DA:tTSVILLE. 



OENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



This town was formed in March, 1796, and was named 

 from Daniel P. Faulkner, an early and influential citizen, 

 familiarly known as " Captain Dan." Parts of Cohocton 

 and Howard were taken oif in 1812, a part of Wayland in 

 1848, and Fremont in 1854. A portion of the town was 

 annexed to Sparta (Livingston County) in 1822, and a 

 part of Cohocton was reannexed April 26, 1834. Dans- 

 ville is the northern town upon the west border of the 

 county. Its surface is a rolling upland, divided into ridges 

 by the narrow valleys of the streams, which flow both north 

 and south into the two systems of waters which find their out- 

 let in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Chesapeake Bay. 

 The head-waters of the Canaseraga Creek, in this town, 

 flow north, and the Canisteo River south. The soil is 

 sandy and gravelly loam in the east and north, and gravel 

 underlaid by hard pan in the southwest. 



SETTLEMENT. 



Although the town of Dansville was formed in March, 

 1796, the portion containing the population at that time 

 was subsequently taken ofi", and that portion comprising the 

 present town was without an inhabitant previous to 1804, 

 at which time Isaac Sterling settled half a mile east of 

 Burns' Station, near the foot of the hill, on the old Ark- 

 port and Dansville road. Samuel Gilson settled next 

 north of Sterling the same season. At that time the road 

 ran along the foot of the east hill, avoiding a shallow lake 

 or marsh, which filled nearly the whole valley for a distance 

 of three miles. This body of water was covered with rank 

 grasses on the west, presenting the appearance of a beau- 

 tiful prairie, while to the westward a scraggy growth of 

 shrubs and swamp-ash joined the pine and maple which 

 lined the road. It was at the outlet of this body of water 

 that the " Arkport" of the early navigators was established, 

 and past the settlements of these early pioneers the growing 

 travel of Dansville lumbermen and wheat-growers found an 

 outlet. 



In 1806, Isaac Sterling opened the first tavern in the 

 town, which was succeeded by others until it was said 

 *' there was a tavern at every mile on the road, and the 

 woods were alive with the noisy ox-teamsters who hauled 

 staves to Arkport to sell for $1.50 a thousand, and drank 

 up the money on their way home." Settlement had so 

 increased in 1811 that a school was opened, and James 

 Jones, father of Philander S. Jones, postmaster and mer- 

 chant of Burns since 1845, was the first teacher. This 

 school was not far from Doty's Corners. In June, 1816, 

 James Jones was married to Miss Polly Shaw, his being 

 the first marriage in the town. Spencer B. Jones, their 

 son, occupies the old homestead near by. The Joneses were 

 278 



early settlers in this valley, four brothers, John, James, 

 Major, and Harry, coming from Pennsylvania. In the 

 north part of the town, on Stony Brook, is a narrow glen, 

 varying in width from 50 to 90 feet, and 200 feet deep, 

 down which the brook leaps in a succession of falls and cas- 

 cades, making a descent of 150 feet in a distance of 275 

 yards. Half a mile above this deep, dark glen, the first 

 saw-mill in the town, built by Rufus Fuller, was in opera- 

 tion in April, 1816. 



Mr. Fuller built a grist-mill just below the saw-mill, in 

 1820, taking the stones from Oak Hill. This grist-mill 

 was carried away by high water about 1823. 



A general settlement was made in 1816 in various parts 

 of the town. Among the first of these was Osgood Carle- 

 ton, father of Osgood W. Carleton, who came from Maine, 

 and settled on the State road, near Beechville, in 1815. 



In 1815, Jehial Gates came from Vermont and explored 

 the new country. The next year he was followed by a 

 number of families and young men from Addison and Rut- 

 land Counties, among whom were Charles Oliver, Joshua 

 Healy, Elisha and John Robinson, Joseph Phelps, Jesse 

 Bridge, Josiah Pond, Joseph Cobb, Martin Smith, New- 

 man Bell, Capt. John Bobbins, ''Put" Rich, Judge David 

 Demery, Jehial and his sons Gross and James Gates, Arad 

 Sheldon, Silas Brookins, Isaiah Goodeno, and Yenare Cook. 

 These people located in and around Beachville. Judge 

 Demery located south of " the corners," and his wife 

 cooked for some of the surrounding young men, who re- 

 turned in the winter and brought back their young wives 

 the next spring. 



Elisha Robinson, father of L. K. Robinson, of Dans- 

 ville, is still living on his first farm, at the age of eighty- 

 three. 



Charles Oliver, whose son is one of the leading men of 

 Rogersville, organized a company of militia for " Simeon 

 Bacon's Battalion" among his Vermont neighbors, and 

 was commissioned April 16, 1816. 



Jerome B. Phelps, now one of the oldest and most re- 

 spected men of Dansville, is a son of Joseph Phelps. 



A tavern was opened in this settlement in 1816, by Jesse 

 Churchill, in a large double log house, near the Bray ton 

 place, one-half mile east of Beachville, and the country 

 soon becoming settled, it was made for years a place of 

 general resort, — men meeting there Saturdays to end the 

 week in a general frolic, — pitching quoits, wrestling, running 

 horses, and liberally patronizing " the Deacon" — as Mr. 

 Churchill was called — until well into the coming week. 



Nathaniel and Thomas Brayton, brothers, came from 

 Washington Co. Philip, son of Thomas Brayton, lives on 

 the old homestead, near the first burying-ground. 



Tisdall Haskin and Timothy Atwood, surveyor and 



