840 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



churches maintain their identity, and are looking forward 

 to a more successful future. Sabbath-schools are well sup- 

 ported, and the call for charity is met with a zeal and 

 spirit that is commendable. The Methodist and Baptist 

 church property is worth about $3000 each. The Baptist 

 and Methodist Churches predominate, quite largely over 

 all other denominations of the town. In quite an early 

 day there was a colony of people of Irish and Scotch 

 descent, but mostly Irish, who settled in the southern part 

 of the town. Upon their arrival they took up lands near 

 together, and constituted a community by themselves ; the 

 vicinity in which they settled was called Dublin, and that 

 name is continued to this day. Most of those settlers took 

 up wild lands, but they possessed the spirit of enterprise, 

 and but a few years had elapsed before the whole aspect of 

 that section of the town was changed from a very wild 

 and rough state to green fields and fine dwellings. The 

 enterprise of that community was not excelled by any 

 other community or settlement of the town ; they brought 

 with them the customs and religion of their fatherland. 

 Soon after their settlement they erected a small Episcopal 

 church and a Presbyterian church, but the communicants 

 of the Episcopal church were but few, and stated services 

 in their little church did not continue long. 



The Presbyterian Church was of the Scotch or old-school 

 tenets, and is continued to this day. That little colony, 

 like all others, has felt the ravages of time, and most of the 

 old settlers have passed away, but tbeir descendants have 

 taken up the work where their fathers laid it down, except 

 that they have most, if not all, adopted the customs, usages, 

 and language of the adopted country; and to-day the line 

 of demarkation of the different nationalities is swept away, 

 and they are one people, each vying with the other in pro- 

 moting the best interest of the whole. 



Howard, until the projected railways from New York 

 City to Dunkirk and Buffalo were completed, was con- 

 sidered to be a place of some note, and no place for many 

 miles around had brighter prospects; for men of enter- 

 prise and good business abilities sought it as the coming 

 place, and for quite a number of years it was regarded 

 as one of the best business centres of the county, and 

 maintained its position as such until the shrill whistle of 

 the locomotive echoed and re-echoed through the valley and 

 over the hills. Then came a change ; the foresight of keen 

 business men saw that Hornellsville, then a little village of 

 but a few dwellings, not one-fourth as large as Howard, was 

 the coming mart for trade and trafiic. The business men 

 of Howard saw it ; then came an exodus. Among the first 

 were Col. Benton, James Alley, George Alley, Samuel Al- 

 ley, and others ; a few years later, Henry GofF, Asa Mc- 

 Connell & Sons ; and many others since then have sought 

 different points to engage in business. Yet a few remained, 

 and others have settled in Howard and accumulated a com- 

 petency for themselves and families. Among the most suc- 

 cessful in mercantile business since the Alleys left Howard 

 are Aaron McConnell, Henry Baldwin, Ira Lane, Abel N. 

 Brown, and Abel Higgins. Those in business at present 

 are Abel N. Brown, Abel R. Higgins. Ira Lane and Aaron 

 McConnell have retired from business, and H. Baldwin is 

 now deceased. 



PHYSICIANS. 



Of the medical profession, the pioneer physician of the 

 place was Dr. Baker, who settled in Howard some time in 

 1817. He was soon after followed by Dr. Levi S. Good- 

 rich, who brought Dr. Wixom with him. Dr. Abijah B. 

 Case settled in Howard some time in 1832. Dr. Robinson 

 and Dr. Runner came in soon after Dr. Case. Dr. Isaac 

 Rathburn commenced the practice of medicine in 1843. 

 Austin Baker practiced a few years and died in Howard. 

 Of the present practicing physicians there are four, — Drs. 

 Abijah B. Case, Isaac Rathbun, Reuben F. Parkhill, and 

 Dighton Case. The town of Howard has always had an 

 able corps of physicians, and ever after Dr. Case settled 

 there many students came from far and near to study med- 

 icine under his instructions; and of late years the offices of 

 A. B. Case and Dr. R. F. Parkhill have been well repre- 

 sented by medical students, and those who have studied 

 with them have usually made their mark in the world. 



ORGANIZATION. 



The town of Howard was erected from Bath and Dans- 

 ville, June 18, 1812, and the first town-meeting held in 

 April, 1813, at the residence or hotel of Simeon Bacon, 

 who then lived on the Daniel Hamilton farm. Local tra- 

 dition asserts that Thomas Bennett was elected the first 

 supervisor. It has been impossible to obtain a list of the 

 other town officers elected at that time, and indeed of the 

 town officers prior to 1823, as the town records before that 

 date have been lost or destroyed. We find, however, at 

 the county clerk's office, in Bath, a book of records con- 

 taining the oaths of office of certain town officers, from 

 which we take the following list of supervisors and collectors 

 for the years named : 



Supervisors. Collectors. 



1823 Israel Baldwin. Rufus Halsey. 



1824 Daniel N. Bennett. " " 



1825 " " Alfred Rathbun. 



1826 William Goff. Artemas M. Leigh. 



1827 " " " " 



1828 Green Hern. John L. Robards. 



1829 '' " " " 



1830 Daniel N. Bennett. '* " 



1831 " " Philip Bennett. 



1832 H. N. Rathbun. Jason Ranger. 



1833 John W. Whiting. " " 



1834 " 



1835 William GofF. Ebenezer Bullock. 



1836 " 



1837 Issachar Goodrich. " " 



1838 C. E. Beldin. John R. Parkhill. 



1839 *' " " " 



1840 James Alley. " " 



1841 '^ " Hiram B. Burleson. 



1842 " 



1843 Asa McConnell. " " 



1844 John Hamilton. A. R. Stephens. 



1845. " " Ira Lane. 



1846 D. N. Bennett. B. S. McConnell. 



1847 " " *' " 



1848 Joseph I. Burnham. " " 



1849 Ira Lane. Alexander Jones. 



1850 '' " 



1851 '. Ansel House. Ezekiel Rice, Jr. 



1852 Alkali Bennett. Anson E. Green. 



1853 " " John Preston. 



1854 Ansel House. Warren W. GofF. 



1855 Moses S. Bennett. '^ " 



1856 " " John Martin. 



1857 Alonzo Graves. *' " 



1858 " " Lewis Hamilton. 



1859 Ansel House. " *' 



1860 Alkali Bennett. Alanson Horton. 



1861 " " David A. Franklin. 



1862 A. T. Parkhill. Webster Sharp. 



1863 " " " 



1864 John F. Shaver. " " 



