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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



In 1806, Hall & Ellsworth, of Geneseo, sent down an 

 ark, loaded with 300 barrels of me^s pork, a large quantity 

 of cheese, and a great number of dried venison haras. 

 Jonathan Cory went down with this load, and he says they 

 lived high. 



Thus things went on swimmingly till the Erie Canal was 

 built, and the tide of transportation turned through that 

 channel to the Eastern seaboard. 



The year following Judge Hurlbut's settlement in Ark- 

 port, Nathan Cory, from Corytown, in the Wyoming Valley, 

 came in with a large family of boys, — Johnson, Eleazer, 

 Adam, William, and Christopher. Nathan Cory purchased 

 about 100 acres of choice land at the head of the valley, 

 on which his son Johnson built a large tavern-house, whicl\ 

 he kept thirty-eight years. Eleazer Cory taught the first 

 district school here in the winter of 1798, and about the 

 same time Miss Abigail Hurlbut, assisted by her sister, 

 Mrs. Taggart, established the first Sunday-school, in a pine 

 grove, using large scoring-blocks for seats, and afterwards 

 holding it in the saw-mill. It is pleasing to be able to say 

 that these schools have been well sustained ever since. 



The same year Stephen Webb, father of Stephen and 

 Shepard Webb, settled on the farm now owned by William 

 Harrison. After clearing this farm he went to No. 4, now 

 Almond, and built a grist-mill on the site of the Evan Davis 

 mill. He afterwards exchanged his mill for a farm in Ark- 

 port, where he resided till his death in 1831. 



In 1798, Joel Atherton built a house on the west side of 

 Main Street, about forty rods north of the residence of Mr. 

 Potts, and was the first blacksmith in the place. Here he 

 dug a well and " stoned it up with cord-wood." 



In 1802 came William Hyde, father of Col. Avery Hyde, 

 Ira Hyde, deceased, Mrs. Christopher Doty, and Mrs. 

 Thomas Major. He moved from Nanticoke, below Wilkes- 

 barre, and settled on the hill just north of the burying- 

 ground. Willis Hyde was the first justice of the peace ap- 

 pointed, and held the ofiice till his death in 1823. 



James Cleveland, in 1802, settled on the farm where 

 Selah Van Scoter resides, then called Mill Town, and 

 cleared 20 acres. The same year, Col. Williamson, of 

 Bath, built a saw-mill on Mill Creek, near Mr. Cleveland's. 

 At this time John P. Ryerss was living at Arkport, sell- 

 ing goods from the old store-house, and James Taggart, of 

 Northumberland, Pa., was his clerk. They sold salt at 

 $10 a barrel and coarse factory-cotton at 50 cts. a yard. 

 Mr. Ryerss bought at the land-office 1300 acres of choice 

 land, directly south of Judge Hurlbut's residence and in- 

 cluding the farms of Elias Ayres and Selah Van Scoter. 



At the death of Mr. Hyde, James Cleveland was ap- 

 pointed justice of the peace, and held the office until the 

 election of John Pitts by the people. 



John Pitts came about 1810. Silas Stephens settled on 

 the Ayers farm about the same time. Elias Van Scoter, 

 father of Philip and Selah Van Scoter, came in 1802; 

 Capt. Abbott, in 1804 ; Willis Hyde, 1812. He settled 

 north of Arkport, adjoining the marsh, where he built a 

 large frame house and bade fair to enjoy a full share of 

 worldly prosperity; but in twenty years eleven of that once 

 happy family lay side by side in the grave, with both father 

 and mother at the head. 



William Sharp, formerly of Staten Island, with a family 

 of twelve children, settled in Arkport, in July, 1812, and 

 soon after purchased the Babcock farm, on the Dansville 

 Road, and lived there nearly thirty years. His son Wil- 

 liam made the first cabinet-work in the town, in 1814. 



As early as 1798, Rev. Andrew Gray preached regularly 

 at Alfred, Almond, Arkport, and Dansville. Mrs. McCoy 

 —mother of James McCurdy, and living on the place occu- 

 pied by him — was Rev. Mr. Gray's nearest neighbor on the 

 north, and Judge Hornell on the south. Mrs. McCoy, it 

 is said, used to think nothing of walking from Dansville 

 over to Arkport after the breakfast-dishes were washed, 

 making a good visit and returning in time to get supper 

 for the men. She always used to come "light-footed," as 

 she called it, that is, barefooted. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE HILLS. 



The earliest settlements were chiefly, if not exclusively, 

 in the valleys of the streams, and not till within compara- 

 tively few years — since the pines have become scarce and 

 inferior — have the uplands been occupied exclusively, or 

 even generally, for agricultural purposes. But within these 

 few years wonderful improvements have been made. The 

 smoke of the many burning fallows has not been made in 

 vain. All the hills surrounding the village have been 

 thickly settled, and their improvements form a large part 

 of the wealth and prosperity of the town. 



The settlement known as Wellever Hill is situated south- 

 east upon the dividing ridge between this town and Harts- 

 ville. The soil on the hill is excellent both for grain and 

 grass, and no better wheat land is to be found in W^estern 

 New York. The first settler of this neighborhood was Mr. 

 Cahran. He moved here over fifty years ago and cleared 

 a farm, and was followed soon after by David Wellever, the 

 father of four townsmen of that name, who came from 

 Lycoming Co., Pa. After him came Andrew Hendershott, 

 Samuel Hathaway, Peter Best, John Meeks, and James 

 Spencer. Alanson Stephens made a fine clearing on the 

 hill overlooking the village. The settlers have good houses, 

 and the district to which they belong has a good school. 

 The settlement is rapidly increasing in agriculture, and 

 some have devoted considerable attention to wool-growing. 

 Leaving Wellever Hill we come to Crosby Creek, where 

 we find a snug neighborhood of farmers. Those familiar 

 with this region twenty-five years ago, will be astonished 

 at the change that has taken place. Among the earliest 

 settlers on the creek were Leonard Drake, Jerry Davis, 

 Wm. D. Burdick, Richard Peterson, Samuel and Thomas 

 Burnett, Asa Whitford, Isaiah Bartlett, and Elisha Potter ; 

 and in later years, John Stone, John Cleveland, Abraham 

 Whitford, Samuel Olin, Edwin G. Burdick, Samuel and 

 George Cobb, and the Wheelers. There are many fine 

 farms, two saw-mills a short distance up the valley, erected 

 by N. B. Haskell. 



Pennsylvania Hill embraces a large tract of country on 

 the table-land northwest of the village, and contains some 

 of the best farms in the town. Among the oldest inhabi- 

 tants were James Dildine, James McMichael, William 

 . Emery, A. Sutton, Daniel Sutton, Ira Hyde, and Gilbert 

 Wright. 



