HOKN^BLLSVILLE. 



GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION. 



The town of Hornellsville is situated near the centre of 

 the west border of the county, and is bounded north by 

 Dansville and Fremont, east by Howard and Canisteo, south 

 by Hartsville, and west by Allegany County. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The Canisteo River, forming a rich valley from one to 

 two miles in width, passes through this town from north- 

 west to southeast, dividing it into two nearly equal upland 

 sections, and affording a fine variety of landscape. The 

 hills which border tliis valley are in some places steep and 

 precipitous, but generally they rise gradually to a height of 

 four or five hundred feet, and sweep away into a broad and 

 undulating table-land of rich farming country. In some 

 places this table-land is broken or divided into rounded hills 

 by the smaller streams which flow into the Canisteo. The 

 principal of these are the Canacadea and Crosley Creeks, 

 entering the Canisteo from the south and southeast. The 

 soil generally is a clayey and gravelly loam. 



ORIGINAL PURCHASE. 



In 6 Cowen's Reports, pages 707, 708, etc., we find 

 the following history of the original purchase of Canisteo 

 and Hornellsville : 



" In the early part of 1789 a number of persons came 

 into the western part of the State to buy land. In order 

 to purchase cheaper and on better terms, they formed a 

 company consisting of twelve persons, and Solomon Ben- 

 nett and Elisha Brown, two of the associates, were selected 

 to go to Oliver Phelps and make a purchase for the com- 

 pany. In pursuance of such authority, they went, and 

 entered into contract Aug. 8, 1798. The purchase was 

 approved by the company, and soon after Arthur Erwin, 

 Solomon Bennett, and Joel Thomas were deputed by the 

 company to go to Canandaigua, where Phelps resided, to 

 complete the purchase. They accordingly went, and took 

 a deed for township 3, 5th range (Canisteo), and township 

 3, 6th range (Hartsville). Uriah Stephens was made a 

 party to the deed at the request of Phelps, and afterwards 

 signed the notes which were given for the consideration 

 money. 



" It was soon discovered that the Canisteo Flats, which 

 the company wished to purchase, were not covered by these 

 lots, but were covered by township 3, 5th range (Canisteo), 

 and township 4, 6th range (Hornellsville). Erwin, Ben- 

 nett, Thomas, and Stephens, accordingly, went to Canan- 

 daigua in September, 1790, to get a deed for their town- 

 ships and to deliver up the former one. Phelps agreed to 

 give them a new deed, provided they would consent to strike 

 one-half mile by six from each township, so as to make 

 318 



them five and a half by six miles. As considerable im- 

 provement had been made on township 3, 5th range (Can- 

 isteo), it was agreed that, instead of taking one half-mile 

 from that township, one mile in width should be taken 

 from township 4, 6th range (Hornellsville), so as to have 

 township 3 (Canisteo) six miles square, and township 4 

 (Hornellsville) five miles by six. In pursuance of this ar- 

 rangement, a deed was executed Sept. 17, 1790, by Phelps 

 to Erwin, Bennett, Thomas, and Stephens, for the two 

 entire townships, and they, on the same day, reconvened 

 to him one mile by six of the west side of township 4, 6th 

 range (Hornellsville)." 



See 4 Wendell's Reports, pages 59, etc. 



DRAWING OF THE LOTS. 



The twelve lots into which the town of Hornellsville was 

 divided by the original proprietors were drawn as follows : 

 James Hadley, No. 1 ; John Jameson, No. 2 ; Arthur Er- 

 win, No. 3 ; Christian Kriss, No. 4 ; Joel Thomas, No. 5 ; 

 Uriah Stephens, Jr., No. 6 ; John Stephens, No. 7 ; Wm. 

 Wynkoop, No. 8 ; Uriah Stephens, Sr., No. 9 ; Solomon 

 Bennett, No. 10; Elisha Brown, No. 11; Solomon Ben- 

 nett, No. 12. 



EARLY SETTLEMENT. 



The first settlements were made in this town, then " Up- 

 per Canisteo," as early as 1793, by Judge Hornell and 

 others. Deacon Mowry Thacher, now living in Hornells- 

 ville, came into the town in 1810, from Troupsburgh, 

 where his father, Nathaniel Thacher, had settled in 1808. 

 Mr. Thacher knew all the settlers at that time in the 

 Canisteo Valley, from Addison to the village of Dansville, 

 and has given us in a series of " reminiscences" a collection 

 of valuable information not elsewhere attainable. He 

 entered this town (then Canisteo) at its eastern boundary, 

 and the first house, after passing an unbroken wilderness of 

 eighteen miles in extent, was that of Col. William Stephens, 

 familiarly known as '' Capt. Bill," who kept the most 

 famous tavern in all this region. Capt. Jameson lived in 

 a double log house, farther on, and the next was a hewed 

 log house on the bank of Bennett's Creek, the residence of 

 " that genial, good old man, John Stephens," who owned 

 all the beautiful flat extending across the entire valley, and 

 including the ancient Indian apple-tree, which is still stand- 

 ing. This tree measures nearly three feet in diameter, and 

 is probably more than a hundred years old. 



The next location was that of Nicholas Doughty, the 

 Dutch blacksmith, who " made hoes and pitchforks as 

 heavy as plowshares are now," in a little log shop by the 

 side of his log cabin. He was a kind-hearted, respectable 

 man, and, withal, a pretty shrewd trader. Of the large 



