that it could be restored. The author must here note what occurred to him
at the time : — The man, without whose individual exertions, the Revolutionary strug-
gle would have been a failure ; and the man who projected the overland route of that
great dispenser of wealth and prosperity to millions—the Erie Canal — were victims
of that relic of an iron age, which strangely enough had found at this late period, one
advocate.PHELPS AND GORHAM^ PURCHASE.
243
tion. Mr. Morris, however, sought the means of further informa-
tion. Ebenezer (or Indian) Allan, was then located as an Indian
trader on the Genesee River, at what is now Mount Morris, and
was in the habit of making yearly visits to Philadelphia for the pur-
chase of goods. Samuel Street who resided at the Falls on the Can-
ada side, had also visited Philadelphia. From them Mr. Morris ob-
tained information, which induced him to accede to a proposition of
Messrs. Phelps & Gorham. Their deed of conveyance embraces
their entire final purchase of Massachusetts, of about two millions,
two hundred thousand acres, excepting such towns and parts of town-
ships as they had sold, being in all, about one million, one hundred
thousand acres. The consideration and actual price paid by Mr.
Morris, was thirty thousand pounds New York currency.
At an early period after the purchase, Mr. Morris employed Maj.
Adam Hoops to explore the country,* * who reported that “ in respect
to soil, climate and advantageous navigation,” it was equal to any
portion of the United States. Measures were immediately adopted
for the survey of such portions as was unsurveyed. The celebra-
ted David Rittenhouse was then just perfecting some surveyor’s in-
struments, and he was employed to fit out Major Hoops’ expedition.*!*
Note.—Mr. Morris after lie had made the purchase, wrote to his agent in London,
that “Mr. Ebenezer Allan, the oldest settler in that country” had assured him “that
hemp grows like young willows, it is so rampant and strong, and that he has raised
forty bushels of the finest wheat he ever saw, and so of other articles in like abund-
ance. He asserts that the forest trees about Philadelphia are not larger than the bran-
ches of trees in his neighborhood.” In another letter he assures his agent that he has
had the most flattering accounts of his Genesee purchase, from those who belonged to
the Friend’s settlement on Seneca Lake, that had returned to Pennsylvania on a visit
to their connexion. He assures him that he has from all quarters heard such favora-
ble accounts of the country, that were he a young man, he would “ pitch his tent there!”
* Major Hoops was residing near Philadelphia. He had been in the army through-
out the Revolution, was in Sullivan’s campaign, and at one period, belonged to the
staff of Washington; and was one of the aids of Gen. Sullivan, in his expedition to the
Genesee country. He was connected with the earliest surveys-ef; nil this region.
When Mr. Morris afterwards, purchased all the regions west of Phelps and Gorham’s
purchase, he explored it and commenced the surveys. In 18G4, he in company with
Ebenezer F. Norton, purchased the most of-the township of Olean. They laid out
there, the village of Hamilton, which -was afterwards, changed to Olean. He was a
bachelor; died in Westchester, Pa., in 1835 or ’6.
t There is an anecdote connected with Mr. Rittenhouse, which is quite too good
to be lost, and may be preserved here. When he had completed one of his astronomical
instruments, in anticipation of the transit of Venus, he had invited several friends to
be present, and enjoy a view of it. Among the rest he had invited a respectable far-
mer from the country, who knew far more about raising crops, than he did about
movements of the planets. He answered in a note, that he should be very much en-
gaged the evening named, but if Mr. Rittenhouse would have the “ transit of Venus
postponed for a few evenings” he would be very happy to attend.244	PHELPS AM) goeham’s ptjechase.
In Mr. Morris’ extensive land operations, he had agents in all the
principal cities of Europe. His agent in London, was Wm. Tem-
ple Franklin, a grand-son of Dr. Franklin, to whom he had given
an inadequate idea of its real value. Just as he became fully ap-
prized of its value, and was in active preparation to bring it into
market for settlers, under his own auspices, he received news from
Mr. Franklin, that he had sold it. The purchasers were an “Asso-
ciation,” consisting of Sir Wm. Pultney, John Hornby and Patrick
Colquhoun. The first was a capatalist, and at that period occupied
a high position as a citizen and statesman. He resided in the city of
London. The second, had been governor of Bombay, and was a
retired London capitalist. The third was eminent in his day, as a
statesman and philanthropist.* The price paid for what was sup-
posed to be about one million one hundred thousand acres, but
which in fact amounted to almost one million two hundred thousand
acres, was thirty five thousand pounds sterling. Mr. Morris had
written to Mr. Franklin previous to the sale, a letter from which he
would have inferred, that he intended advancing on the price, but
the sale was made previous to the reception of the letter. In that
letter he says: — “I have applications in all, for 250,000 acres of
the Genesee lands, and they are daily increasing. This winter has
disclosed the real character those lands deserve. Many genteel
families are going to settle there, and as I have determined to settle
my son there, no one can doubt the favorable opinion I entertain of
the soil, climate and rapidity of settlement.” “I consider that the
southwestern Indian war, will eventually be of advantage to the set-
tlements of the Genesee country.” “ There is now in this city a Mr.
Jackson, who lives on the borders of Seneca Lake, who is accom-
panied by an Indian. They assured me that before they left, while
there was snow on the ground, every night thirty or forty families
arrived at his place, XFriepds settlement,) on their way to settle the
lands that had been bought before my purchase.” “ All our public
affairs go on well. This country is rushing into wealth and impor-
*A marble tablet erected in front of the Presbyterian church in Canandaigua, to’
perpetuate his memory, has upon it an inscription which recognizes the principal
events of his useful life. He was a native of Glasgow, and died in London, in 1820,
aged 76 years. Few men have contributed more to the reformation of criminal laws,
to the promotion of trade and commerce, in founding systems for benefitting the poor,
and for public education, in England and Scotland. In some of his correspondence
in the hands of the author, he mentions having spent some time in America previ-
ous to 1790; as is inferred, in some of the Southern States.PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s HIKCHASE.	245
tance faster than ever was expected by the most sanguine of the
sanguinous/5 My Genesee lands are infinitely preferable to any
American lands that can be offered in Europe/’ After he had
been apprised of the 'sale, he wrote to Mr. Colquhoun: — “Those
tracts which Gorham and Phelps had sold previous to my purchase,
are settling very fast, and the first settlers are raising enough to
supply the new comers/5 “I am now at New York, on my return
from Boston, where I saw several people from the Genesee country,
and it affords me great pleasure to reiterate the account which you
have already had, of that fine country. On my way through Connec-
ticut, I met Mr. Wadsworth who has settled in the Genesee country,
with whom I had much conversation, and who I find like every
other person who has visited the country, is in raptures wdth it.
Mr. Wadsworth is extremely intelligent, and one upon whose
veracity the utmost reliance can be placed. The reports made by
him and others in New England, has turned the attention of all who
think of emigration, towards the Genesee, and every man who
pitches his tent there, adds to the value of your purchase/5
Major Hoops, prosecuted the surveys under the new proprietors,
by an arrangement with Mr. Morris. He early discovered, what
had been suspected, a material error in the running the Pre-emp-
tion line. As this is a matter which it will be necessary for the
reader to understand, in connection with after events, it may be
here stated, that the State of New York ceded to Massachusetts,
all the territory west of a line to be drawn due north and south
from the 82nd mile stone on the Pennsylvania line. Before the
running this line, it could of course be but mere conjecture where
it would fall, as far north from the starting point as Seneca Lake.
Seth Reed, the afterwards founder of the settlement at Presque
Isle, (Erie,) Pa., the grand-father of the present Charles M. Reed,
and Peter Ryckman, both of whom had been Indian traders, ap-
plied to the State of New York, for a remuneration for services
rendered in some previous negotiations with the eastern portion of
the Six Nations, and proposed to take a patent for a tract, the boun-
daries of which should “ begin at a tree on the bank of the Seneca
Lake, and run along the bank of the Lake to the south, until they
should have 16,000 acres between the Lake and the east bounds of
the land ceded to Massachusetts/5 Their request was acceded to,
and a patent issued. Thus situated, they proposed to Messrs. Phelps246	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
and Gorham, to join them in running the Pre-emption Line, each
party furnishing a surveyor. “ A Captain Allen/’ says one authority,
“ Mr. Jenkins ” says another, was selected by Reed and Ryckman,
and Colonel Maxwell, by Phelps and Gorham. In the mean time,
the Lessees assuming that their transactions were valid, took an in-
terest in the matter, and as Messrs. Reed and Ryckman were both
share holders in their company, the matter was mutually accommo-
dated between them. The line was run, which is known as the
“ Old Pre-emption Line.” Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, were
much disappointed in the result, suspected error, or fraud, but made
no movement for a re-survey, before they had sold to the English
Association. Their suspicions had been at first excited by an offer
from a prominent member of the Lessee Company, for “ all the lands
they owned east of the line that had been run.” They were so
well assured of the fact, that in their deed to Mr. Morris, they
specified a tract, in a gore between the line then run, and the west
bounds of the counties of Montgomery and Tioga, those counties
then embracing all of the military tract.
Upon a superficial examination of the line, Major Hoops was
convinced of its inaccuracy. Mr. Morris having in his convey-
ance to the English purchasers, stipulated an accurate survey of all
he conveyed, instructed Major Hoops to correct the line.* Mr.
Ellicott with his two brothers, Joseph and Benjamin, had then just
finished the survey of Washington city. The transit instrument,
for surveying by means of astronomical observations, having just
been invented in Germany, Mr. Ellicott availed himself of it, his
brother Benjamin superintending its construction. Upon arriving
in this country, Mr. Ellicott was joined by the late Judge Porter, who
was then a surveyor in the employ of Messrs. Phelps & Gorham ;
a corps of axe-men were employed, and a vista thirty feet wide
opened before the transit instrument, until the line had reached the
head of Seneca Lake, when night signals were employed to run
down and over the Lake. So much pains were taken to insure
correctness, that the survey was never disputed, and thus the “ new
Pre-emption Line” was established as the true division line between
* In a letter to Mr. Colquhoun, Mr. Morris says: "These three brothers,” (An-
drew, Joseph, and Benjamin Ellicott,) "are of the number of beings on whom nature
sports her favors. They are great mathematicians as well as mechanical geniuses, to
which they have added, much practical experience, and good moral characters.”247
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
the lands of the State of New York and those that had been ceded
to Massachusetts. In examining the old survey, Major Hoops had
discovered the precise points of deviation to the westward. It had
commenced soon after leaving the Pennsylvania line, gradually
bearing off until it crossed the out-let of the Crooked Lake, where
an abrupt offset was made, and then an inclination for a few miles,
almost in a north-west course; then as if fearful that it was running
west farther than was necessary to secure a given object, the line
was made to incline to the east, until it passed the foot of Seneca
Lake, when it was run nearly north and south to Lake Ontario. All
this will be observed upon any of the old maps. It will at once be
perceived that the site of Geneva, the 16,000 acres of Reed and
Ryckman, and the supposed interests of the Lessees, had caused more
than a usual variation of the surveyor’s compass. Judge Porter’s
explanation is as follows: “ Geneva was then a small settlement,
beautifully situated on the Seneca Lake, rendered quite attractive
by its lying beside an old Indian settlement, in which there was an
orchard.” *
The old pre-emption line, terminated on Lake Ontario, three
miles west of Sodiis Bay, and the new line very nearly the center
of the head of the Bay. With the exception of the abrupt varia-
tions that have been noticed, the old line parting from the true merid-
ian about five miles south of the Chemung river, bears off gradually
until it reaches the shore of Lake Ontario. The strip of land between
the two lines was called “ The Gore.” In addition to the patent
granted to Reed and Ryckman, the State had presumed the origi-
nal survey to be correct, and made other grants, and allowed the
location of military land warrants upon what had been made dispu-
ted territory. We shall see what was the final disposition of the
matter.
After Mr. Morris had made the purchase of Phelps and Gorham,
he had once endeavored to promote the settlement of the Genesee
lands, entering into negotiations with individuals, and with those
who proposed founding settlements or colonies, but he had perfected
nothing; though some sales he had in progress, were consummated
* In speaking of this fraud, to the author, Judge Porter entirely exonerated Col.
Maxwell, for whom, in common with all who knew him, he entertained a high res-
pect. In fact, it turned out that CoL Maxwell was sick and obliged to trust the line
to his associate at the time the fraud was committed.248
phelps Amy goeham’s pttechase.
by his successors. His plan of settlement contemplated principally
emigration from Pennsylvania ; but there were formidable difficul-
ties in the way. A wide forest separated his lands from the most
advanced settlements of Pennsylvania, over the mountains and
across the streams, of which no avenue had been opened ; and the
still greater difficulty was the fear of Indian wars. The Six Na-
tions were looked upon as but in a state of armistice, as having re-
luctantly yielded to necesssity, and paused in their stealthy assaults ;
but far from being reconciled, ready to again take up the tomahawk
and scalping knife, upon their own account, if opportunity was of-
fered, or at the bidding of those who were yet brooding over their
revenge behind the walls of Forts Oswego and Niagara, and in their
Canadian retreats. The borderers of Pennsylvania had seen and felt
too much of the horrors of Indian wars, to feel willing to place them-
selves again in a position to be harrassed by them. News had
reached them of Indian murders of surveyors and emigrants near
Presque Isle, and of surveyors in this region ; of solitary cases of a
renewal of Indian hostilities upon the Susquehannah; and rumor
had vastly magnified the apprehended danger. A society of Men-
onists in Pennsylvania, had contracted with Phelps and Gorham
for a township, and were negotiating with Mr. Morris for a larger
purchase, to enable them to settle their sons in this country, but
gave up the project in consequence of the fear of Indian war. Mr.
Morris writes to Mr. Colquhoun soon after he had sold to the As-
sociation, that “ these worthy but timicj people had grown afraid
since the Indian wars at the westward had become so general as it
is, to let their sons go out even to the townships they have bought,
lest the Six Nations should become parties, and attack the Genesee
settlements. Now as there is not the least danger of this happening,
the Six Nations having decided already for peace, yet these timid peo-
ple will await their own time. I will, however, announce to them that
I can supply them with the lands they wanted, and as I think the
Indian war will be of short duration, there is little dou.bt but they
will buy it when it is over.5'
In a letter from Mr, Morris to Mr. Colquhoun, dated in June,
1791, he gives a general statement of wild lands in the United States,
then in market. Speaking of his own operations he says, he has
50,000 acres in Otsego county, that he had bought of the State of
New York; and he mentions that the State of New York has yetphelps and gorham’s purchase.	249
600,000 acres, but he knows of a “ company who intend to buy it.
The State asks four shillings per acre, and want cash down, the ap-
plicants want credit, and a lower price, and as yet the land remains
unsold. On the Mohawk river, lands are worth from £5 to £15
per acre, New England currency.” He mentions “ that in company
with Governeur Morris,” (who was then in Europe, endeavoring to
sell lands,) “ and his brother-in-law, I have a 190 thousand acres on
the river St. Lawrence.” “ In Pennsylvania the lands belonging to
the State are reduced by sales and settlement to an inconsiderable
quantity.” “ The vacant lands in Virginia, from a vicious practice
in the land office, and a more vicious practice of the surveyors, are
rendered so precarious in title, that people are afraid to buy them,
and therefore they are offered at 6d per acre, and no buyers.”
“ Lands west of the Ohio are now out of the question, until the In-
dian war is over; they are also too remote from any market.”
“ Lands in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia may be
cheap, but the climate is too warm for rapid settlement.”
CHARLES WILLIAMSON.
As soon as the London Associates had completed their purchase
of Mr. Franklin, the agent of Mr. Morris, they entered upon
measures for the sale and settlement of what they had acquired.
Sir Wm. Pultney, in the earliest years, was in a great measure a
silent partner; the concerns of the Genesee lands seem to have
devolved principally upon Mr. Colquhoun. He devoted himself
earnestly to the work; availed himself of all the'information he
could acquire; projected improvements ; and made himself, by an
active correspondence with Mr. Morris and others, in this country,
familiar with this region. He wras ambitious to make it a lucrative
operation for himself and associates, and at the same time to make
himself and them jthe founders o.f prosperous settlements. His
correspondence are perfect specimens of method, and high business
Note.—Almost simultaneously with the sale to the English Association, Mr. Morris
had purchased of Massachusetts what Messrs. Phelps & Gorham had relinquished, and,
what afterwards constituted the Holland purchase and “ Morris’ reserve.” His interest,
therefore, in tliis region, did not cease with his sale to Sir Wm. Pultney and associates
16250	PHELPS AND GOKHiM’s PURCHASE.
qualifications; exhibit great foresight and prudence ; and touching
the interest of those upon whom was to devolve the hard task of
subduing the wilderness, therg is blended in all of it a spirit of phi-
lanthropy, and fair and honest dealing, which would well justify
much that has been said of him on the tablet that has been raised
to his memory in Canandaigua. And with nothing to judge from
but his business .letters, instructions to agents, &c., it is impossible to
form any other conclusion with regard to Sir ffm. Pultney, but such
as are creditable to him, as one whose capital had made his own
interests and those of new settlers, mutual.
And here, with a knowledge that the author has acquired by a
perusal of masses of correspondence that have passed between the
foreign land holders of most of all Western New York and their
agents — letters written in all the confidence that would accrue from
such a relation — he is constrained to remark, that the country
could hardly have fallen into better hands. Both the English and
the Dutch companies, under whose auspices, as proprietors, three
fourths of the whole country west of Seneca Lake was settled,
were composed of capitalists who made investments of large
amounts of money, in the infancy of this republic, when its stabil-
ity was by no means a settled point; and they were satisfied with
reasonable returns for their vast outlays; and patient under the de-
lays of payment, as all must concede. With reference to both
companies, in all their correspondence with their agents, no wish or
indication escapes them of a disposition to have the new settlers
oppressed, or to have their business conducted in any other than a fair,
honest, and liberal manner. If any' wrong policy was pursued it
wras a fixing of too high prices upon land, and in that matter they
generally were guided by the advice of their agents; but long, in
many instances, almost interminable credits were given; and that
enabled men to possess, and finally pay for land, who could not have
done so, if payment at a very low rate had been demanded in hand.
There is not in the history of the world a better example of the
advantages of credit than is furnished in the settlement of all this
region. It has conferred homes and competence upon tens of
thousands who would not have had them if pay down had been the
order of early days. There was no considerable class of actual
settlers when most of the Genesee country was brought into
market that could pay down even twenty five cents per acre. ThePHELPS AKD GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	251
present system of selling the wild lands of the United States would
not have answered for that day, for there is now twenty settlers who
are able to pay before working it out of the soil, where there was
one then.
The Association, as a first step after purchase, looked for an agent
to manage it. The choice fell upon Charles Williamson; one who
was destined to have his name prominently and honorably identified
with all the earliest history of settlement and progress in Western
New York.
Mr. Williamson was a native of Balgray, in the county of Dum-
fries, Scotland. His father, Alexander Williamson, was the Secre-
tary of the Earl of Hopeton. At the commencement of the Revo-
lution, he held a captain’s commission in the British service, and
was ordered to this country with his regiment, though as it hap-
pened without any service. The ship in which he sailed, when
nearing our coast, was captured by a French privateer, carried into
Newburyport, and transferred to the depot at Boston, where he re-
mained a prisoner until the close of the war, was married and re-
turned to Scotland. He improved his stay i‘n the country, by col-
lecting much information, and left it with high expectations in re-
ference to its destinies, which were fully confirmed by the success-
ful termination of the war of the Revolution. After making the
tour of the eastern continent, he returned to London, just about the
period when the attention of capitalists in Europe was drawn
toward the wild lands of the United States; his opinion and infor-
mation was much sought after. His intelligence, and fine social
qualities attracted the attention of Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Colquhoun,
then sheriff of Westminster, and with them he became very inti-
mate, which was only ended by the death of the parties. Mr.
Williamson had a strong desire to return to this country, which was
gratified by his appointment as agent of what was at first called
“ The- Association, ” and afterwards the Pultney Estate. Leaving
London, he repaired to Scotland, and after arranging his affairs there,
sailed for this country, accompanied by his family, and two well
educated and intelligent Scotchmen, John Johnstone and Charles
Cameron, who came out as his assistants. After a long voyage, the
party arrived at Norfolk, and going to Baltimore, Mr. Williamson
provided quarters for his family for the winter. From this city he
wrote to his principals that all things looked well in the new coun-252
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
try; that the city was so full of newly arrived emigrants that he
found it difficult to get accommodations. Preceding his companions,
he went to Philadelphia, made the acquaintance of Mr. Morris, and
availed himself of his knowledge of the Genesee country, and his
remaining interest in it, in projecting some improvements, the open-
ing of a direct road to the purchase, and a general plan of commen-
cing the settlements; at the same time, after having become natural-
ized he took from Mr. Morris deeds in his own name, his principals
being aliens and non-residents. In a letter to Mr. Colquhoun from
Baltimore, Mr. Williamson had foreshadowed some of his ideas of
what should be done. He states that he had just met with a gentle-
man who had “traversed the Genesee lands in several directions; ”
and his account corresponded with their most favorable anticipa-
tions : — “ He declares that even the worst are superior to any he
ever saw. ” Mr. Williamson adds: — “ These disinterested ac-
counts, from different people, put the quality of the land in the fairest
view. The next object then is to take some liberal and decisive
steps to bring them to their value. Want of communications is
the great draw back on back settlements distant from the rivers
that run into the Atlantic. Remove this difficulty and there can be
no doubt that the gentlemen of the Association will reap an advan-
tage fifty times their outlay ; and come to their purpose many years
sooner. Nothing will draw the attention of the people of America
more readily than the idea of their settling under the protection of
an association who will take every means to render their farms con-
venient and profitable. ” In the same letter he proposes a plan for
advancing £]0 to “poor settlers to induce them to settle down on
the worst part of the tract where wealthier people might hesitate to
make a beginning..
Mr. Williamson spent the most of the winter of 1791, ’2, with
his party in Northumberland, Penn. In February, however, he
made a flying visit to the Genesee country, going around via New
York and Albany. He writes to Mr. Colquhoun that he passed
through “ an uninhabited wilderness of more than 100 miles before
reaching Geneva, which consisted of a few straggling huts.”
“ There is not a road within one hundred miles of the Genesee
country, that will admit of any sort of conveyance, otherwise than
on horseback, or on a sled, when the ground is covered with snow.”
"The price of land has, in a few instances, exceeded 2s. per acre;phelps and gorham’s purchase.
253
some few farms of first-rate quality have been sold on a credit for
4s. per acre.” Returning to Baltimore, he decided upon opening a
communication with the Genesee country from the southward. It
was from that direction he expected his principal emigration ; and
he looked to the Susquehannah and its branches, and Chesapeake
Bay, as the prospective avenues of trade from all this region; and
to Baltimore as its great emporium. To the eastward from the
Genesee country, every thing had a discouraging look — a woods
road through the wide wilderness that separated the region from
the old settlement on the Mohawk, which when improved, would
furnish but a long and expensive land carriage; and the imperfect
and expensive water communication afforded by the Mohawk,
Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, Oswego, and Seneca Rivers, afforded
the best prospects that existed in that direction. Taking care to
excite a good deal of interest in Baltimore, by holding out the fine
prospects for trade with the Genesee country, he returned to North-
umberland and organized a party of road surveyors. Proceeding
via Loyalsock, the party went up the Lycoming to the “house
of one Kyle,” who was then the farthest advanced settler.—
Sending out the hunters to explore ahead, and return and re-
port, the party by slow progress, camping and breaking up their
camps, proceeded until they had located a road from what
was then “Ross Farm,” now Williamsport, to the mouth of the
Canaseraga Creek, on the Genesee river, a distance of about
one hundred and fifty miles. # Application was made to th.e State
of Pennsylvania for assistance to open the road; but little more was
obtained than authority to build it through that State.. Measures
were immediately commenced for opening the road. Before it
could be opened, a ship with merchant’s goods that Mr. Colquhoun
had consigned to Mr. Williamson, arrived at Baltimore. The con-
signee informed the consigner that there was no other way to get
them to the Genesee country, but by “pack horses and Indian
paths, except in freshets;” but finally concluded to sell off the heavy
goods at Baltimore, and send on the lighter ones via New York
and Albany. Before the close of 1792, Mr. Williamson had deter-
* The route of this primitive road, was via Blossburgh, then called “ Peter’s Camp/’
(from the name of a German whom Mr. Williamson established there, with a depot
of provisions;) thence down the Tioga to Painted Post; up the Canisteo to Homele-
ville; then to Dansville, and down the Canaseraga to Genesee river.254	phelpb and gorham’s purchase.
mined upon commencing his first settlement at the termination of
his road on the Genesee river, and in pursuance of that decision,
had laid out a village, which he called Williamsburg, ploughed 80
acres of flats, and built a long row of dwellings.
The dwellings and ploughed ground were intended for the use of
a German colony. As “ Williamsburg” and “ the Germans/* *
formed a distinct feature of all this region, in an early day, some
account of them, their advent, and after hegira, must be given
here. It was an untoward commencement of settlement, or rather,
of European colonization in the Genesee country.
Soon after the Association had sent out Mr. Williamson, there
appeared in London an itinerant picture merchant from Germany,
by the name of Berezy. With a good deal of tact and gentlemanly
address, he had won the confidence of Mr. Colquhoun, and prevail-
ed upon him to let him head an expedition which contemplated the
bringing to this country a colony of poor, industrious Saxons—
colonizing them, and holding them here as redemptionists.# In-
stead of following his instructions, he went to the city of Ham-
burgh and picked up idlers, indifferent mechanics, broken down
gamblers and players,—iii fact, just about the worst materials that
were ever collected for the practical uses of a new settlement.!
They consisted of about seventy families. From their very start,
they began to be the source of enormous expense. Arriving at
London, they were, after a great deal of trouble, put on board two
chartered vessels and consigned to Robert Morris. They finally
arrived at Northumberland just about the time that Mr. Williamson
commenced opening the road. Axes, spades and hoes were provi-
ded for them, and they set to work: and bad work enough they
made of it. They had to be first taught the use of their tools, and
were far from learning easily. An old gentleman who came over
the road in an early day, says the trees looked as if they had been
“gnawed down by beavers.” Their labor, however, made the road
'Note.—On arriving at Genesee river, Mr. Williamson found that T. 8, R. 7, now
Groveland, had been sold to an agent of a Society of Menonists, in Pennsylvania, by
Phelps and Gorham. He purchased the townships of the agent, paying the then high
price of one dollar per acre.
* Persons held to service to pay all expenses attending their emigration and settle-
ment
t They were, says the French Duke Liancourt, “ of the crowd of foreigners, whom
poverty, idleness, and necessities of every kind, induce to resort to Hamburgh with a
view to emigration.”PHELPS AND GORHAM7S PURCHASE.	255
principally, to where Blossburgh now is. They were then taken
down to Painted Post, and remained there until the spring of ?93,
when they were located at the home provided for them at Williams-
burg. Each family had a house and fifty acres of land appro-
priated to its use ; necessary farming tools ; a stock of provisions ;
and there were distributed among the whole, 27 yoke of oxen, 40
cows, 80 hogs, 300 sheep. Even their household utensils were
provided them. Beside all this, they had their minister and
physician.
The city training, and idle habits of the expensive colonists, soon
began to be exhibited. They were both idle and improvident, the
women made as bad use of the provisions that had been furnished,
as the men of the farming implements that were put into their
hands. An eye witness informed the author, that they fried their
pork and then threw it away, supposing the grease only intended for
use; and he gave other similar specimens of their domestic econo-
my. The whole fiddled and danced, and drank whiskey; even the
minister proved a bad specimen of his cloth. It soon turned out
that most of them had been deceived. Berezy to swell his num-
bers, and gratify his ambition to be the head of a colony, had prom-
ised them fine times in America; had assured them that his patrons
being rich, they should want for nothing, and as they were to be
the founders of a city, they could each choose such employment as
was best suited to their tastes and habits. That they were to dig
and delve in the dirty earth, was not in the bond, according to their
understanding.
Mr. Williamson soon became convinced, that he had at least one
bad job upon his hands, as the founder of new settlements. One
stock of provisions was consumed, and another had to be supplied;
the fallows that had been provided for them, lay undisturbed; the
sheep and hogs that were intended as breeders, and the cows that
were intended to furnish milk — all obtained at great expense and
trouble — one after another disappeared, and were found upon the
shambles; the city appetites of the hopeful colonists craving occa-
sional alternations between salted and fresh provisions. The very
seeds that Mr. Williamson provided, instead of going into the
ground, went into the pot. And what was worse perhaps than all,
Berezy, by indulgence and other artful management, had obtain-
ed complete control of the colonists, and set himself above Mr.256
PHELPS aot) gorham’s purchase.
Williamson, claiming to have brought his authority directly from
head quarters in London. A store had been established at Wil-
liamsburg, which was under the care of Mr. John Johnstone, and
Berezy and the Germans had used its goods and provisions lavishly;
and besides, Berezy had contracted debts for supplies, especially
with the Messrs. Wadsworths, assuming that he was acting for the
Association, and not under the authority of Mr. Williamson.
After having humored the whole matter, until some decisive
measures became necessary, Mr. Williamson visited his refractory
colony, taking with him from Canandaigua, his friend Thomas Morris,
determined to have some reform. He had a house at Williams-
burg, then occupied by James Miller, where he kept a desk contain-
ing all his papers that had reference to that locality; and there he and
his friend took up their quarters.* Sending for Berezy he had an
interview with him, which ended by displacing him as an agent,
and forbidding him to exercise any authority over the Germans.
Calling the Germans together, he informed them of their new rela-
tions, and proposed measures of further assistance to them, condi-
tioned upon their going to work, and trying to help themselves. At
first they Were disposed to listen to his proposals, but the superior
influence of Berezy soon prevailed, and riot and mutiny succeeded.
Sunday intervened, and Mr. Williamson says, “ Berezy and the
minister were all day pow-wowing in every house in the settlement.”
Monday came, and Mr. Williamson found the quarters of himself
and friends besieged. The Germans had collected in a body, and
under the influence of Berezy were making extravagant demands
as the terms of peace, and a continuance in the colony. Mr. Wil-
liamson retreated into the house with his friends Morris, Johnstone,
and several others, in all, a force vastly inferior to the refractory
colonists. “ Driven into a corner between two writing desks” says
Mr. Williamson, “ I had luckily some of my own people near me,
who were able to keep the most savage and daring of the Germans
off, though the cry was to lay hold of me. Nothing could equal
my situation, but some of the Parisian scenes. For an hour and a
half I was in this situation, every instant expecting to be torn to
pieces.” Berezy finding the storm he had raised, raging too vio-
* The reader should understand that Williamsburg, the site of this early German
colony, is what has since been known as the “ Hermitage; ” the present farm and res-
idence of the Hon. Charles H. Carroll.PHELPS AHT> GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	257
lently, quelled it; but rapine took the place of personal assault. The
cattle upon the premises were driven off, or killed to furnish a feast
for a general carousal. The mutiny and plunder lasted for several
days ; there being no authority or superior force to quell it. At
one time, the physician of the colony, who had taken sides with
Mr. Williamson became the object of the fiercest resentment. He
was seized, and in attempting to rescue him, Messrs. Morris and
Johnstone were assaulted and their lives placed in jeopardy; but
finally made their escape.
Present in all the affray was Mr. Richard Cuyler, then acting as
Mr. Williamson’s clerk. He was dispatched to Albany with a
requisition upon Gov. George Clinton, for a force sufficient to quell
the riot and apprehend the rioters. Berezy with a few of the Ger-
mans, departed for Philadelphia, for the double purpose of escaping
arrest and enlisting Mr. Robert Morris on their side. Gov. Clinton
issued an order to Judah Colt, who had been appointed Sheriff of
the new county of Ontario, commanding him to summon a posse
for the arrest of the rioters. A posse equal in numbers with the
German colonists was no easy matter at that early period of settle-
ment. But fortunately some boat crews and new settlers, had just
arrived at Bath. They made a forced night march through the
Woods, and joined by others, succeeded in arresting those who had
been foremost in the riot. They were taken to Canandaigua and
light fines imposed; the principal object being the assertion of the
supremacy of the laws. Unable to pay the fines, they were hired
out to new settlers in Canandaigua and the vicinity, to earn the
money. Their defence, was some of the earliest practice of the
late Gen. Vincent Matthews.
Berezy, going from Philadelphia to New York, put the Germans
and himself under the auspices of a German benevolent association,
who had made arrangements with Gov. Simcoe, for settling emi-
grants at what is now Toronto, and in the townships of Markham.
They went down and encamped at the mouth of the Genesee river,
and were temporarily the early neighbors of Wm. Hencher. When
the boats came from Canada to take them away, a boatman was
drowned in the river. His was the first death and funeral, after
settlement commenced, in all of what ismow Monroe county.
Another formidable attempt at colonization from Europe, did not
progress so far, or rather took another direction. Donald Stewart,258
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
an enterprising Scotchman, of “ Achnaun by Appin, in Argyleshire,”
soon after the purchase of the Association, had organized a colony
in his neighborhood, the destination of which was Cumberland, N.
Carolina. He received a proposition from Mr. Colquhoun too late
to change their direction, the colonists having embarked and sailed.
But following them soon, Mr. Stewart came to explore the Genesee
country, with the intention, if suited with it, to bring his colony
here. He spent several weeks traveling on horseback, with Mr.
Williamson, got a small specimen of the ague and fever; the new
country in its primitive roughness, had to him a forbidding look; he
turned his back upon it rather in ill humor.* There were many
other schemes of the proprietors in London, and Mr. Williamson, to
colonize this region, none of which succeeded, except that of the
persevering, and finally eminently successful one, at Caledonia
Springs. And here it may well be observed, that in reference gen-
erally to founding new settlements in the United States, the Associ-
ates in London, and their agent here, had many impracticable views
•at first, of which they became finally convinced, by a pretty ex-
pensive experience.
The getting the Northumberland road through; the commence-
ment of a settlement at Williamsburg, and the building of a saw
mill on the Canaseraga creek, near the present town of Ossian, oc-
cupied the business season of 1792. Mr. Williamson himself hav-
ing settled his family at Northumberland, was upon the move;
visited New York, Baltimore; travelled in the interior of Mary-
land and Pennsylvania, beating up for emigrants; and explored
pretty thoroughly the whole region over which his agency extended.
In the spring of 1793, operations were commenced at Bath.f
* A good anecdote came of it however, which it is said had something to do with
his dislike of the country. Threading the forest on horseback, Mr. Williamson and
his companion were attracted by the noise of falling water. Approaching it, the water
gushing from the rock, and falling over a precipice, the bed of the stream, the rocks
and banks covered with sulphur, riveted their attention. It was a feast for the eyes,
but not exactly agreeable to their smell. After gazing fora few minutes, Mr. William-
son broke the silence by observing, that they had found just the place for a Highland
colony. The reader will observe, as the keenly sensitive Highlander did, that the
harmless joke had reference to a certain cutaneous infirmity. It came too from a
Lowlander, and touched a tender cord ; called up reminiscences of ancient feuds in
their native land; was resented; and is said to be one of the reasons why a large
Highland colony, was not early introduced into this region. The reader will have
surmized, that the party were viewing Clifton Springs.
tName from the daughter of Sir Wm. Pultney, who was Countess of Bath.259
phelps and gorham’s purchase,
Two boats with workmen, provisions &c., came up the Susquehan-
nah to Tioga Point, where they left one Boat and half the load of
the other, and reached Bath April 15, 1793. Mr. Williamson ar-
rived via Northumberland road, two days after. Some shantees
were thrown up, a village plat surveyed, a log land office wras built;
and during the season, about twenty other log buildings were erect-
ed. As would be said in this later day of refinement in language,
the Pioneers had a “ distinct view of the elephant.” Provisions
failed, and they were at one time three days without food; as they
cleared away the forest, the fever and ague, as it was wont to do,
walked into the opening, and the new comers were soon freezing,
shaking, and then burning with fever, in their hastily constructed
cabins. It was Mr. Williamson’s introduction into the hardships
and privations of the wilderness. “ He would lay in his hut, with
his feet to the fire, and when the cold chills of ague came on, call
for some one to lie close to his back, to keep him warm.” To other
improvements during the year, at Bath, Mr. Williamson added a
log tavern, which was opened and kept by John Metcalf. Bath
having been fixed upon as the centre of all the southern portion of
the Associates’ purchase, farther improvements were commenced.
Mr. Williamson Built a saw mill and a grist mill; emigrants from
Pennsylvania and Maryland, soon began to be attracted there. It
became the permanent residence of Mr. Williamson. The Duke,
Liancourt, who visited him in the summer of 1795, says: — “The
habitation of the Captain consists of several small houses, formed of
trunks of trees and joiners’ work, which at present forms a very ir-
regular whole, but which he intends soon to improve. His way of
living is simple, neat and good ; every day we had a joint of fresh
meat, vegetables and wine. We met with no circumstances of
pomp or luxury, but found good ease, humor and plenty.” Perhaps
it is the fairest eulogium I can pass upon his free and easy urbanity
to say, that all the time of our stay, he seemed as much at his ease
as if we had not been present. He transacted all his business in
our presence, and was actively employed the whole day long. We
were present at his receiving persons of different ranks and des-
criptions, with whom the appartment he allots to business is generally
crowded. He received them all with the same attention, civility
and good nature. They came to him prepossessed with a certain
confidence in him, and they never leave him dissatisfied. He is at260	phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
all times ready to converse with any who have business to transact
with him. He will break off a conversation with his friends, or
even get up from dinner for the sake of dispatching those who wish
to speak to him.
In the spring of 1794, improvements were commenced at Geneva,
the first and principal one being the erection of the Geneva Hotel.
It was completed in December, and opened with a grand ball, which
furnished a memorable epoch in the early history of the Genesee
country. The Hotel was talked of far and wide as a wonderful en-
terprise ; and such it really was. Even now, after the lapse of fifty-
six years, when fine hotels have arisen in all of our cities and prin-
cipal villages, the old Williamson Hotel, as it is often called, in its fine
location, with its large open park in front, is ranked as one of the
first class. Imagine how it was when it had no competitors in all
the region west of Utica, save perhaps three or four moderate sized
framed taverns ; when log taverns were generally the order of the
day. It was an Astor House then; and even this comparison falls
short of conveying an idea of its then comparative magnitude. Mr.
Williamson wrote to his principals, proposing such a house, and
urged that as it would stand in the doorway or entrance to the
Genesee country, it should be respectable ; so designed as to make
a favorable impression; and urged beside, that such a house, where
all the comforts of a good English inn could be realized, would
invite respectable people to the country. And so perhaps it did.
How many readers of these early reminiscences, will remember
the house, the landlord, and all belonging to that early halting place,
in the long and dreary journies that used to be made. Blended with it
in memory, is the old stage coach ; chilled and drowsy with long night
rides, over hubs or poached clay roads, there would be the smart
crack of the driver’s whip, the trundling of the wheels upon a stone
pavement, the squaring up to the door, the getting out and stretching
of almost torpid limbs; the ushering in to well warmed and com-
fortable apartments, the smell and the taste of smoking steak and
hot coffee* and other “ creature comforts,” that it will not do to
speak of now. Your modern travellers know nothing of the ex-
tremes of pain and pleasure of the old fashioned way of traveling
from Albany to Buffalo. For landlord to his new Hotel, Mr. Wil-
liamson selected Thomas Powell, whom he had known in London,
connected with the celebrated “ Thatched Cottage, the resort ofphelps atntd gorham’s purchase.	261
statesmen, politicians and wits,” * He had previously emigrated to
this country, and opened a house at Lansingburg.
Although Mr. Williamson's house was at Bath, a large proportion
of his time was spent at Geneva, attending to matters connected
with the northern division of the purchase. The company that he
drew around him, made a very considerable business for the new
hotel; and it was the early home of the young men without fami-
lies, who located at Geneva; the principal stopping place foremi-
grants, who could afford the comforts of a good inn. Under the
auspices of Reed and Ryckman, Joseph Annin and Benjamin Bar-
ton had surveyed a small village plat, which was superseded under
Mr. Williamson’s auspices, by a new, enlarged survey, generally
as now indicated, except that the new survey, Mr. Williamson’s
plan, contemplated that the whole town should be built up fronting
the Lake; the space between the mam street and the Lake, was
intended for terraced parks and gardens. In a few words, Geneva
is now, though beautiful in all its appointments, more upon the utili-
tarian order, than Mr. Williamson intended. He had seen the
original in his travels upon the continent, and associating Seneca
Lake with “ Lake Leman,” had in view an imitation, in a wilder-
ness of the new world. , In reference to this as well as other of his
projections, his ardent and sanguine temperament led him to sup-
pose that villages and village improvements, to a considerable extent,
could precede a general cultivation of the soil. Experience has
shown that they must follow by slow steps after it. ,
The Hotel was but a part of Mr. Williamson’s enterprises at
Geneva.
Before the State had acknowledged the correctness of the new
pre-emption line, as in the case of the site of Geneva, and Reed
and Ryckman, patents had been issued, covering nearly the whole
of “ the Gore,” Mr. Williamson, through the agency of Mr. John
Johnstone, having purchased all the patents, had so fortified
the claim of his principals, that he had ventured upon exercising
ownership; though title was yet an open question. In March,
1795, while a bill was pending in the legislature, providing for run-
ning a third line, by the Surveyor General, and if the one run by
Mr. Ellicott should prove correct, to give the associates other lands
* Mr. Powell became an early stage proprietor. After keeping the Hotel for many
years, he removed to Schenectady, and was succeeded by his brother, Wm, Powell.262
PHELPS AHD GOEHAm’s PURCHASE.
in lieu of those that had been patented upon the Gore; Phillip
Schuyler introduced amendments, which prevailed, making it dis-
cretionary with the Surveyor General, allowing him to waive the
running of a new line, if he satisfied himself that Mr. Ellicott’s
line was correct; and leave it to the commissioners of the land
office to arrange matters between the holders of patents and the as-
sociates, or Mr. Williamson, holding as he did, by purchase, most
of the patents, to perfect the title to “the Gore,” nearly 84,000
acres. As an equivolent for what he had paid in the purchase of
patents, the commissioners of the land office conveyed to him about
the same quantity of land embraced in the patents, off from the
military tract, in what is now Wolcott and Galen, in Wayne
county.
The reader will have seen that the first location of “ The Friend'5
and her followers, was upon “ The Gore.” Their titles were all
confirmed by Mr. Williamson, upon terms generally satisfactory.
Sodus was the next site chosen for the foundation of a settle-
ment— or in fact, for the founding of a commercial village, — not
to say city. In all Mr. Williamson's plans for settling the coun-
Note. — It would seem that, as between the State, the Lessees and Mr. Williamson,
the early colonists, for a time, hardly knew whose hands they were to fall into. In
January ’94, however, they had concluded whose title was to De preferred. They ad-
dressed to Mr. Williamson the following letter, or petition:—
“Jerusalem, 13th of 1st mo., 1794.
“Friend Williamson, —We take this opportunity to let thee know our wishes,
who are now on thy land, at The Friend’s settlement in Jerusalem, in the county of
Ontario, and in the State of New York. We, the subscribers, wish to take deeds from
friend Williamson for the land our improvements is on, rather than any other person.
Our desires is, that thee would not dispose of the lands to any other person but to us,
who are on the land.
Elnathan Botsford,	Philo Ingraham,
Daniel Ingraham,	Elisha Ingraham,
Richard Matthews,	Samuel Parsons,
Elnathan Botsford, jr.,	Jonathan Davis,
Asahel Stone,	Elijah Malin,
Samuel Doohttle,	Thos. Hathaway,
John Davis,	Mary Aldrich.”
Benedict Robinson,
There are other letters from Benedict Robinson and others of the Friends, to the same
purport. “Friend Parker” lets “Captain Williamson” into his family affairs, with-
out reserve:—»“ It is my desire to settle the several branches of my family near me:
for that reason, I began where we now are; with the intention to buy of the right
owner when I could see him. The 1,000 acres may seem too much for one man, but
when it is divided between myself, a son, and three sons-in-laws, it, I think, will not
be deemed extravagant; especially, considering 1 know not how soon I may have two
more sons-in-laws. A man like myself, who was one of the first settlers in the coun-
try, and began onr settlement, which would have been elsewhere had it not have been
for me; and also encouraged many emigrants into this country, may claim to be in-
dulged in having the several branches of his family settled near him.”
Benajah Botsford
Eleazor Ingraham,
Solomon Ingraham,
Richard Smith,
Abel Botsford,
Enoch Malin,
William Davis,
John Briggs,263
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
try, and his projections of internal improvements, laid from time to
time before his principals, he had looked to the Conhocton, the
Caniste, Tioga and Susquehannah rivers, as the avenues to market
from the southern district of the Genesee purchase; and to Balti-
more as its commercial mart. With these views, he, had founded
Bath. # Looking to Lake Ontario, the Oswego river, Oneida Lake.
Wood Creek, the Mohawk and the Hudson river, and the St. Law-
rence, as avenues to the New York and Montreal markets, for the
northern district of the purchase, he selected Sodus Bay as the
commercial depot.
Early in the winter of 1793, he determined upon improvements
there, and in the spring of *94, he had roads cut out from Palmyra
and Phelpstown, to get access to the spot from those points. It
was his first appearance in the Lake Ontario region, and his pre-
sence there, with his surveyors, road makers, builders, and all the
retinue necessary to carry out his plans, created a nevr era—-in-
spired new hopes with the scattered backwoods settlers. It had
looked before he came, as if for long years, no one would be bold
enough to penetrate the dark, heavy forests, that in a wide belt, were
stretched along the shores of the Lake. They entertained before
no hopes of realizing for years, any better facilities for trans-
portation to market, than was afforded by Ganargwa Creek,f the
outlet of Canandaigua Lake, and Clyde river. He had preceded
the enterprise by a written announcement of the plan of oper-
ations : — It contemplated the survey of “ a town between Salmon
Creek and Great Sodus Bay, and a spacious street, with a large
square in the centre, between the Falls on Salmon Creek and the
anchorage in the Bay, and mills are to be built at the Falls on Sal-
mon Creek/’ He adds : — “ As the harbor of Great Sodus is ac-
knowledged to be the finest on Lake Ontario, this town, in the con-
venience of the mills and extensive fisheries, will command advan-
tages unknown to the country, independent of the navigation of
* It should be observed, that he contemplated the improvement of the navigation
of those rivers, and projected a canal to connect the Tioga and Delaware rivers, in
order to reach Philadelphia.
t Mud Creek, until recently. The old name was blended with the recollection of
stagnant waters, bogs, chills and fevers. When its whole aspect had been changed by
the hand of improvement, and it became even picturesque and beautiful in its meari-
derings through cultivated fields, and a rural scenery seldom equalled, the dwellers in
its valley were enabled, with the help of Lewis Morgan, Esq ,, of Rochester, to come
at its ancient Seneca name, which they adopted.264
PHELPS Amy gokham’s purchase.
the Great Lake, and the St. Lawrence.” The town was surveyed
by Joseph Colt. The plan was as indicated above. The in-lots
contained a quarter of an acre, and the out-lots ten acres. The
whole was upon a scale of magnificence illy, suited to that primitive
period; and yet, perhaps, justified by then prospective events;
and more than all, by the capacious and beautiful Bay, the best
natural harbor upon our whole chain of Lakes, a view of which,
even now, excites surprise that it has not, ere this, more than reali-
zed the always sanguine expectations of Mr. Williamson.
The in-lots in the new town, were offered for one hundred dol-
lars; the out-lots, for four dollars per acre; the farming lands in
all the neighborhood, at one dollar fifty cents per acre. Thomas
Little and ----Moffat, were the local agents. A tavern house was
erected at a cost of over $5000, and opened by Moses and Jabez
Sill. * ** Mills were erected at the Falls on Salmon Creek ; a plea-
sure boat was placed upon the Bay; and several other improve-
ments made. Inroads, surveys, buildings, &c., over $20,000 was
expended in the first two years.
The first difficulty encountered was the ague and fever, that early
incubus that brooded over all of Pioneer enterprise, upon the Lake
shore. When the sickly season came, agents, mechanics and labor-
ers, could only work upon “ well days. ” Mr. Williamson soon be-
gan to realize that there was something beside the “ romantic and
beautiful, ” about the “ Bay of Naples ” he had found hid away in
the forests of the Genesee country. And another trouble came.
DCP See British invasion of the Genesee country, at Sodus.
Soon after Mr. Williamson had perfected his title to the Gore,
the junction of the Canandaigua out-let and Ganargwa creek, the
fine flats, hemmed in by hills and gentle swells of upland — the
facilities afforded for navigation with light craft, — attracted his at-
tention. Fancying the outlet and the creek to be miniature repre-
sentations of the Rhone and the Say one, and struck with a coinci-
dence of landscapes, he bestowed upon the location the name of
Lyons. He had been preceded here by some of the earliest Pioneers
of the Genesee country. In May, 1789, a small colony consisting
* Moses Sill died in Dansville, in 1849. Jabez Sill died at Wilkesbarre, in 1844.
The latter was an early proprietor at Prideaux, “ Braddock’s Bay.” His son, JDaniel
Sill, is the fortunate California adventurer from Dansville.
fjjgf For some acconnt of the Sill family, see History of Wyoming, and Mrs. Ellett’s
** Women of the Revolution.”phelps and gorham’s purchase.	265
of twelve persons, were piloted up the Mohawk, and by the usual
water route, by Wemple, the Indian trader who has been mentioned
in connection with the Rev. Mr. Kirkland. Arriving at what was
then the principal head of navigation, especially for batteaux of any
considerable size, they located and erected log huts half a mile south
of the present village of Lyons, where James Dunn lately resided.
The heads of families, wrere: — Nicholas Stansell, William Stansell,
and a brother in-law, John Featherly. They had been inured to
aardships, toil and danger, as border settlers upon the Mohawk, and
in Otsego county ; Wm. Stansell had been to this region in Sulli-
van’s expedition. Their nearest neighbors w^ere Decker Robinson
and the Oaks family; the same season, a few families, located at
Palmyra. The Stansells and Featherly may be regarded as the
Pioneers of all the northern part of Wayne county. They ground
their corn in a small hand mill “ until a German named Baer put up
a log mill where Waterloo now is. ” Jointly with the Pioneers of
Phelps, they opened a woods road to that neighborhood and in the
direction of the mill at Waterloo. The father of the Stansells died
in the earliest years, and was buried in the absence of any funeral
rites; there being no one to conduct them. A few weeks previous
to Wayne’s victory, the early Pioneers became alarmed; made up
their minds they must flee, or see a second edition of the scenes
that they had passed through upon the Mohawk; the old batteaux
that brought them into the wilderness was re-corked and pitched to
take them out of it; they were upon the point of starting, when news
came that “ Mad Anthony ” had humbled the western nations, and
smothered the flame that had threatened to break out in the Gene-
see country. These early adventurers depended much upon the
“ products of the forest; ” not such as comes under that head in
our modern canal statistics; but upon wild game; deer principally.
Nicholas Stansell was a hunter, and would go out and kill from
eight to ten deer in a day. Nicholas Stansell, a surviving son of
Note. — This early colony brought in with them some hogs, and the result, with
other similar ones that will be noted, confirms the fact that our domesticated hog will
if turned into the forest, to share it with wild animals alone, go back to his primitive
condition in one, or two years, at farthest. A boar, of this primitive stock changed
in form, became a wild racer, his tusks grew to a frightful length; he became more
than a match for bears and wolves; and finally a terror to the new settlers, untiT he
was hunted and shot. The first progeny of this primitive stock when caught could
not be tamed, and generally had to be hunted like other game.
17266
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’s PUBCHASE.
one of the two Pioneer brothers, who now resides in Arcadia
Wayne county, says: — “ After our first stock of provisions was
exhausted, we saw hard times; got out of corn once; went and
bought of Onondaga Indians. For days we were without any pro-
visions other than what the forest, the streams, and our cows affor-
ded. We eat milk and greens. Yenison and fish we could always
have in plenty. My father hardly ever missed when he went out
after a deer. Salmon, bass, pickerel, speckled trout, ducks and
pigeons, were in abundance. ”
A small patch of corn and potatoes, raised by the Stansells and
Featherly, on the old Dorsey farm, in 1789, were the first crops
raised in Wayne county.
Nicholas Stansell died in 1817 ; his surviving sons are, William
Stansell, of Arcadia, and George Stansell, who lives a mile south
of Newark. John Featherly died a few years since in the town
of Rose, aged 80 years. Nicholas Stansell, changing his residence
in 1809, became the proprietor of lands upon which the village of
Loekville has grown up.
Mr. Williamson commenced operations at Lyons, in the summer
of 1794. He made Charles Cameron his principal local agent.
Reserving nearly a thousand acres, which was afterwards sold to
Judge Dorsey, a house and barn were built for Mr. Cameron; the first
framed house in that region.# Mr. Cameron had the village surveyed,
and built a store house and distillery. Before the close of 1796,
Henry Tower, as Mr. Williamson’s agent, had erected and com-
pleted what was long known as “ Tower’s Mills,” at Alloway.
The mills must have been of more than ordinary magnitude, for
that early period, as the author observes that the cost wTas over
twelve thousand dollars. In addition to other improvements, Mr.
Cameron cleared land, and commenced making a farm.
Next to Sodus Bay, Mr. Williamson had regarded Prideaux
(Braddock’s) Bay as a favorable position upon the Lake. He made
some surveys there for a town, but did little towards starting it.
In his correspondence with his principals in London, he often men-
tioned the mouth of Genesee River, but not in a way to indicate a
high opinion of its locality. His aim was to improve only such spots
as were surrounded by the lands he held in charge. Those nearest
* It is now standing in a tolerable state of preservation, on the bank of the outlet.PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PURCHASE.
267
the mouth of the River and the Falls, had been sold by Phelps and
Gorham, before their sale to the London Associates. In 1794 he
visited the Falls, Prideaux Bay, and spent a day or two with Wm.
Hencher. He soon after purchased of Samuel B. Ogden, the Allan
Mill, and the Hundred. Acres, with a view to commencing some
improvements upon the present site of the city of Rochester. Al-
lan had sold the property to Benjamin Barton, senior; and Barton to
Ogden. DC/3 See deed, or title paper, in Library of Rochester
Athenaeum and Mechanic’s Association. At the time of William-
son’s purchase, the mill, a frail structure originally, with no cus-
tomers to keep it in motion, had got much out of repair. He
expended upon it some five or six hundred dollars—put it in tolera-
ble repair—but unfortunately there were no customers. It was
difficult of access from the older settlements, and mills more con-
venient for them, were soon erected. The purchase, repair, and
sale of the mill and mill tract, was about the extent of Mr. Wil-
liamson’s enterprises at the “ Falls of the Genesee River,” where
the aspect of things in that early day, was any thing but encouraging.
In 1798, a party of emigrants from Perthshire, Scotland, emigra-
ted to America, landing at New York, and coming west as far as
Johnstown, Montgomery county, halted there to determine on some
permanent location. Mr. Williamson hearing of the arrival of his
countrymen, made a journey to see them. He found them poor
in purse — with nothing to pay for lands — and but little even for
present subsistence; but they came from the
Land of tlie forest and the rock,
Of dark blue lake and mighty river,
Of mouDtains reared aloft, to mock
The storm’s career, the lightning’s shock;—
Note.—The following may be presumed to be the	business letter that was ever
written from the site of the present city of Rochester. Christopher Dugan married a
sister of Ebenezer Allan, and was put in charge of the mill by him;
Falls of Genesee, Aug. 9, 1794.
The mill erected by Ebenezer Allan, which I am informed you have purchased, is
in a bad situation, much out of repair, and unless attention is paid to it, it will soon
take its voyage to the Lake. I have resided here for several years, aud kept watch and
ward, without fee or recompense; and am pleased to hear that it has fallen into the
hands of a gentleman who is able to repair it, and whose character is such that I firmly
believe he will not allow an old man to suffer without reward for his exertions. I wish
to have you come, or send some one to take care of the mill, as my situation is such
as makes it necessary soon to remove. I am sir, with respect, your most
obedient humble servant,
Charles Williamson, Esq.	CHRISTOPHER DUGAN.268	-phelps and gorham’s purchase.
they were rich in courage, in a spirit of perseverence, in habits of
industry; in all the elements that life in the wilderness, and success
in it, required. Mr. Williamson became to them not only a patroon,
but a benefactor. “A Scot had met a brither Scot/* He offered
them a favorite location, in the neighborhood of the “ Big Springs,”
(Caledonia) ; — land at three dollars per acre, payable in wheat at
six shillings per bushel; a reasonable pay day; and besides, to fur-
nish them with provisions until they could help themselves. Four
of their number were sent out to view the lands; were pleased
with the allotment that Mr. Williamson had made; on their return,
met him on his way from Geneva to Canandaigua; he drew up a
writing on the road, and the bargain was thus closed. In Marchs
1799, while there was yet sleighing, the Scotch adventurers came
from Johnstown to the “ Big Springs.”* Those who first came
were:-—Peter Campbell and wife, Malcolm M’Laren and wife,
John M’Naughton and wife; and Donald M’Vean and Hugh
M’Dermid, single men. In the fall of the same year, they were
joined by their countrymen, John M’Vean, John M’Phersqn,
John Anderson, Duncan Anderson, all single men Ibut M’Vean.
During the next year they were joined by Donald MTherson,
Donald Anderson, Alexander Thompson, and their families. Those
whose names have been given, except Thompson' and M’Vean,
had crossed the ocean in the same ship. They are to be regarded
as constituting the primitive settlers at Caledonia, though for several
years after, other of their countrymen joined them.
The Springs, being on the great trail from Tioga point to Fort
Niagara, had long been a favorite camping ground, f Previous to
the Scotch advent, Fuller and Peterson, had become squatters there,
built log houses, and entertained travelers. This furnished the
Scotch settlers a temporary shelter. John Smith, one of Mr. Will-
iamson’s surveyors, soon arrived and surveyed their lands, so plan-
ning the surveys that each allotment would have a front upon the
streams. Log houses were soon erected in the primitive manner,
small patches of summer crops planted; and the Scotch settlers
' * This had been the name of the locality, even as far back as the first English occu-
pancy of Niagara. Mr. Williamson gaye it the new name of Caledonia.
I t An old Canadian emigrant, and a frequent traveler upon the trail about the close
of the Revolution, says that camping there was so frequent, that the fires of one party
Would be burning when another arrived.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	269
were soon under way, though struggling with stinted means against
all the hardships and privations of backwoods life. On their ar-
rival Mr. Williamson had promptly given orders to Alexander
McDonald, who was then his agent and clerk at Williamsburg,
for supplying some provisions. Wheat was procured at Dans-
ville and ground in the Messrs. Wadsworths’ mill at Conesus ; and
pork was drawn from the store at Williamsburg. Mr. Wil-
liamson also furnished them with some cows. And how did you
manage for your early team work ? was the author’s enquiry of the
venerable John McNaughton, now in his 80th year,* surrounded
by his hundreds of improved acres, his garners filled to overflowing,
and broad fields, green and luxuriant, promising future abundance.
“ We sold some of our clothes that we could spare, to settlers on the
river, for the occasional use of their oxen;” was the answer. In
addition to other encouragements, Mr. Williamson donated one
hundred and fifty acres for a “glebe,” and fifty acres for school
purposes. He erected at the Springs a grist and saw mill, which
were completed in about three years; as soon in fact, as there was
much need of a grist mill.
This is so far as Mr. Williamson was directly connected with the
Pioneer settlers at Caledonia. Their after progress will be mingled
with events narrated in succeeding portions of the work.
The reader of the present day will smile at the idea of “ Fairs ”
and “ Race grounds ” in back woods settlements, at a time when
settlers generally had but just made small openings in the forest, and
stood more in need of log causeways over streams, boards for their
floors, and glass for their windows, than of race horses or improved
breeds of cattle. But the sanguine adventurous Scotchman had
seen these things in England and Scotland, and supposed them
neccessary accompaniments of rural enterprise, even in new settle-
ments ; and as it will be observed he had ulterior objects in view.
Impressed with the idea that the region, the settlement of which he
was endeavoring to promote, was nearly all it had proved to be;
enthusiastic even in his efforts; he had made up his mind that the
* The survivors of the original Scotch settlers are: — John M’Naughton, Hugh
M’Dermid, Donald Anderson, Mrs. M’Vean and Mrs. McLaren, now the widow of
the late Deacon Hinds Chamberlin, of Le Roy. M’Dermid and Anderson, emigrated
to Canada some twenty years since.
Note.—For all that Mr. Williamson furnished of provisions and cows, the settlers
gave their notes, and paid them when due.270	phelps Amy goeham’s purchase.
Genesee country need only be seen to be appreciated. In travelling
through Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, he had endeavored
to bring men of wealth and enterprise to view the country, but had
generally failed. It was too secluded, too far off from civilization,
too much threatened with Indian wars; had in it too much of the
elements of chills and fevers, to be attractive, to men who were not
under the necessity of encountering such formidable difficulties.
But he had discovered that those he wanted to come and see the
country were fond of races and holiday sports, and he resolved upon
instituting them in addition to the attractions he had held out. In
1794 he had laid out a race course and fair grounds, near the pres-
ent residence of the Hon. Charles Carroll, on the forks of the Can-
ascraga creek and Genesee river, and in the fall of that year was
had there a fair and races. Extensive preparations were made
for the event. Mr. Williamson’s anxiety to have all things in read-
iness is manifested in a letter to Mr. Wadsworth. He says; — “ As
you have manifested much interest in the exhibition at Williams-
burg, do, my friend, attend to it, and push the getting a bridge from
Starr’s or thereabouts, to the flats, in time; Mr. Morris will give
£10 and I will give £10. The appointed day came, and there was
a gathering from all the new settlements of the Genesee country ;
from as far east as Utica; and of sportsmen and land explorers from
Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The two small taverns of
Starr and Fowler, at Williamsburg, and the deserted log houses of
the Germans, were vastly inadequate to the accommodation of the
crowd. The few buildings at Geneseo, and all the log tenements of
the neighborhood were put in requsition, and yet the Fair ground
had to be an encampment. In the language of an informant of the
author, who was present: — “Here met for business and pleasure,
men from all parts of the purchase; stock was exhibited and pur-
chases made. Here also were seen for the first time, the holiday
sports of “ merry England, ” such as greasing a pigs tail; climbing
a greased pole, &c. ” Care had been taken for the gratification of
visitors, to have a general attendance of the Indians; and as it was
just after Wayne’s victory, it was perhaps very wisely considered
that it would help them in their then growing inclinations to be at
peace and cultivate the acquaintance of their new neighbors. They
were present in great numbers, and joined in the sports with great
relish. Their own foot races and ball plays, were added to thePHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	271
amusements. It all went off well; all were pleased; the southern-
ers and Pennsylvanians were delighted with the entertainment and
with the country; made favorable reports when they returned home;
and with many of them it led finally to emigration. The Fair and
Races were held next year at Williamsburg, and at Bath and Dans-
ville, in a few successive years; Mr. Williamson had himself some
fine race horses; and in the way of oxen, such was the magnitude
of his operations in different portions of the purchase, that at one
time he had eighty yoke wintering on the Genesee flats.
In addition to the enterprises of Mr. Williamson, that have been
named, he was active in procuring the passage of the act for laying
out the old State Road from Fort Schuyler to Geneva, and was
one of the commissioners for locating it. In 1798, when Mr. Elli-
cott had commenced the survey of the Holland Purchase, he joined
him in making what was at first called the “Niagara Road/' west
of Genesee river. He made the road from the river to Col. Gan-
son’s, within a mile of Le Roy, expending upon it $2,000. * * He
assisted in making the road from Lyons to Palmyra; from “ Hope-
ton to Townsendsfrom “ Seneca Falls to Lyon’s Mills;” from
“ Cashong to Hopeton.” There are few of the primitive roads in
Yates, Steuben, and the south part of Livingston, that he did not
either make or assist in making. He built mills at Hopeton, on
the Hemlock Lake, and at Williams burgh. He added to the hotel
at Geneva, the “Mile Point House and Farm,” on the bank of
Seneca Lake, which he intended for a brother, the “ Hopkins’ House
and Farm,” and the “ Mullender House and Farm,” at the Old Castle.
His enterprises at Williamsburg embraced an extensive farm which
Note — The “Williamson Fair and Races, ” are among the cherished reminiscences
of the “oldest inhabitants,” and in fact, it is only the oldest who survive to remem-
ber them. Frolic, sports, recreation, with the men of that period, were things done in
earnest like everything else they undertook. Gen. George M’Clure, an early Pioneer
at Rath, now residing at Elgin, Illinois, writing to his old friend Charles Cameron,
now of Greene, Chenango co., during the present year, says in allusion to some histor-
ical reminiscenoes he is gathering up: — “ It wont do to tell of all of our doings in those
days of ‘ Lang Syne. * I presume you have not forgotten the night we spent in Dunn’s
hotel when we roasted the quarter of beef. ”	“ Give me your age and any thing else
you can think of. This is a flourishing town. The Chicago and Galena rail road
passes through it. Why cant you come and make us a visit. You can come all the
way by steam. I am now in my 80th year, and enjoy good health.
* In connection with this enterprise, the author has some items of account, showing
the cost of things at that primitive period: — It cost $18 to take a common waggon
load from Geneva to Le Roy. 2 bbls. of pork and 2 bbls. of whiskey cost, delivered,
(at Ganson’s) $120. The only grind-stone in all the region, was one owned by the
Indians at Canawagus, and the use of it cost $1,50.272
PHELPS AND GORHAJM S PURCHASE.
he called the “Hermitage Farm/’ Beside this, he had a large farm
on the Canascraga, a few miles below Dansville, and several farms
in Steuben.
Connected with all these improvements in the way of agencies,
clerkships, mechanics, surveyors, road makers, &c., are many fami-
liar Pioneer names: -—Among them, those of William White, John
Swift, Jonathan Baker, “Capt. Follett,” Reed, Buskirk, Fitzsim-
mons, Woodward, Griswold, Henry Brown, Ralph T. Woods, Peter
Shaeffer, Francis Dana, Solomon Earl, Williams and Frazee,
Gordon and Evans, James Bardin, Jonathan Woods, Francis Dana,
Jonathan Mathews, B. Lazelere, David Milner, William Mulhalien,
Jacob Hartgate, Elisha Brown, Leonard Beaty, Daniel Nicholson,
Woods and Pratt, Thomas Wilbur, Nathaniel Williams, Judah
Colt, Caleb Seely, Thomas W. Williams, E. Hawkes, David Abbey,
King and Howe, Joseph Merrill, Charles Dutcher, Jonathan Bur-
nett, Robert Burnett, Peter Lander, David Fish, Daniel Britain,
E. Van Winkle, Gideon Dudley, Norman Merry, David Abbey,
Obadiah Osburn, George Humphrey, Annanias Platt, Wm. Angus,
John Davis, Grieve and Moffatt, John Carey, James Beaumont,
Joshua Laig, George Goundry, Elisha Pratt, Pierce Chamberlain,
Joseph Roberts, Thomas Howe, David Dennett, Jeremiah Gregory,
Darling Havens, Daniel P. Faulkner, Jonathan Harker, Henry
Brown, Asa Simmons, Peter Rice, W. M’Cartney, James Hender-
son, Rufus Boyd. These are but a moiety; for a considerable
period, in one way and another, a large proportion of the new
settlers were connected with his enterprises.
He was a large subscriber to the Canandaigua Academy, to the
first library established at Geneva, and aided in some of the first
movements made in the Genesee country, in the cause of educa-
tion. After he had extended his road from Northumberland, Penn.,
to Williamsburg, on the Genesee river, he soon established a mail,
on foot sometimes, and sometimes on horseback, between the two
points, thus opening a communication with Philadelphia and Balti-
more. A branch mail went to Canandaigua, Geneva and Sodus.
Note. — About the time of the projection of the State Road west of Rome, Mr.
Williamson was riding upon Long Island, in company with De Witt Clinton, who re-
marking upon the smoothness of the road, said to Mr. W.: — “If you had such roads
to your country I would make you a visit.” — “It can be done with proper exertions.”
Mr. Clinton promised him his co-operation, and afterwards assisted in procuring
the incorporation of the Seneca Turnpike Company, in which the State Road was
merged. Mr. Clinton’s first visit to this region, was in 1810.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE*
273
For several years after, a better understanding was had with Gov.
Simcoe and his successors by means of these mail facilities; they
received their letters and papers from Europe and the Atlantic
cities, through this primitive medium. It is presumed that he had
something to do with putting on the first mail and passenger wagon
from Albany to Canandaigua, as the agent at Albany procured and
charged to him a wagon and harness for that purpose.
Mr. Williamson was elected to the legislature from Ontario
county, in 1796; and for three successive years, while in that capa-
city, he contributed with great energy and perseverance to dif-
ferent measures for the benefit of the region he represented, which
was all of Western New York. He was a Judge of Ontario county;
in the early military organizations in what is now Steuben, equipped
an independent company at his own expense; and rose from the
rank of Captain in his Britannic Majesty's service, to that of Col.
of a regiment of backwoods militia in the Genesee country.
The manufacture of pot and pearl-ash was prominent in his view,
as one of the resources of the new country; he gave some en-
couragement to it; but the means of transportation to market at
that early day, was a great drawback upon the enterprise. # The
manufacture of maple sugar was also an object of interest with
him; and in fact, was an anticipated source of great revenue to
the country, by many of the earliest adventurers. They failed to
appreciate the competition it had to encounter in the sugar-cane and
cheap labor. One of the earliest enterprises of Mr. Williamson,
was the improvement of the navigation of the Conhocton and
Canisteo, the manufacture of lumber, and the carrying of it to Bal-
timore, in periods of high water.
In all this career of Pioneer enterprise that has been passed over,
it may well be anticipated that much money was required. There
was little money in the country — hardly enough for the purchase
of the common necessaries of life — of course, not enough to make
any considerable land payments. Lands had to be sold upon credit,
payments of instalments postponed; most of his enterprises were
* Writing to Mr. Colquhoun soon after his arrival in this country, he stated that
Judge Cooper, father of J. Fennimore Cooper, who was then just founding a settle-
ment on the Otsego Lake, was greatly promoting sales of land and settlement, by
furnishing the new settlers with pot-ash kettles to a large amount. He speaks of the
after hero of backwoods’ romance — “Judge Temple,”-—as a prominent co-worker in
promoting settlements.274	PHELPS AM) GOKHAm’s PURCHASE.
ahead of the time and the condition of the country, and made slow
returns. The resources were mainly the capital of his principals,
the London associates. Seldom, if ever, have property holders ad-
vanced larger amounts for improvements, or more freely at first,
though they began to be impatient after years had gone by, and the
returns of their immense outlays were coming in but slowly to re-
plenish their coffers. In 1800, the balance sheets did not look well
for their Genesee country enterprise. There had been expended
for purchase money of lands, agencies, and improvements, such as
have been indicated, $1,374,470 10. There had been received for
lands sold, but $147,974 83. In addition to this balance against
them, they owed of principal and interest upon lands purchased, over
$300,000. To make all this look better, however, they had an im-
mense amount of unsold lands, farms and mills, and an immense
debt due for lands sold. While all Mr. Williamson's enterprises
had been putting the country ahead in the way of settlement and
improvement, (even from ten to fifteen years, as many estimate,)
another direct effect must have been, the adding vastly to the prin-
cipals, the care of which he turned over to his successors. He
found the wild lands of the Genesee country selling at from 1 to 4s.
per acre; he left them selling at from $1,50 to $4.
He had at first formidable difficulties to overcome, other than
such as have been named and indicated, as consequent upon the
task of settling a country so isolated from the older settlements,
possessing so many harsh features to keep back emigration. He
was a foreigner, and had held a commission in the ranks of the
British army, with whom a large portion of the new settlers had
just been contending upon battle fields. Arms had been grounded,
but feelings of resentment, prejudice, were rife. The possession of
Fort Niagara and Oswego, the British claims upon the territory of
Western New York, their tampering with the western Indians, and
even those that were unreconciled here, served to keep alive this
feeling. Although Mr. Williamson had from the time he landed in
America,.given the strongest evidence that he intended to merge
himself with the disenthralled colonies, and throw off* all allegiance
to Great Britain, still he encountered jealousy and distrust. In re-
capitulating to Sir Wm. Pulteney, toward the close of his agency,
the difficulties he had encountered, he makes the following remarks:
'Even previous to 1794. there was a strong predisposition against275
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
every thing that was British. But this was more particularly the
case in those parts of the back country adjacent to the British set-
tlements ; and where, from the influence of the British govern-
ment with the Indians, there was too much reason to fear that hos-
tilities from that quarter would be directed against these infant set-
tlements. These jealousies met me in an hundred mortifying in-
stances ; and they were with difficulty prevented from having the
most disagreeable effects, both to me and every old countryman in
the settlements. To such an extent was this carried, that every
road I talked of was said to be for the purpose of admitting the In-
dians and British; every set of arms I procured — though really to
enable the settlers to defend themselves againt the Indians — was
said to be for supplying the expected enemy ; and the very grass
seed I brought into the country for the purpose of supplying the
farmers, was seized as gun powder going to the enemies of the
country.” He also alleges that these distrusts — opposition to his
movements — were enhanced by influential individuals, who were
interested in the sale of wild lands in other localities.
All this, however, wore off, as we may well conclude, for he was
elected to represent the county in the legislature, with but little op-
position, in 1796, and the mark of favor was repeated. Well educated,
possessing more than ordinary social qualities, with a mind im-
proved by travel and association with the best classes in Europe,
his society was sought after by the many educated and intelligent
men who came to this region in the earliest years of settlement;
and he knew well how to adapt himself to circumstances, and to
all classes that went to make up the aggregate of the early adven-
turers. Changing his habits of life with great ease and facility, he
was at home in every primitive log cabin; a welcome, cheerful, and
contented guest, with words of encouragement for those who were
sinking under the hardships of Pioneer life; and often with sub-
stantial aid, to relieve their necessities ; away off in some isolated
opening of the forest would be those prostrated by disease, to whom
he would be the good Samaritan, and send them the bracing tonic
or restoring cordial. These acts of kindness, his benevolence of
heart, are well remembered by surviving Pioneers; and repeatedly
has the author been importuned by them to speak well of their
friend, in those local annals.
From the day that Mr. Williamson arrived in this country, until276	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
he returned to Europe, his correspondence was extensive and em-
braced a large number of prominent men in the northern States
and in Europe. The interests of all this region were deeply in-
volved in the success of Mr. Jay’s mission to England in 1794. Mr.
Williamson’s acquaintance with the statesmen of England, were
with those principally of the conservative class, and with them he
urged a reconciliation of all existing difficulties. He made the Eng-
lish government acquainted with the conduct of their agents in
Canada ; with their machinations with the Indians to bring on an-
other series of border wars; and with the conduct of British officers
at the western posts, in stimulating the Indians to stealthy assaults
upon settlers, surveyors and explorers. CCP See account of murder
of Major Trueman, Appendix, No. 10. The treaty of Mr. Jay con-
cluded, he urged upon the Colonial department of the English gov-
ernment, the substitution of better disposed neighbors in the Cana-
das, than Lord Dorchester, and Gov. Simcoe; and the hastening of
the fulfilment of treaty stipulations by the surrender of Oswego and
Niagara. Trouble, an op6n rupture with England, was to be sure,
but postponed; but the author can hardly forego the conclusion, that
in the infancy of settlement in the Genesee country, it was fortunate
that English statesmen were extensive land holders—deeply inter-
ested in the securing of peace and prosperity to the country—and
that they had for their local agent, such a man as Charles Williamson.
There had accompanied Mr. Williamson on his first advent to
the country, from Scotland, Charles Cameron, John Johnstone,
James Tower, Henry Tower, Andrew Smith and Hugh McCartney.
Mr. Cameron came over at the solicitation of Mr. Williamson, pen-
etrated the wildemes with him, assisted in planning and executing
improvements, kept the books and accounts, was his travelling com-
panion in many forest journeys ; and in fact, was closely connected
with him during his whole residence in the country. He was the
local agent as has been seen, at Lyons, and from that point it is
supposed, shipped the first produce of the Genesee country to an
eastern market; the flour from the mills that had been erected un-
der his agency. He was one of the earliest merchants at Canan-
daigua ; at a primitive period, when the mercantile business of
almost the entire Genesee country, was transacted in that village.
In this relation he was widely and favorably known to the Pioneers.
Either upon his own account, or as agent for Mr. Williamson, hePHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
277
was a merchant at Bath before he removed to Lyons, as is inferred
from a store bill, which the author has in his possession: —
Mr. Cameron is one of the few survivors of that early period.
He is now in his 78th year; a resident of Greene, Chenango county.
Mr. Johnstone was also in Mr. Williamson’s employ.
When the division of lands took place between Sir Wm. Pulteney
and Gov. Hornby, Mr. Johnstone became the agent of the Hornby
lands, in which agency he continued until his death in 1806. He
married a step-daughter of Nicholas Lowe, of New York. He
was the father of James Johnstone, of Canandaigua, and Mrs,
Leavenworth, of New York.
Henry Tower, was an agent in the erection of the mills at Lyons,
(or “ Alio way,”) became the purchaser of them ; and resided there
for many years. Hugh McCartney settled in Sparta. Of the other
two who came with Mr. Williamson, the author has no account.
Mr. Williamsm’&Jrst engagement with the London Associates,
was for the term of seven years; though he continued in the agen-
cy beyond the expiration of that period. It has already been in-
dicated, that his principals were somewhat impatient at the slow
return of his large outlays; and the sanguine, impulsive agent, may
have ventured to deplete their purses too rapidly; but there could
have been no serious misunderstanding between them, as the cor-
respondence that took place, in reference to the final settlement of
the affairs of the agency in 1800 and 1801, exhibit a continuance
of mutual esteem and friendship. A paragraph in a letter from Sir
Wm. Pultney to the successor in the agency, indicates a wish that
Mr. Williamson should be dealt honorably with in the settlement.
In the final adjustment of his affairs with his principals, what
would then have been considered a very large estate, was left him
in farms, village property in Geneva and Bath, wild lands, bonds
and mortgages, and personal property. James Reese, Esq., of Geneva,
# * Mr. Dolson lived near Elmira. In one of Mr. Williamson’s backwoods excursions
in 179*2, be had an attack of fever at Mr. Dolson’s house, where he was nursed until
he recovered. He presented the family with twenty guineas, and a farm wherever
they might choose it upon the purchase.
Bath, October, 1793.
John Dolson,*
Bought of Charles Cameron :
Oct. 26, 1 lb. chocolate, 2s. 6d; 1-2 gal. whiskey 5s.
Nov. 5. 1 gallon whiskey, 10s.	»
£0 7s. 6d.
10 0278
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
was his agent, until he finally returned to Scotland, in 1803, or ’4,
when he left all his affairs in America, with his friend Col. Benja*
min Walker, of Utica. The successor of Col. Walker in the care
of the Williamson estate, was John H. Woods Esq., of Geneva,
with whom it now remains.
Aaron Burr was identified, as has already been observed, with
some of the earliest movements in the direction of the Genesee
country. Soon after Mr. Williamson’s arrival, he made his acquain-
tance, and retained him as counsel in his business ; and the farther
relation of strong personal friendship soon succeeded. In 1795,
Mr. Burr made a visit to this region, continuing his journey as far
west as Niagara Falls. He was accompanied by his daughter The-
odosia, and her then, or afterwards, husband, Mr. Allston. The
party were on horseback.* Upon this occasion, Mr. Williamson
had interviews with him, if he was not in fact, his travelling com-
panion in a part of the trip; and when Mr. Williamson became a
member of the legislature in ’96, and in succeeding years, business
and social relations, made them frequent companions in Albany.
In whatever project Mr. Burr had at the south, Mr. Williamson
was blended, and would have taken a conspicuous part in it, if it had.
not been so summarily arrested.
After Mr. Williamson left this country, he resided at the home of
his family in Balgray, and in London. He died in 1808. The
only record of tffe event, that the author has been able to obtain, is
the following extract of a letter from Col. Walker, to “ Mr. Wm. Ellis,
Note.—Col. Benjamin Walker, was an* early and prominent citizen of Utica. In
the early part of the Revolution he had been in the staff of Gen. Washington, and was
afterwards the aid of Baron Steuben. He is connected with a good anecdote of the
Baron : — Reviewing some raw troops, he ordered them with his imperfect English
pronunciation, to fall back, which they mistook for “advance,” and came rushing di-
rectly upon him. Irritated, and fearing they would understand him no better in his
reprimands, he ordered Col. Walker to d—n them in English.
In 1792 he was surveyor of the port of New York, and was employed by Messrs.
Pulteney and Hornby to settle with an agent in this country, who had invested some
money for them in lands, (other than the Genesee purchase,) which led to his early
acquaintance with Mr. Williamson. His correspondence with Mr. Williamson after he
returned to Europe, would indicate superior talents; and there could be gleaned from
them many interesting early reminiscences of events in this country. Col. Walker
died in Utica, in 1818. An only daughter married D’Villiers, a French gentleman,
who was in this region in 594, or ’5. She died in France. The only representative of
the family in this country, is an adopted daughter, Mrs. Bours of Geneva.
* In this western visit Mr. Burr parted from his travelling companions, at Avon,
and went down and visited the falls of the Genesee, taking their height, and a landscape
view of them. He shared the log cabin of Mr. Shaeffer, over night, on his return, and
:he old gentleman well remembers his praises of the new country, and his “pleasant,
sociable turn.”phelps and gorham’s purchase.	279
Nicholson street, Edingburg — “ An extract sent me from an
English newspaper, announces the death of my friend, Col. Will-
iamson, as having happened on his passage from Havanna to
England; an event which will be most sincerely lamented by a
numerous acquaintance in this country, who esteemed and loved
him.”
There is now no descendants of Mr. Williamson in this country.
He lost a son and a daughter in Bath; and a son and daughter went
soon after him to Scotland. The daughter survives. Charles A*
Williamson, the son, married a Miss Clark of New York, and resi-
ded in Geneva. Enticed by the discovery of gold in California —
although he would seem to have had enough of wealth to satisfy a
reasonable ambition — he took the overland route in the summer
of 1818, died of cholera at Fort Laramie; and about the same
period his wife died in Scotland,
Sir William Pulteney died in May, 1805, leaving an only heir, his
daughter, Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Countess of Bath. She died
in July, 1808. CCJ3 For historical, and legal deduction of title to
lands, other than what is contained in the body of the work, see
Appendix No. 11.
ROBERT TROUP.
The successor of Mr. Williamson, in the .general agency ot the
London Association, was Col. Robert Troup. He was a native of
New Jersey; in the war of the Revolution, he was the aid of Gen
Note.—There are contradictory accounts of Mr. Williamson’s position at the period
of his death. One is, that he had been appointed by the British goveernment, Govern-
or of one of the West India Islands; and another is, that his adventurous and enter-
prising spirit, had connected him with some of the earliest movements in relation to
South American Independence, in which he was to have borne a conspicuous part;
and in pursuance of which, he was at sea, at the period of his death.
Note.—In a letter from James Wadsworth to Col. Troup, dated in September, 1805,
he says : —“ I have just heard of the death of Sir William Pultney. My mind is strong-
ly impressed with the disasters that may befal this section of the State, from the
event. Sir William was a man of business; he was capable of deciding for himself,
what was and what was not proper. What may be the character of his successor we
know not.” In another letter from the same to the same, it is assumed that the successor
in the management of the estate, is Sir James Pulteney. Mr. W. says:— I once dined
with Sir James at Sir William’s; he is devoted to the army, and a great favorite of
the Duke of York ; and I think 1 have been informed, quite regardless of property ;
but of his honorable views, and perfect soundness of mind, I have no reason to doubt”280
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’s FUECHASE.
Gates; his father was an officer of the navy in the preceding French
war. Previous to the Revolution, Col. Troup had been a student
at law in the office of Thomas Smith, of Havestraw, New Jersey,
and subsequently in the office of Gov. Jay. After obtaining license,
he opened an office in the city of Albany, and soon after returned
to New York, where he practiced law until 1801. He was a few
years a Judge of the U. S. District Court. In 1801 he was appoin-
ted a general agent of the Pulteney estate. Residing in New York
and Albany, he frequently visited this region, until 1814, when he
became a permanent resident of Geneva. Under his auspices a
large portion of the original purchase of the London Associates,
(such as had not been settled during Mr. Williamson’s administra-
tion,) was sold and settled. Liberal in his views, public spirited,
and - possessed of much practical knowledge, he was a valuable
helper in speeding on the prosperity of the Genesee country. Al-
though the “ Mill Tract,” west of the Genesee river, was settled
under the immediate auspices of Mr. Wadsworth, Col. Troup as
the general agent, had much to do in all that relates to ifs pioneer
history; and for over thirty years, his name was conspicuously
blended with the history of all this local region. He was one of
the early promoters of the Erie Canal, and wielding a ready and
able pen, he did much to forward that great measure in its early
projection and progress. He was the intimate friend of Alexander
Hamilton, and in fact few enjoyed more of the intimate acquaint-
ance and friendship, of the most of prominent men of the Revolution,
and early statesmen of New York. He died in New York in 1832,
aged 74 years. He had two sons, one of whom died in Charleston,
and the other in N. York. A daughter of his is Mrs. James L.
Brinkerhoof, of N. York; and another unmarried daughter resides
in New York.
Before Col. Troup’s removal to Geneva, the immediate duties of
the agency devolved successively upon John Johnstone, John Hes-
lop and Robert Scott. Heslop was first a clerk of Mr. Wads-
worth, and entered the Geneva office a short time before the close
of Mr. Williamson’s agency. He died on a visit to his native
country, England. Mrs. Greshom, of Brooklyn, is a daughter
of his.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	281
JOSEPH FELLOWS.
Joseph Fellows is a native of Warwickshire, England; from
which place his father emigrated in 1795 to Luzerne county, Penn.,
17 miles from Wilkesbarre. At the age of fourteen, soon after the
arrival of the family in this country, he entered the office of Isaac
L. Kip, Esq., as a student at law; was admitted to practice, but
soon after entered the office of Col. Troup. He came to Geneva
in 1810, as a sub-agent in the Pultney land office ; the details of the
agency principally devolved upon him, until the death of Colonel
Troup, when he became his successor in the general agency, which
position he still retains. Mr. Fellows is a bachelor ; a sister of his
was the wife of Dr. Eli Hill, the early physician of Conesus and
Geneseo. Dr. Hill removed to Berrien, Michigan, where he died
in 1838. His three sons, Edward, Joseph and Henry,' are residents
of Buffalo. Mrs. Hill survives, and resides at Geneva, with her
brother.
The purchasers of the Pultney lands, have found in Mr. Fellows
an agent disposed to conduct the business with strict integrity, and
in the same spirit of liberality and indulgence that had actuated his
predecessors. “I went toliim,” said a farmer upon the Lake shore,
in Wayne county, to the author, “and told him my house was old
and uncomfortable, and I could build if he would give me an exten-
sion of payment. He granted me even more than I asked.” “ My
payments were due,” said another, “sickness had been added'to
unpropitious seasons; he made a liberal deduction of interest, and
gave me an extension of payment, which enabled me finally to pos-
sess an unincumbered farm.”
The clerks in the Geneva office, in successsion, have been Thos.
Goundry, George Goundry, William Van Wort, David H. Vance.
The present clerks are Wm. Young and John Wride.
When Mr. Williamson left Bath, James Reese removed there
from Geneva, and took the temporary charge of the Land Office.
Resigning the post in 1803, he was succeeded by Samuel L. Haight.
Gen. Haight was a student at law, with the late Gen. Matthews,
at Newtown; entering his office in 1796. In 1801 he was Admitted
18282
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
to practice in the Supreme Court, and in the following year opened
an office in Bath. Assuming the duties of the Land Office soon
after, he continued to discharge them until 1814. He was sub-
sequently the law partner of General Matthews at Bath, and re-
mained so until Gen. M. removed to Rochester in 1821. He now
resides at Cuba, Allegany county. Besides holding important civil
stations, in 1819 he received the appointment of Major General of
the 25th military division, then comprising the counties of Steuben,
Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauque.*
The subsequent agents in the Bath office have been, Dugald
Cameron, and William M’Kgy; the latter of whom is the present
agent: He is the son of John S. M’Kay, who emigrated to Geneva
in 1800, and died in Pittsford, in 1819.
JOHN GREIG.
Mr. Greig was a native of Moffat, in Dumfrieshire, Scotland. His
father was a lawyer by profession, the factor or agent of the Earl
of Hopeton; and besides, a landholder, ranking among the better
class of Scotch farmers. After having acquired in his native
parish, and in a High School in Edinburg, a substantial education,
while undetermined as to his pursuits in life, Mr. Johnstone, who, it
will have been seen, had been in this region, connected with Mr.
Williamson, revisited his native country, and meeting Mr. Greig,
induced him to be his companion on his return to the new world.
They arrived at New York, in the winter of 1799 and 1800, after
a tedious passage of eleven weeks. Mr. Greig, after spending some
time in New York and Albany, came to Canandaigua, in April,
1800. He became a student at law, in the office of Nathaniel W.
Howell, and in 1804 was admitted *to practice. In 1806, on the
occurrence of the death of his friend, John Johnstone, he succeeded
him in the agency of the Hornby and Colquhoun estate ; in which he
has continued up to the present period.
In an early period of his professional career, he became the part-
ner of Judge Howell; the partnership continued until 1820. Ming-
ling with his professional duties, the arduous ones consequent upon
In 1819 all that territory contained but 3,100 men, subject to military duty,283
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PTJECHASE.
the sale and settlement of large tracts of wild lands, professional
eminence could hardly be expected : yet in early days, when there
were “giants in the land'1’'—when the bar of western New York
had in its front rank, a class of men, whose places can now harldy
be said to be filled — they found in the young foreigner a professional
cotemporary, possessed of sound legal acquirements; and especially
recommending himself to their esteem, by a high sense of honor,
and a courtesy, which ruled his conduct at the bar, as wrell as in
the business and social relations of life. , -
As a patroon of new settlements — which his agency of a foreign
and absent principal made him — in that position, in which so im-
portant an influence is wielded over the destinies of a new coun-
try—his best eulogy is found in the frequent expressions of gratitude,
which a gatherer of historical reminiscences may hear, from the
lips of surviving Pioneers, for indulgence and kindness received
at his hands..
Mr. Greig succeeded Mr. Gorham, in the Presidency of the On-
tario Bank, soon after 1820, which place he continues to fill. He
became one of the Regents of the University in 1825, and is now
the Vice Chancellor of the Board. In 1841, % he was the Repre-
sentative in Congress.,, from Ontario and Livingston; and is now
one of the managers of the Western House of Refuge.
He is now 72 years of age ; his general health and constitution
not seriously impaired ; his mental faculties retaining much of the
vigor of middle age ; having the general supervision of his estate,
and discharging the public duties which his several offices impose.
One of the largest estates of western New York, is the fruit of ‘
his youthful ad vent to a region he has seen converted from a wil-
derness, to one of fruitful fields and unsurpassed prosperity; — of a
long life of professional and business enterprise and judicious man-
agement. Leaving his young countrymen and school fellows to
inherit estates ; with a self-reliance, which can only give substantial
success in life, he boldly and manfully struck out into a new field of
enterprise — a then fresh and new world — and became the founder
of one. Liberal in its management and disposition, with a sensible
estimate of what constitutes the legitimate value and use of wealth;
he is the promoter of public enterprises, the liberal patron of public,
and the dispenser of private charities; in all of which he finds a
willing co-operator in his excellent wife, who is a worthy descend-284
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
ant of one who occupied a front rank among the earliest Pio-
neers of the Genesee country. She was the daughter of Captain
Israel Chapin, the grand-daughter of Gen. Israel Chapin; was mar-
ried to Mr. Greig in 1806.
CHAPTER III.
"b
INDIAN DIFFICULTIES----BRITISH INTERFERENCE-----INDIAN COUNCILS
-GEN. ISRAEL CHAPIN.
In preceding pages, the reader has observed some indications of
unsettled relations between the Indians, and the early adventurers
of our own race, in the Genesee country; and the mischievous
influence of those to whom they had been allies in the Revolution.
All this will be farther exhibited in connection with the early settle-
ment of Sodus. In this chapter it is proposed to treat the subject
generally, avoiding as far as possible a repetition of what has been
and will /be, in the other connections, but incidental.
The reader of American general history, need hardly be told,
that what was called a treaty of peace with Great Britain, in 1783,
war rather an armistice — a cessation of hostilities —and that but
little of real peace, or amicable relations, was immediately conse-
quent upon it. On the one hand, a proud arrogant nation, worsted
in a contest with a few feeble colonies, its invading armies defeated
and routed, grudgingly and reluctantly yielded to a stern necessity,
and allowed only enough of concession to be wrung from her, to
secure the grounding of arms. And on the other hand, success,
victory, had been won by a last, and almost desperate effort, — the
wearied colonies gladly embracing an opportunity to rest. Thus
conditioned, the terms of peace were illy defined, and left open
questions, to irritate and furnish grounds for a renewal of hostilities*PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
285
British armies re-crossed the ocean, and British navies left*our
coasts, but British resentment was still rife. In the palace at
Windsor, England’s King was mourning with almost the weakness
of childhood, or dotage, over his lost colonies; yielding to the
sacrifice with a bad grace, and in the absence of any kingly digni-
ty. Rich jewels had dropped from his crown, and he refused to be
reconciled to their loss; and his ministers, with more of philosophy,
but little less of chagrin and discomfiture, in peace negotiations,
seem almost to have made mental reservations, that contemplated
a renewal of the contest. The homely adage, “ like master like
man,” was never better illustrated, than it was in the persons and
official acts of those who came out as government officers and
agents, to look to the little that was saved to England, after the
wreck of the Revolution. But one spirit, and one feeling pervaded
in the home and colonial governments. It was that the treaty had
been an act of present necessity, that had not contemplated an
ultimate sacrifice of such magnitude as was the final loss of the
American colonies. The statesmen of England, were not unmind-
ful that the site of an Empire lay spread out around our western
lakes and rivers, and in all of what is now western New York, over
which the Indians held absolute and undisputed sovereignty. Those
Indians were their allies, ready to take the tomahawk from its belt,
and the knife from its sheath at their bidding.
The first, and principal hope and reliance of England, touching
the reversion of her lost empire, was that the experiment of free
government would be a failure. Astonished that resistance to their
rule had been attempted by a few feeble colonies, and more aston-
ished that it had been successful — almost prepared to believe in
the decrees of fate, or the enactment of miracles — they were yet
unprepared to believe that discordant materials could be so blended
together as to insure a permanent separation; that here in the
backwoods of America, statesmen would be created by exigency,
with a firmness, an intuitive wisdom, to mould together a perma-
nent confederacy, that would be the wonder of the old world; a
political phenomena — and thus secure all that had been so dearly
won. After the close of the Revolution, every movement upon
this side of the water, was watched with intense anxiety. Unpro-
pitious as were the first few years of the experiment, the events in
creased their confidence. The difficulties growing out of disputed286	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
boundaries between the States; the Shay rebellion in Massachu-
setts ; the internal commotions in Pennsylvania; and finally the
discordant views of those who came together to form a Union, and
a permanent government; all helped to increase their hopes, that
divided and distracted, the colonies would either fall back into their
embraces, or be an easy conquest when they chose to renew the
war.
In the final success in the formation of a confederacy of States,
— the Union —the interested croakers lost some confidence in their
predictions, but they still hoped for the worst. If they admitted
for a moment that there might be a confederacy of eastern States,
they thought they saw enough of the elements of trouble in geo-
graphical divisions, in conflicting interests of soils and climate ; in a
curse they had entailed upon the colonies in the form of African
slavery, to insure the failure of the experiment to embrace the
whole in one political fabric.
Disappointed in their earliest hopes, they fell back upon another
reliance; that by means of a continued alliance with the Six Na-
tions, and with the western Indians, they should be enabled to re-
tain all of what had been French Canada ; western New York, the
vallies of the western lakes and the Mississippi. With this end in
view, by means of pretences so flimsy, that they never rose to the
dignity of being sufficiently defined to be understood, they disre-
garded the plainest stipulations of the treaty of 1783, withheld the
posts upon Lake Ontario and the western lakes, and steadily pur-
sued the policy of commercial outrages and annoyances, dogged
and irritating diplomacy, and bringing to bear upon the Indians an
influence that was intended to embarrass all our negotiations with
them, and ultimately to make them allies in a renewed contest for
dominion over them and their territory.
The settlement of the Genesee country, commenced under the
untoward circumstances of a continued British occupancy; the
native owners of the soil, but illy reconciled to the treaties of ces-
sions, and thus in a condition to be easily incited to mischief; while
off upon the borders of the western lakes, were numerous nations
and tribes ready to join them, to redress their fancied wrongs, at
the instigation of the malign influences that lingered among them.
For six years after feeble settlements were scattered in back wood’s
localities, the British retained Fort Oswego and Niagara, and thePHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
287
western posts ; no American commerce was allowed on Lake Onta-
rio, or if allowed, it was a mere sufferance, attended with all the
annoyance and insolence of an armed police at the two important
points, Oswego and Niagara.
In the person of Lord Dorchester, the Gov. General of Canada,
was an implacable enemy of the disenthralled colonies, an embodi-
ment and fit representative of the spirit that ruled his liome gov-
ernment, and his deputy, General Simcoe, the Lieutenant Governor
of the Upper Province, located at Niagara, was well fitted to take
the lead in that then retreat of mischief makers and irreconciled
refugees. Sir John Johnstone, after his retreat from the Mohawk,
had continued to reside at Montreal, and after the war, retained a
large share of the influence he had inherited, over the Six Nations.
He may well be supposed to have had no very kind feelings toward his
old neighbors. He was in fact the ready helper in the persevering
attempts that were made to keep the Indians irreconciled and trouble-
some. The position of Joseph Brant was equivocal; keen scrutiny
and watchfulness, failed to determine what were his real inclina-
tions. Even his partial biographer, has left his conduct in the crisis
we are considering, an enigma. At times he would seem to have
been for peace; in his correspondence with Messrs. Kirkland,
Phelps, Thomas Morris, General Chapin, and with the Secretary
of War, General Knox, there were professions of peaceful inclina-
tions ; while at the same period, he would be heard of in war coun-
cils of the western Indians, stirring up with a potent influence, side
by side with his British allies, their worst passions; or organizing
Note.—As late as the summer of 1795, even after the Jay treaty and Wayne’s treaty
of Grenville, Col. Simcoe was irreconciled, and to all appearances looking forward to
a renewal of the contest between Great Britain and her lost colonies, or States as they
had then become. The Duke Liancourt, was then his guest, 7at Niagara, who says of
him : — “War seems to be the object of his leading passions; ” he is acquainted with
the military history of all countries; no hillock catches his eye without exciting in
his mind the idea of a fort, which might be constructed on the spot, and with the
construction of this fort he associates the plan of operations for a campaign, especially
of that which is to lead him to Philadelphia.” At the Indian village of Tuscarora,
near Lewiston, where the Duke accompanied him, he told the Indians that the “Yan-
kees were brooding over some evil designs against them; that they had no other object
in view but to rob them of their lands; and that their good father, King George, was
the true friend of their nation. He also repeated, that the maize thief, Timothy
Pickering, was a rogue and a liar.” When the Governor and the Duke were on their
way to Tuscarora, they met an American family on their way to Canada. On learn-
ing their destination, the Governor said to them:—“Aye, aye, you are tired of the
Federal government; you like not any longer to have so many kings; you wish again
for your old father, come along and I will give you lands.”288
phelps ahb gorham’s purchase.
armed bands of Canada Indians, as allies of the western confeder-
ates. Red Jacket was a baekwToods Talleyrand, and Cornplanter,
an unschooled Metternich.
Col. John Butler, living at Niagara in affluence, richly pensioned,
and himself and family connections richly endowed with lands by
the king, repaid the bounties of his sovereign with all the zeal that
he had shewn in the war, by seconding the views of Lord Dorches-
ter and Col. Simcoe. As Superintendent of Indian affairs he had
the keys of the king’s store house at Niagara, and dispensed his
presents profusely among the Indians, telling them that the “king,
their good father, would soon want their services again, against the
rebels.” The early settlers of the Genesee country, saw on more
than one occasion, the Indians in possession of new broadcloths,
blankets, and silver ornaments, that came from the king’s store house,
the fearful purport of which they well understood. Some of the
influences and agencies that have been named, had assisted in land
treaties, but it had been for pay, and with the hope ultimately of the
partition of New York, and the non-fulfilment of the treaty stipu-
lation for the surrender of its western territory. Lingering yet
upon the Genesee river, and in several other localities, were refu-
gees from the Mohawk, with feelings rankling in their bosoms akin
to those of Milton’s fallen angels after they had been driven out of
Paradise.
Added to all these elements of trouble, was an irreconciled feel-
ing against the Indians, on the part of those who had been border
settlers upon the Mohawk and the Susquehannah, and could not so
soon forget their horrid barbarities. In the absence of courts and
any efficient civil police, this feeling would occasionally break out
in outrages, and on several occasions resulted in the murder of In-
dians ; it required all the wisdom of the general and State govern-
ments and their local agents to prevent retaliation upon the scatter-
ed settlements of the Pioneers.
While a storm was gathering at the west, and the Senecas, un-
der the influences that have been named, were half inclined to act
in concert with hostile nations in that quarter, the murder of two
Senecas, by whites, occurred on Pine creek, in Pennsylvania. It
highly exasperated the Senecas, and they made an immediate de-
mand upon the Governor of Pennsylvania for redress. It was in
the form of a message, signed by Little Beard, Red Jacket, Gisse-PHELPS AND goeham’s pxjechase.	289
hakie, Caunhesongo, chiefs and warriors of the Seneca nation, and
dated at “ Geneseo River Flats,” August 1790. After saying they
are glad that a reward of eight hundred dollars has been offered for
the murderers, they add: — “Brothers the two men you have killed
were very great men, and were of the great Turtle tribe; one of
them was a chief, and the other was to be put in the great king*
Garoughta’s place, who is dead also. Brothers, you must not think
hard of us if we speak rash, as it comes from a wounded heart, as
you have struck the hatchet in our head, and we can’t be reconciled
until you come and pull it out. We are sorry to tell you, you have
killed eleven of us since peace.” “ And now we take you by the
hand and lead you to the Painted Post, as far as your canoes can
come up the creek, where you will meet the whole tribe of the de-
ceased, and all the chiefs and a number of warriors of our nation,
where we expect you will wash away the blood of your brothers,
and bury the hatchet, and put it out of memory, as it is yet sticking
in our heads.
Mr. Pickering, who was then residing at Wyoming, was either
sent by the Governor of Pennsylvania, or the Secretary of War to
hold the proposed treaty, at Tioga Point, on the 16th day of No-
vember. He met there, Red Jacket, Farmer’s Brother, Col. Butler,
Little Billy, Fish Carrier, and other chiefs of the Six Nations, and
the Chippewa and Stockbridge Indians. They came to the coun-
cil much enraged, and a speech of Red Jacket was well calculated
to increase their resentments. The black cloud that hung over
their deliberations for days, was finally driven away by the prudent
course of Col. Pickering, and the war spirit that was kindled in
many a savage bosom, finally quelled. This was the first time that
the Six Nations were met in council by the geperal government
after the adoption of the constitution. Col. Pickering informed
them that the Thirteen Fires was now but one Fire, that they were
now all under the care of the great chief, General Washington, who
would redress their wrongs, and correct any abuses the whites had
Note.-—Money and presents of goods, it is presumed, were the principal agents of
reconciliation. The wily chiefs who demanded the council, while they assumed that
their young warrriors could hardly be restrained from taking summary vengeance upon
the whites, intimated what they were expecting; and they especially requested that
the Governor should send to the council “all the property of the murderers,” as it
would “ be a great satisfaction to the families of the deceased.” The result of the
council amounted to little more than a compromising of the murders, and professions
of friendship, that were destined to remain equivocal.290	• phelps and gorham’s purchase.
practiced upon them; and that especially traders among them
would be prohibited from selling spirituous liquors. To all this
Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother made replies, expressing much
gratification that the “ great chief of the Thirteen Fires, had opened
his mouth to them." They made formal complaints of the manner
in which their lands had been obtained from them, to which Col.
Pickering replied, that their lands were their own to dispose of as
they pleased, that the United States would only see that no frauds
were practiced in the land treaties.
The Six Nations called their councils with the whites, measures
for “ brightening the chain of friendship, ” and never did chains get
rusty so quick after brightening as they did along during this critical
period. One treaty or council was hardly over before another was
demanded by one party or the other. In the spring of 1791, when
the Little Turtle as the successor of Pontiac—as a leader, almost
his equal—had perfected an alliance of the principal western na-
tions against the United States; when expedients for reconciliation
with them had been exhausted, and General Harmar was about to
march against them; it was deemed of the utmost importance to
confirm the wavering purposes of the Six Nations, and divert them
from an alliance with the legions that threatened to break up the
border settlements west of the Ohio, and if successful there, to in-
volve the new settlements of the Genesee country in the contest foi
dominion. For this purpose, Colonel Pickering was again commis-
sioned by the Secretary of War to hold a treaty. It was held at
Newtown, (now Elmira,) in the month of June. With a good deal
of difficulty, a pretty general attendance of the Indians was secured.
Fortunately Col. Proctor who had turned back in a peace embassy
to the western nations, in consequence of intimations which induced
a conclusion that it would not only be fruitless but dangerous, had
spent some weeks among the Senecas at Buffalo, and his visit had
been favorable to the drawing off of the chiefs and warriors from
Canada influence and western alliance, in the direction of Colonel
Pickering and his treaty ground.
The treaty was mainly successful. With all the bad inclinations
of the Senecas at this period, and bad influences that was bearing
upon them, there was a strong conservative influence which had a
powerful auxiliary in the, “Governesses, ” or influential women.*
* The very common impression that the women had no influence in the councils ofPHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	291
The principal speakers were, Red Jacket and Farmer’s Brother.
Thomas Morris was present at this treatythe author extracts from
his manuscripts, spoken of in the preface to this work: — “ Red
Jacket was I suppose, at that time, about 30 or 35 years of age, of
middle height, well formed, with an intelligent countenance, and a
fine eye; and was in all respects a fine looking man. He was the
most graceful public speaker I have ever known; his manner was
most dignified and easy. He was fluent, and at times witty and sar-
castic. He was quick and ready at reply. He pitted himself against
Col. Pickering, whom he sometimes foiled in argument. The
Colonel would sometimes become irritated and lose his temper; then
Red Jacket would be delighted and shew his dexterity in taking
advantage of any unguarded assertion of the Colonel’s. He felt a
conscious pride in the conviction that nature had done more for
him’ than for his antagonist. A year or two after this treaty, when
Col. Pickering from Post Master General became Secretary of War,
I informed Red Jacket of his promotion. ‘ Ah, * * said he, ‘ we began
our public career about the same time; he knew how to read and
write, I did not, and he has got ahead of me; but if I had known
how to read and write I should have got ahead of him.’ ”
The name of an early Pioneer has already been incidentally men-
tioned, who became prominently blended in all the relations of the
general government, and consequently in all the relations of this
local region, with our Indian predecessors. General Israel Chapin
was from Hatfield, Massachusetts. He was commissioned as a Cap-
tain in the earliest military organizations of Massachusetts, after
the commencement of the Revolution, and was in the campaign
against Quebec; soon after which he was advanced to the rank of
Colonel, and at the close of the Revolution, he had attained to the
the Six Nations — that their whole sex was regarded as mere drudges—is refuted by
the recorded facts, that in treaties with Gov. George Clinton, and in the treaty at “ Big
Tree,” they turned the scale in councils.
* Mr. Morris, then just from'his law studies, with a younger brother, set out from Phil-
adelphia, and coming via Wilkesbarre and what was called “ Sullivan’s path, ” attended
the treaty, visited the Falls of Niagara, and returning, made up his mind to fix his res-
idence at Canandaigua, See-sketches of early times at Canandaigua, atid see also
some further reminiscences of Mr. Morris iif connection with the treaty at Newtown,
Appendix No. 12.
Note.— Among the Revolutionary papers of General Chapin, are many interesting
relics. Ephraim Patch, a soldier of his company, charges in his memorandum, for
"one pair of buffed trowsers, one pewter basin, one pair shoes, one tomahawk and292	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
rank of Brigadier General. In addition to his services in the field,
he was occasionally a sub-contractor, or agent of Oliver Phelps, in
procuring army supplies. Upon one occasion, as the author observes
by his correspondence, he was requested by Mr. Phelps to obtain a
“ fine yoke of fat cattle for Gen. Washington’s table.” Gen. Chapin
was in active military service during the Shay rebellion : DC?5 See
“ general orders/ transmitted to him by Major General Shepherd,
Appendix, No. 13. After the close of the Revolution, he was a
prominent managing member of an association, organized for the
purpose of dealing in wild lands in Vermont. He was one of the
original associates with Mr. Phelps, in the purchase of the Genesee
country, and was chosen to come out and explore it in 1789, which
resulted in his removal with his family to Canandaigua, in 1790.
Soon after the organization of the general government, the Sec-
retary of War, General Knox, saw the necessity of a local agent
among the Six Nations, and the well earned reputation of General
Chapin, in the Revolution, and in the important civil crisis that fol-
lowed after it in Massachusetts, fortunately for the region with
which he had become identified, pointed him out as a safe de-
pository of the important trust. From his earliest residence in the
country, he had been entrusted with commissions, in connection
with Indian relations, by Gen. Knox and Col. Pickering. Soon after
the treaty at Newtown, he was appointed to the office of Deputy
Superintendent of the Six Nations, though the duties of his office
ultimately, in many instances, embraced the whole northern de-
partment.
The letter of appointment from Gen. Knox, enjoined upon him
the impressing upon the Indians, that it was the “firm determination
of the President that the utmost fairness and kindness should be
exhibited to the Indian tribes by the United States.” That it was
“ not only his desire to be at peace with all the Indian tribes, but to
be their guardian and protector, against all injustice.” He was
informed by the Secretary, that Joseph Brant had promised a visit
to the seat of government, and instructed either to accompany him,
* or otherwise provide for his journey in a manner perfectly agree-
able to him.”
belt, one bayonet and belt, lost by me in the retreat from Quebec, May 6. 1776.” Jon-
athan Clark charges that he was equally unfortunate in the hasty flight; he lost
his woolen shirts, stockings, shoes, a bayonet and belt, a tomahawk, and a "pair of In-
dian stockings.phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	29S
This attempt to get Brant to Philadelphia, together with a large
representation of other chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations, and
others not actually merged with the hostile Indians of the west, had
been commenced in the previous winter. It succeeded very well,
with the exception of Brant; a large Seneca delegation, with a few
Onondagas and Oneidas, nearly forty in all, were conducted to Phil-
adelphia, across the country, via Wilkesbarre, by Horatio Jones
and Joseph Smith. It was upon this occasion that the Indian chief,
Big Tree, was a victim to the excessive hospitality that was extended
to the delegation, at the seat of government, dying there from the
effects of surfeit. British hospitality and liberality wTas outdone;
President Washington won the esteem and confidence of the Indi-
ans, and they departed with promises of continued friendship, and
that they would undertake a friendly mission to the hostile Indians
of the west.
Brant was invited to the conference by the Rev. Mr. Kirkland
and Col. Pickering, but he stood out somewhat upon his dignity,
and intimated that if he went, it was to be in a manner more con-
sistent with his character and position, than would be a journey
through the country, with a drove of Indians, under the lead of in-
terpreters. This being communicated to Gen. Knox, he took the
hint, and thence his instructions to Gen. Chapin. Apprehensive,
too, that Brant wanted the invitation to come directly from the seat
of government, he addressed him an official letter, respectful and
conciliatory, appealing to him upon the score of humanity, to lend
his great influence toward reconciling the existing Indian difficul-
ties, preventing the further shedding of blood, and to assist the
government in devising measures for bettering the condition of his
race. This drew from the chief an answer that he would start for
Philadelphia in about thirty days, and in the meantime would con-
sult the western nations, and be enabled to speak by authority from
them. No statesman of the new or old world, ever penned a more
guarded, non-committal answer in diplomacy, than was this from
the retired chief, in the backwoods of Canada.
The letter to the Secretary of War, was sent to Mr. Kirkland,
at Oneida, and forwarded by him by the hands of Dr. Deodat Al-
len, to the care of Col. Gordon, the British commanding officer at
Fort Niagara, with a request to have it sent by private express to
Captain Brant, at Grand River. This manner of forwarding the294	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
letter proved unfortunate. Dr. Allen, knowing its contents designed-
ly or imprudently communicated them to Col. Gordon, who acsompa-
nied it with suggestions well calculated to promote an unfavorable
answer. He also informed Captain Chew,* a deputy Indian
agent under Sir John Johnstone, residing at Niagara, of the
contents of the letter, who brought all his influence to bear upon
Brant, to prevent the journey.
As the time of departure drew near, Gen. Chapin had Brant at-
tended from the Grand River to Canandaigua, and from there,
via Albany and New York to Philadelphia. The chief was at-
tended by Israel Chapin, jr., Dr. Allen, Samuel Street, a servant of
his own, and another provided for the party by Gen. Chapin. It
was Brant/s first appearance in the Yalley of the Mohawk after
his flight from there, and well knowing that upon his journey he
must often encounter those of his old neighbors against whom he had
carried on a sanguinary warfare, he feared retribution, and only
proceeded upon the pledges of Gen. Chapin that/no insult or indig-
nity should be offered him. It was only upon one occasion that fears
were entertained for his safety on the route by his attendants, who
enabled him to avoid the threatened danger. Arrived at New
York, it would seem the whole party, about to appear at court — or
rather, at the seat of government — doffed their backwoods ward-
robe, and patronized a fashionable tailor. Pretty round bills were
presented to Gen. Chapin for payment; that for a full suit for Brant,
would show that he at least did not appear in any less mean attire
than was befitting an ambassador.
The result of this visit of Brant to the seat of government, in
detail, is already incorporated in history. Although in a measure
satisfactory and productive of good, his position was by no means
fixed, or changed by it. In the midst of feasting and civilities, the
recipient of presents and flatteries, he was reserved and guarded;
put on an air of mystery; so much so, that Gen. Knox in a letter
to Gen. Chapin, expresses fears that some thing was said or done at
* Captain Chew had conventionally, for a wife, a half blood Tuscarora, the daughter
of Capt. Mountpleasant, of the British Army, and sister of the venerable John Mount-
pleasnt, of Tuscarora, a woman who is well remembered by the Pioneers of that re-
gion. One of them, not a bad judge in such matters, told the author that she was
Qie handsomest woman he had ever seen. Her first espousal was with a Captain El-
mer, of the British army. Her descendants are among the many respeetable natives
tf Tuscarora village.PHELPS AHD GORHAm’s PURCHASE.
295
Philadelphia that had displeased him. The truth was, that he had
a difficult part to perform: — In the first place, he was sincerely
tired of war, and wanted peace; but he was bound to the British
interests by gratitude, by present and prospective interests ; exist-
ing upon their bounty, and apprehensive that his large landed pos-
sessions were held by the tenure of a continued loyalty. He knew
that every step he took, and every word he uttered in favor of the
United States, or peace, would be used against him, not only to
weaken his influence with the British, but also with what he proba-
bly valued still higher, his influence with his own race. Gen. Knox
drew from him a promise that he would visit the western nations ;
but the promise was attended with conditions and mental reserva-
tions, which were calculated to render the mission of little avail.
There followed this movement, a series of fruitless embassies to
the hostile Indians, a protracted period of alarm and apprehension.
Repeated conferences and councils were held by Gen. Chapin with
the Six Nations, mostly with the Senecas, as they were most in-
clined to be allies of the western Indian confederacy. Hendricks,
a Stockbridge chief, Red Jacket, and Cornplanter, were successively
sent on missions to the west, under the auspices of Gen. Chapin;
but neither they, nor white ambassadors, succeeded in getting any
overture better than the ultimatum that the Ohio should be the
boundary line of respective dominion.
There was a long period of dismay and alarm, in which the new
settlers of the Genesee country deeply and painfully participated ;
evefly movement in the west was regarded with anxiety; and the
Senecas in their midst, were watched with jealousy and distrust.
In addition to the fruitless missions from this quarter, others were
undertaken from the seat of government, and our military posts
upon the Allegany, equally abortive; in two instances, peace am-
bassadors were treacherously murdered before reaching treaty
grounds. The hindrances to peace negotiations with the Indians,
were vastly augmented by British interference. Not content with
encouraging the Indians to hold out, and actually supplying them
with the means of carrying on the war, on one occasion, they refused
to let a peace embassy proceed by water via Oswego and Niagara;
and on another occasion, with a military police, prevented commis-
sioners of the United States from proceeding to their destination,
a treaty ground. And these were the acts of a nation with whom296	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
we had just made a treaty of peace; a nation who, in a recent
colonial crisis of their own, demanded the most stringent observance
of the duties of neutral nations. They set up the specious and
false pretence, that the supplying the Indians with the means of
warring upon us, was the work of individuals, for which the gov-
ment was not accountable. In the case of the Navy Island war,
they insisted that our government should be responsible for individ-
al acts.
The office of Gen. Chapin, it may well be concluded, was no sin-
ecure. At the head of the war department was a faithful public
officer, and he required promptness and energy from all his subor-
dinates. Upon Gen. Chapin, devolved the procuring of embassa-
dors to the hostile Indians, fitting out them and their retinues, and
holding council after council to keep the faces of the Six Nations
turned from the west. In these troublesome times, the government
was of course liberal with the Senecas, and Gen. Chapin was its al-
moner. They, shrewd enough to understand the value of their con-
tinued friendship to the United States at that critical period, were
most of them sturdy beggars. Often they would propose councils
with the ulterior motive of a feast and carousal and a “ staff”* to
support them on their return to their villages. At his home in Can-
andaigua he was obliged to hold almost perpetual audience with self
constituted delegations who would profess that they were decided
conservatives and peace makers, as long as he dispensed his bread,
meat and whiskey freely. Lingering sometimes quite too long to
be agreeable or essential to the purposes of diplomacy, he would fit
them out with a liberal “staff” and persuade the squaws to go back
to their cornfields, and the Indians to their hunting camps in the
forest. Mr. Berry1 at Canawagus, and Winney, the then almost
Note. — It is not the author’s purpose to give the general history of Indian diffi-
culties at the west, at this period; though it should be mentioned, for the information
of those not conversant with what was then transpiring in that quarter, that the In-
dian confederacy, whieh had been revived, and the wars they waged, was to recover
all of their country they l^ad ceded to the United States south of the Ohio, which
then contained about thirty-five thousand inhabitants. They insisted upon the Ohio
as the boundary line, and in this, they were sustained and encouraged by the British.
The expeditions of St. Clair and Wayne, were for enforcing previous treaties and
punishing the Indians for their depredations committed upon those who had settled on
ceded territory.
* A bottle, and sometimes a keg of whiskey to which they gave this name. What
a misnomer.! The emblem of strength and support was weakness, as has since been
lamentably demonstrated.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
297
solitary resident upon the present site of Buffalo, were Indian
traders, and acted as local sub-agents, the two first named es-
pecially. Upon the General’s orders; and sometimes at their own
discretion, they would dispense meats and drinks, and formidable
accounts thereof would be presented. Winney occupying an im-
portant position with reference to Indian relations, kept the General
apprised of all that was going on in that quarter. The United
States having passed a stringent law prohibiting wholly the selling
of liquor to the Indians and trading among them without license, an
onerous task was imposed upon the superintendent to prevent its
infraction. School masters, missionaries and blacksmiths, among the
Indians had to be cared for, and their various wants supplied. In
all difficulties that arose between the white settlers and the Indians,
the superintendent was usually called upon to be the arbitrator. If
the Indians stole from the white settlers, complaints were made to the
superintendant and it seemed to have been a matter of inference
that his office imposed upon him the duty of seeing all such wrongs
redressed. It will surprise those who are not conversant with the
scale of economy upon which our national affairs commenced, that
the pay for all this, which was attended with large disbursement of
public money, for which the most rigid accountability was deman-
ded, was but five hundred dollars per annum.
The season of 1794 opened with gloomy prospects:—Negotia-
tions with the western Indians had signally failed; one army had
been routed, and another defeated; Indian murders of border settlers
at the west continued; a war with England was not improbable
and among the fearfully anticipated results in this region, was a
renewal of the border wars,/with the active participation of the
legions of savage warriors at the west, added to increase its hor-
Note.—The following is a specimen of Mr. Winney’s correspondence. Prince Ed-
ward was the afterwards Duke of Kent, the father of the present Queen of England.
He had then a commission in the British army :—
Buffalo Creek, e 23d Aug., 1792.
“ I inform General Chapin that about 79 of the Canada Indians is gone to Detroit,
they seem to be for Warr and a number of Indians more are expected to go up, I further
inform you that the Indians of this place are to go up in the first Kings vessel tha
comes down. Prince Edward is arrived at niagara should I hear anything worth while
to write I shall let you know. I am your most obedient and very humble servant.
C. WINNEY.
* The reader is reminded that a war between England and France had commenced
England had prostrated American commerce by her arbitrary orders in council; and
impressment of American seamen, (of itself a sufficient cause of war,) was going on.
19298
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
rors. In the month of February, Lord Dorchester had returned
from England, and meeting a deputation from the western Indians,
had delivered to them an inflammatory speech, asserting among
other things, that he should regard as invalid, any acquisition of the
United States, of Indian lands since the peace of 1783. [Appen-
dix, No. 14.] This of course included all of the Genesee country.
Following up the hostile demonstration, Gov. Simcoe, early in April,
with a body of troops had proceeded to the west, and erected a
Fort, at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami, far within the boun-
daries of the United States, as acknowleged in the treaty of 1783.
Although General Chapin, as many of the old Pioneers well re-
member, endeavored to quiet alarm, and prevent the desertion of
the country, he was far from feeling all the security and freedom from
apprehension of danger, that he with good motives professed. All
eyes were turned to him; from all the backwoods settlements, mes-
sengers would go to Canandaigua, to learn from him all that was
going on — to consult him as to anticipated danger;— if he had
shown misgivings, or favored alarm, a desertion of the country would
have ensued, the necessity of which he was laboring to obviate.
During the previous winter he had been to Philadelphia, and deliv-
ered to the President a message from a council of the Six Nations,
and brought back an answer. In February he had convened a coun-
cil at Buffalo and delivered it. It had proved satisfactory except in
one particular — it had failed to give an explicit answer upon the
vexed question of the disputed western boundary. He however
distributed presents among them — of which was a large supply of
warm winter clothing — and left them with renewed professions of
peaceful intentions.* In April he wrote to the Secretary of War that
he had entertained confidence that the Six Nations intended to hold a
council with the U. States, in order to bring “ about a general peace,”
but that he feared that the “ inflammatory speech of Lord Dorches-
ter,” (which had been interpreted to the Indians at Buffalo Creek,
by Col. Butler,) “ with what passed between the British and Indi-
ans on that occasion, had changed their intentions.” “ Captain
Bomberry attended the council in behalf of the British, government,
and took pains on all occasions to inform the Indians that war between
* At this period the Senecas were almost wholly clothed and fed by him. It was
the only policy which could prevent them from resorting to the king’s store house at
Niagara.PHELPS AM) GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	299
their government and ours, was inevitable. When I was at Buf-
falo Creek, Gov. Simcoe had gone to Detroit. He started for that
place immediately on receiving Lord Dorchester’s speech to the
Indians.” “ The expenses of the Indians increase with the im-
portance they suppose their friendship to be to us; however, you
may be persuaded that I endeavor to make use of all the economy I
can.” The letter closes as follows: —“ This part of the country, be-
ing the frontier of the State of New York, is very much alarmed at the
present appearance of war. Destitute of arms and ammunition, the
scattered inhabitants of this remote wilderness would fall an easy prey
to their savage neighbors, should they think proper to attack them.”
On the 5th of May, General Chapin informed the Secretary, that
the British ha$ commenced the erection of a Fort at Sandusky.
“ If,” says he, ?‘it is consistent with the views of the United States,
to put any part of this country in a state of defence, this part of
it calls aloud for it as much as any. We are totally unprovided
with arms and ammunition, and our enemy is within a few miles
of us. If 12 or 1500 stand of arms could be spared from the arse-
nals of the United States, to the inhabitants of this frontier, together
with some ammunition, it would contribute much to their security.”*
The apprehension of danger extended over all the region west
of Utica. In the small settlements that had been commenced in
Onondaga, it had been enhanced by an unfortunate local occurrence:
Early in the spring, Sir John Johnson, through an agent, had at-
tempted to take from Albany to Canada, a boat load of groceries
and fruit trees. A party of men waylaid the boat at Three River
Point, and plundered the entire cargo. It was a lawless attempt of
individuals to take the power into their own hands, and redress na-
tional wrongs; gratify an iU feeling against Johnson, and retaliate
for British offences upon the Ocean, and the annoyances of Ameri-
can Lake commerce at Oswego. An invading force from Canada
to land at Oswego, and march upon the settlements in Onondaga,
was threatened and anticipated. Rumors came that Johnson and
Brant were organizing for that purpose.
In reference to the whole complexion of things at the west, and
in Canada, the legislature of New York had resolved upon erecting
fortifications upon the western borders, and had appropriated
* Some f.rms and ammunition were shortly afterwards sent to Gen. Chapin, either
by the general or state government.300	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
£12,000 for that purpose. The commissioners under the act, were
Generals Stephen Yan Rensselaer and William North, Adjt. Gen.
David Yan Horne and Baron Steuben, who was then a resident
of Oneida county. Soon after their appointment, they had enlisted
the co-operation of General Chapin, Charles Williamson and Robert
Morris, as to the location of the defences. Although Baron
Steuben came west, and corresponded with the last named gentle-
man in refereriee to the matter, the author can not learn that any
thing was finally consummated west of Onondaga. Before any
thing could have been matured, the clouds of war had began to dis-
perse. In the hour of alarm, the State commissioners came west
as far as Salt Point, and ordered the erection of a block house,
which was soon completed. The Baron mustered together the
backwoodsmen of Onondaga, officered and inspected them; a
committee of public safety was organized. Before the block house
was completed and garrisoned, on several occasions, the inhabitants
fled to the woods with their most valuable effects. At this time,
there was .an unusual number of Indians at the British posts of Os-
wego and Niagara; it was inferred that they were only waiting for
Wayne’s defeat at the west, as a signal for a movement in this
quarter.
A new element of trouble was interposed to embarrass the rela-
tions of the Six Nations with the United States. Cornplanter,
with a few other chiefs, had sold to the State of Pennsylvania a
district of country along on the south shore of Lake Erie, which
included Presque Isle. The act was strongly remonstrated against,
and Pennsylvania was early informed that it had not the sanction
of competent authority, and would be regarded by the Indians as a
nullity; but at a critical period, the authorities of Pennsylvania
very inddiscreetly commenced an arrfied occupancy and surveys.
This threatened to undo all that had been done by General Chapin
Note. —The author of the excellent History of Onondaga, from which a portion of
the account of movements in that quarter axe derived, says : — “Frederick William
Augustus Baron de Steuben, once an aid-de-camp to Frederick the Great, King of
Prussia, Quartermaster General, Chevalier of the Order of Merit, Grand Master of the
Court of Hohenzollen, Colonel in the Circle of Suabia, Knight of the Order of Fideli-
ty, Commander-in-chief of the armies of the Prince of Baden, Major General of the
armies of the United States, and Inspector General of the same—the fortunate
soldier of fifty battles, an admirer of freedom, the friend of Washington, the man of
virtue, fidelity and honor—performed his last military service in reviewing a score of
unarmed, half-clad militia, and in selecting a site for a block-house for the defence of
the frontier of New York, in the county of Onondaga, at Salt Point, in 1794.”phelps and gorham’s purchase.
301
to keep the Six nations quiet. He took the advantage of a visit of
Capt. Williamson to the seat of government, to represent the con-
sequences, and induce the President to interfere and persuade the
authorities of Pennsylvania to abandon the enterprise. In a letter
to the Secretary of War, dated on the 7th of June, he had fore-
shadowed the difficulty that was springing up in a new quarter —
“ The Cornplanter, whose steadiness and fidelity has been, until
lately, unshaken, has, I am apprehensive, been induced to join
their interests. He has lately returned from Niagara, loaded with
presents. Shortly after his return to his home, he despatched run-
ners to the different tribes of the Six Nations, requesting them to
meet in a general council at his castle, to proceed from thence to
Yenango; informing them that an Indian had been killed by our
people, and that it would be necessary for them to inquire into the
circumstances.” “ I am afraid that the murder of the Indian is not
the real cause of calling this council. The lands at Presque Isle,
were sold to the State of Pennsylvania by Cornplanter, and a small
party, without the consent of the nation. No division of the
money was ever made. The Cornplanter has always denied having
made the sale, and they have never considered it as a valid one.
The troops sent on by the State of Pennsylvania, prove to the In-
dians that the property is considered by the State as belonging ot
them; and the Cornplanter, in order to extricate himself from the
unpleasant situation he is placed in, is perhaps desirous of inflaming
the Six Nations against the United States.” General Chapin sig-
nified his intention of attending the council at Venango, as he had
been invited, to thwart any mischief that might be engendered
there. He succeeded, however, in changing the council to Buffalo
Creek, to be held there on the 15th of June.
Cornplanter was present at this council, and the principal speak-
er. He led off with a speech to be transmitted to the President, in
which he nearly threw off all disguise, and from a conservative, be-
came an ultraist. He opened smoothly and artfully, however; ad-
dressing the President through Gen. Chapin, he said: — “ Brother,
I have for along time aimed at the good of both parties. I have
paid you different compliments, as that of brother, and father, and
now I shall call you friend. We were pleased when we heard that
you was appointed to have chief command of the United States.”
He closed a long speech, and one of a good deal of ability, by join-302
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
ing the western Indians in their ultimatum, in reference to making
the Ohio the boundary line; thus, in fact, nullifying his own acts.
He demanded redress for two of their people killed by the whites;
and even had the effrontery to complain of the occupation of
Presque Isle, adding very significantly that it might “occasion
many accidents,” and presented the Gen. with ten strings of black
wampum. General Chapin made a judicious reply ; and in answer
to a request that Cornplanter had made in behalf of the Six
Nations, for him to go to Presque Isle, disclaimed any right he had
to interfere with the acts of Pennsylvania; but said he wrould ac-
cept the invitation, and go there and give his advice.
Accompanied by William Johnson, # two Seneca chiefs and ten
Indians as a guard and as oars-men, General Chapin left Buffalo
Creek on the 19th of July for Presque Isle, where he arrived on the
24th. Their slow progress had been owing to head winds that
frequently obliged them to camp on shore and await their, subsiding.
There were then no Indian or white occupants at Presque Isle. A
company of troops and a corps of surveyors were stationed at Le
Boeuf, on French Creek, 16 miles distant, to which place the em-
bassy plodded their way through the woods on foot. A Captain
Denny commanded troops at Le Boeuf, and Mr. Ellicott f was at
the head of the surveyors. The arrival of the ambassador of peace
and his dusky retinue, was honored by the discharge of cannon.
Runners had preceded the party, and on its arrival, a considerable
number of Indians were collected. General Chapin delivered to
Messrs. Denny and Ellicott, a message from the chiefs he had met
at Buffalo Creek, which contained a demand for the suspension of
surveys and a withdrawal of the troops; a day or two was spent in
making speeches, and in friendly intercourse with the Indians. The
council, or interview, terminated in a promise from General Chapin
of a general treaty to settle not only that, but all existing difficul-
ties, and the representatives of Pennsylvania signified a willingness
to abide by the result. Before leaving Le Boeuf, General Chapin
despatched a letter to the Secretary of War, in which he said, that
* Johnson was a trader and interpreter in the British interests, residing at Buffalo
Creek. ' When the Holland Company purchased, he owned, by deed of gift from the
Indians, almost the entire site of the present city of Buffalo. A compromise gave
him 45 acres, now in the heart of the city, and a tract of wild land near the city. He
had been a Butler Ranger. He died in 1807,
t Either Joseph or Benjamin Ellicott.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
303
“ although the minds of the Six Nations are much disturbed at the
injuries they say they have sustained, they are still opposed to war,
and wish, if possible, to live in peace with the United States.
They are much opposed to the establishing of a garrison at this
place, as they say it will involve them in a war with the hostile
Indians.* They are likewise much displeased with the having
those lands surveyed, as they say they have not been legally pur-
chased.” In this letter, General Chapin earnestly recommended a
general treaty, as the only means which could keep the Six Nations
aloof from the dangerous confederacy at the west.
To the letter of General Chapin, the Secretary answered on the
25th of July, saying: — “Your ideas of a conference are adopted.
It will be held at Canandaigua on the 8th of September. Colonel
Pickering will be the commissioner, to be assisted by you in all re-
spects. Notify the Six Nations, that their father, the President of
the United States, is deeply concerned to hear of any dissatisfac-
tion existing in their minds against the United States, and there-
fore invites them to a conference, for the purpose of removing all
causes of misunderstanding, and establishing a permanent peace
and friendship between the United States and the Six Nations.”
No time was lost by General Chapin in disseminating the invi-
tation among the Indians; holding “ talks ” and councils with them,
personally, in their villages. A crisis was at hand ; Gen. Wayne
was marching into the Indian country; legions of the western and
southern Indians were assembling to give him battle; unless the /
Six Nations were diverted, there was strong probability that they
would be with them; and if Gen. Wayne was defeated, there was
the additional fearful probability that an attempt of the confederates
would follow, to address the alleged wrongs of the Six Nations, by
bringing the war to this region. Runners, or messengers, were
despatched to the seat of government; frequent communications
passed betwen Generals Knox and Chapin, and frequent speeches
came from the President, through General Knox, to the Six Nations.
On the 30th of July, General Chapin reported progress, and inform-
ed General Knox that the complexion of things at the west looked
discouraging; that although he entertained hopes of a general at-
* Oblige them to join the hostile Indians, it is presumed, is the meaning intended
to be conveyed.,304	phelps am) gorham’s purchase.
tendance at the treaty, he had to stem a strong tide of opposition,
principally instigated by the British. “ Captain 0. Bail does not
feel satisfied respecting his villanous conduct in making sale of the
lands at Presque Isle, which gives general dissatisfaction to the Six
Nations, as they were not informed of his proceedings. The In-
dians’ enmity to him, induces him to be more attached to the
British, as they tolerate every kind of such conduct to disturb the
Indians and bring about their own purposes.” In this letter, the
General mentions that the warriors on the Allegany had been per-
suaded that Wayne would march in this direction, and had re-
moved their old men, women, and children, to a new location on
he Cattaraugus Creek, with the ultimate intention, as he thought,
of crossing the Lake to Canada.
In the fore part of September, General Chapin employed William
Ewing,. whom the reader will find alluded to in connection with
reminiscences of Pioneer settlement on the Genesee river, to repair
to Buffalo creek and Canada, use his influence in getting the Indi-
ans in that quarter to attend the treaty, and watch and counteract
as far as possible, British interference. A letter from Mr. Ewing
to General Chapin after his return, contains so much of the cotem-
porary history of that period, that the author has inserted it entire
in the Appendix, No. 15.
The most ample provisions were made for the treaty; while the
Secretary of War would caution against flie unnecessary expendi-
ture of public money, he transmitted funds liberally, and ample
stores of Indian goods, liquors, tobacco, &c., were purchased in
New York, sent up the Hudson, and started upon the long and tedious
water transit, while at Canandaigua, the local superintendent, laid
in provisions and prepared to fulfil a promise to the Indians, that he
would “hang on big kettles.” Col. Pickering wrote to General
Chapin to have quarters provided for him where he could entertain
friends ; that he had sent on liquors, provisions, tea and coffee, for
a private establishment.
The Indians gathered tardily. Col. Pickering anticipating this,
did not arrive until after the 20th of September. In a letter to the
Secretary, dated on the 17th, Gen. Chapin mentions a rumor, that
Wayne had defeated the Indians. In reference to the treaty he
says: — “ Since the Indians were first invited to it, the British have
endeavored if possible to prevent their attendance, and have usedphelps and gorham’s purchase.
S05
every endeavor to persuade them to join the hostile Indians, till at
last they found the Indians would not generally join in the war,
the Governor told them in the council at Fort Erie, that they might
attend the treaty, and if anything was given them by the Ameri-
cans, to take it.” “ The Indians will generally attend the treaty in
my opinion, or especially those of the best part of them; such as
are generally in council, and the best friends to the United States.”
Previous to the treaty, or Wayne’s victory, a little light had broke
in to the darkness that pervaded. The prospect of a general war
with England was lessened. Gen. Knox wrote to Gen. Chapin in
June, that the “British conduct in the West Indies,” and Lord
Dorchester’s speech had “ rendered it pretty conclusive'that last au-
tumn the ministry of Great Britain entertained the idea of making
war upon us. It is however, now pretty certain that they have
altered or suspended that intention. This conclusion is drawn from
the orders of the 8th of January, and the general opinion enter-
tained in Great Britain.” Favorable as were these indications,
they had no immediate effect upon British agents in this quarter.
It was not until near the middle of October, that a sufficient num-
ber of Indians were collected at Canandaigua, to warrant the com-
mencement of business. About that period General Chapin wrote
to the Secretary, that he should “ endeavor to make use of the
shortest ceremony in procuring supplies, but the number of Indians
is greater than I expected, and the expenses also.” It is apparent
from the cotemporary records, that the Six Nations, a large propor-
tion of them at least, hung back from this treaty, even until they
began to hear of Wayne’s victory, from such of their number as
had been in the fight, as allies of the confederates; and in fact they
did not assemble at Canandaigua, in any considerable numbers, un-
til Wayne’s success was fully confirmed, and they were clearly con-
vinced that the fortunes of war had turned decidedly against those
with whom they would have been fully allied, if Wayne had met
with no better success than had his predecessors, Harmar and St.
Clair.
The general proceedings, and favorable termination of Picker-
ing’s treaty of 1794, at Canandaigua, are already incorporated in
history. Wayne’s victory, and the success of the treaty, which
was in a great measure consequent upon it, were the commence-
ment of events that finally gave a feeling of security to this region,306
PHELPS AHD HOKHAm’s PURCHASE.
and enabled settlements and improvements to go on, unannoyed by
the alarms and prospects of war and invasion. There was a lin-
gering state of uncertainty after the two fortunate events; for
months rumors came, that the western confederates were again
making a stand, and refusing any compromise; indications in Can-
ada, and at the British posts at the west, favored the conclusion of
British alliance with them; but the news at last came, that the far
western nations were retiring across the Mississippi, discomfited,
and chagrined with an alledged breach of faith on the part of the
British,} in not coming to the rescue when they were hotly pressed
by Wayne — in shutting the gates of their fortress against them,
when his iron hail was strewing the ground with their warriors; #
and finally, that the nations more immediately interested in the con-
test, had signified their willingness tb do what was soon after con-
summated at the treaty of Grenville. Jay’s treaty followed, Oswego
and Niagara were surrendered, and years of peace and security
followed, and continued until the war of 1812.
The Hon. Thomas Morris, it will have been seen, was a citizen
of Canandaigua. He was present at the treaty. He tnus speaks
of it in his manuscript reminiscences : — “ For some months prioi
to the treaty at Canandaigua, the Indians would come among us
painted for war; their deportment was fierce and arrogant; such
as to create the belief that they would not be unwilling to take up
the hatchet against us. From certain expressions attributed to
Gov. Simcoe, in connection with his conduct at Sodus Bay, it was
believed that the British had taught the Indians to expect that Gen.
Wayne would be defeated, in which event they might easily have
persuaded the Six Nations, to make common cause with the hostile
Indians, and our settlements would have been depopulated. Such
were the apprehensions entertained at the time of an Indian war on
our borders, that in several instances, farmers were panic struck, and
with the dread of the scalping knife before them, had pulled up
stakes, and with their families, were on their way to the East. Ar-
rived at Canandaigua, they found that I was painting my house,
and making improvements about it; believing that I possessed better
information on the subject than they did, their fears became quieted,
* Mr. Morris says that the hostile Indians at the west, sent runners to the Canandai-
gua treaty with a full account of their disaster, which closed by saying: —“And our
>rethren, the British, looked on, and gave us not the least assistance307
phelps akd gorham’s purchase.
and they retraced their steps back to their habitations. After the
defeat of the hostile Indians, those of the Six Nations became com-
pletely cowed; and, from that time all apprehensions of a war with
them vanished.
Brant has almost been lost sight of in the progress of this narra-
tive ; though he was by no means inactive. He was in correspond-
dence with General Chapin, on terms of personal friendship with
him, receiving from his hands considerable sums of money in pay-
ment for promised services; but it is impossible to avoid the con-
clusion that he was insincere and faithless. His own partial biog-
rapher, Col. Stone, places him in arms, with an hundred MohawTks,
against St. Clair, and gives a letter of his to Gov. Simcoe, in which
he acknowledges the receipt of ammunition from the British, and
said he was about to join his camp of warriors at “ Point Appineu,”*
to act in co-operation with Cornplanter in an attack upon Le Boeuf.
In short, with the exception of a growing distaste for war, of which
he had had a surfeit, his relations to the British government, and
att achment to its interests, were not materially changed, until grow-
ing out of land difficulties in Canada, he had a quarrel with the
colonial authorities. Cornplanter finally made some amends for
the conduct of which Gen. Chapin so very justly complained.
The visit of General Chapin to the disputed territory in Penn-
sylvania, as a mediator, and the fortunate turn lie gave to affairs by
his judicious suggestion of a general treaty, was an important event
not only to this region, but to our whole country. It diverted the Six
Nations from marching against Wayne; had they been in main force
with the confederates, the result of the contest, in all probability,
would have been adverse. Little Turtle would have been aided
by the counsels of “ older and better ” warriors than himself; the
ancient war cry of the Iroquois that had so often spread dismay and
terror among the confederates, would have been equally potent in
rallying them in a common cause of their race. In a letter to Gen.
Knox, dated in December, after the treaty, in which he congratu-
lates the Government through him of the favorable turn of affairs,
and gives the assurance of a settled state of things in this region,
General Chapin says : — “ My journey to Le Boeuf, I shall ever
believe was the means of preventing the Six Nations from lending
Point Abino on the Canada side of Lake Erie.308
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
their assistance to their western brothers, as they term them; and
in which I got my present sickness from which I am fearful I shall
never recover. But believe me, Sir, to be useful to the frontier upon
which I live, and my country in general, has been the prevailing
object of my pursuits. ”
Other than the mutual pledges of peace and friendship which
was made at the treaty, the settling of the lands about Presque Isle
was the important consummation. This was the result of a com-
promise. By the treaty at Fort Stanwix, the western boundary of
the Senecas was a line due south from the mouth of Buflalo creek
to the Pennsylvania line; thus cutting them off from Lake Erie and
taking from them all the territory that is now embraced in Chautauque
county, besides a strip which is now in Cattaraugus, and a gore in
Erie county. This was restored, making their western boundary
the shore of Lake Erie, and a strip of land on the Niagara River,
an addition to what had been ceded to Great Britain, was also res-
tored. The Senecas surrendered all claim to a smaller amount of
land — the triangle at Presque Isle.
In the Maryland Journal of Nov. 5th, 1794, there is a letter dated
at Whitestown, in this state, which says that “ Wm. Johnston a
British Indian agent ” was present at the treaty and secretly at-
tempted a diversion of the Indians. The author finds bnt little of
this in General Chapin’s correspondence with Gen. Knox, but he
infers that something of the kind occurred. In a letter to Brant
General Chapin speaks of the sudden departure of Johnston from
the treaty ground, as if he had advised it in consequence of a fear
that some outrage would be committed upon him by citizens in at-
tendance ; as if he had interfered, and a summary punishment was
threatened.
The forebodings of General Chapin, in his last letter to General
Knox, in reference to his declining health, unhappily for his country,
and especially the local region where he had been so useful, was des-
tined to be realized. He continued to decline, under the effects of
what is presumed to have been in some form the then prevailing
disease of the country, which finally terminated in dropsy. He
died on the 7th of March, 1795, aged 54 years. In the discharge
of his official duties, he had won the esteem and confidence of the
government, testimonials of which were given before and after his
death. Apprized of his illness, his friend Colonel Pickering, who hadPHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PUECHASE.	809
succeeded Gen. Knox as Secretary of War, carefully consulted the
eminent physician, Dr. Rush, and communicated his advice by
letter ; and equal solicitude was felt throughout a large circle of ac-
quaintance. In all this local region, his death was mourned as that
of a public benefactor; and no where more sincerely than among the
Indians, whose esteem he had won by his uniform kindness and
strict regard for their welfare. Soon after his death a large num-
ber of chiefs assembled at Canandaigua, and in public council de-
monstrated their high sense of the loss they had sustained, Red
Jacket, addressing Captains Israel Chapin and Parrish, said: —
“ Brothers — I wish you to pay attention to what I have to say.
We have lost a good friend; the loss is as great to us as to you.
We consider that we of the Six Nations, as well as the United
States, have met with a great loss. A person that we looked up to
as a father; a person appointed to stand between us and the United
States, we have lost, and it gives our minds great uneasiness.
He has taken great pains to keep the chain of friendship bright be-
tween us and the United States ; now that he is gone, let us pre-
vent that agreeableness and friendship, which he has held up between
us and the United States, from failing.
“ Brothers — It has been customary among the Six'Nations*
when they have lost a great chief, to throw a belt in his place after
he is dead and gone. We have lost so many of late, that we are
destitute of a belt, and in its place we present you with these strings,
[9 strings black and white wampum.]
“ Brothers — As it is a custom handed down to us by our fath-
ers, to keep up dhe good old ancient rules, now we visit the grave
of our friend, we gather leaves and strew them over the grave, and
endeavor to banish grief from our minds, as much as we can.” [14
strings black and white wampum.]
After this the chiefs adopted a message to be sent to the Presi-
dent, informing him that the “ person whom he had appointed for
us to communicate our minds to, has now left us and gone to ano-
ther world. He with the greatest care communicated our rninds to
the great council fire.” They concluded the message by recapitu-
lating the services that had been rendered them by Captain Israel
Chapin, his son ; reminded the President that he is conversant with
all the relations of his father with them, and request that he may
succeed to his place.310
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
The President being of the same mind of the Indians, the ap-
pointment of Captain Israel Chapin soon followed. In announcing
to him his appointment, Mr. Pickering says: —“ The affairs of the
Six Nations will henceforward be managed with much less trouble
than formerly. The treaty made with them last fall, must supersede
all pre-existing cause of complaint The treaty entered into by Mr.
Jay with Great Britain, will, I trust, rid you of all such embarrass-
ments, as heretofore have sprung from British influence, and peace
with the western Indians, is now in fair prospect. The hostile na-
tions have all sent in their chiefs to Gen. Wayne, to sue for peace;
and have agreed upon a treaty, to be held at his head quarters, about
the first of June next. So your principal concern will be to pro-
tect the tribes under your superintendence from injury and imposi-
tion, which too many of our own people are disposed to practice
upon them; and diligently to employ all the means under your di-
rection, to promote their comfort and improvement.”
As the Secretary suggested, the principal difficulties with the Six
Nations had been adjusted, but a vast amount of labor and responsi*
bility still devolved upon the local agency. Annuities were to be
paid, not only the general ones, but special ones, to a large num-
ber of chiefs and warriors, who had recommended themselves to
favor; schools and school-masters were to be looked to; blacksmiths
were to be employed and superintended in all the principal Indian
villages; depredations upon Indian lands were to be prevented, and
frequent difficulties between Indian and white settlers were to be
adjusted; Indians killed by the white men were to be paid for.*
The Indians had learned to lean upon the local Superintendent with
all the dependence of childhood. All these arduous duties seem to
have been faithfully discharged until 1802, when he was removed
from the agency. His successor was Captain Callender Irwin, of
Erie, Pennsylvania. The change would seem to have been one
of an ordinary political character, and not from any cause that im-
plicated his private or official character.
In connection with these events, it should be mentioned that
* Killing was a matter of business compromise : — “ Received of Israel Chapin,
agent of Indian affairs for the Six Nations, two hundred dollars, to satisfy the widow
and children of a deceased Indian, who was murdered at Venango, in 1795, by a sol-
dier of that garrison.	his
Witness, Wm. Johnston, Jasper Parrish.	JOHN X O’jBAIL.
Canandaigua, April 8, 1797.	mark.311
PHELPS AM) GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
the Six Nations found in the Yearly Meeting of the society of
Friends of Philadelphia early and faithful guardiansv of their inter-
ests and welfare. A committee of their number hospitably enter
tained their chiefs when they visited Philadelphia ; at the especial
request of the chiefs, a committee attended the treaty of ’94, at
Canandaigua. For almost half a century there has been a standing
committee of that Yearly Meeting, having especial care of the
Six Nations. . In 1796 this committee, availing themselves of a
visit of Jasper Parrish to the seat of government, prevailed upon
him to visit the Indians and tender to them their assistance in a
plan to instruct them in “ husbandry and the most neccessary arts
of civil life. ” They soon after established schools, sent men and
women among them to teach them farming and house work, and
built mills for them, in at least one locality.
The sons of General Israel Chapin were : — Thaddeus, who was
an early merchant in Canandaigua, and subsequently, a large farmer
near the village; Israel, the official successor of his father, who was
the founder of what was called “ Chapin’s Mills, ” a few miles north
of Canandaigua, on the Palmyra road; the only survivors of his
family, are, Mrs. John Greig, and a maiden sister ; Henry, who was
an early merchant in Buffalo, a resident of Ohio; and George, a
farmer near Canandaigua. A daughter of General Chapin, was
the wife of Benjamin Wells, who came to Canandaigua with his
father-in-law, in 1789. The surviving sons of Mr. Wells are,
Walter Wells, of Webster, Monroe county, Benjamin Wells, of
Conhocton, and Clement Wells, of Canandiagua. A daughter
became the wife of Jonas Williams, who was one the founders of
the village ot Williamsville, Erie co.
JASPER PARRISH.
His family were emigrants from the state of Connecticut to the
head waters of the Delaware river in this State, where they were
residing on the breaking out of the border wars. In 1778, when
but eleven years of age, the subject of this sketch was with his
father, who was six miles from home, assisting a family of back-
woodsmen to move nearer the settlement, where they would be less
exposed. Attacked by a small party of Munsee Indians, they were
made captives. The father was taken to Niagara, and after being a312
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
captive two years, was exchanged and enabled to rejoin his family.
The protector of young Jasper, was a war chief, by whom he
was well treated. After remaining a while at the “ Cook House,”
he was taken to Chemung. When entering the Indian village, the
war party that accompanied him set up the war shout, when a posse
of Indians and Indian boys salbed out and met them; pulling the
young prisoner from the horse he was riding, they scourged him
with whips and beat him cruelly with the handles of their toma-
hawks — subjected him to one form of their gauntlet — until his
master humanely rescued him. He was soon after sold by his
master to an Indian- family of Delawares, and taken to reside with
them at their village on the south side of the Delaware river, where
he remained during the year 1779, suffering a good deal during the
, winter for the want of warm clothing, and in consequence of the
scanty fare of the Indians. To inure him to cold, the Indians com-
pelled him almost daily, to strip and plunge into the ice and water
of the river. Adopted by the family who had become his owners,
he was kindly treated, and accompanied them in all their hunting
and fishing excursions.
He was at Newtown with his captors, when Sullivan invaded
their country, and used to relate what transpired there : — As the
army approached Newtown point, a large body of Indians collected
four miles below to make an attack, after having placed their squaws,
prisoners and baggage in a safe place. They soon found they could
not stand their ground, and sent runners to the squaws directing
them to retreat up the river to Painted Post, where they followed
them soon after. Tbe whole made a hasty march to Niagara, via
Bath, Geneseo and Tonawanda. The family to whom Parrish be-
longed were of this retreating party. In a short time after their
arrival, nearly the whole of the Six Nations were encamped on the
plain, in the vicinity of the Fort. They subsisted upon salted pro-
visions during the winter, dealt out to them from the British garrison,
and great numbers died in consequence. To induce them to dis-
perse and go back to their villages on the Genesee river, or go out
on scouting parties, the British officers offered them an increased
bounty for American scalps.
Before winter young Parrish was sold for twenty dollars, to Cap-
tain David Hill, “ a large fine looking Mohawk Indian,” a relation
of Joseph Brant, who conducted him to his tent and gave him toPHELPS AM) GORHAMS PURCHASE.
81.8
understand that he would thereafter live with him. He disliked
the change of masters at the time: it involved the necessity of
learning another Indian language, and he had become attached to the
Delaware family ; but it all turned out for the best. He resided in
the family of Captain Hill for five years, in all of which time he
was kindly treated, and well provided for. His time was chiefly
spent in accompanying the Indians in travelling excursions, hunting,
fishing, and when put to labor, but light tasks were imposed upon
him. Soon after he was purchased by Captain Hill, a general
council of the British and Indians took place at Fort Niagara; upon
which occasion Capt. Hill took his young American captive into the
midst of an assembly of chiefs, and adopted him as his son, going
through the ceremony of placing a large belt of wampum around
his neck. After which an old chief took him by the hand and
made a speech, as is customary on such occasions, accompanying it
with a great deal of solemnity of manner. Then the chiefs arose
and all shook hands with the adopted captive.
On one occasion, while with the Delaware family at Niagara, he
came near being the victim of the British bounty for scalps. Left
alone with some Indians who were on a carousal, he overheard one
propose to another, that they should kill the “young Yankee,” take
his scalp to the Fort and sell it for rum. In a few minutes one of
them took a large brand from the fire and hurled it at his head, but
being on the alert, he dodged it and made his escape. The Indians
pursued him, but it being dark he was enabled to avoid them.
In May, 1780, Brant founded a village of Mohawks near the pres-
ent village of Lewiston, to which Capt. Hill removed. There Par-
rish remained until the close of the Revolution. He travelled with
his Indian father a good deal among other Indian tribes, by whom
he was always well treated. At the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1784,
he with other prisoners, were surrendered in accordance with treaty
stipulations. He immediately joined his father’s family, whom he
found in Goshen, Orange county. Having nearly lost the use of
his own language, he attended school for about one year, which was
all the opportunity for acquiring an education he ever enjoyed,
other than what a strong native intellect enabled him to acquire in
his intercourse with the world.
He was employed by Mr. Pickering in his Indian treaty in 1790,
and ’91, and his qualifications as an interpreter, together with his
20314	phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
character for faithfulness and integrity, coming to the knowledge
of the then Secretary of War, General Knox, he employed him in
the Indian department in 1792, giving him a letter to General Cha-
pin, with whom he became associated as interpreter for the Six
Nations. In all the crisis of Indian difficulties, he was the active
co-operater of General Chapin, and contributed much to the final
adjustment of them. A “ winged Mercury,” in the earliest years
his appointment after he was now here, and now there; alter-
nating between the seat of government, at Philadelphia, Buffalo
Creek, Genesee River, Onondaga, Oneida and Canandaigua; the
interpreter at councils, and the bearer of messages. The captive
boy of the Indian wigwams, becoming a man, rerpembered only the
virtues and kindnesses of his captors — not the wrongs they had
inflicted upon him or his countrymen — and was the faithful inter-
preter of their complaints and grievances to him, whom they called
their “Father, the great chief of the Thirteen FiresWashing-
ton. In 1803 he had the additional appointment of local Indian
agent, and continued to hold both offices, through all the changes
of the administration of the general government, down to the
second term of General Jackson’s administration.
He retained to the close of his life, a strong attachment to the
Indians, as was the case generally with liberated captives ; and by
means of his position, and the influence he had acquired with
them, was enabled to render them essential service; to assist in
ameliorating their condition, by introducing among them the Chris-
tian religion, schools and agricultural pursuits. While a prisoner,
he acquired the Mohawk language, and before the close of his life,
he spoke that of five of the Six Nations with great fluency.
Captain Parrish died at his residence in Canandaigua, July 12th,
1836, in the 69th year of his age.
He married in early life, a daughter of General Edward Paine,
one of the Pioneers of the western Reserve, and the founder of
Painesville. She died in 1837. His surviving sons are, Isaac, a
farmer on the Lake shore, near Canandaigua; Stephen and Ed-
ward, residents of the village of Canandaigua. One of his daughters
became the wife of Ebenezer S. Cobb, of Michigan, who was lost
with the ill-fated Erie, near Dunkirk, in 1841; another, the wife
of Peter Townsend, of Orange county; and another, the wife of
William W. Gorham, of Canandaigua.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
315
CHAPTER IV.
ATTEMPT OF GOV. SIMCOE TO BREAK UP THE SETTLEMENTS OF THE
GENESEE COUNTRY.
The reader has already learned, generally, what was the temper
and bearing of the British authorities in Canada, touching the early
Pioneer movements in the Genesee country. A British and Indian
alliance, a connected movement, having in view the re-possession
of the country, was with much difficulty but barely prevented.
In all the controversy — or pending the issue of the whole matter —
there was, other than what may have transpired at the west, but
one overt act, in pursuance of British pretensions and threats. This
was an actual invasion, by a British armed force, of the Genesee
country, at Sodus Bay.
Previous to coming in possession of the valuable manuscripts of
the late Thomas Morris, the author had drawn up for this work, an
account of the event, the materials for which were derived prin-
cipally from the papers of Mr. Williamson. Mr. Morris having
included it in his reminiscences, it being a matter, “ all of which
he saw, and a part of which he was/' his history of the transaction
is substituted: —
“ Gov. .SirncoehadT from his first assuming the government of
Upper Canada, evinced the greatest jealousy of the progress of the
settlement of our western country; he was even said to have
threatened to send Captain, Williamson to England in irons, if he
ever ventured to come into Canada. In 1794, Capt. Williamson
had commenced a settlement at Sodus Bay. •
In the month of August of that year, Lieut. Sheaffe, of the
British army, (now Major General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, who,
during the last war, commanded at the battle of Queenston, after
the death of Gen. Brock,) was sent by Governor Sirncoe, with a316	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
protest to be delivered to Captain Williamson, protesting against
the prosecution of the settlement of Sodus, and all other Ameri-
can settlements beyond the old French line, during the inexecution
of the treaty that terminated the Revolutionary war. Finding
there only an agent of Mr. Williamson's, (a Mr. Moffat, who is yet
living,) Lieut. Sheaffe informed him of the nature of his mission,
and requested him to make it known to Capt. Williamson, and to
inform him that he would return in ten days, when he hoped to
meet Capt. Williamson there. Mr. Moffat came to me at Canan-
daigua, to acquaint me with what had taken place, and induce me
to accompany him to Bath, to confer with Capt. Williamson in re-
lation to this very extraordinary protest. I accordingly went to
Bath, and it was agreed between Capt. Williamson and myself, that
we would both meet Lieut. Sheaffe at Sodus, at the time he had ap-
pointed to be there. Accordingly, on the day named by Lieut.
Sheaffe, we were at Sodus; and shortly after our arrival there, we
perceived on the lake, a boat rowed by about a dozen British
soldiers, who, after landing their officer, were directed by him to
pull off some distance in the bay, and remain there until he made a
signal to return for him. Capt Williamson, in consequence of the
threats imputed to Gov. Simcoe, in relation to himself, did not think
proper to expose himself unnecessarily to any act of violence, if
any such should have been meditated against him. He therefore
requested me to receive Lieut. Sheaffe on the beach, and to ac-
company him to the log cabin where Capt. Williamson was, with a
brace of loaded pistols on his table. The ordering his men to re-
main at a distance from the shore, shows that the precaution that
had been taken, though proper at the time, was unnecessary,
and that no resort to force was intended. The meeting between
the Lieut, and Mr. Williamson, was friendly; they had known each
other before; and while in the same service, had marched through
some part of England together. The Lieut, handed to Capt. Wil-
liamson the protest, and was desired by the Capt. to inform Gov-
Simcoe that he would pay no attention to it, but prosecute his set-
tlement, the same as if no such paper had been delivered to him;
that if any attempt should be made forcibly to prevent him from
doing so, that attempt would be repelled by force. Lieut. Sheaffe
having, during the interview between them, made some allusion to
Capt. Williamson having once held a commission in the British317
phelpb and gorham’s purchase.
army, he replied, that while in the service of the Crown, he had
faithfully performed his duty; that having since renounced his al-
legiance to that Crown, and became a citizen of the United States,
his adopted country, having both the ability and the inclination,
would protect him in his rights, and the possession of his property,
I asked Lieut. Sheaffe if he would be so good as to explain what
was meant by the old French line, where it ran, and what portion
of our country we were forbidden in Gov. Simcoe’s protest, to oc-
cupy. He replied, that he was merely the bearer of the paper; that
by the orders of his superior officer, he had handed it to Capt. Wil-
liamson; that no explanation had been given to him of its purport,
nor was he authorized to give any. After about half an hour, I
accompanied him to the beach, where he had landed; and on a
signal having been made by him, his boat returned for him, and he
departed. This is what my father, in his letter of the 10th of Sep-
tember, 1794, alludes to, and terms a treaty, and for which he hopes
that Simcoe will get a rap over the knuckles from his master. So
many years have elapsed since the complaints made both by the
British and our own Government, were adjusted by negotiation,
that you may be at a loss to know what Governor Simcoe meant
when he spoke of the inexecution of the treaty that terminated our
Revolutionary struggle. The complaint on the part of Great
Britain, was, that those parts^of the treaty which required that
those States in which British subjects were prevented by law, from
recovering debts due to them prior to the Revolution, had been re-
pealed, — as by the treaty, they ought to have been, — and also,
that British property had been confiscated, since the period limited
in the treaty for such confiscations, and no compensation had
been made to the injured parties. On our part, the complaint was,
that after the cessation of hostilities, negroes and other property,
were carried away by the British army, contrary to stipulations en-
tered into by the preliminary treaty of peace. The British retain-
ed possession of the posts on our borders, and within our bounds,
until an amicable settlement of these difficulties, and which settle-
ment, I think, took place in 1796/'*
Note.—The conversation that passed between Mr. Williamson and Lieut. Sheaffe,
as copied from Mr. Williamson’s autograph, is as follows: •—
Lieut. Sheaffe. — “Tam commissioned by Governor Simcoe to deliver the papers,
and require an answer.”
Mr. Williamson.—“I am a citizen of the United States, and under their authori-318
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUECHASE.
The news of this hostile demonstration on the part of one, seem-
ing to act by authority from the British government, was soon
spread through all the backwoods settlements of the Genesee coun-
try. At no period since the settlement commenced, had the con-
duct of the Indians so much favored the worst apprehensions. Har-
mar and St. Clair had in turn been defeated and repulsed by the
western Indians, and the issue that Wayne had made with them
was pending; his defeat being not improbable, in view of the for-
midable enemy w7ith which he had to contend. Evidences of
British aid to the western Indians, against General Wayne, was
furnished by returning adventurers from the west, and every travel-
ler that came through the wilderness from Niagara, confirmed the
worst suspicions of all that was going on at that focus of British
machinations, against the peace of the defenceless border settlers.
It was, too, ominous of danger, that the Senecas in their immedi-
ate neighborhood, in their midst, it may almost be said, had armed and
moved off in considerable numbers, to become confederates against
General Wayne, bearing upon their persons the blankets, the broad
cloths, calicoes, and war decorations, served to them from the king’s
store house at Niagara, by the hands of one whose very very name*
was a terror, for it was mingled with the chiefest horrors, and
the darkest deeds of the Border Wars of the Revolution. Wayne
defeated, it was but natural to suppose that the Senecas who had gone
west and made themselves confederates against him, would bring
back with them upon their war path, allies from the western tribes, to
renew the bloody scenes that had been enacted upon the banks of the
Mohawk and Susquehannah. Such being the cotemporary state
tj and protection, I possess these lands. I know no right that his Britannic Majesty,
or Gov. Simcoe, has to interfere, or molest me. The only allegiance I owe to any
gower on earth, is to the t nited States ; and so far from being intimidated by threats
om people I have no connection with, I shall proceed with my improvements; and
nothing but superior force shall make me abandon the place. Is the protest of Gov.
Simcoe intended to apply to Sodus, exclusively ?”
Lieut. Sheaffe. —“By no means ! It is intended to embrace all the Indian lands
purchased since the peace of 1783.’5
Mr. Williamson.— “And what are Gov. Simcoe’s intentions, supposing the protest
is disregarded ?”
Lieut. Sheaffe.—“I am merely the official bearer of the papers; but I have a
further message to deliver from Gov. Simcoe ; which is that he reprobates your con-
duct exceedingly for endeavoring to obtain flour from Upper Canada; and that should
he permit it, it would be acknowledging the right of the United States to these In-
dian lands.”
* Col. John Butler.PHELPS AM) GCRHAm’s PURCHASE,
319
of things, it is hardly to be wondered, that the landing of a small
body of British troops upon the soil of the Genesee country; though
they came but small in numbers, their errand but to bring a threat-
ening protest, was a circumstance of no trifling magnitude. And the
reader will not fail to take into the account, how feeble in numbers,
how exposed, and how weak in all things necessary to a successful
defence, was the then new settlements of the Genesee country. In
all this he will be aided by a brief retrospect of the commencement
and progress of settlement; and added to what this will show,
should be the consideration, that the settlers came into the wilder*4
ness unprepared for war. They came, relying upon a treaty of
peace. Wearied with war and all its harrassing effects, they had
more than figuratively beat their swords into ploughshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks. They had come to subdue the wil-
derness, and not to subdue their fellow men. The rumors of war
came to the sparse settlements, and the solitary log-cabins dotted
down in the wilderness, like the decrees of fate, to be added to all
the sufferings and endurances of pioneer life. But a few weeks
previous to all this, there had been, as if by concert, a far more than
usual emigration of New York Indians to Canada. They went from
most of the Six Nations, in detatched parties, and a very large pro-
portion of the Onondagas had emigrated in a body. The demeanor
of the Senecas had undergone a marked change. By some unseen
but suspected influence, they had become morose and quarrelsome.
A far more than usual number of outrages were committed upon
the new settlers ; in fact, the principal ones that are now remem-
bered, happened about this period. These facts were not without
their influence in converting the circumstances of the landing of an
armed force at Sodus Bay, into a preliminary measure, the sequel
of which might prove the breaking out of a general war, having
for its object the recovery of’ the soil of the Genesee country by
the Indians, and the bringing of it again under Briti&h-ffominion
It will surprise those who are not familiar with early events in the
Genesee country, when they are told that as late as 1794 — eight
years after settlement had been commenced, there was but little of
intercourse or communication with Albany and New York ; Phila-
delphia and Baltimore, and especially the latter, had far more inti-
mate delations with all this region. To the papers of those cities,
the settlers in those then backwoods looked for news, and in them320
PHELPS AND GOKHAjVTS PURCHASE.
events transpiring here were generally recorded. On the first of
September, the affair at.Sodus was announced in the Maryland
Gazette, in a letter from Philadelphia, accompanied by the intelli-
gence that an express had arrived at the then seat of government,
with despatches for the War Office.
Immediately after the departure of Lieut. Sheaffe, Mr. William-
son, with the co-operation of other prominent citizens, adopted the
most energetic measures, as well for the purpose of preparing for
the contingency, which he had good reasons for supposing would
occur, after what had transpired at Sodus, as to give assurances of
safety and protection to the inhabitants.
He not only despatched an express rider to the seat of govern-
ment, as indicated by the correspondent of the Maryland Gazette,
but he also despatched one to Albany. He forwarded by these mes-
sengers letters to Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State, to Gen.
Knox, Secretary of War, and to Gov. George Clinton. In these
letters he detailed all that had transpired, suggested some measures
of protection, and gave asurances that the mandate of Gov. Sim-
coe would be disregarded. In the letter to Gen. Knox, he says: —
“ It is pretty well ascertained that for some time past, quantities of
military stores and ammunition have been forwarded to Oswego.
This makes me think it not improbable that Lieut. Sheaffe will take
a forcible possession of Sodus on his return. I shall, however, with-
out relaxing, go on with my business there, until drove off by a
superior force. It is heedless for me to trouble you with any com-
ments on this unparalleled piece of insolence, and gross insult to
the government of the United States/'
Mr. Williamson wrote a letter to Sir William Pulteney, in which
he says:—
u I shall make no further comment on this business, than to observe, that
any thing short of actual hostilities, it completes the unequalled insolent con-
duct of Mr. Simcoe toward this government. Mr. Simcoe's personal of my-
self and you, I treat with the scorn it deserves, but I beg leave to give you a
sketch of his political conduct. On his first arrival in this country^By deep
laid schemes he has prevented every possibility of an accomodation between
this country and the hostile Indians, and this summer, by his intrigues, he has
drawn several tribes of friendly Indians from the territory of the United States
to the British side of the lines, and left nothing undone to induce the Six
Nations, our neighbors, to take up the hatchet the moment he gives the word.
You must be acquainted with his marching a body of armed troops, and
erecting a Fort at the Rapids of the Miami seventy miles within the territoryPHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	321
of the United States, but this being an extensive wilderness, seemed of less
importance.
“ Hot content with this, he has now interfered with our settlements, in a
manner so unlike the dignity of a great nation that it must astonish you. If it
is the intention of the British ministry, by low and underhand schemes, to keep
alive a harassing war against helpless women, and children, or by murders on
this frontier, to add to the list of murders already committed by the influence
of their servants here, and to treat this government with the most unwarrantable
insolence and contempt. I allow that Mr. Simcoe is the most industrious and
faithful servant the British government ever had. But if it is their intention
to cultivate a friendly intercourse with this country, it never can take place
while such is the conduct of their Governor here. For my own part, I think
it would be doing the government of Great Britain a most essential service,
should their intentions towards this country be friendly, to show to their min-
istry the conduct of Gov. Simcoe; and I write this letter that you may show it
to Mr. Dundas, or Mr. Pitt, if you think proper. Their knowledge of me, I
am convinced, will give it sufficient weight. If these transactions are in con-
sequence of orders from Great Britain, and their views are hostile, there is
nothing further to be said.”
While all this was progressing, in four days after the affair at Sodus
in fact, before Gov. Simcoe would have had time to execute his
threats, the great measure of deliverance for the Genesee country
and the few scattered border settlers of the west, had been con-
summated. “ Mad Anthony, ” — [and there had been “ method in
his madness, ”] — had met the confederated bands of the hostile
Indians of the west, and almost under the walls of a fortress of their
British allies, achieved a signal victory ! Those upon whom Gov.
Simcoe was relying for aid, (for it is evident that he looked to a
descent of the western Indians upon the Genesee country in case
the war was renewed,) — were humbled and suing for peace.
This alone would have averted his worst intentions, and added to
this, was the consideration that Mr. Jay had sailed for London on
the 12th of May, clothed with ample powers from our government
to arrange all matters of dispute.
Those familiar with the history of our whole country in the
earliest years of its separation from England, are aware how im-
portant was the well planned and successful expedition of General
Wayne. Important in its immediate consequences — the putting'
an end to protracted, harrassing Indian treaties, and the founding of
that great empire of wealth, prosperity, and unparralleled progress,
our western states. But few can now realize its local consequence,
in the Genesee country. It gave security where there was little of
it before, inspired hope and confidence with those who were half322
PiEELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
determined to retrace the weary steps that had brought them into
the wilderness, for they felt that if war was to be added to all the
sufferings and privations they were encountering, it were better to
abandon the field, if not forever, to a period more propitious. The
news of Wayne’s victory was communicated by Brant to Gem.
Chapin, and it circulated briskly among the backwoods settlements.
Here and there was seen small gatherings of Pioneer settlers, con-
gratulating each other upon the event, and taking fresh courage to
grapple with the hardships of Pioneer life. All was confirmed, when
in a few days, the Senecas were seen coming back upon their war
path, humbled, quaking with fear at the mere recollection of the terri-
ble onslaught that Mad Anthony had made upon the dusky legions
that had gathered to oppose hinij and uttering imprecations against
those who had lured them from home to take part in the contest
and then remained far away from danger, or shut themselves up in
a strong fortress, but spectators in a conflict in which they and
their confederates were falling like autumn leaves in a shower of
hail.
The haughty spirit of the descendants of the warlike Iroquois,
was humbled within them, and chagrined by the terrible discomfit-
ure they had witnessed, and been partakers of, as well as by the
bad faith of their advisers and abettors at Niagara, they resolved to
settle down quietly in their villages, and renew their peaceful and
amicable relations with their white neighbors.
' As early as the 3d of July, preceding the visit of Lieut. Sheaffe,
to Sodus, a representation had been made to the War Department,
of the exposed condition of the new settlers in the Genesee coun-
try, the danger of Indian disturbances promoted by British agents
at Niagara, and the necessity of some meaps of defence. To which,
Gen. Knox, the Secretary of War, had replied in substance, that
some official use had been made of the communication, by the Sec-
Note. — There are some amusing anecdotes of the relations that the returning Indi-
dians gave of the battle. In its conduct, Wayne had made himself in their imagina-
ations, more than human. His was a warfare they had been unused to : — impetuous,
crushing; inspiring a terror that conquered as effectually as his arms. A Seneca, who
came away in an early stage of the battle, having seen quite enough to gratify his curi-
osity and love of adventure, gave to an informant of the author, the reason for his
precipitate retreat. He said in his graphic description of the opening of the fight:
— “Pop, pop, pop,—boo, woo, woo-o-oo,— wish, wish, wish-e-ee,—boo, woo!—
kill twenty Inguns one time; no good, by d—n! ” This the reader will at once
perceive, was an attempt to imitate the firing of small arms and cannon, and the
whizzing of the fuse, and the bursting of bombs.PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PUBCHASE.
323
retary oi War, in his correspondence with the British Minister,
that a conference was to be held with the Six Nations at Canandai-
gua, in September, for the purpose of conciliating, and establishing
finally a peace with them if possible. In reply to an application
for arms, the Secretary says, that an order had been issued in favor
of the Governor of New York, for one thousand muskets, cartridge
boxes, and bayonets.
The following copy of a letter from President Washington to Mr.
Jay, our then minister in London, possesses much of a general
historical interest, and will aid the reader in a full understanding of
the questions then at issue, so far as this local region wasc oncerned:
“August, 30, 1794.
11 As you will receive letters from the Secretary of States’ office, giving an
official account of the public occurrences as they have arisen and advanced,
it is unnecessary for me to retouch any of them; and yet I cannot restrain my-
self from making some observations on the most recent of them, the commu-
nication of which was received this morning only. I mean the protest of the
Governor of Upper Canada, delivered by Lieutenant Sheaffe, against our oc-
cupying lands far from any of the posts, which, long ago, they ought to have
surrendered, and far within the known, and until now, the acknowledged
limits of the United States.
“ On this irregular and high handed proceeding of Mr. Simcoe, which is
no longer masked, I would rather hear what the ministry of Great Britain will
say, than pronounce my own sentiments thereon. But can that government,
or will it attempt, after this official act of one of their governors, to hold out
ideas of friendly intentions towards the United States, and suffer such con-
duct to pass with impunity ?
“ This may be considered as the most open and daring act of the British
agents in America, though it is not the most hostile and cruel : for there
does not remain a doubt in the mind of any well informed person in this
country, not shut against conviction, that all the difficulties we encounter with
the Indians, their hostilities, the murders of helpless women and children,
along our frontiers, result from the conduct of agents of Great Britain in
this country. In vain is it then for its administration in Britain, to disavow
having given orders which will warrant such conduct, whilst their agents go
unpunished ; while we have a thousand corroborating circumstances, and
indeed as many evidences, some of which cannot be brought forward, to prove
that they are seducing from our alliances, and1 endeavoring to remove over the
line, tribes that have hitherto been kept in peace and friendship with us at a
heavy expense, and who have no causes of complaint, , except pretended ones
of their creating ; whilst they keep in a state of irritation the tribes that are
hostile to us, and are instigating those who know little of us, or we of them,
to unite in the war against us ; and whilst it is an undeniable fact, that they
are furnishing the whole with arms, ammunition, clothing, and even pro-
visions to carry on the war. I might go farther, and if thev are not much
belied, add, men also in disguise.324
PHELPS AM) GOBHAM'S PURCHASE.
“ Can it be expected, I ask, so long as these tilings are known in the United
States, or at least firmly believed, and suffered with impunity by Great Britain,
that there ever will or can be any cordiality between the two countries ? I
answer — No. And I will undertake, without the gift of prophecy to predict,
that it will be impossible to keep this country in a state of amity with Great
Britain long, if these posts are not surrendered. A knowledge of these being
my sentiments, would have but little weight, I am persuaded, with the British
administration, or perhaps with the nation, in effecting the measures, but both
may rest satisfied, that if they want to be at peace with this country, and to
enjoy the benefits of its trade, to give up the posts is the only road to it.
Withholding them, and the consequences we feel at present continuing, war
will be inevitable.”
CHAPTER V.
JAME-3 AND WILLIAM WADSWORTH---PIONEER EVENTS IN WHAT IS
NOW LIVINGSTON.
The advent of these two brothers to the Genesee country, marks
an era in our early local history. They were from the first,
large landholders and patroons of new settlements, and for many
years intimately and conspicuously blended with the progress of
improvement. The connection of their family with Col. Jeremiah
Wadsworth, of Hartford, Conn., was the primary cause of their
early enterprise ; of whom, as he was an early and large proprietor
of land, by purchase from Phelps and Gorham, it will not be out of
place to speak, incidentally. He was the son of the Rev. Daniel
Wadsworth, of Hartford. Entering upon a sea-faring life in early
years, for the benefit of his health, first as a sailor before the mast,
and afterwards as mate and captain, he finally settled down in
Hartford, where he resided upon the breaking out of the Revolution-
ary war. He received the appointment of commissary of the Con-
necticut line, and following that appointment, he had important trusts
committed to his charge, not only by Connecticut, but by the Con-
gress at Philadelphia, having reference generally to the pay, clothingphelps and gorham’s purchase.	325
and subsistence of the Continental troops. Soon after the arrival
of Rochambeau, with the French army, their subsistence was en-
trusted to his charge, jointly with John B. Church. He was one
of those with whom Gen. Washington made an early acquaintance
when the great crisis arrived, and in whose hospitable mansion, at
Hartford, he was wont to meet, and have social intercourse and
consultation with its owner, and other prominent men of the Revo-
lution. It was the taking down and removal of this old mansion,
that suggested the following beautiful lines of Mrs. Sigourney :•—»
“ Fallen dome, beloWd so well,
Thou could ’st many a legend tell
Of tlie chiefs of ancient lame,
Who, to share thy shelter came:—
Rochambeau and La Fayette,
Round thy plenteous board have met,
With Columbia’s mightier son,
Great and glorious Washington-.
Here with kindred aninds they plann’d
Rescue for an infant land;
While the British Lion’s roar
Echo’d round the leagur’d shore.”
Annals of Conn., by R. R. Hinman.
“The services of Col. Wadsworth, during some periods of the
war,” says a biographer, “ were incalculable.” He was a member
of the 1st, 2d, and 3d Congress. He died in 1804, aged 61 years.
Mr. Phelps having been in the commissary department during the
Revolution, he had made the acquaintance of Col. Wadsworth, and
soon after he obtained title, induced him to make investments in the
Genesee country.* He purchased T. 6, R. 9, a part of T. 11, R.
7, and one 12th of “ Big Tree.”f Being a man of wealth, and con-
siderably advanced in years, their purchases were for investment
and and re-sale, rather than with any intention to emigrate.
William and James Wadsworth were natives of Durham, Conn.,
the sons of John N. Wadsworth. James Wadsworth graduated at
Yale College, in 1787, and spent the winter of'87 and *88, in Mon-
treal, employed in school teaching. The father had died before
James graduated at College, and left the homestead in Durham,
which would have been called a “ fair estate” in New England, to
his three children, the care of which had devolved upon the elder
brother, William. In the Spring of 1790, at a period when James,
then 22 years of age, was undetermined as to the pursuits of life —326
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
hesitating between the alternatives of seeking his fortune in the south-
ern states, and acquiring the profession of law, and settling down in
New England, his kinsman, Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, proposed to
him emigration to the Genesee country, the sale to him of a part
of his tract at “ Big Tree,” upon advantageous terms, and an
agency that would embrace the care and sale of his remaining lands.
After consulting with his brother William, making it a condition of
the proposed emigration that he should accompany him, the two
brothers agreed jointly to accept the proposition.
In June, after a work of preparation which was of no little mag-
nitude in New England, preliminary to an advent to this then far
off and secluded wilderness; amid the farewells of kindred and
friends, in which were mingled sad forebodings of the dangers and
vicissitudes the bold adventurers were about to encounter, they com-
menced their journey. William, the practical working man of the
two, so far as manual labor was concerned, started with an ox team
and cart, two or three hired men and a colored woman, a favorite
slave belonging to the family. J James came via the Sound, and the
Hudson, and the water route from Schenectady to the head of navi-
gation on Canandaigua outlet, in charge of provisions and a small
amount of household furniture. William, with his oxen and cart,
made slow progress. The winter sleigh road west of Whitesboro,
had to be adapted to wheels as they progressed; logs had to be cut
and moved out of the track, and small stfeams and sloughs had to
be cause-wayed. Arriving at Cayuga Lake, there was no ferry
scow, and the party chartered two Indian canoes, which they lashed
together, and making a deck of poles, succeeded in crossing. Be-
tween Whitesboro and Canandaigua their average progress was
but twelve miles per day. The parties reunited at Canandaigua,
James having arrived three days in advance.
After making some necessary preparations, the whole party start-
* Or, as is quite probable, Col. Wadsworth may have had an interest, originally,
with Messrs. Phelps and Gorham.
t To which, James and William afterwards added a tenth, making the original
Wadsworth tract at Geneseo, about 5,000 acres.
t.The identical “ Jenny.” She was for a long time almost the only one of her race,
in that region; and an object of curiosity with the younger portion of the back-
woodsmen. Turning to the travels of Liancourt, we find that on the morning he left
‘‘Big Tree,” she was queuing and powdering “Capt. Wadsworth’s” hair, preparatory
to his departure for Canadaigua to “review a party of soldiers, over whom he is
car-tain.”PHELPS AHD GOKHAM'S PUECHASE.
Z2l
ed from Canandaigua, with all the effects with which they had left
Durham, to which had been added a small stock of cattle, purchased
upon the Mohawk. They took the Indian trail and Sullivan’s
route, clearing their road for the passage of their cart, as they went
along, camping the first night at “ Pitt’s Flats,” and the next, at the
foot of Conesus Lake. Breaking up their encampment in the
morning, James, on horseback, with one companion, preceded the
rest of the party, and pursued the Big Tree trail; William, with
the oxen, cart, and other effects, following after, took the Branch
trail that led to a large Indian village of the Oneidas, which was
two miles-below Big Tree, on the river. Wandering from the
obscure trail, the party got lost, and brought up at night in a swamp
about two miles north-east from Big Tree, tied their cattle to trees,
and encamped. James, having spent the night at Big Tree, with
his companion, in the woods, with no means of making an en-
campment, took his back track in the morning ; arrived at the point
where the Oneida trail branched off, followed the track of the cart
wheels, and found the lost party, groping in the wilderness, un-
determined as to the course they should pursue. He conducted the
whole party to Big Tree, (Geneseo, the reader will bear in mind,)
where they slept in the cart and upon the ground, for two or three
nights, until they erected a rude cabin on the table land, a little be-
low the present village, on the old River trail. On their arrival,
they found, of their race, but one man, Lemuel Jennings, who had
a cabin, and was herding some cattle on the flats for Oliver Phelps.
James, returning to Canandaigua on the day he had located the
party, on his way back, got benighted, but was attracted by a light,
and pursuing the direction from which it proceeded, found the negro
woman, Jenny, holding a light for his brother William, who wTas
hewing some plank for their cabin floor.
The arrival was upon the 10th of June. In August of the same
year, 1790, when Gen. Amos Hall took the census, the family of
William Wadsworth consisted of nine persons. Beside him, there
had then settled in the townships, others who were regarded as
heads of families: — Phineas Bates, Daniel Ross, Henry Brown*
Enoch Noble, Nicholas Rosecrantz, David Robb, Nahum Fair-
banks. Horatio and John H. Jones had preceded the Wadaworths
a few weeks, and were over the river, occupying an Indian cabin,
and the shantee they had built the year before. They had come in328
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
from Geneva, via Canandaigua and Avon, with a cart, Horatio’s
wife and three children, household furniture, and some hired men.
Their cart was the first wheel vehicle that passed over that route.
From Avon, they had no track, but picked their way along the
ridges and open grounds. Horatio Jones built a comfortable block
house the same year. Besides Horace Jones' family, there was in
August, west of the river, on what was then called “ Indian lands,”
the families of William Ewing, # Nathan Fowler, and Jeremiah
Gregory, f
The Indians residing upon the Genesee river in 1790, were loca-
ted in villages, as follows : — At Squaky Hill, near Mount Morris,
there were a small cluster of .cabins, and a few families. The men
had been southern captives, who had intermarried, and merged
themselves with the Senecas. The principal chief, was “ Black
Chief.” At “ Allan's Hill,” now Mount Morris, there were a few
families ; their principal chief, “ Tall Chief.” He was a fine speci-
men of his race, physically and otherwise. At Philadelphia, on a
visit to Congress, with Horatio Jones, he commanded much atten-
tion and respect.
Little Beard's Town, a large village, was upon the present site
of Cuylerville. The chief, Little Beard, was one of the worst
specimens of his race. He was chiefly instrumental in the horrid
massacre of Lieut. Boyd, and all the early Pioneers give him a bad
character. The manner of his death in 1806, was but a just retri-
bution for his many acts of cruelty in the Border wars : — In a
drunken row, in which both Indians and whites were engaged, at
the old Stimson tavern, in Leicester, he was pushed out of door,
and falling from the steps, received an injury that caused his
death.
Big Tree, a considerable village, was upon the bluff, opposite
* Ewing was a surveyor in the employ of Mr. Phelps. His father, Alexander
Ewing, became a resident there in an early day, upon what is now the Perkins farm,
near Fall Brook. He was the father-in-law of John H. Jones. His son, William,
went from there to Buffalo, and from thence to Sandusky. Another son, Alexander,
was a Pioneer at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he carried on an Indian trade. His son
Charles, was the U. S. District Judge Ewing; another son, George W., was State
Senator of Indiana; Williarn G. Ewing, of Indiana, was another son. The father was an
emigrant from Ireland, and was settled in Northumberland, Pa., when settlement of
the Genesee country commenced.
t He was the father of “ Mille Gregory,” who was one of the white wives of Ebene-
zer Allan. He lived on the Canascraga, near Son-yea,” (the open spot where the
Bun shines in,) the present site of the Shaker Society.PHELPS AKD GORHAM^ PURCHASE.
329
Geneseo, upon the river, now embraced in the farm of Eason Slo-
cum ; Ken-de-wa, (Big Tree) was its principal chief.
There was a small village of Tucaroras on the river, a little
above the Geneseo bridge, which was called Tuscarora; and two
miles down the river from Geneseo, near the large Maple Grove of
the Messrs. Wadsworths, was “Oneida Town,” a large village of
Oneidas. #
The other, and a principal village, was on the west bank of the
river, opposite Avon, near where the main road crosses the river,
The chief was Ga-kwa-dia, (Hot Bread,) in high repute among his
people, and much respected by the Pioneer settlers, f
Gardeau, was the residence of the White Woman, and the several
branches of her family went principally to make up the small
village. Her husband was principal chief. At Nunda, there
was a small village; “Elk Hunter” and “Green Coat,” were
principal chiefs.
At Caneadea there was a considerable village; the head chief,
John Hudson. He was an old man, and had been a leading
“ brave ” in the southern Indian wars, waged by the Senecas,
and afterwards, in the English and French wars. Hon. George
Woods, a prominent citizen of Bedford, Pennsylvania, became a
prisoner with the Indians, on the Ohio or the Allegany. Hudson
porcured his release, after he had been condemned and tied to a
stake. In after years, they met, and the Judge treated him with
much kindness, making him a present of a fine house and lot at
* The Oneidas and Tuscaroras were divided on the breaking out of the Revolution.
Those that adhered to the colonies, and the neutrals, remaining in their eastern vil-
lages ; and those that followed Butler and Brant, coming upon the Genesee River. A
partial re-union of the Tuscaroras took place at their village near Lewiston, in after
years.
f This was the birth place of Complanter. In his letter to the Governor of Penn-
sylvania, in 1822, he says :•—“I feel it my duty to send a speech to the Governor of
Pennsylvania at this time, and inform him the place where 1 was from — which was
Connewaugus, on the Genesee river.” He then goes on to relate to the Governor, that
on growing up, the Indian boys in the neighborhood took notice of his skin being of
a different color from theirs, and on naming it to his mother, she told him who his
white father was, and that he lived at Albany. He, after becoming a man, sought him
out, and made himself known to him. He complains that he gave him victuals to eat
at his house, but u no provisions to eat on the way home.” “ He gave me neither
kettle nor gun, nor did he tell me Jthat the United States were about to rebel against
Great Britain.” This is authentic, and does away with the less truthful, but more
romantic version of the first interview between Cornplanter and his white father,
O’Bail or“Abeel.”
21330
PHELPS AHD GOEHAm’s PURCHASE.
Bedford, which he never occupied, but he used to often pride him-
self upon its possession, and the manner in which he came by it.
In a ramble, to give the reader some account of their neighbors,
the adventurers who were more immediately under consideration,
have almost been lost sight of. We left William Wadsworth hewing
plank for their shantee, by candle light, and James emerging from
the forest, where he had been lost on his return from Canandaigua.
The shantee went up, and the work of clearing a small spot of up-
land and preparing a few acres of flats for summer crops, was im-
mediately commenced. There was from the first, a division of
labor between the two brothers: — William had been bred a
farmer, and from habit and physical constitution, was well adapted
to take the laboring oar in that department. Few men were better
fitted for a Pioneer in the backwoods — to wrestle with the harsh-
est features of Pioneer life — or for being merged in habits, social
intercourse and inclinations, with the hardy adventurers who were
his early cotemporaries. The backwoodsmen called him “Old
Bill,” and yet he had not reached his 30th year ; —not from any dis-
respect, but as a kind of backwoods conventional nomenclature. At
a log house raising, “ a bee,” or a rude frolic, “ he was one of them
and when there were any “doings” at “Old Leicester,” “Pitt’s
Flats,” or Williamsburg, he was pretty sure to be there. He took
an early interest in the organization of the militia, and mingled
with the recollections of the author’s boyhood, is “ General Bill,”
at the fall musters, with his harsh, strong features, and bronzed
complexion, mounted upon his magnificent black charger; the
“ observed of all observers,” the not inapt personification of the
dark and frowning god of war; and to youthful backwoods eyes,
he looked nothing less.
James, was by nature, of a different cast, and to natural incli-
nations had been added the polish and the discipline of mind
acquired in college halls, and a mingling in the most cultivated of
New England society. The transition, the change of a New Eng-
land home, for that of a cabin in the wilderness, and the associa-
tions of the backwoods, was far less easy and natural; though by
alternating between the settlement at “ Big Tree, ” and Canandai-
Note.-—James Hudson, the son and successor of John, was one of the finest speci-
men of his race that was found here, in the early days of settlement. Staid and digni-
fied in his deportment, he was truly one of "nature’s noblemen.”phelps and gorham’s purchase.
331
gua, Albany and Connecticut, he managed to accommodate himself
very well to circumstances. Upon him devolved the land agen-
cy, and soon extending its sphere, and purchasing largely on the
joint account of himself and brother, even in early years, he be-
came engrossed in a business of great magnitude.
They had left behind them a large circle of family connexions
and friends in “ old Durham, ” and great was their concern for the
rash adventurers who had pushed away on beyond the verge of
civilization, and set down in the midst of wild beasts, and then but
recently hostile Indian tribes. How different is now the spirit and
feeling of the age ? Then, there had been brooding over New Eng-
land the incubus of foreign dominion, binding, fettering enterprise,
and confining it to narrow, sterile and unpropitious bounds; until
when the fetters were shaken off, it seemed rashness to venture
upon the extension of settlement and civilization even to this fair
region, where all would seem to have been so inviting and promis-
ing. Now, under the blessings, the stimulus, the release from
foreign thraldom, of something over half a century, our young men
make a hasty preparation, and are off over a wide ocean track, foun-
ding villages and cities on the Pacific coast, in the interior, and fol-
lowing up, up, the dark ravines of the Sierra Nevada, are making
their camps upon its slope and its summit; and in fond kindred
circles at home, there is less concern for them than there was for
the young adventurers who pushed out from New England to settle
in the Genesee country.
An active correspondence commenced between James and his
New England friends soon after their departure from Durham.
In a letter to his brother, John N. Wadsworth, dated at Albany, he
says: — “We have secured a boat and pilot, forage is pretty scarce,
but our expenses do not exceed our expectations. We have now
arrived where Genesee is much talked of, and all accounts confirm
us in our choice. All hands are in good health and fine spirits; lay
aside all anxiety for us. We expect many difficulties but are fast
in the belief that perseverance will surmount them. There has
arrived this day, two vessels from Rhode Island. One has 28 and
the other 30 passengers, bound full speed for the Genesee country.
The migrations to the westward are almost beyond belief. Gin’s
(the colored woman,) courage rather increases, as many of her
color are going to the Genesee.”* A tender epistle to James, in no382	phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
masculine hand, dated at New Haven, imagines that at some Indian
war dance, his scalp may be one of the trophies “ that will dangle
from the belt of a Seneca brave. ” She adds, that “ nothing short
of making a fortune could induce you to reside amongst an uncivill
ized people, exposed to the savages of the wilderness. ” Samuel
Street, of Chippewa, C. W., writes a note from Canandaigua, on a
small strip of paper, asking Mr. Wadsworth to excuse it “as paper
is very scarce here. ” John B. Van Epps writes from Schenectady
that “ Peter and Gerritt Ryckman would not take up the four bar-
rels of rum to Canandaigua, under $4 per barrel; and to be paid
likewise for riding the barrels over the carrying place. ”
As early as September, 1790, the progress of improvement was
arrested:— William and all of his hired hands had the fever and
ague, the wench Jenny being the only well one among them. Dis-
heartened by disease, the hired men returned to Connecticut,
where they were soon followed by James, leaving William and
the negro woman, to winter in the shantee and take care of the
stock.
James Wadsworth started from Durham, in April 1791; but was
delayed in New York by the sprouting of the ague, the seeds of
which had been sown the fall previous. He arrived however, at
“ Big Tree ” in June, and writes back to his uncle James that he
* But she did not become wholly reconciled. Sometimes on foot, sometimes in the
ox-cart, cutting out roads and camping out nights, she would get out of all patience, in-
sist that the expedition was a wTild and foolish one; and offer her sage advice that it
would be best to go back to “ Old Durham ” and give it up as a bad job.
Rote.—Among the family connexions in Durham, was an uncle, Gen. James
Wadsworth, who had held the rank of a Major General in the Connecticut line in the
Revolution, was a member of the Continental Congress; and was one of the promi-
nent men of Rew England. It would seem that after the death of their father, he had
been, if not the guardian, the kind mentor and counsellor of his nephews. Reverence
for his memory is the natural impulse upon the perusal of his letters to them after they
had departed for the Genesee country. His first letter dated in May, 1790, was a long
one, replete with advice and admonition, deeply imbued with religious sentiment, and
instructions as to the duties and pursuits of iife. In the next, dated in July, he gives
the nephews all the current news of the day, as if they were beyond the reach of news-
papers or mails, (as they really were,) and closes with admonitions:—“ I must remind
you of the importance of orderly and regular conduct in a new settlement; of a proper
observation of the Sabbath; of justice in your dealings, especially with the Indians;
and of inviolably supporting your credit; cultivate friendship with your neighboring
Indians. Whatever husbandry you undertake, doit thoroughly.” Then again in an-
other letter, he strikes off upon foreign news: — “ The commotions in France, are the
topics among nur politicians and clergy. Cutting off heads, hanging and assassination,
are much the order of the day there. It will be a very hard case if they are not very
properly applied in some instances. Report says, the King’s head is cut off; La Fay-
ette has gone over to the Austrians. I hope the six nations will observe a strict neu-
trality, on which your safety depends.’5333
phelps and gobham’s purchase.
found “ brother Bill well; and by persevering industry he has much
improved the place, and given our settlement a very different and
highly pleasing aspect. We have an excellent enclosed pasture
within eight rods of our house, and please ourselves with the pros-
pect of soon enjoying most of the conveniences of settlements of
several years standing. We have the prospect throughout the
country of a most extraordinary crop of wheat; ours far exceeds
our expectations, and corn promises 60 or 70 bushels to the acre.
Our flats bespeak a great quantity of hay, (wild grass.) Respecting
the Indians, we are so far from dreading the Six Nations (our neigh-
bors) that we consider them no inconsiderable security. They
have given us the most satisfactory proof of their friendship. We
shall not be troubled by the southern Indians. I am happy to say
that on second view of the Genesee country, I am confirmed in my
favorable opinion of it. We have received a great increase of in-
habitants the winter past. Four barns were raised last week in
Canandaigua, within a half mile distance. Ontario, from a dreary
. wilderness begins to put on the appearance of a populated country. ”
In a letter to his uncle James, dated in August, same year, he
says: — “ The Indians have returned from the treaty (Pickering’s at
Newtown,) highly pleased. The inhabitants now do not even think
of danger from the Six Nations; although fears are entertained
that the southern Indians will attack the Six Nations. ”
In 1791, Oliver Phelps, First Judge of Ontario county admits
James Wadsworth to practice as attorney and counsellor “ to enable
persons to sue out writs and bring actions, which at the present,
for want of attornies, it is impossible to do. ”
The Messrs. Wadsworths’ from year to year, extended their far-
ming operations, bringing the broad sweep of flats that they pos-
sessed, under cultivation, and stocking it with cattle. There being
no access to markets for wheat, they raised but little, but were early
large producers of corn. Their cattle went to the Philadelphia
and Baltimore markets principally; some were sold to new settlers,
and some driven to Fort Niagara and Canada. Independent of
their cultivated fields, the uplands and flats in summer, and the
rushes that grew in abundance upon the flats, in winter, enabled
them to increase their cattle to any desired extent. The present
town of Rush, upon its flats had extensive meadows of rushes, upon
which their cattle were herded for several of the early winters.334
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
They at one period had an extensive dairy. The cultivation of
hemp engaged their attention in an early day, and along in 1800,
and a few succeeding years, they were large cultivators of it, with
others upon the river. They manufactured much of it into ropes,
for which they found a- market in Albany and New York. In com-
mon with others in their neighborhood, they commenced the culti-
vation of tobacco; but that business fell pretty much into the hands
of a company, who came, on from Long Meadow, in Connecticut,
rented flats of them, and cultivated for a few years largely. They
cured it and put it u] for market after the Virginia fashion. The
breeding of mules fo. the Baltimore market, was a considerable
business with them in early years. In later years they turned their
attention to sheep, and prosecuted wool growing to an extent that
has never been exceeded in the United States. In some observa-
tions of Professor Ren wick, they are ranked with Gen. W ade Hamp-
ton, of S. Carolina, in reference to the magnitude of their opera-
tions, at the “ head of agricultural pursuits in the United States-.”
While the immediate care of all this dhiefly devolved upon Wil-
liam Wadsworth, James participated in it by a general supervis-
ion, the purchase and sale of stock in distant markets, the procuring
of improved breeds of cattle and sheep, and a scientific investiga-
tion of all matters of practical improvement in agriculture.
From their first coming into the country, they were constantly
extending their farming operations, and adding to their possessions.
In early years they were materially aided in all this, by the use of
the capital of their friends in New England; especially that of
their relative, Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth; but their extensive and
judiciously conducted farming, soon began to yield them large
profits, which added to the commissions that James realized upon
various land agencies, in the aggregate, of vast magnitude, and of
profits of purchase and sale of wild lands upon his own account
enabled them to add farm to farm, and tract to tract, until they were
ranked among the largest land holders in the United States; and
in reference to present and prospective value of their possessions,
probably the largest. Certainly no others owned and managed so
many cultivated acres.
Note. — Major Spencer, the early merchant, manufactured the leaf Into plugs, and
for several years supplied most of the small dealers west of Seneca Lake.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	335
l
In February, 1796, James Wadsworth sailed for Europe. He
went upon his own account, upon that of joint partners with him in
land operations, and other large land holders in the United States.
And here it is not out of place to remark, that land speculations had
become rife very soon after the close of the Revolution. Large
quantities of wild lands were thrown into market by the different
States, pre-emption rights were obtained. Indian cessions followed,
and very soon most of the available capital and credit of the whole
country was used in the purchase of lands. They rose rapidly in
value, fortunes were made, but as we have seen in later years, a
crash followed, ruin and bankruptcy overtook, a large and prominent
class of the operators. No matter how low they had purchased
their lands; if they were in debt for them, sale, settlement and im-
provement, would fall behind the pay days of purchase money, and
wide tracts of uncultivated wilderness was a poor resource for taking
care of protested bills, and threatened foreclosures. Speculators had
over bought, even with the quantity of wild lands then marketable,
and when other wide regions in the north-west territory wrere thrown
into market, and brought into competition, embarrassments were en-
hanced. In '95, ;6, this untoward state of things had arrived at its
culminating point; an exigency existed which created the alterna-
tives of ruin to nearly all who had ventured in large land specula-
tions, and the enlisting of capital in Europe.
In such a crisis, a distinct realization of which, can only be had
by a general review of the history of that period, Mr. Wadsworth
was selected as an agent to go to Europe, and make sales of lands to
foreign capitalists. It was certainly no small compliment to the bus-
siness reputation and character of one who had gone out in his youth
and acquired his recommendations in the back woods, to be thus
singled out from among the most prominent men in the United
States, whose interest, with his own, he was to promote. His visit
to Europe, was at the suggestion, and attended by the co-operation,
of Robert Morris, Thomas Morris, Governeur Morris, Aaron Burr,
Charles Williamson, De Witt Clinton, Robert Troup, Oliver Phelps,
Nicholson and Greenleaf, Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, of Hartford,
and other prominent men of New England and Pennsylvania. His
mission was undertaken under adverse circumstances : — What was
understood in Europe to have been the highly successful ventures of
the London associates, and the Holland Company of Amsterdam, in336	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
lands in this region, had had the effect to stimulate others, and at
first, to create a strong disposition for American land investments.
Land agents had flocked to Europe, and it is not at all strange that
impositions had been practiced, and that many had been, (to use a
modern term,) victimized. The reader need only be told, that a
system of operations had been carried on, not unlike the mapping
and platting upon paper, which prevailed in 1836, ’7. Mr. Wads-
worth reached Europe at a period of reaction, and yet, with the
testimonials he carried with him, added to the confidence he inspired
by his dignity of deportment and manifest integrity of purpose, by
a slow process, his mission was mainly successful. He visited, and
resided temporaily in London, Paris and Amsterdam. His letters of
introduction, coming from high sources in this country, gave him ac-
cess to the society of prominent financial men of that period, and inci-
dentally to that of some eminent statesmen and scholars. Favored at
once by the countenance and friendship of Sir Wm. Pultenev and
Mr. Colquhoun, and in Amsterdam, with that of the members of the
Holland Company, among whom was one eminent statesman, and
several who occupied a high position as bankers, the young back-
woodsman, from then young America, was enabled to place him-
self upon a favorable footing, not only with reference to the imme-
diate objects of his mission, but with reference to those advantages
acquired by foreign travel and residence. He remained abroad until
the last of November, 1798. In all this time, he effected a large
amount of sales, and to this mission is to be attributed many of the
foreign proprietorships in this region, as well as in other portions of
the United States. Some brief extracts from his correspondence
while abroad, possess not only local, but general historical inter-
est, and are contained in a note attached. While in London
Mr. Wadsworth obtained a commission agency from Sir William
Pulteney, for the sale of lands upon the Mill Tract west of
Genesee River, embracing what is now Ogden, Parma, Riga, Chili,
and a part of Greece and Wheatland, from William Six, of Am-
sterdam, for the sale of the township, now Henrietta, and from
others, the agency for the sale of other tracts. And added to all
this, was the agency for the sale of lands in the Genesee country
belonging to Jeremiah Wadsworth and other New England land-
holders. The duties thus assumed, together with the general man-
agement of what then constituted the Wadsworth estate, of farmsPHELPS AND GORHAMS PURCHASE.	337
and wild lands, threw upon his hands an amount of business seldom
devolving upon one individual, and requiring all his time and ener-
gies. He must be regarded as the patroon of new settlements in
his own neighborhood, in a large portion of the present county of
Monroe, and in several other localities. His European agencies
were upon terms that gave him an interest in the sale and settlement
of wild lands, in some instances more than equal to that of the pro-
prietors, and he was indefatigable in promoting sales. The fine re-
gions coming under his supervision, unbroken by sales or settlement,
principally west of the Genesee river; were put in market, and
going to New England, he prosecuted upon a large scale, a system
that Mr. Phelps had began, of exchanging wild lands for farms,
when the occupants would become residents. He thus secured a
good class of new settlers, and no where in the whole history of new
settlements in this country, have they been more prosperous, abating
such drawbacks as were beyond his control, than those were of
which he may be regarded the founder. And while he was thus
the instrument, eventually, to promote the prosperity of others, he
was laying the foundation, or accumulating, the large estate which
his family now possess. The profits of his agencies were large
ones, and were invested in wild lands and farms. These being
g nerally retained and well managed, the rise in value chiefly helped
Note.—From London, June,’96. J. W. writes to Charles Wilkes,* that he was
upon the point of effecting large sales of land, “but all had been frustrated by oppo-
sition in the H. of Rep. to Jay’s treaty.” “The fear of sequestration and confiscation
has destroyed all confidence with capitalists in England. Besides they fear the effect
of French influence in the United States.” “Mr. Young, a large East India cap-
italist, to whom 1 was going to sell 30,000 acres of land at half a guinea per acre,
backs out in consequence of news from America.” J. W. to Thomas Morris, May,
’90, says: —“ I am prevented from making sales by the proceedings of H. of Repre-
sentatives.” J. W. to Charles Wilkes, June, ’96 : — “ Things are looking better; news
has been received that Congress have passed the necessary laws to carry the treaty into
effect; confidence in American investments are reviving.” J. W. to Benj. West, (the
celebrated painter.) — “Be kind enough to use your influence in quieting alarm and
getting up confidence in London. I have no doubt that the United States will be as
happy, and their government as permanent, as is allowable to men, and human insti-
tutions in the world.” A correspondence between Mr. Wadsworth and Aaron Burr
was kept up during the absence of the former; the letters of Mr. Burr, would some-
limes be'upon matters of business, sometimes upon politics, which subject would sud-
denly be arrested by his favorite theme, gossip upon courtship and marriage. Some
portions of his letters are obscured by the use of his ciphers. A. B. to J. W., Nov.
1796 : — “I refer you to the gazettes for the name of the electors, and the particulars
yet known respecting the election ; 4 I think will be 15; 1, has, I think no chance ;
12 and 4 will run generally together, hut the latter will not succeed by reason of
some disaffection in 14;—16, 10, had been at home, 13 would have been the man as
* An eminent early merchant of New York; a namesake and family connexion of
Charles Wilkes, of London.338
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
to make the lagest estate, perhaps, that has ever been accumulated
in the United States, by the same process.
But let no one, while viewing the broad domains of which he
died possessed, suppose that they came to him in the absence of in-
dustry, economy, good management, or of long years of severe
trial and embarrassments. Dependent, chiefly, in his early enter-
prises, upon the capital of others, he carried along through an ex-
tended period of depression, a slow growth of the country, a war that
bore heavily upon this local region — a large debt, and all the trials
and vexations which it carries in its train.* It was not until the
war of 1812 made a good market for his produce, that he began to
be relieved from embarrassment; his large clip of wool, his cattle,
grain, and the produce from his dairy, enabled him to rapidly di-
minish his indebtedness; then followed a few years of depression;
then came that great measure of deliverance, and source of pros-
perity to all this region, the Erie Canal; and participating largely, as
his possessions enabled him to do, in the rapid advance in the value
of real estate, in the facilities for market that it at once afforded
freedom from debt, unincumbered wealth that was soon rated by
millions, was the reward of his early wilderness advent, and over
half a century of industry and enterprise.
In a history of pioneer settlement, such as this is intended to be,
one who bore so conspicuous a part in it, must necesisarily occupy
a considerable space, and yet one entirely inadequate to the task of
detailing his immediate and intimate connection with the growth
you will be convinced when yon shall return home. Upon the whole I am quite sat-
isfied with the state of things.” “Except the little box already acknowldeged, and
which appeared to have been sent by my booksellers, probably under your orders, I
have not received a book or a pamphlet from you since your, residence abroad.” I
have it from the very best authority that your friend Linklaen is soon to be married
to a daughter of Major Ledyard, a pretty and agreeable girl. Not a bad match I
think on either side. I continue an inflexible bachelor, but have been much smitten by
Dge-gx of Naef-az, who is at present indisputably at the head of my list. Under oth-
er dates, A. B. to J. W.:—“I have been quite a recluse and a farmer this summer;
have not been two miles from home since my return from Philadelphia; am not mar-
ried, nor have made any approaches to it, though shall not probably pass another six
months single, though no particular object has yet engaged my attention. God bless
and prosper you.” “It is hoped by some, feared by others, and believed by all, that
the President will decline being a candidate at the next election. The candidates will
be Burw-k, —12, 4 and 1. The event seems pretty doubtful. I have been told (this
day,) and fully believe it, that 20 and 21 were publicly married a few days ago. Adieu
once more.”
* In a letter to a friend after he had had an experience of fifteen years, he says:—
“ It is slow realizing from new lands. I will never advise another friend to invest in
them. Men generally have not the requisite patience for speculating in them.”phelps and gorham’s purchIse.
389
and prosperity of this region. His biography alone, if it followed
him in all his relations to our local region, would be almost its early
history. To say that his was a useful life, would be but a natural
deduction from his early advent, and his leading participation in
laying the foundation of that unexampled prosperity, which now
exists in a region that he entered, the wheels of his cart, and shoes
of his horse, making the first impress of civilization upon its soil!
The abatement, if any, from his life of usefulness, would be the
amount of territory he encompassed, and held on to with a tenacity,
almost amounting to dotage, or an inordinate desire to possess ex-
tended fields and forests. This ambition was first excited when a
young adventurer, on his way to Montreal, in company with John
Jacob Astor, to seek employment as a school teacher, he saw an
extensive and beautiful estate, in one of the valleys of Vermont;
and traveling in Europe, a few years afterwards, making a sojourn,
occasionally, at the hospitable seats of immense land proprietors, he
seems to have been confirmed in his desire for a similar position,
and to have steadily pursued his object in'after life. Great landed
estates in a country like ours, are a sore evil; the effects, in various
ways, bearing heavily and vexatiously upon their immediate
neighborhoods. It is no “ vote yourself a farm” spirit, no sympathy
in common with agrarianism, that dictates the expression of a hope,
that by all legal means, the evil may be abated. It would have
been far better for the beautiful valley, where Mr. Wadsworth cast
his lot in early life, and with which he became so intimately blen-
ded, if his ambition for large possessions had been more moderate;
but, “ may I not do as I will with mine own? ” is an interrogation
he might well have opposed to those who cavilled at his monopoly
of the soil.*
* And this reminds the author of an anecdote of an early and venerated cotempora-
ry of Mr. Wadsworth, the late Augustus Porter. The possession in his family of “ Goat
Island,” and all the most desirable grounds on the American side, at Niagara Falls,
and the tenacity with which they were held, when improvements were sought to
be made, had occasioned much of murmuring and fault finding, in which the au-
thor, as the editor of a paper in the same county, had participated, occasionally giving
some thrusts at what used to be called the “ monopoly.” While engaged in a preceding
historical work, the old gentleman had kindly given him the benefit of*days ana
nights of conversation upon the early history of all this region ; his personal narrative,
that began with his early adventures in the wilderness, his early years spent in survey-
or’s camps, encountering hardships and privations; his after long years of toil. At
the close of this interview, suffering under bodily infirmities, partly consequent upon
all this, he observed : — “Now you have my whole history; you have seen how I340
phelps am) gorham’s purchase.
At an early period — almost as soon as the farming operations of
the Wadsworths were fairly commenced—James Wadsworth gave
much of his attention to agricultural improvements. He may be said
to have given the impetus, in this state, to the application of science,
the heeding of the simple teaching of nature, the ele 7ation of rural
labor from mere uninslructed handicraft, to the position and the dig-
nity it has been rapidly assuming. He had cotemporaries, co-opera-
tors — there were perhaps those before him in the state, who had
labored in the same field — but he had entered upon the work with
an earnestness, with practical views, and aided with his pen and
his purse, effectual measures, that helped to mark a new era in
agricultural improvements. Practical in his views upon all sub-
jects, his theories and recommendations occupied the middle ground
between a judicious and healthy reform in the cultivation of the
earth, and stock breeding, and the extravagancies of mere theorists.
The practicability and the usefulness of a thing with him were always
allied. Had he been in the place of Mr. Jefferson, his spirit of enter-
prise may have dictated the erection of a saw mill upon an eminence,
to be propelled by wind, but before he had ventured upon the ex-
periment, he would have seen how his saw logs were to be got up
the steep ascent.
His, was a mind too active to repose upon the possession of
wealth, or fall into supineness and inactivity, when the stimulus of
gain had in a measure subsided. It reached out after new7 objects,
when old ones were accomplished.	Education, — education of the
masses, allied to political economy, in all its later years, became
with him, if not a hobby, an object of intense interest. He was not
unmindful of the higher interests of religion, but even those he would
have made secondary in the economy of life, believing that educa-
tion of the mind was the broad superstructure upon which all of
spiritual as well as temporal good should be based. As the possessor
of property, he urged upon the wealthy of the state, by strong ap-
peals, that it had no security short of the education of the masses*
out of which alone w7offd grow a respect for the laws, and vested
rights. He was the patron of J. Orville Taylor, in his first move-
ments; had essays upon education, upon political economy, tracts,
have earned what I possess; upon the whole, do you not think that I should have the
privilege of managing it as best suits my choice and inclinations?” There was cer-
tainly no convenient way of meeting the rebuke, or answering the interrrogatoiy.PHELPS AND GCKHAMS PURCHASE.
341
printed and distributed through the state, at his own expense ; en-
listed newspapers in the cause of education, by paying them for
setting apart a space for its discussion; aided i-n the establishment
of the District School Journal, and paid salaries to public lecturers,
to go through the State, and arouse public attention to its impor-
tance. If the system of District School Libraries did not originate
with him, (as there are some reasons to suppose it did,) it had the
benefit of his early and efficient aid. In the way of agricultural
improvement, he had essays printed and distributed, and was an
early and efficient patron of Judge Buel, in the starting of the
Cultivator, at Albany
A love of order, system and regularity, was one of his leading
characteristics. This is strikingly exhibited in his correspond-
ence, and the careful manner in which it was preserved; and
equally so in the written instructions to his agents. His office
clerks he reminded of the maxim : — “Every thing in its place, and
a place for every thingand they were forbidden to hold any con-
versations with those who came to the office to do business, on
the subject of party politics, but instructed to interest themselves,
and hold conversations “in reference to schools, and the means of
their improvement." His out-door clerk, or farm agent, was in-
structed to “frequently visit every farm, make suggestions to ten-
ants ; see how they manage affairs, see that every farm has growing
upon it good and wholesome fruit; look to the compost heaps and
manure; see that the premises are made conducive to health/' All
short comings, negligencies, and slovenly, or bad management, you
are to report to the office. Your inquiries should be : — “ Are the
gates in good order ? Is the wood-pile where it ought to be ? Are the
grounds around the house kept in a neat and wholesome manner ?
Are the sheds, and yard fence around the barn in a good state of re-
pair? The land agent should make suggestions to the tenants on
the leading principles of good husbandry, with frequent reference
Note.—In a letter to Mr. Troup, after lie had succeeded to the Pulteney agency, in
1805, Mr. Wadsworth urges the setting apart of land in each township “ for a school,
house, meetinghouse, glebe, and parsonage.” He adds :—“I am not superstitious, but
I believe in Christianity; I am no partisan, but I believe in the piety of patriot-
ism ; and amidst the afflictions of this wayward world, it appears to me that the sweet-
est consolations that attend advanced life, is a recollection of substantial benefits con-
ferred upon our country of having contributed our full mite to the improvement and
happiness of our fellow men ; especially to that portion of them whose destinies are in-
fluenced more or less by our decisions, and by the situations, which, under Providence,
We are placed.”342
PHELPS AHD GOKHAM’s PURCHASE.
to sound morals, founded on the sanction of religion and just
reasoning; and also the unappreciable importance of the edu-
cation of youth, and of a vigilant attention to the state of com-
mon schools in the lessees’ district. Shade trees must be about
each house. From a look or two about the garden or house, you
can easily ascertain if the occupant drinks bitters in the morning,
or whiskey with his dinner. If he drinks bitters, you will find his
garden full of weeds.”
To a natural love of rural scenery, skirted and dotted with forests
arid shade trees,had been added obseiwation in European travel where
time had enhanced their beauty and value. In England, in fact,
he had learned to love trees, and appreciate the importance of their
preservation ; and in nothing has he so distinctly left traces of him-
self, as in the beautiful woodland scenery and 'magnificent forest
trees, so much admired, in the immediate valley of the Genesee.
With the same forecast that enabled him to estimate the prospec-
tive value of lands, he saw far ahead what this whole region is now
beginning to realize, the evil of destroying the native forests, with-
out planting and rearing trees for future practical uses, as well as
ornament.
The personal character of Mr. Wadsworth may mostly be infer-
red from this imperfect sketch of him, as the Pioneer and founder
of settlements. Almost his entire history is blended with this local
region — its early settlement and progress ; though he took a deep
interest in public affairs, it was in the retirement of private life,
from which he would seem to have never had a disposition to be
drawn by any allurements of official stations. His private corres-
pondence, the ability with which he discussed various subjects of
political economy, scientific agriculture and education, evince a
clear, sound judgment, strengthened by judicious, practical read-
ing ; indeed, his library, like all the appointments of his farms, his
stock, his dwelling, and his garden, is chosen with a strict regard to
utility. “ He was,” (says a surviving cotemporary,# ) “ a good judge
of men — seldom erred in his estimation of them — and relying up-
on his judgment, was even arbitrary in the withholding and bestow-
al of confidence. He had not the elements of popularity; or if he
had, did not choose to make them available; usually absorbed in
the cares of business, or some favorite study, he was reserved in his
* George Hoamer, Esq.
\343
PHELPS AND gobham’s puechase.
deportment, and liable to be regarded as austere and unsocial; but
relaxing, as he sometimes would — freeing his mind from its bur-
dens, he would exercise fine conversational powers, not unmixed
with humor, wit and gaiety/’
William Wadsworth, as has already been indicated, was the prac-
tical farmer, and has little of history disconnected with the imme-
diate supervision of large farming operations, and his early and
prominent position in the local military organization. At the battle
of Queenston, after the wounding of Gen. Solomon Yan Rensselear,
the immediate command devolved upon him, and he acquitted him-
self with honor, and won even something of laurels, upon a badly
selected and generally unfortunate battle field, where they were
scarce, and hard to acquire.* He was a bachelor, and a bachelor’s
history has always an abrupt termination. He died in 1833, aged
71 years. His property which had been mostly held in common'
with his brother James, was willed to his children; thus leaving the
large estate unbroken.
James Wadsworth died at his residence in Geneseo, in June,
1844, aged 76 years; leaving two sons and two daughters. His
eldest daughter, was the wife of Martin Brimmer, of Boston, at
one period the Mayor of that city; she died in 1834. His second
daughter, Elizabeth, was married in January, of the present year,
in Scotland, to Charles Augustus Murray, second son of the late
Earl of Dunmore, and a nephew of the Duke of Hamilton; and
now resides at Cairo, in Egypt, where her husband is the diplomatic
representative of the British Government.f His son, William
* Mansfield, one of tlie biographers of Gen. Scott, says tliat when lie had crossed
the Niagara, at the battle of Queenston, and arrived upon the Heights, he. proposed
to Gen. Wadsworth, instead of assuming the chief command to limit it to the legular
force; to which the brave and patriotic Wadsworth replied : — “No, you know best
professionally what ought to be done; I am here for the honor of my country, and the
New York militia.” And the biographer adds: —“ Scott assumed the command, and
Wadsworth throughout the movements that ensued, dared every danger in seconding
his views. Though they had met for the first time, he had become attached to the
young Colonel, repeatedly during the battle, interposing his own person to shield
Scott from the Indian rifles, which his tall form attracted.” This statement, illus-
trating the modesty of his courage, is confirmed by General Scott.
t He is the grand son of. Lord Dunmore, the governor of the colony of Virginia on
the breaking out of the Revolution. In, 1834, he visited this country, upon a four
undertaken with the two fold objects of business and pleasure. Upon investigation
he ascertained that by some defect or omission in the Virginia acts of confiscation,
he could recover a large tract of land that had belonged to his grand-father, but he
declined consummating the recovery upon learning that the land was nearly valueless.
Striking off into the western States, he organized at St. Louis a corps of adventurers,
and with them visited one of the far western Indian nations — the Pawnees — spend-
ing the most of a summer with them, joining them in their rural sports, and aecom-344
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
Wadsworth, who married the daughter of------Austin, of Boston,
resides at the old family mansion in Geneseo. His son, James S.
Wadsworth, who married the daughter of John Wharton, of Philadel-
phia, is the occupant of a fine mansion he has erected in a grove,
a short distance north of the village of Geneseo, upon a bluff* that
overlooks abroad sweep of the valley of the Genesee. Upon him,
in consequence of the abscence of the surviving sister, and the in-
firmities of his brother, devolves the entire management of the
Wadsworth estate; a difficult task, with all its diversified interest,
its numerous farms, and tracts of wild lands; but one that is well
performed, not only in reference to the estate itself, but with refer-
ence to the public interest in which so large landed possessions are
necessarily merged. The representative of the early Pioneers —
his father and uncle — “ to the manor born” — while he knows little
*of the hardships, self-denial, the long years of trial and anxiety
which attended the accumulation of the immense wealth he controls,
he entertains liberal and enlightened views in reference to its man-
agement and disposition ; is not unmindful, as his frequent acts of
public munificence bear witness, of the local interests and prosper-
ity of his native valley of the Genesee. While in many portions
of our country, the evil attending the accumulation of great estates,
is much enhanced by the narrow and sordid views of those into
whose hands they fall; in this, as well as in other instances, in our
own prosperous region, it has been mitigated. It was something
more than the mere possession of wealth— something of the more
legitimate claims to popular esteem — that during the last winter
created that intense anxiety in the local public mind, when the
worst fears were entertained in reference to the fate of the packet
ship, in which the subject of this incidental notice, had taken pas-
sage on his return voyage from Europe.
panying them in their buffalo hunts. He is the author of a book of “ Travels in North
America*” and of the popular tale of fact and fiction — of wild adventure and roman-
tic incidents— entitled the “ Prairie Bird; ” which the author is informed by one of
the trade, has reached a tenth edition, in this country. James "Wadsworth made the
acquaintance of the family during his residence in Europe, and the younger member
of it brought a-letter of introduction to him when he came out to this country in 1834;
thence the acquaintance; the sequel, after a long delay, consequent upon the mooted
question of country and residence, has been the transfer of one of the daughters of the
Genesee from her native valley, to the court and the diplomatic circle of one of the
far off capitols of the Old World.
Note. — James Wadsworth in his life time, founded a library in Geneseo, erecting
a building for the purpose, and for its support deeding to its trustees two farms ana
some village property. He made it free to every citizen of Livingston county. It hasphelps and horham’s purchase.
345
In the primitive division of Ontario into Districts, the second
district, Geneseo, embraced all west of the east line of the present
towns of Pittsford, Mendon, Richmond. The first town meeting
for the “ District of Geneseo/* was held at Canawagus, April 9,
1791. John Ganson was chosen Sup. David Bullet T. C. Other
town officers: Gad Wadsworth, Nathan Perry, Amos Hall, Israel
Stone, Edward Carney, Hill Carney, Jno. Ball, Isaiah Thompson,
Benj. Gardner, John Lusk, Jasper Marvin, Norris Humphrey.
It will be observed that these officers were distributed throughout
the entire settled region west of the line named above. It used to be
alledged that a little feeling of aristocracy had thus early crept into
the backwoods, and manifested itself in the choice of supervisor —
shoes, moccasins, and bare feet, were the order of the day, but “ Capt
Ganson, ” glorying in the possession of a pair of boots, the choice
fell upon him.
The town meeting in 1793, was held at “ Miles Gore/* Lima ;
Amos Hall was elected Supervisor. This year, most of all the
early roads in Livingston, east part of Monroe, and west part of
Ontario, were laid out and recorded. Store and tavern licenses
were granted to Gilbert R. Berry, Wm. Wadsworth, Simon Stone,
Elijah Flowers, Pierce and Ransom, John Johnson, Donald Mc-
Donald, Elijah Starr, Abel Willey, Peter, Simms, Nathaniel
Fowler, James Rogers, Wm. Hencher, Abner Migells. Nathaniel
Perry, Christopher Dugan.
At that early period, when stock of all kinds ran in the woods,
ear marks were appended. It is presumed that nearly all of the in-
habitants had their peculiar marks recorded. In many of the old
town books, the picture of a hog or a sheep’s ear, is drawn, with
each man’s mark . delienated opposite his name. In 1796, there
were upon the town books of the district of Geneseo, the following
names of those who had chosen ear marks, in all the wide region
west of East Bloomfield to the western boundaries of the State.
There is no other form in which so many Pioneer names are re-
corded :—
now about 2,300 volumes, and a yearly income of about $600. In his will, he constitu-
ted his immediate heirs its trustees. Its management devolves upon James S. Wads-
worth, under which it is carrying out the designs of its founder, and promises to become
one of the largest Libraries in the State. He gave $>10,000 the income of which is tobe
employed in the education of any indigent relative. He also gave $10,000, the in-
come of which is to be devoted to the benefit of the common schools of the State.
22346
PHELPS AND GORHAME PURCHASE.
Benjamin Gardner,
Perez Gardner,
J. P. Sears,
Clark Peck,
Jasper Marvin,
John Alger
John Gardner,
John Minor,
Solomon Hovey,
Amos Hall,
Asa Baker,
Samuel Barker,
Paul Davison,
Samuel Baker, jr.,
Elijah Morgan,
Thomas Peck,
Sylvester Marvin,
Nathaniel Fowler,
¥m. Harris,
Ebenezer Merry,
Jacob Wright,
Abraham Wright,
S. C. Brockway,
Elisha Wade,
Stephen Tucker,
Amariah Bates,
Jos. Wright,
John Parks,
J ohn Ganson,
David Seymour,
Alexander Forsyth,
John Beach,
Reuben Thayer,
Nathaniel Munger.
Henry Redding,
Joseph Smith,
Adna Heacock,
Marvin Gates,
Daniel Gates,
Phineas Bates,
Asahel Burchell,
Ebenezer Sprague,
Simon Tiffany,
Ezra Burchell,
Seth Lewis,
Alexander Ewing,
Gad Wadsworth,
Wm, Markham,
Ebenezer Merry,
Wm. Wadsworth,
Jed. Cummings,
Benjamin Thompson,
Lorin Wait,
Thomas Lee,
Richard Wait,
Wm. Moore,
John Barnes,
David Davis,
Samuel Goodrich,
Gershom Beach,
Daniel Fox,
Aaron Lyon,
William Layton,
Hezekiah Fox,
Joseph Baker,
Zebulon Moses,
Asahel Warner,
Tim. Hosmer,
V John Rhodes,
David Bailey,
Thomas Migells
Theo. Shepherd,
Ransom Smith,
Philip Simms,
David Markham,
Reuben Heath,
Daniel Wright,
Jos. Arthur,
P. and J. Sheffer,
Jos. Morgan,
*• Enos Hart,
Abel Wilsey,
John Morgan,
Asa B. Simmons,
David B. Morgan,
Samuel Bullen,
Samuel Stevens,
George Gardner,
Joseph Norton,
Jesse Pangburn,
Joel Harvey,
David Benton,
Jeremiah Olmsted,
Joshua Whitney,
David Pierson,
Justus Minard,
i Jonathan Gould,
Abiel Gardner,
Ezekiel Chamberlin,
Benjamin Parsons,
The location of the Wadsworths at Geneseo, made that point the
nucleus of a considerable neighborhood, though for many years,
there was but a small cluster of buildings. The business of the
new settlements was divided between Geneseo, “ Old Leicester/’
and Williamsburg. The Wadsworths resided in their primitive log
house until 1794, when they built a large block house on the site of
the old Wadsworth mansion. About 1804, they had erected the
upright part of the present building, a large square roofed house
that made an imposing appearance in a region of log houses, where
a framed house of any size was a rarity. The early clerk of
James Wadsworth, after he had opened his land office, was Samuel
B. Walley, an Englishman, the father of Mrs. Dudley Marvin; he
was succeeded by Andrew McNabb, who went into the Bath land
office; Joseph W. Lawrence was first blacksmith in Geneseo. He
removed to Michigan, where he died in 1845. Among the promi-
nent early settlers, were: — Lemuel B. Jennings, Benjamin Squire,
Wm. Crossett, Rodman Clark, Wm. Findlay, David Findlay. As347
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PURCHASE.
early as 1804, Mr. Wadsworth visited Marlborough, Connecticut,
and exchanged lands for farms, thus inducing several families to
remove, who settled on the road leading to Conesus, among whom
was David Kneeland ; their location was early called “ Marlborough
Street.”
The early merchants atGeneseo were Minor & Hall. In 1805,
one of the firm, Hall, died at Oneida Castle, on his way to New
York to purchase goods.
The prominent early merchant of Geneseo was the late Major
Wm. H. Spencer. He was from East Haddam, Conn. Arriving
upon the Genesee River in 1803, with his axe upon his shoulder, he
was a Pioneer of “ Fairfield ” now Ogden; breaking into the wilder-
ness on Rush creek, about a mile east of Spencer's Basin, he built
a cabin, kept bachelor's hall, bought provisions of Mr. Shaeffer,
carrying most of them in on his back; built a saw mill, and in a little
over a year cleared fifty acres. Getting ready for his saw mill irons,
he went to Connecticut, and brought them all the way from there
with an ox-team. In 1804 he struck the first blow in Riga, making
an opening, and erecting a house for Mr. Wadsworth, a mile and a
half southeast of Churchville-.
In 1805 he was induced by Mr. Wadsworth to take an interest
with him in a mercantile establishment in Geneseo. Starting with
a large stock of goods for that period, his business extended as set-
tlement advanced, and there were many early years that his trade
embraced a wide region. His goods came by the water route from
Schenectady to the foot of Cayuga Lake, and from thence on wheels
to Geneseo; the transportation usually costing about $3,00 per cwt.
Doing principally a barter trade, his furs, tobacco, hemp, grain, pork,
and maple sugar, were in the earliest years marketed at Baltimore ;
by wagoning to Arkport on the Canisteo, and from thence by water.
The first producesTupped at Arkport, was from Dansville; the sec-
ond shipments were by Spencer & Co., from Geneseo. This was
the avenue to market for all the southern portion of Phelps and Gor-
ham’s Purchase, until the Jefferson embargo; then it changed to
Lake Ontario, by wagon roads to the mouth of Genesee River,
until bateaux were introduced upon the river. These ran from the
rapids above Rochester, as high up as Geneseo; and Durham boats
used to ascend to Mount Morris. In the war of 1812 Maj. Spencer
was the aid of Gen. Wadsworth. Many years since he retired348
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
from the mercantile business to his extensive farm of flats and up-
land, on the river opposite Geneseo. He was the owner of the
beautiful sweep of flats, field after field, along on either side of the
road from Geneseo to Pifiardinia; and had become one of the largest
grazers, wool and wheat growers in the valley of the Genesee. He
died suddenly, of appoplexy, in January of this year, while engaged
in the active management of the large estate that had been gafned
by early Pioneer enterprise, industry and perseverance.
In 1805 Geneseo had but about a dozen dwellings, there were
two public houses, one kept by Faulkner, and the other by Bishop;
John Pierce had started the hatting business. Seymour Welcon
was a tavern keeper there as early as 1809 or ’10. Dr. Sill was the
early physician. He died in early years; he was the father of Dr.
Sill, of Livonia, and-----Sill of Wheatland. He was succeeded
in practice by Dr. Augustus Wolcott, who emigrated west in early
years. Ashbel Atkins was the early tanner and shoe maker. The
earliest religious meetings were held in a small building called the
“ town house, ” opposite the Park, which also answered the purpo-
ses of a school-house. Elder Joseph Lindsley was the first resident
clergyman. That portion of Morris Reserve and the Holland Pur-
chase lying west of Geneseo, commenced settling along in 1805 and
'6, and Geneseo being upon the main thoroughfare, its trade, and
the business of its public houses, derived a considerable impetus
from it. Much of the trade of the new settlers was done there and
the grain raised upon Wadsworths, Jones, and Mt. Morris flats,
was their principal dependence.
A RECLUSE.
In 1793 or ’4, DeBoui, a Frenchman, wandered to this region with a single
companion, a negro slave, built a log cabin on Wadsworth’s flats, and lived the
life of a recluse. He was a native of Alsace. While a youth, he quarrelled
with a friend, wounded him in a duel, fled to St. Domingo, where he served
as a private soldier, until his superior attainments recommended him for em-
ployment in the public service as an engineer. He finally received the appoin-
ment of Inspector General of the high roads, and became besides, a consider-
able planter. The revolution in St. Domingo, breaking out, he fled to Amer-
ica, bringing with him one faithful servant, -and the remnant of his estate, a349
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
few bills on France. Col. Wadsworth, of Hartford, assumed the negotiation
of Ms bills, advanced Mm money, and granted to him the use of a small tract
of land, wMch be came on and occupied. When the Duke Liancourt, and
his French companions were upon the river, in 1795, they visited him and
spent the night in his hut. They found him a confirmed misanthrope, but
pleased at the unexpected visit of his countrymen to his backwoods retreat. A
highly cultivated mind, had been soured by misfortune ; and he had contract-
ed a disgust for his race, seeking no other associates but his faithful servant,
who cooked his food, and cultivated a small patch of ground for their mutual
sustenance. Unless he is right in assuming that he finally joined a colony of
his countrymen at Asylum, in Pennsylvania, the author is unable to state
what became of him.
HORATIO AND JOHN H. JONES.
In 1788, John H. Jones had joined his brother Horatio, in Gene-
va. In the spring of 1789, having obtained a yoke of oxen, the
two brothers went into what is now Phelps, found an open spot,
ploughed and planted five or six acres of corn, which they sold on
the ground. In August of that year, the Indians having promised
Horatio a tract of land west of the Genesee river, the advent of
the two brothers, was as related in page 328.
With the history of Horatio Jones, the public have already been
made familiar. In a previous work of the author’s — the history
of the Holland Purchase,— there is a sketch of his life. Identified
as he had become, with the Senecas, and sharing largely in their
esteem and confidence, in his settlement west of the river, he had
relied upon their intention of granting him his location, in which
he was not disappointed, as will be seen in connection with the
Morris treaty. Receiving from President Washington the appoint-
ment of Indian interpreter, in early years, his attendance upon
treaties, the accompanying of Indian delegations to the seat of gov-
ernment, and various other trusts connected with the Indians, em-
ployed most of his time. When alive, there was none of our race,
save Mary Jemison, who had been so long a resident of this region.
He was with Col. Broadhead in his expedition to the Allegany, and
as an Indian prisoner, he resided at Nunda, as early as 1781. The
Note.—No one whose lot was ever cast with the Senecas, was a better judge of
their character; and no one has in a greater degree contributed to our knowledge of
them. His brother gave to the author, some observations of his, in reference to their350
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
farming principally devolved upon John H. Jones, and in early years,
the brothers were large producers, especially of corn, for the new
settlers who dropped in around and beyond them. At a primitive
period, when the Indians in all that region, far out numbered the
whites — at a period too, when they were unreconciled, and unde-
termined, as to their relations with the whites, Horatio Jones ex-
ercised a salutary influence; and to him much of the credit is due,
for the success of Indian treaties, and the suppression of hostilities.
The Indian captive boy became the arbitrer between his captors
and his own race; and by an inherent strength of mind and energy
of character, which marked him as no ordinary man, made early
misfortune the means ol conspicuously identifying himself with the
early history of all this region: rendering to it essential service in
years of weakness; becoming in fact, a founder of settlement and
civilization upon soil where he began his career as an alien and
captive.
Among the captives with whom he became acquainted while in
captivity himself, was the daughter of--* Whitmore, of Schenec-
tady. She was released with him at the treaty of Fort Stanwix,
soon after which they were married. She died in 1794. He died
1836, aged 75 years. The surviving sons, are : — William, Hiram
and Charles, of Leicester, Horatio, of Moscow, Seneca, a Califor-
nia adventurer.	Daughters:—Mrs. Lyman of Moscow, Mrs.
Fitzhugh, of Saginaw, Michigan, Mrs. Hewitt and Mrs. B. F. Angell,
of Geneseo, ]\frs. Finley, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Two sons,
George and James, were killed at the British attack on Lewiston,
in the war of 1812.
John H. Jones, is now living at the age of 80 years, his mind
but little impaired, and with thie exception of rheumatism, a physi-
cal constitution but little broken. In 1792, he was engaged
in the Indian trade at the mouth of Genesee river, upon the
Allegany river, and Cattaraugus creek. He speaks familiarly
of being at Buffalo, when the only white inhabitant was Win-
warlike character, which it is believed has never before been published. He used to
say that their southern wars with their own race, their success in them, were often
their themes in the war dance, and in their wigwams. He has often heard the old
men relate that the very name of Seneca, had a terror with Indians of other nations.
At the south and the west, and among the nations of Canada, the Seneca war-whoop
would almost conquer of itself. He said that even as late as the war of 1812, the In-
dians of Canada were struck with terror, when they learned that they must encounter
the Senecas in Battle.phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
351
ney, a Butler Ranger, and the only resident on all the south
shore of Lake Erie, west of Buffalo, other than Indians, was “ Black
Joe,” a fugitive slave, at the mouth of Cattaraugus creek. Judge
Jones was a magistrate of Ontario before the division; soon after
Genesee was set off, he became one of its Judges, and from 1812 to
1822, was first Judge of Genesee, and after that for several years?
of Livingston. He was the first supervisor of Leicester, and was
in all early years, a prominent, active helper in pioneer movements.
His surviving sons are, George W., Horatio, Thomas J., James M.,
John H., Lucien B., Hiram, and Fayette, all residing in his imme-
diate neighborhood ; and Napoleon N., of Scottsville. Daughters :
Mrs. Clute, of Cuylerville, Mrs. William Jones, of Leicester, Mrs.
James Jones, of Cincinnatti.
The three brothers, Jellis, Thomas and William Clute, from
Schenectady, were early settlers at Leicester. Jellis was engaged
in the Indian trade at Beardstown. Thomas and William settled
at Gardeau.
The Rev. Samuel J. Mills was a graduate of Yale College, a na-
tive of Derby, Conn. He emigrated to the Genesee river in 1795.
He joined Thomas Morris and others in the purchase of 10,000
acres of land in Groveland and Sparta, at a period of high prices,
paying and contracting to pay $6 per acre. The price soon fell
below $2. He settled near where Col. Fitzhugh afterwards loca-
ted ; erecting a framed house and moving into it, it burned down,
with all his household furniture, the family barely escaping. This,
with his unfortunate investment in lands, embarrassed him, and dis-
couraged the spirit of enterprise that had brought him from New
England. He was the early minister, for several years itinerating
among the new settlements, until the period of his death, soon after
1800. His wife returned to Connecticut. One of his sons, the
late Gen. William A, Mills, was destined to a more fortunate career.
Thrown upon his own resources at the age of 17, he rented flats
of the Indians, occupying a shantee, where he lived alone at Mount
Morris, his nearest neighbors,, the Indians. Renting his land upon
easy terms, and hiring the Indians and Squaws to assist him in
working it, he was soon enabled to erect a distillery ; and when the
Mount Morris tract was opened for sale, he purchased from time
t© time, until he became possessed of eight hundred acres, including
several hundred acres of the fine flats opposite the present village352
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
of Mount Morris. His Indian name, “ Sa-nem-ge-wa,” (generous)
would indicate their esteem for him, and the probity that governed
his early intercourse with them. He spoke their language fluent-
ly, and from early associations, was much attached to them. When,
after their removal, they would occasionlly revisit their old homes
upon the Genesee, he met them, and treated them as old friends. #
To his distilling and grain raising in early years, he added grazing
upon the Mount Morris and Gardeau flats, and became finally large-
ly engaged in that business : and successful, as many have witness-
ed at our early county and State fairs. He was for twenty years,
the Supervisor of Mount Morris; a commissioned officer in the
early military organization in his region, he was upon the frontier
in the war of 1812, and in later years, rose to the rank of Brig.
General. He died in 1844, aged 67 years. His sons are: — Wil-
liam A., Sidney H., Minard H. and Julius F., of Mount Morris,
and Dr. Myron H., of Rochester. Daughters: — Mrs. Levi Beach
of Knox county, Ohio, Mrs. Dr. G. W. Branch and Mrs. William
Hamlin, of Mount Morris.
Alexander Mills, another son of the early Pioneer, Rev. Samuel
J. Mills, located at Olean in an early day, where he was extensively
engaged in the lumber trade; now resides in Cleveland. Major
Philo Mills, another son, located in Groveland, emigrated to Tecum-
seh, Michigan. Frederick L. Mills, another son, located on flats;
he died in 1834; his living descendants are : — George, of Mount
Morris, Philo, of Groveland, Lewis, of Allegany, and Mrs. Hunt,
of Groveland.
The first saw mill wrest of Genesee river, (save one at Niagara
Falls, erected by Stedman,) was erected by Ebenezer Allan, on the
outlet of the Silver Lake. This supplied the first boards had in the
upper valley of the Genesee. It was built in 1792, and raised by
the help of the Indians, for the want of sufficient white men in the
country. In some of the earliest years, Judge Phelps had a distil-
lery erected, near the present village of Moscow. In 1800, Augus-
tus Porter, as the agent of Oliver Phelps, laid out the village of
* And this, the author would here remark, was not unlike the relation that existed
between most of the Pioneers of the Genesee country and the Indians, where they
became neighbors in early years, and something of mutual dependence existed.
Even now, in our cities and villages, the old Pioneers are pained often in witness-
ing their degradation, and prompt to resist any insnlt offered to them.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
353
Leicester, * on a traet he had purchased of Jones and Smith, and
opened the direct road across the flats to “ Jones’ Ford previous
to which, it had gone via Beardstown. He also erected a saw mill
on Beards’ Creek, near the present village of Moscow. For several
years after 1800, the village of Leicester bore an important relation
to the new settlements forming in Wyoming, Allegany, and south
part of Erie. The early and well known tavern keeper, was
Leonard Stimson, from Albany, who had been engaged in a
small Indian trade at Mount Morris. He opened the first store,
and started the first blacksmith shop. He left Geneseo soon after
the war of 1812 ; his descendants reside in the neighborhood of
Rochester. The first physician was Dr. Paul Newcomb. Colonel
Jedediah Horsford, the present M. C. from Livingston, was an early
teacher of a missionary school at Squaky Hill, and an early land-
lord at Moscow. Joel Harvey was an early tavern keeper a little
west of Old Leicester.
The first town meeting in Leicester, was held at the house of
Joseph Smith. John J. Jones was elected Supervisor ; George A.
Wheeler, Town Clerk. Other town officers: — Samuel Ewing,
Alpheus Harris, Dennison Foster, Abel Cleavland, Samuel Hascall,
George Gardner, Wm. A. Mills, Joel Harvey, David Dickinson,
James Dale.
One hundred dollars was raised to pay “ bounty on wolves and
wild cats, killed by white people.”
By a resolution of a special town meeting, in 1803, town of An-
gelica was set off* from Leicester.
The village of Moscow was started just after the close of the
war of 1812, under the auspices of the late Samuel M. Hopkins,
who in company with Benjamin W. Rogers, had purchased three
fourths of the original Jones and Smith’s Indian grant, of Isaac
Bronson. Hopkins built the fine residence now owned by W. T.
Cuyler, between Cuylerville and Moscow. The first merchant was
Nicholas Ayrault, late of Rochester; Wm. Robb, William Lyman,
and Sherwood and Miller, were early merchants. The early land-
lords were: — Jessee Wadhams, Wm. T. Jenkins, Homer Sher-
wood. Early lawyers, other than S. M. Hopkins :—Felix Tracy,
John Baldwin, George Miles, recently one the Judges of the Su-
Name, from Oliver Leicester Phelps.354	PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
preme Court, of Michigan. Rev. Mr. Mason founded the first
Presbyterian church. An Academy was founded principally under
the auspices of Mr. Hopkins, in 1817; the first Principal was Og-
den M. Willey; his assistants, the Miss Raymonds, one of whom
became the wife of the Rev. Calvin C. Colton, the author of the
life of Henry Clay, then a settled Presbyterian minister, at Batavia.
The early physicians were: — Asa R. Palmer, J. W. Montross,
Daniel H. and Daniel P. Bissell.
Cuvlerville sprung up after the completion of the Genesee Valley
Canal. W. T. Cuyler, who was an early citizen of Rochester, pur-
chased the Hopkins house and farm, of Richard Post, a son of the
late Dr. Post, of New York, in 1830. The village has grown up
on or near the site of the old Indian village of Beardstown, where the
road from Perry and Warsaw crosses the canal. Mr. Cuyler
started the first fordwarding and commission house; the early mer-
chants were: — Odell and Evans, and Joseph Wheelock.
From Ebenezer Allan, the Mt. Morris tract, of four square miles,
went into the hands of Robert Morris, and afterwards his son Thom-
as became a joint owner with others. Col. John Trumbull, of
Revolutionary memory, the celebrated artist, was one of the early
proprietors. He visited the country, and selected for his residence,
the site, in the present village, now occupied by George Hastings,
Esq.; planted an orchard, and made some preparations for building.
The name, which had been “ Allan’s Hill,” he changed to “ Rich-
mond Hill.” Afterwards, when he had abandoned the idea of
making it his residence, the name was changed to Mt. Morris. The
early proprietors of the tract, other than those named, were: —Mr.
Fitzsimmons, of Philadelphia, Charles Williamson, Robert Troup,
the Messrs. Wadsworths, John Murray* & Sons, of New York
(of which firm Wm. Ogden was a partner,) Benj. W. Rodgers
Isaac Bronson, Gen. Mills, and Jessee Stanley, were the prominent
pioneers of settlement. Deacon Stanley was from Goshen, Conn.,
his residence was the site now occupied by James Bond. He died
in 1846, aged 90 years; he was the father of Oliver Stanley, of
Mt. Morris. The village has grown up principally on the lands of
Messrs. Mills, Stanley, and Mark Hopkins, a brother of Samuel M.
* John R. Murray, of Mt. Morris, is the grandson of John Murray, the early proprie-
tor at Mt. Morris, and owner of the township, now Ogden.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	355
Hopkins. Mr. Hopkins came on as agent for owners, soon after the
tract was opened for sale. He died soon after 1820.
VALLEY OF THE CANASeRAGA.
Following the tract of Mr. Williamson when he broke in from
Pennsylvania and made a commencement at Williamsburg, settlers
soon began to drop into the valley of the Canascraga. In Grove-
land, other than at Williamsburg, John Smith wras the Pioneer. He
was from New Jersey, a surveyor in the employ of Mr. Williamson.
He purchased a mile square, upon which he resided until his death
in 1817. Benjamin Parker, a step son of John Smith, John Harri-
son, William and Thomas Lemen, William and Daniel Kelley,
James Roseborough, were among the earliest. Smith in *99, built a
mill between Hornellsville and Arkport, and as early as 1800 took
lumber from it to the Baltimore market. Michael Roup was an early
Pioneer upon the up lands in Groveland, with his son Christain
Roup. He died during the war of 1812; Michael Roup, of Grove-
land is his son. The early minister that visited the neighborhood was
the Rev. Mr. Gray; the first school taught was by Robert M’-
Kay, in one of the houses that the Germans had deserted.
The early Pioneers of Sparta, on the Canascraga, between Mount
Morris and Dansville, were: —J. Duncan, John Clark, Thomas
Ward, Wm, McCartney, Henry Driesback, Benjamin Wilcox, Geo.
Wilkenson, Rev. Andrew Grey, John McNair.
In Groveland, other than those named in another connection: —
Samuel Nibleck, (Nibleck’s Hill,) William Martin, Samuel Stilwell,
John A^ance,-----Doty, ----— Ewart.
In reference to all the upper valley of the Canascraga, Dansville
was the prominent pioneer locality, as it is now the focus of business
and enterprise. The Pioneer in the town of Sparta, near the present
village of Dansville, was Hugh McCartney, who had accompanied
Mr. Williamson from Scotland, and of whom, the author has no ac-
count other than the fact of his early advent. Upon the site of the
village of Dansville, Neil McCoy, was the first settler. He came
from Painted Post, and located where his step-son, James McCurdy^
who came in with him, now resides. The family were four days in356
PHELPS AND GORHAMS PURCHASE.
making the journey from Painted Post, camping out two nights on
the way. The only tenement they found, was a small hut built for
surveyors, where Conrad Welch now resides on Ossian street. At
this time there was no white inhabitant in what is now the town of
Dansville. Preparing logs for a house 14 by 18 feet, help to raise
it came from Bath, Geneseo and Mount Morris, with Indians from
Squaky Hill and Gardeau. It is mentioned by Mr. McCurdy, in
some reminiscences he contributed several years since to a local
history of Dansville,* from which the author derives many facts to
add to what he has gleaned from other sources, that his mother, Mrs.
M’Coy, the first season heard of the arrival of Judge Hurlburt's family
at Arkport, on the Canisteo, eleven miles distant, and Sas an act of
backwoods courtesy, resolved upon making the first call. Taking
her son (McCurdy) with her, she made the visit through the woods
by marked trees, dined with her new neighbors, and returned in
time to do her milking, after a walk, going and coming of twenty-
two miles! During the first winter they needed no hay for their
stock, the rushes upon the Canascraga flats furnishing a substitute,
upon which their cattle would thrive. The Indians belonging in the
villages along the Genesee river, were almost constantly encamped on
the flats of the Canascraga, as high up as Dansville, principally engag-
ed in hunting, though they cultivated small patches of ground. Their
venison and corn was a part of the subsistence of the new settlers.
Mr. McCoy died in 1809, childless; his representative, and the
occupant of his primitive locality, is James M'CurdyEsq., his step
son.
The venerable Amariah Hammond, for a long period a patriarch
of the settlement and village of Dansville, after living to see a young
and flourishing city grow up in the wilderness, where he so early
cast his lot, died in the winter of ’50, *51. His large farm, is im-
mediately adjoining the village, on the main road to Geneseo.
Daughters of his, became the wives of L. Bradner, Esq., and Dr.
James Faulkner, both of whom are prominently identified with the
locality. L. C. WoodrufF, Esq., formerly of Lockport, graduating
in his youth from a printing office, and now the principal active
manager of the Bank of Dansville, a sound and flourishing institu-
tion, married the daughter of Mr. Bradner, the grand-daughter of
* "Miniature of Dansville,” by J. W. Clark.857
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
the early and much respected Pioneer. The first wife of Mr.
Hammond died in 1798.	“ She had,” says Mr. M'Curdy, “endear-
ed herself to all of us by hei many virtues. When she died, all
wept who had hearts and eyes.”
The author of the small local history already named, states that
Mr. Hammond on coming in to explore, slept two nights under a
pine tree on the premises he afterwards purchased. Early in the
spring of 1796, “ he removed his young family from Bath to this
place ; his wife and infant child on horseback, his household goods
and farming utensils on a sled drawn by four oxen, and a hired man
driving the cattle.” Some difficulty occurring in getting the cattle
through the woods, Mr. Hammond after arriving at his log cabin,
went back upon his track, and remained in the woods all night,
leaving his young wife with her infant child to spend the first night
alone. Mr. Hammond among other instances of the embarrass-
ments of pioneer life, that he used to relate, said that the first scythes
he used, cost him a journey to Tioga Point. Two scythes and the
journey costing him eleven dollars.
In relating to his London principals the progress of settlement,
Mr. Williamson says: — “I sold also on six years credit, the west
half of township No. 6, 6th range,” (this includes a large portion of
the site of Dansville,) to a Mr. Fitzgerald, at $1 50 per acre. He
sold the land to gentlemen in Pennsylvania for a large profit. The
purchasers were, a Mr. Wilson, one of the Judges of Northumber-
land co., a Mr. C. Hall, a counsellor at law in Pennsylvania, a Mr.
Dunn, and a Mr. Faulkner. These gentlemen have carried on the
settlement with much spirit, and Mr. Faulkner is at the head of it.
They have a neat town, a company of militia, two saw mills and a
grist mill, and indeed, every convenience. Mr. Faulkner, although
he came from Pennsylvania, was originally from the State of New
York, north from Albany. This winter he went down to see his
father and other connections; the consequence was, that he moved
Uote.—In “ Descriptions of the Genesee country,” written by Mr. Williamson, in
1798, lie remarks : — “ Of-those settlements begun in 1796, there are two worthy of no-
tice , that of the Rev. Mr. Gray, in T. 4, 7th Range, who removed from Pennsylvania
with a respectable part of his former parish, and a Mr. Daniel Faulkner, with a Jersey
settlement, on the head of Canascraga creek ; both of them exhibit instances of indus-
try and enterprise. The ensuing season, Mr. Faulkner being appointed captain of a
company of grenadiers to be raised in his settlement, at the organization of the militia
of Steuben, appeared on parade at the head of 27 grenadiers, all in a handsome uniform,
and well armed, and composed solely of the young men of his settlement.”358
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
up about fifteen very decent families, who passed through Albany
with excellent teams, every way well equipped. He sold to some
very wealthy and respectable men of Albany, 5,000 acres at a large
profit. ” The Captain Faulkner, who Mr. Williamson names, was
Daniel P. Faulkner, an early patroon of Dansville, as will be infer-
red. “ Capt. Dan. Faulkner,” was his familiar backwoods appella-
tive, and thence the name — Dans-ville.” He was the uncle of Dr.
James Faulkner.
Soon after settlement commenced, Mr. Williamson had erected
a grist and saw mill, on the site afterwards occupied by Col. Roches-
ter. David Scholl, who was Mr. Williamson’s mill-wright at the
Lyons mills, erected the mills. The early mill-wright of the Gen-
esee country, emigrated many years since to Michigan. Mrs. Sol-
omon and Mrs. Isaac Fentztermacher, of Dansville, are his daughters.
The mill was burned down soon after 1800, after which, before re-
building, the neighborhood had to go to Bosley’s mills at the foot of
Hemlock Lake.
Jacob Welch came from Pennsylvania to Dansville, in 1798.
He died in 1831. His widow still survives, aged 86 years. His
sons, Jacob, Henry and Conrad, are residents of Dansville. His
daughters became the wives of John Beltz, Peter Labach, Will-
iam Kercher, and Valentine Hamsher. The decendants of Jacob
Welch, residents of Dansville and its vicinity, number over one
hundred and thirty. The part of his farm inherited by his son
Conrad Welch, embraces the Dansville canal slip and basin. Mr.
Conrad Welch, a prominent and worthy citizen of Dansville, gave
the author some account of the early advent of his father, and
others: — “ My grand-father, Jacob Martz, resided near Sunbury,
Northumberland county, Pa. The advent of Charles Williamson
through that region, his road, and all that was going on under his
auspices, created a good deal of interest for the Genesee country.
Jacob Martz came out and viewed it, and returning, reported so
favorably, that an emigrant party was soon organized. It consisted
of Jacob Martz, his son Conrad Martz, George Shirey, Frederick
Barnhart and Jacob Welch, and their families. The party came
via Bath, and up the Conhocton. From what afterwards became .
Blood’s corners, the emigrants had their own road to make through
to Dansville. A 'winding road had been underbrushed, but no
streams bridged, and high winds had encumbered it with fallen treespkelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
359
They were three days coming in from Bath, camping out two nights.
Hearing of our approach, the new settlers in Dansville nearly all
turned out, met and assisted us. Prominent of the party was Mr.
Faulkner, who was alway ready to assist new settlers by such acts
of kindness. Occupying an old deserted hut, and quartering our-
selves upon the settlers in their log cabins, we got through the
winter, and in the spring erected log cabins for ourselves. When
we arrived, Samuel Faulkner had opened a small framed tavern,
near where Mr. Bradner’s store now is. In addition to the Faulk-
ners, Hammond, and M’Coy, there was here when we arrived,
Wm. Phenix, James Logan, David Scholl, John Vandeventer,* the
father-in-law of Esq. Hammond, Jared Erwin,Wm. Perrine. There
was three or four families along on the road to Williamsburg.”
“ There had been, where Dansville now is, a pretty large Indian
settlement, fifteen or twenty huts were standing when white settle-
ment commenced, and several Indian families lingered for several
years in the neighborhood.”
“ Game was very abundant; the new settlers could kill deer
about when they pleased. After yarding their sheep, they would
often have to go out and scare the wolves off. In cold winter
nights, the wolves would set up a terrific howl in all the surround-
ing forests. They attacked cattle; in one instance, they killed a cow
of my grand-father Martz. Steel traps, dead falls and pits, were
put in requisition, and soon thinned them out. There was fine fish-
ing in the streams. Mill Creek, especially, was a fine trout stream.
Pigeons were so abundant, that almost uniformly, newly sowed
fields had to be watched almost constantly.”
* A brother of Isaac Vandeventer, the early settler on Buffalo road -west of Clarence
Hollow.
Note. — The author copies from the manuscripts of W. H. C. Hosmer, Esq., the fol-
lowing account of an “ ancient grave at Dansville: ”—
“ Before the Revolution, according to Indian tradition, a battle took place on a hill
a few miles distant from the village of Dansville, between the Canisteo Indians and
those living on the ‘ Ga-nose-ga-go,5 [Canascraga] Creek. A chief of the latter, of
great renown, was slain, and buried with great pomp by his tribesmen. When the
whites first settled here, the spot where he fell was marked by a large hole dug in the
shape of a man prostrate, with his arms extended. An Indian trail led by the place,
and the passing red man was accustomed to clear away the dry leaves and brush
blown in by the winds. The chief was interred in an old burial place near the present
site of the Lutheran Church in the village of Dansville. The ground was formerly
covered with graves to the extent of two or three acres. His monument consisted of
a large pile of small stones, gathered from time to time by the natives, from a hill, a
mile distant; passing, they would add to the heap, by tossing on it, after the manner
of the ancient Caledonians, their rude tributes of affection.”360	PHELPS AHD GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
The primitive settlers of Dansville were mostly Lutherans, or
Dutch Reformed. The first meetings were held from house to
house; Frederick Barnhart or Adam Miller, usually taking the
lead. The Rev. Mr. Markle, a Lutheran preacher from Geneva,
occasionally visited the place, as did Elder Gray. The first loca-
ted minister, was the Rev. Mr. Pratt. The Rev.-----Hubbard, a
son-in-law of Moses Van Campen, was an early settled minister.
He was the father of John Hubbard, of Oswego.
Jonathan Rowley was an early landlord in Dansville; he erect-
ed for a tavern the first brick house in the village. He died in
1830, childless; the only representative of the family, residing in
Dansville, is a niece of Mr. Rowley, the wife of Samuel W.
Smith.
William Perrine, has been before named as one of the primitive
class of Pioneers, died in 1847, at the advanced age of 93 years.
He was a soldier of the Revolution in the Pennsylvania line. His
son, Peter Perrine, occupies the farm on which his father originally
settled, near the village. William Perrine, of South Dansville, and
Robert Perrine, of West Sparta, are also sons of the early Pioneer.
Mrs. Robert Thompson, of Dansville, is a daughter of his,
Harman Hartman was one of the earliest of the Pennsylvania
emigrants. His descendants are numerous, residing principally in
Dansville and its vicinity.
Hugh McCurdy, Esq., in a statement made for the author of the
published reminiscences of Dansville, already alluded to, says: —
“ The first tanner and currier was Israel Vandeventer; the first black-
smith, James Porter; the first marriage was that of Wm. McCartney
to Mary McCurdy ; our first school was taught by Thomas Mac-
lain ; the first established preacher and founder of a church among
us, was the Rev. Andrew Gray ; the first Justice of the peace was
Dr. James Faulkner, (uncle to the present Dr. James Faulkner;)
the first Supervisor was Amariah Hammond; the first death was
that of Captain Nathaniel Porter; the first P. M. was Israel Irwin;
the first merchant goods were brought in by Captain Daniel P.
Faulkner ; the next merchant, Jared Erwin. He died of the pre-
vailing fever during the war of 1812 ; his widow became the wife
of Col. James M’Burney; Mrs. Gansevoort, of Bath, is his daugh-
ter.”	1
Joshua Shepherd, L. Bradner and S. W. Smith, were early andphelps and gorham’s purchase.	361
prominent merchants of Dansville. Mr. Shepherd died in 1829 ;
Mr. Bradner is the President of the Bank of Dansville; Mr. Smith
is a son of the early landlord on the main road from Avon to Cale-
donia.
Pioneer settlers of Dansville, other than those named :—Natha-
niel Porter, John Haas, Thomas McWhorter, Samuel Shannon,
James Harrison, Daniel Hamsher, Mathew Dorr, Oliver Warren,
a nephew of Dr. Warren, of Revolutionary memory.
Col. Nathaniel Rochester became a resident of Dansviile in 1810,
purchasing a large tract of land, which includes the greater portion
of the water power now within the limits of the corporation. The
old Williamson mills were embraced in his purchase. He added
to the mills, a paper mill, the pioneer establishment in that line, in
all western New York. # In 1815, Col. Rochester sold his land,
mills, and water power, to the Rev. Christian Endress from the
borough of Easton, Pa., and Mr. Jacob Opp, from Northampton Co.,
Pa. Mr. Endress resided in Dansville but a year, when he return-
ed, and resumed the charge of a German Lutheran congregation in
Easton. He died in Lancaster, Pa., in 1827. His interest in
Dansville was purchased by Dr. James Faulkner. Judge Endress
and Dr. Endress, of Dansville, are his sons. Mr. Opp died in
Dansville, in 1847, aged 84 years. Henry B. Opp, of Dansville, is
his son.
North Dansville, in which is the site of Dansville village, was in
the county of Steuben, until 1822, when it was attached to the
town of Sparta, Livingston county. In 1846, the old town of
Sparta was divided into three towns —of which the town of
North Dansville, three miles square, was one. The town of Dans-
ville, is still in Steuben county.
Although it is one of the pioneer localities, of the Genesee coun-
try, and commenced in an early period to be a place of considera-
ble business, Dansville was but little known in the northern por-
tion of western New York, until after the completion of the Gene-
see Valley Canal; and even now, away from the main eastern and
western thoroughfares, as it is, it may well be presumed that this
work will fall into the hands of many readers, who have neither
* The pure water at Dansville and fine water power, has invited this branch of manu-
factures there to a great extent. There were four large paper mills there in 1844,
manufacturing over $100,000 worth of paper per annum.
23362
PHELPS AND DO REAM’S PURCHASE*
seen "the bustling, prosperous large village, hid away among the
southern hills, nor perhaps, read any account of it. For this rea-
son, a brief topographical sketch will be given —a departure from
the uniform purpose of the author, in this history of pioneer set-
tlement.
Though some sixteen miles from the Genesee River, it is in fact
at the head of the Genesee Valley.* Coming down through the nar-
row gorges of Allegany and the southern portion of Livingston, the
river has but an occasional broad sweep of flats, until it reaches Mt.
Morris. The flats of the river are continuous, and mostly of uni-
form width, from a few miles above Rochester, to Mount Morris,
from which point gradually narrowing, they follow the course of the
Canascraga to Dansville, where, after widening out, and gradually
rising in beautiful table lands, they come to an abrupt termination,
and are hemmed in by hills. The Canascraga, Mill Creek, and
Stony Brook, coming down from the highlands, through narrow
gorges, enter the valley and unite mainly within the village limits.
The Canascraga enters the valley through a narrow^pass called
“Pog’s Hole,” through which, climbing along a steep acclivity, and
then descending to a level with the stream, passes the HorneUsville
road. Upon the opposite side of the stream from the road, through
the whole length of the narrow pass, is a perpendicular ledge of
rocks, an hundred feet in height. Beyond this pass, the valley
widens out occasionally, into small areas of intervale, but ranges of
highlands rise in near proximity on either hand. The scenery is
wild and romantic, at every step reminding the contemplative ob-
server, of the written descriptions of the passes of the Alps. Mill
creek making in irom another direction, has a rapid descent for a con-
siderable distance, before reaching the valley, furnishing a succes-
sion of hydraulic facilities, as does the Canascraga, where it passes
from the highlands, and for a considerable distance below. The
aggregate durable water power of both streams, before and after
their union, is immense—largely improved now — and equal to any
present or prospective requirements.	#
At the head of the valley, is a succession of promontories, over-
looking the town, upon one of which is a rural cemetery, not unlike the
Mt. Hope, at the other extremity of the Genesee Valley. Moulder-
* The term “ vallev ” is here used not in its enlarged sense — the term “ flats ” would
perhaps he better.863
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
ing in its shades, upon its slopes and summits, are all that was earth-
ly of nearly all the Pioneers, who, entering that beautiful valley,
when it was a wilderness, laid, amid toil, disease, and privations, the
foundation of that busy scene of enterprise, prosperity and happi-
ness. Admonished may their successors and inheritors be, that
their spirits may be lingering upon that summit, guardians and
watchers, over those to whom they bequeathed so rich an inherit-
ance. Let that elevated city of the dead, be to them a Mount Sinai
or an Horeb, from which to catch, as if by inspiration, a moiety of
the stern resolves, the moral courage, the patriotism, of the Pioneers.
The main street of the town is parallel with, and at the base of
an unbroken range of high land, rising to the height of nearly five
hundred feet — steep, but yet admitting of cultivation. Cultivated
fields and woodlands, rising one above another, form the back ground,
or rural landscape; in the foreground are gentle offsets, or table
lands, at the termination of which, the Canascraga winds along the
base of another similar hill, or mountain range; to the left are the
headlands, that have been named, and to the right, the Canascra-
ga, winding along between the two ranges of highlands, flows to min-
gle its waters with the Genesee, at Mount Morris.
The Genesee Valley Canal, terminates a half mile from main street,
where it is fed from Mill creek, and a mile below, at Woodville,
receives the waters of the Canascraga. The canal terminating
too far from the central business locality of the town, individual
enterprise has supplied a side cut, or slip which remedies the incon-
venience.
In reference to the whole scenery of the southern portion of the
Genesee country, the upper vallies of the Genesee, the Canascraga,
the Allegany, the Cattaraugus, the Conhocton, and the Canisteo, it
may here be remarked, that the traveller or tourist of what Mr.
Williamson called the “ northern plains, ” who breaks out for a
summer excursion to the east, the north or the west, may be told
that a day’s journey to the south, will bring him to a region of hill
and valley, rivers and creeks, mountains and rivulets, cultivated
fields and wild woodlands, which should satisfy any reasonable desire
for the romantic and picturesque. And if health is the object of
his summer wanderings, no where can he breathe “ freer and deeper,”
of a pure and invigorating atmosphere — or drink from purer springs
and streams, — than in all our local southern region.364
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUEOHASE.
WILLIAM FITZHUGH.
He was of a family, the name and services of which are inti-
mately blended with the history of the stirring events of the Rev-
olution in the colony of Maryland. The father, Col. William
Fitzhugh, held the commission of Colonel in the British army,
retired upon half pay, when the troubles between the colonies and
the mother country commenced. He resided at the mouth of the
Patuxent, where he had a large estate, a farm, mills and manufac-
tories. Exercising an unusual share of influence with his fellow
citizens, the British colonial Governor made him the extraordinary
offer of a continuance of his rank and half pay, and the quiet
possession of his property if he would remain a neutral in the con-
test. Though an invalid, by reason of physical infirmities, he re-
jected the overture, surrendered his commission — (or rather left it
upon the Governor’s table when he refused to receive it) — encour-
aged his two sons to take commissions in the “rebel ” army, taking
himself a seat in the Executive council of Maryland, to assist in
devising ways and means for his country’s deliverance. His fine
estate, easy of access from its locality, was of course doomed to pil-
lage and the torch. In the absence of the fajher and sons, a small
British party landed, but resistance came from an unexpected source.
The Revolutionary wife and mother, Mrs. Fitzhugh, armed the slaves
upon the estate, and carrying herself cartridges in her apron, went
out to meef the invaders, and intimidated them to a hasty retreat.
It was however, but a warding off of destiny for a brief season. A
stronger party came and ruthlessly executed their mission, the
family fleeing to an asylum fifty miles up the river where it remain-
ed until the contest ended.*
The son, Col. Peregrine Fitzhugh,. was first commissioned in a
corps of light horse, but in a later period of the war was enrolled in
the military family of Washington. DCPSee Sodus. William,
the more immediate subject of this brief sketch, Served as a Colonel
in a division of cavalry, and after the war, was a member of the
Maryland Legislature. Previous to 1800 Col. Peregrine Fitzhugh
had made the acquaintance of Mr. Williamson, and had visited the
* Principally from Mrs. Ellet’s “Women of the Revolution.”365
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Genesee Country. When Col. William Fitzhugh first visited the
country in 1800 in company with Col. Nathaniel Rochester, Major
Charles Carroll, and several others, he brought a letter of introduc-
tion to Mr. Williamson from his brother, for himself and Col. Roches-
ter ; Major Carroll as would seem from the reading of the letter,
having previously known him. During this visit, in addition to a
third interest in the “ICO acre Tract” at the Falls of the Genesee, pur-
chased in company with Messrs. Rochester and Carroll, jointly with
Mr. Carroll he purchased on the Canascraga, in Groveland and Spar-
ta, 12,000 acres of Mr. Williamson, paying $ ^)9 per acre.* Their
tract embraced the old site of Williamsburg, Mr. Williamson having
abandoned his enterprise of forming a town there after the failure
with his German colony. Leaving their property in the care of an
agent. Messrs. Fitzhugh and Carroll did not emigrate with their
families until 1816, when a division of the joint purchase was
made.
Col. Fitzhugh died in 1839, aged 78 years; his wife, who was the
daughter of Col. Daniel Hughes, of Washington county, Md., died in
1829, aged 56 years. The surviving sons and daughters are: —
Wm. H. Fitzhugh, residing upon the old homestead in Maryland;
Dr. D. H. Fitzhugh, residing upon the Canascraga four miles from Mt.
Morris; James Fitzhugh, in Ohio county, Ky.: Richard P. Fitzhugh,
on the Canascraga near his brother Daniel; Henry Fitzhugh, in
Oswego; Mrs. Dr. Frederick F. Backus, of Rochester; Mrs.
James G. Birney, of Kentucky; Mrs. Gerrit Smith of Peterboro ;
Mrs. John T. Talman, of Rochester; Mrs. Lieut. J. W. Swift,
of the U. S. Navy, residing at Geneva. A son, Judge Samuel
* Their tract was principally np lands ; a strange choice it was thought at the time,
when they were offered the Mt. Morris tract, with its beautiful sweeps of flats, at $3,00
per acre. But they had come from a region where timber was scarce, and they had
learned to appreciate its value and with reference to intrinsic relative value oi soil;
time, and improved systems of cultivation are fast demonstrating that their choice of
lands was far less injudicious than it used to be considered. The late Major Spencer
told the author that the up lands upon his fine farm were worth as much per acre as his
flats.
Note.— The Shaker settlement at the junction of the Kishaqua creek with the .
Canascraga a few miles above Mt. Moms, where the Genesee Valley canal enters the
valley of the Canascraga, is a part of the original Fitzhugh and Carroll tract.* The
society purchased of Dr. Fitzhugh, a few years since, 1700 acres, for which they paid
$32,000 ; and to which they have added several hundred acres. Their organization is
after the manner of the societies at Niskayuna and New Lebanon ; they are enterpri-
sing and prosperous ; themselves and their beautiful location one of the many objects
pf interest in the southern portion of our local region.366
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Fitzhugh, residing at Mt. Morris, died in 1849 ; and a younger son,
Robert, died in Groveland, in 1836. There are over 80 descend-
ants of Col. Wm. Fitzhugh.
CHARLES CARROLL.
His connection with Messrs. Rochester and Fitzhugh, and his
advent to this region with them in 1800, will have been noticed.
He had previously in the year 1798, with a brother, Daniel Carroll,
been here upon a tour of exploration. They came via the Susque-
hannah route, with pack mules, made a general survey of the coun-
try, were pleased with it, but made no investments as will be ob-
served, until 1800. Their residence in Maryland was at Bellevue,
near Hagerstown; the earlier home of the family had been upon
the site of the city of Washington; the capital of the United States,
now occupies a portion of the estate of their father, Charles Carroll,
who was a cousin of “ Charles Carroll of Carrollton/'
The author has little of the history of Major Carroll, disconnected
with that of his associates, Messrs. Rochester and Fitzhugh. He
died at his residence in Groveland, in 1837, aged 60 years. His
living sons are: — Charles Carroll, the occupant of the homestead,
recently the representative in Congress of the Livingston and On-
tario district, and a State Senator; Dr. Daniel J. Carrol of New
York ; William T. Carroll, a clerk of the Supreme Court of the
United States. Daughters became the wives of Henry Fitzhugh,
of Oswego; Moses Tabbs, of Washington, D. C.; Dr. Hardage
Lane of St. Louis. The eldest son was the private Secretary of
Mr. Clay, at Ghent ; becoming soon after the clerk of his father,
who held the office of Receiver at Franklin, Missouri, he was killed
in an affray which occurred in that town.
There came to the Genesee country with Messrs. Fitzhugh,
Rochester arid Carroll, or at about the same time, Col. Jonas Hog-
mire, of Washington county, Md., Wm. Beal, and John Wilson, of
Frederick county. Col. Hogmire purchased of Mr. Wadsworth,
on the river, in Avon, 1500 acres of land, upon which his sons Con-367
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
rad and Samuel Hogmire now reside. The father never emigrated.
Messrs. Beal and Wilson purchased a large tract on the Canascraga,
in Sparta.
AVON.
Gilbert R. Berry, was the first permanent settler in what is no
Avon.* He was from Albany. He married the daughter of the
early Indian trader, Wemple, who has been named in connection
with the Rev. Mr. Kirkland. Engaging in the Indian trade, he
located first at Geneva, and in 1789, removed to the Genesee river,
erected a log house on the west side of the river, near the present
bridge, opened a trade with the Indian village of Canawaugus, es
tablished a ferry, and entertained the few travellers that passed
through on the old Niagara trail. He died in J96 or ’7, and was
succeeded by his widow. The Holland Purchase being opened for
settlement soon afterwards, the “Widow Berry’s” tavern was
widely know in all early years, west of the river; and besides fur-
nishing a comfortable resting place for early Pioneers, in her prim-
itive tavern, some of the best wives and mothers of the Genesee
country, were reared and fitted for the duties of life. Her daughters
became the wives of Geo. Hosmer, Esq., of Avon, E. Clark Hickox,
the early merchant of Batavia and Buffalo, John Mastick, Esq., the
Pioneer lawyer of Rochester, and George A. Tiffany, whose father
was one of the early printers of Canandaigua.
Capt. John Ganson, was the pioneer settler following Mr. Berry.
Holding a commission in the Revolutionary war, he had accompanied
I * This is assumed from the best information the author has been able to obtain,
William Rice was at Avon in the same year, and must hare settled there soon after
Mr. Berry, Morgan and William Desha, were upon the “Desha Flats,” as early as
1789, claiming under an Indian grant; but the title failing, they removed to Canada.
There were there in that year, besides, severajlieads of families, who are supposed not
to have been permanent settlers, The son of the Wm. Rice named above, was the
first bom upon the Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase. He was named “Oliver Phelps
Rice.” Judge Phelps gave him an 100 acres of land in Livonia, which he occupied
when he became of age. Mrs. Rice was a good specimen of the strong minded, ener-
getic women, who were the } loneer mothers of this region. Skilled as a midwife and
nurse, she went from settlement to settlement, and from log cabin to log cabin, often
supplying the place of a physician. Her many acts of kindness are gratefully remem-
bered by the early Pioneers. Mrs. Gould of Lima, and Mrs. Rhodes of Geneseo, are
her daughters.368
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
the expedition of Gen. Sullivan. Before the treaty was concluded,
in 1788, he revisited the country, and selected a fine tract of land
on the river, about two miles below Avon. His sons John and
James wintered in a cabin in 1788, *9, upon the premises; and the
father and family came on in the fall of 1789. During the follow-
ing winter they erected a rude “tub mill” on the small stream that
puts into the river on the Markham farm. It was a small log
building; no boards could be had; the curb was made of hewed
plank ; the spindle was made by straightening out a section of a cart
tire; the stones were roughly carved out of native rock. There
was no bolt, the substitute being hand sieves, made of splints. It
was a rude, primitive concern; but it would mash the corn a little
better than a wooden mortar and pestle; and was quite an acquisi-
tion to the country. It preceded the Allan mill a few months, and
if we shall call it a mill, it was the first in the Genesee Yalley. The
buckwheat that has been mentioned, produced upon Boughton Hill,
was ground or mashed in it, having been Carried there twenty miles
through the woods, by Jared Boughton, in the fall of 1789; and the
producer, and mill boy (or man) lives to eat buckwheat cakes, now in
the winter of 1850, *51. Borrowing the language of Shakspeare, and
applying it to this one of the few survivors of that early period, may
“ Good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both.”
Capt. Ganson had claimed title either under the Indian grant, or
under the Lessees, which failed, and Col. Wm. Markham became
his successor. He resided for several years afterwards, four miles
east of Avon, on the main road. As early as 1788, about the period
of the commencement of surveys upon the Holland Purchase, Capt.
Ganson, had pushed on to the west side of the river, and purchased
the pioneer tavern stand of Charles Wilbur, on the then verge of
civilization, one mile east of the present village of Le Roy. In this
location he was widely known in early years. His house was the
home of early land agents, surveyors, explorers and pioneer settlers.
He was both loved and feared by the Indians; they came to him
for counsel and advice; and when they became turbulent in their
drunken frolics and threatened outrage, he would quell them by his
determined will, or with his strong arm. He was even ultra in his
Revolutionary principles. When he came upon the river, he and
the Butler Rangers —the tories of the Revolution, were far fromphelps and gorham’s purchase.	369
being agreeable neighbors; he was impatient to see the last of them
on their way to Canada.
Township 10, R. 7, (Avon,) was sold by Mr. Phelps to “ Wads-
worth, Lewis & Co.” Those interested in the purchase, were : —
William Wadsworth, of Farmington, Conn., (a cousin of James
and William,)-----Wells of Hartford, Isaiah Thompson, Timothy
Hosmer, and------- Lewis. The price paid was Is 6d, N. E. cur-
rency per acre; “ a high price at the period, in consequence of the
large amount of open flats.” Dr. Hosmer, and Thompson, were the
only ones of the proprietors who became residents. Major Thomp-
son, who had not brought his family, died the first season, of billious
fever. His son Charles afterwards became a resident, and died in
Avon, many years since. Mrs, Tompkins, of Batavia is a grand-
daughter of Major Thompson.
Dr. Timothy Hosmer was a native of West Hartford, Conn.
With a little more than an ordinary academical education, he be-
came a student of medicine with Dr. Dickinson, of Middleton.
But recently settled in practice in Farmington, at the breaking out
of the Revolution, he entered the service of the colonies, as a sur-
geon, in the Connecticut line. Serving in that capacity through
the eventful crisis, he retired, happy in the recollection of its glori-
ous result, but like most of those who had achieved it, poor and
penny less, a growing family dependent on his professional services
for support. In the army he had acquired a high reputation in his
profession; especially for his successful treatment .of the small pox,
at Danbury, where an army hospital had been established for patients.
The discovery of Jenner, having been but recently promulgated in
Europe, its efficacy was a mooted question; with a professional
boldness which was characteristic of the man, he espoused the new
discovery, and used it with great success. His mate, in the army,
was Dr. Eustis, afterwards Secretary of War.
Personally acquainted with Mr. Phelps, and hearing of his pur-
chase in the Genesee country, partly from a love of adventure and
Note. —James and John Ganson the sons, were early landlords at Le Roy and
Stafford. Mrs. Warren residing near Loekport, is a daughter. James Ganson is still
living, a resident of Jackson, Michigan; his sons, are John S. Ganson, of Buffalo,
President of the Bank of Attica; Joseph Ganson, a merchant of Brockport, Hiram,
Cornelius and Corneil, residents of Michigan, and another son resides in Milwaukee.
The sons of John Ganson, are Dr, Holton Ganson of Batavia; John Ganson, an Attor-
ney in Buffalo; and James Ganson, Cashier of the Marine Bank of Buffalo.370	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
new enterprise, and partly to escape from* a large practice that was
requiring too much of constant toil, in 1790, he visited this region
in company with Major Thompson, with whom, for themselves and
associates, he made the purchase of a township. Spending the
summer of *90 in Avon; in '91 he brought on his two sons, Fred-
erick and Sydney; erecting a log house, the first dwelling on the
present site of Avon, where. Mr. Merrill's house now stands. His
whole family joined him in 1792. Coming into the wilderness, with
other objects in view, he was forced by necessity — by the absence
of others of his profession, to engage in practice, which he contin-
ued until relieved by others* Among the old pioneers who in those
primitive days, were in detached settlements throughout a wide
range, you will hear him spoken of; and especially do they remem-
ber his disregard of fatigue, his long, night, wood's rides, prompted
more by a spirit of benevolence than professional gain; his good
humor, and the kind words he always had to cheer the desponding,
settler, who was wrestling with disease, or the hardships of pioneer
life. The Indians early learned to appreciate his professional skill,
and personal good offices. They named him “ At-tta-gus," the healer
of disease. In a period of doubt as to their relations with the new
settlers, he helped to reconcile them and avert a threatened danger.
When Ontario was organized he became one of its Judges, and
succeeded Mr. Phelps as first Judge, which office he held until he
was sixty years of age, the constitutional limitation. He possessed
naturally a fine literary taste; and his well selected library was an
anomaly in the backwoods. In his correspondence with Messrs.
Wadsworth and Williamson, which the author has perused, there are
indications of the scholar, the poet,* and always, of ardent, enlight-
ened patriotism.
He died in November, 1815, aged 70 years. His surviving sons,
* His early poetic effusions may be found in the files of the old Connecticut Courant.
In a letter to James Wadsworth, intended to reach him on the eve of his departure
from New York to Europe, after wishing him “a happy and prosperous voyage,” he
congratulates him on the "pleasing prospect,” then "opening to the cause of freedom;”
and adds: —v May the resplendent day of Liberty pervade the universe, and radiate
every region where man is found. It has ever been my opinion that the spark of
freedom, which was kindled in Boston, in 1775, and spread with great rapidity
throughout the United States, would not be circumscribed in its limits to the shores of
the Atlantic. The men of reflection, in Europe, find that the extensive territory of
the United States, can be governed with the greatest facility, and with a degree of hap-
piness, unknown to eastern countries, without the pompous nothing, called a King,
the dissipated pageantry of a licentious court, or the enormity of a civil list computed
by millions; and it is therefore not a matter of surprise, to see France, whose armiesphelps and gorham’s purchase.	371
most of whom came to the country as junior pioneers, are William
T., of Meadville, Pa.; George, of Avon, who in early years occu-
pied a conspicuous position at the bar of W. N. York, the father
of Wm. H. C. Hosmer, the author of “ Yonnondio,” “ Themes of
Song,” and other poems; who is justly entitled to the position that
has been awarded him in the front rank of American scholars and
poets. Geo. Hosmer pursued his early studies under the tuition of
the Rev. Ebenezer Johnson of Lima; in 1799 entered the . law
office of- the Hon. Nathaniel W. Howell, as a student; and in 1802
was admitted to practice, opening his office in Avon, then the only
lawyer west of Canandaigua. In the war of 1812 he was upon the
frontier as the aid of Gen. Hall. He is now 69 years of age.
Timothy, the early and widely known landlord at Avon, resides at
the Four Mile creek, near Fort Niagara; Sylvester, in Caledonia;
Albert in Hartland, Niagara co. An only daughter of Judge Hos-
mer is the wife of the Rev. Flavel F. Bliss, of Churchville. Fred-
erick Hosmer, deceased, was a son of Judge Hosmer; he was the
first merchant at Avon ; another son, A. Sydney Hosmer, was long
known as a tavern keeper at Le Roy; he emigrated to Wisconsin,
where he died in 1835.
Colonel William Markham, who had first settled at Bloomfield,
moved to Avon in 1790. In Bloomfield he had purchased an hundred
acres of land, and paid for it with the proceeds of one acre of po-
tatoes. With the proceeds of that land, he purchased and paid for
the fine farm on the river, now owned by his son, Guy Markham,
which has rented for $1,000 per year. He became a useful, public
spirited citizen, and his name is mingled with the reminiscences of the
town, in all early years. He died in 1827, or ’8. His surviving sons
are: Guy and Ira, of Rush, Wayne, on Ridge Road, near Clarkson,
Vine, in Michigan. Daughters: — Mrs. Whitney, Michigan; Mrs.
Boughton and Mrs. Dr. Socrates Smith, of Rush.
Gad Wadsworth was a distant connexion of James and William,
and came in with them, in their primitive advent in 1790, in care,
personally, of the stock. James and William having become, by
purchase from first hands, land proprietors in Avon, he settled
have fought the battle of Independence, in America, victorious over the minions of des-
pots. And if I may be allowed the privilege of a prediction, I shall have but little
hesitation in pronouncing, that the extirpation of tyrants and tyranny from Europe,
is but a small remove from the present era.”372
phelps and horham’s purchase.
there in 1792, his farm being what are now the farms of his son,
Henry Wadsworth, and Asa Nowlen, upon which are the Avon
springs. He died soon after 1820, nearly 80 years old. Another
son of his, Richard, inhabited that part of the farm upon which the
springs are situated, and sold to Mr, Nowlen. He emigrated to
Sandusky.
Major Isaac Smith was the early and widely known landlord, four
miles west of the river, commencing there as early as 1800. Un-
der his roof, a large proportion of the Pioneers west of the river,
have found rest and refreshment; and from under it, it may also be
added, have come not less than half a dozen excellent wives and
mothers. They were : — Mrs. Isaac Sutherland, and Mrs. E. Kim-
berly, of Batavia, Mrs. John M’Kay, of Caledonia, Mrs. A. Sidney
Hosmer, formerly of Le Roy, Mrs. Faulkner, of Dansville, and
Mrs. Sylvester Hosmer, of Caledonia. S. W. Smith, of Dansville,
and Nelson Smith, of Michigan, are sons of the early landlord.
The next landlord at Avon, after Gilbert R. Berry, was Nathan
Perry. He built a framed house, north side of square, on the site
now occupied by the dwelling of Mr. Curtis Hawley. Perry emi-
grated to the Connecticut Reserve, and was succeeded by Sydney
Hosmer, who made additions to the house. In 1806 James Wads-
worth built the hotel on the corner, and soon after sold it to Sidney
and W. T. Hosmer, after which it was long known as the Hos-
mer Stand.* During the war, and for many years after, it was
kept by Timothy Hosmer. The old landlord and landlady are still
alive, the owners and occupants of one of the finest farms, in that
region of fine farjns, Niagara county. The first school house was
a log one, erected a little north of the Episcopal church. Judge
Hosmer and the Wadsworths, built saw-mills on the Conesus, as
early as 1796. The first meetings were held in the log shool house.
Judge Hosmer usually reading the Episcopal service. Mr. Crane,
an Episcopal clergyman, and Rev. Samuel J. Mills, were early
itinerant ministers.
Jehiel Kelsey yet survives, of the early Pioneers of Avon. He
has reached his 80th year. The old gentleman speaks familiarly of
early events, of the period when not over twenty or twenty-five
* Previous to the sale, however, David Findlay and Joshua Lovejoy were occupants.
Lovejoy removed to Buffalo,	See account of the massacre of Mrs. Lovejoy, at
the destruction of Buffalo, in History of Holland Purchase.373
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
men could be raised in all the Genesee valley, to put a log bridge
over Deep Hollow, in the now city of Rochester. In 1798 he
brought the first cargo of salt that came from Onondaga, by water,
and around the Portage, at Genesee Falls. He paid for each bushel
of salt, a pound of pork, and sold his salt at $10 per barrel. He
well remembers seeing companies of surveyors fitting out, and load-
ing their pack horses at Avon, to break into the Holland Purchase.
In 1805, a Library was established at Avon. The trustees were:
A. Sidney Hosmer, Job Pierce, Joshua Lovejoy, Jehiel Kelsey,
Elkanah Whitney, James Lawrence, Wm. Markham, George Hos-
mer, Stephen Rodgers.
In 1810, “ a number of persons being stated hearers of Rev. John
F. Bliss, of Avon/’ met and organized “ Avon Religious Society.”
Samuel Bliss and Asa Clark presided. Trustees :—John Pierson,
George Hpsmer, Nathaniel Bancroft, John Brown, Ezekiel Mosely,
William Markham.
AVON SPRINGS.
. The rapidly increasing celebrity of Avon Springs, as a summer resort for
invalids, pleasure parties, and tourists ; invited as well by the healing waters,
as by charming scenery, the broad, cultivated fields, and beautiful forests, that
surround them, will perhaps render some early reminiscences of them not un-
interesting:— They were known to the Jesuit Missionaries, and Joncaire, un-
der French dominion, and they recognized their use by the Indians, for medi-
cinal or healing purposes. The Seneca name for them was “ Can-a-wan-gus,”
(foetid, bad smelling water,) and thence the name of their village, in the im-
mediate neighborhood. When settlement commenced, sixty years since, they
were surrounded by a dense cedar marsh. The waters of the springs flowed
into a basin or pond, covering a space of several acres, the margin of which,
was pure white sand, thrown up by the action of the water. The waters were
clear and transparent, and shaded by the dark forest, the spot had a secluded
and romantic aspect. It was first noticed, as a resort of the wild pigeon.
Indian paths were found leading to the spot, from the old Niagara trail, and
from the branch trails; and the Indians told the earliest settlers of the efficacy
of the waters in cutaneous' diseases. At an early period in the settlement of
the country, as many will remember, the measles, (as it was called*) was
* If the medical faculty will excuse a non-professor for the introduction of a new
name, in their vocabulary, it was' the “ Genesee itch,” to which men as well as animals
were subject in this region, when first coming here — endemical in its character — or
rather incidental to forest life here. The Jesuit missionaries were afflicted with it.374
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
prevalent among the hogs. It was observed, that when thus afflicted, they
would go and wallow in the mud and sulphur water, penetrating the forest appa-
rently for that object. In early years, Miss Wemple, a sister of Mrs. Berry,
upon the recommendation of Dr. Hosmer, bathed in and drank the waters, and
was relieved; and other similar cases occurred. Soon after the war of 1812,
visitors from abroad began to resort to the Springs, and Richard Wadsworth,
at the suggestion, and with the aid of George Hosmer, Esq., erected a small
bathing establishment, and shower bath. After the purchase of the property
by Mr. Nowlen, and the erection of a boarding house by Mr. Houghton, a
new impetus was given to improvements ; visitors began to increase, from year
to year, improvements have been progressive; until sick or well, there is no spot
more inviting in western New York. But a pioneer history was only intended.
REMINISCENCES OF GEORGE HOSMER.
Mr. Hosmer confirms the position, that the domestic hog will go back to
his native state, soon after he has re-entered a forest life. In early years of
settlement, there were droves of hogs, generally roaming over the uplands,
along the Genqsee river, the immediate progenitors of which had been those
domesticated by the Indians, and those brought here by Butler’s Rangers.
They were wild, as are those now seen by California adventurers in crossing
the Isthmus of Panama. They were untameable, and when wanted for
pork, or when ravaging badly fenced fields, were hunted and shot like other
wild game.
In 1795, Frederick Hosmer, at the instance of Mr. Williamson, w7ent to
reside at the mouth of the river. Erecting a log shantee, he kept a few
goods to barter with the Indians for furs, and trade with the batteaumen that
used to make that a stopping place. George Hosmer was frequently with
him. British deserters from Niagara would frequently come down the Lake*
Upon one occasion, some deserters were followed by a young Lieutenant and
a guard of 8 men in a boat. Arriving at the mouth of the river, and hear-
ing nothing of the refugees, the Lieutenant hunted and fished; lending his
fowling piece to two of his soldiers who were going up to the Falls, they
too deserted. The Lieutenant pursued them to Orange Stone’s, in Brighton,
where-he heard of them, but they were fleeing to some new settlement in the
“ land of liberty,” so rapidly, that he gave up the chase, and returned to Fort
Niagara, minus two of his guard, added to the deserters. The unfortunate
Lieutenant was the afterwards Lord Hill of the Peninsular war, the hero at
the storming of Badajos.
Desertion from the then British Fort, Niagara, was frequent as soon as the
soldiers knew that there were new settlements in this quarter— places of re-
fuge; — Indians were hired by the British officers to pursue them, and failing
to arrest, to shoot them. White hunters, and citizens visiting the Fort,
The French soldiers of De Nonville’s army, were attacked with the “ rheum.” The
families of early settlers in some localities, before the forest was cleared away would
be attacked with a cutaneous disease, more inveterate, and otherwise materially differ-
ing from the common “itch.**phelps and gorham’s purchase.
375
and intending to passthrough the wilderness to the eastward, were furnished
with a medal, or a token, to show the Indians thus employed, to prevent ar-
rest. “ Tuscarora,” or “ Stiff-armed George,” was thus employed, and he
was one of the worst specimens of his race; a terror wherever he was known.
He shot and scalped several deserters, carrying his trophies to Fort Niagara
for reward. Upon one occasion, when George Hosmer was left to take care
of the shantee in the absence of his brother Frederick, George demanded
rum, which being refused, the Indian pushed him back against a post, and
striking at his head with his tomahawk, the blow was averted, making an
impression upon the post which evidenced the intention of the revengeful
savage. Mr. Hencher and his hired man came to the rescue. *
Ebenezer Allan was rather imposing in his appearance, usually mild and
gentlemanly, but he had a bold and determined look; could easily put on the
savage character. He had acquired a distaste for civilized life. Mrs. Dugan,
his sister, was mild and amiable — somewhat accomplished.
The “ On-ta-gua,” or Horse Shoe Pond, a mile and a half below Avon
village, abounded in fine fish, especially large black bass, in an early day;
and it was also the favorite resort of ducks, geese, and other wild water fowl.
Speckled trout were plenty in the river, and in all the tributary streams.
There was no pickerel, or pike, above the Genesee Falls, until 1810, when
William Wadsworth, and some others, caught pickerel in Lake Ontario, and
other Lake fish, and put them into Conesus Lake; and pickerel abound there
now; have been taken weighing 20 lbs. As the pickerel came down from,
the Lake into the Genesee river, the trout disappeared.
The most troublesome wild animals in early days, other than bears and
wolves, were the foxes and wild cats preying upon the fowls, pigeons preying
uppn the newly sowed props, chipmucks, ravens, hawks, owls, wood chucks,
and black squirrels. • There were a few turkey buzzards upon the river, and
a few turkeys upon the uplands; several panthers were killed. The crow,
the grey squirrel, the quail,, came in with civilization. New species of birds
have been coming in almost yearly. The opossum is a new comer.
LIMA.
Paul Davison, in the summer of 1788,f about the period that Mr>
Phelps was negotiating his Indian purchase, in company with his
brother-in-law, Jonathan Gould, came from the valley of the Sus-
quehannah, to look out a new home in the Genesee country. Passing
* He finally met his deserts. Enlisting as an ally of the western Indians against
Wayne, he was among the killed.
t If the author’s informant is correct in the year, this was the first advent of an
household west of the Adam’s settlement, in Bloomfield,376	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
the last white habitation at Geneva, they pursued the Indian trail
to the present town of Lima; where, finding a location to suit them,
they erected a cabin and commenced making an opening in the
forest. Going to the Indian lands at Canawaugus, they planted and
raised a patch of corn and potatoes. Their location was about one
mile south of the Indian trail, near the west line of the town. Af-
ter some improvements upon their cabin, such as the luxury of a
bark roof, and a hewed plank floor, and gathering the small crop
they had raised upon Indian lands, they returned to the Susquehan-
nah, and in the spring of 1789, Mr. Davison, with his family, con-
sisting of his wife and her mother, and two children, came to make
his permanent home in the wilderness. He was accompanied by
Asahel Burchard, The family and household implements were con-
veyed in an ox cart, Mr. Davison and his companion sleeping under
the cart, and the family in the cart, during the whole journey.
Their route was Sullivan’s track, the whole distance from the Sus-
quehannah to where the Indian trail bore off in the direction of
Canawaugus. They had bridges to build occasionally, and logs to
cut out, before they left the track of Sullivan; after that, they had
their own road to make for the greater part of the way to the place
of their destination. The journey consumed three weeks. Mr.
Davison raised a crop of oats and turnips, the first of any kind raised
in Lima; and in that and a few succeeding years, cultivated Indian
lands at Canawaugus. For two years, the family pounded all their
corn in a stump mortar, getting their first grinding done at the Al-
lan mill. Captain Davison and some of his Pioneer neighbors, took
six or seven bushels of corn to Canawaugus, hired an Indian canoe,
and took it <Jown to the mill. On their return up the river, their
canoe upset, and their meal became wet and unfit for use; a small
matter to make a record of, some readers will say, and yet, let them
be assured, it was no small matter with those new beginners in the
wilderness. In 1790, Mrs. Davison’s mother died; it being the
second death in the Genesee country after settlement commenced.
A daughter of Captain Davison, who became the wife of James
Otis, of Perry, Wyoming county, was the first born white female
west of Geneva. Captain Davison died in 1804, aged 41 years,
after having become a successful farmer, and the owner of a large
farm. Mrs. Davison died in 1844, aged 80 years.
Dr. John Miner and Abner Migells, had settled in Lima, in thephelps and gorham’s purchase.
sn
summer of 1790; and it is presumed that Mr. Burchard had then
brought in his family; as his name, as the head of a family, occurs
in the census of that period. He still survives to enjoy the fruits
of his early enterprise and life of toil. “ He was,” says a corres-
pondent of the author, “ always a kind and good neighbor, and much
esteemed by the early settlers.”
Lima was called, in an early period, “ Miles’ Gore,” the fraction
of a township having been purchased in the name of Abner Miles,
or Abner Migells, as the author finds it on some of the early records.
According to the recollections of William Hencher, he must have
left Lima soon after settlement commenced there ; as he was early
engaged with his father in trading trips to Canada, and erected a
public house at Toronto in the earliest years of settlement there.
The brothers, Asahel and Matthew Warner, Miles Bristol, and
Others, who were early and prominent Pioneers in Lima, the author
hopes to be able to speak of in another connection. At present, he
has not the necessary datas.
Reuben F. Thayer must have settled in Lima before the close of
1790. The venerable Judge Hopkins, of Niagara county, was in
the fall of 1789, with a number of companions, returning to New
Jersey, after a trading excursion. Passing Canawaugus, they as-
sisted Gilbert R. Berry in erecting his first log house ; arid the next
day, finding a “settler just arrived by the name of Thayer, with
logs ready for a house,” they stopped and assisted him.
Wheelock Wood came to Lima in the winter of 1795, locating
upon the present site of the college, where he commenced clearing,
and erected a log cabin. He remained there a few years, and re-
moved to Livonia, and from there, in 1807, to Gainesville, Wyoming
county. He died in 1834.
In an early period of settlement in Lima, ancient remains, and
relics of French occupancy were to be seen in various localities.
The “ Ball Farm,” so prolific in these, and so often alluded to by an-
tiquarians, is within the town. Upon the farm of Miles Bristol, a
short distance west of Lima village, upon a commanding eminence,
the embankments and ditches of an ancient Fort were easily traced.
In ploughing upon his farm, in early years, Mr. Bristol picked up
several hundred pounds of old iron, chiefly French axes.
James K. Guernsey, in connection with the Nortops, of Bloom-
field and Canandaigua, and afterwards upon his own account, was
243?8
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
the early prominent merchant of Lima. He removed 'to Pittsford,
where he died in 1839. George Guernsey, of Michigan, is his son ;
Mrs. Mortimer F. Delano, of Rochester, is his daughter. For many
years, his store in Lima commanded the trade of a wide region.
CHAPTER VI.
PIONEER EVENTS IN WHAT IS NOW WAYNE COUNTY.
In the winter of 1788, % John Swift and Col. John Jenkins, pur
chased T. 12, R. 2, now Palmyra, and commenced the survey of it
into farm lots, in March. Jenkins being a practical surveyor, built
a camp on the bank of Ganargwa creek, about two miles below the
present village of Palmyra. His assistants were his nephew, Al-
pheus Harris, Solomon Earle,--------Baker, and Daniel Ransom. One
morning about 2 o’clock, the party being asleep in their bunks, their
fire giving light enough to show their several positions, a party of fonr
Tuscarora Indians and a squaw stealthily approached, and the Indi-
ans.putting their guns through the open spaces between the logs, se-
lected their‘victims and fired. Baker was killed, Earle, lying upon his
back, with his hand upon his breast, a ball passed through his hand
and breast, mutilated his nose, and lodged under the frontal sinus
between his eyes. Jenkins and Ransom escaped unhurt, and en-
countering the murderers — Jenkins with his Jacob staff, and Ran-
som with an axe — drove them off, capturing two of their rifles and
a tomahawk. In the morning they buried their dead companion,
carried Earle to Geneva, and gave the alarm. The Indians were
pursued, and two captured on the Chemung river. The nearest jail
being Johnstown, it was feared they would be rescued; if an at-
tempt was made to carry them there; what in later years would be
called a Lynch court, was organized; they were tried and execu-
ted at Newtown, now Elmira. The execution was after the Indian
method, with the tomahawk. They were taken back into thePHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	379
woods, and blindfolded. One of the executioners dispatched his
victim at a blow; the other failed; the Indian being a stout athletic-
fellow, parried the blow, escaped, was followed by a possee, who
caught and beat him to death with stones and pine knots! This
was the first trial and execution in the Genesee country. Horrid
and lawless as it may now seem, it was justified by then existing
exigencies,
During the summer, John Swift moved into the township, erect-
ing a log house and store house at “Swift’s Landing a little north of
the lower end of Main street, Palm vra.
Before the close of the year 1789, Webb Harwood, from Adams,
Berkshire county, with his wife came in and erected a cabin on the
rise of ground near first lock west of Palmyra, upon the farm now
owned and occupied by Dennison Rogers. He was accompanied
by Noah Porter, Jonathan Warner and Bennet Bates, single men
The author is disposed to regard Harwood as the Pioneer, although
it is generally supposed that Gen. Swift had previously brought in a
family. No family but that of Mr. Harwood and David White
Note.—-The Indian party had their hunting camp near the surveyors, and had seve-
ral times shared their provisions; the incentive was hunger. One of them that
escaped was “ Turkey” well knswn m after years upon the Genesee river. He had a
scar upon his face, the mark of a blow from Jenkin’s Jacob staff During the war ot
1812, he contracted the small pox upon the frontier; came to Squaky Hill. The In-
dians dreading the spread of the disease, carried him to a hut in the pine woods near
Moscow, where he was left to die alone. Earl recovered. He was the early ferry man
at the Seneca outlet. There have been many versions of this affair. The author de-
rived his information from the late Judge Porter, and from Judge John H. Jones, whose
informants were Horatio Jones and Jasper Parrish, who were present at the trial and
execution. He has also a printed account of it in the Maryland Journal, of April 1789.
Alpheus Harris was living a few years since, if he is not now, at Spanish Hill, a few
miles from Tioga Point. He says the Indians were "tried by committee law.”
Note.—John Swift was a native of Litchfield County Connecticut. He took an
active part in the Revolutionary war, and at its close, with his brother Philetus, was
an emigrant to the disputed territory in Pennsylvania. He held a commission, and
was at the battle of "Wyoming; and was also engaged in the " Pennamite ” war, where
he set fire to a Pennamite block house. He became a commissioned officer in the
earliest organization of the militia and in the campaign of 1814 upon the Niagara Fron-
tier, he was commissioned as Brig Gen. of N. Y. volunteers. In reconnoitering the
enemy’s position and works at Fort George, he captured a picket guard, and while in
the act of receiving their arms, one of the prisoners shot him through the breast; an at-
tack from a superior British force followed ; the wounded General rallied his men,
commenced a successful engagement, when he fell exhausted by his wound. "Never”
says an historian of the war, "was the country called upon to lament the loss of a firm-
er patriot or braver man,” The Legislature voted a sword to his oldest male heir.
The gift fell to Asa R. Swift of Palmyra who was drowned in Sodus Bay in 1820 or 21
by the upsetting of a boat while engaged in fishing. The sword is now in the hands
of Henry C. Swift, his son, a resident oJPhelps. His companion Ashley Van Duzer,
was also drowned ; his widow a sister of Mrs. Gen. Brooks, became the wife of Gen.
Mills of Mt. Morris, and now resides at Brook’s Grove. The Rev. Marcus Swift, of
Michigan is a son of Gen Swift.380
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PTTECHASE.
is enumerated in the census taken in the summer of 1790. Mr.
Harwood died in 1824. Wm, Harwood, of Ann Arbor, Mich-
igan is a son of his; his daughters became the wives of Isaac Mace,
of Perry, Wyoming co, and-------Coe, of Kirtland, Ohio.
The settlers that followed, in 1790, ’91, ’92, in the order in which
they are named, or as nearly so as the author’s information enables
him to arrange them, were: — Lemuel Spear, David Jackways,
James Galloway, Jonathan Millet, the Mattisons; Gideon Durfee
the elder, his sons Gideon, Edward, Job, Pardon, Stephen, and
Lemuel; Isaac Springer; William, James and Thomas Rogers;
John Russell, Nathan Harris, David Wilcox, Joel Foster, Abraham
Foster, Elias Reeves, Luther Sanford; and to what was Palmyra,
now Macedon, in addition to those that have been named, Messrs,
Reid, Delano, Packard Barney, Brown, Adam Kingman, Hill, Lap-
ham, Benj. and Philip Woods.
Lemuel Spear, was a soldier of the Revolution, as most of the
Pioneer settlers of Palmyra were. He was from Cummington,
Mass. The family came on runners, before the breaking up ot the
ground in Feb ’90, with two yoke of oxen, some cows and sheep,
having little more than a bare track and blazed trees to guide them
from Vienna to their destination, a mile above Palmyra village, where
Mr. Spear had purchased land of Isaac Hathaway, for twenty cents
per acre. The season being mild, they turned their stock out upon
the open flats, some of which had been cultivated by the Indians,
where they got along well through the winter and spring; the fam-
ily consisting of the parents and nine children, living in a covered
sleigh and in a structure similar to the Indians camp, until they had
planted a few acres in the spring, when they built a log house.
Bringing in a year’s provisions, and killing deer whenever they
wanted fresh meat, or bartering for venison with the Indians, they
got along very well until after the harvest of their few primitive acres
of crops. In the first winters, the Indians camped upon the flats and
were peaceable, good neighbors, hunting and trapping, occasionally
getting a beaver, the last of a colony, selling their furs and skins to
traders and bantering their surplus venison with the new settlers,
Lemuel Spear died in 1809; his surviving sons, are: — Ebenezer
Spear, of Penfield, Abraham Spear, of Jeddo, Orleans county,
Stephen Spear, residing upon the old homestead. A daughter is
the wife of Dr. Mallory, of Wisconsin.381
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Ebenezer Spear is now in his 78th year. Leaving Palmyra in
early years he went to sea, engaged in mercantile business in Bos-
ton, returned to Palmyra in 1804, married for a second wife, a
daughter of Francis Postle, an early tailor in Canandaigua and Pal-
myra, from the city of Prague, in Bohemia, moved to North Pen-
field in 1807. He was one of the Carthage Bridge company, and
opened a tavern at Carthage, while the bridge was constructing.
REMINISCENCES OF EBENEZER SPEAR.
In 1790, after we had got settled at Palmyra, the wife of our predecessor
in the wilderness, Webb Harwood, in a delicate state of health, preceding
child-birth, required wine, and her indulgent husband determined upon pro-
curing some. At his request, I went to Canandaigua, found none — to
Utica, and , was equally unsuccessful — and continuing my journey to
Schenectady, procured six quarts of wine of Charles Kane. I was fourteen
days making the journey on foot, carrying my provisions in a knapsack,
sleeping under a roof but four of thirteen nights.
Our first boards came from Granger’s saw-mill on Flint Creek, several years
after we came in; Captain Porter built the first framed barn,,and my father
the next one. I burned the first lime kiln west of Seneca Lake, for General
Othniel Taylor, of Canandaigua. In 1794, or ’5, Abraham and Jacob
Smith built mills in Farmington, on the Ganargwa Creek; previous to which,
we used to go to The Friend’s mills in Jerusalem. The first com carried to
mill from Palmyra, was by Noah Porter. He went to Jerusalem with an ox
team in ’90, carrying com for all the settlers, taking ten days in going and
returning. His return to the settlement was hailed with great joy, for pound-
ing com was very hard work. Our coffee was made of burnt com; our tea,
of hemlock and other bark; and for chocolate, dried evans root was frequent-
ly used.
David White died in early years — the first death and funeral in
Palmyra. His sons were, the late Gen. David White, of Sylvania,
Michigan ; Orrin White, a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan; and
Drs. James and William White, who reside at Black Rock; a
daughter married Col. Otis Turner, of Niagara Falls. Bennett
Bates is still living at Ridgeway, Orleans county; is the father
of Lyman Bates, of Ridgeway, and Orlando Bates, of Jeddo.
Noah Porter died in early years; he was the father of Mrs. Sey-
mour Scovell, of Lewiston, and John Porter, Esq., of Youngstown.382	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Jacob Gannett was an early settler, and founder of the mills near
Macedon Locks.
The Durfee family, who have been named, were from Tiverton,
Rhode Island. In the summer of 1790, Gideon and Edward came
first to Farmington, and Gideon returning in the fall, represented
the country so favorably, that the whole family resolved upon emi-
gration. Gideon, with Isacc Springer, came back in the winter of
’90, *91, with an ox sled, consuming 17 i days in the journey.
Gideon purchased pf John Swift his choice of 1600 acres. He
located it on what was long known as “ Durfee Street/’ a short dis-
tance below Palmyra, securing a large amount of the flats on the
Ganargwa. Being soon re-joined by his brother Edward, the
brothers and Springer built a cabin, and clearing six acres, and
without the use of a plough, planted it to corn. The brothers re-
turned to Rhode Island, and brought out their brothers, Pardon and
Job, with their families, coming in a batteaux, and landing at their
new home in the wilderness, almost destitute of food. They were re-
joiced on their arrival to find their corn fit for roasting, a forward-
ness they have never since known. It served them the two-fold
purposes of food, and confidence in the soil and climate. The six
acres yielded 50 bushels to the acre, a quantity that served their
own wants and over-stocked the market, as there were few con-
sumers. The remainder of the large family came out in the winter
of ’91, ’2. They had a large crop, some of which was marketed
at Schenectady, probably the first that ever reached that market
from as far west as Palmyra. Otherwise prosperous, sickness soon
laid a heavy hand upon the large household, 17 out of 22 being
prostrated at one time with fevers. Their first bread was made
from pounded corn ; their first grinding was procured at Wilder’s
mill, and occasionally at The Friend’s mill, Jerusalem.
The descendants of the Pioneer and Patriarch, Gideon Durfee,
were 11 sons and daughters, 96 grand-children, and the whole num-
ber are now over 200. The daughters became the wives of the
Pioneers, Welcome Herendeen, of Farmington, Weaver Osborne,
Humphrey Sherman and William Wilcox, of Palmyra. The only
surviving son, is Stephen Durfee, of Palmyra, aged 75 years; and
the only surviving daughter, is Ruth Wilcox, aged 76 years.
Elias Durfee and Mrs. Thomas Lakey, of Marion, Elihu Durfeq,
of Williamson, William, Isaac, Lemuel, Bailey Durfee and Mrs.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	383
Brown, of Palmyra, Mrs. Wicks, of Ogden, Mrs. Edward S. Town-
send, late of Palmyra, Charles Durfee, of New York, Philo Durfee,
of Buffalo, Sidney Durfee, of Chicago, Allen, Barton and Nathaniel
Durfee, of Michigan, are among the descendants.
REMINISCENCES OF STEPHEN DURFEE
There was general prosperity in the early settlement; all were friendly;
mutual dependence made us so; and struggling with the hardships of pioneer
life, there was a fellow feeling, a sympathy for each other’s misfortunes, but
little of which exists now. The first curse that came upon us was whiskey
distilleries, when the new settlers would take their corn and rye, and get them
converted to what was the cause in many instances, of their ruin, and that of
many of their sons. There was hot only habitual, every day drinking, but
much intoxication. I saw so much of the evils of intoxication, that I refrain-
ed entirely, and was almost alone in it. I think the first temperance move-
ment, practical one, in all this region, was made by me when I raised my
house in 1811. When I invited my neighbors to the raising, I gave out that
no liquor would be provided; and although it was a new experiment, I had
no difficulty in raising my house. Strict temperance was not then a disci-
pline with the society of Friends to which I belonged, but afterwards be-
came so.
In the way of markets, our earliest grain mostly went to the distilleries,
and supplied the new settlers. After Zebulon Williams, the early merchant
established his store, he commenced a barter trade, receiving for goods, grain
and cattle. Money was scarce ; those who were pretty well off were troubled
many times, to pay their taxes, and much property used to be sacrificed at
public sale. Williams was the first cash purchaser for wheat, but the prices
w^ere fluctuating; running down sometimes to 37-J cents. One of my neigh-
bors once sold his wheat in Rochester, for twenty-five cents.
In early years we could hardly believe that settlement would go much be-
yond the Genesee River, during our life time. We thought we were quite
far enough to the west; as far removed from markets as it would answer to
venture; and we that had seen the hardest features of pioneer life, were surprised
to see or hear of men attacking the dark heavy forests of the Holland Purchase.
Our first commerce was the navigation of the Ganargwa creek; then came
the w big wagons,” and then the Erie Canal, that gave us fair, steady prices
for produce, raised the value of lands, and brought on a new era of enterprise
and prosperity.
The Indians, were hunting and trapping, camping in our neighborhood, in
all the earliest years. The flats of the Ganargwa, and the adjoining up lands
were favorite hunting grounds. Many of the sons of the early settlers were
trappers. It was about our only means of obtaining any money. I have re-
alized from muskrat and coon furs, $50 in a season. I caught a beaver in a
trap that I set for otter. Henry Lovell, a famous hunter was here in early384
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
years, he had trapped beaver for years. He said he had often tamed the
young ones. Following their instinct (or reasoning,) when it rained they
would knaw up chairs, and other household furniture, and go through with all
the ceremony of erecting dams. When suffered to go out, they would com-
mence dams upon the small streams.
All the low grounds of Palmyra were very heavily timbered; there were
but small patches of open flats. To look out before we got clearings, we had to
go upon the top of “ Wintergreen Hill.” Upon this hill, just before Wayne’s
victory, we contemplated the erection of a block house, fearing an outbreak
of the Indians. But we were soon quieted by events that followed.
I remember very well the first town meeting. It was held at my father’s
house. All were well pleased with the idea that we had got along fast enough
in the “ District of Tolland ” to have a town organization. John Swift was
the Captain of our first training — his beat, all this north country. The
company parade was at his house; he gave out a liberal supply of damaged
powder — salutes were fired — occasionally an old revolutionary musket burst;
as holidays were scarce then, we used to make the most of them.
We began to have apples, from the seed, soon after 1800. Previous to
that we had plenty of wild plums, crab apples, cranberries, (fee. Evans root
chocolate was a common beverage; and we used wheat and tea for coffee.
Our nails cost us 25 cents per lb., “hum hum” for shirts, 50 cents per yard,
a luxury that but few could indulge in. Our wool had to be carded by hand,
in all the early years. John Swift built the first carding machine, on the
present site of Goddard’s mill.
Nathan Harris was the principal early hunter of Palmyra; and fisherman
too', in 1792 he drew a net across Ganargwa creek, near tike present residence
of Mrs. Williams, and caught eighteen large salmon. He was the father of
Martin Harris, who was an early convert to Mormonism, and mortgaged his
fine farm to pay for the printing of the “ Gold Bible.”*
Zebulon Williams, who has been mentioned by Stephen Durfee,
as the early merchant, died several years since, his widow survives,
a resident at the old homestead. Platt Williams, of California, who
was early engaged in canal transportations at Albany, and Richard,
* The late Mr.s Eden Foster, of Batavia, whose first husband was Moody Stone, of
Palmyra, was an inmate of the family of Dr. Town. She gave the author a graphic
description of a husking frolic in ’96, at the house of Nathan Harris: —“We had a
pot pie baked in a five pail kettle, composed of 13 fowls, as many squirrels, and due
proportions of beef, mutton and venison; baked meats, beans and huge pumpkin pies.
Hunting stories, singing, dancing on a split basswood floor, snap and catch ’em, jump-
ing the broom stick, and hunt the squirrel, followed the feast. All joined in the rustic
sports, there was no aristocracy in those days.” “ In Canandaigua ” continued the old
lady, “the dances were more fashionable, but there was no aristocracy there; though
a hired girl, in families of Gen. Taylor, and Abner Barlow, I used to attend the frolics
and dance with Peter B. and Augustus Porter^ Thomas Morris, Samuel and Judah
Colt, Dr. Atwater, and many others of distinction.” The old lady was even eloquent
when reminiscences of the past, one after another, would flash upon her memory.phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	385
Homer and Zebulon Williams, are his sons; Mrs. Hiram P. Thayer,
of Buffalo, is his daughter.
Stephen Phelps was the early landlord in the village ; afterwards
the surrogate of Ontario county. The site he occupied, is now that
of Nottingham’s Eagle Tavern. He emigrated to Illinois in 1820.
Enoch Lilley was another early landlord ; his wife was the daughter
ef the Rev. Eleazor Fairbanks. Preceding either, however, was
Dr. Azel Ensworth, who was a brother-in-law of William Rodgers,
and had come into the country in ’92, and first settled in his imme-
diate neighborhood. After keeping a public house in early years,
in Palmyra, in the early start of Rochester, he was the founder of
the Eagle Tavern, and for a long period he and his son were its
landlords. He still survives, a resident of Buffalo, with his son-in-
law, Benjamin Campbell.*..
Silas Stoddard was from Groton, Conn.; had been at sea, in the
merchant service, emigrated to Palmyra in 1801, landing first at
Sodus. He died in July last, at the age of 91 years; his intellect
and physical constitution but little impaired previous to his last ill-
ness. Col. James Stoddard, known of late years as an intelligent
horticulturist, is his son; now a resident of Palmyra, aged 66 years.
He served an apprenticeship with Col. Samuel Green, of the New
London Gazette, and emigrated to Palmyra with his father. From
him the author obtained many early reminiscences. In 1804, he
was in the employment of Major Samuel Colt, who had commenced
merchandizing in Palmyra, and had charge of two Durham boats,
^ which Major Colt owned at Palmyra. Loading them with flour
and pork, he went down the Ganargwa creek to Lyons, and from
thence to Schenectady. Among his companions, were Gilbert
Howell, Cooper Culver, John Phelps, and Wm. Clark. The party
were one month going and one month returning; having merchan-
dise for their return freight. About the time of the building of
these boats, says Col. Stoddard, land transportation looked discour-
aging; the merchants of Geneva, Canandaigua, Palmyra, Ithica, in
fact all who did not depend on the Susquehannah as an avenue to
market, held a consultation, and concluded that business must be
done via the Rivers, Oneida Lake, and the Mohawk; and to en-
* At the Pioneer Festival in Rochester, in 1850, he was present, and the medal was
awarded to him as being the earliest Pioneer present.386	PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PTTBCHASE.
courage them, stone locks had been built, at Rome and Little Falls.
Many boats were built; for a few years business was brisk, but it
proved too tedious and expensive ; too dependant upon high and
low water. Even land transportation, over bad roads, successfully
competed with it.
“ The first trip we made,” says Col. Stoddard, “ in passing through
Oneida Lake, we stopped at Vanderkemp’s settlement, now Con-
stantia. Mr. Yanderkemp had erected an expensive dam, a large
saw mill and grist mill, and there were eight or ten framed and
some log dwellings; but one single family however, all the rest hav-
ing been driven off by sickness.* When I landed with my father’s
family at Sodus, Mr. Williamson’s settlement had rnuch declined,
and there were many deserted tenements between.Sodus and Pal-
myra ; sickness having driven off the occupants. I have known
periods when a majority of all the inhabitants of the Ganargwa
valley were prostrated by fevers.”
Henry Jessup was the early tanner in Palmyra, and still survives,
his son& being his successors in business. His partner for many
years was George Palmer, of Buffalo.
William Rogers came in with his brothers, James and Thomas,
in 1792, a widower, and his brother James dying in early years, he
married his widow. The family were from Rhode Island. William
was one of the early Judges of Ontario, one of its representatives
in the Legislature, and a magistrate ; prominently identified with
the history of Palmyra and Ontario county. He died in 1836, aged 82
years. Major William Rogers, so favorably known to the travel-
ling public in the early years of canal navigation, as a packet master,
the father-in-law of Pomeroy Tucker, editor of the Wayne Sen-
tinel, is a surviving son. He is now the occupant of a fine farm
near Pultneyville; as stirring and energetic as when he used to
sing out: — “ Hurra, is the lock ready ? ” — or beat up the quarters
of the sleepy drivers in dark and rainy nights. A daughter of his
was the wife of Noah Porter. Gen. Thomas Rodgers, and Denni-
son Rodgers of Palmyra, are surviving sons of James Rodgers.
Thomas Rodgers preceded his brother, and assisted in the survey
of the town; of his family, only his son David remains in Palmyra.
* The founder of this settlement was the father of John J. Yanderkemp, of Phila-
delphia, the general agent of the Holland Co. He soon abandoned the enterprise, and
removed to Oldenbameyeldt,” [Trenton,] Oneida co.387
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
The first winter after Judge Rodgers came in, the neighborhood
was without salt. Learning that some had been brought up as far
as Lyons, with a hired man, and an ox team, he cut his own sled
path, and after three days hard labor, returned with his salt.
Zackariah Blackman was the early blacksmith. John Hurlburt,
a brother of Judge Hurlburt, who was the Pioneer of Arkport, on
the Canisteo, became a resident of Palmyra in 1795. His widow
is now living at the age of 81 years. He set up a distillery as ear-
ly as ’96. He died in 1813. # William Jackway, who came in
with Gen. Swift, died in 1849, aged 91 years. John Russell, who
was one of the front rank of Pioneers, upon whose original^ farm
a portion of the village has grown up, removed to Henrietta in 1821,
where he died but a few years since, from the effects of the kick of
a horse. John Russell was the step-father of Augustus Southworth,
of Holley; Mrs. Russel now resides in Rochester.
Reuben Town was the earliest settled Physician in Palmyra.
He removed to Batavia in early years. He was followed by Dr.
Gain Robinson, as early as 1800. Dr. Robinson was from Cum-
mington, Massachusetts. He married the daughter of Col. John
Bradish, the father of Gov. Bradish, who was one of the early set-
tlers of Palmyra. IJe continued in practice until his death, in 1830,
enjoying a large share of professional eminence, and highly esteem-
ed in the wide circle of his practice. There have gone out from
under his instruction a large number who hare conferred crpdit up-
on their early mentor; among them may be named : — His nephew,
Dr. Alexander McIntyre, who for many years practiced with him,
and is now his local successor; Drs. James and William White;
Dr. West, of Cayuga county; Dr. Isaac Smith, of Lockport,
(deceased;) Dr. Whippo, (now an engineer;) Dr. Durfee Chase,
of Palmyra; Dr. Gregory of Michigan. The surviving sons of
Dr. Robinson, are : — Clark, Darwin, and Rollin, of Buffalo.
Daughters:—Mrs. Philip Grandin, of New York; her husband
was an early merchant in Palmyra; and Mrs. Judge Tiffany, of
Adrian, Michigan; Mrs. Hiram Niles, of Buffalo; and Mrs. Geo.
Pomeroy, f
* A toast of the early Pioneer, in one of the early years, at a Fourth of July oele-
bration, is worthy of preservation. The wish has been fully realized:—“May we
cultivate the vine and sheaf in this new world, and furnish the old with bread.”
t Judge Tiffany is a son of the early printer at Niagara, C. W., and Canandaigua.
Mr. Pomeroy is one of the founders of Wells & Pomeroy’s Express.388
PHELPS AND goeham’s purchase.
The first lawyer in Palmyra, was John Comstock, who also mar-
ried a daughter of Col. Bradish. He survives, a resident near
Adrian, Michigan.
In the year 1789, Joel Foster, Elias Reeves and Luke Foster, of
Long Island, became the agents of a company that had been form-
ed in Connecticut, New Jersey and Long Island, for the purpose of
leasing lands of the- Indians ; an organization similar to the Lessee
Company of this State. Proceeding to Fort Pitt, where they were
joined by others, they traversed the wilds of Virginia, and return-
ing to the north, struck the Ohio river, and followed it down to the
desirable location called Turkey Bottom, where they purchased a
claim to a large tract, and left Luke Foster to keep possession for
the winter, Joel Foster and Elias Reeves returning to take on a
colony of settlers in the spring. An act of Congress interfering
with their title or possession, frustrated the enterprise. “ Turkey
Bottom,55 in process of time, became Cincinnati, the queen city of
the west.
Thus disappointed, and Indian wars growing more threatening at
the west, the Long Island adventurers turned their attention to the
Genesee country. Elias Reeves, Abraham Foster, William Hop-
kins, Luther Sandford and Joel Foster, in the summer of 1791,
bought 5,500 acres on the Ganargwa Creek, in East Palmyra;
spotting a tree and planting some apple seeds, an earnest of their
intended occupancy. In April, 1792, they built a sail boat, launched
it in Heady Creek, embarked with their families, towing down the
stream to South Bay, and sailing up to New York, and from thence
to Albany, where they took their boat out of water, transported it
on wheels to Schenectady, launched it in the Mohawk, and from
thence came to Lyons; and obtaining a smaller boat, ascended the
Ganargwa Creek to their new wilderness home. The journey con-
sumed 28 days. Most of those named, became prominent founders
of settlement, and have left numerous descendants.
Note.—For the facts connected with the pioneer enterprise of this Long Island
colony, the author is indebted to a sermon delivered at Palmyra on Thanksgiving day,
1846, by the Rev. Nathaniel W. Fisher, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, who de-
rived his information from Mr. Henry J. Foster, a descendant of one of the Pioneers.
Mr. Fisher was one of the victims of the cholera at Sandusky, in the summer of 1848.
The author makes an extract from the sermon, in which the Rev. gentleman bestows
no more than a deserved eulogy upon the Pioneer mothers, who accompanied this ex-
pedition:— “ Especially do we admire the character of those noble women, whose
sacrifices, prayers and labors, aided in laying the foundations of society and thosephelps and gorham’s purchase.	389
It is stated by the Rev. Mr. Fisher, that a Presbyterian church
was organized in 1793, in Palmyra. If this is so, it was the first or-
ganized church west of Seneca Lake. Mrs. Tice, a daughter of John
Hurlburt, says their first religious meetings were conversational or
social meetings, not sectarian, generally held at the house of John
Swift. It is recorded that the Presbyterian church in Palmyra was
organized in Sept., 1797; the trustees elected: — Jacob Gannett,
Stephen Reeves, David Warner, Jedediah Foster, Jonah Howell.
The first settled minister was the Rev. Eleazor Fairbanks, who was
succeeded by the Rev. Benjamin Bell.
Jonah Howell erected the first mill, a mile east of the village, on
the Vienna road; this was followed by one erected by Gen. Swift,
on the site occupied by Goddard’s mill.
The first death in Palmyra was that of David White ; the first
wedding was that of William Wilcox; and RuthDurfee; the first
male child born in town, was Asa R. Swift, a son of John Swift;
the first female, the daughter of David Wilcox, who became the wife
of Alva Hendee.
WILLIAM HOWE CUYLER.
His father, John Cuyler, of Greenbtish, had been (at what period
the author is unable to state,) a General in the British service.
He was a resident of Greenbush, opposite Albany, an attorney at
law. It is presumed, that when Mr. Williamson arrived in this
country, upon his agency, he found in him an old acquaintance, as
he is one of the first with whom he held correspondence, and he
was one of his first legal advisers. As early as 1793, his son, Rich-
ard, was in the employment of Mr. Williamson, as was his son Wm.
Howe Cuyler, several years previous to 1800.
Soon after 1800, Wm. Howe Cuyler became a resident of Pal-
myra, having become the local agent of Mr. Williamson, for the
blessed institutions which are now the support and ornament of community. The
legends of those times are adorned with the names of females that should descend to
posterity, and be embalmed in their most grateful recollections. We often wonder if
the mantle of those venerated matrons have fallen upon the wives of the present day;
with all the improvements in modern education, are they better qualified to mate
happy homes ? Have they larger hearts, better minds, purer patriotism, warmer zeal,
in every good work ?”390
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
sale of lands in the north-east portion of what is now Wayne
county. ——- Sawyer, the brother-in-law of John Swift, who
had an interest with him in the original purchase of the town, wish-
ing to return to Georgia, where he had formerlyresided, sold his
property to Major Cuyler, in 1805. Included in this sale, was the
old Cuyler farm, upon which a considerable portion of the village
of Palmyra has grown up.
Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812, Major Cuyler was early
upon the frontier, as the aid of General Swift.* Stationed at
Buffalo, he was the active co-operator with Lieut. Elliott, in the
preparations for the gallant exploit of capturing the British vessels,
from under the walls of Fort Erie, on the 8th of October, 1812.
In anticipation that the expedition would return with wounded men,
he had been engaged through the night in making preparations for
their reception. Anxious for the fate of men who had engaged in
so hazardous an enterprise, before day light in the morning, he had
rode down upon the beach, towards Black Rock, when a chance
grape shot, from a British battery, at Fort Erie, passed through his
body, breaking the spine, and killing him instantly, f It was the first
sacrifice of the war, on the Niagara frontier; the first and one of
the dearest of the many sacrifices of western New York, in all that
contest. And it may also be added, that Gen. Scott being near
him, it was his first introduction to the terrible realities of war, of
which he was destined to see so much through a long and brilliant
military career.J ‘After the war, his remains were removed to
Palmyra, and are now entombed in the rural cemetery, which the
citizens of that village, with much of good taste and public spirit,
have within a few years added to their flourishing village.
In civil life, Major Cuyler was a man of much energy and enter-
* The author has an early evidence of his military spirit and ambition. When some
of the earliest military organizations were going on in Steuben, he was a resident at
Bath, a clerk of Mr. Williamson. Mr. Williamson being in Albany, the young aspirant
to military distinction, wrote to him : — "You are the only field officer in the Regi-
ment, and on you, of course, will devolve the duty of making proper recommendations.
I shall only observe that I have been a military man for about twelve years past, and
have never rose above the halberd, and that I, now look for promotion. I should like
to have the office Mr. Porter formerly held — that of Brigade Major and Inspector — as
the duty of Adjutant General in the several brigades, now devolve on that officer.”
f The shot is now in possession of his sister, Mrs. Smith, of Auburn.
$ He had just been promoted to the rank of Lieut. Colonel, and had arrived at Black
Rock, in command of two companies of U. S. Artillery.PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
391
prise ; he was one of the founders of the Ontario Woolen Manu-
facturing Company.* He married the daughter of Samuel Shekell,
of Manchester, who still survives, a resident of Brooklyn, with her
daughter by a second marriage. Major Cuyler left two sons, George
W. and William Howe Cuyler; the former a banker, and the lat-
ter a merchant, in Palmyra.
LYONS.
The early advent of the Stansell’s and Featherly, the building of
mills, the primitive commencement generally, at Lyons, have been
noticed in connection with Mr. Williamson.
James Otto came in 1796, was employed in the erection of the
mills, and in *98, marrying the daughter of Capt. Dunn who settled
where the Mead’s now reside on the Geneva road, he moved upon
his farm south of Lyons village, where he now resides, in his 81st
year. He has been the father of eight sons and eight daughters,
thirteen of whom are now living in Lyons and the western states.
The old gentleman says it was so sickly about the village of Lyons
in early years that many who attempted to settle there got discour-
aged and left. Dr. Prescott of Phelps, was the first physcian. Dr.
Willis settled where the village of Lyons now is, but getting sick
himself, and sick of the country, returned to Vermont. In the
winter of ’99 and 1800, there was an unusal deep snow; there came
a rain making a crust, and the wolves destroyed the deer to such an
extent that their carcasses were strewn over the woods tainting the
whole atmosphere.
Judge Evert Van Wickle, who has been mentioned in connec-
tion with early operations in Allegany, came to Lyons soon after
Mr. Williamson had commenced improvements there, and was in
his employ as a surveyor, f
Judge Daniel Dorsey from Frederick county, Maryland, came
* He introduced the first Merino buck into western New York, purchasing it of one
of the Livingstons, in Albany, paying $900.
t In one of Mr. Williamson’s letters, in 1798, he says:—"A promising settlement,
composed of people from Jersey and Maryland, is begun here this June; a Mr. Van
Wickle from the Jerseys, moved in along with forty persons.”392
phelpb and gorham’s purchase.
to Lyons m 1801, with his family. Two years previous he had ex-
plored the country and purchased of Mr. Williamson nearly one
thousand acres, mostly on the east side of the outlet, immediately
adjoining the village of Lyons, on either side of the Lyons and
Geneva Plank Road. It included the farm that had been commen-
ced by Mr. Cameron, as agent for Mr. Wiliamson, and the improve-
ments; had been reserved in anticipation of what would grow up
at the confluence of the streams—mostly the head of navigation;
but was sold to Judge Dorsey as an inducement to emigration.
He had a large family — ten children — and a considerable number
of slaves, that were soon liberated, principally for the reason that
in that case as well as in all other similar experiments that were tried
in this region, slave labor was unprofitable.
The strong handed emigrant immediately commenced clearing
And improving his fine possessions. Soon after 1800 he commen-
ced merchandizing, bringing his goods from Baltimore. A large
proportion of his early trade was with the Indians, who were en-
camped along the banks of the outlet and at Sodus. There used to
be as many as thirty Indian huts along where William street, of
Lyons village, crosses the canal.
Thomas Dorsey, a son of the early Pioneer, now occupies a por-
tion of the old homestead. The author transcribes from memoran-
dums of a conversation had with him, some early reminiscences of
that locality: —
Durham boats used t© arrive frequently from Schenectady with
emigrants and goods* and with salt from Salt Point. It was only
in freshets that they could go as high up as Palmyra and Manches-
ter. Salmon were very plenty in the streams; at the forks I have
known fifteen and twenty taken with one spear in a night; weigh-
ing from fifteen to twenty pounds. It was not uncommon to see
herds of deer grazing on the flats.
When the Dorsey family arrived at Lyons, there was settled in
village and immediate vicinity, other than those already named: —
John Biggs, who kept a tavern on the site now occupied by Bar-
ton’s tavern, in a log house. He was the Pioneer landlord, and is
yet living near the village. Richard Jones, a saddler, had a shop
on what is now Broad street, in a log building. He died in 1832.
George Carr, a mason by trade, lived on Broad street in a log house.
William Gibbs lived a little south of the village, on the farm now* PHELPS AKD GOBHAM’S PURCHASE.
393
owned by Harvey Geer. John Perrine lived on the Canandaigua
outlet one mile from the village. He was an early magistrate and
Supervisor of the town; removed to Michigan, where he died in
1830. The progress of the village was slow in all the early years,
and in fact until the location and construction of the Erie Canal.
In 1818 there was but a small cluster of buildings ; two taverns, one
kept by Ezekiel Price, and another by Elias Hull; the store of
Leach & Demmon; a few dwellings; a few mechanic shops;
a Methodist and Presbyterian church. John Cole, the father of
Joseph Cole, was the first local minister, and organized the first
Methodist society. He died in 1810. The first religious meetings
were attended by Judge Dorsey, who was a member of the Meth-
odist church, and occasionally an exhorter.
The village of Lyons had a rapid start after the completion of
the canal; many enterprising men were attracted there ^substantial
business establishments were started one after another; private
residences, in beauty of location, and in all their appointments vie-
ing with those of any of its neighboring villages and cities in West-
ern New York, were founded one after another ; new streets were
laid out with the accompaniments of fine walks and long lines of
shade trees; substantial and neat public edifices were erected;
until now, in 1851, there are few spots in all this wide region, hold-
ing put more inducements, either for residence, or business pur-
suits. The tourist, in western New York, who does not wander
from the rail road route, misses at least two beautiful and flourishing
villages — Palmyra and Lyons. But things as* they were, not as
they now are, are the subjects in hand.
Daniel Dorsey died in 1823, at the age of 65 years. His survi-
ving children are:—Upton Dorsey,JEsq., of Geneva; Thomas E.
Dorsey, residing on the old homestead at Lyons; Nelson R. Dorsey,
residing in Calhoun county, Michigan; Mrs. Cyrus Chapin, of Gen-
eva; Mrs. Lawrence Riley, in Ohio ; Mrs. Thomas Rook, of Lyons,
Mrs. Wm. Hudson, of Geneva ; Mrs. Michael Miller, of Calhoun
co., Michigan; Mrs. Milton Barney, of Chicago ; and two sons
have died after arriving at adult age ; eleven in all. The early
Pioneer had held a Captain's commission in the Maryland line during
the Revolution, and after his advent to this region, was an early
Judge of the courts of Ontario.
25394
phelps am) gorham’s purchase."
sodus.
After the advent of Mr. Williamson in that region, the erection
of his mills, large tavern house, wharf and store house — all the im-
provements under his auspices — there followed long years of de-
cline ; but an occasional hardy adventurer dropping into the wil-
derness, along on the Lyons and Palmyra roads, encountering dis-
ease and privation — some of them wrestling with them until dis-
couraged, leaving their log cabins untenanted — a forbidding indi-
cation to new adventurers. All that Mr. Williamson had done was
premature. A fine public house, good mills, a pleasure boat upon
the beautiful Bay, would have been well conceived enterprises in a
settled country, but sadly out of place in a wilderness, with here
and there, miles apart, in small openings of the forest, a Pioneer
settler, half resolving to leave the country, and give up his enter-
prise as a bad job. Of those that were connected with the im-
provements, but few remained long after they were completed.
In 1801, Ami Els worth came from East Windsor, Conn., and set-
tled on the road leading from the Ridge to the village Mr. William-
son had founded upon the Lake and Bay. There was then on the
road leading to Palmyra, no settler nearer to where he located than
Daniel Russell, 9 miles distant. At the Point, (village) Moses Sill
was in the tavern house; and there were two or three families be-
side, most of whom lived by fishing and hunting. On the Lake
shore, seven miles above the Point, was a solitary settler by the
name of Amos Richards.# Elijah Brown was an early, but not a
permanent settler on the Lake shore, four miles above the Point, f
* Connected with him or his family, is a tale of pioneer life, well worthy of record.
Mr. Richards had been in but a few years, and made but a little opening in the forest,
when he died, leaving a wife, and a daughter twenty years old; both uncommonly en-
dowed with health and strength. In their solitary home, far away from neighbors,
the mother and daughter took the laboring oars in out of door work, chopped and
cleared land, added a comfortable log bam upon their premises, planted an orchard,
harrowed, ploughed, sowed, reaped and harvested; dispensing entirely with the labor
of men. In winters, they had their own roads to make to the settlements, their stock
to fodder and brouse;—in fact, women as they were, they contended successfully with
all the endurances of pioneer fife, and in the end, with pretty good success. There
was an entire new feature in the old lady’s domestic economy : — She trained a cow
to carry burdens, and especially her grain to mill, upon her back. Mrs. Richards died
in 1849, aged 93 years. The daughter is the wife of Jeduthan Moffatt.
t He was a Pioneer upon the Holland Purchase, at the mouth of Oak Orchard .
Creek, as early as 1804. In 1805 or ’6, he came down the Lake from his new loca-
tion to mill at Sodus, in a skiff. Returning, he was taken sick, and on going on shore,PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.	395
Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth still survive, at an advanced age. They
have fifty living descendants in the town of Sodus.
The old gentleman says that his neighborhood, in an early day,
was more than usually the haunt of deer, bears and wolves ; wild
ducks were abundant in the Bay, and some seasons of the years,
pigeons were so plenty, that it was difficult to protect the crops
from their depredations. At one period, they had their roosts on
the Lake shore, their nests occupying the trees upon hundreds of
acres. Some trees would have sixty and seventy nests upon them.
The backwoods settlers carried away cart loads of the young
squabs. On another occasion, an unusual quantity of beach nuts
and mild weather, attracted myriads of them to the neighborhood ;
the weather suddenly changing to severe cold, the woods were
strewed with those that Had been frozen to death.
Elijah Gibbs was the first settled physician in the neighborhood.
He died in 1829. Several of his sons are masters of vessels upon
the Lake. Elisha Matthews was an early physician; a son of his
resides in Rochester.
Mr. Ellsworth was sick for five of the first years after settling at
Sodus; his then young wife, transferred to the wilderness from a
comfortable New England home, had her husband and young chil-
dren to take care of, and much of the out door labor to perform.
A, payment upon their land became due: their dependence to meet
it was a sum due them in Connecticut; Mrs. E. made the long
journey to Windsor upon horseback, and obtained it. The history
of their pioneer years has the harshest features of backwood's life;
but with them, as with others, the scene has changed; the dense
forests have melted away; in the midst of their descendants, sur-
rounded by fruitful fields, they are spending the evening of their
days, and calmly awaiting the close of the mission upon earth,
they have so well performed.
PEREGRINE FITZHUGH.
DOF See William Fitzhugh, page 364. He emigrated to this re-
gion in 1799. Residing three years at Geneva, he was engaged in
died at Irondequoit. John G. Brown, of Hudson, Michigan, and Paul Brown, of Pal-
myra, Wayne county, are his sons. Daughters became the wives of Edward Durfee,
and William Wilcox, of Palmyra, and Gilbert Howell, of Oak Orchard.396
PHELPS AM) GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
improving a large purchase he had made at Sodus, until his removal
there in 1803. But little had been done there before his advent,
in the way of farm improvements. Mr. Williamson’s fine tavern
house loomed up on the Bay, on either hand, a few log cabins,
most of them deserted; while the background was a thickly wood-
ed forest, upon the beautiful swell of land between the Bay and
the Lake; cut up into “ inner ” and “ outer ” town lots; the stakes
and blazed trees of the surveyors being the only marks of improve-
ment.
Col. Fitzhugh came into the country strong handed; his was the
Pioneer advent of the “ Marylanders,” and was a marked event.
He came over Mr. Williamson’s Northumberland road, with a for-
midable cavalcade; large Pennsylvania wagons, drawn by 27
horses; his family, including slaves, consisting of over forty per-
sons. The cavalcade was five weeks in making the passage, the
whole camping in the woods two nights on the way.
The enterprising adventurer from the shores of the Chesepeake
Bay, chose for his home one of the finest regions of the Genesee
country, as time and improvements are now rapidly demonstrating,
but one beset with many early difficulties and hindrances — dis-
ease, isolation, in reference to the directions that business and the
progress of improvement took; destined to slow settlement, and
long untoward years. He died in the midst of his enterprises, in
1810. The owner, by inheritance, of slaves, he introduced them
into a region unfitted for slave labor, and in his case, as well as with
all others who made the experiment, it was a failure. He had
made most of them free before his death.
Mrs. Fitzhugh, who was the daughter of Samuel Lloyd Chew, of
Ann Arundel, Md., still survives, a resident at the old homestead, at
the advanced age of 84 years. She has lived to see her descend-
ants of the fifth generation. The surviving sons of Col. Peregrine
Fitzhugh, are: — Samuel Fitzhugh, who has been a clerk in the
Note —An experiment of local colonization, or separate settlement of free blacks,
commenceo in an early day at Sodus. The mamumitted slaves of most of the
Marylanders — many of them those of Mr. Fitzhugh — were allowed to go
upon the Pulteney lands, near the Bay, the ten, fifteen, and, twenty acre
lots that had been laid out by Mr. "Williamson upon his towwn plat. They
numbered at one time, about 80 in all. The settlement began to disperse after a
few years; they proved illy adapted for making themselves a home upon new lands;
those that remained were idle and unthrifty, and their locality is now a sad specimen
of the self reliance, or independent existence, of their race.897
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PHECHASE.
General Post Office, at Washington, for nearly thirty years; and
Bennett C. Fitzhugh, a resident at Sodus Point. Daughters be-
came the wives of William Pulteney Dana,* whose mother was a
niece of Sir William Pulteney; of William Haylartz, of Sodus;
of William Edwards, of Sodus; an unmarried daughter resides at
the old homestead.
WILLIAM NIXON LOOMIS.
M ' *	~~
He was a native of New Jersey. After a collegiate education,
he studied medicine, attended the lectures of Dr. Rush, at Philadel-
phia. His ambition as a student, is indicated by the fact, that he
took copious notes of the whole course of lectures of that eminent
man, which fill several quarto volumes, and are the only report ex-
tant, of that course. An acquaintance thus formed, between mas-
ter and pupil, they afterwards maintained a correspondence of
intimacy and friendship. Commencing the practice of medicine
in Philadelphia, he continued there until a declining health, conse-
quent upon an attack of the yellow fever, induced him to seek a
change of climate.
He came on a tour of exploration to the Genesee country soon after
1800. In a trip by water, with some friends, they were overtaken
by a storm, off the mouth of the Genesee river. The party landed,
and went up to view the Falls. Upon the present site of Roches-
ter, they came to a solitary log cabin, knocked, and were bid
to come in. Upon entering, they found that in the absence of
the family, a parrot had been the hospitable representative. The
family returned soon, however, and gave them a supper of potatoes
and milk ; the best that the site of a now city of 40,000 inhabit-
ants, then afforded. Deciding upon making Sodus Point his home,
he made considerable investments in lands there, and soon removed
his family to their new home. He resided at the Point, until the
commencement of the war of 1812, when he removed two miles
farther up the Lake, where he had purchased lands, and erected a
flouring mill. His house at the Point was burned when the British
* He came to this country soon after his relative had become a proprietor here• his
wife dying, he returned to England in early years. Mrs. Daniel H. Fitzhugh, of Grove-
land is, a daughter of his.-*398	PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
force made their landing there. To the flouring mill, in his new
locality, he added a saw mill, an iron forge, and several other branch-
es of business; besides improving the land, dividing it into farms,
and building several houses for tenants. The little settlement was
called “ Maxwell.” Leaving Philadelphia with the design of aban-
doning his profession, his practice was only as the exigencies
of the new region demanded, and mostly gratuitous. He bestowed
much of his time and talents in the cause of internal improvements.
If not the projector, he early and zealously espoused the opening
of a communication between Lake Ontario and ^ Erie Canal, by
means of a branch canal, terminating at Sodus Bay.*
To indefatigable industry and perseverance, he added extraordi-
nary business talents; and to a vigorous intellect he added a thor-
ough education, cultivated literary tastes and pursuits, in hours of
relaxation from the sterner duties of life, which made him an agree-
able and instructive companion. He died in 1833, at the age of 58
years. An inscription upon his tomb stone, in the rural cemetery,
at Sodus village, pays the following tribute to his memory; — “He
was one of the Pioneer Border settlers. His enterprising, vigor-
ous, and active mind, aided esssentially in the improvements of this
country, and commanded for him universal esteem.”
The first wife of Dr. Lummis died in early years. His second
wife was a daughter of Captain John Maxwell, and the niece of
General William Maxwell, both of whom are honorably mentioned
in Revolutionary annals. The surviving sons of Dr. Lummis,
are : — Benjamin Rush Lummis, residing on the east side of Sodus
Bay; William M. and Dayton Lummis, merchants, New York.
An only surviving daughter is Mrs. Elizabeth Ellet, the wife of Dr.
William H. Ellet, Professor of Chemistry in Columbia College, N.
York; The amiable and gifted authoress of “ The Women of the
American Revolution,” and “ Domestic History of the American
Revolution.”
Dr. Thomas G. Lawson, an Englishman, leaving home on ac-
count of some domestic difficulties, came to Sodus Point, in early
* A project revived in later years, principally under the auspices of another public
spirited individual— Gen. Wm. H. Adams — with slow and untoward progress at first;
but now, with the aid of recent legislation, likely to be consummated.
Note *— Mrs. Ellet is now about38 years of age. Her first published literary effort
was written at the age of thirteen; an “Ode” written on the occasion of La Fayette’s
Visit at Geneva where she was attending school.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
399
years, purchasing a large number of Mr. Williamson’s “out lots,” a
mile from the Point, fixing his residence there. Possessed of consid-
erable wealth, he practiced his profession only occasionally, spending
his* money freely in improvements of his possessions. He returned
to England, where he died in 1833.
Elder Seba Norton was the the pioneer clergyman, at Sodus, set-
tling there as early as 1805. After four years’ service in the
Revolution, which included a participation in the battles of Mon-
mouth and Saratoga, he united with the Baptist church, and soon took
upon himself the office of a minister, with a limited education, but
with a native strength of mind, and a devotion to his profession,
which insured a long career of usefulness. He was the founder
of the first meeting house in the township. He died in 1835, in
the 76th year of his age.
In reference to the slow growth of Sodus, the early fluctuations of its
population, Judge Byram Green remarks: — “A large portion of the
early settlers about the Bay, were but transient residents, fishermen
and hunters. They would come to the Bay, invited by the abun-
dance of deer in the forest, wild ducks in the Bay, and fish in the
Bay and Lake, and erect their huts on the Islands in the Bay, or the
main land. There they would hunt and fish for a season, some a
few years, and leave the place. Soon another set would come, and
occupy the vacant and common ground. And thus a floating pop-
ulation was coming and going, like the rolling waves upon the Lake,
until more enterprising men purchased and occupied the ground,
subdued the forest, and cultivated the soil.”
RIDGE ROAD AND SODUS BAT*
Secluded, in referenc to the main thoroughfares, the northern portions of
Monroe and Wayne counties are less known than most of the Genesee coun-
try. Sodus Bay, especially, a marked spot in the topography of the Genesee
country, and in fact in all our Lake region, has never been seen by many,
otherwise familiar with the whole region. These considerations will excuse a
seeming partiality, in making them an exception to a general rule, in this his-
tory of pioneer settlement.
Passing Irondequoit Bay, and going east, the Ridge Road becomes as well
defined, as uniformly elevated, as upon any portion of it between the Genesee
and the Niagara rivers. It passes through the towns of Webster, in Monroe,400
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Ontario, Williamson, and Sodus, in Wayne, terminating at the head of the
Bay, or rather losing there its regular and distinctive character. Starting
from Irondequoit, passing the fine swells of uplands and broad plains — the
constant succession of magnificent farms, of the town of Webster, the flour-
ishing rural village, that bears the name of the town — there is a great uni-
formity in nature’s own highway, upon which you are traveling; its gradual
slope in the direction of Lake Ontario, and the gentle swells and rolling lands
on the other hand — a sameness of landscape — until you arrive at Wil-
liamson, or Poppino’s corners, where the main pases roads from Palmyra to
Pultneyville. Here the scene changes gradually, the slope and the Ridge-becom-
ing more irregular, and at the south knobs and sugar loaf hills become frequent,
to add to the variety of scenery, not to form an exception to the every where
desirable farms, and prosperous agricultural region. Ho where in all this
region of progress, has the hand of improvement effected a more rapid
change, or found a soil making better returns for its labor. And here it may
be remarked, that with reference to the staple grain product, wheat, there is
no region of country on earth, that contains in its soil more of its elements,
than the slope from the Ridge Road to Lake Ontario, in its whole extent.
Passing from Poppino’s Corners to Sodus village — seven miles — on either
hand are broad wheat fields, clear of stumps, many of them looking like vast
onion beds ; the Ridge gently curving, and then straight for miles, with, a
regular elevation, you are gradually bearing towards the Lake, until for a con-
siderable distance you catch glimpes of its blue waves, through vistas of the
forest, schooners with sails spread, or perhaps a magnificent steamboat — a
floating palace — will cross the line of vision.
Sodus village has grown up on the Ridge — hardly within a pioneer period
— a flourishing, brisk country village, having a pleasant rural aspect; its site,
where the road from Lyons to Sodus Point, crosses the Ridge. A walk, or
ride, of four miles through a fine farming region, of ridges and valleys, brings
you to the Point, or the old site of Mr. Williamson’s magnificently projected
town.
If you question his judgement, or say that his plans were premature, you
will be obliged to pay homage to his taste ; for no where in all this region is
there a finer site for a village or a city. The bold shore of the Lake forms
an elevated and beautiful terrace on the one hand, while the ground gradually
descends to the waters of the Bay upon the other. As the Point gradually
widens out in the back ground, it rises slowly, and is interspersed with
Rote. — In the years 1818, *19, the author, a youth, serving his apprentiship in a
newspaper office at Palmyra, travelled through this region each fall, as the clerk of
a blind newspaper carrier. It was a most unpromising region of log cabins, stinted
improvements, of chills and fevers. The owls hooted from tops of the hemlock trees,
wolves howled, and foxes barked in the dark forests; the saucy hawk would be
perched upon trees in close proximity with solitary log cabins, ready to pounce upon
truant chickens that strayed a few rods from the coop before the door. Thirty years
passed over, and he revisited the region in connection with this present work. What
a change! Comfort, luxury, abundance, had taken the place of those rugged scenes
of pioneer life! Recognizing a pioneer mother, that he used to see there in those
primitive days, he observed to her : — “I used to pity you that were obliged to live
here; now I almost pity those that cannot.5*PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.	401
swells of land, slopes and vallies, forming sites for residences overlooking Lake
and Bay, and every way inviting.
The Bay enters a cove of the Lake, which is protected on either hand by
headlands. It is about half a mile across its neck, gradually widening out to
the extent of four miles. In length from north to south, it is nearly seven
miles. A small Island in the Lake, tying opposite the entrance to the Bay, a
pier connects it with the main land, and another is extended into the Lake.
These public improvements, added to natural advantages, renders it the finest
harbor upon all our Lake coasts. It is said of the magnificent Bay of San
Francisco, that “all the navies of the world might ride at anchor in it at
one time, with safety.” It may be said of Sodus Bay, that all the craft that
will ever navigate our Lakes, would find ample room there; good anchorage,
and protection from the severest gales. Its mostly deep, still waters might at
times, be passed over safely in a canoe, when a tempest was tossing the waters
of the Lake. The scenery, especially upon the east side of the Bay, is less
bold and rugged, but its promentories remind one of the descriptions of the
Bay of Naples. With an eye for the picturesque and romantic — a feeling of
enthusiasm in reference to all this region, — Mr. Williamson wrote to a friend
in England ; — “The town” (Sodus,) “stands on arising ground on the
west point of the Bay, having the Lake on the north, to appearance as bound-
less as the ocean, and the Bay to the east romantically interspersed with Islands,
and parts of the main land stretching into it. The first view of the place,
after passing through a timbered country from Geneva, twenty-eight miles,
strikes the eye of the beholder, as one of the most magnificent landscapes
human fancy can picture; and the beauty of the scene, is not unfrequently
heightened, by the appearance of large vessels navigating the Lake.”
The “ District of Sodus/’ was erected in the primitive division
of Ontario county into Districts, in 1789. The earliest record of a
town meeting is in 1799. The district then embraced all of the
present town of Sodus and Lyons. The town or district meeting
was held at the “house of Evert Yan Wickle” in Lyons village.
The officers chosen were as follows: — Azariah Willis, supervisor,
Joseph Taylor, town clerk; other town officers : — Norman Merry,
Samuel Caldwell, Chas. Cameron, Moses Sill, E. Yan Wickle,
Timothy Smith, Joseph Wood, David Sweezy, Daniel Russell,
Henry Love well, Wm. White, Reuben Adams, Samuel Nelson,
David Sweezy, and John Yan Wickle.
At a special town meeting in 1799, held “ at the house of John
Briggs,” John Perrine, Timothy Smith, and Samuel Caldwell were
chosen school commissioners.
There was at this period on the tax roll, the names of 50 persons,
some of whom were non-residents ; the settlers would seem to have402
PHELPS AHDGOEHAH’S PURCHASE.
been located in Lyons village, on the road from Lyons to Sodus
Point, at the Point, and on the Palmyra road, with the exception of
Brown and Richards, on the Lake shore between the Point and
Pulteneyville. In 1800, Timothy Smith was supervisor. In this
year the first records of roads were made. Two dollars bounty
was voted for wolf scalps “with the skin thereon; ” and it was also
voted that “ hog yokes be eight inches above the neck.” It was
also voted that Elias Dickinson, who it is presumed was a Justice of
the peace in Phelps, “ be allowed $3 for opening town meetings
two years past.”
In 1799, the District gave Charles Williamson and Nathaniel
Norton, candidates for Assembly, each 23 votes. In 1800 Thomas
Morris had the unanimous vote of the district, 68, for representative
of the Western District in Congress.
In 1801 the district “neglected to hold town meeting,” but three
justices of the county, Wm. Rogers, Darius Comstock and Ezra
Patterson, met at the house of Oliver Kendall, and appointed John
Perrine, supervisor, and Richard Jones town clerk.
Pulteneyville is upon the shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of
Little Salmon creek. The waters of the fine pure stream that have
been collecting upon the slope in Marion and Williamson, on ap-
proaching the Lake, seem to have been coy and hesitating in fall-
ing into its embrace; meandering along for a considerable distance,
nearly parallel with the Lake shore, a ridge elevated from 35 to 40
feet, affords fine building ground overlooking the Lake. Two prom-
ontories put out above and below the entrance of the creek into the
Lake, which, with a bluff shore, affords the means of making a very
• good harbor with a small comparative expenditure of money. It
was a prominent locality in long years of French and English do-
minion — the frequent stopping place for the small craft that coasted
along the Lake shore. Although the locality was marked by Mr.
Williamson in his plans of improvement, and is mentioned in his
correspondence with his principals, no commencement was made
there under his auspices.
Previous to 1806, William Waters was the only resident there.
In that year, Capt. Samuel Throop, changed his residence from
Manchester to Pulteneyville, accompanied by his father-in-law,
Jeremiah Selby, who had settled at Palmyra as early as 1801.
They erected a saw mill and grist mill on Little Salmon creek.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	403
Capt. Throop kept the first public house at Pulteneyville. Russel
Whipple, becoming a resident there in early years, built the schooner
“ Laura/ which was sailed by Capt. Throop. The widow of Capt.
Throop, is now the wife of Major William Rodgers, of Pulteneyville.
In addition to the son named in a note attached, Capt. Washington
Throop, of Pulteneyville, is another son. Daughters became the
wives of W. H. Rodgers and Capt. Andrew Holling, of Pulteneyville.
Joseph Colt, the early merchant at Canandaigua and Geneva,
was the pioneer merchant at Pulteneyville. Jacob W. Hallett, late
of New York, was an early resident of Pultneyville, as was Samuel
Ledyard, who is a resident there now; of both whom, especially
of the latter, whose family was early identified with, all the region
west of Utica, the author is in hopes to be able to say something in
another connection.
CHAPTER VII.
PIONEER EVENTS IN WHAT IS NOW MONROE.
In December, 1789, the Shaeffer family became the pioneer set-
tlers in all the region west.of the Genesee river, and in fact of the
whole valley of the Genesee, if we except those who had blended
themselves with the Indians, were Indian traders, or had become
squatters upon Indian lands, in their flight from the Mohawk and
Susquehannah, during the border wars. With reference to pe 'ma-
nent settlement and improvement, they must be regarded as the
Pioneers of the Genesee Valley.
Note. — A singular train of Lake disasters and deaths, is connected with this pio-
neer family : — Capt. Throop himself was drowned from the schooner Lark, of which
he was master, while attempting to enter Sodus Bay, in a gale, in 1819. Previous to
which, Mrs. Throop with two young children, in a skiff with her husband, Jeremiah
B. Selby and George Armstrong, were going a few miles up the Lake; the skiff
filled, the children were drowned, and Mrs. Throop barely escaped. At the .early
age of 18, the present well known Capt. Horatio N. Throop, of the steam boat Onta-
rio, became a navigator of the Lake, as the master of a small schooner, which he had
built himself. In 1825 on his way to Oswego, a cargo of corn with which he was
laden became damp, swelled, the vessel suddenly bursting and sinking. Two lads on
board drowned, and Capt. Throop himself escaped by swimming to the shore, four
miles, on a door that haa become detached.404
PHELPS AND GOKHAll’s PURCHASE.
Peter Shaeffer, the elder, was a native of Berks county, Pa., but
emigrated from Lancaster to this region, at the advanced age of
85 years. His family who became permanent residents, consisted
of himself and his sons Peter and Jacob. In July, 1789, they came
first to Geneva, and then to Ganargwa creek, in Bloomfield, where
they purchased 1200 acres of land of Gen. Fellows. Remaining
there until December, the old gentleman apportioned that tract
among his three daughters, and went upon the river with his sons.
They found Ebenezer Allan, the owner of the fine tract of flats and
upland at the mouth of Allan’s creek, adjoining the present village
of Scottsville. He had a comfortable log house, upon a gentle
swell of land, which may be observed a short distance from the
confluence of the creek and* river. He was living then with a
young white wife, whose name had been Lucy Chapman. Her
family on their way to Canada, had stopped with him, and by the
solicitations of Mrs. Dugan, (Allan’s sister,) Lucy remained to keep
her company. A sham magistrate came along soon after and made
her a joint partner with some half dozen natives, in the affections
of the then lord of the Genesee Valley. Mrs. Dugan, had come
on some years previous, with her husband and joined her brother,
and had been his housekeeper. Allan had acquired three hundred
acres of land by gift from the Indians, to which he had added one
hundred and seventy by purchase, from Phelps and Gorham. He
had a stock of goods for the Indian trade.* He had 50 or 60 acres
of open flats under the plough, 20 acres of wheat upon the ground;
some horses and cattle. A few years previous he had wintered
seventy head of cattle on rushes, f
The Shaeffers became the purchasers of his fine tract of land,
paying him the then high price of #2,50 per acre; though it must
* And “thereby hangs a tale: ” — These goods were obtained of John Butler, Brit-
ish superintendent of Indian affairs at Niagara. They were taken from the King’s
store house, and were evidently intended for Indian presents upon the Genesee river;
to keep the Indians favorable to the British interests, and strengthen the British claim
to dominion over the whole of the western portion of this State. But the agent mis-
applied his trusts; he bought furs with the goods;—they became oftener gifts of gal-
lantry than those of diplomacy. Butler made a business matter of it; demanded pay for
the goods; Allan contested the claim, but it was finally compromised by the interven-
tion of James Wadsworth, Esq.
t After coming upon the Genesee river, he had become a grazer and drover. But-
ler’s Rangers and the Indians would steal cattle from the Mohawk and the Susquehan-
nah, and drive them to him. After keeping them upon the river, until they became good
beef, they would command a ready sale at high prices, at Fort Niagara and in Canada.phelps and gobham’s purchase.
405
be considered that sixty acres of improvement was then a valuable
acquisition. Allan included in the sale, one acre of wheat upon the
ground and a sow pig.# The father and sons added to Allan’ house-
hold for the winter, subsisting upon the milk of two cows they
brought in, and Indian pudding that Mrs. Dugan cooked for them.
Allan had erected the saw mill at the Falls, (now Rochester) in
the summer previous, and had his timber out for the grist mill. The
money that he realized for his farm, enabled him to push forward his
enterprise. The grist mill was raised the forepart of winter. The
frame was 26 by 30, of heavy timber. All the able bodied white
men in the Genesee valley were invited to the raising — and they
numbered fourteen, all told. It took them two days. A trading
boat happening to enter the mouth of the river, while they were
raising, some rum was procured, and the backwoodsmen had a
dance in the mill, and a rejoicing at the prospect of something better
to prepare meal for their bread than the stump mortar.
The Shaeffers brought apple seeds with them from Pennsylvania,
and planted them in December, 1799. These were the first apple
seeds, (other than the old French orchard at Schlosser,) planted in
the Genesee country, west of the river.
After Allan had sold his farm to the Shaeffers, he went back to
Mt. Morris, purchased goods at Philadelphia, bringing them in from
the back settlements of Pennsylvania, on horseback. In the season
of ’90, he sowed 100 acres of wheat, besides raising considerable
corn. Like Alexander Selkirk, he was “ lord of all he surveyed
commanded the services of the Indians to work his fields for rum
and trinkets, occasionally pressing into his service the Butler Ran-
gers, who had stopped in the valley, in their flight from the Mohawk
and the Susquehannah; paying them sometimes, but often arbitrarily
adjusting their services to suit himself, as there was then no au-
thority superior to his own. His gallantries, truthfully related, would
equal the tales of eastern romance; the “ turbaned turk might have
yielded to him supremacy; it extended even to the employment of
a purveyor, in the person of a Dutchman, Andrews. About this
time, alternating in his tastes between his own and another race,
* That same sow pig cost a night’s lodging in the woods. She took to the woods
early in the spring, and had to be looked op when winter came again. In the search,
the present Peter Shaeffer got benighted and slept in a hollow log through a winter
night.406	PHELPS ATO GOEHAM’s PHEOHASE.
he took another white wife, the daughter of a Ranger, named Greg-
ory, who lived upon the Canascraga flats, near Dansville.*
Mr. Shaeffer contradicts the story of Allan’s murder of the
Dutchman, Andrews,f but he says that he murdered a boy that
lived with him, and points out the grave, near the site of Allan’s
residence, on the Shaeffer flats. The boy was sent for a bucket of
water, and playing by the way, Allan met him, took the bucket
from him, and beat him to death with it.
He was, says Mr. Shaeffer, mild and conciliating, when he had a
selfish end to accomplish; but always severe and harsh with his
dependents. A refugee, a negro slave, had during the Revolution,
come from the Mohawk to the Genesee river, and domiciled with
the Indians. He was called “ Captain Sun Fish.” He was shrewd,
intelligent, became a trader in cattle, selling in Canada, and at Fort
Niagara, took a squaw wife, and acquired considerable money. At
one time he was settled at the mouth of Tonawanda creek. Cov-
eting his money, and wishing, perhaps, in the way of matrimony to
try a third race, Allan married one of his daughters. Getting pos-
session of the money, however, he discarded the mixed negro and
Indian wife; but as if there were some redeeming traits in his char-
acter, he pensioned the old negro, and allowed him a hut upon his
Allan’s creek farm. Sun Fish finally went to Tonawanda, where
his descendants now reside.
Jacob Schoonover and his family had preceded the Shaeffers a
few months, and settled near the mouth of Dugan’s creek. Peter
Shaeffer married his daughter, in 1790. He and his wife died in
1838, ’9, at the ages of 93 and 94. Mrs. Shaeffer died in 1835, aged
63 years.
The whole valley of the river below Mr. Shaeffer’s, was slow in
settling. The first settler was Joseph Morgan, his farm adjoining
the Shaeffer farm, in ’92; a daughter of his, Mrs. Early, now occu-
pies the place. His son, Joseph Morgan, resides on the river, a short
* When he emigrated to Canada, he undertook to lessen the number of his white
wives, by procuring the drowning of this last one. Two men that were hired for the
purpose, took her down in a canoe, and purposely ran over the falls near the present
aqueduct; swimming ashore themselves, but leaving her to go over the mam falls.
She, however, disappointed them, saving herself, and soon appearing in the presence
of her faithless lord, at the mouth of the river, a dripping water nymph. She follow-
ed him to Canada, and became one of his new household there.
t He went over the Genesee Falls, when taking mill irons down for the old Allan
mill; the boat and irons were found below the Falls.piielps and gorham’s purchase.
407
distance below. In some of the earliest years, —-—- Peabody
erected a distillery, first at Handford's Landing, and afterwards, on
the Joseph Morgan place; Wm. Peabody, of Scottsville, is a son of
his. Andrew Wortman was a settler upon the river, as early as
'94 or '5, occupying the farm that belonged to Samuel Street, of
Chippewa, who was his brother-in-law. Caleb Aspinwall, Peter
Conkle, Frederick and Nicholas Hetzteller, were early in the Shaef-
fer neighborhood. Reuben Heth, a Vermonter, stopping first at
Bloomfield, came upon the river, in early years, worked for Mr.
Shaeffer, without a change of his buckskin breeches and buckskin
coat, until he had earned enough to pay for a farm. He died about
twenty years since, a man of wealth, and the founder of a highly
respectable family. Eldridge Heth, of Wheatland, is a son ; Mrs.
Hyde, Mrs. Nettleton, and Mrs. Halsted, are his daughters.
The two story, venerable looking farm house, near which is the
old apple orchard, on the Genesee Valley canal, a short distance
below Scottsville, is the residence of Peter Shaeffer. The fine flats
spread out before it, in a high state of cultivation, with long lines
of wire fence, are those he purchased from “ Indian Allan.” In a
romantic spot, at the end of the ridge, that will be observed rising
upon the flats, and terminating near the river and creek, stood the
log dwelling, which served the purposes of a farm house, a store, and
a harem, for this singular man, who fled from civilization, first to
become the scourge of his own race and kindred, and afterwards to
repay the confidence and hospitality of another race, by a career
among them, marked throughout by selfishness and sensuality.
It will hardly do to talk of antiquity, in a country where our race
have been occupants but sixty years, in allusion to any relic of
their advent. But the old Shaeffer home, with all its historical as-
sociations, maybe said to look antiquated. It was built in 1789, be-
fore the new discovery, the cut nail, was in use, and all the doors had
to be made consequently with wrought nails. Its strap door hinges,
its locks, handles and latches were made by a blacksmith, who had
come into the country; none other could then be procured. It was
the first framed farm dwelling, in all the region between Genesee river
and Lake Erie. When it was building, the surveyors were making
the preliminary surveys of most of all the territory now comprised in
the counties of Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Allega-
ny, Cattaraugus, and Chautauque; Buffalo contained three log408
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
dwellings, and Mr. Ellicot was making an opening to erect the first
log dwelling at Batavia. For ten years after that house was com-
pleted, and twenty years after its venerable surviving occupant was
cultivating large fields; when those apple trees had become bear-
ers, from the seeds he had planted, the site of a city of 40,000 in-
habitants, was a rugged and forbidding wilderness! The orchard
was planted six years before the British gave up all claim to W. N.
York, and surrendered Fort Niagara, and the house built but two
years afterwards.
The father and brother of Peter Shaeffer died in early years.
The fine start which the improvements gave him — the ready mar-
ket he found for his early large crops of corn — the facilities he en-
joyed for exchanging provisions for labor, with the new comers
that dropped in around him, were advantages he well improved; and
to which he soon added grazing and droving; his market, Fort Niag-
ara and Canada. He added to fiis original land purchase, by degrees,
until he had a large possession; and a competence of wealth has
rewarded his early enterprise. He is now in his 88th year; his
faculties not materially impaired, his memory of early events reten-
tive and intelligent; and with the exception of a diseased ankle, his
physical constitution holds out remarkably for one of his age. In
his younger days, he used spirituous liquors moderately; none for
the last twenty years ; and as an example to old tobacco chewers, it
may be added, that he was one of them for half a century, but is not of
them now. He has been the occupant of different town offices, and
has always enjoyed the esteem of his fellow citizens. The Scotch
settlers who became his neighbors, in indigent circumstances, and
the pioneers of different neighborhoods, in the western part of
Monroe county, many of them speak of his kindness in early years,
in furnishing them with grain and pork, upon credit; and in return
the old gentleman pays a high compliment to the honesty of the
primitive settlers, by saying that of the numerous debts thus con-
tracted, he recollects no instance where he ultimately failed to re-
ceive his pay. He speaks of the gratification it used to give him, to
supply with a few bushels of grain, some potatoes, or pork, perhaps,
settlers in the backwoods, (to be carried off, generally, upon their
backs,) who he has lived to see become the owner of broad fields and
crowded granaries. The surviving sons of Peter Shaeffer, are: —
Peter, Levi, Daniel, George; the last of whom is the owner and409
phelps and gorham’s purchase,
occupant of the old homestead, and one of the best farmers and stock
breeders in the Genesee valley. Mrs. Philip Garbut and Mrs.
Caleb Allen, are his daughters. His children all reside in Wheat-
land and Chili.
REMINISCENCES OF PETER SHAEFFER.
It was several years after settlement commenced upon the river, before the
Ridge Road was known; an Indian trail went from the mouth of the River
to Fort Niagara, keeping near the Lake shore; and another trail was along
the west bank of the river from Canawagus to mouth of river. Peter and
Jacob Shaeffer kid out a road from Allan’s creek to the Falls, in ’92; had
no compass; took ranges from trees; but the road as it now exists, is mainly
on the old route. It was improved, the streams bridged with logs, so that
teams could pass in the winter of ’93, ’4.
Deer were plenty; bears and wolves made it troublesome to keep sheep or
hogs; but the raccoon was the most troublesome animal we had to contend
with. To save their corn, the new settlers were obliged to hunt them, but
their fur sold readily, and paid for the hunting. At some seasons the pigeons
were very abundant; they could be taken in large numbers, by the use of nets;
the breasts wTere cut out, salted, and they made very good eating. Trout
were so plenty in Allan’s creek, that a string of an hundred and an hundred
and fifty, could be taken without changing ground. At Dumplin Hill, on
one occasion, a panther was a victim to his voracious ^ppetite. Killing a deer,
he gorged himself, became stupid, an Indian found him helpless, and shot him.
Up to 1794, there was a constant intercourse kept up between the British
at Fort Niagara, and in Canada, and the Indians upon the river. A large
proportion of the Indians inclined to the British interests, and by means of
runners, and speeches sent from Gov. Simcoe and Lord Dorchester, the idea
rvas constantly inculcated that the British would soon want their aid against
the United States. Just before the victory of Gen. Wayne, believing as they
were made to believe, from some source, that he would be defeated, they
were menacing and insolent. When a large party of them were encamped
on the flats of Allan’s creek, on their way to become allies against Wayne,
some of the painted warriors gave out that they would return with help enough
to drive oft’ the whites. The victory created a better state of things, but there
was not a feeling of perfect security until the surrender of Fort Niagara, in
1796.
“ I have been the commissary of an army,” said Mr. Shaeffer, and he ex-
plained :—When the American troops were on their way up the Lake to take
possession of Fort Niagara, in batteaux, they met with head winds, put back
into the Genesee river, where their provisions failed. Hearing of Mr. Shaeffer,
they came up the river, quartered in his barn, and he supplied them with
pork and Indian meal, taking the officer’s note. When they broke up their
quarters, Mr. Shaeffer piloted them to Caledonia Springs, put them upon the
26410
phelps ahjd horham’s purchase.
trail, and arriving at Tonawanda, Poudry piloted them to Fort Niagara, where
they were the first to raise the American flag. The next winter, Mr. Shaeffer
drove cattle to Canada, visited Fort Niagara, and received his pay.
Mary Jemison once staid at Mr. Shaeffer’s over night, on her way with a
hunting party, to the mouth of the river. She related the story of her cap-
tivity, and said she was happy in her Indian relations, and preferred to remain
rather than to rejoin her friends.
William Hencher was a native of Brookfield, Mass., a soldier of
the Revolution, he afterwards became a partizan of Shay, in the
Massachusetts rebellion. While transporting some provisions to
the insurgents, he was overtaken by some of the opposing military,
fled, leaving his teams, and sought refuge in the then wild regions
of western New York. He came first to Newtown Point, remained
there one year, was joined by his family, and located in the neigh-
borhood of Col. Sterrett, on Big Flats. In August, 1791, he and
his son William, then eleven years of age, went to the mouth of the
Genesee river, where they found Walker, the Ranger, located in a
log hut on the east side of the river, near its mouth, the solitary oc-
cupant, short of Irondequoit Bay, Orange Stones, and Peter
ShaefFers. Determining upon a settlement, Mr. Hencher, with the
help of his son, went up to Long Pond, cut wild grass for the stock
they intended to bring on, erected a hut on the west side of the
river, and returned to Big Flats; carrying with them, however, a
sufficient amount of the fever and ague to last them nearly through
the winter.
In February, ’92, he moved in by the way of Seneca Lake and
Catherine’s Town, upon ox-sleds. At Irondequoit, was the end of
any road. Mr. Hencher cut his road before his teams, striking the
river above the Falls, and then down on the east side to Walker’s,
where the family remained until the last of March, when they
crossed the river and occupied the hut they had erected in the fall,
the roof of which was dry wild grass. This was the first hut of a
white man erected on the shores of Lake Ontario, between the
Genesee river and Fort Niagara. The family consisted of the
father, mother, one son, and seven daughters. Clearing a few acres
the first season, and planting a few acres that Walker had cleared,
they got some summer crops; and also erected a comfortable log
house. The place was much frequented by emigrants and boat-
men, who came to camp on shore. Mr. Hencher soon commencedPhelps and goeham’s purchase.
411
traffic, with boatmen, emigrants and Indians, to which business he
soon added a brisk trade in fish. He and his son, having procured
a boat, would cross Lake Ontario to the river Credit, and purchase
fresh salmon, and sometimes catch them in the Oak Orchard and
the Irondequoit. These he would carry back into the settlements,
and exchange for butter and cheese, which he would market in
Canada, making large profits. Purchasing six hundred acres of
land, he supported a large family, and paid for the land twice, the
first title proving defective. The old gentleman died soon after the
war of 1812, his wife surviving until 1843, when she died at the
age of 93 years. The eldest daughter married Thomas Lee; she
survives, and is a resident at Pittsford. Hers was the first marriage
that took place upon the west side of the river, except that of Peter
Shaeffer. Another sister married Bartholomew May bee, and is
yet living in Ohio ; another, Stephen Lusk, of Pittsford, and is yet
living; another, Jonathan Leonard, of Parma, and is yet living;
another, Donald M’Kenzie, of Caledonia, and is yet living. Two
others, Mrs. Clement, of Cleveland, and Mrs. Abel Rowe, of Parma,
are dead. Seven Pioneer wives and mothers came from under one
roof! Of the eight children, six are living; and yet, they have
passed through the most rugged scenes of pioneer life, and their
location was, in early years, deemed the most unhealthy of all the
new settlements ! The eldest is 80, and the youngest 65. The old
gentleman lived to see all of his children married and settled. The
only son, William Hencher, is 71 years of age ; resides in Andover,
Allegany county, with faculties unimpaired, his memory enabling
him to relate early events with minuteness and accuracy.
REMINISCENCES OF WM. HENCHER, 2d.
For two years after we came to the mouth of the Genesee river, many of
the Indians were ugly, threatening and quarrelsome. Pending the victory
of Wayne, my father had made up his mind to leave the country, if the re-
sult had been adverse; but his courage was renewed when the .Senecas came
back from the fight, tame and spiritless, complaining of the conduct of their
British allies in shutting themselves up in a fort, and not coming to their res-
cue, as they had been, made to believe they would. We all expected that if
Wayne was defeated, the western Indians would come down and aid the
Senecas in a war upon the whites in this region. The mouth of the Genesee
River, Braddock’s Bay, and Irondequoit Bay, were hunting, trapping, and412
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
fishing grounds of the Senecas, and at times, the Mississaguas from Canada
would he encamped about them in large numbers.
. Some of the first hogs that my father brought in became wild; a boar, es-
pecially, became almost the lord of the forest. Huddling his flock together,
he would alone fight and conquer bears who attempted to attack them; and
he was more than a match, with his long tusks, for all the dogs of the coun-
try. On one occasion, he treed an Indian, and kept him up until he was re-
lieved by others.	f
Indian Allan came down and -staid with us for several days, when he
moved to Canada, awaiting the arrival of a boat from Niagara, which he had
chartered. He had a boat load of effects, one Squaw and two white wives.
When the British held Fort Niagara and Oswego, a mail used to be carried
between them by water in summer, and by a runner in winter, travelling on
snow shoes. Elisha Scudder, who lived at Irondequoit, was crossing the Bay
in a canoe — saw a bear swimming — struck at him — missed, the axe going
out of his hands into the water. The bear, tired of swimming, mounted into
the canoe, and remained in it till it reached the shore; stepping out, and
marching off deliberately, without even thanking the ferryman. John
Parks, the hunter, made my father’s house his head quarters. Near Ironde-
quoit Bay, wounding a bear, the animal turned and attacked him; bear and
hunter clenched, and a desperate fight ensued. Parks conquered, killing the
bear with his knife, but was dreadfully bitten and lacerated. He crawled to
our house, several miles, on his hands and knees. Dr. Hosmer came down
and dressed his wounds.
Parks and the mulatto Dunbar, who lived at Irondequoit, were out after
coons upon the Lake shore. Their dogs treed one, as they supposed. It was
dark; Dunbar climbed the tree, until he discovered a pair of eyes larger than
coons usually have, and backed down. They built up fires, remained until
morning, when they found their game a large panther, which they shot.
The dens of the rattle snakes were all along in the banks of the river be-
low the Falls. In the first warm days in the spring, they would come out,
roll, and entwine themselves in large coils, with their heads sticking out; so
torpid, you could kill them easily. This would continue until the weather
was settled; then they would go out upon their summer gambles, not returning
to their dens until cold weather came again. I have killed forty in a day.
On one occasion, in the spring of the year, we got together all we could raise,
went up the river in canoes, and killed 300 in one day. I have no doubt of
the snake’s power of charming his victim. I have killed rattle snakes that
had swallowed chipmucks and birds, and have often seen birds fluttering over
black snakes, with apparently no power to get away until I had disturbed the
snake, when they would quickly take the wing.
The next summer after we came in, John Love, who had married a daugh-
ter of Dr. Adams of Geneva, came and lived with us. Dr. Adams had pur-
chased land upon the Lake shore, of Mr. Williamson. My father and Love
went up to Esq. Shaeffers and bought some corn; took it down to the Allan
mill in a canoe, ground it themselves, backed it over the portage down to a point
a little above Handford’s Landing, where they made ropes of bark and let it
down in a canoe.
Deer were' abundant. I have killed six in one hour. Braddock’s Bay was
a famous place for trapping otters, muskrats and minks. Geese and ducksphelps and goeham’s purchase.	413
bred in the Bay, in the pond, in Irondequoit Bay. We could procure their
eggs in any desired quantity.
Our early route up the river was an old Indian trail that bore off from the
river to avoid Deep Hollow, and came upon it again at Scottsville; and it
was many years before we had any thing but a wood’s road through the pre-
sent city of Rochester.
A very likely Indian — Tuscarora Charles — and his Squaw, were almost
constantly encamped at the mouth of the river and Braddock’s Bay. When
Walker went to Canada in ’93, Charles went with me to drive his cattle.
On our return, arriving at a camping ground, where the village of Cary-
ville, Genesee county, now is, we found Joseph Brant, with a white waiter,
on his way to Canada. He was well dressed, after the fashion of white men;
but before we parted, he changed his dress entirely, putting on an Indian
dress, and getting Charles to paint him like an Indian warrior. This was be-
fore reaching Tonawanda, and I fancied that he preferred appearing among
his own people like one of them.
There was a great change when the British gave up Oswego and Niagara:
navigation of the Lake was brisk; surveyors and emigrants on their way to
New Connecticut, often put into the mouth of the river.
We had but little sickness in our family; called Dr. Hosmer on one or two
occasions. He used but little medicine; he recommended to my mother the
use of the extract of bntternut root, as an ordinary cathartic, and she was
well convinced of its effiacy.
During the Revolution, Butler’s Rangers that did not go to Canada, were
scattered along among the Indians, on the Susquehannah and Tioga rivers,
Seneca Lake, and Genesee river. To arrest the march of Sullivan, Butler
and Brant came from Canada, Butler to head the Rangers, and Brant to
head the Indians. When they were defeated and driven before Sullivan’s
army, Brant with his Indian allies, took the Niagara trail for Canada; and
Butler and his Rangers went down to the mouth of the Genesee river, after
sending Walker as a runner to Niagara to have boats sent down. They en-
camped, made no fires for fear the smoke would betray them, fired no guns,
kept as quiet as possible, fearing that Sullivan’s scouts would discover their
retreat. There were several days delay of the boats, and when Walker ar-
rived with them, Butler and his men were nearly famished for the want of
food.
Mr.------Hunt, the Pioneer at Johnson’s Creek, Niagara county, was a
prisoner at Fort Niagara during the Border Wars. Walker was then on the
other side, and one day was sent by Col. Butler over to enquire of the com-
manding officer of the Fort if he had any news ?	“ Tell Col. Butler,” said
the British commandant, “that there is bad news; the d—d rebels have
carried the day, and there will be no place left for us but Nova Scotia, where
it is colder than---is hot.” *
* This was just after the battle of Yorktown. The reader may fill the blank with
the name of the warmest locality he can think of. The Walker alluded to by Messrs.
Shaeffer and Hencher, was from Minisink. Becoming a Butler Ranger, in the flight
of that corps to Canada after the unsuccessful attempt to arrest the march of Sullivan,
he stopped at the mouth of the Genesee river, on the east side, erected a log cabin, and
lived there until his removal to Canada. He will have to be considered the first of414
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Isaac Scott was the first owner and occupant of the present vil-
lage of Scottsville. He emigrated from Vermont, in company
with Aaron and Jessee Beach,* in 1790, to Avon, and they located
at the mouth of Allan’s creek soon after, if not in the same year.
Scott died in 1818; many of his descendants reside at Whitewater,
Indiana. Other early settlers there not named in other connections:
— Hinds Chamberlin, Samuel Cox, Israel Hall, William Frazier,
James Woods, D. S. Winter, John Smith, who was an early sur-
veyor employed by Messrs. Phelps, Williamson and Wadsworth,
Robert and Thomas Smith, of Chili, are his sons.
Samuel Street of Niagara Falls, C. W., purchased soon after
1790, (of Ebenezer Allan it is presumed,) what has long been known
as the Street farm, at Dugan’s creek on the river. In earliest the
years of settlement, Jeremiah Olmsted, his brother-in-law, came from
Fairfield, Conn., with his family, and occupied it. Considerable
improvements had been made upon the farm by Allan and Dugan,
and Mr. Street had stocked it largely for that early period. Of the
family, and those employed upon the farm, ten persons died the first
year of the “ Genesee fever,” among whom was Mrs. Olmsted. In
’98 or ’9, Mr. Olmsted moved down the river and occupied a hut, on
the present site of Rochester, south of the House of Refuge, near
where M’Kerchney’s brewery now stands, where he cleared a small
spot. This was the first blow struck in the way of improvement,
other than at the Allan mill, on all the present site of the city of Roch-
ester. “ The shantee,” says the author’s informant, “ had been put
up by one Farwell; ” one of the brothers it is presumed, who are
named in another connection. Mr. Olmsted remained upon the
spot but one year; long enough, however, to produce the first crops
* A daughter of Isaac Scott, who was the wife of Jesse Beach, now resides with
her son, Cyrus Beach, at Cambria, Niagara county; aged 82 years. She says her father
and the Beaches paid 50 cents per acre for land in and about Scottsville. The author
gives a reminiscence in her own words: — “ There was a man they called Allan about
there when we came; he kept a number of cattle on the flats, and had two or three
squaws that staid with him; they browsed and took care of the cattle.”
our race who inhabited all the present county of Monroe. He had with him either two
step-daughters, or women living in a more questionable capacity. He lunted, Ashed,
ana trafficked with batteauxmen. An early map of all this region, engraved in London,
has upon it no sign of civilization or habitation, on all the Lake shore between Os-
wego and Niagara, except the picture of a log cabin at the mouth of the Genesee
liver,and underneath it the word “Walker’s.”PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
415
ever grown upon the site of Rochester. He went upon the Ridge,
becoming the neighbor of Daniel Rowe. He was the collector of
taxes for Northampton, in 1799, and like his predecessor, Simon
King, and his successor, Peter Shaeffer, his tax roll embraced the
wThole region between the Genesee and Niagara rivers. He changed
his residence to Handford’s Landing in 1816, where he died the
same year. Harry Olmsted, of Greece, his son and successor, still
survives; has been long known as a tavern keeper, on River road,
near Handford’s Landing; another son resides in Canada, and Mrs.
Billington of Allegany county, is a daughter. Harry Olmsted, was
at the mouth of the river, and upon Niagara frontier in the war of
1812, at one period a member of Capt. Rowe’s company, at another
enrolled in the cavalry of Major Stone. He was in the battle at
Lundy’s Lane, and was at Fort Erie in the affair of the 15th of
August.
As early as April, 1797, all the region between the Genesee river
and Lake Erie, was made a separate town of Ontario county, called
Northampton. The first town meeting was held at the house of
Peter Shaeffer. “The vote was taken by Gad Wadsworth, Esq.,
of the town of Hartford.” Josiah Fish was chosen supervisor, Eli
Granger, town clerk.* Other town officers: — Joseph Morgan, Jo-
siah Fish, Peter Shaeffer, Elijah Kent, Jeremiah Olmsted, Gideon
King, Christopher Dugan, Isaac Scott, Hinds Chamberlin, Simon
King,
It will be observed that there were but three road districts. They
were on the river, from Canawagus to Lake Ontario; no road then
leading into the interior. The inhabitants were so few, that one
man held no less than three town offices. Fifty dollars was raised
to defray the expenses of the town. In that year 18d., was au-
thorized to be expended for “ election boxes.”
In 1799, most of the same officers were re-elected, and Jesse
Beach who had settled on the road west of Caledonia, was made a
path master, the first west of Caledonia Fifty dollars was raised
for town expenses, and the like sum, “ payable in labor or produce,”
for the erection of bridges.
In 1800, the town officers chosen were distributed along on west
bank of the river and along the main road to the village of Buffalo.
For instance:—two path-masters resided upon the river, one at
Le Roy, another at Stafford, another at Durham’s Grove, another416	phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
at Clarence Hollow, and another in Buffalo. In this year, $200
was raised for building a bridge over the creek at “ Buttermilk Falls.”
In an account current between the town, and Josiah Fish, supervisor?
for the years *97, ’8, ’9, J90, he is credited for money expended on
“ Bridge over Deep Hollow,” (Rochester) $475. In this year, Peter
Shaeffer was collector of the town. The number of names upon
his tax roll was less than 150, and a large number of them were
those of non-residents. Although the whole tax was over $8,000,
the sum paid by resident landholders was less than $2,00. In the
collection of it Mr. Shaeffer found it much cheaper to pay himself
many of the small amounts, than to look up those to whom they
were assessed, scattered as they were in the forest. To reach the
town of Lewiston, from Buffalo, he had to cross the Niagara river
and go down on the Canada side.
In 1801, $100 were raised “ for destroying wolves, and paying
other contingent charges of the town.” It was voted that the
“wolfs head must have the entire skin thereon.” A resolution was
passed, that “ from the extensive boundaries of the town, it is neces-
sary it should be divided. ”
A glance at the records of 1802, shew the progress of settlement
westward ; although the town meetings were4 still continued at the
house of Peter Shaeffer, and Col. Fish was continued supervisor, the
path-masters began to occupy a wide range : — Abel Rowe was a
a path-master in the now town of Greece; Asa Utley, near Scotts-
ville; Daniel Buell, at Le Roy; Jas. M'Naughton, Caledonia;
Ezekiel Lane, Buffalo; Joseph Howell and Lemuel Cooke at Niag-
ara Falls and Lewiston; Richard M. Stoddard of Le Roy was one
of the commissioners of highways ; and Isaac Sutherland of Batavia
was a constable.
In 1803, the towns of Leicester, Batavia, and Southhampton, were
erected from Northampton by a resolution adopted at a special town
meeting. The commissioners appointed to fix the boundaries of the
four towns, were: — Elijah Kent, R. M. Stoddard, Samuel Tupper,
John Thompson.
The first general election for all the region west of Genesee River,
was in April, 1800. For Congress, Thomas Morris had 37 votes.
For members of Assembly, Nathaniel Norton had 37, Lemuel Chip-
man 25, William Dunn 10. In 1801, Stephen Van Rensselaer had
78 votes for Governor, George Clinton 10. For delegates to statePHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
417
convention; — Moses Atwater 52, John Knox 77, Israel Chapin 21,
Amos Hall 6. In 1802, for Congress, Oliver Phelps 117, N. W.
Howell 16; for members of Assembly, Joseph Ellicott 117, Aug.
Porter 117, Daniel Chapin 121, Thaddeus Chapin 5, Ebenezer Merry
2, Pollydore B. Wisner 12. This was the last election previous to
the erection of Genesee county.
First road recorded is from Braddock’s Bay to distillery of
Stephen Peabody, on River, a short distance below Mr. Shaeffer’s.
This, it is presumed, w7as what had been called the “ Williamson
road,'"' — the first avenue opened to reach the Bay from the Buffalo
road. The 2d : — “ From Landing place below the Falls, to Land-
ing place above the Allan mill/’ 3d: — Across the flats of the
River near Cuylerville. 4th: — From ‘‘mouth of River to Canawa-
gus, and from thence to east bounds of Peter Campbell's lot, at the
upper end of Scotch settlement.” In 1802 the road was recorded
from Le Roy to Batavia; from “Batavia to mouth of Buffalo creek
near John Palmer’s house;” from “Niagara Falls to Lewiston and
Fort Niagara.” In 1797, there were three path-masters west of Gen-
esee River: — Christopher Dugan, Joseph Morgan, and Josiah
Fish. In 1799, there were five : — Jessee Beach, Asa Baker, Peter
Shaefter, Elijah Kent, Samuel Hicks. In 1800, there were seven:—
Jotham Curtis, Garrett Davis, Asa Ransom, Joshua Chamberlin,
Stephen Peabody, Timothy Madden, Jr., Daniel Curtis. In 1801,
eleven: — Nehemiah Weston, Simon King, Solomon Blood, Joseph
Cummings, Perez Brown, John M’ Vean, Daniel Davis, John Pal-
mer, John M’ Naughton, Salmon Scott, Asa Ransom.
Col. Josiah Fish, the early Supervisor of the wide region of
Northampton, was from Windham, Vermont. Having in a pre-
vious visit to the country, purchased a farm at the mouth of Black
Creek, on the Genesee river, in 1795, with his son Libbeus, he came
on to commence upon it. Hiring his team work of Mr. Shaeffer,
he broke up a few acres of the open flats, planted it, put up a log
hut which he got the Indians to cover with bark; after which, the
father and son went down to board with Sprague, who was then in
charge of the Allan mill, at the Falls; “ and pretty hard board it
was,” says the son: — “We had raccoon for breakfast, dinner and
supper, with no vegetables; and upon extra occasions, we had
cakes fried in raccoon oil.” This, with the fever and ague added,
was a specimen of pioneer life in what is now Rochester. Taking418	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
the son up to Mr. Berry’s at Canawaugus, where he had a winter’s
sickness, the father returned to Vermont for the family; and in
April, the whole were in their new solitary home at Black Creek,
living without doors, floor, window or chimney. Over half of the
family were soon prostrated by disease, which continued the great-
er part of the season. In November, Mr. Williamson having hired
Col. Fish to take charge of the Allan mill, the family moved down
to the Falls, and occupied a board shantee for cooking, sleeping in
rooms partitioned off in the mill, where was not even the luxury
of glass windows. In this way they wintered and summered.
The next fall, they put up a three walled log house, against a ledge
of rocks on the river bank, the site being that now occupied by the
old red mill, near Child’s basin ; the ledge of rocks serving for one
wall of the house ; a fire place and chimney being excavated in the
rock. They found for their neighbors, Messrs. Hencher and Hos-
mer, at the mouth of the river; and soon after they had located at
the Falls, they were much gratified in the accession of some new
neighbors — the Atchinsons — at Braddock’s Bay. In 1798, Col.
Fish, being a magistrate for Ontario county, held a court at Lewis-
ton for the trial of a person who had sold liquor to the soldiers of
Fort Niagara. He remained in charge of the mill until 1804, when
he moved back to his farm. In 1S07, he sold his farm, and moved
upon the Ridge, near Parma, where he died in 1811. Libbeus
Fish, formerly of Batavia, now residing at Jackson, Michigan;
John P., Chicago, are his sons.
The Atchinson family were from Tolland county, Conn. It con-
sisted of Bezaleel Atchinson, his brothers, Asa, Jacob, Sylvester,
Stephen and John, his two sons, and two daughters. Sylvester
Atchinson surveyed the town of Naples for Phelps & Gorham. In
1794, they purchased lands there, some of the brothers remained
and made improvements, and in 1796 were joined by Bezaleel and
his family, who remained there but a short time, and in March, of
that year, went to Braddock’s Bay, two brothers accompanying him.
Although all the Atchinson brothers, six in number, were at the
Bay as early as 1802, Bezaleel with his family, and two brothers,
Stephen and John, were the Pioneers. Mr. Williamson having just
opened the town of Parma for sale, held out some inducements for
them to commence the settlement at the Bay. They came in by the
way of Canawagus, crossing the river on the ice, and on arrivingPHELPb and gorham’s purchase.
419
at the Allan mill, found a hunter by the name of Parks, a wanderer,
with his dog, gun, and blanket — the Leather Stocking of the Gen-
esee valley — who they hired as a pilot,— not having even the bene-
fit of marked trees after they left the river. They were three days
making the journey from where Rochester now is, to Braddock’s
Bay, making their own road as they went along. With the boards
from their sled, and some blankets, they made a shelter, in which
they lived six weeks; in which time they built a log house without
nails, boards or glass. Starting from Naples with four oxen they
lost one on the road, and two, soon after they arrived at the Bay,
leaving them but one ox for their team work; but with this one ox,
they logged eight acres and prepared it for summer crops. They
used him with a crooked yoke and traces.
Michael Beach, had the summer previous, come in and made a
small improvement, on the farm now owned by Judge Castle.
Within one, two and three years, the Atchinsons were joined in
their new settlement by George Goodhue, Silas Leonard, Timothy
Madden and their families. Leonard was from Stockbridge, Mass-
achusetts; there came in with him his sons Jonathan and Silas.
The next year after they emigrated, the father went to the salt
works at Onondaga to chop cord wood, and was killed by the fall-
ing of a limb of a tree. Capt. Jonathan Leonard, upon whom the
care of the family devolved, who married a daughter of Wm. Hench-
er, is yet living at the Bay. He says: — “We suffered much from
sickness. After being in three years we lost all our household ef-
fects by fire; we could raise no money for anything except cattle,
with which we paid for our land; with a crop of three hundred
bushels of wheat, we could not raise one shilling in money. We
experienced the utmost kindness from Mr. Williamson, and his suc-
cessors.” Silas Madden, of Parma, is a son of the early Pioneer;
another son, Alpheus, sickened upon the frontier in the war of 1812,
and died soon after reaching home.
Roswell Atchinson. Esq., of Parma, is a surviving son of the
early Pioneer, Bezaleel Atchinson. He says; — “I have heard my
mother say that she lived eight months without seeing a white
woman. The Indians often come to the Bay to hunt, trap, and pick
cranberries. Salmon were abundant in Salmon creek; I have
known my father to take three barrels in a short time. We had for
neighbors, the first winter, a colony of beavers. Their dam was on420
PHELPS AISTD G-OBHAM’s PIJEOHASE.
Salmon creek; we did not molest them; used to often see them at
work; thought we would protect them, and let them breed a large
colony ; but the spring freshet came, swept away their dam, they
went into the Bay where they were caught by a trapper. These
were all the beavers we saw ; their dams on all the small streams
however, looked as if they had not been long deserted.” “We had
no schools until we had been in eight years; we then built a log
school house, in which Alpheus Madden taught for two months,
when the house burned down. I went to Victor, the nearest school.
Two Methodist circuit preachers — Messrs. Hill and Woodworth,
found our new settlement after many years; not until settlement
had commenced upon the Ridge. They would preach at the house
of some new settler; and it was not uncommon for women to go
on foot five or six miles to hear them.”
The surviving sons of Bezaleel Atchinson, are: — Roswell, of
Parma, Austin, of Greece, Fuller, a Methodist clergyman at the west.
Daughters: — Mrs. Willard Cranson, and Mrs. Buel, of Michigan,
Mrs. Samuel Wyman, of Parma, and Mrs. Sylvanus Willey, of Og-
den. The father died in 1828, aged 66 years. The brothers who
came into the country with him: — Sylvester, resides in Oakland
county, Michigan; Stephen died a few years since in Illinois, Mrs.
George Patterson of Parma, is his daughter; John resides in Parma,
over 80 years of age; — he commanded a volunteer corps in the
war of 1812, serving upon the frontier, and at the mouth of the
Genesee river. Asa, resides in Coldwater, Michigan, and Jacob in
Illinois; making four of the six brothers, who came to the Genesee
country in 1794, still alive; an instance of longevity, that has few
parallels. Jacob Atchinson buried a wife and nine children, before
leaving Parma, and has now a second wife, and a large family.
In 1790, Phelps and Gorham sold to a company of men in Spring-
field and Northampton, Mass., 20,000 acres of T. 7, 1, short range,
upon the “ Mill Tract.” This embraced all of the present site of
the city of Rochester, west of the river.* Among the purchasers,
were Quartus Pomeroy, Justin Ely, Ebenezer Hunt, and-------------
Breck. By re-sales, previous to 1796, Augustus and Peter B. Por-
ter, Zadock Granger and Gideon King, had become part owners.
* There was excepted in the deed of conveyance, the "One Hundred Acre Tiact,”
or “ Allan Mill Tract,” -which had previously been granted to Ebenezer Allan.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	421
The tract was surveyed in 1790, by Frederick Saxton, and sub-
divided in ’97, by Aug. Porter.
In the winter of 1796, ’7, the settlement of the tract commenced,
by the advent of four families: — Eli Granger, Thomas King, Si-
mon King, and Elijah Kent. They came in via Canawaugus, and
down the river, locating a short distance above what was afterwards
King’s, now Handford’s Landing. They had no shelter but their
covered sleighs, until they erected log huts. The next year they
were joined by Bradford and Moses King, Dr. Stone and —— Gra-
ham ; and in 1798, four brothers, Ebenezer, Daniel, Abel and Asa
Rowe, settled in the neighborhood. These new settlers began to
make farms, but encountered sickness and death enough to have dis-
couraged the less resolute. Several of the heads of families died
in the first few. years.
Asa Rowe died soon after coming in, as did------Graham, and
the father of the brothers Kings, and Elijah Kent. When Mr.
Rowe died, the other brothers were sick and unable to go for help
to lay him out and bury him, until he had lain 24 hours. Recover-
ing from their sickness, the surviving brothers left the country, and
returned to Oneida county. In a few years however, Daniel and
Abel returned, bringing with them another brother, Frederick, and
settled on the Ridge Road.
The first boards that the new settlers obtained, was by repairing
the old Allan saw mill at the Falls, and in a few years Nathaniel
Jones, built a rude saw mill on the small stream, that puts in near
Hanford’s Landing.
Dr. Zacheus Colby, and Dr. Sylvester Atchinson, were early
physicians, practicing in the Kings’ settlement.
In 1799, Eli Granger and Abner Migells, built a schooner at
King’s Landing, the first merchant vessel built by Americans on
Lake Ontario, and none had been previously built by Americans on
the Upper Lakes.
Township 13, range 7, was the fifth sale made by Phelps & Gor-
ham. In Mr. Phelp’s memorandum, it is entered as sold to “ Gen.
Hyde and others.” The associates of Gen. Hyde, who was a resi-
dent of Lenox, Mass., were his townsmen, Prosper Polly, Enos
Ston?, Job Gilbert, Joseph Chaplin, and it is presumed, John Lusk,422	PHELPS AOT> GOBHAM’s KJBCHASE.
of Berkshire, as fifteen hundred acres of the township near the head
of Irondequoit Bay, was set off to him, while the survey of the
township into farm lots was progressing. Mr. Lusk was the pio-
neer in improvement and settlement, and in fact bore that relation
to all of what is now Monroe county, having even preceded the
Shaeffers several months. With his son Stephen, then fifteen years
old, and Seely Peet, a hired man, he came to the new region early
in the summer of 1789. Arriving at Schenectady, he embarked
with a small stock of provisions, in a batteau, the son and hired
man coming by land, and driving some cattle. The son, Stephen
Lusk, of Pittsford, who still survives, says he remembers very well,
that upon the present site of Utica, there was only an opening of
about half an acre in the forest — and that the pioneer there, John
Post, was just finishing his log cabin. They came upon the Indian
trail, via Skaneatelas, Onondaga Hollow, and from there to Cayuga
Lake had little more than spotted trees as a guide. They crossed
Cayuga Lake on a raft, swimming their cattle. The father, son and
hired man, re-united at Canandaigua, and constructing an ox-sled,
made their own road to their location in Brighton. Erecting a log
cabin, they cleared twelve acres and sowed it to wheat, procuring
their wheat of Ebenezer Allan, upon the Shaeffer farm, by cutting
a woods road to the mouth of Red creek, to which point they trans-
ported it in a canoe. While they were clearing the land and sowing
their wheat, they saw none of their own race, but the surveyors of
the township. Indians often came from Canada in canoes to the
Bay, on their way to Canandaigua. The whole three had the ague
and fever, which obliged them to suspend labor for a considerable
period. They returned to Massachusetts in the fall.
In the spring of 1790, Mr. Lusk brought out his family, coming
all the way from Schenectady to the head of Irondequoit Bay by
water, the sons Stephen and Erastus coming by land with stock in
company with Enos Stone and others. Mr. Shaeffer and his brother,
being bachelors, the family of John Lusk may be said to be the first
family located upon all the territory now embraced in Monroe county,
other than the temporary residents, refugees from the border wars,
Allan and Walker. The first few years they had to contend with all
the usual privations of extreme backwoods life, and to which was
added disease and harrassing Indian alarms. The refugee Walker
of whom Mr. Hencher speaks, living in his solitary hut at the mouthphelps am) gortiam’s purchase.	423
of the River, was still in the British and Indian interests — made
frequent visits to Niagara; and returning would alarm the few
settlers in the backwoods by representing that they were to be
attacked by the Indians. He was not pleased with his new neigh-
bors ; and when they crowded upon him, he sought more congenial
associations, in Canada.*
Mr. Lusk died in 1814, aged 66 years. Besides the present
Stephen Lusk, his sons were Erastus, Norman, John and Aaron.
Stephen Lusk, whose wife as will have been observed, is the daughter
of William Hencher, is 76 years of age. Heman and Dennis Lusk
of Pittsford, Henry Lusk of Laporte, Indiana, are his sons; Mrs.
Thomas Wilcox of Mendon, is his daughter.
Orange Stone, a son of one of the original proprietors of the
township, with his family, Joel Scudder and family, and Chauncey
and Calvin Hyde, followed Mr. Lusk in a few weeks; and about
the same time Timothy Allyn, came on and occupied alone, a log
cabin he erected on a tract of 500 acres on the stream that took his
name, near the termination of the Brighton plank road. Spending a
summer in the wilderness he got discouraged, sold out and went to
Geneva, where he was a prominent and useful citizen in early years.
He had borne the commission of Captain in the war of t he Revolution.
He finally returned to Massachusetts, where he died at the advanced
age of 90 years. He was a lineal descendant of Robert Allyn, who
with Robert Winthrop and James Avery, was a pioneer emigrant
at New London, Conn.; F. U. Sheffield, of Palmyra, is a nephew of
the early Pioneer of the Genesee country.
Orange Stone located on the now Pittsford road, a little east ©f
Brighton village, near the “ rock and tree.” Messrs. Bacon, Adams,
and Fellows, of Bloomfield, Enos Stone, Stephen Lusk and others,
who had emigrated, or intended to do so, in 1790, clubbed together,
and started for the new region a drove of oxen, cows, and hogs.
Enos Stone, Jr. the son of one of the proprietors named above,
Stephen Lusk, Jacob Lobdell, one of the Adams, were of the drivers.
After leaving Utica, they travelled about 25 miles per day, camping
* He did not leave however until he had had pretty distinct intimations that his
boasts of exploits in the border wars — of murder and rapine—would not be tolerated.
He was at Canandaigua, and in the hearing of Horatio Jones was boasting of his ex-
ploits with Indian allies, when Mr. Jones becoming exasperated attacked him with
an axe, wounded him, and would have taken his life if his blows had not been arrested
by others. He soon after went to Canada.424
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
each night; arriving at Cayuga Lake they crossed their stock in
two Durham Boats — the work of crossing consuming four days.
The provisions of the party failed them, and they were from Thurs-
day morning until Sunday night without food. Arriving at Geneva,
nearly famished, their wants were supplied.
Unless this party had been preceded a few days by the Wads-
worths, their stock was the first brought west of the Seneca Lake.
They had among the rest, a few sheep that went to Bloomfield. In
addition to Orange Stone, Chauncey Hyde, a son of another of the
proprietors came on in 1790, locating upon the farm now occupied
by Col. Gould. He remained but one season; sickness discouraged
him. He went upon some lands of his father, in Broome county.
The elder Enos Stone did not emigrate to Brighton until 1816,
where he died a few months after his arrival. Orange Stone, who
for many years occupied one of the western outposts of civilization,
keeping almost from his first arrival, a house of entertainment; a
home for the young men who were settling about him, and a stop-
ping place for the occasional hunter, Indian trader, and traveler,
died in 1842, aged 73 years. His eldest son, Orange, was drowned
at Conneaut, Ohio, by stepping from the plank of a steamboat in the
night. The only surviving son, Enos Stone, is now in California;
several daughters reside in Michigan.
Col. Enos Stone continued to reside in Lenox, making frequent
visits to the new purchase, and residing occasionally with his bro-
ther, Orange, until 1810, when he became a pioneer settler of the
city of Rochester, his original farm embracing all of the most densely
populated portion of the city east of the river. He still survives,
at the age of 76 years. His wife, who was the daughter of Bryant
Stoddard, of Litchfield, Conn., died in 1850, aged 73 years. James
S. Stone, (born in May, 1810, the first born on the site of the city
of Rochester,) of Greece, is the only survivor of five sons; Mrs.
Wm. C. Storrs, of Rochester, and Mrs. George Wales, are sur-
viving daughters; and a third, unmarried daughter, resides with her
father. With a memory of early events unimpaired', Col. Stone has
furnished the author with many interesting reminiscences, the ear-
liest of which, are inserted here, and the later ones reserved for
that portion of the work, having more especial reference to Monroe
county.	'pheups and goeham’s purchase.
425
REMINISCENCES OF ENOS STONE.
In an early year, I was stopping with my brother Orange. Channcey
Hyde and myself were out hunting cattle. We saw a smoke rising at the
Irondequoit Landing, and went down to it We found that it proceeded from
an Indian camp; as we approached it, two Indians rose up from a couch, one
of which, especially, attracted our attention. His camp equippage we thought
rather extraordinary for an Indian; he was well dressed -— partly as a white
man, and partly as an Indian; bid us good morning with great civility, arid
displaying a gold watch and trimmings, observed that being wearied, he had
over slept He soon announced himself as Joseph Brant, on his way from
Burlington Bay to Canandaigua. Having arrived in a boat he had sent In-
dian runners to Canandaigua for horses, and was awaiting their return. He
accepted our invitation and came up with us to my brother’s house. His
familiar conversation, and gentlemanly manners, soon convinced us that he
was not the savage we had conceived him to be, from accounts we had heard
and read of him, in connection with the Border Wars. He quieted our ap-
prehensions of any farther Indian troubles, by assuring us, that as the Senecas
had sold their lands to the whites, the bargain should be earned out in good
faith, and the new settlements should not be molested. He manifested much
interest in all that was going on in this region, and inquired when new settle-
ments were commencing. The visit gave us great pleasure, and quieted our
fears. In person, Joseph Brant bore a close resemblance to Gen. Brady, of
the U. S. army.
I knew an early settler of Irondequoit, who used to kill, dress, and eat
skunks ; he said their meat was fine flavored, free from any offensive odor.*
The principal colony of the rattle snakes, was in bank of river, below the
Lower Falls, at a place we used to call “ Rattle Snake Point;” and there was
also a large colony at Allan’s creek, near the end of the Brighton plank road.
I think they grow blind about the time of returning to their dens, in August
and September. I have killed them on their return, with films on their eyes.
Their oil was held in great estimation by the early settlers. Zebulon Horton,
of Horton’s mills, was a kind of backwoods’ doctor, and often came to this
region for the oil’ and the gall of the rattle-snake. The oil was used for stiff
joints and bruises; the gall for fevers, in the form of a pill, made up with
chalk.
Fish were abundant, and a great help to the early settlers. A structure
similar to an eel wire was placed in the Irondequoit, below the Falls. The
rack was made of tamarack poles. I have known ten barrels of fine fat
salmon taken there in one night. The river afforded a plenty of black and
striped bass, and the Bay pickerel and pike. I never knew of the salmon
ascending the Genesee river, but one season. Allan’s creek in Brighton,
afforded abundance of trout. The geese and ducks were so plenty in Brad-
dock’s Bay, that bushels of their eggs could sometimes be picked up in the
marshes.
* Some of the early surveyors of Wisconsin confirm this good opinion of the flesh
of the skunk.
27426
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
In one of the early years, I carried some grain to the Allan mill, to get
ground for my brother Orange, and had to remain over night. Allan was
there, in a spree or carousal. To make a feast, he had sent Indians into the
woods, to shoot hogs that had gone wild, and he furnished the whiskey.
There were many Indians collected. It was a high time, and the chief of
the entertainment was enjoying it in great glee. Tired of the carousal, he re-
tired to a couch, where a squaw and a white wife awaited his coming.
The hogs that we brought here in 1790 strayed off, and they and their pro-
geny became wild, we had to either shoot or hunt them with dogs. The
boars and old sows have been seen often, victors in a conflict with bears. A
boar was caught and penned. He refused food, and would not tame. When
persons approached the pen, he would froth at the mouth; occasionally strike
his long tushes into the logs of his pen, tearing out and champing the splinters.
OLIVER CULVER.
He is a native of Orwell, Vermont. In March, 1796, when he
was 19 years old he left home in company with Samuel Spafford,
and came on foot to the Genesee country, first stopping a short time
at Jonathan Smith’s in Farmington, where they hired out to make
sap troughs. Going to Irondequoit Landing, he found the only
occupant there, Asa Dunbar, a malatto, with a family. Remaining
at the Landing about six weeks, a large company, consisting of the
proprietors of the then newly purchased Connecticut lands in Ohio,
their surveyors, and two families, in five boats, came up the Lake
on their way to commence survey and settlement. In pursuance of
a previous agreement, the young men, Culver and Spafford, joined
the expedition. Landing at Queenston, taking their batteaux over
the portage, the expedition went up Niagara River and coasted along
the south shore of Lake Erie, finding no white inhabitant after they
left the mouth of Buffalo creek — where there was one solitary
family until they reached Erie, where they found Col. Seth Reed,
-----Gunn, who had his family with him, stopped at Conneaut, be-
coming the first settlers there. Proceeding to the mouth of the
Cuyahoga, the party landed, on the site of the present city of Cleve-
land, and erected a log dwelling house and store house. Stiles, one
of the party who had taken his wife along, built for himself a house,
and became the Pioneer settler at that point.*
* A son of his bom the next winter was the firstborn of white parents, on the Re-
serve. Mrs. Stiles at the period of parturition had none other of her sex than native
squaws, to attend her.phelps aot) gorham’s purchase.
427
The party all returned to New England in the fall. In the follow-
ing spring, Messrs. Culver and Spafford came on again to Ironde-
quoit, hunted, trapped, bought furs, until the surveyors again arrived*
and they again embarked in their service. The principal of the
party on this second expedition, was Seth Pease, a brother-in-law
of Gideon Granger. The expedition consisted of about 60 persons.
In the summer — 1797 —they cleared and planted six acres, which
are now in the centre of the city of Cleveland. In 1798, Mr.
Culver was in the employ of the contractors who had taken the job
of the New Connecticut company to cut out the road from the Penn-
sylvania line, across their purchase. Remaining the next year in
Vermont, in 1800 Mr. Culver came out and purchased the farm
where he now resides; making his home at Major Orange Stone’s,
and going to his place through the woods by marked trees, he cleared
seven acres and sowed it to wheat the first season; realizing a
good crop. Fearing a defective title, he abandoned his farm, and
was employed by Augustus Griswold for the next three years, at
Irondequoit Landing, in superintending an Ashery, the first estab-
lished in all this region. It worked up the ashes and black salts of
the new settlers for a great distance around it; shipping at the
early period, in 1803, 108 barrels of pearl ash to Montreal. Ashes
being a shilling per bushel, enabled the settlers, generally destitute
of money, to get some store trade. In 1804, obtaining a small stock
of goods at the east, by purchase, and a much larger stock of Tryon
and Adams, at Irondequoit upon commission, Mr. Culver went to
Cleveland and opened a store, principally for Indian trade, where
he had been preceded only by one trader, with a small stock. He
bought furs of the Indians, and opening a barter trade with the
settlements in Pennsylvania, his customers brought him upon pack
horses, whiskey and cider brandy, in kegs, butter, cheese and honey-
He sold them salt at $3,00 per bushel. Extending a barter trade to
i Detroit, he obtained there, apples and white fish. Disposing of his
goods, he returned, had title to his farm made good, married the
daughter of John Ray of Pittsford, and became a permanent resi-
dent of Brighton, as early as 1805.
In 1811, Mr. Culver built the schooner Clarissa, on the Roswell
Hart farm in Brighton, and drew it to the Bay, with twenty six
yoke of oxen ; and after that he built three other schooners, and put
them upon the Lake. He was one of the contractors for building428
phelpb and gorham’s purchase.
the combined locks at Lockport, on the original construction of
the canal. In 1822, he built at Brighton, a packet boat, the first
boat built as far west as there, and the fourth packet that was built on
the canal. These are but a part of the enterprises of his active
and useful life. He is now 72 years old, moving about and super-
intending a large estate, neither his physical or mental constitution
but little impaired. He has buried two sons; his only daughter is
Mrs. L. D. Ely of Brighton.
REMINISCENCES OF OLIVER CULVER.
On the shore of Lake Ontario, on a high bluff near Irondequoit Bay, in
1796, the bank caved off, and untombed a large quantity of human bones,
of a large size. The arm and leg bones, upon comparison, were much
larger than those of our own race.
In 1797 I trapped two young beaver, at Brush creek, above Braddock’s
Bay. I saw one of their lodges. It was about the size and shape of a hay
cock; carried up with brush, as a ground work, covered with rushes, and plas-
tered with clay. I have seen the stumps of trees they had gnawed down, that
measured one foot across. They select the sites of their dams with something
like human intelligence.
At one period, pretty much all the Lake business of this region, was trans-
acted at Irondequoit Landing. The first flour wras shipped there that went to
Montreal. It was not until along about 1813, that wre abandoned the idea
that it would be the great commercial point of this region.
In 1805, ’6, myself, Orange Stone, George Dailey, Samuel Spafford, and
Miles Northup, wTith the help of $50 appropriated from the town of North-
field, cut out the road, two rods wide, from Orange Stone’s to the river, four
miles.
When I first came to Irondequoit, in excavating the earth to build a store
house, we found a large quantity of lead balls and flints. On a knoll, on the
bank of the creek, there were the remains of a battery.*
In 1802 there was no school nearer than Pittsford. We clubbed to-
gether, built a log school house, and hired a young man by the name of
Turner, who w^as clerk in Tryon & Adams’ store, to open a school. I wanted
to go to school, and for my part, I got logs to a saw mill, and furnished the
roof boards. Our first physician was John Ray, of Pittsford; our first mer-
chant at Brighton, Ira West, who removed to Rochester.
Amos Spafford, of Orwell, Vermont, the father of Samuel Spaftord, who
came to the Genesee country with me, was one of the early surveyors of the
Reserve, and one of the founders of settlement at Cleveland. The U. S.
*The battery, undoubtedly, that La Hontan says De Nonville erected at the Land-
ing.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
429
government granted him a mile and a half square of land, at Maumee, to
which place he removed, and where his descendants now reside. Samuel
Spafford settled at Brighton, and made first improvements on the Blossom
farm, emigrating to Maumee.
Amos Spafford being the first mail contractor at Cleveland, in 1805, his
carrier being taken sick, I took the mail on my back, and carried it to Huron,
in four hours, traveling on the ice with skates.
Timothy Allen sold his five hundred acres of land, in Brighton, to John
and Solomon Hatch. In company with them, I built a saw mill on Allan’s
Creek, in 1806. They removed to Genesee county.*
In 1798, Judge John Tryon, of Lebanon Springs, became through
a brother who had failed to make the payments, the owner of a
tract of land on the Irondequoit, in Brighton, three miles above the
Bay. His brother had previously laid out a village, but had made
no progress with it. Judge Tryon built a store and store house,
and in the spring of '99, opened a store in the name of Tryon &
Adams. The locality assumed the name of “ Tryon’s Town.” The
agent of the proprietors, Augustus Griswold, first came on with
five sleigh loads of goods, and after that, in the fall, Capt. Oliver
Grace came with a boat load from Schenectady, the freight costing
$3 00 per. 112 lbs. Asa Dayton soon opened a tavern, Stephen
Lusk started the tanning and shoe making business, and besides
these was Asa Dunbar, a mulatto, and John Boyd, — four families
in all. In 1800, Henry Ward, the present worthy citizen and Post
Master, of Penfield, then 18 years of age, came on and became a
clerk in the Tryon & Adams store. At that period, much of the
business of this pioneer store, the first west of Canandaigua, con-
sisted of barter, for furs, bear and deer skins, with the Seneca In-
dians, and such white men as were hunters and trappers. In 1801,
Silas Losea settled in the place, and enabled “ Tryon Town,” alias
the “city of Tryon,” to glory in the addition of a blacksmith’s
shop. An ashery and distillery was added to the store, soon after.
In the earliest years, the store commanded a wide range of custom-
ers. There are names upon its old books, of the early settlers of
all the western towns of Ontario and Wayne, northern towns of
* Jarvis M. and Hiram F. Hatch, attorneys in Rochester, are the sons of the early
pioneer, John Hatch. The father and brother were from Madison county. John Hatdb.
removed from Brigthon to Barre, Orleans county, and subsenuently to Elba, near Bata-
via, where his widow now resides.430
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Livingston, and even a solitary settler of Orleans county, at the
mouth of Oak Orchard creek, was a regular customer. The “ city”
was governed by civil laws of its own enacting. What has since
been called a “Lynch Court” was established, and several trials
and convictions were had.
The business of the place declining, shipping business going to the
mouth of Genesee river, and rival stores springing up in other local-
ities, in 1810 Mr. Griswold broke up the store, and went to Tren-
ton, Oneida county. In 1818 the old store house was demolished,
and there now remains scarcely a vestige of the once “ city of
Tryon.”
Gen. Jonathan Fassett, of Vermont was the original purchaser
from Phelps and Gorham, of T. 13, R. 4, now Penfield, and south
part of Webster; he attempted its settlement in '91 or '2. He
was accompanied by Caleb Hopkins, his son Jonathan Fassett,------
Maybee, and some others. Discouraged by sickness, and other
endurances of the wilderness, Gen. Fassett abandoned the enterprise,
and returned to Vermont; though Messrs. Hopkins and Maybee
remained in the country. Mr. Hopkins was the afterwards Col.
Hopkins, of Pittsford, and Mr. Maybee was the father of John and
James Maybee, who were pioneer settlers of Royalton, Niagara
county, and of Suffrenus Maybee, a pioneer settler at Buffalo, and
the mouth of Cattaraugus creek; a daughter was the wife of Orange
Stone, another of Caleb Hopkins, another of------Griffin, of Pitts-
ford. Dr. Fassett, of Lockport, and a brother of his in Rochester,
are grand-sons of Gen. Fassett.
Mr. Maybee was from the Mohawk. He came by water to
Swift's Landing at Palmyra, there mounted his batteaux upon
wheels, and cut his own road from a short distance west of Palmyra
to Penfield.
Gen. Fassett located at the old Indian Landing, on the east side
of the Bay, about two miles below the present village of Penfield.
He had a plat surveyed there for a town, but nothing farther was
done. He soon sold his interest in Penfield to Gen. Silas Pepoon,
who sold it to Samuel P. Lloyd, from whom, in consequence of some
liabilities incurred, it went into the hands of Daniel Penfield.
DCF Farther reminiscences of Penfield will be added in another
connection.
What is now Pittsford, being a portion of a township at the431
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
northern termination of the 5th range, 13,296 acres was purchased
by an association, who were represented in the transaction by “Stone
and Dodge.” Settlement commenced there before the close of
1789. The pioneers were, Israel Stone and Simon Stone, Silas
Nye, Joseph Farr, and at the same time, or soon after, other heads
of families came in: — Thomas Cleland, Josiah Giminson, Alex-
ander Dunn, and David Davis.
William Walker, the local agent of Phelps & Gorham, purchased
T. 12, R. 4, now the town of Perinton. In the summer of 1799 his
brother Caleb erected a log cabin, and moved into the township,
taking with him Glover Perrin, with his wife. Perrin went first in
the capacity of a hired man, but after the death of Caleb Walker,
had some interest in the purchase. The pioneers had no children,
and lived alone in the woods for several years, after which they
moved to Pittsford. DCr* For Mendon, see Monroe county.
VICTOR.
[Omitted in its appropriate place.]
Enos Boughton, of Stockbridge, Mass., and his brother Jared,
had visited this region in 1788. Enos had engaged as a clerk of
William Walker, the agent of Mr. Phelps,*and as soon as sales com-
menced, purchased the town of Victor, for twenty cents per acre.
In the spring of 1799, the two brothers, Horatio Jones, a brother-
in-law, who was a surveyor, and several hired hands, went upon
what was afterwards called Boughton Hill, erected a log cabin,
sowed a patch of buckwheat, (the first of that crop in the Genesee
country,) surveyed the township, and after sowing three acres of
wheat, the whole party returned to Massachusetts, except Jacob
Lobdell, who remained “ solitary and alone,” to take care of the
premises, and winter fourteen head of cattle upon wild grass, that
had been cut upon the Indian Meadow, on what is now known as the
Griswold place. In February, 1790, Jared Boughton started from
Stockbridge, with his wife and infant daughter, and made the long
Note.— Mr. Lobdell remained in the town, and became an enterprising and promi-
nent citizen; was well known as an early contractor upon the Erie Canal. His many
kind acts in pioneer times, are well remembered. He died in 1848, aged 78 years.
His sons are: — Levi and Jacob L., of Victor, George, of Hennepin, Illinois, Wallace,
of Calhoun co., Michigan; his daughters, Mrs. Abraham and Mrs. Rufus Humphrey,
of Victor, and Mrs. Cleveland, of Steuben Illinois.432	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
winter, and wood’s journey to their new home; a pretty full ac-
count of which is given in History of Holland Purchase. Their
travelling companions were the family of Col. Seth Reed, who were
coming on to join him at Geneva. Between Col. Danforth’s at
Onondaga Hollow, and Cayuga Lake, the whole party, fourteen in
number, cleared away the snow, and made a night camp of hem-
lock boughs. They were ferried across the outlet of Seneca Lake,
by Solomon Earle; after parting with the Reed family, they arrived
at Flint creek — there was no bridge — had to fall trees to get their
goods over, and afterwards tow the horses and sleigh across with
ropes. Between Flint creek and Canandaigua, they found one
small opening, and an unoccupied cabin. They arrived in Victor,
March 7th, one week after the Adams family had arrived in Bloom-
field. The stock of provisions they brought in, lasted with the help
of the buckwheat that had been harvested the previous fall, until
their wheat harvest. The early wheat crop was thrashed upon a
floor made of split bass wood, and cleaned with an old fashioned
corn fan, the rim of which was fabricated from an oak tree, and
the bottom from a pine board, which had been a part of their sleigh
box.
After Enos Bough ton had purchased Victor, his father took an
interest with him, selling his farm in Stockbridge, and coming into
the new region. He died in Aug. 1798. His four sons were Enos,
Jared, Seymour and Hezekiah. Enos, who was introduced to Mr.
Clinton in 1825, as the man who built the first stick chimney, first
framed barn, and planted the first orchard west of Seneca Lake,
he died in Lockport, in 1826, where he had made an early pur-
chase of a large portion of the present village site. Jared is yet
living, at the age of 84 years. In 1848, the author saw him in the
full possession of his faculties, and he was afterwards indebted to
him for pioneer reminiscences, in a hand writing that showed little
of the tremor of age, and exhibited a distinct and intelligent recol-
lection of early events. The young wife, who with a child four
months old, had cooked frugal meals by winter camp fires* and en-
dured the most rugged features of pioneer life, was also alive in
1848; “hale and hearty,” the mother of 12 children. She died in
1849. The living sons, in 1848, were:-—Selleck, an Attorney in
Rochester, Frederick, of Pittsford, [the first white child born in
Victor.] Jared H., on old homestead in Victor; Enos: of E. Bloom-PHELPS A3STD GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	433
field; daughters, Mrs. Dr. A. G. Smith, New York, Mrs. Bennett
Lewis, of Green county, Ohio, Mrs. Mortimer Buel, of Genesee.
Hezekiah died as early as 1793; was the father of the late Col.
Claudius Victor Boughton, after whom the town was named in
1813, as a mark of esteem for his gallant services upon the Niagara
frontier, to which the legislature of this State added the presenta-
tion of a sword. Reuben H. Boughton, of Lewiston, is a son of his.
Another son of Hezekiah, is George H. Boughton, Esq., of Lock-
port. Col. Seymour Boughton was killed at the battle of Black
Rock, in the war of 1812.
Jared Boughton took the buckwheat and got it ground at Capt.
Ganson’s rude mill at Avon. His next milling expedition, (after
wheat harvest,) was with a double ox team, to the Allan mill at
Genesee Falls. Arriving within four miles of the River, (at Orange
Stone’s,) he came to the end of the road; any direct route to the
River was through a dense forest, and low wet grounds; which
obliged him to go around, and work his way over the range of hills
east of Mount Hope. Arrived at the River, he belled his oxen and
turned them into the woods, carrying his grain across and down
the river to the miil. As winter approached, the infant settlement
was without salt. It was decided to send a boat to Salt Point. In
November, Jared and Seymour Boughton. and John Barnes, went
to Swift’s Landing, (Palmyra,) took a Schenectady boat, and pro-
ceeded on their voyage. The Stansells, at Lyons, were the only
white inhabitants on the whole route. Below the junction of the
Ganargwa creek, and Canandaigua out-let, they came to a raft of
flood-wood, 16 rods in extent. To pass it they were obliged to haul
their boat out of the water, up a steep ascent, and move it on rollers
to a point below the raft. Procuring twelve barrels of salt, the
party starting on their homeward voyage, encountered a snow
storm and ice when they got into the Seneca river. They made
slow progress, on one occasion being obliged to wade into the ice
and water to lift their boat from stones upon which if had struck.
At the raft on Clyde River, they had again to transport their boat
overland, with the addition of their twelve barrels of salt. On
account of low water, they were obliged to leave their boat and
cargo at the Lyon’s Landing. Going through the woods to Farm-
ington, following township lines, they returned with six yoke of
oxen via. Palmyra, and partly upon wagons, and partly upon sleds,434	PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’s PIXECHASE.
making their roads mostly as they went along, they succeeded in
getting the first cargo of salt to Victor.
Levi Boughton, an uncle of Jared and Enos, accompanied Jared
and Jacob Lobdell in their primitive advent —moved his family in
the next year. He died in 1828, aged 78 years. His sons were,
Nathaniel, of Bloomfield, John B., of Ohio, Thomas Morris, of
Rochester, Horace B. of Victor. Thomas M. is the only surviving
son. Daughters became the wives of Jacob Lobdell, Aaron Tay-
lor, an early settler on the Ridge Road, near Molyneux’s Corners,
Niagara county, Zera Brooks, John Brace, and Philemus Smith, of
Victor.
Rufus Dryer from Stockbridge, Mass., came to Victor with some
portion of the Boughton family, and in 1799, accompanied Enos
and Jared in their lumbering expedition to Georgia, where he re-
mained with them for several years. Residing after that in Madi-
son county, he became a permanent resident of Victor in 1806.
He was the founder of the well known Dryer stand in Victor, and
had opened it and kept it a year before his death in 1820. His son,
Wm. C. Dryer, succeeded him, kept the stand for many years, and
retired to a fine farm, upon which he and his brother Truman now
reside.
DO* For additional reminiscences of Victor, see “ Phelps and
Gorham’s Purchase — Ontario.”
[The following omissions in reminiscences of West Bloomfield, page 198; and in
reminiscences of Bristol, page 208, are supplied.]
Ezra Marvin was one of the associates in the purchase of town-
ship, now West Bloomfield; he never emigrated; his son, Jasper
P. Marvin, became a resident and died there, in early years. The
surviving sons of Robert Taft, are Jessee, Robert, Bezaleel, and
Chapin Taft, all of Bloomfield; daughters, Mrs. Peck, of Bloomfield,
Mrs. Leach, of Lima. Ebenezer Curtiss died in 1812; Mrs. Par
ker, of Lima, is his daughter. Jasper P. Sears died in early years.
Other prominent early settlers: — Marvin Gates, a brother of Dan-
iel, mentioned in connection with East Bloomfield; Jacob Smith,
built a saw mill and grist mill, in early years, on the Honeoye,—
“ Smith’s Mills”—died many years since ; Deacon Samuel Handy,
died 10 or 15 years since, was the father of Russel Handy, of Alle-phelps and gorham’s purchase.
435
gany; Peter W. Handy, of Rochester, Mrs. Stephen Bates, and
Mrs. Charles Wilbur, (the early pioneer in Le Roy and Lockport.)
Bayze Baker, still surviving, at the age of 80 years; Nathaniel Eg-
gleston, an early landlord, father of Mrs. W illiam Parsons, of Lock-
port ; Palmer and Clark Peck, came in as early as 1790. Clark
was an early Supervisor of the old town of Bloomfield, died in 1825;
Jasper Peck, of Bloomfield, is a son of his, Mrs. Page, of Bloomfield,
a daughter; his sons, Joseph and Abel, reside in Michigan; the
mother is still living.
John Dixon, was a native of Keene, N. H., a graduate of Mid-
dlebury College, studied law in tylilton, near Ballston, Saratoga
county; was admitted to practice in 1812, and in 1813 located in
West Bloomfield, where he has since resided, and now resides,
mingling professional duties with the successful pursuits of agricul-
ture, a useful citizen, and a much respected member cf the bar of
Ontario. He was a member of the State Legislature, in 1829, ’30,
and of Congress, for two terms, at a later period; is now 67
years of age.
The sons of Gamaliel Wilder, the earliest Pioneer of Bristol,
were : — Daniel, David, Joseph, Asa, Jonas; daughters became the
wives of Elisha Pariish, Theophilus Allen, Nathan Hatch, and
-----Hoag. Daniel became the owner of the Indian orchard in
Bristol, that had escaped the devastation of Sullivan. #
Ephraim Wilder, coming in soon after Gamaliel, settled at first
in South Bristol, but afterwards removed to T. 9, 4th Range. He
died in 1822. His surviving sons are, Timothy, John, and Russell
Wilder, of Bristol; daughters became the wives of George Gooding,
Henry Pitts and John Hatch.
In Gen. Hall’s census of 1790, Aaron Rice (other than the early
settler at Avon, as the author concludes,) is named as the head of a
family in South Bristol. He removed to Genesee county, and
from thence to the west in early years. His daughters became the
* It contained both apples and peaches, both in greater quantity than in any other
of the Indian orchards that were preserved. A ride to “Wilder’s,” apple ana peach
eating, and cider drinking, on horseback, on ox sleds and horse sleighs, from the scat-
tered new settlements, was no uncommon occurrence. The possession of an old Indian
orchard near Geneva, and some cleared lands around it, was deemed of so much con-
sequence, that the original Massachusetts pre-emption line was varied in order to em-
brace it. South Bristol, hilly and broken as it is known to be, could once have been
exchanged for East Bloomfield, but the bargain was declined on account of the “ Indian
orchard.”436
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
wives of David Wilder, Simeon Crosby, and Randall Chapman.
Aaron Spencer was also the head of a family in South Bristol, in
1790, but of him the author has no account.
The Coddings, whose advent is named, incidentally, in connection
with the Pitts family, were three brothers:—John, George, and
Faunce, [called erroneously “Fauner,” in another [connection.]
The surviving sons of John Codding are, John, George, Benjamin,
Warren, of Coddingsville, Medina county, Ohio: and Robert F.,
of Summit county, Ohio. Daughters became the wives of Timo-
thy Wilder, Isaac Van Fossen, and John Wilder. The sons of
Faunce Codding are, Faunce and Stephen A., of Bristol; George
T. and Ichabod, of Lockport, Illinois, where their mother and sister,
Mrs. Hale S. Mason, reside. George Codding died childless. Geo.
Codding, sen., the father of the three brothers, joined his sons in
early years. His other children were, Burt Codding, Mrs. Benj.
Goss, Mrs. Zenas Briggs, Mrs. Elizur Hills, and Mrs. Wm. T. Codd-
ing, who still survives, a resident of Bristol. M. O. Wilder, Esq.,
of Canandaigua, is one of the numerous descendants of this early
and orominent Pioneer family.
CHAPTER YIII.
THE MORRIS TREATY AT “ BIO TREE.”---CESSION OP THE TERRITORY
WEST OF PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE, WHICH BECAME
MORRIS’ RESERVE AND HOLLAND PURCHASE.
Although Mr. Morris had acquired the pre-emptive right of
Massachusetts to all the territory in this State west of Phelps and
Gorham’s Purchase — what was afterwards designated as Morris’
Reserve and the Holland Purchase — as early as May, 1791, the
native right to the soil was not extinguished until 1797. Soon af-
ter he purchased of Massachusetts, in 1792 and ’3, he sold to the
Holland Company all the land west of the transit line, over three
millions of acres, which is now embraced in the counties of Niagara,
Erie, Chautauque, Cattaraugus, and all of Allegany, Wyoming,*phelps and gorham’s purchase.	437
Genesee and Orleans, except their tiers of eastern townships, leaving
to himself a tract of about 500,000 acres, between the lands of
Phelps and Gorham, and those he had conveyed to the Holland
Company. In his conveyance to the Holland Company, he had
stipulated to extinguish the native title, and had left in their hands
thirty-five thousand pounds sterling, of purchase money, as a
guarantee.
Various untoward circumstances — the withholding of the mili-
tary posts by the British, or in fact, their refusal to surrender their
dominion over this region, the prospects of a renewal of British
and Indian wars; and more than all, perhaps, the indisposition of
the Senecas to part with any more of their lands — delayed the
fulfilment of this stipulation. It had been the firm determination
of the Senecas, adhered to strenuously during all the preliminary
negotiations of Mr. Phelps at Buffalo Creek, to make the Genesee
river below Mount Morris, their eastern boundary line, and they
yielded the “Mill Tract” with groat reluctance and subsequent regret.
Fort Niagara was surrendered by the British, and taken posses •
sion of by a company of United States troops, under the command
of Captain J. Bruff, toward the end of the summer of 1796. In a
few weeks after American possession of that ancient strong-hold
of French and British power — the spot where the Senecas had so
often assembled to renew French and British alliance — had been
established, a numerous delegation appeared before the garrison,
made a salute after the Indian fashion, which was returned by the
discharge of artillery. It seemed an overture to establish the rela-
tions of good neighborhood, and was met by the commandant in
a spirit which evinced that he did not mean to fall behind his prede-
cessors in acts of friendship and hospitality. He made a friendly
speech to them, presented them with the American flag and a bar-
rel of rum, and apologised for not furnishing them with a supply of
provisions, alleging that they were scarce at that “ distant post.”
In the answer to this speech, the Indians alluded to Mr. Morris’
pre-emptive right, and begged of Captain Bruff to protect them
from the “ big eater with the big belly,” who wanted to come and
“ devour their lands.” Mr. Morris was then about to make his appli-
cation to President Washington for the appointment of a commis-
sioner, but concluded to delay it on account of this manifestation at
Fort Niagara,438	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
The next year, 1797, President Washington, at the solicitation
of Mr. Morris, consented to nominate a commissioner, with the
condition that Captain Bruffs speech and the Indians' reply of the
preceding year, should accompany the nomination to the Senate;
and observed, that “such was the desire to conciliate the Six Na-
tions, that he did not believe that the Senate would confirm any
nomination contrary to their wishes." The Senate confirmed the
appointment of a commissioner, but with the proviso that he should
not act until the Indians themselves requested a treaty. The com-
missioner first appointed was Judge Isaac Smith, of New Jersey;
but his official duties interfering, Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth was
substituted.
The task of getting the consent of the Indians to hold a treatydevolv-
ed upon Thomas Morris, and he observes that it “was not an easy one
to accomplish." It required journeys on foot and on horseback, con-
ferences with the Indians in their villages, and all the persuasive
arts of one who was not unfited for diplomatic missions to red or
white men. The Indians objected that if they asked for the treaty,
it would be construed as the expression of a wish to sell their lands.
Their consent was finally, however, obtained, the time of holding
the treaty agreed upon, and “ Big Tree," now Geneseo, designated
as the treaty ground.
All concerned were principally congregated during the last days
of August. Thomas Morris and Charles Williamson, and James
Reese, as Secretary, were the representatives of Mr. Morris;
though Mr. Williamson being called away in an early stage of the
treaty, the principal labor of negotiation devolved upon Thomas
Morris. Col. Wadsworth was in attendance as the commissioner
on the part of the United States, and William Shepherd as the
commissioner of Massachusetts. Theophilus Cazenove, who was
then the representative of the Holland Company in the United
States, procured in their behalf the attendance of William Bayard,
of New York, Joseph Ellicott and Col. Linklaen, who were accom-
panied by two young men by the name of Yanstaphorst, nearly re-
lated to one of the Dutch proprietors. Beside these, Israel Chapin
was present, and a large representation of Indian interpreters and
traders, while many were drawn to the treaty ground from motives
of curiosity.
James Wadsworth was then in Europe; Mr. Morris obtained ofPHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
439
William Wadsworth the use of the unfinished residence of the
brothers, to accommodate those directly connected with the treaty;
and for a council house he provided a large tent covered with green
boughs, and furnished with a platform and rows of seats, after the
manner of preparations for a camp meeting.
Days, and in fact, nearly two weeks, of tardy and fruitless nego-
tiations succeeded. With few exceptions, the Indians were entirely
averse to parting with their lands. Red Jacket took the laboring
oar for his people, though Cornplanter, Farmers Brother, Little
Beard, and Little Billy, were occasional speakers.
The first business of the treaty was to deliver a speech address-
ed to the Indians, by Thomas Morris, containing generally his pro-
posals. Then followed a long consultation among the Indians to
frame an answer; which, when it came, was adverse to any land
cessions. Meetings and speeches succeeded, Mr. Morris urging
his proposals and Red Jacket resisting his importunities with ability
and ingenuity. After some ten or twelve days had been spent, and
nothing accomplished, Col. Wadsworth became indisposed, impa-
tient of further delay, and insisted on the business being brought to
a close; and about the same time Mr. Morris discovered that the
influence of white squatters, upon the Indian lands, and some inter-
preters, whose offers of assistance he had rejected, stood in the way
of success. The interpreters especially had inculcated among the
Indians that by standing out they could get a much larger price than
had been offered.
Learning that a council of the Indians had decided upon offering
him a single township, and that only, his friends persuaded him
against his better judgement, to promptly and indignantly reject the
offer, which he did on the assembling of the general council, and
the offer being made. This was thought to be the best expedient to
bring the Indians to terms, but as it proved, was ill advised. The
offer was a township on the Pennsylvania line, at one dollar per
acre, which Red Jacket accompanied with the very comfortable
Note.—In a speech of Red Jacket’s he assumed that if the Senecas parted with
what was left of their wide domain, they would be shorn of their influence with
their neighboring nations. To this Mr. Morris replied, rather tauntingly alluding to
the treatment that Red Jacket and others of a delegation of Senecas had received
from the western Indians, when they went as peace negotiators to the Miama with
Col. Pickering and Beverly Randolph; treatment that amounted to contempt. Red
Jacket parried the assault by shrewdly observing that it was all owing to their going
therein bad company, that the circumstance alluded to had admonished them not to
go in bad company when they visited their Mends.440
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
assurance, that over and above the purchase money, the land could
be sold for enough to pay all the trouble and expense of the treaty.
Mr Morris told them if they had nothing better to offer, the sooner
the conference terminated the better, that all might return to their
homes.
Red Jacket immediately sprung upon his feet, and said :—“We
have now reached the point to which I wanted to bring you. You
told us when we first met, that we were free either to sell or retain
our lands, and that our refusal to sell would not disturb the friend-
ship that has existed between us. I now tell you that we will not
part with them. Here is my hand.” Mr. Morris taking his hand,
he ended by saying:—i(l now cover up this council fire/’ A ter-
rible whooping and yelling followed, and menaces made somewhat
alarming to those present, who were unacquainted with Indian man-
ners. To all present, but Mr. Morris, affairs looked hopeless, and it
was with difficulty that he persuaded Col. Wadsworth and others, to
remain and let him make another trial.
The next day, Farmers Brother called upon Mr. Morris, and told
him that he hoped the failure of the treaty would not diminish the
friendship that had existed between him, (Mr. Morris) and his peo-
ple. Mr. Morris replied that he had no right to complain of their
refusal to sell their lands, but he did complain of their behavior
towards him; that they had permitted one of their drunken warriors
to menace and insult him, whooping and yelling in approbation of his
conduct. He said he had not deserved such conduct from them ;
that for years he had not refused them food, or as much liquor as
was good for them, when they had been at Canandaigua; and that
his father had treated such of them as had been to Philadelphia,
with equal hospitality. Farmers Brother admitted that all this was
true, and regretted that the council fire had been covered up, oth-
erwise they could meet and “smooth over, and heal these diffi-
culties.” Mr. Morri^ replied : — “ The council fire is not extin-
guished ; and of this I\;also complain, that Red Jacket had declared
the council fire to be covered up, when according to your own
usages, he alone who kindles the council fire, has a right to extin-
guish it. It is still burning.” After a few moments5 reflection,
Farmers Brother assented to the correctness of the conclusion, and
agreed that the council should be again convened; Mr. Morris pro-
posing that it should be delayed a few days, which time he wouldPHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PIJECHASE.
441
occupy in examining his accounts, and paying for the provisions
which had been consumed, collecting the cattle that were not
slaughtered, and attending to other matters preparatory to leaving
the treaty ground.
“ The Indians/' says Mr. Morris, “ are very tenacious of a strict ad-
herence to their ancient rules and customs ; according to their usages
the sachems have a right to transact all the business of the nation,
whether it relates to their lands or any other of their concerns, but
where it relates to their lands, and they are dissatisfied with the
management of their sachems, the women and warriors have a
right to divest them of this power, and take it into their own hands;
the maxim among them being that the lands belong to the warriors,
because they form the strength of the nation; and to the women
as the mothers of the warriors. There are therefore in every na-
tion, head oi’ chief women, who, when in council, select some
warrior to speak for them.
With a knowledge of this fact, Mr. Morris had made up his
mind to try his luck with this mixed council, as a last resort. He
brought about a meeting with the chief women and warriors. He
told them of the offers that had been made to the sachems; and
urged upon the women the consideration, that the money that
they would receive for their lands, would relieve them from all the
hardships they then endured. “ Now," says he, “ you have to till
the earth, and provide by your labor, food for yourselves and
children. When those children are without clothing, and shivering
with cold, you alone are witnesses to their sufferings; your sachems
will always supply their own wants. They feed on the game they
kill, and sell the skins to buy them clothing; therefore, they are in-
different about exchanging their lands for money, enough every year
to lessen your labor, and enable you to procure for yourselves and
children, the food and clothing necessary for your comfort." He
concluded by telling them that he had brought a number of presents
from Philadelphia, which he intended to have given them, only in
the event of a sale of their lands, but as he had no cause of com-
plaint against the women, he would cause their portion of the pres-
ents to be distributed.
The “ women's rights," and well considered diplomatic speech,
with the presents added, gave a favorable turn to affairs. For sev-
eral days, the chiefs, women and warriors, were scattered about in
28442	PHELPS AMD G0RHA3VTS PURCHASE.
small parties, in earnest consultation; the finale'of which was, an
invitation to Mr. Morris to again open the council.
They convened, and speeches were made by Mr. Morris, by
Col. Wadsworth, explaining to the Indians their rights, and the na-
ture of the pre-emptive claim; and by the Indians, Red Jacket
and Cornplanter, principally. But the women and warriors had
become the real negotiators, and with them, in fact, the bargain
was made.#
The purchase money agreed upon was oiie hundred thousand
dollars. The President had directed that it should be invested in
the stock of the Bank of the United States, in the name of the
President and his successors in office, as the trustees of the Indians.
When the sum was agreed upon, it was with great difficulty that
the Indians were made to understand how much one hundred thou-
sand dollars was ; the sum far exceeding any rules of their simple
arithmetic. This difficulty was obviated by computing how many
kegs of a given size it would take to hold it, and how many horses
to draw it. Another difficulty of still greater intricacy with them
occurred : — a stock investment would of course give fluctuating
per annum returns, or dividends ; and this was quite beyond their
comprehension. They conjectured, however, that the bank was a
large place in Philadelphia, where a large sum of money was plant-
ed ; and that like other things that were planted, some years there
would be a good crop, and some years a poor one. With this con-
jecture, they were content; and in years that followed, whenever
Mr. Morris returned from Philadelphia or New York, they would
enquire of him what kind of a crop they might anticipate ?
The Reservations was the next business to be arranged : — Mr.
Morris had stipulated that he would make no deduction from the
purchase money, if they were reasonable in their demands in this
respect. The Indians insisted upon natural boundaries, such as the
course of streams, &c. To this Mr. Morris objected, inasmuch as
he could be no judge of the quantity of land within such bounda-
ries. He brought them to his terms, the naming of square miles,
in the aggregate about three hundred and fifty. When this came
to be apportioned among the different villages, a great deal of
* This may have been the natural course in the exigency that existed, or it may
have been a convenient expedient of Red Jacket and other chiefs, to have the treaty
consumm ated and their dignity unsullied by an appearance of a change of purpose.PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
443
jealousy and rivalry was manifested among the chiefs, as to the re-
spective allotments. Before it was agreed how much the aggregate
of the Reservation should be, Red Jacket tvas exhorbitant in his
demands, claiming for the reservation of his immediate people at
Buffalo Creek, nearly one-fourth of all the territory purchased; and
Cornplanter was scarcely less exorbitant in his demands. They
were rival chiefs, and their relative importance depended upon the
respective possessions of their people. Mr. Morris had to assume
the office of arbitrator, and decide the respective allotments. #
After all these matters had been adjusted to the satisfaction of
all parties, a young Indian, then about twenty-four years of age,
who had not before been to the treaty ground, made his appearance.
It was Young King. He was, by the female line, a lineal descen-
dant of “Old Smoke/’ whose memory was revered as one of the
greatest men that had ever ruled over the Six Nations. In his life-
time, his power had been unbounded. Young King was a heavy,
dull, unambitious, but apparently an honest young man. Seldom
meddled with the business of the nation; but when he did so, he ex-
excised a great hereditary influence! On his arrival, all business
was suspended, until what had been done was fully explained to
him. He expressed his disapprobation of the course that had been
pursSkd. Farmer’s Brother and other chiefs informed Mr. Morris
that the treaty could not be completed contrary to the wishes of
Young King; that however unreasonable it might appear to him
that one man should defeat the will of a whole nation, it was a
power which he had derived from his birth, and one which he could
not be deprived of. Young King at last, though not reconciled to
their parting with their lands, acquiesced, saying he would no long-
er oppose the will of the nation.
* They were :—At Squaky Hill, two square miles; at Little Beard’s Town and Big
Tree, four; at Gardeau, twenty-eight; at Canaedea, sixteen; Oil Spring, one; on
the Allegany River, forty-two ; on the Cattaraugus Creek, forty-two; on the Buffalo
Creek, one hundred and thirty; on the Tonawanda Creek, seventy; at Tuscarora,
one; at Canawaugus, two.
Note. — Young King resides upon the Buffalo Reservation, where he died but a few
years since. Soon after the war of 1812, he met with an accident, which for a few
days, seemed likely to occasion an outbreak among the Senecas: —An altercation oc-
curred between him and David Reese, the person employed to do blacksmith work for
the Indians, by the XL S. Indian agent at Buffalo. It grew out of an alleged failure
to make or repair a fish spear for Young King. In self-defence, Reese dealt a tremen-
dous blow with a scythe, which nearly severed one of Young King’s arms; so near in
fact, that amputation had to be immediately resorted to. The Indians became muchHi	phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
Red Jacket, who had ably defended the interests of his people*
and acquitted himself with much credit during the tedious negotia-
tion, played Red Jacket, and not the great orator, at its close. The
night previous to the signing of the treaty, he sought a private in-
terview with Mr. Morris, and told him that he had pretended to the
other chiefs that he was opposed to it; but that after its execution
by the other chiefs, he would come to him and have his name affix-
ed privately; and for that purpose, wanted a space reserved. He
added that it would not do for the treaty to go to Philadelphia with-
out his signature, as Gen. Washington would observe the omission,
and conclude that he had been degraded, and lost his rank and in-
fluence among the Senecas. The blank was left, and his signature
thus privately added. DCP For unpublished reminiscences of Red
Jacket, see Appendix, No. 16.
Thus concluded a treaty which gave title to all of what is now
known as the Holland Purchase and Morris’ Reserve; the account
of which has been given in a detail that may seem to some unne-
cessary for historical purposes; but as there had been many garbled
and imperfect relations of it, the author has availed himself of the
authentic documents in his possession, to give a pretty full, and
what may be regarded as a correct history of the whole transaction.
The surveys of the Holland Company commenced in i /un-
der the general supervision of Joseph Ellicott; surveying parties
were soon traversing the wilderness in all directions; a mere woods
road was made upon the main east and west route; and before the
close of 1789, families had moved in for the purpose of opening
houses of public entertainment at Stafford, near the present village
of Caryville, and at Clarence; and at Stafford, Mr. Ellicott had
erected a store-house quarters for his surveyors, covering them with
bark.
In the meantime, Captain Bruff and his successor, Maj. Rivardi,
had prevailed upon the Indians to allow a sufficient improvement
of the old Niagara trail to admit of carrying provisions through by
excited. Among tlie sons of the white woman at Gardeau, was John Jemison. [See
Life of Mary Jemison.] Heading a party of warriors, he left Gardeau, and gaye out
upon his route that he was “going to kill Reese.” Well does the author remember
of being one of a party of school children who fled, affrighted, at his approach. He
personated the “ ideal angel of deathhe was armed with a war club ana tomahawk,
red paint was daubed upon his swarthy face, and long bunches of horse hair, dyed
red, were pendant from each arm. Reese was kept secreted, and thus, in all probabili-
ty, avoided the fate that even kindred had met at the hands of John Jemison.
/PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PTTECHASE.	445
sleighing, from the settlements east of the river to Fort Niagara;
and a weekly horse mail was put upon the long and mostly woods
route from Canandaigua to Fort Niagara. Add to this, the two or
three log and one framed hut at Buffalo, and two or three tenements
at Lewiston, and the reader will have a pretty good idea of all, in
the way of improvement, that had transpired upon the Holland
Purchase before the close of 1799; and at the close of the cen-
tury, there was but little more than the addition of a few families
along on the Buffalo road, and the prosecution of surveys.
The author had supposed that he was done with Indian wars, and
Indian war alarms ; coming down to this period, he finds a letter from
Capt. Bruff to Capt. Israel Chapin, which would indicate that some
apprehension was entertained in this quarter, that the Indians here
would be drawn into a southern alliance with the western Indians,
in connection with the then pending difficulties with France and
Spain. The letter is given in the Appendix, [No. 16,] more as a
curious local reminiscence than from any thing of local consequence
allied to it.
Previous to the advent of Mr. Ellicott and his surveying parties,
in the spring of 1798, the Senecas had not surrendered the possession
of their lands, and were extremely jealous of any encroachments
until certain preliminaries were arranged witli the Holland Com-
pany. In March, Hinds Chamberlain and Jesse Beach, who had
the year previous been to Le Boeuf, Pa., and fixed upon locations
there, started from Avon, with two yoke of oxen and sleds, and
making their own road the greater portion of the distance, arrived
at Buffalo, where some four hundred Indians were assembled, high-
ly exasperated at what they considered an invasion of their terri-
tory. The trespassers informed them that Poudry, of Tonawanda,
had assured them that he had obtained their consent.; and after
menacing and threatening, the matter was settled by Red Jacket,
as the principal negotiator, for “ two gallons of Indian whiskey, and
some tobacco/' And this is but one of the many instances in
which that chief sullied his high character, by assisting to feign
resentment to levy tributes—generally payable in that which he
would often sacrifice his honor to obtain.446
PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PUKCHASE.
CHAPTER IX.
ALLEGANY--JOHN B. CHURCH, AND PHILIP CHURCH.
John B. Church came from England to the American colonies, a
young adventurer, a few years previous to the Revolution. He had
been placed by a wealthy uncle in a large mercantile establishment
in London, but the business not suiting his inclination, he emigrated,
fixing his residence in Boston, where he prosecuted for several years,
with great success, the business of an underwriter. When the
Revolution broke out, or as soon as an army organization was per-
fected he was engaged in the commissary department, with Jeremiah
Wadsworth, in which he continued throughout the war. Gen.
Philip Schuyler, being also engaged in the commissary department
for the northern division of the army, business relations led to an
acquaintance, and before the close of the Revolution, Mr. Church
married one of his daughters. The official duties of Messrs. Wads-
worth and Church, embracing the care of the subsistence of the
French army, an intimate acquaintance with the French military
and naval officers of the Revolution, succeeded. Soon after the
close of the Revolution — in "85, — some unliquidated accounts
between the commissary department and the army of Rochambeau,
made it necessary for Messrs. Wadsworth and Church to visit the
French capital, where they remained with their families for eighteen
months. Mr. Church removed his family to London, residing there
and at a country seat in Berkshire, on the Thames, until '97, when
he returned to America, and settled in the city of New York.
The eldest son of John B. Church, is the present Judge Philip
Church, of Belvidere, Allegany county, , the Pioneer of that region.
In his early boyhood he was taken to Paris by his father and after-
wards to England, receiving his education at the celebrated Eaton
school. Returning to America, he became a student of law, withPHELPS AM) GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.	447
his uncle Alexander Hamilton,* and also his private Secretary.
Changing his destination in life soon after his majority, and becom-
ing the patroon of new settlements in the wilderness.
Judge Church is now 71 years of age. With a yet vigorous
intellect, his memory goes back to the early scenes of his youth, and
calls up reminiscences of the American and French Revolutions,
of England and English satesmen, which, although they belong to
the province of general history, will, the author is confident, not be
unacceptable, if preserved in these local annals. — See Appendix
No. 18.
While pursuing his studies, the difficulties occurring with France,
on the raising of the provincial army, he was commissioned as a
Captain though he saw little of service, as the difficulty was soon
adjusted.*)* Gen. Hamilton, as the agent of John B. Church, had in
his absence, loaned to Robert Morris $80,000 and taken a mortgage
on Morris Square, Philadelphia; the lien being afterwards transferred
to 100,000 acres of land, on Morris’ Reserve in the now county of
Allegany. In 1800 the mortgage was foreclosed, the land was sold
at Canandaigua by Benj. Barton, then Sheriff of Ontario, and bid
in by Philip Church for his father.J
At the period of this sale, there was no white settler on all the
territory now embraced in the county of Allegany, with the excep-
tion of two localities which will be named. The survey and settle-
ment of the 100,000 acre tract was commenced under the general
supervision of Philip Church. Shortly after he had graduated from
the law office of Edmund Pendleton, where he had finished his law
studies — in July 1801 —he made a second advent to the Genesee
country. Taking Geneva and Lyons in his route, he employed as
*Gen. Hamilton married a daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler.
t "When the secretary of his uncle, and haying frequent occasions to carry messages
and papers to Washington, he was cautioned by General Hamilton to be punctual, if
he wished to gain his esteem. When application was made for a commission for him
in the army, Washington at first objected that he was too young; but observing that
he remembered the promptness and punctuality of the young man, granted the com-
mission.
t This was Judge Church’s first visit to the Genesee Country. After his return, he
visited a club with his father; among the members present, were Brockholst Livings-
ston, Richard Yarrick, Messrs. Bayard andLe Roy, Richard Harrison, Governetir Mor-
ris. The conversation turned upon the wretched state of the road from Hew York to
Albany. Philip Church remarked that they would have a good turnpike road from
Albany to Canandaigua before there was one on the Hudson. He was pronounced
beside himselt by the club, and retiring, he was chided by his father for offering so rash
an opinion.448	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
surveyor and local agent, Evert Van Wickle, who was accompa-
nied by John Gibson, John Lewis and Stephen Price. Laying in
provisions and camp equipage at Geneva and Bath, the party ren-
dezvoused at the settlement, which had been commenced by the
Rev. Andrew Gray and Moses Van Campen, in what is now Almond,
Allegany county. Mr. Van Campen, who to use a sailor phrase,
knew all the “ropes” of the forest, was enlisted in the expedition.
Proceeding on, the party came to the house of-----Dyke, a solitary
settler who occupied the advanced post of civilization, near the
junction of the eastern line of Allegany with the Pennsylvania
line ; slept in a log t arn, and then pushed on into the dark forests
upon the Genesee River. This was the first breaking into the woods
in all the region which is now embraced in the western portion of
Allegany, Wyoming, southern portions of Erie, Chautauque and
Cattaraugus, and all that part of Pennsylvania bordering upon this
state, with the exception of Presque Isle, and the solitary family
of Francis King, at Cerestown, near the Allegany river, that had a
short time before exchanged a residence in the city of London for
a solitary one in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, a days journey
from their nearest neighbor.
The party made a pretty thorough exploration of the tract, camp-
ing and breaking up their camp from day to day, encountering
almost constant rains and swollen streams. With Judge Church it
was a youthful advent — a first introduction to the woods — and a
pretty rugged specimen he encountered, as all will acknowledge who
have traversed the alternating hills and valleys of Allegany. Arriv-
ed at the north-west corner of the tract, the party mostly returned
to their homes; Judge Church and Yan Campen, making up their
minds for a pleasure trip, taking an Indian trail # that bore off in
the direction of Niagara Falls. This they pursued for two days,
when they found themselves in the Seneca Indian village. They
made their appearance in the little white settlement of “ New Am-
sterdam,” (Buffalo) in a sorry plight; with torn clothes, beards un-
shaven, tanned and camp smoked. They visited the Falls, returned
* This trail led from the Indian village of Canaedeaon the Allegany river, over the
summit that divides the waters of the Genesee from those of Lake Erie, fell into the
valley of the Cattaraugus, then passed over into the valley of the west branch of Buf-
falo creek, and pursued generally, the course of that stream, to the Indian village at
its junction with the main stream, four miles from its mouth.PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
449
to Buffalo, and took the “ white man’s trail ” * on their return to
Bath. No such tramps had been contemplated, and soon after
leaving Buffalo, money and provisions had both been exhausted ; all
but a surplus of chocolate, which they exchanged along with the
new settlers for meals of victuals. Mr. Ellicott had just got his land
office built at Batavia. At Ganson’s there was a militia training,
the first that was ever had west of the Genesee river. Richard
W. Stoddard being one of the officers, supplied Mr. Church with
money; and proceeding on to Geneseo, they visited Mr. Wads-
worth, whom Mr. Church had become acquainted with in New
York.
Returning to Lyons, Judge Church arranged with Mr. Yan Wickle
to go on to the Allegany lands, and commence surveys and im-
provements, having previously designated the site of Angelica, as
a primitive location. A mill calculated for one run of stones, and
a saw mill, was soon commenced, and a road opened from four miles
west of Hornellsville, (west line of Steuben) to Angelica.f This
road was cut through by Silas Ferry and John Ayers. The saw
mill was in operation in 1802, the grist mill in 1803. A framed
dwelling house for Mr. Van Wickle, a small log land office, and a
few shantees to live in, were also erected. Judge Church remembers
that the transportation of his mill irons from Albany to Angelica,
cost $6,00 per cwt. All the early transporting was done with
sleighs and wagons, from Geneva (80 miles;) with light loads, a
trip would generally consume seven days. In 1802, Joseph Taylor
opened a tavern. In the same year, Judge Church opened a small
store, which was managed by John Gibson, one of his companions
in the primitive exploration, who now survives, a resident of the
neighborhood of Angelica, aged 72 years. John Ayers who helped
cut out the first road leading into Angelica, is also alive, a resident
near the Transit Bridge, on the river. In 1803 a road was opened
from Angelica to Belvidere, and in 1805 was continued on to the
present site of Hobby ville, to which point Dr. Hyde had advanced
and erected a log tavern house. This was in 1807; the road was
for several years but little better than a woods’ path.
* “ When we had made a track through the forest,” says Mr, Stephen Lusk, of
Pittsford, we called it a “white man’s trail, to distinguish it from the Indian trails”
t It was the name of Mrs. Philip Schuyler — “ An-ge-gwah-a-ka,” after the daugh-
ter of the Indian chief “ San-gi-wa.”450	phelps Amy gopham’s purchase.
From the commencement of settlement, until 1805, Allegany was
a part of the town of Leicester, Ontario county, and the new settlers
had to go to the old village of Leicester on the Genesee river, via
Hornellsville, to town meeting. In 1805 what is now Allegany
county, was erected into a new town, and called Angelica. In
April of that year the first town meeting was held at the house of
Joseph Taylor. Benjamin Briggs was elected supervisor, Jacob S.
Holt, town clerk. Other town officers: — John T. Hyde, David
Church, Luke Goodspeed, Sylvester Russel, Elijah Church, Wm.
Barney, Evert Van Wickle, Joseph Taylor, Abisha Cole, Wm. S.
Heydon, Stephen Waterman, Thomas Cole, John Bennett, Ezra
Bacon, George Otto, Jacob S. Holt.
In this year there are the records of roads, as follows: — Through
main street of Angelica; from Angelica to Indian line, or Canaedea;
from Angelica to south line of Yan Campen’s farm ; from Angelica
to Philipsburgh mills; to Philips creek; to Vandermark’s creek;
to Dike’s settlement.
No resolutions were passed in 1805. In 1806 Luke Goodspeed
was supervisor. It was resolved that “every man’s yard should be
his pound; ” that the town of Angelica should pay $2,50 for every
wolf caught within the limits of the town.
At the first election, April, 1805, John Nicholas had 16 votes for
Senator: for members of Assembly, Alexander Rhea, had 30 votes,
Ezra Patterson 25, Daniel W. Lewis 16, Jeremiah Munson 12. In
1806, Daniel W. Lewis as a candidate for Congress, had 51 votes;
for the Senate, Joseph Annin 42, Evens Wherey 38, John Mc-
Whorter 33, Freegift Patterson 33; for Assembly, Philip Church
82, Timothy Burt 35, Philetus Swift 33, James Reed 32, Asahel
Warner 30, Joseph M’Clure 6. In 1807, as candidates for Governor,
Morgan Lewis had 37 votes, Daniel D. Tompkins 28.
Judge Church spent several months in the new settlement, in
each of the years 1801, % 53, and ’4. In 1803, he selected as his
residence, a location upon the Genesee River, where he now resides,
four miles from Angelica, which was named Belvidere. His large
farm is a beautiful sweep of flats, table and up land. The Judge,
who in his prime, was somewhat noted for athletic feats, is said to
have looked out the favorite spot, by climbing tall pine trees upon the
highlands. The winding of the river at that point, and the frequent
breaks in the ranges of highlands as they rise from the valley, sur-451
PHELPS AHD GORHAM^ PURCHASE.
rounds cultivated fields, a fine mansion with its English lawn, culti-
vated groves, orchards and gardens, — with a varied, wild and ro-
mantic landscape. The primitive framed house — built in 1803 —
which stood for years, an outpost of civilization, is yet preserved;
its architecture, its old fashioned cut nails, marking a period when it
must have looked almost aristocratic. Its founder still lives, but
how many of the early men of the Genesee country, who have
been sheltered under that venerable roof, have long since gone to
their graves!
Belvidere is retired and secluded, even now. After an occupan-
cy of nearly half a century, the guest of its hospitable founder, will
often be waked from his slumbers, by the crack of the rifle, and the
baying of hounds upon th£ surrounding hills. How must it have
been when miles of forest intervened between it and the nearest
settlements, and those settlements far away^ from the earlier ones of
the Genesee country!
In 1805, Judge Church married the daughter of General Walter
Stewart, of Philadelphia,* transferring her at the age of eighteen
years, from city life and its associations, to the far off home in the
wilderness, that has been described. The then young wife — the
now venerable matron — remembers that woods journey, and des-
cribes it, even in a vein of gaiety and humor. There was the long
and tedious journey from Albany to Geneva, and Bath; then the
jolting wagon, over a wood’s road to Hornellsville; and then whe»n
wheels could no longer be used, the horseback ride over what was
but little better than a wood’s path, to Angelica, and her new home
at Belvidere. With a characteristic gallantry, Thomas Morris, then
the active promoter of settlement, in the Genesee country, accom-
* Gen. Stewart had a command in the Pennsylvania line during the Revolution.
His house in Philadelphia was often the hospitable retreat of Washington, La Fayette,
Rochambeau, and other of the eminent men of the Revolution. Mrs. Church has a
valuable heir loom of the family, a relic of the father of his country. It is his por-
trait in a frame; upon the back of the frame is pasted an original autograph addressed
to Mrs. Stewart, which accompanied the portrait. It was something unique in its
way at the time. In the note, Washington with characteristic modesty, begs Mrs.
Stewart to regard it “ not so much for any merit of the original, as for its excellence as
a work of art; the production of a young lady.”
Extract from Washington’s general order book, Moore’s House, 1779 : — "The com-
mander in chief directs a general court martial to be held at the usual place to-morrow
morning, at 10 o’clock, for the trial of Col. Armaud; Col. Walter Stewart to preside.”
<fec. By a resolution of Congress, medals were ordered struck for Gen. Wayne, Major
Walter Stewart and Li CoL Fleury, for their gallant conduct in the storming of Stony
Point452	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
panied her in this her bridal tour to the wilderness. She had her
first experience in housekeeping, and lived for several years, miles
away from neighbors; often the business of her husband calling
him away for weeks , her only companion a colored female domes-
tic, and a small boy.# She made an early acquaintance with the
Indians at Canaedea, and was a favorite with them. Upon one oc-
casion, in the absence of Judge Church, she attended one of their
festivals, contributing to its feast out of her stores, and enjoying
with a high relish their Pagan rites, dances and rude sports. They
gave her as a name, “Ye-nun-ke-a-wa,” or the “ first woman that
has come; ” having reference to settlement upon the river. Judge
Church being in England on the breaking out of the war of 1812, a
party of Canaedea Indians, headed by a chief, went to Belvidere,
and in gratitude for Mrs. Church’s kindness to their people, offered
to keep a guard around her house, to protect her from the British
Indians. Regarding herself as secure from invasion, in the woods
of Allegany, she thanked them but declined their proffered gallantry.
John B. Church died in London, in 1816. His sons, other than
Philip Church, were John B. Church, who now resides in Paris;
Alexander, who died young, and Richard, who now resides in Eng-
land. His daughters became the wives of Bertram P. Cruger, of
New York, and Rodolph Bunner, late of Oswego.
The family of Philip Church, now consists of John B, Church,
of New York, w7ho married a daughter of Professor Silliman;
Walter and Henry Church, of New York; Philip Church, who re-
sides near Belvidere, and Richard Church, who resides at the home-
stead. Daughters: — Mrs. John Warren, of New York, Mrs.
Pendleton Hoosick, of New York, and an unmarried daughter, re-
siding with her parents.
The southern portion of all that part of Allegany, which is upon
the Holland Purchase, was not settled until just preceding the war
of 1812. As early as 1804, a few families had settled at Olean, but
no road from Angelica to that point was opened until 1809 or ’10, and
then but a woods road. It was surveyed by Moses Van Campen,
* There was much of woman’s nature in her reply, in long after years, to an obser-
vation made to her, expressing some surprise that she could have endured such a
change — from a gay and social city to the woods: —Oh,” said she, " I was just the
one to do it, I had youth, health; to be sure it was pretty hard at first, but the rela-
tions of a wife, to which was added the cares of a mother, soon reconciled me to my
new home.”PHELPS AND gobham’s pueohase.
453
in 1815, and soon after settlers dropped in, began to be worked by
them and the proprietors of Olean; though when it began, in 1816,
*17, to be thronged with western emigrants on their way to embark
upon the Allegany, it was only by sleighing they could get along
comfortably; when that left them, as it often did, they plodded
through sloughs, and over stumps and roots, making slow progress.
There are emigrants on the Ohio and Wabash and in southern Illinois,
who remember their early journey through the woods of Allegany
and Cattaraugus, as by far the most tiding scene they encountered
upon their journey. Soon after 1816, a state road was laid there,
the state making a small appropriation, but the pay for its construc-
tion principally made dependent upon the proceeds of tolls. It was
completed in 1822. The road was principally built by David D.
Howe.
In 1805 Judge Church purchased and had drove to Belvidere twen-
ty-four sheep. Arriving late in the evening, they were folded close
by the house. In the morning a brother-in-law, from New York,
being his guest, he invited him out early to see them. Approaching
the pen, they found 19 of the 24 lying dead. The wolves had
tracked them in, and made the havoc. As is usual, where they
have a plenty of victims, they had only bitten the throats, and ex-
hausted the blood. The woods of Allegany were especially the
haunts of wild beasts; trapping and hunting was a serious diver-
sion of the new settlers, from the work of improvement.
In early years, the Post-office nearest Angelica, was at Bath, 40
miles distant. The citizens clubbed, and contracted with William
Barney to make the trip, carrying letters and papers once a month.
A blind boy of Mr. Barney made the trips, until he was killed by a
fall from his horse.
There was no physician in Allegany, in the earliest years ; Judge
Church says he brought in a medicine chest, and “ Buchan’s Family
Medicine,1’ and occasionally made prescriptions, The nearest phy-
sician, Dr. Niles, in Steuben county. The first settled physician in
Angelica, was Dr. Ellis, who was succeeded by Dr. Southworth,
now of Lockport.
The primitive religious meetings were held in the loft of Judge
Church’s store house, by the Rev. Andrew Grey. “ He was a broad
shouldered man,” says Judge Church, “of extraordinary muscular
power; I remember his getting so earnest on one occasion, in en-454
phelps and gorham’s purchase,
forcing religious precepts upon his backwoods congregation, that in
his gestures, he knocked our store desk to pieces, that we gave him
for-a pulpit.”
That part of the Morris’ Reserve, in Allegany, which constituted
the Church Tract, was six miles wide, lying east of, and adjoining
the Holland Company’s lands. In the division among Mr. Morris’
creditors, another tract, six miles wide, containing 150,000 acres,
fell into the hands of Sterritt and Harrison, merchants of Philadel-
phia ; and in turn, this was cut up into small tracts and divided
among their creditors. This large tract was mostly kept out of
market until after 1815. South of the Church and Sterritt tract,
on the Pennsylvania line, is another tract of 37,000 acres, which
fell into the hands of Willing & Francis, also merchants of Phila-
delphia ; Mr. Willing, of the firm, was President of the old United
States Bank.
The first settlement founded after Angelica, was at Van Campen’s
creek, in the direction of Olean. This name was given during the
primitive advent of Mr. Church, in honor of his woods’ companion,
Mr. Van Campen. Harrison and Higgins were the first settlers.
Six or seven miles up the river, above Philipsburgh, a settlement
was commenced by Joseph and Silas Knight. The first settlement
down the river, was founded by the Sandfords.
No new country has probably ever been opened for sale and set-
tlement, that had as rugged features, as much of difficulty to over-
come, as the territory which comprises the county of Allegany.
Heavily timbered throughout, with the exception of small spots up-
on the river, it was many years before the roots were out so as to
admit of easy cultivation. The new settlements in all early years,
were extremely isolated. The wide forests of the Holland Pur-
chase bordering upon them, had been but little broken into, as late
as 1809 or ’10, and after that for many years, settlement upon them
advanced but slowly. When the settlers began to have any thing
to dispose of, they had no market, but such as involved a ruinous
cost of transportation, over long woods, roads, and up and down
steep hills. The very earliest years, however, were far more pros-
perous than a long period that succeeded. Black salts, pot and
pearl ashes, and grain could be taken to Hornellsville, and from
thence go to Baltimore, where it would command cash. This made
for a few years, pretty brisk times; but the navigation was precari-
i455
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
ous, and at best, had in each season but a short duration; and
soon came on European wars, the embargo to bear especially heavy
upon the enterprise and prosperity that had begun to dawn in the
secluded backwoods. Pine lumber, was good for nothing, beyond
the home uses of the new settlers. It was too far from the naviga-
ble waters of the Allegany, even if there had been roads; and too
far from the northern older settlements, to allow of any considerable
market in that direction. The best of pine trees, instead of being
any help to the new settler, was a great hindrance, for they constitute
the most difficult clearing of new lands that is encountered. The
first considerable market for the pine lumber of Allegany, was at
Mt. Morris and Dansville, after the completion of the Genese Val-
ley canal to those points.
Independent of other hindrances to prosperity—-or especially to
agricultural improvement — two prominent ones have existed: —*
The mountains, the valleys and the streams, had attractions for the
hunter, the trapper and the fisherman, and slow progress in felling
the forest, neglected fields, and dilapidated log tenements, were the
consequences. The free use of whiskey in all the new settlements
of the Genesee country, was a curse and a blight, the consequences
of which — the manner that it retarded prosperity and improve-
ment — the strong men that it made weak —the woe and the sor-
row that it carried to the log cabins of the wilderness— would form
a theme that might be regarded as an innovation here ; but elsewhere,
in its appropriate place, would “ point a moral,” though it would not
“adorn a tale.” Especially was this an evil where men were
attracted by the causes that have been named, from legitimate pur-
suits. The other local hindrance succeeded when lumbering be-
came a sufficient object to draw men away from agricultural im-
provements.
Soon after 1807, a serious embarrassment was added to other
difficulties upon the Church tract, which constituted nearly all the
settled portions of Allegany. John B. Church, who was then resi-
ding in New York, became embarrassed, principally inconsequence
of French spoliations upon American commerce; having made
large ventures as an underwriter.* The title of one half of the
* His heirs have now large, and as it would seem just claim upon our government,
growing out of this. By Treaty with France, our government assumed payment of
die claims.456
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
100,000 acre tract, was in his son, Philip Church, but there had been
no division; a mixed interest was assigned to trustees, for the benefit
of his creditors, and there was no final division and settlement until
1815.	In all this time there was a distrust of title, which hin-
dered settlement, and created an unsettled state of things, as the
same cause always will.
The war of 1812 prostrated all of enterprise and progress in all
the newly settled portions of the Genesee country, where they had
no surplus produce, were consumers instead of producers. The new
settlements of Allegany furnished their full quota of men for the
frontier, drawn from feeble settlements, where they could least be
well spared ; some were left upon battle fields, died in hospitals, or
returned to die of disease contracted upon the frontier. Peace had
but just been concluded, when the cold and untoward season of
1816,	came upon them, its biting frosts upon hill and valley, de-
stroying all their hopes of sustenance, creating distress and want,
driving, in many instances, men to the game in the forest, the fish in
the streams, and wild roots and herbs, as their only resources to ward
off a famine. Independent of their own sufferings and privations,
they had quartered upon them the poor Indians of Canaedea,who were
reduced to the extremity of want. Then came propitious seasons,
life and activity ; for a few years a tide of emigration flowed through
their midst, on their way to Olean, and down the Allegany, creating
a home market for their produce. This lasted, gradually declining
until the Erie canal had reached its western terminus, when emigra-
tion was entirely diverted, and their main roads and public houses
were deserted. The Erie canal so diffusive in its benefits, stimu-
lating to life and activity, in all other localities of western New
but came to crush the hopes, and depress the energies of the people
of Allegany and Cattaraugus. Recovering from its first effects,
gradually, and remotely, its benefits began to reach them, even be-
fore the construction of the Valley canal.
It is after almost a half century’s struggle, but for Allegany the
“ better time” has come. The whistle of the steam cars are start-
ling the deer that yet linger in her forests ; the echoes of the boat-
man’s horn, ere these imperfect annals will issue from the press, will
be sounding along the valley of the upper Genesee; the dark forests
are rapidly disappearing; the neat framed house is taking the place of
the moss covered log cabin; all is putting on the appearance of re-phelps and gorham’s purchase.
457
Slewed enterprise and rapid progress. Long almost a “ terra incogni-
tia” her near neighbors on the “ northern plains/’ her soil, her climate,
pure water and pure atmosphere, is beginning to be appreciated;
and she will soon occcupy a better relative position in the empire
region of the Empire State.
CHAPTER X.
THE PIONEER PRINTERS AND NEWSPAPERS.
Mr. Williamson was directly connected with the introduction of the
printing press into the Genesee country. The two first newspapers were es-
tablished under his auspices and patronage. Early in January, 1796, he pro-
cured from Northumberland or Sunbury, in Pennsylvania, a second hand
newspaper office, and enlisted as printers and publishers, Wm. Kersey* and
James Edie. They issued “The Bath Gazette and Genesee Advertiser.”
This was the first newspaper published in western New York.
In the same year, he induced Lucius Carey, who had been publishing a
paper at Newburg, to sell out and establish himself at Geneva. Mr. Carey
forwarded his printing materials by water, and came himself, with his house-
hold goods, by land. On his arrival, he wrote to Mr. Williamson at Albany,
that he had ended a long and expensive journey; arrived, and found his
house unfinished, and no room provided for his office, j- He got settled during
* It is presumed that Mr. Kersey may have had a connection with the paper, not as
printer, but as one of Mr. Williamson^ agents at Bath. He was a Friend, as would
appear by his letters. In one of them, written to Mr. Williamson at Albany, he speaks
of having located some new settlers, and at the same time, asks for some new type,
urging that the type they have brought from Pennsylvania is "old and worn.5’ " We,
on considering the case, conclude it is best to have a sufficient quantity of new type to
complete the office, so that we may do business in good fashion; therefore request that
in addition to the order by Capt. Coudry, thou may be pleased to send us as soon as
may be, 200 weight of small pica or bourgeois. We have some encouragement to pur-
sue the business, but many of our patrons complain of the badness of the print, and
that not without sufficient cause.” He was at the time one of the Judges of Steuben,
and informs Mr. Williamson that he and his associates had been indicted by the Grand
Jury, "for not holding an election at the Painted Post for a representative in Con-
gress.”
t" The Pioneer printer was in ill humor. He says to Mr. Williamson: — lam now-
lying idle, and how long I shall, I cannot say, only for the want of a room to work
in. My house was to be done in July, and it is a mortifying reflection to me to have
29458
PHELPS AND GOEH AM’S PURCHASE.
the winter, however, and in April, 1797, brought out the first number of the
“ Ontario Gazette and Geneseo Advertiser.” The paper was continued but
about a year and a half at Geneva, after which it was removed to Canandai-
gua, and continued until 1802, when the office was sold, and the name of the
paper changed to “Western Repository and Geneseo Advertiser.” Mr.
Carey died in Canandaigua, in 1804.
James K. Gould was the immediate successor of Mr. Carey. In May,
1803, he issued “for the proprietors,” the “Western Repository and Gene-
see Advertiser.” In August, 1803, Mr. Gould, in company with Russell E.
Post, purchased the establishment, and changed the title to “ Western Reposi-
tory.” In October, 1804, this partnership was dissolved, and James D.
Bemis took the place of Mr. Post. Mr. Gould dying in March, 1808, the
paper was continued by Mr. Bemis, with only a slight change of title, for
twenty-one years. The paper is still published, being now the oldest news-
paper in western New York. The immediate successors of Mr. Bemis were,
Chauncey Morse and Samuel Ward, the former of whom was a brother-in-
law of Mr. B., and the latter a nephew. Mr.---------Harvey was at one period
associated with Mr. Morse in its publication. The present editor and publisher,
is George L. Whitney.
In 1803, Sylvester Tiffany established in Canandaigua, the Ontario Free-
man. He was from New Hampshire; his wife, one of the well known fami-
ly of Ralstons, of that State. For several years before settling at Canandai-
gua, Mr. Tiffany had published a paper at Niagara, U. C. He was for sever-
al years clerk of Ontario county. He died in 1811. His widow still sur-
vives, a resident of Rochester. The surviving sons are: — Sylvester Tiffany,
an early merchant in Le Roy; George A. Tiffany, who married a daughter of
Mrs. Berry, at Avon, and now resides in Wisconsin; Alexander R. Tiffany,
who studied law in Canandaigua, married a daughter of Dr. Gain Robinson,
and is now Judge Tiffany, of Adrian, Michigan. Dean O. Tiffany, the
youngest son, was a clerk in the book store of James D. Bemis, of Canandai-
gua, and subsequently, in the Evemgham store in Rochester; died at the
south. Daughters became the wives of Stephen and William Charles, of
Rochester, and John C. Ross, of C. W.
John A. Stevens was the successor of Mr. Tiffany, commencing the pub-
lication of the Ontario Messenger in 1806. The Repository and Messenger,
under the management of Messrs. Bemis and Stevens, were for a considerable
period the leading papers of the respective parties whose interests they es-
poused. “Mr. Stevens,” says a brief biographer, * “was a kind, affection-
ate, and good hearted man, and very generally esteemed by all who knew
him.” He died some twenty years since.
my parents hear that I must lay idle for the want of a house, when I had spoke so
much in praise of the town, and been the means of a number coming to it since I
was here in the winter.” He says he almost repents of his bargain; yet, with the loan
of an $100, he thinks he can get a paper out, and move along, “ if he can get a room.”
His dwelling house was finally furnished, and a far better one it must have been than
Pioneer printers usually enjoy, as the amount paid for it by Mr. Williamson, was over
$2,000
* Frederick Follett, Esq., who compiled the proceedings of the “ Printers’ Festival ”
in Rochester, held in 1847, and added a “ History of the Press of Western New
York.”PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
459
Of the large number of printers, most of whom have been, or are now,
conductors of newspapers, who served their apprenticeships with Messrs.
Bemis and Stevens, the names of the following occur to the author: — Oran
Follett, David M. Day, Lewis H. Redfield, Hezekiah and Smith Salisbury,
A. H. Bennett, Thomas B. Barnum, Randall Meacham, John Yan Sice, Ed-
ward Van Cleve, John Gilbert, Elisha Starr, beside many others of a later
period; and the Author of this work, in part.
Eben Eaton, a brother of General Eaton, was the successor of Mr. Carey
at Geneva. He started a paper in 1800, called “The impaitial Observer
and Seneca Museum.”
James Bogertcame to Geneva in 1806. He served his apprenticeship in
the old office of T. & J. Swords, Hew York. In November, 1806, he is-
sued the first number of the “Expositor,” which was continued until 1809,
when he changed the title to “ Geneva Gazette.” He conducted the paper
for over twenty-seven years, retiring from it in 1833. Next to Mr. Bemis,
he is the oldest survivor of the conductors of the press in western Hew York.
He was a good printer and editor, and in all respects, a worthy member of
the “ craft.” He was upon the frontier in the war of 1812, bearing the com-
mission of Captain in the regiment of Colonel Peter Allen, and was after-
wards commissioned as a Colonel. After retiring from the Gazette, he was
for five years Collector of Canal Tolls at Geneva.
James D. Bemis may justly be regared as the father of the press of west-
ern Hew York: and this not only with reference to his early and long con-
tinued connection with it, but with farther reference to the large number of
printers who have gone out from under his instruction; his character as a man,
and as a member of a local craft, the dignity and respectability of which he
has in so large a degree maintained. He was a native of Hew Hampshire;
though, if the author rightly recollects, he served his apprenticeship in Al-
bany. Soon after arriviug at his majority, in the winter of 1803, he left
Albany with a small stock of books and stationery, intending to locate in
Canada, but arriving in Canandaigua, was induced by the favorable prospects
held out there, to make it his permanent home. [See his own cotemporary
account of his advent, Appendix, Ho. 19.] Soon engaging with Mr. Gould
in the Repository, he sold his stock of books and stationery to Myron Holley;
but it was not long before he connected book-selling with printing, and for
many years was not only the editor and publisher of the most successful
newspaper in western Hew York, but he enjoyed almost a monopoly in the
printing of handbills, blanks, in the sale of books, and in the business of
book-binding, in a wide region. All of this was managed by a close applica-
tion to business, in a careful, systematic manner, peculiar to the man. Ho
one connected with the newspaper press in western Hew York, has been more
successful, and no one better deserved success.
Mr. Bemis still survives, having reached his 7 0th year. Sincerely is it la-
mented by a wide circle of friends — and especially by those who have known
him most intimately: many of whom owe him gratitude as well as respect—
that the evening of his long and useful life is clouded with misfortune. He
has been for a considerable period an inmate of an institution at Brattleboro,
Vt., under treatment for the cure of physical infirmities, in which his once
well balanced mind in some degree participates. * He married in early life;
his wife still survives. An only son is George W. Bemis of Canandaigua,460
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PURCHASE.
the successor of his father as a bookseller, who nas recently been appointed a
Deputy U. S. Marshall Daughters became the wires of Thaddeus Chapin-
of Canandaigua, and Wm. B. Peck, a bookseller of New York, recently of
Buffalo.
* In the absence of the infirmities alluded to, he would, perhaps, have been the his
torian of this local region. In a letter to the author of this work, about the period he
was commencing the history of the Holland Purchase, he commended the enterprise,
and added : —u The western part of our great State is full of interest in its fifty years
career, whether we consider the events of that period, or the character of men who
acted their parts in transforming their country from a wilderness to what is now em-
phatically the garden of the State. I only wanted two things in my power to do,
namely: to die as the oldest editor in western Hew York, (which I am,) and to write
its history.”
[end OF GENERAL HISTORY OF PHELPS AND GORHAM^ PURCHASE.]TABLE OF CONTENTS,
OF
GENERAL HISTORY OF PHELPS AND GORHAM’S
PURCHASE.
[Note.—A table of contents winch, would embrace a reference to localities, persons
and events, in regular order, was found far too elaborate, and occupying too much
space. A shorter one has therefore been adopted, by which the reader, having refer-
ence to localities, will be enabled to refer to any given subject, event or person, with
little difficulty.]
PART FIRST.
CHAPTER I.—[Commencing page 9.]—Brief notices of Early ColonizationPro-
gress of the French upon the St. Lawrence—French and Indian, and French and
English Wars—Progress of the French around the borders of the Western Lakes
— Discovery of the Mississippi by Marquette and Joliet — First advent of our
race to western New York— La Salle—First sail vessel upon the Upper Lakes—
M. de La Barrie’s invasion of the country of the Iroquois — De Nonville’s inva-
sion of the Seneca Country, in what is now Ontario County — Founding of Fort
Niagara — French and English battles in the region of Lakes George and Cham-
plain.
CHAPTER II.— [Com. page 46.] — Siege and Surrender of Fort Niagara—Con-
quest of Western New York.
CHAPTER III.— [Com. page 56.] — Siege and Capture of Ticonderoga, Crown Point,
Quebec and Montreal — Peace of 1763, end of French Dominion.
CHAPTER IV.—- [Com. page 69.] — English Dominion—Border Wars of the Rev-
olution—Sullivan’s Campaign.
PART SECOND.
CHAPTER I.—[ Com. page 85.]—Our immediate predecessors, the Senecas, with a
glance at the Iroquois — their wars with their own race, and with the French —
their bravery and prowess—invasion of their country by De Nonville.
CHAPTER II. — [Com. page 99.] — Conflicting claims to western New York—In-
dian Treaties—The Lessee Company—The Military Tract.
CHAPTER III.— [Com. page 127.] — The Genesee Country at the period when set-
tlement commenced—-its position in reference to contiguous territory—Condi-
tion of the country generally after the Revolution.
CHAPTER IV.— [Com.page 135.]--Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase of Massachu-
setts— Oliver Phelps, his advent to the Genesee Country, and his treaty with the
Senecas — N athaniel Gorham.
CHAPTER V.— [Com. page 153.]—Jemima Wilkinson—Pioneer events in what is
now Yates County.462
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
PART THIRD.
CHAPTER I.—[Com. page 164.] — Commencement of surveys and settlement of
the Genesee Country — Pioneer events at Canandaigua — Mrs. Sanborn — Judge
Howell — other early Pioneers — Bloomfield — the Adams family — other pioneer
families—Reminiscences of James Sperry—Micah Brooks—West Bloomfield
— Pittstown — Pitt’s family—Other early Pioneers — Reminiscences of Mrs.
Farnum—The CHpmans and Allans—Gorham, Farmington, Manchester—Re-
miniscences of Peleg Redfield—The Mormons — Phelps—Geneva—James
Reese.
CHAPTER II.—[Com. page 240.] — Sale of Phelps and Gorham to Robert Morris
—	Re-sale to English Association — Advent of Charles Williamson—Events at
Williamsburg, Bath, Geneva, Lyons, Sodus, Caledonia, Braddock’s Bay — John
Greig — Robert Troup — Joseph Fellows.
CHAPTER III.— [Com. page 284.] — Indian difficulties—British interference —
Indian councils—Gen. Israel Chapin—Jasper Parrish.
CHAPTER IV. — [Com. page 315.] — Attempt of Gov. Simcoe to break up the set-
tlement at Sodus Bay—British claims to western New York—Wayne’s Victory
—	Surrender of Forts Oswego and Niagara.
CHAPTER V.— [Com. page 324.]—James and William Wadsworth—Horatio and
John H. Jones—The Indian villages on the Genesee River—Early orginization of
the “ District of Geneseo ” — Leicester, Moscow, Mt Morris—Valley of the Can-
ascraga — Dansville—Wm. Fitzhugh—Charles Carroll—Avon — Reminiscen-
ces of George Hosmer— Lima.
CHAPTER VI. — [Com. page 378.] — Pioneer events in what is now Wayne county
—	John Swift — Harwood, Spears, Durfees, Rodgers, other early Pioneers—Wm
Howe Cuyler — Lyons—Dorseys, Van Wickles, Perrine, other early settlers —
Ridge Road — Sodus Bay — Peregrine Fitzhugh — Dr. Lummis.
CHAPTER VII.—[Com. page 403.] — Pioneer events in what is now Monroe—
Peter Shaeffer—Wm. Hencher—Col. Fish—Atchinsons—Braddock’s Bay—
King’s settlement — Brighton—Lusks, Stones, Oliver Culver— Tryon’s Town —
Penfield — Gen. Fassett — Pittsford, Perrinton. [Omission supplied in reference to
Victor, West Bloomfield and Bristol, page 431.}
CHAPTER VIII.— [Com. page 436.]—The Morris Treaty at Big Tree — Cession
of the territory west of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase—Early Printers and
Newspapers.APPENDIX.
[NO. 1.]
EXTRACT FROM MANUSCRIPTS IN THE JESUITS’ COLLEGE AT OUEBEC.
On the 5th of February, 1663, about half past five o’clock in the evening, a great
rushing noise was heard throughout the whole extent of Canada. This noise caused
the people to run out of their houses into the streets, as if their habitations had been
on fire; but, instead of flames or smoke, they were surprised to see the walls reeling
backward and forward, and the stones moving as if they were detached from each
other. The timbers, rafters and planks cracked. The earth trembled violently, and
caused the stakes of the palisades and palings to dance, in a manner that would have
been incredible, had we not actually seen it in many places. It was at this moment
every one ran out of doors. Then were to be seen animals flying in every direction;
children crying and screaming in the streets; men and women, seized with affright,
stood horror-struck with the dreadful scene before them, unable to move, and ignor-
ant where to fly for refuge from the tottering walls and trembling earth, which threat-
ened eveiy instant to crush them to death, or sink them into a profound and immeas-
urable abyss. Some threw themselves on their knees in the snow, crossing their breasts,
and calling on their saints to relieve them from the danger with which they were sur-
rounded. Others passed the rest of this dreadful night in prayer; for the earthquake
ceased not, but continued at short intervals, with a certain undulating impulse, resem-
bling the waves of the ocean; and the same qualmish sensations, or sickness at the
stomach, was felt during the shocks, as is experienced in a vessel at sea.
“ The violence of the earthquake was greatest in the forest, where it appeared as if
there was a battle raging between the trees ; for not only their branches were destroy-
ed, but even their trunks are said to have been detached from their places, and dashed
against each other with inconceivable violence and confusion — so much so, that the
Indians, in their figurative manner of speaking, declared that all the forests were drunk.
The war also seemed to be carried on between the mountains, some of which were
torn from their beds and thrown upon others, leaving immense chasms, in the places
from whence they had issued, and the veiy trees with which they were covered, sunk
down, leaving only their tops above the surface of the earth; others were completely
overturned, their branches buried in the earth, and the roots only remained above
ground. During this general wreck of nature, the ice upward of six feet thick,
was rent and thrown up in large pieces, and from the openings in many parts
there isued thick clouds of smoke, or fountains of dirt and sand, which spouted up to
a very considerable height. The springs were either choked up, or impregnated with
sulphur; many rivers were totally lost; others were diverted fr«m their courses, and464
APPENDIX.
their waters entirely corrupted. Some of them became yellow, others red, and the
great river of the St. Lawrence appeared entirely white, as far down as Tadoussac
This extraordinary phenomena, must astonish those who knew the size of the river
and the immense body of waters in various parts, which must have required such
abundance of matter to whiten it. They write from Montreal, that during the earth-
quake, they plainly saw the stakes of the picketing or palisades, jump up as if they
had been dancing; and that of two doors in the same room, one opened and the
other shut of their own accord; that the chimneys and tops of the houses, bent like
branches of the trees agitated with the wind; that when they went to walk, they felt
the earth following them, and rising at every step they took, something sticking
against the soles of their feet, and other things in a very forcible and surprising man-
ner.”
“ From Three Rivers they write that the first shock was the most violent, and com-
menced with a noise resembling thunder. The houses weie agitated in the same man-
ner as the tops of tre°s during a tempest, with a noise as if fire was cracking in the
garrets. The shock lasted half an hour, or rather better, though its greatest force was
properly not more than a quarter of an hour, and we believe there was not a single
shock, which did not cause the earth to open more or less.
“As for the rest, we have remarked that, though this earthquake continued almost
without intermission, yet it was not always of an equal violence. Sometimes it was
like the pitching of a large vessel which dragged heavily at her anchors, and it was
this motion which caused many to have giddiness in their he^ds, and a qualmishness
in their stomachs. At other times the motion was hurried and irregular, creating sud-
den jerks, some of which were extremely violent; but the most common, was a slight,
tremulous motion, which occurred frequently with little noise. Many of the French
inhabitants, and Indians, who were eye-witnesses to the scene, state that a great way
up the river of Trois Rivieres, about eighteen miles below Quebec, the hills which bor-
dered the river on either side, and which were of a prodigious height, were tom from
their foundations, and plunged into the river, causing it to change its course, and
spread itself over a large tract of land recently cleared ; the broken earth mixed with
the waters, and for several months changed the color of the great river St. Lawrence,
into which that of Trois Riviers disemboques itself. In the course of this violent con-
vulsion of nature, lakes appeared where none ever existed before; mountains were
overthrown, swallowed up by the gaping, or precipitated into adjacent rivers, leaving
in their places frightful chasms or level plains ; falls and rapids were changed into
gentle streams, and gentle streams into falls and rapids. Rivers in many parts of the
country sought other beds, or*totally disappeared. The earth and mountains were
entirely split and rent in innumerable places, creating chasms and precipices, whose
depths have never yet been ascertained. Such devastation was also occasioned in the
woods, that more than a thousand acres in one neighborhood were completely over-
turned ; and where, but a short time before, nothing met the eye but an immense forest
of trees, now were to be seen extensive cleared lands, apparently cut up by the plough.
At Tadoussac, (about 150 miles below Quebec, on the north side,) the effect of the
earthquake was not less violent than in other places; and such a heavy shower of vol-
canic ashes fell in that.neighborhood, particularly in the river St. Lawrence, that the
water was as violently agitated as during a tempest. The Indians say that a vast
volcano exists in Labrador. Near St. Paul’s Bay (about fifty miles below Quebec
on the north side,) a mountain, about a quarter of a league in circumference, situated
on the shore of the St. Lawrence, was precipitated into the river, but as if it had onlyAPPENDIX.
465
made a plunge, it rose from tlie bottom and became a small island, forming with the
shore a convenient harbor, well sheltered from all winds. Lower ;down the river,
toward Point Alouettes, an entire forest of considerable extent, was loosened from the
main bank and slid into the river St. Lawrence, where the trees took fresh rqpt. There
are three circumstances, however, which have rendered this extraordinary earthquake
particularly remarkable : — The first is its duration, it having continued from February
to August, that is to say, more than six months almost without intermission. It is
true, the shocks were not always equally violent. In several places, as toward the
mountains behind Quebec, the thundering noise and trembling motion continued suc-
cessively for a considerable time. In others, as toward Tadoussac, the shock contin-
ued generally for two or three days at a time, with much violence.
The second circumstance relates to the extent of this earthquake, which we believe,
was universal throughout the whole of New France, for we learn that it was felt from
L5Isle Perce and Gaspe, which are situated at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to be-
yond Montreal; as also in New England, Arcadia, and other places more remote. As
far as it has come to our knowledge, this earthquake extended more than 600 miles in
length, and about 300 in breadth. Hence, 180,000 square miles of land were convul-
sed in the same day, and at the same moment.
The third circumstance, which appears the most remarkable of all, regards the ex-
traordinary protection of Divine Providence, which has been extended to us and our
habitations; for we have seen near us the large openings and chasms which the earth-
quake occasioned, and the prodigious extent of country which has been either totally
lost or hideously convulsed, without our loosing either man, woman, or child, or even
having a hair of their head touched.5 *
[NO. 2.]
DE NONVILLE’s INVASION OF THE GENESEE COUNTBY.
Succeeding M. de la Barre, the Governor, De Nonville, had immediately commenced
peace negotiations with the Senecas; at times there seemed every prospect of a favora-
ble issue; but the English Governor, Dongan, was evidently throwing every obstacle
in the way of peace. Had he been otherwise disposed, a powerful influence was
brought to bear upon him : The English traders had approached the productive hunt-
ing grounds of Western New York ; and were stimulated by the prospect of gain which
they afforded ; and this region was their only practicable avenue of approach to the
still more extensive field of Indian trade around the borders of the western Lakes.
The mercenary views of the English traders predominated over any regard for the
peace of their colony. The sale of poor English brandy to the Indians, and the ac-
quisition of rich packs of beaver were considerations with them paramount to those which
involved questions of peace or war between France and England. They of course
were not the peace counsellors of Gov. Dongan.
France and De Nonville had a faithful helper, in the person of the Jesuit Father
Lamberville, who had been for sixteen years located as a missionary, at Onondaga,
the central canton of the Iroquois. He had, not unworthily, acquired great influence,
and he exercised it in favor of peace. He had perseveringly endeavored to prevent
the introduction of spiritous liquors among the Indians ; had foretold its consequences,
and in all things else had proved their friend. Pending the visit of M. de la Barre to466
APPENDIX.
the south shore of Lake Ontario, he had exerted himself to procure a conference be-
tween the French and all the Iroquois nations ; and in order to remove every obstacle,
had opened a friendly correspondence with Gov. Dongan, to induce him to be on the
side of peace. " Let your zeal,” he wrote, " for the public peace, and especially for
the Christians of this America, induce you to put a finishing hand to this good
work. Since peace, through your cate, will apparently last, we shall continue to-carry
the Christian faith through this country, and to solicit the Indians, whom you honor
with your friendship, to embrace it, as you yourselves embrace it, for this is the sole
object that has caused us to come here ; that the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for all
men, may be useful to them, and that his glory may be great throughout the earth.”
The good missionary requests the Governor to send his answer by Garakontie, an
Onondaga, whom he will meet at Albany ; and he exhorts him " to have a little care
for Garakontie,” to recommend him "not to get drunk any more, as he promised when
he was baptised, and to perform the duties of a Christian.”
On the advent of De Nonville, Father Lamberville seconded all his efforts for
peace, though as duty to his country dictated, he at the same time kept the Governor
informed of all the English were doing to prejudice the Iroquois against the French.
The winter of 1685, ’6, wore away, the French shut up at Montreal, and at their
advanced posts, and the English, not venturing much beyond the Hudson. Little
could be done in the winter in the way of peace negotiations, war, or trade, as the
navigable waters, the only means of communication, were principally closed with ice.
In May, He Nonville informed his government,that there had been seen on Lake Erie,
ten English canoes, laden with merchandise, in which were some French deserters; and
mentions that he had sent a small force to Niagara to intercept them on their return.
He gives a minute topographical description of Niagara; describes its command-
ing position; and recommends the erection of a fort there, as the most effectual means
of preventing English encroachments at the west; and he is of the opinion that if
the Senecas should see a fort planted there, they would be more pliant.” He informs
the government that he has assumed the responsibility of sending an engineer and
draughtsman to Niagara, to locate the Fort, and make the necessary drawings.”* The
expense attending the getting of military stores and provisions to Kingston, is men-
tioned as a serious drawback to his operations, it costing not less than "110 liVres
from Ville Marie, on the Island of Montreal, to Catarokouy, per 1000 lbs.”
Soon after this dispatch had been forwarded to France, De Nonville received a letter
from the English Governor, abounding in professions of friendship, and a disposition
to preserve peace between the two nations ; laments that the Indians had dealt harshly
with two Jesuit Missionaries ; and thinks it " a thousand pitties that those who made
ouch progress in the service of God, should be disturbed; and that by the fault of
those who laid the foundation of Christianity amonst those barbarous people.” In
this letter, however, the English Governor distinctly asserts the right of English do-
minion, all along the south shores of Lake Ontario, and up to the eastern banks of
* This is. undoubtedly the incipient step to the occupation of the site of Fort Niag-
ara. In his History of the Holland Purchase, the author has assumed that La Salle
erected a trading post there; but better information leads him to the conclusion that
this was an error.
Note.—The reader will bear in mind, that up to this period of colonization in
America, the question of right, as to jurisdiction and dominion, was but illy defined.
Boundaries were but imaginary, no surveyor’s compass having marked them ; no
* stakes or stones” had been set up. The French churned dominion and pre-emptiveAPPENDIX.
m
the Niagara River, complains of the gatheringof stores at “ Cataraqui,” (Kingston,)
as it is evidence of intention to war upon the Iroquois, who, it is assumed are the
king of England’s subjects, and protests against the intentions of the French to build
a ffort at a place called Ohnigero, on this side of the Lake, within my master’s ter-
ritory es.”
Other correspondence transpired between the Governors of the rival colonists, and
both kept their governments informed of all that was going on in this portion of the
new world. The diplomacy of the Governors, was marked throughout with insincer-
ity ; they mutually concealed from each other their real intentions. Gov. Dongan
occasionally falls into a vein of flattery : —. On one occasion he expresses his “ high
satisfaction that the King of France has sent him so good a neighbor, of so excellent
qualifications and temper, and of a humor altogether different from Monsieur La Barre,
who was so furious and hasty, very much addicted to great words, as if it had bin to
have bin frightened by him.” De Nonville aware that Gov. Dongan was a Catholic,
takes good care to often impress him with the idea, that all that he is doing has refer-
ence to “the glory of God, and the propagation of the Christian faith.” Suddenly
however, his tone changed, and he charged the English Governor with inciting the
Indians to murder Frenchmen upon their own territory; of being privy to the “ mar-
tyrdom of holy missionaries ; ” of having sent an English expedilion to Mishillima-
quina.” “ Think you,” says he, “that religion will progress, whilst your merchants
supply as they do, Eaudc vci in abundance, which converts the savages into demons,
and their wigwams into counterparts and theatres of hell.” He charges in addition,
that the English have “harbored and protected French runaways, bankrupts and
thieves.”
De Nonville informed his King of English encroachments upon French teftitory;
of their expeditions to the "West; of their holding councils with the Iroquois, and es-
pecially the Senecas ; of their arming and inciting them to war upon the French;
and ooncluds with the opinion, that there can be no success for the French Mission-
aries or Traders, until the Senecas are humbled; and for this purpose he demands a
large reinforcement from France. The King assured him that his demands should be
complied with, and recommends prompt offensive measures.
Much othei correspondence passed between De Nonville and his government, and
between the two Governors, which is not material to an understanding of events that
followed.
right over all the lands of the Indians, among whom their missionaries and traders had
gained a foothold. By this tenure they were, at the period upon which we are now dwell-
ing, claiming the whole valley of the Western Lakes, and of the Mississippiover
into Texas and New Mexico, by reason of the advent of La Salle ; and all of what is
now New York, as low down as the eastern bounds of Oneida county. The taking
possession by formal proclamation, in the name of their king, was first done by De
Nonville, in what is now Ontario county; and repeated at Niagara. The English
claimed upon similar tenure, beyond where they had obtained possession by treaty.
When the issue was pending between De Nonville and the English Governor, the Eng-
lish had not been occupants, in any form, of any portion of western New York.
The French had missionary and trading stations as low down as the Oneida castle.
The English had, to be sure, performed the ceremony of sending agents to all the Iro-
quois villages, to erect poles,upon which were flags bearing the arms of their nation; but
the act was so ludicrous as to excite the contempt of the natives, who generally tore
them down, for the Iroquois acknowledged no sovereignty of either France or England,
over them.*
* We are free !” said Garrangula to de la Barre; —“ We were bom freemen, and have
no dependence on Yonnondio,” (the French Governor,) “ or Corlear,” (the English
Governor.)468
APPENDIX.
In June, 1687, the recruits having arrived from France, the French army moved up
the St. Lawrence, and occupied the Fort at “ Cataracouy.” The premeditated invasion
of the Seneca country, was preceded by an act of treachery and perfidy, which has
few parallels in history. The French Governor persuaded the good missionary, Lam-
berville, who was intent only upon peace, the service of his King, and the success of
his mission, to take a large delegation of Indians to his head quarters, under the pre-
tence of holding a peace council, and reconciling all difficulties. When they were
shut up within the fort, and completely in his power, he ordered fifty of them to be
put in irons, conveyed to Quebec, and from thence to the galleys in France ! His ob-
ject, as will be inferred, was to hold them as hostages, to give him advantage in making
overtures of peace; but he sadly misjudged the effect. The news of the treachery
reaching the Oneidas, a French Missionary was seized and led to the stake, and was
only saved by the intervention of a squaw, who claimed the right to adopt him as
her son. At Onondaga, the Missionary Lamberville, was summoned before a council
of chiefs, and while anticipating that his life had been forfeited by the part he had
taken in the affair, a chief arose and addressed him thus: — “ Thou art now our ene-
my—r thou and thy race. But we have held counsel and cannot resolve to treat thee
as an enemy. We know thy heart had no share in this treason, though thou wert its
tool. We are not unjust; we will not punish thee, being innocent and hating the
crime as much as ourselves. But depart from among us; there are some who might
seek thy blood; and when our young men sing their war song, we may no longer be
enabled to protect thee.” Lamberville was furnished with an escort, who conducted
him to the French upon the St. Lawrence.
Previous to his arrival at Cataracouy, He Nonville had sent presents to the western
nations at war with the Iroquois, their ancient enemies, who were in alliance with the
French, and had given orders to the commandants of the western posts to collect
them, and repair with them and their respective commands to Niagara, and from thence
to “ Ga-ni-en-tar-a-quet,” (Irondequoit.) There were at this period, French posts
at Mackinaw, upon Lakes Superior and Michigan; Upon the Wisconsin, the Illinois
and the Mississippi rivers; and never had a King or a country more devoted or faith-
ful subjects, than were the commandants of these far off posts, dotted down, hundreds
of miles apart, in the wilderness. Chief among them was Tonti, whom De Nonville
had named to the King, as "a lad of great enterprise and boldness, who undertakes
considerable.” Tonti, it will have been observed, had been the companion of La
Salle in the primitive advent over the waters of Lake Erie. Left by his principal,
with a handful of men at the “Fort of the Illinese,” (Illinois,) he had successfully
defended it against the assults of the Indians. He was with de la Barre, in his expe-
dition to the south shore of Lake Ontario; and returning to Illinois, he had been in
search of the adventurous La Salle, to the Gulf of Mexico. Under him the western
forces were marshalled.
By a remarkable coincidence, the army under De Nonville, and the western French
and Indians arrived at Irondequoit on the same day,—the 10th of July. Pushing
directly across the Lake from Cataracouy, to “ La Famine Bay,” the main army had
coasted by slow stages, encamping on shore when night overtook them. Their last
and most considerable halt being upon the present site of Pulteneyville, in Wayne co.*
* From this period this became a prominent stopping place for French battauxmen,
and after them for the English Lake coasters. The species of apple tree which the
Freneh introduced in this region, was growing there, ana there was the remains of an
old log building, when white settlement commenced. The place was known as “Ap-
pleboon,” before its present name was conferred*APPENDIX.
469
The western division of the army came down from Niagara by land, pursuing the
Indian trail upon the lake shore. Entering the Bay of Irondequoit with two hundred
batteaux, and as many canoes. De Nonville erected a palisade fort upon an eleva-
ted site, in which to station a small force for the protection of his water craft and
military stores. “Never had Oanadaseen and never perhaps will it see, a similar spec-
tacle. A camp composed of one fourth regular troops, with the General’s suit; one
fourth habitans,* in four battallions, with the gentry of the country; one fourth Chris-
tian Indians ; and finally a crowd of all the barbarous nations, naked, tattooed, and
painted over the body with all sorts of figures, wearing horns on their heads, t queues
down their backs, and armed with arrows. We could hear during the night a multi-
tude of languages, and songs and dances in every tongue. The “ Tsonnontouans,”
(Senecas,) came to reconnoitre us, and then went to burn their villages and take to
flight. The advanced guard was 300 Christian Indians; the Pagan savages on the
left with three companies, 100 Ottawas, 300 Poux, (Sioux,) 100 Illinois, 50 Hurons,
Then came the main body of four battallions of regulars and four of militia; the one
headed by De Nonville, and the other by M. Duque.”
In the mean time the Senecas had not been idle. They were cognizant of the
gathering of troops and provisions at Cataracouy—had seen the formidable armament
push across the Lake; squads of them concealed in the thick woods, had watched the
progress of the French along the shores of the Lake; and their swift runners had.
kept all the villages advised of their movements. Preparations had been made for
the crisis: —The old and infirm, and the extreme youth, had been sent to places of
safety; all else, without regard to sex, had been marshalled for the approaching com-
bat. A party of an hundred, approached the French in canoes, before they had dis-
embarked, and hailed them in a friendly manner; to which, as they reported, the
French “replied in base language :—Enustogan horrio, squa; which is as much in
their language, as the devil take you!” Another scouting party approached the
French, and received quite as uncivil an answer; whereupon they went back and re-
ported to the sachems, that to fight was the only alternative.
Various accounts of the battle that ensued, have been preserved : — There are De
Nonville’s official report; La Hontan’s account; the English account derived from
the Indians; and that of L’Abbe de Belmont, in a manuscript, “ History of Canada,”
recently discovered in the Boyal Library of Paris. The author would seem to have
been an eye witness, and he has faithfully, as is evident, recorded the event:
“ The march was a little hurried. The weary troops were dying with thirst. The
day was hot. The two bodies found themselves at too great distance from each other.
The scouts too were deceived; for having come to the desserts, (barrens or plains,) they
found five or six women who were going round in the fields. This was a lure of the
Senecas to make them believe that they were all in the village.
“ The territory of Ganesara is very hilly ; the village is upon a high hill, which is
surrounded by three little hills or terraces, at the foot of a valley, and opposite some other
hills, between which passes a large brook, which, in a little valley makes a little marsh,
covered with alders. This is the place which they selected for their ambuscade. They
VicTor
H.Y/
* French militia.
f This might be seen among the Seneca warriors as late as the war of 1812. It is
common now among the Indians of the remote west. Directly upon the crown of the
head a tuft of hair is bound, and trained to stand upright, terminating in a loose tuft
or tasselv-jfaiV
Vi
470	APPENDIX.
divided themselves, posted 300 men along the falling brook between two hills, in a
great thicket of beech trees; and 500 at the bottom of these hills, in a marsh, among
the alders ; with the idea that the first ambuscade of 300 men should let the arm y pass
and then attack them in the rear, which would force it to fall into the second ambus-
cade which was concealed at the bottom of the hills in the marsh. They deceived
themselves nevertheless, for as the advanced guard which M de Calliers commanded,
was very distant from the body under the command of the Marquis, they believed it
was the entire army. Accordingly as the advanced guard passed near the thicket of
beeches, after making a terrible whoop, (sakaqua !) they fired a volley.
“ The Ottawas and the heathen Indians all fled. The Christian Indians of the
mountain and the Sault, and the Abenaquis held fast and gave two vollies.
“The Marquis De Nonville advanced with the main body, composed of the royal
troops, to occupy the height of the hill, where there was a little fort of piquets; but
the terror and disorder of the surprise were such, that there was only M. de Calzenne^
who distinguished himself there, and M. Duque who bringing up the rear guard, rallied
the battallion of Berthier, which was in flight, and being at the head of that of Mon-
treal, fired two hundred shots. The Marquis, en chemise, sword in hand drew up the
main body in battle order, and beat the drum at a time when scarcely any one was
to be seen. This frightened the 300 Tsonnonouans of the ambuscade, who fled from
above towards the 500 that were ambushed below. The fear that all the world was
upon them, made them fly with so much precipitation that they left their blankets in
a heap and nothing more was seen of them.
“ A council was held. It was resolved, as it was late, to sleep on the field of battle for
camp. One who was still alive said there were 800 of them; 300 above, and 500
below ; and that the G-oyogoaians, (Cayugas,) were to come the next day, which was
the reason that they staid where they were. There were found at several places during
the succeeding days, provisions, and some other dead savages; or if not dead, our men
killed them.”
“On the morrow we marched in battle order, wating for an attack. "We descended
the hill by a little sloping valley, or gorge, through which ran a brook bordered with
thick bushes, and which discharges itself at the foot of a hill, in a marsh full of deep
mud, but planted with alders so thick that one could scarcely see. There it was that
they had stationed their two ambuscades, and where perhaps we would have been de-
feated, if they had not mistaken our advanced guards for the whole army, and been
so hasty in firing. The'Marquis acted very prudently in not pursuing them, for it was
a trick of the Iroquois to draw us into a greater ambuscade. The marsh which is
about twenty acres, (aopens,) being passed, we found about three hundred wretched
blankets; several miserable guns, and began to perceive the famous Babylon of the Tson-
nontouans; a city, or village of bark, situate at the top of a mountain of earth, to
which one rises by three terraces, or hills. It appeared to us from a distance, to be
crowned with round towers, but these were only large chests, (drums) of bark, about
four feet in length, set the one in the other about five feet in diameter, in which they
keep their Indian corn. The village had been burnt by themselves; it was now
eight days since; we found nothing in the town except the cemetery and grave. It
was filled with snakes and animals, there was a great mask with teeth and eyes of
brass; and a bear skin with which they disguise in their cabins. There were in the
four corners, great boxes of grain which they had not burned. They had outside
this post, their Indian com in a piquet fort at the top of a little mountain, steps or cut
down on all sides, where it was knee high throughout the fort.”APPENDIX.
471
“ The Tsonnontouans have four large villages, which they change every ten years, in
order to bring themselves near the woods, and permit them to grow lip again. They
call them Gagnsaea, Tohaiton, which are the two larger; Onnntague, and Onnenatu
which are smaller. In the last dwells Ganonkitahoui, the principal chief. We cut the
standing grain already ripe enough to eat, and burned the old. It was estimated that
we burnt one hundred thousand minots of old grain, and a hundred and fifty thousand
minots of that standing in the field, besides the beans, and the hogs that we killed.
Sixty persons died of wounds received in the battle, a multitude perished of want ,*
many of them fled beyond the great mountains of Onnontague, and went to dwell in
the countryppf the Andastoez. The greater part of their captives dispersed, and
Since that time the Tsonnontouan, (Seneca) nation, which counted at least eight or
nine hundred warriors, and ten thousand souls in all, has been reduced to half that
number.
“ From here, against the expectations of our Indians, who believed we were going
among the Iroquois cantons, we went to establish a Fort at Onnigara, [Niagara,] where
we arrived after three days’journey.”
The official account of De Nonville, does not differ materially from that of the L
Abbe de Belmont. He says the French loss was but “ five or six men killed and
twenty wounded.” He says : — "We witnessed the painful sight of the usual cruel-
ties of the savages, who cut the dead into quarters, as in slaughter houses, in order to put
them into the pot. The greater number were opened while still warm, that their blood
might be drank. Our rascally Ottowas distinguished themselves particularly by these
barbarities, and by their cowardice, for they withdrew from the combat; the Hurons of
Michilimaquina did very well, but our Christian Indians surpassed all, and performed
deeds of valor, especially our Iroquois, of whom we durst not make sure, having to fight
against their relatives.” He is quite as extravagant as de Belmont, in his estimate of the
amount of com destroyed.* The estimate of either is incredible; it was a new kind of war
for the Marquis, and not much to his taste. He says to the Minister of War : — “ It is
an unfortunate trade, my lord, to command savages, who, after the first broken head, ask
to return home, carrying home with them the scalps which they lift off like a leather
cap; you cannot conceive the terrible efforts I had to retain"them until the com was cut.
It is full thirty years since I have had the honor to serve, but I assure you, my lord,
that I have seen nothing that comes near this m labor and fatigue.
Baron La Hontan accompanied the expedition, as he was much disposed to tell the
truth upon all occasions^ his version of the general features of the battle is entitled to
credit. He insists that the ambuscade was very successful, throwing the French into
general disorder, and panic from which they were only relieved by a fierce assault
of their allies, the western Indians, upon the assailants. He says the loss was that of
ten of their Indian allies, and a hundred Frenchmen. " Six days we were occupied
in cutting down Indian com with our swords. We found in all the villages horses, 1
cattle, and a multitude of swine.”
The western Indians were much chagrined at the result of the expedition. They
had come down to join De Nonville, in the hope that their ancient implacable ene-
mies, the Iroquois, were to be exterminated, when they found that the French intended
to retreat without visiting the other Iroquois cantons, they complained bitterly, and
indirectly taunted them with cowardice. They spoke in contemptuous language of
an expedition assembled at so much expense and trouble, “ to burn bark cabins, which
could be rebuilt in four days,” and destroy corn, the loss of which their confederate®
* A minot is equal to three bushels.472
APPENDIX
in their abundance, could easily supply. Many of them departed for home in disgust
Those that went with the French to Niagara, were only appeased by the promise that
the war should be renewed.
Before leaving the Seneca country, De Nonville took formal possession of it in the
name of his king, making a pompous proclamation, in which he enumerates the villages
of Ga-os-saeh-gwa, (upon Boughton Hill,) Ga-no-garrae, (near where the old Indian
trail crossed the Ganargwa, in East Bloomfield,) De-yu-di-haak-do, (at the north-east
bend of the Honeoye outlet, near West Mendon,) Dy-u-don-set, (about two miles
south-east of Avon.) The proclamation, act of possession, or “ process verbal,” says
that the* French [army “ have vanquished and put to flight eight hundre^ Iroquois
Tsonnontouans, and have laid waste, burnt, and destroed their cabins.” W
Subsequently there has appeared the careful and distinct account of the battle given
by the L. Abbe de Belmont, a larger portion of which is given in preceding pagea
Guided by that and Mr. Marshall’s pamphlet, the author has made some personal
investigations which leads him to the conclusion that the army of De Nonville landed
on the east side of IrondequoitBay,at what has been known as the old “Indian Land-
ing,” and pursued the old Indian trail, passed the head of the Bay, and the branch trail
which bore off a little east of Pittsford village, and over the ridge of highlands, descend-
ing to Victor flats over the now farm of Wm. 0. and Truman Dryer, near the present
Pittsford road.
With the different authentic accounts of the battle which we now have, the antiqua-
rian, or historical reader, will have no difficulty in identifying upon Victor Flats, Bough-
ton Hill, and Fort Hill, the entire battle grounds. There are the places of the two
ambuscades, the site of the “ Babylon of the Tosnnontouans,” the “ high hill surrounded
by three little hills or terraces, at the foot of a valley, and opposite some other hills
and indeed, many things, evidences of identity that are conclusive. In early years of
settlement, Brant was a guest of Jared and Enos Boughton. He traced out the site of the
ancient Indian village, and the old French battle ground, and stated that his grand-
father, who was of the Iroquois that had settled under French protection, upon the St.
Lawrence, was the pilot of De Nonville’s army.
Relics of the battle and of temporary French occupancy, were numerous in the
early years of settlement, such as “ bill axes,” gun barrels, and trimmings, a silver cross
and silver coins. As late as 1848, two five frank pieces were ploughed up on the hill
north of Boughton Hill. A little east of the Pittsford road, near the old Indian trail,
on the farm of Asahel Boughton, there was ploughed up a few years ago, a half bushel
Note.—The precise location of the battle ground of De Nonville and the Senecas,
has been a mooted question. Mr. Hosmer has favored the conclusion that it was in
Avon, near one of the tributaries of the Honeoye. Mr. James Sperry, of Henrietta, an
early pioneer, a man of observation, as the reader will already have observed, inclines
to the opinion that it was on the farm of Nathan Waldron, in the north-east comei
of East Bloomfield. A few years since, 0. H. Marshall, of Buffalo, a close and care-
ful investigator — an intelligent antiquarian, to whom our whole local region is far
more indebted for early Indian and French History, than he has had credit for-—trans-
lated from the French, the Journal of De Nonville, for the use of the New York His-
torical Society, and to illustrate his subject, made a tour of observation. He located
the battle ground in Victor, traced and mapped the several localities alluded to in De
Nonville and La Hontan’s account of the battle; and left little room to doubt the
correctness of his conclusions. He wag assisted in his investigations by Jacob Lob-
dell and Wm. C. Dryer. Exhibiting a map of the region to the venerable and intel-
gent Seneca chief, Blacksmith, at Tonawanda, he traced it with his finger, and located
the battle ground as Mr. Marshall had.APPENDIX.
473
of iron balls, about the size of musket balls. In the early years of settlement in Victor,
the most of the iron the settlers used, was the old French axes the plough would
expose.
But the inquiry arises, if the battle ground of De Nonville and the Senecas was in
Victor, how are the relics on the “ Waldron farm,” the “ Ball farm,” in Avon, to be
accounted for? The inquiry might also include the relics of French warfare, and
French occupancy, in Aurora, and Eden, Erie county, spoken of in the history of the Hol-
land Purchase. The answer maybe that our history of French occupancy of the whole
Genesee country, is as yet imperfect, but a small part of the Jesuit, Recollet and Fran-
ciscan “Relations,” during the occupancy of more than a century has as yet been dis-
covered, unless the recent discoveries among the archives of the Jesuits in Montreal,
and by Mr, Cass our minister at Rome, has supplied the deficiency.
[NO. 3.]
[extract from his excellency, gen. Washington’s orders.]
“Head Quarters, More’s House, Oct. 17, 1779.
“ The Commander-in-Chief, has now the pleasure of congratulating the army on the
complete and full success of Maj, Gen, Sullivan, and the troops under his command,
against the Seneca and other tribes of the Six Nations, as a just and necessary punishment
for their wanton depredations, their unparalleled and innumerable cruelties, their deafness
to all remonstrances and entreaty, and their perseverance in the most horrid acts of
barbarity. Forty of their towns have been reduced to ashes, some of them large and
commodious*; that of the Genesee alone, containing one hundred and twenty-eight
houses. Their crops of com have been entirely destroyed,—which, by estimation, it
it is said, would have provided 160,000 bushels, besides large quantities of vegetables
of various kinds. Their whole country has been over-run and laid waste: and they
themselves compelled to place their security in a precipitate flight to the British for-
tress at Niagara;—and the whole of this has been done with the loss of less than forty
men on our part, including the killed, wounded, captured, and those who died natural
deaths. The troops employed in this expedition, both officers and men, throughout the
whole of it, and in the action they had with the enemy, manifested a patience, perse-
verance, and valor that do them the highest honor, In the course of it, when there still
remained a large extent of the enemy’s country to be prostrated, it became necessary
to lessen the issues of provisions to half the usual allowance. In this the troops acqui-
esced with a most general and cheerful concurrence, being fully determined to sur-
mount every obstacle, and to prosecute the enterprise to a complete and successful
issue. Maj. Gen. Sullivan, for his great perseverance and activity ; for his order of
march and attack, and the whole of his dispositions; the Brigadiers and officers of all
ranks, and the whole of the soldiers engaged in the expedition, merit, and have the
Commander-in-chief’s warmest acknowledgements, for their important services upon
this occasion.”
As nothing has been said of Col. Brodhead’s campaign, it may be proper to state
that on the 22d of March, 1779; Washington ordered him to make the necessary pre-
parations for an expedition against Detroit, to throw a detachment forward to Kittan-
ing, and another beyond to Venango, at the same time preserving the strictest secrecy
as to his ultimate object. Though this expedition was soon found impracticable and
abandoned, preparations were immediately made for the one, which was actually un-474
APPENDIX.
dertaken against the Indians at the head of the Allegany River, French Creek, and
other tributaries of the Ohio. On the 11th of August, 1779, with about six hundred
men, including militia and volunteers, and one month’s provisions, Col. Daniel Brod-
head left Fort Pitt and began his march to the Indian country. The result was an-
nounced by Gen. Washington to his army at West Point:—
[Extractfrom General Orders.]
“ Head Quarters, More’s House, Oct. 18th, 1779.
“ The Commander-in-Chief is happy in the opportunity of congratulating the army
on our further success, by advices just arrived. Col. Brodhead, with the Continental troops
under his command, and a body of militia and volunteers, has penetrated about one
hundred and eighty miles into the Indian country, on the Allegany river, burnt ten
of the Muncey and Seneca towns in that quarter, containing one hundred and sixty-
five houses; destroyed all their fields of com, computing to comprehend five hundred
acres, besides large quantities of vegetables ; obliging the savages to flee before him
with the greatest precipitation, and to leave behind them many skins and other articles
of value. The only opposition the savages ventured to give our troops, on this occasion,
was near Cu^kusking. About forty of their warriors, on their way to commit barbarities
on our frontier settlers, were met here. Lieut. Harden, of the 8th Pennsylvania regi-
ment, at the head of one of our advance parties;,composed of thirteen men, of whom
eight were of our friends the Delaware nation, who immediately attacked the savages
and put them to the rout, with the loss of five killed on the spot, and of all then* canoes,
Blankets, shirts, and provisions, of which, as is usual for them when going into action*
they had divested themselves ; and also of several arms. Two of our men and one of
our Indian friends were v§ry slightly wounded in the action, which was all the dam-
age we sustained in the whole enterprise.
"The activity, perseverance, and firmness, which marked the conduct of CoL Brod-
heao, and that of all the officers and men, of every description, in this expedition, do
them great honor, and their services justly entitle them to the thanks, and to this tes-
timonial of the General’s acknowledgment.”
In a letter dated "West Point, 20th October, 1779,” addressed to the Marquis de
La Fayette, Gen. Washirgtpn incidentally alludes to these two campaigns, and their
probable effects upon the Indians. He informs Gen. La Fyette as news that may be
interesting to him, that —
" Gen. Sullivan has completed the entire destruction of the country of the Six Nations;
driven all their inhabitants, men, women, and children, out of it; and is at Easton on his
return to join this army, with the troops under his command. He performed this service
without losing forty men, either by the enemy or by sickness. While the Six Nations
were under this rod of correction,, the Mingo, and Muncey tribes, living on the Allegany,
French creek, and other waters of the Ohio, above Fort Pitt, met with similar chastise-
ment from CoL Brodhead, who, with six hundred men, advanced upon them at the
same instant, and laid waste their country. These unexpected and severe strokes have
disconcerted, humbled, and distressed the Indians exceedingly ; and will, I am persua-
ded, be productive of great good, as they are undeniable proofe to them, that Great
Britain cannot protect them whenever their hostile conduct deserves it.”—Writings of
Washington, Vol, vi, p. 384.APPENDIX.
475
[NO. 4.]
PETER OTSEQUETTE.
[FROM MANUSCRIPTS OF THOMAS MORRIS.]
At this treaty also, I became intimate with Peter Otsequette, who when a boy, was
taken to France, by the Marquis de La Fayette. He remained with the Marquis seven
years; he received while with him, a very finished education. Having received the
early part of my own education in France, and being well acquainted with the French
-language,. I would frequently retire with Peter, into tie woods, and hear him recite
some of the finest pieces of French poetry from the tragedies of Corneille and Racine.
Peter was an Oneida Indian, he had not been many months restored to his nation, and
yet he would drink raw rum out of a brass kettle, take as much delight in yelling
and whooping, as any Indian; and in fact, became as vile a drunkard as the worst of
them.
[NO. 5.]
HENDRICK WEMPLE.
[from manuscripts cf w. h. c. hosmer.]
He was the father of Mrs. Maria Berry, wife of the late Gilbert R. Berry, a pioneer
Indian trader, and settler in the valley of the Genesee. In advance of civilization,
this remarkable man, frequently visited the Indian villages of western New York—
amd sometimes extended his joumies by water, in a birch canoe, manned by Indians, to
Detroit, and thence to Mackinaw and the Straits of St. Mary’s. His place of resi-
dence was near Caughnawaga, on the Mohawk, at the breaking out of hostilities. He
afterwards removed to the Oneida Castle.
John Scott Quackenboss, a kinsman, and who knew him in his boyhood, describes
him as a man of majestic proportions, more than six feet in height, and endowed by
nature with great personal strength and agility. His influence was great among the
Oneidas and Mohawks, being familiar with their customs, and their superior in all ath-
letic sports. He accompanied, by special invitation, General Herkimer and party, in
their perilous expedition to Unadilla in 1777, and acted as interpreter at an interview
between Brant and the gallant old German, on that occasion. He was also interpre-
ter for Sullivan, and in that capacity served in the great Indian campaign of 1779,
accompanying the army in their march through a howling wilderness, and hostile
country, to the valley of the Genesee, where his daughter and son-in law subsequent-
ly settled and died. My informant, Mr. Scott, of Mohawk, in Montgomery county,
alluded particularly to his skill as a marksman, having been his companion in many a
hunt. He also spoke with great fluency, all die dialects of the Iroquois, besides
having a knowledge of many western tongues. Soon after the close of the Revolu-
tionary war, while in a> forest that bordered the Mohawk, he was the unseen spectator
of a murder, perpetrated by a Mohawk, known as Saucy Nick—the victim being un-
conscious, at the time he received the fatal blow, of an enemy being in the neighbor-
hood. After he returned to his home, he saddled a horse for the purpose of procuring
process for the Indian’s arrest. On his way to the magistrate’s office, a few miles dis-
tant— he stopped at a public house, observing Saucy Nick standing on the steps, and
wishing a close watch to be kept on the murderer’s movements. After the necessary476
APPENDIX.
warning had been given, he was about to leave, when Saucy Nick importuned him to
treat, and insisted that Mr. Wemple should drink with him.
To lull the Indian’s suspicions, which he thought had been forcibly aroused, he drank
with him, and mounted his horse; he had been in the saddle but a few minutes, when
he was attacked with a severe pain, and a sense of mortal sickness. With difficulty
he dismounted, and was assisted to a bed. His tongue swelled until it protruded from
his mouth, and the next day, after indescribable agony, he died.
It was generally believed by his neighbors and friends, that the Indian had had secret
intelligence of the design to arrest him, and adroitly drugged, wi h some subtle poison,
the liquor of his unsuspecting victim. The murderer effected his escape, and joined
his tribe in Canada. Hendrick Wemple, was buried close to Oneida Castle, on the
north side of the turnpike, about one mile from Skenandoah’s residence.
In his life time he claimed a large portion of territory, afterwards bought by Judge
Cooper, of Cooperstown, and embracing some of the best lands of Otsego county.
He was a descendant of Hendrick Wemple, one of the original proprietors of Schenec-
tady— the O-no-al-i-gone of the Oneidas—-and whose arms, Giles F. Yates informs
me, may still be seen over the door of an old Dutch church, one of the most cherished
antiquities of the city. His name is not out of place in this local work.
He was a transient resident in this region previous to the Revolution, and many of
his descendants are now residents of the Genesee country.
[NTO, 6.]
OLIVER PHELPS* SPEECH TO THE INDIANS, IN ANSWER TO THEIR
COMPLAINTS.
I wish in a friendly manner, to state to you the particulars of our bargain : — When
I arrived at Buffalo creek, O’Bail, (Cornplanter,) had leased all your country to Liv-
ingston and Benton. I had bought that lease of Livingston, but I found you were
dissatisfied, and not willing to give up your country. Although I had power to have
confirmed that lease and have held your lands, yet I Would not have anything to do
with your lands without your voluntary consent. I therefore, to remove the lease out
of the way, and set your minds at ease, bought so much of it of Livingston as covered
the Seneca lands, and gave up the lease to you, making it all Void ; so that all the
Seneca lands was yours. So that by my means you got your whole country back
again. I then came forward with a speech to you, requesting to purchase a part of
your country. You was not willing to sell so much as I wanted, but after a long
time we agreed on the lines.
Brothers, you remember we set up all night. It was almost morning before We
agreed on the boundaries. After breakfast we returned to agree on the price you
should have. Capt. O’Bail said he was willing to take the same proportion for the
Seneca lands, that Livingston was to pay for the whole.
[Mr. Phelps recapitulated the terms of the bargain as fixed by the referees, and
cited the testimony of those present, in confirmation of his statement.}
After some consideration you agreed to the terms proposed, but insisted that I must
add some cattle and some rum, to which I agreed. Brothers, you know there was a
great many people there; they all tell alike; they all tell one story.
Now, brothers, I do not want to contend with you. I am an honest man. If you
go to New England and enquire my character, you will not find me such a rogue asAPPENDIX.
477
you represent me to be. I mean to fulfill my engagement to you. I now owe you
one thousand dollars for two years rent/ which I am willing to pay at any time, and
at any place you wish.
[NO. 7.]
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
[FROM MANUSCRIPTS OF THOMAS MORRIS.]
“ Prior to my having settled at Canandaigua, Jemima Wilkinson and her followers,
had established themselves on a tract of land, purchased by them, and called the
Friend’s settlement. Her disciples were a very orderly, sober, industrious, and some
of them, a Well educated and intelligent set of people; and many of them possessed
of handsome properties. She called herself the Universal Friend, and would not
permit herself to be designated by any other appellation. She pretended to have had
revelations from heaven, in which she had been directed to devote her labors to the
conversion of sinners. Her disciples placed the most unbounded, confidence in her
and yielded in all things, the most implicit obedience to her mandates. She would
punish those among them, who were guilty of the slightest deviation from her orders;
in some instances, she would order the offending culprit to wear a cow bell round
his neck for weeks, or months, according to the nature of the offence, and in no in-
stance was she known to have been disobeyed. For some offence, committed by one
of her people, she banished him to Nova Scotia, for three years, where he went, and
from whence he ref umed only after the expiration of his sentence. When any of her
people killed a calf or a sheep, or purchased an article of dress, the Friend was asked
what portion of it she would have, and the answer would sometimes be, that the Lord
hath need of the one half, and sometimes that the Lord hath need of the whole. Her
house, her grounds, and her farms, were kept in the neatest order by her followers,
who, of course, labored for her without compensation. She was attended by two
young women, always neatly dressed. Those who acted in that capacity, and enjoyed
the most of her favored confidence, at the time I was there, were named Sarah Rich-
ards and Rachel Malin. Jemima prohibited her followers from marrying; and even
those who had joined her after having been united in wedlock, were made to sepa-
rate, and live apart from each other. This was attributed to her desire to inherit the
the property of those who died.
Having discovered that bequests to the Universal Friend would be invalid, and not
recognizing the name of Jemima Wilkinson, she caused devises to be made by the
dying to Sarah Richards, in the first instance. Sarah Richards, however died, and her
heir at law claimed the property thus bequeathed; litigation ensued, and after the con-
troversy had gone from court to court, it was finally decided in Jemima’s favor, it ap-
pearing, that Sarah Richards had held the property in trust for her. After the death
of Sarah Richards, devises were made in favor of Rachel Malin ; but Rachel took it
into her head to marry, and her husband claimed in behalf of his wife, the property
thus devised to her. Among Jemima’s followers, was an artful, cunning, and intelli-
gent man, by the name of Elijah Parker; she dubbed him a prophet, and called him
* Purchase money in part. Mr. Phelps’ use of the term "rent ’’must have been dic-
tated by the consideration that the Indians had been talked to so much about rent, by
the Lessees, that they would better understand him, than they would if he spoke of
instalments of purchase money.478
APPENDIX.
the Prophet Elijah. He would, before prophesying, wear around the lower part of his
waist, a bandage or girdle, tied very tight, and when it had caused the upper part of
his stomach to swell, he would pretend to be filled with the prophetic visions, which he
would impart to the community. But after some time, Jemima and her Prophet quar-
relled, and he then denounced her as an impostor, declared that she had imposed on
his credulity, and that he had never been a prophet. After having divested himself
of his prophetic character, he became a justice of the peace, and in that capacity issued
a warrant against Jemima, charging her with blasphemy. She was accordingly
brought to Canandaigua, by virtue of this warrant, and at a circuit court held there in
1796, by the late Governor Lewis, Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, a bill of
indictment prepared by Judge Howell, of Canandaigua, then District Attorney, was
laid before the Grand Jury. Judge Lewis having told the Grand Jury, that by the
laws and constitution of this State, blasphemy was not an indictable offence, no bill
was found. Judge Howell has informed me that a similar question having been
brought before a full bench of the Supreme Court, that Judge Lewis’ opinion was
overruled by all the other Judges, and that blasphemy was decided to be an indictable
offence. These litigations however, had considerably lessened the number of her fol-
lowers, but she, as I am informed, retained until her death, her influence over a con-
siderable portion of them.
Prior to these occurrences, Jemima had been attacked with a violent disease, and
she expected to die. Under this conviction, she caused her disciples to be assembled
in her sick chamber, when she told them that her Heavenly Father, finding that the
wickedness of the world was so great, that there was no prospect in her succeeding in
reclaiming it, had determined that she should soon quit it, and rejoin him in heaven.
Having unexpectedly recovered, she again assembled them, when she announced to
them that her Heavenly Father had again commanded her to remain on earth, and make
one more trial.
When I first saw Jemima, she was a fine looking woman, of a good height; and
though not corpulent, inclined to en bon point. Her hah was jet black, short, and
curled on her shoulders; she had fine eyes and good teeth, and complexion. Her dress
consisted of a silk purple robe, open in front; her under dress was of the finest white
cambric or muslin. Round her throat, she wore a large cravat, bordered with fine
lace. She was very ignorant, but possessed an uncommon memory; though she could
neither read nor write, it was said that she knew the Bible by heart, from its having
been read to her. The sermon I heard her preach, was bad in point of language, and
almost unintelligible; aware of her deficiencies in this respect, she caused one of her
followers to tell me, that in her discourses, she did not aim at expressing herself in fine
language, preferring to adopt her style to the capacity of the most illiterate of her
hearers.
[NO. 8.]
In 1803, the only Post Office in all the Genesee country west of Geneva, was a+
Canandaigua. To show the reader how wide a region of new settlements was em-
braced in its circle of delivery, the author extracts from its list of advertised letters, a
few names and their localities: —
“Mr. Garbut,near Geneva;” “Gen. Mountjoy Bailey, Geneva;” “Wm. Bates,
Gov. House, head of Lake Ontario;” Samuel Brasin, (Avor ” “Mathew Clark#APPENDIX.
m
Sodus;” "Dr. Prescott, Phelpstown;” "Samuel Cobwell, Friends’ Settlement;”"
"Alexander M’Donald, Caledonia;” "Nathan Fisk, Northfield; ” "Widow Rebecca
Reed, Pittstown;” "Wm. White, Palmyra;” "Elisha Sylvester, Lyons;” "John
Smith, Williamsburg; ” "James 0. Shennett, Potter’s Town; ” " Henry Tower, Hope-
ton;” "Solomon Hull, Jerusalem;” "David Nash, Big Tree;” "Joseph Poudry,
Tonawanda; ” " Eliakim Crosby,jFort Erie; ” " Peter Anderson, Big Springs.”
[NO. 9.]
The following is an abstract of the census roll of Gen. Amos Hall, a deputy marshal
under the TJ. S. census law of 1790. The author presumes that the enumeration was
made in July and August of that year. It embraces the names of all who were heads
of families, in all the region west of the old Massachusetts pre-emption line : *
No. 9, 7th R.
William Wadsworth,
Phineas Bates,
Daniel Ross,
Henry Brown,
Enoch Noble,
Nicholas Rosecrantz,
David Robb,
Nahum Fairbanks.
No. 1,2nd R.
Eleazer Lindley Esq.
------Daniels,
Samuel Lindley,
John Seely,
Ezekiel Mumford,
Eleazer Lindley, Jr.,
No. 2, 2d. R.
Arthur Erwine,
Henry Culp,
William Anchor,
Martin Young,
Peter Gardner,
No. 3 A 4, 5th & 6th R’s.
James Headley,
William Baker,
Jedediah Stevens,
Uriah Stevens,
Uriah Stephens, Jr.,
John Stephens,
Richard Crosby,
Solomon Bennett,
Andrew Bennett,
John Jameson.
No. 11, 2d. R.
—-— Sweet,
Ezra Phelps.
No, 10, 3d. R.
Nathaniel Gorham, Jr.
Nathaniel Sanborn,
No. 10, 3d. R.
John Fellows,
Joseph Smith,
James D. Fisk,
Israel Chapin,
John Clark,
Martin Dudley,
Phineas Bates,
Caleb Walker,
Judah Colt,
Abner Barlow,
Daniel Brainard,
Seth Holcomb,
James Brocklebank,
Lemuel Castle,
Benjamin Wells,
John Freeman,
No. 11, 3d. R.
Abraham Lapham,
Isaac Hathaway,
Nathan Harrington,
John M’Cumber,
Joshua Harrington,
Elijah Smith,
John Paine,
Jacob Smith,
John Russell,
Nathan Comstock,
Israel Reed,
Reuben Allen.
No. 12, 3d. R.
Webb Harwood,
David White,
Darius Comstock,
Jerome Smith.
No. 8, 4th R.,
Gamaliel Wilder,
Ephraim Wilder,
Aaron Rice,
Aaron Spencer.
No. 9, 4th R.
James Goodwin,
William Goodwin,
Nathaniel Fisher,
No. 10, 4th R.
Ephraim Rew,
Lot Rew,
Matthew Hubble,
John Barnes,
Oliver Chapin*
Nathaniel Norton,
John Adams,
Michael Rodgers,
Allen Sage,
No. 11, 4th R.
Seymour Boughton,
Jared Boughton,
Zebulon Norton,
Elijah Taylor.
No. 9, 5th R.
Gideon Pitts.
No. 10, 5th R.
Peregrine Gardner,
Amos Hall,
Beni. Gardner,
Peck Sears,
Samuel Miller,
John Alger,
Sylvanus Thayer.
No. 12,5th R.
Jared Stone,
Simon Stone,
Israel Farr,
Thomas Cleland,
Silas Nye,
Josiah Giminson,
Alexander Dunn,
David Davis,
* Geneva and the Friends Settlement on Seneca Lake, is of course not included.480
APPENDIX
No. 11, 5th R.
Jonathan Ball,
William Moores.
No. 13, 5th R.
John Lusk,
Chauncey Hyde,
Timothy Allen,
Jacob Walker.
No. 10, 6th R.
John Minor,
Asahel Burehard,
Abner Miles,
---— Davison.
No. 11, 6th R.
John Ganson,
Philemon Winship,
Abel Wilsey,
Elijah Morgan,
Solomon Iiovey,
John Morgan,
William W ebber,
William Markham,
Abraham Devans.
No. 7, 7th R.
------Niel.
No. 9, 1st R.
James Latta,
David Benton,
Samuel Wheaton,
------Rice, v
Males, 728; Females, 340;
No. 9,1st R.
David Smith,
- Phineas Pierce,
Esther Forsyth,
Thomas Smith,
Harry Smith,
Thomas Barden.
No. 10, 1st R.
Seth Reed,
Thaddeus Oaks,
Jonathan Whitney,
Solomon Warner,
Jonathan Oaks,
Joseph Kilboume,
John Whitcomb,
Phineas Stevens,
Benjamin Tuttle,
No. 11, 1st R.
John D. Robinson,
Pierce Granger.
No. 8, 2d R.
Francis Briggs,
Michael Pierce,
Benjamin Tibbits,
Henry Lovell,
John Walford,
William Hall,
Arnold Potter.
No. 10, 2d. R.
-------Sweet,
Free Blacks, 7; Slaves, 9
No. 10, 2d R.
Daniel Gates,
Thomas Warren,
Israel Chapin,
------Platt,
------Day.
West of Genesee River.
Gilbert R. Berry,
Darling Havens,
David Bailey,
^ William Rice,
Gershom Smith,
Hill Carney,
Morgan Desha,
William Desha,
Horatio Jones,
William Ewing,
Nathan Fowler,
Jeremiah Gregory,
Nicholas Philips,
Jacob Philips,
Caleb Forsyth,
Nathan Chapman,
Nicholas Miller,
Asa Utley,
Peter Shaefler,
Ebenezer Allan,
Christopher Dugan,
Zephaniah Hough,
Edward Harp,
Joseph Skinner.
—Total population, 1,084.
[No. 10.]
MURDER OF MAJOR TRUEMAN.
[STATEMENT OF WILLIAM SMELLIE, OBTAINED BY CHARLES WILLIAMSON.]
About the 20th of May last, [1793] I left Fort Washington, in company with Majors
Hardin and Trueman. After bearing us company 7 days, Major Hardin and his atten-
dants took the route for Sandusky, while Major Trueman, with whom I continued, took
the route for Au Glaize. About sunset we fell in with two Indians and a little boy, who
appeared friendly and asked to encamp with us, saying they would be our pilots to Au
Glaize, then about 30 miles distant.
After having made fires, taken our supper and smoked, Major Trueman had laid down
and fallen to sleep. The oldest Indian asked me to ask the Major if he would have me
or the Major’s servant tied to him as otherwise the Indian boys would be afraid to sleep.
The Major consented that his servant might be tied to him, which was done. After
which the Major covered himself all over with his blanket to keep off the musquetoes,
and seemed to fall asleep. The Indians sat up against a log and smoked. The oldest
Indian desired me to lay down on a bear skin near him, which I did. Taking up his
gun, he said, ‘ look, what a bad gun I have got,’ and taking advantage of my head being
turned the other way, fired, killing Major Trueman, the ball entering his left breast.—
The Major threw himself over on his left side, groaned and died immediately. I ran to
a tree; the Major’s servant disengaged himself, ran, but was overtaken and broughtAPPENDIX
481
back. One of the Indians watched me to shoot me, but I covered myself with the
tree, and reasoned with him to save my life. The Indian who had the Major’s servant
called to the one who had the gun to shoot as he could not hold him. He turned and
shot him through the heart.
When all this was done they called me to come to the fire, which I did after they had
promised to save my life. Next morning they carried me to Au Glaize where I met
some of my adopted relatives* and was well used. At this time there seemed to he a
suspension of hostilities on account of Brant’s going to Philadelphia. They were wai-
ting for his answer. While I was at Bois de Bou, a great council was held to hear
Brant’s answer, whom they heard was returning ; but on his being taken sick one Mr.
Gill brought his papers, which were opened before a great council. But as Congress
they said, had not agreed to give up the land on the further side of the Ohio, the voice
for war was unanimous, and a party of 600 warriors marched immediately after to
attack Fort Jefferson.
Mr. Williamson added that Smellie informed him that the Indians were busily
employed in concentrating their forces, and that they expected to have not less than 7
or 8000 warriors the next year ; and that they were liberally supplied by the British
with provisions, arms and ammunition.
[No. 11.]
THE PULTENEY TITLE.
Not as much as the reader will have been led to anticipate by the reference in the
body of the work, will be given. In proceeding to the task, the author found that a
connected historical and legal deduction of title would involve the use of too much
space, at a stage of the work in which condensation, and the omission of much matter
already prepared, had become necessary. So far as the validity and soundness of the
title is concerned, now after the lapse of over half a century, when the acts of our legis-
lature and the decrees of our courts have frequently confirmed them, and no less than
three Attorney Generals of state have investigated and made reports coinciding ; the
whole must be deemed now a settled question. Certainly, a careful perusal of the
whole chain of title, induces the conclusion that there are few less broken and imper-
fect ; few instances in which through so many changes, and a long succession of years,
a title has been so carefully guarded.
In the body of the work, the Pulteney estate is left vested in Henrietta Laura Pulte-
ney, the daughter of Sir William Pulteney. She died in July, 1808, leaving a cousin,
Sir John Lowther Johnson, her sole heir. He died in December, 1811; previous to
which he had executed a will devising all of his real estate in America, in trust, (to be
sold and the proceeds specifically appropriated,) to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumber-
land, Charles Herbert Pierrepoint, David Cathcart and Masterton Ore. In these trus-
tees, and their successors, the title now remains, in trust for two sons of George Frede-
rick Johnstone, who was an only son of Sir James Lowther Johnstone. The heirs are
twins, born after the death of their father, and are now minors, being but 11 years of
age. They reside in Scotland.
The portion of the original estate of the London Associates, which in the division,
fell to Gov. William Hornby, is owned by his grand-children who reside in London.
* Smellie had been an Indian captive.482
APPENDIX.
[NO. 12.]
BED JACKET — FARMER'S BROTHER — INDIAN WAR DANCE.
[FROM MANUSCRIPTS OF THOMAS MORRIS.]
It may not be amiss to mention here, an anecdote that was told,, and which was
generally believed to be correct, as to the means resorted to by Red Jacket to become
a Sachem. The Sachemship is derived from birth, and the descent is in the female
line, because they say the offspring of the mother is always known to be legitimate ;
the War-Chiefs only, are selected for bravery and merit. Red Jacket, though of
obscure birth, was determined to become a Sachem. To effect his purpose, he announ-
ced to the Indians, that the Great Spirit had made known to him in a dream, that their
Nation would never prosper, until they made of him a Sachem. For some time, very
little attention was paid to this pretended revelation ; but the dreamer artfully availed
himself of every calamity that befel the Nation — such as an unusually sickly season,
the small pox spreading among them, and attributed all the misfortunes of the Nation
to their not complying with the will of the Great Spirit. He is said to have persevered
in this course until he was made a Sachem.
The Farmer’s Brother was a tall, powerful man, much older than Red Jacket, per-
fectly honest, and possessing, and deserving to possess, the confidence of the Nation.
He was dignified and fluent in his public speaking; and although not gifted with the
brilliancy of Red Jacket, he possessed good common sense and was esteemed both by
the white people and the Indians.
It may not be improper here to describe a religious ceremony to which I had been
invited, and joined in, during this treaty. It being full moon; the ceremony was in
honor of that luminary. There were present probably 1500 Indians; we were all
seated on the ground forming a large circle, excepting that part of it, where a fire was
burning, and not far from which was a pillar or post, representing the stake to which
criminals are tied when tortured, after having been taken in battle. A very old Cayuga
Chief, much distinguished for his bravery, and called the Fish Carrier, rose, and address-
ed the Moon in a speech of about a half an hour in length, occasionally, throwing in
the fire a handful of tobacco, as an offering. After this speech, we all stretched our-
selves full length upon the ground, the head of one, touching the feet of another;
and at one end of the circle commenced the utterance of a guttural sound which was
repeated, one after the other, by every person present. Then followed the War-dances,
performed by young warriors, naked to the waist band, with bodies painted with
streaks of red, down their backs representing streams of blood. Occasionally one of
the dancers would strike the post, representing the tortured prisoner, and into whose
body he was supposed to thrust the end of a burning stick of wood. He would then
brag of the number of scalps he had taken from those of his tribe or nation. After the
rum drank during this ceremony, had began to produce its effect, an Oneida warrior
struck the post, and imprudently began to boast of the number of Indian scalps he had
taken during the War of the Revolution, when the Oneidas alone had sided with the
Americans, and the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Chippewas with the British.—
This , boast excited the anger of the others, knives were drawn, and there would have
been bloody work, had not old Fish Carrier, (who was venerated both on account of his
age and his bravery,) interposed. He arose, and addressing himself to the young war-
riors, told them that when any of them had attained his age, and had taken as many
scalps as he had, it would be time for them to boast of what they had done; but until thenAPPENDIX.	483
it better became them to be silent He then struck the post and kicked it over, and
caused the fire to be put out, and they dispersed peaceably.
It was at this ceremony that I received the Indian name, by which I was thereafter
called by them. That name was O-tes-si-aw-ne, which was translated to be “ always
ready.” Red Jacket told me that it was his name, when he was a young man; but
when he became a Sachem, he was called Sa-go-ye-wa-ta.
And in this connection the author will add an unpublished reminiscence of Red Jack-
et, that he had from John Dixson, Esq., of Bloomfield, who gave Jasper Parrish as his
authority.
The Chief, it is well known, was no renowned warrior. The author, in his boyhood,
knew him well, has often seen him in his wigwam upon the Seneca Reservation, and in
his frequent journeyings between his own village and the homes of his people upon the
Genesee River. He was never popular with his own race ; his influence was acquired
alone by the force of his superior talents; he would govern by his determined will and
strong intellectual powers ; not by commanding the love or esteem of those he govern-
ed. It was common to hear him called a coward; indeed such was his general reputa-
tion among his own people. But, to the reminiscence :—When the Indians retreated
before Sullivan, and had crossed the Canandaigua outlet, reaching the commanding
bluff, on the west side of the Lake, Farmer’s Brother insisted upon a stand, and a resis-
tance of the invasion, but Red Jacket opposed him and insisted upon a continued flight.
Again, at the old Indian orchard, a little south west of Canandaigua, Farmer’s Broth-
er was for standing and giving battle, but met with the same opposition. Turning in a
spirit of indignation to the squaw of Red Jacket, he told her not to bear sons of which
lie was the father, for they would be the inheritors of his cowardice.
[NO. 13.]
SHAY’S REBELLION.
[FOUND AMONG THE PAPERS OF GEN. ISRAEL CHAPIN.]
Northampton, 5th December, 1796.
General Orders for the Militia of the 4th Division.
Whereas, the Legislature, composed of the Representatives of the good people of this
Commonwealth, have, at their late meeting for that purpose, carefully and attentively
examined our political circumstances, and the various causes, and even pretended causes
of complaint among us of late; and have, as far as is consistent with the interest and
happiness of the State, complied with the wishes of every of its citizens; and have
among other things, prepared and published an accurate statement of all taxes that
have been granted, and the sums paid; also the sums that have arisen from the Impost
and Excise, and the application of all monies within the State. Also the whole amount
of our foreign and domestic federal debt, and the particular debt of this State. And
have enumerated resources competent to the payment of the whole, accompanied with
agreements convincing to all honest and well disposed members of society ; and finally
have even indemnified all concerned in any irregular or riotous proceedings in any
part of the State that none who had acted from mistaken notions of propriety and civil
duty, might be precluded from returning to the same.
Notwithstanding which, there are still some persons (so restless and abandoned to
all sense of social obligations and tranquility and not improbably influenced by the
clandestine instigations of our avowed and most implacable enemies) again embodying484
APPENDIX.
under arms to obstruct the course of law and justice, and perhaps by one bold stroke
overturn the very foundation of our Government and Constitution, and on their ruins
exert the unprincipled and lawless domination of one man. The General, therefore,
from a sense of duty, and desirous to ward off impending evils, no less than in compliance
with orders from his excellency, the Governor, once more entreats and even conjures
the militia of his division, both Train Band and Alarm List, and indeed every class of
citizens, as they prize their lives, their liberties, their prosperity, and their country,
unitedly to exert themselves to prevent those .ills which must otherwise inure. And
all officers commanding Regiments, are hereby requested and commanded immediately
to march with all the effective men of their several regiments to Brookfield, in the
county of Worcester, and to wait further orders; the commanders of regiments will
take care that the men are furnished with arms, ammunition and accoutrements, well
clad, and with fifteen day’s provisions. The General begs that no little personal or
private considerations may take place of the very near regard we all owe our country^
but that we may with one mind contribute in our several conditions to reclaim the de-
luded, bring all high handed offenders to the punishment they so justly deserve, and
give not only the present but future generations proof that the peace and dignity of
Massachusetts is not to be attacked with impunity.
WM. SHE.PARD, Maj. General
[NO. 14.]
lord Dorchester's speech to the Indians.
"Children : I was in expectation of hearing from the people of the United States,
what was required by them; I hoped that I should have been able to bring you together,
and make you friends.
“ Children : I have waited long, and listened with great attention, but I have not
heard one word from them.
“ Children : I flattered myself with the hope that the line proposed in the year
eighty-three, to separate us from the United States, which was immediately broken by
themselves as soon as peace was signed, would have been mended, or a new one drawn,
in an amicable manner. Here, also, I have been disappointed.
“ Children : Since my return, I find no appearance of a line remains; and from the
manner in which the people of the United States rush on, and act, and talk, on this
side; and from what I learn of their conduct toward the sea, I shall not be surprised
if we are at war with them in the course of the present year; and if so, aftine must then
be drawn by the warriors.
“ Children : You talk of selling your lands to the State of New York.* I have told
you that there is no line between them and us; I shall acknowledge no lands to be
their’s which have been encroached on by them since the year 1783. They then broke
the peace, and as they kept it not on their part, it doth not bind on ours.
“ Childden : They then destroyed their right of pre-emption. Therefore all their
approaches toward us since that time, and all the purchases made by them, I consider
as an infringement on the King’s rights. And when a line is drawn between us, be
* The Caughnawaga Indians, residing near Montreal, were about this time in treaty
with Governor George Clinton, for the sale of some of their lands lying within the
bonndaries of the State of New York. The late Egbert Benson was a Commissioner
on the part of the State.APPENDIX.
485
it in peace or war, they must loose all their improvements, and houses on one side of
it, those people must all he gone who do not obtain leave to become the King’s sub-
jects. What belongs to the Indians will of course, be secured and confirmed to them.
"Children : What farther can I say to you ? You are witnesses that on our parts
we have acted in the most peaceable manner, and borne the language and conduct of
the people of the United States with patience. But I believe our patience is almost
exhausted.”*
[NO. 15.]
william ewing5s letter to gen. chapin — wayne’s victory.
Geneseo, Sept. 17th, 1794.
Israel Chapin, Esq., Sir: —Agreeable to your request, the 26th ultimo I left this
place to go and see Capt. Brant, and bring him forward to Canandaigua if possible.
As I passed through Buffalo Creek settlement, I was told by Red Jacket, one of the
Seneca chiefs, that the Indians at that place, and the Six Nations in different parts of
the country around, had not yet determined, whether they would attend the treaty at
Canandaigua or not; that they were waiting for Capt. O’Bail (Cornplanter,) and other
chiefs to come in, whose arrival was. hourly expected, when they should determine
what answer to send to your invitation, though himself and many others, from the
first, was determined to attend your council fire. I was also told by young Jemison,
a Seneca Indian, that Col. Butler left that place a few hours before I arrived, who
had been in council with the Indians some days past, and that he was of an opinion
that Butler was trying to stop the Indians, and he did not think they would go to
Canandaigua. I from this place crossed the river to the British side, and proceeded down
the river to Niagara Fort. I found the British had been much alarmed at Gen.
Wayne’s advancing into the Indian country. The news was that Wayne had an en-
* The authenticity of this speech of Lord Dorchester is denied By Chief Justice
Marshall, and Mr. Sparks, in his Life and Correspondence of Washington, notes that
denial without dissent. Hence it has been received as spurious, and Lord Dorchester,
with his Government, has escaped the responsibility of having uttered such an un-
warrantable document. The first copy was forwarded to President Washington by
Governor Clinton, who did not doubt its genuineness. Neither did the President;
since, in his letter to Governor Clinton, acknowledging its receipt, he states his reasons
at large for dissenting from the opinions of those who were proclaiming it to be spurious.
On the contrary, he declared that he entertained “ not a doubt of its authenticity.”
Equally strong was he in the opinion, that in making such a speech, Lord Dorchester
had spoken the sentiments of the British Cabinet, according to his instructions. On
the 20th of May, the attention of the British Minister, Mr. Hammond, was called to the
subject by the Secretary of State, Edmund Randolph, who remonstrated strongly, not
only against the speech, but against the conduct of Governor Simcoe, who was then
engaged in measures of a hostile character. Mr. Hammond replied on the 22d of
May, rather tartly; and, what renders the denial of the speech by Marshall and Sparks
the more singular, is the fact, that the British Minister said m that letter :—"I am
willing to admit the authenticity of’ the speech.”—[See T. B. Wait 4* Son’s Edition
of American State Papers, vol. 1, pages A49—453.] "But if doubt has existed be-
fore, as to the genuine character of that document, it shall no longer exist. I have
myself transcribed the preceding extracts from a certified manuscript copy, discovered
among the papers of Joseph Brant in my possession.”—Author of Life of Brant.
Note.—If confirmation, other than that furnished by Col. Stone, is required, the
papers of Gen. Israel Chapin will supply it. As superintendent of Indian affairs in this
region, Gen. Chapin obtained authentic information of the extraordinary speech of Lord
Dorchester a few days after it was delivered.—Author,486
APPENDIX.
gagement with the Indians, that the action commenced in what is called the Glaize,
and that he had defeated and completely routed the Indians, and drove them six or
seven miles down the Miami of the Lakes, below the Fort at the rapids, built by the
British, and that as he passed by the Fort he demanded it, but the officer in command
of it, refused to comply with his request, arid he passed on without giving any dam-
age to the Fori Some said there was 100 Indians, some 150, some 60 and 35 killed
and taken, and that the loss on Wayne’s side was very great, two or three hundred.
But the best information, and what I most depended on was, I lodged at what is called
the Chippewa Fort, at the head of the Great Falls, at the head of the carrying
place, and I overheard a Mr. Powell, who had just arrived from Detroit, relating to
the officer the news of that country, and among the rest he told him he thought there
was eighty or ninety Indians and white people lost in all; he said also there was no
dependence to be put in the Militia of Detroit, for when Wayne was in the country
they refused doing duty in the Fort Gov. Simcoe had called out all the Militia of
the country about Niagara, it was said to man the posts through or to send up to De-
troit, but upon hearing that Gen. Wayne had returned back to his Forts, some were
discharged, some deserted, and about sixty were kept in Barracks, so that every thing
seemed to be suspended for the present. I from Niagara Fort proceeded on to the
head of Lake Ontario, about twenty miles from Capt. Brant’s settlement, at which
place I got certain information that Capt. Brant had set off some days past for De-
troit At this place I also found he had wrote you a letter the day he started, and
that a Dr. Carr had it, which I afterwards contrived to get It was said Brant’s object
was to meet the Southern Indians at Detroit, though I believe he has taken 150 or 200
warriors with him, but his object will be known in a future day. I returned by Ni-
agara and Buffalo creek. I was told at Niagara, that Gen. Simcoe would set off for
Detroit in a day or two to meet Capt. Brant and the other Indians, and to strengthen
the Fort at the Miami. The 13th instant Simcoe arrived at Fort Erie opposite Buffalo
creek, and Col. McKay from Detroit met him there. The day following the Indians
from Buffalo creek were called over to council with them. Simcoe there told them
when he was going, and that he was going to make his forts strong, and to put more
men in them, that if Wayne should return, he would not be able to injure them, that
the fort at the Rapids was not strong, nor but a few men in it when Gen. Wayne came
past it, but that he now should make it very strong, and put a great many men
in it, so that he would be able to protect the Indians for the future ; he told them the
Indians had lost but thirty-five warriors, and five or six white men in the last engage-
ment with Wayne, but that Wayne had lost a great many, two or three hundred men
supposed, and that he would not have drove them, only the Indians were not collec-
ted. This it seems was the news Col. McKay brought, but times would soon alter, for
the Indians were collecting from all quarters, and from all nations, that a greater force
was already collected, and they were coming in daily, and that he observed Capt.
Brant was gone with a number of warriors, and that the destination of the Indians
was to give Wayne a decisive stroke, and drive them out of the country. This I was
told by one of the Indians who was at the council. The next day Simcoe and McKay
sailed for Detroit. After this council I saw Red Jacket, and he informed me that the
Indians would all go to the treaty at Canandaigua, that the next day they would go
into council among themselves, and agree upon the time they should start, and where
to meet you, and in two days time they should send off runners to let you know, but
that there was not the least doubt but all the Indians would attend, but my opinion is
it will be fifteen or twenty days before they all collect. I cannot perceive any differ-APPENDIX.
487
ence in the Indians at Buffalo creek, they appear as friendly as ever, and I do not
think they wish a disturbance with the United States, were it not for the British. As
to Brant, although he is now gone away to the South, and will not attend the treaty
and every appearance is hostile, yet I cannot but entertain favorable ideas of his con-
duct and peaceable wishes towards the United States ; he acts open and candid and
the part he is now acting, it appears to me, he is rather forced into it by the British,
and the promises he has made to them Southern Indians heretofore, though I cannot
but think from the conversation I have had with him some time past, and what I have
heard in many other places, but that his real wish and desire is that a peace might be
brought about between the United States, and all the Indian nations, and that although
he now acts in the capacity of a warrior, that he would be as willing to take hold of
the olive branch of peace, as the bloody tomahawk.
I am, Sir with respect, your most obt. and most humble servt.,
WM. EWING.
[NO. 16.]
UNPUBLISHED REMINISCENCES OF RED JACKET.
“Many years ago,” says Thomas Maxwell, Esq., of Elmira, “in conversation with
Red Jacket at Bath, after a little fire water had thawed his reserve, the chief remark-
ed, that when a boy, he was present at a great council fire held on the Shenandoah.
Many nations were represented by their wise men and orators, but the greatest was
Logan, who had removed from the territory of his tribe to Shemokin. He was the
son of Shikelleimus, a celebrated chief of the Cayuga nation, who was a warm friend
of the whites before the Revolution. On the occasion alluded to, Red Jacket remark-
ed, that he was so charmed with his manner and style of delivery, that he resolved to
attain if possible, the same high standard of eloquence; though he almost despaired
of equaling his distinguished model.
He said that after his return to his then home, at Kanadesaga, near Geneva, he
sometimes incurred the reproofs and displeasure of his mother, by long absence from
her cabin without any ostensible cause. When hard pressed for an answer he inform-
ed his mother that he had been playing Logan.”
Thus in his mighty soul, the fire of a generous emulation had been kindled not to
go out, until his oratorical fame threw a refulgent glory on the declining fortunes of
the once formidable Iroquois. In the deep and silent forest he practiced elocution, or
to use his own expressive language, played Logan, until he caught the manner and
tone of his great master. What a singular revelation! Unconsciously the forest ora-
tor was an imitator of the eloquent Greek, who tuned his voice on the wild sea beach,
to the thunders of the surge, and caught from nature’s altar his lofty inspiration.
Not without previous preparation, and the severest discipline, did Red Jacket acquire
his power of moving and melting his hearers. His graceful attitudes, significant
gestures, perfect intonation, and impressive pauses, when the lifted finger and flashing
eye told more than utterance, were the results of sleepless toil; while his high acquire-
ment, was the product of stern, habitual thought, study of man, and keen observation
of eternal nature.
He did not trust to the occasion alone for his finest periods, and noblest metaphors.
In die armory of his capacious intellect the weapons of forensic warfare had been pre-
viously polished and stored away. Ever ready for the unfaltering tongue, was the cut-488
APPENDIX.
ting rebuke, or apt illustration. Let not the superficial candidate for fame in Senate
balls, suppose for a moment, that Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, “The Keeper Awake,” was a
speaker who sprung up fully equipped for debate, without grave meditation, and cun-
ning anticipation, of whatever an adversary might advance, or maintain.
By labor, like all other great men, persevering labor, too —he achieved his renown.
A profound student, though unlettered, he found “books in the running brooks, ser-
mons in stones.” By exercising his faculties in playing Logan when a boy, — one of
the highest standards of mortal eloquence, either in ancient or modem times — he has
left a lesson to all ambitious aspirants, that there is no royal road to greatness ; that
the desired goal is only to be gained by scaling rugged cliffs, and treading painful paths.
[NO. 17.]
CAPT. BRUFF’s LETTER.
“Niagara, Sept., 1797.
“Dr. Sir: — Recent information, not to be disguised, assures us that emmissaries
have been among the Indians residing within the territorial limits of the United States,
to engage them in hostile enterprises against the posts, and from a combination of
circumstances, it is feared that they have been too successful.
“Accounts from Detroit say that the Indians there are very surly, and have planted
no crops; that numbers have gone over the Mississippi, and that others have collected
in bodies near the posts St. Josephs, Mackinaw, and other points, whose views are
unknown, but must be apprehended. That the French inhabitants of the post St.
Vincent have revolted, taken the national cockade, and declared for France and Spain.
That the attachment of these at Detroit, cannot be much relied upon. That the
Spaniards have not yet given up the posts, but are collected in force, high up the Mis-
sissippi. These menacing appearances; the hostile messages to the western Indians,
thehs to the Seven Nations of Canada, and theirs to the Six Nations; the doubtful
disposition of the latter towards us; the admonition of the Secretary of War in his
last communication, “to use the same precautions as if the United States were actually
at war;” with the remembrance of the deep laid schemes of Pontiac; are sufficient
to put us on our guard, if not to alarm us, on account of our present reduced numbers,
and the distance from which we are to look for succor. For provided the Indians and
those that set them on, are politic, they may so manage the attack upon the posts on
either side, that the other would hesitate about giving aid that might involve the
nation in an Indian war.
For some weeks past, our neighbors, the Tuscaroras, have been very shy; the few
that have visited us are distant. There are at present about fifty warriors of Chippewa
and Ottawa nations on the opposite shore, and a large number are expected in a few
days; ostensibly to hold a council with the Governor about supplies. Those already
arrived have been importunate for arms and ammunition, and I understand have ob-
tained a gun each.”
[Capt. Bruff closes his long letter with some account of the indefensible condition
of Fort Niagara, and suggestions to as keeping watch of the Indians, and other precau-
tionary measures.]
[NO. 18.]
On his return to England, John B» Church having been a decided partizan in theAPPENDIX.
489
Revolution, and moreover, having connected himself by marriage, with so notorious a
" rebel” family as the Schuylers. found himself not in repute with the high tory par-
ty, and had especially the disfavor of his patron uncle. Fortunately, however, the
American adventurer was as independent in his purse as in his politics, and soon grew
in favor with Fox and Pitt, and their party. He was elected a member of the British
Parliament, from Wendover, warmly espoused the liberal party,, and adhered to Mr.
Fox, when it was said in decision that "his party could go to the House of Commons
in a hackney coach.”
The country residence of the family was but four miles from Windsor Castle, and
the family physician was the physician of George the Third. Long before it transpir-
ed publicly, the physician informed Mr! and Mrs. Church of the King’s aberration of
mind, and he did not hesitate, confidentially, to attribute the developement of heredita-
ry tendency, to the loss of American Colonies.
The house of Mr. Church in London was a frequent resort of Fox and Pitt; of pro-
minent Americans who visited London ; and on the breaking out of the French Rev-
olution, when the refugees fled to London, he had as guests, Talleyrand, and many
of his companions, with most of whom he had become acquainted in America and
Paris. Judge Church speaks of the happy faculty of the French to be gay and light
hearted even in the darkest hours of adversity. The men who had fled from what M.
A. Thiers calls the “ Sanguinary Republic of *93” — from the rack and the guillotine
— statesmen and courtiers — stripped of their possessions and dependent upon the
purses of their friends for the means of subsistence; were yet cheerful and seemingly
happy, seeking amusements, and endeavoring to make dull and smoky London as gay
as their own devoted capital had been.
In Paris, Judge Church had made the acquaintance of Talleyrand, and it was by
means of the assistance he rendered him that the refugee Minister was enabled to reach
this country, when the British Ministers had ordered him to leave London in twenty-
four hours. Afterwards, when he had returned to Paris, and was flourishing again under
a new dynasty, he remembered the kindness, but the demonstrations of his gratitude
Were marked with the peculiar characteristics of the mam John Church, a son of his
benefactor, having taken up his residence in Paris, received from him a general invitation
to all his evening parties, and besides, an invitation that at his weekly dinners there was
always a "knife, fork, and plate for him.” This had continued for a while, when the
welcome guest, discovered that some change had come over his host;— coldness and
reserve had taken the place of cordial welcomes. An explanation followed. One evening
as Mr. Church entered his apartments,Talleyrand beckoned him to a deep window recess
and whispered :—“ Mr. Church, I am always happy to see you, but you must not feel
unpleasantly if I pay no attention to you; I am so watched that I cannot be civil to
any person from England or America.” The anecdote will be adjudged in good
keeping with the whole character of the man.
Judge Church relates many anecdotes which illustrates the ill feeling that prevailed
in England, after the Revolution, and especially pending the Jay treaty, to every
thing that was American. His school-fellows at Eaton, were generally the sons of the
nobility, and of high tory blood, and their boy partizanship could hardly tolerate the
sentiments of a representative of the disenthralled colonies. French politics was soon
introduced, and the young American, following the lead of his father, was inclined to
be a French republican; manifesting upon one occasion a little exultation over the fate
of Louis XVI, he provoked the bitterest resentments of his school-fellows.
When the family left London, in ’97, there was employed about the King’s home-
stead, a young Frenchman, in the capacity of a cook or confectioner. He had made
31490
APPENDIX
himself obnoxious to the tones by his ultra French republicanism, and would sing
snatches of French revolutionary ballads, in the very precincts of royalty, and at the ale
houses. Some official of the King’s household quietly arranged his employment by Mr.
Church, and he came to America with his family; afterwards, establishing himself as a
confectioner in Hew York. He was the father of Godey, the founder of Godey’s Maga-
zine, in Philadelphia.
Most readers are familiar with the attempt of Dr. Bollman and Huger to release La
Fayette from tl^e prison of Olmutz. The daring adventurers reaching London, made
acquaintance of John B. Church, who had known La Fayette when a guest at his fath-
er-in-law’s house, in Albany, in other places during the Revolution, and afterwards in
Paris and London; and feeling a lively interest in the project for his release, he at once
seconded it; in his house, in London, the plan was matured, and he contributed means
for prosecuting it.*
Judge Philip Church bears upon his person a relic of the Border "Wars of the Revolu-
tion ; a slight scar upon his forehead; connected with which is an interesting historical
reminiscence, different versions of which have already been incorporated in history. In
August, 1797, a scheme was devised by Sir Fredeiick Haldimand, the British comman-
der, in Canada, to secure Gen. Schuyler at Albany, and by getting possession of him,
remove the powerful influence he was exercising against the success of the banded
British tories and Indians. John Waltemeyer, atory refugee was entrusted with the
command of the expedition. With a gang of tories, Canadians and Indians, he crossed
the St. Lawrence, and reached the pine plains between Albany and Schenectady, where
they lurked about for several days until they could ascertain the precise position of
General Schuyler’s mansion, which stood upon the banks of the Hudson, about three-
fourths of a mile from the then settled portions of Albany. Attempts having been
previously made upon his life, he had a good supply of arms, and a pretty strong body
guard of servants. He had beside reliable information that Waltemeyer and his party
were in the neighborhood, and well imagined their errand.
With reference to defence, the house was so arranged, that at night the only access
was in the rear, and that was barred by an iron gate, which was kept locked. Sit-
ting with his nu merous family in the main hall, in a sultry evening, a servant came and
informed him that a man was at the gate wishing to speak to him. In reply to the
question as to where the man came from, the servant replied that he “ thought he came
down the hill from the woods.” The moment the General heard this, he ordered all
the lights to be extinguished, the servants to arm themselves, and the family to retreat
to the garret. Unfortunately, Mrs. John B. Church, the day previous, seeing that her
* When La Fayette visited Rochester in his American tour, a member of the commit-
tee of reception was introducing the ladies as they one after another, in quick succession,
presented themselves. In the crowd was a daughter of Judge Church. As she
approached, La Fayette addressed the committee man, saying: — “ Sir, you need not
introduce this young lady, she is a descendant of my old friend Angelica Schuyler;”
[wife of Gen. Philip Schuyler,] at the same time advancing and shaking her cordially
by the hand. This was the recognition of a family resemblance after the lapse of over
forty years ! This is almost incredible, and yet the author witnessed in the Nation’s
fuest, similar instances of his extraordinary recognition of persons, and family resem-
lances. In a letter to Judge Church, dated at La Grange, in 1826, he alludes to the
circumstance : — " Happy I am in the opportunity to remind you of the old friend of
your beloved parents; to present my respects to Mrs. Church, doubly dear to my most
precious recollections; and to your amiable daughter whom a friendly image engraved
on my heart, made me recognize before she was named to me.
Your affectionate friend,	LA FAYETTE.”APPENDIX.
491
infant son, (the present Judge P. Church) was meddling with the muskets, had them
removed to a back closet or entry. Gen. Schuyler, looking out at the window, saw
that his house was surrounded by armed men, and immediately posted himself with
the servants at the foot of the stairs, with the best defences they could lay their hands
on ; resolved at least to protect the family. The banditti soon forced an entrance into
the house. At this juncture, Miss Margaret Schuyler, (afterwards the wife of Gem
Stephen Yan Rensselear,) discovered that her infant sister had been left asleep in a
cradle upon the ground floor. Rushing down stairs, and passing her father, against his
remonstrances, she seized the child and was passing the beseigers, when Waltemeyer
mistaking-her for a servant maid,.demanded of her—“ Where is your master ?” “Gone
to call the guard,” she replied with great presence of mind, as she made a safe retreat
with the child. Presuming that the chief object of the visit had escaped, they com-
menced plundering the house, and were in the diningroom securing the plate. Three of
the servants had possessed themselves of arms, and Gen. Schuyler having his side arms, as
good a resistance was made as their strength would admit, but the superior force finally
obliged all to retreat to the upper rooms of the house. Waltemeyer and his party pur-
sued, and just as they were about to make prisoners of the whole family, Gen. Schuy-
ler hit upon an ingenious and successful expedient. Suddenly raising a window, as if
a host had come to his rescue, hallowing out to’the evening air, in a loud voice, there were
no friends to hear : — “ My friends, my friends, quickly, surround the house and let not
one of the rascals escape !” The banditti were panic stricken, ran down stairs, sweep-
ing the silver from the side board as they passed, and hurrying off with them in their
retreat to the woods as captives two slaves, — the first armed rescue perhaps, of “per-
sons held to service,” that ever transpired in this State. No one was killed in the
melee ; Waltemeyer received a slight wound from a pistol shot of Gen. Schuyler, a
servant was slightly wounded. The slight injury of the child, named in the introduc-
tion, was had in the hurried retreat to the garret.
The failure of Gen. Schuyler to bring to his aid any of the then few citizens of the
village of Albany, was owing to a most ingenious contrivance of Waltemeyer. During
his ambush in the woods, he had come across a woman, whom he bribed to precede
him in his attack and report, in the village that there was a dead man in the woods,
off in another direction from Gen. Schuyler’s house. The trick succeeded. When the
alarm was given the men of the village were away searching for the dead mam
In his retreat, Waltemeyer and his party took General Gordon from his bed, at
Ballston, and carried him to Canada.
Note. — The author gives the account form memorandums taken in conversation
with Judge Church. He had the account from his mother in 1825. The relation does
not vary materially from the account of Col. Stone, in his Life of Brant; except that
he states that in addition to the servants of the house, Gen. Schuyler had a body guard
of six men, three of whom were on duty. Col. S. gives their names, and says that
Gen. Schuyler afterwards gave each of them a farm in Saratoga county. Gen Schuy-
ler died in 1805.
A writer in the Albany Express, a few years since, speaking of the old Schuyler
mansion in Albany, says : — “ Here also the illustrious Hamilton, woed and won the
daughter of its hospitable proprietor, that venerable and excellent woman, who still
lives in the full enjoyment of her intellectual faculties, one of the few remnants of the
Revolutionary age. Another daughter of Gen. Schuyler, a lady of great beauty and
accomplishments, was also married in this house, to John B. Church, of London, who
came out to this country during the Revolution. Among its illustrious guests have
been : — Washington, La Fayette, Louis Phillipe, Lo*d Sterling, Talleyrand, Chaute-
briand, and Chastelleux.”492
APPENDIX.
[NO. 19.]
ME. JAMES Jj. BEMIS’ COTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF HIS ADVENT TO THE
GENESEE COUNTRY.
Extract of a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Ward, of Albany:— [Mrs. Ward was a
sister of Mr. Bemis, *was the mother of Samuel and Henry Ward, and Mrs. Oran
Follett]
"After being at Utica upwards of seven weeks, my patience was so far exhausted,
that I determined, notwithstanding the badness of the roads to make one more attempt
to gain the place of my destination, and accordingly hired two wagons to take me to
Canandaigua. They had proceeded about 50 rods when one of them got mired to the
hub ! Good start, you will say. Well, we got out in about an hour, and travelled
eight miles the first day, and put up at Raymond’s inn. Next morning after taking a
warm breakfast, I again weighed anchor, and trudged in solitude along the muddy
waste, (for it is indeed solitary to have no company but swearing teamsters,) ’till we
reached Oneida village, an Indian settlement, where about dark, both wagons again
got mired to the hub! Zounds and alack ! What a pickle we were in! ! How did I
invoke the aid of old Hercules to give one tug at the wheel! However, after lifting,
grumbling, hollowing and tugging three hours and a half, with the assistance of
an Indian, we once more got on land. It was now ten, and no tavern within our power
to reach. Cold, fatigued and hungry, we were glad to get under shelter; and accor-
dingly stopped at the-first Indian hut we found, where there was no bed, nor victuals,
except a slice of rusty pork.” *	*	*	*	*****
"After a night spent in yawning, dozing, gaping,we again got under way, and hove
in sight of a tavern about ten o’clock; but nothing like breakfast was to be had—all
confusion—and we went on to Onondaga, (50 miles from Utica,) where we arrived
about ten at night. Here the house was full, and I obtained the privilege of sleeping
with two strangers, by paying for their lodgings and giving them a glass of bitters ;
an odd bargain to be sure; but I thought it cheap, had it been my last shilling. But
fate decreed that the troubles of that day, should not end with going to bed.” *
*	*	*	*	* [The young adventurer had become a room mate
with a " snoring traveller.” He describes his enormous nose, and says, that the sounds
it gave out all night long, “frightened Morpheus from his post.”]
“ At this place, (Onondaga) the wagoners got discouraged * and dispaired of the
practicability of travelling; they accordingly stored their goods and made the best of
their way home again. Here I was obliged to remain two weeks, when a fine snow
falling, I hired a man with a three horse sleigh, to carry me to Canada, and arrived at
this place on Saturday evening, 14th January, after a short and pleasant passage of
sixty two days from Albany ! Here I put up for the night only, expecting to depart
early in the morning for Canada; but receiving some advices here from gentlemen of
respectibility, which deserved my attention, I was persuaded to open my store in this
village, for the winter at least How I shall succeed is yet among the secrets of fate;
but as yet I have had no reason to repent of having stopped here; for such is the en-
couragement I have already found, that I think it probable I shall continue here.”
" I have now only room to add, that the country is beautiful and flourishing; the
inhabitants wealthy and respectable; the citizens enlightened, affable and friendly;
and there is an agreeable society of young people, especially of ladies. Hence a
stranger finds an agreeable reception. I am the seventh young man that is here from
Albany ; all old acquaintances.”SUPPLEMENT,
OR
EXTENSION OF THE PIONEER HISTORY
OF THAT PORTION OF PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE EM-
BRACED IN THE
COUNTY OF MONROE,
AND THE NORTHERN PORTION OF MORRIS’ RESERVE.CHAPTER I.
WHEATLAND.
That portion of the old town of Caledonia which is now Wheat-
land, was, as will have been observed, the Pioneer locality — the
spot where settlement first commenced in all the region between
the Genesee Rivei and the west bounds of the state. In connection
with the enterprises of Mr. Williamson, .the advent of the Scotch
settlers, and in another connection in the body of the work, the
town has already been embraced. It remains in this connection to
extend the notices of Pioneer advents in that locality, as far as the
author’s information will allow.
Francis Albright came in 1799, from Seneca county, and soon
erected the mills that bear his name, and those that were so useful
to the early settlers west of the River. He removed to the Lake
shore, in Niagara county, in an early day, where he died a few years
since. His son Jacob Albright, one of the most successful and en-
terprising farmers of that county, resides at Olcott.
Donald M’Vean, who came a single man with the first Scotch
settlers, was a mill wright; had charge of the early mills built by
the Wadsworths at Conesus. He erected the first mill in Scotts-
ville; and selling it, purchased a large tract of land which he divi-
ded between his sons ;'rthey are Donald M’Vean, of Michigan,
Duncan and Peter M’Vean of Caledonia. Mrs. Donald and Mrs.
Joseph Campbell, and Mrs. James Cameron, of Caledonia, are his
daughters.
John M’Naughton has been named as one of the advance corps
of Scotch emigrants, in 1799. He still survives at the age of 80
years. His surviving sons are : — Duncan M’Naughton of Mum-
ford and Daniel M’Naughton, a resident upon the homestead ; Mrs.
Duncan M’Vean of Scottsville, and Mrs. Merrit Moore, of Church-
ville, are his daughters.; an unmarried daughter resides with her
Note. — Previous to leaving their homes in Scotland, certificates similar to the fol-
lowing, were given to all of the Scotch emigrants who were members of the kirk;
such at least, as were from Perthshire ; and it was worthily bestowed in this instance,
as a long and useful life will bear witness : —
“ These do certify that the bearer John M’Naughton, and his spouse, Margaret M*
Dermid, are natives of this our parish of Killin ; and lived therein mostly from their
infancy; and always behaved in their single and married state, virtuously, honestly,496
PHELPS AHD GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
father. The mother died in 1844. Mr. M’Naughton established
the first brewery west of the River, previous to 1810, and a distil-
lery which was the next one after that built by Oliver Phelps near
Moscow. He was one of the first to engage in the purchase of
wheat to be floured for the Canada market; commencing the busi-
ness previous to the war of 1812.
Zachariah Garbutt was a resident upon the river Tyne in England,
in the town of Winston, county of Durham, at the period of the
French Revolution. Espousing the whig side in politics in those
violent party times in England, when freedom of speech was re-
stricted, he subjected himself to proscription and persecution at the
hands of his more loyal neighbors. His windows were broken in
and his children stoned in the streets. Leaving Winston, he went
into a retired part of the country, where he remained for three or
four years, and then sought an asylum over the ocean in a land of
toleration, of political and religious liberty. Borrowing thirty
guineas to defray expense of emigration, it was repaid by his son,
John Garbutt, with money earned upon a shoe bench, and remitted
to England. Arriving at New York in 1798, they remained near
Sing Sing until 1800, when they came to the Genesee country, set-
tling first upon sixty acres of land in the town of Seneca. The
eldest son John, in 1803 purchased land on Allan’s creek, which
soon became the residence of the whole family — the site of what
is now known as Garbutville. The three brothers, sons of Zach-
ariah Garbutt, were, John, Philip and William. John Garbutt
who still survives, was the first supervisor of Wheatland; in 1829
he was a representative of Monroe county in the Legislature.
Philip Garbutt, widely known in business enterprises, the owner of
the mills and locality that bear the name of the family, also
survives. His wife, as will have been seen, is the daughter of Esq.
ShaefFer. The father-in-law was the original owner of the mill site
and inoffensively; free from all public scandal known to us. That therefore we know
of no reason to hinder their reception into, or residence in, any congregation, society
or family, where God may cast their lot. *	- *	* *	*	*	*	*	*	*>»
[A few closing lines are obliterated.]
" Signed.
Hugh M’Dougal, Minister,
James M’Nabb, Elder,
Jas. M’Gibbin, Parish Clerk.”
“ The above is fact
Chas. Campbell, Esq. of Lock Dorcht,
Francis M’Nabb, chief of M’Nabbs.
John Robson, Baron, Bailie to the Earl of Bradalbine.”
Dated Feb. 1798.
“ Do me the favor to name the fact,” said an early merchant of the Genesee country
to the author, “ that when reverses came upon me, and I was thrown upon jail limits,
while those who owed me debts of gratitude stood aloof ; a generous hearted Scotch
farmer, whom I had but slightly known, in the way of business, sought me out, kindly
invited me to share his purse for all that was necessary for the comfort of myself or
family. And you may add that it was John M’Naughton, of Wheatland.”PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
497
of what is now known as Garbutt’s mills and the land upon which
the celebrated plaster beds are located. A saw mill was erected by
Esq. Shaeffer in 1810 and a grist mill in 1811.
The venerable Powell.Carpenter, now in his 80th year, became
a resident in the immediate neighborhood of Scottsville in 1804.
In 1818, by purchase from Isaac Scott, he became the proprietor of
most of the site of the present village of Scottsville. In 1825 or ’6,
Abraham Handford and Judge Carpenter created a water power by
conducting the waters of Allan's creek in a race, H mile, and thus
obtaining a fall of 19 feet. This was the commencement of any
considerable movements towards the founding of the pleasant and
prosperous village; though mills had been erected as early as 1815-
by Donald M'Vean and Abraham Handford. Often sons of Judge
Carpenter, six are now living, three of whom were Pioneers in
Michigan. Ira Carpenter, of Scottsville is his son. He was one of
the early Judges of Monroe.
The Rev. Donald Mann was a native of Invernesshire, Scotland;
emigrated, settling on the 40,000 acre tract in Caledonia, in 1809,
in 1815 removed to what is now Wheatland, where he now resides.
He had been educated in his youth for the ministry, in the Baptist
connection, but located in the new region, he united the labors of the
field, (or rather, the forest,) with the duties of his profession ; provi-
ding for the respectable maintenance and education of a large family,
and at the same time itinerating occasionally where primitive and
feeble church organizations needed his services. “ When we had
got together a small Baptist congregation in Le Roy," says an in-
Note. — The discovery of the plaster, which has proved so valuable an acquisition
to a wide region—the beds possessing more of what constitutes real value than if they
had been the richest placers that have been found upon the slojie o f the Sierra
Nevada — may not be considered an uninteresting reminiscence : — It was accidental.
As the grist mill drew near to completion in the winter of 1810, ’ll, Mr. John Garbut
went to Cayuga for a load of plaster, with the promise from Esq. Shaeffer that it
should be ground in the process of preparing the mill stones. In his absence, while
some workmen were excavating the bank to procure earth to finish the embankment
of the mill race, one of them, a foreigner, insisted that they were excavating plaster.
Experiments followed which proved the fact. The demand for it being but limited,
farmers having been slow in appreciating its value, its manufacture was not fairly
under way until 1818 ; since which it has been constantly upon the increase and
the beds would, seem exhaustless.
Note. — Judge Carpenter emigrated from Westchester county as early-as 1794, loca-
ting in company with William Armesley, near Cashong creek, on Seneca Lake. Major
Benjamin Barton was then residing at Cashong in a log cabin, the successor there of
Debartzch and Poudry, . Samuel Wheaton had been in the neighborhood for three
or four years. After making a little opening in the forest, and building a pole cabin..
Judge Carpenter went to Pennsylvania and brought a small stock of furniture, and a
young wife into the wilderness. Coming up the Susquehannah he worked their pas-
sage on a Durham boat, crossed over to Catherinestown, and came down the Lake to
Cashong in a batteau. The wife that he moved into his primitive cabin, as well as
himself, are among the few surviving Pioneers of that early period. There are prob-
ably not twenty persons living who were adult emigrants to the Genesee country
previous to 1795.498
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUECHASE.
formant of the author, “ the Rev. Mr. Mann used to come up on
foot and preach for us.” The surviving sons are: — Alexander
Mann, who was a graduate of Burlington College, Yt., studied law
in the office of Edwards & Mann, New York, settled in practice in
Rochester, and changing his profession, is now the highly respecta-
ble and successful editor of the Rochester American ; — Angus C.
and Peter Mann, of Wheatland; Duncan C. Mann, of Rochester;
Donald Mann, ofNew York. There are four unmarried daughters.
The mother, who still survives, is a daughter of the early Scotch
emigrant, Angus Cameron.
In 1806, ’7, 8, Harris Rogers, George Goodhue, Joseph Black-
mer, John Sage, Elial Goble, Peleg Weaver, Marvin Cady, Seely
Fi'ink, settled in what is now Wheatfield. Mr. Rogers died in 1821,
aged 48 years. Mr. Goodhue, was a settler at Painted Post and
Canisteo as early as 1793, and as will have been seen, was one of
the earliest in that Pioneer locality, Braddoek’s Bay. In 1806 he
removed to Wheatland, where he now resides with his son, John
Goodhue, at the age of 82 years, surrounded by a large circle of
descendants. Mr. Sage, died a few years since in the 72d year of
his age; his son, Martin Sage, and Warren Sage occupy the home-
stead. Mr. Goble was a resident of Seneca county as early as 1800;
he died in 1813; Nathaniel Goble of Wheatland, is his son. Mr.
Frink had settled in Westmoreland, Oneida county, previous to
1811; he died in Wheatland of the prevailing epidemic in 1813, as
did also his wife; Ephraim Frink, of Wheatland is his son.
It was but a following up of pioneer enterprise with Joseph
Balckmer, when he settled in Wheatland in 1808. We have already
had glimpses of him upon the very verge of civilization, in Oneida
county, when settlement was first commencing in the Genesee
country—in 1788 and '9. The earliest Pioneers often speak of his
hospitality, when his log house was the only white habitation be-
tween Judge Dean’s, in Westmoreland, and Colonel Danforth’s, at
Note. — Mr. Goodhue made his early advent to this region, from Canisteo, with
his family and household goods, upon an ox sled ; consuming six days in the journey;
in several instances carrying his goods by hand over windfalls. Arriving at the Gen-
esee river, where Rochester now is, in the month of February, he found the ice thawed
away from the banks, to the distance of 15 or 16 feet. He had to erect a temporary
bridge to get upon the solid ice. Approaching the opposite shore, the same difficulty
existed there ; or at least the ice was rotten. Unyoking his oxen, in endeavoring to
drive them across they broke in and came near being drowned. Reaching the oppo-
site shore, his wife, sled, and effects, being yet on the solid ice, to get them over, he
went to work to make a bridge ; but while thus engaged the section of ice upon which
they were, broke off, and was moving with the current, likely to be precipitated over
the Falls. Seizing a pole and throwing it to his wife, she fastened one end of it to
the sled, and hitching his oxen to the other end of it he towed the ice to the shore and
thus succeeded in saving his wife and household effects. In a few moments the cake of
ice from which they had been extricated, went over the Falls ! Stopping for a day
or two at the cabin near the site of the old Red Mill, he browsed his cattle upon the
site which is now the centre of the city of Rochester, and then went through the
woods road the Atchinson’s had made, to Braddock’s Bay.499
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Onondaga. In a letter from John Taylor, a State Indian agent, to
Gov. George Clinton, in 1778, it is mentioned that in co-operation
with Oliver Phelps, he had made provisions for opening a road from
Onondaga to Oneida, and that Mr. Blackmer had contracted to do
a portion of the work. He was a native of the town of Kent,
State of Connecticut, and may truly be said to have been of a
Pioneer stock, as he was a descendant of Peregrine White, the first
born of white parents, in New England. He died in 1848, aged
80 years. He was public spirited, enterprising, as the reader will
infer, a good neighbor, and an efficient helper in all that was tend-
ing to the prosperity of his locality. He donated from his farm the
site for a meeting house, school house and burying ground. Jirah,
Ephraim, and Oliver P. Blackmer, of Wheatland, are his sons.
Daughters became the wives of Jesse Kinney, of Michigan; of
Jerry Merrill, of Orangeville, Wyoming county.
Deacon Rawson Harmon was a native of New Marlborough,
Berkshire county, Mass.; he was a resident of Madison county
previous to 1797 ; in 1811, he removed to Clarence, Erie county,
but soon changed his residence to Caledonia, now Wheatland. At
that period he had six sons and five daughters, nine of whom are
yet living, viz:—Ariel, Rawson, Ira, Sylvester, Anan and Elisha
Rawson, all residing upon and in the neighborhood of the home-
stead; Mrs. Horace P. Smith, Mrs. James R. Flynn, and Mrs.
Oliver P. Blackmer. The living descendants of Deacon Harmon
are, 9 in the first degree, 52 in the second, and 17 in the third. He
died in 1850, aged 85 years.
Calvin Armstrong and George H. Smith, were residents in
Wheatland as early as 1812. Mr. Armstrong, now 70 years of
age, has recently changed his residence to the neighborhood of
Bushville, Batavia, having become the owner and occupant of the
well known Pendell farm. Mr. Smith died in Wheatland, at ad-
vanced age ; he was a native of Germany ; Daniel Smith, of Wheat-
land, is his son.
The Baptist church in Wheatland, was organized as early as 1811.
Of all the original members of it, none survive but Jirah Blackmer,
who has been a Deacon and Clerk in it for 40 years. Its settled
ministers have been:—Solomon Brown, Ely Stone, Aristarchus
Willey, William W. Smith, Horace Griswold, John L. Latham,
Daniel Eldrige, John Middleton, Gibbons Williams, Hiram R-
Stimpson, and Wm. W. Everts.
In observations made in connection with Pioneer history, the
author has been frequently reminded of the benefits that have
accrued from the early institution of public libraries. The books
were selected at a better era of our literature, of book making, than
the present one; before a surfeit of the worthless trash that now
unfortunately too much prevails in our popular reading; they were
thoroughly read, and thoroughly understood; the Pioneers became500
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
intelligent, and inducted their sons and daughters into a .course of
profitable reading. The general intelligence of the citizens of all
of the old town of Caledonia, has been proverbial; they enjoyed the
benefits of a well selected library, as early as 1804. It was the
Pioneer Library west of Genesee river. The first books wTere
bought at Myron Holley’s book store, in Canandaigua, by John
Garbutt, who carried them to their destination on his back. Peter
Shaeffer was first Librarian. The library now consists of over
1500 volumes.
[Farther reminiscences of Scotch settlers, having reference to the old town of
Caledonia, will be inserted in the volume, " Livingston and Allegany.53 The author
has found it difficult to separate them as town and county divisions have done.]
In addition to their purchase of the “ Big Springs,” and water
power at Caledonia, of Mr. Williamson, in early years, John
and Robert M’Kay purchased land and water power at what
is now the village of Mumford, and had erected a saw mill there
previous to 1808. In 1809, Thomas Mumford purchased the inter-
est of Robert M’Kay. In 1817, Thomas Mumford and John M’Kay
erected a large stone flouring mill having four run of stones. John
W. Watkins opened the primitive tavern; Philip Garbutt the first
mercantile establishment.
Donald M’Kenzie may be regarded as the earliest resident Pio-
neer of the locality. In 1804, he came from his native place, In-
verness, Scotland, remained in New York and Connecticut two
years, and coming to the Genesee country in 1806, resided at
Honeoye one year, after which, in 1807, he erected a log building
upon the present site of Mumford, started the business of cloth
dressing, becoming in that branch of business the Pioneer in all the
Genesee country west of the river. His early customers were dis-
tributed over a territory that now constitutes ten counties. The
venerable Simon Pierson, of Le Roy, in some published reminis-
cences, gives a graphic account of his first milling advent to Cale-
donia. “ I took my wheat on my horse,” says th$ narrator, “ rode
down Allan’s Creek 7 or 8 miles, when I came to a dark, dense
forest of evergreens, which I took to be a cedar swamp oh a hill.
Near the centre of this swamp, as I took it to be, I found a small
hut which I entered, for I was very cold, it being late in November.
I found a good fire, and the workmen were at dinner. I found the
owner liberal and intelligent. He told me his name was Donald
M’Kenzie—that he was building a fulling mill, and making prepa-
rations for wool-carding and cloth-dressing.”
In 1809, Mr. M’Kenzie added to his business, a carding machine,
which was preceded in all the territory wrest of the river only by
ne erected by Wm. H. Bush, near Batavia. He still survives, al-
ia long, active, and useful life ; a good specimen of the energetic
end persevering Pioneers. Few men are better versed in the his-PHELPS AtfD GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
501
tory of early settlement in all this region, and the author is much
indebted to him for written reminiscences, and the results of his
retentive memory. He is now 67 years of age. His surviving
sons are:—William, in California* Daniel R., in Laporte, Indiana;
John, Simon and Joseph, upon the homestead. Daughters became
the wives of Daniel M’Naughton, of Wheatland, and Hector M’-
Lean, of Rochester.
DCP For topography, &c., of Caledonia and Wheatland, see Ap-
pendix to supplement, No. 1.
RIGA.
The settlement of “West Pulteney,” now Riga, commenced
tinder the auspices of Mr. Wadsworth, in 1805. The first ten set-
tlers were:—-Elihu Church, Samuel Shepherd, William Parker,
Amasa Frost, Ezekiel Barnes, Nehemiah Frost, Samuel Church,
Joseph Tucker, Enos Morse, and George Richmond. Elihu Church
still survives, a resident upon the land upon which he settled in his
early advent, and upon which the first tenement was erected, and
the first improvement commenced, in Riga. He is in his 77th
year. Dennis Church, late Supervisor of Riga, is his son; daugh-
ters became the wives of Erastus Sprague, of Lima, Dann Hawes,
of Caryville, Genesee county, Oliver W. Warner, of Lake county,
Ohio, Enoch Fitch, of Wilson, Niagara county, and an unmarried
daughter resides at the homestead. His first wife died in 1823;
a present one was the widow of Matthew Fitch, one of the second
class of early settlers in Riga. Mr. Church was for many years
a Supervisor and Magistrate of Riga.
Samuel Church, a brother of Elihu, was the founder of settle-
ment at Churchville, where he built the first saw mill in town, in
1808, and a grist mill in 1811. He was a Captain of the first mili-
tia company organized in Riga ; was upon the frontier in the war
of 1812, and participated with his command in the sortie of Fort
Erie. He died in 1850, in Chenango county, aged 82 years. His
surviving sons are :—Rev. Samuel C. Church, of Medina, and Rev*
Jared Church, of Tennessee; a daughter became the wife of the Rev.
Charles Robinson, a missionary to Siam, who died on ship board on
his return to this country in 1848. Mrs. Robinson who, with her
three children, was returning with him, now resides in Medina; she
was the first born in the town of Riga. Other daughters are, Mrs.
Casey, of York, Mrs. Clark, of Byron, and the wife of the Rev.
Titus Cohen, a missionary to the Sandwich Islands.
Jesse Church, another brother, settled in Riga as early as 1807;
was an early mechanic of Churchville; also, the Captain of a com-
pany in the war of 1812; was made a prisoner at Fort Erie, and502	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
carried to Halifax. He died in 1826 or ’7. Stoddard Church, of
Ogden, is his son ; other sons reside at the west.
Samuel Shephard died but a few years since. Benjamin F.
Shephard, of Riga, is his son; has son Hiram, now deceased, was
the first male child born in Riga.
Amasa Frost died many years since; Nelson A. Frost is his son;
another son resides in Michigan. Mrs. Jacob Albright, of Olcott,
Niagara county, and the wife of Dr. Dibble, of Rochester, are his
daughters. Nehemiah Frost died in 1850; Dr. Frost, of Medina,
is his son. William Parker removed to Maple Ridge, Orleans coun-
ty, and emigrated from there to the west.
Those whose names follow, were all residents of Riga previous
to 1810—most of them settled there in 1808, ?9 :—James Knowles,
still survives; Paul and William Knowles, of Riga, are his sons;
Mrs. Warner Brown and Mrs. Montross, of Riga, are his daugh-
ters. Thomas Bingham still survives ; Joseph Bingham, of Allega-
ny, Justin Bingham, of Michigan, and William Bingham, of Riga,
are his sons ; Mrs. Pratt, of Allegany, is his daughter. Clark Hall
still survives, a resident of Wheatland, though his early location
was in Riga. Halfs Corners, in Wheatland, took their name from
him. Thomas Hill was the first Supervisor of Riga, still survies
at the age of 89 years; Rev. Robert Hill is his son ; another son,
George Hill, resides in Wisconsin; Mrs. Emerson, of Riga, is his
daughter. Joseph Emerson still survives; Erastus, Joseph, and
George Emerson, of Riga, are his sons; an only daughter became
the wife of John Reed, of Sweden. Eber and Chester Orcutt;
Eber still survives. They were brothers ; the father, Moses Orcutt,
was an early Pioneer in Pittstown. Benajah Holbrook, emigrated
to Michigan; Mrs. Frederick Davis, of Mount Morris, is his
daughter.
The rapidity of settlement warranted a mercantile establish-
ment in Riga as early as 1808; that of Thompson & Tuttle; the
last named of the firm, was a non-resident, engaged at the time in
running a big wagon upon the Albany and Buffalo road. Joseph
Thompson, of the firm, was the Pioneer tavern keeper; a part ot
the building now occupied by the Riga Academy, was erected by
him for a tavern house. He died many years since.
Dr. John Darling was the earliest physician in town ; he died in
early years. He was succeeded by Dr. Richard Dibble.
The first death in town was that of Richard Church, in 180?. the
father of the brothers who have been named.
REMINISCENCES OF ELIHIX CHURCH,
I emigrated from Berkshire to Phelps, Ontario county, in 1796, and
purchased land upon Flint Creek, where I remained until 1805. In that503
phelps and gokham’s purchase.
*
year, Mr. Wadsworth's handbills had reached Berkshire, offering to ex-
change wild lands for farms,^ and had induced by brother Samuel to
come and see the country. I accompanied him to what was then West
Pulteney. We found it a densely and heavily timbered wilderness; the
only occupants, other than wild beasts, John Smith and his surveying par-
ty, their camp located on the stream near my present residence. We ex-
plored the township, and were pleased with it. During the next winter, I
selected for myself, my present location, and for my brother, the site of the
present village of Churchville. In March, 1806, I removed my family
from Phelps to my new location, expecting that I had a house ready for
them, as I had contracted for the building of one; but on arriving, we
found ourselves houseless. William Parker, Samuel Shepherd and Amasa
Frost, had preceded me a few days, with their families, and were occu-
pants of the surveyors' camp, where myself and family were hospitably ad-
mitted as joint occupants; and a crowded household we had—28 of us al-
together—all in one small cabin. We called it the “ Hotel,’' and that gave
the name to the stream upon the banks of which it stood. Isaac, Elisha
and David Farwell, then of “Springfield,” now Wheatland, hearing that I
was houseless, generously came and helped me erect one. We put up
the body of it in one day; had it ready to move into on the fourth day.
The floor was of split basswood, the roof of cedar shingles; no boards
were used in its construction; I was farther indebted to Elisha Farwell for
a few nails. I had now fairly commenced a pioneer life, a small specimen
of which I had already witnessed, and been a part of, in Phelps.
All of us who located in the spring of 1806, raised small patches of
summer crops. In the fall of that year. I had fifty acres cleared, which
I sowed to wheat. I had got in debt in clearing land and in building, and
though I had an excellent crop of wheat, it was difficult to pay debts with
it; it would not command money. 1 exchanged some of it for labor, with
new comers. In 1808,1 took wheat to Canandaigua: there was no price
and no sale for it there; no exchanging of it for store trade. I removed
it to Geneva, at a cost of 12-j- cents per bushel, and paid a debt I owed
there for a barrel of whiskey with it; the wheat finally netting me 12-J
cents per bushel, or one gallon of whiskey for six bushels of wheat. We
could get some store trade at Guernsey's store in Lima, in an early day,
for wheat. The first cash market was at Charlotte; price, 31 cents per
bushel.* In the cold season of 1816, when summer crops were general-
ly destroyed throughout the country, there was an excellent wheat crop in
Riga. In the fall, I sold my whole crop to Bond and Hatch, Rochester,
for $2 per bushel; and after that, some of my neighbors sold their crops
for $2 50 per bushel.
In some of the earliest years, Mr. Wadsworth sent some pot-ash kettles
into the township, and the manufacture of black salts and pot-ash was com-
menced. It proved a great help to the new settlers; enabled them to pro-
cure some of the common necessaries of life, when wheat would not.
* Extract of a letter from Mr. Wadsworth ta Col. Troup, dated in 1808 :—“ It is a
fact that farmers have been compelled to sell their wheat, in some instances, for 18d.
per bushel, to pay taxes !”
Note.—The first four potash kettles that Mr. Wadsworth procured in Albany, for
the new settlements, cost $40 each; transportation to the landing place at Cayuga504
PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
The first town meeting we attended was in Ogden, at the house of Esq.
Willey, in 1807. Then the town of Northampton embraced the northern
towns of Monroe, west of the river; or “ settlements,” and “districts,” as
they were then termed. We made choice of two Supervisors in succes-
sion, but their election was a nullity, neither of them being free-holders;
free-holders were scarce in that early day. We finally compromised the
matter by appointing delegates from each settlement, to appoint town offi-
cers. The proceeding was not exactly legal, but no objection being made,
it all went off well enough.
Our first religious meetings, previous to the organization of the Con-
gregational church, were held in my barn, it being the first framed barn
erected in town. I think Elder Reed, a Baptist missionary, was the first
to visit our settlement. The Rev. Mr. Phelps and several Methodist cir-
cuit preachers, visited us in early years.
Judge Henry Brewster, now a resident of Le Roy, at the ad-
vanced age of 77 years, was one of the Pioneers of Riga. Though
laboring under the physical infirmities incident to old age, his men-
tal faculties are unimpaired; as a well drawn up and intelligent
account of his early advent, which he has furnished for this work,
attests. His surviving sons are:—Henry A. Brewster, Rochester,
Edward Brewster, Buffalo, Albert Brewster, Le Roy, F. W. Brew-
ster, Brockport; a daughter is Mrs. Norris, of Stratford, Conn.
REMINISCENCES OF HENRY BREWSTER.
My father was a farmer in New London county, Connecticut, town of
Prescott. As with most New England farmers, the Revolution, its per-
sonal services and sacrifices, its incidental burdens, was the occasion of
depression and embarrassment. As soon as I was old enough to labor,
my services were required upon the farm, so unremittingly as even to de-
prive me of the advantages of education, beyond what could be acquired
before I was twelve years of age. I married at the age of twenty-three
years, and unfortunately bought a farm and settled upon it, in one of the
poorest mountain towns of the county of Berkshire. Unable to sell it, I
was obliged to cultivate the ungenial soil of the Berkshire mountains for
ten of the best years of my life.
The day of deliverance came, however:—In 1805,1 met with a large
handbill sent out by James Wadsworth, Esq., of “ Big Tree/' proposing
to exchange each alternate range of lots of land in “ West Pulteney town-
ship/’ for improved farms in the county of Berkshire. Daniel Dewey,
Esq., of Williamstown, and-----Hopkins, Esq., of Great Barrington, were
named as the agents in Berkshire, who would give applicants all needed
Bridge, for the four, $156 25. This was in 1807. In 1808, he bought 24 kettles in
Albany,at $35 each; cost of transportation but little less than in the preceding year.PHELPS AHD OOEHAm’s PUECHASE.	505
Information. The farms were to be taken at appraised value, and the wild
land given in exchange, at $4 per acre.
In October, 1805, Mr. Samuel Baldwin, a neighbor of mine, and myself,
mounted our horses and came to see the Genesee country, and especially
West Pulteney. Arriving at Avon, a guide had been provided by Mr.
Wadsworth to conduct us to our destination. Reaching the “ Hanover
settlement/’ in East Pulteney, we went through the woods to the survey-
ors’ cabin in West Pulteney, where we were lodged, fed, and provided with
maps and a guide, while we made a pretty thorough exploration of the
township. We found that several of our neighbors from Berkshire had
been in, [those named by Mr. Church,] had visited the township, pur-
chased and exchanged lands; but all that was doing to prepare for settle-
ment, was a chopping that was making by Mr. Elihu Church and his hired
man. Liking the country, and especially the land we were viewing, Mr-
Bald win and myself selected 850 acres each, the quantity which the ap-
praised value of our farms in Berkshire entitled us to. After this, we visit-
ed the mouth of the river, and ascending it, viewed the Falls, the Rapids*
and the present site of Rochester. All was a dreary wilderness, in which
there was ho opening, save that made by the river, and a small one imme-
diately about the old Allan mill. There was a narrow and crooked wagon
path on the east side of the liver, and such it remained for several years
after, during which I wagoned many loads of pot-ash over it to the mouth
of the river, made from the timber of my lands in West Pulteney.
We then visited “Big Tree,” where we were hospitably entertained by
Mr. Wadsworth, our land exchanges arranged, and the deeds prepared,
which we took with us to Albany to be signed by Col. Troup. We also,
each of us, purchased several lots upon credit.
In the fall of 1806, I re-visited the country to make preparations for the
removal of my family. At the hotel in Canandaigua, where I was remain-
ing over the Sabbath, I met with Col. Troup. There being no public
worship in the village, we spent the day in company. Observing that he
took a lively interest in all that related to the settlement of the country,
and especially in all that related to public worship, and a strict regard to
the observance of the Sabbath, I ventured to suggest to him the happy in-
fluence it would have upon our new settlement in West Pulteney, if he
would set apart or donate lands for religious and educational purposes;
while at the same time, it would promote the sale and settlement of the
township. He fell in with my views, saying to me:—“ Go on and organize
a religious society, elect trustees, and select two one hundred acre lots—
one for the support of the Gospel, and another for the support of schools—
call on me at Albany on your return, and I will deliver you the title deeds.”
During my stay in the settlement, a meeting of the Pioneers took place,
few in number, and measures were adopted to avail ourselves of the donation.
There were then five families in West Pulteney, and about fifteen heads
of families were making arrangements to settle there, At the meeting, it
was agreed to take all the necessary legal steps in the formation of a reli-
gious society: one of which was the requirement, that notice of intention
Note.—In a letter from Mr. Wadsworth to Col. Troup, in 1805, in speaking of the
fine prospects he had of settling West Pulteney, he mentions Messrs. Baldwin and
Brewster as likely to prove a valuable acquisition to the new settlement.
32506
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
should be read at the “ close of public worship, three Sabbaths in succes-
sion,” of the time and place to meet to organize such society. We ap-
pointed a meeting thr: e Sabbaths in succession, at the log-house of Amasa
Frost. Deacon Nehemiah Frost and myself were the only professors of
religion in the settlement; we conducted the reading and prayer meetings.
Every person, young and old, attended the meetings. On the day appoint-
ed for the organization of the society, Nehemiah Frost was chosen modera-
tor, and myself secretary. Nehemiah Frost, Samuel Church, Amasa
Frost, Samuel Baldwin, Elihu Church and myself, were chosen trustees.
The society was called the “ First Congregational Society of West Pulte-
ney, in the county of Genesee.” The lands were secured, and devoted to
the objects designed by the donor, or donors, as Col. Troup acted, of
course, for his principals.
In less than three years after the organization of the society, a church
was formed, and the Rev. Allen Hollister, from the county of Dutchess,
was settled as its pastor. The church and society, thus early organized,
have uniformly supported a pastor, up to the present time, without any
missionary aid. I am the only one living of the original members of that
church, and I do not know of any of the original members of the society
living, except Elihu Church, Esq., and myself.
I moved my family from Berkshire to the then new region of the Genesee
country, in May, 1807. The town of Riga had a rapid and permanent
settlement, the population being, with few exceptions, from New England.
We saw, perhaps, less of the harsher features of pioneer life, than most of
new settlers. We were tolerably well accomodated with a grist and saw
mill; the substantial necessaries of life were obtained at a convenient dis-
tances, and at fair prices; the lack of a market was a serious drawback.
Before the completion of the Erie Canal, in one year, I raised three
thousand bushels of wheat. After harvest, the nominal price was from 31
to 37-J cents per bushel. I tried the experiment of transporting flour to
Northampton, Conn., by sledding. For this purpose, I had seventy bar-
rels manufactured from the best quality of wheat. Purchasing six yoke
of oxen, I put them upon two sleds, and two spans of horses, each upon a
sleigh. With the four teams, I transported my 70 barrels of flour; was
on the road twenty days; sold my flour at $6 per barrel, and my oxen at
a profit; all for cash in hand. My teamsters cost me nothing but their
board going and coming, as they wished to visit New England; and that
was a part of my own object;—upon the whole, the experiment succeeded
pretty well. We were about twenty days on the road, going down. I sold
the balance of my crop of wheat the next June, for 56 cents per bushel.
It went to the Canada market.
Note.—In a letter to Mr. Tronp, dated January. 1807, Mr. Wadsworth says:—
“ When I commenced inviting settlement to West Pulteney, it was literally a wilder-
ness, without a road passing through it. It had been for sale ten years, and not a set-
tler had gone upon the track Sales had been embarrassed by the cheap lands of the
Holland Company ; and yet, notwithstanding these obstacles, it has become the most
respectable settlement west of the Genesee river.” In a letter from same, to same, in
May following, it is remarked :—“ Mr. Mead has erected a saw-mill on Black Creek ;
nine new barns have been erected in West Pulteney. There is not three frame bams
in Caledonia.507
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Less than a century has produced such a change in the aspect and con-
dition of all this region, as is hardly to be credited by those who have not
resided in it; and hardly to be realized by those who have. Even those
who are wont to “ take careful note of time,” have been unable to keep up
with progress and improvement. Forty years have changed Rochester
from a wilderness to what it now is; and Riga shows what has been done
in a little more than forty years by the hardy enterprise of New England
yeomanry; about half of the time destitute of the advantages of a mar-
ket. A heavy timbered wilderness has been converted into a well cultiva-
ted, well fenced, wealthy farming town; unsurpassed by any town, in any
region of country, in the way of neat and convenient farm houses and
barns, and in the general appearance of rural happiness and independence.
After observations made in travelling more or less in twenty States of
the Union, I regard the greater portion of western New York, in point of
soil, climate, and in all things which go to make up the character of a
country, as the most desirable spot of earth, in which I could reside as a
farmer.
An excellent example was set by the venerable Pioneer, Elihu
Church, Esq., in the spring of 1850. He invited to his ample and
hospitable dwelling, all the Pioneers of Riga, and they had a plea-
sant, social time of it. Old times were reviewed, anecdotes and re-
miniscences related; the memories of their departed friends and
neighbors passed in review; old acquaintances revived and friend-
ships renewed ; toasts and sentiments offered ;—in all things, it was
an agreeable and happy meeting. Present, as “in every good
work,” having reference to pioneer times, was the enthusiastic, kind
hearted Scotchman, Donald M’Kenzie. It is to be hoped that such
social parties will be multiplied.
Among the reminiscences related, was that of Mrs. Emerson,
who said that on one occasion, when their wheat was ripe, her hus-
band “ cut it with a sickle, drew it out of the field upon an ox sled,
threshed it with a flail, cleaned it with a hand fan, drew it to Ro-
chester and sold it for 31 cents per bushel.” Elihu Church, Esq.,
related the affair of the cold bath in Black Creek, in the winter of
1807. Himself and brother Samuel, Amasa Frost, Samuel Shep-
herd, and their wives, were on their way to visit their neighbor,
Jehiel Barnes. Crossing the stream on their ox sled, the hind board
come out as they were raising the steep bank, and the whole party
were drenched with water, in a cold night, two miles from the near-
est house.
A resolution was passed, worthy of especial note:—It was in
substance, that the male Pioneers present, attributed, under Provi-
dence, a large share of the success that had crowned their efforts,
to the heroic fortitude, self-denial, fidelity and energy, of their “ ex-
cellent Pioneer wives.”
The Pioneers present, all entered their names, ages, and the508
PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PUKCHASE.
periods of their advents. A review of the list, and a reference to
other means of observation, induces the conclusion, that there is no
town in the Genesee country, where there is so large a proportion
of the Pioneer settlers surviving.
The first town meeting was held at the house of Henry
Waidener, in 1809. Thomas Hill was chosen Supervisor, and
Joshua Howell, town clerk. The other town officers were:—
Eleazer T. Slater, Jesse Church, Israel Douglass, Thomas Bing-
ham, Jacob Cole, Isaac C. Griswold, Amasa Frost, Henry Waiden-
er, Thomas Gay, Warner Douglass, Daniel Dinsmore, George Rich-
mond, Solomon Blood. Elihu Church was Supervisor in 1811,
'12, '13; and Horatio Orton, town clerk in those years.
OGDEN.
John Murray, a merchant in New York, was an early proprietor
of T. 3, west of Genesee river, formerly Fairfield, now Ogden.
William Ogden, of New York, was his son-in-law; consequently,
one of the heirs of the estate ; and thence the name the town bears.
The sale and settlement of the township was embraced in the nu-
merous agencies of James Wadsworth. Soon after 1800, he made
himself acquainted with the valuable tract, and took preliminary
steps to bring it into market. Fixing the price at $2 per acre, in
1802, he sold farm lots, in the township, to Benajah Willey, Abra-
ham Colby, John Gould, John Webster, Sally Worthington, Benj.
Freeman,-------Snow, Daniel Spencer.
The Pioneer of the township was George W. Willey, who still
survives at the age of 83 years. He is living with his third wife,
and of nine children, but three survive George Willey, of Michi-
gan, Mrs. Elisha P. Davis, of Churchville, and Mrs. Jehiel Castle,
of Parma. Mr. Willey moved in his family from East Haddam,
Conn., in 1804. His route from Avon was via Scottsville and the
Hanover settlement, where Joseph Carey, Samuel Scott, and John
Kimball, had located, and to which point they had opened a road.
Beyond that, Mr. Wadsworth was opening a road to “Fairfield/'
but had it but partly completed. Mr. Willey had been in the year
before, and built a log house, and made a small opening, accom-
panied by —- Dillingham, whom he had found settled on Black
Creek, and persuaded to change his location. Each erected log
houses, the first tenements in the township ; living in a rude camp,
and procuring their provisions of the new settlers south of them.
When they had the logs ready for their houses, they went in differ-
ent directions, to Braddock's Bay, the Landing, Scottsville, and the
Hanover settlement, for help to raise ; procured in all about twenty
men. Mr. Willey remembers that he came very near not being509
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
present at the raising of his own house ; for in his tour, inviting the
raisers, he got lost, remained in the woods all night, and his return
was thus delayed until afte^ the raising had commenced. Mr.
Wadsworth had offered a premium of six bushels of wheat, a barrel
of whiskey, and a barrel of pork, for the first dwelling raised in the
township ; and was himself present at the raising; sharing the
camp of Messrs. Willey and Dillingham over night, but getting lit-
tle sleep ; for the backwoodsmen, intent upon a frolic, used up the
whole night for that purpose, insisting occasionally that he should
participate in their rude sports, which he knew well how to do
when occasion required; and a log house raising, away off in the
wilderness, was no place to be a non-participant in whatever was
proposed. Dillingham moved his family in soon after, but getting
lonesome, moved back to Black Creek. After the raising, Mr. Wil-
ley was taken sick, was removed to Geneseo, and recovering, re-
turned to Connecticut late in the fall, coming out with his family
the next season, as has been mentioned. Before his arrival with his
family, Ephraim, Abraham, Timothy, and Isaac Colby, two of them
with families, had built a log house and moved in. In the same
year, Josiah Mather, Jonathan Brown, Henry Hahn, and William
H. Spencer, settled in the town.
At the Pioneer Festival in Rochester, in 1849, the medal pro-
cured for that purpose, was awarded to Mr. Willey, as the oldest
resident Pioneer in attendance.
William B. Brown settled in Ogden in 1806 or'7; was from
Lynn, Conn.; located near the present village of Spencerport;
married in early years the sister of Mr. Willey; still survives at
the age of 66. He has been one of the Judges of Monroe county;
a Colonel of militia ; was upon the frontier in the war of 1812, in
Colonel Atchinson's regiment. Rev. Daniel Brown, the father of
Judge Brown, settled in Ogden as early as 1807 or ’8. He preach-
ed the first sermon in the village (now city) of Rochester; died in
Pittsford, in 1845, aged 84 years. William Brown, of Ogden, is a
son of his; a daughter became the wife of the Rev. Lemuel Brooks,
of Churchville. Daniel Arnold in 1805; died in early years;
Daniel, Aaron and Enoch Arnold, of Ogden, and Ebenezer Ar-
nold, of Bergen, are his sons; a daughter of his became the wife
of Samuel Latta, of Greece. David Wandle was one of the ear-
liest ; died some 25 years since; no descendants residing in town.
James Baldwin was a settler in early years; removed to Royalton,
Niagara county, where he died a few years since, and where many
of his family now reside. James Pattingill, Jarvis Ring, Stephen
Gridley, Oliver Gates, were other early settlers:—Mr. Pattingill
died about ten years since; Benjamin, Reuben, Osgood, and Moses
Pattingill, of Ogden, are his sons ; a daughter is the wife of Nathaniel
Rollin, of Ogden. Mr. Gridley is still living. Mr. Gates died 15
or 16 years since; Stephen and Henry Gates, of Ogden, are his sons.510
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
Daniel Spencer from East Haddam, Conn., settled in Ogden in
1804. His farm embraced the present village of Spencerport. He
died in 1835, aged 54 years ; his first wife was a sister of Mr. Wil-
ley ; Joseph A. and Libbeus Spencer are his sons. He was Col-
lector of the old town of Northampton. Austin Spencer, his brother,
settled in the town in 1808, locating near his brother. He still
survives at the age of 67 years. He was the Supervisor of the
town, before and after the organization of Monroe county; and for
twenty years a Justice of the Peace.
John P. Patterson settled in Ogden in 1810. He was the first
Supervisor of the town, and afterwards the Sheriff of Monroe.
He emigrated to Illinois, where he died a few years since. Samuel
Kilbourn, now of Brockport, was a brother-in-law of Sheriff Pat-
terson, and settled in Ogden about the same period; was an early
Supervisor of the town, and a Justice of the Peace.
The first religious meeting in the town, was held at the house of
Esq. Willey, in 1805; Revs. Mr. Mitchell, Jenks, Van Epps,
Gatchell, Lane, wTere early Methodist circuit preachers, who visited
the settlement. The first settled minister was the Rev. Ebenezer
Everett. Dr. Gibbon Jewett was the first physician, and practiced
for many years. He died at Parma Corners about 15 years since.
The first school was kept by a sister of Esq. Willey, who became
the wife of Judge Brown. Benajah Willey built the first framed
house and barn ; pretty much all the settlers who came in in 1804,
raised a few crops in 1805. The first born in town, was John
Colby, a son of Abraham Colby.
The settlement of the town was pretty much arrested during the
war of 1812 ; but after the war, was rapid, until the whole was set-
tled. Mr. Wadsworth recommended the township to his New
England friends, as one of the best in the Genesee country ; and
well he might. The soil is uniformly of the best quality ; and what
is a little remarkable, there is perhaps, not 50 acres of waste land
in the township.
Charles Church was the first and the principal merchant in Og-
den for over thirty years. He died in Rochester, in 1850, where
his widow (who is a descendant of the Pioneer of Bloomfield, Dea-
con John Adams,) now resides. He left but one son, a minor; a
daughter is the wfife of F. T. Adams, of Rochester. Fairchilds and
Richards were also early merchants in Ogden.
Many of the early settlers of Ogden were from Haddam, Conn.
When Mr. Wadsworth had resolved upon commencing the settle-
ment, he visited that part of New England, and in Haddam a pub-
lic meeting was called to hear his description of the new town of
“Fairfield.” It was called the ‘‘Genesee meeting.” Following
this, Daniel Arnold came out, saw the township, and reported favor-
ably. Emigration soon commenced.
The settlement of the town was carried on under the auspices of[phelps and gorham’s purchase.
511
Mr. Wadsworth, until 1823, when Messrs. Murray and Ogden ap-
pointed Mr. Willey their local agent, and he continued to act as
their agent until the township was all sold and paid for. The father
of Mr. Willey, (Benajah Willey) who it will be observed was the
first purchaser in the township, settled in it in 1806. He died in
early years.
The late Wm. H. Spencer, as will have been observed, located
first in Ogden. He built a saw mill in 1805, which furnished the
first boards used in that region.
PARMA.
“ Gore in Parma, north of Fairfield.”— This was the designation
given by Mr. Wadsworth, under whose agency it was sold and
settled, to all the south part of the town of Parma, on either side of
the Ridge Road. Those who first purchased, or took contracts for
land, upon this tract,commencing in 1805, and in the order named,
were: — Abner Brockway Jr., James Egbert, Jonathan Ogden,
Hope Davis, Lazarus Church, Samuel M. Moran, Daniel Brown,
Bezaliel Atchinson, Jarvis Ring, Tillotson Ewer. It is not to be
presumed that all these became settlers. The reminiscences of
two Pioneers, as given to the author, will embrace the names of most
of the settlers, and most of the early events: —
REMINISCENCES OF LEVI TALMADGE.
I was a resident of Wolcott, N. H. In 1803, James Wadsworth visited
that town, called a public meeting, gave us a description of the Genesee
country, and urged us to emigrate. Thomas Wiard, Benni Bishop,------------
Stebbins, Seymour Welton and Abel Curtis, with their families, and Ash-
bel Atkins, John Curtiss, and myself, unmarried men, formed an emigant
party. There was 38 persons in all. We came with seven wagons, form-
ing a considerable cavalcade ; were 21 days on the road. Geneseo was
our destination ; when we arrived there we were all quartered in some log
houses that belonged to Mr. Wadsworth ; were joyfully received by the
settlers ; we liked the country ; and all were cheerful and happy.
I worked out by the month for a year or two ; was engaged for some
time in a trading excursion with James Rodgers who had settled in Canan-
daigua in an early day ; we traded with the Indians in Allegany and
Cattaraugus. I resided in Bergen from 1809 until 1811, in which last
year, I came to Parma, and purchased the tavern stand and the small im-
provement of Hope and Elisha Davis. They had been Pioneers at Parma
Corners ; had built a comfortable block house. Hope died in 1840 ; his
widow still survives ; Elisha Davis removed to Riga.512
phelpb and gorham’s purchase.
There was settled at Parma Corners before the close of 1811, beside
the Davises and myseif:— Augustus Mather; he died four years since; his
widow still survives; Mrs. Amos Webster of Parma is his daughter. Lendell
Curtiss; emigrated to Michigan, some years since; Kinnicone Roberts died
in early years; his widow is Mrs. Brewer of Ogden. Joshua Whitney,
who in 1811 and ’12, built a grist and saw mill on Salmon creek; he emi-
grated to Michigan, where he now resides. These were all at the corners and
west of them, on the Ridge. Josiah Fish had removed from the Allan
mills at Rochester, and resided on the Ridge east of the vilhige.
Our first merchants at Parma corners, were Joseph Thompson and David
Tuttle; their successors were, John Rochester and Harvey Montgomery;
their successor was William M’Knight, now of Rochester. Dr. Gibbons
Jewett, was our first physician; Gibbon H. Jewett, of Parma, is his son;
be was an early supervisor and magistrate. John D. Higgins was the first
settled physician in Parma; remained but two or three years and removed
to Bath. Dr. John Scott practiced here in several early years.
Zolved Stevens settled in Parma in 1813 or ’14; was a merchant and
distiller; a supervisor and magistrate; died 12 or 14 years since.
Settlementwas entirely suspended during the war of 1812; some left, but
none came; and yet the beating up of recruits, the marching of soldiers, the
transportation of supplies for the army, made brisk times upon the Ridge Road.
It was a constant state of excitement and alarm, and little was done in the
way of improvements by those who remained in the country. Hope Da-
vis, the early Pioneer I have named, raised a volunteer company, and went
to the Frontier; was at the battle of Lundy’s Lane, and in several other
engagements. I have a cannon ball in at weighs sixty-eight pounds, that
was fired from the British fleet, off the mouth of Genesee River. I saw
where it struck, and went and picked it up.
The early tavern keeper, Mr. Talmadge, resides upon a fine
farm a mile west of Parma Corners; is childless; his wife, who
was the widow of David Franklin, whose sudden death is noticed
by Mr. Pierson, died in 1842.
Samuel Castle settled in Parma, north of Ridge, in 1810, and was
joined next year by his father, Abraham Castle. The old gentle-
man died in 1812. His surviving sons, other than the one named,
are :—Jehiel Castle, of Parma ; Isaac Castle, of Greece. A daugh-
ter of his became the wife of Arnold Markham, a brother of the
early Pioneers in Avon and Rush. Samuel Castle has been one of
the Judges of Monroe county.
REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL CASTLE.
Our purchase of land when we came in, was of Birdseye & Horton;
the location had upon it a small improvement that had been made by
Michael Beach, a previous occupant. He had been a salt boiler; had sev-PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
513
eral kettles set; ruined his salt spring by endeavoring to get stronger
water. Beach removed to Pittsford, died several years since in Clarendon.
When our family came in, there was but one road leading from the Ridge
Road to the Lake; it was called the “ Oanawaugus Road;” another road
led from Braddock’s Bay to “Deep Hollow Bridge.” What was called
the Oanawaugus road is now the main road from Parma Comers to Parma
Centre and Unionville. The inhabitants at that period north of Ridge, in
Parma, other than those in the immediate Braddock’s Bay settlement,
were:—Alpheus Madden, near Parma Centre; died here, his family re-
moved; Timothy Madden, a little west of Castle’s Corners; died 15 or 20
years since; Silas Madden, of Parma, is his son; Mrs. Joseph Randall, of
Parma, is his daughter. ---- Hicks; died in early years; Yan Rensse-
lear and Benjamin Hicks, of Parma, are his sons. Joshua Hickson,
Jeremiah Perry; died here. Nehemiah Weston.
In 1810, there was no framed house or barn in Parma, north of Ridge,
except in the Braddock’s Bay settlement; there was but one house at Par-
ma Corners. It was very sickly north of Ridge, in all the early years;
in some localities, in the sickly seasons, there would not be well ones
enough to take care of the sick; deaths sometimes occurred for the want
of the ordinary nursing of the sick. I have often, when afflicted with the
ague, promised I would leave the country when I.got well enough; many
did leave. The sickness used to prevail most at Braddock’s Bay, and about
the Ponds. A spirit of kindness prevailed among the new settlers, a sym-
pathy for each others misfortunes; those who lived in settlements a little
more favored, would go where sickness prevailedmost. in whole households,
and take care of the invalids day and night. |Jrhe land north of Ridge,
was heavily timbered, wet. It was so hard beginning, that men who had
no means, could not take up land and pay for it; most that attempted to
do so, failed; were obliged to sell their improvements for what they could
get. I knew of one man, however, who persevered in this way, taking up
land, making small improvements, and selling out, until he became the
owner of a good farn^JjThe proprietors of the land were very indulgent;
had it been otherwise, but few of the early settlers could ever become free-
holders. There was, in the earliest years of settlement, no market when
the settlers had any thing to sell; in 1810, they had began to better their
condition by the manufacture of pot-ash and black salts.
During the war, settlement was mostly suspended; some left who did
not return; others would move off at periods of excitement and alarm, and
return again. A singular circumstance occurred with one of our neigh-
bors at the battle of Queenston:—Joseph Stoddard was shot in the fore-
head; the army surgeons extracted a ball; he came home, and another was
extracted; the two balls having made but one perforation of the skull.
Parma Centre is three miles north of Parma Corners; there is a
post-office, two meeting houses, two stores, several machine shops,
and a tavern house and dwellings. Unionville is two miles north
of Parma Corners ; there at that point, two meeting houses, a store,
several machine shops and dwellings. The village has started on514
Phelps Am> gorham’s purchase.
the farms of Jason Tyler, and Jonathan Underwood. The last of
whom, is especially remembered by many early Pioneers. He is a
bachelor, nearly 70 years of age. He had a large improved farm,
and in an early day raised large crops of grain. In seasons of
scarcity he would withhold from those who had money to purchase,
and trust it out to his neighbors who stood in need of it. Let those
old neighbors, or their descendants, see that marble, as well as
history records this fact.
The town of Parma was erected in 1808. At the first town
meeting in 1809, Gibbons Jewett was elected Supervisor, Justin
Worthington, town Clerk; other town officers: — Jarvis Ring,
Jonathan Underwood, Abraham Colby, Daniel C. Arnold, Joshua
Wickson, Elisha U. Brown, Josiah Mather, Benjamin Freeman,
Ephraim Colby, Hope Davis, Stephen Atchinson.
The north part of Parma was called by Mr. Wadsworth, “ Brad-
dock’s Bay Township.” It was surveyed in 1796, by Joseph Colt.
Upon the original surveyor’s map, many lots are marked as sold to
“ Thayer,” and afterwards it is noted that they are “ released by
Thayer to Lady Bath.” It would seem that Mr. Wadsworth’s
agency, in the township commenced in 1806, or rather that he first
turned his attention to the sale and settlement of it in that year. —
In September, of that year, he wrote to Mr. Troup: — “I have
just been down to Braddock’s Bay Township. Almost every man,
woman and child was* sick with the fever; some of them were
actually suffering. I supplied them with some articles of necessity.
I am afraid the settlement will be abandoned.” How changed! The
region which the enterprising patroon of new settlements then
spoke of with so much despondency — where men, worn down by
disease and all the trials incident to back-wTood’s life ; is now one of
health and prosperity. It would take from $40 to #60 per acre, to
induce its owners to “ abandon” it now; and most of them are
under no necessity of quitting it even at that rate.
GREECE.
In a preceding portion of the work, the early advent of William
Hencher, the proprietors of the “ 20,000 acre tract,” and a few oth-
ers, in what is now Greece, has been noticed. It remains in this
connection to speak of pioneer events there at a later period.
Messrs. Troup and Wadsworth wrould seem to have contem-
plated the making of the mouth of the river a commercial point,
soon after Col. Troup succeeded to the agency of the Pulteney
estate ; it is often a subject of discussion in their correspondence ;
but it was not until a few years before the war of 1812, that any
movements were made to that end. Samuel Latta was the first515
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECIIASE.
permanent settler there, as a local agent for the Pulteney estate,
and the locality having been made a port of entry, he was appoin-
ted a collector of customs, and had also a small mercantile establish-
ment. The Latta family were early settlers at Geneva; Mrs.
Benjamin Barton of Lewiston, was a member of it. Samuel Lat-
ta died in Greece; his widow is now Mrs. Beal, of that town; John
Latta of Brockport, is his son. George Latta, now the owner and
occupant of the fine farm on the lake shore, near Charlotte, was a
younger brother of Samuel; became a resident at Charlotte, in 1811.
Erast us Spalding, who had resided at or near Geneva, settled at
the mouth of the river, under the auspices of Col. Troup, some
time before the war of 1812. He built and opened the first hotel;
a building now standing on the bluff, a little up the river from the
present steam boat landing; had a small trading establishment;
built the first vessel at the point — the schooner Isabel, which was
captured by the Bnitish, in the war of 1812 — and was the first to
commence the purchase of butt staves, a business that became one
of considerable magnitude at that point. 'Mr. Spalding afterwards
became the owner and occupant of the farm on the river, which
embraced the eligible plat of ground now called Lake View, near
the city of Rochester. His son, Lyman A. Spalding, was one of
the earliest merchants of Lockport and has been for many years
one of the most enterprizing business men of W. N. York; other
surviving sons are, Holmes Spalding of Michigan; Mark Spalding
of Lockport, and Frederick Spalding of Rochester.
Frederick Bushnell, was established as a merchant at Charlotte,
previous to, and during the war of 1812. Samuel Currier was an
early tavern keeper at Charlotte, and had some connection with the
lake commerce. It is mentioned as an extraordinary fact, that he
was the husband of seven wives, five of whom are buried at Char-
lotte. He was drowned in the Genesee River, below the Falls.
The first steam boat that entered the mouth of the Genesee Riv-
er, was the Ontario, in 1816 — Capt. Eli Lusher was commander.
John Mastick, who afterwards settled at Rochester, was first
located at Charlotte, previous to the war; was the Pioneer lawyer
of all this local region. Giles H. Holden, fisq., now a resident at
Charlotte, settled there at the close of the war. He remarks : —
“ As late as 1815, there were but few settlers at Charlotte. Sick-
ness and the war had been the principal hindrances. When I came
there were many deserted tenements in Greece, where the Pioneers
had either died, or had left the country on account of sickness, or
in fear of British invasion. For many years after, the ague and
fever, and the billious fever were very general in July and Au-
gust. In 1819, diseases were most fatal—many died — there
were instances of three and four deaths in the same family. The
prevalence of disease was attributed to the low grounds on the riv-
er and lake; to the ponds and marshes, of which there are over516
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
4000 acres in the town of Greece. I attribute it rather to the
clearing up of land, the letting in of the sun upon wet lands, the
consequent decomposition of vegetable matter; for now that lands
are cleared and dry, we have little of disease, and yet the ponds and
marshes mostly remain as they were in the early settlement of the
country.”
Immediately after the war there was a considerable accession of
inhabitants at Charlotte; the purchase and shipping of lumber and
pot ash, and a small business in the way of shipping flour and grain,
made it a pretty busy place : but as Rochester gradually sprung up,
business declined there.
The mouth of the river was an exposed point during all of the
war of 1812 ; in the fore fact of the war, the enemy had vastly the
superiority in naval force upon the lake : and in fact, during the
entire war, there was too little to prevent their landing where they
chose, between Oswego and Niagara; a fact however, that they
were not at all times aware of.- At the mouth of the river there was
but little to attract them, and Rochester, as will be inferred, was of
no magnitude that would have made its capture either glorious, or
profitable. Although there were several instances of disembarking
and embarking of American armies at Charlotte, and of temporary
encampments, there was no regular force established there during
the war. The defence of the position mainly devolving upon the
local militia, and volunteer companies, who at some periods were
exempt from going upon the Niagara Frontier in consequence of
anticipated exigencies nearer home.
Sir James Yeo, the British commander, made his first appearance
off the mouth of the river, in June, 1813. He had contemplated
an attack upon Oswego, but the weather proving unfavorable, he
cruiszd up the lake, anchored off the mouth of Genesee River, and
sent a party on shore. Their entire errand was plunder; no resis-
tance was offered, for there was no military organization to offer it.
The only restraint that was put upon a few captured citizens, was the
preventing their going out to warn the inhabitants of the neighbor-
hood of their presence.
In the store-house of Frederick Bushnell there was a quantity of
salt, whiskey, and provisions, which they took off; in a business
way, however, for they gave to the clerk, George Latta, a receipt
for the property. The landing was made in an afternoon; they
remained over night, keeping out sentinels, and quietly retired early
in the morning; probably getting an intimation that an armed force
was collecting at Handford’s Landing. A body of armed men
that had collected there marched down, arriving at the Charlotte
landing just as the invaders were embarking on board their boats.—
Some shots were fired upon them, but from too great a distance to
be effective.
Toward the last of September, of the same year, both the Britishphelps and gorham’s purchase.
517
and Amertcan fleets were at the upper end of the lake, Commo-
dore Chauncey making frequent demonstrations to Sir James Yeo,
of his readiness to contend for the supremacy of the lake, but the
latter declining, and gradually making his way down the lake. —
Arriving off the mouth of the Genesee River the fleet was becalm-
ed and lay almost motionless upon the water. The inhabitants at
Charlotte supposed the fleet had anchored preparatory to another
landing, expresses were sent into the country; men armed and
unarmed flocked from the back-wood’s settlements, and in a few
hours a considerable number of men collected ready to fight or to run,
as chances of invasion should make it expedient. While anxiously
watching the British fleet, expecting every moment to see their boats
coming toward 1 he shore, a light breeze sprung up, and soon after,
the fleet of Commodore Chauncey was seen rounding Bluff Point.
It was a welcome advent, was hailed with joyous shouts from the
shore ; at a moment when a weak force had supposed themselves
about to engage with a vastly superior one, succor had come — a
champion had stepped, or rather sailed in, quite equal to the task of
defence, in fact seeking the opportunity that seemed to have occur-
red. Commodore Chauncey brought his fleet within a mile from
the shore, and when it was directly opposite the becalmed fleet of
the enemy, he opened a tremendous fire upon it. At first a sheet of
flame arose from the American fleet, and then a dense cloud of
smoke, that rolling off before a light breeze, blowing off shore, as
completely shut out the British fleet from view, as if the curtains
of night had been suddenly drawn; while the American fleet
remained in full view. The fire was returned, but as the breeze
increased both moved down the lake, continuing to exchange shots
until after dark. The fire upon the British fleet was pretty effect-
ive, until by its superior sailing abilities it had got out of the reach of
Commodore Chauncey’s guns. The British fleet was a good deal
disabled; and an officer and ten men were either killed or woun-
ded. A vessel of the American fleet got a few shots through its
hull, but no one was either killed or wounded on board of it. “ Sir
James Yeo, i^an into Amherst Bay where the American fleet was
unable to follow him on account of the shoals.”*
The next visit of Sir James Yeo, with his fleet, to the mouth of
Genesee river, was in May, 1814. In anticipation of such an
event, in addition to other organizations for defence in the neigh-
borhood, Isaac W. Stone, one of the earliest Pioneers of Roch-
ester, had been commissioned as a captain of dragoons, had en-
listed a company of fifty men, and was stationed at Charlotte; and
the further measure of defence had been the sending to captain
Stone, by the orders of General P. B. Porter, from Canandaigua,
an 18 and a 4 pound cannon. The 18 pounder had been taken
* Cooper’s Naval History.518	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
down to the mouth of the river, and the 4 pounder planted upon a
battery, or breast work, called “ Fort Bender,” which the citizens
had thrown up on the River road to impede the crossing, by the in-
vaders, of the bridge over Deep Hollow. The fleet was first descried
by captain Stone and the citizens of Charlotte, a litte after sunset,
upon which expresses were sent into the settlements in different di-
rections, calling for volunteers. In what is now the city of Roches-
ter, there were then 32 men capable of bearing arms. These were
organized during the forepart of the night, and armed with muskets
that had been deposited with Harvey Ely & Co.; or rather 30 of
them, one refusing to volunteer, and another being held in reserve,
with a cart, to take off the women and children; so few in num-
ber, that the means of conveyance was quite ample. The formida-
ble force, marching through deep mud, and in rain, arrived at
Charlotte, at 2 o’clock in the morning. They had constituted
Francis Brown and Elisha Ely their officers. In addition to the
force of captain Stone, there was stationed at Charlotte, a volun-
teer company, under command of captain Frederick Rowe; the
men principally citizens of what is now the towns of Gates and
Greece; and Col. Atkinson’s regiment, from what is now the north
western towns of Monroe county, were either there previously, or
as soon as the exigency required. The only fortification at Char-
lotte, was a breast work, upon the bluff, near the old hotel, so loca-
ted as to command the road leading up the bank from the wharf.
It was composed of two tiers of ship timber, with a space between
the tiers filled in with barn manure.
The hastily collected defenders of their country were so impatient
to meet the invaders, that before any demonstrations were made
from the fleet toward shore, a volunteer party went out in an old
boat that had been used as a lighter, just after day light, in a heavy
fog, to reconnoitre; the fog suddenly clearing away, they found
themselves within range and reach of the guns of the whole British
fleet. A gun boat from the fleet put out after them, but they suc-
ceeded in making good their retreat.
All things remained in a state of suspense until about ten o’clock
in the forenoon, when a flag of truce was seen to leave the British
fleet, and make toward the shore. At the request of captain
Stone, captainsFrancis Brown and Elisha Ely went to receive it,
with orders not to let the party who bore it enter the river, or dis-
embark, but to communicate with them from the Lake shore. For
this purpose, they went out upon a fallen tree, a short distance
above the mouth of the river, and tied a white handkerchief to a
stick, as a signal. The British boats’ crew approached, proposed to
land, as is usual with the bearers of flags of truce, but the orders of
captain Stone were tenaciously obeyed. While the parley was
going on, a small party of armed men approached, anxious to watch
the progress of events. The British officer, a stickler for all thePHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PIJECHASE.
519
rules and regulations of war, enquired:—“ Is it your custom to re-
ceive a flag of truce under arms ?” To which captains Brown and
Ely replied:—“ You must excuse us, sir; we are not soldiers, but
citizens.” The armed men, however, were requested to retire,
when the British officer disclosed his business. It was to tender
the assurance of Sir James Yeo, that if all the public property was
surrendered, private property should be respected. To favor his
mission, he presented a paper signed by several citizens of Oswego,
the purport of which was, that as the government had left large
quantities of stores and munitions at that place, without any ade-
quate force to protect them, they had concluded not torisk their lives
and property in the defence. The message and the paper was for-
warded to captain Stone, who decided at once that the citizen sol-
diers assembled at the mouth of the Genesee river, could not follow
the precedent of their countrymen at Oswego. “ Go back and tell
the officer,” said he, “ that he may say to Sir James Yeo, that any
public property that may be here, is in the hands of those who will
defend it.”
Soon after this, a gun boat, sloop rigged, of from 90 to 100 tons
burden, sailed out from the fleet, approached the mouth of the river,
fired a six pound shot, which compliment was returned from the 18
pounder on the American battery. The gun boat then fired 15 or
20 68 pound shots ; but one of them, striking the store-house, doing
any damage.
Soon after this occurrence, Peter B. Porter arrived, and assumed
command. Another flag of truce came from the British fleet at 4
o’clock P. M., bringing a peremptory demand from Sir James Yeo,
that the public property be delivered up; and the threat, that if the
demand was not complied with, he would make a landing with his
marines and 400 Indians. To this, Gen. Porter replied, through his
aid, Major Noon, that he would endeavor to take care of any force
that Sir James felt disposed to send on shore; accompanying the
reply with an intimation that a third flag of truce sent upon the
same errand, could not be respected. The demand for the surren-
der of the public property was not repeated; and nothing farther
occurred, but an occasional shot from the fleet, which did no harm.
Many of the heavy balls thrown on shore, were picked up, and have
been preserved to this time, as memorials of the event.
The whole force collected for defence, was at most, 800; a num-
ber entirely insufficient to contend with one which could have been
furnished from the British fleet. The reason why Sir James Yeo
sailed down the Lake without executing his threat, was probably an
over estimate of the strength of the American force ; many ingen-
ious maneuvres having been resorted to, well calculated to produce
that result. Or, he may very wisely have concluded that a victory,
won with even a small loss of men, would have been a barren one ;
for with the exception of a small amount of public property, there
was little in all the locality to encourage or provoke invasion.20
phelps aot gorham’s purchase.
GATES.
The territory embraced in the present towns of Gates, Greece
and the city of Rochester on the west side of the River, had a
separate organization, retaining the name of Northampton as early
as 1809; the old town of Northampton, once embracing all west
of the River, having been thus reduced in territory. The freehold-
ers, within the limits named were then: — Charles Harford, John
Yan Sickles, Samuel Latta, Wm. Hencher, Jacob Teeples, Aug. B.
Shaw, Abel Rowe, Moses Everett, Samuel Currier, Isaac Vande-
venter, Benj. Cowles, Frederick Bushnell, Silas 0. Smith, Daniel
Budd. The votes given in 1809, for members of Assembly, were
for Levi Ward, Jr. 9, Chauncey Loomis 8. In 1810 the town gave
on the Congress ticket, for Peter B. Porter 20, for Ebenezer F. Nor-
ton 16. The first town meeting was held at the house of Jeremiah
Olmsted, “under the direction of Zacheus Colby, Esq/' Zhaceus
Colby was elected supervisor, Hugh M’Dermid town clerk. Other
town officers: — Thomas King, Richard Clark, John Williams,
Mathew Dimmick, Moses Clark, Nathaniel Tibbies, Abel Rowe,
Thomas Lee, Charles Harford, Frederick Rowe, Erastus Robinson,
Asahel Wilkinson, Nathaniel Jones, Augustus B. Shaw. A bounty
of “ three cents for each rattle snake killed in town,5’ wras authorized.
1810 —Samuel Latta was supervisor; the bounty upon rattle
snakes was increased, and extended to those “ killed in the banks
of the River.” 1811—Zacheus Colby was supervisor; bounty
on rattle snakes was increased to 12i cents. 1812 — John Mastick
was supervisor. 1813 — bounty on wolves was raised to $10.
1816—Roswell Hart was supervisor, John C. Rochester, town
clerk; it was voted that all former laws authorizing a bounty upon
rattle snakes, black birds, and all other birds, quadrupeds &c., be
repealed.” The name of the town was changed to Gates in 1813;
the town of Greece was set off in 1822.
Previous to the close of the war of 1812, settlement was princi-
pally confined to that part of the town which is now Greece. In
1817, Ezra Mason, who will be named in connection with early
events in Rochester, purchased the farm upon which he now re-
sides, a mile and a half beyond the city bounds on the Lisle road,
moved upon it, and commenced improvements; the farthest advan-
ced settler upon that road. The Hartford family had also made
an improvement of about 30 acres on that road, and built a house ;
upon the farm now occupied by Melancton Whitemore. In the
same year, Richard Paul made a commencement upon the farm
which was purchased by Philip Lisle, in 1818; now owned by
William Otis. Lovell Thomas made a commencement upon the
Lisle road in 1817. In 1819, William Williams advanced beyond
Mr. Mason, and commenced improvements on the Chauncey farm.521
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’s PUBCHASE.
As late as 1817, there were but a few settlers living in small open-
ings of the forest, on the Buffalo road in Gates. The town em-
bracing all of Rochester, on the east side of the river, has little of
history disconnected with village and city. It contained but a
scattered population—there were but few openings in the forest—
when Rochester was started. The same remark is applicable to
Brighton, beyond what will be found in the body of the work.
PENFIELD.
The advent of Gen. Fassett, his attempt to settle the town, will
have been noticed in the body of the work. He sold the township
to Gen. Silas Pepoon of Stockbridge, who sold it to Samuel P.
Lloyd, who sold it to Daniel Penfield, or rather it passed into Mr.
Penfield’s hands by reason of some liabilities he had assumed for
Mr. Lloyd.
Mr. Penfield was a native of Guilford, Conn., a son of Isaac Pen-
field. In the Revolution he had been the clerk of Oliver Phelps, in the
commissary department; after which he commenced the mercantile
business in Hillsdale, where he was burned out during the Shay re-
bellion. He subsequently established himself in the commission
business in the city of New York. After becoming the proprietor of
the town that afterwards took his name, he appointed Zachariah
Seymour, Esq., his agent, under whose immediate auspices, settle-
ment progressed, until Mr. Penfield emigrated to the town in 1810
or ’ll. His wife was the daughter of Gen. John Fellows, who has
been mentioned in connection with the first settlement of Bloom-
field. He died in 1840, at the age of 82 years, after a long and active
life, during more than forty years of which he was prominently inden-
tified with the history of this region. His surviving sons are Henry
F. Penfield, of Buffalo, and George Penfield, Poughkeepsie. Daugh-
ters:— Mrs. Judge Gelston, of Black Rock, and Mrs. Andrew
Young, of Maumee, whose first husband was Francis Brown, of
Rochester.
The permanent settlement of Penfield commenced in 1801. In
that year Libbeus Ross and Calvin Clark settled a short distance
north of the present village. The former died in 1816, the latter in
1810; sons of both reside in Penfield. The settlers who came in
in 1804, were: — Josiah J. Kellogg, Daniel Stillwell, Benj. Minor,
Jonathan and David Baker, Isaac Beatty, Henry Paddock. Capt.
Miner still survives, a resident of Rochester, in the 76th year of his
age. Jonathan Baker was a keeper of an early public house in
Penfield; was an early auctioneer in Rochester; a deputy sheriff
of Ontario; was at one period the keeper of the Eagle Tavern in
Palmyra. Both of the brothers survive. Isaac Beattv died in
33522
PHELPS AHD GORHAMfS PURCHASE.
1835, aged 73 years; Mrs. David Baker Mrs. Luke Thompson, Mrs;.
John D. Scovell, are his daughters. He was a captain in the Rev-
olution, in the Jersey line. Mrs. Paddock still survives.
In 1806, Capt. Wm. M’Kinster opened the first store of goods,
with which he connected a distillery. He was from Hudson, the
son of the Col. M’Kinster whose life was saved by Joseph Brant
during the border wars. Mr. Fellows gave the author an interest-
ing account of Brant's visit to Hudson in 1805. He was on his
way to England, and had stopped there to see Daniel Penfield in
reference to some land titles on the Grand River in Canada. The
business delayed him for two weeks, in which time he received much
attention from the citizens of Hudson, many of the men of the Rev-
olution calling upon him, who had met him in the battle field, or
learned to dread him as the master spirit of border warfare. Col.
M’Kinster, who lived at Livingston Manor, went down to Hudson,
and the two had a happy meeting. It was the first time they had
met since Brant had saved the Col’s, life. Among the rest who
came to see him wras a loquacious Dutchman who had known him
before the Revolution. In a boasting and rather uncivil way, the
Dutchman told him if he had met him in the border wars, he would
have put a stop to his career. Brant parried the attack with a
pleasant anecdote : —“And if you had met me,” said he, “itwould
have been with you just as it was with your neighbor ———. He
had boasted just as you are boasting now. In a skirmish I happened
to meet him ; he took to his heels, and hardly stopped to take breath
until he arrived in Albany, where a fire had just broke out, and the
Dutchmen were in the streets crying, “ braunt! ” “ braunt!!
(Hire! fire!) Stopping short he exclaimed in amazement: — “ The
d—d Indian has got here before me!’ ’*
While in Hudson, Brant was free to say that he regretted having
espoused the British side in the Revolution; and that in another
contest such would not be his position.
Capt. M’Kinster was upon the frontier in the war of 1812, in com-
mand of a company at the battle of Queenston. In 1814 Jacob
B. Bryan became his business partner; the firm was continued un-
til 1820, until Mr. M’Kinstry returned to Hudson. Mr. Bryan, who
was the early P. M. of Penfield, continued the business until 1841 ;
died in 1843.
Dr. Van Dake commenced the practice of medicine in Penfield
in 1804, died in 1810; Dr. Rich in 1808, died in 1814. Dr. Arms
in 1810; removed to Michigan in 1833, where he died in 1838.
Dr. Oliver Reynolds commenced practice in the village, in 1815;
in 1818 removed to what is now Webster, where he now resides.
Dr. Daniel Durfee settled in the east part of the town in 1818,
where he still continues the practice ol his profession, at the age of
70 years.
The first settled minister was the Rev, Asa Carpenteiy as earlyphelps and gorham’s purchase.	523
as 1813; he was the founder of the Presbyterian church. He
died in 1835.
Mr. Penfield erected a grist and saw mill, at the Falls of the
Irondequoit, in 1805. As has been observed, he did not become a
resident until 1811. In 1813, Henry Ward (who has been named
in connection with reminiscences of Tryon Town,) became his
clerk, continuing as such until 1821. Mr. Penfield erected a flouring
mill at an expense of $15,000. It is now owned by J. B. Roe. In
1836, James K. Livingston erected a stone flouring mill, at an ex-
pense of $30,000, which is now owned by Samuel Miller.
There has grown up in the locality, a pleasant rural village, hav-
ing all the signs of enterprise and prosperity; of which much more
could be said, but it is only primitive things that come within the
design of this work.
Henry Fellows was the son of Gen. John Fellows ; (see page 174.)
After graduating at Williams’ College, he studied law with Peter
Van Schaik, at Kinderhook. In 1806 he was admitted to practice,
and settled in Canandaigua, where he remained until 1812, when
he removed to Penfield, where he still survives, the occupant of a
fine farm, a successful agriculturist and horticulturist, exhibiting but
little of physical, and nothing of mental infirmities usually conse-
quent upon the age at which he has arrived. He was at one period
a member of the State legislature, as all will remember, who are
conversant with the political history of the State. He is the father
of five sons, all residing in Penfield; of Mrs. Daniel E. Lewis, of
Penfield, Mrs. John L. Livingston, of Shortsville, Mrs. John Van
Buskirk, of Newark.
It was not until 1805 or ’6 that settlement commenced in north
part of present town of Penfield, and what is now Webster. In those
years and soon after, there went into that neighborhood, John Shoe-
craft, Isaac Straight, Daniel Harvey, Deacon Foster, Paul Ham-
mond, William Mann, William Harris, John Letts, Samuel Pierce,
Michael Dunning, Justin Walker, William Straight, Gerard Dun-
ning, Rufus Herrick, Robert Woodhull, Brooks Mason.
Mr. Shoecraft was a native of Ulster county, a Pioneer upon the
Mohawk previous to the Revolution, an active partisan in the Bor-
der wars; was in Sullivan’s expedition, and helped bury the mangled
remains of Lieut. Boyd. In the command of a picket guard, near
Cherry Valley, he with one Broadhead was taken prisoner by the
Indians, and carried to Chemung. While their Indian guards were
asleep, they made their escape, killing several of their captors. In
the war of 1812, he was upon the frontier, in command of a com-
pany of Silver Greys; John Shew wras his lieutenant. He died in
1833, aged 77 years. Peter and John Shoecraft, of Penfield, ^are
his sons ; two other sons and a daughter, Mrs. Fox, teside in Michi-
gan. Mr. Letts was the pioneer tavern keeper, upon the state road;
still survives, The Dunnings were enterprising pioneers; it is per-524	PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PUBCHASE.
haps worthy of record, that Michael built the first cider mill in all
that region.
William Mann is the son of John Mann, the founder of Mann's
mills on the Irondequoit, in Pittsford. He settled where he now
resides in 1808, upon 100 acres his father purchased, and upon
which he had erected the first saw mill in all that region. William
Mann added a grist mill in 1812. A life of industry, perseverance
and endurance, has been that of most of all the early Pioneers;
even where all this has been common, there are some things in the
history of William Mann worthy of note. Possessed of but a slight
frame, with apparently a feeble physical constitution, his life has
been one of constant and persevering toil, uninterrupted by sickness.
Taking charge of his own saw mill in an early day, he has been
known for weeks to have no sleep, except during the intervals of the
sets of his saw for each board; in the labor of the field, he has been
earliest and latest; foremost at logging bees or raisings, where hard
work was to be encountered ; and even now, there is with him but
little falling off, or suspension of labor. The reader will be glad to
learn that comfort and competence is the reward of all this ; but he
seems to work on as if he did not know how to stop.
REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM MANN.
In most of North Penfield, what is now Webster, the forest was heavy*
the ground wet, and it was hard beginning. The new settlers used to
change works; many of them could not command a team, and had to work
for their neighbors to procure team work. “ Bees ” would be made to help
the weak handed; all were friendly; sickness, privation, hardship, created
unity and mutual regard for each other's interest and welfare. Deer and
other wild game were plenty; salmon in the spring and fall would come
several miles up the Four Mile creek. No money could be obtained in the
earliest years ; in fact, our first resources for a little money and a little store
trade, was when the brothers, Comings, and Amos Dunning, and Amos
Harvey, started asheries, and made market for ashes and black salts. The
Bidge Boad was an Indian trail. It was not cut out so as to be passable
for wagons, until a little while before the war of 1812. There was great
scarcity of food after the cold summer of 1816. I had ten acres of rye,
stout and early; five acres of it was cut and eaten before the remainder,
or any other grain in the neighborhood was cut. In 1807, Amos Stone, of
Pittsford, harvested wheat, threshed and carried it to Mann's Mills to be
ground in good condition, on the Ath of July. A peach tree was planted
on my farm, in 1807; it lived and bore peaches until 1849. Solomon Ful-
ler, in 1806, built a small mill on the Irondequoit, in Brighton; used the
old mill stones, and mill irons of the Allan mill at the Falls; I have one of
the gudgeons. The first school in North Penfield was organized in 1810,phelpb and gorham’s purchase.
525
in the Schoolcraft neighborhood; Wm. Harris, a Scotchman, was the first
teacher. Methodist circuit riders were our first ministers. The Re v. So-
lon Pierce organized a Methodist church in 1812.
Ebenezer Spear, (see page 381,) removed from Palmyra to Penn-
field, in 1807 ; went into Schoolcraft neighborhood, via. Pittsford
and Penfield village; that being the then only road opened; cut his
own road from Mason’s Corners.	%
As early as 1806, Norton & Richards, of Canandaigua, bought of
the English association the Salt Works tract, 3000 acres. There
was upon the tract, about two miles north of Webster Corners, a
salt.spring that was first known as a much frequented deer lick.—
As agents for the proprietors, Stephen Howard and Stephen
Sprague, sunk a well 60 feet deep and obtained tolerably strong wa-
ter ; 24 kettles were set, and salt of a good quality was manufactur-
ed for a wide region of new settlements. The price was $1.00 per
bushel. Christopher Prentice succeeded Howard and Sprague as
agents; as early as 1809 or ’10 the business of salt manufacture fell
into the hands of Daniel Hudson and his son-in-law, Joel Thayer.
The property fell into the hands of Mr. Greig, the manufacture of
salt was suspended, and the lands reserved to furnish timber for salt
boiling forms now a landscape of beautiful highly cultivated farms.
The first town meeting in Penfield, was held in 1811. William
M’Kinster was elected Supervisor, Brooks Mason town clerk.
Other town officers :—Nathaniel Case, Charles P. Moore, Josiah T.
Kellogg, Caleb Lyon, John Shoecraft, David Lee, Benjamin Tripp,
Willie Spear, Daniel Wilson, Joseph T. Shaw, Reuben Bailey.
The following list of path masters will exhibit pioneer names, and
indicate where settlements were made as late as 1811 :—John
Stroger, Gurdon Lewis, David Camp, Stephen Butler, Peleg Ross,
Henry Shew, Enos Hawley, Samuel Pierce, Ebenezer Spear, David
WeMier, Joseph Hervey, Zoeth Eldridge, Elisha Smith, Rufus D.
Stephens, Rufus Herrick, Jason Graves, Elisha Case, John- Pierce,
Michael Hibnor, Reuben Brace, Zaccheus Horton, Abner Brown,
Wm. Cole, Jonathan Carpenter. William Spear was Supervisor in
1812, ’13, ’14, ’15. The town of Webster was taken from Penfield
in 1838.
Brooks Mason was an early Judge of Ontario, a Justice of the
Peace, and in other respects, a prominent Pioneer. Russell B.
Mason, of Penfield, and Isaac Mason, of Michigan, are his sons ;
Mrs. Andrew Lincoln, of Perinton, is a daughter.
Note. — It lias been said that a Yankee Pioneer wanted nothiug but an “axe, a
S’mblet and augur, a drawing knife and jack plane” to build himself a house. Mr.
ann had not as much; but having a bellows and anvil he made Ms own gimblets,
augurs and plane irons, with which he built not only frame buildings, but mills.526
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
The village of Webster has grown up on the farm of Dr. Oliver
Reynolds. The earliest merchants there, were Stearns & Coltiss ;
the permanent ones, William and Timothy Corning.
PITTSFOED.
The names of the first eight heads of families will be found on
page 431. They were principally from Salem, Washington coun-
ty. Israel Stone died in early years; his widow became the wife
of Paul Richardson, and after his death that of Moses Barr; she
died a few years since at an advanced age. Eri Stone, of Pitts-
ford is a son of Israel Stone. Simon Stone died 15 or 20 years
since. Orrin Stone, of Pittsford, is a son of his. Jesihel (not Jo-
seph, as on page 431,) Farr, died soon after 1812; the death of Mrs.
Farr was the first that occurred in “ Stonetown; ” Jesihel Farr, of
Pittsford is a son; a daughter became the wife of Caleb Nye. Silas
Nye came into the new region at an advanced age; had held a
commission in the Revolution; he was the first supervisor of the
town; died in early years. His surviving sons are, Nathan and
Silas Nye, of Pittsford. Nathan who is now 78 years of age, has
been a supervisor of the town, and justice of the peace. A daugh-
ter of Silas Nye the elder, became the wife of one of the brothers,
Beckwiths, early merchants in Palmyra; another, the wife of Carmi
Hart, of Pittsford. Thomas Cleland died soon after 1830. Josiah
Gimminson did not become a permanent resident, neither did--------
Dodge, who was one of the proprietors of the town. Alexander
Dunn was a son in law of Silas Nye.
Other Pioneers, as early as 1790, and mostly before 1800: —
Anson Stone, John Stone, Amos Stone, Samuel Stone, Daniel Per-
rin, (the father of Darius Perrin, P. M. Rochester,) Caleb Hopkins,
ffm. Acker, Noah Norton, Thomas Billinghurst, Wm. Agate, Rich-
ard Welsh, Nehemiah Hopkins, Robert Holland, Henry Bailey,
Jared Barker, Elihu Doud, Nathan Calhoun, Ezra Patterson, Ben-
jamin Weeks, Daniel Brown, (an early Baptist preacher,) Israel
Canfield, Benjamin Miller, William Hill, Robert Holland. Wm.
Acer, was the father of John Acer, the widely known landlord of
Pittsford; Ezra Acer, of Pittsford, is a son; daughters became the
wives of Theron Noble, Dwellie Clapp, and ----------May. Caleb
Hopkins was breveted a Colonel in the war of 1812, had com-
mands upon the Niagara frontier, and at the mouth of the Genesee
River ; was an active and efficient partizan in all the trying crisis;
Marvin Hopkins, late supervisor of Pittsford is his son. Nathan
Calhoun still survives at the age of 73; has been a supervisor of
the town 8 years, a magistrate 30 years; is the father of eight
daughters, 6 of whom have become wives.phelps and Gorham’s purchase.
527
Simon Stone 2d, a connexion of the numerous family of that name
who were pioneers in the locality, was the primitive lawyer. He
was located in practice soon after 1800; filled the office of super-
visor, and justice of the peace ; he died 15 or 16 years since. YVm.
G. Taylor was the next practicing lawyer, locating in early years ;
he emigrated to the west. Ira Bellows, who has been so Ions* iden-
tified with the locality, yet survives, in the practice of the profession.
The early physicians were, Dr. John Ray and Dr. Daniel Rood; *	^
succeeding them were, Dr. Achilles G. Smith, and Dr. Hartwell
Carveri Dr. Carver is a lineal descendant of John Carver who
came over in the Mayflower, and of Jonathan Carver, the ear-
ly western explorer. He was a graduate of Yale College, settled at
Pittsford soon after the wTar of 1812. Although making that his
hailing place, a spirit of enterprise and adventure, has made him a
traveller in Europe, a resident in New Orleans, in Florida, and in
Minnesota; few men are more widely known, or have obtained
more professional celebrity. Though a wandering bachelor, he
would seem to be becoming a fixture now, as he is building the un-
ique dwelling place, that may be observed upon the outskirts of the
pleasant rural village of Pittsford.
Although Israel Stone in an early day, did a little in the mercan-
tile way, the first considerable mercantile establishment was founded
by Dr. A. G. Smith, Nathan Nye, Caleb Hopkins and John Acer.
Samuel Hildreth, a brother of the Hildreth’s of Vienna, was an
early merchant, tavern keeper and stage proprietor; founding the
first line of public conveyance from Canandaigua to Rochester,
and with others, the first on the Riga road from Rochester to Can-
andaigua; his widow survived until recently; John Hildreth, of
Pittsford is a son; Mrs. Babcock and Mrs. Richardson of Pittsford
are his daughters. Augustus Elliott was an early merchant and
distiller ; and in an early day erected an iron forge in Penfield. He
was the founder of the fine private mansion that was afterwards oc-
cupied by James K. Guernsey.
Glover Perrin who is mentioned as the pioneer of Perrin ton, got
tired of his solitary life there, vacated his log cabin soon after the
death of his friend Caleb Walker, and became the pioneer landlord.
He died childless ; John Acer was his successor.
Pittsford village, in point of time, may be said to have been a
Pioneer locality next to Canandaigua, and as early as Geneseo,
Avon, Palmyra and Lyons. The fine bluff which forms its site, at
the base of which was a valuable spring, drew the attention of the
early adventures to the spot. There were long years in which the
principal business of a wide region was transacted there ; and though
it is now one of the out posts of an over-shadowing city, time was,
(and that within the memory of hundreds who survive,) when the
few settlers in the small openings of the dense forest on the site
of that city, thought themselves out in the wTorld again, when they528
PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PTTKCHASE.
had reached that village, where there were dry streets, comfortable
public and private dwellings, merchants, mechanics, lawyers, and
doctors, and “ stated preaching/'
The town of Northfield was organized in 1794. It was then all
of what is now Pittsford, Penfield, Perrinton, Henrietta, Brighton,
Irondequoit, and Webster. The first town meeting was in 1796.
It was “ opened by Phineas Bates." Silas Nye was chosen super-
visor, John Ray town clerk. Other town officers, Noah Norton,
Caleb Hopkins, Glover Perrin, Jon^ Sawen, Jesihel Farr, Aaron
Stone, Ezra Patterson, Samuel Bennett, Henry Bagley, Alexander
Dunn, William Acer, Paul Richardson. In 1798, the name of the
town was changed to Boyle. In 1813, the town of Boyle was
divided into three towns, Penfield, Perrinton and Smallwood , and
in 1814 the town of Brighton was erected ; and in the same year,
what is now Pittsford and Henrietta, was made to constitute a town
which was called Pittsford. Henrietta was erected in 1818. There
was no such town as “ Stonetown this was the early designation of
the settlement; as in the case of “ Boughtontown," “ Pittstown," &c.
A school was organized in what is now Pittsford, as early as 1794 ;
a Congregational church in 1809.
John Mann, saw the Genesee country immediately after the close
of the Revolution — as early as 1784. A resident of New Jersey,
in company with Allen Nixon and------------Scritchfield, he came
through the wilderness from the Delaware River, following the
Indian trails to Niagara River. Failing to make some contempla-
ted arrangements with Gov. Simcoe in Canada, for a settlement
there, the party returned to New Jersey. Upon the Genesee river
they made the acquaintance of Ebenezer Allan, who offered to ob-
tain for Mr. Mann the Indian grant of 500 acres of the present site
of the city of Buffalo, for the horse he rode. Mr. Mann visited the
country again in 1803 in company with his son, Wm. Mann of Pen-
field. He found at that early period a sister of his wife •— a Mrs.
Field — who had settled with a large family of sons and daughters,
in a small Indian village at the mouth of the Wiscoy, in Allegany
county. In 1804 Mr. Mann moved his famly, consisting of a wife
and ten children, to Victor, and renting land of Enos Boughton,
raised 500 bushels of wheat for his own share, which he exchanged
with Zachariah Seymour, of Canandaigua, for the hundred acres of
land in Penfield, upon which his son now resides. In 1805 he
bought of Simon Stone fifty acres of land on the Irondequoit near
the great embankment, upon which Mr. Stone had erected a small
grist mill and saw mill soon after 1790. Mr. Mann re-built the mills
in 1812. As “ Stone's mills" and “ Mann's mills," they were known
in early years throughout a wide region. Millwrights of the pre-
sent day may learn something of the expedients of the early period
in which the savr mill was built; ot what “ necessity, the mother of
invention," used to accomplish; from the fact, that the saw used inPHELPS AND GORHAM^ PUKCHASE.	529
Mr. Stone’s primitive mill was made by Samuel Bennett, a black-
smith, by welding together old scythes. Mr. Mann died 1824, aged
75 years. His son, other than the one already noticed in connec-
tion with Penfield, is Jacob Mann, of Pittsford; daughters became
wives of Wm. B. Jobson, of Canandaigua, Calvin R. Cheeny, of
Michigan; Mrs. Asahel Baker, of Iowa.
Stephen Lusk, whose early advent is noticed in connection with
Brighton, became a resident of Pittsford in 1807, establishing there
a primitive tannery, and continuing it for many years. He is now
the oocupant of a fine farm, a mile east of the village on the Victor
road.
PERRINTON.
It has little of pioneer history distinct from that of Pittsford, with
which its territory was blended previous to 1810; and it is one of
those localities from which the author has been favored with no
account of its early settlers. It will be observed that its original
proprietor made a commencement there as early as 1790, and died
in that year at Canandaigua; his companion, Glover Perrin, leaving
soon after; it was several years before its settlement was again
attempted. Among the earliest settlers were, Jesse Perrin, Asa
Perrin, Edward Perrin, Major Norton, John Scott, Levi Treadwell,
Richard Treadwell, John Peters, and Gideon Ramsdell.
With reference to the uplands of Victor, Mendon, Pittsford, Per-
rin ton, Penfield and Irondequoit; oak openings, and to a small ex-
tent, pine plains, a marked change has occurred. It was an inviting
soil when settlement commenced; far easier beginning upon it, and
making more speedy returns for labor expended, than the heavily
timbered lands. But long years of discouragement and stinted
crops succeeded. The sandy, light soil became almost unproduc-
tive, in some instances their cultivation was abandoned, and the
vallies and intervals became the chief dependence. In Victor, as
late as 1820, uplands were sold as low as from $3 to $6 per acre.
Since about that period a change has been going on, until from the
poorest, these lands have become, if not the best, equal in value to
any in all this garden of the State. Their prices now range from
$40 to $80 per acre; in Pittsford, farms have been sold this sum-
mer as high as $80. Time, and each successive cultivation, im-
proves the soil.
Omitting any speculations or any theories of his own, the author530
phelps astd gorham’s purchase.
will give the opinions of others, as to the cause, or causes of all this.
Mr. Wm. C. Dryer, of Victor, a man of intelligence and careful
observation, says that the frequent burning over of these openings
that preceded settlement and cultivation, had rendered inert and
unproductive, the surface soil, while it had been making deposites in
the sub-soil, of some of the most essential elements of vegetation,
which deeper plowing lias been developing, and other of improved
cultivation, making available. The late Timothy Backus, of Le Roy
and Lockport, (one of nature’s students, as well as one of her “ noble-
men/’) a few years before his death, in conversation with the author,
was citing the fact that the first board of commissioners, sent out
by our government to explore the peninsula of Michigan, made a
report, which is upon record, in substance, that it was unfit for hab-
itation or cultivation, and would never repay the cost of survey and
sale. “They judged,” said he, “that the heavily timbered lands were
generally too wet for cultivation, and that the burr oak openings,
which predominated, were unproductive barrens, because they saw
upon them but stinted herbage, and a feeblq undergrowth of shrub-
bery. There was in the soil rich and abundant elements of agri-
culture, as time and experiment has demonstrated, but it was in the
sub-soil; the surface soil had been depleted by fire, and deteriorated,
or poisoned by the acids of the oak and chestnut leaves. This
remark is applicable to the same kind of lands in our own region;
the new settlers could at first realize but stinted crops upon them.
Even now, wherever the oak or chestnut leaf has fallen and decayed
ior a long succession of years, it requires time and cultivation to
make the soil productive.”
MENDOK
Township 11, R. 5, what is now Mendon. containing 23,040
acres, was the last sale made by Phelps and Gorham previous to the
sale made to Sir Wm. Pulteney and his associates. The purchasers
were “ Franklin and Boughton,” or the entry of sale is to them.
The township was soon subdivided, arid Jeremiah Wadsworth be-
came the owner of 11,000. Other large early proprietors of the re-
mainder of the town were, Catlin & Ferris, Waddington & Pepoon,
Jonathan Ball. Ebenezer Barnard, of Hartford, Conn., became
the owner of half of the Wadsworth tract. The whole 11,000 acres
was settled under the auspices principally of James Wadsworth,
either as owner or agent, The Ball tract was sold to Augustus and
Peter B. Porter, and Zetulon Norton. Zebulon Norton, from Ver-
mont, was the Pioneer in the township, erecting mills as early as
1791, on the Honeoye Falls. He died in 1814; his son Ezra, uponPHELPS AMD GOEHAM’s PITECHASE.	531
whom the care of the mill and farm devolved in early years, died
two years previous.
Sales of farm lots were commenced by James Wadsworth, on
the 11,000 acre tract, in June, 1793 ; in that and the succeeding
year, sales were made to “Dan Williams, Cornelius Treat, Elijah
Williams, Benjamin Parks, Ebenezer Rathbun, Rufus Parks, Nathan
Williams, Moses Everett, Wm. Hickox, Lorin Wait, Reuben Hill;”
not all of whom, it is presumed, became actual settlers. The prices
they paid were from $1 25 to $2 per acre. Treat, Williams,
Hickox, and Parks, “ all from Berkshire,” were actual settlers in
1794. Other early Pioneers in the township, in succession, all be-
fore the close of 1800, were, John Parks, Jonas Allen, Joseph Bryan,
Samuel Lane, Charles Foote; and soon after 1800, Moses Rowell,
Elijah Leland. Charles Foote, of Mendon, and Elias Foote, of Alex-
ander, Genesee Co., are sons of Charles Foote; daughters became
wives of Enos Blossom and Gaius Lane; other sons and daughters re-
side at the west. Capt. Treat died in 1848, at the advanced age of 81
years ; his wife, whose first husband was Benjamin Palmer, an early
settler at Palmyra—father of Geo. Palmer of Buffalo—died in 1849.
Capt. Treat was not only an early settler, but for more than half
a century was a prominent citizen of the town, of whom much
could be said, as in hundreds of other instances, if the necessary
briefness of these sketches would allow of it. Dr. John Jay Treat
and Ellery Treat, of Rochester, Nelson Treat, upon the home-
stead, and Joseph Treat, residing at the west, are surviving sons.
Amaziah, Calvin, and Thomas Parks, of Mendon, are the sons of
Benjamin Parks. Joseph Williams, of Canandaigua, is the son of
Nathan Williams. Rufus, John, Benjamin, and James Parks, of
Mendon, are the sons of John Parks, who still survives. The sur-
viving sons of Capt. Jonas Allen are, Ethan, in California; Daniel,
residing upon the homestead ; and George, a magistrate in Mendon;
a daughter is the widow of the late Dr. Milton Sheldon. Of eight
sons of Samuel Lane, but one survives, Gaius Lane of Rochester.
Judge John Bryan, of Michigan, is the only surviving son of Joseph
Bryan.
Other early settlers of Mendon : — Marvin Smith, Henry Shel-
ters, Jacob Young, John and William Dixon, John Moore, John
Sims. Benjamin of Mendon, and Isaac Smith, of Rush, are sons
of Marvin Smith. Lyman Shelters, of Mendon, and Cabot Shel-
ters of Bloomfield, are sons of Henry Shelters. Jacob Young was
an early and enterprising manufacturer at the Falls; now survives,
as do in fact, a larger number of the early Pioneers named, than is
usual in other localities. Amos Dixon at the Honeoye Falls, is a
son of John Dixon.
The early physician was Dr. Knickerbacker, who was the foun-
der of Knickerbacker Hall, Avon, now a resident of Rochester.
He was succeeded by Dr. Harvey Allen, who is yet in practice.532
phelps akd gorham’s purchase.
Dr. Wm. Brown was the early physician in East Mendon, is now
a resident of Pembroke, Genesee county.
Zebulon Townsend was an early settler on what was called
“ Abraham’s Plains,” still survives, at the age of 75 years. Surviv-
ing sons are: — Geo. P. Townsend, an Attorney, in Pen field, Jo-
seph B.. of Mendon, Jeremiah, Seth and Gideon, of Marengo, Mich-
igan. Mrs. John R. Stuart and Mrs. Orra Case, of Honeoye Falls,
and Mrs. S. N. Degroff, of Marengo, are his daughters.
Timothy Barnard, who was the brother of the early land propri-
etor, (but not resident,) named above, removed from the city of
Hartford —exchanging a comfortable home for a log cabin in the
new region — in 1808. He died in 1847 or ’8, aged 91 years. It
is a singular fact, that although he brought a large family into the
new country, and his descendants in the second degree became nu-
merous, his was the first death that occurred in the Whole family
circle. He was an early Judge of Ontario, and in other respects a
prominent and useful citizen. He was the father of Daniel D.
Barnard, the U. S. Minister to Prussia, of Timothy and Henry
Barnard who reside on the homested.
Among the reminiscences of the early settlers of Mendon, is that
of an oak stump, on the farm of Capt. Treat, nine feet in diameter.
The tree was supposed to have been cut down by the Indians. On
the farm of Mr. Parks, a section of a hollow sycamore was cut off,
6 feet in length, through which a pair of oxen, of ordinary size, was
driven in their yoke. John Stimpson, a trapper, caught on Capt.
Treat’s farm, 9 wolves in one night, for which he received a bounty
of $90; a large sum of money in those primitive times. Wolves
pursued Capt. Treat one night for miles; and nothing but the supe-
rior speed of his horse saved him from becoming an inhabitant of
an older settled country, “ where wolves cease from troubling.” Dr.
Joel Brace, the early physician in Victor, was going from Norton’s
Mills towards home, on the old Indian trail. When near what is
now Miller’s corners, his horse suddenly stopped, and looking ahead
of him he saw in his path a huge panther, crouched and ready to
spring upon him. An attempt to turn around would have been fatal.
With much presence of mind he suddenly spread his umbrella, and
shaking it, the animal walked off.
The town was organized in 1813. Jonas Allen was the first
supervisor; Daniel Dunks town clerk. A Baptist church was or-
ganized in 1809; the first pastor, the Rev. Jessee Brayman; a Con-
gregational church in 1817 or ’18, the first settled minister the Rev.
Note.— “The empire region of the Empire State,” is a designation occasionally
given to our favored and prosperous locality ; rather vauntingly perhaps; but it has
really come to be something more than a figure of speech. From the "Genesee Coun-
try,” a wilderness when our national existence commenced, and for long years after-
wards, there has gone out a President of the United States ; a Post Master General;
a Foreign Minister; and a Governor and Lieutenant Governor of our State; atone
and the same period.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	533
Nathaniel Taylor. The early mechanics were: — Nathaniel Wil-
liams, Wm. Hickox, Nathaniel Bryan, Samuel Lane ; Gen. Chalotte
Cady, of Michigan, was the first merchant. —-- Elliott erected
the frame of the first saw mill on the Irondequoit; the mill was
owned and finished by Jonas Allan. The first grist mill on Pond
Brook was built by-----Haze.
RUSH.
Jeremiah Wadsworth, was the purchaser of 5,000 acres, and “Mor-
fan and his associates, of 4,750 acres of what is now Rush, of
'helps and Gorham.
The author is unable to give the years in which each of the prim-
itive settlers came in, but those named were the earliest, and gener-
ally in the order named.
Joseph Morgan, who had first settled on the west side of the river,
was one of the earliest settlers of the town, his farm the same
which now constitutes the homested of Joseph Sibley—the beau-
tiful sweep of flats and upland at the junction of the Honeoye creek
with the Genesee river. The property passed from Morgan into
the hands of---------Spraker, one of the well known Mohawk fam-
ily of that name, who died there.
In 1801, to the few settlers that were previously located in the
township, there was added a considerable number from Frederick
county, Maryland : — The families of Philip Price, Chrystal Thom-
as, Jacob Stull, John Bell,--------Otto.
The family of Philip Price, consisted of seven sons and one
daughter. The sons were: — John Price, of Gorham, Ontario
county, who was for many years one of the county Judges of On-
tario, for one or two terms a representative in the Legislature, and
a member of the State Convention of 1821. Peter Price, who in
the war of 1812 was a Lieutenant in a volnnteer corps, and served
upon the Niagara Frontier. He was an early Judge of Monroe
county, a Justice of the Peace, and for 18 years was the supervisor
of Rush, and for several years chairman of the board of Supervi-
sors of Monroe county. Improving the opportunities that judicial
offices gave him, by study, he was admitted to practice in the court
of Common Pleas, of Monroe, and ultimately in the Supreme Court.
He was emphatically a self made man, and what is not always the
case with self made men, the work was well done. He died after a
long and useful life, in Feb. 1848, leaving an only daughter who is
the wife of A. D. Webster, a merchant in West Henrietta. His
wife, who was the daughter of Nathan Jeffords, still survives. Ja-
cob Adam, and Philip Price, emigrated to Michigan in 1824. Geo.534
PHELPS AKD GOKHAM’s PURCHASE.
Price resides in Rush on the homestead of the family. The daugh-
ter was the wife of Jacob Stull.
The surviving sons of Jacob Stull, are: — John P. Stull, George
Stull, James Stull, all residents of Rush. Chrystal Thomas, died in
1844. He erected the first saw mill in Rush, on Stony Brook, in
1805. Jacob, Chrystal, and David Thomas are his sons. Mrs.
Mook, of Henrietta, is a daughter. John and Frederick Bell of
Rush, are the sons of the early emigrant from Maryland, John Bell.
In addition to these that have been named, there were settled in
Rush previous to 1806, Thomas Daily, who still survives. The
Harmon family, who were afterwards early settlers in Sweeden,
and original proprietors of a large portion of the village plat of
Brockport. John Hartwell; a surviving son is Thomas Hartwell,
of Rush. Joseph M'Farland; the father of Peter M’Farland, of
Rush. Zephaniah Branch. A large family of Goffs, of which the
early and widely known Elder Goff, was a member.
Joseph Sibley came to the Genesee country in 1804—in 1806*
located in Rush. He was from Renssealer county, N. Y. Like
nine-tenths of all the early adventurers, he came into the wilderness
with little to aid him in his enterprise; but with an indomitable
spirit of perseverance, he looked at its rugged features undismayed,
and boldly and successfully wrestled through long years with all of
its hardships and privations. With youth and health, courage and
fortitude, he seized
“ The axe that wondrous instrument,
That like the talisman, transforms
Deserts to fields and cities,’3
and first in one locality, and then in another, made openings in
the forest; and now in his declining years, favored with almost un-
in ter up ted health, and a sound constitution, he is enjoying the fruits
of his labors —is settled down in the midst of broad, highly culti-
vated fields, constituting one of the many large and beautiful farms
in the immediate valley of the Genesee.
In 1812 he changed his residence from Rush to Riga, and was one
of the first to commence clearing a farm in the neighborhood of
Churchville; and after that was a resident of Chili, founding the
milling establishment on Black creek, now owned by D. Cope.
When in anticipation of the declaration of war, Gov. Tompkins
ordered drafts from the militia, he was one of the six hundred vol-
unteers that supplied the necessity of a draft, and promptly marched
to the frontier, under the command of Col S wift. He was an early
supervisor of Genesee and Monroe, a member of the State Legis-
lature ; for five years a canal superintendant; and more recently
the collector of the port of Genesee. His wife, the sister of Elihu
and Samuel Church, of Riga, to whom he was married in 1807, still
survives; a more than usual mortality has prevailed with their largephelps and gorham’s purchase.
585
family of sons and daughters; of a family of ten children, most of
whom became adults, but three survive: —Horace J. Sibley a stu-
dent of law in Rochester; Mrs. John P. Stull, of Rush; and Mrs.
James M’Gill, of Cincinnatti.
REMINISCENCES OF JOSEPH SIBLEY.
When I came to Rush, in 1806, there was no surveyed road in the
township. The fall previous, Mr. Wadsworth had contracted with Major
Markham to cut out a wood’s road as far as the line of Henrietta; but it
was several years before it was carried any farther. The first surveyed
road through the town and West Henrietta, was the State road from Ark-
port to the mouth of the Genesee river. A road was surveyed from the
line of Mendon through the “ Goff settlement,” in 1807; and in 1808, a
bridge was built by the volunteer labor of settlers, over tl^e Honeoye, near
where State road crosses. In 1809, a bridge was built over the Honeoye,
in WestRnsh, on river road, by the town. In 1817, the bridge on the
State road, went off in a freshet, and about the same period, Austin Wing,
a brother of Dr. Wing, of Albany, was drowned in crossing the stream.
There were large patches of rushes both on flats and uplands, along the
river and the Honeoye Creek; the locality was called “Rush Bottom ”—
thence the name of the town. Cattle would winter well and thrive on
the rushes: the Wadsworths would send large droves here to winter, and
many were sent from Lima, Bloomfield, and Victor, ihe rushes finally run
out by being repeatedly fed down.
The greatest amount of sickness and death that I knew of in any locali-
ty in the Genesee country, was as late as 1821, in the settlements along
on Black and Sandy Creek. The prevailing disease had all the distinctive
character of the yellow fever, and in a dense population, would have been
equally as fatal. It was principally owing to the erection of mill dams,
and consequent flooding of timbered lands. When the mill dams were
drawn off, the sickness subsided. In one of the earlier years, when Riga
and Chili were one town, it was ascertained that 60 died in a population of
less than 3,000. At one period, in a population of 83, within the distance
of l-J--miles along on the Braddock’s Bay road, 63 were sick, principally
with billious intermittents. In many seasons, along on the river, the per
cent of sickness was greater than has ever prevailed in any of the large
cities of the United States, not excepting even the seasons of cholera.
This was the case in many of the early years. I have seen instances
when entire families would be prostrated, deaths would occur wiihout any
medical aid, and sometimes even without nursing. Physicians would be
worn out, over-run with business; often it would be twenty-four hours af-
ter they received a call before they could attend to it
In 1805, crops were very light, and before the harvest of 1806, there
was much suffering for food; wheat went up to $2 50 per bushel. The
season of 1804 had been very wet, especially along about corn harvest;
and the seed corn planted in 1805, seemed to have lost in a great measure536	PHELPS AND GOEHAm’s PUECHASE,
its germinating principle; much of it rotted in the ground. The harvest
of 1806 was an abundant one; many fields of wheat were fit to cut on
the 4th of July, Wheat and corn became a drug; neither would sell for
store trade, nor could they be bartered for the ordinary necessaries
of life. I chopped, cleared, and sowed to wheat, twenty acres the first year
I commenced in Rush. I harvested from 6 to 700 bushels, but could sell it
for nothing that I wanted, except in a few instances. I gave a blacksmith
in Bloomfield, a bushel of wheat for putting a small wire bail into a tea
kettle. Leather, wheat would not buy: and so we had to go barefoot.
This state of things produced a large amount of distilling, and whiskey
became far too cheap for the good of the new country. The seasons of
1807, ’8’ ’9, ’10, ’ll, were productive, but that of 181*2 was unproductive,
and they grew worse until 1816 inclusive. In that year, most of the
wheat was not fit to cut until September; the corn crop was almost entire-
ly lost; but little summer crops of any kind were raised. From the 6th to
the 12th of June, there was frost every night. I sold pork that year for
$10 per cwt., fresh; and beef for $6. The harvests of 1817, ’18, were
tolerable ones: from 1819 to ’24, they were universally prolific. In 1819,
wheat went down to 31 cents per bushel.
In early years, there was none but a home market, and that was mostly
barter:—It was so many bushels of wheat for a cow; so many bushels for
a yoke of oxen, &c. There was hardly money enough in the c ountry to
pay taxes. In the way of clothing, buckskin breeches and those made
from hemp grown upon the river, were quite common. A young man
would then have to work six months for such a suit of clothes as he could
now buy for $12. Few wore shoes or boots, except in winter. I have
seen men who are now wealthy farmers, barefoot long after snow came.
The price of a common pair of cow-hide boots would be $7, payable in
wheat at 62 cents per bushel Judge Peter Price told me that the first
horse he ever owned in Rush, he paid ten bushels of corn for shoeing.
As a matter of necessity, horses mostly had to be used without shoeing.
When we began to have a few sheep, it cost us a great deal of trouble to
keep them from the wolves; the coarsest wool was worth 50 cents per lb.,
and cash at that. Woolen shirts wTere a luxury; the most common ones
were of flax and hemp.
Along in years previous to the war, there was extensive hemp culture
on the river. The Wadsworths introduced it, raising much themselves, and
furnishing seed for others; upon their Honeoye farm, in 1811, 18 acres of
hemp were raised. Samuel M. Hopkins, and his brother, Mark Hopkins.
were largely engaged in the business at one time, at what is now Cuyler-
ville, The principal market was at Albany. It finally became a losing
business; cultivation, harvesting, preparation for market, transportation, cost
too much. It was abandoned after an experiment of a few years.
Game was very plenty:—The hills of Rush, Avon, Caledonia, Wheat-
land, valleys and uplands, were favorite ranges for the deer. In the win-
ter of 1806, 57, a deep snow came suddenly in December—a thaw suc-
Note.—In 1816, the author paid some Indian women at Mount Morris, $2 per
bushel for a one horse wagon load of corn, and helped pound it out in the bargain.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
537
needed, leaving the openings pretty much bare, but there was eight or ten
inches of snow left in the woods, which was suddenly crusted over. This
drove the deer, in large flocks, into the openings. They were in good con-
dition, and we could easily kill all we wanted. The Indians of Canawau-
gus had fine sport, and laid in stores of venison. In all the early years,
those Indians were frequently upon the trails that went down to Ironde-
quoit, the Falls, and the mouth of the Genesee river. On their return,
their ponies would be loaded down with the spoils of the chase, the
fish-hook and spear.
The winter I have spoken of, was generally a very severe one; toward
the last of March and beginning of April, there was a heavy fall of snow;
through Canandaigua, Phelpstown, and in all that region, it was from four
to five feet in depth; on the river, three and half feet. All the roads were
entirely blocked up. A thaw came suddenly and swept the flats of the
river throughout their whole extent. It was a singular fact, that the robin
remained in the country throughout this generally hard winter. In the
winter of 1808, ’9, another deep snow and crust occurred. The wolves
and dogs made terrible havoc among the deer; the poor creatures would
take to the roads, and flee into farmers’ yards for refuge. Venison, in the
way of meat, was a great help to new settlers. I have never heard of a
region where deer were so plenty.
In the winter of 1815, we had a general wolf hunt, or drive, as it proved
to be. The inhabitants of the whole region turned out, and surrounded
all the swamps in Gates, Chili, Wheatland, and Caledonia; sounded horns,
fired guns, halloed, shouted, and raised a din of discordant sounds.
Many deer, bear and foxes were killed; the wolves fled, and after that,
there was but few seen in this region.
Ducks were abundant in the river and tributary streams in early years.
There was the wood duck, another species bearing a strong resemblance to
the common tame duck, shell drakes, dippers, or divers; and occasionally,
the real canvass back. Wild geese would come every fall and spring.
Pigeons would in some seasons come in large flocks, and seriously injure
the newly sown crops. I have known an hundred dozen to be caught in a
net in one day. In 1812, they made a roost in a cedar swamp on Dugan’s
creek. They occupied the trees of seventy-five or eighty acres; there
were, in some instances, as many as thirty nests on a single tree. The
young squabs were brought away by the inhabitants in cart loads. When
the young ones left the nests, they would go off and remain about the
neighborhood in flocks by themselves, and it was several months before the
old and young ones mingled.
The black squirrel was a great nuisance in early years. I have seen
thirty on a single tree. They would sometimes destroy whole fields of
corn. They have been gradually diminishing.
The advent of the crow in this region was in 1817. They had been
preceded by the raven, their natural enemy, as I am led to infer. The
crow made cautious and gradual approaches; at first, they flew over, then
ventured to light on the tops of the highest trees, in which position uaie
would seem to be determining if it were safe to locate. It was some vcu.
before they became permanent residents, and had fairly expelled the ra
34538
PHELPS A HD GOEHAM’s PUKCHASE.
In after years, when a raven would venture to revisit the region, the crow©
would seem to be gathered here and there in council, to determine how
the intruder was to be expelled. The occupancy of the crow, was the re-
sult of conquest.
• In the earliest years, there were a few turkey buzzards upon the river,
but they soon disappeared. A constant revolution has been going on
with birds, animals and quadrupeds; old settlers have been disappearing,
and new ones succeeding. There is scarcely a year in which some strange
bird does not make its appearance; and within a few years, the opossum of
Virginia and Maryland has become a permanent resident
Elisha Sibley, a brother of Judge Sibley, was among the early
settlers. He died in 1832. His surviving sons, are: —Samuel Sib-
ley, William Sibley, Rev. Jeremiah Sibley, of Rush, Elisha Sibley,
of Henrietta, Charles Sibley, of Groveland, and Martin and Joseph
Sibley, of Michigan. Daughters became the wives of------— Hoit,
of Rush, Calvin Norton, of Groveland, and Jehiel Markham.
Elnathan Perry was a settler in Rush, as early as 1806. He was
in service during the Revolution, and came to this region in Sulli-
van^ expedition. At some period during the Revolution he had
made the acquaintance of La Fayette, and was recognized by him
at Rochester, in his tour through this region in 1825. He died in
1848; his widow still survives. His surviving sons are, John Perry,
of Pennsylvania, and George Perry, of Rush; Mrs. Nathan Green
and Mrs. Sturgess of Rush, are his daughters.
Benjamin Campbell, who afterwards was a merchant and miller
in Rochester, was an early merchant in Rush; soon after the wrar
of 1812. He is now a resident of Buffalo. John Webster and
■-----Miner, were early merchants.
Dr. Alexander Kelsey was an early settled physician — as early
as 1811. He was killed by the fall of a tree, fifteen or twenty years
since; was a good physician and useful citizen. Levi Kelsey, of
Rush, late one of the members of Assembly from Monroe, is a son
of his; Mrs. Jeremiah Sibley, of Rush, and Mrs. Robert Martin, of
Henrietta, are his daughters.
Dr. Socrates Smith commenced practice soon after the war of
1812, and is yet a practicing physician in the town. He married a
daughter of the early Pioneer, Col. Wm. Markham.
The first religious society organized in Rush, was of the Baptist
order; their early settled clergyman, Elder Goff. They erected a
stone church about 1830. Elder Badger organized a Christian so-
ciety in early years. A Lutheran society was organized jn early
years; and built a church about 1830.
The town of Rush was organized in 1818. The first town meet-
ing was held at the house of Benajah Billings. The officers chosen
were:—William Markham, supervisor, Peter Price, town clerk.PHELPS AM) GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
539
Other town officers: — Nathan Jeffords, Jacob Stull, John Mark-
ham, Nathan Rose, Dudley Brainard, Clark Davis, George Liday,
Peter Price, Adolphus Allen, Alfred Jones, John Ford, Benj. Camp-
bell, Daniel Hulburt, Philip R. Rich, Alexander Kelsey, Oliver Case,
Jeriel Smith, Nathan Gilpin, Henry Hart.
HENRIETTA.
James Sperry, Esq., who is generally familiar with the deduction?*
of land titles in this region, is under the impression that T. 12,
7th R., which now constitutes the town of Henrietta, was sold by
Phelps and Gorham, previous to the general sale to the London As-
sociates. In the general deed of conveyance there is no reservation
of that township, except that of 900 acres to “ Major E. Scott,”
and the author therefore concludes that the main portion of the
township became a part of the Pulteney estate; and this belief is
strengthened by the fact that the township assumed the name of
the daughter of Sir. Wm. Pulteney. Mr. Wadsworth sold the
township during a tour in Europe, to William Six, of Hague, in
Holland, and two associates, as the agent of the London Associ-
ates, as is inferred. When he returned from Europe, the sale and
settlement of the town, constituted one of his numerous agencies.
He did not, as would seem, bring it into market until the late period
of 1806. In that year, Stephen Rodgers surveyed it into farm lots.
The name, “ Major E. Scott,” as entered in the office of Messrs.
Phelps and Gorham, should have been, Major Isaac Scott. He had
been either an agent or surveyor, for Phelps and Gorham, and to
satisfy a claim, or to fulfill a promise of reward, they apportioned
to him 900 acres, on the River, in the south west comer of the
township. Although displeased with the location that had been as-
signed him, he settled upon it soon after 1790, built a log house,
cleared some ten or fifteen acres, remained in his solitary wood's
home for two or three years; but becoming discouraged, from sick-
ness in his family, and other endurances incident to pioneer life,
he gave up his enterprise, and the tract, by some exchange or com-
promise, was again merged in the township. This was the untoward
commencement of settlement in what is now the wealthy and flour-
ishing town of Henrietta. It was a hard region to begin in, desirable
as it would now seem; the lands were most of them flat, wet and
heavily timbered; and the whole region had a forbidding aspect, as
many will recollect, in the earliest years of settlement.
The next adventurers, and in fact the pioneer settlers of the town,
in reference to permanent settlement, were: — Jessee Pangburn,
Lyman and Warren Hawley. They came in in 1806. Besides
them, the purchasers in the township, in this year, were: — Charles540
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Rice, William Thompson, Moses Goodale, Thomas Sparks, George
Dickinson, Sela Reed, Asa Champlin, Gideon Griswold. In Octo-
ber, 1807, there were settled, and about to settle in the east part of
the township, mostly on what was called the “ Wadsworth Road : "
—	Joseph Came, Ira Hatch, Moses Wilder, Charles Rice, Jonathan
Russell, Benjamin Bales, -------- Parish, ------- Barnes, Elias
Wilder; and soon after the period named, there were added to the
settlement, the Baldwin family and Elisha Gage.
But few sales and settlement took place in 1807 and '8; in 1809,
TO, nearly all the most desirable lands in the township were contrac-
ted. In the latter part of 1811, the sales were arrested in conse-
quence of the discovery that the foreign proprietors had neglected
to put their deeds upon record in the office of the Secretary of
State, as they were required to do by a special statute. The set-
tlers were advised by Mr. Wadsworth to use their means in making
improvements, and in preparing to pay the purchase money when
the difficulty in the way of title was removed. In the winter of
1813, T4, Mr. Wadsworth drew up a petition, which was generally
signed by the settlers, praying the legislature to pass a law which in
effect would allow the proprietors to supply the omission of record
within one year after the close of the then pending wTar. The
prayer was granted, and in 1817 title was perfected. Soon after
this, Mr. Wadsworth purchased of the foreign proprietors, all of the
unsold lands in the township.
On the perfection of title, a somewhat stringent policy was adop-
ted by the proprietors, in reference to the outstanding expired con-
tracts : — The contract price, $4 per acre, had been fixed at a time
when Henrietta was looked upon as a quite out of the way place
—	a back settlement — “thirty miles from Canandaigua/' and pros-
pectively far removed from market facilities. In 1817 the whole
face of things had changed, and* was changing : — A village had
sprung up at “the Falls," (Rochester,) milling, and other manufac-
turing was in progress there, and large expectations had began to
be formed in reference to the locality ; and what was still more im-
portant, the speedy prosecution of the then projected Erie Canal,
was confidently anticipated. New terms were imposed upon the
settlers, or rather what amounted to new terms, for although they
had had a long time to prepare for payment, they were mostly un-
prepared;— it was in years when new settlers could do little more
than provide for present support of themselves and families. The
conditions imposed were: — payment in lull upon their contracts at
contract price, within about four months, or payment in full for
twenty acres or more at contract price, and a new contract for all
that remained unpaid for, at an advance of 66 per cent; or paying
nothing, and taking new contracts, the 66 per cent was to be ad-
ded. The new conditions imposed were upon the principle that
the proprietors and settlers, were entitled to an equal share of whatPHELPS AWD GOEHAM’s PUEOHASE.
541
would be regarded as a fair estimate, of the rise in value that had
occurred since the original contracts were made; a principle that
governed large land proprietors in other similar instances, but which
did not give due weight to the consideration, that it is the pioneers
who first break into new tracts of land — commence improvements
— who principally give the lands their enhanced value. But few
of the settlers could meet the prompt payment demanded; most of
them were obliged to submit to the terms of renewed contracts; un-
toward years followed, and the finale was the loss, with many, of
their improvements; while many were obliged to sell at a sacrifice,
and renew in some western region, a pioneer life. Such has been
the fate of many early settlers in other localities of the Genesee
country, but in few instances perhaps, were there as large a propor-
tion of changes of ocupants as in Henrietta. But few, in fact, of
the early settlers became permanent residents.
The Sperry family, as will have been observed in another con-
nection, settled in Henrietta in 1809, — or a part of it in that year,
and a part in 1813; their location, what was termed “Methodist
Hill.” John Briminstool was the first settler on the River road, in
1810.	His father, Michael Briminstool, settled on the same road in
1811.	In that year, the only settlers on the River road from Enos
Stone’s, in Brighton, to south line of Henrietta, were the Brimin-
stool’s, Jo^injC^k,-------Russell, and a family in a log house near
Mt. Hope; to whom were added before the close of the year, Lu-
ther C. Adams, Charles Case, Isaac F. Nichols, Hugh and Frederick
Sample, Simon Moore, Bethuel Hitchcock, and Charles Colegrove.
In the same year, Andrew and John Bushman, and John Gould set-
tled on cross road between River and State road. With a little
assistance from Mr. Wadsworth the River road was opened through
Henrietta to the Falls, in 1812 : — “ but,” says Deacon Briminstool,
“we had but little business in that direction; we used sometimes to
go down the river to fish, and sometimes to mill.” In 1812 Joshua
Briminstool and William Frazier, and soon after, Daniel Bly and
Timothy Torrence settled upon the road. Of the early settlers in
that part of the town, the surviving residents are, Michael Brimin-
stool, Charles Case, and Andrew and John Bushman. Deacon Brim-
instool is now in his 81st year. Jacob Briminstool, of Henrietta, is
a surviving son; a daughter of his became the wife of James Mc-
Nall.
Moses Wilder set out the first orchard in town, and built the first
framed house; Elias wilder the first barn. Elias Wilder moved to
Conneaut, Ohio, soon after the war of 1812. His surviving sons,
are, Amasa Wilder, of Richmond, Moses Wilder and Palmer B.
Wilder, of Rochester; daughters became the wives of Jonathan
Rood, of Pittsford, Clark Marshall, of Waterbury, Vt., Orrin An-
derson, of Orleans county, Jairus Bryant, of Pontiac, Michigan.
Ira Hatch removed to Cattaragus county. Jonathan Russell is542
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
still living in Henrietta. Benjamin Bales removed in an early day
to Ontario, Wayne county; and also the Barns and Parish families.
The first religious meetings held in town, were at the house of
Moses Wilder, by circuit preachers: — Elder S. Puffer, Lacey, Fill-
more. The first school on Wadsworth road, was opened in 1809,
in a log school house that stood near Stephens’ corners. The school
was kept by Sarah Leggett. The first military muster in town,
was in 1810. Joseph Bancroft was captain; ----------Hodge, who
was killed at the battle of Queenston, was the Lieutenant. It was
remembered that but few of the trainers had guns, and most of them
were barefooted. A saw mill was erected in 1811 or ’12, by Jon-
athan Smith.
In 1814, Elder Thomas Gorton settled on the river road. He
had previously resided in Lima. A Baptist society had been or-
ganized two years previous, and meetings had been kept up, Deacon
Briminstool generally leading in them. After Elder Gorton settled
in the neighborhood, a block meeting house was erected. The Elder
emigrated to Michigan in 1840. He had thirteen children who be-
came heads of families. The first school on River road, was opened
in 1810, by Lucy Branch, now Mrs. Solomon Nichols, of Cattarau-
gus county. A religious reading meeting was started in 1811, by the
elder Mr. Sperry, on the State road, which terminated in the forma-
tion of a Congregational society, in 1815. A log meeting house
was erected, but no stated preaching was maintained until the Rev.
Wm. P. Kendrick was employed by the society in 1823. In 1833,
the society was merged with another that had been organized in the
east part of the town, and their present meeting house near the
Academy was erected.
In 1813 or ’14, a Baptist society was organized in the east part
of the town, over which Elder John Finney was settled for several
years. In 1827 the east and west societies were merged, and a
house erected at Henrietta corners. Over this united church Elder
Miner was settled until 1838, when a division took place, and
churches were erected at West Henrietta, and in the east part of
the town.
To the enterprise, and just appreciation of the cause of education,
on the part of a few citizens of the town of Henrietta, the inhabitants
of all this region were indebted for an early flourishing literary insti-
tution. Monroe Academy was projected as early as 1825. Before
the close of 1826 a sufficient amount of subscriptions were obtained
to warrant the erection of a building. The contract went into the’
hands of Benjamin Baldwin, a young merchant of the town; the
Academy building was completed and the whole enterprise was
fairly under way under the auspices of David Crane as Principal,
in the winter of ’28 ’9. Among its most active projectors and pat-
rons, were : — Luther C. Chamberlin, Richard Wilkins, Richard
and Charles Daniels, Elisha Gage, Bedjamin Baldwin, Abijah Gould,phelps and horham’s purchase.
543
Ozias Church, (father of the present Lieut. Governor,) of Henrietta,
and Giles Bolton, of Rochester. Its success exceeded the most san-
guine anticipations; its students soon numbering as many as 350.
It continued to be a flourishing institution in all the early years of its
existence, and supplied a local deficiency that had existed in the
means of education; and only declined when similar institutions
were rapidly multiplied in other localities.
Early settlers of Henrietta, other than those named: —Ebenezer
Gooding, a son of the early pioneer in Bristol, Warren Burr, Ros-
well Wickwire, Elijah Little, Stephen Legget, Alfred Jones, Noble
Dayton, Charles Balwin,-------Scudder.
The Pioneer settlement of Henrietta, owing to its secluded posi
tion, its heavy timber, and the prevalence generally of level lands
and wet soil, to which was added years of questionable title; was
slow and discouraging. As with all the rest of this region—-but
especially with that and several other localities—the “good time”
came with the Erie canal; or when that great promoter and diffuser
of prosperity had become a settled measure. The town is now
justly ranked among the best agricultural towns of Western New
York; and no where, perhaps, do farms bear a higher average value.
CHAPTER II
MORRIS’ RESERVE.
/
The territory thus designated is bounded on the east oy Phelps
and Gorham’s purchase; north by Lake Ontario; west by the
Transit, or Holland Company’s eastern line; south by the Penn-
sylvania line; — containing in all, not far from 500,000 acres. It
was a reservation made by Mr. Morris, in his sale to the Holland
Company, and afterwards sold in large tracts to others —principally
to preferred creditors. The northern portion of it, the settlement
of which will only be included in this connection, was divided into
two tracts: —the “ Triangle,” and the “ Connecticut,” or “ 100,000
acre Tract.”
THE TRIANGLE.
This is a tract, which as will be observed by reference to maps,
has its base upon Lake Ontario, and terminates in a sharp point, a544	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PURCHASE.
little south of Le Roy village. The peculiar shape had its origin
in the north easterly direction it was necessary to give the west
line of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, in order to have it corres-
pond with the course of the Genesee River, and be an average dis-
tance of twelve miles therefrom.* The tract contains 87,000 acres;
embraces the towns of Clarkson, Sweeden, and part of Bergen and
Le Roy. Mr. Morris sold it to Le Roy, Bayard and M'Evers, who
were then merchants of the city of New York. It was not sur-
veyed until 1801. In the spring of that year, Mr. Ellicott, as agent
for the proprietors, employed Richard M. Stoddard who then resi-
ded in Canandaigua, and had been in the employ of the Holland
Company, to survey the tract; and after the survey he became the
local agent for its sale and settlement.
Mr. Stoddard had married the sister of Dudley Saltonstall, of
Canandaigua, who took an interest with him in the purchase of 500
acres of the tract, which constitutes the site of Le Roy village.
Mr. Saltonstall soon sold his interest to Ezra Platt, who wTas also a
resident of Canandaigua, and one of the early Judges of Ontario.
Stoddard and Platt, became the Pioneers of Le Roy, and all of the
Triangle. Before the close of 1801 they had built a log house on
the banks of Allan's creek, opened a land office, and were erecting
mills at what was then called “ Buttermilk Falls." Mr. Stoddard
was sheriff of Genesee county soon after its organization ; in all
early years a piominent and useful citizen. His wddow still sur-
vives, a resident with her son, Thomas B. Stoddard, Esq, near Irving,
Chautauque county. The only daughter was the first wife of the
Hon. John B. Skinner, of Wyoming. Mr. Stoddard died in 1810.
Ezra Platt, who was at one period First Judge of Genesee, died in
1811; Elijah and George Platt of Le Roy, and Ezra Platt, of Ann
Arbor, are his sons; Mrs. StephenM. Wolcott, of Le Roy, is a
daughter of Judge Platt.
This pioneer commencement has reference to the immediate vil-
lage of Le Roy. Near the village, on the main road, east, it will
have been observed, Capt. Ganson had succeeded Charles Wilbur
in a public house in 1798. In reference to the \vhole town Mr. Wil-
bur was the pioneer. He was the first justice of the peace west of
Caledonia. Removing from Le Roy, he located at the Cold Springs,
near Lockport, becoming the first settler in all that part of Niagara
county. His wife was a daughter of Deacon Handy, of West
Bloomfield ; a daughter, the first born in Le Roy, is Mrs. Standart,
of Cleavland. Jessee and Philip Beach, Chapman Hawley, Gil-
* The survey of the Mill Tract was first made by Col. Hugh Maxwell. He ran
twelve miles west from the river, and then due north to Lake Ontario. This being
objected to by the Indians, the late Judge Porter ran a new line, which was as near
an average of twelve miles distant from the River as a straight line would allow. In
after surveys, west of this line, the tract which Porter’s survey struck out from the
Maxwell survey, became what has been termed the Triangle,PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PUEOHASE.
545
bert Hall,-----Douglass, Samuel Davis, and Hinds Chamberlin,
were soon added to the new settlement east of the present village
site. The Beaches removed to Niagara county where many of
their descendants now reside. Deacon Hinds Chamberlin, who is
named in another connection, came a young man to Scottsville, as
early as 1795. He was elected a constable in 1798, for the whole
region west of the River; first serving precepts issued by a magis-
trate at Avon; and afterwards those issued by Esq. Fish. As a
road commissioner he laid out the first road west of theRiver, from
Scottsville to Hall’s corners. He married previous to 1800, the
widow of Malcolm M’Laren, of Caledonia. He died in 1849, aged
84 years. Some reminiscences of his, will be found in Holland
Purchase, p. 321; to a son of his, Mr. S. Chamberlin, of Le Roy,
the author has been indebted for some farther reminiscences obtain-
ed from the early pioneer, previous to his death.* * Mr. Davis be-
came an early tavern keeper, a mile east of Le Roy. He was from
Bloomfield; lived in early life with General Hall; married a daugh-
ter of Isaac Scott, the pioneer of Scottsville. He was murdered in
his own house, in 1827 or ’8, by James Gray, who was excuted at
Batavia. The father of Gray, who was implicated in the murder,
was sentenced to the States prison, pardoned by the Governor, and
died in Le Roy a few years since. The Grays were intoxicated;
the immediate provocation was the refusal of Mr. Davis to give up
a child of James Gray that was indented to him.
Gen. Daniel Davis was a settler as early as 1801, and also became
an early tavern keeper. He was an early military officer, succeed-
ing Joseph Hewitt in the command of a company of militia; had
attained the rank of Brig. General on the occurrence of the war of
1812; was killed at the sortie of Fort Erie.
Asa Buell was a settler soon after 1800 ; had held a commission
in the Revolution; was a member of the Legislature of Conn.;
died in 1825 or ’6; a son was killed with Gen. Davis at the sortie of
Fort Erie ; a surviving son occupies the homested.
The following list embraces the names of all who purchased land
upon the Triangle, from commencement of sales until the close of
1809. Generally it is the names of the early Pioneers, though in
some instances, it is presumed, the purchasers, or holders of contracts
never became residents. And it is also to be considered that many
Note. — In reminiscences ef Le Roy, reference will be bad to the whole town, with-
out any distinction as to that portion of it which is on the Triangle.
* Mr. Chamberlin has forwarded to the author the first deed given for a farm lot,
west of Caladonia. John Johnstone, as the agent of William Hornby, conveys 100
acres of land in Le Roy, to Joseph Hewitt. The blank was printed by “L. Cary,
Canandaigua.” Mr. Hewett paid for his farm |hus early with the proceeds of a con-
tract with Mr. Ellicott, for building the first bridge over Allan’s creek, at Le Roy. He
removed to Lewiston, Niagara county, in early years, where he became a successful
farmer, and where his descendants now reside.546
phelps and goeham’s purchase.
transfers of contracts were made, in which cases the names of
the actual settlers may not appear: —
Township 1.
Dudley Saltonstall,
R. M. Stoddard,
Township 1.
Elias Underwood,
E. Bacon,
William Gilmore,
Township 1.
Isaac Marsh,
Township 4.
Moody Freeman.]
Township 1.
Philemon Nettleton,
James Bates,
John Fordham.
Township 2.
Benj. Fox,
Township 1*
Gaines Brown,
Jessee Foskett,
Cephas Fordham,’
Martin Kelsey,
James Bates,
Jessee Griswold,
Daniel Le Barron,
Sylvanus Fairfield,
Joseph Mapes,
Ella Smith.
Township 2.
Richard Abbey,
Abraham Davis,
Alexander White,
Township 1.
Simon Pierson,
Joseph Pierson,
Oliver Bates.
Township 2.
Samuel Gleason.
William Peters,
Jonathan Thompson,
Willard Leach,
George Letson,
Joseph Eldridge,
Samuel Farley,
David Johnson,
1801.
Township 1.
David Fairchild,
Thaddeus Keys,
1802.
Township 1.
Lemuel F. Prindell,
Nathan Harvey,
Jeremiah Ilascall,
1 803.
^Township 5.
John Bams,
Amos W. Sweet,
John Cobb.
1804.
Township 2.
David Scott.
John Landon, !
Benajah Worden.
Township 4.
James Sayres,
1805.
Township 2.
James Austin,
David Potter,
Solomon Leach,
Cotton Leach,
Gideon Elliott,
Isaac Leach,
Levi Leach,
Daniel Kelsey,
David Franklin,
John Pierson.
Township 3.
Isaiah White,
Jonathan Freeman,
Thomas White.
1806.
Township 2.
Roger Kelsey,
James Gano.
Township 3.
Jas. D. Mowlat,
Archibald M’Knight,
Joseph Hopkins, '
Levi Gilbert,
Gideon Orr,
John Ellis,
Township 4.
Wm. Spafford,
Samuel Algur,
Township 1.
Ebenezer Green,
Aaron Scribner.
Township 1.
Abraham Russell,
Horace Shepherd,
Joshua Woodward.
Township 2.
Jacob Fuller.
Township 4.
Elijah Blodgett.
Township 5.
James M’Casson.
Township 4.
John Fowle,
Wm. Davis,
Simeon Daggett,
David Stanton,
Noah Owen,
Benj. Boyd,
Isaac Farwell, 1
John Farwell.
Township 5.
Abigal Sayer,
John Chapman,
Township 4.
Aretas Haskell,
Julius Curtiss,
Samuel Chiswell,
Ebenezer Towle,
Sylvester Eldridge,
Noah Owen,
v Olney F. Rice,
Carr Draper.
Township 5.
Perry G. Nichols*547
PHELPS
Township 1.
Oliver Bates,
James Bates,
Lockwood G. Hoyt,
Sylvanus Franklin,
Philo Pierson.
Township 2.
Abraham Davis,
Levi Russell Jr.,
Philip Conklin,
John A. Lackor,
Aaron H. Kelsey,
Eber Griswold,
Wheaton Southworth,
Henry D. Gifford,
Jeremiah Hart,
Abner Lovejoy,
D. R. Peters,
Benj. Woodward,
Wm. Woodward,
Township 1.
John Richards,
Leonard Par melee,
Wm. Wolcott,
Daniel Waite.
Nathaniel King.
Township 2.
Benj. Wright,
Levi Ward, Sen.
John Ward,
Levi Ward, Jr.,
Betsey Whipple.
Wm, Monger,
John Wright,
Joseph Throop,
Polly Gifford,
Peleg Thomas,,
Abijah C apron,
Simeon Gray,
Wm. H. Munger,
Townspip 3.
Samuel Lincoln,
Johnson Bedell,
Amos Parks,
Edward Parks,
Township 2.
Joshua Green,
Daniel Guthrie,
Azariah Haywood,
George Orman,
Jacob Orman.
Town ship 3.
Mathias Pease,
Ebenezer Champney,
Gale Furman,
AND GORHAM S PURCHASE.
1807.
Township 2.
James Landon,
Sylvanus Durlam,
Aug. Buell,
John Gifford, •
Cyrus Gifford,
Dyre Thomas,
Joseph Throop,
Orange Throop,
David Johnson,
A. Bissell.
Township 3.
John Ellis,
John Reed,
Samuel Bishop,
Stephen Johnson,
Joseph Hopkins,
Wm. Dunsha,
Samuel Lincoln,
Luke Chase,
1 808.
Township 3.
Walter Palmer,
Lincoln Palmer,
Cyrus Hatch,
Rufus Harman,
John A. Tone,
Reuben Stickney,
Joseph Eldridge,
Stephen Lyman,
Joshua Green,
Cyrus Galloway,
W m. M. Bentley,
Charles Warren,
Wm. B. Worden,
Aaron Hill,
Moses J. Hill,
Judah Church,
Nathaniel Pool,
Daniel C. Stone,
David Lovett,
Jacob Bartlett,
Bern. Knight,
Nathaniel Pool.
Micajah Moon,
Reuben Downs,
1809.
Township 3.
Amos Frink,
Alanson Thomas,
Isaac Howard,
Zadock Hurd,
Joseph Langdon,
Levi Merrills,
Joshua Green,
John Marshall,
Stephen Clark,
Township 3.
Ephraim Carter,
Bethuel Barron,
Amos Parks,
Uriah L. James,
Wm. James,
W. Stewart,
Elisha Stewart,
Benj. Sheldon,
Elisha Ewer.
Township 4.
Patrick Fowler,
Joseph Grover,
Wilbur Sweet,
Levi Leach,
Eli Glass,
Wm. Dickinson,
Anthony Case,
S. Bigelow.
Township 3.
Wm. Bentley,
Nicholas Lake,
Oramel Butler,
Simeon Gray,
Joseph Luce.
Township 4.
Eldridge Farwell,
John Mallory,
Isaac Lincoln,
Eli Mead,
Wilbur Sweet,
L. W. Udall,
Robert Clark,
Robert Hoy,
Robert Brown,
Jas. M. Brown,
Oliver Hamlin,
Danforth Howe,
Macy Brown.
Eli Rundell,
Jonathan Mead,
Elisha Lake.
Township 3.
Reuben Stickney. Jr.,
Thos. W. Taylor,
Reuben Downs,
Township 4.
Isaac Holmes,
James Hoy,
Joshua H. Brown,
Walter Billings,
Orange Risden.548	PHELPS AND GOKHAM’s PUECHASE.
The successor of R. M. Stoddard in the land agency, was Gra-
ham Newell, who was succeeded by Egbert Benson, Jr. The suc-
cessor of the last named, was Jacob Le Roy, a son of one of the
proprietors. In 1839, Mr. Le Roy returned to New York, and
Joshua Lothrop who had been his clerk, succeeded him in the
agency, which position he still retains; though the affairs of the
agency are pretty much closed; the whole tract being sold, deeded,
and paid for, with the exception of a small amount which remains
in the form of loans.
The reader by a cursory examination of the list of early settlers, will
observe that for the first few years, settlement of the Triangle beyond
the immediate neighborhood of Le Roy, had a slow progress. In
1803, there were but two lots sold in Bergen; in 1804, but seven ;
in 1805, but twenty-one. In 1805, but three in Sweden ; in 1806,
but nine ; in 1807* but twenty-six. In 1803, but one in Clarkson ,
in 1804, but three; in 1805, but twelve. And it is not to be pre-
sumed that all who purchased became actual settlers ; in fact, many
did not.
Jeremiah Hascall removed from Canandaigua, where he had set-
tled in 1800, to Le Roy, with his family, in 1805; having pur-
chased a part of the present Murphy farm in 1802. He was a
Justice of the Peace when his jurisdiction embraced all the territo-
ry west of Genesee river. He died in 1835, aged 96 years; his
wife in 1834, aged 84 years. They had thirteen children, twelve
of whom arrived at adult age. The surviving sons are:—David,
Amasa, and Augustus P. Hascall, of Le Roy, the last named being
the memher of Congress elect, from the county of Genesee ; John
Hascall, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Daughters:—Mrs. Wiard, of
Le Roy; Mrs. Harvey, of Pike; Mrs. Austin, of Le Roy; Mrs.
Knowlton, of Ohio.
James Austin was an officer of the Revolutionary army; settled
first in Bristol; in Le Roy soon after 1800. He died in Bergen.
His widow still survives, over 90 years of age. Mrs. Bissell and
Mrs. Lee, of Bergen, Mrs. Allen, of Mendon, were his daughters.
Nathan Harvey settled in Le Roy in 1802. He and Jeremiah
Hascall were both engaged in opening what is now called the Brock-
port road. It was done at the expense of the proprietors of the Trian-
gle. The road makers took camp equippage, and encamped as
they progressed. Mr. Harvey died in 1839. Harmon Harvey, of
Le Roy, and Nathaniel Harvey, of Allegany, are his sons; Mrs.
Hiram Butler, of Le Roy, is a daughter.
Richard Waite was the Pioneer blacksmith ; was an early officer
of the militia. He still survives, a resident of Alexander. He is
the father of the Rev. Richard L. Waite, of Caryville; Daniel D.
Waite,editor of the Advocate, Batavia; Elisha Waite, of Adrian,
Michigan; Mrs. Newton, of Alexander, is a daughter.
Stephen Stilwell was the Pioneer shoemaker; coming in with aPHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.	549
large family in the fall of the year, for the want of. a better tene-
ment, he was obliged to cover and make a small addition to a frame
raised by Major Waite for shoeing oxen; in which he wintered,
and began the shoeing of the new settlers. He was not only a
shoemaker, but a preacher, and a famous coon hunter. One of a
family of emigrants dying at Capt. Gansons, he preached the fu-
neral sermon in the bar-room. This was the first death and burial
in Le Roy.
The Parmalee family were early settlers. Col. Parmalee, of
Wilson, Niagara county, is one of the survivors. Martin Kelsey,
Timothy Hatch, Washington Weld, Isaac Marsh, Hugh Murphy,
David Scott, Martin O. Coe, were in Le Roy previous to, and be-
fore the close ot the war of 1812. Mr. Kelsey survives at the age
of 70 years ; Mrs. Elmore, of Le Roy, is his daughter. Mr. Hatch
died in 1844; his widow still survives; M. P. Hatch, of Oswego,
is a son of his; Mrs. Martin 0. Coe, of Le Roy, a daughter. Mr.
Weld died in 1849 ; Willard Weld, residing near Lockport, is a son
of his; the widow still survives. Mr. Marsh died many years
since; some of the family are residing in Bushville, near Batavia.
Mr. Murphy settled first in Cambria, Niagara county; in 1810,*
changed his residence to Le Roy, purchasing the tract which now
constitutes the fine farm occupied bv his sons and daughters, border-
ing upon the eastern boundaries of the village. He died in 1826,
David Scott was an officer of the regular army in 1812 ; now re-
sides in Michigan. Mr. Coe still survives: George, Joseph and
Charles Coe, of Le Roy, and William Coe, of Boston, are his sons.
Dr. Ella Smith was the first settled physician in Le Roy. Dr,
William Sheldon settled there in 1811, and has continued practice
up to this period. William H. Sheldon, of Le Roy, who married
a daughter of one of the early pioneers at Allen's Hill, Ontario
county ; Joseph Garlinghouse ; Lucius Sheldon, of Le Roy ; G. T.
Sheldon, of Detroit, and Horatio Sheldon, of Wisconsin, are his sons.
Dudley Saltonstall was the first practicing lawyer in Le Roy.
Heman J. Redfield commenced practice there soon after the war of
1812; his students, while at Le Roy, were :—Seth M. Gates, of
Warsaw, Lucas Beecher of Sandusky, Willis Buell of Zanesville,
and Albert Smith of Milwaukee. John B. and Samuel Skinner,
and John and Augustus Hascall, succeeded the early lawyers in
practice there.
In 1810, the first building was erected exclusively for merchan-
dizing. It was first occupied by George A. Tiffany, a son of one
of the early printers at Canandaigua, and by------Johnson and
Joseph Annin, in succession. Thaddeus Joy, so long and widely
known, first as a teamster in the days of “ big wagons," on the Al-
bany and Buffalo road, then as a mei chant, and in later years, in
connection with transportation on the Erie Canal, was merchan-
dizing in Le Roy as early as 1810. He went to Buffalo in 1823;550
phelps aht> gorham’s purchase.
now resides in the city of New York. Judge Samuel De Veaux,
of Niagara Falls, now one of the most wealthy and public spirited
citizens of all that region, had been attached to the commissary
department at Fort Niagara, and subsequently had commenced
merchandizing there. The winter after the breaking out of the
war, he removed to Le Roy, and was engaged in merchan-
dizing there until after the close of the war. In some reminiscen-
* ces of the war of 1812, which he has furnished the author, and
which will form an interesting chapter in a volume now partly pre-
pared for the press—“ Sketches of the War of 1812 upon the Nia-
gara Frontier ”—he pays a well merited tribute to the patriotism of
the citizens of Le Roy, in that trying crisis ; and especially names
the circumstance of the furnishing of gratuitous supplies from that
village and neighborhood, at a period of want and destitution upon
the Frontier; and it but accords with the author’s recollection of
the patriotism of the citizens of that locality during the war.
A Presbyterian church was organized in Le Roy in 1812. The
Rev. Mr. Tuller was the first to officiate; the Rev. Calvin C. Colton,
author of the “ Life of Henry Clay,” was the first settled clergy-
man. The society erected a church in 1825. Previous to the or-
ganization of this society, religious meetings had been held in a barn
near the present residence of Judge Brewster; and subsequently,
in a school house opposite the residence of Col. Shedd. The Bap-
tists erected a church in 1822. A Methodist society was formed in
1823, by Elder A. Seager. An Episcopal church was erected in
1826.
The Le Roy Female Seminary was founded in 1836. An asso-
ciation, the members of which were, A. P. Hascall, Samuel Com-
stock, Lee Comstock, Ezra Rathbun, S. M. Gates, Albert Brewster,
Jonathan P. Darling, Alonzo S. Upham, Richard Hollister, William
S. Bradley, and Enos Bachelor, purchased a private residence for
the purpose of converting it into a literary institution. The Misses
Inghams, having previously located themsslves in the village of At-
tica, as an inducement for them to remove to Le Roy, the associa-
tion took their property in Attica in exchange for the building and
lot in Le Roy. The school was immediately started under their
auspices, was flourishing, and has become, by their unremitting en-
terprise and perseverance, one of the best Female Seminaries in
the State. Improving the grounds, and from time to time enlarging
the edifice, it now has the imposing appearance of some of the
eastern colleges. Few, if any, female institutions in the State have
turned out more well educated graduates ; many of whom are
either at the head of, or teachers in seminaries in different portions
of the United States;. especially in the western States. One of
the founders of the institution has become the wife of Mr. Phineas
Stanton, a son of one of the prominent pioneers of the Holland
Purchase, the late Colonel Stanton, of Middlebury.PHELPS AKD GOEHAm’s PUECHASE.	551
The author is indebted to the venerable Simon Pierson, a surviv-
ing pioneer of the northern portion of the town of Le Roy—the
neighborhood of Fort Hill—for many early reminisceiices of that
locality, especially in reference to the interesting ancient remains
which has given to the spot considerable celebrity. The remains
found at Fort Hill, were embraced in a previous work of the au-
thors, and the public have been made familiar with the subject in
other forms. Mr. Pierson’s account of early settlement, the author
cheerfully and thankfully makes available.
Deacon Hinds Chamberlin was a pioneer in this, as he had
been in other localities. He broke into what was called the north-
ern woods, built a cabin, and made an opening in the forest, in the
neighborhood of Fort Hill, in 1801. In 1802, Alexander M’Pherson
became his neighbor; John, James, Allen, and Alexander M’Pher-
son, jr., are his sons. In 1804, Francis Le Barron; descendants
principally reside in Michigan. In 1804, Gideon Fordham. Also,
in 1804, Philemon Nettleton; descendants principally reside in
Michigan. In 1805, these five first settlers rolled up some huge
basswood logs, at the foot of Fort Hill, near the brook, and made
one of the rudest specimens of a backwoods school house. The
first teacher was Addrew M’Nabb, a Scotchman; the second,
Samuel Crocker; the third, Major Nathan Wilson; the last of whom
died in 1813 of the prevailing epidemic; his son, Nathan Wilson,
jr., died from a wound received in battle in the war of 1812;
Stephen S. and Jared E. Wilson, of Le Roy, are surviving sons.
Alexander M’Pherson died in 1833, aged 80 years; Francis Le Bar-
ron in 1832, aged 61 years; Philemon Nettleton in 1848, aged 72
years; Gideon Fordham in 1821, aged 77 years.
David Le Barron, Samuel Smith, Ebenezer Parmalee, Ishi
Franklin, Abner Hull, Russell Pierson, Rev. Josiah Pierson, Philo
Pierson, John Pierson, Simon Pierson, Sylvanus Franklin, Linus
Pierson, were all settled in the neighborhood before the close of
1810. The first named died in 1829, aged 54 years ; two sons are
supposed to be with the Mormons at Salt Lake. The second died
in 1829, aged 77 years; descendants reside in Michigan. The
third died in 1847, aged 73 years; David W., Harlow and William
Parmalee are his sons. The fourth died in 1843, aged 62 years;
Warren, Watson, Henry, William and David Franklin, are his sons.
The sixth died in 1815, aged70 years; Luther and Adolphus Pier-
son, of Bergen, Edwin Pierson, of Chili, Willis Pierson, of Ogden,
and John Pierson, of Careyville, are his sons. The seventh died
in Bergen in 1846; Hamilton W. and Nelson Pierson, of Bergen,
Carloss Pierson, of Ohio, and Josiah Pierson, of Mount Morris, are
his sons. The eighth died in 1820; William Pierson, a lawyer in
Kentucky, and David B. Pierson, a merchant in Cincinnati, are his
sons. The tenth died of the prevailing epidemic in 1813, contract-
ed upon the frontier, aged 30 years; an only son was drowned from552
PHELPS AND GORHAMS* PURCHASE.
on board the S. B. Washington, on Lake Erie, in 1838; Mrs.
Flint, of Batavia, is a daughter. The eleventh still survives, re-
siding near Churchville.
David Frankin, a brother of Sylvanus Franklin, had come in
previous to 1809. In March of that year, the two brothers, with
their wives and two children, were descending the primitive road
at Fort Hill, which ran along upon one side of a deep ravine, in a
sleigh drawn by spirited horses. The horses became unmanage-
able, set off at full speed, and turning an angle of the road, the
sleigh upset, throwing the whole party a considerable distance, with
great violence; David Franklin striking a stump, and receiving an
injury that he did not long survive. “ This sorrowful accident,”
says Mr. Pierson, “ threw a shade of gloom over our backwoods
settlement; for it seemed as if we could hardly do without our
neighbor Franklin, who was forward in every good word and work.”
This, and other accidents that had happened there, induced a change
in the location of the road.
Touching the advent of our friend Mr. Pierson, he must be al-
lowed to tell his story in his own humorous way.
REMINISCENCES OF SIMON PIERSON.
In October, 1806, in company with my brother, the late Rev. Josiah
Pierson, of. Bergen, and our families, I started from Killingworth, Conn.,
with a wagon load of household goods, bound for the Genesee country,
which we then understood as embracing all west of Whitestown. I was
then 28 years old, my brother 26. From Albany to Whitestown, we met
a vast number of teams loaded with wheat for the Albany market. On
the road, we met De Witt Clinton returning from a western tour. At
Whitestown, there were three log-houses, one of them a tavern, kept by
Mr. Baggs. We then supposed we had arrived at the western verge of
civilization, and that we were now coming to a region—
“ Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey,
Or men as wild and fierce as they.”
But which has proved to be a region where—
“ The worthy, needy, poor repair,
And build them towns and cities there.”
* * # * #
They sow their seed, and trees they plant,
Whose yearly fruit supplies their want;
Their race grows up in fruitful stock,
Their wealth increases with their flock.”
From Whitestown we passed on, I should think, about three miles, where
there was a log school house, and where they were holding a meeting—
for it was Sunday—and they were singing the good old familiar tune—
New Jerusalem:—
“ From the third heavens where God resides,” &c.PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PUKCHASE.
553
^We travelled on the Sabbath, because we were told that travellers had no
home but the tavern; and that they were thronged on that day with those
whose society would not contribute to a Sabbath day’s rest ; loafers they
would be called now that we have got such a word. From Whitestown
to Canandaigua, 112 miles, was a new turnpike, much of the way through
the woods and very muddy. Once in ten miles was a toll gate where we
had to pay 25 cents for poaching ten miles of road. On arriving at the
outlet of Canandaigua Lake, we found a small grist-mill, said to have been
built by one of our townsmen, Mr. Harris; who, it was said, had brought
a half bushel of wheat on his back from Whitestown, for seed. I saw
the old man on his return from the Genesee country. His friends in Con-
necticut had conjectured that the Indians would use him up, and that he
would never reach home again.
At Genesee river, we had no way of crossing, but in a wretched scow.
On the west side of the river, we saw many Indian huts, from the corners
of which was suspended, by braided husks, large quantities of corn. An
old Indian told us we were at “ Canawaugus.” I began to think of toma-
hawks and scalping knives. About four miles west of the river, we came
to a log tavern kept by Major Smith. Here we found a small man with a
very large wife. Says Major Smith to the small man:—“ Is that woman
your wife?” “Yes, sir,” was the reply. Says the Major:-—“How did
you get across the river ?—I should suppose that your wife would have
sunk that old scow.” “ 0,” said the little man, “I went twice for her.”
Arriving at “ Ganson’s settlement,” now Le Rov, we found friends who
advised us not to purchase land “down in the north woods,” for, said they,
“it will always be sickly there; and the region will never be settled.”
But having a brother and brother-in-law at Fort Hill, who had preceded
us a few months, we resolved upon going there. Fort Hill was then cov-
ered with a dense forest of heavy timber from its base to its summit. Its
appearance was that of gloom and solitude, except when enlivened by the
music of the water rushing over the falls at Allan’s * Creek.
Mr. Pierson is now in his 73d year; his surviving sons are, Philo
L. Pierson, of Le Roy, and M. D. Pierson, of Dansville.
The prominent ancient remains in Le Roy, other than those at
Fort Hill and its immediate vicinity, were upon a bluff, near Allan’s
creek, a short distance below the village. It was a mound, or
tumuli in size, according to Mr. Pierson’s recollection, who saw it
in an early day, about that of an ordinary coal pit; others who saw
it in an early day, think it was about 15 feet in height, with a base
* Mr. Pierson, in consideration of tlie nnamiable character of the person from whom
this beautiful stream is named, would change it to Mrs. Jemison’s Indian name—
“ Ginisaga.” Other citizens of Le Roy, would call it “ Oatka,” the Indian name for
a stream coming out from between high banks. The latter name would only be ap-
plicable to the peculiar topography of Le Roy and its neighborhood. Desirable as
some change of the name of the stream may be regarded, it would require the co-
operation of those generally who reside upon its banks, in its whole extent; a con-
ventional decision that the author has not ventured to anticipate.
35554	PHELPS AND GORHAM?S PURCHASE.
of 30 feet. Trees were growing upon it .18 inches in diameter.
The foxes in burrowing into it had brought out human bones, which
led to an assembling of the early settlers, on a given day, in consid-
erable numbers, who made several excavations in the tumuli^ and
disenterred a large quantity of human skeletons. They were the
bones of all ages and both sexes ; some of them judged to be consid-
erable larger than^ the bones of the largest of our own race.
DC?3 See Appendix to supplement, No. 2.
In a considerable area of the locality; especially in the immediate
neighborhood of Fort Hill, many relics of ancient occupancy have
been discovered; and occasionally evidences of French occupancy.
During the Revolution, those who fled from the Mohawk to Canada,
and made frequent journies backwards and forwards upon the old
Niagara trail, had favorite camping grounds upon the creek in the
immediate vicinity of Le Roy village. They had left considerable
plats of tame grass, which were very convenient for travellers when
settlement was tending in that direction; attracting the deer from
the surrounding forest, they were often killed in those little openings.
Allan’s creek has a fall of over sixty feet, within the corporate
limits of Le Roy village; thus creating a durable and valuable
water power, in the midst of a rich agricultural region, where it is
much required. It takes its rise from springs in Wyoming county;
passes through Warsaw, Middlebury, Covington, Bethany, a cor-
ner of Stafford, Le Roy, and Wheatland, discharging into the Gen-
esee river at Scottsville. It furnishes mill power at Gainesville,
Warsaw, Pavillion, Bailey's mills, Roanoke, Northrup’s Factory,
Tomlinson’s mills, Le Roy; a mile below Le Roy, Albright’s, (now
Finch’s) mills, Garbuttville, and Scottsville.
Le Roy having been erected from Caledonia in 1812, when the
war spirit was rife, it was named Bellona; afterwards, and in better
taste, it assumed the name of one of the original proprietors of the
Triangle. William Sheldon was the first supervisor, Thomas Tufts
town clerk. Other town officers: — David Le Barron, Philo
Pierson, Benjamin Ganson, Ella Smith, John Ganson, Asa Buel,
Zalmon Turrell, David Bidlecum, Harvey Prindle, Richard Waite,
Levi Farnum, H. Graham Newell, George Terry, Amasa Hascall,
Jeremiah Hascall. At first State election, in 1813, for Governor,
Daniel D. Tompkins had 123 votes, Stephen Van Rensselaer, 24.
It will be observed by the preceding list of names, and periods of
settlement, that the settlement of what is now Bergen had but com-
menced along in 1804, ’5 and ’6. The early road was the north
and south road already mentioned. The road from where Roch-
ester G0W is to Batavia, was not opened through Bergen until 1810.
The t°wn was organized in 1818. Those whose names follow, werephelps and goeham’s purchase.
555
«arly pioneers, other than those already named some of them among
the earliest: —
Levi Bissell,
Alexander Bissel,
Patrick F«wler,
Timothy Hill,
Joel Wright,
Stephen Everts,
David Gr. Everts,
Amos Hewett,
Phineas Parmalee,
Nathan Field,
Jonah Buell,
Uriah Kelsey,
Jedediah Crosby, [his
son Luther/a present jus-
tice of the peace in Ber-
gen, was the first bom
in the town.] .
Wickham Field,
Uriah Crampton,
Ashbell Crampton,
Samuel Bassett,
Harvey Kelsey,
----M. Wright,
Jacob Spafford, Sen. ,
Nathaniel Spafford,
Aaron Arnold,
Oliver Avery,
Samuel Butler,
Abel Fuller,
Bela Munger,
Jesse Barber,
James Munger.
LEVI WARD.
Dr. Levi Ward was a native of Killingworth, Conn., a son of
Levi Ward. He studied his profession with Dr. Jonathan Todd, of
Guilford, and marrying the daughter of Daniel Hand,* settled in
practice in Haddam, in 1790, where he continued until 1807, in
which year he emigrated to the Genesee country; his family then
consisting of his wife, and four sons, and four daughters. He was
accompanied by his brother, John Ward, and his family. The em-
igrants arrived at Le Roy undetermined as to their location; falling
in with R. M. Stoddard, the then agent of the Triangle, whom they
had known in New England, they were induced to cast their lot
with a few old neighbors who had preceded them, in what was then
called the “north woodsthen mostly a dense, heavily timbered
forest, rugged in all its features; now the smiling and prosperous
agricultural neighborhood, contiguous to the Rail Road station in
Bergen. Finding temporary quarters in the newly erected log
house of Daniel Kelsey, Dr. Ward erected a small framed house,
covering it with cedar shingles, and using rived cedar for siding.
The Dr. quaintly observes, that even that manner of building was
ahead of the times, and in a region of log cabins, was deemed some-
what aristocratic, His brother erected a log house; bofi went to
clearing land, but it took about a year to make an opening sufficient
to see out without looking up.
It was on Saturday when the emigrants arrived at their new
home in the wilderness; accustomed to a regular attendence upon
public worship, the first business was to provide for religious exer-
cises ; a meeting was agreed upon at the house of a new settler; 14
or 15 persons convened from their scattered woods homes; prayers
* Captain Hand was an officer of tbe Revolution, a highly respected and useful
member of society, a professor and promoter of religion. He died at an advanced
age, in Guilford, the place of his birth.556
phelps and gorham’s purchase*
were made, a sermon was read, and Mrs. Ward says they “ had ea^
cellent singing.”*
For nine years Dr. Ward was one of the active and prominent
Pioneers of his locality; an effiici^nt helper in all there was to be
done in the backwoods, in religious and school organizations in, the
opening of new roads, &c. Coming to the new region, to be the
founder of a new home for himself and his large family, rather than
with reference to the practice of his profession, his practice was
only to the extent that the absence of other physicians in the new
region made necessary. To the labor of clearing heavily timbered
land, and subduing a rugged soil, was soon added, as will be observ-
ed, a land agency, which made him the founder, or agent of settle-
ment in his immediate neighborhood. In 1811 he was appointed
an agent or commissioner, to settle the accounts of the commission-
ers who had constructed the primitive bridge over the Genesee
River, upon the site of Rochester. There was no mail routes, or
post offices north of the main Buffalo road until 1812. In that
year, Dr. Ward interceded with the then P. M. General, Gideon
Granger, and obtained from him authority to transport a weekly
mail from Caladonia, via Riga, Murray, Parma, Northampton, to
Charlotte, at the mouth of the Genesee River. His compensation
was the net proceeds of letter and newspaper postages collected on
the route. It was provided in the contract that the P. M. G. would
appoint deputy post masters, in any locations the contractor should
disignate, which were seven miles distant from each other. The
plan was put in successful operation. Routes were extended by Dr.
Ward, upon the same terms, along on Ridge Road to Oak Orchard
Creek ; from Clarkson corners through Sweeden, to Bergen ; from
Parma through Ogden and Riga to Bergen; from Bergen to Bata-
via, f This system continued until 1820, supplying the early con-
venience of mail facilities to a wide, sparsely populated region,
when it was superceded by the ordinary contract system.
In the war of 1812, in an exigency of anticipated invasion, and
a want of arms, Dr. Ward collected all the muskets, rifles, cartouch
boxes and bayonets in his neighborhood, and delivered them to CoL
Daniel Davis for the use of his Regiment. Twenty-one muskets,
and cartouch boxes, and bayonets, and four rifles; % and besides all
* In the same year a Congregational Church was organized, the second one west of
Genesee River. The Rev. Allen Hollister, ministered alternately to this church and
the one organized in Riga. The Rev. Harmon Halsey, now a resident of Wilson,
Niagara county, was an early settled minister. Dr. Levi Ward and Uriah Crampton
are among the few who survive of the earliest members of this church.
t Prettly liberal time was allowed, corresponding with the condition of primitive
roads. It was stipulated that the mail should “ leave Caladonia every Monday at 8
A. M., and arrive at Charlotte on Tuesday, by 4 P. M.”
t It has been before remarked that a large proportion of the Pioneers of the Genesee
country had been officers and soldiers of the Revolution. Most of the muskets col-
lected in Bergen, belonged at the time to those who had used them in that contest
for nationaal independence.557
PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
the powder and balls of the new settlement were put in requisition.
In another crisis, at the requisition of Major General Hall, a com-
pany of exempts, or “ silver grays/' were raised in Bergen, and Dr.
Ward was elected to the command of it. Though the company saw
no service, no marching orders having been received, and no inva-
sion extending as far as that locality, the muster roll is copied, ex-
hibiting as it does Pioneer names, and shewing who were willing in
that crisis to waive a legal exemption and engage in the defence of
their country:
Martin Richmond, Private.
Nathan Rogers, 44
Isaac Baker,	“
Dennis Magden, 44
Abner Phelps, “
Orange Throop, 44
Joshua Green,	44
Moses Brown,	44
William Shepherd, 44
Linus Kelsey,	44
Samuel Throop,.	44
John T. Freeman, 44
Asa Merrills,	44
Josiah Buel,	44
Wm. Buel,
Adin Hurd,	44
Amos Chamberlin, *4
Samuel Tillotson, V 44
Dr. Ward was for six or seven years the supervisor of his town,
and at one period one of the Judges of Genesee county.
In 1817 he changed his residence from Bergen to the village of
Rochester; thus becoming a Pioneer in a new locality, with which
he has been prominently identified in most of its history of rapid
progress. One of the first to1 break into the wilderness region north
of the old Buffalo road — he has survived to see it become one broad
theatre of agricultural wealth, comfort and prosperity. One of the
first to cast his lot in a primitive village, while the forest was yet
but partially cleared away; where the wolf, the bear, the deer and
the rattlesnake had but just had notice to quit — he has survived
to see it become the fifth city of the Empire State; to see it a scene
of unsurpassed business activity and enterprise; endowed with re-
ligious and literary institutions, and all the evidences of substantial
progress, intelligence, and refinement.
He is now in his 80th year; the wife and mother, who accompa-
nied him in his primitive advent, nearly of the same age. With
the sands of life running low, yet blessed with a more than usual
exemption from the infirmities of age, enjoying all of temporal bless-
ings, in the midst of a large circle of their descendants, they are
calmly and serenely awating the summons to depart from the the-
atre of life, upon which they have so well performed their parts.
The eldest son, Wm. H. Ward, who was P. M. at Bergen, the
Levi Ward. Jr. CapL
Jesse Barber, Lt.
Amos Hewit, 2d Lt
Joseph Langdon, Ensign.
Calvin Wells, Sergeant,
Reuben Langdon,	44
Wheaton Southworth’ 44
William Peters,	44
Leonard Tuttle, Corporal.
Benj W. Elsworth,	44
John Colman,	44
John Dibble,	44
John K Larkins,	44
Wm. H. Ward,	44
Music.
James Munger, Drummer.
Simon Pierson, Fifer,
Benjamin Wright, Private,
Josiah Pierson,	44
John Ward, Private.
Jesse Munger,	44
Samuel Taggart,	44
J oseph Lord,	44
Lodowick Wright,	44
William Crowell,	44
Jehoida Page.	44
John Dalap,	44
Asa Williams,	44
Theophilus M. Fenn,	44
William Jones,	44
Benham Preston,	44
Amasa Walker,	,4
Cyrus Walker,	44
Samuel Hammond,	44
Joshua Wright,	44
James Tillotson,	44
Amos Allen,	44
Elijah Loomis,	44558	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
first north of Le Roy and Caladonia; a Colonel of Militia in early
years, and an early merchant of Rochester; died in 1838, aged 45
years. Another son, Daniel H., died in i 846, aged 50 years. Sur-
viving sons, are : — Henry M. Ward, a resident of Illinois; Levi
A. Ward, an Ex-Mayor of Rochester; Ferdinand D. W. Ward, a
returned Missionary from Madras, in the East Indies, author of a
work entitled “ India and the Hindoos/’ now a settled minister at
Geneseo. Daughters, are the wives of Silas O. Smith, Samuel L.
Selden, Charles L. Clarke and Freeman Clark, of Rochester. A
deceased daughter was the wife of Moses Chapin; she died in 1823,
aged 25 years. Another deceased daughter was the wife of Dan-
iel Hand, a prominent and successful merchant in Augusta, Georgia;
she died in 1839, aged 35 years.
The father of Dr. Ward, who followed him to the Genesee coun-
try in early years, died in Bergen in 1838 at the’ advanced age of
over 92 years. The brother, John Ward, survives, a resident of
Bergen, aged 81 years; his surviving sons are, Martin, Abel, John,.
Philo and Horatio Ward.
The northern portion of the Triangle, Sweeden and Clarkson,
began to be settled in 1804. '5, or rather land contracts were taken
in those years, and it is presumed that actual settlement soon follow-
ed, though it progressed slowly, as in all the region north of the then
principal thorough-fare, the Buffalo Road.
Dr. Abel Baldwin, is one of the oldest surviving residents. He
was a native of Norwich, Vermont; studied medicine with Dr.
Nathan Smith of Hanover, N* H. Dr. Thurber, of Riga, Dr.
Nathaniel Rowley, of Clarkson, Dr. Jacobs and the late Dr. Bemis, of
Canandaigua, were his fellow students. Dr. Baldwin settled in
practice in Saratoga county in 1807 —in 1810 first visited the Gen-
esee country — in 1811 removed to Clarkson. Practicing medicine
only in the earliest vears, he opened a public house in 1815, at what
was then called “ Murray Corners,” now Clarkson village. He
erected the first framed tavern house on the Ridge Road; travel up-
on the Ridge had then became pretty brisk — Falls travel had be-
gan to take that route ; the house of Dr. Baldwin being about half
way from Canandaigua to Lewiston, was a prominent halting place.
In fact, Clarkson Corners, at that period, and up to the final com-
pletion of the Erie Canal, in reference to all the northern region,
was a prominent locality. Dr. Baldwin continued a landlord until
1825, when he was succeeded by Mr. Silas Walbridge; he is now
an enterprising and successful farmer. He was an Elector of Pres-
ISFote.—It will give the reader some idea of the slow progress of settlement in all
the region between the old Buffalo road and Lake Ontario, to learn, that as late as the
war of 1812, so little was known of that best of all natural highways in the world,
the Ridge Road, that a large army, with heavy artillery, camp equipage <fcc., the des-
tination of which was Lewiston, actually diverged from the Riage at Clarkson, and
went via Bergen and Batavia.PHELPS AND GURHAM’s PURCHASE.	559
Ident and Vice President, in 1832. Mrs. Baldwin also survives;
an only daughter is the wife of Henry R. Selden.
REMINISCENCES OF DR. BALDWIN.
When I moved into the country in 1811, with my family, we were fer-
ried over the Genesee river at Rochester; the Ridge road was only cut
out wide enough for a wagon track ; the streams were crossed by means of
log bridges. Upon the present site of Clarkson village, there were three
log-houses; and in all, perhaps, thirty acres of land cleared. James Sayre
was the Pioneer of the locality; in fact, the first settler on Ridge, in what
is now Clarkson and Murray, and I think, Parma. He had selected this
spot on account of a fine spring, before any thing was known of a continu-
ous Ridge road. Sayre, who had taken up considerable land, sold his
contracts and removed. Beside him, I found here:—David Forsyth, who
remained here until 1849, when he removed to Michigan. Deacon Joel
Palmer had just commenced tanning and currying in a rude primitive es-
tablishment, the first upon all the Ridge road. He stili survives, a resi-
dent of Clarkson; Joel Albert and John Palmer, of Clarkson, are his sons.
Dr. Nathaniel Rowell had preceded me a few months, and was in practice
among the new settlers. He was from Hanover, N. H.; died in 1826;
Hopkins Rowell, of Clarkson, is his son; two other sons are clergymen in
New Jersey; Mrs. Henry Smith and Mrs. Danforth are his daughters.
Eldridge Farwell had located here, but removed soon, and became the
Pioneer of what is now Clarendon, erecting mills there. Eldridge, Geo.
and Horace Farwell are his sons. West of the Corners, on the Ridge,
John and Isaac Farwell, brothers of Eldridge, had settled. The saw-mill
of the afterwards Judge Eldridge Farwell, in Clarendon, made the first
boards had in all this region, and his was the pioneer grist-mill, excepting
a small log mill the Atchinsons had erected on Salmon Creek. We had
our first milling done at Church’s mill in Riga.
In all the region north of Ridge, in what is now Clarkson and Murray,
Moody Freeman was the Pioneer. He was originally from Hanover, N.
H.; had pioneered his way all along; had been the proprietor of the town
of Ellisburg, Jefferson county; and one of the earliest settlers of Broad-
albin, Montgomery county. He made his solitary home two miles north
of the Corners, at the centre of the township. He was an early Justice of
the Peace: a man of more than ordinary natural abilities; was an early
back wood’s lawyer, or pettifogger. There was in Clarkson, north of Ridge,
beside Freeman, in 1811:—Eratus Haskell, who had taken up land upon
which there were salt springs—and set up a few kettles, and was boiling
salt for the new settlers. Haskell was a captain of militia in the war of
1812; was at the sortie of Fort Erie. He now resides in Joliet, Illinois.
Stephen Baxter settled in that neighborhood in 1811, and also engaged
early in salt boiling. He still survives, and has a large number of de-560
phelps and goriiam’s purchase.
scendants in the neighborhood. John Nowlan was also settled in the Free-
man neighborhood; still survives, over 80 years of age.
The war of 1812 stopped all settlement and improvement. There was
a constant state of excitement and alarm; many new settlers broke up and
left the country. The Ridge road was a thoroughfare for troops passing
to and from the Frontier. When Lewiston was burned, many families
came and wintered along on Ridge road; the families of the late Sheldon
Thompson, of Buffalo, Joshua Fairbanks, Mr. Townsend, and Dr. Smith,
stopped in Clarkson. A company of riflemen was raised in this vicinity,
commanded by captain Stewart; went upon the frontier, and at one period
at the mouth of the river; they acted mostly as minute men. There
were besides, militia drafts and volunteering during the war.
Immediately after the war, settlers came in rapidly. The Ridge read
may almost be said to have settled in its whole extent west of Genesee
river, in 1816. Previous to that, there was but few settlers upon it; es-
pecially in Monroe and Orleans.
The first town meeting of Murray, was held at the barn of Johnson
Bedel, about four miles south of Brockport. The Pioneer of Brockport
and its neighborhood, was Rufus Hammond. His farm embraced a part
of the northern portion of the village. He had been settled five or six
years when I came; had an orchard and a considerable improvement. He
had formerly lived in Avon; died in 1824; Shubel Hammond, of Clark-
son, is his son. Either Mr. Hammond or Mr. Freeman raised the first crops
in this region. I raised the first framed barn; Isaac B. Williams the first
framed house, upon the site of the present brick tavern. I omitted to
name Mr. Williams, as one who was here previous to 1811; he was the
Pioneer blacksmith. He removed to Hartland, where he died several
years since; William Williams, of Clarkson, is his son.
In 1817, a considerable settlement had been made at Sandy Creek, on
the Ridge—15 or 20 families, perhaps—in which year, Henry M’Call and
Robert Perry built mills there; raising a dam and overflowing 15 or 20
acres of timbered land. A sickness that pervaded every household in the
neighborhood, soon followed; in one season, in a population of about 100,
there were 27 deaths. The settlers from other neighborhoods had to go
there and take care of the sick, as there were not well ones enough there
to do so;—it was a neighborhood of gloom and desolation. The mill dam
was taken down, and the sickness disappeared.
The first settler at the mouth of Sandy Creek, was a Dutchman by the
name of Strunk. When I first visited the place in 1812, he had died, and
a man by the name of Billings was living there; and others had been there,
I presume, for there were several deserted log houses. Billings removed
to Canada. After that, settlers would come in by wafer, and after remain-
Note.—Salt springs break out all along on the slope north of Ridge—generally
about three miles distant. They break out from the Clinton Group, which is next
above the Medina Sand Stone. In the early settlement of the country, salt was manu-
factured near Lockport, Medina, at Oak Orchard, in Clarkson, Parma, Holley, Webster,
Ontario and Sodus. The salt was usually afforded at about a dollar per bushel. The
weakness of the brine forbid competition with the works at Montezuma and Salt
Point, when the Erie Canal was finished; and the business, in fact, had began to de-
cline previous to that.PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PURCHASE.
561
ing a short time, would be taken sick, and have to be brought out to the
older settlements on ox-sleds. The first permanent settler in that locality,
was Alanson Thomas, at the bead of still water. He purchased a saw-
mill that Le Roy and Bayard had built there in 1820; to which he added
a grist-mill. Thomas sold out to a community of Fourerites. *
The whole region between Ridge and Lake, and more especially, per-
haps, in Murray, Clarkson and Parma, was as forbidding as any that stout
hearted Pioneers ever ventured to break into. Its settlement was attend-
ed with long years of hardships and privations; many changes of inhabitants
occurred before there was a permanent population. It was heavy timbered,
mostly a wet soil; when the timber was removed, openings made, the heat
of summer suns would engender disease. Those who lived along on the im -
mediate shores of the Lake, or on the Ridge, not in the immediate vicinity
of ponds or marshes, would generally escape; the scourge would principal-
ly prevail where openings had been made in heavily timbered wet lands.
Sickness would generally commence in August, and continue until winter;
it was by no means fatal; where there could be even good nursing, the
proportions of deaths to the number of eases would be small; but at times
sickness would be so pervading, that good nursing could not be had. It
was a common thing to bring whole families out of the woods upon ox-
sleds.
Speaking from observation and experience, my advice would be to all
those who are settling a new timbered region, to select the most elevated
sites for their residence, and leave several acres of timber standing for the
few earliest years about their dwellings; and what is of. still greater im-
portance, if they have not good springs of water, dig wells to begin with,
and thus avoid the poisonous surface water, which is of itself a pregnant
source of disease in new settlements in the forests.
A log school house had been erected, and a school was in operation,
when I came there in 1811. Our first settled minister was the Rev. John
F. Bliss; the Rev. Mr. James, of Albany, was settled here in 1825 or ’6.
No where in a wide region of prosperity, has there been a greater
change than in the locality that Dr. Baldwin embraces in his obser-
vations, north of the Ridge. Even the Pioneers, stout hearted, san-
quine as their anticipations must have been, in reference to the
ultimate value of the land, to have endured what they did, could
hardly have anticipated the sources of agricultural wealth that
through so many trials and difficulties they were developing. The
soil they were not strong handed enough to drain; that they- could
but imperfectly cultivate while the stumps and roots remained in it;
and which gave them but poor returns for the labor, is now dry, sub-
dued, its surface mould mingled with the rich elements that lay hid-
* The whole thing has been a failure. The principal leaders were :—Simeon Dag-
gett, Dr. Theller, Thomas Pound. Many dwellings were erected, and a population of
about 300 gathered there. The community broke up after an experiment of two
years.562
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
den its sub-soil; and no where does the earth make more bountiful
returns for the labor bestowed upon it It has become a region of
high priced and desirable farms. The sites of bark covered log
houses and thatched hovels, have now upon them comfortable and
even luxurious brick and framed farm houses, and all the appoint-
ments of flourishing farming establishments. Good common roads
and even plank roads have taken the place of the wrood’s roads
through which the pioneers plodded — more than half the season
waded through mud and mire — and over which some of them, as
We have seen, and their families, were carried by the good Sama-
ritans of the older settlements, who would find them in the dark
recesses of the forest, prostrated by disease.
Asa Clark, the father of Gustavus Clark, of Clarkson, was from
East Haddam, Conn., emigrated toGeneseo in 1802 ; soon removed
to Avon, where he resided until 1830. He died at Sandy Creek in
1834, aged 76 years. His sons were : —Asa Clark, who resided in
Avon until 1828, when he removed to Sandy Creek, where he was
a merchant for many years. He was a representative in the State
legislature of Orleans, in 1834, J5, had been a Presidential Elector
in 1828. He still survives, at the age of 66 years. George W.,
and Charles Clark of Buffalo, are his sons. Erastus Clark, of Lima,
who in early early years was the mercantile partner of James K.
GUemsey, and afterwards established in the mercantile business by
himself in Lima. He still survives; a son and a son-in-law, are his
successors in business. Gustavus Clark, who as early as 1806, was
a clerk with Minor & Hall, at Geneseo; afterwards a clerk of James
K. Guernsey in Lima, under whose auspices he commenced busi-
ness in Clarkson, where he has resided since 1815, and where he
still resides. His wife, who still survives, was a daughter of John
Pierson, one of the pioneers of Avon; Edwin E., of Clarkson, and
Bushrod W. Clark, of Buffalo, are sons of Gustavus; an only daugh-
ter is the wife of W. L. G. Smith, of Buffalo. He was a represen-
tative from Monroe, in the Legislature, in 1825; and was the first
President of the Bank of Orleans; an early Supervisor of Clarkson,
and more recently, a magistrate. The daughters of the elder Asa
Clark, became the wives of Robert M’Kay, of Caladonia, Ephraim
Chapman, a pioneer in Portage county, Ohio, and Chandler Pierson,
of Avon.
REMINISCENCES OF GUSTAYUS CLARK.
When I came to Clarkson, in 1815, the Ridge road was but little travel-
led for want of bridges; my first load of goods broke most of the bridges
down from Rochester to Clarkson, and the team was obliged to return to
Lima via the south road and Le Roy. That road had been opened beforePHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
563
the Ridge road was travelled at all My first principal business was to pay
part goods and part cash for black salts and pot-ash. Henry M’Call, a
brother of Judge M’Call, of Allegany county, had been first engaged in
mercantile business in Clarkson; and Joshua Field, now of Brockport, had
also been merchandizing here. James Seymour was the successor of
Field. All of these had been engaged in the manufactury of pot-ash; in
fact, that was then the staple production of all this region. [It was the
first available mean's that the new settlers had to pay for store goods, or to
raise a little money; it was a great help to them; I hardly know how they
could have got along without it. It was a period when but few of the set-
tlers had raised any grain to sell. The new settlers would put up a few
rough leaches, and generally make black salts; those who were strong-
handed enough, and could raise kettles, would make pot-ash. Upon lands
where beech maple and elm predominated, the ashes would almost pay for
clearing. Many times when a new settler was under the necessity of rais-
ing money, or stood in need of store trade, he would go into the forest,
chop down maple and elm trees, roll them together, and burn them, for the
ashes alone, without reference to clearing. The proceeds of ashes have
supplied many a log cabin in this region with the common necessaries of
life, in the absence of which there would have been destitution. 3 Our pot-
ash was taken to the mouth of the Genesee river and shipped to Montreal.
I have sold it in Montreal for as high a price as $305 per ton. Lumber-
ng, the getting out, purchasing and shipping of oak butt staves, was the
next considerable business after that of pot-ash, and helped the new set-
tlers along until we had the Erie Canal, and a surplus of grain to send up-
on it to market.
The Ridge road was much improved soon after 1815, by the erection of
substantial bridges over the streams. A post route was established from
Canandaigua to Lewiston, in November 1815, At first, the mail was car-
ried in a small wagon, twice a week. In 1820, daily coaches were put
upon the route; travel increased rapidly; for a few years befote the canal
was completed, there were coaches almost continually in sight
Lyman Warren, settled upon the Ridge, in east part of Clarkson,
in 1817; still survives, at the age of 80 years. He is the father of
Note.—In May, 1807, Mr. Wadsworth urges Mr. Troup by letter, to encourage the
manufacture of pot-ash; says it will be a great help to new settlers, and encourage
them to clear their lands; and adds, that Mr. Murray has authorized him to buy two
kettles for the inhabitants of “ Fairfield,” (Ogden.) In December of the same year,
he writes to Mr. Troup:—You can hardly imagine what a spring the two pot-ash
kettles I have sent to Fairfield has given to the clearing of land, and what a great ac-
commodation it is considered by the inhabitants. The situation of the inhabitants in
this part of the country has really been distressing; a farmer might have 1,000 bushels
of wheat in his bam, and yet not be able to buy a pound of tea! Till of late, the
merchants have began to take wheat for goods, but at a very low price.” *‘ I fully
believe that the profits a farmer can make from the ashes on an acre of timbered land,
is greater than the profits on an acre of wheat. I much wish that some mode could
be hit upon to convince Lady Bath how much the value of her estate would be en-
hanced by facilitating the transportation of pot-ash and hemp to Montreal.” [This
has reference to some change in the British revenue laws.]564	PHELPS AJSTJ3 GOEHAm’s PUECHASE.
Capt. Henry Warren, who has been for many years the popular
manager of one of the Rochester and Buffalo canal Packets. At
the period he located upon the Ridge, there were settled in north of
his locality, in what was called the “ north woods/’ three brothers :
Adam, Henry and James Moore. They were Irishmen ; neither of
them survives; there are many of their desendants in the neighbor-
hood ; John and Thomas Moore, early settlers of Lockport, were the
sons of Adam. The Hoy family, also Irishmen, were settled in the
same neighborhood ; the old gentleman died in 1838 or ’9 ; his sons
were: James, John, and Robert Hoy; many of the desendants
reside in Clarkson. It was pretty much a wilderness north of
Ridge in 1817. There had settled along the Ridge in Clarkson:
Eli Annable, who is now living; had come in previous to war. John
H. Bushnell was the Pioneer of the neighborhood; died about five
years since ; widow still survives ; Sidney and John Bushnell are
his sons; he was a supervisor and magistrate. Ebenezer Toll, re-
moved to Gaines, where he died about fifteen years since. The first
tavern keeper at Ladd’s corners, was----------Huysott; Reuben
Downs was an early tavern keeper east of Ladd’s corners. John
Philips, afterwards sheriff of Niagara, kept a tavern in the neighbor-
hood in an early day.
The village of Brockport, was one of the creations of the Erie
canal, and is of course not embraced in the Pioneer period. Pre-
vious to the construction of the canal, there was at that point—upon
the site of one of the most flourishing villages in Western New
York—but the farm houses of Rufus Hammond and Hiel Brockway.
The village started up under the auspices of Mr. Brockway, and
to his extraordinary enterprize was much indebted in all its early
years. Hewas a native of Lyme, Conn., settled first in this State
at Cattskill, about the year 1800; emigrated to the Genesee country
in an early day, and wras a resident first in Geneva and then in
Phelps. Soon after the war of 1812, he removed to the then town
of Murray, afterwards Sweeden, and purchased the farms of two or
three of the early settlers, at the rate of $ 12 and $ 15 per acre. The
site of Brockport and its vicinity was then but a region of log
houses and small improvements. The locality had no other advan-
tages than of being the point w^here a main north and south thorough
fare crossed the canal; and of being in the centre of a region which
promised to become, as it has, one of the richest agriculture districts
of Western New York. The village took a rapid start after the canal
was completed, and has had a steady and uninterrupted growth.
In addition to other early enterprizes, Mr. Brockway was en-
gaged extensively in the packet boat business; first putting on boats
between Rochester and Buffalo in opposition to the old packet Kne
from Utica to Buffalo; then filling up the portion of that line west
of Rochester with his own boats in connection with that line. He
made Brockport the central locality in reference to packet boatphelps and horham’s purchase.
565
operations at the west; infused a new spirit of enterprise into the
business; and to him, in fact, have the travelling public been largely
indebted for the superior packet boats, and their excellent manage-
ment, that have for a long series of years been enjoyed upon the
western section of the Erie canal. To part with them and their
excellent managers, most of whom have been educated in the school
of Mr. Brockway, (and he was a shrewd judge of men as well of
horses, and of the best model of boats,) will seem like parting with
old friends ; and yet the event would seem to be near at hand, for
soon the shrill notes of the steam whistle will be heard along the
line, where their horns have so long sounded; and haste, speed,
regardless of comfort, is the order of the day.
Mr. Brockway died in 1842, aged 67 years ; of a large family of
children —13 in number —- but 4 survive: Charles M., and Nathan
R. Brockway, Mrs. Dr. Carpenter, and Mrs. Elias B. Holmes.
A portion of the village has grown up on non-resident land that
James Seymour purchased about the time the canal was constructed.
Mr. Seymour was an early merchant in the village; the President
of the bank of Rochester; was the fortunate owner of the land on
which the capital of Michigan was located ; and is now a resident
there.
The town of Sweeden was pretty generally settled before the con-
struction of the Erie canal, but a large portion of the farms had been
but recently commenced. When the town was organized, in 1821,
there were 330 inhabitants liable to assessment upon the highways.
The first supervisor was Silas Judson, the town clerk, Major M.
Smith; other town officers: Joshua B. Adams, Chauncey Staples,
Abel Gifford, Levi Branch, Zenas Case, Oliver Spencer, Zenas Case,
Jr., Samuel Bishop, Levi Pond, Sylvester Pease, Daniel J. Avery,
Joseph S. Bosworth, John Reeves, Peter Sutven, Joseph Randall.
The early physicians of village and town, were:—Daniel J.
Avery, the father of Daniel J. Avery of Sweeden,-------Millican,
John B. Elliott, Elizur Munger, Davis Carpenter, M. D.
Levi Pond settled in Sweeden in 1817, purchasing a farm in the
north part of the town; still survives. He has filled the several
offices of deputy sheriff, constable and collector, and in 1833 was
one of the representatives of Monroe in the Legisla ture. He is the
father of Elias Pond, late collector of the Genesee District.
THE CONNECTICUT, OR “100,000 ACRE TRACT.”
Robert Morris sold this tract to Andrew Cragie, James Watson,
and James Greenlief, for 137,500. Oliver Phelps purchased an
equal undivided half of it in 1794, which he conveyed to De Witt
Clinton in 1JI95; it reverted, and Mr. Phelps sold his interest to the566
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
State of Connecticut. The other half was sold by Mr. Cragie to
Charles Williamson and Thomas Morris, and ultimately the title
became vested in Sir Wm. Pulteney; the State of Connecticut
and Sir William Pulteney thus becoming tenants in common,
in 1808, the commissioners of the school fund of Connecticut,
(the purchase having been made out of that fund,) appointed Levi
Ward, Jr., who had then recently settled in Bergen, to act in their
behalf, and in co-operation with Col. Troup, the local representative
of the Pulteney interest, to procure the survey of the tract. This
accomplished, in March 1810, Dr. Ward was further empowered in
co-operation with Col. Troup, in behalf of the commissioners of the
school fund, to procure an equitable partition of the tract. Israel
Chapin and Amos Hall were mutually appointed by Messrs. Troup
and Ward, for that purpose, and made the partition.
Fifty thousand acres of the tract having been vested in the com-
missioners of the school fund, in July 1810, they appointed Dr.
Ward their local agent for the sale of it. In September of the
same year Dr. Ward commenced the sales of farm lots. The sales
progressed until 1816 under this agency, when Dr. Ward and Levi
H. Clark, purchased of the State of Connecticut all the Unsold
lands. By agreement, the sales were continued in the name of the
State, until the whole was disposed of to actual settlers. The bonds
belonging to the State, have remained in charge of Dr. Ward, until
the piesent time; the management of the property for the last ten
or fifteen years, since the retirement of Dr. Ward from active busi-
ness, has devolved upon his son Levi A. Ward.
The half belonging to the Pulteney estate, was managed in CoL
Troup’s agency and that of his successor, Mr. Fellows. The 100,-
000 acre, or as it has usually been called, the Connecticut Tract, is
bounded north by Lake Ontario, west by the Holland Company, or
transit line, south by an east and west line, a little north of the Buf-
falo road in the town of Stafford, and east by the west line of the
Triangle. In it, are now embraced the towns of Kendall, Murray,
Clarendon, Byron and a small portion of Le Roy, Stafford and Ber-
gen.
The whole tract as will have been observed, was settled after the
general Pioneer period, and it is one of the localities of the settle^
Note. —A singular incident is connected with the title to the 100,000 tract.—After
sales-had commenced and progressed several years, Seth P. Beers, who represented
thq State of Connecticut, and Joseph Fellows, the agent of the Pulteney estate, discov-
ered, that a deed from one of the early grantors was lost, and not upon record. Mr.
Beers sought out and importuned the grantor to substitute a new one — offered him
$10,000 which he refused, demanding $20,000. Another of the early proprietors who
had beeafamiliar with all the transfers, was upon jail limits in the city of Washing-
ton. Mr. Beers repaired to that city and he assured him he could find the deed in
Philadelphia. Procuring a carriage, Mr. Beers took him from the jail limits under
cover of night, conveyed him to Philadelphia, he found the deed, and was returned
to the jail limits before his absence was discovered. For $1000 donated to the finder,
title, was perfected without yielding to the exhorbitant demands of one who was for
taking advantage of the loss of the deed.phelps and gorham’s purchase. . 567
ment of which the author has received but meager reminiscences.
Benham Preston was the first settler, preceded survey and the
opening of sales. He went in from Stafford, on the Buffalo road,
and set his family down upon Black creek, without a shelter, while
he went through the woods to the then new settlement of Bergen,
and procured the aid of Henry D. Gifford and others in erecting a
rude cabin.
The following are the names of most of all who took contracts
upon the whole tract, or deeds, the first five years after sales com-
menced. As in the instance of the Trangle, it will generally, but
not invariably, indicate who were the Pioneers: —
Samuel Lincoln,
Paul Knowlton,
Aaron Scribner,
Ella Smith,
William Wood,
Horace Langdon,
Amos Bos worth,
Elijah Brown,
Elijah Loomis,
Samuel Hall,
Silas Holbrook, *
Uriel Holcomb,
Major Osborne,
Munson Hobbs,
Jas. M. Price,
Chester Holbrook,
Silas Hazen,
Amasa Walker,
Jacob Spafford, *
Timothy T. Hart,
Alfred Ward,
Joshua Wright,
Eliab Wright,
Jared Child,
Selah M. Wright.
Ezekiel Case,
Wm. Jenny,
Benajah Griswold,
Simeon Hosmer,
Samuel Hosmer,
Gideon Hazen,
Jacob Dunning,
Caleb Miller,
Anthony Miller,
Amos Lampson,
Paul Knowlton,
Wm. Croswell,
Seth Griswold,
Benj. Livermore,
Paul Ballard,
1810.
Nathan George,
John Smith,
John Coleman,
Silas Tailor,
Elisha Taylor,
Eli Mead,
John Mead,
1811.
Elijah Shumway,
Henry Mead,
John Gookin,
Harvey Prentice,
Nathan Squier,
Stephen Parkhurst,
Ishi Parmelee,
Daniel Beckley
Elijah Warner,
John Thwing,
John Thwing, Jr.,
Frederick Jones,
George Christ,
William Wolcott,
Manning Richardson,
Daniel Carpenter,
Ami Curtiss,
Ira Scribner,
Joseph Barker,
William Strong,
1812.
Amasa Heath,
Justis Taylor,
Samuel Payne,
John P. Bishop,
Page Russell,
Enos Bush,
Abel Hyde,
John Camiff,
John Tucker,
John Van Valkenburg,
Samuel Hammond,
Daniel Woodward,
Greenman Carpenter,.
Adam Gardner,
Jonathan Sprague,
Darius Sprague,
John Farewell,
William Burlingame,.
Joshua Whaley.
William Shepard,
Grover Gillum.
Job Jordon,
Edmund Wilcox,
Asa Merrils,
George Holt,
John Janes,
David Loomis,
Hubbard Everts,
Samuel Parker,
William Parker,
Enoch Eastman,
John Johnson,
John Cummings,
Randal Stivers,
John Stivers,
Radley Randal,
Isaac B. Williams,
Oliver Van Kirk.
John Freeman,
George Barton,
Ahimaz Brainard,
Thompson & Tuttle,
Justis Parish,
Moses Green,
M. J. Hill,
R. Lucas,
A. Webb,
Augustus White,
Henry Merrill,
Lyman Griswold,PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE,
Zeno Terry,
John Sayres,
Nathan Bannister,
Zuri Stephens,
Pliney Sanderson,
Preserved Richmond,
Nathan Ladd,
Mathew Hannah,
John Richards
William Preston,
Josiah Heath,
----Page,
Homer H. Campbell,
Silas Williams,
Salmon Patterson.
Lyman Isbel,
James Douglass,
Consider Warner,
John Douglas,
Theodore Drake,
Barney Carpenter,
William Rhoades,
Amasa Haskell,
William Wood,
Chauncey Robinson,
Daniel Gleason,
John Stephens,
Shubel Lewis,
Oliver Smith,
John Southworth,
George Campbell,
Joseph Langdon,
Ezra Sanford,
Lodowick Wright,
Benham Preston,
Henry Grovenburg,
Daniel Hall,
Job Gardner,
Peter Prindel,
Oliver Mattison,
John Quimby,
Story Curtiss,
Betheuel Greenfield,
Timothy. Bachelder,
Stephen Richmond,
Cyrus Coy,
Noah Sweet,
William Lewis,
Charles Lee,
Abiiah Smith,
Nicholas Prine,
Roswell Osborne,
Ezekiel Lee,
1812.
Thomas Hause,
Calvin Weed,
Phineas White,
Barney Carpenter,
Thomas Fisher,
Abner Chase,
Nathaniel Rogers,
Dewey Miller,
Ezra Sanford,
George Holt,
Roswell Mair,
1813.
1814.
Elijah Andrus,
Peleg Sisson,
Solomon Carpenter,
Asa Lake,
Johathan Byam,
Arrod Kent,
1815.
William Allen,
Ezekiel Allen,
William Jones,
Joel Bronson,
Ebenezer Perrigo
Zimri Perrigo,
Oliver Page,
William P. Gibbs
Ebenezer Gibbs,
Elijah Macknard,
Levi Dudley,
David Leaaman,
Wm. Alexander,
Joseph Parks,
Allen Sears,
Amos Salmon,
Anson Morgan,
Stephen Eastman
Jacob Amen,
Robert Owen,
Darius Ingalls,
Jesse Munson,
Cyrus Hood,
Sanford Main,
William Burnham,
Elisha Bentley,
William D. Dudley,
Lemuel Cone,
John Cone,
Samuel Alger,
Abner Hopkins,
John Palmer,
Henry Van Wormer
Samuel Rundal,
Henry L. Gould,
David Glidden,
Stephen Martin,
Eddy Emmons,
William Stiveback,
David Church,
Chauncey Hood,
Aaron Thompson
Levi Preston,
Gideon Baldwin,
-----Van Kirk.
Eldridge Farwell
Daniel R. Starks,
John Love,
Jiras Hopkins,
Horace Balcom,
Samuel Mansfield,
Samuel Day,
Nathan Crandal,
David Hutchinson
Isaac Leach,
Robert Clark,
Benjamin Allen
David Wait,
Abel Wooster,
David Jones,
Nathaniel Brown,
Theopilus Randal,
Enos Cochran,
Henry W. Bates,
Benjamin Morse,
Amos Randall,
John Augur,
Stephen Randall,
David Jones,
Levi Stephens,
Joseph Weed,
Asel Balcom,
Hooker Sawyer.
Elisha Smith, Jr.,
Solomon Bishop,
Lemuel P. Hall,
Ephraim Whipple,
Lodowick Wright,
Chester Bills,
Ezekiel Allen,
Eli Whelon,
John Lake,
Ephraim Van Valkenburg,
Jesse Carter,
Daniel Reese,
Davis Ingals,phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
BRIGHTON.
569
The township was an early pioneer locality, as will have been
seen in preceding pages, though its settlement made but slow
progress; but an occasional settler coming in previous to 1816.
The town which then embraced what is now Brighton and Ironde-
quoit was organized in 1814. Oliver Culver was the first supervisor,
Nehemiah Hopkins, town clerk. Other town officers:—Orange
Stone, Ezekiel Morse, Solomon Gould, Sylvester Cowles, John
Hatch, Jessee Taintor, Ezra Rogers, Rufus Messenger, Enos Blos-
som, Samuel SpafFord, David Bush, Enos Stone, Job C. Smith, Wm.
Billinghurst. There were but three road districts in the town; the
overseers were, Rufus Messenger, Wm. Moore, Solomon Gould,
James Suffield, Joseph Caldwell. By records transferred from old
town books of Northfield, it would seem that as early as 1802 a
road was laid “ from Try on Square, to Genesee River near King’s
Landing.” In 1801 a road was surveyed “ from Irondequot Falls
intersecting a road from Glover Perrin’s to Irondequoit Landing.”
In 1806 a road from mouth of river to intersection of road near
“ Thomas’ in Landing Town.” In 1800 a road “from centre of
Main street in the city of Tryon, to the road leading from Orange
Stone’s to the Genesee River.” In same year, a road leading “from
centre of road leading by Hollands and Ingersoll’s to Irondequoit
Landing.” Same year, “ from Rattle-snake Spring to the Genesee
River, opposite the old mill.” Same year, a road “ from a stake and
stone, south of Allan’s creek, to Irondequoit Landing. In 1810 a
road “ beginning at the new bridge, Genesee river Falls, till it in-
tersects a road near Mr. Wilder’s in West Town.” As late as 1816,
$ 10 was voted for wolf scalps. In that year there was five school
districts in the town. Same year, Elisha Ely, Oliver Culver, Otis
Walker, Ebenezer Bingham and Ezekiel Morse, were appointed
as a committee to petition the “ General Assembly,” for money to
be laid out on the road from “ Orange Stone’s to the Genesee River.”
In 1817 Daniel D. Tompkins had 29 votes for Governor, Rufus
King 42. In that year Elisha Ely was supervisor.
The first settled minister in Brighton was the Rev. Solomon
Allen, as early as 1817. He was the father of S. & M. Allen, the
well known brokers in New York ; a faithful minister and an ex-
cellent man, as many well remember. His first meetings were
held at private houses. He remained five years, and would receive
ii6 salary. He died in the city of New York in 1820, aged 70
years.
Enos Blossom was the Pioneer of the numerous family of that
name, • that has been so closely identified with the history of the
town; emigrating previous to, or during the war of 1812. He was
from Cape Cod, Mass. He died in 1830, aged 51 years. George
36570
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
Blossom, of Brighton, and Noble Blossom, of Marshall, Mich., are his
sons; daughters became wives of Marshfield Parsons, of Brighton,
and------Aldrich, of Marshall, Michigan. Ezra Blossom, an uncle
of Enos, came to Brighton in 1818, purchasing the SpafFord farm.,
upon which the village of Brighton has since grown up. He opened
the first tavern there; died in 1820, aged 61 years. His only sur-
viving son is Benjamin B. Blossom, Post Master of Brighton;
daughters became the wives of Ansel House, one of the pioneer
attorneys of Rochester, Wm. C. Bloss, of Rochester, and Levi
Hoyt, of Brighton.
Hr. Gibbs was the first settled physician in Brighton; Ira West .
the first merchant.
CHILI.
A small portion of Chili, was an early settled locality, next to
Wheatland, in all the south western portion of Monroe county.
When the pioneers had settled down in “West Pul teney,” “Fair-
field,” and on the Gore ” in now Parma, they called it going out of
the woods when they went to the “ Hannover settlement.” This
settlement was along on the old Braddock's Bay road, projected by
Mr. Williamson, in “ East Pulteney, now Chili; the first settlers,
principally from Hannover, N. Hampshire. There were of them
the elder Mr. Widener, his sons, Jacob, Abraham, William, and
Peter; Jacob still survives; the Sottle family, Joseph Cary,---------
Wood, and his sons Lemuel and Joseph; Joshua Howell, who was
an early Justice of the peace; Samuel Scott, of Scottsville, Benja-
min Bowen, and the Franklin family. The names of early settlers
on the River, have occurred in other connections. With the ex-
ception of a small portion, the town was late in settling, owing to
difficulties in land titles, which kept the lands out of market, but as
a whole, its superior soil has been enabling it to overtake its neigh-
boring towns in the march of improvement.
John Chapman became a resident of the town in 1804. He had
been preceded two years by his son Israel Chapman, who still sur-
vives. The elder Chapman opened the road from the Hannover
settlement, to his location on Chestnut Ridge. In 1807 he had the
contract from Mr. Wadsworth for opening the State road, from
the site of Rochester to Ogden; the primitive opening consisting
only of “turning out the logs,” and under-brushing. In 1808 he
opened a road from where he settled in Chili, to the Rapids. He
had removed from Phelps, and returning there in about two years
he remained there until his death, at the advanced age of 80 years.
Israel Chapman, of Chili, Julius Chapman, of Riga, and Joel Chap-phelps and gorham’s purchase.	571
man, of Macedon, are his sons; other sons reside at the west;
Mrs. Wm. Peer, of Chili is a daughter.
Isaac Lacy, though a late comer, was for many years a prominent
citizen of the town; an enterprising and successful farmer. He
emigrated from Washington county in 1816, and in process of time
became possessed of a farm of near 1000 acres; 600 of which he
cultivated. He died in 1844, aged 68 years. He was a member of
Assembly from Monroe for two terms, and subsequently a member
of the Senate. His surviving sons are Allen T. Lacy, near Mar-
shall, Michigan; John T. Lacy, clerk of Monroe county; Edward
P. and Isaac Lacy, of Janesville, Wisconsin. Daughters became
the wives of Ira Carpenter, of Scottsville; R. M. Long, of Buffalo;
Dr. John Mitchell of Janesville; and H. H. Smith, of Union city,
Michigan. There was in all, a family of eleven children.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY GLIMPSES OF THE GENESEE VALLEY------PIONEER HISTORY OF
ROCHESTER.
In all we have of the history of French occupancy of Western
New York, but few allusions are made to the immediate valley of
the Genesee; and yet there are distinct evidences that there were
Jesuit Missionary and French traders located upon it; and such
may well be the inference, as within it were some of the principal
seats of the Senecas. Soon after the advent of La Salle, a trading
post and missionary station was founded upon the Niagara, a few
miles above the Falls. In the Jesuit letters there are several allu-
sions to another one, with which those who occupied the first, were
in frequent communication, upon the “River of the Tsonnontouans,”
(the river of the Senecas.) # While La Salle was building his ves-
sel at the mouth of the Cayuga creek, he sent embassies over land,
to reconcile the Senecas to his enterprise; and the vessel he had
built at Frontenac, coasted along the south shore of Lake Ontario
* The communication was by water, and yet not by the Niagara river and Lake
Ontario, Strange as it may now seem, batteanx ascended the Tonawanda, were car-
ried over a short portage into the Tonawanda swamp, and descended by the waters
of Black creek to the Genesee river! That there had once been such an internal
navigation, Mr. Ellicott was in some way apprized, and that suggested to him his fa-
vorite route fcr the Erie Canal, a partial survey of which was made.572	PHELPS AKD GOEHAM’s PURCHASE.
and entered the Genesee River, the first craft of European architec-
ture, in all probability, that ever disturbed its waters. The Baron
La Hontan, who accompanied the expedition of De Nonville, gave
some account of the River, and laid it down upon the map that
accompanied the first publication of his “ Voyages to North Amer-
ica,” in London, 1703. There are other maps in which the River
is recognized, of even earlier date. Views of the upper and lower
Falls were published in London in 1768. Upon them, the river is
called, “ Casconchiagon, or Little Senecas’ River.” [The term
little, must have been in comparison with Niagara river.] Joncaire,
who is introduced in the body of the work, was familiar with the
whole region, and gave to Charlevoiz, in 1723, a very intelligible
description of the Genesee River. English occupancy of western
New York, was comparatively of but short duration, and there
seems to have been no occupancy of the immediate valley of the
Genesee. In Governor Burnett’s time, there was an English trading
house, and a few soldier’s at the “ Bay of Tyrondequoit,” but little
is said of it. It was probably soon abandoned, as the Senecas were
far more jealous of English than of French occupancy . The Rev.
Mr. Kirkland visited this region in 1765, and during all the period
of English occupancy, there were English traders on Seneca Lake,
the Genesee and the Niagara rivers. When the Revolutionary
war commenced, the Genesee valley, as will be observed, began
soon to be the temporary abiding place of refugees from the Mo-
hawk, the Susquehannah and New Jersey; the chief among them,
the ruling spirit, the “lord of the valley,” being Ebenezer, or Indian
Allan; the solitary occupant upon the River, below the mouth of
Allan’s creek, one of his liege subjects, Jacob Walker.
THE FALLS OF THE GENESEE AND THEIR IMMEDIATE VICINITY-DELAY
IN SETTLEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT---THE IMMEDIATE AND
REMOTE CAUSES.
Truly it may be observed, that with reference to the pioneer his-
tory of all this region, a reversal of the ordinary arrangement is in-
dicated by the course of events, and the first becomes last. The
site of the “ City of the valley of the Genesee,”— the com-
mercial and general business emporium, of all the region that we
have been travelling over — was a wilderness, almost unbroken, a
bye place, in homely phrase, for long years after settlements were
founded in almost the entire Genesee country* When Buffalo,
Batavia, Canandaigua, Geneva, Palmyra, Penn Yan, Bath, Gen-
eseo, Caledonia and Le Roy, had became considerable villages, and
local business had began to centre at Pittsford, Penfield, Victor,573
PHELPS AND GOKHAM’S PTJECHASE.
Lyons, Vienna, Manchester, East Bloomfield, Lima, Avon, Dans-
ville, Angelica, Warsaw, Attica, Lewiston, Oak Orchard, Gaines,
Clarkson, Parma, Charlotte, Handford’s Landing and Scottsville,
sufficient to form little clusters of stores, machine shops and dwell-
ings— there was at “ Genesee Falls,” now Rochester, but a rude
mill and a few rude dwellings, less than twenty acres of the forest
cleared away, and less than a half dozen families.
The reader whose interest and patience have both held out thus
far, to keep along with the narrative, has had occasional glimpses
of the site of Rochester, but has seen little as there was but little to
see; or rather has read little of it, for the reason that it has not
been before reached in the order of time. It was late in attracting
the attention of men of enterprise, founders of settlements and vil-
lages. Now.when its superior advantages are so obvious, when it
has become a large and populous city, with those not familiar with
the early history of the country, surprise is created that it was not
one of the primitive theatres of investment and enterprise. In the
first place, it may be observed, that there was a long series of
years, after the settlement of the Genesee country commenced,
when the Pioneers in detached settlements in the forest, were
subduing the soil, and obtaining from it but barely the means of
subsistence; in the most favored localities but a small surplus
which was required by the new comers that were dropping in from
year to year around them; there was little necessity for market
places, or commercial depots, Rapids upon the small streams ex-
isted in almost every neighborhood and settlement, upon which rude
mills were erected, sufficient for all the then existing requirements.
The extensive hydraulic power created by the Rapids and the Falls
of the Genesee, was not put in requisition, because there was no
occasion for it. Rochester, of itself, in its steady permanent growth,
demonstrates the fact, that villages and cities should follow the gen-
eral improvements of a country which is to be tributary to them,
and not precede them. It sprung up when it was required, kept
pace with the growth and improvement of the whole country — and
a rapid march it had to make to do so — and thence its permanence
and substantial character.
The territory bordering upon the shore of Lake Ontario, in the
entire Genesee country, with few exceptions, did not attract settlers
in all the earliest years. There was little of Lake commerce, and
travel, transportation and business, centered upon the main thorough-
fare, the old Buffalo road. It is a far greater wonder that at a peri-
od when good roads was the great desideratum, when upon all ordin-
ary soils they could not be made; when even the main Buffalo road,
after there had been expended upon it a vast amount of labor, was
in most seasons of the year almost impassable, — that such a con-
tinuous national highway as was the Ridge road, was not opened
and travelled; than that the Falls of the Genesee were not earlier574	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PTTECHASE.
improved. There was never, in the earliest period, any misapprehen-
sion of the intrinsic value of the soil in all this northern region of the
Genesee country. The Pioneers were aware of the fact, now so clear-
ly demonstrated by time and experience, that from the Pennsyl-
vania line, northward to the shores of Lake Ontario, there was a
gradual improvement in the face of the country, and in all the ele-
ments of successful agriculture; but along on the Lake shore, in
the whole distance from Sodus Bay to Fort Niagara, there was a
wide belt of dense dark forest, the soil mostly wet; its whole aspect
repulsive and forbidding. It was penetrated in the earliest years by
but few, and those as may well be conceded, the boldest of the Pio-
neers. First, Mr. Williamson, attracted by the beautiful Bay of
Sodus, by its fine building ground, and its prospective commercial
importance, broke in there, and accompanying extraordinary enter-
prise with a liberal expenditure of capital, made a failure of it, and
years of decline, and almost desertion, followed. Then two hardy
Pioneers set themselves down on the Lake shore, between Sodus and
Pulteneyville ; (Brown and Richards.) Previous to this however,
the Lusks, Hydes, Timothy Allyn, Orange Stone, the Scudders, and
a few others had located upon an inviting spot in Brighton, near the
head .of the Irondequoit Bay. Then followed William Hencher,
at the mouth of the Genesee river; then the Atchinsons and a few
others, formed an isolated and lonesome settlement at the head of
Braddock’s, (Prideaux’s) Bay. Then James Walworth, Elijah
Brown, (the same who had settled below Pulteneyville,) Elisha
Hunt, the De Graws, Lovell, Marsh, Parmeter, Dunham, the Grif-
fiths and others, located at Oak Orchard; and soon after, openings
in the forest began to be made in the vicinity of Fort Niagara, as
low down as the Four Mile creek. Following these pioneer advents,
other adventurers were “ few and far between; ” they were in a
few localities in Niagara, along on the Ridge in Orleans, in Clark-
son, Ogden, Bergen, Riga, Chili, Greece, Penfield, Macedon, Wal-
worth, Marion, and along on the road from Sodus to Lyons. When
little neighborhoods had been formed in all these detached localities,
disease came into the openings of the forest, about as fast as they
were made. Often families, and sometimes almost entire neigh-
borhoods were carried into the older and healthier localities, upon
ox sleds and carts, through wood’s roads, to be nursed and cared for.
Through long years this operated not unlike the carrying of the dead
and wounded from a battle field into the presence of those whose aid
is required to renew and maintain the strife. It was but little less
appaling and discouraging. The whole region now immediately
under consideration was sickly in all the early years, and upon that
account, and for other reasons, was slow in settling. All the region
around the Falls of the Genesee, at the mouth of the river, at King’s
Landing, (as the reader has observed and will observe,) was regar-
ded as prolific in the seeds of disease — of chills and fevers—almost,*phelps and gorham’s purchase.
575
as are the Pontine marshes of the old world, and the passes of the
Isthmus on the route to California. A single instance may be sta-
ted in this connection, in addition to what will appear elsewhere :
— In an early year, previous to 1800, Wheelock Wood, a pioneer
in Lima, built a saw mill on Deep Gulley creek, within the present
city limits of Rochester, had it in operation but one season, carried
back to Lima, his workmen, prostrated by disease; and was finally
obliged to abandon his enterprise, and let his mill go to decay, for
the reason that workmen could not be found who would incur the
exposure to disease consequent upon the care of it.
The causes that have been cited are quite sufficient to account
for the late start of Rochester; to explain to the readers of the pre-
sent day, why valuable hydraulic privileges, in the immediate neigh-
borhood of shipping ports of Lake Ontario, were so long principally
shrouded by the primeval forest, after settlement had approached
and almost surrounded the locality. To these causes the reader
may add what he has already observed, of the tendency of things
toward the main thoroughfare, the Buffalo Road, in early years;
and the fact, that quite up to the period of the start of Rochester,
the commercial enterprize and expectation of a large settled portion
of the Genesee country was turned in the direction oTthe head waters
of the Allegany and Susquehannah.
The year 1811, that being the year in which Col*. Rochester, first
surveyed and sold lots on the one hundred acre tract, may be regarded
as the starting period of Rochester, though in reference to any con-
siderable movement, accession of population and business, the years
1815, or T 6 would perhaps be indicated. The first period named,
preceding but a few months, another important event in our local his-
tory, the war of 1812 — some account of the then general condition
of the Genesee country, will not be out of place :—Commencing with
the Pioneer region, the territory now comprised in the county of
Ontario, improvements were considerably advanced. Generally,
the soil there was more easily subdued, and made more speedy re-
turns for labor expended, than the more heavily timbered lands that
predominated elsewhere. There were many framed houses and
barns, bearing orchards, largely improved farms, and good, public
highways. The territory had began to have a large surplus of pro-
ducts, which principally found a market in the later settled regions,
south and west. There may be included in this description a small
portion of the present counties of Wayne, Livingston and Yates.
In nearly all the northern portion of Wayne county settlement was
recent, and but small improvements had been made. In Living-
ston the considerable improvements were principally confined to the
flats of the Genesee and Canascraga, the Buffalo road, Livonia,
Conesus, Groveland and Sparta. A large portion of Allegany was
a wilderness ; there were but few recent and feeble settlements. The
older settlements in Steuben had began to produce a small surplus,o76	PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
which, with its lumber, was shipped upon the head waters of the
Susquehannah, for the Baltimore market; but most of the county
was either a wilderness, or sparsely populated.
West of the Genesee River, the lands along the Buffalo road were
principally settled, and many large improvements had been made.
The principal public houses were along on that road; it was the
central locality ; those who lived away from that were in the back-
woods, or interior; there they gloried in some very respectable
framed tavern houses ; “ double log” tavern houses prevailed to the
south and north of it. In Wyoming, there were settlements and
considerable improvements along on the old “ Big Tree” road, the
Tonawanda and Allan’s creek; elsewhere the Pioneers were in
small isolated settlements, with wide belts of forests intervening.
Cattaraugus had been broken into in but few localities, principally
along on the Cattaraugus creek, the Ischua, and the Allegany River.
Chautauque and the south towns of Erie had considerable settle-
ments, principally along near the lake shore, and in the interior, on
Chautauque Lake, and on the old “ Big Tree” road. The settle-
ments in all the northern portion of Erie, were along on the Buffalo
road, and between that and the Seneca Reservation. In Niagara,
settlement was principally confined to the Niagara River, the Ridge
Road, and along on the narrow strip between the Ridge Road and
Mountain Ridge. Orleans was mostly a wilderness, with but little
in the way of improvement off from the Ridge Road, and in but few
localities upon it. The Ridge. Road in its whole extent, from the
Genesee to the Niagara River, had but just been opened, a large
portion of it was butan underbrushed woods road, with only a part of
the streams having over them even rude log bridges. In short, in
all the region between the Genesee River and the west bounds of
the State, off from the main east and west road, there was but isola-
ted neighborhoods and detached famlies, settlement had mostly
commenced within the preceding six years. There was not fifty
framed dwellings, nor over an hundred framed barns; fifty acres
was deemed a large improvement, much above the average.
The condition of the territory now comprised in Monroe, may be
inferred from the history of settlement that has been given.
During the war, there was no increase of population in the whole
region — as many left the country as came to it — a very large
proportion of the effective men were upon the frontier, and alarm
and apprehension paralyzed all of industry and enterprise. With
reference to the period of 1812, Rochester had an untoward com-
mencement; and with reference to the latter period—1815 and ’16
— it started when the whole region with which it had a local iden-
tity, had but passed its infancy,—when after acquiring a little
strength and manhood, prostration and weakness had followed, from
which it was just recovering.phelps and gobham’s purchase.	577
THE FIRST BLOW STRUCK ON THE SITE OF ROCHESTER----THE
ALLAN MILL---REMINISCENCES OF EVENTS TO
THE CLOSE OF THE WAR OF 1812.
It was soon after Mr. Phelps had concluded his treaty, that he
sold or gave to Ebenezer Allan the One Hundred Acre Tract, upon
which he erected his rude mills. The mills were in operation be-
fore the close of 1790, or rather were in readiness to saw and grind
when there was anything to do. The measure on the part of Allan
was premature; when the grist mill was completed, there was not
in all the region west of the old Pre-emption line, 1500 of our race;
and with the exception of the flats upon the Genesee and Canascraga,
and a few small Indian improvements elsewhere, not 1000 acres of
cleared land. As settlements increased, small mills were erected in
other localities, leaving the Allan mills at the Falls of the Genesee,
surrounded as they mostly were by an unsettled wilderness, but little
to do. A miller was usually kept with them, the solitary occupant
of all the now site of Rochester, but he had usually not employment
enough to enable him to keep the mill in repair. Sometimes there
would be no miller — the whole premises would be deserted — and
in seasons of drouth, or when the small mills at Mendon, Wilder’s
Point, and at Conesus, would be out of repair, the new settlers would
come down the Genesee River in canoes, upon Indian trails, or via
the early woods road that came from Pittsford to Orange Stone’s in
Brighton, and to avoid the low wetlands that intervened, was carried
off* upon the ridges to the south, coming out upon the river near
Mount Hope. Arriving at the mill, they would occupy the deserted
cabin, supply a broken cog, mend a strap, put a bucket upon a wheel
or a plank upon the floom, and be their own millers.
The mill and the Hundred Acre Tract was purchased of Allan by
Benjamin Barton, senior, in March, 1792. The property was soon
after conveyed I by Barton to Samuel Ogden of the city of New
York. Mr. Ogden being a lawyer, and a far off* resident, was not
likely to improve it, and as early as 1794 conveyed it to Charles
Williamson. The next year Mr. Williamson put the property under
the care of Col. Fish, and expended upon it about $500. But still
there was a want of business for it, and in all the time that elapsed,
during the ownership of Mr. Williamson, it was allowed to go grad-
ually to decay. While in various other localities, in Sodus, Lyons,
Geneva, Hopeton, Bath, on the Canascraga, in Caledonia, and to a
small extent at Braddock’s Bay, he was prosecuting enterprises,
founding villages, and mills, the Falls of the Genesee seems to have
had no considerable attractions for him. And this together with
the then isolated condition of the locality in reference to the course
that settlement was then taking, may furnish the explanation: In all
expenditures and improvements he had reference to the increasing578
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.
of the value of the property of his principals. All that is now Gates,
most of Greece, a part of Chili, all of Henrietta, Rush, Mendon,
Pittsford, Perrinton, Penfield, and Brighton, was not a part of the
Pulteney estate. The principal interest of his principals in the im-
mediate vicinity of Rochester, was most of what is now Irondequoit,
a tract of 4000 acres at the Rapids, and a larger tract in what is
now Chili. In January > 1802, in a valuation of all the different
parcels of the Pulteney estate, made by Israel Chapin, Joseph
Annin, and Amos Hall, the mill and hundred acres, was valued at
fl,040.
Following the erection of the mill, the clearing away of a small
spot of the forest around it, there was in respect to either settlement
or improvement, an hiatus — an almost total suspension of opera-
tions —for nearly twenty years; a period in our present day, more
than sufficient for settling States, founding new empires, and build-
ing large cities.
In all this time the locality, and its immediate vicinity, was not
lost sight of; it was frequently visited by tourists and men of enter-
prise. In 1795, Aaron Burr,—then a large operator in sites of
towns, in tracts of wild lands, and in a few years after, the owner
for a short period, of an 100,000 acres of Orleans county, contiguous
to mouth of Oak Orchard creek—diverged from the old Buffalo road,
came down and critically examined the Falls, taking measurements
of them. Adventurers coasting along the Lake shore in batteaux,
would put into the mouth of the river and survey the Falls, become
impressed with the value of the location, the magnitude of its hy-
draulic power; but the dark frowning forests, the low wet lands,
the malaria they could well fancy they saw floating in the atmos-
phere, sent them away to other fields of investment and enterprise,
of far less importance, as time has demonstrated.
In 1796 Zadock Granger, Gideon King and others, as will have
been observed, formed a settlement at what afterwards became
Hand ford's Landing. These were the first comers upon the river,
below the mouth of Black creek, (the miller of the Falls excepted,)
after Wm. Heneher. In writing to his friends in England, Mr.
Williamson was much disposed to make things quite as forward as
Note.—In this connection the author will make an extract from the manuscript re-
miniscences of Thomas Morris :— “In June, 1797, Louis Philip, the late King of
France, his two brothers, the Duke de Montpensier, and Count Beaugolais, were my
guests at Canandaigua. Being desirous of shewing them the Falls of the Genesee
River, we rode together to where Rochester now is. There was not at that time a hut
of any kind. The nearest habitation was that of a farmer by the name of Perrin/’
(Orange Stone he should have said,) “ where after viewing the Falls we dined in our
return to Canandaigua. Notwithstanding all that I had heard of the progress of Roch-
ester,” (Mr. Morris is now alluding to his visit to the city in 1844,) it was difficult for
me to realize that a place that I had last seen, even at that distance of time, an un-
inhabited wilderness, should now be a busy, active city, containing elegant and costly
buildings, and with a population, as I was informed there, of between twenty-five
and thirty thousand inhabitants.”phelps akd goeham’s pueohase.	579
they were, and to create the impression that the country was going
ahead pretty rapidly. He announced the advent of these new
comers, as a matter of considerable importance; and speaks of the
commercial enterprise of Mr. Granger, in the same year, as having
created a new era in this region of the Genesee country. “ The
navigation of the river,” says one of his letters, “ is interrupted by
four successive magnificent falls, the highest of them * 96 feet;
around these falls a carrying place was made, and the inhabitants
for the first time began to use the navigation, and they received
their salt from the Onondaga salt works, and their stores from Al-
bany, with a very trifling land carriage, compared to what they
were before necessitated to undertake from Geneva; and it has
opened to them a ready market for their produce.”
From the very earliest period of the settlement of the Genesee
country, there seemed to be a prevalent, vague idea, that a town
of some consequence was to grow up somewhere in what is now
the northern portion of Monroe — neucluses were formed, prelim-
inary steps taken to start villages and commercial depots — but the
sites, or locations, were for a long period fluctuating. There are
within nine miles of Rochester, within the precincts of the over
shadowing city — the sites of no less than five embryo villages, or
towns, gone to decay — or rather, are either converted into highly
cultivated farms, or have become principally the eligible sites of
private dwellings; and this, without including Frankfort—at first
assuming rather an independent existence — but having now but
little separate identity; having long ago been merged in the city
that is now travelling on, on, beyond it, with rapid strides.
Soon after the completion of the surveys of Phelps and Gorham's
Purchase, the late Augustus Porter, mapped the whole territory,
carefully disignating the localities where villages and mills either
were or were likely to be. He makes no mark or sign of civiliza-
tion, on the river, below “ Hartford,” (Avon,) except at the Allan
mill, and upon the afterwards site of Carthage, is printed, “ Athens.”
This would lead to the conclusion that the earliest proprietors of
the region, (even before the advent of Mr. Williamson,) had desig-
nated that as their favorite locality. Eligible and beautiful as the
site now is, it must have been in that early day, a most unpropi-
tious spot, to introduce a name associated with the highest degrees
of civilization in the old world. But let this reminiscence remind
the dwellers there, that they are treading upon classic ground.
“ Tryon Town,” in now Brighton, on the “ Eutauntuquet* Bay,”
was the next favorite locality ; where, as will have been observed,
a town was projected and commenced, and for many early years
was the focus of business for a wide region of log cabins and wood's
roads ; — a shipping port, withal. Then succeeded “ King's” and
* Vide, Judge Porter’s Map.580
PHELPS AND GORHAMS’ PURCHASE.
“ Handford’s landings ; then “ Charlotte;55 and next, (or perhaps
in earlier years,) “ Castle Town,” All but the “ oldest inhabitants”
will have to be told where “ Castle Town” was : — It was upon the
west side of the river, at the Rapids, near the division line of Gates
and Chili. Mr. Wadsworth owned lot 47, the south east corner lot
of Gates, embracing the upper part of the Rapids, and the Pulteney
estate, lots 12,24, and 36 of the “4,000 acre tract,” contiguous and
below, embracing the lower part of the Rapids. The whole being
under Mr. Wadsworth’s control, as owner and agent, during the
long years that the site of Rochester was left unimproved, he con-
ceived the idea of founding a village there, it being the foot of nav-
igation on the Genesee river, and the head of the portage from
the navigable waters of the river below the Falls. A town was
surveyed, some lots sold, a store and tavern house erected, and a
few families settled there; among whom was Isaac Castle; and
thence the name. Rochester starting up, and soon after, a diver-
sion of the water power being made by the Canal Feeder, there was
an end of “ Castle Town.”
After the pioneer commercial enterprise of Mr. Granger, a con-
siderable period elapsed before other vessels were built. The one
schooner, with such as dropped in at the mouth of the river for
freight, hailing from other ports, was probably found sufficient, pre-
vious to 1800. Augustus and Peter B. Porter, built a schooner up-
on Irondequoit Bay, and for several years the commerce was divi-
ded between the Bay and the River. In 1808 or 59, Erastus Spauld-
ing built a schooner at the mouth of the river, and in 1811, Oliver
Culver built one upon the Irondequoit Bay. The Lake commerce
had commenced with pot and pearl ashes for the Montreal market,
to which was soon added small amounts of flour and wheat, salt
from the Onondaga salt works; and at a later period, butt staves.
A small commerce, upon the River and Bay, seems almost to have
been forcing itself in the earliest years. The navigation of the
Susquehannah was fluctuating, tedious and expensive. The boat-
ing from Lyons, Geneva and Seneca Falls, had been almost aban-
doned ; transportation of produce, overland, upon the Albany road,
impracticable to any considerable extent, except when good winter
Note. — Something of Charlotte will be found in detached portions of the work;
but any especial notice of one who was early identified with the locality, has been
omitted. Andrew M’JSTabb, emigrated from Scotland in 1806. Well educated, and
unused to the labor of clearing new lands, he spent a considerable time with Alexan-
der M’Pherson, of Le Roy, under an arrangement that he should be the teacher of his
children, and in turn should be taught himself the rudiments of Pioneer labor. Soon
however, he attracted the attention of Mr. Stoddard, and was employed in his land
office ; from which he was transferred to the office of James Wadsworth. Under the
auspices of Messrs. Troup and Wadsworth, he was established at Charlotte as early
as 1809 with a stock of goods, and as a local land agent, where he remained until the
occurrence of the war of 1812,-when he removed to Geneva, where he died, a bachelor,
previous to 1830.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
581
roads occurred; Lake ports and Lake commerce, began by slow
degrees to be the creation of exigency and necessity. In a letter
from James Wadsworth to John Murray & Sons, N. Y., dated in
June 1807, he observes that Mr. Penfield has been to Upper Can-
ada, and while there had became impressed with the commercial
advantages of that county; “ a barrel of pot ash can be sent from
thereto Montreal for $1 00; wheat commands cash, and a much
higher price than in this State, from the fact of facility of transpor-
tation.” “ These facts,” adds Mr. W., “ serve to illustrate the im-
portance of ‘Fall Town/ (Rochester,) and of the country in its
vicinity. Articles can be sent at somewhat less expense from the
mouth of Genesee river, than from the west end of Lake Ontario.
At present our communication with Kingston and Montreal is attend-
ed with unnecessary embarrassment. Montreal must become an
immense deposit for agricultural productions seeking an European
market. I could now purchase to be delivered at Fall Town, 10,000
bushels of wheat at 50 cents. It could then be ground and sent to
Montreal for 75 cents per barrel. Our field ashes which are now
wasted, would be an object of considerable consequence. Fifteen
tons might be made in the small town of Fairfield this season. The
business once started, the example would be followed by many.
The ashes which can be scraped off from an acre after a good burn,
are worth from $4 to $8. I imagine there will he 200,000 bushels
of surplus wheat in this part of the State, west of a line beyond
which wheat cannot be sent, to Albany, at the price it now com-
mands/’
In July of the same year, Mr. Wadsworth wrote to Samuel Corp,
N. Y.: — Grain here will not command money at any price. The
Nortons are sending flour to Albany at a certain loss of $1 50 per
barrel. Money hardly circulates among us. Farmers who have
four or five hundred bushels of grain on hand, are paying premiums
for a few dollars, that would astonish you.” #	#	#
# “A tract of country extending from Utica to Lake Erie,
and from Lake Ontario forty or fifty miles southward; (a tract twice
as large as the State of Connecticut,) is in a rapid progress to a
tolerable state of cultivation. The agricultural products of this
district cannot be transported to Albany, except in years of scarcity.
They must generally be sent to Baltimore or Montreal. The com-
munication to Baltimore is only open from three to four weeks in
the spring. This river is undoubtedly a great benefit to the coun-
try, especially to the inhabitants on its banks, who can seize the fa-
vorable opportunity for pushing off their arks. But in my opinion
the St. Lawrence is the natural out-let for the produce of this coun-
try. Lake Ontario is navigable in all seasons of the year. Boats
may be sent down the St. Lawrence, almost eight months in the
year. Restrictions to trade with Canada, embarrass every thing
Free trade would be a mutual advantage.” Mr. W., in the same

* « \ \
• *
JM £
>» V*
V'\582
PHELPS AND GORHAM S PURCHASE,
letter urges Mr. Corp, to “ correspond with friends in London upon
this subject.”
As early as March, 1810, Silas O. Smith emigrated from N.
Malborough, Mass., and became a pioneer merchant at Handford’s
Landing. He is one of the few survivors of that early period; has
lived to witness the primitive start and entire growth of Rochester,
and with a physical and mental constitution unimpaired, has but
partially retired from the active duties of life. He is the father of
L. Ward Smith, late a representative in Assembly from Monroe
county, now acting Adjt. General of the State; of George Hand
Smith, M. D. of Rochester; and of E. Meigs Smith, of Rochester. A
daughter is the wife of Samuel Stevens, of Albany ; and there are
two unmarried daughters.
Mr. Smith has obligingly furnished the author with his recollec-
tions of the early times, which are used in the form adopted in other
instances.
When I came to the country, the whole region was but sparsely settled.
About the Upper and Lower Landing, the forests were but little broken.
Where the city of Rochester now stands, it was a dense forest, save about
half an acre of cleared ground, around the old Allan mill. In the spring
of 1813, I built the first store in what was then called ‘4 Rochesterville.”
It was a wooden structure, and stood next north of the Rochester Bank, on
Exchange street. In 1814, I cleared three or four acres of ground on
which the Court House, St. Luke’s church, First Presbyterian church, and
school house No. 1, now stand. I sowed it to wheat, and had a fine crop;
the harvesting cost me nothing, as it was most effectually done by the
squirrels, coons, and other wild beasts of the forest. Scarcely three years,
however, had elapsed before this ground was mostly occupied with build-
ings, through the liberal policy of Col. Rochester, the acting proprietor.
The war of 1812 to ’15, checked the growth and enterprise of the young
Note. — Suck were the embarrassments, such the speculations and anticipations in
those early years. By hardy enterprise the forest had been so far cleared away, the
soil so far subdued, that a surplus began to be produced; something to reward toil, to
be exchanged for the necessaries and comforts of life, where there had been long years
of privation and endurance ; but the isolated condition of the country, the want of
avenues to market, forbid the fruition so well earned and so long delayed. What an
event was hidden in the womb of speedily coming time! But a few weeks previous
to the date of the first letter of Mr. Wadsworth, a citizen of the Genesee country —
(and honored be his memory!)—oppressed by pecuniary misfortune, a refugee from
inexorable creditors, in an obscure village in Pennsylvania, had projected, and ready
for denoument, the plan for the connection of the waters of Lake Erie and the Hud-
son, by means of an Overland Canal ! That great remedy for the formidable evil
that was paralyzing industry in all this fair and fertile region ; that great and diffusive
dispenser of the wealth, comfort and luxury that meet us at every hand, whether we
are surveying our own Western New York, or travelling through that Empire of the
West, where the influence has been scarcely less potent 1 See 2d or 3d edition of
“ Holland Purchase,” appendix.
REMINISCENCES OF SILAS 0. SMITH.583
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
village. The rumors of border warfare, and frequent turn-outs to meet the
enemy, interfered much to interrupt its quiet 4 progress. It was not until
the peace of 1815 that the village may be said to have fairly commenced
its growth; which from half a dozen families, now numbers 40,000 inhabi-
tants.
In 1810, when at the Landing with a store of goods, I was often asked
by travellers who threaded their way through the narrow paths of the
forest, how I found sufficient customers to warrant any business enterprize.
But people came there from a distance of even 100 miles with their teams
and loads of pot ash to sell and exchange for their supplies.
Charlotte and Handford’s Landing had just began to contend for the
ascendancy, when the war and fevers settled the contest, and located the
village at Rochester; when the great Falls, with their extensive water
privileges, together with a fertile and healthy country, opened a field quite
worthy of its enterprising Pioneers; and did time, space, and recollections
of the past admit, I should like to do justice to the memory of those active
and praiseworthy men. For their perseverance and endurance during so
many privations; I remember them with the highest esteem and honor.
I would add that Handford’s Landing was formerly called King’s Land-
ing. The earliest settlers there were mostly doomed to a death more ter-
rible than the sword. Prostrated by fevers, there were times when there
was none left with strength enough to bring water to the parched lips of
the dying, or afford a decent interment to their remains. Their graves,,
more than twenty in number, could be counted in the woods near by.
Yery rarely a missionary would pass through this wild and lonely region,
administering the consolations of his faith. Sunday was not at all observ-
ed. I remember with pleasure, the Rev. Mr. Parmalee, a Prysbeterian, a
good old man, who passed through and stopped at my house where he
preached and baptised; afterwards continuing on for miles to find another
house and repeat the same services. At the time he was suffering so much
from ague and fever that he was often obliged to dismount from his horse
and lay down under a tree until the ague fit had left him, then arise and
continue on his solitary journey.
At that early period we had no great partiality for any particular denom-
ination of Christians; we were sufficiently glad to have any. Yery provi-
dentially I had brought with me three books of Common Prayer; and
while living at the Landing, fishing and hunting being the usual occupa-
tion of many of the new settlers on Sunday; the report of the rifle breaking
the otherwise “ Sabbath stillness of the day”; I obtained the assistance of
John Mastirk, and in a small plank school house we commenced the beautiful
ritual of the Episcopal church; and on each Lord’s day read the prayers and
a sermon. The plan was perfectly successful, for the services came to be
attended from far and wide; and it formed the neucleus afterwards of St.
Lukes, the largest church in this diocese. These were the first Prayer Books
and Episcopal services used and held in this section of the countr^/This
very small beginning contrasts strangely with the present aspect the
various religious societies, and shows that the early settlers of Rochester,
as well as the present inhabitants, were not entirely negligent in these mat-
ters which have had such beneficial influence upon the great prosperity of
the city.
W*584
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
Charles Harford was an emigrant from England, soon after 1790.
Among Mr. Williamson’s papers, is a letter from him dated in New
York, in 1794, in which he requests Mr. W. to reserve for him
4.000	acres near “ the Great Sodus” and some “ town lots,” — says
he intends to engage “ extensively in grazing ; ” that he is about to
start for England to bring out his family. It is presumed that on
his return from England, (or may be previously,) he had purchased
an interest in the “ 20,000 acre tract,” west of the River. The au-
thor is not informed where he located previous to 1807. In that
year he became the Pioneer on all the site of Rochester west of the
river, erecting a block house on what is now State street, near the
termination of the Lisle road, and making a small opening in the
forest. He had here allotted to him 100 acres of his interest in the
20.000	acre tract; besides back farm lots in Gates, upon which in
early years, he settled several branches of his family. In 1808 he
had completed a small mill with one run of stones, a little below the
Falls, conducting the water in a race. This mill for four years, did
the grinding for a wide region of backwoods settlers. A saw mill
soon followed, or it may have preceded the erection of the grist
mill. Mr. Harford died nearly thirty years since; of a numerous
family, possessing at one period a hundred acres of the city of
Rochester, and about one-twelfth of the town of Gates, the author
has no information, other than the fact that a son resides in the
town of Chili, and that other sons and daughters reside in Western
States.
After the advent of Charles Haford on the west side of the Riv-
er, the next was that of Enos Stone, the first settler on the east
side of the River. DCf3 See page 424. Mr. Stone’s advent was in
March, 1810. Arriving at the house of his brother Orange with
his family and effects, he was helped through the woods by him and
some of his neighbors, and established in his log cabin, the solitary
occupant of all the present site of Rochester, east of the river. Two
years previous, Enos Stone the elder had erected a saw mill on the
river, which had been carried off by a freshet. In October follow-
ing, needing a little more house room — having occasionally to en-
tertain a visiter or traveller, Mr. Stone put up a small frame build-
ing, 16 by 20 feet. The cutting of the timber, raising and enclos-
ing occupied but three days; — the raising was done by Mr. and
Mrs. Stone, and a hired man and hired girl.* Mr. Stone saw and
endured the most rugged features of pioneer life. Getting out of
provisions, he went out in search of wheat, and passing through
Pittsford, Mendon, Victor, Bloomfield and Livonia, found not a
bushel Tor sale, until he had arrived at Judge Chipman’s near Allen’s
Hill, in Pittstown. He remembers with feelings of gratitude, that
* The structure of the first frame building ever erected upon all the broad site of
the now city of Rochester, in a tolerable state of preservation, is now occupied as a
wood shed, in rear of the dwelling of Wm. Adams, on Elm street.PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PUECHASE.
585
telling the Judge of his wants, and of the destitution of himself and
his backwoods neighbors, how readily he gave him a seat at his
breakfast table, and went out himself and made a levy upon his
neighbors — getting a bushel of wheat of one, and a bushel of an-
other;— and so far as pay was concerned, he would only receive a
dollar per bushel, less than the current price. It is with lively recol-
lections of other and like kind acts, on the part of this early and wor-
thy pioneer, that the author records this reminiscence. On another
occasion, being out of meat, Mr. Stone walked out with his rifle,
and a fine buck just trotting up the bank from the river, where he
had been to drink, was transferred to the shambles; — and as oppor-
tunely it was, as the manna, in another exigency in the world’s his-
tory.
Isaac W. Stone, who has already been mentioned in connection
with the invasion at the mouth of the river, in the war of 1812, had
settled in Bloomfield, establishing a cloth dressing establishment on
Fish creek, soon after 1800. In 1810 he purchased of Enos Stone
five acres, opposite Blossom’s Hotel, upon a part of which the
Minerva block now stands; erected a framed house and opened a
tavern. There had began to be a little travel on the Ridge Road,
though the fording of the river was often difficult and dangerous ;
and settlement it will be observed had commenced on the Ridge.
His was the only public house in Rochester during the war, was a
boarding place for several of the early local adventurers — the head
quarters of all military operations, while the enterprising landlord
was himself, by virtue of a commission, as well as by patriotic im-
pulses, the active and principal leader in measures of defence. Re-
turning from the Niagara frontier, in 1813, he was taken ill upon
the road, and died at the house of Major Isaac Sutherland, near
Batavia; much regretted, for he had been active and useful in the
then trying crisis. An only surviving son became a resident of
Lockport, was for one term sheriff of Niagara; died a few years
since in Illinois. The eldest daughter, the wife of the Rev. Artemus
Bishop, went upon a mission to the Sandwich Islands, in 1827,
where she still resides. Another daughter became the wife of Ira
West; another the wife of the Rev. Wm. F. Curry, now a settled
minister at Geneva; and another, the wife of John F. Bush, of
Rochester. Mrs. Stone, who continued the pioneer tavern for four
years after her husband’s death, still survives, at the age of 76 years,
a resident of Rochester; and with the exception of Enos Stone,
the oldest living resident ot the city.
The first public improvement upon the Genesee River, below
Avon, was the erection of a bridge upon the present site of Roch-
ester. In 1809 the Ridge Road began to be regarded prospective-
Note. — Mr. Stone adds, that when he arrived at Zebulon Norton’s mill, in Mendon,
the old gentleman instead of taking toll, added a bushel, j
37586
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
ly, as an important thoroughfare, and the citizens of what are now
the northern towns of Wayne and Monroe, began to make move-
ments te secure a better crossing of the River, than that of a dan-
gerous fording place. A petition to the Legislature was put in cir-
culation, and favored by the presence at Albany, of both the elder
and younger Enos Stone, a law was passed for the construction of
abridge, by means of a tax upon the inhabitants ol Genesee and
Ontario, at the session of 1809, J10. The measure met with severe
opposition; the dwellers along on the Buffalo road, feared the diver-
sion of travel from that then main thoroughfare, and the local mem-
bers of the Legislature, were all from that road or south of it, ex-
cept Judge Rogers, of Palmyra, who gave it his support. Samue
Lawrence, of what is now Yates county, then a member from On-
tario, opposed the measure, as imposing an oppressive tax upon those
who were not to be benefitted by it, as an unnecessary and wild pro-
ject. In the course of his speech he assumed that the region sur-
rounding the contemplated improvement, was one frowned upon by
Providence, and not fit for the residence of man. It is, said he, “in-
habited by muskrats, visited only by straggling trappers, through
which neither man nor beast could gallop wuthout fear of starvation,
or of catching the fever and ague/’ The bill passed by a close vote;
the bridge was commenced in 1810, and finished just after the com-
mencement of the war of 1812. The first company of troops that
marched to Lewiston, passed upon the uncovered timbers. The
building commissioners were Dr. Zacheus Colby, of Genesee, and
Caleb Hopkins, of Ontario; the builder,----Hovey. The bridge
soon began to bring travel to the Frontier, upon the northern route,
and in the absence of the war would have given an impetus to set-
tlement.
Little beyond what has been named, transpired upon the east
side of the River, until the close of the war; but two families were
added to those of the Messrs. Stongs, and they were not permanent
residents.
Though Col. Rochester and his associates, Cols. Fitzhugh and
Carrol, had purchased the Hundred Acre Tract in 1802, it lay idle,
as it had in long previous years, until the summer of 1811. The
delay in the improvement of a site so valuable, is sufficiently ac-
counted for in preceding pages; late as would now seem the com-
mencement, it was even premature, as the reader will have observed.
Yet there had began to be an anxiety to see a commencement, the
Bridge was progressing, public expectation and individual enterprise
had began to fix upon the tract —the 100 acres, and the hydraulic
Note. — By some means or other the Bridge matter took a party turn, the then
democratic members generally voting for it. The next year it was brought into the
election canvass, and was the means of defeating the democratic members. That de-
termined the complexion of the Legislature; so the first bridge in Rochester, cost the
democratic party the ascendancy in the State.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
587
facilities it embraced — as the eligible spot in which all hitherto
projected business localities in its neighborhood, was to become
merged. In August 1810, Mr. Wadsworth, although his interests
were principally at Charlotte, and Castleton, had probably become
convinced that neither was the natural location of the business he
saw drawing off to the lower valley of the Genesee, towards the
navigable waters of Lake Ontario; and in one of the localities,
sickness had began to discourage him as it had others. At this pe-
riod, he wrote to Mr. Troup; — “I wish that tract of 100 acres
could be purchased of the Maryland gentlemen. The Bridge and
Mill seat render it very valuable indeed.”
In July, 1810, Col. Rochester came down from his residence at
Dansville, and surveyed a few lots on the River, along on either
side of Exchange and Buffalo streets. Having before his return
home, constituted Enos Stone his local agent, he addressed to him
the following letter of instructions: —
Dansville, 14th August, 1811.
Dear Sir :
Inclosed I send you a plat of the village of Rochester, at the Falls of
Genesee River. I have sent on advertisements to the printers at Canandaigua and
Geneva, mentioning that I have laid out a village, and that you will shew the lots and
make known the terms on which the lots are to be sold.
The terms are for lots No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17, 18, 30, fifty dollars each; for lots No. 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, thirty dollars. No. 1, two hundred dollars,
the rest that are numbered are sold. Persons purchasing must build a dwelling house,
or store house, not less than 20 by 16 feet, by the first of October 1812, or the lots
will revert to the proprietors, and the advance of five dollars be forfeited. Five dollars
are to be advanced on each quarter acre lot, aud twenty dollars on lot No. 1, the resi-
due to be paid in two annual payments with interest thereon. If any person wants a
lot above the head of the race or the River, tell them that I will be down in October
to lay out lots along Mill street up to the river, and these lots can be had for building
Ware Houses on the River, at fifty dollars for a quarter acre lot. Bridge street, Buffalo
street, Mill street and Carroll street, are six rods wide, the other streets are four rods,
and the Alley’s twelve feet. You will observe that lots No. 26, 27, are to be but three
rods on Bridge street; but extend back more than ten rods, owing to the angle in the
street. When I go down in October, I shall lay out the streets, alleys and lots agreea-
ble to the enclosed plat.	NATHANIEL ROCHESTER.
Enos Stone became the purchaser of lot 36 at $50. Other sales
occurred in the order, and at the pi ices named, commencing Dec.
29, 1811: —
Henry Skinner,
Hamlet Scranton,
Isaac W. Stone,
Abraham Starks,
David C. Knapp,
Amasa Marshall,
Apolenus Jerry
Lot No. 1,	$200	Israel Scrantom,	Lot No.. 18,19,	100
“ 26,	50	Luscum Knapp,	“ 45,	60
“ 23,34,	100	Hezekiah Noble,	“ 5,	60
“ 20,	50	Joseph Hughes,	“ 15,62,	80
" 21,22,	200	Ebenezer Kelly,	“ 16,	60
“ 25,	50	Ira West,.	\ “ 3,	30
32,	125	« ((	« 50 f	26ff588
phelps and gorham’s purchase,
Elisha Ely, Lot No. 39,40,41,133, $360
Porter P. Peck, Lot No.	154, 100
Josiah Bissell, Jr. , “	7,13, 31, 260
Stephen Lusk, “	6,	50
Wm. Robb, Lot, 61, 62, 63, 116,
117,.........................800
Michael Cully, Lot No. 79, 100
Cook & Brown, “	83,	100
Harvey Montgomery, “	88,	250
Roswell Hart, “	8,56, 57,	400
Chas. D. Farman, *•	129,	300
Geo. G. Sill. “	154,	90
James Stoddart, “	130,	100
Fabricus Reynolds, “	131,	200
This will give the reader a pretty good idea of the range of pri-
ces of primitive locations, and bring pioneer names to mind, though
many of the purchasers did not become permanent residents. The
author notices but one lot that reverted; nearly all were paid for by
purchasers, or those to whom they transferred their contracts. The
list embraces nearly all the sales that were made before the close of
the war. The low range of prices will strike the reader, as being
almost unprecedented in the early history of villages and cities.
The liberal patroons seemed to have been guided by the considera-
tion that should govern the founders of towns and settlements, as
well as legislation in reference to our public lands: — That, as it is
the Pioneers, the settlers, that add real to what was before little
more than nominal value, they should be large sharers in what they
create.
NATHANIEL ROCHESTER.
Identified with the Pioneer history of the city of Rochester, far more than
in name, was the late Col. Nathaniel Rochester. The acting resident co-
proprietor of the “100 Acre Tract” — the principal germ of village and
city —we may well consider him the Patroon and Founder of the prosper-
ous City of the Genesee Valley. Thus blended with the most prominent
locality embraced in these annals, a brief biography of him demands a place
in them; and especially as in other precedent instances, it may be made to
embrace, not only interesting reminiscences of our own local region, but
those of the Revolutionary period. He was one of the founders of an em-
pire of freemen — our glorious Union — and also one of the founders of
settlement in one of its most prosperous localities.
Col. Rochester was a native of Westmoreland, Virginia, the son of John
Rochester, whose father was an emigrant from the county of Kent in Eng*
land. When thirteen years of age, his family removed to Granville county
in North Carolina. Two years afterwards he entered the mercantile estab-
lishment of James Monroe, in Hillsborough, N. C., as a clerk, becoming
after a few years a partner in the concern; a third partner at the time,
being Col. John Hamilton, who was Consul for the British government, in
the middle States, after the close of the Revolution. Soon after the break-
ing out of the Revolution, Col. Rochester was appointed a member of the
Note. — Many transfers took place soon after purchase. Lot 1, was present Eagle
Tavern lot; 26, site of Pitkin’s Block; 23, partly site of Burn’s Block and Arcade ;
25, Arcade ; 32, S. O. Smiths Comer; 18, 19, partly Gould’s Block.phelps and goeham’s purchase.
589
committee of safety for Orange county ; the duty of said committee haying
been, to use his own language: —<6 To promote the Revolutionary spirit
among the people, procure arms and ammunition, make collections for the
city of Boston, whose harbor was blocked up by a British fleet, and to pre-
vent the sale and use of East India teas.” In August, 1775, he attended
as a member, the first Provincial convention in North Carolina. Among
the measures adopted was the raising of four regiments of troops; the or-
ganization of a militia system, and enrolling of minute men; and the adop-
tion of a resolution for an adjourned meeting in May following, to frame and
adopt a constitution, During the setting of the convention he received a
Major’s commission, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace.
At the meeting of the convention in May, he was appointed Commissary
General of military stores and clothing for the North Carolina line, which
was then made to consist of ten regiments. As a member of the conven-
tion he participated in the organization of a State government for North
Carolina.
On the adjournment of the convention, he entered upon the active duties
of providing food and clothing for the army; the fatigues incident to which*
accompanied by unusual exposure in unhealthy districts of the country,
brought on disease so permanent in its character as to cause the resignation
of his office in accordance with medical advice. He was not destined to
remain idle in these stirring times. Returning to Hillsboro’, he found that
he had been elected a member of the Legislature, in which he soon took
his seat; thus becoming a member of one of the earliest legislative bodies
organized and assembled In defience of British claims to dominion. It was
at this time, and in this same convention of Pioneer legislators, that Nathan-
iel Mason, then just graduated from college, commenced his long career of
usefulness.
About this period Col. Rochester was, appointed a Lieut. Col. of militia,
and clerk of Orange county; in which last office he was the successor of
Gen. Nash, who was killed at the battle of Germantown. In 1777, he was
appointed a commissioner to establish and superintend a manufactory of
arms at Hillsboro’; the iron necessary for which he transported upon wagons,
from Pennsylvania, a distance of 400 miles. He was next appointed one
of the board of auditors of public accounts. In 1778, he engaged in busi-
ness with Col. Thomas Hart, the father-in-law of Henry Clay, and James
Brown, who was afterwards minister to France. Col. Hart was then a
resident near Hillsboro’, where he was a large land holder, miller and man-
ufacturer ; being an active whig his tory neighbors depredated upon his
property to an extent that induced him to take the advice of Gen. Gates,
then in the command of the southern army, and remove to Hagerstown,
Maryland, after a disposition of his large estate. In 1781, Col. Rochester
also removed to Hagerstown and settled on a farm.
In 1783, the war having been brought to a close, Col, Rochester went
into the mercantile business with Col. Hart at Hagerstown; their business
embracing the manufacture of flour, a nail and rope factory. The part-
nership continued until 1792, when Col. Rochester went into business on
his own account He after that, filled successively the offices of a member
of Assembly of Maryland, P. M. at Hagerstown, a Judge of the county
court, sheriff of the county, elector of President and Vice President in 1808,590
PHELPS AND GOEHAM’s PURCHASE.
President of the Hagerstown Bank. In all this time he had not only been
carrying on extensive manufacturing establishments in Hagerstown, but
had in operation two mercantile establishments in Kentucky.
In 1800 he first visited tbe Genesee country, in company with Cols.
William Fitzhugh, Hilton, and Major Charles Carrol. The measures taken
by Mr. Williamson to attract the attention of Marylanders to this region,
have already been noticed. Col. Peregrine Fitzhugh who had not yet re-
moved, was the neighbor of Col. , Rochester at Hagerstown, was active in
promoting emigration in this direction, and it is presumed, the party were
induced to take the journey by him. They bore from him a letter of intro-
duction to Mr. Williamson; though Major Carrol had previously made his
acquaintance. The writer informs Mr. Williamson that the fever and ague
is generally prevalent in Maryland, but hopes that this country is exempt
from it, “ inasmuch as a few pale faces generally makes an unfavorable im-
pression upon strangers. ” Before they left the country, Messrs. Carrol
and Fitzhugh made their large purchase near Mount Morris, and Col. Roch-
ester the mills, water power, and a portion of the lands upon which he
afterwards resided at Dansville. In 1802, the three revisited the Gen-
esee country, and while here, purchased the “ 100 Acre,” or “ Allan Mill
Tract,” in what is now Rochester, then called “Falls Town.”
In 1810, Col. Rochester having closed up his business in Maryland, re-
moved to Dansville, and occupied his purchase there; erecting a paper
mill, the first in all the Genesee country, and making other improvements.
Disposing of that property in 1814, he purchased the large farm of the
late Col. Asher Saxton, in East Bloomfield, upon which he resided until
1818, when he removed to the locality that had already assumed his name.
The subject of our sketch has already been hurried through a long, busy
and eventful career; a life of activity, of public employment, and private
enterprise, that has few paralels; ana yet a new field of enterprize— a vast,
successful one it has proved to be — was just opening before him. At an
age when most men are retiring from the active duties of life, he was re-
engaging in them.
Soon after settling at Dansville, he had taken some initiatory steps for the
commencement of operations upon the 100 Acre Tract; in August 1811,
had surveyed a few lots and was offering them for sale; and while residing
at Bloomfield, had usually an agent upon or near the property, making fre-
quent visits to it himself. All that was done, was under his immediate
supervision, until 1817, when the interests of the proprietors were separated
by a division of the property, each of them assuming the management of
his own interest.
In 1816, Col. Rochester was for the second time an Elector of President
and Vice President. In 1817 he attended the Legislature at Albany as an
agent of the petitioners for the erection of what is now Monroe county;
which consumation was delayed until 1821, at which time it had the bene-
fit of his active personal , exertions. He was the first clerk of the new
county, and its first representative in the legislature, in 1821, *2. In 1824
he was one of the commissioners for taking subscriptions and distributing
the capital stock of the Bank of Rochester, and upon the organization of
the institution was unanimously elected its President; which office was
accepted upon a condition dictated by a sense of the increasing infirmitiesphelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
591
of age, and an impaired physical constitution, that he should resign the
place as soon as the institution was in successful operation. He resigned in
December following. This was the last of the numerous public and cor-
porate trusts of his protracted and active life. The remainder of his days
were rather those of a retired Patriarch, aiding by his counsels and his
matured judgment, all in matters of local concern; manifesting a deep
interest in the prosperity of the then thriving and prosperous village; in
works of charity and benevolence; in a contemplation of, and preparation
for the final close of his earthly career. Sustained by an implicit religious
faith — that of the Episcopal church, of which he had been a liberal pat-
ron, and at whose altar he knelt, “an humble recipient of its holy symbols,’’
he bore with patience and fortitude, protracted and painful disease, which
terminated in his death, on the 17th of May, 1831, in the 79th year of his age.
If personal eulogy had been within the scope and design of this work, at
every step in its progress — when reminiscences of the Pioneers of all this
region were passing rapidly in review — there would have been occasions
for its iudulgence; seldom a more fitting one than the present. Starting
in life with but few advantages, as we must infer from the fact that he was
thrown upon his own resources at the early age of fifteen, with energy and
integrity of purpose, a fearless self reliance, he had a long career of useful-
ness. When but fairly under way in private enterprise, his country de-
manded his services and he obeyed its requisitions; alternating in its
financial, military and legislative affairs. It exigencies terminating, he was
as zealous a co-worker in all that related to the beneficial uses of free gov-
ernment, as he had been in its attainment Almost constantly filling im-
portant public stations, he was at the same time the founder of business es-
tablishments, the promoter of local prosperity; and after having in advanced
life sought and secured a quiet rural life, he broke out from it and became
the patroon of new settlement ; the founder of a city !	1 here are few
examples of a so varied and active life. What in his case, especially in-
vites remark, is the fact, that he was well educated as the manner in which
he discharged his public duties, and transacted his private business, fully
proves — and yet, the reader will have observed, that his school days ended
before he had arrived at the age of fifteen years! All beyond that period,
was self education and self reliance.
The late Wm. B. Rochester was his eldest son. Educated at Charlotte
Hall, in Maryland, he prosecuted the study of law, first at Hagerstown, and
afterwards in the office of Adam Bently, Esq., in Maysville, Ky. He
opened an office in Bath, Steuben county, in 1809; in the war of 1812, he
was the aid of Gen. M’Clure, was a volunteer under Smyth’s proclamation,
and participated in the sortie of Fort Erie. At the period of the adoption
of the new State Constitution, he had been elected to Congress from the
Steu&en district, which office he resigned, accepting the office of Circuit
Judge of what was then the 8th circuit, which office he continued to fill
until he was put in nomination for the office of Governor, in 1826. Although
contending against the strong current of popularity then running in favor
of Mr. Clinton, the “ Young Lion of the West,” as he was then termed by
his ardent and zealous supporters, came within 1200 votes of an election.
He was soon after appointed Secretary of the American delegation to the
Congress of Nations at Panama; and afterwards, in succession, was Secre-592	PHELPS AND gorham’s purchase.
tary of the American Legation to Mexico, and Charge D’affaires to Guate-
mala.
Previous to these latter events of his life, he had removed from Bath to
Rochester. Upon the location of a Branch Bank of the U. S. in Buffalo, he
was appointed its President, and removed to Buffalo. H e spent the winter of
1837 at Pensacola, closing up the affairs of the Branch Bank located there;
and returning in the month of June, was one of the passengers of the ill-
fated Pulaski, that was burned off the cost of North Carolina. He was
drowned by the swamping of a boat, in which, with the mate of the vessel
and others, he was endeavoring to reach the land. James and William B.
Rochester, of Buffalo, are his sons; a married daughter resides in Chicago.
The surviving sons of Col. Nathaniel Rochester, are, Thomas H. Roches-
ter, President of the Rochester City Bank, Nathaniel T., and Henry E.
Rochester: daughters became the wives of Harvey Montgomery, Dr. An-
son Coleman, Jonathan Childs, William Pitkin, Wm. S, Bishop. Of the
daughters, but Mrs. Pitkin and Mrs. Bishop survive. John Rochester,
the 2d son of Col. Nathaniel Rochester, was a captain in the regular ser-
vice in the war of 1812, attached to the 29th Regiment, of which the pre-
sent Gen. Wool was Major. Retiring from the army, he was connected
with Mr. Montgomery in early mercantile establishments in Rochester and
Parma. He emigrated to Missouri in 1818, where he died in 1831.
The brothers, Dr. Mathew, Francies, and David Brown, were
originally from Western, Mass. Dr. Brown emigrated in early life
to Rome, Oneida county, where he remained many years in the
practice of his profession. Francis Brown, in early life, resided at
Detroit, with an uncle, Wm. Brown, who was engaged in the Indian
trade. Soon after 1800 he was shipwrecked on a voyage over Lake
Erie, was picked up on the shore, exhausted and nearly lifeless.
On recovering he continued his journey eastward, purchasing a
canoe at Niagara, with which he coasted along the south shore of
Lake Ontario. Passing the mouth of the Genesee River he was
driven in by a storm, and while waiting for it to subside, walked up
and viewed the Upper Falls and the site of Rochester, and became
sanguine of the prospective value of the locality.
Thomas Mumford was from New London, Conn.; a graduate of
Yale College; studied the profession of the law with Judge Samuel
Jones. In 1794 settled in his profession in Aurora, Cayuga county.
In 1800 removed to Cayuga Bridge.
In 1810, the Messrs. Browns, Mumford, and John M’Kay, of Cal-
adonia, had became by purchase of Charles Harford, Oliver Phelps
and Samuel Parkman, the owners of the 200 acres north of and
adjoining the Hundred Acre Tract, embracing the main or Upper
Falls. Mr. Mumford soon purchasing the interest of Mr. M’Kay,
he became the owner of the south 100 acres, and the half owner
with the Messrs. Browns, of the north 100 acres. In 1812 Benjamin
Wright, for the proprietors, surveyed a portion of it into villagephelps and gorham’s purchase.
593
lots, and made a few sales before- the commencement of the war.
Previous to acquiring this interest Mr. Mumford had became the
owner, by purchase of Augustus and Peter B. Porter, of a twelfth
of the 20,000 acre tract, and over 2000 acres in Brighton; and the
purchase of the Messrs. Browns of Charles Harford had included
a considerable tract of wild land of the 20,000 acre tract. The sep-
arate and joint purchases of the Messrs. Browns and Mumford, was
named Frankfort.
The advent of the Messrs. Browns was in the winter of 1812.
The two brothers came by sleighing, to view their new purchase,
bringing a mill-wright with them to assist in projecting some im-
provements. There was on the Frankfort tract the small grist mill
of Mr. Harford, with one run of stones, and a saw mill, a block
house in which Mr. Harford resided, a plank house in which his son
Benedict resided, and there was one or two occupied log shanties on
the River road before reaching Handford’s Landing. A son and
son-in-law of Mr. Harford had just penetrated the interior of the
20,000 acre tract, and made small openings in the forest. Upon the
Frankfort tract, there was hardly an opening enough to let the sun in,
and but a wood’s road that ran along near the river bank. The
whole tract was a dense forest, the soil wet and miry; a “ dismal
looking place/’ says one who saw it at that period.
In the spring of 1812, Francis Brown came from Rome, bringing
mill wrights, mill irons, a small stock of goods, and commenced im-
provements. What has been known as Brown’s race, was con-
structed, and the old Harford mill was repaired and three run of
stones added. Artemas Wheelock lived in the plank shantee, built
by the Harfords, and kept the boarding house; and the Browns
soon added a small plank house for Ezra Mason, who brought in his
family and went into their employ. The improvements named
were about all that were undertaken during the war. In 1814 how-
ever, Francis Brown gave----------Chubb, of Pittsford, a yoke of
oxen for cutting out the timber and grubbing the stumps to make
a three rod road, where State street now is. The saw and grist
mill were kept in operation, the latter drawing customers from as
far as Niagara county on the Ridge road, and from a wide region in
other directions. The Browns kept up a small mercantile business,
in a log store they built on the site of Frankfort market. The clerk
in the store was Gaius B. Rich, who became an early merchant in
Attica, Genesee county, and is now a well known banker in Buffalo.
Francis Brown continued to reside in Rochester until 1821, when
upon account of an asthmatic affection he emigrated to Mobile,
taking charge of an estate that belonged to his father-in-law, Daniel
Penfield. He died in 1824. His surviving sons are, Daniel P.
Brown, a merchant in Toledo, Francis Brown, a merchant in Roch-
ester; a married daughter resides at Toledo. The author could
relate numerous instances remembered by the Pioneers of Roches-594
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’S PURCHASE.
ter, of the generous acts of Franeis Brown. “ To his strict integ-
rity and honor, in all his dealings,” says Ezra Mason, (“his refusal
to receive another man's money, when he could get nothing of me
but the promise of labor,) I am indebted for my farm.”
Dr. Mathew Brown continued to reside in Rome, making frequent
visits to the property until soon after the war, when he became a per-
manent resident of Rochester. He still survives at the advanced
age of 86 years. Infirm in health, he lives in retirement, enjoying
a large share of the esteem and veneration of the dwellers of the
crowded city with which he has been so long and so prominently
identified; one whose founders he may truly be said to have been.
His surviving sons are, Mathew Brown, of Toledo, Henry H.
Brown, of Detroit; daughters became the wives of Wm. Barron
Williams, who was connected with some of the earliest mercantile
operations in Lockport, now among the enterprising business men
of Rochester; another, the wife of Fletcher M. Haight, formerly of
Rochester, now of St. Louis. Of the third brother, David Brown,
the author has no information, beyond the fact that he resided in
Rochester in early years, prosecuting business in connection with
the brothers Mathew and Francis.
The elder Mr. Mumford never became a resident of Rochester.
His resident representative, as early as 1818, was his son William
Mumford. Philip Lisle, who purchased an interest in the Mumford
tract, managed sales previous to 1818. A partition between Mum-
ford and the Browns,of the original Harford tract, occurred soon af-
ter improvements were commenced. Silas Deane Mumford, a
brother of Thomas Mumford, also purchased an interest in early
years. Thomas Mumford died at his residence at Cayuga in 1831,
aged 61 years. Wm. W. Mumford died in Rochester in 1818.
Elihu H, S. Mumford, from whom Mumfordville derived its name,
was killed by the bursting of a steam boiler, in New York, in 1844.
Geo. H. Mumford, of Rochester, is the surviving son. A daughter
became the wife of Dr. John G. Yought, an early physician of Roch-
ester, who removed to New York, where he died during the first
cholera season; another daughter is the wife of Samuel D. Dakin,
of N. York.
Thomas Mumford was in an early day proprietor of lots 46 and
47, below Frankfort, which he sold to the late chancellor Jones, and
subsequently the late James L. Graham, of New York, acquired
an interest in it. Its sale and improvement have been principally,
under the agency and management of Dr. Alexander Kelsey.
Ezra Mason, who has already been named, went into the employ-
ment of the Messrs. Browns soon after they had commenced opera-
tions, and remained with them until 1817. He gives a graphic ac-
count of Rochester in early days; the war alarms, flights and prep-
aration for flights, the rattle snakes, and the ague and fever. At
one period an idle rumor came that the British had landed “in 40phelps and gorham’s purchase.	595
boats at the mouth of the Oak Orchard;” pits were dug to bury all
valuable effects, and in a few instances, they were used. At anoth-
er time the flour was all taken from Messrs. Browns mills and hid in
the woods. When news of peace came, there was a jubilee; every
thing brightened up and began to move on briskly. There was a
rattlesnakes den on the east side of the River, below Falls Field,
and they used frequently to visit the west side of the River. On
one occasion, Mrs. Mason found an infant daughter attempting to
pet a large rattle snake who was giving “ notice of intention5' to
strike. Mr. Mason and Mrs. Mason resides upon the farm on the
Lisle Road, they commenced on in 1817; and where they have
seen the roughest features of pioneer life, but where they are now
surrounded with smiling and productive fields. They have eleven
children, all of whom have arrived at adult age.
Hamlet Serantom was from Durham, Conn.; in 1805 emigrated to
Lewis county in this State, where he remained until 1812. In 1811,
he visited Geneseo, and having been acquainted with the Wads-
worths in Durham, they named to him Genesee Falls, as a locality
where a town was likely to grow up. Henry Skinner who had pur-
chased the Eagle Tavern corner, resided at Geneseo, and to encour-
age Mr. Serantom to locate at the Falls, proposed to erect for him
a log house upon it. Men were sent down for that purpose, they
erected the body of a log house, but before covering it they were at-
tacked with the fever and ague, and obliged to quit. Mr. Scran-
tom airiving with his family soon after, was allowed a shelter in a
shantee belonging to Enos Stone, on the site now occupied by the
dwelling of Anson House, where he resided until August, when he
moved into the log house on the Eagle corner. Mr. Serantom be-
ing by occupation a miller, soon went info the employ of the Messrs.
Bissell and Elys. He purchased two lots, one of them being the
site of the store of O. L. Sheldon, and the other, the site of the old tan-
nery of Mr. Graves. He built a dwelling on the Buffalo street lot.
In 1814 he purchased a farm, now the Hanks property near Mount
Hope, for $4 per acre, erected a log house and went there to reside,
to have his family less exposed in case of British invasion; becoming
the first neighbor of D. K. Carter. He removed back to the village
at the close of the war, and became the miller of the Messrs. Browns.
Inflate years he was an agent of Culver and Maynard, in the con-
struction of the first locks at Lockport, where the author knew him
as a highly esteemed and worthy man. He was a trustee of the
first school and school district, organized in Rochester and was an
efficient helper in early religious organizations; one of the founders
of St. Luke's church.
He died in April, 1850, aged 77 years; his wife still survives.
His surviving sons are, Henry Serantom, merchant, Elbert Scran-
tom, late city Treasurer, Edwin Serantom, an early printer
and editor, and now a successful auction and commission merchant,596
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
and Hamlet Serantom, a clerk of canal superintendent; all of
Rochester. Daughters became the wives of Jehiel Barnard, a
Pioneer in Rochester, now a resident of Ogden; another, the wife
of Martin Briggs of Rochester; and there is an unmarried daughter.
Abelard Reynolds was from Pittsfield, Mass., his occupation that
of a saddler. In 1811, he travelled through this State and the north-
ern portion of Ohio, and made up his mind to settle in Warren,
Trumbull county. Returning to Pittsfield, in the spring of 1812, he
was on his way there to make arrangements for removing his fam-
ily and effects, wrhen in remaining over night at Bloomfield, he met
Col. Hopkins, of Pittsford, and several other gentlemen, who recom-
mended him to visit Charlotte, at the mouth of the Genesee River,
which they said. “ being at the outlet of the rich products of the
valley of the Genesee, with its commercial advantages, was des-
tined at no distant period, to become a place of unrivalled impor-
tance.” He diverged from his route, enquired the way to the with
him, newly heard of locality, come to the Genesee Falls, finding in
the woods Enos Stone, also ‘'from Berkshire,” who interested him
in his relation of what Col. Rochester had been doing towards start-
ing a village. The most he saw in the way of improvement how-
ever, or signs of civilization, was some remains of the old Allan
mill, the cabin that the miller had occupied, and the unfinished
bridge over the River. “ The whole aspect and appearance of the
place,” says Mr. Reynolds, "was then the most undesirable and
forbidding that language can describe. Yet it was evident in the
reflecting mind, that the natural elements of future greatness were
here combined, and lay concealed amid this chaotic confusion.”
Mr. Stone, as the agent of Col. Rochester, importuned him 1o be-
come the purchaser of a lot; but he made up his mind to see Char-
lotte first. Taking directions from Mr. Stone how to ford the Riv-
er ; and especially that he must make for the " large sycamore tree
on the opposite bank,” his reliable horse carried him safely over,
though he remembers that the story Mr. Stone had just told him of
a man who with his horses and wagon, had but a few days before
been carried over the Falls, predominated in his mind.*
Mr. Reynolds visited Charlotte, continued on his journey to
Ohio, but the embryo village at Genesee Falls, had made a favorable
impression upon him ; he returned and purchased lots 23 and 24,
upon which the Arcade now7 stands. With the aid of "oxen and
a stone boat,” kindly furnished by Enos Stone, he drew stone from
the bed of the river, made a foundation 24 by 36 feet, erected a
frame upon it, and leaving it in charge of a carpenter to be cover-
ed and enclosed, returned to Berkshire. Coming back in Novem-
ber, he found the house in the condition he had left it, and erecting
* The reader will bear in mind that at that early period the Genesee Riyer was not
the diminished body of water, he has seen in later years.PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
597
a smaller frame, in a few weeks had it tenantable. It was the first
framed building erected on the Hundred Acre Tract. In Novem-
ber, 1813, he removed his family. A brother-in-law who assisted in
the removal, went back to Massachusetts and reported that he had
left them in a place where they must “inevitably starve.”
In November, 1812, he had been appointed P. M., and had made
Mr. Stone his deputy until he got settled. The nett proceeds of the
office up to April 1, 1813, was $3 46. With limited means, and
encountering a long season of ague and fever, he had a hard intro-
duction to pioneer life, but with courage and fortitude, he “ bore up
and bore on,” gradually reaping the reward of his enterprise. He
was the first saddler, the first r. M., and the first magistrate in all
of Rochester, and? kept the first public house on the Hundred
Acres, or original site of Rochester. He held the office of P. M.
when the nett quarterly returns were $346; he surrendered it to
other hands in 1829, when they amounted to $2,105 16. In 1828,
he erected the Arcade upon the ground he had originally purchased
and occupied—an enterprize of magnitude, and ahead of the times
then—even now, after a twenty years’ march of progress, not be-
hind. The small plat of ground he purchased when it was almost
in its^primitive condition, is now producing an annual rent which is
exceeded^only by that of but few spots of equal size in the most fa-
vorite localities of the largest cities in the Union. In the hands of
his son, Wm. A. Reynolds, there has been added to the property
Corinthian Hall, a structure creditable to the city; a model even
for similar enterprizes in the older cities.
Mr. Reynolds is now in the 66th year of his age; his surviving
sons are, Wm. A. Reynolds and Mortimer F. Reynolds, of Rochester,
the last of whom was the first born on the Hundred Acre Tract,
after it had been platted as a village; a daughter resides in Roches-
ter, and another in Illinois. The Pioneer wife and mother still sur-
vives.
Hervey Ely was from West Springfield, Mass., the nephew and
ward of Justin Ely, one of the original proprietors of the 20,000
acre tract. wIn November, 1813, at the age of 22 years, he cast his
lot with the Pioneers of Rochester. In company with his brother,
Elisha Ely, and Josiah Bissell, he commenced selling goods in a small
building that stood on the Hart corner. Bringing men and supplies
from Massachusetts, they soon erected a saw mill, their boarding
place being a stable of Mr. S. O. Smith, which had been cleared
out and fitted up for that purpose. In 1817 they built the red mill,
with four run of stones. The care of the mill devolved upon Hervey
Ely ; and thus becoming a Pioneer miller in Rochester, he has con-
Notk.—Justin Ely took an active part in the Revolution — principally in mustering
the militia for service. A considerable capitalist, he loaned money to Mr. Phelps, and
received his pay in lands indifferent localities on Phelps and Gorhams’ Purchase ;
thence his proprietorship in the 20,000 acre tract.598	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
tinued in the business, until he has seen it in his own and other
hands, arrive at a magnitude considerably exceeding that of any
other locality in the world! In 1822 he built the stone mill now
occupied by Mr. C. C. Winants, and in 1828 the extensive estab-
lishment on the west side of the River adjoining the Aqueduct.
After being engaged in the milling business for 38 years, he is yet
in his 60th year, engaged in it—active and enterprising as in his
early years. Some idea of the magnitude of his operations may be
gathered from the statistical facts, that with the exception of the
late Gen. Beach, he has paid more canal tolls upon his own property
than any shipper on our canals; for the first ten years after the
Erie canal was completed he paid 1 3-4 and 1 1-2 per cent of the
entire canal revenue. He pioneered in the business of bringing
wheat from the western States to be manufactured in Rochester, in
1828. Ho has manufactured from his own wheat, in one year, 80,-
000 barrels of flour ! Later comers, to be sure, are deserving of
credit for their enterprise — as helpers in the work of making Roch-
ester what it is—but it is especially gratifying to record such
facts, in reference to a Pioneer.
Elisha Ely removed to Allegan, Michigan, in 1834, where he still
resides; is a Judge of Probates, and a Regent of the University of
Michigan.
James B. Carter was the Pioneer blacksmith, locating upon the
Hundred Acre Tract in 1812. He erected a small story and a half
house on the corner now occupied by the block of Dr. John B. El-
wood. His shop was on ground now occupied by Front street. He
survives, a resident of Churchville. In March, 1814, his brother,
David K. Carter, removed from Lewis county and became the oc-
cupant of the house. In the same year he purchased the Mansion
house lot from second hands, paying for it $106 ; in 1817 erected
upon it a three story tavern house. The first lessee of it was Dan-
iel Mack, a brother-in-law of Erastus Spalding. Mr. Mack emi-
grated to Detroit; a surviving son is Charles S. Mack of the firm
of Mack & Van Yalkenburg, Lockport. The next lessee of the
house was John Christopher, who had opened a house at Handford’s
Landing, and relinquished it on account of sickness there. He kept
the house for fourteen years — and a comfortable one he made of
it as many an early traveller in the old stage coaches over the
Ridge Road will remember. Mrs. Christopher still survives, a resi-
dent with her son, John Christopher, in St. Louis. Another sur-
viving son is Joseph Christopher, of Buffalo.
In 1817 Mr. Carter purchased of Augustus Porter thirty-two acres
on the river, on either side of what is now Mount Hope Avenue, south
of the canal, for $3 per acre, upon which he found but a bark covered
log house. In 1820 he erected a tavern house, long known as the
“ Carter stand/’ on the Henrietta road. He died in 1827; his
widow still survives, a resident of Rochester. There are five sur-PHELPS AKD GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
599
viving sons in five different States, one of whom is David K. Carter,
a present or late M. C., from Ohio; Mrs. Dennis M'Arthur, of Syra-
cuse is a daughter.
Mrs. Carter well remembers the first meeting she attended in
Rochester — a reading meeting — held in Jehiel Barnard's tailor
shop, on site of Pitkin's block. Old Mr. Harford read the Episco-
pal service, Silas O. Smith the sermon ; Jehiel Barnard led the sing-
ing. “'In 1814 we got up a small school house, and it was with
difficulty that we got together about a dozen scholars. Aaron Skin-
ner was the teacher." Mrs. Carter observes that when she first
came to Rochesterville there was but small openings of the forest.
Dr. Simeon Hunt, still a surviving practicing physician in Roch-
ester, has been in practice in Monroe county forty years. He set-
tled in what is now Greece, his only permanent predecessor, Dr.
Zaccheus Colby, who died in early years ; his surviving sons are
Hull and Zaccheus Colby, of Greece, and Merril Colby of Nunda.
Dr. Hunt is in 66th year; surviving sons, Anson M. Hunt of Albion,
Rev. T. D. Hunt of San Francisco, who was for five years a mis-
sionary in the Sandwich Islands; Mrs. Moore of Rochester is a
daughter.
Dr. Hunt was a surgeon of Isaac W. Stone's Dragoons in the
war of 1812, and continued under his successor, Col. C. V. Bough-
ton f was at the sortie of Fort Erie and battle of Lundy's Lane.
Dr. Jonah Brown was the earliest physician of Rochester; he
still survives, a resident of Irondequoit. Dr. Orrin Gibbs, of the
early Pioneer family in Livonia, was next; died several years since ;
his father, Deacon Gibbs, also settled in Rochester in the earliest
years.
Abraham Starks, was so early in Rochester, that he kept a small
grocery store in the woods, near the present Mansion House.
Jonathan Child was from Orange county, Vermont. He came to
Utica as a school teacher, in 1806, where he became the clerk of
Watts Sherman, a widely known merchant of early years, and uncle
of the Albany banker of that name. In 1810 he established him-
self with a small stock of goods at Charlotte, where he was succeeded
in a few months by Frederick Bushnell. He was next established
in Bloomfield, in company with Benjamin Gardner. In 1820 he re-
moved to Rochester, and soon after was engaged for several years
as a contractor upon the heavy rock cutting through the Mountain
Ridge at Lockport, in the construction of the Erie Canal. To his
business as contractor, he added at Lockport, one of the earliest
mercantile establishments in that locality. He was one of the early
proprietors of the old Pilot transportation line upon the canal. He
still survives at the age of 66 years ; his wife, who it will have been
observed was the daughter of Col. Rochester, died in 1850. His life
has been one of business, activity andenterprize; success crowned the
enterprises of his early career — then came severe reverses; but he600
PHELPS AND GORHAM S PURCHASE.
was of the material that a large class of the early Pioneers were
made of— and now, at an age when most men are seeking ease and
retirement, he is in the active management of a new branch of busi-
ness of great magnitude and public utility, of which he is one of the
founders; active, stirring, sanguine persevering, as in middle life:
“ His age, like a lusty winter, -f osty, but kindly.”
Samuel J. Andrews was from New Haven, Conn., a graduate of
Yale College; was a brother-in-law of Moses Atwater of Canan-
daigua. On a visit to this region in 1812, he purchased jointly with
Dr. Atwater, of Augustus Porter, a tract of land on the River,
adjoining the farm of Enos Stone on the north, embracing the Up-
per Falls. In 1815 he brought on a small stock of goods which he
opened in the house of Enos Stone, and soon after his family. Mr.
Stone having laid out a few lots on Main street, Mr. Andrews pur-
chased what is now the corner of Main and St. Paul street, and built
upon it a stone house, the first structure, other than of wood, in Roch-
ester. Before the close of 1816 he had commenced the erection of
mills at the Falls. He died in 1832, aged 64 years. He was the
father of Samuel G. Andrews, under whose auspices, what has been
called the Andrews’ Tract, has principally been surveyed and sold
out in village and city lots; of James S. and Julius T. Andrews, of
Rochester ; Mrs. Wm. P. Sherman, of Rochester, and the wife of
Judge Joseph R. Swan, of Columbus, Ohio. The elder Mr. An-
drews had been engaged in commercial pursuits, but he readily
adopted himself to the work of settling and improving a new region,
and was always sanguine in reference to the destiny of Rochester.
The original Andrews and Atwater Tract — in all 140 acres — is
now mostly occupied, principally with private dwellings ; is the
Sixth Ward; has been sold and occupied principally under the
agency of Samuel G. Andrews. Mrs. Andrews survives, a resident
with her daughter, Mrs Sherman.
EVENTS OF A LATER PIONEER PERIOD.
So far, after reaching the site of Rochester, Pioneer advents and
events, have principally been confined to the period immediately
preceeding and during the war of 1812. Those that will follow gen-
erally have reference to a later period — when all of Western New
York was reviving from the effects of the war, and Rochester es^
pecially was setting out upon its rapid march, and giving earnest
of its future destiny; though the merging of the periods, in some
degree, is unavoidable : —
John G. Bond was a native of Rockingham, New Hampshire, a
son of Dr. John Bond, a surgeon in the Navy during the Revolu-
tion, having studied his profession with Dr. Bartlett, one of thephelps and gorham’s purchase.
601
signers of the Declaration of Independence. On the maternal side
he was of a Pioneer stock. His grandfather, Wm. Moulton, was
the first settler of Marietta, Ohio, in 1788, the women of his family
the first white females in Ohio. The subject of this sketch was bred
a merchant, and in 1799 became the partner of Gen. Amasa Allen,
in Keene, N. H. In June 1815, he visited Rochester upon a mixed
errand of exploration and business. Impressed with the advantages
of the locality, he purchased of Jehiel Barnard, the lot now occupied
by Pitkin's block, on which there was a small framed house; after
which he visited Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and returned
home via Montreal. The farther account of his early advent — his
reminiscences of primitive days in Rochester — the author prefers
to give in his own language. There are few of the surviving Pio-
neers of Rochester who so well remember early events, or more
largely participated in them.
In 1823, Judge Bond changed his residence from Rochester to
Lockport, then a small village in the woods, which had sprung up
after the location of the canal; where he had a joint interest with
his brother, Wm. M. Bond, who now resides at Mt. Morris, and the
late Jesse Hawley, in a tract of land upon the original village plat.
He was a good helper there as he had been in Rochester, in all those
things which are required to give new communities an auspicious
commencement. He was one of the early Judges of Niagara. He
is now 73 years of age, a resident of Niles, Michigan, where he was
also a Pioneer. His wife, who was the daughter of the Hon. Dan-
iel Newcomb, of New Hampshire ; died in 1848. There are three
surviving sons residing at Niles, and an only surviving daughter,
Mrs. Wm. C. House, resides at Lockport. A deceased daughter
was the wife of Jacob Beeson, an enterprizing merchant of Niles.
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN G. BOND.
In the fall of 1815 having in company with my brother-in-law and partner,
Daniel D. Hatch, purchased what was then deemed a large stock of goods,
in Boston and New York, we were fairly under way in the mercantile busi-
ness in “ Rochesterville.” Our transportation had cost us $4,50 per 100
from Albany, Enlarging the small house and shop that Barnard had built,
we made it answer for our store. In the way of merchandizing, there had
preceded us Silas O. Smith, Ira West, Bissell & Ely, Roswell Hart. At
this period, (and within a few months after,) the citizens of all of what is
now Rochester, were, other than the merchants I have named, the Browns,
Philip Lisle, C. Harford, Mr. Hamblin, Hamlet Scrantom, D. Carter, Hast-
ings R. Bender, John Mastick, Harvey Montgomery, Abelard Reynolds and
his father’s family, George and H. L. Sill, Deacon Gibbs and Dr. Gibbs, Dr.
Jonah Brown, John C. Rochester, Mr. Wakefield, the widow King and her
two sons Bradford and Moses King, Ashbel Steel, Comfort Williams,
38602
PHELPS AND GOKEIAM’S PURCHASE.
Daniel Mack, Enos Stone, Mrs. Isaac W. Stone, Solomon Close, Thomas
Kempshall, Seth Saxton, Enos Pomeroy, Roswell Babbitt, Luther Dowell,
Erastus Cook, Daniel Tinker, Wm. Rogers, Kellogg Yosburgh, Libbeus
Elliott, Adonijab Green, James Irvin, A.& J. Colvin, Augustine G. Dauby,
James Sheldon, Henry Skinner, Wm. W. Jobson, M. P. Covert, Samuel J.
Andrews, Azel Enswortb, Ruluff Hannahs, Chauncey Mead, Willis Kemp-
shall, Preston Smith, Benedict Harford, J, Hoit. I of course include the
families of all who had them; many of those named were unmarried.
The population increased very rapidly in the latter part of 1816, and in
917, and ’18. The timber was cut out of Buftalo street as far as what is
now Halsted Hall,” in the spring of 1816; at which time there was but a
wagon track on the Scottsville road south of Cornhill. The road from Oliver
Culver’s to Rochester was mostly a log causeway, rough as any that may
now be seen in the newest regions. It was a good hour’s work to go over
it with a wagon. There was, I think less than 100 acres of cleared land
on all the site of Rochester. In all the region around Rochester, with the
exception of a part of Brighton, Penfield and Pittsford, there was seldom
but the primitive log house, small openings of the forest. The now fine
town of Henrietta looked little as if I should live to see it what it now is.
In February 1816, I brought my own family and that of my partner,
Mr. Hatch, from New Hampshire, changing from runners to wheels, and
finally arriving when a sudden thaw had left the roads in a horrid condition.
Houses were scarce and rents high. In less than a year I changed my
residence four times. I first went into house built by Francis Brown,
the same that the good old gentleman Dr. Brown now lives in; next a house
built by John Mastick on the Brighton side; next into the house of Ira
West, on west side of State street; next into a house owned by John Roch-
ester, a little south of the Rochester House. I built the house, the late
residence of Gen. Matthews on Washington street, in 1817; and had previ-
ously, in 1816 built the store which Dr. Pitkin occupied for manyyearsas a
druggist shop, and which now stands in rear of his fine brick block. The
old shop I had bought of. Jehiel Barnard, and converted into a store >vas
used successively by Dr. Jabez Wilkinson, Dr. Backus, and John A. Gran-
ger, as a drug store.
What was then a very serious fire, occurred, Ithink in 1819, which des-
troyed several shops and stores on the Arcade lot and my lot ; and the only
printing office.
When I began on Washington street, in May or June, 1816, to clear
away the native forest for the purpose of building my house, my neighbors
expressed some astonishment, that I should think of building so far back in
the woods. I told them that within twenty or thirty years, I expected to
see it in the midst of a great city. They mostly demurred to my proph-
ecies, and said if the population ever reached the number of 2,500 it would
be more than they were looking for. In 1816 myself and Hervey Ely plant-
ted sugar maple and other trees along on the west side of Washington
street, the first trees for ornament set out in Rochester. There was no
house west of Sophia street, before I built mine. On the ground now oc-
cupied by the Stone Market, I erected a large asheryas early as 1815.
Previous to December, 1815, our mail was brought from Canandaigua on
horseback. Capt. Elisha Ely and myself concluded to make an attemptphelps and gorham’s purchase.
603
to raise a company to run a stage to Canandaigua. We went along the
route and succeeded in getting Wm. Hildreth and other tavern keepers on
it to engage in the enterprise. In January, 1816, the mail was first brought
to Rochester in a four horse coach, or rather, a coach body upon runners.
We followed up the enterprise by a journey to Lewiston on the Ridge
Road. We were three days in reaching Lewiston, and we broke down our
sleigh three times, by running foul of snags on the track. We succeeded
in enlisting upon the route, (principally Messrs. Barton and Fairbanks of
Lewiston,) a sufficient interest to extend the Canandaigua route over the
Ridge Road. In June, 1816, a tri-weekly four horse coach was put upon
it. This was thought to be far ahead of the times — some said eight or
ten years at least — but within a year, there was often the necessity of
sending out three or four extras in a day, and soon the Ridge Road became
a great thoroughfare.
We early citizens of Rochester had a great difficulty in getting the new
county of Monroe. The old counties of Ontario and Genesee were mostly
opposed to dismemberment. I was often with others, in Canandaigua and
Batavia to promote the object. We were told in those localities that it
was a wild and foolish project to think of having a new county in the back,
sparsely settled, Lake region. In answer to some unkind remarks of a
gentleman at Canandaigua — language of contempt, touching the aspir-
ing and assuming young village of Rochester—Dr. Brown ventured to
foretell its destiny, and promise that it would soon reach a position that
would command respect instead of contempt and derision.
In the year 1816 and '17, Rochester had a rapid growth, a large addi-
tion was made to its population. It had become not only the principal
wheat market for the whole valley of the Genesee, but for most of what is
now Ontario, Wayne, Orleans and Genesee. The crowding in of teams,
sales of wheat, made store trade, and with new comers dropping in, build-
ings going up, &c., the young village was a scene of activity and enter-
prise. Hanford's Landing was the principal shipping point. .Vessels be-
gan to make regular trips to the mouth of the River and Hanford's Land-
ing from all the ports below. Flour and wheat, pot and pearl ash, whis-
key and staves, were the principal articles of commerce. In '16 some
good dwelling houses began to be built. Population was increasing so
rapidly that we had to enlarge the building in which we had our school,
and held our meetings.
After the canal had been located as far west as Montezuma, it became a
question where it should cross the Genesee River. Carthage below, and
some point above — Black creek I think,—were proposed. While this
was a mooted question, the Oswego route, Lake Ontario, and a canal around
the Falls of Niagara, was revived, and became a powerful competitor.
News came that the Canal Board were divided upon the question of over
land and Lake route. This created a good deal of stir with us, and alarm
it may be added. A meeting of the citizens of Rochester was convened in
my counting room, a handbill was drawn up by Enos Pomeroy, signed by
many citizens, printed and circulated far and wide. It was headed “Canal
in Danger!” This was just pending the State election. The handbill
favored the election of Mr. Clinton, as Governor, and of his friends to the
Legislature. It was a close vote as all will remember, between Clinton and604
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
Tompkins, and I think the Rochester movement, its stirring appeal by
handbill, to the local interests of Western New York, decided the contest.*8
An early adventurer in Rochester, I had from the first, high anticipa-
tions of its future greatness, and espoused its cause with an ardent zeal,
as many of my old friends will remember. My predictions were sometimes
looked upon as “ castles in the air,” but they have proved to be upon terra
firma — made of real and substantial brick, stone and mortar, as all may
now see. I visited the scenes of my early enterprises and associations,
during the last season, and my heart was warmed in taking by the hand
my old neighbors and co-workers of Pioneer times; in talking over the
events of early days, and witnessing the evidences of prosperity spread
out upon every hand. Where I had in years of maturity, helped to clear
away the forest, was a population of near 40,000; wealth, prosperity and
all the happiness that a high degree of civilization and refinement can in-
sure, was spread out upon every hand; and more than all, with me, was
the recognition of old friends, whom 1 had encouraged to cast their lot with
me, in the primitive, rough and forbidding locality — whom I had seen
struggling in early years, with hardships and privations—in the enjoyment
of health and competence, in their declining years. May God bless, and
continue all this, is the hope and the prayer of a surviving non-resident
Pioneer.
Richard Kempshall with a large family, was an emigrant from
England, locating in a neighborhood of chiefly English families in
what is now Pittsford, in 1806. He died in less than a year, of the
prevalent disease of the new country, after having expended all of
his small means in emigrating, making the first payment upon a tract
of new land, in erecting a log house, and defraying other incidental
expenses, leaving a wife and ten children in indigent circumstances.
With no ability to make the payments still due upon their lands,
they were obliged to let it revert, and destitute even of a home, the
support of the large family devolved upon the widow, and the eldest
son, Willis, who was then but eighteen years of age. The family
was broken up, but through the extraordinary exertions of Willis,
mostly found good homes under the roofs of the more fortunate Pio-
neers. Of the ten children, six still survive.
Willis Kempshall, having acquired from his father the trade of a
carpenter, was as early as 1813 in the employ of the Messrs. Browns,
in Frankfort. He became a permanent resident in Rochester as
early as 1814, where he has since mostly resided until quite recently,
he has purchased a farm in Wyoming, Wyoming county, upon which
he now resides with a large family.
* The author has been favored by Judge Bond with a copy of the famous handbill;
an interesting historical reminiscence. It is signed by Roswell Hart, Ira West, Thos.
Kempshall, Russell Ensworth, Chas. J. Hill, Ralph Parker, D. D. Hatch, J. Ludden,
John G. Bond, Chas. Harford, Benjamin Blossom, Enos BJossom, Solomon Close,
Anson House, Samuel J. Andrews, Oliver Culver, Enos Stone. Azel Ensworth.phelps and gorham’s purchase.	v 605
Thomas Kempshall, the more immediate subject of this brief bio-
graphical sketch, worked with his brother in early years; in the
winter of 1813, ’14, had the good fortune to be placed in the store of
that early Pioneer merchant and excellent man, Ira West, to whose
examples, councils and friendship, he was largely indebted for a good
business education, and moral attainments which prepared him for
a career of extraordinary enterprise and usefulness.* The clerkship
ended with Mr. West, he became his partner, at a period when his
business had become largely extended and profitable. Mr. West
retiring in 1824, Mr. Kempshall continued the business on his own
account for several years, when John F. Bush, who had been a clerk
in the establishment, became his partner. The business was prose-
cuted for a few years under the firm of Kempshall & Bush, when
it was changed to that of an extensive furnace, and mill furnish-
ing establishment, under the management, mainly, of Mr. Bush.
This business was discontinued about ten years since. In 1826,
Mr. Kempshall formed a business connection with Gen. E. S. Beach,
and the two erected the Aqueduct Milk an extensive flouring es-
tablishment at the west end of the Aqueduct, fronting Child's Basin.
It was put in operation in 1827, and carried on under the firm of
Beach & Kempshall, until 1834, when Mr. Kempshall became the
sole owner and manager. He prosecuted the business until he was
obliged to suspend it in consequence of losses sustained during the
severe financial revulsion of 1838, '39, ’40. The property passed
into the hands of Gen. Beach ; Mr. Kempshall continuing his con-
nection with it until the present time.
Uninterrupted success, wealth, had rewarded his early enterprise,
and long years of close application to business, when reverses and
embarrasments came upon him under which he has struggled with a
bearing of manliness, fortitude, and an integrity unimpaired, that have
commanded respect and esteem. The orphan boy of a foreign em-
igrant, thiown upon his own resources, unaided but by the patron
who had the discrimination to discover merit, and a heart large
enough to reward it, he “ grew with the growth and strengthened
with the strength" of the locality where his lot was cast. Entering
it while as yet the forest had not receded from its now main thorough-
fares, and the sites of its costly public edifices, it became an incor-
porated village, and he became one of its officers ; it became a city,
and in progress of time, he became its Mayor.
And not less intimately or honorably is his history blended with
that of the whole county of Monroe. The occupant of a log
cabin, when it was “ a region of log cabins," the boy and
man, the primitive region, the populous and wealthy county, had
* Hitherto there has been but incidental allusions to Ira West. It should be added
that to his public spirit, enterprise and liberality, Rochester was largely indebted in its
early years.606
PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
I
kept pace with each other, in the march of progress ; and in 1838,
the one bore the relation to the other, of its Representative in our
national councils.
Rochester has many examples among its Pioneers and founders,
of self made, (and well made,) men ; and when its history, and their
histories, are so blended as in this instance, it is a pleasing task to
turn aside and for a few moments dwell upon the analogy. Were
this not the history of a wide region, instead of a single locality, far
more would be said of the early men of Rochester.
Mr. Kempshall still survives, his enterprise and industry unabated
by misfortune, or declining years.
Josiah Bissell, Jr., had a business connection with the Elys in
their primitive advent in 18 J 3, but he did not become a resident
until 1817. He was previously a merchant in Pittsfield, Mass. He
was an early and efficient helper in church organizations; was the
principal founder of the 3d Presbyterian church; and also of the
six day line of stages, the object of which was to avoid the desecra-
tion of the Sabbath occasioned by the seven day lines. There are
few names and memories more closely identified with Rochester.
In 1827 he purchased in company with Ashbel W. Riley, of Enos
Stone, with small exceptions, all of the unsold portion of his origi-
nal large farm. Erecting his dwelling — which is now a part of
the fine mansion house of Dr. Levi Ward, in “ The Grove”— in the
midst of the purchase, a large addition to the city was made under
his auspicies ; new streets laid out, and dwellings erected. He died
in the prime of life, at Seneca Falls, where he was engaged in a
business enterprise, in 1830, aged,40 years. His surviving sons are
Josiah W. Bissell, of Rochester, a broker; Charles P. Bissell, Presi-
dent of the Eagle Bank of Rochester; George P. Bissell, Cashier of
the Western Bank, Pittsfield, Mass.; Champion Bissell, of New
York. An only daughter is the wife of Willard Parker, Professor
of the University of New York.
In 1817, Elisha Johnson removed from Canandaigua to Roches-
ter. He was a son of Capt. Ebenezer Johnson, who was an early
Pioneer in Chautauque county ; a brother of Dr. Johnson, who is so
closely identified with the history of Buffalo. His profession was
that of an Engineer. On coming to Rochester he purchased of
Enos Stone all the unsold portion of his original farm, (and but little
had been sold previously,) lying upon the River and extending back
to North street. This purchase embraced the water power upon
the east side of the River, principally above the Upper Falls, and
about 80 acres of what is now a compactly occupied and built up
portion of the city. Mr. Johnson paid $10,000 for the property,
and before the close of the first year expended upon it $12,000 in
the erection of a dam across the river, and the construction of a race.
Orson Seymour, of Canandaigua soon became a joint owner. This
may be said to have been the starting period of all that portion ofphelps ahd gorham’s purchase.	607
the city lying east of the river, as but little had been done there pre-
viously. The name, and enterprises of Mr. Johnson, are probably
more closely associated with what used to be called the “ Brighton
side”— now almost one half of the entire city — than those of any
other individual.
He was the Mayor of the city in 1838; an Elector of President
and Vice President in 1844. One pf his many business enterprises
was the formidable work of constructing the tunnel ot the Genesee
Valley Canal at Portage, or prosecuting it until the work was sus-
pended by the State. He is now in his 66th year, yet in active life,
a citizen of East Tenessee, where his only son, Mortimer F. John-
son also resides. His daughters became the wives of Chauncey L.
Grant, of Ithica, Elihu H. S. Mumford, Benj. F. Young, Edward B.
Young.
CARTHAGE.
Elisha B. Strong was from Windsor, Conn., a descendant of the
Pioneer colonists of that town. After graduating at college, in
1809, he made a trip to Niagara Falls, was pleased with the country,
located at Canandaigua,, entering the office of Howell and Greig as
a law student. Admitted to practice in 1812, he was for several
years the law partner of Wm. H. Adams, who was his successor
in business at Canandaigua. In 1816 he purchased in company
with Elisha Beach, 1000 acres embracing the site of Carthage, of
Caleb Lyon,# who had been settled there for several years, had
made a small opening in the forest, and erected a few log cabins.
The few families upon the tract were mo$t]y squatters. Nearly all
of what is Irondequoit was a wilderness ; Mr. Greig was offering
some of the poorest lands at 50 cents per acre; for the best he
asked $5. Sylvester Woodman, a retired sea captain, was the first
purchaser of a farm; those that preceded him had been squatters
engaged principally in lumbering. In 1816, there was no access to
the site of Carthage or the mouth of the River, from the east and
west Brighton road, other than the “ Merchants road,” made prin-
cipally by the merchants of Canandaigua sotne years before, which
left the Brighton road a little east of the farm of Oliver Culver, and
a woods road, with blazed trees as guides, that had been made by
Mr. Lyon, on the River, to the Brighton road.
In 1817, a bridge was projected and commenced across the Gen-
esee River at Carthage, by a joint stock company consisting of
Elisha B. Strong, Elisha Beach, Heman Norton and Francis Al-
* The father of "Caleb Lyon, of Lyonsdale,” the newly elected Senator from Lew-
is and Jefferson. After selling here, the old gentleman purchased a large tract of land
in the Black river country, and became a patroon of settlement there.608
phelps and gorham’s purchase.
bright. It was completed in Feb. 1819; the architects were Brain-
ard and Chapman. Considering the period of the enterprise, it
was one of great magnitude, and would have proved one of great
public utility had it been permanent. “It consisted of an entire arch,
the chord of which was 352 feet, and the versed sine 54 feet. The
summit of the arch was 196 feet above the surface of the water.
The entire length of the bridge was 718 feet, and the width 30 feet, be-
sides four large elbow braces, placed at the extremity of the arch, and
projecting 15 feet on each side of it.” # The bridge stood and was
crossed a little over one year — loaded teams with more than 1500
weight had passed over it; and it was traveled over with a feeling
of security, until it gave way, when there was no weight upon it ;
the fault in the construction having been a want of bracing to pre-
vent the springing up of the arch. It was crossed about 18 months.
The Ridge Road broken by the River and the deep wide gorge, the
Bridge was designed as a connecting link. A facility for crossing
Irondequoit Bay was a part of the plan which contemplated the
making of the long continuous natural highway, a main eastern and
western thoroughfare. Under the auspices of the proprietors of
Carthage, a store house and wharf was constructed upon the River,
and a road made leading down to them.
The main design of the proprietors, w~as the forwarding of a de-
pot for the commerce of the Lake and the erection of mills and
machinery, using the hydraulic power of the Lower Falls. Aside
from the failure of the bridge there were other early untoward
events: — The failure of the old and hitherto substantial firm of
Norton & Beach, which threw the enterprise pretty much upon the
hands of Judge Strong; an interruption of the trade with Montre-
al ; and most of all perhaps, the sudden and rapid start of a power-
ful rival. When the decision as to the place of crossing the River
with the canal was pending, that locality was a competitor; a route
was surveyed, and the estimates of an aqueduct made. Mr. Holley,
the acting commissioner, at one period offered to receive proposals
for the work; a re-estimate however of the cost of an aqueduct to
span the deep and wide chasm, led to the abandonment of the route.f
In addition to the improvements named, the proprietors of Carth-
age and the Bridge, erected a public house which was opened by
Ebenezer Spear, who has been named in connection with Palmyra
and Penfield. He was succeeded by Justin Smith. Harvey Kim-
ball and Oliver Strong opened mercantile establishments. Levi H.
Clark, a lawyer settled there as early as 1818. He was the partner
* Jesse Hawley, in Rochester Directory, 1827.
t Those who had become interested in Rochester, were divided Upon the question of
Canal location; a portion of them being of opinion that the diversion of water from
mills and machinery to feed the canal, would not have its equivalent in any advanta-
ges that would grow out of the near proximity of it to their business sites.PHELPS AHD GOEHAM’S PURCHASE.	609
of Dr. Ward, in the purchase of the residuary land interest of the
State of Connecticut. Returning to the east after a residence
there of a few years, he was at one period a reporter at Washing-
ton; died a few years since in New York. John W. Strong was a
resident of Carthage, as early as 1818; was an early prominent
merchant in Rochester; removed to Detroit in 1830 ; is now a clerk
of the Commissioner of the Land Office. Oliver Strong was con-
nected in the mercantile and milling business with Judge Strong
until 1832, in which year he died at Detroit. He was at one period
the Major General of a Rifle Brigade. Horace Hooker was early
at Carthage, engaged in mercantile and distilling business. He
still resides there. Francis Babcock built a flouring mill at the
Lower Falls as early as 1824 ; built the dwelling now occupied by
Ansel Frost; leaving here, he engaged in mercantile pursuits; was
captured and killed by pirates on the coast of Africa. Capt. Cru-
ger, of the U. S. Army, was early at Carthage; now resides in the
city of New York.
Heman Norton was the son of Nathaniel Norton, the early Pio-
neer of Bloomfield, and merchant of Canandaigua; married a sis-
ter of Judge Strong. He removed to the city of New York, where
he died several years since. His sons are, Professor Wm. P. Nor-
ton, John Norton, a Merchant in New York. A daughter became
the wife of Walter Griffith of New York. Eilsha Beach who was
a son-in-law of Nathaniel Norton, died in Monroe, Michigan, in
1850.
Elisha B. Strong has continued to reside in Carthage since his
early advent; witnessing and participating in its rise and decline,
and surviving to see the village that became its successful rival,
grow into an overshadowing city, and generously embrace it in its
limits. That portion of the original site of Carthage remaining in
his hands, and for many years constituting his farm, is now selling
in lots of 100 feet front, at from $100 to $500. He is now in his
62d year. He was a member of Assembly from Ontario in 1819
and '20, In 1821, when the application was made for the erection
of Monroe, from parts of Ontario and Genesee, he was in attend-
ance at Albany, and contributed essentially in thwarting a strong
opposition, and bringing the measure to a consummation. He was
appointed First Judge on the organization of the courts of Monroe,
holding the office until succeeded by Judge Samson.
Capt. John T. Trowbridge, now residing in Racine, Wisconsin,
long known in connection with the commerce of Lake Ontario, re-
sided at Carthage as early as 1820.
All of what is now Irondequoit was slow in settling. The lands,
especially between Ridge and Lake, being mostly pine plains, the
soil light and sandy—“ barrens,” they used to be called. But a
change has come over them, such as has been noticed in other lo-
calities. Their present value is from $50 to $100 per acre.610	phelps and gorham’s purchase.
The early proprietors of that portion of the city on the east side
of the River, between the Andrews and Atwater tract, and the
Carthage tract, were John W. Strong, who after making a farm and
residing there, sold his possessions to Martin Galusha, under whose
auspices it has been platted and sold ; Caleb Lyon, who owned 32
acres, and sold it to Elon Huntington. The whole space, the Carth-
age plat included, affords some of the most eligible building grounds
within the city, overlooking the River and its romantic scenery, and
the lower part of the city on the east side of the River. It is fast
filling up.
Ashbel W. Riley emigrated from Wethersfield, Conn., in 1816;
was in early years extensively engaged in the lumber trade; in
1835 was one of the principal founders of a six day transportation
line upon the Erie Canal, and at the same time was the joint propri-
etor with Josiah Bissell in real estate operations, which have been
named. The last ten years of his life has been principally devoted
to the temperance reformation, in which cause he is a widely known
and popular public lecturer. His military title is derived from the
holding of the commission of Major General of the 3d division of
Riflemen.
Gideon Cobb was a young adventurer to the Genesee country
from Vermont, just previous to the war of 1812; a travelling ped-
lar of scythes and axes; temporarily making some improvements
on a tract of wild land among the hemlocks of the western portion
of Wyoming county; serving a brief season upon the frontier;
then a travelling dealer in hollow ware; until 1814, when he wrent
into the employ of the Messrs. Browns, at Frankfort. He estab-
lished the first “ public conveyance/' in Monroe county: — a four
ox team which went twice a week from Rochester to the mouth of
the River, principally to do the transportation for the primitive mer-
chants of Rochester. He used to get his beans and pork “ cooked
by Mrs. Culver except in warm weather, when his beans would
get sour," and he “had his cooking done twice a week." He
finally got board with Willis Kempshall, but had “ to sleep under
the work bench." He cleared the timber from North and Monroe
streets. And all these were but a part of his early industry and
enterprise. He is now 61 years of age, “hale and hearty," the
owner and occupant of one of the largest farms in Brighton; and
as if he knew not how to suspend labor and enterprise, is building
for the county of Monroe, the splendid edifice for its courts and
public offices, at a cost to county and city, of $60,000.
William Cobb, a brother of Gideon, had been connected with
Dr. Matthew Brown in the axe and scythe manufactory, near Rome.
In 1816, the business was transferred to Rochester, and commenced
upon the site now occupied by Lewis Seely's buildings ; a machinephelps Am> gorham’s purchase.	611
shop was added. In 1820, in partnership with Lawson Thayer, he
purchased the site now occupied by D. R. Barton, to which the
business of scythe manufacturing was transferred. The rear of the
lot was occupied by Thomas Morgan, with the first manufactory of
the cut nail started west of the Hudson. Mr. Cobb left Roches-
ter previous to 1830, under an engagement with the late Nathaniel
Allen, of Allen's Hill, to take charge of a tool shop connected with
the contract for constructing the canal around the Falls of the Ohio
at Louisville. The employer and the employed — two valued cit-
izens of western New York—both died at Louisville. Three daugh-
ters reside in Michigan, one in Buffalo, and one, (Mrs. Wm. J.
Hanford,) in Rochester.
Dr. John Cobb, of Ogden, who was a brother of Gideon and
William, was a settled physician in Ogden, as early as 1816.
Chauncey Dean was an early citizen of Rochester —- was a broth-
er of L. Q. C. Dean, of the present wife of David Thomas, of
Aurora; was of one branch of the Pioneer family of the name in
Phelps. He was the founder of mills on Black creek, in Chili. He
died soon after 1825. His wife, who was the sister of Austin
Wing, of Michigan, is a resident with her sons at Monroe.
The following, as near as the author has been able to ascertain,
were the pioneer mechanics, other than those already recognized:—
Erastus Cook, established silver smithing and watch repairing in
1815; still survives, and continues the business. Salmon Scofield,
soon after him; died in early years. In 1816, Jonathan Packard;
still survives, and continues business. In 1817, Samuel W. Lee;
still survives, carrying on chiefly the manufacture of silver ware.
Ebenezer Watts started copper, tin and sheet iron business, in
3817, to which was added in process of time, an extensive hardware
establishment. He still survives, retired from business. He is the
father of John H. Watts, broker, of Rochester. Frazer & Shel-
don, were early in the same business. Mr. Frazer removed to Al-
bany. Josiah Sheldon died in 1849 ; Benjamin Sheldon, of Roch-
ester is a son of his.
Preston Smith had established a small cabinet shop previous to
1816; he still survives. In that year, William Brewster commen-
ced the business. In 1819 Frederick, Starr. Both survive, and
are at the head of establishments, that in magnitude, and work-
manship, vie with the best establishments of the kind in the older
cities of the Union.
Isaac and Aldridge Colvin were first to start the manufacture of
hats ; they still survive, are farmers in Henrietta. John and Will-
iam Haywood followed them; John Haywood still survives and
continues the business. Next to Mr. Reynolds, Pelatiah West, a
brother of Ira West, started the business of a saddler and harness
maker. He removed to Palmyra, where he died 8 or 10 years since.
John Shethar was early in the same business; died at Seneca Falls.612
PHELPS AKD GOEHAMS’ PUECHASE.
John H. Thompson, started the manufacture of looking glasses, as
early as 1821, ’2 ; still survives and continues the business.
After Jehiel Barnard, the principal early tailors were Smith &
Holden. In fact theirs was the first considerable establishment.
Jacob How started a bakery as early as 1815, continued it until
his death; was succeeded by his son, Jacob How, who still contin-
ues the business.
Jacob Graves and Samuel Works, emigrated from Vermont in
1816, purchased a small tannery that had been started by Kellog
Vosburgh. In the hands of Messrs. Graves & Works, and in later
years, in the hands of Mr. Graves, the business has been one of
great magnitude. It is now carried on by Jacob Graves & Sons.
Mr. Works is a resident of Lockport; was an early and efficient
helper in advancing the prosperity of Rochester ; has in later years
filled the offices of a State Senator, and Canal Superintendent.
The early master builders were, Daniel Mack, Phelps Smith,
Robert and Jonathan King, the last two of whom survive and are
residents of Rochester. Philip Allen was an early builder; was the
father of Asa K., and of the early forwarder upon the Erie Canal,
Pliny Allen. The Allen family, some years since emigrated to Wis-
consin, to a locality now called “ Allen’s Grove,” where the old
patriarch, surrounded by over an 100 descendants, died in 1845,
aged 88 years. He was the father of Mrs. Samuel W. Lee, of
Rochester.
Charles Magney was the pioneer cooper; ---------Eggleston was
early in that branch of business. Mrs. Jewell, of Rochester, is a
daughter of Charles Magney; a street of the city takes its name
from him.
Although he was preceded by others, in a small way, in the boot
and shoe business, Abner Wakelee was the first to establish a shoe
store. He is now a farmer in Brighton. Jacob Gould was early in
that branch of business ; commencing when Rochester was a small i
village, his establishment, in his hands and those of George Gould
& Co., has kept up in the march of progress. The early mechanic,
Jacob Gould, has been a prominent citizen of Rochester, and an
efficient helper in its prosperity, He has held the military rank of
a Major General, has been Mayor of the city; in later years, Mar-
shall of the Northern District of N. Y. He is now President of
the Farmer’s and Mechanic’s Bank. Thomas and Jesse Congdon,
were early shoe dealers.
—------Brown, established the earliest regular machine shop; was
the first to se.t up the engine lathe in Rochester. Thomas Morgan,
who is named as the founder of a nail factory, was an ingenious and
enterprising mechanic, worthy of being the predecessor of the host
of enterprising men who have made Rochester almost a city of me-
chanics and manufacturers. His wife and family still resides in
Rochester.PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
613
The early lawyers of Rochester, were John Mastick, who was
the first in the county. He studied law with George Hosmer, of
Avon; was admitted to practice and settled at the mouth of the
river, previous to 1811; removed to Rochester during the war,
opening an office in a small wooden building near the site of Gould’s
shoe store. He died childless, in 1828 or ?9.
Enos Pomeroy was a native of Massachusetts; studied law in the
office of Gen. Kirkland, was admitted to practice in 1815, and in
the same year opened an office in Rochester. He still survives,
residing upon a farm in Brighton, at the age of 60 years. He is
succeeded in practice by his son, John N. Pomeroy; another son
was recently in Engineer corps on the Genesee Valley canal.
Joseph Spencer was from Hartford, Conn., a son of Isaac Spen-
cer, the Treasurer of the State at one period; graduated at Yale
College ; commenced practice in Rochester in 1816. He was at
one period in the Senate of this State. Possessed of fine talents,
with the promise of professional success and eminence, he had but a
short career; dying previous to 1830. His wife was the sister of
Samuel L. and Henry R. Selden. She is now the wife of Capt. Eaton
of the U. S. Army, a son of Professor Eaton.
Roswell Babbit was from Lewis county ; studied law in Lowville;
died at Saratoga Springs soon after 1830. Charles R. Babbit, of
Rochester is his son.
Hastings R. Bender, was from Vermont; a graduate of Dart-
mouth ; he left practice 15 or 20 years since, and went upon a farm
in Parma, where he now resides.
Anson House was an early Attorney and Justice of the Peace,
but engaged in business enterprises, has been but little known in his
profession. He was the founder, and is still the owner of the Mi-
nerva block.
Moses Chapin, was a graduate of Yale in 1811; studied his pro-
fession in Albany with Jones & Baldwin; in 1816 commenced the
practice of his profession in Rochester; was the Frst Judge of Mon-
roe, from 1825 to 1830. He still survives in the practice of his
profession.,
Ashley Samson was a native of Addison county, Vt., a graduate
of Middlebury; studied his profession in part with Col. Samuel
Note. — Mr. Pomeroy remarks that the project of a new county was started as early
as 1818 ; himself, Col. Rochester, Judge Strong, were at Albany at the same, and at
different periods, to promate it. The opposition to the measure at Canandaigua, Batavia,
and all along the old Buffalo road, was formidable, and retarded the consummation]
Crowded calendars at the courts of the old counties of Ontario and Genesee helped the
matter much. This was the result of the financial revulsion that commenced in 1817.
John C. Spencer, of Canandaigua, and P. L. Tracy, of Buffalo, commenced each an
hundred suits in one year in court of common pleas. In both counties protracted
sessions of the court had to be held. Judge Howell of Ontario would sometimes open
his courts before day-light. A specimen of his dispatch of business: — “ Mr. Dixon,
do you expect to prove any thing more in this case ?” ‘‘Well Sir, I can hardly tell
how that will be.” “ Clerk, enter a non-suit!”614	~ PHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.
Young, at Ballston; commenced practice as a partner of Simon
Stone, 2d., inPittsford in 1817; in 1819 removed to Rochester. In
1823 he was appointed First Judge of Monroe county; resigned in
1825; was re-appointed in 1838, and held the office until 1843.
He was an early Justice of the Peace in Brighton ; and was a re-
presentative in the Legislature from Monroe, in 1844. He still
survives, mainly retired from the profession on account of physical
infirmity, but with mental faculties unimpaired, enjoying the respect
and esteem of his fellow citizens.
The courts of Monroe were organized in 1821 ; the first term
held in that year at the “house of Azel Ensworth.” There were then
added to the bar of Rochester, and soon after: —Wm. W. Mum-
ford, MelanctonBrown, Wm. Graves, Daniel'D. Barnard, Timothy
Childs, Vincent Matthews, Ebenezer Griffin, Wm. B. Rochester,
Charles R. Lee; and it may be, others whose names have escaped
recognition.
VINCENT MATTHEWS.
Though not a resident of Monroe county early enough to be termed a
Pioneer, he bore that relation to all the western portion of this State, and
as early as 1816, was a resident upon Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase.
He was the first lawyer located in practice west of Utica; at the period of
his death had been fifty six years in practice. In reference to age, his ex-
tended years of residence, and professional life, he was a Father of the
Bar of Western New York; and he was well entitled to that distinction
by his dignified professional examples, and the deference that was award-
ed to his legal opinions and personal character, by his cotemporaries.
He was of Irish descent; a paternal ancestor was an officer in the Brit-
ish army stationed at Albany, when the Dutch surrendered New York to
the English. His grand father emigrated to America in 1/702, becoming
a Pioneer in Orange county, settling upon a tract in the then wilderness,
back of Newburg, which took the name of “Matthew’s Field.”
The subject of this sketch was the son of James Matthews; was born
in 1766; was one of a family of six sons and six daughters, all but one of
whom lived to adult age, and became heads of families. In 1781 he left
his paternal home, and became a student in an Academy at Newburg, of
which Noah Webster, the afterwards renowned lexicographer, was the
Principal. He was afterwards a student in an Academy at Hackensack,
of which Professor Wilson was Principal. In 1786 he entered the law
office of Col. Robert Troup in New York, and after four years of study, in
1790, was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. The fame he ac-
quired in after life as a sound and thoroughly educated lawyer, may in a
great measure be attributed to a long and severe course of study, and to
the fact that he was a member of a society of students (most of whom be-
came eminent in their profession,) instituted for practice. Courts werePHELPS AND GORHAM’S PURCHASE.	^ ol5
organized in which Brockholst Livingston, Judge Jones, Robert Troup,
presided as Judges; feigned issues were made, and thus the young aspir-
ants to professional excellence were enabled to make theory and practice
go hand in hand. And it should also be observed, that his law studies did
not end with the obtaining of his diploma, but continued through life.*
In the winter of 1/90, ’91, the counties of Tioga and Ontario were
erected from Herkimer. A friend of his who had emigrated to the new
region, and located at what is now Elmira, importuned him to join him
there, and commence his professional career in the backwoods. He had
married soon after the termination of his studies. Leaving his wife be-
hind until he had pioneered the way himself, he got credit for a horse,
which he mounted, and made the journey to the -newly established county
site at Newtown Point, now Elmira, The embryo village then contained
but three or four log buildings, one of which was used as a court house.
Obtaining board with a new settler three miles down the River from the
county site—at a place then called Tioga, he opened an office; thus becoming
the Pioneer in his profession, in all the region west of Utica — if indeed
there was any there as early as 1791. His practice soon extended to On-
tario county. He was present at the opening of the first court in Canan-
daigua.
In 1793, ’4, he was the representative of Tioga in the Legislature. In
’96 he was a Senator from the Western District. Before the expiration of
his term of service, he was appointed one of a board of commissioners to
settle questions of disputed land titles upon the Military Tract, some ac-
count of which has been found in a preceding chapter. He was elected
to Congress in 1809. From 1812 to 1817 was District Attorney of Tioga.
Like nineteen twentieths of all the early adventurers in the western por-
tion of this State, he had commenced poor; in debt for the horse he rode,
and for a portion of his academical education; but at the end of twenty
years he had not only gained professonal eminence, but had accumulated
what was then regarded as a large estate; a portion of which was a valua-
ble tract of land, which embraces a part of the site of Elmira. At an un-
fortunate period he embarked in the mercantile business, which venture
proved disastrous, even to the extent of the loss of his entire property.
In 1816 he changed his residence to Bath, Steuben county, and formed
a partnership with the late Wm. B. Rochester, in the practice of law. In
1821 he removed to Rochester, where he practiced until a few months
preceding his death, which occurred on the 23d of September, 1846.
He was District Attorney for Monroe, for several years; in 1826 one of
its representatives in the Legislature. His military rank of a Brigadier
General was attained through the several gradations, commencing with
the command of a company of cavalry in a regiment of which Thomas Mor-
ris was Major. He was a General at the early period when the beat of
his Brigade was all of the territory lying west of a line north and south al-
most through the centre of the State.
The deep sensation that his death produced in the city of Rochester —
* The anecdote of the celebrated Dr. Parr, would apply to his case : — “ When did
you finish your studies,” said a verdant student to his preceptor, Dr. Parr. “ Never,
and I never expect to finish them,” was his laconic answer and reproof.616
phelps ahd gorham’s purchase.
the demonstrations that followed its announcement — are already recorded
witnesses of the esteem and respect entertained for him by his immediate
neighbors;—and in fact throughout the wide region with which he had
been so long and intimately blended, there was heartfelt sorrow; a feeling
that an eminently exemplary and useful life had terminated. A monu-
ment erected in that well ordered and beautiful city of the dead — Mount
Hope— erected with the spontaneous offerings of all classes of his fellow
citizens; his venerable features preserved upon canvass, and hung up in
the court room; are additional evidences of the manner in which his mem-
ory is cherished.
The remarks made by his friend and professional cotemporary, Judge
Samson, at the meeting of the Bar immediately following the announce-
ment of his death, deserves a more enduring record than that affored by
newspaper files: —
“Mr. Chairman: — The event we are met to consider and take action
upon, has not come upon us suddenly, or by surprise, and may be thought,
therefore, to lack some of the impressive solemnity which attends an un-
expected and afflicting dispensation. Death has been in our midst and
taken away a most dear and esteemed friend. It has been said that the
deceased was fifty six years in practice. I am regarded by associates as an
old man, and certainly my feelings go strongly in corroboration of this
opinion; and yet, Mr. Chairman, I was born the year our venerable broth-
er was admitted to the Bar.
“ In his death crowned as it was with years and honors, he resembled
an ancient oak falling mighty and majestic to the earth, after braving the
storms of uncounted winters. He contended long with disease, but the
last enemy, death, prevailed, and he bowed his venerable head and died.
His pure and useful life affords an impressive lesson to the profession.
He confined himself mainly though not exclusively to the single object of
professional pursuits. Sometimes indeed he listened to the call of his
countrymen, and entered public life, but he always returned with alacri-
ty to his professional labors.
“ One feature in his character I desire particularly to notice. He was a
Christian. Though much occupied by his ordinary pursuits, he did not
neglect the higher interest of his soul. Even before he made a public
profession, he was known often to leave his bed, not to prepare his briefs,
but to peruse the oracles of eternal truth. In process of time he publicly
acknowledged the Lord Jesus, and connected himself with the Episcopal
church, to which his preferences inclined. He wias no technical theologian,
or mere sectarian.
In a conversation I had with him a few days sifice, his eye lighted with
unusual brilliancy when I adverted to the glorious hopes of the gospel,
and he expressed his undoubting trust in the cross of Christ. To a friend
who called upon him when near his end, he declared that he relied solely
upon the merits of Jesus Christ,
“ In conclusion, I cannot conceal from my brethren of the Bar, my solici-
tude that we may one and all imitate his example, and that this bereavement
may be sanctified to us all.”
Mrs. Mathews died at her residence in Rochester, in December 1850.phelps and gorham’s purchase.
617
An only son, James E. Matthews, resides near the Lake shore in Somerset,
Niagara county, where he was an early merchant, and has been for many
years, an exemplary and useful citizen. The surviving daughters are Mrs.
Albert H. Porter, of Niagara Falls, Mrs. William Everett, and an unmar-
ried daughter, residing in Rochester. Sela Matthews Esq., of Rochester,
a nephew, an early ward and student of Gen. Matthews, is his business
successor.
Frederick F. Backus, M. D., is a native of Richfield county, Conn.;
a graduate of Yale College ; studied his profession in New Haven
and Philadelphia. He settled in Rochester in 1816, where he has
continued in practice until the present time. In addition to local
offices he has held, he has been a member of the State Senate. He
is one of the “ fathers of the city/’ conspicuously identified with it
in most of all its history.
John B. Elwood, M. D., studied his profession principally with
Dr. Joseph White, of Cherry Valley; practiced a short time in
Richfield; in January 1817 located in Rochester. There was in
practice in Rochester, beside Dr. Backus, Dr. O. E. Gibbs, Dr.
Wilkenson, Dr. Dyer Ensworth, Dr. Jonah Brown; and Dr. Mat-
thew Brown, and the elder Dr. Ensworth, practiced occasionly, as
exigency required. Dr. Gibbs died four or five years since. Dr.
Anson Coleman was the first settled physician after Dr. Elwood, as
early as 1817. He died 15 or 16 years since.
Dr. Elwood still survives, having been in practice in Rochester,
nearly thirty six years ; — years of usefulness, and something of em-
inence in his profession ; while in other respects he has maintained
a prominent and influential position. Infirm health, a few years
since induced him to make a winter’s residence in Florida, where
he met with a serious accident, with which the public were made
familiar at the time; from which he has mostly recovered.
Comfort Williams was the first settled clergyman in Rochester.
His charge being that of the First Presbyterian church, which was
the first organized religious society of Rochester, in the early year
1814. He was a graduate of Yale. Ministering to but few, and
most of those but illy able to contribute to his support, he labored
dilligently “ with his own hands.” Purchasing 40 acres of land, in
the then woods, on what is' now Mount Hope Avenue, he was the
first after Messrs. Carter and Scrantom, to make improvements in
that portion of the city. He died in early years. His surviving
sons are, Alfred M. Williams, Charles H. Williams, of Rochester,
and Edward B. Williams, in Texas. Mrs. Oatman, of Wisconsin,
is a daughter. The tract of land he purchased has remained in the
hands of the family, and has been mostly sold out in city lots, under
the auspices of Charles H. Williams.
The Carter tract in the same neighborhood, mostly went into the
39618
PHELPS AHD GOKHAM’S PURCHASE.
hands of Lyman Munger, under whose auspices much of the im-
provements along on Mount Hope Avenue have been made. That
locality, where the reader will have seen Mr. Scrantom placed his
family that they might not be found in the event of British invasion ;
a dark and gloomy forest, as many will recollect who used to ap-
proach the falls and the mouth of the river, via. the Henrietta road,
is becoming the especial pride of the city. There are there, Mount
Hope, a resting place for the dead, scarcely inferior to any enter-
prise of the kind in the older cities of the Union ; and to say noth-
ing of other attractions, beautiful private residences, &c., there are
the extensive grounds of those tasteful, practical, and enterprising
nurserymen, horticulturalists, and florists, Messrs. Ellwanger and
Barry.
Augustine G. Dauby, who had served his apprenticeship with Ira
Merrill of Utica, first introduced the printing press into the county
of Monroe. He established the Rochester Gazette in 1816. John
Sheldon and Oran Follett were early associated with him. Mr.
Dauby returned to Utica, was for a long period the editor and pub-
lisher of the Utica Observer, and P. M. of Utica. He still resides
at Utica, retired from business. John Sheldon has since published
a paper at Detroit, in Wisconsin, has held a government office, been
a reporter at Washington ; still resides at the west. A daughter
of his is the wife of Dr. Nott. Mr. Follett, who, with his family,
are noticed in another connection, resides at Sandusky. In 1818,
Everard Peck, & Co., — who had established in 1816 the pioneer
bookstore in Rochester — established the Rochester Telegraph. Mr.
Peck still survives, enjoying a competence of wealth, and the es-
teem of his fellow-citizens. He is now the President of the Com-
mercial Bank. The mechanical department of the paper was con-
ducted by the two brothers, Derick and Levi W. Sibley. In 1824
Thurlow Weed became its editor; in 1827, associated with Robert
Martin, he purchased the establishment, and the two issued it semi-
weekly until 1828, when it was published daily by Mr. Martin. The
Sibleys were the successors of Dauby & Sheldon. Levi W.
Sibley died in Rochester in 1844; Derick Sibley resides in Cincin-
nati. Edwin Scrantom, who is named in another connection, was
the first apprentice to the printing business in Rochester. In 1826
Luther Tucker who had served a portion of his apprenticeship in
the first office established at Palmyra, issued the Rochester Daily
Advertiser, the first daily in Rochester, and the first west of the
Hudson river. Henry O. Rielly became its editor. In 1829 the
two daily papers were united, and a paper published by Tucker &
Martin, called the Rochester Daily Advertiser and Telegraph.
Luther Tucker is the widely known and highly esteemed proprietor
and editor of the Albany Cultivator. Jessee Peck, David Hoyt, S.
D. Porter, Thomas W. Flagg, Elihu F. Marshall, D. D. Stevenson,
Daniel N. Sprague, Erastus Shepard, E. J. Roberts, Elisha Loomis,PHELPS AND GOEHAM’S PTJECHASE.
619
Albert G. Hall, Peter Cherry, John Denio, Alvah Strong, Nahum
Goodsell, Franklin Cowdery, Sidney Smith, George Dawson, Samuel
Heron, George Smith, Thomas Barnum— are names blended with
the history of printing and newspapers in Rochester.
And here the author must leave the Press of Rochester, as all else
must be left, in this history of the beginning of things; — with
something more than usual reluctance — for it is of his Own craft;
and no where is the whole history of its progress marked with greater
enterprise, or more creditable to the “ Art preservative of all Arts.”
Roswell Hart, was of the large family of that name, in Clinton,
Oneida county. He commenced mercantile business in Rochester
as early as 1816; died in 1824, aged 37 years. His surviving sons
are, Thomas P. Hart and Roswell Hart, of Rochester, and Geo. W.
Hart, of N. Y. Daughters became the wives of the Rev. Francis
H. Cuming, now of Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Henry E. Rochester,
and M. F. Reynolds, of Rochester. Thomas Hart, a brother of
Roswell Hart settled in Rochester in 1820; still survives. Seth
Saxton was the early clerk of Roswell Hart, subsequently his partner
and that of his brother Thomas Hart. His widow still survives,
and three daughters, one of whom has recently become the wife
of Major Sibley, of the U.S. Army, now stationed in Santa Fee.
Charles J. Hill was in Rochester as early as 1816; he still sur-
vives ; one of the many enterprising millers of the “ city of mills.”
He erected in 1821, in company with Mr. Leavitt, and occupied
himself, the first brick building in Rochester, on Fitzhugh street, the
present residence of Wm. Ailing. Mr. Hill observes : In point of
health, the settlers immediately upon the site of Rochester, suffered
less than would be supposed, as it was literally, most of it, a swamp
without drainage ; still they were no strangers to sickness and suf-
fering, and occasionally from fevers of a very malignant type.
Solomon Close, who it will be observed, was one of the signers of
the handbill—“ Canal in danger”—was a deputy sheriff of Genesee;
resided in early years in Greece; and was also an early resident in,
Rochester. He removed to Michigan in early years.
John Odell was a merchant in Rochester as early as 1819 ; had a
small store on site now occupied by the Talman block; emigrated
to Michigan in early years.
Harvey Montgomery, who was an early merchant in Rochester,
the partner of John C. Rochester, still survives, He is the father
of Thomas Montgomery, an Attorney, and Dr. Harvey Montgomery
of Rochester.
Eli Stilson, was from Fairfield, Conn., emigrated to Cayuga coun-
ty as early as I860. He was an early surveyor in Cayuga, a school
teacher, and had much to do in the early organization of schools in
Scipio and its neighborhood. He removed to the town of Brighton
in 1817; in 1829 became a resident of what is now Rochester, on
the east side of the river; was a surveyor of a large portion of the620 v phelps and gorham’s purchase.
city east of the River, of lots and streets; was at one period the
agent of Bissell & Riley, in the prosecution of their enterprise up-
on the tract purchased of Enos Stone. He still survives at the
age of 78 years. His surviving sons are, David Stilson, and Eli L.
G. Stilson, an Attorney of Battle Creek, Michigan, Jerome B. Stil-
son, division engineer upon the Erie Canal, George D. Stilson, a
contractor on the Erie Rail Road. Daughters became the wives of
Dr. Caleb Hammond, and Gen. A. W. Riley, of Rochester, Ros-
well Hart, of Brighton; another the second wife of Gen. Riley, and
another the second wife of Roswell Hart.
William Atkinson was early on the east side of the River, the
founder of the mills now carried on by Charles J. Hill. Hobart
Atkinson, of Rochester, is a son of his; the widow is now the wife
of the Rev. Chas. G. Finney. William Nefus came in as the mil-
ler of Mr. Atkinson; his widow still survives; his daughter is the
wife of Nelson Curtis. Mr. Nefus was an early tavern keeper on
the east side of the River.
In 1817, there was residing on present city limits, on the Brighton
side, other than those already named, Aaron Newton, Moses Hall,
Ebenezer Titus. In that portioQ of the now city there was not
twenty acres of cleared ground. There was little else than prim-
itive wood’s roads in any direction. Along where St. Paul street
now is there was a dense forest of evergreens, hemlock, spruce
and cedar.
The brothers, M’Crackens, were as early as 1805 or ’6, Pioneers
in the neighborhood of Batavia. They removed to Rochester
soon after the war. Dr. David M’Cracken was a prominent citzen
of the old county of Genesee. A tract of land he purchased near
Deep Hollow, on the River, is now embraced in the city. He died
at an advanced age five or six years since, childless. Wm. J. Mc-
Cracken, was an early tavern keeper in Frankfort, still survives, a
resident with his son-in-law, Henry Blanchard. A daughter of
Gardner M’Cracken, is the widow of “ Capt. Scott,” the afterwards
Col. Scott, of the U. S. Army, who was killed in the Mexican war.
Other early landlords in Rochester, who have not been named,
Charles Millerd, Henry Draper,-------Elliott. The daughters of
Dr. Ensworth who has been named in another connection, became
the wives of John Shethar, Benjamin Campbell, and Rufus Meech.
George Ensworth, an only surviving son, resides in New York.
Warham Whitney was from Northampton, Mass.; removed to
Rochester in 1820; was one of the early enterprising millers; a
flourishing portion of the city on the west side of the River, south
of what was Frankfort, has grown up on his fawn. He died in
1841. His surviving sons are, George L. Whitney and James
Whitney, of Rochester. Daughters became the wives of John
Williams and Samuel G. Andrews. John Whitney, a brother of
Warham, preceded him in Rochester; has in later years been a res-phelps and gorham’s purchase.	621
ident of Orleans county, and Ohio; is again a citizen of Rochester.
Ralph Parker was a native of Salisbury Conn.; a resident of
Vermont, he was for fourteen consecutive years a member of the
State Legislature. In 1816 he emigrated to Rochester, where he
still resides, at the advanced age of 79 years. He was one of the
Judges of Genesee, before the erection of Monroe county. His
surviving sons are, Daniel P. Parker, of New York, Medad P. and
Ralph A. Parker* of Rochester, Phineas Parker, Beaver Dam, Wis-
consin. Mrs. James H. Gregory, of Rochester, and Mrs. Richard
Ayres, of Lewiston, are his daughters.
So much in reference to Rochester, has been incidental to the
Pioneer History of the whole region to which it bears so important
a relation. It is hoped that no reader of the work had anticipated
a history of Rochester; such has not been the design ; and it would
have been incompatible with the plan of the work. A wide region
of primitive settlements, of towns and villages, has been embraced ;
a long series of events recorded that preceded settlement; brevity,
the quitting of one locality to hasten to another, has been an imper-
ative necessity that the author has had often to regret.
In another form — in a work especially devoted to the locality —
it would have been gratifying to have passed the pioneer period, and
step by step, from event to event, and from year to year, to have
traced the progress of Rochester from a primitive village to a popu-
lous city ; — a scene of wealth, enterprise and prosperity, creating
wonder and admiration, even in an especial era of enterprise and
progress.
The “ Falls of the Genesee/’ to which the reader has been intro-
duced when it was a lonely and secluded spot in the wilderness —
visited but by an occasional tourist — after that, for nearly twenty
years, the abode of but one solitary family of our race,—the local-
ity that remained a dense, unbroken forest, for years after there had
been a near approach of considerable settlements and improvements;
has now a population of nearly forty thousand, and even that is
but an imperfect indication of its prosperity, the triumphs it has
achieved! The “ Hundred Acres,” the germ of village and city,
has had added to it, first, other plats or separate surveys, then farm
after farm, in succession, until it has expanded to over four thou-
sand acres, nearly all of which is occupied with streets, business
establishments, public edifices, and private dwellings. The lots that
the venerated Patroon, Col. Rochester, in 1811, with moderate an-
ticipations, and liberal views, instructed his agent to sell at from $30
to $200, are now worth from 5,000 to $25,000. There are annual
rents derived from the buildings upon some of those lots, from $8,000
to 12,000. Of the staple article of home trade and commerce in
most of the civilized world, Rochester manufacturers more than is622
phelps ahd goeham’s purchase.
manufactured in any other locality. Its mills are capable of manu-
facturing the flour consumed by the entire population of the state of
New-York; and this is but a part of its manufacturing enterprises.
In other respects it is pre-eminent. There is no other city in this
prosperous Union, where so large a proportion of the population are
house-holders; none where active employment, industry, so gener-
ally prevails. In it the idler is out of his element; the “ man of
leisure’' feels as if he was not at home. While at the same time
it may be added, that no where are the institutions of religion, edu-
cation, moral and intellectual improvement, better provided for by
an equal amount of population. “ As the twig is bent the tree is
inclined,” is as applicable to the growth of communities as to phys-
ical and moral youth and age: — The impress of the Pioneers oi
Rochester in all this, is as indellible as would have been a record
chiseled upon its palisades of rock!
And w7hat of the future ? There are no clouds in its horizon —.
no breakers in its path of progress. Never in any period of its his-
tory has there been less to create doubt, or justify croaking auguries
and misgivings ; never a period of so much promise of rapid advance
and continued prosperity. To a fortunate locality — a combination
of advantages seldom excelled, the enterprise of its citizens has ad-
ded, and is adding, what else was and is requisite.
Lake and canal commerce tend to it almost with a seeming favor-
itism ; Railroads connect and are connecting it with the Atlantic
sea board, and the long chain of Western Lakes; a Railroad is con-
structing which will bring it still nearer to the Great West, and
make its connection with it far more intimate; a canal facilitates its
intercourse with the rich valley of which it is the emporium; plank
roads reach out from it and invite increased intercourse with natural
tributaries. But one enterprise more would seem to be required,
and that can hardly fail to enlist the co-operation of her public
spirited citizens. The march must be onward, and onward !
The Pioneer period, in reference tb Rochester, has already been
passed and the whole work is becoming larger than was originally
designed. Briefness—little more than a chronology of events —
blended with a few statistics, must suffice: —
1817.—The village was incorporated under the name of Rochesterville—The first
Trustees were Francis Brown, David Marsh, William Cobb, Everard Peck, and
Jehiel Barnard — The first public house of worship was built — William Atkin-
son built the yellow mill on Johnson’s Race — An Episcopal church was or-
fanized, taking the name of “ St. Luke’s Church, Genesee Falls,” by the Rev.
[enry U. Onderdonk, afterwards Bishop of Pennsylvania—The Rev. Francis
H. Cuming became its first settled clergyman — A Friend’s meeting, or society
was organized—A Lodge of Master Masons was installed.
1818.—Gilman & Sibley erected a paper mill near Atkinson’s flouring mill— In Sep-
Kote.—For much of what is contained in these brief statistics, the author is indebt-
ed to Elisha Ely’s “ Rochester Directory,” for 1827, and Mr. O’Reilly’s “ Sketches
of Rochester.”623
PHELPS AND GOBHAm’s PIJBCHASE.
tember the second census of the village was taken; population 1049 — First
Sunday School organized — First Baptist Church was organized, consisting of
12 members.
1819.	—Atwater, Andrews and Mumford, built a toll bridge over the Genesee Fiver, a
short distance above the Falls — The name of the village was changed to Roch-
ester— A route for the Erie Canal was surveyed through the village.
1820.	—By the IT. S. sensus in August, the population was 1502 — St. Luke’s Church
was erected — First Methodist Church was organized; the Trustees, Freder-
ick Clark, Abelard Reynolds, Elam Smith, Dan. Rowe and Nathaniel Draper —
A Catholic Society was organized ; meeting at the Mansion House ; Rev. John
Farnham presided, who was called “ Pastor of the District.”
1821.	—A law passed in the State Legislature erecting the county of Monroe from parts
of Ontario and Genesee — Courts were organized in May. The Bench consist-
ed of Elisha B. Strong, First Judge, Timothy Barnard, Judge, Joseph Spen-
cer Assistant justice. Enos Pomeroy, Joseph Spencer, Ashley Sampson, were
appointed to draft rules of Court; No issue was tried; Court convened again
in September— James Seymour was Sheriff — The Aqueduct was commenced.
1822.	—Oct. 29th, the first Canal Boat left the village for Little Falls, laden with flour
— Census, September; population 2,700 ; including laborers on public works,
3,130.
1823.	—In this year Canal navigation was opened from Albany to Rochester — Oct.
7th the Aqueduct was completed, and the event of the passage of boats over it
celebrated by a procession of military companies, Masonic societies and citizens
of the village.
1825.	—Census of the village in February ; population, 4,274 — Census of the village
in August; population, 5,273. —In this year Canal navigation was extended to
Lockport.
1826.	—On the 26th day of October, the Canal was finished in its whole extent, and
the passage of a fleet of Boats from Lake Erie to Sandy Hook, commemorated by
succession of celebrations throughout the entire distance. There were days of
rejoicings, public receptions, processions, cannonading, music, dancing, and
joyous hilarity. Never upon any occasion has all this been excelled. Com-
mencing at Buffalo, a boat having on board Gov. Clinton, and other State offi-
cers, committees, delegations from many counties of the State, <fcc., started off
followed by a fleet of boats. The departure was announced by a signal gun,
and carried along from gun to gun, stationed throughout the entire distance; in
one hour and twenty minutes the news was received at Sandy Hook, that a boat
had started from Lake Erie, and was on its way, “ traversing a new path to the
Atlantic Ocean.” Then commenced a long series of receptions and celebrations
along the whole line. Rochester, then a young, aspiring village of less than
8,000 inhabitants, as if some inspired prophet had foretold that it was the dawn-
ing of her already largely realized destiny, caught the spirit of the whole thing!
In their own locality, at Buffalo, and at other places along the line; and at the
grand finale upon the waters of the Bay of New York, they were “present and
assisting.” When the fleet from the west arrived at their village, there were
under arms, eight uniform companies, and an immense concourse of citizens,
Jesse Hawley made an address which was replied to by Gov. Clinton and John
C. Spencer; exercises were had at the Presbyterian Church — the Rev. Mr.
Penney officiating; Timothy Childs delivered an address; Gen. Matthews pre-
sided at a dinner at the Mansion House, assisted by Jesse Hawley and Jonathan
Childs; in the evening there was a ball and a general illumination. Those
who come after us may consummate achievements of greater magnitude than
the Erie Canal, but none of more practical diffusive utility; and never in all
probability will there be another such a “ people’s jubilee !”
1837.—Rochester was incorporated as a city in the spring of 1834. The first officers
of the city were as follows; — Jonathan Child, Mayor; Erasmus D. Smith,
Abraham M. Schermerhom, Supervisors elected by general ticket; the Aider-
men were, Lewis Brooks, Thomas Kempshall, Frederick F. Backus, A. W. Riley,
Jacob Graves; Assistants, John Jones, Elijah F. Smith, Jacob Thom, Lansing
B. Swan, Henry Kennedy. Jacob Gould, A. M. Schermerhom, Thomas Kemp-
shall, Elisha Johnson, were Mayors in succession.624
PHELPS AND GOBHAM’s PUEOHASE.
CENSUS OF MONROE COUNTY, 1850.
NAMES OF TOWNS AND WARDS.	No. of families	No. of houses.	White males.	White females.	Total of whites.	Colored popl ’n.	Total popl ’n.
Rochester, 1st Ward,	518	457	1538	1453	2991	62	3053
“ 2d	655	522	1761	1848	3609	21	3630
“ 3d “	804	692	2098	2221	4319	172	4491
“ 4th “	607	574	1729	1770	3499	12	3511
“ 5th “	635	597	1848	1804	3652	53	3705
“ 6th “	1408	1328	3408	3582	6990	71	7061
7th “	698	631	1633	1648	3281	55	3336
“ 8th “	575	515	1440	1416	2856	64	2920
“ 9th “	926	826	2339	2341	4680	16	4696
Total,	..	6826	6142	17794	18083	35877	526	36403
Penfield,		605	575	1639	1536	3175	10	3185
Webster,			467	450	1247	1162	2409	37	. 2446
Brighton,		458	429	1665	1431	3096	21	3117
Irondequoit,		441	440	f24l	1156	2397		2397
Henrietta		425	422	1355	1157	2512	1	2513
Rush,. 		314	313	1082	933	2015		2015
Mendon,		611	611	1752	1593	3345	8	3353
Perrinton		508	508	1514	1373	2887	4	2891
Pittsford,					347	347	1061	997	2058	3	2061
Gates, 			.	375	375	1053	951	2004	1	2005
Riga,				364	364	1135	1024	2159		2159
Wheatland,		501	501	1534	1380	2914	3	2917
Chili		396	396	1197	1050	2247		2247
Sweeden,		651	595	1785	1804	3589	34	3623
Greece			746	705	2179	2022	4201	18	4219
Ogden,		495	476	1307	1291	2598		2598
Parma,				558	543	■. 1496	1445	2941	5	2946
Clarkson		862	835	2407	2142	4549	6	4555
Total,		15950	15027	44443	42530	87973	677	88650
CONTENTS OF SUPPLEMENT.
CHAPTER I.— [Commences page 497.] — Wheatland — Riga — Reminiscences of
Elihu Church, of Henry Brewster — Ogden — Parma — Reminiscences of Levi
Talmadge, of Samuel Castle—Greece — Charlotte—War of 1812 — Gates —
Penfield— Reminiscences of William Mann — Pittsford — Perrrinton — Mendon
— Rush — Reminiscences of Joseph Sibley — Henrietta.
CHAPTER II. — [Com. page 543.] — Morris’ Reserve — The Triangle — Le Roy —
Names of Early Settlers on Triangle — Reminisences of Simon Pierson — Levi
Ward — Bergen — Sweeden — Clarkson — Reminiscences of Dr. Baldwin and
Gustavus Clark — Connecticut Tract — Names of Early Settlers—Brighton —
Chili.
CHAPTER III.— [Com. page 571.] —Early glimpses of the Genesee Talley — The
Falls of the Genesee ana their immediate vicinity— General condition of all West-
, ern New York — Pioneer History of Rochester.
Omission.—A topographical sketch of Mumford and its neighborhood, and an
account of recent discoveries of ancient remains near Le Roy, referred to in the body
of the work, are necessarily omitted. The former will appear in the volume, “ Living-
ston and Allegany.”