TOWN OFAVOCA. 



155 



Genesee Kiver. He was sent here as the agent of the 

 land-office, and his large-hearted hospitality was proverbial 

 among the early settlers. 



The year following his arrival he planted an orchard, 

 which now shows the ravages of time, and like the early 

 settlers is passing away. The orchard which William and 

 Michael Buchanan set out on the Buchanan farm is now 

 eighty-eight years old, and some of the trees therein are 

 worthy of mention, one of which measures nine and a half 

 feet in circumference at or near the ground. One branch 

 of this tree, about six feet from the ground, measures seven 

 feet, and about ten feet up measures six feet in circum- 

 ference. The tree is about forty feet high, and from its 

 present appearance may stand another century. In this 

 orchard names were given to several of the trees, such as 

 " Grandfather Moody," etc., and other names. 



This place, or the valley, at that time was known as 

 Buchanan's or the Eight-Mile Tree. The Eight-Mile Tree 

 (so marked by Phelps and Gorham's surveyors) stood a 

 little north of the dwelling of Levi Kysor, about a quarter 

 of a mile south of the village of Avoca. The section went 

 by the name of Buchanan's or the Eight-Mile Tree for a 

 number of years, after which some one unknown to the 

 writer gave it the euphonious name of Podunk. But this 

 name lasted only a short time, and when the little hamlet 

 began to assume shape as a village it received a new name, 

 which the inhabitants take pride in handing down to pos- 

 terity. The name AvocA* was given by Sophia White 

 while on her death-bed. Having heard that the little vil- 

 lage was about to be christened with a new name, she sent 

 a written request to the people to allow her to name the 

 pleasant forest village. 



The first settlers after the Buchanans were James and 

 Husfh McWhorter and James and Georo;e Moore. The 

 McWhorters and one of the Moores became permanent 

 settlers, and finally, after a short absence, both of the 

 Moores. James McWhorter first settled on the I. J.. Has- 

 kin farm, erected a small log cabin, and commenced a small 

 clearing, but did not remain on the farm long, as, before 

 1800, Gershom Towner and Finley McClure settled in 

 Avoca ; Gershom Towner purchasing the Haskin place and 

 Finley McClure the farm now known as the Shaver farm. 

 Gershom Towner, soon after his arrival, erected the first 

 hotel or inn in what is now the town of Avoca ; it was on 

 the Haskin farm, and stood on the present site of Mr. 

 Raskin's residence. Mr. Towner was noted for his hospi- 

 tality, and no traveler was turned away hungry ; whether 

 rich or poor, his house was the home of the traveler in this 

 then new country. Although he did not have a large, 

 commodious hotel, he supplied liberally the necessaries of 

 life. The second hotel in the town was erected by Joel 

 Collin, in 1808, at or near Wallace Station. It was primi- 

 tive in its construction, being built of logs, the only lumber 

 then manufactured in town. Finley McClure cut the road 

 through on the west side of the river, from Kanona to his 

 place, when he settled there, there having before that time 

 been a path or road cut through on the east side leading 

 through to Naples, Ontario Co. 



* From Thomas Moore's ''Sweet Vale of Avoca.' 



Soon after 1801 a tide of emigration set towards Steuben 

 County, and between 1801 and 1815 quite a number of 

 families and young men settled in this town. The follow- 

 ing are the names of those settlers as far as can be ascer- 

 tained: Asa Phillips, Abram Towner, James Babcock, 

 Richard Van Buskirk, Henry Smith, James Davis, Jolm 

 Van Buskirk, William Moody, Daniel McKenzie, Jonathan 

 Tilton, John Donahe, Eleazer Tucker, Allen Smith, Samuel 

 Burnham, Oliver Rice. These were, most of them, for- 

 merly settlers of Bath, and set off to Avoca. Among 

 those settlers taken from Howard who settled between 

 1801 and 1815 were Israel Baldwin, William Allen, 

 Charles Robords, Timothy Parkhill, Wm. Goff, and 

 Henry Kennedy. There were others that might be 

 called early settlers who came into this town between 

 1816 and 1824: John B. Calkins, Jos. Mathewson, Ger- 

 shom Salmon, James Silsbee, John Putnam, Hugh Briggs, 

 Van Housen Hopkins, and a number of others unknown 

 to the writer. Abram Towner settled on a farm near the 

 new mill in 1808, and spent his life there. His oldest son 

 came into possession of the homestead, and resided there 

 during his long life of seventy-eight years. The son died 

 May 8, 1876, and the farm yet remains in the possession 

 of one of the descendants. 



John Donahe settled on the creek leading to Howard, on 

 what is now known as the Donahe place. Richard and John 

 Van Buskirk settled on what is known as the Sam Haskin 

 and Allen farm. Eleazer Tucker settled on what is known 

 as the Tucker farm, about a mile above Wallace Station, 

 where some of his descendants now reside. 



Henry Smith, father of 0. S. Smith, settled in this town 

 in 1814, on a farm about one mile south of Avoca village. 

 This farm was known to the early citizens as the Smith 

 farm, but is now known as the farm on which William 

 Allen resides. 



William Moody took up and settled the lands now occu- 

 pied by the village of Avoca. 



While the valley was being settled by earnest and worthy 

 citizens the hills and uplands were receiving their sterling 

 inhabitants, and in January, 1811, Israel Baldwin settled 

 on a farm now owned by his youngest son, Abraham H. 

 Baldwin. This farm lies south of and borders on a beau- 

 tiful inland lake known as the Smith Pond, taking its name 

 from a worthy and noble Scot, who settled on the north 

 side of it in 1810. In the month of March, 1810, William 

 Allen settled on the farm now occupied by Lyman, John, 

 and Alexander Shults, those two settlers being the only 

 ones in that neighborhood until the following year. Israel 

 Baldwin, when he came into the county and on the farm 

 where he settled and spent his life, was the first to cut his 

 way from the creek road leading to Howard to his posses- 

 sion. William Allen preceded him, both taking upland 

 over which no white man had ever traveled to their 

 knowledge. 



Charles Robords settled on what is known as Robords' 

 Hill in 1814. 



Although the pioneers had a hard struggle to obtain sub- 

 sistence, they did not forget that there was something to 

 be looked to beyond the supply of their physical wants. 

 As early as 1796 or 1797 they employed one Anna Parker 



