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BEjSiJAMi^ MYETLE 



was born Dec. 29, 1814. Married Arabella Smith, Nov. 

 16, 1838. Born and lived in Wheeler until Oct. 6, 

 1857, when he moved to Hammondsport, where he now 

 lives. His children were Arabella, now wife of Dr. C. 

 S. Stoddard, of La Crosse, Wis. ; Van Buren, now of 

 Wellsboro', Pa. ; and Maggie, wife of O. H. Young- 

 love, of Pleasant Valley. He is one of fifteen children 

 of Philip Myrtle, who was born in Bucks Cq., Pa., in 

 1773. Married Rebecca Walters in 1795. The two 

 years succeeding he lived on a small island in the 

 Susquehanna River, named " Hill Island.^^ In 1797 

 he moved with his family to Bath, Steuben Co., N, Y. 



This proved a tedious and laborious task, and re- 

 quired six weeks to reach Painted Post. He moved 

 up the river in a canoe, and at night hauled the 

 craft and turned it bottom up to shelter the family. 

 At Painted Post he left the family and proceeded to 

 Bath on foot, with his axe and gun. On his way he 

 had the good fortune to kill a large black bear. A por- 

 tion of the meat he sent back to his family by the mail 

 carrier, and sold the skin for five dollars. This proved 

 a godsend, as his funds \yere entirely exhausted. 



At Bath he engaged with John Wilson, sheriff of this 

 county, to manage a distillery, which he did for three 

 years. After a few days he returned to the Post for his 

 family, and took them to Bath, where he remained until 



he purchased forty acres of land in the town of Wheeler, 

 where he built a log house to which he moved his family 

 in 1800, and lived fifty years, until his death. 



This forty acres he purchased at two dollars and fifty 

 cents per acre, and for which he paid with seven years' 

 continuous hard labor. This was the nucleus about 

 which clustered the old Myrtle homestead of six hun- 

 dred acres, mostly cleared, and much of it in a high 

 state of cultivation, and all paid for at the time of his 

 death. 



The trials and hardships of the early pioneers seem 

 more like a fable than reality. He found it no fiction. 

 He was obliged to winter his cattle by cutting trees for 

 them to browse. No hay, and grain scarce. The shoes 

 for himself and family were made from deer-skin which 

 he dressed himself. The nearest mill was at Bradford, 

 and required three days with ox-team and sled to make 

 the trip. 



He raised a family of twelve children (losing three 

 in infancy), all of whom are now living. All are married, 

 and all raised families except one. It is now seventy- 

 three years since one of these children died ; of the girls 

 five are now widows. There are about sixty grand- 

 children, nearly all of them living. Three sons and 

 nine daughters are now living, and about the same 

 ber of great-grandchildren. 



