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Note: by: Guy McMasters [1853] History of the Settlement of Steuben County, New York Including Notices of the Old Pioneer Settlers and their Adventures By Guy H. McMasterPublished by: R. S. Underhill & Co, Bath, NY, 1853:
Next in order of settlers, and in the winter of 1804, came the families of William P. Curtis, Samuel Tuthill, and Pomroy Hull. At this time, the only road leading to town was the Two Rod Road, (from Bath toward Naples). Solsbury Burton came likewise in 1804, and occupied what used to be well known as the Burton farm. About this time came Capt. Pratt himself, with the remainder of his family from the East Hill, in Wheeler, and where he had resided for two or three years previous. "
M.S. Hist. of Prattsburgh:
PRATTSBURGH.
The pioneer of Prattsburgh was Captain Joel Pratt. There were actual residents within the boundaries of that town before Captain Pratt, but its settlement and sale were conducted by him; by his care it was peopled by citizens who at an early day were reputed by all the county, men of good conscience and steady habits; and by his sound sense, and his discretion in conducting the settlement of the town, he gained an influence and enjoyed a public confidence at home, which entitle him to be styled the Founder of Prattsburgh. The township was first known as Kerseytown.
More:
The first permanent settler within this township Mr. Jared Pratt, a nephew of Capt. Pratt, who came her to reside in the spring of 1801. Mr. Pratt had just set out in his career of life, and brought with him a wife to cheer and sweeten the deprivations incident to a pioneer`s life. The farm which he selected, and which he continued to occupy as long as he lived, is the same as is now owned by Mr. John Van Housen, and there a row of Lombardy poplars at this day marks the place of the fist shelter built for civilized man within this township. Concerning this family, Rev. Mr. Hotchkin, in his history of Presbyterian Church in Western New York, takes the following notice:--`They constituted the only family in the township for about two years and a half. Their hardships were many, and their privations great. No neighbor within several miles, no roads except a mere trail and a dense forest all around them. To obtain flour for their bread, Mr. Pratt would yoke his oxen, fill his bag with grain, lay it across the yoke of his oxen, and drive his team eleven miles to Naples, where was the nearest mill to his habitation, the road all the way lying in a dense forest without any habitation contiguous to it.` Mr. Pratt continued to reside here till 1840, when, by a fall, he broke his neck, and died instantly in the 63d year of his age. Throughout his long life, he was respected and beloved, and in his death it may with perfect truthfulness be said, Tho` many died as sudden, few as well.`
The next settler, if settler he might be called, was Daniel Buell. He built him a rude shanty on what is now an orchard, and attached to Mr. Isaac Ainsworth farm. Buell was a jolly and most eccentric bachelor. His usual and almost constant employment was hunting. He resided here but a few years, when he sought a deeper solitude, and soon afterwards was murdered by a party of Indians in Ohio.
Rev. John Niles, a licentiate of a Congregational Association, settled in 1803, with his family a lot of eighty acres, being part of the farm occupied by the late Mr. Josiah Allis, upon the east side of the present Bath road, which was given to him by Capt. Pratt as an inducement to settle upon his township. The Sabbath after Mr. Niles` arrival he held divine service in Jared Pratt`s house, and from the day to the present, these people have never been without these sacred ministrations. About this time, the sons of Capt. Pratt, in advance of their parents, settled upon the farm which has ever since been held by some one or more of his immediate descendants.
Next in order of settlers, and in the winter of 1804, came the families of William P. Curtis, Samuel Tuthill, and Pomroy Hull. At this time, the only road leading to town was the Two Rod Road, (from Bath toward Naples). Solsbury Burton came likewise in 1804, and occupied what used to be well known as the Burton farm. About this time came Capt. Pratt himself, with the remainder of his family from the East Hill, in Wheeler, and where he had resided for two or three years previous.
In the year 1806, we find a goodly array of settlers. In addition to those we have named are following: --Enoch Niles, Rufus Blodget, Isaac Waldo, Judge Hopkins, John Hopkins, Dea. Ebenezer Rice, Robert Porter, Dea. Gamaliel Loomis, Samuel Hayes, Dea. Abial Lindley, Moses Lyon, Uriel Chapin, Asher Bull, Bohan Hills,, Stephen Prentiss, and perhaps others.
HISTORICAL GAZETTEER
Steuben County, New York
FIRST PART
Compiled by: Millard F. Roberts
John Single Paper Company, Ltd., Syracuse, N.Y., 1891
This was typed and contributed by Gloria Banks Kirkwood
PRATTSBURG - page 462
"Is centrally situated upon the northern border of the county. It is bounded north by Naples, in Ontario county and Italy in Yates county, east by Pulteney, south by Wheeler and Urbana, and west by Cohocton. The surface of the town is a hilly upland, broken by the valleys of several small streams, flowing in a southwesterly direction. The principal streams are Five Mile, Ten Mile and Twelve Mile creeks. The valley at Prattsburg village is 1,400 feet above tide, and the hills are from three to four hundred feet higher. The soil is gravelly and clayey loam, adapted to pasturage and to the growth of cereals, fruit and vegetables. The population of Prattsburg in 1890 was 2,173."
Sheldon Tuttle 11/21/1819 Addison Jake Rowley Wolf Bounty - Steuben Co., NY 1817 - 1820
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Note: From Chapter VII of History of the Settlement of Steuben County, New York
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