yomivlg The William Vary House By Anita Ripstien

Transcription

1 yomivlg The William Vary House Editor's Note Seldom has a village history been as well documented, and written with as much understanding, as this story of Varysburg, - a typical western New York and western Wyoming County village. Mrs. Ripstein is widely known as one of the outstanding genealogists in this area. She has been active in the formation of the Bennington Historical Society, and now is active in the new Sheldon Historical Society's Schoolhouse Museum at Strykersville. She is also Sheldon Town Historian. In other words, Anita knows more about most of the families of the northwest section of Wyoming County than they do about themselves. Because of the length of this article, it will be presented in two installments, the last of which will be featured in the Jan issue. Nestled in the picturesque valley of the Tonawanda Creek lies the tiny village of Varysburg located upon lot 7 in the third range of the Town of Sheldon. It was to this site in 1805 near the banks of the creek with the By Anita Ripstien Seneca name meaning, "where the waters are rapid," that William L. Vary and his family settled in the wilderness of the Holland Purchase. William L. Vary was born to Samuel and Hannah Vary on Dec. 27, 1773 at Stephentown, Rensselaer County, N.Y., and it was here also that he was married by Justice Hull on March 7, 1793 to Miss Mehitable Thomas who was born Oct. 13, 1775, she was the daughter of Peleg Thomas Sr. They became the parents of eight children: William Thomas, Lethe, Abrial, Russell, Thomas, Samuel, Churchill and a daughter whose name has been lost in time. They did not come alone on their journey from Stephentown but were accompanied by her brothers and their families, Lodowick Thomas and Peleg Thomas, Jr., the later being married to Mr. Vary's sister. Approximately a year after his arrival upon the site which was to bear his name, William Vary, who was a surveyor and millwright, erected a saw mill for his own use on the Tonawanda Creek just above where Stony Brook empties into the larger stream. Shortly after, he contracted with John Wilder and Asa Johnson, both pioneer millwrights, to construct for him a grist mill just below his saw mill. These mills were the first mills in all the region south of Attica. It was written by Orsamus Turner, son of another Sheldon Pioneer, in his Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York, (cont. on poge 30)

2 PA3E 30 OCTOBER 1979 Historical Wyoming is published quarterlyby the Wyoming County Historian's Office, 76 North Main Street, Warsaw, N.Y Editor: John G. Wilson, County Historian; Assistant Editor, Mary Wilson. Annual subscription rate is $3.00. Subscription year runs from July 1 to July 1 and those subscribing during that period will be sent all back issues for that year. Cost for extra back issues is $1.00 per copy. Checks should be made payable to Historical Wyoming and sent to the County Historian's Office. Secondclass postage paid at Warsaw, N.Y Postmaster send forms 3579 to County Historian's Office, 76 North Main Street, Warsaw, N.Y USPS (Village in the Valley Cont.) "Well does this author remember the mill, the miller, the miller's wife and the miller's boys. The old gentleman was enterprising, perservering, droll and eccentric, as any that every penetrated that rough, wild region. Who of the early mill boys of all that region, does not remember the old man, his 'by Gosh' and 'by Golden,' the rusty horse shoes nailed upon his mill wheel to keep off the witches? He was magistrate; many are the anecdotes told of the marriages he performed." During 1807 when hay was very scarce, it was necessary to fall small trees so that cattle might browse upon the buds and leaves. While Mr. Vary was cutting such for his stock, two trees had lodged against one another. He was ' in the act of cutting a third in order to get them to the ground and as he struck the first blow in this tree, the weight of the first two caused it to split upward, the end of the piece released striking him just above his eyebrow. He laid senseless for sometime on the ground while a friend traveled to Batavia to summons a physician to attend to him. Nineteen small pieces of bone were taken from the wound by Doctor White, possibly Dr. Daniel White, along with a small portion of brain matter. The wound healed but left a depression in Mr. Vary's forehead large enought to admit the half of a hen's egg. He enjoyed good health after the accident; altho it was thought by some that his intellect was impaired by the accident, while the majority thought differently. WAR SERVICE With the coming of the War of 1812, William Vary was appointed a Colonel of a regiment of the militia and he was ordered to rendezvous at Batavia. It was from this appointment and his succeeding service as Colonel, that he was always known throughout the rest of history as Colonel Vary. His eldest son, William T., when a lad of 15 years, carried dispatches for his father on horseback between Batavia and Black Rock to our forces while the village of Buffalo was burning. After the war he was presented with a cane made from a piece of the mast taken from the flagship of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie. The handsomely silver mounted cane which was suitably inscribed was for his outstanding service to his country. Upon his return to the village of Varysburg Colonel Vary erected his new home about the year 1815 and this is where this history of Varysburg begins. (As in my previous historical accounts of settlements, I try to make it fairly easy for my readers to follow my writings by writing by sections of a settlement. The present Main Street of the village of Varysburg runs from the southeast to the northwest; the Tonawanda Creek flows approximately the same direction northward; Attica Street runs from Main Street north to a small brook known as Spring Brook. This history will begin from the area around Colonel Vary's house northwest to an area known as Slusher just across the west end bridge and then back to the southeast end of the village; then the east side of Attica Street then the west side, both to the little brook.) Before I proceed I would like to give you just a few facts from history. In 1870 Varysburghad 2 churches - Methodist and Free Will Baptist; 2 dry goods stores, 1 hotel, district school, a select school, 1 tin shop, 2 blacksmith shops, 1 grist mill, 1 saw mill, a cheese box factory, 1 carding machine, cabinet shop, 2 shoe shops, a tailor shop, a cheese factory and 200 inhabitants. By 1885 the list included 50 dwellings, 2 churches, 1 hotel, 1 dry good store, 1 grist mill, 1 grocery and clothing store, 1 saw mill, peg factory, cheese box factory, planning mill, drain tile factory, 1 wagon and carriage shop, 2 cabinet shops, 3 shoe shops, 2 blacksmith shops and 200 inhabitants. Now lets discover the history behind these buildings and those people. The Home of Colonel Vary The Colonel's home remains little changed since he built it after the War of 1812, except for modern conveniences. It is located on the north west corner of Rt. 20A and the old Creek Road partly hidden by huge trees. The Greek revival house known throughout the years as the house of the "Rising Sun" because of its (cont. on page 41)

3 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 31 (Village In The Valley Co'nt.) unique sun burst design in its peak, has been the home of many of the prominent pioneer families of Varysburg. It is not known how long the Vary family occupied the house, but it is known that the Colonel died in Sparta, Yarmouth, Ontario, Canada in Oct while residing with his son William T. Vary who settled and pioneered there. The Colonel's saw mill was located to the west of this house. The next known occupants were the family members of Salem Davis whose descendents and himself were prominent businessmen of the village. Salem Davis and his wife came here to live in 1841 but moved out in 1856 to rooms connected to his Main Street store only to return in Mr. Davis died in this house during March of 1885 and his wife also died here on May 28, During the ten years that the Davis family were absent, the house was occupied by Edward Madden, his mother, his sister and brother until their house was built on the opposite corner. Following the death of the Davises, the house was sold to Jeffrey Thomas, the next representative of a pioneer family to reside within. Upon his death it passed to his daughter Mrs. Mina Hall and since then it has been occupied by various families. Today it stands vacant and in need of paint, but still a symbol of the men who made Varysburg. West Saw Mill Madden Mills On a site located on the old state road known today as Old Creek Road, which was opened in 1832, leading to the settlement of Johnsonburg, near the Tonawanda Creek, once stood one of the most prosperous business establishments in this end of the county. It was to this site situated in the hollow west of the Vary's house, that the Davis family first started their long record of business in the village of Varysburg. In the year 1833, Moses Davis and his wife, nee Jemina Mclntire, lived in Charlton, Mass. with their three daughters Mary, Lura, and Roba, and their three sons I. Jephthan, Salem and Moses Jr. Jephthan born Oct. 16, 1796 and Salem b. April 27, 1809 were already expert wool carders and cloth dressers in this eastern textile manufacturing town. As in any town following the War of 1812, depression had set in and lingered, and their sights were set for the betterment of living conditions. Jephthan, as a mature man of 37 years that year of 1833, joined the westward movement to the widely advertised Genesee Country to see and evaluate this new land. In October of that year he found himself in the tiny village of Varysburg with less than 20 houses. Here he made the acquaintance of the merchant Chauncey B. Dunbar and the miller David Stevens, along with the other pioneers of the village. After conversing with them, he decided this was the spot to begin anew and he penned a letter home to his brother Salem. Salem, who had but a few months previous, on April 3, 1833 married Julina, the daughter of Gibbs and Polly Wakefield Dodge, received the message and prepared at once for their departure to the West. They took the stage to Albany where they could catch the "cars" to Schenectady, so that they could write home and say they had ridden in this new means of transportation, and then they journeyed by Erie Canal to Albion. Again by stage they traveled south to Alexander where they were met by Jephthan with his horse and wagon. For a time they lived in part of Jephthan's home which in later years became the Russell Matteson place just below the present C. & G. Sunoco Station, and in years past occupied by Alfred Norton, H. Richards and Daniel W. Bump. Mrs. Eva Madden Hoy related years later that Julina's stepmother cried and said that Salem and Julina were going so far West that she would never see them again. Mrs. Hoy also told that Julina said that the people of the village were so friendly and cordial and that several tea parties and suppers were given in her honor. The Davis brothers set to work and installed the first carding machine which was acclaimed by all in the community and surrounding area. Wool carding by machine was an innovation in the Genesee Country. Heretofore the work had been done crudely at home by a tedious and not overly pleasant process. But for some unknown reason Salem left a few years later renting his share of the carding and cloth dressing business, and with his wife and family removed to a farm of 150 acres south of North Java. Salem and Julina were the parents of 7 children: George C. b. 1835, Chester W. b. Sept. 6, 1837, Lorenzo who d. at 7 months, 8 (cont. on page 32)

4 PAGE 32 OCTOBER 1979 (Village In The Valley Cont.) Street in Varysburg, Davis Store on Right, Hotel in Center days on Oct. 12, 1836, Mary J. b. Aug. 26, 1839, Dexter S. b. June 15, 1841, Louis C. b. June 1847 d. May 7, 1848, Helen L. b. June 14,1849. After the birth of Dexter S. the family returned to Varysburg where Salem purchased his brother's interest when Jephthan removed to the state of Ohio. The business of wool carding, dyeing and fulling of cloth under the lone management of Salem, prospered so well that he employed a tailor by the name of Philip Wolf and was one of the first in the state to manufacture men's clothing. The material after being cut was taken to the homes of the village women for stitching. Among those employed were: Mrs. Luman Lawrence, Mrs. Thomas Bryson, Mrs. Sylvester Fields, Mrs. William Wilcox and others. Salem also made frequent trips to Boston to bring back bolts of the new manufactured material called calico which was eagerly purchased at 6 shillings a yard by the village housewives as it was peddled from door to door. Mr. Davis knew just what to purchase as the colors were sombre in color. He knew the women folk over 30 years would not dare the criticism of their neighbors by wearing bright colors. Shoe Peg Business In 1856 Salem Davis saw another door open to bettering his business career and probably to make a profit from his mill business venture. In this year at Rochester, N.Y. was living the Madden family, consisting of the widow Eviza, her daughter Mary Ann born 1820, and two sons Edward II born Mar. 14, 1822 and Henry J. born 1827; the children not yet married. The family had originated in Ireland coming to the United States via Prescott, Ontario, Canada. The Madden brothers were shoe peg manufacturers but their supply of timber around Rochester was becoming scarce and rent high and they were looking for a new location. Edward Madden and his partner Homer Dudley had been told that Varysburg was noted as having the best facilities for manufacturing in Western New York with its abundant water power, stone and timber. On a spring day during April 1856 Salem Davis sold out his business to the two strangers from Rochester and in turn purchased of Andrew Pettengill a small general store on Main Street, with his son Chester W. as his partner. Madden and Dudley, known as the "Peg Men" by the villagers, moved into their new location immediately, bringing their help with them. As rented houses were hard to procure in the village, the Madden family secured rooms with the Daniel Spink family on the west hill for a short time until they moved into the Vary house, vacanted by the Davis family. Madden and Dudley at once set to work to better the mill, converting it into a shoe peg factory. A requirement for more abundant water power lead them to excavate the clogged up logway race and in doing so uncovered the grave of an Indian of great size with all his relics including iron kettles, pipe and a cannon ball. This account of the grave site was written about 1930 and it read that Clark Wilcox, son of William and Harriet Wilcox, who was 12 years old that year of 1856, was among the group of small boys who were there watching. He related the sight years later about Fayette Richards, a large man himself, lifting the large skull over his head and slipping it over his head resting it upon his shoulders. In a later source which was published in this journal, Hiram Powers, then a resident of Johnsonburg at the time of the excavating, related that the laborers excavated a mound, described as 10 feet by 2 rods by 1 rod. They removed three human skeletons believed to be Indians and one was surmised because of his unusual height. Also two guns, greatly corroded, 18 lead balls, a brass kettle and 2 balls excavating the logway a stone's throw from the Tonawanda. Edward Madden continued to buy land in the years that followed. He added to the shop and land he purchased from Salem Davis, the land on the southwest corner of Creek Road leading to Johnsonburg upon which the brothers erected their new home; the land between this house and their later cheese box factory; and the Vary Saw Mill, until Madden Mills totaled about 50 acres of land. With the coming of the Maddens, the dyeing, fulling of cloth and the keeping of a tailor was discontinued, but the wool carding machine was retained under the supervision of Henry J. Madden with a boy helper. About 1858 the original Davis Mill burned but no account of carding factory for custom carding. The work was done on the third floor of the new building operated by water power. A boy was stationed (cont. on page 33)

5 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 33 (Village In The Valley Cont.) on the ground floor who turned on and off the water when signaled by the ringing of a bell. Seward Spink was often this trusted boy. Ulysees G. Calkins who died in 1943, related before his death, that he, along with his schoolmates John Markley, William Orr and others would mount the three long steep flights of stairs to the door of the carding room only to be meet by Henry J. Madden with white wool clinging to his beard and eyelashes, who sternly turned them back. With the invention of the shoe sewing machine, the demand for pegged shoes waned and the Madden Mills which had a capacity to produce 20 bushels of pegs a day felt the effects of the new invention. Fate came into the picture by placing a man at Johnsonburg by the name of George Hoy who came to the town of Orangeville in 1855, commenced in the dairy industry and started producing cheese. Mr. Hoy had a large herd for that time in history and from his 40 cows he produced cheese. He soon saw that by buying from his neighbors the cheese that they produced, he could draw it to Rochester for a profit. In 1858 he began buying extensively. Edward Madden was a friend of Mr. Hoy and a fellow Irishman, and Mr. Hoy soon convinced Edward to build on a cooper shop to supply the needed cheese boxes in which to ship the cheese. By 1861 the Madden Mills included a cheese box factory and following the erection of the first cheese factory west of Herkimer County by Mr. Hoy, business soon prospered. Feed store of Frank Thomas. Prosperous Times The Madden cheese box factory thrived and prospered and the villagers once again had employment. Many teams loaded with boxes were drawn to Attica or Warsaw and shipped via rail to their various destinations. The list of employees on the payroll fluctuated but at least 12 families in the village depended upon the Madden Mills for their support: George Bryson Hardware Store on right. West, Robert Wilcox, Batzold Brothers, Peter Spink, William Spink, Wyman Spink, Frank Godfrey, John Kittle, John Markley, George Bauer, John Richards, Henry Persons, William and Walter Johnson, George Raab, Charles and Joseph Herrman, Fred Phinney, A1 Norton, and Seeley Foote, who sometimes relieved Henry Madden on the carding machine. During the lull of winter months the villagers found work at the saw mill. In the height of production the Madden Mill's were producing 20,000 cheese boxes a year often working day and night to meet the demand. By 1885 the Madden Mills included the carding factory, shoe peg factory, cheese box factory, saw mill and planning mill. In the spring of 1864 Edward Madden, now the owner of Vary Saw Mill, had formed a partnership with George C. Davis, eldest son of Salem and Julina Davis. The mill dam had ^een causing much trouble, having been considerably damaged by the spring run off. All day long that May day Mr. Davis had been working with his men in the icy waters, making repairs to the mill. Taken with a sudden chill along in the afternoon, Henry Madden noticed his condition and helped him to his home. Before the next morning Mr. Davis became worse and was fighting a losing battle with death. He died May 19, 1864 at 29 years leaving his wife Juliette Barber and his young children George M. Frederick, Carlia J. and Theron B. Davis. George C. Davis was buried on the front lawn of his home (now occupied by Walter Conrad) owing to the crowded condition of the village cemetery. He died of typhoid fever which had been sweeping the area since the previous August. When Edward Madden first arrived in town, Salem Davis' youngest daughter and child was 7 years of age. She would often sit upon Edward's knee as he told tales of the Irish Isles and it has been said she remarked one day that when she grew up that she would marry Mr. Madden. On March 1, 1869, Helen L. Davis, born June 14, 1849, the little girl who grew to a beautiful young woman, became the bride of Edward (cont. on page 34)

6 PAGE 34 OCTOBER 1979 (Village In The Valley Cont.) Madden. They began housekeeping in part of the house the Madden brothers had built, a- cross from her parent's home. Their Mayto-December marriage produced five children: Eva J. b. Dec. 9, 1869 who was married to Wilson R. Hoy, the son of George Hoy the friend of Edward who saved the Madden Mills; Alice b. July 1, 1872; Gussie May b. Aug. 30, 1879; Edward III b. Oct 22, 1875 and Helen b. Aug. 1, On a bleak third of November 1899 Edward Madden died and soon after, the long history of the Mill operation began to die also. After his death the homestead was sold to his daughter Eva J. Hoy. Wife and daughter Helen removed to Medina, N.Y. where Mrs. Madden died May 25, Helen married George Montgomery and continued to reside at Medina. In 1932 the Madden house was sold to Robert Embt Sr.'s family, who had been renting the property after the Hoy's moved to Batavia. After his brother's death, Henry J., who remained unmarried, operated the mill for a while and he and his sister Mary Ann, also not married, moved to the Rev. Jackson House on Attica Street. Henry died here in this house Dec. 7, 1901 and Mary Ann died Aug. 11, 1909 in a Buffalo Hospital. Mrs. Eviza Madden had died May 19, 1862 at 70 years. The Batzold Brothers operated the cheese box factory for a few years and John West operated the saw mill for the Madden's until the mill burned in But soon the mills became inactive. About the year 1910 when evaporators came into the economy in full swing, the Hartung Bros., Charles and John, fruit growers from Medina, N.Y. purchased the mills. They utilized the old buildings and erected a modern equipped apple evaporator and once again the site hummed with activity, but this was to be short lived. After only a few seasons they sold out to Kemniel and Harris who only operated one year and once again the mills were closed. In 1925 some of the buildings were rented and used for bunk houses for laborers employed on the new Rt. 20A but soon too the bunk houses were deserted and despondency fell over the once prosperous site. The wilds of nature began to take over their rightful domain. Fire of 1928 About midnight May 7, 1928, fire was discovered in the old mill. The fire company responded promptly but the fire which had such headway had destroyed it. A barn next to it owned by Mrs. Hoy was also destroyed, but the evaporator was saved. The mill at this time was owned by George C. Mason a banker in Webster, N.Y. Just one day over a month later on June 8, 1928, also about midnight, another fire was discovered which destroyed the apple drier, a two story building 30 x 75 feet, built in This also was owned by Mr. Mason. Both deeds were thought to be arson. Today nothing remains of the once prosperous Madden Mills. The Thomas Family Colonel Vary's brother in-law, Lodowick Thomas, settled in 1805 on lot 22 a short distance to the west from his sister's family, on 360 acres of land he had purchased overlooking the valley. It was his grandson, who would someday occupy the Vary house. Lodowick was married to Miss Esther Gates, the daughter of Joshua and Anna Lamb Gates. The Gates family also pioneered the wilderness of Sheldon. Lodowick and Esther were the parents of the following known children: Seth, Rowland who remained unmarried as did his sisters Mercy and Esther, Cynthia; (married to Amzi Conger) and Eliza who married Benjamin Thayer of Stephentown. Lodowick had seen service during the Revolution and his name appears on the pension list for service in the New York State Militia as a private. From available records it is found that he received $80 per year from Mar. 4, 1831 until his death June 6, 1848 at the age of 86 years. In a letter, his grandson Herman J. Conger states that his grandfather was wounded in action. A War Department letter concerning Lodowick's military service also states that his name appeared as a private on a return of prisoners sent from the Province of Quebec by seas to Boston on Nov. 8, Mr. Conger also noted that Lodowick was buried in a family cemetery on his farm, beside the grave of his father Peleg Thomas Sr. who saw service with the English Army before the Revolution. Also in this Thomas Cemetery lies the grandsons of Lodowick who were killed in the Civil War. Seth Thomas, the father of Jeffrey Thomas, was also a soldier serving as a private during the War of 1812 with Capt. Isaac Wilson's company of Lt. Colonel Worthy Churchill's New York State Militia of Genesee County, N.Y. Seth who was also buried on the Thomas farm according to one source, (and another saying in the Village Cemetery) died April 2, 1872 at the age of 78 years. His wife nee Samantha Fellows proceeded him in death on Sept. 21, 1859 at 51 years of age. They were the parents of: Eliza Ann who was married to James M. Jones a Civil War Veteran; Jeffrey Francis; Avery G. who became a village undertaker on.attica Street; Mary who was married to William Brewer and Eveline who married John Slader, who owned and operated a meat packing business (cont. on page 42)

7 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 35 Barber B. Conable Jr. Talks At Warsaw Meeting About The Sullivan Expedition Editor's Note: Mr. Conable gave the following talk at the June meeting of the Warsaw Historical Society. This is an historical year in Western New York because of the 200th anniversary of the Sullivan Expedition. I am pleased to talk about it because I am distressed that more isn't being done to commemorate it. I do not know if you remember that in 1929 for the Sesqui-Centennial celebration, there were a great many commemorative activities, including a marvelous pageant over on the hillside outside Leicester, a large parade and a splendid talk by Senator James W. Wadsworth. This year, it is very difficult to interest anyone in this episode of our history; I do not know why. Today I do not intend to give a tiring dayby-day analysis of the expedition. Instead, I want to discuss some of the factors that were significant about it, and to analyze some traditional stories about it. Of the standard sources, of which there are not many, the one most commonly used was published by the State of New York on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Expedition, John Sullivan's Indian Expedition 1779, by the Secretary of the State of New York. This gathers together many of the soldier's journals, some of which were also separately published by local historical societies, and is a great time-saver if you want a quick survey of the published material. However, I want to caution you that the soldiers involved in this expedition, when they came back, found people very curious about where they had been and what they had experienced and did much of their journal work after the fact. If they had not kept a day-by-day journal, they knew someone who had. Consequently, they contacted the friend with the journal and copied it, sometimes adding flourishes of their own. As one goes through these journals, one will see much of the same wording appearing in journal after journal. In some cases, one will find the same mistakes repeated over and over again. In other words, many of these journals which were supposed to have been contemporary commentaries of the expedition were, in fact, written many years later and dated back. They were put together by people who had come to realize that the Revolutionary War period was the seedbed of our nation's history. They wanted to have a record of their personal participation in it for their children, to legitimize their involvement in written form. IMPORTANCE OF PERIOD The thesis that the Revolutionary War turned out to be much more important than any of the participants really thought it would is not a new one. There is a very good book written recently by a Pulitzer Prize author named Michael Kammen, A Season of Youth, about the extent to which the traditions of the Revolutionary War period were elaborated shortly after the nation was born. Because we were a country without history, the Revolutionary War suddenly became our traditional time. We examined and re-examined the founding fathers and the events by which this country arose, not always critically, and a whole lot of what was written about the Revolution during the early 19th Century is really tradition and not history at all. Now in these more realistic times, 200 years later, historians are going back and rewriting a lot of Revolutionary War history and are trying to distinguish what is tradition and what is hard reality. The necessity is greater than for any other period in American history. People found their well-springs of national tradition in the Revolutionary period and that was terribly important to them, and thus the elaboration that was so characteristic. I was given a book recently by my aunt, Mrs. TenHagen, that was written by Parson Weems about George Washington and was published in many editions shortly after Washington's death. Parson Weems, who had been Washington's minister for a while, made up many of the great traditions about Washington. He was the one that discovered the re- (cont. on page 36)

8 PAGE 36 OCTOBER 1979 (Barber Conable Cont.) British troops were. He knew the danger and yet he took the gamble. Why? WYOMING PA. INCIDENT Gen. John Sullivan markable story about Washington and the cherry tree. Nobody had heard of it until Weem's fertile mind came up with it after George was no longer around to laugh at such foolishness. That was typical of the yearning for tradition after the Revolutionary period. So, today I would like to discuss some of the traditions about the Sullivan Expedition as opposed to some of the hard realities. In one sense, and in view of the way we have glorified our Revolution, it is surprising that the Sullivan Expedition had so little attention from the traditionalists. To the participants and the leaders of the country it was viewed as terribly important. It was a difficult operation, fraught with the possibility of disaster. The expedition was not only through the wilderness, but through hostile country and against a foe who tried to surround, to ambush and capture in the skulking warfare of the forest; and yet Sullivan moved in excess of 3000 men, 550 miles through the wilderness, lost only 40 men despite 2 battles, had exceptionally few men seriously wounded, and accomplished his mission remarkably well. Despite that, it is not nearly as legendary as Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea, which was no where near as difficult or dangerous as Sullivan's march. It was considered so important at the time that Washington dispatched a full third of his best troops on this mission up into Western New York - not his militia, but the Continental Army which numbered no more than 10,000 men at that time. The fate of the fledging nation was hanging in the balance, and' yet Washington felt it so important that he took one of his best general's and dispatched a third of his regular army and sent them off on this wild goose chase, way up in the wilderness, miles from where the Washington felt it was important because what had happened the year before had had a terrible impact on his ability to maintain his army. In July of 1778, a group of about 700 Indians and Tories descended upon the Wyoming Valley where Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania is now, and committed what is known as the Wyoming massacre. It wasn't a massacre at all; it was a military operation, but some militia from the Wyoming Valley came out of their forts inadvisably to try to stop the barn and house burning by the invaders, and 150 of them were killed on the field of battle. It was not a massacre but a defeat under arms; but in those times communication was difficult, and by the time word got back to civilization about what had happened in Wyoming Valley, it was a terrible blood bath with babies being bashed against trees and similar stories that inflamed the frontier. In November a group of Indians, including Mary Jemison's husband, Hiokatoo, Joseph Brant, and Butler (Walter Butler, the son in this case), descended on Cherry Valley, north of Cooperstown, and there a real massacre was committed, although only 30 or 40 people were killed. The foolish commander at Cherry Valley had been warned but had done nothing about it. His name was Ichabod Allen and he paid for it with a tomahawk in the head. The Indians were upset because one of their major towns on the Susquehanna River below Otsego Lake had been burned. Some of them ran amuck, seeking revenge in the course of the attack against the fort in Cherry Valley and tomahawked a number of women and children, including a very prominent Tory family who were actually friends of theirs. Brant always claimed it was an accident, that he did everything he could to protect innocent women and children, but the fact is that there were some tomahawked. This again inflamed the frontier. Now there were two results of this: one was that people were terrified of staying out in any kind of an exposed area to farm and the result was that the fertile and productive Mohawk Valley was virtually abandoned after these two massacres. Not only that, but troops in the Continental Army and the militia who had been called up for very limited periods of time would not extend their enlistments. They wanted to go home to protect their families. They heard terrible stories about these two massacres, the morale of the frontier sagged badly and the capacity to maintain a military (cont. on page 37)

9 OCTOBER 1979 (Barber Conable Cont.) force in the field was very seriously eroded, and as a result Washington felt that he had to do something. The Continental Congress was getting calls from New York and from Pennsylvania to protect the frontier and at least make a demonstration against the Indians and Tories operating out of Ft. Niagara, since they were the ones who were causing the frontier virtually to collapse, destroying the food producing capacity of what was then the granary of the Continental army. Both Washington and Congress thought it had to be done. CHARACTER OF SULLIVAN Now, as a needed and remarkably successful operation, why wasn't it considered more important afterwards? I think that lies largely in the personality of General John Sullivan. Washington considered Sullivan one of his better Generals. He did not offer him the command first, but to Horatio Gates, the victor of Burgyne's surrender. Gates was a rival of Washington's, a man who was jealous of Washington, who felt that he had really carried off the great victory of the war and that Washington had been a loser. The letter to Gates said, in effect: "I don't have time for you to send an answer, and if you don't want to do this please pass on the enclosed envelope to General Sullivan who is second choice." Gates brushed it aside and said that he really resented Washington offering him such an opportunity in view of his age and health, which were both very good at the time. That confirmed Washington's opinion about Gates. Sullivan, however, although Washington considered him a good General, had been marked by bad luck. He had a close call in Rhode Island when the French fleet went off and left him there; he had a difficult time on Staten Island and suffered a defeat there, he had inadequate intelligence at Brandywine Creek, and so had participated heavily in the responsibility for the defeat of Brandywine. Washington still did not blame him and considered him one of his better Generals. John Sullivan, however, was a quarrelsome man. He was an ambitious man. He loved to fight with the state legislatures and the Continental Congress. He loved to complain that people were not supporting him adequately and were blaming him for things he hadn't done. He was very fussy about quartermaster stores and things like that. At one point before his expedition started, Washington had to reprimand him for delay, but he complained bitterly that the Pennsylvania legis- PAGE 37 lature had not delivered the supplies he had been promised. The result of his contentiousness was that he was not a popular man and didn't have any great crowning war victory to make him a hero. He came back from the Sullivan Expedition feeling that he had done a great job, and he had. He felt that he had been criticized by Washington, inadequately supported by both * Congress and by the quartermaster corps, and so he complained to a lot of people and offered a pro forma resignation of his commission on account of his health, allegedly; and to his surprise and horror Congress accepted it. He went back to New Hampshire and did nothing more during the Revolutionary War period, although later he became the Governor of New Hampshire. Still later, he was a federal judge up there. He died in the 1790's and was still a contentious figure, despite his prominence. When he died, it was said he owed a lot of bills and one of his friends stood over his casket with loaded pistols to keep the creditors from attacking the body. Now I don't know why they would do that but apparently it could be done back in those days so that he couldn't be buried until his bills were paid. In short, General Sullivan, despite his magnificent achievement in this expedition was not the stuff of which popular acclaim or heroism is made. That is probably the greatest reason his achievement has not been memoralized more than it has. OTHER SOURCES Now let's look at some of the other books I have with me. One of the traditional classics was written by a man named Tiffany Norton, who lived in Lima. It is called "Sullivan's Campaign" simply, and was published in 1879 on the 100th anniversary. I'll read you a part of that later because it is so typical of the traditional treatment of a patriotic event. Then there is this book, "Boyd & Parker", put out in 1928 by the Livingston County Historical Society. Lockwood Doty was the man who put it together. It's good analysis of the Boyd and Parker incident. Of even greater interest is another little book put out by the state in 1929 called "The Sullivan-Clinton Campaign in 1779, Chronology and Selected Documents." One of the interesting things about this book is that by this time, 150 years after the Revolution, people were being a little less sentimental and a little less patriotic than they had been at the time of the centennial and they did the unheard of in this book. They went to the Canadian sources and looked up what the British were saying about the Sullivan campaign at that time, and it's fascinating to see the juxtaposition of the two. Let's (cont. on page 38)

10 PA3E 38 OCTOBER 1979 (Barber Conable Cont.) start for instance, by talking a little about the torture of Boyd and Parker. Here is Tiffany Norton's story, after Boyd and Parker were taken back to Cuylerville there to be tortured. NORTON'S STORY "From the battlefield Boyd and Parker were conducted to Little Beard's Town where they were ushered into the presence of Colonel John Butler. Previous to this Boyd had asked for an interview with Brant and having by certain Masonic signs made known to the latter that they were a common brotherhood Brant's stern brow relaxed, he assured the prisoners that their lives should be spared. Soon after this however, the chief was called away and the prisoner was left at the mercy of the Indians. Brought before Butler, that officer sought to obtain some information from them concerning General Sullivan's purposes: The prisoners were caused to kneel before him with a savage grasping either arm, a third at their backs with uplifted tomahawk, and in this situation they were plied with questions. They refused to impart any information. Relying on the assurance, which Brant had given them and spurning in any event to betray their comrades in the cause of the colonies, they met their questioners only with defiance. Butler threatened but they remained firm. 'What is the number of Sullivan's army,' asked the British officer. 'I shall not answer the question,' was Boyd's reply. Butler said to Boyd, 'Life is sweet and you are yet a young man. There is no possibility of your escape and you have only one alternative. Either answer my question or you must die.' "Colonel Butler,' replied the dauntless young officer, who now was standing, the tomahawk still leaning above his head, 'I am in your hands - Do with me as you see fit. I know your power and your will to put me throught severest torture but you cannot shake my determination to refuse to answer your question.' 'Your death will be upon your own head. Take him away,' exclaimed the angry officer, and the Indians who were ready enough to wreak their vengeance on the prisoner soon came under the ready leadership of Little Beard distinguished by vindictive cruelty and diabolical ingenuity in pursing prisoners and they were borne away to place of torture." CANADIAN LETTERS Now 50 years later, let's go to the Canadian sources to find what's in the archives about this little incident. Here is a letter sent by Colonel John Butler to Lieut. Colonel Mason Bolton, the commanding officer at Fort Niagara, dated 14th September 1779, at Buffalo Creek. That's the day after Boyd and Parker had been tortured to death back at Little Beard's Town. Colonel John Butler had left immediately after the ambush at Groveland and had apparently gotten as far as Buffalo Creek before he sent a letter on to Lieut. Col. Mason Bolton and this is the first time this letter makes an appearance out of the Canadian archives. "We left Canawaugus (Avon) on the 12th instant in the afternoon and went and took possession of the ground where we meant to surprise the enemy the next morning. The Rangers by the desire of the Indians were intermixed among them. We waited a few hours and then discovered the enemy who were busily employed in making a bridge over the swamp to their front. It was our intention to let part of them pass the swamps and then to attack vhi such a manner as to make it difficult Tor the others to support them. While we were waiting with impatience for the enemy to begin to pass their bridge, we were alarmed by a firing above us to the right, which continued for some time. The Indians called out that we were surrounded and immediately rushed to the place where the firing was. Upon coming up, I found that a party of rebels, about 30 in number, had fallen within the right of our line and 22 of them had been killed by the Rangers and Indians in that quarter. A lieutenant who commanded the party and a private were taken. The officer, who is a very intelligent person says that their army consists of a force of 5000 continental troops of which 1500 were riflemen commanded by General Sul - livan and Brigadiers Hand, Fuller and Clinton. They have but a months'provisions and they intend, according to his account, to come no further than the Genesee. There are four pieces of cannon, the largest a six pounder, a coehorn and a howitzer. They are building a strong fort at Tioga and mean to keep a garrison there after they go back." Let's analyze this. If that isn't about as full an intelligence report on the Sullivan campaign as anybody could have given, I don't know what is! Another interesting thing is that he says, "The officer is a very intelligent person," in other words, he didn't know that Boyd was dead. Boyd and Parker must have been alive when he left for Buffalo Creek, and he didn't know about the Indian's vengeance, much less incite it. He had no reason to urge their tor- (cont. on page 41)

11 OCTOBER 1979 (Barber Conable Cont.) ture - they'd told him everything they knew, with great accuracy. When he says in his letter that Boyd is an intelligent officer, he means, in effect, that he is fully cooperative Everything about this letter makes it look as if what Tiffany Norton had written, out of tradition, fifty years earlier was just so much garbage. Let me just mention the issue of Boyd's having given the Masonic sign to Brant. I think that that is made up of whole cloth too. First of all, there is no indication that Boyd was a Mason. Second, there was an incident involving a Masonic misunderstanding earlier that year at Minisink on the Delaware River. Brant attacked Minisink in an effort to draw Clinton's army away from the Cooperstown area when he was waiting to join Sullivan at Tioga. One of the prisoners Brant had taken there made a sign which Brant interpreted to be a Masonic sign and Brant assured him of his safety and when some other of the prisoners were killed, he was not. Later Brant found out that the man was not a Mason, had not wittingly given the sign and was mystified as to what Brant was talking about. Brant was angry to have misinterpreted a gesture he thought was from a brother Mason, but when he later found his mistake, he let his prisoner live. That episode became so much a part of legend that it was brought by Tiffany Norton into the Boyd and Parker affair. MARY JEMISON'S ACCOUNT Mary Jemison in her description of the tortures inflicted upon Boyd, including a rather sanguinary affair involving the wrapping of his intestines around the torture tree, was evidently wrong and was referring to an episode of which she had heard which had occurred at another time up in the middle part of the state. After all it was 50 years later that she was describing for Dr. Seaver the tortures of Boyd. Mary didn't like to see people tortured and she wasn't in the front row to observe Boyd's predicament. I've looked at the soldiers' journals and none of the soldiers that found Boyd's body referred to that type of torture. You can bet they would have if it had happened. Well, I guess what I am saying is that you have to look at this sort of thing rather carefully and one has to understand that there is a certain amount of tradition in the stories that cannot be substantiated. At the time of the Revolutionary frontier, episodes that occurred 100 miles off were mysteriously transplanted into the memories of people long after the fact. Selective memories want to underscore their own long-ago adventures with drama. PAGE 39 Let's explore the tradition of the Sullivan expedition further. There is an assumption on the part of the older writers that Boyd and Parker's party were drawn into that ambush. You remember that they had been sent out the night before (on the 12th) by Gen. Sullivan. He said to Lieutenant Boyd, "Take four people and go out and see if you can find where this village is that we are headed for." Boyd, because morale was high and everybody was enthusiastic, wound up taking 24 instead of four and afterwards in his report Sullivan said that he had disobeyed orders and would have been disciplined if he had survived. They went on up over the Groveland hill and took a wrong fork in the path where the paths split. They took the left fork, or they would have run into the party of Indians and Rangers coming from Avon to lay the ambush. They wound up at the location of the old home called the Hermitage, above Canaseraga Creek. There was an Indian village there called Gathsegwarohare. The village had been a- bandoned and as the scouting party lay there in the woods looking at the small collection of houses trying to figure whether that was the one they were supposed to be looking for, a couple of Indians rode in and they shot one of them and took his scalp. Boyd got very nervous because he realized that probably the firing had alerted the Indians as to his presence. They started back up over the ridge to rejoin Sullivan. The story is that Indians appeared off in the distance, would then retreat and Boyd started after them. Allegedly, an Oneida chief who was with him warned him they were trying to lure him into an ambush. Boyd is supposed to have ignored his warnings. The traditional story is that Boyd and the 24 men were deliverately ambushed in this way. Now in fact, what actually happened apparently, judging from the letter in the Canadian archives, is that the British and Indians had laid an ambush above the south end of Conesus Lake wanting to attack Sullivan's army as it crossed the corduroy road that they were laying across the swamp there, hoping to hit them before all the army had crossed the corduroy road and cut off part of them. That's good military tactics. The ambusing group was not large enough to attack the whole of Sullivan's expedition, but surely they wanted bigger game than a scouting party of 24 men. THE AMBUSH There were apparently between 400 and 500 Indians and a very few Rangers because (cont. on page 40)

12 PA3E 40 OCTOBER 1979 (Barber Conable Cont.) the malaria had laid most of the British low. They had bad "ague" as they called it. They were lying there, waiting, and Boyd's party stumbled into the rear end of the ambush and sprung the ambush. Remember Butler's letter: he had said the Indians were alarmed, saying, "We are surrounded," and rushed up to see what was happening and found Boyd's little detachment being wiped out except for six people who broke through the line and escaped. The rest of them were wiped out. It was an error - it wasn't that Boyd's party had been drawn into an ambush. The ambush was for Sullivan's army. The Indians didn't even know that Boyd's party was wandering around behind them, and by coming back unexpectedly he had triggered an ambush which othewise would have been a very severe battle and would have involved the loss of a lot of people. So Boyd, by accident, performed a major service for Sullivan's army. He triggered an ambush which otherwise would have become a major, and possibly a very damaging military action. Interestingly enough, the Indians ran off as soon as they realized that their cover was blown. They ran off and left, it is said, seventy packs there on the ground. I have a tomahawk from that site up on the wall of my office in Washington. I don't have it with me because I can't carry it through security at the airport because I can't convince the airport people that I am not going to attempt to hijack the airplane. There were things found on the ground there indicating that the Indians left in a great haste as a result of the triggering of their ambush. So there again the tradition that Boyd and Parker were drawn into an ambush is probably incorrect. In all probability, it was just an accident that they were coming back after firing at an Indian down at Gathsegwarohare and wanting to rejoin Sullivan's army and feeling that there was a lot of activity in the bushes around about them they were nervous about getting back and moving too fast for safety as they came back up the same trail that they had come down. BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES To conclude, I do not believe that we can stress too much the significance of Sullivan's Expedition in the opening of Western New York. The colonists didn't even have an accurate map of this area at that time. In 1768, Sir William Johnson by solemn contract with the Indians had made the Unadilla River which is a branch of the Susquehanna, the Western Boundary of white settlement in New York State and no settlement was permitted beyond that. This was pure Indian country, nothing else. So very few people except a few captives had any idea what was up here. The soldiers' journals constantly stress how surprised they were by the beauty of the villages and the productivity of the Indian farms. They talked about cornstalks 16 to 18 feet high. Maybe it was that high but I doubt it. They talked about corn cobs a foot to a foot and a half long. They talked about beautiful villages, particularly at Canandaigua, Geneva and at Little Beard's Town, which had 128 houses. They thought such rich villages must have been occupied by Tories. They were convinced that Indians couldn't have lived so well. They found frame houses, houses with windows. They found beautiful orchards, evidence of cattle and horses and magnificent crops growing everywhere. They looked, and they were reluctant to believe mere savages were living so well. The Indians were faring a lot better than they did on their New England rock-piles, so they rationalized that Western New York must have been occupied by Tories. Well, I guess that on deliberation later they realized that they had been Indian villages they were burning. As they thought of it, they thought, "If Indians could live that well, what could I do up in that country?" They wanted to find out. The legend of the frontier, the same thing that made those Cherry Valley and Wyoming Valley massacres such terrible things, alter the fact, began to enlarge the rumors about the land of milk and honey up here in Western New York. They told their families and their neighbors about corn 16 feet or 20 feet high. They described magnificent villages - imagine 128 houses on a fertile flat! Think what we could do if we had land like that! The result was that as soon as the chance offered itself, most of those fellows and their neighbors rushed to leave the rock-piles up in New England where they had been scrabbling a bare living and came out here to prove that if Indians could grow 20 foot corn here, they could grow it 125 feet tall. Legend e- nobled the area and made it a magnet. Fifty years later, by 1829, this area was fully populated. We had moved from absolutely unmapped wilderness to highly fertile farm land, again a new granary for the United States, in a remarkably short time of transition, because all those soldiers magnified the virtues of the land. That was the great significance of the expedition for white people. END OF CONFEDERACY It was of significance also for the Indians in a very tragic way. They were terribly demoralized by Sullivan's Expedition. It was (cont. on page 41)

13 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 41 (Barber Conable Cont.) the end of the Six Nations as they were then called. The Indians had never seen this type of warfare. Warfare to them shouldn't be waged against villages and crops, it was a matter of personal vengeance. They hadn't wanted to be drawn into the white man's war, but the accident at Oriskany described by Mary Jemison precipitated a commitment to the King which required vengeance. In theory, that was something that Joseph Brant had wanted because he was convinced that the King was the only stable institution strong enough to protect the Indians against encroachment of the squatters. Brant was an intellectual - educated, thoughtful, a man who was a leader of his people in every sense of the word - and he came to the conclusion that it was to the best interests of the Indian to stick with the crown and the crown would protect them. Now, the word went out from Indian spies early that Sullivan was forming at Easton, then that he was at Wyoming, then at Wyalussing, then at Tioga Point, still the crown officials in Canada refused to believe that it was anything serious requiring their concerns. BRITISH SUPPORT FAILS Sir John Johnson, Sir William Johnson's son, arrived to protect the Indians with 300 additional troops on September 30th after Sullivan was all the way back to Tioga Point. The Indians got the message from Sullivan's campaign that the crown was not really a dependable ally, that they couldn't rely on the crown. There was great bitterness for them in that. All of their crops had been destroyed, 40 villages had been laid waste, at least half a million bushels of corn had been destroyed. They had no choice but to go up and camp around Fort Niagara and to ask the British to feed them during the winter which you recall Mary Jemison said was the worst winter on record with snow over 6 feet deep. Hundreds of them died up there of scurvy. They found that the crown didn't even have the capacity to feed 5000 Indians camped around Ft. Niagara without any food of their own. The disillusions of it became virtually complete. Indian disintegration proceeded in straight line from that point on. This was a war they didn't know how to fight: the big-talking ally had let them down, the enemy had waged war against their crops and more had died from scurvy and smallpox than gloriously on the battlefield. They had seen how impotent they were in the face of a disciplined and controlled military operation of the sort Sullivan had put together. They never again were a force to be reckoned with. So from their point of view, it was tragically significant and it was the end of Indian power in New York State. This has been a somewhat casual discussion of elements, both significant and traditional that characterize the only intrusion of the Revolutionary War, that seedbed of American history and legend, into our area of Western New York. Much nore would be interesting to talk about if we had time, but let's goto questions. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q. Henry Page has taken exception to what Dr. Crocker wrote in his "Genesee Trails," as to the western most point of the expedition. Dr. Crocker says that they reached the eastern part of Wyoming County almost to Silver Lake and that Lieut. Bishop was one of those in the front lines and that he came back after the war and settled near Perry. Henry Page said he didn't believe that they came that far. A. I think Henry was right. The location of Little Beard's Town is pretty vague. It was probably at Cuylerville but it was not a town that was concentrated at one point; it was a belt of houses. There were apparently 128 houses and I'm sure that they counted them because it was the largest number that they had come upon. In all probability it covered quite an area, but I doubt that it went as far as Wyoming County. Of course, Pine Tavern is not that far from Cuylerville or Leicester. The Indians say they lay on the slopes above Cuylerville and watched the burning of the village before they retreated to Ft. Niagara. For that reason also, I doubt that there was a lot of scouting up in the direction of Wyoming County. You may recall that Mary Jemison went there with her extended family. She called where they went "a place called Catawba," and it was later identified as Stony Brook Glen over near Varysburg. The name Catawba does not ring a bell with anyone; it is not a Seneca word and I don't know if she just made that up or not, but Stony Brook Glen is where they went and so her group, those who didn't go up to Ft. Niagara, came across Wyoming County. Mary didn't want to go to Ft. Niagara because every time that she went there they tried to get her to go back to the white people, but she had had a lot of trouble with white people over that and she didn't think she had anything to go back to. You remember that after she came back from Stony Brook Glen she went up on the Gardeau and there were a couple of runaway slaves, black men, who were growing corn up there that had not been destroyed by Sullivan. She and her children lived with them that winter. They made a deal where Mary would husk and weave their corn, (cont. on page 42)

14 PAGE 42 OCTOBER 1979 (Barber Conable Cont.) They used to weave the husked corn into a strand to hang in rafters of the house to dry and for storage. Mary did that; apparently, the blacks didn't want to do that kind of work. She harvested, husked and wove their corn for them and kept one string for every ten. That's how she and her children lived that terrible winter that caused so much havoc with the Indians around Ft. Niagara. To summarize, first Sullivan didn't go into Wyoming County at Gardeau because there was corn there that hadn't been destroyed. Second, they didn't go north very far because Canawaugus, the Indian village at Avon, was the only major village in the area that wasn't burned. This implies they didn't scout around much, using Cuylerville as a base. Third, Mary did retreat across Wyoming County as far as Varysburg, but considered that safe so that any major intrusion into Wyoming County clearly did not happen. I suspect that the 128 houses at Little Beard's Town were largely confined to the flats and therefore there was not much reason for Sullivan to have come up toward Silver Lake. Q. Is there any indication that Brant might have officially known the significance of the Masonic sign? A. Oh yes, Brant was a Mason. He had joined the Masons in England. He was a Mason and remember the episode at Minisink involving this man who was supposed to have given him the sign, but who later knew nothing about it. Q. Brant would have recognized the sign? A. Yes, he would have recognized the sign, had it been given, but I suspect that the Minisink, incident is mistakenly transplanted into Tiffany Norton's story. It is nowhere else reported. Q. (Omitted from transcript) A. I do not know how anyone could have known what transpired at Little Beard's leading up to the Boyd and Parker torture. Evidently though, at least Col. Butler's involvement in it was innocent because he thought that the man was still alive the next day and there was nothing to Boyd's refusal to answer questions because it is clear that he spilled everything he knew about Sullivan's army at the time. Q. Is it possible from Butler's British point of view that he didn't want to indicate that they had been killed? A. Yes, that would have been a possibility. He wasn't reporting to the judgment of history but to his commanding officer. Unless he wanted to cover up an unpleasant episode and thus not report it to his commanding officer, he probably did not anticipate that his letter would wind up in the archives. I think that it was unnecessary for him to report that "Boyd is an intelligent officer" -- he could have reported the intelligence and let it go at that. Q. Did you ever hear any stories of Tim Murphy? A. Yes. Tim Murphy was supposed to be one of the men who broke the enemy line when Boyd's party stumbled upon the ambush. Tim Murphy was a colorful fellow, born in Maryland, later a Pennsylvanian and joined Morgan's Rifles, a group of riflemen (as opposed to the smooth bore type) who were great sharp shooters used extensively in the Revolutionary period to pick off distant British soldiers. Tim Murphy is reputed to be the man who climbed up a tree at the request of General Gates and dropped from his saddle Gen. Frazer, a Scotch general who was the heart of General Burgoyne's operation. Gen. Frazer was very popular with his troops. Tim Murphy is alleged to have fired at him at a great distance from a tree top and killed him. The incident had great impact on the morale of the British troops at Saratoga. He had a double barreled rifle and that made him a legend among the Indians because the great maneuver of the frontier warfare was to wait until the other guy shot and then close in with your tomahawk. Tim would shoot once and then wait for the other guy to close in with the tomahawk and he would get the fellow with the other barrel. It made him a legendary figure, because the Indians never expected a second shot. He finally settled down at Schoharie. He is alleged to have been one of the figures in Boyd's scouting party. Tiffany Norton tells a long story about how he tripped in the grass and fell down and the Indians went by and he got up and an Indian saw him. Then he hid behind a log and stuck his hat upon a ramrod and when the Indian shot through the hat and then rushed to collect the scalp, Tim shot him in the chest and killed him. Anyway, if he was with Boyd, Murphy finally got back to the main body of troops. I do not know how you can prove any of this. There is nothing anywhere to confirm that Tim Murphy was part of the party but that is part of the legend of Tim Murphy. He was one of those frontier types of which legends are made. I could tell you other stories about him, but they're probably no more than 20 percent factual. He lived a long time and had plenty of time to expand on his adventures. (Village In The Valley Cont.) in Chicago. Seth resided upon his father's farm and operated it until his death. Jeffrey Francis Thomas, who moved into the (cont. on page 43)

15 OCTOBER 1979 (Village In The Valley Cont.) Vary House from his father's farm in 1885, where he was born Aug. 4, 1829, was a very prominent man about Varysburg. It is from his diaries dating from which are in the New York Library in Albany, that we have learned a great deal of Civil War times in Varysburg. Jeffrey Thomas was a self educated man and was not only a prosperous farmer but a country lawyer. He was married May 12, 1852 to Miss Harriet D. Richards, daughter of James and Anna Richards of Orangeville, whose family were pioneers in that township. The Thomases, parents of two children, Francis S. born Jan. 30, 1858, died April 3, 1910, from septicemia caused from the prick of a price tag on a pair of new overalls. Francis after his father's retirement operated the family farm but with no children of his own, the name died with him. Ermina A. Thomas was married to Edwin Hall. Jeffrey Thomas, the father, died in the Vary House Feb. 25, 1900 after being stricken with numeous strokes. The original Thomas homestead erected by Lodowick Thomas burned. Mrs. Ermina Hall resided in the Vary House following her father's death. She died in 1923, followed by her husband, in PAGE 43 in They sold their first car on Mar. 5, 1910 to Mr. Ed George of North Java. Leon operated the garage until 1917 when he removed to Buffalo turning over his business to his father John P. West and brother in-law Louis E. Cornish. On April 1, 1925 the business was purchased by A.G. Wolf and Raymond Dorshide who operated it until about 1930 when Arthur Gerhardt Sr. purchased the business. It was then known as the Brookside Garage, selling gas for 13 for regular gas, and special going for 16<?. About 1934 the firm of Ayers and Gerhardt, (Gilbert Ayers and Clarence Gerhardt) moved the building to its present location and today it is operated by Burt G. West, the brother of Leon P. West, and his son in-law Darwin Almeter. Little is known concerning the next dwelling except in 1866 according to the village map was the home of W. Parker. It has been known throughout the years as the George West house and today it is occupied by James and Florence Bartz Almeter. Tinner Hall's To the northwest of the Vary House and next in line traveling on our historical journey, we come to a tiny shop that once stood near the southeast bank of the creek known in earlier times as Catawba, and today as Stony Creek. Before this little shop was moved upon this site, it w8s a doctor's oifice, possibly that of Doctors Potter and Watson, and was on Mill Street. It was at one time a meat market, and was moved at other times for various purposes until it was located upon this site. It was here that Edwin Hall, known to the villagers as "Tinner Hall", operated his tin shop. Older residents of the village today can recall going inside this small shop and also the walk-in cooler that remained from its earlier purpose. Following the death of Tinner Hall the small building was willed to the Masonic Lodge, and they in turn sold the building to Roy Glor. He moved it to its final side, adjoining his home on Attica Street, and converted it into a cottage for Miss Helen Barton, Today, this little cottage is rented to others by his widow, Mrs. Bertha Glor. The First Garage of Varysburg As we cross the Stony Creek and upon its opposite bank once stood the first public garage built in the village. With the coming of the auto age, Leon P. West built a building in which he and Elbert K. Cooper started a Ford Agency Attica and Arcade Railroad The Great Fire of 1908 Station. All communities, however small, have their conflagations entailing loss of property, if not life itself, and the village of Varysburg has not been an exception. At 4 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 23, 1908 fire of unknown origin broke out in the tiny village destroying the entire west side of Main Street from the present home of James Almeter to the present apartment house of Mr. and Mrs. Terry Ripstein. The fire originated in the copper shop of Orla Lawrence which set behind the upper hotel. He and Victor Wilcox by day had been busy making barrels for the fall rush of apple picking and by night it was the sleeping place of Frank Danley, a well known countryside character who was awakened by the sound of crackling flames and stifling smoke in time to escape with his life. The shop had been built in 1886 by James (cont. on poge 45)

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17 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 45 (Village In The Valley Cont.) S. Barnes as a blacksmith shop. A strong brisk southeast wind was blowing that morning and the dry autumn which had turned the valley into a blaze of color also had made the valley dry and the wells low. The fire gained headway and soon the flames were carried to the roof of the hotel barn which had been erected only a few years before by A.G. Musty, where the sparks were driven through the cracks into the hay. Across the street in the small framed telephone office, the operator William Salisbury and his wife, nee Carrie Conant, were awakened. Salisbury immediately went to the switch board sending out the alarm for help for the little village, then, without fire protection. Soon the church bells on the Methodist-Episcopal and Free Will Baptist Churches were ringing the tragic news from hill to hill and down the valley calling for help. Already the flames blown by the implacable wind had reached over and were enveloping the hotel. Quickly the hill sides became animated with the hurrying hill folk, who from a high elevation saw the fire in the valley below and had heard the roar of its invincible onslaught. They came running through the woods and fields, down the winding dirt roads in every kind of vehicle, knowing as they came that without help the village was doomed to destruction. The alarm had been received in the Arcade phone office about 5 a.m. and a special train was quickly made ready on the B.A. & A. railroad with 16 active firemen, who with their chemical engine, buckets and ladders were hurrying to the scene. In Attica, the hand pumper was hooked to a team for the trip up the valley. Meanwhile the villagers formed a large bucket brigade, reported to be upwards of 1000 men, in a desparate attempt to save their town. Blankets were soaked with water and hung on the building. Fires were starting all over the village catching from the falling embers, some being blown 4 miles distance on the present day Creek Road. Nearby homes were being evacuated and everywhere were women, children and older folks burdened with their choicest possessions. In the erratic light of early dawn were seen the weird blackened faces of every able bodied man around the area using every amount of energy to save the little village of Varysburg. The Path of Destruction Store in Sometime after 1885 George Green built the hotel that burned that morning. Albert Klein had purchased the hotel from'a.g. Musty about 1906, known as the Valley Hotel. It was Mr. Klein and his wife nee Sara Collins who watched their business burn to the ground. Following the fire, Charles Streicher, a bachelor, moved a small house from Attica Street, the present site of Mrs. Mable Embt's garage, to the rear of the burned lot, almost on the creek bank. Burt G. West, the oldest male resident of Varysburg today, lived in this house as a child. A long driveway led back to Mr. Streicher's business which was known as the Yellow Dog Saloon. During April of 1916, William Logel purchased the property and on the 6th of that month, Andrew Bauer a local contractor began excavating the foundation for the present hotel. Throughout the years since Mr. Logel it has been operated under various names and owners: Charles Eugene Murphy; Stephen Smith - The Smith Hotel; George F. Dolphin; Anthony Dimick, who added the bowling lanes on in 1947; Philip Cusmano - Cusy's Lanes; Gerald Snyder; Lee Fisher; William Tanner; and the new owners, who operate under the name of Valley Lanes. Other Houses Destroyed During the fire, Orla Lawrence, a resourceful man in time of danger, suggested that if they dynamited the Louis Ward house, it might stop the fire from spreading. Dynamite sticks were obtained, but it was too late - the house was in flames. This house had been erected by John B. Folsom, after his marriage in 18-31, to Clarinda C. Harnden. They resided in this red framed house until 1834, when they removed to Michigan. Mr. Folsom returned later to the county, and with ins brother, organized the hamlet of Folsomdale. At the time of the fire it was occupied by Lewis Ward, an aged Civil War veteran who resided alone. The house was never rebuilt. About 1938, Elbert K. Cooper moved a small dwelling from a site located behind the present home of Clarence Riber, and converted it into a Sunoco Gas Station. This building was later moved to the rear of the lot, and now is behind the home of James Almeter. Today this lot is vacant. The Upper Hotel was completely destroyed. The early history of the site is unknown but in the 1860's it was the site of Barnhardt Marzolf's Tin Shop which he sold to J.M. Bryson on Jan. 1, Mr. Bryson added a hardware line to the shop but soon outgrew this building and removed to a new store he erected across the street next to the Corner Also destroyed, was the Ernest Schaublin house. At the time of the fire, Mrs. Schaublin occupied the house, and in the front room John W. Whitney conducted a "high class" tonsorial parlor. In earlier times the house was owned by Richard Blydenburgh, and Hiram and Charity B. Nott. In March, 1863, Philip (cont. on page 46)

18 PAGE 46 OCTOBER 1979 (Village In The Valley Cont.) Wolf opened his tailor shop in the front rooms, selling out later to George Bauer, and his wife, Sally, who operated the tailor business. The Schaublins had purchased the property from Jacob and Magdalena Schaub in Burt G. West remembers Frank Lincoln having his barber shop in the front of this house when he was a lad. Mr. West recalls that when Mr. Lincoln moved in, he helped clean out the shoe shop which had previously occupied the front room. It was to this site that Ayers & Gerhardt moved the first garage of Varysburg. The Wolf Brothers Store George W. and John Wolf, not quite sure of the wording of their insurance policies regarding the fire, relocked the doors of their business - a liquor and grocery shop - which had been the combined result of their lifetime of work. They quietly stood and watched it being consumed before their eyes. The original owners of this building are not known, only that the name "Norton's Store" appears on the 1853 map of the village. The Wolf family began their association with this building in July, 1863, when Philip M. Wolf opened a tailor shop, which he conducted here until Aug. 1, Philip M. Wolf, with his wife, Elizabeth Shoemaker, with their two children, George M., born Mar. 12, 1832 in Alsace-Lorraine, and Sally, who later married George Bauer, sailed from France in 1849 taking 99 days in crossing. They landed in New York City where Philip M. worked for one year as a tailor. The following spring the family started westward but when they arrived in Albany they found that the Erie Canal was closed and they shipped their goods by rail to Attica. When they arrived they rented a house from Elizabeth's brother Michael Shoemaker who had settled in Orangeville. Mr. Wolf worked for Salem Davis until he opened his own shop on Main Street in 1863 in the Schaublin House and then moved a few months later to this site. In 1868 he sold the building to John and Mary Smith who conducted a wholesale and retail liquor shop and a saloon in the building until 1870 when they sold to the Fields family. In 1854 George M. Wolf was married to Miss Catherine Laninger, the daughter of George and Sarah Laninger and they began housekeeping in the house that once stood where the present Agway store stands. At this site of the former Bryson Hardware, George M. began a meat market business until he enlisted in the 136th NY Inf. Co. H. during the Civil War. Following the war he moved his family to a farm in Orangeville until Jan. 11, 1871 when he purchased the former store of his father upon the site now occupied by the Texaco Station of Burt G. West. It was here that he began his meat market business again. His slaughter house was located on the old Thomas Road just below the hill known as Knab Hill. On Oct. 1, 1885 George M. Wolf sold his business and his building to his sons, George W. and John Wolf. The brothers built onto the original building and enlarged the stock. Above their store the Varysburg Grange held their meetings in a large hall. The year following the fire of 1908 they rebuilt their liquor and grocery store and this building remains today. The brothers built a special entrance for the Grangers to the rear side of the building and a long carriage house for their use. The Wolf Brothers retired in 1930 selling out their entire stock to H.B. Weir and Co. of Springville, N.Y. John Wolf died April 21, 1932 and in Sept the building was sold to Gilbert F. Ayers and Clarence Gerhardt. They converted the building into a gasoline station, made living rooms to the rear, and partitioned the front of the building to include a beauty parlor. This was divided by marble columns and lattice work which came from a bank in Corfu. They also added the front canopy over the pumps. Mr. and Mrs. Burt G. West became tenants, and finally owners of the building. Mrs. West operated a beauty parlor here for many years. Their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Darwin Almeter, and family, occupy the living rooms today. The Grange meanwhile during the late 1920's had moved into the old Methodist-Episcopal Church. The Lower Hotel and Barn The lower hotel barn was the next to be destroyed. The original barn was a long structure and had numerous sheds and an ice house just northwest of the Wolf Store. In early times, this was the approximate site of a harness and saddler shop operated by James F. Pettengill. Following the fire, Thomas Murphy, the hotel proprietor, had the barn rebuilt to half the size of the original. During the hotel ownership of Anthony Star key, the barn was torn down and the property sold to the Fire Department. In November of 1952 the present fire hall was completed upon this site, moving the hall's location from across the street. The lower Hotel was the last structure to burn in the fire of It is believed to be the site of the first tavern hotel in the village. The building approximately 60 to 70 feet in length was constructed during the early history of Varysburg. During the 1850's it was operated, we believe, by Andrew Pettengill according to a Feb. 24, 1853 dance card which states, "Social Party at A. Pettengill's Hotel in Varysburg on Thursday, Feb. 24, 1853at5p.m. - L.E. Barnum and Brother, Music." Jeffrey Thomas in his diaries mentions Loren Waldo & Frank C. (cont. on page 47)

19 OCTOBER 1979 (Village In The Valley Cont.) Zwetsch. C.F. Prentice also was associated with this hotel in the late 1860's from an ad that he ran in the 1870 Directory of Wyoming County: "No efforts spared to make this a comfortable Home for Travelers. Good Stabling Attached." The next owners were the enterprising McCray Brothers - Horace N. and John, sons of William and Ann Button McCray who came to the village in 1836 from Ellington, Conn. Lott Shaw was the next owner operating under the name of Shaw's Hotel. It is said he was a thrifty old Yankee who did not believe in wasting anything or taking unnecessary chances in business. One day he had to go away on business and left Jim Bryson in charge and cautioned him not to charge anything. On his return he found the stock depleted, the till empty and everyone He called Jim aside and asked what this all meant. Jim replied. "You told me not to charge anything and I didn't," Jim was always looking for a chance to pull a joke on someone and the McCrays and Shaw seemed to be his favorite victims. About 1886 Albert Briggs and his wife nee Cora Hatfield whom he had married in 1872, came to Varysburg from their Erie House in Warsaw, N.Y. The hotel became known as the Varysburg Hotel. They had first operated the Wethersfield Hotel at Wethersfield Springs. I have had the fortune to read their- old register from their Varysburg Hotel and in it is this short poem written by a traveler: "When you and I in Love Depart May it leave a string in Both our Hearts I to some foreign land must go Sleep there in least as others do All this and more I have to say Night calls me on - I must away With good intent I write these lines You will in time a question find." The medicine shows would advertise in these registers taking one whole page or two listing their specialty for their coming performance. Following the Brigg's, Charles E. Kempston and his wife Elsie ran the old hotel and on Mar. 4, 1895 they sold to Barney Ripstein for $ Shortly after he sold to Andrew Bauer and then in 1902 Thomas Murphy who also had previously operated the Wethersfield Hotel took over. Hotel Rebuilt It was during the ownership of Thomas Murphy and his wife nee Mary Campbell that the hotel burned. Mr. Murphy who was the son of Mathew and Margaret Rolph and was born in Java Nov. 7, 1860, rebuilt the Varysburg Hotel in 1909 under the supervision of the Broadbrooks Lumber Company of Attica. This hotel remains today. Mr. Murphy operated the hotel until his death in Since that time the owners have been PAGE 47 William Kernan, Elmer Frisbee, Anthony Stark - ey and the present owner Robert Hirsch. Meanwhile help for the fire fighters had arrived from Arcade aboard the train whose whistle wide open made the valley ring. The pumper from Attica had broken an axle and it too had to come by train. However the wind shifted and the fire was controlled before it reached the next building on Main Street. With the coming of daylight and only 2 hours since the first notice of flames, the light revealed a desolate waste of ashes and tumbled stone foundations. The century old buildings that had stood since pioneer times had burned like tinder. Across the street all the buildings were scorched and the glass windows broken. On the hill away from danger, the cemetery was strewn with household goods and the effects in general abandonment, the entire stock of the D.S. Davis store amongst it. In all the loss of this great fire was estimated at $30,000 - a huge amount for that time in our history. Elbert K. Cooper took pictures of this fire and published a series of postcards which have aided in the history of this event. In one particular shot there is an early automobile, the only one present in all of Varysburg on that morning. I must make note in this history, the auto was owned and driven from Attica that morning by George Broadbrooks. Also as I have promised to the older residents of the village who lived through this fire, I come to the defense of all the ablebodied men and women who fought that fire that early morning. In all the accounts I have read concerning this fire, all make note of the drunken condition that the men were in. As a historian I doubt this piece of history, and after interviewing many residents of Varysburg I truly believe it is not completely true. I believe the menfolk that morning were just too busy in saving their village to worry about drinking up the liquor from the burning hotels. But I must admit that their job was a very hard chore and a thirsty task and like today's menfolk I suspect they did find a few glasses to calm their nerves and quench their thirst, but I truly doubt the written charge that all those men were drunk. In all, those menfolk on the morning of Oct. 23, 1908, fought to save one hundred years of work so that life in their tiny village might continue. Davis General Store It was at this building that the great fire stopped. It suffered smoke damage, broken glass, and was badly scorched. As far as the history of this building can be traced and proven, it dates back to the 1850's when in April 1856 Salem Davis purchased the general mercantile business of Andrew Pettingill. It (cont. on page 48)

20 PAGE 48 OCTOBER 1979 (Village In The Valley Cont.) may have been before this time the store of Luther Barnum and his son Salmatious, who later became a Cowlesville merchant, as deeds belonging to Varysburg Hotel refer to such a store. Salem Davis had purchased this business with his son Chester W. who as a young lad had learned the value of work and wage. At the age of 12 years, he had earned his first wage. At the age of 18 years, Chester formed the partnership with his father, but the following year he sold out his share to his father and set out on his own. After traveling throughout the West and returning home after various ventures, he finally returned in 1870 and went into partnership with his brother Dexter S. Davis. The brothers continued in business together for 2 years when Chester W. sold out his share opening a mercantile business in Strykersville. Dexter S. continued alone in his father's store until July 1892 when the wandering brother once again returned home and purchased the entire stock of Dexter S. to open a store in North Java. >. j '-v 1 The Davis Store Dexter S. Davis who had married Miss Alice Parker on Dec. 13, 1870, refitted his father's store in 1894, building it into one of the largest mercantile businesses in this part of the state. Upon Dexter's death in 1904, his son C.N. Davis took over the family -store operating it until his death in His widow sold the building to the Yaeger family who converted the old store into a fine restaurant and soda fountain. During the 1950's Anthony Dimick made over the building into apartments and today they are owned by his granddaughter and husband Dianne and Terry Ripstein. I might note that the Davis family produced another well known merchant of Wyoming County, George M. Davis, son of George C. and grandson of Salem who founded and operated the famous Rock Glen General Store. The driveway northwest of the Ripsteins once led to the grist mill and over the hill across an old wooden plank bridge to Centerline Road at Barber Hill. Due to the constant repairing of the wooden bridge and the opening of a road between Johnsonburg and Varysburg, it was abandoned. This road was known as Mill Street. The Pioneer Grist Mill This was the original site of the pioneer grist mill built by Colonel Vary that was destroyed by flood at unknown date. A common sight in pioneer days, in and about Varysburg, was of horses and even men, with bags of grain across their backs, trudging along the roads on their way to Vary's grist mill. A area resident, Tunis White, threshed his wheat by hand and carried three bushels of it at once upon his back three miles to the mill. Once, when the Colonel's mill dam needed repairs, men from several miles a- round were invited by the owner to come and assist in the work. One neighbor noted for his doggeral rhymes, made reply to the Colonel's invitation: "When old Vary kills his ram I'll go and help him gravel his dam; For you don't know how it made me feel, To see that old ram eat my meal." The unknown poet in his poem referred to a pet sheep, kept about the grist mill, which, it was said, often took a little toll from the hopper while the grain was being ground. The Vary mill was rebuilt following the flood and during the 1830's the miller was David Stevens. In 1850 it was Norman Raymond. This second mill also was destroyed by flood sometime after Peter Ismert was half owner at the time and he started to come over on foot one morning from his home in Sheldon to assume his duties. Upon arriving at the top of the hill, he saw that the mill had been swept away and he turned about and never returned. For a third time the mill was rebuilt upon the site and the following have been its operators: James Shipman and Pierre Berrard, (the later the partner of Ismert): John Batzold, Herman J. Conger, John Coughran, Robert Sproul, Lewis Ward, Sanford Godfrey, Charles ParkerParker Brothers - Gad and Guy; Clarence Seeley, Nicholas Bolemder and the last and final owners Arthur and Jennison Matteson. On Friday Nov. 30, 1934 about 10:30 a.m. and oil stove used for cooking in the living quarters of the mill exploded. The mill was abandoned and torn down during the summer of The Second Oldest House The house now occupied by Louis W. and Dorothy Kehl Urwin, was the site of the pioneer home of William Thompkins, who is believed to have been its builder. The exact date of construction is unknown, but it is thought (cont. on poge 49)

21 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 49 (Village In The Valley Cont.) to have been around the same time that the Vary house was constructed. Mrs. William (Lucy) Thompkins resided here in the 1830s, and the next known occupant was Dr. Lindorf Potter, considered by many to be the first physician to practice in Varysburg. His parents were Dr. Benjamin Potter, (the second doctor to practice in the Town of Sheldon), and Phebe Eastman. Dr. Potter was a descendent of Nathaniel and Dorothy Wilbor Potter, of England. After his marriage to Mary G. Blanchard, Dr. Lindorf Potter practiced in Strykersville, until he moved to Warsaw in 1842; finally in 1844 settling in Varysburg where he practiced until his death in 1857 at 47 years. In 1850 Dr. John Watson, son of Dr. Ira and Sally Steven Watson, came to Varysburg to practice with Dr. Potter until 1852, when he left the village, returning again in 1854, to form a partnership with Dr. Potter. Their office was located on Mill Street, to the southwest of the house. After Dr. Watson's death, his widow, nee Eliza Parker, resided here until her death. The home then became the property of their daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Scoville. First Library The Potter/Watson house once housed the first and only Varysburg Free Library which was started about Later it was moved to the home of Mrs. Albert Zahler on Attica Street and finally to the Spink house on upper Main Street. The date it ceased is unknown. The lawn of this fine home was the location, of the village socials by the churches and organizations. During the summer months the village band gave concerts here for the villagers. The first band known as the Varysburg Military Band was organized at the turn of the century and later on it became known just as the Community Band. During June 1979, Mr. Ripstein and Mr. Irwin constructed their new hardware business upon this lawn. Doctors of Varysburg house until From 1900 to 1904 Dr. Fred W. Green had his office in the same house. Others have been Dr. William Stanton, Dr. Franklin Richards Barross, Dr. John R. Mullen, Dr. Gilford W. McCray who removed from his hometown to Buffalo where for 40 years he conducted a wholesale drug business. Dr. Frederick Baker McKenny came to Varysburg during Feb from Scottsburg, N.Y. with his wife nee Alice E. Blackman and he practiced here until his death following an operation for appendicitis in Two months following the death of Dr. Mc- Kenny, Dr. George A. McQuilkin came to the village on May 11, 1906; although only planning to stay a few years, he remained here until his death on Jan. 31, The son of Duncan and Marium Howes McQuilkin and a graduate of the famous Middlebury Academy, Dr. McQuilkin will go down in history as the last practicing physician in the village with the longest service to the villagers. Telephone Service About 1885, the first telephone line was e- rected through the village from Attica to Warsaw. It was a one-wire ground circuit line, and. a pay station desk phone was installed in the Dexter S. Davis General Store. In the early 1900's the phone office was moved in the front rooms of the Watson house and was operated by Margaret Parker, assisted by Blanche Davis, daughter of Dexter S. Shortly after the office was moved across the street to the store of C.N. Davis, who operated in competition with his father. About 1905 William Salisbury and his wife came as manager and chief operator; later Charles Wilcox served as manager and his sister Alice as chief operator. On March 17, 1922 a disastrous fire destroyed the phone office and the following morning new equipment arrived and the central office was again established in the Potter/ Watson house. Here it remained until April 6, 1950 when the New York Telephone changed over to the dial system and the new building was built on lower Main Street. Besides the two already mentioned: Dr. Laban Ainsworth practiced in the village somewhere on Main Street and this writer believes it was he who was the first village doctor. Around 1850 Dr. Ray Green who was a native of Massachusetts was in the village. Dr. Horace B. Miller practiced one year with Dr. Watson. Dr. Samuel S. Kennedy who was married in the village to Miss Carlia J. Davis practiced from a house on Attica Street. Dr. John G. Van Pelt removed to Niagara Falls from Varysburg dying there in The son of Dr. James J. Sharp, Dr. Henry Preston Sharp came to Varysburg in 1886 and practiced here in the McQuilkin The next house on Main Street was torn down during Dec for a parking lot adjoining Agway. Earlier owners were J. Walker, and William Bauer. In 1916 Charles Streicher opened a general Store here known as the Varysburg Cheap Store. Louis Shreder around 1908 operated a meat market in this building having bought out the business and slaughter house of Frank Zwetsch on School Street. Burt Lawrence also operated his business here followed in 1918 by Alvin Glor who once again opened a meat market in the small addition to the side of the house. This addition was torn (cont. on page 50)

22 PAGE 50 down around the 1950's. (Village In The Valley Cont.) Bryson Hardware On site upon which Agway is now located, Chauncy B. Dunbar built a dwelling in It has been said that it was built for a hotel but was never completed. Mr. Dunbar, a country lawyer, was one of the wealthiest men about the country. At one time this house was the home of George Wilder, Lorenzo Jones and George M. Wolf. After the Wolf family moved Henry H. Persons and his wife nee Mary Ann Williamson, resided here and it was they wno sold the property to John M. Bryson. Before this event took place Mrs. Belle Hawley conducted her military shop in the front rooms. In 1882 Mr. Bryson sold this house to George Jones who moved it to Attica Street. Mr. Bryson in turn moved his business building from next to the Corner Store to this site and built a dwelling house to the front. Soon this house, along with the barns, was converted to the hardware store and Mr. Bryson moved his family to the Ainsworth house on Attica Street in Following Mr. Bryson's death in 1927 the building stood vacant until 1937 when Millard F. Embt purchased it and started the F.W. Embt and Son Hardware and Feed Store. In 1965 Mr. Embt, his son Clair and son-in-law Howard Petrie, incorporated under Agway. The driveway to the north of the hardware was the location of one of the village blacksmith shops. In 1913 Charles Jones and Irving Duschen were operating it: "Repairing done with greatest speed And satisfaction guaranteed Horseshoeing too is in our line And work that stands the wear of time. If your good horse is sore or lame We quickly will relieve the same We use good iron, and work for pay And nail the shoes on so they'll stay. If you but give our work a test You'll say it surely is the best Back of the hardware is our shop This is the place where you should stop." Later years this location was the site of Walter Spink's cider mill. The next house on our journey into time was the home of Alexander Graham who came to America from Glenquarry, Ireland in He came to the village in and opened a shoe shop in the front rooms of this house. While in later history it was the site of the Varysburg Free Library, the home of Walter Spink and today Richard Spink resides. The house known as the Marie Davis house OCTOBER 1979 was where Chauncey B. Dunbar conducted his pioneer general store. Besides being the country lawyer he also was a peddler and manufacturer of Dunbar's liniment. In 1853 C.B. Burbank was the owner followed by the feed store of Marshal Cowdin and Ebenezer Havens,after which James H. Fillmore and Havens Feed Store. In the early century it was the home of S.J. Godfrey. The House of the Village Doctors In pioneer times this house was the home of Riley Curtis during the 1830's and believed built by him. Just before the turn of the century this house became the office and home of the village doctors until the death of Dr. McQuilkin. Varysburg Free Will Baptist Church On July 17, 1816, the pioneers of Varysburg and its surrounding area formed a society known as the First Free Will Baptist Society of Sheldon, with Molbone Godfrey, his wife Eunice Maxon Godfrey, his brother Jotham Godfrey and George Grinold as the nucleus of its formation. Almost twenty years later the society was incorporated on Feb. 1, 1836 as the First Free Will Baptist Society of Varysburg. At a meeting on this date the first trustees were elected: George Grinold, Joshua Godfrey, Levi Walker, John J. Maxon, Peter Richards, and John Vaughan. Besides these members there were: Molbone Godfrey, Charles Wilder, Stepehn Lunshull, Thomas Maynard, Edward Walker, Labon Hasset, Stepehn Bump, Reed Cooley, David Rice and Robert Godfrey. On Sept. 9, 1836 the trustees purchased for $100, from John F. Maxon, a plot of ground to erect their church. During that month a subscription list was passed to raise funds for the building of the church. It read: "We, the subscribers, agree to pay the sums set opposite our names respectively to the trustees of the First Free Will Baptist Society of Varysburg, N.Y. for the purpose of erecting a house to be dedicated to the worship of God to be held in trust by the trustees of the above society which House, it is expressly understood, shall be opened for preaching of other religious denominations when not occupied by them and it is further understood that when two or more shall desire to occupy said House, it shall be decided by the trustees of the above named society, and further, said House is to be open on all funeral occasions, also to be free for quarterly meetings and associations, etc." The contract was given to the village blacksmith Ezekial Parker and Jonah A. Holcomb (cont. on page 51)

23 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 51 Free Baptist Varysburg, Will Church, N.Y. (Village In The Valley Cont.) to erect a church 36 x 46 with 18 foot posts with a basement in which a room to serve as a high school was fitted, at a cost of $ It was about this time that Deacon Grinold mortgaged his farm to secure funds to finish the work. On Sept. 13, 1836 that church was dedicated. It has been written that the Deacon did the most of the work towards the erection of the church and that he went to the woods to look for the best timber and stood by until the last nail was driven. After the church was completed the Deacon was heavily kn debt and began to feel that the members did not stand by him. He began to absent himself from the services and only returned on a strong appeal from Rev. David Marks. The Boy Preacher Rev. David Marks, known as the Boy Preacher and Evangelist, accepted a call for this church in Dec to teach in the high school. At this time the Sheldon High School under the patronage of the Holland Purchase Yearly Meeting, was then flourishing here in the church basement. In 1841 Rev. Marks became pastor. From his memoirs, he stated that Varysburg had for sometime been a "wicked village". "Intemperance and kindred vices had long since blighted its moral prospects and sectarian bigotry had paralyzed the efforts of God's ministers." For 3 weeks he conducted a protracted meeting with little apparent effect. He then sensed an impending visitation of death upon the place and mentioned it publically many times. He even preached a funeral sermon before the high school for the first person that should die. His prophecy soon bore fruit for crowds came to hear him preach. Immediately after the close of the revivals which lasted 8 weeks, a strange disease commenced its fearful ravages in the township. Its name was not determined but within a few days more than 30 persons in Varysburg died. The alarming fatalies continued until few families were left unvisited. Those who recovered in many instances regained health slowly. In Nov. 1841, a second subscription was circulated by Rev. Marks to help pay off the debt on the church. He departed in Jan. 1842, leaving the Varysburg Church prospering and it continues to do so today. Around 1886 the name was changed to the Varysburg Union Baptist Church and about 1925 it began to be known as the Varysburg Community Church. The pastors who have served throughout the years have been: Hermon Jenkins, Joseph Davis, D. ML. Rollins, Luke Hitchcock, Charles Putnam, Horatio N. Plumb, Richard Richardson, O.D. Taylor, Leonard Dewey, Mason Hezekiah Abby, Horace Perry, Charles Cook, Daniel Jackson, W.N. Edwards, Rev, Fuller, Washington Parker, Milo N. Shoemaker, Stanley Durkee, Clayton Streeter, George B. Drake, W.S. Holland, Rev. Gardner, Frederick W. Luxford, Charles E. Bascom, Rev. Osborn, Matthews, Noble, William Walker, Frank Terrell, Rev. Sutcliff, Dale Everett, Robert W. Smith Jr. and today by Mrs. Caroline Hass. The site next to the Community Church in 1836 was owned by Jonah A. Hoi comb and by 1866 a house here was occupied by Harrison G. Parker. It is said that many of the church's pastors lived here until the parsonage was built. In later history it was the home of C.N. Davis. (VILLAGE IN THE VALLEY WILL BE CON- TINUED IN THE JANUARY ISSUE OF HISTORICAL WYOMING.) AT THE OFFICE The County Historian's corner spot in the new Rural Museum building of Wyoming County Fair last August seemed to evoke much interest. We featured Wyoming County in W.W.I, with authentic posters, military equipment, etc. The small boys loved to try on the fancy German helmet. We still don't know exactly the number of survivors now living in the county, but we did get up to 86 at last count. A poster recorded each name. It is the least we can do in the way of public recognition for their services. We acknowledge with thanks the gift of many back copies of HISTORICAL WYOMING from the McWithey family; a doll and clothing of the early 1900s from the Stanley Cornwells; a photo of the Warsaw Button Co. employees, and 1902 Atlas from Mrs. Warren Hawley of Batavia, and several books from Wm. B. Smallwood before his departure for Florida. Gifts of genealogical records included the Hurd family, from Thaddeus Hurd in Clyde, (cont. on page 52)

24 PAGE 52 (Queries Cont.) O.; the Clift-Warner-Stryker families from Arlene Vincent; interesting reminiscences of the life of Judith Watson Scott, wife of Llewellyn Burbank of Varysburg, from Merle Clor; and an account of the life of Clarinda Bush Clancy, ( ) by her granddaughter, May Isabel Winslow, of Dodge City Kansas. AMONG OUR SOCIETIES Covington Historical Society held a picnic at Genesee County Park at which the following officers were elected: President - Herbert Toal; Vice-President, Elsie Moag; Treasurer, Dorothy Long; Secretary, Arlene Hettrick; and Trustee for 3 years, Paul LeFevre. At the September meeting, Stuart Norton gave an interesting talk on railroad work. He exhibited a model train with cars he had constructed of wood, since his retirement as railroad employee. A dinner meeting is planned for Nov. 10. Warsaw Historical Society met Sept. 25, with Tom Maimone, antique buff, as speaker. After a tureen dinner, Mr. Maimone, who is on the Warsaw Central faculty, told many interesting experiences both as buyer and seller of antiques, and touched on some of the items that are most popular today as collectibles. Members honored their president and new husband, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Burlingame, with a decorated cake to celebrate their recent marriage. Regular meetings will be recessed until spring. Louis Bishop, curator, explained about many of the Society's recent acquisitions. The Sheldon Historical Society has had a very successful first year. A lucrative flea market held in August, was followed by an Old Tyme Picnic in Sept. They are making headway in restoring the old Strykersville District School, which will be used as their museum in the near future. Meetings are held the fourth Thursday of each month, at 8 p.m., at the Sheldon Town building. Sheldon will be hosts at the first meeting of the Wyoming County Federation of Historical Societies on Oct. 10. STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION Required by 39U.S.C Title of Publication, HISTORICAL WYOMING publication # Date of filing Oct. 1, Frequency of publication quarterly. Annual subscription price $3.00. Location of office of publication, 26 Linwood Ave., Warsaw. Location OCTOBER 1979 of headquarters or general business offices of publishers, 26 Linwood Ave., Warsaw. Publisher, Wyoming County Historian, John G. Wilson, 26 Linwood Ave., Warsaw. Managing editor, John G. Wilson, 26 Linwood Ave., Warsaw. Total number of copies printed, 800. Paid circulation (counter sales, etc.) 50. Average mail subscription, 690. Free distribution by mail, carriers, complimentary, etc., 20. Total distribution, 70. Copies not distributed, 40. Total 800. NECROLOGY Louis R. James, 71 of 5148 Curtis Rd., Warsaw died at the Wyoming Co. Hospital Aug. 18, He was born in DuQuesne, Pa. Aug. 23, 1907, the son of Louis and Mabel Mills James. Mr. James received his law degree at the Univ. Pittsburgh in 1934 and also attended Virginia Military Inst., the Univ. of Washington and Cornell Univ. He served in World War II and received the Purple Heart. His record of public service includes many state and county positions including Wyoming Co. District Attorney from 1970 through Max Chase Tillotson, 76, former chairman of the Wyoming County Board of Supervisors, died Aug. 8, 1979, at his summer home at Silver Lake. Born in Wyoming, he operated the F.R. Tillotson Hardware store in Wyoming, along with his father, soon after his graduation from Hamilton College. He was active in Masonic orders for fifty-five years, and at the time of his death was Commissioner of the Masonic Benevolence for the Grand Lodge, state of New York. He was also supervisor of the Town of Middlebury, , clerk of the Wyoming County Board of Supervisors, , and had recently retired as secretary for Wyoming County Workman's Compensation. Dr. Charles O. Wagenhals, chief of internal medicine and cardiology at Wyoming Co. Community Hospital since 1954, died at the hospital on Aug. 22, Dr. Wagenhals was born in Ft. Wayne, Ind., Sept. 26, 1915, the son of Herbert and Jessie Orr Wagenhals. He was a graduate of Albany High School, Syracuse Univ. and Temple Medical School. He also did post-graduate work at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. He was a veteran of the army in World War II, having served with the 39th signal Corps in northern France and central Europe. Dr. Wagenhals had been a resident and practicing physician in Warsaw since 1946.

25 OCTOBER 1979 PAGE 53 QUERIES The following correspondents would appreciate information regarding the following families: Keith R. Laws, of Olympia, Wash., re birthplace or origin of William Packard, father of Lewis Packard, (1835 in Castile.) Irene Stockwell, of Janesville, Wise., re Ehatha, (Eliatha?), (Elvithah?) Stockwell, (18-30 census, China, Wyo. Co.); also John R. Stockwell, and/or James, b. Wyo. Co., 1833 or Marie Mapes Yager, of LaJolla, Ca., re whereabouts of Harry Lee Mapes, b. 1876, m Clara Evalina Sparrow, after the death of his mother, Laura Belle Hovey Mapes. He returned to Warsaw after serving in the Spanish American War. WYO. CO. FEDERATION of HIST. SOC. There has been for some time the opinion among many of the local history minded people of the county that the cause of county history could be better served if the various historical societies, of which there are ten in the county could uniteinto a federation which would further their programs in the county. The idea was introduced by Jay Carmichael of Castile to a meeting of representatives of the various societies. As a result, a series of meetings were held, by-laws were drawn up and a slate of officers elected. These officers are: President, Herbert Toal, Covington, Vice-Pres. Catherine Weeks, Warsaw, Lorna Spencer, Secretary, Ray Caryl, Treas. The ten member societies are; Warsaw, Attica, Castile, Sheldon, Java, Bennington, Covington, Middlebury, Arcade and Pioneer. A fall meeting is planned for this fall and a work shop meeting in the spring. The Federation also plans to aid in the historical exhibits and programs at the Wyoming Co. Fair. Each of the ten societies will be represented on the steering committee of the Federation by two of their members appointed by each society. The representatives appointed are: Arcade, Lorna Spencer, Arthur Prey; Castile, Lewis Cook, Jay Carmichael, Covington, Elcy Altoft, Herbert Toal, Attica, Mrs. Lester Gephart, Jean Waite, Bennington, Anita Ripstein, Janice Kilburn, Middlebury, Gloria Gohke, Mary Lester, Pioneer, John Jackson, Olive Smith, Java, Florence Zielinski, Ray Barber, Sheldon, Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Caryl, Warsaw, Marie Burlingame, Catherine Weeks. HOPE CEMETERY CORRECTIONS Hope Cemetery (Perry) listings started with Vol. XXV #2, Oct., 1978 issue of Historical Wyoming, and are concluded with this issue. Several incorrect spellings and listings have been called to our attention by Harry S. Douglass, Betty Rice and Mrs. Arthur M. Popp: OCT issue, page 53 - Truman Abbey, on BILLS lot, should have been listed under ABBEY. He was an uncle of the family. page 55 - CLEVELAND was misspelled, (Cleneland) ROBINSON - part of this family was listed incorrectly under the CLARK heading, on page 55. They should have been listed as follows on page 25 of the July 1979 issue: Pardon A., Harriet C., Zeb C., 10/22/1872, 40y, 3rd reg. N.Y. Cavalry, Co. A EBERSTEIN, page 56 - was spelled Eberstun DOUGLASS - Howard C., d 1906, should be inserted on page 55. He was incorrectly listed in the KEMP lot. GEORGE - Mary Jane Bills, wife of Charles George, was listed on page 53 under BILLS; the GEORGE listing was omitted. DUFFIE - Mathew, d 6/27/1871, and his wife, Sirena L., was correctly listed, but she is actually buried in LaGrange Cemetery. There are stones in both cemeteries. She was the 1st wife of Mathew. DUFFIE listings omitted on page 56: Olive A., 2nd wife, also a daughter of Susan Dustin and Seeley Pollard, b 4/2/1829; d 1/11/1896. Eugene M. Duffie, b 8/20/1862; d 12/26/ 1895, son of Mathew and Sirena, Susie Sirria, b 8/30/1862; d 1881, a dau. of M & S Duffie. There are stones for all these in the Duffie plot. APR issue, page PAPP - should be spelled POPP. Listings, beginning with James, through Sidney, are correct. Noxon family should have been listed in this issue on page 115, instead of under TOWN- SEND, in this issue. The Noxons and Townsends are on the same monument.

26 PAGE 54 OCTOBER 1979 TARPLEE Emma L., wife of Caleb, 11/ /1926 Frank S ? Ina E. Wilcox, wife of Frank TAYLOR Stone fallen, near sidewalk on Main St. Clara B., d. 6/17/1881, 23y Josephine A., d. 4/27/1878, 15y Luther, d. 10/17/1837, 44thy TERRY John, d. 7/30/1844, 45y John H., d. 10/18/1898, 56y 6m THING Adelia P. McKee, d. 2/13/ 1846, wife of Charles H. Thing Henry H., 8/20/1814-9/23/ 1883 Reliance Hamblin wife, d. 4/15/1875, 51y THOMPSON Little Charlie (no dates - old stone) Adaline, wife, John, July or June 12/1841, 31y Harvey M., (Mason) Mary Annette, James, d. 10/4/1854, 72y (according to probate of will by James Jr.) Mary, wife, 2/4/1870, 82y Andrew, son James & Mary, h. 7/11/1841, 19y9m20d Belva, wife of Charles H. Homan, b. 2/27/1833, d. 10/ 2/1871, (dau. of Henry & Mary Pody) THURSTON Lucian E., Theresa M., Bessie E., TINKHAM Henry D., Laurie, wife, Hattie E., dau., d. 3/31/18-79, 3y3mlld TO AN Charles H Stella W Margaret A Austin W Elizabeth, wife, Carrie E., dau., d. 6/20/ 1865, 1 yr. Charles A PERRY HOPE CEMETERY HOPE CEMETERY CONTINUED FROM JULY ISSUE Harriet Smith, wife, Hannah, Thomas, d. 6/13/1862, 69 y 5m (Soldier of War of 1812, from Scipio, Cayuga Co. Came in covered wagon) Betsey Harvey, wife, d. 3/ 3/1872, 74y 8m Lydia H., dau., Infant son Thomas & Betsey, d. 2/10/1828, 21d TOMLINSON George, Marian, wife, John Frank, Harriet, wife, TOPPING Helen, wife of Alexander, TOWNSEND E.N. Townsend (Townsend & Noxon on same large Monument) R. Noxon R. Noxon William Noxon R. Noxon L. Noxon H. Noxon Mary, wife of Robert Noxon d. 2/13/1865, 27y TRABER Marion Palmer Traber Clarence H., son of J.E. & S.J. b. 9/9/1893-d. 9/6/ 1894 George M Ida M TRAVER Dr Mrs. G.R TRAVIS John R., d. 5/29/1856 (Masonic symbol on stone) Deborah, wife, d. 6/10/18-84, 95y TRIPP T. Willis, d. 4/27/1883,64y 8m, Lived west of Lake, died in Castile Jeannie E., wife E.P. Goodell, d. 3/21/1869, 22y William, 8/26/1856, 75y Sally, wife, d. 8/1861 TRUE Mehitobel, dau. Elijah & Susan, d. 8/24/1818, 28y Susan, wife, Elijah d. 1824, 75y5m20d Elijah, d. 7/31/1821, 77y Samuel, d. 10/13/1846, 72y (Pioneer Settler) TURNER Charles, d. 10/24/1824,28y TURTON Rev. Joseph J., Mary E., wife, TUTTLE Sylvester O., , Father, (Civil War) Wife, , Mother Ethel A., Maud Safford Tuttle, Richard T., b. 9/18/1830, d. 4/27/1896 Emma H., b. 11/5/ d. 11/29/1894 William Nancy J. Richardson Edwin, , Father Abegail Chase , Mother Jennie J Flora Floyd C., Marjorie J., UTTER Abraham, d. 1/2/1862, 77y 9ml8d Marilla, wife, d. 6/15/1848, 63y7m Charlotte, wife Samuel, d. 9/25/1840, 26y7m3d Samuel, son Samuel d. 3/ 1841, 11m No name, son of Eliman & Angeline Utter (Farewell my only brother dear Our joys on earth have fled And it may be that by and bye We'll meet in joy beyond the skies Hiram, 2/6/1818-2/10/ 1904 Ann T. Urton, wife, 7/23/ /3/1910 Baby, b. 11/8/1866 Delia A., dau., d. 10/9/ 1864, 12y7m George H., d. 8/13/1866, 15m son of N.H. d. scarlet fever at Castile Lyman E., d. 12/21/1866, 35y John W., d. 7/21/1860, 21y (cont. on page 55)

27 OCTOBER 1979 (PERRY HOPE CEMETERY CONT.) Eliman, no dates George, d. 3/21/1902, 55y 8m (1st Reg. N.Y. Dragoons) Catherine, wife, d. 1/21/ 1935, 74y7m C.J. Utter (small stone) no dates VAN DRESSER Harvey W., Eliza U., wife, Mary J. McKenzie, dau., Jerome, Catherine A., Gladys, VAN HOUTEN James H., Sarah N., wife, Melvin J., son, ^AN NOCKER Peter Carrie M., Johnnie L., VAN SCOTER J.B., VER HOEVEN Isabell, ^OORHEES Daniel B., Ellen, wife, WADE Fred D., JVAITE Uriah S., Emily, wife, WATKINS Frank E., Belle W., Ethlyn, dau., d. 12/12/1902, 9m23d WALLACE Permelia S., d. 9/10/ y6m (wife of David D.) David H., b. 7/29/ d. 8/30/1893 Sarah, wife, b. 4/29/1823- d. 3/17/1896 David D., Maria E., Cora E., b. 11/10/1854- d. 4/1/1887 (1st dau. of Henry Noonen) Wife of John Lee WALRATH Levi Matilda WALTERS Hillie D Lila M WARD Isaac Fletcher Elizabeth Scoutt James d. 5/28/1887, 76y Julis, wife, 5/5/1811-1/27/ 1889 Emily J. 3/20/1837-8/25/ 1906 Alburt, d. 9/16/1902, 59y 2m, (Co. H. 8th Art., transferred to Co. D 4th Heavy Art.) Gertrude B., wife, R.G Elmer, son, 9/16/ / 13/1892 WASHBURN (same monument as Westlake) Alonzo, d. 10/4/1880, 38y Elizabeth L. Westlake, wife, d. 7/19/1876, 31y WATKINSON William, d. 10/6/1869, 85y Sarah, wife & dau., of Rev. Wm. & Abigail Wiles d. 9/6/1846, 59y Louisa B., wife, Wm., 4/ 10/ /29/1881 (died Bay City, Mich.) WATROUS Randall 1^ (See Senter) Irene L WATSON Patience Murry d. 7/22/18-35, 53yr. or 57th yr. (wife of Elijah Watson) J.H. George L WEAVER W. Metlar Benjamin S. d. 6/4/1841, 48yr. Anna N. Blakeslee d. 4/17/ 1884, 77 yr. 3 mo. (wife) WERNHAM John H Maude F. wife, Harry R Joseph T WEST Peter P. d. 1891, 67 yrs. (no dates) Mary d. Jan. 7, 1908, 74 yrs. (no dates) (wife of Peter P.) Hattie A. 1887, 18 yrs. (no dates) Walter C. Jan. 23, 1899, 22 yrs. (no dates) WESTBROOK Simeon K. d. 6/28/1866,56y 10 mo. 27 days George (Co. A, 104th Reg. Wads worth Guards) Mary WESTLAKE Cornelia M.f b. 8/28/39 - d. 4/11/1895 Elizabeth b. 12/6/ PAGE 55 d. 2/13/1904 J.S. d. 4/16/1892, 81 yrs. (same monument) Louisa H. d. 6/8/1896, 86 y (wife) Charles G (Co. D. 1st N.Y. Drag.) Phebe A. Higgins (wife of Charles G.) WEYBURN Margaret E. d. 9/18/1862, 84 yrs. Our Mother (wife of Samuel Weyburn) WHEAT Ernest G Hattie A., wife, Lillian, dau., WHEELER O.W (W. N-Y) (father) WHELPLEY Hiram K Ella C (daughter H.K. and A.A.) Alphonsine A. Whelpley Beardsley WHITE Cassandanal Hiram, WHITEHEAD Hiram, son, Gabriel and Sarah d. 2/22/1838, llmo. Sarah Ann, dau., d. 4/4/ 1843, 3 y 10 m. 10 d. James d. 5/24/1841, 52 y "These sweet children have gone to rest Sleep on in quiet sleep I would not call thee back to earth Sleep on in.quiet sleep" WHITNEY George H. d. 12/21/1877, 24 y. 6 m. 17 d. Mary J. Halstead b. 4/26/ 1856 (wife of Halstead and Whitney same monument) WILCOX Edgar U Margaret A. Norris (wife) 5/ WILES Rev. William d. 11/22/18-33, 72 yrs. (For many years an acceptable minister of the Methodist E. Church) Abigail d. 6/10/1848, 90 y. (wife Rev. Wm.) WILSON Eugene Co. F. 136th Reg. Vol. Inf. (no dates) George S. d. 3/24/1876, 65 yrs. Elizabeth Pycoch d. 8/4/ 1851, 32 yrs. Jane Johnson d. 6/1/1875, (cont. on page 56)

28 PAGE 56 (PERRY HOPE CEMETERY CONT.) 63 yrs. (wife Geo. S.) WILLEY William H. Father Mary S. Mother Joseph Artemas B. Walker b. 6/ 2/1813 d. 10/13/1889 Adeline E. Willey, b. 10/ 7/1824 d. 7/25/1899 (wife) Willey's had large monument. Wilson d. 8/15/1855, 57 y. Harriet, wife, d. 1/13/18-82, 78 yrs. Freddy, son of John & Ann Willey (no dates) Mary, d. of George & Emily Surdam (no dates) Emily P. Surdam Little Willey, infant son, A.B. & A.E. Walker (no dates) WILLIAMS Moses C Harriet M. b. 4/7/1864 d. 7/8/1905 Freeman d. 2/28/1872, 72y Anna, wife, d. 6/27/1883, 77 yrs. Jarvis H., son, d. 2/13/ 1839, 11 mo. Oliver P., son, d. 7/24/18-64, 23 yrs. at Andersonville Ga. Phebe Mariah, dau., d. 1/ 23/1835, 5 m. Maranda M., dau., d. 12/ 20/1849, 13 yrs. Oliver d. 4/6/1841, 38 yrs. (brother of Freeman) WILLIAMSON George - Father Julia - wife of Geo WILLIS Everett b Cora Bolton b (wife) WINNEY John F. d. 3/18/1855, 64 yrs. 7 mo. lid George W. d. 2/26/1859, 20 yrs. 8 m. 12 d (son of John F. & Cornelia) Rosalie H. d. 5/25/1848, 41 yrs. (wife of Dwight F.) WOOD Ambrose Carrie W WOODHEAD Robert d. Nov. 18, 1843, 38 yrs. (Early druggist at Perry) Jane b. May 26, 1808 d. Sept. 23, 1886 (born in Wistar, Eng.) WOLFE William E Carrie E. Clark Wolfe WRIGHT George H. b. 1/1/1820 d. 9/30/1888 Mary M., wife, Fannie A., Barcene D., Amelia H., James P Edmund d. 6/6/ y. Sarah, wife, d. 1/30/1839, 59 yrs. Seaman b. 9/12/1772, d. 10/ 19/1846, 64 yrs. 1 m(born in Bennington Co., Shafts - burg, Vt.) (Died in Leicester, Livingston Co., N.Y.) Fanny, wife, d. 9/19/1851, 63 yrs. Daniel H. d. 12/20/1850, 26 yrs. Susanna, wife, Mathias Cobb d. 8/8/1852, 70 yrs. Emily Elias M. Wright Civil War Hilder D WUSTHOF Ernst, Father Julia Tillmanns, wife, , Mother WYCKOFF James N., b. 11/9/1859 d. 12/2/1932 Mary E. b. 7/24/1864 d. 1/ 11/1928 Elizabeth O. b. 3/8/1890 d. 2/18/1904 James b. 9/9/1894 d. 7/ 12/1899 Elizabeth Burge Wyckoff d. 10/22/1921 Frances O. b. 6/2/1861 d. 7/7/1935 Edwin M. b. 4/12/1856 d. 2/15/1926 Frank H. b. 7/1/1851 d. 12/21/1900 Henry P. b. 12/10/1845 d. 9/12/1860 Caroline T. b. 8/26/1824 d. 10/30/1905 James b. 12/12/1820 d. 7/ 18/1890 WYGANT Edmund H Isabella D., wife, Daniel d. 2/26/1880 died 92 yrs. 4 mo. 9 days Jane, wife, d. 10/25/1866, 76 yrs. 9 mo. 21 d OCTOBER 1979 Jennie E Ida E., wife E.H. Wygant d. 9/8/1874, 44 yrs. 2 mo. 23 d WYLIE Elizabeth Mary James-Grandfather James - Father Mary S.-Mother Jessie YALE T.H Helen, wife, John d. 2/15/1875, 83 yrs. Philgra W., wife, d. 12/ 2/1877, 80 yrs. YECKLY John A., d. 4/12/1838, 39th year YENCER James V Martha A YOUNG Sarah d. 11/22/1849, 74 yrs. Appendix GARDNER Benjamin Jr., d. 12/27/18-34, 45 yrs. (Built and owned Tomlinson Mill and dam in 1826) NOTE: In the January issue we will begin publishing the inscription for the Arcade Rural Cemetery. This is also a large cemetery and will be continued for several issues. ######