The Genesee Country, 295 
HISTORICAL REMARKS ON THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF 
THE GENESEE COUNTRY. 
BY J. TREMPER. 
In 1796, the different settlements which had been raade in the 
Genesee Country, as it was then denominated, began to assume 
an appearance of respectability and prosperity which was not to 
be expected in so new and at that time remote a country, by the 
perseverance however and the energy of" its inhabitants, it ad- 
vanced with rapid steps in the course of improvenient. The pri- 
vations and wants of former years were soon forgotten, or began 
to be talked over the evening fire as things which could annoy 
them no more. The number of immigrants each year was esti- 
mated at 3000 persons. It is recorded as a fact not unworthy of 
notice, that an inhabitant of Steuben proceeded from the centre of 
that county with a raft consisting of 100,000 feet of lumber, to 
Baltimore, and met with so good a market that he agreed to de- 
liver the same quantity the next spring Of the settlements begun 
in 1796, one that attracted much attention, was commenced by 
the Rev. Mr. Gray, who moved in, with a large portion of his 
former parish, from Pennsylvania; another person from New Jersey 
commenced a settlement at the same time — both of which exhib- 
ited rare instances of enterprise and industry. A company of 
grenadiers was raised in Steuben, and the latter individual ap- 
peared as their captain, at the head of the company, consisting of 
twenty-seven men. The same season, as a beginning of the militia 
of Genesee, a troop of horse and a company of light infantry was 
added to the battalion. Great efforts were made at an early period 
to induce the settlers to erect mills; as a consequence the country 
was unusually well supplied with conveniences of this description. 
The influence of such a course was very soon made evident in the 
appearance of nice houses and farms; a greater number of framed 
houses and barns were to be found than in many settlements much 
older. This year a printing office was established in the town of 
Bath, and a newspaper printed, entitled the Bath Gazette. The 
county of Ontario, having had several years the advantage in point 
of settlement, and of many extensive Indian clearings of very 
great extent, already had the appearance of an old settled country. 
Near Geneva the king of Canadasaga had reared his Avigwam, 
and around him spread his broad fields, covered with fruit trees and 
waving grain; but Destruction was to raise her hand and light 
her fires around him, and when the American army moved on to 
the Genesee river, no human voice raised an echo among the 
smoking roof-trees and deserted groves of Canadasaga. The In- 
