TOWN OF ERWIN. 



287 



to the survey, '• While engaged in it we made our head- 

 quarters at Painted Post, on the Conhocton River, at the 

 house of old Mr. Harris and his son William. These two 

 men, Mr. Goodhue, who lived near by, and Mr. Mead, who 

 lived at the mouth of Mead's Creek, were the only persons 

 then on the territory we were surveying." It seems that 

 Mr. Harris did not become discouraged by the burning of 

 his establishment in the winter of 1787, but subsequently 

 returned and rebuilt his house, and had a comfortable place 

 for the entertainment of the surveyors in 1789. 



FIRST PURCHASE OF ERWIN. 



Early in the summer of 1789, while the surveyors w^ere yet 

 at work in this vicinity, Colonel Arthur Erwin, from Erwina, 

 Bucks Co., Pa., came to Painted Post with a drove of cattle, 

 which he was driving to Canandarque (now Canandaigua). 

 While resting his cattle here he employed an Indian guide, 

 mounted his pony, and explored the surrounding country. 

 The situation and scenery so delighted him that he resolved 

 at once upon purchasing a tract of land in this vicinity. On 

 his arrival at Canandaigua he proceeded immediately to the 

 office of Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, inquired if the land 

 was for sale, and made them an offer for the land, which is 

 now the town of Erwin. They were to take in part pay- 

 ment his drove of cattle, and the remainder was to be paid 

 in gold. The next morning the offer was accepted, and 

 within twenty-four hours after the deed was signed. Colonel 

 Eleazer Lindley arrived, and made an offer for the same 

 township. He, however, subsequently purchased the town 

 of Lindley. 



The first time the name of Painted Post appears in any 

 record or legal document is in the deed of conveyance to 

 Colonel Arthur Erwin, which we here copy as a matter of 

 curious interest to the reader. It is undoubtedly the oldest 

 deed in Steuben County. 



THE BEKD. 



" To all persona to ichom fhese presents shall come, greeting : Know 

 ye, that I, Oliver Phelps, now of Canandarque, county of Ontario, and 

 State of New York, Esquire, for and in consideration of the sum of 

 £1400 lawful money of the State of New York, to me in hand paid 

 before the ensealing hereof, by Arthur Arwin, of Bucks County, State 

 of Pennsylvania, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, and 

 am fully satisfied, contented, and paid, have given, granted, bar- 

 gained, sold, aliened, released, conveyed, and confirmed, and by these 

 presents do freely, clearly, and absolutely give, grant, bargain, sell, 

 alien, release, convey, and confirm unto him, the said Arthur Arwin, 

 his heirs and assigns forever, the certain piece or parcel of land lying 

 in the county of Ontario, in the said State of New York, being town- 

 ship No. 2, in the second range of towns, being north of Pennsylvania 

 line, and six miles west of Massachusetts pre-emption, being six miles 

 square, containing 23,040 acres, known by the name of Painted Post, 

 to have and to hold the before-granted premises, Avith the appurten- 

 ances and privileges thereunto belonging, to him, the said Arthur 

 Arwin, his heirs and assigns, to him and his own proper use, benefit, 

 and behoof forever more. And I, the said Oliver Phelps, do bind 

 myself, my heirs, and executors, and administrators do covenant, 

 promise, and grant unto and with the said Arthur Arwin, his heirs 

 and assigns forever, that before and until the ensealing hereof, I am 

 the true, sole, proper, and lawful owner and possessor of the before- 

 granted premises, with the appurtenances, and have in myself good 

 right, full power, and lawful authority to give, grant, bargain, sell, 

 alien, release, convey, and confirm the same, as aforesaid, and that 

 free and clear, and freely and clearly executed, acquitted and dis- 

 charged of and from all former and other gifts, grants, and bargains, 

 sales, leases, mortgages, wills, entails, jointures, doweries, thirds, exe- 



cutions, and encumbrances whatsoever. And furthermore, I, the said 

 Oliver Phelps, for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, do 

 hereby covenant, promise, and engage the before-granted premises, 

 with the appurtenances, unto him, the said Arthur Arwin, his heirs 

 and assigns forever, to warrant, secure, and defend against the lawful 

 claims and demands of any person or persons whatsoever. 



" In loitness rvhereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 

 eighteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty- 

 nine. 



" Oliver Phelps. [l. s.] 



*' Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of 



'' Amos Hall, 

 "John Cott." 



"This deed, and deed of confirmation, from Nathaniel Gorham, 

 were recorded at Albany, Feb. 9, 1792, by request of Joseph Erwin. 

 They were also recorded in the County Clerk's OSice at Bath, June 4, 

 1870, in Book of Deeds 128, pages 273-276." 



TOWN OF PAINTED POST. 

 ORIGIN OF THE NAME. 



The name "Painted Post" originated in the erection by 

 the Indians of a monument to the memory of the brave 

 Seneca chief, Capt. Montour, who died in the year 1779, 

 from wounds received at the battle of Freeling's EVt. 



"This account," says Mr. Chas. H. Erwin, "we get from 

 Mr. Taggart, a young man, who was at the time a prisoner 

 under the notorious Tory Capt. McDonald, and was present 

 at the burial." 



The celebrated Seneca chief, Cornplanter, being inter- 

 viewed by Capt. Samuel Adams, in 1833, said that "a 

 2:reat chief and brave was there taken sick and died, and 

 was buried under the shade of an elm, on the north side 

 near the mouth of the Conhocton River, and that he 

 (Cornplanter) was one of the council that placed over the 

 grave a post stained with the juice of wild berries to mark 

 the spot." 



The spot on which it stood, and remained standing for 

 many years after the first settlers came into the country, 

 was within a few feet of the northeast corner of the wagon- 

 shop of Messrs. Stout & Hurd, erected in the spring of 

 1860, and was repeatedly identified to persons now living 

 by such early settlers as Edmund C. Cooper, Capt. Samuel 

 and Francis Erwin, Robert Patterson, and Samuel Cook. 



For many years the " painted post" was a noted land- 

 mark throughout the frontier regions of Western New York 

 and Northern Pennsylvania. That it was a favorite haunt 

 of the red man long previous to its settlement by the whites, 

 is abundantly indicated by the great number of relics of 

 Indian occupation found scattered in and around the place. 

 Stone hatchets, flint arrow-heads, lance-points, pottery, mor- 

 tars, and many other mementos of the past, and curiosities 

 of the present, have here been gathered and preserved. 

 They are chiefly pre-historic, showing that the occupancy of 

 the Indians must have been at a period prior to their inter- 

 course with the whites, although at a later period it was un- 

 doubtedly a place of rendezvous for the wandering tribes and 

 war-parties passing back and forward through the country. 

 The fact that it was chosen as a burial-place of the chief, 

 Montour, shows that it must have been a place for which 

 the Indians entertained considerable ancestral reverence. 

 Since the white people have occupied the spot, it has not 



