TOWN OF DANSVILLE. 



279 



school-teacher, settled on the Beachville farm, occupied by 

 John P. Faulkner. Jared Root and his son, John Root, 

 settled near. 



William S. Lemen, from Harrisburg, Pa., settled in the 

 deep, narrow valley of Canaseraga Creek in the north, on 

 the first land surveyed in that portion of the town. His 

 son, James P. Lemen, who occupies the old homestead, was 

 born March 1, 1816. Mr. Lemen was the first white child 

 born in the town of Dansville. 



In the north part of the town, to the east of Stony Brook, 

 was originally a high sandy plain, covered with a light growth 

 of oak and yellow pine, which had been annually burned 

 over by the Indians to make a hunting-ground. When 

 the first settlers came there were about 1000 acres of this 

 so open it could be seen through, and nearly level, some of 

 the surrounding hills being also quite bare. These lands 

 had to be plowed for the first crop, and were soon aban- 

 doned by the first settlers as unfit for cultivation. This 

 land is still known as Sandy Hill. 



In 1816, Chauncey Day, father of Chauncey Day, — for 

 years proprietor of the only hotel in Rogersville, — a native 

 of Massachusetts, made the first settlement in that part of 

 the town. 



Of the first two settlers in the town who came in 1804, 

 Isaac Sterling was elected fence-viewer in 1805, whose 

 award was twenty-five cents a day for actual services, and 

 Samuel Gilson, overseer of highways, in March, 1806, 

 before there were any other inhabitants in its present 

 limits. 



The following interesting document was filed in the 

 clerk's ofiice of the town of Dansville, in 1811 : 



MANUMISSION FROM SLAVERY. 



^' Know all men by these presents, that I, Nathaniel Rochester, of 

 the town of Dansville, in the county of Steuben, and State of New 

 York, have, and by these presents do, manumit, and make free from 

 slavery, my negro slave named Benjamin, about sixteen years old, 

 and my negro slave named Casandra, about fourteen years old. In 

 testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 

 twenty-ninth day of January, 1811. 



(Copy.) "N. Rochester." [seal.] 



This was certified before John Metcalf, justice of the 



peace. 



The record of a sale on file in the same office, in 1814, 

 shows this property not to have been very valuable. Ann 

 Faulkner, of the town of Bath, sold '' all right, title, and 

 interest in a little negro girl named Julia, born of her 

 slave, Ann," in September, 1808, to James Faulkner, for 

 twenty dollars. 



In 1819, John Faulkner, a soldier of 1812, and a son of 

 Capt, Daniel P. Faulkner, and William Ferine, father of 

 H. W. Ferine, of Bath, moved into the maple-lands, a mile 

 south of the sand-lands. Of Mr. Faulkner's family of 

 eight children, the only one yet living is John P. Faulkner, 

 son of John Faulkner, and grandson of Daniel P. Faulk- 

 ner, after whom the town was named, a leading citizen of 

 the town, and principal occupant of the little hamlet of 

 Beachville. Rufus Stone was an early settler on Sandy 

 Hill. 



In those early days, it was impossible to get work by the 

 day, except around " old*' Dansville. All work among the 



settlers was done by " bees," from house-raising to harvesting. 

 The first barrel of salt brought into the north settlement 

 was paid for with fourteen bushels of oats, and the first 

 crop of wheat on the sand-hills was pulled up by the roots, 

 as being too short to reap, and the heads cut off* over a 

 stump with a broad-axe ! The name of " The Lamp-Blacks" 

 still clings to a portion of the old road through this part of 

 the town where, in 1824, stood a round kiln of upright 

 poles, daubed with mud on the outside, with a small open- 

 ing through which the operator crawled to pile his fat-pine 

 faggots for burning, or to scrape the lamp-black from the 

 sides after they were burned. Lime was burned at Rogers- 

 ville, and potash made everywhere. Charcoal was burned 

 at $4 a hundred weight, for the use of the blacksmiths, while 

 " three shillings" (371 cents) a day was paid for chopping 

 the wood. If pork enough was raised to last until sugar 

 came, in the spring, the people were happy. Among the 

 early recreations pursued by the boys might be mentioned 

 killing rattlesnakes on the " Old Brail farm," hunting wild- 

 cats, to see them fight the dogs, or " cooning." Raccoons 

 were plenty, and not every family of boys could boast even 

 a flint-lock relic of the old war, yet, with axe, and dogs, 

 and pine torch, the dangerous sport was eagerly pursued by 

 boys who are the gray-haired grandfathers of to-day. The 

 last bear was killed by " Uncle Charley" Tripp between 

 Rogersville and Loon Lake, in 1846, while quietly feasting 

 upon corn in a farmer's garden. 



The original settlers in Sandy Hill and its vicinity have 

 given place to an industrious German population, from 

 Prussia, on the Rhine, who have made of it the most valu- 

 able portion of the town. Among their leading men are 

 Alexander Leib, John Hayt, Alexander Green, Jacob 

 Kurtz, and Jacob Kurtz, Jr. 



The patriarch of Sandy Hill was John Brail, a spare, 

 genial old man, his form bent with age, and his bald head 

 frint*-ed with snowy locks which fell upon his shoulders. 

 Everybody knew him as " Grandpap Brail," and every one 

 liked him. 



John Brail, who was born Jan. 28, 1771, migrated to the 

 flats below the village of Dansville, and in 1817 bought the 

 Brail farm, now owned by William Hall, and built a log 

 house, into which he moved with his family of seven chil- 

 dren, the same fall. His fireplace, occupying an entire end 

 of the house, was an inclosure of huge stones, resting upon 

 the ground. The chimney, commencing at the garret floor, 

 consisted of sticks, thoroughly plastered with mud, and ex- 

 tending just above the roof Great logs, which were shoved 

 in on rollers by the united eff'orts of the family, kept the 

 fire for six or eight days. Pitch-pine faggots furnished the 

 only light for years. His first clearing was made and sowed 

 to rye in the fall of 1817. The next year grain was scarce, 

 and as soon as this rye would do, a part of it was cut and 

 shelled by hand. They put it in an old-fashioned Dutch 

 oven and dried it for two days ; then took it to Opp's mill 

 to be ground. It being only half ripe and sticky, the mill- 

 stone clogged and stopped. The accommodating miller took 

 up the stone and gathered the grist, telling him he could 

 boil it like rice, and eat it with milk. 



Cows were scarce and expensive, but money would buy 

 a cow when it would not buy bread. He gave Jonathan 



