TOWN OF CANISTEO. 



221 



up the valley of Bennett's Creek through a dense forest 

 from William S. Thomas' to what was then the Salt 

 Springs, at which point there was a little spot cleared and 

 a small log house. Now, upon that site there is a fine, 

 flourishing little village." In the winter of that year the 

 same party, in company with others, passed from the Salt 

 Springs to Independence, a distance of thirteen miles, over 

 a road that had just been opened by Nathaniel Thacher for 

 the Pulteney estate. There was then not a house nor an 

 acre of land cleared between the Salt Springs and Inde- 

 pendence. The party came out at or near Peter Teater's, 

 on what is known as the Forsyth farm. After being re- 

 freshed by the kind hospitality of Mr. Peter Teater the 

 party returned the same day to Elder David Smith's, in 

 Troupsburgh, from whence they had started in the morning. 



ORGANIZATION. 



The first records of Canisteo which we have been able 

 to find are dated " the first Tuesday in April, 1801," and 

 record the election of the following town officers, at a meet- 

 ing held at the house of Benjamin Crosby, in what is now 

 the town of Hornellsville : Supervisor, Uriah Stephens ; 

 Town Clerk, Joseph A. Bathbun ; Assessors, Obediah 

 Ayers, Bichard Crosby, Nathan Hallett ; Collector, Samuel 

 Hallett, Jr. ; Overseers of the Poor, James Hadley, Nathan 

 Hallett; Commissioners of Highways, Matthew McHenry, 

 Daniel Upson, Joseph Purdy; Constables, Samuel Hallett, 

 Jr., Samuel Van Campen, Joel Atherton ; Overseers of 

 Highways, Christopher Hurlbut, George Hornell, Obediah 

 Ayers, Joseph Coleman, Benjamin Crosby, Samuel Agnew, 

 William Stephens, Benjamin Kenyon, and Samuel Hallett, 

 Sr. ; Fence-Viewers, George Hornell, Uriah Stephens, and 

 Moses Van Campen.* 



* As Moses Van Campen once held the humble office of fence-viewer 

 in the town of Canisteo, and resided for many years in Dansvrile, 

 formerly included in this town, the writer cannot forbear making a 

 note here respecting him. 



At the commencement of the Revolutionary war, Moses Van Cam- 

 pen resided in Northumberland, Pa. With most of the young men 

 of that patriotic village, he joined the militia, and being stationed on 

 the frontier, engaged in many perilous enterprises against the In- 

 dians. He was selected during Sullivan's campaign to take charge 

 of several important and dangerous scouting movements, suffered the 

 greatest fatigues and engaged in the most dangerous services. About 

 one year after the campaign he was taken prisoner by a party of 10 

 Seneca warriors, who had been sent by the British to make an attack 

 in the Minsink settlements. The father of Maj. Van Campen was 

 thrust through with a spear; and while the red warrior stood with 

 his foot on the breast of his victim, endeavoring to extricate his spear, 

 another savage dashed out the brains of Moses Van Campen's brother 

 with a tomahawk, and was aiming a blow at his own head. He seized 

 the Indian's arm and arrested the descending blow. While thus en- 

 gaged his father's murderer thrust the spear at his side; but he avoided 

 the weapon, being only slightly wounded. At this moment the chief 

 interfered and his life was spared. He was taken as a prisoner to 

 near Tioga Point, and in the night, wh( n the ten warriors were asleep, 

 he and his two companions. Pence and Pike, secured the rifles, and 

 falling upon their captors, slew all but one, and made their escape. 

 An account of this terrible scene, and the marvelous heroism and 

 daring of Van Campen, is found in the " Life of Brant," Vol. 2, p. 59. 

 See also "Memoirs of Van Campen," by John Niles Hubbard, of 

 Dansville, a grandson of Maj. Van Campen. 



About two years afterwards Van Campen was again taken prisoner 

 and carried by the Indians to a town on the Allegany, the residence 

 of Cornplanter. Here he was saved by Captain Jones, who had been 

 adopted into the tribe, and who, when they were discussing the ques- 



The supervisors of the town of Canisteo up to 1822 were 

 as follows : Uriah Stepliens, 1801-10 ; William Hyde, 1811 ; 

 William Stephens, 1812 ; Christopher Hurlbut, 1813-15 ; 

 Uriah Stephens, 1815-19 ; Thomas Bennett, 1820-22. 



In 1801, Christopher Hurlbut and Jedediah Stephens 

 each took " licenses to keep public inns," for which each 

 paid the sum of $5. 



May 4, 1802, Christopher Hurlbut, George Hornell, and 

 Jedediah Stephens were each licensed to keep public inns, 

 paying into the treasury of the town $5 each. In 1803 

 the same persons were licensed to " keep public inns," with 

 the addition of two more, viz., James McBurney and John 

 Hunter, making five in all, and here the record for licenses 

 stops. The early settlers now living will, we think, sustain 

 the assertion that the first three years of this county gave 

 Canisteo model men for " innkeepers." 



In 1807, George Hornell received 83 votes for member 

 of Assembly, and George McClure received 19 votes for 

 the same ofiice. At the same election Daiiiel D. Tompkins 

 (for governor) received 12 votes, and Morgan Lewis 26 

 votes for the same office. 



In 1807 the bounty on wolves' and panthers' scalps was 

 $3. In 1808 it was raised to $5, and was again reduced 

 to $2, to be paid only to the inhabitants of the town. In 

 1810 it was raised to $3, '' to be given only to the inhabi- 

 tants of the town," showing pretty plainly that " outsiders" 

 had been practicing a sharp game on Canisteo. 



Among the curiosities of the early records of Canisteo we 

 find the following : 



" I do hereby certify that I have a black male child, born of my 

 slave Milly (named Milo), on the 17th day of November, 1811. Wit- 

 ness my hand this 15th day of April, 1812. 



" George Hornell." 



Also this, — 



" I do hereby certify that I have a mulatto male child, born of my 

 slave Lucy (named Rob), on the 19th day of November, 1809. Wit- 

 ness my hand. James McBurney.'' 



And this, too, — 



*'I do hereby certify that 1 have a mulatto male child, born of my 

 slave Lucy, on the 15th day of November, 1811 (named Dick), as wit- 

 ness my hand. James McBurney." 



At a special town-meeting held at the house of William 

 Mulhollen, in December, 1818, for the purpose of voting 

 on a division of the town, a majority of 6 votes was against 

 the division. In 1819 the same measure was carried by 35 

 majority, and in pursuance thereof the town of Hornells- 

 ville was erected from Canisteo, April 1, 1820. 



tion of his life or death, with a single bound leaped over the Indians 

 and stood in the circle. His life was saved, and he was sent with other 

 prisoners to Niagara. After his settlement in this county, Mohawk, 

 the escaped Indian from the slaughter of the ten warriors, often visited 

 him, and the two laughed over that fearful night in the forest. Van 

 Campen is described thus by a writer in 1842 : " He is now nearly 

 eighty-five years old, and is still healthy and vigorous. His memory 

 is unusually retentive and his mind remarkably active. Indeed, I 

 have seldom met a man at his age who possessed so much intelligence, 

 activity, and uniform urbanity. I have before me two letters written 

 by him during the past week, which show that his hand trembles not, 

 and that his mind has not yet begun to fail." For these letters, see 

 a little volume entitled '' Notices of the Sullivan Campaign and other 

 Documents," pijblisiaed in Rochester in 1842. 



