PULTENEY. 



GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION. 



This town is situated upon the west shore of Crooked 

 Lake, and is the northeast corner town of the county. It is 

 bounded north by Yates County, east by Keuka, or Crooked 

 Lake, south by Urbana, and west by Prattsburgh. 



physical features. 



Pulteney contains an area of 20,110 acres, 16,213 of 

 which are improved farms, 3897 timbered and other unim- 

 proved lands. The surface is a rolling upland, from seven 

 to nine hundred feet above the surface of the lake, and 

 presents many fine points of observation, from which the 

 lake and surrounding country may be seen to advantage. 

 The declivities along the lake-shore are broken by many 

 narrow ravines, formed by small streams'. The soil is chiefly 

 a shaly and gravelly loam, but in some places near the 

 lake clay predominates. The highlands are well adapted 

 to farming, and since the introduction of grape culture, 

 those along the declivities of the hills bordering upon the 

 lake have been rendered valuable. 



EARLY SETTLEMENT. 



The names of a number of the early settlers, who came 

 to Pulteney previous to 1808, and who took a part in the 

 organization and civil affairs of the town, are preserved in 

 the records, from which we have transcribed largely in an> 

 other section of our history of this town. John Van Camp 

 and David Thompson appear to have been the first settlers, 

 about the year 1797. Among the other early settlers were 

 Samuel Miller, G. F. Fitzsimmons, John Black, James and 

 George Simms, Henry Hoffman, Abraham Bennett, and 

 Shadrach Norris. Samuel and Nathaniel Wallis, John 

 Ellis, William White, James Daily, Erastus Glass, Harmon 

 Emmons, and Seth Pierce arrived in 1806, and soon after 

 Elias and John Hopkins, Cornelius Lounsbury, and George 

 Baymond. 



Shadrach Norris was an old Bevolutionary soldier, and 

 has many descendants still living in town, among whom are 

 his grandsons, Levi, Samuel H., Johnson, Shadrach, and 

 James Norris, and his granddaughters, Mrs. Esther Clark 

 and Mrs. Susannah Halliday. 



Thomas Hyatt, grandfather of Mrs. Celia Alexander 

 and Mr. Nelson R. Hyatt, was one of the early settlers. 



Stephen- Stratton settled in the south part of the town, 

 on the Palmer farm, now occupied by Yaniah Drake, in 

 1816. He is now ninety -two years old, and resides in 

 Prattsburgh. 



In February, 1808, the town of Pulteney was formed 

 from Bath, and comprised what are now Prattsburgh and a 

 part of Urbana. Prattsburgh was set off in 1813, and a 

 part of Pulteney was annexed to Urbana in 1848. 

 48 



Immediately upon the organization of the town, improve- 

 ments began to be made in various directions, road and 

 school districts were formed, and roads surveyed and opened. 

 At the first town- meeting nineteen overseers of roads were 

 elected, to superintend the opening and improvement of an 

 equal number of road districts in the town. From 1814 

 settlers came in from the eastern part of the State and from 

 New England, and took .possession of the northern part of 

 the town. They were a hardy, industrious, enterprising, 

 and moral people. 



Hon, Goldsmith Deniston,a former resident of Pulteney, 

 |vas employed, in 1859, to make the agricultural survey of 

 the county, a full report of which, together with a history 

 of the title to lands and a brief sketch of the early settle- 

 ment, was published in the Transactions of the State Agri- 

 cultural Society for 1860. Mr. Deniston has since removed 

 to New York. 



ORGANIZATION. 



The first town-meeting for the town of Pulteney was 

 held at the house of Jesse Waldo, on the first Tuesday in 

 March, 1808. The meeting was legally opened by Bobert 

 Porter, Esq., Moderator. A ballot then being taken, the 

 following persons were chosen town officers : Uriel Chapin, 

 Supervisor ; Aaron Bell, Town Clerk ; Aaron Cook, Elias 

 Hopkins, Nathan Wallis, Assessors ; William Curtis, Col- 

 lector; Salisbury Burton and Daniel Bennett, Overseers of 

 the Poor ; Samuel Hayes, John Hopkins, Shadrach Norris, 

 Commissioners of Roads; John Ellis, Gamaliel Loomis, 

 George Raymond, Cornelius Lounsbury, Josiah Allis, Fence- 

 Viewers ; Hermon Emmons, William P. Curtis, Constables. 



'^ Voted, to build two pounds at the expense of the town, 

 one near the house of Shadrach Norris, the other in the 

 centre of Pulteney Society." 



^' Voted, that Shadrach Norris and Joel Pratt, Jr., be 

 Pound-keepers." 



" Voted, to choose two committees of one person each to 

 build the aforesaid pounds, and that Shadrach Norris and 

 Joel Pratt, Jr., be said committees." 



" Chosen Overseers of Roads : Cornelius Lounsbury, Sol- 

 omon Daker, John Ellis, Isaac Spalding, Asa Brown, Aaron 

 Bordin, James Stone, John Kent, Reuben Hall, John Black, 

 Daniel Bennett, Isaac Pardy, Joel Tuttle, Asa Cooper, 

 Josiah Allis, Martin Hayes, Stephen Prentiss, George 

 Wrenchin, William Rowley." 



At the election for senator held on the last Tuesday in 

 April, 1808, the following persons received the votes set 

 after their respective names : Samuel S. Forman, 15 votes ; 

 Henry McNeil, 14 votes ; Rowell Hopkins, 13 votes ; Fran- 

 cis Henry, 13 votes; Putnam Catiin, 13 votes; Silas 

 Halsey, 6 votes ; Francis A. Bloodgood, 6 votes. 



For member of Congress the votes were as follows : 



377 



