W A Y L A N" D. 



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GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION. 



Wayland is the most western town on the northern 

 border of the county, and was formed from Cohocton and 

 Dansville, April 12, 1848, a part of Fremont being taken 

 off in 1854. Wayland is bounded north by Livingston 

 County, east by Cohocton, south by Dansville and Tremont, 

 and west by a portion of Livingston County. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The surface is an upland of beautiful rolling country, 

 intersected by the valleys of small streams and brooks, and 

 forms a part of the water-shed between the Susquehanna 

 River and Lake Ontario. Its highest summits are from 

 1600 to 1800 feet above tide-water. Loon and Mud Lakes 

 are situated in a rich valley in the south part of the town, 

 and their waters flow in opposite directions. The outlet of 

 the former is subterranean for half a mile, and where it 

 comes to the surface it is of sufficient size to form a valu- 

 able mill-stream, upon which mills have been in operation 

 from the time of the early settlement. In the north part 

 of the town the prevailing soil is gravel and muck, while 

 in the south it is a shaly loam, and highly productive for 

 agricultural purposes. 



EARLY SETTLEMENT. 



In 1806, Adam Zimmerman settled on lands where the 

 railroad depot is now situated. His descendants are still 

 residing in the town, and are among its influential citizens. 

 The north part of the town was settled by Capt. Thomas 

 Bowles, Mr. Bowen, and John Hume, in 1808, and by Mr. 

 Hicks, in 1810, and Thomas Begole, in 1814. The settle- 

 ment at Loon Lake, in the south part of the town, was made 

 by Salmon Brownson, James Brownson, Elisha Brownson, 

 and Isaac Willie, in 1813. Osgood Carlton was an early 

 settler at the south end of Loon Lake, and on the west 

 side lived Solomon Draper, the great-grandfather of Edwin 

 Draper, of Liberty. The settlers in the central part were 

 Demas Hess, Samuel Draper, Benjamin Perkins, and Wal- 

 ter Patchin, father of Myron M. Patchin. Walter Patchin 

 removed from Onondaga County and settled in Wayland 

 (then in the town of Cohocton), in 1813. He settled at 

 the point now known as Patchin's Mills, Myron M. Patchin 

 being at that time about eight years of age. The latter 

 has resided here ever since, and reared a family of four 

 children, — one son and three daughters. He has been one 

 of the prominent and leading men of the town, having been 

 justice of the peace in the town of Cohocton at and before 

 the erection of Wayland, and for a number of terms sub- 

 sequently, as late as 1854. 



Salmon Brownson, the first settler at Loon Lake, pur- 

 chased in that vicinity 400 acres of land. He was the 

 420 



father of Rev. Elisha Brownson, and of Rev. James Brown- 

 son, sons by his first marriage. He married his second 

 wife, Polly Howard, a sister of Nathaniel Howard, and had 

 several children, among whom were Ira Brownson, after- 

 wards a clergyman in Pennsylvania; Charles Brownson, 

 now living in Lima, Livingston Co. ; and David Brownson. 

 Of the two daughters belonging to this family, one married 

 the late Gardner Pierce, Esq., of Wayland, the other mar- 

 ried Edward Wentworth, who, after her death, removed to 

 Michigan. 



Perkinsvillc was named after Benjamin Perkins, who 

 was a prominent man in that part of the town. Mr. Mc- 

 Millen also came to that part of the town as early as 1812. 



John Hess, now residing in Dansville, Livingston Co., 

 is a son of Demas Hess, and for many years before his re- 

 moval was prominently identified with the town and village 

 of Wayland. He w^s elected the first supervisor of the 

 town, and held the office by successive re-elections till 

 1853. Mr. Hess owned property where the village of 

 Wayland stands, and erected some of the principal build- 

 ings, stores, hotels, etc. Demas Hess had a brother, John 

 Hess, who was also an early settler of the town. 



Peter Shafer lived for many years on the road to Dans- 

 ville, and kept a noted tavern and blacksmith-shop. This 

 tavern was, in the early times, the resort of many persons 

 of rather unenviable notoriety, and stories are told of things 

 being done there which would not bear being brought to 

 the light. 



The early settlers of this town endured many privations. 

 " It was a hard town to settle," said Rev. Elisha Brownson, 

 '' and the people were generally poor. No road passed 

 through the town except the ancient one from Bath to 

 Dansville. One circumstance connected with the early 

 settlement of this town may be somewhat interesting. In 

 1815 there being a scarcity of bread, I went through the 

 towns of Springwater, Livonia, and Sparta, and thence to 

 Dansville, in search of grain for sale, and none was to be 

 had in those towns, nor in Western New York. People 

 had to hull green wheat and rye for food. I found a field 

 of rye on William Perine's farm, which was thought nearly 

 fit to cut. I went home and got some neighbors, and with 

 oxen and cart we went and cut some of it, thrashed it, and 

 took it to the mill and had it mashed, for it was too damp 

 to grind, and we thought ourselves the happiest people in 

 the world because we had bread." 



The contrast to such extreme want is seen in the abund- 

 ance and the prosperity of the present town ; and the labor, 

 energy, and enterprise of the old pioneers and their de- 

 scendants have created this difference. Few, especially of 

 the present generation, appreciate the toil, privation, and 

 perseverance involved in the herculean undertaking of clear- 



