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HISTORY OF THE SETTLEMENT
F
STEUBEN COUITY, N. Y.
■ ■i i ' iKD ii [&n i DIil il' i i Bf | M]Qi i liL *!
BY GUY H. Mc MASTER,
\'/.r\v37oV-^"^^
3SatS:
R. S. UN'DERHILL & CO.
1853.
WM. C. BRYANT & CO., PRINTERS, N. Y.
PREFACE.
The collection of the following annals was undertaken at
the request of the publishers of this volume. While of course
it was not expected that the general public would feel any
interest in the subject of the work, it was yet believed that to
the citizens of Steuben County a chronicle of its settlement
would possess some value. The task was entered upon, not
without misgivings that the historic materials to be found in a
backwoods county, destitute of colonial and revolutionary re-
miniscence, and possessing .^n an liquily of at most, s^v^jnty
years beyond which there was nothing, even Jjj^Jj^uessed at,
would prove rather scanty ; and, while it cannot be pretended
that the vein has been found richer than it promised, it is
nevertheless hoped that something of interest to citizens of the
county has been rescued from the forgetfulness into which
the annals of the settlement were fast passing.
All the facts set forth in the pages ensuing, except those
for which credit is given to other sources, were collected by
the Editor of the volume, by personal inquiry in most cases,
from the surviving pioneei*s of the county. He has been
unable to enrich his collection by any ancient documentaiy
matter — letters, diaries or memoranda. The early history of
the county rested in the memory of the few pioneers who are
living, and in the traditions handed down by those who are
departed. The appearance of Mr. O. Turner's timely His-
tory of " Phelps and Gorham's Purchase," after this work was
prepared for the press, has enabled the editor to correct the
results of his own inquiries in several important instances*
IV
Those whose memory extends to the period of the settle-
ment, ■will find this but an unsatisfactory chronicle of the old
time. Individuals who merit notice as early settlers of the
county have probably been passed over unnoticed ; many
facts of interest and importance have doubtless escaped the
researches of the editor, and serious inaccuracies will undoubt-
edly be discovered in the statements recorded. A fair degree
of diligence in searching for facts, and a sincere desire to pre-
serve honorable among those who shall hereafter inhabit this
county, the memory of those plain, hardy and free-hearted
men who first broke into its original wilderness and by the
work of their own hands began to make it what it now is, are
all that can be offered in extenuation of the meagreness of
the i;esults of the edi toy's laboi-s. ^ The collection should have
been made^^y years ago. Many pioneers of note — men
of adventure, of observation and of rare powers of narration,
have gone from among the hving since that time. Much of
valuable and entertaining reminiscence has perished with
them.
It is well enough, perhaps, to add in explanation of vaga-
ries of divers descriptions which may be encountered in the
following pages, and for which the reader may be at a loss to
account, that this volume was written nearly two years ago,
and at a period of hfe when such a lapse of time happily
brings great changes of taste and feeliog.
The editor takes pleasure in acknowledging his obligations
to citizens in various parts of the county to whom he had
occasion to apply in the course of his inquiries, for the readi-
ness with which he has in all cases been assisted in the pro-
secution of his researches.
Bath, Z)ec.l852.
NOTICE OF THE TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY
OF STEUBEN COUNTY *
Steuben County occupies the summit and eastern slope of
that ridge which divides the waters west of Seneca Lake
that flow to the Susquehanna, from those that enter the
Genesee. The course of this ridge is northeast and south-
west ; its breadth from base to base is from forty to fifty
miles ; the elevation of the eastern base is about nine hun-
dred feet, and that of the w^estern base (the valley of the
Genesee,) nearly eighteen hundred feet above tide water ;
while the highest intervening uplands attain an elevation of
twenty-five hundred feet above the same level. The summit
of the ridge follows the curve of the Genesee at the distance
of about ten miles from that river. The streams flowing down
the bi-ief western slope are, therefore, but inconsiderable creeks,
while the waters collected from the other side supply the
channels of three rivers, the Tioga, the Canisteo and the Con-
hocton, which uniting form the Chemung, and add essential-
ly to the power of the noble Susquehanna. The region com-
posing this dividing range is an intricate hill country, consist-
ing of roUing and irregular uplands, intersected by deep river
valleys, by the beds of several lakes, and by the crooked ra-
* Gathered chiefly from the State Geological Reports.
2
vines worn by innumerable creeks. Few rocks are presented
at the surface of the ground, and the whole land was origin-
ally covered with a dense forest — as well the almost pei'pen-
dicular hill sides, as the valleys and uplands. The river val-
leys are bounded by abrupt walls from two hundred to eight
hundred feet high, which sometimes confine the streams with-
in gorges of a few rods in width, sometimes grant a mile, and
sometimes at the meeting of transverse valleys enclose a plain
of several miles in circuit.
The dividing ridge curves from the western along the north-
ern boundary of the county. The watei*s of the principal
northern towns run to the Conhocton, while those of the coun-
ties adjoining, flowing in an opposite direction, feed the cen-
tral lakes of New York and find ultimately Lake Ontario, the
St. Lawrence and the foggy bays of Newfoundland. But
that the abruj^t gulf of Crooked Lake pierces deep into the
hills fi'om the north, and carries ofii" the meagre brooks of two
towns seated upon its western bluffs, our county would con-
tain within itself a complete system of waters. The streams
would pour down on all sides from a circle of hills and escape
only by the narrow gate of the Chemung, at a depth of six-
teen hundi'ed feet below the springs upon the bounding sum-
mits. A wall would enclose a complete province, and the
scientific citizen hovering in a balloon above the single gate-
way in the south would behold, fifty miles to the northward,
blue ranges sweeping in a splendid curve to the Seneca, then
bending southward to complete the perfect ring of highlands.
The Crooked Lake is an intruder and sadly mai-s this scheme
of uniformity. Breaking through the barrier which separates
the northwestern tributaries of the Susquehanna from those
nomadic waters that wander to Canada and the ocean of ice-
bergs, it lies in a dark and deep bed sixteen miles within the
county, while the southern extension of its valley pierces
through to the Conhocton and forms, by its junction with the
channel of that river, the broad and pleasant valley of Bath.
But few streams, however, have been carried captive by this
great robber to the shivering seas of Labrador. Two or three
unfortunate brooks are compelled to send thither their unwil-
hng waters ; and, aside from these resources, it subsists upon
secret springs and the rains that fall upon the bluffs and pour
into the lake by a thousand short ravines or gutters.
The hills of Steuben county are irregular blocks cut out of
a plateau of clay, rock and gravel, by the action of the ele-
ments. Of the forces and elements by the action of which
this original plateau was created, and of the later forces which
afterwards hewed it into its present form — forms like those of
a block of ice shattered by the blow of a hammer — we have
a singular account from men of science.
That the regions we now occupy, and indeed this whole
western region, even to the Cordilleras (or rather the founda-
tions upon which they are built,) were, in time past, at the
bottom of a vast ocean ; that certain continents which in the
earliest ages sat in the East, were broken up violently by con-
vulsions of nature, or were gradually dissolved by forces mild-
er than the arms of those rude slaves dwelling under the
earth which are of old reported by Geologists to have over-
turned mountains, and cloven in twain fast anchored islands,
and that the currents of the ocean flowing like steady rivers
towards the setting sun, were laden with the dust of conti-
nents thus destroyed, and strewed it over the submerged
plains of the West ; that after these rivers of the ocean had
labored silently and without ceasing for many ages, the whole
bed of the Western deep was covered to the depth of many
thousand feet with the materials of which the ancient East-
ern world was built, till at length peaks, then islands, then
a new continent, appeared upon the face of the globe, while
the waters by many channels ran down into the vast hollow
of the uprooted continent to form a new ocean : — all these
things State Geologists seem to beheve established — or at
least they feel at liberty to surmise substantially to this
effect.
Further than this, we are invited to see the builders at their
secret labors. Sluggish rivers of mud roll through the deep
like enormous serpents, and waste themselves before they
reach the valley of the Mississippi. Brighter torrents of sand
following spread a gay carpet over the brackish trail of the
mud-snake : then streams of pebble and shattered rock and
of all the powders of an abraded world deposit, now Niagara
Groups, now Chemung Groups, or when stirred by tempests
and water-spouts settle into coarse conglomerate. We are
shown, also, periods of a wonderful life. Millions of those
briUiant " shells and crinoideans and crustaceans," whose fan-
tastic images are stamped upon the rocks, dwelt in numberless
nations among the waters, while those hideous monsters
whose names were only less formidable than themselves,
prowled through the depths below, or floundered in elephan-
tine antics among the billows above. Once a part of the floor
of the ocean, which seems to have been the roof of a cavern
occupied by certain " secret black and midnight" powers, sinks
downward, arouses the horrible Pluto of Mud from his slum-
bers in bottomless volcanoes, who, rising in towering anger
through the rafters of his broken house, overwhelms coral
forests, the empires of the gorgeous fossil tribes, and all the
beautiful mansions of the deep with a tremendous flood of
mire. Other atrocious giants come forth from the volcanic
furnaces into which the waters have fallen, and heat the ocean
'with spouts of steara, while certain angry chemists, drenched
in their subterranean laboratories by the sudden inundation
of brine, let loose their most poisonous gasses, and catching
the unfortunate nymphs, dose them with deadly physic. All
creatures perish. Even the gigantic and roaring monsters,
choked with mud and suffocated by the poisons that rise
from the reservoirs of death below, flounder in dying agonies.
Their carcases are drifted to and fro for a time, and thousands
of years afterwards, men digging in mines lay bare their huge
white jaws and their mighty shanks, and fasten up their skele-
tons with wire in National Museums. All these, and many
other strange things, showing how at last the region we in-
habit was built, we see, from the happily settled times of the
present, into the troubled times far away — times truly of " agi-
tation and fanaticism."
Let us now leave greater speculations, and look homeward.-
That tract of land now occupied by the five western counties
of New York in the southern tier, appeared above the
waters in the form of a regular plateau with a mean elevation
of two thousand feet above the level of the present ocean,
overlooking the sea which covered the northern counties, the
Canadas, and the Great Western Valley. The detritus from
which this plateau was constructed, had ripened into a series
of shales, flagstones and sandstones, which from the differ-
ence of the organic remains of the upper and lower ledges^
have been divided by geologists into two groups, — the upper
or Chemung group, and the lower or Portage group. The
maps represent these as first appearing near Chenango
County in this State, thence running westwards through tha
southern counties, with a breadth of some fifty miles, and a
thickness of about 2500 feet, thence continuing along the
shore of Lake Erie, and toward the western extremity of that
2*
lake, making a bold curve southward. Their course, however,
appears not to have been carefully followed in their wander-
ings toward the far west; for we hear of them as being
"probably" in Indiana, in reduced circumstances, with a
thickness of less than 400 feet.
But this matters not at present. We are shown then at
the period of our deliverance from the deep, a fine plateau,
extending from Lake Erie far toward the east, and from the
foot of the Pennsylvanian mountains northward about sixty
miles, to a great bay of the ocean. How did this become a
labyrinth of hills ? The waters that fell from the clouds, or
that issued from the grounds wandered this way and that,
under the guidance of their restless instincts seeking the
ocean. Many combining, formed rivers, and furrowed for
themselves deep and curving valleys ; the creeks conquered
crooked but triumphant passages through ledges of sand
stone, and beds of shale, wearing their channels by indus-
trious labor through many centuries ; while the brooks, the
runnels, the spring torrents, and all those lesser hydraulic
tribes, slashed the fair table land in all directions with gorges
and ravines.
"Work like this would have hewn the plateau into abrupt
blocks. It would have left a multitude of isolated and inac-
cessible tables, islands divided by j)erpendicular gulfs. Neither
man nor beast could have ascended to the uplands. The
river valleys would have been broad halls enclosed by walls
of rock : and the lumberman roving up the beds of the tri-
butary streams, would find himself involved in hopeless
defiles, with precipices jutting forth on either side, while
hundreds of feet above his head the pine and the fir swayed
their princely plumes in derision, like savage kings jeering
the Spaniard from inaccessible cliffs.
But observe how the judicious elements, with rude and
ungeometrical but kindly labor, pre])ared the new niade region
to be a habitation for man. The frosts with powerful wedges
cracked the precipitous bluflfs, or with mighty hammers, as it
"would seem, shivered to atoms rocky pyramids. The rains
rounded the edges of the cliffs, here pushing off great masses
of earth, there sweeping loosened ledges into the ravines,
while the invisible powers of the air working many cen-
turies with those more boisterous slaves, which hollowed
the water courses and broke up the rocks, wrought at
length the roUing ridges, the broad knobs, the blunt
promontories, and all the curiously designed mountain-
figures that now cover the land. The work was thus made
perfect. Forests cover the hills, and repubhcans coming after
many days with plows and axes, find a land made ready for
them. After many days, too, civil-engineers, with their glass-
es and brazen instruments, appear at the foot of the lidge
dividing the Susquehanna from the Genesee, and find that
the rivers and industrious brooks have been laboring at this
gravel rampart for tnany thousand veal's, guided, indeed, by
very rude trigonometry, hired by no pledge of pubhc stocks
and undisturbed by loans or rumors of loans, but have yet
done the labor of myriads of miners, and have pierced the
ridge with such admirable cuts, that the locomotive, instead
of dragging its weary wheels up an abrupt ascent of fifteen
hundred feet, winds swiftly through mountain halls, (at the
risk, it is true, after the equinoctial rains, of encountering in
certain places, a sliding hill-top or an avalanche of cobble-
stones, which is quite alpine but unpleasant,) ever finding a
gorge cloven through the broad bulwarks that seem to bar
the valley ; ever finding some crooked but deep defile through
the bristling promontories that crowd together as if expressly
for the discouragement of railroad directors.
8
It will be remembered that at the deliverance of Steuben
county, with its four western neighbors, from the water, a
large tract of land in the North, which is now high and dry,
was lying under the sea. This sea lost life rapidly, and bled
to death as it were through many wounds. Until its level
sank below the level of the upper valley of the Canistes, the
channel of that river was one of the passages through which
it was drained. The torrent that ran roaring through the
hills when supphed from such a reservoir was a powerful one ;
but since that has failed, the river has shrunk to very mode-
rate dimensions, and now subsists upon the scanty charities
of the mountain springs. Similar rivers probably flowed
through many of the southwardly inchning valleys and cov-
ered them with " northern drift."
In descending to details, the prospect is quite dishearten-
ing. "We are mortified to confess that our county is destitute
of volcanoes. We have not so much as a Geyser. Of sco-
riae and moonstones there is an utter deficiency ; and as for
trap-rock there is not an ounce of it between Tyrone and
Troupsburgh. The true patriot will, however, hear with
pride, that fucoides are tolerably abundant, and his ecstacy
will with difiQculty be suppressed when he learns not only
that here was once the abode of the HoloiJtychus and the
Goniatites Acostatus, but that here we find the relics of the
Astrypa Hystrix and the Ungulina Suborbicularis, and of
other eccentric aborigines which nibbled sea-weed on our na-
tive hills in ages past, when Saturn was but Crown Prince.
It is consoling also to remember that the tooth of a mam-
moth was once found under the bed of one of our central
mill-ponds ; reasoning from which fact, he is a bold man who
will dare to deny that the broad-horned mastodon once bel-
lowed through these gorges, and that here the gigantic ante-
9
diluvian transfixed the monster with his iron javelin ! It
must be confessed, however, that the State Geologists are
silent with regard to antediluvian sportsmen. It will be with
intense satisfaction that the sincere patriot meets upon the
hills of Troupsburgh and Greenwood the airiest localities in
the country, being 2,500 feet above the sea, that venerable
and most worthy patriarch among the rocks of the earth,
Old Red Sandstone. " Here the rock consists of a thin layer
of argillaceous sandstone, highly ferruginous in character,
and bearing a general resemblance to the iron ore of the
CHnton Group. Its decomposition stains the soil a bright
red color, and from these indications it has been supposed
that valuable beds of ore would be found. It is extremely
doubtful, however, whether this stratum will ever prove of
any importance as an iron ore." — [State GeoL Hep.)
Rocks of the Portage Group " appear in all the deep ra-
vines and along the water courses in the northern part of the
county, while the high grounds are occupied with those of
the next group. ^ ***** *
At Hammondsport, in the ravine above Mallory's Mill, we find
about three hundred feet of rock exposed belonging to the
Portage Group ; they are well characterized by the forcoides
graphica. The mass exposed consists in the lower part prin-
cipally of shale and thin layers of sandstone, and at a higher
point numerous layers of sandstone from four to ten inches
thick. The edges of all the layers exposed are covered with
crystals of selenite or crystallized gypsum. About one mile
from the mouth of this ravine an excavation for coal has been
made in the black shale which alternates with the sandstone
and ohve shale. The indications of coal at this point were a
few fragments of vegetables, iron i:)yrites, and the odor of bitu-
men arising from the shale. The work is at present aban-
10
doned until some new excitement, or reported exhibition
of bm-ning gas shall induce others to engage in the enter-
prise. •sr-«-jr-«^-!«^-*^-?f^-j^
One mile north of Bath there is a stratum of very tough ar-
gillo-calcareous rock three feet thick. This furnishes some of
the finest building and foundation stone, and should be of
such a quality as to receive a fine polish, it "will be a valuable
acquisition to the mineral wealth of the county. * *
The rocks of the Chemung group continue along the valley
of the Conhocton to Painted Post and as far the Tioga as
the south line of the State, the tops of the high hills ex-
cepted, which are capped by conglomerate in a few places.
The valley of the Canistes is bounded on both sides by al-
most unbroken ranges of rock of the same group. The same
rocks are seen along the valley of the Five Mill Creek which
appears to have been formerly a continuation of the Canan-
daigua Lake Valley. ******
The valley of Loon Lake is the continuation of Hemlock
Lake and Springwater Valleys. In the neighborhood of the
lake large accumulations of drift, arise in rounded hills fifty or
sixty feet above the general level, and skirt the valley on
either side. ********
The country known as Howard Flats is formed of drift
hills and ridges, but little elevated above the general level. I
could not ascertain the depth of the drift, but the deepest
wells do not reach its termination. * * * *
Sandstone proper for grindstones are found along Bennett's
and Rigg's creeks. *******
This place is about four hundred and five hundred feet abovo
the Canistes and fifteen hundred feet above tide water. The
source of Bennet's creek is about eight hundred feet above
the Canistes. Grindstones are obtained in Canistes on the
11
land of Mr. Carter ; in Woodhull, on tlie land of Wm.
Stroud, Esq., and elsewhere in Jasper, on the land of Col.
Towsley. And sandstone is quarried on the land of Mr.
Marshall, near Lagrange, which is used for hearthstones,
tombstones, etc. On the land of Mr. Davis, at Lagrange, a
salt spring rises in the green shale. Several yeai*s since salt
was made at this place and previously by the Indians. * *
There are numerous beds of lake marl and tufa in this coun-
ty. ISTear Arkport there is a bed of this kind which furnishes
a considerable quantity of lime. In the town of Troups-
burgh there is a bed of this marl. There is an extensive de-
posit on the Canesaraga, south of Danville, from which lime
is burned. The summit level between this creek and the
Canisteo presents an extensive muck swamp, and some beds
of marl but their extent has not been ascertained." (State
Geol. Rep.)
"We add the elevations of a few points above tide water :
Seneca Lake, 447 feet; Mud Lake, 1,111 feet; summit be-
tw^een these lakes, 1,644 feet ; Village of Bath, 1,090 feet ;
summit between Mud Lake and Bath, 15^9; Arkport, 1194 ;
summit between Bath and Arkport, 1840 ; summit between
Arkport and Angelica, 2,062 ; Troupsburgh Hills, 2,500 ;
Corning, 925; Hornellsville, 1,150 ; Crooked Lake, 718.
Note. — The Mastodon's tooth alluded to above was dug from a bed of
blue clay near the steam saw-mill of Mr. George Mitchell, in the Gulf
Road between Bath and Wheeler. It is eight or ten inches in length. A
large bone was disinterred at the same place which crumbled on exposure
to the air. Further examination will doubtless disclose other grinders of
this huge beast and perhaps a pair of those broad tusks, curving outward-
ly at the points, somewhat like scythes, which adorn the heads of its
brethren found elsewhere, and with which one good able bodied fellow,
sweeping his head to and fro in wrath, might mow down an army of an-
tagonists like meadow grass.
12
The bed of clay in which the tooth was found is of unusual depth and
tenacity, and it is guessed that the animal of which the said bone was an
appurtenance while rambling through the gulf, indiscreetly bounced into
the mire and was unable to disengage his ponderous feet. It is further
surmised that the bears may have pulled his skull around after death but
that the frame of his body remains where he mired.
HISTORY OF THE
SETTLEMENT OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY HISTORY AND PURCHASE.
The early History of Steuben County cannot be a
record of events which are called great. The chop-
ping of forests, the building of cabins, the founding of
settlements, and the gradual subjugation of a most
stubborn wilderness, are the only matters which can
engage the attention of the chronicler. The events to
be recounteti are neither tragic nor terrible ; the trou-
bles to be told are far from overwhelming ; the mys-
teries are not mysterious, the disasters are not disas-
trous. No battle has ever been fought within these
boundaries. These hills have not, within the memory
of man, spouted fire or been shaken by an earthquake.
No carved stones or rusty weapons have been found in
the vallies which would indicate that this county was
in past ages aught more than an abiding place of wild
beasts and a hunting ground for barbarians. And yet,
notwithstanding the dearth of noisy heroism in our
3
14
county's annals, it may be avered that its citizens
have accomplished, in the last sixty years, that which
they may honestly be proud of, and that the work which
they have done in the woods has proved them to be
stout-hearted, and strong-handed men.
The record of events, previous to the settlement of
the valley of the Chemung by American backwoods-
men, must be but brief and unsatisfactory. Beginning
our investigations at the earliest times when Eastern
nations are believed to have caught glimpses of a West-
ern world, no evidence can be found to warrant a be-
lief that those ancient rovers, who are declared by the
learned to have visited the American shores before Co-
lumbus, ever strayed to that rugged region over which
the supervisors of Steuben county now wave their demo-
cratic sceptres. The Phoenicians undoubtedly lived
and died in ignorance of Loon Lake. No more traces
are to be found of Madoc the Welshman than of Esau
the Edomite. Biorn, the Northman, it is to be feared,
never planted his Scandinarian heel upon our river-
flats, and no rams-horns have been found in the clefts
of the rocks which by possibility may have been blown
by the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
Of those interesting relics of the ancient empires of
the continent, which are digged from the earth of the
northern counties of our state, this county is utterly
destitute. Mounds which may have been the tombs
of kings coeval with Agamemnon ; battlements upon
which princes greater than Cyrus, and captains migh-
tier than Hannibal, may have stalked ; javelins of
stranger fashion than the harpoons of the Argonauts ;
16
graven images, suspected to have been cousins to Da-
gonof the Philistines ; swords and truncheons of gigantic
cavaliers ; and other strange relics of exterminated na-
tions which Oswego, Onondaga and Genesee give up
to the chronicler, are not found here. The farmer, it
is true, may sometimes lay open with his plow the
trench where lie the mouldering bones and the rust-
eaten hatchet of one of those red consuls whose whoop-
ing legionaries fired the wigwams of the Catawbas in
the far South, or saluted from Illinois bluifs the Father =
of Waters : but as for antediluvians or giants, whose
skeletons occasionally turn up in the fortunate coun-
ties of the North, not one of those venerable pioneers
to our knowledge, reposes on these Southern river-sides.
Relinquishing, then, all hope of enriching these
pages with extracts from the legers of Phoenician tra-
ders, the tax rolls of Israelitish colonists, the diaries
of Welsh wanderers, or the log-books of Danish Pirates;
and refraining from all discussion of the quality of the
tenancy of those ancient settlers whose titles, if any they
ever had, were long since extinguished, and who are
not likely to set up claims against the grantees of
Phelps and Gorham, all matters that transpired, or
that may have transpired before the voyage of Colum-
bus, may be dismissed without comment or conjecture.
From the time of that event down to the period of the
actual invasion of our country by the backwoodsmen?
near the close of the last century, a faint light, hardly
more satisfactory than the total darkness of previous
time, rested upon our forests, but in searching for tan-
16
gible facts, the Historian meets only chagrin and dis-
appointment.
At the time of the discovery, this region, with a
large and indefinite territory, now comprising portions
of several states, constituted the domain of the Five
Nations, a fierce and crafty people, eloquent sometimes,
and of proud bearing, the " Romans of the West," as
some call them. For many years after the anchors of
the discoverers first sank in the bays of the new found
continent, these wild warriors dwelt in their Long-House
unmolested by the Europeans who sought the Western
world. The councillors of their dreaded league met
for conference at Genesee or Onondaga castles ; their
armies marched from the Mohawk to the Miami, and
there was none to dispute their supremacy over the
magnificent forests of which their arms had made them
the masters. But in a century and a half new com-
motions began to agitate the wilderness. Enemies
more formidable than the Huron or the Algonquin, en-
camped on the borders of the domain of the Iroquois.
The drums of England were heard in the South, and
the bugles of France in the North. Britons stood girt
for battle behind the windmills of Manhattan and the
palisades of Albany, while Gauls from the ramparts
of Quebec, looked off over broad forests and wonderful
valleys towards the Gulf of Mexico, and awaited the
beginning of a contest which was to determine the des-
tiny of a continent.
The silence, which had for centuries pervaded the
wilderness, was broken, and the chronicler may be rea-
sonably required to gather from the battles, plots and
17
treaties which ensued upon the meeting of these antag-
onists, some thing which may be fairly claimed as part
of the history of these ancient valleys. In the varied
triumphs and disasters which diversified the long pro-
tracted struggle of French, English, and Iroquois, it
may rightfully demand of the annalist that he find
some event in the history of these hemlock ravines over
which rhetoric may rave, research puzzle, or poetry
whimper.
But the conscientious chronicler will be compelled
to disappoint public expectation. As the clouds will
sometimes roll up black and thunderous in the West,
so that cattle fly from the fields, and prudent towns-
men inspect their lightning rods, and after all the
storm drifts towards the North, and rains floods, and
flings thunderbolts in our very sight : so did the great
political tempest of colonial times rain itself dry along
the shores of Ontario and the St. Lawrence, while our
own ill-starred mountains parched. From the day
when Champlain, the voyager, fired under the blufis of
Ticonderoga the first musket volley that disturbed the
forests of the Six Nations, down through a period of
one hundred and sixty years, more than a half dozen
armies, of a wild and picturesque composition, in-
vaded, encamped, fought, and besieged, almost within
sight of the Northern townships of this county, but
had not the charity to fire so much as a pistol over its
borders. Montcalm's bugles and Bradstreet's drums
sounded through the neighboring groves. Provincial
rangers and Britons, French chevaliers and feathered
sachems filed along the Ontario trails. There were
3*
18
treaties, alliances, plots and conventions. There was
also occasional oratory — as for example, the speech of
Garanguala to De La Barre, the Canadian Governor,
a masterpiece of daring and picturesque irony. Can-
nonading at Niagara, at Oswego, at Frontenac, star-
tled the wilderness. Yet, though all this fine tumult
disturbed the secluded courts of the Long House, not
even rumors of wars agitated the valleys of the Con-
hocton and Tioga. It may be said that during the
long contest for the rich plains and noble lakes of
Western New York, our old hills sat quietly apart,
like the camels of a captured caravan, while two hos-
tile bands of robbers quarrelled for the booty.
We gain, however, a single glimpse of the ancient-
time, which is of some interest, as revealing to our
view the first communication of this country with the
civilized world. Two centuries ago the still streams
and the outlets of our lakes were alive with beaver.
Many a harmonious phalanx of these sagacious little
socialists revelled in undisturbed ponds, where they
had lived generation after generation since the flood,
and busied themselves with the building of dams and
other industrial pursuits, with none to molest or make
afraid. At length, however, remorseless Dutch tra-
ders established themselves at Albany, and combining
TYith French merchants in the forts of Canada, laid
foul plots against these tranquil republics, tempting
the barbarians with bells and bright knives to begin
the work of destruction. So presently the red hunts-
men might have been seen skulking through the wil-
lows that overhung the creeks, and setting snares for
19
the feet of the honest and unsuspecting beaver. Hun-
dreds of these poor creatures suddenly found them-
selves bereft of their fur, and long-limbed savages,
laden with ill-got plunder, hurried through the
forests to the forts of the rapacious traders. Thus
the first demand of the aristocracy of Europe upon
our county was for the hides of its citizens — a very
singular request, and one which the indignant repub-
lican will remember in connection with the tribute paid
at this day to the Royalty of Hanover.
A little more than a century after the massacre of
the beaver, the Revolutionary war was raging through
the land. Here again the Historic Muse displayed
her ungraciousness, and refused to refresh our parch-
ing chronicles with a single skirmish. While the
whole neighborhood in the North, East, and South,
was alive with rangers and Indians, and rang daily
wuth conflicts, scalpings, and burnings, silence of the
grave reigned in our slumbering forests. The utmost
that can be said for our county in setting up a revo-
lutionary claim for it is, that it was sometimes a place
of preparation for the ferocious allies of Great Britain
before their attacks on the frontiers, and a place of
retreat after the slaughter. The utmost border settle-
ments of our countrymen at that time in the States of
New York and Pennsylvania were in the upper valley
of the Mohawk, on the head waters of the Susque-
hanna, west of the Catskills, in the Wyoming coun-
try, and on the west Branch of the Susquehanna.
Down the valleys of the Conhocton, Canisteo, and
Chemung, and up the valley of the Tioga, ran the
.20
trails by which sometimes the Tories and Indians stole
upon the settlements in Pennsylvania from Fort Nia-
gara, and by which again their bands, like hounds re-
turning from the hunt, hurried to that notorious old
kennel to be fed by their keepers.
Hardly a fact, however, with regard to the move-
ments of our county's primitive citizens during the
war is preserved for us. An intrepid imagination
might do much toward filling this unfortunate blank in
our annals, but till such a one assumes the task, each
one must be content to make a Revolutionary History
for himself out of such hints as may lawfully be sug-
gested. Each must imagine as he can the wolfish fra-
ternity of Tories and Indians traversing the war-trails
of our wilderness. Hiakatoo, Little Beard, Brant,
and the Great Captains of the Six Nations holding
council under elm-trees by the Chemung — the British
officer, conspicuous with his sash and pistols, confer-
ring by moonlight with savage chieftains that lean on
their rifles, without the encampment, on the river
bank, where the wild warriors are sleeping — the occa-
sional squadron of canoes gliding down the swift
stream toward the farms below on the Susquehanna.
Now a file of barbarians descends the Canisteo trail
from the north, turns up the Tioga and disappears.
Soon their hatchets glitter afar ofi" on the Laurel Ridge.
Next is heard at midnight the ringing of rifles on the
West Branch, and the shouting of the borderers
as the blaze of their cabins lights up thewooded
cliffs around. Strange processions sometimes strag-
gle up the vallies. Now the mongrel hounds of
21
old Fort Niagara return from encounters -with the for-
esters of Pennsylvania, shattered and discomfited ;
but again the marauders return with scalps dangling at
their belts, hurrying along captives, women and chil-
dren who grow weary and are tomahawked, and also
stout and weary woodsmen who must be bound and
watched lest they rise in the night and beat out the
brains of their captors.
In the midst of the war the first lumbermen of the
Canisteo may be seen on its upper waters hewing down
pine trees, and shaping them by fire and steel into
canoes. One would in vain search for the peers of that
savage gang among the boisterous raftmen who, in
modern day build their fleet in the eddies of that quiet
stream. When the work is done and the little galleys
are launched, what a lovely crew embarks ! The But-
lers with their merciless renegades, the chosen chiefs
of the Six Nations, the fiercest soldiers of the forest,
all with their war trapping and weapons ride in the
slender canoes down the stream — down through the si-
lent gorges, over the brawling rifts — then emerging
from island-groves of elm descend the strong Tioga,
then bending their long file into the Chemung, disappear
beyond eur borders in that blue notch chosen for the
river's course in the hills below. This was the Armada
that bore the destroyers of Wyoming.'
*
* The canoes which earried a large party of Tories and Indians to
Wyoming in l^lS^were made on the Canisteo. At the settlement
of the upper valley of that river the trunks of trees, which proving
unfit for use had been abandoned after having been partially wrought,
with other traces of work, and some tools and weapons, were found
22
Sulliran's two hundred barges move from Otsego
and Wilkesbarre to Newtown. His five thousand men
march northward through the wilderness, barely brush-
ing the edge of our county. We hear a great crack-
ling of villages on fire, of burning corn-stacks, and a
lively crashing of orchards and skirmishing of scouts,
but a few miles from our northern towns. That sin-
gular fatality however which marks our earliest history
forbids a scout to be tortured, a corporal to be scalped,
or even a pack-horse to be beheaded within the baili-
wick of our own Sherifi". A few adventurous boatmen,
however moved up the Chemung to see what land might,
lie on the upper branches of that unknown river.*
on the farm of Col. J. R. Stephens near Hornelsville. The settlers
had this fact also from the Indiana.
* Gen. Sullivan, invaded the territory of the Six Nations in 11^9,
penetrated the midst of theii- forests, destroyed many of their vil-
lages, cut down their orchards, laid -waste their cornfields, and inflict-
ed on these impracticable savages a portion of the miseries which
the frontiers had suffered from their hands during the previous years
of the war. The destruction of life, however, was but inconsidera-
ble. The Indians and Tories made a stand at Newtown, but were
summarily routed. The residue of the fighting in the campaign was
adjusted by scouting parties.
The traditions held by some that detachments of this army pene-
trated Steuben county, are probably without foundation. The oldest
settlers consulted in the preparation of this sketch (Capt. "Woolcott
and Judge Knox of the town of Corning,) did not hear of the ru-
mored skirmish at the brook called " Bloody Run" in the old town of
Painted Post. At the time of the settlement, however, there were
painted trees near that stream where the Indians were said (or gues-
sed) to have tortured prisoners. Sullivan moved from Newtown,
(Elmira) to the bead of the Seneca by the Horseheads (where he
23
It appears, therefore, that Steuben County, from the
earliest ages to the close of the Revolutionary War, was
but a jungle of barbarism, without name and without
history. Invading whirlwinds sometimes crushed the
hemlocks of the hills in their courses, insurgent floods
sometimes poured through the defiles with a tumult
like the roar of a multitude, and the rival houses of
wolf and bear, enlivened the wilderness with civil
strife ; but concerning human onslaughts and insurrec-
tions, the chroniclers of the Six Nations are silent,
and the hope of recovering the memory of them must
be forever dismissed. It remains, then, only to consi-
der how the race which broke into these solitudes after
the Revolution acquired their title to the same, and
how they accomplished the great work which this day
beholds performed.
The freeholders of Steuben County generally derive
their titles from Sir William Pulteney, of England,
and his heirs. Sir William acquired his title from
Robert Morris, Morris from Phelps and Gorham, the
latter from the State of Massachusetts, and that com-
monwealth held under the Royal Charter of James I,
King of Great Britain. How King James became the
proprietor of this tract of land, it would not be easy to
say, unless we adopt the presumption which the law
sometimes establishes in cases of unaccountable pos-
killed a large number of pack-horses,) thence between the lakes to
the outlet, thence to the Genesee, and returned by the same route.
There is nothing in the official report of the General, or in the pub-
lished journals of officers accompanying the expedition, to support
the traditions alluded to.
24
session of chattels, and aver that he " casually found
it."
The grants of the colonies of Massachusetts and
Connecticut, comprised vast tracts of land extending
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, including large
portions of the present States of New York and Penn-
sylvania. The latter provinces loudly denied the
validity of the royal grants, so far as they affected the
territory within their boundaries, as at present settled,
and the controversy arising from the claims of their
sister provinces, was a fruitful source of correspond-
ence and worse, between the rival claimants. In Penn-
sylvania it proceeded to blows. Colonists from Connec-
ticut established themselves in the famous valley of
Wyoming, and resisted with arms the edicts of the As-
sembly and the officers of the high courts of the latter
commonwealth. Heads were bruised, bones broken,
crops destroyed, settlements plundered, and even lives
lost, and the peace of the Susquehanna Valley was
destroyed by a feud worthy of the middle ages. In
1774, for example, an army of 700 Pennsylvanians
moved up the river to conquer the intruders, but at
the defile of Nanticoke, their boats being stopped by
an ice- jam, and themselves confronted by a fortifica-
tion, hostilities were terminated by a rousing volley
from the bushes, and a rousing volley into the bushes,
the latter killing one man.*
The controversy between New York and Massachu-
setts never reached such deplorable virulence as that
*Life of Major Van Campen.
25
between the other two provinces. In the war of Re-
volution, private quarrels were by common consent sus-
pended, and not long after that contest, the diflSculty
was adjusted. On the 16th day of December, 1T86,
by a compact entered into between the States of New
York and Massachusetts, it was agreed that the latter
State should release to the former all claim of sove-
reignty over lands lying within the present boundaries
of the former, and that the State of New York should
release and confirm to the State of Massachusetts the
right of pre-emption of the soil from the Indians, of
the greater part of New York lying west of Seneca
Lake.
On the 21st day of November, 1788, the State of
Massachusetts, for the consideration of three hundred
thousand pounds in the consolidated securities of that
State, ($100,000,) conveyed to Oliver Phelps and Na-
thaniel Gorham, all its right, title, and interest to
lands in Western New York, which now constitute the
counties of Steuben, Yates, Ontario, part of Wayne,
most of Monroe, a small part of Genesee and Living-
ston, and about one half of Allegany ; containing about-
2,600,000 acres. The Indian title to this tract had
been purchased by Messrs. Phelps & Gorham by trea-
ty, at a convention held at Buffalo, in July, 1788.
The purchasers speedily caused their lands to be
surveyed and divided into seven ranges, numbered from
east to west by lines running north and south. The
ranges, which were six miles in width, were sub-
divided into townships designed to be six miles square,
and the townships were farther sub-divided into lots.
4
26
That portion of the purchase which now constitutes
Steuben County, was surveyed for Phelps & Gorham
by Frederick Saxton, Augustus Porter, now of Niag-
ara Falls, Thomas Davis and Robert James, (or by the
two first named,) in the summer of 1789. Judge Por-
ter, in his narrative, published in Turner's History of
the Holland Purchase, says, with regard to this survey,
*' While engaged in it, we made our head-quarters at
Painted Post, on the Conhocton River, at the house of
old Mr. Harris and his son William. These two men,
Mr. Goodhue, who lived near by, and Mr. Mead, who
lived at the mouth of Mead's Creek, were the only
persons then on the territory we were surveying."
Mr. Phelps opened an office for the sale of land at
Canandaigua. The fame of the Genesee Country had
been spread through all the East. Sullivan's soldiers
brought from the wilderness glowing accounts of vast
meadows and luxurient orchards hidden amongst the
forests of the Six Nations, and the adventurous men
of New England and Pennsylvania were not backAvard
to seek new homes in the fastnesses of their old ene-
mies. Before the middle of November, in 1790, about
50 townships had been sold, the most of which were
purchased by the township or half township, by indi-
viduals or companies of farmers.*
The settlement of Steuben County was commenced
under grants from Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, but
for convenience the whole history of the title to the
county may be here stated.
*Turner's Holland Purchase.
27
Messrs. Phelps and Gorbam, by deed dated the 18th
day of November, 1790, conveyed to Robert Morris
of Philadelphia, (the patriotic merchant of Revolution-
ary memory) the residue of their lands remaining un-
sold, amounting to about a million and a quarter
acres.
Robert Morris, by deed dated the 11th day of April,
1792, conveyed to Charles V/illiamson about one
million two hundred thousand acres of the Phelps and
Gorham tract, which has been since known as the
Pulteney estate. Mr. Williamson held this estate in
secret trust for Sir William Pulteney, an English
Baronet, and others. In March, 1801, Mr. William-
son conveyed the estate formally to Sir William
Pulteney, an act having been passed by the Legisla-
ture of New York in 1798, authorizing conveyances to
aliens for the term of three years. This conveyance
was made three days before the expiration of the act
by its own limitation.
Sir William Pulteney was the son of Sir James
Johnstone. He assumed the name of Pulteney on his
marriage with Mrs. Pulteney, niece of the Earl of
Bath, and daughter of General Pulteney. He died
in 1805, leaving Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Countess
of Bath, his only heir. Lady Bath died in 1808, in-
testate. The Pulteney estate descended to Sir John
Lowther Johnstone, of Scotland, her cousin and heir-at-
law. Sir John Lowther Johnstone died in 1811, and
devised the estate in fee to Ernest Augustus Duke of
Cumberland, (since King of Hanover,) Charles Herbert
Pierrepoint, Masterton Ure and David Cathcart (Lord
28
Alloway,) in trust, nevertheless, to sell the same as
speedily as possible, and to pay and discharge the in-
cumbrances on his estates in England and Scotland,
and to purchase copyhold estates adjacent to his
estates in Scotland. John Gordon was afterwards
appointed a trustee of the estate, in the place of
Pierrepoint (the Earl of Manvers,) who in 1819 re-
linquished his trust. The present trustees (since the
death of the King of Hanover) are Masterton Ure and
John Gordon.
The policy of the proprietors and trustees has been
to sell the landi as rapidly as possible to actual set-
tlers. In sixty years, as might be expected, by far
the greatest and most valuable portion of the State has
been disposed of, but considerable tracts of wild land
vet remain unsold.
The validity of the title to the Pulteney estate has
never been the subject of judicial construction in the
highest court of the State. A cause now before the
Court of Appeals, (decided in favor of the proprietors
in the Supreme Court,) will pobably set at rest the
question of title.
/-^
CHAPTER II.
STEUBEN COUNTY IMMEDIATELY BEFORE ITS SETTLE-
MENT A JOURNEY SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AGO THE
FOREST THE RIVERS, &C. SKETCH OF BENJAMIN
PATTERSON, THE HUNTER SKIRMISH AT FREELAND's
FORT SCUFFLE WITH " THE INTERPRETER" — THE
WILD OX OF GENESEE FLATS.
On the morning of Christmas-day, in the year 1787,
a backwoodsman and an Indian issued from the door
of a log cabin Avhich stood half buried in snow on the
point of land lying between the Cowenisque Creek and
the Tioga River, at the junction of those streams, and
set forth on the ice of the river for a journey to the
settlements below. They were clad according to the
rude fashions of the frontiers and the forest, in gar-
ments partly obtained by barter from outpost traders,
and partly stripped by robbery from the beasts of the
forest. Tomahawks and knives were stuck in their belts,
snow shoes were bound to their feet, and knapsacks of
provisions were lashed to their backs. Such was the
equipment deemed necessary for travellers in Steuben
County not a century ago.
The snow lay upon the ground four full feet in
depth. It was brought from the north in one of those
might storms which in former days often swept down
4*
30
from Canadian regions and poured the treasures of the
snowj zone on our colonial forests — storms which sel-
dom visit us in modern days — as if the passage of tariff
bills, which have cramped the operations of many heavy
British-American firms, had made it impracticable for
Polar capitalists to introduce their fabrics into the
Commonwealth of New York with the profusion which
was encouraged in the times of the English governors.
The pioneer and his savage comrade pursued their
journey on the ice. The Tioga was then a wild and
free river. From its source, far up in the " Magnolia
hills" of the old provincial maps, down to its union
with the equally wild and free Conhocton, no device of
civilized mon fretted its noble torrent. A single habi-
tation of human beings stood upon its banks, the log
cabin at the mouth of the Cowenisque ; and that was
the westernmost cabin of New York.* But it bore now
upon its frozen surface the forerunner of an unresting
race of lumbermen and farmers, who in a few years in-
vaded its peaceful solitudes, dammed its wild flood,
and hewed down the lordly forests through which it
flowed. The travellers kept on their course beyond
the mouth of the Canisteo to the Painted Post. Here
they expected to find the cabin of one Harris, a trader,
where they might have lodgings for the niglit, and, if
necessary for the comfort of the savage breast, a
draught from " the cup which cheers (and also) inebri-
ates." On their arrival at the head of the Chemung,
* In strict truth, the cabin stood in Pennsylvania, a few rods from
the 'New Tork line.
31
however, tliej found that the cabin had been destroyed
by fire. The trader had either been murdered by the
Indians, or devoured by wild beasts, or else he had left
the country, and Steuben County was in consequence
depopulated.
Disappointed in this hope, the two travellers con-
tinued their journey on the ice as far as Big Flats.
Here night overtook them. They kindled a fire on
the bank of the river, and laid them down to sleep.
The air was intensely cold. It was one of those clear,
still, bitter nights, when the moon seems an iceberg,
and the stars are bright and sharp like hatchets. The
savage rolled himself up in his blanket, lay with his
back to the fire, and did not so much as stir till the
morning ; but his companion, though framed of that
stout stufi" out of which backwoodsmen are built, could
not sleep for the intensity of the cold. At midnight a
pack of wolves chased a deer from the woods to the
river, seized the wretched animal on the ice, tore it to
pieces and devoured it within ten rods of the encamp-
ment. Early in the morning the travellers arose and
went their way to the settlements below, the first of
which was Newtown, on the sight of the present village
of Elmira.
Such is one of the earliest glimpses of our county
granted us. Journies are performed in rather a differ-
ent manner now ! The incidents of the trip sound
oddly enough to the ear of the modern traveller — the
excursion on snow shoes — the possible destruction of
the village of Painted Post by the Indians — the en-
campment and night fire under the trees by the river
32
bank, on a stinging Christmas nighty while frost-bitten
wolves regaled the ears of the travellers with dismal
howling ! The backwoodsman was Samuel Baker, a
New Englander, afterwards v-ell known to our citizens
as Judge Baker, of Pleasant Valley.
This is a winter scene. The Descriptive and His-
torical " Citizen " gives in his sketch* a summer pic-
ture, — " a picture of our county as it was a few sum-
mers before the irruption of the backwoodsmen ; for
this, the figure of our rugged home arrayed in its an-
cient and barbarous yet picturesque and noble garb, is
one which the reflecting citizen will sometime contem-
plate in imagination, with pleasure, and not without
some degree of wonder.
"On a summer's day, shortly after .the close of the
War of Revolution, let the observing citizen stand with
me on an exceedingly high mountain and survey the
land. It is a vast solitude, with scarce a sound to
break the reigning silence but the splashing of the
brooks in their defiles, and the brawling of the rivers
at the rifts, or perhaps the creaking of sulky old hem-
locks as the light wind stirs their branches or sways
their tottering trunks slowly to and fro. What a noble
forest is this^ covering the valleys and the high,
rounded hills, and the steep sides of the winding gulfs,
and the crests of the successive ranges that rise above
each other till the outline of a blue and curving barrier
is traced against the sky. For ages upon ages has this
land been a wilderness. Savages have hunted in it.
* "Descriptive and Historical Sketch of Steuben County,"
(M S.) politely placed at the disposal of the Editor of tliis volume.
33
Storms have passed over it, and its history would pre-
sent but a record of wild beasts slain^ of trees uprooted,
and of the passage of terrible whirlwinds which broke
wide lanes through the forest and overthrew the tim-
bers of whole hill-sides. See how the three rivers flow
through groves of elm and willow, while the white
sycamores, standing on unmolested islands, raise aloft
their long branches where the cranes rest with the
plunder of the shallows. Free rivers are these, flow-
ing joyously through the channels provided for them of
old, shackled by no dams, insulted by no bridges, tor-
mented by no saw-mills. They bear with gladness the
occasional canoe of the people that gave them their
sounding names ; they give drink to the heated deery
to the panther, and the wallowing bear, — disgusted by
no base-born beasts of the yoke wading their stony
fords, nor by geese swimming in their clear waters,
nor by swine lounging in the warm mud of the eddies.
See, also, the lakes sleeping in the hollows prepared
for them anciently, their bluffs and beaches occupied
even to the water's edge with forest trees, while soli-
tary loons and fleets of wild fowl cruise on their waters^
scared by neither the wheels of the passing steamer,
nor by the whistling bullets of fowlers. Behold too
the creeks, the brooks, the torrents, leaping down from
the highlands like hearty young mountaineers; while in
the ravines through which they brawl the great pines
stand as if dreaming, unconscious that their gigantic
trunks contain spars and saw-logs.
" But the forest is not destitute of an active popu-
lace. Bears sit growling at the windows of their tow-
34
-ers in the hollow trees ; painted catamounts lurk in the
glens; panthers crouch on the low branches of the
oaks ; elk and many thousand deer are standing in the
ponds or browsing in the thickets ; while hungry gangs
of wolves rove at dusk through the groves with dismal
howling. And these are not the only citizens of the
^Yood. There we see the myriads of squirrels, the
wood-fowls whistling and drumming in the thickets,
the old and clumsy sons of the she-bear tumbling in
the leaves in their awkward play, the comical raccoons
frolicking in the tree-tops, while the wise and sober
ivoodchuck goes forth alone, and the otter cruises in
the still waters of the streams.
" All these things, let the observing citizen mark, —
these far rolling forests, these silent lakes and wild
rivers, these savage creeks and torrents, these gorges
and wooded glens, these deep-worn valleys and the ab-
rupt ranges that bound them, and the promontories
that jut from the everchanging outlines of the ranges, —
all as they were in the ancient time before I begin the
story of their conquest, — a half melancholy story ; for
who can think how these solitudes were broken up and
these fine forests mangled without a half-regretful
thought 1
" The wilderness is doomed. Even now as we stand
on the mountain the men who will invade it are astir.
Down on the Susquehanna uneasy farmers are already
working their way upward in broad barges; uneasy
New Englanders are already launching canoes on the
Unadilla, which will find their way hither. Even now
Scotchmen, Irishmen, and Englishmen are tossing on
35
the seas -who in a few years will live in these valleys^
farmers and tradesmen, and even supervisors, Justices
of the Peace, and Judges. Barbarism, drawing its
fantastic blanket over its shoulders, and clutching its
curiously-wrought tomahawk, must withdraw to other
solitudes, jingling its brazen ornaments and whooping
as it goes."
Such was our County as seen by the " Citizen" be-
fore the year 1787. There are a few additional facts
which escaped his notice on the *' exceedingly high
mountain," which may with propriety be mentioned
before proceeding to the narration of events connected
with the settlement.
This whole region, — especially that part of it occu-
pied by the valleys of the Conhocton and Canisteo, —
was of old one of the best hunting grounds belonging
to the Six Nations, and was visited in the winter and
autumn by large parties of Seneca Indians, who came
from their villages on the Genesee for the destruction
of game. It was a royal park indeed — and yet of
course not such a park as the elegant deer-folds of
Europe thus named — but rather like those rugged and
unkempt Asiatic parks, where the Nimrods and Cy-
ruses of old, with their peers and captains, made war
upon lions and tigers, and boars ; only here were un-
fortunately neither boars, nor tigers, nor lions, and,
to speak truly, but shabby substitutes for such noble
game. It was only when the wild huntsman grappled
with the wounded panther or scuffled with the angry
bear, or dodged the horns of the furious stag, that the
perils of the chase deserved record with the exploits of
36
those worthies of old, who pricked lions in the jungles
with their Assyrian pikes. Still, of very rude and
ugly beasts there was no scarcity. Of bears and pan-
thers there were quite as many as the County could
support even under a system of direct taxation for that
purpose, and when we take into account beside these,
the large and happy communities of rattlesnakes and
catamounts which flourished in eligible localities, there
is no reason why the patriotic citizen should feel mor-
tified at our county's ancient census returns.
There are certain facts with regard to the rivers
which do not appear in the Citizen's " Sketch." Be-
fore the settlement of the county, the rivers were much
deeper, stronger, and steadier, than they are at the
present day. In modern times they are notoriously
unreliable servants of the people — sometimes reducing
the saw-mills to half-rations, and confining the eels to
limited elbovy'- room ; anon rising above their banks,
flooding the flats, sweeping away piles of lumber, and
testing the labors of the commissioners of highways
and bridges, as is the undoubted right of every river
in this republican land. The destruction of the forests
has caused the drying up of multitudes »f little springs
which formerly, by their penny contributions to the
great sinking-fund, swelled appreciably the treasures
of the streams. Freshets can be had on shorter notice
now than then, but they are of shorter duration. Then,
the snow melting in the woods slowly, caused the
March and April floods to be deliberate and of long
continuance. Now, the snow^ falling upon bare hills
and open farms, melts rapidly at sunshine and shower.
3T
rushes into the ravines and swells the creeks v/ith vio-
lent and short-lived freshets. Many channels which
were formerly the beds of petty, but perennial brooks,
are now " dry runs," except after rains, when they
are filled with powerful torrents. The State Geolo-
gist apprehends serious inconvenience from the failure
of water, if the destruction of the forest is continued
in the future as extravagantly as during the last fifty
years.
Our ancient rivers, in addition to their superiority
in depth and power to the shallow streams which to-
day wind through our valleys, were far more correct in
their habits and firm in their principles than the mo-
dern waters — not being so easily persuaded to indulge
in irregularities, and not taking advantage of every
winter-thaw, to rise up, and go off on a " bender," as
it were, with the creeks and runnels, like a crew of
light-headed youngsters. And yet it is not to be sup-
posed that they refrained entirely from such extrava-
gances. Early settlers well remember how the lower
valley of the Tioga was flooded from hill to hill fully a
mile, deep enough, almost, at the shallowist, to swim
a horse; and how men, near Painted Post, paddled their
canoes in the roads for miles. This was about forty-
five years ago.
The rivers were furthermore grievously afflicted
with flood-wood. They bore down with their strong-
est waters annual tribute to the Susquehanna, of
trees, broken trunks, and enormous roots — the bullion
of the forest — like savage chiefs of the mountain, bear-
ing gifts to the prince of the plains, of rough ores, un-
5
38
wrought gems, and the feathers of strange birds. In
modern days we continue this tribute, but in a differ-
ent form, as evidence of our improved state— coining the
uncooth bullion into boards or huge ingots of timber.
Notwithstanding the great quantities of flood-wood
from which the rivers freed themselves by the occasion-
al floods, there were yet large masses of this raft which
the freshet did not loosen, or at most, shifted from
point to point. The two lesser rivers were fairly
strangled by these dams. Navigation, for any craft
heavier that the birch canoe of the pagan, was utterly
impracticable. After the settlement of the county,
these collections of flood-wood were chopped and burn-
ed away at a considerable public expense. Something
has been done, too, toward straightening the navigable
streams. Upon the whole, it would appear that our
county contained in old times, a very heedless and law-
less family of waters. The rivers were badly snarled.
It is one of the most pleasing results of a judicious civ-
ilization that these tangled torrents have been combed
out smoothly, and that the mountain creeks, which then
like wild colts came leaping through the ravines, have
at last been caught in huge timber traps so ingeniously
contrived with bulkheads and flooms, that there was
really no chance of escape for these lively streams,
and have been given to understand that all this caper-
ing through the glens, and leaping over the rocks,
might be excused when the poor Indian who knew no-
thing about hydraulics held the land, but that they
must now come into the harness and carry saw-logs
and turn under-shot wheels.
39
Considering all these things — the forests, the hills,
the shaded islands, the wild beasts, and the untamed
rivers — our county appears to have been truly a fast-
ness of barbarism. Its ancient tenants did not yield
it without a long battle, fought inch by inch with fire
and steel. Mountains and rivers formed a league.
The mountains displayed the fortitude of martyrs.
When beset by merciless farmers, they resolutely re-
fused to give up their treasures. Dumb and obstinate
they were stripped of their raiment, they were flayed,
they were torn with plows and harrows, they were
scorched with fire — like Jews in the castles of the old
barons — and only surrendered their hidden wealth af-
ter the most dreadful tortures. The rivers, with equal
fidelity, resisted the inroads of the back-woodsmen.
The '' Citizen" says, " If the rivers of this county
were anciently populated with any tribe of Indian bo-
gles, or water-imps, (and there is no good reason for
supposing that they were not,) I should say that these
invisible citizens mustered for a last stand, in de-
fence of their homes. They built barricades of flood-
wood, they piled up battlements of great roots, they
pulled down mighty sycamores to fortify the rifts. But
they were overpowered like the insurgents of Paris.
Their barricades were broken witli axes or destroyed
by fire, and the fleets of the pioneers pushed their way
up the rivers by degrees, driving before them these un-
lucky little aborigines."
There were many patches of land on the river flats,
which were free from timber. At the north of the
Canisteo there was an " open flat" of some two hun-
40
dred acres. In the upper valley of that river there
was a much larger one. There were open flats near
the Painted Post and up the Tioga, and a single one
on the Conhocton — the fine meadows south of the vil-
vage of Bath.
There was at this time a man living near Northum-
berland, in Pennsylvania, who afterwards became a
noted citizen of this county ; and although his con-
nection with it did not begin till after the first settle-
ments were made, yet, for convenience, a brief sketch
of him may be introduced.
BENJAMIN PATTERSON, THE HUNTER.
Of great renown, towards the close of the last cen-
tury, throughout all the hill-country of the West, was
Ben Patterson, the hunter. From the mid-branches
of the Susquehanna to the most north-western waters of
that river, there was not one of greater fame. Cou-
rageous and energetic of spirit, and powerful of frame,
he explored the forests of Pennsylvania, roved over
the ridges and through the ravines of the Alleganies,
navigated untried rivers, discovered mines and hidden
valleys, gave names to creeks and mountains, and
guided adventures through the wilderness.
Sometimes he was a hunter ; sometimes an Indian
fighter ; sometimes a spy ; sometimes a Moses to des-
pairing emigrants ; sometimes forrester to backwoods
barons. He had been associated with all the noted
characters of the frontier : with Gurty, the renegade ;
with Murphy, the runner; with Van Campen, the
41
ranger ; with Hammond, the fighter. He knew the
farmers of Wyoming, the riflemen of the West Branch,
and the warriors of Niagara. To bears, panthers,
and wolves, to elk, deer, and beaver, he was an Alaric.
The number of these beasts that fell before his rifle
almost passes account. In the latter years of his life,
when an old man, living on his farm by the Tioga, and
game began to become scarce, he thought it necessary
to put a narrow limit to his annual destruction of deer,
and in each year thereafter laid up his rifle when he
had killed an hundred. He was not a mere destroyer
of wild beasts, but a man of keen observation, of re-
markable powers of memory, of intelligence, of judg-
ment, and withal of strict integrity. He possessed
great powers of narration. Not only children and
rough men of the frontier, but men of learning, listen-
ed hour after hour to his thousand tales. The late
Chief Justice Spencer, when Circuit Judge, once met
him at the Mud Creek tavern, in this county, and was
so interested with his graphic descriptions of wild
scenery and wood life, that he sat up all night with
him engaged in conversation ; and always after, when
holding court at Bath, sent for the hunter, provided
for him at the hotel, and passed in his company a
great part of his time off the bench.
Mr. Patterson was born in London county, in the
State of Virginia, in the year 1759, and died in 1830,
at Painted Post, having been for the last thirty-five
years of his life a citizen of this county. His mother
was a cousin of Daniel Boone, the first of the Ken-
tuckians. Early in life he removed with the family of
5*
42
his step-father to Pennsylvania, and passed the greater
part of his youth in that State, though living for a
time again in Virginia. It Tvas on the Susqehanna
frontiers that his hunting tastes were formed and de-
veloped.
During the Revolutionary war he served in a rifle-
corps, organized for the defence of the borders, and in
this perilous service met with many adventures. At
the skirmish of Freeling's Fort, in 1779, he and his
younger brother Robert (who afterwards was also a
citizen of this county) fought in the party of Captain
Hawkins Boone, and narrowly escaped with their lives.
Freeling's Fort, on the West Branch of the Susque-
hanna, had been taken by a party of Tories and In-
dians, the former under the command of McDonald, a
noted loyalist of Tryon county, in New York, and the
latter led by Hiakatoo (the husband of Mary Jemison
'' the white woman.") Captain Boone's party of
thirty-two volunteered to scout in the neighbor-
hood of the captured fort, and to attack the ene-
my if it could be advantageously done. They
advanced cautiously, and succeeded in concealing
themselves in a cluster of bushes overlooking the
camp of the enemy. Both tories and Indians
were engaged in cooking or eating, while a single
sentinel, a fine tall savage, with a blanket drawn over
his head, walked slowly to and fro. Boone's men com-
menced firing by platoons of six. The sentry sprang
into the air with a whoop and fell dead. The enemy
yelling frightfully ran to arms and opened a furious
but random fire at their unseen foes. Their bullets
43
rattled through the bushes -^yhere Boone's men laj hid,
but did no mischief. The slaughter of Indians and
Tories was dreadful. The thirtj-two rangers firing
coolly and rapidly by sixes, with the unerring aim of
frontiersmen, shot down one hundred and fifty (so the
story runs) before the enemy broke and fled. Boone's
men, with strange indiscretion, rushed from their
covert in pursuit, and immediately exposed their
weakness of numbers. Hiakatoo with his Indians
made a circuit, and attacked them in the rear, while
McDonald turned upon their front. They were sur-
rounded. " Save yourselves men as you can," cried
Captain Boone. The enemy closed with tomahawks and
spears. This part of the fight occurred in the midst
of the woods. The rangers broke through their foes,
and fled with such success that many escaped, but
their captain and more than half of his men were
killed. Robert Patterson, who was very swift of foot,
was followed several miles to the clearings of another
fort by three or four fleet Indians. Seeing that he
would escape from them, his pursuers reserved their
fire till he should clamber over the fence which enclosed
the clearing, when they might aim at him with greater
certainty than while he was running through the
woods. He however sprang to the top rail at a bound
and escaped. The bullets struck the wood just under
his feet. Benjamin Patterson, in the meantime, had
hidden himself under a log overgrown with vines or
briars. The Indians ransacked the woods all around,
and passed so near his hiding place that he could touch
their moccasins with his ramrod. Many times he
44
thought himself discovered, and was on the point of
springing forth to die fighting, but the Indians gradu-
ally wandered away from his vicinity. The last strag-
gler returning from the pursuit carried the dripping
scalp of the only red-haired man in the party, which he
was twirling around his finger with great delight.
" I was strongly tempted to shoot that fellow,'' said
Patterson, but on reflecting that the main body of the
Indians was not distant, he thought it prudent to deny
himself that pleasure. At night he escaped to Boone's
Fort.
The enemy re-took the prisoners of Freeling's Fort,
and carried away many captives to Niagara. Patter-
son, in a company of rangers, pursued. They believed
that the Indians had a great many wounded with them,
for at the deserted encampments bushels of slippery-
elm bark were found, which had been pounded in pre-
paring draughts and dressings.* The enemy struck
over from Pine Creek to the Tioga, and passed up the
valley of the Conhocton to Niagara.
Patterson was engaged throughout the war in the
perilous frontier-services ; sometimes scouting with the
wary and fearless captains of the borders ; sometimes
skirmishing in the forests ; sometimes devising plots
* Captain Montour, the chief who was buried at the Painted Post,
was in McDonald's band, and died from wounds received at Free-
ling's or Freeland's Fort. He was said to be a son of Queen Cathe-
rine of Seneca Lake. There is no detailed account of this skirmish
in any accessible book with wliich to compare Patterson's etory. It
is briefly alluded to in the biographies of Brant and Van Campen,
the only authorities at hand.
45
and counter plots against the secret and wise foes who
hid in the dark places of the wilderness, and came and
went like the lightning. At the close of the war he
was at liberty to give himself up to his roving and
hunting propensities. He explored the region north
of the West Branch, passed up through the Genesee
country, spied out the land, and guided emigrants,
travellers and adventurers through the woods ; shoot-
ing always wherever he went. He was the guide of
Talleyrand in an excursion through the wild country,
and at a later period piloted another French gentleman
for many weeks around the wilderness. The latter
was agent for a company of French emigrants, then
residing at Philadelphia, who desired to make a settle-
ment in some choice place on the outside of civilization.
The Frenchman was a merry companion, and took to
wild life with a good grace. With a negro servant he
followed the hunter over a great extent of country,
learning to swim and shoot, bathing in the lakes, sleep-
ing on the ground, and learning backwoods science
with much zeal. The emigrants, it is said, were sadly
taken in by the land speculators who sold them at a
great price, an armful of mountains not worth eighteen
pence.
The hunter's home was for many years on the West
Branch, near Northumberland. After the war, the
region thereabout began to be overrun to a destructive
rate with farmers, who laid waste the homes of the
bear and the wolf with the most sickening barbarity.
The forests were again and again decimated, till his
old hunting grounds, disfigured with wheat fields, corn
46
fields and potato fields, presented a melancholy scene
of devastation. The wild beasts quite lost heart, and
began to retire to deeper solitudes, and the hunter de-
termined to remove his household elsewhere, into a
land as yet unmolested by plowmen and wood-choppers.
In the year 1796, he boated his goods'^up the river to
Painted Post, and kept for seven years the old tavern
at Knoxville. At the end of that time, he moved up
on the farm now occupied by one of his sons, two miles
above the village of Painted Post, on the Tioga. It
was quite a productive farm, yielding a crop of twenty-
two wolves, nine panthers, bears a few, besides deer,
shad and salmon uncounted.
He was of medium stature, and squarely built.
When in his prime, he possessed great strength and
activity, and was famed as " a very smart man."
He never encountered a man who got the better of him
in a scuffle. His acquaintance with the famous inter-
preter, Horatio Jones,* commenced in true frontier
chivalry. A party of Indians, with a few white men,
had gathered around a camp-fire near the Genesee,
when for some reason, the savages began to insult and
abuse an individual who was standing by. At length
they threw him into the fire. The man scrambled out.
The Indians again seized him and threw him into the
fire. Patterson, who stood near, a perfect stranger to
the company, sprang forward, saying to the tormentors
Don't burn the man alive !" and dragged him off the
(C
" A Pennsylvanian. Taken prisoner by the Indians when eigh-
teen years of age ; he became, for his courage, strength and spirit,
a farorite with his captors, and gained great influence over them.
47
burning logs. Two or three of this genial party,
displeased at the interruption of their diversions, im-
mediately assaulted the hunter, but relinquished the
honor of whipping him to Jones, who stepped forward
to settle the aifair in person. Jones was also famed
as a " smart man," being powerful, well skilled in
athletic sports, and able to maintain his authority over
the Indians by strength of arm. Before the fight had
lasted many minutes, the savages standing around be-
gan to whisper in their own language, '' He has got
his match this time," with perhaps some little satis-
faction, for the Interpreter used a rod of iron, and
sometimes banged his people about without ceremony.
Jones was badly beaten, and kept his wigwam for
aeveral days. At the trial of the Indians, Sundown
and Curly-eye, at Bath, in 1825, (or about that time,)
Jones, who was present as interpreter, laughed heartily
over the matter, and sent his compliments to the old
hunter.
He was of course a crack shot, and carried a rifle
which killed where vulgar guns smoked in vain. In
one of his excursions with Capt. Williamson, he found
a wild ox roving- over the vast Genesee Flats, which,
by his sagacity and swiftness, baffled all the efforts of
the Indians to destroy him. This beast was the last
of several domestic oxen, which at times strayed to
these marvellous meadows, and became wild as buffa-
loes. They lived like the cattle of Eden in the luxu-
rious pasture of the flats during the summer, and in
the winter by thrusting their noses through the snow,
ate the frozen grass below, and sustained life quite
48
comfortably. All had been slain but the one which
was now grazing in that great field, and his faculties
had been so sharpened by the relapse to barbarism,
that it was quite impossible for even the craft of the
Indians to circumvent him. His scent was almost as
keen as the elk's ; his eyesight was so quick and sus-
picious, that before the red men could skulk within
gunshot of him, he shook his great white horns and
raced off through the high grass like an antelope.
Capt. Williamson charged Patterson to lay low the
head of this famous beast. The hunter crept along
carefully while the ox was grazing, and when it raised
its head and stared around the plain to discern an ene-
my, lay flat in the grass. Either his patience or his
skill was greater than that of the Indians, for he com-
pletely out-generalled the wary animal, got within fair
shooting range of it, fired and brought it down. The
savages set up a great whooping, and crowded around
the fallen ox as though it were a horned horse, or a
sea-elephant. One of his noble horns, suitably carved
and ornamented, afterwards hung at the hunter's side
as a powder-horn.
He preserved in his old age all the characteristics of
the hunter, and always found his chief pleasures in
the vigorous pursuits to which his youth had been de-
voted. When attending court at Bath, as a juryman,
he was in the habit of going out in the morning, before
any body was stirring, to the little lake, east of the
village, and shooting a deer before breakfast. It is to
be regretted that the reminiscences we have collected
of this far-known character, and recorded in this and
49
in succeeding chapters of this volume, are so scanty.
More of the thousand tales, which he told of the "old
times " to boys and neighbors and travellers, might
doubtless be gathered even yet; but had they been taken
from his own lips in his lifetime, they would have formed
a volume of reminiscence and adventure of rare in-
terest. There would have been, besides, a gain in ac-
curacy ; for what we have collected were told twenty
or thirty years ago to youngsters. Whatever was told
by the old hunter himself was to be relied upon, for
he was carefully and strictly truthful.
6
CHAPTER III.
THE SETTLEMENTS MADE UNDER THE PURCHASE BY
PHELPS AND GORHAM PAINTED POST THE FIRST
SETTLER THE SETTLEMENT OF THE UPPER VALLEY
OF THE CANISTEO THE CANISTEO FLATS LIFE
IN THE VALLEY A WRESTLING MATCH CAPTAIN
JOHN OLD ENEMIES MAJOR VAN CAMPEN AND
MOHAWK A DISCOMFITED SAVAGE CAPTURE OF A
SAW-MILL THE LOWER CANISTEO VALLEY COL.
LINDLY A DEER-SLAYER IMMORTALIZED.
THE OLD TOWN OF PAINTED POST.
In the summer of 1779, a numerous party of Tories
and Indians, under the command of a Loyalist named
McDonald and Hiakatoo, a renowned Seneca war-chief,
returned to the north by way of Pine creek, the Tioga,
and the Conhocton, from an incursion among the set-
tlements on the west branch of the Susquehanna. They
had suffered a severe loss in a conflict with the border-
ers, and brought with them many wounded. Their
march was also encumbered by many prisoners, men,
women and children, taken at Freeling's Fort. A
party of rangers followed them a few days, journeying
into the wilderness, and found at their abandoned en-
campment abundantproof of the manfulness with which
51
the knives and rifles of the frontier had been used in
repelling its foes, in the heaps of bark and roots which
had been pounded or steeped in preparing draughts
and dressings for the wounded warriors. Under the
elms of the confluence of the Tioga and Conhocton,
Captain Montour, a half-breed, a fine young chief, a
gallant warrior and a favorite with his tribe, died of
his wounds. He was a son of the famous Queen Cath-
arine. His comrades buried him by the river side,
and planted above his grave a post on which was painted
various symbols and rude devices. This monument
was known throughout the Genesee Forest as the Paint-
ed Post. It was a landmark well known to all the
Six Nations, and was often visited by their braves and
chieftains.*
* This account of the origin of the Painted Post was given to Ben-
jamin Patterson, the Hunter, by a man named Taggart, who was
carried to Fort Niagara a prisoner by McDonald's party, and was a
witness of the burial of Captain Montour, or at least was in the en-
campment at the mouth of the Tioga at the time of his death. Col.
Harper, of Harpersfield, the well known officer of the frontier mihtia
of New York in the Revolution, informed Judge Knox, of Knoxville
in this county, that the Painted Post was erected over the grave of a
chief who was wounded at the battle of the Hog-back, and brought
in a canoe to the head of the Chemung, where he died. At all events
it was well understood by the early settlers, that this monument
was erected in memory of some distinguished warrior who had been
wounded in one of the border battles of the Revolution, and after-
wards died at this place. The post stood for many years after the
settlement of the county, and the story goes that it rotted down at
the butt, and was preserved in the bar-room of a tavern till about
the year 1810, and then disappeared unaccountably. It is also said
to have been swept away in a freshet.
62
At the Painted Post, the first habitation of civilized
man erected in Steuben county, was built by William
Harris, an Indian Trader. Harris was a Pennsylva-
nian, and not long after the close of the Revolutionary
war pushed up the Chemung with a cargo of Indian
goods, to open a traffic with the hunting parties of the
Six Nations, which resorted at certain seasons to the
northwestern branches of the Susquehanna. A canoe or
a pack-horse sufficed at that time to transport the
yearly merchandise of the citizens of our county. Sixty-
five years afterwards, an armada of canal boats and a
caravan of cars hardly performed this labor. The
precise date of Harris's arrival is unknown. Judge
Baker, late of Pleasant Valley, found the trader estab-
lished at his post in the spring of 1787. On Christ-
mas night following, he went down to the Painted Post,
and finding the cabin burned and the trader missing,
he inferred that the latter had perhaps been killed by
his customers — a disaster by no means unlikely to be-
fall a merchant in a region where the position of debtor
was much more pleasant and independent than that of
creditor, especially if the creditor had the misfortune
to be white and civilized. Harris, however, had met
with no calamity. On the contrary, his intercourse
with the Indians was of a very friendly and confiden-
tial character. They rendered him much valuable
assistance in setting up business, not of course by en-
dorsing his paper, or advancing funds on personal se-
curity; but by helping him to erect his warehouse, and
patronising him in the handsomest manner afterwards.
They even carried the logs out of which the cabin was
53
built, on their shoulders, to the proposed site of the
edifice, which was after all, to speak with strict ety-
mology, a species of endorsement.
The savages manifested much zeal in promoting the
establishment of a trading post at the head of the Che-
mung, and indeed it was a matter of as much conse-
quence at that time as the building of a Railroad De-
pot is in modern days. Before that, the citizens of
the county were obliged to go to Tioga Point, nearly
fifty miles below, to buy their gunpowder, liquors,
knives, bells, brads, and jews-harps ; and the pro-
posal of Harris to erect a bazaar at the Painted Post,
for the sale of these articles, was as vital concern to
the interests of the county as at the present day an
ofifer of the government to establish a university in
Tyrone or an observatory in Troupsburg would be. It
was a great day for the county when the trader's
cabin was finished, and his wares unpacked. Then
the sachem might buy scalping knives and hatchets on
the bank of his own river ; the ladies of the wilderness
could go shopping without paddling their canoes to
the Susquehanna, and the terrible warriors of the Six
Nations, as they sat of an evening under their own elm
trees, smoking pipes bought at the " People's Store,"
hard by, forgot their cunning ; when some renowned
Captain Shiverscull, a grim and truculent giant, steeped
to his elbows in the blood of farmers, and scarred with
bullets and tomahawks like a target, sat upon a log,
soothing his savage breast with the melodies of a jews-
harp, or winding around that bloody finger, which had
so often been twisted in the flaxen scalp-locks of Penn-
6*
54
sylvanian children, a string of beads, bought for his
own ugly little cub, that lay asleep in the wigwam of
Genesee.
At the time of Judge Baker's visit, Harris was only
temporarily absent. He afterwards returned to Painted
Post with his son, and lived there a few years, when
he again removed to Pennsylvania. One or two others
are sometimes pointed out as the first settlers of the
county ; but evidence, which must be regarded as re-
liable and decisive, proves that the first civilized resi-
dent was William Harris. It is possible, indeed, that
before his advent some straggling adventurer may have
wandered hither, built him a lodge, perhaps planted
corn on the open flats, and afterwards strayed to parts
unknown, leaving no trace of his existence. There
have always been, on the frontiers, eccentric geniuses,
to whom such a line of conduct was no strange thing.
There have always been, on the frontiers, a few vaga-
bonds, who should have been born wolves, who forsake
civilized homes and join the Indians, and are only hin-
dered from living with the bears in their hollow trees,
by the refusal of these sensible monsters to fraternize
with such loafers. Hermits, hunters and vagabonds
find their way into strange places, and it is by no
means impossible that some pleasant island or open
flat may have harbored one of these outlaws before
any other wanderer, laying claim to civilization, smote
our forests with the all-conquering axe. No such Ro-
binson Crusoe, however, presents himself as a candi-
date for historical honors, and it is, upon the whole, im-
probable that any such preceded the trader, or if he
55
did, that he enjoyed his solitude a great while unmo-
lested. The " Man Friday " he would have been like-
ly to catch here would most probably have caught Am,
and whisked his scalp off without winking.
Harris was a trader, and did not cultivate the soil.
Frederick Calkins, a Vermonter, was the first farmer
of Steuben. He made his settlement near the head of
the Chimney Narrows, in 1788. After living there
alone for a time, he returned to the east for his family.
During this absence, Phelps and Gorham's surveyors
made head-quarters at Painted Post, which accounts
for the omission of his name in Judge Porter's narra-
tive, quoted in the last chapter. George Goodhue fol-
lowed Mr. Calkins in a year or two.
Township number two in the second range, was pur-
chased of Phelps and Gorham, in 1T90, by six pro-
prietors, Frederick Calkins, Justus Wolcott, of East-
ern New York, Ephraim Patterson, of Connecticut,
Silas Wood, Caleb Gardener and Peleg Gorton. The
price paid for the township was eight cents per acre.
The old town of Painted Post comprised the present
towns of Hornby, Campbell, Erwin, Painted Post, Ca-
ton and Lindley. The earliest settlers along the Che-
mung and Conhocton were the six proprietors (except-
ing Silas Wood), Eli and Eldad Mead, (1790,) David
and Jonathan Cook, of New Jersey, (1790,) Judge
Knox, of Eastern New York, (1793,) Benjamin Eaton,
Elias Williams, Henry McCormick, Hezekiah Thur-
ber, Bradford Eggleston, Samuel Colegrove, John Ber-
ry and others. John Winters, a famous hunter, set-
56
tied there at an early day, and families named Rowan,
Waters, Van Wye, Turner, McCullick, &c.
Mr. Eli Mead was the first Supervisor of the town,
and went on foot to Canandaigua, to attend the meet-
ing of the Board of Supervisors of Ontario county.
Gen. McClure, speaking of the early settlers of that
neighborhood, mentions " a man by the name of Ful-
ler, who kept the old Painted Post Hotel. That an-
cient house of entertainment, or tavern (as such were
then called) w^as composed of round logs, one stor}^
high, and if I mistake not was divided into two apart-
ments. This house was well patronized by its neigh-
bors as by travellers from afar. All necessarily stop-
ped here for refreshment, as well for themselves as for
their horses. Fuller, the landlord, was a good natured,
slow and easy kind of a man, but his better half, Nel-
ly, was a thorough-going, smart, good-looking woman,
and was much admired by gentlemen generally. To
the wearied traveller, nothing can be more agreeable
than a pleasant, obliging landlady. There were other
respectable families settled at Painted Post, not many
years after, (1794,) Thomas McBurney, Esq., Capt.
Samuel Erwin, Frank and Arthur, his brothers, Capt.
Howell Bull, John E. Evans, an Englishman, and
others."
A mill was built on the Post Creek, near the Nar-
rows, by Mr. Payne and Col. Henderson, as early as
1793 or 1794. This mill is described by the few who
remember it, as having been mainly built of logs " so
that you could drive a pig through it."
The first establishment, for the sale of goods to ci-
57
vilized men, was kept bj Benjamin Eaton. He went
for his first stock to Wattles' Ferry (now Unadilla
village) in a canoe, with a man and a boj, (Mr. Samuel
Cook, of Campbelltown.) At that place he purchased
another canoe, loaded his fleet with goods and returned
to Painted Post.
Col. Arthur Erwin, the ancestor of a large family
bearing his name, emigrated from Ireland before the
Revolution. Daring the war he served in the Ameri-
can army. He resided in Bucks County, Pennsyl-
vania, and became the proprietor of a large landed es-
tate. He was shot dead through the window of a log
house at Tioga Point, in 1792, by an ejected squatter,
who escaped.
Hon. William Steele, a well known and highly re-
spected citizen of Painted Post, removed from New
Jersey in 1819. He served in the war of the Revolu-
tion, and was severely wounded and made prisoner at
sea in 1780. In 1785 he was appointed clerk in the
old Board of Treasury, and in 1794 he commanded a
troop of horse and aided in suppressing the insurrection
near Pittsburgh. He died in 1851. {Obituary notice
in Corning Journal.)
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE
CANISTEO.
A party of boatmen attached to General Sullivan's
army in the invasion of the Genesee in 1779, while
awaiting in the Chemung River the return of their
commander and his column from the north, pushed up
58
the river as far as tlie Painted Post, out of curiosity to
know how the hind lay on the northwestern branches
of the Susquehanna. Among the soldiers of Sullivan
was Uriah Stephens, Jr., a Pennsylvanian. He believ-
ing, from the report of the boatmen, that some fertile
flat might lie among those northern hills where fron-
tiersmen, not bountifully provided for in the lower val-
leys, might found settlements and thrive for a time on
venison and hominy, determined after the war to seek
such a place and to emigrate thither.
Mr. Stephens belonged to a numerous family of New
England descent, which had settled at an early day in
the Wyoming region ; and they, with other families
which afterwards joined them in the settlement of the
Upper Canisteo, suffered in the attack of the Indians
and Tories on that ill-fated district in 17T8. One of
the oldest surviving members of the family was carried
in the arms of a neighbor (James Hadlej^, also a settler
of Canisteo,) from the farm to the fort, and though al-
most an infant at the time retains distinctly the impres-
sion made by the night alarm, the terror, the flight
and the confusion. The wife of Col. John Stephens,
a late well-known citizen, was once captured by a party
of savages, and in the skirmish and rescue which ensued
upon the pursuit of her captors by the border-men
(one account says at the battle of the Hog-back) was
Avounded by a rifle ball fired by one of her friends.
The Stephens', after several removals from Wysox,
Queen Esther's Flats, and other localities, were living,
in the fourth or fifth year after the close of the Revo-
lutionary War, at Newtown.
59
Several families, relatives and acquaintance, were
found willing to engage in the enterprise of further
emigration. In 1788, Solomon Bennet, Capt. John
Jameson, Uriah Stephens, and Richard Crosby, started
upon an exploration. Passing up the Chemung to
Painted Post, they found there a few cabins, a half a
dozen settlers, and Saxton and Porter, the surveyors
of Phelps and Gorham. Penetrating further into the
north by way of the Conhocton Valley, they found no
lands which satisfied their expectations. On their re-
turn they struck across the hills from the upper waters
of the Conhocton, and after toiling through the dense
forests which crowded the shattered region to the west-
ward of that river, they came suddenly upon the brink
of a deep and fine valley through which the Canisteo
rambled, in a crooked channel marked by the elms and
willows which overhung it. The prospect was singu-
larly beautiful. The huge barriers of the valley laden
with that noble timber which raftsmen for half a cen-
tury have been floating through the cataracts of the
Susquehanna, ran in precipitous parallels at a generous
distance for several miles and then closing in, granted
the river for its passage but a narrow gorge made dark
by hemlocks. A heavy forest covered the floor of the
valley. Groves of gigantic pine stood with their deep
green tops in the midst of the maples, the elms, and
the white sycamores. So even was the surface of the
vale, so abrupt and darkly-shaded the ranges that en-
closed it, that the explorers, looking down upon the
tree tops that covered the ground from hill to hill,
seemed to be standing above a lake of timber. At the
60
lower part of the valley there was an open flat, of seve-
ral hundred acres, overgrown with wild grass so high
that a horse and rider could pass through the meadow
almost unseen. It was like a little prairie, beautiful
indeed, but strangely out of place in that rugged re-
gion, — as if some great Indian prophet had stolen a
choice fragment from the hunting grounds of the Mis-
souri and hidden it in the midst of mountains bristling
with gloomy hemlocks.
The explorers decided to purchase the two townships
on the river, which included the open flats. Eight
other men joined in the purchase : Col. Arthur Urwin,
Joel Thomas, Uriah Stephens, (father of Uriah Ste-
phens, Jr.,) John Stephens, his son, William Wine-
coop, James Hadley, Elisha Brown and Christian
Kress.
In the summer of 1789, a company of men were sent
to the flats, who cut and stacked a sufficient quantity
of wild grass to winter the cattle that were to be
driven on. In the autumn of the same year, Uriah
Stephens, the elder, and Richard Crosby, with por-
tions of their families, started from Newtown to begin
the proposed settlement. The provisions, baggage and
families were carried up in seven-ton boats, while four
sons of Mr. Stephens, Elias, Elijah, Benjamin and
William, drove along the shore the cattle belonging to
the two families in the boats, and to four other families
which were to join them in the spring. From the mouth
of the Canisteo to the upper flats, the movement was
tedious and toilsome. Frequent rifts were to be as-
cended, and the channel was often to be cleared of ob-
61
structions, the trunks of trees and dams of drift-^wood.
On one day, they made but six miles. However, as
the destinies, after forty centuries of hesitation, had
decided that Upper Canisteo must be civilized, all
obstacles were steadily surmounted. At the rifts,
where the nose of the unwieldy boat, plowing under
the water, at last wheeled about in spite of setting
poles and swearing, and went down again to the foot of
the rapids, every human thing that could pull, went
on shore, took hold of a long rope, and hauled the
barge up by main force. Thus for some three days
the pioneers of Canisteo toiled up the hostile current,
prob-ably not without some little noise, as the shouting
of boatmen, or the bawling of the youths on shore at
the straggling cattle, which sometimes got entangled
in the willow thickets by the little river, sometimes
scrambled up the hill sides, sometimes stopped, shak-
ing their horns in affright, when the wolf or fox bounded
across the trail, or came racing back in paroxysms of
terror, making the gorge to resound with strange bel-
lowings, when they suddenly met the ugly and growling
bear, sitting like a foot-pad upon his haunches in the
middle of the path, and so near to their unsuspecting
nostrils, that he might cuff the face of the forward bul-
lock with his paw, before the startled cattle became
aware that they had ventured into the lurking-place of
the shaggy brigand.
At length the persevering voyagers landed on the
upper flats. The astonished cattle found themselves
almost smothered in the herbage of the meadows. The
first thing to be devised was, of course, a habitation.
7
62
The bark hut of the savage was the only structure-
which the wilderness had yet beheld, and was un-
doubtedly a sufficient house for cannibals or philosa-
phers ; but the pioneers, who were neither the former
nor the latter, went straightway into the woods, cut
down certain trees, and built a luxurious castle of logs,
26 feet long by 24 wide. There was but one room be-
low. Four fire-places were excavated in the four
corners, and they who know what caverns fire-places
were in old times, can imagine the brilliant appearance
of this Canisteo Castle at night, through the winter,
when the blaze of burning logs in all the furnaces
filled the cabin with light, and glimmering through the
crevices, was seen by the Indian as he walked by on
the crackling crust of the snow toward his lodge in the
woods. In the following spring a family was en-
camped before each of the fire-places, and occupied
each its own territory with as much good humour as
if divided from the others by stone walls and gates of
brass.
The two families passed here the first winter very
comfortably. In the spring of 1790 they were joined
by Solomon Bennet, Uriah Stephens, Jr., and Colonel
.Tohn Stephens his brother, with their families. As
soon as the weather permitted, they set about prepar-
ing the ground for seed. Although the flat was free
from timber, this was no trifling task. The roots of
the gigantic wild grass, braided and tangled together
below the surface, protected the earth against the plow
with a net so tight and stout, that ordinary means of
breaking the soil failed entirely. Four yoke of oxen
63
forced the coulter through this well-woven netting, and
the snapping and tearing of the roots as they gave way
before the strength of eight healthy beeves was heard
to a considerable distance, like the ripping of a mat.
The settlers never learned the origin of these mea-
dows. " Captain John the Indian" said that he knew
nothing of their origin ; they were cleared " before
the time of his people." After the frosts, when the
herbage had become dry and crisp, the grass was set
on fire, and a very pretty miniature of a prairie-on-fire
it made. The flames flashed over the flats almost as
over a floor strewn with gunpowder. A swift horse
could not keep before them. The wild grass, by suc-
cessive mowings and burning, became less rank and
more nutritious. In time it gradually changed to
" tame grass," and at the present day there are mea-
dows on the Canisteo which have never been broken
by the plow.
After the sowing of Spring wheat and the planting
of the corn, the settlers constructed a log fence on a
scale as magnificent, considering their numbers, as
that of the Chinese wall. This ponderous battlement
enclosed nearly four hundred acres of land. The flats
vyere divided among the proprietors. From the pre-
sent site of Bennetsville down to the next township, a
distance of about six miles, twelve lots were laid out
from hill to hill across the valley, and assigned by lot
to the several proprietors. The lot upon which the
first house was built is known as the " Bennet" or
^' Pumpelly farm." That part of it upon which the
house stood is upon the farm of Mr. Jacob Doty. In
64
the course of the same spring (1790) Jedediah Ste-
phens, John Redford, and Andrew Bennet settled in
the neighborhood. Jedediah Stephens, afterwards welt
known to the citizens of the county, was a faithful and
respected preacher of the Baptist denomination. His
house was for many years the resort of missionaries
and religious travellers who passed through the valley,
and indeed was said to be one of the few places where
pilgrims of a serious disposition, and not inclined to
join the boisterous company of the neighborhood, could
find lodgings entirely to their satisfaction.
The harvest abundantly attested the fertility of the
valley. Seventy or seventy-five bushels of corn were
yielded to the acre. Indeed, the timbered flats have
been known to yield seventy-five bushels of corn,
planted with the hoe after logging. They sent their
grain in canoes to Shepherd's Mill, on the Susquehan-
na, a short distance above Tioga Point, and nearly one
hundred miles distant from Canisteo.
A few random notes of the settlement of this neigh-
borhood may be added. Solomon Bennet was one of
its leading spirits. He was a hunter of renown, and
bequeathed his skill and good fortune to his sons, who
became well known citizens of the county, and were
famous for readiness with the knife and rifle, and for
" perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment" (or better)
touching traps. Mr. Bennet built, in 1793, the first
grist mill on the Canisteo. It stood (and also a saw-
mill we are told) on Bennet's creek, about half a mile
from its mouth. It stood but a year or two when it
was, unfortunately, burned to the ground. This mill
Q5
was resorted to sometimes by the citizens of Bath.
Early settlers remember how the pioneer boys came
over the hills^ through the unbroken woods, with their
ox-drays, and retain vividly the image of a distin-
guished settler who came over from the Pine Plains
with " his little brown mare and a sheepskin to ride
upon" after a bag of corn-meal to keep off starvation.
Flour was sometimes sent by canoes down the Canis-
teo and up the Conhocton. After the burning of the
mill, the settlers were again compelled to send their
grain in canoes to Shepherds Mill. Mr. Bennet went
to New York to purchase machinery for a new mill,
but became engaged in other business, and failed to
minister to the urgent necessity of his neighbors.
George Hornell (afterwards well known as Judge Hor-
nell) settled in Canisteo in 1793. He was induced to
build a mill on the site now occupied by the present
Hornellsville Mills. So impatient were the settlers for
the erection of the building, that they turned out and
prepared the timber for it voluntarily.
The first goods were sold by Solomon Bennet. Judge
Hornell and William Dunn visited the neighborhood
at an early day for trade with the Indians. James
McBurney, of Ireland, first came to Canisteo as a
pedler. He bought Great Lot, No. 12, in the lower
township of Bennet, and other lands ; went to Ireland,
and upon his return settled some of his countrymen
on his lands.
Christopher Hulburt and Nathaniel Cary settled in
1795 at Arkport. The former ran, in 1800 or about
that time, the first ark laden with wheat that descend-
►7*
66
ed the Canisteo, and about the same time John Morrison
ran the first raft. The honor of piloting the first craft
of the kind out of the Canisteo, however, is also claimed
for Benjamin Patterson.
Dr. Nathan Hallett, Jeremiah Baker, Daniel Purdy,
Oliver Harding, Thomas Butler, J. Russelman, the
Upsons, the Stearns, and the Dykes also were among
the earliest settlers on the upper Canisteo.
The first taverns were kept in the year 1800, or
about that time, by Judge Hornell, at his mills, and by
Jedediah Stephens below Bonnet's Creek. The first
house in Hornellsville stood upon the site of Mr Hugh
Magee's Hotel.
Under the old organization of the County of Ontario,
the settlement of Canisteo was in the town of William-
son, which comprised a large part of what is now
Western Steuben County, Allegany County, and how
much more we know not. Jedediah Stephens was the
first Supervisor of that town, and attended the meeting
of the Board at Canandaigua. Town meeting was
held at the house of Uriah Stephens, and seven votes
were cast.
Solomon Bennet is said by the settlers of Canisteo
to have been the Captain. John Stephens, the lieu-
tenant, and Richard Crosby the ensign of the first
military company organized in Steuben County.
A large proportion of the first settlers of Canisteo
were from Pennsylvania, and had within them a goodly
infusion of that boisterous spirit and love of rough
play for which the free and manly sons of the back-
woods are everywhere famous. On the Susquehanna
67
frontier, before the Revolution, had arisen an athletic
scuffling wrestling race, lovers of hard blows, sharp-
shooters and runners, who delighted in nothing more
than in those ancient sports by which the backs and
limbs of all stout-hearted youth have been tested since
the days of Hercules. The eating of bears, the*
drinking of grog, the devouring of hominy, venison,
and all the invigorating diet of the frontiers ; the
hewing down of forests, the paddling of canoes,
the fighting of savages, all combined to form a gene-
ration of yeomen and foresters, daring, rude and
free. Canisteo was a sprout from this stout stock,
and on the generous river-flats flourished with amazing
vigor.
Life there was decidedly Olympic. The old Pyth-
ian games were revived with an energy that would
have almost put a soul into the bones of Pindar ; and
although many of the details of those classic festivals
upon which the schoolmasters dwell with especial de-
light were wanting — the odes, the crowns of oak, the
music, and so on — nevertheless, one cannot help think-
ing that for the primitive boxers and sportsmen of
the old school, men who wore lions' hides and
carried clubs, the horse-play of Canisteo would have
been quite as entertaining as the flutes and dog-
gerel of Delphi. Every thing that could eat,
drink and wrestle, was welcome ; Turk or Tuscarora,
Anak, or Anthropophagus, Blue Beard or Blunder-
bore. A " back-hold" with a Ghoul would not have
been declined, nor a drinking match with a Berserkir.
Since the Centaurs never has there been better speci-
men of a " half-horse" tribe. To many of the settlers
. 68
in other parts of the county who emigrated from the
decorous civilization of the east and south, these bois-
terous foresters were objects of astonishment. When
"*Canisteer" went abroad, the public soon found it
out. On the Conhocton they were known to some as
the SiX'JYations, and to the amusement and wonder
of young Europeans, would sometimes visit at Bath,
being of a social disposition, and sit all day, " sing-
ing, telling stories and drinking grog, and never get
drunk nayther." To the staid and devout they were
Arabs, — cannibals. Intercourse between the scattered
settlements of the county was of course limited mainly
to visits of necessity ; but rumor took the fair fame of
Canisteo in hand, and gave the settlement a notoriety
through all the land, which few " rising villages" even
of the present day enjoy. It was pretty well under-
stood over all the country that beyond the mountains
of Steuben, in the midst of the most rugged district
of the wilderness, lay a corn-growing valley which had
been taken possession of by some vociferous tribe,
whether of Mamelukes or Tartars no one could pre-
cisely say ; whose whooping and obstreperous laughter
was heard far and wide, surprising the solitudes.
The " Romans of the West" were not long in find-
ing out these cousins, and many a rare riot they had
with them. The uproars of these festivals beggar
description. The valley seemed a den of maniacs.
The savages came down four or five times in each year
from Squakie Hill for horse and foot-racing, and to
play all manner of rude sports. In wrestling, or
in "rough-and-tumble" they were not matches for the
69
settlers, many of whom were proficients in the Susque-
hanna sciences, and had been regularly trained in all
the wisdom of the ancients. The Indians were power-
ful of frame and of good stature. The settlers agree
that " they were quick as cats, but the poor critters
had no system." When fairly grappled, the Indians-
generally came oiT second best. They were slippery
and " limber like snakes," oiling themselves freely,,
and were so adroit in squirming out of the clinch of
the farmers, that it was by no means the most trifling
part of the contest to keep the red antagonist in the
hug.
In these wrestling matches, Elias Stephens was the
champion. He was called the " smartest Stephens on
the river," and was in addition claimed by his friends
as the " smartest" man in the country at large. No
Indian in the Six Nations could lay him on his back.
A powerful young chief was once brought by his tribe
from Tonewanta to test the strength of the Canisteo
Champion. He had been carefully trained and exer-
cised, and after '* sleeping in oiled blankets" for sev-
eral nights, was brought into the ring. Stephens grap-
pled with him. At the first round the chief was hurled
to the ground with a thigh-bone broken. His backers
were very angry, and, drawing their knives, threatened,
to kill the victor. He and his friend Daniel Upson,
took each a sled-stake and standing back to back de-
fied them. The matter was finally made up, and the
unlucky chief was borne away on a deer-skin, stretched
between two poles.* In addition to this, Stephens
* Stephens was trained by a wrestler of some note living on the-
TO
once maintained the credit of the Canisteo by signally
discomfiting a famous wrestler from the Hog-back.
Foot races, long and short, for rods or miles, were fa-
vorite diversions. In these the Indians met with better
success than in wrestling ; but even in racing they did
not maintain the credit of their nation to their entire
satisfaction, for there was now and then a long-winded
youth among the settlers who beat the barbarians at
their own game. So for horse-racing, this ancient and
heroic pastime was carried on with a zeal that would
shame Newmarket. The Indians came down on these
occasions with all their households, women, children,
dogs and horses. The settlers found no occasion to
complain of their savage guests. They conducted
themselves with civility, generally, and even formed
in some instances, warm friendships with their hosts.
Infant Canisteo of course followed in the footsteps
of senior Canisteo. When fathers and big brothers
Chemung named McCormick, -who afterward was for many years a
citizen of this county. McCormick was a British soldier, and reputed
to be the most powerful and expert pugilist in the army. He de-
serted during the Revolutionary war and went with Arnold to Que-
bec. After the failure of the desperate assault on that town, Mc-
Cormick, with a party of American soldiers, were standing on the ice
of the St. Lawrence when the British approached to make them
prisoners. Knowing that the deserter would be hanged, if taken,
his comrades gathered around him in a huddle, pretending to pre-
pare resistance. The British parlied. In the mean time McCormick
pulled off his shoes, for " the ice was as smooth as a bottle," and ran.
A shower of bullets rattled around him, but he was so fortunate as
to escape unhurt. Captain Silas Wheeler, late of the town of Whee-
ler, was in that crowd, and gives McCormick the credit of extraor-
dinary briskness.
n
found delight in scuffling with barbarians, and in rac-
ing with Indian ponies, it would have been strange if
infant Canisteo had taken of its own accord to Belles
Lettres, and Arithmetic. The strange boy found him-
self in a den of young bears. He was promptly re-
quired to fight, and after such an introduction to the
delights of the valley, was admitted to freedom of trap
and fishery in all the streams and forests of the com-
monwealth. And for infant Canisteo, considering
that passion for wild life which plays the mischief
with boys everywere, even in the very ovens of refine-
ment, a more congenial region could not have been
found. The rivers and brooks alive with fish, the hills
stocked with deer, the groves populous with squirrels,
the partridges drumming in the bushes, the raccoons
scrambling in the tree-tops, removed every temptation
to run away in search of a solitary island and a man
Friday ; while their little ill-tempered Iroquois play-
fellows, with their arrow-practice, their occasional skir-
mishes, and their mimic war-paths, satisfied those
desires to escape from school to the Rocky Mountains
and the society of grizzly bears and Camanches, which
so often turn the heads of youngsters nurtured in the
politest of academies.
This backwoods mode of education, though by no
means so exquisite as our modern systems, has proved
nevertheless quite efficient for practical purposes. The
boys who in early times played with the heathen and
persecuted raccoons, instead of learning their gram-
mars have, astonishing to see, become neither pagans
nor idiots. Some have become farmers, some lumber-
72
men, some supervisors, and some justices of the peace;
and whether in the field or in the saw-mill, whether in
the county's august parliament, or in the chair of the
magistrate, the duties of all those stations seem to
have been performed substantially as well as needs be.
For the Robin Hoods of Canisteo could plow, mow,
and fell trees, if need be, as well as the best, and did
not hold laziness in higher respect than did the other
pioneers of the county.
The Indians made their appearance shortly after
the landing of the settlers — the Canisteo Valley having
long been a favorite hunting field. The men of Wyom-
ing found among them many of their old antagonists.
Tories never were forgiven, but the proffered friend-
ship of the Indians was accepted : old enmities were
forgotten, and the settlers and savages lived together
on the most amicable terms. Shortly after their arri-
val, an old Indian, afterwards well known as " Captain
John," made his appearance, and on seeing the elder
Stephens, went into a violent fit of merriment. Lan-
guage failed to express the cause of his amusement, which
seemed to be some absurd reminiscence suddenly sug-
gested by the sight of the settler, and the old " Roman"
resorted to pantomime. He imitated the gestures of
a man smoking — putting his hand to his mouth to with-
draw an imaginary pipe, then turning up his mouth
and blowing an imaginary cloud of smoke, then stoop-
ing to tie an imaginary shoe, then taking an imaginary
boy in his arms and running away, and returning with
violent peals of laughter. One of the sons of Mr.
Stephens, a hot and athletic youth, supposing that the
73
Indian was " making fun" of his father, snatched up
a pounder to knock hira on the head. Captain John
was driven from the ideal to the real, and made good
his retreat. He afterwards became a fast friend of the
settlers, and explained the cause of his merriment.
When Mr. Stephens lived near Wyoming, he was
one day going from his farm to the fort, with two oxen
and a horse, which were attached to some kind of
vehicle. His boy, Phineas, was riding on the horse.
Mr. Stephens was an inveterate smoker, and walked
by^the side of the oxen, puffing after the manner imi-
tated by Captain John. While passing through the
woods near a fork of the roads, his shoe stuck in the
mud, and was drawn off his foot. Just as he stooped
to recover it, a rifle was flred from the bushes, which
killed the nigh ox, by the side of which he had been
walking. The alarm of " Indians /" was sounded
from the other branch of the road, where some of his
neighbors were killed. Mr. Stephens started and ran,
but his boy crying out, " Don't leave me, father !" he
returned and took him in his arms, and fled to the
fort. The ambushed rifleman was none other than
Captain John, and he, recognizing the smoker fifteen
years after the adventure, was quite overpowered at
the recollection of the joke.
Another meeting of two old enemies took place on
the banks of the Canisteo not long afterwards. Major
Moses Van Campen, (late of Dansville, Livingston
County,) well known to the Six Nations as a powerful,
daring and sagacious ranger in the border wars of
Pennsylvania, moved up the river with a colony des-
8
H
tined for Allegany Count}^, and offered to land at
the settlement on Canisteo Flats. Van Campen was
especially obnoxious to the Indians for the part he had
taken as a leader of a bold and destructive attack,
made in the night, by himself and two others, prisoners,
(Pence and Pike by name,) upon the party by which
they had been captured in an incursion against the
settlements, in which Van Campen's father and young
brother had been killed before his own eyes. There
were ten Indians in the party. One evening, while
encamped at Wyalusing Flats, on their way to Niagara,
Van Campen resolved to put in execution a long medi-
tated plan of escape. He managed to conceal under
his foot a knife which had been dropped by an Indian,
and with this, at midnight, the prisoners cut them-
selves loose. They stole the guns from their sleeping
enemies, and placed them against a tree. Pike's heart
failed him, and he laid down just as the two allotted
to him for execution avroke and were arising. Van
Camping, seeing that " their heads were turned up
fair," killed them with a tomahawk, and three besides.
Pence killed fourv/ith the guns. Van Campen struck
his hatchet into the neck of the only remaining Indian,
a chief named Mohawk, who turned and grappled with
him. A desperate and doubtful struggle followed, one
being sometimes uppermost and sometimes the other.
Van Campen was half blinded by the blood of his
wounded antagonist, who felt, as often as he got oppor-
tunity, for the knife in his belt. This would have soon
settled the contest, and Van Campen finally stuck his
75
toes into the Indian's belt and hoisted him off. The
latter bounded into the woods and escaped.
The savages recognized Van Campen on his arrival
at Canisteo as " the man that lent John Mohawk the
hatchet." Captain Mohawk himself was there, and
had a special cause of grievance to exhibit in a neck
set slightly awry from the blow of the tomahawk. The
settlers rallied for the defence of Van Campen. There
was every prospect of a bloody fight ; but after much
wrangling it was agreed that the two parties should
divide while Van Campen and Mohawk advanced be-
tween them to hold a " talk." This was done, and in
a conference of considerable length between the two
old antagonists, the causes of difficulty were discussed,
and it was finally decided that each was doing his duty
then^ but that now war being ended, they ought to for-
get past injuries. Mohawk offered his hand. The
threatened fight became a feast. A keg of spirits was
broken and the hills rang with riot.*
The Indians sometimes entertained the men of Ca-
nisteo with a display of their military circumstance,
and marched forth on the flats, to the number of three
hundred warriors, in full costume, to dance the grand
war-dance. They made a fire about eight rods long
* Mohawk was a noble warrior, — a Roman indeed. See Stone's
Life of Brant (somewhere in the second volume) for an incident
which occurred in the captivity of the gallant Capt, Alexander Har-
per. The " single voice " which responded with " the death yell "
was Mohawk's without doubt. " The name of this high-souled war-
rior " is not lost, as Col. Stone feared. The biographer of Van Cam-
pen makes out a satisfactory case for Captain Mohawk.
76
and paraded around it with hideous chants and a great
clattering of little deer-skin drums. On one of these
grand field-days, the whole tribe, arrayed most fantas-
tically, was marching around the fire, and with the
flourishing of knives, the battering of drums, and the
howling of war songs, had worked themselves up into
a brilliant state of excitement. The settlers, boys and
men, were standing near watching the performance,
when a high-heeled young savage stepped out of the
line and inquired of one of the bystanders —
" What's your name ? "
The settler informed him.
" D d liar ! d d hog ! " said the Indian.
Ellas Stephens, who was a prompt and high tem-
pered youth, said, " Daniel, I wish he would just ask
me that question."
The Indian instantly turned and said,
" What's your name ? "
"Elias Stephens."
" D d liar ! d d "
The sentence remains unfinished up to the present
date. A well-planted blow of the fist knocked the
barbarian headlong over the fire, senseless. The sen-
sation for a moment was great. The dance was stopped,
the drums became dumb ; tomahawks and knives were
brandished no longer, and the savages stood aloof in
such angry astonishment, that the bystanders trembled
for their skulls. The Chief however came forward,
and striking Stephens approvingly on the shoulders,
said, '' Good enough for Indian." He expected his
warriors to behave themselves like gentlemen, and
77
when copper-colored gentlemen so far forgot themselves'
as to use indelicate or personal language, he would
thank pale-faced gentlemen to knock them over the
fire, or through the fire, or into the fircj as it might
be most convenient. The dance went on with renewed
vigor, but the punished pagan descended from his high
horse and sat aside in silence, volunteering during the
rest of the entertainment no more flourishes not pro-
mised " on the bills."
Sometimes the Indians treated the settlers to a dis-
play of their tactics. Hiding behind a rampart of roots
or lying in ambush among the bushes, at a signal given
the whole party fired their rifles at certain imaginary
foes. The chief sprang up and raised the war-whoop,
and then the three hundred joined in that frightful cry
of the Six Nations, which, to use the favorite phrase
of the pioneers, " was enough to take the hair ojBF a
man's head." Then, rushing out, they tomahawked the
pumpkins and scalped the turnips, then dodged back
to their covert and lay still as snakes.
Elias Stephens, for his prowess and resolution, be-
came an object of respect to the red gentry. Four-
teen men were working in Bennett's miJlyard when
sixteen " Romans" came down whooping furiously, and
drove the lumbermen from their work, took possession
of the mill, and converted it into a dancing saloon. It
was told to Stephens. " What !" said he, " you four-
teen let sixteen of those critters drive you out of the
yard! Lord! I can whip a hundred Indians." And
taking the swingle of a flail ran to the mill. The In-
dians were capering about in high glee, brandishing
8*
78
their knives and shrieking very like Mark Antony and
fifteen other Romans, and indulging in all those antics
with which the barbarians of the Log-House were wont
to divert themselves.
" Put up those knives, damn you, and march," said
Stephens. The diversions came to a sudden pause.
" Put up those knives, damn you, and be off, or I'll
beat all your brains out !" The Romans said never a
word, but stuck their knives into their belts and de-
parted.
SETTLEMENT OF THE LOWER CANISTEO VALLEY.
Our notes of the settlement of the lower valley of
the Canisteo are very brief. None of the original set-
tlers of Addison are now living in the county. We
can present nothing more than the names of these
pioneers. The settlement of Addison was commenced
probably in 1790, or shortly after. The first settlers
were Reuben and Lemuel Searles ; John, Isaac, and
James Martin ; Jonathan Tracy ; William Benham ;
Martin Young, and Isaac Morey.
The first name of the settlement was Tuscarora.
This was afterwards changed to Middletown, and
again to Addison.
The first tavern was kept by Reuben Searles, on
Lockerby's stand.
George Goodhue built a saw-mill there as early as
1793.
The first generation of settlers, as we are informed,
has become extinct. Messrs. William Wombau^-h,
79
William B. Jones, John and Stephen Towsley, and
Rev. Tarathmel Powers, , though early settlers, came
in a few years after the first settlement.
The pioneers of the town of Cameron were Joseph
Warren, John Helmer, Samuel Baker, and Andrew
Helmer.
This meagre notice of the settlement of the valley
below the present town of Canisteo is the most com-
plete that could be obtained from the best authorities
to whom the writer was referred.
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TIOGA VALLEY.
The first settlements in the Tioga Valley were made
just over the Pennsylvania line, in the neighborhood of
Lawrenceville. Samuel Baker, afterwards of Plea-
sant Valley, in this county, settled upon the open flat,
at the moath of the Cowenisque Creek, in 1Y87, and
not long afterwards a few other settlers, the Stones,
the Barneys and the Daniels, who also afterwards re-
moved to Pleasant Valley, erected cabins in the wild
grass and hazel bushes of the vicinity.
Col. Eleazer Lindley, a native of New Jersey, and
an^^ctive officer of the "Jersey Blues" during the
Revolutionary Vv^ar, rode through the Genesee country
previous to the year 1790, to find a tract of land where
he might establish himself, and gather his children
around him. The sickliness of the regions around Se-
neca and Canandagua Lakes deterred him from locat-
ing his tov/nship in the rich northern plains, and he
purchased township number one of the second range,
80
a rugged and most unpromising tract for agricultural
purposes, but intersected by the fine valley of the Tio-
ga. The healthy hills, the pure springs, and the clear
beautiful river, descending from the ravines of the
Alleganies, promised, if not wealth, at least freedom
from those fevers, agues, cramps and distempers, which
prostrated the frames and wrenched the joints of the
unfortunate settlers in the northern marches.
In the spring of 1790, Col. Lindley started from
New Jersey with a colony of about forty persons, who,
with their goods, were transported in wagons to the
Susquehanna. At Wilkesbarre the families and bag-
gage were transferred to seven-ton boats and poled up
the river, according to the practice of emigrants pene-
trating Ontario county by that valley ; while the horses
and cattle, of which there were thirty or forty, were
driven along the trails, or rude roads, on the bank.
On the Tth day of June, 1790, the colony reached the
place of destination.
Two sons of Col. Lindley, Samuel and Eleazer, and
five sons-in-law, Dr. Mulford, Ebenezer Backus, Capt.
John Seely, Dr. Hopkins and David Payne, started
with the colony from New Jersey. Dr. Hopkins re-
mained at Tioga Point to practice his profession.^Ihe
others settled near Col. Lindley.
The river-flats were " open," and overgrown with
strong wild grass and bushes. Ploughs were made by
the settlers after their arrival, and as soon as these
were finished, the flats were immediately broken, as
on the Canisteo, with four oxen to each plough. The
season was so far advanced, that the crop of corn was
81
destroyed by frost, bat a great harvest of buckwheat
was secured. With buckwheat, milk and game, life
was stayed during the first winter. History, looking
sharply into the dim vale of ancient Tioga, smiles to
see the image of " Old Pomp," a negro pounding buck-
wheat in a samp-mortar, from the first ice in Novem-
ber till the breaking up of the rivers in March, when
canoes can find a passage to Shepard's Mill, on the
Susquehanna. History also, in this connection, will
embrace the opportunity to rescue Old Pomp from ob-
livion for the notable exploit of killing four bucks at a
shot, and has the pleasure, therefore, of handing the
said Pompey down to future generations as a fit sub-
ject for as much admiration as an intelligent and pro-
gressive race may think due to the man who laid low,
with a musket at one shot, four fine bucks, as they
were standing in the water.
Colonel and Mrs. Lindley were members of the
Presbyterian Church, at Morristown, in New Jersey.
In his settlement the Sabbath was strictly observed.
Travelling missionaries were always welcomed, and
when none such were present, the settlers were collected
tohear a sermon read by Col. Lindley himself. In 1793,
Col., Lindley was elected a member of the Legislature,
and while attending the session of that body died in
New York. Numerous descendants of Col. L. live in
the neighborhood settled by him. His son, Hon. Elea-
zer Lindley, was, for several years, a Judge of the
County Court. He died in 1825.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GREAT AIR CASTLE THE CITY BUILDERS CAP-
TAIN WILLIAMSON — NORTHUMBERLAND THE GERMAN
COLONY THE PASSAGE OF THE GERMANS THROUGH
f
THE WILDERNESS.
While our foremost pioneers were reaping their
first harvests in the valleys of the Canisteo and Che-
mung, great schemes were on foot in the Capital of the
British Empire for the invasion of the Genesee wilder-
ness. An officer of the royal army had conceived a
splendid project for the foundation of a city in the
midst of the forest, and, sustained by men of wealth
in London, was about to penetrate its inmost thickets
to raise up a Babylon amongst the habitations of the
owl and the dragon.
The first purchasers of the Indian territory between
the Genesee River and Seneca Lake had sold an im-
mense estate to Robert Morris, the merchant. Morris
had offered his lands for sale in the principal cities of
Europe. The representations of his agents gained
much attention from men of capital, and three gentle-
men of London, Sir William Pulteney, John Hornby,
and Patrick Colquhoun, purchased that noble estate
which has since borne the name of the English Baronet.
Their agent. Captain Charles Williamson, visited
83
America, and excited by the reports transmitted by
him, the associates indulged in brilliant dreams of the
destiny of the wilderness which had fallen into their
hands.
It was plain to see that the noblest forest of the
Six Nations was soon to pass from the hands of those
unfortunate tribes. This magnificent woodland, en-
closed on three sides by Lakes Erie and Ontario, and
that chain of rivers and slender lakes which divides
our State into Central and Western New York, was
already invaded by the forerunners of civilization.
Traders had established themselves on the great trails.
Explorers had marked cascades for the mill-wheel, and
council groves for the axe. Tribe after tribe had first
wavered and then fallen before the seductions of the
merchant and the commissioner, and it was easy to see,
that against the temptations of rifles and red rags and
silver dollars, the expostulations of the native orators,
who besought the clans to hold forever their ancient
inheritance, would be powerless. Uneasy emigration
was already pressing the borders of the whole western
country, and, like water about to flood the land, was
leaking through the barriers of the wilderness at every
crevice. Wyoming rifles were already cracking among
the hills of Canisteo. New England axes were already
ringing in the woods of Onondaga and Genesee, and
most fatal of all signs, a land-ogre from Massachusetts
sat in his den at Canadarcjue, carving the princely do-
main of the Senecas into gores and townships, while
the wild men could but stand aside, some in simple
84
■!f\^onder, others "with Roman indignation, to see tlie par-
tition of their inheritance.
It is not difficult to see what will be the end of this,
thought the British castle builders. In half a century
the wild huntsmen vfiW be driven to the solitudes of the
Ohio. This wonderful forest will have fallen, and
men of Celtic blood and Saxon sinews will have pos-
sessed themselves of a land of surpassing richness. A
city of mills will stand by the cataracts of Genesee.
A city of warehouses at the foot of Lake Erie will re-
ceive at her docks the barges of traders from the illim-
itable western wilderness. Fields of fabulous fertility
will bask in the sunlight where now the whooping pagan
charges the bear in his thicket. Numberless villages
by the rivers and secluded lakes will raise their steeples
above the tree tops, while immeasurable farms will
stretch from the shore of Ontario to the abutment of
the AUeganies, and even thrust their meadows far
within the southern ravines and hemlock gorges like
tongues of the sea thrust far inland. It will be a re-
gion of exceeding beauty and of unbounded wealth.
They further considered the avenues by which this
western Canaan might communicate w4th the world
without, and through which her products might pass to
the sea-board. The maps revealed four natural ave-
nues for commerce. One, in the north, led to New-
foundland fogs and the icebergs of Labrador. The
second, opening in the hills of Cattaraugus, conducted
to Mississippi marshes and the Gulf of Mexico. The
third offered itself in the north-east, where by tedious
beating and portages, one might get into the Mohawk
85
and float slowly down to New York Bay. But in the
south-west, the Susquehanna thrust a branch almost
to the centre of the Genesee country — a small but nav-
igable river, the beginning of swift waters which might
bear ponderous cargoes in five days to the head of
Chesapeake Bay. Men of judgment and experience,
the statesmen and commercial prophets of the time,
pointed to this river as the destined highway of the
west. According to the best of human calculation, the
products of the Genesee, instead of being entrusted to
the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, or the perplexing
channels of the Oswego and Mohawk, would inevitably
seek this convenient valley, to be stowed in the rough
river-craft, which, gliding down the swift waters of the
Conhocton and Chemung, might enter on the second
day the Susquehanna, and riding safely over the
foaming rapids, plow in a week, the tide water of the
ocean. Furthermore, if in the course of centuries,
civilized men penetrate those vast and wonderful wilds
beyond the lakes, by what other road than this, is the
surplus of Michigan and the north-west to reach the
Atlantic 1 The belief was not without foundation.
Looking at the maps, even at this day, and observing
how the north-western branch of the Susquehanna
penetrates western New York, it would seem that but
for the disastrous interference of the Erie canal and
the unfortunate invention of railroads, the Conhocton
valley might have been the highway of an immense
commerce, and the roads leading to the port at the head
of her navigable waters might have been trampled by
tremendous caravans.
9
86
The imagination of the castle-builders 'was fired at
this prospect. Such a flood, they argued, like the
Abysinnian waters that swell the Nile, must enrich the
valley through which it flows. In the midst of this
valley must be a city — Alcairo of the West. Thither
•will all people flow. Caravans such as the deserts
have never seen, will meet in its suburbs. Its market
places will present all that picturesque variety of garb
and manner which interest the traveller in an oriental
sea-port. There will be seen the Canadian and his
pony from the beaver dams of the upper province, the
Esquimaux with his pack of furs from Labrador, the
buffalo-hunter from the illimitable plains of Illinois,
the warrior from Maumee, and the trapper from the
Grand Sault, while merchants from the old Atlantic
cities will throng the buzzing bazaars, and the European
traveller will look with amazement on tlie great north-
western caravan as it rolls like an annual inundation
through the city gates. The river, now narrow, crook-
ed and choked with flood-wood, will become, by an art-
ful distribution of the mountain waters, a deep and
safe current, and will bear to the Susquehanna arks
and rafts in number like the galleys of Tyre of old.
Warehouses and mills will stand in interminable files
upon its banks. Steeples, monuments, pyramids, and
man knows not what beside, will rise in its noble
squares.
This was the vision that greeted the eyes of the Bri-
tish adventurers ; and to found the promised metropolis
their agent, a Scotish officer, crossed the Atlantic and
went up into the wilderness clothed with plenary pow-
87
ers, and with unlimited authority over the Baronet's
banker. Castles of ivory and towers of glass glimmer-
ed in his eyes far away among the pines. A more
brilliant bubble never floated in the sunshine. A more
stupendous air castle never shone before human eyes.
Would the glorious bubble submit to be anchored to
hills, or would it rise like a balloon and float away
through the air ? Could the grand wavering air castle
be made stone, and was it possible to change the va-
pors, the fogs, the moonshine, the red clouds and rain-
bows, out of which such atmospherical structures are
made into brick and marble ? If any man was fit to
attempt such a chemical exploit, it was the one en-
trusted by the associates with its execution.
Charles Williamson, the first agent of the Pulteney
Estate, was a native of Scotland. He entered the
British army in youth, and during the Revolutionary
war held the commission of Captain in the twenty-fifth
regiment of foot. His regiment was ordered to America,
but on the passage Captain Williamson was captured
by a French privateer. He remained a prisoner at
Boston till the close of the war. On his return to
Europe, he made the acquaintance of the most distin-
guished public men of England, and was often consult-
ed concerning American affairs. On the organization
of the association of Sir William Pulteney and the
others, he was appointed its agent, and entered zeal-
ously into the schemes for colonizing the Genesee
Forest. Captain Williamson was a man of talent,
hope, energy and versatility, generous and brave of
spirit, swift and impetuous in action, of questionable
88
discretion in business, a lover of sport and excitement,
and well calculated by his temperament and genius to
lead the proposed enterprise. His spirit was so tem-
pered with imagination, that he went up to the wilder-
ness, not with the dry and dogged resolution of one ex-
pecting a labor of a lifetime in subduing the savage
soil, but in a kind of chivalrous dashing style, to head
an onslaught amongst the pines, and to live a Baron
of the Backwoods in his Conhocton Castle, ruling over
forests and rivers, after the manner of the old Norman
nobles in England.
Having landed in Baltimore in 1791, and taken the
steps required by our naturalization laws, he received
in his own name, from Robert Morris, a conveyance of
the Pulteney estate, and begun immediately his prepar-
ations for the colonization of the estate. Of these pre-
liminary movements, there is but little to be said. It
appears that he corresponded extensively with men
whom he sought to engage in his enterprise, that he
opened communication with many planters of Virginia
and Maryland, proposing a transfer of themselves and
their households from the worn-out plantations of the
South, to the fresh woods of the Genesee ; that he
travelled much through the country and made active
exertions by personal application and by advertisement
to induce farmers and emigrants of the better sort from
Great Britain to settle upon his Northern lands.
He established his centre of organization and corres-
pondence at the village of Northumberland, situated
on the Susquehanna, at the mouth of the West Branch
of that river, then a place of much consequence, and
89
one which at this day, though somewhat decayed, retains
an ancient and old fashioned respectability of appearance
not to be seen in the dashing young town of New York,
west of the Mohawk. To this old town we owe at least
civility. For a time, during the infancy of our county,
it was one great reliance against starvation and naked-
ness. It supplied us with flour when we had no grain,
with pork when we had no meat, with clothes when we
were unclad, with shoes when we were unshod. It
sent us our mails, it fitted out caravans of emigrants,
it received with hearty cheer our gentlemen when
weary of riding over the desolate Lycoming road.
Many impudent villages of the north, which now like
high-headed youngsters keep their fast telegraphs,
smoke anthracite coal, and drive their two-minute
locomotives, as if they inherited estates from their an-
cestors, were, if the truth must be told, once shabby
and famished settlements, and when faint and perish-
ing were saved from actual starvation by this portly
old Susquehanna farmer, who sent out his hired men
with baskets of corn, and huge shoulders of pork,
with orders to see to it that not a squatter went
hungry. By extraordinary good luck these lean
squatters became suddenly rich, and now arrayed in
very flashy style, with Gothic steeples and Moorish
pavilions, and all such trumpery, driving their fine
chariots, and smoking their sheet-iron funnels, they
laugh most impertinently, and we may say ungratefully
at the old Quaker who had compassion on them, when
they lay starving in the underbrush. These things,
let the lumberman remember, when from his raft he
9*
90
-sees the wliite steeple of Northumberland relieved
against the dark precipice beyond; the west branch
meanwhile pouring its flood into the lordly Susquehanna,
and renowned Shemokinn Dam, the Charybdis of pilots,
roaring below.
In the winter after his arrival in America, Captain
Williamson made a visit to the Genesee by way of
Albany and the Mohawk. In the upper valley of the
Mohawk he passed the last of the old settlements.
From these old German farms the road was but a lane
opened in the woods, passable only on horseback, or in
a sledge. A few cabins, surrounded by scanty clear-
ings, were the only indications of civilization which met
his eye, till he stood amongst a group of cabins at the
foot of Seneca Lake. The famed Genesee estate was
before him. Surely few city builders of ancient or
modern times have gazed upon districts which offered
less encouragement to them than did the wild Iroquois
forest to the hopeful Scot. A little settlement had
been commenced at Canandaigua. The Wadsworths
were at Big Tree. The disciples of Jemima Wilkin-
son, the prophetess, had established their new Jerusa-
lem on the outlet of Crooked Lake, and, scattered
through the vast woods, a few hundred pioneers were
driving their axes to the hearts of the tall trees, and
waging war with the wolves and panthers. Beyond
the meadows of the Genesee Flats was a forest as yet
unknown to the axe, which harbored tribes of savages
wavering betwixt war and peace. British garrisons,
surly from discomfiture, occupied the forts at Oswego
and Niagara; colonies of Tories, including in their
91
numbers men of infamous renown, dwelt on the frontiers
of Canada, on lauds allotted to them by the crown,
and there were not wanting those amongst the military
and political agents of the provincial government who
incited the jealous barbarians to the general slaughter
of the backwoodsmen.
Wilderness upon wilderness was before him. Wil-
derness surrounded the white ice-bound lakes above
Erie, and spread over plains and mountains to the
fabulous prairies of which the Indians told tales too
wonderful for belief. The British troops and a few
French settlers near Detroit, with a few traders and
agents amongst the Ohio tribes, were the only civilized
occupants of the far west. In the southern districts
of the estate there were small settlements on the
Chemung and the Canisteo, accessible only from below
by the rivers. There were settlements on the upper
Susquehanna and at Tioga Point.
In the following summer Captain Williamson de-
termined to open a high road from Northumberland to
the Genesee. The only road leading to the north from
the mouth of the West Branch followed the valley of
the Susquehanna, which at this point, to one going
above, begins a long and unnecessary ramble to the
east. A direct road to the Genesee would cross a
ridge of the Alleganies. An Indian trail, often trod
during the Revolution by parties from the fastnesses
of the Six Nations, ran over the mountains ; but to open
a road through the shattered wilderness, which would
be passable for wagons, was deemed impossible. After
a laborious exploration, however, by the agent and a
92
party of Pennsylvanian Hunters, a road was located
from *' Ross Farm" (now Williamsport) to the mouth
of Canascraga Creek, on the Genesee, a distance of
one hundred and fifty miles. This road -was opened
in the ensuing autumn by a party of German
emigrants.
The fortunes of this German colony formed quite a
perplexing episode in Captain Williamson's history.
*' The time when Ben Patterson brought the Germans
through" is yet remembered by a few of our aged
citizens. The simplicity, the sufferings and the terrors
of these Teutonic pioneers were sources of much amuse-
ment to the rough backwoodsmen, and their passage
through the wilderness and over the wild Laurel Moun-
tains, was in early times an event so momentous, that
although the matter has strictly but little reference to
the history of this county, it may nevertheless be per-
mitted to recount their frights and tribulations.
It seems that Mr. Colquhoun, who conducted the
business affairs of the Association, became acquainted
in London with a certain Dr. Berezy, a German of edu-
cation and address, who engaged to collect a colony of
his countrymen, and conduct them to the Genesee
lands under the auspices of the associates. Captain
Williamson seems not to have favored the scheme, but
while living at Northumberland in 1792, the colony
arrived, and it fell upon him to devise some plan of
disposing of this very raw material to the best advan-
tage. There were about two hundred of them, men
women and children. Though stout and healthy
enough, they were an ignorant and inexperienced peo-
' 93
pie, accustomed to dig with the spade in the little gar-
dens of the Fatherland, and as unfit for forest work and
the rough life of the frontiers as babes. Captain Wil-
liamson, with his high and hopeful spirits, did not lay
the matter deeply at heart, but encouraged the honest
folk, and filled their heads with fine tales, till they
saw almost as many balloons hanging afar off over the
wilderness as the enthusiastic Briton himself beheld.
It was determined to send them over the mountains
to the Tioga, thence by the valleys of that river and
of the Conhocton, to Williamsburgh, on the Genesee.
It was necessary to give the emigrants in charge to
some reliable and energetic guide, who would see to it
that they did not fall into the rivers, or break their
necks over the rocks, or be crushed by falling trees, or
be devoured of bears, or frightened out of their wits
by owls and buzzards. Benjamin Patterson, the hun-
ter, who was well acquainted with the German lan-
guage, and in whose judgment and resolution Captain
Williamson had entire confidence, was employed in
this capacity. He was abundantly provided with
money and means. Seven stout young Pennsylvanians,
well skilled in the use of the axe and the rifle, were
chosen by him as assistant woodsmen, and these and
the Germans were to open the road, while the guide,
in addition to his duties as commander of the column,
undertook to supply the camp with game.
It was in the month of September when the emi-
grants appeared at the mouth of Lycoming Creek,
ready for the march to the Northern Paradise. The
figure of the Guide, girt for the wilderness, with his
94
hunting shirt, belt, knife and tomahawk, appeared to
the simple Germans rather an odd one for a shepherd
who was to lead them over Delectable Mountains to
meadows and pleasant brooks. It seemed rather like
the figure of some hard-headed Mr. Great-Heart,
arrayed with a view to such bruises as one must expect
in a jaunt through the land of Giant Grim and other
unamiable aborigines; and when the seven stalwart
young frontiersmen stood forth, girt in like manner,
for warfare or the wilderness, visions of cannibals and
congars, of bears and alligators, of the bellowing
unicorn and the snorting hippopotamus, were vividly
paraded before the eyes of the startled pilgrims.
A little way up the creek they commenced hewing
the road. Here the Germans took their first lessons
in wood-craft. They were not ready apprentices, and
never carried the art to great perfection. We hear of
them in after years sawing trees down.* The heavy
frontier axe, (nine-pounder often,) was to them a very
grievous thing. They became weary and lame ; the
discomforts of the woods were beyond endurance, and
their complaints grew longer and more doleful at each
sunset. But in a few weeks they found themselves
deep in the wilderness. The roaring of torrents, the
murmur of huge trees, the echoes of the glens, the
precipices, at the feet of which ran the creeks, the
forests waving on the mountains, and crowding the
ravines like armies, were sounds and sights unknown
* " An old gentleman, \rho came over the road in an early day^
says the trees looked as if they had been gnawed down by beaver." —
Turner's Phelps and Goiham's Purchase.
95
to tiie pleasant plains of Germany. When it was
night, and the awful howling of the wolves all around
scared the children, or when the crash of great trees,
overturned by the high and whirling winds of autumn,
woke the wives from dreams of home, or when the
alarmed men, aroused in the mid-watches by strange
uproars, looked out into the darkness to see enormous
black clouds sailing over head, and the obscure cliffs
looming around, while goblins squeaked and whistled
in the air, and kicked the tents over, then they all
gave way to dismal lamentations. The equinoctial
storms came on in due time, and it was sufficiently dis-
heartening to see the dreary rains pour down hour
after hour, while the gorges were filled with fog, and
vapours steamed up from the swollen torrents, and
the mountains disguised themselves in masks of mist,
or seemed, like Laplanders, to muffle themselves in huge
hairy clouds, and to pull fur-caps over their faces.
No retreat could be hoped for. Behind them were the
clamorous creeks which they had forded, and which,
like anacondas, would have swallowed the whole colony
but for the Guide, who was wiser than ten serpents,
and outwitted them : behind them were bears, were
owls exceeding cruel, were wild men and giants, which
were only held in check by the hunter's rifle. The
Guide was merciless. The tall Pennsylvanians hewed
the trees, and roared out all manner of boisterous
jokes, as if it were as pleasant a thing to flounder
through the wilderness as to sit smoking in the quiet
orchards of the Rhine.
They arrived at the Laurel Ridge of the Alleganies,
96
•which divided the Lycoming from the head waters of
the Tioga. Over this, a distance of fifteen miles, the
road was to be opened — no great matter in itself,
surely, but it could hardly have been a more serious
thing to the emigrants had they been required to make
a turnpike over Chimborazo. When, therefore, they
toiled over these long hills, sometimes looking off
into deep gulfs, sometimes descending into wild hol-
lows, sometimes filing along the edges of precipices,
their sufferings were indescribable. The Guide was in
his element. He scoured the ravines, clambered over
the rocks, and ever and anon the Germans, from the
tops of the hills, heard the crack of his rifle in groves
far below, where the elk was browsing, or where the
painted catamount, with her whelps, lurked in the tree
tops. Not for wild beasts alone did the hunter's eye
search. He could mark with pleasure valleys and
mill streams, and ridges of timber : he could watch the
labors of those invisible artists of autumn, which came
down in the October nights and decorated the forests
with their frosty bushes, so that the morning sun found
the valleys arrayed in all the glory of Solomon, and
the dark robe of laurels that covered the ranges,
spotted with many colors, wherever a beech, or a ma-
ple, or an oak thrust its solitary head through the
crowded evergreens : he could smile to see how the
*' little people" that came through the air from the
North Pole were pinching the butternuts that hung
over the creeks, and the walnuts which the squirrels
spared, and how the brisk and impertinent agents of
that huge monopoly, the Great Northern Ice Associa-
97
tion, came down with their coopers and headed up the
pools in the forest, and nailed bright hoops around the
rims of the mountain ponds. The Indian Summer, so
brief and beautiful, set in — doubly beautiful there ia
the hills. But the poor emigrants were too disconsolate
to observe how the thin haze blurred the rolling ranges,
and the quiet mist rested upon the many-colored val-
leys, or to listen to the strange silence of mountains
and forests, broken only by the splashing of creeks far
down on the rocky floors of the ravines. Certain birds
of omen became very obstreperous, and the clamors of
these were perhaps the only phenomena of the season
noticed by the pilgrims. Quails whistled, crows cawed,
jays scolded, and those seedy buccaneers, the hawks,
sailed over head, screaming in the most piratical man-
ner — omens all of starvation and death. Starvation,
however, was not to be dreaded immediately ; for the
hunter, roving like a hound from hill to hill, supplied
the camp abundantly with game.
The men wept, and cursed Captain Williamson bit-
terly, saying that he had sent them there to die. They
became mutinous. " I could compare my situation,"
said the Guide, " to nothing but that of Moses with
the children of Israel. I would march them along a
few miles, and then they would rise up and rebel,^^
Mutiny effected as little with the inflexible commander
as grief. He cheered up the downhearted and fright-
ened the mutinous. They had fairly to be driven.
Once, when some of the men were very clamorous, and
even offered violence, Patterson stood with his back
to a tree, and brandishing his tomahawk furiously, said
10
98
" If you resist me, I will KILL 3^ou — every one of
you." Thereupon discipline was restored.
They worked along slowly enough. At favorable
places for encampment they built block -houses, or
Flocks^ as the Germans called them, and opened the
Toad for some distance in advance before moving the
families further. These block-houses stood for many
years landmarks in the wilderness. September and
October passed, and it was far in November before
they completed the passage of the mountains. The
frosts were keen ; the northwesters whirled around
the hills, and blustered through the valleys alarmingly.
Then a new disaster befell them. To sit of evenings
around the fire smoking, and drinking of coffee, and
talking of the Fatherland, had been a great comfort in
the midst of their sorrows ; but at length the supply
of coffee was exhausted. The distress was wild at this
calamity. Even the men went about wailing and ex-
claimed, '' Ach Kaffee ! Kaffee ! mein lieber Kaffee !"
(OA / Coffee ! Coffee ! my dear Coffee !) How-
ever no loss of life followed the sudden failure of Cof-
fee, and the column toiled onwards.
At the place now occupied by the village of Bloss-
burgh, they made a camp, which, from their baker
who there built an oven, they called " Peter's Camp."
Paterson, while hunting in this neighborhood, found a
few pieces of coal which he cut from the grotrndr-^mth
his tomahawk. The Germans pronounced it to be of
good quality. A half century from that day, the hill
which the guide smote with his hatchet, was " punched
full of holes," miners were tearing out its jewels with
99
pickaxes and gunpowder, and locomotives were carying
tliem northward by tons.
Pushing onward seven miles further they made the
" Canoe Camp," a few miles below the present village
of Mansfield. When they reached this place, their
supply of provisions was exhausted. The West Branch
youths cleared two acres of ground ; Patterson killed
an abundant supply of game, and went down with some
of his young men to Painted Post, thirty miles or
more below. He ordered provisions to be boated up
to this place from Tioga Point, and returned to the
camp with several canoes.* He found his poor peo-
ple in utter despair. They lay in their tents bewail-
ing their misfortunes, and said that the Englishman
had sent them there to die. He had sent a ship to
Hamburgh, he had enticed them from their homes, he
had brought them over the ocean on purpose that he
might send them out into the wilderness to starve.
They refused to stir, and begged Patterson to let them
die. But he was even yet merciless. He blustered
about without ceremony, cut down the tent-pole with
his tomahawk, roused the dying to life, and at length
drove the whole colony to the river bank. ^
Worse and worse ! When the Germans saw the
slender canoes, they screamed with terror, and loudly
refused to entrust themselves to such shells. The
woodsmen, however, put the women, the children and
* Some of the canoes were made at the camp and some -were
pushed up from Painted Post. Capt. Charles Wolcott, now resid-
ing near Corning, went up with a canoe and brought down twenty-
four Germans.
100
the sick, into the canoes almost by main force, and
launched forth into the river, while the men followed by-
land. Patterson told them to keep the Indian trail,
but as this sometimes went back into the hills, and out
of sight of the river, they dared not follow it for fear
of being lost. So they scrambled along the shore as
best they could, keeping their eyes fixed on the flotilla
as if their lives depended upon it. They tumbled over
the banks ; they tripped up over the roots ; where the
shores were rocky, they waded in the cold water be-
low. But the canoes gliding merrily downward wheel-
ed at last into the Chemung, and the men also, accom-
plishing their tedious travels along the shore, emerged
from the wilderness, and beheld with joy the little
cabins cluotered around the Painted Post.
Here their troubles ended. Flour and coffee, from
Tioga Point, were waiting for them, and when Peter
the Baker turned out warm loaves from his oven, and
der lieber Kaffee steamed from the kettles with grateful
fragrance, men and women crowded around the guide,
hailed him as their deliverer from wild beasts and pe-
rilous forests, and begged his pardon for their bad
behaviour.
It was now December. They had been three months
in the wilderness, and were not in a condition to move
onward to the Genesee. Patterson, with thirty of the
most hardy men, kept on, however, and opened the
road up the Conhocton to Danville and the place of
destination. The others remained through the winter
of 1793 at Painted Post. " They were the simplest
creatures I ever saw," said an old lady ; " they had
101
a cow "witli them, and they loved it as if it was a child.
When flour was scarcest, they used to feed her with
bread."
The whole cplony was conducted to the Genesee in
the spring. There was, at this time, a single settler
in the valley of the Conhocton, above the settlements
near Painted Post. The fate of the first potato crop
of the Upper Conhocton is worthy of record. This
settler had cultivated a little patch of potatoes in the
previous summer, and of the fruits of his labor a few
pecks yet remained, buried in a hole. The Germans
snufled the precious vegetables and determined to have
them. Finding that they could be no more restrained
from the plunder of the potato hole than Indians from
massacre, Patterson told them to go on, and if the
owner swore at them to say, " tha?ik^ee, thaJik^ee^^' as
if receiving a present. This they did, and the settler
lost his treasures to the last potato. The Guide paid
him five times their value, and bade him go to Tioga
Point for seed.
Once they came unexpectedly upon a single Indian,
in the woods, boiling a mess of succotash in a little
kettle ; and so intent was he upon his cookery that he
did not observe the approach of the emigrants. " 1st
das ein ivilder mann V^ (is this a wild man?) said the
Germans, (it was the first savage they had seen,) and
crowded around him with eager curiosity. He did not-
once look up — perhaps for a display of Indian impert-
urbability ; but Patterson said that the poor barbarian
was so frightened at finding himself suddenly surround-
10*
102
ed by a crowd of strangers, "jabbering Dutch," that
he dared not lift his eyes.
After manifold tribulations, the Germans were at
last deposited at the Genesee, with the loss of but one
man, who was killed in the mountains by a falling tree.
The subsequent fortunes of this ill-starred colony can
be told in few words.*
At Williamsburgh, they were abundantly provided
for. Each family received a house and fifty acres of
1-and, with a stock of provisions for present use, and
household and farming utensils. Cattle and sheep
were distributed amongst them, and nothing remained
for them to do but to fall to work and cultivate their
farms. Hardly a settlement in Western New York
had such a munificent endowment as the German set-
tlement on the Genesee. But it soon became apparent
that the leader of the colony had failed to regard the
instructions of Mr. Colquhoun. Instead of recruiting
his numbers from the sturdy and industrious Saxon
population, as directed, he had collected an indiscrim-
inate rabble from the streets of Hamburgh, not a few
of whom were vagabonds of the first water. They
were lazy, shiftless, and of the most appalling stupi-
dity. Breeding cattle were barbacued. Seeds, instead
of being planted in their fields, vanished in their ket-
tles ; and when provisions were exhausted. Captain
Williamson was called upon to despatch a file of pack-
horses to their relief. The emigrants were greatly
disappointed in the land which received them, and com-
plained w^ith bitterness of the .treachery that enticed
* Turner's Hist, of Phelps <fe Gorham's Purchase.
i
103
them from the blessed gutters of Hamburgh, first to
starve in frightful mountains, and then to toil in hungry
forests.
At length they broke out into open and outrageous
rebellion. Captain Williamson, who was on the ground,
was assailed by Berezy and the rabble, and as he him-
self says, " nothing could equal my situation but some
of the Parisian scenes. For an hour and a half I was
in this situation, (in a corner of a store, between two
writing desks,) every instant expecting to be torn to
pieces." However, with the assistance of a few friends
he kept the mob at bay, till Berezy at length quelled
the tumult. The colonists then drove away or killed
all the cattle on the premises, and held a grand ca-
rousal. The mutiny lasted several days, till the Sheriff
of Ontario mustered a posse of sufficient strength, and
descended upon them by forced marches, and made
prisoner the ringleader. Berez}^, in the meantime, had
gone to the East, where he made arrangements for the
removal of his colonists to Canada. This transfer was
at last effected, greatly to the relief of the London As-
sociation and their agent, to whom the colony had been,
from the beginning, nothing but a source of expense
and vexation.
CHAPTER V.
THE SETTLEMENTS OF BATH — GEN. m'cLURe's
NARRATIVE.
Having conducted his GermanSj at last, through the
wilderness, and deposited them in a Canaan ^yhere the
copper-colored Amalekites, and Jebusites, and Hiv-
ites, had consented to an extinguishment of title, and
were behaving themselves with marked civility, al-
though a few battalions of discomfited Philistians hov-
ered sulkily on the Canadian frontiers and glowered
from the bastions of Niagara and Oswego.* Captain
Williamson prepared to go up to the forest in person
and lay the foundation of a new Babylon on the banks
of the Conhocton. The enemies of the gallant Cap-
tain have intimated that instead of making the illus-
trious city of the Euphrates his model, he studied to
attain the virtues of Sodom and the graces of Gomor-
rah, which will be shown to be a malicious slander.
Sixteen miles above the mouth of the Conhocton,
the valley of the Crooked Lake, uniting nearly at right
angles with the river valley, opens in the hills a deep
and beautiful basin, which presents, when viewed
from an elevation, a rim of ten or fifteen miles in cir-
* The British did not evacuate those posts till 1796.
105
cuit. The British officer, standing ou the almost per-
pendicular, yet densely -wooded heights above the river,
south of the old church of Bath (handsomely called in
an early Gazetteer, " a tremendous and dismal hill,")
looked down upon a valley covered with a pine forest,
except where the alluvial flats, close at the foot of the
dark hemlocks of the southern range, supported their
noble groves of elm and sycamore, and where a little
round lake shone in the sunlight below the eastern
heights. A ring of abrupt highlands, unbroken as it
seemed, except by a blue gorge in the North — the
gateway of the gulf of Crooked Lake — imprisoned the
valley, and these surrounding hills, to which several
hundred additional feet of altitude were given by the
view from the southern wall, rose sometimes to the
dignity of mountains. The prospect is wonderfully
beautiful at the present day, from that place, where
to view his valley the Scottish Captain may have (at
any rate, ought to have) lain a bed of moss above the
rocks, which just at the summit jut over the tops of
the huge rough trees that cling to the side of the hill
even to the foot of the precipice which surmounts it.
But wilder and more beautiful was the picture spread
out before the Captain's eye. Description would re-
call the scene but feebly. Let each patriotic citizen,
however, imagine as he can how all the ranges and
ridges, the knobs and promontories, were covered with
the richness of the forest, and consider that pleasant
little lake just below the rising sun, how it glittered
among the deep-green pines, and the little river also ;
how it wrangled with the huge sycamores that lay
106
across its channel like drunken giants, and how it was
distressed with enormous, frightful roots which clung
to its breast with their long claws like nightmares, but
came forth, nevertheless, from these tribulations with
a bright face, and sparkled delightfull}^ among the
elms and willows.
In this valley the gallant citj-builder determined to
found his metropolis. Here should all the caravans
of the West meet ; here should rise mills and stupen-
dous granaries ; here should stand the Tyre of the
West, sending forth yearly fleets of arks, more in num-
ber than the galleys of the ancient city, to make glad
the waters of Chesapeake. W^hatever fallacy in his
Political Economy may have enticed the Scot hither,
there is certainly no place where the Demon of Busi-
ness, had he seen fit to build him a den in these re-
gions, could have been more pleasantly situated, if
such a consideration were worthy of the notice of his
dusty and bustling genius. To the propitiation of this
Divinity, the wealth of the Pulteneys and the labors of
their minister were devoted for the next two years.
Every device that ingenuity could suggest, every force
that fortune could employ, every experiment that en-
ergy dared attempt, were tried by the bold and eflScient
Cadmus of the Conhocton to divest the commerce of
the West from the Mohawk and the Hudson, and to
guide it down the Northwestern Branch of the Susque-
hanna.
Western commerce has unfortunately leaked
through another tunnel. The Demon which we
worshipped, seemed, for a time, about to yield
107
to our entreaties, and snuffed the incense that smoked
on our altar with every appearance of satisfaction.
As a wary bear walks seven times around the trap with
suspicious eyes, hesitating to bite the tempting bait,
yet is sometimes on the point of thrusting his nose,
at a venture, within the dangerous jaws of steel, but
finally turns away with a growl, so this wary Caliban,
after long debating with himself, at last refused to set
foot on the pretty trap of Captain Williamson, and
dug himself dens in the north where he might wallow
in the mire of canals and marshes, and duck his head
in the Genesee cataract. The political economist,
looking at this day from the Rollway Hills, beholds a
melancholy spectacle. Below him is a valley of farms
on which a single column of the primitive pines re-
main like that square of the Old Guard which stood
for a moment after the route at Waterloo. A dark
and almost unbroken forest covers the hill sides, and
he looks down upon the streets and steeples of an idle
and shady shire town, surrounded by pastures or mea-
dows and groves, which has nothing to do but to enter-
tain the county's rogues and to supply the citizens
with law and merchandise. Neither the whistle of the
locomotive nor the horn of the canal pilot is heard
there ; the wolf has hardly deserted its environs —
hounds yet follow the deer in the woods around it —
logs are yet tumbled down the rollways above it. No
warehouses line the river banks — no long ranks of
grist-mills grumble that deep harmony so charming to
our ears. The gallant Captain's city somehow failed
to become a citv. The wealth that was of right ours
108
took to itself wings and flew to the east. Albany and
New York, being stout and remorseless robbers, plun-
dered us by force. Syracuse and Utica, being no
older than we, stole our riches secretly, thieves that
they are — (thieves from infancy and by instinct, for
they stole their very names from a couple of decrepit
and toothless old cities of the other hemisphere, as
some young vagabonds have just conscience enough to
pick the pockets of blind beggars in the street) — and
to this day those cities stand in the face of all the
world bedecked with their ill-got finery. The beauti-
ful air-castle which shone before the eyes of the Ba-
ronet, after promising a great many times to become
marble, at last bade defiance to chemistry, rolled itself
up into a shapeless fog, and returned to the oxygen
from which it came. This is no secret, and to have
reserved the announcement of it till in the regular
course of this history it was due would have been un-
necessary. No body for whom the story is told would
have been in suspense — no body would have been
stunned had the fact been reserved as a kind of pero-
rating thunder-bolt. It is so well known to our citi-
zens generally that their shire town is a very imperfect
type of any of those ancient cities heretofore alluded
to, and a very modest rival of those overgrown and
raw-boned young giants suckled by the Demon, our
enemy aforementioned, along the lakes and canals, that
one without miraculous ingenuity will despair of work-
ing up its downfall into any kind of historical clap-
trap, to astound or terrify. The plot for the subver-
sion of the city of New York failed — failed so utterly
109
that but comparatively few living men know that it
was ever dreamed of. Sixty years after the Scottish
Captain looked down with great hopes upon the valley
of his choice, a Senator of the United States, address-
ing the Legislature of this State, guests of the city of
New York, in one of the great hotels of that metropo-
lis, told them of a traveller's prediction at the begin-
ning of this century, that the valley of the Conhocton
would contain the great commercial city of the west.*
The announcement was received with laughter by all,
and with astonishment by many. The laughter of the
Legislature of 1851 was fortunately a thing which sel-
dom occasioned distress to the object of it, and the
citizens of Steuben County were not in consequence so
benumbed as to make it necessary for them to discon-
tinue for a time their ordinary avocations.
Founders of cities should always look out for omens,
and of all ominous creatures they should especially
keep a sharp look-out for snakes, which are above all
things prized by soothsayers. If it be true that there
is more in serpents than is '' dreamed of in our philo-
sophy," Capt. Williamson was favored with omens to
a degree unusual even with founders of cities. The
Pine Plains, (as the valley of Bath was afterwards
known,) were infested with multitudes of rattlesnakes.
Probably there was at that time no district in the
Western country where these dragons met with greater
toleration. But, in truth, toleration had little to do
with the matter. They had taken possession of the
*See Chap. 9, for the Speech of Mr, Senator Seward.
•11
no
valley, and held it by tooth and nail. In length, cir-
cumference, ugliness and wisdom, it is safe to say that
the rattlesnakes of the Pine Plains challenged compe-
tition. There was no one to bruise their heads but the
occasional Indian, and their hideous tribes increased
and multiplied to a degree truly discouraging to mice
and moles. From the little fiery serpent with ne'er a
rattle in his tail, up to the monstrous black and deadly
sluggard, coiled under the bush and ringing alarms
with his twenty rattles, the whole plain was given up
to them. When Patterson, the hunter, first visited
this Paradise, he was startled at their multitude.
Gliding from bush to bush, slipping under logs, re-
treating with angry colors before his path, — now coiled
up under a tree, when hard pressed, and wagging their
heads in defiance, now^ rattling a tail full of warnings
beneath the shrubs, this snakish populace inspired the
hunter with dread. Fairly afraid to go farther by land,
he took the river and waded three or four miles, till he
believed himself fully bej^ond the boundaries of this
habitation of dragons. Tradition says, that when the
plot of the village of Bath was surveyed, the number
of rattlesnakes killed by the surveyors passed account.
Tradition, however, has failed to preserve details, and
many rare " snake-stories" are probably lost for ever.
These rattlesnakes have eluded extermination like the
Seminoles. Driven from the plains they betook them-
selves to the mountains, like the illustrious persecuted
in all ages. The steep, bold and sandy mountain,
from the summit of which the rising summer sun first
shines, is the last retreat of these once numerous tribes.
Ill
Here a few wise veterans yet hide in the rocks, and
raise infant families under circumstances of great dis-
couragement.
In 1793 Col. Williamson commenced the settlement
of his village, called Bath, from Lady Bath of England,
a member of the Pulteney family. " Befoi-e the end
of the season," he says, '' not less than fifteen fami-
lies were resident in the village. Early in the season
a saw-mill had been finished, and previous to the set-
ting in of the winter a grist-mill with a saw-mill nearer
the town were in great forwardness." The first men-
tioned saw-mill stood on or near the site of the " Glass-
mill," on the Kennedyville road. The grist-mill stood
near the bridge. On New Year's Day of 1794, a few
months after the settlement, Mr. Harry McElwee, a
young man from the north of Ireland, made his entry
into the new-made village, and gives his first impres-
sion substantially as follows : — " I found a few shan-
ties standing in the woods. . Williamson had his house
where Will Woods has since lived, and the Metcalfes
kept a log-tavern above the Presbyterian Church. I
went to the tavern and asked for supper and lodging.
They said they could give me neither, for their house
was full. I could get nothing to eat. An old Dutch-
man was sitting there, and he said to me : ' Young
man if you will go with me you shall have some mush
and milk for your supper, and a deer- skin to lie on
with your feet to the fire, and another to cover your-
self with.' I told him that I thanked him kindly, and
would go along. We went up through the woods to
where St. Patrick's square now is, and there the
112
Dutcliman had a little log-house. There was no floor
to it. I made a supper of mush and milk, and laid
down with my feet to the fire and slept soundly. The
Dutchman was travelling through to the Genesee, but
his children were taken sick and he stopped there till
they got well." Mr. McElwee, now residing on the
Mud Creek, is the sole survivor of the young men
who were with Capt. Williamson in the first years of
the settlement, now living in the town of Bath. Mr.
Thomas Metcalfe, of Ellicotville, and Charles Came-
ron, Esq.. of Greene, with perhaps a few others, sur-
vive of the " stout lads " who came up with their
Captain in '94.
The trees had, at this time, been cut away only to
admit of the erection of cabins for the accommodatioQ
of the few citizens, and to open a road through the for-
est. In the spring of 1791 Mr. McElwee, under the
direction of Captain Williamson, made the first clear-
ings, being the Pulteney Square and four acres behind
the agent's house for a garden, for the cultivation of
which he afterwards imported a gardener from Eng-
land. The trees on the square were chopped carefully
and close to the ground. A single pine was kft stand-
ing in front of the agency house for a Liberty Tree.
It was trimmed so as to leave a tuft at the top, and
stood nodding defiance at despotism for several years,
when it was blown down in a storm. The chopper of
the Pulteney Square denies the popular tradition, that
to get rid of the stumps they were undermined and
buried. Many strange expedients were resorted to in
those days by persons not trained from their infancy
113
to 'wood craft, to free the earth from the pitch-pine
stumps and the oak stools which seemed to be more
enduring than '' brass and pyramids," but the tradi-
tion of the preposterous burial, just alluded to, is
without foundation.
For notices of early citizens, and the early opera-
tions of Capt. Williamson, we refer to the following
narrative :
NARRATIVE, BY GEN. GEORGE m'cLURE, LATE OF
ELGIN, ILLINOIS.
Some sixty years since Western New York was a
howling wilderness, inhabited by Indians and wild
[Note. — The following reminiscences were prepared in the sum-
mer of 1850, at the request of the publishers, by Gen. McClure, who
resided at that time in Elgin, Illinois, at the age of 80 years, and
were submitted by him, with unlimited license to alter and amend.
They might perhaps be disposed more advantageously to the order
of history if broken up and used in extracts as occasion required,
but the narrative will probably be more acceptable as here presented
than in any other shape. A few extracts have been inserted in
other places. With these exceptions the narrative is almost un-^
altered. Gen. McClure is necessarily the hero of his own story, and
in his private instructions to the publishers desired it to be so altered
that every aj^pearance of sounding his own trumpet might be
avoided. The editor was unwilling to make any changes except in
a few passages which have been condensed. The language is fresh
and graphic, and the narrative gives a lively picture of the early
business of the county. Passages, declaratory of Gen. M.'s opinions
on politics, it was deemed absolutely indispensable to omit. It is
proper, however, to say that he avowed himself to be a staunch
free-soiler, a radical temperance man, and a firm believer in tlae fu-
ture glory of the United States. These reminiscences are given
from memoiy. Gen. M. lost his papers by fire.]
11*
114
beasts. Where the Citj of Utica now stands was con-
sidered in those days the extreme western frontier ;
all west of that place had been but partially explored
by civilized man. It was considered imprudent and
dangerous to attempt a journey into that wild region.
" After Oliver Phelps had purchased of Massachusetts
the pre-emptive right to a large tract of land in West-
ern New York, he made preparations to visit and ex-
plore that wild region ; his neighbors called upon him
to take a last farewell, as they never expected to see
his face again."
Much has been written, since those, days of the far
famed west. * ^ * * g^t [^^ -^nu^j now be asked
what has become of it. Has it eloped or absconded
like the wandering savage tribes that once possessed
that goodly land? Yes, truly it is gone, and now like
the Children of Israel of old, it has reached the pro-
mised land, not a land flowing with milk and honey
only, but also with gold, silver, and precious stones.
The great Pacific Ocean is its boundary. Here I take
my leave of the Far West, and return to old Steuben,
to give some account of the hardy and enterprising pio-
neers who were the first settlers in that wild and un-
cultivated region.
Rev. James H. Hotchkin in his " History of the
Presbyterian Church in Western New York," makes
some severe strictures on the character of Capt. Wil-
liamson and his settlers. He says, *' They were prin-
cipally from Europe or the States of Maryland and
Virginia, with a sprinkling of Yankees, who came to
make money." '' The state of society " he remarks,
115
'^ was very dissolute. The Sabbath was disregarded.
Drinking, gambling, carousing, horse-racing, attending
the theatre, with other concomitant vices were very
general, and numbers of those who moved in the high
circle were exceedingly depraved." I do not know
from what source such information was obtained ; but
this I know, that the Sabbath was not desecrated in the
village of Bath in the manner that he represents. We
had but two public houses in that village for many
years. One was kept by the Metcalfe family, and the
other by old Mr. Cruger, and after him by Mr. Bull.
Neither of these houses suffered gambling and carous-
ing on the Sabbath. Nor did I ever hear of a horse-
race on the Sabbath in Bath, nor of theatrical amuse-
ments on that day. There were not more than four or
five families from Maryland and Virginia that settled
in Bath ;* the other part of our population were at
least one half Yankees, and the other half foreigners and
Pennsylvanians. Now I would say that instead of a
'^ sprinkling of Yankees ^"^^ we had a heavy shower of
them. I do not believe, however, that they were a fair
sample of the sons of the Pilgrims, for a good many of
them, to say the least, were no better than they should
be. I trust that nothing in my remarks will be con-
sidered invidious. I do not intimate by any means
that Rev. Mr. Hotchkin would knowingly state an un-
truth, but that he has not been correctly informed in
* Major Presley Thornton, who -was the first occupant of the
great Springjield House, a mile and a half below Bath, and Capt.
William Helen, two Virginians, were the principal Southern men
who located at Bath.
116
relation to the character of a large proportion of the'
early settlers. I admit that many were very loose in
their morals, " lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of
God." In the year 180T. we employed the Rev. John
Niles to preach for us half his time, and the other half
in Prattsburgh. I believe he was a good man, but not
well qualified to reform so dissolute and heathenish a
body of men as composed Capt. Williamson's first set-
tlers (according to the popular account of us).
Among the number of the most respectable Scotch
emigrants were Charles Cameron and Dugald, his bro-
ther. These two young men were first-rate specimens
of the Scotch character for intelligence and integrity,
as well as for other amiable qualities. Charles Cam-
eron was a merchant, and the first to open a store in
Bath. He was also the first post-master by appoint-
ment of Capt. Williamson, who paid all expenses of
transporting the mail once a week to and from North-
umberland.* Some fifteen or twenty years after he
obtained the appointment of sub-agent of the Hornby
estate from John Greig, Esq., of Canandaigua, the
chief agent. He moved to the village of Greene, in
Chenango County, where he still resides. Few men
possessed stronger intellectual powers than Dugald
Cameron. He was highly respected by all classes of
his neighbors and acquaintances. He was a clerk in
the Land Office for some time, until he and Gen.
Haight were appointed sub-agents by Col. Troup.
* An old Frenchman lived at the " Blockhouse," on Laurel Ridge,
65 miles distant from Bath. Thomas Corbit, the mail rider in '94,
went thither weekly for the Steuben County bag.
117
He was a great favorite of the people of Steuben. In
1828 they elected him as their representative in the
Legislature of the State, ■which appointment with some
reluctance he accepted. While at Albany attending
to the duties of his station, he was seized with a violent
complaint, and after a short and painful struggle de-
parted this life, leaving a wife and a numerous family
of children, most of whom have since died. His death
was lamented by all his relations, friends, and ac-
quaintances.
Andrew Smith, a trustworthy Scotchman, had the
charge of the farming operations of Capt. Williamson ;
such as the clearing of the land for cultivation ; and all
other kinds of labor were committed to his charge. He
had generally from thirty to fifty men, and some-
times more, in his employ, and I had nearly as many
in the house-building department. Muckle Andrew
(as we called him, being a large man,) and myself
were great cronies. We were both single men, and
kept bachelors' hall. We generally met on Saturday
evenings, alternately, in each others' apartments. We
had, in those days, plenty of the joyful^ but we seldom
carried matters so far as to get decently tipsy. We
violated no pledge, for even ministers of the gospel
and deacons, in those days, kept on their side-boards
a full supply of the best Cogniac, wine and old whis-
key ; and when they got out of those articles, they
would make very decent and =* * *
* * * But I must return for a moment to
my good friend Muckle Andrew, and relate how we
used to spend the evenings of our social meetings*
118
The first topic of conversation was the business of the
past week, and what progress we had made in our re-
spective vocations. The next business in order was a
drink, then a story or a song. Andrew told the sto-
ries, and I did the singing. My songs were generally
the productions of Burns, such as, " Scots wha ha* wP
Wallace bled,^^ " WhaUl he king hut Charlie,^^ and
" ^uld Lang Syne.^^ The last verse we always sung
standing. My good friend Andrew had one favorite
standing toast, which was as follows :
" Here's to mysel', co' a' to my sel',
Wi' a' my heart here's to me ;
Here's to mysel', co' a' to mysel',
And muckle guid may it do me."
There were a number of respectable young men,
natives of Scotland, arrived in Bath in the years '93
and '94, amongst whom was Hector McKenzie, said
to be the son of a Scotch Laird, who was employed as
a Clerk in the Land Office. Of him I have nothing
to say, only that he felt himself a good deal taller than
other young men; and although otherwise respectable,
I discovered that he did not possess any of the amia-
ble qualities of his countrymen, the Camerons, and not
a particle of the courtesy and unassuming manners of
his employer, Capt. Williamson.*
John Greig, Esq., (now of Canandaigua, and chief
agent of the Hornby estate,) arrived about the same
time, a young man of fine talents, a lawyer by profes-
sion. He did not make Bath his place of permanent resi-
*He died in the West Indies.
119
dence, "but he often paid us a visit, and we were always
glad to see him, and never allowed him to depart with-
out having a real jovial old-fashioned thanksgiving.
Also, about this time, arrived Robert Campbell and
Daniel McKenzie, both respectable mechanics. They
have both lately departed this life. Mr. Campbell,
(though one of Williajiison^ s first settlers^ was sober
and industrious, and a worthy member of the Presby-
terian Church. There was also old Mr. Mullender,
with a very interesting family, who settled on a farm
^f Capt. Williamson's, near Bath. They were from
Scotland, and removed afterwards to the Old Indian
Castle, near Geneva.
I must now take leave of my Scotch friends, while I
talk a little about my ovjn dear countrymen^ as well
as of some of the sons of the pilgrims.
Henry McElwee, and William, his brother, Frank
Scott, Charles McClure, Gustavus Gillespie, and
Brown, his brother, Samuel and John Metier, with
large families of children — those, with many others
whose names I do not now recollect, were natives of
the North of Ireland, whose ancestors were of Scotch
descent. They are all dead and gone long since, with
the exception of Henry McElwee, who is yet alive and
resides on his farm at Mud Creek. He was an honest,
sober, industrious, hard-working man, and had the
confidence and patronage of Capt. Williamson.
William Dunn, a native of Pennsylvania, came to
Bath in the spring of ITOS, and kept for a short time
a house of entertainment. He was appointed High
Sheriff of the County after its organization. He was
120
a very gentlemanly man. He entered largely into
land speculation without capital, and like many others,
his visionary prospects soon vanished, and wound him
up. He moved to Newtown, where he shortly after
died. Mr. Dunn had two brothers, who came to Bath
with him, or shortly after : Robert and Joseph. The
former was called Col. Dunn. This military title he
obtained on his way from York County, in Pennsyl-
vania, to Bath. He was one of a company of adven-
turers and speculators, who agreed that they should
introduce each other by certain assumed titles. Some
Judges, others Generals, Colonels, Majors, but none
below the grade of Captain. This Col. Dunn would
pass anywhere as a gentleman of the first rank an
society.
Old Mr. Cruger moved from Newtown to Bath, and
kept the house lately occupied by Wm. Dunn, on the
southeast corner of the public square. Mr. Cruger, I
understood, was a native of Denmark — a very pleasant
man, full of anecdote and mother wit. He was the
father of Gen. Daniel Cruger. Gen. Cruger was a
lawyer, and was highly respected by his fellow-citizens.
He represented the people of Steuben County in the
State legislature several years, and also the District in
the Congress of the United States. He served with
me in Canada, in the campaign of 1813, as a Major of
Infantry, and was a faithful and vigilant officer. Some
years since he removed to the State of Virginia, and
died there.
But I am violating my own rule in spinning out such
long yarns. My locomotive being on the high pressure
121
system, I find it difficult to arrest its progress. When
I come to speak of the trade and commerce of Mud
Creek, and the Conhocton and Canisteo Rivers, which
then wormed their way over sand-bars and piles of
drift-wood into the Chemung River, I shall have some-
thing more to say of the enterprise of Mr. Bartles, and
of his son Jacob, and son-in-law, Mr. Harvey.
The town of Prattsburgh was settled with Yankees.
They were truly men of steady habits and correct
morals. For further particulars I refer the reader to
Rev. James H. Hotchkins' book in relation to the in-
habitants of that town.
I have said nothing of the inhabitants of the town of
Wayne, and, with a few exceptions, would beg leave ta
be excused. Dr. Benjamin Welles moved from Kin-
derhook, N. Y., to that town in 1798, if I am cor-
rectly informed. He had a numerous family of children*
Dr. Welles was a surgeon in the army of the Revolu-
tion, and part of the time belonged to Gen. Washing-
ton's staff. He died in 1812.
Gen. William Kernan, an Irishman by birth, moved
into Steuben I think about the year 1800, and settled
in the town of Tyrone. He is an active politician of
the Democratic party, but whether he is Hunker or
Barnburner I am not able to say. Gen. Kernan hag
been a popular man in the county, and the people have
conferred on him from time to time many important
offices.*
* Mr. John Faulkner, of the eastern part of the State, settled at
an early day in Painted Post, where he died. Dr. James Faulkner,
his son, an eminent physician, and a public man of sagacity and
12
122
A brief sketch of my own history will doubtless be
expected. From the consideration that 1 have been
one of the principal actors amongst the first settlers
in Steuben County, and that I have undertaken to be
the biographer of other men's lives, I can see no im-
propriety in giving a sketch of my own. I approach
the subject with all due modesty, divesting myself of
anything that might have the appearance of egotism ;
for it cannot be supposed that I have any ambitious
views or propensities to gratify, either politically or
otherwise, at my advanced time of life.
I was born in Ireland, in the year 1770 ; my ances-
tors emigrated from Scotland, and settled not far from
the city of Londonderry. They belonged to a religious
sect called Covenanters, who for conscience sake had
to fly from their country to a place of greater safety,
and out of the reach of their cruel and bigoted perse-
cutors. I was kept at school from the age of four
years to fifteen. The character and qualifications of
those Irish pedagogues, to whom the education of
youth was then committed, is not generally understood
in this country. They were cruel and tyrannical in the
mode and manner of chastising their pupils. Their
savage mode of punishment, for the least offence, was
disgraceful.
After leaving school, I chose to learn the trade of a
carpenter, and at the age of twenty I resolved to come
eccentricity, lived at Mud Creek. He was first Judge of the County
Court, from 180-i to 1813. Mr. John Faulkner, a brother of Dr.
Faulkner, settled on a farm five mUes north of the village of Bath.
Two other brothers, Daniel and Samuel, settled at Dansville.
123
to America. I therefore embarked on board the ship
Mary of Londonderry for Baltimore. We made a
quick and pleasant voyage of five weeks. I landed in
Baltimore the first week in June, in good health and
spirits. The whole of my property consisted of thre^
suits of clothing, three dozen of linen shirts, and a
chest of tools. As soon as I landed, I stepped into a
new building, where a number of carpenters were at
work, and inquired for the master builder. I asked
him if he wished to employ a journeyman. He said
that he did, and inquired how much wages I asked.
My answer was, that I could not tell ; that I knew
nothing of the usages of the country, as I had but a
few minutes before landed from the ship.
" Then," said he, " I presume your are an Eng-
lishman."
" Not exactly, sir," I replied. " Although I have
been a subject of King George the Third, of England,
my place of nativity was Ireland, but I am of Scotch
descent."
*'Ah, well, no matter. Come to-morrow morning
and try your hand."
I did so, and worked for him two months, when he
paid me $75. Thinks I to myself, this is a good
beginning — better than to have remained in Ireland,
and worked for two shillings and sixpence per day.
I then determined to see more of the land of liberty ;
for at this time I had never travelled beyond the
bounds of the city. I had some relations near Cham-
bersburgh,Pa., and I made preparations to visit them.
In those days there were no stages, only from city to
124
city on the sea-board. All the trade of the back-
woods was carried on by pack-horses, and some few
wagons where roads were suitable. I was advised to
purchase and rig out a pack-horse, but as to do this
would use up half my means, I concluded to be my
own pack-horse, and set out on foot for the far west,
leaving the heaviest part of my goods and chattels to
be forwarded by the first opportunity. I made good
headway the first day, but I had put on too much
steam and became foot-sore. I stopped for the night
at the house of a wealthy German farmer, who had a
large family of children, males and females, most of
them grown up. Mine host and his good-looking Frau
could not speak a word of English. He was very in-
quisitive, but he might as well have talked Hindoo to
me as German, as I could answer them only in their
own way by a kind of grunt and shake of the head,
which meant " I can't understand." So he called his
son Jacob (who had been to an English school, and
could talk a little English,) to act as interpreter. He
told his son to ask me whence I came, and whether or
not I was a forfioughter Irishman (that is, in plain
English, a d d Irishman.) Thinks I this is a
poser, and I answered judiciously, and I think cor-
rectly, under all the circumstances. I told him I was
a Scotchman, as in Ireland all Protestants go by the
name of Scotch or English, as the case may be. My
Dutch landsman appeared to be satisfied, and we had
a very social chat that evening to a late hour. The
family were all collected, young and old, to hear of the
manners and customs of the Scotch. They seemed to
125
take a great liking to me, and it was well for me that
I had become quite a favorite, for my feet were so
blistered with travellins: that I could not move. I re-
mained several days till I got over my lameness.
When I called for my bill I was told that all was free,
and was invited to remain a few days longer. I set
out on my journey, refreshed and encouraged by the
hospitality and kindness of that amiable Dutch family.
In three days thereafter I reached Chambersburgh,
which is one hundred miles west of Baltimore. I re-
mained there until the spring following, when I dis-
covered in the newspapers an advertisement, signed by
Charles Williamson, offering steady employment and
high wages to mechanics and laborers who would agree
to go with him to the Genesee Country. Thinks I this
is a good chance, and I will embrace it. I set out im-
mediately for Northumberland, the head-quarters of
Mr. Williamson. On my arrival there, I was told
that Capt. W. had started with a numerous company
of pioneers to open a road through the wilderness to
his place of destination — 140 miles.
I had some relations and other particular friends
and acquaintances in that country. An uncle of mine,
of the name of Moore, who came with his family from
Ireland in the year 1790, had settled near the village
of Northumberland. I made Uncle Moore's my home
until I heard of the arrival of Capt. Williamson at
Bath, when I again made my preparations to set out
for the land of promise, accompanied by my old Uncle
Moore, a man who had never travelled more than
twenty miles from his old homestead in all his life, ex-
12*
126
cepting on his voyage to America. I told him that if
his object in coming to this country was to purchase
land for himself and his sons, he ought, without delay,
to go to the Genesee country, where he could purchase
first-rate land for one dollar per acre. This was all
true, though I was somewhat selfish in making the
proposition, as I did not like to travel alone through
the wilderness, liable to be devoured by panthers,
bears and wolves ; so I eventually persuaded the old
gentleman to accompany me. The old lady, Aunt
Moore, packed up provision enough for at least a four
weeks' journey. We mounted a pair of good horses
and set out. We had only travelled twenty miles
when we came to a large rapid stream or creek, which
from late heavy rains was bank full. Uncle Moore
concluded to retrace his steps homeward. I told him
I could not agree to that. " Why, we will be laughed
at." " Well," said he, '' they may laugh if they
please," and would go no further.
" Very well," said I, ** If that's your determination,
I will remain here until the water falls — but I see a
house close by, and a large canoe, (the first I had ever
seen,) let us go and inquire whether it would be safe
to swim our horses aloagside of it."
We were told there was no danger, and two men
volunteered to put us over. Uncle Moore proposed
that I should pass over first with my horse, and if I
made a safe voyage, to send back for him. We landed
in safety. I got the old gentleman just where I
wanted him. He must now go ahead, as his retreat
was now cut oflp. In the meantime I had learned that
127
there were two other large streams ahead of us. The
first, called the Loyal Sock, within twelve miles, and
the Lycoming, eight miles beyond. We went on our
way rejoicing until we came to the Loyal Sock. There
was no inhabitant near. What was to be done. T
told Uncle Moore we must do one of two things, either
swim our horses across, or encamp on the bank till the
river falls, but I thought there was no danger in swim-
ming, as it was a deep stream and not rapid. I pro-
posed to go over first, and if I arrived safe, he might
follow if he thought proper. I gave him directions to
hold his horse quartering up stream, and seize with his
right hand the horse's mane, and not look down in the
water, but straight across to some object on the other
side. I passed over without difficulty. The old gen-
tleman hesitated for some time. At length he plunged
in and crossed with ease. We soon after arrived at
the bank of' the Lycoming Creek. That stream was
high and outrageously rapid. We concluded that it
was best to wait until it became fordable. We stopped
at the house of one Thompson, remained there several
days, overhauled our clothing and provisions, and made
another fresh start, and entered the wilderness on
Capt. Williamson's new road.
There were no houses between Lycoming and Paint-
ed Post, a distance of 95 miles, except one in the
wilderness, kept by a semi-barbarian — or in other
words, a half-civilized Frenchman, named Anthony
Sun. He did not bear a very good character, but we
were obliged to put up with him for the night, or en-
camp in the woods. The next night we slept soundly
128
on a bed of hemlock, on the bank of the Tioga River.
Next day, about 12 o'clock, we arrived at Fuller's
Tavern, Painted Post. We ordered dinner of the very
best they could afford, which consisted of fried venison
and hominey. After dinner we concluded to spend the
afternoon in visiting the few inhabitants of that neigh-
borhood, of whom I have before spoken. First we
called upon Judge Knox, who entertained us with a
description of the country and his own adventures.
We next called on Benjamin Eaton, who kept a little
store of goods, and after an introduction by Judge
Knox to the rest of the neighborhood, returned to our
hotel and put up for the night. In the morning we
started for Bath, a distance of eighteen miles. When
we reached the mouth of Mud Creek, we found that a
house of entertainment had been erected there, and
was kept by one Thomas Corbit, who came from Penn-
sylvania with Williamson's company.* .Thomas had
been a soldier of the Revolution, and could sing an un-
accountable number of patriotic songs — Hail Columbia,
among the rest. Some thirty years after he became
poor and helpless. I procured for him a pension,
through Henry Clay, but he did not live long to en-
joy it.
We arrived at Bath and put up at the only house
* The first settlers at the mouth of Mud Creek were Thomas Corbit,
in '98, John Dolson, in '94, and Henry Bush. Capt. Williamson, while
on a jom-ney from the IS'orth, was taken sick, and was so kindly taken
care of at Dolson's house, on the Chemung, that he gave Mrs. D. 200
acres of land wherever she might locate it, between Painted Post and
the Hermitage.
129
of entertainment in the village (if it could be called a
house). It's construction was of pitch-pine logs, in
two apartments, one story high, kept by a very kind
and obliging English family of the name of Metcalfe.
This house was the only one in town except a similar
one erected for the temporary abode of Capt. William-
son, which answered the purpose of parlor, dining-
room, and land office. There were besides some shan-
ties for mechanics and laborers.
I called on Capt. Williamson and introduced myself
to him as a mechanic. I told him that I had seen his
advertisement, and in pursuance of his invitation, had
come to ask employment. '' Very well," said he,
" young man, you shall not be disappointed." He
told me I should have the whole of his work if I could
procure as many hands as was necessary. We entered
into an agreement. He asked me when I should be
ready to commence business. I told him that I must
return to Northumberland and engage some hands
there, and send out tools and baggage up the North
branch of the Susquehanna River to Tioga Point, that
being the head of boat navigation.
I introduced Uncle Moore to him — told him that he
came all the way to see the country, and that if he
liked it, he would purchase a farm and move on it with
his family. He made a selection four miles west of
Bath on which some of his family now reside.
We returned immediately to Northumberland, hired
a few young men carpenters. We shipped our tools
and baggage on a boat, sold my horso, and we went on
foot to Bath, arriving there in five days. One more
130
trip was necessary before we could commence business,
as our baggage would be landed at Tioga Point.
There were no roads at that time through the narrows
on the ChemuDg for wagons to pass with safety ; there-
fore eight of us started on foot for the Point. When
we came within four miles of Newtown, we discovered
a number of canoes owned by some Dutch settlers. I
purchased four of them. One of them was a very large
one which I bought of a funny old Dutchman, who said
his canoe " wash de granny from de whole river up."
My companions gave me the title of Commodore, and
insisted on my takiug command of the large canoe. I
selected as a shipmate a young man by the name of
Gordon who was well skilled in the management of
such a craft. We laid in provision for the voyage and
a full supply of the joyful. We pushed our little fleet
into the river, and with wind and tide in our favor, ar-
rived at Tioga Point in four hours, a distance of twen-
ty-four miles. We shipped our goods, and set out
with paddles and long setting poles against a strong
current. Then came the tug of war. Many times we
were obliged to land, and with a long rope tow our ves-
sels up falls and strong riffles, and in ascending the
Conhocton we had to cut through many piles of drift-
wood. Our progress was slow. We made the trip
from the Point (fifty-six miles) in nine days. It was
the hardest voyage that I ever undertook. We were
the first navigators of the Conhocton river.
By this time Captain Williamson had erected two
saw-mills on the Conhocton river, near Bath, and they
were in full operation. Houses were erected as fast
131
as thirty or forty hands could finish them. Captain
Williamson called on me and asked me how long it
would take me to erect and finish a frame building of
forty by sixteen feet, one and a half stories high, all
green stuff. He told me that he expected a good deal
of company in a few days, and there was no house
where so many could be entertained. I told him if all
the materials were delivered on the spot, I would en-
gage to finish it according to his plan in about three
days, or perhaps in less time. " Very well, sir," said
he, " if you finish the house in the time you have stat-
ed, you shall be rewarded." I told my hands what I
had undertaken to do, and the time I had to do it in
was limited to three days : " I will pay each of you
one dollar a day extra. We shall have to work day
and night. What say you, boys ?" Their answer
was: "We will go it." This was followed up by
three hearty cheers for Captain Williamson. Next
morning I went at it with thirty hands, and in forty-
eight hours the house was finished according to agree-
ment. No lime-stone had yet been discovered in that
region, nor even stone suitable for walling cellars,
therefore the whole materials for building were from
necessity confined to timber and nails. Captain Wil-
liamson paid me $400 for my forty-eight hours' job,
and remarked that he would not have been disappoint-
ed for double that sum. He published an account of
this little affair in the Albany and New York papers.
It had some effect of bringing our little settlement into
notice. He also gave orders for the erection of a large
building of 80 by 40 feet, for a theatre, and for the
132
clearino^ of one hundred acres, around which was made
a beautiful race-course, and another on Genesee Flats,
near Williamsburgh. Such amusements had the ef-
fect of bringing an immense number of gentlemen into
the county every spring and fall. This was done by
Captain W. in order to promote the interest of his em-
ployer. Southern sportsmen came with their full-
blooded racers ; others, again, with bags of money to
bet on the horses, and a large proportion of gamblers
and blacklegs. Money was plenty, in those days at
least, in and about Bath, and was easily obtained and
as easily lost. Some men became immensely rich in
twenty-four hours, and perhaps the next day were re-
duced to beggary.
Such amusements and scenes of dissipation led to
another species of gambling called land speculation.
Any respectable looking gentleman might purchase on
a credit of six years, from one mile square to a town-
ship of land. The title that Captain Williamson gave
was a bond for a deed at the end of the term, provided
payment was fully made ; otherwise the contract be-
came null and void. Those bonds were transferable
and the speculators sold to each other, and gave their
bonds for thousands and hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars, which was the ruin of all who embarked in such
foolish speculations. They became the victims of a
monomania. Captain W. believed that this specula-
tion would hasten the settlement of the county, but its
tendency proved to be the reverse. Besides, it was
the ruin of many honest, enterprising and industrious
men.
133
Captain W. always advised me to keep clear of land
speculation, and I resisted the temptation for more
than two years. I was doing well enough, clearing
several thousand dollars a year, but like many others,
did not let well enough alone. My father's family
had arrived in the United States, and had settled in
the county of Northumberland, Pa., and I started in
the fall of 1794 to visit them. On my way there, I
met with one of those speculating gentlemen with whom
I was acquainted. He offered me a great bargain, as
I supposed, of half a Township, or 12,000 acres. It
was the south half of Township No. 6, now called
South Dansville. I agreed to pay him for his right
twenty-five cents per acre, and paid him §1,000 in
hand — and gave him my notes for the payment of the
balance in annual payments. I went on to New York
city where a few had been lucky enough to make good
sales. I employed an auctioneer, and offered my lands
for sale to the highest bidder at the Tontine Coffee
House. It was knocked off at my own bid. I return-
ed sick enough of land jobbing, but held on to my land
until the next races in Bath, when I made a sale to one
Mr. John Brown, a very respectable merchant and
farmer of Northumberland Co., Pa. He paid me in
merchandise $1,000, and gave his bonds for the bal-
ance. He shortly after failed in business, and I lost
the whole of my hard earnings.
The next project that claimed his attention was the
improvement of our streams. They were then called
creeks, but when they came to be improved, and were
made navigable for arks and rafts, their names were
13
134
changed to those of rivers. The Colonel ordered the
Conhocton and Mud Creek to be explored by a com-
petent committee, and a report to be made, and an es-
timate of the probable expense required to make them
navigable for arks and rafts. The report of the com-
mittee was favorable. A number of hands were em-
ployed to remove obstructions and open a passage to
Painted Post — which was done, though the channel
still remained very imperfect and dangerous.* The
question was then asked, who shall be the first adven-
turer 1 We had not as yet any surplus produce to
spare, but lumber was a staple commodity, and was in
great demand at Harrisburgh, Columbia, and Balti-
more. I therefore came to the conclusion to try the
experiment the next spring. I went to work and built
an ark 75 feet long and 16 feet wide, and in the course
of the winter got out a cargo of pipe and hogshead
staves, which I knew would turn to good account
should I arrive safely at Baltimore. All things being
ready, with cargo on board, and a good pitch of water
and a first-rate set of hands, we put out our unwieldy
vessel into the stream, and away we went at a rapid
rate, and in about half an hour reached White's Is-
land, five miles below Bath. There we ran against a
large tree that lay across the river. We made fast
our ark to the shore, cut away the tree, repaired dama-
ges, and next morning took a fair start. It is unneces-
sary to state in detail the many difficulties we encoun-
*Tlie Conhocton was declared navigable above Liberty Corners.
The first attempt at clearing the channel "was made on the strength
of a fund of ^YOO, raised by subscription^
135
tered before we reached Painted Post, but in about six
xiajs we got there. The Chemung River had fallen so
low that we were obliged to wait for a rise of water.
In four or five days we were favored with a good pitch
of water. We made a fresh start, and in four days
ran 200 miles, to Mohontongo, a place 20 miles from
Harrisburgh, where, through the ignorance of the pilot,
we ran upon a bar of rocks in the middle of the river,
where it was one mile wide. There we lay twenty-
four hours, no one coming to our relief or to take us
on shore. At last a couple of gentlemen came on
board, and told us it was impossible to get the ark off
until a rise of water. One of the gentlemen enquired,
apparently very carelessly, what it cost to build an
ark of that size, and how many thousand staves we
had on board. I suspected his object, and answered
him in his own careless manner. He asked if I did
not wish to sell the ark and cargo. I told him I
would prefer going through if there was any chance of
a rise of water — that pipe-staves, in Baltimore, were
worth $80 per thousand, but if you wish to purchase,
and will make me a generous offer, I will think of it.
He offered me $600. I told him that was hardly half
the price of the cargo at Baltimore, but if he would
give me $800 I would close a bargain with him. He
said he had a horse, saddle and bridle on shore, worth
$200, which he would add to the $600. We all went
on shore. I examined the horse, and considered him
worth the $200. We clos^^d the bargain, and I started
for Bath. I lost nothing by the sale, but if I had suc-
ceeded in reaching Baltimore I should have cleared
$500.
136
The same spring, Jacob Bartles, and his brother-in-
law Mr. Harvey, made their way down Mud Creek
with one ark and some rafts. Bartles' Mill Pond and
Mud Lake afforded water sufficient at any time, by
drawing a gate, to carry arks and rafts out of the
creek. Harvey lived on the west branch of the Sus-
quehanna, and understood the management of such
crafts.
Thus it was ascertained to a certainty, that, by im-
proving those streams, we could transport our produce
to Baltimore — a distance of 300 miles — in the spring
of the year, for a mere trifle.
In the year 1795 I went to Albany on horseback.
There was no road from Cayuga Lake to Utica better
than an Indian trail, and no accommodations that I
found better than Indian wigwams. It may save me
some trouble if I tell what took me there, and all about
my business. I volunteered to give a history of my
own life, and I shall redeem my pledge so far as my
memory will enable me to do so. I had got it into my
head to dispose of my chest of tools, and turn mer-
chant. I therefore settled my accounts with Col.
Williamson. He gave me a draft on a house in Al-
bany for §1,500, accompanied by letters of recom-
mendation. I laid in a large assortment of merchan-
dise, and shipped them on board a Mohawk boat.
Being late in the fall the winter set in, and the boat
got frozen up in the river about thirty miles west of
Schenectady, at a place called the Cross Widow's,
otherwise called the Widow Veeder's. Here the goods
lay for about two months, till a sleigh-road was opened
137
from Utica to Cajuga Lake. About the last of Janu-
ary I started with sleighs after my goods, and in two
weeks arrived at Bath.
I have already mentioned that Col. Williamson ex-
pended a good deal of money in improving a number
of farms, and erecting a number of buildings on them,
which gave employment to many hands.* These hands
were my best customers, and paid up their accounts
every three months by orders on Williamson ; but
orders came from England to stop such improvements,
and shortly after Col. W. resigned his agency. Those
tenants and laborers got in my debt, at this time,
about $4,000, and in one night the whole of them
cleared out for Canada. They were a sad set of un-
principled scamps. They were a part of that " sprink-
ling of Yankees that came to make money." There
was not one foreigner, nor a Virginian, nor a Mary-
lander amongst them. They were a part of the first
settlers in the town of Wayne. I waited some time
till they got settled down in Upper Canada, and then
started to pay them a visit. At that time there were
no white inhabitants between Genesee River and Nia-
gara, a distance of about 90 miles. I lodged one night
with the Tonnewanta Indians, and the next day crossed
the river to Newark. I found some of my customers
*Several of the Haverling, Brundage and Faulkner farms, north
of the village of Bath, were cleared by Capt. W. He built large
framed barns on them, and settled them with tenants. The scheme
was a failure. The soil, even at that early day, declared its abhor-
rence of estates other than for fee simple. After Capt. W.'a depar-
ture, the farms were almost hopelessly overnm with oak brush.'
13*
138
at York or Toronto, and some at the Bay of Canty.
I employed a lawyer named McDonald, -who advised
me to get all I could from them in the first place, and
he would undertake to collect the balance if they were
worth it. They paid me about $200. I heard that
some of them had gone up Lake Erie, and were in De-
troit. I re-crossed Lake Ontario, went to Fort Erie,
and up the lake in the old U. S. brig Adams, She
was the only vessel on the lake, except one small
schooner. I was nine days on the passage. I found
some of my runaways at Detroit, but did not receive
one cent of them. I set my face homewards — was
taken sick on my passage down the lake, and lay six
weeks at Fort Erie. The physicians pronounced my
case hopeless, but owing to the kindness and attention
of Mrs. Crow, my landlady, and of Col. Warren, the
commissary of the garrison, I recovered. I at length
reached home, after an absence of three months. My
lawyer McDonald was shortly after drowned in cross-
ing the lake. It was the last I heard of him or of my
papers.
My next start in business was attended with a little
better success. My brother Charles kept a small
store in Bath, and in the year 1800 we entered into
partnership. I moved to Dansville, opened a store,
and remained there one year. I did a safe business,
and took in that winter 4,000 bushels of wheat and
200 barrels of pork — built four arks, at Ashport, on
the Canisteo River, and ran them down to Baltimore.
These were the first arks that descended the Canisteo.
My success in trade that year gave me another fair
139
start. My brother, in the mean time, went to Phila-
delphia to lay in a fresh supply of goods for both
stores ; but on his way home he died very suddenly at
Tioga Point. He had laid in about $30,000 worth of
goods. I returned to Bath with my family — continued
my store at Dansville — opened one at Penn Yan, and
sent a small assortment to Pittstown, Ontario County.
At this time I purchased the Cold Spring Mill site,
half way between Bath and Crooked Lake, of one
Skinner, a Quaker, with 200 acres of land, and pur-
chased from the Land Office and others about 800
acres, to secure the whole privilege. Here I erected a
flouring-mill, saw-mill, fulling-mill and carding ma-
chine. I perceived that wheat would be the principal
staple of the farmers, and I also knew from experience
that there would be great risk in running wheat to
Baltimore down a very imperfect and dangerous navi-
gation, and the risk in running flour, well packed, com-
paratively small. The flouring mill, with two run of
stones, I completed in the best manner in three
months. I sent handbills into all the adjoining coun-
ties, offering a liberal price for wheat delivered at my
mills, or at any stores in Dansville, Penn Yan and
Pittstown. I received in the course of the winter
20,000 bushels of wheat, two-thirds of which I floured
and packed at my mills ; built in the winter eight arks
at Bath, and four on the Canisteo. In the spring I
ran the flour to Baltimore, and the wheat to Columbia.
The river was in fine order, and we made a prosperous
voyage and a profitable sale. I cleared enough that
spring to pay all my expenditures and improvements
140
on the Cold Spring property. After disposing of my
cargo, I went to Philadelphia and settled with my mer-
chants, laid in a very extensive assortment of goods,
loaded two boats at Columbia, and sent them up the
river to Painted Post.
My next project was to build a schooner on Crooked
Lake, of about thirty tons burden, for the purpose of
carrying wheat from Penn Yan to the head of the lake.
I advertised the schooner Sally as a regular trader on
Crooked Lake. The embargo to the contrary not-
withstanding^ (for Jefferson's long embargo had then
got into operation.) Some of my worthy democratic
brethren in the vicinity of Penn Yan charged me with
a want of patriotism for talking so contemptuously of
that wholesome retaliatory measure. I received a very
saucy and abusive letter from a very large, portly,
able-bodied gentleman of Yates County, whose corpor-
ation was much larger than his intellect. This famous
epistle raised my dander to a pretty high pitchy and I
answered his letter in his own style, and concluded by
saying that if Jefferson would not immediately raise
his embargo, I should go to work and dig a canal from
Crooked Lake to the Conhocton River, and the next he
would hear of the schooner Sally would be, that she
had run in, in distress, to Passamaquaddy, or some
other Northern harbor. This brought our correspond-
ence to a close.
I erected a store-house at each end of the lake.
The vessel and store-houses cost me $1,400. The
whole, as it turned out, was a total loss, as the lake
was frozen over at the time I most wanted to use it.
141
The farmers did not then carry their wheat to market
before winter.
I had given notes the previous winter to the farmers
for wheat to the amount of about $3,000, payable in
June following, but after opening my new goods, I took
in money fast enough to meet the payment of my notes
when presented, which established my credit with the
farmers throughout the West, far and near. There
was not at that time any other market for wheat, until
the great canal was finished as far as Cayuga. Wheat
was brought to my mill from all parts of Seneca and
Ontario Counties and the Genesee River. After Col.
Troup came into the agency, he authorized me to re-
ceive wheat from any of the settlers that wished to
make payments in the land-office, and pay in my drafts
on the office for the same.
Indians were very numerous at that time. Their
hunting-camps were within short distances of each
other all over the county. The Indian trade was then
an object. I hired a chief of the name of Kettle-Hoop,
from Buffalo, to teach me the Seneca language. He
spoke good English. All words that related to the
Indian trade or traffic I wrote down in one column, and
opposite gave the interpretation in Seneca, and so I
enlarged my dictionary from day to day for three or
four weeks, until I got a pretty good knowledge of the
language. I then set out on a trading expedition
amongst the Indian encampments, and took my teacher
along, who introduced me to his brethren as seos
cagena, that is, very good man. They laughed very
heartily at my pronunciation. I told them I had a
142
great many goods at Tanighnaguanda^ that is, Bath*
I told them to come and see me, and bring all their
furs, and peltry, and gammon, (that is, hams of deer,)
and I would buy them all, and pay them in goods very
cheap. They asked me, Tegoye ezeethgath and
JVegaugh, that is, " Have you rum and "wine, or fire-
water." That fall, in the hunting season, I took in an
immense quantity of furs, peltry and deer hams. Their
price for gammon, large or small, was two shillings.
I salted and smoked that winter about 3,000 hams,
and sold them next spring in Baltimore and Phila-
delphia for two shillings per pound. At this time there
was an old bachelor Irishman in Bath, that kept a little
store or groggery, by the name of Jemmy McDonald,
who boarded himself, and lived in his pen in about as
good style as a certain nameless four-legged animal.
He became very jealous of me after I had secured the
whole of the Indian trade. The Indians used to com-
plain of Jamie, and say that he was tos cos, that is,
not good — too much cheat, Jiinmy, When I had com-
mand of the army at Fort George, in Upper Canada,
about 600 of these Indians were attached to my com-
mand.
The next spring I started down the rivers Conhocton
and Canisteo, with a large fleet of arks loaded with
flour, wheat, pork and other articles. The embargo
being in full force, the price of flour and wheat was
very low. At Havre de Grace I made fast two or three
arks loaded with wheat to the stern of a small schooner
which lay anchored in the middle of the stream, about
half a mile from shore. Being ebb tide, together with
143
tlie current of the stream, we could not possibly land
the arks. Night setting in, there was no time to be
lost in getting them to shore, as there was a strong
wind down the bay, and it would be impossible to save
them if they should break loose from the schooner. I
left the arks in charge of William Edwards, of Bath,
whilst I went on shore to procure help to tow the arks
to shore. Whilst I was gone the wind increased, and
the master of the schooner hallooed to Edwards, who
was in one of the arks, that he would cut loose, as there
was danger that he would be dragged into the bay and
get lost, and he raised his axe to cut the cables.
Edwards swore if he cut the cables he would shoot him
down on the spot, and raising a handspike, took de-
liberate aim. It being dark, the Captain could not
distinguish between a handspike and a rifle. This
brought him to terms. He dropped the axe, and told
Edwards that if he would engage that I should pay
him for his vessel in case she should be lost, he would
not cut loose. Edwards pledged himself that I would
do so.
When I got on shore, I went to a man named Smith,
who had a fishery, and a large boat with eighteen oars,
and about forty Irishmen in his employ, and ofiered to
hire his boat and hands. He was drunk, and told me
with an oath, that I and my arks might ^' go to the
d — 1." He would neither let the boat nor his hands
go. I went into the shanty of the Irishmen, and put-
ting on an Irish brogue, told them of my distress.
" The d — 1 take Smith, we will help our countryman,
by my shoul boys," said their leader. They manned
144
the boat, and the arks were brought to the shore in
double-quick time. They refused to take pay, and I
took them to a tavern and ordered them as much as
they chose to drink. My friend Edwards and those
jolly Irishmen saved my arks and cargo. Edwards is
yet alive, and resides in Bath.*
The loss I sustained in flour and wheat this year
was great, but I did not feel it to be any serious inter-
ruption to my business. On my return, I concluded
that I must suspend the purchase of wheat while that
ruinous measure, the embargo, was in force, and fall
upon some other scheme and project. So I opened a
large distillery, which opened a market to the farmers
for their rye-corn, and even wheat, which I converted
into " fire-water," as the Indians very properly call
it. Jefferson's embargo did not injure the sale of it,
but the contrary, as whiskey was then worth by the
barrel from eight to ten shillings per gallon, and all
men, women, and children drank of it freely in those
days. I converted much of my whiskey into gin,
brandy, and cordials, in order to suit the palates of
some of my tippling customers.
I purchased in the fall droves of cattle and sent
them to Philadelphia. I also stall-fed forty head of
the best and largest cattle in the winter, which I ship-
ped on arks to Columbia, and drove to Philadelphia,
where they sold to good advantage. This mode of
sending fat cattle to market astonished the natives as
we passed down the river. It proved to be a profitable
business.
* He died in March, 1851.
145
In the year 1814 I sold m}^ Cold Spring Mills to
Henry A. Townsend for $14,000. I erected other
mills at Bath. In 1816 I ran down to Baltimore
about 1,000,000 feet of pine lumber and 100,000 feet
of cherry boards and curled maple. I chartered three
brigs and shipped my cherry and curled maple and
500 barrels of flour to Boston. I sold my flour at a
fair price, but my lumber was a dead weight on my
hands. At length, the inventor of a machine for spin-
ning wool by water power, offered to sell me one of his
machines for $2,500, and take lumber in payment. I
closed a bargain with him, which induced me to em-
bark in woolen manufacture. I obtained a loan from
the state, and was doing well until Congress reduced
the tariff for the protection of home industry to a mere
nominal tax. The country immediately after was
flooded with foreign fabrics, and but few woolen fac-
tories survived the shock.
I will now close my narrative so far as it relates to
my own business concerns, with a single remark, that
although I have been unfortunate at the close of my
business, yet I flatter myself that all will admit that
I have done nothing to retard the growth and pros-
perity of the village of Bath, or of the inhabitants
of Steuben county generally, especially at a time
when there were no facilities for the farmers of the
county to transport their produce to market other than
that which was afforded them by my exertions. And
"whether the people of Steuben or myself have receiv-
ed the most benefit I leave for them to determine.
It would appear to be of very little consequence for
14
146
me to state the number of civil offices that I held
during my residence in Steuben county. It will only
show how far I had the good will of the people. First,
I was appointed Justice of the Peace ; next, a Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas, and Surrogate of the
county. In 1816 I was appointed High Sheriff of the
county, which office I held four years. I held the of-
fice of Post Master of the village of Bath, about
eight years. The good people of Steuben also elected
me three years in succession to represent them in the
Legislature of the State of New York. — For all these
favors I felt then, and ever shall feel grateful.
This brief narrative is nothing more than a mere
synopsis of some of the principal events of my life
during the last sixty years. I find that all labor,
whether of the hand or head, have become burthen-
some, which will be a sufficient apology for its insuf-
ficiencies.
NoTK. — Gen. McCluke, at the age of 64, again started " in pur-
suit of the Far West," "which he sajs " had got a thousand miles
ahead of me," and loccted at Elgin, in Illinois, where he resided
until his death in the Bummer of 1851.
CHAPTER VI.
CAPTAIN Williamson's administration — life at
BATH GRAND SIMCOE WAR RACES THEATRE
VINDICATION OF THE ANCIENTS BATH GAZETTE
COUNTY NEWSPAPERS THE BAR PHYSICIANS.
Captain Williamson having, toward the close of the
last century, fairly established himself at Bath, was the
greatest man in all the land of the West. His do-
minion extended from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario ;
a province of twelve hundred thousand acres owned
him as its lord ; Indian warriors hailed him as a great
chief; settlements on the Genesee, by the Seneca, and
at the bays of Ontario, acknowledged him as their
founder; and furthermore, by commission from the Go-
vernor of the State of New York, he was styled Colonel
in the militia of the Commonwealth, and at the head
of his bold foresters, stood in a posture of defiance be-
fore the Pro-Consul of Canada, who beheld with indig-
nation a rival arising in the Genesee forests, and tak-
ing possession of land which he claimed for his own
sovereign, with a legend of New Englanders and Penn-
sylvanians, mighty men with the axe and rifle, and
with colonies of Scotch and Irish boys, who cleaved to
the rebellious subjects of the King.
148
His was no idle administration. It did not content
him to sit in idle grandeur in his sumptuous log-for-
tress on the Conhocton, like a Viceroy of the Back-
woods, feasting on the roasted sides of mighty stags,
and eating luxurious hominy from huge wooden trench-
ers with the captains of his host. Neither did he
yield to those temptations which so often beset and
overpower governors sent to administer the affairs of
distant districts of the wilderness, who, instead of col-
lecting tribute from the refractory aborigines, and keep-
ing them well hanged, are forever scouring the woods
with hounds, and beating the thickets for bears, to the
great neglect of the royal finances. He galloped
hither and thither with restless activity — from Bath
to Big Tree, from Seneca to Sodus, from Canadarque
to Gerundigut, managing the concerns of his realm
with an energy that filled the desert with life and ac-
tivity. People heard of him afar off — in New England,
in Virginia, and in Canada. The bankers of Albany
and New York became familiar with his signature.
Englishmen and Scotchmen were aroused from their
homes and persuaded to cross the ocean for Genesee
estates, and hearty young emigrants of the better sort
— farmers and mechanics of some substance — wero
met upon their landing by recommendations to leave
the old settlements behind them, and try their fortunes
in Williamson's woods. Pioneers from below pushed
their canoes and barges up the rivers, and men of the
East toiled wearily through the forest with their oxen
and sledges. Not a few Virginian planters, with their
great household, abandoned their barren estates be-
149
yond the Potomac, and performed marches up the Sus-
quehanna valley and over the Laurel Ridge in much
the same style (saving the camels) as the ancient Me-
sopotamian patriarchs shifted their quarters — young-
sters and young ladies making the journey gaily on
horseback, while the elderly rode in ponderous chaises,
secured against catastrophes by ropes and props, and
the shoulders of their negroes. Several such cavalcades
came over the Lycoming Road. One is yet remem-
bered with some interest by a few, as containing a pair
of distinguished belles, whose fame went before them,
and who were met on their descent, half frozen, from
the mountains in mid-winter, at the Painted Post Hotel,
by a couple of no less distinguished sprouts of North-
ern gentility, one of whom was afterwards so fortunate
as to gain the hand of one of the frost-bitten beauties.
The administration of the affairs of the estate be-
yond the limits of this county, is not, of course^ a mat-
ter to be treated of with propriety in this volume.
Much of the agent's personal attention was of course
required in this, but he made his residence at Bath,
and to life and doings at the metropolis, our attention
will for the present be directed.
Captain Williamson dwelt in his stronghold on the
Conhocton, in high style, like a baron of old. All the
expenses necessary to support the state which such a
regent should maintain, were borne by the boundless
fund which he controlled. Gentlemen from far
countries came up to the woods on horseback, and
were entertained sumptuously, as the gallant captain's
feudal prototypes were wont to welcome to their castles
14*
150
straggling crusaders, pilgrims and foreign knights.
There was an abundance of gentility in the land, both
sham and genuine. Sometimes the admiring wood
nymphs, who had heretofore seen only ill-favored and
bare-backed pagans striding through the forest, beheld
a solitary horseman, finely dressed in the most ap-
proved fashion of the cities, trotting down the inter-
rmnable lane of pines, followed at a respectful distance
by his servant (a spectacle which this good republican
county has not seen for many a year), and sometimes
Captain Williamson himself might be seen dashing in
gallant style through the woods, with a party of riders
from the Hudson or the Roanoke, mounted on full
blooded horses, while a functionary from the baronial
kitchen brought up the rear, with luncheon and a
basket of wine. There were, moreover, asses in lions'
hides, who came down with a great flourish, and passed
themselves off for real Nubians. A few old settlers
have occasion to remember one of these gentry, a
certain captain, " a great big man, and a mighty fine
gentleman, with ruffles in his shirt, and rings on his
fingers," who contracted to build Captain Williamson's
stupendous Marengo barns, and one day went off in a
portly and magnificent way, without paying his
carpenters.
The Pine Plains were unable to support such courtly
personages, and indeed the good stock of working men
and farmers who tilled the land, found the soil so un-
gracious, that they were not a little straightened for
the means of supporting life. Captain Williamson
transported his first flour from Northumberland, and
151
a quantity of pork from Philadelphia. Afterwards
these luxuries were obtained as best they could be.
Flour was brought on pack horses from Tioga Point,
and a treaty of commerce was entered into with Jemima
Wilkinson, the ])rophetess, who had established her
oracle on the outlet of Crooked Lake, where her dis-
ciples had a mill and good farms. The first navigators
of Crooked Lake carried their cargoes in Durham
boats of six or eight tons burden, which they poled
along the shore, or when favoring breezes filled their
sails, steered through the mid-channel. These primi-
tive gondoliers have lived to see the end of their pro-
fession. Notvfithstanding these resources, the village
of the Plains was sometimes reduced to great straits.
The Canisteo boy brought over his bag of wheat on a
horse, threw it down at the door of the agency-house,
and was paid five silver dollars the bushel. He drove
his bullock across the hills, slaughtered it at the edge
of the village, and sold every thing from hoof to horn
for a shilling the pound. He led over a pack-horse
laden with grain, paid all expenses, treated, and took
home eighteen dollars. One old farmer remembers
paying two dollars and a quarter for a hog's head,
" and it was half hair at that." *' Bath was just like
San Francisco," says an old settler on the comfortable
farms of Pleasant Valley, " straw was a shilling a
bunch, and every thing else in proportion. Money
was plenty, but they almost starved out. They once
adjourned court because there was nothing to eat. If
it hadn't been for the Valley, the Pine Plains would
have been depopulated. After court had been in
152
session two or three days, you would see a black boy
come down here on a horse, and with a big basket,
foraging. He would go around to all the farms to get
bread, meat, eggs, or anything that would stay life.
Bath was the hungriest place in creation. You could'nt
trust a leg of mutton to anybody but the land-agent."
The citizens of the county made court week a kind
of general gathering time, and the larders of Bath
were sometimes speedily exhausted. The prudent
juryman before setting out from home, slung over his
shoulders a bag containing a piece of cold pork, and a
huge loaf of bread ; for no one knew to what extre-
mities the ministers of justice might be reduced.
Nevertheless the affairs of the metropolis went on
finely. The county prospered. The river was partially
relieved of incumbrances ; roads were opened ; bridges
were built ; farms were cleared. In 1796, or about
that time. Captain Williamson resorted to sundry bold
devices to arouse the backward people of the East, and
to spread the fame of his realm throughout the land.
Before entering upon those subjects, however, there is
a martial affair which must by no means be lightly
passed over — the grand Simcoe War of 1794. The
memory of this has almost perished. Few of the good
people know how a high and mighty potentate of the
North once rose up in wrath against Captain William-
son, and threatened to come down upon him with the
King's regiment, to storm his villages, to plant his ar-
tillery, if necessary, under the ramparts of his strong-
hold on the Conhocton, and to restore the Pine Plains
with the rest of Western New York, to the Crown of
153
Great Britain. This is really the bloodiest paragraph
in the annals of Steuben County, and must be carefully
treasured.
In a rather stunning explosion of rhetoric, a certain
Fourth of July orator thus sounds the prelude to a
kind of epic anthem, in which he indulges, in view of
the threatened conflict with the Powers of the Pole.
" Hark ! what sounds are those which arise from the
'^ lowering North ! Lo ! the great Unicorn of Albion
" begins to moan in the forests of Canada, and that
" other red quadruped which rides rampant upon the
'^ British shield, begins to growl in anoflfensive andim-
" pertinent manner from the bristling ramparts of To-
^'ronto. War's mighty organ murmurs in distant
" caverns, and clouds like black war-elephants, raise
" their dusky backs out of the waters of Lake On-
" tario."
Further ^quotations from this sonorous document
will be refrained from. Humbler imagery will suffice
to illustrate the passage of arms between Captain
Williamson and the high and mighty Viceroy of Upper
Canada. It is not generally known to our citizens
what an enemy arose against us in our infancy, and
how the infant settlement, like a sturdy little urchin,
squared itself in defiance against the veteran bruiser,
who offered to bully it out of its rights.
It is well known that although by the treaty of 1783,
the British agreed to evacuate forthwith all military
posts held by them within the territory of the United
States, the forts at Niagara nnd Odwego were held
under various pretexts until the year 1796. Certain
154
claims of sovereignty over certain lands in Western
New York, were asserted by British officers, and their
presence, their influence over the Indians, and the in-
trigues of their agents, caused much apprehension and
annoyance to the settlers. Captain Williamson, as
we have seen, was interested in a settlement at Sodus.
On the I6th of August, 1794, Lieut. Sheaffe, a British
officer, called at that place, " by special commission
from the Lieutenant Governor of his Britannic Majes-
ty's province of Upper Canada," and in the absence of
Captain Williamson, left a letter for him, demanding
" by what authority an establishment has been ordered
at this place, and to require that such a design be im-
mediately relinquished."
The potentate by whom this order was dictated
was Colonel Simcoe, an officer, who, we believe,
served with some distinction at the head of a re-
giment of loyalists in the Revolution, a gentleman
undoubtedly of ability and discretion, and esteemed
a good Governor by the Canadians, but one who felt
sore at the late discomfiture of the Royal arms, and
who appears to have embraced the delusion for a long
time entertained by British officers of the old school,
of the possibility of marching through America with a
brigade of grenadiers. The Duke de la Rochefoucault
Liancourt, a French traveller, gives us the key to
Col. Simcoe's character and aspirations. — " He dis-
" courses with much good sense on all subjects, but his
" favorite topics are his projects and war, which seem
" to be the objects of his leading passions. He is ac-
quainted with the military history of all countries.
iC
155
" 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, e^-
" pecially of that which is to lead him to Philadelphia.^^
Col. Simcoe, then, had a professional hobby. He
looked at banks and braes with the eye of Major Dal-
getty, and believed that hills were made for castles,
harbors for forts, and knolls for " sconces." Of Phar-
salia and Agincourt, of the Retreat of the Ten Thou-
sand, and the flank movements of Gustavus, of the tac-
tics of Gideon and the forays of Shishak, of battering-
rams and bomb- shells, of torpedos, catapults, pikes
and pistols — of such was the conversation of Col. Sim-
coe. Of marching from Niagara through the wilder-
ness like a Canadian Hannibal, of routing the back-
woodsmen and making captive the audacious William-
son in his stronghold among the mountains, of emerg-
ing from the forest with drums, clarinets and feathers,
of riding over the stupified farmers of Pennsylvania,
and trailing his victorious cannon through the streets
of Philadelphia, of hiding the humiliation of Saratoga
in a blaze of glory, and of generally grinding to pow-
der the rebellious enemies of the King — of such were
the dreams of Col. Simcoe.
As the first step toward the attainment of these
magnificent results, the Viceroy of His Britannic Ma-
jesty stole a barrel of flour.
How this exploit was performed, — whether the store-
house was approached after the style of Turenne, and
the clerk summoned to surrender the key of the pad-
156
lock, in the words of the Grand Turk at Constanti-
nople ; whether hoops were respected and staves treated
considerately, according to the usages of the Black
Prince and other mirrors of courtesy, we cannot say,
though the Governor undoubtedly overhauled his libra-
ry and reviewed Rollin's History before he attempted
a manoeuvre which was probably without a precedent
in the '' military history of all nations." The particu-
lars of this fell swoop of the Canadian war-kite do not
appear in the few books hastily consulted on that sub-
ject, — loftier matters, the evacuation of forts, the
movements of emissaries, and the correspondence of
functionaries, being solely discoursed of in those. Old
settlers, however, aver that a quantity of flour belong-
ing to Capt. Williamson was seized by the British and
carried oif.
Capt. Williamson resented the aiBront in a spirited
manner. A sharp correspondence followed between
himself and the trespassing parties. The cabinet at
Washington took the matter in hand. The prospect
looked, to the men in the forest, decidedly warlike.
The "black war elephants," which the orator saw
rising out of the billows of Ontario, it may be believed,
shook their bright and glittering tusks with evil pur-
port, while those other surly quadrupeds which dis-
played themselves in such an ill-tempered manner on
the " bristling ramparts of Toronto," undoubtedly in-
dulged in demonstrations equally hostile and alarming.
Captain Williamson had reason to believe that in the
event of actual hostilities, the vengeance of Col. Sim-
coe might seek him in his own city. He determined
15T
to make ready for the blow, to rally the woodsmen, to
picket the public square, and to entertain the Canadian
Hannibal and his legions with such a feast of smoke,
steel, and sulphur, as those fire-eaters alone could re-
lish.
Gen. McClure in his manuscript says, " The ad-
ministration at Washington apprised Capt. William-
son of the difficulties that had arisen between this
country and Great Britain, and required him to make
preparations for defence. He therefore received a
Colonel's commission from the Governor of New York,
and immediately thereafter sent an express to Albany
for one thousand stand of arms, several pieces of can-
non and munitions of war. He lost no time in making
preparations for war. He gave orders to my friend
Andrew Smith to prepare timber for picketing on a
certain part of our village and ordered that I should
erect block-houses according to his plan. The work
went cheerily on. We could rally, in case of alarm,
five or six hundred, most of them single men. Our
Colonel organized his forces into companies. I had
the honor of being appointed Captain of a light infantry
company, and had the privilege of selecting one hun-
dred men, non-commisioned officers and privates. In
a short time my company appeared in handsome uni-
form. By the instructions of our Colonel we mounted
guard every night, — exterior as well as interior. Most
of our own Indians, whom we supposed were friendly,
disappeared, which we thought was a very suspicious
circumstance."*
* Mr. Henry McElwee, of Mud Creek, was eroployed bj CoL W.
15
158
The young settlement, like the infant hero of old,
seemed likely to he attacked in its cradle by a serpent ;
and although the backwoodsmen, even of Canisteo,
were too considerate to strangle the British Empire
aggressively, and without an act of Congress author-
izing such violence, yet it is quite apparent that had
this great power seen fit to assail Col. Williamson's
little province, the consequences would have been dis-
astrous either to the one or the other. Every thing
was made ready. Further movements of those " black
war-elephants " and the rest of ihe hostile menagerie
were awaited with interest. How soon will the snort-
ing charger of Simcoe prance upon the banks of the
terrified Conhocton, while his gloomy grenadiers stride
through the forest with fixed bayonets and frowns.
How soon will the flags of St. George flaunt under the
Eight-mile Tree, or field pieces roar under our splin-
tering palisades, while all the Six Nations, yelling in
the under-brush, drive the wolves distracted. The
apprehension of invasion was probably not very alarm-
ing, yet sufficiently so to excite patriotism and visions.
The lonely settler, sleeping in his cabin far in the fo-
rest, the loaded rifle standing at his bed side, the watch-
ful hounds growling without, dream that his house is
assailed by seventy or eighty Esquimaux, painted like
rainbows, and led on by George the Third in person,
while Lord Cornwallis supports his sovereign with a
ninety-gun ship and a bomb-ketch.
to cut white oak saplings eighteen feet long and eighteen inches
thick at the butt, to be used for palisades, in enclosing the Pulteney
Square. A great many of these were cut and peeled ready for use.
159
All stand waiting for the dogs of war. " The soli-
" tary express-rider now gallops through the streets of
" Northumberland, clatters along the rocky roads,
" wheels up the Lycoming, climbs the Laurel Bridge
" and urges his stumbling horse over the rugged Ger-
" man path, descends to the Tioga, hurries along the
" rivers, and, riding at night into the guarded citadel
" of the Conhocten, declares tidings of peace. The
" lion, grumbling no longer on the ramparts of To-
'^ ronto, lies down in his lair ; the pacified unicorn
^' ceases to stamp upon the Canadian soil, and the
" black war-elephants haul in their horns, and sink
" behind the northern horizon.'^ Such is the perora-
tion of the Fourth of July Orator.
In 1796, Col. Williamson, by way of blowing a
trumpet in the wilderness, advertised to all North
America and the adjacent islands, that grand races
would be held at Bath. At the distance of half a mile
from the village, a race-course of a mile in circuit was
cleared and carefully grubbed, and all the resources of
the metropolis were brought forth for the entertain-
ment of as many gentlemen of distinction and miscel-
laneous strangers as might honor the festival by their
presence. But what probability was there that such a
festival would be celebrated with success in the midst of
" a wilderness of nine hundred thousand acres?" From
Niagara to the Mohawk were but a few hundred scat-
tered cabins, and in the south a dozen ragged settle-
ments, contained the greater part of the civilized popu-
lation till you reached Wyoming. But Col. William-
son did not mistake the spirit of the times. Those
160
were the days of high thouglits and great deeds. On
the dajj and at the pLice appointed for the race in the
prochamation, sportsmen from New York, Philadelphia
and Baltimore were in attendance. The high blades
of Virginia and Maryland, the fast-boys of Jersey, the
wise jockeys of Long Island, men of Ontario^ Pennsyl-
vania and Canada, settlers, choppers, gamesters and
hunters, to the number of fifteen hundred or two
thousand, met on the Pine Plains to see horses run —
a number as great, considering the condition of the
region where they met, as now assembles at State Fairs
and Mass Meetings. No express-trains then rolled
down from Shawangunk — no steamboats plowed the
lakes — no stages rattled along the rocky roads above
the Susquehanna. Men of blood and spirit made the
journey from the Potomac and the Hudson on horse-
back, supported by the high spirit of the ancients to
endure the miseries of blind trails and log taverns.
The races passed oiF brilliantly. Col. Williamson
himself, a sportsman of spirit and discretion, entered
a Southern mare, named Virginia Nell ; High Sheriflf
Dunn entered Silk Stocking, a New Jersey horse —
quadrupeds of renown even to the present day. Money
was plenty, and betting lively. The ladies of the two
dignitaries who- owned the rival animals, bet each
three hundred dollars and a pipe of wine on the horses
of their lords, or, as otherwise related, poured seven
hundred dollars into the apron of a third lady who was
stake-holder. Silk Stocking was victorious.
This, our most ancient festival, is rather picturesque,
seen from the present day. The arena opened in the
161
fores t, the pines and the mountain around — the varie-
gated multitude of wild men, tame men, rough men
and gentlemen, form a picture of our early life worthy
of preservation. Canisteo was there, of course, in high
spirits, and throughout the season, with self-sacrificing
devotion to the ancient, honorable and patriotic diver-
sion of horse-racing, seconded, with voice and arm,
€very effort of Baron Williamson to entertain the
country's distinguished guests. Young Canisteo went
away with mind inflamed by the spirited spectacle, and
before long introduced a higher grade of sport into
their own valley. A pioneer of that region, known to
the ancients as a youth of game and a " tamer of
horses," will, at the present day, talk with great satis-
faction of a Jersey horse, which not only bore away
the palm in the Canisteo Races, but on the Pine Plains,
in the presence of men from Washington, Philadelphia
and New York, (fifteen hundred dollars being staked
on the spot by the strangers,) distanced the horse of a
renowned Virginia Captain, who, being a " perfect
gentleman," invited the owner of the victorious beast
and his friends to dinner, and swore that nothing was
ever done more handsomely even in the ancient domi-
nion. Bath and the neighborhood was, in those days,
the residence of a sagacious and enterprising race of
sportsmen. They not only raised the Olympic dust
freely at home, but made excursions to foreign arenas,
sometimes discomfiting the aliens, and sometimes, it
must be confessed, returning with confusion of face.
It is told how a select party of gentlemen — Judges,
Generals and Captains — once went down to Ontario
15*
162
County " to beat the North ;" how, after the horses
had been entered, an Indian came up and asked per-
mission to enter a sorry-nag which he brought with
him, which with some jeering was granted ; how, to
the general astonishment, the pagan's quadruped flew
off with a " little Indian boy sticking to his back like
a bat," and led the crowd by a dozen rods. The ju-
dicial and military gentlemen straightway set out for
home, each with an insect in his ear. The great race-
course was not often used, during Williamson's time,
for the purpose for which it was made, after the first
grand festival. It was chiefly valuable as a public
drive for the few citizens who were so prosperous as to
keep chaises. There was, however, a course on the
Land Office Meadows south of the village, which was
at different times the scene of sport.
Colonel Williamson further embellished the back-
woods with a theatre. The building, which was of
logs, stood at the corner of Steuben and Morris streets.
A troop of actors from Philadelphia, kept we believe,
at the expense of the agentJj, entertained for a time
the resident and foreign gentry with dramatic exhibi-
tion of great splendor. Of these exhibitions we have
no very distinct account, but the public eye was pro-
bably dazzled by Tartars, Highlanders, Spaniards,
Brigands, and other suspicious favorites of the Tragic
Muse. The excellencies of the legitimate drama seem
to have been harmoniously blended with those of the
circus, and with the exploits of sorcery. We hear of one
gifted genius who astonished the frontiers by balancing
a row of three tobacco pipes on his chin, and by other
163
mysterious feats which showed him to be clearly in
league with the psychologists.
The race course and the theatre brought the village
which they adorned into bad odor with the sober and
discreet. Without intending to speak of such institu-
tions with more civility than is their due, we maintain
that in the present case they brought upon the neigh-
borhood where they existed, and upon the men who
sustained them, more reproach than they merited.
The theatrical exhibitions were but harmless absurd
affairs at worst. The races were perhaps more annoy-
ing evils. People are certainly at liberty to think as
badly of them as they please, but they should con-
sider the spirit of the times, the military and Europe-
an predilections of their founder, and also his object
in their institution (which of course does not of itself
change the moral aspect of the matter.) Colonel
Williamson was inclined to hurry civilization. The
" star of empire" was too slow a planet for him. He
wished to kindle a torch in the darkness, to blow a
horn in the mountains, to shake a banner from the
towers, that men might be led by these singular phe-
nomena to visit his establishment in the wilderness.
Therefore, jockeys were switching around the mea-
dows before the land was insured against starvation, and
Richard was calling for '' another horse" before the
county grew oats enough to bait him.
Notwithstanding the extenuating circumstances. Ba-
ron Williamson's village bore a very undesirable repu-
tation abroad — a reputation as of some riotous and
extravagant youngster, -^'ho had been driven as a
164
hopeless profligate from his father's house, and in a
■wild freak built him a shanty in the ^yoods, where he
could whoop and fire pistols, drink, swear, fight, and
blow horns without disturbing his mother and sisters.
This was in a great measure unjust. The main em-
ployment of the town was hard work. ''He couldn't
bear to have a lazy drunken fellow around him," says
an old settler speaking of the agent, '' and if any such
came he sent him away." The men of the new country
were rough and boisterous it is true, but also industri-
ous and hardy, and out of such we " constitute a
State." It has often been flung into our faces as a
reproach, that when the first missionary visited Bath,
on a Sunday morning, he found a multitude assembled
on the public square in three distinct groups. On one
side the people were gambling, on another they were
witnessing a battle between two bulls, and on a
third they were watching a fight between two bul-
lies. We are happy to say that the truth of this ras-
cally old tradition is more than doubtful. Aside from
the manifest improbability that men would play cards
while bulls were fighting, or that bulls would be trumps
while men were fighting, the evidence adduced in sup-
port of the legend is vague and malicious. To sup-
pose that Colonel Williamson's ambition was to be
at the head of a gang of banditti who blew horns,
pounded drums, fought bulls and drank whiskey from
Christmas to the Fourth of July, and from the Fourth
of July around to Christmas again, is an exercise of
the rights of individual judgment in which those who
indulge themselves should not of course be disturbed.
165
It may be true that sometimes, indeed often, a hornr
or horns may have been blown upon the Pulteney
Square, at unseasonable hours of the night, in a man-
ner not in accordance with the maxims of the most
distinguished composers ; it is not impossible that a
drum or drums may have been pounded with more vig-
or than judgment at times when the safety of the re-
public, either from foreign foes or from internal sedi-
tions, did not demand such an expression of military
fervor ; it will not be confidently denied by the cau-
tious historian that once or twice, or even three times,
a large number of republicans may have assembled
on the village common to witness a battle between a
red bull and a black one : but from these cheerful eb-
ulitions of popular humor, to jump to the conclusion
that the public mind was entirely devoted to horns^
drums and bulls, is a logical gymnatic worthy of a
Congressman.
These aspersions upon the character of the early
settlers as men of honor and sobriety, are repelled
with much sharpness by the few survivors. " We
were poor and rough," say they, " but we were hon-
est. We fit and drinked some to be sure, but no more
than everybody did in those days."
" The man that says we were liars and druukardsj.
is a liar himself, and tell him so from me, will you 1
There isn't half the honesty in the land now that there
was then. Oh ! what miserable rogues you are now.
You put locks on your doors, and you keep bull dogs^
and then you can't keep the thieves out of your houses
after all !"
166
^* I have seen them do in Bath what ye wouldn't do
the morrow. When a pack-horse with flour came from
Pang Yang or Tioga Pint, I have seen the ladies carry
it around to them that hadn't any. Many and many's
the time 1 have seen the M 's and'the C 's and
their daughters take plates of flour and carry them
around to every cabin where they were need}''. I have
seen it often, and ye wouldn't do the same at Bath the
morrow."
In like manner on the Canisteo, you hear — '' People
now, friend, ain't a comparison to those Ingens. They
were simple creatures, and made their little lodges
around by the hills, three hundred Ingens at a time,
and never stole a thino;. Those Ino-ens came to our
houses, and were around nights, and never stole the
first rag. Now, that's the truth, friend. They would
snap ofi" a pumpkin now and then perhaps, or take an
ear of corn to roast, but they were just the simplest
and most honest creatures I ever see. But now. Lord !
you can't hang up a shirt to dry but it will be stolen.'^
Occasionally there is an expression of contempt at
the decay of chivalry. " There was men enough then
that would have knocked a fellow down if he said Boo,
It isn't half an aff'ront now to call a man a liar or a
rascal. If you whip an impudent dog of a fellow, you
get indicted."
Captain Williamson further astonished the back-
woods with a newspaper. In 1796, the Bath Gazette
and Genesee Advertiser was published by Wm. Ker-
sey and James Eddie. This was the earliest newspaper
of Western New York, — the Ontario Gazette, of Ge-
167
neva, established in the same year, being the seconds
We have not had the good fortune to find a copy of
this ancient sheet. Capt. Williamson, in 1798, said,
" The printer of the Ontario Gazette disperses weekly
not less than one thousand papers, and the printer of
the Bath Gazette from four to five hundred." How
long the latter artisan continued to disperse his five
hundred papers we are unable to say. The candle
was probably a '' brief " one, and soon burned out,
leaving the land in total darkness, till Capt. Smead's
Democratic Torch, twenty years afterwards, illuminated
the whole county, and even flashed light into the ob-
scure hollows of Allegany. Of this happy event we
may take the present opportunity to speak.
In 1816, Mr. David Rumsey published at Bath the
" Farmers' Gazette," and Capt. Benjamin Smead
started at the same place the " Steuben and Allegany
Patriot." This sheet is the most unquestionable an-
tiquity which the County has produced. Though but
thirty-five years have elapsed since Capt. Smead
opened his republican fire on the enemies of human
rights, (a fire which never so much as slackened for
more than a quarter of a century,) such have been the
improvements in the art of printing that in comparison
with the bright, clean country newspapers of 1851, the
Patriot looks rusty enough to have been the Court
Journal of that ancient monarch. King Cole, if it were
lawful to suppose that the editor would ever have con-
sented to manage the " administration organ" of such
a rampant old aristocrat. The Patriot difiered in
several important particulars from our modern county
168
papers. Geneva, Olean, and Dansville advertisements
were important features. The editorial matter was
brief, and the first page was occupied with advertise-
ments of sheriff's sales and the like, instead of such
" thrilling thousand dollar prize tales " as " The Black
Burglar of Bulgaria, or the Bibliomaniac of the
Jungles," and others of like character, which in our
modern home newspapers sometimes crowd off even the
Treasury Report and elegant extracts from the leading
journals. The columns devoted to news would poorly
satisfy the demand of the present generation. We
think the news cold if forty-eight hours old, but then
tidings from New York in ten days almost smoked,
and Washington items two weeks old were fairly scald-
ing. The political matter was also of an ancient tone.
There was a little sparring between Observer and
Quietis on the one hand, and some invisible enemy on
the other who dealt his blows under cover of the On-
tario Messenger, The antiquarian of nice ear will also
detect antiquity in the rythm of caucus resolutions.
It is comforting to the patriotic citizen to think how
much cheaper eloquence is now than formerly : how
much easier one can strike the stars with his lofty head
from the Buffalo platform, the Philadelphia platform,
or the Baltimore platform, than from the Bucktail
platform and other old-fashioned scaffolds. The style
of abuse which prevails at present in school-house con-
ventions is inclined to be rolling and magnificent ; in
the days of the old Patriot it was direct and well
planted, straight, short, and distinct.
It appears that even then there was a brisk agita-
169
tion about the division of the County. Steuben was like
Poland in the clutches of the Three Powers. Three
*' rogues in buckram let drive" at it, — Penn Yan in
front, and Tioga and Allegany in the flanks ; and like
a man beset with thieves, the stout old County backed
against the Pennsylvanian border and "dealt " by the
Patriot very efficiently.
In the Patriot of Jan. 19, 1819, occurs the following
proclamation indicative of the spirit of the times during
court week.
GRAND HUNT.
A Hunting Party will be formed for the purpose of
killing wolves, bears, foxes, panthers, &c., to commence
on the 20th of January, at 7 o'clock A. M., and will
close the same day at 3 P. M.
This being the week of the sitting of the court, gen-
tlemen from towns of this vicinity are invited to meet
at Capt. Bull's Hotel at 7 o'clock, on Friday the 15th
inst., to aid in completing arrangements for conducting
the grand hunt.
Bath, Jan. 12, 1819.
Capt. Howell Bull,
Appointed Commanding Officer of the day."
THE BAR, court, &C.
The year 1T96 is furthermore a memorable one in
our annals, for that in the said year was organized that
wrangling brotherhood, the Steuben County Bar. A
few straggling birds of the legal feather had alighted
16
170
on the Pine Plains in the preceding year, but were not
recognized as constituting a distinct and independent
confederacy. These adventurous eagles however found
themselves in 1796 released from allegiance to the
Ontario Bar by the act organizing Steuben County,
and thenceforth confederated for the more systematic
indulgence of their instincts, under the name and
style of the Steuhen County Bar,
A framed court house, and a jail of hewn logs was
erected for the furtherance of justice, and in the former
of these edifices the first Court of Common Pleas, held
in and for the County of Steuben, convened on the 21st
day of June, 1796.
The Honorable William Kersey was the presiding
Judge. Judge Kersey was a grave and dignified
Friend from Philadelphia. He came to Steuben as a
surveyor, and practised that profession, and performed
the duties of Lord High Chancellor of the county for
several years, when he returned to Pennsylvania,
greatly esteemed by the people whom he judged.
Abraham Bradley, and Eleazer Lindley, Esqs., of
Painted Post, were the Associate Judges.
"Proclamation made, and court opened," says the
record. " Proclamation made for silence ; commis-
sions to the Judges, Justices, Sheriff, Coroner and
Surrogate read ; George Hornell, Uriah Stephens and
Abel White were qualified as Justices of the Peace ;
Stephen Ross as Surrogate."
The following attorneys and counsellors appeared in
due form. Nathaniel W. Howell, (late of Canandai-
gua,) Vincent Matthews, (late of Rochester,) William
171
Stuart, (who presented " letters patent under the
great seal of this State, constituting him Assistant
Attorney General, [District Attorney,] for the counties
of Onondaga, Ontario, Tioga and Steuben,") Wm.
B. Verplanck, David Jones, Peter Masterton, Thomas
Morris, Stephen Ross, David Powers.
The first Court of General Sessions was held in
1796. In addition to the Judges mentioned in the
Record of the Common Pleas, offenders against the
people encountered the following array of Justices of
the Peace. John Knox, William Lee, Frederick
Bartles, George Hornell, Eli Mead, Abel White,
Uriah Stephens, Jr.
The first Grand Jury was composed of the following
citizens : — -John Sheather, Foreman ; Charles Cameron,
George McClure, John Cooper, Samuel Miller, Isaac
MuUender, John Stearns, Justus Woolcott, John
Ooudry, John Van Devanter, Alexander Fuller ton,
Amariah Hammond, John Seely, Samuel Shannon.
This jury presented two indictments for assault and
battery, and were thereupon discharged.
General McClure makes of the early members of
the bar the following notice. " I will mention as a
very extraordinary circumstance, that although our
new settlement consisted of emigrants from almost all
nations, kindred and tongues, yet not a single gentle-
men of the legal profession made his appearance
amongst us during the first two years. However, had
they come, we had not much employment for them in
their line of business, as all our litigations were settled
by compromise, or by the old English law of battle.
172
and all decisions were final. In our code there was
no appellant jurisdiction. In the following year we
had a full supply, shortly after the organization of
Steuben County.
The first arrival was George D. Cooper, of Rhine-
beck, on the North River. He was appointed the first
Clerk of the County. The next arrivals were Messrs.
Jones, Masterton and Stuart, from New York. Next
William Howe Cuyler, from Albany. Mr. Cuyler was
a fine portly elegant young man of very fashionable
and fascinating manners, of the Chesterfield order. In
1812, General Amos Hall appointed him aid-de-camp,
and while stationed at Black Rock he was killed by a
cannon ball from Fort Erie. Major Cuyler was a very
active intelligent officer, and his death was much la-
mented. He left a young wife and one son.
Next in order came Dominick Theophilus Blake^
one of the sons of Erin-go-hragh, He was a well
educated young man, but his dialect and manner of
speech afforded much amusement for the other mem-
bers of the bar. He had but little practice and did
not remain long with us, but where he went and what
became of him, I never have heard.
Samuel S. Haight, Esq., moved from Newtown with
his family to Bath. Gen. Haight had an extensive
practice, and a numerous and interesting family of
sons and daughters. He is yet living, and resides in
the county of Allegany. Daniel Cruger, William B.
Rochester, William Woods, Henry Welles and Henry
W. Rogers, members of the Steuben County Bar,
173
studied law in Mr. Haight's office. Edward Howell,
Esq., of Bath, studied law in Gen. Cruger's office.
Gen. Vincent Matthews resided for many years in
Bath. He was said to be at the head of the bar for
legal knowledge, but was not much of an advocate.
Judge Edwards, Schuyler Strong, Jonas Clark, Jona-
than Haight, John Cook, and Leland and McMaster,
are all that I can remember of the old stock. Ah, yes !
there's one more of my old friends — Cuthbert Harri-
son, a Virginian, a young man of good sense, and whe-
ther drunk or sober, he was a good natured clever
fellow."
Mr. Cuthbert Harrison is described as a young man
of fine talents, and one of the most eloquent advocates
in the western part of the State.
Gen. Daniel Cruger, for a long time a leading mem-
ber of the bar and an influential politician, was a
printer by trade. He worked in the office of the old
Bath Gazette, before the year 1800. Afterwards he
published a newspaper in Owego. Adopting the legal
profession, he practised with success at Bath. In
1712, he was elected a member of the Legislature, and
chosen Speaker of the House. After this he was
chosen representative in the same body for three suc-
cessive years. In 1813, he served with credit as Major
of Infantry, under Gen. McClure, on the frontiers.
In 1816, he was elected Member of Congress. In 1823,
or about that time, he was again sent to the Legisla-
ture. He afterwards removed to Syracuse, returned
to Bath, and in 1833, removed to Virginia, where he
continued in the practice of the law until his death, in
16*
174
1843. Gen. Cruger, under the judicial system of
New York, was once Assistant Attorney General, or
District Attorney, of the district coniposed of the
counties of Allegany, Steuben, Tioga, Broome and
others. After the abolition of this system, he was
District Attorney of the county of Steuben.
Of the early Physicians of the county, we have not
much to say. Dr. Stockton, of New Jersey, and Dr.
Schultz, a German, came in with Capt. Williamson,
and were the most prominent of the pioneer ph)"sicians.
The surgeon, in ancient times, lived a rough life. His
ride was through forests without roads, across rivers
without bridges, over hills without habitations. Bears
rose up before his startled steed as he rode at dusk
through the beechen groves of the uplands, and wolves,
made visible by the lightning, hung around him as he
groped through the hemlocks in the midnight storm,
and insanely lusted for the contents of his saddle-bags.
- -^^
CHAPTER VII.
SKETCHES OF THE SETTLEMENT OF VARIOUS DISTRICTS,
PLEASANT VALLEY (tOWN OF URBANA.)
The settlement in that well known prolongation of
the bed of Crooked Lake, famed as Pleasant Valley,
was the first made under the auspices of Captain Wil-
liamson, and Was for many years the most prosperous
and one of the most important in the county. The
soil was exceedingly productive, and yielded not only
an abundance for the settlers, but furnished much of
the food by which the inhabitants of the hungry Pine
Plains were saved from starvation. For the young
settlers in various parts of the county, the employment
afforded by the bountiful fields of the valley during
haying and harvest, was for many years an important
assistance. In the midst of pitiless hills and forests
that clung to their treasures like misers. Pleasant
Valley was generous and free-handed — yielding fruit,
grain and grass with marvellous prodigality.
The first settlers of Pleasant Valley were William
Aulls and Samuel Baker. Mr. Aulls, previous to the
year 1793, was living in the Southern part of Penn-
sylvania. In the spring of 1793, he made the first
clearing and built the first house in the valley. In
176
the autumn of the same year he brought up his family.
The house which he built stood on the farm now occu-
pied by John Powers, Esq.
Samuel Baker was a native of Bradford County, in
Connecticut. When 15 years of age, he was taken
prisoner by a party of Burgoyne's Indians, and re-
mained with the British army in captivity till relieved
by the Surrender at Saratoga. After this event he
enlisted in Col. Willett's corps, and was engaged in
the pursuit and skirmish at Canada Creek, in which
Captain Walter Butler, (a brother to the noted Col.
John Butler,) a troublesome leader of the Tories in the
border wars of this State, was shot and tomahawked
by the Oneidas. In the spring of 1787, he went alone
into the West, passed up the Tioga, and built a cabin
on the open flat between the Tioga and Cowenisque,
at their junction. He was the first settler in the valley
of the Tioga. Harris, the trader, was at the Paiiited
Post, and his next neighbor was Col. Handy, on the
Chemung, below Big Flats. Of beasts, he had but a
cow, of " plunder," the few trifling articles that would
suffice for an Arab or an Arapaho; but like a true son
of Connecticut, he readily managed to live through the
summer, planted with a hoe a patch of corn on the
flats, and raised a good crop. Before autumn he was
joined by Captain Amos Stone, a kind of Hungarian
exile. Captain Stone had been out in " Shay's W^ar,"
and dreading the vengeance of the government, he
sought an asylum under the southern shadow of Steu-
ben County, where the wilderness was two hundred
miles deep, and where the Marshal would not care to
1Y7
venture, even wlien backed by the great seal of the
Republic. On Christmas day of 1T86, Mr. Baker
leaving Captain Stone in his cabin, went down the
Tioga on the ice to Newtown as previously mentioned,*
and thence to Hudson, where his family was living.
At the opening of the rivers in the spring, he took his
family down the Susquehanna to Tioga Point in a
canoe. A great freshet prevented him from moving
up the Chemung for many days, and leaving his family^
he struck across the hills to see how his friend Captain
Stone fared. On reaching the bank of the river oppo-
site his cabin, not a human being was to be seen, ex-
cept an Indian pounding corn in a Samp-mortar. Mr.
Baker supposed that his friend had been murdered by
the savages, and he lay in the bushes an hour or two
to watch the movements of the red miller, who proved,
after all, to be only a very good-natured sort of a Man-
Frida.y, for at length the Captain came along driving
the cow by the bank of the river. Mr. Baker hailed
him, and he sprang into the air with delight. Cap-
tain Stone had passed the winter without seeing a
white man. His Man-Friday stopped thumping at
the Samp-mortar, and the party had a very agreeable,
re-union.
Mr. Baker brought his family up from Tioga Point,,
and lived here six years. During that time the pion-
eer advance had penetrated the region of which the
lower Tioga Valley is a member. A few settlers had
established themselves on the valley below them, and
* Chapter 2.
178
around the Painted Post were gathered a few cabins
where now are the termini of railroads — the gate of a
coal and lumber trade, bridges, mills and machinery.
Elsewhere all was wilderness. The region, however,
had been partially explored by surveyors and hunters.
Benjamin Patterson, while employed as hunter for a
party of surveyors, discovered the deep and beautiful
valley which extends from the Crooked Lake to the
Coniiocton. Seen from the brink of the uplands, there
is hardly a more picturesque landscape in the county,
or one which partakes more strongly of the character
of mountain scenery. The abrupt wooded wall on
either side, the ravines occasionally opening the flank
of the hills, the curving valley that slopes to the lake
on one hand, and meets the blue Conhocton range on
the other, form at this day a pleasing picture. But
to the hunter, leaning on his rifle above the sudden
declivity — before the country had been disfigured with
a patchwork of farms and forest — the bed of the val-
ley was like a river of trees, and the gulf, from which
now rise the deadly vapors of a steam sawmill, seemed
like a creek to pour its tributary timber into the
broader gorge below.*
In his wanderings the hunter occasionally stopped
at the cabins of Tioga, and brought report of this fine
valley. Mr. Baker did not hold a satisfactory title to
his Pennsylvania farm, and was inclined to emigrate.
Capt. Williamson visited his house in 1792, (probably
* This view, and the prospects from the South Hill of Bath, and
the summit of the Turnpike between Howard Flatta and Hornells-
villc, are among the finest in the county.
/
179
■while exploring the Lycoming Road,) and promised
him a farm of any shape or size, (land in New York,
previous to this, could only be bought by the town-
ship,) wherever he should locate it. Mr. Baker ac-
cordingly selected a farm of some three hundred acres
in Pleasant Valley — built a house upon it in the au-
tumn of 1793j and in the following spring removed his
family from the Tioga. He resided here till his death
in 1842, at the age of 80. He was several years As-
sociate and First Judge of the County Court. Judge
Baker was a man of a strong practical mind, and of
correct and sagacious observation.
Before 1T95, the whole valley was occupied. Be-
ginning with Judge Baker's farm, the next farm
towards the lake was occupied by Capt. Amos Stone,
the next by William Aulls, the next by Ephraim
Aulls, the next by James Shether. Crossing the val-
ley, the first farm (where now is the village of Ham-
mondspost,) was occupied by Capt. John Shether, the
next by Eli Read, the next by William Barney, the
next by Richard Daniels. Nearly all of these had
been soldiers of the revolution. Capt. Shether had
been an active oflScer, and was engaged in several bat-
tles. Of him. Gen. McClure says : — '^He was Cap-
tain of Dragoons, and had the reputation of being an
excellent officer and a favorite of Gen. Washington.
He lived on his farm at the head of Crooked Lake in
good style, and fared sumptuously. He was a gener-
ous, hospitable man, and a true patriot." The She-
thers were from Connecticut.
180
Judge William Read was a Rhode Island Quaker.
He settled a few years after the revolution on the
** Squatter lands " above Owego, and, being ejected,
moved westward with his household after the manner
of the times. Indians pushed the family up the river in
canoes, while the men drove the cattle along the trail
on the bank. Judge Read was a man of clear head
and strong sense, of orderly and accurate business
talent, and was much relied upon by his neighbors to
make crooked matters straight.
The Cold Spring Valley was occupied by Gen. Mc-
Clure in 1802, or about that time. He erected mills,
and kept them in activity till 1814, when Mr. Henry
A. Townsend entered into possession of the valley, and
resided in the well known Cold Spring House till his
death in 1839. Mr. Townsend removed from Orange
County, in this State, to Bath in 1796. He was
County Clerk from 1799 to 1814 — the longest tenure
in the catalogue of county officers.
Mr. Lazarus Hammond removed from Dannsville to
Cold Spring in 1810, or about that time, and after-
wards resided near Crooked Lake till his death. He
was Sheriff of the county in 1814, and, at a recent
period, Associate Judge of the County Court.
FREDERICKTON.
At the organization of the county, all that territory
which now forms the towns of Tyrone, Wayne, Read-
ing, in Steuben County, and the towns of Barrington
and Stark ey, in Yates, was erected into the town of
181
Frederickton. The name was given in honor of Fre-
derick Bartles, a German, who emigrated with his
family from New Jersey, in 1793, or about that time,
and located himself at the outlet of Mud Lake, at the
place known far and wide in early days as Bartles"^
Hollow, He erected under the patronage of Captain
Williamson a flouring and saw mill.* General
McClure sa3^s of him, " Mr. Bartles was appointed a
Justice of the Peace. He was an intelligent, generous
and hospitable man. His mill-pond was very large,
covering about one thousand acres of land, and was
filled with fish, such as pike, suckers, perch and eels,
which afforded a great deal of sport for the Bath gen-
tlemen in the fishing season. Such parties of pleasure
were entertained by Squire Bartles, free of costs or
charges, and in the best style. We fared sumptuously,
and enjoyed the company of the old gentleman. He
possessed an inexhaustible fund of pleasant and inter-
esting anecdote. His dialect was a mixture of Dutch
and English, and was very amusing."
Bartles' Hollow, in the days of Captain Williamson,
was thought a spot of great importance. Mud Creek
was then a navigable stream, and it was thought that
the commerce of Mud Lake and its outlet would re-
quire a town of considerable magnitude at the point
* Benjamin Patterson was employed by Captain "W. to supply the
workmen with wild meat while the mill was building. He was paid
two dollars a day, and allowed the skins of the animalskilled. He kill-
ed at this time on " Green Hill" nearly an hundred deer and several
bears in three months, and his companion a hunter, named Brocher,
destroyed nearly as many.
17
182
^'here Squire Bartles had established himself. In the
speculating summer of 1706 the proprietor was offered
enormous prices for his hollow, but he declined to part
with it. In 1798 Mr. Bartles rafted one hundred thou-
sand feet of boards from his mills to Baltimore. In
1800 he ran two arks from the same place ; of which
adventure the following minute was entered bj the
County Clerk, in Vol. 1, of Records of Deeds :—
^' Steuben County, — This fourth day of April, one
thousand eight hundred, started from the mills of
Frederick Bartles, on the outlet of Mud Lake, (Fred-
erickstown,) two arks of the following dimensions: —
One built by Col. Charles Williamson, of Bath, 72
feet long and 15 feet wide ; the other built by Nathan
Harvey, 71 feet long, and 15 feet wide, were conducted
down the Conhocton, (after coming through Mud Creek
without any accident,) to Painted Post for Baltimore.
Those arks are the first built in this county, except
one built on the Conhocton at White's saw-mill, five
miles below Bath, by a Mr. Patterson, Sweeny and
others, from Penna., 70 feet long, and 16 wide, was
finished and started about the 20th of March the
same year.
This minute is entered to show at a future day the
first commencement of embarkation in this (as is
hoped) useful invention.
By Henry A. Townsend,
Clerk of Steuben Co.'^
The success of Squire Bartles' arks produced as
183
great a sensation in the county as the triumph of the
** Collins steamships" has created in our day ; but
craft of this species have long been abandoned by our
lumbermen. Mud Creek has failed since the clearing
of the forests, and the produce of the Mud Lake country
seeks the eastern market by canals and railroads.
Among the early residents in the town of Bradford
were Henry Switzer, Samuel S. Camp, Abram Rosen-
bury, Henry Switzer, senior, Thomas Rolls, Michael
Scott, Daniel Bartholomew and Captain John N.
Hight.
General William Kernan, of County Kavan, in Ire-
land, was the first settler in that part of the old town
of Fredericktown, which is now the town of Tyrone.
He settled in 1800 upon a lot, in a tract of 4000 acres,
which had been purchased of Low & Harrison, by Mr.
Thomas O'Connor of tha County of Roscommon in
Ireland. Mr. O'Connor proposed to settle a colony of
his countrymen on this tract. He himself lived for a
time in a log-house on the hill by Little Lake, above
the farm now occupied by Gen. Kernan. Two chil-
dren, a son and daughter, accompanied him in his so-
journ in the woods. The former is now Charles O'Con-
nor, Esq., the eminent lawyer of New York city. A
large number of Irish Emigrants settled on the O'Con-
nor tract, but after a few seasons abandoned their im-
provements — being discouraged at the labor of clear-
ing the land, and discontented at the want of religious
advantages according to the practice of the Roman
Catholic Church. Gen. Kernan alone remained on the
tract.
184
Other early settlers of the town of Tyrone were
Benjamin Sackett, Abram Fleet, sen., Gersham Ben-
nett, Thaddeus Bennett, Abram Bennett, Jonathan
Townsend, Capt. John Sebring.
Elder Ephraim Sanford, Josiah Bennett, Solomon
Wixon, Josiah Bennett, Joshua Smith, John Teeples,
Simeon Sackett, John Sackett, sen., and John Wood-
ard, were among the early settlers of the town of
Wayne, in 1800 or 1803. It seems, however, that
this township was settled several years before. Judge
Dow, of Reading, says, " I think it was in the fall of
1791, I went to view land in township No. 5, second
range, (now Wayne). At that time two families only
were there, Henry Mapes and Zebulon Huff. I went
to the same place again in 1794, and learned that
Solomon Wixon, with a large family, two of the name
of Silsbee, two or three Sandfords and others had set-
tled there."
Judge Dow settled near the present village of Read-
ing Centre, in 1798. David Culver followed him in
1800. Other early settlers of the towns of Reading
and Starkey who came from 1800 to 1804, or about
that time, were William Eddy, Abner Hurd, Timothy
Hurd, Simeon Royce, Matthew Royce, Reuben Hen-
derson, Andrew Booth, Samuel Gustin, John Bruce,
and Samuel Shoemaker. Among others who settled
about the year 1806, were John and James Roberts,
Daniel Shannon, Caleb Fulkerson, Richard Lanning,
George Plumer, and Andrew McDowell.
Judo;e Dow havino- been consulted bv the writer of
this sketch with regard to a supposed inaccuracy in
185
the outline of Seneca Lake on an old map, gave liim
a few notes of the settlement of the country, which are
as follows :
" I left Connecticut and came to the head of Seneca
Lake in April, 1789, and stayed there, and at the
Friends' Settlement until late in the fall, then, after
being away a few months, returned to the head of the
Seneca Lake in March, 1T90, and continued to reside
there and at the place where I now reside until the
present time. The Friends (Jemima Wilkinson's fol-
lowers) made their settlement in 1788 and 1789, but
between them and the head of the lake, a distance of
20 miles, it was not settled till the time above men-
tioned (1798).
'' The map represents the Seneca Lake as extending
south to Catharine's Town. This is not correct.
There were Indian clearings at the Head and at Catha-
rine (as the two places were familiarly called) when
white people came there in 1789. There was a marsh
but a little higher than the level of the lake extending
from the beach of the lake, up south, nearly to Catha-
rines, and quite across the valley, excepting a tract of
tillable land lying between the northern part of said
marsh and the west hill, and extending south from the
beach about one-half or three-fourths of a mile to a
part of said marsh. This land was called the Flat at
the Head on which David Culver and myself resided.
This flat was the true locality of the Culverstown of
the map and the village of Cuher^s of the book, any-
thing to the contrary notwithstanding.
" The rains and the melting of the snow raised the
17*
186
lake some every spring about that time, (1790), and
the greatest part of the marsh was covered with water.
A stranger might possibly mark down the marsh for
part of the lake.
" I saw Caleb Gardner in 1789, who said he lived
at Big Flatts, and understood from him that others
had settled there. In the spring of 1790 I saw Col.
Erwin at Chemung, who with one or two men was driv-
ing some cattle to his son's at Painted Post. The
lands along each side of Catharine Valley"were not set-
tled, I think, till 1798 or 1799. People then came
and settled, three, four, and five miles southeast of
Catharine's. This place was called Johnson's Settle-
ment. On the lands west of the valley settlements
were made probably about the same time or soon after.
" When I first came to Newtown Point as it was
then called (now Elmira) there were but few houses in
that place. There were six or seven on the road and
at Horse-heads. Further on were two houses, but at
that time I think they were not occupied. There was
one house within about a mile of Catharine ; there
were two or three in Catharine, and two or three on
the flat at the head of Seneca Lake. I am pretty sure
these were all the houses that had been built at that
time (April 1789) at Newtown, at the head of the
lake and between the two places."
PRATTSBURGH.
[Most of the facts contained in the following sketch of the settle-
ment of the town of Prattsburgh, are derived from a manuscript
history of that town prepared by Samuel Hotchkin, Esq., of Fredo-
187
nia, (late of the village of Prattsburgh,) and politely furnished by
that gentleman to the Editor. The manuscript is in the form of a
Report made by the direction of the Prattsburgh Lyceum. It is to
be regretted that the limits of this volume do not permit more liberal
extracts from Mr. Hotchkin's interesting chronicle.]
The pioneer of Prattsburgh was Captain Joel Pratt.
There were actual residents within the boundaries of
that town before Captain Pratt, but its settlement and
sale were conducted by him ; by his care it was peo-
pled bj citizens who at an early day were reputed by
all the county, men of good conscience and steady
habits ; and by his sound sense, and his discretion in
conducting the settlement of the town, he gained an in-
fluence and enjoyed a public confidence at home, which
entitle him to be styled the Founder of Prattsburgh.
The first purchase of Township Nunmber Six, in the
third range, was made in the year 1797, or about that
time, by a surveyor named Preston, from Westerlo,
in Albany County. Judge Kersey was admitted to an
interest in the purchase by Preston, but a difficulty
arose between the two which it is unnecessary to de-
tail and the claims of both were ultimately relinquished.
The township was first known as Kersey town.
In 1799, or about that time, Capt. Pratt came into
Steuben County. He had previously resided in Spen-
certown, Columbia County, and was induced by the
promised importance of the Steuben region, under the
Williamson administration, to make a purchase among
the discouraging mountains of the Five-mile Creek
country in preference to settling himself upon lands in
the neighborhood of Geneva or Canandaigua, which were
188
then held at a lower price than the hemlock hills of
Wheeler. Captain Pratt's first purchase was of several
thousand acres in Township No. 5, Range 3, being in
the present town of Wheeler. Captain Pratt entered
the forest with a gang of men, cleared one hundred
and ten acres, and sowed it with wheat. On his re-
turn to the East, the rough life of the Steuben woods
had so reduced and blackened the fair and portly far-
mer of Columbia County, that he was not recognized
by his family. The following winter Captain Pratt
removed his family into the wilderness. In 1802, be-
ing not altogether satisfied with his purchase, he was
permitted to exchange it for the township above.
William Root, of Albany County, joined with him
in the contract for the purchase of Township No. 6,
by the terms of which contract, Messrs. Pratt and
Root charged themselves with the survey, sale and set-
tlement of the Township, two hundred acres being re-
served for the support of a resident clergyman. They
were to sell no land at a lower price than $2 50 per
acre, and were to receive one-half of all monies paid
for land, at a rate exceeding $2 00 per acre, after they
had paid the sum of $30,000 into the Pulteney Land
Ofiice. The connection of Messrs. Pratt & Root was
terminated in 1806.
" Mr. Pratt had determined to form a church as
well as a town. It appears to have been his intention
to have cast his lot with the hardy pioneers of the
forest, while Mr. Root, who continued to reside at Al-
bany, seemed to regard the whole enterprise in no
other light than as a hopeful speculation." ....
189
*' Captain Pratt was a member of a Congregational
Church in the village of Spencertown. It was his de-
termination to settle himself and family in this Town-
ship, and establish a religious society in the order to
which he had been accustomed. With a view to the
accomplishment of this object, he required every per-
son to whom he sold land, to give a note to the amount
of fifteen dollars on each hundred acres of land pur-
chased by him, payable within a given time, with the
legal interest annually, till paid to the Trustees of the
Religious Society which should be formed.
" The first permanent settler within this township
was Mr. Jared Pratt, a nephew of Capt. Pratt, who
came here to reside in the spring of 1801. Mr. Pratt
Lad just set out in his career of life, and brought with
him a wife to cheer and sweeten the deprivations inci-
dent to a pioneer's life. The farm which he selected,
and which he continued to occupy as long as he lived,
is the same as is now owned by Mr. John Van Housen,
and there a row of Lombardy poplars at this day
marks the place of the first shelter built for
civilized man within this township. Concerning this
famil}^, Rev. Mr. Hotchkin, in his history of the
Presbyterian Church in Western New York, takes
the following notice : — ' They constituted the only
family in the township for about two years and
a half. Their hardships were many, and their priva-
tions great. No neighbor within several miles, no
roads except a mere trail and a dense forest all around
them. To obtain flour for their bread, Mr. Pratt
would yoke his oxen, fill his bag with grain, lay it
190
across the joke of his oxen, and drive his team eleven
miles to Naples, where was the nearest mill to his habi-
tation, the road all the way lying in a dense forest
without any hahitation contiguous to it.' Mr. Pratt
continued to reside here till 1840, when, by a fall, ho
broke his neck, and died instantly in the 63d year of
his age. Throughout his long life, he was respected
and beloved, and in his death it may with perfect
truthfulness be said, ' Tho' many die as sudden, few
as well.'
" The next settler, if settler he might be called, was
Daniel Buell. He built him a rude shanty on what
is now an orchard, and attached to Mr. Isaac Ains-
worth farm. Buell was a jolly and most eccentric
bachelor. His usual and almost constant employment
was huntinor. He resided here but a few vears, when
he sought a deeper solitude, and soon afterwards was
murdered by a party of Indians in Ohio." — {MS,
Hist, of Pratt shurgh.)
Rev. John Niles, a licentiate of a Congregational
Association, settled, in 1803, with his family on a lot
of eighty acres, being part of the farm occupied by the
late Mr. Josiah Allis, upon the east side of the present
Bath road, which was given to him by Capt. Pratt as
an inducement to settle upon his township. " Tlie
Sabbath after Mr. Niles' arrival he held divine service
in Jared Pratt's house, and from that day to the pre-
sent, these people have never been without these sacred
ministrations. About this time, the sons of Capt.
Pratt, in advance of their parents, settled upon the
191
farm wliich has ever since been held by some one or
more of his immediate descendants.
" Next in order of settlers, and in the winter of
1804, came the families of William P. Curtis, Samuel
Tuthill, and Pomroy Hull. At this time, the only
road leading to town was the Two Rod Road, (from
Bath towards Naples.) Solsbury Burton came like-
wise in 1804, and occupied what used to be well known
as the Burton farm. About this time came Capt.
Pratt himself, with the remainder of his family from
the East Hill, in Wheeler, and where he had resided
for two or three years previous.
"In the year 1806, we find a goodly array of set-
tlers. In addition to those we have named, are the
following : — Enoch Niles, Rufus Blodget, Isaac Waldo,
Judge Hopkins, John Hopkins, Dea. Ebenezer Rice,
Robert Porter, Dea. Gamaliel Loomis, Samuel Hayes,
Dea. Abial Lindley, Moses Lyon, Uriel Chapin, Asher
Bull, Bohan Hills, Stephen Prentiss, and perhaps
others.
" Whoever, at the present day, will walk through
our f^rave-yard, to read there the records of the past
generation, will find most of these names upon those
rude head-stones, now defaced and nearly obliterated
by the hand of time, for most of them have long since
gone down to the silent resting place of the dead.
The iuscriptions there recorded are homely, but they
are truthful. "--(Jlf>S'. Hist.)
The first extensive clearing in Prattsburgh was one
of seventy acres, including the Public Square of the
192
Village, made in 1803, under the direction of Captain
Pratt. The first framed building was a barn built by
Joel Pratt, Jr., in 1804, ''and that identical building
yet stands by Bishop Smith's orchard, and upon his
lot. This building was during the first few years of
our annals a sort of " Hotel Dieu." Families there
rested until they could arrange the rude appointment
of their own homes, sometimes in numbers of half a
dozen at once. And till the erection of the first meet-
ing-house, it was the usual place of holding public
worship The first merchants of our town were
Joel Pratt, jr. and Ira Pratt, two sons of Captain
Pratt. The first hotel-keeper was Aaron Bull. His
liouse, which was but a log one, was probably opened
in 1806 or 1807, and adjoined Dr. Pratt's ofiice.
The buildings of Dr. Hayes now cover the same
ground The same burying ground we at pre-
sent use for interment, was set apart for this purpose
in 1806. The first contribution to this now immense
multitude, was Harvey Pratt, a young man of 22
years, and son of Capt. Joel Pratt." {MS. Hist.)
The Congregational church was organized in 1804,
and at that time consisted of eleven members. The first
church edifice was erected in 1807, and was a framed
building standing near the southeast corner of the
public square. The worshippers it seems were at first
inclined to build it of logs, greatly to the displeasure
of Capt. Pratt, who '' retorted upon the society the
anathema pronounced against those who dwelt in ceil-
ed houses while the temple of the Lord laid waste."
193
Rev. John Niles and Rev. James H. Hotchkin were
the earlj ministers of this society.
The West Hill settlement ^Yas commenced in 1805,
by Stephen Prentiss, Warham Parsons, and Aaron
Cook. The settlement of Riker's Hollow was com-
menced in 1807, by Michael Keith, who was joined
in 1810, by Thomas Riker, John Riker, and William
Drake.
" Captain Pratt, who figures so conspicuously in
our early history, and who was the founder of our
town, and to a great extent the fashioner of its polity,
continued to reside among this people till 1820, when
he ended his mortal career. His last days were a sort
of patriarchal retirement, and to this day his memory
is cherished by all who knew him." — {MS. Hist.)
Judge Porter died in 1847. He was for many years
one of the most prominent citizens of the town, and was
a man of liberal education, of much literary taste, and
an efficient and conscientious magistrate. The annal-
ist, ofthe town says, " He probably filled more offices
of trust among this people than any other man of his
day. Our early town records show that all the most
responsible offices within our bounds have from time to
time been filled by him."
Rev. James H. Hotchkin, a venerable and widely
known citizen of Prattsburgh, (author of The History of
the Presbyterian Church in Western JYew York, here-
tofore alluded to,) died September 2d, 1851. He was
the son of Beriah Hotchkin, a pioneer missionary.
He graduated at Williams College, 1800 ; studied
theology with Dr. Porter, of Cattskill, removed to
18
194
Prattsburgli in 1809, and there labored twenty-one
years. The Genesee Evangelist says of him " He had
a mind of a strong masculine order, well disciplined
by various reading, and stored with general knowledge.
The doctrinal views of the good old orthordox New
England stamp which he imbibed at first, he main-
tained strenuously to the last, and left a distinct im-
pression of them wherever he had an opportunity to
inculcate them. His labors through the half century
were * abundant' and indefatigable. He had the hap-
piness of closing his life in the scenes of his greatest
usefulness."
WHEELER.
The first permanent settler in this town was Capt.
Silas Wheeler, a native of Rhode Island, who emi-
grated from Albany County, in the State of New York,
in the year 1790 or 1800. Capt. Joel Pratt made a
purchase of several thousand acres in this town, in the
year previous, and had made a clearing of one hundred
and ten acres, and raised a crop of wheat from it, on
w^hat is now known as the " Mitchell farm." Capt.
Pratt was permitted, by Capt. Williamson, to ex-
change this for a tract in the town of Prattsburgh,
where he removed in 1804, or about that time.
Capt. Wheeler had been a man of adventure. He
was one of Benedict Arnold's men in the perilous
march through the forests of Maine, and at the assault
of Quebec stood near Montgomery when he fell. He
was four times taken prisoner in the revolutionary war
— twice on land, and twice when roving the high seas
195
as privateer's man. From his first captivity, he was
soon released by exchange. After another capture,
he lay in prison more than a year. Being taken a
second time on one of the daring privateers that tor-
mented the British coast, he was confined in the Jail
of Kinsale, in Ireland, and condemned to be hung as a
pirate — or at least was very rudely treated, and threa-
tened with hanging by pov,'ers that had the authority
to make good their threats. He escaped this disagree-
able fate by the assistance of a friendly Irishman, and
of the distinguished orator and statesman Henry Grat-
tan. Mr. Grattan procured for him a passport, pro-
tected him from press-gangs and the police, and se-
cured for him a passage to Dunkirk, in France.
Capt. Wheeler was induced to settle in Steuben
County by Preston, the Surveyor, (mentioned in the
sketch of the settlement of Prattsburgh,) who, on his
return to Westerlo, spread the most glowing accounts
of the fertility and prospects of the Conhoctou Country.
Capt. Wheeler's settlement was made at the place now
occupied by his grand-son, Mr. Grattan H. Wheeler.
Capt. Wheeler's first trip to mill, is worthy of re-
cord. There were, at the time when he had occasion
to "go to mill," three institutions in the neighbor-
hood where grinding was done — at the Friend's Settle-
ment, at Bath, and at Naples. The mill-stones of
Bath had suspended operations — there being nothing
there to grind, as was report3d. Capt Wheeler made
& cart, of which the wheels were sawn from the end of
a log of curly-maple ; the box was of corresponding
architecture. He started for Naples with two oxen
196
attached to this vehicle. Two j'oung- men went before
the oxen with axes and chopped a road, and the clumsy
chariot came floundering through the bushes behind —
bouncing over the logs, and snubbing the stumps, like
a ship working through an ice-field. The first day
they reached a point a little beyond the present vil-
lage of Prattsburojh — a distance of six miles from their
starting point — and on the second, moored triumphant-
ly at the mill of Naples.
Capt. Wheeler was a man famous for anecdotes
throughout all the land. Not one of the multitude of
Captains, who flourished in our country in early days,
earned his military title more fairly. He died in 1828,
aged 78. Hon. Grattan H. Wheeler, son of Capt.
Wheeler, died in 1852. He had been a prominent
citizen of the county many years, and had served in
the State and National Legislature.
After Capt. Wheeler's settlement, lots were pur-
chased, and improvements made by persons residing
abroad, some of whom afterwards established them-
selves on these farms. Thomas Aulls, Esq., a son of
William Aulls, the first settler of Pleasant Valley,
and Col. Barney, of the same neighborhood, with Philip
Murtle, who lived on the farm now owned by Gen.
Otto F. Marshall, were among the earliest settlers
after the Wheelers. These, with settlers named Bear,
Ferral, and Rifle, were mentioned by our informant as
constituting all, or nearly all, of the original stock of
settlers. Esq. Gray came in at an early time. The^
Gulf Road to Bath was opened by Capt. Wheeler ; the
Kennedyvillc Road was opened a year or two after-
197
'i^rards. The first saw-raill in the toy^n stood at the
Narrows of the Five Mile Creek, and was built by
Capt, Wheeler.
PULTENEY.
The first settlement in the town of Pultenej, was
made on Bully Hill, by John Van Camp and D. Thomp-
son, in 1797. The following are the names of other
early settlers from 1799 to 1807 :— Samuel Miller, G.
F. Fitz Simm.ons, Thomas Hoyt, Abraham Bennet,
Ephraim Egcrleston, John Kent, Joseph Hall, senior,
Samuel Wallis, John Turner, John Ellis, Augustus
Tyler, and Ezra Pel ton. John Gulick kept the first
dry goods store in the town.*
HOWARD.
Abraham Johnston settled in 1806 where Richard
Towle now lives, and about the same time, Samuel Ba-
ker settled where J. Rice now lives, and Reuben Smith,
Abraham Smith and Abel Bullard, settled on the road
between Gofi's Mills and the old Turnpike, near the
old State Road. Jacob, Benjamin and Daniel N. Ben-
nett, settled in 1807, or about that time, on what is
yet called Bennett's Flatts, Job B. Rathbun, with
three of his brothers, in the Rathbun settlement, in
1808 or 1809. William Allen and David Smith, in
the Pond settlement in 1810 or '11, and Captain Joel
Rice and Esq. Israel Baldwin in 1811 or '12. Ma-
jor Thomas Bennet settled on the old turnpike about
* Communicated by Melchior Wagener, Es
18*
198
six miles east of Hornellsville, toward 1808. Colonel
Henrj Kennedy built a saw-mill at Goff's Mills in
1809. William Goff, Esq., came in in 1812.
The town of Howard was set off from the old town
of Canisteo in 1812. The first town meeting was held
at the house of Simeon Bacon, on the old turnpike, in
the spring of 1813. In the year 1812, there were about
thirty families in the town.*
HORNBY AND ORANGE. f
Asia and Uriah Nash, the first settlers of Hornby,
settled in 1814, in the north part of the town called
Nash settlement. Edward Stubbs, Ezra Shaw, Samuel
Adams, and Jesse Underwood, settled in 1815. In
the same year, Jesse Piatt, John Babbins and Amasa
StantoU; settled in the Piatt settlement, in the south-
western part of the town. James S. Gardner, Ches-
ter Knowlton, and Adin Palmer settled in the Palmer
settlement in 1816.
Darius Hunt, Chauncey Hunt, James Overhiser and
Thomas Hard, were the' first settlers in Orange, on
Mead's Creek, probably in 1812.
CONHOCTON.l
Captain Williamson, about the time of the settle-
ment of Bath, sent a man named Bivin, to the Twenty-
two mile Tree, (now Blood's Corners,) to keep a tavern.
* Communicated by William Goff, Esq.
f Communicated by Henry Gardner, Esq.
^ Commnicated by Mr. Levi Chamberlain.
199
This point was known in early times as Bivin^s Cor-
ners, The first settlement made in the town of Con-
hocton after this, was made, according to the best of
our information, in the Raymond Settlement, by James
and Aruna Woodward. In 1806, Joseph Chamber-
lain, of Herkimer County, settled on the Daris farm,
near Liberty Corners. His household consisted of a
cow and a dog. All his property, besides his axe, was
contained in a small pack. For his cow the accommo-
dations were rather rude. When the hour of milking
arrived, the settler resorted to the strange expedient
of driving the beast " a straddle of a log," and milk-
ing into a notch cut with his axe. Into this he crum-
bled his bread, and ate therefrom with a wooden spoon.
In the following year, Levi Chamberlain, Captain
Jones Cleland, Joseph Shattuck and Deacon Horace
Fowler, settled in this neighborhood. Other early
settlers were — Timothy Sherman, James Barnard,
Samuel Rhoades, Jesse Atwood, Isaac Morehouse, and
Charles Burlingham. The Brownsons settled at Loon
Lake at an early day. Abram Lint settled at Lint
Hill, in 1809, or about that time, and afterwards the
Hatches, the Ketchers, and others.
Captain Cleland built in 1808 the first mills. Levf
Chamberlain built in 1809, the first frame house at
Liberty Corners, and Joseph Shattuck kept the first
tavern at the same place about the same time.
On account of some legislative awkwardness, the
settlers in the northern part of the town, went for sev-
eral years to Bath, to vote at town meetings, while
those in the southern part went to Dansville. The
200
two squads of voters used to meet each other on the
road when going to the polls.
THE COUNTRY SOUTH OF CANISTEO.
The 'following are names of settlers who were living
in 1810 in the town of Troupsburgh, which then com-
prised nearly all the territory in the county south of
the Canisteo River, *' Beginning on the east side, the
settlers were Caleb Smith, Daniel Johnson, Lemuel
Benham, Breakhill Patrick, Samuel B. Rice, Nathaniel
Mallory, Elijah Johnson, Joseph Smith, Reazin Searle
and Bethuel Tubbs. Further west, on the old State
Road, were Ebenezer Spencer, Andrew Simpson and
a family of Marlatts, EHsha Hance, Philip Cady, Eli-
jah Cady, Samuel Cady, Peter Cady, Caleb Colvin,
Matthew Grinnolds, William Card, Charles Card ; and
-west of the old State Road, were Nathan CofiSn, Henry
'Garrison, Edmund Robinson, Jeremiah Nudd. The
last three came in 1812, Alanson Perry came in 1810.
There was some others here in an early day, as by the
census of 1815, there were over 500 inhabitants."*
Daniel Johnson was Supervisor till 1812, and Charles
Card from 1813 to 1819. Samuel B. Rice was Town
Clerk for about twenty years. The first grist-mill
was built by Caleb Smith, the second by George Mar-
tin in 1812. " There was but little improvement made
for several years, and many of the first settlers became
discouraged and emigrated to the West, and the town
seemed to be at a stand. Those remaining have become
* Communicated by Charles Card, Esq.
201
comfortable in circumstances." The Brotzman^s^
Andrew Boyd, the Rowleys and John Craig were earl j
settlers of Jasper.
ORANGE.*
"That part of the Town of Orange called Mead's
Creek was settled, or began to be settled, a few years
previous to 1820. Among the inhabitants who were
there previous to or about that time, were Jedediah
Miller, Andrew Fort, David Kimball, Esq., and his
brother Moses, John Dyer, Sylvester Goodrich, and
three settlers named Hewitt. Joshua Chamberlain
came there four or five years later and bought the land
where the village of Monterey stands, of a man by the
name of De Witt.
" The northeast part of the Town of Orange known,
by the appellation of Sugar Hill, did not receive its name^
from any distinguished elevation or large hill, but from
the following circumstance. Some of the men and
boys from the older settlements used to come to this-
place to make sugar in the spring of the year, while it
was yet a wilderness. They had traversed the woods
in quest of deer, and taken notice of the fine groves of
maple in this locality, and as there were no settlers on
the land, and nobody in their way, they had an excel-
lent chance for making sugar ; and as they had to give
the place some name, they called it^ Sugar Hill. The
settlement began about the year 1819 or 1820. Lewis
Nichols, William Webb, Thomas Horton, Abraham
* Communicated by Dr. Silas B. Hibbard, of Sugar Hill.
4
202
Allen, John Allen, Ebenezer Beach, Mr. Eveleth, Sey-
mour Lockwood, and two families of Comptons, were
among the first settlers. Dr. Hibbard arrived in 1821,
and Abraham Ljbolt, Esq., came about the same time.
'' After the commencement of the settlement the
land was very soon taken up by actual settlers. The
fertility of the soil, its proximity to the head of Seneca
Lake, their anticipated place of market, the easy man-
ner of obtaining the land from the Land Office at Bath,
their confidence in the validity of the title, and perhaps
the novelty of the name, might all have contributed to
the speedy settlement of the place."
CAMPBELL.*
The first permanent settlers of that part of the old
Town of Bath which is now the Town of Campbell,
were Joseph Stevens, Robert Campbell, Solomon Camp-
bell, and Arch a Campbell. In addition to these, the
remaining inhabitants of the Town in the year 1800,
and about that time, were, Elias Williams, blacksmith,
Samuel Calkins, farmer, Abram Thomas and Isaac
Thomas, hunters, James Pearsall, farmer, David Mc-
Nutt, Joseph Woolcott, and Sailor.
AVOCA.
AvocA was known in the early part of Col. William-
son's time as " Buchanan's," or the Eight- Mile-Tree,
The name of the first settler, as the title of the settle-
ment indicates, was Buchanan. He was established at
* Communicated by Mr. Samuel Cook, of Campbell.
203
that point by the agent and kept *' accommodations''
for travellers. A correspondent has returned the
names of the oldest residents as follows : James Mc-
Whorter, Abraham Towner, Gersham Towner, Daniel
Tilton, John Donnahee, Spence Moore, Henry Smith,
Allen Smith, who have been residents for about thirty
years, and John B. Calkins, Joseph Matthewson, Ger-
sham Salmon, James Davis, and James Silsbee, who
have been residents about twenty-four years.
WAYLAND.*
The first settlement in the town of Wayland was
made by Zimmerman, in 1806, on the farm now
occupied by J. Hess, at the depot. The north part of
the town was settled by Captain Bowles (1808), Mr.
Hicks (about 1810), Thomas Begole (1814), Mr. Bow-
en (1808), and John Hume (1808).
The settlements at Loon Lake in the south part of
the town, were made in 1813 by Salmon Brownson.
James Brownson, Elisha Brownson, and Isaac Willie,
The settlers of the central part of the town were
Walter Patchin (1814), Dr. Warren Patchin (1815),
Dennis Hess (1815), Benjamin Perkins, and Samuel
Draper.
^' No road passed through the town except the an-
cient one from Bath to Dansville. It was a hard town
to settle, and people were generally poor. They passed
through many hardships and privations, but now our
town is in a prosperous condition.
* Communicated by Rer. E. Brownson.
204
" One circumstance connected "with the early settle-
ment of this town may be somewhat interesting. In
1815, there being a scarcity of bread, I went through
the towns of Springwater, Livonia, and Sparta, and
thence to Dansville, in search of grain for sale, and
none was to be had in those towns, nor in Western
New York. People had to hull green wheat and rye
for food. I found a field of rye on William Perine's
farm which was thought nearly fit to cut. I went home
and got some neighbors, and with oxen and cart went
and cut some of it, threshed it, and took it to the mill
and had it mashed, for it was too damp to grind, and
thought ourselves the happiest people in the world be-
cause we had bread."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE AIR CASTLE VANISHING— THE CLOSE OF COL.
Williamson's agency — his character.
Nearly sixty years have passed away since the Scot-
tish Captain started fi'om the West Branch in pursuit
of the air-castle which shone so bravely like a bal-
loon to him, looking northward from the Cliffs of North-
umberland. The changes which have in the mean
time been wrought upon this continent, are without a
parallel in the world's annals. Prophecy has been
put to silence : conjecture has proved a fool ; for the
things which have been accomplished exceed so far any
thing promised in the visions of political prophets, or
in the ravings of dreamers, that the extravagance of
our ancient soothsayers is this day accounted modera-
tion. No conquest of Goths, or Tartars can be com-
pared for rapidity with that which has been achieved
by the woodsmen of America in the overthrow of a
forest as broad as an ocean. The little weapon which
they wielded against the innumerable host that they
went forth to conquer, seemed enchanted, like the
swords of those champions of old, who are said to have
slain their pagan enemies till rivers were choked, and
hollows became hillocks. States have been founded
19 '
206
cities built, savage rivers made highways, prairiea
where the Genius of Barbarism fed his herds of elk
and buffalo, made pastures for mules and bullocks,
and the lakes which lay afar off in the solitudes, cross-
ed only by flocks of wild fowl and the fleets of Indian
admirals, have been gladdened by the keels of steam-
ships and the watchful flame of light-houses. The ut-
most western wilderness which the settler of " The
Genesee" beheld over the Lakes, and which he sur-
mised might become the dwelling place of desperate
pioneers when he had been a century in his grave, is
now but midway between Niagara and the outposts of
the Republic, and caravans of restless men, pressing
beyond these momentary borders, have crossed the Cor-
dilleras and built cities on the coast of the Pacific.
Where now is the gallant Scot and his city? The
Genesee country has not lagged in the advances of the
Republic. Its population is counted by hundred thou-
sands, and its wealth is told by millions ; but the me-
mory of the city builder and his schemes has almost
perished. While the Northern counties have been
making almost unexampled strides to power and opu-
lence, the district which wise men of the last century
pointed at as the centre of future Western commerce
has dragged its slow length along in poverty and ob-
scurity, and only by the sheerest labor has reached its
present position of independence. The Great West-
ern Highway was diverted from the valley of the Con-
hocton. For a quarter of a century the wealth of the
North and West has been rolling in one tremendous
torrent to the Mohawk and the Hudson, and by the
207
side of the channel through which it poured, the demon,
our ancient enemy aforementioned, has struck swamps
^nd salt-bogs with his staff, and forthwith cities have
risen from the mire. The little river which was to
have been the drudge of the broad northwest, carrying
to the seaboard squadrons of rough arks laden with the
grains of Genesee and far-off Michigan, has been hap-
pily delivered from that tedious servitude, and ram-
bles idlj through its valley, turning a few mill-wheels
and watering meadows. The fair valley of Bath, in-
stead of groaning under the weight of a wilderness of
bricks where brokers and cashiers, and other mercan-
tile monsters might go about, gratifying their financial
instincts to the full, bears at this day only a quiet
village and a few ranges of farms, and is girdled by
wooded hillsides as wild as in the days when the great
Captain of the Six Xations was wont to rest with his
warriors under their shadows.
The memory of the Scot and his city has almost pe-
rished. A Senator of the United States, addressing
not long since the members of the Legislatures of the
State of New York, guests of the city of New York,
at the Astor House, spoke of the prediction of a tra-
veller in the year 1800, that the village of Bath on the
Conhocton river, would in fifty years become the com-
mercial metropolis of the State of New York.* The
* A portion of the speech of Hon, "William: H. Seward, at the
Astor House, on the evening of March 22, 1851, is thus reported in
•the New York Com-ier and Enquirer :
" Gentlemen : It seems to me that we can improve this festival
•occasion by considering how intimate is the relation between the
208
public heard it Vfitli surprise. Many men of the past
generation remembered the name of Williamson, but
of the present generation few, except citizens of West-
ern New York, knew of the attempted assassination of
the great Atlantic city.
The story of the downfall of the Backwoods Baron
and his city, is a brief one. Ten years Col. Williamson
City and the State, — how essential each is to the other. There is a
town in the interior of the State, far away in what was lately knowa
as the secluded, sequestered part of it, Bath by name. Many of the
representatives of the Rural Districts know it well : the members
from Steuben can speak for it. Of this town I wish to speak. It
is a beautiful but quiet one, situated in the delightful valley and on
the banks of the Conhocton, a tributary of the Susquehanna.
But those who know it well have remarked, that it has a broad and
magnificent plan, imperfectly filled out. There are houses on cor-
ners, designating streets and avenues, without inhabitants. In shorty
it was laid out for a great city, but has long since renounced all am-
bitioua pretensions. You do not know how this has happened. Well
if on your return to Albany, you will call on my excellent friend
(Mr. Street,) the State Librarian, he will give you a small duodeci-
mo volume, published in the year 1800, containing an account of a
journey performd by an English gentleman in the short space of
six weeks, from the city of New York all the way to Niagara Falls.
That traveller visited Bath, then in the day-spring of its growth,
and he recorded of it that it was destmed to be the greatest commer-
cial metropolis of the State of New York. — The Hudson was only
a short arm of the sea. It did not penetrate the interior far enough
to take a hold of the trade of the country. Bath was to receive all
of it that could be diverted from the channel of the St. Lawrence
and the market of Quebec, and send it down through the Conhocton^
and the Susquehanna to Chesapeake Bay. Had that calculation
been realized, Bath might have been a city like Albany, and New
York would have been a city over which the President could have
had but little ambition to preside." — (Cheers.)
209
lived on the Conliocton, and exhausted all chemistry
in his experiments upon the possibility of turning a
castle of rainbows into stone. His expenditures had
been enormous, and the British proprietors began to
grumble audibly. The towers of glass, which they once
imagined they saw glimmering in the wilderness, were
scrutinized with profound suspicion. But whatever
doubt there might be about the reality of those struc-
tures, as to one thing there could be no doubt at all.
The greedy wilderness was swallowing the fortune of
the Pulteneys with as little gratitude as an anaconda.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds had been thrown to
that monster, and like the grave it was yet hungry.
To satisfy such a remorseless appetite one needed a
silver mine, or a credit with the goblins.
Col. Williamson, however, was not discouraged.
Time enough has not been given, he argued. Even a
magician would not undertake to perform such a chem-
ical exploit in ten years. The brilliant balloon which
overhangs ther wilderness is not yet securely anchored,
it is true, and sways to and fro as if it might possibly
rise into the air and sail away. Give but a few years
more and every thing will be accomplished.
But the faith and patience of the proprietors had
become utterly exhausted. They had had enough of
balloons and ballooning, and were deaf to argument.
Like one awaking from enchantment, the Baronet saw
the towers of ivory to be but squat pens of logs, and
the spires of glass, but long dead trunks of hemlocks,
bristling with spikes and blackened with fire. It was
determined to change the system which had regulated
19* ^
210
^he estate. Accordingly, in 1802, Col. Williamson
descended from the throne, and Robert Troup, Esq.,
of the city of New York reigned in his stead.*
* Colonel "VS'illiamsoa held the Pulteney Estates in New York in
his own name, and conveyed them to Sir William Pulteney in the
month of March, 1801. The act of 1798, permitting aliens to pur-
chase and hold real estate in this State, (passed, it is said, through
the influence of CoL W., who was a member of the Legislature in
that year,) expired, by its own limitation, on the 2d of April following.
Col. Williamson assigned to Sir William Pulteney on the 13th of
December, 1800, for the consideration of $300,000, all the bonds and
mortgages held by him.
In the month of March follov/ing, he executed to Sir William
Pulteney five deeds, which were delivered as escrows to Robert Troup,
Esq., to be delivered to Sir W. P., in case certain conditions were
performed before the 25th day of October, 1801, which conditions were
performed by the execution of a deed from Pulteney to Williamson,
dated 23d July, 1801. Of these five deeds, the first, dated 4th March,
1801, conveys 50,000 acres of land in the County of Ontario; the se-
cond, dated 5th March, 1801, conveys twenty lots in the heart of the
city of New York, 1784 acres of land in the County of Otsego, 1299
acre^ in the town of Unadilla, 1400 acres in the County of Herkimer,
9000 in the County of Montgomery, 84108 acres in the County of
Chenango: the third, dated 27th March, 1801, conveys 7000 acres of
.land in the County of Chenango; the fourth, dated 31st March, 1801,
conveys 5000 acres of land in the Gerundigut township, and 600
acres in the town of Galena, in Cayuga, and all lands in the State of
New York, held by the said Williamson : the fifth is an assignment
of all the personal property, notes, bonds, bills, and securities of every
description, held by the said Williamson. The consideration express-
ed in each, is one dollar, and all lands sold, or contracted to be sold
out of the tracts conveyed, are reserved.
By the instrument executed on the 23d day of July, 1801, Sir Wil-
liam Pulteney, in consideration of the execution of the said five es-
crows, and of the sum of twenty shillings, agreed — first, to accept
and pay nine eetts of bUls of exchange drawn by Williamson on the
24th March, 1801, for the sum of £5,000 sterling, at twQ, three and
211
Col. Williamson, after the termination of his agen-
cy, returned to England. He afterwards made occa-
sional visits to America. He died in the year 1807y
(at sea, it is said,) of the yellow fever, while on a mis-
sion from the British Government to the Havana.
He was a man of spirit, energy and ability. Pre-
possessing in person, free and frank in manner, gene-
rous and friendly in disposition, he is remembered to
this day as a " fine fellow" by the farmers who were
once young pioneers, and opened his roads and hewed
his forests. A keen follower of sports, a lover of the
horse, the rifle and the hound, he was accounted a man
by the rudest foresters. High-bred, intelligent, of
engaging address, and readily adapting himself to the
circumstances of all men, he was equally welcome to
the cabin of the woodsman or the table of the Peer :
and whether discussing a horse-race with Canisteo,
a school project with Prattsburgh, or the philosophy of
over-shot wheels with Bartle's Hollow, he was entirely
at home, and pronounced opinions which were listened
to with respect. His hale, prompt, manly greeting
four months after sight : 2d, to indemnify Williamson againgt the ef-
fects of bonds and mortgages, to the amount of about $70,000 : 3d,
to pay Col. W. in three years after the 1st April, 1801, £20,000 ster-
ling, and the interest on that sum at five per cent, at the end of each
year, till all was paid, as a compensation for his services in managing
the concerns of the Genesee Association, and also £15,000 to pay
debts contracted by him by reason of his management of the said con-
cerns : and finally, all claims and demands against Col. "W. arising
before the 1st April, 1801, are relinquished and discharged.
These facts appear from records in the office of Secretary of State,
copies of which in the possession of Robert Campbell, Esq., of Bath,
the Editor was permitted to examine.
212
■won for him the good will of the settler, and gave him
influence at the occasional assemblies of the citizens.
A crowd of men, for exam; le, waiting in the meadows
behind the Land Office for the beginning of a horse-
race, became impatient, and at last Canisteo began to
kill time by fighting. The Colonel, galloping over
from the village, had but to exclaim, in his clear,
cheerful way, as he rode around the mob, " What,
boys, have you begun the fun already ? Don't be in
such haste," and wrathful Canisteo became pacified.
He had a gallant and impetuous way of doing what
was to be done. Where he was, everything was kept
stirring. The ordinary routine of a land agent's life
had no charms for him. To sit in a drowsy office the
live-long day, among quills, and maps, and ledgers,
hearing complaints of failing crops, sickness, and hard
times, pestered with petitions for the making of new
roads and the mending of broken bridges, was unen-
durable. He must ride through the woods, talk with
the settlers, awaken the aliens, show liis lands to
strangers, entertain gentlemen from abroad. By the
pious and substantial settlers from the east, of whom
there' were many in the county, his tastes and prac-
tices were sternly condemned, but even these, while
they were offended at his transgressions, and felt sure
that no good would come of a state founded by such a
Romulus, acknowledged the spirit and vigor of the
man, and were willing to ascribe his failings partially
to a military and Em-opean education.
He was dark of feature, tall, slender, and erect of
figure. His habits were active, and he pleased the
213
foresters bj vaulting lightly to his saddle, and scouring-
the roads at full gallop.
Gen. McClure says, " Col. Williamson was an ex-
cellent, high-minded, honorable man, generous, hu-
mane, obliging and courteous to all, whether rich or
poor. In truth and in fact he was a gentleman in
every sense of the word. He was well qualified for
the duties conferred upon him as agent of such an im-
mense estate, and for the settlement and growth of a
new country, so long as Sir William Pulteney would
furnish the means to improve it."
Col. Williamson's objects and motives in conducting
the affairs of the estate, were not merely those of a
speculator. His pride and spirit were aroused. In
invading the wilderness, in hewing, burning, bridging,,
turning and overturning, till the stubborn powers of
the forest were conquered, broken on the wheel, and
hanged up i?} terrorem, like the rebellious in ancient
warfare — in these he found excitement. To stand in
the midst of the mountains, and hear the crashing of
trees, the ringing of axes, and the rattling of saw-
mills — to see wild streams made tame, to see the con-
tinuous line of emigrant barges moving up the lower
river, and to feel himself the centre of the movement,
would brighten the wits of a dull man, much more in-
vigorate one so wakeful as Col. Williamson. In his
fine, dashing way, he would carry the wilderness by
storm. Down with the woods ; down with the hills ;
build bridges ; build barns ; build saw-mills, and shiver
the forest into slabs and shingles — these were his
orders, and they express the spirit of his administra-
214
tion. In this swashing onslaught his enthusiasm was
fired. Besides, the money which he controlled, and
the power which he wielded, made him a great man in
the land. He was Baron of the Backwoods — Warden
of the Wilderness — Hemlock Prince — King of Saw-
mills. There was not a greater than he in all the land
of the west. When, therefore, he found himself at the
liead of a little state which might sometime become
great, the Napoleon of a war against the woods, it is
not wonderful that in the excitement of building Baby-
Ions, or in the exultation of an Austerlitz among the
pines, he should be animated with the thoughts and
emotions which principals are not accustomed to ex-
pect in their agents.
All these dashing operations were fine sport to the
men who rode on the whirlwind, but to the magician
OYQV the water, who was expected not only to raise the
lYind, but to keep it whirling, the fun was rather ex-
Lausting. To support a missionary of civilization in
the American backwoods, purely out of philanthropy,
or to keep amateur city-builders in funds, merely that
gentlemen might enjoy themselves, were acts of benevo-
lence, not, of course, to be expected from the British
Baronet. When, therefore, Sir William Pulteney be-
came alarmed at the encroachments upon his fortune,
and abruptly stopped the operations of his viceroy, it
would be difficult to say what fault could be reasonably
found with him for this determination. Considering
the remoteness of his possessions, their tenure under
the supposed uncertain laws of a republic, and the
great uncertainty of the enterprise attempted, he did
215
no more than a man of ordinary prudence would have
done, in his situation, in determining upon a change or
a modification of policy, and the exercise of greater
caution in his expenditures.
Time has proved that the reasons and expectations
which induced Col. Williamson to undertake his great
enterprize were ill-founded ; and upon the strength of
these acknowledged errors, he is often sweepingly con-
demned as a visionary — a heedless, wasteful man, en-
gaged in business of which he was ignorant, and for
which he had little capacity. Against such broad and
unqualified condemnation we must protest. He found-
ed his schemes upon the expectation that the tract
known as the Genesee country would some time be-
come a region of vast wealth, and that through it the
products of an indefinite Western country would pass
to the Atlantic coast. Has time branded him a
dreamer for these things ? His error then, was, in
mistaking the channel through which Genesee and
the West would go to the sea-board. But, considering
the modes of transit known to the world at that time,
and the shape and position of the navigable waters
which drained the Genesee, is any one prepared to
say that there was a flagrant absurdity in pointing
out the Valley of the Chemung as the destined outlet
of the undefined Northern country? Most men of
sense and experience, at the close of the last century,
entertained this opinion. A prophet, it is true, might
have unveiled the future to the Scottish chief, and
shown him canals and railroads ; but, except the wig-
wam of the Indian doctor, where the destinies were
216
questioned by rattling porcupine-quills, and shaking
the horns of a buffalo bull, there was no oracle for the
Western Cadmus to consult. To abuse Col. William-
son and his coadjutors, for want of common foresight,
is as unreasonable as it will be for newspapers, sixty
years hence, to be astounded at the modern project of
connecting the Atlantic and Pacific by railway to San
Francisco, when *' anybody might have seen" thai the
natural port of the Pacific coast was Nootka Sound,
and that the way to get there from New York would
be to take the wires by way of Lake Winnipeg and
the Saskatchawan river.
CHAPTER IX.
STEUBEN COUNTY SINCE THE PERIOD OF SETTLE-
MENT DISASTERS PROGRESS PROSPECTS THE
CITIZENS AND THE LAND PROPRIETORS.
The history of that province over which those blame-
less shepherds of the people, the supervisors of Steu-
ben County, wave their transitory sceptres, has now
been traced with as much accuracy as the sources of
information permitted, from the earliest ages to the
beginning of the nineteenth century. It has appeared
how, in the most distant times of which record can be
borne, that region was covered with the waters of the
sea ; drifting icebergs then, perchance, scratched the
tops of the hills, and our home was a pasture where
marine herdsmen drove their ungainly cattle — whales,
sea-lions, and mighty serpents of the ocean, and the
shark and the sword-fish prowled along the trails after-
wards trodden by the Indian and the Tory. It has
furthermore appeared how the land, being at length
delivered from these monsters, rose above the waters,
received sunlight and showers, was covered with for-
ests, became a hiding-place of wild beasts and barba-
rians, and lay in silence through many centuries, being
pleased with the murmur of its forests and the rushing
.20
218
sound of its rivers ; how at length the clamors of a
Btrange warfare were heard at a distance, in the val-
leys of the lower streams, and waxed louder and
nearer hy degrees, until barbarism, " clutching its
curiously wrought tomahawk," and gathering its fan-
tastic robe about its form, swept by in full retreat,
followed by a horde of light-haired men, who assailed
the wilderness with axes, scathed it with fire, and tore
it with iron harrows. It has appeared how, afterwards,
a republican baron, coming from the East, built him-
self a castle out of the trunks of trees, in a broad,
round valley, begirt with pine and hemlock hillsides,
and dwelt there in the depths of the forest in true fru-
gal style, exchanging defiant missives with potentates
who claimed fealty, and entertaining all manner of
errant gentry, from French dukes to Newmarket
jockeys, with much better grace, in faith, than the
Front de Boeufs of the ancient English backwoods,
while, to complete the similitude, Robin Hood and his
lusty foresters reappeared on the Canisteo Flats, and
there renewed the merriments of Sherwood Forest.*
With the close of this baronial period the present
chronicle will conclude. Our heroic ages there ab-
ruptly ended, and modern time set in with a vengeance.
* Curiously enough, vre are able to perfect the similitude, by the
addition of a Friar Tuck. The first Presbyterian clergyman -vrho
ministered to the spiritual -wants of the Canisteo pioneers, is de-
Bcribed as " a clever, humorsome man, who could drink grog and
throw the maul with the best." He was a man of enormous mus-
cular strength* Preaching once in early days in a warehouse in An-
gelica, he became so much engaged in his subject that he dashed a
•tore-desk in pieces with his fist.
219
The history of the county, after that epoch, would be
but a record of the incidents which make up the daily
life of an inland, obscure, almost inaccessible region,
as the movements of emigrants, the establishment of
stage routes, the sessions of supervisors, the burning
of log-heaps, the building of saw-mills, the excitements
of courts, trainings and elections — all passing by so
quietly that, but for the clouds of smoke that overhung
the hills on still, dry days of autumn, or the occasional
gusts of martial music from rustic battalions, one
standing without would hardly know that any living
thing was stirring within the hemlock highlands. A
few startling interruptions, as the war of 1812 and the
Douglas affair, disturbed the routine of daily life, but
the people kept steadily at work from year to year,
had little intercourse with the world beyond their own
boundaries except through the medium of newspapers,
bad their frolics without proclamation to all North
America and the adjacent islands, opened great and
unsightly gaps in the forest, steered thousands of rafts
through the cataracts of the Susquehanna, and, devoting
themselves mainly to the task of transforming the wil-
derness into meadows and plow-land, did few memora-
ble things which are discoverable by the chronicler.
Let us barely glance at the general progress of the
county, from the close of Col. Williamson's agency to
the present time. At the time of the agent's depar-
ture the county had about two thousand inhabitants.
The work of subduing the forest had been but begun,
but the beginning had been made vigorously and with
good hope. A lumber-trade had been opened with the
220
ports of the lower Susquehanna and the Chesapeake.
Northern men had begun to bring grain in consider-
able quantities to Bath for transportation to the mar-
kets. The location on the Conhocton was yet con-
sidered highly a-dvantageous.
The rupture between the proprietors and the agent,
though sensibly felt at the scene of his prominent
operations, was not regarded as hopelessly disastrous
to the prospects of the county. The development of
the agent's plan was far from complete, and the ex-
periments which he had made were insufficient to de-
termine whether his enterprises were wisely or un-
wisely conceived. The fate of " this great Babylon
which I am going to build" was yet uncertain, and it
was hoped that, although for the present the progress
of the town towards an honorable position among the
cities of the land might be retarded, yet that it would-
ultimately rise from embarrassment and fulfil its des-
tiny. The air-castle, though rather dingy and dilapi-
dated, was nevertheless a very fine affair, and was not
without power to attract people from afar. After the
year 1800, many men who might have bought lands
near Geneva, Canandaigua and Rochester, for a tri-
fling price, were induced, by the superior advantages
for access to a market, then offered by the valleys of
Steuben, to establish themselves among our own un-
gracious hills. Many a farmer now residing in this
county has the satisfaction of complaining, that had it
not been for Williamson's balloons, himself or his
father might have had the site of a city for their corn-
fields, or perchance would have pastured their flocks
221
on the ground now occupied by some stirring village of
Genesee, Ontario, or Onondaga.
But the cold water suddenly showered on the deli-
cate phantoms that overhung the forest— soon scattered
them. The abrupt drying up of the Pulteney Pacto-
lus, that river of gold which had hitherto refreshed the
thirsty wilderness, caused the plant which had been
entrusted to the Pine Plains, to grow up scrubbily.
A very ignominious metropolis, for many years, was
the shire-town of the county. It was a quarter of a
century or more before it began to free itself from its
deformities, and to cast off its beggarly apparel for
comfortable garments, and to pick up Grecian, Gothic
and Italian finery to bedeck itself withal. Indeed,
immediately after the departure of Baron Williamson
it was threatened with destruction in a very strange
manner. The clearings in its vicinity were abandon-
ed, and a growth of oak of amazing stoutness and ac-
tivity sprung up. The farmers were fairly over-
powered, as if by tribes of wild men, and driven from
their fields. Whole farms were overrun by these in-
vaders. They even pushed their conquests to the
edge of the village, and stood insultingly at the heads
of the little streets, like a horde of marauders, des-
cending from the hills and pillaging the suburbs of
some seedy old city, which has barely enough of its
ancient vigor to keep the brigands outside of the
gates. The wild beasts re-took possession of the land.
Between St. Patrick's Square and Gallows Hill Was
good hunting. The owl and the wolf clamored nightly
for re-aunexat,ion. The bear thrusting his nose through
20*
222
the garden pickets, snuffed the odors of the kitchens.
In 1811, the whole space between the village and the
pine-forest, which encircled it at the distance of about
half a mile, was overgrown with stout oak stalks, from
ten to fifteen feet high. A few huts, occupied by
negroes, were scattered among the bushes half smo-
thered, and it was only by sleepless care on the part
of the citizens that the sprouts were kept down in the
streets and market-place, and that the whole metropo-
lis, like a babe in the woods, was not buried in the
leaves, so deep that the robins couldn't find it. It
was told then, as a great thing, that a farmer on
one of the Marengo farms had raised twenty acres of
wheat. To such littleness had the standard of great-
ness shrunken in the abandoned Barony.
Not only the central village but the whole county
felt the shock at the dethronement of Col. Williamson.
He had been the life of the land, and " times were dead
enough when he left," say the old settlers. No more
the Hudson, the Potomac and the Delaware, were
startled by proclamations of races in the wilderness :
no more did rumors of bull-fights and the uproar of
horiis disturb the goodly : no more did gallant retinues
of riders gallop through the forest, while servants fol-
lowed with luncheons and baskets of wine. Newspaper
paragraphs no longer told the citizens of the East of
great things done in Steuben, and pamphlets no longer
enlightened London and Edinburgh concerning the ca-
pabilities of the Conhocton river.
The county was thenceforward expected to work its
own way out of the woods ; to hew its own road to inde-
223
pendence and prosperity ; to scuffle unhelped with
whatever enemies should seek to trample it to the
earth. After years of hard, and often of discouraging
labour, we have gained the upper hand of the enemy.
Our county, for so long a time proverbially a *' hard
county" — a kind of rough-handed, two-fisted, ill-fed
county, an offence in the eyes of Eastern elegance and
Northern wealth, is rising fast not only to respectabi-
lity but to consequence, like some great backwoods
lout, who, from a youth of log-rolling and shingle-shav-
ing, passes to a manhood of judicial or senatorial dig-
nity.
The first forty years of our county's existence were
years of iron labor. The settlers were poor men, and
the discouragements and difficulties which they met with
will with difficulty be appreciated by coming genera-
tions, who shall inherit vallies long tilled and hills sub-
dued by years of thorough culture. One long familiar
with the farmers of the county says : " But few com-
paratively of the settlers ever succeeded in paying up
their contracts and getting deeds for their land. The
high price of the land and the constantly accumulating
interest on their contracts, was more than they could
bear. They were compelled to abandon to others their
half-cleared farms, disheartened and weary. Most of
the contracts given by the agents of the Pulteneys for
the sale of land were assigned from one to another
several times, before the whole amount of the principal
and interest due on them was paid."
For the last twenty years we have occupied the van-
tage ground, and have been engaged in a work not only
224
of subjugation but of cultivation. Hard and discourag-
ing work was done during this period, and quite enough
of the same remains to be done among our stubborn
hills ; but the increasing independence of the early-
settled districts and the additional facilities for com-
munication with the outer world, placed us upon the
whole on the vantage ground, and the work of subju-
gation went on with greater rapidity and ardor than at
any time before. Railroads began to encampass us ;
a steamboat appeared on the Crooked Lake ; the old
farming districts began to grow smooth and sightly;
new wildernesses were invaded ; cattle and sheep by
myriads fed in the pastures; villages were built, and
old dingy towns brightened up and rencAved their 3^outh.
Various schemes of progress were agitated. Canals
and railroads were discussed. At length the rumbling
of cars was heard on Shawangunk, then on the Susque-
hanna, then on the Cliemung, — and the locomotive, ten
hours from the Hudson, rushed over our glad frontiers
and discharged the Atlantic mails at the ancient monu-
mental post of the Senecas. Saw mills arose in every
pine forest, and in the spring, when the snow on the
hills melted and the ice in the rivers went down to be
piled in long battlements on the meadows below,
hundreds of lumbermen came out of the woods, steered
their rafts of boards, timber and enormous spars down
the torrents to the Chesapeake ; riding over huge dams
and rocky rapids, sometimes prosperously, and some-
times shattering their fleets and suffering shipwreck
and drowning, and all marine disasters which await
mariners who sail in whaleships and frigates.
225
" Fifteen years ago," says the Citizen, in his De-
scriptive and Historical Sketch, (speaking, in imagina-
tion, at the beginning of this century,) " standing on
an exceedingly high mountain, we beheld unbroken
forests lying west of the Chenango as far as the rain-
bows of Niagara, and covering the ridges and long
slopes of the Alleganies. Standing now on that same
promontory, behold a change. Broad swathes are
opened in that meadow of timber. Smoke rises from
the little chimnies of three thousand cabins, scattered
among the choice valleys and by the pleasant river
sides of the wilderness west of Seneca Lake. The
noise of a myriad of axes is heard this side of the Mo-
hawk, like the tapping of a host of woodpeckers in a
grove : flotillas are riding upon the rivers, a long and
scattered caravan is filing past old Fort Stanwix, while
New Englanders are afloat in the canoes of Unadilla,.
and stout pioneers are urging upwards the barges of
Susquehanna. At evening the great forest is dotted
with lights. Torches glimmer by the cabins. Trees
are burning where fire runs wild through the woods, so
that in the mid watch, when the torch-lights by the
cabins are quenched, you may see afar off a zig-zag
serpent of flame coiling around some mountain knob or
wandering by the lake shore, or pursuing its shining
trail through plains and marshes. Two sounds disturb
the silence of the night — the dull plunging of Niagara
in the West, and the distant uproar of Napoleon's
cannon in the East. But what are all those thunders
that rock the foundation of the other continent, and
those tumults of kings and cannon, of horsemen and
226
musketeers which the nations hear with alarm, com-
pared with that unnoticed war which is waged in the
forest below you !"
Being unfortunately ignorant of the position of this
convenient mountain (which has been strangely over-
looked by the State Geologist), it will be impossible to
invite the republicans for whom these chronicles are
written to look off from the same at the present day.
A view from some such promontory or from a balloon
would enable them to see to advantage the present con-
dition of our county. One looking thus from above
would behold the upland forests slashed this way and
that with the most lawless violence, and the principal
valleys freed from their ancient vegetation except where
long and crooked lanes of elm, sycamore, and willow
mark the channels of the streams, or where groves of
oak stand in the midst of the fields, or here and there
a cluster of maples or a solitary pine alone remain of
many brethren.
Nevertheless immense tracts of land are yet covered
with the forest. Stripes of timber as broad as the
height of the hills, almost unbroken for miles, line the
most cultivated valleys. Many broad districts are al-
most as wild as at the first. Within a mile of the vil-
lages and clean meadows of the river- valleys, one finds
yet the rude ** settlement," and on the further side of
half the hills in the County are hollows, which in the
provincial pronounciation of hollers are so suggestive
of hemlocks, burnt stumps, log cabins, and of what is
known in despair at the poverty of language as " the
jumping-off place." There are comparatively few
227
commanding heights from which one does not seem to
see more forest than farmed land, and there are many
places where one looks across to districts dented with
ravines and covered with treetops, where the axe has
hardly begun its mission.
Forty years ago almost the entire strength of the
county was in the valleys. Great now is the strength
of the uplands, and rapidly increasing. The subjuga-
tion of these obstinate regions has been a labor indeed,
and to the eyes of the wanderer from softer lands they
look as unsightly as the battle-field the day after the
victory. The black stumps, the rough fences, the is-
lands and broad girdles of timber, haggled of outline
and bristling with long bare spikes, and the half-burnt
trunks of trees, are indeed uncomely. Our hill-coun-
try, however, is calculated from its structure to attain
generally a good, and often a high degree of beauty,
when cultivation has removed its primitive roughness.
A vision of rolling farms divided by wooded gulfs or
ravines ; of smooth knobs dotted with portly cattle ; of
clean slopes covered with grain-fields and orchards —
the whole forming a landscape unsurpassed in rural
beauty by ancient and renowned counties of the east
and north, is a dream of the future by no means too
extravagant to be indulged in.
Sixty thousand souls now live within the boundaries
of the county. Twenty villages and upwards are
scattered through the towns, some of them holding pre-
tensions to beauty and importance. The great rail-
way line between the city of New York and the West-
ern States passes up the valleys of the Chemung and
228
Canisteo, which, at the village of Corning, is joined
bj two important tributaries — one extending to the
coal mountain of Pennsylvania where sixty years ago
Patterson, the hunter, first unearthed the "black dia-
mond " with his tomahawk — the other passing north-
ward through the valley of the Conhocton to the Ge-
nesee and Buflfalo. Another tributary to the great
trunk joins it at Hornellsville on the Canisteo, which
also terminates at Buffalo, crossing the Genesee River
at Portage Falls. The Canandaigua and Jefferson
railroad crosses one corner of the county. The Che-
mung Canal thrusts itself within the county line as far
as Corning, and the Crooked Lake gives direct com-
munication with the Erie Canal.
The dreams of our ancients have not become reali-
ties, but wonders, of which they did not dream, are
amongst us. Iron monsters more marvellous than any
that were seen by geologists in the marine herds which
of old fed on our sunken meadows, rush through the
valleys with wild and discordant shrieks. The hoot of
the engine, and the roar of its chariot, employ the
echoes of the bluffs. Steamers, and heavy-laden barges
plow the lakes where once wallowed the Durham boat
of the pioneer, or skimmed the canoe of the red fisher-
man.
Let the reflecting republican, before turning from
the perusal of these records to his saw-mill or meadow,
consider a few of the comforts which the citizens of the
county enjoys to-day, which were unknown to the back-
woodsman of forty or fifty j^ears ago.
Then the solitary settler shared his clearing with
229
the populace of the forest. Those hairj Six Nations,
the bears, the wolves, the panthers, the foxes, the cata-
mounts and the weasels, hovered around his narrow
frontiers to slay and devour. His two or three swine
or sorry sheep were in nightly peril of the scenes of
Wyoming. Deer bounded before him in his walk
through the woods. The fires of Indian lodges glim-
mered among the trees at night. — Now his flocks and
herds range without fenr over great pastures. Wag-
gons roll before liis dwelling on the roads which were
once lonely trails. Lights glimmer at night on all
sides from farm-house windows. He hears the bells
in the distant village-steeples.
Then he was beyond the borders of the Far West.
Behind him were the Atlantic cities, — before him were
tremendous wilds which he heard were traversed by
the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Missouri, rumored to be
enormous rivers, on the banks of which were brakes
and plains, possessed by buffaloes, wild horsemen and
bears. When he went East, people looked at him as
we now look at the Mormon from Salt Lake, or the
fur trader from Winnipeg. — Now he is in the far East.
As one standing on the shadow of a cloud sees it glid-
ing under his feet, and presently beholds it miles away
on the hill-side, so has the pioneer of Steuben seen the
" Far West " gliding from beneath his feet, and now
he beholds it moving up the slope of the Cordilleras.
He reads of boilers bursting at the Falls of St. An-
thony, of steamers dashing together at the mouth of
the Arkansas, of flues collapsing under the Council
Bluffs.
21
230
Then, in his lonely clearing, he guessed the hour of
the day by the sunshine on his cabin floor ; he foretold
snows, winds and droughts, by the shape of the clouds,
by the vapors at sunset, by the Moon-man's expres-
sion of countenance. — Now the clocks of Connecticut
are ticking in the forlornest hollow : iron pointers, on
many steeples, publicly expose all irregularities of that
luminary which governs times and seasons, and alma-
nacs calculated "expressly for the meridian of Western
New York," tell him exactly when to expect freshets,
and when to look out for hail-storms.
Then, the trader, bestriding his horse, jogged off to
the sea-port through the dark and dismal roads of the
forest, dependent upon the whims of despotic tavern-
keepers and the tender mercies of " cross widows"*
by the way. His yearly assortment of goods was
dragged in wagons from the Hudson. Now, whirling
to the city in a night, he may send up by railway those
gorgeous fabrics which have superseded the homely
merchandize of former times ; or the canal boat, laden
"with bis ponderous crates and hogsheads, is tugged
through the Northern ditches to the Crooked Lake,
where a steamer politely offers his wheel-house, and
escorts the fair wanderer into the heart of the hills.
Then, the lumbermen saw the creeks come leaping
down the ravines like hearty young mountaineers,
pines stood in the glens like stupid giants, unconscious
that they contained cubic-feet and cullings, and the'
hemlocks made dark the hill-sides and hollows with
^ ^ . ;^
* Vide McClure, Norr.
231
their worthless branches. Now, the pines are so
nearly extirpated that their uncouth cousins, the hem-
locks, are thought worthy of the saw. The creeks
have been taught useful knowledge and drive gang-
mills, just as in Pagan islands the missionaries make
good boys of the little cannibals, and set them at work
churning and grinding coffee.
Then, the flaxen-haired urchin tumbled in the leaves
with bear-cubs and racoons ; he blackened his face
among the half-burnt logs ; he was lost to all sense of
syntax, but perhaps studied arithmetic at winter in
the little log-school-house, and learned something
about the Chinese wall and the antipodes. Then, the
patriot saw the country going to ruin, v^-ithout having
it in his power to sound the alarm, for there was no
county newspaper to trumpet his warnings to " a prof-
ligate and reckless administration." Now, there are
school-houses, academies and seminaries — '^ bulwarks
of liberty" — bristling at all points with rhetoric and
geometry. Three political newspapers ride every week
the length and breadth of the county, like chariots
armed with scythes. Three editors, fit successors of
the Shiversculls and Brighthatchets of old, brandish
the political scalping knife, and at times drop their
ferocious weapons, to touch the lyre of poetry or the
viol of romance, at those brief intervals when the great
congressional bass-drum ceases its sullen roar in the
Republic's capitol.
Of the things to bo attained by the county at a fu-
ture day, we will not attempt to prophecy. The chief
agricultural eminence now believed to be within our
232
reach, is in the dairy line. Distinguished graziers in-
dulge in dreams of a Buttermilk Age, when the cliurns
of Steuben will be as renowned as the forges of Pitts-
burgh, or the looms of Lowell. They publicly assert
that while our neighbors of Allegany may presume to
make cheese, and our cousins of Ohio may hope to
shine in the grease market, it will be presumption in
them, or in any other tribes west of the Genesee, to try
to rival the butter of Steuben : that the grass abound-
ing on our juicy hills possesses a peculiar flavor and
a mysterious virtue, and will produce most stupendous
and unparalleled butter ; that while there is much
grass of the same quality in Chemung, some in Onon-
daga, and scanty patches elsewhere, the wretched na-
tives of Ohio are utterly destitute of it, as also are all
those miserable myriads who extract a substance from
the herbage of the prairies, which they insanely style
" butter ;'' that, feeding upon this grass, calves have
attained an appalling magnitude ; the ox may, by
proper encouragement, become gigantic, and the Horn-
by steer, with his broad horns and deep flanks, will
be looked upon with unspeakable envy by those rattish
red bullocks that migrate in such immense hordes, like
the ill-favored Huns of old, from Illinois and Indiana
to the New York market.*
To the degree of physical prosperity to be attained
by the county hereafter, one will hardly venture to set
a limit. Let its citizens, first of all things, have a
care that they themselves be men of whom the Re-
* Speech of a prominent agriculturist at a " Railroad meeting."
233
public need not be ashamed — God-fearing, law-abid-
ing, intelligent, and free men, and they need not doubt
that the future will fulfil the promise of the present.
Failing in this great thing, it would be better that the
land had remained a wilderness.
There are a few considerations respecting the rela-
tions which have heretofore existed, and which have
not jet ceased to exist, between the citizens of the
county and the original foreign purchasers and their
heirs, which may with propriety be here presented.
It is now about sixty years since the greater part
of the county became the property of the London As-
sociates. From that time until the present day, an
office has been kept at the shire-town of the county,
for the sale of lands. The lands have been sold in
small parcels, and upon credit, the purchaser taking
immediate possession. The most valuable portions of
the county have thus been long sold : but considerable
tracts of land are yet undisposed of, and actions
against shingle splitting, tort-feasors, are yet brought
in the name of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland
and King of Hanover.
As was almost unavoidable, from the nature of these
relations, there has been no love lost between the citi-
zens and the proprietors. During the agency of CoL
Williamson there seems to have been a cordial under-
standing between the two parties. The original pro-
prietors were men of generous and enlightened spirit.
Sir William Pulteney was a statesman of high stand-
ing. Mr. Colquhoun had also mingled in public af-
fairs, and was distinguished as a philanthropist. Tho
21*
234
administration of the estate in the first years of the
settlement was conducted with an evident regard for
the prosperity of the settler, and with a liberality and
justice on the part of the proprietors which none are
more ready to acknowledge than those who dealt with
them. It is since the period of the easiest settle-
ments that the policy and tone of the alien owners
have failed to command the respect of the citizens.
The relation, and the sole relation, which for forty
years and upwards has existed between the proprie-
tors and citizens, has been that of sellers and buyers.
So long as the former confine their claims to consider-
ation to this relation, it cannot be alleged against
them that they have transcended the bounds of what
is considered reputable amongst men of business.
They have required high prices for their lands, it is
true, even the very highest prices that could be borne,
but to demand high prices for lands or chattels is not
considered an offence against, the rules of reputable
dealing amongst men of business. No one is compel-
led to buy. It is true that men have been required to
fulfil their agreements with the land-holders, and, ic
default thereof, have been made to suffer the legal
consequences, but neither against this can one, accord-
ing to the settled maxims of common dealing, object.
The law gives the right, and it is the practice of men
to avail themselves of it. There are many large land
proprietorships in the United States. We do not
know that the administration of the generality of these
is characterized by any greater degree of liberality
than is that of the Pulteney and Hornby estates. The
235
proprietors of the latter have certainly not insisted
upon their strict legal rights, but have habitually re-
frained from exercising the utmost stringency which
the letter of the law would permit, and have many
times granted indulgence to those in delinquency which
they were not bound to grant. Whatever causes of
quarrel may have existed between purchasers and
agents of the proprietors are not fit subjects of com-
ment here ; we speak merely of the general policy of
the owners in administering the affairs of the estate,
and hold that so long as they are content to confine
their claims to consideration to their character as sel-
lers of land, it must be admitted that they have con-
formed to the rules of common dealing amongst men.
But if, beyond this, they should have the effrontery to
lay claims to public gratitude for services rendered to
the county in its days of toil and privation, or should
demand credit for liberality in the administration of
the affairs of the estate, of a higher tone than is ge-
nerally exercised in this lower world, these pretensions
would be simply preposterous. We do not know that
any such claims are put forth. The only concern of
the proprietors has been to get as much money as it
was possible to get, and whether settlers lived or
starved has not, so far as human vision can discern,
had a straw's weight in their estimation. Many in-
stances no doubt there have been of kind consideration
on the part of employees of the estate, and some of
these gentlemen have merited and obtained the respect
of those with whom their business brought them in
contact, but the general spirit of the administration of
236
the successors of the original proprietors, considering
it as a matter affecting the interests of a little State,
has been mean and narrow. A frank, generous, and
considerate bearing of the proprietors, it is perhaps
safe to say, would have obviated nearly all of that hos-
tility of the people which it is so easy to ascribe whol-
ly to democratic cupidity and jealousy. The alien
proprietorship deserves no thanks from the public, and
probably will never think it advisable to ask for any.
It has been a dead, disheartening weight on the
county. The undeniable fact that a multitude of
hard-working men have miserably failed in their en-
deavors to gain themselves homes — have mired in a
slough of interest and instalments, leaving the results
of their labors for others to profit by, should be of it-
self sufficient to shame the absurd pretension of pa-
tronage, if it is ever put forth. The young county,
full of a rude and indomitable vigor, gained its present
position of independence by work and courage, and in
spite of the incubus which rested upon it. It has to
thank no human patron for its victory.
And it is well that this is so. It is well that strong
arms and stout hearts have achieved the conquest of
this wilderness, unaided by patrons, either at home or
abroad. Fight makes might. The discipline of a half
a century of poverty and tedious labor has made this
people stronger of heart and hand than they would
have been if the hemlocks had snapped like icicles, or
the hills had proved softer than old meadow lands, or
the apparitions of foreign Peers had hovered in the air,
\
237
smiling encouragement to indigent squatters, and shak-
ing showers of silver from the clouds.
There are certain other considerations arising from
the relations which have so long existed between the
citizens of the county and the foreign proprietors which
may be here presented. No state of things can be im-
agined more offensive to democratic prejudices than
that created by the relations existing between the peo-
ple of this county and the heirs of Pulteney. Few
stronger temptations to disregard the rights of pro-
perty and to advocate something akin to that Agrarian-
ism so much dreaded in republican communities by
those distrustful of popular rule, are often presented to
a populace, than such as arise from the tenure by
foreign Lords of immense tracts of land in a country
heartily hostile to everything savoring of aristocracy.
No lawlessness would naturally be more readily ex-
cused by the popular sense than that which repudi-
ated the European claims of title, and formed illegal
combinations to harrass the proprietors, and to set at
nought the edicts of lawgivers, and the process of
courts in their favor. What can be imagined more
annoying to democratic feeling than to see, as the ora-
tors sometimes tell us, the money of republicans, earned
by desperate labor, rolling in incessant streams to the
treasuries of British Lords — the sufferers thereby be-
lieving, at the same time, that these rivulets of coin
are kept up by some kind of jugglery. What group
would so well serve the purposes of the orator and the
demagogue, as that of poor, brave and free-born fsirm-
ers standing in the posture of serfs to foreign Nebu-
238
chadnezzars ? What better pictures to adorn the
popular harangue, or the County's Book of Martyrs,
sometimes opened before sympathising juries, than
those of foreign Nebuchadnezzars riding over the necks
of prostrate democrats ; of foreign Nebuchadnezzars
plying the rack, the boot and the thumbscrew to the
" unterrified ;" of foreign Nebuchadnezzars hunting
shingle-splitters with bloodhounds and janizaries,
throwing farmers into fiery furnaces and dens of lions,
and making a '' St. Bartholemew's" among the squat-
ters 1
That under these circumstances dcfrctive forei<]:n
titles should have been amended by the Legislature of
the State, and the rights of the proprietors carefully
regarded and repeatedly asserted ; that the tender mer-
cies of the commonwealth should have reached such a
climax of tenderness as to relieve the proprietors from
the payment of taxes on their wild lands and to rebuke
as unrighteous and impertinent the demands of the
settlers that these indigent aliens should share in the
maintenance of the roads by which they profited, and
of the courts which they crowded with their suits ; that
for sixty years their office should have stood unmo-
lested and unthreatened in the midst of a populace
doubtful of the legality of their claims and aggrieved
by their perseverance in a policy which is popularly
considered unjust and disreputable ; that their agents
have never been flagrantly insulted, nor their foresters
thrown into mill-ponds ; that the process of the courts
has seldom been illegally impeded and never effectual-
ly resisted, and that juries have never refused to ren-
239
der for the proprietors verdicts required by the la\f
and the fiicts ; that by a community abundantly intel-
ligent to form unlawful combinations which would se-
riously disturb the operations of the land agency, no
such unlawful combinations have been formed, but that
the only remedies sought for that which was believed
to be unjust and oppressive, have been by applications
to the legislatures and by defences in the courts. These
are things which those who tremble for the sacredness
of property in republics will do well to consider.
The duty of the citizens to the alien proprietors is
plain J to urge an observance of it would be justly of-
fensive. There is no disposition in the mass of citi-
zens to grant the proprietors anything less than justice.
Law will be regarded ; rights will not be disturbed ;
public faith will not be violated, and to urge in this
case the practice of common honesty would be in the
highest degree insulting. So long as the courts and
the legislatures recognize the title of the proprietors,
the people will not discredit the commonwealth by ille-
gal resistance to authority.
Amidst all the causes of vexation which encompass
us, there are yet various pleasant reflections for the
exasperated republican to console himself withal, not
the least of which is, the certainty that we shall in due
time be delivered from the feudal phantoms which have
80 long beset us.
The mill-wheel turned by water never rests, but the
institution that goes by land must sooner or later stop
grinding. The water that pours through the floom
goes down to the sea, but rises again in fogs and va-
240
pors; it ascends to the clouds ; the winds blow it land-
ward ; it falls again upon the hill tops, and again pours
through the floom. For the land oflSce there is no such
hope. The element that keeps its wheels in motion
never evaporates. Acres of gravel do not readily be-
come clouds and rain themselves again into the Duke
of Cumberland's pond ; and section lots, especially if
they contain a ton or two of mountains, are most dis-
couraging materials for a fog to feed upon. The re-
publican, therefore, terrified or unterrified, may confi-
dently look forward to the time when the coronets of
English Peers will no longer glitter in the air, greatly
to the disturbance of the public temper, when '* arti-
cles," " instalments," *' interest," " assignments,"
" back payments," and all the terms of that unpopular
vocabulary will become dead language ; when the de-f
puty sheriff's occupation will bo gone, and when Er-
nest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of
Hanover, having been honestly and fairly paid for that
which the law declares to be his, will beg no more the
thunder of the courts to avenge, or the shield of the
legislatures to protect him, but will abandon his title-
deeds, discharge his stewards, and vanish forever be-
hind the fo2cs of the Atlantic Ocean.
CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES.
THE INDIANS.
It will not be necessary to speak of the history,
laws or customs of the Six Nations in this volume ;
sufficient information for present purposes, as to those
matters, is possessed by the popular mind. Steuben
County constituted a part of the domain of the Sene-
cas. The Indians with whom the pioneer had inter--
course were from the North, and visited this region
only to hunt. Many hundreds of them came in the
winter from the Genesee, and even from the Niagara,
built their lodges around in the woods, and killed deer
for their summer's stock of dried venison, and other
wild animals for their peltry.
The complement of a hunting lodge varied accord-
ing to circumstances. Sometimes a solitary old sav-
age made his wigwam apart from his brethren, and
hunted, fished and slept in silence ; sometimes the neat
lodge of a couple of young comrades might be seen on
some little island of the river, and sometimes the woods-
man came upon a camp-fire blazing in the forest by
night, where a score or more of hunters, squaws and
children were eating and drinking in a very free and
comfortable manner. The Indian " at home" was not
often found by the pioneers to be that taciturn and im-
22
242
movable Roman which the romancers paint him. When
before the fire of his wigwam with a half-a-dozen com-
panions, he talked, laughed and joked, and had an
odd habit of making a meal every quarter of an hour,
as if afflicted with a chronic hunger, putting his hand
into the kettle, or fishing up with a sharp stick a piece
of venison as big as his fist at every pause of the con-
versation, till the young settler, witnessing this per-
petual banquet, feared that he would kill himself. He
did not talk in riddles or allegories like those whale-
bone braves who stalk through the novels, but was of-
ten inclined to be shrewd and comical in his language,
and sometimes loved practical jokes not of the most
delicate order.
During the first few years of the settlement, many
of the inhabitants were uneasy at the presence of the
Indians. Some prepared to leave the county, and a
few actually did leave it from apprehension of an at-
tack. After the defeat of Harmar and St. Clair, in
the Northwestern territory, the savages were often
insolent and abusive, but Wayne's victory on the Mi-
ami, in 179i, put an end to their plots, and they af-
terwards conducted themselves with civility. Some of
the settlers, however, were not entirely assured for
several years. The wives of many of the emigrants
from the East, unused to wild life, and familiar with
the terrible fame of the Six Nations, lived in constant
alarm — not an inexcusable fear when a score or two
of barbarians came whooping to the cabin door, or rais-
ed the midnight 3^ell in their camp by the creek-side,
till even the wolves were ashamed of them.
243
The intercourse between the settlers and Indians,
were generally friendly and social. The latter, how-
ever, had occasion sometimes to complain of lodges de-
stroyed and furs stolen, and of other annoyances to bo
expected from civilized men. A hunter living at the
Eight xMile Tree, (Avoca,) wished to drive the Indians
from a certain hunting ground. These Native Ameri-
cans were singularly reluctant to labor, and lather
than chop down a tree for fuel, would walk half a mile
to pick up an armful of scattered sticks. Founding
his scheme upon this trait of character, the hunter cut
a great many branches from the trees in the vicinity
of their camps, bored augur-holes into them, filled the
orifices with gunpowder, plugged them carefully, and
strewed these treacherous engines through the woods.
The Indians knew not what good spirit to thank for
this miraculous shower of fire-wood, and gathered a
great supply for their lodges. The disasters that fol-
lowed were unaccountable. Now a loud explosion blew
a quart of coals into the face of some mighty chief-
then another hidden magazine being kindled, filled the
eyes of the presiding squaw with dust and ashes, and
another hoisted the pot off the fire, or hurled the roast-
ing - venison into the basket where the papoose was
sleeping. The wood was plainly bewitched. Timber
with such fiery sap was not to be endured. The Indi-
ans abandoned the neighborhood with precipitation,
and left the hunter in quiet enjoyment of his forest-
rights.
There were some occasions when the Indian was
seen in his glory, arrayed in flaming blankets, adorn-
244
ed "with plumes and medals, girt with curious belts,
from which glittered the knife and tomahawk. Thus
shone the warriors on their return from the Con-
vention at Newtown, in the winter of 1791.* But
after a few years of familarity with civilized men, the
savage was seldom seen abroad in ancient style. The
braves were inclined to become utter vagabonds, and
gradually adopted that mixture of civilized and savage
dress, which it is not going too far to pronounce
shocking. Romance was horrified. The *'' dark-eyed
forest-belles," so dear to poetry, looked like stage-
drivers.
The traffic in liquors here, as elsewhere, proved
ruinous to the unfortuate Indians. A large portion of
their game was bartered for spirits. A favorite place
for their carouses at Bath was in the bushes at the
edge of the village, opposite the present jail. Here,
floundering in the under-bush, howling, singing and
screaming all night, they suggested vivid and singular
dreams to the sleeping villagers. On such occasions
the squaws, like considerate wives, stole the knives of
their lords, and retired to the woods, till the fainter
and less frequent yells from the bushes announced that
the " Romans" were becoming overpowered by sleep.
The townsmen were sometimes amused at their fishing.
A half-a-dozen Indians wading up the river, and push-
* Mr. David Cook, a settler of Painted Post, met, while moving
up, 300 Indians on the Chimney Narrows, who were going to the
Treaty. On their return they were detained for a long time at
Painted Post by a great snow-storm, till they could make snow-
shoes, greatly to the annoyance of the settlers.
245
ing a canoe before them, would spear their boat half-
full of fish in an incredibly short time, and sell their
cargo for a mere trifle. The spear was but a pole
with a nail in the end of it.
About thirty years ago, Mr. Joshua Stephens, a
young man of Canisteo, was found dead in the woods,
having been shot by two rifle balls. The murder had
been evidently committed by Indians. Two of these,
named Curly-eye and Sundown, were arrested on sus-
picion of having committed the deed, and were after-
wards tried at Bath. The aSair created a great sen-
sation, and the trial w^as attended by a large concourse
of people. Red Jacket and other prominent chiefs
were present. The evidence against the prisoners
was of a strong character, but they were acquitted.
After this event the Indians became shy and evacuated
the county, and never again returned except in strag-
gling bands.
We have been told, on pretty good authority, of an
" Indian-hater" living near the mouth of Mud Creek,
in the town of Bath, many years ago. A settler in
that neighborhood was requested one morning by one
of his neighbors to go out to the woods and help him
bring in a large buck which he had shot. On com-
ing at the designated place, the hunter opened a pile
of brush, and showed his companion the dead body of
an Indian. He said that his father's family had been
massacred by the savages in the Revolution, and since
that event he had killed every Indian he could meet in
a convenient place. This was nearly the twentieth.
22*
246
INDIAN NAMESj ETC.
The Indians and their institutions can, upon the
whole, be spared from our social system, though there
are not wanting those who find it in their hearts to de-
plore the decay of both — a melancholy thing to think
of, truly. Yet, when it is considered how many of
their practices were irreconcilable with the maxims of
distinguished jurists, the most enthusiastic admirer of
barbarism must admit that the preservation of the
statutes and ceremonies of the Long House would be
attended, at least, with inconvenience. The tomahawk,
the scalping knife and the javelin, are properly, we
think, excluded from the accoutrements of a well-
dressed, civilized man, and we are quite sure that an
enlightened public opinion would frown upon that grave
and respectable citizen, who, out of respect for the
earliest inhabitants of the county, should appear at
town-meeting, at church, or at any other public as-
semblage, painted with red paint and black, decorated
with porcupine quills, and arrayed in a crimson blan-
ket. A cultivated community will always entertain
sentiments of reverence for ancient fashions, and for
the customs of former generations ; yet, would not
such a spectacle as that of the elderly gentlemen and
clergy of the county, shrieking, howling, and dancing
the grand War-Dance around a post in the Public
Square of the shire town, fill the mind of a judicious
man with melancholy forebodings with regard to the
sanity of such elderly gentlemen and divines? There
are yet certain vestiges of the ancient tribes for which
247
men of taste and learning earnestly plead — the names
which they attached to their lakes, rivers, towns and
castles. Whether deep and sonorous as Otsego, Ni-
agara, Cayuga, Tioga, Onondagua, or light and musical
as Unadilla, Wyalusing, Canisteo, Susquehanna, or
abrupt and warlike as Mohawk, Conhocton, Shemokin,
Tunkhannock, the names given by the Six Nations,
were sweet or heroic of sound. The barbarous dialects
which give us Penobscot and Passaraaquoddy, or the
still more atrocious Chattahoochie, Okechobee, Tom-
bigby, Withlacoochie and other frightful words which
prick the Southern ear, (though atoned for by the
noble Alabama, Catawba, Savannah,) and the utterly
heathenish Michilimacinac, Pottawottamie, Oshkosh,
Kaskaskia and Winnipeg, of the North West, are fit
for Ghouls, and " men whose heads do grow beneath
their shoulders."
A lecture may profitably be read on the subject of
names to people of our own and adjoining counties, and
in doing so we do but echo what has been frequently
proclaimed through other trumpets. The American
map looks like a geographical joke. We name our
towns after all heroes, from Hector to General Lopez —
after all patriots, from Maccabeus to Daniel Shays —
after all beasts, birds, fishes, and creeping things — to
which there is certainly no objection, but one may
plead that when we have exhausted Plutarch's Lives,
and the Pension Roll, a few of the fine old Indian
names may be recovered. In our own county, the
musical and forest-like Tascarora^ was changed first to
Mlddletown^ which caused confusion in the mails, (that
248
popular name having been fairly grabbed by other
towns which were so lucky as to stand half way be«
tween two places,) and afterwards to Addison, in
honor, probably, of the essayist, who never saw a
stump, a raft, or a saw-mill. The post-office of Tobe-
hanna was lately changed to Altai, which is a moun-
tain range in the antipodes, and would lead strangers
to suppose that Tyrone was settled by Siberians. Our
neighbors of Chemung became disgusted at the odd,
but significant and historical name of Horse-heads,
(being the place where Gen. Sullivan killed his horses,)
and elegantly changed it to Fair-port, indicating, we
suppose, that scows on the Chemung Canal are there
secure from tempests. It is unfortunate that the
schoolmaster was out of town when the change was
made, for the offending Saxon might have been dis-
guised under the magnificent syllables of Hippoccphali.
At the head of Seneca Lake lived for many years a
famous Indian Queen, Catharine Montour, a half-
breed, and surmised to have been a daughter of Count
Frontenac. Her village was known far and wide as
Catharine^s Town. They now call it Jefferson — an
act of " proscription" which the great republican
would have scowled at.* Painted Post will probably
have to go next under the reign of refinement — a capi-
tal name, suggestive, historical and picturesque. If
it is desirable to be known abroad, citizens of that vil-
lage will do well to let the name stand as it is, for
* The actual village may have been a little out of town — but that
makes no difference.
249
"while Painted Post will arrest the stranger's ej'C more
quickly perhaps than any other name on the map of
Western New York, if this is changed to Siam or
Senegambia, Ajax or Coriolanus, or any other title
which the fashion of the day requires, the Painted
Posters cannot hope to be distinguished from the mob
of citizens who dwell in villages bearing the names
of foreign kingdoms, and heroes of the " Silurian
epoch."
Similar advice is ready for our neighbors at the foot
of Crooked Lake whenever it may be called for.
Penn- Yan is undoubtedly a very queer word — rather
Chinese at least — and when pronounced with the
favorite twang of our ancients. Pang Yang^ the sound
is as clearly " celestial" as Yang-Kiang, and the
stranger would expect to find the village adorned by
Mandarins and Joshes, and to see the populace, from
the seniors down, diverting themselves with kites,
fire-crackers and lanterns. For the relief of puzzled
philologists, however, it may be explained that the
word was not imported in a tea-chest, but was made
from the first syllables of the words Pennsylvaiiian and
Yankee, and indicates the races of the first settlers.
It should by no means be disturbed.
It is a pity that so many fine villages of Western
New York are saddled with names absurdly borrowed
from the Old World. It would seem as if Congress
had granted bounty lands to heroes of the Trojan and
Punic wars ; at all events, the names of those old
veterans are affixed to more townships than there were
sons of Priam Buffalo, Oswego, Canandaigua and
250
Genesee, are almost the only towns of importance
■which have escaped the Greeks and Romans.
Our own country must confess itself to be destitute
of European or classical townships, but can yet boast
of very illustrious neighbors. We have but to step
over our Northern boundary to " see Naples and die."
The distance from Naples to Italy, though greater
here than it is in Europe, is yet but inconsiderable,
while the distance from Italy to Jerusalem is less than
in the Old World. In fact, the city of David here
abuts the land of Caesar. On the Eastern side of the
county behold the hero Hector^ a brown Republican
farmer, shaking no more the bloody spear as he looks
from his orchards into the waters of Seneca, having
long since exchanged the chariot for the horse-rake.
His old antagonist, Ulysses, has located his land-
warrant in the next range. On the West Ossian
howls his humbugs in the latitude of Loon Lake, and
Saxon Alfred lives unmolested by marauding Danes.
The Spartans have colonized the adjoining corner of
Livingston County, and appear to have quite given up
black broth and laconics. The Athenians are to be
found at the mouth of the Chemung,* and when the
up-river raftmen, whooping and yelling, steer their
rafts down the spring-flood, the citizens of the town
are probably reminded of the time when the Goths
came with similar uproar through the Hellespont, and
sacked their city — a blow from which, judging from
the present state of the fine arts at Tioga Point, it
* Athens, at the mouth of the Chemung, was formerly Tioga
Point. The old name shows sense, the new one the want of it.
251
would seem that the seat of the muses never re-
covered.
Crooked Lake is the translation of Keuka, the ab-
original name. Conhodon signifies come- together. It
is sometimes erroneously rendered Trees -in-the-ivater.
Five Mile Creek "was formerly called Canoni. Gen.
McClure says that Bath bore the name of Tanighna-
guanda, by no means a euphonious one. Chemung is
said to mean Big-bone* The tradition that the iden-
tical bone by which the name was suggested, was
taken from the river-bank by boatmen after the settle-
ment must be erroneous. The Indians had a village
and corn-field near Elmira, at the time of Sullivan's
expedition, named Chemung, and the river was called
the Chemung Branch. Further information concerning
the aboriginal names of localities in this county we
cannot give, and would be glad to receive.
GAME, ETC.
It is said in a manuscript, consulted in the prepara-
tion of this volume, that " Many of the hunters esti-
mated that there were from five to ten deer on every
hundred acres of land in the county, or in that propor-
tion throughout the country over which the}^ hunted.
The probability is, that this estimate would not be too
high for many parts of the forest which were favorite
haunts of the deer, but then there would be other tracts
which they frequented but little, so that for the whole
extent of territory embraced in the present limits of
the county, equal to about 900,000 acres, it would
252
probably be correct to estimate that at the first settle-
ment of the country, there were, on an average, as
many as four deer for every hundred acres of land —
making the number within the present limits of the
county, not less than 36,000.
An intelligent and respectable man, who came from
Pennsylvania among the first emigrants from that
State, used to relate that in the fall of the year 1790^
or 1791, two young men came from near Northum-
berland up the rivers in a canoe, on a hunting expedi-
tion, built a lodge at the mouth of Smith's Creek, on
the Conhocton, and hunted in that neighborhood. In
the course of two months they killed upwards of two
hundred deer, several elk, some bears and three pan-
thers. Elk were at that time quite numerous in most
parts of the county, and were found south of the
Canisteo River, ten or fifteen years after. They also
killed a number of wolves, foxes and martins, and a
few beaver. The hunters preserved as much of the
venison as they could, and with that and the skins
they had taken, they loaded two large canoes, and
early in the Avinter returned to Northumberland, where
they sold their cargoes for upwards of ^300.
Sixty years of persecution with hounds and rifle have
not exterminated the deer ; but, as may well be be-
lieved, the buck that now shakes his horns in the
forest, does so with little of that confidence with which
in former times his predecessors tossed aloft their
antlers. In twenty-four hours his ribs may be smok-
ing on the dinner-table of a hotel, his hide may be
steeping in the vats of the mitten-makers, and his
253
horns may be grating under the rasps of the men that
make cane-heads and knife-handles. In the days be-
fore the conquest, notwithstanding the depredations of
the wolves and Indians, the deer constantly increased
in numbers, or at least held their own, and lived in a
high state of exhilaration. It was a fine sight, that of
a full-grown buck racing through the woods, clearing
" fifteen to twenty feet, often twenty-five feet, and
sometimes more than thirty feet of ground, at a single
jump." The last elk killed in the county was shot
in the town of Lindley, about yorty years ago.
As for the wolves, history despairs of doing them
justice. They deserve a poet. How they howled,
and howled, and howled ; how they snarled and snap-
ped at the belated woodsman ; how they killed the
pigs and the sheep ; how they charmed the night with
their long drawn chorus, so frightful that '' it was
enough to take the hair oflf a man's head," and yet so
dismally hideous that it could not but be laughed at
by the youngsters — all these must be imagined ; words
are too feeble to do justice to the howling of one wolf
in the day time, much less to the howling of ten wolves
at night, in the depth of a hemlock forest. Each pack
had its chorister, a grizzled veteran, perhaps, who
might have lost a paw in some settler's trap, or whose
shattered thigh declared him a martyr for the publio
good. This son of the Muses, beginning with a for-
lorn and quavering howl, executed a few bars in solo ;
then the whole gang broke in with miracles of discord,
as in a singing school the full voiced choir shouts in
chorus, after the teacher has shown them " how that
23
254
chromatic passage ought to be executed." All the
parts recognised by the scientific, were carried by these
" minions of the moon." Some moaned in barytone,
some yelled in soprano, and the intermediate discords
were howled forth upon the niglit air in a style that
■would make a jackall shiver. The foreign musician,
awaked from his dreams by such an anthem, might
well imagine himself fallen from a land where the Red
Republicans had it all their own way, and having abro-
gated the rules of rythm and dynamics, with other
arbitrary and insufferable vestiges of the feudal system,
had established musical socialism. 'J'he wolves and
their howling linger more vividly than any other fea-
tures of the wilderness in the memory of old settlers.
It is only within a few years that they found the land
too hot for them. It is not a great while since the
citizens of the shire town were occasionally behowled
from the Rollway Hills, and among those who, fifteen
years ago, were very young school-boys, the memory
is 3^et green of that day when the weightiest and grav-
est of the tow^nsmen, with many others who were not
quite so weighty and grave, sallied forth with the
avowed purpose of exterminating the wolves which
lurked in the surrounding hills — a campaign barren
of trophies indeed, but which must have carried dis-
may into the councils of the enemy, and convinced
them of the uselessness of opposition to their '' mani-
fest destiny." A few members of this ancient family
may yet lurk in the wild corners of the country, but
the more discreet have withdrawn to the solitudes of
Pennsylvania.
255
The panthers have vanished, hide and hair, leaving
a reputation like that of the Caribs. The '^ painter,"
in lack of lions, must always be the hero of desperate
hunting tales, and were it not for the too well estab-
lished fact that his valor was rather freely tempered
with discretion, he would be a highly available cha-
racter for the novelists. Except when wounded, they
were not feared. Though powerful of frame and fe-
rocious of face, they belied physiognomy and were
generally quite willing to crawl off, or at most to stand
at bay when met by the hunters. This forbearance,
it must be confessed, arose not so much from sweet-
ness of temper as from a bashfulness which almost
amounted to cowardice. They disappointed the ex-
pectations of their friends, and invariably forsook their
backers before coming up fairly to the *' scratch."
However, the fierce face, the lion-like proportions, (they
were from seven to ten feet long,) and the collusion of
the novelists, have proved too much for the truth, and
the "Great Northern Panther" at this day rivals in
popularity Captain Kyd and Black-Beard. When
exasperated by wounds he showed himself worthy of
this high favor, but under ordinary provocation he was
scarcely more terrible than a wood -chuck. For in-
stance, a housewife, who owned Ireland as her native
land, while attending to her domestic duties in the
cabin, heard signals of distress among the pigs. On
going out to see what had befallen her porkers, she
found a fine shoat attacked by a panther. It was evi-
dently the first acquaintance of the robber with
animals of this species, for as often as he sprang upon
256
the back of his prey, the pig squealed dismally, and
the panther bounced off in amazement, as if he had
alighted upon a hot stove. The lady ran screaming,
and with arms uplifted, to rescue her pig, and the
'* Great North American Panther," instead of anni-
hilating both pig and *' lady-patroness" on the spot,
scrambled into the top of a tree with evident alarm.
The woman sent her husband straightway to fetch
Patterson the hunter with his rifle, and stood under
the tree to blockade the enemy. Several times the
latter offered to come down, but his intrepid sentry
screamed and made such violent gestures, that the
panther drew back in consternation. The hunter came
in an hour or so and shot it just as it took courage to
spring.
The bear, too — the wise, respectable and indepen-
dent bear was, in early times, a citizen of substance
and consideration. Statistics concerning him are
wanting. Disturbed by bone-breaking bullets in his
berry gardens and plum orchards, blinded by gusts of
buckshot that blew into his face as he put his head out
of his parlor window, punched with sharp sticks by
malicious youngsters as he sat nursing his wounded
hams in the seclusion of a hollow log, plagued by
ferocious traps which sometimes pinched his feet, some-
times grasped his investigating nose with teeth of steel,
assailed in his wooden tower by axe-men hewing at its
basis, while boys with rifles waited for its downfall — Pi
the bear, we say, distressed by a line of conduct that"
rendered his existence precarious, emigrated to the
mountains of the Key Stone State in disgust.
1
257
As for the lesser tribes, known as wild-cats, cata-
mounts and lynxes, there were flourishing families of
those creatures in all parts of the land, and they are
still occasionally heard from in the outer districts.
The last one worthy of historical notice prowled for a
time in the interior woods, but his head at last pre-
eminent among the heads and tails of racoons and
wood-chucks, adorned the Log Cabin of Bath in the
picturesque election of 1840.
There were but few beaver remaining in the streams
at the time of the settlement. The lively trade in
peltry which had been carried on between the Indiana
and Europeans was attended with a disastrous loss of
fur to those poor creatures. In 1794: there were a few
beaver remaining in Mud Lake, but the renowned
Patterson set his eye upon them, and soon appeared
on the harmonious shores of that secluded pond with
his arms full of traps. Seven of the beaver were
caught, the eighth and last escaped with the loss of a
paw. These were the last beaver taken in this
county. About twenty-five years ago a single beaver
appeared in the Tioga, and even showed his nose on
the farm of the old trapper. He was a traveller. He
visited various parts of the river, as agent perhaps for
some discontented colony on another stream, but
probably discouraged by the farms and saw-mills, left
the upper waters and appeared next in the lower
Chemung. He imprudently went upon an island of a
snowy morning ; Canisteo raftmen tracked him to a
corn-stout, beset, slew and skinned him, and delivered
his hide to the hatters. The streams, though depopu-
26*
258
lated of beaver, abounded with fish, and contained for
many years fine shad and salmon.
Rattlesnakes will conclude this catalogue of wor-
thies. It has been previously intimated that these^'
deadly reptiles flourished in certain places in large*
tribes. To say that there were thousands of them in
the Conhocton valley among the pines, would be to
speak modestly. The incident related of Patterson,
the hunter, in a previous chapter of this volume, is
sometimes told in a different form. It is told on ex-
cellent authority, that he and his dog were going down-J
the river trail, and killed rattlesnakes by daylight, till
the odor of them made him sick, and till his dog, which
was an expert snake-fighter, refused to touch them any^
more — (an active dog will dance around a snake, dash
suddenly in, snatch it up in his teeth, and shake it to
death.) — It then becoming dark, he took the river and
waded two miles to its mouth. There is another story
touching snakes, which history will not willingly let
die. The hero of the tale, it may be premised, was
the narrator of it, and the sole witness to the facts.
An old settler of this country was once journeying
through the woods, and when night came, found him-
self in a district infested by rattlesnakes, numbers of'
which were twisting their tails in the bushes in great
indignation. Fearful that if he lay on the ground he
would wake up in the morning with his pockets full of
snakes, (for they are extremely free to snug up to-^
sleepers on chilly nights, to enjoy the warmth of the
human body,) in which case, it would be a delicate thing
to pull them out, he placed a pole across two crotched
259
stakes, and slept on the pole. His slumbers were sound
and refreshing. In the morning he found himself on
his roost with no serpents in his pockets, his boots, his
hat, or his hair, and observed, moreover, that, during
his sleep, he had unconsciously turned over from his
right side to his left.
So much for rattlesnakes. Concerning other kinds
of serpents — black snakes, racers, and the like of which
there was no lack in this bailiwick, we have nothing to
offer — not from disrespect, but from ignorance.
The chase, as we have seen, was not often attended
with peril ; yet there were times when the hunter was
obliged to move briskly for his life. The wounded
panther was a dangerous enemy. Men have been kill-
ed by them. A noted Canisteo hunter once hurt one
of these animals with a rifle ball, and it sprang upon
his dog as the first adversary it met. Knowing that
himself would be the next victim, the hunter closed
with the ferocious beast and killed it with his knife.
As it lay upon the ground after the fight, eight feet or
more in length, it looked like a lion, and the hunter was
astonished at his boldness.
A Justice of the Pence in one of the outer towns had
once occasion for a little practice, not provided for in
the "Magistrate's Manual." Relieving his judicial
cares by the pleasures of the chase, he one day met a
great panther which he severely wounded, but did not
immediately cripple it. The monster, enraged at the
tort, attacked him furiously. The plaintiff in the case
found himself unexpectedly made defendant. The
books suggested no proceeding for relief in such a
260
strange turn of aflfairs, and he was obliged to fall back
on first principles. He dealt a rousing blow with his
gun, and then dexteroush^ seized the panther's tail.
A novel action ensued, which was neither trover nor
replevin. The plaintiff, though partially disabled, had
yet so much of his former enormous strength, that,
when he turned with a savage growl to bite the defen-
dant, the latter, by jerking with all his might, baffled
the manoeuvre of his antagonist. This odd contest,
worthy of record in the " Crockett Almanac," lasted
a good while — jerking this way, jerking that way, re-
joinder and sur-rejoinder, rebutter and sur-rebutter —
till at length the panther became so weak from loss of
blood, that the guardian of the people's peace could
work the ropes with one hand ; when resuming his po-
sition as plaintiff, he speedily entered up final judgment
against the defendant with a hunting knife, and seized
his scalp for costs. This is a true story, (as also are
all other stories in this book) and can be proved by a
Supervisor, a Justice of the Peace, and a Town Clerk.
A Canisteo hunter was once watching a deer lick at
night. A large tree had partially fallen near the
spring, and he seated himself in its branches several
feet above the ground. No deer came down to drink.
Towards midnight the tree was shaken by the tread of
a visitor. It was a huge panther, which slowly
walked up the trunk and sat down on its haunches
within a very few yards of the hunter. The night
was clear and the moon was shining, but the uneasy
deerslayer could not see the forward sight of his gun,
and did not like to attempt the delicate feat of send-
261
ing a bullet to the heart of such a lion so decisively
that there would be no snarling or tearing of his throat
afterwards. All night long they sat in mutual con-
templation, the hunter watching with ready rifle every
movement of his guest; while the latter, sitting with-
the gravity of a chancellor, hardly stirred till day-
break. As soon as the light of morning brought the
forward sight in view the rifle cracked and the panther
departed life without a growl.
Wolves seldom or never were provoked to resist-
ance. The settler walking through the woods at dusk,,
was sometimes intercepted by a gang of these bush-
pirates, whom hunger and the darkness emboldened to
snarl and snap their teeth at his very heels ; but a
stone or a '' chunk of wood" hurled at their heads was-
enough to make them bristle up and stand on the de-
fensive. They were generally held in supreme con-
tempt. We hear of a bouncing damsel in one of the
settlements who attacked half a dozen of them with a
whip, just as they had seized a pig and put them to
flight, too late, however, to save the life of the unhappy
porker.
The buck, under certain circumstances, was a dan-
gerous antagonist. The following incident is given in
a manuscript heretofore alluded to : *' An individual
who eventually became a leading man in the county^
and a member of Congress, once shot a buck near
Bath. He loaded his gun and walked up to the fallen
deer, which was only stunned, the ball having hit one
of his horns. W^hen within a few steps of it, the deer
sprang up and rushed at him. He fired again, but in
262
the hurry of the moment missed his aim. He then
clubbed his gun and struck at the head of the infu-
riated animal, but it dexterously parried the blow with
its horns and knocked the rifle out of the hunter's
hand to the distance of several yards. The hunter
took refuge behind a tree, around which the deer fol-
lowed him more than an hour, lunging at him with his
horns so rapidly that the gentleman who '* eventually
went to Congress" could not always dodge the blow,
hut was scratched by the tips of the antlers and badly
bruised on his back and legs, and had almost all his
•clothes torn off. He struck the deer several times
with his knife indecisively, but when almost tired out
managed to stab him fairly just back of the shoulder.
The enemy hauled off to repair damages but soon fell
dead. The hunter threw himself upon the ground
utterly exhausted, and lay several hours before he had
strength to go home. A man thus assailed was said
to be " treed by a buck."
THE PLUMPING MILL.
There are few tribulations of the new country about
which old settlers are more eloquent than those con-
nected with " going to mill." Grist mills being fab-
rics of civilization, were not of course found in a wild
state along the primitive rivers. The unfortunate sav-
age cracked his corn with a pestle and troubled his
head not at all about bulkheads and tail races, and,
although his meal was in consequence of a very indif-.
ferent quality, yet it may be a question if this was not
263
compensated for 'oy the freedom of tlie courts of the
Six Nations from those thrilling controversies about
flush-boards, and drowned meadows, and backwater on
the wheel, which do in modern times confound the two
and thirty Circuit Judges of the Long House.
In 1778, a grist-mill and saw-mill belonging to the
Indians and Tories, at their settlement of Unadilla, the
only mills in the Susquehanna valley in this State,
were burned by a party of rangers and riflemen. In
1790, four mills are noted on the map of Phelps and
Gorham's Purchase, one in T. 8, R. 3 ; one in T. 10,
R. 4 ; one at the Friends' Settlement near Penn Yan ;
one in Lindley town on the Tioga. Shepard's mill on
the Susquehanna, a short distance above Tioga Point,
was the main dependence of our settlers till they built
mills for themselves. The people of Painted Post and
Canisteo took their grain down to that mill for several
years.
There was, however, one truly patriarchal engine
which answered the purpose of the grist-mill in times of
necessity which it would be ungrateful not to remem-
ber. That backwoods machine known as the Plump-
ing Mill, the Hominy Block, the Samp Mortar, or the
Corn Cracker, is now as obsolete an engine as the
catapult or the spinning-wheel. The gigantic red
castles that bestride our streams rumbling mightily
with their wheels and rollers, while their mill-stones
whirling day and night, crush the grains of a thousand
hills, are structures entirely too magnificent to be men-
tioned with a homely plumping-mill. Nevertheless,
granting all due deference to these portly and respect-
264
able edifices, historians will insist that their rustic pre-
decessors be remembered with some degree of kind-
ness.
The Plumping Mill was made after this wise. From
the outer edge of the top of a pine stump, and at a
little distance within the extreme edge, so as to leave
a rim of about half an inch in breadth, augur holes
were bored toward the centre of the stump pointing
downward so as to meet in a point several inches below
the surface. Fire was placed on the top of the stump,
which, when it had eaten down to the augur holes, was
sucked according to atmospherical laws, through those
little mines and burned out the chip or conical block
nicely, leaving a large deep bowl. This was scraped
and polished with an iron and the mill was ready for
the engine. The engine was a very simple one of about
two feet stroke. From a crotched post a long sweep
was balanced like the swale of an old-fashioned well.
A pole, at the end of which was a pounder, was hung
from the sweep, and your mill was made. The back-
woodsman poured his corn into the bowl of the stump,
and working the piston like one churning, cracked his
corn triumphantly. Modern mills, with all their gor-
geous red paint and puzzling machinery, are uncertain
affairs at best — nervous as it were and whimsical, dis-
turbed by droughts and freshets, by rains and high
winds like rheumatic old gentlemen : there is always a
screw loose somewhere, and their wheels need " fix-
ing " almost as often as the " wheels of government."
But the sturdy old Plumping Mill was subject to no
Buch whimsies, no more than the men of the frontiers
265
were to dyspepsia, or the women to hysterics and tant-
rums.
The reflecting citizen will duly honor the old Plump-
ing Mill. It is the pioneer engine. It can even now
be heard thumping on the edge of the Far West,
thumping on the outer edge of the Canadas, and so
will go, stoutly thumping its way across the Rocky
Mountains to the Pacific.
INCIDENTS OF THE WAR OF 1812.
At the commencement of the War of 1812
J
the standing army of our country was a much
more respectable corps than it is at the present
day. Either from modern degeneracy or from our
superior enlightenment, the appearance of a pha-
lanx of militia in any public place in this noon
of the nineteenth century, is a signal for universal
laughter. Forty years ago it was not so. Then the
army of Napoleon could not have been much more an
object of respect to itself than the rustic regiment
which paraded yearly in each important village of
Western New York. There were many independent
companies of horse, rifles and artillery. The officers
took pride in the appearance of their men, and the men,
instead of indulging in all manner of antics, were dis-
posed to keep their toes pointed at a proper angle, and
to hold their guns with the gravity of Macedonians.
The militia was respected, and men of reflection beheld
in it a great bulwark to defend the republic against the
demonstrations of the Five Great Powers, and other
2-1
266
monarchical pliantoms wliicli hovered before the ejes
of our vigilant forefathers. The plume, the epau-
lette, the sash, were badges of honor. To be an officer
in the militia was an object sought for by respectable
men. The captain was a man of more consequence
than he would have been without the right to command
forty of his neighbors to ground arms, and to keep their
eyes right. It was a great addition to the importance
of a leading citizen that he was a colonel, and enjoyed
the right of riding upon a charger at the head of half
the able-bodied men of the county ; and the general
galloping with his staff from county to county, dining
with the officers of each regiment, and saluted by the
drums and rifles of five thousand republicanji, was a
Bernadottf^, a Wellington ; and, if a man of tact and
vigor, carried an important political influence.
The social constitution of this domestic army was,
of course, a different thing from that of the armies of
the European Marshals. Captains went to logging
bees and raisings with their rank and file, perhaps
ground their corn, possibly shod their horses. Colo-
nels and generals drew the wills of their legionaries, or
defended them in actions of assault and battery and
ejectment in the courts, or employed them on their arks,
or bought their cattle. They were dependent upon the
men they commanded for elections as Sheriffs or Con-
gressmen. The inferior officers might be hailed by
their myrmidons as Tom or Harry, and, though the
high commanders were generally men of more stately
character, who were not to be treated exactly with such
familiarity, yet their relations with the soldiers were
26T
not those of Austrian Princes with their drilled boors.
When, therefore, one of these high field-ofScers went
forth to war, and indiscreetly put on the majesty of
Marlborough, or affected to look upon his men as the
Duke of York looked upon his, he soon found that the
social laws of a European army were not to be applied
to an army of such composition without modification.
There was occasionally one of these magnificent com-
manders who, after the war, suffered the consequences
of his exaltation, and even was in danger of being
handsomely thrashed by some indignant corporal, who,
at home, was the equal of his commander, but found
himself treated very loftily when his former comrade
commanded a corps upon the line, and snuffed the bat-
tle afar off.
The officer was expected to deal liberally with the
infirmities of his men, and, as one of the popular infirm-
ities in those times was a singular relish for stimulants,
the epidemic was treated after the most approved prac-
tice of the ancients. The colonel often knocked in the
head of a barrel of whiskey; the general, sometimes
after review, dashed open his two or three barrels of
the same delightful fluid, and the whole legion crowding
around quenched their thirsts at these inspiring foun-
tains ; majors, captains and adjutants, were held res-
ponsible for "small drinks," that the fatigues of the
day might be endured with greater patriotism. There
was, according to the best information we obtain, one
regiment in the county at the breaking out of the war.
On review day the militia from all parts of the county
met at Bath.
268
Three companies of Steuben County militia were
ordered out for three months' service on the lines in
the year 1812, two being independent companies of
riflemen, and liable, as such, to be called at pleasure
by the government, and the third being a company
drafted from the regiment. Many who were disposed
to volunteer, had been carried off by the recruiting
officers of the regular service. Captain James Sand-
ford commanded one of the rifle companies, which be-
longed chiefly to the town of Wayne, and the other,
which mustered about 50 men, belonged to the town of
Urbana, and was commanded by Capt. Abraham
Brundage. William White, of Pulteney, was his first
lieutenant, and Stephen Garner his ensign. Two rifle
companies from Allegan)'- County were attached to
these, and the battalion thus formed was commanded
by Major Asa Gaylord, of Urbana. Major Gaylord
died on the lines. After his death, the battalion was
commanded by Col. Dobbins. The drafted company
was composed of every eighth man of the regiment.
Capt. Jonas Cleland of Conhocton, commanded. Sam-
uel D. Wells, of Conhocton, and John Gillet were
lieutenants, and John Kennedy, ensign.
These companies reached the frontiers just at the
time when Col. Van Rensselaer, with an army of
militia, was about to make an attack on the works and
forces of the British at Queenstown Heights. Capt.
Cleland, with many of his men, volunteered to cross
the boundary.
As to the movements of the Steuben County militia
on that day, there are discrepancies in the accounts of
269
the actors. We give the story of the ensign, after-
wards Major Kennedy, Sheriff of the county, a relia-
ble man, and brave soldier, and obtained from him as
related to our informant many years ago.
The men of the company, being ranged on the shore
of the Niagara river at the foot of the precipitous
bank, were fired upon by the British batteries on the
opposite side. The grape shot rattled furiously
against the rocks overhead. The captain advised his
men to seek a less exposed position, and disappeared
with some of his soldiers. He appeared again on the
field of battle, over the river, in the course of the
forenoon, and complaining of illness returned to the
American side. Lieutenant Gillett and Kennedy re-
mained under the fire of the British batteries with
most of the men, crossed the river, and went into the
battle. The former was well known through the county
as " Chief Justice Gillett," an eccentric oratorical man,
a Justice of the Peace sometime, and a practitioner in
the popular courts. Upon him devolved the command
of the company. It was doubted by some whether
this Cicero would make a very good figure upon the
battle field, and whether his chivalrous flourishes and
heroic fury would not suddenly fail him at the scent
of gunpowder. What was the surprise of the men when
the " Chief Justice," as soon as he snuffed the British
sulphur, rushed into the fight as if he had just found
his element, whirled his sword, bellowed savagely with
his coarse, powerful voice, urged on the men, cheered
and dashed at the Britons like a lion. The soldiers
were astonished to find themselves led by such a
2-i*
270
chevalier. Even after receiving a dangerous and
almost mortal wound, he faltered not, but swung his
hat, brandished his sword, and continued his outlandish
uproar till he fell from pain and exhaustion.*
Ensign Kenned}^, after the fall of the lieutenant,
took command of that part of Capt. Cleland's company
which crossed the river, and of a few others, hastily
formed into a company. At one time they were op-
posed to the Indians, whom they drove before them
into a wood. While exchanging an irregular fire with
these enemies among the trees, Benjamin Welles, a
young man from Bath, who stood beside Kennedy,
looking over a fence, was shot through the head and
mortally wounded. At the final engagement in this
random, but often gallantly-fought battle, Kennedy,
with his men, were ranged in the line formed to meet
the British reinforcements, which were just coming up.
* Old soldiers tell of a militia captain from a neighboring county,
"who Tvas engaged in the same battle, and was in some respects a
match for the fighting Chief Justice. He was a physician by pro-
fession — a dissenter from the establishment, however, never having
taken a degree — and accustomed to garnish his conversation with tlie
most sonorous language. In battle, he made good his words, and
fought bravely. He went into the fight in full uniform, adorning
himself with great care, and from this circumstance became a mark
for the Indians, who supposed that such a blaze of finery must cover
•nt least a Major General. He was last seen by his men engaged in
liBingle combat with an Indian, slashing manfully with his sword,
while the savage danced around him with a hatchet, watching a
chance to strike. The next day the Indian made his appearance be-
fore the prisoners, clad in the gorgeous raiment of the captain. He
strutted to and fro with great self-admiration, and was not entirely
Bure that he had not slain the President of the United States.
271
^' Bill Wadsworth," as their general, was known to
the militia, (upon whom the command devolved after
the fall of Van Rensselaer,) went through their lines,
in a rough-and-ready style, with hat and coat off, ex-
plaining to the inexperienced officers his plan. To
avoid the fire of the British the men were ordered to
retire below the brow of the hill upon which they were
ranged, and up which the enemy would march. When
the British appeared on the top of the hill the militia
were to fire from below. ^J'he slaughter would be
great ; they were then to charge bayonets, and in the
confusion might be successful, though the decisiveness
of a charge of bayonets up a hill against veterans, by
militia, who before that day had never been under fire,
might well have been doubted. The first part of the
plan succeeded famously. As the British appeared
above the hill a fire was delivered which was very de-
structive ; but a misapprehension of the word of com-
mand by part of the line caused disorder. The fire
was returned by the enemy. The militia suffered a
considerable loss, and fell back overpowered to the
river, where the most of them were made prisoners.
Of the Steuben County men two were killed and three
wounded.
It is popularly told, that on this day Ensign Ken-
nedy was engaged in personal combat with a British
officer, and being unacquainted with the polite learn-
ing of his newly-adopted profession, was speedily dis-
armed ; that he immediately closed with his confound-
ed antagonist, knocked him down with his fist, and
made him prisoner. The hero of the story, however.
272
is said to have denied it. He was present at other en-
gagements, and gained the reputation of a cool and re-
solute officer. At the sortie of Fort Erie he served
with distinction. It was here that, under a close and
heavj fire, he paced to and fro bj the heads of his men,
who had been ordered to lie flat on the ground to
avoid the balls — not for a vain exposure of his person,
but " being an officer," he thought " it wouldn't do."
In the second year of the war two companies were
drafted from the Steuben County militia, and sent to
the Niagara frontier, under the command of Captains
James Read, of Urbana, and Jonathan Rowley, of
Dansville, faithful and reliable officers. Capt. Read
refused to go as a drafted officer, but reported himself
to the General of the Division, at the commencement
of the war, as ready to march at the head of a com-
pany, as a volunteer, whenever he should be called
upon. Both the companies were principally levied
from the Northern part of the county. Of Capt. Row-
ley's company, John Short and John E. Mulholland
were lieutenants, and George Knouse and Timothy
Goodrich, ensigns. Of Capt. R,ead's company, George
Teeples and Anthony Swarthout were lieutenants, and
Jabez Hopkins and O. Cook, ensigns. From muster to
discharge these companies served about four months.
All of the officers and most of the men volunteered to
cross the boundaries of the Republic, and were station-
ed at Fort George.
We have not succeeded in learning anything about
the draft for the last year of the war, if any was
273
made, nor concerning the militia of this county who
were engnged at Fort Erie.
The following incident is related by one of the Steu-
ben County militia who was engaged in one of the bat-
tles on the line as sergeant of a company. His com-
pany was ordered into action, and before long found it-
self confronted by a rank of Old Peninsulars, arrayed
in all the terrors of scarlet coats and cartridge boxes.
"When within a distance of ten rods from their enemies,
the militia halted, and were ordered to fire. Muskets
came instantly to the shoulder and were pointed at the
Britons with the deadly aim of rifles at a wolf hunt,
but to the dismay of the soldiers there was a universal
" flash in the pan " — not a gun w^ent off. The sergeant
knew in an instant what was the cause of the failure.
The muskets had been stacked out of doors during the
night, and a little shower which fell toward morning
had thoroughly soaked the powder in them. It was his
business to have seen to it, that the muskets were cared
for, and upon him afterwards fell the blame of the dis-
aster. Nothing could be done till the charges were
drawn. There were but two ball-screws in the compa-
ny. The captain took one, and the sergeant the other,
and beginning their labors in the middle of the rank,
worked towards the ends. A more uncomfortable po-
sition for untried militia can hardly be imagined. The
men, as described by the sergeant, " looked strangely,
as he had never seen them before." The British
brought their muskets with disagreeable precision into
position and fired. The bullets whistled over the heads
of the militia. The British loaded their guns again :
274
attain the frightful row of muzzles looked the militia-
men in the face — again they heard the alarming com-
mand, fire^ and again two score bullets whistled over
their heads. A third time the British brought their
muskets to the ground and went through all the terri-
ble ceremonies of biting cartridges, drawing ramrods,
and priming in full view of the uneasy militia. The
moistened charges were by this time almost drawn, and
when the enemy were about to fire the sergeant stood
beside the last man. He was pale and excited. " Be
quick sergeant — be quick for God's sake ! " he said.
They could hear the British officer saying to his men,
'' You fire over their heads," and instructing them to
aim lower. The muzzles this time dropped a little be-
low the former range ; smoke burst forth from them,
and seven militia-men fell dead and wounded. The
sergeant had just finished his ill-timed job, and was
handing the musket to the private beside him, when a
bullet struck the unfortunate man between the eyes and
killed him. The fire of the British was now returned
with efiect. Reinforcements came on the field and the
engagement became hot. An officer on horseback was
very active in arranging the enemy's line — riding to
and fro, giving loud orders, and making himself ex-
tremely useful. "Mark that fellow !" said the ser-
geant to his right hand man. Both fired at the same
instant. The officer fell from his horse and was car-
ried off the field by his men. They afterwards learned
that he was a Colonel, and that one of his legs was
broken.
275
THE BATTLE OF DANSVILLE.
In the midwinter of 1814, the bareheaded express-
rider, galloping through the frozen forests, brings start-
ling tidings. The British Lion, bounding forth from
the snow-drifts of Canada, with icicles glittering in his
mane, has pounced upon the frontiers of the Republic.
Black Rock is taken ! Buffalo is burned ! General
Hall's militia have been captured and generally eaten.
The supervisors of Niagara County have been thrown
into the grand whirlpool. The floodgates of invasion
have been opened, and the whole standing army of
Great Britain, with several line-of-battle ships, and an
irregular horde of Canadians and Esquimaux, is now
rolling Eastward with fire-brands and artillery, break-
ing furniture, shattering flour-barrels, burning cabins,
blowing up mills, and terrifying the wives and children
of our fellow-citizens.
Since Col. Simcoe, brandishing his two-edged sword
on the ramparts of Toronto, beckoned those *'black war-
elephants" out of the billows of Ontario, there had not
been such a martial ferment in our county, as arose at
this alarming intelligence. Before the horse tail of the
€xpress-rider vanished beyond the Chimney Narrows,
the murmur of war arose from the valleys like the
humming in a disturbed bee-hive. The Brigadier blew
his gathering horn, and all the cavaliers and yeomen,
in the uttermost corners of the county, hurried to their
regimental mustering grounds. A draft was ordered
of every second man.
One battalion mustered on the Pulteney Square, at
276
Bath. The snow was deep and the wind keen, but the
soldiers stood formed in a half-moon, with the fortitude
of Siberians. Col. Haight, mounted upon a black char-
ger, rode up with great circumstance, and made a vig-
orous and patriotic speech, calling for volunteers, and
exhorting every man to go forth to the battle. If half
the corps volunteered, a draft would not be necessary.
Nearly the requisite number offered themselves at once.
Then the deluding drum and the fanciful fife began to
utter the most seducing melodies. The musicians
again and again made the circuit of the regiment, as if
surrounding the backward warriors with some enchant-
ment. Drummers pounded with marvellous energy,
and the fifers blew into their squealing tubes with such
extraordinary ardor, that if the safety of the republic
bad depended upon the active circulation of wind
through those *' ear-piercing" instruments, all appre-
hensions of danger from the invaders might have been
instantly dismissed. Occasionally a militia-man broke
from the line and fell in behind the musicians ; but the
most of the legionaries who had resisted the first ap-
peal, stood in the snow, proof against drums, fifes, and
the Colonel's rhetoric. The draft to complete the
corps was finally made, and the battalion started for
the seat of war in high spirits. A great rabble followed
their enlisted comrades to Dansville in sleighs. A very
uproarious column it was. At Conhocton the army en-
camped. Houses, barns, pens and haystacks, over-
flowed with fire-eaters.
In the meantime the Canisteo country had been wide
awake. Col. James McBurney, hearing the Brigadier's
2TT
alarming horn sounding its portentous quavers afar oiF,
mounted his snorting war-steed, and gathering together
his boisterous myrmidons from the sawmills and gorges,
set forth in hot haste.* AtDansville, the two battal-
ions met and united. Their descent from the forests
of Steuben was like an irruption of the Goths of old.
The chieftain of Canisteo opened the battle after the
ancient fashion, by a single combat in the presence of
the combined battalions. A broad-breasted barrel of
whiskey stood forth in its wooden mail, made thrice se-
cure by hoops of seasoned hickory. This grim foe the
undaunted Ostrogoth assailed with an axe, and, at the
first blow, beat open his head. The barbarians set up
a howl of trium.ph, and, crowding around, drank like
the Scandinavians out of the skull of their vanquished
enemy. The battle then became general. Streets and
bar-rooms resounded with tremendous uproar. Dans-
ville was captured, and her citizens knew no peace till
the invaders sank down, from exhaustion, to dream that
they had just fought a great battle on the Genesee
Meadows, in which the British fled before them, scam-
pered toward Canada like a multitude of rats, ran into
the Niagara, and were now sailing around in the great
whirlpool — cannon and Jiorses, officers, non-commission-
ed officers, musicians and privates — while the Prince
Regent, according to the sentence of a drum-head Court
Martial, was hanging by his heels from an oak tree,
and the lion and unicorn, yoked like bullocks to the tri-
* CoL Wm, Stephens, of Canisteo, was Ws Major, and Col. J. R.
Stephens, of Homellsville, Adjutant.
25
278
umphal car of Colonel Haight, were dragging that vic-
torious consul around the Pulteney Square of Bath.
News arrived that the invaders had retired into
Canada. The drafted battalions were discharged and
returned again to their homes. The Canisteo Alaric
covered the retreat in a masterly manner, and saw to
it that none of the Steuben County fire-eaters who had
been put hors du combat by the enemy were left to the
tender mercies of the Dansvillains. Certain young
men who were entirely captivated by the free and vo-
ciferous spirit of the Canisteo and followed the Goths
of Col. McBurney to their own valley, relate at the
present day with laughter the adventures of the re-
treat, and talk of the life and hospitalities of the val-
ley with great satisfaction.
The muster, the march, the carouse, and the retreat
were the prominent features of this campaign, of which
Timour the Tartar might be proud. It was known to
the soldiery afterwards as the '^ Battle of Dansville."
THE END.
APPENDIX.
ORGANIZATION OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
The County of Steuben was detached from the old County oi
Ontario and constituted a separate County in the year 1796.
At the time of its organization it was divided into six towns, viz :
Bath, Canisteo, Dansville, Frederieton, Middletown and Paint-
ed Post. Since the organization, one tier of towns has been ta-
ken from the western side of the County and attached to Alle-
gany County, the territory constituting the present town of Bar-
rington and Starkey with part of the town of Jerusalem has been
taken from the northern towns and annexed to Yates County,
and one quarter of a Township, including the village of Dans-
ville, has been given to Livingston.
COUNTY JUDGES.
William Kersey, appointed 1796
James Faulkner, " 1804
Samuel Baker, " 1814
Thomas McBurney, " 181G
James Norton, " 1823
Jacob Larrowe, elected 1851.
Geo. C. Edwards, appointed 1826
Ziba A. Leland, 1888
Jacob Larrowe, 1843
William M. Hawley, 1846
David McMaster, elected 1847
George D. Cooper,
Henry A. Townsend,
John Wilson,
Edward Howell,
John Metcalfe,
William Dunn, appointed
John WilsoH,
NTY
CLERKS.
1796
1799
1815
1818
1821
David Rumsey,
William H. BuU,
William Hamilton,
Paul C. Cook,
Philo P. Hubbell,
182&
1832
1838
1844
1850
SHER
IFFS.
1796
1800.
John Magee, elected
John Kennedy, '*
182^
1825
Dugald Cameron, " 1805
Alvah Ellas, "
1828
Jacob Teeple, " 1809
George Huntington, **
1831
Howell Bull, *' 1811
John T. Andrews, "
1834
Thomas McBurney, " 1812
Henry Brother, **
1837
Lazarus Hammond, " 1814
Hiram Potter, *•
1840
George McClure, " 1816
Hugh Magee, "
1843
Henry Shriver, '' 1819
Henry Brother, "
1846
John Magee, " 1821
Oliver Allen, »'
1849
Gabriel T. Harrower, elected 1852.
SURROGATES^.
Stephen Ross, appointed 1796
William Woods, appointed 182-7
Henry A. Townsend, " 1800
Robert Campbell, jr. "
1835
George McClure, " 1805
David Rumsey, jr. "
1840
John Metcalfe, " 1813
Ansel J. McCall,
1844
James Brundage, "
David McMaster, elected 184t
Jacob Larrowe, elected 1851.
POPULATION OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
Population in 1790 108
Population in 1820
21,989
" 1800 1,788
" " 1830
33,976
" 1810 7,246
" 1840
46,138
Population in 1850 62,969.
POPULATION ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1850.
•
FIRST ASSEMBLY DISTRICT.
Bath,
6185
Pulteney,
18J5
Reading,
1435
Wheeler,
1471
Tyrone,
1894
Urbana,
2079
Prattsburgh,
2786
Wayne,
1350
SECOND ASSEMBLY DITRICT.
Bradford,
2010
Lindley,
686
Caton,
1215
Orange,
1887
Campbell,
1175
Painted Post,
4411
Cameron,
1663
Addison,
3723
Erwin,
1477
Woodhull,
1769
Hornb-jf
1314
Thurston^
726
281
THIRD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT.
Avoca,
1574
Troupsburgh, 1656
Conhocton,
2006
Greenwood, 1186
DansYiUe,
2545
West Union, 950
Howard,
3144
Jasper, 1749
HornellsvillOj
2637
Canisteo, 2030
Hartsville,
854
Way land, 2067
VOTES POLLED AT THE GENERAL ELECTION IN 1852.
For
For
Franklin Pierce,
68S0
Win FIELD Scott, 5236
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS, &c.
Acres of Land improved 336,981
" " unimproved 338,415
Cash value of farms $13,581,268
Value of farming implements and machinery $ 676,792
LIVE STOCK.
Horses 12,744
Asses and mules 4
Milch cows 21,584
Working oxen 6,744
Other cattle 27,162
Sheep 156,776
Swine 23,939
Value of live stock , . $ 2,155,090
PRODUCE DURING YEAR ENDING JUNE 1, 1850.
Wheat, bushels of 653,484
Rye, " " 16,033
Indian corn, " 297,717
Oats " " 913,948
Wool, pounds of 399,543
Peas and beans, bushels of 45,202
Irish potatoes, bushels of. 360,725
Sweet potatoes, " " 245
Barley " " 153,056
Buckwheat, " ♦♦........ , 115.390
282
Value of orchard products $ 30,5^
Wine, gallons of. 285
Value of produce- of market garden* $ 3,740
Butter, pounds of 1,918,465
Cheese, pounds of 210,889
Hay, tons of 111,869
Clover seed, bushels of 1,386
Other grass seeds 4.479
Hops, lbs. of 424
Flax, lbs. of 16,241
Flax seed, bushels of 1 ,276
Silk cocoons, lbs. of 2
Maple sugar, lbs. of 294,897
Molasses, gallons of. 3,547
Beeswax and honey, lbs. of 94,991
Value of home-made manufactures $ 76,287
Value of animals slaughtered $296,798
SKETCH OF THE GENERAL HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT^
IN WESTERN NEW-YORK.
The first European visitants of Wesfern New York were the
French. During the first thirty years of the seventeenth cen-
tury the English made their earliest settlements in New Eng-
land and Virginia, the Dutch on the Hudson river, and tho
French on the St. Lawrence. One hundred and fifty years
afterwards the English were lords of the Continent. At the
beginning of the race, however, the French di.-phiyed a more
daring genius for adventure and conquest than^their competitors.
While the English Colonists were yet doubtfully struggling for
existence on the Atlantic shores, and the Hollanders, with
beaver-like prudence strengthened their habitations at Fort
Orange and New Amsterdam, French adventurers had ascended
the Great Lakes, and before the end of the seventeenth century,
crossed thence to the Mississippi, deccended that river to its
mouth, and established trading posts and missions half way
across the continent."^
*Date of Cartiers Voyage to tiochalaga (Montreal,) 1534
" " Settlement at Quebec, 1608
'• " '• " Plymouth, 1620
" " " " New York, 1613
" '• " " Jamestown, 1607
" «• Marquette's Voyage down the Mississippi, 1673
'■'■ " La Salle's Western Explorations. 1682
283
During the first century of French dominion in Canada, their
relations with the fierce proprietors of Western New York were
not peaceful. Champlain, the founder of Quebec, soon after
his advent to Canada, gave mortal offence to the Five Nations,
by assisting their enemies, the Hurons and Algonquins in a
battle near Ticonderoga, where the fire-arms of the Europeans
gained for their confederates victory over the Iroquois. From
that time down to the beginning of the eighteenth century, the
implacable enmity of the red leaguers harrassed the colonists of
Canada. The expeditions of the French Governors into the
territory of their foes gained for them little beside disgrace.
From about the year 1700, however, the influence of the Jesuit
missionaries, and the prudence of the Governors preserved peace
between the former beligerents, and neutrality on the part of
the savages in the contests of France and Great Britain. When
the great rivals joined in the final struggle of 1754, the four
Western tribes of the Six Nations* even took up the hatchet for
the French. Ten years later the English were supreme in
North America.
In 1771 the county of Albany embraced all the northern and
western part of the province of New York, and extended from
the Hudson river to the Niagara. In 1772 the county of Tryon
was formed. It embraced all that part of the state lying west
of a North and South line running nearly through the centre
of the present county of Schoharie. It was named in honor of
Sir William Tryon, the provincial governor. The boundary
between the British and Indian territory as agreed upon in the
treaty of 1768, ran from Fort Stanwix, near Oneida Creek,
Southward to the Susquehanna and Delaware.
The settlement of this district was commenced early in the
18th century, when nearly three thousand German Palatinates
emigrated to this country under the pationage of Queen Anne.
Most of them settled in Pennsylvania ; a few made their way
in 1773 from Albany over the Helderberg to the bottom lands
of Schoharie creek and there eff'ected a settlement. Small
colonies from here and from Albany established themselves in
various places along the Mohawk, and in 1772 had extended
as far up as the German Flats, near where stands the village of
Herkimer.
In 1739, Mr. John Lindsay, a Scotch gentleman, founded tho
settlement at Cherry Valley, which in a few years became the
*The Tuscaroras joined the Five Nations in 1712.
284
home of a most worthy and intelligent community, mostly of
Scotch and -'Scotch-Irish" origin.
The gaUant family of Harpers settled at Harpersfield in 1768,
and about the same time settlements were planted near Una-
dilla, and scattered families took up their residence in other
districts. The population of Cherry Valley was short of three
hundred, and that of all Tryon county not far from ten thou-
sand inhabitants when the Revolution opened.
For twenty years previous to the Revolutionary war, Sir
William Johnson lived at Johnstown, the capital of Tryon
county, by far the most notable man bearing a British commis-
sion in the American provinces. Emigrating from Ireland in
the year 1737, as agent for the Mohawk estate of his uncle,
Sir Peter Warren, he early obtained distinguished reputation
and influence — rose to high military command, and in the last
French war, by his victory over Baron Dieskau, at Lake George,
and his succes.^ful seige of Fort Niagara, gained fame, fortune,
and a Baronetcy. From that time till near the rupture between
the Crown and the Colonies, he lived at Johnson Hall, near
Johnstown, Superintendent of Indian aflfairs for the Northern
provinces, with princely wealth and power, displaying an
administrative genius superior to any which had before been at
the service of the British government in America. In the
year 1774. an Indian Council was held at Johnstown, at which
■were present a large number of the warriors o( the Six Nations,
besides many high civil dignitaries of the provinces of New
York and New Jersey. In the midst of the council Sir William
suddenly died. On the l3th of July he was borne from the
Hall to his grave, followed by a great concourse of citizens and
Indians, and lamented by all.
At the time of his decease, his department included 130,000
Indians, of whom 25,420 were fighting men. The Six Nations
numbered about 10,000, and had two thousand bold and skillful
warriors. Colonel Guy Johnson, son-in-law of the late Superin-
tendent, succeeded Sir William in this important post.
In a few months the long gathering political agitations of the
Eastern provinces broke out into open and determined rebellion.
The patriots of Tryon county hailed with enthusiasm the tidings
from Boston, and met to express sympathy with their friends in
New England, and to organize for similar measures. Guy
Johnson became the leader of the loyalists. Sharp discussions
and correspondence between him and the revolutionary com-
mittee followed, and in a few months Colonel Johnson abandoned
his residence at Guy Park, and attended by a formidable body
285
of Indian and Tory adherents, among whom were Col. Claus,
the Butlers and Brant, made his head quarters at Fort iStanwix,
afterwards at Oswego, and finally at Montreal. To the latter
place ^iv Join Johnson, the son and heir of Sir William, followed
him with a body of three hundred loyalists, chiefly Scotch.
Then followed the bloody border wars of New York and
Pennsylvania. The British Government having determined to
commit the dastardly and disgusting wickedness of setting ten
thousand savages upon the scattered frontier settlements of the
United Colonies, found in the Johnsons and Butlers fit dispensers
of massacre to the Northern borders. A brief notice of the in-
cursions into Western New York, must suffice in this place.
It was not till the campaign of 1777 that the citizens of Try-
on county felt the power which had been enlisted against them.
Rumors of savage invasion it is true had alarmed them, and a re-
ported concentration of Indians at Oquago (now Windsor) on
the Susquehanna, excited at one time much apprehension. In
July of that year Gen. Herkimer, of the Tryon county militia,
marched to Unadilla with 300 men, and there held an interview
ivith Brant, the celebrated war-chief, who also appeared with a
force of warriors. The Indians manifested a decided leaning
toward the English, and the conference, after nearly becoming
a deadly afiray, terminated.
In a few days afterwards it became necessary for the General
to issue a proclamation, announcing impenling invasion. Bur-
goyne with his well appointed army of 7,500 regular troops be-
side Canadian and Indian auxilaries, had reached Ticonderoga
on his march from JMontreal toward N. York, and Gen. St. Leger
with about 2000 soldiers and savag-es began his march from
Oswego, with orders to take Fort Schuyler, and pass down the
Mohawk to Johnstown, and to fortify himself there. On the 3d
of August he arrived before Fort Schuyler, and found the garri-
son under Col. Gansevoort, prepared for a determined resistance.
Gen, Herkimer with SOO militia marched to reinforce the garri-
son. Apprised of this, St. Leger detached a body of soldiers and
Tories under Brant, and Col. Butler to watch his approach, and
if possible to intercept his march. A desperate hand-to-hand
battle was fought on the 6th of August in the woods at Oriska-
ny. a few miles from the Fort. The militia were surprised, and
suffered severely for their negligence. The rear division of tho
column gave way at the first attack, and fled. The forward di-
vision had no alternative but to fight. "Facing out in every di-
rection they sought shelter under tho trees, and returned the
fire of the enemy with spirit. In the beginning of the battle,
286
the Indians, whenever they saw that a gun was fired from be-
hind a tree, rushed up and tomahawked the person thus firing
before he had time to reload his gun. To counteract this, two
men were ordered to station themselves behind one tree, the one
reserving his fire till the Indian ran up. In this way the In-
dians were made to sufi'er severely in return. The fighting had
continued for some time, and the Indians had begun to give
way, when Major Watts, a brother-in-law of Sir John Johnton,
brought up a reinforcement consisting of a detachment of John-
son's Greens. The blood of the Germans boiled with indigna-
tion at the sight of these men. Many of the Greens were per-
sonally known to them. They had fled their country and were
now returned in arms to subdue it. Their presence under any
circumstances would have kindled up the resentment of these
militia, but coming up as they now did in aid of a retreating
foe, called into exercise the most bitter feelings of hostility. —
They fired on them as they advanced, and then rushing from
behind their covers attacked them with their bayonets, and
those who had none, with the butt end of their »auskets. This
contest was maintained hand to hand for nearly half an hour. —
The Greens made a manful resistance, but were finally obliged
to give way before the dreadful fury of their assailants, with the
loss of thirty killed upon the spot where they firtst entered. "-(^n-
7ials of Tryon Countij.^
The Americans lost in killed nearly 200, and about as many
wounded and prisoners. The Indians according to their own
statement lost 100 warriors killed ; and the tories and regulars
about the same number. Gen. Herkimer was wounded, and a
few days after the battle died. During the battle an efficient
sally was made from the Fort by Col. Willet. On the 22d of
August, St. Leger, alarmed at the rumored approach of Arnold,
abandoned the soige, and retired in great confusion, leaving be-
hind a great part of his baggage.
In the summer of 1778, Brant made his head-quarters at
Oquago and Unadilla, and there mustered a band of Indians and
Tories, ready for any barbarity which might offer. The inhabi-
tants of Cherry Valley threw up rude fortifications, of the need
of which the hovering parties of enemies gave warning. Sev-
eral attacks and skirmishes occurred along the frontiers. In
July of this year. Col. John Butler made the celebrated incur-
sion into Wyoming. After ravaging that ill-fated valley, Col.
Butler returned to Niagara, but the Indians again took their
station at Oquago. In the month of November, Capt. Walter
Butler, a son of the devastator of Wyoming, to gratify a person-
al resentment, obtained from his father a detachment of 200
287
" Butler Rangers," and permission to employ the 500 Indians
which Brant commanded at Oquago. Under circumstances which
proved the Tory commander to be the most pitiless barbarian of
the troop, their united forces assailed the little settlement of
Cherry Valley, on the morning of the llth November. Through
the inexcusable neglect of the officpr in command of the Fort,
the farmers were surprised m their houses, with several officers
from the Fort, who were their lodgers. The commander of the
post, refusing to yield himself a prisoner, fell by the tomakawk.
A piteous scene of massacre and devastation followed. The
Senecas, the most untameable of the savages, with some tovies,
were first in the Fray, and slew without mercy or discrimina-
tion. Brant and his Mohawks, less inhuman here than their
barbarous or renegade allies, plied their hatchets with less fury.
The buildings and stacks of hay and grain were Sred. The
troops in the Fort repelled the attack ol the enemy, but were
not strong enough to sally from their intrenchments. At night
the Indians had begun their march homeward, with about forty
prisoners. On the following day a detachment of militia arriv-
ed from the Mohawk, and the last prowling parties of Indians
disappeared. The Annalist of Tryon County says, " The most
wanton acts of cruelty had been committed, but the detail is too
horrible and 1 will not pursue it further. The whole settlement
exhibited an aspect of entire and complete desolation. The
cocks creiv from the tops of the foiest trees, and the dogs howled
through the fields and woods. The inhabitants who escaped
with the prisoners who were set at liberty, abandoned the set-
tlement."*
*In the summer of 1781,, Col. Willett met and defeated Major
Ross and Walter Cutler, at Johnson Hall. In the rapid retreat
Tfhich followed, Capt. I5utler was pursued by a small party of
Oneida Indians who adhered, alone of the Six Nations, to the
American side. Swiming his liorse across the West Canada Creek,
he turned and defied his pursuers. " An. Oneida immediately dis-
charged his rifle and wounded him and he fell. Tliowing down
his rifle and his blanket, the Indian plunged into the creek and
swam across. As soon as he had gained the opposite bank, he
raised his tomahawk, and with a yell, sprang like a tiger upon his
fallen foe. Butler supplicated, though in vain for mercy. The
Oneida with his uplifted axe, shouted in broken English, " Sherry
Valley ! remember Sherry Valley !" and then buried it in his
brains. He tore the scalp from the head of his victim, still quiv-
ering in the agonies of death, and ere the remainder of the Onei-
das had joined him, the spirit of Walter Butler had gone to give
up its account. The place where he crossed is called Butlers
ford to tliis day." — {Annals of Tryon County,)
288
During the same year McDonald, a tory, with 300 Indians
and tories was ravaging the Dutch settlements of Schoharie. —
" What shall be done V said Col. Harper, the bold partisan, to
Col. Vroeman, the commander of the Fort, while the enemy
were scouring the country around. " O, nothing at all," the
officer replied, '* we be so weak we cannot do anything." Col.
Harper ordered his horse and laid his course for Albany— rode
right down through the enemy who were scattered over all the
country. At Foxs Creek he put up at a tory tavern for the night.
He retired to bed after having locked the door. Soon there
was a loud rapping at the door ? '■ What is wanted ]" " We
want to see Col. Harper."' The Col. arose and unlocked the
door, seated himself on the bed, and laid his sword and pistols
before him. In stepped four men. " Step one inch over that
mark," said the Colonel, '^ and you are dead men." After talk-
ing a little time with him they left the room. He again secur-
ed the dour, and sat on his bed till daylight appeared. He then
ordered his horse, mounted and rode for Albany, and the enemy
were round the house. An Indian followed him almost into Al-
bany, taking to his heels when the Colonel wheeled and pre-
sented his pistol. Next morning the Schoharie people heard a
tremendous shrieking and yelling, and looking out, saw the en-
terprising partisan amongst the enemy with a troop of horse. —
The men in the Fort rushed out, and the country was soon
cleared of the whole crew of marauders.
The narrow limits allowed to tiiis portion of the volume, warn
that no iurther space can be occupied with a detail of the inci-
dents of the Border Wars of New York. In 1779, Gen. Sulli-
van made his well known expedition into the territory of the
Indians. During the remaining years of the war the frontiers
were sorely harrassed. Bands of savages and loyalists incessan-
tly emerged from the forests to ravage, burn and kill. And if
they tucceeded in bringing dreadful misery upon the homes of
the borderers, it was not without resolute resistance on the part
of the latter. Under the lead of Willett, the Harpers and other
partisans not less sagacious than determined, the marauders of-
ten felt to their discomfiture the rifles of the frontiers ; and the
well authenticated traditions of individual daring and adven-
ture, rival in interest the annals of knight-errantry.
Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, emigration be*
gan to penetrate Western New York from three quarters. Penn-
sylvanians, particularly inhabitants of the region of Wyom-^
ing, pushed up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, where, diverg-
ing, some made settlements along the Chemung and Canistco,
289
while others established themselves oq the East branch of tiTe
Susquehanna and its tributaries. Adventurers from the. East,
crossing trom New England or the Hudson river counties to
Unadilla, dropped down the river in canoes and settled along
the Susquehanna or Chemung, or travelled into the upper Ge-
nesee country. Yet another band took the ancient road through
the Mohavrk valley to Oneida Lake, then on to Canadesaga.
^ In May, 1784, Hugh White passing the boundary of civiliza-
tion settled at Whitestown, near Utica. In the same year James
Dean settled at Rome. In 17813, a JMr. Webster, became the
first white settler of the territory now comprised in the county
of Onondaga. In 1788, Asa Danforth and Comfort Tyler, loca-
ted at Onondaga Hollow. In 1793, John L. Hardenburgh set-
tled on the site of the city of Auburn. In 1789, James Bennett
and John Harris established a ferry at Cayuga Lake. In 1787,
Jemima Wilkinson's disciples made their first settlement on the
outlet ot Crooked Lake, one mile South of the present village of
Dresden. On their arrival at Geneva from the East they found,
says a local historian, but a solitary log house, and that not fin-
ished, inhabited by one Jennings.
After the purchase of Phelps and Gorham, of their Western
estate, JMr. Phelps selected the site at the foot of Canandaigua
Lake as the central locality in his purchase, and the village of
Canandaigna received its first settler in the spring of 1789. Ma-
ny others followed during the same season, and in the August
ensuing the new village was described as being " full of people
residents, surveyors, explorers, adventurers. Houses were going
up — it was a busy, thriving place."
In the fall of 1788, Kanadesaga (now Geneva,) is described
as having become " a pretty brisk place, the focus of specula-
tors, explorers, the Lessee Company and their agents, and the
principal seat of the Indian trade for a wide region. Horatio
Jones, {the Interpreter,) was livng 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 Kansom, (the afterwards Pioneer of
Buffalo,) occupied a hut and was manufacturing Indian trink-
ets. Lark Jennings had a log tavern and trading establishment
covered with bark on the Lake shore, which was occupied by
Dr. Benton. There was a cluster of log houses all along on the
low ground near the Lake." In 1794, Col. Williamson having
assumed the agency of the Pulteney Estate, began improvements
at Geneva by the erection of the Geneva Hotel. " It was com-
pleted in December and opened with a grand ball, which furn-
ished & memorable epoch in the early history of the Genesee
2yO
country. The hotel was talked of far and wide as a wonderful
enterprise, and such it really Wiis."' In the same year Col. W.
began liis improvements at iSodus. By this time or in a few
years later, nearly all the principal towns between Seneca Lake
and the Genesee river in the nurthern district of the purchase,
had received their first few settlers.
In the meantime the valleys of the Susquehanna and its
tributaries, had been penetrated by adventurers from the South
and East. In the year 1787, Capt. Joseph Leonard moving up
the Susquehanna in a canoe with his family from Wyoming,
made the first permanent settlement at Binghamton. In the
same year Col. Uose, Joshua Whitney, and a few others, settled
in the same vicinity. The settlement at Wattles' Ferry, (now
Unadilla village,) a well known locality in the early days, had
been made sometime previous.
The Indian settlement at Oquago, (now Windsor,) as has
been stated before, was of long standing. For a few years pre-
vious to the French War of 1756, an Indian mission had been
established there, at the instance of the elder President Ed-
wards. A small colony of emigrants made a settlement at this
place in 1785. In the same year James JNIcINlaster made the
first settlement at Owego. Tioga Point is said to have been set-
tled as early as 1780, but this seems incredible, unless the first
residents were Tories. The pioneers of the Chemung Valley
were principally Wyoming people, originally from Connecticut.
Col. John Handy was the pioneer at Elmira, settling there in
1788.
The Chemung Valley enjoyed some fame before the arrival of
the pioneers. John Miller, Enoch Warner, John Squires, Abi-
jah Patterson, Abner VVells, and others, are given as the names
of pioneers of the valley at Elmira and its vicinity; besides Leb-
beu3 Hammond, of Wyoming, renowned for personal prowess
above most of the men of the border. A notice of the settle-
ments of Chemung, Canisteo and Conhocton, has been given ia
the preceding portions of this volume.
The brief time allowed for the preparation of this sketch, and
the unparalleled confusion of the otherwise valuable works from
which our facts must be derived, will compel a random notice
of the time of commencing the principal settlements remaining
unnoticed. Rev. Andrew Gray and Major Moses Van Cam'pen,
with a small colony, settled at Almond, Allegany county, in
1796. Judge Church, of Angelica, not long afterward, began
the settlement of Genesee Valley in the same county. William
and James Wadsworth, emigrated to their fine estate at Big
Tree or Geneseo from Connecticut, in 1790.
mi
It was till about the year 1798, that the State Road from Uti-
Ca to the Genesee River at Avon, by way of Cayuga Ferry and
Canandaigua, was completed- in 1799, a stage passed over this
road in three days. In ISOO, a road was made from Avon to
Ganson's, now Le Roy. For many years this old Buffalo Road
was the centre of settlement. The wide belt of dark, wet
forest, which extended along the shore of Lake Ontario from
Sodus to Niagara, formed a strong-hold of pestilence, whi«h few
dared to venture into. Not even the unmatched hydraulic ad-
vantages of the Genesee Falls, could tempt the speculator to
encounter the fevers that there unnerved the arm of enterprise.
It is true that as early as 1790, "Indian Allen," a demi-savage
renegade from New Jersey, resuming a sort of civilization after
the Revolutionary war, erected mills at these falls on a certain
"one hundred acre tract" given him for that purpose by Mr.
Phelps, bub it seems that the enterprise was premature. —
Other mills along the line of settlement engrossed the custom,
and the solitary miller had hardly employment enough to keep
his mill in repair. Sometimes it was wholly abandoned, and
the chance customer put the mill in motion, ground his own grist,
and departed through the forest. In 18 10, however, settlements
having been made in the Lake district, abridge was built across
the Genesee at this point, and in the following year Col. Na-
thaniel Rochester, with two associates Cols. Fitzhugh and Carrol,
had become tlie proprietors of Allen's lot, laid out a village plot
and sold several lots. Thus was founded the city of Rochester.
In 1817, it was incorporated a village with the name of Roches-
terville. In 1834, it received its city charter.
The Holland Company purchased their great estate west of
the Genesee of Robert Morris, in 1792, and 1793. Mr. Joseph
Ellicott, of Maryland, the first agent of this Company, and for
many years a prominent citizen, arrived in Western New York,
in 1797. In 1801, Batavia was founded under his auspices. —
In 1798, there was an insignificant huddle of log houses, not a
dozen in all, on the site of the present city of BufiUlo. The
possession of the lands at the mouth of Buffalo creek, long a fa-
vorite place of rendezvous of the Indians, was deemed of impor-
tance by Mr. Ellicott, and on purchasing it, plotted there the
village of New Amsterdam, with its Schimmelpinninck, Stadtnit-
ski, and VoUenhoven Avenues.
settl£r-life;
The Editor has had in his possession a manuscript sketch of
Settler-life, of much value for its exactness and particularity of
detail, prepared several years since by a gentleman of accurate
observation and most just sympathies, himself in early life a
woodfman and a true lover of nature, and always a hearty friend
of the pioneer. It was expected that liberal extracts from this
manuscript might have been given, but being unexpectedly cur-
tailed in space, we can present but a passage or two-.
A settler's home.
"As I was travelling through the county on horseback on a
summer day in an early year of settlement, I fell in compa-
ny with two gentlemen, who were going in the same direction.
One of them was the land Agent from Bath, who was going to
the Genesee river, the other was a foreigner on his way from
Easton, in Pennsylvania, to Presque Isle, (now Erie) on Lake
Erie. We had followed in Indian file a mere path through
the woods for several miles, passing at long intervals a log house
where the occupants iiad just made a beginning ; when having
passed the outskirts of settlement and penetrated deep into the
woods, our attention was attracted by the tinkling of a cow
bell, and the sound of an axe in chopping. We soon saw a lit-
tle break in the forest, and a log house. As we approached we
heard the loud barking of a dog, and as we got near the clear-
ing were met by him with an angry growl as if he would have
said, " You can come no further without my masters permis-
sion." A shrill whistle from within called oS the dog. We pro-
ceeded to the house. A short distance from it, standing on the
fallen trunk of a large hemlock tree, which he had just chop-
ped once in two, was a fine looking young man four or five and
twenty years of age, with an axe in his hand. He was dress-
ed in a tow-frock and trowsers, with his head and feet bare.
The frock, open at the top, showed that he wore no shirt, and
exhibited the muscular shoulders and full chest of a very ath-
293
lefcic Jind powerFul man. When we stopped our ho^'ses he step-
ped off the log, shook hands with the agent, and saluting us
frankly, asked us to dismount and rest ourselves, urging that
the distance to the next house was six miles, with nothing but
marked trees to guide us a part of the way ; that it was nearly
noon, liud although h« could not promise us anything very good
to eat, yet he could give as something to prevent us from suffer-
ing with hunger. He had no grass growing yet, but he would
give the horses some green oats. VVe concluded to accept tho
invitation und dismounted and went into the house.
''Before describing the house I will notice the appearance of
things around it, premising that the settie-r had begun his im-
provements in the spring before our arriva.1. A little boy about
three years old was playing with the dog, which though so reso-
lute at our approach, now permitted the child to push him over
and sit down upon him. A pair of oxen and a cow with a bell
en, were lying in the shade of the woods; two or three hogs
were rooting in the leaves near the cattle, and a few fowls were
scratching the soil. There was a clearing, or rather chopping
around the house of about four acres, half of which had been
cleared off and sowed with oats, which had grown very rank
and good. The other half of the chopping had been merely
burnt over and then planted with corn and potatoes, a hill be-
ing planted wherever there was room between the logs. The
corn did not look very well. The chopping was enclosed with
a log fence. A short distance from the house a fine spring of
water gushed out of the gravel bank, from which a small brook
ran down across the clearing, along the borders of which a few
geese were feeding.
"When -we entered the house the young settler said, "Wife,
here is the land-agent and two other men,' and turning to us
said, " Thi« is my wife." She was a pretty looking young wo-
man dressed in a coarse loose dress, and bare footed. When
her husband introduced us, she was a good deal embarrassed,
and the flash of her dark eyes and the crimson glow that passed
over her countenance, showed that she was vexed at our intru-
sion. The young settler observed her vexation and said, " Nev-
er mind Sally, the Squire (so he called the agent) knows how
people have to live in the woods." She regained her composure
in a moment and greeted us hospitably, and without any apolo-
gies for her house or her costume. After a few minutes conver-
sation, on the settler's suggesting that he had promised •' these
men something to eat to prevent their getting hungry," she be-
gan to prepare the frugal meal. When we first entered the
^94
Iiouse she sat near the door, spinning flax on a little wheel, anci
a baby was lying near her in a cradle formed of the bark of a
birch tree, which restino; like a trough on rockers, made a very
amooth, neat little cradle. While the settler and his other
guests were engaged in conversation, 1 took notice of the house
and furniture. The house was about 20 by 26 feet, constructed
of round logs chinked with pieces of split logs, and plastered ort
the outside with clay. The floors were made of split logs with
the fiat side up ; the door, of thin pieces split oat of a large log,
and the roof of the same. The windows were holes unprotected
by glass or sash ; the fire place was made of stone, and the chim-
ney, of sticks and clay. On one side of the fire place was a lad-
der leading to the chamber. There was a bed in one corner of
the room, a table and five or six chairs, and on one side a few
shelves of split boards, on which were a few articles of crockery
and some t:H-ware, and on one of them a few books. Behind
the door was a large spinning wheel and a reel, and over head
on wooden hooks fastened to tlie beams were a number of things^
among wliich were a nice rifle, powder horn, bullet pouch, toma-
hawk and hunting knife — the complete equipment of the hun.-
ter and the frontier settler. Every thvng looked nice and tidy.,
even to the rough stones which had been laid down for a hearth.
" Ih a short time our dinner was^ ready. It consisted of corn?
bread and milk, eaten out of tin basins with iron spoons. The
settler ate with us, but his wife was employed while we were at
dinner in sewing on what appeared to be a child's dress. The
settler and the agent talked all the time, generally on the sub-
ject of the settlement of the country. After dinner the latter
and his companion took their departure, the one making the lit-
tle boy a present of a^ half dollar, and the other giving the same
sum to the baby.
" I have now introduced to the reader one of the best and
most intelligent among the first settlers of the county. He waa
a man of limited information, except as to what related to his
own particular business; but his judgment was good, and he
was frank, candid and fearless. He belonged to that class of
men who distinguished themselves as soldiers dnring our Revo-
lutionary War, and who were in many instances the descend-
ants of the celebrated '• bold yeomanry of oli England," whose
praises were commemorated by the English bard when he
wrote,
" Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them, as a breath has made ^
But a bold yeomanry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied^'*'
295
THE FRIENDLINESS OF THE PIONEERS.
"The social relations and neighborly intercourse of the setr
tiers were of the most kind and friendly character, and proved
the truth of the common saying that 'people were much more
friendly in new countries than they were in the old settlements.'
It was no uncommon thing among them to comply literally with
the injunction of scripture which requires us 'to give to him
that asketh and from him that would borrow to turn not away.'
Their kindness and sympathy to and for each other was indeed
most extraordinary, and showed a degree of sensibility which
we look for in vain in a more cultivated and enlightened state
of society. At the commencement of the sugar-making perhaps,
some one in the settlement would cut hisl^g badly with an axe,
making a deep and ghastl}^ wound, wiiich would render him a
cripple for weeks and perhaps for months. The neighbors
would assemble, that is, make a hee and do all his work as far
as it could be done at that time, and then, by arrangement
among themselves, one man w^ould go every afternoon and
gather the sap. carrying it to the house where it could be boiled
up b}^ the settler's wife. Again, one would be taken sick in
harvest time : his neighbors would make a hce, harvest and
secure his crops, when, at the same time, their own grain very
likely would be going to waste for want of gathering. In seed
time a man's ox would perhaps be killed by the falling of
a tree : the neio;hbors would come with their teams and drag in
h^s wheat when they had not yet sowed their own. A settlers
house would be accidentally buined down — his family would be
provided for at the nearest neighbors, and all would turn out
and build and finish a house in a day or two so that the man
could take his family into it. Instances like these, in which the
settlers exibited their kindness and sympathy for each other
might be extended indefinitely, but we have referred to a suffi-
cient number to show the kindness and good feeling that existe4
among them."
A REMINISCENCE.
"For the purpose of showing how much time and labor it
required in many cases for the first settlers to procure even the
most common articles of food, I will state what has been related
to me by one of the most respectable and intelligent of the first
settlers of Dansville.-^^ He stated that when he first settled in
•^The late Judge Hammond, of Hammondsport,
206
that town, it was very difficult to procure provisions of any
kind ; and there was no grain to be had any where but of the
Indians, at Squaky Hill, who had corn, which they would sell
for a silver dollar a bushel. In order to get some corn for
bread — his supply having become exhausted — he went several
miles to a place where a wealthy man was making large im-
provements and employed a good many hands. He chopped for
him four days, for which he received two dollars. He then
worked one day for another man to pay for the use of a horse,
and on the next day started for the Indian Village, a distance
of fifteen or twenty miles, where he got two bushels of corn for
his two dollars. 1 he corn had been kept by the Indians tied
up in bunches by the husks, and hung around the walls of their
cabin, and was very black and dirty, .covered with soot and
ashes. He took the corn home and his wife washed it clean
with a good deal of labor and dried it so that it could be ground.
He then got the horse another day, and carried the corn to mill,
twelve or fifteen miles, and was fortunate enough to get it
ground and reach home the same day. Here we see that it
took seven days work &f the settler to get the meal of two
bushels of corn. The old gentleman's ey3 kindled when he
related these circumstances, and he said -sat the satisfaction
and happiness he felt when sitting by the fire and looking at
the bag full of meal standing in the corner of his log house, far
surpassed what he experienced at any other time in the acquisi-
tion of property, although he became in time the owner of a
large farm, with a large stock of horses, cattle, and sheep, and
all the necessary implements of a substantial and wealthy
farmer."'
THE VILLAGE OF CORNING.^
Corning owes its existence and prosperity to no original supe-
riority of location over neighboring villages, but has sprung up
to a thriving and commanding position by having become the
centre of great public improvements. The history of these is
the history of the place.
By the construction of the Chemung Canal this point waa
made an inland termination of navigable communication with
the Hud.son river and the ocean. It was consequently the point
from which the products of the forest, the field, and the river, for
a vast extent of country were destined to seek a market. Tho
•Prepared for this volume by a correspondent.
297
Bagacious enterprise of a few capitalists pointed to it as the
future centre of an extensive commerce.
The extensive mines of bituminous coal, at Blossburgh, in
the state of Pennsylvania, had early attracted attention, and
shortly after the completion of the Chemung canal two corpo-
rations, one of vphich had been created by the state of Pennsyl-
vania^ to construct a slack water navigation from Blossburg to
the state line, and the other by the State of New York, to
continue the same to Elmira, were authorized by their respective
states to build railroads connecting at the state line, and in this
state, extending to a point at or near the termination of the
Chemung canal
The work of constructing these railroads was commenced in
183G. and at the same time an association of gentlemen nov(r
known as the Corning Company, having purchased a large tract
of land on both sides of the Chemung river, and laying out streets
and lots, made a beginning of the future village of Corning by
the erection of a large hotel called the '-Corning House."' The
Corning and Blossburg railroad was completed and put into
operation in 1840. About the same time the work of building
the New York and Erie railroad which passes through the village
was commenced in the vicinity and prosecuted vigorously till
the suspension of the work, in 1842. The Bank of Corning,
with a capital of §104.000, had been organized and put in
operation, in 1839. So rapid was the growth of the village,
that the population amounted in 1841 to 900.
Here its prosperity was for a time arrested. The commercial
revolutions which paralyzed enterprise and industry everywhere
•were felt with peculiar severity here. The work upon the New
Y'ork and Erie railroad which had drawn together a considerable
population, was suspended. The property of the Corning ancl
Blossburg railroad was seized by creditors. The price of lumber,
the great staple of the country, would hardly pay the cost of
manufacture. Large quantities of coal lay upon the bank of
the river and in eastern markets, wanting purchasers. Bank-
ruptcy was almost universal, and the resources of industry were
almost entirely cut off.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks to the prosperity of the
village, the advantages of its position and the hopeful energies
of its citizens did not suffer the relapse to continue long. —
After a while the demand for coal increased and the market
enlarged. Improved prices of lumber stimulated its manufac-
ture, and larger quantities were brought here for shipment.
The place became the centre of a heavy trade, and capitaj
298
sought investment in manufactures. In 1848 the village was
incorporated under the general law, containing at the time 1700
inhabitants.
In the mean time the work of building the Erie railroad was
resumed, and on the first day of January, 1850, was opened a
direct railway communication with the city of New York. The
elements of prosperity seemed complete.
But there were elements to contend with of an adverse and
direful character. On the eighteenth day of May, 1850, occur-
red a fire, more extended and disastrous in proportion to tho
size of the place, than has often, if ever happened elsewhere.
The entire business part of tlie village, comprising nearly one
hundred buildings, with large quantities of lumber, was in a
few hours laid in ashes. Yet the disaster was so common and
universal — misfortune had so many companions — there were so
many to share theloss that the burden seemed to be scarcely
felt. The embcTS had not cooled before shanties of rough boards
supplied the place of stores, and for months almost the entire
business was carried on in places, neither secure from summer
rains or thieves. In the mean time the work of rebuilding was
going on, and in no long time substantial and splendid buildings
again occupied the place of the ruins.
In the year 1852 was opened the first section of the Bufialo,
Corning and New York railroad, having its eastern terminus at
Corning. The remainder of the line to Bufi"alo, wilil be in
operation in the course of 1853. The Corning and Blossburg
railroad also was relaid with a new and heavy rail and newly
equipped throughout.
The annual exports of coal and lumber are forty thousand
tons of the former, and fifty million feet of the latter. In its
canal commerce, Corning is the fifth port in the state.
In new villages and settlements, schools and churches are apt
to receive but secondary attention. In Corning its Union School
of four or five hundred scholars has maintained a not inferior
rank, and its five Churches give evidence of some considerable
attention to morals and religion.
The population is now not far from thrse t]>ousand, and the
sanguine predict an increase vastly more rapid in future than it
has been in former years.
THE GREAT WINDFALL.
The first stable in the town of Bath was literally "put
pp by a whirlwind." In 1791, or about that time, a destructive
290
hurricane swept over the land. Judge Baker in after years
took pains to collect information of the movements of this great
"northern fanatic," and was of the opinion that its path from
Lake Erie to the Atlantic was about ninety miles in breadth,
and that the northern limit of its agitation in this county was
at the upper town line of Urbana. A more violent "agitator"
never passed through the land. Thousands of acres of forest
were prostrated, and the frightful windfalls, briar-grown and
tangled, which settlers afterwards found in this county were
the effects of this "inflammatory appeal' to the weak brethren
of the wilderness. We have met a veteran farmer who was a
child at the time when the tornado passed, and happened on
that day to be left by his parents to take care of still younger
children, and remembers hiding in a hole in the ground with
his little brothers while the forest was filled with the terrific
roar of falling pines.
Mr. Jonatlian Cook, an early settler at Painted Post, was
driving a pack horse laden with provisions to Pleasant Valley
W'here Phelps and Gorham's surveyors were at work, and was
near the mouth of Smith's creek, on the Conhocton, when the.
storm struc.k him. He took refuge ander an oak tree, while the
wind, sw^eeping furiously up the ravine, uprooted the maples,
twisted brariches from the trees and scattered them in the air
like wisps of hay. A whirling gust caught the cluster under
which he was standing. The oak beneath which he had taken
refuge was prostrated, but he himself fell with his face to the
ground and escaped unhurt. His horse however met with a
strange catastrophe. The whirlwind tore up several large trees
and imprisoned the unfortunate animal in a cage so impregnable
that the driver was unable to extricate him, but was obliged to
go over to the surveyors' camp and get men to return with axes
and make a breach in the walls of the stable. This was rather
a rough joke, even for a, whirlwind, but the horse was but little
hurt.
THE SETTLERS OF DANSVILLE.
(The notice of the settlement of the town of Dansville origi-
nally prepared for this work was accidentally lost. At this
time it is impossible to supply the names of the settlers in the
southern part of the town, turnished by VVm. C. Rogers, Esq.,
of Rogersville. The village of Dansville falling within the
province of the author of the History of Phelps and Gorhara's
200
Purchase^ a brief notice of the settlers. of that portion of the old
town, formerly a part of Steuben county is condensed from that
valuable and copious work.) The first settler upon the site of
the village of Dansville, vs^as Neil McCoy. He came from
Painted Post and located where his step-son, James McCurdy,
who came in with him. now resides. The family was four days
making the journey from Painted Post, camping out two nights
on the way. To raise their log-house, help came from Bath,
Geneseo and Mount Morris, with Indians from Squaky Hill
and Gardeau. During the first season, it is mentioned that
Mrs. McCoy, hearing of the arrival of Judge Hurlburfs family
at Arkport, eleven miles distant, resolved as an act of backwoods
courtesy to make the first call. Taking her son with her, she
made the journey through the woods by marked trees, dined
with her new neighbors, and returned in time to do her milking
after a walk of twenty-two miles.
Amariah Hammond Esq., a widely known pioneer of the town
who died at a venerable age in the winter of 1850. "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 Batli 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."'
Captain Daniel P. Faulkner was an early property holder
and spirited citizen of the town in the palmy days of Col.
Williamson, and from his familiar appellative, ''Captain Dan''''
the village took its name. In 1798 Jacob Welch, Jacob Martz,
Conrad Martz. George Shirey and Frederick Barnhart emi-
grated to Dansville with their families. They came up the
Conhocton valley, and were three days on the road from Bath,
camping out tw^o nights. At the arrival of this party the
names of the settlers already on the ground besides those before
named were jVIr. Phenix. Jam^-s Logan, David Scholl, John
Vanderwenter. Jared Erwin, William Ferine. Col. Nathaniel
Rochester became a resident of Dansville in 1810.
The settlement of the southern part of this town was not
commenced till about the year 1816. Of the settlers in that
district we can only recall the names of Messrs. Wm. C. Ro-
gers and Jonas Bridge. In the year 1816 (or about that time)
Mr. Rogers, on arriving in the vicinity of the present village of
Rogersville, found the merest handful of settlers in all that
quarter. At this day the wilderness has given place to a pleas-
ant village with an academy of substantial worth, surrounded
by a thriving farming country.
CONTENTS.
Notice of the Topography and Geology of Steuben County,.
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary History : Purchase : Title 13
CHAPTER II.
Steuben County immediately previous to its Settlement. A jour-
ney sixty-five years ago : the Forest : the Rivers. &c. : Benja-
min Patterson the Hunter : Skirmish at Freeland's Fort : Scuf-
fle with the Interpreter : the wild Ox of Genesee,. 29
CHAPTER III.
The settlements made under the purchase by Phelps and Gorham.
The old town of Painted Post : origin of the name : the first set-
tlers : the settlement of the upper valley of the Canisteo : the
Canisteo Flats : life in the Canisteo Valley : a wrestling match :
Captain John : old Enemies : Van Campen and Mohawk : a dis-
comfited savage : capture of a saw-mill : the lower Canisteo val-
ley : the Tioga valley : Col. Lindley : a Deerslayer immortal-
ized, 50
CHAPTER IV.
The great Air-Castle : the London Association : Captain William-
son : Northumberland : the German Colony : the passage of the
Germans through the Wilderness : terrors and tribulations : a
" Parisian scene." 82
CHAPTER V.
The settlement of Bath : consolatory reflections : Serpents : JVar-
r alive of General McClure: character of the Settlers: early
citizens, the Camerons, Andrew Smith, &c. : an auto-biography :
Emigration : the wilderness : settlers at Mud Creek : Bath :
Captain Williamson : a canoe-voyage : Building : Speculation :
navigation of the Rivers : business fortunes and misfortunes :
Crooked Lake navy : a portly and able bodied gentleman extin-
guished : Indian traffic i River navigation : conclusion of the
Narrative, » 104
CHAPTER VI.
Captain Williamson's administration : life at Bath : grand Simcoe
War: Races: Theatre: vindication of the ancients: Bath Ga-
aette : County Newspapers : the Bar : Physicians.. ....... .147
302
CHAPTER VII.
Settlement of Pleasant Valley : Frederickton, including "Wayne-,
Tyrone and Reading : Prattsburgli : Wheeler : Pulteney : How=
ard : Hornby : Conhocton : the towns south of the Canisteo : Orf
«nge : Campbell : Avoea : Wayland, 217
CHAPTER VIII.
The Air-Castle vanishing : close of Col. Williamson's career : his
character, 205
CHAPTER IX.
Steuben County since the period of settlement : disasters : pro-
gress : prospects : the citizens and the land proprietors,. . . .21*
CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES.
The Indians : incidents : Indian names, &c. : G»me, &c. : deer :
wolves: panthers: bears: beaver: " snake stt)ries :" anecdotes
of the chase : the " Plumping Mill :" Incidents of the War of
1812 : the Militia : the Steuben Company at the battle of Queens-
ton Heights : the fighting Chief Justice : an incident: the "Bat-
tle of Dansville." 241
APPENDIX.
Organization of Steuben County, and statistical tables, 279
Sketch of General History of settlement in Western New York,282
Settler-Life, 292
The village of Corning, 296
The " Great Windfall" of 1791, 298
The Settlers of Dansville, 299
ERRATA.
On page 10, for Canistes read Canisteo,
On page 14, for Scandinarian read Scandinavian.
On page 21, for weary Woodsmen read wary woodsmen.
On page 89, for Tarathmel read Jarathmel.
On page 84, for beating read boating.
On page 89, for town in 3d line read towns.
On page 90, for Shemokinn read Shemokam.
On page 94, for congars read cougars.
On page 199, for Ketchers read Ketches.
On page 218, for frugal read feudal.
HISTOBY OF STEOiEN COUNTY.
•^•^•-^
This book, (now in course of publication,) is one of deep
interest to the general reader, and more particularly valua-
ble to the descendants and family connections of the
FIRST SETTLERS.
The story of their ADVENTUKES, PEIVATIONS,
DARING, and HARDIHOOD, should be perpetuated, and
this book will present a suitable memorial of their lives,
worthy of being treasured up in every family.
The general History of the County, Notices of the First
Settlements, and subsequent Improvement, Biographical
Sketches, Anecdotes, ^c, will combine to make it a book of
the highest interest. (C/^ The book will contain notices of
more than One Hundred of the Pioneers who made the first
clearing in this county.
N. B.— It is intended to enlarge this book by adding new
biographical notices of families, when such can be obtained,
the difficulty of obtaining full information has been much
greater than could reasonably be supposed.
"^^r^TTlVI^ IVrT^lV ^^'^ secure a c^ood compensa-
IV^UI^IVJ lV±ijlN tion by taking Towns or larger
sections, and procuring subscribers for the History of Steu-
ben County. Ten or fifteen dollars ready cash is all that
will be required to start with. Call soon; first come, first
served. R. L. UNDERHILL & CO
306
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307
A new edition of Walter Scott's celebrated Novels, is
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The following are now ready.
Waverly, Guy Mannering, Antiq'.iary, Eob Roy, Black
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308
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THE AMERICAN SHEPHERD, being a History of
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YouATT ON THE HoRSE — A large work including every-
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Cole's Veterinarian. — The diseases of Domestic Ani-
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tees — available always to the assured in case of disputed
claims (should any such arise) or otherwise.
The payment of premiums, half-yearly or quarterly, at a
trifling advance opon the annual rate.
Thirty days allowed after each payment of premium be-
eomes due, without forfeiture of policy.
An act in respect lo insurance of lives, for the benefit of
married women, passed by the Legislature of New York,
1st April, 1840.
Pamphlets, blank forms, table of rates, lists of agrents, etc.,
obtained from the agents throughout the United States, and
British North American Colohies.
R. L. UNDERHILL, Agent.
Baptist, Methodist, Pre-byterian, Episcopal, and
other doctrinal books for sale at the usual rates.
American Authors. — Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Willis,
Sigourney, Prescott, Hawthorn, Stephens, and all other
writers of celebrity, whose works should be in every man's
Library, are furnished very low.
Or Life on a Farm — A most graphic picture of country
life. The author aims to convince men of the wisdom of
being contented with an honorable, useful, and productive
occupation. It is well written and highly interesting.
THE MASTER BUILDER,
Ot Life at a Trade. Another work of tne same chaiac-
tef, and of equal usefulness and interest. These books
should have a large circulation.
IIydropalliy,"New publ o'ations furnished as soon
as published.
312
FOR CARPENTERS.
Hill's Guide — The largest and most complete work of
the kind.
Benjamin's Architect — The old approved book best
adapted to ordinary practice.
American Architect — Containing numerous plans and
full details of the new styles of building.
American House Carpenter. — Plans and designs, for
country houses, useful for Mechanics, or those who are
forming plans for themselves.
Kural Architecture. — Being a complete description of
Farm Houses, Cottages, Out-Buildings, Gardens, Barns,
Sheds, &c., «5cc.
Arnot's Gothic Architecture — Containing all the rules,
and full details applicable to Dwellings.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
Violins, from SI, to SIO. Flutes, with 1 key up to 6. —
Guitars, from $2, to $30. Accordeons, fine and cheap. —
Flutinas, much superior to Accordeons.
MELODEONS — The most desirable instrument for
social music, and well suited for a Church Choir.
Flageolets, Fifes, Violin Strings, Bridges, Screws, Bows,
Bow Hair, Refineed JRosin, Clarionet Keeds, Accordeon
Reeds, Tuning Forks, and Instruction Books for all Instru-
ments.
PIANOS, from S200 up.
FOR THE LIBRARY.
Ship and Shore. Three Years in California, Deck and
Port, Sea and Sailor, Land Lee.
These books, by Rev. Tho's Colton are very interesting,,
and are a very suitable addition to any Library.
-«^
HOMEOPATHIC BOOKS.
Hempel's Domestic Physician, Jahr's Manual, Hull's
Laurie, March's Practice, Boeainghausen's TherapeuticSv
313
Hahneman's Organon, and all other books of this class fur-
nished at the advertised prices of the publisher.
i^ »'42»» •
(N.^.^:^S^<^^^^^^ ^^^\(^.
A variety of articles of entirely new style,— useful, con-
venient, and ornamental. We are making large additions
to this branch of our business, and all house-keepers, new,
or old, will find something to suit them in our stock.
Gilt Cornices for Window Drapery.
Silk Loops, Gimp Bands, Gilt Pins, &:c., for Drapery,
Gilt Frames for Portraits or other Pictures, also.
Kosewood Frames — Looking Glasses, &c., &c.,
WINDOW CURTAINS,
AND
►♦-«fc-
Have, in connection with their other business, the largest
assortment of Wall Paper, that can be found in this part ot
the State, consisting of
iMANY THOUSAND ROLLS,
Of the latest and m^st desirable patterns of French and
American Manufacture, and almost every variety of Strip-
ed, Gothic, Arched, Landscape, Block Marble^ Fresco and
314
Gold Styles — Satin and Common Finish; together with
over
200 Different Kinds of Cheap Paper,
From 6 cts. to $2 per roll, with a good assortment of wide
and narrow
GOLD, VELVET cf- SATIN BORDERS TO MATCH
FROM 4s. TO 58SG PER. ROLL.
OC^ These papers have all been selected with great care,
and are of the latest styles of superior finish, and the best
asssortm^nt in the market. Also,
WIDE GREEN PAPER FOR WINDOW SHA.DES
We have upwards of forty different kinds, and every va-
riety of style tbat is new or desirable, viz : Pea Green, Dark
Green, and Blue, fine striped, Varieirated and Blended, and
the best striped. Variegated and Blended, and the best
quality of paper that can be found.
PAINTED WINDOW SHADES,
Gothic, Landscape, Flower, &c., with centres or full, the
most beautiful article of House Furniture in use. Only 50
cents each,
Our arrangements with the LARGEST EASTERN
MANUFACTURERS are such, as will give to purchasers
great advantage in prices, while we are determined to keep
the best selected assortment, and at as low prices as any in
town. Those who have been in the habit of buying of us,
at wholesale or retail, and all others will find it to their ad-
vantage to examine our stock before purchasing— and we
trust we shall be able to give satisfaction to those who may
(avor us with their orders.
315
EXPERIENCED HANDS farni&lied to bang paper,
when desired, and samples sent out to select from if wan-
ted.
!II7" Goods freely shown, and sold at very low prices,
MATERIALS FOR DRAWING, PAINTING, &c.-.
Bristol Board, Drawing Paper, Pencils, Paint, Brushes kc.^.
For sale by R. L. UNDERHILL & CO.
-••<
In a greater or less degree the principle which leads us^
to investigate, to examine, and to inquire, is present in the
breast of each of the human species. We dignify with the
epithet of "Pursuit of Knowledge" the investigations of the
student of Philosophy, and degrade the habit of observa-
tion, of comparison, arid research, which is a daily and con-
stant exercise of our faculties, by the application of the epi-
thet " Curiosity."
Is this just? — What constitutes the distinction? that
there is such a thing as idie curiosity is admitted, but that
curiosity which leads the members of the first sin sex to speed-
their time "shopping" is not idle, if the knowledge thus
gained is made available in the judicious selection of sub-
sequent purchases.
The most prolific source for the gratification of the prin-
ciple of curiosity is without doubt the Bath Bookstore, for
not only are the Books an endless fund of information, but
at the same place is also found an infinite variety of arti-
cles to gratify the eye, improve the taste, expand the mind,
strengthen the judgment, stimulate the intellect, allay un-
due excitement, arouse the sluggish temperament, incite
the desires, and also to gratify those who already possess
these desirable powers by affording abundant scope for their
exercise.
316
It is unnecessary after this concatenation of expletives, to
tidd that the Bath Bookstore is emphatically a "Curiosity
Shop," where everything imaginable, rare, curious, indigen-
ous and exotic is more likely to be fonnd than in any place
that can be designated within the extent of the domain of
that ancient brother of our "paternal — Uncle Sam."
Now unto all, tottering youth, decrepit age, the glowing
belle or the stately guardian of the fair, to those who court
the syren, pleasure; or pursue the not less fleeting phantom
wealth, we send greeting, the invitation devoid of all for-
jx^ality — '• At Home" — the doors are cordially opened to all ;
drop in and spend an hour even if you do not buy — examine,
read, in short — gratify your curiosity.
Then if you should wish to buy, you will find in one cor-
ner a choice collection of Toys; and Masters Edward and
Robert; the proprietors thereof can supply you with a penny
Trumpet or Rmg— up to a Wax Doll or Crying baby; a
China Tea Set, or a Coral necklace; in fine, a large stock
with small owners. Then should you desire to gratify a
friend with a present, or propitiate v.ith a significant token
of. , you will be furnished with a book that will plain-
ly speak that v/hich the trembling lips refuse the utterance.
Then what worthier gift for those whom we venerate in
the dignity of age or esteem in the plenitude of all that is
noble, that the expressions of those high in the honor of the
world for their lofty powers of intellect and reason — for the
aged, the time honored writings of Baxter, Bunyan and a
long list of kindred spirits, and for the mature mind what
more appropriate gift than a book emanating from the brain
of some masterspirit, from him, the immortal Bard, whose
name shall " endure to the last sylable of recorded time,"
down to the iiedgling aspirant for fame, or instead of these,
the truth portraying page of the Historian, teaching philo-
sophy by example, or the soaring flights of a Headley, or
abstrusities of a Carlyle — tempting the Icarians to melt their
waxed wings in the sun of sharp criticism. For the gentler
mind what more pleasing gift than the writings of Tupper,
Willis, Sigourney, Hemans, or Lowell, Hawthorne, Mcln-
317
tosli, &c., Grace Greenwood, Fanny Fern or any other al-
literative nom deplume. For Youth what mere useful gift
than Abbotts Histories, the biographical examples of Mrs.
Tuthiil or her pleasing Tales bearing a salutary moral influ-
ence fertilizing like the dew. In vain would be the endeav-
or to describe the character of the vast variety of books that
fill our shelves; when you wish a book it is only necessary
to name the purpose for which it is intended' or the subject
to be studied and your desire will be supplied.
But Books may not meet your fancy — perhaps your cu-
riosity does not run that way, as a young gentlemen once
aaid of his taste for the society of ladies — if this be so, then
turn to the show cases and examine the interminable varie-
ty of FANCY ARTICLES both useful and ornamental
that render the Bookstore a magazine of all things under
the sun and if some of these be not new then the king of
olden time must have surpassed all modern intelligences in
the same ratio with his superiority to rule a household — for
who in these degenerate days would deem himself compe-
tent to control such a family of wives— unless indeed it be
the puissant Governor or Utah— Ah I who knows! perhaps
herein lies the secret of human wisdom, for as the spirit of
curiosihj has descended from Mother Eve to all her daugh-
ters, may it not be that the man who is the recipient of the
collective curiosity of many wives, muBt be wiser than he
who is dependent upon only one. Be wise then according
to your ability, and each of you who possess such an appen-
dage, despatch you better half on a "prospecting" expedi-
tion, and let each fail not to call and see the stock of the
Bookstore the "old curiosity shop," and it will be strange
indeed if the vocabulary be not Astonishingly Alliterative-
Amulets, Accordeons, Antiques, Aiglets, Attar, Argentique,
Albata, Amators, Allumettes, Amber, all artistically arrang-
ed.
Bracelets Beads, Bugles, Baskets, Boxes, Brushes, Bou-
quetiers. Backgammon Boards, Bags, Baldrics, Barometers,
Braid, Berlins, Brooches, beatific. Bridal Bagatelles, beauti-
ully blended.
318
Card Cases, Corallines, Cabas, Chess, Crochet, Cordffy
Chains,. Cabinets, Candelabras, Chatelaines, Crayons,
Clasps, Charms. Coiffure, Curtain Cornices, and Congeners
ciosely Concinnous.
Dominoes, Donceurs, Drapery, Dyes, Dentrifice, Detec-
tors, Date Denoters, Depilators. Dolls, Dice, Decorations,
Ditto Ditto Dozens.
Escritoires, Elegant Enamelled Embossed Envelopes,.
ETC. ETC. etc. Extended enumeration exceeds ex-
pression. Efficient exhibition easier executed—eclipsing e:i-
pectation, expediting exportation^ —
which is the earnest wish of
Your most obedient servants,
The Proprietors of the
Bath Bookstore.
•^•^^•^
M W^U^^y
From SI to SlO. Pocket Bibles various styles.
Chess-men, Back-gammon Boards, Dominoes, &c. ChiJ-
dfen's Games.
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