154 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



tinued for eight years, and attended another course of lec- 

 tures at Geneva, where he was graduated M.D. in the year 

 1848. The same year he settled in Addison, where he at 

 once met the strong competition of older and more experi- 

 enced medical men. 



His perseverance, resolution, and skill in his professional 

 duties soon won for him a place in the front rank, where 

 he has continued to stand until the present time. His 

 skill as a surgeon has given him an enviable reputation, 

 not only in his own village but in the surrounding towns, 

 his practice extending through the southern tier of towns 

 of the county, as well as to Chemung County, and across 

 the line into the State of Pennsylvania. 



Dr. Brown is a member of the Steuben County Medical 

 Society, of the Hornellsville Academy of Medicine, and of 

 the New York Medico-Legal Society. 



It may be stated as a historical fact that Dr. Brown was 

 the first surgeon who amputated a limb at Addison. 



He has given little attention to politics, but has ever been 

 interested in the great questions of the day, and unswerv- 

 ingly identified with the Democratic party. 



In the year 1842 he married Sarah Maria, daughter of 

 William Evans, of Bradford Co., Pa. Their children living 

 are Mrs. Arthur Erwin and Dr. Rush P. Brown, of Addi- 

 son. The latter received his preliminary education at Dans- 

 ville, Livingston Co., Alfred University, Allegany County, 

 and Falley Seminary, Fulton, N. Y. At the age of twenty 

 he began the study of medicine with his father, and after 

 attending lectures at Bellevue Medical College and New 

 York University, was graduated M.D. from the latter in- 

 stitution at the age of twenty-four, in the year 1873. He 

 enjoys an extensive practice both in medicine and surgery. 



A V O C A. 



-^»►- 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



AvoCA was erected from the towns of Bath, Cohocton, 

 Howard, and Wheeler, April 12, 1843. It is an interior 

 town, lying in the rich valley of the Conhocton River and 

 upon the adjoining uplands, the valley being about a mile 

 and a quarter in width, and of a rich alluvial deposit. The 

 Conhocton flows through the town from nortKwest to south- 

 east, Ten- and Twelve-Mile Creeks entering as tributaries 

 from the north, and Neil's Creek from the west. The hills 

 rise in some places abruptly, but generally by a gradual as- 

 cent to a height of four hundred feet above the river. The 

 soil upon the hills is chiefly gravel and clay, with a mixture 

 of loam, and is good, productive farming land, largely cleared 

 and in a good state of cultivation. For its size it is one of , 

 the most productive and flourishing towns in the county. 



EARLY SETTLEMENT. 



In an early day the territory embraced in the town of 

 Avoca was a favorite hunting-ground of the numerous and 

 warlike Seneca Indians. It was an unbroken wilderness, 

 the home of the red man, the deer, the panther, the bear, 

 and other wild animals. Civilization had not put its trans- 

 forming hand upon it, and it was in its primeval condition, 

 wild and romantic. The sound of the axeman or the hum 

 of industry had not aroused the denizens of the forest from 

 their wonted security, and the Indian only had roamed over 

 its wooded hills and beautiful valley in excursions of pleasure 

 or in the pursuit of game. 



The first white settlers within the bounds of this town 

 were William Buchanan and his son Michael, in 1794.* 



•-'•Some local authorities put the date at 1790. We think this an 

 error. Mr. Buchanan was sent to the " Eight-Mile Tree" by Col. 

 Williamson to keep a house of entertainment in the interest of the 

 settlement of that section, and Col. Williamson did not settle at Bath 

 till 1793. 



Mr. Buchanan settled on the farm now known as the Levi 

 Kysor Farm. The life of the father has in it some inter- 

 esting incidents. When a lad of between seven and eight 

 years he lived with his parents in the beautiful Wyoming 

 Yalley, and while thus living the inhabitants of that lovely 

 valley suff"ered all the horrors of Indian warfare. Among 

 the survivors was the young lad, William Buchanan, who 

 was taken prisoner. His captors traveled westward until 

 they arrived in the extreme western part of Pennsylvania 

 or in Ohio. He was adopted by the chief of the tribe, and 

 was treated kindly by his foster-father. The mother, how- 

 ever, disliking the fondness of the chief for the little pale- 

 face, contrived to send him away, with provisions to last 

 him on the journey, to the white settlements on the Susque- 

 hanna, whither in due time he arrived safely. He had 

 been with the Indians seven years, and had learned to speak 

 their language much better than his mother-tongue. 



At about the age of twenty he was engaged to go on 

 board a ship, after which he went to England, Wales, and 

 several other countries, and finally came back to the United 

 States. While anchored about three miles from land, it 

 being night watch, his desire became so strong to become 

 free, and a landsman again, that he forsook his post, plunged 

 into the sea, and swam for the shore, which he finally reached 

 in an exhausted condition. After leaving a seafaring life 

 he found his way into one of the eastern counties of this 

 State, whence he removed, with his family, to Avoca, and 

 there spent his remaining days. 



Such was the beginning of the life of the first settler of 

 this town. Soon after his arrival he erected his log house, 

 and made it the home of the traveler, or of those who were 

 seeking homes in this new country. There were no inns or 

 taverns in all this section, and the only highway was the 

 Williamson road through the Conhocton Valley to the 



