46 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



This commission was executed pursuant to Chap. 161 of the Laws of 

 New York, 1860, Session Laws of 1860, page 257. 



" XI. Deed from Masterton Ure and John Gordon, dated 1st Jan- 

 uary, 1851, conveying all the interest of Gordon in the estates to 

 Craven, Oswald, and Estcourt as co-trustees with Ure. Recorded in 

 Steuben County Clerk's Office, 12th November, 1853, Book of Deeds 

 69, at page 49, etc.; also, in Ontario County Clerk's Office, in Liber 

 101, at page 148, etc., on the 26th day of November, 1852 ; also, in 

 Monroe County Clerk's Office, in Liber 105, at page 407, on the 18th 

 day of January, 1853. 



"XII. Deed and release of trust from Masterton Ure to Craven, 

 Alexander Oswald, and Edmund Bucknall Estcourt, dated 4th April, 

 1859, acknowledged before George M. Dallas, U. S. Minister at Lon- 

 don, on the 5th day of April, 1859. Recorded in Livingston County 

 Clerk's Office, on the 8th day of August, 1859, in Liber 59 of Deeds, 

 at page 278; also, in Steuben County Clerk's Office, Oct. 15, 1859, 

 in Book 88 of Deeds, at page 539, etc. ; also, in Monroe County 

 Clerk's Office, on the 11th January, 1860, in Liber 155 of Deeds, at 

 page 160. 



" XIII. Proof of the death of Craven on the 25th day of August, 

 1866, by exemplified copy of commission and evidence, executed by 

 F. H. Morse, consul of the United States in the city of London, Eng- 

 land, on the 15th day of June, 1867, with certificate of Henry E. 

 Davis, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, dated 15th July, 1867. 



" This commission was executed pursuant to the laws of the State 

 of New York. 



'^ XIV. Deed and release of trust from Alexander Oswald and Ed- 

 mund Bucknell Estcourt to Henry C. Howard (commonly called Vis- 

 count Andover), George C. K. Johnstone, Henry Chaplin, and James 

 R. Farquharson, dated Nov. 12, 1867, and recorded in the Steuben 

 County Clerk's Office, 2d day of May, 1870, at ten a.m.. Book 128 of 

 Deeds, at page 188, etc. 



" XV. Power of attorney from Henry C. Howard (commonly called 

 Viscount Andover), George C. K. Johnstone, Henry Chaplin, and 

 James R. Farquharson to Benjamin F. Young, dated April 11, 1868, 

 and recorded in the Steuben County Clerk's Office, in Liber C of 

 Miscellaneous Records, page 455, etc., on the 2d day of May, 1870." 



CHAPTER X. 



EAKLY SETTLEMENT OF THE COUHTY. 



Contemporary Settlements — Progress of Emigration Westward — 

 Opening of the Genesee Country — First Settlements in Steuben 

 County — Advent of Col. Charles Williamson — Road from Wil- 

 liamsport to the Genesee River — Benjamin Patterson. 



The advance-guard of civilization — the woodsmen and 

 pioneer farmers — had begun to move upon the wilderness 

 of Western New York at the period when settlements were 

 first made in this locality. Contemporary beginnings had 

 been made in the forest and along the wild and fertile 

 valleys of streams, hitherto navigated only by the gliding 

 bark canoe of the Indian. 



The first Indian trader at Onondaga was Ephraim Web- 

 ster, in 1786 ; the first Indian trader at Painted Post was 

 William Harris, in the same year. Webster found his way 

 to Onondaga Lake from New England, and Harris to the 

 junction of the Conhocton and Tioga Rivers, from Penn- 

 sylvania. These, were the forerunners of two advancing 

 armies coming into Western New York from different di- 

 rections and by routes entirely separate. 



A glance at the progress of emigration westward will 

 show that the beginning of settlement in this region was 

 contemporary with the general movement for the coloniza- 

 tion of New York west of the Mohawk. 



The State of New York, thrown upon her own resources, 



in 1779 and 1780 enlisted two regiments for the protec- 

 tion of her frontiers, to serve three years, unless sooner 

 discharged. They were to be paid and clothed at the 

 expense of the United States, but the State pledged to 

 them a liberal bounty in land. To redeem this pledge, as 

 soon as the Indian titles were extinguished, the surveyor- 

 general was instructed to survey these bounty lands and 

 prepare them for the location of warrants. The survey 

 was completed in 1790. It embraced about two millions 

 eight hundred thousand acres, in six-hundred-acre lots. 

 The tract comprised all the territory within the present 

 boundaries of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Cortland 

 Counties, and part of the counties of Oswego, Wayne, and 

 Tompkins. A large district of country adjoining on the 

 east was thus put in the way of being settled about the same 

 period that sales and settlements commenced west of the 

 pre-emption line, though they did not progress as rapidly. 

 Land-titles were in dispute, and emigrants chose to push on 

 farther, where titles were indisputable. Speculation and 

 fraud commenced as soon as the patents were issued, and 

 by the time that settlement commenced there were but few 

 the titles to which were not contested. In addition to 

 other questions of title, the officers' and soldiers' wives held 

 in a large majority of cases the right of dower. Land-titles 

 upon the whole Military Tract were not finally settled till 

 1800, when a committee appointed by the Legislature, one 

 of whom was the late Gren. Vincent Matthews, accomplished 

 the work. 



In 1784, Hugh White and his family progressed beyond 

 the settlements on the Mohawk, and founded what is now 

 Whitestown. In the same year James Dean located upon 

 a tract given him by the Indians near the present village 

 of Rome. In 1787, Joseph Blackmer, who was afterwards 

 a pioneer in Wheatland, Monroe Co., advanced and settled 

 a short distance west of Judge Dean. In May, 1788, Asa 

 Danforth, with his family, accompanied by Comfort Tyler, 

 progressed far on beyond the bounds of civilization, locating 

 in Onondaga Valley. There being then no road, they came 

 by water, landing at the mouth of Onondaga Creek. The 

 very earliest pioneers of all this region speak of " Major 

 Danforth" and the comforts of his log tavern as compared 

 with their camps in the wilderness. Another name has 

 been introduced which should not be passed over with the 

 mere mention. Comfort Tyler was conspicuously identified 

 in all early years with the history of the western portion 

 of this State. He was with Gen. James Clinton in the 

 establishment of the boundary line between this State and 

 Pennsylvania. He felled the first tree, assisted in the 

 manufacture of the first salt, built the first piece of turn- 

 pike, and constructed the first " stump mortar" in the On- 

 ondaga region of country. He filled many important offices 

 in Onondaga County, was one of the original projectors of 

 the Cayuga bridge, a member of the Legislature in 1799, 

 and the chief mover in the improvement of the Cayuga 

 marshes. The Indians, who were his first neighbors, had 

 great respect for him, and gave him the name of " To-whan- 

 ta-gua," meaning one who could do two things at once, or 

 be a gentleman and at the same time a laboring man. 

 While a member of the Legislature, in 1799, he made the 

 acquaintance of Aaron Burr. A charter having been pro- 



