382 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



buildins; a double lo«; house in what is now the east end of 

 the village, where they lived together while clearing the 

 upper portion of the flat, near the bridge. Across the 

 river, Isaac and Jonathan Tracy built the first saw-mill in 

 the town, a few rods from the mouth of the stream which 

 bears the name of Tracy Creek. In 1816, Mr. Tracy 

 added what was then a grist-mill, but is spoken of by the 

 old men of to-day as a corn-cracker of doubtful capacity. 

 Mrs. Tracy was a sister of Jeremiah Baker, of Canisteo. 

 The earliest marriage recorded is that of Peleg Cole to 

 Polly, daughter of Isaac Tracy. Martin Young, a native 

 of Germany, was an early settler in the Canisteo Valley, 

 joining the Addison line. In 1814 his son, Peter Young, 

 located a mile below Rathboneville. At that time his 

 grandson, Martin B. Young, who is still living, was ten 

 years of age. Moses Powers settled two miles above 

 Tracy's, on the left bank of the river, and, in 1815, taught 

 the first school in the town. Jacob Cook lived near the 

 present flouring-mill of Rathboneville in 1810. Zephaniah 

 Townsend and Thomas Maybery were early settlers in the 

 west part of the valley, near the bluff* known as " The 

 Narrowsj" where he kept " entertainment," as did nearly 

 all the early settlers along the river-valley. 



Abner Chase, the pioneer preacher, who visited the valley, 

 for the first time, in 1812, relates that in making his first trip 

 up the Canisteo, through an almost unbroken forest of pine 

 and hemlock, intermingled with oak, he inquired at a little log 

 cabin if he could be kept for the night, and was answered that 

 they were in the habit of entertaining travelers. They pro- 

 ceeded to turn his horse upon the grass down by the bank of 

 the river. A few minutes after a peddler, who was passing 

 through the country exchanging his goods for furs and deer- 

 skins, drove up, and also stopped for the night. Before they 

 lay down for the night the family informed them that they 

 might hear the howling of wolves or screech of a panther 

 during the night, but not to be alarmed, as they could not 

 break in. They also informed them that rattlesnakes some- 

 times crept up from under the floor, but they might sleep 

 upon the crossbeams, upon which was laid a piece of rude 

 flooring overhead, supporting a pallet of straw, upon which 

 they were to sleep, out of reach of the snakes. 



Zeno Sellick occupied the valley farm joining the west 

 line of Rathbone, in 1825. His son, John Selleck, was an 

 early settler in the Northrup Settlement. 



John Helmer, who was the first settler above the May- 

 bery place, gave the name of Helmer Creek, which flowed 

 through his farm and emptied into the Canisteo River from 

 the north. Just out of sight from the river, on Helmer 

 Creek, is the only cheese-factory ever erected in Rathbone, 

 under the management of the proprietor, John Adamson, 

 whose father settled on the river below, in 1845. This fac- 

 tory was first opened in 1875, and has been steadily increas- 

 ing its business since its erection. A short distance above 

 the cheese- factory may be seen the foundation of a large 

 shingle-mill long since burned. 



Cameron Mills, five miles above Rathboneville, was so 

 named by the post-office department when a portion of the 

 old town of Cameron, and when transferred to the new town 

 of Rathbone still retained its old name, although causing 

 much confusion in the mails thereby. This place was first 



known as Hubbardville, Daniel Hubbard, an enterprising 

 man from Broome County, having erected and operated the 

 first flouring-mill in the town, near the present mill, and 

 also opened a store. This place has received many additions, 

 and is at present a beautiful little hamlet, containing, besides 

 the mill, two blacksmith- and wagon-shops, a store, saw-mill, 

 a fine hotel near the neat little depot, a school-house, located 

 in a fine grove of oak and pine, which has been reserved » 

 and fitted for a park and picnic ground, and seventeen fine 

 residences. Wm. Crawford, whose residence, just opposite 

 the depot, overlooking the river, is the most prominent, is 

 the son of an early settler, and the merchant of the place. 

 John Toles is a prominent business man of the place. Below, 

 towards Helmer Creek, Jonathan Rowley was an early settler. 



Among the early settlers was also Benjamin Northrup, 

 located on the high, rolling land in the west part of the town 

 north of the Cole school-house, in what is now popularly 

 known as the Northrup Settlement, previous to 1829. His 

 sons, George, Moses, James, Peter, and Norman, and their 

 descendants, are leading citizens in that part of the town. 



Thomas Allen, from New Jersey, a man of remarkable 

 mathematical capacity, but without education, at an early 

 day lived on the town line of Cameron and Woodhull, and 

 moved out of town, into another room, when displeased 

 with the action of the assessors. 



Col. Franklin B., and' his brother, Chauncey P. Hubbard, 

 built a water-mill in the heavy, unbroken forest, on the north 

 branch of Tuscarora Creek, and opened roads in 1829. 

 Their near neighbors to the north were Isaac Merrill and 

 Benjamin Northrup. 



The Cole school-house was built on the land of Jacob 

 Cole, who settled early on the hill, four miles south of 

 Rathboneville. The first school-house, built of logs, was 

 replaced by the present red school-house, about 1852. Re- 

 ligious meetings were held on this ground as early as the 

 first school, and have been continuous. When Jacob E. 

 Cole, who still occupies the old homestead, came, in 1847, 

 there were but few paths, and much of the original forest 

 was still untouched. Stephen Gloyd, who had recently 

 came from Massachusetts, settled near the Cole school- 

 house, where his son, Delos Gloyd, lives, in 1846. He 

 was one of the first elected justices of the town of Rath- 

 bone. Harvey Fultz was an early settler between the 

 school-house and Woodhull village. 



Most of these hill lands are covered with hard timber, 

 while the ravines and lower lands back from the river were 

 large bodies of hemlock, much of which is still standing. 

 The higher bluff's along the river were the home of the 

 whortleberry, which lay in rich blue clusters under tha 

 straggling chestnut pines, where resorted the dangerous 

 rattlesnake, both snakes and berries disappearing together 

 as the land became more generally cleared. 



The hardy lumberman, living in his temporary hut with 

 his companions, working in midwinter with bared arms, 

 and the collar of his red flannel shirt turned back from his 

 muscular neck, clambering over logs and through the knee- 

 deep snow, cutting logs for thirty or thirty-five cents per 

 thousand feet, and spending his money with a recklessness 

 equal to that with which he dares the falling trees or flying 

 limbs, has given place to the quiet farmer, perhaps his son, 



