142 



HISTOEY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Addison, being one of its most enterprising and useful 

 citizens till the time of his death. He was the father of 

 William A. Smith, the present successful merchant of 

 Addison. He came to Addison in 1836, and started in a 

 store which had been built by Ransom Rathbone, in 1833. 

 The store is still standing, on the east side of F. W. Latti- 

 mer's grocer j-store. 



Mr. Rathbone did a dry-goods and grocery business from 

 1833 to 1836, when he removed to Rathboneville, where 

 lie died many years ago. 



S. L. Gillet, A. Cone, and Joel D. Gillet began mercan- 

 tile business in Addison in the fall of 1835. They occu- 

 pied the Wombough store on Water Street, and did a 

 prosperous business for three years. In the fall of 1838, 

 Joel J). Gillet bought the interest of his partners, and re- 

 moved his goods to a store which he purchased on Water 

 Street at the east end of the bridge, where he did a large 

 business till, on account of failing health, he sold to his 

 brother, C. E. Gillet, in 1847, who continued the business 

 till 1850, when he sold to Joel D. Gillet. The latter con- 

 tinued the store till 1852, and sold to George Wells, who 

 in a few months sold to E. L. & E. R. Paine. This firm 

 liad a successful career for two or three years, and sold to 

 George Graham and N. W. Mallory, who continued busi- 

 ness till burned out in 1857. 



Thomas and Benjamin Phillips established mercantile 

 business and built a store, now occupied as a dwelling, in 

 1836. They continued only a few years. Thomas Phillips 

 was the father of Ransom Phillips, now residing in the 

 town of Addison. Merriam & Haynes succeeded them, 

 and did business for a short time in the same store. 



Dr. Bradley Blakslee came to Addison in 1840 from 

 Otego, Otsego Co. He was born in the State of Ver- 

 mont, October, 1794, and is consequently eighty-four years 

 old. In company with Ezra R. Brewer and Hiram Sleeper, 

 he purchased 1000 acres of land on Elk Creek, now in the 

 town of Woodhull. It was a lumber tract, and the com- 

 pany built a water-mill on Elk Creek and carried on lum- 

 bering there five years. They also during the same period 

 carried on mercantile business in a store belonging to Henry 

 Wombough, on the north side. 



At the expiration of five years the company dissolved. 

 Hiram Sleeper and Bradley Blakslee then formed a mer- 

 cantile partnership, and built a store where Jacob Graham's 

 hardware-store now stands. They also built a steam saw- 

 mill on 250 acres of pine land which they purchased about 

 two miles up the valley, and continued about three years 

 in this business, when they dissolved. Abotit 1841, Dr. 

 Blakslee built his present residence and a store adjoining, 

 which he occupied about four years as a drug-store. It 

 was burned down in 1851. 



EARLY HOTELS. 



William B. Jones and Caleb Wetherby kept early hotels 

 on the north side of the river. James Van Vleck built 

 the first hotel on the south side. It is now the rear part 

 of the American House, and was moved back when the 

 latter building was erected. Mr. Van Vleck afterwards 

 failed, and the prope^-ty passed into the hands of William 

 Wombough. 



VILLAGE OF ADDISON. 



This village is situated in the beautiful valley of the 

 Canisteo, twelve miles west of Corning, and is, on the direct 

 Erie Railway, thirty miles from the city of New York. 

 The business of the village is chiefly as follows : one tan- 

 nery, George Stratton ; two sash-, door-, and blind-factories, 

 McKay & Hill and A. G. Crane & Co. ; one furniture-fac- 

 tory, Darrin & Baldwin ; one plow-handle factory, E. S. 

 Mead & Co. ; three steam saw-mills, Brook & Gillet, 0. 

 Bridgeman, P]. H. Phillips, and Henry Baldwin; one grist- 

 and flouring-mill, Curtis & Paxton ; one foundry and machine- 

 shop, E. J. Horn ; one boot- and shoe-factory, George W. 

 Earn ham. The village has five churches, — Episcopalian, 

 Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, and Catholic, — 

 four dry-goods stores, seven grocery and provision stores, 

 two hardware-stores, two harness-shops, four boot- and shoe- 

 stores, three millinery and dress-goods stores, three drug 

 and medicine stores, four hotels, one florist and hot-house 

 gardener, three meat-markets, two banks, one furniture- 

 store, three wagon-shops, and five blacksmith-shops. There 

 is also a cancer infirmary, under the management of Dr. 

 George Craine, and one union graded school, managed by 

 a board of education. 



The village was incorporated under the general law of 

 the State in January, 1854. At the ensuing election the 

 folio winix board of trustees and officers was chosen : Fred- 

 erick R. Wagner, Bradley Blakslee, Parley Guinnip, Ste- 

 phen Lewis, White, and Thomas Paxton. Dr. Fred. 



R. Wagner was chosen President, and I. V. L. Meigs, Clerk. 



The charter was amended by a special act of the Legisla- 

 ture, approved April 12, 1873. By section third of this 

 act, the village was divided into two w^ards, as follows : 

 " The first ward shall consist of all that part of said village 

 which lies north of the Canisteo River. The second ward 

 shall consist of all that part of said village which lies south 

 of the Canisteo River." 



The officers elected for 1878 were the following : Presl- 

 dent, J. V. Graham ; Clerk, John W. Clark ; Treasurer, 

 Chauncey D. Hill ; Collector, Sanford Elmer. Trustees, — 

 First Ward, Daniel D. Hickey, E. S. Mead; Second Ward, 

 Lorin Aldrich, James D. Goodie}^ 



POST-OFFICE. 



A post-office was established at the village of Addison as 

 early as 1804. In 1830 a mail was brought once a week 

 on horseback from Painted Post. This was at that time 

 the end of the route. In 1831, Dr. F. R. Wagner drew 

 up a petition for a mail twice a week, which was sent to 

 Hon. John Magee, then member of Congress. It was 

 granted by the department, and William B. Jones, who 

 took the contract, carried the mail from Painted Post to 

 Addison in a two-horse coach. Mails were delivered semi- 

 weekly and afterwards tri-weekly till 1849, when Andrew 

 J. Chatfield, James Birdsall, and Dr. F. R. Wagner drew 

 up a petition for a daily mail, which was granted. Since 

 the completion of the Erie Railway the mails have been 

 carried by rail, and supplied as often at this point as at any 

 other place on the route. 



We append the following list of postmasters since 1830 : 

 Lemuel B. Searles, John Thompson, William R. Smith, 



