lU 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



called on Benjamin Eaton, who kept a little store of goods, 

 and, after an introduction bj Judge Knox to the rest of the 

 neighborhood, returned to our hotel and put up for the 

 night. In the morning we started for Bath, a distance of 

 eighteen miles. When we reached the mouth of Mud 

 Creek, we found that a house of entertainment had been 

 erected there, and was kept by one Thomas Corbit, who 

 came from Pennsylvania with Williamson's company. 

 Thomas had been a soldier of the Revolution, and could 

 sing an unaccountable number of patriotic songs, ' Hail ! 

 Columbia' among the rest. Some thirty years after he be- 

 came poor and helpless. I procured for him a pension, 

 through Henry Clay, but he did not live long to enjoy it. 



" We arrived at Bath and put up at the only house of 

 entertainment in the village (if it could be called a house). 

 Its construction was of pitch-pine logs, in two apartments, 

 one story high, kept by a very kind and obliging English 

 family of the name of Metcalfe. This house was the only 

 one in town except a similar one erected for the temporary 

 abode of Capt. Williamson, which answered the purpose of 

 parlor, dining-room, and land-office. There were besides 

 some shanties for mechanics and laborers. 



" I called on Capt. Williamson, and introduced myself 

 to him as a mechanic. I told him that I had seen his ad- 

 vertisement, and, in pursuance of his invitation, had come 

 to ask employment. • Very well,' said he ; ' young man, you 

 shall not be disappointed.' He told me I should have the 

 whole of his work, if I could procure as many hands as 

 necessary. We entered into an agreement. He asked me 

 when I should be ready to commence business. I told him 

 that I must return to Northumberland and en<i^aue some 

 hands there, and send our tools and baggage up the north 

 branch of the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, that being the 

 head of boat-naviiration. 



" I introduced Uncle Moore to him ; told him that he 

 came all the way to see the country, and that, if he liked 

 it, he would purchase a farm and move on it with his family. 

 He made a selection four miles west of Bath, on which some 

 of his family now reside. 



" We returned immediately to Northumberland, hired a 

 few young men, — carpenters. We shipped our tools and 

 baggage on a boat, sold my horse, and we went on foot to 

 Bath, arriving there in five days. One more trip was neces- 

 sarv before we could commence business, as our basf^irasre 

 would be landed at Tioga Point. There were no roads at 

 that time throui^h the narrows on the Chemun^^ for wa":ons 

 to pass with safety ; therefore eight of us started on foot 

 for the Point. When we came within four miles of New- 

 town, we discovered a number of canoes, owned by some 

 Dutch settlers. I purchased four of them. One of them 

 was a very large one, which I bought of a funny old Dutch- 

 man, who said his canoe ' wash de granny from de whole 

 river up.' My companions gave me the title of commodore, 

 and insisted on my taking command of the large canoe. I 

 selected as a shipmate a young man by the name of Gordon, 

 who was well skilled in the management of such a craft. 

 W^e laid in provisions for the voyage and a full supply of 

 the joyful. We pushed our little fleet into the river, and 

 with wind and tide in our favor, arrived at Tioga Point in 

 four hours, a distance of twenty-four miles. We shipped 



our goods and set out with paddles and long setting-poles 

 against a strong current. Then came the tug of war. 

 Many times we were obliged to land, and, with a long rope, 

 tow our vessel up falls and strong riffles, and in ascending 

 the Conhocton we had to cut through many piles of drift- 

 wood. Our progress was slow. We made the trip from 

 the Point (sixty-six miles) in nine days. It was the hardest 

 voyage I ever undertook. We were the first navigators of 

 the Conhocton River. 



" By this time Capt. Williamson had erected two saw- 

 mills on the Conhocton, near Bath, and they were in full 

 operation. Houses were erected as fast as 30 or 40 hands 

 could finish them. Capt. Williamson called on me, and 

 asked how long it would take me to erect and finish a frame 

 building of 40 by 1 6 feet, one and a half stories high, all 

 green stuff. He told me that he expected a good deal 

 of company in a few days, and there was no house where 

 so many could be entertained. I told him if all the mate- 

 rial were delivered on the spot, I would engage to finish it 

 according to his plan in about three days, or perhaps in less 

 time. ' Very well, sir,' said he; 'if you finish the house in 

 the time you have stated, you shall be rewarded.' I told 

 my hands what I had undertaken to do, and the time I had 

 to do it in was limited to three days. ' I will pay each of 

 you one dollar a day extra. We shall have to work day 

 and night. What say you, boys ?' Their answer was, ' We 

 will do it.' This was followed up by three hearty cheers 

 for Capt. Williamson. Next morning I went at it with 30 

 hands, and in forty-eight hours the house was finished ac- 

 cording to agreement. No limestone had yet been dis- 

 covered in that region, nor even stone suitable for walling 

 cellars, therefore the whole n^aterials for the building were, 

 from necessity, confined to timber and nails. Capt; Wil- 

 liamson paid me $400 for my forty-eight hours' job, and 

 remarked that he would not have been disappointed for 

 double that sum. He published an account of this little 

 afiair in the Albany and New York papers. It had some 

 effect of bringing our little settlement into notice. He also 

 gave orders for the erection of a large building, eighty by 

 forty feet, for a theatre, and for the clearing of 100 acres, 

 around which was made a beautiful race-course, and another 

 at Genesee Flats, near Williamsburgh. Such amusements 

 had the effect of bringing an immense number of gentle- 

 men into the county every spring and fall. This was done 

 by Capt. Williamson in order to promote the interest of his 

 employer. Southern sportsmen came with their full-blooded 

 racers ; others again with bags of money to bet on the 

 horses, and a large proportion of gamblers and blacklegs. 

 Money was plenty in those days, — at least in and about 

 Bath, — and was easily obtained, and as easily lost. Some 

 men became immensely rich in twenty-four hours, and per- 

 haps the next day were reduced to beggary. 



" Such amusements and scenes of dissipation led to 

 another species of gambling, called land speculation. Any 

 respectable-looking gentleman might purchase, on a credit 

 of six years, from one mile square to a township of land. 

 The title that Capt. Williamson gave was a bond for a deed 

 at the end of the term, provided payment was fully made, 

 otherwise the contract became null and void. Those bonds 

 were transferable, and the speculators sold to each other, 



