192 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



night Mr. Scott's cattle hooked one of the horses, and it 

 died the next morning. When Mr. Scott returned, in com- 

 pany with Thomas Corbitt, he found his home in possession 

 of the redskins, and was soon told of their loss. As the 

 dusky savages gathered around a blazing fire on his hearth- 

 stone, they earnestly said to him, "You pay all." Mr. 

 Scott told them, '' No, I am not to blame; you are more to 

 blame yourselves than I am. You came here and took pos- 

 session of my house and barn when my little children were 

 alone, and you will have to stand it yourselves ; you are 

 more able to lose it than I am to pay for it." 



The Indians laid the case before Squire Bartles, who told 

 them they claimed more than $50, and he could not entertain 

 the case, and referred them to Samuel S. Haight, of Bath. 

 They went to Mr. Haight, and while he was making out 

 the papers Mr. Corbitt entered and gave the counselor the 

 history of the case as he saw it, and legal proceedings were 

 stopped. The Indians afterwards frequently visited Mr. 

 Scott, and their relations were always friendly. His child- 

 ren were Thomas, who now lives on the same farm ; Samuel, 

 who went to Michigan ; Michael, who also went West ; 

 Mary, who married Levi Miller ; Jane, who married for her 

 first husband Thomas Sanford, and again married Joseph 

 Tichner ; and Nancy, who married Henry Younger. 



Daniel Bartholomew left Lancaster Co., Pa., for Seneca 

 Co., N. Y. When he reached the place where he now 

 resides, in the Mud Creek Valley, his family were taken 

 sick with fever and ague, and he was, in consequence, 

 compelled to stop. He there erected a rude cabin and 

 commenced clearing. He always lived on the same farm, 

 and reared a family, of which the following were mem- 

 bers : Nancy, Catherine, Jacob, and Paniel (who served 

 in the war of 1812). Both sons died in the town of Brad- 

 ford. 



Henry Axteil came from near Binghamton, about the 

 year 1815, and first settled the farm on which James 

 Decker now resides. He served in the war of the Revo- 

 lution. His children were John, Nancy, Alfred, and 

 Henry, the latter of whom became a successful farmer 

 by persistent eff"ort, and died, in the town of Bradford, 

 possessed of about five hundred acres of land. His 

 children were Samuel, John B., Sarah, Melissa Franklin, 

 and James. 



Asa Tolbert was the first settler, and made the first clear- 

 ing, on the first farm south of that settled by Thomas 

 Rowles. A number of years after, while his family still 

 lived on the same farm, he was drowned while running a 

 raft down the Susquehanna River, near Tunkhannock, Pa. 

 His children were Asa, Samuel, Joshua, Mary Ann, Betsey, 

 and Maria. 



In an early day George Snell located and first settled 

 about 500 acres of land, about three miles south of the vil- 

 lage of Bradford, on the brow of Oak Hill. He laid out 

 and opened the road that now runs south from the first 

 corner below the village as far as his settlement. His chil- 

 dren were Anson, Sylvenus, Jacob, and Margaret. 



Stephen Edwards first settled the Piatt property, and 

 built the first saw-mill on the mill-site about two miles 

 west of the village of Bradford. He felt the deprivations 

 usual in a new country. Being unable at that time to get 



any tea, he used in his family, as a substitute, hemlock ; and 

 the twigs, after being steeped, accumulated in a large pile 

 near his door. His children were John Edwards, Charles, 

 Dennis, Luman, and a daughter. 



John Zimmerman, an early and prominent pioneer, was 

 born in Austria, and at the age of sixteen was taken from 

 his bed at dead of night, ironed, and forced into the military 

 service of the Austrians, and afterwards was taken prisoner 

 by the French ; and after service under Napoleon Bonaparte, 

 was again taken prisoner by the English and sent to Canada, 

 in the service of the British government, at which place he 

 was sent to look for a corporal who had deserted, when he 

 and Jacob Swartz, following the example of the corporal, 

 deserted, as the following copy of the original passport, 

 found among his papers, will show : 



" BuFFATA 20th Sept., 1814. 

 " This is to certify that the bearer hereof, John Zimmer- 

 man, late private in His Majesty's service, is a deserter from 

 the British army, and after passing Canandaugua may be 

 at liberty to engage as a laborer or otherwise, but not to re- 

 turn of his own accord within one hundred miles of this 



frontier. 



" H. Brady, Col. Comd'gy 



He often said that he was looking for the corporal yet. 



From Buffalo he made his way through sparse settle- 

 ments and deep woods to the settlement of Jersey (now 

 Bradford), in the month of September, 1814, and immedi- 

 ately engaged with Frederick Bartles as a distiller, and after 

 a service of seven months he received a recommendation 

 from his employer " as an excellent distiller, industrious and 

 faithful, and has behaved himself in a very becoming man- 

 ner in every other respect," which indicates somewhat the 

 qualities that afterwards gave him prominence in his pioneer 

 home. He then went to Lancaster, Pa., intending to re- 

 turn to Austria, but there learning that afi'airs in his old 

 home were still unsettled, turned his attention again to dis- 

 tilling, with a good degree of prosperity. On the 7th day 

 of March, 1819, he was married to Elizabeth Green. In 

 1824, with his wife and two children, Jacob and Elizabeth, 

 he returned again to play a part in the history of Jersey. He 

 erected a distillery on the present site of G. H. Given's barn, 

 and engaged with characteristic energy in business. He 

 added brewing, lumbering, farming (on the farm now owned 

 by G. H. Givens), and grain-buying to his business, and 

 for a time was the most prominent business character in 

 Jersey. Later his fortunes turned, as is often the case with 

 men of too large benevolence. 



The following children were born in Bradford : John, 

 Catharine, Martin, Sylvanus, and Napoleon; the two- last of. 

 whom now live in the town of Bradford. 



David Hight settled the farm Jeremiah Long well now 

 lives on, about two miles west of the village of Bradford. 



David Woodard first settled the farm Franklin Barkly 

 now lives on. Bis sons were George, John, and Gamaliel. 



John Inscho and Abel Eveland settled, in 1830, the 

 farm, on the edge of Oak Hill, David Inscho now lives on, 

 about one mile from Mud Creek. The children of the 

 former were Joseph, Andrew, Abel, Frank, Mary, Lucy, 

 and Sobriiia. Abel Eveland held the office of justice of 



