TOWN OF ADDISON. 



141 



JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 



The first justice of the peace in this town whose name 

 appears in the records was Reuben Searles, in 1804. He 

 was probably appointed a justice at an earlier date. Wil- 

 liam B. Jones appears as justice of the peace in 1811 ; 

 Jesse Rowley and Nathaniel Mallory in 1815; Stephen 

 Towsley, 1819; Joseph Loughry and Calvin Searles, 1821 ; 

 Ira Baxteife, 1825 ; Hiram Hall and Joel Prentice. 1828 ; 

 Jeremiah Rowley, 1831 ; Isaac Mills, Jr., 1832. 



JUSTICES ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE. 



1833. 



Ira Baxter. 



1861. 



Edward H. Buck. 





Solomon Curtis. 



1862. 



James K. Jennings. 





Lemuel B. Searles. 





James C. Van Orsdale 



1834. 



Elijah Fay. 



1863. 



F. L. Jones. 



1835. 



Ira Baxter. 





E. H. Ames. 





Isaac D. Boyd. 



1864. 



E. H. Ames. 



1836. 



Thomas Wheat. 





Miles Stevens. 





Ira Baxter. 



1865. 



Frederick R. Wagner. 



1837. 



Henry JST. Birdsall. 



1866. 



Henry Baldwin. 





Erastus Brooks. 



1867. 



George H. Shepard. 



1838. 



Homer Mandeville. 



1868. 



E. Howard Ames. 





Isaac Miles, Jr. 



1869. 



E. Howard Ames. 



1839. 



William Finch. 





Henry Baldwin. 



1840. 



Homer Mandeville. 





F. R. Wagner. 



1841. 



Henry N. Birdsall. 



1870. 



Henry Baldwin. 



1842. 



William Everard. 





E. H. Buck. 



1843. 



Washington Hudson. 



1871. 



E. Howard Ames. 



1844. 



C. H. Cole (vacancy). 





George S. Shepard. 





Rufus B. Drew. 





E. H. Buck. 



1845. 



A.G. Chatfield. 



1872. 



Bradley Blakslee. 



1846. 



William A. Baldwin. 



1873. 



James K. Jennings. 



1847. 



C. H. Cole. 





E. Howard Ames. 



1848. 



Rufus B. Drew. 



1874. 



Bradley Blakslee. 



1849. 



John W. Dininny. 





E. Howard Ames. 



1850. 



Wm. W. Smith. 





S. D. Clinton. 



1851. 



James B. Young. 



1875. 



E. Howard Ames. 





John Thompson. 





Bradley Blakslee. 



1852. 



Chas. W. Robinson. 





P. H. Masten. 



1853. 



John W. Dininny. 



1876. 



E. Howard Ames. 



1854. 



John Thompson. 





S. D. Clinton. 



1855. 



James B. Young. 





Bradley Blakslee. 



1856. 



Jacob Inman. 



1877. 



E. Howard Ames. 



1857. 



John W. Dininny. 





Bradley Blakslee. 



1858. 



James Whitteuhall. 





H. S. Jones. 



1859. 



Chas. W. Robinson. 



1878. 



E. Howard Ames. 



1860. 



Daniel L. Aldrich. 





B. C. Wilson. 





Sheldon Clinton. 





Bradley Blakslee. 





Henry W. Sanford. 







LANDS ABOUT THE VILLAGE. 



William B. Jones kept one of the first hotels on the 

 north side of the river. He purchased lot No. 3, known 

 as the " Pompelly Lot," it having been bought of Harman 

 Pompelly, of Owego, who bought it of Charles Wilkes. 

 It was part of the Wilkes Tract, which was quite an ex- 

 tensive tract, lying on the north side of the river. Lot No. 

 3 was purchased from Harmon Pompelly by Solomon Cur- 

 tis, who laid out a portion of the village on that side. 

 William Wombough owned lots Nos. 3 and 4 on the south 

 side, extending back to the town-line. He purchased his 

 land at an early time, mostly of contractors with the Pulte- 

 ney estate, who were not able to complete their title. He 

 laid out part of the village on the south side of the river, 

 on lot No. 3, about 1832, and it was surveyed by John E. 

 Evans, of Painted Post. Samuel Colgrove laid out the 

 north side for Solomon Curtis the same year. 



• In 1830 the price of wild land in this section was $1.50 

 per acre. In 1831 it had risen to $2 an acre. In this 

 latter year most of the timbered lands in this section were 

 purchased. David Ross and his son, Stephen Ross, of 

 Troy, purchased several thousand acres, which were sur- 

 veyed by Col. Wm. H. Bull, of Bath. 



MERCANTILE AND LUMBERING. 



About this period the valley of the Canisteo became the 

 scene of active mercantile and lumbering operations. In 

 1830, John Loop, Shumway & Grlover, Wilcox, Birdsall & 

 Weatherby began at Addison as lumbermen and merchants, 

 and continued till some time in 1832, when John and 

 Peter P. Loop, Caleb Weatherby, and Read A. Williams 

 formed a copartnership, and built a store in the lower part 

 of the village on the north side. They operated largely in 

 both mercantile and lumbering business for about a year, 

 when they made an assignment, and soon after removed 

 from the county. 



Mr. Williams became a lumber merchant in Chicago. 

 Mr. Weatherby removed to Warren, Pa., where he died 

 some years since. 



In the spring of 1833 John Loop went down the river 

 with lumber, and left his brother, Peter P. Loop, who was 

 a man of dissipated habits, in charge of his interests at 

 Addison. On his return he found matters in a very un- 

 satisfactory state, which troubled him exceedingly. He 

 went to what is now Erwin Centre, to see to some lumber- 

 ing interests there, and from there went up the Clendenny 

 Creek some three miles to a saw-milL This was about five 

 o'clock P.M, and it was the last that was ever seen of him 

 in this part of the country. A crowd of men turned out 

 and made diligent search for him so long as there was any 

 hope of his discovery ; but at last it was given up as fruit- 

 less, and the supposition became current that some ruffian 

 had murdered him to obtain possession of the money he had 

 upon his person. 



A story was told several years after that some one from 

 this section, who had previously known Loop, saw him on 

 the Mississippi River somewhere above New Orleans, and 

 that, in an interview, he explained to the narrator the 

 cause of his sudden disappearance, saying he found him- 

 self in Pittsburgh, destitute and almost naked, and being 

 ashamed to meet his old friends, had resolved never to 

 return to Addison. 



Whether there is any truth in this story or not, it is 

 certain that Loop was very sensitive as to his honor, and 

 . possessed in a very high degree the respect and confidence 

 of his fellow-citizens. He was supervisor of the town, and 

 the records made by him while town clerk show a very 

 careful and elegant handwriting. 



The next firm established here was Thompson & French, 

 about 1834. They built their store on the site now occu- 

 pied by Smith's Block, corner of Wall and Railroad Streets. 

 John Thompson, the head of the firm, resided in Addison; 

 John M. French, the other partner, lived at Big Flats. 

 They did a prosperous business for a few years, and in 

 1838 sold out to William R. Smith and Ai Fitch. The 

 latter was a resident of New Brunswick, N. J. Mr. Smith 

 became a permanent fixture in the life and business of 



