310 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



son, and Joseph Hood, of Yates County, father of U. D. 

 Hood, of Corning, finished a log house, which had been 

 partially built and abandoned, on the site of the present 

 village near the bridge. James Thompson came in 1824. 

 Mrs. Thompson was a cousin of Mrs. Carpenter, both 

 families coming from Orange County. 



In 1828, James Howell and John Martin joined the 

 settlement. In 1825, William Allison, father of Richard 

 F. Allison, of Hartsville, and Mortimer, Lawrence, Isaac, 

 and Oscar Allison, of Canisteo, a native of Orange County, 

 moved from Horseheads and settled north of Mr. Carpenter, 

 who shared his house with him until he could build. This 

 was a common hospitality among the early settlers. Casper 

 Yan Buskirk built a log house near by and moved in the 

 next spring. The country had become so settled at this 

 time that Mr. Carpenter ventured to bring in some goods 

 and open a store, the first in the town, at his residence. A 

 log school-house was built on his land the same season, and 

 Z. A. Purdy, daughter of Joseph Purdy, taught the first 

 school in the town. In 1827, Mr. Carpenter built the first 

 saw-mill in the town, on his place. Daniel P. Carpenter 

 was one of the most prominent men of his time, and did 

 much to advance the settlement of his town. He became 

 interested in the land-ofiice, and, in connection with his 

 other business, conducted an ashery for some years. Be- 

 fore the organization of the town of Hartsville, the first 

 election for this part of the old town of Hornellsville was 

 held at his house. The men came on horseback to vote, 

 and all the women in the neighborhood came to assist in 

 cooking their dinner, which was a free lunch on a grand 

 scale ; roast pig forming the central attraction, around which 

 revolved numerous wholesome dishes, with a profusion of 

 pumpkin-pie, piled high on plates, for dessert. Twenty 

 guests came from Hornellsville, and numerous others from 

 Almond. On removing the plates many silver coins were 

 found by the girls, where they had been deposited by the 

 grateful guests. Elections were held seven years at Mr. 

 Carpenter's. 



Robert G. Martin built a mill where R. F. Allison's 

 mill stands, in 1832. Wm. Allison built another soon 

 after ; Mr. Whiting built one two miles above, Asher and 

 Whiting between, and near the bridge a stave- and shingle- 

 mill was built. All were running until about 1855, when 

 the stock of timber be^^an to "ive out. and the clearint*- 



CD CD J t5 



made the season for running water-mills much shorter by 

 drying up the streams. R. F. Allison put up the first 

 steam-power in the town. 



John Hood, an officer in the war of 1812, came from 

 Bellona, Yates Co., in 1826, and settled on the hill near 

 the Allison place. Soon after he organized a company of 

 militia under Col. Amasa Thatcher, and was made captain. 

 Nathan Williams was lieutenant, Oliver Coon, ensign ; and 

 Ferris Clawson, first sergeant. Joseph Lawson, Henry 

 and Adam Acker, Silas Palmeter, Wm. Allison, Robert 

 Martin, Hiram and George Powell, Elisha and Perry Potter, 

 were members of the company, which used to assemble at 

 Carpenter's to train. Charles N. Hart, who gave his name 

 to the town, James Clawson, Benjamin S. and John Van 

 Buskirk, and William Allison, were the leading business 

 men of the town. After the lumbering ceased, farming re- 



ceived more general attention, and dairying became a lead- 

 ing industry. 



The principal cheese-factory, on Purdy Creek, has manu- 

 factured upwards of $10,000 worth of fine cheese during 

 the past season, and another large factory is in successful 

 operation in the northwestern part of the town. 



When Jacob Yickers came to Hartsville in 1855 there 

 was no store in the town. An efibrt was made several 

 times, but the country was not sufficiently developed to 

 support a local store until 1868, when J. D. Russell began 

 the present business, which has been continued by Mr. 

 Yickers. 



Joseph Henry opened the Centre House, in Hartsville, 

 in 1851. The business was first located at the present 

 cheese-factory, a mile above the present village, and was 

 changed to the present locality in 1853. The post-office 

 was first at Charles N. Hart's residence, between Hartsville 

 Centre and Canisteo. The land is all taken from the land- 

 office. The last lot near Hartsville Centre was sold for 75 

 cents per acre at private sale. 



On the hill in the southwest part of the town, Simeon 



Baker settled with his three sons, James, Ephraim, and 



Simeon, Jr. Robert Hemphill, a native of New Hampshire, 



settled on the top of the dividing ridge east of Hartsville 



Centre, the highest land in the north part of the town, in 



1835, where his son, George W. Hemphill, now resides. 



Benjamin and David Cook were early settlers on this ridge 



toward the valley east, where they went to have their bread 



baked by the Carpenter girls while clearing their farms and 



erecting their cabins. Oliver, Jonathan, and Solomon Pet- 



tibone settled near the Hemphill place in 1832. Mrs. 



Isaac Burdick, Jr., came from Allegany County, in 1826. 



Hiram P. Burdick, the present pastor of the Seventh-Day 



Church, and popular temperance worker, then a lad of ten 



years, was the oldest of her family. William D. Burdick 



was a brother of Mrs. Isaac Burdick, Jr., and married a 



sister of Isaac Burdick, Jr. 



From the high land to the west of Mr. Hemphill's may 

 be seen a fine scope of country to the west. Just off the 

 highest ridge is the Seventh-Day Baptist church, and a 

 few rods below is the residence of Rev. H. P. Burdick, the 

 well-known temperance worker, and one of the leading men 

 of that part of the county, who says, with pride, that Harts- 

 ville has never granted a license to sell strong drink. Just 

 beyond, is the oldest cheese-factory in the town. To the 

 east, a point of high land extends northw^ard like a gigantic 

 wall, while to the north the view extends to Fremont and 

 the hills about Bath. To the west, across the deep, narrow 

 valley which heads near by, Lewis Clark, father of the pres- 

 ent Lewis Clark, built his pioneer cabin and raised his 

 family. Near by, the land slopes smoothly to the north 

 for a quarter of a mile, when it descends rapidly into the 

 deep, narrow valley of Crosby Creek. A mile below in the 

 valley, near the line of Hornellsville, lives Capt. John Hood, 

 the oldest of the living pioneers of Hartsville. 



The low, sloping hill-sides on each side of the little 

 village of Hartsville Centre are covered with well-tilled 

 farms, an occasional sugar-bush intervening, and the vil- 

 lage has a quiet, old appearance, which is enhanced by 

 the numerous stone fences and an occasional old-fashioned 



