254 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



ient village accordingly. It became a place of much activ- 

 ity and attracted many enterprising men. Philo P. Hubbell 

 kept here a large hotel ; Fidelis Fermbaugh had a large 

 saddle- and harness-shop ; Z. F. AVilder carried on an ex- 

 tensive blacksmith-shop ; John Arnot and H. H . Mathews 

 built a store ; Mr. Charles L. Mills and Charles E. Osborne 

 carried on mercantile business. It was at Centreville that 

 the late Judge Thomas A. Johnson began his legal career, 

 which brought him afterwards such high honors and dis- 

 tinction. 



The first school here was taught by Ansel J. McCall, 

 Esq., now of Bath. 



About the year 1824 the " old Mallory house" was built. 

 For the time and general condition of the country it was 

 something palatial. The spectacle it now presents of dilapi- 

 dation and age is an eloquent reminder of those simple days 

 when luxury was the exception and masculine severity in 

 habits and morals the rule of life. In a wing of this house 

 the " Bank of Corning" was first located after its establish- 

 ment in 1839. 



CHEMUNG CANAL. 



This region had now become extensively known as a lum- 

 ber district, the quantity and quality of which made it 

 famous. By means of rafts and arks the lumber had been 

 floated down the Chemung and Susquehanna Rivers to the 

 Chesapeake Bay, where a market was found for it in Balti- 

 more, Philadelphia, and Wilmington, as well as at the larger 

 towns accessible along the shores of the Susquehanna. The 

 only outlet to the Eastern seaboard being through these 

 rivers, the markets to which they led were consequently 

 arbitrary and unreliable. Albany and New York needed 

 the surplus products of this region, but these cities were 

 inaccessible. The Erie Canal was completed in 1825, and 

 although this great avenue of commerce was opened, its 

 distance of seventy-five miles north made transportation over 

 the hills to reach it exceed all prospective profits. This dis- 

 advantage was removed by the construction of the Chemung 

 Canal, which placed Corning at the head of inland naviga- 

 tion, communicating with the Hudson and the Atlantic 

 Ocean. It necessarily became the shipping-point for all the 

 products of this fertile country ; and it is to this fact that 

 Corning owes its growth and prosperity. The bill for the 

 construction of the canal passed April 15, 1829 ; the work 

 was completed in 1833. A State dam was thrown across 

 the Chemung River at the lower end of the corporation of 

 Corning, and a canal feeder constructed a distance of fifteen 

 miles to Horseheads in Chemung County. 



ORGANIZATION. 

 Corning was originally part of the old town of Painted 

 Post, which was organized as a town of Ontario County in 

 1793, and embraced all the territory from the eastern boun- 

 dary of what is now Steuben Xlounty to the west line of 

 Addison. When Steuben Couaty was erected, in 1796, 

 Painted Post was narrowed in its dimensions, and made 

 one of the original towns of the county, comprising the 

 territory now embraced in the six towns of Hornby, Camp- 

 bell, Erwin, Lindley, Canton, and Corning. The first di- 

 vision of the town occurred in 182G, when Erwin and 

 Hornby (embracing Campbell and Lindley) were set off. 



leaving Painted Post reduced to two townships, number one 

 and two in the first range, or Canton and Corning. Canton 

 was taken ofi" in 1839, leaving the town of Painted Post 

 reduced to one township, viz.. Corning, which it remained 

 till March 31, 1852, when its name was changed to Corn- 

 ing. We give below the civil list of Corning only from 

 this date, as the history of the old town of Painted Post — 

 including its officers — is given in connection with that of 

 the town of Erwin, in which the village of Painted Post 

 is now situated. 



LIST OF TOWN OFFICERS. 



1852. 

 1853. 

 1854. 

 1855. 

 1856. 

 1857. 

 1858. 

 1859. 

 1860. 

 1861. 

 1862. 

 1863. 

 1864. 

 1865. 

 1866. 

 1867. 

 1868. 

 1869. 

 1870. 

 1871. 

 1872. 

 1873. 

 1874. 

 1875. 

 1876. 

 1877. 

 1878. 



1850. 



1851. 

 1852. 

 1853. 

 1854. 



1855. 

 1856. 



1857. 

 1858. 



1859. 

 1860. 

 1861. 



1862. 



Supervisors. 

 Wm. Irvine. 

 Simeon Hammond. 

 John Maynard. 

 Charles Packer. 

 B. P. Bailey. 

 Stephen F. Hayt. 

 Chas. C. B. Walker. 

 Stephen T. Hayt. 



Nelson Cowan. 



if (( 



Henry Goff. 



a a 



John Yischer. 

 Austin Lathrop, Jr. 



Town Clerks. 

 Chas. C. B. Walker. 

 George Thompson. 



Wm. W. Bobinson. 



Henry T. Mclntire. 

 James K. Newell. 

 Edwd. T. Robinson. 



George W. Fuller. 

 Edwd. E. Robinson. 



a il 



Jacob H. Wolcott. 



il II 



G. G. Hallenbeck. 



a il 



i: II 



Collectors. 

 Theodore J. Steele. 

 Simeon Van Etten. 

 Jonathan S. Belknap. 



Wm. A. Spencer. 



il II 



Benj, C. Wilson. 

 David S. Powers. 



Nelson Cowan. 



0. J. Robinson. 

 Jas. C. Mcintosh. 

 0. J. Robinson. 

 Calvin W. Smith. 

 Wm. E. Vanderhoff. 

 J. M. Johnson. 



JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 



E. J. Mallory. 



David S. Powers. 

 a a 



Edward R. Hatch. 



It II 



Edward Clisdell. 

 George Hitchcock. 

 Benj. C. Wilson. 

 Louis D. Stone. 

 Benj. F. Edgar. 

 John Cowley. 

 G. P. Miller. 

 G. W. Hallenbeck. 

 David S. Powers. 

 Levi Cowley. 

 R. A. Benham. 

 M. T. Inscho. 

 Frank P. Rease. 



Josiah Weeks. 

 Daniel F. Brown. 

 George N. Middlebrook. 

 Butler S. Wolcott. 

 Charles H. Thomson. 

 Daniel F. Brown. 

 Isaac Gray. 

 Dexter Davis. 

 David L. Johns. 

 Oliver Peak. 

 Z. Lewis Webb. 

 Rufus Arnold. 

 James S. Robinson. 

 Rufus Arnold. 

 Plina A. Rouse. 

 Orrin Dodge. 

 M. F. Cooper. 

 J. M. Smith. 

 James S. Robinson. 



1863. 



1864. 



1865. 

 1866. 

 1867. 

 1868. 

 1870. 

 1871. 

 1872. 

 1873. 

 1874. 

 1875. 

 1876. 

 1877. 

 1878. 



Emerson G. Edgar. 

 Jeremiah D. Quackenbush. 

 David Lane. 

 W. A. Spencer. 

 A. T. Payne. 

 F. A. AVilliams. 

 John James. 

 James S. Robinson. 

 William A. Spencer. 

 Henry Goff. 

 James S. Robinson. 

 William A. Spencer. 

 George Hitchcock. 

 Henry Goff. 

 James S. Robinson. 

 Grove P. Miller. 

 George Hitchcock. 

 Peter W. Calkins. 



VILLAGE OF COKIl^ING. 



Just fifty years ago, when the bill for the construction of 

 the Chemung Canal was being discussed in the Legislature 

 at Albany, and soon after Col. Samuel Young, of Saratoga, 

 had made his adverse report in relation to it, Capt. Vincent 

 Conklin, of Horseheads, took his team, and with great 

 difficulty reached Blossburg, and procured a load of the 

 Blossburg coal, and had it conveyed to Albany, to satisfy 



