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Note: Obituary: 1817 - 1899
Orson T. Day was born in Livingston County, N.Y., Oct 23, 1817. He came to Iowa in 1855 and made his home in Cass, moving to Anamosa about fourteen years ago. He had twelve children, of whom only three are now living, Simon and Thomas Day and Mrs. Mabel Hastings. He had been sickly for about three years and confined to his bed about fourteen weeks. He passed away on Sunday morning, the 10th inst., at about 10 o'clock. Interment was had in Riverside cemetery, Anamosa.
According to this information on his father, William, in Concerning the Van Bunschoten or Van Benschoten family in America: a ..., by William Henry Van Benschoten, Orson should have been born in Cayuga Co., NY not Livingston Co. It is assumed, if he was born in Livingston Co., NY, then he was born in Pough's Hole (near Dansville). If this is true, it's possible that he was born in Aurelius, Cayuga, New York where the DEY family was to have settled.
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?x=0d6cdad9-c7c7-41a7-8c83-c47f2af5171f&title=Possible+matches+for+Orson+Thomas+Day&m=1030%3a%3a20004998488%3a20798948%2c1030%3a%3a5098082953%3a18062826%2c1030%3a%3a6896922524%3a1042424%2c1030%3a%3a516480664%3a17483935%2c70511%3a%3a252713%2c1030%3a%3a12689593605%3a43675413%2c70511%3a%3a252722%2c1030%3a%3a45206049%3a11536536%2c1084%3a%3a5883445%2c7321%3a%3a881168%2c1030%3a%3a19436795129%3a37616407&gss=angs&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=5883445&db=IAstatecen&indiv=1&ml_rpos=9
http://archive.org/stream/parishregisterso00aldeuoft/parishregisterso00aldeuoft_djvu.txt
"The parish registers of Aldenham, Hertfordshire, 1559-1659. Transcribed by Kenneth F. Gibbs and ed. and indexed by William Brigg. With appendix"
PARISH REGISTERS OF ALDENHAM.
Baptisms
ANNO D'NI 1612.
Maie
Paget the so: of Nicholas Latham the 17th daie.
1613.
November
Carye ye so: of Nicholas Latham ye 10th daie.
ANNO D'NI 1615.
Aprill Katherine ye da: of Nicholas Latham ye first daie.
A'O 1617.
Mai
Paget ye so: of Nicholas Latham ye 18th daie.
ANNO D'NI 1619.
Jane ye da: of Mr. N. Latham ye 21 d.
ANNO DOMINI 1621.
July
John ye so: of Nicholas Latham & | 29 d
ANNO D'NI 1612.
Maie
Paget ye so: of Nicholas Latham the 30th daye.
Marriage:
ANNO D'NI 1604.
Aprill Nicholas Lathum & Elizabeth Newman the 3 day of Aprill.
Index: Latham [Lathum], Carye 40; Eliz.
88; Jane 44; John 46, 68; Kath.
41 ; Nic. 39-41, 43, 44, 46, 88, 130;
Paget 39, 43, 68, 130.
1579. Aprill
Elizab: ye da: of Willi' Newman ye 15.
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?x=0d6cdad9-c7c7-41a7-8c83-c47f2af5171f&title=Possible+matches+for+Orson+Thomas+Day&m=1030%3a%3a20004998488%3a20798948%2c1030%3a%3a5098082953%3a18062826%2c1030%3a%3a6896922524%3a1042424%2c1030%3a%3a516480664%3a17483935%2c70511%3a%3a252713%2c1030%3a%3a12689593605%3a43675413%2c70511%3a%3a252722%2c1030%3a%3a45206049%3a11536536%2c1084%3a%3a5883445%2c7321%3a%3a881168%2c1030%3a%3a19436795129%3a37616407&gss=angs&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=5883445&db=IAstatecen&indiv=1&ml_rpos=9
Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925
about Orson T Day
Name: Orson T Day
Birth Year: abt 1818
Birth Place: New York
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Census Date: 1885
Residence State: Iowa
Residence County: Jones
Locality: Cass
Roll: IA1885_212
Line: 17
Family Number: 81
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Orson T Day 67
Martha Day 22
Jesena J Day 3
Maybell Day 0
Charles M Mailey 25
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?x=0d6cdad9-c7c7-41a7-8c83-c47f2af5171f&title=Possible+matches+for+Orson+Thomas+Day&m=1030%3a%3a20004998488%3a20798948%2c1030%3a%3a5098082953%3a18062826%2c1030%3a%3a6896922524%3a1042424%2c1030%3a%3a516480664%3a17483935%2c70511%3a%3a252713%2c1030%3a%3a12689593605%3a43675413%2c70511%3a%3a252722%2c1030%3a%3a45206049%3a11536536%2c1084%3a%3a5883445%2c7321%3a%3a881168%2c1030%3a%3a19436795129%3a37616407&gss=angs&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=881168&db=IAStateCen1895&indiv=1&ml_rpos=10
Iowa, State Census, 1895
about Orson T. Day
Name: Orson T. Day
Age: 77
Race: White
Birthplace: New York
Residence: Fairview, Jones
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=DAY&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=14&GScntry=4&GSsr=921&GRid=76400481&
O T Day
Birth: Oct. 23, 1817
Death: Dec. 10, 1899
Burial:
Riverside Cemetery
Anamosa
Jones County
Iowa, USA
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/20798948/person/20004998488?ssrc=&ml_rpos=1
Orson Thomas Day
Birth 23 Oct 1817 in New York, USA
Death 10 Dec 1899 in Iowa, USA
Timeline
Birth
1817 23 Oct
New York, USA 6 source citations
Marriage to Agnes Jane Hamilton
1855 abt - Age: 38
Residence
1860 - Age: 43
Cass, Jones, Iowa, United States 1 source citation
Residence
1870 - Age: 53
Cass, Jones, Iowa, United States 1 source citation
Marriage to Martha J Culdice
1879 abt - Age: 62
Residence
1880 - Age: 63
Cass, Jones, Iowa, United States 1 source citation
Residence
1885 - Age: 68
Cass, Jones, Iowa 1 source citation
Marriage to Orvillie Cline
1890 31 Dec - Age: 73
Fairview, Jones, Iowa, USA
Residence
1895 - Age: 78
Fairview, Jones, Iowa 1 source citation
Death
1899 10 Dec - Age: 82
Iowa, USA
Burial Riverside Cemetery, Anamosa, Jones, Iowa, USA
1 source citation
Parents
" William S Day
" Jane Vanscoter
Spouse & Children
" Agnes Jane Hamilton 1826 - 1918
" Orson Thomas Day Jr - 1879
" Simon A Day 1856 - 1919
" Alfred A Day 1858 - 1867
" George Day 1858 - 1858
" Thomas W Day 1862 - 1949
Spouse & Children
" Martha J Culdice 1862 -
" Jesena J Day 1882 -
" May Bell Day 1885 -
Spouse & Children
" Orvillie Cline 1871 -
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1860usfedcenancestry&h=5564941&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt&ssrc=pt_t20798948_p20004998488_kpidz0q3d20004998488z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid
1860 United States Federal Census
about Orson T Day
Name: Orson T Day
Age in 1860: 46
Birth Year: abt 1814
Birthplace: New York
Home in 1860: Cass, Jones, Iowa
Gender: Male
Post Office: Anamosa
Value of real estate: View Image
Household Members: Name Age
Orson T Day 46
Jane Day 34
Simon A Day 4
Alfred Day 1
Daniel Phelan 16
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1870usfedcen&h=34962743&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt&ssrc=pt_t20798948_p20004998488_kpidz0q3d20004998488z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid
1870 United States Federal Census
about O P Day
Name: O P Day
Age in 1870: 54
Birth Year: abt 1816
Birthplace: New York
Home in 1870: Cass, Jones, Iowa
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Langworthy
Value of real estate: View Image
Household Members: Name Age
O P Day 54
Jane Day 38
Simon A Day 14
Thompson W Day 7
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1880usfedcen&h=47755730&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt&ssrc=pt_t20798948_p20004998488_kpidz0q3d20004998488z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid
1880 United States Federal Census
about Orson T. Day
Name: Orson T. Day
Age: 62
Birth Year: abt 1818
Birthplace: New York
Home in 1880: Cass, Jones, Iowa
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Self (Head)
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Martha J. Day
Father's Birthplace: New York
Mother's Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Neighbors: View others on page
Occupation: Farmer
Cannot read/write:
Blind:
Deaf and dumb:
Otherwise disabled:
Idiotic or insane: View Image
Household Members: Name Age
Orson T. Day 62
Martha J. Day 17
Charles Culdice 19
Harriette Culdice 13
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=1850usfedcenancestry&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-d&gsfn=Orson+Thomas&gsln=Day&msbdy=1817&msbpn__ftp=Pogue%27s+Hole%2c+Livingston%2c+New+York%2c+USA&msddy=1899&msdpn__ftp=Anamosa%2c+Jones%2c+Iowa%2c+USA&msdpn=42194&msfng0=William&msfns0=Day&msmng0=Jane&msmns0=Vanscoter&cpxt=1&catBucket=rs&uidh=prh&msbdp=5&msddp=2&_83004003-n_xcl=f&cp=12&mssng0=Jane+Agnes&mssns0=Hamilton&mssng1=martha&pcat=CEN_1850&fh=30&h=12256061&recoff=&ml_rpos=31
Was he married prior to Jane?
1850 United States Federal Census
about O Day
Name: O Day
Age: 35
Birth Year: abt 1815
Birthplace: New York
Home in 1850: Port Washington, Washington, Wisconsin
Gender: Male
Family Number: 711
Household Members: Name Age
O Day 35
Abigail Day 34
Harriet Day 7
Elizabeth Day 5
Amanda Day 2
Image available.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MMMG-X4V
This is most likely him:
Arson Y Day, "Wisconsin, State Census, 1855"
Name: Arson Y Day
Event Place: Kingston, Marquette, Wisconsin
Number of White Males: 2
Number of White Females: 2
Number of Black Males:
Number of Black Females:
Foreign Born:
Line Number: 39
GS Film number: 1032688
Digital Folder Number: 4245039
Image Number: 00086
No birth, marriage or death record found in Family Search Org for Orson.
http://books.google.com/books?id=b5gUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jones+county+iowa+history&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ofEgUoqnDqrwyAGjwoDYBw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=thomas&f=false
History of Jones County, Iowa: Past and Present, Volume 1
edited by Robert McClain Corbit
OFFICIAL ROSTER, CASS TOWNSHIP.
1877- Trustees: William Bowers, Miles Colton, G. G. Noyes; clerk, J. E. Bonstel; road supervisors: George Smedley, George Thomas, O. T. Day, John Griswold, H. H. Monroe, L. Guilford, W. G. Gallagher, Rowley.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KCWF-SRY
O. T. Day, "Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934"
Name: O. T. Day
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 26 Jul 1879
Event Place: Anamosa, Jones, Iowa, United States
Age:
Birth Year (Estimated):
Father's Name:
Father's Titles and Terms:
Mother's Name:
Mother's Titles and Terms:
Spouse's Name: M. J. Culdice
Spouse's Titles and Terms:
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated):
Spouse's Father's Name:
Spouse's Father's Titles and Terms:
Spouse's Mother's Name:
Spouse's Mother's Titles and Terms:
Reference ID: 155
GS Film number: 1255526
Digital Folder Number: 004311220
You should request or retrieve a copy of Orson's death record from the state - http://idph.state.ia.us/apl/health_statistics.asp
I would check at the county courthouse in Anamosa first, but they may not have the death records back to 1899. Here's the application and instructions - http://idph.state.ia.us/apl/common/pdf/vital_records/death_application.pdf You must have your application (by mail) notarized. You can have that done at your local bank, (most likely) for free.
or the Jones County Courthouse - http://www.jonescountyiowa.org/Pages/default.aspx
Birth, Death, and Marrigage records are maintained in the Recorder's Office, issuing Marriage Licenses, and Certified copies of Vital Records. As a service to the public, we take Passport pictures at a cost of $10.00.
https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/results#count=20&query=%2Bplace%3A%22New%20York%2C%20Livingston%22
Livingston county micro films available.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyliving/LivingstonCounty/OssianPres.html
Livingston County NY GenWeb
Livingston County Past and Present
History of Dansville
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 1 Dansville of the Past
Chapter II
First Settlers
There is a little confusion of statements about some of the first settlers of Dansville, but evidence is conclusive that the first family to establish themselves on the present site of Dansville village consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius McCoy, their stepsons, David and James McCurdy, and their stepdaughter, Mary McCurdy. This was in June 1795. The boys were then, respectively, sixteen and thirteen years old, and Mary was a young lady.
It is also evident that William McCartney and Andrew Smith were then settled in Sparta, about three miles distant, having come there in 1792.
The McCoys were natives of the north of Ireland, and the McCurdys were Scotch. They emigrated to America in 1788, and went first to Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, where they resided until they moved to Dansville, journeying through an almost unbroken wilderness, by way of Painted Post, Bath, and the Springwater valley. At first they occupied a surveyor�s hut where the Conrad Welch house is on the corner of Ossian and Spruce streets. But in the fall Mr. McCoy and the boys cut logs, for a cabin eighteen by fourteen feet, and the Indians came from Geneseo, Mt. Morris (then Allen�s Hill), Painted Post, and Bath to help them put it up. The cabin was roofed with basswood bark. It stood near the spot of the David McNair house where there was a fine spring of water. The nearest family on the south was Judge Hulbert�s at Arkport, 11 miles distant, and Mrs. McCoy and Mrs. Hulbert occasionally walked through the woods to visit each other, returning home the same day. In a paper of reminiscences written by James McCurdy, now in possession of his grandson, James M. Edwards, he states that he was born in Ireland in 1782, that his father died when he was eighteen months old, that his mother afterward married Mr. McCoy, and that she died at the age of ninety-two. The paper says:
�The country had a wild but attractive appearance. It was very productive for the various kinds of grain and vegetables now grown among us. We sold the most of our grain and stock for some years to the new settlers, but occasionally would go elsewhere for a market. The second year after we came we went to Bath with a load of oats, and were obliged to sell them to Dugald Cameron for 37 � cents a bushel and take pay in goods. Bath was then considered one of the best markets in this section of the state. Grain was brought there from Geneva and shipped down the Cohocton, Chemung, and Susquehanna rivers in arks. We were obliged to go to the Onondaga salt works with teams for salt, where it usually cost two dollars per barrel and was often sold here for ten dollars a barrel.* * * * We could hardly have lived here the first year had it not been for the Indians, who were exceedingly friendly.* * * *
�The year after we came Amariah Hammond, Dr James Faulkner, Samuel Faulkner, Captain Daniel P. Faulkner, and William Porter settled near us. Thomas Macklen was our first school teacher. * * There were very few sheep in this section, so that it was hard work to procure wool for stockings. A Mr. Duncan had a few which he brought from Pennsylvania. I tried to buy one, and he finally that if I would reap, bind, and shock two acres of barley, I might have a year old one, which I did in two days. Since that time I have always kept sheep, some years to the number of 3,000. * * For a number of years it was a great tax upon us to attends courts, as the country was so thinly settled that we were called upon at least three times a year to serve as jurors, and go twenty-eight miles. About twelve years after we came a man named Benjamin Kenyon moved into our village. He was a desperate character. We nicknamed him Captain Pogue, and from this came the name of Pogue�s Hole. Applied to the narrow valley where he lived.�
Mr. McCoy died in 1809. David McCurdy finally moved west, and James succeeded to the homestead farm of 300 acres in the southwestern part of the village. His wife�s maiden name was Sarah Gray, whose father was one of the pioneers of Allegany County. Both lived on the old farm until they died. The nearest grist mill in the first two years was at Conesus lake outlet, twenty miles away, and the new settlers were often without flour and meal. Indians brought to the McCoy�s plenty of venison, and received in payment for a quarter of deer, two pumpkins, or six turnips, or two quarts of corn: this currency system having been arranged by Mrs. McCoy.
McCartney and Smith, the first settlers of Sparta, before mentioned, emigrated together from Scotland in 1791, the former to be clerk for Captain Charles Williamson as agent for the Pulteney estate. They went first to Philadelphia, and early the next winter to Bath, which was then the home of Captain Williamson, and after a few months more came to Sparta, arriving there in the summer of 1792. They occupied a log cabin which had been built by Captain Williamson on the west bank of Canaseraga creek three miles north of Dansville village, on what is now known as the McNair farm, and kept bachelor�s hall there for two years. Then Smith went to Bath and McCartney moved up the creek to the locality of Cumminsville, where he had purchased 209 acres on the flats and built a log house. Three years later he escorted to this rustic home his beautiful bride Mary McCurdy of the McCoy household. They were married July 14, 1796, by the Rev. Samuel J. Mills of Groveland, and this was the first marriage within the present town of North Dansville. They became the parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to maturity. Mr. McCartney was one of the founders and the first elders of the Presbyterian church of Sparta, was supervisor of the town for twenty seven years, and served one term as Member of Assembly. He died in 1831, and his wife in 1864.
Amariah Hammond, one of the settlers who came in 1796, built the second log house of the village that year, and moved his wife and child from Bath into it. He belled his horse in order to find him when he strayed into the forest, and sharpened his ploughshare when dull, on a large stone. If he had his horse shod he must go to Bath, thirty-five miles distant, as the nearest blacksmith shop was there. When the time for cutting his first hay crop approached he went to Tioga Point for scythes, two of which, with expenses, cost him eleven dollars. His brother Lazarus came soon afterwards, and settled in a loghouse near him.
Captain Williamson was the founder of the ancient village of Williamsburg, now utterly vanished, at the intersection of Canaseraga creek with the Genesee river, this spot being selected because the creek was then navigable with flat boats or arks to Dansville, twenty miles distant. This was in 1792, and a colony was brought there in that year. It was the first white man�s village in the county, and there the first school in the county was taught by Samuel Murphy; the first tavern was kept by William Lemen; the first store was opened by Alexander McDonald; and the first evangelical preacher was Rev. Samuel J Wilkinson. Statements have been published that in 1793 Captain Williamson built grist mill and saw mill at the upper end of present Dansville, but this does not harmonize with other statements, and his mills there could not have been built before 1796 or 1797. The grist mill was burned before it was entirely finished and was rebuilt in 1806. He and his agents sold from the Pulteney estate a large portion of the present town of Dansville for $1.50 an acre on a credit of six years. In 1793 he started the first regular horse race of the county at Williamsburg. The advertising bill was headed �Williamsburg Fair and Genesee Races,� and the bill stated that there would be �an annual fair for the purchase of cattle, horses, and sheep.� The next year fourteen horses were entered for a fifty - pound purse. Captain Williamson�s advertisements and personal invitations brought from the valley gentlemen from Virginia, Pennsylvania and other states, some of them with their slaves, and a number of them remained and became settlers. His principal object was to sell them lands of his vast holdings, and his plan was successful. In addition to Williamsburg he established the first settlements at Bath and Great Sodus. A biographical sketch is given in another chapter.
Daniel P. Faulkner purchased 6,000 acres of land immediately after he came here from Danville, Pa., and induced about fifteen families to move here and settle. He brought to Dansville the first stock of goods, which were drawn on a sleigh from Albany. In 1796, the year of his arrival, he laid out the village and it was named after him. He was enterprising and popular, and spent his money too freely. His military tastes led him to organize and captain a showy military company of thirty men called Grenadiers. He failed in 1798, and went back to his old home in Pennsylvania but returned in 1802 and died here. His brother Samuel bought several village lots and put up the first frame dwelling -a two -story house near the sight of the Livingston hotel. He commenced keeping a tavern in 1797, this being the second Dansville tavern, John Vandeventer having preceded him a few months in the business in a small plank house. The other brother, James, who came in 1813, was a graduate of Rush college, and the pioneer physician of the village.
Christopher Vandeventer was another settler who came in 1796. He was from New Jersey, and settled on the Charles Shepard house sit. He was the pioneer tanner, and three sons came here with him who were tanners, although John, the oldest, kept the first tavern for a short time. The father died of fever in 1798. Nathaniel and William Porter of the group of 1796 settlers were from New Jersey. Nathaniel died the next year, which was the first death in town. Thomas Macklen, the first school teacher, was a Scotchman and probably came to Dansville in 1797. He taught ten or twelve scholars in 1798 in the pioneer schoolhouse, which stood about a mile north of the centre of the village. Dodsworth�s spelling book was then used. He married into the McCurdy family, and taught school here many years. He died in 1822. William Perine came from Washington county to the ancient village of Williamsburg in 1797, but moved up the valley to Dansville two years later and settled at the head of Perine street, which took his name. He bought large tracts of land on the east side of Main street, of which there were several hundred acres of hill land, including the site and grounds of the present Sanatorium. He had been in the army of the Revolution five years, and was a captain of cavalry under General Francis Marion. He died in 1847, aged ninety-three. The late Peter Perine was his son, and Dr. Francis Marion Perine and Thomas L. Perine are his grandsons. Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, from whom the city of Rochester is named, visited this locality in 1800, and came to reside here in 1810, having first purchased a large tract of land embracing the most of the water power of the village. He bought the mills which had been erected for the Pulteney estate, and built the pioneer paper mill of Western New York. He was an officer of the Revolution and a friend of Washington. In 1814 he disposed of his property here, a part to Rev. Christopher Endress and the rest to Jacob Opp, both of Easton, Pa. Rev. Mr. Endress went back to Easton to take charge of his former German Lutheran church. His two sons, Judge Isaac L. and Doctor Samuel L. Endress, afterward became residents of Dansville. Mr. Opp built a grist mill, clover mill and tannery on his property near the upper Readshaw mill. Near them were the mills erected by Captain Williamson. Later, William Porter, one of the settlers of 1796, and his brother David erected a saw mill, grist mill, and paper mill by the side of Canaseraga creek, on the other side of the valley. A grist mill built by David Sholl in 1800 was burned in 1807.
In some reminiscences of William Scott of Scottsburg, deceased, he stated that in 1812 Jared Irwin and John Metcalf were the only Dansville merchants, and brought their goods from Philadelphia overland to the Susquehanna, and thence by boat to Newtown (Elmira). Mr. Scott came here from Sparta that year to be a clerk for Mr. Irwin. James McCurdy also clerked for Mr. Irwin about that time. In 1813 John Shepard came from Connecticut, and became a merchant. At that time trade was nearly all a barter business. Wheat was then sent to Montreal.
Peter Sholl came from Pennsylvania in 1808. There were then about a score of houses, but neither church nor school building within the village limits. Mr. Sholl soon became owner of a grist mill and traded a good deal with the Indians. In the log school house a mile north of the village there was preaching some of the time on Sunday and singing school once a week.
Some of the settlers not yet mentioned who came before 1800, were Frederick Barnhart, Jacob Martz, George Shirey, Jacob Welch, James Logan, William Phenix, John Phenix and Jared Irwin.
The brothers Solomon and Isaac Fenstermacher came in 1805 and for some time built most of the frame houses, which included the only three story building in the county at that date. It was nicknamed �Solomon�s Temple.� Among others who are named as having settled here very near the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, were Thomas McWhorter, James Harrison, Samuel Shannon, Jonathan Rowley, James Haas, Daniel Hamsher, Oliver Warren and Samuel Dorr. James Scott, who came from Pennsylvania and settled in Sparta with his family in 1806, remembered that David Sholl then owned the Williamson mill at Dansville, and named among other residents, Peter LaFlesh, Matthew Patterson, Peter and Jacob Welch, Jonathan Stout, John Metcalf, Owen Wilkinson, David, James, and Matthew Porter.
When the McNinches settled in Conesus in 1804 they did their trading in Dansville, and the merchants would sell them only a quarter of a pound of tea and two pounds of coffee at a time, and they paid three or four shillings a pound for the coffee and from six to twelve shillings for the tea, while they could not get sugar and molasses at any price. Some reminiscences by Dr James Faulkner are in place here. On January 31, 1873, there was a pioneer gathering at his house in celebration of his eighty-third birthday, the following being present: Andrew Arnold 91, Harry Hyde 88, Robert McBride 87, Moses B. Gilman 86, Erhardt Rau 85, Daniel Porter 84, Nathan Lockling 83, James Faulkner 83, John Reese 83, William Scott 825, William Perine 80, Obed Aldrich 79, Moses George 78, E. B. Brace 78, Luther Peck 73, John Goundry 71.
In the remarks made by Dr. Faulkner at that time, he said there were but fifteen or sixteen families when he came here in 1797 and only one frame house on Main street, which was not enclosed, the other houses, except a plank store, being of logs. A man named Macklen kept a school in the winter of 1798 and had ten or twelve scholars, and Gaylord taught ten or twelve scholars in 1799. Dr. Faulkner�s father built a frame house in the summer of 1797, and in the fall used it for a tavern. When he came, his uncle, James Faulkner, lived in a shanty that he had built by the paper mill. He was a member of the legislature in 1802 and 1803, and was appointed first judge of Steuben county in 1804. Amariah Hammond came in 1796 and his brother Lazarus about 1800. He sold the land that he then bought to John Hartman. John Hartman was the eldest of thirteen children of Harmon Hartman who settled near the location of the present village of Dansville in1807. John followed farming and kept a tavern in the house built by his father which is now occupied by Orville T. Hartman, the great grandson of Harmon. A picture of house and sign are given. John and his wife Mary died within two days of each other. February 17 and 19, 1845, of malignant erysipelas which carried off so many early settlers as elsewhere noted. Of John�s family of nine children three survive, George of Dansville, Endress of West Virginia and Samuel Frederick of Buffalo. The John Hartman estate when divided among the children in 1848 contained 579 acres.
The Indians that lived on the Genesee river reservation generally came up here to the hunting grounds in October. Their favorite camping place was under the bank in the creek gulch by the California House. They built their houses by divisions or families and went together in small tribes, and the children followed the mothers. They had their celebrations about the first of February, and one of them lasted five or six days. They made a sacrifice of five or six white dogs, tying them by their necks to a pole. Dr. Faulkner said that up to twenty years of age he beat the swiftest Indian runners they could bring, but was finally beaten by one who came from Buffalo. There was no such thing as money here for many years, and the merchants sold the most of their goods for furs. In 1805, when Dr. Faulkner�s father died, there were more Indians than white people in town.
In those years, When the Indians camped here, and Red Jacket made occasional speeches on the street, they danced, wrestled, ran races, and sometimes indulged in pagan orgies around their campfires. The wrestlers sometimes contended to determine who should have a coveted squaw, and there was such a contest once on Ossian street between tow of the strongest braves for the possession of a young squaw of extraordinary beauty who sat near and watched them. The struggle was a long one in which there were several throws, and was equivalent to a fight to the finish. At its close the defeated Indian pushed his conqueror toward the squaw and said, �Take her,� when the other silently stalked away with the dusky beauty, who seemed perfectly content. In cold weather Indians would sometimes ask the white settlers for a night�s lodging , and Mrs. McCoy has given sleeping accommodations to as many as a dozen of them at once. They would stretch themselves out close together on the floor, and make no sound until morning. In 1805 the influx of settlers all along the valley was so great that provisions became very scarce, and many were charitably supplied by the former settlers. Up to this time agues and bilious complaints were very common, but afterward rapidly lessened. The �Genesee fever� of a low typhoid type, also prevailed, and was sometimes fatal. From December 1, to the middle of March, 1812, a malignant form of typhoid pneumonia spread through the valley and Western New York. It originated in the British army in Canada, and was brought over by soldiers. Dr. Lyman N. Cook of Dansville said that it was fatal as often as once in three cases, and patients sometimes died in three or four hours after they were attacked.
The Sandy Hill settlement, partly in this town, has been so closely identified with the village that is should not be entirely omitted in an account of the early times. John Brail, born in 1771, came to Dansville in 1813, moved to the Sandy Hill area two years later, and made the first clearing in that locality. He was called �Grandpap,� and was a teller of large, incredible stories. He manufactured much charcoal. Several other settlers quickly followed him, and in December, 1813, they held their first school meeting at the house of Rufus Stone, with William S. Lemen as moderator. The result was a finished plank schoolhouse by the next January, with a huge fireplace at one end and on each side a twelve-panned window of seven by nine glass. E. W. Brockway was immediately installed as teacher at $13.50 a month. Not until 1824 was a box stove substituted for the fireplace. This schoolhouse was the educational, religious, and social center of the Sandy Hill people until 1845, when a new one was built. In 1826 ninety pupils were taught there. Rufus Stone came with his family from Onondaga county in 1816, after prospecting the previous year. He took up a tract of land near Stone�s Falls, which takes its name from him, and was the first one to use its water power. He built a saw mill there for the manufacture of flaxseed oil. He died in 1842, and his son Benjamin succeeded to his business, and built a new saw mill and new oil mill. Broton S. Stone, still living, established a wagon manufactory in 1848, and was one of the founders of the Dansville Grange No. 178 in 1874, which put up a hall costing $2,000, and is one of the best organizations of its kind in the state. William S. Lemen moved from Ossian to Sandy Hill in 1816, and his son James B. was the first child born in that settlement. Chauncey Day built a saw mill there in 1817, and in 1821 Mr. Dorr had a woolen mill in operation. In 1839-40 L. Melvin, W. H. Reynolds and Jonathan Proctor as partners had a hoe factory constructed there, with the best possible machinery for making and grinding superior steel hoes. Their business prospered from the start, and they made large preparations for extending it, but a fire destroyed shops, and machinery in September, 1841, and although the shops were rebuilt, the attending expense and a series of misfortunes defeated their plans and hopes.
History of Dansville NY 1789-1902 Historical, Biographical, Descriptive
Edited by A. O. Bunnell
Compiled by F. N. Quick
Dansville N. Y. Instructor Publishing Company Publishers
Pages 28-39
Retyped by Sally Carrier August 19, 2007
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