426 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Oramel. He held at his house the first religious meeting 

 in that town. His daughter Betsey was the first child 

 horn in the town of Oramel. He afterwards returned with 

 his family to his former place of settlement, in the town of 

 Wayne, where he died in the care of his son James, in the 

 eighty-ninth year of his age. His children were James, 

 Sallie, Betsey, John, David, Ephraim, Densey, and Wil- 

 liam, all of whom died in the town of Wayne ; Irena, died 

 in Barrington. James died with his son Russel, on the 

 farm of his father, Jan. 31, 1842. Russel Sanford has 

 two children. 



Enos Silsbee was born in 1765, in the State of Pennsyl- 

 vania. In 1794 he came with his wife and children, John, 

 James, and Deborah, settled, made the first clearing, and 

 erected the first building on the farm near the Hunter 

 school-house, where his grandson, Isaac Silsbee, now lives. 

 He toiled early and late to clear his farm. He kept the 

 first hotel in the territory embraced by the town of Wayne. 

 He built the first ashery, which he ran for a number of 

 years. Farming, however, was his principal vocation. He 

 was a member of the Presbyterian Church. He died on 

 the farm he settled, in 1830. His daughter, Sarah, was 

 born in the town of Wayne. 



John Silsbee, the oldest son, settled on the farm where 

 Samuel Bailey now lives ; he there built and ran the first 

 saw-mill in the town of Wayne. He afterwards moved on 

 the farm his father settled, and there reared the following 

 fiimily, viz : Sobrina, who died in Yates County ; Joshua,* 

 who died in California ; Calvin, who now lives in Michigan ; 

 Angeline, who lives in Tyrone ; Francis, Arminda, Martha, 

 and Isaac, who now live in Wayne. 



James Silsbee, the son of Enos, in company with Fitch, 

 ran the first store in Wayne, near the Hunter school-house. 

 He built the first tannery, and ran the first grist-mill by 

 horse-power. It had one run of stone, consisting of two 

 cylindrical stones lying horizontal and parallel, and revolving 

 towards each other. He finally moved to Avoca. 



Anthony Swarthout came from Seneca County and set- 

 tled the Asa Swarthout farm, on the banks of Keuka Lake, 

 near Keuka, about 1806. He made a clearing, and built a 

 log house and log barn. Around him was a howling wil- 

 derness. He lost eighteen sheep in one night by the wolves. 



A village of Indian wigwams stood on the beach of the 

 lake, just below Mr. Swarthout's house. His relations with 

 the Indians were always friendly. He often enjoyed with 

 them their hunting and fishing sports. He was a suc- 

 cessful farmer, and a member of the Baptist Church. He 

 died on the farm he settled. His children were Ezekiel, 

 John, Henry, Caleb, George, Andrew (who was elected three 

 years supervisor without opposition), Asa, Catharine, Anna, 

 Elizabeth, and Mary. 



Abram Hendricks was the first settler at Keuka, on about 

 one hundred acres of land. He was succeeded by Jabez 

 Hopkins, who kept the first hotel at Keuka, in a log and 

 frame building ; he also kept the first store at Keuka. He 

 was an active business man, engaging in farming and cattle- 



■-■• Joshua Silsbee was one of the most noted comedians of his ao-e. 

 He was the first to introduce the Yankee character on the American 

 stage, in Philadelphia,, and acqniredthe sobriquet of '^ Yankee Sils- 

 bee." 



buying. Reverses, however, overtook him in later life, 

 and he finally died with his daughter Huldah, in the town 

 of Bath. His children were Charles, Harry, Huldah, and 

 Betsey, the last of whom married Henry Houck. 



The next man at Keuka was Aaron Olmstead, who was 

 an early blacksmith in the town of Wayne. He made axes 

 and scythes by horse-power ; he built the second warehouse 

 at Keuka, and was also innkeeper. His children were 

 Eliza, Hanford, Julia, Charles, and Mary. 



Thomas Bennett and Parker were the first occupants on 

 the Goble farm, just below Keuka. They became somewhat 

 notorious in counterfeiting the metallic currency of their 

 day. Bennett was arrested and sentenced to State-prison, 

 after five years was pardoned, and died within one year 

 thereafter. Parker escaped the oflBcers in pursuit by swim- 

 ing his horse across the lake at Three-Mile Point. 



John Goble was the first permanent settler on the same 

 premises. He was a good man, and died in the faith of 

 the Baptist Church, leaving his son, Gersham, who also 

 died on the same farm. The children of Gersham were 

 Jonathan (who married Eliza Weeks, and went to Japan as 

 a missionary), llachel, Jennie, Henry, Bebecca, and Mary. 



Thomas Margeson came from Essex Co., N. J., and set- 

 tled on the Sutter farm, in 1806. He was the first shoe- 

 maker in the town. He devoted his time to his trade and 

 farming. He was for many years a member of the Baptist 

 Church. He died in the town of Wayne, in 1827. The 

 following were his children : John, Thomas, Charles, Ben- 

 jamin, Job, Israel, Caleb, Cornelius, Elizabeth, Susannah, 

 Hannah, and Mary, who now lives in the town of Wayne 

 with her nephew, Israel. 



Henry Houck came from Germany, and married Polly 

 Bell, an English lady, in the city of New York, and set- 

 tled in the town of Wayne, in an early day, on the farm 

 where Joseph Bote now lives, where he made the first 

 clearing and built the first house ; he was a farmer and be- 

 longed to the Presbyterian Church. His children were 

 Andrew, Nellie, Peter, Henry, Sallie, Abel, John, and 

 Joseph ; the last of whom married Maria Barrick, and 

 settled on the farm where his son, J. E. Houck, now lives. 

 He died in 1828, and left his wife aniid the hardships of 

 that early day with a family of little children, of which the 

 following were members : Henry, Van Rensselaer, Betsey, 

 Luenna, Matilda, Catherine, Caroline, Polly, and Joseph E. 



The grandchildren of Henry Houck, the pioneer, now 

 number thirty -seven, and his great-grandchildren, seventy- 

 two. 



Israel R. Wood was born in 1790, moved from Orange 

 County to Steuben in 1814, settled, and made the first 

 clearing on the farm where his son Jonathan now lives, in 

 1816. The next spring he built a log house near the old 

 orchard now growing on the same farm. By hard and vig- 

 orous work the heavy timber on his land gradually faded 

 away, and lot after lot was made suitable for the plow, until 

 he had the satisfaction of seeing his farm sufiiciently cleared. 

 He then gave his attention to stumping until these incum- 

 brances were nearly all removed, and he had seven miles of 

 stump-fence on his farm. In order to improve the productive- 

 ness of his farm, he for a third time worked over it in the way 

 of ditching. He was a very successful farmer, and a member 



